Beware the Executioner (2)
Be careful of the Executioner. Another nightmare today.
Kiara sighed. The long-running nightmare had evolved into a lucid dream. She was being hunted by demons. A strange voice tightened around her throat. She wanted to wake up, but no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t.
It felt like her whole body was being ripped apart by thick, thorny vines. As if her soul had been chained in iron fetters and was being dragged along. At this point, all she could do was pray for the dream to end quickly.
But Kiara’s nightmare betrayed her expectations once again.
What the hell. Why is it different today?
A demon that had suddenly appeared grabbed her and began choking her. Why? Could it be because of what happened earlier? She had found that idiotically kind Estelle so repulsive that she’d provoked the demon—though she still had no idea what she’d been thinking.
“For the great ones.”
The demon stared at Kiara and let out a hideous voice.
“A sacrifice.”
Kiara’s breathing grew shallower. Wait, isn’t this a dream? If this kept up, she might actually… die….
“Holy blood.”
The light in Kiara’s eyes slowly faded as her windpipe was crushed. Her mind grew hazy, and something else began to fill the emptiness. Just as a deep crimson hue was about to swallow her pupils—
KWAAAAANG—!
The demon strangling her vanished without a trace. She thought she heard a faint cry of “What the hell is this!”
What just happened?
Kiara stared blankly upward. A light—blue or red, she couldn’t tell—rampaged wildly in every direction, stitching chaos into the empty canvas of her dream.
Why is that light thrashing around like it’s alive?
Why was it going so berserk? It hurt just to look at. Still… it was kind of cool.
Kiara turned her head with a faint smile, and what she saw was—
…Cain?
That crooked stance. The madness that radiated from him naturally. Even the rampaging light above was enough to tell her who it was. No doubt about it. Even though she could only see his back, that was definitely Cain.
Hey, what are you doing over there…
Cain lightly loosened his right hand and slowly stepped forward. Toward the endless horde of demons surging from beyond. Not with fear, not with courage, but carrying pure delight and excitement.
Soon the screams of the demons filled her dream. The thorny vines that had felt like they were tearing her soul apart burned away. Her body felt impossibly light. Kiara closed her eyes without realizing it.
Ten years. For the first time in ten years, she fell into true, restful sleep.
…
She stared blankly at the ceiling. Turning her head, she checked her surroundings. It was a familiar place—her room in the ducal mansion. Beyond the window, the world was bathed in warm afternoon sunlight.
I slept all the way until the afternoon?
Because of the inexplicable nightmares, she hadn’t slept properly in ten years. Even when she managed to fall asleep, she would always wake at dawn. Yet now she had slept deeply until the afternoon.
“Kiara.”
When she turned her head, she saw Duke Marcello sitting there.
“Father.”
“How do you feel?”
“…Perfectly fine.”
Now that she thought about it, blood had been pouring from her head and leg. But when she checked, there wasn’t the slightest trace of pain or injury.
“The Saint from the Holy Kingdom personally used her divine power. She healed you cleanly, without leaving a single scar.”
“The Saint…”
The last thing she remembered was Estelle, the demon, and the collapsing building. The fact that she had received the Saint’s help could only mean one thing.
Annoying.
She had received Estelle’s help. The girl hadn’t given up on her. She had stubbornly dragged her all the way to the Saint.
What a persistent and stupid woman. Kiara didn’t want to get involved with her.
“What happened to the Academy?”
“It’s been settled.”
“Not the demons. The Academy. They’re still going to continue after all that?”
She simply couldn’t understand why everyone was so obsessed with the Academy. This had gone far beyond obsession. It was closer to staking their lives on it. But this incident had proven that reopening it was premature.
Unless they completely eradicated the demons instead of merely driving them back, the Continental Academy could never be safe. That was Kiara’s conclusion.
“Although the administrative department’s site was destroyed, the Continental Academy will continue.”
“Wow. Are they all actually insane? Are you sure everyone’s in their right mind?”
“The Holy Kingdom has decided to send more people. Each nation has also agreed to station their strongest fighters there permanently.”
Even if the Grand General and Casen’s court mage had been absent, the Saint and the commander of the Holy Knights had been present—and it had still been breached. What were they thinking?
Kiara was about to sneer when the Duke delivered the next piece of news.
“One more thing. This time, the non-human races will also be coming.”
“The non-human races? Wait a moment. Weren’t they opposed to the Academy?”
The non-human races. The elves, beastmen, and dwarves who lived in the cold Northern Region. Although they were members of the alliance, they had refused to attend the Academy. Their reason had been that they didn’t want to mingle with humans.
The alliance existed solely for the survival of the continent. They had no intention of intervening in human society. Your curiosity is a blade that cuts us. That had been their official stance when the Academy was first established.
“They used to enslave non-humans in the distant past, too.”
“They did. That’s why they said they would join the alliance but not the Continental Academy.”
“And now they’ve suddenly changed their minds. How interesting.”
The Empire. Casen. The Holy Kingdom. Various other kingdoms. And now even the non-human races would be joining the Continental Academy. Even if it had failed once, would the demons really give up? If anything, it seemed like the Academy had simply become a more perfectly ripened fruit on the tree.
“Do I still have to attend the Academy?”
“What a foolish question.”
“Even after something like that happened?”
“Now that it has drawn even more attention, you must attend. How could the Empire’s ducal princess miss such an occasion?”
“But the entire administrative building and its grounds were blown away.”
“Reconstruction has already begun. As a temporary measure, they will share the buildings and grounds of the knight, magic, and theology departments.”
Kiara was speechless. It was as if someone had smeared honey all over the Academy. Maybe it was mass hypnosis, or perhaps someone was controlling people’s minds? Otherwise, this continent-wide obsession made no sense.
“They don’t seem to be afraid of the demons at all. The administrative building and its grounds were completely destroyed…”
“It wasn’t the demons’ doing.”
“Then who?”
Duke Marcello paused, as if hesitating to speak. Then he asked a truly unexpected question.
“Kiara. How close are you, exactly, with that commoner named Cain?”
“Suddenly asking that?”
“Just answer.”
“We’re not close. We simply know each other.”
As far as she knew, Duke Marcello was extremely sensitive about status. To think the first name to come from his mouth would be the commoner Cain. A possibility suddenly occurred to her, and she quickly continued.
“Don’t tell me… the one who destroyed the administrative department was that man?”
“I wish that was all.”
“What do you mean, you wish that was all?”
At Kiara’s persistent questioning, the Duke sighed. He then explained why he had asked how close she was to Cain, and detailed what was currently happening.
“Cain. That mad dog is running wild.”
He was killing all the nobles. Cutting off every single one of their heads.
“The Executioner has drawn his sword.”
Recalling Cain’s other title, the Duke grimaced in disgust.
During the demon war, there had been two main ways nobles died.
The first was to die honorably in battle against demons as a noble should. In most such cases, they had participated as knights and met their end on the battlefield.
The rest were those who had clearly been doomed to die yet still acted arrogantly and gotten themselves killed. There were always nobles who ignored orders to retreat and boasted that they could fight. Such fools had screamed for mercy as they were devoured by demons.
The second way was to die at Cain’s hands after trying to ally with the demons despite being a noble.
Contractors were surprisingly rare among the soldiers and knights who fought on the front lines. When your comrades were being eaten alive before your eyes, temptation didn’t exactly sound appealing. But to those sitting comfortably in the rear giving orders, the demons’ whispers had sounded very different.
This is going to end badly. The moment they thought that, the demons’ whispers would slip in. Many nobles had fallen for it and committed all kinds of sabotage.
“So I killed them all. If we were going to fight the demons, we needed the rear to be quiet. I cut the heads off every last traitor who might cause trouble.”
“…”
“At first the nobles threw all sorts of tantrums, but once the traitors decreased, they shut up. It was good for everyone. Those bastards took the positions and territories left by the dead nobles, and I could focus on killing demons.”
“…”
“He became the commoner who killed the most nobles in history and still survived. He even earned that amusing epithet. I thought I’d killed so many that none were left, but of course that wasn’t the case.”
When five humans gather, at least one is definitely trash. He recalled the famous saying that always rang true.
Moreover, countless nobles sat within the alliance. To the demons, they were nothing but reeds waiting to be shaken. A little whisper of temptation, a little tug on their desires, and they all fell. Since they had already tasted power, they only craved more.
“The alliance claims that foolish people keep falling for the demons, but that’s not true. I understand it. How could a person remain sane in the face of temptation? In the face of desire? If you don’t waver, are you even human?”
“…”
Cain was human too. Of course he wavered before temptation and desire. If what he wanted hadn’t been the death of every demon in the world—if it had been something the demons could actually grant—he would have fallen for their whispers long ago and become a slave to his desires.
“So I cheer them on. Waver more. Struggle more. Betray if you want. That way I don’t have to worry about when the next traitor will appear. I can just kill them all and go back to slaughtering demons.”
Cain chuckled as he patted the head in front of him. The Grand General, watching the scene, unconsciously swallowed dryly.
Every person Cain was currently “conversing” with had no torso. The nobles whose heads he had severed were scattered all around him.
“Cain. Come with me for a moment. Their Highness the Imperial Princes are looking for you.”
“Do they want to check how many I’ve killed?”
“No. Important figures from the alliance will soon enter the Empire. They wish to discuss the future of the Continental Academy.”
The Absolute Rule of Romance Fantasies Featuring an Academy:
No matter what happens, our academy is open for business!
Unless the entire Academy was destroyed or every student was killed, this immutable law would never be broken.
“His Highness the Second Prince secretly hopes you will voice your opposition.”
“Why would I?”
“Because you, who have fought the demons more than anyone, would know better than anyone that the Academy is a high-value target on par with the imperial palace.”
From Wilhelm’s perspective, the Academy was a jewel of great worth yet impossible to protect. Carrying it would either give him an ulcer until he died or drive him mad with rage.
“He used to just drink and chase women. Now his head has become rather clear.”
“…And whose fault is that?”
The Grand General had recently realized that Wilhelm’s change wasn’t an act. It was only after he had seen Arhen literally crushed by Cain—after confirming that even someone of his own stature as Grand General could do nothing against him—that he had seen sympathy for a fellow sufferer in Wilhelm’s eyes.
“To get straight to the point, I have no particular intention of opposing it.”
“Why not?”
“Even if I oppose it, they won’t listen. And even if they do listen, they’ll just blame me and curse me for it.”
Besides, the recent incident had convinced him. The heroine and the Academy. There could be no more perfect bait. An upper demon had even evolved because of it. If he waited, more demons—stronger demons—would come.
These were creatures that would flee and hide the moment he went looking for them. Why refuse when they were willing to come to him if he just waited a little?
“Let’s go. The princes are waiting.”
The Grand General began walking with Cain, then paused and looked back. Count Zailitz and the other revealed noble traitors—all of them now headless corpses, buried in a pit. The stench of blood. The place the Executioner passed through always looked like this.