"Three days?"
Crang asked back. The only reason was that the time Kraiss had named was too short.
He had judged that preparing alone would take at least ten days.
The arrival of the Empire's envoy was important too, but even taking that into account, this was the conclusion he had reached after focusing his attention here.
"When do the envoys arrive?"
Kraiss's eyes shone as he asked. It was not the face of a man worn out from a long journey.
If Esther and Rem, who were still outside, had seen him now, they would have admired the moment Kraiss drew his blade.
This man too was part of the Mad Order of Knights.
He had no engraved weapon or anything of the sort, but he did have the mind to grasp a situation and the will to turn thought into reality.
Looking at him in moments like this, you could say he wielded Will too. In a way, perhaps he was like Aitri.
Swordsmanship was not everything, after all.
Kraiss looked ahead to the future alone. His insight separated events and split the world apart, laying everything bare before him.
What did tomorrow look like in his eyes?
"There are more than ten days left. If what they're saying is true."
An official envoy from the Empire was not some trivial matter. On top of that, merchant caravans would tag along to exchange trade goods, and so-called gifts would have to be prepared too.
The kingdom had to do the same on its end.
If they were planning to attempt talks rather than come out swinging from the start, that was how things worked.
Of course, if the envoy showed up and started spewing nonsense, then their side would have to answer in kind.
In any case, for all those reasons, the date of the imperial envoy's arrival was coordinated and agreed upon by both countries. Naturally, anyone who ought to know knew the schedule.
No, even a few merchants probably knew it. More than just the people who should know, the news had spread widely.
Which meant there were many people who knew the imperial envoys were coming.
Kraiss caught a glimpse of what the demons wanted.
'What that bastard blocking the first road said.'
He had said he would lend his power. Even as he died, what was the final thread of Will he had left behind?
He had said to come find him before the war began.
'War? Against whom?'
If a mere merchant knew, then they would know the imperial envoys were coming too. No, they knew. Then wasn't what that demon's servant had said back then premised on a fight with the Empire? Yes. He was sure of it.
And even if it was not, preparing for that possibility was the right thing to do, so Kraiss let his imagination spread in that direction too.
He probed possibilities and checked them, tapped on the bridge he would have to cross to see if it was sturdy, and even after that, looked for a safer road.
That was what Kraiss always did. It had been the same in the past, back in the days of the disaster-plagued platoon, and it was the same now. It had not changed one bit. Nurat often said this unchanging side of him was what she found most attractive.
'They're targeting the imperial envoys.'
A demon's servant could turn into an assassin in an instant. If they killed someone, what did they want from it? Turmoil and chaos?
'Not just chaos.'
There would be a follow-up move. Kraiss spread out a table of cards inside his mind. Holding a few cards in his own hand, he tried to gauge the heart of the opponent hidden in the dark.
'What are they aiming for?'
The demons keep each other in check. That much he knew. They want my commander because they want to upset the balance of power.
And why did they want to upset the balance of power? Dozens of thoughts unspooled in his head like tangled thread, arriving at dozens of absurd conclusions, erasing them, and giving rise to new thoughts again.
That was how the out-of-nowhere question came.
'Is the clue to ascension here?'
Esther had said what the demons wanted was ascension. The pitch-black fog covering the Demon lands had grown far thinner than before. Now it was possible to guess at their true intentions.
'Ascension or not, they want to go beyond keeping each other in check and actually kill one another. If there's something on the same level as the demon lords living in the Demon lands, and if that something is the Empire, then the best outcome would be to make them fight each other.'
It was a conclusion drawn from ominous imagination, one born from unease and trailing into more unease after it.
"The servants will target the imperial envoys and stir up confusion at the same time. More precisely, the group of servants will target the nobles on the peace faction's side. No, there are probably already a few disguised as members of that side."
At Kraiss's words, Crang sank into thought with his teacup in hand. Enkrid crunched down on a cookie. Marcus furrowed his brow. What exactly was he saying right now?
He was busy trying to keep up with Kraiss and Crang.
No one opened their mouth. Other than the occasional blink, silence flowed. Aside from faint little sounds, it was quiet. Only after enough time had passed for someone to walk two full laps around the reception room did Crang finally speak.
"That's possible."
He too caught sight of the possibility in what Kraiss had said.
He understands me. Kraiss enjoyed this moment.
If Enkrid felt ecstasy in swordplay, Kraiss enjoyed the process of grasping a situation and removing the elements of uncertainty.
He enjoyed being right, and he enjoyed people moving according to that.
It was the self he had discovered inside, stripping away the shell of anxiety piece by piece and moving forward while calmly observing himself.
It had been an insight of great help.
You had to know yourself and know your enemy if you wanted to prepare what came next. That was the foundation of a strategist.
And as he looked back on himself and grasped his own inner nature, his field of vision called insight had widened further.
The experiences of the past accumulated and meshed with the worries of the present. Days spent brooding and thinking became the strength of today.
'Just like how the commander lives.'
Did only Lawford and Pel awaken to something by watching Enkrid?
Aurelia, who had joined recently, and even Clemen, were passionate too, but Kraiss was no less so than they were.
Even if he did not roll around on the training grounds every day, the fire of passion he carried burned just as hot.
He took everything he had watched, learned, and realized over all that time, mixed it together, stirred it up, and made it one.
Kraiss had already seen ten days from now inside his head.
"At most three days. We settle it within that. The imperial envoys have probably already entered the kingdom's territory. If those bastards don't stay quietly inside the capital and go out to attack them instead, things get tangled."
More precisely, that would leave them with nothing but war with the Empire.
Naurillia had recently crushed the south by force. At a glance, wouldn't that look like a kingdom eager to show off its strength?
In any case, the Empire had sent envoys to such a kingdom, and then those envoys suddenly turned up dead?
"Ah, demons from the Demon lands sent servants, so that's what happened. Sorry."
Would anyone believe that if they said it?
'I wouldn't.'
Kraiss was suspicious by nature, so he had the habit of verifying things rather than believing them unless there was no choice. But the reverse was a problem too.
"I see. So you're saying you people are too weak to protect even imperial envoys just because a few demon servants showed up? Then die. I'll show you the Empire's power."
They could react like that too. Well, if he set out to spin ominous possibilities, he could go on all day without stopping and probably write a whole book. In that area, Kraiss had plenty of confidence.
Three days was the answer that had come from calculations made after holding all those possibilities in his head and weighing every angle.
"Three days."
Crang had turned his mind over as much as anyone. He fixed his gaze on reality.
"Duke Marcus."
"It's too much. The timing is too tight."
They had been observing those suspected to be demon servants for months. Holy priests had personally verified and categorized them. Some of them were still uncertain.
That meant they were still within the range of suspicion. Crang had not tried to learn the servants' intentions. More precisely, understanding their intentions as well had been too much. There had not been enough time, and controlling the flow of information had nearly given him a headache.
On top of that, the preconception that all demon servants wanted was slaughter and chaos had played a role too.
'Demons are not idiots.'
Crang shattered one concept lodged inside himself and established a new one. That was one of his strengths.
Though he was king, he was not dogmatic. He listened to others and spared no effort in seeking out what was right.
Of course, he had not accepted Kraiss's opinion blindly or without question.
Wasn't it an overinterpretation to say they would attack the imperial envoys?
He asked himself that.
No. It was right to prepare for even that possibility. If it could be done.
That was his answer.
Then Crang steadied himself.
By then Marcus too had finished thinking things through. Whatever else might be true, Marcus had proven his worth as a commander who led armies. So he spoke from the field of vision he possessed.
"If Enki and that Rem helps, then it's tight, but it might be possible. The last one who came with you was a witch, right? We should leave her out of the calculation."
Things achieved through spells were hard to measure. Because of that, he could not count them as reliable force. Marcus judged the odds of success with only Enkrid and Rem in mind.
It felt possible.
It also felt like it could go to hell.
They still had not identified every last enemy.
Kraiss did not yet know the full state of the situation. So he asked.
"May I hear the details?"
Crang answered.
"Of course."
With those words, Marcus began to speak. He laid out everything they had found so far and the plan they had made.
The tea water was still warm.
The conversation had moved with uncontrollable speed.
For Crang and Marcus, that was only natural, since they had been preparing this all along. But not for Kraiss.
He was catching up to the structure the two of them had built in real time, and then going even farther ahead than that to gauge the enemy's intentions.
Even if his guess turned out to be wrong, this was not something there was any need to drag out.
Even if the servants were not targeting the imperial envoys, it was not the sort of thing you just stood around and watched.
'They won't target Crang.'
Enkrid quietly watched the others talk and thought to himself. Crang was protected by Sun Water.
Even he could not break through that in an instant. And Crang was not the sort to trust in that alone and grow careless with his own guard.
Sometimes he did insane things like going out to the southern front himself, but that was only because it was necessary.
Listening from the side, there had never been any plan from the start to use the king himself as bait.
Crang knew he could not serve as bait.
'Then what's the bait?'
If you wanted to catch fish in a river, you had to hook bait onto a rod and shake it in the water. Of course, if you knew where the fish were, you could just stab them with a spear instead.
Assuming you had the ability to do it. If Crang wanted, Enkrid was more than willing to be the spear in his hand.
Without so much as a nod, Kraiss focused on the explanation and then said,
"If we're going to settle this within three days, then not as a metaphor. We really do have to move at night. Call Rem, Commander."
"Yeah."
Enkrid dusted the cookie crumbs off his hands with a few sharp pats. So eating and drinking time was over.
It almost looked as if their positions had reversed in the process of one calling and the other answering, but that did not matter. Rank was not what mattered here.
Enkrid got up and stepped outside. The Royal Guard standing watch in front of the reception room acknowledged him. At a glance, he was the commander of the Royal Guard, dressed in an unmistakably uncommon arming doublet.
Was it woven with monster fur? Even the faint red sheen running through it looked mysterious. It was eye-catching armor.
And his posture was more disciplined than before too. It was obvious his skill had improved by quite a bit.
"Have you been well?"
the commander of the Royal Guard asked. On the way in, they had only brushed past each other and exchanged greetings with their eyes.
"As you can see. Have you seen where Rem went?"
"He was sunning himself up ahead."
"The one who came with him too?"
"If you mean the woman with the face that could charm people senseless, then yes, she's with him."
"That armor looks good."
"It's woven from thread spun from the cloak of Sun Water and monster fur. The essence of the kingdom's craft."
It was a trivial exchange, but even in a short conversation like that, several thoughts trailed after one another.
'Textiles are mostly made by fairies and humans.'
And since fairies did not handle monster hide, that meant it was the finest thing human hands could make.
There were a few jokes mixed in, but what mostly showed through was pride.
The words of a man who cherished and was loyal to his present self, who protected the royal house, and to the current standing and Will of the kingdom as a whole.
Well, the fact that he could feel all that from such a short exchange meant—
'Will.'
It was because of the Will the man constantly carried and sustained.
In that moment, Enkrid sensed that sooner or later, whether late or early, this man would one day rise above a knight.
People who always carried Will and lived while holding it inside them had a high chance of awakening and using Will. All the more so with Will this pure.
Of course, not right now.
Naturally, there was also a high chance that it would never happen at all.
"Up ahead?"
"The palace garden. His Highness opened it so everyone could come and go, so now it's practically a place anyone can enter."
There was satisfaction in what he was saying now too.
Enkrid thought that and turned his gaze.
As commander of the Royal Guard, he had been faithful to his duty. He had kept track of where the people who entered the palace were.
Especially when people like Rem and Esther were obviously dangerous at a glance.
Mad Order of Knights or not, the Royal Guard would do anything to protect their king. That was this man's duty, his responsibility, his dream, his everything.
And that was also the method by which this man protected his own world.
Then Enkrid only needed to do the same. Like the man before him, he only had to be faithful to his own work. Those were the thoughts stirred up in him by a few simple words.
"Rem, Esther, come."
Just as the commander of the Royal Guard had said, the two of them were there beyond the corridor, idling in the sunlight at one side of the garden. They came over at once.
"Done talking? It sounded like another headache was starting up, so I stayed out of it for you."
To be precise, Rem had been deeply absorbed in going over something that had risen within him. It would be more accurate to say he had a strong desire to revisit something new he had realized. Esther was the same.
The spell that had vanished leaving behind only white ash was a form she had never seen before.
For Esther, very few things still came before spells.
Of course, if necessary, she too would put other matters first.
"Yeah, more or less."
Enkrid answered.
When they went back in, the discussion had already come to a pause.