Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 46 - Chapter 1

Traces of Conspiracy

November 29, Tuesday

Sanae was angry. As honest as she was, she couldn’t hide her feelings. Her cheeks were puffed up like a cartoon character’s. She pushed her face against the desk and complained. “I think that Koutarou should be more honest!”

“Why is that?” Kiriha asked with a smile. Sanae’s appearance was heartwarming to her.

“I think it’s about time for him to start developing the desire to take a peek at us bathing!” Sanae felt that Koutarou was being too serious. It would be more fun for her if he let his emotions go rampant.

“Koutarou is the supreme commander. In the face of a large battle, I don’t think he’d be able to do that,” Kiriha explained with a wry smile.

Koutarou was the Blue Knight, Forthorthe’s hero. He had an overwhelming amount of influence, politically, militarily, and economically. He was also being held up as an example of morality. So prioritizing himself and acting emotionally would have a negative influence on everything. In particular, Koutarou needed to refrain from doing anything irresponsible before the big battle.

“I know that,” Sanae said. “But I’m a third-year high schooler, so there are things I want to try! Like screaming, ‘Eeep! Koutarou, you pervert!’”

“In other words,” Kiriha summarized, “you want to feel more like a high schooler in private.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Sanae wasn’t saying that Koutarou should act as he pleased toward just anyone, but she wanted him to at least be more selfish around those close to him.

“But Koutarou just isn’t honest. When I tried to get in the bath with him the other day, he said, ‘Evil spirits, begone!’” Sanae cried.

Koutarou had chased her out, saying that he couldn’t take a bath with a girl. Sanae had simply accepted it until recently, but she’d changed her mind after hearing that Koutarou and Nana had been in the same bath. So lately, she’d been astral projecting to go through walls and trying to force her way in. Koutarou had then brought out the charms he had gotten from his grandmother to chase her out. An explosion would happen if Sanae were to touch the charm that said ‘Evil spirits, begone.’

“Well, there’s no other way to chase you out,” Kiriha said with another smile. It appeared Sanae’s frank display of feelings was troubling Koutarou. She found it heartwarming but was envious at the same time.

“Sanae-chan is angry about two things, ho!” a haniwa explained.

“That big brother is keeping her in check, and that the charm is still exploding on touch, ho!” a second chimed in.

Although there had been an explosion, Sanae hadn’t really been hurt. There’d accidentally been an explosion in the spring, but it had just ruffled her hair and not much more. But the charm going off meant that Koutarou saw Sanae’s astral projection as an evil spirit.

The explosion being so small meant that those thoughts had been drastically reduced, but Sanae didn’t like that they were happening at all. She was also unhappy about Koutarou using a charm to evade her expression of love.

“I see. That is complicated,” Kiriha said.

“How rude,” Sanae complained.

“Haha... Sanae, could you reduce your spiritual energy a little?”

“All right.”

Sanae was in the process of using her vast stores of spiritual energy to assist Kiriha in her work of adjusting instruments related to that very topic.

“It worked this time, Kii,” Clan exclaimed. “The spiritual energy inserted was reduced, but the output of the generator increased.”

“Sanae-sama, can you haphazardly increase and decrease the level of spiritual energy so that I can fine-tune the output?” Ruth asked.

Clan and Ruth were present as well, and the girls were in the process of putting together a new machine to replace Warlord III Rev, which had been damaged during the battle the other day, although most of the damage had come from how Koutarou and Maki had used it. The frame hadn’t been able to handle the movements that they wanted. That was why they were talking about making a new machine instead of repairing the old one.

“Yes, sir,” Sanae replied.

As instructed, Sanae repeatedly increased and lowered the amount of spiritual energy. If they adjusted the generator to withstand her level of fluctuation, there would be no problems with Koutarou using it. That made it fundamentally different from Warlord, which had been made with normal people in mind. Naturally, that made it more difficult to handle. It was expected that nobody other than Koutarou would be able to use this machine.

Koutarou was, of course, involved in their work. However, he was also training with the soldiers, so he didn’t stop by Clan’s laboratory until early evening.

“Still...to think you are already testing a new machine. It hasn’t been that long since the last battle,” he pondered.

There was already a machine built in the laboratory. It lacked armor and wasn’t complete yet, but its functions were rapidly taking shape, so Koutarou was surprised to see the new machine taking shape so fast.

“Well, it is mostly using basic parts,” Clan explained. “Not everything is being built from scratch.”

They were using general parts and layouts for much of the machine, allowing them to rapidly create a new one. Forthorthe also had artificial intelligence to assist with the blueprints, which made a big difference. It had analyzed the battle data to point out what parts needed to be customized.

“But you’re making a new one because of the serious wear on it, right?” Koutarou tilted his head. The new machine needed to be able to handle him and Maki getting serious, which the old one hadn’t. Yet they were using the old parts, which Koutarou had his doubts about.

Ruth smiled at him. “That is part of it, Master.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since the parts are worn down so much, they will need to be replaced regularly,” she explained. “And even if all the parts are custom-made to handle the strain, it won’t make too much of a difference given how often the parts are replaced.”

“Oh, I see...” Koutarou came to a realization. “So it’s like replacing custom parts five times, or replacing common parts ten times.”

“Yes. It is more convenient to restrict where custom parts are used.”

“Right...it’s smarter to have repair parts that can be used by other machines too.” Koutarou nodded. Reinforcing all of the parts was ideal, but since it was a machine, wear and tear was unavoidable—which meant that parts would be replaced regularly, so it made sense to leave those that would be replaced often as they were. Custom parts were expensive, and there was no other use for them. Since they were a bottleneck when it came to replenishing, the fewer the better. One could call it strategic ingenuity.

“Hehe, by the way Clan-dono wanted to make a fully custom machine at first,” Kiriha said with a grin.

Clan had initially wanted to make the best machine possible to guarantee Koutarou’s victory, so she had looked to design a fully customized and invincible machine.

“Kii!” Clan yelled with a red face. She’d wanted to keep that from Koutarou.

“But Ruth-chan was the one to stop her, ho!” Karama said.

“Thanks to that, the machine has already taken shape, ho!” Korama added.

The invincible machine would cost too much, and it would take a lot of time to construct. Moreover, there were operational problems to contend with. So Ruth had stepped in to make adjustments to keep the machine realistic while still respecting Clan’s policy as much as possible. In other words, the machine in front of Koutarou had only been made possible with Ruth’s assistance.

“Frankly, this design puts me more at ease as well,” Kiriha noted.

“You’re being mean, Kii!”

“That’s true. There’s no point in an invincible weapon if it never reaches the battlefield,” Koutarou added.

The biggest priority with weapons was delivering the required number to the required place at the required time. If only a few cannons could be sent to the battlefield, it made more sense to mass-produce bows. The difficult part about war was managing the supply in accordance with the current situation.

“Not you too, Veltlion!”

“But sometimes, perfection is necessary. Such as PAFs custom-tailored to patients. You should be using your talents for that,” Koutarou said. Clan wanted to object some more, but his words put a stop to that. Her cheeks gradually turned red. Naturally, she wasn’t angry. Koutarou’s words had shown his deep trust for her and moved her. Clan instead cast her eyes down and started fiddling with her hair.

If you say that, Glasses is going to try to make another invincible robot...

Sanae didn’t understand any of the technical talk, but she could tell that Koutarou had gotten Clan fired up. Next time, Clan was sure to try to make another custom machine in order to protect her beloved Koutarou and deliver a perfect victory to him.

Haha, Koutarou can be so stupid... she thought to herself while looking at the other four with a smile.

Tuning the new machine was put on a break for dinner. There was other work waiting for them as well, so they were busy.

“Koutarou, let’s go eat!” Sanae said. “I’m hungry!” She pulled off the electrode on her head and jumped off the chair. With energetic steps, she ran up to him.

“All right, hang on a second,” Koutarou answered. He was setting up and porting data to the machine, but he left the rest of the work to the AI and stood up. Sanae had a point, as he was feeling hungry.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Sanae cried.

“I suppose so.” Kiriha nodded.

“Thank you for the invitation, Sanae-sama,” Ruth said and stood up from her chair.

The girls were even busier than Koutarou. Considering the work they had pending, they needed to eat dinner. During this busy period, having dinner together was one of the things they looked forward to the most.

“Kii, Pardomshiha, hold on!” Clan called out. “I wanted to talk to you about you-know-what a little.”

The two girls stopped and turned toward Clan. They both had serious expressions on their faces.

“How much is a little?” Sanae casually asked. Right now, food was the biggest thing on her mind.

“It is only a few minutes, so please go ahead with Veltlion, Sanae.”

“Then I’ll order food for you too. Are you three okay with the same menu?”

“Yes, please.” Clan nodded.

“Leave it to me! Okay, let’s go, Koutarou!” Sanae exclaimed.

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to pull me,” he said. “The food isn’t going to run away.”

“Of course it is!”

Koutarou was dragged out of the laboratory, and after seeing that, Kiriha and Ruth turned to face Clan.

“So, what did the intelligence agency say?” Kiriha asked with a stern look. Clan and Ruth had the same look.

“It is just as you expected,” Clan reported.

“Is that for certain?”

“Yes.” Clan nodded. “They just came in with decisive evidence.”

“How should we handle this?” Ruth asked. “If we make a mistake, we will lose months of time.”

The three discussed the matter for only a few minutes, like they’d promised Sanae. But the contents of that discussion would shake Koutarou and the others, as well as the core of Forthorthe.

The Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire had several secret organizations that served the empress directly. The most well-known one was the intelligence agency. Though its name and scale were unclear, the people had known the organization existed for a long time. Meanwhile, there were also secret organizations that were completely unknown, such as the court magicians. The old Darkness Rainbow leaders had been appointed as such, and they were in charge of dealing with incidents regarding magic and spiritual energy, but they had little direct contact with Elfaria. It had been a bitter pill to swallow since Forthorthe as a country had no countermeasures for magic and spiritual energy, but it was working out well for the moment. If anything, they were performing admirably. As a result, the organization was gradually being expanded with the help of personnel on loan from Folsaria. But that also meant that they were busy.

“Crim-chan, stop standing around and help out,” Orange said.

“But I’m bored,” Crimson complained.

The girls were busy at work today as well. Their job was to decontaminate the battlefield. Waste had been used in a limited capacity in the previous battle. That waste was material that had been drenched in negative spiritual energy, and just touching it would infect living creatures and turn them into zombies. Since leaving it would be dangerous, they needed to thoroughly decontaminate the area. Moreover, decontamination required either necromancy or spiritual energy, so the court magicians had their hands full, and right now they were hard at work, with Purple, who specialized in necromancy, as their leader.

“We’ve been doing nothing but cleaning lately,” Crimson continued.

“But it’s never going to end if we don’t do it.”

Right now, Crimson and Orange were in the main tower of the contaminated military base where they had been assigned. But Crimson was unhappy. She was active and rough around the edges, so plain work like this didn’t suit her. As a result, the normally free-spirited Orange had to soothe her. Orange wanted to finish the job as soon as possible and escape from this place that had nothing cute.

“Why don’t we just blow it all up?” Crimson asked. “It should be fine if we burn it down.” She was reaching her limit and considering destroying it all with her magic.

“I’m sorry, Crimson.” Purple, who was passing by, apologized with a wry smile.

“If you’re going to apologize, we should just blow this place up,” Crimson suggested again.

“I would love to, but it could just scatter the waste and would burn up the evidence as well.” Purple shrugged. “This is one of the difficult parts of court service.”

The waste in question was weak to heat, and Crimson’s magic could burn it up. The problem was that if not everything was equally heated, waste could be scattered, expanding the contaminated area. Moreover, destroying the evidence would hurt as well. Working for the empress or not, the law needed to be followed, and they needed to gather evidence of the wrongdoings of enemy crimes. That was something that had been unnecessary for Darkness Rainbow in the past, but was another struggle now that they were court magicians.

“This is something we’ve got to do even if you don’t want to, Crim-chan,” Orange agreed.

“Jeeeez.”

“Or would you rather take over my computer work?” Purple asked.

“I want that even less!”

“Ah, I would rather do that, Purple!” Orange raised her hand.

“You can’t change the desktop image to something cuter, you know?” Purple said. “That’s evidence as well.”

“Whaaaaat?!” Orange cried out. “Then I’ll pass.”

“I see.” Purple nodded. “Then take care of this place.”

In the end, Crimson reluctantly got back to work. The court magicians worked for the empress, but the girls had their own goal. By making a name for themselves, they wanted to create a path for Folsarians returning home. By expanding their scale, Forthorthe would have more of an exchange with Folsaria. The coming and going of people and information would increase. That was why messing up here would only create discontent in Forthorthe, which would put their goal in danger. And that wasn’t something Crimson wanted.

“Everyone, listen!” Green’s voice came from their government-issued bracelets. It was a message for all former leaders of Darkness Rainbow transmitted through an emergency channel.

“What is it, Green?!” Crimson threw away the tools for decontamination and hurriedly answered. She’d already surmised that it was a serious situation because of the use of the emergency channel.

“We’ve gotten a message from our ‘common friend’! Come back right away!”

“Got it!” Crimson briefly replied and took off running. Green was working as an operator at the top of the main tower. All Crimson needed to do was run up the stairs. “Good job, Elexis, Maya!” she shouted as she ran.

“Do you think it’s them too, Crim-chan?” Orange asked as she chased after her. The same people had come to her mind upon hearing Green say “friend.”

“Who else could it be?!”

“Yeah! It has to be!” Orange agreed.

They were people the girls definitely couldn’t ignore. Driven by hope, they disappeared from Purple’s field of view in moments.

“Good grief.” Purple sighed. “They must have been bored. You two called at a good time.” Having been left behind, she smiled and moved the tools for decontamination they had dropped toward the wall so that they wouldn’t get in the way. Once she finished that, she quickly walked after them.

Facing Elexis for the first time in a while, the court magicians found that he had gotten more fit. He also had a bit of a tan, making him look less like a scion. But the glow in his eyes and smile on his lips were the same.

“I never expected that we would be able to meet again,” he began.

“If you were alive, you should have come to see us!” Crimson shouted.

“Do forgive him, Crimson,” Maya pleaded. “After all, he is wanted for trying to overthrow the empire.” Maya seemed to be the same as always. She had clear, white skin and a beautiful body. Her beauty was captivating even to women. However, her expression when smiling at Crimson was kinder than before.

“Where were you until now, and what were you doing?” Yellow asked as she wiped away her tears. She was normally reserved, but this time she spoke bluntly. She was truly happy that they’d been able to reunite.

“We were working as couriers while drifting around the outskirts of space,” Elexis explained.

“It was such a hassle,” Maya added. “We couldn’t even create a company by regular means. And then that Blue Knight started meddling with the transport industry.”

After the battle against Vandarion, Elexis and Maya had been hiding on the outskirts. Forthorthe’s hold over the remote regions was weak. The anti-government forces used those circumstances, which made sense, since Maya and Elexis were pretty much anti-government as well. And since they needed to work in order to survive, they’d set their eyes on the transportation business now that the country was getting back on its feet. At first, they’d operated a normal transport business with fake papers, but after attempting to acquire the Blue Knight business certification mark, their papers had been checked over, and they had escaped. After that, they’d switched to the illegal transport business.

“Acquiring the know-how to run a business before turning to an illegal business was a big help, though.” Elexis laughed.

“I don’t think that’s something to laugh about,” Blue replied firmly. She was always calm and didn’t say much, so her speaking up said a lot about how she truly felt.

“I’ll relay your complaints to Koutarou-kun later,” Elexis told her. “But for now, I’m back, Blue.”

She stared at Elexis but said nothing. To him, she didn’t look unhappy. That said, he wasn’t sure what to do, so he looked over at Maya, who smiled at them.

“I can finally offer my thanks, Maya,” somebody called out.

“Green...it has been a while since we met face-to-face,” Maya answered.

“Thank you for saving me that time. And Elexis too...” Green said and bowed.

Maya nodded. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Happy to see you well,” Elexis added.

“I’m doing fine thanks to you,” said Green. She had once been captured by Vandarion and used for her predictions. Elexis, Maya, and Darkness Rainbow had saved her, but when she’d come to, they had already been missing, so she’d never had a chance to thank them.

“I’m glad to see you two doing well!” Orange walked up to the pair and lightly tapped Elexis’s chest. “You look more fit than before.”

His chest had certainly become bulkier since the last time she’d seen him.

“Well, I’ve been working in the transportation business for a while. I couldn’t do nothing but desk work like before,” he explained.

“I heard rumors that you were more like space pirates, though?” Orange observed.

“That might not be entirely wrong,” Maya answered.

“Whatever our intentions, our clients and enemies had a lot of misunderstandings like that,” Elexis added.

“Okay, okay, so you were sneakily doing your own thing without telling us,” Orange remarked.

Elexis’s tan and physique were a result of him working as a courier. It was a simple job of receiving and delivering packages, but there were all kinds of clients and destinations. He also had experience with forcibly collecting packages and breaking through sieges, so in a way, he wasn’t too different from a space pirate.

“And what business do space pirates have here?” Purple asked.

“That’s harsh, Purple. Could you please be more friendly?” Elexis pleaded.

“I’m not sure if I can call someone who hasn’t shown himself for almost a year ‘a friend,’” Purple replied, narrowing her eyes.

“Hahahaha, you have a point there.”

“There’s something we wanted to ask you,” Maya interjected. They hadn’t contacted the court magicians in order to renew old friendships. There was something they had to talk about.

“We’re working for the empress now. There’s a chance we won’t be able to help you,” Purple warned her.

“Just listen to what we have to say,” Maya responded. “You can decide if you want to help or not after that. I understand the position you’re in right now.”

“Okay.” Purple nodded. “I’ll hear what you have to say, Maya. Also...I’m happy to see you again after so long.”

“Me too,” Maya answered. “I wish the reason for our reunion wasn’t this, though.”

From there, Maya and Elexis began explaining why they had come to meet the court magicians. Maxfern had been resurrected using a different process from normal reviving spells. By overwriting a living soul with the necessary information, he had overtaken the host’s body and soul. Their client wanted to recover the possessed victim, Ralgwin. In order to do that, they needed powerful magic. They would need to reverse the process and remove the information that made up Maxfern, and restore Ralgwin’s soul.

But Elexis and Maya couldn’t use such spells. Maya had once been able to use powerful magic, but by now most of her body had been replaced with machines and small spells were her limit. That was why they’d contacted the court magicians. They had nobody else they could rely on.

“And that’s how it is,” Elexis concluded. “This is Fasta-san. She is our current client.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” Fasta greeted the girls. “I may be unemployed now, but in the past I was Ralgwin-sama’s subordinate.” Fasta bowed to the court magicians. Her polite greetings were in part because she was the one asking for help, but mostly because of her earnest personality.

“You just got back and you’re already bringing trouble with you, Elexis.” Crimson gave him a cold stare. The issue weighed more heavily on her than the reunion.

All Elexis could do was offer a bitter smile and shrug. “It is certainly a problem,” he agreed.

“You sure admitted that easily.”

“I have no choice but to admit it. Trying to rescue Ralgwin will mean going against that Grand Wizard, Grevanas.”

“Grevanas?” Crimson’s expression changed. She’d been unhappy but suddenly looked hopeful.

“Of course.” Elexis shrugged once more. “We won’t get anywhere without doing something about him.”

Resurrecting Ralgwin meant defeating Maxfern first. And Grevanas wasn’t going to allow that to happen, which was why Grevanas needed to be dealt with, either through force or schemes. And Elexis didn’t think it would be easy.

“I-I guess it can’t be helped.” Crimson relented. “We go way back...so spill the details!”

“Hold on just a minute!” Orange objected. “You can’t go and decide that on your own, Crim-chan! You just want to fight against Grevanas, don’t you?!”

Crimson had been easily convinced, but Orange managed to stop her just in time. She loved cute things and seemed carefree, but she could be reliable when necessary.

Crimson denied it. “N-No. That’s not true! I was moved by Fasta-san’s determination, and we’re good friends with Elexis and Maya.”

“We’re civil servants now!” Orange insisted. “We can’t run around on our own anymore, and could we even do this in the first place?!”

“Ugh...” Crimson grasped for words. Orange did have a point. They weren’t as free as they’d been during the Darkness Rainbow era. They might have been a secret organization, but they were also civil servants, so they needed to get confirmation from their boss. Moreover, it was questionable whether they could even use such grand magic to save Ralgwin. Now that they were in Forthorthe, they were lacking catalysts and auxiliary equipment.

“Personally, I would love to help, but...” Yellow felt the same way Crimson claimed she did. However, she was actually serious. She was thoughtful and she cared about her allies, so she was moved by the dangers Elexis and Maya were putting themselves through and wanted to help them. But at the same time she was worried. Orange made a good point. She turned to Purple, who was serving as a kind of leader for the court magicians. “What do you think?”

“Hmm...” Purple looked up and started fiddling with her hair as she fell deep into thought. As someone who used necromancy, she had a good idea of how Maxfern had been resurrected and how to nullify it. She’d also tried to bring back her dead lover in the past. “I think it would be possible. The bottleneck would probably be a lack of materials. Regardless of whether we gather them here or smuggle them in from Folsaria, it will take a lot of time.”

The problem was that they were in Forthorthe. Their magic activities were still in their infancy, and there were no established routes for materials necessary for magic. The major materials were manageable, but others had been put on the back burner due to seeing very little use. In this case they would need those materials. Overwriting the soul to resurrect someone was a special method and required special items that would take a lot of time to gather.

“That is also part of why we came here, Purple,” Maya clarified.

As the former Dark Navy she was an expert on mind manipulation magic. She didn’t specialize in necromancy, but there was a lot of overlap between their fields, which was why she and Elexis had come to see them. If they began preparations now, they should be able to make it in time for when it was necessary.

“That’s a good decision, Maya,” Purple noted.

“But it will be hard to handle it, considering our position...” Blue, who had been quietly watching over them, spoke up. She was as serious as Maki, so she was concerned about their current position. Since they were civil servants, they couldn’t act of their own accord. Moreover, Elexis was wanted for treason. Cooperation would be difficult.

“Regarding that...I have a request for you, Crimson,” Elexis said.

“Me?! Why?!” The conversation suddenly turning to her flustered Crimson. She had no interest in complicated topics, so she’d been sure that she would be left out.

“I want you to bring it up with Navy—uhm, Aika Maki-san.”

“Whaaat?!” Crimson was astonished. All of a sudden, Maki’s name had been thrown in.

Crimson was too surprised to speak, so Green answered in her place. “You took their relationship into account from the start, didn’t you?” She adjusted her glasses and glared at Elexis.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Elexis shrugged with a smile. “This is just how it played out.”

But when she saw his face, Green was convinced that was exactly what he’d done.

“What do you mean, Green?” Crimson, who still didn’t understand, asked with a puzzled look.

“It’s obvious. If you tell Navy, it will naturally reach the Blue Knight’s ears. And he will believe the information since Navy will guarantee it. So what do you think he will do?”

“The Blue Knight will kind of cooperate?” Crimson guessed. “Like he will turn a blind eye to it?”

“The proper channels won’t work,” Green said. “It needs to only reach the Blue Knight.”

“And that’s why they came now?”

“Yes,” Green nodded. “This man has planned it all out! I can’t believe it!”

Things would get complicated if the government or military brass found out. So Elexis would make use of Koutarou’s personality and Maki’s friendship with Crimson to sway their group. That was why he’d shown his face now.

“You heard them, El,” Maya remarked.

“I wouldn’t dare,” Elexis said. “I am always mindful of beautiful flowers. I just wanted to see your faces again after such a long time.”

“You are nothing but lies!” Green shouted.

She didn’t like his scheming. She herself had wanted to see them again, yet the man in question had only come as part of his calculations. Green’s dissatisfaction was a show of her having attained the feelings a normal girl would have.

“Haha. Green, please forgive El,” Maya said.

“Maya?” Green replied.

“I’ve only just learned this recently, but...he can be really shy around the people he’s close to. Isn’t it funny, when he’s normally so confident around others?”

Maya glanced over at Elexis. At some point he’d turned away so that the court magicians couldn’t see his face. He probably had an uncomfortable expression. Green could tell just from looking at his back.

It was also a sign that Maya was right. He really had come to see them because he was worried. But he was too embarrassed to meet them without a reason. It was a struggle for someone who hadn’t had real allies before. And Green shared that emotion.

Green was using her best friend, Crimson, to hide her true feelings. “Can we really, Green?!” she excitedly asked.

“Even if I tried to stop you, you would just sneak away to do it anyway, right?” Green said.

“Yeah!” Crimson nodded.

“Good grief...”

Truthfully, Green had no reason to object. But she was embarrassed like Elexis was, so she was grateful to Crimson for getting so fired up.

“You heard them...” Purple concluded. “We will cooperate with you, Fasta-san.” She had no objections either. Having tried to resurrect her lover, Purple could understand how Fasta felt.

“Thank you very much, everyone.” Fasta lowered her head.

There were tears in the corners of her eyes, and Purple waited for her to raise her head again before talking. “Let’s go over the problematic points.” Her calm expression stiffened. Her expression looked similar to her Dark Purple days. “We will leave it to Crimson to lay the groundwork with the Blue Knight, is that okay?”

Crimson nodded. “Okay, I’ll talk with Maki.”

Just by talking with Maki for the first time in a while, she would get the chance to fight the Grand Wizard, Grevanas. It was a win-win situation.

“We’ll also be able to get most of the necessary materials over time,” Purple noted. With her expertise in necromancy, she had an idea of what materials they’d need for the ritual. Most of them were possible to acquire; it would just take some time. And considering the situation, it was possible that Folsaria might support them as well. Even so, Purple wore a stern expression. “There is just one material that time won’t help us with.”

“Maxfern’s lingering thoughts, right?” Maya offered, explaining the reason for her stern expression.

Purple nodded. “Yes. Right now, Maxfern’s soul is using Ralgwin’s soul as a platform, with Maxfern’s lingering thoughts, fragments of his soul, being used to overwrite it. In order to remove that, we need parts of his soul to reference.”

Maxfern’s soul was made up of Ralgwin’s soul fused with fragments of Maxfern’s soul, making it near impossible to single out Ralgwin’s soul. But if they had fragments of Maxfern’s soul, they could compare it with the current Maxfern to determine what needed to be removed.

“But this will remove overlapping parts, so we will need fragments of Ralgwin’s original soul as well...” Purple noted.

“That won’t be a problem,” Fasta declared. “I know where Ralgwin-sama lived.”

Upon removing Maxfern’s part of the soul, parts that overlapped with Ralgwin’s soul would also be removed. So they needed fragments of Ralgwin’s soul to recreate those removed parts. Fortunately, those wouldn’t be difficult to obtain. Ralgwin had lived in the current age, so there were plenty of lingering thoughts around. Moreover, the perception of loyal subjects like Fasta would help with the process.

“It would seem the problem will be how to obtain Maxfern’s lingering thoughts.” Elexis folded his arms. That was a considerable problem.

“I wonder if there are even any lingering thoughts of Maxfern remaining from before his resurrection...” Maya muttered.

Maxfern was a figure from two thousand years ago, so there were next to no lingering thoughts of his remaining. The majority had dissolved with the passage of time. Those that remained had likely been collected by Grevanas. There were surely some that Grevanas hadn’t retrieved, but that would mean they were either unusable or too difficult to obtain. Naturally, they would be extremely difficult to acquire.

“If Grevanas is the kind of person the legends say, he would have prepared backups just in case,” Purple mused.

“Hmm, that’s possible.” Elexis snapped his fingers. “There was no guarantee the resurrection would succeed, so he should have several backups.”

Grevanas was known as a personal adviser to Maxfern. It was said that he was calm and careful. In which case, unless he had absolute confidence in his resurrection magic, he would have backups. And it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that some were still around.

“Besides, even after resurrecting him, they will be starting a war, right?” Maya reasoned. “It’s possible that Maxfern will need to be resurrected again.”

With Maxfern throwing himself into war, there was a risk he would die in battle. There were also accidents and diseases. There would be several scenarios in which Maxfern might need to be resurrected again, so it was highly likely that there were backups in place. Elexis also felt like Maya was right.

“Which means...we would need to sneak into their headquarters,” he said, leaning back into his chair.

If Grevanas really did have spare lingering thoughts prepared, they would certainly be hidden at their main base of operations. They were extremely important, and he couldn’t afford to lose them, so it would be challenging for the group to get their hands on them.

Maya sighed. “And we will need to do it before he fights the Blue Knight boy and the others and dies.”

Not only were the remaining lingering thoughts likely gathered at the enemy base, there was also the risk of Maxfern dying in combat and his body and soul being reduced to ashes, making it impossible to resurrect him. Moreover, he might take irreparable damage in battle against Koutarou’s group. There were plenty of scenarios that could prevent Ralgwin’s resurrection.

“Which means we’ll need to hurry,” Purple said. “Crimson, if you would.”

“Fine, fine. Jeez.” Crimson made her way to the exit.

There was no telling when Koutarou and the others would clash with Maxfern and Grevanas, so they needed to talk with them as soon as possible, and face-to-face at that. There was no telling who might be listening over a call.

“I’m definitely going to fight Grevanas, you hear?!” Crimson said.

“I know,” Purple replied. “We’ll make a plan with that in mind.”

“Good.” Crimson nodded. “Then I’m going.”

“Crimson, wait!” Green chased after her. She wanted to help her, and she didn’t like Crimson talking with Maki alone.

Before long, the two were out of the room. After seeing them off, Elexis continued speaking. “Now then, as for how we should proceed... I would like you to prepare for the ritual in parallel with your job. We will be gathering information. In our current situation, we should be able to get information we couldn’t get elsewhere.”

“That’s true; it’s not like you can use your official transportation business,” Purple agreed.

Elexis and Maya were currently illegal couriers, or perhaps one could call them space pirates. With Elfaria casting a wide net over the transportation business, Maxfern and Grevanas couldn’t openly transport weapon materials, which meant they needed to rely on illegal means to move their cargo, which should make it easier for Elexis and Maya to gather information.

“As long as you do it seriously instead of playing around,” Orange said, being serious for once. “You have to get a lead before the final battle between Maxfern and the Blue Knight.” She loved all things cute and hated trouble like battles, but she was surprisingly motivated for once. Not only were her allies getting fired up, but she also sympathized with Fasta.

“I know.” Elexis nodded. “There won’t be any playing around this time.” The same might be true of him. The gleam in his eyes was similar to when he’d been fighting Koutarou and the others, glowing with a strong conviction to win.

“I will be keeping my eye on him, so don’t worry, Orange,” Maya said.

“Please do, Maya,” Orange replied.

“You got it.”

Maya could also tell how serious Elexis was, so she wasn’t as worried as she sounded. But the battle was starting again. She would be keeping her eye on him so that he didn’t go off and die on his own.

“Thank you so much, everyone.” Fasta bowed. “You’re going through all this effort just for our sakes...”

She thanked them all for risking their lives for her and Ralgwin. Risking one’s life for others was far from easy, even more so when going up against someone like Maxfern.

“Don’t worry about it,” Purple said. “Even if you weren’t here, we would be destined to fight Maxfern. If we ignored Grevanas, Folsaria’s reputation would plummet, which means those looking to return to their ancestral home from Folsaria would have no place to call home.”

As Forthorthe was the true homeland of Folsarians, there were plenty of people who wished to return. Moreover, if Grevanas were to severely harm Forthorthe with magic, the public image of a country of magicians would be terrible. Their return would never be allowed. As such, they needed to get rid of Grevanas as soon as possible. In other words, the court magicians and Maya would need to fight Maxfern and Grevanas anyway.

“In that sense, we would have to thank you for cooperating with us on this, Elexis,” Blue muttered.

With that, everyone turned to look at Elexis. Blue was right. Elexis alone had nothing to gain from this. The battle between Forthorthe and Maxfern had nothing to do with him.

“Hahaha, please stop it,” he laughed. “I once stood up to create the ideal society so I can’t leave Maxfern be. Besides...” He suddenly stopped.

“Besides, what?” Maya asked with a smile.

“It’s...nothing.” In the end, Elexis said no more about it.

“Hehehe, how shy you are,” Maya laughed. “Good grief...I wish you would take after the Blue Knight’s honesty...”

In reality, everyone already knew why Elexis was cooperating with them. But since they knew he was embarrassed, neither Maya nor the court magicians said anything more.

Many people were rising up to defeat Maxfern and Grevanas, but they weren’t the type to wait for the enemy to attack. Maxfern would rather strike first to dampen the enemy’s spirit. He desired to stand at the very top. And he wanted to be the one to decide when the battle started as well.

“This plan will work. Move to execute it immediately. Aside from his battle prowess, the Blue Knight is just a human teenager. It is these three who make their plans, back him up technologically, and make arrangements on the practical level.”

Information on a certain plan was displayed on a hologram in the command room. The Gray Knight glanced at it and nodded in agreement. Satisfied with his words, Maxfern grinned.

“If you’re saying that, there’s no doubt about it.” Maxfern smiled with Ralgwin’s face, but it was twisted with insanity.

“They are the Blue Knight’s Achilles’ heel,” Grevanas said. “And they have no replacements. If we can take down even one of them, the Blue Knight will no longer be able to walk the path of a hero.”

The hologram was showing a plan to attack Koutarou and the others. Grevanas had planned it at Maxfern’s behest.

“Wahahaha, and we will bury all three of them!” Maxfern laughed. “We will rip off his wings!”

In the center of the hologram were the faces of Kiriha, Clan, and Ruth. Maxfern had set his sights on those three. His first move was to crush the brains behind the Blue Knight. Grevanas had had his spies gather information in order to execute this plan. And as luck would have it, the three of them would be traveling together. The attack plan Grevanas had created would be put into action at that moment.

“Still...” the Gray Knight muttered. “Having a conference on economic development on Alaia, the sixth planet...”

Maxfern and Grevanas were plotting to attack the three when they were moving together. The girls in question would be traveling to the planet Alaia to take part in the galactic conference. The planet was under the control of the Mastir family, and as the eldest child of the Pardomshiha family, which had strong ties to the Mastir family, Ruth would be in charge. On top of that, the second princess, Clan, as well as Kiriha, would be taking part as a technical advisor and consultant, respectively. The composition made sense, with nothing out of the ordinary. Yet something was bothering the Gray Knight.

“What is it, Gray One?” Maxfern asked.

“I was just thinking that the timing is too convenient.”

What bothered the Gray Knight was the timing of the conference. It was set at the same time that Maxfern and Grevanas were raising an army. And their three targets were all heading for the conference. It felt almost calculated.

But Maxfern rejected the notion. “Aren’t you overthinking it? The conference was planned beforehand. It’s just a coincidence that the timing overlapped. Besides, you and Grevanas tend to overestimate those girls.”

Maxfern wasn’t as worried as the Gray Knight was. The conference wasn’t something that had suddenly been decided. It was something that had been held several times to recover from last year’s civil war and was where decisions on policies were made. Naturally, it wasn’t the first time the three girls in question would participate either. Moreover, Maxfern felt like the Gray Knight and Grevanas were being too cautious. They’d been given a hard time, so it was understandable, but Maxfern was of the opinion that attack plans needed to be bold.

“I understand how you feel,” Grevanas said. “But don’t worry, Gray Knight-dono. We have information to back this up. We have information from those we have on the inside that the security at the conference is being enhanced. They seem to believe that the conference itself, filled with important people, will be targeted.”

Grevanas would normally feel the same way as the Gray Knight, but this time he had closely scrutinized the information and felt that there wouldn’t be a problem, just like Maxfern. The spies in Forthorthe had sent information on the meetings. According to that information, the enemy was concerned about an attack during the conference, which made sense, as leaders and influential people from knight families from a lot of planets would be gathering in one place. So it was fair to assume the conference itself would be the target. It would clearly have an effect on all of Forthorthe.

Compared to that, the three that Maxfern and Grevanas were after had little strategic meaning. They were nothing more than staff around the Blue Knight. But as Maxfern understood the Blue Knight well, he understood that crippling him had great strategic value. By killing them, he would stop the Blue Knight. A lot of people’s wills were focused on the Blue Knight in Forthorthe. So if the Blue Knight was stopped, it would be like Forthorthe’s heart stopping. There were very few people who understood that—Maxfern was an exception—which was why most people would neglect the three girls and protect the conference.

“I hope you’re right,” the Gray Knight said. He had no basis for his concern. Perhaps he really was overestimating the girls. He lost interest after Grevanas confirmed the validity of the information.

“But you do have a point,” Maxfern said. “Depending on the circumstances, we may change our aim to the conference. That way we could avoid the trap you are worried about.”

“You’re the same as always, Maxfern,” the Gray Knight replied.

Maxfern had an intense grudge against the Blue Knight, and he would do anything to ruin the royal families or the Blue Knight himself. Damaging the country would harm the royal families. To the Blue Knight, it would mean damaging what Alaia had built up. Maxfern wouldn’t be picky as long as he could trample over Alaia, the Blue Knight, and the royal families.

“Hmph, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Maxfern grinned. His only interest was in destroying everything and making people grovel before him. His evil smile would make anyone watching shudder.

But the Gray Knight was unfazed. He had no interest in Maxfern’s expression.

“So when are you planning to attack, Grevanas?” Maxfern asked.

“Please look at the hologram.” Grevanas pointed to the information on the projection.

With the topic changing to specific attack plans, the hologram displayed a highly detailed model of Planet Alaia from orbit. A long curve was drawn onto it. It was the route that the three girls would be taking.

“In the past, this is the route that people from the Forthorthe government have taken when traveling to Alaia,” Grevanas explained. “There’s no guarantee it will be the same this time, but from the moment they enter the atmosphere until they finish braking, they should follow the same curve. This is when we will strike.”

With a beep, the picture on the hologram changed. Grevanas displayed a craft that had slowed down and entered level flight.

“This is the moment that they’ve expended their energy,” Maxfern commented.

“It is just as you say, Maxfern-sama.” Grevanas nodded. “Safely entering the atmosphere means expending a great deal of energy to decelerate and protect the craft. The moment before entering level flight will be when they use the most energy.”

In orbit, spaceships flew at a constant speed. Simply put, if a spaceship flew at that position at that speed, the gravitational pull of the planet was balanced by the centrifugal force on the spacecraft. By slowing down, the centrifugal force would weaken, causing the spaceship to descend to the planet. But since the spaceship was flying at dozens of kilometers per second, even after slowing down, it would touch the atmosphere at several kilometers per second. The extreme heat created from the friction had to be dealt with somehow to prevent the ship from falling apart. Forthorthe designed their spaceships to be cost-effective and the hulls were solidly built while also relying on distortion fields to block the heat. Therefore, spaceships needed to expend energy to slow down and also maintain the distortion field. So the moment the ship entered level flight was when they had used up the most energy, which was when the ship was at its most defenseless.

“Aiming for the enemy when they’re at their weakest is basic strategy,” Maxfern noted. “So won’t they be expecting that too?”

“Yes indeed, many military and government ships are designed not to be defenseless at this time,” Grevanas said. “But even so, attacking then is important.”

“What do you mean?” Maxfern asked.

“When entering the atmosphere, they will be traveling in a straight line, making it easy to take aim,” Grevanas explained.

Because of its speed, until a spaceship slowed down enough, it had to fly in a straight line. Once the ship changed to standard flight, it could take evasive measures again. So the best time to attack was when the ship had slowed down enough, not just from an energy perspective, but also from an accuracy perspective.

“So what better time to attack, especially since they will have used some energy.” Maxfern nodded. “That makes it the perfect time to attack.”

“Using missiles in that moment should be enough to destroy them,” Grevanas surmised.

“Then we’ll need ground troops on Alaia.” Maxfern folded his arms.

In order to ensure that the ship was destroyed, they would need quite a lot of missiles. And with enhanced security, it would be difficult to attack with a fleet. This meant that they would need weapons on the ground, and more than a few at that, which was surprisingly tricky.

“If we can sneak ground forces in, the chances of success will skyrocket,” Grevanas agreed.

“I would hope so. This is an important battle that will determine the outcome of the war.”

There was a lot that needed to be done, but if they could complete those tasks, they would achieve a big victory that would take the wind out of the Blue Knight’s and Imperial Army’s sails. Knowing that, Maxfern and Grevanas made careful preparations.

A big fight is finally about to start...

The Gray Knight watched them prepare. Once a large battle began, it would be easier to bring out the powers of the Goddess of Dawn. So it was an important opportunity for the Gray Knight too. Careful preparations, not letting any chances slip by, and boldly confronting anything. With that in mind, the Gray Knight began making his own plans.