Chapter 43 – The Die Is Cast

Episode 43 The die is thrown

“Yes? Are you with me?”

“Huh. Number of animals. With you
I need you
That way, I can easily reach the goal I want.”

I briefly told you what I had found out.

When I was accompanied by the hero Alberic, I entered into some kind of pact and approached his personal secret affairs.

And during a conversation with Princess Anne, she found out that Stella, the princess of the stars, was actually trapped in the Constellation Tower.

The fact that the star princess and Princess Anne have a difficult relationship with Catherine the First.

… Alberic’s request for an aphrodisiac and affair were top-notch information, so he didn’t disclose it even to his subordinates.

This is fatal information even if it leaks to allies.
If someone tries to take advantage of it before me, and Alberic starts to be wary, there is no answer.

“When I put the above three things together, I have to go to the palace again.
Anyway, I have a reason to return the funeral clothes and get the wagon back.
There’s also Princess Anne’s pass.
If the Saint of the Sun visits her and expresses her opinion, Princess Anne will be happy too.”

“But, Kamyu-nim.
Just because I’m going, won’t I give you any new information?”

Because Marianne also suffered from the Cathedral Terror like me, what she witnessed is the same.

“Did you get any information on the inside of the cathedral?
That’s about as much as Ludwig has heard, so there must have been more stories from inside.”

Marianne shook her head slowly.

“Since I’ve been concentrating on preparing for the funeral…
Moreover, the High Priests of the Cathedral are intentionally excluding me from the High Priest’s Meeting or Priest’s Meeting.
As a saint, she was allowed to attend all meetings…
They are rejecting me by unreasonably expanding and interpreting the exception rules that I cannot observe.”

“Hmm, it must be because people are stabbed.
You’re probably the most annoying insider.
But can’t you also find out from people you know personally?”

“I plan on doing that when I go back.
Oh!
Come to think of it, I heard something while preparing for the funeral.
High Priest William, who was a rival of High Priest Philip, also agreed with the proclamation of this Crusade.
And after that, she locks herself in her room and won’t come out.”

If Marianne puts her memories together in her flash,

“Anyway, it seems that High Commissioner William is in danger of being displaced after being forced to agree to the proclamation of the Holy War.
It would be nice if you could keep your rivals in check…
Anyway, this should be enough for her to inform Princess Anne.
If possible, listen to the circumstances inside the royal family.”

After her meeting, Marianne and I decided to set off for the palace.

Zach decided to stay at the store with Eva and wait for news from Master or Van Dark just in case.

“Ludvik.
Gather some guys who can be used as bodyguards.
I will hypnotize him and take him with me.”

“Yes.”

“Zach, you’re thinking about the infiltration route while watching this.
In case of emergency, you may have to go in to get information.”

“Let’s see,
Maps, guard shift hours, patrol routes…
The building is very large,
Where are you?”

“Princess Anne’s Villa.
The inner palace is only brief, so just refer to it.”

“… You don’t want to see me rest.”

“You rested yesterday.”

I set off for Princess Anne’s villa with Marianne.

* * *

We arrived at the entrance of the Winter Palace, Princess Anne’s detached palace.

“Hey, guardsman. How have you been?”

“Yes! How have you been?
Welcome to the Winter Palace!”

As expected, hypnosis is the best when words don’t work.
Are you polite right away?

“Hasn’t anyone come and gone in particular?”

“Yes.
Princess Catherine and Princess Grace have visited.”

“Okay? Hero Alberic?”

“I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”

“Okay, good job.
Share it with your friends.”

Hand over the sweets with hypnosis accelerators.
On the way out, I’ll have to hang up hints to the guards and shift staff.
Now that the Royal Magicians have returned to the palace, I need to keep an eye on them.

I went to the parlor of the outer palace and sent a message to Princess Anne that I had accompanied Marianne, the Saint of the Sun, and wanted to meet her.

The target of the message was Mercy, the handmaid who hypnotized him the other day.

“Hey, Mercy.
Do you have any information you asked for?”

“Ah… Yes.
First of all, Hero Alberic is staying at the Northern Palace where Princess Catherine is.
You’re spending time with your little son.
Alberic-nim is dying of love from his son.”

“Hmm,
It’s when the kid is in the middle of the day, so it’s worth being cute.
And?”

“His Highness has not been able to eat well for the past few days.
Originally, he was overweight, so he ate a lot…
Have you been overwhelmed with work since the declaration of the holy war or under pressure…
They say they barely pass on soft food like soup…”

“Hmmmm. Good. And?”

“Lastly, Princess Catherine recently held a party with aristocratic women to express their intention to participate in the holy war.
They say they ask.”

“You are to join the holy war,
Are you telling me not to?”

“I don’t know that either.
Let’s find out more.”

“OK got it.
It was a lot of work.
Be sure to share this snack with your friends.”

“Thank you.”

Give Mercy a snack full of hypnosis boosters.

* * *

After waiting for quite a long time, a message came telling me to come into the inner palace.

An outdoor terrace prepared in one corner of the inner palace garden.
A place surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees.
Milk tea and snacks are prepared on the table, and Princess Anne is sitting at the table and admiring the flowers.

“Welcome, saintess. Mr. Kamu Abubakr.”

“Meet the princess.”

Say hello and take a seat.
A lady-in-waiting picks an orange freshly picked from an orange tree and bursts it by stepping on it.
Then, the fragrant orange scent spreads across the terrace.
It wasn’t for food, it was for use like that.

“I was once gifted with a scented orange tree from the South.
There, they say that when a king or a welcome guest passes by, they open a strongly scented orange to welcome them.”

“Thank you for such a big welcome, Mama.”

Wow, can I eat that?
Is the scent that strong?

Noticing my gaze, Princess Anne smiled.

“It was used for scent, so it didn’t taste good.”

“Ahaha, is that so?
It’s amazing.”

Have you tried it yourself?
Even if the body is weak,
She is a princess with strong curiosity and execution power.

Said Princess Anne, looking down at her car.

“Lady.
I heard about the death of a friend of hers.
I’m so sorry…
He was always with me…”

“… Thank you for comforting me.
Thanks to you, I can muster courage.”

Princess Anne raises her eyes again and looks at Marianne.

“By courage, are you planning to head to the battlefield again?”

“No.
We will drive out the traitors from the cathedral and carry out reforms.”

“!”

Eh, Marie?!
What if you suddenly rushed like that?!
Princess Anne covers her embarrassed face with her cup, pretending to drink her tea.

“Traitors of the cathedral.
You are saying something dangerous.”

“Princess Anne and Her Highness must have guessed.
From the raid I received, to the cathedral terrorism.
That this is impossible without insider complicity.
How could the demon king’s army hide away from the detection of countless priests and nuns in the sacred cathedral without the help of insiders?
It is impossible to systematically hide dozens of people, control access and keep their mouths shut, unless it is at least a high official level.”

“…”

Princess Anne quietly nodded her head.
But she hasn’t said anything yet.

“And what about Hero Alberic’s intrusion?
How did he, who was chasing the movement of the demon king army found in the refugee camp, appear at the right time at the cathedral terrorism?
I know because I accompanied him until the day before.
He said that he was heading to the refugee camp, came back with me, and said that he would break up with me and start again.”

“… Couldn’t he have discovered the terror while staying in the capital for a while after taking the saintess?”

I’m surprised
I never thought Princess Anne would dispute Marianne’s thesis.
I thought Princess Anne could guess the truth of this situation to some extent.
It was like that in the last conversation too.
So you invited me to stay overnight.

“It could be.
But I saw.
Instead of running away, a soldier from the Demon King’s Army deliberately threw himself into the middle of a crowded plaza.
The demon wanted to excite people by revealing itself.
And died proudly at the hands of Alberic.
High Priest Philip appeared on behalf of the Pope and encouraged the Crusade.
Don’t you think it’s too artificial?”

Marianne leaned forward somewhat excitedly.
In contrast, Princess Anne calmly drank her milk tea and set it down.

“How about this excuse?
‘The hero Alberic arrived at the capital to escort the saint of the sun, and stayed for a few days to take care of his family.
Thanks to his superior abilities, he sensed the magic power of the cathedral terror and was the first to run to stop the terror.’
Isn’t it realistic?”

I am speechless.
It would not be easy for anyone who was not present to criticize or doubt Alberic after hearing this.

Princess Anne calmly continued her words.

“How about something like this?
‘Princess Philip, who evacuated the Pope from a sudden attack by demons.
He was fully prepared for the attack on the Saint of the Sun, so he was able to react quickly to the attack.
And seeing the members of the cathedral die, righteous rage rose up.
So I called for a holy war in front of the crowd.’
Sounds like it, doesn’t it?”

This.
Marianne just bowed her head at Princess Anne’s words and quietly clenched her fists.

“Don’t be too upset.
Both the saintess and Mr. Kamyu.
It means that they will always make excuses like that, and there will be people who believe that way.”

This guy, his insight is no joke.
If she hadn’t been weak, she would have gone head-to-head with Princess Catherine over her throne.

… Wait, didn’t I mention that a minor princess with a normal body is now imprisoned in the Constellation Tower?
Then maybe?

“Princess Mama.
High Priest Philip and his rival, High Priest William, are also placed under confinement in the room.
First of all, if you free him and gather those who want reform inside the cathedral… !
Even if we can’t stop the Holy War, we will be able to punish those who are in liaison with the Demon King’s Army.”

At Marianne’s barely uttered words, Princess Anne gently closes her eyes.

“Even Obama is aware of the current situation.
After Mr. Kamu went, I met him too.
After hearing the saintess’ words, I feel even more confident.”

This princess, her face is pale, but her eyes full of dark circles attract people.

“Abama said this.
‘The reality is scarier than the truth.’
The saintess’ claim is very dangerous.
To yourself
As long as the current crusade has been approved by the pope, other than the inside conspirators in collusion with the demon king’s army, stakeholders in this crusade will also try to harm those who stand in their way.
Words and actions that attack the current claimants of the temple will soon be regarded as obstruction of the temple.”

“…”

I am speechless.
The temple is the best business item of the Sun God.
In addition, a chance to catch a share of the lower nobles, nameless knights, and insignificant serfs through plunder.
There are also those who wish to continue this temple.

“The Sunsin Church is already conducting a large-scale fundraising campaign to support the temple.
Indemnity will also be issued to participants for a fee.
Good for cathedrals… It will be a source of income.
The Templars are gathering supporters of war near the capital.
Lesser nobles and knights are responding.”

The wheel was already spinning out of control.

“In addition, the Church of the Sun God put forward an interesting idea.
‘The Great Humanity Co-Prosperity Sphere.’
In other words, let’s establish a ‘Great Humanity Co-Prosperity Sphere’ in which only humans live together, excluding demons, beastmen, and fairies.
Commoners, especially war refugees, are responding enthusiastically.
They have family members who were killed by demons and beastmen.”

Marianne shook her shoulders, but she said nothing.

Princess Anne looked at her Marianne with deep eyes and declared.

“The chance to stop the crusade with a handful of truth has passed.
The die is cast.”