Episode 30

Brink’s squad advanced through the slums to find the cause of the anomaly.

“Colonel, the monsters have stopped appearing entirely…”

“So it seems. At the very least, I don’t sense any presence.”

They’d been subjugating monsters nonstop, but now there wasn’t even contact. Something must have changed.

“Maybe their numbers are limited. Everyone, don’t let your guard down.”

At Brink’s order the knights tightened up—and seeing them, Van also straightened with tension. Watching the order’s well-drilled movements up close left him overwhelmed.

They reached the back of the slums. There lay an open lot that looked fit for gatherings—and within sight was a bizarre scene that seemed to be the cause of the anomaly.

“What… is this?”

Van was so shocked he was at a loss for words.

A magic circle was carved into the ground, about three meters in radius. Surrounding the circle were antique-looking stones, as if they were curios.

“So these are the residents you mentioned earlier…”

From the antique stones, etched patterns ran outward—at the end of those lines, the slum residents lay piled on top of one another. Their numbers were considerable.

“The ‘necessary mana’ that robed guy talked about was…”

“Most likely stored in those stones. They siphoned the people’s mana into the stones and used it to activate and maintain the circle.”

At present the magic circle had lost its light and seemed to have no effect.

“Why… would they do this?”

“To summon monsters, obviously.”

Zeke dropped down from somewhere and landed. The sudden entrance startled the knights and Van.

“You’re the guy from before—!? And what do you mean, ‘summon monsters’?”

“Are you stupid? You can’t even read a magic circle?”

“Say that again!?”

Zeke spat the words like he couldn’t be bothered. In his cold eyes, only the circle seemed to exist.

“Hey… more importantly, why are you in the capital? Do you recognize those gaudy stones?”

“—? I’m here helping with peddling. I’ve never seen those stones.”

“Truly hopeless.”

Zeke muttered.

“Damn it, we’ve gotta do something fast or more monsters will show up, right?”

“Quit yapping. It won’t activate… for now.”

In contrast to the flustered Van, Zeke was perfectly calm.

“If you know something then tell me… No, I still don’t get it. What’s their goal?”

“You don’t need to know,” he cut him off, as if Van weren’t worth addressing.

“…Please tell me this: do the same things exist elsewhere in the capital?”

“Hmph. I cleaned up the others in place of you incompetents. That captain—Strohk, was it—also smashed one. This is the last.”

It was an offhand remark, but to the knights it was shocking—Zeke had already handled multiple sources of the anomaly on his own.

“Then we just break those stones and we’re good, right?”

“That was enough for the others. But here, we’ve got that.”

Zeke indicated the slum residents.

“Don’t tell me… they’re still breathing!? Then we have to help them!”

“Idiot. They can’t be saved. They’ve been drained to the brink; if they recover a little, it starts again.”

According to Zeke, sigils had been inscribed into the people via the circle and stones. Destroying the circle or the stones would directly result in their deaths.

“So they stored mana here and then deployed it elsewhere… and that man was the lookout.”

Brink calmly analyzed the situation, but Van couldn’t hide his agitation.

“If I’d just gotten here sooner, this wouldn’t have—”

“Boy, this operation is on a massive scale. No matter how fast you came, the result wouldn’t change. This failure is on the order.”

Van clenched his fists, anguish on his face, crushed by helplessness.

“Enough of this farce. Let’s finish it.”

Zeke raised his hand toward the circle. He meant to erase it with magic.

“—! What are you doing! If you break the circle or the stones, those people will die!”

“So what? Leave it, and monsters keep spawning.”

“Wait! There’s got to be—something we can do!”

Van stepped in front of Zeke to shield the circle, desperate to stop him.

“They’ll be drained until they die. That mana will spawn more monsters, and they’ll rampage as they please. What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”

“Even so, that’s too cruel!”

“Everything you’re doing is pointless.”

If they dealt with the circle, the people linked to it would die. If they left it, the draining would continue and the monsters wouldn’t stop.

“Keep draining their mana and they’ll die anyway… You’re wasting my time. Out of my way.”

“If there’s even a chance, we should be trying to save them!”

Neither yielded—like a portrait of their relationship.

“Colonel, what do we do? We’ve already notified the Mage Corps and the Maria Church.”

“Maintain perimeter security… In a sense, his tendency to be misunderstood may be his flaw.”

Brink chose to watch. He had no intention of stepping between them.

As the glare continued, the circle began to shine again—and groans rose from the residents.

“No way… it’s already—ugh!?”

Zeke kicked Van away. He couldn’t react and crashed through a house wall.

“Cough—… Wait. —Stop!”

“—Be annihilated.”

The magic circle was swallowed by a wave of mana like deepest frost pouring from Zeke. When it cleared, not a trace remained—only bare, leveled ground.

“…Do you even understand what you’ve done?”

“You haven’t changed at all… still groveling, pathetic.”

Zeke had destroyed the circle without hesitation. Van understood what it meant and was badly shaken.

“Why… There had to be another way…”

“Not my problem. I act on my judgment. I don’t take orders from a mouth-runner like you.”

Van used his sword like a cane to stand. The mental blow hurt more than the physical one.

“They didn’t do anything wrong. How can you cut them off so easily?”

“Don’t talk like you know. This is your first time in this cesspit.”

Van looked around.

Dilapidated houses, unsanitary living conditions. A shunned district with no sunlight—that was the slums.

“Without power you have no sense, either. That’s why you’re worthless.”

“…And you, stop talking like you know everything about me.”

A menacing air spread around the two. A knight moved to step in and stop them—but then something changed.

Groans came from the residents’ side.

“…Huh? Why?”

“Hmph. Lucky trash… Brink, the church people?”

“We’ve already called for relief. They should arrive any moment.”

Brink answered calmly. Van, not grasping what they meant, could only gape.

“It seems the monster uproar is settled for now. The barrier, however…”

“It’s a matter of time. If something that large were easy to maintain, the world would be full of barriers and you’d all be obsolete.”

And if it didn’t drop, I’d erase it—Zeke said it in a tone that made it hard to tell if he was joking.

“Hold on… What are you talking about? Explain so I can understand.”

“Are those eyes for show? I erased the circle without a trace. That’s all.”

“That’s exactly what’s weird! Weren’t they connected to it?”

“I erased the connection along with it. That’s why they’re alive. Satisfied, useless one?”

Van’s eyes darted in confusion; Zeke followed up with verbal blows, merciless.

“You’ve overdone it again, Lord Zeke.”

“Don’t ‘lord’ me. …It only worked because this was small in scale. Lucky vermin.”

They spoke like old acquaintances, an odd exchange for a regimental commander and the Lagias heir—enough to make anyone unaware of the background blink.

But there was one here who didn’t know.

“Zeke? And that black hair… You’re Zeke Lagias…?”

“So what? What’s that to you?”

“I see… so it’s true…”

Van muttered under his breath. The surrounding knights traded worried looks.

“I don’t know you. So tell me—are the bad rumors about Lagias and about you true?”

Crushing the people with heavy taxes. Destroying a village with magic. Spreading plague in a provincial city—he asked the truth behind the flood of slander.

“What you think of me is irrelevant.”

“…You’re not denying it?”

He wanted Zeke to deny it plainly. His mouth was foul and his personality the worst, but the strength was real. He wanted to chase that back as a goal. He longed to become strong like the boy before him.

“If you’ve got that much power, then—”

“Idiot. Power is everything. With power, you can defy. With power, your existence is permitted. Without it, you’re a useless, miserable loser.”

Zeke spoke flatly, yet to Brink it sounded like a cry from the heart—don’t be crushed by the name of Lagias, don’t break, don’t lose to anyone.

“That’s wrong… Even without power, you can become strong and you can live. Even if you’re weak, together you can change things.”

“You really are useless. Everything about you is thin and light. A big mouth who doesn’t know reality.”

Two parallel lines that would never meet—between them, a deep gulf had formed.

“Maybe I’m all talk. But I’ll get the strength to match this ‘big mouth’ of yours someday.”

“Pointless. If you have time for that, look elsewhere.”

“Colonel Brink! Report!”

A knight ran up in a hurry. Some knights must have thought, read the room.

“They report the barrier over the capital has disappeared! Along with that, monster sightings have ceased!”

“So they succeeded in lifting it?”

“No, it seems to have dissipated on its own.”

Headquarters was issuing orders for mop-up, citizen relief, and reconstruction support.

“So it’s over.”

Zeke turned his back and walked off. Van simply watched that retreating figure in silence.

Atop the massive walls that encircled Spirito stood a lone figure, gazing out over the capital.

“There was a reaction that looked like the key… but how ironic.”

He whispered as if to himself—and then was gone, as if the wind had erased him. Only the quiet, towering walls remained.

Aktor was inspecting the barrier based on holy arts—the core of the capital’s defenses—at the royal family’s behest, to check for damage from the attack.

Beneath Spirito lay a sealed sector that only those of royal blood could enter. By law, only qualified persons could visit; there, a special magical device was installed. That device was what activated the barrier.

(As expected, there’s no damage.)

He’d anticipated an enemy attack, but Aktor had judged there was zero chance the sealed sector would be targeted. There was groundwork to do for the post-incident handling of the monster uproar, but at least the capital’s keystone was intact.

(The objective remains unknown. Still, having the barrier unharmed is enough for now.)

There was much to do for the future, but for now, that would suffice.

(Now then, what should our next—)

“—policy be… is that it?”

Behind Aktor stood someone who should not have been there: Zeke (the villain).

“Who are— ‘Move and I’ll sever your head’… what!?”

Razor-edged ice spines thrust up from the floor to cradle his neck. One wrong move and head and torso would part.

(Someone who can wield ice magic of this level is limited… but impossible!)

“So in the end, what matters isn’t bloodline—it’s mana.”

(What is he saying? Lagias has royal blood… no, certainly not. Then how?)

“You’re shaken. Is it so strange that I’m here?”

“…Of course it is. This is a place only the royal house—and only selected members—can enter.”

(He threatened a royal to force his way in?)

“Pathetic guesswork. Even if you threatened someone, with the oath in place, intrusion is impossible… or am I wrong?”

(He even knows of the royal oath—how!?)

“If there’s an anomaly in the barrier, it was predictable you’d come here.”

Unable to move, Aktor watched Zeke stroll into view.

“Zeke Lagias… Why are you here?”

“Didn’t that royal guard tell you? ‘Be ready.’”

(So… that odd report from Izosaar…)

When Aaron had warned, “An attack’s coming!” he’d dismissed it as the usual bluster. Now, regret welled up.

“Well, that doesn’t matter… You’ve made a fine sport of me.”

There were several things that came to mind.

Using Ciel to investigate; assassination as required; the guard detail for his rank-up; subordinates disguised as adventurers to watch; ordering Aaron to test his combat ability.

“You do realize I’m a royal. If anything happens here, you’ll be making an enemy of the state.”

“Idiot. Who would even suspect me? Do you truly think the despised Lagias could access royal secrets?”

Zeke’s eyes curved like crescents in a wicked smile. He wasn’t joking; he’d come to kill.

“I am a holy-arts user. If anything happens, the nation—”

“There are others. Most recently, the real Ciel—the one you tried to discard… It’s your turn.”

(What is he…!? Would he truly kill me, a royal!?)

One spine grazed his neck, drawing blood. A direct hit would mean death.

“Have you steeled yourself? If you can use holy arts, you could try healing… no, overturning death is beyond you…”

The spines creaked closer to his throat. Death was right there, pressing in on Aktor.

“I still have… things I must do. I can’t end… in a place like this.”

Even choking up, he didn’t look away. Resolve burned in his eyes.

“Hmph. If you’d started bawling, I’d have taken your head at once.”

The ice spines dissipated without impaling him. As the tension snapped, Aktor collapsed to the floor.

“Why… spare me?”

“If you want to die, I don’t mind. …There won’t be a next time. Carve that into your bones.”

Zeke walked toward the entrance—and then vanished like smoke. In the silent depths, only Aktor’s ragged breathing echoed.