Chapter 107

Alliance Against the Central Nations (2)
"What on earth is that!? How is it flying when it’s not even a bird?"

"No, it wasn’t even flapping any wings. Could it be some kind of magic tool? But I’ve never heard of a magic tool that allows such free movement."

"Could it be one of those flying machines the Magic Kingdom is secretly developing?"

"Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone knows they can’t make engines or the fuel for such things… Still, this is impressive… The princess must be…"

There’s quite a commotion around me. Well, since airplanes don’t exist here, it’s understandable.

But I think it’s problematic that the leaders and their entourages are visibly shaken in front of representatives from other nations. Look at the people from Arland—they’re not even surprised. Even the citizens are treating it like it’s no big deal.

"No one’s stupid enough to be shocked by something the princess does. Our hearts wouldn’t be able to handle it…"

"Shh, don’t say that, or the princess might hear you. If she cries, we’ll be killed… by the society’s people…"

I overheard the citizens whispering on the way to the castle, but I couldn’t quite catch everything.

Apparently, some foreign delegates came to see me from outside the Capital, and now we were all heading to the castle. I’m riding in the modified floating carriage with my Father and Big brother. Alicia changed into her knight uniform before we left, and now she was riding a horse. She can ride a horse… and I can’t…

"Quite the spectacle. Those foreigners were shocked."

Father gave a thumbs-up. I’m not sure if that’s okay though, since this is technically a state secret.

"No one can replicate it just by seeing it. It’ll make them think siding with us is advantageous, even if they underestimate our—no, *your*—technology, Alice. Even the merchants from Jilvid were busy buying out the magic tools at the state-run shop."

Jilvid is the name of a commercial city-state. It’s a parliamentary system, but only business owners can become legislators, and the nation’s leader is decided by their sales revenue, apparently.

They’re already wary of us. But if they choose to side with the Empire, then they’re not suitable allies anyway, and there’s always the risk of betrayal, so Arland’s stance is essentially, "Go ahead." Besides, even without revealing the airplane, they’ve always been cautious of us.

After all, despite having a border with the Empire, which has overwhelming military strength, Arland has never lost any territory. It’s no wonder other countries find us terrifying. In reality, the Empire often uses negotiations as a pretext to annex land, and they frequently invade other nations under false accusations of treason or treaty violations.

I think this stems from poor governance. Because they fail to govern properly, domestic food production declines, and poor security drives away talented merchants.

The Empire’s internal dissatisfaction is blamed on foreign nations. That would be one thing, but they invade freely, and since no one can stop them, it only gets worse. I’ve heard that the Empire’s inability to direct funds to its economy is because of the heavy military expenses, all because Arland refuses to submit. Arland has never once initiated a war.

"Do we really have that much worth buying? I’ve never been there."

"It seems quite cheap from a foreign perspective. And well, for some reason, the magic tools designed by you have an unusually high success rate when it comes to enchantments."

"Oh, that’s because I integrated auxiliary enchantment magic and a copy-guard function into the spell formula."

"Is that so? I hadn’t received any reports about that… I’d only heard that the enchanted items couldn’t be analyzed."

Well, if they could analyze it, they’d just steal my streamlined magic formula. I worked hard to make it about half as efficient as the usual process.

The auxiliary magic is for practice, by the way. I wasn’t able to do it from the start either.

The poor treatment of magic stones is to blame for this. If you recklessly enchant them, they can break or go out of control, which makes it troublesome. I suspect this is why magic tools are so expensive. Isn’t the technique for enchanting them regressing year by year? No, it’s probably due to the secrecy typical of magic users. It’s one thing to keep things moderately hidden, but they don’t teach anyone, passing the knowledge only to a select few family members or disciples. This approach is reaching its limits.

As we were talking, my phone began to vibrate. When I pulled it from my pocket, the screen was flashing red. It was an intruder alert. Naturally, my Father’s phone was showing the same thing.

"Now of all times."

"... Mother’s room and the meeting room. I’m guessing the main objective is to disrupt the meeting, and Mother is just a side target."

"Master, it seems Mike caught some strange individual."

Apparently, the fool was caught in Mother’s room as soon as they were discovered.

Well, Mother’s room is practically a cat house now. Among the pack of dogs, we also have about 20 magic cats. And all of them possess unique abilities as either new species or mutants.

These kittens have taken up residence in Mother’s room, so even someone as strong as Father would have a hard time harming her. Oh, and Mike is a giant calico cat, the size of a tiger. She has eyes that can see through illusions and can walk on walls and ceilings… Apparently, the intruder was trying to break in by removing a ceiling panel while Mike was napping up there. The idiot saw Mike’s face up close and was immediately captured. Then, the other cats dragged the intruder outside and used him as a soccer ball.

The rest of the intruders still haven’t been found. That’s likely because they’re covered by a high-level illusion spell. I could use the traps here to catch them… I’ve secretly embedded golems into the walls, and I’m constantly upgrading the castle. It’s packed with traps. I even installed a secret elevator to the underground in the office I share with Father.

"I'll catch them."

"Hey!"

Grabbing the carriage's window frame, I spun around onto the roof. Then, using flight magic, I moved ahead to intercept at the castle. Along the way, I activated "Dress Up" to shift into combat mode, with both the Dragon staff and Gladius strapped across my back.

"Princess!"

"Intruders. Follow me."

"W-wha, immediately gather the soldiers and search every room before His Majesty returns!"

"No need. I know where they are."

"Then let us—"

"I'm going. There's something I need to check."

Maybe I could find the answer. The fact that they chose this moment to infiltrate the castle meant they must have been meticulous in their preparations. We didn't even notice the intrusion until it happened, and no one detected them. They probably didn’t know I’d installed security devices.

Leaving the bewildered knights behind, I headed for the meeting room. After a brief pause, the knights followed.

When I informed the soldiers stationed outside the meeting room about the intruder, we immediately burst in. But no one was there.

"No one... is here?"

"Search the room. They must be hiding in here."

The knights searched under the table and everywhere else, but no one could be found. Yet I felt something off. I channeled magic into my eyes to activate my vision.

"Move and I’ll shoot."

I found them right away. Even with my eyes, they were hard to see... But that difficulty itself was proof that someone was there. Without hesitation, I drew my gun and aimed at that spot. There was no one visible, but the knights, trusting me, drew their swords and formed a perimeter around that area. However, before they could surround the intruder, he moved—only to be shot by me.

"Arrrgh!"

Suddenly, the magic faded, and a man clutching his leg appeared, writhing in pain. The knights quickly neutralized him and tied him up. However—

"Die, princess!!"

Another man appeared, rushing toward me with a knife. But I knew there were two of them. I stopped the knight who was about to step in front of me and moved forward myself. At the same moment I lightly tapped the floor with my foot, a glimmering blade appeared before me.

"Princess!"

"No problem."

The blade stopped just a few centimeters from my face. The assailant hadn't stopped it on purpose. He looked bewildered, as if asking why. His body was trembling; he was clearly trying with all his might to stab me.

"Why...?"

"Did you really think I'd be unprepared? That I'd walk out in front of you without any countermeasures, utterly defenseless? Look at your feet."

The attacker froze as he glanced down. The room was illuminated by magical devices, clearly casting my shadow. And stepping on the assailant’s shadow was the paw of a magic beast.

"Second, come out. First, stay as you are."

A Shadow Wolf emerged from my shadow, its form shifting like a shadow itself. These creatures were dangerous. Among my pack, they ranked among the top in combat strength, capable of wiping out small to mid-sized towns on their own.

They’re disaster-designated magic beasts, to be exterminated upon sight. Against them, castle walls are useless. At night, they can move anywhere under the cover of darkness, and during the day, they hide in shadows, making them almost impossible to find.

Once one of these creatures steps on your shadow, your life is at their mercy. They can paralyze your body and, if they wish, control your shadow to crush you. Shadows mimic the movements of the body, but this beast can do the opposite—making it a perilous creature indeed.

"Wha—!"

The beast elongated and wrapped itself around the assailant’s body. This one could shift between physical and non-physical forms at will. Physical attacks were useless; only magic or weapons imbued with magic power could defeat it. And once your shadow was stepped on, there was nothing you could do.

"That's an interesting magic tool you've got there. I know it—it's the same one used by that goblin-like creature that hurt my Mother, right? I figured you'd show up eventually, but you sure kept me waiting. Too bad, though—it doesn’t work against the castle’s security tools."

"I’ve been lured in..."

The goblin-like creature that fired arrows during the first stampede—it was a mutated goblin. I was too young back then to fully understand, but they said it had human-like features.

Since then, nothing had happened. We assumed that a goblin variant had just happened to pick up the magic tool by chance. But now, this assailant was carrying it. The design was different, but the magic and spells embedded in it were identical.

My words sent the knights into a rage. At last, we’d caught the enemy’s trail. This was someone we could interrogate, even torture, to extract information. The enemy was now in Arland’s grasp.

Now, we’ll get to the bottom of whoever orchestrated such a vile act. I’ve sworn to destroy anyone who harms my family.

"Yes, I thought if it wasn't a coincidence, they'd return someday. If they didn’t, that’d be fine too. After all, this magic tool can’t deceive my pets’ noses. You should’ve stayed hidden. But I bet you got cocky, thinking you wouldn’t get caught, didn’t you?"

The magic tool was quite impressive, but it couldn’t hide the scent. Or rather, the assailant had managed to mask their scent pretty well, but not enough to fool a magic beast's nose. I hadn’t expected them to infiltrate this far, either.

"Take him away! Make him spill everything."

"Yes!"

The poor assailant was dragged off to a "special" cell. I, by the way, am not allowed into such places. No one ever grants me permission, saying it's not a place for women or children.

I opened the window and saw a large cat-like creature playing with another intruder, rolling him around below. I need to collect that one, too.

"I guess we need to tighten security... Oh, I know! I’ll set up a teleportation spell around Mother’s room, linked directly to the dungeon."

"That’s a good idea. However, if you could make sure we’re not caught in it, we’d appreciate it..."

"I'll work on that. Make sure to pass it along."

"Understood. I’ll consult with my comrades and restructure the patrol routes. I assure you, nothing like this will ever happen again."

One of the remaining knights dashed outside. It seemed their pride had been wounded. Indeed, this was a failure. We’ll have to come up with even better countermeasures in the future.