V5Ch4: The world is at peace today! part 2
Translator: Soafp
The Kingdom of Oriana, destroyed by the Black Beast, was being rapidly restored with the help of the Shadow Garden.
Alpha squinted as she watched the sunset from the castle.
“So—are you ready for this?”
Alpha asked the girl behind her.
There was a beautiful girl with honey-colored hair. Rose Oriana.
“Will I be forgiven?”
Rose said with shaken eyes.
“I don’t think you will be forgiven. Many of the people still hate you.”
“After all, I can’t be the …… leader. I will only bring chaos to this country.”
“In times of peace, that might be true. But not now. If you knew what this country was going to become, you would know there was no other choice.”
Alpha turned and cast a hard look at Rose.
“You know that the alliance between the kingdoms of Midgar and Oriana has been broken. The Holy Church has officially declared the Kingdom of Oriana a heretic state. Oriana’s trade is severely restricted and will soon dry up. Eventually, the surrounding nations will be ordered to defeat the Kingdom of Oriana. I don’t know how many countries will move, but there is nothing this country can do without a proper military force. It is doomed.”
“Heresy…… how did this happen?”
Rose clenched her fists and turned her head down.
“The Church is afraid. This country …….”
“Why are they afraid of a little country like this?”
“They are frightened lambs. That’s why they fear the light of day.”
“What do you mean?”
“Eternal life is the symbol of human desire. They have it, and they fear more than anything else that it will be taken from them. If you rule the world and stand out in the open, there will always be someone who tries to take it away from you. That is why they hid. They chose to hide their eternal life so that it would never be taken away from them, and to rule the world from behind the scenes using the Holy Church. That is how they have feared the light of day.”
“The frightened lamb ……”
“But the enemies between the Kingdom of Oriana and the Diabolos Order have brought the two sides of the world together. If the Kingdom of Oriana is left unchecked, the Diabolos Order will eventually be dragged out into the open. They are afraid of that.”
“…… Shadow Garden will take advantage of that, right?”
Rose gave Alpha a hard look.
“Yes. We take advantage of the Kingdom of Oriana. That’s why we helped you.”
“With the power of the Shadow Gardens, we should be able to defeat the Church. Why did they go all the way to the Kingdom of Oriana……”
“Because then the Diabolos Order will not be destroyed.”
“…… eh?”
“People will die. Nations perish. But religions never perish. Even if we defeat the Diabolos cult, it will not end. That is what religion is. As long as there are those who believe in it, it is eternal.”
“No way….”
“Don’t underestimate the Church. If you make enemies of the Church, the people will cut your back. Most of the people who believe in the Church, even the priests, are good citizens. The Church uses the Holy Faith to incite the people to kill. No matter how powerful Shadow Garden is, it cannot kill all the followers of the Holy Church in the world. That is why we need the Kingdom of Oriana. To bring the evil entity called the Diabolos Order out into the open and break the relationship between the Holy Church and the Diabolos Order.”
“How will you do that?”
“Let the Holy Church cut off the Diabolos Order. What the people believe in is the Holy Church, not the Diabolos Order. By making it clear, the Diabolos Order will become the common enemy of the world. For that reason, we must win. The surrounding nations will eventually come to defeat the Kingdom of Oriana. There, we will win. Win and proclaim to the world. The world’s enemy is the Diabolos Order.”
“And for that, you want me to be king.”
“To destroy the Order, we need a state that will stand in our place. The battle between the Kingdom of Oriana and the Holy Church is a proxy war between Shadow Garden and the Diabolos Order. If you are ready to be king, we will support you from the shadows.”
“….. Will I be a worthy king?”
Rose looked down and squeezed out the words.
“You are not a king in times of peace, but in times of emergency. The qualities necessary for a king in times of peace are kindness, which endears you to your people and makes your country prosperous. But in times of emergency, it is different. The quality needed for emergencies is strength. The strength to achieve your goals despite the pain, sacrifice, and resentment of your people…”
Alpha looked at Rose with her beautiful eyes.
“Rose Oriana, you will be a mighty king.”
“Mighty King …….”
Rose bit down on the words.
She did not say them out loud, but repeated them in her mouth. And what comes to mind is her own weakness.
“I am weak. ……”
“Only those who know weakness can be strong.”
A single tear fell down Rose’s cheek.
“If there is anything I can do for the people and the kingdom of Oriana that my father left behind,……, I will protect this country no matter how much they hate me. I …… .”
Rose wiped away her tears and looked up.
Then she drew her thin sword and placed it against her long honey-colored hair.
“I …… don’t want to end up weak.”
Saying this, she pulled the thin sword.
Her honey-colored hair danced in the wind.
“I will be a strong king.”
Rose’s hair was shoulder-length.
“As long as you are prepared to do so, I swear to you that Shadow Garden will never betray you.”
Alpha smiled gently.
Then she called for numbers 664 and 665. For some reason, they were both dressed as maids.
“I will place these two by your side. It is better to have someone familiar with you.”
“Thank you.”
“No need to be so formal. You and I are equals. You will be a strong king, won’t you?”
“Yes. …… Oh, eeh, I will be a mighty king.”
Rose said, unaccustomed to this.
“Kusu…….666 is so cute.”
“Well, good for you. If you had talked to me about it, we would have worked it out a lot quicker.”
Numbers 665 and 664 said in a small voice.
“Thank you, both of you.”
“You’re welcome~.”
“D-don’t forget that I’m your squad leader.”
“I know, squad leader.”
Rose gave them both a friendly smile.
“I’ll tell you our plans for the future through numbers 664 and 665, and you’ll need to get them a front register and a position for them. We still need to keep the connection between Shadow Gardens and the Kingdom of Oriana under wraps.”
“I will hire them as my maids. As soon as the registers are ready.”
“You should do that. …… Looks like someone’s here.”
At that moment, the door to the room opened and a girl with indigo hair entered.
It was Gamma, the third seat of the Seven Shadow.
For some reason, Gamma was dragging a girl with her.
“Alpha, there you are.”
“Ara, I see you have come to the Kingdom of Oriana too, Gamma.”
“For future reference, we have closed the Mitsugoshi Trading Company in the Kingdom of Oriana. Instead, we are making preparations to expand our Shadow Gardens location.”
Gamma said, lowering her voice a little.
“That’s great Gamma, you work so fast.”
“What about Princess Rose?”
Gamma looked sideways at Rose.
“She’s ready to walk with us.”
Alpha looked at Rose as well.
“I look forward to working with you.”
Gamma responded to Rose’s greeting with a silent bow of her head.
“I have two reports to make to you, Alpha-sama. I hope you don’t mind if I speak with you here.”
Gamma seemed concerned about Rose’s presence here.
Rose could tell that she still didn’t trust her.
“I’ll have another room ready for you…”
“—I don’t care”
Alpha interrupted Rose.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m fine with it.”
With that, Alpha looked at Gamma and Rose.
“I don’t mind. What about you?”
Alpha asked.
“….. I don’t mind either.”
“Me too.”
Gamma and Rose answered.
“First of all, the equipment Beta recovered the other day in the demon world.”
“You mean the “Laptop” and the “Tablet” ?”
“I had Eta check them all out. Eta, explain.”
Gamma said and approached the girl who had dragged her away.
“Spee!”
A cute sleeping breath escaped from the girl.
“Come on, Eta, wake up!”
Gamma grabbed Eta by the shoulders and shook her with all her might.
Her head hit Gamma in the nose as she swayed back and forth.
“Peggy!”
The impact woke Eta up.
“Nn ah?”
Her name is Eta. She is the seventh seat of Seven Shadows, and studies mainly the wisdom Shadow.
“…… where am I?”
Eta looked around leisurely.
She was a small elf.
The long, dark hair was flopping around in her sleep habit.
“C-come on now, report this to Alpha-sama”
Gamma said, holding back a nosebleed.
“Report ……? Aah, you mean the one about the…”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Uhm, report.”
Eta looked sleepily at Alpha.
“Everything that uses electricity was broken, including the machine. I took it apart to check it out, but it’s probably from the electromagnetic radiation when they crossed the gate.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Not right now, but I’ll figure it out in time. “
“I see….I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Beta always brings me things that run on electricity.”
“Not this time. The technology used is extremely high. Even if they can’t run, I can learn a lot of techniques.”
“Really? I hope so. But Beta must have been depressed.”
“She was crying.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“Well. She was depressed, so I gave her some tea with a little something in it to make her feel better.”
“…….And then?”
“Suddenly she took off her clothes and began to cry. For unknown reasons, interesting.”
Eta twisted the edges of her lips into a grin.
Alpha let out a loud sigh.
“…..I will be cutting your research funding significantly next month.”
“Eh, why!”
“I told you, you can’t experiment on human subjects without permission. You should reflect on that.”
“Eeh, the development of shadow wisdom requires sacrifices.”
“Don’t eeh me. And if you find a technique that can be applied in this world, you must report it to me.”
“Okay.”
“There was one more thing she brought back with her.”
Alpha’s eyes narrowed.
“The thing ……. That otherworldly being woke up just now. I don’t understand her language, so she is talking to Beta right now. Her name is Akane.”
“Akane……, what else did you find out?”
“I think her body is almost the same as a human’s, but I don’t know the details yet. If I could experiment on humans, we’d know in a heartbeat.”
“Until things settle down, let Beta do her thing. Don’t do anything crazy, okay?”
“Yes”
Eta nodded reluctantly.
“Okay, I understand Eta’s case. So, what’s the second thing you have to report?”
Alpha spoke to Gamma.
“The second is about Zeta in the Kingdom of Midgar. Have you heard from Zeta?”
“No, nothing. She never reports to me at all. ……”
Alpha sighed again.
“I’ll let you know what I find out”
“Thank you, Gamma.”
“Fenrir faction is on the move. They seem to have kidnapped the students of Midgar Academy. We’ve recovered most of the demonic possessions, so they’re having a hard time unsealing them.”
“And what about Zeta?”
“That …… She hasn’t moved yet.”
“Zeta is still not moving?”
“Yes. I’m sure she’s aware of Fenrir’s movements, but…”
“She’s a good girl, that’s for sure, even if she’s a bit unpredictable. I wonder what’s going on.”
Alpha wondered a little.
“Fenrir faction has long controlled the underworld of the Kingdom of Midgar, even though it has wilted and fallen. Fenrir was one of the first Rounds members. He should never be underestimated.”
“The collapse of the trust must have taken enough of a toll on Fenrir’s faction. I thought they had very little strength and money left, but I wonder if that’s the bottom line of the first rounds…….”
“Perhaps we should send someone to support them. Midgar has Delta, but I don’t think those two can cooperate with each other.”
“Right…….”
Alpha said vaguely and looked at the scenery outside.
“I’m busy preparing the base, and Eta’s hands are tied with research. Beta has to deal with the other worlder and paperwork…… so I guess Epsilon is the one with free time. There are a few other numbers …….”
“No need.”
Alpha said, looking into the distance.
“But …… are you sure they can handle it?”
“Don’t worry. She will be fine. She has always been like that.”
It was an uncharacteristically optimistic view, Gamma thought.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
“I still remember the day I first met her. I had never seen such sad eyes, as if she hated everything in the world. I welcomed Zeta into the family to help heal the wounds in her heart,…… and she has changed.”
Alpha turns and looks at Gamma with those blue eyes.
“That’s why, don’t worry…… we’re family.”
Alpha smiled. It was an all-encompassing, gentle smile.