I took a deep breath, switched my title to [Princess Of The Silver Dragon], and began to speak, “Please… hear me.”

There had not been much noise among our troops; they were all trained soldiers preparing for a major offensive. I could not see them, but in my imagination, the interior of the city was equally as silent. In their case from the tension and fear of the impending attack. Either way, my words were carried to many various ears through the spell.

At the sound of my voice, a visible ripple ran through our assembled forces; this speech had not been publicized, and for many of them my identity was unknown. There were certainly rumors circulating the camp, but other than the fact that I was a noble, nothing official had been said. It was a certainty that my voice was causing a similar stir within the walls of the city.

Not that it’s the speech that’s particularly surprising for the residents of the city. Just that my voice sounds young and feminine.

With magic that could so easily carry one’s voice, it was little surprise that speeches often prelude the opening of major military engagements. The morale boost for allied troops and the damage dealt to the enemy’s by a good speech could not be understated. But having a nominal child do it was rather unheard of, though for reasons I could not fathom. Getting a kid to plead your case was typically rather effective.

That’s far from the only oddity I’ve ever come across though, nor will it be the strangest thing about this particular speech. I need to get on with it.

“My name is Stahlia von Ris und zu Drakas, the fiancée of His Highness Rupert von Drakas, and your future Queen.” A brief pause to let the news of my identity sink in, then I continued, “I have come before you now to ask once more; please, surrender. Antonio has been denounced by his father, his name struck from the registry. He is no longer your prince, you owe him no allegiance.”

Even with the effects of my equipped title, it was likely that my words would be ineffective. Despite the description stating that it “laced my words with a compelling force,” it seemed that it lost effectiveness the further removed I was from the listener. When testing it out, we had learned that it did not actually compel a subject. Instead, it seemed to give them a strong inclination towards doing what I told them. But even that would be weakened by a few factors, such as not being able to see me.

Rather than lacing my words, it was more like I personally projected an aura. At this distance, we would be lucky if the common people in the city were even slightly affected, to say nothing of the veteran soldiers and knights.

“I have pled your case with his highness, and an offer of amnesty was extended to the rebel forces now occupying your city… An offer that was rejected. Now I speak directly to the soldiers and the knights; please, do not forget your oaths. Not to those lords who have betrayed our kingdom, but to the kingdom we all love, lay down your arms and surrender… Even now, if you do not impede us in carrying out justice to the traitors, you will be spared.”

“To the innocents who have merely been caught between two forces… Please, stay in your homes.” I tried to put as much emotion and pleading into my voice as possible, “…But if any of you, be you commoner, soldier, or knight… If you resist… If you would threaten the peace of our kingdom… I…”

At this point, most of the soldiers and knights had turned to face away from the city and were watching me. It was a bit unbecoming of them to ignore their duties. Due to their proximity to me, my title was having a greater effect on them. It was a gross feeling, knowing that my words were influencing their perceptions like that, but one that I could see the necessity of.

I clasped my hands, “Then, even if it pains me, I cannot defend your actions.” I turned my eyes towards the sky, “I pray now, to all the gods, that they grant you mercy in the next life. That they…” Quietly releasing my hold on the mana pool building up below me, “That they find it in their hearts to grant us forgiveness for what we must do, and the strength to do it.”

With the tool beginning to activate, piercing rays of divine light began to project around me. It started slowly at first, before building in intensity until I was being bathed in a glow from the heavens not unlike what had occurred during my dedication. The sight of it caused a wave of expressed wonder to run through the troops, and I let my voice break.

Gustav really outdid himself with this. Honestly, if I had the time, I’d like to learn how the hell he actually managed to assemble something like this.

There was still my performance to conclude though, as my voice was still being broadcast, “Rupert! What’s happening!?”

“Stahlia!” He reached out his hand towards me, only for it to be repelled by a barrier of light. It wasn’t a particularly strong barrier, and even without enhancements, it was something that I’d be able to break right through. It merely existed as a means to help sell the lie we were telling.

“I… I don’t feel right!” Despite cringing a bit at my own line, it seemed to be effective; a few of the closest soldiers seemed to be in a state of unrest, and a few of them had even begun to try and make their way to our dais. The light built up in intensity then, and I could no longer see anyone.

Right, and now I just cut the mana flow to my ring.

That done, it was only a few seconds until the light faded revealing my real appearance to all of those assembled. Before that moment, I’d thought that the notion of silence instantly descending over a crowd was a myth. Some fanciful way of describing an audience reaction to sell the idea that an event was unexpected. But that was exactly what happened. As soon as the light of the fake miracle faded away, the crowd fell silent and grew still.

I made a show of looking over my body. First what could be seen easily; my arms, hands, chest. Then I touched my face and felt my hair before turning slightly to face Rupert and putting on a visibly concerned expression, “I-”

As planned, he cut me off, “You have seen it with your own eyes; not just my father, but the gods themselves are on our side!”

Confused mumblings turned into a frantic hum of anticipation, while in the city I could only imagine that people were beginning to panic, “My fiancée asked for the strength to do what must be done, and the gods have heard her prayer; see how they have given her that strength? See how they have blessed her!”

He continued speaking for a few more moments until the mages terminated the spell; they were out of mana. I did not hear his words though, as I was distracted by two notifications. The first ones I had seen in some time, and one of them was rather concerning.

“Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting I]”

“Received Title: [Divine Usurper]”

[Acting I] did basically what it said on the tin; provide a positive correction to my ability to… act. As for why I had been given this, and not [Deception I] or one of the other lying related Talents that I knew existed I could not say. It probably had something to do with how this lie had been more performative in nature. My new title on the other hand…

“[Divine Usurper]: Awarded to those who would usurp the gods. Passive Effect: Provides a negative charisma bonus towards the faithful. Effect: Provides a slight correction towards manipulating Divine Element Mana.”

Like my revenant title, this one also had a passive effect and one that could prove quite problematic.

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I’m really going to need to see how bad that is…

“Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting II]”

…Yea, that makes sense, I have an especially large audience…

It would seem that the system was eager to assert its presence now that it was in working order again. But, back to the topic at hand. The active effect and acquisition criteria for [Divine Usurper], not to mention the name, painted a very specific picture. It would seem that the system had a very different opinion of my actions than I did. Going into this, I had accepted that my actions would be seen as heretical if they ever came to light, and acknowledged the risk that the gods might get a bit peevish regardless. But I had no intention of actually trying to usurp them.

It was just supposed to be a tiny, well admittedly rather large lie. I do not intend to be making fake miracles a habit.

The only thing I could think of that might have led to meeting that unlock condition, was the fact that I had used Divine Element in the process of faking the miracle. In a sense, the implementation of that sort of made my fake miracle a very real one. When put in that way, the general frivolity with which I used Divine Power made me wonder why I’d never obtained this title before now.

It’s got to be a thing with the number of peo-

“Experience threshold reached, obtained Talent: [Acting III]”

…Mute notifications.

Rupert finished his own bit just then, his final words being the order for our forces to commence the attack. The first army under the command of Duke Claurence turned and began to do just that. The second, under the command of Duke Lester departed for their tunnel entrances; they would soon begin attempting to breach the city through the sewer system. The third and final army, under command of Duke Lawrence’s Knight-Captain, maneuvered to cover the other two. The moment either called for reinforcements, they would move to join them.

“Stahlia, you look like you are genuinely troubled, not acting.” Rupert’s sudden question startled me.

…! What the hell is he- Oh, right. The mages have already cut off the spell…

I shook my head, “I am, somewhat, but we cannot talk here.”

Rupert would need to undergo a full appraisal to ascertain whether or not he had acquired any problematic titles of his own. I would have liked to do it myself to preserve the secrecy, but at the moment my own appraisal still destroyed whatever I tried to use it on. Obviously, that was a no-go for Rupert. Likewise, the visual appraisal seemed to only work on Felicity and Ferris, despite Rupert and various others being soul-linked to me through contract, my divine eyes didn’t show me anything.

The latter had signed a modified slave contract, but Felicity was no longer directly linked to me. Something about her was different, and none of the three involved parties had any ideas.

Though Claire thinks it has something to do with her sharing Felicity’s body, I don’t see how that could possibly be related…

“Understood, then we will speak privately as soon as possible. For now, we should observe the assault… Do you still plan on moving in yourself?”

He had said the last part without moving his lips again, for obvious reasons; the army mages were still present, their depleted mana rendering them unable to join in the assault.

“I do. Or do you think anyone among our forces would be able to handle Sitri? As soon as she’s sighted, I plan to sortie and personally clean up after myself.”

“Commander Henrake, and possibly Duke Claurence, but you are correct. Even without her skills, I cannot picture the average knight being able to overcome her status. Maybe with wave tactics, but the casualties would be extreme… I agree with the need for you to go as an independent force, but I want your word that you will be careful and take no risks. You have a habit of overextending yourself.”

His words struck me as a bit odd, but I quickly shook that feeling off, “Of course. I know firsthand how much of a bitch she can be. I may have a score to settle, but I will not let her get the best of me again.”

Producing a mana potion from a hidden pocket, I sipped it and turned my attention back to the city and the ongoing assault. As we had been speaking, the first contingent of knights and soldiers from Duke Claurence’s army were nearing their target. The force was advancing slowly over the distance, with their mages and magic-capable knights intercepting spells launched by the defenders while shield bearers attempted to cover arrows. Of course, their pace was only slow according to the standards of this world.

Area of effect enhancement spells meant that even the basic soldiers were moving at a speed approaching that of mechanized infantry. The knights, several of whom could buff themselves through one method or another, were even faster. Commander Henrake had said they would be taking a slow approach to focus on defense and minimizing losses, but this looked to me like they were charging full speed ahead.

The supposed caution did not mean there were no casualties though. Even as I watched, an arrow slipped past one of the shield knights, skipped off a magic barrier, and buried itself in the neck of one of the picket soldiers whose own protections had failed. A fireball came down and shattered the anti-spell barriers of a platoon before exploding amongst them. The barrier had absorbed much of the strength, so the men would live but they were out of the fight for now and in great pain all the same.

Our own forces had limited options to retaliate; the Mythril coating on the walls meant any magic our side launched would be rather ineffective. Instead, they simply advanced while firing off arrows and bolts when the opportunity arose. Once they got up to the wall, the plan was for them to begin making attempts to scale it with ladders while a break-off unit assaulted the gates. Focusing barriers around the troops doing those particular actions meant they would be comparatively less lethal than one might expect.

If it were me… I’d probably try to scale the wall freehand, or simply jump over it. Fifteen meters should be doable with my enhancements. I’d have to avoid physically touching the walls though, or my enhancements would dispel. That would make climbing difficult so jumping would be the better option.

I really had to hand it to the Army’s Barrier Mages. The way they deployed their spells around the walls to protect the ladder crews was a work of art. But even without the barriers directly touching, simply being close to so much Mythril would slowly drain them. As I watched, one of the barriers failed and the enemy was able to send a lightning spell down the men climbing the ladder.

It arced from soldier to soldier, conducting off their metal armor before grounding itself. The wall itself proved a double edge sword… shield? It hurt the enemy as well; the lightning spell seemed to have been a bit reduced, and only the first man hit was clearly dead based on the way he fell. The next two down, I couldn’t tell for sure, but the impact with the ground was possibly lethal. The rest of the men began to pick themselves up or crawled out of the way depending on the severity of their injuries. All in an effort to reach the limited number of Healers. It was a grim sight, and I could see it repeating itself across the battleground.

Healing magic as well, that really adds a whole new dynamic to war. Injuries that would probably be fatal can just be ignored or recovered… It makes things a lot more brutal.

As if to punctuate my point, I watched as one of our knights fell, pierced through by several arrows. Only for his body to become a pincushion on the ground as the enemy sought to ensure he stayed down. That was one of the biggest advantages the wall granted them; our side could not finish off a downed opponent before a healer got to them.

And even with the scale of what I’m watching now, this is a fairly small engagement. The Demon War is going to be a lot worse…

“Your Highness, Sir! Duke Lester informs you, the tunnel team has penetrated the perimeter!” A messenger had run up to make a report to Rupert.

Rupert nodded to the messenger, “Excellent news. Please relay my congratulations to Lord Lawrence.”

The messenger saluted and began to run back the way he had come. I followed him with my eyes and saw the openings of several tunnels. Certainly, the fighting would be intense underground now that we had a clear path through the walls. Subterranean fighting had been hell back on Earth, I could only imagine what it was like here, what with how much more brutal regular conflict was.

This gives meaning to the phrase ‘Target the healer’ huh?

“Sir!” Another messenger had arrived, this one looking rather panicked.

His crest puts him with Duke Lester… he would have had to have been dispatched within minutes of the first… This doesn’t bode well.

Rupert picked up on this as well and ignored the man’s breach of etiquette, “Report.”

“Sir! We’ve, we’ve encountered undead, in the sewers; they look just like descriptions of the ones that attacked the capital…”

The messenger trailed off and I felt my heart lurch. Rupert turned to face the fortress visible near the center of the city and spoke, to no one in particular, “Antonio… Why couldn’t you just surrender…”

He sounded for all the world like a man shaken by what his subordinate was telling him.

“Rupert, those demons were created and controlled by a Demon of Lust.”

He nodded, “Yes, but not Sitri; unless her skills have been unsealed.”

“Even if she didn’t create them, she might still be controlling them with some form of Blood Magic. I’m going now; we can’t wait for the armies to find her.”

He nodded, “Be cautious.”