Chapter 9: War

At last, the potion-selling business that Kaoru had always wanted to start up had finally begun taking shape. As the effects of what her potions could do began spreading around the rumor mill, the market for them opened in a flash.

The Abili Trade Company acted as the distributor, sending their main inventory to their branch stores in other towns and consigning smaller stock to local shops where Abili hadn’t operated.

Those who lived somewhere five or more days outside of the shipping territories would need to travel to a town close enough to get the potions before the expiration date kicked in. Considering this, however, it wasn’t all that much to ask to fix any injury or sickness that ailed them. They didn’t even have to go all the way to the capital. There were also express horses sent out every day to reach those too infirm to move properly or those who required immediate aid. They even traveled to the poorer areas, and the fastest horses could reach almost any destination in the country within four days.

As you can imagine, there were plenty of aristocrats, moneybags, government officials, and soldiers who would be willing to fork over the cash to keep the horses running, just in case anything happened. If nothing did occur and they didn’t need such aid after all, they’d be able to sell off the extra potions for cheap to the public, since the potions would lose its effectiveness the day after being delivered.

All deliveries made by express horse went through strict regulations: Could the person in question really not make it to one of the other towns selling potions? Was there any chance of them just being in it to trying to sell the potions off to someone else?

If it was ever discovered the recipient was illegally reselling the potions or they were guilty of some other crime, the perpetrator’s family, relatives, even their friends and acquaintances, would lose the privilege of receiving potions. Such a ban would stay in effect for the perpetrator’s lifetime, which would usually result in the perpetrator being murdered by one of their relatives.

If it turned out to be a noble trying to twist the distribution of potions in their favor, they’d no longer receive shipments to the territories they controlled—also for the duration of their lifetime. Strangely enough, those types of nobles usually ended up dead after a horrible accident befell them or after succumbing to a mysterious illness, which would be when their sons would take over as heads of household.

It went without saying that the nobles who were more decent human beings and shared their potions with the masses experienced an upswell of goodwill.

The youths with promising futures who had been cruelly taken away due to minor negligence were dwindling in number. Soldiers could devote themselves fully to their training and duties without concern for injuries, leading to major improvements in their abilities and skills.

The people of the royal capital could all probably guess where the potions were coming from, but they didn’t dare pry into the matter. No one thought they could glean any benefit from trying to get involved. If they did, and things went south, it could mean losing the potions for good. Since they’d have to bear the entirety of the blame for such a grievous crime, they had a pretty good reason to keep to themselves—besides, they thought poking their noses where they didn’t belong would earn them a visit from the castle’s soldiers.

The number of sick and injured people in the Kingdom of Balmore gradually declined; meanwhile, the birth rate was on the rise. With the previously sick and disabled able to return to work, the budget and personnel needed to run care facilities or provide medicine for individuals like them were on the decline as well.

However, Kaoru was sure to warn them, given that something might happen to her, that they still needed to train people as doctors and other medical professions that required substantial training ahead of time. They had to keep improving their own medical techniques, as well as preparing an appropriate budget and other necessary arrangements, should the worst come to pass. She had Roland make sure the king understood that, loud and clear.

Since the capital of Grua lay slightly farther to the east, it took about six days by cart for potions to reach the border between Brancott and Balmore, or around two to three days by express horse. Because Aras, the capital of Brancott, lay further to the west, potions could be delivered there if they sent a professional rider on horseback. That way, the Kingdom of Brancott was just barely able to receive the prosperity brought by potions, as well.

Balmore had strong, long-established ties with the Kingdom of Aseed to the south, so they could stand in solidarity against the militaristic Aligot Empire that lay to the west of the two countries. Because they had the good fortune of sharing their northern and southern borders with each other, Aseed was also able to receive the blessing of potions.

The northernmost parts of Balmore faced the ocean, which stretched all the way from the northeast of the country to the center of the northern border.

To the northwest lay the Holy Land of Rueda, a country roughly one-tenth of the size of Balmore. It was a theocratic nation, formed long ago around the area where the Goddess Celestine had descended from on high to save the people. Though it was a small country, other countries still paid their due respects to Rueda.

But with the goddess not showing herself over the past fifty-three years, the number of pilgrimages had declined, which meant the amount of offerings the country received had drastically fallen, as well. Fishing was the only industry available to them, outside of their religious influence, and they were slowly losing power as a country.

With rumors spreading about the “miracles of the Goddess” happening in Balmore, Rueda gave the order to have the angel bringing about those miracles brought before them. However, the archbishop of the main temple in the capital replied that they couldn’t do so because she wasn’t of the same faith as them, while the only response they received from the king was how they couldn’t comply because Balmore kept religious and governmental affairs separate.

Then came the circulation of the healing potions. After sending their own people to investigate, it was deemed that it was as if the distributors had bottled a fragment of miraculous prowess from the Goddess herself. And the source of those potions: the Kingdom of Balmore.

Rueda believed that it was the only place that should be blessed with miracles. At this rate, Balmore would steal away their “holy land” title.

With the sense of impending danger weighing all the more heavily on the top brass of Rueda, the country began concocting a variety of schemes to deal with the situation unfolding before them.

At the very edge of the peninsula, which was home to all these countries, was the Aligot Empire, a country that focused all of its efforts on strengthening its military might. It shared its borders with the Holy Land of Rueda in the north, the Kingdom of Aseed in the south, and even the Kingdom of Balmore along its central borders. Steep mountains stood between it and the other countries, however, which meant the only way to travel by cart was along the northern coastline to Rueda, or the southern one to Aseed. If anyone from Aligot wanted to head directly to Balmore, they would have to traverse the treacherous mountains on foot without the aid of horses.

Aligot didn’t have much in the way of industry going for it, and the three countries that bordered the empire were able to extract the same resources from the oceans and mountains. This was why the other three countries didn’t feel like they had to force themselves to trade with Aligot, or set their sights on trying to claim their land for themselves.

But the same couldn’t be said of the Aligot Empire. To accommodate the growth of its own country, it needed to keep expanding toward the main portion of the peninsula. If it couldn’t gain any new territory from across the mountain range, it wouldn’t be able to meet the needs of its country with what it produced on its own. That was why it poured so much of its national spending into developing its military.

A country that barely saw trade and concentrated all its resources to strengthen its military... The only choice available was to put that military might to use, and soon.

It was then that the Kingdom of Balmore began saturating the market with potions. By some cruel twist of fate, the potions only worked within five days of making them. Even if the empire tried importing them via Rueda, the potions wouldn’t make it to Aligot before their expiration date was up.

That meant they couldn’t be used for war!

But if the potions couldn’t be delivered within five days, then Aligot needed to make its own potions. That way it could use all the potions it wanted to conduct its military campaigns. It would force the other countries to surrender to its overwhelming military might, and it would finally be able to expand into the main continent!

To make that happen, Aligot had to bring down the Kingdom of Balmore and obtain the secret of making those potions for itself.

Thus marked the beginning of the Aligot Empire putting its plans into action...

“So that makes five, then...”

“Indeed. That would make three incidents from Rueda, and two from Aligot, thus far,” the prime minister said, recapping the current state of affairs to the king while Roland stood at Serge’s side.

“Requests to be put into contact with Kaoru, invitations for her to go to their country, and even attempted kidnappings...”

“Fortunately for us, the spies Miss Kaoru has been turning in to us have related everything they know. Since we’ve already captured those responsible for sending reports back detailing the events after making contact with her, I would think the countries that sent them shouldn’t have received any information about her.”

“But there must be other spies out there besides the group trying to contact Kaoru directly and the team supporting them. Even if they don’t report back on what happened after making contact with her, they should already know about Kaoru herself. She’s fairly well-known around the capital, after all...”

“I know we expected Aligot to make their move soon, but I never thought Rueda would resort to taking extreme measures like these, as well...” Roland spoke up, adding to the discussion. “Are they not afraid of rousing the Goddess’s anger, or having divine punishment dropped on their heads? Even if they did capture Kaoru, they must have known it’d be practically impossible to force her to do as they wished.”

“Perhaps they only think of Miss Kaoru as a girl who can make potions?” the prime minister suggested.

“Huh...?” Serge and Roland exchanged glances.

“At any rate, we can assume the empire will begin their invasion soon enough. Now it’s only a matter of whether they will occupy Aseed before leading an assault on our country, forcing their way through Aseed to attack us directly, or if they will pass through Rueda to get to us, since the Holy Land is neutral territory...”

“But Rueda would never allow Aligot’s armies to pass through, correct? Their neutrality wouldn’t allow such a thing.”

“The question then is if a country backed into a corner would actually respect something like that.”

“You’re right...”

“At any rate, we need to send a messenger to Rueda to warn them of Aligot’s plans, and to request that they contact us should anything happen. Let’s dispatch guards from our own country there as well. After that, all that’s left is for us to increase our defenses so that the soldiers are ready to move out at any time.”

“Right, that’s just about all we can do...” Roland agreed.

At that very moment, the sound of frantic footsteps rapidly drew closer toward them...

Potion sales were booming. Kaoru didn’t really want to become filthy rich off the potion business, but it was true that the more money she had meant the more things she could do.

The first thing Kaoru did was rent a nice house with a garden on the edge of the commoners’ district. It was a bit worn down, but still a fairly large place—large enough that she had all the members of the Eyes of the Goddess stay there, as well.

After getting them all proper sets of nice clothes to wear, she did her best getting them some normal work: waiting jobs at restaurants, doing odd jobs for people about town, working food carts in the plaza... There were all sorts of jobs they could do that made it easier to gather information.

The food carts did a roaring trade selling the pseudo-takoyaki, taiyaki, and udon that Kaoru had come up with. Kaoru’s friends at the workshop had made the molds for the takoyaki and taiyaki, and she’d made sure to pay them for the job, of course.

Besides the potion business, Kaoru was also continuing to distribute her magical cure-all tears of the goddess in secret...but to be honest, it was a pretty public secret at this point. Everyone always had the same reaction when she showed up wearing her mask: They would act surprised for her benefit and exclaim things like, “Wh-Who are you?!” always making sure to say things like, “I don’t know who you are, but thank you!” when she left.

Much to Emile’s (and everyone else’s) shock, Kaoru was actually under the impression that no one knew it was her. But no one was going to be fooled by just a mask, and that went double if they already knew her. That kind of stuff only happened in the magical girl shows Kaoru watched as a kid in her world.

That was how Kaoru had earned the gratitude and goodwill of the people, thus guaranteeing that no noble or anyone from the temple would be able to lay a finger on her without some sort of retribution. Kaoru’s place in the kingdom was all but assured.

Every once in awhile she’d have to deal with strange people trying to get close to her, but they would always spill their guts and reveal their true plans after drinking some of the tea she served them. That was when she’d give a signal to the plainclothes guards (probably assigned to watch over her) who would come and take them away.

Kaoru had no interest whatsoever in getting involved with some militaristic country, much less a religious state. But, unbeknownst to her, the situation between these countries was changing far more rapidly than she could have ever possibly imagined.

“Your Majesty, the empire has made their move!” the soldier exclaimed as he burst into the room.

“What?! Where are they invading from, Rueda or Aseed?!”

“Th-They...” The soldier hesitated slightly before answering the king. “They came through the mountains! They’re advancing directly on Balmore!”

“Oh, no...”

Disbelief escaped the lips of the king and his ministers. Had heavily armed soldiers actually made it through such a forbidding mountain path? How would they receive any supplies if not even wagons could traverse the treacherous route? The questions were endless, but there was no use worrying about them now, if they had indeed already made it over the mountains.

“What are their forces like?”

“Approximately 30,000, sir. It appears just under 10,000 of them are transportation personnel, and half of those are retreating back through the mountains. The remaining 5,000 are said to be dragging carts they’ve assembled after crossing the mountain range.”

“So they sent back the people they didn’t need after they finished carrying the weapons and disassembled carts... That means we must be looking at around 20,000 soldiers and 5,000 transport troops...”

They immediately launched into an emergency meeting to decide how to handle the sudden developments before them. Though the Kingdom of Balmore stretched from east to west, the royal capital of Grua lay more on the eastern side. Aligot was invading through the western edge of the country, the farthest spot from the capital. There was still plenty of time, but the longer they took to respond, the greater the damage the western towns would take. With the invading forces lacking supplies, it was expected that the usual process of ransacking homes and commandeering goods would be that much more ruthless as a result.

Balmore had 40,000 soldiers and 4,000 support troops available for its counterattack. Since the conflict was happening inside the kingdom, Balmore held the advantage when it came to supplying its troops. They could actually use horses, unlike their enemy, and in terms of pure military strength, they had double the soldiers of the Aligot forces, all of whom were ready to deploy almost immediately.

However, the emphasis was on “almost.” These weren’t exactly the armies you would find back on modern-day Earth, and it would take a few days to gather the resources necessary to send out the troops.

“No mounted troops, and 20,000 soldiers... Do they think they can win with just that?” one of the ministers murmured.

“No, there may be another two or three waves of reinforcements still crossing the mountains. Half of their transport troops turned back, after all...”

“True. They may not be preparing for a direct assault on the capital, but planning to build up a stronghold by occupying the western territories before slowly advancing on Grua. There’s also the possibility that they could throw something simple together using the carts and wagons they seize from the territories they invade.”

“In any case, we should be thankful to have Brancott at our backs. We’ll be able to send all our forces west without worrying about what’s behind us. Brancott and Aseed should both know that Aligot will come for them next if we fall, so it’s impossible to think they would betray us.”

“Yes, we can be sure of that, at least.”

The meeting continued after deciding what course of action to take. The person in charge of logistics ran off to put out a call for soldiers and to prepare wagons and supplies for the battle ahead.

And so, the war raged on.

There was no open declaration of hostilities, yet the army of one country had invaded through another’s borders. It was plain to see they were already at war.

The royal capital was abuzz with talk about it, but no one seemed to have a particularly grim outlook on the matter. It was common knowledge that the Aligot Empire devoted most of its efforts into strengthening its military, but it didn’t have much in the way of national finance due to the steep mountains that half-isolated the country. Even its population was smaller compared to the other countries around it. Not only that, but crossing the mountains to invade meant that the soldiers couldn’t bring horses or any significant quantity of weapons with them, so it wouldn’t even be able to put the full might of its military to good use.

There was still a great distance between them and the royal capital. Even if, by some chance, the enemy succeeded in their advance, there was plenty of time for its citizens to escape. So long as people weren’t around when the actual fighting broke out, they wouldn’t have to fear for their lives.

Now, it wasn’t as if the soldiers were all bloodthirsty conquerors who wanted to massacre everyone in the territories they would occupy or anything like that. The invading forces would just treat the people living there as new citizens to collect revenue from. To the residents, it would just seem like they changed tax collectors...so long as their occupiers didn’t ransack them first, that is.

Just days after learning of the enemy’s plans, the allied soldiers who had gathered from the surrounding nobles’ territories joined with the main forces in the royal capital before heading out to battle. They would rendezvous with the other troops out on the western front as they advanced on the encroaching army. The question that remained was whether they would meet the enemy while en route, or if they would have to break through the simple fortified encampments the enemy soldiers had thrown together.

It took time relaying messages in this world, so it was nearly impossible to get an accurate read on what the enemy was doing. Generals were in charge of giving orders to the soldiers on the field, while the king himself would never show up on the front lines. All he had to do was keep himself heavily fortified in the royal castle. If they were to lose the war, however, he would be the one to offer himself up over the lives of the people. That was his job, and the price he paid for the immense power he held.

It had been seven days since the armies left the royal capital to intercept the invading forces. King Serge and his brother Roland were currently in the middle of a meeting with their ministers.

“Considering how many days it took for news of the enemy’s invasion to reach us, the days needed to prepare our soldiers, and the week since we sent out our army...if the enemy didn’t elect to stay put, our forces should be making contact with them right about now,” the king murmured to himself.

“Yes, that’s correct,” one of the king’s advisors responded. “The enemy should be moving at a snail’s pace due to their lack of horses. Even if our forces are avoiding forced marches to prevent exhausting our soldiers, it should only be a matter of time.”

“But it will still take several days for us to know even that...”

Considering the time it took for them to send out their forces, it should have taken the soldiers around six to seven days to finally engage with the enemy. But as it was, there was no way for them to know if that was true or not, at least not right now.

The battlefield for this skirmish was far removed from the Aligot Empire’s borders. Even if they used the fastest horses they had, its army still had to deal with the mountain range that separated the empire from everything else. It would take at least ten days before Aligot heard any news about when the fighting had started.

Just as they were about to wrap up the meeting, a messenger came rushing into the room.

“Urgent news! Aligot forces have invaded Balmore through Rueda’s borders, around 20,000 strong!”

“WHAT?!”

The meeting room was in an uproar. It wasn’t that they hadn’t considered the possibility of Aligot invading on multiple fronts, since that was exactly why they’d kept soldiers behind to protect the royal capital. More troops from the easternmost corners of Balmore hadn’t arrived in time to head out with the main force, so the extra soldiers were stationed around the capital to bolster their forces near Grua. All together, their numbers totaled around 15,000, less than the soldiers advancing upon them from Rueda.

Having fewer soldiers wouldn’t be so much of a problem if they were going to be fighting a defensive battle. They’d be in a tight spot if the enemy outnumbered them more than three-to-one, but they should still hold the advantage if it was 20,000 against 15,000. Even then, however, that would mean they’d have to hole up in the capital and fight using siege warfare tactics in order for them to have a chance at winning. If it came down to that, all the towns in the enemy’s path would fall victim to looting and pillaging, and trying to fight a long, drawn-out siege would lead to the soldiers taking all sorts of losses as well.

Adding more to the pile of issues they already had to deal with, the new problem was the possibility that Rueda had become their enemy as well. The only way Aligot’s forces could invade Rueda was through the northwestern coastline, which meant that Rueda should have been able to send a report to Balmore about the invading forces immediately.

With Rueda’s neutrality trampled on, Rueda should have done everything it could to stop Aligot while requesting aid from the other countries—and yet, Balmore had received no such request.

Only one conclusion could be drawn from that realization: Rueda had aligned itself with the Aligot Empire.

“Any orders we send to our main forces now won’t make it in time. Even if they manage to repel the enemy in front of them, they’ll end up taking massive losses if they’re attacked from behind. Our only choice now is to send a messenger to let them know of the situation and have them come back immediately after fending off the enemy forces they’re currently dealing with. We will wall ourselves off in the capital and have our main forces attack them from the rear when they return.”

“But if their goal is to distract our main forces so their armies can simply avoid fighting and retreat, this conflict will never get resolved, wouldn’t you agree?”

The ministers all voiced their opinions one after the other. They all made valid points, but the choices currently available to them were limited.

In the end, they decided upon reporting the situation to their main forces and ordering a retreat, then having the soldiers in the capital prepare for siege warfare.

The next day, an envoy from Rueda arrived at the palace. They presented themselves as a cardinal, riding in an extravagant coach along with their attendants. They came bearing a handwritten letter from the pope, expressing his desire to take the girl who received the blessing of the Goddess under his care before the city was engulfed in war.

It was all one grand farce, and the king and everyone else knew it. The ministers firmly expressed their desire to reject him and show the cardinal the door, but Roland had other plans.

“No, let’s have them meet with Kaoru and have her persuade them instead.”

The ministers were shocked, vehemently voicing their opposition to the idea. King Serge, on the other hand, knew his brother well, and, for some reason, a smile was playing on his lips.

“But,” Roland continued, “that’s only after we make sure to explain precisely what’s going on to her—and you can be sure we’ll tell her everything.”

As the ministers thought back on what Kaoru had done and the verbal thrashings she had given in the past, grins slowly crept across their features. It was unanimously decided that they would go along with Roland’s proposition.

After receiving a message from Francette, Kaoru found herself going to the Adan residence for the first time in a while. That they weren’t meeting at the Lyodart household meant that this wasn’t a public gathering.

When she arrived, Roland proceeded to fill her in on all sorts of things: the situation between the countries, how the empire had been driven into a corner, the war, and even what Rueda had been plotting.

“So does that mean...this war is my fault?” Kaoru asked Roland.

“No, it’s not,” came his ready reply. “From a geopolitical standpoint, Aligot had to invade another country due to being trapped in their corner of the peninsula. They then focused too much on developing their military power on top of that. Wars aren’t something you can be ready for with just a few months of preparation, after all, which is exactly why they’ve been preparing all this time. At most, they may have just decided to include you on their long list of reasons for starting this war.”

Kaoru was a little relieved to hear Roland say that. The thought of someone starting a war over her had twisted her stomach in knots... But more than that, she was pissed about what Rueda was doing.

“Alright, I got it,” Kaoru answered. “Then we’ll speak with them here tomorrow afternoon.”

“Understood. We’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

As they wrapped things up, the corners of their mouths had turned up slightly...all because of the two devilish grins they now wore on their faces.

When Kaoru got back to the workshop, she mulled over everything she’d just heard in her head. This time, however, it wasn’t to find a way out of this situation. She wanted to hit the enemy with everything she had, and she’d squeeze out every last drop of what she knew to make it happen.

She wasn’t going to hold back on using her powers anymore. There were already so many people out there who thought she was some sort of goddess already, and plenty more thought she’d earned the favor of Celes, so nothing would really change from her gaining a few more mysterious powers. It was far more important now to ensure that anyone besides the bad guys and soldiers wouldn’t lose their lives in vain.

...That’s right, even the soldiers, good or bad. It was their job, after all, and they had chosen that path of their own volition.

She continued thinking things over as she prepared dinner for everyone at the workshop, and even while she cleaned everything up afterward. When she finally decided on her course of action, Kaoru headed off to bed to prepare herself for the next day.

The next day, at the Adan residence, Earl Adan, Roland, Francette, Kaoru, and the group from Rueda were all gathered in the same room. There were guards posted outside the room and around the perimeter of the mansion.

“It’s an honor to meet with you, Lady Angel!” Cardinal Whatever-His-Name-Was greeted Kaoru, a smile on his face. He was accompanied by two bishops and several priests, as well.

The cardinal was completely bald and sported a lengthy mustache, and the roundness of his gut told everything one needed to know about the lavish lifestyle he lived. Kaoru had made it clear she didn’t want to be called an “angel” or anything of the sort, so either the cardinal hadn’t done his research beforehand, or he was doing it on purpose to try and put her on a pedestal.

“No, I’m not Celes’s errand girl or anything, and everyone around here knows that. You don’t actually know one thing about me, do you?”

The cardinal began sweating a little at Kaoru’s chilly response.

“But anyone who delivers the word of Lady Celestine must be an angel sent by the Goddess herself!” It seemed the cardinal was fully set on making Kaoru out to be a messenger of the Goddess.

“Hmph, I see... So, why did you ask to see me?”

The cardinal launched into his explanation, doing everything he could to persuade Kaoru after the lukewarm reaction she gave him. “Well, as you may already be aware, the armies of the Aligot Empire are currently on their way here to Grua. That is why we wanted to take you to safety before they arrived. There is no place safer than the Holy Land of Rueda, where we wish to offer you protection at our Grand Temple...”

“But isn’t that because Rueda allowed this to happen in the first place?”

“Huh...?” The cardinal found himself at a sudden loss for words.

“Rueda was invaded from the northwest, so why didn’t they send word to Balmore? How come you’ve shown up here in your gaudy carriage, and there haven’t been any express horses sent to warn this town about what happened? Considering you must have left immediately after the invasion, don’t you think you arrived here a little too fast? That the Aligot army invaded this quickly means Rueda didn’t even lift a finger to stop it, so why did they let them through without any resistance? And why haven’t they tried contacting any other countries to ask them for aid?”

“W-Well... Th-That’s...” The cardinal couldn’t seem to get an answer out after Kaoru’s unexpected verbal lashing.

“...In short, that means Rueda is working with the Aligot forces.”

“Ngh...”

Ignoring the now cowed cardinal, Kaoru turned to Roland. “Sir Roland, do you think you could send out a message to the other countries? It should read something like, ‘Rueda has betrayed the Goddess Celestine and violated their neutrality by allying with the Aligot Empire.’”

“Wh-What falsehoods! Lies! Deception and slander!” the cardinal shouted, his face turning red.

“Oh? But aren’t I supposed to be a holy angel who delivers the word of the Goddess herself?” was Kaoru’s cold reply.

“Going against the Holy Land means facing excommunication!” the cardinal frantically screamed back. “Are you saying you’re fine with the Kingdom of Balmore being separated from the church of the Goddess?!”

“The only place in danger of that is Rueda,” Kaoru said coolly. “The Goddess Celestine said herself that she’d never forgive any corrupt country committing evil deeds in her name. She’s fed up with it, so she doesn’t want you using her name anymore.”

A look of terror crossed the cardinal’s face. “Th-That can’t be... Rueda is a holy land blessed by the Goddess! It is a country of those who have directly received the Goddess’s miracles!”

“No, you’ve got that part wrong, actually.”

“Huh?”

The group from Rueda stared blankly back at Kaoru.

“There just happened to be a distortion there, so Celes took care of it. It’s not that the country is blessed or anything; she just took something that had been corrupted and put it back to normal. It wasn’t like she was blessing that particular area more than the other lands. The ancestors of the people from the temple didn’t receive anything, miracles or otherwise. Celes had told them they were getting in the way of her cleaning up the mess there, but they didn’t listen. They only stuck around and watched her work from a distance. Celes complained to me about how hard that made it for her to get anything done.”

“N-No... That can’t be right...”

Kaoru ignored the dumbfounded cardinal and turned to Roland again.

“Sir Roland, do you think you could go ahead and pass a few things along to the other countries? Mainly about what Rueda has been plotting, how they were never a country blessed by anyone in the first place, and are merely the descendants of a group who caused nothing but trouble for the Goddess? Oh, and be sure to let the citizens of Rueda know as well.”

“Done and done. I’ll send out our fastest messengers on the double.”

“W-Wait! Stop it, I beg you! If you do that, then...”

“You did this to yourselves, no?” Kaoru replied, bluntly refusing the cardinal. “Oh, what would you call it when someone invades another country and spreads false information, before trying to drag away someone who’s supposed to be a key figure...? Espionage? Sabotage? Either way, I suppose the most appropriate course of action would be to arrest you and have you spill everything you know, wouldn’t you agree?”

At Roland’s orders, the guards waiting outside the room came in and restrained the envoys from Rueda before hauling them off to the palace.

“I know I’m the one who told you all that, but you really didn’t hold back on them, did you...” Roland remarked, impressed.

“Oh no, don’t be silly... I’m only just getting started.” Kaoru wore a wicked grin on her face.

Why do evil smiles seem to fit her so perfectly... Roland thought to himself.

“Then I’ll be counting on you to get the message out to those other countries. I’ve got a little errand I need to take care of right now.”

“Wait, what are you going to do?” Roland had a bad feeling about where this was going...

“I’m thinking of heading out for a bit... I heard there’s an army invading that’s just ripe for the picking...”

“What?!”

She proclaimed she’d eliminate the entire force coming from Rueda...by herself.

Roland desperately tried to stop her, but Kaoru insisted on going to face them alone. Knowing he was fighting a losing battle against her, Roland reluctantly agreed to a compromise and had her take a few soldiers as escorts. All he could do then was believe in the power of the Goddess. At that point, it might have been a good idea for them to rethink their plans on protecting the capital as well...

“...So, that’s why I’ll be heading out for a bit. If it comes down to it, take these, and all the money you saved from working, and get far away from here.”

Kaoru finished up her simple explanation of what was going on, handing a number of healing potions to the group of seven former street urchins that made up the Eyes of the Goddess. These potions weren’t like the mass-produced ones on the market, either, but had effects similar to the tears of the goddess. They also didn’t have expiration dates.

As Kaoru went to leave, she suddenly found herself surrounded by the kids.

“We’re coming with you.”

“No way. There are 20,000 soldiers out there heading straight for us. You could die, you know?”

“We’re coming with you!”

Emile, the leader of the group, spoke up.

“If you didn’t help us when you did, two or three of us would’ve been dead by now, with another two or three dead within a couple years. The rest of us would’ve been killed off in turf wars between other criminals, or captured by the guards for stealing and hanged... But right now, we have a roof over our heads, and a house that doesn’t leak when it rains and doesn’t let the wind inside. We’re all wearing clean clothes and have enough to eat to keep us full. We can actually talk about the future with each other now. We have to repay you for this somehow. And besides...”

“Besides...what?” Kaoru questioned.

“We’re the Eyes of the Goddess!” Emile answered, sticking out his chest. “Our job isn’t just to go out and gather information for the goddess, but to keep her safe as well!”

The other six children followed his example, puffing out their chests and nodding along. There wasn’t even the slightest chance they were going to back down on this.