Chapter 3: Remrus EmpireTo go back in time a bit.
The location is the capital of the Remrus Empire—Echran.
The town was filled with life.
In the noisy shopping town, it was overflowing with crowds of people.
Well-maintained, within the streets—no, in the heart of numerous churches within the country, as if built in a circle, the people were gathering at the churches due to it being the weekend, to give praise to the king of the country.
And that,
"... As expected of the greatest superpower within the central continent. But when it comes to countries that seize their people through religion, it"s the first time I"ve seen a country flourish to this extent,"
Luke Stokkart muttered, gazing at the streets.
Still twenty-five, twenty-six, he had long, pure white hair and an eternally smiling, calm face.
Inconspicuously, he inspected the vegetables a stall, while looking around and confirming his surroundings, to which,
"Hey, mister, if you"re not gonna buy anything, then you"re standing in the way, so would you move?"
The shopkeeper said.
In response, Luke put on a frantic appearance, and said,
"Ah, I apologize, I apologize. That the street is so full of people is something that surprised me."
At that, the shopkeeper looked his way. Then, noticing the traveling garb that Luke was wearing,
"Oh, are you a traveler?"
He nodded at the question.
"I"m from the neighbouring country of Hoful and came to find some work away from home... Ah, have you heard of the country of Hoful?"
The shopkeeper shook her head.
"Nope. But it"s one of those, isn"t it? A va.s.sal country of this Remrus Empire?"
At those words, Luke smiled sweetly and corrected her.
"No. It"s one of its allies."
"Ah, did I upset you?"
"No, no, though it"s officially an ally country, the truth is that it is dependent on this country... but at any rate, it"s not doing very well, so I was hoping to find work outside."
While giving out one lie after another, he picked up a vegetable with yellow leaves.
It wasn"t a vegetable found in Roland—no, though it was possibly a fruit—though furthermore he didn"t know of how one would cook this, he held it anyway, and,
"As I need to be frugal with my money, I need to properly cook for myself,"
He said such a thing.
The shopkeeper nodded in admiration with a right, right, and said,
"Mister, even though you"re still young, you"ve got a great mindset, don"t you?"
"Well, though you say that, today"s the first time I"ve thought about cooking."
"Oh dear, that"s bad."
"Isn"t it? In this city, I"ll be making my first real attempt,"
He said, making an uneasy expression, before looking around again.
The shopkeeper spoke.
"It"ll be all right. After all, this town is full of friendly people, y"know? If it comes down to it, you can count on the church. Ah, have you already been to the church? If you end up living in this town, you must meet with the advisors."
Luke nodded at such words.
"The merchant owner who agreed to give me some work said that as well. I"ll meet with them tomorrow."
"I see, I see. That"s good. If you meet properly with the advisors, then it"ll be all right for you to live in this town. You"ll live a happy life here,"
The shopkeeper said.
Luke smiled at that and nodded.
"Then, do you have any cheap vegetables today?"
He asked.
The shopkeeper laughed and said,
"It"s fine, for today only, I"ll do you a service. Pick any ones you like."
Even if she said that, it wasn"t like he knew how to cook any of the vegetables, but at any rate, Luke picked out a few fruit-like objects, and,
"Then, I"ll take advantage of your generous offer, so is it fine even if I take these?"
"What"s this? It"s fine if you don"t hold back and take more, y"know?"
"No, no, if I took so much that I couldn"t finish them, since that"d be an inexcusable waste. If I don"t have enough, I can always come back."
"Hey, hey, the next ones aren"t free, you realize?"
"Aha."
"Geez, you"re just such a likable guy, huh? Well, see you later, then."
"Yes, thank you very much. Then, with this."
"Yes, yes, thank you for your patronage~"
The shopkeeper said.
At that, Luke bowed his head and left the stall.
The shopping town unsurprisingly br.i.m.m.i.n.g with people, everyone had bright faces.
A man and a woman were getting married in one place apparently, a stall elsewhere was selling stylish clothing, a grandchild was being born elsewhere—he overheard that kind of thing.
And the men, women, elderly, and children all laughed.
They laughed with cheerful faces from the bottom of their hearts.
Even though, right now, with this country in the middle of a war with Roland, their brethren continued to drop like flies each day.
Even though, as this country had chosen to conscript its soldiers, their family, children, and neighbours were being sent out to war each day and dying, they laughed peacefully.
Incidentally, based on Luke"s investigation, right now, the greengrocer lady that Luke had spoken no longer had any family left, apparently.
Her two sons and husband had been conscripted and were currently partic.i.p.ating in the war.
No, they likely weren"t in this world anymore.
"......"
Luke looked over his shoulder.
There, his eyes met the shopkeeper"s.
The shopkeeper smiled and waved a hand at him.
Luke waved back, and,
"As I thought, this is clearly..."
He muttered.
Then at the town"s—gazing at the cheerful appearances of the people here, as everyone was so bright that it was unnerving,
"... This is clearly brainwashing magic at work here,"
He said.
Then he looked up at the church at the end of the town.
The church was considerably large, in the shape of a steeple. No matter where one was in the country, they would be able to see that steeple.
And anyone who visited this country absolutely had to visit the church and speak with the advisors, as Luke had been told, though,
"... Now then, it"s the church that"s casting the brainwashing magic, isn"t it?"
Luke considered such a thing.
"Could a large-scale brainwashing magic that covers the entire country exist?"
While saying that, he hit his own head, and then touched his chest. Confirming his pulse with his fingertip, he counted to make sure it was within range of his expectations.
At the very least, right now, it didn"t appear that any sort of unique magic had been used on him. There was nothing strange about his mental condition.
In other words,
"As I thought, the church is suspicious, hmm?"
He said while walking.
The town unsurprisingly filled with life, for some reason, things felt slightly happier there.
Leaving the shopping town, he entered an inn that was somewhat in a back alley.
Unsurprisingly, the inn"s landlord was also upbeat.
Looking at him.
"Will you be staying the night?"
Luke nodded at those words.
"Do you have a room available for two nights?"
"We do. You fine with paying in advance, though?"
"That"s fine."
Luke said, taking out the currency being used in the Remrus Empire from his pocket.
While taking that, the landlord stared at him, and,
"You a traveler?"
Luke nodded at the question.
"From the country of Hoful..."
"Ah~, working away from home, I see. Since this place is cheap, it"s a great place to stay for a kid working away from home until they find a home,"
The landlord said such a thing.
Luke smiled at that, and said,
"It seems so. Looking at other places" pricing, I was also surprised."
The landlord nodded with a right, right.
"Well, since it"s in a back alley, we don"t get a lot of customers, so we gotta keep the price low like this. Even if that weren"t the case, this country doesn"t get a lot of travelers."
"Hoh."
"But it"s a great place to live. Then, will you be looking for a place to work tomorrow?"
"That"s the intention, but I"m not sure where a good place would be?"
At the question, the landlord spoke.
"If that"s the case, you should discuss it with the advisors. Ah, if you don"t know about "em, in the event that you stay here for ten days or more..."
There, Luke interrupted him and spoke.
"I must tell the advisors. That"s how it is, correct? I know."
"Oh, then that"s good. Then, have you already met with the advisors?"
Luke shrugged at that, and,
"No, I just arrived, so... I was thinking about doing it tomorrow,"
He said.
However, that was a lie.
It had already been half a month after he entered the Remrus Empire as a spy.
He"d been investigating first the situation of the town, information on the people living there, the territory, how the country was managed.
And as he moved from town to town, he"d already sent many reports to Roland on how this country"s organization and the shroud covering it were abnormal.
Though he had yet to visit the church—no, though he"d tried sneaking into it, the church"s security was considerably strict, and on top of that, it seemed that from all directions, there was some kind of magic being used to the manipulate the nerves of the people here, and so he had to prepare carefully.
But those preparations had been arranged for tomorrow—no, he planned to sneak in this night.
Staring at him, the landlord spoke.
"In any case, meet with the advisors as soon as possible, all right? If you receive the advisors" guidance, there won"t be any problems."
Luke nodded at that.
"When I left my homeland, I was told by my fellow travelers working away from home to go and see the church at the very beginning."
"That"s right, that"s right. That"s a relief,"
The landlord said, laughing.
Luke also smiled at that, and received the key to the room.
"It"s the innermost room on the second floor."
"Thank you very much."
Giving his thanks to the landlord, he headed towards his room. While affirming the structure of the inn, he arrived at his room.
The room wasn"t locked.
Opening the door that seemed like it"d be easy to break by kicking it open, he entered the room.
It was a small room with a desk, a closet, and a bed.
But he didn"t especially care about the furniture of the room.
He looked towards the window. He checked to see whether he could escape from the window.
Outside the window, it was connected to a narrow alleyway.
It was an alleyway narrow enough that he could jump to the neighbouring building.
But, well,
"... Seems like I can escape, hmm?"
He said, nodding as he placed his belongings on the bed.
Then he also sat down on the bed.
Though the window was open, due to how close the distance between it and the neighbouring building was, not much light entered the room.
As there was no lamp, even though it was still around evening, it was dark within the room.
Amidst that darkness,
"......"
He waited for time to pa.s.s.
The day fell.
It became darker inside the room.
But he still didn"t move.
Because tonight, people weren"t sleeping. That was why he turned on the lamp in his room. Then he took out the vegetables he bought earlier and placed them on the desk.
"... Afterwards, I"ll have to borrow the kitchen and try cooking with these,"
He muttered such a thing.
Following that, he opened the knapsack that carried the rest of his belongings. Supplied with after he entered the capital of the Remrus Empire—Echran, there was a combat uniform that was easy to move in and several knives. The combat uniform was that of the Remrus Empire"s soldier. Furthermore, there was also a rough map of the largest church in Echran, the capital of the Remrus Empire.
Hiding that underneath the bed, he again sat on top of the bed.
He looked outside the window where it was pitch black, and,
"......"
Unsurprisingly, he didn"t move.
He would move when it was past midnight.
At that,
"... Would it be fine to sleep for a bit?"
He said, lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.
However, sleep didn"t come.
Somehow, it seemed that his nerves were too irritable, and so he couldn"t fall asleep.
Regarding that, Luke opened his eyes faintly, and,
"......"
However, as expected, he said nothing.
Instead, he stared at the ceiling above him.
He stared at the plain, empty ceiling of the inn.
There was nothing in the room.
There was nothing in the room.
But.
"......"
But, in this air that was filled with no gaps in it, there were monsters that he couldn"t see with his eyes.
Though they couldn"t be seen by humans, completely filling the air, monsters wriggled around.
For example, the monsters known as G.o.ddesses.
The monster known as the Hero.
The monster known as the Demon.
The monsters known as Priests.
Utterly sneering at the efforts of humans, toying with a person"s fate, with everything dancing about in the palms of their hands.
He held his hand out towards that in the air that couldn"t be seen, and,
"... No, well, though I"ve always been vaguely aware,"
He muttered.
Correct.
Regarding that, he"d already realized it since he was a child.
That some kind of special power, structure was operating in the world—it was influencing everything, wasn"t it?
He"d always thought that sort of thing.
Rather than some obscure feeling, as he"d continued to a.n.a.lyze the reality of things as it acc.u.mulated, he"d reached that conclusion before he knew it.
For example, the Roland Empire—even if one just looked at the existence of such a country, that was something that one would understand.
There was something clearly abnormal about that country.
Like the state of this Remrus Empire, enough that one couldn"t be surprised, that place was also a strange country.
For starters, the n.o.bles" tyranny and corruption went on for so long, and yet continued to hold on to overwhelming military power in the southern continent; it was that sort of reality.
The discontent with the king, who was unanimously nothing but a misgovernment, never turned into action—even if it did, that reformation would never succeed; it was that sort of reality.
And if one were to peruse through the history books of that country, it seemed that it had maintained that state for over hundreds of years.
That recently, Sion Astal had created a revolution, changing the country to the point where it was as if it"d been reborn—though that sort of thing had happened, even that revolution, in truth, was trifling.
After all, Sion was also someone who carried the blood of the royal family.
That meant even now, the country was being ruled by someone of the same blood.
On top of that, for such an abnormally long time as hundreds of years, it"d been ruled by people of the same blood.
Naturally, there"d been several revolutions.
It"d always been a terrible country. Amidst the oppressed people, there"d been competent ones, as well as those who gathered allies and tried to start a revolution.
But each and every time, it ended in failure. For hundreds of years, there"d been countless revolutions, and all of them ended in failure.
And the father of Luke"s superior Rahel Miller was also a revolutionary.
Likely a middle-aged man, he was a revolutionary who probably possessed greater forces.
It was a revolution that should have succeeded, no matter what. Miller"s father was meticulous and reserved his powers for years and months, even getting the primary n.o.bles on his side.
But in the end, they failed.
At the end of it all, it was nothing but tragedy.
Why it failed, no one knew.
Back when Luke first met Rahel Miller, he"d done considerable investigation on the details of what the man"s father did, but even then, he couldn"t figure out why the revolution had been destroyed.
Even though Miller"s father had possessed that degree of power at the time.
And then, there had been something strange about the country.
Everyone thought the country was mad.
Everyone thought the country had to change.
But it didn"t change.
Never thinking that something abnormal, unseen by the human eye was controlling matters, history advanced forward.
That was why Miller had set Sion up as their leader.
If, somehow, there"s some strange curse or requirements needed for the sake of changing this country, let"s start a revolution that fulfills those requirements, and so it wasn"t that Sion Astal was especially needed for the revolution, but they set up someone who was still young and carried the blood of the royal family as leader.
And the result was that the revolution succeeded.
No, the fact that Sion became king meant that there might be some problems with calling it a revolution, but Miller had done it.
But ultimately, that country now, from long ago, continued to be ruled by someone who carried the blood of the king.
And the reason for that was because of the several existences in this world.
G.o.ds—though, in the Roland Empire that had no religion, the existence of such things couldn"t be felt, that some kind of large, inhuman existence was manipulating the reason of the world was something that Luke had always suspected.
And as if to make doubly sure of that,
"......"
Before him, Lieral Lieutolu, a human who had ceased to be a person, appeared.
Luke recalled that moment.
The moment when, appearing before him, Lieral proposed to have a negotation with him.
About the existences of the Hero and the G.o.ddesses and the Priests who"d created them.
Recalling the proposal of discussing how they, as humans, were to oppose such monsters...
"......"
There, he stopped thinking.
And he looked outside the window.
In this inn, located in an alleyway completely as if it were being hidden, there was little noise.
But looking towards that darkness,
"... My, my, it looks like a guest has come,"
Luke muttered.
Then faintly opening his eyes,
"However, I shouldn"t be acquainted with anyone in this country,"
He said, rising.
He looked outside, where the supposed acquaintance was approaching.
Of course, though he"d noticed the presence of the other party, he couldn"t see their manner.
With closed ventilation, he moved to close the window, and while putting on that sort of act, he put his hand on the window.
Then he gazed outside.
As for what he could see from the window, there was no hidden spots in a narrow place like this and so he had a view of everything,
"......"
There was n.o.body else in the alleyway.
Even though he felt someone"s presence, he couldn"t see anything.
In spite of that, that presence was steadily approaching.
Feeling something approach the second-storey window where Luke was—
"It seems that the ventilation will be enough any moment now,"
Luke said, shutting the window.
Like that, he took a step back.
Then he stared at the window.
If something, by any chance, were approaching.
And if they were to smash through the window, he"d be able to deal with them.
If they were to strike the window with that sort of tangibility, he"d be able to fight with them.
If they were using some kind of spell in this country such that their figure couldn"t be seen, or if they possessed a Rhule Fragmei with that kind of ability.
Either way, if the opponent were an ordinary human, then there were means of dealing with them.
But,
"... But here is a country ruled by a monster of some unknown nature called G.o.d, isn"t it?"
He muttered in a slightly troubled voice.
During that time, the presence steadily approached.
That was why he took another step back, concentrating on the window.
And taking the Latsel Thread out of his pocket, he unleashed it around him. Extending indefinitely, unable to be cut, this thread that possessed those abilities was cast from the front of the window frame as if being suspended.
If the other party was tangible, this thread would also be effective.
Confining the enemy with the thread, he set up an attack in that s.p.a.ce...
But then,
"Ah, this is bad,"
Luke groaned.
As expected, the presence was approaching.
No, already, it wasn"t simply a presence, but rather one could call it killing intent that was approaching before Luke"s eyes.
Easily cast from the window, the Latsel Thread wasn"t coming into contact with anything at all, as "that" which couldn"t be seen was getting closer to Luke inside his room.
"d.a.m.n it, as I thought, it"s an intangible enemy?"
Luke said, taking another step back as he opened the room door.
And he fled outside.
The presence chasing from behind him, Luke didn"t look back and barged into the neighbouring room on the second floor.
Kicking through the window, he exited to the outside.
As he kicked the opposite building"s wall, he dropped into the alleyway and began running.
Unsurprisingly, the presence continued to chase him from behind.
No, the presence was no longer from behind.
It felt as if it were bursting out from all around him in every place.
That killing intent—no, that malice began to surround Luke.
"... This is my bad, hmm? Having my whereabouts discovered so easily by the enemy disqualifies me as a spy, doesn"t it? Captain Milk will be angry about this."
While muttering such things, he ran.
He turned through numerous alleyways.
To escape without trouble, as much as possible, as much as possible, he chose the paths without signs of people and so pressed forward.
However, each time, the presence grew.
As much as he ran, the surrounding presence grew.
Even so, he, without hesitating, ran through the streets.
The reason was that, with the location of the presence that he felt combined with the map of the streets that was forming inside his head, he"d noticed a path through which he could properly escape.
The presence"s movements weren"t especially quick.
Furthermore, the way that the presence was growing in itself seemed to be systematic, and if so,
"I should be able to es..."
But then,
"My mistake,"
He groaned, frowning.
Because he just noticed it.
Because he just noticed that, in the map that spread across his mind, the destination to which he was running right now was the church.
It seemed that the presence chasing him from behind was delivering Luke personally to the church.
At that, Luke stopped running, and,
"Why did I make this sort of error?"
He said in a tone as if he were disgusted with himself.
Unsurprisingly, the presence approached.
Many, many unseen presences approached.
It was likely no longer possible to escape. Moreover, aside from the path to the church, the presence was overflowing from every place.
"This truly is my bad,"
He muttered.
"No, well, it seems as if I"m being guided by some hand to go to the church, though. At any rate, tonight, I"ve been given permission to intrude,"
He muttered.
"But to go out of their way to have me see the church, that means that even if I were captured by this presence, they"re unable to brainwash me, aren"t they? It seems that I can consider that possibility. No, though I likely can"t indulge this sort of wishful thinking... Well, like this, there"s a decent chance that I"ll be ambushed there..."
Just then, the presence caught up with Luke.
As if completely wrapping around his mind, something like a clear lump of malice swooped down.
< don"t="" resist.="">>
Suddenly, a voice echoed.
Inside his head, as if directly descending upon him, was a voice.
Luke narrowed his eyes at that, and,
"Ah~, as I thought, it"s brainwashing magic...?"
He muttered.
However, ignoring that, the voice continued to resound.
< go="" to="" the="" church.="" there,="" you"ll="" find="" salvation.="">>
At the same time as the voice spoke, Luke"s body began to move on its own.
Even though he gave them no such orders, both of his hands and feet moved on their own and began to walk.
"......"
He looked down at his own body. And regarding his hands and legs that were moving on their own, he gave a separate command.
Don"t react to any signals from the brain, he ordered.
With that, his body"s movements ceased. No, if he didn"t continue to give out that order, his body would begin moving again, but,
"This level of brainwashing magic is no different from what a human would use, and so I can deal with it... but they"re certainly earnest about having me go to the church, aren"t they?"
Luke said.
Regarding those words, there was a response. But rather than the voice descending in his mind, it was a human"s voice that responded.
Diagonal from Luke, from inside a private home,
"Considering your standing as a human, you"re being quite stubborn, huh?"
A man"s voice spoke.
As Luke looked towards the source, a lone man stepped out of the house.
It was a middle-aged man with a beard.
That man looked his way, and,
"Who are you? Why isn"t the brainwashing magic working?"
He said such a thing.
Luke was about to answer, but then, from behind him,
"Well, it doesn"t matter who you are. After all, in the end, you"ll become another one of my devotees... and at our own leisure, we"ll investigate your brain,"
A woman"s voice sounded out, as Luke turned around.
There, a street stall lady was staring at him. Somehow, it appeared at the words just now were this woman"s.
Furthermore, a child walking to his side looked at him, and said,
"Then, shall we end this already?"
And then,
"Let"s punish the heretic,"
The mother leading the child said.
And she laughed.
The mother laughed.
"Ahahahahahahahaha."
The child laughed.
"Ahahahahahahahaha."
The middle-aged man from the house laughed.
"Ahahahahahahahaha."
And by then, as if the entire population of the street had gathered there, there were hundreds of people surrounding him, laughing madly. Laughing. Laughing.
And,
< capture="" him.="">>
At the same time that the voice descended, those hundreds of people rushed in at once.
Looking around at that,
"How remarkable..."
Luke said in a voice of admiration.
"Rather than brainwashing to have them pledge loyalty, it"s actually manipulating the entire country...? Certainly, this by far surpa.s.ses the level of magic that a human could use..."
While saying that, he released the Latsel Thread towards a building wall.
The thread twined around part of the wall"s plumbing.
Pulling on the thread, he raised his body into the air, but,
< don"t="" move.="">>
The voice descended.
His body reacted to that. His brain, in response to the voice, was about to stop moving, to which,
"... Don"t listen to the voice. Move your arm,"
Luke ordered his body, in an attempt to defy the brainwashing magic cast by that voice.
Then, his arm that had begun to lose its strength again hardened its will. Pulling on the thread like that, he kicked the ground and jumped.
And leaping away from the flock of people who"d rushed at him, he moved up the four-storey building. Climbing further up, he moved onto the roof.
During that time, more people gathered. Already, hundreds of people were glaring at Luke, and,
"Capture him!"
"Capture him!"
While chanting that, they filled up the ground, and one by one, they started climbing up after him.
Luke looked down at that.
He stared at the crowd that had gathered. Then again, he formed a map inside his head.
He thought about whether or not he could escape from the roof, and things like that.
But it was an obvious matter.
"... If everyone in this town is my enemy, then escape truly is impossible, isn"t it?"
He said in a troubled voice.
No matter which route he escaped from, he would undoubtedly be caught. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of people in this town.
He wouldn"t be able to disorient all of the eyes on him and flee, and even if he did somehow find a way to leave this town, he would still be in Remrus Empire territory.
Somewhere, along the way, he"d definitely be caught.
At any rate,
"... There"s an almighty G.o.d watching from the sky, isn"t there?"
He said, looking up at the sky, but that almighty G.o.d was no longer responding.
In its stead, the humans that had been brainwashed by that G.o.d had reached where Luke was.
And they grabbed his arm.
They grabbed his legs.
They pinned his body to the ground.
Like that, they raised their fists and hit him with all their strength.
"Gah—"
He groaned.
Then, at that, again a voice descended from the sky.
< ah,="" sor~ry,="" that="" didn"t="" knock="" you="" out="" very="" well...="" nooo,="" manipulating="" so="" many="" humans="" in="" itself="" is="" difficult,="" you="" know.="" the="" next="" one="" should="" do="" the="" trick.="">>
As it said such a thing, Luke again looked up at the night sky.
Looking up at the cloudless, pretty sky full of stars,
"... Ha, you"re quite a casual G.o.d, aren"t you?"
He said, as again a fist rained down on him.
"Guh—"
At that, Luke felt his consciousness escape for a moment.
But he wasn"t able to fall unconscious.
Again the voice spoke.
< ahahahahaha,="" another="" failure.="" if="" you"re="" accidentally="" killed="" by="" any="" chance,="" then="" sorry="" about="" that.="">>
It said, as again fists swung down at him.
Fists swung down at him.
Again, and again, and again, fists swung down at him.
And gradually, his consciousness began to fade.
The landscape distorting, steadily, steadily, he felt himself sink into darkness.
As darkness filled his entire line of sight, he felt himself lose consciousness and be pulled into a dream.
And in that dream, he continued his recollection from back then, atop the inn bed.
That was the memory of when, in the Roland Empire, Lieral Lieutolu had proposed a deal to him.
A memory of when he"d made a deal with the human who"d stopped being human.
That, Luke remembered.
♦
It"d already been several months since he made the deal with Lieral Lieutolu.
It was in the place where the n.o.bles of the Roland Empire dwelled.
Having lost its head due to Miran Froaude"s purge, it was the room of a n.o.ble"s mansion that was now abandoned—
"........."
With the Latsel thread, Luke had cut off Duke Lieral Lieutolu"s head.
Furthermore, in one part of his chest, he"d stabbed him with a knife coated in poison.
However, in spite of that, Lieral didn"t die.
As if he found the situation funny, Lieral"s body shrugged, before picking up his head and placing it back on.
However, then, beneath Lieral"s feet, the trap that had been placed there beforehand activated.
A magic circle glowed, and from within its center a ball of fire was formed, before exploding. Lieral"s left leg was blown off. Furthermore, a trap surrounding Lieral exploded as if in a chain, setting his entire body on fire; however, in the center of the fire, Lieral spoke.
"... Wow, impressive, impressive. What"s impressive, though, is that even though you know it"s futile, you keep meticulously laying traps like this each and every time. How many times have you attacked me like this by now?"
To that, Luke replied,
"Eight times."
"I see. It"s already reached that many? Don"t you think you"re being a little too stubborn?"
"The fact that you won"t die is a problem."
"Eh, it"s my fault? I hadn"t realized,"
Lieral said, smiling cheerfully.
However, to that, Luke frowned with a troubled expression as he looked at him.
"The knife was of no use. The poison was of no use. The magic was of no use. Burning was of no use. Drowning was of no use—with all these tests, as one would expect, I"m getting worn out by this point."
At those words, again Lieral smiled.
"To try all that against me, you"re a complete monster."
"I don"t want to be told that by a genuine monster."
"No, no, I"m truly afraid of you. Anyhow, wherever I go, traps have been laid out. It seems that someone is trailing me...?"
To that kind of question, Luke replied,
"I was merely following your traces. Or rather, you"ve been testing me, haven"t you? Even though you could"ve killed me in an instant, you"ve overlooked me each time, and furthermore, you"ve always left only enough traces for me to notice. But I"ve already grown tired of this farce, so would you tell me what your aim is?"
Lieral stared at him with a slightly surprised expression.
"My, my, have I been exposed?"
To those words, Luke spoke in a frustrated tone.
"I realized it from the beginning."
"No way~"
"Would you stop this farce already?"
Again, Lieral laughed, after which he nodded.
"Well, after seeing your true skill, I think it"ll be fine to end this."
Staring at Lieral, Luke spoke.
"I"m glad to hear that. So, what are you after? Though you claimed that you weren"t human, what use would you have for me, someone who barely surpa.s.ses an ordinary human at best?"
"No, I think that I can find quite a bit of use for you."
"What is it about me?"
"Aren"t there plenty of things you want to ask me? If you have a sharp mind, you should have questions about this country."
At that, Luke made a thoughtful expression, before he spoke.
"I"d have to think about which questions to ask."
Lieral smiled.
"Ah, well, this country has many secrets, doesn"t it? Then, I"d like to ask something in return. Do you like the current king?"
At that, Luke stared at Lieral and asked,
"Are you talking about Sion-san?"
"That"s right."
"I like him?"
"Then, do you believe in him?"
To that question, Luke answered,
"No, I don"t believe in anyone."
To that, Lieral grinned broadly and said,
"Then why do you serve Sion Astal?"
"Because isn"t that the best thing to do in this situation?"
"Then, if Sion Astal were to be same as the past kings, if he were to become strange, what would you do?"
"Kill him."
"Said so easily, huh?"
"I will do what"s necessary when it"s necessary—if it were Miller-senpai, I believe he"d say that... Ah, if I recall correctly, you"re acquainted with Miller-senpai, are you not?"
"Yeah. From quite a long time ago, though. The one who gave him the clue to his success was me."
"Hmm. However, if you have such a good relationship, then why aren"t you making a deal with Miller-senpai? He"s far superior to me."
"I wonder. He has too much of a human heart, after all."
"And I"m not?"
Lieral looked at him with a cheerful expression and,
"Do you think you are?"
He said.
"Do you really have any humanity remaining? That white hair is from a military experiment, isn"t it? With a magic circle embedded into your brain, you possess high intelligence. In return, you should"ve lost your emotions. "
"........."
"Your brain is no longer capable of producing complex emotions. You can"t love others, you can"t cry tears of sorrow. You can only observe the facts as they acc.u.mulates. You can only make judgment on what exists."
"........."
"Though earlier, when you made a tedious expression, when you made an irritated expression, you weren"t truly feeling anything, were you? As your mind has been torn apart, without any true significance..."
However, then,
"... I know best about myself, without needing you to explain anything,"
Luke said.
Then pointing to his head,
"But it"s not quite that I feel nothing. Certainly, through only the acc.u.mulation of facts, I cannot judge everything, but... with this acc.u.mulation, emotions can be produced. In that way, I"m capable of considering which expression to create and which tone to speak in."
"But in the end, you don"t feel anything, do you?"
"........."
"That"s why I chose you. You"re the same as me, a human who exists outside of the normal framework. And yet, you long to be human. You like Claugh Klom, don"t you? You like Milk Callaud. Why is that? Because they possess what you don"t. Because they possess the deep emotions that you don"t... you stay close to them."
At those words, Luke stared at Lieral not with his typical calm expression, but one devoid of emotions, as he spoke.
"... Since when have you been observing me?"
Lieral gave forth an incredulous answer.
"Since about ten years ago, give or take."
"... That"s my mistake. You"ve always been observing me to see if I could be of any use?"
"You seemed like you could come in handy, after all."
At those words, Luke looked around Lieral. He searched for some sort of means to kill them.
But as expected, there was nothing that he could use, and so Luke said in a fed up tone that he constructed,
"Would it be all right if we discussed one thing?"
Lieral replied,
"What is it?"
"Right now, I possess the intent to kill you."
"Heh."
"Moreover, the truth of the matter is that affection towards Captain Milk and Claugh does exist inside of me."
"Right."
"Don"t you think that counts as emotion?"
To that question, Lieral easily nodded, and,
"That"s what I think."
"And yet I don"t have a human heart?"
To that, while smiling, Lieral spread out both arms and spoke.
"I, for the sake of my son—I sacrificed my wife and the world. In order to save my son, nothing else in this world mattered. Because of the love I have for my son, I no longer make proper judgments. But for you, it"s different, isn"t it? Claugh Klom and Milk Callaud—if it was necessary, you would easily kill them, isn"t that right?"
"........."
"Even Rahel Miller isn"t like that. He has a wife and child. Surely, for the sake of his family, he"d sell out the world. He"s a sharp man, but to the very end, he"s weak. No, that"s why he"s strong, to put it in another way. But at any rate, to the very end, humans will prioritize their love. Because they"re weak. Because they"re strong. That"s how humans are, I believe."
"........."
"But you"re not like that. Because you accept nothing but the truth. Because you don"t have emotions, if you deem it necessary, you"re able to move forward on the path you"ve chosen without hesitation."
"........."
"That"s why I chose you. As you"re someone who no longer possesses human emotions and yet who tries so hard to imitate humans, who yearns to be with humans, I wanted to make a deal with you—"
"........."
"Now, shall we end this long talk? More importantly, there are a few requests I"d like to ask of you..."
In response, Luke stared at Lieral and spoke.
"Is there any merit in listening to your requests?"
Nodding as if it were obvious, Lieral spoke.
"Of course. I"ll tell you several things about the state of this country—no, the state of this world. Then, I"ll tell you how to undo the brainwashing magic that"s been cast on you."
At those words, Luke narrowed his eyes.
"Brainwashing magic?"
"Yeah. Well, since you"re clever, I think you"ve probably noticed, but you"re being brainwashed by Milk Callaud, you know?"
"........."
"No, because you"re aware of that, you"ve been by Milk Callaud"s side. Because you noticed that she was special. Because you noticed that she"s been unconsciously releasing a deceptive magic to the humans surrounding her."
"........."
"That"s why I said that you don"t have emotions. Though you say that you possess affection towards Milk Callaud, you ultimately stayed by her side because it was necessary. Because you deemed her to be at the heart of this country, you stayed by her side..."
He began, but then, Luke said,
"Like I said, if it"s an explanation about me..."
"There"s no need?"
"Correct. Let"s quickly move on with the deal,"
Luke said.
Then, again constructing a peaceful, smiling face,
"So, you"ll tell me a means of undoing the brainwashing over me?"
At that, Lieral nodded.
"Yeah. But before that, it"s necessary to talk about this world. It"s necessary to talk about the monsters that created humans."
Then Lieral started talking about the existences of the Hero, G.o.ddesses, and the Priests who created them.
But right now, that wasn"t important.
What was needed was what he heard back then: the means of undoing the brainwashing magic.
Inside his head.
Inside his heart.
The means of removing the curse deep inside of him.
That was what he remembered.
Because of the G.o.ds.
He remembered how to undo the curse placed there because of those monsters—
♦
"........."
Luke opened his eyes.
Though he didn"t know how long he"d been unconscious, right now, the place that he was in was the center of a large room.
In that room, there was stand with countless beds, with several humans sleeping on top.
As it seemed that he was the only one who"d awakened, even with this many humans present, he couldn"t hear their sleeping breath.
Though he tried to look around, it seemed that his body"s movements were sluggish.
It was an unpleasant feeling as if he were trying to move through mud.
And in his head, a voice echoed.
It wasn"t something that could be heard from outside.
From deep within his own mind, a voice echoed.
< you="" are="" my="" ent.i.ty,="" my="" body,="" my="" ent.i.ty,="" my="" body.="" blessed,="" here="" is="" blessed,="" be="" troubled="" by="" nothing="" anymore.="" be="" troubled="" by="" nothing="" anymore.="" instead,="" listen="" to="" my="" voice.="" the="" reason="" you="" were="" born,="" the="" meaning="" of="" your="" life="" is="" to="" devote="" yourself="" to="" G.o.d"s="" voice.="" you="" are="" my="" ent.i.ty,="" my="" body,="" my="" ent.i.ty...="">>
The voice continued to ring endlessly.
In that time, his body was heavy, heavy, as he could barely will himself to move.
However, in defiance, Luke lifted his hand. Rolling up his sleeve, he could see that part of the skin had been torn as if by nails.
From there, a needle came out. Concealed beneath the skin, an ordinary needle came out, and with that needle,
"... Hmm."
He stabbed the side of his head.
Piercing through the skin, he stabbed the joint of his skull.
Lieral said that that was the part that induced one to listen to G.o.d"s voice.
So that Humans would listen to them, the G.o.ddesses created that part.
And there, he gouged out with the needle.
At that moment, the voice in his head easily vanished.
"... All right,"
Luke said, nodding.
Confirming that his body had been freed, he stood up.
And then he looked around.
He was in a large room with a high ceiling, and after confirming, the structure, he concluded that he was likely in the church.
Staring at the interior of the church,
"... Now then, I"ve succeeded in infiltrating as planned..."
However, just then, there was a voice.
Arising inside of his head was a voice.
Even though the brainwashing should"ve been undone, again inside his head, a voice echoed.
That voice—
< luke.="">>
It called his name.
However, it was a separate voice, different from before.
A separate G.o.d"s voice.
< luke="" stokkart.="">>
It called out.
It was a female"s.
A sweet, pretty female voice.
Milk Callaud"s voice.
That voice spoke.
< luke="" stokkart.="" stay="" with="" me.="">>
That voice spoke.
< always="" stay="" with="" me.="">>
As if it were sending a suggestion to him, it repeated that.
And to that,
"........."
Luke looked down at the needle that he held in his hand.
Then again, he remembered Lieral"s words.
Lieral had said this.
"With this, you"ll be able to resist the voice of monsters—although, you won"t be brainwashed only if the other party can"t manage it. But if it"s you... if it"s your eternally calm self, then perhaps like me, you won"t stray from your path. Perhaps, to escape the curse of the G.o.ddesses and the Hero, you"ll seek the correct path to amend this world..."
He"d said that kind of thing.
To that,
"Why would a madman like you, in the end, depend on someone else?"
Luke had complained, to which Lieral had merely smiled sadly and disappeared.
And of that sad expression,
"........."
Luke was jealous.
Driven mad by love, rising to such levels, easily straying from the correct path, like any other human—he was jealous of Lieral Lieutolu.
Because he couldn"t be like that.
Because, as he"d lost his emotions and his framework had already been disconnected from humanity, he couldn"t be like that.
"........."
That was why Luke stared at the needle.
He stared at the needle he held in his hand.
If he used it, then making the voice echoing inside his head—Milk Callaud"s voice—disappear would be simple.
He already knew how, if he pierced the proper part of his brain, to make that voice disappear.
He was being brainwashed.
He was being brainwashed by Milk Callaud.
And furthermore, he was aware of that.
From the moment they"d met, he"d been aware of that.
That was why he"d always been with her.
After all, she was special.
From here on, in the Roland Empire, she was a needed human—no, because of that fact.
That was why he"d acted alongside her.
If it was necessary to kill her—if it was necessary, he could cut her down.
One could say that he"d stayed with her only to make use of her.
He couldn"t create emotions like affection or compa.s.sion. That part of his brain had been destroyed.
And moreover, he"d obtained the means of escaping Milk"s curse.
< luke.="" please="" stay="" with="" me.="">>
He"d obtained the means of undoing her brainwashing.
< luke.="">>
It was obvious that he should undo the brainwashing.
He should do what was necessary when it was necessary. Therefore, he should undo the brainwashing.
< luke.="" please="" stay="" with="" me...="">>
However, to Milk"s voice, he smiled.
And he casually threw away the needle.
"... No, no, Lieral-san, I"m sorry to say that I"m still a human who possesses emotions,"
He cheerfully murmured.
And again, the voice in his head said,
< luke.="">>
To that voice,
"... Ah~ yes, yes, Captain, please just wait a little longer,"
He said in a cheerful voice that he constructed.
"Once I find a way to bring down the Remrus Empire, I"ll return immediately."
And as he stepped down from the stand, alone in the church, he began to advance forward.
♦
♦
♦
Some time later.
The place was on a road northeast of the Remrus Empire.
On that road, galloping towards the Remrus Empire on horses,
"Why~ the h.e.l.l do we have to go and save Ryner, huh?"
Zohra Rom complained.
Brown hair, strong and compet.i.tive blue eyes.
Dressed in the vermillion combat uniform that only the elites of the Azure Princess Mercenaries were allowed to wear, with the emblem of a bird about to take flight on his chest.
If one saw that armed figure was on a horse, running towards another country, that country"s soldiers would immediately begin chasing him; however, he didn’t seem to care about the situation at all, and,
"Though the Princess is always going easy on Ryner, what do you think, stupid brat?"
He said such a thing.
And then, with an irritated expression, Zohra looked over to the idiot on the horse running parallel to his.
At his side was a man unsurprisingly like him, dressed in the uniform of the Azure Princess Mercenaries, on a running horse.
Peria Peruula.
Golden hair rested on his shoulders in a smooth talker’s hairstyle, always seeming like he was putting on airs, and a face with closed eyes.
That face looked over at him, and said,
"Who’s the stupid brat?"
"It’s definitely someone here."
To that, Peria looked around with a restless face, and then,
"Ah, it"s Zohra?"
"I’ll kill you."
"The one who rushed forward was you, Zohra, wasn"t it?
"Well, fine. More importantly, answer the question, stupid brat."
"What is it, moronic brat?"
"a.s.shole."
"Now, don’t immediately move to throw that knife at me. Even if that weren"t so, you keep making your horse run at full force and it"s getting tired, so stop pointlessly using up your energy,"
He said, and certainly, for the last two days, they"d been running their horses at full force, with the fatigue starting to wear down at them.
"Then answer my question, Peria!"
Zohra said, compromising and calling the idiot"s name.
To that, Peria replied,
"You mean how Pia’s too nice to Ryner?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Well, definitely. But it"s not as if I can"t understand how she feels. After all, she, Ryner, and I trained together at the same place, so we’re childhood friends. You"re different, Zohra. You don’t have that kind of deep bond, do you?"
"Ah? If you"re talking like that, are you trying to pick a fight?"
Peria cheerfully continued,
"And so, seeing as how, with the bond between Pia and me, there"s no room for you, Zohra, you should just give up already and stop trying to appeal yourself to Pia..."
Before that idiot could finish that nonsense, Zohra threw his knife.
At an incredible speed, that knife flew towards Peria’s neck.
"Like I said, stop throwing your knives right away."
However, Peria easily caught the knife.
At that, Zohra glared at Peria, and like that,
"It"s because you keep spouting out c.r.a.p, a.s.shole,"
He said, to which Peria shrugged.
"It’s the truth, so it can’t be helped?"
"How the h.e.l.l is that the truth? You’re not at all close with the Princess, don’t you think?"
"That’s not true. Pia is always saying that she likes me."
"She tells me that too! The other day, she said something like, "Zohra, you"re cute, you know that?", you know!"
"Eh... ah, b-but she said that she was at peace when she was with me!"
"What!? N-No, she told me that too."
"That"s a liiiiiiie."
"It’s not a lie! Geez, the Princess is always consulting with me about stuff like, "Peria is always such a nuisance, huh?"..."
He began, but suddenly, Peria threw the knife at him with all his strength.
"Uwa—"
Zohra said, catching it. And then, while throwing the knife back,
"What the h.e.l.l are you doing!?"
He shouted, as Peria caught the knife, and,
"That’s my line!"
He said, throwing the knife back again.
Like that, the two of them continued to throw the knife back and forth at each other.
Again and again, they continued to throw the knife back and forth.
If it were like the usual, Pia would come and stop them, but right now, Pia wasn’t here, and so the knife continued to be exchanged without limit, as it made about a hundred round trips.
"Geez, enough!"
Peria groaned, putting the knife away in his pocket.
At that, Zohra, while panting for breath,
"Oh, are you admitting defeat? So it’s my victory?"
He said, to which Peria looked his way with an astonished expression.
"........."
However, ignoring him, he said nothing.
Regarding that,
"You’re p.i.s.sing me off with that."
Zohra said, but Peria then blatantly ignored him and looked the opposite direction, and,
"Weeeirdo."
He said, firing off that word, and then stopped. And he also looked the other way.
From the beginning, the two had a bad relationship. He hated that an idiot like him was always by Pia"s side. Why do I have to work with a guy like him, Zohra continued to sulk over.
Thus, while turning his face away, he took a thin sheet of paper out of his pocket.
It was a letter delivered from Vois Fiurelle to Pia.
Zohra read that letter again.
Something like this was written.
"Iyaa, iyaa, Queen-sama, how are you doing? This is Vois Fiurelle who, because of the wild idea of being stepped on by the beautiful Pia-san, hasn"t been able to concentrate.
Though this is a letter for the sake of transmitting my hot feelings towards you on this paper, before that, let’s please talk about work for a bit.
The truth is that we"re have just a few problems here in the People"s Republic of Sph.e.l.liyet, and so I"ll be reporting them.
First:
Ryner-san has been kidnapped by the Remrus Empire~ ☆
Second:
We were visited by a gloomy, black-haired Princess-Cut-kun from the Roland Empire, and, well, though we"ve been working hard to keep him confined, it seems that nevertheless, the absence of the Demon King has been revealed to the world.
Third:
But because of this, we haven"t sent out a rescue team for Ryner-san.
Fourth:
And so, please take care of Ryner-san.
Well, that’s enough about such trivial matters, so I pray our next encounter comes soon~; though I want to say that, unfortunately I"m a bit busy with cleaning up after Princess-Cut-kun, so that was impolite of me~.
From G.o.ddess Princess-sama’s slave ♡ Vois Fiurelle"
As he read such a stupid letter, Zohra frowned.
"Whyyyy the h.e.l.l are we listening to the wishes of this d.a.m.n brat?"
He said, wanting to scrunch up the paper and throw it away, but since the fact that Ryner wasn"t in the People"s Republic of Sph.e.l.liyet was something that couldn"t be leaked to the outside world, so regarding that letter that he wanted to toss,
"Ah, d.a.m.n it,"
He said, unhappily putting it back in his pocket.
Then, looking over to Peria who was facing the other way,
"So, why does the Princess goes easy on Ryner like that?"
He said, as Peria looked over at him.
"What"s this? Weren"t we fighting?"
"Who cares?"
"Geez~. Anyway, that topic"s what started it."
"Y"know, Ryner’s att.i.tude also annoys me in general. No matter how much you called him, he didn"t come at all, and now that he"s shown up after all that time, he"s just as pathetic as he was back then, huh?"
Peria smiled wryly at that, and,
"Well, from the start, Ryner was always Timid-kun, after all."
"And now that he’s been kidnapped, we have to go and save him? Haa? I just wanna say to him, "What are you, some kinda princess!?"!?"
At those words, Peria laughed.
"Ryner is like a princess."
"I already decided from the beginning that Pia is my only Princess."
"Mine as well."
"Then, that’s that. Let"s stop with this rescue mission? This sucks... it’ll still take about another two days before we reach the Remrus Empire."
Peria smiled at that, and,
"Good idea. I"ve been sitting on this horse for a bit too long, so my b.u.t.t"s starting to hurt."
"Ah, mine too, mine too."
"Oh, this is rare. Then, are we really stopping?"
Peria said.
To that,
"Let’s do it?"
Zohra said, nodding.
And so, as the two’s opinion matched completely,
"........."
However, the two of them didn’t stop their horses.
Instead, they continued galloping forward at an abnormal speed down the center of the road.
Furthermore, up ahead, several armed soldiers had become visible. Finally, the presences of those two were revealed to the country"s security.
There was no way they wouldn"t see them, as they loudly galloped ahead without any attempt to hide themselves.
Looking at those soldiers whom they were ambushing,
"... Not stopping?"
Zohra said, to which Peria smiled and spoke.
"Aren’t you?"
"No, see, unlike you, it"s one of my rules to never betray a comrade."
"Haha, me too."
"No, you have a traitor’s face."
"Eh~, what does that kind of face look like?"
"Like yours."
"But I don"t want one... ah, Zohra, by the way, there are forty enemy soldiers."
Peria suddenly said that.
They were still at a distance where it should"ve been impossible to identify the number of soldiers, but Peria easily said that.
But regarding that,
"Got it,"
Zohra said, believing in that.
After all, Peria was someone with the All Enchantment ability.
After all, he was a victim of the experiments that the previous Roland Empire carried out.
In return for losing his sight, hearing, and sense of touch, he could feel things over a wide area that others normally wouldn"t be able to sense, thanks to a special magic circle engraved into his brain.
That was why he could see the number of enemy soldiers just now. He was able to sense what the the enemy soldiers were armed with.
And so, after Zohra nodded at that,
"Are they on horses?"
He asked, to which, with closed eyes, Peria said,
"They are."
"Then, let’s steal their horses and move on. This one"s already exhausted."
"Sure thing."
"By the way, regardless of what happens to you, I won"t be paying attention.&qu