Youjo Senki - Volume 12 - Chapter Pr

[chapter] 0 Prologue

Loria was furious.

“Zeeettooouuurrr.”

He was determined to erase that con artist turned wicked tyrant from the face of the planet.

“You…you dirty!!! Rotten!!! Bastard!!! You filthy fraud!!!”

Loria knew nothing of honor and justice. He was a hunter who embraced the insatiable emotions that drove him.

Exploiting his position as the head of the Federation’s secret police, he picked his prey at their ripest and lived his life as he pleased.

This changed, however, the moment he discovered true love. Now, Loria was filled with nothing but a singular thought.

“Aaaah! My purest feelings! My swelling love! How dare that disgusting man ruin our happiness!”

Naturally, the beloved he spoke of was a certain fairy. And the villain who had the gall to steal Loria’s joy in picking his precious flower was an absolute bastard who had no problem ruining the perfect love story.

Loria was well aware of the identity of the towering pile of shit that stood in his way—Zettour. That bastard was an unforgivable being of pure evil.

“Huff, phoo, haaagh…”

His breaths came hard and fast.

Although the hunter’s rage was fueled by a true and noble love, he knew he couldn’t allow his mental fortitude to lose ground to his burning passion. He slowly let the air fill his lungs before whispering his newfound resolution.

“I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll butcher you. You…you scoundrel…”

Loria clenched his fist until it was angry red. He had slammed it against the wall before coming to the realization that his rage was growing borderline illogical.

“I must accept it…”

I, too, have been had.

The Unified States boasted the world’s largest industrialized economy and was currently waiting on the edge of its seat for an opportunity to enter the Old World’s war. The opportunity finally presented itself when the Empire attacked Ildoa. This was the perfect justification for a preemptive, preventative attack.

From the outside, it looked like the Empire had made a mistake—shall we say, screwing the proverbial pooch—and it was true. The entire world watched in shock.

Despite being bogged down by their war with the Federation, the Imperial Army executed their attack with lightning speed, which was a spectacle in and of itself. However, what should’ve been very obvious to the Empire was that its invasion of Ildoa came at what seemed like mere days after the forming an alliance of armed neutrality with the Unified States.

Thus, it was only natural for the Unified States to rush in and aid their new ally. This outcome was as plain as day to all observers. The Imperial leadership would’ve had to be sick in the head if they assumed the Unified States would sit by and idly watch the blitzkrieg play out from the sidelines. That was why the world was shocked by what had transpired. Everyone was in awe of the war maniacs known as the Imperial Army.

Now, it should be made clear that even Loria couldn’t figure out what the goal was at first.

The Empire had achieved nothing more than a tactical victory, or perhaps a series of Pyrrhic victories.

But nevertheless! Even so!

Whether it be plotting, scheming, conspiring, or whatever one may fancy—Loria had a bit more experience in the trickery department compared to the general populace.

With the unwavering compass that was love guiding him, he would not be outdone.

It was his pure, unclouded eyes that allowed Loria to quickly deduce the truth, and this was why he was furious…at that piece of shit, Zettour!

What a terrible, vile scoundrel!

“How could I have missed this?!”

There certainly had been a sign, though only one, and it had come in the form of an ominous turn of events. This fact was what annoyed Loria to no end.

It happened just the other day. At the time, Loria was processing a ludicrously thorough report he’d received from a certain gentleman mole he had planted in the Commonwealth Intelligence Agency.

He remembered the exact moment he received the report from one of his subordinates, and the exact words he said in response.

“So the Albion chaps pulled off their assassination? And you’re sure about this?”

“We have five separate sources confirming this information. Apparently they’ve eliminated a group of real troublemakers.”

Loria let his numbskull subordinate’s tactless “congratulations” slide because he was giddy at the fact it was a group assassination.

“A group, you say. Splendid news.”

“Yes, Rudersdorf will no longer pose a threat to our great nation.”

Wait. Loria’s brow heavily furrowed.

“Comrade, were both threats dealt with? Or only one?”

“What?”

“Rudersdorf and Zettour. That pair of devils. Both of them are dead, yes?”

“No…only the deputy director, according to our intel. However, he was killed with his entire entourage of General Staff officers.”

Loria was openly disappointed by that answer.

“What a pity. Those boys from the Commonwealth should’ve made the con artist their target.”

He still remembered the long sigh he gave before treating the news like any other and giving the usual orders to his subordinates to send along thanks to their mole in the Commonwealth…

That was it. He’d already lost interest in the entire ordeal.

This was only natural. For Loria, the death of a random strategist meant nothing if it wasn’t the vile con artist who so trampled all over his love. This apathy, however, was a massive failure on his part.

It was actually in the same room he had received the news of Rudersdorf’s assassination where Loria finally grasped the entire picture.

“That…that filthy con artist! Zettour! He returned home the minute his friend died! How did we let such important information slip through our fingers… And now…you…!”

Zettour now had full control over the Imperial Army, and he was the one who had spearheaded the full-scale attack on Ildoa after the announcement of an alliance with the Unified States.

“You attacked Ildoa! Zettour, you insufferable piece of shit! You went and attacked Ildoa?!”

At this specific stage of the war. At this specific timing.

For Loria, who was preoccupied with both his love and the war, the cunning and underhanded motivation of the attack was as clear as day.

“You’ve raised yet another obstacle on my path to love!”

Loria was a simple man. He lived for his passion. He wanted to do one thing and one thing only: to taste the fruits of his love with a certain fairy before the passage of time ruined her.

“Why must you and the world reject my purest of feelings?!”

Loria cursed the wicked and evil embodiment of humanity that was General Zettour.

“What a tragedy. We… I don’t have much time left.”

Loria was left with a looming feeling of unease. His heart was plagued with anxiety as he wondered just how much time he had left.

“Time is my enemy. This is always the case.”

It was a race against the clock to pick his fruit and consume it before it was too ripe. He certainly wasn’t one for rotten apples.

Oh, how few things compare to plucking a flower in full bloom!

There was a specific flower Loria had in mind, one that could only wait so long before it was too late. She was a cheeky little flower, who loved playing tricks on him—his thorny little angel. Degurechaff was her name, and she was ripe for the plucking. God forbid she grew too much and her petals fell before he got his chance.

“I’m running out of time!”

Loria was literally shaking at the thought of his ideal prey vanishing off the face of the earth.

From everyone else’s perspective, it would be much better if his love never saw fruition. Loria himself was a stain on the world, objectively speaking. The perverted predator cried out in agony because his bottomless lack of self-awareness painted him a picture in which he was somehow the victim in all of this.

“If such a thing came to pass, it would be nothing less than a tragedy.”

Should he miss his chance, the regret would surely be the end of him. At the very least, he was losing hair over it, mostly because he kept pulling more out due to stress.

“Ah, damn it, I need more time.”