Royal Capital Gallia (18)
Jina fled. The hero’s party needed to decide their next move—whether to chase her down and interrogate her about the mastermind, or to check on the prince’s safety. The time they had to make that call was desperately short. Hurried footsteps were already echoing toward them. After the commotion they had caused, it was only natural that the royal household had sensed something was wrong. They were quick about it, though. If they had noticed sooner, this situation might never have spiraled this far. Or perhaps their opponent had simply been too exceptional.
This is a headache. Ashtain frowned. He had never expected things to go smoothly, but he also hadn’t anticipated the situation becoming this tangled.
“What do you want to do?” Azazel asked, raising her staff toward the direction Jina had fled. It was her way of saying she would follow his judgment without question.
The hero considered it. Even if they chased her, what then? She was an existence that had stood evenly against five opponents. That was the power she had displayed moments ago; it might not even be her true strength. He didn’t think they would lose, but they hadn’t come to the royal palace looking for a fight to the death, had they?
Ashtain recalled their original purpose. The reason they had trudged through that disgusting underground waterway to reach the palace. It was to bring the real Leon and the doppelganger Leon together. It was also to verify whether the truth they sought truly lay within the royal palace.
They could not lose sight of the core objective. Chasing Jina now would be a mistake.
“Let’s check on Leon. There probably won’t be any follow-up attacks, but we should be sure.”
“Understood.”
Azazel lowered her staff. She had plenty of complaints, but if Ashtain had decided this, she would follow him as a comrade. She fired a streak of blue light in the direction the nun had escaped—a tracking spell. It probably wouldn’t catch her. It was simply an outlet for her frustration at letting the irritating enemy slip away.
Is Sister Aria all right?
Azazel’s crimson eyes turned to Aria with worry. The saintess was already casting holy spells on the collapsed Leon. Her movements were fervent, almost desperate, as if she were trying to erase the strange nun’s words from her mind. Whatever she had heard, it had shaken her badly.
Whether aware of Azazel’s concern or not, Aria spoke in a calm, steady voice.
“His Highness has lost a great deal of blood, so his body temperature is dropping. Do we have any blankets or something to warm him?”
As the saintess said, the prince had bled profusely.
“If this will suffice…”
Edelis removed her coat without hesitation and laid it over Leon. Aria finished healing the wounds and then cast another holy spell to stimulate blood circulation. The goal was obviously to raise his temperature. She poured her heart into treating the prince.
The doppelganger Leon watched his original body with a frustrated expression.
“I wonder what the original body’s ‘business’ was. How did it end up connected to the demons?”
No one answered the doppelganger’s mutter. It was a question none of them could answer clearly.
The sound of footsteps drew closer. Ashtain spoke quickly.
“This is a bad situation. Any ideas, Leon?”
“Give me a moment.”
“I can’t give you much.”
If they stayed like this, they would be framed for assassinating the prince. The scene was damning: every royal attendant dead, the prince unconscious, and the attacker—a fallen nun—having fled. If the royal guards saw this, they would be bound in chains. Being captured would waste precious time, and they might even discover the doppelganger’s true nature.
They needed a clear solution. Time was slipping away.
Flee? Not ideal. Once the royal family understood the situation, they would realize two “Leons” had existed at roughly the same time. From there, the conclusion of a doppelganger would be inevitable. And once that conclusion was reached, a warrant would be issued for Ashtain’s party, who had been acting alongside the replica. If that happened, any chance of meeting the real Leon peacefully would vanish.
Explaining themselves? That wasn’t a good option either. Who would they explain to? And who would believe them? A doppelganger was inherently a negative existence. Could they trust the words of a fake? The royal family was not known for flexibility. They were not the sort to ignore clear facts staring them in the face in favor of bizarre theories.
It was a moment of desperation.
Then Aria delivered welcome news.
“It’s done!”
The doppelganger Leon asked, “Miss Aria, what exactly is done?”
“He has regained consciousness.”
It meant the original body’s mind had returned. So quickly? He had expected it to take longer to wake. As expected of the saintess?
Five pairs of eyes turned toward the fallen prince. Leon slowly lifted his eyelids, his face exhausted, and spoke in a dry voice.
“……This isn’t a dream, is it?”
His tone was parched, yet his will remained sharp. The real Leon’s hand reached toward Edelis, who stood beside Aria wearing a helpless expression.
“It’s good to see Sir Edelis, even if only in a dream.”
Edelis’s face crumpled at those words. Guilt, pity, and sympathy mixed in equal measure across her features.
“……It is not a dream, Your Highness.”
“Then is this the fleeting vision before death?”
Edelis took the hand that had been stroking her cheek and held it tightly.
“I am standing before you, Your Highness.”
“What a splendid lie. Didn’t you leave, Sir?”
He still couldn’t accept reality. Seeing Leon so worn down, Edelis bit her lip. Unable to watch any longer, Ashtain cut in with a sneer.
“That’s enough of the pathetic display.”
“It has been a long time since that day, Sir Ashtain. Don’t tell me you grew tired of even submitting approval requests and came personally? No matter how untrustworthy I may be, this should still be a matter of credibility……”
Ashtain, wearing an expression that clearly said What nonsense are you spouting?, jerked his chin toward the other Leon. The prince’s gaze shifted. Ashtain spoke in a cynical tone.
“As you can see, that’s not why we came.”
At those words the doppelganger Leon smiled bitterly while the real Leon frowned. Their expressions were opposites, yet the complicated emotions they felt were largely the same.
In any case, they had found their way out.
The dark scenery whipped past Jina in a blur. She leaped lightly across the high buildings of Gallia, widening the distance from the palace. Each step carried her dozens of meters.
Bang! Bang!
The sonic booms of exploding air reverberated through the skies of Gallia. Anyone unaware might have thought someone was setting off fireworks.
Cutting through the air. Cutting through the night sky. Jina advanced at blinding speed.
At this distance, they shouldn’t be able to find me.
She had finally shaken off the tracking magic cast by that red-haired magician. The persistent spell simply couldn’t keep up with her acceleration.
Still… what now?
She had failed to kill the second prince. It was sloppy work, unworthy of the Violet Night who once made the entire underworld tremble. The taste of failure was bitter. Yet it wasn’t entirely her fault. Daipol had given her no warning that the hero and saintess would intervene.
What could she do about variables appearing from unexpected places?
It’s not as if I’m the Demon King.
If even one of them—the hero or the saintess—had been absent, the assassination would have succeeded. Who could have predicted both would appear together?
There was nothing to gain by continuing the fight there, so she had withdrawn. She had also felt a disturbingly persistent gaze on her back.
Is that the dangerous entity Daipol mentioned?
One thing was certain: it was not human. Even when she moved from shadow to shadow to shake it off, it followed her with practiced ease, as though it had predicted exactly how she would act.
How should she describe this sensation? Kin? The word seemed fitting.
While Jina moved and pondered, a shadow suddenly surged upward ahead of her. Her own shadow spread out like a spider’s web. It happened in an instant.
She tried to regain control, but the shadow had already broken free once. There was no chance it would obey her now.
Tsk. She had no idea how many times she had clicked her tongue today.
Jina braked her momentum and kicked the spiderweb-like shadow with all her strength. The acceleration she had built up exploded from her foot, clearing the obstacle before her eyes.
Boom!
The sound of a drum bursting echoed outward. Her voluminous nun habit fluttered wildly.
Thud.
Someone had landed on the rooftop. The one who had been following her, no doubt. Jina straightened her disheveled habit and formed a spear from the shadows. She gripped it firmly and drove it threateningly into the roof.
Crunch!
“What are you doing?”
Jina’s arrogant killing intent poured toward her opponent. It was not mere pressure or a warning—it was pure, unfiltered bloodlust with the sole desire to tear them apart. Even against such wild hostility, the other party asked without flinching.
“Is human society as satisfying as you imagined?”
The question was polite, yet Jina was not foolish enough to miss the mockery hidden beneath. She turned her head. A boy with black hair wearing a neat tailcoat stood there.
Jina’s face twisted horribly. The voice had sounded familiar.
“What if it is satisfying?”
“Who knows?”
A brief silence fell. Then Jina asked directly.
“Karel. Were you the one behind this?”
The black-haired boy brushed his collar.
“I am currently going by the name ‘Jina.’ All thanks to a certain someone who grew lazy and abandoned her duties.”
“So you want to vent your frustration on me?”
“Frustration, hm. That could be enjoyable. Against your current self, I believe I could win easily.”
Jina gripped the shadow spear tightly and replied in a biting tone.
“You’re still as reckless as ever.”
“Have you not already lost your power?”
Karel rubbed his thumb and index finger together. A viscous, oil-like liquid dripped down. The moment the black fluid touched the rooftop, ripples spread and something began to form. A hideous monster. A demonic beast rose up.
Jina stared at the boy with a calm gaze.
“Do you really think I cannot handle the likes of you?”
“Such bravado is ugly, sister.”
“Shall we find out whether it’s bravado or not?”
“Please do not look at me with such a painful expression. I came to make a simple proposal.”
Jina let out a hollow laugh. Who summons shadow monsters while making a proposal?
“It’s a threat, then.”
The oil dripping from the boy’s hand continued to summon more shadow beasts. Before long, the creatures he had created filled the entire rooftop.
“I would be disappointed if you see it that way.”
“What is with that number of summons? Are you planning to turn this place into a battlefield?”
“Not a bad idea. Since the original plan has gone awry, switching to a backup is worth considering.”
“Plan? So it was you who placed the curse on the second prince?”
“You catch on quickly.”
“The curse on the prince looked familiar.”
That was right. The hero’s party did not know, but the real Leon had already been cursed.
“A curse that splits the self. And on top of that, you intended to layer additional curses, didn’t you?”
“Precisely.”
Karel clapped as though impressed. The artificial gesture only soured Jina’s mood further.
“For what purpose?”
“Doesn’t it disgust you? That insects are building nests and living inside them.”
He was referring to humans. Karel licked his lips and continued.
“It is about time we trampled them underfoot.”
“The Demon King would never permit that.”
Wasn’t that the promise? At Jina’s question, Karel merely shrugged, as if he had no obligation to explain further.
“It has been so long since I last saw my sister, and yet I find myself talking too much. Still, while I am like this, you, sister, were never one to favor words over the use of the body, were you?”
Well, Karel wasn’t wrong. Jina had only been cautious because she lacked strength.
“That’s true. But I doubt you’ll simply let me leave.”
“That depends on whether you choose to cooperate, sister.”
“Stop circling around and just tell me this proposal of yours.”
Karel narrowed his eyes.
“Come back.”
At last, the main point. Return to the Demon King’s side. In a way, it was only natural. Jina, feeling stifled, removed her nun’s hood and asked.
“And if I refuse?”
“Stagnant time will begin to flow once more.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Sister, are you truly serious?”
If this had been her old self, dulled by inertia, she might have found it interesting. But the only thing that held Jina’s interest now was Ronin. She felt nothing.
“I no longer care about such things.”
At her firm answer, Karel replied with an expressionless face.
“How can a demon live only listening to what interests them? Though if one is as impatient and self-indulgent as you, sister, I suppose it is possible……”
Jina ground her teeth.
“I said no. I will not listen to you.”
“I see. How unfortunate.”
“Your face doesn’t look particularly unfortunate.”
“It is truly a shame that my one and only blood relative in this world would disappear.”
“You crazy bastard—can you even kill me?”
The two confronted each other. A fight between siblings was always desperate and fierce.