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Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 5

「This is not an official meeting, but there is a limit to how much disrespect you can show. 」

「I’m sorry, Big Sister Marine. 」

Ulrika apologized honestly and sat back in her chair.

「I’m sorry as well. 」

Milza also lowered his head.

「Although I am the leader of the Factory Alliance, I have no intention of interfering with the management of the territories of its Lords. However, I do not want to see any instances of unstable governance, so you cannot refuse an offer of cooperation from your allies. 」

Marine said while looking at Ulrika.

「The rebellion will be put down immediately, I assure you.」

Ulrika sighed.

「Nothing good will come from you trying to deal with it quickly by force. Take your time and sort out this mess. And while you’re going to be at it, I’ll cut off Regalia and Haman. 」

Milza snorted.

「Haman?! 」

Ulrika’s face changed.

The Nords have decided on Haman as their next settlement. They are still in the middle of looting it frequently.

「Once the battle with Count Leclerc is settled, I also plan to invade Ozer from Veltava. 」

「Thank you very much. 」

Milza looked at Marine.

「The Marquis of Nord is almost finished with the conquest of Bretland for us. Once he’s done with it, we’re going to continue the invasion of other territories belonging to the Fantasia Union. Without a proper leader to guide them, the Lords of the Union are going to be no match for Lord Eric and his forces. 」

Marine said calmly.

Compared to the Fantasia Union, the Artuk Treaty was supposed to be more formidable. King of Selvis, Lassic David, is one of the few Lords who can actually fight on an equal footing with Milza. But even more than him, Marine was wary of the young Lord named Theo Cornero.

「it seems that a Lord’s Conference between the Lords of the Artuk Treaty was held just the other day. 」

「It seems that Theo Cornero has returned to the continent after all. 」

Milza nodded his head indifferently.

According to the rumors that have been circulating the continent for some time now, Theo Cornero has been expelled from the ranks of the Artuk Treaty, but he managed to buy his way back after he liberated the island of Sistina from the reign of the Rossini family and strengthened his own forces with a militia made from the inhabitants of the island.

「However, it seems that he could not become a leader of the ArtukTreaty himself. 」

「Of course. That man is not someone who’s fit to lead anyone into anything. 」

Milza snorted out a laugh.

Marine knew that he hated Theo Cornero with a fiery passion, because Milza’s ideal of a Lord is someone who’d be ready and willing to unify the entire continent by force.

However, instead of doing that, Theo Cornero is someone who’s capable of capturing the hearts of the people he interacts with and incites them to follow him to the harshest of battlefields, and for some reason, that approach was something that Milza couldn’t stomach.

Marlene also agrees with him on that front. She wants to keep the people of her territory as far away from war as possible because in her opinion, only knights and soldiers should fight in wars, because that’s what they’ve been trained to do. So rather than mobilizing the people into a militia, it seems better to just go and hire mercenaries, just like the Earl of Leclerc did.
「But now Theo Cornero is no longer just some small time Lord, but an Earl who’s famous even in Stark. As someone who has the fame of a hero who liberated the people of Sistina from the oppression they were under, he also seems to be popular with the slaves, who’re growing more and more rebellious by the day. It’s honestly getting more than a little troublesome, so I suggest that we should go and kill him as soon as possible. 」

Ulrika said grumpily.

「Right now, Theo Cornero’s most immediate concern is going to be liberation of Artuk, so as soon as he comes to reclaim it, I will crush him with everything I have! 」

Mirza’s eyes narrowed like blades.

「The mobilization power of the Artuk Treaty cannot be underestimated. If necessary, please feel free to request as many reinforcements as you might need. Lady Ulrika, I hope Stark will respond no matter what the situation might become. 」

Marlne looked at Urilka and said in a stern tone.

「Understood!」

Ulrika nodded, but quickly turned away.

It was obvious at first sight that Marine’s younger sister was hurting. She has a caring personality and knows her father well, but although she has the power necessary to lead the Norse people into battle, she is still mentally young and cannot control her emotions very well. That, and she saw Milza and Dartania as her direct competition, so she was torn between making her own decisions and following the instructions that her father was sending to her from their home country.

「Anyway, if we want to make sure that we’re going to crush the Artuk Treaty, then that’s going to require the three of us working together. After all, sweets are much more delicious when eaten together like this than when eaten alone. 」

When Marlene said that, she took one of the sweets that her servants made and put it into her mouth.

* * *

Ten days after the Lord’s Conference of the Artuk Treaty in Selvis, Siluca, together with Theo, led an army of eleven thousand knights from Sistina to enter the castle in The Forest of Eternal Darkness. That was a maximum amount of soldiers which they could mobilize, as the security back on Sistina was still not perfect, and that’s why as many soldiers as possible needed to remain back there in case anything unexpected happened.

However, they were not alone, since the allies of the Artuk Treaty have also gathered themselves in the Forest of Eternal Darkness, including the soldiers sent by the other Lords from Artuk and a group of White Witches led by Elder Zelma, who were ready to use their magic to carry out disorienting attacks against Dartania’s forces, essentially becoming something similar to Artuk’s guerilla warfare forces.

「It’s been a while… 」

Using her broom as a walking stick, Elder Zelma came up to Siluca and greeted her when they arrived.

「I’m glad you’re doing well, Elder Zelma! 」

Siluca sniffed her nose and tried to stop herself from crying as she embraced Zelma. For a while, when Siluca was still acting as Vilar Constance’s contracted Mage she was sent to the village of the White Witches to learn magic from her, and unlike the mostly theoretical knowledge imparted to her by the Magic University, what Elder Zelma taught her were mostly practical things that already proved useful in many emergencies.

「Siluca Meletes… 」

The other girl, who was standing behind Elder Zelma until now came forward and called out to Siluca in a quiet whisper. She then reached up to the hood of the cloak that was covering her face, and then she slowly lowered it down.

「You…! 」
Seeing the girl’s face brought indescribable joy to Siluca’s heart, because that girl was Colleen Messala, another one of Vilar Constance’s contracted Mages, whom she presumed to be dead after the battle for Castle Unicorn.

「So you’re alive after all! 」

「Yes, somehow, although I’ve already given up on going back to Elam and continuing to live as some Lord’s contracted Mage. 」

Colleen smiled at Siluca and put her finger on her neck.

Under normal circumstances, refusing to serve another Lord would be considered the highest form of violation of the rules set up by the Mages Association, but in Colleen’s case, she’s already been declared dead by the Association, and she had no intentions of coming back to it after all this time.

「What have you been up to this entire time? 」

「I am now the wife of the werewolf chief Gide. 」

And then Colleen proceeded to tell Siluca a story of what happened to her during the battle of Castle Unicorn, how Gide saved her from being killed by the Dartanian soldiers, after which Gide took her as his wife.

「Werewolves lack babies and wives, so I was like a Godsend to him. 」

She said while looking at Gide, who was now playing happily with his twin younger sisters, who were overjoyed to see their brother after being reunited with him after such a long time.

「Helga-senpai… 」

Siluca also invited Helga Piaroza, whom she had scouted during her stay in Elam, to come.

「What’s up? 」

Helga arrived next to them, and after she saw Colleen, she immediately hugged her in a tight embrace.