Voluue (1/2)
Recap
Translator: Skythewood
Editors: Ainz Ooal Gown, Darkdhaos
Regis Auric was a young soldier as bad at swordsmanshi+p, horse exiled to the borders, he irl——Marie Quatre Argentina de Belgaria Nicknamed Altina
Her mother was a commoner and because of that she was banished froe, her status as royalty elevated her to the position of coi herself to change the Eovernment
“I want to be the Empress, lend me your wisdom and swear fealty to me”
In order to let others acknowledge her position as coed the de facto commander, the hero Jerome to a duel, and achieved the final victory
Although Regis still lacked confidence in hiist
The two of theh all sorts of crisis
The attack of the barbarians
Taking the invulnerable Fort Volks
Attending the ‘E day festival’ in the capital…
As the throne inheritance right troubled the Belgarian Empire, they were forced to face the declaration of war froh Britannia
At the same time, Fort Volks was assaulted by Varden Grand Duchy
Under the is, they crushed the eneht And in the ‘Battle of Lafressange’ that followed, they aided the Seventh Imperial Army in their retreat
While the Imperial forces were shrouded in the despair of their disadvantages, Regis s Fleet Ad off the enemy’s supply line successfully
He then shattered the supply unit led by the Mercenary King Gilbert,the decisive chess move that would lead to the Empire’s victory
Second Prince Latreille, who took charge of the capital’s defences, saw the depraved sight of the E hier Unable to control his rage, he swung his blade ‘Arme Victoire Volonte’ down…
At the sa froe
The fortress city Grebauvar located to the north was captured by the codo Latreille’s call for aid, Regis participated in the fight to take back the city—— In order to execute Regis’ plan, 3rd Grade Combat Officer Vallis infiltrated Grebauvar city
With the help of a girl named Felicia, he rescued the captives successfully
In the final battle, Regis obtained the authority to command the First Imperial Are from books, he also made use of his battle experience so far and finally defeated the Langobalt Army
And by e scale mechanical device, he flooded Grebauvar city and forced the enemy to surrender
During the battle, Regis realized that the enemy commander had fled with his sharp observation of the enemy’s movement and proposed a pursuit
Latreille personally led his cavalry to pursue and finally forced the Queen of High Britannia to a corner Although the enemy commander Oswald attempted to turn the situation around by himself, he ultimately fell under Latreille’s sword
With her retreat cut off, Queen Margaret atteis
The war between the Eh Britannia ended with victory for the Empire
However, Regis’ intellect was a serious threat in the eyes of Latreille
“Kill… Regis d’Auric”
The knights of the First Imperial Army drew their blades
But at this is
Prologue: The Corpse of Regis d'Auric
Field Marshall Allen Deux Latreille de Belgaria had a band of absolutely loyal escort knights
Even when he assassinated the Emperor, they were by his side
They received orders to assassinate Regis d’Auric and gripped their swords tight
The one who relayed this order was the right hand ist Germain Laurentis de Beaumarchais
Of course, this command can’t be made known to too many people They even had to avoid the attention of the soldiers from within the First Army
Hence, their nuht be few, but every one of theest of the elites
It was obviously overdoing it for the assassination of a strategist who couldn’t even wield a sword That should be the case
Most of the staff officers stayed in tents near the headquarters, not far from Latreille’s quarters
But Regis d’Auric felt distanced froroup and stayed in a tent a bit far away from there
Large tents that could accommodate several soldiers were scattered here and there
Nor by noever, they were drinking heartily because of the grand victory today It was dangerous to light a fire near their tents, so everyone headed to the riverside and celebrated beside the bonfire
Even so, there should be guards near the tents…
One of the knights muttered softly
“What’s going on? There’s no one here?”
“Indeed…”
Usually this would be a trivial roup tasked with this secret
Everyone hastened their pace
Like beasts stalking their prey, they closed in on the target’s tent
The torches in their left hand illus
If their light source wasn’t the flickering torches but the bright sunlight, they ht notice the countless footprints around this tent
And right now, these tracks had been covered by this group of knights
This tent could hold accoh for a 3rd Grade Admin Officer, but too small for a staff officer They surrounded the tent
It was allocated for the strategist Regis and that fe to his needs were staying in another place
The knights in front gave each other a look as a signal
And drew their swords quietly
—— They would kill the target first Then the female General Affairs Officer If the maids were present, they would kill them too Finally, they would burn down the tent
While his achieveist the messiah of the Empire, he was so powerful that he became a threat to their lord They must not let him live
The knights entered the tent
“Sir Regis d’Auric! Prepare yourself!”
They hts too Hence, they raised their voice
It was pitch black in the tent and the lights were out
They illuminated the area with their torches
Only one of the twoshape, so there
Were the two of the on the same bed?
—— Such things do happen The knight raised his sword
“Sir Strategist, you are awake right!?”
They wanted to grant hi his last words… But that wasn’t it The real reason was this staff officer tent If they realized they ‘got the wrong rave problem
No reaction
Was he sleeping soundly after experiencing that intense battle?
“Hey, get him up!”
“Y-Yes Sir!”
Heeding his orders, the lowest ranked knight drew near the bed
He strode forth openly
But he was actually tensed, as if he was extending his arm towards a beast
They heard that the strategist had weaker swords battles, he didn’t even carry a sword,a rabbit
However, he was known by chilling naist that achieve a number of miraculous victories Just in the battle earlier in the day, he toyed with the ene and precise commands
It would be strange to find him defenceless
The young knight felt an invisible wall between him and the bed
—— Is this a trap?
His forehead eating
He could feel the pressure frohts behind him
He couldn’t bring himself to run away
The young knight stepped forth cautiously, grabbed the blanket with his tre hand and pull it off
Revealing a bloody corpse
“Uwaaaahhhhhhh————!!”
The knight back aith a start, then tripped and fell
The older knight who gave the order opened his eyes wide
“What happened!?”
He rushed forth in a panic
The corpse earing a dark green uniform As this was the uniform used by the Iiis d’Auric was the only one ould wear it in the First Imperial Army
This was undoubtedly the target
But there was no way to confirm his face
Because the corpse’s head was
Even the knights who had experienced countless battles and seen plenty of corpses felt like puking
The Knight Escorts started panicking
They came to assassinate him In that sense, their objectives had been co to carry it out That wasn’t a problem
But who did this?
Who cut off the head?
Was this corpse really the target?
The guards around the tent were , but there should be at least two to three layers of security separating this place from the outside
If nobody was found, then it means it was the work of someone inside?
“What about that woman!?”
“Ah!”
She was Fanrine Veronica de Tiraso Laverde
If that was the case, her motives would be unclear She appeared to be despatched by the Ministry of Military Affairs to ned with the Fourth Princess She had reasons to protect the strategist, but no motives to kill him
There was no signs of her, was it done by that woman?
“—— Uwah!?”
One of the knights searching the tent yelped
“What’s the matter!?”
“L-Look at this!”
He pushed the water tank over
There was a headless corpse inside Not just that, it didn’t have ar it beyond recognition Despite being covered in blood, the dress it earing seeed to the General Affairs Officer
Was this corpse that hated?
—— Was this done by soe?
Or maybe someone else ordered this assassination? And the head was taken back as proof of acco the job?
They ca worked up over it would just deepen their shame
“Stay on guard here I will report this to Chief Strategist Beaumarchais”
“What about just burning the tent like this?”
“What?”
“Even if we don’t knoho did this, the end result is the same We just need to burn it all down”
“Well… although it won’t make any difference”
“The ist is cost the ranks”
Indeed, if the group of knights surround this tent while he was seeking advice froist—— it was clear what the soldiers would think
Another man raised his voice too
“It’s fine to report after setting the fire!”
The other knights nodded in agreement
An appropriate course of action
“ That’s true”
After pressing the torch onto the table where the candles were, it caught on fire immediately
They then torched the bed where the corpse laid
All this would burn to crisp in no time
The Knight Escorts stared at the body on the bed
“ It’s too horrible an end for the strategist that saved the Empire”
Before dawn——
Inside the dim tent, Germaine whispered
“They report the plan to be a success”
Latreille exhaled
“Is that so…”
“As expected, you still feel it is a pity?”
“ Am I? Maybe it’s more appropriate to say that I aest foe But I do feel the sensation of loss Is it fro the lost of such a talent?”
“I see”
“But, there is one thing I aist I can trust is you”
Germain froze for a moment
“ Erm… Does it look like I am jealous?”
“I can feel that you are uneasy, because the look in your eyes changed… Or rather, I can feel that you are revealing your intangible thoughts”
“I actually…”
Latreille clenched his fist
“Don’t worry I ah to hesitate on who I should trust”
“Y-Yes ies”
Germaine laid out a blank piece of parchment
“Prince Latreille, should we notify the Fourth Army about this?”
“ Yes… We need to”
He‘I will leave this to you’, but Latreille decided to do this himself Because this was a troublesome manner, he didn’t want to push it to his subordinate
“ Because of circuis d’Auric was killed in action on the field of battle I am incredibly saddened by his loss”
“I have noted it down I will sent a er to the Fourth Army with haste—— What about the reh they had more or less been burned…”
“Just process it as normal”
“Understood Oh right, ill need to send this to his next of kin”
“Does he have a wife or any children?”
“He seems to have a sister who has been married off to Rouen city That seeh”
“Hmm…”
“With all that he had achieved, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have a fiancee… Our spies didn’t send us any such intel though He appears to mainly stay indoors to work on his day off, or just read books”
“Enough, just send it to his sister”
He didn’t want to hear about the daily life of the man that had already been assassinated
Germaine lowered his head
“Yes my Prince”
—— He will read books whenever he has time huh
Was this the reason behind his outstanding talent?
“He just died without any counter tactics huh… It feels unsettling I aht Escorts, but that strategist would always think of strategies that exceed our iination”
“That was true—— Let’s issue an order to secure the perimeters of the camp, and send search party out into the forest Tell the the camp”
“Yes… But we can’t use the reason that we are searching for the strategist?”
“Use the reason that High Britannian captives had escaped We suspect that they had help from the inside, so no one is perive this order”
“That should be fine Well done”
“Thank you very ht away”
Germaine saluted and left the tent
Latreille leaned back onto his chair alone and looked up at the sky
“He’s dead huh… If I had done things better, ain, I… lost someone I wanted so badly”
He pulled open a drawer and took out a small wooden board
It was a painting
But it was ss, just the size of a palm On the canvas was —— a woman with black haired tied up by a hair band with floral patterns She wore a wide apron, and held a colour palette and brush in hand
Latreille sighed
“Beatrice… I won’t let you wait too long…”