TDAA Ch 49

“Your Highness, the Princess.”

The moment Lord Meric, who had been sitting in the chair, staggered up, gripping the armrests tightly. Simultaneously, something like a hologram appeared before his eyes. Astonishingly, the hologram displayed a map of the Meric territory as if viewed from above, along with a stream of information about the fiefdom. The territory’s population, the locations where people were gathered, the supplies within the fiefdom, and even the number of days they could last.

Amazingly, all of that information was being updated in real-time.

Siol stared at the massive hologram with his mouth agape. Although it was based on sorcery, its contents were no different from Earth’s science and technology. No, in fact, it contained information more secretive and detailed than data that could be collected with science and technology.

Just what kind of people were the ancients?

“What in the world is this…?”

Startled by the unfamiliar sight, Ladie, who had been cautiously scanning her surroundings, muttered blankly. At first, all she could recognize from the image floating in mid-air was that it was a map. But soon, she noticed the numbers were changing, and before long, she understood that it was the result of some kind of information.

It was also the first time Lord Meric had ever encountered such a scene. Being suddenly summoned to the basement while he was working was surprising enough, but the sight of a mysterious image floating in the air presented yet another shock.

Lord Meric, who had frozen mid-motion while trying to stand, tried to get up again, but as soon as he let go of the armrests, the hologram began to slowly fade. Ladie looked back at him and said.

“It would be best for you to… remain seated, Lord Meric.”

“…Yes.”

Lord Meric furrowed his brow as if displeased about something, but he obediently gripped the armrests again and sat down in the chair. At the same time, the hologram became clear once more.

“Master Siol, what is going on? You know what this is, don’t you, Master Siol?”

Ladie carefully secured the cloth hanging over the doorway to prevent any light from leaking out, then strode inside.

“The true identity of the Sun I’ve been searching for… it was this.”

“The Sun…? You mean the Sun drawn on the buildings owned by the lord? Here, on Lord Meric’s chair too…. Ah.”

Ladie, having come inside, was lost for words when she saw the grand shape of a sun formed by the overlapping figures of Lord Meric’s chair and the fireplace. Light flowing out from the sun was drawing a sorcerous pattern across the entire room, exuding some immense power. Even Ladie, who knew nothing of sorcery or magic, could understand from the sight that something incredible had just happened.

“Please explain this properly. What is really going on? And why is Lord Meric here?”

“Luber, he said it before. That buildings owned by a lord are never destroyed, and that there’s a Sun in one single, most important place. When I checked, I found that the damaged parts of the buildings were self-repairing with the power of sorcery, and while other buildings had the sun symbol in only one place, this mansion alone had it in two. So I investigated, thinking there might be some interesting secret hidden here.”

“…So what is that secret?”

“I think… this is probably the control room.”

Siol answered, looking dazed.

A control room. Siol had been searching for a control room all this time. His investigation had revealed that no sorcery circles existed in the Tower of Survival, and that a Sun was hidden there instead. So he had predicted there must be a control room somewhere that controlled all the Suns, including the one in the Tower of Survival, but he never imagined it would be the underground laboratory where he had been staying.

Now that he knew the truth, it felt ridiculous that he hadn’t noticed it until now.

What Luber said about there being only one Sun per building wasn’t wrong. After all, the Sun in this mansion was just a single Sun split in two, with one half in the lord’s office and the other half here in this secret control room.

“To think my laboratory was the control room…”

“A control room… what exactly does it control?”

It wasn’t that Siol intended to ignore Ladie’s words. But the countless questions he had about the ancient ruins were being answered in his mind, and he wasn’t in a state to reply. Not only the questions he had actively tried to solve, but even the stories he had only casually heard seemed to be swirling in his head.

A moment later, Siol said as if making a declaration.

“…The ancients didn’t have a centralized government.”

“Pardon?”

“When I activated the sorcery circle, Lord Meric was summoned here, chair and all. Actually, the cause and effect are reversed. It’s likely not that you activate the sorcery from the control room to call the chair, but that if you activate a sorcery circle hidden somewhere on the chair, you can come here, to the control room. It means the lord’s chair is a gateway to the control room.”

“…….”

“But before, Ladie, you said it, didn’t you? That it’s customary for the lord to sit in the seat of honor in his office, even if the king visits. That means that since the time that custom existed, the king respected the lord’s control authority. It also means that the power of each lord was not inferior to the king’s.”

“Master Siol?”

“That means that in ancient times, lords didn’t need to curry favor with the king to appoint the next lord. Think about it, Ladie. The biggest difference between the king and the lords now is the right to appoint lords, isn’t it? Now, the one who can appoint lords becomes the king. But in ancient times, lords could designate the next lord themselves, so the king and the lords wouldn’t have been different. Except for the fact that the king held slightly more powerful authority. In fact, the ruler of what we call the royal capital was probably closer to a great lord than a king. That’s how it was in ancient times.”

“Master Siol, could you explain a bit more…”

“But it’s different now, isn’t it? Because the king holds all the authority. Why is all the authority now only with the royal family? How did the king ascend to the throne after the ancients fell? All these questions ultimately point to one fact.”

Siol turned to look at Ladie.

A land where once, anyone could become a lord. He looked at Ladie, a member of the only bloodline that could now appoint lords in that land.

“Ladie, the royal bloodline is the bloodline of the ancients.”

“…You’re saying I’m a descendant of the ancients?”

“According to the dragon’s records, the ancients were destroyed by the hands of the Demon King. The tower, having suddenly lost its master, would have needed to find a new one, and it accepted the first king of your dynasty as its master. What do you think the criteria was? Wisdom? Strong martial prowess? Wealth? No, what use would things like that be to a tower? The most important thing would have been similarity to its original master.”

Those who possessed even half of the ancients’ blood.

Thinking of it that way solves all the mysteries related to the royal family.

Both the incident where a lord’s rebellion once succeeded, yet he was ousted because he couldn’t appoint lords, and the reason why a descendant of the king was later acclaimed as king and was able to appoint lords.

“There’s still a lot I don’t know, but if I keep investigating, I might be able to figure out what the king’s goal is. No, it’s certain.”

Just then, Lord Meric, who had been listening all along, raised an objection.

“That theory doesn’t explain why the Tower of Survival in the beastmen’s lands is operational.”

“Ah…”

“Are you saying that the chieftains who rule the cities in the beastmen’s lands are all descendants of the ancients?”

“You’re right…”

Siol fell silent, crestfallen. Indeed, considering the cities in the beastmen’s lands, Siol’s earlier speculation turned into nonsensical rambling that didn’t add up. He had gotten excited and failed to consider the beastmen’s side of things. As Siol’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment, Eorzen, who had been lost in thought, spoke up.

“I believe I can explain that part.”

Eorzen looked at Ladie and asked.

“Princess, why do you think dragons are called mages from the moment they are born?”

“Pardon? Why bring that up all of a sudden…”

“It may be a concept humans find hard to understand, but mana follows dragons. If a newborn dragon wishes for something, mana itself will move to try and grant that wish. That will becomes magic and exerts its power. The process of a dragon mastering magic is, in the end, closer to learning how to give clear commands. That is why a dragon can wield with a single point of its finger the magic that a human mage performs using all sorts of methods.”

“You’re saying that mana is not merely a substance that fills the world, but that it possesses a certain degree of will.”

Eorzen nodded and continued.

“Looking at the sorcery circles here now, it seems that mana followed the ancients as well. It appears that the mana, which moved according to the commands of the sorcery circles created by the ancients, has been repeating those past commands on its own even after they disappeared.”

“…For mana to move on its own is a surprising tale, but I don’t think that explains why the Tower of Survival in the beastmen’s lands has different chieftains.”

“Siol speculated that the reason your ancestor became the master of the tower was because the tower needed to find a new master. If so, why did it need a new master? It occurs to me that perhaps the ancient ruins were built not to operate without a master. If you consider that all the ruins other than the towers have ceased to function for that reason, it all fits.”

Ruins referred to buildings left by the ancients that stood isolated outside the fiefdoms. It was believed that if one could succeed in excavating them, it would bring great profit to the nation due to the remaining traces of the ancients, but because of the overflowing monsters, no king had ever actually attempted it.

Indeed, unlike the Towers of Survival, the ruins were all buildings that had ceased operation and lay dormant.

“The Tower of Survival in the human lands was fortunate enough to welcome a descendant of its original master, an ancient, as its new master. But in the beastmen’s lands, there must have been no surviving ancient bloodline. It was in such a state of disarray that even its control room was destroyed. So the tower would have had to make a choice. Whether to cease operation and become a dead tower, or to accept a beastman who resembled the ancestors in aspects other than bloodline as its master to maintain its function.”

“…And the result of that choice is the current state of the beastmen’s lands, you say.”

To be honest, from the part about mana following dragons to the part about the tower making a choice, it was all such an unrealistic story that it was hard to believe, but she couldn’t just blindly distrust the words of a dragon either. In fact, when she thought about it, wasn’t the reality that only the royal bloodline could appoint lords a mysterious tale in itself?

While Ladie was mulling over her thoughts, Siol grabbed Eorzen and asked.

“Wait. Lord Eorzen, are you saying the reason the Tower of Survival in the beastmen’s lands operates without any sorcery circles is… because mana is moving on its own?”

“Yes. It is merely my speculation, so it will require confirmation later, but that seems to be the case, Siol.”

Eorzen replied to Siol’s question in a gentle tone. Ladie was flabbergasted by his tone, which was incomparably softer than when he spoke to her, but she didn’t bother pointing it out. The two were a dragon and his partner, so she would only be at a disadvantage if she interjected. Eorzen continued his explanation, even though Siol hadn’t asked.

“If a descendant of the ancients had been nearby, as in the human lands, the Tower of Survival in the beastmen’s lands might have also chosen a master. No, in fact, even now, if a descendant of the ancients were to go to the beastmen’s lands, what might happen is…”

After a moment of silence, Eorzen spoke to Ladie.

“Therefore, Princess, it seems that from now on, when humans visit the beastmen’s lands, they will have to go through a special procedure.”

“Not just my visit, but the visit of all humans?”

“Aren’t humans and beastmen somewhat promiscuous? Especially those with power. It would be troublesome if some hidden, illegitimate child of the royal family, who has been carrying on the bloodline somewhere, were to visit the beastmen’s lands.”

“Wait, that statement is a bit offensive.”

“I understand that when even Lord Meric thought you were dead, he went searching for any illegitimate child that might exist, did he not?”

Put that way, Ladie had nothing to say. Compared to a dragon, who is known to love only one person for their entire life, humans might seem promiscuous, she muttered to herself, suppressing her displeasure.

“Promiscuous….”

“No, Siol. I wasn’t referring to you.”

“But I was originally human too….”

“But you are not that kind of person, are you?”

“…Well, that’s true… but still….”

When Siol replied dejectedly, a flustered Eorzen continued to make excuses. Watching the scene, Ladie felt a subtle sense of satisfaction, while at the same time feeling pathetic for getting offended by such a thing. As expected, nothing good comes from getting involved in matters of love.

“Master Siol, that’s enough. He was just saying that some people can be like that. Of course, it’s a bit regrettable that the Blue Dragon lumped all humans together, but since dragons are a species that loves their mate with an almost puritanical devotion, I can see why he’d think that.”

As she took his side, Eorzen looked somewhat surprised before breaking into a smile.

“Princess, since we are on the topic of the ancients, I shall offer you a piece of advice.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“If you wish to strengthen your royal authority in the future, learn magic. If the blood of the ancients flows within you, mana will likely show you a very favorable attitude.”

“…Yes. That is appreciated advice.”

Ladie, who had been preparing to tune him out, thinking the love-crazed dragon was about to spout more nonsense, was a little taken aback that the words coming from Eorzen’s mouth were quite excellent advice.

For humans, magic was a field of study that only a select few chosen ones could learn. Without a brilliant mind and talent, it was difficult to succeed at even a small spell, but if one became a master, they could perform miracles; an ability close to the divine. If all those born into the royal family could demonstrate talent in magic, they might be able to earn respect for their abilities alone, moving beyond the current reverence for their bloodline. If that were to happen, it would truly be a great boon to strengthening royal authority.

Ladie gratefully accepted the advice and turned back to Siol.

“Master Siol. I need more of an explanation. What did you say this place was?”

“It’s a control room for managing the fiefdom. Originally, it was a secret space that only the lord could enter!”

“If it manages the fiefdom… could it be possible to control the protective barrier from here?” Ladie asked, her face lighting up.

“Probably. No, maybe…? I can’t be sure.”

“What do we need to do?”

“Hey, did you hear me? It’s not certain yet.”

“The mere possibility is worth trying. If we can control the protective barrier at will, the situation will change completely.”

In this land, the royal family was an absolute existence possessing unrivaled power. Losing the royal bloodline was a terrible event that would lead to the extinction of all humanity, so the knights protected the royal family all the more desperately. The lords, too, did not dare to harbor rebellious thoughts of staging a second revolt.

However, if it were revealed that there was a way to control the protective barrier without becoming king, someone seeking to share that power would surely appear one day. If the resentment against the royal family for maintaining absolute power were to erupt all at once, a civil war could break out. There was even a possibility that the royal bloodline would be treated like slaves instead of being revered as they were now.

Siol looked at Ladie with troubled eyes before nodding. There was no way Ladie wouldn’t know what he had just realized. It was clear that despite those possibilities, Ladie was thinking it would be good to be able to control the protective barrier.

If she herself was that resolved, Siol couldn’t hesitate. He reached out and tapped on top of the Tower of Survival on the hologram map. The hologram screen in the control room was a touchscreen. It wasn’t that surprising. Whether it’s science, magic, or sorcery, development ultimately follows the flow of thought. Since all are fields that have developed based on human ideas, if people’s thoughts are similar, the direction of development could be similar as well.

“This is….”

The newly appeared hologram displayed information about the Tower of Survival. Siol checked the screen, which showed the population of the Meric territory and the amount of mana accumulated in the tower’s mana stone in a neat infographic, then glanced back at Ladie and Lord Meric.

Ladie tilted her head with a frown.

“Master Siol. What in the world is that section that keeps getting bigger?”

“That’s the amount of mana stored in the tower’s mana stone.”

“The mana stored in the mana stone… how is it increasing?”

“Hmm…. I think perhaps in this land….”

As Siol paused to choose his words, Ladie’s face crumpled as if she had caught on from his hesitant demeanor.

“Don’t tell me the Tower of Survival is draining mana from the people?”

“That’s right. It seems the tower has the power to take mana from the people living on this land and store it in the mana stone.”

With this, the secret behind the power that maintained the Tower of Survival’s protective barrier was also revealed. Until now, they had thought that if the mana stone inside the Tower of Survival lost its power, the tower would eventually lose its power too. However, with this method, the mana stone would never lose its power, and as long as a certain number of people lived on the land, the Tower of Survival could also maintain its protective barrier forever.

He didn’t know for sure, but the people living in the beastmen’s lands were probably having more of their mana drained than those in the human lands. The mana consumption would have to be different between passively moving according to the flow of a sorcery circle and actively moving according to self-executed past commands.

“Draining mana sounds like it could be a problem. Isn’t it harmful to the body?” Ladie said in a subdued tone, glaring at the numbers on the hologram.

Siol, flustered, hurried to explain. The fact that it was taking people’s mana might seem negative, but that wasn’t necessarily the case.

“Of course it’s harmful to have your body’s mana drained. It probably shortens your lifespan a bit. Based on the numbers shown there, I’d estimate by about 5 years. But between the threat of monsters and giving up a little mana, which is more harmful to people?”

“But it feels unsettling. It’s like you’re exploiting people’s lifespans at will.”

“That’s true, but….”

As Siol pondered how to explain this issue, Lord Meric let out a low sigh.

“Your Highness, the Princess. Please look at the big picture. What would happen if the protective barrier were to disappear? Should we let the people be eaten by monsters without a protective barrier because of that unsettling feeling?”

“…You’re right. We can’t let that happen. My thinking was short-sighted.”

In a peaceful era, a lifespan of five years might be an absolutely non-negotiable value. But in an era overflowing with monsters like this, if one could live all their other years in safety by giving up about five years of their life, anyone would step up to pay the price. Even more so if that price became the source of the protective barrier.

Ladie, who had made a grimace at the mention of a shortened lifespan, eventually nodded as if she understood its meaning.

The monster invasion was a big problem right here in the Meric territory. Countless knights were being mobilized to deal with the monsters flocking to the fiefdom. The fiefdoms that followed the current king had a protective barrier, while the fiefdoms that followed Ladie did not. The presence or absence of a barrier created a huge difference in available forces. Even if they had the same number of troops, the number of knights who could actually go into battle would differ.

The same was true for safety. Although the knights patrolled thoroughly to block the monsters, there were occasional monsters that secretly slipped through the gaps. A monster that stealthily hid in the fiefdom and devoured people one by one could only be identified after five or six people were already dead. But the protective barrier blocked monsters completely.

“But there is an issue we must address. There isn’t even a protective barrier in this land right now. And yet….”

“Right. That’s the problem, Ladie.”

Siol pointed to one side of the hologram with a serious face.

“If the mana isn’t being used anywhere, it should just keep accumulating, but the mana level of the mana stone isn’t rising. No, to be precise, once it accumulates past a certain level, it decreases and then starts accumulating again.”

“…The mana is flowing somewhere else.”

Siol nodded.

“The only person we can suspect right now is the king. Who else but the king could do something like this?”

“We must stop it.”

Lord Meric cut into Ladie’s words.

“You must not, Your Highness.”

“We can’t let people have their mana drained when the fiefdom isn’t even being protected by a barrier.”

“If the mana transmission is cut off, the king will realize that Your Highness has found the control room.”

“That… would be problematic.”

The existence of this control room could become a weapon against the king. It was a sorry state of affairs for the fief’s people who were having their mana drained without knowing why, but for now, leaving it be was the best course of action.

“Then, even if we can control the protective barrier, it means we would have to collect even more mana from the people to activate it. And people would have even more of their lifespans taken away.”

“…Let’s look into that a bit more. Right now, we don’t even know if we can control the protective barrier or not.”

Ladie nodded with a grim face. Ruling a country was a matter of constantly walking a tightrope between exploitation and sacrifice, profit and loss. After deciding to become queen, dealing with the knights and fighting to subjugate the nearby lords had been difficult, but bearable. But sacrificing civilians was of a different nature than the unavoidable sacrifices of the knights fighting for the throne.

Siol touched the mana stone on the hologram, wondering if there was any other detailed information.

Beep—-

Along with an ear-piercing warning sound, incomprehensible text appeared on the screen.

“Insufficient authority.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s what it says, Siol. It says to prove your qualifications.”

Eorzen, who had been watching the situation quietly all along, informed Siol kindly.

Come to think of it, wasn’t he a dragon, the race closest to an immortal in this land? The ancients probably didn’t perish a mere 300 years ago, but in Eorzen’s youth, there would have been his parents and other dragons who had lived longer, so it was plausible he would know the ancient language. Siol looked up at him with admiration, then quickly averted his gaze to Ladie. Their eyes had met, and he felt like his cheeks would turn red if he kept looking.

“La, Ladie! You’re the only one here who has the qualifications. Hurry up and come here.”

Ladie took a slow, deep breath and approached Siol’s side. Siol pressed a few spots on the strange window floating in the air and then brought up a screen displaying the shape of a palm. When asked if Master Siol also knew the ancient letters, Siol smiled a little and gave a strange answer, saying he had touched a similar UI before. Then he gestured with his chin towards the window, saying he would explain later.

Even without being told, she knew she had to place her hand on it.

“…….”

As Ladie slowly went to place her hand on the screen, another window suddenly popped up. Reflexively, everyone’s gaze shifted towards Eorzen.

“…It’s a notice saying that it’s set to self-destruct upon failed authentication, Siol.”

“Self-destruct…”

Siol examined the screen in bewilderment. He had already guessed it from seeing the sorcery circle designed to be hidden by a self-repair function if unused for a long time, but it seemed the ancients took security very seriously. But self-destruction just for a failed authentication? And on the first try, with no second chance?

Thinking that far, Siol let out a low groan. It occurred to him that anyone who entered such a carefully hidden space and failed the authentication would indeed be suspicious beyond measure. The ancients probably never imagined that they would perish and others would use their ruins.

As silence lingered, Lord Meric spoke up abruptly.

“It would be best to try.”

Ladie hesitated.

The speculation that the royal bloodline held the authority for the control room was plausible. But if, by some slim chance, it wasn’t true, or even if it was, if it only referred to the authority of a control room in the royal castle, then the mansion would explode. How big would the explosion be? If the ancients had made it to protect their territory or technology, not just the mansion but the entire fiefdom might be blown away.

“If it explodes, we will all die.”

“I’m sure you will succeed, Your Highness.”

“But it’s too dangerous. What if it doesn’t work…”

“Sit down.”

It was the moment Lord Meric stood up from the chair to forcibly give up his seat.

The light connecting from the smoldering heat of the sun on the chair to the vines on the wall died out in an instant. Flicker. As the light that had mystically illuminated the room vanished, only the hologram floated silently in the dark interior. The strange silence was brief. The hologram turned red and then suddenly displayed large letters.

Siol, who was familiar with this type of system from Earth, understood what it was even without being able to read the letters.

It was numbers. A countdown, racing towards zero, had begun.

Siol had a gut feeling that self-destruction awaited at the end of it.

Why? We haven’t even attempted the final authentication yet. Siol’s eyes, filled with confusion, turned to Ladie.

“Ladie!”

“Yes!”

Ladie, who had been frozen by the sudden turn of events, lunged towards the hologram just as Eorzen swept Siol up into his arms. Siol, taken by surprise, wrapped his arms around Eorzen’s neck and looked at him, but Eorzen was just staring intently at the hologram with the dwindling numbers, even in the midst of it all. Siol could feel his muscles tensed as if ready to unleash magic at any moment.

Ladie immediately placed her hand on the screen where the palm was drawn. A light shot up from the floor, scanning her from bottom to top. The moment the light passed the crown of Ladie’s head, the interior brightened. It felt as if she were standing under the sun’s rays.

Simultaneously, the red hologram flickered off, and dozens of other holograms appeared. They all displayed different information. An incomparably greater amount of information than when she hadn’t proven her qualifications.

A sigh of relief spread through the room.

Siol tapped Eorzen’s shoulder and whispered.

“Please put me down.”

Eorzen looked down at Siol for a moment. His expression was somewhat cold and unreadable. The man who had always been so affectionate was looking at him with a strangely unfamiliar expression.

“Lord Eorzen?”

“…I’m sorry. I was lost in another thought for a moment.”

“What thought?”

Siol asked, guessing it must have been something related to the hologram, but Eorzen just smiled as if troubled. He leaned his head toward Siol’s ear and whispered.

“I was thinking that if it really exploded, I would just grab you and run.”

“What? That’s….”

“I know. It’s not something I should do.”

“Yes….”

“But.”

Eorzen hesitated for a moment before speaking as if confessing. His complexion seemed pale.

“If it had really exploded, I would have.”

What does he mean? Siol wanted to ask, but Eorzen had already put him down and taken a step back.

Ladie, who was busy examining the dozens of holograms, called out to Siol in an excited tone.

“Master Siol. Can we consider this a success?”

“Of course! Let’s find out what we can do!”

Siol decided he would have to ask later and approached Ladie.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, Lord Meric gestured towards the chair with one hand in a very polite manner. This chair had originally belonged to the lord, but that was when the lord was the one with the qualifications. Now that Ladie was the only qualified person, the priority for the lord’s chair also belonged to her.

Ladie approached the chair as if mesmerized and took another deep breath. Then she sat down in one swift motion. As she did, the sun on the chair regained its light. A more brilliant and beautiful light than when the unqualified Lord Meric had been sitting in it was now making the sun burn beautifully.

The control room’s sorcery, having directly confirmed the royal bloodline, willingly granted her numerous authorities. Not only could Ladie check the information within the fiefdom in greater detail, but she could also find out the true roles of the buildings that had the sun symbol. Each of the sun-bearing buildings had sorcery cast upon them that amplified their respective roles, and Ladie could adjust the intensity as she wished. Of course, there was a price. A stronger effect required more mana, which ultimately meant taking more mana from the fief’s people.

Ladie now had to decide for herself and execute the amount of mana to be collected from the people.

How could a system exist where people’s lives were so dependent on the leader’s choices?

It was a terribly cruel and cold system. But that was the nature of power. As long as Ladie had decided to become queen, whether she wanted it or not, there would always be a scale in her hands, and she would have to constantly decide on which side of the scale to place the weight.

Even though Ladie now held such powerful authority, she could not find out where the fiefdom’s mana was headed. It was expected that she was being exploited by the king, but it would have been good to be able to confirm exactly what was happening.

And regrettably, she could not stop the flow of mana either.

Insufficient authority.

Staring at the screen displaying the phrase Eorzen had interpreted for her earlier, Ladie was lost in thought. Did she have to become king to obtain more authority?

After asking everyone else to leave her alone, Ladie did not give up and continued to search through the holograms to see what she could accomplish within her authority.

And that night, Ladie succeeded in activating the protective barrier in the Meric territory.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

The streets, which had been quiet for a long time, were now filled with crowds.

Stalls with various foods were set up everywhere, and large bonfires burned between them. People bought drinks and food from the stalls and gathered around the bonfires on chairs, spending their time chatting.

Having been cooped up at home in the cold with a shortage of firewood, the neighbors had a lot of stories to catch up on. They could chatter all day and not run out of things to talk about, but among them, the most popular topic was, by far, about Princess Ladie.

“Look how competent our princess is. She’s not even king yet, and she already knows how to handle the protective barrier.”

“That’s right, and she hasn’t even ascended to the throne!”

“But if Her Highness knows how to control the barrier, is there really any reason to serve the murderer of the former king as our king?”

“That’s what I’m saying. We need to drive that lawless scoundrel out of the royal palace.”

“Yeah! His head should be hung on the castle walls! His Majesty the former king was such a good person!”

The former king, who had been on good terms with Lord Meric, used to visit the Meric territory often since his time as a prince. Thanks to that, the older residents of the fief had experience exchanging greetings with the prince at least once. Therefore, the tragic news that the kind and cheerful former king had lost his life in an instant was received as an unfortunate event for them as well.

Why did such a good king have to be murdered by his own brother? And why did the princess have to lose her life too? Perhaps it was because of such discontent and anger that the fief’s people had boldly accepted Lord Meric’s declaration of allegiance to the princess when she, thought to be dead, appeared in the territory in a disheveled state.

And now that Princess Ladie, to whom they had pledged their loyalty, had solved the protective barrier issue, which was the fiefdom’s biggest headache, their assessment of her and their loyalty could only rise. Everyone on the streets was praising Princess Ladie and expressing their joy.

Ladie watched the scene with a somewhat bitter feeling. They might not know it, but this protective barrier was not without a price. Still, there was a fortunate aspect. The mana collected by the tower from the people of the Meric territory only flowed outwards after accumulating past a certain level, and the priority for mana usage was the protective barrier. Thanks to that, she didn’t have to collect additional mana as she had feared.

The problem was that since the amount of mana being transferred somewhere else had decreased, the king would notice that something had happened in the Meric territory. It couldn’t be helped. The benefit of being able to operate the barrier was far greater than the loss from the king finding out.

Since things had turned out this way, Ladie decided to rather make a big scene of it.

Now, this festival was the result.

“It is going according to plan, Your Highness.”

Ladie nodded at Lord Meric’s words. She was sitting on the windowsill, looking down at the bustling festival. Despite the considerable distance, the exciting heat of the festival seemed to reach all the way to the mansion. The various decorations adorning the fiefdom, the light from the bonfires, the children running around wildly, the adults watching them with fond smiles. And the various festival foods, which she had ordered to be made with plenty of ingredients procured from other fiefdoms.

The people of the fiefdom, who had long suffered from the tension of monsters and war, were enjoying the festival to the fullest.

And mixed in among those people were some with unfamiliar faces.

“How many spies from the outside have come in?”

“I estimate there are well over ten.”

“More than I thought.”

Ladie took a sip of wine and gave a deep smile.

This festival was, of course, an event held to provide some entertainment for the fief’s people who had suffered for so long, but at the same time, it was also a billboard to show off what she had accomplished to the neighboring fiefdoms.

There was no way she could win their trust by claiming to aim for the throne while struggling just to survive. This was a major reason why the neighboring lords, despite their displeasure with the current king who had murdered the former one, could not easily turn their backs on him.

So, during the festival, which would last for over a week, the Meric territory had thrown its gates wide open and gladly welcomed visitors from the outside.

It was to publicize that the rumors, that Princess Ladie, known as the king’s adversary, had been abandoned by the king and lost her protective barrier, and that because of this, her knights were solely focused on subjugating monsters, causing the fief to become increasingly impoverished, were false.

For this purpose, they purchased more supplies than necessary from surrounding allied fiefdoms. This was only possible because of the jewels Eorzen had brought. Merchants had already visited to deliver the supplies needed for the festival, and upon returning, they spread the word to the surrounding areas that the Meric territory truly had a protective barrier. And following that, even spies from lords who were not allied with Ladie had entered the fief.

This was the result of the decision to keep the gates wide open during the festival and not ask for visitors’ identities or the duration of their stay. The spies who visited the Meric territory would soon return to the lords who dispatched them and prove that all the rumors were true.

If the visitors to the Meric territory continued to spread the news like this, a completely different situation would unfold in the various neighboring fiefdoms in the future.

After discussion, Ladie and Lord Meric decided to hold the festival for longer than planned—for an entire month.

“How many envoys have come?”

“Five nearby lords have announced they will pledge their allegiance.”

Lord Meric said, placing flag-shaped wooden pieces on several spots on the map on the table. With this, all the fiefdoms bordering the Meric territory were now following Ladie.

It wasn’t specifically intended, but the timing was exceptionally good. A while ago, Ladie had a negotiation-that-wasn’t-a-negotiation with Muriel and had the beastman knights run a few errands. That blatant show of force had firmly imprinted Ladie’s existence upon the neighboring lords. It was a rather tangible result, to the point that even lords who had no intention of joining the rebellion were troubled by it.

Since that day, the lords had been on high alert regarding Ladie’s movements, and thanks to that, the existence of the protective barrier also became known more quickly. Ladie could now control the protective barrier at will, and at the same time, she was a powerful adversary to the king with the beastmen at her back.

“To think the situation would change this much in just a few months…”

“…Master Siol is keeping his promise.”

“Master Siol’s promise? Ah.”

Ladie, who had been about to ask, realized even before hearing the answer that he meant the promise made when she brought Siol into the Meric territory. Ladie had said that Siol would be a help to her in becoming queen, and Siol had promised to do his best to help. To help a queen ascend the throne in this country.

This result was more than the best.

Siol had given Ladie the protective barrier and saved the beastman knight order from the brink of annihilation. While there was help from the dragon and Titi, their help was also something she could receive because of Siol. Because, although Master Siol denies it himself, the truth is….

Ladie decided not to think about that part any further.

If this speculation was wrong, nothing would change from the current situation, and if it was right, nothing good would come from meddling. If this prediction had been something that would harm Siol, she would have secretly gone to expose the secret, but a dragon would never do anything to harm his partner, so it wouldn’t be a problem.

“Even if Your Highness were to establish a new country right now, it would be accepted.”

Those words meant that the current Ladie was qualified to bear the title of ruler.

The king’s power was based on the right to appoint lords, and the reason that right was important was that the protective barrier would only work if there was a lord. Therefore, Ladie, with the ability to activate the protective barrier, already held power equal to the king’s.

It was the first time this had happened in this country. The one and only rebellion had ended with the death of the rebellious lord. Since then, there had been fights among the king’s children, but no one had stood against a king who had ascended the throne.

Now the fight was no longer a fight between the king and the former king’s child, but no different from a fight between one ruler and another.

Since the founding of the country, the lords had never had a choice. But now, the lords were in a position where they could choose which of the two rulers to pledge allegiance to.

While this was an encouraging situation for the current Ladie, in the long run, it was by no means a happy one.

“It is a dangerous power.”

In truth, the reason Ladie could control the protective barrier was not because she was special, but because she was a descendant of the ancients and was born of the royal bloodline. In the end, it meant that anyone of the royal bloodline could control the protective barrier just like Ladie. For now, since the only remaining members of the royal family were the king and Ladie, there was no reason to have other worries, but what if the royal family had many children and the method of controlling the barrier leaked out?

Right now, even if princes fought over the throne, the fight could not spread that wide, but in that future, the country might be torn to shreds from the fighting and become city-states like the beastmen’s lands.

“…You must dispose of it after you ascend the throne.”

“Of course. Once I am on the throne, I will melt this down as well.”

Ladie said, stroking the ring embedded with a mana stone.

This ring, which at first glance looked like a mere ornate ring, was actually an alchemical tool made by Siol. To send the lord’s chair to the secret location, a large amount of mana had to be poured into one of the interconnected sorcery circles. For a person to supply that mana through normal means was impossible without about three high-level mages. It was said that even Siol lacked the mana, and things would have gone wrong if the dragon hadn’t helped.

This ring was the only key that could provide mana to the sorcery circle hidden on the underside of the chair and open the door to the control room.

So, if she disposed of the ring after everything was over and kept the secret until her death, the things she worried about would not come to pass.

Ladie glanced at the still-boisterous festival site and rose from her seat.

“Then I shall make my move now. Lord Meric, you continue to manage the festival and receive the envoys.”

“Understood.”

That day, Princess Ladie left to bestow the protective barrier upon the lords who had already pledged their allegiance to her.

The lords who gained the protective barrier would pledge even stronger loyalty to Ladie, and the neighboring lords who witnessed this spectacle would be shaken. The fact that their enemy now possessed a protective barrier meant that their available forces had also greatly increased, and it also meant that the princess was no longer just the former king’s daughter.

Princess Ladie had obtained the power of a king.

A new phase had begun in this war.