BAD things always happen all at once. A few days after Princess Ileze collapsed, a shocking report arrived at my villa.
“The Maldion Empire has fallen…?”
My eyes went wide. I could barely believe my ears.
It was so soon. Far too soon.
They were defeated in hardly any time at all.
I’d heard the top officials in the Maldion Empire were the unreliable types, but still, even with corruption, it was the biggest country on the continent. Based on power alone, they should have been stronger and more advanced than even the Ringrard Empire.
How could they be overthrown in less than a month since the start of the war? It was completely unthinkable.
“The information came straight here by horse, but it’s from a reliable source.” King Glenreed was grimacing.
Wolfvarte certainly wasn’t on good terms with the Maldion Empire, but with a country of their size collapsing, it made the Ringrard Empire a much greater threat.
We put our heads together to decide what to do next. Just then, a shadow fell over my head. I looked up at the overcast sky to see Lord Featherio gliding through the air.
“Lord Featherio? Why are you here?” I asked.
He had an unusually grim look on his face.
He’s not supposed to interfere with political matters. I wonder what’s wrong?
He landed on the ground, folded his wings, and allowed the eloquent speaker to take over. “The Maldion Empire fell because of a curse.”
“A curse?” I repeated.
There it was again. I was startled by the mention of that unexpected word. But I waited for what else he had to say.
“Yes. Their Heaven-Wing clan members have contacted us. It seems that someone abused the Wing Chord.”
Abused the Wing Chord?
Those words gave me a very bad feeling.
“As the Maldion Empire’s royal family began trying to charge the front lines, the Heaven-Wing clan chased after them to use the Wing Chord. They must have thought that renewing the royal family would be a better outcome than letting the country die out.”
“That’s…”
I understood why they felt that way.
The Maldion Empire’s government had been festering with corruption for years. There was talk about how not a single person with power or influence in their country was an upstanding person. This state of affairs would make the Wing Chord a logical outcome at any given time.
Then they went to war with the powerful Ringrard Empire.
Where there is life, there is hope. Where there is a country, there are royals and nobles.
Perhaps, in desperation, they’d sought salvation in the form of the Wing Chord.
“My fellow Heaven-Wing clan members saw it as an acceptable time to play the Wing Chord…but that was the trap. Playing the Wing Chord and performing the Renewal creates a mental connection between the renewed souls and that resurrected, first-generation king. The renewed don’t perceive it, but their souls become tied to the others deep inside of them, just like how the Heaven-Wing clan are connected.”
They connected to others through their subconscious and used it to their benefit.
This was considered a fiction of the occult in my past life, but it appeared to genuinely exist in this world.
“I see… So that’s why all renewed souls suddenly see service to their king and their country as their highest priority,” I said. If they wanted to brainwash…or rather, renew people, they would first need to form a mental connection. This part seemed logical to me. “…But why was that a trap? If the renewed souls become much more loyal and willing to obey commands, wouldn’t the tide of the war turn in their favor?”
The now-selfless nobles would do anything for their country’s victory, even if it meant obeying orders to become sacrificial pawns. It was a cruel arrangement, but incredibly useful to the military.
Playing the Wing Chord in their country, where no one had the power of ancestral reversion, meant the most direct ancestor of the original king would have his soul—the god—take over that body and begin to reign over the country wisely.
Then the loyal nobles would be led by this reincarnated king. Even though the war had been going poorly, as the most powerful country on the continent, there was still no way they should have been defeated so quickly…
But once I got that far in my analysis, a chill ran down my spine.
There was a danger in this system of leadership after the Renewal. I understood how, when operating strictly at the orders of one single leader, a large group could actually be very weak.
“…Connecting the renewed royals and nobles backfired?” I deduced.
“Correct. Curses work on both the souls and the minds. Normally, only one person is cursed. But what do you think happens to that cursed person when their Renewal connects their mind to those of many other humans?”
“…Total destruction.”
Lord Featherio nodded at my response.
…I couldn’t help but think of it like a computer virus. The virus was sent through a device’s connections to other devices, allowing it to cause harm wherever it ended up. The curse must have used the connections forged by the Renewal to infect a great number of people.
“It seems that the more influence the reborn person holds, or in other words, the people in the Maldion Empire with the most royal blood, are suffering the most damage from this curse. Direct members of the royal family have fallen unconscious. High-ranking nobles either fell unconscious or became ill. From what I’ve heard, none of them are functioning at all.”
“So if fighting broke out in that state, they’d be easily defeated, with no one left to lead them,” I concluded.
That was the cause of their country’s ruin.
There was little doubt in my mind—someone within the Ringrard Empire, probably a high-ranking person in their government, had cast this curse. They were already a troublesome country, but this was beyond the pale. It was very possible I’d already been roped into this curse too, after all.
“…Does that mean Princess Ileze’s collapse was because of the same curse?” I guessed.
“Most likely, yes,” Lord Featherio said. “She’s a direct descendent of the royal family, after all. Physical distance means nothing when souls are connected, so there was no escaping the curse’s effects. She won’t wake from her slumber for a few months at the very least. That is, if she wakes up at all.”
It’s not like I ever cared for Princess Ileze in the slightest… But that didn’t mean I relished the idea of her spending her life in a vegetative state either. Sympathizing with the princess, I looked up at Lord Featherio.
“…I appreciate how much you’ve shared with us, but I’m told members of the Heaven-Wing clan aren’t meant to meddle in politics. Will you get in trouble for this?” I asked.
“It’s a different story when the Wing Chord is being abused. This sort of thing could affect our entire clan’s role in this world. If we meddle in politics, it’s you statesmen we must rely on to take any direct actions.” Lord Featherio furrowed his brow.
The Heaven-Wing clan seemed so detached from this world, but it appeared this was their line in the sand.
“That’s all I have to say. Now I return.” Lord Featherio’s demeanor instantly shifted. The talkative soul had left us with the usual, poor speaker. The original Lord Featherio started to tug on his cheeks. “I talked so much. I’ll be sore tomorrow.”
“How intense…”
He was back, all right.
Heaven-Wing clan members born in the same country communicated through their consciousness, meaning they had far fewer opportunities to speak out loud like humans did. It was why they tended to be so untalkative.
According to King Glenreed, all Heaven-Wing clan members’ souls smelled the same, and perhaps that was due to their subconscious link. It was also possible that the boundary line between members of their same clan was much less defined than it was for other races.
“Thank you for speaking so much and providing such valuable information,” I said. “To return the favor, would you care to eat something here?”
“Yes. I want the sandwich with all the meat like last time.”
He answered me instantly. Though he wore no readable expression, I could sense his happiness. It brought a bit of relief to my wound-up heart.
The Heaven-Wing clan members strongly resembled humans, yet their mental structures were so different… However, when it came to delicious food, none of us could resist a nice meal with good company.