Chapter 214

Stronger than the Strongest

“Haah…… Haah…… I’ve returned, mother . ”

“Philine… . . ? Why are you here……?”

Dorothea had a skeptical look on her face as she stared at Philine, who had greeted her all out of breath .

Well, that was to be expected .

This was a development that she never expected to happen .

“Philine-sama! Please wait for us!”

“Princess!”

A crowd of people followed suit and entered the venue as well .

Most of them were wearing military uniforms―― more accurately, they were wearing the uniforms that non-commissioned officers wore, although some people among the crowd weren’t .

“You’re…… Adelina Reiner, Otto Reiner, Hildegard Eichrodt, and Friedelinde Imer…… . ?”

“At your service, Your Majesty . ”

“…… Hey . ”

“It couldn’t be helped . It was the Princess asking me for help, after all . ”

“I’ve come to avenge my motherland!”

Each of them spouted something out at Dorothea .

It seemed that everybody had something they wanted to say to her .

Adelina-san, who was so concerned over the state of her home country that she was willing to start a coup d’état .

Otto, who was so worried over his older sister that he was willing to take matters into his own hands and attempt to assassinate Dorothea .

Hilda, who was recruited under Philine’s wing in order to shift the Empire’s diplomacy towards conciliation .

And finally, Frieda, who had been waiting to make a comeback ever since her homeland was destroyed by the Empire .

“What is this farce, Philine?”

“It’s not a farce, mother . We’ve come here to deliver a final warning to you . ”

Philine made a powerful statement .

Just looking at her, she felt nothing like the weak and timid girl like she was before .

“Fu…… Fuhaha…… . Ahahaha! A warning…… A warning, you say? You guys…… . You dare to deliver a final warning to me, Dorothea Naa?”

Dorothea burst into fierce laughter .

It must’ve sounded like nothing but a joke to her .

That Philine had come here to hand her one final notice .

As she continued to laugh,

“What a funny joke . How interesting . If that’s what you plan on doing, then I’d like to see you try . ”

“If you bore me with it, I’ll strike you all down,” Dorothea said as she backed down for the time being .

Philine pulled out what looked like a large stack of paper out of her bag and started talking .

“During my trip abroad, I managed to go around to several different countries to negotiate with them . ”

“Negotiate? What were you negotiating?”

“They were negotiations to establish cooperation in order to start a siege against you . ”

“!?”

Dorothea looked surprised .

Right after we had talked Adelina-san out of her plans, Joseph-san told us a secret .

That she was going to come back today .

Philine wasn’t wasting her time wandering around in disappointment .

Rather, she had been plotting against her own mother the entire time .

She went around to every single nation, patiently persuading each of the leaders, promising to compensate them, or manipulating them into lending their support .

And she steadily managed to put everything into action .

In the end, this was what she achieved――

“Here are blood-signed documents from the leaders of each of the six nations that surround the Empire . These people signed with their blood, swearing that they would no longer cater to you, mother . If the Empire refuses to join the new international order, then we will rip everything from you all at once . ”

“Philine…… You……!”

This was essentially the bluff that Dor-sama had conjured up earlier, only it was about to happen for real .

The daughter, who was once a crybaby, had come back to bite her own mother in the throat .

Even a baby lion was still a lion .

“Do you plan on killing me here? That’s fine too . I’m well prepared for that . ”

“Hoh… . . ?”

“But no matter what happens to me, and no matter what actions you take from here, this is a complete diplomatic defeat against the Empire . It’s checkmate, mother . ”

“…… Guh――!”

We managed to defeat Dorothea as an individual .

Dorothea was incredibly strong .

She was undoubtedly stronger than anybody else .

However, even she could not lose to the sheer number of people that Philine managed to recruit under her wing .

Dorothea had lost against the very bonds that she had mocked earlier .

“You――!”

Dorothea raised her sword .

Philine didn’t look away .

She stared right back at her mother without flinching .

“Is that really alright, Dorothea?”

“――! What are you talking about, Rei Taylor?”

Dorothea stopped her sword just a few millimeters above Philine when she heard my words .

“The match has already been decided . It’d be unsportsmanlike for you to act like a poor loser, right?”

“I still haven’t――”

“If you kill Philine right here, it’ll just end up being a touching tale of a princess who stood up against her beloved mother for the sake of the country―― only to have her neck cut off in the end . ”

“From the perspective of the cause and through the work of some media manipulation, it’d be worse for her to kill her now, wouldn’t it?”

Claire-sama and I both applied salt into her wounds .

Dorothea had caused everybody a lot of trouble already .

Doing this should be forgivable .

In reality, nothing would change at all if she killed Philine off right now .

She was the driving force behind the formation of the siege, but she was not the commander of it .

Even if Philine died, it would not change the fact that Dorothea had already lost .

“I…… I lost……?”

“Yes, it’s your loss, mother . ”

Philine’s voice sounded gentle .

“To such a powerless little girl……”

“That’s right . To a little girl . ”

“…… . ”

Dorothea sat down on the spot .

She lowered her sword and stared upwards .

The expression on her face looked refreshed, like something that had been possessing her had finally left her body .

“Looks like it’s settled then . ”

“Dor-sama . ”

“Yes, it seems so . ”

The non-combatants, including Dor-sama, emerged from the shadows .

Fortunately, nobody there seemed to be hurt .

“But the number of casualties is too great . ”

“That’s true……”

The soldiers that risked their lives to bare their swords at Dorothea .

Those lives would not come back .

―― is what I thought, but,

“What are you talking about? Everybody’s still alive, you know?”

“!?”

When I heard Dorothea’s faint words, I rushed right over to the soldiers .

Their legs were bleeding, but when I checked for their pulses, it seemed that they really were all alive .

“…… Dorothea?”

“What happened……?”

“Rei Taylor, Claire François, Philine . This is your victory, but you need to be prepared to take responsibility for it . ”

Dorothea said something vague .

Responsibility?

“What are you talking about?”

“Gather your strength right away, the demons will soon be attacking in large numbers . ”

I was a little worried .

I wondered if Dorothea had gone insane after suffering at the hands of defeat .

However, it seemed that my worries were unfounded .

“I’m still sane . There was a demon spy among us that I deliberately let escape a while ago . He thinks I killed all of you . ”

“!?”

A demon?

What was the meaning of this?

“Mother, please explain everything from the beginning . ”

“There’s no time for that . This is a war that I set up against the demons, but now, I’ll have to pass that torch onto you . ”

I couldn’t understand what was going on .

Why did she have to be so self-sufficient!

“At least explain the bare minimum to us . If you don’t tell us what’s going on, we can’t do anything either . ”

“Hmm…… Well, you are aware of how the Empire is right at the forefront of several demon territories, right?”

“Yes . ”

“That was where I met them . ”

“Who are you talking about?”

When I asked her that question, Dorothea’s face was dyed blue .

Yes, even someone like Dorothea turned pale .

“The ruler of the demons―― the one called the ‘Demon Queen’ . ”

◆◇◆◇◆

(??’s point of view)

My messenger came back .

Now was the perfect opportunity .

All of the world’s leading figures were gathered in the Empire right now with Dorothea, who was trying to kill them all .

It was certainly a good opportunity .

A once-in-a-lifetime chance .

What kind of opportunity, you ask?

Isn’t that obvious?

“―― The perfect opportunity to destroy the world, huh?”