Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero chapter 90

90 – Airship #3

A red trail cut through the air in a straight line, and a bloody spear lodged itself in the deck wall.

“Quaaagh!!”

Creepy screams filled the room.

Could not miss this opportunity, Katarina immediately rushed at her foe.

“Haap!”

When sword and sword collide, it is not easy for one side to gain the upper hand.

So Katarina aimed at her arm, not her Alfred’s sword.

The deep blue sword river drew a straight trajectory, and soon Alfred’s right arm flew through the air spattering blood.

Suddenly!

“Quaaa!!”

Because he was pierced by a spear and his arm was cut off, that would have been enough for an ordinary person, but the opponent is a master class that transcends human limitations. Even in this situation, it is a dangerous existence that you don’t know what to do.

That’s why Elizabeth stepped out. Her white hair lifted lightly upward and her pupils slit like snakes.

She commanded Alfred with reddish eyes.

“Stop.”

Dragon words, the power of higher beings that bind the minds of mortals.

According to the dragon’s command, Alfred stopped all movements. No terrifying screams, no outbursts of pain, everything stopped as if time had stopped.

With that, the fight is over. The only indication that time was passing was the red blood flowing from Alfred’s severed arm.

“Your Highness the Princess! Are you okay!? Sorry, I didn’t respond in time-“

“… I’m fine, Katarina. Take care of what needs to be done first.”

“Yes, yes! I understand, Your Highness.”

Catarina, who assisted her princess for a long time, knew well what to do in a situation like this.

In her familiar manner, she tied Alfred’s severed arm with a cloth to stop the bleeding. This was to get the information needed to find out who was behind the assassination.

After Katarina finished stopping her bleeding, she let out a sigh of relief and guilt. Her sense of shame for failing to properly protect her lord, whom she was supposed to protect, ran deep.

If the instructor hadn’t thrown her spear at the right time, she would probably regret this moment for the rest of her life.

But when I first saw it, it didn’t seem like he was holding a spear….

“… Uh?”

Katarina’s eyes turned to the spear in Alfred’s shoulder, and at the same time she was taken aback. It was because the shape of the window was very familiar to the eye.

Actually, I’ve only seen it with my own eyes once, but that once was so intense that I couldn’t help but notice it.

The very day she saw the malevolence, one of the 7 heroes of the continent.

The spear she was holding looked exactly like the one in front of her right now….

“… Uh huh?”

When Katarina recognized Ezetus and hardened like a statue of her, Elisabeth kept her composure and calmed her frightened heart.

This isn’t the first time I’ve faced the crisis of death. However, the experience just before gave me a premonition of the inevitable death.

The moment she almost died in vain was quite a shock to Elisabeth, but since she was the princess, she could not afford to be in shock.

Even under these circumstances, she had to remain calm, straighten her back and maintain her imperial dignity. That was what qualified her as Lord, and that was what made her different from her own brother.

“The situation has calmed down, everyone please return to your seats.”

Despite the assassination attempt on her a moment ago, all the crew members of her ship went back to their jobs, admiring the princess’s unblinking calm attitude.

After giving instructions to the crew, Elisabeth’s eyes turned to Ion. It was to thank her own instructor. However, Ion was turning the turbine again without even paying attention.

An absurd smile spread across Elisabeth’s lips at his nonchalant attitude. Even though he had just saved the life of an imperial princess, Ion didn’t seem to be moved by him. As if it was the right thing to do.

So, Elisabeth also decided to focus on what she had to do now. I can say thank you as much as I can after I go back.

Elizabeth stepped in front of Alfred, who was completely still. She looked back and forth between Ezetus and Ion and said, ‘Eh? Katarina, who had moaned incomprehensibly, saying, “What?

Once again, Elisabeth’s eyes widened.

“From now on, answer my questions honestly.”

The dragon can only command one command at a time, and excessive use quickly drains the caster’s sanity as well as risks permanently damaging her opponent’s brain.

So, getting the maximum effect with one command was the correct usage of the verb. When Alfred’s original order was cancelled, he wriggled from his standstill and let out the breath he’d been holding in.

“Huh!”

Elisabeth immediately threw a question at her opponent without giving her a chance to catch her breath.

“Who are you? Is that Colonel Alfred?”

The airship’s crew were all selected as reliable personnel. So was Colonel Alfred.

He was an Imperial soldier with a strong personality who had a deep relationship with Marquis Karlstein, and above all, he was never a master class master class. There was a reason why Katarina was embarrassed when Alfred pulled out the sword steel.

As soon as everything was revealed, Alfred said with a heavy laugh.

“Huh… It’s not so, Her Highness the Princess. Alfred is not my name… I am Heimlich.”

“… Heimrich? Heimrich von Diels?”

I couldn’t help but know the name.

Heimrich von Diels. Director of Imperial Intelligence.

He was the one who provided information about the safety of this airship.

Elisabeth frowned at the appearance of a person who was greater than she thought.

“I thought the Ministry of Information was neutral. I would have never thought that even the director of the Ministry of Information stepped forward.”

“I tried to make it look like that… If you can’t do that much, can you be called the director of the Ministry of Information… But the Ministry of Information is neutral. All of this… It was something I did alone.”

Alfred, no Heim Reich tried to show a relaxed attitude in front of the princess, but he couldn’t speak properly because of the pain from the spear stuck in his shoulder.

“Did you cheat on this airship?”

“Yes… Disguised as a captain, planted a mini-bomb in the engine… I wanted to set up a larger bomb to blow up the airship, but if it was bigger than that, Dr. Brown would have noticed… We disguised ourselves just in case and waited for the right time inside the airship.”

“Yes. You are the head of the Ministry of Information. No one noticed, Count, that you weren’t Colonel Alfred. Aside from me, most of the Airship’s crew had been followers of Colonel Alfred for a long time.”

“Hmm, it’s not as good as Sylvia, but I think my disguise is still usable… After all, I was the one who taught him the art of disguise.”

Heimlich’s gaze turned to the engine room. More precisely, he looked at the back of a man who was silently turning the turbine.

“Though that man seemed to recognize my disguise as soon as he saw it… Indeed, it was an eye for fame… hahahaha.”

“… ….”

The moment Ion arrived at the airship, Ion’s eyes were on Heimrich. The reason his eyes were exceptionally cold was because he had already recognized Heimlich’s disguise at that time.

From that moment on, Ion must have been watching Heimrich carefully.

Elizabeth asked the most important question.

“Who ordered me to be assassinated?”

Heimlich twisted his lips at the question.

“Commands… ? There is no one like that, Your Highness.”

As long as he was dominated by dragon words, lying was impossible. So that meant it was true.

Elizabeth’s expression hardened.

“It’s all your single act?”

“Yes, Her Highness the Princess. His Highness, the 1st Prince, was only planning on doing light tricks on airships. I intended to humiliate Your Highness by showing her embarrassment in front of the people. But I saw this as a golden opportunity.”

“A golden opportunity… ?”

“Your Highness, the princess must want to become an emperor. However, at this time when the demon king is still alive, what if the powerful empire divides into succession to the throne! When the demon king appears again, what country will be able to stand up against the demon king army!?”

Heimlich exclaimed enthusiastically.

His eyes flashed with a madness called conviction.

“If only Her Highness disappears, the empire’s succession will become clear… The Empire must not be divided. Under a mighty successor, we must unite more than ever… ! Only in this way can we continue to maintain a great and powerful empire… ! All of this was planned by me alone, for the glory of the Empire!”

At Heimlich’s confession, Katarina’s expression twisted with anger.

“This, how dare you! For that reason, Your Highness!”

In the end, it meant that all of this was planned for the first prince. It would have been to use it decisively at the most important moment to pretend to be neutral all the time.

Now I heard everything I heard. There was no more information to dig up, but if we let him live and have him testify in court, we could deal a pretty significant blow to the first prince.

At that moment, a low, heavy voice cut off her thoughts.

“That’s a lie.”

Before I knew it, Instructor Ion was approaching her and Heimlich.

“Instructor Ion?”

“If it’s a turbine, it’ll be fine for a while.”

Elisabeth didn’t ask because she was particularly concerned about the turbine, but when she glanced at her engine, she could see how hard she had turned it. The turbine was still spinning without him.

Elizabeth asked in a puzzled voice.

“Are you lying? As long as he is dominated by dragon words, he cannot lie.”

“Then you must have crafted your words. It’s not really a lie, but it can’t be called the truth either.”

“…… !!”

After hearing Ion’s words, Elisabeth realized what she had overlooked.

And she felt that the parts she had thought were odd were fitting together like a puzzle.

Heimlich skillfully led the conversation and made Elisabeth hostile to the first prince. However, even if Heimlich’s plan succeeded and Elisabeth died in the airship, Prince Wilhelm would not have been able to shake off a big political stigma. The indelible stigma of having directly stained the face of the empire in order to kill his own brother.

Even if Elisabeth had to leave this place alive, she wouldn’t be bad in that way. It was clear that an irreversible river would form between Elisabeth, who must have believed Heimrich’s confession, and Prince Wilhelm. After that, the competition for the throne became more and more fierce, and it could even develop into a situation where each other’s lives were threatened.

Who will benefit the most from such a situation?

Killing her 3rd princess under the guise of her accident, putting her political stigma on her 1st prince.

If the two members of the imperial family were to engage in a bloody battle, who would benefit the most by sitting still?

Elizabeth’s eyes flashed red.

“Who is the real royal family that wants you to become emperor?”

“… ….”

“Tell me!”

“Cool-!”

Heim Lich vomited blood violently from his mouth instead of answering. It was a symptom that often appears in people who resist the word.

Heimrich shed bloody tears and looked at Ion with hateful eyes.

“Why… chest voice… ! Why… Are you on the side of the 3 princesses… !”

“Hmm?”

“You, more than anyone else… There must be plenty of reasons to resent the Empire… I abandoned you and your companions… Gurgling! Isn’t the imperial family resentful? ?”

Ion was silent for a moment, then she slowly opened her mouth.

“I was resentful.”

“Then… !!”

Ion shook his head slightly and said.

“However, I am not on the side of the 3rd princess.”

His tone was extremely calm as usual.

“I just want to protect my students.”

Elizabeth looked at Ion in shock. It was the same with Heimlich.

He looked at Ion with dumb eyes, then burst into a manic laugh.

“Crazy… ! Step into the race for the throne just for that reason? Rejecting all that power and fame, and being so still as if dead, why the hell! Do you know who your choice is to make an enemy of? 3 The princess will not become emperor after all and she will die! You did this to protect a student, even turning the person who would become the next emperor into an enemy!?”

Ion nodded his head.

“There is nothing I can’t do.”

Heimlich opened his mouth blankly.