Published: August 10, 2026
While I was listening to Judith and Filine talk, Liselotte and Grethia tied my hair up, and I finished changing.
...Was it really over?
When I heard that the shumils had defeated Grauozam, whom we were supposed to have brought down ourselves, a strange uneasiness spread through my chest. The person in the mirror looked a little pale. I wanted to stand up and go check on downtown and the temple right away.
"Lady Rosemine, may I bring in your male close aides? It looks like Darmel and Roderich are here."
Laurenz was standing outside the door, while Angelica guarded the inside. The other Guard Knights had apparently returned to their rooms to change. As Liselotte reported on the state of the close aides, she asked me a question.
"Yes. I want to hear Darmel's report."
"He was quite active, after all."
With a small chuckle, Liselotte stepped out of the room once and went to call the two of them. Roderich and Darmel entered. Roderich seemed to have been taking notes, because he was carrying a sheet of paper with writing on it partway through, along with a pen. Had he been listening to Darmel's report?
"Welcome back, Lady Rosemine."
"I'm back. Darmel, you protected the gutenbergs and the others, didn't you? And I heard that everyone was saved by your Ordnance. Thank you very much."
Darmel's eyes wandered as if he didn't know how to respond, and he only said, "It is an honor." It seemed his opinion of himself was still just as low as ever. I smiled a little at how very Darmel that was, and urged him to continue.
"Darmel, I heard that the West Gate was attacked. Please tell me about the damage."
"Certainly. Some of the soldiers at the West Gate were injured, but there were no serious injuries. I believe it was largely thanks to being able to prepare in advance because of Brigitte's Ordnance."
"Brigitte's Ordnance?"
I was relieved that there were no serious injuries, but an unexpected name came up. When I blinked at him, Darmel nodded and said, "Please direct any praise or rewards for the advance warning to Brigitte."
"It seems Brigitte had actually meant to send it to Lady Rosemine, not me. However, since Lady Rosemine, Angelica, and Cornelius had all left Ehrenfest, the Ordnance wouldn't fly, so she sent it to me instead."
Darmel had apparently received an Ordnance that began with, "Why can't this be sent properly during such a difficult time!?" Brigitte's Ordnance had said that "a timber merchant from Ilkner transporting trees by ship to Reizegang saw some strange people who looked like nobles trying to board a ship in Reizegang." Those men had claimed to be traveling merchants, but their haughty behavior and manner of speech made it obvious that they were not traveling merchants at all.
"They looked so much like nobles in disguise that no one wanted to get involved, so everyone kept their distance and watched in silence. But the group was clearly out of place. When the timber merchant returned to Ilkner, he reported it because the Gibe's knights were already gathering information about suspicious groups while on alert for an invasion from another territory."
When one knight first received the report, Ilkner had already come under attack by knights from Former Berkeshtock, and the Gibe was in the middle of asking the aub for reinforcements. The report had apparently come too late because the knights had already rushed out, telling everyone to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Brigitte had heard about it from a knight on the battlefield and immediately tried to send me an Ordnance, but it seems she couldn't get it out in time.
...I'm sorry, Brigitte.
Darmel apparently relayed Brigitte's information to the knights order, then immediately made an inquiry to Reizegang. He asked, "Around when would a ship leaving Reizegang arrive at the dock west of Ehrenfest?" Reizegang's reply was, "Depending on the weather, it should be around the Fourth Bell," so Darmel sent Ordnances to various places to warn them and evacuated the gutenbergs.
"That timber merchant's information was correct. A ship arrived at the dock a little before the Fourth Bell, and out came people wearing silver cloaks, along with volgenir."