The Melancholic Ojou-sama

"Eiii—"

Smash.

"Yaaah—"

Smash.

"Toooh—"

Irina swung her greatsword, smashing down the thieves.

"H-hiii! The hell is this woman!?"

It was a horror. With her greatsword, even though she expected them to be killed, the greatsword gave them a crushing defeat. Extremely absurd.

Even though the bandits started off with fifty people, they quickly dropped to half that number. Fireballs rained down onto those that that tried to run.

"You can't run."

It was Serge's magic. In the end, none of the thieves that had aimed at them on the road were left alive.

"Your way of using that sword is awkward."

Shizuna spoke in an amazed voice. The person in question was puzzled.

You weren't supposed to just swing the blade with muscle. Such a rare orichalcum greatsword was being swung like a blunt weapon.

It probably couldn't have been helped. To start with, Dragons didn't use bladed tools.

"Ria, teach this kid."

In front of them was Ria, scattering the dead thieves' bodies with beautiful slices.

However, something felt out of place.

Carlos noticed it.

The number of bodies killed by Ria was too few.

"Ojou, what's wrong…?"

Towards his voice, Ria turned around. She had an unusual expression on her face.

"It looks like there's no mistaking it…"

Resignation, uneasiness.

"I seem to have gotten weak."

Her words weren't convincing.

"In other words, your senses couldn't keep up with the sudden growth of your body."

Carlos immediately understood. It was common during boys' growth periods.

"Yeah, I thought something was off when I was training, but…"

It was like wearing bulky gloves when she gripped the katana.

Even if she cut someone, it felt like she was using a bamboo sword.

"That, and this chest, after all…"

The law of inertia existed in this world as well.

By the great laws of physics, the masses of fat on Ria's chest were obstructing her.

"Hey Serge, isn't there a magic that reduces chest size in that grimoire…?"

"I haven't looked for it, but I don't think so…"

Serge had no intention to look for it.

 

 

Ria's depression continued.

Arriving in Labyrinth City, they visited Klaus' mansion and were told the current state of Casalia.

An important minister in the imperial court was assassinated and a high ranking noble was under suspicion.

In brief, the royal court was in a mess.

"Cordova is probably the culprit."

Ria declared. Though she didn't have much of a basis, that's what she believed. The reason was that everything Cordova did was bad.

"No, it would take extreme preparations to assassinate a minister…"

Carlos, who was well informed on matters of defense in the royal court, objected.

"Ah~, how about the demon tribe?"

He nodded at Serge's opinion, but refused that as well.

"Would the demon tribe invade Casalia's royal court to assassinate a minister?"

Ria believed that would be harder than having a human do it.

Lulu, who knew about Anise's magic defense, also agreed.

"Well, they could have induced the assassination."

"While I don't know the current state of the royal court's authority, I think an effective assassination would be impossible."

At any rate, they didn't have enough information.

"I could figure it out with Lie Detection though."

Serge could already use that magic. However, that was no good.

Clarifying the truth through magic was impossible.

"What if the person who used the magic lies? What if they used a magic that countered Lie Detection?"

When Rufus was there, Lie Detection would be used in trials as a last resort.

However, that was because Rufus was an existence of authority by himself.

Even if Ria trusted him, who would believe what an eleven year old kid said?

"Although magic is nearly omnipotent, humans aren't."

"Will we return to Anise for now?"

Carlos was the one to propose that.

It's not like Ria hadn't thought about their options.

A princess had cleared the Immortal Labyrinth and Dark Labyrinth, acquainted herself to various people of power, and could destroy a kingdom's strongest knights. She was practically a hero of legend.

If a person like that returned to court, she would probably be a presence. She had been educated by the royal court mage Rufus and would probably get Reyas' support as well.

"But~, honestly, getting dragged into the royal court's machinations… I'd like to be excused from that."

"Rather, what if Nee-chan was king?"

With those words, Carlos and Lulu stiffened.

Though Serge, who was the child of farmers in this world and Japanese in his previous life, didn't know about it, he thought that two people who worked at the royal palace would.

"Yeah, that's good. Anego's a perfect fit for being king.

Gig agreed easily. Maal nodded repeatedly as well.

"Come to think of it, Casalia's founder was a queen huh. Isn't it fine then?"

Shizuna said it in such a way as to make it sound like someone else's problem.

"You guys…"

While massaging the creases that appeared on her brow, Ria explained.

Ria was an illegitimate child. Her mother was a commoner.

If you were talking about an influential background, she was famed as a person that conquered labyrinths and became connected to powerful people of foreign countries.

Then there were Ria's younger brothers who were born from her father's official wives. Those mothers were actual aristocrats and had strong support from within the country.

Would there even be someone that would support Ria becoming queen? No. There definitely wouldn't. Even her father wouldn't support her.

If, if Ria were to become king, she would have to erase all members of the royal family, including her younger brothers.

Then despite even if she got rid of the royal family, Ria's crown wouldn't be stable as there were other nobles who succeeded the royal family's blood.

Again, there were also royalty that married into other countries. Those countries could come for Casalia's throne.

Civil war was out of the question. There was a war.

If it turned into something like the civil war in Istria, it'd become a seriously bad situation.

"It's like that."

"Hmmm, but if that's how it is, the power struggle will continue right?"

Serge folded his arms. Thinking about his previous life's knowledge, he considered various patterns.

"Wouldn't it be bad if Cordova came to attack?

"It would be bad, but… well, father would find a compromise somehow or another."

Casalia's King Neyas was capable. An excellent, fair, and cool-headed king.

No matter how much he cherished her, Ria knew that the king wouldn't give her the rights to the throne due to his honest political sense.

"Nee-chan's Oyaji-san is… a wise ruler?"

"Well, kind of. Though he might be unskilled at war, it's fine if he leaves it to his vassals. Casalia will be peaceful so long as father is king…"

Speaking up to there, Ria realized.

Because there's her father, Casalia was at peace.

So then, if her father was assassinated, what would happen?

"A masterful assassin could assassinate father… what do you think?"

Carlos and Lulu stiffened a second time.

"I don't think so. Reyas-sama is there, and even though Master Rufus isn't there anymore, his magic safeguards are impregnable."

Though Carlos said that, Ria was uneasy.

"For instance, if I tried to assassinate my father, would I be stopped?"

"I wouldn't stop you, though that's because Ojou can draw close to His Majesty."

They would stop suspicious people from approaching. That much defense had been organized.

"So then it's better to not return after all. Let's bring these areas together to cooperate."

A conversation like that had just happened in a room of Klaus' mansion.

Though the mansion's owner was there, he was cleared out.

 

 

"Let me in on the conversation! Destroy the kingdom!"

Bang! A single girl burst through the door and entered.

Everyone inside the room petrified. It was that abrupt.

Until the door had opened, there was no presence.

The beautiful girl had flaxen hair. However, the ambition she herself had shouted out indicated she wasn't an ordinary person.

Really, how the heck had none of them noticed her?

"No, we're not going to collapse it."

A silver haired elf struck the girl on the head as she entered.

Rather, it should be a dark elf with white skin.

"Ah…"

Serge knew it, but Maal didn't.

The racial effect. You couldn't tell them apart if the color of their skin changed.

"Rei… san?"

"Heya, it's been a while. By they way, Casalia isn't going to be destroyed. At least, it has nothing to do with us."

The Demon General Rei said that with a friendly smile.