EP.235 I Have Come
'Huh? How did we end up in an all-out war with the Military Nation? I just made contact to scout...?'
The all-out war decided in a moment of confusion threw people into disarray. The regressor who handed over important information to the Resistance was one thing, but the princess who firmly ordered them to prepare for an attack was also utterly bewildered.
Anyway, someone has to do what needs to be done. There was no room for choice. The princess commanded her guardian knight.
"Knight. It's an order. I need someone to deliver this news to the Resistance and move with full force."
"Yes. We need that... But why are you saying that to me?"
Naturally, it meant for him to go and do it. The guardian knight's expression changed drastically as he caught the meaning hidden in those words.
Guardian Knight Sir Landemaier was the youngest and most powerful knight in the Resistance. Moving the rebel forces was his job. There was no problem at all.
However, he was a commander and at the same time the princess's guardian knight.
Even the guardian knight, hailed as the strongest of the Resistance, only had one body; if he devoted himself to one duty, he would inevitably neglect the other.
"You're telling me to go."
The princess, the very person he was supposed to escort, was halting her escort and ordering him to return and lead the troops here. The guardian knight spoke urgently.
"You cannot, Princess!"
"No matter how many times I think about it, this seems to be the only way."
"There is a Six-Star General here too!"
"He is the last graduate of Hamelin who got himself captured. Look. He can't even move against Siati, right? As much as Siati is safe, I am safe too."
"Siati isn't safe even if he's alone in a wide plain! He's the kind of guy who will burn himself if there's nothing else to burn! Rather, I will stay, so please command the Resistance, Princess! Are you not their master!"
The princess gave an awkward smile.
Not at all. The princess had no sense of ownership and did not reign over them.
The reason she took on that role was out of a sense of duty, and her role was merely a symbol to gather people by putting forward her face and bloodline.
The princess was a sacrifice. A sacrifice that the remnants found to use as firewood in order to deny that the era had ended.
The princess spoke self-deprecatingly.
"I'm just a figurehead. A symbol of the kingdom, and an expensive sacrifice. Anyway, negotiating with other forces is the only role given to me, so I must be in the place where I can play my role."
"A sacrifice?! What insolent person spouted such nonsense?! Just say the word. I will execute them immediately!"
"It's me. What extreme punishment are you going to give me?"
"I take back what I just said! Princess, please reconsider!"
The guardian knight was stubborn. Naturally. To leave the last descendant of the royal family, the princess he must protect with all his heart, among the worst criminals in history?
Even if the other exhausted and worn-out Resistance members didn't care, the loyalty he held toward the royal family was real. It was absolutely unacceptable.
"Even so, I cannot leave you alone, Princess! Let alone on the frontline where a battle will break out any moment now!"
Even if it was a temporary alliance. She had received information through a spy that they were not as dangerous as expected, but that was before they raided the headquarters.
Those who intended to raid the headquarters with only five members were extremely dangerous beings.
Not because their character was bad, but in the sense that they had the will to make abnormal choices with irrational power.
At the continued opposition, the princess sighed.
"Hoo. It seems it won't work with soft words."
"I'm sorry, but even if you say harsh words, my choice will not change."
The guardian knight resolved with firm will to accept all of the princess's tantrums or anger.
Until the princess brought up a single word.
"Brother. Are you joking?"
It was a title he hadn't heard in years, but fear preceded joy. While the guardian knight flinched, the princess gathered memories from when she had a disguised identity and shouted.
"Then what? There needs to be at least one person here, right? We are not the Military Nation. We don't have signalmen. If we have to leave the base and can't even use the Great White Wall, who will contact them and how will we negotiate?"
"T-That is. Siati is here, so there's no need for you to do it, Princess."
"That would be great! If we leave the negotiation to Siati, at some point we'll find ourselves leading the entire force and charging at the headquarters!"
"It's definitely true, but."
"Would you rather stay here and I go to the base? A naive figurehead leading people there, they'll listen so well."
"Wait, please wait."
"You said every second counts! Are you going or not?!"
As the princess suddenly yelled, the guardian knight flinched and stepped back at her fierce demeanor. He might be loyal as a knight, but he couldn't win against the princess who had gone into little sister mode.
Pushed by the princess's momentum, the guardian knight was driven back to the container entrance. Even now, the meta-conveyor belt was moving constantly. If he was going to move, it was better to move quickly.
Just before opening the container entrance and stepping out, he hesitated for a moment and emphasized to the princess.
"...I'll leave Selpie behind, so if things go wrong, get on Selpie and pull out. Selpie is a white horse that travels a thousand li, so no one will be able to catch up. Have Siati help you dress, and the spare clothing packets are here..."
"Just go!"
The guardian knight looked at the princess with eyes dripping with worry, then inevitably turned around and stepped out of the container. He quickly scanned his surroundings and threw himself outside the belt. He would probably gather the troops and catch up soon.
'...He's gone, right? Phew, thank goodness.'
The princess, who had been keeping an angry expression until his presence disappeared, sighed and relaxed her face. At that moment, the regressor strode up behind her.
"Wait. Princess. You're following us?"
At the sudden approach without any sense of distance, the princess tensed up and straightened her back.
"Y-Yes!"
"We're not going out to play right now."
When the regressor pointed it out coldly, the princess became noticeably flustered. The princess stuttered.
"You said you needed a spy, right? Then it would be better if I'm here. I took care of various negotiations that were too petty for the knights to handle."
"You could die, you know?"
"I'm part of the Resistance too. I'm prepared. And... I have something else I want as well."
"What do you want?"
The princess hesitated to speak for a moment. However, since the attack on the headquarters became certain, the only one who could help the princess now was the regressor.
'The knight gave us precious information. Hiding my true feelings here would be ungrateful. I didn't mean to interfere, but it's better to tell the truth...!'
"I... want to meet the headquarters. I want to meet them and talk."
Gathering both hands in front of her chest, the princess calmly confessed.
"Even though I'm saying this here, I don't think the Military Nation is evil. The Grandiomor royal family is of the heavenly fortune bloodline. Born with heavenly fortune yet dragged down by the people... The kingdom was already a failed nation."
A member of the Resistance and the princess of the kingdom, and the princess born with heavenly fortune poured out her true feelings that she couldn't dare to say inside the Resistance. Why the target was the regressor of all people... was unexpected. Anyway, it was an excellent choice.
Perhaps because they had a connection in a previous iteration, the regressor could fully empathize with the princess's secret feelings.
The regressor also had similar thoughts as the princess.
The regressor smirked.
"That's not something a princess should say."
"It's something only I can say. Isn't that the duty of the royal family?"
"So, what? Are you going to surrender to the headquarters?"
"...I can't do that. I don't think they would either. In my case, just being alive is a threat to the Military Nation... Regardless of my thoughts, the Military Nation and I cannot be on the same side."
Muttering self-deprecatingly, the princess suppressed her loneliness and spoke again.
"But even if I don't know, the Military Nation can become a better nation. Rather than oppressing, persecuting, and exploiting, it can become an ideal nation where everyone moves forward together. But whether the headquarters is forcibly turning a blind eye, or truly doesn't know... I want to ask them."
"If you meet them, you'll die nine times out of ten."
"Ehehe. From the moment I was born a princess, my life was already forfeit anyway."
The princess smiled awkwardly. It was a smile of resignation.
"You can do it as a price for my cooperation. If not, you can just think of using me as a spy and infiltrating me first. Or... could I talk with them for a moment before we attack the headquarters?"
The princess clasped her hands together and begged earnestly. It was so pitiful and forlorn that any man with even a speck of romance would not be able to help but nod.
However, the regressor's romance had completely worn away, and she wasn't even a man. Even in the face of a gesture that would move a man's heart, the regressor was calm.
"I don't know where the headquarters is either."
'Even when I brought down the Military Nation in the past, I couldn't find the headquarters or the Supreme Commander issuing orders inside. Until that iteration ended. When the Military Nation perished, they would just evaporate just like that.'
Huh? She doesn't know?
This was unexpected for me too. I thought she was attacking because she naturally knew the location, but she couldn't find it even while destroying the Military Nation over 13 iterations? If she doesn't know, how is she going to find her way there?
Fortunately, the regressor wasn't that reckless.
"But I know where their orders are transmitted from. If we go there... you'll probably be able to have the conversation you want. Though it's uncertain if they will respond to the conversation."
"Where is that?"
"Command and Control Center."
The regressor recalled the memories of the previous iteration. From beyond time and space, which I couldn't read clearly, a faint image slowly drew itself.
In a corner of the headquarters, some of the warehouses contained a certain space where military access was extremely limited. It was publicly known to be inhabited by signalmen, but it was a veiled space where no one actually knew who the signalmen were.
A structure similar to the windowless room seen during the Tantalus Collapse.
Recalling that, the regressor overlaid the slightly more exhausted and older princess onto the princess before her eyes. It seemed to be the appearance of the princess she had met in the past.
'You had less leeway than this in the previous iteration. You wanted to... talk, but you didn't aim for it at the risk of your comrades or your own life. Well, let's see this time...'
"In a corner of the headquarters' large base, a small base has twenty-six signalmen who deliver the headquarters' orders. It's the only channel that directly connects to the headquarters. It's a strategic target anyway... If we occupy that place, you'll be able to have the conversation you want."
The regressor was endlessly lenient toward this person who had been a comrade in a previous iteration. As she showed kindness with a relatively soft tone, the princess bowed her head and clenched her fists.
"Yes...! Thank you!"
'As expected, a good person...!'