Side: Marley Heat
"—And that concludes my report."
"I see. You have performed commendably on this expedition. But to think an Orc would appear... In a sense, that is a far more troublesome foe than the demi-humans."
"Indeed. For it to strike down a high-ranking direct aide of the Wind Princess' Knights, even if it was via a surprise attack..."
"Mind your tongue! Do not say such insensitive things right in front of Marley."
"My apologies, Your Majesty."
"Forgive him, Marley. Your aide was Jessica, if I recall correctly. Even I remember her well; she possessed enough martial prowess to trade blows with a magic sword wielder several times without even owning one herself, and she was by no means lacking in intellect. We have lost a truly valuable asset."
"To be praised so highly by Your Majesty... Jessica would surely be honored"
I returned to the imperial capital of the Jilva Empire and submitted the planned false report.
Regrettably, this meant that Jessica was now officially registered as deceased.
However, even if I had spoken the absolute truth regarding the adversary's capabilities, deploying a half-hearted force would only result in them repeating my exact failure.
"Your Majesty, I have a formal recommendation to put forward."
"Oh? Let us hear it."
"During this rescue operation, the demi-humans scattered and fled due to the Orc's interference, and we subsequently neutralized the creature. However, I find it highly improbable that the Orc was operating entirely alone."
"That makes sense. Much like Goblins and Kobolds, monsters of that classification are highly prone to organizing into hordes."
"Therefore, I believe we should prioritize the ongoing wars with other countries for now. For the region where the orcs appeared, we should issue an alert and focus on defense."
"Hmm, I see. So you believe recalling our various legions from their active fronts to deploy them against an Orc horde would be an inefficient use of our military strength?"
"Yes. Even if it was via a surprise attack, my direct subordinate was slain. Should the Orcs possess significant numbers, any standard military force sent into that region would suffer catastrophic casualties."
"Meaning if we are to strike, we must fully fortify our stance and crush them in a single, decisive wave. You believe the surrounding civilian villages and towns can withstand the pressure until then, provided they prioritize absolute defense?"
"Yes. The Orc only manifested once our forces actively approached the deep forest. As long as no direct contact is initiated, I doubt they will venture beyond the tree line. Furthermore, even if they do happen to emerge, a fortified local defense will buy more than enough time for our reinforcements to arrive."
"The Wind Princess Knight makes a valid point. Given the current state of the war, recalling armies from every front would not be a wise move."
Good.
The ministers are nodding along in agreement with my testimony. With this, we can successfully prevent a scenario where an inadequate number of imperial troops are sent forward only to be thoroughly annihilated.
Furthermore, by buying this extension of time, even if the demi-humans eventually return to their settlements, we can simply excuse it by claiming they only returned because the Orc threat had been neutralized.
The remaining issue was how to rescue Jessica...
What exactly is it that Yuki and his group desire?
If I could uncover their true objective, I could potentially negotiate her release through a formal trade. For now, I can only wait and hope that Jessica, utilizing her position as a prisoner, will somehow discover a viable method to establish contact.
"Marley, you have done well. You are permitted to rest in the royal capital for a short duration. Following your respite, you will rejoin our active invasion campaign against the Holy Kingdom of Enaria."
"Understood!"
However, just as I delivered my formal acknowledgment and prepared to exit the audience chamber, an unexpected complication forced its way inside.
"—Pardon our intrusion, Your Majesty."
"—Onee-sama, you are being incredibly discourteous."
Two magic sword wielders strode confidently into the room.
"Ara? Marley-sama, how do you do? I heard rumors that you defeated some orcs."
"Though, we also caught word that your direct subordinate, Jessica, was tragically slain in the process."
"...That is correct."
"Ara ara, how careless. to lose a valuable soldier entrusted to you by His Majesty's grace, and to a mere Orcs of all things due to sheer carelessness? That simply will not do."
"Onee-sama is absolutely right."
The woman addressed as "Onee-sama" who wore a suit of crimson dress armor, was Olive Melt—the Magic Sword Wielder of Flame. The one addressing her as sister, clad in a suit of azure dress armor, was Mist Melt—the Magic Sword Wielder of Water.
As their names implied, they were biological sisters who both wielded magic swords.
Originally hailing from an ordinary noble household, both sisters simultaneously demonstrated an exceptionally high compatibility with the empire's stockpiled magic swords, allowing them to rapidly scale the ranks of the military hierarchy.
Their structural promotions were backed by genuine martial capability; they had performed exceptionally well across multiple historical campaigns and, much like myself, commanded a personal, albeit small-scale, military unit.
Regrettably, perhaps due to their intense thirst for career advancement, they constantly generated friction with those around them. Just like now, they frequently pick fights with me, who is higher in rank.
"Now, both of you, this incident was unavoidable. Now then, have you come to make a report?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. We have successfully captured the fortress you ordered us to take, so we have returned."
"What!? It’s only been about two months since then!?"
"The siege itself was remarkably simple. The fortress's surrounding moat was completely filled with water, which made it an incredibly trivial matter once I utilized the power of my magic sword."
"Indeed. After Mist utilized her sword to completely demoralize and incapacitate the soldiers organizing their defensive lines inside, I felt the climate looked a bit too chilly for them. I offered to warm them up a bit, which promptly drove them scrambling out into the open."
"We cut them down as they fled and successfully captured the fortress."
"Hooh! Magnificent. You two truly shine brightest when operating as a pair."
It was a undeniable fact; these sisters were only truly formidable when combining their strengths. In a direct, single-combat scenario, neither possessed enough raw power to match me.
"You two shall also take some time to rest within the royal capital. I shall hand down your next deployment shortly—"
"Your Majesty, if it pleases you, may we put forward a specific request regarding our next assignment?"
"Hmm? Speak."
"Regarding the orcs that took down Marley-sama’s subordinates, why don’t we go subjugate them? We happen to have free time."
"Wait, Olive. It was already decided that we would gather sufficient forces before dealing with that matter."
I hurriedly interrupted Olive.
Otherwise, things would become very troublesome.
"Is that so, Your Majesty?"
"Indeed. We have yet to ascertain the true numbers of the Orc horde. Provoking them carelessly would be highly detrimental. Thus, we concluded that any active offensive must be executed with a properly matching troop count."
"In that case, allow the two of us to handle the defensive containment and active reconnaissance missions for the region. Doing so will significantly streamline the eventual extermination campaign, and we can completely eliminate any risk of the Orcs launching a surprise raid on the local villages and towns."
"A reasonable point..."
Damn it.
Mist was intentionally stepping in with a highly logical proposal that was incredibly difficult to counter.
"Will you two undertake this task for me?"
"Of course. The moment our brief respite concludes, we shall organize our soldiers and depart immediately. Our combined troop count is effectively double that of Marley-sama's unit, and since we have already been briefed on the possibility of a surprise attack, I doubt we will suffer any premature setbacks."
"Very well. I hereby officially assign the two of you to oversee all defensive operations and reconnaissance missions regarding the Orc threat!!"
""By your command, Your Majesty!!""
I’ve been had.
The exact moment they bowed their heads to accept the command, both sisters cast a deliberate glance in my direction, wearing smug, mocking smiles.
Because my recent deployment could easily be interpreted as a failure, stepping in to perfectly execute the containment mission would allow their professional evaluations to completely eclipse mine.
This was disastrous.
I needed a way to ensure they wouldn't accidentally trigger a direct confrontation with Yuki and his forces... but what can I possibly tell them!?
* * *
Side: Yuki
"Hmm... so these Flame and Water magic sword wielders... Olimar and Pikmin, was it? There's a chance they might attack?"
"No, their names are Olive and Mist... Who on earth are an 'Olimar' and a 'Pikmin'?"
"They're unique creatures that get plucked from the ground, fight your battles, get eaten by enemies, and yet they never explicitly ask you to love them."
"They sound like very useful soldiers."
"That wasn't really the reaction I was hoping for, but sure..."
"Pardon?"
"No, don't worry about it."
Yeah.
Jokes like that only work on people from my own world.
Maybe I'll call Taiki-kun later and chat about it.
"Well, even if those two magic sword wielders do show up, it's not like they pose an actual threat to us."
"That may be true, but looking at your long-term goals, Yuki, wouldn't getting tangled up in a direct conflict run completely counter to your objective?"
"We can't exactly avoid it if the enemy decides to actively march onto our doorstep on their own accord. If it comes down to it, we'll technically be throwing down the gauntlet against the Jilva Empire, but we can easily handle whatever they throw at us. Besides, we can just capture those two magic sword wielders the exact same way we handled the Princess, ship them right back, and force them to feed their superiors a convenient lie."
"...You consider this entire development to be completely trivial, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, because it is completely trivial. They're opponents we can easily manage regardless of what they do. Right now, the absolute priority on our agenda is..."
As I carried on my conversation with Jessica, I reached across the table to grab a stack of reference documents, just as Zargis walked through the door.
"Yuki, I have the latest progress report compiled. It covers our ongoing data tracking regarding active mana consumption."
He handed me a stack of papers.
"Thanks. Let's see... Huh, this is bizarre. The mana consumption differs far too much despite using the same spell."
"Indeed. Even with the exact same Fireball spell, mana expenditure varies between casters by as much as twenty to twenty-five times."
"If it were just 10 people, we could call it a margin of error, but..."
"But we've tested over a hundred people, each casting it ten times. These numbers are clearly abnormal."
That's right.
The real priority right now was researching mana depletion.
Until we successfully wrap this up, we can't safely venture out on a grand adventure to investigate the root cause.
Stepping into a region only to discover our magic has been rendered completely non-functional would be an absolute disaster, and having our spell costs skyrocket like this is equally problematic.
Therefore, we need to push our research as far as possible within this controlled environment, ensure our operational forces are fully prepared, and only then launch our official investigation.
"By the way, how’s the gathering of demi-humans going?"
"Yes, here’s the report on that."
"Thanks, Tori."
"As you can see from the breakdown, an exceptionally large number of demi-humans have begun assembling after catching wind of the report that we successfully repelled the Jilva Empire. Though, to be completely frank, there are quite a few absolute idiots among them who are openly voicing dissatisfaction over the fact that you are our designated leader, Yuki-san."
Tori’s expression looked incredibly dark.
...No, it was closer to a radiating surge of pure bloodlust.
"...Hey, Riel. Tori's expression looks kind of scary. Are negotiations with the demi-humans really that stressful?"
"Not exactly. Well... actually, I suppose that's not entirely wrong? From their perspective, we're demi-humans too, right? So after hearing about our achievements, some of them have been aggressively proposing marriage to us, telling us things like, 'Please marry me,’ or 'Forget about that man,’ and some even say, 'I'll kill him and come rescue you.’"
"...Tori beat the crap out of one of them and threw him out."
Kaya also spoke with clear anger.
"Ah, sounds tough. Should I take over the negotiations after all?"
"Absolutely not. It would be bad if anything happened to you, Yuki-san."
"Besides, if anyone insulted Yuki directly, I'd probably beat them into a pulp."
"...I’d kill them."
Yep.
I'll leave the negotiations to them.
For the sake of the demi-humans' continued survival.
"Well, with everything keeping us so incredibly busy on this end, if those Olimar and Pikmin sisters do end up marching into our territory, we'll just capture them and think about it afterward."
"Um... their names are Olive and Mist."
