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MY head is throbbing so hard it feels like it’s going to shatter. No, not just my head. I’m aching all over my body. And I can hardly breathe.
What… happened? The last thing I remember is sharing a meal with Merlin to celebrate us meeting…
My recollections are hazy as I open my eyes. Orange lamplight hits me with a glare, and I can’t help squinting.
“Finally awake, Luke?”
My eyes widen at the familiar voice. It never occurred to me that he’d be here. “What are you doing here…?!”
The bearded face of my older brother is peering down at me, grinning. He’s leaning against a chair with a backrest. The firstborn prince. A man who wants both the throne and my head on a plate.
Why is he here? Come to think of it, I don’t remember anything after dinner with Merlin.
Never mind. My biggest issue is that I can’t move freely. I’m lying face down on the ground, and… my limbs are all tied up with rope. I wriggle to try and roll over, and make it onto my side to see… Merlin is standing a bit further behind my brother.
“M-Merlin… What is this?”
Merlin gives a nasty laugh. “What an idiot. I’m not Merlin, nor am I a hero of magic. Even this birthmark is fake.” He pulls back his collar to show the teddy bear-shaped mark.
“Fake? No— Ugh!” A lightning bolt of pain strikes my cheek when my brother kicks me in the face. Blood wells in my mouth, and I spit it out, then look up to see him smiling sadistically.
I’ve been deceived. This is all a grand scheme my brother set up. All of it. Merlin is a fake, an assassin he sent to kill me. He must’ve also spread the rumor that Merlin was in this town to lure me here.
“Ah ha ha ha ha! You look like hell, Luke! And I gotta say, being on the ground suits you! Yes, this is how you should’ve looked your whole life! Nothing about you is heroic! Nothing about you screams ‘master swordsman’! Forget you, you pathetic lump. I’m the one who’s incredible! I’m the one who’s born to be king!” he shouts, laughing like a madman, and kicks me in the face and stomach again.
“Why would you… How can you do this? Without a hero, the Demon King will…”
The firstborn prince squats down by my head, grabs my hair, and yanks my face up to see him. “Imbecile! Who cares about the Demon King? Me not being king is a bigger problem!” he spits, then gives another maniacal laugh.
There’s no reasoning with him anymore. He changed after our father, the king, said I would inherit the throne. He’s tried to kill me time and time again…
Listening to him laugh, I gather my strength and flex until a snapping sound tells me the rope binding me has broken.
The firstborn prince stops laughing immediately. He looks shocked. “Y-you…!”
“Can’t you give it up already? I’m tired of running away from your assassins.” I pull myself to my feet and raise my hands into a ready position. I may not have a sword right now, but knowing my brother’s sub-par level, I can take him on bare-handed.
“Hold it right there. If you go on a rampage here, who’s to say what’ll happen to her?” Merlin interrupts.
I look over to see Merlin spin around a large chair so that it’s facing me, and see—
“M-Mother!!”
My unconscious mother is limply propped up in the chair to which she’s tied with rope.
“You… What have you done to my mother…!”
“Just taking her hostage for a while. She won’t come to any harm as long as you do what you’re told,” the fake Merlin says, pressing a knife to her neck. If I oppose them, he may kill her.
I bite my lip. How could I have been caught in such a simple trap? Thinking back on it now, I can see that none of us—not me, my mother, Ganzi, or Molozov were in a good state of mind. We got surprised by an Owl Demon God, an opponent we couldn’t compete with, and not only was I powerless to defeat it, I lost to it in front of Sakurako. I’d failed to keep my head straight in the face of overwhelming might. That’s why I was lured so easily when I thought another hero had sought me out.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Useless moron! What, did you think for a second you had the upper hand? There’s no way we wouldn’t fully secure ourselves against a monster like you! You hear me? Get on your knees! Now!”
My brother’s cackling rattles around my head, making it pound more. I’m stuck. I have no choice but to do as he says.