The Princess of War

by Hyougetsu

  Perfect, he didn’t send back anything important. Then this plan of mine might actually work.

  “Kite, I want you to tell the Senate that the werewolf-slaying sword has been destroyed.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. Tell them that the demon army recovered the sword after the battle, but it was too damaged to use so it was smelted down.”

  This wasn’t just to cover up my little accident earlier.

  “If you tell them that, they’ll give up on recovering the sword. And that’ll make Krauhen furious.”

  “I see, you want to drive a rift between Krauhen and the Senate.”

  “That’s part of the reason.”

  But not all. The main reason was something else.

  “Kite, can you travel freely to Krauhen?”

  “Huh? I suppose I can. As an investigator I have to travel frequently, so once this job is over I could probably come up with an excuse to officially visit Krauhen.”

  Ah, so your job’s the kind where you can make up fake business trips if you need to. The Senate must waste a lot of money if people can do that whenever. Man, I’m kinda jealous. Smiling, I said to Kite, “Then I have a request for you.”

  “What is it, Veight?”

  “I want you to guide to me to Krauhen in a few days.”

  Kite spit out his tea.

  “Bwuh!?”

  “Hey, watch it!”

  He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and shouted, “What on earth are you thinking!? You have a hundred twenty thousand silver coin bounty on your head, you know that!?”

  Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. Though, wasn’t my bounty only 70,000 last time I checked? I’m kinda happy it went up. Of course, having a bounty didn’t bother me.

  “That’s why I’m asking for your help. I can pretend to be your guard or something on the way to Krauhen. Anyway, make all the necessary preparations.”

  “Krauhen’s the northernmost city in Meraldia! What do you even plan to do there!?”

  I took the broken werewolf-slayer out of my drawer and sighed.

  “I’ll return this to Krauhen personally. And apologize for ruining it.”

  “That’s it!? Are you insane!?”

  I needed to apologize for my mistakes, and this seemed like a good opportunity to also win Krauhen’s viceroy over to our side. While it’d be geographically difficult to incorporate Krauhen into our Commonwealth, we might still be able to make them an ally. There was also one other reason I wanted to go. Mao had brought me a lot of troubling reports on the city. Among them was a report that Krauhen was building a tunnel near its salt mines. Officially, they were just digging a new mine shaft, but according to Mao, there was something fishy going on. For one thing, access to the shaft was restricted. I’d also heard that Krauhen’s viceroy was often leaving on secret trips out of the city, and no one knew where he went. Merchants weren’t spies, so they couldn’t tail him or anything like that. Nor could they sneak into the mine shaft to see where the tunnel really led. I knew something was going on in Krauhen, but I didn’t have enough information to ascertain what. The only solution was to go there in person and find out. Fortunately, I had a skilled investigator as a guide.

  Even though I thought my proposal was a great way to kill three birds with one stone, Kite held his head in dismay.

  “Holy shit... I can’t believe I made a deal with this guy... He’s totally insane...”

  Hey, that’s rude. Though the way Kite put it certainly did make my plan sound insane. A lone high-ranking member of the demon army was attempting to head deep into enemy territory alone, and negotiate with a hostile viceroy. But the fact that it was insane meant that Krauhen’s viceroy would be intrigued to see me at his doorstep. I know I would be if he’d come alone to Ryunheit. I turned to Kite and said decisively, “Kite, make up your mind. Are you going to guide me or not?”

  Kite sighed and met my gaze. After a few seconds, he grinned.

  “Fine. If that’s what you want, Veight, let’s do this.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Now then, the question is, how am I going to sneak out without anyone noticing?

  A few days later, I finished up my backlog of work, tasked someone to take care of things in my absence, and left the city under the pretense of investigating the land to Zaria’s north. Technically, I wasn’t lying. However, I was assigned a chaperone.

  “Boss, please don’t do anything weird this time.”

  Jerrick had elected to join me in place of his squad. When I’d told him of my plans, he’d firmly insisted that I take someone with me, even if it was just one person. I had no reason to forbid just one or two people from following me so I allowed Jerrick to come along. His squad could handle their task with just three people.

  Jerrick gave me a knowing smile, so I said with a sigh, “Looks like you’ve already realized where we’re actually going.”

  “Whenever you’re plotting something it always shows on your face, boss.”

  “What, so you knew from the start?”

  “Pretty much.”

  I guess I should have expected that, since we’d been friends since we were kids. At least this saved me the trouble of explaining everything. It’s nice to have such good friends. Jerrick then asked lightly, “So how far north are we going? Up to Vongang?”

  Vongang was the fortress city closest to Zaria. I shook my head and replied, “We’re going to Krauhen.”

  Jerrick scrutinized my expression for a few seconds, then sighed with a bitter smile.

  “Boss.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Nah, never mind. Let’s go.”

  What was that all about?

  “You really don’t hesitate to do the craziest things, huh?”

  Kite, who’d come to rendezvous with us, muttered, “And you, aren’t you shocked at what Mister Veight’s trying to do?”

  “Haha, not really. Boss’s been reckless since we were kids!”

  Am I really that reckless? Seeing my expression Jerrick sighed again and said to Kite, “You know, there was a time he took down a monster attacking our village back when we were kids. In human form no less. And all by himself.”

  “Without transforming into a werewolf? Why would you do that?”

  Jerrick looked ready to spill the whole story so I hurriedly interjected, “Who cares about that old story!? That was more than a decade ago!”

  Back then, that was the very first time Fahn had yelled at me.

  “By the way, Mister Veight.”

  “What?”

  “I’d heard that the demon army had mages capable of using teleportation magic, so why are we going to Krauhen by foot?”

  Oh, so you noticed? Considering the fact that I’d suddenly appeared in the north to take out the fake Hero, any mage worth their salt would at least have suspected we had means of teleportation. However, teleportation magic required precise coordinate calculation. If the caster didn’t have an accurate idea of their destination, there was no telling where they’d end up. If there was an elevation difference between the starting point and the destination it was even possible they’d end up hundreds of meters in the air, or hundreds of meters underground.

  “Things would certainly be easier if we could teleport there, but we can only teleport to places we’ve visited before. Did you not learn about the limitations of teleportation magic in class?”

  Kite grimaced.

  “The Senate’s Magic Academy is as secretive with knowledge as they get. They don’t teach us anything about magic outside our field. My teachers told me not to share the secrets of epoch magic with other students too.”

  That’s the opposite of Master. She’ll tell you about any subject, even ones you don’t care about.

  Jerrick and I traveled under the guise of Kite’s bodyguards, which allowed the three of us to enjoy an easy journey entirely financed by the Senate. The first city we stopped in was Vongang. It was a sturdy fortress city which served as the Senate’s bulwa
rk against the south. Since Jerrick and I were both werewolves, we’d be found out if the guards at the gate were inspecting visitors with magic. Fortunately, we had the court magician Kite with us.

  “These two are my bodyguards. We’re in a bit of a hurry so can you let us through?”

  “Ah, o-of course! Good luck on your mission!”

  We were waved through without so much as a cursory search. Authority sure is great. We stayed at a high-class inn that primarily catered to important members of the Senate. Naturally, it was the Senate that foot the bill for our stay. There was nothing more delicious than eating food paid for by your enemy. Apparently the north was famous for its cheese fondue, and the recipe varied slightly from city to city, so I decided to try all versions of it that I could. Vongang’s cheese was white, didn’t have too strong a scent, and was easy on the palate. I could eat it forever. Kite watched me eat with a sigh.

  “Mister Veight, just how brazen can you get?”

  “Don’t worry. Even if our identities get exposed, it’s no big deal. Ah, Jerrick, pass me that bread.”

  “Here you go, boss.”

  If we transformed, we’d be able to flee the city with ease. And Kite was light enough that we could carry him with us. However, Kite seemed to have misinterpreted our words. He nodded solemnly to himself and said, “You’re right. If you felt like it, you could probably raze this city in half a day.”

  Like hell I could. Afterwards, we made full use of Kite’s authority to scout out the northern cities. Once we were finished with Vongang, we moved on to the northeastern agricultural city of Welheim. All of the northern cities were massive, with large populations. Part of the reason for that was many people had immigrated northwards from the cramped southern cities. The Senate had restricted the south from expanding partly for this reason.

  “So a lot of northerners are originally from the south...”

  Jerrick peered into my face.

  “Boss, you’re scheming something again, aren’t you?”

  “I guess.”

  This definitely was information I might be able to use later.

  On the way to the city, we had a run-in with Welheim’s soldiers. Fortunately, we had Kite’s authority to get us out of this sticky situation. We’d accidentally run into one of their patrols which had been out looking for bandits.

  “Do you have identification papers for those two men with you?”

  Recognizing Kite’s uniform, the lead soldier kept his tone as respectful as possible. Kite stuck his hand in his pocket and said, “These two are mercenaries hired by the Senate. Would you like to see the letters confirming their appointments?”

  “O-Oh, no, we trust you.”

  While garrison troops had no authority over members of the Senate, they still seemed a little suspicious. I didn’t blame them. The only thing separating a mercenary from a bandit was a contract. While the head guard was talking to Kite, Jerrick walked over to another one of the soldiers.

  “H-Hey! Don’t move!”

  The soldier leveled his spear. However, Jerrick seemed unconcerned and pointed at the spear’s tip.

  “That spear won’t be able to stab anything. The head’s warped. I recommend you get it repaired by a smith.”

  “What?”

  The soldier gave Jerrick a confused look. Jerrick continued politely, “You have a habit of twisting the spear when you pull back from a stab, don’t you? If you do that too often against hard objects, the spearhead’ll warp. You’ve been putting too much pressure on the weakest part of your weapon and the metal can’t handle it.”

  “What are you...”

  The soldier looked suspiciously down at his weapon. To be honest, I couldn’t tell if it was warped or not. However, Kite ran his finger down the length of the spearhead, then nodded.

  “He’s right. Your spearhead has suffered too much metal fatigue. It’s starting to crack. If you don’t get it repaired soon, it’ll break.”

  If an official Senate investigator agreed with Jerrick’s assessment it suddenly had more weight. The soldiers turned to Jerrick in surprise.

  “You’ve got a sharp eye...”

  “Yeah, I doubt he’s part of the bandit crew we’re looking for.”

  Apparently that had cleared Jerrick of all suspicion. I guess that meant if I showed off my magic, they’d trust me too. In that case, I should give them a taste of my strengthening magic. Like Jerrick, I casually walked up to one of the soldiers.

  “Hm? What do you want?”

  The soldier’s reaction was slow. You gotta act more nervous so this looks cooler. I gave him a confident smile and said, “I’m a mage. Allow me to show you what I can do.”

  With exaggerated movements, I cast one of my most-used spells, muscle strengthening, on him. The spell was potent enough that even an average soldier could take down a master veteran under its effects. The soldier’s stance changed immediately.

  “Wow... my hips don’t hurt.”

  “Huh?”

  I was confused for a moment, but then I realized strengthening someone’s core muscles would probably relieve the strain on their back. So there actually wasn’t anything strange about his reaction. Still, it wasn’t the reaction I was going for. However, the soldier seemed overjoyed.

  “Everyone, he healed my hips!”

  “Wait, I’ve only strengthened your muscles temporarily, your back isn’t permanently...”

  Before I could finish, all the other soldiers started crowding around me.

  “I hurt my shoulder doing training, can you fix that too?”

  “I busted my knee a few years back and now it hurts every winter.”

  “One of my back teeth really hurt.”

  “I think I’m coming down with a fever.”

  Hold up, I’m no healer. That being said, strengthening magic and healing magic shared a lot of similarities. While I was no match for a true healer, I could use some healing magic. Fine, I guess this is part of strengthening human-demon relations too.

  “Everyone line up. I’ll start with those of you with the most severe injuries.”

  I figured I should triage these guys. If I ran out of mana, I wouldn’t be able to heal, so it was best that I fixed the most serious injuries first.

  “Your knee joint’s been worn down. I cast restoration magic on your bones, so see if you feel better after a month or so. If it still hurts, I recommend seeing a healing mage specializing in bones.”

  “You tore a muscle, but it looks like it’s mostly healed on its own. Try not to strain it too much for a while and you’ll be back to normal soon.”

  “As for you, your tooth’s starting to rot. At this point, the only cure is to pull it out. I’ll deaden the pain for you, but make sure you see a dentist when you get back to the city.”

  I had no formal medical training, but as a disciple of the Great Sage Gomoviroa, I had extensive knowledge of human anatomy. It was easy for me to tell what parts were damaged. Man, this brings me back to the zombies and skeletons Master made me study. At times, Master’s thirst for knowledge led her to do some truly morose things. Anyway, I wanted to show off how powerful a mage I was, so how come I’m playing doctor now?

  On the way to Krauhen I sampled all the different varieties of cheese fondue that I could. Unfortunately, we only passed through two cities, so I couldn’t really say I’d tried them all.

  “What’s the name of that orange cheese they use in Welheim? It was pretty good.”

  “It was tasty, but I thought it was a bit too thick. I prefer lighter, whiter cheeses myself. Like the stuff we had in Vongang. Simpler cheeses go better with bread.”

  “You sound like an old man. Everyone knows cheese goes best with meat. Especially beef.”

  “You sure love meat, Veight.”

  “All werewolves do.”

  Over the past few days, Kite and I had grown a lot closer. At the very least, he seemed to see me as a friendly superior than a strict boss. I was honestly a little surprised he co
uld be so casual with a general of an enemy army that was using him as a spy. I didn’t mind, but he really needed to be more careful.

  “You know, don’t you think you should be a little more cautious?”

  “Huh? You’re the last person I want to hear that from, Veight.”

  “He’s got a point, boss.”

  What’s with these two?

  The mining city of Krauhen was located on Meraldia’s northeastern tip. It was also one of Meraldia’s oldest cities, and Lacy’s hometown. It lay on the foothills of the Northern Peaks and mined all manner of minerals and metals, but its biggest export was rock salt. Rock salt with certain impurities in it had a different color than pure sea salt, and a different taste to match. Krauhen had been famous for its salt long before Meraldia had been unified into a single nation. As a result, the Defourd family, which had served as Krauhen’s viceroys for generations, had a large amount of clout. The founder of the Defourd family had been a hero who’d slain multiple werewolves, and his descendants had all inherited that warrior spirit.

  “The Senate has always had trouble dealing with Krauhen.” Kite pulled on a spare jacket as he talked. “They’re the only producers of salt in the north, so the city’s rich beyond measure. Furthermore, Krauhen has a more esteemed history than the Senate.”

  Since the Senate had no historical basis for its seat of power, I could see how dealing with Krauhen would be difficult for them. As I nodded in response, something suddenly occurred to me.

  “But I take it the biggest reason the Senate has problems with them is because they suffered practically no damage during the unification war, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s definitely a big reason, too.”

  It was the same reason the Senate couldn’t handle Beluza or Lotz. The only disadvantage Krauhen had was that it was in the frigid reaches of the north, but depending on how you looked at it, that could be an asset as well. There was no worry of being invaded in winter. Either way, that explained why Krauhen had so much political influence within Meraldia. It paid for a great deal of the Senate’s budget and was the only supplier of salt in the north, so the Senate couldn’t afford to offend Krauhen. Which made me wonder what convinced them to requisition Krauhen’s treasured heirloom.