Sorcerer Ray Starling
“...And that’s how I beat King of Plagues and became famous as the mysterious PK known as the Superior Killer. After this, I was flooded with contracts and had to count on help from the twin CEOs of DIN, among other things...and one of the jobs I got out of that led to our first meeting.”
I silently listened. Expanding upon the articles that speculated on her means and contained various other pieces of information, Marie had told me about the event and had now reached the conclusion I already knew—that the Superior Killer had defeated King of Plagues and sent him to the gaol.
“Well, with how big the whole thing was, there’s probably some stuff that I don’t know about it, so all I could really tell you was what I heard here in Altar and how the battle played out for me,” Marie said. “I also don’t know much about what King of Plagues has been doing after he was thrown into the gaol—though I did see that recent video of him being a little terrorist in there.”
“Oh yeah... I saw that too.”
Someone I’d known since our high school days—a fellow EGRS member—was a streamer and content creator who’d gotten sent to the gaol and occasionally made videos about it. He was eccentric to begin with and there weren’t a lot of people making gaol content, so those videos always got a good amount of views.
I’d watched some of them myself, and, well...that lip fetishist sure seemed to be the same as ever. Not that I approved of what he did, though Stealing the fairy queen Titania’s cup was a pretty crazy thing to do.
That aside...
“By the way, Marie...”
“Yes?”
“How would you describe King of Plagues? His appearance, I mean.” The news articles wrote about his deeds, but there was nothing about what he looked like.
“His appearance? Well, it was definitely pretty weird.”
Weirder than somebody wearing a business suit in a fantasy world? I thought.
“I mean, he wore a samurai helmet and a raincoat! That’s not exactly a look I’m ever going to forget.”
“Ohh, that is weird. I never met him, but I’m sure I’d recognize that outfit right away.”
“Well, he’s in the gaol now, so it’s not like we’ll ever see him again.” Marie had beaten King of Plagues, and Shu had beaten King of Crime, but no matter what they did, as long as they were Masters none of them could actually die. They would just come back once their death penalty expired—but if their sins were grave enough, they’d be sent to the gaol.
So far the only people who had made it out of there were people like Hannya, and knowing the extent of his crimes there was no chance that King of Plagues would ever get free.
I mean, it’s not like the security there is so lax that he could just escape, right?
“Anyway, that’s more or less how the King of Plagues incident went,” said Marie. “Do you have any more questions?”
“Just one.” There was actually one more thing that Marie probably knew about, but hadn’t yet mentioned. “It’s about the boy who survived. How did Mahr end up?”
I wanted to know about Marie’s client—the sole survivor of Mahem. Marie had neglected to mention what kind of life the boy had ended up living once all was said and done.
However, the only response I got was silence. Marie clearly looked like she didn’t know what to say.
“Was he sent to some orphanage?” I asked. “Wait, don’t tell me that he...” Joined his friends and family? I completed the sentence in my head, feeling uneasy.
However, Marie’s answer didn’t align with my assumed worst-case scenario.
“I don’t know. I think that once it was all over, the dragon that helped me took him with him somewhere.”
The dragon who was a friend of The Hero and his tamed monster—the one that had gladly agreed to help Marie with her plan. With the boy having lost his family, friends, and homeland, that dragon was, in a way, the only connection he still had.
“His friend entrusted the boy to him, so...I guess the dragon took him into his own care?” I said.
“Probably. Well, the dragon seemed reasonable, so I’m sure that boy is living a decent life somewhere.”
Well, that seemed like a good enough outcome to me. I could only hope that the boy found something to live for in the time after the tragedy.
✦ ✦ ✦
The following events occurred after the incident, yet were unknown even to Marie—the one who had finally ended it. Neither most of the players on the board nor human society at large could fully grasp the story that unfolded.