Chapter 4: The Weimar Royal Family

—

In a room within the royal castle of the Weimar Kingdom, an elderly man clad in luxurious attire cast a stern gaze at a muscular middle-aged man.

The elderly man was the king of this nation, and the muscular man was the captain of the knight’s order.

“What is the state of the battlefield?” 

“Yes! The efforts of our soldiers are remarkable, and each and every one of them is fighting valiantly!” 

At the knight captain’s response, the king let out a deep sigh. 

“I asked for facts, not abstract impressions. Speak more precisely.”

Given the king’s words, the knight captain hesitated for a moment before beginning to speak in a subdued voice.

“To be honest, the situation is one of ebb and flow. We have the advantage in numbers and close combat, but they excel in the power of their magic. We are struggling to engage them in close quarters. However, they lack our physical abilities and are few in number, which prevents them from invading us… that is the current state of affairs.”

So it seems they can do something after all, the king thought as he glared at the knight captain, but he quickly averted his gaze and sighed again.

“Is it the same as before? It pains me that we failed to convince Maya-dono…”

When the king said this, the knight captain shrank back.

The reason for their failure to persuade the most ruthless summoner, Kenta Maya, was reported to be due to his subordinate’s arrogant attitude towards Kenta, which offended him.

That subordinate was a noble’s child, but the captain was furious about such a significant failure and stripped him of his position, demoting him to a regular soldier.

He would have to be retrained from the ground up.

However, the king opened his mouth with annoyance.

“Surely, that man was demoted. Considering this enormous failure, execution might be a fitting punishment.”

“Th-that would! He is a member of a noble family! Executing him would provoke the noble family’s resentment!”

“Wouldn’t it be better for the nation to eliminate the noble family that provided such education?”

“Th-that… however, doing so would ignite another fire within the country.”

“I understand that. Haa, Victoria has already given up on persuading him; it’s utterly frustrating.”

Kenta, who had slain the king of the demon race they were struggling against.

With such power, the Weimar king had anticipated that he could easily scatter mere demon soldiers.

Now, Kenta was wanted throughout the world.

He thought that if Weimar lifted the bounty on him, it would be easy to persuade him.

However, that plan was thwarted by the foolishness of a knight.

Even executing that former knight and destroying his noble family would likely not quell the anger.

But the king knew that doing so would also provoke backlash from the nobles in the country.

The Weimar king’s frustration grew day by day as everything fell apart.

“It’s precisely because we expected Kenta to come to our aid that we are in such a disgraceful position. Since we cannot expect his assistance, rework our strategy with that in mind. That is all.”

“Yes! I apologize for my rudeness!”

With that, the knight captain quickly exited the room.

“How pathetic. And yet, that summoner has turned out to be a letdown. I thought he would be of more use.”

With that, the king sighed alone.

—

Meanwhile, in another room of the royal castle, the first princess, Victoria, was receiving a visit from her younger sister, the second princess.

“Sister. I hear you’ve failed to persuade that summoner?”

“…Did you come all this way just to tell me that? Are you that bored, Wimpel?”

The second princess, Wimpel, who had come intending to mock her sister, flinched slightly at the biting sarcasm but quickly composed herself to speak to Victoria.

“No? I am quite busy, actually. After all, I am preparing to go persuade the summoner you failed to convince.”

If she could succeed where her sister failed, she could outshine her older sister, who was viewed as the most likely candidate for the next queen, and perhaps become queen herself.

Wimpel’s heart swelled with sweet expectations as she confidently announced this to Victoria.

Victoria was initially taken aback by her words, but her expression soon turned sour.

“Stop it. Maya-dono has said he will not cooperate at all. It is true that he seemed offended by that knight’s attitude, but that is not the only reason.”

While Victoria said this, to Wimpel, it sounded like nothing more than her sister’s excuse.

“Fufu. You say that, but the bottom line is that you just failed to present him with any benefits, right? I, on the other hand, can offer him some advantages.”

“…Benefits?”

It’s true that Victoria had been turned down before she could present the benefit of lifting the bounty on Kenta, which left her with nothing but a simple request.

It was also a fact that she believed the common people would be moved and obliged to follow her just because she was a princess.

She realized she hadn’t proposed any real benefits at all.

“Yes. I hear that summoner is a rather young man, correct?”

“Indeed… he was seventeen when summoned, and it’s been about three years, so he should be twenty now.”

“Fufu. A twenty-year-old man is a bundle of sexual desire. Of course, someone like that would be struggling with a life of escape, hidden from the public eye, filled with unspent lust.”

Victoria widened her eyes at that remark.

“Y-you can’t mean! No! You’re a princess, so…”

“I would never use my own body! I’ve simply arranged for someone from that line of work to approach him!”

Wimpel, who had been misinterpreted by her sister, flushed red as she corrected Victoria’s misunderstanding.

“O-oh. Is that so?”

Feeling relieved at those words, Victoria bit her lip at the method that hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Seeing her sister’s reaction, Wimpel smirked.

“I will clean up after your failure, dear sister. Please, wait here in the royal castle for good news.”

With that, Wimpel laughed “hohoho” as she left Victoria’s room.

As Victoria glared at her departing figure with annoyance, she recalled Kenta, whom she had met the other day.

Kenta’s expression and words were filled with intense hatred.

That was…

“… Maya-dono hates this world, which tried to abduct him and use him as a disposable tool. The sins of Lindor are grave.”

Kenta had been summoned by the Lindor Kingdom, deceived into fighting, and when he succeeded, what he was offered wasn’t a reward but execution for being no longer needed.

The reason Kenta harbored hatred for this world stemmed entirely from Lindor.

To the public, Lindor appeared as a victim nation, but each royal family knew the truth.

Now Lindor was attempting to rebuild by elevating a new king from the remaining royal families, but because of this, it faced total rejection from other nations and was isolated in the international community.

It was only a matter of time before the country disintegrated.

“Even so, using seduction as a tactic, huh? I never even thought of that… It might actually work.”

Even though Kenta despised this world, he was still a healthy twenty-year-old man.

If presented with a woman, he might be surprisingly easily swayed.

“However, wouldn’t that risk provoking Maya-dono’s wrath?”

There was that concern, but having already failed once, she couldn’t stop Wimpel even if she wanted to be more cautious.

She would likely be accused of jealousy for trying to stop her sister’s potentially successful scheme.

“Haa… I can only hope that Maya-dono’s anger doesn’t turn toward me.”

Victoria murmured this while gazing through the window at the overcast sky, which mirrored her troubled heart.

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