On the highway extending from Edelweiss, a man was being hopelessly entangled by a giant plant.
His name was Yaksha, Imperial Swordsman.
The man, who had boasted of being some great master’s disciple, was currently ensnared by the sundew I had deployed with my Teppou-uri Machine Gun. He couldn't move a single muscle.
The sight of those sticky, mucilaginous glandular hairs writhing like tentacles as they overwhelmed a grown man was a truly harrowing spectacle.
Personally, I felt as though I had witnessed this scene several times before—but to the remaining Imperial soldiers, it must have looked like the literal end of the world.
Their faces turned ashen as they cast pleading gazes toward me, desperately begging for mercy.
"If you surrender, I will spare your lives. Though... if you wish to end up like that man, that is another story."
I cast a brief, pointed glance toward the soldiers.
The men, already restrained by my vines, practically tripped over one another to speak first.
"We surrender! We yield!"
"I don't want to end up like that!"
"We were only following orders! We have no intention of being your enemies!"
"Please, have mercy!"
"I don't want to die like that!"
"We’ll tell you... we’ll tell you everything!"
Honestly... that man isn't even dead.
He was just tossed around by the sundew until he fainted.
Still, it was a convenient misunderstanding, so I decided to let them believe it for a while longer.
I turned my attention to the soldier whose face was the palest of the lot.
"So, there is no mistake that you are all soldiers of the Empire?"
"That’s right... we are men of the glorious Glanz Empire."
"And yet, why would Imperial soldiers be blockading a road in a place like this?"
"It was... an order..."
"What kind of order?"
"To ensure no one leaving Edelweiss passed beyond this point..."
"Why?"
"I heard the goal was an information blockade. It seems they don't want word of what happened in Edelweiss to reach the outside world."
I see—an information blockade.
I had wondered why there were so few soldiers if their goal was an actual invasion or a siege.
But if their purpose was simply to cut off communication, it made sense why they were holding the road with such a small number.
In other words, any messengers sent from Edelweiss toward the Royal Capital had been intercepted by these men.
"What happened to the messengers from the city? Surely you didn't..."
"We haven't killed them. We're holding them captive to squeeze information out of them."
I immediately had the soldier reveal the messengers' location and asked Kiri to search for them.
The fairy flew off into the woods and returned almost instantly. "They were tied up over there!" she chirped.
Oh, thank goodness.
Edelweiss was my home.
As Iris, the daughter of a Duke, I could not forgive the slaughter of my people.
If they had been killed... I might have had to turn these gentlemen into fertilizer for my garden.
With my mind at ease, I refocused. Our conversation wasn't finished yet.
"But an information blockade isn't your only objective, is it?"
"…………"
Even with an information blockade, the people of Edelweiss would eventually realize what was happening.
Once they did, the Knight Order would come rushing here in force.
I didn't believe a mere ten soldiers could hold this road against the Knight Order.
Even if I did nothing, this highway blockade was destined to be cleared within a few days.
—Which meant they were buying time for something specific.
The Empire had intruded into the Kingdom without permission and was using armed force to block a public road.
There was no way this wouldn't cause a massive incident.
It was obvious that this would eventually become a diplomatic crisis between the two nations.
The Glanz Empire was not so foolish as to overlook that.
And yet, they had dared to implement this blockade.
"An information blockade wouldn't have lasted long. Even I can understand that much."
There was no Imperial army in the immediate vicinity.
After all, this wasn't a border region; it was the heart of Duke Edelweiss's Territory.
"So, what is the Glanz Empire actually planning?"
My Kingdom of Gardenia and the neighboring Glanz Empire had been enemies in the distant past.
However, faced with the threat of the Demon King's Army, we had recently joined hands as allies.
The marriage between Manfred, the Lord of Tower City, and Princess Freundliche of the Empire was meant to be the ultimate symbol of reconciliation between our nations.
Their wedding was scheduled to take place very soon in the Royal Capital of the Kingdom of Gardenia.
But despite the impending celebration—I knew there were shadows moving in the Royal Capital.
The Glanz Empire was secretly connected to the Witch Queen, and the Crown Prince had taken the witches' side.
In fact, the Empress of the Empire was the Witch Queen herself.
Since they were so fond of secret maneuvers, it was unthinkable that they weren't plotting some sort of treachery.
I asked once more.
"What does the Empire intend to do now?"
"That is..."
The soldier fell silent, looking hesitant.
No matter how much fear dominated him, he clearly still felt some loyalty that prevented him from handing over information to an enemy.
I suppose I had scared them quite a bit, so his hesitation was understandable.
In that case, perhaps we should become a little more "intimate."
After all, we had only just met.
If we became friends, he would surely speak to me honestly.
"Come to think of it, you... you're injured, aren't you?"
"Eh? Injured? No, I'm not hurt anywhere..."
"It would be terrible if we didn't treat you. I happen to have some Saint Nectar right here."
"T-That’s Saint Nectar!?"
The soldier’s mouth began to water.
"And that color, that brilliance... is that not diluted? Is that the raw extract!?"
"I can produce Saint Nectar myself. My apologies for earlier. As a sign of our friendship, please have a sip."
"...Gulp."
I poured the Saint Nectar into a wooden cup.
I brought the cup to the soldier's lips.
"I hear Saint Nectar is quite expensive."
"I know! They say a single barrel could buy a whole mansion..."
"Have you ever tasted it before?"
"Never. But the fame of Saint Nectar reaches even the Empire. My superior once bragged to me about getting to taste it."
"Then you won't have to listen to his bragging anymore."
I gave him a gentle smile, and the soldier opened his mouth wide.
Without delay, I slowly poured the liquid in.
—Gulp, gulp, gulp.
The soldier drained the Saint Nectar.
The other soldiers watching the scene began to cry out in envy. "How lucky!" "Give some to me too!"
Having savored a full cup, the soldier let out a cry of pure bliss, his expression melting.
"D-Delicious! The thick sweetness just keeps spreading... I've never felt such euphoria... The rumors didn't do it justice..."
"There's plenty for a second helping, you know?"
"G-Give it to me!"
The soldier drained a second cup.
But it didn't stop there.
When I produced more Saint Nectar and let it coat one of my vines, the soldier bit directly into the plant.
He had completely forgotten his status as a civilized human being.
Discarding the cup entirely, he began to lap at the nectar like an animal.
"So good... More... let me have more Saint Nectar..."
He looked like a bear starved for honey.
Though he wasn't quite on the level of Bear-papa, it was clear that only the nectar was reflected in his eyes now.
I had extracted a much higher concentration than usual for this batch, after all.
At any rate, I was glad he liked my nectar.
We're friends now, right?
"All right, that’s enough!"
"Ah..."
I pulled the vine away from him.
Looking at his pained, almost crazed expression, I made my offer.
"Do you want more?"
"I want it! Give it to me!"
"Then this time, tell me everything you know."
The soldier had become quite honest.
Words tumbled out of his mouth in a frantic rush.
"Soon, His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince will launch an attack on the Royal Capital from the inside! We were just blockading the road so that no news could reach the city to interfere with the plan!"
"Is the Crown Prince of the Empire also a guest at the wedding?"
"His younger sister, Princess Freundliche, is the bride! His Highness has already arrived at the Royal Capital!"
"I see, I see."
In other words, the Glanz Empire intended to declare war on the Kingdom of Gardenia.
Taking advantage of their invitation to the capital, the Crown Prince—the Golden Tiger Prince, famous for his martial prowess—intended to seize the Royal Capital from within.
Normally, such a plan would be doomed to fail.
Even if the Golden Tiger Prince had brought a personal guard, they were only guests.
They didn't have enough soldiers to seize an entire capital city.
"Could it be that you're also in league with the Demon King's Army?"
"I don't know the specifics, but the Demon King's Army is definitely involved! We even have a collaborator from the Demon Race with us!"
"I knew it. The Demon King's Army."
The Glanz Empire alone couldn't topple the Kingdom of Gardenia.
That was where the Demon King's Army came in.
The Beast Ogre Mantiger I had encountered at the beast-ear race's village had been marching toward the Royal Capital.
An external attack by the Demon King's Army synchronized with the Golden Tiger Prince’s internal strike was the only way this made sense.
The Empire was connected to the Witch Queen.
Therefore, it wasn't surprising at all that they were also in league with the Demon King.
"That’s everything I know! Now give me the nectar! Give it to meee!"
"There is still one thing left that I wish to know."
I understood the ground-based information blockade. They had even captured the messengers.
However, a major city like Edelweiss being attacked by the Demon King's Army was a monumental event.
It had to be reported to the Royal Capital immediately by any means necessary.
In addition to riders, other emergency methods would have been used.
"A question. What happened to the birds?"
My sister, Tulpe, hadn't just sent riders; she had released pigeons toward the capital.
Those selectively bred messenger pigeons utilized their homing instincts to reach the Royal Capital in less than a few days.
Four days had passed since the attack on Edelweiss.
If the pigeons were safe, the news should have already arrived.
Closing the highway and capturing riders wouldn't be enough to achieve a total information blockade.
Of course, in frontier lands or demon territories where flying demons existed, pigeons were often intercepted.
But this was a safe zone ruled by humans.
Barring an accident, a pigeon should fly straight to the capital.
"Did you catch the pigeons that flew from Edelweiss?"
"We can't catch pigeons from the ground..."
"You're right."
Bringing down a bird in flight is an incredibly difficult feat.
No matter how skilled the archer, hitting a pigeon flying high in the sky with a single shot is nearly impossible.
I dripped a single drop of nectar into the soldier's mouth.
The man spilled the truth instantly.
"The pigeons are the Demon King's Army's job! She was waiting in the sky and hunted every single one of them!"
"She...?"
He had mentioned a collaborator from the Demon Race earlier.
Which meant—
"There is a member of the Demon Race here?"
The moment I realized it, the nearby woods began to rustle unnaturally.
In the next instant, something took flight from the forest, soaring toward the clouds.
"Ah, that’s...!"
The creature, roughly the size of a human, had a silhouette I knew well.
Its arms were wings, its legs were talons.
Yet its torso and face were those of a human woman—half-human, half-bird.
It was a Harpy!