"To see all your faces gathered in one place again... it feels unfamiliar."

Ardiana’s voice spread through the vast hall.

The squad leaders who had been whispering among themselves fell silent.

Ardiana stepped all the way to the edge of the platform.

"A total of sixty three invitations were sent out. And right now, exactly sixty three people are gathered here."

Ripper frowned.

'Everyone who received an invitation came?'

Of course, the contents of the invitation had been impossible to ignore.

The blood mercenaries had shed for the Empire.

The past in which, despite everything, they had never once been acknowledged and were forced to remain hidden in the shadows.

Someone claimed to understand the injustice they had endured. Claimed they wanted to create a new order for them.

'What mercenary could possibly refuse?'

Standing beside him, Elanes whispered quietly:

"Ripper. What exactly is going on here?"

"I shall explain that myself, Lady Elanes."

Someone standing beneath the platform stepped up beside Ardiana.

Long hair tied into a single braid.

The plainly dressed woman spoke calmly.

"My name is Adeline Caldenbein. The young ruler of Caldenbein Ridge and the future deputy commander of the new state commission you will all be carrying out."

"A state commission?"

A man with closely cropped red hair and a stern face repeated the words.

"Even top mercenary squads struggle to obtain state commissions. The last one was handled by Agavert."

"Correct. The last state commission was the assault on the clock tower of the ancient palace."

"I know that already. But you’re saying you want to entrust a commission like that to me... no, to everyone gathered here?"

"That is because this commission..."

As Adeline began speaking, she turned toward Ardiana.

And Ardiana continued in her place.

"Cannot be accomplished by a small force. And its scale will surpass anything that has ever existed before."

Silence fell over the warehouse.

No matter how massive the commission might be...

It was difficult even to imagine why it would require every single person gathered here.

“...Don’t tell me.”

Still frowning, Ripper stared at Ardiana.

"It’s the end of the world or something?"

Ardiana’s gaze settled on him.

"There’s no other explanation. Unless a Magic Crystal the size of the sky suddenly grew somewhere in the Empire, I can’t think of any reason you’d need this many people..."

"No. It’s nothing like that."

Ardiana answered in a calm voice.

"It’s simple. The first stage of the mission is the seizure of the weapons depot in the western district of the capital."

Elanes frowned.

"The second is the blockade of the supply line leading to the Imperial Palace."

Ardiana stepped down from the platform.

"The third is the inspection and shutdown of the capital’s communication system."

The corridor fell deathly silent.

Even those who had still been whispering shut their mouths and stared at Ardiana.

And amid that silence, she continued expressionlessly.

"And finally, the fourth... the capture of the Imperial Palace."

Wind whistled through the shattered windows of the abandoned warehouse.

"Your Highness."

Elanes awkwardly raised the corner of her lips and stepped forward.

"You just said this was a state commission, didn’t you?"

Ardiana turned her head toward her.

"How can shutting down communications and seizing the Imperial Palace possibly be a state commission..."

"It is a state commission."

Ardiana’s eyes remained cold and calm.

"The only difference is that the ‘state’ in question is not the Empire."

Elanes’ eyes widened.

Ardiana walked between the gathered squad leaders.

"Have any of you ever wondered why there are almost no casualties from Magic Crystal manifestations within the Ancient Border surrounding the capital?"

Elanes’ brow twitched.

"Well... the territory inside the Ancient Border is smaller, so statistically..."

"And yet, for decades, the capital has never once suffered a true invasion by magical creatures. Why do you think that is?"

When she reached the center of the crowd, Ardiana turned sharply.

Her gaze swept across each and every face before her.

"Is it because the paladins stand like an iron wall guarding the Ancient Border? Because the Imperial Army protects the Imperial Palace? Or because of the blessings bestowed by the priests sent from the church?"

"......"

"All of those answers are wrong. And I say that as someone who spent her entire life within the imperial family."

The clouds parted, and sunlight poured through the hole in the ceiling.

Standing in the middle of the light, Ardiana spoke.

"The only reason the inside of the Ancient Border is safe... is because that place alone was chosen."

“...Chosen?”

"Magic Crystals are fallen forms of certain spiritual beings. And the one who corrupted them was Lucianoy, the pope of the central continent."

Sharp gasps rose from every direction.

"When Magic Crystals first began appearing, the emperor of that era made a contract with the pope. He promised that Magic Crystals would never manifest around the land upon which the Imperial Palace stood."

"Wait... wait a moment."

Elanes approached Ardiana in disbelief.

Grabbing the tightly fastened collar of her clothes, she spoke through clenched teeth.

"Then all the people who died outside the capital... the reason the damage within the capital was insignificant compared to the outside... all of that was planned? And the imperial family knew about it?"

"Not the imperial family. Only the emperor."

Ardiana corrected her.

After receiving something from Adeline, she placed it atop a shattered marble slab in the center of the warehouse.

"A contract discovered in the underground passage of the ancient palace after the previous state commission was completed."

Two old, worn sheets of paper.

Elanes was the first to snatch up the documents.

When she flipped open the cover that resembled a ceremonial decree, hidden text appeared inside.

[The place of the sun shall not be stained by the footsteps of sacred beasts.]

Ardiana’s eyes darkened as she looked at the first line.

At first, even she had not understood what those words meant.

But after Astie met the World Tree and learned of the pope’s plan, everything became clear.

"Lucianoy intentionally prevented Magic Crystals from appearing near the Imperial Palace all this time."

Elanes turned back toward her in disbelief.

"B-but sometimes... sometimes Magic Crystals still appeared within the Ancient Border..."

"And was anyone harmed because of it? Did even a single innocent person die? Were the children of nobles or members of the imperial family ever once devoured by magical creatures?"

Elanes shut her mouth.

No.

Whenever battles broke out inside the capital, the ones who bled and died were always mercenaries or paladins.

Not once had there been casualties among the imperial family. Nor among the nobles.

Of course, there had been people who encountered magical creatures outside the capital and died, but...

"All this time, you were nothing more than marks on the emperor’s gaming dice."

"......"

"Stones thrown down from the walls of a fortress. That was all you ever were."

Elanes staggered where she stood.

When someone picked up the document she had dropped, the other squad leaders quickly gathered around it.

Ardiana waited until every last one of them had finished reading the contract.

Only after a long silence did she finally speak again.

"Choose."

Every gaze turned toward Ardiana.

"Will you die namelessly once more in the shadows of a collapsing nation... or."

"......"

"Will you become the flames that lay the foundation for a new world rising from the ashes of the Empire."

The silence that settled over the warehouse lingered for a long time.

Meanwhile.

"Bleeegh!"

At the railing of the large ship heading toward the central continent—

"Urk, bleegh!"

"Bale oppa, are you okay?"

Tie smacked Bale on the butt.

"Kid, urk! Higher, bleegh! Hit higher!"

"Ehk!"

Tie hurriedly rose onto her tiptoes.

Barely reaching him, she started patting his back instead.

"Huu."

The child let out a heavy sigh.

"So Bale oppa gets seasick?"

"Haaah... why is this happening to me...? I ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ only ate one piece of bread..."

"What do you mean, only one piece?"

At that moment, someone cheerfully approached them from the bow of the ship.

"You ate the bread I gave you this morning, didn’t you?"

It was Ribia.

Bale’s eyes flew open as he stared at her.

"Now I get it. Witch, what the hell did you put in that?! Huh? Uurgh, bleegh!"

"...I didn’t add anything weird. I just didn’t know which spices to use, so I sprinkled in a little of around seventeen different kinds."

"Seventeen?"

Standing nearby, Basto stared at Ribia as though he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Ribia hurriedly waved both hands.

"Hey, no! I gave some to Allerik and that guy too, but he’s the only one feeling sick! So it’s not because of my bread! Allerik’s perfectly fi—"

"Squad Leader!"

Victor came running from the stern.

"This is bad! Allerik collapsed!"

Tie’s eyes widened.

When she turned to look at Ribia, the woman was somehow already holding a cocktail in her hand, blinking innocently.