My shield arm had been tingling for a while now. I really just hoped it was because Kizuna was getting closer.

I was also starting to get a nasty feeling about all this. I decided we had better stay even more alert.

“Kiddo Naofumi,” L’Arc said. Now he was trying to apply his “kiddo” in the same way he often used “lady” for a woman. He really thought he could get away with it.

For a moment, I thought about seriously trying to take Therese off him.

“Naofumi?” he addressed me again. Having noticed the look in my eyes, he gave a gentle cough and adjusted his form of address.

“Yes?” I finally replied.

“After we save lady Kizuna, what then?” he asked.

“What do you mean ‘what then’? Aren’t you planning on putting an end to this upstart of a vassal weapon holder?” I said.

“Not that. I mean, how do we escape?” L’Arc asked.

“Right, that,” I said. This might not be the same as the Takt situation, in which chopping off the head of the leader would necessarily cause the military of this nation to surrender. In Takt’s case, the coalition army led by Melromarc had already wiped out the Faubrey army. And even in the case of defeating the guy who stole the scythe, L’Arc’s forces had proceeded to wipe out any remaining resistance. There were all sorts of possible plays, including just muscling our way through or taking out their leadership and calling for a surrender. But there seemed a high possibility of something going wrong this time.

“What is the reputation of this musical instrument vassal weapon holder in this nation?” I asked. “It will make a difference if the holder is the top of the food chain or a lower-ranking general or something like that.”

“They hold a position known as the successor to the king, if that means anything,” Ethnobalt explained. That meant dishing out some punishment would probably cause others from the nation to retaliate in revenge. It wasn’t like we had a big party along. If they thought they could crush us with numbers, I mean, they were probably right.

“L’Arc, do you want to occupy the nation of the musical instrument vassal weapon holder?” I asked him.

“Doing that would definitely damage the trust placed in us by other nations. We just kind of restored that, but we’re still facing a lot of opposition, so I’d rather avoid that if I can,” L’Arc confirmed. They had Kizuna and a number of other vassal weapon holders, after all. That could definitely make them a threat, from the perspective of military force. If I took an example from my own modern society, it would be like trying to sue for peace by threatening an opponent—even if that did feel necessary in peace negotiations sometimes . . .

“Why don’t you aim to unify the world?” I asked.