172 – theorem-6

It’s fierce. To the point where I feel the pressure when I look into your eyes.

I forgot for a moment. No matter how finite Eleanor was to me, her essence was a knight.

A woman who won’t hesitate at all for victory and honor. The Emperor’s strongest weapon and the leader of the Platinum Knights.

“…Eleanor.”

I knew it instinctively. Those are the eyes of a person who has made up his mind.

When I saw her looking at me with a determined face, I forgot what to say.

“Enerel.”

She turned slightly and looked at me.

“You don’t want the position of emperor.”

“…okay.”

“Then you don’t have to sit there for us.”

Her cold voice seemed to choke his throat.

“Eleanor. This is the will of the emperor. Whether or not he becomes emperor is his choice.”

Reinhardt stopped her. However, Eleanor stood unflinchingly in front of her mentor.

“…”

A little bit, I think I remembered. Standing in front of her felt like this.

It feels like looking at a mountain just standing there without compromise or negotiation.

“You intend to become Emperor, Eleanor. This is the Emperor’s will. For the Empire…”

“I have no intention of doing that. Of course, for the Empire, that might be an efficient choice, but…”

Eleanor’s armor did not look very clean. It seemed to be managed enough to fight right away, but it wasn’t polished well enough to look good.

It’s just speculation, but it doesn’t seem like she created an independent faction.

“You’re not going to make anyone emperor? Continue?”

Reinhardt laughed dejectedly.

“Someday, another emperor will come along. Until then, it’ll be quite… tumultuous, but it can’t be helped.”

Of course, Eleanor’s plan was not very different from Reinhardt’s. However, it was a plan based on the assumption that Eleanor and I were out of control.

If I could, I would have thought that becoming one of them would be a choice that would benefit the Empire.

“Eleanor.”

I may have forgotten for a moment. both she and me

This was Eleanor’s true face. Rather, the way she hesitated and hesitated on the trip with me was not like her.

“In the first place, there’s no reason to think so extreme. As I said with the emperor, I might think about it in a few years…”

At least, I wanted to put an end to it.

I realized after watching Farseer die. At least, I don’t want to leave this world with a bad heart.

It might be too late for me and them too, no, it would have been too late, but I wanted to leave with a calm mind after resolving the conflict.

“Are you thinking of others first this time too?”

Come to think of it, at some point, Eleanor was using respectful words for me.

“No, this… it’s different from that. I’m trying, but there’s no way for me to go back right away.”

I wondered if I couldn’t find it, so I wandered around even after coming to the capital. Of course, no clues could be found.

“It’s not long.”

But Eleanor, without changing her expression a bit, said I was wrong.

“What?”

“It won’t take years. It won’t be long before I see you.”

“What… did you find the dragon’s heart? Then you should have told me too.”

“It’s not. But, you’ll get it soon.”

Also, something was going on somewhere I didn’t know. I was angry, but my expectations were greater.

The desire to go back did not disappear. Although the reason may be slightly different, the desire to run away has not changed.

“Did you find a clue…?”

I haven’t realized it yet, but if Eleanor came to the capital and kept looking for it, it wasn’t necessarily that there was no way to get a clue.

It’s me, because I’m just a normal person with a little bit of strength. Thoughts, connections, and ability to act must have been the difference between heaven and earth compared to Eleanor.

“…”

I thought you would be resting. The journey to find the materials for my return was not an easy one.

Of course, compared to the journey to defeat the demon king, it was at the level of a picnic. Even so, the fatigue from the trip must have been the same for her.

It was not pleasant to hold the sword again after not being able to rest for several months.

“Have you been looking for that all along?”

“I did very little. I just… did what I could, the bare minimum.”

Nonetheless, it was something I had to risk my life for. It was an enemy that she alone could not guarantee victory against even one Orc Lord.

fought for his life Even so, he had no complaints.

Of course, what she did to me was not forgotten. I don’t know what the reason was, but at least her practice time was a terrible time for me.

Still, her ‘can do’ wouldn’t have been easy.

“Tell me. How many did you find? If there are any clues, I myself…”

“No more, you don’t have to make an effort.”

her eyes shone softly. In those cold eyes, there was compassion and atonement for me.

“Eleanor…”

“Just waiting. Until now… Thank you.”

A very faint smile hung on the knight’s lips. A smile so small that you wouldn’t even notice that she was laughing unless you observed it carefully.

I could only nod my head.

/////

“What are these?”

Some of the soldiers were sitting down, breathing hard and cooling off the heat of battle.

“I don’t know, it’s the first time I’ve seen something like this… It feels a little different from Demon King.”

The soldier roughly wiped the blood and flesh from his clothes. The flesh could be brushed off, but the stench could not be wiped away.

“Damn it, I need to get rid of this outfit.”

The corpses of monsters who had crossed the barriers were scattered all around.

“Yes, good job! You fought well. It’s worth training hard.”

An old man clad in armor patted the soldier on the back.

“Now, General?”

“Have you never met the demon king?”

“Bo, I saw it… At that time, I only shot arrows from the top of the fortress.”

“He was a veteran! Even so, you wouldn’t have met these guys.”

The old general touched the corpses of the monsters that had fallen around him.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. I thought I wouldn’t see him again…”

“Oh, do you know?”

“Of course I know. If you’ve fought the Demon King’s army, you’d know, but how are these guys compared to them?”

The soldier carefully recalled the Demon King’s army, which was coming up the gate with the momentum to kill all living things in sight.

“Are you weak?”

“right.”

Beasts and humans, demons and those whose lives were bizarrely broken, were unstable, slow, and weak.

Of course, that’s just a thought when compared to the mighty demon lord’s army. This monster, which seemed several meters tall, shattered wooden barricades with a mere swing of its arms.

After that, within a few seconds, I was hit by a barrage of arrows flying from all sides and collapsed ugly.

“They’re an army. The object’s intelligence seems to be the same as these, but it moves with a clear goal. Compared to that, this…”

The general moved for a moment and lifted the arm of the slightly smaller monster.

“Similar to the one I saw before. It’s just a beast. A beast exposed to Magi.”

“But… how could that be? Even within the Empire!”

The half-lying soldier suddenly got up.

“I don’t know if it’s a far away desert or northern wasteland, but for that to happen within the empire…”

“They’re young these days. Well, what’s different from an empire? It’s just a bigger country on this vast land.”

“But, His Majesty’s protection…”

“Now that His Majesty the Emperor has passed away.”

At the general’s short words, the atmosphere around them darkened.

The death of the emperor was not a fact that could be hidden, and it spread quickly even in this place, which had a distance from the capital in its own way.

“Usually, in preparation for such an event, a successor is created in advance, but… Maybe, you didn’t have time for that.”

“that…”

“It will be like this for the time being. This much… think of it as normal. No one knows when the next emperor will ascend the throne.”

The smiles disappeared from the soldiers’ faces.

Not much damage was done in this fight. The death toll was in the single digits, and compared to the size of the enemy, it was said to be a huge victory.

Since he moved a large number of soldiers at once, he had to achieve this level of achievement, but this monster had to be beaten well to be on the level of a band of bandits.

“Are you saying we should… continue this?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. A giant sand scorpion that appears in the desert, or a yeti that appears in the north… We have to kill those guys too. I wonder if stronger ones come out… It will come without end. Until the new Emperor ascends the throne.”

Still, the general’s words that this was not a special event, but a daily routine that would continue from now on, were enough to drain their strength.

“Let’s do our best.”

The old general’s words flowed like wind through the empty battlefield.

The other soldiers were already not in a comfortable state enough to listen carefully to his words.