Leisha sincerely loved Kuze the Passing Disaster. Whenever she talked about how much love she had for him, her teacher or friends never paid serious attention to her, but her feelings had only swelled further ever since Kuze had jumped headlong into danger to protect them when Leisha’s almshouse was attacked by a group of scoundrels. However, because of that incident, Leisha and the others had been forced to all move away from Aureatia together. When they moved, a weird young boy with gray hair had done a lot to take care of them. He didn’t look to be much older than Leisha and the others, but for some reason he worked alongside the adults, only to then join the kids, teaching them games to play and learning some new ones for himself. The other children were simpleminded, so they immediately grew attached to this gray-haired kid, but Leisha wasn’t as immature as they were and didn’t fawn all over him. Leisha was the prettiest one among them and destined to married Kuze in the future, so she couldn’t let herself do anything that might catch the eyes of another man. In any event, Leisha and the others ended up moving away from their family home in Aureatia. It was understandable for the younger children, but there were some kids even older than Leisha who bawled their eyes out over it. Leisha hadn’t shed a single tear when the almshouse was attacked, but even she cried at the move. It was painful to be separated from Kuze. Her love had grown even stronger, and now she would be even farther away from him. With that, they boarded a massive carriage, far bigger than any she had seen, and after a long journey, they arrived in the Free City of Okafu. When they arrived, there was a large, newly constructed brown building, and everyone was astounded since no one had ever seen an Order building that looked so new. Leisha and the others ended up living in this building after arriving in the city. It wasn’t just the teacher and other kids who had come along with them to Okafu, but around four other teachers they knew from Aureatia came, too, as well as many other Order people Leisha had never met before. Their food got much, much better, too. The Order didn’t have any money, yet they had so much meat and so many vegetables, it almost worried Leisha. Still, she didn’t really like the sour seasoning of Okafu’s food. As Leisha and the others settled into their lives, there had apparently been a number of terrifying incidents back in Aureatia. Alus the Star Runner caused a huge fire, and the military rampaged around for some reason that was difficult for her to fully understand. When she heard that Rosclay the Absolute had lost his match and died, Leisha was truly stunned. Each new report made everyone worry about Kuze, but he always sent letters to Okafu letting them know he was okay. Really, Leisha wanted more than anything for him to come out to Okafu to see them, but she never said anything selfish or spoiled in her replies back. The adults all said they’d be able to see him someday. But when exactly would that day come? By the time the Sixways Exhibition was over, Leisha would be a bit taller and more beautiful, obviously, and would Kuze then think about marrying her? That was why she always wanted to know what was happening where Kuze was, back in Aureatia. Naturally, Leisha loved Kuze the most, but she was sure the other kids felt the same, too. Any child raised in the Order was guaranteed to be really fond of Kuze. —It all happened one day. Gilea, one year older than her, came stomping into the study room. He was a bit on the chubby side, and his footsteps were always so loud. She heard him coming all the way from the stairwell, long before he came down the hallway, and her mood had already soured. “You gotta see this! It’s amazing! A dead body came from Aureatia!” “Be quiet. I’m studying.” “Aw, you’re the only one here, Leisha?! Man, and this has got to be part of some big, huge deal, too!” “Mrr. What, I’m not good enough?” “I mean, you’re always so cranky…” Gilea went to leave, crestfallen, as if all the vigor from before had vanished entirely. It rubbed Leisha the wrong way. “Hold it. So what’s this about a body from Aureatia?” “Er, uh, so…promise you won’t get mad?” “Why would I?!” “See, you’re already mad!” Gilea was seized with fear, covering his round body. His eyes were shut tightly, too. For all his body mass, he was so timid. Leisha had never even hit any of the other kids before. “Um…so, today, I woke up before the morning bell. I mean like, it was still dark outside and everything. So I went down to the first floor, right, ’cause I had to pee, and…” There wasn’t anyone else here listening in on them, yet Gilea lowered his voice. “A lot of the teachers were all gathered by the entrance and talking about something.” “…When the sun wasn’t even up?” “Weird, right? I know that they all get up earlier than we do, but I just knew it was weird for them all to be gathered like that so early… It sorta got hard to go down the stairs, so I listened and caught some of what they were saying, something about a guest from Aureatia…and what room to give them, that kinda stuff.” “Doesn’t really say much. You don’t remember what exactly they were talking about?” “I mean, all the stuff the adults talk about is way too hard for me to remember. I get it might be easy for you since you’re so smart and all, but…” “…! Oh yes, I probably would have. Heh-heh. What else?” “So you know how there’s a bunch of empty rooms in the basement, right? That area we normally don’t get to go in…where the adults store stuff—or the spots we only use to practice our emergency evacuation drills.” “They stopped allowing kids in the basement because you all kept playing down there.” “Ngh, I mean, yeah, I know, but…even still. I heard them say they were gonna use one of the rooms there. By that point, I couldn’t hold it in anymore, so I sneaked over to the bathroom and went back to bed, but after I woke up, that conversation I heard just kept bugging me, so…” “Don’t tell me, you went down and looked?” “Yup. When I did…” Gilea flashed a weird smile. He may have been trying to look tough. “There was a corpse lying down there. I bet they must’ve carried it in during the night.” “The guest from Aureatia…is a corpse? And to bring it to an Order facility in the first place…are they going to make a grave for the deceased?” If the corpse was from Aureatia, then they should have just made a grave for them in Aureatia. While the Western Outer Ward Church that had looked after Leisha and the others was wholly uprooted and transferred to Okafu, there were still a large number of followers living in Aureatia. “Isn’t it weird? That’s why I wanted to tell everyone…” “Because you’re scared to go alone?” “I’m not scared!” Whatever the case, Leisha figured it was a good idea to check the body. Leisha certainly didn’t like having the teachers hiding stuff from her, and she didn’t want to be plagued with the awful thought that the corpse might be Kuze’s. “Let’s go see.” “Uh, but where are the other guys…?” “They went to the playground ages ago. They all said since you never showed up, they’d go without you today!” “C’mooon.” Even among the other boys, Gilea was especially unreliable, but Leisha figured with her along, they would be fine. Besides, Leisha was just a tiny bit scared to go see the corpse by herself. Leisha led the way as they walked through the large building and descended into the basement. “Gilea, your footsteps are too loud.” “Sorry. My body’s kinda heavy.” “That’s got nothing to do with it; they’re loud because you slam your feet down nonstop. Noble children or princesses would never walk around like that.” “I don’t really want to be a princess anyway.” The room where Gilea saw the corpse was the third door past the stairs. It didn’t have a lock. They had been taught that Order buildings, especially those used by children, had all been built like this. While, of course, the entrance and windows all had locks installed, inside the building was constructed to not need them in order to prevent children from being locked inside somewhere or doing something in secret. “O-open it already.” “…I was just about to, okay?” Leisha timidly opened the door and looked inside the room. It’s not Father Kuze… It was a man’s body. His height and hair length were different from Kuze’s, so she immediately knew it was someone else. The body didn’t have a right leg or a right arm. Additionally, his left elbow was wrapped so thickly in bandages of some kind that it made his arm significantly thicker, and his whole body, not just his limbs, seemed to be in tatters. “Whoa… Oh yeah, he’s dead, all right. He looks awful.” “You’re not going to cry?” “Like hell I’m gonna cry!” This proved that Gilea hadn’t been lying to Leisha, but it made the whole situation all the stranger. Why had the teachers carried a corpse like this down into the basement? “This feels illegal…,” Leisha murmured with a grave look. A simpleton like Gilea probably didn’t understand, but it was clear that someone was trying to cover up something. Since… “This corpse was murdered.” “Who the hell’re you calling a corpse?” “Aaaaauuuuuugh?!” “Eeeeeeeeeeeeek?!” Leisha screamed, and Gilea clung tightly to Leisha as he screamed. An extraordinary paranormal phenomenon. This corpse that had lost half its limbs had suddenly spoken to them. “The hell’re a couple of twerps doing in here? This ain’t a hospital?” “U-uh, wh-who are y-you?! Are you a phantom?!” While Leisha had lost her voice, Gilea questioned the corpse in a shrill squeak. Leisha thought that there wasn’t any phantom out there that would honestly reply, “Yup, I’m a phantom all right,” to Gilea’s stupid question. “Geez, stop shouting, it’s splitting my head open… Soujirou. I’m Soujirou the Willow-Sword. Happy?” “Y-yes, thank you very much, sir! P-please don’t curse us!” “My name is…” Gilea was freaking out so much that it actually let Leisha regain her composure. Putting her hand to her chest, she stood up straight and introduced herself. “Leisha. This place… The Order’s Okafu Branch Church looks after me.” After she had calmed down, Leisha understood the situation in her own way. He wasn’t a corpse. He was just gravely wounded. Whether he was brought here to be treated or for some other reason, he was still alive—and thus a guest, exactly as the teachers had said. She needed to receive this guest with politeness and class… Leisha realized all of this far quicker than Gilea. “Leisha, huh? What about that round guy there?” “Eep! G-Gilea!” “Hey, Mister…Soujirou, why did you come all the way to the Order in Okafu? Is it true that you’re here from Aureatia?” “C’mon, we’re not done with the questions yet, geez… Look, I’m pretty damn banged up here… ’Sides, I ain’t never asked to get dragged out here.” “…?” “Well…heh, guess there wasn’t much choice. I cut down a real big important guy, and even the docs were trying to slit my throat for it and all… Be some of the better opponents if they’re that raring to go…” Leisha found this Soujirou man’s explanation hard to follow, perhaps because he was talking about adult stuff. He gave some important person a cut, and even his doctors tried to kill him, but he didn’t find that all that bad, either…? Was that what he was saying? So then, is this guy a bad guy? But the teachers all decided to bring him into the Order… Will I need to understand these sorts of conversations to become an adult…? “Oh, um, Mister Soujirou…you came here from Aureatia?” Gilea timidly raised his hand. “Do you know someone named Father Kuze?” “Kuze the Passing Disaster?” “Ahhh!” Leisha shrieked. Why did Gilea have to steal away Leisha’s most important question? She felt downright shocked at Gilea’s total lack of tact. “Wait, what’s wrong…? You want to know, too, right, Leisha?” “I do, and that’s what’s wrong! How could you do something like that?! Unbelievable!” “Uh… If yer gonna fight, seriously, can you do it outside…? Wanna know about Kuze, yeah?” “That’s right! You know him, then?!” Leisha couldn’t help but lean her body on top of the bed. “Oh yeah, he’s one of you Order guys, too, ain’t he? You kids know him, do ya?” “Y-yeah… He’s a really nice teacher.” “I love him! I’m going to marry Kuze!” “…That right? He’s…” For some reason, Soujirou hesitated to keep going. The one eye not covered up with bandages looked down at his right arm, severed at the elbow. “…Yeah, I guess he might not be that bad a dude after all. Probably. Can you guys tell him next time to not get involved in too much risky stuff anymore?” “What is Father Kuze doing in Aureatia?” “Uh…buncha stuff.” “‘Buncha stuff’ doesn’t tell me anything.” “Ugh, shut up already, shut up! Get lost! Question time’s over!” The only information on Kuze she had gotten out of this man, Soujirou, was far vaguer and more ambiguous than even Gilea’s memories of the previous night. She was chased out without any hope of hearing more, and to top it all off, the teacher making the rounds found them, and Leisha was reprimanded with Gilea until their break time was over. She then got teased about it by the boys who returned from the playground, which led to another quarrel. The rest of the day was the same as always. She studied, ate her meal, took a bath, and went to bed. The teachers never said a word about Soujirou. Leisha and Gilea didn’t talk about him, either. She simply thought back over it while under the covers. Just what sort of person was Soujirou before he came here anyway? Remembering back to her conversation with Soujirou, there was something that felt strange to her. At first, she thought he was dead. His whole body was in such terrible shape, it was the only assumption she had been able to make, and it wasn’t clear how much longer he’d survive with such serious wounds. Despite all that, when Soujirou talked to them, there wasn’t the slightest hint of sadness or depression in his voice. If Leisha had suffered the same injuries, she would’ve never been able keep that kind of attitude. I wonder what Father Kuze thinks about him… “Sorry for the unwelcome trouble right after your arrival. Hope they didn’t offend you. We’ve got a truly mischievous bunch of children here always giving us a hard time.” “You said it. So who’re you?” “Maqure the Sky’s Lake Surface.” Maqure was the elderly priest in charge of the Order’s Okafu branch. He was also one of the four grand priests tasked with managing the entire Order itself. “Mind if we talk?” “Sure. I got whole buncha questions I wanna ask, too. Why did I end up here?” “It was at the Gray-Haired Child’s discretion. No matter which Aureatian hospital you were transported to, you were guaranteed to be killed. I can’t imagine you wanted to be killed by cowardly hands while unconscious, no?” “Ain’t nothing cowardly in a fight to the death… This ‘Gray-Haired Child’ is that dude, right? The wannabe merchant guy who’s joined up with Okafu to do something or other. I ain’t even met him.” “However, he knows you. It would seem that he saw saving you as beneficial for his camp.” Receiving Soujirou the Willow-Sword, the “guest from Aureatia,” had been a request passed along through one of the Gray-Haired Child’s intermediaries. Forsaken by Aureatia, the Order had decided to join forces with the Gray-Haired Child, and he and his allies had been entrusted with the future of the Order following the Sixways Exhibition. “The Order also wishes to express our gratitude. If Rosclay the Absolute maintained complete control over the Sixways Exhibition, there would be no future for not just the Gray-Haired Child and Okafu here, but for the Order as well. The Gray-Haired Child likely saved you because you have some utility, but…I assume there is an even greater amount of respect meant in the gesture.” “Well, what about you guys?” “Things are different for us, of course.” Soujirou’s lone unbandaged eye glared up at Maqure. His eye was filled with an almost reptilian—yet still very much minian—fighting spirit. If there was a lizard out there who ate the minian races, these were likely the eyes it would’ve had. “The Order does not choose which lives to save based on respect or utilitarian worth. Regardless of whether you’re a sinner, an ogre…or even a self-proclaimed demon king that threatens Aureatia. As long as there is someone hurt and needing help, we will do everything in our power to save them. That is the salvation given to us by the Wordmaker.” “Saying all that creepy stuff doesn’t explain a damn thing…” “Word Arts are not an almighty means of communicating what’s in one’s heart. Action is the best means of gaining trust. As long as you are in our care, I promise to give you the aid you require.” “Yeah, well, that’s all nice and dandy, but…” Soujirou lifted his head, the only part of him he could move, and looked over his own body. He had lost his right leg. Some of the wounds from his final fight with Rosclay had reached his inner organs. Everything from his left elbow down seemed to still be connected, but the joint had been blown away, nerves, tendons, bones and all, and it would be impossible to rebuild. A sharpened bone had been exposed from the wound on his right arm, but that had been severed. “Is getting your help gonna do anything about all this?” “No,” Maqure firmly replied. If he had lost only his extremities, like his fingers and ears, or the freshly severed part was left perfectly intact, there were precedents where proficient Life Arts could regenerate said parts good as new. Meanwhile, Rosclay, after being severely wounded in both legs following the fourth match, had concentrated all of Aureatia’s combined medical strength and sacrificed a considerable amount of his cellular lifespan to reclaim his original physical capabilities. However, it was an extremely difficult feat to grow completely lost limbs back from nothing. Even if a brilliant Life Arts caster had a perfect understanding of their patient’s body, there was still no guarantee that it would be possible. In addition to that, Soujirou was of the Beyond, where many things differed from the world here. It would be impossible for there ever to be a physician capable of understanding his body enough to regenerate his right arm. “Unfortunately, it is not possible to heal those injuries. I am sure that in the Beyond where you once lived, there are myoelectric prosthetics and anatomical transplant techniques that far surpass our own. However, at present, you cannot hope for such technologies in our world. Furthermore, I imagine it would be impossible for a visitor to replicate their aberrant abilities even if they had something connected to them to replace their limbs.” “…? Gramps, who are you?” “Just an old man.” “Nah… Yer talking about my world like you know all about it.” “That’s right. I do know about your world. When studied in a proper manner, anyone from the old to the very young can acquire the knowledge. The amount of knowledge that flows in from the Beyond is far greater than you imagine. Some goes unrecognized by the Kingdom and is completely forgotten. Teaching each other countless pieces of knowledge and wisdom—and uniting together. That is what our Order does.” “So you’re saying a bunch of brainiacs can’t even fix me up?” “That’s right. You will have to accept your lost limbs. You will need to live a life far different from what you have imagined up until now… That said, I want you to understand that this will not make your future worse. We can aid you in locating the knowledge that can help you.” Maqure’s intention was to give Soujirou as much realistic hope as he could, given his injuries, but there weren’t many people who enjoyed hearing these sermons of his. He could have chosen phrasings that would sound nice to hear and provide a fleeting happiness, but Maqure was a priest, not an author. He wasn’t a good liar. “…I ain’t changing anything.” Still, Soujirou replied with total composure, without any displeasure or despair. “Just ’cause I can’t win a fight anymore doesn’t mean I want that to be how it all ends. If there’s no treating me, then just toss me out into my next fight like this.” “…It’s far too early to give in to desperation. Your way of life is not who you are. Though you may have lost your strength, you haven’t been lost. You have the time and the freedom to think of a new way of living.” “…Hate to break it to ya, but I ain’t saying this ’cause I’m desperate or impulsive or anything. Hell, even when I fought Rosclay, I said I’d fight ’im one-legged right from the start. I came all the way from another world and hopped onto this Sixways Exhibition ride… I ain’t gonna be satisfied until I know for sure who won and lost.” He wasn’t just putting up a brave front. Looking at his expression and listening to his voice, Maqure knew. Maqure had seen the look of someone truly wishing for death from the pits of despair many, many times before. However, it felt as if Soujirou’s wish wasn’t even to die. “I beat Rosclay, so I ain’t out yet. Lemme ask you, Gramps, if you screwed up somewhere along the way, would you give up your way of life and go find some new way to live or whatever? I’m still in the middle of the Sixways Exhibition here.” “…I see. You consider your way of life to be completely different from your innate strength. You do not seek battle simply because you are strong and able to keep on winning…” Visitors, without exception, fell into this world because they possessed some power that deviated from the laws of their own. In cases of such tremendous power, it was bound to have an effect on the personality of the individual who wielded it. Power shaped personality, and personality developed power. Maqure could similarly interpret Soujirou’s convictions, possessing an almost sporting tenor, as being shaped by his sheer strength, which allowed him to understand anything through the simple logic of victory or defeat. Then there is nothing more I can do to help him. It isn’t in very good taste to try dissecting the heart… Perhaps Maqure fell into this mindset because he was still inexperienced. Maqure’s words, in that moment, still weren’t able to change Soujirou’s will. That was all there was to it. It was pure hubris to believe that simply understanding another’s heart would be enough to change their will. “I understand. As a teacher of the Wordmaker’s lessons, I will do everything I can to stop you from dying, but…I do not wish to reject your wishes. I, too, have plenty of time. We simply need to calmly get to know each other from here on out.” “Borrowing a place to sleep’s good enough for me… You’re a real exhausting guy to talk to, Gramps.” Maqure couldn’t help but smile at the reply. “The children often tell me the same thing.” Tasked with regulating the Order, Maqure had a lot of work to do. The Free City of Okafu, essentially a hostile nation to Aureatia despite being recently acknowledged as an official kingdom-affiliated state, had poor domestic security, partly due to the complete pause of their biggest industry, mercenary work. For the Order priests assigned to Okafu from Aureatia, even their own physical safety was a concern. In the city, lined with temporary tent homes and shops, gunfire and the sounds of fighting echoed almost incessantly throughout the day and night. Despite Okafu’s current state, Maqure didn’t walk around with any means to protect himself. He understood that it was absurd behavior born from pure faith, but Maqure also believed there was some real, yet impossible to see, causal relationship between going unarmed and never encountering true danger. The ogre mercenary Maqure met that day was almost twice as tall as him. “Maqure. I seek the Order’s cooperation.” The ogre’s name was Wint the Astonishment. He was a battle-hardened mercenary who had halted the invasion of the famed Kazuki the Black Tone. He was a rational and careful man, for an ogre, and unified a subsection of the mercenaries’ faction. “There are more and more people exploiting Master Morio’s absence to break discipline. Looting and pillaging. Right now, I am barely managing to keep it under control, but soon the situation will be far too much for me to handle alone.” “…And before that happens, you seek a proclamation from the Order to help regulate the mercenaries.” Wint solemnly nodded. “I don’t want to pressure them with violence any more than I am now. With the backing of the Order’s knowledge and authority, everyone will be more willing to listen. War may be our profession, but we don’t want to war with each other…” “…The cause of all this isn’t Master Morio’s absence. It stems from the abrupt loss of the work they’ve done until now, and losing a place to direct their strength. Our modern society is built under the social contract that people labor for the sake of the community and are provided the food they need as compensation, but…” “I don’t get the academic stuff. Give me the direct explanation.” “Sorry. Bad habit of mine. In short, what I’m trying to say is, this distortion came about very naturally.” Right now there was no work in the Free City of Okafu. That discounted the shops and other jobs that kept the city running, of course, but the mercenary industry that employed a majority of the residents was ordered to stand down after Okafu established peace with Aureatia. It put pressure on Okafu to hinder any organized acts of war during the Sixways Exhibition. Okafu was able to maintain its current state because of the vast fortune the Gray-Haired Child invested in the city after pledging his full support. He prolonged Okafu’s survival even as it lacked any means of earning foreign dollars. The downright absurd sum accumulated through his musket trades was itself one of the monstrous powers the Gray-Haired Child wielded. His funding also gave the Order in Okafu their large facility and allowed their followers to live comfortably. “…Using strength to rectify this distortion will have undesirable results. We are able to make a proclamation. If there are any who follow the teachings of the Wordmaker, they may listen to what we have to say. However, what about the monstrous races and the constructs? The Order carries much less authority in a non-minian society like Okafu than you seem to expect. A different type of power will be necessary to solve this.” “And that would be?” “There is the theory that the surrounding environment breeds crime. If looting and plundering are rampant, then each of these incidents, including the time and location, as well as the culprit’s motives, need to be recorded, and those statistics then used to investigate trends. It might then be possible to identify conditions that make it easier to justify plundering—or that drives one to burglary.” While Morio the Sentinel had departed Okafu, that hadn’t done anything to change the discipline in the city. If anything, the squad commanders like Wint, who Morio had handpicked, must have been doing everything to carry out the duty Morio had entrusted to them and maintain the city’s discipline. One possibility was that those who had changed without the eyes of Morio over them weren’t the mercenary squads but those outside of Morio’s chain of command—the shops and city suffering the damages. “You make a good point. Can I expect the Order to cooperate with this?” “I’ll reach out to an expert on statistics. We, too, are residents of Okafu. No member of the Order would ever be reluctant to help maintain the peace.” Maqure glanced behind him at the massive Order facility. It couldn’t be called a chapel or an almshouse. Its construction allowed them to complete all their functions within its walls. The children from Aureatia were living in a building far cleaner and with better upkeep than before, but they certainly couldn’t freely go out past the wall and play in the streets. The building, even equipped with an underground emergency shelter, was built to protect the followers from the Okafu mercenaries themselves. To the Gray-Haired Child, the Free City of Okafu was the only base of operations that could be insulated from Aureatia’s influence, but the Okafu mercenaries, suppressed and unable to fight, continued to smolder as a latent risk factor. “Maqure. There is one other thing I wish to ask. What is Master Morio thinking? For all of us, getting the chance to fight in Aureatia had been plenty.” “Some things are harder to carry out the easier they seem to be. Whatever the reason, Master Morio has his own justification for withdrawing your men from Aureatia. A perfect stranger like myself is not in any position to give you an explanation as to why. It would be best to trust not in each individual act of his, but believe that he is acting with the welfare of the Free City in mind.” “Belief, is it? Right, forgot that’s the salvation you Order folks preach about… I’ll be counting on your cooperation.” “I’m glad I heard about all this, as well. Now, I must be taking my leave.” Maqure watched Wint depart. The current state of Okafu’s mercenaries must have been an unexpected state of affairs for both Morio and the Gray-Haired Child. Despite getting his hands on a colossal military power in Okafu, the Gray-Haired Child was prevented from wielding their mobilization as a card to play during the Sixways Exhibition. An effect from the series of mysterious deaths at the hands of the invisible army. The upset of a single cog, chained still until the Free City of Okafu was rendered completely inert. The stratagem Linaris the Obsidian had carved out continued to progress like a chronic disease. Too many unfortunate coincidences piled up on each other. Even Maqure the Sky’s Lake Surface couldn’t recognize it as anything else. “Father Maqure!” He heard his name as he went to walk off. It came from a young girl, still a priest in training. “Oh right, it’s lunch time, isn’t it? Did you run all this way just to get me?” “Were you speaking with one of the Okafu residents? The western side of town is very dangerous.” “An ogre by the name of Wint the Astonishment came to me for advice. Nothing to worry yourself about.” “But, Father, an ogre…?” “Ogres are no different from you or me. They, too, have hearts that understand Word Arts. Fear breeds prejudice and causes a breakdown in relationships.” “That said, Father, everyone is still worried. There is some new incident or accident happening in Okafu almost every day… When I think about you getting caught up in something and being taken from us, why, I don’t know what we’d do!” “Oh, but who would really be troubled in my absence?” “Huh?! I would be very, very troubled! There is still so much you have yet to teach me, and that goes for everyone else, not just me! If you weren’t here, Father Maqure, the whole Order would have disbanded a long time ago!” “You can still learn, whether I’m here or not. I didn’t learn everything from myself, after all. The accumulated knowledge of our predecessors that I learned from will remain behind forever. The same is true whether in the form of the Order or not. No one would be troubled at all. You would just feel lonely, not troubled.” “Yes, but I don’t want to feel lonely like that.” “…It’s bound to visit you someday.” Maqure was the mastermind behind the Queen assassination plot. It was a scheme to have Kuze the Passing Disaster assassinate the Queen during the Sixways Exhibition, in order to personally shoulder all the notoriety that had been unfairly laid on the Order. All the Order’s leaders who agreed to this plan, beginning with Maqure, would then be said to have belonged to a fictious crime guild. A villainous gang who lived as parasites on the Order, enriching themselves and ultimately scheming to overthrow the nation. After the Queen’s assassination, there would also be those whose role would be to remain in the Order, to help expose this crime guild and blame them for everything. Many followers who were none the wiser, including this young priest in training, would be burdened with the role. Many people would become unhappy. This was an egocentric martyrdom by someone who was unable to change their way of life and had lost all hope. My way of life isn’t who I am… And here I thought I perfectly understood that, but… “Father Maqure?” “…Hmm. Just thinking about something. I’ll head right over.” “Everyone’s waiting for you. Meals just don’t feel as bright without you around.” The operation to slay Kia the World Word on the Orange Thirty-Six train along the North-South Railway ended in catastrophe. The train car where the conflict broke out was warped into a physically unthinkable shape while attached to the other cars and was destroyed. The aftermath made it impossible to imagine what actually happened when omnipotence clashed with nullification. The only survivors confirmed among those who had been in the car at the time were two of the reformation faction soldiers and Kuze the Passing Calamity. According to Kaete, Mestelexil had detected that Uhak the Silent was on his way to the passenger car and descended from the sky. Considering the clash that followed right after, he had made the appropriate decision not to regenerate on the spot. The whereabouts of Kia the World Word, Uhak the Silent, Tu the Magic, and several reformation faction soldiers, including Yaniegiz the Chisel, were all unknown. This isn’t the worst possible outcome, Hidow tried to convince himself, after hearing the report. Right at the end of this series of announcements, he told this to the bureaucrats gathered in operation headquarters: “…You all did very well. There is a possibility that this erased Kia from existence, at the very least. If she took Uhak with her, then…the operation would be more of a success than we even hoped.” Needless to say, Hidow himself didn’t believe such a self-serving explanation. However, there was just barely enough material to create a flimsy bit of hope. If bringing this much harm against Kia still wasn’t enough to successfully kill her, then Hidow and the others who led the operation should’ve been immediately erased from the world. Given that the omnipotent Kia hadn’t done that yet, they must have dealt her some amount of damage. “From here, this operation will shift from neutralizing Kia to searching and collecting her body. We have already commenced the search with the cooperation from the Public Safety Bureau. For now, all of you can rest.” From there, he gave his sentiments of praise and appreciation before the meeting adjourned. Even after everyone had left, Hidow didn’t have the energy to stand up. He went to lie facedown on the table and heaved a deep sigh. He had done everything he could. Even still, by tomorrow, or potentially in the next second, the world might completely come to an end. The fear would continue until he could confirm Kia’s body with his own eyes. “…Hidow.” When he looked up, Kaete the Round Table still remained. “Do you seriously think this managed to kill Kia?” “…Same either way, ain’t it? Whether we managed to kill her or not, we don’t got any more cards to play… Up to the Wordmaker how it all ends up now. Nothing I can do about this.” “As long as you’re claiming the operation to slay Kia was success, I’m assuming this means you approve, then? Just like you promised, you’re getting Mestelexil reinstated as a hero candidate.” “Go ahead, I don’t care… That was the only real option either way…” “That’s not all. You didn’t mention anything about Yaniegiz, did you? Whatever the outcome, his selfish decisions hindered the operation. I think he should face proper punishment for it.” “Like you got any room to talk…” Kaete the Round Table was a dangerous man who had been almost openly preparing to revolt against Aureatia. Still, Hidow didn’t have the energy to bring up the topic again. “That guy’s…probably dead. No way he could’ve survived through that. He really was a complete idiot… Fought a fight he had no chance of winning and got obliterated without a trace, all for some stupid revenge. If he went about it properly, the guy might’ve been able to fill Rosclay’s shoes and everything…” Killing the omnipotent was a problem far beyond the capabilities of the average man. Yaniegiz had seriously attempted the feat all by himself, only using methods possible for the average minian man. That vindictiveness might’ve actually born fruit. They could never do anything more than this ever again. They had mobilized Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge, Uhak the Silent, and Kuze the Passing Disaster just to erase Kia the World Word. Regardless of whatever means of attack existed across the land, it didn’t seem like it could surpass this. “Hey, Kaete.” “…What?” “You’re really something…” He spit out the sort of sentiment that wouldn’t typically come to mind. Kaete the Round Table was fierce, wicked, only ever made enemies for himself, and never concealed his ambitions. Hidow had thought that rashly wielding these abilities made Kaete the worst man possible for a Twenty-Nine Officials seat. Yet right now, even in this hopeless atmosphere, he was still thinking about reviving Mestelexil as a hero candidate. He was always looking forward, toward victory. As far as Hidow could see, the man would never break. He had the guts to directly force his many enemies to surrender before him, both then and now. Right now, Hidow felt jealous of him. “Shouldn’t you be…exhausted…?” “Hmph. Don’t judge me by the standards of a mediocre man like you.” “Mediocre, huh…? I like the sound of that, ha-ha…” Hidow thought he would just fall asleep there with his face on the desk. Just as he was about to doze off, the door to the meeting room opened. Hidow didn’t have the energy to turn his head in that direction, but Kaete reacted in his stead. “Jelky? You look… Is your eye okay?” “… Did you say Jelky?” Hidow raised his head. Jelky had the right half of his face covered with bandages, but he looked like a completely different person, even discounting the wound. The man with stamina and mental fortitude of iron, who had prevented Aureatia’s collapse and oversaw its administration without a day’s rest, looked horribly exhausted and emaciated. “It’s fine.” His voice was hoarse. He looked anything but fine. Jelky had moved to secure the Queen’s safety the moment they could no longer ignore the possibility that Kia might attack the royal palace. Hidow heard that in the middle of it all, by an unfortunate stroke of luck, Jelky had lost his left eye in a small arms explosion. The plot to overthrow Aureatia—and the death of Rosclay accompanying it. The threat posed by Kia the World Word. It was understandable that being involved in an unfortunate accident on top of this string of events would wear someone down to the bone, regardless of their mental fortitude. Even Jelky the Swift Ink. “Did you…kill Kia the World Word?” “……Not certain that we actually got her. That said, she disappeared, and I haven’t been killed off yet. Now, for getting solid proof… We’re going to think up how to do that from here.” “Thank you for all your hard work, Hidow.” A clear voice echoed in the room. A young girl in a pure-white dress stepped out from behind Jelky. “…Your Majesty.” Wasn’t Jelky supposed to have evacuated her somewhere safe? Still, her eyes, red like jewels, and her lustrous white hair couldn’t have belonged to anyone but Queen Sephite herself. Hidow bitterly adjusted his posture. The Queen had caught him looking awful with his face down on the table. “Pardon me for my disgraceful appearance, Your Majesty… Hey, Jelky, I didn’t hear anything about this? Why’s Her Majesty here? What happened to getting her out of Aureatia?” “Her Majesty…has been led to safety. I’ve brought her here…to get your acknowledgment on this matter as the one in charge of the royal palace attack aftermath. This girl isn’t Her Majesty.” “Huh?” Hidow looked at the girl’s face one more time. White hair. Red eyes. There was no way she could be anyone else. Had Jelky finally gone insane? “Master Jelky, are you sure it is okay to tell these gentlemen?” Yet in a surprising turn, the Queen addressed Jelky formally. “…It’s fine. Moving forward with you acting as Queen brings with it far too much danger. Some number of the Twenty-Nine Officials were going to need to be informed no matter what.” “…A body double, then.” With arms crossed, Kaete glared at the young girl. “Yes. My name is Nanal the Fair-Skinned. Master Hidow, Master Kaete, a pleasure to meet you both.” “Hmph. You reformation bastards… Had this little trick up your sleeve, did you? A mimic wouldn’t even look this close.” Hidow was dumbfounded. She couldn’t possibly have come from a branch family to the Western royals. The whole lineage, save Sephite, was confirmed to have been wiped out by the Demon King’s attack. “You and Her Majesty better not be taking me for a ride… What’re you even trying to do here, pulling a stunt like this?” “…That’s obvious. It’s for the Sixways Exhibition,” Jelky spat. “We need to make sure the second-round matches actually happen. Not like the ninth match, away from everyone’s eyes, or the tenth match, without following proper procedures, but as formal matches shown to the people… As official Royal Games, the Queen needs to spectate the matches from the second round onward.” “Hmph. What’s the point in being so stuck on meaningless formalities? Certainly doesn’t seem worth the risk of exposing the existence of the Queen’s body double. Are you the next one who’s followed Yaniegiz into madness?” “…Nah. Jelky’s right that things could get real bad if we don’t bring out the Queen for this.” The possibility that came to Hidow’s mind was a pressing problem, yet different from the question of the Kingdom’s legitimacy. “There were two attacks on the royal palace, and in the second, the main hall itself was breached. I’m sure we’re controlling information as much as we can, but even that’s got its limits. By the time the next match comes together, the anxieties of everyone at the bottom’s gonna balloon real bad. We gotta hold a match in the middle of all that. Revealing Her Majesty to the masses can show them that she’s safe—and that the threat’s been taken care of.” “…That’s right. Also, if we don’t, the exact opposite will happen. Now, with Rosclay gone, I see Aureatia as on the brink of collapse. The Sixways Exhibition in and of itself was expected to help regulate the emotions of the citizenry to begin with.” The Sixways Exhibition was in no way a performance like some gladiator spectacle. They were fights to the death, conforming to the format of the ancient true duels of the Kingdom, and the spectators brought into the match were formally treated not as an audience but as witnesses who could show, irrespective of social standing or position, that there were no lies or deceit in the final result. However, on the other hand, the spectacle was certainly an aspect of it all. These Royal Games, happening on an historically unprecedented scale, also served to demonstrate Aureatia’s national strength. The citizens harbored hope for the existence of the to-be-named Hero, and by spectating the extraordinary matches, they were able to let off the anxiety and displeasures of their ordinary lives. Formally, as long as there was a reliable witness, the Sixways Exhibition could go on while hidden from the eyes of the people. However, that wouldn’t serve to convince anyone. “…Besides, there wasn’t anything we could have done about the ninth match. The threat of Lucnoca the Winter couldn’t have been subjugated any other way. However, the tenth match ended up happening largely as an accident and prevented it from being a formally held match.” “And Uhak was supposed to appear in the twelfth match…and currently his whereabouts are unknown. Tch. Now that it’s come to this, our only option is to make it look like the eleventh match’s being held properly…” “How’re you going to deal with the twelfth match, then?” Kaete interjected. “Considering the current state of affairs, even if we do manage to find Uhak in time for the match, it doesn’t seem like a great idea to have him and Shalk the Sound Slicer crush each other, since Shalk currently isn’t hostile to us.” “…Yeah, I’ll talk with Meeka about how to deal with that. Right now, we’re the ones responsible for handling Uhak and all. However the chips fall, the only choice is to have Uhak withdraw from the match altogether—but ain’t no way the people or Shalk’ll be satisfied with that. In exchange for the win by default, I’m planning on publicly announcing Shalk’s achievement, slaying a self-proclaimed demon king by himself.” “You mean the fight he had to seal away Tu the Magic?” “Right. That’s when we’ll reveal the details around the destruction of the Northern Outer Ward Sixth Borough’s harbor. Shalk the Sound Slicer will be given a win by default with Uhak the Silent’s withdrawal from the tournament, but Shalk, in advance of the match, clashed with a former hero candidate Tu the Magic and routed her without a single casualty. That’ll be plenty to get the masses on board with the results. The scale of the destruction from their fight’s already well-known to everyone in the Sixth Borough.” It was a very heavy-handed framing, but they couldn’t afford to create even the slightest chance for Uhak to be defeated. If they were going to eventually have to make him lose by default, they would need to provide information to make up for it. “Personally, I wanted to ensure the twelfth match was properly carried out…,” Jelky said, pushing back his glasses, “…but your decision is still the best we can hope for. Right now, there are very few among the Twenty-Nine Officials who I can rely on to make sound judgments.” “Hah, it would’ve been a lot better if the ogre at the center of all this was safe and sound…” Uhak, together with Tu and Kia, had completely disappeared. It went without saying that finding him was the highest priority, after Kia. “In any case, if we need the eleventh match to happen properly…Kuze surviving is the one saving grace in all this. The guy might have the god of death protecting him or something, instead of an angel.” “We’ll send out Mestelexil,” Kaete said with a sharp tone. “Mestelexil will fight in the eleventh match. No one will object, right? We’ve confirmed Zeljirga the Abyss Web’s foul play during the sixth match, and Mestelexil’s defeat was reversed. If that’s the argument for his return as a hero candidate, then naturally, Mestelexil should appear in the match he would have advanced to in the first place.” “…I mean, sure, that’s all we can really do here, but what does Kuze want?” “Not a problem.” Hidow’s question was answered by Jelky. “I’ve gotten confirmation that the eleventh match can be held without issue. Kuze the Passing Disaster himself asked Grasse the Foundation Map to search for the missing Zeljirga…or another hero candidate to take her place. If he wishes to restore the Order’s honor, I can’t imagine Kuze wants a string of victories by default.” That guy really has no luck at all, does he? The fifth match, where Kuze would have been able to display his strength as the Order’s strongest paladin, ended in a win by default. Additionally, the way Hidow saw it, even assuming Kuze was given the chance to demonstrate his abilities before the eyes of the masses, it didn’t seem like it would then lead to restoring the Order’s reputation. Kuze’s power was instant death. Without any tactics or real combat at all. His opponent simply perished on the spot. As an onlooker, it came off as some kind of weird coincidence or an accident. “…I will need to make an appearance in this eleventh match then, yes?” Nanal said with her hand up to her chest, having listened to the conversion quietly up until that point. Each and every one of her mannerisms was almost self-deprecatingly similar to the Queen’s. “Please let me make use of this face of mine, for Her Majesty the Queen and Aureatia.” Looking at Nanal the Fair-Skinned’s white hair as she bowed her head, the smoldering unease in Hidow’s breast swelled even bigger. If Kia the World Word was still alive, then she’d come after me since I was in command of the whole operation—but would she really? Did a child like Kia even understand the concept of an operational commander in the first place? She had twice now attacked the royal palace. He couldn’t deny the possibility that Kia believed that the Queen, the most eminent person in the Kingdom, was the one making all the decisions. …I don’t know. Was there more of a chance that she’d target the Queen instead of me? If Kia really is alive, and she’s trying to kill the Queen… Nanal the Fair-Skinned’s face was a perfect replica of Queen Sephite. Until the Sixways Exhibition was over and Sephite returned, Nanal would have to conduct herself like the real Queen in the royal palace and fulfill her role as a decoy in preparation for Kia’s attack. However, if Kia never broke into the royal palace and used her almighty Word Arts to search for the Queen’s whereabouts, that fundamental premise wouldn’t hold true. She would arrive first at the real Queen, not her body double, Nanal. In the absolute worst-case scenario, what would happen? Hidow still couldn’t be confident that Kia was dead. Which Queen…would get killed?
Chapter 239
43 min read