—An upscale residential district in northern Babel.
"Aah, man. There goes our sponsor."
Hijiri, a suave man sporting red hair in an undercut, leaned back in his chair and spoke absently, clasping both hands behind his head.
At Hijiri's remark, everyone turned their eyes toward the handsome, black-haired boy, Satoru, their expressions distinctly awkward.
"What?! I don't know anything about it! That idiot prince probably just went rogue on his own!"
Satoru spat the words out in a shout, his face flushed with indignance at the humiliation.
"What are the actual facts of the matter?"
Mashiro, a striking girl with long, glossy black hair, rested her right hand on her shapely chin and directed her question to the white-armored knight standing behind her.
"The Kingdom's Investigation Department has taken Prince Gilbert into custody on charges of attempting to murder the Guardian Knight Somni and the apprentice knight Tetor, both of whom were examinees in the Babel entrance exam."
At the mention of the Kingdom's Investigation Department, a sudden tension hung in the air.
"If the Investigation Department took charge, does that mean that monster of a Prime Minister made a move?"
Dropping his earlier playful demeanor, Hijiri asked with a grave look on his face.
"It appears so. They reported that because he committed the ultimate royal taboo—the unprovoked attempted murder of his own subordinates—Prince Gilbert's right of throne succession has been suspended indefinitely."
"That settles it, then. It seems Gil ended up crossing that man. He ignored the warning, so I suppose it's only natural."
Following Mashiro's remark,
"Looks that way. If that's the case, Mashiro, is Gil already..."
Hijiri chimed in, voicing his concern over Gilbert's safety.
"No, knowing that Prime Minister, if Gil were dead, he would have declared the succession rights forfeited and revoked. The fact that it's an indefinite suspension means he probably isn't dead."
A wave of relief swept through the room at Mashiro's words.
"Still, what are we supposed to do? Without Gil, we can barely make a move, you know?"
Satoru pressed Mashiro, irritably tapping his foot against the floor.
"There's no need to worry about that. Following Gil's elimination, the high nobility of the Gilbert faction presented an alternative proposal. I intend to accept part of it."
"An alternative proposal?"
To the scowling Satoru,
"Yes. Apparently, there is another person in the Holy Amelia Kingdom who holds the right of throne succession."
"Another claimant to the throne? I was pretty sure the King only had three children, though?"
"Yes. The other claimant is the current King's much younger biological brother. Under the rules of the royal selection, it's structured so that the current King's brothers may only enter if there are no male claimants to the throne."
"Ah, got it. Since Gil dropped out, there aren't any male claimants right now. So they propped this other guy up instead?"
Mashiro gave a slight nod.
"Of course, that rule is meant to apply before the Throne Succession War begins. Strictly speaking, it shouldn't be brought up once the contest is already underway. Besides, Gil's succession right is merely suspended, not forfeited. It's hard to imagine it should apply in this case. That's how it ought to be, anyway. But..."
"It was approved. High noble pressure at work, I take it?"
"Do you really think that Prime Minister would concede to such a blatant push based on that alone?"
"Nah. Not a chance. Then what's really going on?"
Hijiri asked, furrowing his brow.
"Who knows? I haven't the slightest idea. But there's clearly something happening behind the scenes."
"Behind the scenes? Mashiro, you're being way too roundabout!"
As the Sage Satoru urged her for an answer in frustration, Mashiro gave a light shrug.
"It seems our mystery man was incarcerated for a long time over several past crimes. In response to a petition from the high nobility, the Holy Amelia Kingdom released him."
She disclosed the information in an even tone.
"Several crimes, huh? Like what, specifically?"
"One of them appears to be the murder of the previous king."
"Patricide and regicide, huh... Just what kind of guy is he?"
When Hijiri looked around at the surrounding knights and asked,
"Well..."
Every one of them exchanged glances and hesitated. Their faces bore an extraordinarily tangled mix of reverence and dread.
"No matter who you ask, you get the same reaction. It seems he was a key figure who, alongside the Prime Minister, forged the Holy Amelia Kingdom into a great military power in the past. He's clearly not someone we can take lightly."
As Mashiro shrugged and shook her head,
"What's the reason a dangerous guy like that is joining the Throne Succession War right now? No, wait—what's the reason they're letting him participate?"
Hijiri got straight to the heart of the matter.
"There's no way I could possibly know. If I could read that Prime Minister's mind, we wouldn't constantly be stuck on the back foot."
"Fair point. Besides, Gil's fall was probably part of the Prime Minister's script all along."
"Well, he might just be a backup piece in case Gil violated his warning. Still, this forceful approach doesn't fit the Prime Minister's usual style. Which means..."
As Mashiro folded her arms, lost in thought,
"Aah, enough, forget it! Stop getting sidetracked! Whatever standard of strength they had before we came to this world, it's totally useless as a reference anyway! Honestly, who cares what the Prime Minister is planning?! What matters is what we do next! Mashiro, what do you think is going to happen?!"
Satoru sprang to his feet, putting forward what was, in its own way, a constructive demand.
Mashiro let out a long breath.
"You're right. Let's get back on track. The rumored Grand Duke Knut will enter the Throne Succession War, and it has been officially decided that most of the high nobility will back him."
She laid out the piece of information everyone had been waiting to hear.
"And? Are you two planning to sign on as that Grand Duke's Royal Guards this time? For the record, I'm already Gil's Royal Guard, so count me out."
To Satoru's sensible point, Mashiro shook her head.
"Of course not. We have no reason to dance to that monster of a Prime Minister's tune.
We'll promise our intellectual support to the Grand Duke's faction just as we did before, and in exchange, we'll secure their full cooperation in eradicating the demon race. They readily agreed."
At Mashiro's words, a wave of fervent excitement filled the room.
"Yeah, well, don't celebrate just yet! That doesn't change the fact that we're down a sponsor.
What happens to Westland, Gil's territory? Are you planning to just abandon it now? Isn't that a little too selfish?"
At Satoru's sharp rebuke, Mashiro, Hijiri, and the surrounding knights simply stared at him in surprise.
"Wh-What?!"
"No, it's just... I didn't expect such a sensible argument to come out of you."
To Mashiro's sincere remark,
"Yeah, seriously. Usually at times like this, Satoru would be whining, 'Why do I have to deal with this?! What a drag!'"
Hijiri chimed in with a teasing grin.
"You guys—"
As Satoru's brow twitched and he opened his mouth to shout, Mashiro held up both hands to placate him.
"Alright, I hear you. Satoru makes a fair point. That territory, Westland, is already our land. It's going to serve as our base of operations once we wipe out the demon race. We still have to find a way back to Earth, after all. That's why I've already worked things out with the Grand Duke's camp."
"They'll let us have Westland if we back Knut in the royal selection? Can we really trust this Grand Duke? What if he reneges on the deal?"
To Hijiri's somewhat skeptical question,
"He won't. Because we've secured a sponsor with the greatest authority and financial backing in this world."
Mashiro curled the corners of her mouth into a confident smile.
"Hmph, a sponsor with the greatest authority and wealth, huh. I can pretty much guess who you mean. Surprised they offered to help, though. I was sure they'd try to get rid of us the second the demon race was wiped out."
"Yes. It seems circumstances arose on their end that left them no room to squabble with us. In any case, the Grand Duke's camp wouldn't be stupid enough to make an enemy of the Central Church. As long as we don't interfere with the throne succession, they'll hand control of Westland over to us."
"Well, it's not like we won't be paying our taxes to the kingdom properly. In that sense, it's really no different from standard noble rule. They won't have any choice but to accept it."
Sighs of relief rose from the group at Hijiri's words.
A nightmare domino effect. No words could have more accurately captured the predicament they had landed in.
The nightmare set into motion by Cardinal Pandora had now, by Mashiro's own decision, spread to the Hero party as well.
Indeed. In this place, at this very moment, the Hero party had marched straight into a war against the most terrifying monster in existence—armed with nothing more than a stick.