Judging by the equipment he was wearing, I knew this man named Sakita must’ve been a physical combat specialist. That’d make him one of the two SS-tier transmigrators from Khrasiel. Considering the reports we had received from Croway, the other SS-tier transmigrator should’ve been a magic combat specialist.
Sakita had a rather brawny physique, but his looks were relatively plain. In a world full of gorgeous men and women, his ordinary features were more rare than anything. He also seemed to be a bit older than me. If I had to guess, I’d say that he was in his late twenties.
He slowly approached us and stopped just in front of the portal.
In that instant, a surge of air struck me with tangible force. He’d used Intimidate—an ability unique to combat specialists.
Intimidate restricted the actions of lower-tier opponents and inflicted multiple debuffs on them. It could do all that without the user needing to chant a spell.
Since I was a craftsman, I had boosted my mental stats, so I managed to resist its effects. However, the mages in the portal had taken the brunt of the attack and began dropping to their knees one after another. The only people who managed to stay standing were me and Prince Wald, as his Heraldry had prevented the mental attack from taking hold.
For a brief moment, Sakita turned to look directly at me before turning his gaze back to Wald. I’m pretty sure that single glance was a cast of Appraisal.
Although I wore an accessory that blocked unwanted appraisals, it didn’t work because the difference between our ability levels was just too steep. He must’ve decided I wasn’t even worth eliminating.
I managed to resist the textbook effects of his Intimidate, but I hadn’t exactly gotten away unscathed. My teeth were chattering, and my knees had nearly given out. I was clinging to the control panel to stay upright.
So this is the power of an SS-tier player.
I was technically S-tier, but that was only when it came to crafting. My combat proficiency had been capped at B-tier. Sure, my combat skills were enough to detect and strike the weak points of monsters of my tier in Gaelius, but they were nothing against someone of this caliber.
Sakita wasn’t paying any attention to me. I pressed my trembling hands against the control panel and resumed channeling my MP into it.
Just a little longer, and I’ll have this portal working.
He continued to ignore me and addressed the prince. “I recall you once had a player as your tutor. You must have studied history under him, so you’re aware, yes? If players—especially women—are harmed, then the adventurer’s guild will spare no effort to utterly crush their enemy.”
The Yuliana Empire, which had been situated in the center of the Central Nations, had made an enemy of the guild in the past. It had long since been destroyed.
My eyes widened when I heard Sakita’s words. There had been an empire in Golden Dawn called Yuliana. The northern part of Croway Plains, which was now under the jurisdiction of Khrasiel, had been where Yuliana once existed.
However, it had been a massive, sprawling empire. Khrasiel couldn’t possibly have taken control over its entire territory. That meant the old empire’s lands must have been divided and parceled off once the nation had fallen.
“Yuliana had used its players as tools. Not all players are highly proficient, after all. And Yuliana had targeted those weak players who were no different from you NPCs. Men were collared and enslaved, and women who could bear children suffered an even worse fate. The guild had tried to negotiate, but Yuliana broke every one of its promises.”
Sakita continued. “The NPCs of this world are nothing more than scum, and that’s why the guild spent the entirety of fifty years seeing Yuliana obliterated. Its rot was torn out, roots and all. Now, the former capital of their lands is nothing but a cursed ruin, haunted by spirits of the damned. And you did learn all this as royalty, didn’t you?!”
“I did,” the prince affirmed, neither objecting to nor denying any of Sakita’s claims.
The larger man took a deep breath to calm himself before saying more. “She was an E-tier player. Just a girl who had, on a whim, registered an account in an MMO and had forgotten entirely about it. She’d passed away before she’d even graduated from high school. When she’d been reincarnated in Tiuccia, she’d been overjoyed. Your country had been one of the good ones; with the old master managing player affairs there, players were able to live good lives. But after he passed away, your kingdom showed its true colors. She said she wanted to come with me to Raghion! But it was you people who stopped her from going!”
The prince said nothing.
“I left her—my fiancée—in Tiuccia when I accompanied the royal entourage to Raghion, all because you refused to have an E-tier player in your company. And because of that, she died. Perished with a child she never wanted.”
The pressure from Sakita’s Intimidation flared.
I guess the Heraldry’s resistance wasn’t all-powerful—Wald’s face was growing pale. But still, he stood undaunted.
“A female player had been abused and died as a result. Of course the guild would seek revenge! If they had stayed their hand, we’d only see a repeat of Yuliana. But they wanted to keep the damage to Tariyth because they had, overall, accepted your house’s excuses that they hadn’t been involved. I had once believed Tiuccia’s apology myself—out of respect for the fact that this was the country our late master had loved.”
He must’ve been referring to the SS-tier transmigrator who’d taught swordsmanship to Nadar and the king. The old master-at-arms was clearly well-respected, both by other transmigrators and by NPCs. That was why Sakita and the other transmigrators at Tiuccia’s branch had once been willing to let things go.
Then, Sakita continued. “But I heard from a player who’d been invited to the crown prince’s wedding last year that the name of the king’s younger brother had been removed from the Right of Rule. But because your house couldn’t stand the shame, her name had been struck from it as well...as if none of it had ever happened at all.”
Wald was silent as he considered his response. “My father had decided it was too painful to continue seeing the name of his own family as a criminal. But that hadn’t been the only reason; my grandmother, who passed away two years ago, had also wished for the names to be erased.”
“You sully her name further by considering her a criminal?! In the end, none of you ever repented for your sins! You simply swept everything under the rug. I won’t put this to rest with just the king’s brother—I’ll strike all of House Tiuccia’s names from the Right of Rule!” Sakita snarled.
“Heeey,” someone shouted from afar. “You’re getting way too heated, boss. Revenge is a dish best served cold, you know?”
A metallic clanging reverberated through the air. Clang, clang. The sound grew louder as it approached. The erratic noise must have been from something metal getting kicked along the ground.
Both Sakita and Wald looked like they were waiting for the source of the clamor to arrive. I snuck a glance at the control panel out of the corner of my eye as I continued pouring MP into it.
Just a little longer and it’ll finally be ready... All right!
A young man rolled an object around with the toes of his boots as he stepped into the chamber containing the portal to Altiuccia.
His long, orange hair hadn’t been tied back and instead fell freely around him down to his waist. He didn’t wear metal armor. Instead, he was dressed in rather stylish clothing. But his attire, hair, and porcelain skin were splattered with red. A bloodstained scimitar casually rested over his shoulder.
This man, looking to be about twenty, grinned. “Ha ha ha! I was thinking of putting this on and playing at being royalty myself, but I guess equipping it’s a no-go for anybody it’s not registered to.”
“Y-You!” Wald’s voice shook with open fury.
“Hey, princeling. Do you happen to know whose this is? The king’s? Or the crown prince’s? I kinda went overboard and ground even their bones to dust, so I’ve got no idea myself.”
The man kicked the crown one last time. It came to a resounding stop.
“You bastard!” Wald cried out. He pulled his sword from its sheath at his waist and charged.
The second the young prince leaped from the array, a golden film enveloped the portal space as its load had been lessened.
A shout erupted from my throat. “Your Highness!”
There was a wicked smile on the orange-haired man’s face. Realizing that he was about to swing his sword back, I instinctively cast Jump, wedging myself between him and the prince. Turning my back to the man, I threw my arms around Wald as if to catch him as he dashed forward. I hugged him tightly to protect him.
Then, the moment the blade came down across my back, I died.