2,000Finally, the migration of The Rebirth of a Sword Hero to AO3 is complete!
Starting from this chapter, the story is going to be updated on and AO3 at the same time, and you can enjoy the story on both platforms! And not going to make you wait any longer, here and now, please enjoy Chapter 43!
Chapter 43: Information Warfare
Team Naofumi's departure was set for today. They decided to leave early to avoid attracting everyone's attention, so only EMIYA came to see them depart.
"Got everything covered?"
Naofumi answered the Sword Hero by glancing at his team. "Yeah. Hopefully."
Every member of Team Naofumi had already geared up properly. Naofumi's Barbarian's Armor was fixed up and received some minor upgrades, and Raphtalia and Eclair also dressed themselves in new, beautiful clothes fit for quick movement in battles. However, it was Keel who surprised EMIYA the most. She had abandoned the old tunic and pants he usually saw her in, and was now dressed in a new set of clothes which consisted of a sleeved shirt covered with an armored breastplate and a pair of steel gauntlets, and a middle-length skirt shielding her legs together with a pair of black tights and steel greaves. Her sword was strapped behind her back, and her now waist-length hair was tied up into a crown braid, which reminded EMIYA fondly of a certain King of Knights. The outfit was simple and modest, but definitely fulfilled its purpose to make her look much prettier and girlier, and at the same time, show clearly that she was a warrior who deserved to be called so. And he noticed with amusement that the girl seemed to accept the outfit better than he thought. She only fidgeted around a bit in the unfamiliar clothes, but didn't seem to hate them.
EMIYA glanced at Sadeena, who obviously was the one who came up with this outfit. The killer whale woman grinned cheekily at him.
"Keel-chan is so pretty, isn't she?"
The Sword Hero couldn't help but agree with the killer whale mercenary.
He turned to Naofumi. "So what are you planning to do over there?"
"I'm gonna go meet up with Van Reichnott first," answered Naofumi. "Remember the guy with glasses who applauded me during that duel at the palace? That's him. He's a nice guy who doesn't hesitate to shelter demi-humans in his territory. When that epidemic broke out, he was the most active in trying to save his citizens and find a cure. He's really trustworthy… unlike that bastard Idol Rabier…"
EMIYA noticed Raphtalia and Keel's faces scrunching up in disdain upon hearing the name.
"Who's that?"
Naofumi grimaced. "Raphtalia and Keel's previous owner. He rules a territory near Reichnott. That time when the epidemic broke out, that territory got caught up in it, too, and I got Keel from him as payment for healing him from the illness. Too bad I wasn't in time to save the other one… she died a month before I arrived there…"
The two demi-human girls looked sad upon hearing those words. "Rifana-chan…" Keel mumbled.
No one said anything for a while. Then, Naofumi took a deep breath.
"Guess it's time for us to go."
EMIYA nodded. "When you're done with whatever you're planning to do, remember to send us a word, okay?"
Naofumi nodded. "I will."
Everyone stared at the object Elena had just placed on the table in front of them.
"What is this?"
"Our plan to expand Naofumi's reputation and open a way to the Church," Motoyasu said, standing next to Elena.
The object Elena had just shown the group was a book. The book was pretty thin and had a blank cover; it was obvious that it wasn't complete yet. EMIYA picked it up and opened it, and his eyes narrowed when he realized what the content inside was.
"A story book, huh…"
Elena nodded. "It was Motoyasu-sama who suggested this. He said that in his world people tend to write books about famous people to let others know about their achievements. But I think just a history book is not going to make it, since we're aiming for common citizens who don't have that much education to read complex things like that. So I thought, what if we turned this into a story? A story that can be understood and enjoyed by even kids. That is going to spread Sir Shield Hero's reputation even faster than just using placards and things."
"I don't see how it could help us in a battle against the Church, though," Wyndia, the only one in EMIYA's group who couldn't take part in the manual labor jobs and was now sitting next to him in the room, frowned. EMIYA shook his head.
"Actually, information and media warfare is a common strategy back in my world. Wars are fought by people, and the more people who take our side, the better our chance is in winning. And capturing the hearts of people in ways that don't harm them is always more effective than by force."
"Indeed," the Queen agreed. "However, I don't think this is going to be usable in the short term. As I can see, this is not finished yet, and I suspect it will take some time before it could be. We only have about three weeks to settle this, or Siltvelt is going to invade us in the name of protecting the Shield Hero. Besides, we don't have an effective way to make that many copies of something like this to distribute all over the country."
Motoyasu clicked his tongue. "Tch. So all our efforts are useless after all…"
"Not quite," Mirellia shook her head. "From what I see, the story and the writing are both exemplary. This is going to be a very good way for us to bolster Sir Shield Hero's popularity and reputation in the country in the long term. What we need is the way to distribute it effectively."
"Then how about we do it like this?"
Every eye turned toward EMIYA who had just raised his voice. The Sword Hero pulled out a big sheet of paper from the inventory of the Legendary Sword and spread it on the table.
Everyone stared at the object. "Uh… this is just a blank sheet of paper," Wyndia pointed out. EMIYA smiled at the girl, and picked up a pencil from the table. He started drawing lines on the blank paper, and soon, the surface of the sheet was split into smaller sections.
"A newspaper," he said while pointing at the paper. "A way for people back in my world to deliver news around the country without having to spend a lot of money and effort. We can print short news articles made from the information we gather around the country in here together with the story, chapter by chapter, and publish it around the country daily or weekly. That is going to deliver our messages to the country without forcing the writers to work too hard to maintain the quality of the story, while also providing them with updated news that the Church is hiding from them."
For the first time, Mirellia's face showed an expression of astonishment and awe.
"That… that's a brilliant strategy. I've never thought of this before… We can gather news from everywhere in the country with my Shadow network and distribute them quickly within the day, too…" she muttered. "But then again, we haven't had any way to produce so many documents in a day yet. There is a magic spell which can multiply existing things, but there's no person alive who can multiply anything by tens, let alone thousands of copies…"
EMIYA smiled. "Then luckily for you, I happen to know the way you can do just that."
"You know what, Shirou-san, you might be a very skilled and knowledgeable person, but your drawing skill really sucks."
"Hey, everyone has his weakness, doesn't he?"
Everyone stared at the diagram EMIYA had just drawn on the sheet of paper. Even though it was something none of them had seen before, it was very clear what it depicted and how the machinery it depicted worked. It was a printing press used to print newspapers in the past, the type of machine that a young Thomas Edison used when he was twelve years old to publish a newspaper of his own. Even though it was simple and easy to use, it should be able to print out at least a few hundred newspapers in a day if working at full capacity.
However, it was just as Motoyasu had just said. Even though this was something EMIYA knew very well the design, his hand drawing was absolutely horrendous. Even though he could imagine and Trace anything he had the blueprints of, drawing the blueprints by hand is just something he could never do well. It's a miracle how everyone could still understand what he was drawing like that.
"This is such a genius design," Mirellia exclaimed while looking at the blueprint from top to bottom once again. "So simple, yet so effective… So this is the technology of another world… This is going to change this whole country forever! Education, administration, mass media, everything!"
"How do you even know that, anyway?" Itsuki glared at EMIYA. The ex-Counter Guardian just shrugged.
"I had to work in a lot of fields back in my world. As a soldier, as a blacksmith, as a mechanic… I've done a lot of things and as such, I learned a lot of things. You know, not everyone has the privilege to stay at home and study in peace like you guys."
Hearing that, Itsuki didn't question him anymore. He didn't totally believe what the Sword Hero had just said, but then again, it was him who had experienced exactly how powerful and skilled the man in front of him was.
"All right," Mirellia snapped her fan closed. "I expect that our blacksmiths here can produce the prototype of this machine in about two days if working at full speed. We still have five days until the end of the week, and we're going to publish the newspaper weekly. Our first issue is going to be released this weekend. Gardner, assigned a squadron of the Shadows to go around gathering news and another to go to the nearby villages and cities which are not under the Church's control to set up bases for the printing of our newspaper. As soon as we finish designing and creating the prototype, we're going to send the machines to each base to begin the printing process. We need to get everything ready before this weekend!"
"Roger, Your Majesty!" A Shadow standing at a corner of the room answered, then disappeared with a "whoosh".
Mirellia turned toward Elena. "And you, Miss Haven, please continue your work with the story. If we want to do this, we will need at least five or six chapters ready and one or two new chapters each week. We're going to start publishing the story in the issue next week, after we figure out how people react to the newspaper. Can you do that?"
Elena nodded. "I believe I can, Your Majesty."
Motoyasu raised his hand. "I can help. I know a little about drawing, and I can help her decorate the book. You know, like, illustration work?"
EMIYA looked at Motoyasu. "I thought you're a sports person?"
The Spear Hero scratched his head. "Well, yeah, but sometimes I like to draw, too. Kinda like a hobby, you know. Oh, and I can draw children's clothes pretty well! Wanna see?"
Wyndia's nose scrunched up in disgust. "That sounds really creepy, you know that?"
Motoyasu's face fell. "Sorry…"
"If it's a story you want, I can do it too."
Everyone turned toward Itsuki, who had just said those words. Motoyasu eyed the younger boy suspiciously. "You can write?"
"Of course," the Bow Hero snorted. "I've been writing since I was twelve! I bet whatever I write can be just as good as hers, probably even better!"
Elena looked rather hurt by that exclamation. EMIYA narrowed his eyes. "Itsuki, this is not the time to—"
"Please wait, Emiya-sama," Mirellia suddenly raised her voice. "Kawasumi-sama seems to be very confident about his ability. If that's the case, why don't we let him prove himself? How about this; please make an outline of your ideas and write at least two chapters for what you're planning to write and show us in two days, then I'm going to decide whether it is usable for us."
"Fine!" Itsuki snapped. "I don't need two days; just tomorrow and I'll show you all what I can do!"
Then he stormed out of the room. EMIYA looked at Mirellia. "Are you sure about this?"
The Queen nodded. "He is enthusiastic, so I don't see any harm letting him try. However," she turned her eyes at Elena, who looked rather glum at the moment, "you don't need to worry, Miss Haven. Even if he manages to deliver a decent work, your work is not going to be replaced. Besides, I doubt that he's going to provide us anything usable, no matter how good he is."
"Why?"
Mirellia's voice lowered. "Because he still doesn't understand the situation. If even now, he still considers this something he can compete with others on, it means he doesn't have the proper mindset to take part in a war."
"I'm really sorry, Kawasumi-sama. We cannot use this."
Mirellia placed the draft of the story written by Itsuki and transcribed by Rishia on the table while shaking her head. And naturally, the reaction of the Bow Hero was something she had expected.
"What the hell does that mean?!" Itsuki fumed angrily. "Are you saying my story lacks quality?"
"On the contrary, Kawasumi-sama," the Queen shook her head again. "This story is brilliantly written; to be honest, it's one of the best pieces of literature I've read. It's just that it doesn't suit our agenda. You see, what we're planning to do here is to expand Iwatani-sama's reputation, so naturally it needs to be Iwatani-sama, or rather, the Shield Hero who is the main character of the story. But in your story, the Bow Hero seems to take the biggest spotlight."
"Why does it need to be the Shield Hero?" Itsuki shot back. "As long as it can spread the word, it would be fine, wouldn't it?"
"Did you use your face to tank a full-power Judgment blast for the citizens of this town?" EMIYA, standing nearby, said flatly. Itsuki flinched.
"W-well, no, but… if you hadn't come, I would have come out and saved everyone, anyway! I was already there before you arrived!"
"And if that's the case, why didn't you just come out and save Lord Ivyred immediately back then? He was obviously in danger at that time, and had we been late for just a few minutes, he would have been hanged! What were you doing back then, just watching him being brought to the gallows without doing anything?"
For some reason, Itsuki looked flustered when EMIYA said those words. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again, then opened it again, making him look like a fish who had just come out of the water.
"Please, let me deal with this, Emiya-sama," Mirellia cut in. "Kawasumi-sama, as I explained, the way you wrote this doesn't fit what we're planning to use. If you can change the content of the story to promote the Shield Hero and his activities, then sure, we can consider. But for now, I'm afraid I cannot use this. I'm really sorry."
Itsuki looked like he had just been punched in the face. He turned around and stormed out of the room, not even bothering to take back his draft.
EMIYA walked toward the table and picked up the draft. It was just like the Queen said; Itsuki was a pretty talented writer. The story would have been perfect, had it not been for the incredibly arrogant and conceited tone that he used to describe the Bow Hero. Even though the Shield Hero was still the protagonist of the story in name like the Queen requested, it felt as if the Bow Hero was the main character instead.
"He's desperate," the ex-Counter Guardian muttered. "That incident the other night only made him more desperate to prove that he is a worthy Hero by any way he could think of."
"There was no other choice back then," Mirellia said; her voice was a little bit strained. "If I hadn't done that, things might run completely out of control for us now."
"I know," EMIYA answered her. "But if this continues, he's going to become the biggest liability… not only for us, but also for this whole world."
SHIELD HERO – THE SAINT THAT WE MISTREATED?
In a surprising turn of event, it seems that the Shield Hero, the summoned Hero who was declared a demon and a heretic by the Church of the Three Heroes, has just been recognized as a Saint at the beginning of this week.
This week, Lord Bernard Ivyred of Ivyred Territory, together with his family, were going to be executed for housing and helping the Heroes who were declared heretics and imposters by the Church. When they were brought to the gallows, the three Heroes suddenly appeared out of nowhere, attacking the execution ground and rescuing the Lord and his family. After the Church's soldiers failed to kill the Heroes and the citizens of the town, an angel from Heaven descended to the town and kneeled before the Shield Hero, confirming his status as a Saint acknowledged by the Gods of Heaven.
Quoting the words of Her Majesty the Queen, who was at the scene and watched the whole event with her own eyes: "This is the proof that this whole land has been misunderstanding the Shield Hero the whole time. He has been mistreated by people of this country for so long, and it's so lucky for us that he doesn't mind that and is still standing here, on our side."
This sudden event goes against everything the Church of the Spear Heroes has taught us until now. According to them, the Shield Hero is supposed to be a devil from hell who is sent to this land to ruin her with his army of half-breed demi-humans. And Princess Malty S. Melromarc claimed that the Shield Hero had assaulted her sexually after she agreed to join him as his companion.
Could it be that the Church and Princess Malty have lied to us the whole time? Is the Shield Hero as evil as they claimed him to be? Are the rogue Cardinal Heroes actually innocent?
"Hey, Wotan! Have you seen this?"
The tiger beastman blinked as his comrade Warin waved a rather big sheet of paper full of letters excitedly in front of him. "What's that?"
To answer him, the fox beastman pushed the paper into his hand. "Just read it!"
Curious, the tiger beastman opened the newspaper and read the content inside. His eyes widened. "This…!"
"Awesome, right?" said Warin excitedly. "The Heroes have returned! And Her Majesty also returned, too! The Church is not going to continue their tyranny for much longer!"
Wotan looked at the sky. It had been such a hard time for them and for the people of Lafan Village; the Church and its army had been ravaging the village for quite some time after the Heroes were chased out of the country. But now, hope was bubbling up again inside his heart.
"We need to get our preparation ready now!" he heard his fellow bodyguard saying, and nodded.
"Yeah! Let's get everything ready!"
Another soldier fell under Captain Zarathus' blade as the citizens of Ryute Village tried their best to push back another assault of the Church's soldiers.
Since the day the Heroes were chased out of Melromarc, Ryute Village had been in a constant state of resistance. They had been fighting back against the force the Church sent to subdue them; even though they couldn't afford a straight-up war against those trained soldiers, their guerilla tactic had been working effectively, putting fear into the hearts of any soldiers who dared to step foot into the village.
And now, after the news arrived in the form of the newspaper, the resistance had exploded into a full-blown revolution. The news that the Heroes had returned together with the Queen herself, and that the honorable Shield Hero had been acknowledged as a Saint by the Gods had blown a flame of pride and inspiration into the hearts of every citizen of Ryute Village. Ramparts and barricades had been built on every corner of the village. People armed themselves with all kinds of armor and weapons that they had; even women and children also dressed themselves up in breastplates made of bamboo and rattan and wore pots and kettles as makeshift helmets, and armed with any kinds of sharp things they could get their hands on.
The Church soldiers didn't know what hit them. Like a tsunami, the citizens of Ryute Village surged up from nowhere, as if they came up from below the ground. The attack coming from them was so sudden and abrupt that the soldiers, having been starved and exhausted after days of fighting without any result, couldn't do anything to retaliate. Many soldiers fell under the blades of the villagers, and the Church's army was forced to withdraw from the village.
Zarathus raised his sword to the sky. He yelled; his voice boomed around the village.
"Citizens of Ryute Village! We've succeeded in pushing those bastards of the Church out of our village. But we cannot relax yet. They are going to return, and when they return, we will fight. We're going to give them a lesson they are never going to forget. In the name of Her Majesty the Queen! In the name of Lord Shield Hero! The Saint of the Shield!"
The air exploded in cheers coming from every corner of the village.
"LONG LIVE HER MAJESTY!"
"LONG LIVE THE SAINT OF THE SHIELD!"
"WHO!? WHO WROTE THIS GODDAMNED THING?!"
Malty threw the large sheet of paper in her hand at the soldier who brought it to her with a deafening shriek. The poor man trembled in fear.
"W-we don't know, Your Highness… this came from a caravan coming from Scheibel Territory. The merchants have already left, but we're pretty sure that…"
The poor soldier couldn't finish his sentence, as a fireball had engulfed him before the last words could leave his mouth. Malty shrieked hysterically.
"Commander Eisenstein! Where is Commander Eisenstein?! Call him to me immediately!"
The new commander of the Royal Knight, the one who was assigned to replace Commander Leonhart after the man deserted, arrived after ten minutes. "How can I serve you, Your Highness?"
"Bring the Royal Knights to the Scheibel Territory and kill all of them!" the princess screamed at the man's face. "Destroy them! Burn everything down! Slaughter every single one in there like the pigs they are! Women, children, every one of them! Spare none!"
The commander's eyes widened in horror. "Are you sure you want to do this, Your Highness? The Scheibel Territory has a population of more than forty thousand, and Lord Scheibel is a very influential member of the government. If we do that…"
"I don't care!" Malty screamed like a banshee. "They need to pay for insulting me! You go immediately, or your head is going to be the one on the gallows!"
The general didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, he bowed deeply. "As you wish, Your Highness."
Then he retreated from the room, leaving Malty alone. The princess was still shrieking as his back disappeared behind the wooden door.
The new commander of the Royal Knight let out a deep sigh as he walked back to the barrack.
He had been working as one of the vice commanders of the Royal Knights for years. Under ex-Commander Rikert, and then under now-ex-Commander Leonhart. And after Leonhart deserted, he was promoted to the position of Commander. Therefore, killing people wasn't something he hadn't done before.
However, that command the First Princess had just given him had somehow managed to shake him to the core.
It's not like he had any love for the Shield Hero. Hell, if anything, he should be the one who had the biggest reason to despise the man. He was one of the veterans from the Siltvelt – Melromarc War, and it was when he lost his two sons to the savagery of those monsters of that demi-human country. There was nothing he would want more than to see those demi-humans, and the god of theirs, the Shield Hero, suffer.
That was the reason why he refused Leonhart's offer to join him when the man decided to desert with a group of Royal Knights. He didn't sell his old friend to the Church, but he didn't follow him, either. He knew that the Queen took the Heroes' side, and turning himself to the Queen meant that he's going to have to support the Shield Hero, too. And that was something he could not fathom himself doing.
However, no matter how big his hatred was, killing innocent civilians was something Eisenstein could never lower himself to do. His morality could never allow him to lower his sword to murder an innocent person who didn't have any way to defend themselves. And now, that princess was ordering him to slaughter a whole city just because they did something that annoyed her.
There's no doubt; that tyrannical woman was completely , utterly, batshit insane. And he would rather turn himself in to the person that he hated the most than do what she told him to do, which he would definitely regret for the rest of his life.
"I can't believe that the plan could be working so well. The newspaper is such a hit; people are questioning the teaching of the Church more and more. Unrest is rising. If this continues, a large-scale revolution is surely going to break out around the country. Just one single issue and it's already like this…"
Four days had passed since the release of the newspaper, "The Herald". And just like Mirellia had just said, the newspaper had become a HUGE hit around the country. The first issue had sold out in one single day after release, and every printing press around the country had to work at their maximum capacity to fulfill the demand of the citizens. This was partly thanks to the content of the paper, and partly thanks to the smart business strategy Elena had thought out; one mere bronze coin for something that allowed people to know about what were happening around the country, especially the people with relatives on the battlefield, the people who were desperate to know about the situation of their loved ones, was too cheap of a price to pay.
The Queen didn't look happy saying those words, though. And EMIYA understood why; if she's anything like what he thought of her, there's no way she could be happy seeing her subjects throwing away their lives into conflicts like that. Right now she must have been thinking of a way to keep things at least under her control.
"But didn't that Shadow just say that they're issuing a ban on the newspaper?" Motoyasu pointed out in confusion. Of course, the Church was furious about that. According to the Shadow, there had been a newly issued decree coming from the Church which banned the publication and distribution of the newspaper around the country.
EMIYA shook his head.
"No, Motoyasu. That's all according to plan. You see, if there could have been a way to make absolutely sure that the whole world is going to read our newspaper, it was officially banning it."
Seeing Motoyasu's confused face, he chuckled. "You'll see soon enough. Just trust me for now."
Then he turned to Mirellia. "Your Majesty, there is one more thing that needs to be dealt with. The Church is still holding in their hand two important hostages. They might be the decisive factor determining our operation's success."
Mirellia understood immediately what the ex-Counter Guardian was talking about. "Aultcray and my daughter Melty."
"Yeah," the Sword Hero nodded. "With the King and the Princess in their hand, they're surely going to use them as leverage if things go downhill for them. Besides, the King is a brilliant strategist, and a Hero as well, and Princess Melty is a very influential figure in the country. We need to find a way to get them out of there."
"But according to the intel from my Shadows, they're being imprisoned in the palace dungeon with a lot of soldiers and Church's Shadows guarding them," said Mirellia grimly. "My Shadows have tried a lot of times, but they couldn't get past all the guards. There was simply no way to get them out."
Silence covered the room. Then, EMIYA said.
"I'll go."
Mirellia's eyes narrowed. "But that is—"
"I have a lot of experience doing sneaky things before, and I'm already used to dangers," the Sword Hero didn't let her finish. "Furthermore, I have a way to travel quickly without having to depend on portal skills. I believe I'm the best one you're having here to send now. I just need one person who is familiar with the town and the palace to guide me there, and everything else, I'm going to take care of."
Mirellia bit her lip. "Well, even so—"
Her sentence was cut short as a soldier barged into the room. "Your Majesty! Please forgive me for barging in like this, but you need to go see this!"
Let's just say there's no word to describe how shocked and surprised Mirellia, as well as the Heroes, were as they saw thousands of soldiers kneeling in front of the West Gate of the town, all wearing uniform armor of the Royal Knights. They could see a group of people tied up and pinned to the group at the back of the line, about a hundred or so, and they were all glaring at the group in front of them and at the gate where the Queen and the Heroes were standing with the same look full of hatred.
Mirellia walked toward the man kneeling at the front of the rank. "You are Vice-Commander Eisenstein of the Royal Knights."
"Yes, Your Majesty," the man answered with a low voice, his head still hanging low.
Commander Leonhart walked in front of his Queen. He shielded the Queen behind him while drawing his sword. "Why are you here?" he asked the kneeling man in a cold voice.
Mirellia placed her hand on the man's shoulder. "Calm down, Commander Leonhart. At least we should hear what he has to say first."
Eisenstein said, still not lifting his head up. "Your Majesty, we of the Royal Knights cannot stand the tyranny of Princess Malty anymore. She has done nothing but bring misery to everyone in Castle Town, and recently, she's just ordered us to commit a massacre in the Scheibel Territory. We cannot bring ourselves to do that. We're just soldiers, but we also have our honor and morality. We would rather go and let ourselves be arrested by you than follow that order, Your Majesty."
That sudden confession made everyone look at each other in horror. Motoyasu exclaimed. "You're lying! There's no way Myne could—! She would never—!"
The general just looked down solemnly. "We wish it's like what you said, Sir Spear Hero."
Motoyasu collapsed on the ground like a puppet who suddenly got its strings cut. Elena had to lift him up by the armpit and bring him back to the town hall. EMIYA looked at the retreating back of the Spear Hero and his companion, and a dreaded feeling bubbled inside his stomach. Not only was he afraid that this despair could somehow force activate the cursed spear, but also…
Then he noticed the Queen's expression. There wasn't a hint of surprise on her face. It seemed even though she was shocked, she understood her eldest daughter enough to understand that something like this could have happened. However, she still looked very distraught and devastated. Her face was pale as a sheet, and it seemed she was mustering all of her strength and courage to keep herself standing.
She took a deep breath, then said in a booming voice.
"Very well. Vice Commander Eisenstein. I accept your proposal. However, you've gone against my trust once, so I cannot fully put my trust in you yet. So for now, I order you to take your force and camp one kip away from the town, where we can observe you from here, and wait for my command. Is that clear?"
"Roger, Your Majesty!" the commander and every soldier kneeling behind him chorused. Their voices shook the atmosphere.
"Very good. Then, you're dismissed," Mirellia nodded and turned around, walking back into the town. EMIYA glanced back at the soldiers as they stood up and started moving, then also turned around and followed the Queen, with Itsuki tailing behind him.
The group arrived back at the town hall. The Queen pushed the front door open and walked inside. EMIYA raised his voice. "Your Majesty, about the—"
Then the Queen promptly collapsed to the ground in front of him.
"I'm sorry, Emiya-sama…" Mirellia sighed when she finally regained consciousness. "Even though I tried to make myself look strong, I'm just a weak woman, after all…"
EMIYA shook his head. "Don't say that. If anything, that only proves that you're still human. I've seen kings who threw away their own offspring, their own families for the sake of their countries, and it never ended well."
"Yeah…" the Queen murmured. She buried her face in her hands. "It's just… I know that Malty is not a good person, I know… but I just can't imagine she does such a thing… trying to massacre a whole city full of innocent people… If Eisenstein weren't such a man with honor, who knows what's going to happen…"
EMIYA couldn't find any word to console her. Even he didn't expect that the First Princess could be such a horrible person… no, scratch that, could she even be called a human anymore? She's even worse than some of the worst tyrants that he knew. Even Caligula or Nero had hearts hidden within their tyranny and madness. This terrible excuse of a human… there was no lighter word he could find to describe her than vile and crazy.
"The Church is not going to let this go," As if reading his mind, Mirellia continued in a heavy voice. "The Royal Knight is the most elite force that they have in their reserve, and now they've lost them, I'm afraid they're going to do something drastic. Like…"
She couldn't finish her sentence, as tears started rolling out of the corners of her eyes.
"Then what we discussed earlier," EMIYA looked at her, "we need to do as soon as possible. I'm going to leave early tomorrow morning. Do you agree?"
Mirellia looked at the Sword Hero. But this time, she didn't object any more. She nodded. "Please, Emiya-sama. Please get my husband and my daughter out of there. Take Akari with you; she has been working with you for quite a while, and she's one of the most skilled Shadows that I have. If it's not you, I don't know who I can depend on anymore."
"Calber Castle. It lies in an important economic and logistic location of the country, and whoever controls it is going to gain control of the whole supply chain of the country. And I want you to bring the Royal Knights there, take control of the castle, and defend it against anyone who tries to attack it. If you manage that, I will forgive you, as well as everyone else of the Royal Knights who are with you, and take you back in my rank. Can you do that?"
Eisenstein calmly received the mission the Queen had just given him with a determined face. "Understood, Your Majesty."
Then he turned back toward the soldiers standing behind him. "You all have heard Her Majesty! We have done a lot of horrible things under the command of that vile woman. Now is the chance for us to redeem ourselves! We're marching to Calber Castle, and we're going to take it with all our strength! Are you all with me?"
A chorused cheer shook the air. Eisenstein's voice once again boomed.
"Then we're going to leave at noon! Soldiers, get back to the camp and prepare for departure!"
After the knights left, Mirellia turned toward EMIYA and Akari, who was standing next to him. "So… good luck to you too, Emiya-sama. Please help my husband and daughter."
"I'll try my best," EMIYA answered with a nod.
"I'm sorry for asking, but you said we're going to get to Castle Town at dusk, Emiya Shirou-sama," the Shadow girl suddenly cut in. "It takes five days to get there on foot, and we cannot use a carriage or anything like that. We Shadows have our special ways to travel, but I don't think you can do it. Not that I'm underestimating you, I apologize."
EMIYA's eyes gleamed. "Oh, don't worry. I have my own way. And you would find it to be very fast, I assure you."
Then with a sudden movement, he swept Akari off her feet into a bridal carry, to the Shadow girl's utter surprise, bewilderment and of course, embarrassment. The Legendary Sword flew out of its sheath and took the form of Murgleis, floating horizontally in the air in front of him, and the Sword Hero leapt up and landed on the blade of the sword, feet first.
"Are you ready?" he looked at the masked girl in his arms. "Then… LET'S GO!"
"Wait, what are you—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The poor girl could only scream when the sword, carrying the two of them, shot into the sky like a rocket, leaving a trail of vapor behind them.
Mirellia's eyes followed the two people who were becoming a tinier and tinier dot in the sky until they completely disappeared from view. "Please do your best, Sir Sword Hero… and be safe."