The largest island in the west, Parunier, was divided in two, with the Kingdom of Paloof in the north and the Kingdom of Linie in the south.
　The two kingdoms had a few skirmishes, but they never fought to the point of a major war. They had skirmishes and truce and then another skirmish and then a truce. They knew that their national power was about the same and that even if they went to war and won, their own country would suffer immensely.
　However, in recent years, this balance has been shattered. The king who ruled the Paloof Kingdom had died, and his right hand man, the Prime Minister, had died one after another. Unfortunately, a bad harvest caused by the Great Cold War hit Paloof. Regnier was also affected by the cold, but not as badly as Parouf, so Wardak, Regnier's vizier, decided it was time to reunite the island.
　It seems that Wardak, who has been making preparations for a long time, plans to declare war on Paloof and strike a great blow.

''But would you normally let the second prince make a declaration of war?
On the surface, it's a handover of letters, but inside it's a declaration of war. The plot is that the other party becomes enraged and throws away the second prince, the messenger of the second prince, in a fit of rage, isn't it?
'It's not impossible. It wouldn't be an end in itself, but even if I were to be cut down, I could see Waldak ranting white-hotly, 'Don't let the hateful Paloof get his hands on the Second Prince,' and so on.

　Thinking of Waldak's deviousness, Prince Cloud laughs to himself. He thought that's about the only way he could use himself.

'Anyway, let's get to work. I'll tell you once again, Prince Cloud, from here on out, you will be facing off completely against the viziers. Are you sure?
I know. I will save my mother and I will fight the Prime Minister.

　There was an unwavering glow of determination in the gaze directed at me.
　First of all, I'll go to the former vizier Marquis Coop, who seems to be able to help me. The Marquis would be able to persuade the other nobles to unite the Second Prince Faction, and above all, he wanted to know the situation of the captive mother.
　We'll have to act quickly from here.



''You have made a good decision, Prince Cloud. And with the help of the West, we have nothing to fear.

　The Marquis de Coupe kneels to Prince Cloud and bows deeply. This is the first time I've seen this man being treated like a prince. As expected in a rural area this far from the royal capital, they don't have to worry about the eyes of the foolish prince. We were discussing our future plans at the Marquis de Coupe's residence, which is just like a country mansion.

I'm not going to be able to say that I want to cooperate, but I don't want to cause any damage to this country if at all possible. We'd like to avoid controlling the country by force.
Well, that makes it all the more important that you detain the Prime Minister and deprive Prince Zabun of his claim to the throne.

　The Marquis de Coop stands up and looks at me. But is this man really over sixty years old? I'm a muscular man. His balding head and white beard make him look his age, but his stocky body doesn't look very old.

''I don't think the restraint of the Prime Minister is much of a problem. If anything, it's the deprivation of Prince Zabun's claim to the throne.
Can't we abolish the marriage, that we can't decide on a truancy based on what we've done so far?

　The Marquis de Coupe shook his head forcefully at Yae, who expressed a plausible opinion.

''There is no clear evidence. It's all in the hands of the vizier, you see. Even those who have been victimized will not testify for fear of reprisals from the vizier or Prince Zabun. So, if the king himself doesn't order the prince to be disinherited...

　But that king can't disobey Prince Zabun's mother, Queen Dacia, can he? Why is it that he can't defy his mother, Queen Dacia? Does he have some kind of weakness in his hands?

Worst case scenario, I'll threaten the king and force Prince Cloud to take the throne.
'....I will not quit doing it if it is necessary. Even if future generations will call me a prince who stole the throne from his father.

　I don't want it to be like that if at all possible. But if we don't do something about it, we'll have to go to war with the Paloof Kingdom in the north. Hmm, in the end, just like Sheska and the others said, if we kill the stupid prince quickly, everything will be taken care of.

''First and foremost, we'll have to rescue Prince Cloud's mother first.
"Queen Elia is under house arrest at Fort Gallia, in Viceroy Waldak's domain. My handlers have infiltrated it, but Queen Elia isn't sick as the Vizier says she is. However, the environment there is not very favorable. One of these days she could get really sick.

　If the Marquis de Coop was right, we'd have to hurry. We decided to head to that Gallic fort immediately.
　Yeah, we'll have to get our memories from the Marquis this time for "recall" again. Why do I have to hold hands and make eye contact with a muscular old man?
　After getting the memories, I wanted a girl's portion and I couldn't help but hug Else. Ah, it's soothing.........
　I was beaten up.




　Fort Gallia was reasonably large, but it was smaller than Brunhild's castle. It was like a mountain castle in a way, blocking the road to the pass.
　A large tower stands at the edge of the fort, and Prince Cloud's mother, Queen Elia, is said to be trapped on the top floor of the tower.
　While peeking at the fort from behind a rock, Prince Cloud opens his mouth.

''It's a pretty solid castle. But if you use your Majesty's magic, you'll be able to turn invisible and sneak in. If you've rescued your mother, if you can transfer out of the country in one fell swoop, you'll be at ease....
Target locked on, soldier of the fort. Activate 'Paralyze'.
Target acquired. Paralyzing is now in effect.

　Ugh! And "Haha! And then there was a short shout, and the soldier in front of the castle gates fell over in a heap. This should have almost incapacitated them. There might be a few guys with high magic defenses that don't have 'paralize' and a few guys with protection, but it's a good two or three of them.

Then let's go.
..........

　I call out to Prince Cloud, who is pouting, and I start to walk away. Yae lightly tapped his shoulder and gave him an incomprehensible comfort, "There's no end to what you can do if you care about it, that I know of. What the hell is that?
　We walked into the fort with the fallen soldiers at our side. But it's a very heavy security. Isn't this more stringent than the palace?
　As I entered, I found out that there were a good number of people who could move inside the fort, like horse choppers and cooks. I had designated the target as "soldiers".
　But they were panicking and didn't come at us. It was like, "It's an epidemic! I'm shouting. Well, it doesn't look like it.
　Ignoring them, we enter the tower. We take the keys from some fallen soldiers in a large room downstairs, open the door, and climb up the long stone spiral staircase to the top.
　And in front of the middle room in the middle of the stairs, I bumped into a dark-haired woman of about twenty years old wearing a maid's uniform. Ah, "paralizing" doesn't work on this person either. She doesn't look like a 'soldier' by any means.

''Who are you! I'll call the soldiers!
My name is Cloud. I'm the second prince of the land. I've come for my mother here. Let me through.
'Prince Cloud!'

　The long black-haired maid knelt on the spot and looked up. Oh, this person by any chance........

''Excuse me. I am the caretaker of Queen Elia, my name is Angier. I was ordered by the Marquis de Coop to protect the queen's safety.
So you're Ange. The Marquis de Coupe told me about you. Thank you for always letting me know about my mother. I am truly grateful.
Oh, it's such a waste...

　I knew it. So this is the guy that the Marquis de Koop let slip through his fingers.

The queen is right up here. Well, go ahead and...
What are you people?

　A soldier came down from the upper stairs and saw us and held up his sword. d*mn, there's a soldier who can move.
　I tried to shoot the soldier in the leg with my hip brunnhild, loaded with live ammunition, in order to immobilize him. But faster than that, in an instant, I had jumped in front of the soldier and had taken a powerful kick to its jaw that Angier-san, who had lowered himself, would launch up. Whoa, awesome.

''Angel-san, you're a martial artist. And you seem to be a pretty good user.

　Else mutters a little. A martial arts maid! It's true that you probably need to be this good to sneak in.

Come on, let's go.

　He grabbed the bundle of keys from the fallen man and Angel climbed the stairs. We follow him, trying not to fall behind. After a while, we reached the floor where a small door was attached. There are no stairs higher than this one. So this is the top floor.
　Mr. Angier unlocks the door and Prince Cloud jumps into the room. There is a woman in her 40s sitting on a chair, knitting. Oh, that's definitely Prince Cloud's mother. She has the same look in her eyes.

'Mother!
'The cloud...? Is it the cloud? Cloud!

　The father and son hugged each other with tears in their eyes as they met again after a long time. I heard a giggle from behind me, so I turned around and saw Yae with tears in her eyes. Are you crying in return? I don't understand how you feel. Yae is a gentle girl, you know.
　I held out the handkerchief in my pocket to Yae, she wiped her tears with it and then blew her nose vigorously with a chirp. Oops! It's so goofy!

'Cloud, I'm so big now.... It's worth living through it all to this day.
'Mother, we must get out of here at once. Your Majesty, please!
Yeah.
"Your Majesty?

　I open the "gate" in front of Queen Elia, who is looking at me with a questioning look. I thought about going all the way to Brunhild at once, but I decided to lead the way to the Marquis de Coupe's residence.
　Prince Cloud takes his mother's surprised hand and walks through the Gate. With a similarly astonished Angier-san in tow, we made our way to the Marquis de Coupe's mansion.
　We've been rescued. There are no more shackles to bind Prince Cloud. We can now rebel against the First Prince Faction without worrying about it.
　Now, now, how shall we cook this? I'm not going to show any mercy to anyone who wants to enslave Sue. Hahahahahaha.

"Winter's Night looks bad.
You're up to some kind of dirty tricks again, aren't you...

　What is it?