Chapter 19.2

Chapter 19.2

「Mio, stop making that face.」

「That bad?」

「It’s on all of us.」

In the large room of the Alfemina Temple, Makoto was consoling Mio wearing a contentious (or, rather, concerned) face.

「For real. I’ve never screwed up this bad before…」

Haruna let out with a sigh, as she drew the magic circle according to Mio’s directions. She had said this at least a dozen times (by Makoto’s count). She was devastated that she didn’t think of it until the end, despite having the most time to check. Haruna felt like she had let down her partner, whom she had spent an intense, meaningful (albeit short) time together. Knowing Haruna, she would not let this go easily.

At the moment, though, they were working on constructing a stage to draw out everyone who was afflicted. The fact that they could not track everyone’s status of affliction (especially when it came down to the servants) combined with their plan to keep the enemy, now most likely with decreased decision making skills, in the dark from even a strategy as obvious as this one as long as possible, fueled them to avoid using Haruna’s singing for anything, and holding back on constructing the stage in the Temple so far, although that was a critical component of the plan.

To prepare, they had been setting up magic circles (as speakers) in as many places as they could think of while they were out and about giving away Japanese treats, and had tested them while no one was around. Now, they were checking the speaker placements that they had missed before, placing microphones, and constructing/linking magic circles and testing the speakers, all in a hurry. But Hiroshi’s recovery had put a dent in the pace of these things, leaving the girls without much time to wallow.

「It’s on all of us, Haruna.」

「I mean, you’d expect him to think of it, with everything he’s been through…」

Tatsuya said, and Makoto nodded in agreement. No one had expected Hiroshi, who had prepared all sorts of traps and contraptions, to not expect the possibility of the assassin being a woman at all. In hindsight, it would not have been a problem if Mio had stayed with Hiroshi. They all had to admit that they had overestimated Hiroshi’s defenses and mental strength.

「Get it together, Sensei…」

「Cut him some slack. I’m impressed that he didn’t let it get worse. This time around, and the time with Rayna.」

Tatsuya pulled back Mio from going solo and criticizing Hiroshi. When he had heard from Layotte that Hiroshi’s phobia hadn’t worsened, Tatsuya was thoroughly impressed. He wasn’t there during Rayna’s incident, but remembering Hiroshi’s stories from his past (which he had been told before in the real world) Tatsuya was legitimately concerned that Hiroshi would be unable to rejoin human society at all.

All things considered, Mio’s comment was out of line, and worthy of reprimand, but Tatsuya had decided to take a more diplomatic approach, thinking that scolding a teenage girl outright would only cause resistance.

「He can’t just keep…」

「Mio, I get it. Just don’t rush it.」

The two elders of the group pulled back Mio’s rushed response while still understanding her half-adoration and half-admiration (or more accurately, her infatuation with the thought of love) for Hiroshi.

「Just like the thing with the underwear, just because he stopped showing signs of his phobia from living with a girl for a couple of months, I think it’s still too risky to have him do anything that emphasizes the opposite sex.」

「If he won’t do it, he won’t get better.」

「That’s why I’m telling you not to rush it. It’s all for naught if he relapses. At the very least, wait until someone here, or like, Elle could be standing next to him without triggering him.」

「…I don’t want to see Sensei like this anymore. Pathetic. And in pain…」

With an expression of lost disappointment, Mio still stuck to her guns. Tatsuya and Makoto knew that Mio wasn’t just being selfish, so all they could produce were sighs. Without Mio saying anything, they knew that it was very likely for some of their enemies to be female, and for them to have to fight them directly. If that time comes without Hiroshi making any improvements that would put Hiroshi’s life in danger.

But as of now, even Haruna (the woman he could trust the most) could not come within three feet of Hiroshi without stressing him out. That was close enough for Haruna to take a step forward and touch him, but far enough that Hiroshi had to approach her for them to make contact without Haruna moving. Much improvement was needed.

Since the Mental Endurance stat didn’t necessarily translate to the same skillset in real-life, Hiroshi had to be the one to conquer his wounds on his own, and they shouldn’t try to put their hands in it. Because they understood this, Haruna kept her distance as she tried to maintain her independent normality, and Aearis searched for the right distance as she purposefully continued to show her affection.

Their concern and devotion was impressive, but asking Mio to do the same would have been cruel.

「In any case, Hiro’s the one who has it the worst. We can crack jokes about other stuff, but no matter how you feel, don’t you tell any of this to his face.」

「…I know…」

Mio knew already that she was saying things that maybe she should not have been. Still, she couldn’t grasp her emotions, causing her to blurt out almost aggressive words.

「Alright. The clock is ticking, so let’s hurry it up. Mio, what’s left?」

「Tatsu and Mako, place the finished product where they’re supposed to. Haru, the angle’s off there. And speed it up.」

「Okay, I’m on it!」

Under Mio’s direction, Haruna focused on preparing the chapel, an integral part of the plan. Tatsuya and Makoto left to place the small magic circles that would act as speakers in their place. They were worried that they were running out of time to finish the other preparations, but Hiroshi had joined them just in time to brute-force everything together in an astonishing speed.

「It seems that the Assassins’ Guild did not live up to its expectations.」

Hearing the news of the Assassins’ Guild falling first thing in the morning, Barold had relayed the news with an exasperated tone.

「I had expected them to fail, but captured alive and giving away information? And now the guild itself has been taken down. How pathetic.」

「As if you had nothing to do with it. With that much evidence, the King would surely come after us now, no matter how much the atmosphere in court discourages the royal family from exercising executive power. What are you going to do?」

「Naturally, we take the royal family down by force.」

Barold declared the impossible so casually that the nobles were left speechless.

「…By Force? We can’t gather enough man-power to take down the castle of Wulls on our own. Marquis Roano is the only one with a significant force to wield.」

「Besides, its harvest season. Many villages have planned their harvest festival for the end of the month. There’s a limit to conscripting farmers.」

「Besides. The farmers have received decent training, but they fall behind the soldiers of Wulls in equipment, skillset, and moral. It almost doesn’t matter how many of them we can gather up.」

The nobles jumped to explain how preposterous it was to take down Wulls and the royal family. Even though they were already backed into a corner, and had no loyalty for the royal family, none of them had the guts to back this particular horse.

「What if we could send all the soldiers we gathered into the castle?」

「…Still no good. Any soldiers we get from an emergency conscription will be useless inside the castle walls.」

Roano answered after pondering Barold’s idea for a moment.

「Why?」

「The power of the Alfemina Temple. Using Alfemina-sama’s blessing, everyone who hasn’t received a specific training will be rendered immobile. If we go in with a flood of soldiers, even the best men among them would be trapped in the sea of bodies. Unless you have some way to neutralize that power, Barold-dono?」

It was Barold’s turn to ponder. The best case scenario was the knights to start massacring the farmers on the spot, but he knew that was wishful thinking. For the same reason, even the trained soldiers will most likely be neutralized without many casualties. And while the affliction in the land was still low, Barold would be hard-pressed to kill all of Wulls’ knights at once.

「Hmm. If they are neutralized, kill them on the spot. I don’t know how many of them you can bring together, but if three thousand or so die overall, I can play one of my cards.」

「Are you mad!?」

After consideration, Barold had reached the selfish conclusion to replenish the affliction in the land by killing the nobles’ men. Naturally, his proposal was met with a disgusted shout. While he wasn’t too concerned about the lives of peasants (in fact, as long as they didn’t snuff out too many, they would replenish the population on their own. How convenient!) but killing their own men? They could kiss any reputation they had built up goodbye.

「Don’t act so surprised.」

「Marquis Roano…?」

「We all knew for a long time how insane this man is.」

With a long, sunken sigh, Roano said, giving up. He had no idea that he was afflicted beyond the point of no return.

「But we can’t kill thousands of men for no reason. I will only mobilize my private army, without conscripting any peasants.」

「How many would that be?」

「I can move two thousand of them, now. I had gathered that many yesterday. Beyond that, I would have to gather my men from all around my land, so they won’t be here in a day.」

「I see. We don’t have much time, so that shall do. As for everyone else?」

After hearing Roano, the nobles jumped to declare their contribution.

「Combine those with Mazzarack’s army, and we’ll have just about seven thousand…」

「Where is Count Mazzarack, speaking of?」

「After receiving word that we are to take the castle of Wulls, he seems to be preparing something.」

「To betray us?」

「Never. He could divulge everything he knows to the royal family, and it wouldn’t put a dent in his predicament with the law.」

Barold said. The rest of the nobles there could not say a word, as they were all in the same predicament as Count Mazzarack.

「Now, I would like to act tonight, if possible. Is it?」

Wincing at Barold’s deadline, the nobles still nodded, reluctantly. If they postponed their attack until tomorrow, everyone here would be arrested before they would have a chance to attack. The Assassins’ Guild had collapsed only that day, so confirming and researching the information given would take the royal family at least a day, according to Barold’s estimation, since he figured that even Layotte couldn’t detain nobles without complete documents of verified information.

「One last thing, Katrina-sama.」

「What is it?」

「In the worst case, this nation will never be the same again. Do you have any reservations?」

「A country that didn’t accept me? It can be reduced to dust, for all I care.」

With a sickening smile, Katrina responded with astounding self-centeredness. Her words were all the go-ahead they needed to push the revolt into motion.