Interlude: In Rubia
Roughly four days ago, immediately after Rio and the princesses escaped from the Rubia Kingdom...
“Ah, there’s no way we can win against that. Damn it, how infuriating...” Arein stabbed his sword into the ground and muttered to himself with heavy fatigue.
Are Lucci and Ven still alive?
He then looked for his colleagues who had slammed into the fortress walls earlier. The two of them had enhanced their physical bodies through their swords, so their defenses were increased, but Rio had struck them fairly mercilessly.
He tried to go over to them to check if they were unluckily struck dead, or at the very least knocked out.
“Hey!” Kikuchi Renji, the hero beside Arein, yelled at him angrily.
“Huh?”
“What was that monster of a man?!”
“We already told you. That’s the bastard who killed our commander—the one that defeated you. He’s our enemy.”
“Why can he fly?!”
Arein thought for a moment before answering tiredly. “How would I know? It’s probably his enchanted sword.”
“Hey! Arein, was it?!”
Sylvie descended from a flying griffin.
And now it’s the princess. Arein sighed in heavy annoyance.
At the same time, Reiss appeared from inside the fortress, observing the courtyard. “Oh my, it seems like you’ve been beaten rather badly.”
Countless arrows had gouged open, frozen, and stabbed the ground. The courtyard was a complete wasteland. The shock waves of the fight had blown away the archers on the wall, and some of them were yet to regain their footing after their knees gave out.
“Reiss...” Sylvie glared at him.
“They’ve unfortunately gotten away, but there’s nothing to be done about that. Arein, you go check on Lucci and Ven,” Reiss said easily. Arein immediately left.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me! You’re the one who made this plan, right?! You said if we trapped him in this courtyard with two princesses dragging him down, we’d win...!” Sylvie said angrily at Reiss.
They had closed the gate on Rio the moment he stepped into the courtyard, so Arein and the others could fight him. There were archers surrounding him on the walls, and the griffins hiding outside the fortress would have sealed off their escape route after the battle began. The outcome would have been decided with that, so all that was left was to wait for Rio’s surrender.
That had been the plan, but things didn’t work that way.
“I believe you were also satisfied with the strategy, Princess Sylvie?”
“Haruto Amakawa’s combat strength is beyond imagination. If I had known he could fly while carrying two princesses...” She would have opposed the plan.
“You should have been aware of his strength, no? You witnessed his efforts at the banquet in Galarc, and I also told you he killed Lucius, who defeated the hero Renji. I approached you for your cooperation precisely because of his strength.” Reiss answered Sylvie’s question vaguely.
Well, it’s not like I expected him to be trapped in a fortress like this to begin with.
Reiss wasn’t particularly panicked, having expected their escape from the beginning.
“Guh...”
Sylvie ground her teeth. She hadn’t underestimated Haruto Amakawa on purpose.
Now the Rubia Kingdom has no choice but to change sides to the Proxia Empire, regardless of their connection to the hero Renji. The hero won’t be able to oppose us with Princess Sylvie and Princess Estelle on our side either. Galarc and the Restoration will have to divert some of their wariness towards the Rubia Kingdom too. What a perfect outcome.
Reiss chuckled secretly to himself.
“Haruto Amakawa... Is he a hero too?” Renji asked with a stern look.
“I don’t believe so. What makes you think that?” Reiss asked.
“Nothing...” Renji muttered.
It sure sounds like a Japanese name. But he didn’t have a Japanese face. Was he also teleported here?
He pondered over various possibilities for Rio’s identity. But none of them mattered in the end. There was something more important bothering him.
If he isn’t a hero, then why is he stronger than me? The same goes for that Lucius man. Does it mean there’s a stronger cheat-like power in this world than the heroes? Why am I so...
Weak? That was what frustrated him the most. That’s why he couldn’t protect Sylvie and Estelle. He lost to Lucius. He couldn’t even defeat Haruto Amakawa.
In the end, he felt pathetic. That was so frustrating and hate-inducing that his blood felt like it had reached its boiling point.
I’m so weak...!
Renji quietly shook with fury.
Loathing. He loathed his weakness. He was also exceedingly enraged at Haruto Amakawa for perfectly protecting two princesses in front of him.
I need more power. I have to become stronger. Better. Strong enough for the rest of this world to fear defying me...
Just by hearing his name, his opponents would cower and avoid battle. They wouldn’t even think about raising their weapons at him—that was how strong he had to become. Renji quietly decided that in order to remain himself, he had to become someone like that.
“Princess Sylvie!”
The supervisor of the fortress, Marco Tonterri, left the fortress walls where he had been directing the archers to come down to the courtyard. He was in a fluster after being overwhelmed by Rio’s strength from above the walls.
“Th-This is bad! This is terrible! The moment they hear we attacked Beltrum’s First and Second Princesses... We’ve practically declared war on our allies, the Galarc Kingdom and Restoration!” He pointed out the obvious impending danger.
“Silence, Tonterri. I know that.” Sylvie brushed him aside unhappily.
“It won’t result in an instant outbreak of war. This incident will make them suspect that the Rubia Kingdom has betrayed them for the Proxia Empire. The balance of power in the Strahl region is currently finely balanced. They’ll probably try to pressure you, but we’ll make sure to support you when that happens,” Reiss said, offering support in a friendly but detached tone.
“Wh-What are you saying, Sir Bernard...?” Marco looked at Reiss with suspicion. Bernard was the family name of the noble house Reiss used when moving about the Rubia Kingdom. In other words, Marco was unaware of Reiss’s identity.
“The truth is, I’m a noble of the Proxia Empire.”
“Wha...” When Reiss revealed his background, Marco’s jaw dropped.
“We’re in the same boat now, the Proxia Empire and the Rubia Kingdom. Let’s get along well, shall we?”
“...”
Sylvie fell silent with a scowl, while Marco was still dumbfounded. Reiss’s cheerful voice was out of place in such a scene.
Is this guy a psycho? Renji stared at Reiss unhappily.
“You’ll be with me for the time being,” Reiss said to him.
“What are you going to make me do...?”
“I’m going to make you stronger. The same applies for the other heroes, but you’re only able to bring out a small portion of your Divine Arms’ powers right now.”
“What?”
“I’m saying I can make you stronger.”
“How come you’re able to do that? No, even if you can do that, why would you?” Renji shot Reiss a look as if he thought Reiss was being fishy.
“I need you to move for my sake in the future, you know? That’s why I have to make you stronger. We’ll be cooperating with each other at some point, so this is a symbol of my trust,” Reiss answered cheerfully. “Don’t you want to become stronger?”
“Fine...” Renji nodded his head, in his desire for strength.
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