Bordin
The Imperial Palace of the Empire.
Deep within it lay the Inner Palace, reserved solely for the Emperor himself. There, among its many chambers, was a room that existed for the so-called purpose of receiving guests.
Of course, the room was never actually used.
Who in the world could possibly be a guest worthy of an audience with the Emperor? It was a chamber built purely for the sake of formality.
And yet, at this very moment, a secret meeting between two people was taking place inside it.
"Would you care for some tea?"
"No need."
The person to whom the Emperor of the Empire himself was offering tea was none other than Athena Caladbolg.
She regarded Baruus with a look of clear irritation.
"So. What's the real reason you dragged me here with all this theatrics? Are you actually planning to lock me up?"
The words were far too rude to direct at an emperor.
But Baruus answered with perfect calm, utterly unbothered.
"Hardly. I'm already busy enough dealing with the monsters crawling everywhere these days. I have no reason whatsoever to make an enemy of you."
He spoke as he took a seat with the tea still in his hand and let out a sigh.
"Whether you created an illegal slave or killed someone—know that I haven't the slightest intention of punishing you for it."
"Hmph… That doesn't sound like something an emperor would say."
"Everything is for the sake of the Empire's safety."
When Athena let out a short, scoffing laugh, Baruus answered with a faint smile of his own and brought the tea to his lips.
"So what's the real reason?"
"Whatever crime you may have committed, covering it up would have been a simple matter. No real trouble at all."
Baruus set the teacup down on the table and continued.
"The problem is that someone has spread word of what you did to every corner of the Empire."
"Word?"
"It has already reached the ears of both the common people and the nobility. This is no longer something that can be resolved by simply sweeping it under the rug. Handle it poorly, and the impartiality of the law itself could collapse."
"You're making this much of a fuss over a mere rumor?"
"It's difficult to dismiss as a mere rumor when the informant and the evidence are both far too clear."
"Evidence?"
Athena's face twisted. Baruus looked at her with a questioning expression.
"The informant's name is Bordin, I hear. He's been handling your affairs under you for five years."
"…What?"
"I don't know the details, but it seems he's betrayed you. Do you have any idea why?"
"……"
"In any case. Stay in the Imperial Palace for five days. I'll somehow establish your innocence within that time."
But no answer came.
When Baruus lifted his head, he found Athena wearing a grave expression, as though she were wrestling with some deep concern.
Silence settled over the room. Not long after—
"I have to go back."
"Hm?"
Athena announced her departure.
Baruus's brow furrowed slightly at the unexpected reply.
"Athena. It would be better if you remained here until the rumors settle, wouldn't it?"
"No. I'm leaving. Right now."
"If you leave like this, people will think you fled to avoid investigation."
"Let them think that."
"For the sake of my dignity, at least—"
But before Baruus could finish, Athena shoved back her chair and rose to her feet. Golden mana began to slowly envelop her.
Baruus tried to persuade her further, yet the moment he saw her face, the words died in his throat.
Her expression looked far too anxious.
"Are you… all right?"
Baruus could only stare in surprise at an emotion he had never once seen from her before.
What possible reason could there be for a woman who had always lived with boredom seated at her side to look this restless?
Realizing that something was seriously wrong, Baruus let out a deep sigh.
"…Once you've finished whatever business this is, return to the Imperial Palace. Until then, I'll find some way to make excuses."
"…Understood."
Athena snapped her fingers. Golden mana flared brilliantly around her.
The precursor to spatial transfer.
And yet—even though the magic had been activated—
The room merely flickered with light once. Athena remained standing exactly where she was.
"……Damn it."
Athena's face twisted savagely.
Without a moment's hesitation, she smashed through the wall and sprinted out.
Boom—Kra-boom—
With every step she took, a violent explosion of sound erupted and a fierce wind tore past her body.
She detonated mana through her feet and launched herself forward. Before her feet even touched the ground again, she detonated more mana and kept running.
It was a method that placed enormous strain on her legs, but she paid it no mind whatsoever.
"Hera…!"
Spatial transfer to the mansion would not activate.
That could mean only one thing.
The coordinate transfer stone she had installed in the mansion had been shut down by someone.
And that someone was almost certainly Bordin.
She felt no curiosity about why he had suddenly betrayed her.
She cared nothing about whatever scheme he was plotting.
The only thought circling endlessly through her mind was one.
Hera's safety alone.
Grit—
She was frantic.
The fear that something might have happened to Hera made her heart pound violently without rest.
It's fine.
She forced herself to calm down.
Even though she herself was far away, that dragon was at Hera's side right now.
The little one she had brought into the mansion purely as a means of protecting Hera. If not for that purpose, she would never have allowed the creature anywhere near her.
So nothing would happen.
It had to be that way.
"Uh…?"
The bleeding had stopped, but I still couldn't raise my body.
No matter how hard I tried to move, all I managed were faint twitches.
"W-why won't my body…"
The sudden paralysis left me thoroughly confused.
I had barely begun trying to make sense of the situation when—
"It is poison refined from a basilisk's heart. A deadly toxin that suppresses the mana within the body and melts one from the inside."
A man's voice suddenly spoke from behind me.
I poured every ounce of strength into my neck and managed to turn my head.
"B-Butler…?"
The estate's butler, dressed in a neat suit and wearing a monocle.
Bordin was looking down at me with a startled expression.
"Strange. By now your heart should have melted and you should be dead."
He spoke those brutal words as casually as if discussing the weather.
"W-what are you… talking about…"
"Is it the power of your unique ability? Fascinating."
He stepped closer and drew a dagger from his coat with a look of regret.
"My apologies, young lady. I had hoped to spare you as much pain as possible, but your body is far too resilient for that."
"Why… would you do this…"
I was lost.
Everything had happened so suddenly that my thoughts refused to line up properly.
Even so, I wasn't so stupid that I failed to grasp what was going on.
I had collapsed after eating. And Bordin had appeared immediately afterward.
For reasons I didn't know, Bordin was trying to kill me.
He had almost certainly done something to the food.
"Are you curious?"
His eyes—calm, yet burning with fierce intensity—looked down at me.
"I suppose so. Nothing is more unjust than dying without even knowing why."
Bordin slipped a hand into his pocket and drew out an ornament that resembled an amulet. He opened it.
A single photograph emerged.
He held it out in front of me, and I saw a woman who looked as though she belonged beneath an evening sunset.
"My wife. She died eight years ago in a demon attack."
As he spoke, Bordin's face was steeped in sorrow.
"…And so?"
"The village we lived in was a remote place, rather far from the Empire. Until the demons attacked, it was a rather pleasant place to live."
He returned the photograph to the amulet and continued without pause.
"When the demons struck, while the village soldiers held on with everything they had, I went to request aid from the Empire."
He let out a hollow, bitter laugh.
"They refused. Simply because we were not citizens of the Empire."
"…"
"But it seemed the gods had not entirely abandoned us. By chance I encountered someone. A person of such extraordinary skill that stopping a demon attack would have been well within their power."
"……Athena."
"Correct. My current master. The one hailed as the hero of the Empire. Lady Athena."
As if the memory had resurfaced, a deeper layer of rage entered Bordin's eyes.
"I ran to her and fell to my knees. I begged her to please save our village. Do you know what my master said to me?"
"…What did she say?"
"She told me to stop bothering her and get lost. Heh heh…"
"……"
"After that, the story is the obvious one. My wife and every other person in the village died. And I have lived until this day with nothing but revenge in my heart."
When he finished speaking, Bordin wore a hollow smile.
It was certainly a tragic story.
Was he doing all of this out of a desire for revenge against Athena?
Was that why he was trying to use me, someone close to her?
But whatever the case—
There was something far more important right now.
…The poison's energy is fading.
While he spun out his long tale, I had been secretly moving my fingers the entire time.
Unlike before, my fingers were now twitching quite naturally.
For reasons I couldn't explain, the paralysis was gradually leaving my body.
"…But why are you trying to kill me?"
I asked Bordin the question in reverse, hoping to buy even a little more time.
He regarded me in silence for a moment, then answered.
"For the first three years, I tried to kill my master. As unimpressive as I may look, I once ran a guild in my village. I had that much ability, at least."
I pushed strength into my feet and felt the faint sensation of my toes wriggling.
"In the end I never even managed an attempt. The moment I saw that golden mana, I understood. No matter what I did, I could never kill that monster."
With every passing second, control of my body was returning.
"So I changed my plan. If I could not kill her, then I would take away what she held dear. That is you, Lady Hera."
Just a little more.
"In order to place something precious into the hands of that heartless monster, I spent years—"
But Bordin stopped mid-sentence.
As if he had sensed something amiss, he furrowed one brow and stared at me.
"…Come to think of it, this is strange. No matter how resilient the body, you should have been vomiting blood by the mouthful by now."
He considered deeply for a moment, then took the dagger in hand once more.
"I dislike disruptions to my plans. Regrettably, this is as far as the conversation goes."
Without hesitation he raised the dagger high.
"Even if you lived, all that would await you is a life as that monster's beloved doll, would it not?"
Without the slightest pause, he drove the dagger straight down toward my throat.
"Ugh…!"
The paralysis had not fully lifted, but I could move my body to some degree.
I immediately forced strength through my limbs and thrust my hand into the path of the descending blade.
My hand would be pierced, but that was better than having my throat cut.
And then—
Shhk—
Blood sprayed through the air.
Yet despite the scattering blood, I felt no pain at all.
When I properly opened my eyes and took in the scene—
The blood was not flowing from my arm. It was flowing from Bordin's.
His arm had been severed cleanly and was gushing blood.
"Guh!!"
"Huh…?"
Like a fountain, blood began to spout from his arm.
As I stared blankly at the sight, I spotted a figure through the spraying blood.
Someone who looked far too natural in a maid's uniform—someone who had once been my friend.
"Al…ina…?"
It was Alina, a small blade gripped in her hand.