Of course he never thought that everything would go perfectly.
As kids we were taught that we could do anything, weren’t we? We were told that we could make all of our dreams come true. But we’re not kids anymore. So he never thought that everything would go perfectly.
“……”
But everything was going well. It was all going according to plan, following the groundwork he’d laid out perfectly. Everything followed that path perfectly.
And yet something about it just wasn’t enough.
“……”
That’s what Captain Rahel Miller thought.
He had a stern face and eyes that looked like they could cut right through you. Principles of law and order were always present within those eyes of his. He wore his Roland military uniform cleanly and free of wrinkles, and stood with perfect posture. His surroundings were extraordinarily clean, too - his office’s bookshelf, his desk, even visitors, when present - it was all well-organized and free of clutter.
This was the path he was meant to walk. He progressed in an orderly, disciplined fashion, as if he felt that this was what he was born to do.
The Roland Empire was currently following the plan for a revolution that he’d drawn up. Nobody else was capable of such a perfect and quick revolution. There were likely more people out there that hadn’t even realized that a revolution was occurring than those who were aware.
But Miller didn’t think there was anything particularly special about that. Because it was clear that his plan would progress in that manner. Because he’d been planning this for over ten years, ensuring that it’d progress slowly but steadily so as to not draw unnecessary attention.
And so the story progressed along with his plan.
Do the necessary things to a necessary degree.
That was his motto.
By those words alone, every year, every month, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, he proceeded without rest. At some point, everyone was on his side. Everyone was devoted to him. And so everything progressed according to the plan of the man called a genius.
A bitter smile rose to Miller’s harsh face. “If only there were other geniuses out there too,” he said with a sigh.
He rested his back against his chair and looked out of the room’s small window. It was fitted with iron bars to prevent intruders, but it was still possible to gaze out through the gaps.
It was dark out. The sun had already gone down, and work for the day was over.
“……”
Miller pulled a thick notebook from a desk drawer. He opened it to page 264 to confirm that he’d completed all of the day’s work. He’d drawn this notebook up with his goals for each day several years ago, and he’d already completed everything due for the next half month. There was nothing left to do for the day. Everything was going even better and faster than expected. The revolution would soon end.
“…I assume it’s because I have so many outstanding subordinates,” Miller whispered and closed his notebook.
Miller didn’t believe in trusting others. There were very few who could answer to his expectations. That’s why he’d written his plan assuming the worst about everyone’s abilities. But there had been far more promising people than expected hiding in this country. Fed up with the royalty and nobility’s tyranny, they all flocked to Miller instead.
There were people like Claugh Klom and Luke Stokkart, geniuses in different ways from himself, and people who realized what he was doing. Thanks to their help, the pace at which his plan progressed accelerated. It never fumbled and it never faltered; it progressed so quickly and easily that it almost felt like a trick of the mind. A hallucination.
That was when he felt that it wasn’t enough.
“…No. This feeling is uneasiness,” Miller said to himself. It was all going smoothly, yes, but too smoothly, to the point that it made him uneasy.
And so he was uncomfortable. Instead of being relieved that his opponent was resisting so little, he was just plain uncomfortable.
It didn’t matter how meticulously this had all been planned.
It didn’t matter if his opponents were idiots who’d drowned in their own power.
“…It’s about time for the excellent people surrounding those with power to realize what’s happening, isn’t it?”
Miller closed his notebook and put it back in his desk. The drawer automatically locked via magic when he closed it. If anyone but him tried to open it, the desk would erupt in fire.
He double-checked to make sure it was closed. He’d done that check thousands of times before today, too.
He did the necessary things to a necessary degree. After all, it was his motto.
He stood and checked the clock. He’d be returning home a bit earlier than usual today.
“…It’s also my job to please Jereme, after all,” he said, smiling faintly at the thought of his wife. Though his smile may look bitter to others, it was only the degree of his fondness that he was bitter about.
He moved away from his desk. He could feel a presence at the door. His eyes slid to look at it. “Who is it?” Miller asked.
“……”
No response.
“Teenie?” Miller called. That was his guard’s name.
“…….”
But there was no reply to that either.
He smiled happily for the first time today. “Haha. An assassin, eh?”
It was about time someone finally realized what he was doing. He was beginning to think it was all some kind of dream.
But this was enough to nullify that unease about everything going too smoothly.
Miller knocked on his desk. When he did, a drawer holding two knives opened. One was coated with lethal poison, the other with anesthesia.
“Which to use,” Miller wondered to himself as he gathered power within his body. The assassin was strong enough to take his guard Teenie out without a sound. He might have to get serious. He may even need to make the decision to run. Miller looked back at the door. “I know you’re there. Enter.”
The doorknob moved, and the door opened. Miller raised the hand holding a knife, but soon stopped it. Because he recognized the man at the door. It was one of his subordinantes. He had pure white hair even though he was still in his early twenties, and a smile that’d probably never left his serene face. Even though he should’ve trained enough to be muscular, he stood rather thin and tall.
It was Luke. Luke Stokkart.
“I’d enter even without permission~!” Luke said and entered. “Oh, wait. I’ve got something. Guess I’ll just put her against the wall. On her side’s probably best…”
Luke ducked back out, then reentered shortly with a girl in tow. She was fifteen or sixteen, and had an otherworldly sort of beauty about her. She had golden-blonde hair and long, dainty limbs. She was so beautiful that it was hard to even think of her as human… She made one think that if a goddess existed, she’d be its spitting image.
“……”
Luke had her on his shoulder. He looked around, then approached the window. He tugged on it several times to verify its strength. Then he pulled chains and rope from his pockets and set to tying the girl to the window.
“……”
He gazed at the beautiful blonde.
“…So that’s what you’re into?”
“Huh? Oh. She certainly is pretty, isn’t she~?” Luke said as he tied the chains around her arms.
“I didn’t mean her appearance. I meant tying women up with chains.”
Luke looked at him, surprised. “Wow… I didn’t know you were the type to tell jokes!”
“It isn’t a joke,” Miller said, still staring at the girl. “Tell me who she is. Is she really someone you need to tie up with chains?”
Luke just smiled. “I wonder. Maybe I just get off on tying people up—”
“…I hate that kind of worthless joke,” Miller said.
“Whaaat. But you’re the one who started it,” Luke said, smiling the same happy smile as always. He finished binding the girl’s arms, then looked back to Miller. “Alright, that should do it.”
“You haven’t given report yet,” Miller said.
“No, but I’ll do that now.”
“Any good news?”
Luke smiled serenely. “Nope.”
Miller scowled. “Don’t make that face if it’s all bad news.”
“Haha. But it’s in my nature to look like this. If you’re going to complain, then I think you should at least look happy when you’re happy.”
“It’s in my nature to look like this.”
“Geez, you’ll get in another fight with your wife acting like th…”
Miller glared.
Luke raised his hands in surrender. “Whoops, guess I went too far.”
“Like always.”
“Ahaha.”
“Anyway, get to explaining,” Miller said. “Who’s that woman? Why’d you silence my guard? What in the world is going on?”
Luke shrugged. “Where do you want me to start?”
Miller stared at him, then sat back down in his chair. “Just tell me everything. Go in whatever order you think is best…”
Miller checked the clock again. He might not get any sleep tonight after all. Somewhere in the corner of his mind, he thought about how Jereme would be in a bad mood over it.
“Doing it in your order will be easiest to understand,” Miller continued. “You’re smarter than I am, after all.”
“You’re saying that again?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“Haha.”
“Now hurry up and explain,” Miller ordered.
Luke smiled faintly, then pointed behind himself. “By the way, Teenie went to the bathroom.”
“That’s a pretty bad omen.”
“Hahaha… what happened to you today? You’re full of jokes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“…Really,” Miller said again and steeled his expression. Apparently he’d let his guard down thanks to his plan going so well.
“I like you better this way,” Luke said. “Normally you’re like this,” he said, then raised his hands like an actor would as they rise to the stage. When he lowered them, he looked awfully peeved.
“Am I making that face now?”
Luke shrugged. “What do you think? I’m not looking at myself in a mirror, after all.”
“It’s horrible.”
“Really? Did I hurt your feelings?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Miller said and glared at Luke. “Let’s get to the point. Your preamble’s been long, so you must not want to say it. Is it that bad?”
Luke shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to say it. It just isn’t a very pleasant conversation.”
Endless thoughts of what it could be and what he could do about it ran through Miller’s head. Luke was about to tell him what happened, so there was really no need to think about it so obsessively, but in doing so the enemy in his imagination swelled in size.
But he didn’t think that anything about the current state of things could make him pale at this point. They had enough power to destroy the royalty and nobility already. They were at the point where their only worries were about the most efficient time to fight.
In summary, Miller wasn’t fazed by an enemy discovering his plans at this stage. At this poing, he’d sooner say ‘finally!’
“……”
But Luke should know that too. That meant that they had an even bigger problem on their hands. Something so bad that Luke didn’t want to say it.
So what was it?
Did Claugh move to stand at Sion Astal’s side? But he’d ordered Luke to side with Sion in that scenario too. Because if he was charming enough to make Claugh his ally, then that made him a useful piece in his own right.
There was no problem whatsoever with that.
So.
“……”
Miller’s thoughts moved to the blonde beauty tied up from the window. He didn’t know who she was in the slightest. As a result, there were scenarios that he wasn’t capable of picturing now.
“……”
Miller was on the verge of a smile.
Something highly irregular had happened. Something that he hadn’t expected. That meant his very worst scenario had occurred.
“…Seems like our game’s gotten pretty interesting,” Miller said.
Luke smiled. “If only it were on the level of a mere game.”
“Do you think I’ll lose?”
“Who knows? In any case, I’d certainly lose.”
“Ha. Everything’s over if you can’t do it.”
“Whaaat. Please don’t throw the game so easily. You’re the one who started it!”
“This isn’t exactly a game that I started,” Miller said. “It had already begun when I was born. This country’s mad, after all…”
And something so mad would inevitably sprint towards its own destruction.
“…But that’s not important. Continue. What happened?”
Luke’s face went a bit blank as he compiled the order he’d speak in. But he’d already compiled it. He was just pretending to have not.
Miller laughed through his nose. “Hurry up.”
Luke nodded. “Claugh has suffered potentially fatal wounds.”
“……”
“I do not know who the enemy was. If I stayed to confirm it I would have died as well. So I took Claugh, his subordinate Shuss, and that girl and escaped. Sion Astal engaged in battle with that enemy. But it’s a monster that could even overwhelm Claugh. I don’t think there’s anything that prince can do at this point but die.”
“……”
“But for some reason, he was awfully confident. Rather, it appeared that he knew who he was fighting. I’d have asked him about it, but… well, the situation didn’t exactly allow for it. So what shall we do?” Luke asked. As he’d explained it all in one go, he took a moment to catch his breath.
If Luke couldn’t wrap his impressive mind around a solution, then this would require quite some though.
“…Where’s Claugh?” Miller asked.
“In the infirmary.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“You said it was ‘potentially fatal,’ but how exactly was he wounded?”
“He’s covered in horrible burns. But it seems like he’ll heal. Even his brain is made of muscle instead of nerves, after all. Someone like him shouldn’t just die,” Luke said.
Miller didn’t join in on his joking.
He looked back over to the girl tied to the window. He was beginning to understand the situation.
Luke said that he’d been monitoring Sion and Claugh. Then Luke, who had just been watching, was attacked and took Claugh, Shuss, this unidentified woman, and returned to their base.
Neither of them knew anything about the attacker, but what about the girl?
“…So is this Sion Astal’s guard from the Eris family?”
Luke nodded. “It appears to be Ferris.”
“So the Eris family has acknowledged Sion?”
“I wonder. He’s certainly gotten on Claugh’s good side, but the Swordsman Clan, the Eris family’s?
Those words.
“The Swordsman Clan… huh.”
It was a name bestowed upon the Eris family, which had protected Roland’s kings for generations. They were said to be one of the oldest bloodlines in all of Roland, but as they never appeared in public, they were wrapped in a thick air of mystery. He’d heard that they opened up a dojo to train nobles in swordplay at some point, but he’d heard nothing about the Erises themselves being the ones to teach there.
The head of the Eris house was named Lucile Eris. There were no reports of anyone having ever seen Lucile Eris in the flesh, but that was the name recorded as the head of the family in the registry.
Perhaps due to their long tradition of mystery, there were rumors about the Eris family selecting those they acknowledge to become king.
“……”
Miller had thought of them as just rumors. He’d thought of them as rumors spread by the nobility to make commonsers revere their status. So he ignored the existence of the Eris family from the outset.
Even if their blood was thick with monstrosity, they’d still pale in comparison with real monsters like Luke and Claugh. That’s what he had always thought.
But Luke had put a girl of only fifteen or sixteen in chains. That meant that Luke felt threatened by her power.
That wasn’t all.
Miller had sent eight spies to study at the Eris dojo for a year to check things out. They were all skilled people, and Miller had faith in their abilities.
And then… three months ago, they took soldiers to lead a raid on the Eris house.
The result?
“……”
Not a single one returned, and there was absolutely no fuss about it. The dojo continued to open just like always, as if nothing had ever happened. The spies and their soldiers’ whereabouts were still unknown. It was as if they’d disappeared completely.
He’d feared that they were tortured and leaked information, but retaliation never came. It was like they had absolutely no interest in what Miller was doing at all.
Unsurprisingly, Miller’s opinion on the Erises changed after that.
He began to think that the Erises would really be the largest obstacle to slaughtering the royal family.
“……”
He looked to the eldest daughter of the Eris family - Lucile Eris’ little sister, Ferris Eris.
Luke continued, as if he saw right through Miller’s thoughts. “She certainly seemed to be protecting him, but I don’t know if that means that Sion has been acknowledged by the Eris family itself. Even so…”
Miller nodded. “The fact that he has ties with the Eris family means that I need to keep him alive. It seems that Sion Astal’s worth has increased by twenty percent.”
“You don’t want to fight with the Eris family, do you?”
Miller looked at Luke. He was smiling just like always, making it impossible to read his thoughts. “You understand why best of all, don’t you? What did you think after fighting with her? Do we need to be worried about Sion… about the Eris family?”
Luke hummed as he thought for a moment. “She was evenly matched with Claugh, for what’s it’s worth. As for who’s really stronger… hm, I think it probably depends on the situation.”
“But you made her faint, didn’t you?”
“With a surprise attack, yes.”
“Whether it’s a surprise attack or not, it’s fine as long as you can kill her. No matter how strong the Eris family may be, the world won’t change with one person’s power alone. But…”
What had happened on Eris property three months ago remained unexplained. It wasn’t as though he’d always looked down on them or anything. They’d always been known as the strongest family in the Roland Empire, something that their air of mystery likely contributed to.
He never planned on cutting corners against the Erises. That was why his attack against them took over a year. He sent his spies slowly, one by one, attacking in a perfectly prepared and organized way.
Of course the soldiers that he sent weren’t anywhere near as strong as Claugh or Luke, but it was a company of two hundred, the cream of the crop in their own right. He didn’t expect them to all return safely, of course, but they weren’t exactly at the level where he thought anything major would happen to them. There were even those from the Hidden Elites among them.
It was a group of soldiers even capable of killing Claugh or Luke.
Even so, they’d all disappeared without a trace, sound, or even spark of light. They probably never even fought.
“……”
Was there really an existence capable of such a feat in this world?
The path he was on now wasn’t a bright one. He’d already marched through the dark side of Roland.
There he met countless people who had been experimented on and transformed into monsters. But he’d never met anyone capable of that feat.
There existed a monster capable of killing two hundred elite soldiers, and they were of the Eris family, long known as the strongest in all of Roland.
Just what lurked inside the Eris mansion?
“…In summary, the eldest daughter of the Eris family is a normal human who you could kill. Correct?”
“She’s a cute girl who loves dango. She’s strangely expressionless, but… so are you,” Luke said.
“But there was someone there who could have killed Claugh.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I wonder.”
“Lucile… Eris?”
Luke smiled. But unlike usual, he did pale a bit. “A thought that at first, too.”
“Are you saying that I’m wrong?”
“Yes… or rather, it’s that there were two enemies. One whom Sion Astal attempted to speak to, and one that attacked Claugh from another direction with magic I’ve never seen before.”
“Another country’s?”
Luke shook his head. “No, the magic itself was this country’s. It was likely Lightning Flash.”
“Lightning Flash?” Miller repeated. It was a small-scale spell that shot a modest amount of thunder from a magic circle. It was one of the most orthadox spells in all of Roland.
But it didn’t sound like that was what Luke had seen. He’d said that it was a spell he didn’t recognize.
“…I see,” Miller said. “This Lightning Flash didn’t need an incantation or a magic circle, did it?”
Luke reacted with genuine surprise, not his usual acting. “My my my. How’d you know? Might its user be an acquaintance of yours?”
Miller scowled. “No. But I’ve seen someone use magic like that before. If it’s him, then… that wasn’t Lucile Eris.”
“But it’s still a monster?” Luke said. “Using Lightning Flash without a magic circle is unthinkable with the current state of magic sciences.”
“……”
Miller stared at the always-smiling monster before him. Even compared to Luke Stokkard, who was incomprehensibly smart to the point of monstrosity, that man was a monster.
A true genius of magic sciences…
“So who is it?” Luke asked.
Miller recalled the form of the monster that’d appeared in Roland back before Miller had even hit twenty.
He saw him then, eleven years ago.
Of course he never thought that everything would go perfectly.
As kids we were taught that we could do anything, weren’t we? We were told that we could make all of our dreams come true. But we’re not kids anymore. So he never thought that everything would go perfectly.
“……”
But everything was going well. It was all going according to plan, following the groundwork he’d laid out perfectly. Everything followed that path perfectly.
And yet something about it just wasn’t enough.
“……”
That’s what Captain Rahel Miller thought.
He had a stern face and eyes that looked like they could cut right through you. Principles of law and order were always present within those eyes of his. He wore his Roland military uniform cleanly and free of wrinkles, and stood with perfect posture. His surroundings were extraordinarily clean, too - his office’s bookshelf, his desk, even visitors, when present - it was all well-organized and free of clutter.
This was the path he was meant to walk. He progressed in an orderly, disciplined fashion, as if he felt that this was what he was born to do.
The Roland Empire was currently following the plan for a revolution that he’d drawn up. Nobody else was capable of such a perfect and quick revolution. There were likely more people out there that hadn’t even realized that a revolution was occurring than those who were aware.
But Miller didn’t think there was anything particularly special about that. Because it was clear that his plan would progress in that manner. Because he’d been planning this for over ten years, ensuring that it’d progress slowly but steadily so as to not draw unnecessary attention.
And so the story progressed along with his plan.
Do the necessary things to a necessary degree.
That was his motto.
By those words alone, every year, every month, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, he proceeded without rest. At some point, everyone was on his side. Everyone was devoted to him. And so everything progressed according to the plan of the man called a genius.
A bitter smile rose to Miller’s harsh face. “If only there were other geniuses out there too,” he said with a sigh.
He rested his back against his chair and looked out of the room’s small window. It was fitted with iron bars to prevent intruders, but it was still possible to gaze out through the gaps.
It was dark out. The sun had already gone down, and work for the day was over.
“……”
Miller pulled a thick notebook from a desk drawer. He opened it to page 264 to confirm that he’d completed all of the day’s work. He’d drawn this notebook up with his goals for each day several years ago, and he’d already completed everything due for the next half month. There was nothing left to do for the day. Everything was going even better and faster than expected. The revolution would soon end.
“…I assume it’s because I have so many outstanding subordinates,” Miller whispered and closed his notebook.
Miller didn’t believe in trusting others. There were very few who could answer to his expectations. That’s why he’d written his plan assuming the worst about everyone’s abilities. But there had been far more promising people than expected hiding in this country. Fed up with the royalty and nobility’s tyranny, they all flocked to Miller instead.
There were people like Claugh Klom and Luke Stokkart, geniuses in different ways from himself, and people who realized what he was doing. Thanks to their help, the pace at which his plan progressed accelerated. It never fumbled and it never faltered; it progressed so quickly and easily that it almost felt like a trick of the mind. A hallucination.
That was when he felt that it wasn’t enough.
“…No. This feeling is uneasiness,” Miller said to himself. It was all going smoothly, yes, but too smoothly, to the point that it made him uneasy.
And so he was uncomfortable. Instead of being relieved that his opponent was resisting so little, he was just plain uncomfortable.
It didn’t matter how meticulously this had all been planned.
It didn’t matter if his opponents were idiots who’d drowned in their own power.
“…It’s about time for the excellent people surrounding those with power to realize what’s happening, isn’t it?”
Miller closed his notebook and put it back in his desk. The drawer automatically locked via magic when he closed it. If anyone but him tried to open it, the desk would erupt in fire.
He double-checked to make sure it was closed. He’d done that check thousands of times before today, too.
He did the necessary things to a necessary degree. After all, it was his motto.
He stood and checked the clock. He’d be returning home a bit earlier than usual today.
“…It’s also my job to please Jereme, after all,” he said, smiling faintly at the thought of his wife. Though his smile may look bitter to others, it was only the degree of his fondness that he was bitter about.
He moved away from his desk. He could feel a presence at the door. His eyes slid to look at it. “Who is it?” Miller asked.
“……”
No response.
“Teenie?” Miller called. That was his guard’s name.
“…….”
But there was no reply to that either.
He smiled happily for the first time today. “Haha. An assassin, eh?”
It was about time someone finally realized what he was doing. He was beginning to think it was all some kind of dream.
But this was enough to nullify that unease about everything going too smoothly.
Miller knocked on his desk. When he did, a drawer holding two knives opened. One was coated with lethal poison, the other with anesthesia.
“Which to use,” Miller wondered to himself as he gathered power within his body. The assassin was strong enough to take his guard Teenie out without a sound. He might have to get serious. He may even need to make the decision to run. Miller looked back at the door. “I know you’re there. Enter.”
The doorknob moved, and the door opened. Miller raised the hand holding a knife, but soon stopped it. Because he recognized the man at the door. It was one of his subordinantes. He had pure white hair even though he was still in his early twenties, and a smile that’d probably never left his serene face. Even though he should’ve trained enough to be muscular, he stood rather thin and tall.
It was Luke. Luke Stokkart.
“I’d enter even without permission~!” Luke said and entered. “Oh, wait. I’ve got something. Guess I’ll just put her against the wall. On her side’s probably best…”
Luke ducked back out, then reentered shortly with a girl in tow. She was fifteen or sixteen, and had an otherworldly sort of beauty about her. She had golden-blonde hair and long, dainty limbs. She was so beautiful that it was hard to even think of her as human… She made one think that if a goddess existed, she’d be its spitting image.
“……”
Luke had her on his shoulder. He looked around, then approached the window. He tugged on it several times to verify its strength. Then he pulled chains and rope from his pockets and set to tying the girl to the window.
“……”
He gazed at the beautiful blonde.
“…So that’s what you’re into?”
“Huh? Oh. She certainly is pretty, isn’t she~?” Luke said as he tied the chains around her arms.
“I didn’t mean her appearance. I meant tying women up with chains.”
Luke looked at him, surprised. “Wow… I didn’t know you were the type to tell jokes!”
“It isn’t a joke,” Miller said, still staring at the girl. “Tell me who she is. Is she really someone you need to tie up with chains?”
Luke just smiled. “I wonder. Maybe I just get off on tying people up—”
“…I hate that kind of worthless joke,” Miller said.
“Whaaat. But you’re the one who started it,” Luke said, smiling the same happy smile as always. He finished binding the girl’s arms, then looked back to Miller. “Alright, that should do it.”
“You haven’t given report yet,” Miller said.
“No, but I’ll do that now.”
“Any good news?”
Luke smiled serenely. “Nope.”
Miller scowled. “Don’t make that face if it’s all bad news.”
“Haha. But it’s in my nature to look like this. If you’re going to complain, then I think you should at least look happy when you’re happy.”
“It’s in my nature to look like this.”
“Geez, you’ll get in another fight with your wife acting like th…”
Miller glared.
Luke raised his hands in surrender. “Whoops, guess I went too far.”
“Like always.”
“Ahaha.”
“Anyway, get to explaining,” Miller said. “Who’s that woman? Why’d you silence my guard? What in the world is going on?”
Luke shrugged. “Where do you want me to start?”
Miller stared at him, then sat back down in his chair. “Just tell me everything. Go in whatever order you think is best…”
Miller checked the clock again. He might not get any sleep tonight after all. Somewhere in the corner of his mind, he thought about how Jereme would be in a bad mood over it.
“Doing it in your order will be easiest to understand,” Miller continued. “You’re smarter than I am, after all.”
“You’re saying that again?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“Haha.”
“Now hurry up and explain,” Miller ordered.
Luke smiled faintly, then pointed behind himself. “By the way, Teenie went to the bathroom.”
“That’s a pretty bad omen.”
“Hahaha… what happened to you today? You’re full of jokes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“…Really,” Miller said again and steeled his expression. Apparently he’d let his guard down thanks to his plan going so well.
“I like you better this way,” Luke said. “Normally you’re like this,” he said, then raised his hands like an actor would as they rise to the stage. When he lowered them, he looked awfully peeved.
“Am I making that face now?”
Luke shrugged. “What do you think? I’m not looking at myself in a mirror, after all.”
“It’s horrible.”
“Really? Did I hurt your feelings?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Miller said and glared at Luke. “Let’s get to the point. Your preamble’s been long, so you must not want to say it. Is it that bad?”
Luke shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t want to say it. It just isn’t a very pleasant conversation.”
Endless thoughts of what it could be and what he could do about it ran through Miller’s head. Luke was about to tell him what happened, so there was really no need to think about it so obsessively, but in doing so the enemy in his imagination swelled in size.
But he didn’t think that anything about the current state of things could make him pale at this point. They had enough power to destroy the royalty and nobility already. They were at the point where their only worries were about the most efficient time to fight.
In summary, Miller wasn’t fazed by an enemy discovering his plans at this stage. At this poing, he’d sooner say ‘finally!’
“……”
But Luke should know that too. That meant that they had an even bigger problem on their hands. Something so bad that Luke didn’t want to say it.
So what was it?
Did Claugh move to stand at Sion Astal’s side? But he’d ordered Luke to side with Sion in that scenario too. Because if he was charming enough to make Claugh his ally, then that made him a useful piece in his own right.
There was no problem whatsoever with that.
So.
“……”
Miller’s thoughts moved to the blonde beauty tied up from the window. He didn’t know who she was in the slightest. As a result, there were scenarios that he wasn’t capable of picturing now.
“……”
Miller was on the verge of a smile.
Something highly irregular had happened. Something that he hadn’t expected. That meant his very worst scenario had occurred.
“…Seems like our game’s gotten pretty interesting,” Miller said.
Luke smiled. “If only it were on the level of a mere game.”
“Do you think I’ll lose?”
“Who knows? In any case, I’d certainly lose.”
“Ha. Everything’s over if you can’t do it.”
“Whaaat. Please don’t throw the game so easily. You’re the one who started it!”
“This isn’t exactly a game that I started,” Miller said. “It had already begun when I was born. This country’s mad, after all…”
And something so mad would inevitably sprint towards its own destruction.
“…But that’s not important. Continue. What happened?”
Luke’s face went a bit blank as he compiled the order he’d speak in. But he’d already compiled it. He was just pretending to have not.
Miller laughed through his nose. “Hurry up.”
Luke nodded. “Claugh has suffered potentially fatal wounds.”
“……”
“I do not know who the enemy was. If I stayed to confirm it I would have died as well. So I took Claugh, his subordinate Shuss, and that girl and escaped. Sion Astal engaged in battle with that enemy. But it’s a monster that could even overwhelm Claugh. I don’t think there’s anything that prince can do at this point but die.”
“……”
“But for some reason, he was awfully confident. Rather, it appeared that he knew who he was fighting. I’d have asked him about it, but… well, the situation didn’t exactly allow for it. So what shall we do?” Luke asked. As he’d explained it all in one go, he took a moment to catch his breath.
If Luke couldn’t wrap his impressive mind around a solution, then this would require quite some though.
“…Where’s Claugh?” Miller asked.
“In the infirmary.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“You said it was ‘potentially fatal,’ but how exactly was he wounded?”
“He’s covered in horrible burns. But it seems like he’ll heal. Even his brain is made of muscle instead of nerves, after all. Someone like him shouldn’t just die,” Luke said.
Miller didn’t join in on his joking.
He looked back over to the girl tied to the window. He was beginning to understand the situation.
Luke said that he’d been monitoring Sion and Claugh. Then Luke, who had just been watching, was attacked and took Claugh, Shuss, this unidentified woman, and returned to their base.
Neither of them knew anything about the attacker, but what about the girl?
“…So is this Sion Astal’s guard from the Eris family?”
Luke nodded. “It appears to be Ferris.”
“So the Eris family has acknowledged Sion?”
“I wonder. He’s certainly gotten on Claugh’s good side, but the Swordsman Clan, the Eris family’s?
Those words.
“The Swordsman Clan… huh.”
It was a name bestowed upon the Eris family, which had protected Roland’s kings for generations. They were said to be one of the oldest bloodlines in all of Roland, but as they never appeared in public, they were wrapped in a thick air of mystery. He’d heard that they opened up a dojo to train nobles in swordplay at some point, but he’d heard nothing about the Erises themselves being the ones to teach there.
The head of the Eris house was named Lucile Eris. There were no reports of anyone having ever seen Lucile Eris in the flesh, but that was the name recorded as the head of the family in the registry.
Perhaps due to their long tradition of mystery, there were rumors about the Eris family selecting those they acknowledge to become king.
“……”
Miller had thought of them as just rumors. He’d thought of them as rumors spread by the nobility to make commonsers revere their status. So he ignored the existence of the Eris family from the outset.
Even if their blood was thick with monstrosity, they’d still pale in comparison with real monsters like Luke and Claugh. That’s what he had always thought.
But Luke had put a girl of only fifteen or sixteen in chains. That meant that Luke felt threatened by her power.
That wasn’t all.
Miller had sent eight spies to study at the Eris dojo for a year to check things out. They were all skilled people, and Miller had faith in their abilities.
And then… three months ago, they took soldiers to lead a raid on the Eris house.
The result?
“……”
Not a single one returned, and there was absolutely no fuss about it. The dojo continued to open just like always, as if nothing had ever happened. The spies and their soldiers’ whereabouts were still unknown. It was as if they’d disappeared completely.
He’d feared that they were tortured and leaked information, but retaliation never came. It was like they had absolutely no interest in what Miller was doing at all.
Unsurprisingly, Miller’s opinion on the Erises changed after that.
He began to think that the Erises would really be the largest obstacle to slaughtering the royal family.
“……”
He looked to the eldest daughter of the Eris family - Lucile Eris’ little sister, Ferris Eris.
Luke continued, as if he saw right through Miller’s thoughts. “She certainly seemed to be protecting him, but I don’t know if that means that Sion has been acknowledged by the Eris family itself. Even so…”
Miller nodded. “The fact that he has ties with the Eris family means that I need to keep him alive. It seems that Sion Astal’s worth has increased by twenty percent.”
“You don’t want to fight with the Eris family, do you?”
Miller looked at Luke. He was smiling just like always, making it impossible to read his thoughts. “You understand why best of all, don’t you? What did you think after fighting with her? Do we need to be worried about Sion… about the Eris family?”
Luke hummed as he thought for a moment. “She was evenly matched with Claugh, for what’s it’s worth. As for who’s really stronger… hm, I think it probably depends on the situation.”
“But you made her faint, didn’t you?”
“With a surprise attack, yes.”
“Whether it’s a surprise attack or not, it’s fine as long as you can kill her. No matter how strong the Eris family may be, the world won’t change with one person’s power alone. But…”
What had happened on Eris property three months ago remained unexplained. It wasn’t as though he’d always looked down on them or anything. They’d always been known as the strongest family in the Roland Empire, something that their air of mystery likely contributed to.
He never planned on cutting corners against the Erises. That was why his attack against them took over a year. He sent his spies slowly, one by one, attacking in a perfectly prepared and organized way.
Of course the soldiers that he sent weren’t anywhere near as strong as Claugh or Luke, but it was a company of two hundred, the cream of the crop in their own right. He didn’t expect them to all return safely, of course, but they weren’t exactly at the level where he thought anything major would happen to them. There were even those from the Hidden Elites among them.
It was a group of soldiers even capable of killing Claugh or Luke.
Even so, they’d all disappeared without a trace, sound, or even spark of light. They probably never even fought.
“……”
Was there really an existence capable of such a feat in this world?
The path he was on now wasn’t a bright one. He’d already marched through the dark side of Roland.
There he met countless people who had been experimented on and transformed into monsters. But he’d never met anyone capable of that feat.
There existed a monster capable of killing two hundred elite soldiers, and they were of the Eris family, long known as the strongest in all of Roland.
Just what lurked inside the Eris mansion?
“…In summary, the eldest daughter of the Eris family is a normal human who you could kill. Correct?”
“She’s a cute girl who loves dango. She’s strangely expressionless, but… so are you,” Luke said.
“But there was someone there who could have killed Claugh.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I wonder.”
“Lucile… Eris?”
Luke smiled. But unlike usual, he did pale a bit. “A thought that at first, too.”
“Are you saying that I’m wrong?”
“Yes… or rather, it’s that there were two enemies. One whom Sion Astal attempted to speak to, and one that attacked Claugh from another direction with magic I’ve never seen before.”
“Another country’s?”
Luke shook his head. “No, the magic itself was this country’s. It was likely Lightning Flash.”
“Lightning Flash?” Miller repeated. It was a small-scale spell that shot a modest amount of thunder from a magic circle. It was one of the most orthadox spells in all of Roland.
But it didn’t sound like that was what Luke had seen. He’d said that it was a spell he didn’t recognize.
“…I see,” Miller said. “This Lightning Flash didn’t need an incantation or a magic circle, did it?”
Luke reacted with genuine surprise, not his usual acting. “My my my. How’d you know? Might its user be an acquaintance of yours?”
Miller scowled. “No. But I’ve seen someone use magic like that before. If it’s him, then… that wasn’t Lucile Eris.”
“But it’s still a monster?” Luke said. “Using Lightning Flash without a magic circle is unthinkable with the current state of magic sciences.”
“……”
Miller stared at the always-smiling monster before him. Even compared to Luke Stokkard, who was incomprehensibly smart to the point of monstrosity, that man was a monster.
A true genius of magic sciences…
“So who is it?” Luke asked.
Miller recalled the form of the monster that’d appeared in Roland back before Miller had even hit twenty.
He saw him then, eleven years ago.
