As the disarmament of the Gazzetta army was being carried out, Zeshald was keeping a close watch on the withdrawal of the elite troops and was providing the appropriate commands to prevent his own forces from chasing too far. With the conclusion of this battle, the relationship between Blue Garden and Fonclanc would probably improve. Feeling like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders, Zeshald let out a sigh.
The civil war in Blue Garden would end after the capturing of supreme commander Izapnar and after gaining complete control of Paula’s central command. Even though Gazzetta’s attack had caught him by surprise, their king, Shinha, had provoked Yuusuke, the [G.o.d of Calamity], and had spectacularly self-destructed, experiencing a calamity for himself.
“Zeshald dono, shall we proceed to take over Paula’s central command?”(Queen’s army’s officer)
“Proceed with it. I will join the fight myself to hasten our victory.”(Zeshald)
While contemplating his future plans in the well ventilated headquarters of the water mirror, Zeshald looked down at the urban areas of Paula. It was about time for the citizens to get up and start bustling around their businesses. In the center of this urban area, soldier carriages were being prepared for the raid on Paula’s central command.
The divine arts users that formed Zeshald’s escort looked at the rushed preparations for the raid and the disarmed Gazzetta soldiers coming out of the huge wall prison structure. It took just a moment for them to lose their concentration and…
“Mhm?!”(Zeshald)
Belushya charged at Zeshald from behind, aiming her hand between his left shoulder blade and his spine, using her pride, the disseminating type (付与系) water art. Belushya’s water art would freeze her target instantly. It was a terrifying a.s.sa.s.sination type water art which, if she managed to freeze the chest of her opponent, would freeze the heart causing her target to die instantly.
Although the person’s resistance varied according to the strength of their divine arts, Belushya had trained her divine arts from young age. She was sure that even if Zeshald was an exceptionally strong divine arts user, and even if he had a sacred treasure that increased his resistance to other divine arts, he would not be able to defend against her if she focused only on his heart.
—-TSISH sound of something breaking reached her ears.
Feeling the familiar feeling in her hand, Belushya was a.s.sured that she had successfully completed her mission and started moving towards her retreat path. But, as she tried to move towards the back of the room, someone grabbed her arm. As she slowly turned to look over her shoulder, she saw Zeshald, who she thought was surely dead, grasping her arm.
As she tried to shake off the last struggles of the man, a broad grin appeared on Zeshald’s face that left her breathless.
“?!”(Belushya)
“It’s unfortunate.”(Zeshald)
Being sure that she completely froze the man’s heart, she once again stretched her hand to repeat the attack. Unfortunately for her, this time Zeshald was faster.
“Shoutensei!”(Zeshald)
“Uh…? Hyaaaaaa!”(Belushya)
After receiving a water art counterattack from Zeshald, Belushya’s body tensed and stiffened as it bent backwards and, with a loud shriek, the a.s.sa.s.sin fell down. As the body reached the floor it started convulsing.
“Wh..what is this?!”(Guards)
“Hmm, it looks like an a.s.sa.s.sin to me…”(Zeshald)
Explaining the situation to the startled guards, Zeshald picked a fragment of a shattered ring from the floor. It was a fragment of the silver ring that was delivered to him by Reifold together with the fake sacred treasure. Yuusuke called it “Sacrificial ring.”
This ring had the effect of taking on a fatal blow for his wearer. It was truly a mysterious item since it would only protect its wearer from any fatal damage once, after which its effect would end immediately.
If the wearer was poisoned, the ring would not react to the poison until the moment when death approached the wearer. It would then activate, taking the deadly damage for its user only to have the user die from the same poison immediately after the ring has ceased functioning. It would be the same for deaths by drowning or burning. If one was to be squished by a heavy object, the outcome would also be the same.
If the wearer was stabbed with a sword or spear, the ring would take the fatal damage from the blow, but the user was still very likely to die from the after effects of the wound or the weapon still protruding from his body.
To tell the truth, if one had to compare the ring to its counterpart, the Sacred Treasure, the usability of the ring was, at the very best, questionable, since the appropriate time to use the ring could not be controlled and the usage itself was difficult. Despite that Zeshald got lucky as the a.s.sa.s.sin used a special technique in her attempt to kill him.
This time, the ring judged Belushya’s [Freeze] to be a deadly divine art and activated, taking the damage instead of Zeshald. At that moment the recovery effect of the sacred treasure kicked in and started to heal his frozen heart. Zeshald did not lose his consciousness and supplemented the effect of the treasure with his own healing type divine art. As his body had nearly inexhaustible vitality, it did not suffer much stress while the heart had stopped for a moment.
“Is she…dead?”(Guard)
“No, I used a strong divine art aimed at her blood vessels.”(Zeshald)
When Zeshald touched his a.s.sa.s.sin’s arm, he felt something out of ordinary and struck there. Leader of the water mirror just shrugged his shoulders, talking about the unexpected effectiveness of his divine art.
When she was a child, Belushya had misused a divine art and was wounded all over her body. Since that incident she had lost almost all her senses of touch.
Since she felt nearly nothing, she had a strong pain and injury tolerance, thus Belushya became proficient in the normally dangerous disseminating type divine water arts. These arts, coupled with her a.s.sa.s.sination skills, had placed her in the center of the underground operations until now.
Perhaps it was because of her const.i.tution and sense of duty, she did not show any ordinary emotions and left others with a cold impression. In time, coworkers started teasing her, calling her names like “Ice queen”.
Touching her hand, Zeshald had healed the nerves and Belushya, overwhelmed by the sudden wave of sense, had simply fainted. For this woman who had not felt such sensations since she was a child, these sensations became a destructive torrent of pleasure (TN: I s.h.i.t you not, that was what the author wrote….) that had simply blew her mind.
Since Belushya’s divine art did not affect her opponent if she could not get close to him, she was restrained while she was still unconscious.
Finally, as her convulsions calmed down, the face of the a.s.sa.s.sin, nicknamed ice queen, blushed slightly, a faint happy expression appearing on her face.
Only the highest ranking members were informed about the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt within the water mirror’s headquarters. Zeshald was currently leading the divine arts militia against the Paula’s command. At the same time, Shinha calmly stood before the queen’s army, against the wall that had captured them. Although his army had been disarmed and he was clad in handcuffs, he maintained the composed atmosphere around him.
Thinking that he might have had some complaints, Yuusuke approached the king of Gazzetta. The queen had also approached Shinha along with two of her handmaidens and now stood directly before him.
Queen Rishause was a beautiful woman and her light blue, long hair only enhanced the tidy atmosphere around her. Her handmaidens were also quite beautiful and although they were twins and had identical looks, the air they carried around them was completely opposite.
If princess Violet could be compared to fireworks, queen Rishause gave off an image of a clear stream. Yuusuke had made a note of the fact that there are a lot of beautiful women in the Blue Garden. (TN: in j.a.panese the text read “Yuusuke had entered a record in the database of his mind…”)
Determinedly standing before Shinha, Rishause frowned slightly and started to speak with a strong? voice.
“You… what were you planning to do?”(Rishause)
“I was on my way to meet Risha. To my regret, our big moment has been spoiled.”(Shinha)
“War is but a moment of luck,” shrugging his shoulders as he said this. Rishause showed him a painful look on her face in reply.
“Why did you start this absurd fight?”(Rishause)
“It was not absurd, I just slightly underestimated the strength of the darkness G.o.d corps.”(Shinha)
That very strength was the “absurd” thing here. If not for that power, Shinha would have won and would not have been in the state he is currently in. They (Gazzetta) were not all united and the fact that the leader mobilized the army before his heir was born spoke a bit about that fact.
“Did you intend to attack me?”(Rishause)
“Never. My plan was to free you all along.”(Shinha)
“To free me? Are you saying that I am just a bird in a cage?”(Rishause)
“Don’t you realize your position? Or are you pretending to be as tough as always?”(Shinha)
Shinha acted as if he could see through the firm att.i.tude that the queen had been displaying. Rishause sighed and murmured, “You arrogant man…”
“That may be right, however a king without pride can’t lead his own people.”(Shinha)
Shinha and Rishause spoke to each other as if they had been acquaintances. Listening to their conversation that was quite similar to a lover’s quarrel, Yuusuke decided to leave them be for a little while longer.
“Hey you, you have been acting rude towards her majesty for long enough!”(Queen’s handmaids)
Unable to endure Shinha’s att.i.tude towards their queen any longer, one of the twin sisters, Masha, shouted at Shinha.
“We are old friends, right Risha?”(Shinha)
“We were. In the past.”(Rishause)
Still, Shinha’s shameless and carefree att.i.tude, which he had displayed quite carelessly, along with the strong displeasure shown by the queen, had Misha fall for a feeling that was pretty close to jealousy and the handmaiden started shouting abusive remarks towards Shinha.
“[Artless] trash!”(Misha)
That instant a ferocious smile appeared on Shinha’s face forcing Misha to instinctively back off.
“Did you hear that, Risha. Even your closest retainers are like that.”(Shinha)
“…”(Rishause)
“Eh? Eh?!”(Misha)
Rishause was continuously biting her lips. Misha’s younger sister, Sasha turned towards her sister, who was looking towards the two with bewildered and confused look on her face and explained.
“Because her highness treats [artless] similarly to servants, she is striving to free them through her political measures.”(Sasha)
Even if the divine arts users and [artless] were allowed to live their lives in the city, both parties antagonized each other. They would have to break down their preconceptions towards each other in order for them to lead their ordinary lives side by side.
For that reason [artless] ownership was used as a stepping stone and hit first by changing it to protection policy. So, such an utterance by a person that is closest to the queen left a distinct mark on queen’s reputation. Realizing that Misha hurriedly turned towards the queen and hastily said.
“I didn’t mean it to sound like that! I was referring to his lack of respect towards royalty and his social position—”(Misha)
“I am also a king of Gazzetta, yet there is not a drop of respect in your actions~”(Shinha)
“You are prisoner of our country!”(Misha)
“Aaah, without even crossing swords with your country’s military once and having been done in by the darkness G.o.d corps of Fonclanc?”(Shinha)
“Ugh…!”(Misha)
Resolute arguments and facts were sarcastically countered and, furthermore, reinforced.
“By the way, the old man, commanding the water mirror, is also a person that was related to Fonclanc. Hmm, I thought this country was supposed to be called Blue Garden…”(Shinha)
“Grrrr…!”(Misha)
Rishause objected Shinha’s suggestive tone by slightly strengthening her own voice and spoke to calm Misha, who seemed to be on the verge of blowing up.(reminds me of the head popping scene in the kingsman)
“Fonclanc only lent us a bit of their strength this time.”(Rishause)
It did not mean that Rishause accepted the caste system that was the basis of Fonclanc’s social structure.
“You might be thinking of it as such, but what will really happen?”(Shinha)
Shinha questioned Rishause’s diplomatic skills and asked whether the queen will avoid king Esvobus’s reconciliation policy.
“Will you let the Fonclanc army or the leader of the water mirror stay, or will you make them leave?”(Shinha)
Hearing this, a dumb expression appeared on Misha’s face. Sasha also seemed concerned and slightly narrowed her eyes. After eventually driving out the supreme commander of Paula and taking the complete power within her grasp, wouldn’t she become the same figure head again only in the hands of a different puppet master? This was the true question hidden within Shinha’s words.
“I, I…”(Rishause)
This did not mean that Rishause was not being uncomfortable as she cast her gaze downwards to hide the shaking of her irises. She screamed in her heart that she did not have any other choice, that she had no other means of opposing Izapnar. The words fitting for a “bird in the cage”, as Shinha has called her, were running amok within her heart.
“So, what is to become of us?”(Shinha)
Having driven Rishause into the corner, Shinha completely changed the topic from the question he had asked earlier. Relaxing his shoulders and returning to his previous tone, he asked about the fate of him and his army. As they were currently imprisoned by Blue Garden, the queen was the person who would decide their fate.
“…In my name, I order you to immediately leave the territory of Blue Garden.”(Rishause)
Rishause, with her authority of the queen, ordered to release Shinha and his troops, and for them to leave her country. Her handmaidens objected to the queen’s decision to let them go just like that and urged her to reconsider, however the queen stood strong by her decision. Gazzetta’s army had not dealt much damage to Blue Garden and the soldiers did not seem particularly dissatisfied either.
Their army’s strength was intimidating, but in the end they were not able to do anything and became prisoners of war, thus part of the divine arts militia soldiers were happy with the decision.
“Shinha, I will definitely fulfill my father’s dream. Promise me you will not lay a finger on this country until I fall.”(Rishause)
“You mean… to watch over you? Very well, I will watch over your country for a while.”(Shinha)
Shinha arrogantly looked down on the queen until the very end. Although her handmaidens were scowling, Rishause relaxed, with the tension in her face becoming replaced by a smile.
“Truly… you have not changed at all since back then.”(Rishause)
“You too. People probably won’t tell you that though. Oh, and you have also become quite a beauty as well.”(Shinha)
“Wha-what the h.e.l.l do you think you are saying!”(Rishause)
“Lady Rishause, your language, your language!”(Misha)
Having received a surprise attack from her opponent that she also had feelings for, queen Rishause carelessly let the feelings that she had sealed deep behind her aura of the water priestess queen surface for a brief moment. With Misha’s remark, she blushed while covering her mouth thus showing her cute side.
“Phmph!”(Shinha)
“A-anyhow, Gazzetta army is now free. Remove their sha—“(Rishause)
Rishause ordered the divine arts militia to unfasten the shackles of Shinha’s army, which was restrained in a separate place.
Dissatisfied with the arrogance that Shinha showed towards their queen, the two handmaidens tried to convince their queen to reconsider, saying things like “They are our prisoners after all,” aiming to get revenge on Shinha while showing their superiority.
Shinha began a.n.a.lyzing the hand (TN: as in hand of cards) that he was playing with, looking for a way to destroy their scorn and to gain an advantage for his army. As he only had the cards of pride and belligerence, he decided to try playing them.
“Let me give you one piece of advice. For the white clan, their weapons are only one of their tools.”(Shinha)
Shinha said that with a feral smile, making the divine arts militia stop in their tracks and turn towards him with dubious expressions on their faces. Rishause stepped back as she knew the meaning of such an expression on Shinha’s face.
“If we don’t have our tools, we can fight using our bodies alone. LIKE THIS!”(Shinha)
Shinha lifter his shackled hands in front of his chest and tore through them by sheer strength. Seeing that, White Sword knights followed their king and one by one tore through their shackles. Although they were shackled with wooden shackles that were made to be used on the [artless], divine arts militia could only stare, eyes wide, as the shackles were destroyed using brute force alone.
However it seemed that divine arts users who were serving in the White Sword cavalry, could not mimic the same action and appealed to get the shackles removed via normal means.
Glaring at the frozen divine arts militia, Shinha kicked at the ground like a beast and instantly closed the distance between him and Rishause. Her two maidens reacted to that, but as Shinha was already leaping into Rishause’s bosom, they could not put water arts defense nor attack Shinha anymore.
“…Wha?!”(Rishause)
“You are… naïve.”(Shinha)
Looking at the sky blue pupils in the startled, wide opened eyes, Shinha extended his hand toward queen’s head, gently grabbed a light blue strand of Rishause’s hair, kissed them, and retreated after letting the strand of hair fall. The two handmaidens rushed to the queen’s side, taking the position that Shinha was at just a moment ago and shot their glances towards the [artless] king.
Shinha sneered, turned his back at the women, and swiftly returned to his comrades’ side. This series of actions seemed to have carried a meaning of “I could’ve broken the shackles and killed you anytime.”
To tell the truth, it was not the kiss on the queen’s hair, all of the White Sword were prisoners, yet the Blue Garden’s side could not move a finger.
The divine arts militia were eyeing the Gazzetta army, which was preparing for their retreat with cautious eyes. Just as the atmosphere around them was starting to get dangerous, the black haired captain of the darkness G.o.d corps of Fonclanc stepped up to meet the commander of the White Sword knights.
This struggle carried some meaning as some of the Gazzetta soldiers visibly tensed at the entrance of the commanding officer of the [overpowered] darkness G.o.d corps.
“Hey, Shinha!”(Yuusuke)
“Yuusuke? You completely done us in~”(Shinha)
“Thanks to you, this had become troublesome again. Did you really have to show off your strength?” said Yuusuke as he approached Shinha. Yuusuke was so angry, that not only the atmosphere he gave off was different, but his att.i.tude made a complete turn as well. Shinha shifted his gaze to observe the scale of Yuusuke’s capacity and spoke of an important phrase (keyword) in a laid back att.i.tude as if nothing had happened.
“You played out your role of an evil G.o.d nicely with that power.”(Shinha)
“!”(Yuusuke)
Shinha showed a faint smile after seeing Yuusuke’s face stiffen against his own will. Yuusuke expected that no one else besides Zeshald and Sun knew that he was called to this world to become an evil G.o.d. Rishause, who was listening to them with her face still red from shame, tilted her head slightly at the mentioning of the evil G.o.d.
“Your presence in this world is large, and thin (weak/small?)”(Shinha)
Standing on the thousands years of history, Shinha stated his view of Yuusuke, a summoned being in this world. His words were heavy and thick with the desire of the resurrection of the white clan, inherited for hundreds of thousands of years since the forgotten times.
“The revival of the white clan warrants the fall of the rule of the art users. It is the role of the evil G.o.d to start this.”(Shinha)
“Why is that, can’t you live side by side?”(Yuusuke)
Yuusuke shot back at Shinha’s conclusion, inquiring what kind of reason or rule would require the destruction of either side. He did not inquire about the evil G.o.d’s part as he was worried about all the people around him.
“Divine arts users that caused the downfall of the white clan are living in prosperity thus the prosperity of the white clan required the downfall of the divine arts user’s world.”(Shinha)
“That is your answer, eh? But it would be just a repeat of what happened before, right?”(Yuusuke)
“That might be so, prosperity is not endless. This is the cycle of life that those, living in Kaltcio are bound to.”(Shinha)
“…You…”(Yuusuke)
Shinha’s grand speech, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with self-confidence and permeated with conviction that his knowledge was greater than anyone else, incited a desire within Yuusuke to find out what Shinha knows about the evil G.o.d. The three thousand years of history were collected in the eyes of the white clan leader.
“I will await you in the village where the history of the evil G.o.d is kept. You will definitely come to Gazzetta.”(Shinha)
Yuusuke, worried by the speech, containing some sort of threatening hidden message, tried to ask for the meaning of what Shinha had said. But, at that moment, a wind arts communications officer riding on the horseback approached them and whispered something to Shinha. Listening to his subordinate the Gazzetta king frowned.
“Let me correct myself. I hope you will come to see it for yourself if you are interested.”(Shinha)
Having said that Shinha saddled his horse and issued a withdrawal order to the white sword cavalry.
“Withdraw!”(Shinha)
Gazzetta’s army merged to a single unit several hundreds of meters away from the main fortress. There, they turned towards the direction of Gazzetta and started leaving the hooves of their horses resounding on the drying ground and raising a cloud of dust in their wake.
“Your existence is thin, eh?…”(Yuusuke)
Yuusuke sighed as he watched the Gazzetta army off, dismantling the huge wall and repairing the main fortress was his top concern at the moment. After all, he borrowed a considerable amount of resources from the main fortress to build his wall and a huge part of the upper half of the fortress was gone.
“Still, except for being annoying it was useless…”(Yuusuke)
It seemed that early rising residents that lived in part of the main fortress, from which the materials were taken from, were in for an unpleasant surprise in the coming morning.