Chapter 144: There Are No Enemies Before Us
"Since the strategy has changed, what needs to be done has also changed. I've just contacted Britain via long-distance communication. Merlin will bring some people over soon, and before Merlin arrives, I also need to take some action."
By now, Cú Chulainn had already woken up. He was sitting in the farthest corner of the room from Scáthach—huddled against a wall—listening quietly.
The others, meanwhile, were nodding repeatedly in agreement with Noah's words.
Scáthach saw no issue with it, and Lucius had even proposed the idea of storming the imperial palace.
As for Marcus... he was already numb!
He didn't know whether he had gone numb upon learning that Noah was the King Arthur who had declared war on Rome, or when the Sword Emperor was helping King Arthur build his own... well, you know!
Anyway, he was numb!
Moreover, he had learned from Noah that Noah was the one who had been granted the name Romulus by the Pantheon. This completely extinguished any lingering thoughts of resistance he might have had.
After all, he was different from those in the Senate.
The Senate members cared more about profit.
But he was a Magus. His concerns about profit differed from those of the Senate, and he placed great importance on the recognition of the Pantheon and the concept of being chosen by fate.
If he hadn't been sent away by the Senate back then, he might have chosen to support Noah at that time...
But it was too late to dwell on the past now.
At the very least, after hearing that Noah was Romulus, he decided to stay here for the time being and had no intention of exposing Noah.
Because...
He glanced at Noah—the emperor recognized by the gods, speaking earnestly about the matters at hand—and at the current emperor, Lucius, who was nodding repeatedly at Noah's strategies and occasionally offering his own ideas... For a moment, he couldn't tell which side represented the legitimate Rome!
The chosen emperor and the current emperor were both on his side. Was it possible that the ones rebelling were actually the imperial palace and the Senate?
Marcus used such thoughts to hypnotize himself.
That was how he felt. As for Cú Chulainn, he had originally planned to remain silent, ready to take on whatever task Noah assigned him without offering any opinions, lest he say something wrong and anger Scáthach again.
But he never expected that, even after lowering his presence so much, Noah would still look directly at him.
"Cú Chulainn, I may need to trouble you to do something next."
"No problem."
As Noah spoke, Scáthach also looked over. This made Cú Chulainn, who had been planning to complain a bit before accepting the task, straighten up and agree without hesitation.
Noah nodded at this.
"Good. Since you have no problem with it, we need to send someone to infiltrate the imperial palace as a spy. I plan to send you."
Huh!?
Cú Chulainn, who had been quite obedient until now, finally couldn't hold back.
"Wait! If you're sending me on a mission that involves fighting, that's fine. But being a spy... I'm not very good at that, and I have absolutely no talent for it!"
Cú Chulainn wasn't wrong.
And even under Scáthach's pressure, he had to say it.
After all, that was just the kind of person he was.
Even if he might complain with his words, once he agrees to something, he will do everything in his power to help you accomplish it.
Similarly, for things he truly feels uncertain about, he will speak up in advance.
But Noah shook his head.
"No, believe in yourself—you have the talent for this."
I have the talent? How come I didn't know?
Just as Cú Chulainn stood up, ready to explain properly, he saw Noah take out a missing person notice.
On the notice was a drawing, likely brought to Rome by Manaka Sajyou, using a method similar to modern sketching. It was also colored with the same technique as the "princess hunting" illustrations those bandits had once brought to Britain.
This made the blue-haired man on the missing person notice appear strikingly lifelike.
Seeing it, Cú Chulainn swallowed the words he had prepared.
Huh...
The official Rome was searching for, who had suddenly gone missing, looked exactly like him!
If this isn't talent, then what is!
Moreover, judging from the information on the notice, this person's personality was also identical to his... The clothing and staff even resembled what he wore during the time he was known as the Sage of the Forest...
Cú Chulainn couldn't help but exclaim—this is me!
Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?
"When the time comes, Cú Chulainn, I'll need you to disguise yourself like this and go to the imperial palace. Keep an eye on the Sword Emperor's situation for me there—but above all, prioritize your safety."
"If you sense danger, escape as soon as you can."
At this point, Noah grew more serious.
"Although you descended as a Heroic Spirit, since you stand with us, you are a comrade I acknowledge. In such a situation, we will trust you, so please trust us as well."
"There's no need for you to push yourself, because as long as everything proceeds step by step, there will be no opponent ahead of us."
Hearing Noah's words, Cú Chulainn, who had been about to say something, simply smiled.
"...Ah, I understand."
He said it casually, but Noah knew he had taken it to heart.
So Noah nodded to Cú Chulainn, first arranging this matter, then skillfully redirecting Lucius's plan to charge straight into the palace with simple logic. Instead, he rekindled her interest in the dashing bandit, so she insisted on following them to the Pantheon tonight.
Beyond that, Noah had already made his arrangements.
To swiftly conquer Rome, he needed to leverage his identity as Romulus, which required Merlin to come and mobilize the intelligence operatives—ideally, he could also obtain something after visiting the Pantheon. It would be even better if he could bring back some divine miracles.
Once this identity was fully utilized, as long as winter arrived—Britain's troops, equipped with cold-weather gear, would surely capture Rome at the fastest speed and with minimal cost!
Just as he had told Cú Chulainn.
As long as everything proceeded step by step, all that remained was to quietly await victory.
The Roman Imperial Palace.
Odin had endured it in the palace for an entire day!
A whole day!
Just as he was looking forward to being able to switch back to his Avatar in two more days, using the three-day absence as an excuse to reveal a little about the White Titan and begin planning... his subordinates came to inform him that he had been found!
Or rather, the identity he had created using the Cú Chulainn Avatar had been taken over by someone else!
At first, he thought it was an imposter, but when he went to check... well, wasn't this just the real deal coming to his doorstep!
This was Cú Chulainn himself!
...
Even if he didn't want to admit it, he could only force a smile and acknowledge it.
Then, after returning to his bedchamber, Odin realized.
One of the only two Avatars he had brought out from the Inner Sea of the Planet this time seemed to no longer belong to him!
At the very least, if he wanted to use Rome's power to prevent the White Titan's descent, this Avatar might no longer be usable!
After all, for Cú Chulainn to come here... it was unlikely he suddenly decided to pledge loyalty to Rome, right?
He had taken over Odin's original identity. If you said he wasn't here out of curiosity after seeing the wanted notice, Odin wouldn't believe it!
So either he could kill Cú Chulainn before he caused trouble and send him back to the Throne of Heroes, but that was difficult to achieve... Even though he was still stronger than Cú Chulainn now, if he failed to kill him and ended up drawing Scáthach into the matter because of it, the situation would become unpredictable.
He wasn't here in his true form, so it was highly likely he wouldn't be a match for Scáthach!
If he were sent back to the Inner Sea of the Planet like that, it would be a loss outweighing the gain.
Or...
Should he pretend to be like that Lucius and simply run away?
Then, when the real Lucius returned, wouldn't the problem be solved!
The impact of this would be minimal, but not being able to borrow Rome's power was frustrating...
After all, the best outcome he had originally envisioned was to secretly cause the White Titan's descent to fail and then stage a scenario where either the Huns shattered Rome or Rome crushed the Huns—that way, he could return to the Inner Sea of the Planet without any issues.
Otherwise, if he were to bear some sin rejected by the Planet, he wouldn't be able to go back.
When Britain inevitably faced its doomed fate, if he couldn't return, he would surely be implicated in the reckoning!
That wouldn't do...
Odin first thought this way, but then he suddenly had an idea.
Why not just commit to the act completely and let the real Lucius, who had run away, discover that she had been impersonated? She would definitely want to come back and reclaim her identity.
When she returned, he would expose the fact that he was an imposter.
That way, he could hide the fact that he was Odin and reveal a little about the White Titan, allowing Rome to play a role in his efforts to prevent the White Titan's descent!
The more Odin thought about it, the more feasible this method seemed.
It was just that these next few days, he would have to continuously use Rune Magecraft to locate the real Lucius...
"Ah, I hope I can find her quickly. Otherwise, how many more days will I have to endure this imprisonment!"
Odin, forced into this imprisonment, was quite helpless.
But he never expected that on his very first attempt to locate her, he had already found Lucius's whereabouts.
Because this location was not far from him—in fact, it was very close!
Though he didn't know why, the real Lucius was already heading toward the Pantheon under the cover of night!
In that case…
Not wanting to remain imprisoned any longer, Odin walked straight toward the main gate.
"I'll go intercept her right now!"