I’m Not Good at Offensive Magic, but I’ll Do My Best With Support Magic!

Chapter 2: The City of Tanza

「Snow-san is an extraordinary person. I apologize for my rude attitude」
「No. I was the one who hid my identity, so please don’t worry about the specifics… Also, if you could treat me as you have always treated me, I would be very grateful and happy」
「Then, stop talking that way, Snow」
「Shia-san!」

Shia-san’s steadfastness is amazing, but sometimes it’s dangerous. Words have both genuine intentions and hidden meanings. The result of taking them at face value can lead to disaster.

「I know. Yes, I really don’t mind, so please keep doing what you’re doing」
「Un. I’ll do the same」
「You… didn’t mean to fix it in the first place, did you, Shia-san?」
「That’s not true. Yuan cares too much」
「Such a thing───」
「Yes, Rinshia is right, Yuan is too concerned about it. Other nobles might care, but I don’t have time to worry about status when I want to form a cooperative relationship」

That’s not true. Before I could say it was a common thing, Snow-san betrayed me. Uu… is it my fault?

「I understand… So, what do we do now?」

The situation Snow-san shared with us was not something we could… or would… handle on our own.

「First, I will need to speak to the princess」

Snow-san seems to have been a knight in the princess’s Escort Knights. And since she is the deputy commander, she seems to be an excellent person. Why would such a person join the Resistance and pretend to be an adventurer?

「You don’t mind going to war with the First Prince’s faction?」
「Underwater fights are an everyday occurrence」

Apparently, there was some power struggle involved, and she was working to find out what it was.

「Why is there a faction war going on?」

The Emperor has 4 children, it appears, the 1st Prince who is the eldest son, the 1st Princess who is the eldest daughter, the 2nd Princess whom Snow-san serves, and the 2nd Prince who is still very young. The siblings can’t seem to get along with each other to run the country, so they end up forming a faction with the nobles on their side.

「Because the 1st Prince is dangerous~!」
「Dangerous?」

Luri-chan answered my question.

「Yeah. He’s known for his faction wars!」
「Is that so?」
「I don’t think that’s the case…」

He’s famous among informants.

「So, what’s so dangerous?」
「Let’s see?」

Luri-chan looked at Snow-san’s face. She wasn’t sure if it was okay to talk without permission. I think it’s a little late for that, though, after revealing Snow-san’s true identity.

「I don’t mind. I think I’d better do the talking」
「Yeah, yeah. I’ll fill you in if there’s anything missing!」
「Thank you. So, as to why the 1st Prince is so dangerous…」

We were almost speechless at the details.

「It’s war after all…」

I’ve heard rumors. She said that there might be a war coming soon.

「At the center of it all is not the Emperor, but the 1st Prince… the hardliner, as they call him」
「Opposing to that faction is the Peace Faction of the two Princesses」
「Does that mean that the two Princesses’ factions have an advantage?」
「I hope you’re right. As it stands, they’re not taking any chances with him」

That’s how big the Prince’s faction seems to be. Since ancient times, the Empire has been expanding its land by taking land through wars. The vestiges and customs of the past are still the foundation of the country, and many nobles seem to agree with the thoughts of the 1st Prince. It’s rather strange that people like the two Princesses were born in the Empire.

「Whose side is the Emperor on?」
「No, I think the Emperor is watching the situation. I don’t think he’s involved in either of them」

I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, but he doesn’t seem to be putting his support behind either of them.

「For the Emperor, it doesn’t matter who takes his place. He’s planning to educate them the same way and respect the ideas that come out of them, isn’t he?」
「Eh, is that all right?」

If things go wrong, the very foundations of the country could fall apart. There’s a possibility that the country’s current policy will change drastically.

「That’s not true, okay? The Empire hasn’t been at war for a long time, you know! In fact, there hasn’t been a war since the current Emperor took over, remember?」
「Eh, but there was a war about 15 years ago, right?」

「That was the previous Emperor, okay? The Emperor was replaced during the war. It ended」

I thought for sure that the current Emperor was the one who had started the war. It appears that the skirmishes that are occurring along the border are not caused by the Emperor, but by self-defense.

「Something about that makes me think the Emperor is more of a peacemaker」
「If only that were true. But the fact is, he’s not going to stop the 1st Prince」

If he’s really a peacemaker, he’ll stop the 1st Prince. Hmm… I have no idea what the Emperor has in mind.

「That’s not the problem. What do we do now?」
「Right」
「Power against power… is it possible to replace the Princess who Snow-san serves, as the lord?」
「That was the plan」
「Was it?」
「Yeah. But the lord’s hiding better than I thought, and I can’t get to him without catching his tail」
「Because the lord is a hardliner! If you poke him too hard, you might end up fighting him out in the open!」

It’s complicated… I thought it was just about rescuing kidnapped people, but it’s turned into a huge mess. Moreover, I can’t quit since I’ve been asked to do so by Rose-san. Now that I’ve heard this much, I can’t just hand over the information and call it a day.

「But I believe we can make it impossible for the kidnapped to leave this city for the time being」
「Are you sure?」

We need to hurry, but if we can delay their removal, we can create a reprieve.

「Yes. I’m not the only one in the Princess’s personal army. If I give this information to Emeria-sama, I’m sure she’ll check them out」
「If we tell the Resistance about the underground passage at the same time, the lord might get nervous! If there’s an opportunity, it’s there!」

Emeria-sama… seems to be the name of the Princess. The Princess will restrain the lord to prevent him from getting away, and in the meantime, the Resistance and us will look for the kidnapped people. Or should we destroy the organization?

「Will it work?」
「I don’t know about that~ But if it works, I can rescue you. If it doesn’t, you’ll lose your head~」
「I belong to the Princess Faction, and I’m fine with that. Those who belong to the Resistance are also ready for it. But you don’t have to push yourself, Yuan and Rinshia」
「However, I don’t like the way things are going」
「But…」

Snow-san doesn’t want us to get involved.

「Snow. With Yuan, we’ll be fine. I feel rather sorry for the other side」
「Shia-san, that’s not true, okay?」

There are things I can do and things I can’t do. It’s the same with you, Shia-san.

「In the meantime, let’s keep in touch with each other and keep moving. We’re going to search the underground passage」
「Yeah. I’ll tell Emeria-sama and the Resistance right after this」
「I’ll let you know if I get any new information!」

Whether it will work or not, the course of action has been decided. It seems that we each have to do what we have to do and do the best we can. The time to act is tomorrow. I’d like to start searching the underground passage right away, but I don’t think we’ll be able to do much exploring in the underground passage if we head there now. Besides, if we were to search now, we will have so sleep there. We don’t have time to go back. For this reason, it may be necessary to make some preparations.

「Ah, Yuan oneechan, can I have a word with you?」
「Ah, yes. I’m sorry, I completely forgot about the information fee」

Once we left Luri-chan’s base to return to the surface, I was stopped alone. I apologized for forgetting about the information fee in this sudden turn of events.

「No, it’s fine!」
「That’s no good」

I don’t know the market price of the information fee. So I decided to give her 10 gold coins for now.

「Hey, that’s too much!」
「Is that so?」
「Yeah, anyone can gather this much information with a little hard work. So I’ll return this!」
「But, you said it was up to me…」

Luri-chan only took one gold coin and returned the rest.

「Hmm? It’s up to you? Search the underground passages and everything else! So, I guess this is my request!」
「If that’s the case…」

I took the returned gold coins and put them in storage.

「Good luck to us all! Let’s blow up the lord!」
「It’s good to work hard, but in moderation」

And you can’t blow up a lord.

「Well then…」
「Ah, no, no. I stopped oneechan for something else!」

Something else? It seems that there was some information that she hadn’t told us yet.

「What else do you have?」
「This is completely unrelated! Lend me your ear!」

It might be information that I can’t pass on to Shia-san and the others.

「Okay」
「That is… mumble mumble… is her weakness」
「Is that the case?」
「Yeah, give it a try!」
「I understand!」
「I’ll see you later~! And watch out for traps on the way back!」

Finally, after such an exchange, we left Luri-chan’s base. There were many traps on the way back, but I helped out and we made it back to the surface safely and without incident.

「Then, with this too」
「Thank you, Snow-san」
「No, no. It helped me, too」
「How do we contact you?」
「Well I’ll head over there in the morning myself」
「I understand. Please be careful」
「Un, Yuan and everyone, too」
「If you need anything, you can count on me」
「Maybe then」

We parted ways with a quick farewell to Snow-san. Snow-san is going to have a difficult time now that she has to go places to report.

「Shia-san, we should go home too. From today on, we’ll be staying at Illumina-san’s inn, right?」
「I don’t mind, Platinum Pavilion is fine」
「That’s no good. We can’t let Illumina-san’s goodwill go to waste」
「All right」

It’s more of a waste than anything else! We must save money when we can. That’s the most important thing of all.

「Do you know where it is?」
「Un, near Il-nee’s store」
「It helps that it’s close to the guild!」
「Un」

The action starts tomorrow, so we’ll take a break when we can. It’s going to be a busy day. We may need to give a progress report to Rose-san, but there’s no need to rush. And I think we can do it tomorrow. We had been underground for quite a while and the sun was beginning to set. We made our way to Illumina-san’s inn before the sun went down.

Author-san

I feel like I made a mess when I wrote it… I guess it’s because I changed the flow of the story on a whim.

Thank you very much for those who report typos.
There are many parts I don’t notice myself, so this is very helpful.

My writing speed has slowed down and daily updates are in jeopardy, but I’m still trying.
Thank you for your continued support.

As always, thank you for reading.