Chapter 2: The Assault
---
He’d been here for a while now. He could tell that even from inside his dark cell. His hair had gotten long and the piles of books he kept laying around kept getting taller and taller. So he could tell that he’d been here for months and months.
“…Though I don’t have a clue what time of day it ever is,” Ryner Lute said absentmindedly. He had unkept black hair that stayed messy from sleep no matter the time of day and lazy black eyes. A scarlet brand floated atop his eyes. It was a cursed symbol, proof of his Alpha Stigma, which meant he was feared and loathed by all.
He was locked up in jail because of those eyes. Because he was a monster, and monsters shouldn’t roam the human world.
“……”
He was alone now. Alone inside his cell. So he could use his power without worrying too much about other people seeing. He let the scarlet pentagram come to the front of his sleepy eyes… and looked at the iron bars of his cell. When he did, he saw layer after layer of anti-magic piled up on them to prevent the prisoners from casting spells.
He was in a high-security prison for only the most dangerous of criminals, after all. It had to be well-protected.
Of course, with enough time, Ryner might be able to counteract the anti-magic thanks to his eyes - they let him see and completely understand how any given spell was constructed as well has how it worked. Not only that, but he had an outstanding talent for the study of magic. Those two things put together meant that he used to be known as Roland’s strongest magician.
And yet.
“……”
He didn’t do a single thing about it.
“…Mmhh… I’m like, kinda hungry,” he mumbled.
He wouldn’t have anything to do even if he escaped. He was a cursed monster. Even if he left, he’d just hurt people. So he had no reason at all to leave.
He went berserk a year ago, see. His eyes made him go mad and kill everyone on the battlefield. The only survivors were Sion and Kiefer. All of their other classmates died there. As usual, Ryner failed to save anyone. He even just about killed Sion and Kiefer, the people who were important to him.
So he shut up inside himself here. Because he was sick of himself. He was sick of his eyes doing this to him.
But that was why he thought he should face it here.
If Kiefer was crying and Sion felt like he had to shoulder everything himself, then Ryner should at least face his eyes head on.
“…Man. Even if I say that, I don’t have any clues on them at all…”
His cell was cluttered with books and documents to the point where he couldn’t really move around. Even so, he didn’t have any books on his eyes here. It seemed like Roland had purposefully purged information on the Alpha Stigma from the public. So he decided to start from the heroic legends and stuff about the demons and evil spirits and stuff, but either way…
“…I can’t think when I’m hungryyy,” Ryner groaned. He looked past his bars. “Hey, Unkie Jailer. I’m awaaake. And I’m hungryyy.”
“……”
No reply.
“Unkie, Unkieeee.”
No reply again.
“Huh, is it the middle of the night or somethin’? I don’t get any light here so I’ve got no idea… Okay, Unkie, gimme my midnight snaaack. C’mon. I’m literally starving.”
Once again, no reply. Obviously. The jailer was only here during the daytime. That was the only sense of time this place would give its prisoners. It was the kind of place where they could decide to give someone the death penalty for whatever bullshit reason they came up with first, after all. They could treat the violent prisoners here however they wanted.
Although for some reason, the jailer in charge of Ryner was pretty fond of him, so he’d bring him books and stuff.
“…The food still sucks, though,” Ryner whispered and laughed. Then he spotted a piece of bread he’d tossed on the floor at some point and picked it up. “It’s haard,” he whined, but nibbled at it anyway.
He grabbed an ancient document and opened it. He was slowly learning to read the ancient texts, and he’d been working through this one in particular for the past two weeks. Right now he was on a story about a knight called Halford Miran who stole a ring that could control shadows from the dark emperor. He read some despite his sleepiness.
“Huh, ahh, so by then… the world, eternity itself, was wrapped in an everlasting darkness— man, this stuff’s so circular.”
Ryner continued to mumble and complain as he read through it. And then his stomach grumbled and his mind went blank. He looked up, dissatisfied.
“I’m gonna die of starvation here, Unkie.”
Once again, no answer. Ryner sighed and returned to the documents.
“……”
Ryner shot up. Because a sharp pain suddenly ran through the depths of his eyes.
“Uogh!”
He pressed his hands to his eyes, but it didn’t help. His eyes felt like they were going to rupture.
“Th, the hell…?”
He didn’t know why they hurt. He didn’t even know what his eyes were. So why would he know the cause of their sudden pain? All he knew was that something was happening. Something strange that had never happened before. Because he’d never felt this pain before.
He’d tried to remove his eyes with a knife before. He’d tried to burn them out with magic before. Nothing harmed them. So he didn’t think anything could harm them. He’d tried so many times, after all. Because he hated being a cursed monster that nobody wanted around. Because he hated himself for hurting others. He just wanted his eyes gone. So he tried to destroy them again and again and again. But he could never get them out. They never even hurt when he tried. It was like his eyes alone weren’t even part of his body, so he was unable to feel their pain.
And yet now his eyes hurt so badly that he was curled up on the floor in pain. He accidentally kicked out at his surroundings, causing some of his piles of books to crumple down on him.
The pain just wouldn’t go away. No, instead it was getting worse.
“…Gh, aah, fuck. The hell’s…”
And then the pain vanished.
“Uough!?”
It was so sudden that he yelled out.
Ryner turned over to stare up at the ceiling. The jail was the same as always - dark, quiet, and dusty. “Geez, what even was that~”
He sat up. Then pressed his fingers to his eyes. Hard. A normal person would feel pain from it. But he didn’t.
“Seriously, what was that?” Ryner mumbled. Of course no one was there to respond to him. He was just talking to himself. “I’ve never felt that before… What changed?”
Ryner looked around to see if he might be able to find something that could have caused his pain. But all he saw was the same little cell he’d spent the past several months in, complete with dust, books, crumbs, and a pervasive loneliness.
He stared at the room for a while, then smiled bitterly. “I see. You eyes are complainin’ cause you hate dirty rooms like this. All I can is laugh at that. Well. I guess you’d hurt every day if that was true. ‘Cause I hate cleaning.”
With that, Ryner picked up what he’d been reading before. He skimmed it to find the part he’d been reading a minute ago when his eyes started to hurt and read from there, but nothing happened this time.
“…Maybe I’m sick?” Ryner wondered. “Or maybe the eyes change as the bearer ages.” He went through the theories in his mind. “Only thing for sure is that the pain I just felt isn’t normal. Man, what’s wrong with me. I finally got a new clue and I’m not even searching the room right.”
With that, Ryner looked around the room again. Yeah, the cell was definitely the same as always. Dark and lonely.
He activated his Alpha Stigma and tried to look past his cell. Through the wall. But he couldn’t see through it even with his Alpha Stigma. He felt that something must have happened out there. He just didn’t know what.
Still, he was sure that nothing had changed. It was still a mad country that stole people’s lives for no reason. They just had those stupid wars and then everyone ended up dead.
Kiefer’s sisters died. Sion felt responsible for everything, blaming himself while on the verge of tears.
“……”
Even so, there was no way the world would change. The darkness went too far. It seemed too far gone to be saved.
But that was why Ryner was researching his eyes now. Well. Why he was researching powers that were like his eyes. Though his research had yet to bear fruit...
Ryner put the documents he’d been reading on his lap again and looked back down at them, tired. Then looked up one more time. To the wall past the bars of his cell.
“…I wonder what’s going on in the outside world now,” he mumbled to himself, then shrugged.
---
He looked up at the wall.
It was tall and dark, built with innumerable spells to prevent the prisoners inside from ever escaping. They’d all committed horrible crimes, after all. War criminals, serial killers, that sort of thing.
“……”
Sion Astal narrowed his eyes.
The prison he was looking up at now was under the king’s jurisdiction. He’d spent several months now as Miller’s ally, advancing through the military’s ranks. But even he couldn’t enter this prison. It was proof that the king was still powerful. Because the mad king was strengthened by the power of the hero.
Sion just stared up at the black wall of the prison. “I wonder how Ryner’s doing,” Sion whispered. It was the name of one of his few friends who survived from the battlefield. Ryner had been in prison for seven months now. He didn’t know if he was alive or not. He didn’t even have the power to figure that out now.
“……”
Even so, he continued to stare up at the prison’s exterior.
“Sion, sir,” he heard someone say from behind.
Sion turned to see a teenaged boy. He had soft and wavy blond hair and cute blue eyes. He was thin and had a sort of delicate image about him. He was a little younger than Sion - sixteen or seventeen, perhaps? He was one of Rahel Miller’s notable subordinates, Calne Kaiwel.
Calne smiled innocently as he followed Sion’s gaze. “You’re here again?” Calne asked. “This building is a prison for the most violent prisoners, right?”
Sion nodded. “Yeah.”
“Is someone you know inside?”
“You guys already researched everything there is to know about me, right? So why are you asking me that?”
Calne shrugged. “Miller and Luke might’ve done that, but I’m not that interested in other people’s business.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m telling the truth, you know? Oh, but if you were a woman I might’ve done it. I’m pretty sure you’d make a beautiful woman, after all.”
Sion finally looked at Calne, at the frivolous smile on his face. Then he lowered his gaze to what Calne was holding in his right hand. It was a head. A human head.
If he recalled correctly, Calne was currently tasked with assassinating Baron Lotus. So that was probably whose head it was.
“You’re already done?” Sion asked.
“Sort of. If we throw this head to the leader of Marquess Tenglon’s private army, we should be able to incite Prince Kestalus to lead an attack in reaction to the serial noble murders, then arrest Marquess Tenglon for it… so those are my current orders.”
Sion nodded. Marquess Tenglon had significant power within the military. He was a marshal of Roland. He appointed his blood relatives in various other positions of power. By now they were even tied to the royalty. Also, Prince Kestalus always tried to get in the way when people like Sion who rose up through the military rather than via lineage appeared.
That was why Miller and the others had spent the past six months working on a trap to catch Marquess Tenglon. If they managed to crush Tenglon’s power from within, then the crown wouldn’t be able to defend itself adequately against the army.
Today was the day the pieces would fall into place. The revolution would advance leaps and bounds with Tenglon’s arrest.
“Sir, I can’t help but wonder why you needed a walk today?” Calne asked, bothered.
Sion smiled. “Miller’s an outstanding guy, so no one will notice whether I talk a walk or not.”
“That’s true, but we’d be troubled if you died at a time like this.”
“Yeah, but Miller’s already calculated that I’d come here anyway.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yeah,” Sion said.
“I guess it’s fine, then. But what are you doing here?”
Sion just smiled.
“Oooh, are you meeting someone here?” Calne asked. “A girlfriend, right?”
“I don’t have one.”
“But you seem like you’d be so popular. You’re a young Major General of Roland. Also, you’re going to be the next era’s super elite marshal—”
“That’s just the fake me that Miller made up,” Sion argued.
“But the girls won’t know that. I meet lots of girls who are big fans of you lately. I sure am jealous,” Calne said with a grin.
Sion was a little fed up with this. “I don’t think so. I heard that you only dabble with women when it comes to noblemen’s wives.”
Calne shrugged, smiling in good humor. “It’s for my job, I tell you. Miller’s horrible. He told me to use the women to get in with the nobles enough to kill them. You only get one body so it’s hard for me, you know?”
“Hmm. Claugh said you look like you’re enjoying yourself so much that it pisses him off, though?”
“Whaat!? Everyone always misunderstands me… anyway, it’s about time I go. Want to come with? I’ll guard you.”
Sion shook his head. “It’d be bad if anyone saw me with a guy swinging a noble’s head around in his hand.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
“I have something I still need to do anyway.”
“Meet a lover?”
Sion smiled. “Let’s go with that.”
“I’m so jealouuus.”
“Haha. Come on, head on back. Otherwise Claugh will knock you upside the head for being late again.”
Calne nodded and set off.
Sion turned to face his back. “Ah, wait. I have something I want you to tell Miller.”
“What is it?”
“Tell him to nominate me for marshal before he leaves tomorrow.”
Calne laughed, waved with the hand that wasn’t holding a head, then left. Soon he was out of sight.
A dark night like this during a new moon was perfect for assassins and other sinister designs. That was probably why Miller chose it.
Miller would destroy Marquess Tenglon. Doing so would cause Prince Kestalus to come out from behind the marquess.
Prince Kestalus, who had the king’s blood running through his veins just as Sion did. The same cursed blood.
They were monsters cursed by the Fallen Mad Hero’s poison blood.
None of Roland’s royalty were human now that Aslude Roland’s blood had woken up. Their insides were overwhelmed by his power, and no longer looked like a human’s insides might. A monster was rising up from within them. Normal humans would be unable to cope.
That was why Sion was here now.
So that the monster wouldn’t kill Miller, Calne, or Luke. So it wouldn’t kill anyone.
“…Will Prince Kestalus really come?” Sion whispered.
A clear, but cold voice answered him. “Yeah. Because he wants your flesh. He’ll follow your scent here. He’s already nearby. You can feel him too, can’t you?”
Sion was past the point where he might’ve bothered to look for the person speaking to him now. But he called the name of the monster who was always by his side nonetheless. “Hey, Lucile.”
“Mm?”
“I wonder if we can really win this time. Before… six months ago, that masked man - Lieral Lieutolu - had to save us.”
“Whether we win or not depends on you.”
“Well, we’re in trouble then. I mean, it’s not like I can tell how popular I am with the people. It’s not some number I can check to see how strong I am. All I know is that Miller’s been working to get my name out there…”
Sion took a moment to recall the events of the past six months. He’d been promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Major General. He’d been doing the smallest amount of fighting possible with the largest amount of publicity possible.
It was exceedingly simple. All he did was face every day with a smile, travelling Roland for the sole purpose of increasing his popularity. He was an approachable prince born from a common woman and a hero of the Roland-Estabul war. He bowed to the nobility, borrowing their power to help his name echo through the country.
The nobility had always looked down on Sion. They always sneered and called him the son of a common mutt. They said that he didn’t have the right to talk to the nobility - he was defective goods. A failure. Trash. But they’d still use him. After all, if he wasn’t getting in their way, why bother killing him?
Of course there were nobles who hated how influential Sion was becoming, too. They were nobles who supported different members of the royal family. Sion avoided confronting them. He wouldn’t fight them. He wouldn’t show any signs of ambition. He just spread his name. Nothing more, nothing less. As he did, the power of the hero within him got stronger and stronger. He could feel it through the pain shooting inside of him.
That was probably just his anxiety, though.
The people had always bowed to the royalty and nobility, after all. Their hearts had long since given up to their fate.
“…You’re anxious. Do you want to stop?” Lucile asked.
Sion smiled. “Come on, it’s too late for joking around. We’ve already started. They’ll know what I’m doing after today. I won’t be able to go back to how things were before…”
Sion’s voice trailed off. Because he could feel Prince Kestalus close by. He turned to face him.
“Hey, big bro,” Sion said. “It’s been a while.”
A man stepped out of the darkness. He was a little more than ten years Sion’s senior - either in his late twenties or early thirties. He had brown hair and golden eyes - the same golden eyes as Sion’s. Sion’s vague memories of his father from long ago had the same eyes, too. Their mad father had passed them down to both Sion and Kestalus.
Sion glared at his half-brother with those same golden eyes.
“Why are you here?” Kestalus asked. “You’re the son of a common bitch, and you have the nerve to stand here before me?”
Sion had heard that same remark time and time again from his siblings. They even said it on the day his mother died. They called him the son of a dirty, lowly mutt on days they killed his friends, lovers, and allies, too.
It was their fault that Ryner was in jail now, too. It was their fault that Kiefer left the country with nothing but the knowledge that her sisters were dead.
Then they looked down on Sion like he was the one causing them pain for having the nerve to be born to a commoner.
“Why am I here?” Sion repeated. “That’s simple. It’s because I’m a dog. I came to eat you.”
“Haha, hahaha. You, eat me? You’re going to eat me? Haha, hahaha, hahahahahaha.”
He laughed madly. Probably because he was actually mad.
Roland’s nobility had all gone mad the moment Sion opened the final door at the deepest point of Roland’s darkness half a year ago. And yet the country hadn’t changed. The fact that they went mad didn’t matter in the slightest. The nobility were the ones with all the power, after all.
Marquess Tenglon used Prince Kestalus for his name, but he was the more powerful of the two. Yes, Sion had opened a door that had caused Prince Kestalus to be destroyed from the inside. But that didn’t mean anything to Marquess Tenglon. It didn’t matter if a puppet was shaped like a human or not, after all. It was a puppet.
The king had been mad for a long time now, too. The nobility were used to dealing with the insane by now.
Honestly, it was kind of pitiful. The royal family were puppets used as dictators in the nobility’s place. They had no will of their own. They were mad puppets who lived to be taken advantage of.
“……”
Even so.
“…I can’t control the anger I feel when I see you,” Sion said.
Kestalus had raped and killed Sion’s first lover before his eyes. He had sent Sion a dog’s head on the day his mother died.
Sion glared. “Why am I here? Ha, hahaha, where’s Tenglon? And me? Where am I? Ha, hahaha.” He laughed as he glared. “Lucile.”
“What is it?”
“Kill him.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Lucile appeared before Sion’s brother in a split second. He had glossy golden-blond hair, and a face so beautiful that it was sincerely disturbing. His skin was pale and his eyes remained closed.
Lucile reached out a hand to touch Kestalus’ neck. That was all it took for his neck to rupture. His head went flying. That’d normally be the end of a fight. Because humans couldn’t live with a severed head. But in the very instant that his brother died…
“……”
…His body took its true form.
A black blade rose from his body. It twirled in the air for a moment, then found his head and pierced it. Then Kestalus’ mouth moved. “A, a-a-a-a-a, w-we’ve awo-ken, we—”
The voice didn’t come from his head. It came from the sky, from the air itself, and revertibrated inside of their minds. If Sion had heard it months ago, he might’ve been rendered unable to move due to the strength of its curse. But he was different now.
“…So you were only this strong… Let’s end this, Brother. I’ll close the curtain on your ugly life story.”
Lucile moved his hands. He cut Kestalus’ limbs up first, then minced his body. As he did, dark blades shot from Kestalus’ open flesh. Aslude Roland’s cursed blood turned to blades to escape its weak vessel to search for fresh royal blood.
They flew for Sion, aiming to take him. But he stopped it with a hand on the blade that tried to wedge its way into his chest. “The one who’ll come out on top… the one who’ll devour the other… is me,” Sion said. “Monster.”
Sion gripped the sword hard, to the point where he felt it might cut his hand straight off. But as he did, the sword began to erode. It was being devoured, and with it came a horrid, burning pain. It felt like his cells were boiling, his viscera melting.
But Sion didn’t let that get to him. He was the son of a lowborn mutt, and he didn’t care about pain anymore. He was just so used to it by now. Everything he saw since the day he was born was painful.
The people he cared about were always killed right before his eyes. No one would save them no matter how much he screamed. His mother, his lovers, his friends, his allies.
Sion was the only one left now. He was trash, incapable of saving anyone. Nothing scared him or hurt him more than that knowledge.
He heard a voice in his mind. The voice of a monster.
“Wh-what?” It said. “Why am I being… devo…”
Lucile didn’t give it the chance to finish. He waved his hand one more time, and Prince Kestalus’ body and the blades both broke into pieces.
Sion felt the monster’s presence fade as it lost the ability to resist him. Its pieces all flew to Sion to be absorbed.
He became stronger, and with it, the pain got worse. It was the pain of Aslude Roland’s power making a home out of his body. The pain flooded every inch of his body so strongly that he almost felt that he’d die.
But he ignored the pain and smiled.
“…Winning was actually pretty easy.”
Lucile looked at him. “You did your best… do you want me to praise you?”
Sion grimaced.
Lucile smiled in turn. “This is proof that more people want you to rule over them,” Lucile said. “Though you hardly compare to the king in that regard.”
That was why he had to keep at it. He had to increase the number of people who were devoted to him. Doing so would increase the power of the Fallen Mad Hero, Aslude Roland, inside of him.
Sion had no idea how it happened, but that was how this country functioned. It existed solely so that the monster they called a hero could devour it. The monster was what made his siblings go mad. His father, too. And someday, Sion…
“……”
Sion gazed into the darkness of their country. He felt that there was something off about it.
“I guess Calne was right. I better become more and more popular,” Sion said with a smile.
Lucile nodded and responded without hesitation. “But you’re the most attractive of the royal family so it should be easy.”
“…Is that supposed to be a joke?”
Lucile smiled faintly. “Who knows. But really, you’ve still got a ways to go. You need every human in this country to submit their heart to you. Your power will never reach your father’s if you don’t.”
“He’s that strong?”
“Yeah. So strong that you can’t even touch him.”
“……”
Sion looked towards Roland Castle, which towered about the darkness of Reylude. “Every human’s heart… wait, is that even possible?”
“I don’t need you if you can’t do it.”
“I guess not,” Sion said. “I’ll work hard, then.”
“Will you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then perhaps I shall hope for it,” Lucile said. He disappeared as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
But Sion wasn’t paying attention to Lucile anymore. He was looking back up at the black wall before him. It was hardly visible in the dark night. One had to stare to make out the building’s edges. “It seems like it’s begun, Ryner,” he whispered. “Our revolution has begun. So wait just a little longer, okay?”
Sion turned to leave. His path was as dark as always. It didn’t help that today in particular was a cloudy, lightless night. Darkness was all that existed in Roland now. But if that was the case…
“…I’ll just have to light a fire for us all.”
---
Several days was all it took for change to ripple through the world.
Claugh and the others managed to pin the blame for the recent string of noble disappearances on Marquess Tenglon, who was apprehended and charged. It was, to Sion’s knowledge, the only case of a noble ever being arrested.
Naturally, Tenglon’s supporters reacted vehemently.
“This is a trap.”
“He has nothing to do with those disappearances.”
“Release Tenglon at once!”
They all directed their displeasure towards the military.
Sion rose his head. He’d been reading the nobility’s complaints. He was in a military room that’d been assigned to him, since he was a major general now. His allies were gathered there. Well, calling them ‘allies’ might be a little strange. They were the people who had gathered under Rahel Miller’s banner of revolution.
Captain Rahel Miller, Sergeant Luke Stokkart, Major Calne Kaiwel, Lieutenant colonel Claugh Klom, and Sergeant Shuss Shiraz.
Their ranks were all over the place. So were their roles.
“So?” Sion asked.
“The hell’re you doin’ sitting down and looking so full of yourself?” Claugh asked. He was a well-built redhead with sharp red eyes to go with his hair. “You’re not all that,” he said with a glare.”
Sion smiled. “Then why am I the highest rank out of all of us?”
“Who gives a shit?”
“Bow to me.”
“Aah? You want your head in the wall?”
Sion laughed. “I was just joking. But I will be the representative for when we deal with the noble’s complaints from now on. Won’t I, Miller?”
Miller turned his usual bitter face towards Sion. He was calm despite his impeccable stiff posture. “That’s right. This’ll be your first time going against the nobility. Use your royal title for it.”
Sion stood from his chair and nodded. “We’ll be coming on strong. People will start to notice our ambitions. I’ll need monsters for guards to get through the threats that are about to come my way…”
“Well, doesn’t that fit Claugh to a T~” Calne said. “He’s the grim reaper of the battlefield. He’s famous for being a monster whose brains are even made of muscle—”
Right then, Claugh’s fist connected with Calne’s face and sent him flying. Then he turned to address Sion. “So do I have to like, sound like I respect you when we’re doing negotiations?”
Sion nodded. “I know you’ll hate it, but it’s for the best.”
“……”
“Alternatively, you could try actually respecting me—”
“Shut it.”
“Haha. Well, you don’t have to call me Lord Astal or anything. You could say Sir Sion like Calne does?”
“……”
Claugh scrunched his face up over that, too. Sion smiled bitterly. “I guess you can just call me Sion.”
Luke spoke next. He was around Claugh’s height, but he was so calm and approachable from his constant smiling that no one really minded his how tall he was. He had white hair despite only being in his twenties. “But Claugh, you’ll likely be followed wherever you go. Don’t you want to remind the masses about how Sir Sion, who was born to a common woman, managed to reach a rank even higher than your status as a lieutenant colonel? I know that your brain’s too full of muscle for any nerves, but—”
“Who’re you callin’ a musclehead! I got top marks in magic, y’know!”
Luke paused at Claugh’s interruption, then glanced at Sion before looking back at Claugh. “At least wait until people are finished talking to speak, Musclehead. I don’t care about your preschool achievements—”
“Hey!”
“People think you’ve got some nerve. They’ll think you’re responsible for kidnapping nobles, and they’ll eventually think to kill you. We want the nobles to believe that you, Claugh, are important enough for Sion to appoint you, a commoner through and through, to an important position. Doing so will move the nobles’ anger from Sion to you.”
Claugh grinned. “So they’ll all just attack me until they get bored?”
Claugh’s trusty subordinate Shuss smiled. “You must know that it won’t be that easy, Sir. Well, sure, it’ll be easy enough for the nobles to hate you. But they’ll end up seeing us all as a rebel army then. We need to make criminals out of Marquess Tenglon’s circle of nobles too if we’re going to have any leverage here.”
Miller nodded. “We’ll need to get serious about getting the families of the killed nobles to see us as the just party here. We don’t want them to end up going for Prince Kestalus instead—”
“Prince Kestalus died yesterday,” Sion interrupted.
Everyone looked at Sion.
“What do you mean?” Miller asked.
Sion shrugged. “Exactly what I said.”
“He was murdered?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Miller was silent.
Normally people would be angry about something like that. But Miller didn’t say a thing. Because he was an incredibly detailed person who thought of everything before setting his plans in motion. A small gear slipping loose could cause the whole machine to stop functioning, after all.
Miller met Sion’s eyes with a piercing gaze. It was like he saw the darkness that settled around him.
“…Then we don’t need to worry about the nobles banding together strong,” Miller finally said. “We have justice on our side. They’ll trust our opinion over that of the royalty’s, and most importantly of all, Duke Philip’s daughter is among the dead. The nobles will stay quiet as long as we gain his backing.”
“Though we’re the ones who actually killed his daughter,” Sion said.
“……”
“Miller. I know that I’m not nearly as powerful as you are, but I can’t accept moving forward with methods like this,” Sion said.
“Is that so.”
Sion glared and nodded. “It is.”
“Then build the world you want to see once you become strong enough,” Miller said.
“I will.”
“But you’re still one of my pieces. Do as I say until the game’s over,” Miller said. He kept his emotions out of his voice. That was the type of person he was - he only ever said what was necessary.
“I will.”
Miller nodded. “That’s fine, then.”
Miller tore his eyes from Sion, then moved the stack of documents on the desk to reveal a diagram of the Roland Empire’s military ranks. He pointed to the single opening for a marshal’s position. “We’re going to reorganize the military. Marquess Tenglon died and left his seat as a marshal open. We’re going to fill it. Doing so will have many of Tenglon’s old men move to our side. We’ll seize complete control of the military, then the country…”
Miller raised his head again to look at Sion. For some reason, he was smiling. It was rare to see on his stern and frown-marked face.
“…It’s starting,” Miller said quietly. “Faster than expected, too, thanks to you killing Prince Kestalus on your own time. That drove the nobles into a corner sooner than expected, too.
A thunderous sound echoed behind him. Sion tried to look back, but Luke stopped him.
“This way,” Luke said and pulled Sion up, then pressed his back against the wall.
The wall right Sion had just been exploded. The cause was most likely magical in nature. Someone was using magic to attack the military, and everyone here seemed to have expected it.
Claugh grinned. “Amazing, right? They’ve got some nerve usin’ large-scale magic here in the middle of town. What kind of idiot’s havin’ them do this?”
“…Someone acting in secret,” Shuss said. “It’s illegal to use offensive magic within city limits, after all.”
Luke, who was protecting Sion from behind, replied. “But it’s already perfectly apparent who they are. That’s Count Eckel’s private army. Count Eckel was in cahoots with Marquess Tenglon with the shared goal of using Prince Kestalus. He’s almost certainly here to rescue Marquess Tenglon… and if what Sion says is true, then he’s likely also planning to find where Prince Kestalus has disappeared to while he’s here. They have no way to oppose us without the Prince, after all. I am sure that he is prepared to die over this.”
“That’s fine,” Miller said. He sounded happy. “Kill every soldier in Eckel’s private army. They’re the ones who started this, and we can use that aggression to pin the blame on them for Prince Kestalus’ death.”
“Should we really be killin’ all of them?” Claugh asked.
Miller nodded. “We can’t leave room for doubts in this fight. The nobility aren’t weak. Can you do it?”
Claugh smiled. “I’ll get ‘em good.”
With that, Claugh leapt through the hole that the explosion had blown in the wall. He yelled his orders back once he was outside. “Gather my division up, Shuss. We’re protecting the building. We’ll make ‘em regret ever laying a hand on the military.”
Shuss nodded and ran off in the opposite direction of Claugh to carry out his orders.
Calne stood from the corner. “They’re way flashier than I thought they’d be. Was Count Eckmal’s private army always this weak?”
Luke shook his head. “No. Haven’t you heard the rumors? They say that Count Eckmel’s army is even more outstanding than Count Emeril’s, where you and Claugh joined from?”
Calne’s expression subtly changed from his usual frivolous one. “Hmm. That’s pretty annoying. It’s not that I have any pride as one of Emeril’s old soldiers, but…”
Just then, two men in black jumped in through the hole that Claugh had left through. They were fast. They were thrusting knives at Sion before he could even think of reacting.
But they ended up with knives to their own necks before ever reaching Sion. They were dead in seconds. Calne watched their bodies crumple from behind. “See? Aren’t we stronger~? But that kind of pisses me off too~!” Calne then glanced down through the hole in the wall. Magical explosions were going off one after enough, each just as loud as the last. “Geez, Claugh sure is having fun down there. I guess he hasn’t gotten the chance to go crazy for a few months now. What should I do, Miller?”
“Stay here and guard the prince.”
“Huh? You mean Sir Sion?”
Miller ignored him and looked to Sion instead. “It’s about time you did something useful.”
Sion nodded. “You want me to gather the nobles who are loyal to us up, right?”
“Yeah.”
“There are quite a few who—”
“I know,” Miller interrupted. “I pretty much understand your situation by now.”
“I see.”
“We’ll take advantage of it and use it to move forward,” Miller said. “We’ll take the nobles who won’t cooperate with the likes of Count Eckmal or Marquess Tenglon and make them our allies.”
“I know.”
“We’ve put a lot of effort into setting up a clean playing board. Don’t mess up now, alright?”
Sion smiled. “Well, I’ll do my best.” He turned to leave.
“Oh, wait, sir,” Luke said. He was calm as always, his eyes a slit as he watched everything happen around him.
“Hm?”
“You can ignore the people who’ve devoted themselves to Marquess Wahti out there. My army will soon kill them all anyway,” Luke said.
Marquess Wahti was a man with approximately the same amount of influence as Marquess Tenglon. Killing his supporters meant killing an unbelievable amount of people.
“…Understood,” Sion said with a nod.
They’d move forward through murder.
Sion knew that it wasn’t right, but it wasn’t like they had any other choice to make. He couldn’t think of a better plan than Miller’s when he thought about how to best change the country. So he was following it for the time being. He tried to keep casualties to a minimum, but—
“……”
Another explosion.
It was the sound of magic made only to destroy.
Their enemies were fighting their hardest, using large-scale magic here that the military wouldn’t use. They were competing to see who was strongest here with their statuses at stake. So they were doing their best to pull ahead now, while they still had a chance.
They didn’t have any time. Minutes at the most. Because the fire of the revolution had already been lit.
The plan that Miller had spent so long preparing was already running, and Sion had already brought the ambition he’d been hiding for so long now to the center of the stage. They couldn’t stop now.
They had to do this before the nobility learned who their enemies were or what exactly they were fighting. They had to do it while the nobility were still busy stealing the spotlight from each other. They’d use that greed inherent to the nobles to end them, and then Sion would rise from the gaps they left to grip the country by its core.
“……”
Even now, the sound of his enemies dying outside was ringing in his ears. It was the sound of his allies dying, too. Of people dying. They laid down their lives here like it was natural.
Sion thought inside the sound of death. He continued to draw the path ahead of their plan in his mind. The fact that influential nobles were attacking here meant that they ranked Sion as more meritorious than the other princes, and expected him to soon occupy the marshal’s seat, then proceed to becoming the next king.
He couldn’t destroy the nobility as a whole if he wanted any of that to happen. Miller and Sion’s combined troops weren’t enough to fight against the private armies of the nobility as a whole. So they had to climb even higher in the ranks, until the nobility felt that they’d be good pawns instead of good enemies. Then they could use the nobility’s power to change the country.
So they had to trick them.
“……”
Sion left his office, deep in thought.
---
It was like a battlefield outside.
Countless spells were destroying the military headquarters, one sparking after the next.
Claugh Klom glared at the scene with his burning red eyes.
“……”
The enemy army was strong. Fast, too. And there were lots of them. Miller’s army was at a clear disadvantage. His allies were dying all around. They were burnt alive by Lightning Flash and burst into pieces from Abstract Phosphorescence. Before long, countless assassins had slid past their line to make their way inside the building.
“…This is worse than I thought it’d be,” Claugh said. “Guess that old man Miller was right to ask if I could do this…”
Claugh mimicked Miller’s stern expression as he recalled his words. Then he turned to see another assassin trying to sneak attack him. Claugh defeated him, then raised his voice.
“Alright! Sion’s men who’re out here protecting the line, listen up! I’m Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom! You guys are under my command now. Reinforcements will arrive here in a minute, so hold the line—”
“Surrender, rebel army! We’re Prince Kestalus’ army here to save Marquess Tenglon, who had been kidnapped by Sion Astal—”
Apparently that was supposed to be one of their commanders or something. Claugh kicked off the ground to head for him. None of their enemies could follow him at that speed. Most probably didn’t even notice him. Claugh fastened his right arm into something of a blade and moved to plunge it into the commander’s chest the moment he reached him.
“I won’t let you.”
Another man flew for Claugh and grabbed him by the shirt. He was strong. Claugh turned to get a look at him. It was someone he recognized - Colonel Ohdo Seele. He had long and disheveled black hair and dark skin. He was a guy who gained the nobility’s favor by his numerous achievements in battle during his teens. So the nobility stole him and his power away.
Seele tugged Claugh closer with strength one wouldn’t expect from his thin arms. “Demon of the battlefield… Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom. I’ve always wanted to fight you to see which one of us is more of a monster.”
“There’s no point in doing that. You’re not my enemy,” Claugh said. He brushed Seele’s hand off, then turned to kill the commander again, ignoring Seele entirely.
Seele pulled a knife out of his pocket and threw it at Claugh. He was fast, and the knife was dripping with poison. “You’re so annoying,” he said.
Even then, the probably-the-commander-guy was yelling orders. “Surrender at once! What you are doing is nothing short of rebellion! We will slaughter you all if you continue to put up resista—”
He stopped there. White hair flashed behind him as the always-smiling Luke Stokkart pressed a hand against the commander’s neck from behind. That was all it took for him to break it. Then he ripped his head clean off, all with a smile. “Shall I lend you a hand, Claugh?”
Claugh wrinkled his nose. “Don’t need it.”
“You’re always acting tough and getting yourself into these situations,” Luke said. “Count Eckel’s army is a strong one, you know, and you’ve run right up to their commander. Colonel Ohdo Seele is here, too, and he’s about as strong as you are—”
Claugh moved before Luke could finish, putting his full power into his fist and aiming it right for Seele, despite the knife in Seele’s hand.
Seele grimaced and moved to dodge. “You’re slow and easy to follow—”
“Shut it, small fry!” Claugh yelled. Seele tried to dodge, but Claugh grabbed the arm he hand his knife in and snapped it.
“Guah!” Seele cried.
Claugh pressed his thumbs through Seele’s eyeballs and twisted his neck next. He collapsed to the ground, dead.
“So who’s about as strong as I am?” Claugh asked, triumphant. But Luke was already gone.
That bastard. He never even intended on saving Claugh from the beginning, did he?
“…Fucker… I’m gonna give him a real good punch in the face one of these days.”
Claugh turned back. He figured morale was going to drop from the enemy commander’s yelling, so maybe he should yell, too. But before he knew it he was surrounded by enemy troops and had to focus on that instead.
The soldiers surrounding him all began to draw magic circles in unison. He recognized the pattern as Abstract Phosphorescence, even though it was a high-level spell that only a few soldiers should know. Twenty people here were circling him, and they all knew it.
“…Whoa, this is bad,” Claugh said. He forced himself to smile. Honestly, he couldn’t fight twenty soldiers if they all used Abstract Phosphorescence. Sion’s army, which was out here protecting the building, probably didn’t have thirty men capable of using it. Claugh’s subordinates were about the same. Even if Shuss’ reinforcements came soon, they’d probably still be the weaker army overall.
This wasn’t a fight with some throwaway assassins under the cover of darkness, after all. This was a serious fight against a noble who wasn’t afraid of brandishing his name. They kept excellent soldiers in frightening numbers.
One or two exceptional fighters wouldn’t be able to change the country forever.
That was why even Miller, who was so incredibly smart, had to take so long to plan this. And now after all that time, it was starting for real today. They finally could raise the flags of revolution they’d been hiding until now up above their heads.
Once something like that started, it couldn’t be stopped. It would either succeed, or they’d all die trying. Those were the only two possible results. Claugh knew that.
No one had been able to change their country yet, but that idiot Miller devoted the past couple decades to trying. Sion was devoting his life to the cause, too. He’d definitely die if things went sour.
They seriously said shit like ‘I’m gonna change the world~’ and really set out to do it even though no one ever asked them to. They bet their lives on that shit.
“……”
Claugh turned around. He saw Sion and Calne leaving the building. They were headed off to go butter up the nobles in the military to try to get them on their side. They had to, for the sake of the revolution. So Claugh had to keep the enemy army away from them.
“Surrender, Claugh Klom. Your master Sion Astal is finished. The second you chose to make enemies out of Marquess Tenglon was the very second you all lost your chance of survival.”
Claugh raised his head. Yep, still surrounded by twenty Abstract Phosphorescence circles.
The enemy army just kept getting bigger, too. It wasn’t just Eckel’s private army. It was Marquess Tenglon’s followers, too.
“We can guarantee your lives if you hand Marquess Tenglon and Prince Kestalus over,” another soldier said.
The enemy was definitely strong. The reinforcements were almost certainly all well-known soldiers in the same vein as Ohdo Seele.
“You could even come to serve in Marquess Tenglon’s army,” the enemy soldier continued. “I’ll put a good word in to the Marquess for you. So join our side. The Marquess is a much better lord than Sion Astal. If you—”
“Is that fun for you?” Claugh interrupted.
The man glared at Claugh for interrupting him.
“Seriously, do you enjoy having the nobles look down on you and laugh at you all the time?”
“……”
“Me, join you? Ha. I should be asking you to join me. It’s a whole carriage full of fun things here. We’ll all die if we lose, but we might also be able to see a world we’ve never known before—”
“It appears that you’ve misunderstood something. That’s stupid.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty dumb. Everyone on my side’s a real idiot. Pretty interesting, right?”
“Enough of this. Kill him,” the commander ordered.
Claugh gazed at the deadly odds before him… and smiled. “This kind of thing’s my specialty. Alright, let’s do it. You’re gonna regret it if you don’t kill me with your first shot.”
Claugh tore his right sleeve off to reveal an arm covered in red tattoos. Each tattoo was engraved with a curse. He activated them.
He was the demon of the battlefield, Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom, because his arm was always covered in the fresh crimson blood of his enemies—
“Sir Claugh!” Shuss shouted from far away. So the reinforcements had arrived. But they were too late.
“Kill him!”
Dozens of Abstract Phosphorescence spells shot at Claugh at once.
But when Claugh next raised his voice, it was happily. “You guys are the ones who’re gonna be killed!”
The light threads of Abstract Phosphorescence all headed straight for him. Claugh dodged back and forth at an inhuman speed. But he couldn’t dodge them all. One pierced Claugh’s shoulder. Another scraped his flank. A third gouged his thigh. But they didn’t kill him. Claugh moved his cursed arm. Magic circles soon surrounded it. They shot currents that built up into a twister, then moved to capture his enemies inside of its winds, tearing their bodies at the seams as it did.
Claugh’s arm was soon red with their blood. He tried to grab the commander with his crimson fingers, but the commander was fast. He dodged easily. Just as Claugh expected, he was stronger than Ohdo Seele.
“…Ha. You’re a monster,” the enemy commander said. “But you’re just one person, in the end.” He stood back. Soldiers ran in front to protect him. This time the spell they prepared for was Lightning Flash. The commander did the same.
But then Claugh noticed a light from behind him. That too was the light of Lightning Flash. It was Shuss’ army here to protect him.
“Who’s ‘just one person?’” Claugh asked.
The enemy commander’s spell finished. It shot a lightning spear straight for Claugh. But Claugh grabbed an enemy soldier and used him as a shield. He used his other hand to draw a magic circle for Abstract Phosphorescence.
“I wish for a rainbow of annihilation - Abstract Phosphorescence!”
The commander wasn’t his target. Because he’d definitely dodge with how Claugh timed it. So Claugh aimed for below the man. He looked down to follow Claugh’s spell with his eyes, shocked. That was all it took. Claugh grabbed a knife from his pocket and threw it. It gouged his neck. He could move his shocked eyes back to Claugh, but that was all. His wounds were fatal. Claugh had no reason to pay attention to him anymore.
The soldiers they were fighting were drawing back by the second. Shuss ran to Claugh’s side. “You’re hurt!”
Claugh grinned. “‘Cause you’re late.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So how many do we have?”
“Four hundred.”
“And them?”
“Two thousand.”
“Hehhe~” Claugh laughed. “Sounds fun. Miller and Sion are gonna come back with armies from other nobles. Let’s get these guys to come closer. Cautiously, though.”
Claugh glanced back at his troops and thought about how to best fight their enemy. They had to maintain a line while preventing as many deaths of their capable allies as possible In that time, Sion and Miller would work their magic by manipulating the nobility’s view of the events to make their own army look just.
But if Claugh failed to hold the enemy back for that long…
“…Then that’d be the end of us,” Claugh said to himself and smiled. “The atmosphere here’s getting pretty festive, isn’t it?”
Shuss nodded. “It is. You can’t die here, alright?”
“Same goes for you.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Alrighty, Shuss.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s do it.”
Claugh stopped. Shuss did too and raised his fist. All four hundred men in Claugh’s army stopped with them. Then Shuss moved his arm to the side. Everyone began drawing a magic circle. “My lord, Lieutenant Colonel Klom, please order us!”
Claugh nodded, then spoke. Against their enemy who was so much stronger than they were. “Go all out! Kill every piece of trash you see!”
The enemy started to draw magic circles of their own. There were far too many to count between the two sides.
“Fire!” Claugh yelled.
The whole world was enveloped in the light of magic.
And so the revolution… no, their mutual killing… began.
---
Time passed and their location changed.
They were currently in the largest, most conspicuous building in the noble’s quarters.
“Have they made their move?”
Captain Rahel Miller nodded. His posture was intimidatingly perfect, and his face was the type that one couldn’t imagine spouting jokes. He raised his head to answer. “Yes.”
They were currently inside Duke Anorita Abaaz’s estate. Miller was standing at attention, surrounded by a group of nobles who sat at ease in the parlor. They were all people that Duke Anorita Abaaz gathered and raised under his name, as well as the duke himself.
“Heheh, so that means that Marquess Tenglon is done for,” one of the nobles said.
“He became too confident when it came to pressing his luck with the military.”
“It’s about time someone taught him who really makes this country work.”
Then Duke Abaaz himself, who sat in the center, spoke. “So?” He asked. “Where is Marquess Tenglon?” The duke was a man in his forties. He had thin, cunning eyes and a slim body. There were seven major factions within the nobility, and Duke Abaaz was the head of the most influential. He supported Prince Triffua, the eldest of Roland’s princes, and maintained an impressive noble backing as well as influence with the royalty. “Have you already killed Tenglon?”
Miller shook his head. “He is on his way here. A commoner like me is unable to raise a hand against a noble for any reason.”
Duke Abaaz nodded. “Hm. I find that most likeable.”
“I am honored.”
“However, you are mistaken in bringing him here. Wouldn’t it be rather dire if the royalty learned of this all? Have you thought of the consequences?”
“…I apologize,” Miller said and lowered his head.
Abaaz smiled. “Heheh. You aren’t going to protest? I already understand that you must have changed your route here many times to avoid pursuit. Though my subordinates did manage to tail you regardless…”
With that, Abaaz’s gaze moved to behind Miller. When he did, Miller turned, too, finally realizing the faint presence there behind him. Six beautiful women stood there, with hair ranging from blonde to black, each with a very different image to her. How beautiful they were hardly mattered, though. The problem was the fact that they’d managed to get right there behind him without Miller noticing. That meant that they were all capable of killing Miller.
So that was the kind of person who served Duke Abaaz.
“……”
Miller turned back to Duke Abaaz.
“These were my tails?”
Abaaz smiled. “Have I hurt your feelings?”
“…No. I feel that you have only acted naturally. I didn’t expect for you to trust me without reason.”
Abaaz’s smile didn’t reach his sharp eyes. “I already trust you. Your restraint is impressive.”
Miller bowed. “I am undeserving of your—”
“But your plan is too clean,” Abaaz interrupted. “It lacks flaws to the point that it’s frightening. I really don’t like that. I really don’t like having subordinates who are too smart. I feel threatened by them… So I’ll tell you how this is going to work. Gina.”
Miller turned. A fearsome murderous intent sprouted up. He couldn’t react to it. He couldn’t even move. He felt something stab his shoulder. It was most likely a knife. At first it just burned. Then he felt a sharp pain race through him. But he didn’t take his eyes off Duke Abaaz.
“I admire your strength of will. I want strong subordinates like you.”
“…But you intend to kill me because I’m too smart?”
“No. I won’t kill you or anything. I just thought it’d be best to make sure you know where you stand - below me. I’m glad that you’ve come here to me. You’re sharp, popular with the people, and even aspire to change this country. You haven’t messed up a single time until now. There are people in this world who are mistaken, though; they think they can do anything they want and have it go well.”
“Are you referring to me?”
Abaaz shook his head. “I never said that. I researched everything about you, but you’ve led a surprisingly clean life. You flatter the nobility and are hated in return. Despite being a commoner, you’ve managed to become a captain through appraising the nobility’s wants. You’re a genius. There’s nothing for me to suspect about you. And yet…”
Abaaz looked behind Miller once more. He felt the knife pull out of his flesh. It appeared that the duke was telling the truth about not killing him.
“I am a man who follows my own principles,” Abaaz said. “And it is one of my principles to not trust people too easily.”
“……”
“I think your plan to crush Marquess Tenglon has been wonderful. You make him and his army look like they’ve gone mad, then use my army to crush them. Then everyone will think that you’re incredibly powerful. You’d be letting the people know that you have the power to take hold of all Roland. And with Prince Kestalus out of the way, with Marquess Tenglon dead, you’ll avoid any unnecessary resistance; the other nobles will keep themselves in check after seeing it, too. Your plan is very interesting. Even so…”
Abaaz made another signal with his hands. This time, the knife plunged into Miller’s stomach.
“Even so, I hate playing parts in other people’s plans. So I say we change the plan a bit. I won’t kill Marquess Tenglon. I’m actually going to save him instead. Then we’ll be able to defeat your army. Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom is one of your subordinates, isn’t he? The monster they call the demon of the battlefield? I know how many times you two have met behind closed doors.”
“……”
“I want to have him die today. I want all of his followers to die, too. If that happens, then I’m certain that this will stop being your plan and become my plan instead. You won’t need to get up to no good anymore if you’re stripped of your power and allies.”
“……”
“Of course it’s possible that you wouldn’t have done anything anyway. That’s fine. If I kill your allies and you still ask me for this favor, then I’ll happily trust you. But I can’t listen to your plea otherwise.”
“……”
“So will you still ask for my help, Rahel Miller?”
“……”
“Will you let me kill your allies in exchange for my help?”
“……”
“Or would you rather die here? Choose, Rahel Miller.”
The nobles glared at Miller with careful, but deep mistrust. The duke was challenging Miller to a clear battle of wits. Who would come out on top? Miller desperately needed to prove that he would.
“…Let’s have Lieutenant Colonel Klom die then,” Miller said. “It’s fine as long as it earns me your trust, my lord duke.”
Abaaz smiled meanly. “This must be difficult for you.”
“Of course. He’s my ally, after all.”
“But you’d still sell him out?”
“I would.”
“Ha, you’re just like the rumors said. You’d betray anyone for a noble.”
“Yes, that is how I am. But I have never before betrayed a noble before.” With that, Miller crouched to the floor to bow properly. “Please, lend me your trust. I will definitely return the favor.”
Abaaz looked down at Miller. His expression was the same as someone looking at a piece of stinking garbage on the side of the road. “Fine. I’ll make good use of you.”
Miller raised his head. “Thank you. Please, allow me to do something for you here and now.”
“What is it?”
“If you allow Marquess Tenglon to live, then we will need to have another culprit replace him… I have put so much effort into this plan until now, and it has come quite far, all for the purpose of taking power from my enemies. If we allow Tenglon to live, then it would be best to shift the plan to another enemy.”
“Who are you thinking?”
“How about Duke Staelied?”
Staelied was the noble with the most power after Abaaz, and they had been in competition for some time now. Abaaz should want him dead. So he looked down at Miller. “That’s fine.”
Miller nodded. He stood, bowed his head once more, then turned his back to Abaaz, to look at the six girls who’d been behind him. They were strong enough to kill Miller, which meant they were also strong enough to kill Abaaz. But they wouldn’t do that. They wanted the power Abaaz granted them, and they might have other reasons, too. So they wouldn’t kill him.
Miller looked at them, but they wouldn’t meet his eyes. They stared right through him, like none of them had any interest in him at all. Miller passed by them and left the estate.
His subordinates who were waiting for him outside with the carriage asked what happened with the knife in his back. Miller didn’t respond. He looked in the direction of the residence he’d granted Sion. Marquess Tenglon’s soldiers were there doing their best to get their master back as they fought Claugh. Abaaz’s army was supposed to come to relieve Claugh. But they wouldn’t. The icing on the cake was that they wouldn’t even kill Tenglon. They’d release him to make Abaaz more favorable to the other nobles.
Miller had already considered that this might be the result of their meeting. That was why he’d been able to quickly suggest an alternate path. If Abaaz wouldn’t kill Tenglon, then he’d stir the coals of a fight between Abaaz and Staelied.
And for that…
“……”
Miller climbed into the carriage.
“Let me tend to your wounds.”
“Later,” Miller said. “Tell the coachman that we’re heading to Duke Staelied’s.”
Stael… er, what about the relief army for Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom?”
“It’s not happening. We need to free Marquess Tenglon, too. Be polite when you’re letting him go.”
“Wha, but… but—”
“We’re abandoning Claugh and moving to our back-up plan.”
“But—”
“Shut it. We’ve already started. We can’t stop now,” Miller said. He reached back to pull the knife out. His blood gushed down onto the floor. That shut his subordinates up. “Get this carriage moving.”
His subordinates nodded and conveyed Miller’s orders to the coachman. The horses broke out in a run.
---
Sion got out of the carriage, then looked back. He was enough from the fighting now that he couldn’t see or hear it. But he was sure that it was still going on. But there was nothing there for their enemies to fight them over. Both Sion and Tenglon had left the premise. Now the fighting would continue until Claugh’s entire army was decimated. Well, maybe if Claugh died, the enemy would put their energy into searching for Sion instead.
They needed to end the fighting before that happened. They needed the power to defeat Tenglon.
Sion didn’t have that power now. He didn’t know about what was going on on Miller’s end, but few nobles had agreed to lend Sion their help. But they could still use this whole affair to make the nobility look at him. He needed to give them the image of a prince far more vigorous and able than his siblings.
He’d come here for that purpose.
Calne came out behind him and looked around. “Uwah, is this where I think it is?”
Sion turned to nod. “Yeah, it is.”
“You can’t be planning on trespassing?”
Sion laughed. “We’re entering normally. I mean, isn’t this the best place to show people that I’ve become strong?” He raised his head to look up at the biggest building in all of Roland, which housed the most powerful man in all of Roland - the king. Sion’s father.
Sion had never seen his face. He’d abandoned Sion’s mother before he was born, after all, leaving them to live a hard life. So he’d never wanted to meet his father, either. He’d thought of how much he wanted to kill him, yes, but never wanted to just see him.
However…
“…If I meet with my father, the nobility will change their opinions of me. So…”
This was the fastest way to gain the nobility’s support. That was why he came here to meet the man he least wanted to see in the whole world.
His father wasn’t human, either. He was the man the people most recognized as king, and as such, his body was home to the power of the Hero. He was a monster.
“…I’m going to see him.”
Calne looked confused. “Were you on bad terms with your father, Sir?”
“I’ve never met him before.”
“Wow.”
“But meeting him now should make things a lot better. So I’m going to do it.”
“You don’t think you’ll be killed here?”
Sion shrugged. “Who knows. No one’s managed to kill me yet, so I think I’ll be fine… I mean, I might as well give it a try.”
“What’ll you do about a guard?”
“I don’t need one. There are some delicate feelings between us as father and son, so do you mind waiting here?”
Calne nodded. Sion nodded back, then started to approach the castle. Entering was simple. He was a major general of the Roland army, a hero in the war against Estabul, and a child of the king. No one even questioned if he might have been invited or not.
Someone spoke to him as he headed up the path to the entrance.
“…Delicate feelings between father and son?” Lucile said.
Sion responded without bothering to turn around towards the voice. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“It’s two monsters trying to steal power from each other. And you won’t win.”
“Really?”
“You already know that you won’t, don’t you?”
“But I still need to meet him now.”
“You’ll just be killed, you know?” Lucile said.
Sion stopped, then turned back. Lucile was standing there. “Then protect me,” Sion said.
Lucile shook his head. “The hero has chosen the king, for the time being. So the one I will protect is the king. Not you.”
“You had a rule like that?”
“……”
“I see. Guess I’d better do my best alone then,” Sion said, and continued to walk forward.
“Stop. This is suicide.”
“Maybe.”
“The king can’t think like a human anymore.”
“Okay.”
“If you meet him, he will certainly steal your power and kill you.”
Sion didn’t listen. He just continued to walk forward. “I just need to see him. All I need is to stand by him and be acknowledged as his son. I’ll run before he can kill me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I wonder.”
“It really is.”
“Then—”
Sion couldn’t turn around and couldn’t stop moving forward. But he continued to address Lucile.
“Then if, by chance, I manage to live, I’m going to need you to start respecting me,” Sion said.
With that, Sion continued until he reached the throne room, uninterrupted. He didn’t actually need to be on his guard here. Because he knew that Lucile would protect him. Because he’d never been human in the first place. Because it was so easy to get here.
“……”
Sion gazed at the throne room’s door. This was the king’s domain. Just as soon as he reached out to touch it…
“…I warned you,” Lucile said.
Sion ignored him and pressed his hand to the door. Lucile was already gone by the time it cracked open. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to see the tragedy that would soon happen here, or maybe it was because he really left to stand by the king to protect him. Sion didn’t really care either way. He just pushed the door open slowly.
And on the other side of the door—
Chapter 2: The Assault
---
He’d been here for a while now. He could tell that even from inside his dark cell. His hair had gotten long and the piles of books he kept laying around kept getting taller and taller. So he could tell that he’d been here for months and months.
“…Though I don’t have a clue what time of day it ever is,” Ryner Lute said absentmindedly. He had unkept black hair that stayed messy from sleep no matter the time of day and lazy black eyes. A scarlet brand floated atop his eyes. It was a cursed symbol, proof of his Alpha Stigma, which meant he was feared and loathed by all.
He was locked up in jail because of those eyes. Because he was a monster, and monsters shouldn’t roam the human world.
“……”
He was alone now. Alone inside his cell. So he could use his power without worrying too much about other people seeing. He let the scarlet pentagram come to the front of his sleepy eyes… and looked at the iron bars of his cell. When he did, he saw layer after layer of anti-magic piled up on them to prevent the prisoners from casting spells.
He was in a high-security prison for only the most dangerous of criminals, after all. It had to be well-protected.
Of course, with enough time, Ryner might be able to counteract the anti-magic thanks to his eyes - they let him see and completely understand how any given spell was constructed as well has how it worked. Not only that, but he had an outstanding talent for the study of magic. Those two things put together meant that he used to be known as Roland’s strongest magician.
And yet.
“……”
He didn’t do a single thing about it.
“…Mmhh… I’m like, kinda hungry,” he mumbled.
He wouldn’t have anything to do even if he escaped. He was a cursed monster. Even if he left, he’d just hurt people. So he had no reason at all to leave.
He went berserk a year ago, see. His eyes made him go mad and kill everyone on the battlefield. The only survivors were Sion and Kiefer. All of their other classmates died there. As usual, Ryner failed to save anyone. He even just about killed Sion and Kiefer, the people who were important to him.
So he shut up inside himself here. Because he was sick of himself. He was sick of his eyes doing this to him.
But that was why he thought he should face it here.
If Kiefer was crying and Sion felt like he had to shoulder everything himself, then Ryner should at least face his eyes head on.
“…Man. Even if I say that, I don’t have any clues on them at all…”
His cell was cluttered with books and documents to the point where he couldn’t really move around. Even so, he didn’t have any books on his eyes here. It seemed like Roland had purposefully purged information on the Alpha Stigma from the public. So he decided to start from the heroic legends and stuff about the demons and evil spirits and stuff, but either way…
“…I can’t think when I’m hungryyy,” Ryner groaned. He looked past his bars. “Hey, Unkie Jailer. I’m awaaake. And I’m hungryyy.”
“……”
No reply.
“Unkie, Unkieeee.”
No reply again.
“Huh, is it the middle of the night or somethin’? I don’t get any light here so I’ve got no idea… Okay, Unkie, gimme my midnight snaaack. C’mon. I’m literally starving.”
Once again, no reply. Obviously. The jailer was only here during the daytime. That was the only sense of time this place would give its prisoners. It was the kind of place where they could decide to give someone the death penalty for whatever bullshit reason they came up with first, after all. They could treat the violent prisoners here however they wanted.
Although for some reason, the jailer in charge of Ryner was pretty fond of him, so he’d bring him books and stuff.
“…The food still sucks, though,” Ryner whispered and laughed. Then he spotted a piece of bread he’d tossed on the floor at some point and picked it up. “It’s haard,” he whined, but nibbled at it anyway.
He grabbed an ancient document and opened it. He was slowly learning to read the ancient texts, and he’d been working through this one in particular for the past two weeks. Right now he was on a story about a knight called Halford Miran who stole a ring that could control shadows from the dark emperor. He read some despite his sleepiness.
“Huh, ahh, so by then… the world, eternity itself, was wrapped in an everlasting darkness— man, this stuff’s so circular.”
Ryner continued to mumble and complain as he read through it. And then his stomach grumbled and his mind went blank. He looked up, dissatisfied.
“I’m gonna die of starvation here, Unkie.”
Once again, no answer. Ryner sighed and returned to the documents.
“……”
Ryner shot up. Because a sharp pain suddenly ran through the depths of his eyes.
“Uogh!”
He pressed his hands to his eyes, but it didn’t help. His eyes felt like they were going to rupture.
“Th, the hell…?”
He didn’t know why they hurt. He didn’t even know what his eyes were. So why would he know the cause of their sudden pain? All he knew was that something was happening. Something strange that had never happened before. Because he’d never felt this pain before.
He’d tried to remove his eyes with a knife before. He’d tried to burn them out with magic before. Nothing harmed them. So he didn’t think anything could harm them. He’d tried so many times, after all. Because he hated being a cursed monster that nobody wanted around. Because he hated himself for hurting others. He just wanted his eyes gone. So he tried to destroy them again and again and again. But he could never get them out. They never even hurt when he tried. It was like his eyes alone weren’t even part of his body, so he was unable to feel their pain.
And yet now his eyes hurt so badly that he was curled up on the floor in pain. He accidentally kicked out at his surroundings, causing some of his piles of books to crumple down on him.
The pain just wouldn’t go away. No, instead it was getting worse.
“…Gh, aah, fuck. The hell’s…”
And then the pain vanished.
“Uough!?”
It was so sudden that he yelled out.
Ryner turned over to stare up at the ceiling. The jail was the same as always - dark, quiet, and dusty. “Geez, what even was that~”
He sat up. Then pressed his fingers to his eyes. Hard. A normal person would feel pain from it. But he didn’t.
“Seriously, what was that?” Ryner mumbled. Of course no one was there to respond to him. He was just talking to himself. “I’ve never felt that before… What changed?”
Ryner looked around to see if he might be able to find something that could have caused his pain. But all he saw was the same little cell he’d spent the past several months in, complete with dust, books, crumbs, and a pervasive loneliness.
He stared at the room for a while, then smiled bitterly. “I see. You eyes are complainin’ cause you hate dirty rooms like this. All I can is laugh at that. Well. I guess you’d hurt every day if that was true. ‘Cause I hate cleaning.”
With that, Ryner picked up what he’d been reading before. He skimmed it to find the part he’d been reading a minute ago when his eyes started to hurt and read from there, but nothing happened this time.
“…Maybe I’m sick?” Ryner wondered. “Or maybe the eyes change as the bearer ages.” He went through the theories in his mind. “Only thing for sure is that the pain I just felt isn’t normal. Man, what’s wrong with me. I finally got a new clue and I’m not even searching the room right.”
With that, Ryner looked around the room again. Yeah, the cell was definitely the same as always. Dark and lonely.
He activated his Alpha Stigma and tried to look past his cell. Through the wall. But he couldn’t see through it even with his Alpha Stigma. He felt that something must have happened out there. He just didn’t know what.
Still, he was sure that nothing had changed. It was still a mad country that stole people’s lives for no reason. They just had those stupid wars and then everyone ended up dead.
Kiefer’s sisters died. Sion felt responsible for everything, blaming himself while on the verge of tears.
“……”
Even so, there was no way the world would change. The darkness went too far. It seemed too far gone to be saved.
But that was why Ryner was researching his eyes now. Well. Why he was researching powers that were like his eyes. Though his research had yet to bear fruit...
Ryner put the documents he’d been reading on his lap again and looked back down at them, tired. Then looked up one more time. To the wall past the bars of his cell.
“…I wonder what’s going on in the outside world now,” he mumbled to himself, then shrugged.
---
He looked up at the wall.
It was tall and dark, built with innumerable spells to prevent the prisoners inside from ever escaping. They’d all committed horrible crimes, after all. War criminals, serial killers, that sort of thing.
“……”
Sion Astal narrowed his eyes.
The prison he was looking up at now was under the king’s jurisdiction. He’d spent several months now as Miller’s ally, advancing through the military’s ranks. But even he couldn’t enter this prison. It was proof that the king was still powerful. Because the mad king was strengthened by the power of the hero.
Sion just stared up at the black wall of the prison. “I wonder how Ryner’s doing,” Sion whispered. It was the name of one of his few friends who survived from the battlefield. Ryner had been in prison for seven months now. He didn’t know if he was alive or not. He didn’t even have the power to figure that out now.
“……”
Even so, he continued to stare up at the prison’s exterior.
“Sion, sir,” he heard someone say from behind.
Sion turned to see a teenaged boy. He had soft and wavy blond hair and cute blue eyes. He was thin and had a sort of delicate image about him. He was a little younger than Sion - sixteen or seventeen, perhaps? He was one of Rahel Miller’s notable subordinates, Calne Kaiwel.
Calne smiled innocently as he followed Sion’s gaze. “You’re here again?” Calne asked. “This building is a prison for the most violent prisoners, right?”
Sion nodded. “Yeah.”
“Is someone you know inside?”
“You guys already researched everything there is to know about me, right? So why are you asking me that?”
Calne shrugged. “Miller and Luke might’ve done that, but I’m not that interested in other people’s business.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m telling the truth, you know? Oh, but if you were a woman I might’ve done it. I’m pretty sure you’d make a beautiful woman, after all.”
Sion finally looked at Calne, at the frivolous smile on his face. Then he lowered his gaze to what Calne was holding in his right hand. It was a head. A human head.
If he recalled correctly, Calne was currently tasked with assassinating Baron Lotus. So that was probably whose head it was.
“You’re already done?” Sion asked.
“Sort of. If we throw this head to the leader of Marquess Tenglon’s private army, we should be able to incite Prince Kestalus to lead an attack in reaction to the serial noble murders, then arrest Marquess Tenglon for it… so those are my current orders.”
Sion nodded. Marquess Tenglon had significant power within the military. He was a marshal of Roland. He appointed his blood relatives in various other positions of power. By now they were even tied to the royalty. Also, Prince Kestalus always tried to get in the way when people like Sion who rose up through the military rather than via lineage appeared.
That was why Miller and the others had spent the past six months working on a trap to catch Marquess Tenglon. If they managed to crush Tenglon’s power from within, then the crown wouldn’t be able to defend itself adequately against the army.
Today was the day the pieces would fall into place. The revolution would advance leaps and bounds with Tenglon’s arrest.
“Sir, I can’t help but wonder why you needed a walk today?” Calne asked, bothered.
Sion smiled. “Miller’s an outstanding guy, so no one will notice whether I talk a walk or not.”
“That’s true, but we’d be troubled if you died at a time like this.”
“Yeah, but Miller’s already calculated that I’d come here anyway.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yeah,” Sion said.
“I guess it’s fine, then. But what are you doing here?”
Sion just smiled.
“Oooh, are you meeting someone here?” Calne asked. “A girlfriend, right?”
“I don’t have one.”
“But you seem like you’d be so popular. You’re a young Major General of Roland. Also, you’re going to be the next era’s super elite marshal—”
“That’s just the fake me that Miller made up,” Sion argued.
“But the girls won’t know that. I meet lots of girls who are big fans of you lately. I sure am jealous,” Calne said with a grin.
Sion was a little fed up with this. “I don’t think so. I heard that you only dabble with women when it comes to noblemen’s wives.”
Calne shrugged, smiling in good humor. “It’s for my job, I tell you. Miller’s horrible. He told me to use the women to get in with the nobles enough to kill them. You only get one body so it’s hard for me, you know?”
“Hmm. Claugh said you look like you’re enjoying yourself so much that it pisses him off, though?”
“Whaat!? Everyone always misunderstands me… anyway, it’s about time I go. Want to come with? I’ll guard you.”
Sion shook his head. “It’d be bad if anyone saw me with a guy swinging a noble’s head around in his hand.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
“I have something I still need to do anyway.”
“Meet a lover?”
Sion smiled. “Let’s go with that.”
“I’m so jealouuus.”
“Haha. Come on, head on back. Otherwise Claugh will knock you upside the head for being late again.”
Calne nodded and set off.
Sion turned to face his back. “Ah, wait. I have something I want you to tell Miller.”
“What is it?”
“Tell him to nominate me for marshal before he leaves tomorrow.”
Calne laughed, waved with the hand that wasn’t holding a head, then left. Soon he was out of sight.
A dark night like this during a new moon was perfect for assassins and other sinister designs. That was probably why Miller chose it.
Miller would destroy Marquess Tenglon. Doing so would cause Prince Kestalus to come out from behind the marquess.
Prince Kestalus, who had the king’s blood running through his veins just as Sion did. The same cursed blood.
They were monsters cursed by the Fallen Mad Hero’s poison blood.
None of Roland’s royalty were human now that Aslude Roland’s blood had woken up. Their insides were overwhelmed by his power, and no longer looked like a human’s insides might. A monster was rising up from within them. Normal humans would be unable to cope.
That was why Sion was here now.
So that the monster wouldn’t kill Miller, Calne, or Luke. So it wouldn’t kill anyone.
“…Will Prince Kestalus really come?” Sion whispered.
A clear, but cold voice answered him. “Yeah. Because he wants your flesh. He’ll follow your scent here. He’s already nearby. You can feel him too, can’t you?”
Sion was past the point where he might’ve bothered to look for the person speaking to him now. But he called the name of the monster who was always by his side nonetheless. “Hey, Lucile.”
“Mm?”
“I wonder if we can really win this time. Before… six months ago, that masked man - Lieral Lieutolu - had to save us.”
“Whether we win or not depends on you.”
“Well, we’re in trouble then. I mean, it’s not like I can tell how popular I am with the people. It’s not some number I can check to see how strong I am. All I know is that Miller’s been working to get my name out there…”
Sion took a moment to recall the events of the past six months. He’d been promoted from Lieutenant Colonel to Major General. He’d been doing the smallest amount of fighting possible with the largest amount of publicity possible.
It was exceedingly simple. All he did was face every day with a smile, travelling Roland for the sole purpose of increasing his popularity. He was an approachable prince born from a common woman and a hero of the Roland-Estabul war. He bowed to the nobility, borrowing their power to help his name echo through the country.
The nobility had always looked down on Sion. They always sneered and called him the son of a common mutt. They said that he didn’t have the right to talk to the nobility - he was defective goods. A failure. Trash. But they’d still use him. After all, if he wasn’t getting in their way, why bother killing him?
Of course there were nobles who hated how influential Sion was becoming, too. They were nobles who supported different members of the royal family. Sion avoided confronting them. He wouldn’t fight them. He wouldn’t show any signs of ambition. He just spread his name. Nothing more, nothing less. As he did, the power of the hero within him got stronger and stronger. He could feel it through the pain shooting inside of him.
That was probably just his anxiety, though.
The people had always bowed to the royalty and nobility, after all. Their hearts had long since given up to their fate.
“…You’re anxious. Do you want to stop?” Lucile asked.
Sion smiled. “Come on, it’s too late for joking around. We’ve already started. They’ll know what I’m doing after today. I won’t be able to go back to how things were before…”
Sion’s voice trailed off. Because he could feel Prince Kestalus close by. He turned to face him.
“Hey, big bro,” Sion said. “It’s been a while.”
A man stepped out of the darkness. He was a little more than ten years Sion’s senior - either in his late twenties or early thirties. He had brown hair and golden eyes - the same golden eyes as Sion’s. Sion’s vague memories of his father from long ago had the same eyes, too. Their mad father had passed them down to both Sion and Kestalus.
Sion glared at his half-brother with those same golden eyes.
“Why are you here?” Kestalus asked. “You’re the son of a common bitch, and you have the nerve to stand here before me?”
Sion had heard that same remark time and time again from his siblings. They even said it on the day his mother died. They called him the son of a dirty, lowly mutt on days they killed his friends, lovers, and allies, too.
It was their fault that Ryner was in jail now, too. It was their fault that Kiefer left the country with nothing but the knowledge that her sisters were dead.
Then they looked down on Sion like he was the one causing them pain for having the nerve to be born to a commoner.
“Why am I here?” Sion repeated. “That’s simple. It’s because I’m a dog. I came to eat you.”
“Haha, hahaha. You, eat me? You’re going to eat me? Haha, hahaha, hahahahahaha.”
He laughed madly. Probably because he was actually mad.
Roland’s nobility had all gone mad the moment Sion opened the final door at the deepest point of Roland’s darkness half a year ago. And yet the country hadn’t changed. The fact that they went mad didn’t matter in the slightest. The nobility were the ones with all the power, after all.
Marquess Tenglon used Prince Kestalus for his name, but he was the more powerful of the two. Yes, Sion had opened a door that had caused Prince Kestalus to be destroyed from the inside. But that didn’t mean anything to Marquess Tenglon. It didn’t matter if a puppet was shaped like a human or not, after all. It was a puppet.
The king had been mad for a long time now, too. The nobility were used to dealing with the insane by now.
Honestly, it was kind of pitiful. The royal family were puppets used as dictators in the nobility’s place. They had no will of their own. They were mad puppets who lived to be taken advantage of.
“……”
Even so.
“…I can’t control the anger I feel when I see you,” Sion said.
Kestalus had raped and killed Sion’s first lover before his eyes. He had sent Sion a dog’s head on the day his mother died.
Sion glared. “Why am I here? Ha, hahaha, where’s Tenglon? And me? Where am I? Ha, hahaha.” He laughed as he glared. “Lucile.”
“What is it?”
“Kill him.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Lucile appeared before Sion’s brother in a split second. He had glossy golden-blond hair, and a face so beautiful that it was sincerely disturbing. His skin was pale and his eyes remained closed.
Lucile reached out a hand to touch Kestalus’ neck. That was all it took for his neck to rupture. His head went flying. That’d normally be the end of a fight. Because humans couldn’t live with a severed head. But in the very instant that his brother died…
“……”
…His body took its true form.
A black blade rose from his body. It twirled in the air for a moment, then found his head and pierced it. Then Kestalus’ mouth moved. “A, a-a-a-a-a, w-we’ve awo-ken, we—”
The voice didn’t come from his head. It came from the sky, from the air itself, and revertibrated inside of their minds. If Sion had heard it months ago, he might’ve been rendered unable to move due to the strength of its curse. But he was different now.
“…So you were only this strong… Let’s end this, Brother. I’ll close the curtain on your ugly life story.”
Lucile moved his hands. He cut Kestalus’ limbs up first, then minced his body. As he did, dark blades shot from Kestalus’ open flesh. Aslude Roland’s cursed blood turned to blades to escape its weak vessel to search for fresh royal blood.
They flew for Sion, aiming to take him. But he stopped it with a hand on the blade that tried to wedge its way into his chest. “The one who’ll come out on top… the one who’ll devour the other… is me,” Sion said. “Monster.”
Sion gripped the sword hard, to the point where he felt it might cut his hand straight off. But as he did, the sword began to erode. It was being devoured, and with it came a horrid, burning pain. It felt like his cells were boiling, his viscera melting.
But Sion didn’t let that get to him. He was the son of a lowborn mutt, and he didn’t care about pain anymore. He was just so used to it by now. Everything he saw since the day he was born was painful.
The people he cared about were always killed right before his eyes. No one would save them no matter how much he screamed. His mother, his lovers, his friends, his allies.
Sion was the only one left now. He was trash, incapable of saving anyone. Nothing scared him or hurt him more than that knowledge.
He heard a voice in his mind. The voice of a monster.
“Wh-what?” It said. “Why am I being… devo…”
Lucile didn’t give it the chance to finish. He waved his hand one more time, and Prince Kestalus’ body and the blades both broke into pieces.
Sion felt the monster’s presence fade as it lost the ability to resist him. Its pieces all flew to Sion to be absorbed.
He became stronger, and with it, the pain got worse. It was the pain of Aslude Roland’s power making a home out of his body. The pain flooded every inch of his body so strongly that he almost felt that he’d die.
But he ignored the pain and smiled.
“…Winning was actually pretty easy.”
Lucile looked at him. “You did your best… do you want me to praise you?”
Sion grimaced.
Lucile smiled in turn. “This is proof that more people want you to rule over them,” Lucile said. “Though you hardly compare to the king in that regard.”
That was why he had to keep at it. He had to increase the number of people who were devoted to him. Doing so would increase the power of the Fallen Mad Hero, Aslude Roland, inside of him.
Sion had no idea how it happened, but that was how this country functioned. It existed solely so that the monster they called a hero could devour it. The monster was what made his siblings go mad. His father, too. And someday, Sion…
“……”
Sion gazed into the darkness of their country. He felt that there was something off about it.
“I guess Calne was right. I better become more and more popular,” Sion said with a smile.
Lucile nodded and responded without hesitation. “But you’re the most attractive of the royal family so it should be easy.”
“…Is that supposed to be a joke?”
Lucile smiled faintly. “Who knows. But really, you’ve still got a ways to go. You need every human in this country to submit their heart to you. Your power will never reach your father’s if you don’t.”
“He’s that strong?”
“Yeah. So strong that you can’t even touch him.”
“……”
Sion looked towards Roland Castle, which towered about the darkness of Reylude. “Every human’s heart… wait, is that even possible?”
“I don’t need you if you can’t do it.”
“I guess not,” Sion said. “I’ll work hard, then.”
“Will you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then perhaps I shall hope for it,” Lucile said. He disappeared as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
But Sion wasn’t paying attention to Lucile anymore. He was looking back up at the black wall before him. It was hardly visible in the dark night. One had to stare to make out the building’s edges. “It seems like it’s begun, Ryner,” he whispered. “Our revolution has begun. So wait just a little longer, okay?”
Sion turned to leave. His path was as dark as always. It didn’t help that today in particular was a cloudy, lightless night. Darkness was all that existed in Roland now. But if that was the case…
“…I’ll just have to light a fire for us all.”
---
Several days was all it took for change to ripple through the world.
Claugh and the others managed to pin the blame for the recent string of noble disappearances on Marquess Tenglon, who was apprehended and charged. It was, to Sion’s knowledge, the only case of a noble ever being arrested.
Naturally, Tenglon’s supporters reacted vehemently.
“This is a trap.”
“He has nothing to do with those disappearances.”
“Release Tenglon at once!”
They all directed their displeasure towards the military.
Sion rose his head. He’d been reading the nobility’s complaints. He was in a military room that’d been assigned to him, since he was a major general now. His allies were gathered there. Well, calling them ‘allies’ might be a little strange. They were the people who had gathered under Rahel Miller’s banner of revolution.
Captain Rahel Miller, Sergeant Luke Stokkart, Major Calne Kaiwel, Lieutenant colonel Claugh Klom, and Sergeant Shuss Shiraz.
Their ranks were all over the place. So were their roles.
“So?” Sion asked.
“The hell’re you doin’ sitting down and looking so full of yourself?” Claugh asked. He was a well-built redhead with sharp red eyes to go with his hair. “You’re not all that,” he said with a glare.”
Sion smiled. “Then why am I the highest rank out of all of us?”
“Who gives a shit?”
“Bow to me.”
“Aah? You want your head in the wall?”
Sion laughed. “I was just joking. But I will be the representative for when we deal with the noble’s complaints from now on. Won’t I, Miller?”
Miller turned his usual bitter face towards Sion. He was calm despite his impeccable stiff posture. “That’s right. This’ll be your first time going against the nobility. Use your royal title for it.”
Sion stood from his chair and nodded. “We’ll be coming on strong. People will start to notice our ambitions. I’ll need monsters for guards to get through the threats that are about to come my way…”
“Well, doesn’t that fit Claugh to a T~” Calne said. “He’s the grim reaper of the battlefield. He’s famous for being a monster whose brains are even made of muscle—”
Right then, Claugh’s fist connected with Calne’s face and sent him flying. Then he turned to address Sion. “So do I have to like, sound like I respect you when we’re doing negotiations?”
Sion nodded. “I know you’ll hate it, but it’s for the best.”
“……”
“Alternatively, you could try actually respecting me—”
“Shut it.”
“Haha. Well, you don’t have to call me Lord Astal or anything. You could say Sir Sion like Calne does?”
“……”
Claugh scrunched his face up over that, too. Sion smiled bitterly. “I guess you can just call me Sion.”
Luke spoke next. He was around Claugh’s height, but he was so calm and approachable from his constant smiling that no one really minded his how tall he was. He had white hair despite only being in his twenties. “But Claugh, you’ll likely be followed wherever you go. Don’t you want to remind the masses about how Sir Sion, who was born to a common woman, managed to reach a rank even higher than your status as a lieutenant colonel? I know that your brain’s too full of muscle for any nerves, but—”
“Who’re you callin’ a musclehead! I got top marks in magic, y’know!”
Luke paused at Claugh’s interruption, then glanced at Sion before looking back at Claugh. “At least wait until people are finished talking to speak, Musclehead. I don’t care about your preschool achievements—”
“Hey!”
“People think you’ve got some nerve. They’ll think you’re responsible for kidnapping nobles, and they’ll eventually think to kill you. We want the nobles to believe that you, Claugh, are important enough for Sion to appoint you, a commoner through and through, to an important position. Doing so will move the nobles’ anger from Sion to you.”
Claugh grinned. “So they’ll all just attack me until they get bored?”
Claugh’s trusty subordinate Shuss smiled. “You must know that it won’t be that easy, Sir. Well, sure, it’ll be easy enough for the nobles to hate you. But they’ll end up seeing us all as a rebel army then. We need to make criminals out of Marquess Tenglon’s circle of nobles too if we’re going to have any leverage here.”
Miller nodded. “We’ll need to get serious about getting the families of the killed nobles to see us as the just party here. We don’t want them to end up going for Prince Kestalus instead—”
“Prince Kestalus died yesterday,” Sion interrupted.
Everyone looked at Sion.
“What do you mean?” Miller asked.
Sion shrugged. “Exactly what I said.”
“He was murdered?”
“Yes.”
“……”
Miller was silent.
Normally people would be angry about something like that. But Miller didn’t say a thing. Because he was an incredibly detailed person who thought of everything before setting his plans in motion. A small gear slipping loose could cause the whole machine to stop functioning, after all.
Miller met Sion’s eyes with a piercing gaze. It was like he saw the darkness that settled around him.
“…Then we don’t need to worry about the nobles banding together strong,” Miller finally said. “We have justice on our side. They’ll trust our opinion over that of the royalty’s, and most importantly of all, Duke Philip’s daughter is among the dead. The nobles will stay quiet as long as we gain his backing.”
“Though we’re the ones who actually killed his daughter,” Sion said.
“……”
“Miller. I know that I’m not nearly as powerful as you are, but I can’t accept moving forward with methods like this,” Sion said.
“Is that so.”
Sion glared and nodded. “It is.”
“Then build the world you want to see once you become strong enough,” Miller said.
“I will.”
“But you’re still one of my pieces. Do as I say until the game’s over,” Miller said. He kept his emotions out of his voice. That was the type of person he was - he only ever said what was necessary.
“I will.”
Miller nodded. “That’s fine, then.”
Miller tore his eyes from Sion, then moved the stack of documents on the desk to reveal a diagram of the Roland Empire’s military ranks. He pointed to the single opening for a marshal’s position. “We’re going to reorganize the military. Marquess Tenglon died and left his seat as a marshal open. We’re going to fill it. Doing so will have many of Tenglon’s old men move to our side. We’ll seize complete control of the military, then the country…”
Miller raised his head again to look at Sion. For some reason, he was smiling. It was rare to see on his stern and frown-marked face.
“…It’s starting,” Miller said quietly. “Faster than expected, too, thanks to you killing Prince Kestalus on your own time. That drove the nobles into a corner sooner than expected, too.
A thunderous sound echoed behind him. Sion tried to look back, but Luke stopped him.
“This way,” Luke said and pulled Sion up, then pressed his back against the wall.
The wall right Sion had just been exploded. The cause was most likely magical in nature. Someone was using magic to attack the military, and everyone here seemed to have expected it.
Claugh grinned. “Amazing, right? They’ve got some nerve usin’ large-scale magic here in the middle of town. What kind of idiot’s havin’ them do this?”
“…Someone acting in secret,” Shuss said. “It’s illegal to use offensive magic within city limits, after all.”
Luke, who was protecting Sion from behind, replied. “But it’s already perfectly apparent who they are. That’s Count Eckel’s private army. Count Eckel was in cahoots with Marquess Tenglon with the shared goal of using Prince Kestalus. He’s almost certainly here to rescue Marquess Tenglon… and if what Sion says is true, then he’s likely also planning to find where Prince Kestalus has disappeared to while he’s here. They have no way to oppose us without the Prince, after all. I am sure that he is prepared to die over this.”
“That’s fine,” Miller said. He sounded happy. “Kill every soldier in Eckel’s private army. They’re the ones who started this, and we can use that aggression to pin the blame on them for Prince Kestalus’ death.”
“Should we really be killin’ all of them?” Claugh asked.
Miller nodded. “We can’t leave room for doubts in this fight. The nobility aren’t weak. Can you do it?”
Claugh smiled. “I’ll get ‘em good.”
With that, Claugh leapt through the hole that the explosion had blown in the wall. He yelled his orders back once he was outside. “Gather my division up, Shuss. We’re protecting the building. We’ll make ‘em regret ever laying a hand on the military.”
Shuss nodded and ran off in the opposite direction of Claugh to carry out his orders.
Calne stood from the corner. “They’re way flashier than I thought they’d be. Was Count Eckmal’s private army always this weak?”
Luke shook his head. “No. Haven’t you heard the rumors? They say that Count Eckmel’s army is even more outstanding than Count Emeril’s, where you and Claugh joined from?”
Calne’s expression subtly changed from his usual frivolous one. “Hmm. That’s pretty annoying. It’s not that I have any pride as one of Emeril’s old soldiers, but…”
Just then, two men in black jumped in through the hole that Claugh had left through. They were fast. They were thrusting knives at Sion before he could even think of reacting.
But they ended up with knives to their own necks before ever reaching Sion. They were dead in seconds. Calne watched their bodies crumple from behind. “See? Aren’t we stronger~? But that kind of pisses me off too~!” Calne then glanced down through the hole in the wall. Magical explosions were going off one after enough, each just as loud as the last. “Geez, Claugh sure is having fun down there. I guess he hasn’t gotten the chance to go crazy for a few months now. What should I do, Miller?”
“Stay here and guard the prince.”
“Huh? You mean Sir Sion?”
Miller ignored him and looked to Sion instead. “It’s about time you did something useful.”
Sion nodded. “You want me to gather the nobles who are loyal to us up, right?”
“Yeah.”
“There are quite a few who—”
“I know,” Miller interrupted. “I pretty much understand your situation by now.”
“I see.”
“We’ll take advantage of it and use it to move forward,” Miller said. “We’ll take the nobles who won’t cooperate with the likes of Count Eckmal or Marquess Tenglon and make them our allies.”
“I know.”
“We’ve put a lot of effort into setting up a clean playing board. Don’t mess up now, alright?”
Sion smiled. “Well, I’ll do my best.” He turned to leave.
“Oh, wait, sir,” Luke said. He was calm as always, his eyes a slit as he watched everything happen around him.
“Hm?”
“You can ignore the people who’ve devoted themselves to Marquess Wahti out there. My army will soon kill them all anyway,” Luke said.
Marquess Wahti was a man with approximately the same amount of influence as Marquess Tenglon. Killing his supporters meant killing an unbelievable amount of people.
“…Understood,” Sion said with a nod.
They’d move forward through murder.
Sion knew that it wasn’t right, but it wasn’t like they had any other choice to make. He couldn’t think of a better plan than Miller’s when he thought about how to best change the country. So he was following it for the time being. He tried to keep casualties to a minimum, but—
“……”
Another explosion.
It was the sound of magic made only to destroy.
Their enemies were fighting their hardest, using large-scale magic here that the military wouldn’t use. They were competing to see who was strongest here with their statuses at stake. So they were doing their best to pull ahead now, while they still had a chance.
They didn’t have any time. Minutes at the most. Because the fire of the revolution had already been lit.
The plan that Miller had spent so long preparing was already running, and Sion had already brought the ambition he’d been hiding for so long now to the center of the stage. They couldn’t stop now.
They had to do this before the nobility learned who their enemies were or what exactly they were fighting. They had to do it while the nobility were still busy stealing the spotlight from each other. They’d use that greed inherent to the nobles to end them, and then Sion would rise from the gaps they left to grip the country by its core.
“……”
Even now, the sound of his enemies dying outside was ringing in his ears. It was the sound of his allies dying, too. Of people dying. They laid down their lives here like it was natural.
Sion thought inside the sound of death. He continued to draw the path ahead of their plan in his mind. The fact that influential nobles were attacking here meant that they ranked Sion as more meritorious than the other princes, and expected him to soon occupy the marshal’s seat, then proceed to becoming the next king.
He couldn’t destroy the nobility as a whole if he wanted any of that to happen. Miller and Sion’s combined troops weren’t enough to fight against the private armies of the nobility as a whole. So they had to climb even higher in the ranks, until the nobility felt that they’d be good pawns instead of good enemies. Then they could use the nobility’s power to change the country.
So they had to trick them.
“……”
Sion left his office, deep in thought.
---
It was like a battlefield outside.
Countless spells were destroying the military headquarters, one sparking after the next.
Claugh Klom glared at the scene with his burning red eyes.
“……”
The enemy army was strong. Fast, too. And there were lots of them. Miller’s army was at a clear disadvantage. His allies were dying all around. They were burnt alive by Lightning Flash and burst into pieces from Abstract Phosphorescence. Before long, countless assassins had slid past their line to make their way inside the building.
“…This is worse than I thought it’d be,” Claugh said. “Guess that old man Miller was right to ask if I could do this…”
Claugh mimicked Miller’s stern expression as he recalled his words. Then he turned to see another assassin trying to sneak attack him. Claugh defeated him, then raised his voice.
“Alright! Sion’s men who’re out here protecting the line, listen up! I’m Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom! You guys are under my command now. Reinforcements will arrive here in a minute, so hold the line—”
“Surrender, rebel army! We’re Prince Kestalus’ army here to save Marquess Tenglon, who had been kidnapped by Sion Astal—”
Apparently that was supposed to be one of their commanders or something. Claugh kicked off the ground to head for him. None of their enemies could follow him at that speed. Most probably didn’t even notice him. Claugh fastened his right arm into something of a blade and moved to plunge it into the commander’s chest the moment he reached him.
“I won’t let you.”
Another man flew for Claugh and grabbed him by the shirt. He was strong. Claugh turned to get a look at him. It was someone he recognized - Colonel Ohdo Seele. He had long and disheveled black hair and dark skin. He was a guy who gained the nobility’s favor by his numerous achievements in battle during his teens. So the nobility stole him and his power away.
Seele tugged Claugh closer with strength one wouldn’t expect from his thin arms. “Demon of the battlefield… Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom. I’ve always wanted to fight you to see which one of us is more of a monster.”
“There’s no point in doing that. You’re not my enemy,” Claugh said. He brushed Seele’s hand off, then turned to kill the commander again, ignoring Seele entirely.
Seele pulled a knife out of his pocket and threw it at Claugh. He was fast, and the knife was dripping with poison. “You’re so annoying,” he said.
Even then, the probably-the-commander-guy was yelling orders. “Surrender at once! What you are doing is nothing short of rebellion! We will slaughter you all if you continue to put up resista—”
He stopped there. White hair flashed behind him as the always-smiling Luke Stokkart pressed a hand against the commander’s neck from behind. That was all it took for him to break it. Then he ripped his head clean off, all with a smile. “Shall I lend you a hand, Claugh?”
Claugh wrinkled his nose. “Don’t need it.”
“You’re always acting tough and getting yourself into these situations,” Luke said. “Count Eckel’s army is a strong one, you know, and you’ve run right up to their commander. Colonel Ohdo Seele is here, too, and he’s about as strong as you are—”
Claugh moved before Luke could finish, putting his full power into his fist and aiming it right for Seele, despite the knife in Seele’s hand.
Seele grimaced and moved to dodge. “You’re slow and easy to follow—”
“Shut it, small fry!” Claugh yelled. Seele tried to dodge, but Claugh grabbed the arm he hand his knife in and snapped it.
“Guah!” Seele cried.
Claugh pressed his thumbs through Seele’s eyeballs and twisted his neck next. He collapsed to the ground, dead.
“So who’s about as strong as I am?” Claugh asked, triumphant. But Luke was already gone.
That bastard. He never even intended on saving Claugh from the beginning, did he?
“…Fucker… I’m gonna give him a real good punch in the face one of these days.”
Claugh turned back. He figured morale was going to drop from the enemy commander’s yelling, so maybe he should yell, too. But before he knew it he was surrounded by enemy troops and had to focus on that instead.
The soldiers surrounding him all began to draw magic circles in unison. He recognized the pattern as Abstract Phosphorescence, even though it was a high-level spell that only a few soldiers should know. Twenty people here were circling him, and they all knew it.
“…Whoa, this is bad,” Claugh said. He forced himself to smile. Honestly, he couldn’t fight twenty soldiers if they all used Abstract Phosphorescence. Sion’s army, which was out here protecting the building, probably didn’t have thirty men capable of using it. Claugh’s subordinates were about the same. Even if Shuss’ reinforcements came soon, they’d probably still be the weaker army overall.
This wasn’t a fight with some throwaway assassins under the cover of darkness, after all. This was a serious fight against a noble who wasn’t afraid of brandishing his name. They kept excellent soldiers in frightening numbers.
One or two exceptional fighters wouldn’t be able to change the country forever.
That was why even Miller, who was so incredibly smart, had to take so long to plan this. And now after all that time, it was starting for real today. They finally could raise the flags of revolution they’d been hiding until now up above their heads.
Once something like that started, it couldn’t be stopped. It would either succeed, or they’d all die trying. Those were the only two possible results. Claugh knew that.
No one had been able to change their country yet, but that idiot Miller devoted the past couple decades to trying. Sion was devoting his life to the cause, too. He’d definitely die if things went sour.
They seriously said shit like ‘I’m gonna change the world~’ and really set out to do it even though no one ever asked them to. They bet their lives on that shit.
“……”
Claugh turned around. He saw Sion and Calne leaving the building. They were headed off to go butter up the nobles in the military to try to get them on their side. They had to, for the sake of the revolution. So Claugh had to keep the enemy army away from them.
“Surrender, Claugh Klom. Your master Sion Astal is finished. The second you chose to make enemies out of Marquess Tenglon was the very second you all lost your chance of survival.”
Claugh raised his head. Yep, still surrounded by twenty Abstract Phosphorescence circles.
The enemy army just kept getting bigger, too. It wasn’t just Eckel’s private army. It was Marquess Tenglon’s followers, too.
“We can guarantee your lives if you hand Marquess Tenglon and Prince Kestalus over,” another soldier said.
The enemy was definitely strong. The reinforcements were almost certainly all well-known soldiers in the same vein as Ohdo Seele.
“You could even come to serve in Marquess Tenglon’s army,” the enemy soldier continued. “I’ll put a good word in to the Marquess for you. So join our side. The Marquess is a much better lord than Sion Astal. If you—”
“Is that fun for you?” Claugh interrupted.
The man glared at Claugh for interrupting him.
“Seriously, do you enjoy having the nobles look down on you and laugh at you all the time?”
“……”
“Me, join you? Ha. I should be asking you to join me. It’s a whole carriage full of fun things here. We’ll all die if we lose, but we might also be able to see a world we’ve never known before—”
“It appears that you’ve misunderstood something. That’s stupid.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty dumb. Everyone on my side’s a real idiot. Pretty interesting, right?”
“Enough of this. Kill him,” the commander ordered.
Claugh gazed at the deadly odds before him… and smiled. “This kind of thing’s my specialty. Alright, let’s do it. You’re gonna regret it if you don’t kill me with your first shot.”
Claugh tore his right sleeve off to reveal an arm covered in red tattoos. Each tattoo was engraved with a curse. He activated them.
He was the demon of the battlefield, Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom, because his arm was always covered in the fresh crimson blood of his enemies—
“Sir Claugh!” Shuss shouted from far away. So the reinforcements had arrived. But they were too late.
“Kill him!”
Dozens of Abstract Phosphorescence spells shot at Claugh at once.
But when Claugh next raised his voice, it was happily. “You guys are the ones who’re gonna be killed!”
The light threads of Abstract Phosphorescence all headed straight for him. Claugh dodged back and forth at an inhuman speed. But he couldn’t dodge them all. One pierced Claugh’s shoulder. Another scraped his flank. A third gouged his thigh. But they didn’t kill him. Claugh moved his cursed arm. Magic circles soon surrounded it. They shot currents that built up into a twister, then moved to capture his enemies inside of its winds, tearing their bodies at the seams as it did.
Claugh’s arm was soon red with their blood. He tried to grab the commander with his crimson fingers, but the commander was fast. He dodged easily. Just as Claugh expected, he was stronger than Ohdo Seele.
“…Ha. You’re a monster,” the enemy commander said. “But you’re just one person, in the end.” He stood back. Soldiers ran in front to protect him. This time the spell they prepared for was Lightning Flash. The commander did the same.
But then Claugh noticed a light from behind him. That too was the light of Lightning Flash. It was Shuss’ army here to protect him.
“Who’s ‘just one person?’” Claugh asked.
The enemy commander’s spell finished. It shot a lightning spear straight for Claugh. But Claugh grabbed an enemy soldier and used him as a shield. He used his other hand to draw a magic circle for Abstract Phosphorescence.
“I wish for a rainbow of annihilation - Abstract Phosphorescence!”
The commander wasn’t his target. Because he’d definitely dodge with how Claugh timed it. So Claugh aimed for below the man. He looked down to follow Claugh’s spell with his eyes, shocked. That was all it took. Claugh grabbed a knife from his pocket and threw it. It gouged his neck. He could move his shocked eyes back to Claugh, but that was all. His wounds were fatal. Claugh had no reason to pay attention to him anymore.
The soldiers they were fighting were drawing back by the second. Shuss ran to Claugh’s side. “You’re hurt!”
Claugh grinned. “‘Cause you’re late.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So how many do we have?”
“Four hundred.”
“And them?”
“Two thousand.”
“Hehhe~” Claugh laughed. “Sounds fun. Miller and Sion are gonna come back with armies from other nobles. Let’s get these guys to come closer. Cautiously, though.”
Claugh glanced back at his troops and thought about how to best fight their enemy. They had to maintain a line while preventing as many deaths of their capable allies as possible In that time, Sion and Miller would work their magic by manipulating the nobility’s view of the events to make their own army look just.
But if Claugh failed to hold the enemy back for that long…
“…Then that’d be the end of us,” Claugh said to himself and smiled. “The atmosphere here’s getting pretty festive, isn’t it?”
Shuss nodded. “It is. You can’t die here, alright?”
“Same goes for you.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Alrighty, Shuss.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s do it.”
Claugh stopped. Shuss did too and raised his fist. All four hundred men in Claugh’s army stopped with them. Then Shuss moved his arm to the side. Everyone began drawing a magic circle. “My lord, Lieutenant Colonel Klom, please order us!”
Claugh nodded, then spoke. Against their enemy who was so much stronger than they were. “Go all out! Kill every piece of trash you see!”
The enemy started to draw magic circles of their own. There were far too many to count between the two sides.
“Fire!” Claugh yelled.
The whole world was enveloped in the light of magic.
And so the revolution… no, their mutual killing… began.
---
Time passed and their location changed.
They were currently in the largest, most conspicuous building in the noble’s quarters.
“Have they made their move?”
Captain Rahel Miller nodded. His posture was intimidatingly perfect, and his face was the type that one couldn’t imagine spouting jokes. He raised his head to answer. “Yes.”
They were currently inside Duke Anorita Abaaz’s estate. Miller was standing at attention, surrounded by a group of nobles who sat at ease in the parlor. They were all people that Duke Anorita Abaaz gathered and raised under his name, as well as the duke himself.
“Heheh, so that means that Marquess Tenglon is done for,” one of the nobles said.
“He became too confident when it came to pressing his luck with the military.”
“It’s about time someone taught him who really makes this country work.”
Then Duke Abaaz himself, who sat in the center, spoke. “So?” He asked. “Where is Marquess Tenglon?” The duke was a man in his forties. He had thin, cunning eyes and a slim body. There were seven major factions within the nobility, and Duke Abaaz was the head of the most influential. He supported Prince Triffua, the eldest of Roland’s princes, and maintained an impressive noble backing as well as influence with the royalty. “Have you already killed Tenglon?”
Miller shook his head. “He is on his way here. A commoner like me is unable to raise a hand against a noble for any reason.”
Duke Abaaz nodded. “Hm. I find that most likeable.”
“I am honored.”
“However, you are mistaken in bringing him here. Wouldn’t it be rather dire if the royalty learned of this all? Have you thought of the consequences?”
“…I apologize,” Miller said and lowered his head.
Abaaz smiled. “Heheh. You aren’t going to protest? I already understand that you must have changed your route here many times to avoid pursuit. Though my subordinates did manage to tail you regardless…”
With that, Abaaz’s gaze moved to behind Miller. When he did, Miller turned, too, finally realizing the faint presence there behind him. Six beautiful women stood there, with hair ranging from blonde to black, each with a very different image to her. How beautiful they were hardly mattered, though. The problem was the fact that they’d managed to get right there behind him without Miller noticing. That meant that they were all capable of killing Miller.
So that was the kind of person who served Duke Abaaz.
“……”
Miller turned back to Duke Abaaz.
“These were my tails?”
Abaaz smiled. “Have I hurt your feelings?”
“…No. I feel that you have only acted naturally. I didn’t expect for you to trust me without reason.”
Abaaz’s smile didn’t reach his sharp eyes. “I already trust you. Your restraint is impressive.”
Miller bowed. “I am undeserving of your—”
“But your plan is too clean,” Abaaz interrupted. “It lacks flaws to the point that it’s frightening. I really don’t like that. I really don’t like having subordinates who are too smart. I feel threatened by them… So I’ll tell you how this is going to work. Gina.”
Miller turned. A fearsome murderous intent sprouted up. He couldn’t react to it. He couldn’t even move. He felt something stab his shoulder. It was most likely a knife. At first it just burned. Then he felt a sharp pain race through him. But he didn’t take his eyes off Duke Abaaz.
“I admire your strength of will. I want strong subordinates like you.”
“…But you intend to kill me because I’m too smart?”
“No. I won’t kill you or anything. I just thought it’d be best to make sure you know where you stand - below me. I’m glad that you’ve come here to me. You’re sharp, popular with the people, and even aspire to change this country. You haven’t messed up a single time until now. There are people in this world who are mistaken, though; they think they can do anything they want and have it go well.”
“Are you referring to me?”
Abaaz shook his head. “I never said that. I researched everything about you, but you’ve led a surprisingly clean life. You flatter the nobility and are hated in return. Despite being a commoner, you’ve managed to become a captain through appraising the nobility’s wants. You’re a genius. There’s nothing for me to suspect about you. And yet…”
Abaaz looked behind Miller once more. He felt the knife pull out of his flesh. It appeared that the duke was telling the truth about not killing him.
“I am a man who follows my own principles,” Abaaz said. “And it is one of my principles to not trust people too easily.”
“……”
“I think your plan to crush Marquess Tenglon has been wonderful. You make him and his army look like they’ve gone mad, then use my army to crush them. Then everyone will think that you’re incredibly powerful. You’d be letting the people know that you have the power to take hold of all Roland. And with Prince Kestalus out of the way, with Marquess Tenglon dead, you’ll avoid any unnecessary resistance; the other nobles will keep themselves in check after seeing it, too. Your plan is very interesting. Even so…”
Abaaz made another signal with his hands. This time, the knife plunged into Miller’s stomach.
“Even so, I hate playing parts in other people’s plans. So I say we change the plan a bit. I won’t kill Marquess Tenglon. I’m actually going to save him instead. Then we’ll be able to defeat your army. Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom is one of your subordinates, isn’t he? The monster they call the demon of the battlefield? I know how many times you two have met behind closed doors.”
“……”
“I want to have him die today. I want all of his followers to die, too. If that happens, then I’m certain that this will stop being your plan and become my plan instead. You won’t need to get up to no good anymore if you’re stripped of your power and allies.”
“……”
“Of course it’s possible that you wouldn’t have done anything anyway. That’s fine. If I kill your allies and you still ask me for this favor, then I’ll happily trust you. But I can’t listen to your plea otherwise.”
“……”
“So will you still ask for my help, Rahel Miller?”
“……”
“Will you let me kill your allies in exchange for my help?”
“……”
“Or would you rather die here? Choose, Rahel Miller.”
The nobles glared at Miller with careful, but deep mistrust. The duke was challenging Miller to a clear battle of wits. Who would come out on top? Miller desperately needed to prove that he would.
“…Let’s have Lieutenant Colonel Klom die then,” Miller said. “It’s fine as long as it earns me your trust, my lord duke.”
Abaaz smiled meanly. “This must be difficult for you.”
“Of course. He’s my ally, after all.”
“But you’d still sell him out?”
“I would.”
“Ha, you’re just like the rumors said. You’d betray anyone for a noble.”
“Yes, that is how I am. But I have never before betrayed a noble before.” With that, Miller crouched to the floor to bow properly. “Please, lend me your trust. I will definitely return the favor.”
Abaaz looked down at Miller. His expression was the same as someone looking at a piece of stinking garbage on the side of the road. “Fine. I’ll make good use of you.”
Miller raised his head. “Thank you. Please, allow me to do something for you here and now.”
“What is it?”
“If you allow Marquess Tenglon to live, then we will need to have another culprit replace him… I have put so much effort into this plan until now, and it has come quite far, all for the purpose of taking power from my enemies. If we allow Tenglon to live, then it would be best to shift the plan to another enemy.”
“Who are you thinking?”
“How about Duke Staelied?”
Staelied was the noble with the most power after Abaaz, and they had been in competition for some time now. Abaaz should want him dead. So he looked down at Miller. “That’s fine.”
Miller nodded. He stood, bowed his head once more, then turned his back to Abaaz, to look at the six girls who’d been behind him. They were strong enough to kill Miller, which meant they were also strong enough to kill Abaaz. But they wouldn’t do that. They wanted the power Abaaz granted them, and they might have other reasons, too. So they wouldn’t kill him.
Miller looked at them, but they wouldn’t meet his eyes. They stared right through him, like none of them had any interest in him at all. Miller passed by them and left the estate.
His subordinates who were waiting for him outside with the carriage asked what happened with the knife in his back. Miller didn’t respond. He looked in the direction of the residence he’d granted Sion. Marquess Tenglon’s soldiers were there doing their best to get their master back as they fought Claugh. Abaaz’s army was supposed to come to relieve Claugh. But they wouldn’t. The icing on the cake was that they wouldn’t even kill Tenglon. They’d release him to make Abaaz more favorable to the other nobles.
Miller had already considered that this might be the result of their meeting. That was why he’d been able to quickly suggest an alternate path. If Abaaz wouldn’t kill Tenglon, then he’d stir the coals of a fight between Abaaz and Staelied.
And for that…
“……”
Miller climbed into the carriage.
“Let me tend to your wounds.”
“Later,” Miller said. “Tell the coachman that we’re heading to Duke Staelied’s.”
Stael… er, what about the relief army for Lieutenant Colonel Claugh Klom?”
“It’s not happening. We need to free Marquess Tenglon, too. Be polite when you’re letting him go.”
“Wha, but… but—”
“We’re abandoning Claugh and moving to our back-up plan.”
“But—”
“Shut it. We’ve already started. We can’t stop now,” Miller said. He reached back to pull the knife out. His blood gushed down onto the floor. That shut his subordinates up. “Get this carriage moving.”
His subordinates nodded and conveyed Miller’s orders to the coachman. The horses broke out in a run.
---
Sion got out of the carriage, then looked back. He was enough from the fighting now that he couldn’t see or hear it. But he was sure that it was still going on. But there was nothing there for their enemies to fight them over. Both Sion and Tenglon had left the premise. Now the fighting would continue until Claugh’s entire army was decimated. Well, maybe if Claugh died, the enemy would put their energy into searching for Sion instead.
They needed to end the fighting before that happened. They needed the power to defeat Tenglon.
Sion didn’t have that power now. He didn’t know about what was going on on Miller’s end, but few nobles had agreed to lend Sion their help. But they could still use this whole affair to make the nobility look at him. He needed to give them the image of a prince far more vigorous and able than his siblings.
He’d come here for that purpose.
Calne came out behind him and looked around. “Uwah, is this where I think it is?”
Sion turned to nod. “Yeah, it is.”
“You can’t be planning on trespassing?”
Sion laughed. “We’re entering normally. I mean, isn’t this the best place to show people that I’ve become strong?” He raised his head to look up at the biggest building in all of Roland, which housed the most powerful man in all of Roland - the king. Sion’s father.
Sion had never seen his face. He’d abandoned Sion’s mother before he was born, after all, leaving them to live a hard life. So he’d never wanted to meet his father, either. He’d thought of how much he wanted to kill him, yes, but never wanted to just see him.
However…
“…If I meet with my father, the nobility will change their opinions of me. So…”
This was the fastest way to gain the nobility’s support. That was why he came here to meet the man he least wanted to see in the whole world.
His father wasn’t human, either. He was the man the people most recognized as king, and as such, his body was home to the power of the Hero. He was a monster.
“…I’m going to see him.”
Calne looked confused. “Were you on bad terms with your father, Sir?”
“I’ve never met him before.”
“Wow.”
“But meeting him now should make things a lot better. So I’m going to do it.”
“You don’t think you’ll be killed here?”
Sion shrugged. “Who knows. No one’s managed to kill me yet, so I think I’ll be fine… I mean, I might as well give it a try.”
“What’ll you do about a guard?”
“I don’t need one. There are some delicate feelings between us as father and son, so do you mind waiting here?”
Calne nodded. Sion nodded back, then started to approach the castle. Entering was simple. He was a major general of the Roland army, a hero in the war against Estabul, and a child of the king. No one even questioned if he might have been invited or not.
Someone spoke to him as he headed up the path to the entrance.
“…Delicate feelings between father and son?” Lucile said.
Sion responded without bothering to turn around towards the voice. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“It’s two monsters trying to steal power from each other. And you won’t win.”
“Really?”
“You already know that you won’t, don’t you?”
“But I still need to meet him now.”
“You’ll just be killed, you know?” Lucile said.
Sion stopped, then turned back. Lucile was standing there. “Then protect me,” Sion said.
Lucile shook his head. “The hero has chosen the king, for the time being. So the one I will protect is the king. Not you.”
“You had a rule like that?”
“……”
“I see. Guess I’d better do my best alone then,” Sion said, and continued to walk forward.
“Stop. This is suicide.”
“Maybe.”
“The king can’t think like a human anymore.”
“Okay.”
“If you meet him, he will certainly steal your power and kill you.”
Sion didn’t listen. He just continued to walk forward. “I just need to see him. All I need is to stand by him and be acknowledged as his son. I’ll run before he can kill me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I wonder.”
“It really is.”
“Then—”
Sion couldn’t turn around and couldn’t stop moving forward. But he continued to address Lucile.
“Then if, by chance, I manage to live, I’m going to need you to start respecting me,” Sion said.
With that, Sion continued until he reached the throne room, uninterrupted. He didn’t actually need to be on his guard here. Because he knew that Lucile would protect him. Because he’d never been human in the first place. Because it was so easy to get here.
“……”
Sion gazed at the throne room’s door. This was the king’s domain. Just as soon as he reached out to touch it…
“…I warned you,” Lucile said.
Sion ignored him and pressed his hand to the door. Lucile was already gone by the time it cracked open. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to see the tragedy that would soon happen here, or maybe it was because he really left to stand by the king to protect him. Sion didn’t really care either way. He just pushed the door open slowly.
And on the other side of the door—
