At the sound of commotion outside, First Princess Rosemary Loto Amelia of the Amelia Kingdom bolted upright. She grabbed a nearby longsword and took a defensive stance just as her protective knight—Anna—came tumbling into the tent.
"Your Highness, enemy attack! Prepare yourself at once!"
"A-An enemy attack?!"
As Rose let out a startled cry, Anna’s face contorted with bitter despair.
"It's the Empire! We have a traitor in our ranks!"
"Who?!"
"Lord Fracton! Several other knights have defected as well, and fighting has broken out!"
Lord Fracton was the foremost leader of the Gilbert faction, which championed traditional aristocratic supremacy. His faction had fiercely opposed Rose's from the start. What was worse, every single veteran knight assigned to this retinue belonged to the Gilbert faction.
If that's the case, this is bad! This is extraordinarily bad! In an effort to calm Anna, whose voice trembled on the verge of tears, Rose gently patted her head.
"It's all right. We are escaping. Where is Arnold?!"
Rose asked after the one man who served as their most vital lifeline.
"A-About that... A report came in claiming nearby civilian homes were being attacked by magical beasts, so..."
I see. Most of Rose's guards on this journey were green recruits without real combat experience; they were completely incapable of subjugating magical beasts. There were veterans, of course, but all of them answered to the Gilbert faction. Even if Rose ordered them to risk their lives to protect commoners, they would flatly refuse. Thus, hearing that innocent people were under attack, Arnold would have naturally gone alone.
No one could blame Arnold for that. There was no way he could have anticipated traitors lurking in their midst.
(Gil, would you really go this far?!)
Right now, in their homeland of the Amelia Kingdom, an under-the-table succession struggle was raging among the royal heirs. The two leading contenders were First Princess Rosemary and First Prince Gilbert.
Yet that was supposed to be a purely political rivalry—an internal royal affair. To think Gilbert's faction would actually conspire with the enemy Empire...
"We are breaking out immediately to regroup with Arnold. Go fetch Kai at once!"
Fastening a dagger to her belt, Rose stepped out of the tent with longsword in hand, only to be met with the sight of countless knights lying in pools of blood.
"Now, now, that won't dooo. You're not going anywhere."
A blonde knight aimed the tip of his blade at Rose, casually planting his boot on the back of a knight sprawled face-down on the dirt.
"Lord Fracton, have you all betrayed your own homeland?!"
Anna let out a low snarl, glaring at her former senior comrades and at Fracton, who stood beside them with a smug smirk.
(This couldn't be worse...)
The perimeter was already encircled by black-robed figures. Had it been only them, Anna might have simply written them off as rogue mercenaries hired by Fracton and his cronies. What made Anna so certain they were Imperial soldiers were the two figures standing nearby. More specifically, the twin-headed divine bird emblem embroidered on the crimson cloth worn by both the gray-haired monk with the shaved head and the scarred, dark-haired youth. That was the national crest of the Glitnir Empire. In other words, they were Imperial regulars.
Every tent had been torn down. Rose scanned the area, but Kai was nowhere to be seen. Since his body was not among the fallen, perhaps he had managed to take refuge in the forest. If so, all the better. Being near Rose right now was far more dangerous anyway.
"Treason is such an ugly word. If anything, Princess Rose, you are the one who betrayed us."
"I betrayed you? On what grounds?"
Rose knew all too well how these men thought. They were the sort who would gladly sell out their own country if it meant preserving their privileges and vested interests. In a way, there was hardly any point in asking.
"You have trampled upon the time-honored traditions of kingdom nobility—"
"Save it. That is merely a clash of ideals between you and me; it is hardly proof that I betrayed the kingdom. Pray tell me what justification you have for colluding with the Empire just to purge me."
Cutting off Fracton's hopelessly predictable tirade, she pressed the question once more.
Fracton glared at Rose in silence for a few moments.
"If you marry the Empire's Third Prince, this sterile conflict between our nations will finally come to an end. On top of that, Prince Gilbert will ascend the throne, preserving our homeland's traditions and order!"
Exhaling a soft breath, he broke into a triumphant grin and spread his arms wide in proud declaration.
"Then you should have made that case openly at the council table, shouldn't you? Am I wrong?"
"You would never have accepted it—"
"So you colluded with an enemy nation simply because I wouldn't agree? That is nothing more than the twisted logic of a traitor."
"..."
As Fracton silently ground his teeth, Rose drove the point home.
"The moment you laid a hand on the people of the Amelia Kingdom, nothing you say matters—you became nothing more than a filthy traitor! Have you no shame?!"
Just then—
A blur of white burst from the thicket, slamming directly into the subordinate who had been stepping on the bleeding novice knight. The impact bent the man's spine backward before hurling him into a tree behind him. He crumpled to the forest floor, completely motionless.
"Arnold!"
Catching sight of the muscular, blue-haired, stubbled swordsman warily brandishing his greatsword, tears sprang to Rose's eyes. And naturally so. He was the hero of her childhood—the one person she had wanted to see most.
"A-Arnold! Why are you here?!"
"The terrain was far too desolate for there to be any village ahead. Besides, for a simple hunter, that guide was a little too good at concealing his presence. So I beat him half to death along the way and doubled back. Looks like I made the right call."
With that explanation, he stepped in front of Rose and the others, leveling his greatsword. The mere appearance of Arnold was enough to make the black-robed Imperial soldiers—who had looked utterly relaxed only moments ago—warily raise their weapons.
"What is this? Weren't the black panthers and ogres supposed to have this area completely cordoned off?"
The wild-looking, dark-haired youth turned to the gray-haired monk beside him.
"I am surprised as well. It does not appear... as though he fought his way through them. In that case, did they have an ambush waiting?"
Under the monk's piercing gaze, Fracton frantically shook his head.
"N-No! There couldn't possibly be anyone else!"
"Tch! Sounds like your precious Summoner Unit botched it, didn't they?"
"I cannot deny the possibility. We will investigate, and once we return to the Imperial Capital, they will be appropriately purged. More importantly, right now—"
The monk shot a meaningful look at the scarred youth.
"I know. I was planning to take care of it anyway."
Giving a curt nod, the youth stepped forward and drew the longsword at his hip.
"To think I'd get to cross blades with the kingdom's greatest swordsman... Guess this boring assignment turned up an unexpected prize after all.
The name's Zignir Gastrea. Let's have ourselves a soul-shaking, bloody good time!"
"The Sword Emperor, is it...? Doesn't look like... I have a choice."
Arnold leveled his greatsword and lowered his stance.
"Come, face me in honorable combat!"
"Let's see what you've got!"
Their words crossed in the air, and in the very next breath, the two swordsmen clashed.