Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 12 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 8===
A few days ago──at the center of the New Kingdom, the royal capital Lordgalia.

Inside a meeting room within the towering royal castle, a silent debate was continuing.

「Soon there won’t be any choice but to resolve ourselves and counterattack. There is no time remaining for us.」

「But, we should have expressed our opinion that we cannot go with that kind of forced plan.」

Queen Raffi of the New Kingdom Atismata responded to the representatives of various countries with a firm attitude.

Soffice sealed the Ruin liberation of all the countries by threatening to use the Moon’s weapons and Ragnarok. This was a meeting to decide the countermeasure against that. An endless argument was unfurling there.

The high officials who were representatives of various countries were clamoring inside the meeting room.

With the possibility of their own country getting exposed to danger, there was no way all the leaders could continue to stay in the New Kingdom. These officials came here as substitutes.

On the first few days, everyone was trembling in fear from Soffice’s war proclamation and they had an indecisive attitude, but after that, the wind’s direction changed completely. The voices that were wishing to counterattack were getting louder.

Looking at the convenience to install the Grand Forces that were taken out from the two Ragnarok into the Ruins, it could be calculated that there was high possibility that the Moon was located near the New Kingdom Atismata and the Ymir Theocracy where the two Ruins that hadn’t been liberated were located. So the representatives of the remaining five countries dared to say that they should be resolved for sacrifices and attack.

On the contrary, the New Kingdom that had the greatest possibility to receive harm had to avoid that no matter what. Queen Raffi and Prime Minister Nulph were desperately continuing to oppose that.

But, in reality they also understood the reason why all the other countries were urging like that.

At this rate, Dragon Marauder might take control of Avalon.

If that happened, they would be put under their rule and the countries would lose the meaning of their existence.

There was still an extension of two months so they were able to delay, but sooner or later it would be inevitable that they all had to head into battle.

Then, all the countries would want to annihilate the enemy no matter what at the timing where the possibility that their own country wouldn’t be damaged was the highest.

Thinking that, the representatives tried to carry out the brute force strategy by using just reasoning as a shield.

If Raffi and Nulph were in the opposite position, they would surely do the same thing.

Thus they were tired of the meeting that was only going in circles without finding any point of compromise no matter how much time passed.

「Your majesty Princess Listelka, do you have any excellent plan for this matter?」

Prime Minister Nulph who was troubled of where to escape addressed Listelka, the representative of the Lords who happened to be present.

Then, the pure white imperial princess who possessed inhuman beauty quietly opened her closed eyes.

Her left and right eyes had different colors of grey and scarlet.

With those eyes she looked around quietly at the representatives of the various countries, and then she formed her words.

「Let’s see. I don’t wish to say this to the New Kingdom that inherited the bloodline of my Divine Arcadia Empire but──as expected I believe we should resolve ourselves for the damage and go to take back the Moon.」

「Ooh……!」

At that moment, the high officials excluding the representatives of the Ymir Theocracy raised excited cheers.

「As expected from the imperial family of the ancient era, what a magnificent determination!」

「There is no other way than that. It’s unfortunate.」

「To not shirk back even if her lineage’s descendant country might get harmed, how heroic.」

And so on, many mouths were starting to get carried away speaking out irresponsible words.

The royalty of the Lords, Listelka herself was saying that although the Old Empire Arcadia was applicable to be her distant descendant, they weren’t directly related to her.

Even so Nulph was holding hope that she would stick up for the New Kingdom from feeling sympathy, but his expectation ended in vain.

Far from that, the Lords who were the key for conquering Avalon was acting affirmative for the counterattack plan.

This flow was already unstoppable sooner or later.

「……Can I ask everyone, to wait for a little bit more? Even if we are going to attack the Moon, it’s necessary to gather our forces for the sake of defending the country. Please──」

When Raffi requested so with a bitter expression, the high official of the Ymir Theocracy also bowed his head next.

With them conducting themselves like that, it also became hard for the other countries to demand even more than that.

If they acted unreasonably, then the next time it was their country that fell into danger, it might become their turn to get abandoned.

「Then after the preparations, we will move into offense. The day of the counterattack will be five days later. The next day after this country’s holy night festival will be fine.」

The war council was concluded with Listelka’s direction.

The meeting was temporarily disbanded and the high officials of all the countries left from the meeting room. But even after that, Raffi kept sitting down with her head hanging down.

「Your majesty. Please don’t be disheartened.」

The counterattack getting recognized was a choice that couldn’t be helped.

If that situation kept as it was, in the worst case the world alliance would crumble and the remaining five countries would side with the Lords.

If the Lords lost their patience and abandoned the New Kingdom, the other countries would surely follow them.

Above all else, right now the New Kingdom’s influence towards the other countries wasn’t that strong compared to the time of the Old Empire Arcadia.

If they were betrayed, then an even more wretched end would wait for them.

「This can’t be helped isn’t it? The New Kingdom, too, had caused trouble for them in the past after all.」

「…………」

Nulph didn’t respond to the queen’s murmur that was filled with resignation.

Half of the countries that were gathered here received invasion of various size and shapes in the era of the Old Empire, and they held quite the resentment due to that.

Even if the New Kingdom received great damage, they wouldn’t worry about it.

「Because the counterattack towards the Moon has been decided, let’s gather the Four Great Nobles. It’s a gamble to reinstate Warg Kreutzer, but at present there are also a lot of nobles who will become an ally through his mediation.」

Warg Kreutzer was one of the Four Great Nobles who had done illegality behind the scenes along with his son Balzeride and lost his standing, but he still had strong influence in his territory.

Especially with the work of his second son Sieg Kreutzer, the western territory where they were located was showing strong signs of rebellion.

In this situation where the New Kingdom was put in a disadvantage, even a single more Drag-Knight was desirable in order to protect the nobles of the royal capital.

If that was the case, then the capital inevitably had no other choice but to borrow their strength.

For the New Kingdom that had once judged Lord Warg as a person in the wrong, this was a mortifying decision but──there was no other way to break the deadlock of this situation.

「I’ll leave it to you Nulph. Because you are the one who is more knowledgeable in that area……」

「Please leave it to me……. Oi, escort her majesty to her bedroom.」

Nulph who exited the room called a servant for Raffi who was unsteady on her feet from exhaustion.

After entrusting the Queen to the servant, Nulph gathered the necessary documents and headed to visit the consuls.

He was walking inside the darkness through the corridor that was faintly illuminated by tallow lamp.

His face that was reflected on the window was different from just now. Indifferent and dark eyes could be seen.

「……That woman is more useless than I thought. Even managing this country using Count Atismata’s influence has reached the limit with this predicament. If I borrow the power of the Four Great Nobles even more than this, the balance of power will collapse.」

That expression was the face of a prime minister that was facing the reality ruthlessly.

「In any case, I have to prepare. Connections with the Four Great Nobles is indispensable in this New Kingdom. There are a lot of camps I can jump ship to.」

A voice so small that couldn’t be heard by anyone echoed inside Prime Minister Nulph’s head.

Like that, he resumed walking once more into the darkness of the corridor that couldn’t be seen where it was leading to.

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