Oh Dear, Already Gone?
"What...? Lady Hera?"
At Leon's reaction, Riman gave a bitter smile.
"Surprised?"
"Well, of course."
Leon left the rest unsaid.
Hera as family head? That was a nightmare. He could already picture the Four Great Ducal Houses collapsing into Three.
Leon narrowed his eyes slightly and studied Riman's face. There was no hint of a joke. And this wasn't the sort of man who would waste time on a cheap gag to begin with.
"I understand your reaction. But that's only because you still don't truly know your sister's real self."
"Her real self?"
"Yes. Most people have never seen her true face."
"So... everything Lady Hera has shown us until now has been an act?"
"Not quite. More accurately, it's another side of her — one that was formed after a certain 'incident' long ago."
"...?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what that incident was. I don't know the full details myself, and it isn't a story for a third party to casually air. But because of it, she was deeply disappointed in the family and in people, and the moment she came of age, she left the house without looking back."
Riman took a sip of water, as if his throat had gone dry.
"If you remembered what she was like as a child... you'd understand. I'll say it again — she is not merely a madwoman. That is nothing more than a mask she can put on or take off whenever she chooses."
So he's not denying the madwoman part.
Leon muttered the thought to himself.
"Father — and I as well — believe that the sister beneath the mask has the makings of an exceptional leader."
"Yeah, but even so..."
Leon, who had been listening in silence, added with a sour look,
"It didn't seem like Lady Hera had the slightest intention of coming home."
She looked thoroughly content with her mercenary life, after all.
At that, Riman suddenly burst into hollow laughter.
"Hahaha!"
Leon joined in with a great booming laugh of his own. He simply felt like laughing.
— Keh keh!
— Pwahahaha!
For a while the two of them simply looked at each other and shared a stretch of ridiculous, pointless laughter. It was the kind that gathered momentum and refused to stop. Brotherly affection sprouted fresh and green between them.
A moment later, once the laughter had subsided, Riman added quietly,
"That's the problem."
A dim, hollow cavern.
Uneven stone walls and shabby furniture.
"..."
A single, meager lamp cast just enough light to outline a man's silhouette. He sat in a chair with both hands propping up his chin, staring silently at the communication orb resting in the center of the table.
— How is everyone holding up?
Mana crackled from the orb, and a voice spilled out. That seemed to be the signal.
— God's lackeys have pushed as far as Rombel. Two of our branches are gone.
— Evacuating along the coastline toward Chentel. Dropped some bugs in a nearby city to throw off pursuit.
— The flower we planted in Nimel got sniffed out by the Night Cat. So I just scattered them across whatever villages I could. Managed to salvage a few.
...
Reports laced with their private code words poured out one after another.
"We've fallen back to the Pashinchi Mountains to reorganize."
The man finally opened his mouth and added his own piece.
Once the situation reports had roughly run their course, the meeting proper began.
— The losses sting. Once the lackeys and the Night Cat bare their claws, they're no joke.
— Can we keep going like this? From where I'm standing, we need to get out of the north for a while.
— Maybe we should just head further up...
— Don't be absurd. At that point you might as well say we should go back to the Demon Realm.
— Haa. Belger really left us one hell of a mess.
...
— Are we still handling the 'target' as decided last time?
— Yes. We've agreed to accelerate the plan already in motion.
— Whew... lucky that lined up so neatly. If it hadn't, Lord Cryptos would have...
...
At that dizzying murmur, the communication orb fell into a stretch of silence.
— ...Ugh, can we not bring that up? You see the goosebumps on my arm right now?
— ...We did get lucky.
The voice that had opened the meeting brought the unsettled atmosphere back under control.
— Brothers. Keep your heads on straight. Things may be hard for the moment, but as long as we survive, we can always rise again.
The man nodded in silent agreement.
— Lord Cryptos will not cast us aside over a single failed mission. Whatever anyone says, we have stayed on this land longer than anyone and produced the finest results.
The words carried a fierce pride.
— So focus only on self-preservation. This too shall pass. Humans have such pitiful willpower — they wrap everything up short. Don't fret over minor losses. Toss them something they can call a victory and be done with it.
"Toss them something, huh..."
The man murmured, turning the words over.
It was a solid idea. Might as well use the chance to shed the useless weight. Start fresh with a lighter body.
He was deep in thought over what to discard when—
Thud... thud... THOOM...!
An ominous roar rolled in from outside.
"...?!"
The man's eyes flew wide as he shot to his feet.
KRUDUDUDUDUDU—!!
The roar did not stop.
"What the—!"
He moved in a rush. His feet pounded down the long tunnel connecting the cavern to the outside. The white robe he wore billowed behind him, and his hand rose to the hilt at his waist.
He was outside in an instant.
A blazing sun. A clear blue sky. Fresh green shoots and jagged mountain peaks.
The place he had been hiding was a gorge deep in the mountains — a cave bored into the middle of a cliff face.
Below, wooden structures stretched the length of the gorge, stacked like timber shipping containers piled one atop another.
The man shifted his gaze to the far end of the gorge.
The explosion hit the moment his eyes landed there.
KWOOOOOOM! KRAAAAAAANG—!!
Flame, debris, and dirt erupted high into the air. Buildings shattered to pieces, and a section of the cliff sheared away.
"...!"
Fireballs were raining down from above the gorge like a storm.
KRAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
Flames spread. Buildings crumbled to ash. In moments the entire gorge was a sea of fire.
Then white-robed figures came pouring out of the buildings — like a swarm of bees spilling from a shaken hive.
They were not in a panic. No one shouted. No one exchanged a single word. They simply rolled their eyes, then began sprinting as one toward the place where the bombardment had first begun.
KRAAANG! KRAAANG! KWOOOOM—!
The barrage of fireballs continued, yet there were no conspicuous casualties. The white-robed figures dodged the blasts with uncanny movement, vaulting over obstacles, their speed never faltering.
The ones raining fire seemed to realize as much, and the bombardment ceased.
What came next was a great roar of voices.
"Gooo!"
"Kiiill them!"
"Cruuush them!"
From the direction the white-robes were racing toward, countless mercenaries came pouring in. They carried weapons of every kind, and on the left side of each chest was pinned the emblem of a dark moon.
"Wipe them all out!"
At their vanguard stood a half-elf woman with a scar carved across her cheek. When she swept her blade, a blue-green sword aura unfurled and burned through the white-robes.
That was the opening shot.
The mercenaries followed in her wake, swinging their weapons. Ghastly sounds of rending flesh and wild laughter filled the gorge. Severed limbs and red blood painted the air.
The moment the two forces collided, the white-robes were swept aside in a one-sided slaughter. The mercenaries rampaged like beasts that lived on blood. The white-robes could not last even three seconds against them.
The gorge ran scarlet with their blood.
"The Mukwol Squad...!"
The man let out a groan that was almost a gasp.
How had they found this place?
No — that wasn't what mattered right now.
He had to run.
This was bad. The hideout he had poured so much effort into was about to be wiped clean off the map. Judging by the combat magic and the individual skill of the mercenaries, these were clearly Mukwol Squad elites. They had come prepared.
— Focus only on self-preservation.
— Toss them something they can call a victory.
The advice he had heard only moments ago brushed through his mind.
"Right. Better to just..."
Since it had come to this, he would simply extract himself alone.
Those ones are a bit of a waste... but they're not important.
He resolved to abandon even the few useful ones who had risen above the status of mere 'bugs.' It was a hard decision, made with a heavy heart.
Yes. As long as I'm alive, I can always start over.
He drew the energy of his entire body upward, ready to move fast.
Song of Sword and Death — Intro
Sword and death always arrive without warning.
— Shhk!
"...?"
For an instant, the man's mind could not keep up with what was happening. The energy he had been gathering snapped like a cut thread. His body would not obey him. Strength drained away, and his breath locked in his throat.
What is this? Why is my body—
"Ghk!"
Only when he saw the blade protruding from the region of his heart did he finally groan. Someone had driven a sword into him from behind.
"Guh... haaargh...!"
Gasping for air that would not come, he twisted his head around.
And there—
"Hi there~! Nice to meet you?"
—stood a beautiful woman wearing a grotesque smile at the corner of her mouth.
"K-khk...! Ghhk...!"
Meeting her deep crimson eyes, the man felt as though his very soul had been seized.
"Hmm~ Are you saying it's nice to meet me too?"
Krududduk—
The lodged blade slowly climbed upward, splitting open his chest.
"...!"
The real-time agony of his lungs being torn apart dragged him straight into hell.
"Hahat. Come on, say something."
She flicked her tongue out playfully as she spoke to him.
Tududduk—!
The blade rode all the way up to his collarbone.
"W-wa— wait...!"
"Hmm? Speak a little loude—"
KRAJIK—!
"—r! I can't hear you!"
"..."
With his head split cleanly in two, the high-ranking demon Guskel never did manage a reply.
"Oh dear, already gone?"
Hera shrugged her shoulders. Then she cupped both hands around her mouth and cheerfully called down toward the gorge below, where the massacre was still unfolding.
"Aah~! I can't wait to see my little brother~!"
It was a peaceful day, with summer just around the corner.