Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

“Marriage…?”

“Indeed. I only heard about this a few days ago, but I apparently have a fianceé.”

This year, Princess Milena became 16, so it wouldn’t be weird for any sort of marriage talk to surface. However, a marriage inside the royal family practically boils down to politics and diplomacy. As Princess Milena would eventually rise to become the Queen, this fiance had the right to become a prince escort, greatly changing the country as a whole.

Either choose a prince escort from the country itself, or invite someone from a foreign country, it would be a harsh decision, and rumours would spread right away. And right now, this person had already been decided.

“So…can we ask about that person?”

“Yes, he is the third prince of the Galgan Empire, Maizar Leng Galgan.”

“From the Galgan Empire!?”

Because the identity of this person was completely out of his range of expectations, not only Kyle, but also his friends were shocked. The Galgan Empire is currently the greatest force the entire human folk has to offer, and is expanding even now. As for the relationship between the Galgan Empire and Kingdom of Zilgus, it is…dangerous to say the least.

The Empire was a young country aiming to expand its territory across the continent, whereas Zilgus had a long history on these lands, taking a more protective role. Back when both countries were surrounding a certain location two years ago, a war was about to break out between them. This location is known as the city-state Callan.

“This story traces back to this very fight for Callan.” Princess Milena started explaining.

From the very beginning, Callan had been a city-state located to the south-east of Zilgus. Being a mining city, with a lot of the dwarven race living there, it provided Zilgus with a great amount of high-quality minerals. At the same time, they were the only ones on the entire continent who held the skill to mine and process mithril. Reigning over this city had great meaning for the economy, as well as the military. A variety of larger countries had set their eyes on this very city, but the surrounding mountainous region made it hard for these countries to attack.

With this topographical position, and their defenses that made it more like a fortress than a city-state, Callan has continued to stay independent for a long time. However, two years ago, through its continuous growth and expenditure, the Galgan Empire eventually reached Callan offering subordination, however this was rejected. The Empire attempted many negotiations, but at the end of it all, they prepared for war.

Callan employed excellent squads of dwarf warriors and mercenaries who could deal with the unfortunate topographical situation, and was sure that the Empire would give up eventually. However, the Empire possessed the strongest warriors of the entire human folk, together with strong magic weapons and their Archmages, as well as attacks from the sky, which was outside Callan’s expectations.

They misread the strength of the Empire, and realized their impending loss, which is why they requested help from Zilgus. As a condition, they would become a governed city-state under Zilgus. If Callan had surrendered to the Empire right away, they would have guaranteed proper protection, but now that they were preparing for war, they would show no restraint, and keep going until they possessed utter control over Callan.

Even if they were granted a place under the umbrella that is the Empire’s reign, Callan would not be able to reign as freely as before, so they practically begged Zilgus for a dependent relationship. If they turned into a client state of Zilgus, they would still be under someone else’s reign, but a certain level of independence was guaranteed through that. As the loss of Callan to the Galgan Empire would be akin to a slice at Zilgus’ throat, they immediately responded to this call of help.

Like this, the Kingdom of Zilgus and the Galgan Empire were surrounding Callan, about to end up in a war with one more spark. Although the Empire amassed the greatest military force of the human folk, Zilgus was one of the few biggest countries on the continent. If they were to fight head-on, the amount of casualties would be uncountable. Wanting to avoid this all-out war, the Galgan Empire eventually pulled back.

On top of that, the Empire formed a non-aggression contract with Callan, in addition to paying indemnities for the declaration of war, so the Empire clearly were the ones to break off this war.

“As it turns out, there was a secret agreement, stating that His Excellency Maizar and I are to get married.” King Remonas only informed a small selection of people about this agreement, Princess Milena naturally not being one of them.

It was as if she wasn’t involved in this incident in the slightest. That’s what Kyle thought after listening to Princess Milena. On the surface, it seemed like the Galgan Empire pulled back purposefully, but instead of Callan itself, they managed to infiltrate the blood of the Emperor into the bloodline of Zilgus’ royal family. Thanks to this, the Empire will gain much more influence inside the Kingdom of Zilgus, even possibly allowing them for easier invasion at a later date. Despite them gaining Callan in the process, Zilgus has lost much more, ending up in the submissive role of that incident.

However, what if the partner of this promised marriage, Princess Milena, were to pass away before that?

Naturally, that kind of thought would pop up in everyone’s heads. Of course, the Empire would request a marriage between one of theirs and Prince Carenas, but providing a princess for this was not that easy. Maybe they could make it so that Prince Carenas already has an official fiance, or he could be disinherited beforehand—that is probably what King Remonas was thinking.

He sure loves thinking about the most gruesome things…so that’s why he wanted to see the Princess dead.

Otherwise, he would be a failure as a king.

“I am now thinking of publicly declining this marriage. In a few days, an envoy from the Galgan Empire will visit us, so…” Princess Milena explained, but Kyle had his doubts.

“Decline? What happens to Callan then?”

“Of course, Callan will remain a client state of Zilgus. The marriage and Callan’s situation have no correlation whatsoever, at least publicly, and there are no official documents stating anything regarding the marriage. If I decline it with a reason that the circumstances have changed, there will be no problem.”

Basically, playing dumb that everything had been decided on the selfish and ridiculous plans of the previous king. Of course, there’s no way the Galgan Empire would accept this.

“I would like to explain this to the head of Callan, and ask for their cooperation. That is why I wanted to request your group as envoys.” This was Princess Milena’s request. “I want you to deliver these documents.”

“There is one thing I would like to ask…Why does it have to be us?” Kyle voiced the obvious doubt.

There should be enough people to ask to deliver a few documents, especially if it’s a mere letter.

“First, the current Zilgus is in quite the disarray after my Father passed away. At the same time, I cannot risk asking anybody I cannot fully trust.” Princess Milena argued. “Basically, it’s a lack of personnel.”

The whole process of coronation was suddenly moved forward a few years, in a situation where Princess Milena was severely unprepared. The case related to Callan was indeed crucial to consider, but with their own situation this complicated, they had to take priorities.

“At the same time, we have to watch over the Empire’s attitude towards this.”

Now their plan to conquer Zilgus from the inside has failed, they might soon be moving on to another method, or so guessed Princess Milena.

“They won’t attempt anything right away, I’m sure. And, since the non-aggression contract between Callan and the Empire still exists, they wouldn’t rush things…However, there is no mistaking that they will eventually have to act more aggressively compared to before.”

Or in other words, these envoys were in danger of attack.

“At the same time, although I believe that the chance of this happening is very slim…There might be a chance that people of the Empire are involved in that attempted incident…”

That attempted incident referred to the failed assassination of Princess Milena.

“Huh? But, the empire would profit from this marriage, correct? Why would they contradict themselves…?” Lieze voiced a doubt. “An assassination would ruin all of that, right?”

Princess Milena however shook her head, explaining that the Empire isn’t one entire faction.

“Even as the goal of expanding their territory may be the same, there is a faction that wishes to achieve this through battle and war, as well as another faction who would like the empire to gain more influence through clever politics, such as this marriage. Depending on it, they might even plan to assassinate me, and leave hints of the Empire’s contribution behind. Once Zilgus was to find this, and protest, they would counter with ‘There is no concrete proof for our involvement, and are nothing more but harsh accusations’, and use this to declare war instead.”

“Sounds ridiculous…” Urza sighed in disbelief. “The things humans worry about…”

“Indeed. I am well aware that they wouldn’t act as frivolous and devoid of any shame like that, but we need to be prepared in the event that they want to drive us into a corner.” Princess Milena sighed in disbelief.

Basically, she can only rely on Kyle’s group, as they already saved her once, and possessed enough strength to protect themselves. At the same time, if she let anybody but them travel, and they happened to reveal anything about the failed assassination, Princess Milena would be even more in danger.

“If you were to accept, then I would ask you to prepare sometime tomorrow. My apologies for making this so sudden, but I would ask you to decide by tomorrow morning.” Princess Milena continued. “I prepared a room for you as well.” She said, and left the room.

That night, Kyle was laying on the bed of the room that was prepared for them. He discussed it with everyone, but since nobody had any reason to decline, they left it to their leader Kyle.

“They said I could, but…I can’t decline this, can I…”

Denying a request from the Princess herself would be foolish. Though she said she wouldn’t mind, it would practically be seen as a break of trust. Both in terms of location and military power, Zilgus is a crucial military force for the Great Invasion. Kyle needed this country’s assistance in order to fight it off. At the same time, meeting the current leader of Callan would be of benefit for Kyle as well.

A wide variety of skilled dwarf blacksmiths lived in Callan, and with their help, Kyle and his group managed to make it through the final battle against the Demon Lord. As of right now, most of Kyle’s group used mithril as material for their magical metal, but that alone wasn’t enough. Only the dwarves of Callan could truly process that material, so taking up this request might be worth their time after all.

“I’m not the biggest fan, but…it won’t hurt.”

If there was one problem, it would be the movement of the Galgan Empire. Kyle believed that the Empire was not involved in the planned assassination of the Princess…or rather, he knew of that. However, the chances of them planning something in Callan were pretty high. Naturally, Kyle wasn’t too fond of making human folk’s greatest military force his enemy. Thinking about the future, he practically hoped that he might end up on their good side.

“If the Empire is involved here…then dealing with it would be difficult.” He sighed.

Most problematic for Kyle however was his initial desire to keep a bit of a distance from the princess. Although he did save her life, her own father died by his hands, and this bit away at his conscience. He didn’t even know what face to make when talking to her.

“…So many things to worry about lately…”

‘It’s important to use your head at times.’

As Kyle groaned and pushed his head into his pillow, the sword standing next to his bed, Shildonia, spoke up. The phantom of Shildonia, looking like a young girl, was currently sleeping on another bed. Although creating this phantom had a certain maximum distance, doing it in the same building was possible.

‘This is just an assumption of mine, but I feel like another problem will occur at Callan, unrelated to the Empire.’

“What do you mean?”

‘Don’t you think it’s weird? The king of their adjoint country died barely ten days ago, and yet the head of this client state hasn’t come to the royal capital.’

“Now that you mention it…”

Because of Malad’s condolence call for the king, many nobles and influential people all over the country came here. Yet, the current head of the client-state Callan was nowhere to be found.

‘Good proof for this is the fact that the Princess didn’t explain this. There must be something odd going on in Callan, and she wants us to look into that, or even clear that up. This might just be some kind of test even.’

Delivering these documents must be the bare minimum, but the Princess would be further satisfied if they managed to solve the ongoing problem at Callan.

“So she’s trying to see if I’m useful to her later down the line…”

‘That can’t be helped, it’s a crucial skill to find multiple meanings in one action. Just think of this having high expectations of you. What she probably wants right now are trustworthy subordinates, or someone to support her.’ Shildonia must have felt some dissatisfaction in Kyle’s words, as she provided a short follow-up.

Right now, she might be a magical entity, but Shildonia’s original identity is actually the [Magic King], reigning during the era of the Ancient Magic Kingdom Zaales. As she held a mentality closest to Princess Milena, she probably could understand what she was thinking more than anybody in Kyle’s group.

“I’m not complaining. If anything, I’m thankful that she’s giving me the choice to decline despite telling us about Callan and the Galgan Empire’s relation in all of this.” Kyle said as he stood up, heading for the door.

‘Where are you going?’

“The toilet. You go to sleep already.”

As a guest here at the royal palace, Kyle ran into one of the caretaking maids, and had her guide him to the toilet. The time was already moving towards midnight. Yet, light was always burning somewhere in the hallways. If this was the afternoon, you would surely be able to enjoy the great view on the courtyard through the hallway windows, pleasing the people passing through.

As Kyle was walking back to his room, he spotted a group of people walking towards him. This turned out to be Princess Milena herself, accompanied by a maid and a knight. Seeing this, Kyle made way, and gently lowered his head. He wanted to walk away after this, but the Princess called out to him.

“Um, I know that time has progressed much deeply into the night, but could I…ask you to join me for a walk?”

Her voice sounded like it was filled with a bit of sadness, and grief.