“Even if I don’t get married, there’s still my younger sister in the Staktos family, and I have other relatives. The bloodline of Vulcanus isn’t going to die out,” explained Diné with a smile as Mira looked up at her with pained eyes. She showed no signs of bravado or resignation. However, her very pride at being able to protect her country actually made Mira feel sad. “It must be tough being the holy knight.” “Yeah. So don’t call me a virgin again!” shouted Diné as she went to grab the cat on Mira’s head. But yet again, the cat skillfully slipped through Diné’s grasp and retreated from the kitchen. “Oh my, you can’t even catch a little kitty. At this rate, you’ll never beat that perverted skeleton, virgin girl,” said the cat. “Why, youuuuuu!” Diné let out a roar of true rage and rushed after the cat so powerfully that she almost broke the floorboards. As if to take the woman’s place, Terios entered the kitchen. “What was that about? Well, I think I can imagine,” he said. “Yeah, I think it’s probably what you expect.” Mira laughed, nodding back to Terios, whose shoulders slumped from morning fatigue. “I think Melan likes teasing Diné about as much as she likes doing it to you, Teacher.” “The greatest boon of capturing Diné might be taking some heat off me now that the cat has more targets,” remarked Terios, half joking, half serious. Then he started getting the dishes ready for breakfast. After they finished eating breakfast, the children started arithmetic class. In the middle of class, Terios suddenly locked eyes on the empty air. “Teacher?” “My apologies, someone has arrived,” replied Terios to their concern. The Alarm spell he’d placed on the road had activated again. “Is it the military?” asked Diné. “I would have thought as much, but it only activated for one person,” noted Terios with some confusion. “It would be nice if it were a messenger coming to ask us to negotiate, but I suppose I should just go and meet them.” With that, Terios cast the Teleport spell and disappeared. Mira and the children weren’t that worried, assuming he’d be okay, since he’d defeated the holy knight, so Diné took over teaching and had them practice subtraction again. But after only a short while, Terios reappeared, and everyone’s eyes grew wide. “Welcome ba— Wh-what happened?!” “Is he all right? He’s injured!” On his shoulder, Terios carried a man in armor with three arrows protruding from his back. “My apologies for scaring you. Torio, could you please clear the table of the learning materials?” “Y-yeah. Hey, everyone, hurry up and gather your things!” Even the typically resistant Torio knew this wasn’t the time to hesitate. He urged the shocked children into action as he gathered the textbooks and writing utensils. Terios laid the man facedown on the now-open table. As he did, Diné saw his face and gasped. “Taurus?! How’d he get these injuries…?” “I thought he might have been one of your men. I recognized him,” responded Terios, gripping the man’s right hand. There, he saw the symbol of the geas he’d placed on the knights. “He’s one of the knights from the fight?” asked Mira. “Yes,” affirmed Terios. “However, I don’t know why he came running to this village after suffering injuries like this.” He looked over at the children, who’d retreated against the wall. “We’re going to be tending to his wounds now. I’m sorry, but would you all please go outside?” “Is he going to be okay?” asked Torio, speaking for all the children, and Terios nodded firmly. “I think he simply fainted from relief when he saw me. His life isn’t in danger. I did have him drink a potion just in case, though.” “Oh, that’s okay, then.” Remembering the potion that had saved them from the green rot, Torio and the other children relaxed, assuming he had drunk the same one. The children left the village chief’s house, leaving only Terios, Diné, and Mira behind. “Right, there are quite a few things about this situation that bother me, but first, let’s start with medical care,” stated Terios. He cast Apport and pulled out a mithril dagger and a vial containing medicine for wounds. “I don’t have any bandages. Mira, could you please bring me some suitable cloths?” “Yes.” Mira rushed from the living room to the bedroom that had belonged to the village chief and his wife. She grabbed some appropriate-looking clothing from the chest of drawers and ran back to the living room. “Will these work?” she asked. “Yes, thank you very much.” Terios took the clothes as Diné deftly snapped off the arrows in the man’s back. She then started cutting his plate armor off, careful not to open his wounds. “Use this,” said Terios. “Thanks,” she replied, taking the mithril dagger Terios offered and slicing the leather straps below the man’s armor that were holding it in place so she could pull it off. With the wounds in his back finally accessible, she sliced open the holes and very slowly extracted the arrowheads embedded in his flesh. “……” Mira dauntlessly burned the medical-treatment process into her mind, used to even more horrific sights from when she’d helped defeat the goblins. Diné did a double take at Mira, but Terios offered her the wound medicine, and she spread it on his back. “By the way, can’t you use a Heal spell?” she asked. “My apologies, but that’s not my area of expertise,” admitted Terios, lowering his head, but then he suddenly turned to Mira. “Could I have you cast Heal instead of me?” “Huh, can I use magic like that?!” “Don’t worry. Just try.” Terios patted Mira’s back as she jumped with surprise and tried to refuse. “All you have to do is imagine these wounds healing and recite the incantation. All right, have a go.” “If you put it that way…” Though still reluctant, Mira stared at the man’s wounds, imagined them closing like Terios had said, and spoke the word. “Heal.” A white, magical light surged from her palms and poured onto the man’s wounds. However, no matter how long they waited, nothing seemed to change. “Teacher, it’s…” “You’re right. It’s not working. Do you know why that is?” asked Terios like he’d expected this, though Mira was uncertain. She thought for a moment about how to answer his question, then said, “Because I couldn’t imagine the wounds healing very well?” “Correct. And more precisely, you weren’t convinced you could heal the wounds.” He started explaining with satisfaction. “As I described earlier, you need two things in order to cast magic: mana and cognizance, which can also be called a strong belief. You saw the fireball I made, and you were convinced that you could make a fireball as well. That enabled you to use the spell Fireball.” “But I haven’t seen the Heal spell, and I didn’t believe I could do it, so it failed,” said Mira. “Precisely.” Terios patted Mira’s head, praising her for fully understanding. “If you actually see the Heal spell and truly believe you can heal wounds with magic, then you may be able to use it someday. Though some magics have compatibility to worry about, so I can’t say for certain you’ll be able to.” “Compatibility?” “Yes. For example, I have seen the Heal spell, but I can’t use it very well,” he explained, raising a bony hand in front of Mira. “As you can see, I am naught but bone. I have no flesh. That means I don’t know what it feels like for flesh to heal.” More accurately, he had forgotten the sensation. “If you have doubts like ‘I don’t understand’ or ‘I can’t get a feel for this,’ then that weakens your belief, and the magic is more likely to fail. That’s why I’m not good at healing-type spells. But instead of using the force of life to heal the wounds, I could use orthopedics, which treats flesh as an object. It may leave it misshapen, but if you’re fine with that, I could at least close the wounds.” “We’ll pass,” said Diné clearly, speaking for the unconscious man to decline Terios’s offer. “Also, don’t use people’s troops as teaching materials.” “S-sorry!” “Well, with Mira as she is now, a failure would just mean it wouldn’t do anything. There was no risk of additional harm,” explained Terios remorselessly, even while Mira rushed to apologize. Sighing, Diné cut the clothes to make bandages and wrapped them around the man’s wounds. “Anyway, do you have any idea why Taurus would come all the way to Krio Village with these wounds?” asked Terios. “I don’t. I think he must have come to ask me for help…,” answered Diné, furrowing her brow without the slightest idea why. As they all fell into contemplative silence, the man, Taurus, slowly opened his eyes. “Where am—? Agh!” “Calm down. Don’t rush it,” Diné urged. He suddenly tried to stand but groaned when extreme pain flared across his back. Diné quickly put her arms around him and pushed him into a seated position. After she did, he finally realized who stood in front of him, and he blurted out a wide-eyed cry. “…Captain, Captain Diné?!” “Yes, that’s me.” “Oh good, I made it somehow… But that’s not important. Something bad has— Ah!” “I told you not to rush it.” She smiled painfully at Taurus while he fidgeted. He was relieved, hurried, and suffering from pain all at once. “Mira, bring this man some water.” “Okay.” She poured water into a cup from the water jug and handed it to Taurus. “Here you are,” she said. “Thank you, miss.” He must have been thirsty, because he slowly drank the water down, taking care not to disturb the wounds in his back. With that, he seemed to finally settle down and explained what happened in a downcast voice. “Captain, it’s terrible. Prime Minister Gelan has instigated a coup.” ““…What?”” Both Terios and Diné froze and gasped at his completely unexpected statement. In their stead, Mira fearfully asked, “Um, the prime minister is the next-most-powerful person after the king, right? He instigated a coup… That means he rebelled against the king?” “He did more than rebel. He locked King Calyx up and stole the throne,” managed Taurus. “What?!” Diné bolted up in anger and surprise at hearing the king’s name. “Even though he hated me, he always seemed to dote on his nephew so much… The more concerning matter is how his unlawful acts got through. Didn’t someone stop him?” “That’s right. I heard talk that people are uncertain about the young king, but I wasn’t under the impression he’d lost so much support that anyone would allow a coup to take place,” Terios added calmly, having recovered from his shock. Taurus looked in agony as he said, “Gelan announced that Krio Village being destroyed by the green rot was by King Calyx’s design.” “…What?” This time it was Mira who was taken aback, so stunned that she practically froze into an ice sculpture. “The king tried to kill us with the disease?” “It’s definitely a false accusation. His Majesty would never do that. Actually, he could never,” countered Taurus. “His Majesty is still young, and I feel bad saying it, but he doesn’t wield any real authority. Gelan claimed His Majesty used the captain and colluded with a lich to destroy a village with a disease that had supposedly been eliminated two hundred years ago, but such a thing is beyond his power. It would be pointless anyway!” “Agreed,” said Terios, nodding strongly. “What’s this ridiculous hogwash?” demanded Diné, glaring vehemently at Taurus with an expression that had gone past anger into sheer exasperation. “He’s saying I colluded with Terios on His Majesty’s orders?” “Yes, that His Majesty and the holy knight betrayed the kingdom and aided a monster.” “Why would we destroy Krio Village with the green rot?” “To use the villagers as a sacrifice for some evil ritual.” “For what purpose?” “The pursuit of incredible power, to be able to destroy any who went against you…” Even Taurus clearly thought it was the height of idiocy as he answered Diné’s questions. She nodded deeply as her troop member’s voice got quieter and quieter, then suddenly shouted in rage. “Asshole! Who the hell would believe that garbage?!” “There are a lot of people who don’t. A holy knight betraying the nation she’s safeguarded for so long is more than they can accept.” “Still, the fact that the coup was a success means at least the military or some of the nobles believe him, right?” “No, I don’t think they trust the story, either. It’s just that they’ve been bribed with money or land…” “So he went around saying ‘When I become king, I promise—’? Those greedy cretins!” Diné covered her face, embarrassed at their pathetic disloyalty. Taurus’s face twisted with anger as he watched his captain suffer and continued explaining. “We didn’t even have time to report to His Majesty when we got back to the capital from Krio Village. The First Knights restrained us, which is how we figured out Gelan had led a coup. Thanks to the lieutenant’s quick thinking, I managed to escape.” “I see. And what of the others?” asked Diné. “I think they’re alive…,” guessed Taurus vaguely and painfully. “We Second Knights might be few in number, but we’re knights all the same—the second or third sons of noble families who have warhorses. If he killed us, he’d make enemies of our families. I don’t think the prime minister is that stupid.” “Me neither.” She nodded in agreement, but Mira felt anxious as she looked at Taurus’s back. It was probably because he was caught running away, but they tried killing him with bows and arrows… If things didn’t go well for the others, then— Just as a downward spiral of horrible thoughts threatened to ensnare Mira… “Hee-hee. Ah-ha-ha. Aah-ha-ha-ha!” Terios, who had been listening silently to the conversation, suddenly looked up like it was so funny his stomach hurt and let out horrifying, spine-tingling laughs. “Terios, this isn’t exactly a laughing matter.” “My sincerest apologies. Please do forgive me.” He quickly returned to his normal demeanor and bowed his head to Diné, who had quietly but angrily reprimanded him. He raised his head and sighed to himself. “I’ve been enjoying my life as a teacher of innocent children so much that I’d completely forgotten the true depths of human evil. I was just laughing at my own foolishness.” “Teacher?” Suddenly very worried, Mira gripped Terios’s hand. He squeezed back but didn’t meet her gaze as he spoke like he was apologizing to the entire world. “It was, without a doubt, Prime Minister Gelan who spread the green rot in this village.” “……” Mira couldn’t find any words, perhaps because she was too surprised or maybe because that suspicion had already formed deep within her heart. Instead, Diné thought deeply for a moment, then calmly asked, “Could you explain how you came to that conclusion?” “Of course. I failed to inform you earlier because I thought the issue was resolved, but—,” prefaced Terios before telling Diné about the wererat that had been the source of the green-rot infection. “You’re saying Gelan sent the wererat?” “I am. As Mr. Taurus has so kindly explained, this was all a plot by the prime minister to eliminate His Majesty and take the throne for himself.” “Doesn’t it make more sense to assume a monster carrying the green rot just appeared naturally?” Without any concrete evidence, Diné remained skeptical. Terios, however, calmly explained his theory. “First of all, we should question why the green rot’s damage was limited to one village. In a normal situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if it took out five of the villages and towns surrounding Krio Village. It’s that deadly a disease.” “True.” “And—” Terios stopped speaking for a moment and looked at Mira for confirmation. She shook her head, telling him he didn’t need to hold back for her sake, and Terios continued. “I assume you’ve heard that the military blocked the road and killed anyone infected with the green rot who went to find help.” “…Yeah.” “But that’s the thing. How did the military know the green rot was spreading in Krio Village so that they could block the road beforehand?” ““Oh!”” Diné and Taurus gasped. From a logical standpoint, the military’s response was clearly unnaturally quick. “The typical course of events would go something like this: A villager would reach a neighboring village to ask for help, and the people who heard it there would head to the capital to report. Throughout all of this contact, the disease would be spreading far and wide. Yet in reality, the road connecting Krio Village to the next was already blocked off. It’s almost as if they knew about the green rot beforehand and feared the damage it would cause if left unmanaged.” “……” “Diné, who was it that made the decisions for countering the green rot, and who was it that dispatched the military?” he asked. “…It was Gelan.” Diné practically spat the prime minister’s name as fury gripped her face. “He said it was too cruel to have His Majesty make the decision to abandon the villagers, so he made it himself. Well then, let’s give a round of applause to the man pretending to protect people from the mud when he was the one slinging it in the first place!” “He wanted the throne so much that he’d go that far?!” Even Taurus was so incensed that he struck the table with his fist, the pain in his back seemingly forgotten. “I’m sure he did want it. And he would have been king if King Calyx wasn’t around, which just made him hunger for it more,” said Terios with a sigh. As the younger brother of the former king, Gelan was close enough to the throne to taste it, which made him covet it all the more. Is being king really that great…? Mira wondered. As a simple village girl, she couldn’t understand the prime minister’s lust for status. She did, however, recognize that the prime minister had stolen her family and neighbors from her to sate his desires. “It’s hard to believe he unleashed the green rot just to frame His Majesty with this nonsense…,” noted Diné. “Actually, I think the original story was going to be much simpler,” corrected Terios, shaking his head and countering Diné’s painfully muttered words. “It makes sense if you consider what would have happened had I not appeared in the village and became a wrench in his plans.” “If you hadn’t come?” asked Mira, carefully imagining what would have happened, even though the thought scared her. “We would have all died of the green rot, and…the wererat would still be there?” “Correct. The wererat I defeated would still be near Krio Village.” Terios patted Mira’s head for her doing a good job. “The soldiers who came to investigate the village would discover the wererat, then rush back to report. Then who would be sent out to defeat the wererat?” “That would be—” “Me. I’d be the only one,” interjected Diné with a heavy sigh, cutting off Mira before she could answer. “It was a wererat with the green rot, right? It would be a different story if we were in an open field, but gathering a lot of normal soldiers to chase it down in the forest would only result in unnecessary deaths.” “Unfortunately, even we wouldn’t be able to handle it,” added Taurus, agreeing with Diné even though it stung. “Wererats are dangerous. They don’t even have to fight; they need only to scratch someone or spit on them to infect them with some disease, and then it’s just a matter of keeping their distance. A regular person wouldn’t stand a chance.” Terios had dispatched it so handily that it might be easy to underestimate wererats as weak, but in reality, they spelled terrible danger for humans. “And Diné the holy knight is extraordinary, so she would probably be able to defeat it, but…” “I’d die. I’d get the green rot.” Mira was somewhat surprised at how readily she acknowledged that. “Diné, you can’t beat a sickness, either?” she asked. “I may be descended from a god, but in the end, I’m still human. Even the immortal demigod Arkhaia met his end from poisoning. There’s no way I could prevail against toxin or disease.” “That’s true,” noted Mira. Humans died easily, even those as powerful as Diné. That being the case, to make a truly peaceful world without fear of death— Mira realized her thoughts were treading a dangerous path. She quickly chased them from her mind, while Terios started to wrap up the conversation. “Diné and the wererat would kill each other. His Majesty would fall into depression, from grief or from blaming himself. The prime minister was then planning to suggest the king abdicate so that he could claim the throne without issue.” “And if His Majesty didn’t agree to abdicate—? Ah, Gelan would then add on the story about him working with a monster and destroying Krio Village for an evil rite, then lead the coup,” postulated Diné, souring as she realized the answer to her own question. “Precisely. My arrival wasn’t according to his original plan, so he took what was at first just a backup plan, repurposed it, and sort of forced it to work. That’s how we got here,” said Terios. They had no proof or testimony to back his conclusion, but no one could think of any other explanation. “You’ve managed to save my life without me even knowing it.” “Guess we should thank you for that or something…” Both Diné and Taurus bowed their heads in genuine gratitude. “No need. It was just a coincidence. It’s really not that big a deal,” said Terios. “That’s right. A skeleton’s not going to jump to the rescue just ’cause you flattered him.” The black cat, unseen until now, suddenly popped up on Mira’s head as Terios scratched his jawbone in embarrassment. “Wh-what’s with that cat?!” cried Taurus. “This is Melan. She likes teasing, but she’s not a bad person.” “Well, she’s not even a person,” quipped Diné, slightly grimacing as Mira introduced the feline who had caused Taurus to leap in surprise. While they did that, Melan tapped Terios’s face with her tail to urge him on. “You’re done with this drawn-out conversation, aren’t you? So get moving, then.” “Get moving?” asked Mira reflexively, and Melan looked at her with a particularly evil smile. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s got to retaliate against the prime minister.” “Ah…” She jumped slightly. “Melan’s right. We can’t leave Gelan like this,” said Diné as she stormed toward the door. “Diné, wait, please.” “Ah?!” With Terios’s spoken command, the geas on Diné went into effect. As soon as she abruptly ground to a halt, she turned back clumsily like she was fighting a powerful force. “Terios, I don’t care if you’re the one giving the command. I won’t listen to an order to leave Gelan alone,” she managed. “I know, but it’ll be a headache if you just rush off to the capital like you are.” Terios smiled out of both admiration and frustration toward Diné’s strength of body and emotions, impressed she could move that far while resisting his magic. “I will accompany you. I’ll use Teleport, so wait before you march to the capital on foot.” “Tsk, if that’s the case, you should have just said so.” Smiling wryly because she had jumped to conclusions and pointlessly struggled against the geas, Diné moved back to Terios and bowed her head to him. “Will you help me give Gelan what he deserves and save King Calyx?” she requested. “Gladly.” Terios easily understood how this was also a step on the path to building a peaceful world. Just as he started to cast Teleport, Mira gripped his robe tightly. “Mira?” he asked, stopping his casting in surprise. She looked up at him and slowly turned the fire burning in her heart into words. “Teacher, please take me with you.” “…No.” Terios paused for a moment, then quickly shook his head. “I want you to stay here this time.” “No. I’m going, too.” Terios tried to gently remove her hand locked on his robe, but she gripped more tightly in resistance. “I know it’d be fine because it’s you, and I’m only one more person,” asserted Mira. After the defeat of the holy knight, there was no one left in the Erythron Kingdom who could stand a chance of beating Terios. One child dragging him down wasn’t enough to even handicap him. Mira remained insistent with her arguably true reasoning, and Terios scratched his jawbone in consternation. “Well, it’s not really about you slowing me down. It’s—” “Stop being so stubborn and take her with you,” yowled the cat, butting into the conversation and tapping Terios with her tail again. “It’ll be good for her to learn how the world works. Right, Teacher?” “When it comes to learning, there are some lessons for good and others for ill.” “How about this. If you say no, I’ll take her myself, okay?” “…How amusing,” said Terios, glaring at the unusually assertive cat with a pained expression. He looked down at Mira, still gripping his robe tightly, and then his shoulders slumped in surrender. “Please just avoid doing anything rash.” “I will.” “Good. All right, shall we get going?” As Mira nodded resolutely, Terios took her hand and started casting the previously interrupted Teleport spell. A brilliant, magical light engulfed them. Struck with a floating sensation and vertigo, Mira started to feel her consciousness fade. The next moment, she was standing in front of a massive building surrounded by high stone walls. It was the royal castle in the center of the Erythron Kingdom. A guard looked up at the dark sky filling with heavy rain clouds and sighed. “It’s like a harbinger of this country’s future,” he remarked. “Don’t say such gloomy things. You just need to believe that things will get better with the new king,” said another guard standing next to him, but the lack of hope in his expression contradicted his statement. “His Majesty and Lady Diné would never betray us. It’s just a plot by the prime minister, isn’t it?” “It’s His Majesty King Gelan now. Be careful what you say. Just keep it to yourself.” With the military and nobles on Gelan’s side, there was nothing mere foot soldiers like them could do about it. The second guard patted his fellow’s back, his own expression one of resignation. In front of them stood a skeleton in a black robe, a far-too-famous holy knight, and a little girl, yet the guards didn’t seem to notice. “An Invisibility spell?” “No, it’s actually Unrecognizable.” While Diné murmured so that the guards couldn’t hear her, Terios responded at a normal volume. “It interferes with their minds, making it so they can’t recognize us, even though they can see us. Though it wouldn’t stop them from noticing us if you shouted or punched them, for instance,” explained Terios as he nonchalantly passed by the guards and entered the castle gate. “Wow. They can’t see us, even though we’re right in front of them,” admired Mira. “It’s the perfect position from which to launch a surprise attack. This is what makes magic users so terrifying.” Diné sighed as she followed Terios. “The spell isn’t perfect, though. It’s still magic at the end of the day, so a magic user can sense it from the mana response. Even a normal person with keen senses could detect something was off if they were paying careful attention,” explained Terios as he looked up at the magnificent castle. “First, we should rescue the king.” “Yeah. It’ll be dangerous if Gelan has him as a hostage,” agreed Diné. She pointed to the towers on the four corners of the castle. “I don’t think he’d keep someone as high-ranking as royalty in the underground cells. The king’s probably in one of those towers.” “You may be right… Most likely on the highest floor of that one,” said Terios as he narrowed his eyes and looked between the four towers before pointing to the western tower. “What do you base that on?” “I sense mana from two people there. I think it’s appropriate to assume they’re magic users stationed to guard His Majesty.” “I see. In that case, you’re probably right.” Diné looked up at the western tower as well. She might not have been able to sense it as clearly as Terios, but she, too, detected the mana. The woman passed confidently through the front gate into the castle proper, then strode down the hall toward the western tower. Terios and Mira quickly followed. “I know they won’t catch us, but it’s still a little scary,” said Mira, gripping Terios’s hand anxiously as she watched the soldiers and nobles cluelessly pass them by. “There’s a saying that goes ‘A cowardly mouse is more frightening than a foolish lion.’ It’s good to be cautious,” praised Terios as he pulled Mira by the hand and headed farther into the hallways. Opening the door in the castle’s western corner and entering the tower, they skirted a pair of oblivious guards engrossed in a game of cards, then climbed the spiral staircase. Diné was in the lead as they approached the highest floor, but Terios grabbed her shoulder to stop her. “If we go any farther, the magic users will notice us. I can neutralize them with a Sleep—” “Nope, don’t need it.” Diné brushed Terios’s hand from her shoulder, then practically flew up the stairs. Then— “Gah!” “Gurgh!” There was the sound of two heavy blows, and the tower returned to silence in the blink of an eye. Terios and Mira rushed up to the highest floor to find Diné standing casually over two men who looked like magic users and were collapsed unconscious at her feet. “This is faster,” she said. “Wow…” “I suppose I should say this is what makes holy knights so scary.” Before she knew it, Mira was clapping out of admiration, and Terios actually joined in on the applause, too. Diné didn’t act bashful. She pointed to the iron door behind her and asked, “Can you open that? These two don’t seem to have a key on them, and I might injure His Majesty if I cut it open with Vulcanus.” “Of course, let me take care of it.” Terios nodded and cast Unlock. In an instant, both the physical and magical locks unlatched at the same time, and the door slowly opened. “Oh, I need to let down Unrecognizable as well,” Terios realized aloud. The moment he dismissed the spell, his eyes met those of a young boy, cute like a little girl, sitting on the bed in the narrow room. “A s-skeleton?!” “Your Majesty!” The boy, the young king Calyx, started to scream when he saw Terios, but Diné rushed to him and threw her arms around him. “Your Majesty, are you injured? Are you hungry?” she asked. “Diné… Diné, is it really you? I’m not dreaming?” The holy knight poked around the king’s body in concern, which he must have thought was a hallucination brought on by the despair of being locked up. She gently took his hand as he reached out to brush her cheek. “Yes, it’s me. I’ve come to rescue you.” “Oh, Diné!” Finally realizing it was real, Calyx buried his face in her chest and started sobbing. “Uncle suddenly told me he was trapping me in here because I was bad… He said you were dead!” He had been betrayed and left without help, so he must have been afraid of being executed. Diné didn’t scold the boy for his lack of royal composure or for his wrinkled face and sobs. She just gently hugged him. “I’m sorry it took me so long. It’s all right now,” she reassured him. “Waaah, Diné…” As they waited for him to stop crying, Terios bound the unconscious magic users. “First, you stuff a cloth in their mouths, then gag them. That will at least make them unable to recite incantations. You can’t let your guard down, however, because some very skilled people can cast spells without incantations.” “Okay.” Not letting a teachable moment go to waste even in a time like this, Terios then thought Calyx must have had time to calm down and so entered the room. He had stopped crying, but he shrieked again when he saw Terios. “Ah! …Impossible! Is that the Undead King?!” “Your Majesty, please relax. He is not our enemy,” informed Diné. “I noticed you didn’t call me an ally, though.” Terios slightly sulked as Diné calmed Calyx down. He then gave a deep bow to the young king. “I am honored to meet you, Your Majesty, King Calyx. I am indeed the Undead King who appeared in Krio Village. My name is Terios. And this is Mira, a girl I am instructing.” “N-nice to meet you,” stated Mira, nervously lowering her head to the boy who was both younger and shorter than her. Their politeness finally set Calyx at ease. “It’s like Diné said; you aren’t a bad person, are you?” “No, at least not as bad as Gelan,” said Diné. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?” asked Terios in confusion, but Diné got on her knees and bowed low, her expression serious. “Terios, please allow me to thank you again for assisting me with freeing His Majesty. And while it may be bold of me, may I ask—?” “To help you bring down the prime minister? Of course I’ll help.” Terios guessed what Diné would ask and answered before she could finish the question, and she smiled happily. “I wouldn’t have cared if you’d just protected His Majesty while I went to cut down Gelan.” “Well, you’d probably be fine by yourself, but we won’t have any unnecessary injuries if I tag along.” Though Terios didn’t say as much, he also accompanied her because he didn’t want anyone to die. “Right, where’s the prime minister now?” he asked. “At this time, he’s probably in the middle of holding audiences. I imagine he couldn’t wait to sit on the throne he’s just stolen,” guessed Diné. “You’re probably right.” Terios nodded back to Diné, whose expression was twisted in anger, then recast Unrecognizable and descended the spiral staircase. The whole time they were walking to where the prime minister was, Mira kept her eyes turned down to conceal her expression. As more rain poured down, the audience hall darkened even more. Guarded by a large company of soldiers, Gelan sat atop the throne as he conversed with General Chelidon, the captain of the First Knight Squadron. “Your Majesty, Baron Vous and many other nobles are requesting an audience with you.” “I imagine they will insist I release their sons, who were under Diné. I thought I told them I’d release them immediately if their sons swore fealty to me.” Gelan sighed heavily, having had the same conversation multiple times. “Instead, they just keep repeating some meaningless story about how Diné didn’t die, even though she lost the fight. Like the evil Undead King would let his mortal enemy, a holy knight, live—” “Unfortunately for you, I’m not dead.” “—Huh? Did someone say something?” Gelan looked around him, thinking he’d heard the voice of Diné herself. That’s when it happened. “Blockade.” A low voice sounded, and a wall of blue light sprang into existence around the audience chamber. “Wh-what is this?!” “An assault from a magic user?! Call for reinforcements!” Though Gelan lost his cool, the general was the quickest to grasp the situation and shouted orders to one of the soldiers standing near the door. However, as the soldier reached to open the door, a wall of light immediately repelled the attempt. “I can’t! It won’t budge!” Many people tried throwing kicks at the door, and some even tried stabbing it with their spears, but the wall of light didn’t move an inch. In front of Gelan and his captive audience, four people appeared like they’d been there the whole time. “Incredible. This is the first time I’ve seen such large-scale magic,” admired the young king Calyx, his eyes shining as he looked around. He should have been sealed inside the western tower. “That fact that you haven’t seen even this much and no one’s realized it just shows how lacking our country is in good talent.” The holy knight Diné sighed with a mixture of exasperation and sorrow. She should have been dead. “To prevent surprise attacks such as this, you should get in the habit of monitoring the flow of mana at all times,” noted Terios, the Undead King, leisurely conducting a lesson. “…Okay,” said the white-haired village girl, Mira, as she nodded back, but her angry eyes were locked on the prime minister. “Y-you! How are you here?!” Gelan cried out in terror at the sight of the four of them. “Long time no see, Prime Minister,” spat Diné, smiling sarcastically at the traitor who was sullying the throne by acting like he owned it. “I don’t remember the prime minister’s duties including dusting the throne with his ass.” “Urgh…” “What are you doing? They’re intruders! Seize them!” shouted the general, hastily returning to his senses, while Gelan was too shocked to say anything in response. Unfortunately, the guards were shaking so much that they were paralyzed. “There’s no way we can capture Lady Diné!” “And that skeleton is the Undead King that defeated the knights…” Just one look at the barrier spell sealing them in was enough for them to realize Terios’s awesome power. They felt both dread and understanding that even if they gathered together all the soldiers in the castle, they wouldn’t be able to so much as scratch this group, let alone if the ten or so guards in the room tried on their own. “Cowards!” The general drew his own sword after seeing that not a single one of the guards could move. He was well aware that he couldn’t win, but he had his pride as the person in charge of the royal military. The general couldn’t let himself surrender without trying to fight back at all. Though Terios appreciated the general’s spirit, he cast a spell to ensure no undue injury. “Bind.” Innumerable chains of light appeared and wrapped around not only the general but also everyone besides Gelan. “Urgh…” “General Chelidon, there’s much I want to say to you, but I’ll leave it for later,” announced Diné as she passed by the snarling general. She drew the holy blade from its sheath and pointed it at Gelan, his face pale as he stood from the throne. “I don’t care if you’re in the royal family. Leading a coup is a crime punishable by death. I assume you’re prepared?” “…Sh-shut up!” Enraged, Gelan suddenly shouted as Diné gave him a death glare that could freeze blood. “A coup? You’re the ones who betrayed the kingdom!” “Are you going to talk some more rubbish about how we collaborated with a monster in some evil ceremony?” “That’s not what I mean!” Gelan refuted Diné’s exasperated words, then pointed at the silently observing Calyx. “I’m saying it was my incompetent nephew who betrayed the Erythron Kingdom!” “Are those your last words?” “Don’t brush me off! Even you know well enough that he doesn’t have what it takes to be king!” “……” Emboldened by Diné’s telling silence, Gelan spoke even more forcefully. “What has he done since my brother died and he took the throne? Not a single thing! The cabinet and I have done everything. We’re the ones who supported the kingdom!” “Isn’t that a prime minister’s job?” It was the prime minister’s responsibility to conduct state affairs in place of the young king. In fact, the late king, Gelan’s older brother, had approved of and requested this of the prime minister. Diné took a step forward at the idiotic excuse for his betrayal, but Gelan didn’t relent and continued shouting. “Even if a lion cub is immature, I would happily support him. But that boy is nothing like my courageous brother. He’s just a cowardly rabbit, hiding and trembling behind your back!” “He’s right,” said the general, agreeing with Gelan, though he was still restrained. “Calyx is kind and good, but he isn’t suited for the throne. If that spineless child remained king, the kingdom would someday fall to ruin.” “Is that why you cooperated with Gelan in the coup?” questioned Diné. “It is,” admitted the general immediately to her question. Across the chamber, it seemed many of the guards held the same opinion. “Your Majesty, will you allow them to speak like this?” asked Terios. “Urgh…” Although Terios was trying to coax a counterargument from the boy, he just looked miserable as tears welled up in his eyes. “See! Everyone worried about his lack of responsibility! That’s why I did what I did and why no one tried to stop me, except you!” barked Gelan. “……” Diné stood in silent shame. While she had been away when it happened, the fact that Gelan’s coup went so smoothly meant that, unfortunately, not enough people believed in Calyx. “Do you understand now? If you’re thinking of what you can do for this country, you should just abandon your holy blade and disappear somewhere with that nephew of mine!” said Gelan arrogantly, the tables quickly turning so he was talking down to her and telling her to let him be. Before the furious rage welling within Diné could explode, Terios’s teeth chattered in laughter. “Ha-ha-ha, you really go on and on, don’t you? Perhaps you should have aimed to become a jester instead of a king or prime minister.” “You bastard!” shouted Gelan angrily in response to Terios’s provocation, but that was enough to make him stop. He was at his limit. “Now, it may not be my place to point this out, but there is absolutely no connection between King Calyx being ill fit for the throne and your coup being just.” “What?!” “Well, you see, the worst kind of incompetent ruler is foolish but has the authority to enact change, and in that case, I might have agreed that you had no choice. But that’s not the situation with King Calyx, is it?” “Urgh…” Gelan couldn’t respond immediately. That in itself was an answer. “As you so rightly called him, King Calyx is a cowardly rabbit. He probably wouldn’t have complained as long as you gave him somewhere to live, some food, and perhaps a pretty lady so that he wouldn’t die from loneliness.” “Don’t talk about His Majesty like he’s some sex addict,” groaned Diné, unaware that the pretty lady Terios was referring to was her. He smiled apologetically, then continued to address Gelan. “He may be cowardly and incompetent, but he’s also the most harmless rabbit there’s ever been. There is no more perfect human resource to become a puppet for the prime minister to control from the shadows.” Things wouldn’t change even when Calyx grew up. It would have been relatively easy for Gelan to keep doing the true ruling as the prime minister. “Instead of standing at the fore and being the target of criticism, you could have manipulated everything from behind. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me. What about that were you not satisfied with?” “Tsk…” “Oh, you don’t have to say it.” Driven into a corner, Gelan faltered, and then Terios suddenly returned to the cruel tone of his former life. “You wanted the throne that badly, huh? Even if it meant destroying an entire village.” “Grrr…” From behind Terios came the sound of Mira grinding her teeth in rage. But he chose to act like he hadn’t heard it just now and glared at Gelan. “You used a green-rot-infected monster to kill nearly a hundred of your citizens, then schemed to kill the holy knight, the heart of the country’s defense. At that point, you lost all ability to argue that you were doing it for the country.” “Why you!” roared Gelan, furious that his plans and true intentions had been laid bare. At that, Terios shrugged as if to say, Oh well. “Don’t you think you should deny those allegations? Everyone may have had an inkling before, but now they’re certain.” Gelan realized a moment later, but it was already too late. “It was Lord Gelan who spread the green rot in Krio Village?!” “I did think there was no way King Calyx and Lady Diné would do that…” “Morons.” The guards cried out in shock at hearing the news, but the general seemed to have suspected this from the beginning and just clucked his tongue in disappointment. “You are surprisingly horrible,” Diné mentioned to Terios. “A certain monster cat trained me,” replied Terios, awkwardly smiling in response to Diné’s compliment and cloaking his thanks in a teasing insult. The cat had disappeared at some point, but she was probably watching from somewhere with a wicked smile of enjoyment. Terios pushed away that image of the black cat from his mind, then gave his final warning to Gelan. “Now, it’s clear as day you’re a usurper of the throne, acting for your own self gain. Will you surrender quietly?” “…Heh.” Gelan paled at having been backed into a corner, but he suddenly grinned. He raised his right hand, adorned with a gold ring, then shouted, “Come, Throne!” The ring emitted massive amounts of mana. A fissure formed in the air, and a creature drifted through. “What is that?!” gasped Diné. She’d defeated any number of monsters, but she’d neither seen nor heard of something like this. It was a clump of four blazing wings that continued to rotate in the air like a wheel. It had no face, arms, or legs. While it definitely didn’t look like an animal, it didn’t look like a spirit or a ghost, either, nor did it leave an impression of consciousness. It was almost like a worker bee that simply obeyed orders from its queen, or maybe even a piece of machinery like a waterwheel. In every respect, it was simply a collection of power. “Throne…,” muttered Terios, racking his brain because he felt like he’d heard the name somewhere before. Mistaking his silence for intimidation, Gelan smiled triumphantly. “You may have said your piece, but it doesn’t matter if I take you out here. Actually, I shouldn’t have shown mercy to my nephew—I should have done this to him from the start.” Gelan glared at the trembling Calyx, then gave an order to the wheel of blazing wings. “All right, kill everyone here other than me!” “What?!” cried the general and the guards, realizing Gelan was going to kill them to keep them from talking. The Throne rotated more violently, and flames burst forth from its wings, and then— “Ice Wall.” Suddenly, Terios’s spell summoned a massive block of ice that blocked the Throne’s flames. “What? The Undead King protected us…?” “Diné,” he called to the holy knight as the guards stared frozen in shock. However, she was already on the move. “Erupt, Vulcanus!” She squeezed the hilt of the holy blade, and it grew red with heat, then the woman pointed the weapon at the floating Throne. “Fool, like flames will work against a burning wheel!” growled Gelan, sneering because he’d chosen this specifically on the off chance that he had to fight Diné. But she didn’t hesitate. Flames burst from the bottom of her feet, speeding her on even faster as she rushed to slash the Throne. “Hiya!” The red-hot holy blade struck the wheel of blazing wings. There was the briefest of moments when the two seemed to push back on each other, but before anyone noticed, the Throne was already split in two. “Wha—?!” “Did you really think that the flames of the God of Fire, Vulcanus, couldn’t cut through some fire monster?” Diné beamed valiantly at Gelan, who was at a loss for words, her hair gracefully fluttering as she landed. Behind her, the slashed-in-half Throne fell apart, turned into particles of light, and disappeared. While Mira stood captivated by the dreamlike beauty of the sight, the black cat suddenly appeared at her feet. “My, oh my, it’s already over. Well, I guess the wreckage of an apostle who’d lost both their king and their faith did the best an antique could.” “Melan?” “What do you know about—? No, we’ll deal with that later.” Terios almost questioned the smugly knowing cat, but he stopped himself and looked back at the king’s throne. There, Diné was raising the holy blade against Gelan, who’d collapsed after losing his ace in the hole. “W-wait! The country will fall without me!” “Give your apologies to the former king in the afterlife, Gelan.” Diné brought her sword down, refusing to listen as he disgracefully begged for his life. But before she could strike, Terios gave her a quiet order. “Diné, please, stop.” “Ah! What are you doing?” shouted Diné angrily as the geas magic activated and froze her with her sword held high. “You can’t possibly be planning to tell me not to kill this traitor?” “That’s exactly what I’m doing. Please don’t kill Gelan.” “Grah!” Under multiple commands, Diné’s hands moved of their own accord and lowered her sword. She didn’t, however, follow the order so far as to sheathe it. “Terios, I understand that you’ve sworn never to kill another person, but I cannot comply in this case. How else could you resolve this situation other than taking his head and clearing His Majesty’s name?” “Well, I suppose your way is the fastest,” admitted Terios, quickly agreeing with Diné’s opinion after calm evaluation of the situation, rather than out of rash anger. “However, what about what he said? That the government won’t survive without him?” “……” Diné fell silent, refusing to respond. Gelan had indeed supported the country over the past year, ever since the previous king had died. “He might be too ambitious, but he isn’t an incompetent prime minister. I’ll cast a geas on him so that he won’t ever betray King Calyx again. With that, wouldn’t he work hard for the country?” “But then we can’t clear His Majesty’s name of the lies Gelan told, like that His Majesty betrayed the kingdom.” “What if we prepare another criminal to take the fall? The prime minister will apologize for also being deceived, and His Majesty will graciously pardon him.” “…No, that won’t work.” She shook her head after a moment of thought. “If we don’t give a punishment for the crime, then people will think even less of His Majesty than they do now, and another Gelan will appear. Of all people, you must understand that countries must occasionally wield fear to avoid ruin.” “I do, more than I’d like.” There was no point in lying or avoiding it, so Terios couldn’t do anything but agree. “Even so, I don’t want to kill the prime minister.” He’d sworn never to slay another person. That wasn’t limited to himself; he also wanted to prevent others from killing as much as he could. With that resolve in mind, he locked eyes with Diné, and they stared each other down. “Have you finished making your cases? If so, perhaps we should leave the final judgment to the person most suited,” suggested the black cat from behind Terios. Her voice was both mirthful and frigid enough to chill you to the bone. He quickly swung back. There, he saw the mithril dagger they used in treating Taurus gripped in Mira’s small fist. Her eyes burned with a hatred as black as her hair was white. Mira didn’t understand Diné’s reasoning for killing the prime minister. She didn’t understand Terios’s reasoning for not killing him. She didn’t understand the politics involved. It was all too complicated. After doing her best to comprehend, she concluded that both choices had their pros and cons. No matter how much she racked her brain, this dilemma wasn’t like an arithmetic problem. She wouldn’t ever come up with an answer that was undoubtedly correct. And if that was the case, it was just a question of what she wanted. All she could do was leave it to emotions. “……” “Mira, don’t.” Terios panicked uncharacteristically, moving to block her path as she wordlessly crept toward the prime minister. “Don’t. You can’t kill the prime minister.” He had already fully explained his reasoning, so Mira didn’t ask him why. But while her heart burned with bitter hatred, her mind, as cool as ice, quietly strung a response together. “Teacher, you told me. You said, ‘When you point a weapon at another person, you must be prepared to take their life or have yours taken.’ This person killed Momma and my friends, which means he’s prepared to die, right?” “But…” Terios couldn’t reply immediately as he struggled to counter his own teaching. She quietly looked up at his indecision. “I thought what you said sounded wonderful, about making a peaceful world that would last for a thousand years, a world where disease or wars wouldn’t kill people.” Her feelings about that hadn’t changed at all. “And so I didn’t understand why Diné was so angry when she fought you.” She’d watched the fight from afar, so she hadn’t heard a majority of the conversation, but some of Diné’s angry shouts had carried on the wind and reached her ears. “You can’t create a single unified country without killing anyone!” Attaining a peaceful world without killing a single person. The holy knight had criticized Terios for that wonderful dream, had claimed it was impossible, and Mira had actually felt angry at her for suggesting that. But Mira had been wrong. She now knew she was the one who hadn’t understood anything. “Teacher, you know I want to kill him.” She gazed at Gelan, who was frozen stock-still, and spoke openly about her desire to kill him. “When I was sick with the green rot, it was so hot, and it hurt so bad. I was afraid of dying, but it hurt so bad that I actually wanted to die… Momma and all the other villagers felt the same.” That morning in her dream, she’d experienced firsthand her mother’s pain and emotions. It strengthened her guilt but also her gratitude for everyone. “Everyone hurt so bad, but they still tried so hard to help us. But…” They were slaughtered. It was all the fault of Gelan, who had spread the green rot in the village in the first place and then ordered the military to keep it from reaching himself. “Momma; and Torio’s mom and dad; and grumpy old Boll; and Carpo, who’d just gotten married; and baby Margarita, who’d just been born… All of them, they’re all dead because of him!” shouted Mira, hate flaring in her eyes as she pointed the mithril dagger the black cat gave her at Gelan. “Why? Why did you kill everyone?! How could you do that?!” “I—I…” “You wanted to be king that much?! Is being king that great?! I don’t get it. I don’t understand!” Forgetting to speak politely, she shouted and sobbed like a child her age. With tears flowing down her face, she gripped the deadly weapon even tighter. “And that’s why I want to destroy him.” The flow of what she was saying had broken, but the animosity burning in her chest was real. So she pushed past Terios, who stood in her way, and approached the target of her hate. A bony hand gripped her shoulder to stop her. “You can’t. If you kill him, then his wife or children will resent you. And if his wife or children slay you, then Torio will fall under anger’s influence. The cycle continues forever,” said Terios. “Which is why you swore never to take a life.” “Yes. Peace doesn’t lie at the end of all that killing. That’s what I learned when I was murdered.” “Really?” She grinned slightly, pleased to understand him a little better by learning how he had died. But that didn’t erase the hate she felt toward the prime minister. “Teacher, Momma, and everyone else who died, what should I do now?” “Let it go.” He didn’t hesitate a single moment as he replied to Mira’s question. “Eat delicious food, listen to funny stories, play with the other children, study sometimes, learn magic, do lots of what you like to do, be happy, and let go of your hate.” “You’re not saying I should forgive him?” asked Mira, surprised by the somewhat unexpected answer, and Terios nodded thoroughly. “Humans aren’t gods. They can’t love every other human, and they can’t forgive every sin.” “It’s not like the gods are that kind or forgiving, either. Or wait—was there only one god?” added the black cat, like she’d seen for herself, but Terios ignored her and squeezed Mira’s shoulders. “It is perfectly fine if you never, in your entire life, forgive the prime minister for taking away the people precious to you. But please just let it go and live blissfully.” Removing all thoughts of the person you hate from your mind, not ruminating on the past and instead living your life looking forward. It was an admirable sentiment. However— “I can’t, Teacher.” Tears spilled from Mira’s eyes, and she brushed Terios’s hands away from her shoulders. “Because if I don’t end him here, then he’ll just keep on living, right?” Her mother was dead. She was no longer in this world. “He’ll be eating delicious food and listening to funny stories and playing with his family and living happily, right?” He’d probably forget all about the people he killed and live happily. “There’s no way I can let that go.” For as long as she lived, the faintest reminder would force Mira to remember. The flames of her hate would never die out, and they would eventually grow into a murderous blaze. Whether it was today or tomorrow or twenty years from now, her hands would be covered in blood someday. The end result wouldn’t change. “And that’s why I’m going to kill him.” Mira closed her hand around the hilt of the mithril dagger again and advanced toward the prime minister. “Ah!” “You won’t die with dignity, will you?” Gelan shrieked in the face of animosity he’d never expected from a child and tried to run, but Diné grappled him in place. Mira approached the prime minister’s unprotected chest. “I wanted to be the one to cut him down, but I guess I can’t say no if it’s a survivor from the village like you instead,” said Diné. “Sorry.” Though Mira apologized, she had expected Diné to oppose a child killing someone. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Diné gave Mira a stern look and stated solemnly, “Age is irrelevant when it comes to death on the battlefield.” “…Okay.” “If you’re going to stab him in the chest, hold the blade flat. That way, the ribs won’t stop the blade.” “Okay.” Mira was grateful for Diné’s advice; she wasn’t looking down on her for being a child but was instead acknowledging her as another human being. She adjusted her blade. “S-sto—!” Gelan tried to beg for his life at this point, but Diné clamped her hand over his mouth to stop him. All that was left was for Mira to plunge the dagger into his heart, and her revenge would be complete. She could finally let go of her hate by wiping the man who had killed the people she loved from this world. But just as she was about to take the last step, she heard Terios’s quiet voice. “If you kill that man, I will abandon my dream.” “…Teacher?” Mira turned back, unable to ignore him. Instead of criticizing her, he was just looking back at her gently. “I am your teacher. If a child I am teaching killed someone, it would be no different than doing it myself. Hence, I would have to give up my life’s work of building a peaceful world without killing anyone.” “Teacher?!” “Well, I’m already dead, so I suppose it would be my death’s work?” Terios was still joking at a time like this, even though Mira let out an upset shriek. But his eyes showed how entirely serious he was. “But if you give up, then you…” What if he worked toward a peaceful world but also accepted killing? No, that wouldn’t work. It had already failed once. That’s why Terios had become undead and chose the difficult path of unifying the continent without killing anyone. His life’s work had failed, and if he had to give up his death’s work, too, then— “I don’t want that!” Mira exclaimed involuntarily. “Then let go of the dagger,” he said, reaching out a white, bony hand. “Let go of your hate and live happily with me.” It was a threat disguised as kindness. Giving up on her revenge. He was forcing a cruel decision on her, telling her to throw away her feelings for the dead and departed and hold on to her feelings for the dead who still remained. “You’re being unfair!” “Yes, I know.” Though he knew how horrible this threat of his was, even Mira’s insults didn’t change his convictions. “I’m sorry, but I swore never to kill another human being again.” They were the same words he’d told her the night they’d first met. But this time, Mira knew they didn’t contain selfless goodwill. They were filled with boundless selfishness. Still, Terios was the reason Mira could laugh. He had made it so she could still live and smile. “I can’t betray you,” she said. She didn’t want to repay his kind act with her cruel one—no, she just didn’t want him to hate her. Her tight grip on the mithril dagger loosened, and it fell to the floor. “But, but still, I won’t stand for it!” There was no way she could allow the prime minister to live without a care in the world after he had taken the people who were most precious to her. If Mira let this go, she might someday grow to hate Terios, and that frightened her. And so, while her throat caught from the tears spilling down her face, she entreated him.
Chapter 11
53 min read