Noblesse
"Hoo...."
Edan loosened the top button of his stifling tailcoat.
The magicians, bursting with curiosity, were firing off questions as though not a single second could be wasted. One after another, the puzzles they had always wondered about were being unraveled, and the questions just kept coming; more than an hour had passed with nothing but back-and-forth answers. Even for Edan, who was thoroughly versed in the knowledge of magic, nonstop calculation was becoming a little exhausting.
Hm?
As Edan crossed the banquet hall toward the place where the saintess, Hilde's mother, and Lee Yu-seong were gathered, he sensed something unusual and faltered. The saintess in particular had her brows furrowed, her thumb pressed to her mouth as she gnawed at it, looking terribly unsettled. Even when Edan approached, none of them noticed him.
"Is something wrong?"
At Edan's voice, the saintess whipped around in surprise. Her gaze was visibly shaking; she was far from her usual self.
Unlike her anxious appearance suggested, the saintess explained the situation clearly. Hilde had gone off following a message from Carius ban Ilate and a servant. And even now, after an hour had passed, there was still no word from her.
Edan fell into thought for a moment. Hilde was not someone who would be so easily trapped by a mere human scheme and put in danger. But this world had strange laws even he had not yet fully grasped, and if someone exploited the loopholes well enough, the chance was not zero.
The likelihood that Hilde had truly been placed in danger seemed low, but there was also no reason a simple errand should take an hour. Having reached his judgment, Edan nodded.
"Just in case, let's go find where Hilde is. If we trace her by magic, we should be able to confirm it quickly."
"Ohh. As expected of you, Edan. Then let's leave right away."
The saintess answered with a relieved expression. But just as the group was about to leave the banquet hall, a troop of soldiers blocked their way.
Edan raised one eyebrow, clearly displeased. The soldiers' captain, however, snorted through his nose.
"What is the meaning of this?"
The captain curled one lip. He had powerful backing behind him.
"I'm not stopping you from leaving. However, there was a direct order that no private citizen is to use magic in the capital today. If you keep to that, I'll let you pass."
"What are you talking about? This is the first I've heard of it!" the saintess shouted. Startled by her force, the captain flinched, then composed his face and spoke.
"The order was issued yesterday and only went into effect just now. If you have complaints, take them to the Office and ask there."
The captain grinned and went on, "Though if you ask about an order that's already gone into effect and expires after noon today, it's not as if it'll be lifted on the spot."
The saintess gritted her teeth. She did not know the details of bureaucratic procedure, but under normal circumstances even something expedited would take two or three days.
Lee Yu-seong lifted a fist and cracked his knuckles. The situation was becoming ominous. It was now practically a foregone conclusion that something had happened to Hilde.
"You miserable little bastards. Move before you get your asses kicked."
Edan, too, drew in mana in an instant. No matter how ugly the aftermath might be, ending this situation now was the priority. At once, the soldiers' faces drained white. If even one of them moved, they would be crossing the River Styx before they knew it.
"W-wait! This is a form of treason. Even if you are the Hero's party, if you violate the law, you might become fugitives with nowhere to set foot in the lands of humanity!"
"That's not your problem to worry about. Move now, and I'll sweep you all away."
Edan rapidly calculated a high-level spell: Lightning Bolt. If he released it, they would crumble without even a chance to feel pain. The grim atmosphere sent the nobles gathered in the banquet hall into a panic, and they cried out in alarm.
"There! What do you think you're doing?"
"Your Highness!"
The soldiers sighed in relief at the sight of the small master of this country—the prince with red hair and golden eyes. The Hero's party was too unruly for them to withstand on their own. The captain blurted out his complaint as though pleading for mercy.
"These people were about to commit treason by defying your august order. They must be restrained at once and punished severely!"
But the Hero's party did not so much as glance at the prince's face. The prince, too, sensed that their momentum was anything but ordinary. He hurriedly spoke.
"I don't know the reason, but for now let them do what they came to do. Punishment will be handed down afterward."
The prince was quick on the uptake. The holy knight lady he had met on the street yesterday had disappeared, and these companions of hers were acting without the slightest hesitation. If he stopped the Hero's party now, he might regret this day terribly.
Once the prince's permission had been given, the captain's face turned blue.
In truth, as Duke Carius's confidant, he had been assigned the task of holding the Hero's party back for a little while. He did not know the exact circumstances, but if he succeeded, he had been promised riches beyond anything he had ever touched in his life. He pleaded desperately.
"These are traitors trying to defy your punishment! Please reconsider, Your Highness!"
But his judgment had been foolish. A vein bulged on the prince's forehead.
"Have you forgotten who I am? How dare something like you prattle on about a matter I have already judged. Or is the Hero's party in front of you enough to make me invisible?"
The soldiers were dumbstruck by the prince's words. Blinded by greed, they had made a grave mistake.
"I don't know whose orders you're obeying to be acting so recklessly, but I will investigate this thoroughly and see you punished severely. Now then, Hero's party, go do what you came to do. Isn't this an urgent matter?"
The soldiers did not dare lift their heads and stepped aside. The Hero's party nodded gratefully and passed by the prince to make their way outside.
That was when it happened. In an empty garden some two hundred meters away, a loud explosion rang out, and a heap of earth surged skyward.
At the sound that shook the ground itself, most of them lost strength in their legs and collapsed.
"Let's go!"
They no longer needed magic to find where Hilde was. Edan drew up his mana and cast Teleport toward the site of the explosion.
With a brief flash, the group vanished from where they stood and arrived at their destination in an instant.
---
Duke Carius ban Ilate approached Hilde, who was sprawled unconscious on the floor.
"Haah. Haah."
At the sound of her heavy, ragged breathing, the duke rejoiced inwardly. If things had gone this way, everything would proceed smoothly. If she had stubbornly refused to drink the tea because she was so wary, it would have become troublesome indeed.
The duke removed Hilde's expensive earrings, necklace, and glass shoes one by one. Then he lifted Hilde, who was sitting in the chair, and carefully laid her out straight on the bed. He even reached out a hand to check once more that she was breathing properly.
"Good. Very good."
The duke fetched the item he had been checking in the room across from this one when Hilde first arrived. It was a mythic item he had never shown her. This was the object that would play the greatest role today. He also knew the item's name and how to use it.
"Soul's Cry. I had to go through a great deal to get my hands on this. Heh heh."
The mythic item, shaped like a round restraint collar, had the power to designate a master and a target, binding the other person's psyche to the master's service. The reason this item had made such a name for itself was an old tale of a human using it on a dragon and controlling it like a servant. But because its intended use was so vile, its use from human to human had been strictly forbidden.
But once it's used, no one can ever know.
The duke pressed the blue jewel set into the restraint collar. A faint vibration ran through it, and he placed Hilde's index finger atop the red jewel beside it.
Wooooong!
At the louder hum than before, a smile spread across the duke's mouth. Their souls resonated through the item, confirming master and slave. With trembling hands, he brought Soul's Cry to Hilde's slender neck.
"It's done! Heh heh heh. You're mine now. No one will be able to stop me! Hahahat!"
With a click, the restraint collar fastened around Hilde's neck. The moment Soul's Cry was secured, he finally felt how easily his plan had reached its end.
The duke's gaze drifted downward over Hilde. From the delicate feet nestled in their shoes to the slim ankles revealed beneath the flowing hem of her dress. Though hidden by the fabric, he swallowed hard at the sight of her solid hips and narrow waist.
After staring for a long while at the slender line of her waist and the fullness of her chest beyond it, the duke felt his mind grow hazy. Reaching the limit of his patience, he moved his hand toward the collar at Hilde's neck to strip her clothes away.
At that moment, the duke gasped in alarm and stumbled backward.
Hilde's eyes were wide open, staring with startling clarity. Her breathing, which had been slack before, had somehow become calm and steady. The force of her gaze, fixed squarely on him, made him feel as though it might pierce straight through him. But then he remembered her situation, bound by Soul's Cry, and burst into laughter.
"Kuhahaha! So you've come to your senses, have you? As expected of such a strong holy knight. But no matter how strong you are, you're already in my hands. Heh heh heh heh."
Looking at the beautiful Hilde, the duke's laughter only grew louder with delight. No matter how much she struggled, Hilde was now his.
Then Hilde, who had been watching silently, gave a snort of amusement.
"Good?"
The duke issued a command to Hilde in his mind. It was an order to seal the movement of her limbs. He smiled with a sinister expression and opened his mouth.
"As if I need to say it. From now on, I will show you exactly who your master is."
The duke came closer again, reaching for her clothes.
"So the emotion I'm feeling right now is positive. Not bad."
Hilde said softly. The duke decided she had lost her mind. He was about to teach her that no amount of denial would change the situation. Smirking, he slowly lifted the hem of her skirt.
But then, all at once, the duke sensed something was wrong.
What? Why can't I move my hand?
The anomaly continued. Hilde, who should have been immobilized, sat up, rolled her right shoulder as if stiff, and then turned her head. The duke twisted the only part of his body still able to move—his neck—to stare at Hilde. His pupils began to tremble violently.
"W-what…! The item was definitely working!"
Hilde approached the duke, who had frozen with his knees bent. She leaned in close and placed one hand on his cheek. Her expression was horrifically blank. For a moment, the duke had the distinct impression that she was not a living person at all.
"Poor little vermin."
At Hilde's voice, gooseflesh crawled down the duke's spine. It was the same voice she had used moments earlier while still sane, but the intonation and feeling behind it belonged to an entirely different existence.
"How pitiful that the one who loved vermin like you had to suffer because of them."
The duke shook so hard his motionless body rattled. Tears streamed from his eyes. A yellow stain spread from the groin where he had lost control. And yet he did not even feel shame.
"P-p-please… s-save me…."
Overwhelming terror.
People often say the eyes are the windows through which the heart reveals itself.
But the emotion nestling in her pupils was utterly inhuman, not something a person could possess.
Instinctive realization.
Prey before a predator.
The duke's mind went blank under the primitive fear he felt for the first time in his life.
Watching the duke, who seemed to be turning into a fool with only the whites of his eyes showing, Hilde lowered the hand she had placed on his cheek. Her interest in the man before her was already fading.
In truth, from the moment she opened her eyes, she had felt no interest at all.
"Still, the last emotion you felt was positive. For a vermin's end, that was a happy life."
Hilde closed her eyes for a moment. Then a black current that transcended all existence, impossible even to measure, burst out from within her embrace.
The power that had been rippling everywhere gradually stabilized, and a black halo formed fifteen centimeters above her head. Along the oval line of the circular halo, jagged black-red thorns jutted outward irregularly.
As the ominous halo transformed into a true radiance, all the clutter around them began to crumble into dust.
"Still far too lacking."
Hilde clicked her tongue and created a huge, rough greatsword in the air. It was the strongest demonic sword she had bestowed upon Lucael in the ancient mythic age.
"It's time to bring that day of stillness to an end."
She lightly swung the demonic sword toward the ceiling. But the result was anything but light.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-KWA-BOOM!
The earth more than a hundred meters thick erupted and surged upward, annihilated in the sweep of the blade. From within the collapsing underground, Hilde conjured black wings and soared upward.
"......"
It had been twenty thousand years since the door to the continent was sealed. The air of the continent, which she was breathing again after so long, fanned the coldness in her heart into flames of rage.
She had left this world because of vermin-like humans. And after an eternity had passed and she returned again, she had been betrayed once more by the humans onto whom she had poured more love than even the heavenly race.
Floating in the air, she looked down at the swaying earth and the crowd below.
After a little while, sensing magical power, she turned her eyes in that direction.
"You... Hilde. Right...?"
The swordsman, the magician, and the saintess appeared in a brief flash.