Having finished turning the city of Sakart into a military base, we were summoned to Alhans, which fell into the hands of the liberation army, by Therese. Given that we obtained a military position that allows us to safely stay in range of the imperial capital, she apparently wants me, an excellent magician, to be at her side.
I don"t think that she was lonely as Burkhart-san and Dous.h.i.+ served as her guards during our absence, but in the end, Therese might be fixated on me.
Leaving Sakart, that had the majority of its construction work completed, to Popek and the others, I arrived at Alhans while taking Philip and Christoph along.
As might be expected from a city that"s treated as an auxiliary capital, its scale is even larger than that of Breitburg.
I have heard from Therese that she forced their surrender in the capitulation negotiations after cutting off their supplies with a siege strategy. Thanks to that there wasn"t any apparent damage to Alhans.

“I heard that you captured a nice place?” (Alfons)

“You might say I just went with the flow of events?” (Wendelin)

Alfons, who came to greet us, thanked us for securing the fortress and city of Sakart.
It was a place that wouldn"t really be all that useful, but thanks to me doing construction work to expand the city and the fortress, it seems to apply plenty of pressure on the rebel army.

“But, for it to be the city of Sakart… Since the fortress has been used as a storehouse for the local merchants for 30 years now, none of us realised its existence until we received the report.” (Alfons)

Given that its defence was doubtful as long as it wasn"t repaired, they probably wouldn"t have felt any necessity to go out of their way to take it. But before even that, there was apparently no one among the soldiers and n.o.bles who was aware of it.
According to Therese and Alfons, it"s a fortress that was abolished before they were born. So in the first place, it would be even a problem for them remembering it.

“It was a great help since we can apply pressure on the capital and the front line if we connect the road to Alhans. It looks like you serviced the roads quite a bit as well, doesn"t it?” (Alhans)

“I guess I had the spare time since there was no battle.” (Wendelin)

I haven"t had to fight almost at all in this time"s march.
It was limited to threatening Popek and his army with the 『Low-frequency Medical Device』 spell to make them surrender.
No, if I think back now, they surrendered under the jurisdiction of the liberation army while pretending to act like idiots, and then a.s.sisted in the reinforcement of the fortress and the city of Sakart. This will restore their own territories, which form an economic bloc… they may have predicted it up to this point. If they really did, they would be outrageously skilled people who can"t be measured with just the scale of being former imperial army elites.

◆◇◆◇◆

“Thou put forth great efforts, didn"t thou Wendelin?” (Therese)

“Great efforts?” (Wendelin)

Therese struggled with a mountain of doc.u.ments in the government office of Alhans.
Since the city is a metropolis under the direct control of the empire, it has turned into a huge workload to govern after the occupation.
Because there"s also the management of the prisoners that surrendered, a huge amount of doc.u.ments has piled up,

“Burkhart-san, you are sorting doc.u.ments?” (Wendelin)

“I suppose that"s because you and your group were absent, Earl-sama…” (Burkhart)

Since Elise and Ina went with us as well, Burkhart-san, who served as Therese"s guard, apparently ended up doing a part of our job. Given that he"s an intellectual who received a proper education, he can accomplish this kind of work as well.
That"s only obvious for a capable person who was cordially welcomed by Margrave Breithilde.

“Umm… what about uncle-sama?” (Elise)

“Elise-sama, do you really believe that Dous.h.i.+ can do something like handling doc.u.ments?” (Burkhart)

“Well… once in a long while, he probably does it as well…” (Elise)

Elise answers Burkhart-san"s question without confidence.
He"s certainly the type that runs away after pus.h.i.+ng it on someone else. The person, who had it forced upon them, probably can"t complain about it either.

“Isn"t he Therese-sama"s guard?” (Erwin)

“That should be the case, but…” (Haruka)

Due to Dous.h.i.+ not being at Therese"s side despite being her guard, Erw and Haruka showed expressions full of uneasiness.

“If you are looking for me, I"m here!” (Armstrong)

“It came out—!” (Erwin)

Erw was apparently startled by the sudden appearance of Dous.h.i.+.

“I was on standby in the room next to this. Erwin-lad, I"m properly carrying out my job as a guard!” (Armstrong)

“Oh, were you? But why aren"t you at Therese"s side then?” (Erwin)

“That"s obvious. It"s because I hate paperwork!” (Armstrong)

“To state that so boldly…” (Haruka)

Haruka became speechless due to the words of Dous.h.i.+ who always lives by his own instincts. She might have suffered a culture shock after seeing a human similar to Dous.h.i.+ for the first time.

“At any rate, it"s great that you have come. I suppose we will first split into groups and clean up this large amount of doc.u.ments?” (Therese)

“We have to do it as well!?” (Wendelin)

As she seems to be really at her wits" end, we are given the doc.u.ments that we can understand to check.
Of course, doing the last check and signing them was Therese"s job.

“Alfons-san isn"t here.” (Wilma)

Wilma notices that Alfons is gone without any of us realising.
When she asks the guards in front of the office, it looks like he went out to the city on business.

“As expected of my soul mate. He"s truly fast at running away…” (Wendelin)

I praised the quickness of Alfons" escape while checking doc.u.ments.
That"s because I believe this to be a skill that the current me desperately needs.

“I"m just wondering, but is it alright for us foreigners to look at these doc.u.ments?” (Wendelin)

“Do thou plan to leak the information?” (Therese)

Therese apparently heard my mutter and poses a question back to me.

“Well, that"s what I mean.” (Wendelin)

“Even if thou hand the information of these doc.u.ments to the kingdom after the war, it won"t be of any use as the information will be out of date. Even I wouldn"t hand thou any doc.u.ments that must not be leaked.” (Therese)

As expected, she apparently takes at least this much into consideration.

“But then again, if thou remained in the empire as mine husband, Wendelin, the opportunities for thou to come in contact with highly confidential information would likely increase.” (Therese)

“Therese-sama, this part here is wrong.” (Elise)

“Therese-sama, the budget entries of this doc.u.ment don"t add up. Also, this receipt is suspicious. You should give a warning to the person who handed it in.” (Ina)

Because Therese tried to seduce me once again, Elise and Ina interrupt her by thrusting inaccurate doc.u.ments in front of her nose.

“Thee two are unusually excellent.” (Therese)

Given that Elise is a perfect superwoman, her paperwork is perfect as well, and it has become common knowledge during this civil war that Ina is also quite good with this kind of work.

“Let me see… after adding 7 and 5, it moves up by one digit here… Huh? That"s correct, isn"t it? Somehow I feel unsure. Once more…” (Luise)

On the other hand, Luise, who mostly lives by intuition, was in dire distress in front of the huge amount of doc.u.ments.
In the end, everyone has things they are good at and things they are bad at.

“Katharina, this place is wrong.” (Wilma)

“That"s odd!” (Katharina)

Katharina can work through the paperwork quickly to some extent, but she makes quite a few mistakes.
On the other hand, Wilma is slow but accurate. She often pointed out Katharina"s mistakes.
These two might have contrasting characters, but their compatibility might actually be very good.

“I guess this kind of work is necessary as well, but…” (Erwin)

“Erw-san, let"s do our best. I will make daif.u.ku as a snack later.” (Haruka)

“Okay, I will keep at it, Haruksan.” (Erwin)

Erw and Haruka created their own little world.
Basically, Haruka skillfully incites Erw to do his work.
He"s already being dominated, but since Erw himself doesn"t think that to be the case, it"s no problem.

“(So this is a woman who wisely controls her husband while treating him with due respect…?)” I end up admiring her.

Since we finally put the doc.u.ments in order after around one hour, we decided to have a talk with Therese while having a little snack.

“I"m not really skilled at it, but…” (Haruka)

The snacks were the daif.u.ku Haruka had promised before.
The person herself, who made them, is humble about her own creation, but they weren"t inferior in any way to those sold at stores.

“They are delicious with their moderate sweetness, Haruksan.” (Erwin)

“Really? I"m happy.” (Haruka)

“Since you are skilled at cooking and sweets, I wasn"t worried at all.” (Erwin)

Looking at the two of them, it"s almost like a newly-wed couple sitting around the dining table.
When I incidentally look at Therese, she had an expression full of envy.
I pretend not to have noticed.

“The bean daif.u.ku and the salt daif.u.ku are tasty, too.”

“I wondered whether it would be alright to put salt into sweets, but the salty-sweet taste is addictive.”

Luise was apparently also pleased with the salt daif.u.ku she ate for the first time.

“By the way, what about strawberry daif.u.ku?” (Wendelin)

“Eh?” (Erwin)

“Strawberries and daif.u.ku?” (Haruka)

Erw and Haruka became speechless due to my remark.
In their minds, the combination of strawberries and daif.u.ku is probably impossible.

“That"s an odd combination, isn"t it? Is it going to be alright?” (Ina)

Ina is worried about the taste, but as a matter of fact, I have already experienced that taste.
In other words, the combination of strawberries and daif.u.ku is the best possible combination.
The strawberries in this world are smaller and sourer than the ones in j.a.pan, but in contrast, that should bring out their refres.h.i.+ng taste.

“If you order me to do it like that, Earl Baumeister-sama…” (Haruka)

There are still ingredients for daif.u.ku remaining and I have put several strawberries into my magic bag.
In accordance with my order, Haruka started to slowly make strawberry daif.u.ku.

“I"m anxious about the taste.” (Armstrong)

For a change, Dous.h.i.+ was worried about the taste, but since it"s extremely unlikely for him to get an upset stomach even if he eats something disgusting or rotten, I think that it"s a pointless concern for him.

“I"m done.” (Haruka)

“Wendelin-san, are these really alright?” (Katharina)

Katharina puts one into her mouth while looking anxious, but since it was something sweet, she would never reject it entirely.
I wonder though, is that okay with your diet?
That"s the only worrisome matter here.
The others all begin to sample the food simultaneously, but their initial worries were blown away immediately.
They started to give the strawberry daif.u.ku high praise.

“Dear, it"s very delicious.” (Elise)

“Huh? Even though it"s a strange combination, it"s tasty, isn"t it?” (Haruka)

Elise and Haruka, who are good at cooking, gave the strawberry daif.u.ku a high evaluation.

“You did well to come up with that, Wend.” (Luise)

“Really. How strange.” (Wilma)

“Hah, I"m blessed by a food G.o.d.” (Wendelin)

Luise and Wilma ate the strawberry daif.u.ku while admiring it.
It was a simple rip-off, but as long as no one knows that, it"s no real rip-off.
Besides, if you tell the people of this world that it was the revelation from G.o.d, there"s a high probability you will be believed.
It"s just the right cover to give them the slip.

“Leaving that aside, don"t we have to talk about the future from here on out?” (Burkhart)

Upon having that pointed out by Burkhart-san, who doesn"t have much interest in sweets, it was decided that we would finally hear the future plans from Therese.

“This sweet is tasty.” (Therese)

“Therese-sama.” (Burkhart)

Therese herself was too focused on the strawberry daif.u.ku. She had completely forgotten anything else until she was called out by Burkhart-san.

“We will march in the direction of the capital with the largest army as possible. Duke Nürnberg will likely be ready and waiting for us on the way.” (Therese)

Duke Nürnberg apparently wants to grasp victory by bringing the battle into the open field that suits him so much. It seems a written challenge was sent to Therese after the capture of Alhans.

“I wonder, is Duke Nürnberg bad at siege battles?”

“Rather than that, it"s because battles on the open field tend to finish faster.”

Since it will be spring soon, he probably wants to finish the civil war as fast as possible and start the reconstruction of the nation.
Both sides share the same opinion in this regard.

“If he thinks that, it would have been best if he hadn"t started a rebellion to begin with!” (Armstrong)

Dous.h.i.+ complains about Duke Nürnberg while stuffing his cheeks with strawberry daif.u.ku.

“It can"t be helped now. There are several plains near the capital where a large-scale battle is possible. He will probably wait for us on one of those.” (Therese)

For that reason Duke Nürnberg likely forced Mizuho"s national army and the Philip Dukedom"s feudal army, which are the main battle forces of the liberation army, to use their soldiers without wasting the combat forces of his proteges.

“Thanks to that he"s hated by the n.o.bles whom he used as sacrificial p.a.w.ns though.”

I guess it"s only natural for them to bear a grudge against Duke Nürnberg since they suffered losses from being treated as disposable.
However, it"s very likely that they will be crushed if they criticise him openly. Duke Nürnberg a.s.sembling his elites in the vicinity of the capital probably also serves as a restraint against them.

“Just so thou know, our side has been advancing various schemes as well. Expecting to be betrayed, Duke Nürnberg shouldn"t depend on anyone except the combat forces of his proteges.” (Therese)

“Well, I think that we can"t speak for others either though.” (Burkhart)

It"s as Burkhart-san says. Due to the lasting impact of the civil war, there are many opportunistic n.o.bles on both sides. They probably want to make sure of the winner as it concerns the life and death of their households, but the result is that more than half of the n.o.bles, who have joined the liberation army, can"t be relied upon. Our numbers have grown to be greater than those of the rebel army, but depending on the progress of the war, it wouldn"t be strange for some of them to betray us on the battlefield.

“Even if that"s true, we have to advance the reorganisation of the liberation army and push for the capital.” (Therese)

That"s the obvious choice since we have to settle the war sooner or later.

“I see. Please do your best.” (Wendelin)

“Wendelin, thou will support me, won"t thou?” (Therese)

“I will partic.i.p.ate in the battle, but Dous.h.i.+, Burkhart-san and I will have our hands full with opposing master.” (Wendelin)

Seeing that Duke Nürnberg is coming for us for real, there"s no way for Talrand not to partic.i.p.ate.
He has no reason not to summon master, who forced us into a dilemma, through 『Heroic Spirit Summon』.

“We have to defeat him, as we can"t leave it to the others.” (Wendelin)

“Thy master, huh…? He"s a dreadfully formidable enemy, as he can"t defy Duke Nürnberg.” (Therese)

“That"s why we will kill him next time. It will be troublesome if he escapes once again.” (Wendelin)

We cannot afford for master to be used by Duke Nürnberg any longer.
For that reason, it"s necessary to defeat master and have him return to heaven.

“I will leave the command of the kingdom"s forces to Philip and Christoph. We will settle things with master.” (Wendelin)

“That"s right. The next time is our best chance to defeat Alf.” (Burkhart)

“The previous time their side was overwhelmingly superior. As expected of Alfred, but you can"t say that he didn"t show any openings at all!” (Armstrong)

Given that we are setting up countermeasures, it shouldn"t turn into a hard battle like the last time, but if we don"t defeat him this time, master might use some kind of magic that will overpower us again. It"s also possible that Duke Nürnberg has prepared new magic tools. It will be pointless unless we go at him with the goal to definitely kill master.

“If master intrudes on the battlefield, it will become a disadvantage for the liberation army. The three of us will make sure to defeat him no matter what. We won"t have the leeway to help out the others.” (Wendelin)

“Got it. I guess average magicians won"t stand a chance at all. It"s fine for thou to go at it to thy heart"s content, Wendelin.” (Therese)

Therese permitted our independent action.

“Sorry.”

“What, he"s the benefactor of my precious person and yet is getting used against his will. Moreover, for that to be Duke Nürnberg"s doing… I didn"t expect Max to go this far.” (Therese)

“…”

I was grateful for Therese"s feelings, but I sensed a slight feeling of discomfort.
If someone defies the head of a nation to the extent of causing a rebellion, it"s natural for them to use anything they can. My irritation towards Duke Nürnberg is something attributed to him personally. It"s obvious for a statesman to adopt heartless strategies as necessary.
Does Therese have no readiness as a statesman?
I ended up thinking about something like that all of a sudden, but currently, it doesn"t matter. I stowed away that doubt within my heart for now.

“Once we finish the preparations, we will depart towards the imperial capital!” (Therese)

◆◇◆◇◆

And then, two days later, the liberation army that had departed with almost its entire force of 150,000 soldiers, confronted the approximately 90,000 soldiers of the rebel army led by Duke Nürnberg on the Sheena Plains, the empire"s biggest grain-producing area.

“That idiot! Is he telling us to battle in the biggest grain-producing region of the empire!?” (Therese)

Therese was enraged at Duke Nürnberg who challenged her to a large-scale battle at this time when the harvest of the winter wheat still hasn"t finished. That"s because it was inevitable for the farmers to raise their voices full of resentment due to the decline in the amount harvested.

“Duke Nürnberg… just what is that man thinking?” (Therese)

Therese looks towards the troop headquarters of the rebel army.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

“So you a.s.sembled here, did you Therese?” (Nürnberg)

Aren"t they well in order for a completely disorderly mob?
In that case, I guess we will go with the second plan?
Just when I was thinking this, that man spoke up to me with a voice that was bright to an unpleasant degree.

“Are we going to lose?” (Alfred)

That Earl Baumeister and his group are in that liberation army or whatever it was called.
I made Talrand summon Alfred Reinford, who cornered them in the previous battle, but his way of talking is as sarcastic as ever. Even while he follows our orders, I hate it that he intends to disobey me whenever he has a chance to do so.

“I have prepared a move so that we won"t lose. The same back at you; are you going to be able to win against Earl Baumeister"s group next time?” (Nürnberg)

“What will be will be.” (Alfred)

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, doesn"t he know whether he can or cannot win in this situation?

“What do you mean?” (Nürnberg)

“As I"m unable to go against Talrand"s orders, I will fight with all my power, but I told you before, I don"t improve since I"m a dead man. Since I"m dead, I don"t have any memory except that I was superior in the previous battle.” (Alfred)

“I suppose the memories of the dead are vague. I heard so from Talrand.” (Nürnberg)

However, I also heard that there are people who remember things clearly. It"s also possible that this guy is lying.

“For that reason, I can"t learn any combat teachings. I can only fight while relying on the experience from the time when I was alive. Wend and the others should have become stronger, using their previous defeat as a lesson. That"s why I can"t declare that I will be able to win without fail.” (Alfred)

“It"s an order. Win.” (Nürnberg)

“If I can win due to affirming that, I will do so as many times as you like.” (Alfred)

You are a dead person, so it"s no problem even if you die. But, Talrand is an important, trusted retainer for me. I will never permit you to lose.

“Retreat depending on the progress of the battle.” (Nürnberg)

There"s no need at all to force a final showdown here. As long as I have Talrand, he will serve as a restraint against Earl Baumeister who is in the process of increasing his influence within the liberation army. Trying to do the impossible and losing Talrand will be a huge loss.

“Withdraw before it"s too late. You are saying something absurd to someone who is about to enter a struggle to the death. There are situations where you can and cannot pull back.” (Alfred)

“Shut up! I"m a soldier. I"m different from you magicians and adventurers.” (Nürnberg)

Did you think that I understand the personal feelings of you guys?

“I will do my best. Well then, with this… ah, is that man doing fine? He has been adjusting the 『Puppets』, the excavated items, so—” (Alfred)

“Shut up! Go!” (Nürnberg)

I unintentionally raised my voice.
At any rate, just when did he learn about the existence of my trump card?
Having been summoned, this guy was absorbed into Talrand, so-to-speak.
Is that why he also knows the things Talrand does?
I"m not well-informed about magic, so I don"t quite get those kinds of circ.u.mstances.

“Don"t prattle about unnecessary things. You just have to concentrate on defeating Earl Baumeister and his friends.” (Nürnberg)

“I will try and do what I can. Well then, I guess I will return to Talrand for now…” (Alfred)

“Why do you return each and every time?” (Nürnberg)

“A battlefield filled with close-combat is scary. There are times when you suffer an unexpected, embarra.s.sing defeat. It"s easier to move while being Talrand who has a weak presence.” (Alfred)

Once Alfred says so, he returned to Talrand"s appearance. No, it was Talrand who made that call and said so.

“I shall excuse myself with this then.” (Talrand)

Saying so, that guy… no, Talrand left to the front line to search for Earl Baumeister"s group.
This isn"t the final, decisive battle, but a battle in the midst of a campaign.
I will leave the rest to Talrand. I have to focus on the command of the troops in order to achieve my goal.

＊　　　＊　　　＊