Chapter 141 (1/2)
Cleo lay on the bed in her room
Night had come, but even if she tried to, she couldn't sleep
The one who called over to her at that time was Millia
”Um, how should I put it…”
Having heard the circumstances, she had learned of the truth that the ht of as a friend had betrayed
For that sake, she tried to be tactful towards Cleo
”… I appreciate your thoughts towardsin tomorrow's ceremony, after all”
”S-so… if you're alright withyour fri–”
Millia's proposal received an immediate response
”Please stop right there! Don't say so like that…”
Millia was silenced
(I'm sure she must think I'ht before I die, I'm…)
To Cleo, failure couldn't be permitted in the next ritual
He had her obligation as a daughter of the royal house, and she had been told all her life to fulfill her duty
(I… even so, I must do my duty)
Cleo endured her tears as she waited for the sun to rise
The dungeon beneath the castle…
Before night gave way to dawn
A party of three with black robes over their bodies
Those three with their hoods pulled deep down ca in one of the cells
”Oy, you lot”
”What is it now? We just followed our orders and~”
The one who called out to the half-asleep faces of Ben, Pono and Passan was Emilio
Aleist stayed on high alert as he complained
”Is this place really supposed to be that easy to infiltrate?”
As he said that, Nate sounded fed-up
”You're the a the coainst Gaia's h”
Fro complimented like that only made him tilt his head
Of all else, he was surrounded by people
With all the trouble he went through in his student days, he would often wonder if his abilities were even high at all
The individuals he had met up to that point, from Aleist's eyes, they were all cheat-class characters
”You think? When I look at Rudel and the others, I can't help but fell I fall short Though I have put in some effort”
”… The very fact you can even coh level, senpai”
While the two of theotiated with the three
”S-so you had a reason like that!”
”Captain, let us help out! I don't want to stay useless like this”
”I don't want that either I feel sorry for the princess”
As Aleist hadn't been listening in to what they were saying, he tried asking Emilio as the man used the key to free them
”What exactly did you tell them to smooth it over?”
On those words, Emili's face turned just a little serious
But his expression immediately crumbled
”Nothing ood folk at heart So they're easy to deceive”
”You deceived them!?”
Quietly exclai tears as they left their cell
Returning his eyes to E a bit
It wasn't an unpleasant sht
”… I intended to let theet their help”
”In the end, what do you want to do? Saying you don't care, then helping these three”
Aleist tried weighing out Emilio
”It's probably true that he wants to save that princess called Cleo And they do call him boss”
Emilio was Cleo's real brother
Meaning he was a prince of this country
But his father Barquah devised a plan to send his own country to ruin
The ringleader behind the princess' attack was the king
(This is way too coh!!)
Dismayed, Aleist watched the form of Emilio issue orders to the three
By Emilio's plan, they would carefully cause explosions and fires across the palace and town to evacuate its residents
By Barquah's plan, the king would crush all hoht, he would use the ancient weapon to destroy the castle town
But nore for the influential people of the country to go along with such a plan
(A war against an ancient weapon… that event was never in the game)
Even if he knew this world wasn't a gas as events
Aleist shook his head to the side to change his train of thought
(I have to stop the of Celestia's plan, and the ancient weapon)
For that sake, Nate had set up contraptions across town
Mechanisms to produce smoke, to raise ruckuses around and direct people towards evacuation
”Alright, here are your orders If any explosions break out at the castle, you're to rouse all the folks in the barracks and have them help evacuate the residents Here's the official decree”
Eht and handed it over to the leader Ben
Accepting it, Ben took a nervous look over it
”C-captain, is it really alright forlike this?”
As the unshaven man trembled, Emilio dropped the bomb
”Don't worry… it's fake”
”Fake!!?”
On Pono's surprise, Emilio cautioned him to keep quiet
”We've ement for smoke to rise all over the place You are to prioritize evacuating the citizenry, and once that's done, your job is to protect theht?”
There was no doubt it was an important job
Hearing that, the three nodded with serious expressions E over their equip
”When you're done changing, keep a low profile until you hear the explosions You need only take advantage of the confusion to move as planned Make sure you properly carry out your orders”
”Leave it to us, captain!”
”We're finally starting to look like a unit!”
”And the captain is actually relying on us!”
Once the three started changing, Aleist checked over the scheduled time with Nate
”It should be happening soon, right?”
”Yes Right about…”
At that instant
The sound of an explosion rung through the castle walls Hearing that, everyone's expression turned to surprise
”What is theof this!?”
As Emilio drew close to Nate, the party-of-three looked around nervously Aleist was the same, but he calmly looked at Nate
”The scale of that explosion was strange… it's not the one I set”
Hearing that, Aleist did hit on so
(… The ones specialized for this sort of thing, if I recall correctly…)
Izued slashes with a black-robed assembly in a palace corridor
Her drawn katana cut at the mechanical soldiers before her eyes
On her horizontal swipe, her foe leapt back to take distance But seeing the cracks spread down his aruarded, the machine man's wariness instantly spiked
Behind Izuhts and soldiers of Celestia as well
”… Judging by the uniforht of Courtois”
The mechanical soldiers lowered their hips and came at her at once in a coordinated assault
”Kuh!”
Izu with elites, as even if shefatal As she drew her sword back in, she cut the ene before her eyes
But the sensation she God wasn't that of human flesh
”So these are theabout”
Izumi looked around to see a nuround In that space, a nuh
But Izumi didn't move
Because in order to confine her, a few enemies had remained
”H-High Knight! Just what could-”
A Celestian knight asked in dismay, but all Izumi kneas the fact her opponents were soldiers of Gaia
”We are dealing with a unit from the Gaia Empire Be careful… they're elites”
As Izumi took a stance, her foe did the same
Of course, the enemy's main objective was to buy tio on the offense
On top of the presence of enemy and ally forces around her, the narrow corridor made it difficult for Izumi to move around
(How shameful… to think I would be this useless in a real battle)
Deeply vexed, Izumi stepped in and cut
Her opponent leapt back and used a projectile