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The Strategist Knows Everything: v3c1 part4

Chapter 3 : V3c1 part4

Part III: The Imperial State Edition

Chapter 1: The Front Line 4

Translated by: Hiro02

Edited by: SevenTails

Note: Micana has been changed to Mikana

“I thought it was about time for you to come.” Princess Fiona, who had short, silvery-blue coloured hair and clear brown eyes, offered Mikana and me some tea.

I was sure that her actions were normal as neither Charlotte nor the boy who guided us here said anything when the princess herself prepared the tea.

I heard that she was an illegitimate child, but perhaps she was still raised as a normal youth, without any regard to her position as an imperial princess.

Her beautiful hair, albeit a bit bluish, proved that she was a member of the royal family, but the smile on Princess Fiona’s face was very friendly. It made one forget that she was royalty.

I’m not sure you could call her face charming. She was beautiful, but her small animal-like features were more conspicuous. Maybe that was why. It wasn’t like she didn’t have outstanding looks like Sofia or Lady Kaguya, but Princess Fiona’s charm was definitely over 120 points. Maybe you could call it inner beauty.

While thinking about it, I took a sip of the tea she served me and was astonished.

“Delicious…!”

“Hmph! Of course! Fiona’s tea is the best in the kingdom!”

“Fiona is a great cook too!”

For some reason, Charlotte and the boy puffed out their chests. Princess Fiona was watching them with a smile, just like a mother and her children.

“Yukito-sama. I don’t think this is the time to be admiring my tea.”

“Indeed. The Empire has a crisis at the moment.”

As I replied, Charlotte’s stern face darkened and glared at us.

“I won’t spare you if you want to take Fiona, okay?”

“Charu, I wouldn’t let them take me by force. If I felt that way, I wouldn’t have bothered to come all the way to talk with a few burglars.”

Princess Fiona restrained Charlotte with her words while she was still smiling. I wasn’t sure if they knew we brought no hostility or if they thought they could do whatever they wanted even if there was any.

Princess Fiona’s status screen showed her intelligence at 110. It was almost the same as mine. Well, in my case, I had a boost from Dio-sama, so I couldn’t really say we were evenly matched.

Her combat strength was in the low 70’s, her speed in the 90’s and her magic power a little over 100. I didn’t think I was going to be able to get it right. It was a type that has never been seen before. I wasn’t sure if His Highness Riāshia-sama was comparable, but since they were cousins, they are probably similar in status as well.

As I was thinking, Princess Fiona approached me with a smile still on her face.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, let’s talk about it just the two of us.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m here. It would be very much appreciated if we do so.”

In return, Princess Fiona’s smile deepened and she led me upstairs to her room.

■■■

“Is this the first time I’ve let a man in my room?”

“I’m not sure how to react or respond to it,” Princess Fiona continued as she easily dismissed Charlotte’s fierce objections with her words and invited me in.

I also didn’t know how to react to it, but I wasn’t going to let it pass by, thus I responded.

“It’s an honour.”

“Haha. No need to be formal, let’s talk casually. It feels strange to use honorifics with someone of your age.”

“Then I’ll take up your offer.”

Princess Fiona sat on her bed and looked straight at me.

The smile was still apparent in her expression. Maybe it was fitter to say that she had nothing but a smile, rather than a constant smile. Whether it was consciously or unconsciously, I couldn’t read any emotions from her expression.

“You’re not planning on taking me to battle, are you?”

“… If you want to.”

“Can’t you respect an individual’s will? Although I don’t think I have one.”

Princess Fiona laughed again, but the way she did it was different than before. It was a sad laugh.

Hearing her words, I lightly shut my eyes.

The Empire was currently on a road to destruction. To prevent it from happening, a powerful force was needed, and the one who could wield that power was Princess Fiona.

In the current situation, it would certainly be improbable to respect Princess Fiona’s personal will. Furthermore, she was a member of the royal family. She had the duty to risk her life for the sake of her country and her people.

Her will was irrelevant to such duty. It was a preordained destiny determined when one was born into the royal family.

But.

Taking people into battle who are not willing to fight will not protect anyone or save anything…

“Don’t you need my help…?”

If you asked me whether it was necessary or not, the answer is yes. We needed the help of as many people as possible to get out of this situation. I’m sure she would be happy to know that I’m not the only one who needs her, that the morale of the soldiers will be boosted by her presence and that many people will cooperate with her. But…

Even if the country is saved by ignoring the will of the people, it will certainly not save those who were forced to fight against their will…

Kaguya-sama was led into a battle that she never wished for and as a result, she fought with master Dio-sama and a civil war ensued. Even though the civil war was over, Lady Kaguya was still scarred in the end.

As long as I could protect the people I wanted to protect was all that mattered to me, so I fought. I didn’t know that was a makeshift decision that I made in response to the people around me

After causing a lot of people to shed blood and tears, and protecting the people I wanted to protect, I tried to return to my peaceful life because somewhere in my heart, I still believed I was just a normal person, someone who never had anything to do with fighting.

There were many hurt by my half-heartedness. There were many whom I couldn’t protect, people I couldn’t save.

Even now, I’m not ready to die, but I’m still determined to do my best.

“In the bigger picture, I do…”

“I don’t like the way you are forcing me to be with the people I dislike the most. If you want someone to go, take someone else. I don’t like it. Respect the individuals or put your values before others… Veris’ military strategist sure is selfish.”

Princess Fiona smiled happily and stood up from the bed.

“But I love you for being so selfish! I don’t want to see people fighting each other, but I don’t want my precious country to die.”

“So you’ll help us?”

“Hmm. I’m willing to help you, but there are some people you’ll have to convince,” Fiona replied with a troubled smile.

The first one I thought of was Charlotte. He was the one who turned away people who came to meet with Princess Fiona. I won’t know how he would react if I told him I was taking her into battle.

“Oh, with that face, you are probably thinking of Charu, but it’s a pity. The person you need to convince is not him.”

“Huh? It isn’t Charlotte?”

“Charu is my bodyguard. Of course, he will have to follow me.”

“… Then who is it?”

Princess Fiona lightly dropped her head with a sad expression. Then, she immediately smiled and answered my question.

“This city’s governor, my uncle, Regal McFadden. It was him who single-handedly refused all of my father’s requests to head into battle.”

“I see…”

It wasn’t expected, but it also wasn’t unexpected.

The boy had told me that this house was built to protect refugees. There were several places similar to this one, he said, to bring separated families together and to ensure the life and safety of the refugees. And when I heard that the one leading such operation was the governor, Viscount McFadden, the idea that he was keeping Princess Fiona in town for his own personal gain dissipated from my mind.

However, his name resurfaced again. To be honest, I don’t feel any ill feelings from the princess towards him. Perhaps he wasn’t a bad person.

It was going to be quite difficult to persuade him, but I wasn’t going to stop trying.

“Are you able to arrange a way for us to talk?”

“Yes. Just be careful. My uncle is overprotective.”

I felt my stomach get sick the moment I heard Princess Fiona’s word. It wasn’t going to be easy.

■■■

“He’s overprotective, so be careful.”

I never thought I would listen to those words firsthand.

I was currently in a training ground in Taishukan, and I was holding a wooden sword.

The man in front of me, Viscount1 McFadden, was the one holding one too.

I don’t remember if I was expecting the same type of intellectual person since he was Admiral Arnold’s brother, but he wasn’t. He had a large build, even more imposing than Charlotte, and he was as martial as he appeared to be.

The reason why he had a bad reputation as a viscount was that he had no interest in politics and left it to his subordinates. It was rumoured that his men were doing whatever they wanted and the city’s security kept deteriorating. It was just a matter of time until it fell.

The reason why Viscount McFadden was not interested in governmental affairs, however, was because of his eagerness to bring the unrecognized and illegitimate daughter, Fiona, to his city according to her.

After all, Princess Fiona’s mother and Viscount McFadden have known each other for a long time and, at the request of her mother, he was now Princess Fiona’s acting guardian.

There was a complicated relationship between the two, but the problem now was that Viscount McFadden was Fiona’s guardian. He didn’t even try listening to our words.

“Veris Warlord… Will Fiona be invited to the battlefield, even if she is from another country…”

“Listen to me…?!”

I’m not going to be able to get rid of it, but, there’s no way I had the skills to defeat that man.

His battle strength displayed on the status screen was a little over a hundred. Meanwhile, his intelligence was in the 60’s range, but well, it was understandable if you thought of it as him having sucked out his brother’s combat power while he got his intellect sucked out.

If you thought of it as intelligence and combat specializations, the Imperial State’s royal family was well balanced.

The reason he was in charge of the second city of the Empire was probably that it will be the front line in case of emergency.

“Prevent Albion’s invasion instead of safeguarding against the Empire. That’s what you guys are for! What’s the point of an alliance if you can’t do it?!”

“Don’t be absurd! The imperial defensive front is already stretched to its limit, but we’ve managed to keep it together! If only you and Princess Fiona had come out from the beginning, we wouldn’t have been pushed back so hard!”

“Hmph! That’s the deal! I mustn’t leave town! Fiona hesitated to go to the battlefield, so I’m letting her stay in this city. That isn’t good enough for you?!”

Complaints were aplenty. I honestly thought he was being ridiculous, but Viscount McFadden’s eyes were completely serious.

This person was serious about that being the reason to turn down the requests for Princess Fiona to go. You can’t use the same reason to deny the Emperor’s order.

“How many soldiers do you think are dying in the frontlines?”

“I know, but still! I won’t let Fiona go to the frontline! It is a battlefield filled with corpses, and I have seen her return come heartbroken and weary, thus I vowed! I will not let her go into a battle she doesn’t want to again!”

A blow to my side snapped my wooden sword and blew me away. It was a very tame attack, but it was still powerful enough to immobilize me.

“Have you ever walked across the battlefield with that kind of skill? What do you think you can do without a sword? I will not entrust Fiona to a man who does not fight and forces his men to sacrifice themselves!”

Don’t be selfish.

I have been thinking, but my body doesn’t move. In fact, this was the first time I’ve faced someone with a sword, albeit a wooden one, ever since I fought Veris’s former king.

When I head into battle, the people around me basically take care of me. There was never an enemy reaching me at all.

I know there are people who have been hurt. I know there are people who lost their lives because of it. I know. So I have been thinking hard and tried to reduce the number of casualties as much as possible because that’s the only thing I can do.

And yet, this old man was saying whatever he wanted. He wasn’t the only person who could do that. You just have to find a way to get the best out of them.

It was the soldiers, my fellow soldiers, who were fighting on the frontlines, that I was relying on shamelessly.

“Do you know… how soldiers are dying on the frontlines?”

“… I don’t know.”

“Burning from magical fire, being blown away in explosions, being killed before even getting close to their enemies…”

I looked at the Viscount while standing up. It wasn’t just looking, but I stared at him.

“They are laying down their lives for the kingdom… and yet knowing that, you still want to uphold your vow to keep Princess Fiona away from the battlefield?”

“…”

“When your city is in danger, can you swear to uphold it? If you don’t rely on me now, then don’t ever in the future, but if you do, let me too risk my life for the sake of the Empire.”

”If you don’t want to save a life now, then don’t be selfish if you want later. You have to carry your selfishness all the way until the end.”

I was not going to be the only one. I was not going to say that I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it in the future, even if this city became a battlefield.

“I won’t listen to you, young man. You are a man of Veris. If the war goes badly, you still have a way to escape back to Veris.”

“If I do that, Veris will be considered a country that abandons its allies and no one will cooperate with us. There is no other way to protect Veris other than to protect the Empire… There are people in Veris who want to protect it, even at the risk of their lives.”

Maybe this man was testing me. As long as Princess Fiona was willing to go to the battlefield on her own, he had no right to stop me, so let’s at least try to see what kind of person we were going with.

I should not pull back. Martial people don’t like to pull back.

I was not going to be able to get my hands on a new wooden sword. I knew I could ask for a new one, but my body was sore all over for a while and it was getting hard to move. I wanted it to be over with, if possible.

I didn’t care about the outcome. I didn’t know if I was going to get things right either. That was why I was giving it my all.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling. I ran straight to the Viscount.

He didn’t show any signs of dodging and blocked the broken wooden sword I thrust out. The sword was flicked from my right hand.

But.

“Carelessness can be fatal on the battlefield.”

I took out a fan from my pocket and unfolded it, waving it at the Viscount as hard as I could.

Viscount McFadden, who was hit by a wind gust at a fairly close distance, lost his stand.

“Nooo!”

“We didn’t say we couldn’t use weapons other than the wooden swords, right?”

I laughed at Viscount who was down on one knee and collapsed on the spot.

My body hurt from being blown away. I was not in the mood for this kind of stupid s**t, yet what was I doing?

“Hahaha! It’s been a long time since I’ve been knocked down to my knees! I see, so this is a military strategist. So clever! It’s reassuring to have you on our side!”

“Thank you for that…”

“I’ll allow you to take Fiona! But don’t even let her get scratched or I will snap your thin neck!”

After pulling a face2 at Viscount that was laughing and saying horrible things, I let out a big sigh.

(1)TL Note : We are using Viscount in place of リガール太守.
(2) (idiomatic) To make an abnormal facial expression, either intentionally or because of an emotion.