My consciousness had sunken into the cold depths of darkness.
I could neither see nor hear anything. I had no idea which way was up or down.
After a while, a hazy image came into view amid the darkness. It was a vision of what Baron was seeing—and that was me, pointing my sword at Princess Aria. It wasn’t just her either—I was attempting to strike down Sieg and all the other defenders of Astaroth.
Why am I doing this...?
“That should be obvious. It’s because they are your enemies.”
Baron was controlling my body, and his thoughts flowed into my head. Those thoughts were telling me that the people of the Royal Capital were all my enemies.
I see. So they’re bad people, then. In that case, it makes complete sense to cut them down.
But does it really? Is slaying them really the right thing to do?
The Guard Corps were a bit rough around the edges, but they certainly weren’t bad people. They gave everything they had when fighting to protect the people of the city. I had battled alongside them, celebrated victories with them, and more—and somewhere in all that time we spent together, I grew attached to them.
But the voice inside my head told me otherwise. It said they were my enemies—that I had to eliminate them.
The two voices in my head kept arguing. Then, when I was on the verge of losing my mind, something happened.
“Alma! Don’t let someone like Baron beat you! Come back to us! You’re my attendant, aren’t you?”
Seira’s—or rather, Princess Aria’s—voice came echoing into the darkness from outside.
Oh, that’s right.
I used to be employed as Commander of the Royal Guard for Princess Aria. Protecting her with my blade was my entire reason for living.
That was when my lost memories came back to me. I remembered every last thing about who I was and how I had lived my life up to that point.
Princess Aria, having learned that Baron had taken over King Sodom’s body and was plotting to bring the entire kingdom under his thumb, had tried to persuade our people to listen to reason. However, that plan had failed, and Baron had tried to have her executed. I had sheltered her and helped her escape the country.
They ended up learning what I had done and nearly had me executed as well, but because I had such excellent physical abilities, Baron implanted an egg inside of me instead. He then kept me locked up as his spare body; however, I had managed to find an opportunity to escape, then eventually ended up in Astaroth. All my memories from after that were still with me as well.
I remembered everything—but it was all meaningless. Baron had already taken control of me. I wouldn’t ever make it back to them.
“I won’t give up on you, Alma! You saved me before; now it’s my turn to save you!”
Princess Aria was trying so desperately to rescue me. Despite the fact that she was royalty, she was still reaching her hand out to me, a mere attendant.
You’re mistaken, Your Highness, I whispered inside my heart. You may say that I saved you, but I’ve owed you a great debt of gratitude since long before that.
I was born in the slums and had lived there my entire life. I had no family, and as an orphan, even getting something to eat was an everyday struggle.
The one who had rescued me from that lifestyle was Princess Aria. She took me, an orphan from the slums, and made me a Royal Guard, placing me at her side. Supposedly, everyone around her had been strongly against that decision, but she had gone ahead and hired me despite their disapproval.
According to her, I possessed exceptional strength—and those who are most suited should always work the jobs appropriate for them, regardless of their origins.
Princess Aria had never had a single arrogant bone in her body. She was constantly toiling away for the sake of the people’s happiness, and everyone around her was always smiling.
I was so proud to be working in service of my princess. From the bottom of my heart, I wanted the strength to be able to protect her.
Ever since that day, I had devoted my entire existence to her protection.
But now...
Baron, using my body, was trying to cut Princess Aria down. Sieg was too busy dealing with the other monsters to be able to do anything about it.
If I didn’t do something, she would be slain.
My entire life has been devoted to protecting her. I’m not going to let anyone hurt her, no matter who it might be.
That’s right. The only person I believe in right now is the one who saved me: Princess Aria.
It makes no difference who’s a friend and who’s a foe. The only thing I’m absolutely certain about being the right thing to do is to protect her.
And right now, there’s nobody here who can protect her besides me.
✦ ✦ ✦
I could hardly believe the scene that was unfolding before my eyes.
Baron—in control of Alma—had his sword raised above him, ready to slash Seira, but no matter how long we waited, the weapon never came down. The arms wielding the blade seemed to be resisting Baron’s will.
“Gah...?! Wh-Why...can’t I...move...?!”
Baron struggled to complete the slash, a tortured expression on his face; however, his arms wouldn’t budge, in direct defiance of his mind’s orders.
While he was thus occupied, I took down all of the monsters in my vicinity and positioned myself in front of Seira. Then, as Baron stood there panicked, I peered inside of him and asked, “Alma—is that you?”
Against his will, Baron’s arms came to a complete halt. The only explanation I could think of was that Alma’s mind had done it.
“Alma!” Seira shouted, calling out to her inside of Baron. “Can you hear me?! If you can, come back to us! I haven’t had the chance to pay you back yet!”
“My body isn’t following my orders...!”
Baron tried to raise his sword again, but he couldn’t seem to control his body; he simply stood there unmoving, completely vulnerable to attack.
“I was certain I had absolute control over Alma’s spirit...!”
“She’s resisting him. She was never consumed,” I said. “If her spirit is still there—we might have a chance.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Seira asked.
“Baron’s true form is some kind of worm, and that’s probably what’s controlling Alma. I’ll draw him out of her body and make myself his parasitic host instead. If we do that, Alma might turn back to normal.”
“Whoa, hold up, that’s insane,” Spinoza groused.
“But Sieg...if you happen to slip up...” Fam murmured.
“I know. Then my body will get taken over.” I would end up exactly like Alma was at that very moment. If that happened, I’d be as good as dead—in fact, with Baron having free use of my body, it’d be even worse than simply dying. “But don’t worry, I’m not so weak as to let this bastard take control of me. Besides—I’m still not finished paying him back for the whole situation with Nacht yet.”
I turned to Baron and approached him with my offer. “So how about it, Baron? This battle is already basically over—you have no hope of winning. I don’t think it’s too bad of a proposal for you.”
“Oh, so you’re trying to lure me out, are you?” Having heard my suggestion, Baron laughed loudly. “You make a good point—if I could take over your body, the tides would turn dramatically. With your strength, taking back the Orb of Light would be child’s play.”
“You seem to think rather highly of me.”
“It’s an accurate assessment. Your actions alone have more or less decided the outcome of this battle. The monsters I brought with me likely won’t last much longer,” Baron admitted. “However, if I could take possession of you, I could turn everything around in an instant. If I can gain control over you, victory here will be ours; if you can prevent me from doing so, victory will be yours.”
“That’s exactly right. Shall we make this our final gambit, then?”
“I won’t bother using such roundabout tactics as laying an egg—I’ll enter your body directly and bring your spirit under my domination!”
A caterpillar-like creature suddenly flew out of Alma’s body—and, before I had a chance to prevent it, entered my body through my mouth.