Whoooosh.

A desolate wind swept through the rugged mountain range where, only a few hours before, Balkanian banners had been flying.

"......"

The Mekerel soldiers who arrived there witnessed something deeply strange. Every one of them held their breath and stared at the scene before them.

"What on earth happened here?"

"It looks like... like a ghost swept through."

The garrison's communication lines, ammunition stores, weapons, and food warehouses, along with all the other military supplies and equipment, had been left perfectly intact. Only the enemy soldiers had been turned into corpses, scattered across the road.

There was no need for confusion, though. The orders that had come down from Mekerel high command were brief.

"Occupy the garrison and capture the remaining weapons to build a defensive line. Maintain absolute silence regarding what you have witnessed."

The Mekerel soldiers had their questions about the scene, but they moved quickly regardless.

"We need to use this garrison as a defensive strongpoint, so check the interior."

While the soldiers swept the garrison, the Mekerel commander crouched down and studied the Balkanian bodies carefully.

Clean cross-sections where the throats had been cut. Every wound on every corpse was neat, as if drawn with a ruler.

All of them, the work of a single perpetrator.

If over a hundred armed soldiers had been slaughtered by a single individual, one could hazily guess what kind of being was responsible.

But that was not something to say out loud.

"......Everyone. Gather all the bodies and burn them."

The commander's order echoed quietly through the mountain passes.

......

I met with Batimus, the king of Mekerel.

My clothes were not the conspicuous knight's uniform but plain, shabby commoner's wear. This was a top-secret mission; the Empire's involvement had to stay hidden.

Whatever suspicions Balkania might form were unavoidable, but physical evidence could not be left behind.

"I received the report."

King Batimus opened with a hard expression on his face.

"They say twelve enemy garrisons were taken in a single night."

"That is fortunate."

He spoke in the Mekerel language, and I answered in kind. Interpreters had been excluded from every stage of the process.

One of the reasons I go to the trouble of learning languages is that interpreters are a risk.

There were records showing that a considerable number of information leaks had originated in the translation process.

"I don't know how to express my gratitude."

King Batimus let out a deep sigh.

"Every nation on the continent turned its back on us......"

Even as he gave his thanks, a deep wariness lurked in his eyes.

Before the regression, Batimus had managed to keep Mekerel alive as an independent state through resistance and diplomacy, even while Balkanian invasion ground across his land. After the continental war, he had even laid down his royal authority and proclaimed a "republic" of popular sovereignty, a genuine rarity in history.

"All we need from you is to make sure the food keeps coming."

I tossed out a deliberately light joke.

The knights deployed to the operation were probably stuffing themselves right now.

A single knight could deliver the combat power of a battalion, but the energy cost was equally terrible. After a forced march and high-intensity combat that pushed mana and stamina to the extreme, a minimum of tens of thousands of calories had to be replenished. Enduring that hunger through willpower alone was also part of what it meant to be a knight, of course.

"Meals have been prepared without shortage. Do not worry."

I smiled faintly at the king's words.

"Ah, by the way, Your Majesty. It seems that not only weapons but also communication equipment will be loaded at the southern port before long."

Communications were among the most important elements on the front line. The brain of the operation, in practical terms, the thing that let an army move as one cohesive body.

But Batimus's expression hardened.

"......Knight of the Empire. What is it the Empire actually wants?"

He was wary of the Empire. He knew well that no such thing as a cost-free favor existed, and that the hand extended by a great power like the Empire was more dangerous than almost anything else.

"The Empire wants peace for smaller nations."

I kept a relaxed smile on my face.

"However."

Lowering my voice, I pointed to a location marked on the map of Mekerel.

"For that, we would first need to discuss the 'Lundar' region in southeastern Mekerel."

"......You mean Izenheim."

The king grasped my intention immediately.

"Yes. Precisely."

In southeastern Mekerel, there was an Izenheim settlement. The population itself was very small, perhaps 0.1 to 0.2 percent of the total. They had fled there centuries ago to escape persecution, and the general assessment was that they had become fully assimilated into Mekerel, but naturally that was not how things were.

"Izenheim are a subspecies, Your Majesty."

The price for the Empire supplying weapons and sending knights to collapse the enemy lines.

I would take the Izenheim who had coiled themselves into Mekerel.

"If you intend to shelter the enemies of humanity known as Izenheim, that means you intend to become an enemy of the Empire."

"......"

King Batimus cared for Mekerel. He was not simply a kind-hearted man. To be a great ruler, one had to be capable of making hard decisions.

"But, knight of the Empire. Balkania is already convinced the Empire is backing Mekerel. If this incident spreads outward, that conviction will only deepen."

In exchange for handing over the Izenheim, Batimus, as king of Mekerel, demanded a clear commitment from the Empire.

"Between Balkania and Mekerel, can the Empire truly choose Mekerel without reservation? I cannot bring myself to believe that."

A natural smile spread across my lips.

"......The Empire's answer."

I knew the future. The alliance between the Empire and Balkania was something I would reject outright. Becoming their enemy was far preferable.

No, we had to become their enemy.

"Will be delivered to Your Majesty through action before long."

Balkania's army was that incompetent, a byword for a rabble without discipline.

......

After finishing the meeting with King Batimus, I walked quietly through the streets of Mekerel for a while in the afternoon.

"Hm......"

Standing in silence and watching the people of Mekerel, I noticed something strange.

Here, just as in Kanillan, the presence of Izenheim was remarkably thin.

Among the countless people near the capital, not a single one was Izenheim.

"......Why is that."

Izenheim.

The otherworldly species that yearned for humanity's annihilation.

Why had they not entrenched themselves in the heart of Mekerel? Why had they gathered in a settlement at a specific location instead?

"......"

Before the regression, Edmond had said that the underground cities they had dug were meant to summon beings from another world.

Then what "conditions" had been needed to open those Dimension Gates?

"Underground......"

Digging through eastern soil via the labor reeducation camps, slipping beneath the Empire to build underground cities.

Were they inscribing their own kind of magic to trigger the Dimension Gates?

Magic required a price, though. Even they could not produce magic without cost......

A thought flickered through my mind.

"Above ground."

The war that would soon be fought on the surface. Slaughter and destruction. The despair, the resentment, and the life force pouring out of tens of millions of dying people.

If all of that seeped down underground......

"......Tch."

It was still nothing more than speculation. The purpose itself was certain, though. The extermination of humanity. Only the process and the means remained hidden behind fog, and from a great distance I was still groping for their intent.

Still, I was no longer alone.

Somewhere out there, watching over me with the All-Seeing Eye, Filty would eventually reach the same answer.

I was still waiting for the person who would walk alongside me before long.

* * *

At the imperial palace, meanwhile.

"......So. What is it you're actually trying to say?"

Leutern II sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, glaring at the Balkanian diplomat.

"I have come to inform you that Duke Leutern's support for Mekerel could escalate into a serious diplomatic issue."

The diplomat spoke in a stiff tone. His name was Giovanni, a Balkanian diplomat who had been stationed at the imperial embassy for quite a long time.

"What support? Support for Mekerel?"

"Yes."

Support for Mekerel. That was probably referring to the speech he had given at the Noble Assembly session.

"Oh, come on...... you call that a diplomatic issue?"

Leutern II gave a contemptuous snort.

"Your Prime Minister, that bald bastard, was going around badmouthing our imperial royals first. Calling us leeches feeding off the heart of the Empire?"

"Please watch your language, Duke Leutern."

The diplomat's brow twitched.

"You watch your language first, you peasant. Do you know who you're looking at right now? Do you even know who I am?"

Leutern's eyes went wide and hard. It had been a while since he had run into someone who brought out the old temper.

"Even so, Duke Leutern provided military support to Mekerel-"

"What support! Do you have proof?!"

"Circumstantially-"

"So you have no proof? And listen here, your side was the one calling us parasites first! How does a parasite provide support to anyone?! Well?!"

Leutern raised his voice and jabbed a finger at the diplomat, but the diplomat kept his composure. As a result, only Leutern's shouting rang loudly through the reception room.

"Two days ago. Twelve Balkanian garrisons were taken by Mekerel."

"Congratulations. Isn't that just because your lot are incompetent?"

"Mekerel does not possess the capability to strike twelve Balkanian garrisons simultaneously." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The diplomat's glasses flashed coldly. Leutern let out a hollow laugh.

"Maybe you assessed them poorly. Ever heard of knowing yourself and your enemy? Idiot! And besides, why are you telling me about your problems? Sebastian is somewhere around here, go see him!"

If this was a military grievance, Sebastian was the one to approach. But they didn't have the nerve to go to Sebastian, yet they came here to pull this, and it put him in a foul mood.

Even so, the diplomat launched into a lengthy series of points, but Leutern II half-listened and waved him off.

"Get out. Before I kill you."

In the end the diplomat left with nothing to show for it, and Leutern II irritably ran a hand through his hair.

"God, that guy really pisses me off."

He paced around the room fuming, then muttered under his breath.

"This is so damn annoying. Did you see those eyes staring at me? I almost gouged them out right there."

Ugh, I'm furious.

I've mellowed out a lot. Back in the old days I would have just killed him. I must be getting old.

Leutern threw a few punches into the air and then flopped down hard onto the sofa.

"Ahh......"

He lay there huffing hot sighs, and then.

"......I feel like garbage. I can't take it."

He rounded up a few people with nothing to do that day and headed out.

They went to Lilac Vita and ate and drank through the night, then he came back to the annex and collapsed onto the bed.

Sssslip, he was asleep before he knew it.

"Grrrrzzz......"

Snoring away. How many hours had he been dead to the world.

Knock knock.

A knock at the door.

Knock knock.

His eyelids fluttered open.

"Haaaaah...... what. Who is it."

At the yawn-soaked call, the door opened and Bern, his guard knight, stepped in.

"Duke Leutern."

"What."

He answered and checked the clock. It had already turned eight in the evening, and his whole body felt heavy and stiff from the hangover.

"What is it."

More than that, Bern's expression was far too serious.

"What now?"

"Just now, at the border region, the Balkanian diplomat......"

Bern reported in a low, grave tone.

"Has reportedly passed away in a bombing."

"......?"

Leutern's eyes blinked.

"......The diplomat? That guy who came, what, yesterday?"

"Yes. Diplomat Giovanni from two days ago. The party behind it has not been identified yet, but......"

"Huh?"

Leutern asked blankly.

"Wasn't it Mekerel that bombed him? Looking at his personality, he seemed like exactly the type to get himself blown up."

A casual murmur. Bern watched him with a somewhat blank expression, then bowed his head.

"At present...... it appears likely to be the work of Mekerel."

"Yeah, probably. I'm sure of it."

"......"

Leutern's word, that it was Mekerel's doing.

Whether it was true or not, the intent was to make it look that way, at a minimum.

"......Yes. Understood."

Bern accepted Leutern's meaning.

"Wow, that gave me a scare. Anyway, go on. I need to get back to sleep."

Honestly, it was all so sudden it felt like a dream. The hangover was still hitting him too hard on top of it.

"I will take my leave. Rest well."

"Mm......"

He slowly burrowed back under the covers.

* * *

On a sunny afternoon, a meeting of distinguished minds was underway at Prozen National University.

Professor Jean Pierre of Prozen guided Arthur Winston, a towering figure from the prestigious island nation of Hyland's Octopus University, into his office.

"Good to meet you, Sir Arthur."

"It has been a while, Jean. Still buried in your books, I see."

They greeted each other warmly and settled onto a sofa across from each other. Lately, the two scholars' conversations had always gravitated toward the coming war and continental affairs.

"I hear the front between Balkania and Mekerel has reached a stalemate."

Sir Arthur Winston lifted his teacup and opened the subject. Jean Pierre nodded with a sour expression.

"According to Mekerel's announcement, they recently reclaimed part of the northern mountain region."

Arthur gave a dismissive snort and set his teacup down.

"There is no chance Mekerel pushed back Balkania's regular army on its own. Imperial military assistance was almost certainly involved."

Even without clear physical evidence, the Empire's involvement was an open secret among the continent's leadership and scholars.

"It seems Balkania's invasion unexpectedly rubbed the Empire quite the wrong way."

At Jean Pierre's words, Arthur gave a small laugh. He fitted his pipe between his lips and murmured a name.

"Leutern. Are you familiar with him?"

"......Yes. I have been hearing the name fairly often."

Leutern. A member of the imperial family who had been making his presence felt across the continent lately.

"The story of Prime Minister Agento badmouthing the imperial royals is well-known. Apparently the newly risen Leutern heard those words and was furious."

Jean Pierre pricked up his ears. This was part of his education. The inner workings of the imperial palace were still unfamiliar territory for him.

"And Leutern II is a very volatile man. The fact that he staged a false bombing to purge his political enemies is already widely known, and it is Leutern himself who is behind the weapons support flowing to Balkania."

"Leutern II, supporting Mekerel?"

"Yes."

Fwooo. Sir Arthur blew out a stream of pipe smoke and continued.

"If Maximilian is outside the palace, Leutern is inside it. That is what Empire scholars are saying these days."

"......I see. Then-"

Just as the two professors were about to dive deeper into discussion of the Empire's moves,

Bang!

The office door swung open hard and a graduate assistant came sprinting in, breathless.

"P-Professor! Breaking news just came in! Balkania's diplomat assigned to the Empire was killed instantly in a bombing at the border region!"

At that moment, the color drained from both Jean Pierre's and Arthur's faces.