“Haah…… Haah…… I’ve returned, mother . ”
“Philine… . . ? Why are you here……?”
Dorothea had a skeptical look on her face as she stared at Philine, who had greeted her all out of breath .
Well, that was to be expected .
This was a development that she never expected to happen .
“Philine-sama! Please wait for us!”
“Princess!”
A crowd of people followed suit and entered the venue as well .
Most of them were wearing military uniforms―― more accurately, they were wearing the uniforms that non-commissioned officers wore, although some people among the crowd weren’t .
“You’re…… Adelina Reiner, Otto Reiner, Hildegard Eichrodt, and Friedelinde Imer…… . ?”
“At your service, Your Majesty . ”
“…… Hey . ”
“It couldn’t be helped . It was the Princess asking me for help, after all . ”
“I’ve come to avenge my motherland!”
Each of them spouted something out at Dorothea .
It seemed that everybody had something they wanted to say to her .
Adelinsan, who was so concerned over the state of her home country that she was willing to start a coup d’état .
Otto, who was so worried over his older sister that he was willing to take matters into his own hands and attempt to assassinate Dorothea .
Hilda, who was recruited under Philine’s wing in order to shift the Empire’s diplomacy towards conciliation .
And finally, Frieda, who had been waiting to make a comeback ever since her homeland was destroyed by the Empire .
“What is this farce, Philine?”
“It’s not a farce, mother . We’ve come here to deliver a final warning to you . ”
Philine made a powerful statement .
Just looking at her, she felt nothing like the weak and timid girl like she was before .
“Fu…… Fuhaha…… . Ahahaha! A warning…… A warning, you say? You guys…… . You dare to deliver a final warning to me, Dorothea Naa?”
Dorothea burst into fierce laughter .
It must’ve sounded like nothing but a joke to her .
That Philine had come here to hand her one final notice .
As she continued to laugh,
“What a funny joke . How interesting . If that’s what you plan on doing, then I’d like to see you try . ”
“If you bore me with it, I’ll strike you all down,” Dorothea said as she backed down for the time being .
Philine pulled out what looked like a large stack of paper out of her bag and started talking .
“During my trip abroad, I managed to go around to several different countries to negotiate with them . ”
“Negotiate? What were you negotiating?”
“They were negotiations to establish cooperation in order to start a siege against you . ”
“!?”
Dorothea looked surprised .
Right after we had talked Adelinsan out of her plans, Joseph-san told us a secret .
That she was going to come back today .
Philine wasn’t wasting her time wandering around in disappointment .
Rather, she had been plotting against her own mother the entire time .
She went around to every single nation, patiently persuading each of the leaders, promising to compensate them, or manipulating them into lending their support .
And she steadily managed to put everything into action .
In the end, this was what she achieved――
“Here are blood-signed documents from the leaders of each of the six nations that surround the Empire . These people signed with their blood, swearing that they would no longer cater to you, mother . If the Empire refuses to join the new international order, then we will rip everything from you all at once . ”
“Philine…… You……!”
This was essentially the bluff that Dor-sama had conjured up earlier, only it was about to happen for real .
The daughter, who was once a crybaby, had come back to bite her own mother in the throat .
Even a baby lion was still a lion .
“Do you plan on killing me here? That’s fine too . I’m well prepared for that . ”
“Hoh… . . ?”
“But no matter what happens to me, and no matter what actions you take from here, this is a complete diplomatic defeat against the Empire . It’s checkmate, mother . ”
“…… Guh――!”
We managed to defeat Dorothea as an individual .
Sponsored Content
Dorothea was incredibly strong .
She was undoubtedly stronger than anybody else .
However, even she could not lose to the sheer number of people that Philine managed to recruit under her wing .
Dorothea had lost against the very bonds that she had mocked earlier .
“You――!”
Dorothea raised her sword .
Philine didn’t look away .
She stared right back at her mother without flinching .
“Is that really alright, Dorothea?”
“――! What are you talking about, Rei Taylor?”
Dorothea stopped her sword just a few millimeters above Philine when she heard my words .
“The match has already been decided . It’d be unsportsmanlike for you to act like a poor loser, right?”
“I still haven’t――”
“If you kill Philine right here, it’ll just end up being a touching tale of a princess who stood up against her beloved mother for the sake of the country―― only to have her neck cut off in the end . ”
“From the perspective of the cause and through the work of some media manipulation, it’d be worse for her to kill her now, wouldn’t it?”
Claire-sama and I both applied salt into her wounds .
Dorothea had caused everybody a lot of trouble already .
Doing this should be forgivable .
In reality, nothing would change at all if she killed Philine off right now .
She was the driving force behind the formation of the siege, but she was not the commander of it .
Even if Philine died, it would not change the fact that Dorothea had already lost .
“I…… I lost……?”
“Yes, it’s your loss, mother . ”
Philine’s voice sounded gentle .
“To such a powerless little girl……”
“That’s right . To a little girl . ”
“…… . ”
Dorothea sat down on the spot .
She lowered her sword and stared upwards .
The expression on her face looked refreshed, like something that had been possessing her had finally left her body .
“Looks like it’s settled then . ”
“Dor-sama . ”
“Yes, it seems so . ”
The non-combatants, including Dor-sama, emerged from the shadows .
Fortunately, nobody there seemed to be hurt .
“But the number of casualties is too great . ”
“That’s true……”
The soldiers that risked their lives to bare their swords at Dorothea .
Those lives would not come back .
―― is what I thought, but,
“What are you talking about? Everybody’s still alive, you know?”
“!?”
When I heard Dorothea’s faint words, I rushed right over to the soldiers .
Their legs were bleeding, but when I checked for their pulses, it seemed that they really were all alive .
“…… Dorothea?”
“What happened……?”
“Rei Taylor, Claire François, Philine . This is your victory, but you need to be prepared to take responsibility for it . ”
Dorothea said something vague .
Responsibility?
“What are you talking about?”
“Gather your strength right away, the demons will soon be attacking in large numbers . ”
I was a little worried .
I wondered if Dorothea had gone insane after suffering at the hands of defeat .
However, it seemed that my worries were unfounded .
“I’m still sane . There was a demon spy among us that I deliberately let escape a while ago . He thinks I killed all of you . ”
“!?”
A demon?
What was the meaning of this?
“Mother, please explain everything from the beginning . ”
“There’s no time for that . This is a war that I set up against the demons, but now, I’ll have to pass that torch onto you . ”
I couldn’t understand what was going on .
Why did she have to be so self-sufficient!
“At least explain the bare minimum to us . If you don’t tell us what’s going on, we can’t do anything either . ”
“Hmm…… Well, you are aware of how the Empire is right at the forefront of several demon territories, right?”
“Yes . ”
“That was where I met them . ”
“Who are you talking about?”
When I asked her that question, Dorothea’s face was dyed blue .
Yes, even someone like Dorothea turned pale .
“The ruler of the demons―― the one called the ‘Demon Queen’ . ”
(??’s point of view)
My messenger came back .
Now was the perfect opportunity .
All of the world’s leading figures were gathered in the Empire right now with Dorothea, who was trying to kill them all .
It was certainly a good opportunity .
A once-in-lifetime chance .
What kind of opportunity, you ask?
Isn’t that obvious?
“―― The perfect opportunity to destroy the world, huh?”
Please download our sponsor's game to support us!