78 – The Unveiled Truth

[—Eh? I’m the main cause…?]

The confusion in Seras began spurred.
I could clearly see it through her face.
Schweiz glanced down at her, full of pity on his face.

[Based on how you reacted, it seems that nothing was told to you about this huh…]
[That’s nonsense…! Why did you say that I was the main cause of why Neia was invaded by Bakuos!?]

Civit suddenly called out.

[Schweiz.]

Schweiz slightly bowed his head.
It seems that Civit left all of the explanations to the guy next to him.

[Goddess Vysis wants you, Seras Ashrain.]

What?
That f*cking goddess…?
That f*cking goddess wanted Seras?
What does it mean?
Seras also looks like she’s baffled.

[Alion’s Goddess… wanted me?]
[I heard that it was back when an omen about the Great Demon Emperor has appeared. The Goddess demanded King Ortora to offer you.]
[Why would the Goddess want me—]
[This Schweiz doesn’t know the exact reason for this. However, the Goddess have several private subordinates that were called “Vysis’ Apostles”. My conjecture is that the aforementioned advent of the Great Demon Emperor has come true.]
[But that story, I remembered that what I’ve heard was…]
[I heard the King Ortora firmly refused.]
[My king did that? Don’t tell me— she just wanted to use my life so that she could find fault with my King and used that as a pretext…?]

No, something would be amiss with that theory.
If that were the case, then they were just being unreasonable.
Perhaps, there may be other reasons why the Holy King wanted to kill Seras.
A reason for his refusal to hand over Seras.
Would it be a serious blow for his kingdom if they were to lose the leader of the Holy Knights?
It’s not that.
The hint was already mentioned in the conversation of the Five Dragon Warriors earlier.
Particularly, the character of King Ortora.

“He’s already broken.”
“Deep-rooted delusion”
“Lustful desires”
“A corpse that he knows is still pure.”

An abnormal attachment with Seras.
Isn’t this the reason?
The reason why the king didn’t want to hand Seras over to others.
However, when they’ve become separated for quite some time, he sent assassins to kill Seras.

The king wanted to keep Seras for himself.

That’s what I think.
However, she can no longer go back into his own hands.
If that’s the case, he may have just thought of killing her.
If she would never go back into his hands ever again…
Rather than handing her over to the hands of others—

He wants her dead

If it’s that king, it’s quite possible.
He certainly has become a “broken old man”.
Well, that’s if my guess is correct but…

To be honest… It would be too harsh for Seras to be the main cause of the fall of her country.

If you really want someone to take responsibility, it should have been either that f*cking goddess or that former Holy King.

Schweiz looked towards the direction of the distant Alion.

[It is said that, there haven’t been any wars between nations that happened in this continent for a long time because of the existence of Alion’s goddess.]

Schweiz turns away and looked back towards us.

[The reason why Bakuos didn’t invade Urza all these time is because we had a peace agreement which was brought together by the goddess who acted as the mediator. Within this continent, the influence of that goddess is really strong.]

A peace agreement between Bakuos and Urza.
The customers were talking about this back in the tavern in Mills.
This is also the reason why Urza isn’t worried about being attacked by Bakuos.

[But, not only did Neia refuse the demand of the goddess, Neia also had taken an attitude of ignoring all of the subsequent messages from Alion… You should have already know the rest, right?]

The agreement has a meaning because there’s the goddess that’s mediating in between.
On the contrary, if the goddess were to remove her influence on something, that place might become known for its insubstantiality.
In other words, Bakuos might have taken the disappearance of the goddess’ influence of Neia as a “Go” sign for their invasion on Neia.

[No way…]

Seras became shocked even further.

[In other words, the goddess have caught sight of some of your usefulness. If you were to include King Ortora’s case, even that unworldly beauty of yours could be…]

Oban suddenly giggled.

[The Holy Knight-chan over there could be said to be the most beautiful woman in the country. Or rather than that, Civit-chan. Aren’t you actually interested in her as a man?]
[Let’s just say I’d appreciate her just like towards beautiful artworks. However, the most luscious honey that I wanted could only be found in the strong opponents that I will get to fight. The only people I could say were “beautiful” were those strong people I’ve fought with.]
[Fumu… But well, I wonder if your extraordinary beauty have the ability to drive those in authority in madness… It seems that Neia’s royal family had quite a disaster.]
[…What about the princess?]

Seras inquired.
That question seems to be a bit abrupt though.
Did she react when she heard the word “royal”?
Schweiz asked in return.

[Are you talking about Princess Cattleya?]

Seras parried back with another question, though there’s a hint of unreliability in her voice.

[Is she safe…?]
[Well, she will eventually become Civit-dono’s wife.]
[…!]

Civit took over the conversation in here.

[It’s an order that I’ve received from his Majesty, the Emperor… It’s a marriage that is necessary for the stability of our reign in the territory of Neia.]
[…The princess is now…]
[She’s quite the willful woman, so you could say that I’m a bit fired up. Though I say that, I still can’t feel these so-called charm of the opposite sex. I still wanted to have a good fight with you, who is famous as the Princess Knight.]

Civit Gartland.
Is he really only interested in strong people?

[However, Seras Ashrain would die in this play anyway. I guess we should at least send her head to Cattleya.]
[Kuh… to the princess, that kind of act—]

[Shut up. Weaklings like you should just give up.]

Civit flat out denied her reply.

[—Wha?]
[I’m already done talking with you. If you want to resent someone, then you should resent your own weakness that made you unable to gain victory in this place.]

Civit declared so as he glanced at Seras.

[There’s nothing that’s duller than a person who pretends that he could even win. Sometimes, even those who had accepted their death and haven’t resisted were praised, for they have accepted a proper place where they could die in peace. I despise those who flee in fear. Even if they’re just weak people, if they still continue to face me despite their weakness— I’m sure that I would be extremely fond of him.]

As the sun began setting behind his back, Civit smiled.

[Needless to say… It would still be the best if I were to fight someone that have enough power to kill me.]

My cards were already set.

[…………..]

The path has finally opened— towards the way I liked.
The path towards my survival.

[However, it’s just too boring waiting for time here until the sun goes down. Have you already thought up of a plan, boy?]

[Civit Gartland. Do you really want an enemy that could threaten your life?]

[You’re not mistaken.]

………….
Don’t be impatient.
I must calm down.
I must not make any mistakes in my choices here.

[If that’s so, should I give it a shot?]

[You’re the enemy that could threaten my life…? However, what could you even do? No— What are you hiding? Where in the world did your confidence come from when it could be easily understood that you’re far weaker than our Five Dragon Warriors? As far as I could see, your words weren’t just mere bluff. I could see that you held some conviction. You must have been hiding something… is that right?]

[It’s just as you’ve guessed. I still have some secrets.]

[If you were to say out this secret of yours, then I will kill you with this lance. Prepare yourself, boy.]

I slowly exhaled out a deep breath.

After a pause, I spoke.

[If I’m not mistaken, you’ve mentioned before about how those with the most explosive power because of the divine blessings they held and how they were the one closest to your position as the Strongest?]

One of Civit’s eyebrows twitched as he reacted at my words.

[Just as you wished, I’ll reveal the secret that I’ve been hiding.]

I grinned towards Civit.

[My real name is Touka Mimori.]

This would probably be the card that would part the gate—

[And I’m a Hero from Another World.]