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After the party known as the victory celebration ended, the princess of this country, Lucila N. Edelweiss, left the venue early and waited for someone in the Claudel family garden while admiring the flowers.
A single figure approached her.
Sensing that the person she was waiting for had arrived, Lucila shifted her gaze from the flowers to the approaching figure and spoke.
"I have been waiting for you. Thank you for coming all this way. Fuuka-sama."
Lucila lifted the hem of her skirt slightly, bent her knees a little, and showed respect to the arriving Fuuka as she greeted her.
"You do not need to use honorifics. Right now I am nothing more than a defeated person chased out of my country. But I am not good with polite speech, so is this tone all right?"
"Yes. That is perfectly fine. In that case, I will also call you Fuuka."
"I do not mind. Now, straight to the point. I will be direct. Take Orun to the Hitia Duchy. I want you to create a just cause for that."
When Fuuka made her demand, Lucila's expression hardened.
"So that was indeed your goal when you accepted the requests to conquer the labyrinths in various places."
"Yes. The cult moved faster than expected, so I was wondering how to guide Orun. But then your request for labyrinth conquest came at just the right time, and I made use of it."
"What exactly is your country, or rather the Hitia Duchy, plotting?"
"That is something you do not need to know. This is one of the conditions for the kingdom to receive aid from the Hitia Duchy in this war, so you have no right to refuse."
Lucila had been organizing a coalition army of neighboring countries while simultaneously requesting assistance from the Hitia Duchy, a great magical nation in the central part of the continent.
The Hitia Duchy's response to that request had been, "We will support the kingdom if you accept Fuuka's demand."
And that demand was to take Orun to the Hitia Duchy.
"I understand. I will think of a reason to send Orun to the Hitia Duchy. As you said, our debt to you is far too great, so there is no room for negotiation."
Lucila had already guessed Fuuka's objective to some extent.
That was why she felt no surprise at the demand.
However, the confusion within the country if Orun, who had been elevated as the Kingdom's hero, were to go to another nation would not be small.
Just thinking about it gave Lucila a headache.
Explorers were not supposed to appear on the battlefield, yet whether Orun was present or not could easily affect the mindset of the nation's core, those who fought, and the citizens.
Orun's presence had grown that much in the past year.
"It helps that you say so. I do not want to cause any unnecessary trouble either. Also, may I ask one question?"
"What is it?"
"You do not seem very surprised. Did you already know about my demand in advance?"
"I had guessed it to some extent. There is no doubt that the Cyclamen Cult is behind the empire, and behind Amunzaas, which stands in direct opposition to that cult, is the Hitia Duchy. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that the organization itself is the Hitia Duchy."
"I am surprised. This country has grasped that much."
Fuuka rarely showed widened eyes upon hearing Lucila's statement.
"No, the country does not know. This is a conclusion I reached on my own by analyzing circumstantial evidence from incidents caused by the Cyclamen Cult and Amunzaas, along with the movements of the Hitia Duchy. Since there is no decisive proof, I have not spoken of this to anyone until now. Ah, and I will not reveal it to anyone in the future either, so please rest assured."
Lucila had been called a genius since childhood.
In the House of Lords she had achieved the highest grades in history, a record that still stood unbroken.
What made her a genius was her outstanding ability to analyze and parse information.
In her position close to the nation's core, she had fully demonstrated that ability when faced with domestic problems, incidents, and the movements of other countries, accurately predicting various facts.
However, she had yielded all credit for those achievements to her elder brother, the crown prince, so few people knew the truth.
"It seems I need to reassess how dangerous you are."
"If possible, I would like us to continue having a good relationship."
While Fuuka strengthened her wariness, Lucila offered a smile whose true intent was impossible to read.
"You are a tough one."
"Fufu, I will take that as a compliment."
"Let us end the conversation here. Take care of that matter from earlier."
Fuuka brought the discussion to a close and emphasized her request.
"Yes, understood. I will have the arrangements ready by tomorrow."
After confirming Lucila's reply, Fuuka departed from her side.
"...Sigh. So what awaits ahead is indeed a clash between Amunzaas, led by Orun, and the Cyclamen Cult, led by Belia Sans. But before that, I must somehow deal with the war against the empire. Truly, a peaceful world feels incredibly far away."
While watching Fuuka's retreating back, Lucila murmured the conclusion she had drawn from the information she had gathered on her own.