“They came together?” the king asked.
“Yes. It appears that Count Sylphid was on his way to Duke Sanga’s estate when he ran into Lord Albert, who was heading here after hearing the news. They decided to come together.”
“I see. Bring them in at once.”
The king was surprised they’d arrived together and ordered Cruyff to show them in. Apparently, he’d thought they were going to come separately, but I figured that Count Sylphid had been planning to visit to apologize for Eliza having skipped Albert’s party. Then, he’d run into Albert and had found out what happened. That would explain why they had rushed here.
And sure enough, the moment they greeted the royals, Count Sylphid started scolding Eliza. Queen Maria stepped in to calm things down. The count apologized to everyone for making a scene, but something told me the real lecture would start once they got home.
“Your Majesty, Lady Eliza seems quite exhausted from the ordeal, and I imagine she and her father have a lot to discuss. Perhaps this would be a good chance to pause for the day?” Prince Caesar suggested.
And just like that, Eliza was dismissed. Gramps had whispered something to Prince Caesar right before the prince had made that announcement, so I figured there was a reason they didn’t want her to hear what would come next.
“And Mother, we need to examine Chaos’s body next, so I suggest you return to your chambers,” the prince added.
The queen agreed. “Yes, I think that’s a good idea. A woman shouldn’t need to see that.” She nodded and left the room without pressing for more details.
“So what’s the issue with Chaos’s body?” the king asked Gramps.
“There’s something about it we need to discuss, and I don’t want that information getting out. I could barely believe what I’d seen with my own eyes,” Gramps said. He was wearing the same serious look on his face that he’d had when he’d told the guards to keep the body hidden.
Prince Caesar and Prince Lyle glanced at me while Gramps spoke. I shrugged—Gramps hadn’t explained anything to me either.
“Tenma, do you have a dimension bag you don’t mind getting ruined?” Gramps asked.
“Yeah, I have one that’s about half the size of this room inside,” I said.
“Bring it out. And depending on what we find, we might have to destroy it afterward. Is that okay?”
I had plenty of dimension bags, so I decided to take one out that I figured I’d destroy afterward. Even if I didn’t actually need to, there would be no way I’d keep a bag that’d held Chaos’s body in it.
“Um, should I leave?” Albert asked nervously when I pulled out the bag. It was clear he was wondering if he’d been forgotten.
The king looked like he’d forgotten that Albert was here too, but he quickly composed himself. “No, you should stay. You’re here on behalf of Duke Sanga, and I’d like another young man’s opinion—besides Tenma.”
Honestly, the way he said it made it sound more like You’ve heard this much, so you’re in it for the long haul. Don’t even think of running.
Albert seemed to catch what he’d been implying. He continued to sit there, and the color drained from his face as he did.
“Cruyff, don’t let anyone into this room. Not even the queen.”
“Understood.”
Cruyff went to stand outside while the rest of us stepped into the dimension bag. At Gramps’s instruction, I pulled out Chaos’s body. It was still split clean in two. I laid the pieces down in the center of the room.
Everyone grimaced and instinctively glanced away for a second before turning back to look again.
“Master Merlin, I agree this is all very unusual, but why are you going to such lengths to keep it a secret?” Prince Lyle asked.
Everyone besides Gramps nodded in agreement.
“If it were just a case of him growing extra arms, we could blame it on some magical device or spell,” Gramps began. “But this can’t be explained that way, so we’ll need to keep it a secret at all costs.”
Gramps then pulled out a knife and sliced open Chaos’s chest. We were all surprised by his sudden action, but then we all stared in shock. And that was because...
“A magic core...”
I was all too familiar with the item—there was one inside every monster, of course. But here one was, inside Chaos’s body.
“Only monsters have magic cores. Not even beasts who are as strong as monsters or regular humans who have surpassed their limits have ever been found with one. I don’t know if this was implanted in him or if it was the result of a drug, but if word gets out that a living human being turned into a monster, it’ll stir up quite a commotion,” Gramps said.
If his body had turned into a monster’s, we could’ve chalked it up to zombification. But according to Eliza, Chaos had definitely been human when the fight began. Although he had barely spoken, the words he’d said had been in human language. It hadn’t been until Amur had knocked him down and the knight had pinned him that he’d become a monster. His drinking the potion had definitely been the turning point.
“Whatever it was, the drug Chaos used either turned him into a monster or triggered the transformation. What happened to him after Tenma beat him in the tournament? And why was there such a delay in reporting his escape?” Gramps asked.
“After the tournament, Chaos was convicted for his crimes and was sent to work as a slave in the mines,” Prince Lyle explained.
In the mines, slaves were split into small groups who worked in separate areas. A few days ago, one group had stopped reporting in. At first, the official in charge had thought it was due to bad weather, but when no report had come the next day as well, he’d finally gotten suspicious and had sent soldiers to investigate. All they had found were the bodies of most of the slaves and their overseers...but not Chaos.
Since Chaos’s body had been missing, it had been immediately concluded that he’d been responsible. Notices had gone out to nearby towns and villages, and a report had been sent to the capital as well.
“But that report took several days to reach us. From the estimations of when the incident occurred, not even ten days passed between then and when Chaos reached the capital. It’s very likely he had help.”