The Village of Illusions and Requiems (3)
The decision that Grespara would come here was pure instinct. Well, to be more precise, it wasn’t instinct so much as a rational conclusion drawn from twenty-two full playthroughs of the original game. A meteor had fallen, so one of them was bound to show up. That was why I had stayed put inside the royal castle, refusing to move. But when an entire night slipped by with no reports at all, the answer became obvious.
It had to be Vincent’s twisted brand of “hobby.” Of course a village where people practiced celestial magic would be wiped out. That was exactly the kind of sick entertainment he enjoyed.
Sorry to the villagers… but the young lady matters more to me. At least it’s Grespara. If Vincent himself had come, I would’ve had to fight him while drunk.
Stirring up Mihelrn was the first move in their scenario. The world wasn’t flowing exactly as I remembered it—my own interference had changed too many variables—but the overall framework was still close enough. Coming here had been the right call.
Yet actually seeing the torn bodies scattered everywhere… it was revolting. It made Vincent’s already incomprehensible mind even more alien to me. He preached that celestial magic should never be given to humans, yet here he was committing atrocities with the very power he had stolen from the demon race. The man hadn’t created it himself; he had simply taken it. All of it was nothing but greed, stubbornness, and delusion wrapped in contradiction.
Thankfully we weren’t too late. The villagers hadn’t been completely exterminated.
…Still, far too many had already died.
I had tried to make the best possible decision, but the responsibility for responding too slowly still weighed on me. A faint sense of guilt lingered.
Thud!
“Uweeegh.”
This was the price those people had paid for my delay.
“Ugh, ugh—!”
Whoosh.
“Damn it. She’s running.”
In the end, the solution Grespara—who had clearly never been beaten so thoroughly in her entire life—came up with was to use her precious celestial magic right in front of me. She tried to drag her own body through the air and flee into the distance.
The only power she couldn’t use while I was present was Steel Wind. Celestial magic, however, was hers by right, granted directly by Vincent. There was no way for me to nullify it, so she could cast it freely.
But the sight only made me laugh.
“The proud, high-nosed Grespara resorting to celestial magic just to survive… I’m dying. This is too funny.”
Grespara. Third of the five cherished satellites Vincent kept close. In the demon realm she was the daughter of a respectable house, a girl who had walked a golden path straight into service under one of the Six Swords. A textbook example of noble upbringing.
The Grespara I remembered carried herself with immense pride in her station. She viewed demons as the superior race and took enormous satisfaction in her own strength. She had been one of the five mid-bosses that needed to be cleared before facing Vincent himself.
And as far as I knew, she almost never used celestial magic against humans. That was because she had inherited Vincent’s obsession with keeping the power exclusive. He held the strange conviction that no one but himself should wield it. Receiving that power directly from him was, to her, the highest possible honor.
“This… this is ridiculous—! That I, I should have to use this against a mere human…!”
Yet here she was, throwing all of that dignity away and fleeing like a coward.
Her entire body was covered in deep red bruises. Without magic she could barely move. The only thought left in her head seemed to be I must live.
Of course she felt that way. She had come here planning to slaughter every human like snatching candy from a child and then return home triumphant. She could never have imagined someone like me would appear and ruin everything so brutally. She certainly never expected to be beaten so helplessly. Only despair and desperation remained.
Even I was surprised.
I never thought I could overpower one of the Six Swords’ satellites this easily.
She was still a mid-boss, even if a weakened version. From memory, nullifying Steel Wind was supposed to be difficult, and her earth-attribute satellite magic was genuinely threatening. I had expected a proper fight. I never imagined she would crumble so completely.
…Am I actually that strong?
I shoved the useless thought aside. I had already neutralized her; now I needed to chase her down before she escaped again. No matter how hard a flea jumps, it’s still just a flea. Even using gravity like Hylken to pull her in had its limits—she wouldn’t get far.
“Sniff sniff, sniff sniff—! Masterrrrr—! Southwest!”
“Good.”
“Burga liked it toooo—!”
I had a top-tier navigation system that could follow the scent of steel anywhere nearby. Finding where Grespara had fled was child’s play.
“Right around heeeeere—!”
“………Hold on. I hear something.”
I sprinted in the direction Burga had indicated, ready to capture Grespara, only to realize the entire forest she had fled into was alive with restless noise.
Then it happened.
Thwip, thwip! Several arrows shot cleanly into the sky. Even though it was daytime, gray clouds like rain mist gathered, and the constellation of the Archer blazed to life. The lights converged into a single point, becoming a blue flash that slammed straight down into the ground.
Kwaaaang—!
It was close. Not far from where I stood.
“………No way!”
I rushed to the spot and found a man wearing tattered hunter’s garb and a robe, his face hidden behind a mask painted with a large blue star and a pentagram. He was breathing hard, radiating fury.
In his hand dangled Grespara’s neck. Thanks to their height difference she hung helplessly in the air. He had severed her Achilles tendon to stop her from running. Several arrows buried deep in her leg were just the finishing touch.
“Got you, Grespara…! Enemy of the constellations, Vincent’s lapdog. You filthy rat of a massacre witch…!”
“S-spare meee…”
“Spare you? You’re begging me for mercy…?”
The young man’s voice, raw as scraping iron, echoed through the entire forest.
“—When our entire clan begged for their lives exactly like you’re doing now, your master didn’t even flinch. What do you think of that?! After surviving that nightmare and being forged by it, do I look like someone who would show you mercy?!”
“Ugh… ugh—”
Sob. Sobbbb—!
There was no need for an answer. Grespara knew it too. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks onto the man’s hand. She had no problem killing humans, but it seemed she valued her own life quite highly.
Sigh…
Her luck really was abysmal. After being beaten half to death by me and somehow managing to flee, she just had to run straight into him.
I had no idea why he was here, but he looked too consumed by rage to think clearly. Still, from my perspective, killing Grespara right now was not a good move.
So I stepped between them and spoke in a low voice.
“Hey, Hawk.”
“…………Who the hell are you?!”
When I called his name, he slowly turned, eyes wide with the obvious question of how I could possibly know it.
“Don’t be too shocked that I know your name. Your sister told me quite a lot about you, so I couldn’t help but find out.”
His composure cracked.
“You—how do you know my sister?”
“I’d be an idiot if I didn’t. She left the village and kept failing the knight exam. I scouted her myself and placed her in the royal castle.”
“…Wait. That build… the black armor…”
“That’s right.”
“Lord of Steel, Your Excellency.”
It seemed he recognized me as well.
“That’s why I’ve heard plenty about you too. I know exactly how much you despise Vincent and his underlings. But for now, why don’t you put her down so we can talk?”
“I refuse. No. This is the first prey I’ve caught…!”
“I’m not saying you can’t kill her. She will die eventually. But now is not the time.”
“That means…”
“She knows Vincent better than anyone. He values her highly. She’ll make an excellent bargaining chip when we face him.”
“………Tsk.”
“If you understand, let her go. Your clever little sister would have dropped her the moment I spoke.”
“………For the honor of Hylkenbesta, I will obey. But know that I do not agree with the reasoning behind it.”
“My, what a foul-tempered man.”
“…Damn it.”
Hawk Transibist.
Hylken’s older brother, the hunter searching for Vincent to make him pay for slaughtering their entire clan. With the battered Grespara hanging between us, our eyes met.