20 years had passed when I woke up! ~ The villain's daughter’s thereafter and after that ~ - Chapter 14

Translator: Darling | Editor: Nebosuke

 

On that day…

Fioria headed for the royal palace upon receiving a call from King Vincent.

She was supposed to meet him in the garden of the Imperial Palace.

No one else was allowed to be at the meeting. 

It was early spring when she met Vincent last time. 

It had been a little while since then, and the season was approaching a rainy season.

She felt refreshing puffs with a slight drizzle.

“I will directly subdue the Duke of Canossa.”

Vincent announced it emotionlessly. 

His blue eyes were filled with jewel-like brightness … with jewel-like coldness.

A deeply-chiseled face with its sharp chin line.

A lean and tall body figure.

His appearance itself had not changed much.

However, Vincent’s ambiance was totally different partly due to his serious glances, and he seemed to be struggling to hide his emotions. 

It was a young man who gave up his first love and started on the road to a great king.

He was now wearing some intimidating vibe that added the exquisite balance to his characteristics. Aristocrats who once looked down on him were now all obedient and loyal to him. 

Except for one person.

Fioria de Florence.

She was the daughter of the Duke and a divine figure. She did not fear God and considered herself as heavenly as a goddess.

“Was it you who let the Duke of Canossa go, His Majesty?”

She brought up the crux of the argument without any hesitation. 

It sounded quite disrespectful, but Vincent cheerfully smiled. 

“That’s the daughter of Florence Duke! You know everything.”

Vincent would never call her Fioria again.

He had to make clear that he gave up his love, Fioria. 

“It’s a waste of time to put him to trial. The Duke of Canossa … Conrad is the worst parasite. Once he was seduced by Annerose and betrayed the kingdom. He now betrays the kingdom for money. He must be removed at once. We can no longer put our effort on his trial.”

“So, you deliberately let him bring about the rebellion. If the King himself leads his army to subdue the rebels, people will get behind the King. It’s not a bad idea. I feel sorry for the Duke of Canossa. He finally managed to escape from jail, but it was just a complete trap.”

“Do you despise me?”

“Not at all. His Majesty wants to reform this kingdom, right? You do everything that you can think of and what you can do for. That’s great.”

Fioria smiled.

Gently and softly.

Vincent couldn’t stop staring at her with his admiration for a few seconds … but shortly pulled himself up and stopped looking at her.

His heart was still hurting because he had to give up Fioria.

He suppressed his emotions and spoke.

“I order the Duke of Florence as well to participate in the war. Understood?”

“Surely, His Majesty. One from the Duke of Florence family certainly participated.”

One person in all.

If other aristocrats answered that, they would be accused of their disloyalty and disrespect.

But it was Fioria, a totally different story.

She herself was more worth than a battalion of soldiers. 

**

A few days later, King Vincent declared the subjugation of Duke Canossa.

He led the kingdom army of 100,000.

On the other hand, Duke Canossa was approaching the royal capital with 800,000 private soldiers.

“Conrad collected a good number of armies. He deserves praise.”

Fioria admitted it.

The Duke of Canossa raised a revolt, not because he was suffering heavy taxes or taking control of the kingdom.

He was going to be sentenced to death. And he didn’t want it. 

That’s why he stood up in desperation.

This was the first war with no great cause in the history of the Tristan Kingdom.

A personal scuffle had developed into a big war. 

War was for the Duke of Canossa by the Duke of Canossa.

Who would lend a hand to such a personal matter?

“That Duke may have a lot of money.”

Standing next to Fioria, Katya, the leader of the 4th Knight Regiment, shrugged her shoulders.

The Royal Army had already completed its formation.

Fort Gregory was on the border between the Tristan Kingdom and the Duke of Canossa.

Based here, the Royal Army was to intercept the rebels of the Duke of Canossa. 

“They apparently collected mercenaries from all over here and there. There are also many wizards who dwell in the territory of the Duke of Canossa. They may be inflating their numbers with mud dolls and golems too.”

“That’s convenient.”

Fioria smirked a little.

She was now sitting on Mofumofu’s back.

His body was supple, like the finest sofa.

His fur was silky smooth and even a little ticklish.

“Muffmoff, I’ll allow your children to participate. Work with the 4th Knight Regiment.”

“Certainly. Let us show the power of our Romulus family.”

Mofumofu Romulus.

It was Mofumofu’s full name.

Romulus was an ancient demon word that meant “the bravest wolf king.”

The other Fenrirs gave him the surname of Romulus when he married Lemuris.

Mofumofu howled.

Another howl responded shortly after.

His family gathered. 

His wife Lemuris and their children, 99 Fenrir cubs.

By the way, the 4th Knight Regiment were all women.

Although they pretended to be man-like so that men didn’t look down on them, they really loved cute animals.

They were quite stressed due to their hectic missions every single day and were always looking for ways to distress themselves.

The fluffy Fenrir cubs stole the heart of these women.

They stroked, hugged, rubbed, and even shared their meals.

“The cubs are showing a lot of affection to these women.”

Fioria was surprised by this situation.

Despite being puppies, these Fenrir cubs could easily destroy a whole town.

She thought the cubs would frighten these female knights, but … it was the other way around. 

They all got along well.

The female knights were frolicking as if they had been relieved from their battle fatigue.

Fenrir cubs also looked joyful playing.

“Arf! arf!”

Pofupofu, the youngest of the 99 offspring, were playing at Fioria’s feet.

As she crouched down and patted his head, he joyously rubbed his body against her legs repeatedly. He obviously loved her.

The army of the Duke of Canossa showed up eventually.

Not only the large number of 800,000, but they were also wisely positioned and formed themselves.

Their mercenaries seemed to be well-trained strong soldiers who survived through a range of battles.

Dubious sorcerers were there accompanied by their skeleton soldiers standing right behind them.

A group of mud dolls who were twice as tall as humans were spotted too.

Furthermore, there were hundreds of stone golems that were soaring over the fort walls.

“Wow.”

Fioria was getting slightly excited.

“I assumed he was just desperate and unable to create a good army. But he did.”

Duke of Canossa.

Conrad de Canossa.

“You are determined to win this battle.”

Defeat Vincent and become King.

Their burning ambition and desire were fuming from the entire army.

Great Conrad.

He apparently came to this place, prepared to fight me.

Let’s bless his fighting spirit.

“Fioria, don’t think you can win again like you did before!”

Duke Canossa was at the forefront.

He had to bear a tough time in jail. That scraped off his body fat and transformed him into a stout man with a fearless look.

“Don’t get cocky, woman! Let me teach you that women can’t beat men.”

Next to Conrad, the second son, Heinrich, was throwing a nasty look at Fioria.

“Alright, let me witness it. The power of << Holy Grail >>, the treasure of the Canossa family.”

The eldest son, Bruno, had a big object in his arms.

It was a quadrangle, overlappingly sealed in red clothes.

That moment…

The gentle breezes stopped.

Bruno held up the square object wrapped in clothes and screamed aloud.

The Fragment of the << Holy Grail >>, grant my wish. << Summon the Archangel >>.”

“<< Holy Grail >>”

According to the myth, it was one of the miracles that God brought Earth.

An archangel would serve its owner. The owner’s wishes, whatsoever, might come true.

It was just a myth though. 

The existence of the << Holy Grail >> was suspicious, and everyone thought that it really did not exist.

Then, what did Bruno have?

Was the hidden treasure just a piece of junk?

No one knew about it at that moment, but a terrible event followed.

The earth started quaking.

A gray magic circle floated up in the air, and a dazzling light spread.

And then…

“――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――!”

Ultrasonic waves far outside the human audible range roared.

Just that made a considerable number of soldiers on both sides, the Royal Army and the Duke of Canossa, faint.

Archangel.

The size was not much different from that of an adult man.

However, its body was covered in flaming light, and its outline was unclear.

Huge wings were protruding from its back.

6 pairs of wings.

12 of them in total.

It was as if they were blanketing the sky.

“He, he, he. Aha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Duke Canossa twisted his body and laughed aloud.

It was as if he had already claimed his victory.

“Fioria! No matter how strong you are, you can’t beat the archangel! But, since you are an attractive woman, and you were one of my classmates at aristocratic school, I’ll take you as my concubine if you surrender now.”

“No way. If you want me, put me down first with your force.”

As she snapped, she activated the wind magic.

When she flew up to the same altitude as the archangel, she raised her right hand.

“Whoever you are, I will do the same. << Wand of Divine Punishment >>!”

The sky broke into halves and the golden destruction light beamed from the crack.

The divine iron mallet directly smashed the archangel.

None of her enemies could withstand this blow.

Whatsoever – a giant slime, a Wyvern, or an ancient dragon who had awakened for the first time in a thousand years.

“―――――――――――――――――――――――――― …………?”.

However, the archangel didn’t budge at all.

Angel was a symbol of light.

Therefore, was light magic, less effective?

“She endured! It can’t damage her. Look, everyone! The archangel overthrew Fioria’s magic!”

The Duke of Canossa yelled with excitement. 

In response to that, his soldiers yowled with joy.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom Army was greatly disturbed. 

They assumed they would easily defeat their enemy.

No one could beat Fioria.

However, their assumption was about to be overturned.

“Sister, Fioria …”

Female Knight Liz anxiously looked up in the sky.

“Wof wof!”

Pofupofu, the baby Fenrir, barked out loud at Liz’s feet.

As if he was telling her, “Trust Fioria.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Fioria won’t lose … Even she gets in deeper trouble, we are here to help her. “

Liz breathed deeply.

Then, she grasped her sword tightly.

「………… ―――――――――――――――――― …… ――――――――」

The archangel moved to counterattack.

What attack did she carry out?

Heaven broke.

Abundance of light filled the sky.

A golden torrent started coming down like an avalanche.

Fioria was swallowed in it.

Those who had not lost their consciousness, regardless of their enemies or allies, had been fascinated by the event in front of them.

The archangel used very familiar magic in a sense.

≪A wand of Divine Punishment >>, which was synonymous with Fioria.

It was a merciless iron mallet and the most powerful light magic that destroyed anyone caught in it.

Even Fioria wouldn’t stand with it. 

Everyone thought so.

「―――――― No, not yet」

It was impossible …

Fioria was alive.

Floating in the sky without any damage.

“Don’t think a mere angel can beat me to the ground. If you want to kill me, bring over God himself.”

She didn’t hesitate in shouting so with her absolute confidence and self-esteem. 

“The time for play is over. I’m serious from this moment on. Archangel, dance elegantly while you can.”

Softly and slowly…

Fioria combed her long golden hair upwards with her fingers.

A large hole appeared in the sky.

Then it duplicated. 

Two, three, four －countless.

“Can’t be!”

The Duke of Canossa screamed while he spitted out bubbles at the corners of the mouth. 

Fear, startle, and dismay.

His expression showed a mixture of all his upset emotions.

“<< Wand of Divine Punishment >> can only be used once a day!”

“Previous users were apparently so.”

Fioria shrugged her shoulders and answered.

“I’m different.”

“But you haven’t used << Wand of Divine Punishment >> more than once!”

“That’s right, Duke of Canossa, because once was good enough.”

Fioria could use << Wand of Divine Punishment >> more than once.

She just had no chance to use it twice.

“So, it is a special service today. I will congratulate you on all your hard work.

<< Wand of Divine Punishment >> was discharged again.

The archangel endured up to 12 times but vanished at her 13th discharge.

Next, she turned to the Duke of Canossa.

The golden light struck the earth.

Again, and yet again.

It was like a shower of meteors directly smashing the ground.

This scene became a motif for many painters to create their arts for centuries.

With no time to enumerate, there were countless pieces of air work depicting Fioria the battle on this day.  

A golden goddess of destruction and mercy.

The war with the Duke of Canossa made her a legendary presence even more. 

Mercy?

Was Fioria merciful?

In fact, Fioria didn’t kill anyone in this battle.

<< Wand of Divine Punishment >> destroyed all the golems and mud dolls, and frightened the rest of their soldiers.

She only gave their soldiers a barrage of torrential warning shots without any direct hits.

And, it was good enough to deprive the fighting spirit of Duke of Canossa’s army.

They yielded themselves and the battle ended.

Demon King (undecided to appear) “Evil God, you may be called in.”

Evil God (undecided to appear) “I think I have some right to appear in the story.”

Next up, the long-awaited interrogation turn.