“I see,” Lyla said, but she didn’t laugh like Zich. Instead, her expression darkened.
“Why? What’s with that expression? We are finally getting the chance to screw over that bastard.”
“But it’s during a war. If I think about all the blood that will be spilled that day, I can’t be happy about it.”
“Now that you mention it, I suppose that’s the normal reaction to have.”
However, their responses to each other’s reactions ended like that. Zich didn’t look down on Lyla for being weak, nor did Lyla rebuke Zich for being cruel. At this point, the two had come to terms with their contrasting personalities and it was only a trivial matter for them. There was no need for them to understand each other’s way of thinking but to accept them.
“When is the battle?” Lyla asked.
“It’s in two days.”
“I guess the preparations are complete then.”
“They’ve long been completed. Even a dog wandering in the slums would know that the war was going to start as soon as the monsoon was over. The following two days are just to solidify the troop formation they prepared beforehand.”
“Where would the battle take place?”
“There’s a meadow not too far from the area between the Pinne residence and the estate's boundary. It seems like they are planning to meet their enemies there.”
“They are going to intercept? I thought they would stay inside.”
“Defending on home ground is best for defense, but if they allow enemies inside the estate, it will devastate their grounds. It would be better to intercept if they can. Well, it does seem like that was their strategy at first when the prospects of war were first beginning to emerge.” The Count had probably planned that begrudgingly, knowing that there would be clear differences in the size between their troops and their enemy’s troops.
“So that basically means they gained the ability to intercept thanks to you.”
“Yes.” It was undebatable since the three new forces that had joined Steelwall were all connected to Zich.
“What are the chances of winning?” Lyla asked, and Zich answered as if he thought her question was funny.
“It’s not winning that we should focus on in this battle—it’s what can we do to torment Glen Zenard as much as possible.”
“You have no intention to lose, do you?” Zich displayed a ridiculous amount of confidence, but this was Zich she was talking about, and Lyla felt an incomprehensible sense of relief from his words instead.
“What are you going to do now? Are you going to participate in the war too?” Zich asked. This was the reason why he came to talk to Lyla before the battle. Although there were high-level mages like Walwiss Dwayne participating in this war, the more mages they had, the better. Furthermore, Lyla’s skills far surpassed that of a normal mage, and she would be a great help if she participated in the war. However, Lyla shook her head.
“No, I won’t participate this time.”
“Really? Okay.” Zich nodded.
“You are so quick to understand. Aren’t you going to ask me why?”
“If it’s something you can tell me, I’m sure you would,” Zich said.
As if she was happy to have Zich’s trust, Lyla smiled slightly and said, “It’s because of Serpina.”
With a serious expression, Zich listened to her intently.
“You know how we are suspecting that she’s scheming something.”
“I’m pretty much sure of it. If that wasn’t the case, she wouldn’t be only passively teaching you like she is doing right now.”
“If that’s the case, that could mean she’s already laid out some of her tricks already. I spied on her as much as possible, but it’s a fact that I lack knowledge about the ruin’s system compared to her.”
“So, you are saying that you will stay behind to uncover her schemes, huh?” Zich said.
“You told me that you would trust me about Serpina. I can’t betray your trust.”
“Yeah,” Zich said and tapped Lyla’s shoulder. “I am saying it again, but I am leaving all matters related to her to you.”
“Don’t worry. I am actually more worried about you. I know your abilities well and don’t think you will lose, but your opponent is Glen Zenard. You said you think his abilities have grown tremendously,” Lyla said.
“And that’s really something you shouldn’t worry about,” Zich said confidently. “If that guy is exactly what I think he is, there’s no way he can beat me.”
“What do you mean by ‘exactly what I think he is?’”
“It just means he’s a loser.”
“Ah, I see.” Lyla smiled. “If that’s the case, then there’s really no way you will lose— since there’s no one who is as much of a sore loser as him.”
The two thought of “this loser” Zich was going to beat and laughed aloud.
* * *
When Zich came out of the ruin after meeting Lyla, there was an unexpected guest waiting for him.
“Glad to see you again, Sir Zich.” Lubella was wearing her prim saintess clothes like usual as she greeted him. Next to her side, Weig was there as her bodyguard like any other time.
“What are you two here for?” Zich asked.
“Oh my, did we come to a place that we shouldn’t? But we came here pretty recently too.”
“The situation’s different now.”
Since the Karuwimans declared neutrality, the presence of these two in the Steelwall residence could cause significant political damage to the Karuwimans. It was also not a good move for Lubella and Weig’s personal standings. Lubella glanced at Weig.
“There’s no one in our surroundings.”
“That’s true.”
After receiving confirmation, Lubella asked, “You remember Uruwon Luce, right?”
“Of course I do. I blatantly pointed him out as a spy.”
“He resigned from his priest position.”
At this interesting news, Zich fixed his posture.
“It doesn’t stop there. He made a formal announcement that he was going to leave the Karuwimans.”
“What did he say his reason was?”
“He said he couldn’t accept the fact that the Karuwimans proclaimed neutrality for this war.”
“Geez, he’s directly going against the Pope’s order. As expected, traitors are in a different league.” Zich cynically mocked Uruwon Luce. “Then, I guess he’ll side with the Flauds this time.”
“Yes.”
“I can clearly see his intentions.”
“Really? How so?” Lubella tilted her head.
Zich answered, “If the Flauds successfully invade the Steelwall Estate and if they find evidence that the Steelwalls are Bellid supporters, he would be able to successfully rejoin Karuwiman. You two must know better than even me about how much the Karuwimans hate the Bellids, so you should easily expect what type of treatment he’ll receive when he rejoins.”
“He’ll be treated like a hero and be praised as a true Karuwiman follower by many people.” Lubella imagined Luce, the traitor, receiving such a treatment, and her face fell.
Zich continued, “I think there are other people who disagree with the Karuwimans’ decision to stay neutral in this war. Of course, they’ll be praising Uruwon Luce’s actions right now.”
Weig replied, “Yes, there are.”
“And if he manages to successfully accomplish his plan this time around, the Pope will receive a backlash regarding his authority, and then Uruwon Luce will be one step closer to becoming the next pope.”
Lubella said, “A Bellid spy would love that to death.”
“That’s probably the real reason why he left behind the position he worked so hard for.” Zich smirked. “Well, for that to work out, he needs to first win this war though.” And Zich had not even an ounce of thought about losing this war.
“That’s true. There’s no chance that he’ll ever reach his goal.” Lubella also seemed to think that there was zero probability that Zich would ever lose, and her expression noticeably got better.
Zich continued, “He’s probably not feeling too great either, since his ideal plan would have been to participate in this war while maintaining his priest position as part of the Karuwimans supporting the Flauds. It would have been very difficult for him to leave a high-ranking position that he worked so hard to get as a spy. In other words, this means that this war is important enough for him to let go of his Karuwiman status.”
Weig asked, “You really can win, right?”
“It’s merely a matter of how long it’ll take us.”
Weig nodded at Zich’s confident answer. “Well, no wonder. While we were coming here, I heard that reinforcements arrived at the Steelwall Estate, and they’re all amazing people.”
“I also heard that. Is that true?” Lubella also showed her curiosity. Since a famous mercenary group, mages, and even elves were coming forward to help out the Steelwalls, she couldn’t help but be curious.
“I’ll introduce you to them later. If it’s you all, Lady Lubella and Sir Weig, I’m sure they won’t refuse to meet you all either.”
“Thank you!” Lubella’s expression brightened up as she was really excited to meet them.
Zich asked, “But did you two really just come here to tell me about Uruwon Luce’s activities?” Zich thought that their status was too high for them to come all the way here to just tell him this information. On the other hand, since they couldn’t outrightly reveal the fact that Uruwon Luce was a traitor to anyone else, they might have come all the way here without much choice.
However, Weig shook his head as if to show that he hadn’t come all the way here to just tell Zich this news. “We came here to tell you that, but also to match the balance. Even though Luce definitely left his priest position by his own will, outsiders might see it differently.”
“Yes, that's true.”
People might think that the Karuwimans had superficially announced neutrality just to avoid getting criticized for intervening in a fight between nobles, and they were actually trying to support the Flauds. No, Zich was sure that there would probably be a lot of people who would think this after seeing Uruwon Luce on the Flauds’ side.
“That’s why we came here. Of course, we won’t be able to directly side with Steelwall like Luce. We just came here with the justification that we’re here to make sure that Bellid supporters are really not related to this war.”
“Even if you two don’t participate in this war, your presence would be helpful.”
“Of course, we don’t have any intentions to just watch.” Lubella said with a firm voice, “If it’s as you say, Sir Zich, there’s a possibility that they’ll use Bellid power in this war. If that’s the case, Sir Weig and I will immediately participate in this war as your comrades.”
“Hahaha, I feel really reassured!” Zich really wasn’t saying empty words. Just their presence would prevent the Flauds from utilizing the Bellids’ power as their secret weapon. And if they did use their power despite Lubella and Weig’s presence…
‘It would be even better.’ Contrary to their intentions, the Steelwalls would be able to perfectly get the Karuwimans on their side.
Weig added, “Honestly, we hadn’t really planned to participate in this war. Originally, a couple of people with a similar status as Luce were supposed to be sent but…”
“Sir Weig!” Lubella quickly cut him off before he could finish.
“That seems like a very interesting story.”
At Zich’s curious gaze, Weig ignored Lubella’s frantic eyes and continued, “It’s more shocking than interesting. Lady Lubella tried to throw away her position as the Saintess and was going to participate in this war on Steelwall’s side.”
Even Zich, who was calm and cool about most matters, was shocked. The position that Luce threw away was definitely very hard to obtain, especially since it was certain that he was going to be the next high priest. However, compared to the Saintess position, the high priest was miniscule in comparison, since the Saintess position was no different than the face of Karuwiman.