Editing Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica:Volume 4 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

Inside the kingdom of Sherfield city of Erdia, representatives from various countries were currently sitting at the table located in the middle of the hall.

Sherfield’s representatives were Queen Listy, General Zechs and Elite Executive Loutier.

Aleclasta’s representatives were Pop Volk and his high priest Miranda.

The representatives for Disdia were Emperor Baram and the fourth prince Alphonse. Behind them stood a knight as bodyguard. The knight’s outfit was different from Disdia’s royal knights. It was Listy’s first time seeing this knight.

……Just who is this person?

The armor equipped with several gold decorations looked extremely thick. The full helm made it hard to peep at the expression of the knight. But judging from the knight’s stance, his strength should not be underestimated.

Based on just the point that Baram specially brought this knight with him, this knight must have received Baram’s trust.

—— Aside from that……

There were Akatsuki, Myuu and the female who was called “Haruka” from Galevain.

These 11 people were the participants of this meeting.

……If only I could……

Listy was deeply stressed inside. In fact, she had planned to, before the two countries had came, ask Akatsuki questions, understanding Akatsuki’s motives and intentions, and perhaps she would be able to help Akatsuki during the talks. However, this would have been equal to the act of betraying the other two countries. If what Baram had said was to be confirmed, that Akatsuki had secretly hid the demon king’s daughter, Listy and the others who supported Akatsuki naturally could not continue their support. Thus she could only quietly wait for Baram and Volk to arrive.

The strange thing was that after seeing Akatsuki, Baram and Volk did not reveal a startled look. Therefore Listy was sure that they had already known about the existence of the <Dimensional Hole>.

“—— Valkyria.”

Under Listy’s command, the quiet and calm head maid guard nodded her head silently, and together with her numerous subordinates poured tea for the guests from each country.

Akatsuki picked up the teacup and took a sip, then immediately let out a sigh filled with emotions.

“I can’t believe I would still be able to drink the tea you made by yourself, things are really unpredictable. Valkyria, ever since I stripped your maid outfit in the forest before I left, I haven’t heard of your news. How are you these days?”

Akatsuki had a smile on his face and joked around Valkyria who was standing beside him.

Amongst the commotion, Valkyria still remained calm.

“Thanks to you, it was fairly decent. I could not repay you, but I specially added poison on the edge of the cup. It is approximately five times the lethal amount.”

“Buuuuu——!”

Akatsuki suddenly spat out the tea inside his mouth. Valkyria coldly looked at Akatsuki with a trace of disgust.

“It was only a joke, but you actually spat it out. Doing such a thing during a formal diplomatic occasion, don’t you feel that it’s rude?”

“I agree……but telling a joke also depends on the occasion right?”

Although Akatsuki made a fool of himself, it also slightly eased the tension at the scene.

……Valkyria, I really admire you.

Even facing against Akatsuki, who made all females afraid at the very mention of him, Valkyria was still able to take things calmly and sometimes even made Akatsuki suffer; this maid guard should not be underestimated. Hoping that Akatsuki could hold back on his frivolous attitude and make the meeting end in a peaceful atmosphere.

……It is probably difficult though.

Listy thought. Once the meeting began, a menacing Baram and a seemly calm Volk would certainly launch a harsh questioning on Akatsuki. At that time, Listy would not have the power to stop them.

What’s more, Listy was still dwelling upon the truth that Akatsuki had hidden Myuu. She did not have the confidence to remain calm.

Just when everyone’s teacup was poured to 80% full……

“First of all, thank you all for accepting our request and preparing today’s conference.”

Miranda heard this and could not help but laugh.

“Ah — the person that laughed was Miranda right? Can you please not interrupt me?”

“Sorry……”

Miranda had a pleased look while narrowing her eyes.

“Even in such a formal meeting, you still do not change your free——spirited and bold attitude……”

“Yes, of course.”

Akatsuki replied.

“The people here at the scene should know what kind of person I am right? A false attitude and pretentious words mean nothing to me. I am not here today to talk about topics that are important.”<!-- Is the "not" here really correct? -->

“It’s okay. Today you are a representative of Galevain, your status is equivalent to us. There is naturally no need to make a useless attempt at beautiful rhetorical words and diplomatic language. Everyone here shouldn’t have any objections right?”

Volk said. As the oldest participant and the Pope from Church of Richard, naturally no one objected to Volk’s proposal. After viewing the audience’s silence as agreement, Volk nodded his head with satisfaction.

“We also did not come here to listen to your flowery words — Okay, let’s begin.”

“I’m grateful, so let’s still off with the self——introduction. I am Ousawa Akatsuki, today I came here to ask a favor for all of you, so I came back all the way from my own world to Alayzard again. Afterwards, I somehow became Galevain’s representative, pleased to meet you all.”

Listening to Akatsuki, who was completely fearless, Listy could not help but have personal feelings about it.

The meeting that would decide the fate of Alayzard had entered the prologue.

Akatsuki’s preemptive remarks ignited a fire in the meeting.

“Please let me express my view first. It does not matter whether you have comments, but this meeting is completely under my control. Let’s jump directly to the topic. Galevain hopes to, with Sherfield, Disdia and Aleclasta, these three countries, form a peace agreement. From now on, it will ban everything related to hostilities including intimidation and provocation. To express your sincerity, immediately order your deployment of troops in Galevain forest border to retreat now.”

Feeling the increasingly tense atmosphere at the scene, Ousawa Miu could not help but think that the battle had just begun.

Then Miu glanced at Akatsuki beside her.

……I trust you.

Akatsuki was solely responsible for the negotiation work. Miu was only using her identity as the demon king’s daughter to witness the progress of the meeting. Peace between humans and Galevain was still a distant dream, but in the following future, signing a peace treaty was essential. Perhaps under Akatsuki’s request, the human forces would temporarily retreat, but there were no guarantees that they would not use some excuses to start a war again. With no guarantee from a peace agreement, the citizens of Galevain would forever live in fear of battle.

……If the excuse to begin the war was me……

Miu could not help but think about that. At that time, she would have to stop the war together with Akatsuki.

Originally, she thought that Akatsuki’s arrogant statement was bound to cause an uproar from everyone at the scene, but she could not imagine that it would actually be completely quiet.

“Ah…… Akatsuki, please wait.”

A calm and elegant tone. The person who was first to break the silence was Aleclasta’s Pope Volk.

“Can you please first explain why the demon king’s daughter is with you, and why you became a representative of the demon race? Just starting off by telling us to withdraw really made me confused.”

“I think you should also understand clearly, the final battle for resisting the demon king was me singly defeating Galious. Before Galious died, he requested me to take care of his daughter; after all, his precious daughter had just become the defeated country’s princess, anybody would be worried, right? Based on humanitarianism, I obviously hope to complete Galious’ final wishes, thus I secretly took the demon king’s daughter to my own world.”

After saying to this point, Akatsuki suddenly stopped.

“Originally I thought I could go back to the peaceful days…… but who knows what kind of idiot who claimed to be a hero suddenly came over.”

Akatsuki gave a wry smile.

“—— In the end, I was forced to kill that idiot.”

“You……”

Baram’s face revealed his anger, but Akatsuki had a look showing that he didn’t care.

“Ah right, that idiot seemed to call himself a hero from Disdia. Please, how did you actually confer the title of a hero to that idiot? Disdia will lose their reputation.”

After a short pause……

“Especially because that idiot actually made a contract with the Black mountain’s evil dragon.”

“—— What?”

Baram could not conceal his inner surprise.

“Zahhark was really defeated by you……?”

“What a pity. A superior dimensional being’s ability is indeed strong, but using a human as a medium made it difficult to use its true abilities. According to my calculations, he wasn’t able to even use half of its power.”

Akatsuki sighed.

“Anyhow, the guy called Phil was defeated by me in the end. Once I thought that Alayzard would continue to send soldiers to pursue us, I knew that this is not the way we should go, so I decided to return to Alayzard and clearly explain everything…… Is there any problem up to now?”

At this moment……

“Why——“

A calm and cold tone caught everyone’s attention. The source of the voice was Sherfield’s young queen Listy.

Only to see her stare coldly at Akatsuki.

“……Why did you not tell everyone?”

An exceptionally polite yet extremely cold tone, as if she was talking to the enemy.

This was Listy’s, who suppressed her inner emotions and tried to be as calm as possible, as polite as possible, method to express her words. She quietly waited for Akatsuki’s response with a sharp gaze.

“If you would let everyone know that Galious had entrusted her daughter to you, everyone would be willing to help find the best solution. I really don’t understand why you wanted to make such a ridiculous decision?”
Listy had missed Akatsuki more than anyone else, and her touching confession suddenly made the scene fall into silence.

However……

“The best solution……?”

Akatsuki asked Listy.

“Then I’d like to ask, what exactly is the better method?”

“This……”

Listy suddenly had a loss of words, but at the same time, she regained her normal tone.

Returning the demon king’s daughter to the demon race, there was a high chance of her being elected as the new demon king. Being under house arrest was also an excellent option, but there was no guarantee that there would not be dissatisfaction and protest from their citizens. Also, there was a chance that it might lead to the small, but bloodthirsty demon race faction defecting and starting a rebellion to take back the demon king’s daughter.

So……

“Besides bringing the demon king’s daughter to my own world and making her completely disappear with her whereabouts unknown, what other options did I have?”
Akatsuki’s statement made Miu feel emotional.

……That’s right.

There was no place for Miu in Alayzard. At that time she could only just follow Akatsuki to an unknown world.

Just at this moment……

“——What do you mean there is no other option? There is at least one option that could solve the problem right?”

Baram arrogantly glared at Akatsuki.

“Just kill the demon king’s daughter, doesn’t that solve everything? Bringing the demon king’s daughter to your world is not the only option, directly killing her is the best approach. In the end you made such a foolish decision, and left a curse making this world once again be shrouded under the shadow of the demon race.”

“——!”

The value of her own existence was being denied severely. Miu’s body could not help but shudder slightly.

Even if it was within her expectations, this heartless and relentless accusation hurt Miu. But — 

……Ah.

Beside her, Akatsuki gently patted Miu’s shoulders.

“So what you are saying is that your intentions for sending pursuers was for the peace of Alayzard……?”

Akatsuki coldly stared directly at Baram in front of him.

Ousawa Miu could not help but think of Disdia’s true purpose.

But Akatsuki had not yet mentioned the information obtained from Phil.

……After all, there was no conclusive evidence.

Miu was well aware of it. Impulsive questioning would only become baseless slander, and put one in a more unfavorable situation. Disdia’s main goal was to use Miu as the bait and incite the demon race to start a rebellion and create a new dispute. Afterwards, use their influence from ending the war to become the leader of Alayzard. Knowing this, they could not expose Baram’s lie on the spot, thus Akatsuki decided to approach the question from another angle.

“The king’s life is equal to the life of all citizens. If Galious dies, the demon race also surrenders. This means that the battle had ended, no matter humans or the demon race, both do not need to shed blood pointlessly.”

“Blood pointlessly……? You still dare say such a thing.”

Baram glanced at Listy with one eye.

“Did you forget? Originally when Galious attacked Sherfield’s capital Erdia, besides the princess at that time, Queen Listy, Sherfield’s royalty all died at the hands of the demon race.”

Baram sudden speech made Listy bite her lips tightly and bow her head down in silence.

The tragedy five years ago emerged in her brain.

At that time, she lost her father, her relatives, her country and even lost Leon, and was forced to face despair. Yes, this was an indisputable fact.

……But……

Just when Listy was about to raise her head and speak — 

“—— With all due respect. Baram——dono, this is our country’s problem.”

Loutier protested on the sidelines, Zechs also tried not to be outdone by her.

“What Lulu said is true. That day’s pain and anger belong to us.”

Then he coldly glared at Baram:

“ — It cannot become another country’s excuse.”

Listy gave a heartfelt thanks to her two close friends for speaking for her.

The unwelcomed Baram seemed to be somewhat helpless.

“I was only trying to defend for Sherfield’s injustice. If even the home country expresses this, then I, who is part of another country, cannot say anything more.”

“……At that time, I was there.”

Akatsuki muttered. Noticing Akatsuki’s gaze, Listy could not help but think:

Those are the same eyes as her. Akatsuki must have recalled that past.

“If that is the tragedy caused by the war, we cannot and should not blame anyone. If anyone wants to take responsibility for that tragedy, it should be me who killed off Leon.”

“……Enough, Akatsuki. Don’t talk about that matter.”

Listy’s tone was extremely grim.

“I have already said it many times, the you, at that time, had no power to change anything. Leon’s death is not your fault, do not push the responsibility to yourself.”

The hall suddenly plunged into silence.

After a period of time.

“……Looks like we strayed from the point.”

Volk broke the silence.

“Akatsuki, please continue to speak. To prevent us from continuing to send pursuers, you came once again to Alayzard, this point is not hard to understand. But why have you become the demon race’s representative? The demon king Galious died at your hands, why would the demon race accept you to represent them for the talk?”

“The reason is simple, they have no other choice.”

It was a simple elimination method.

“The demon race living in the forest knows that Galious entrusted his daughter to me, and they also followed Galious’s last wards and lived a peaceful life in the forest.  What they could not imagine is that your army suddenly attacked them without any warning, causing them to be highly distressed. They also knew that humans would not trust the demon race, so they could only rely on me to convince you to withdraw your troops. To the demon race, this was their last resort.”

“Without warning, now you’re trying to blame us?”

Baram coldly spoke:

“The one who first attacked should be the demon race? Don’t you forget, our surveillance forces that were deployed at the borders of Galevain were completed annihilated by the attacks of the demon race.”

Just when he finished —

“ — We did not attack anyone!”

The owner of this voice got up from her seat.

A closer look revealed that it was the quiet Miu, who had remained silent since the beginning of the talks.

Being separated by Akatsuki’s body, Nanase Haruka looked at Miu, who stood up from her seat.

Ignoring everyone’s gaze, Miu coldly stared at Baram.

……It really is difficult to forgive.

A strategist using despicable means and attempting to destroy their race.

About the problem of how to deal with Akatsuki, Miu’s hidden truth and entering an alternative world — Haruka decided to wait till she would witness the actions of the two before making the final decision. Thus, today she was acting as a third party to observe the talks from aside. Using the information obtained before, as well as the speech provided by everyone, to assess the situation, Galevain being framed should be an indisputable truth. And Disdia’s Baram, who, from the beginning of the talks, had expressed a strong hostility to the demon race, even acting as if he was the victim, wasn’t it a method to get rid of the suspicion. As for the two other countries in the alliance, whether they comply with Disdia, this they do not know.

……If the other two countries also participated in it, the situation was unfavorable to the demon race.
Akatsuki believed that Sherfield, who had a shallow relationship with him, should not be involved.

But if the three countries’ leaders had came to a consensus before, humans and demon race’s peace treaty would be difficult to achieve. Akatsuki probably had thought of this point, indicated Miu to return to her seat and slowly spoke:

“About this matter of the attack, is there any conclusive evidence?”

Akatsuki attempted to refute the opposing accusation. At that time Sherfield’s red haired general spoke.

“The ones being attacked were a joint force from our country and Disdia. According to the survivors, it was the demon race’s work. Besides Disdia’s soldiers, our soldiers have also said the same thing.”

At this moment — 

“—— That is only “testimony” and not “evidence”.”

Haruka immediately rebutted, bringing the attention of everyone to herself.

……W……What am I doing……?

After seeing the despicable means used to accuse the demon race, Haruka finally could not help but speak. But once the words came out, Haruka regretted immediately. After all, she was not a resident from this world, and should not involve herself with the dispute between the demon race and the humans. However, Akatsuki took things calmly, and did not have any meaning of resentment, so Haruka was a little relieved. It seemed that her speech did not destroy Akatsuki and Miu’s plan.

Not only that, Akatsuki even winked at Haruka, motioning her to speak freely without having to think twice.

…….If that being the case……

Haruka nodded and turned to face the front. At first Haruka only wanted to witness Akatsuki and Miu’s actions and did not want to select a side, but her sense of justice did not allow the opposing side to use baseless evidence to accuse the demon race. This was what Nanase Haruka insisted upon as well as her belief.

“Pardon me for speaking frankly……Aside from the testimony from the survivors, I believe there should be no decisive evidence?”

Then Haruka said a speculation she was almost convinced was true.

“The demon race is the enemy of the humans. This belief is deeply rooted in the hearts of the humans, so naturally they would not consider other possibilities. If the injured soldiers claimed that it was the demon race, people would naturally turn their attacks towards the demon race, completely ignoring the wish to investigate for the truth. After all, the truth of the investigation is equal to protecting the enemy, protecting the demon race, and the person who proposed this idea would even be considered as a traitor of humans and a fellow helper of the demon race.”

Haruka paused for a moment.

“Is it not?”

“ — Please wait a moment.”

A skinny youth suddenly opened his mouth. This youth was none other than the Disdia’s fourth prince Alphonse, who was sitting beside Baram. As the prince of the military empire, Alphonse did not carry a sword. He was also wearing an outfit for a civil official. From his body and appearance, his strong point should not be in the battlefield, but his tone still had a touch of dignity.

…… After all, he is also royalty.

No matter how frail he is, he should still be equipped with guts.

Alphonse continued to say:

“We also hope to avoid unnecessary disputes. After a rigorous investigation, we confirmed that it was indeed the crime of the demon race.”

“On what basis?”

“According to the footprints on the battlefield, the enemy’s weapons and the magic residue, etc. These all point to the same conclusion, the demon race is related to the attack.”

“That is the truth.”

Sherfield’s high class elves also agreed with Alphonse.

“From the traces made by weapons on the armor, it is confirmed that it is from the special curved sword that the dark elves use. And from the magic residue, we also discovered dark magic that humans cannot use.”

Haruka nodded.

“But these things could all be fake right?”

“……You mean that we forged false evidence?”

Alphonse narrowed his eyes, revealing an unfriendly gaze. Haruka gently shook her head.

“I am just asking whether there is a possibility, and did not mean to accuse anyone.”

“This……”

Loutier pondered but could not answer. Haruka took her actions as a yes.

“In short, you do not hold any conclusive evidence, only rely on a few people’s testimony and wishfully attacked.”

It was a powerful accusation. Just when Haruka felt satisfied……



“Oh — what’s the problem about it?”



A gloomy and calm voice mixed with a tint of laughter coldly rejected Haruka’s predictions.

The owner of the voice was none other than Aleclasta’s talented female — the high priest Miranda. Her eyes seemed to reflect the world’s abyss.  Haruka felt that she was nearly sucked into it.

Haruka did not know her. Today was their first time meeting each other.

But……

……This person, seemed to be like……

A cold chill encroached on her forehand. Haruka suddenly sensed a familiar gaze.

However, she quickly put this idea behind her.

“……What does that phrase mean? It was reasonable to make fakes?”

“Of course not. I only confirmed the part that is wishful thinking.”

Miranda answered.

“Even if there is the possibility of creating fakes, only people standing on the side of the demon race would make a fuss about fraud. Don’t you forget, the survirors’ testimony clearly stated that the attack force was the demon race. To us, just the testimony is more than sufficient. Moreover, when humans make a judgment, it more or less contains an element of wishful thinking right?”
Because — 

“After all, humans are creatures of emotions, Although it is necessary for government officials to suppress their own emotions, and put the country’s interest and the well——being of their citizens as their top priority, but what if you are facing this situation? Facing a situation where your citizens will most likely be killed by the demon race, can you still remain calm?”

“Mmmm……But!”

Even if she was being overwhelmed by Miranda, Haruka still refused to give up.

“That’s right…… what if our positions were swapped?”

Miranda Quenty continued her attack.

“Suppose your friend was suddenly murdered, the evidence all points to the enemy, also there are eyewitness testimony. Under this circumstance, would you still believe the enemy is innocent, ignoring the citizens’ feelings, and search for evidence everywhere?”

“…….Mmmm!”

This was going badly, Haruka thought to herself. Alphonse and Loutier’s argument was based on logic, thus Haruka could refute it using theory. However, Miranda appealed to the emotions. By adding the element of emotion into the debate, it forced Haruka to respect them. As a result, there was no doubt that it would make their opposing actions reasonable and view the attacks from the human to the demon race as legitimate actions.

“Now do you understand? As the leader of many citizens, we were forced to make this decision.”

Miranda gave a shallow smile and expressed her declaration of victory.

At this moment — 



“—— Very good!”



A rude and frivolous voice resounded through the scene.

Everyone unanimously turned to look at the owner of the voice.

That was Akatsuki, who was holding his hands behind his head and was at ease.