The second possibility is, no matter what Diana and Cattleya actually think, they’ll back down for now. This is the alternative that’s easiest on Claude. He can just have Vica take over and deal with the rest.

  The last option is also the most troublesome one.

  They’ll ask for my cooperation. The situation will be complicated whether I refuse or accept… The worst-case scenario will be if Aileen and the others have been captured.

  However, on beautifully clear, peaceful days like this, bad premonitions always prove to be correct.

  “Ernst, I’m sorry. I’d like to speak with His Majesty alone.”

  Claude has been holed up in his office since morning, approving documents, when Cattleya comes to see him. Ernst gives him a questioning look, and Claude nods. It would be stranger to refuse her. Ernst appears uneasy, but that’s probably inevitable.

  They’ve already done everything they can.

  “Master Claude,” Cattleya says, once they’re alone. She must intend for this to be a personal conversation. Claude clasps his hands on the desk and waits for her to continue.

  “I’m told you sent an official notice to the newspapers telling them to refrain from printing articles about the empress. Thank you very much.”

  “It was the natural thing to do. Business like that will impact the authority of the imperial family. Even as a substitute, I can’t overlook it.”

  “It was done too skillfully, so we investigated as well. It appears that a journalist from Ellmeyer was behind it. I’m told he’s a friend of Lady Aileen’s. A disaster for you, too, isn’t it?”

  Even though Claude braced himself, he looks stunned. Cattleya smiles wryly. “I’ve heard that life was hard for Lady Aileen in Ellmeyer, since others constantly compared her to the Maid of the Sacred Sword. Diana’s position is similar, and seeing her must have made Lady Aileen uneasy. Articles the journalist prepared to curry favor with Lady Aileen have been circulating.”

  “I don’t think my wife is like that…” Claude accidentally lets slip what he actually believes. As a result, his words come across as quite genuine.

  Cattleya gives him a sympathetic look. “We aren’t sure yet whether Lady Aileen actively issued instructions…but it appears you really didn’t know.”

  “Yes, this is the first I’ve heard of it… I never even dreamed a thing like this could happen.”

  “Women are frightening, Master Claude. Especially when they fear their husband or lover may be taken from them, many women will go completely out of control. Lady Aileen must be that type. I’m not saying there was any malice behind it. However, in terms of how she behaved toward the empress of another country, it was very poorly thought out. I managed to calm Diana down, but…”

  “I’m sorry for the trouble we’ve caused you. Once I’m home, I’ll lecture her thoroughly.”

  His wife does let things get out of hand quite often. Cattleya isn’t technically wrong about that, so his apology is also very sincere.

  This development is concerning, though. Something Claude did has been blamed on “Aileen going out of control.” Isaac and Jasper would never make a mistake like that. If it came down to it, they would cheerfully have sold Claude out to Cattleya’s faction instead.

  That means this information was intentionally leaked, and he doesn’t know why.

  “We were the ones who asked you to act as a substitute. I can’t speak too harshly. No doubt Lady Aileen was privately unhappy with the idea. Master Claude, is life difficult for you in Ellmeyer?”

  He’d been confident he could calmly handle anything she said to him, and yet his expression tenses.

  “I’m told the power of Lady Aileen’s family was a large factor behind your installation as emperor. However, the house of d’Autriche was also a driving force behind your disinheritance. Was your marriage and ascension to the throne truly what you wanted? Is it painful for you? You’re in Kilvas now; no one is listening. Please tell me what you really— Master Claude?”

  “Uh…… No, I…”

  The act he’d planned to put on has been completely blown away. At his wits’ end, Claude covers his mouth and averts his eyes. To Cattleya, it may look as if he’s suffering.

  So that’s what they were after!

  Jasper and Isaac falsified foolish behavior on Aileen’s part in order to provoke Cattleya into inviting Claude to join the other side. His wife’s right-hand man may genuinely have sold him out. He might even be thinking of having him disposed of, along with these people. Claude’s starting feel that, if he makes a single wrong move here, it will be fatal to his dignity as a husband.

  “Actually, Master Claude, just between you and me…,” Cattleya begins. Claude looks up. She’s calm, and he can’t tell how far she’s managed to read his mind. After all, she’s no fool. “…the demons are growing more active. I think it’s because Vica is near them.”

  “You’ve found Vica? Where…?”

  “Beyond the Warrior Maidens’ Great Wall—the wall meant to keep the demons at bay. Vica seems to have gone there to meet them. We believe he orchestrated the attack on himself. Ernst was probably his accomplice. I’ve asked my subordinates to restrain him so he can be questioned.”

  Claude’s eyes go to the door Ernst left through, then return to Cattleya. She’s impossibly calm. “I apologize for dragging you into this.”

  “…Then am I being dismissed?”

  “That is what I would like to discuss with you. Vica is on the verge of transforming into a demon. Just as you did, Master Claude.”

  “I’m the demon king. Vica is human. He isn’t even a cambion. I doubt there’s any reason for him to turn into a demon.” Claude has a bad feeling about this, so he tries to take the conversation as far off-topic as possible.

  However, Cattleya continues impassively, “In order for Hausel to maintain its authority and remain a global power, they needed the demon king. There was too much uncertainty in simply waiting for Ellmeyer’s legend to come to pass. A century or two would be one thing, but if it took longer… And so Hausel attempted to artificially create a demon king by performing the Valkyrie surgery on men. Or perhaps a surgery meant to create the demon king was repurposed for the Valkyries. Either way, the first emperor of Kilvas was their only success.”

  Claude’s eyes widen. Cattleya flashes a troubled smile. “Now you understand why the imperial family of Kilvas received support from Hausel. Vica, a son of the imperial family, was your spare. He’s an artificial demon king created by Hausel, and he is capable of controlling the demons on the other side of the wall.

  “…Is this true? Is there a way to return him to his human form?”

  The question seems to startle Cattleya a little. “It’s too late. He used a lot of his magic after leaving the capital, and it’s beginning to weigh on him physically. We’re holding him here and suppressing the transformation, but it’s only a matter of time. Master Claude, please.”

  Cattleya leans over the desk, fixing her tranquil gaze on him. “Fight alongside the Valkyries as the emperor of Kilvas.”

  “That’s…”

  “Long ago, I was young, and I couldn’t rescue you from Ellmeyer. But things are different now. We can say the demons Vica leads are an attack from Ellmeyer.”

  Cattleya doesn’t look away.

  Her eyes look the same as when she asked if he was happy, but this time, she’s asking something quite different. “Or will you remain bound to the empire that used you however it pleased? If demons invade us, Ellmeyer will surely become the focus of all the anger and resentment. If you are its emperor, you’ll be blamed again. Not just by your own country, but by the entire world.”

  Probably so. That’s precisely why Claude is here to stop that from happening.

  “We’ve run off everyone who came from Ellmeyer with that journalist. There’s nothing left to tie you to it now. All you need to do is refrain from leaving the capital.”

  “…Are you proposing that because you know I can’t use my magic here?”

  “Ernst must have said something. I’m not doubting you, though.” Even when Claude frowns at this, Cattleya’s expression doesn’t change. “You tried to make Irena and the other Valkyries your allies due to your strong sense of responsibility as Ellmeyer’s emperor. You knew nothing. Let’s say that’s how it was, shall we?”

  She puts him in check, neatly cutting off his escape route. She has no illusions that she’d be able to deceive him with flowery words.

  Sensing a hint of salvation in that, Claude responds with another wry smile. “I don’t seem to have many options.”

  “You are my one regret. Please let me make up for it.”

  Valkyries flood into the office. They don’t actively restrain him, but with no magic or allies, Claude has no way to resist.

  “I assume Ernst and Irena are safe? This country needs both of them.”

  For a moment, Cattleya’s expression turns bitter, but her tranquil smile doesn’t take long to reappear. It finally occurs to Claude that smiling that way is a habit for her. “I’ll persuade them… I really doubt Ernst will understand, though.”

  “That just means you’re using the wrong methods of persuasion.” Claude rises to his feet. Cattleya doesn’t respond.

  They leave the office. When Claude peers through the large window in the corridor, he can see the Valkyries’ barracks. Part of the “preferable treatment” that has been lambasted in the newspapers lately is that they are being fully renovated; construction has already begun. “Over here, right?” An energetic boy smiles over an unfurled blueprint. A young man with an eye patch is silently relocating flowers from the flower beds. Claude recognizes both of them, and he sighs.

  “The work begins today, as scheduled.”

  Cattleya is probably trying to say that fluctuations in public opinion don’t bother them one bit. He nods quietly, then follows her.

  The uproar starts before they reach the emperor’s private chambers. One Valkyrie seems to be in a great hurry; she runs up the stairs toward them, shouting as soon as she sees Cattleya. “Lady Cattleya, Ernst has disappeared from jail!”

  “Disappeared?” Cattleya turns to her, but her gaze promptly returns to Claude.

  Claude shrugs. “As you can see, I can’t use magic. Perhaps Irena saved him?”

  “She’s in the dungeon… You wouldn’t think it now, but the man was a commissioned officer. There may have been a rat we didn’t know about. Hurry and track him down. This way, Master Claude.”

  Cattleya opens the door to the emperor’s chambers. The moment Claude steps inside, an unpleasant feeling wells inside him. Some sort of spell has been cast on the whole space.

  “This room was made by Hausel so that we could confine the demon king in an emergency.”

  “…Well, well, well. To think you’d protect me so graciously when I have no magic.”

  “If you behave yourself, you won’t be harmed… Maybe we can even share a meal together.”

  Cattleya gently closes the door. They’ve left him alone, but he’s probably being watched. It’s likely that the room itself has an access-restricting barrier cast on it. Anyone who wants to enter will have to be an accomplished mage.

  For the moment, Claude seats himself in a chair, looks up at the ceiling, and sighs. “‘Save my sister,’ hmm?”

  What a troublesome request. He understands the role he’s been given, but this situation irritates him to no end. Fortunately, it looks as if he’ll have time to think.

  Still, they rescued Ernst before me? Who gave that order?

  Looks like I’ll be disposing of my wife’s subordinates after all, he vows, closing his eyes.

  Ernst was sure he was in the dungeon, but what he’s seeing now clearly isn’t the imperial castle’s interior.

  What makes it more confusing is that he recognizes this place. It’s Irena’s outpost, the one he visited just the other day. He rubs his eyes hard with his arm, but the outpost doesn’t disappear. Not only that, the one who’s raised a hand and called to him from the back of the room isn’t Irena or another Valkyrie—it’s Isaac.

  “Glad to see you’re safe. Man, your reactions are slow. Hey, sneaky mage, you’d better not have done anything weird.”

  “I didn’t. He’s been abruptly teleported without his consent, so I imagine he’s just wildly disoriented.”

  “Teleported,” Ernst murmurs quietly to himself.

  The man who abruptly appeared behind him in the dungeon and grabbed his arm comes to stand in front of him, pushing back his hood. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Elefas. I’m told Master Claude is deeply in your debt.”

  Ernst has heard that name before, and he blinks. “Elefas… You’re the one who…”

  “I categorically refuse to hear the rest of that. I apologize for the lack of explanation earlier. Our top priority was getting you to safety.”

  “Then… This really is Irena’s outpost? Why isn’t anyone here?” Ernst scans the room.

  Isaac answers nonchalantly, “The Valkyries hauled them in last night. They’re all in the dungeon right now. It sounds as if Diana’s people are planning to take them somewhere, but we dunno where yet. Jasper’s been held responsible for those articles and expelled from the capital. It sounds like the mage here protected him, so he should be fine. As an aside, I made it seem like I had Jasper take the heat and I scuttled back home ahead of him. From the looks of things, nobody’s caught on yet.”

  “No, wait! What’s the meaning of this? They arrested Irena’s unit? No one mentioned anything to me. There’s no way that would be allowed without consent from either myself or the emperor, and neither of us ordered—”

  “The empress has control over the Valkyries’ personnel decisions. Besides, did you forget where they stuck you? Things have gone waaay past that level.”

  Realizing that Cattleya and the others have finally made their move, Ernst clenches his hands into fists.

  “Well, Isaac? What do we do next?” Elefas asks.

  “It’s just a question of whether we’ll make it in time. Seriously, my guy, why can’t you teleport a bunch of people all at once like the demon king can? We can’t use those human weapons this time around, and the only ones with a shot at making it in time are flying demons.”

  “As I’ve said many times before, please don’t group Master Claude and me together! I can teleport despite being neither the demon king nor the holy king, yet everyone treats me with so little respect. The only one who thanked me was Jasper, you know!! He said he’d run an advertisement for my wife’s new product… He’s so kind!”

  “You’re boasting about teleporting, but it took you two full days to get here, with breaks… You had the demons carry you quite a ways from Hausel, didn’t you?”

  “Er, don’t the demons listen only to Emperor Claude?” Ernst still hasn’t caught up with the situation, but he asks that question anyway.

  Sitting down in a chair by the wall, Isaac scratches his cheek. “As a rule, yeah, but there are ways to work around that.”

  “Specifically, tricking them by saying it’s for the demon king’s sake, telling them sob stories, and bribing them with sweets, you mean. And having the demon king’s wife threaten to stand on the front line works pretty well, too,” Elefas adds.

  “…W-wait a moment. Do you mean Empress Aileen?! Th-the front line…? I-i-is that all right? Having the empress do a thing like—”

  “It totally isn’t, so everybody’s hell-bent on stopping her. That adviser’s a real tyrant.”

  Does that mean they’re acting on the adviser’s instructions right now? Ernst is having trouble understanding this situation.

  “We’ll chat later. Listen up, Emperor Kilvas has been captured by the Valkyries,” Isaac informs them.

  “Master Vica?! They’ve found him…?! That must be why they arrested me.” All of Ernst’s other questions fly right out of his mind. With a gasp, he looks up. “Then what about Emperor Claude?! Don’t tell me the Valkyries also have him!”

  “Probably.”

  “No! It’s our fault… We must rescue him at once—and who knows what will happen to Vica…” Ernst is tormented by regret.

  Elefas speaks seriously. “This person is a good man. He’s been serving as Master Claude’s attendant, hasn’t he?”

  “It’s probably because the demon king stayed real focused on his work,” Isaac explains.

  “Huh? Wait just a minute. What’s this? Master Claude didn’t run or make impossible demands? He just diligently went to work? You must be joking. Then why does he make us do all of that back home…?”

  “Let’s talk that over with the rest of our group later. You don’t have to worry about the demon king. We’ve already taken the appropriate steps. Those Valkyries are probably chatting him up right now.”

  Another question occurs to Ernst, and he thinks hard. “Is this the third potential path you mentioned? But you said the chances of it happening were low…”

  “I made it more likely. I bet they’ll pick that path. After all, making an ally of the demon king is better than making an enemy of him.” Isaac sounds fairly certain now.

  “Did you do that at your own discretion?” Ernst can’t imagine Claude giving that instruction. Was this a violation of orders? He knows this is trivial, but he can’t have them taking the ladder away and leaving him stranded on it later.

  Isaac’s expression is sour. “…Nah. It was my decision, but the order came from the shadow commander in chief.”

  “……I’m sorry, is that an Ellmeyer-style joke?”

  “Look, please don’t draw attention to it. Just let it go.” Isaac is in agony.

  Beside him, Elefas laughs. “Oh, what’s wrong with it, the shadow commander in chief’s right-hand man?” I think that title’s perfect for you. After all, you’re about to do something foul enough to be worthy of the name.”

  “You’re the last person I want to hear that from, you sneaky mage. Actually, you people should be grateful to me: I pinned down the demon king for you. He can just use that face of his to string the Valkyries along, and we’ll have more freedom to move.”