“The Ministry of Defense wants YOU!”

  “My, what an unpleasant poster that is,” Alexa pointed out, annoyed. “I’ve been seeing them for a while.”

  “Your Highness, we should probably continue now on our way to the academy as you planned,” her lady-in-waiting, a blue-haired woman of her age named Adele von Florence, called out from behind. “Sir Alfred is already calling for us.”

  “Tell me, Adele. Why are there so many of these unsightly posters in this city?” Alexa inquired. “They send a very…annoying message endlessly, and I feel a bad premonition from seeing them.”

  “Your Highness, you didn’t know? Of course, it’s simply because of the conflict with the Demon Horde up north.”

  “I know that, quite obviously. But why this? And why is it everywhere?”

  “Your Highness,” Alfred suddenly gently pulled Alexa’s hand and began to lead her to their waiting carriage. Alexa was quite annoyed by it, but she followed reluctantly. “I suppose as the next Empress you do have to learn a bit about what happens outside of the court. So to answer your dear question, this year’s ‘Winter Campaign’ up north has been quite bloody for the Northern Front.”

  “...?”

  “That’s why, they’re reminding every young man required to serve in the north of their duty to our people. With a hundred thousand casualties in the last two months, of course, the Ministry of Defense will need replacements, so to speak.”

  A hundred thousand? How are you saying that to me so calmly? That’s like a lot of dead people!

  Quite frankly, in Iron Saintess, the conflict with the demons up north was only treated like a passing affair. A mere sideshow to make the saintess look better when it turned out she could defeat the seven great archdemons with her magic, helping her to eventually overthrow Alexa Theresa and secure the throne.

  But now…

  She somewhat felt like it was a little bit too real. But she didn’t want to deal with that either. It seemed like a big mess for her, and she didn’t like dealing with a mess.

  “What a dull conflict,” Alexa frowned. “Still, that’s a lot of people dead. Why is everyone so carefree then?”

  “Your Highness, you shouldn’t worry too much about it. More than half a million men are holding the line for us. We will be fine. This war has been raging on for two centuries now. There’s nothing new to this.”

  Hmm. He does have a point.

  “Oh well, I suppose you’re right,” Alexa tried to smile. “As the princess, it’s not my worry anyway. I bet even commoner girls won’t worry about—”

  “Is that twin-tailed pipsqueak the next Empress? No way, I probably guessed wrong again.”

  “...Major von Eisen, she is the Crown Princess.”

  “I’m done. I can’t keep up with this. Why do all noble girls look the same?”

  She felt a vein popping in her forehead.

  That cold, annoying, and utterly insolent voice!

  Who the hell dared—!

  “Oh, Wilhelm,” Alfred scoffed as he locked eyes with a man his age. “You’re here.”

  Alexa’s eyes fell on the black-haired man Alfred was looking at. Unlike Alfred, his looks were…mediocre at best. His complexion was unhealthy and pale, and even his cold blue eyes were rotten. No in fact, when she looked at how he carried himself, maybe it was below mediocre even.

  He also hid his left eye with this black eyepatch, which made him scarier, and thus, another negative in her criteria. He was also holding a metal flask, most likely with alcohol inside. Seeing that he wore a dull gray uniform, the same uniform that four other soldiers wore behind him, Alexa realized who this black-haired officer was.

  “Von Eisen,” she mumbled.

  “Heh…” Wilhelm smiled, and Alexa felt as if that moniker, ‘The Laughing Fox’, became true in front of her. “So she knows me already. Way to go, Alfred.”

  “Referring to me so casually? What insolence,” Alfred frowned, his hand hovering on the hilt of his sword. “And you even dared to offend the princess—Major von Eisen?”

  “No. Not really,” Wilhelm looked down at Alexa. “I merely wish to admire the one we serve and defend with our blood, guts, and limbs.”

  Wilhelm laughed, before bowing ‘submissively’. Way too much, that it was almost like a bad imitation of a knight’s bow, as if he was treating this encounter as a comical affair!

  “Your Royal…Highness, that must be how this works right? Yeah, that should be right. Now, Your Highness, I truly appreciate seeing you here. To finally lay my eyes on the person we fight and die for,” he looked up at her, and his blue eyes glowed a bit. “It’s almost enough to bring me to tears.”

  He looked like a creature of hell wearing human skin. It sent chills down Alexa’s spine. Was this what ‘only monsters can fight monsters’ meant? She thought that was just a funny quote…

  So this peasant is the disgraced Archduke’s son, next in line to a bygone title, and he’s been reduced…to this? Ugh, he’s so pitiful I can’t even be mad. No, I’m totally mad. There’s not a hint of nobility in this peasant.

  Therefore, that meant he was worth zero attention from Alexa. With a ‘hmph’, she looked away, as she shooed him with her hands.

  “Please, carry on in whatever job you commoners are up to. I am in haste to the Academy, so I don’t wish for more delays. Sir Alfred, please, let us go.”

  “At once, Your Highness. And apologies. This man seems to be searching for his funeral, so if you wish me to grant it to him—”

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  “I said let’s go, Sir Alfred,” Alexa tiredly walked away.

  Guh, what a bad day to start with.

  +++

  I’ve re-read the entire book already. But I’m not entirely sure how I can change things. Maybe that peasant will be useful? I don’t really know…

  The upcoming ‘incident’ in this academy, which would involve demons infiltrating them during their next semestral exam, was something that gravely worried Alexa. It was her most immediate threat, one that, in the original story, was where the saintess’ powers debuted.

  It was where she first shone when she saved the Academy by killing a powerful Archdemon—the so-called ‘Archdemon of Sloth’.

  Other than the fallout where her lovers became closer to her, and the ladies like Alexa Theresa became more jealous in response, she didn’t see a lot of passages about this Wilhelm person.

  The only passage she caught was his death alongside brief snippets about his battlefield records before coming to the Academy. It seemed that behind the scenes, he and the new instructors from the frigid north were also here to hunt an Archdemon, who was searching for the prophesied saintess.

  Believed by no one in the Academy, hampered by the noble students, and without much access to Imperial support, Wilhelm—the Laughing Fox, died in the hands of the Archdemon of Sloth after he bought enough time for the saintess to activate her abilities.

  Worse, he died while laughing in the face of his demise.

  Searching for his funeral, huh? Geez, what an edgy guy. For a side character, he sure is a bit nonsensical.

  Still, it was good that there were veteran demon hunters in the Academy. Should she find it necessary, she’d use those peasants to save her skin, somehow. Maybe even make herself look better if she did.

  Indeed, indeed.

  She smiled at her ingenious plans.

  “Tell me, Sir Alfred,” Alexa idly looked to her side, watching as buildings and establishments passed by them as their dragon-drawn carriage sped through the wide avenue. “I wonder, if he’s your brother, why does he look that way?”

  “...Your Highness, you have an awful lot of questions about this nobody.”

  “And it’s your job to answer it. I happen to have found my curiosity piqued by these strange fellows, so please, speak up.”

  “Fine. Wilhelm has been in the Defense Forces for nearly eight years now, fighting demons with his men. That’s enough time for ‘withering’ to set in.”

  “Withering?”

  “It's a syndrome. There’s a reason why veterans who come home fighting demons are not seen fondly by most, and why they rarely reintegrate. This is also why the government only demands that each family send half of the number of sons they have on the frontline, so only the most unworthy sons are sent there…

  “That’s because demons have a potent magical ability they use against humans and demi-humans alike. Seeing them, smelling them, even just hearing them constantly, it wears down on your soul directly. Months and years of exposure to fighting them, therefore, quite literally, slowly withers one’s humanity and health.

  “My…‘brother’ is a lost cause. Look at his body—his skin is pale and sickly, his eyes sunk and solemn, and his mind, it’s not stable. Notice how the soldiers following him are the same. You will find that they barely even fear the threat of death, their respect for social cues is nonexistent, and their propensity for violence is severely heightened. I once had the displeasure of killing one of them, and he was gleeful when I finished him off…”

  Even Adele beside Alexa looked down.

  Alexa’s eyes were wide on the other hand, remembering those passages of his brutal death. It would have been comical because the story only depicted Wilhelm as a raving madman who happened to be right about a demonic attack.

  But now, knowing the rest of the lore…

  That’s like so messed up! No wonder so many of these soldiers joined the revolutionary army to cut my head off. They’re crazy.

  She felt a bit nauseous.

  That peasant might also slice my head off if I let him live after using him…

  “My, why is everything around here so distastefully awful,” Alexa frowned. “Please don’t tell me such a gruesome story again.”

  “As you wish, Your Highness.”

  “Unless I ask, of course.”

  “I’ll accommodate your ever-changing needs, yes.”

  Alexa silenced herself, as they slowly reached the Grand Academy of Lotharingia in the distance, just on the outskirts of Perlenstadt City.

  When their fancy convoy of carriages reached the entrance gate to the academy, her knight leaned forward a bit in her direction.

  “Still, now that you know this, I want you to heed these words at the very least. Please, avoid any of these Northern Front veterans in the academy. A young princess like you should not deal with public menaces.”

  “...But why are they here then?” Alexa cautiously asked. “If they’re so dangerous.”

  His eyes turned grim.

  “Because even broken men have a purpose that cannot be sourced elsewhere. We’ll use them until we can discard them safely.”

  +++

  “What a tiring affair,” Alexa mumbled as she settled into her spacious dorm. At the very least, her chair felt nice and soft with its cushions. “I felt like a mascot being paraded for those peasants’ amusement.”

  “Your Highness, please don’t be so displeased,” Adele said, her soft blue eyes shining as she gently combed Alexa’s pink hair. “I believe the academy staff were so elated about the Crown Princess returning, and they were also amazed that such a beauty graced them with her presence.”

  Alexa smiled a bit, now finally enjoying all that attention aimed at her truly dazzling self instead of being annoyed by it. All of them, the servants, the instructors, and even the few students present all stopped and looked at her as she entered.

  All of them even bowed as she walked past them. It simply affirmed a self-evident truth: she was superior to all of them.

  And it felt good.

  “You’re right. Please keep serving me with those praises,” Alexa smiled. “Unlike my infuriating knight, you are truly pleasant.”

  “I appreciate Her Highness’ assessment of me. And please, I merely said the truth,” Adele leaned close to Alexa. “After all, it’s another year in the academy, Your Highness. I wonder what new kinds of fun we’ll have this time around.”

  “Oh…yes,” Alexa briefly smiled as her mind remembered the ‘fun’ she always had. Until…

  All those abuses. Bullying. Petty conspiracies.

  Ending up with her head sliced when the woman she tormented, and her pawns, turned on her.

  Alexa’s eyes turned less giddy until she was fully neutral.

  “But I’m also not quite sure…” Alexa looked down. “Perhaps, we should tone it down…just a little bit.”

  “...Is that so, Your Highness?”

  “Yes. After all, a true lion wouldn’t care what an insect thought of her,” Alexa grinned. “I’m afraid I consider myself above petty affairs now.”

  Yes, that’s right. Like I seriously can’t do Alexa Theresa things anymore, even if I feel like I’d like it…

  No, like it? That’s totally just Alexa Theresa’s mentality affecting me. It’s not me! I’m not an awful villain—

  She stopped. It had to be true, no?

  “...Yes. Indeed, I am above all of that now,” Alexa nodded to herself. “Surely.”

  She supposed she’d find out soon enough when the saintess appeared.

  That would be next Monday.