Rodocolte didn’t tell him about Soul Crusher, but I bet he’s also hiding a lot of other stuff from them too, Vandal thought. The fact I was able to win and wipe out Kanata, in spite of however that divine dunce tries to paint me, will probably make the others think twice about tangling with me.
Of course, there would probably be those who were mad at Vandal for crushing Kanata’s soul. The kind of naïve idealist who would say, “But we’re all still human in the end!” when confronted with all the bad stuff Kanata had done. But that surely wouldn’t be all of them.
“The general policy for handling that problem will be the same moving forward,” Vandal said. “Although I am now a little concerned that they may all turn up as adults.”
His plan had been to use his head start to obtain nobility and social standing, creating an environment in which it would be hard for them to act against him. But if that head start was taken away . . .
“It should be fine, Child,” Zulan said. “If you become important first, it won’t matter if a whole bunch of folks pretending to be heroes show up. Everyone will back you.”
“I agree. Who will the people choose: unknown strangers—even if they possess incredible skills—or a renowned member of society? The answer seems clear to me,” Eleonora said.
“You already rule Talosheim, but you wish to become even greater?” Lebia asked. “You are ambitious indeed!”
“Our new king wishes to rule the entire world!”
“No wonder the gods send assassins to kill him.”
“We are already dead! It is our honor to pave the way for our king’s greatness!”
“Hold on,” Vandal said, interrupting the excitement of the undead. “I’m not planning on ruling anything.” Apparently, Vandal needed to set things straight with them. “First things first. I’m going to cave this place in to cover the fact that the seal of the Demon King’s blood was broken. We can put the blame on the dead guy in the room. Then, we should swing by the treasure room and collect the items that the duke’s family took from you, Princess Lebia.”
Vandal didn’t want anyone to know that they had invaded the castle and broken one of the seals of the Demon King, but at the same time, he didn’t want to have to kill everyone in the castle. This seemed like the best route to take.
Now the fighting was over, Lefdia chose this moment to leap from Zulan’s hands toward Princess Lebia. “Hey! Be careful!” Lebia shouted, catching the hand out of the air.
Then a look of nostalgic calm came over her face.
“This hand . . . I couldn’t touch it, when I was just a normal ghost, so I didn’t realize . . . I recall this sensation. Yes, it has to be . . .” Lebia was taken with vibrant memories of her homeland and the sister she had parted with when it fell. The dazzling smile of her magically talented younger sister, who had still looked up to her so much. This was the same small (by giantling standards) hand that she had held so tight when they parted, convinced of her dreadful belief that they would never meet again. It even had the same warmth to it.
“Ah, Zandia!” Lebia exclaimed. “Zandia, that’s you, isn’t it! I remember this warm hand. I remember!”
“. . . Warm? I’m pretty sure her flame is just heating up Lefdia—but maybe we shouldn’t say that,” Eleonora said.
“Let’s hold our peace,” Vandal agreed.
“Then Lefdia is Princess Zandia, after all!” Zulan exclaimed.
“Unfortunately, Zulan, I can’t be sure of that,” Lebia said. “Lefdia herself has no awareness of who or what is inside her.”
Lefdia was bending her fingers, looking puzzled in Lebia’s arms. She was now sure that the left hand that Lefdia inhabited had belonged to her sister, but she couldn’t be sure that the spirit inside it was Zandia. Lefdia herself seemed very friendly with Lebia, but also didn’t seem to have remembered anything about her life. “But she’s definitely taken a liking to me, which makes me happy. I wonder if I could consider her . . . a second sister?”
“I’m fine with that. Lefdia seems happy about it.”
Lefdia was bending repeatedly at the wrist, perhaps nodding in agreement. Once they got back the other remains of Princess Zandia from the progenitor vampire Gubamon, they might discover that her spirit was elsewhere, but they could cross that bridge once they came to it.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. I’m very happy to meet you, Lefdia.” Princess Lebia gave a smile, to which Lefdia responded with a thumbs up.
The ghosts of Princess Lebia’s royal guard all celebrated this new addition to the royal family.
“Oh! The birth of a new princess!”
“I’m not following any of this but that sounds wonderful!”
“Hurray for Princess Lefdia!”
“Yes, yes, hip-hip-hooray!” Hanna, Aria, and the others were just kind of swept up in the excitement, but they celebrated too.
“Okay. Tomorrow night we’ll fly to the remains of the town close to the tunnel,” Vandal said. “Borkz and the others are already heading there.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing Borkz again,” Lebia replied. “What kind of undead has he become?”
“He’s a zombie like me,” Zulan replied. “Half his face is his exposed skull. He’s much more handsome than he was when he was alive.”
“Zulan, perhaps I’ll tell Borkz you said that?”
“Free feel to do so. He’s so angry with the Heartner Domain right now, it’ll all be in one ear and out the other.”
With Lefdia still in Lebia’s arms, the hand then proceeded to pick Vandal up by the head. Then Lebia started to float through the air, carrying Vandal along.