Declaration of War
“My, my~. That was quite the coming-of-age ceremony, in an entirely different sense. Don’t you agree, Sir Matthew?”
“Indeed.”
“I can understand why people lost their minds and went wild. Embarrassing as it is to admit, even I lost my composure for a moment. That child’s looks could easily pass for a supernatural ability all on their own.”
“...I agree.”
“It only makes me want to bring him over even more. If a light touch of makeup already does that much, just imagine what would happen if we dressed him up properly and sent him into high society...”
“It would be no joke.”
“Heh heh heh. Of course not. Every gentleman and lady in heat, not to mention the stiff-necked ministers and their wives, would fall under his spell and hand over their livers and gallbladders without a second thought. The phrase ‘a beauty who topples kingdoms’ must have been coined for that child alone.”
“...”
Matthew had grown tired of playing along. He stopped even his curt replies and simply kept his mouth shut.
Ehiri paid him no mind and continued rattling on about the advantages of having Jun on their side.
And so the two of them walked on, engaged in a thoroughly one-sided conversation.
Behind them, black-clad figures began to trail after them one by one.
Before long, Ehiri and Matthew reached the entrance to the mountain where they had first met Jun.
Only then did Matthew, who had kept his lips sealed, finally speak.
“You took that much of a liking to him? Enough to casually tip him off about part of the operation?”
“...If I call it a coming-of-age gift for a clever, grown-up child... will you be angry with me?”
Ehiri smiled bitterly.
Matthew studied him for a long moment, then gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.
“What a strange thing to say. You merely gave a child a coming-of-age gift. Why would that be grounds for anger?”
“Heh heh heh. That’s exactly why, of all His Highness’s blades, I like you the most.”
Unlike the others, Matthew still retained a shred of conscience and flexibility.
He himself regarded it as weakness and tried to erase it, but Ehiri hoped he would keep that weakness intact.
He had lost his own long ago, and he wanted to feel its presence at least by his side—so that he would not become an even more hideous beast than he already was.
“What a dreadful thing to say. More importantly—do you think things went according to plan?”
“Yes. By now, the bulk of the Bastard Prince’s forces should be lying in ambush on that mountain.”
The mountain looked quiet at a glance, but inside it would be swarming with beasts desperate to protect their territory.
And among those beasts, that child would surely be included.
“Wouldn’t some of them have stayed behind in the village because of the warning you gave him?”
“No one in this world easily believes an enemy’s words. People almost always trust only what they see with their own eyes.”
That was precisely why he had deliberately shown himself under the pretext of congratulating the coming-of-age ceremony.
Once the masterminds of this affair had revealed themselves, the Bastard Prince’s forces would have no choice but to focus on them—even without knowing their true intentions.
When the very person overseeing the operation personally becomes the bait and lures them out, how could they possibly look away?
“They would have judged the advice I gave them as a deception meant to split their forces between the mountain and the village. Therefore...”
“Most of the Bastard Prince’s strength is concentrated over there?”
“Yes. The moment the ceremony ended, they would have found it suspicious that we left the village without a shred of lingering attachment. They would have followed us for a while, and the instant we put a certain distance between ourselves and the village, they would have turned straight back to that mountain.”
“Then the village is as good as empty.”
“They will have left a bare minimum of forces just in case, but it won’t be many.”
With that, Ehiri drew a massive yellow mana stone—a crystal formed from condensed mana—from his coat.
A magic circle was densely engraved across its surface.
“As planned, I’ll leave the forces inside the mountain to you, Sir Matthew. I will use this to...”
Rustle, rustle!
Several black-clad figures gathered at Ehiri’s side.
The savage killing intent they radiated made Matthew’s hand move unconsciously to the sword at his waist.
“...and together with them, storm the village and erase the Bastard Prince—and everything inside the church.”
Ehiri’s face still wore a smile, yet somehow it looked desolate. Matthew hesitated, then finally spoke.
“Do you really need to go yourself? Just wait here.”
“Hahaha. Are you worried about me? I’m grateful, but I can’t do that.”
“...Why? You don’t even have a supernatural ability.”
“My role is not combat—it is supervision. If we are to leave room to recruit Jun, I must keep these people, overflowing with vengeance, from running completely wild. And... no. It’s nothing.”
I want to engrave my own sins clearly into both my eyes.
Ehiri had been about to say it, but when he saw the look of someone wrestling with something in Matthew’s eyes, he shook his head.
If he said it outright, Matthew would probably knock him unconscious until the whole affair was over.
“Well then, Sir Matthew. I’ll leave this place to you.”
“...Right.”
Clang!
Before Matthew could stop him again, Ehiri swiftly crushed the mana stone in his hand.
The yellow mana sealed inside burst outward, enveloping Ehiri and the black-clad figures standing near him.
Ehiri closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, an entirely different landscape stretched before him.
Well worth the fortune I spent.
A counterfeit return stone modeled after the ones used in the Labyrinths.
Forcing a product of sacred arts into existence through magic required a rare yellow mana stone as its base instead of the common blue ones, and mages capable of imbuing it with the highest-tier spell Teleport were so scarce that even the First Prince had found the cost burdensome.
If we could freely input the return coordinates—or even if the registered coordinates lasted more than a few days—this would be an incredible strategic weapon. What a pity.
The counterfeit return stone could not accept coordinate input; one had to travel to the return point in person to register it. Even then, the coordinates only remained stored for about half a day. Visiting Primuni Village on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony had partly been for that very reason.
It’s a white elephant of an item, but for a surprise attack there’s nothing better.
Looking at the village, clearly visible even in the dark night thanks to the torches set up everywhere, Ehiri nodded in satisfaction.
Only for a moment. Then he wiped the smile from his face and murmured coldly,
“You all haven’t forgotten our agreement, I trust.”
Three of the black-clad figures who had been staring at the scene with murderous eyes stepped forward.
They were the leaders of the assassin guild who had been with Ehiri the first time he met Jun.
“You mean we don’t touch anyone except the targets as much as possible?”
“You call that an order?!”
“Countless brothers of ours died. We must have our revenge—by giving them the exact same pain.”
Revenge!
Kill them all!
Heh heh heh!
Sounds like the wailing of ghosts rose into the air.
An ordinary person would have frothed at the mouth and collapsed upon hearing them, but Ehiri did not so much as blink.
“You reaped what you sowed.”
He spoke coldly once more.
He even dropped the habitual honorifics. Those who had forgotten their place were not worth the courtesy.
“...What?”
“Hunting dogs who dare show killing intent and defy orders. Your downfall was only natural.”
“You want to die?! You think your title will save you? We don’t give a damn about that sort of thing!”
“But you do care about your lives. And you’d like to rebuild your organization as well. Am I wrong?”
“...What do you want?”
“If you’re hunting dogs, then bark when told to bark and crouch when told to crouch. You understand what that means, don’t you?”
There was no answer. But the resentful eyes made it clear they had understood.
Ehiri erased the look of disgust from his face, beamed, and continued,
“Well then, my dear hunting dogs. Let’s begin the hunt.”
At his command, arrows tipped with flame streaked across the dark night sky all at once.
The villagers, surrounded by the warmth and light of their torches, never noticed a thing.
Soon the gentle torchlight became a firestorm that engulfed the village, and the cheerful music and singing turned into screams and wails.
“Go.”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Ehiri released the hunting dogs into the pit of chaos.
They vanished into the village in an instant.
Ehiri burned the image of the blazing village into his eyes, then slowly walked into it himself.
The villagers, thrown into panic by the sudden fire, paid him no attention at all.
He walked on, engraving the village’s devastation into his sight, and before long he arrived in front of the church.
A battle was raging inside. Yet no sound of combat reached him—thanks to the magic tools issued to the assassins.
Ehiri stroked his faintly trembling cheek, then pulled a finely crafted mask painted with an elegant mustache from his coat and put it on.
Then he stepped through the faintly visible barrier.
“Good evening, everyone. A pleasure to meet you.”
The fighting stopped. Every gaze locked onto him.
How did he look, standing there with the burning village at his back?
“I’m terribly sorry for the sudden intrusion, but...”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Entertaining such idle thoughts, Ehiri kept moving his lips.
“I must ask you all to die.”
The masked stranger.
Standing with the fire-engulfed village at his back and calmly demanding death, he looked like a reaper risen from hell itself.
And so—
Tremble, tremble.
Leon, already stiff from his first real battle, was completely overwhelmed by the man’s presence and began to shake.
Clang!
“Leon! Watch out!”
One of the assassins seized the opening and swung his blade.
Fortunately Kate, who was nearby, swiftly blocked it with her shield, sparing him the blow.
“Th-thank you, Lady Ka—”
Slap!
“—te?”
Kate’s palm cracked across Leon’s cheek.
He touched the stinging skin and stared blankly at her.
“Get your head on straight, Leon. This isn’t a spar—we’re in a real fight. Zone out and you’ll be dead in an instant.”
“Y-yes.”
“That limp answer. Still doesn’t feel real, does it? Fine—I’ll snap you out of it.”
Kate grabbed Leon’s chin and turned his head toward the church.
Children peering this way with eyes full of fear entered his vision.
“Kh!”
Leon bit down hard on his lip.
As if ice water had been dumped over him, his dazed mind snapped fully awake.
“I don’t care about anyone else, but you have to stay sharp. The one who brought this disaster here is none other than you.”
“...Yes!”
“Then fight! You brought them—so clean them up with your own hands!”
Leon did not answer.
Instead he gripped his sword tightly and kicked off the ground.
The assassin who had swung a dagger at him moments earlier blocked his path.
The newly adult lion roared and unleashed the sword aura he had polished thousands upon thousands of times.
Rywinger Family Secret Technique — Lion Claw
The lion’s claws descended upon the assassin.
Clang!
The assassin swung his dagger and knocked the blade aside.
But there was no need for disappointment. A lion does not have only one claw.
Leon’s sword twisted unnaturally, changing trajectory to aim for the assassin’s opening.
The assassin’s eyes flew wide as he hastily twisted his body.
Slash!
Blood sprayed from the assassin’s chest.
Yet Leon could not celebrate. The sensation transmitted through the blade was faint—he had failed to land a fatal wound.
He prepared a third claw to finish the job.
In that instant, the advice his friend had given him suddenly surfaced. Instinct screamed at him to trust it. Reluctantly, Leon withdrew his sword and put distance between himself and the assassin.
That very moment—
Whoosh!
Something sliced through the air and grazed past his face.
Several strands of hair scattered into the empty air.
If I hadn’t listened to that advice...
He swallowed dryly at the worst possible ending that flashed through his mind. The assassin clicked his tongue in regret.
“Tch! I could have finished it. You’ve got good instincts.”
“...It’s less good instincts and more having a good friend.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll send you to the next world together with that friend.”
Crunch! Crunch!
The assassin’s body began to swell.
Leon did not know the exact nature of the ability, but it was bad news for him.
If it had been an external-release type, he could have nullified it with his Lion Aura and handled it easily. But no matter how he looked at it, the assassin’s ability was an internal-condensation type.
I have no choice but to use it.
Leon steeled himself and placed a hand over his heart.
Then he activated his family’s unique trait.
Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded rapidly.
Blood surging powerfully from the heart circulated through his entire body.
The same process repeated faster and faster, and the energy contained within the blood naturally condensed into every cell of his body.
Rywinger Family Secret Technique — Overdrive
Vitality overflowed from every inch of him.
Right now he felt as if he could do anything.
Grit!
Leon bit his lip again, forcing down the rising euphoria.
The technique’s duration was short, and because it drew on the energy stored in the blood, once it ended he would be completely drained of strength and unable to move.
Finish this fast.
Flash!
Leon charged like a bolt of lightning.
The speed was incomparable to before; the assassin’s face showed surprise—yet
“Impressive. If our levels had been similar, that would have been dangerous.”
—he casually slipped past Leon’s strike.
Then, with a fist that had swollen to nearly half again its size, he slammed into Leon’s stomach.
“Gah!”
“Leon!”
Hurled backward by the monstrous strength, Leon tumbled wretchedly across the ground.
Several people tried to rush to his aid, but assassins charging from every direction left them no room to do so.
“Urgh! Damn it!”
Leon barely managed to push his upper body up. That was all he could do.
The impact had broken Overdrive, and the aftereffects hit him at once. He could only watch as the assassin approached.
“I’m sorry. Everyone. I’m truly sorry.”
Leon apologized and looked up at the sky.
The needlessly clear moon was hateful. It felt as if it were mocking the foolish self who had dared aim for the throne with such meager power.
Plop!
“...Huh?”
Something wet slid down the corner of his eye.
At first Leon thought it was his own tear, but
Plop! Plop! Plip-plip-plip!
the successive droplets striking his face made him realize otherwise.
“Wh-what is this...”
While everyone stared in astonishment, raindrops falling from the sky extinguished the firestorm that had engulfed the village.
“What are you doing?! Finish it already!”
“I know!”
At the masked man’s urgent shout, the assassin raised his fist—
BOOM!
—and a single dragon, bringing the rain with it, descended upon the earth.