After retreating from Blue Garden, the White Sword cavalry of Gazzetta returned to the military town in the hinterlands and were performing the training drills. This town was different from the white clan village, where only the royalty and those close to them gathered. It was a town of the common people of the white clan.
“Your highness, there was a message about the activity of the Nossentes infiltration force from within the capital.” (Officer)
“Fmph, so they were watching the conflict between Fonclanc and Blue Garden after all” (Shinha)
“Should we reinforce the border security?” (Officer)
“We are at a clear disadvantage. Continue monitoring the situation after withdrawing the defensive line slightly back. If anyone crosses the border, arrest them immediately.” (Shinha)
Even if they knew about the existence of the evil god, the warriors of Gazzetta were not able to achieve any victories in their recent battle, although, from what happened during the battle, the outcome was satisfactory as they were able to get a rough grasp of the power of the evil god. If there was something to be unsatisfied about, it was the fact that they were completely unprepared to become prisoners of war and placed themselves in the mercy of the militias of the Blue Garden that they were looking down on.
Because Yuusuke was there, Shina also had to restrain himself from acting too rashly. Although he had witnessed the strength of the evil god’s power before, he was not sure if Yuusuke had any other cards in his hand. As expected, provoking the evil god into that situation was a poor decision.
On the surface, for the sake of keeping its appearance, Gazzetta pretended to adopt the caste system in the cities where divine art users lived. That was necessary to seamlessly merge into this world while striving for the goal of the white clan behind the scenes. As the white clan was the core organization in Gazzetta, they had to remain in the background and had difficulties moving in the open, so they also had to resort to peaceful actions.
During this war, Gazzetta openly announced to the entire world about the existence of the white clan and, if the evil god had not interfered, they would have grasped victory against the divine arts user’s armies. Although that was the primary goal of the battle, the actual results were anything but what they expected. The results of the war were like a bonus, while the actions of the reconciliation faction were completely restricted.
“Although I did not expect for Yuusuke to react this quickly. We should hurry up with the recapturing of the Nossente’s capital.” (Shinha)
The city that was currently a capital of Nossentes used to be a gigantic fortress of the white clan. However, that was around two thousand years ago. The white clan was chased over into the area that became a nation, called Gazzetta. But during its peak, the white clan was a gigantic empire that spanned over half of Kaltcio.
“It would be great to fulfill the desire of our clan during this generation…” (Shinha)
“The current evil god is sympathizing with artless. He will definitely support our cause.” (Officer)
“It would be nice if that were the case,” replied Shinha, returning a light smile to the officer who tried to encourage him. He saddled his horse and departed towards the village of the white clan.
***
After leaving Paula, Zeshald dropped by the palace to report about the completion of his duty. The king was very grateful for Zeshald’s duties and Violet insisted that the old man stay over at the palace for the night before returning to Rufk. Thus, Zeshald returned to the village on the thirteenth day of Zalnar’s month of fire.
“Welcome back, Zeshald sensei! …and who might you be?” (Villager)
“Long time no see, sensei. … is that the elite troupe uniform?” (Villager 2?)
“Oh, both of you seem to be doing good.” (Zeshald)
“… Hello.” (Zeshald’s entourage)
“Zeshald sensei had brought a beautiful woman from the Blue Garden!” a happy voice echoed throughout the village, announcing Zeshald’s return as a woman suddenly spoke in a friendly voice.
“… my name is Belushya.” (Belushya)
On their day of departure from Blue Garden, after meeting the queen, Zeshald visited Belushya, who was loitering in the empty office. After giving her a choice between remaining in Blue Garden and serving the queen or returning along with him to Fonclanc, Belushya chose the latter.
Currently, the troupe leader Volmes was missing along with some troupe members. It was decided that keeping her locked up in an isolation cell would be an undesirable decision, as she wielded the strength to simply break out of a prison cell. Knowing the full extent of her abilities and her past, she was deemed to be a dangerous existence.
Presented with a choice of serving her master or starting a new, tranquil life with Zeshald, Belushya chose the latter. She told herself that she got tired of a lifestyle of hunting other people down and hiding herself.
“If she was able to kill using the power of the healing arts, she will certainly be able to employ her freezing art to heal people.” (Zeshald)
As she was very familiar with the human body structure, Belushya would make a fine assistant for him. Using this reasoning, Zeshald had obtained permission from Rishause to take Belushya away. As for Belushya herself, she did not have any qualms regarding living in an artless village.