Volume 4
Chapter 4: Outside the Realm of Human
---
Miller looked to Luke. “Are you familiar with Duke Lieral Lieutolu?”
“I’ve heard the name, but… you’re saying that he’s the one who fired magic without a magic circle?”
Miller nodded. “He easily turned the tables on twenty soldiers attacking him at once. He’d used Lightning Flash then without a magic circle or an incantation. He just said the name of the spell and it took care of all twenty-one of our magic circles.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “That’s impossible.”
Miller nodded again. “Yeah. It’s impossible. But you saw it too, right?”
“Yes. We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a pinch, haven’t we… is he human?”
“He himself said that he’s not.”
“Uwah, so he’s not human. Then what is he?”
Miller obviously didn’t know the answer to that. All he knew was that Lieral Lieutolu had a different air about him.
He was a man whose name went down in history as a genius in the field of magic research. But was it really possible for him to have that much power through magic research alone?
It gave him the same feeling as whatever lurked on Eris land. It had made two hundred elites disappear without sound nor a fuss. The Eris family was just supposed to use swords, but was that really the case?
“……”
No, even if that was all done with a sword, it was still far past what a human could do. It was the work of someone who had surpassed their humanity.
Luke Stokkart and Claugh Klom were far more able than the average human, but even then, it was on a scale entirely different from these things. Luke and Claugh were decidedly human.
“…Roland’s… darkness,” Miller whispered, repeating the words Lieral had said that day.
Luke looked confused. “Darkness?”
Miller didn’t answer. He didn’t know how to answer. Because there was no reason for Luke to know about the darkness permeating their country and the monsters who ran rampant within it.
Even so, he smiled. It clashed somewhat with his frown lines. “So that incomprehensible thing has finally decided to appear before me again,” he whispered.
He’d waited eleven years for this.
He was somewhere that his father had never reached now, in a place he’d never touched.
“I’m different.”
He’d take a step into that darkness that no one else knew about.
“Luke.”
“What is it?”
“Start working on reforming this country. Soon…”
“…Huh? But—”
“Our first bump in the road is here. Someone else has been laying groundwork too. So we’ll take their road. The gears of this story are about to start moving…”
Miller stood.
“…So how about our gears move with them?”
Miller looked to the eldest Eris daughter, who sat restrained in the corner.
“I’ll start by torturing this woman for information on the Eris family,” Miller said. “You’ll—”
“Go help Sir Sion?”
“Yeah. It seems like he’s already involved with the other plan. We can use him.”
“But he might already be dead,” Luke said.
“Save him.”
“Whaaa. Don’t be ridiculous. You’re telling me that even though you already know how strong Lieral Lieutolu is?” Luke asked.
“Yeah.”
“I might die fighting a monster like that, you know?”
“Do something so you don’t die,” Miller said.
“Wooow, you’re horrible,” Luke said, but turned to go fight that monster without hesitation.
Miller watched his subordinate’s relaxed, smiling face as he left. “You’re plenty enough of a monster yourself to make it work,” he said.
Luke didn’t look too happy with that. He scrunched up his face. “You make it sound like it’s someone else’s problem.”
“Haha. Don’t die.”
“I wonder if I will. Well, I’ll try not to.”
With that, Luke left.
Miller looked back to the corner of the room, to that inhumanly beautiful girl.
Inhuman. Not looking human. Absolutely not human.
Those words overflowed from this strange country.
“…Show me this inhuman plan of yours, will you?”
---
Passing through the deep, deep darkness… meant passing through countless pointless dreams.
“……”
He slowly regained consciousness. When he did he heard a man’s voice from far away.
“…You’re plenty enough of a monster yourself…”
You make it sound like it’s someone else’s problem.
Don’t die.
I wonder if I will. Well, I’ll try not to.
She didn’t know what they were talking about. But she didn’t really care either.
What she did care about was…
“……”
She opened her eyes a bit. She had golden-blonde hair and clear blue eyes that no emotion passed through.
She had an emotionless but handsome face, much like a doll’s.
Ferris Eris’ eyes moved across the room to assess the situation she’d found herself in.
She was in a small room. One other person was present. One enemy.
There had originally been two, but one left.
The only other things here were a desk and file cabinet.
There was also a barred window above her. Her arms were tied up to it with chains.
She’d better deal with the chains. She wiggled her wrists, cracking her joints to try to give them enough leeway to slip out…
“……”
But she was unsuccessful.
Someone had intentionally tied the chains in a way that she couldn’t escape them by dislocating her wrists. So she decided to change her approach.
She focused her power in her fingertips, waving them two, three times. Then she straightened her hands out…
“……”
“…Show me this inhuman plan of yours, will you?” Her enemy asked and looked at her.
Ferris looked up at him. He didn’t look like he was in a very good mood.
“……”
She didn’t say anything.
“…You’re awake,” he said. “I’m Captain Rahel Miller. You’re Ferris Eris, right?”
She didn’t say anything.
She just didn’t care enough to.
She didn’t have any interest at all in other people. So she went back to trying to escape.
“It’s impossible to get out of those,” Miller said. “Not even if you dislocate your wrists. Can you please talk to m—”
Ferris dislocated her wrists again, then twisted them around as she strengthened her hands again, then sliced them against what was binding her. It cut through with ease.
Now there was nothing left to hold her down. She shook the chains off, then put her wrists back in place and stood.
“…Oh, I guess I’m the fool here,” Miller said.
Ferris didn’t respond. She looked around, searching for an exit. If there were a sword here he should slice through the bars on the window and leave through there, but it didn’t look like this room’s owner was a swordsman. So she should just leave through the door.
She didn’t know who the man was, but he’d chained her up. So he was probably an enemy.
“…An enemy, is it.” Ferris turned to face the man for the first time. “Who are you? Why did you bind me? What happened to Sion?” She asked.
Then she tried to think about her situation again.
She’d been fighting with a guy called Claugh earlier, but her memory stopped halfway through that encounter. Someone had probably knocked her out, brought her here, and chained her up.
“…So I lost,” she whispered. “My brother will hit me again for this.”
She said it emotionlessly.
“Ah, we’d like to know a bit about your brother… mind telling us?” Miller asked.
“Why do you want me to tell you about that?”
“I’ll torture you if you won’t talk.”
“Haha.”
“Is that really so funny that you need to laugh?”
“It is funny. Do you really think you can do anything to me?”
The man shrugged. “Who knows. I mean, you could face off against Claugh, so yeah, I probably can’t do much of anything.”
“By Claugh, you mean the redhead?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m stronger.”
“Yeah.”
“Then… then it’s impossible for you to do anything to me,” Ferris said and nodded to herself. “Then don’t get in my way. You’re an eyesore.”
“An eyesore.”
“Yeah.”
“Then I won’t get in your way,” he said and opened the door with ease.
Ferris nodded and walked towards it.
“Let’s try another line of questioning then,” he said from her side. “I’ll kill your precious friends if you don’t answer my questions.”
“Friends? Who? I have no friends.”
“Sion. Sion Astal. He’s your friend, right?”
“Mm? He is?”
“Am I wrong? I assumed you were since you went out of your way to protect him.”
Her expression became troubled. But the man in front of her probably couldn’t tell. Expressions weren’t her strong point.
“He’s just a dango delivery boy,” Ferris said. “There are many others out there to take his place if he dies.” Then she began to walk again.
“You’re pretty cold. Like ice.”
Ferris ignored him. She headed into the hallway.
“I’m really going to kill Sion, you know.”
“……”
“His head comes off when I make the signal. I think it’s best if you just do as I say.”
Ferris turned around and smiled. “If that’s what you want to do, then fine. But you can’t kill Sion.”
Miller smiled. “I can.”
“You can’t. Because Sion’s been possessed by my brother. So…”
Her words faded, and her expression took a sad hue.
She’d meant to say that he’s already gone through the worst of it and no one could lay a hand on him anymore, but she stopped.
“……”
Then she began to walk again.
The man didn’t follow.
The soldiers guarding the building stared at her for her beauty, but no one attacked.
Then she heard a voice from behind.
“…So Sion Astal’s been possessed by the swordsman clan, has he? That’s more than enough to go off of. It’s what I’d meant to ask you about.”
Volume 4
Chapter 4: Outside the Realm of Human
---
Miller looked to Luke. “Are you familiar with Duke Lieral Lieutolu?”
“I’ve heard the name, but… you’re saying that he’s the one who fired magic without a magic circle?”
Miller nodded. “He easily turned the tables on twenty soldiers attacking him at once. He’d used Lightning Flash then without a magic circle or an incantation. He just said the name of the spell and it took care of all twenty-one of our magic circles.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “That’s impossible.”
Miller nodded again. “Yeah. It’s impossible. But you saw it too, right?”
“Yes. We’ve found ourselves in a bit of a pinch, haven’t we… is he human?”
“He himself said that he’s not.”
“Uwah, so he’s not human. Then what is he?”
Miller obviously didn’t know the answer to that. All he knew was that Lieral Lieutolu had a different air about him.
He was a man whose name went down in history as a genius in the field of magic research. But was it really possible for him to have that much power through magic research alone?
It gave him the same feeling as whatever lurked on Eris land. It had made two hundred elites disappear without sound nor a fuss. The Eris family was just supposed to use swords, but was that really the case?
“……”
No, even if that was all done with a sword, it was still far past what a human could do. It was the work of someone who had surpassed their humanity.
Luke Stokkart and Claugh Klom were far more able than the average human, but even then, it was on a scale entirely different from these things. Luke and Claugh were decidedly human.
“…Roland’s… darkness,” Miller whispered, repeating the words Lieral had said that day.
Luke looked confused. “Darkness?”
Miller didn’t answer. He didn’t know how to answer. Because there was no reason for Luke to know about the darkness permeating their country and the monsters who ran rampant within it.
Even so, he smiled. It clashed somewhat with his frown lines. “So that incomprehensible thing has finally decided to appear before me again,” he whispered.
He’d waited eleven years for this.
He was somewhere that his father had never reached now, in a place he’d never touched.
“I’m different.”
He’d take a step into that darkness that no one else knew about.
“Luke.”
“What is it?”
“Start working on reforming this country. Soon…”
“…Huh? But—”
“Our first bump in the road is here. Someone else has been laying groundwork too. So we’ll take their road. The gears of this story are about to start moving…”
Miller stood.
“…So how about our gears move with them?”
Miller looked to the eldest Eris daughter, who sat restrained in the corner.
“I’ll start by torturing this woman for information on the Eris family,” Miller said. “You’ll—”
“Go help Sir Sion?”
“Yeah. It seems like he’s already involved with the other plan. We can use him.”
“But he might already be dead,” Luke said.
“Save him.”
“Whaaa. Don’t be ridiculous. You’re telling me that even though you already know how strong Lieral Lieutolu is?” Luke asked.
“Yeah.”
“I might die fighting a monster like that, you know?”
“Do something so you don’t die,” Miller said.
“Wooow, you’re horrible,” Luke said, but turned to go fight that monster without hesitation.
Miller watched his subordinate’s relaxed, smiling face as he left. “You’re plenty enough of a monster yourself to make it work,” he said.
Luke didn’t look too happy with that. He scrunched up his face. “You make it sound like it’s someone else’s problem.”
“Haha. Don’t die.”
“I wonder if I will. Well, I’ll try not to.”
With that, Luke left.
Miller looked back to the corner of the room, to that inhumanly beautiful girl.
Inhuman. Not looking human. Absolutely not human.
Those words overflowed from this strange country.
“…Show me this inhuman plan of yours, will you?”
---
Passing through the deep, deep darkness… meant passing through countless pointless dreams.
“……”
He slowly regained consciousness. When he did he heard a man’s voice from far away.
“…You’re plenty enough of a monster yourself…”
You make it sound like it’s someone else’s problem.
Don’t die.
I wonder if I will. Well, I’ll try not to.
She didn’t know what they were talking about. But she didn’t really care either.
What she did care about was…
“……”
She opened her eyes a bit. She had golden-blonde hair and clear blue eyes that no emotion passed through.
She had an emotionless but handsome face, much like a doll’s.
Ferris Eris’ eyes moved across the room to assess the situation she’d found herself in.
She was in a small room. One other person was present. One enemy.
There had originally been two, but one left.
The only other things here were a desk and file cabinet.
There was also a barred window above her. Her arms were tied up to it with chains.
She’d better deal with the chains. She wiggled her wrists, cracking her joints to try to give them enough leeway to slip out…
“……”
But she was unsuccessful.
Someone had intentionally tied the chains in a way that she couldn’t escape them by dislocating her wrists. So she decided to change her approach.
She focused her power in her fingertips, waving them two, three times. Then she straightened her hands out…
“……”
“…Show me this inhuman plan of yours, will you?” Her enemy asked and looked at her.
Ferris looked up at him. He didn’t look like he was in a very good mood.
“……”
She didn’t say anything.
“…You’re awake,” he said. “I’m Captain Rahel Miller. You’re Ferris Eris, right?”
She didn’t say anything.
She just didn’t care enough to.
She didn’t have any interest at all in other people. So she went back to trying to escape.
“It’s impossible to get out of those,” Miller said. “Not even if you dislocate your wrists. Can you please talk to m—”
Ferris dislocated her wrists again, then twisted them around as she strengthened her hands again, then sliced them against what was binding her. It cut through with ease.
Now there was nothing left to hold her down. She shook the chains off, then put her wrists back in place and stood.
“…Oh, I guess I’m the fool here,” Miller said.
Ferris didn’t respond. She looked around, searching for an exit. If there were a sword here he should slice through the bars on the window and leave through there, but it didn’t look like this room’s owner was a swordsman. So she should just leave through the door.
She didn’t know who the man was, but he’d chained her up. So he was probably an enemy.
“…An enemy, is it.” Ferris turned to face the man for the first time. “Who are you? Why did you bind me? What happened to Sion?” She asked.
Then she tried to think about her situation again.
She’d been fighting with a guy called Claugh earlier, but her memory stopped halfway through that encounter. Someone had probably knocked her out, brought her here, and chained her up.
“…So I lost,” she whispered. “My brother will hit me again for this.”
She said it emotionlessly.
“Ah, we’d like to know a bit about your brother… mind telling us?” Miller asked.
“Why do you want me to tell you about that?”
“I’ll torture you if you won’t talk.”
“Haha.”
“Is that really so funny that you need to laugh?”
“It is funny. Do you really think you can do anything to me?”
The man shrugged. “Who knows. I mean, you could face off against Claugh, so yeah, I probably can’t do much of anything.”
“By Claugh, you mean the redhead?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’m stronger.”
“Yeah.”
“Then… then it’s impossible for you to do anything to me,” Ferris said and nodded to herself. “Then don’t get in my way. You’re an eyesore.”
“An eyesore.”
“Yeah.”
“Then I won’t get in your way,” he said and opened the door with ease.
Ferris nodded and walked towards it.
“Let’s try another line of questioning then,” he said from her side. “I’ll kill your precious friends if you don’t answer my questions.”
“Friends? Who? I have no friends.”
“Sion. Sion Astal. He’s your friend, right?”
“Mm? He is?”
“Am I wrong? I assumed you were since you went out of your way to protect him.”
Her expression became troubled. But the man in front of her probably couldn’t tell. Expressions weren’t her strong point.
“He’s just a dango delivery boy,” Ferris said. “There are many others out there to take his place if he dies.” Then she began to walk again.
“You’re pretty cold. Like ice.”
Ferris ignored him. She headed into the hallway.
“I’m really going to kill Sion, you know.”
“……”
“His head comes off when I make the signal. I think it’s best if you just do as I say.”
Ferris turned around and smiled. “If that’s what you want to do, then fine. But you can’t kill Sion.”
Miller smiled. “I can.”
“You can’t. Because Sion’s been possessed by my brother. So…”
Her words faded, and her expression took a sad hue.
She’d meant to say that he’s already gone through the worst of it and no one could lay a hand on him anymore, but she stopped.
“……”
Then she began to walk again.
The man didn’t follow.
The soldiers guarding the building stared at her for her beauty, but no one attacked.
Then she heard a voice from behind.
“…So Sion Astal’s been possessed by the swordsman clan, has he? That’s more than enough to go off of. It’s what I’d meant to ask you about.”
