Movements On The Day

“First of all, the most important thing will probably be confronting Caesar with only the four of us. If Caesar is at the party venue, we will have to separate him from there.”

Everyone nodded in agreement at Ann’s words, and they began thinking about how to make Caesar leave the venue.

When silence fell over the room as no good idea came to mind… Rebecca raised her hand hesitantly with a conflicted expression, as if she had thought of something.

“Um… this isn’t exactly a method to make Caesar leave, but there is one thing that concerns me.”

“What is it?”

When Lady Seremees responded to Rebecca’s words, Rebecca tilted her head slightly before speaking.

“Earlier we heard that the king and the Chancellor are being controlled by Caesar, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t that make the goal of wiping out the upper leadership somewhat questionable? If they’re only being controlled…”

Rebecca’s point was reasonable, but Ann immediately shook her head.

“I think we should keep the plan to wipe out the upper leadership as it is. Even if they were completely controlled, someone named Caesar managed to slip into the Empire and manipulate them, and the Empire has been destroyed to this extent. That alone is already a grave crime for the king and the Chancellor. Whether they had free will or not doesn’t really matter anymore.”

At that opinion—so fitting of a princess—Rebecca widened her eyes slightly before slowly nodding.

“That’s true… you’re right. If they caused the current situation, the king and Chancellor-sama might still bear responsibility.”

“Yes, and to prevent leaving future trouble behind, they should not be allowed to remain in this world.”

“…Alright. Then let’s keep the policy of wiping out the Empire’s upper leadership unchanged.”

Seeing Rebecca nod with a serious expression as if she had accepted it, Ann smiled at her.

“Lady Milora and Lady Seremees, are you both also fine with the policy of eliminating the upper leadership? Luca, are you alright with it too?”

“Of course. I don’t have any objections.”

“Neither do I. A small number of sacrifices cannot be helped for the sake of the greater good.”

“I… would prefer that only the truly bad people be eliminated if possible, but in this case I think it can’t be helped. If keeping them alive would cause greater harm, then I agree with everyone.”

Once everyone had largely reached the same conclusion, the plan to eliminate the upper leadership remained unchanged.

As everyone began thinking again about how to deal with Caesar, I opened my mouth to share the plan that had come to mind.

“Returning to the method of separating Caesar from the party venue… I thought of one good idea. If Caesar likes destruction, then he would probably come to see the place where the most flashy fighting is happening. So what if I go to a place where no one is around and start destroying buildings with magic, and then defeat Caesar when he comes drawn by the noise?”

Everyone pondered the simple proposal for a moment, and the first to speak was Lady Seremees.

“It might be a little difficult to lure Caesar out with sound alone. If he looks at the scene through a Water Mirror, he will immediately realize that no actual fight is happening.”

That was true. Since the opponent was also a divine servant, I always had to assume they could be watching through a Water Mirror.

In that case, the method I thought of would be difficult… If I had to think of something else, the only thing that came to mind was forcibly dragging him away from the venue.

“Luca, had it been decided what Ernesto and the others would be doing on the day?”

Just as I returned to square one thinking of a method, Ann tilted her head and looked at me.

“No, the details haven’t been decided yet. But I heard that the knights inside the royal palace will bring in their allies from outside, and then everyone will rush the venue all at once. The knights will pretend to side with the Empire until the last moment, and then start their rebellion the instant the fighting begins.”

“I see… In that case, maybe Ernesto alone should delay betraying them a little, and have him lure Caesar outside the venue. For example, under the pretext of escorting the Emperor to safety.”

That might actually work. Ernesto seemed to hold a higher position inside the palace than I had expected, so there was a good chance Caesar would trust what he said.

If we asked in advance about the escape route, we could easily chase after them—or even intercept them.

“The problem with that strategy is that Ernesto would end up being present at the scene of the battle with Caesar, and we would also have to explain to him why we want to move Caesar and the others away from the party venue.”

“Yes, which is why this might be a difficult proposal… but what if we simply tell Ernesto about us?”

Tell him… does she mean that we’re divine servants? That’s quite a bold proposal.