Their Respective Goals

“Kono-non, how much do you know about the 【Five Noble Clans】?”

“I’ve only heard a little about them.”

“Then I’ll start from there~”

And so, Rose began to speak. First came the founding of the country itself—the legend of its establishment.

One thousand years ago, a single man planted a great banner on the land of Paris Palace, and an enormous castle was built there. The man possessed enough mana to construct a castle in a single night, and his name was Parsia. This man became the first king of the Sacred Kingdom of Parsia: Parsia I.

To ensure the Kingdom’s prosperity, Parsia took five knights as his retainers, bestowed a special skill upon each of them, and ordered them to govern different regions.

“Those five knights were—
Zweilight of 【Shipbuilding】,
Fulgaud of 【Dragon Taming】,
Olivard of 【Songcraft】,
Villafilia of 【Tableware Mastery】,
and Ekaterinburg of 【Ironworking】.
Each of them was given their own role~”

【Zweilight】 developed the Kingdom’s maritime trade, bringing valuable spices and rare goods into the country. They were responsible for foreign affairs.

【Fulgaud】 used their ability to peacefully communicate with dragons to oversee military affairs, expanding the Kingdom’s territory and defending it against invasions. They were responsible for the military.

【Olivard】 developed not only song but the Kingdom’s culture as a whole, laying the cultural foundations of the thousand-year kingdom. They were responsible for education and culture.

【Ekaterinburg】 contributed to ironworking—in other words, the production of arms and armor—as well as scientific development, supporting the Kingdom’s chemical industry. They were responsible for industry.

【Villafilia】 not only managed the royal kitchens, but also controlled the tableware industry, firmly establishing the Kingdom’s financial power. They were responsible for finance.

“The devotion of these Five Noble Clans to the royal family shaped the Kingdom into what it is today~. And I’m a descendant of one of them—the Fulgaud Family.”

“I think I mostly understand now!”

“Over the next thousand years or so, the Kingdom was invaded twice by Demon Kings, but it somehow managed to defeat them both and became a thousand-year kingdom. And now we jump all the way forward to the reign of the previous king, Elkdreil VII, and the Green Sage, Forest Carmen~♪”

Eighteen years ago, Forest Carmen retired and departed the royal court. As a result, King Elkdreil abdicated, and his legitimate son, Epoch, ascended the throne as Elkdreil VIII.

“Normally, his older brother, Nissim-sama, was supposed to take the throne~. But that plan was scrapped.”

“Scrapped? Also, I guess the eldest son doesn’t automatically become king?”

“Because there was supposedly a revelation from Full Moon-sama. The Church of the Full Moon pressured the court to place the younger brother, Epoch, on the throne instead of the elder brother, Nissim. Though it’s questionable whether that revelation ever existed in the first place~”

“So Epoch conspired with the Church to obtain the throne?”

“Exactly~. And the royal court yielded to pressure from Charles, the Pope of the Fortuna Sect. After Lord Carmen stepped down, three Chancellors were effectively leading the government, and they supported the Church of the Full Moon and Epoch. As a result, Epoch ended up ascending the throne as Elkdreil VIII.”

From there, the situation rapidly deteriorated. The Olivard Family was the first to openly object to the corrupt collusion between the royal family, government, and Church. It was obvious that Epoch was conspiring with the Church of the Full Moon to do something sinister. As a result, the Five Noble Clans backed Nissim and demanded that the royal succession be reconsidered. The former king also began intervening, and both the bureaucracy and military split cleanly into two factions.

“That’s when the Church started eliminating them by force~”

“By force… you mean…?”

“Military force. Specifically, they mobilized the Inquisitors. I suppose you could call it a coup carried out by Epoch and the three Chancellors together.”

Epoch first sent troops to the palace where the former king lived and drove his own father to suicide. At the same time, officials and military officers belonging to Nissim’s faction were murdered one after another by the Inquisitors. The head of the Olivard Family and several of Nissim’s closest aides were also killed during this purge.

“Enraged by that, Nissim mobilized four of the families—all except the 【Ekaterinburg Family】—and launched an offensive against the royal palace~. But that was where everything went wrong.”

The moment Nissim raised arms against the royal palace, he became a traitor. With the Inquisitors leading the charge, Epoch’s forces slaughtered Nissim’s army. The heads of the Fulgaud and Zweilight Families were killed in battle, while the head of the Ekaterinburg Family surrendered.

“I heard it really was a one-sided massacre. The Inquisitors killed the soldiers, and the scum behind them did nothing but loot the corpses afterward. Yet now they parade around as though it were all their accomplishment. Genuine scum.”

“Mei-chan’s right~. Nissim fled into Olivard territory after his defeat, but the royal capital’s army invaded the region and exterminated the entire clan, right down to the women and children. A lot of dragons died in the battle at the royal capital too. That’s why the dragons stopped siding with Fulgaud.”

“They stopped siding with you?”

“In the battles afterward, almost none of the dragons helped us. I think they said that we dragonkin had brought about a foolish conflict or something like that~? Oh, and that head of the Fulgaud Family who died in battle was my papa~”

“I see…. Right, you did say you were the family head.”

Konoha’s expression darkened. Apparently, she felt guilty for making Rose relive such a painful past.

“Don’t worry about it~. I’ve already made peace with that part~. Anyway, back to the story. The Fulgaud Family gathered the surviving dragonkin and shut themselves away in the Dragonkin Village. Dragonkin scattered across the country either fled back to the village, escaped abroad, or were captured and killed~”

“…The tragic fate of the defeated.”

“The Fulgaud Family actually got off relatively lightly, you know? The surrounding lords surrendered quickly, and our clan didn’t suffer as many casualties as the other Five Noble Clans~”

The others were not so fortunate. The Olivard and Villafilia Families, neither of which had ever excelled militarily, were exterminated down to the last member, while the surrounding lords were ruthlessly purged. The Zweilight Family also lost its head, and was annihilated by the Inquisitors while attempting to retreat to its territory. The shipbuilding clan was said to have been completely wiped out.

The royal capital government under Elkdreil VIII confiscated all territory belonging to the Five Noble Clans and redistributed it among lords closely aligned with the regime. They even committed such outrages as rewriting history books and distorting the facts surrounding the conflict.

“Something like: ‘Nissim and the Five Noble Clans were the vilest traitors imaginable for raising arms against the royal family. King Epoch was completely righteous, and his great generals defeated the evil clans’~? They twisted it way too much~”

The sole surviving family, the Ekaterinburg Family, had its territory in Hispania in the southwestern Kingdom confiscated and was banished to the Southern Continent. Thus, the Five Noble Clans that had supported the royal family for a thousand years completely vanished from the center stage of history.

“That happened sixteen years ago. Afterward, the royal capital government adopted a system of Four Chancellors, One Supreme Commander, and Seven Generals, becoming even more closely intertwined with the Church both politically and militarily~”

“So the history we know really was fabricated by the royal capital government. Now I understand very well why you want to change the Kingdom.”

“That’s part of it, but the biggest reason is what happened two years ago~”

“Two years ago?”

Rose smiled sadly. The sorrow hanging over that smile made Konoha’s chest tighten.

“Two years ago, the Inquisitors broke through the barrier around the Dragonkin Village and invaded~. By then, hardly any dragons remained with us, and the village had no way to resist militarily. It was destroyed. I’m probably the only survivor.”

“…I made you remember something painful.”

“I’ve already settled that within myself too~. Mr. Darkness saved me, and the dragonkin elder entrusted me with this spear, 【Fire-Thunder Hammer】, which had been bestowed upon us by King Parsia, before I escaped. As for what happened to everyone else… I don’t know~”

Sixty Inquisitors and roughly 2,500 soldiers of the Kingdom’s Second Division, commanded by General Eden Nosvel, attacked the village. Apparently, they slaughtered everyone indiscriminately, dragons and dragonkin alike.

“【Magic Spear: Fire-Thunder Hammer】. One of the treasured special skills bestowed upon the Five Noble Clans by King Parsia. I heard the Kingdom recovered all of the Five Noble Clans’ special skills.”

“That’s a complete lie~♪ The only ones they recovered were the one belonging to the Ekaterinburg Family, who surrendered unconditionally, and the one belonging to the Olivard Family, who were completely wiped out. The Zweilight Family’s went missing, I think? I have the Fulgaud Family’s, and someone already possesses Villafilia’s too~!”

Rose dipped her bread into the soup and brought it to her mouth. Konoha’s vegetable soup appeared to be remarkably good, because Rose had not stopped eating since she started.

“So there’s a survivor from Villafilia too?”

“Yep~. He’s the leader of the anti-government organization 【Porcelain Stars】, and he’s super handsome~. He can be a little unfriendly sometimes, though~”

“Don’t you cooperate with him?”

“We did~. One of the Porcelain Stars’ officers came to Lichten, and we were working together, but then we had a fight~ Ahaha~”

(Come to think of it, didn’t she say she came here with a friend…?)

“Where is that ally now?”

“That’s the problem—I don’t know~. That Inquisitor from earlier was Second-Class Priest Schraize, and he had already killed someone~. Either way, I need to find out what happened~”

“I see….”

“What are you two planning to do now, Kono-non~? Even if I need to investigate, I can’t make any major moves while First-Class Priests are wandering around the city~”

The Inquisitors who had infiltrated Lichten were there to capture the 【Porcelain Stars】. Apparently, they had already discovered that Rose was there as well.

“It might be safer not to move around the city for a while… In that case, our objective might actually be perfect.”

“Objective?”

“Raising our tag color. We were planning to take on several troublesome jobs starting around today anyway, so you’ll be joining us, Rose.”

“That won’t work~. Accepting requests is fine, but when you receive the reward, you have to show your tag to either the receptionist or the Guild Hall administrator. That’s why I’m still White Moon-class~”

Guild requests could first be accepted either from request notices posted on the board or directly from a Guild Hall administrator or similar official. Sometimes the Guild Hall itself would recommend particular requests to adventurers, which they could then accept.

For posted requests, an adventurer first brought the request sheet to the receptionist to formally accept it. At that point, parties of ten or fewer had their tag colors evaluated, and adventurers whose tag colors were below the quest’s requirements were prevented from taking it. It was basically like an academic cutoff score. For example, if a quest required at least one Green Moon-class adventurer, a party consisting entirely of Yellow Moon-class adventurers or lower could not accept it. The receptionist evaluated the party’s overall color ranking before allowing the adventurers to depart.

The situation was different for major Guilds. If the Guild Master approved, that entire process could be bypassed. The procedures described above only applied to Guilds that did not qualify as one of the 【City Guilds】 designated by each settlement, or to groups of independent adventurers.

A 【City Guild】 was a powerful Guild officially recognized by its city. Essentially, the city judged that such a Guild was trustworthy enough that there was no need to stop its members from taking difficult requests. Because this exception had been applied in Racluzero, however, the result had been a large number of deaths.

But that restriction would not apply to Konoha’s group this time. The reason was—

“Then it’s fine! Guild Hall Administrator Anson-san agreed to directly recommend requests to us! I’m sure there won’t be any problem with Rose-chan joining those requests too! Besides, we need your strength.”

“You need me?”

“Our ultimate goal is to conquer the 【Witch’s Treasure Chests】. We need more fighting power for that. There will definitely come a point where the two of us alone reach our limit. We need companions.”

“You want me to help you?”

Rose’s expression hardened.

“Of course, you can refuse! It’s not like I became friends with you because I wanted your help. I’d be sad if we had to part ways here, though….”

Naturally, Konoha and Meiro’s objective was different from Rose’s. Konoha understood that.

“…My objective is to kill Elkdreil VIII.”

“_______!? Th-that’s….”

Konoha faltered slightly before the strength in Rose’s eyes. Rose continued.

“And then I’m going to change this country. This Kingdom is rotten~. Politicians rise through bribery, while intelligent people and anyone who resists are exiled to remote posts. It isn’t just demi-humans anymore—human slave trading also became widespread after the current king took power. Officials and soldiers the government dislikes aren’t merely assassinated and displayed as warnings; they’re falsely accused of all sorts of crimes so even their deaths can be disgraced. The Kingdom recklessly starts wars under the banner of continental unification and exhausts its own national strength. Every year, the amount of tribute increases, squeezing the peasantry further and further.”

“…”

“As a member of the Five Noble Clans who were entrusted with supporting this Kingdom, I absolutely cannot tolerate that. I’ll kill the king, the Inquisitors, the generals—all of them—because of my personal hatred~. But beneath all of that, what I truly want is to save this country.”

“Rose-chan….”

“I don’t have enough power. I even collapsed from running out of mana earlier~. How embarrassing~”

Rose gave a silly little grin. But her eyes contained an unwavering determination to change the country.

“If I stay with you two, Kono-non, do you think I could get stronger~?”

“…Do you know about the Witch’s Gems?”

“They’re Treasure-class items hidden inside the Witch’s Treasure Chests~. Items that grant special skills, right~?”

“We can use them too. Special skills powerful enough to defeat a Demon King… They will definitely help you accomplish your goal.”

Meiro stared intently at Rose.

“…Is it really okay for me to stay with you two?”

Rose looked away guiltily. But Konoha took her hand and answered.

“Of course! We’re friends! I support you, Rose-chan. I can’t stay with you all the way to the end of that goal, but I want to help you however much I can… So I want you to come with us!”

“…Kono-non.”

Tears gathered in Rose’s eyes. Konoha smiled happily.

“I have no intention of joining you in revenge or changing the country. But you want to become stronger, and we want the Witch’s Gems. If our interests align, then do as you please, Rose.”

“Mei-chan….”

Meiro smiled coolly, Konoha smiled warmly, and then—

“Then I’ll be counting on you from now on, Kono-non, Mei-chan♪”

Rose’s innocent face softened as well, and she gave them her usual goofy little smile.