Chapter 113: 6-14 Eve of Battle

My belief that it would take only a day for the investigation to be completed had been in error, and the forces assigned to Duke Lawrence wound up stalling for almost a week.  Of course, there wasn’t much risk of the truth coming out in this interim; I controlled the narrative after all. Or at least people working for me did.

That said, it was causing a bit of a hold-up with the advance. Duke Claurence, Duke Lester, and Commander Henrake’s armies had each taken their assigned areas and were converging on Duke Febligi’s own. That had been mildly surprising to me, as I had expected city sieges to take a lot more time.

“Yes, but Duke Febligi is no fool; it appears that knowing the difference in the scale of our forces, each location had only a token defense force. Even then, each surrendered far more quickly than they could have held out for. We expect there will be much more resistance at the rebel’s capital, where the bulk of their troops should be gathered.”

Commander Henrake was presently answering my questions about the ongoing situation, though his answers were largely derived from reports I’d already seen. Not that he knew that of course. That said, this was actually rather useful; even with access to all of the reports and numbers, I did not understand much of the strategic decisions. Being able to ask the army’s command staff directly was one of the perks of my position.

As for what I was doing here in the first place, Rupert had made arrangements for me to visit the front as part of Operation Sacrilegious. That was what we had termed our ploy to fake a miracle. Though, given my own questionable and tenuous relationship with the gods, Gustav had pointed out that it might not be much of a fake. Regardless, I didn’t care much for the semantics.

“Though, if we were permitted to use your own abilities, things would go much easier.”

A grimace flashed briefly across my face and I shook my head, “I am sorry, Commander, but I will not.”

That had not been the first time he had hinted that I should directly take part in the siege, nor was it likely to be the last. It had been the most direct though.

“My lady, with all due respect, if you would…”

“I said I will not. If I got involved, then the kingdom’s people living in the city… No. I will not cast that spell or any like it. Please, stop asking me.”

He bowed his head, “My apologies, I simply worry about how many of the kingdom’s loyal knights will die in the initial assault and while fighting in the streets. We might outnumber them, but the rebel’s own knights are Febligi. They have us beat in quality by a wide margin.”

…Yea, I know. And if it was within my ability still, I might actually consider casting Anti-Army magic; I could probably have tweaked the spell to selectively target only the enemy soldiers and knights, or restricted its range to only the Febligi estate. But it isn’t within my ability anymore, and even if it was, doing it would completely shatter my public image as a merciful if slightly naïve girl.

Everyone knew generally how powerful I was, the people in charge to a greater degree. I had gone toe to toe with Count Francois, and rumors of how I’d dealt with the goblins had spread. It made sense that Henrake would seek to use me as an asset to mitigate our side’s casualties in the upcoming battle. But something that both Rupert and Ferdinand had stressed to me was that I could not take part in any big way.

Using my power against an external enemy was one thing. But using it against rebels would send completely the wrong message to our own loyal nobles; “Fall in line, or be eradicated.” It would be better if they continued to view me as overall compassionate. Rupert could carry a big stick while I walked softly. The analogy didn’t quite work, but it was close enough. Likewise, things were not as dire as Henrake was making out.

Though it was true that the Febligi’s knights and soldiers were more capable than our own, it was down to personal combat experience. Within the confines of the System, the opposing force and our own were rather similar on an overall level. To that end, we had other areas of expertise to leverage. Duke Claurence’s army tended to be more resilient, with an above-average number of healers, and would head the assault on the walls. Duke Lester’s army had a rather large number of Earth Mages and was already constructing tunnels that inched towards the enemy’s sewer system. The late Duke Lawrence’s army was not particularly specialized but would make for an excellent reinforcement once one of the others created a breach. 

I shook my head, “Then, should we not simply have the late Duke Lawrence’s forces advance and force that surrender? The ongoing investigation seems a waste of time; who else would benefit from the assassination of one of our generals, if not Prince Antonio?”

Even I, with my lack of strategic knowledge, could tell that having another duchy’s worth of troops would be beneficial to help offset the imbalance. But Duke Lawrence’s forces had been permitted to sit idle while investigating my handiwork. Nominally, Henrake outranked the dukes when it came to matters of strategy; it was within his authority’s purview to force the late duke’s forces to move.

“My lady, with all due respect, the political fallout of that course of action would be…”

He trailed off and turned away from me to bow to Rupert who had just arrived. A moment later, I performed my own greeting, using language that indicated it had been some time since we last saw each other. Another farce, as I had seen him less than three days prior while making my initial report on the outcome of the assassination.

“No, Henrake.” Rupert waved off the greetings midway through, “Order the army to take the city. If they have not found any traces of the culprit after a week, then they are unlikely to. There is no point in spending any more time on this… I will deal with the nobles myself if they protest. Stahlia, my apologies for the delay, I trust that everything has gone well?”

Sensing that he had been dismissed Henrake bowed quickly before departing, leaving me with the newly arrived Rupert. Gustav had remained behind to tend to his duties as an instructor marking this as one of the rather rare instances of me and Rupert being alone with each other.

“That is quite all right, and things have been going rather well… all things considered.”

“How have things been with that?”

He was being deliberately vague as a measure against anyone listening in; casting Silence in this situation was not an option. Context though, made it easy to figure out what he was getting at.

“There are no immediate problems.”

Best to keep my own answer vague. Just let him know that there is a potential future problem.

That problem being the damn wine bottle. I had somewhat brashly assumed it would be destroyed by the fire. While the label had burned off, the bottle itself had survived. In and of itself not an issue, but for one rather dedicated investigator who had noted that Duke Lawrence did not drink wine. Something I had completely overlooked at the moment. That said, the situation was quite easily containable, and Ferdinand agreed that it was unlikely to present an immediate issue.

Rupert’s eyes narrowed for a moment, signaling that he had picked up on my subtext, “I see. What about the other matter?”

“Henrake has agreed to my request, I will make my prayer in three days.”

“Excellent… Are you nervous* at all? Considering the number of people.”

Eh? Is that some actual concern there? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have suggested doing something like this if I couldn’t handle it.

Our latest plan required me to put on a bit of a show before a large number of witnesses, and we had chosen to use the eve of battle for the stage. Fortunately, I had gotten fairly good at controlling my nerves; it would not be comfortable, but neither would it be debilitating. The only question remaining for both of us was if we would get away with it. Fooling the onlookers should be fairly easy, fooling the church presented more of a problem.

That was why I had no intention of trying.

“Did the church agree?”

Rupert shook his head, “No. I presented your plan to our mutual acquaintance. He did agree to abstain, but they will not be complicit.”

I nodded, “Thank you. I know more than anyone how big of a risk this will be. Probably, the biggest risk we have taken so far.”

It made sense that the Cardinal did not want to go along with what he had been asked; to make a false oracle. That being said, the fact that he had agreed to abstain would be more than enough. It meant that, even if the church would not acknowledge me, they also would not go out of their way to declare me a heretic or some other rash course of action.

Even though what I’m doing is basically the definition of heretical.

In short, our plan was for me to cast a miracle and then say the gods did it. Leveraging my public reputation as an alleged bleeding heart, I was going to condemn the rebels within the city for the terrorist attack in the capital. Following that, I would say a few things about how much it hurt, especially after my previous appeal to Rupert for them to be shown leniency. Then, while shedding false tears, I would pray to the gods for strength.

Strength to do what needed to be done and secure the future of the kingdom. There would be a light show, and I would disable my illusion in front of everyone. The ideal outcome came in several parts. Firstly and also guaranteed, would be that I no longer needed to worry about the illusion being seen through. Secondly, and also guaranteed, this would avoid Rupert and myself needing to jump through hoops when the demon war started; I would be old enough to act the part of Queen.

Lastly, though this one was only my personal hope, the defenders would perceive that the gods themselves were on our side. If they could be persuaded to surrender now then, even at this late hour, we could avoid losing more manpower than was necessary. It was admittedly a big if though since Sitri had who knows how long to poison their minds. Not to mention the fact that there might be even more demons.

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“Then, there should not be any problems. All of the pieces are in place.”

The church staying out of things solves that issue; the gods probably won’t get involved with me just yet. My actions here are in their favor, and against the demons. Plus, my rulebreaker skill protects me from any direct influences.

The most they would be able to do was sic their pawns after me. Unlike the demon’s Hell Kings, the gods could not so easily influence the mortal world. According to Aaron, he was the extreme exception; one of the rules dictated that the gods could not simply use their authorities to interfere in events. Though that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try and cheat if they thought they could get away with it. I had already seen some of that behavior from them when Mortis tried to make me kill myself going against Sitri the first time.

Sitri… you’re here as well, as far as I’m aware… At least you were back when Ferris defected.

“Stahlia?”

I shook my head, “My apologies; I was beginning to let my thoughts run away again.”

Rupert frowned, “Based on your expression, I think I could guess what direction they were heading. We have intelligence placing Count Francois across the border; he is not anywhere near here.”

“No, not quite. I was thinking about his accomplice. We don’t know nearly enough.”

“I could have the spies look into it if it would set your mind at ease?”

…! You!

He was grinning at me now, in a way that indicated that he was genuinely pleased with himself for that.

Fine, I’ll admit it, that was sort of clever. I’ll take you up on that offer I think.

“Thank you, that would be most appreciated.”

“Then, I need to meet properly with Lord Henrake, will you be well on your own?”

“Yes, I should be. Thank you for your concern, but the camp is not dissimilar to the atmosphere of Ris. At least, it is closer to there than to the palace.”

Following my assurance, Rupert bowed lightly and departed the pavilion.

Frieda took the opportunity to speak up, “Seeing you now, my lady, I cannot help but think how horrible a match Dominic was for you.”

I shot her a slightly annoyed look then shrugged, “[Silence]. It is not a question of how well we match, Rupert and I have a similar goal, that is all.”

Although I have to admit that getting along with him has been a lot easier recently.

That was far from developing any sort of romantic attachment; the way he had approached me and shown apparent concern just now was an act. Designed to sell the idea to those around us that we liked each other beyond being colleagues and accomplices. Any benefit to my own psyche was merely tangential to that. The fact that Frieda had been fooled was simply proof of how good an actor he was; Sasha certainly would have seen straight through it had she been here.

Speaking of Sasha, my quarters are probably set up by now. I should get something to eat and wait for Ferdinand’s report.

Three days later saw me standing with Rupert, several royal knights, and a contingent of army mages. We were on a raised dais a safe distance away from and overlooking the city of Febli. Geographically, the city was built in such a way so as to only be really assaultable from one side, though this also meant that they lacked an escape route. The walls gleamed silver in the morning light indicating that, like the capital, they were reinforced and coated in Mythril as a defense against magic.

Between us and the city’s outer defenses were our own knights and soldiers, each of them split according to which faction they came from with lines of the royal forces between them. Though the numbers varied somewhat each of the loyal dukes had provided around a thousand men, plus those of the lower ranking nobles of their respective factions.

All told, our own side’s forces numbered somewhere in the realm of seven thousand five hundred, or nine thousand when the Royal Knights were counted. Over ten if we included beasts and monsters. The numbers continued to run through my head in a stream as a way to help me stay calm; there were a lot of eyes on me right now after all.

Breathe. It won’t matter if my voice catches a bit since I’ve already established myself as a bit nervous around crowds. The important thing is to not lose control of my mana.

I was standing in a very specific spot; as it turned out, faking the divine light of a miracle was rather hard. Considering that children got blessed semi-frequently at their dedications, people knew what that light looked like. This meant that we had to be exact in how we feigned it lest anyone catch on. There were a few things planned to help cover any slight mistakes, but at the end of the day, it was on me to control the trigger.

After all, I am the only person we have who can use Divine Element, so no pressure or anything.

I felt something hovering over my shoulder, “Breathe.”

Ah, it’s his hand.

Rupert was standing nearby to my left and was hovering his hand just over my shoulder; a wise decision, since if he had actually touched me I probably would have jumped from fright, or frozen again.

“It’s nearly time to start; I would ask if you are ready, but we do not have a choice this time. Just remember, this was your idea.” Though he sounded more than a bit harsh, he was right. It had been my idea to do things this way.

“Right, I’ll be fine… Just a bit difficult to shape the mana, is all.”

It was obviously an excuse but he didn’t call me out, and I stepped forward to begin speaking. This was only possible because of where we had set up. The instant I had added the Divine Element to my mana, I was channeling it into a hidden magic tool built into the dais. It was a sort of battery designed to store mana and preserve its aspect outside of the body. Gustav had built it and Rupert had brought it with him.

It would discharge the mana into a light show when it was time for the…

Ok, enough. I need to get a grip and stop letting my head get all wrapped up in tangents like that. I know what the plan is, and continuing to go over it in my head isn’t going to help me at all.

One of the army’s mages gave me a questioning look. I nodded at him, and he began to chant out a spell together with several of his fellows, “O Wind, carry ### ###### on your ####, ###### ###### our words to ##### in distant #####, #### us the #### of ##### who ##### #####. [Sound Throw]”

As soon as he finished, I felt the wind shift subtly. This spell was the exact opposite of the oft-used [Silence]. Instead of muting and containing sound, it made sounds travel through the air far easier. My voice would carry out to the entire allied army and through the city beyond. Everyone who was not magically shielding themselves would be able to hear my words as though I was only a few feet from them.

I took a deep breath, switched my title to [Princess Of The Silver Dragon], and began to speak.

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