To Shoot The General, First Shoot The King

“Ilmitt.”

“Yes~”

After stepping out into the corridor, I called out to Ilmitt and asked where the king of Est was.

“Will you be meeting him~?”

“Yeah. If we are going to recruit General Saga, it will be faster to bring down the king of Est. I already know from Ilmitt’s assessment that he has no ability. I do not intend to recruit the king of Est, but I need to speak with him.”

General Saga’s loyalty was quite something.

Changing the direction that loyalty faced would not be easy… or rather, I did not think it could be changed.

But even if his loyalty was not directed toward us, it was still possible to recruit him.

With how dutiful he was, as long as we did not treat him carelessly, he would probably do his job properly.

“I plan to entrust the royal capital’s magistrate position to the second prince, but~ I would like to entrust the northern city to the general~”

“The north, huh? That would be on the Kingdom of Sorakil side.”

“Yes~ The Kingdom of Sorakil will definitely make some kind of move~. So, the magistrate entrusted with the north will need broad vision and unwavering conviction~. Sending someone from Einheria would be best, but~ if possible, I would like to entrust it to someone local~”

I see… she had already decided where to place General Saga if we recruited him… in that case, I could not exactly avoid recruiting him.

But if we recruited General Saga, it would be as a package deal with the king of Est, or something like a barter….

…No good. I ended up imagining two old men embracing each other.

Well, I did not know what the king of Est looked like, though.

“If we are to make full use of General Saga, the king of Est’s existence will also be necessary. Personally, I would place the king under house arrest and recruit General Saga as a magistrate. If we are going that far, perhaps we should place the king in the north too. That would also make it easier for the Kingdom of Sorakil to try something.”

“I see~ So this time, the bait will be the king of Est~”

“He can also serve as bait to gather rebellious elements within the Kingdom of Est. Well, how we use the king depends on speaking with him first.”

“Understood~ Then I shall guide you~”

For now, it depended on the result of speaking with the king, but… it would probably work out somehow… unless he was a crazy psycho like a certain prince.

Well, that was something I wanted to trust General Saga on.

I wanted to believe that the person to whom that man had offered so much loyalty was not someone with such abnormality.

Or rather, if he offered that much loyalty to that kind of person, my evaluation of General Saga would be overturned.

As I walked through the castle while thinking such things, we arrived at a door decorated far more lavishly than the others.

…Was there any need to use gold and jewels on an ordinary door?

“Is the king of Est here?”

“Yes~ It seems to be the king’s private room~”

“What bad taste… is the inside of the room all right?”

I would hate it if the inside of the room was glittering with gold….

“…Let me only say it is not a calming room~”

Ilmitt answered while looking away from me.

That was absolutely the bad kind, wasn’t it?

…Now that I thought about it, I did not need to come here myself. Or rather, should I have summoned him instead?

At this point, a huge wave of regret came rushing in… but standing here being intimidated would only waste time.

I had cleared the whole day to handle the Kingdom of Est, but even at this very moment, various things were progressing regarding the Lufelon Holy Kingdom, and there was also an important meeting tomorrow.

The fact that Ilmitt had called me to the Kingdom of Est at such a timing meant… probably, this matter needed to be settled today.

After lightly sighing inwardly, I looked toward Ilmitt and nodded.

Then Ilmitt gave a small nod and, while deepening her smile slightly more than usual, slowly opened the door.

“We’re coming in~”

…Compared to General Saga’s room, that was quite casual.

“You bastard! I have told you time and again! Do not set foot in a king’s private room without permission!”

Judging from the angry shout that flew at us the next moment we entered the room, it seemed she always entered like this.

“This is merely being lent to you~ It is not your private room~ and in the first place, this is not a king’s private room~”

Ilmitt spoke harsh words while keeping only her face smiling.

“This is disrespect! Who do you think I am?!”

How should I put it… Ilmitt being somewhat harsh was fine for the moment… but the king of Est himself sure was lively.

For now, I should take over before Ilmitt provoked him any further.

“You are more energetic than I expected.”

“Who the hell are you?! Disres—”

When I spoke to him, as expected, the king of Est raised his voice at me… but his words did not continue to the end.

“It is fine to be energetic, but you should watch your mouth. Even I cannot reattach a head once it has been cut off.”

“…”

While Ilmitt and Lynferia pointed weapons at him, I spoke to the king of Est, who opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, with a shrug.

Leaving him aside, I lightly looked around the room. The room’s decorations went beyond glittering and were positively glaring, and a portrait of the king of Est painted in an indescribable style looked down at me with sharp eyes.

Did one normally decorate one’s own room with a painting of oneself…?

No, I could understand if it were a family portrait… a painting of one’s family or something… but this was the king of Est alone….

And that chair… it looked like jewels were studded into its backrest… did that not hurt his back? Did it press pressure points or something?

Ignoring the many furnishings in the room that bothered me in various ways, I sat down on a sofa that seemed relatively normal.

The next moment, I sank deeply into the sofa… it was too soft, and the sitting comfort was awful!

“For now, sit. I have something to discuss with you.”

“…”

When I said that and turned back, the king of Est, who still had Ilmitt and the others’ weapons pointed at him, was sweating profusely.

No wonder he had been quiet!

“Release him. There is no need to be so sensitive just because a dog barked.”

“Yes, sir!”

When I said that, the two of them put away their weapons in unison.

…Or rather, Ilmitt just now… where did she put that weapon away…?

Huh? There…? Could she really store a weapon there…?

Ilmitt was dangerous… truly… women were full of mysteries.

As I was feeling moved by the mystery of the female body, the king of Est rebooted.

“What in the world is this…?”

The king of Est sat across from me while grumbling complaints… he was surprisingly obedient.

“Now then, just who are you bast—what house do you belong to, sir?”

The king of Est changed his words after glancing nervously at Lynferia, who stood diagonally behind me.

Well, even after correcting himself, the fact that he called me “sir” still meant he was looking down on me….

“I am Fels, king of Einheria. I hear you were the former king of the Kingdom of Est?”

When I said that in a provocative way to the king of Est, he gave me a mocking smile and snorted.

“I wondered what you would say, but I am still rightfully a king. It is true that I lost the war, but that does not change the fact that I am king. Well, such pride would likely not reach the king of a barbaric nation.”

“Of course it would not reach me. What value does a naked king have? A king is king because he strives to be king.”

“So you are a barbarian after all. A king is king because he is king. A true king has no need to strive to be a king. All that a king does is the royal path.”

“Ho? Then losing a war and falling so low is also the royal path?”

“…”

Perhaps I had touched on a sore spot, because the king of Est’s mouth twitched for an instant, and I continued speaking to him.

“If you say that your actions are the royal path, then perhaps they are. Of course, it would come with the note that they are so only within your own mind. It will not be understood by everyone, but is that not fine in its own way? You will probably be remembered fondly enough to be passed down as a clown.”

“Barbarians truly are foolish. Everyone, you say…? There is no way a king could be understood by the rabble! A king is unique, unparalleled, and solitary! My actions become the path and guide the Kingdom of Est!”

“…I see. I think it is an interesting opinion, but the reality at the end of the path that solitary king walked was the destruction of the Kingdom of Est.”

“Ugh!?”

No matter how arrogantly he spoke, the conversation ultimately arrived there, so I wished he would be a little more subdued.

“If you say you arrived there at the end of the royal path, then I suppose that was your deepest wish… but do you not think the people and retainers dragged into it were terribly inconvenienced?”

“…What do you intend to do with my country?”

The king of Est, having lost the momentum he had shown until just now, asked me with an expression that seemed to have resolved itself.

“Of course, this land will never call itself the Kingdom of Est again. Even the people and hereditary retainers, as long as they remain in this land, will come to call themselves citizens of Einheria.”

I heard the sound of him grinding his teeth at my words, but I paid it no mind and continued.

“The Kingdom of Est will disappear from the continent, and its name will remain only in history. Naturally, you will be recorded as the final king of the Kingdom of Est.”

“…”

The king of Est clenched his teeth and glared at me with his face bright red… but it was not my fault that things had turned out that way, you know?

“But that is only natural, is it not? You invaded another country’s territory for your own selfish desires. Even if you are invaded and destroyed in return, you have no right to complain, do you?”

“I had no intention of going so far as to conquer Einheria…”

“I do not care about that. After sending soldiers against us, there is no way such an off-the-mark excuse would work now, is there?”

“…”

Well, people who made off-the-mark excuses existed everywhere, right?

After ganging up on someone and beating them, saying they did not intend to kill him, or after drunk driving, saying they thought it would be fine if it was only a little… it seemed every world had people who made excuses that made the listener think, “What is this guy even saying?”

“Besides, no matter what you say, it is already too late. Do you intend not to accept even that?”

“…I cannot accept it.”

“I see.”

“However, it is certainly as you say. The outcome has already been decided. The only thing I can do now is have my head cut off as the final king of the Kingdom of Est.”

As the king of Est said that with resignation, he seemed to have aged all at once compared to just a few minutes ago.

“Still… to think we would be destroyed not by the Duchy of Yuran, but by a third nation.”

The king of Est muttered that and gave a self-mocking smile.

“That Duchy of Yuran will also likely perish at almost the same time.”

“…What did you say?”

At my words, the king of Est showed a puzzled expression.

Could it be that he had not grasped the situation over there…? Well, it was probably that he had not been able to worry about another country when his own was in danger.

“You did not know? Almost at the same timing that the Kingdom of Est sent troops to Einheria, the Duchy of Yuran also sent in troops.”

“I knew the Duchy of Yuran had also moved its troops. But from the way you speak, is the Duchy of Yuran also being counterattacked, just like our Kingdom of Est?”

“Yeah. It will take a little more time, but… it is only a matter of time.”

Saria, who attacked the Kingdom of Est, had advanced on the royal capital by nearly the shortest route, but Kamila, who was attacking the Duchy of Yuran, was carefully capturing every base from the south while advancing north.

Unlike Saria’s single-point breakthrough, it would take some time, but the complete seizure might happen first in the Duchy of Yuran that Kamila was attacking.

Incidentally, Arandor’s side was capturing key points and pressing south while crushing the cooperation between bases. The next one to bring down a country would probably be Arandor.

The three of them had advanced in three different ways, but since every army was winning without any problems, I had not interfered at all for now.

“The Duchy of Yuran will perish… if only my country were still intact, I would have joyfully gone to report it at the graves of my grandfather and the others… but I suppose I will not be alive until the Duchy of Yuran perishes.”

“There is something I wish to discuss.”

As the king of Est began to sound somewhat melancholy, I decided this was about the right time and brought up the main topic.

“You know that in this war, General Saga tried to use forbidden magic, correct?”

“…”

The king of Est quietly closed his eyes at my question.

“The general says he will bear all blame himself and wants only himself to be executed.”

“…Fool.”

The king of Est spat out that word and glared at me with a strong gaze.

“There is no way a mere general could decide to use forbidden magic. I decided it, and I ordered it. General Saga merely obeyed it. Are you so foolish that you cannot even read that much, king of Einheria?”

“Ho?”

“Unless it was a royal order, there is no way the mages would obey, is there? The use of forbidden magic is a great crime on par with treason, for which not only the user, but even those involved are sentenced to beheading. There is no way those below would obey an order from someone who is merely the person responsible for the army.”

I see… if it was truly such a serious crime as the king of Est said, it might indeed be difficult to decide on its use through the general’s judgment alone.

From the perspective of the magic soldiers using forbidden magic, even if the country was saved by it, there would be far too little meaning if their entire clans were executed afterward.

I did not know whose words were true, General Saga’s or the king of Est’s… but even if the king of Est’s words were meant to protect General Saga, they would lead to the route where the entire royal family was killed, so as a king, was that not a failure?

Well, they might have been words he could say precisely because he had accepted the country’s destruction.

That said, some of the king of Est’s blood relatives had already been decided for recruitment, and I did not know whether international law… or something like it existed, but I had no intention of handling things according to such rules.

“Hmm… well, that does not matter to me. It is irrelevant who ordered it or did not order it.”

“…”

The king of Est looked straight at me without changing his expression.

This guy was hard to understand; I could not quite tell whether he was small fry or not. Well, since he failed Ilmitt’s selection, he probably had no practical ability. His room was like this too….

“I have no hobby of tormenting people, so I will state it plainly. The forbidden magic did not exist. That is what I think.”

“…What did you say?”

As the king of Est showed a suspicious expression, I continued speaking.

“This war was simply one in which the Kingdom of Est, after employing various schemes, suffered a crushing defeat against Einheria… that is all.”

“Absurd! There is no way such words would pass!”

“Is that so? If it had actually activated, that would be one thing, but the forbidden magic was not used, was it?”

“That is not the issue! It is not about whether it was activated! The act of attempting to use it itself is a crime!”

“General Saga merely used the forbidden magic as bait to draw us in. The magic they were actually preparing was not forbidden magic at all, nor even a mere offensive spell, but a mere façade… is that not so?”

“Do not be ridiculous! There is no way such an excuse would pass!”

Well, people who made off-the-mark excuses existed in every world.

But the Overlord’s excuse was a splendid assertion, so objections were not accepted.

“Kukuku… are you not the one saying ridiculous things? History is written by the victors. If I say it did not exist, then it disappears. Am I wrong?”

“That only works within your own country! The matter of forbidden magic is not a problem limited to one nation! Other countries will definitely intervene!”

“There is no problem regarding that. To me, if I can welcome General Saga in exchange for a risk of that degree, it is a cheap price.”

Rather, intervention from other countries was welcome.

If there was a country that came making accusations, I intended to gladly provoke them to my heart’s content.

“You bastard… what are you thinking…?”

The king of Est looked at me as if he were seeing something terrifying.

“I am not thinking of anything significant. Only… yes, I intend to have General Saga resign from his post as general and serve as a magistrate in a northern city.”

“A magistrate…?”

“And the king of Est will probably be placed under house arrest nearby as well.”

“House arrest…? Am I not to be executed?”

“I have no such intention. If I kill the king of Est, General Saga will likely follow after him, but he is too valuable a talent to let die. Besides, it is more convenient in various ways to keep the king of Est himself alive than to kill him.”

“…If you keep me alive, I will surely bare my fangs at you. When that time comes, General Saga will be with me too.”

“Kuku… try it if you can. For that reason as well, you will persuade General Saga for me. I will not tell him to offer his loyalty to me, but he must at least be made to work properly for the sake of the people in the land he governs.”

“…You are far more cunning than I imagined, king of Einheria. One day, I will surely bring you down.”

I snorted at the king of Est as he spoke with his eyes gleaming slightly, then stood up.

“Even so… your room has awful taste.”

“To be unable to understand this beauty… you truly are a barbarian.”

He had been a more proper king than I had imagined, but that sense of taste alone was devastating.

I turned my eyes away from the glittering golden bed I could see at the back of the room and thought that.