“I wanted this war to be prolonged,” said the Minister of State. “For the Demon God’s forces to keep attacking. It was my hope that the Southern Assembly and my Republic would eventually learn to trust each other, to deal with our haunting history together. To resolve the mistrust between us.”

She shook her head. “I’m a nasty ruler, aren’t I? To hope for more deaths, more disasters, in the fleeting hope that we could truly co-exist in peace. In a sense, this wish of mine was tantamount to the betrayal of my fellow beastfolk who had died in the Second Extermination, but…”

“Pauline…” Marie looked at her.

“I know. It’s not a realistic wish at all,” said Pauline. “But at the very least, a prolonged cooperation between the nations of the Five Lands would have made them more trusting of each other. It’s a pity.”

She laughed bitterly. “I’m lamenting the quick defeat of the Demon God. Does this count as betraying the Five Lands in general?”

“No, ma’am.” Aziz shook his head. “It isn’t.”

“I, however, do know that I’m an optimistic fool,” said Minister Pauline. “I read the reports on how the Southern Assembly tried to bite a chunk out of the First Aerial through an emergency tactic, but I chose to overlook that. And…I never did get around to apologising to the two of you, did I?”

She sighed. “Marie, Aziz…I’m sorry. I couldn’t get you the justice you deserved. I chose to overlook that incident on purpose.”

“No one was harmed,” Aziz replied. “But if someone was injured or even killed…”

He didn’t complete his sentence, but it was enough to get his intentions across. Those words were enough to make Pauline shake her head once more, but the sight didn’t make Aziz uncomfortable at all. If their allies had harmed the kids under his command and Pauline overlooked such an incident, he would have fallen out with Pauline entirely.

The Minister of State chose to overlook the incident precisely because no one was injured. That was marginally acceptable to him, and it wasn’t like she had stopped Marie and him from warning the other nations to refrain from such actions next time.

“I’m sorry. For this. And for everything. But you now know why we must stake our own claims on the Wildlands. The Republic must be strengthened, no matter what. I have my own responsibilities to everyone. The moment I started Camp Napoleon, my life has been dedicated to the people. For everyone.” The light in her eyes strengthened. “I will protect this nation. Even if I have to sacrifice individuals for it. Even if I have to sacrifice your peace of mind and that of mine.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Marie nodded. “We’ll support you.”

“You’ve laid everything out for us,” Aziz replied. “I don’t like the realities you lay out, but it’s not like you like them either, right? Our feelings have no bearing on reality itself. It is what it is, and…”

He glanced at Marie. “None of us envy you for the choices you have to make.”

“That goes for everyone here too,” Pauline replied. “You, me…it’s possible that the entire world is running off choices like those. If the invasion had lasted longer, things might have been different. The Five Lands would have been truly unified against a common foe.”

“At the price of lives,” Aziz replied. “I cannot help but disagree — the First Aerial now only has two battalions left. Not three.”

“I know.”

Those two words were spoken with so much weight that Aziz, for a moment, felt tremendously guilty, even though death was a natural part of war. Like him and Marie, the Minister of State had clearly attributed those deaths to her own doing, and it was eating away at her. Her complex feelings regarding the Demon God’s passing clearly didn’t help her either — the fact that she was both relieved and worried about the whole thing had also worried her.

“We’ll take our leave first, then,” said the marshal. “Rest well, Pauline.”

Aziz nodded. The two headed to the door and pulled it open, only to see the blue-haired girl from earlier talking to…Gaius and Isabelle.

“Gaius? Isabelle?” Marie glanced at the two of them. “What are the two of you doing here?”

The Pint-sized Railgun glanced at the two of them, but the usual friendly aura he gave off was noticeably absent. “We intended to process our withdrawal from the Hall of Guardians, since the war ended in such a…way. Came across an acquaintance, so we were talking here. I hope we didn’t disturb you with our conversation.”

“Our apologies for that,” said Isabelle.

The blue-haired girl nodded along, before her face lit up. “Right, I should be moving along now. I think I’ll save the interviews and whatnot for later, I guess. Right, where’s Nakama? Can I go see her?”

“Sure, sure.” Gaius smiled. The three of them waved goodbye to Aziz and Marie a few seconds later, walking away from the corridor. For some reason, the colonel had the feeling that the three teenagers had forgotten about their original purpose, and were currently more interested in talking than anything else.

The sight of their departing backs was enough to make Aziz smile, but at the same time, his instincts were telling him that there was something wrong with them.

“I wonder what they all came here for,” Marie muttered. “I’m quite sure that blue-haired girl wanted to talk to Pauline or something.”

“The power of distractions, I guess.” Aziz rubbed his chin. “Well, it’s good that people can afford to be distracted in such trying times. Right, what of the Hall of Guardians? Are they going to disband, with the Demon God defeated?”

“I’m not sure, but I heard rumours about how the East’s Adventurers’ Guild was going to set up shop near the Great Divide. Apparently, the Guild also handles war hires and other things like that, but that’s not quite confirmed yet.” Marie rubbed her nose. “Either way, there won’t be that many Knights and semi-divinities coming our way, that’s for sure. We’ll have problems with combat strength, but at least no one can fly.”

“I wonder how battles would go from now on, though.”

“Wouldn’t that be an interesting question?”