Elisabeth's eyes opened from a light doze.
The bed was stark white. Far too modest for the ruler of an entire nation. Elisabeth rubbed her bleary eyes. A bone-deep fatigue clung to her skull like rotting cheese. She wanted just one more minute of sleep. Even one.
"Hmm…"
One of the Magic Crystal Orbs placed across the room was making a racket. That was what had woken her. Her sleep was already pathetically limited as it was, and an involuntary complaint slipped from her lips.
"…Who at this hour. No, precisely because of the hour, it must be urgent."
Elisabeth walked toward it like a ghost. Moonlight filtering through the window faintly illuminated her nude body. It had been her habit since long ago to sleep without wearing undergarments.
"Hm. Henrietta, is it."
The drowsiness vanished from Elisabeth's pupils in an instant. The sound was coming from the Magic Crystal Orb she had set up exclusively for Henrietta.
If it was her, Elisabeth was perfectly willing to have her precious sleep interrupted. She activated the orb right away. A cascade of light spilled from its surface, projecting the image of a figure.
"Hello, Elise."
It was Queen Henrietta de Bretagne, whose hair burned with the passionate hues of flame. She wore that broad, easy smile of hers, as always.
"This is sudden, but I have a question. Do you perhaps have a secret you can't tell anyone else?"
"…That really is a sudden question."
Elisabeth managed a wry smile.
The attitude was almost like that of a friend who had been drinking with her just moments ago. No one would believe she was the sovereign who commanded both Empire and Kingdom alike. But that unguarded tone put her mind at ease. Mm, Elisabeth rested her chin in her hand.
"A secret, hmm. That's a troublesome one. You want to dig up a girl's secret so you can put it to some nasty use, don't you?"
"A girl, my foot. Who's going to call a woman who's lived over twenty years without a single lover a girl?"
"…At heart, I'm a girl. At heart."
Elisabeth protested, but even she could feel how pathetic it sounded.
"No way—judging by that reaction, you really are a virgin?"
"I am married to the state. Fine, Henrietta. I'll make this a secret I share with you."
"Tsk, tsk. You look perfectly fine, so what's the problem?"
Henrietta furrowed her brow as though she truly could not understand. Elisabeth bristled, if only slightly.
"If I wanted, I could have anyone I please. I simply don't see the need."
"That's what pretty girls who can never get a guy always say."
"Enough, enough. Let's drop this."
Elisabeth sighed. The Queen of Bretagne was famous for her promiscuous lifestyle. Probably just an ethnic difference between the Bretagnais and the Habsburgers, Elisabeth decided, and let it go.
"Good grief. If my ministers had overheard this conversation, there would have been two rebellions by now. So why did you ask me to share such a personal secret?"
Henrietta smiled faintly.
"Dantalion has made his move, Elisabeth."
"...!"
The air shifted.
The expression vanished from Elisabeth's face. Gone was the Elisabeth who spoke to the one friend she had left; in her place stood the cold dictator who ruled the fledgling Habsburg Republic with an iron fist.
Elisabeth suppressed her tension and barely managed to ask.
"...Made his move, you mean?"
"He's raised an army, obviously. The Crescent Alliance Army, Elisabeth."
Henrietta spoke as though discussing someone else's affairs.
"The difference is that last time he headed for Habsburg, but this time he's coming for Franck. That's quite fortunate for you."
"Mm."
Of course it was a relief. Having to welcome the Crescent Alliance Army into one's own country once more was nothing short of a waking nightmare. But she showed none of it on the surface. The fact that the destination was Franck meant that her friend before her, Henrietta, would have to face the Crescent Alliance Army head-on.
"Where did you get this intelligence? I apologize for sounding suspicious, but that Demon Lord is a genius of information warfare and psychological manipulation. We must exercise every possible caution."
The moment one made a hasty judgment, they would already be falling into the opponent's trap. Even the Habsburg Republic's intelligence division ranked the Demon Lord's forces as their number-one surveillance target. However, Elizabeth had not yet received any reports of unusual activity.
"That's exactly why I asked you to keep this a secret—because I have a secret of my own. In truth, I'm currently building a cooperative relationship with one of the Demon Lords. That person is my source."
"A Demon Lord?"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
The fact that Henrietta was cooperating with a Demon Lord was quite surprising, but now was not the time to press her on that point. Henrietta had come to her of her own accord to share the secret. Elizabeth focused on the matter at hand.
"The risk of this intelligence being reverse-manipulated is far too great. This is dangerous, Henrietta."
"The Demon Lord in question is Agares. The civil war that broke out in the Protectorate three years ago—do you remember?"
"…Ranked second. The Demon Lord who lost the civil war."
Indeed. This was worth listening to.
Henrietta continued.
"Right now, a massive purge is underway within the Demon Lord's forces. It appears to be on a considerable scale. Word is that even Bael, ranked first, has been killed. In the course of that, Dantalion came into possession of a recording of a speech he gave. I'll have my court mage transmit it to you later."
"I'd appreciate that. Then was the purge led by Dantalion?"
Henrietta nodded.
"There's no definitive proof, but that is what I believe."
"Hmm."
"Elise. Through my cooperation with the Demon Lord, I was able to learn the inner workings of the last Crescent Alliance Army's campaign. The Battle of the Brunow Plains was entirely a stage orchestrated by Dantalion."
"…What do you mean?"
Dantalion was the one who had sowed poison among humanity before the speech. Were they saying he had played a role beyond that?
Henrietta revealed the truth she had uncovered. Dantalion had secretly written letters to the demon legion commanders at the time, in order to prevent the Mountain Faction from running unchecked. Naturally, Agares had received a letter as well.
Agares knew that Dantalion had seen through the Mountain Faction's movements from the very beginning. Receiving this information allowed Henrietta to realize who had been pulling the strings behind the Eighth Crescent Alliance Army.
"...So that's how it was. He orchestrated both the script and the direction."
"..."
Elizabeth sat in silence, clutching her glass. At some point, she had been unable to bear listening with a clear mind and had brought out alcohol. It was top-shelf liquor, yet it tasted nothing but bitter.
"From the moment forces gathered at the Brunow Plains, we were already caught in the trap, Elise."
"What do you mean... Are you saying humanity was pushed to the brink of annihilation by a single person?"
Elizabeth shuddered.
"That's impossible. Something like that can't possibly be true."
"But it actually happened. I'm sorry, but you and I are rulers. We don't have the luxury of turning away from reality."
If this was reality, it was too horrifying to bear. It was a nightmare in the truest sense — a nightmare by the name of Dantalion, blanketing the continent.
"A hundred thousand died, Henrietta. A hundred thousand, from the Habsburg Republic alone."
Elizabeth murmured in anguish.
"And that was the work of a single person? How could we ever reveal such a truth to the citizens... No one should be capable of this, not even a Demon Lord. This should never have been allowed to happen..."
"And I had to lead my own proud soldiers to their self-destruction."
Henrietta's voice, which had been relaxed and easygoing throughout, took on a sharp edge.
"Not a single day has gone by that I've forgotten the screams my soldiers let out. You're the same, I imagine."
"..."
"The time for vengeance has come, Elise."
Between the two of them, there was a unmistakable difference in temperature.
Elizabeth was extremely wary of Dantalion, even fearful of him. Henrietta, on the other hand, found Dantalion difficult to deal with but not exactly terrifying.
This difference stemmed from a few years back, when Elizabeth had discovered that the mad priest Jean Volé was none other than Dantalion. She had reported this information to Henrietta right away. That was how Henrietta learned that the one she had crushed before was none other than Dantalion himself.
In other words, Henrietta already had experience thoroughly defeating Dantalion. That gave her well-founded confidence.
"Even if the information has been manipulated, we should be able to handle it if we stay vigilant. Surely that much confidence hasn't vanished as well, Élise."
"...You're right. I was a bit hasty. My apologies."
"Well, I understand. Whenever Dantalion's involved, you tend to get nervous."
Henrietta grinned.
"Sure, he's a genius at information warfare and psychological games. But on the battlefield, that's not particularly useful. We just need to exploit that and aim for a decisive single blow."
"..."
Elizabeth fell into deep thought. She hesitated for a moment, wondering how to broach the subject, before speaking to her close friend before her.
"It's about tactics. Henrietta, it appears Dantalion has acquired a powerful subordinate."
"Oh?"
"You know about Heidelberg being captured, right?"
Henrietta nodded.
"They were all boasting about how there's someone quite capable in the Demon Lord's army."
"That tactician's identity... is most likely Dantalion's advisor."
Henrietta's expression grew serious.
Feeling an inexplicable pang of pain at her friend's look, Elizabeth continued.
"According to those who participated as the surrender delegation, the one serving Dantalion as their lord is apparently a girl. Dantalion may well have the weakness of being poor in combat. But he's not the sort of fool who would leave that weakness completely unguarded."
In Heidelberg, the nobles had displayed such dignified behavior that the citizens had begun to view the aristocracy favorably.
Even within the Republic's government, the voices of the nobles were growing stronger by degrees. Having been suppressed for so long, once the opportunity arose, they burst forth with a vengeance. Dantalion had not limited a single victory to the battlefield alone—he had turned it against their very politics……
There was nothing more terrifying than an opponent who knew how to exploit a victory. Dantalion was an exceedingly fearsome foe.
Henrietta lamented.
"A schemer, a strategist, and on top of all that, a military tactician. He's become an impossible opponent."
A brief silence fell between the two rulers. As though trying to bear the weight of it, Elizabeth spoke up.
"What if we sowed discord within the Crescent Alliance Army? Dantalion was the one who orchestrated the purge, but based on the information we have, he doesn't command many troops of his own. If we could fracture the Demon Lords who do have forces and erode their trust in Dantalion……"
"That would likely prove difficult."
Henrietta shook her head.
"According to Agares, the man is apparently in romantic relationships with all of his Legion Commanders. Moreover, Dantalion is the very person who made the Crescent Alliance Army a success and smoothed over the internal conflict. The Legion Commanders must have absolute trust in him."
"So his trust is ironclad, you're saying……"
"Yes."
The fact that they had carried out a purge against the number-one-ranked Demon Lord itself demonstrated how much faith they placed in Dantalion, who had conceived the plan. It spoke volumes about the level of that trust. There was virtually no room for internal strife.
Elizabeth let out a weary sigh.
"What on earth is that man's objective? It's hard to fathom. If his sole aim were the extinction of humanity, there would have been no need for something like a purge……"
"That's something I don't know either. But a few things are certain."
Henrietta spoke coldly.
"He belongs to the most dangerous class of individuals, he is an enemy of humanity, and he is our nemesis."
"……."
"But think about it the other way around—if he alone were to disappear, the Demon Lord Army would lose its central axis. Élise, prepare martial law. This is the moment we must stake the fate of humanity on this war."
Elizabeth raised her glass to her lips and nodded carefully. Yes. There was no choice but to end the nightmare by one's own hand……