Inside the castle in the Imperial Capital. Many people were gathered within one of its courtyards.
There were nobles, soldiers, adventurers, mercenaries, and……a member of the royal family.
「As you all know, we are about to escape the castle, leave the Imperial Capital, and join up with my younger brother, Mercurio, and his men, who are currently known as the rebel army.」
Frizione’s voice echoed through the courtyard.
Frizione usually wore a dress befitting a princess, but what she was wearing no was not a dress, but something that could be called battle attire.
That said, Frizione herself wasn’t particularly skilled in combat.
She could fight to the extent required to protect herself, as was customary of royalty, but she couldn’t compare to her younger sister, Vihera. ……Of course, she was the weaker one of the two.
With that in mind, while Vihera found it hard to deal with Frizione, it mostly came down to Frizione’s personality and not her combat ability.
In any case, although Frizione was wearing battle attire, it wasn’t a set of white armour, like the White Rose Knights.
Instead, she was wearing a set of magic clothing that would reduced the damage taken from slashing, impact, and magic attacks to a certain extent.
In addition, she was wearing a tiara that gave her a slight healing effect, a cloak that provided high magic defense, bracelets that increased strength, a necklace that increased stamina, and so on. The magic items she was wearing was enough to cost a fortune……no, you could even say it was worth two or even three fortunes.
If anyone were to kidnap Frizione, they would never have to worry about money for generations to come.
……Of course, that was ignoring whether they could kidnap Frizione, with all her magic items, and whether they could deal with the fighting force currently present.
The group in front of Frizione comprised of about 400 people. Aside from them, the only others that would be joining them were the supply unit and about 100 guards.
Considering the original size of Frizione’s faction, it would have been possible to gather three to four times the force present.
However, Frizione had told the nobles in her faction that this was to stop a civil war, motivated by her personal feelings of not wanting brothers to fight. As a result, she had urged most of them to return to their own territories rather than follow her.
But, in the end, this many people still chose to go with her.
The ones before Frizione were those nobles……as well as soldiers, adventurers, and mercenaries who admired her and decided to follow as volunteers.
(These idiots……)
Frizione thought to herself.
However, her thoughts carried no ill will. Rather, there was even a hint of affection.
It was only natural that she was so fond of them.
She understood that not everyone in her faction genuinely admired her. Some had only joined due to ulterior motives.
But even so……there were many people who genuinely cared for her.
(And……as expected.)
She glanced towards several nobles that had been mentioned in her previous conversation with Angela.
She didn’t know which faction they were from, but they had probably betrayed her.
(I won’t let them have their way. Now that I’ve taken action, I will naturally take responsibility for it. So……I have no hesitation in asking for his help.)
When she saw that her followers had quieted down after hearing her words, Frizione spoke again.
「Our numbers are few. Because of that, Shurus and Kabajid’s men may pursue us.」
The murmurs began again.
However, this time, the murmurs were different and carried a hint of anxiety.
To dispel that anxiety, Frizione spoke up loudly.
「But, there is nothing to worry about. We have someone sent by Mercurio to cooperate with us.」
At the same time as Frizione’s words, Rei stepped forward and appeared in front of the soldiers, taking out the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring and giving it a swing.
the sound of the Death Scythe’s blade cutting through the air rang out, drawing the attention of everyone present.
「Hey, that……could it be?」
「Yes. A scythe with a shaft longer than his height. No doubt about it. But there’s no sign of the Griffon he keeps as a familiar.」
『Crimson.』
Several words muttered the name at the same time.
To the Bestir Empire, he was a symbol of bad luck, but in recent fighting tournament, he had become known as the person who had fought the S rank adventurer, Noiz, without backing down.
The only ones who were surprised were the ordinary soldiers, knights, adventurers, and mercenaries. Some nobles had bitter expressions on their faces, but didn’t seem surprised at all.
It was only natural as the nobles had been informed of Rei’s presence by Frizione beforehand.
Some of them had lost relatives and friends in the Spring War, but the didn’t show it in front of Frizione.
「So, what kind of power and strength does Crimson have? We know it best, having confronted him in the Spring War and seen him fight against the S rank adventurer, Noiz, in the recent fighting tournament.」
Frizione’s voice mysteriously drifted into the ears of everyone present in the courtyard.
That was also one of the effects of a magic item Frizione was wearing, but for those unaware, they were enthralled by the fact that they could hear Frizione’s voice directly in their ears.
「Angela, what about the supply unit?」
「They have already collected the supplies from the troops gathered here and are ready to go. We should be able to join up soon.」
Frizione smiled slightly at the immediate response and spoke to the people gathered again.
「Well then, let’s go. This action is a result of my selfishness. But I will not be happy if a single person dies or is hurt as a result of my selfishness. At the same time, I don’t want any one of you gathered here to die. No matter how clumsy or unsightly you may be, please survive. And, together with me, let us see what the Bestir Empire can become after the civil war is over.」
『UOOOOOOOAH-!』
Most of the people in the courtyard let out a roar.
Moved by Frizione’s words, they resolved themselves to survive the civil war together.
A minute passed before Frizione spoke again.
「Then, let’s go. We’ll be ourselves. We’ll leave the castle…..and then the Imperial Capital with dignity.」
And with that, Frizione, accompanied by Angela and the White Rose Knights, left the courtyard.
「Is that……Her Highness Frizione? Why are there so many people……no, it’s not just the White Rose Knights, she’s even got soldiers, knights, and nobles with her!?」
The first to find Frizione’s group were the soldiers in charge of guarding the castle.
「What on earth is going on?」
「Could it be……a rebellion!?」
The soldier froze for a moment at his colleague’s words, but rejected the thought after seeing the direction Frizione and her group was heading towards.
「No, Princess Frizione isn’t heading for the throne room. If she continues in that direction……she’ll leave the castle.」
「Huh? Leave the castle? Oh, then isn’t it something like training? You know, we’re busy with the rebellion right now after all.」
「……Is that so? I’ll report to my superiors. We don’t want to get involved, just watch the situation.」
「No, what do you mean……how am I supposed to get involved in the first place?」
「That is true. Then, just watch for now to make sure nothing strange happens.」
「Okay.」
The soldiers parted ways after exchanging those words.
The one that remained looked over at Frizione’s group with stiff expressions.
It was fine to see the White Rose Knights around Frizione, who was leading the group.
It was also natural to see nobles from the First Princess’ faction.
It was a bit strange for her to be leading soldiers, but she was a member of the royal family after all.
However……
「The person standing next to Princess Frizione……」
The soldier was looking at someone who had been hidden in the shadows when his fellow soldier had left earlier.
Wearing a typical robe with the hood down, they had a good looking but rather feminine looking face.
But, what caught the soldier’s eye most of all was the scythe the figure was carrying on their shoulder.
The shaft alone was over 2m long, but the person carrying it seemed relaxed, as if they barely felt its weight.
The soldier knew that person.
It was a matter of course. He had taken time off to watch the finals of the fighting tournament after all.
The man who had fought on equal terms against the Immovable Noiz.
And. The man who was responsible for the defeat of the Bestir Empire in the Spring War, and who had single-handedly burned the second punitive force.
To be exact, Rei’s unit had also participated, but the soldier hadn’t been given any detailed information about that.
But still……there was no way they would miss Rei’s presence.
(T-This is bad. This has to be bad, right? Why has Crimson infiltrated the castle like this? Well, Crimson is working with the rebels, so for Crimson to be with Princess Frizione……huh? Wait? What?)
The soldier, who had never been good and thinking complex thoughts, was on the verge of short circuiting after seeing the unexpected turn of events.
If things continued like this, he would have just continued watching as Frizione’s group disappeared from his sight.
However……
「Hey, what’s wrong, hey!」
His fellow soldier, who had gone to report what was happening, had returned without him noticing, bringing him back to his senses just as he was about to give up thinking.
「O-Oh. Yeah. Well……well, you see. You’re back already?」
「Yeah. I happened to meet the captain a little way down.」
「What did the captain say?」
「He said he couldn’t make the decision himself, so he’d talk to his superiors. So anyway, I came back here……what are you fooling around for?」
「……Huh?」
Turning to look in the direction of his fellow soldier’s gaze, his expression stiffened when he saw Rei with the Death Scythe on his shoulder.
「I-Impossible……Crimson……」
Even so, he didn’t yell out, probably because they were the only soldiers in the vicinity.
His eyes went wide in disbelief.
「……What do we do?」
Seeing that the other soldier was more surprised than him, the soldier who had stayed behind calmed down and asked. However, the other soldier hesitated for a moment.
The fact was, he couldn’t make a hasty decision because he knew that if they caused a fuss and Rei went on a rampage, the castle itself could be destroyed.
「……I’ll let the captain know. Well, judging by the situation, I think there are already other people moving aside from us.」
Because he was carrying the Death Scythe around, Rei naturally stood out. Naturally, many of the people observing Frizione’s group from the vicinity saw him.
Most of them froze for a moment, wondering why Rei was here, before quickly moving again to inform those above them, which was all seen by the First Princess’ faction, including Rei.
「It seems they’ve started to move as well.」
Rei said with the Death Scythe on his shoulder and Widele nodded in response.
「yes. I’m sure they must have been panicked when they saw you. I’m sure they weren’t expecting to see you inside the castle.」
When Widele said this, she didn’t know that all the higher ups in the First and Second Prince’s factions already knew that Rei was inside the castle.
They just hadn’t told anyone to avoid the First Princess’ faction from finding out that they knew.
……Of course, some people, like Dune from the Second Prince’s faction, were careless people, so they had been put under watch by Shurus.
「Well, no matter what they do, I don’t think they’ll attack inside the castle or the Imperial Capital. Rei-dono, your turn will probably come after we leave the Imperial Capital.」
As they made their way through the castle, Widele turned to look at Rei.
「Are you ready? That’s all I want to ask……」
Even though he was carrying the Death Scythe on his shoulder, Rei didn’t look the most prepared for combat.
No, his weapon might be out, but Widele was asking if he was mentally prepared.
「I can only say that I’ll show you when we actually get into combat. Besides, Set will probably notice if we leave the Imperial Capital.」
Rei responded with a small shrug.