“No, as you can see, I am completely unharmed,” said Diné proudly as the boy looked up at her with concern. He blushed at the faint scent of soap coming from Diné but let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’d die from sorrow if anything happened to you,” he said. “That’s an exaggeration.” Diné made herself look severe, though she was happy that Calyx cared enough to cry. “Also, Your Majesty, have I not told you three times now that you shouldn’t speak so casually?” The former king died a year ago from a sudden illness, which led to his son, Calyx, ascending the throne. He was simply a figurehead, as the real work would be handled by the ministers until he came of age, but that made maintaining his air of royalty all the more critical. He pouted at Diné’s remark. “But it makes me sound like my father, all stiff and stuffy. I speak formally in front of other people, so at least let me talk how I want to when I’m with just you, Diné.” “No, Your Majesty. Just as with practicing swordplay, the more one slacks under normal circumstances, the more likely one is to make mistakes when the time comes.” Though she thought he looked cute while he was pouting, she firmly held her ground. Calyx’s face clouded over with anger. “Everyone would listen to everything my father said, but no one listens to me because they think it’s just petty selfishness. If that’s how—” “Your Majesty.” Diné quietly but firmly cut off Calyx’s words. “That’s the one thing the ruler of a country must never say.” “I-I’m sorry…” He hung his head, upset at being truly scolded for the first time in so long. He raised his head again and looked at Diné with tears in his eyes. “I won’t ever complain like that again. And I’ll speak properly. Just, please, when it’s only the two of us, don’t call me Your Majesty. It sounds so cold.” When the previous king was still alive, the two of them called each other by their names and were as close as a real brother and sister. Those memories were among the young boy’s happiest, so he probably didn’t want their relationship as king and subject to ruin them. “You’ve been a spoiled child since the beginning, King Calyx. You’ll get me into trouble one day,” she replied. “Diné!” A huge grin appeared on the boy’s face at being called by his name. As soon as his sister called him by his name, albeit with an exasperated grin, the boy’s face lit up. Just as Diné was about to pat the head of her dear young friend, her sharp hearing caught the sound of footsteps approaching. “Your Majesty, please take your seat,” she said. “O-okay.” Based on her now-serious expression, Calyx guessed that someone was coming. While he was upset to have his respite interrupted, he put on a face suited to a king and returned to his seat. As he did, there was a knock at the door along with a deep voice. “Your Majesty, it’s Gelan.” “Enter.” With Calyx’s permission, a portly middle-aged man entered the room. This was Prime Minister Gelan, who held the political reins to the kingdom in the young monarch’s place. He was the much younger brother of the former king, making him Calyx’s uncle. “Holy Knight Diné, you took your time returning. While you were busy playing in the bog, our kingdom has come under immediate danger,” spat Gelan. “My deepest apologies.” His words were quite rude to be directed at a knight who’d just returned from duty, but Diné simply apologized, not showing a hint of annoyance. The two of them hadn’t gotten along for a long time, but that didn’t change the fact that he was part of the royal family and expertly conducted his work as prime minister. Besides, the unpleasantness wasn’t enough to ruffle her feathers. On the other hand, Calyx admired her and couldn’t stand to see her treated that way. “Uncle, you speak too harshly! Diné has just returned from a mission to eliminate a monster for the safety of the people. You can’t—” “Your Majesty, did my brother not teach you that a king must prioritize matters of importance over the small?” While Gelan’s words sounded logical, they were nothing more than a bad-faith argument to distract from the real issue. It’s not like Diné had gone off on her own accord to defeat the slime in the southern bogs. She went on the orders of General Chelidon, the highest-ranking person in the royal military and captain of the First Knight Squadron. If there was an issue while she was gone, the blame should have fallen on the general for ordering her to go. But Calyx was too young and inexperienced to come up with a logical counterargument like that. “B-but Diné—” “Your Majesty, I appreciate your concern, but the unfairness of unnecessarily covering for one of your retainers could result in the country falling to ruin. Please leave it be,” responded Diné coldly, cutting off Calyx as he tried to defend her again. Gelan smiled satisfactorily at the sight. “Oh, I would have thought you’d take advantage of your friendly relationship with the king, but it seems you do know your place,” he said. Diné wanted nothing more than to yell that it was for Calyx’s sake, not Gelan’s. Instead, she bit back her impulse and added another emotionless comment. “Additionally, the prime minister is nothing more than your retainer. When in public, you should refer to him by his name or title rather than Uncle.” “Understood. From now on, I will call him Gelan,” said Calyx. “…That is perfectly acceptable,” said Gelan. As Calyx wasn’t aware that his decision to address his uncle without his title was a counterattack on Diné’s part, Gelan smiled painfully and nodded in response. She felt a small amount of satisfaction at seeing that strained grin, but then she turned the conversation back on track. “Now, what is this immediate danger?” “You’re aware of the village that was destroyed by disease?” “You mean Krio Village. I couldn’t possibly forget.” Pain lined her face as she responded to Gelan’s question. Diné and her group, the Second Knight Squadron, were primarily responsible for defeating monsters, so they hadn’t been involved, but she knew the royal military had viciously struck down every villager who sought help after they contracted the green rot. If they hadn’t done that, the disease would have spread, and it could have meant the end of the Erythron Kingdom. She didn’t think sacrificing the few to save the many was the wrong decision. However, that didn’t eliminate the guilt she felt for abandoning the people she was supposed to protect. While Diné reeled from another wave of guilt, Gelan revealed a horrifying detail without so much as flinching. “A lich has appeared in the village.” “What?!” Diné yelled out involuntarily, thinking she might have misheard. Gelan repeated himself coldly, as if he were reprimanding her. “A lich has, in fact, appeared in the village. If you doubt me, you can personally ask the soldiers who went to investigate the settlement.” As he spoke, he took a sheet of parchment from his inner pocket and handed it to Diné. “Is this the report from the soldiers who went to the village?” questioned Diné. According to the report, they had first sent a few prisoners to Krio Village, where there should have been no one left alive after such a long period of outbreak. They were told that if they burned the corpses that remained in the village to cut off the source of infection, their sentences would be reduced. There was only a single, forest-enclosed path that ran from Krio Village to another nearby village, so no one feared the prisoners escaping. Even if they did run, they’d only end up becoming food for the forest and its denizens. And so the soldiers blocked the road and waited. Eventually, the prisoners returned, their faces pale. Apparently, the village was teeming with monsters, skeletons specifically. Skeletons? They sometimes arise naturally at battlefields, but this has to be the work of a necromancer. While it was warm and early summer, there hadn’t been enough time for the flesh of the deceased villagers to rot away and leave only their skeletons behind. With that in mind, it was safer to assume someone had intentionally burned the bodies and put their bones to use. The soldiers had thought the same thing as Diné, so they went to the village themselves to see with their own eyes. Along with the numerous skeletons, they saw a black-robed lich leading young children around. “Children? There are still living children there?!” “They were most likely kidnapped from somewhere to be used in a sacrificial ritual. That, or the soldiers saw it wrong,” answered Gelan lazily to Diné’s cry of surprise. The soldiers had seen the lich from quite far away, which was when they had fallen back. If that had indeed been a lich—an undead magic user—so powerful they could create an entire army of skeletons, then even a hundred normal soldiers together wouldn’t have been enough. The soldiers had been wise to flee, placing the priority on reporting back. But that meant the details of the situation remained unclear, including the status of the children. I don’t blame the soldiers, but I wish I had more information to judge its strength by. Lich was a vague term that applied to any intelligent, undead creature that could use magic, so there could be huge disparities in their strength. Some were weak enough that normal soldiers could defeat them. Then there were Undead Kings, beings so powerful that they could wipe out an entire country. As a holy knight and a descendant of a god, Diné had fought against many an undead creature, as well as many a criminal magic user. Though she had not specifically battled a lich, she had no intentions of letting one get the upper hand over her. But if it’s an Undead King of legend… Her expression darkened as she sank into thought, envisioning the worst possible situation, before Gelan melodramatically gave her an order. “Either way, this monster is clearly a threat to the kingdom. Holy Knight Diné, you will travel to the village and defeat the lich that has made its base there.” “……” “What, are you scared?” said Gelan, trying to provoke Diné when she failed to respond immediately. But she didn’t lose herself to anger. Instead, she calmly asked, “What’s become of the green rot?” If the infectious disease that had destroyed Krio Village was still there, Diné wouldn’t be able to come back alive. While she was a descendant of a god and had massive amounts of mana, she was still human in the end. While a cold wouldn’t get her down, she didn’t have the strength to bounce back from one of the top-five most dangerous diseases on the continent. Besides, Diné’s expertise lay in swords, not magic. She was incapable of using the kind of magic you would need to cure someone of the green rot. “I will cut down anything, even a lich, with Vulcanus, the blade of the God of Fire. But I cannot slice through a formless disease,” she stated. “Diné…,” said Calyx, concerned. The woman smiled in reply, urging him not to worry, and he fixed a serious expression back on his face. In response to Diné, Gelan again tried to provoke her. “You act all high-and-mighty, but you’re really just a coward protecting herself. The descendants of Vulcanus would be disgusted.” The moment Gelan invoked the god’s name, Diné drew the sword at her hip and held it to his throat. “You may call me a coward if you wish—that has its truth—but you should be prepared to die if you insult my god,” she said. “—?!” Sweat dripped from Gelan’s brow as he finally faced real hostility from Diné. He was merely a middle-aged man. If she ignited the sword named after her ancestor, not even his bones would be left behind. Seeing the potentially explosive situation between the holy knight and the prime minister, the young king cried out. “Diné, stop!” “Yes, Your Majesty. I apologize.” Apologizing to Calyx, not to Gelan, for allowing him to see her like that, she sheathed her sword. Ignoring the prime minister as he calmed himself, she turned toward the exit. “I’m off to slay the lich,” she said. “Wait, Diné!” She had just said that she would die if the green rot still remained. Smiling gently to Calyx, she said, “I swear to return.” With that white lie, Diné left the room without giving Calyx a moment to respond. So my next opponent is a lich, then. She strode down the castle halls, turning the situation over quickly in her mind. I don’t like that I don’t know how powerful it is, but I guess that’s no different from usual. It wasn’t uncommon for her to be on a mission to exterminate goblins and have an ogre pop out, too. That wasn’t just with monsters, either. Diné had never once in her life been in a battle against a human opponent who she had totally figured out, where she was absolutely certain of victory. There was no other choice but to prepare as she typically did and fight with everything she had. The bigger problem is the green rot. As she had told Calyx and Gelan, a lich she could cut down was one thing, but a disease was out of her league. I’ve heard you can get infected by breathing it in, so perhaps covering my nose and mouth with a cloth and wearing a disease-warding amulet will grant some protection against it. Though at the end of the day, it will probably do nothing more than ease my mind. She let out a heavy sigh, realizing she wasn’t good at handling opponents she couldn’t cut down with her sword. I wish there was a cure for it. Unfortunately, Erythron Kingdom had no medicine for curing the green rot. Other countries probably didn’t have much, either. That was because the green rot was thought to have been eliminated a whole two hundred years ago. That was the time of Massacre King Aeon, a man who had attempted to conquer the entire continent of Trokhia. His campaign had spared no nation, and you could have built mountains with the corpses of the millions he had killed. But because he had burned all the bodies of those infected, he had eliminated the green rot from the continent. But this was no heroic yarn; rather, it was a story that illustrated the extent of the Massacre King’s tyranny. He wouldn’t just burn the bodies of the infected dead; he’d also torch the followers of the God of Earth, Ceres, who opposed cremation, and infected people who still lived, along with their families and their entire town or village. Nevertheless, the green rot was declared eliminated, remaining only in legends told to frighten little children. Any specialized medicine for the illness had long since run out. If only I had a potion made of dragon bone marrow, which can cure anything… Well, thinking about that won’t get me anywhere. Wallowing in regret wouldn’t bring the dead back to life, nor would it keep Diné from joining their ranks. She did have one hope in regard to the green rot, or perhaps doubt was more appropriate. Why did the lich that appeared in Krio Village make skeletons instead of zombies? Zombies could spread the green rot. They would be a far more terrifying weapon if you were trying to destroy humanity. Yet, the soldiers had seen skeletons in the village. That meant the lich had intentionally burned away the infected flesh to use the harmless bones that remained. Maybe it figured its efforts would go to waste if the children it captured for sacrifice got sick and died… Regardless, it’s possible the lich stopped the green rot from spreading. It was something humans like Diné would be grateful for, which is exactly why she couldn’t understand why a lich would do it. Undead creatures are supposed to act out of their hatred for living things… The undead despised humans for possessing the life they lacked. That, or their hatred of humans had driven them to become undead. Either way, every example she’d seen in literature showed that liches were the archenemy of humanity because they loved to terrorize and massacre people. She had heard of some magic users who became liches to throw off the shackles of their life span in order to advance their magic, so not every lich was motivated by hatred, but they would hide themselves deep in mountain caves or the like where no one could interfere with their research. The only good lich is a lich that doesn’t show their face in front of people. If that train of thought was correct, then the lich in Krio Village was evil. But there’s something bothering me. There was still one thing that didn’t sit right with her, but she left the castle and returned to her manor. Once she’d completed her preparations, she mounted her horse and departed for Krio Village alone, so as not to risk her troops getting the green rot. The day after they defeated the goblins and wererat, Mira woke up earlier than the other children so she could prepare breakfast. As she pulled a bucket of water from the well, something felt strange. Huh, was it always this light? Pulling the heavy bucket from the depths of the well was normally quite the task for her small frame. Today, however, she was able to do it quickly. Then she poured the water into a tub that she carried back to the village chief’s house, and that, too, seemed effortless. Did I get stronger? It was weird to think she’d gotten stronger in that short a time, but that was the only explanation she could think of. It’s all thanks to Teacher. Terios had given the children plenty of meat and fruit, which they had rarely eaten before, and her body had pretty much returned to normal after becoming gaunt from the green rot. That must explain her newfound strength. As she pinched the muscles of her arms, she heard Terios’s voice from behind. “Good morning, Mira. I see you’re up early again today.” “Good morning, Teacher. I’m about to make breakfast.” She smiled and went to the kitchen, pouring the water she brought into a pot to start boiling some sausage and taro. “Sometimes it crosses my mind that if I weren’t a skeleton, I’d be able to taste your home cooking. It’s quite unfortunate that I can’t.” “Uh… Thank you,” Mira replied, uncertain how to respond to the compliment, her cheeks turning red as she prepared enough dishes for nine people and one cat. They had a breakfast of bread that Torio had baked the day before, along with the boiled sausage and taro. Once arithmetic class was over, Mira went to the clearing outside the village for what had become her daily magic training. There, the vague sense that something was different turned into certainty. “Fireball!” She waved the mithril staff at the same stump as always and chanted the same incantation as always. Yet, for some reason, the ball of fire that appeared was twice the size it had been the day before. It didn’t just leave a burn mark on the stump—it blasted off a whole layer of the surface. “…Huh?” Despite having just cast the spell, she stood frozen in her spot, dumbfounded that her magic had clearly grown deadlier. While she stood there, the black cat suddenly leaped onto her head. “My, my, seems you’ve gotten a nice power-up.” “Ah, but why?!” Her confusion outweighed her joy at becoming stronger, leaving her shaken. The black cat tapped Mira’s cheek a couple of times with her tail and said, “Calm down. You beat two goblins, so you got that much stronger.” “Huh?” “You beat those goblins yesterday, right? So, in other words, you’re stronger than two goblins. In fact, you had to become stronger than the goblins. Therefore, you’ve attained power stronger than two goblins.” “Wh-what?!” Mira’s mind was spinning from the convincing but senseless logic. The cat let out a frustrated sigh and continued to explain. “If a normal hunter defeats a bear, they don’t get strong, right?” “Right.” “But by the logic I just laid out, if you defeated the bear with magic, you would get stronger.” “That’s the part I don’t understand…” Why was this strange phenomenon limited to magic users? The cat jumped to the ground from the confused girl’s head. “This world is actually created from all the perceptions of the creatures within it. It’s just a vague, undefined thing, really. So if you connect to the arche, the heart of the world, and manipulate those perceptions…” The black cat waved her tail like a wand, and Mira found herself standing over a massive puddle of water that stretched as far as she could see in all directions. She was standing above the ocean. “Ah… Wh-wh-wh-what is this?!” “…You can change the world like so. That’s what magic is,” said the cat. Having been raised in the mountains, Mira had never seen the ocean before. The single blue surface moved her, but it also caused her to start panicking. Just as she did, the scenery turned back to the clearing where they were a moment before. “By the by, I only changed your coordinates in space. I didn’t turn this backwater village into an ocean. That’d just be a hassle.” The cat said this like she could really do that if she wanted. “Hah…” Mira just nodded back, fatigued by the shock. “Right, so a magic user is a person who uses the power their soul produces—mana—to connect to the arche. That means you are connected to the heart of the world,” explained the cat. “I’m connected to the world…” Confused, Mira looked herself over, but she couldn’t sense it. “Your mana is as weak as you are now; your connection’s so thin, you can’t feel it. But you are connected, no doubt about it. That’s why your victory over the goblins was deeply engraved into the arche.” Then the world perceived that Mira was stronger than the goblins. “Therefore, the world altered you so you would be stronger than two goblins.” “I guess I get it, but it’s kind of scary…” Mira’s face turned pale. Knowing that she could be altered so easily without her consent left her feeling troubled. The cat gazed at her with a cruel smile. “Becoming a powerful magic user doesn’t mean increasing your mana; it means strengthening your connection to the world. Which means you’re more affected by the world at the same time.” “When you gaze into the arche, the arche also gazes into you,” the cat muttered the words of a certain magic user to herself. “While normal humans and animals have souls, they can’t make mana. The bony old coot taught you that, right? That doesn’t mean normal people are inferior. Quite the opposite, in fact,” continued the cat. “The opposite?” “Normal people can shield themselves from the world, since they can’t make mana and aren’t connected to the arche. Though they can use spells, monsters and magic users are actually inferior because they’re greatly susceptible to being altered by the world.” “……” Mira was speechless, the small amount of pride she’d felt at being able to use magic cut off at the roots. “If you want to stay you, don’t ever forget who you are,” added the cat. “O-okay.” She nodded obediently at the cat’s advice, which also felt like a threat. And then she had to voice the question that had welled up inside her again. “Ms. Cat, who are you?” “Can’t you see? I’m a beautiful cat.” “Well, I know that, but…” The cat certainly had personality issues if she was so quick to call herself beautiful, but that wasn’t what Mira was after. “You know so much, and the magic you used just now was amazing. You’re not normal, right?” Of course, she had known the cat was abnormal from the moment she’d spoken human language, but she also possessed unusual knowledge and power, even when compared to Terios. But the cat just smiled in response to Mira’s question, stroking her own fur. “Secrets are a girl’s best friend. Stop trying to tear them away so inelegantly.” “So cool!” Smitten by such a fitting line from a beautiful, bewitching creature, Mira dropped her question in spite of herself. I don’t think she’d tell me even if I kept bugging her about it. Ever since she had met the cat, she’d seen her making fun of Terios or playing with the children, but she hadn’t once heard her talk about herself. Maybe the cat had an unpleasant past. And so she abandoned her in-depth investigation, but she did pose one last request. “Fine, tell me your name, at least.” “My name?” “I can’t go around calling my friend Ms. Cat. It sounds too formal,” said Mira, her cheeks turning red, even though she thought it was strange the cat would be confused by such a simple question. The cat opened her eyes wide in amazement for a moment. Then her mouth curled up into a crescent-shaped smile. “Wow, you called me a friend,” she said. “Ah?!” Mira froze, taken aback by the cat’s smile, which looked both as wicked as that of a starving animal and as innocent as that of a child who’d just found their toy. As the cat watched Mira, her normal teasing expression returned, and she nodded happily. “All right. As a symbol of our friendship, I’ll let you name me.” “What, you don’t have a name already?” “Nope,” said the cat plainly, shocking Mira yet again. Thinking back, she realized she’d never once heard Terios call the cat by a name, even though he was likely her owner. She wasn’t sure who was to blame, but it seemed they deliberately didn’t bother to name her. In any case, Mira started suggesting what came to mind. “Thinking of girls’ names, what about Daphne or Electra?” “It can’t be something as ordinary as those. I need something suited to me, overflowing with grace and intelligence.” “All right, what if we take a name from a goddess and go with Juno?” “I am not a cold, jealous witch like her. I’ll kill you if you choose that.” “S-sorry.” Mira bowed low to the utterly disgusted cat. “Well, if that’s no good, then, uh…” She had only just begun studying and didn’t know much, so she couldn’t come up with any fancy names. After thinking so hard her head started to hurt, Mira got frustrated and blurted out a straightforward idea. “How about Melan, then? It means black.” She waited anxiously for the response; certain the cat would find it too simple. After a few moments of thinking, the cat nodded. “It’s not exciting, but it hits the mark. I guess it’ll work,” said the cat. “Oh good,” Mira said, relieved to have finally succeeded. The black cat, now Melan, looked up at Mira with her typically cruel smile. “Sorry to throw this at you right when you’re feeling relieved, but something bad’s about to happen.” “What?” she gasped in surprise. Melan had already disappeared like smoke before she could ask what was going to happen. “Huh? Melan?” She searched the area, calling out the name she’d just given the cat, but saw no signs of her. However, she gave up quickly because Melan was always moody and appearing or disappearing at random. “Guess I’ll practice magic some more.” Deciding to move on, she turned back to the stump for another round of practice. That’s when it happened. “Stay quiet.” A woman’s voice she didn’t recognize whispered in her ear, and someone simultaneously gripped her from behind, a hand clamped over her mouth. “Ngh?!” “Don’t worry—I’m your friend.” Mira struggled and tried to escape, but the woman just whispered gently in her ear and held her tight. She’s not a bad person, is she? She understood now that she had experience fighting goblins. If her opponent were hostile toward her, Mira would have been killed the moment the woman drew up behind her, before she even knew the woman was there. At that realization, she stopped squirming and calmed herself. Relieved, the woman released Mira. “Sorry I scared you. It’d just be a pain if you screamed and the enemy found me.” “Uh-huh,” said Mira vaguely as she turned around and inspected the woman. The woman was young, perhaps in her early twenties. For some reason, she had a cloth covering her nose and mouth, but Mira could still tell from her eyes and the shape of her face alone that she was beautiful. Her red, flame-like hair caught Mira’s attention in particular. Despite the warmth of the early-summer sun, the woman was covered completely, exposing barely any skin. She wore light armor on her chest, arms, and legs, and a sword with an oddly powerful presence hung from her hip. “Who are—?” “I am the holy knight Diné Staktos, captain of the Second Knight Squadron of the Erythron Royal Military.” “The holy knight?!” Even village girls had heard stories of the demigod and protector of the kingdom. Diné held a finger to Mira’s lips as she yelped in surprise, urging her to be quiet. “I felt mana, so I came to investigate. Are you a magic user?” Diné inquired suspiciously as she looked at the burnt stump and then at the mithril staff Mira held. “Y-yes.” Though confused, Mira nodded back. “I see. So is the lich gathering child magic users? What in the world…?” “Ummm—” “No, I need to prioritize securing the captives over investigating. Do you know how many children the lich has captured and where they are right now?” “What?” She was lost and confused by the barrage of questions. Not only did she not know what this lich thing was, but she also hadn’t heard anything about captured children. Sensing that there was some misunderstanding, she tried to go over each question one by one, but something happened. “I’ve been found, huh?” said Diné, her expression suddenly grim. She stood in front of Mira as if to cover her and drew the sword from her hip. From a distortion in the air where the woman stared, a black-robed skeleton stepped out—Terios. “Do we—?” He started to ask if they had a visitor, but before he had the opportunity, Diné came slashing at him. “Hiya!” She closed the distance of almost ten steps in only one and swung with a downward strike in an attempt to shatter Terios’s cranium. The movement was so fast that, in Mira’s eyes, she seemed to have disappeared. But the blue embers of Terios’s eyes kept up with the speed. He slid his back foot and leaned his body just enough to evade the godly fast strike. “Such ski—” “Hah!” Terios tried to compliment the swordswoman, but she immediately followed up with a horizontal slash at his jaw. He saw that attack coming, too, and leaped far backward to evade the blindingly fast slash. “First, le—” Terios tried to speak again, but Diné rushed in to strike once more, refusing to let him finish a sentence. This wasn’t because the holy knight was a slash-first, ask-questions-later kind of person who refused to listen to what someone had to say, by the way. When a swordsman faced a magic user, the proper strategy was to attack when their opponent’s guard was down, to move in close and keep up the pressure without pause. They needed to beat down the magic user before they could recite an incantation. If she failed to do that, her opponent could perform a dangerous spell. They could move far away or bind her feet, then fire long-range attacks from beyond her sword’s reach to kill her. Considering all of that, Diné absolutely could not allow a lich skilled enough to evade her first strike even a moment to speak. However, Terios was just trying to persuade his opponent to avoid a pointless battle, but the swordswoman was so skilled, he didn’t have time to hold a real conversation. The result was that Terios continued to evade without fighting back, and Diné continued to persistently attack. Watching this all unfold, Mira realized she’d raised her staff and shouted something. “Fireball!” She shot an orb of fire at the holy knight attacking the person to whom she owed her life, but it did nothing more than burn the ground without so much as grazing her. Their battle was simply too swift. However, the sudden spell flying in from the side surprised Diné, which was enough to make her jump back from Terios. “What are you—?!” “Please don’t attack my teacher!” Incensed, Mira shouted as loudly as she could at Diné, whose eyes were wide with shock. Though she knew that she didn’t stand a chance against Diné, she pointed her staff at her again. That’s when Terios moved to her side in the blink of an eye and stopped her with his hand. “Mira, when you point a weapon at another person, you must be prepared to take their life or have your life taken. But I don’t want you to have to be ready for that sort of thing.” “But, Teacher…” What must Mira have looked like, practically throwing a tantrum because she couldn’t bear to see the person who saved her life being threatened? Though her sword still pointed at Terios, Diné showed her first signs of being willing to talk. “You bastard, have you brainwashed that child?” “If you consider teaching her how to read, write, and do arithmetic brainwashing, then, yes, I suppose I have,” he replied sarcastically, looking at Mira. Picking up on his intentions, she yelled, “Teacher is the one who saved our lives. He’d never do anything bad!” “It actually pains my heart that you would trust me that much.” Terios bashfully scratched his cheekbone in the face of Mira’s strong feelings. Now it was Diné’s turn to look confused. “A monster saved the lives of humans? I don’t buy it.” “But if he hadn’t saved us, the green rot would have killed us!” shouted Mira, and Diné’s eyes opened wide in shock. “You can’t possibly be a Krio Village survivor?!” “Yeah, I am,” said Mira, not seeing how she could be anything else. With a pained expression, Diné asked, “Your parents?” “I don’t have a dad. Momma went to the city to get help, and…” Mira couldn’t help but burst into tears as an old emotional wound began to bleed again. “I see. I’m sorry.” Diné gave a simple apology, then directed her attention to Terios and resumed questioning him. “Did you really save this girl from the green rot?” “I did. I had a healing potion prepared for it. I’m going to use the Apport spell to bring what I used here to show you, so please don’t attack me again,” warned Terios before he recited the incantation. He pulled a small bottle with the same potion that he’d used to save Mira and the other children out of thin air and tossed it to Diné. She caught the bottle with her left hand while keeping her right on her sword and held the bottle up so she could examine the liquid inside without taking her eyes off Terios. “I’m no potions master, and I have no idea if this would work on the green rot, but I can tell that it’s valuable,” she said. “And?” “And there’s still no way I trust you.” Diné tossed the small bottle back and slowly lowered the point of her sword, which had never left Terios before now. “I’ve never heard of a lich who saves sick children.” “I can’t say I have, either,” responded Terios. His words were neither meant to attack himself nor make himself appear better; he simply stated a fact. Diné stared at him, sizing him up. “If you have a reason for coming to this place and saving that child, then I’ll hear it,” she said, sheathing her sword, though the wary tension never left her body. Terios didn’t act as if that bothered him, though, and he turned his back defenselessly. “I’d rather not talk while standing. Shall we go over there and speak?” “Fine with me,” replied Diné, willingly following him as he walked toward the village. After spending a moment just to calm herself down, Mira ran after them. While the children focused on their game of ball, the bone golems weeded the fields and chopped wood. That had become the daily norm for Krio Village, but it wasn’t the norm for the world at large, which is why Diné looked so shocked as Terios led her to the village chief’s house. “Please have a seat,” he said. “No thank you.” Diné refused the chair that Terios offered her once they got into the living room, instead choosing to stand in front of the table. Unlike a magic user, who could just recite an incantation, a sword user’s first motions to attack would be slowed if they took a seat. In other words, Diné was making it very clear that she was still being cautious. Terios smiled sadly at that and sat down himself. “Mira, please bring our guest some water.” “O-okay.” Following his orders, she rushed to bring a jug of water. I do wish I had some tea around, thought Terios. He had planned to open discussions with the Erythron Kingdom at some point, but he had intended to approach them. He never expected they would reach out to him so quickly, and through a single, incredibly powerful swordswoman at that. While he reflected on the naivety of his predictions, Mira offered a wooden cup of water to Diné. “Here you go.” “Thanks.” Diné accepted the cup and first took a tiny sip. She rolled the water around on her tongue to check the taste, then drank the rest of it. Checking for poison? Well, I suppose that’s to be expected. She should actually have refused to eat or drink anything given to her while she was in enemy territory, but perhaps she was trying to be kind to Mira, who’d brought her the water. The woman was kind to children, brave enough to come here alone, yet flexible enough to listen to what an undead had to say. And she was clearly tremendously skilled with the sword, so much so that Terios couldn’t even get a word in. All of that made her an excellent asset, both physically and mentally. I want her on my side. The cravings of a human-resource collector welled up inside him, something that hadn’t changed about him from when he was alive. But he pushed that down for now and cheerfully opened the conversation. “First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Terios. I do apologize for our meager hospitality. We’re just a skeleton crew here.” “I see. You’re eloquent but terrible at making jokes,” Diné responded, looking at Terios with eyes that asked what he was on about. Then she introduced herself. “I am Diné Staktos, captain of the Second Knight Squadron of the Erythron Royal Military and descendant of the God of Fire, Vulcanus.” “A lauded name that I have heard.” He accepted the introduction and nodded, having surmised from her appearance and the sword at her hip that she was the famed holy knight. “Am I correct in assuming you came to this village to defeat me?” “I heard that a lich leading an army of skeletons had appeared in the village destroyed by the green rot. It seems my information was wrong, though,” she replied, nodding toward Mira, who stood by Terios. “Mira, you must be tired of standing there. Take a seat,” said Terios, kindly offering Mira a chair. “Okay, thank you.” Mira went out of her way to move a chair so she could sit so close to Terios that she practically pressed against his arm. The sight only made the bewildered expression on Diné’s face grow stronger. “I’ve heard that undead beings feel nothing but hatred toward the living…,” she said. “That is true of the ones that occur naturally,” offered Terios. “Really?” asked Mira curiously. Deciding it was an excellent opportunity to teach her, Terios launched into a detailed explanation. “Typically, a person’s extreme emotions at the moment of death, such as rage or hatred toward the person who killed them, or regret and a desire not to succumb, produce an undead because their soul stays in this world instead of moving on to the afterlife. Then they start moving again, becoming skeletons, zombies, or something else.” “I see,” said Mira. “However, in most cases, the power of the soul runs out, and the undead creature loses all their sense of self, which turns them into a corpse that does nothing but attack the living. Though rare, some undead beings retain their sense of self in death.” These kinds of beings combined the physical durability of the undead with the intellect of a human. By felling humans and monsters, they trained their magic until they became something like a lich or a vampire. They then used their newfound power to wreak their revenge. “I have heard that the famed Undead Kings Dakruon and Katharon were like that. Dakruon became undead from the sadness he felt when the person he loved was stolen from him. For Katharon, it was the anger of a loved one’s betrayal that transformed him. Their hatred fueled their power and eventually led to them destroying entire countries.” “And what of you?” Diné asked sharply, out of the blue. Terios couldn’t help stumbling for words in response. “Uh, how should I put it…? My circumstance is special. I did not become this way naturally.” “In other words, you made yourself undead?” “Something like that,” said Terios vaguely. She was insinuating that he was a magic user who used black magic to turn himself into a lich, but unfortunately, that was not quite correct, either. In reality, he had chosen to become undead of his own accord, but someone else had actually made him undead. Diné sighed heavily at Terios. “So you’re a lich who, instead of feeling nothing but hate like normal, retained your sanity and saved the lives of children? It’s a hard story to swallow at first, but when you show me this kind of evidence…” She looked at Mira, who was clinging to Terios’s arm, then out the window. The children were curiously peeking in, trying to catch a glimpse of a rare visitor. “Ah, she saw us!” “Who’s that pretty lady?” “Heh-heh-heh, probably a potential lover for the bony old coot.” “What?! It’s not just Mira he’s after? He wants that beautiful lady, too? I knew that skeleton was a pervert!” While the children quickly fled, a certain black cat had tossed in a lie, and a certain lovestruck boy had heard it, took it as truth, and shouted angrily. “Those children…” “Teacher, I’ll make sure to scold them later.” “Please do.” Terios dropped his head in his hands, but Mira tried to cheer him up, and he pulled himself together. Though if I let Mira cover for me, Torio will just get even angrier. Mira and Torio weren’t two Undead Kings like Dakruon and Katharon, but thinking about how deep love itself led to strife, Terios found himself speechless. Seeing Terios so pathetic made Diné smile for the first time since she arrived. “Ha-ha, looks like even a lich who’s retained their sanity is no match for children,” she remarked as she pulled out a chair and sat across from Terios. “Now then, I’ve told you my goal for coming here. Next I want you to tell me yours.” Even her previously rude tone had softened. Glad that she was trusting him a little more, Terios spoke grandly of his ambitions. “My goal is to create a peaceful world that will last a millennium, a place where no one will die or be killed unjustly.” “…Uh-huh.” His response was out of this world. Diné was silent for a moment, then glared directly at him. “I didn’t expect something greedy like wanting territory or fame, but to hear that an undead seeks a peaceful world… You really are terrible at jokes.” “Ah, but I’m not joking.” Keeping eye contact with her the whole time, he continued to explain to show he was serious. “You just said ‘undead’ like it was a negative thing, but in fact, it’s the opposite. No one but an undead being can create a long-lasting peace.” “Why is that?” “Because a living human can’t,” replied Terios without hesitation. “Humanity was born, civilization was achieved, and over two thousand years have passed since. But there has never once been peace on the continent of Trokhia.” Hunger assailed them, disease challenged them, and they even killed one another in war—humanity had continuously shed blood and tears. “And why do you think that is? The answer is that it’s just in their nature.” There were kind people who would lend a hand to others with no expectation of receiving something in return. There were devoted people who would sacrifice themselves for their loved ones. There were even courageous people who would risk their lives in battle to save those they’d never met. However, those were, at best, a small minority of exceptions. Most people were selfish and would be willing to kick someone else down if it meant living longer. “Well, this isn’t true of only humans. The primary goal of all living beings is to keep themselves and their descendants alive. For that purpose, they must eat, which is the act of taking the life of another living being and consuming it, turning it into energy for continuing on. You could say that every living creature uses that efficient method of survival.” No animal was an exception to this rule, nor were plants. They stretched their roots into the ground to leech nutrients and spread their leaves out to steal the light of the sun from one another. It might be difficult for humans to recognize it, but plants slew their kin over the resources they needed to live. “All living things, including humans, are incapable of peace from the moment they are born. If it was the gods who created life, they’re the ones with a truly bad sense of humor.” “……” While his statement insulted the god she was descended from, Diné only grimaced instead of countering. She had spent her life killing monsters and enemy humans to protect her country, so she could connect to something in his words. “As long as humans live naturally, a peaceful world will never materialize. That’s why I must use these hands to make it,” he said resolutely, clenching his white, fleshless hands of bone. If fighting was natural, then a world without combat was as unnatural as possible. But creating things that could never be born naturally was a hallmark of the human race. “In reality, humans have made a variety of things in their attempt to create peace. They’ve come together and formed countries to protect themselves from outsiders, and they’ve put laws in place to eliminate internal conflict,” he added. “And they still can’t make peace despite that?” asked Diné. “No, they can’t. History has proven that,” countered Terios, quickly throwing aside her question. “Even if the country or laws are correct, the people governing will make mistakes out of greed.” No matter how beautiful a glass is, there’s no point if the wine inside is sour. “People want to eat delicious food and lie with attractive partners, which both require money and power. I have seen those desires sweep up hundreds of rulers and nobles and rot them from the inside.” “It’s painful to consider,” said Diné. While she might have been the holy knight tasked primarily with fighting outside threats, she wasn’t unfamiliar with corruption inside the kingdom. She could only grimace. “However, that is not a concern with an undead being like myself. There’s nothing left on me to rot,” Terios said with a smile as he tapped his bone arm. But no one laughed at the joke. “Uh…” “I think he’s trying to say that because he’s undead, he doesn’t have human desires and therefore can’t be corrupted. He doesn’t need food, and it doesn’t look like he’d need a woman.” Glancing toward his pelvis, Diné carefully explained this to Mira, who didn’t seem to get it. She saw the glance and muttered accidentally in understanding, “Oh, ’cause he doesn’t have a penis.” “Ha-ha!” Diné and Terios both burst into laughter at a mature word suddenly coming out of her cute mouth. “Ah… S-sorry!” “No, you’re right on the mark, actually. Don’t feel bad.” Her face turned bright red as she apologized, having realized a moment too late what she’d said, but Terios hid his amusement and comforted her. Diné looked away, seemingly uncomfortable. Terios cleared his throat and continued. “Ahem… Anyway, because I am undead, I don’t have human desires. That’s why I won’t become corrupt like human rulers. And, more importantly, I won’t die of old age, unlike a human king.” No matter how wonderful a king was, he would eventually grow old and die. There was no guarantee that the child of a good king would become a good ruler themselves. Unfortunately, history had proven that as well. “Let’s say a human ruler does manage to create a peaceful world. Everything will be wonderful while they’re alive, and perhaps it will be fine during the next ruler’s reign. But what about the next? The one after that? At some point, there will be a bad monarch, and everything that was built will come falling down,” said Terios. “True,” acknowledged Diné with a grimace, comparing the previous, deceased king with the current young king. “Humans will die at some point. That’s why they can’t maintain the peace they worked so hard to build for very long. But that’s no problem for me.” He tapped his empty, heartless chest, as if implying that’s exactly why he had become undead. Diné nodded slowly in response. “I see. I fully understand your goal now. I feel no need to doubt you just because you’re undead.” “So then—” “But do you really think you can accomplish such a ridiculous dream?” she questioned sharply, cutting off Terios. “A peaceful world with no unjust deaths sounds wonderful, but how are you actually going to make that a reality? A dream that won’t come true is no more useful than a painting of bread.” “You’re not wrong. Anyone can talk about their ideals, and the world is still filled with strife because no one has been able to accomplish them,” said Terios, quickly admitting that his goal was at the height of difficulty. “However, I am not going into this without any plans.” “Well, let’s hear your plans, then.” Now in his element, Terios excitedly detailed his plans to the deeply engaged swordswoman. “First, I will lighten the labor load. As you saw on your way here, I will use bone golems and other similar resources to reduce the labor burden on humans. That way, they’ll gain more free time, and I can increase food production to the point that no one will go hungry, even without working.” “‘A starving mouse will kill even a cat.’ Stable food is indeed important.” When people’s lives were endangered, they tended to abandon their morals and kill others. Terios had explained this to Mira and the children. That’s why expanding food production was the first step toward peace. “But even though you may be reasonably powerful, there’s surely a limit to the number of bone golems you can produce,” said Diné. “Correct. That is why I will gather and train talented people like Mira to help me.” “I-I’ll try my best!” responded Mira energetically, albeit somewhat surprised to suddenly come up in the conversation. Diné smiled kindly to her before her face clouded in thought. “Train magic users, increase the number of bone golems, and have the golems handle the labor… In other words, you’re going to make a world ruled by magic users?” “I suppose that’s what it would result in,” he replied frankly. In his ideal world, magic users wouldn’t just be creating a labor source, they’d also be healing injuries, illnesses, and defeating monsters or criminals to protect the peace. They would have a lot on their plates. What’s more, there needed to be an appropriate reward for their involvement. In exchange for taking on more labor and responsibility than normal people, magic users would have to be well compensated with food, housing, or other forms of payment. “Is there a problem with that, though? It’s simply replacing the current monarchs and nobility with magic users. Allowing people with real power to stand at the top, rather than risking someone becoming an incompetent ruler just because they were born to nobility, seems fairer and more effective.” “…Perhaps,” agreed Diné vaguely, her expression a mix of many emotions. Though she didn’t want to acknowledge an argument that negated the young king’s existence, she couldn’t argue with Terios because she knew a number of incompetent nobles who had nothing more than their title going for them. “Would the people accept a world governed by the undead and magic users?” she asked. “They will, as long as we can provide them a peaceful, comfortable life.” Terios quickly countered Diné’s implication. “The people don’t care who’s leading them as long as their families are safe, they aren’t starving, and they live in peace. They wouldn’t even care if it were a skeleton like me.” “……” Mira was silent, her expression dark. While they’d done it because it was their only path to survival, the children had easily accepted Terios, an undead. Perhaps she thought they were the sort of selfish people who didn’t care who ruled them. Terios clarified his explanation, though he wasn’t necessarily trying to cover for Mira. “Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want you, your friends, and your family to live happily and to not stick your neck out more than you have to. Living that way is far more peaceful than revolting against the government and killing people under the auspices of justice.” “That’s the self-indulgent logic of a ruler,” replied Diné, though her tone wasn’t critical. As the holy knight who protected the kingdom, she was on the side of the rulers. She was well aware of the dangers of plotting a revolt. “I do have a number of other plans in mind, but that is the broad overview,” said Terios, holding his bony palm out to Diné, as if asking whether she had any questions. After a moment of consideration, she responded, “I don’t think it’ll be that simple.” “I agree,” Terios conceded. Everything so far was nothing more than empty theory. All kinds of problems would likely come up when he actually put his designs into motion. “That’s why I’ll keep at it until I see it through, whether it takes a hundred years or a thousand.” If he hadn’t been prepared for that, he wouldn’t have become undead to pursue peace in the first place. He looked at her with determination, and she finally nodded and gave in. “All right. I don’t think you can do it, but it would be unfair to keep poking holes without providing any solutions. It’s not as bad as I was expecting anyway.” “What were you expecting?” “When you said that humans couldn’t make a peaceful world, I was certain you’d say that you intended to make everyone undead.” “Ah?!” Mira cried in shock when she heard Diné’s scary supposition. Beside her, Terios nodded slowly and admitted, “To be honest, I had considered it.” “Whaaat?!” “Please relax, Mira. I only mean that I briefly considered it at one point. I don’t have any intention of doing that. If I did, you would all be skeletons by now.” “Right, good.” Mira relaxed, while Diné looked at her, her eyes saying it was also a problem to be so easily swayed. Terios explained his reason in detail, partly to reassure Mira. “It is true that turning all of humanity into undead would release them from inconveniences like hunger and sexual desire, which would result in less fighting compared to now. The problem is that undead creatures can’t have children.” Their numbers would dwindle, but they’d never increase, so the world was bound to collapse at some point. Terios wasn’t trying to make a peaceful world just for that to happen. “And besides, that would be a peaceful world for the undead; what I want is a peaceful world for humans.” It was only for humans that he wanted a world without strife. He’d already told Mira that he would destroy any monster or disease in order to make it. “If you asked me why, I’d say I’ve just taken a liking to them. And while I may be undead, I have no intention of making others like me.” “Teacher…” Though Mira’s gaze of admiration made him feel comfortable, Terios kept his eyes on Diné, who remained suspiciously silent. “Now then, do you have any other questions?” asked Terios. “Yes, one.” Diné nodded deeply. After a moment, an air of intimidation radiated from the woman. “How exactly are you going to get everyone to accept your dream?” “Ah?!” “Oh my, how troubling.” Terios smiled casually, patting Mira’s shoulder to calm her down while she clung to him in fear. In response, Diné gritted her teeth and barked, “Don’t brush this off. No matter how wonderful this peaceful world is that you speak of, there will be people opposed to it.” “You’re right. There will be especially vehement opposition from the royalty and nobles, the current rulers.” In the world of Terios’s dreams, he did need people in charge to maintain peace and manage the territory, but he had no intention of making them a special class like the royals and nobles, who stole money in the form of taxes to lead extravagant lives. “As long as I am able, I intend to fill leadership positions with capable people, be they commoners or nobles. That will make the kind of people who only respect bloodlines very unhappy,” he responded. “What will you do about people who stand against you because of their dissatisfaction?” She stood from her chair and pointed her finger at him, almost like she was pointing her sword. His teeth clicked as he smiled and replied, “Obviously, I’ll use force to make them listen.” “…Huh?” She didn’t expect such a violent-sounding response from the person who’d declared they’d never kill another human and that they wanted to build a peaceful world. Mira sat there dumbfounded, but Diné smiled, appreciating that he didn’t make excuses or beat around the bush. “Of course, there’s no option but to use force. That’s actually more reassuring than if you’d said something like ‘Oh, they’d listen if we just talked it out.’ That’s such a green idea that I’d expect flowers to grow out of your head.” “Unfortunately, my head isn’t filled with compost.” Terios smiled, poking his empty skull. She didn’t laugh at the joke. Instead, her expression turned severe. “You’ll use force to eliminate those who oppose you and force your will on others. I wouldn’t have any complaints if you only did that with a tiny village, but you’ve said from the beginning that you want to make a peaceful world.” “Yes, I want to bring peace to this world—or at the very least, to the continent of Trokhia.” “I’m sure you understand what that means, right?” “Of course.” He still smiled in response to her threatening question. Then he clearly stated his intentions, as if to clear things up for Mira, who sat beside him holding her breath. “To eliminate fighting, I’ll bring together all the nations on the continent of Trokhia and forge one unified country.” “One unified country…” Having grown up knowing nothing outside the small Krio Village, Mira couldn’t fathom how massive that was. Even Diné, the holy knight, knew only so much about the Erythron Kingdom and its neighboring countries. But Terios had seen everything on the continent from one end to the other. He understood this expanse of the world better than anyone. Even with all that knowledge, he still asserted that creating a unified country was the only way to bring forth a world of peace. “War is what happens between countries. Thus, if only one nation exists in the entire world, there’s no way such a conflict could happen. It’s simple,” he stated. The logic wasn’t complex, but seeing it through would be more difficult than anything else. “You’re trying to do what Massacre King Aeon couldn’t?” asked Diné. “I am.” “Then that makes you my enemy.” She drew her sword from its sheath the moment Terios answered in the affirmative. “A peaceful world would be wonderful. But if that means harming His Majesty, King Calyx, or destroying the Erythron Kingdom, then I have no choice but to defeat you!” “I suppose it had to come to this.” He sighed in disappointment as Diné glared at him with bitter hostility. It didn’t matter to her if Terios’s path would ultimately save many lives. No, that wasn’t it. In truth, her heart ached because she wasn’t able to protect the people of Krio Village. She likely agreed with him on some level about the peaceful world he sought because she had listened for so long. Even so, she was the holy knight of the Erythron Kingdom, and more importantly, she couldn’t abandon its young monarch, her king. “All right, let’s finish what we started earlier,” she said. “T-Teacher…” Frightened, Mira looked up at Terios with concern as Diné nodded toward the exit to tell him to go outside. He gently patted Mira’s head and calmly said, “It isn’t yet certain that we are enemies.” “What?” “If King Calyx, the king of the Erythron Kingdom, agrees to my plan, then we can become allies, not enemies.” “……” For a moment, Diné stared silently at Terios, who showed no desire to fight and instead offered a peaceful solution. Then she suddenly relaxed her shoulders and returned her sword to its sheath. “I’ll return to the capital and report everything I’ve seen and heard here to His Majesty. I don’t expect him to believe what I tell him, though.” “I’d be grateful even if you would just try talking with him,” said Terios with genuine gratitude. In reality, there weren’t many people in the world who would have seriously engaged with him for this long. Normally, they would either refuse to listen to a monster’s jokes and attack without asking any questions or they would get scared by the difference in strength and start begging for their lives. Even if they didn’t believe Diné’s report and they ended up as enemies, expressing Terios’s intentions to the administrators of Erythron Kingdom was a step toward the future. “All right, I’ll be on my way,” said Diné, turning away and heading toward the exit, as there was nothing else to discuss. Just as she opened the door, she turned back, looked at Mira, and bowed. “I apologize for everything.” “Oh, thank you.” Mira was thrown off-balance by the sudden apology, and Diné closed the door behind her and left. “Teacher…” “I had no intentions of hiding my plans from you, but I apologize for not telling you sooner,” said Terios, bowing to an anxious Mira. He then looked out the window and said, “I’d like to explain things to the others as well. Would you mind bringing them here? Although, I do think someone’s already heard it all.” “Ah?!” Torio cried out in surprise at being discovered. He hadn’t learned his lesson from the first time and was still standing below the window, listening in. “Torio…,” said Mira. “Y-you need the others to come here? I’ll get them!” he exclaimed, scurrying off as Mira stared at him coldly. Laughing at how quickly Torio rushed away, Terios patted Mira on the shoulder. “Everyone will get bored if they have to just listen to me talk for a long time. Let’s get some lunch together.” “Okay!” Mira replied energetically and helped Terios place bread and dishes on the table. Building a single unified country in order to craft a peaceful world. The children’s reactions to his lofty ambitions were less than ideal. “Wow, it sounds kinda amazing.” “Well, do whatever you want.” At least the ones who applauded the idea without really understanding it were better than the likes of Torio, who chewed some bread disinterestedly. “Wait, that’s all?” asked Mira hesitantly to Terios, who was disappointed and confused. “You explained everything for us, but we can’t even imagine what it’d be like to unify the whole continent. I don’t even know how things would be different… I’m sorry.” She bowed her head and apologized for not understanding, but that just made Terios panic. “Oh, no, no, it’s not your fault. It’s my fault for rushing ahead and telling you all this before I’ve even taught you geography and history.” “Yep, it’s all the perverted skeleton’s fault,” added the black cat, breaking her silence at an opportunity to blame Terios. He grimaced, and Torio mercilessly followed up. “I mean, I don’t know what this whole unified-country thing means, but what’s it got to do with us anyway? Do whatever you want by yourself.” “Torio!” exclaimed Mira, lunging angrily at him for being so rude to the person they owed their lives to. But before she could say anything else, Terios gripped her shoulder to hold her back. “No, Torio is right. At the end of the day, this is my own goal. That naturally means all of you have nothing to do with it.” “But…” Terios was working toward a peaceful world so weak people like them could live happily without dying unjustly. It was wrong for them to accept the benefits while also stepping aside and claiming they have nothing to do with him. That’s what Mira tried to argue, but Terios held up a hand to stop her. “Mira, what I am doing is forcing my inconvenient good intentions on others. It’s definitely not fair,” he said. “Huh…?” “You’ve just reminded me of that, Torio. Thank you.” “U-ugh, I think I’m gonna be sick.” Torio turned away, uncomfortable at being thanked for something he intended as an insult. Mira watched the exchange, still confused. Forcing his inconvenient good intentions on others? Why did he say it in such a bad way? If Terios was able to achieve the peaceful world he was after, then innocent people, like Mira’s mother or the other villagers, wouldn’t have to die before their time. That was something wonderful. Why would he say it was unfair? Completely unable to understand, Mira looked up at Terios’s face. He smiled sadly and explained. “Even if the goal itself is just, I’ll have to do unjust things on the road to achieving it. To give a concrete example, I’ll probably have to fight Diné just a few days from now.” “Ah, you’re going to fight that lady?!” “Yes, there’s a ninety-nine percent chance I will,” said Terios calmly in response to the children’s cries of shock. “Diné is a good person who fights for her country and has saved many people. Fighting me is also for the sake of her country, not out of anger or hatred.” Mira could tell that about her as well. Although it was her first time speaking with a knight and she had no one to compare Diné to, Mira felt that there probably weren’t many who could be so aptly described as virtuous. “And I also don’t hate Diné. Actually, I think she’s an incredible woman. I would love to be on good terms with her.” “……” Mira frowned as she felt an uncomfortable, nauseous sensation in her stomach, like a fire was lit inside her. Terios didn’t seem to notice, though, and carried on speaking coolly. “However, I must fight Diné and force her to surrender in order to achieve my ambitions. I’ll keep doing similarly unjust things as I continue.” Though he knew it wasn’t just, he had to keep going. “My insistence will provoke fights, and the people who are dragged into them will curse me and wish I hadn’t done anything. That’s why what I’m doing is nothing more than forcing my inconvenient good intentions on others.” “Teacher…” Mira understood what he was saying, but tears filled her eyes anyway because she felt terrible for him. Terios could only continue moving forward, even though people might hate him. Torio saw that and suddenly shouted, “You perverted skeleton, you made Mira cry!” “Huh, you’re blaming me?!” yelped Terios. “Oh, are you going to make a girl cry, then give excuses?” added the black cat as Terios panicked. The back-and-forth among the three of them completely shattered the serious atmosphere, and Mira couldn’t help but laugh. “Ha-ha!” “Look, Mira’s already smiling again. See?” said Terios. “Tsk.” “Boring.” Torio and the cat reluctantly backed down, and Terios breathed a sigh of relief. He scratched his cheekbone bashfully, then got back to the matter at hand. “Ummm, anyway, I plan to make one unified country in order to build a peaceful world, but I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t bother you too much, so please don’t worry. And even if I lose to Diné and die—” Before he could say that he would make preparations so they could continue living safely, one of the boys cut him off with a shout. “Teacher, you’re gonna die?!” “Well, I’ll do my best not to, but nothing is certain in a fight,” said Terios. “Oh…” The boy was saddened at his response. “If you die, then we can’t eat meat or the yummy bread from the capital anymore!” “…What?” “You’re right! If he dies, I won’t be able to read new picture books. That’s bad!” “…What?” Mouth agape, Terios stood frozen as the other children also started shouting selfishly. Paling as she listened to their replies, Mira yelled, “Lakos, Ms, what are you saying?!” “I mean, the bread Torio makes doesn’t taste nice.” “You brat, my bread isn’t gross!” yelled Torio, angrily grabbing Lakos, the tactless boy. Ms, the book-loving girl, didn’t stop them. Instead, she let loose with how she really felt. “Teacher’s face is scary, but the picture books he brings are fun. I don’t want to lose them.” “Ms, think about your words!” Mira, being more mature, was aghast at the particular way the younger children didn’t hold back. Unaware of her distress, the others started saying whatever they wanted. “If Teacher is gone, will Daddy’s bones stop moving?” “Then we’ll have to chop all the wood and harvest the crops. That’s impossible.” “Yeah, we definitely need him in this village.” “Everyone, wait…” Mira had moved beyond anger and now felt ashamed that the children thought only of themselves instead of offering gratitude to the one who’d saved them. She was about to get on her knees and apologize to Terios for everything, but… “Ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha!” He held his empty stomach and let out a roar of laughter. “T-Teacher?” “Oh gosh, I don’t know when the last time I laughed like that was.” He wiped the rims of his eye sockets like he was brushing away tears while Mira continued looking at him with concern. “You want me to stick around because otherwise, you’ll lose your nice food and fun things, which is no fun at all. That’s perfectly fine in terms of expectations for me to fulfill.” Terios smiled with peculiar happiness and went around patting everyone’s heads, as if to say it was all right for them to be so blunt. As she watched him, Mira intuited something. He must be carrying very heavy expectations. Perhaps he’d been asked to do something by a lot of people when he’d been alive. Mira burned with curiosity, but she felt that Terios’s smile would disappear if she asked, and so she hid her question deep within her heart.
Chapter 7
61 min read