After Retirement, Living a Stud Life in Another World - 64
Chapter 64: Detour Operation
We navigated through the depths of the forest, following trails only hunters would use, quietly advancing with heavy equipment strapped to our backs.
The reason we ended up doing such a thing was because Her Majesty had pushed an impossible task onto me. She demanded a means to shower the enemy with Mother’s eradication magic without harming the civilians being used as human shields – an utterly absurd request.
Somehow, I’ve been attracting a bit too much attention lately. Whether it’s about enhancing Liese’s magic or proposing formations on the western front, it seems I’ve been standing out. Well, most of my knowledge about Liese comes from my past world, so it’s not really my ability… but I still haven’t mustered the courage to confess that to Her Majesty. Hence, her expectations of me have swelled somewhat out of control.
Regardless, even with my knowledge from the old world, I couldn’t come up with a brilliant idea for Her Majesty’s impossible request. In the end, all I could suggest was the utterly unoriginal plan of “sneaking around without alerting the enemy and blasting them from behind with magic.”
And Her Majesty readily agreed… which initially showed her generosity and magnanimity, but then things went downhill.
“Well, that sounds like a good plan. Let’s leave the execution of that strategy to Lutz. I’ll provide whatever resources and manpower you need, so please take charge!”
Hey, wait a minute! Isn’t that something you should think over a bit more before deciding? If it weren’t Her Majesty, I’d be tempted to criticize her a million times over. Sure, I was okay with being asked for ideas, but hey, I don’t have any combat-related abilities! Why does she think someone like me can solve such a difficult problem?
However, my opponent is the pinnacle of power in the Berzenbruck absolute monarchy. If she commands, I have no choice but to obey… so, while swallowing back curses that threatened to overflow, I had no choice but to come up with an execution plan.
To disrupt the enemy’s advance, we had to employ reconnaissance and assassination tactics, so I selected three members from Ayaka-san’s subordinates, the “Dark Clan,” and added myself, making a total of eight… or so it went.
But as I finished preparing to depart, I was surprised to see a girl with luxurious, deep green hair and porcelain doll-like white cheeks peering out from beneath the hood of a deep green robe.
“Beatrice! What are you doing here?”
“If my betrothed is heading into danger, it’s only natural for me to follow.”
Her straightforward words pierced my heart, but I have to stop her. If she were being escorted like she was on the western front, surrounded by guards, it would be one thing, but there’s absolutely no way the future queen should be participating in such a small-scale suicide mission.
The forest is teeming with beasts and monsters. And even if we manage to successfully flank the enemy and cast magic, at that point, we’ll have no allies around us… the possibility of being surrounded and captured is very high.
But no matter how hard I tried to explain, Beatrice didn’t shake her head.
“It’s alright. Even if I die, the Berzenbruck royal line won’t end. Clara-sama should be able to manage the nobles well.”
“But it’s not that simple… it’s a decree from Her Majesty to make you the successor.”
“I have Mother’s permission.”
Huh? What are you doing, Your Majesty? Besides you, who can stop Beatrice?
“My father isn’t a king consort; he’s a stallion.”
Hmm? What exactly is Beatrice trying to say?
“The only man Mother ever loved was Clara-sama’s father… He stood at the forefront in the war with the Empire twenty-something years ago and died. So, ever since then, Mother hasn’t chosen a king consort.”
“I see…”
“So when I said, ‘I can’t send my loved one into danger alone,’ and locked myself in my room for three hours, she forgave me. She said she couldn’t make someone else feel the same way she did.”
I never knew there was such a sad love story behind that bright and gentle Majesty. I almost feel sympathetic, but… she’s the one who made such an unreasonable demand of me, so I still feel like complaining.
“Above all, this time we’ll be traversing the forest. And in the forest, there’s no one more useful than me, right?”
Her emerald eyes widened more than usual, piercing straight through me with her gaze. In the end, I was defeated by my fiancée, who was unusually eloquent, and that was that.