Ignoring Natsu's complaints and Lutilis's nonsense, Mel descended to the ground to teach Bart a lesson and treat the injured.

Through the communication artifact that was turned on, Mei'er listened to Miledy's rare laughter from the heart, and she also laughed happily.

"You're finally here! I missed you so much! Oscar! Bandu!"

When Mei'er healed all the wounded at once, the battle line was temporarily reorganized, and the main members gathered in the throne room, these were the first words she heard.

It was Nitsch who spoke, tears welling up in his eyes. He ignored the Queen, who was about to speak, and ran over with arms wide open, hugging Oscar and Bandu tightly as if they were reunited with their lost family after decades of separation.

"Nai, Natsu? What happened?"

"Hey, Natsu, is that your personality?"

Oscar was confused, while Bando looked at him as if he had seen a strange person. Natsu stepped back, smiled brightly, and said:

"It's really hard to deal with Meredith and Mel alone."

“…”

Oscar and Bandu looked at each other unconsciously, as if the quarrel just now was all fake. They nodded to each other, then put their hands on Natsu's shoulders together, with gentle smiles on their faces.

"Natsu, it's amazing that you managed to hold on this long."

"Natsu, you're amazing. You're a hero."

"Thank you... My stomachache seems to have eased."

The beautiful scene (?) of three men arm in arm with each other was right before my eyes.

Men's friendship lasts forever.

"Xiao Mi, did you hear that? They're so rude."

"That's right, Mimi single-handedly held back the most elite troops of the Knights of the Three Lights! Praise her well! Say, 'Well done, Mireidi, you're worthy of being our Archangel! No, I should call you goddess!' Praise me like that."

"That's right! Big Onee was still treating the wounded just now! I was healing people everywhere, working so hard I was about to explode! You all need to respect me even more! Look up to me! Kneel down and kowtow in gratitude!"

For some reason, Oscar and the others were strongly criticized by the female members. They looked at Miledy and Mel, and after a pause, they hugged each other's shoulders even more tightly.

The boys’ friendship has become stronger!

"Ah~ah~ That's great, that's what men's friendship is like. I used to have a close friend like that, but in the end, he chose a woman over friendship!"

"Ah~ You're so nagging! You've been nagging me since just now. You're so annoying! A man of your age, please stop acting like a woman!"

"What did you say! Marshall, don't act so arrogant just because you have a wife!"

Boys’ friendships…must be strong…

Seeing Bart's jealous and resentful look, Marshall glanced at Michaela beside him. Michaela also looked back at Marshall. They both felt embarrassed and turned their heads away.

"S-So, we're not that close yet..."

"That's right, Mr. Bart! That was just my way of speaking to Mr. Marshall..."

“Mikaela…”

"Mr. Marshall..."

"Ah~!! I can't bear to watch this anymore! What's with this sweet and sour atmosphere! How old are you guys? Uh-huh!?"

Meredith and the others thought: How could you display such a strong scumbag nature in front of the woman you love, Lutilis? That's why you are so unpopular with women.

"Hmm...is that enough?"

Basically, this happened in front of Her Majesty the Queen, and the Pasha Vizier cleared his throat to change the atmosphere.

Now that Meredith and the others' honeymoon relationship (?) with Lutilis was a public fact, Shim and the others only smiled wryly. They understood their companions' joy at reuniting, so they kept silent. Therefore, the only reliable person was the Vizier Pasha.

Feeling the gaze of Prime Minister Pasha, Oscar was the first to calm down.

"Excuse me, it's our first meeting, Your Majesty. I am Oscar Orcus, the Liberator, a wielder of the Creation Magic, a form of magic from the Age of Gods. I am deeply grateful for your permission to enter this sanctuary."

Oscar knelt on one knee, his hand on his chest, but like Meredith before him, he did not bow his head, but expressed respect with his eyes. Beside him, Bandu also saluted, but he did not kneel, but simply placed his fist on his heart in the highest salute.

"I am Bandu Schnee, a fellow 'Liberator,' transformed into a magic user. Though I have abandoned my identity, I share half of my bloodline with the current Demon King of the Igdol Kingdom, Rasl Alba Igdol. As the Demon King's younger brother, please forgive me for not kneeling in obeisance."

Even if he was overthinking it, if it was perceived as the Demon Kingdom bowing to the Republic, he would be doing his brother a disservice. Meredith and the others accepted Bandu's implicit message with a smile.

And what about Lutilis and the others? Although I thought they were all fine, I couldn't help but look at them.

"Ah... you're the Demon King's younger brother, no wonder. I was wondering why you, despite being able to transform into a dragon, have the same physical features as a demon, including your skin color, that I found strange."

Although Lutilis's face was full of majesty and grace, she still smiled warmly and nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry. I can tell from the looks in your eyes that you've been treating me with the utmost courtesy."

Oscar breathed a sigh of relief, while Bandu saluted silently.

"I am Queen Lutilis Hartrina of the Republic, a user of sublimation magic. It's a pleasure to meet you. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to both of you for stopping the Imperial bombing just now for us."

"We are liberators."

"Our help is only natural. No need to thank me—that's what our leader would probably say."

Oscar and Bandu turned their gazes towards Meredith. For some reason, Meredith's breathing became heavy, and a smug expression appeared on her face. Seeing this, Lutilis covered her mouth with her sleeve and chuckled gracefully.

Oscar and Bandu saw that the relationship between the Queen and Meredith was closer than they had imagined. While feeling relieved, they couldn't help but admire Meredith.

"By the way, how should I address you two?"

"Call me? Just normally—"

"I think it would be better to call them Mr. Ao and Mr. Ben, right?"

“Why did it become like that?!”

The two spoke in perfect unison, almost making one wonder, "Huh? Oscar and Bandu are actually close?" It's no surprise, though, that the Queen, who seemed so stern, suddenly became so approachable, so it's no wonder they reacted that way.

However, this was only a tentative attack. Sim and the others had only recently learned that the queen was actually a fool, while Oscar and Bandu learned the truth when they were being chased.

"Mimi, is there a suitable name for them?"

""Mi Mi!?""

"You're the murderer! How dare you, the king of a country, call me that!" Oscar and Bandu said in perfect unison. They turned sharply to look at Meredith, half certain she would have another annoyingly smug expression on her face.

However, surprisingly, Meredith's eyes wandered for some reason. If she looked like a child caught playing a prank... she seemed more confused than anything else.

But she immediately smiled again, so maybe she was just mistaken.

"Hmm~ That's true. It's probably better to just follow Naru-chan's lead and address them as 'Mr. Ao' and 'Mr. Ban'."

For some reason, Mel felt very warm when she saw Meredith like that. However, Oscar and the others were distracted by their friends and didn't notice her.

"Natsu... Did Her Majesty call you 'Mr. Nakagami'?"

"yes."

"You look like a comedian, Natsu."

"yes."

Nizu gazed off into the distance. What was he looking at? Ah, perhaps somewhere beyond reality.

"Oh my, Xiao Mi, that's too ordinary and not interesting."

"Hey, Mei'er, our names don't need to be funny."

The scene began to get chaotic. Bandu tried to correct Mei in a clear manner so as not to ruin the atmosphere. However, if that was enough to make Mei stop, then Natsu's stomach should still be healthy.

"Hmm~ That's right. Ah, then let's call them 'Devil's Glasses' and 'Tsundere Prince'—huh!?"

In the end, Miledi let out a scream, of course, because she was hit by Oscar's glasses beam and then Bandu grabbed her head with his iron claws.

"Your Majesty, please call me Oscar, and this one can be called Bandu."

A sharp light flashed from her glasses. "That's too ordinary..." Lutilis seemed a little frustrated, like someone who had approached someone hoping to make friends, but was clearly rejected.

However, the Queen's true nature was certainly not to simply be upset and dismiss it. The friendless Queen was deeply drawn to the allure of "equal friends" and was eager to make new friends.

Her gaze caught sight of something else. Behind Oscar and Bandu, Marshall and Michaela knelt quietly on one knee, as if to indicate that their status prevented them from speaking directly to the Queen.

"I've heard about you two, too. Hehe, please tell me about your love story."

Marshall and Michaela, who weren't even in a relationship, were stunned by the sudden address of a king asking about their romantic interests. Incidentally, Bart's eyes darkened with jealousy.

Only at such moments did Lutilis's sharp eyes detect Bart's jealousy, and she covered her mouth with her hands, her cheeks flushing.

"Oh my, Lord Bart, you're looking at them both like that... This is the world-famous 'Triangle Relationship'!"

"What? No, wait! It's not—"

"Miss Michaela is quite popular with men. She's even being courted by two men."

“Huh!?”

"Such a wonderful woman, please be my friend... Can I call you Xiaomi?"

“Huh!?”

The Queen's fierce attack left Michaela flustered. She was the Queen, the ruler of a nation. Given Michaela's status, she shouldn't even be allowed an audience. The targets should have been Milady and the others.

However, now everyone in the throne room, including the powerful orcs, was looking at her!

Michaela sent a message to Meredith: "I don't know what to do! Meredith! Help me!"

Miledi nodded and said: No problem, leave it to me!

"Hey, Sister Mikay, to show intimacy, can I call you Xiaomi?"

That’s not the case! Michaela became even more panicked!

"Oh, then Marshall is the 'Pony'."

"What?"

"Onee-sama, that's a great idea!"

"What!?"

Marshall panicked. Oscar and Bandu were surprised that the Queen addressed Mel as "Sister." Bart, however, was not only jealous of Marshall being addressed as such by someone he admired, but also felt murderous intent. He didn't realize that he had been the one to refuse the name "Little Bar."

The scene was in complete chaos. With the prospect of making many friends, Lutilis seemed incredibly happy, her disguise almost peeling off. No, the outer layer of "strict queen" had already peeled off, but if the innermost layer peeled off as well, her true "perverted" nature might even be exposed. So—

"I think Oscar-san and Bandu-san should also have nicknames—"

"Your Majesty, time is limited. Please wait until later to make friends. It's fine for these two to just call each other by their first names. No, please call them by their first names. Do you understand?"

"……yes."

The pressure on the Vizier Pasha was astonishing, and she actually acted more like a queen. Because she was so terrifying, the real queen immediately gave in. Meanwhile, Meredith and Mel, glared at by her cat eyes, also quieted them down.

Afterwards, Vizier Pasha used his political savvy to restore a serious atmosphere and exchanged intelligence regarding the damage report, enemy forces, and analysis of enemy combat intentions. He also informed Oscar and the others of Lutilis's authority as queen and the power of the mist barrier.

Meredith asked Oscar and the others.

"Oh, what I just reported is the situation on our side. And I just heard that Xiu Xiu and the others..."

"Yes, only Marshall and Michaela came to support us. The rest of the execution force has already entered the Empire."

According to Oscar, the reason why it took them a month and a half to get here was that they noticed something was wrong with the empire halfway through, so they sneaked into the empire.

The reason why the main ships, including the flagship of the air fleet, suddenly exploded was because Oscar and others had sneaked into the anchorage and made some tampering in advance.

Actually, they had intended to detonate it before the first wave of attacks, but they were slightly delayed because they were engaged in a battle with a unit of the Beast Light Knights who had boarded the ship as messengers in the rear.

Furthermore, since the investigation revealed that the fleet was a first wave of troops, emphasizing speed, members of the Schnee clan, including Hugh, Tony, Ivy, and Margaret, as well as the execution forces dispatched from other nearby branches, were all stationed in the Empire. They were currently conducting espionage and guerrilla warfare to hinder the second wave of the army.

Meanwhile, Bandu's servants have already entered the forest. Only Bartram has left most of his clones in the forest, while his main body has shrunk and is placed in Bandu's pocket.

"Is that so? Then we should be able to hold the Imperial Army back for quite a while, right?"

Marshall replied:

"Even if it doesn't work out, we should still be able to get in touch. We met Hauser on the way here."

"Met Hauser and the others!? I see, everyone has safely relocated to the village, right?"

"Yes, after I informed him of the situation, he said he would cooperate with Xiu Xiu and the others."

Upon hearing the good news, Meredith's expression relaxed. After seeing that all the necessary information had been shared, Lutilis spoke with the expression of a queen:

"The enemy's unusual attack. If they were relying on the Empire's bombardment to force a breakthrough, their attempt has failed... Mimi."

The address seemed to remain unchanged, and because her face still had the expression of a queen, it looked very strange. Basically, when she was really serious, she would call her by her name, but Oscar and the others didn't know that, so unlike the others who were used to it, Oscar and the others had very subtle expressions on their faces. Lutilis ignored it and continued to speak seriously:

"The conditions for victory that I've been talking about are now complete. I'd like to hear your advice on what to do next."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like