I Already Know That My Magic Power Is Ridiculously High! Now I Just Need To Get A Lovely Bride - Chapter 11

The expressionless female officer brought some unexpected bad news.

“Balbat did not retreat, right?”
“Yes, most likely the Naiya army has headed toward the northern Lonshant Fortress.”
“Damn it, so their target was Grandfather from the start!”
“Yes, probably.”

This is the worst—I completely misread the enemy’s intentions. When we first encountered the Naiya Kingdom’s army, it was strange that we managed to escape without any casualties. Now I realize that the enemy never intended to let us go; we were lured onto this hill from the very beginning, which explains why no follow-up magic attacks came.

“You’ll do it, Balbat.”
“Ugh!”

I ended up speaking in a lower voice than I intended. My magic leaked out slightly, and it may have even intimidated the expressionless female officer.

“So, the 10,000 men at the foot of the hill are just decoys, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Hey, what’s wrong? Your face is red.”
“N-no, it’s nothing.”
“I see. Then that’s fine.”

I was surprised when the normally impassive officer suddenly blushed. Honestly, I worried she might have turned as red as a boiled octopus—maybe even running a fever. But realizing that even a female officer can show a human face made me feel a bit relieved.

(Now, this makes me wonder what kind of person Prince Balbat really is.)

If he can outsmart me like this, he must be quite sharp. I might as well do a little profiling on him.

“Tell me about Balbat. What kind of guy is he?”
“Is that all right? Balbat is currently speeding northward.”
“That’s fine—tell me everything you know.”
“Yes, understood.”

Although the officer looked a bit puzzled, she recited the information she knew:

Balbat von Naiya, 26 years old, is the second prince of the Naiya Kingdom. He has one older brother, two younger brothers, and one sister, and he has no partner. He is impulsive and crude, and his reputation in the Naiya Kingdom is terrible—he is known as a pervert who preys on young girls, a playboy, a lowlife who would even molest his own sister, and he is heavily in debt. He specializes in wind magic.

I didn’t even need to do any profiling myself; his entire character was laid bare. It seems the officer is quite competent. I softened some of the harsher details, but even so, Balbat is, to say the least, trash. From what I’ve heard, I can’t imagine that the current moves by Naiya are driven solely by him. It appears someone else might be pulling his strings.

“Um, is it really okay for someone like him to do all this?”
“Ah, thanks to you, I learned a lot. You saved us.”
“Y-yes!”

(Hmm? What is with that officer’s reaction?)
Her face remained stubbornly unchanged at first, but the longer I stared, the more it looked like a dog happily being praised by its master. Her cheeks grew redder and redder.

(Could it be…? No, I must stop these foolish thoughts. I need to focus on Balbat for now.)
I pushed that uneasy feeling to the back of my mind.

I decided to leave the tent and coordinate with the officers about our situation. I spotted Getrard outside, giving orders to his subordinates, and called him over.

“Getrard, where are those heading north now?”
“They are already beyond the horizon—about fifty kels ahead.”

I could see dust rising in the distance where he was looking. Balbat’s army is a mixed force of infantry and cavalry, and they could reach us in as little as two or three hours. Meanwhile, 10,000 enemy soldiers stand at the foot of the hill, blocking our way.

“I see. In that case, even if we set the horses running now, they won’t catch up.”
“Lord Minashiro, what will you do?”

Getrard pressed me for a decision with fierce, determined eyes. Before I knew it, all the officers from the tent had gathered around me. The casual, nonchalant mood had vanished; they now awaited my orders with serious expressions. I checked the feel of the gold coin in my pocket and steeled myself.

“I will target Balbat directly.”

I will not let Balbat reach Grandfather. I said I would take him down here, and I intend to do just that.

“Directly target Balbat? How on earth?”
“At this distance, even using long-range bombardment magic is impossible!”
“Even if it could reach him, his ‘Maten-maten’ high-speed movement would make it miss every time!”

The officers erupted into loud shouts. They probably planned to break through the 10,000 troops and then move to the battlefield where Grandfather is waiting—but that would be far too slow.

“Prepare for a cavalry charge; I have something to do now.”

I dismissed the noisy officers, closed my eyes, and began gathering my magic.

“Lord Minashiro, what exactly are you doing…?”
“Silence! Lord Minashiro is about to do something.”
“No way—are you really going to do this from here? Ah, that’s impossible!”

I held my right hand out in front of me and focused on shaping my magic into waves. What I was about to do was an application of “magical detection”—a sonar-like technique nobles normally use to detect magicians.

“Lord Getrard, what exactly is Lord Minashiro doing?”
“I don’t really know. It looks like magical detection, but the scale of magic he is using is on an entirely different level. Nevertheless, Lord Minashiro is extraordinary in every way—probably the most powerful in the history of the Ortenos family. No matter what he does, I won’t be surprised.”
“As expected of you, Lord Minashiro!”

Ugh, this is distracting.