Chapter 124

Lara Barbe couldn’t hide her utter dismay at Juliana’s words.

“Milady, are you saying we should assassinate Lady Ansbach?”

“Yes, exactly.”

In stark contrast to her tutor, the saint carried a facial expression suggesting she was making a perfectly reasonable claim.

“That woman must be forcibly binding my sweet Mr. Hinoharu to her side. If that weren’t the case, why on earth would Mr. Hinoharu still be acting as her retainer?”

Karina Angerer offered a hesitant thought.

“Could it be… that the two of them share a deeply intimate relationship?”

At those words, a cynical smile spread across Juliana’s face.

“That is entirely possible. No doubt that woman is seducing Lord Hinoharu. Which is precisely why I must awaken Mr. Hinoharu to true love. No matter what measures I must resort to…”

At the end of the day, these two could never defy Juliana.

Among those surrounding the saint, there was no one capable of negating her opinions.

“Then what shall we do? May I take it that the next target for the Knights of Condemnation will be Clara Ansbach?”

While the public referred to them as the Condemnation Bandits, they themselves preferred to use the title Knights of Condemnation.

“If we are to execute this, it would be best to do so while Mr. Hinoharu is away from Dresden.”

“According to our scout’s report, Lord Hinoharu departed while riding a horse-type golem called a motorcycle.”

Instantly, Juliana’s eyes sparkled with pure delight.

“My! Is that also one of Mr. Hinoharu’s hidden powers?”

“Presumably. I am told he sped away at a velocity that no horse could ever match.”

Juliana and Karina listened to Lara’s report with rapturous expressions.

“As expected of Mr. Hinoharu. To think he even possesses such a magnificent golem.”

“Yes, truly. I am so envious of you, milady. Before long, you will surely be allowed to ride on the back of that golem.”

“!!”

Juliana’s yandere mind instantly performed a mental calculation, converting Kota straddling an off-road motorcycle into a prince riding a majestic white stallion.

Cutting into the two girls’ excited chattering, Lara raised a question.

“Milady, regarding Clara Ansbach…”

Lara’s words snapped the saint back to her assassination plot.

“Ah, right. I wonder when Lord Hinoharu is scheduled to return?”

“If he can travel faster than a horse, a round trip would likely take about half a month. The distance to Ebba-berg is fifteen hundred kilometers.”

Juliana nodded in agreement, but this estimate was incredibly naive.

In reality, a one-way trip took only four days, and by utilizing a portal, he could return from Ebba-berg instantaneously.

“Half a month means we will barely manage to make it in time. Is Ansbach still affiliated with the Royal Capital City Guard at present?”

“No. With her investiture ceremony drawing near, she currently does not belong to any organization.”

“Her residence?”

“It appears she is renting a room inside a merchant house called Amida Trading on Roemer Street.”

Roemer Street was the number one bustling district in Dresden.

“Who else resides there?”

“There are a few maids and retainers, but they shouldn’t pose any issue. The most troublesome factor is that Lord Akito Yoshioka, who is to be made a Knight Bachelor alongside them, also rents a room in the same house.”

Juliana had also heard the name of Akito Yoshioka.

She had actually met him before as Kota’s friend.

He was the grand mage who had single-handedly turned a swarming horde of monsters from the labyrinth into ash.

In fact, rumors whispered that he was a great sage who could also utilize recovery magic.

Clara Ansbach alone was an unprecedentedly formidable adversary, so if Yoshioka were to join forces with her, there was a high probability that the Knights of Condemnation would face a total wipeout even if they attempted an assassination.

“…We cannot handle the two of them together. We must somehow wait for a moment when Clara Ansbach is completely alone.”

As Juliana turned various strategies over in her head, Karina questioned her.

“By the way, what shall we use as our grand justification for executing Clara Ansbach?”

While the Knights of Condemnation relied on self-righteous logic, they maintained the public stance of being chivalrous thieves.

Up until now, every single target they had gone after was a criminal who had stacked up enough sins to be openly judged.

However, this particular murder was nothing more than Juliana Ceberai’s personal grudge.

Clara hadn’t committed a single sin that could be judged publicly.

“That woman has committed the ultimate sin of monopolizing Lord Hinoharu.”

As the saint declared this with a perfectly straight face, Lara hurriedly intervened.

“B-But the foolish masses will never accept such a reason. Furthermore… it may cause the knights’ morale to fracture slightly…”

While every member of the knights was placed under the saint’s charm effect, Lara feared that operating on such an outrageous whim might cause the unity of their organization to fall apart.

“I suppose you are right… In that case, let us do this. There was a knight apprentice named Emma Petersen staying with Clara Ansbach, correct? If we simply frame the two of them as homosexual lovers, everything will wrap up cleanly.”

In Saxens, homosexuality was considered a crime heavy enough to warrant execution by burning at the stake.

It wasn’t known what the gods of Nordicism thought about it, but whether it was BL or GL, if such a thing were uncovered, it became an immediate target for condemnation.

This was a world where both roses and lilies were snapped and tossed straight into the hearth.

“That knight apprentice Emma originally carried those sorts of traits anyway. The eyes she used to look at me were laced with a clear gleam of lust.”

This was actually a fact.

Emma had harbored those exact feelings toward both Juliana and Clara.

While she kept it private, she had interacted with the two of them with a secret admiration.

Clara hadn’t noticed it in the slightest, but Juliana had been keenly sensitive to it.

On top of that, she had tucked this fact away in a corner of her mind, thinking it might prove useful someday.

“It would be quite wonderful to use Emma Petersen to help carry out Clara’s murder as well. There is no need to mobilize the Knights of Condemnation for this. It would be far simpler to just poison her.”

Lara let out a massive sigh of relief.

Engaging in a direct fight against Clara Ansbach carried an exceptionally high risk.

Targeting a human who was equivalent to an entire company single-handedly meant assassination was their only option, and even then, there was no guarantee of success.

“Well then, shall we go pay a visit to Emma Petersen? I shall tame her thoroughly for our amusement. I can at least grant her a fleeting, sweet dream…”

Offering a captivating smile, Juliana instructed Karina to prepare for her departure.

Riding tandem on the back of the motorcycle, Fiene spoke up.

Thanks to the intercom built into our helmets, the audio was crystal clear.

“Is it really okay for me to stay at my parents’ house?”

Right now, we were tearing down the road toward Fiene’s hometown, Kattenstrokt.

Though because the road conditions were so poor, we were only moving at about forty kilometers per hour.

“It’s perfectly fine. Clara told me it’s okay for you to stay for about three nights.”

Because the war had concluded vastly sooner than anyone anticipated, there was no longer any need to rush.

As long as we made it back in time for Clara’s investiture ceremony, we had plenty of time to spare.

“But, Kota, wouldn’t you want to head back immediately? Clara is waiting for you back in Dresden, after all.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Fiene, you’re still eighteen, right? I’m sure your parents are worried sick about you. Back when I was eighteen…”

…Back then, I was right in the thick of cramming for university entrance exams.

I still found time to hang out with friends, though.

I had intended to confess my feelings to Ms. Takeda, whom I liked, once the exams were over, but we ended up drifting apart just like that…

We were always together, so I had countless opportunities, yet…

Back then, I was truly faint-hearted.

If I had possessed Courage x6 at that time, my life might have turned out completely different.

Then again, because of how things went, I managed to meet Clara.

“What were you like when you were eighteen, Kota?”

“Hearing my old stories will only bore you.”

“Eh~, come on, tell me. I promise I’ll keep it a secret from Clara.”

“Why does it have to be a secret from Clara?”

“Because a girl you used to like is definitely going to make an appearance, right?”

I suppose she had a point.

Young boys and girls, fictional or real, blooming flowers, scattering flowers, flowers that never bloom—the world is simply overflowing with romance.

Very few people pass through that age bracket without harboring a faint crush.

“Look, Kattenstrokt is still a long way off. Since we have the chance, let’s have some romance talk.”

“I guess I have no choice. Well then… it all started on a spring day when the snows of Mount Gassan were just beginning to melt.”

“Pfft, what is that intro?”

“Just shut up and listen.”

Muffled slightly by the somewhat high-pitched roar of the motorcycle engine, a thirty-something-year-old man’s trip down memory lane began.