"Kaoru-sama, what's next?" (Francette)
Now that I was back in this country and I was acting as a goddess, Francette has gone back to calling me "Kaoru-sama."
"Using the method we just used, we can get to the royal capital without any obstacles, right? Of course, the Balmore Kingdom's army and the Brancott Kingdom's army will come along as well...
And if we proceed normally and don't rush too much, news will reach various places by express horse before we arrive, right?
The First Prince who had fled somewhere and was waiting for an opportunity, the First Prince's faction who were only following the Second Prince out of necessity, and the temple's original priests of Brancott Kingdom, for example...
In other words, we will enter the royal capital from the front, boldly. We will do so slowly, giving the forces that will join us time to gather..." (Kaoru)
Francette grinned after hearing my explanation.
However, she looked a little worried and asked me.
"Um, Kaoru-sama. Will there be a chance for me to shine?" (Francette)
...I don't know!
"What?! Kaoru has returned to the Balmore Kingdom! And she's personally leading the Balmore Kingdom army and our own country's invading forces, heading to the royal capital to defeat the divine enemy, Ghislain! Oh, Goddess's blessing be upon us! Contact nobles and high-ranking military officials who will respond immediately! Only contact those with a trust level of A. To prevent information leaks, do not inform those with a trust level of B or below until the very last moment of the uprising. The temple should only contact the Archbishop. Make sure you inform the other priests after the uprising."
"Yes, sir!" (x5)
Following Fernand's orders, his trusted subordinates quickly dispersed.
"I see, Kaoru. Hehe. Hehehehe..."
"Don’t be too optimistic. … Putting aside the counterattack plan, what happened with Kaoru after that…" (Fernand)
Fabio said, stabbing the First Prince Fernand, who was grinning.
"That’s right. Kaoru was acting for the sake of the people of the Balmore and Brancott Kingdoms. …It was never, no, never, out of love for you, Fernand.
If you misunderstand this and get carried away, something terrible will happen. Do you understand?" (Alan)
"Ugh..." (Fernand)
Fernand, who had failed in his search for Kaoru, was dejected to hear this from Alan, but had still returned home having enjoyed a carefree trip.
"Oh, my goodness! Angel-sama is leading an army to the royal capital! Oh, it's the divine army! Celestine-sama has sent her servants to save our kingdom of Brancott, which has been taken in by heretics and is heading towards ruin!! I understand, keep this information secret for a while, and when that time comes, all of us priests will risk our lives for the Goddess, Angel-sama, and the people..."
"...That's ridiculous! The Goddess Celestine has abandoned the Balmore Kingdom, and the Angel Kaoru-sama has fled the Kingdom. It was you guys who said you would oppose Fernand and side with me! So why..."
Ghislain said this to the priests, but even they were taken by surprise.
It seemed that contact with that Bishop Bruce wasn't that frequent, so the lack of communication with him didn't seem suspicious at the time, and the information that his plan to use and kill Kaoru had failed, and that he had been forced to confess everything and executed, had not yet reached them.
However, a priest's job was to persuade people with smooth talk.
"What are you talking about? Angel-sama has led the Balmore Kingdom army to visit Ghislan-sama! Now that the Balmore Kingdom has had its own army defect to our country along with Angel-sama, it is completely exposed. There is no need to go to the trouble of ravaging and wasting the fields and people that will become ours in battle. All we need to do is demand their complete surrender."
"Eh……"
It was a very transparent lie, but a drowning man would clutch at a straw. In the midst of his fear and despair, the second prince, Ghislain, had no choice but to jump at the ideal answer that was presented before him, "I hope that's the case."
"I…I see! Oh, so that’s what happened! Damn it, that messenger got me fooled by a false story! Haha, hahaha... Hey, somebody, cut off the head of that messenger from earlier!"
That's it.
When the confiscation of assets and crackdown on criminal activities against the priests of the former Holy Kingdom of Rueda began, there were those who quickly converted their assets into gold coins and jewels and escaped, but among them were those who decided to spend the rest of their lives leisurely with the assets they had brought with them, and these people sought to make a comeback, scorning those who were losers.
One of these groups had infiltrated the heart of the Brancott Kingdom, which borders the Balmore Kingdom, which annexed the former Holy Kingdom of Rueda, and was intent on regaining power and taking revenge.
They hid the fact that they were escapees from the Holy Country of Rueda, and instead ingratiated themselves with the Second Prince by claiming to be priests from a distant country who had come to spread their faith. They used the abundant funds they had brought with them from the Holy Country of Rueda to their advantage.
To the foolish second prince who wanted the throne, the priests of this country who thought it was natural for the first prince to inherit the throne were his enemies. So, the words of the traveling priests who whispered to him that he was worthy of being king, and that the Goddess and the Angel-sama also wanted him to be king, were comforting, and he ignored the unspoken agreement that the royal palace and the temple would not interfere and kept them by his side. And he spread what they said as "The priests say so."
When the King died suddenly, the Second Prince, who "Just happened to be present at the scene," claimed that the King's last words were "I will let you succeed the throne," and immediately took action to arrest the First Prince.
However, the First Prince managed to escape using a secret escape route passed down only to the Crown Prince along with his confidants. The Second Prince had no choice but to eliminate the First Prince and establish himself as the rightful successor to the throne, given that his entourage, whose interests were more important than his country's, and his retainers, who currently obeyed him but were unsure of how they would react if the First Prince were to appear.
Therefore, in parallel with his search for the First Prince, he launched an invasion of the neighboring Kingdom of Balmore as a way to kill three birds with one stone: to gain the military and merchants on his side, to divert the discontent of the people, and to take advantage of the confusion to eliminate those who were inconvenient to him. Of course, this decision was heavily influenced by the words of the traveling priests who would give him proper advice and convey the will of the Goddess. The words that he should annex the Kingdom of Balmore were...
The desire of the priests.
They would occupy the Balmore Kingdom, and Rueda, which had now become a part of the Balmore Kingdom, and take revenge on those who betrayed them and drove them out! And they would once again enjoy those glory days!
...But that was all until now.
What was unexpected was the Angel-sama's return to the Kingdom of Balmore and a full-scale frontal counterattack.
They had been using the name of the Goddess and the Angel-sama to justify "Attacking a long-time friendly country" and to boost the morale of their soldiers, but now that this had happened, they had been all but rendered powerless as an organized fighting force.
So, what should they do...?
"Escape! Why, we've done it once, we'll just do it again. Most of the wealth we took from the Holy Country of Rueda is still there. We can load it onto carriages and flee eastwards, towards the center of the continent, and start again there! However..."
"Yes. We must destroy that demon and get our revenge. If she is gone, then Celestine-sama will stop interfering in the affairs of humans like before, and will only warn us of danger on rare occasions..."
The former priests of the Holy Kingdom of Rueda, now known as the "Self-proclaimed Traveling High-Priests" who had ingratiated themselves with the Second Prince, were thinking such optimistic things.
No, it is true that the Goddess Celestine did not directly punish the people of the Holy Country of Rueda. She simply spoke of the past and then left without doing anything. She only slightly reprimanded the Pope for misusing the sacred artifact...
Depending on how you look at it, it could be interpreted as "The Goddess does not interfere in the affairs of humans, and does not interfere unnecessarily." It was all the fault of that little girl who was only given a small favor by the Goddess on a whim, who pushed her own selfish interpretation after the Goddess left. The collapse of the Holy Country of Rueda was all due to that little girl's malicious rumor...
The representatives of the Holy Country of Rueda at that time were in a state of spiritual despair even after returning home, and were in no condition to give a proper report for some time. As a result, it was not until several days later that accurate information was obtained, and even then, it was vague with many gaps and exaggerations, and there were contradictions with the information provided by others later, so many of the priests only had inaccurate information.
That's why, in the midst of all the chaos, there was an opportunity for those with a high ability to sense danger to escape...
Those who were not present at the Goddess's Advent and only had access to distorted and inaccurate information through hearsay. And those who further interpreted it in a way that was convenient for them.
Their final conspiracy was about to take place...