Ebbo and his men stopped and faced the enemy soldiers.
“Ebbo…it’s him. That man in the middle is our enemy… He possesses the same special ability as Vi.”
“…So it’s him.”
Smirnov’s lighthearted voice sounded under the night sky. “I’ve been looking for you, Lord Leorino. I’m very tired tonight, and look at all the additional work you made me do.”
Ebbo shot the man a deadly glare.
He shifted Leorino to his left arm and instructed him to put his hands around his neck.
“Captain…please hold on.”
Ebbo drew his sword with his now empty right hand.
“But, Ebbo…I’ll only slow you down.”
“If they take you hostage now, you won’t get away a second time.”
Leorino nodded.
Of course. He had to return alive for Vi’s sake. This was no time to be considerate.
“You’re right… Thank you, Ebbo.”
“I’ll keep you safe.”
Leorino clung tightly to the large man’s neck.
“I’m impressed you managed to get this far. I commend your grit and courage.”
The Gdaniraque soldiers readied their swords and surrounded the Fanorens.
Including Leorino, Ebbo and his men numbered six. The Gdaniraque soldiers outnumbered them three to one.
“You’re our reward to Gdaniraque, so we need you back posthaste. Besides, how else will we threaten the Royal Army…? With the exception of the young man in that soldier’s arms, you have my permission to kill them all!”
With these words, the Gdaniraque soldiers raised their swords at Ebbo and his men. The battle began.
“Captain! I’m moving! Hold on tight!”
“…”
Leorino wanted to reply, but he was exhausted and weak, and he struggled to even hold on to Ebbo. He desperately tried to focus all his strength into the arms around his neck.
“Raaahhh!”
Ebbo’s greatsword mowed down several Gdaniraque soldiers in one swing, sending them falling in all directions. The remaining men were all taken aback by the large man’s superhuman strength.
While the enemy faltered, Ebbo’s men killed the soldiers before them one after another. At the same time, Ebbo swiped at two torsos, then pierced through two enemy soldiers with his blade at the same time.
Despite holding Leorino in one hand, Ebbo lifted the soldiers’ bodies with his sword. The blade was of such thick steel that no ordinary man could lift it.
He swung his sword, flicking off the men’s lifeless bodies.
Smirnov watched it all unfold from the rear, looking impressed, of all things.
Five enemy soldiers remained. They were now even with Ebbo and his men.
“Kill them!”
The Gdaniraque and Fanoren soldiers crossed blades fiercely.
Ebbo whirled his sword arm back toward the man who swung at him from behind.
Leorino screamed as Ebbo caught the man’s sword with his gauntlet.
“Ebbo!”
When Ebbo’s fist connected, it crushed the man’s face and sent him flying. He was dead before he even hit the ground.
“Ebbo…! Ebbo…! Your hand!”
“I’m fine. It’s just my armor.”
The other soldiers of the Royal Army were also holding their own.
Ebbo had killed more than half of their opponents, but the other four were also disposing of the remaining Gdaniraque soldiers one after another.
The last man standing was Smirnov, still dressed like a merchant. The tables had turned.
But the man standing in front of Ebbo and his men showed no sign of fear. On the contrary, he was watching Ebbo with some admiration.
“That superhuman strength of yours… So you also possess a special ability.”
“…You were responsible for placing that boulder in front of the gates eighteen years ago?”
Smirnov gazed at him in unhidden surprise. The corners of his mouth lifted in a grin.
“Oh? You were here that day, too? What a wild coincidence… We may both have special abilities, but that was the moment your fate took a cruel turn, wasn’t it?”
Leorino clung tightly to Ebbo’s body as he swelled with fury. Leorino bit his lip to hold back his own anger.
Leorino shouted at Smirnov.
“You… The language you speak and your features—are you not Fanorenese yourself?”
“…And what of it?”
“That day, many of your fellow countrymen were burned to death here! You were here, you must have seen their charred remains…! You would have heard the screams of men who might have lived had they not been engulfed by the flames! You saw it all unfold…and thought nothing of it?!”
But Smirnov’s expression did not change.
“You say this as if you were there that day, Lord Leorino.”
Of course. I saw it with my own eyes. I burned to death here. Leorino bit back the urge to scream.
Smirnov scoffed.
“No, I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was only natural that I should betray the country that had decided my Power was evil and tried to eliminate me.”
Leorino and Ebbo shuddered at his words.
They realized that this man, who called himself Smirnov, was also a commoner who had been persecuted because he had been born with a special ability.
“I was born in a small village in the south of Fanoren. Because of my unique ability, my father suspected my mother of infidelity and kicked us out of the house. Do you have any idea how a child with a disgusting Power and a woman suspected of infidelity were treated in that village?”
Leorino didn’t know. He couldn’t even imagine. When he was Ionia, he had been fortunate to never have been ostracized by the people around him.
But Ebbo seemed to relate. His rocklike fists were shaking.
“All thefts, all wrongdoings were blamed on me, and my mother could only sell her body to raise me. I told her we should run away. I told her we could go anywhere with my Power. But my mother wanted to stay close to my father. To be near him, even after he had abandoned us, mother and child! It never made any sense to me.”
But even so, Smirnov would have stayed in that hellish village until his mother’s death.
“It was only when I reached adulthood that I realized how valuable my Power truly was. It was my master who came for me… He told me my Power was a priceless thing, and showed me his.”
That must have been the Marquis of Lagarea.
“He erased the memory of the villagers, placed me in the care of a trading company in the royal capital, and gave me everything: education, warm meals, clothes.”
Leorino imagined a lonely soul enthralled by the first person to treat him like a human being.
“But when I started working for my master, I understood. It was a funny thing to realize that the king’s brother, the unmatched prince, now celebrated as the hero of the continent, possessed the same Power I did. When I learned of this, why, I was in stitches.”
Smirnov looked up to the heavens and laughed.
“What is the difference between royalty and commoners anyway? What did God, who whispered ‘Blessed be the king’s brother,’ ever do for me?!”
For a moment, Leorino saw the flames of eighteen years ago behind Smirnov.
Smirnov’s cold gaze pierced Leorino’s heart.
“You can’t blame me for wanting to make His Royal Highness’s first battle thoroughly miserable, can you? I wanted to prove that the man with the same Power as me was more powerless than I. And in fact, I did. So many Fanoren soldiers died that day, didn’t they?!”
Leorino bit his lip.
“How dare you…”
“The prince’s frenzy was a sight to behold. Well, after that, the wretched Zwelfs were beaten to a pulp by the vengeful prince… I’m simply happy that I got to wound him. All that remains…is to fulfill my master’s wishes!”
Smirnov’s voice was devoid of all emotion.
“…And Edgar agreed with you?”
Smirnov inclined his head at Ebbo’s question.
“Oh…? Edgar, no. My master also had high hopes for him, but he wasn’t much to speak of. Money, greed… He was a cunning little man without a cause to call his own. But he was of great use to me that night.”
“Was the fire your idea…?”
“My master’s orders, to be precise… Ha-ha! I remember that wind, oh, that wind! Edgar really outdid himself that night. I praised him profusely when I secretly visited him after everything was said and done.”
Smirnov roared with laughter once more.
Leorino and Ebbo were shocked to learn the truth like this.
There was Edgar and Smirnov, and then there was Ebbo and Ionia… They were all born with special abilities, but where had their hearts diverged so badly?
Smirnov finally calmed down.
“Now…enough about the past. I think it’s time for me to retrieve Lord Leorino. He’s quite filthy, which makes it difficult to appreciate his beauty, but I’m certain he’ll be fine after a good scrub. He’s a reward for Gdaniraque, after all.”
“I won’t let you take Lord Leorino.”
Ebbo tightened his arm around Leorino and raised his greatsword.
“It’s no use… Look.”
The next moment, Smirnov’s sword was penetrating Ebbo’s body. The blade had instantly leaped behind Ebbo and pierced him through the abdomen from behind.
“…Gah …hah…”
“What did I just say?”
“Noooooo! Ebbo!”
Leorino screamed.
“…gh…”
“Captain Ebbo!”
Ebbo collapsed, but he held Leorino fast in his arms, trying to protect him.
“Out of respect for a fellow ability user, I’ll let you live. Now hand over Lord Leorino.”
“Hell no… Gahhh…”
Ebbo swung his sword again, desperate to a fault, but it would do nothing to a man with the Power of leaping.
Smirnov’s sword made a small leap to avoid Ebbo’s arm, reappeared in his blind spot, and pierced Ebbo’s body from a different angle.
Tears of despair welled up in Leorino’s eyes.
“Noooooo, Ebbo! Ebbo, let go of me!”
“Captain…”
“Let go of me, Ebbo! That’s an order! Let go of me now!”
Only then did Ebbo’s grip loosen. Leorino desperately grabbed Ebbo’s shoulders as he fell, trying to hold him up, but Leorino was forcibly yanked away from behind.
“Augh!”
Some of the nails that he dug into Ebbo’s shoulder were nearly left behind.
“Tch… Wouldn’t want to hurt the merchandise… Now Lord Leorino is coming with me.”
Smirnov was done with the courteous tone he had adopted until now.
Ebbo reached for Leorino. Blood spilled from his mouth.
“Cap…tain… gh, Lord Leorino…”
“Ebbo… Ebbo… Please don’t die! You must live… You must!”
Smirnov pulled back Leorino’s chin as tears streamed down his cheeks and peered into his eyes from above.
“If only more people were like you, perhaps it wouldn’t have come to this…”
Leorino pleaded through tears. “Smirnov…please, stop. Don’t hurt Ebbo…or Fanoren anymore.”
Smirnov scoffed. “It’s too late for that now. My master and I… There’s no going back for us. This time we will destroy this country.”
Smirnov brought his fingers around Leorino’s neck and squeezed. Without the blood flowing to his head, his vision grew darker.
The stars in the sky grew farther and farther away.
He thought he was getting closer. He thought he was so close to returning to the man he loved.
Vi…! Vi…!
In a moment of fading consciousness, Leorino reached for the stars above.