Overlimit Skill Holder - Book 6: Chapter 24.1

The Holy Queen’s Life

It seems that Earl Sillys considered breaking out Her Majesty the Holy Queen from the Holy Royal Palace right after escaping from the church. But then he had no plans for what to do after.

The Holy City is under Duke Grejido’s control. The Earl will soon be captured with Her Majesty the Holy Queen if they are unable to compete with the soldiers mobilized in the Holy City.

However, it turned out that Duke Ebene, Duke Luciel, and the faction that has the most military experience in the Holy Kingdom, Border Earl Mule, will make their move soon.

The other Duke Houses seem to be observing the situation for now.

With this, the opposition faction can fight against Duke Grejido as long as they have Her Majesty the Holy Queen.

——I wish I could have killed Grejido-sama at the church.

The Earl said with sorrow and agony.

Looking at everything that has happened so far, that may have been the easiest and quickest solution. But the Earl will surely have to bear the regret of that sin forever.

Or maybe he planned to give up his life after this turmoil subsided.

(I don’t want that kind of ending.)

Even so, I can’t think of a way to bring Duke Grejido back to his senses.

At the moment when Earl Sillys tried to kill Duke Grejido, even my World Ruler could not grasp why his blade was deflected. It didn’t feel like there was any physical barrier. The impression I got was similar to the same poles of magnets repelling each other.

(It felt unpleasant.)

I may have become too accustomed to World Ruler. Whenever I can’t obtain any information from World Ruler, I become more uneasy than usual.

「——Bochan.」

The night was coming to an end. Zerry-san, wearing a dark hood, approached me from behind.

At the request of Earl Sillys, I returned to the Holy City alone to break out Her Majesty the Holy Queen.

Reunited with Dante-san in the Adventurer’s Guild, I asked him to head towards Lady Eva’s location together with Captain Maxim.

I also contacted Zerry-san through the guild. We’re now moving together.

「Bochan, you made such a flashy entrance at the church… Your cool guy level certainly has gone up. Maybe your bounty has also gone up.」

「Hey, don’t say ominous things!」

「Earl Sillys and Lady Eva already have a bounty, after all.」

I also heard about that in the Adventurer’s Guild. But Silver Balance isn’t being pursued, so Duke Grejido probably doesn’t know that it was I who knocked him unconscious.

「Zerry-san, please take the lead.」

「Yes, yes. You always give me so much work.」

「…………」

Huh?

「Hmm, what’s wrong, bochan?」

「Ah no… You just seemed happy even though you were complaining?」

「Eh!?」

Zerry-san’s tail stood on end.

「I-I-I-I-It’s not like I’m relieved to learn that bochan is still alive or anything like that!」

「Were you worried about me?」

「N-No!」

「Eh, you didn’t worry about me…?」

「P-Puppy eyes!? W-Well, it’s not that I wasn’t worried. I borrowed money from you, so it would be a problem if you died!」

Now that’s just a lie. You’re the type of person who will be overjoyed when the lender dies and the debt vanishes.

「Zerry-san, there is a patrol ahead.」

「No problems. We can easily get to the Holy Royal Palace without stopping… Just follow me.」

We traversed the night city. With Zerry-san leading the way and my magic, we easily reached the Holy Royal Palace.

「Now then… First of all, I don’t know who the Holy Queen is, and there are no maps for the inside of the Holy Royal Palace. So I have no idea where to go.」Zerry-san said.

「…But we do have some clues.」

I said, having an idea of where we could find the Holy Queen.

「Clue?」

「Yeah. It’s easy. We should start looking for the area with the highest security.」

★ Kruvan Holy Kingdom – Holy Queen ★

The Holy Queen noticed that the Holy Royal Palace was noisy. She was in a place which could be called the innermost part of the Holy Royal Palace—locked up, but she can still learn much by observing the people passing by outside and in the aisles.

(I was informed that there was an intruder yesterday, but there is nothing today. But this buzz is not the aftermath of the intruder… It is something else.)

The Holy Queen thought to herself, sitting on the bed in her private room.

There are two strong soldiers guarding the entrance of the room. There should be 10 other soldiers surrounding the room, as well as the courtyard and roof.

There were rumors of an intruder this morning, and the number of guards was increased.

And because the number of staff was increased again in the evening, she assumed that “another incident” had occurred.

(Father didn’t come today as well…)

She sighed a little.

Although there were times in the past where a new Holy King took the throne while the previous Holy King still lived, it never caused this much chaos.

However, she was optimistic as the Holy Queen. She thought that it could be solved by respecting her father and talking with her father.

(But he doesn’t even want to have a conversation…)

She was surprised that he planned a coup d’etat, and it was strange that there was no discussion after that.

The Holy Queen’s older brother, the Holy Crown Prince, and her younger brother, Prince Kluvshrat, should have escaped safely from the Holy City, but they could not be contacted.

「Just what is father thinking…」

Since she is still alive, her father doesn’t want to spill more blood than is necessary, it would seem. But she has no idea what he is thinking.

Until now, even if he took an unexpected action, she could immediately tell the reason or somehow understand it.

The Holy Queen thinks that being compassionate and sometimes emotional is not so bad as a Holy King.

Rather, it would be welcomed by the public.

For that reason, the situation this time is completely unclear.

「——It seems that your heart is being manipulated quite deeply.」

「!?」

She was startled in response to the voice which answered the questions she never voiced, but the Holy Queen regained her composure.

「Are you… Reiji?」

「Oh, you know about me?」

When did he come? The boy standing quietly in the room had black hair and black eyes.

The battle with the mediator at the “First Altar” that triggered her ascension to the throne, and the destruction of the Holy City due to the appearance of Ouroboros — he is the central figure who stopped these events.

(After that… he was also ousted from this city just because he had “black hair and black eyes”.)

Nobles of old tradition, such as Duke Ebene, strongly ostracized Reiji and actually took action. As a result, the pursuers were beaten at their own game and Reiji left the Holy City—it was a bittersweet event for the Holy Queen.

Her father, Grejido, regretted it a lot, and he said he wanted to treat Reiji, the “hero of the country,” one day, but it wasn’t the right time.

So why is that Reiji standing in front of her right now?

「!!」

She looked up at the ceiling. There must be a hidden guard overlooking this room–

「The people above have been suppressed. I haven’t touched the people outside, because it would raise alarms.」

「Wha…」

Although he said it with a light tone, she couldn’t believe it. One of the ceiling boards popped open and a catgirl popped out from there — a face she had never seen before, so it must be one of Reiji’s allies. She understood that the ceiling had already fallen under their control.

「Haha… It would seem that you are much stronger than I initially thought.」

Reiji gave a small nod, neither affirming nor denying.

The Holy Queen felt that his composed appearance was a testament to his strength.

「So what is the request?」

「Earl Sillys is waiting. Can you follow me?」

「Is it inevitable that blood will flow?」

「!」

Reiji seemed surprised at the Holy Queen’s words.

「Is Duke Ebene and Duke Luciel supporting Earl Sillys?」

「D-Did you already know that much…」

「But I don’t want the Holy City to be stained with blood.」

To avoid that, she allowed her father Grejido’s coup.

She thinks this whole conflict is a father-daughter quarrel, so she doesn’t want to spill other people’s blood for it.

「Your Majesty, the situation has come to a point where it can no longer be solved peacefully.」

「If so, kill me.」

「Huh?」