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The time had finally come. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it had arrived.

I—Topersion—sat in my private room, thinking about the day ahead.

“Tomorrow is the day, isn’t it?”
“Indeed. I’ve ended up troubling you quite a fair bit, Soter.”

I sipped the tea Soter had prepared for me while continuing my work. The past few dozen days had kept me exceptionally busy. As a princess, I was used to keeping myself occupied—it was simply part of the role. However, preparing for war brought an entirely different level of responsibility. The sheer number of tasks to handle was unparalleled. Fortunately, my idea had been adopted without resistance.

While I had been the one to let the spirit be stolen—and, depending on how you looked at it, the one who’d let the bandit escape—I was also the only one who noticed the bandit’s intrusion. As such, I ensured that my accomplishment appeared more significant than it truly was. After all, it had never been my role to capture the bandits in the first place. By emphasizing my achievements, I silenced those who sought to diminish my influence. I had to obscure the true reason for the bandit’s intrusion, but since the only ones privy to the full story were my closest allies, I was able to set it aside temporarily.

Instead, I directed attention away from the bandit and focused on preparing for war behind the scenes. Linking the bandits’ invasion to the impending war with the Nigel Kingdom would have been disastrous. It could have unraveled our plans and created internal enemies. If it were revealed that the war was being waged to replace the stolen spirit, a faction might rise to hold the royal family accountable for the loss. They could even come after our lives.

If offering my life would bring back the spirits—if it would protect my people—I would have willingly made that sacrifice¹. But my death would not bring the spirit back. It was clear that losing the royal family would only ignite a power struggle, and the blessings of the spirit would vanish entirely in the chaos.

If that happened, it would spell the end for Fraus. That’s why we’d make it seem like the whole thing had been orchestrated by the Nigel Kingdom. By giving the impression that the Nigel Kingdom had been meddling with us, we could ensure there would be no domestic unrest when we launched our attack.

According to previous reports, the four kingdoms—excluding Nigel—planned to take a wait-and-see approach to this war. In particular, Viridis faced an internal conflict between the Elves and the Beastmen. It was said that tensions there could erupt into open conflict at any moment. A superior species had reportedly appeared on the Elven side, so they were expected to win. The issue was the timing of their conflict. It was highly likely it would coincide with our war. They wanted to act before the Nigel Kingdom, which had been interfering with them, could make a move. Still, it felt unpleasant—almost as though they were using me as a distraction.

After all, if Fraus attacked the Nigel Kingdom without justification, most kingdoms could decide to ditch their wait-and-see position. And it wouldn’t be the same as just testing the waters as the Nigel Kingdom had done in the past. If they believed they could take us down, they’d side with the Nigel Kingdom in a heartbeat. That’s why we needed a proper cause to attack the Nigel Kingdom.

“Whatever the case, I’ll reveal the strategy to the heroes tomorrow.”
“I pray that everything goes well.”
“I hope so too.”

I thought I had masked my feelings well, but it must have shown in my expression, and Soter couldn’t help but worry herself over me.

“Your Highness, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am. The strategy will go as planned.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Your face has been pale for the last couple of minutes.
Don’t we have enough time to explore other options?”
“I don’t know. And because I don’t know, I have to take what seems like the shortest path. So, it’s fine.”

This wasn’t something I was unwilling to do, but if I were given the choice, I would have preferred to withdraw. But if we took things slow, we’d eventually hit the time limit. While I deliberated or hesitated, the opportunity could slip away. This was the state of our current situation.

So I had to say everything was okay even if it wasn’t.

I told Soter I was going to bed. Hearing that, she bowed and left the room, her worried expression still glued to her face.

◇◇◇◇◇

Dawn broke, and I gathered the heroes. Since this operation was top secret, only a select few from Fraus were present, including members of the royal family. The heroes displayed a range of emotions. Some seemed anxious about being summoned, others glared at me with suspicion, while a few stood solemnly, waiting for instructions.

I had already ordered silence during the briefing. Once I delivered the mission details, we’d begin moving.

“It looks like everyone is here. Heroes, I’ll now brief you on the top-secret mission. As a reminder, you are strictly forbidden to discuss this operation or publicize it in any way. Absolute discretion is required. Heroes, you will be tasked with leading the fight, beginning right from the start.”

About half of the heroes looked visibly shocked, their eyes widening as the weight of my words sank in. While this mission came much earlier than initially planned, all of them were as strong as B Grade adventurers. It was time for them to face a real battle, even if this was only a prelude to actual warfare.

“I will issue the order now. All heroes are to proceed to the border area with the Nigel Kingdom. Your mission is to destroy both the village of Toruk and the city of Vastar. During the operation, you will use the Ai’s² Make-up skill to disguise yourselves as members of the Demon Tribe. Private conversations are strictly prohibited for the duration of the mission. Follow your commander’s instructions precisely to guarantee total annihilation.”

It had been a difficult choice for me as well, but we couldn’t afford to wait for the Nigel Kingdom to act first. This was the only way we could appear as the victim in this conflict. For better or worse, the Demon Lord allowed the Demons at the border to act as they pleased. He wouldn’t be fully aware of what was going on. And even if he was, the Demons’ natural thirst for battle meant they would gladly retaliate if attacked.

We needed a significant cause to justify our actions and appeal to the four other kingdoms, excluding the Nigel Kingdom.

Targeting two locations served a dual purpose. Strategically, it would give us the right to aim for the Nigel Kingdom’s capital and destroy it in due time. If we caused excessive destruction without sufficient justification, we risked facing minor but politically harmful complaints from the surrounding nations. However, if the sacrifice of one village and one city could protect the entire Fraus Kingdom, it had to be seen as a necessary trade-off.

I chose to deploy the heroes instead of knights and soldiers because using the latter would shatter their morale. Soldiers and knights were trained to defend and protect their people, not to slaughter them. Forcing them to kill those they were sworn to safeguard—even for the sake of the kingdom—could irreparably damage even the strongest among them. The heroes, however, were different. They could be ordered to act, even if their spirits faltered or their hearts broke. At worst, they would carry out their mission without hesitation. Since they would inevitably be required to take lives in future battles, it seemed wiser to have them face that burden now under controlled circumstances.

Still, I held onto one fragile hope—that as many of our people as possible would leave Toruk and Vastar before it was too late³.

1. Robinxen: See it’s moments like these where I can ALMOST start to like her… but she’s still an royal pain. This is why extremists are so annoying in fiction. Sigh. Maybe she will come around in the future when she learns the full picture?
2. TLN: He uses ラブ to refer to her here, which is her going by the nickname “Love” in reference to the meaning of her name, since that reads weird in English we swapped it back to Ai… readers give your input!
3. Robinxen: The princess is literally ordering a false flag operation to murder her own citizens so she can have a casus belli against the demons… and is still having regrets over. Extremists are wild.

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