Chapter 12
Our Vice Captain.
"Then, let's begin the division commander's meeting."
The son of the empire's influential figure, and the heir of the Marquess family.
Leon was a man whose position Bengert, the fiery commander of the enemy, couldn't easily disregard.
Thus, only a frigid atmosphere continued until the meeting commenced with the timely arrival of the aide.
However, even during the ongoing meeting, Ashan and Bengert couldn't take their eyes off Leon.
He sat squeezed next to Lucia, glancing at her with sparkling eyes like a puppy waiting for its owner.
In a way, it was blatant flirting, but his pure and noble aura made it impossible to view it askew.
But only for a moment.
"...So, what are the commanders' thoughts on this?"
The aide, the only one oblivious to the atmosphere, asked, and only then did they, who had been watching Leon and Lucia, hurriedly begin to check the documents.
First, the commander of the Yellow division cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
"Ahem. The military budget situation for this year seems more urgent than that. What do you think?"
"Yes, Commander Ashan. As I mentioned, we are preparing thoroughly to secure the budget. Especially regarding the biggest news from this meeting, it concerns supplies going to the Continental Peace Organization and allied nations."
At that moment, along with the aide's response, the face of the commander of the Yellow division hardened as he reviewed the documents.
"What is this absurd scale? Even if it's because of the Magic Stones, if we steadily send this amount of supplies to the Hasnas Kingdom, the empire's market will collapse within nearly ten years. Is this certain?"
The Hasnas Kingdom was a land where Magic Stones were buried in large quantities.
Because of that, the great power Titurshan Kingdom colonized them, and the empire, which supported continental peace at the time, destroyed Titurshan and forcibly liberated them.
But in return, the empire signed a monopoly treaty for the Magic Stones, which, in the end, was no different from semi-colonization in a gentlemanly manner.
So, what he meant was, even if they bought the Magic Stones cheaply, with resources dwindling due to black contamination, was it okay to give them supplies necessary for daily life right away?
The aide, flustered by his rebuke, urgently said.
"Ah, that figure is not yet confirmed. Some nobles are saying they will fill that amount, so it's a matter under discussion..."
"Ahem, it's obvious without even looking. New nobles are jumping in like moths to a flame to catch His Majesty's eye."
"That's right. If they invest so foolishly, they'll wither and die before they can even convert the Magic Stones into assets later on. Isn't that so? Heh heh."
As the commander of the Yellow division scoffed, the commander of the Red division added a word.
The new forces they were now mocking were the high-ranking nobles of the small countries that had merged when the Eldarion Kingdom became the empire.
Having received their titles in the empire anew, unlike the conservatives, they had given up a lot to receive their titles, so their authority and financial situation couldn't be good.
Despite that, they were trying to offer up their meager wealth, even if it was to catch the eye of the Emperor, who valued exchange...
"Yes, that's... It seems the temple's predictions have played a part."
The temple?
Lucia's closed ears opened at the mention of the temple's information amidst the tedious bickering.
"Oh dear, are you talking about that absurd claim that everything will be revived even after seeing the dead land? Haha."
As he said, there was no mention of the sacred tree that sealed the Saintess yet, but the temple had been talking about utilizing the Saintess's abilities for a long time.
It was just a prediction that started with the excuse that a priest had heard the voice of God saying that someone would revive the contaminated land, but it was probably a lie.
The stolen classified documents had neither the sacred tree nor the prophecy that the land would be revived.
And in reality, not many people believed it.
That was because even the Divine Power of the esteemed high priest couldn't solve the contamination.
However, Lucia, who was listening to it, couldn't help but become increasingly serious in a different sense.
That was because it was true that the investments of the new nobles had been very successful in her past life.
The territories of those nobles were the most recovered lands from contamination, and thanks to that fertile land, they quickly recovered the supplies they had invested.
And it went without saying that their wealth, which was all-in on Magic Stones, had multiplied dozens, even thousands of times.
They were the ones who had greatly benefited from the Saintess's sacrifice, but Lucia hadn't suspected them at the time because it seemed like a natural course of events for most of the conservatives to be corrupt and purged.
However, with that wealth, they gained power and influence, and when the imperial power changed, they became the real power...
'Was it really a coincidence?'
The belief that started with the temple and the new forces that blindly followed it.
Lucia began to recall the names of several suspected families in her mind.
*
"...Then, thank you for your hard work."
As the meeting ended, the aide opened the door of the conference room to take out the organized documents.
Following behind him, the commander of the Yellow division also left, and someone hurriedly rushed in.
It was Vice Captain Berl.
"...Commander!"
His appearance was haggard, as if he had been kneeling and waiting for days like a heinous criminal.
"What's wrong?"
"That, that's..."
Berl had rushed over thinking of his commander, but seeing the meeting already over, he was dumbfounded.
At that moment, someone began to sneer with a hoarse voice, as if just waking up from a nap.
"What is it? It's Vice Captain Berl, who attends by proxy. Haha, look at the state of you. Were you looking for your mommy or something?"
The owner of that voice was Bengert, the captain of the Red Knights.
He had apparently woken up at the end of the meeting, with traces of saliva he hadn't wiped off still on his mouth.
"I, I'm sorry. I was short-sighted."
Berl's complexion worsened even more at his words.
He felt that he had tarnished his commander's honor because of his reckless rush.
"That's a shame. To think that the supposedly fearsome Black Knights have to serve someone who only knows how to soothe crying babies as their superior. Ah, right, wasn't that place just a cowardly criminal organization anyway?"
He stood in front of Lucia, arrogantly looking down and sneering, as if showing off his massive frame.
As he said, the backgrounds of the Black Knights' members were mostly unique.
Their backgrounds were none other than the guild members of the Dark Guild, who had been the heads of various criminal organizations.
After receiving the knight division, no one joined, so she gathered people as if she was directly breaking down dojos, and from her perspective, the composition turned out that way because she prioritized skill.
Of course, there was a lot of opposition to bringing in criminal organizations, but it was possible because they couldn't afford to be picky during the war at the time.
In fact, washing away the stigma of such a knight division was from now, after the 5-year special training was over.
The captain of the Red Knights, Bengert, was even more enraged by Lucia's silence even after hearing the insult, her poker face.
The petty him actually knew.
That even if she was called a monster, she only showed such terrifying skills on the battlefield, and in normal times, she was nothing more than an emotionless doll, so she wouldn't even get angry at such things.
That's why he was relieved on one hand and continued to torment her in a petty way.
"Commander Bengert, they are knights I'm proud to show off anywhere! Please take back those words."
In the end, Berl flared up at his words, and Leon, who couldn't stand to see this situation, was about to speak.
It was then.
"Ugh, ugh!"
He suddenly groaned, clutching his chest.
Berl's face flashed with bewilderment at his incomprehensible behavior, and Leon was engulfed in surprise as he read the red energy flowing through her body.
"Kuh, ugh... Wh, what is this...!"
Bengert glared at Lucia with suspicious eyes, barely inhaling with his collapsing lungs.
Grand Sword Master, Lucia.
The end of that limitless realm was to become one with the red Sword Aura.
That meant that Lucia, who was the red Sword Aura itself, was angry, and if the Sword Aura was released, it was possible to overwhelm and crush the target just by looking at it.
Like Haki that appears in some manga.
So, she was just not hiding her anger right now.
-Thud.
Soon, he, who had turned pale and trembled, finally knelt down, and this time Lucia looked down at him and said.
"Exactly half a year as you said. I look forward to it. Until then, please take good care of our vice captain, who will be replacing me."
If you took away the sound of her voice, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she would have immediately struck his neck down.
Certainly, if it were her in the past, she would have acted as if it were someone else's business even if she was insulted for being the weakest or the commander of those who had been kicked out, as he said.
But Lucia, who had returned, knew what the members who would share the joys and sorrows of the next 20 years meant to her.
The captain of the Red Knights, Bengert, felt chills constantly rising, and his hands and feet turned cold.
The pressure that had been squeezing his insides after her murderous warning was gone, but instead, the fear of the day she would return washed over him like an angry wave.
Was Sword Master this great?
It was a very small unit of power for Lucia, but the foolish him, who had never experienced that realm, could only look up at her in fear with his pupils shaking violently.
But.
Despite this sharp atmosphere, there was someone here now whose eyes were moist with tears.
'Our... Our...!!'
Whether it was internal division or not, the one word Lucia had uttered was echoing like a feast in his head.
Small droplets like sap flowed down Berl's face, which was as dry as dead tree roots.
Berl, with his delicate sensitivity unlike his large build, wiped away the welling tears and followed behind her, who was always ahead of him, through the door filled with a broad smile.
A person's nature doesn't change so easily. The chairman's head, who will be returning later, is a little regrettable, but...
