Akatsuki Translations

“What on earth are you thinking?” the Sun Knight demanded.

“That’s my line. What’s the meaning of this?” Ur retorted.

Ur grabbed the hand of the Sun Knight who had reached out towards Echelle.

The Sun Knight guarding Drona had his face hidden by a helmet, making his expression hard to read. He immediately shook off Ur’s grip and fixed him with an intense gaze. However, the fact that he didn’t draw the sword at his waist suggested he still retained some reason.

“It seems there’s another misunderstanding. This is out of kindness,” Drona said.

But there was no guarantee that their leader, Drona, was in her right mind.

Despite suddenly showing hostility towards Echelle, their leader, Drona’s expression was brimming with confidence. The fact that she was so confident about her outrageous action was terrifying in itself. One had to wonder what kind of nerves she had.

“You seem to completely misunderstand your position, despite being a fringe member of Gradol. I thought I’d teach you your place,” Drona explained.

“My place?” Echelle asked.

“The fact that Gradol now survives because of us. Therefore, this Gradol naturally belongs to us. Isn’t that right?”

She said this matter-of-factly. Just the other day, the Envy Knight Order’s strike force had claimed “We should manage Uuga,” but this was even more direct. She was saying “Uuga belongs to us.”

“And yet you ignore our request… Yes, I’ll ask you too. Are you in your right mind?”

“It’s true that Proudia helped Gradol in its confusion. But the one who truly saved Gradol was Diz… the Hero of the Seven Heavens,” Echelle countered.

“The Hero!! Hah! What good is such an errand girl!” Drona scoffed.

“What—”

“She’s a half-baked thing, clinging to the prestige of the lowest seat of the Seven Heavens, with only an official rank but no power to offer prayers to the spirits. You know that fact better than anyone, don’t you?”

Echelle fell silent, unable to respond. She probably recognized some truth in those words.

Ur hadn’t forgotten how disrespectfully Echelle had treated Diz. He had thought it was an imitation of the attitude of Gradol’s relatives who were hostile to Proudia itself, but it seemed that even within Proudia, Diz’s position wasn’t strong.

In fact, she wasn’t present today either. Diz had said, “If I show my face, things will certainly take a turn for the worse,” and now Ur finally understood what she meant.

But they couldn’t just let this slide. Kalkara seemed to think the same, stepping in front of Echelle.

“If that’s the case, why don’t you quickly call on Gradol and request that Uuga be handed over to you?” Kalkara suggested, her face expressionless.

But inside, she was probably furious at Drona and her group for showing hostility towards Echelle. Ur prayed she wouldn’t explode.

“【Uuga】 is still a mobile fortress under Gradol’s management. No matter how special it is, that fact hasn’t changed at present. We would follow orders from Gradol, but we have no obligation to obey the opinion of a ‘mere’ priest from another country, Proudia.”

Kalkara emphasized the word “mere,” causing Drona’s expression to twist slightly, but she still didn’t lose her momentum.

“Can’t you deduce from the fact that we were invited here? My, Echelle, you have quite incompetent and slow-witted attendants,” Drona sneered.

“Since I’m incompetent and slow-witted, could you please explain? What is your intention?” Kalkara pressed.

“The fact that Uuga already belongs to us!” Drona declared.

As she gestured, the Sun Knights, mercenaries, and warriors following her all drew their swords at once. Kalkara and Ur stood to shield Echelle, but with blades pointed at them, they couldn’t move.

Outside the residence, the knights were doing the same. The weapons and killing intent of the dozens of mercenaries she had brought were directed at them, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

“What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?” Echelle demanded.

“If you’re worried, why don’t you check with Gradol? You can beg them for help to stop this,” Drona sneered.

She laughed mockingly, as if to say it couldn’t be done. Indeed, it would be difficult. Even if they contacted Gradol, the country didn’t have the physical power to repel the armed forces before them. The fact that they had to reluctantly allow these people to enter with their weapons, albeit with pained expressions, showed that Drona’s words held some truth.

But precisely because they understood this, they had made their own preparations.

“I apologize, but could you please refrain from violent acts in Uuga at present?” a beautiful voice like birdsong rang out.

Shizuku, who had vanished at some point, reappeared. Ur understood that her preparations were complete.

                              ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

“Direct violence against others or indirect threats for reasons other than self-defense are prohibited within Uuga,” Shizuku, clad in a white robe, stated. She had emerged from the soldiers’ encirclement surrounding the house and was standing outside.

Sitting gracefully on a bench in the narrow residential street, as if mocking the warriors crowded around, she smiled and clasped her hands cutely.

“This is Uuga’s law. I’m sorry, but would both sides please lower your weapons?”

Her words were met with derisive laughter. Drona and her followers sneered from among the soldiers. Faced with the girl who seemed to completely misunderstand the situation, Drona pointed her finger.

“Let me teach you since you don’t seem to understand. Laws have no effect without power to back them up!”

“I see, indeed. Then let me demonstrate,” Shizuku replied.

As Drona repeated “Huh?” in disbelief, Shizuku tapped the ground with her shoe.

『HAHAHA』

A sound like something repeatedly biting echoed. Simultaneously, from the shadows of various houses, armored soldiers appeared one by one. Naturally, the guarding warriors immediately pointed their swords warily. There was a hint of disdain, as if a single person approaching wouldn’t make any difference.

However, the situation gradually changed.

『HAHAHA』『HAHA』『HAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA』

The strange sounds continued to echo. And with each sound, more armored soldiers appeared. They kept appearing endlessly. The guards showed their astonishment. They weren’t stupid; they had been carefully checking their surroundings for enemies and monitoring Ur and his companions as they progressed through Uuga.

Yet the sudden appearance of a massive number of warriors, as if sprouting from the ground, was utterly bizarre.

“I’ll ask again. Will you lower your weapons?” Shizuku inquired, demonstrating what Drona had called clear “power.”

Drona’s eyes widened, her smile finally crumbling.

“Will you please lower your weapons?” Shizuku repeated.

Instantly, the mysterious soldiers, vastly outnumbering the few dozen guards, readied their swords. Their movements, coordinated without a moment’s hesitation, were eerie and terrifying, and more intimidating than anything else in this situation.

However, one of the guarding warriors shouted, “Ha! I’ve figured it out! They’re puppets or familiars controlled by magic!! They’re just for show!!”

As if to test his theory, he attacked one of the soldiers before him. Of course, this was an even greater outrage, but no one reprimanded him. However—

『HAHAHA!!』

In that instant, his sword was deflected. The attacked soldier immediately counterattacked, knocking the weapon away. The guard’s eyes widened in shock. The deflected sword spun through the air, and with a gesture as if reaching out, Shizuku stopped its motion mid-air and brought it to her hand.

She carefully offered it back to the stunned guard who had lost his weapon, smiling.

“Shall we continue?”

“You—”

Perhaps taking her polite response as an insult, the guard reached out with his empty hand towards Shizuku. But before his fingertips could touch her—

“Gah!?”

“Oops.”

“Your hands are getting grabby, oi.”

Ur and Jain’s hands seized the guard’s arm.

“Gyaaah…!!”

Needless to say, the silver-ranked Jain’s strength was formidable, and Ur’s power, honed through countless battles and continuous absorption of magical energy, was becoming extraordinary. Mere guards accustomed to living in the safety of cities were no match for them.

“The law means nothing without power to back it up. That’s what we were talking about, right, Jain?” Ur asked casually, ignoring the guard writhing in their unnaturally strong grip.

“Yeah, that’s what she said,” Jain agreed.

Both of them tossed aside the screaming guard and turned their calm gazes towards Drona, who had ordered the violence. Drona and those around her flinched, visibly frightened.

“So, if we have the power to back it up, there’s no problem in making you obey, right?” Ur drew his dragonfang spear.

“Ah, of course, that’s how it is. After all, she said it herself. A great priestess wouldn’t lie,” Jain shouldered his hand axe.

The two began to advance. Step by step. Moving closer to Drona and her group. Naturally, the guards turned warily towards them, but their fear was visible. Moreover, they seemed distracted by the surrounding soldiers.

“My, Ur-sama, Jain-sama. You shouldn’t tease them like that,” Shizuku’s bell-like voice chimed in. She seemed like heaven-sent help, or perhaps a child mocking their pathetic state.

“Everyone, if we talk properly, you’ll understand. Right, everyone?”

『HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!』

With the strange chorus of the soldiers behind her, Shizuku smiled bewitchingly.

                              ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

“…So, they fled Uuga like that…”

That night, they held a meeting at Ur’s home in Uuga to report on the day’s events.

They had managed to repel the threat of force, or rather, overwhelm it. But it had undoubtedly been a troublesome problem. Moreover, they hadn’t yet reached a fundamental solution.

“For now, good work, Shizuku and Rock… But to think we’d actually have to use it,” Ur sighed.

“Rock-sama’s ‘Clone Technique’ worked well, didn’t it?” Shizuku smiled.

『It was a combination with Shizuku’s necromancy! HAHAHA! Their panicked faces were hilarious!!』 Rock cackled.

“Don’t find it so amusing, you old bag of bones,” Jain grumbled.

『Come on, Jain. You were into it too! HAHAHA!』

The trick itself wasn’t particularly difficult. Shizuku had pre-planted deconstructed undead soldiers she could control with necromancy, along with fake armor (mostly damaged, unusable armor from the Sun Knights who had previously surrounded Uuga). When needed, they activated all of them at once, with Rock deployed at the very front.

That was all. In essence, the soldier’s claim that it was “just a bluff” was correct. They were thankful the intruders had tucked tail and run.

“It was hard work to distribute magic power throughout, so thank me too,” Lynne chimed in.

“Sorry. Thanks, Lynne,” Ur apologized.

Incidentally, the magic power supply to the mass of skeletal soldiers was thanks to Uuga’s magic power distribution system under Lynne’s direction. While most of Uuga’s functions were sealed, not all were, and non-aggressive magic was apparently easy to manipulate.

“But will those ‘guests’ be alright? They seemed furious,” someone worried.

“Yeah…” Echelle held her head in her hands. Indeed, honestly speaking, it had turned into quite a chaotic welcome. Although unavoidable, it was among the worst-case scenarios they had considered.

However, as the atmosphere grew heavy, Shizuku responded, touching her cheek:

“I think it’ll be fine?”

“Don’t say it so lightly, Shizuku…”

“Rather, this show of force was absolutely necessary,” Shizuku stated firmly, causing Echelle to look up.

“If we didn’t demonstrate that Uuga possesses extraordinary military strength even when sealed, such people would gradually take it over through direct violence.”

“But would they really do such an outrageous thing… I mean, judging from today…”

“Unfortunately, Gradol’s current position is too weak,” Shizuku explained.

While they might not have intended to act immediately today, giving them the information that “forceful means could immediately subdue us” would likely lead to trouble later. As Drona said, Gradol is currently weak. If outsiders impose unreasonable demands and Gradol lacks the power to protest, they’ll be forced to comply.

Therefore, Uuga itself had to demonstrate that forcing their hand would lead to painful consequences.

“Just being able to show that today is an excellent result,” Shizuku concluded decisively.

Strangely, when she said it like that, it really did seem to be the case.

“But won’t there be protests from Proudia’s side?” someone asked.

“Let’s leave that to Lacretia-sama,” Shizuku smiled. Ur and the others felt sympathy for Lacretia, who would likely be dealing with stomach aches in Gradol.

“However, while it worked out this time—” Ur sighed, looking up at the ceiling and letting his words trail off. But the rest of his sentence never left his throat.

“Ur?”

“…No, it’s nothing,” he shook his head at Echelle, who was looking at him worriedly. As if to change the atmosphere, Ur slapped his own cheeks and returned his gaze.

“For now, let’s focus on what’s in front of us. Let’s concentrate on the Sun-Devouring.”

And so, their response to Uuga’s intruders ended without incident, for now.

“It’s impossible, isn’t it?”

Ur didn’t voice Black’s warning that had flashed through his mind.