Queen's Blade Rebellion Illustrated Stories: Showdown, chapter 1

Aaand, we made it somehow to the third and final volume, I’ve been looking forward to the crazy shenanigans and new characters here.

                         In this chapter, are these the last preparations of both armies before the war?

                         Enjoy!

Showdown, chapter 1: Before the Storm

The continent was wrapped in hellfire.

It had begun as a small fire by the one who faced the oppression of Queen Claudette who abolished Queen’s Blade, the rise to battle of Annelotte, the Princess Knight from the Kreutz Margrave’s territory.

A bonfire seeking freedom from the oppression, the Indomitable Heroine Risty, the Inquisitor Sigui, and the Dancer of Moonlight Luna Luna had joined at the legendary Sacred Treasure Fortress, Bligh, and the small fire had become a huge hellfire as they approached the Queen’s Army.

None of them knew.

But there were cold eyes watching this battle from the shadows.

On the back of the Sacred Treasure Fortress Bligh, where they surveyed their surroundings, enough military facilities such as a lift to move the siege equipment the soldiers needed to carry out the attack had been built.

"So, you're coming to get elder sister Annelotte’s head ... Veredict: guilty.  A suitable punishment will come down on you."

The Inquisitor Sigui’s eyes had seen the steady figure of the soldiers of the Queen’s Army, that, indistinguishable from the darkness of the night, had clung to Bligh’s outer wall without making a sound.

Nodding at the keen insight of Yuit, who had seen through the upcoming sabotage by a select few, Sigui slowly sat down, pointed both legs at the Queen’s Army that was coming up and spread them widely.

Her holy power had increased. She certainly hadn’t lost her power, which was proof that trusting in Annelotte and going with her had been no mistake.

“Holy Pose… Fear…”

A light in the form of a holy mark was emitted from the lower part of Sigui’s abdomen, and it illuminated the dark night.

The Queen's Army was troublingly climbing up the castle walls of Bligh, but becoming fascinated by the source of the light, the lower half of Sigui’s body, they released their hands.

With a look pitying the soldiers that were thrown off Bligh without screaming, Sigui rose slowly.

"I’ll protect Bligh while my elder sister isn’t here. Elder sister, please take care of the future of the continent.”

Before they settled the matters with the Queen, they had to avoid losing Bligh at all costs. Because, it could be said with confidence that the Sacred Treasure Fortress Bligh was an insignia of the Rebel Army, matching the very Princess Knight Annelotte herself.

Sigui adjusted her clothes and turned her gaze to Bligh's front, in the direction of the moonlit main road.

The figure of the Princess Knight Annelotte could be seen in the camp built at one corner of the main road that connected the Queen's capital to the Gemstone Mountain.

The Gemstone Mountain crest drawn on the flag waving on the camp confirmed its royalty.

“If I’m not mistaken, I gave this to lady Risty.”

Inspecting in detail the jewelry decoration Annelotte handed her, the Gemstone Princess Eilin slowly raised her face.

The tone of the dwarf, that didn’t suit the appearance as a young girl particular of their tribe, told her eloquently that her real age was above Annelotte’s.

"If you show that necklace, the Gemstone Mountain will trust you.  But whether or not the Gemstone Princess becomes your ally, it’s up to you.”

Recalling Risty’s words, Annelotte waited until Eilin continued.

“So, what do you want to do? Business? Or do you want to say that the Gemstone Mountain should join your Rebel Army?”

Eilin’s eyes sparkled.

"I’m the princess of the Gemstone Mountain, and I won’t make a foolish decision that puts the Gemstone Mountain in danger. I want proof that it’s not a foolish decision to trust you."

“Proof… you say?”

Annelotte took out Yuit’s letter, that was concealed inside her armor.

"I would like you to see this and make your decision.  Whether or not it is foolish for the princess that takes care of the Gemstone Mountain to trust us.”

Annelotte stared at Eilin honestly, and handed her the letter. Annelotte didn’t know what was written in there. Only because she believed in Yuit as a strategist, she could put everything into that letter.

“A great answer.”

Smiling fearlessly, Eilin broke the seal of the letter.

“Hohou… Is it so? I hadn’t considered this.”

Eilin nodded in satisfaction at the contents of the letter.

The Sacred Treasure Fortress Bligh was stationed on the main road connecting the Gemstone Mountain to Gainos, restraining the circulations. The Gemstone Mountain could oppose the Queen’s Army, using the excuse of their trade routes being obstructed, and provide the Rebel Army with a stable funds supply.

“Umm, this is complicated. How come the Rebel Army is free to do this here?”

"It’s not a foolish decision.... is it."

A smile appeared on Annelotte’s lips. At this rate, the Gemstone Mountain would become their allies.

"Hmm. It may not be a foolish decision to trust in the Rebel Army. Therefore, I want to make sure whether you’re really reliable or not.”

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want your cooperation for when we rescue my dear cousin, the Princess Ymir."

Annelotte went wide-eyed at the unexpected words. Even if she called her Princess Ymir, as the Iron Strategist Ymir she had done nothing but pushing the Rebel Army into a corner once and again, and she even had the devil-like personality that didn't mind inhumane experiments like Mirim's weapons. To rescue her...

"I mean, I think the Iron Strategist is an imposter, when the real Princess Ymir was betrayed by the Queen, she was substituted by someone similar, and was thrown into the Queen's castle's prison."

"Are you sure?"

"I can't be certain. Well, that's why I'm going, to confirm it."

Eilin turned her gaze to the tent. For a princess to accompany the trade group heading towards Gainos, that was exceptional.

"That's what I believe, so we're going to rescue the Princess Ymir. At that time, we'll need your cooperation."

"When the time comes."

Annelotte avoided an immediate reply. The Iron Strategist Ymir being an imposter, that wasn't something she had considered up to that point. It seemed like they needed to investigate from the Rebel Army's side as well.

"You didn't reply immediately... That's good, as the leader of an army, you can't compromise carelessly. My confidence in you has grown a little."

Eilin smiled with satisfaction, and set fire to the letter Annelotte had given her.

"What are you doing?"

"There's no reason to leave proof that we and the Rebel Army reached an agreement."

The letter instantly crumbled into ashes, it wasn't possible to discern what was written in it now.

"We're done talking, you'd better return to Bligh. It was a pleasant conversation."

Saying so, Eilin gave back the gem ornament Annelotte had showed her in the beginning.

"You didn't falter before the princess of a country, your look and your attitude were really good. I understand why they call you the Princess Knight."

Due to being called Princess Knight by Eilin, Annelotte's cheeks went red with embarrassment.

Gainos… Due to their recent defeat, strategy meetings to reorganize the Queen’s Army were carried out every day in the Queen’s Castle.

After the Queen’s Army had been defeated by the Sacred Treasure Fortress Bligh, and their line of defense had withdrawn, production of new magic soldiers had started inside Gainos’ workshop.

But, their opponents had crossed the Amara desert on the Sacred Treasure Fortress Bligh, and were now lined up in the highway between Gainos and the Gemstone Mountain. Interfering with the supply of the magic stones’ raw materials to the Queen, they had showed up at their weak point to interfere with the Queen’s Army’s military strength increasing.

“Iron Strategist. Do you have any plans?”

“Of course, Queen. I want you to leave the Gemstone Mountain situation to me. Eilin is my cute cousin, maybe I just have to correct her mistake.”

“The problem is Bligh… such a thing, we couldn’t take that legendary Sacred Treasure Fortress even with giant soldiers and magic soldiers, what kind of plan will we use to take it?”

“With the power of God! Here it is.”

Ymir snapped her finger, and behind her, a young blonde girl who had angel wings and mechanical wings appeared.

“I’ll introduce her, this is the half-angel, Divine Punishment Enforcer Laila… The most important proof that God is siding with us!”

Laila’s appearance changed the assembly hall’s atmosphere radically.

Since it seemed God’s authority was beyond anything, ordinary humans would be convinced and position themselves in the side of justice.

You simple lot. The Iron Strategist’s turned to Laila, secretly making fun of the generals.

“Come on, Laila, do your greeting.”

“…I’m Laila… I, I look forward to working with you.”

Laila bowed her head with all her strength and broke her posture, staggering.

“Is she alright? This young girl…”

“Fuhahaha, everything’s under control. I have a backup plan.”

Without turning to look at the generals, glancing sideways at the blushing Laila, who was staring at the floor, the Iron Strategist really threw out her chest.

“It takes a demon to bring down a demon! I won over for our army the previous Queen Aldra!”

Queen Claudette’s pupils shone dully.

“Interesting… but, can that honest person capitulate before our generals?”

“You can leave that to me, Her Majesty.”

Ymir answered Claudette with a smile.

-To be continued-

Eilin sure is all business-like, and has a quite similar “granny accent” to Ymir. But, is she right about Ymir being an impostor…?

According to the somewhat recent renaming at the QB official page that corrected all the wrong romanizations (an admirable feat, even if they missed Nyx), the half-angel’s name would be Laila.

And since that we’ve been shown that Laila is clumsy indeed, now she needs to start kicking some ass.
Also, the writer for this volume is Eiji Okita, the one who took care of the novels.

Next chapter: what’s happening with the previous Queen, Aldra?