The battle was over, our mission complete, however the war was far from done. As everyone had already guessed, the Royal Family weren't the only ones involved in the war's conception. In king Chant's quarters, we found plenty of letters addressed to all sorts of nobles from across the world. Looks like we needed to do a lot of coups and stormings if we ever wanted to completely bring back peace in Entropa.

"It's as I thought." Pierre thought out loud after we reconvened post-battle, "The entire nobility live in a completely different world as opposed to us commoners. They have their own info systems that have somehow gone by unnoticed for all this time, leading to them pulling all sorts of strings while the citizens were left none the wiser."

"Still, it's not all bad." Cecily said as she finished cleaning up my wound with the first aid kit the soldiers gave us, "Killing Chant, as well as taking his two daughters hostage is an amazing first step towards our goal. And since Chant had no sons, at least to our knowledge, that means their reign of terror is complete."

"Yeah, but that just leaves me with one question." I turned to her, "Could you loosen the bandages a little, please?! You'll tear off the stitches!"

"Ah, sorry about that." She lightly patted me on the head before tightening the bandages anyways, "I'll readjust it then..."

"Please just let Meil do it!" I finally cried out like a bitch.

Chuckling, Meil had finally joined in on the conversation as he took Cecily's place. Really, I'm not so sure how good he is when it comes to medical aid, but given he wants to be a scholar and has written multiple books on all sorts of academic research, I have no doubt that he'll at the very least be better than...

"Cecily!" I tapped the dirt ground we were sitting on as if tapping out, "Swap back, swap back! This guy's even worse!"

After that grueling endeavor, Meil finally broke the ice with a seemingly pretty damn important question. Namely, it had something to do with the territory we were in right now.

"How will the Kingdom of Carmen be divided now if the Royal Family is gone?" He asked, "Will they get absorbed by the surrounding countries equally? Will it all become a part of Trivis Numerica? Or perhaps a third option I can't think of off the top of my head?"

"Right, there's that problem we need to tackle now as well." Pierre thought, "Sigh, this is something that I'll need to take care of with the other surrounding country's officials. As you know, a country that gets dethroned by an opposing army will stay within its boundaries, with the only difference being in its ruling family. It's dynasty."

"But then who will be the new ruler of Carmen?" Aaron asked.

Turning around to one another, looking for someone's hand to raise, we were pretty shit out of luck on that department. None of us really had any intention of spending the rest of our lives as royalty, especially after we've seen how they treat others. Still, I think hearing Pierre out fully will be the key to solving this issue, so I had asked him to continue his explanation.

"Right." He nodded as he continued, "That's exactly the point - there is no new ruler for Carmen. In the case that a country has no rightful ruler to speak of, it becomes what we know as a "no man's land". In other words, the surrounding countries absorb it."

"Well then everything's settled!" Jorgen shrugged as he went to pack his bags.

"Not so fast, bro." Auros suddenly blocked his exit with his open palm, "Even I know what the counterargument to this is. Not every piece of land is created equal, is that what you're saying, Pierre?"

"Hmph." Jorgen grunted before sitting back down with us, "You ruined my cool exit, y'know? And what's with still not calling me by my name? I won our little kill-off, y'know?"

"Yup, and that's exactly why I'm calling you "bro" and not "pipsqueak". You've earned it, bro."

"Fuck off." He snorted back in annoyance.

Looks like those two seemed to be hitting it off splendidly. Pierre seemed to be on pretty good terms with Auros after he helped him set up Neo Sulfury, but I wonder if he feels like Auros got stolen by his brother at all? Oh, speaking of Pierre, he's still talking.

"Right, in any case." Pierre chuckled anxiously, "Back to the topic: Auros is right. The territory for Carmen is huge, not at all something that can be easily split. There's a huge diversity in its peoples and its territories. We want a way to appease everyone, this includes all the peoples that will be living in it as well as the other countries' rulers. Messing this up might lead to future wars occuring over territory or racial disputes."

"I see." I added, "So basically, everyone needs to get an even slice of the cake, not size-wise, but quality-wise. You can give everyone an equal percentage of cake, but if one guy's slice is chock-full of strawberries and the other's is practically empty, then that'd hardly be fair."

"Perfect example, Ed." Meil took over, "Which is why I plan to...!"

"Go to college." Pierre ordered, "That's an order from your commander."

"Eh?" He deflated, "N-No, but..."

"You're young, Meil, and you've got a bright and academic future ahead of you." Pierre said something akin to what a father would say to his son, "Don't waste this golden opportunity on a damned war, that's what us washed up adults are for."

"But I'm an adult too!" Meil shot back desperately, "I'm above the age of 17, which means that in the Eyes of society, you and I are equals!"

"Right, what's with that, anyways?" Max pondered, "You guys aren't at all mature, and while that's not to say that we are, I can still feel that you don't know the first thing about the real world. Really, the moment a child turns 17, the world treats them as adults. How stupid! They're just fledglings, they can't even stand up on their own two feet without another more experienced adult's guidance!"

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"Seriously, we should really make the linguists make a new word for people between the age of 17 and 27 or something like that." Jorgen spoke up, "Call 'em "Prime Timers" or something to that effect."

"Pfft..."

"Hm? What's so funny about my idea?"

"Oh nothing." I said as I stifled my laughter, "Prime Timers he said...!"

Getting death glares from Jorgen certainly wasn't on my agenda today, but it seems I can at least check that off my bucket list. Still, I think what these guys are saying is right. Meil has the opportunity, what with Cecily and the late Grim funding his and Nelly's education, so I completely agree that he shouldn't be stuck in here with us.

"Come on, Meil. We can handle things from hereon without you." Cecily smiled at him, "But you'll have to promise to study hard over there and create a comfortable place for Nelly to come join you when she turns thirteen in a couple of years, okay?"

"Mn..." He thought for a while, "Okay..."

"But wait, there's more!" Aaron loudly interrupted the moment, "Cecily and Ed, too! Y'all need to get the fuck back to your families A-S-A-P!"

"Eh!? Us too?" We jumped back in sheer surprise.

"Hell yeah! Did you seriously think we'd let you goof off here in the battlefield while Anna, Nelly and Cene are waiting earnestly for you? You got what you came here for, so just leave the rest to us."

Pointing to the heavily panting Vivia tied up on the floor next to us, we could clearly understand what he meant by that comment. The entire reason Cecily and Grim came here in the first place was to bring me back to Lichtenstelle safely. After Grim died, though, Cecily and I came back to avenge him. Now that we have the king's daughters and can do with them as we please, we really have no more connections to the war. But saying that somehow makes me feel uneasy...

"Still, we can't just leave you guys all alone, can we?" I begged them to let me stay.

"Whaat~? Of course you can, we got the literal God of Fighting on our side!" Max patted the giant's foot, as that's the only part he could reach, "Do you really think anyone's gonna go up against a God thinking they'll win? No, they'll just accept our territorial suggestions the moment we make them! Literally, you'd just be wasting your time here if you stayed."

"Is that... so?" Cecily and I seemed confused, "So does that mean this is... goodbye?"

"Pfft, let's hope not. I mean..." Aaron patted me on the shoulder suddenly, "This guy promised he'd host the grandest wedding in the world, and I can't imagine such a festivity without us in it!"

"A-Ah, right! I'm engaged now!" I suddenly facepalmed.

"Seriously, how do you even forget such an important detail?" Meil let out a slight chuckle.

"Don't tell Anna that, y'hear?" Cecily chuckled, "She'll beat you to the ground if you do."

"Beat him to the ground, you say?" Auros took an interest in Anna, "So is she like a feisty woman or something?"

"A-Ah, I guess you could say that..." I recalled the countless restless nights we've spent together, "She's definitely outgoing, and she likes taking the lead in a lot of situations."

"Pish, disgusting." He quickly lost interest, "What an ass-backwards couple you two are. A weak man and a strong woman? What's next, two men kissing?"

After hearing this, the entire circle suddenly grew silent. It seems our dear God of Fighting is rather traditional, to the point where he didn't even know about gay people being a thing. I suppose no one's gonna tell him about Aaron, then? Or actually, I don't think anyone has the heart to even explain the concept of "two men kissing", as he puts it.

"Well then!" I got up to change the topic, "If that's how you're gonna be, then I guess there's really nothing to discuss here. Meil, Cecily, we'll be departing for Lichtenstelle soon after we get back to the base to take all of our stuff."

"Hm?" Meil pointed to himself as if unsure, "I'm coming as well? Why? Since my destination is Simpleton, then wouldn't it be quicker if I went east?"

"You're forgetting you still have one final job to do before enrolling, dude." I pointed to the two tied up girls on the floor, "Meil, won't you go with us to Lichtenstelle? You still harbor resentment towards Vivia for killing Grim, so I'm sure you'd like to get a swing at the pinata as well?"

"...Heh, I should've known." He lightly chuckled as he went to dap me up, "Then by all means, let's give Lune a proper show, shall we?"

With our plans decided, we had finished clearing out the rest of the castle's ruins before leaving to head back to base. After a couple more days off to rest, the three of us had a tearful goodbye with the guys. Well, mostly tearful, as Jorgen was stonefaced throughout the entire exchange. Seriously, this guy's edginess is getting on my nerves. It's alright to act like the cool guy if it helps your ego or something, but at least show us how you are in battle before you start acting all important...

"Good day." I tipped my hat to the dock worker, "Permission to leave Entropa with these two and sail off to Lichtenstelle? Here are our documents."

"Permission granted." He let us through, "Enjoy your trip, mister Saint."

"Oh we will." I stifled my laughter.

Hearing the princesses struggle to breathe in the suitcases Meil and I were carrying filled me with so much joy, but it got quite annoying. Seriously, we're trying to smuggle you girls onto a ship, so why can't you just stay quiet during the check-up? Heck, the dockworker looked at me funny for a moment after they tried fiddling with the zipper, but after I "accidentally" dropped Vivia's suitcase in the water, I couldn't even hear a peep from her. Actually, after dragging her out of the water, I had to peek in and check if she was still alive. Heh, getting my clothes wet was totally worth it, if not just to make her suffer that bit more...!