"……."
I silently pulled up the Demon Lords' Status Windows.
I read their mental states in order. They were all innocent. Whether Vassago or Marbas, every one of them was in distress. At the very least, the Legion Commanders hadn't been scheming behind the scenes……
"Barbatos, calm yourself. There's no guarantee the culprit is among us. It's also possible that someone among the Demon Lords who didn't deploy this time pulled some strings."
"Amon, Valefor……indeed. It would be more reasonable to suspect them than to believe there's a traitor among us."
Marbas and Paimon steadied the growing unease in the room.
Even if a traitor existed, allowing suspicion to spread this openly was undesirable. The two of them had appropriately cut off the thread of doubt. Unfortunately, however, the odds of that were virtually zero.
"Perhaps the likelihood is slim."
"Dantalion."
Marbas furrowed his brow. Why were you fanning the embers just as things were finally settling down? his eyes scolded.
Marbas. It may calm the situation for the moment, but the seeds of suspicion would continue to linger. The Demon Lord Army was a newly established hierarchy. It was necessary to uproot that suspicion more thoroughly and decisively.
"Isn't it strange? Let's suppose someone among the Demon Lords who didn't support this deployment sent out a detachment. The objective is unclear."
"Could it not be to discredit our forces?"
I shook my head.
"If that were the case, they would have used demon soldiers. The Demon Lord Army has gone out of control, pillaging and slaughtering villages at random—the Alliance Army's claims are all lies and fabrications……that is how the sabotage would need to unfold to succeed."
I turned my gaze to the herald.
"Herald. Your report states that it was the Imperial Army that laid waste to the villages. Is there no mistake?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. There is no mistake."
"You see. It wasn't a unit composed of demon soldiers."
"……."
Marbas's gaze grew serious.
"Does this mean there really is a traitor among us?"
"Not necessarily. If they had deployed demon soldiers as a scouting party, they could have more effectively ruined our reputation. Yet they went out of their way to obtain Imperial Army uniforms and have their soldiers wear them……."
It was far too inefficient. Even if the perpetrator was believed to be the Imperial Army, there would be no benefit to the Demon Lords. I shook my head.
"This is hard to attribute to the work of a Demon Lord."
The Demon Lords murmured among themselves.
Some nodded in agreement with my words, while others still scanned the room with suspicious gazes. But the atmosphere had undeniably improved from before. The air grew noticeably lighter with the realization that betrayal was less likely.
"But then, who…"
"It's the Bretagne forces. They exploited the opening while we were negotiating with them."
"Didn't you say they were wearing Imperial uniforms?"
The Demon Lords gathered in small clusters, whispering among themselves. The majority seemed to suspect Henrietta. Marbas stroked his beard and looked toward me.
"So the culprit isn't a Demon Lord. Are you trying to say that humans committed this atrocity, Dantalion?"
"Yes. Most likely, without a doubt. But there are a few clues to work with."
First, the perpetrator is a person of power capable of commanding a thousand troops at will.
That's not all. They're not just any soldiers—they have the means to procure soldiers of Habsburg origin. There aren't many humans with that kind of resources.
Next, they've discerned that our forces will 'never' advance into the southern reaches of Franck. This means they've seen through our army's strategic objectives with perfect clarity. They're a strategist of considerable caliber. Or perhaps they possess outstanding political acumen.
I parted my lips.
"Comrades. If I may be so bold as to judge, the culprit is…"
"We are abandoning the rescue of Parisiorum."
Consul Elisabeth returned from personally scouting the vicinity of Parisiorum. The moment the reconnaissance was over, she summoned the commanders and declared with certainty.
"There is no longer any hope for the Bretagne army. Two full days have passed since the encirclement was completed. Yet, Queen Henrietta refused to abandon the Imperial Capital, wasting precious time. The war is over."
"Your Excellency. It has only been two days. Isn't it a bit premature to predict the outcome of the war?"
First Consul Secretary Yuri tilted her head in confusion.
"You're right. Only two days have passed……."
Elisabeth gave a wry smile.
"The enemy commander is Dantalion. He treats war as an extension of stratagem. Yuri, stratagem is something you only realize far too late. It's not premature. Two days have already slipped away."
Elisabeth removed her helmet. The white head cloth underneath was drenched in sweat.
"Since yesterday, the Demon Lord's army has been burning humans at the stake. The charge is supposedly punishing those who actively participated in the massacre four years ago. Gentlemen. What meaning do you suppose lies in this?"
"That is... I'm sorry. I don't understand."
The commanders, including Yuri, shook their heads. Elisabeth wiped her face with the wet towel a servant handed her.
"Hah. Parisiorum is a sanctuary for the royalists. If the Bretagne army abandons the Imperial Capital and flees, the flames of the massacre will spread straight to Parisiorum. How do you think the citizens will react to the queen then?"
"……!"
"A monarch who fled knowing her people would be slaughtered. A tyrant who valued her own life above her subjects. That's the kind of criticism that will pour down. Even the royalists back home will denounce Henrietta."
Elisabeth, seemingly exhausted, slumped into her chair.
"It would have been best to escape before the massacre began. If only one day had passed since the massacre, it would have been cutting it close, but still manageable. But two days have gone by. Henrietta's political life is already over."
"How can that be……."
Yuri's voice choked with shock. Queen Henrietta was the one most often cited as the closest contender to continental supremacy. That such a figure could fall so simply was utterly unbelievable.
"It's only been two days……."
"If it's Dantalion, it's possible.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Elisabeth murmured.
"Fatal and clean. Henrietta ended up making exactly the kind of enemy she least wanted to face."
"……."
Yuri could not help but wonder. Was there really a schemer who could casually devise a plan to bring down a nation's sovereign in a mere two days? Furthermore, how had the woman before her seen through that plan at a single glance?
*On this vast continent, only two people know how this war will end.*
A chill ran down Yuri's spine.
Consul Elisabeth had once called Dantalion "the continent's greatest strategist." Then what did that make the Consul who had seen through his stratagem? Only a kindred spirit can truly evaluate another. Dantalion and Elisabeth were undoubtedly two of a kind.
Feeling saliva pool in her mouth, Yuri asked:
"Your Excellency, what will you do? If there is no way to save them, retreat is our only option."
"No. There is a way."
Elisabeth closed her eyes. A brief silence passed, and then she opened them again.
"We will mimic the enemy."
"The Habsburg Republic was born from the Habsburg Empire. Procuring the banners and armor of the Imperial army would be no trouble at all. And here is what's interesting."
A smile formed on her lips of its own accord.
"According to the messenger's report, it has been a month since the pillaging began in southern Franck. Do you understand what that means? Preparing armor and banners for a thousand men takes at least ten days. Even with teleportation magic to transport them, it still takes ten days……."
Our army had surrounded Parisiorum for exactly ten days. On top of that, it took just under a month for the surrender delegation to arrive from Le Havre.
"In other words, the moment the siege of Parisiorum was established, the Consul had already begun her moves. Impressive. She saw through our army's objective at a single glance."
And then she had posed as the Imperial army and ravaged southern Franck.
Soldiers who spoke the language of Habsburg, using the banners and uniforms of the Habsburg army, operating at a time when the Habsburg Empire was invading. No matter who looked, it could only appear to be the work of the Imperial forces.
"Moreover, she even replicated the exact manner of the massacre we carried out in Parisiorum. Thorough, one might say. Truly, she is the Consul of Habsburg……."
"But why would the Habsburg Republic pull something like that?"
Marbas asked quietly.
"It's Franck's business either way. It doesn't really concern you all, does it?"
I wore a bitter smile on my lips.
It does concern us. Because the Consul of Habsburg is someone who has the entire continent in her sights. But the Demon Lords wouldn't understand even if I said that.
"There are multiple purposes. First, to tarnish the honor of our forces. Until now, we've advanced while minimizing plunder — that was to win the hearts of the people to our side. That effort has gone to waste."
In northeastern Franck as well, we had only collected a modest safety levy. All that effort had been for nothing.
"Second, anti-republicanism will surge across all of Franck once again."
Elisabeth had carried out the massacre in the south under the pretext of "condemning the massacre from four years ago." How would the cities of the south react to that?
"The southern cities will protest against us. They'll also notify the Empress Dowager of the massacre's devastation and request that she condemn our forces. However, we have never committed any massacre."
Since we didn't commit one, we won't apologize.
The citizens of the south would never be satisfied with such an official, political response.
"......Even if we say it wasn't us, it'll just sound like an excuse."
"Yes. That's correct."
"What an absurd accusation."
Marbas furrowed his brow, looking displeased.
"What if we simply revealed it was the Consul's doing?"
"Unfortunately, we have no evidence."
It was Elisabeth, after all. She wouldn't have left any traces that could serve as evidence. No — she had carried out the massacre thoroughly precisely to leave no evidence. It was obvious.
"The political offensive she's launching..."
"It won't be easy, I'm sure. But the fact that we committed a massacre somewhere near Pariciorum — that much is true. We're a foreign nation entirely unfamiliar to people who've already carried out such a massacre once. Which side do you think the public will suspect more?"
"Hmm."
A groan escaped Marbas's lips. He must have felt the walls closing in. He couldn't acknowledge the massacre, but denying it was equally untenable.
Yet I was enjoying myself. My heart was pounding like a lovestruck puppy with his first crush. Elisabeth had seen through our scheme — the very scheme that even Henrietta, the person at the center of it all, had failed to grasp. And she had promptly carried out the massacre……
In terms of decisiveness and resolve, she wasn't even in the same league as Henrietta.
"There's nothing for it. Let's send a spy into the Habsburg Republic. If we calculate the time it took, there's a good chance the Consul mobilized the border garrison. If we can prove that the border garrison went missing, we might surprisingly easily be able to establish the other party's guilt."
"Hmm."
Even as I said it, I thought the likelihood of that working was exceedingly slim.
Elisabeth had almost certainly laundered the soldiers' identities multiple times over. Even the citizens of the Republic probably hadn't noticed the military moving. On matters like this, I trusted Elisabeth's craftsmanship more than anyone else in the world.
Marbas interlaced his fingers.
"Dantalion. Your argument rests on the premise that the Consul saw through our army's objective completely. I have my doubts as to whether that is truly plausible."
"It is plausible."
I smiled.
"If it's Elisabeth von Habsburg, then it is."