A Morning Soap Opera (1)

"Han, did you see it yesterday? I Drew a Mole by My Eye and Nobody Recognized Me, So I Got Revenge on Everyone Who Tormented Me, Made It Big, and Got Married—Only for My Fiancé to Turn Out to Be My Own Brother?"

"Would you give the television a rest."

"No? What else is there to do in a hospital? And anyway—how do you bury a secret of birth that deep? How is that even possible?"

My one and only friend had muttered it, face slack with disbelief. Only now could I give him anything like an answer.

…Yeah. I'd like to know that myself. I was curious too.

"S-Sister?"

"It's been a while, Reina. You still look dreadfully stupid."

How had a birth secret like this stayed hidden—not only in the original, but even in the setting compendium?

Lactea was Reina's sister.

Looking again, I saw it plainly: on the status window, the surname Babylonia followed Lactea's name in unmistakable letters. The moment I realized she stood at the head of the hidden faction, I had moved too fast to check.

The elder sister, vice-captain of a shadow organization. The younger, emperor of the empire.

Was this the legendary disaster of a household I'd only ever heard about?

I stood frozen, hardly able to breathe, as the sudden gutter drama crashed down around me—and the emperor, utterly at a loss, started toward Lactea.

"Where have you been all this time…!! No—how are you alive…? That battlefield—you were there, I know you were!!"

"Shh. Reina. It's still dawn, isn't it?"

"But—!!"

The venom drained from the emperor's golden eyes.

"You're my sister…!"

Until a moment ago she had been a whetted blade. Only now did she seem, at last, like an ordinary person. She was shaken that badly; the sisterhood was probably real. Then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if I simply ran, she wouldn't come after me right away—would she?

School ties, hometown ties, blood ties, and the tie of a shared cigarette. Let any one of the four get its hooks in you, and favor came cheap.

Kill them all, fast, and run.

She had only just found the sister she thought lost. Surely she wouldn't seize her on the spot and try to put her to death?

The subquest's difficulty seemed to plunge all at once, and a smile tugged at my mouth before I could stop it—until the emperor, having barely reached Lactea, stretched a hand toward the mask and murmured.

"…I still have to confirm it."

"Confirm?"

"It was a battlefield where all four demon legion commanders had taken the field. A place where even that Hero's Party was nearly wiped out. And you're telling me only you came back alive? That doesn't make sense."

A soft scoff. Past the mask, I thought I glimpsed Lactea's vicious smile.

"Reina. Just because you are incompetent and foolish does not mean the rest of us are."

"…Fine. I am incompetent and foolish, which is why I only believe what I see. I'm taking that mask off and confirming with my own eyes whether you really are my sister."

That stubborn hand moved, smooth and sure, to strip away the mask engraved with the Black Wolf crest.

Steel rang.

Lactea slipped the hand, shifted the sword from her back down to her hip, and warned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her.

"Remove your hand. The only person permitted to touch my body is the Captain."

No.

"The Captain? Don't tell me—Black Wolf?"

"Do not take that name in your mouth so freely."

"What? Have you actually lost your mind!? What did that man do to you!!"

Oh, come on.

I didn't know what she was imagining, but Black Wolf didn't do that sort of thing.

"Get a hold of yourself. I'll take responsibility and protect you—you, if no one else. Come back to this side."

"Protect me? You, who already killed me once?"

"That was…!!"

"When you cast me aside and chose power, only the Captain embraced me."

"Embraced? …Don't tell me that piece of filth—!!"

No.

I stood there unable to offer a single word of explanation, busy playing the ultimate villain, and from behind Lactea's mask a red light began to seep.

"…Filth?"

The playfulness was gone. A voice with nothing left in it but killing intent.

I knew it by instinct.

I have to stop her.

The White Sword Ghost.

One of the monsters who would someday make the entire continent tremble beneath the name of Black Wolf. Among those monsters, a woman so cruel that even the Hero's Party had been loath to face her.

And—

the only one among the members of Black Wolf.

The only woman who could release the Restriction upon her soul without the permission of the captain. Without mine.

A whisper of sound.

Brilliant platinum killing-aura spread without end, centered on the ground beneath her feet.

A slam. A long, rising wail.

Quiet—quiet!! Please, be quiet!!

Subjects who had been peering out from inside their homes slammed their windows shut and hid themselves away.

"Ah… ah…! That's…!"

"Out of the way. I'll go first…!"

"If I could touch it even once…!!"

Drawn by that radiant platinum ghost-aura, the knights reached toward the height they had always dreamed of.

The realm of Unity of Body and Sword, in which one is the sword and the sword is oneself.

And so the knights who gazed upon her dreamed. They dreamed that if they touched that brilliant sword-aura, they too might rise to the same height.

But they did not know.

That they had already been taken by the Wail of Ghosts.

To those it had enthralled, the razor-edged sword-aura was nothing but a height they longed to touch. To everyone else, it laid bare the true face of a horrific monster—one that beguiled people and drove them to their deaths.

A world in which only the caster, Lactea, and I, captain of Black Wolf, and the emperor still had our eyes properly open.

"W-wait, Sister!!"

The emperor, having foreseen what was coming, hastily drew her sword to bar the way—

"Shh. I told you. It's still dawn."

Lactea gifted her nothing but a chilling smile, then drew her sword as if it were the most natural thing in the world and swung.

A soft rush.

Pure-white sword-aura leaked from the blade and streamed swiftly toward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the throats of the emperor and the knights.

It found the knights' throats first.

"Ah. I've touched it at last."

"Now I, too…"

"I can become as strong as I dreamed…!"

A jolt.

Within the eyes of the knights, sinking into rapture, the world that had been so ordinary turned over.

The heads that fell without a sound resembled wings melting as they drew too near the sun.

"Ah…?"

Only then did the knights, waking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the dream, despair at the reality before them once more—

and drop, with a soft thud, unable even to scream. From the ground they stared up at their own bodies, still standing.

Thirteen gazes, watching.

Before long, every one of them was dead.

Thirteen heads, severed in a single instant. A horrific sight. And still I was calm.

No innocents among them. A relief, then?

No.

I wasn't merely calm. I was cold.

The subquest was over. There was no longer any reason to remain. I had to get out of here at once, return to the hideout, and work out how to stop the fifteen incidents still to come.

So first—run.

If I was caught like this, or if I ended up killing the emperor, the main quest would fail.

I settled it after a brief hesitation, and was at last opening my mouth to call Lactea—

"There are no exceptions."

With that bone-chilling voice, the sword-aura swung for the emperor's throat. For Reina's.

"Stop, Lactea!!"

I shouted with no time to think. Perhaps because I had forced every ounce of myself into it—

"Captain!? Ah…!!"

—that dreadful, razor-edged stroke had already slipped free of Lactea's control.

A condition sprung into being without warning, as if a hand had shoved me between the shoulders and told me to do something. Anything.

I understood at once. I still couldn't say exactly what the System was—but what it wanted was the emperor and the hero, alive.

Damn it.

So what else was there?

Until I had the advantage well and truly in hand, if the System said jump, I jumped.

I brushed the Ring of Iaso and threw myself at the emperor without a moment's hesitation.

"What are you doing now…!!"

Startled by my closing in, the emperor mastered her fear and tried to shove me off. There was only a faint sway. I wasn't pushed back. And in the instant I flung both arms wide and pulled her against me—

a wet, shearing sound.

From inside my body came that dreadful noise, and after it, agony beyond belief.