It was one month before the Elector Princes Council.

“Are all the preparations complete?”

“Of course.”

I escorted Erica down the main avenue leading below the royal palace.

“Kyrie! Kyrie! Kyrie the Lightning Blade!”

“Erica! Erica! Erica the Returned Queen!”

Down below, three armies were gathered.

The first army was mine.

“Forever like lightning, may the protection of the thunderous star be upon His Highness Kyrie!”

Joi of Equitaras, now a proper noble regimental commander, gave me a Blue Knight salute.

On her healthily tanned face, only her bright yellow eyes shone vividly.

Behind her, a banner embroidered with her crest fluttered.

A shield bearing a blue cross-star, with a sword and gauntlet crossed behind it.

The gauntleted hand stretched toward the sky.

To me, knowing Joi’s secret, it felt like a truly meaningful crest.

Behind her stood Hari, Vane, Frey, Paisen, other Blue Knights, knights such as Augusta, Paisen, and Xian, countless retainers, attendants, and soldiers.

We had also hired mercenary corps locally in Rikenta and trained further.

If the troops stationed beneath Sky Castle were included, it was now an army of fifteen thousand.

Everyone who had come here would depart, but Gaben alone remained behind with several retainers and attendants.

He was to track the Dawn Council in Rikenta.

“Salute His Highness Kyrie! Present arms!”

The marksman school mercenaries in red uniforms were also attached to our side.

A banner bearing a pure white pentagram and a hundred flowers.

Beneath it stood Blue Hydrangea, presenting her musket.

They numbered only four hundred, but among the military groups gathered here, they possessed the most advanced technology and the tightest cohesion.

“We go to serve His Highness the Grand Prince Regent!”

Beside them was Nereus’s army.

Roughly swept-back blond hair and blue-green eyes.

A Blue Knight with the impression of a roaring lion.

“Under the name of thunder, all things shall crumble!”

If judged purely by the number of troops, his army was even larger than Erica’s.

He had returned twenty thousand to Spiramentaon, but still commanded thirty thousand, and he was scheduled to move with those thirty thousand as far as the free city.

After receiving a Comet Rank seat from Andromeda, he had stepped down from the position of Deputy Governor of Spiramentaon, and the mission he had received as Comet Rank was to pave the road for Andromeda, who had left Astreos to attend the Elector Princes Council.

That meant crushing everything from petty bandits and large and small demonic beast colonies to mad armed groups trying to do something to the Grand Prince Regent of a great house, who was no different from its practical head of house.

“Freely as the wind!”

“May the protection of the Storm Star be upon Her Highness Erica!”

“Rightful power to the rightful Viceroy! We shall come like a storm!”

The final army was Erica’s army, entrusted to Silphius.

The Navigator who had followed Erica even when she had lost everything continued to follow her after she had recovered everything.

The army under his command numbered roughly forty thousand.

They could have gathered more, but since the pacification of Rikenta could not yet be called fully complete, there were many Navigators and soldiers who had to be left behind.

Thus, an army approaching one hundred thousand in total was prepared.

This was the Empire of the Stars, where people were common and armies were cheap, but one hundred thousand was not a trifling number.

The fact that all of them followed Erica’s and my commands still felt utterly bewildering.

So I looked not at the number, but at what could and had to be done with that number.

I breathed a little mana into my stigma and checked the Detailed Objective.

【Hero’s Journey Step 12】

【Step 5: Attend the Elector Princes Council】

【Detailed Objective 2: The Protagonist of Tonight!】

【Ensure that your own agenda is discussed as a core matter at the Elector Princes Council】

【Reward for success: Thunderbolt Body +100%】

【Penalty for failure: Thunderbolt Body -100%】

On top of this, I also had to handle the international diplomatic debut of “Viceroy” Erica, Grand Prince Regent Andromeda, and the Flammerios twins.

It was not an easy mission.

“So we are descending from this sky again.”

“Last time it was a fall, but this time it is an incarnation.”

Still, it was fine.

At least it was not as hopeless as before.

I was not easy either.

“Let’s go!”

Our destination was the central Empire.

A free city in church territory.

People often called it “the center,” but in truth, the center of the Empire of the Stars was an extremely vague concept.

That was because the vast corpse-waste plains occupied the middle-eastern portion of the continent, or roughly three-fifths of the way across it.

Because of that demonic land, many territories and cities had to take long detours despite being geographically close, making maps complicated.

On top of that were added the conflicts among royal demesnes, Papal territory, and the Free Cities Union, which had accumulated over dozens of centuries.

The central part of the corpse-waste plains where I had gone was a wasteland, but that was because it was a central region close to the north; the land where the three powers above gathered was said to be genuinely good land to live on.

This was especially true of the Free Cities Union, which no great house had been able to reach because it was cleverly cut off by the corpse-waste plains and various mountain ranges.

It was said to be crowded with great cities of over five hundred thousand people, and to even have supercities of over two million.

Those were cities larger than our capital, Astreion.

Large non-great-house superhuman organizations such as the marksman school and engraving workshops also had their headquarters in such free cities.

“…We believe the Dawn Council also originated from one of those free cities.”

“Of course. It would be difficult to live within a great house’s sphere of influence while claiming there are no constellations.”

The person who told me this was, unexpectedly, Blue Hydrangea.

At first, I had intended to keep her under surveillance twenty-four hours a day.

Even if conversation with her was easy, our meeting had not been exactly pleasant, and above all, the weapon called the marksman school’s musket was able to project firepower more powerful than an Astreos ballista from a distance farther than Rikenta repeating-crossbows, making it far too threatening.

“That is correct. In addition, given the nature of such free cities, there are many urban laborers, making it easy for them to produce talk of proletarians and the like.”

Unexpectedly, she spoke extremely well.

She was erudite, expressive, and skilled in etiquette.

“So that was what it meant?”

“They say that in the era of the evil empire ruled by the Dragon Emperor, there was a country operating separately from the evil empire. They say it was a word used there. That country…”

It was to the point where I felt conscious of Erica.

No matter how political the marriage was, no— precisely because it was a political marriage, there were boundaries that had to be maintained.

“What are the two of you discussing so enjoyably?”

“Ah, you’ve come? We were discussing what happens when foolish people try to implement wise institutions.”

“That sounds good. If Lord Kyrie does not mind, could you tell me again?”

Yet she became close with Erica as well.

In truth, it might have been natural.

The red uniform, tight short skirt, and black shoulder cape were truly distinctive and stylish, and she always gave off a refreshing, clean hydrangea scent.

Her movements carried discipline, her tone carried courtesy, and she possessed the maturity unique to someone who had traveled the whole Empire and experienced many things.

It was said that noblewomen, whether Blue Knights or Navigators, were already competing to invite her to evening banquets, saying they wanted to meet her.

I was worried from another angle as well.

I thought Joi might feel strange emotions toward this newly joined superhuman soldier.

This was a completely separate matter from doubting her loyalty to me.

Because she was loyal, her anxiety over her position might become even greater.

“I like them so much, my lord. If I had my way, I’d like to keep about a hundred of them permanently employed!”

So the answer she gave when I casually asked while only the two of us were in one carriage was rather surprising.

“You like them that much?”

“Look at that, my lord.”

Joi pointed outside the carriage window.

Several marksman school cadets who had moved off to the side of the marching road were shaping one hand as if holding a tube and bringing it to one eye.

A flower-like light bloomed from their hands.

“Observation technique?”

“Yes. They say if deployed to the maximum, it can see up to a radius of fifty kilometers.”

The marksman school’s Observation technique had a wider radius than my Bio-radar and clearer image quality.

“Thanks to them, there’s no need to send out scouting parties or anything, my lord. Whatever lies ahead, we can just send the Blue Knights or one or two thousand-man units and smash it, my lord.”

Thanks to that, our speed increased.

“True. We have been moving almost fifty kilometers a day, haven’t we?”

“Hehe, much faster than I expected, my lord. I think we’ll be able to move at least ten days faster.”

That meant we could save several days’ worth of water and food for one hundred thousand people.

Knock, knock.

Just then, a rider from the marksman school rode up beside the carriage and knocked on the window.

“What is it?”

“A mutant demonic beast has been sighted. A swamp twenty-one kilometers ahead. Body length approximately twenty-five meters. Semi-large class.”

“Base form?”

“It appears to be a drake.”

“Appears?”

“I will correct that. Three drake heads, a body covered in scales, forelimbs of a giant mantis, a giant scorpion tail, and dark purple tentacles have been sighted.”

The report was certainly made of words we could understand.

“What the hell kind of damn monster is that?”

It was merely difficult to imagine.

“If it is a single entity, we will resolve it with only superhuman soldiers. I will go personally. The regimental commander is to keep the march moving.”

I gestured through the window on the opposite side of the carriage and had a horse prepared.

I rode with only Frey, Nereus, Blue Hydrangea, and several cadets from the marksman school.

Since we had left Rikenta territory, the proportion of grassland had increased compared to jungle.

After riding for a while, I saw a monster that had crawled out of the waterside in the distance.

“Horrific.”

“Wow! It really looks disgusting.”

It was exactly as the marksman school observer had said.

Its basic body was that of a large four-legged reptile like a drake.

If not for the tentacles, mantis forelimbs, and scorpion tail sprouting from its eight-legged back, and if its three heads had not been covered in clustered eyeballs, it might somehow have been acceptable to call it a drake.

“Have you experienced something like that before?”

I asked Blue Hydrangea.

If she had never experienced mental waves, there was a chance she might shoot that musket into my back.

“I have hunted several mutant types among skeletal specimens. I have already transmitted the method of building a mental barrier with Enhancement technique to all cadets.”

She answered in a polished way that made it clear she knew what I was worried about, yet did not make me feel she had seen through my thoughts.

“Grrrrrr!”

It saw us and rasped its throats.

“Huuuuup!”

It inhaled as if preparing to unleash a mental wave.

“Individual combat! Aim for the necks!”

“Yes, elder sister!”

Blue Hydrangea immediately gave the order.

The marksman school cadets loaded their muskets.

At that moment, we were riding horses almost at full speed.

They flexed their waists atop the horses to absorb the recoil moment by moment, released the reins, loaded their muskets with both hands, and fired.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Even without the blessing of a constellation, it was superhuman skill.

Each time gunshots rang out, pure white sparks flared from the muzzles and petal-like impacts scattered.

I saw Blue Hydrangea raise her gun right beside me, closing her left eye, the one marked with a tear mole.

Bang!

That eye, her fingertips, the gun, and the bullet never shook once.

Like Magnetic Railshot with electric imbuement, the bullet flew while leaving a line of light in the air and pierced the mutant demonic beast’s throat exactly.

[“Kaaak! Kaak!”]

The mental wave that should have burst out thunderously became a dry cough, and the mutant demonic beast wheezed with the sound of air leaking from its throat.

“I’ll smash it!”

Nereus spurred his horse and charged ahead faster than me.

“I won’t lose! Stop right there, Neri-Neri!”

Frey also spurred his horse and charged forward.

Instead of running, I raised a throwing dagger.

Magnetic Railshot.

Wooooong!

The magnetic field accumulated pulling force and repulsive force without limit.

Originally, I would imbue it with electricity, but today, electricity was not the only thing I imbued.

Magnetic Railshot with lightning reinforcement.

Bzzzzzt!

Light rose softly like a haze while electricity crackled sharply like barbed wire.

Tung!

I aimed at the central head among the mutant demonic beast’s three heads and fired Magnetic Railshot with lightning reinforcement.

Chapter 198

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