Lord Council (3)
"..."
What?
What had I just heard?
For a moment I wondered if I'd misunderstood her, and I replayed the words in my head. No matter how I turned them over, the meaning was exactly what she'd said. That woman — Grand Lord Rashatein — had just asked me if I had any interest in becoming a Lord of Calderic.
...Is she serious?
No. There was no way. It had to be a joke. My nerves were drawn so taut I'd taken even a joke with deadly seriousness...
"Ah, don't get the wrong idea. This isn't empty talk. I'm genuinely asking if you want the job."
"..."
"The Seventh Lord's seat has been vacant for years, you see. I can't leave it empty forever, but nobody's really measured up. And then Sir Ron happened to walk in. I'd like you to take the Seventh Seat."
...What kind of lunatic thing was this woman saying? Take the Seventh Lord's seat? Who? Me?
The way she was talking, it was clearly no joke. I buried the sheer absurdity and bewilderment and barely managed to keep my face under control.
But why is the Seventh Seat empty in the first place?
What had happened to Lifrigon the Slaughter Ghost — the Seventh Lord I knew? The Fist Saint had been a different person too. So there really was a discrepancy between the timeline of RASA as I'd played it and this world?
The other Lords are all the same, so this can't be the future. Which means this is the past... Ah.
Factoring in the existence of the Second Lord, the Thunder Empress, it was probably only a few years back. Not that this was the time to be working any of that out...
"Grand Lord... are you serious?"
The brief silence that followed was broken first by the Thunder Empress.
"So that's why you dragged an outsider in out of nowhere. Planning to settle it right here, with everyone present?"
The Tyrant Lord let out a hollow laugh and sank back into his chair. The other Lords didn't speak, but they wore the same look of incredulity — all except Heavenly Bow, who'd been staring blankly into space this whole time.
And they had every right to. The Nine Lords were beings of absolute power that none but Grand Lord Rashatein herself could approach — the very symbols of Calderic. And she was trying to fill one of those exalted seats as casually as picking a lunch menu. If even I found this ridiculous, I could only imagine how the other Lords felt.
The Grand Lord alone smiled, perfectly unbothered.
"I know it's a bit sudden, but you all know the rule. The only qualification for a Lord's seat is ability. Nothing else."
The Thunder Empress objected at once.
"I find this difficult to accept. By what, exactly, has that man proven his ability?"
"He's proven it well enough. He killed Seintea's Fist Saint in a single blow, after all."
"...!"
"Isn't that right, Chief of Staff?"
"That is correct."
Daypon confirmed the Grand Lord's question. Naturally, it seemed she'd already been fully briefed on everything that had happened aboard the transport ship.
"Hah. He killed the Fist Saint?"
The Lords looked genuinely startled. Of course, every Lord of Calderic was a powerhouse of a higher caliber than the Fist Saint. On paper it was only a difference of a few levels — but at the high end, especially in the eighties and nineties, every single level represented a vast gulf. What had shocked them wasn't that he'd killed the Fist Saint. It was that he'd done it in a single blow.
"And on top of that, he saw through my identity at a glance. Has any other Lord ever managed that?"
At that, every Lord fell silent. So the others had all been subjected to similar pranks from the Grand Lord at one point or another.
Meanwhile, Heavenly Bow — who'd been quiet this whole time — suddenly raised a hand.
"Right, except the Third Lord."
Heavenly Bow lowered his hand and went back to staring blankly into the air. The other Lords didn't even bother reacting. The atmosphere suggested this kind of eccentricity was nothing new.
Shintoe looked between me and Daypon and spoke.
"That said, Grand Lord, I would hear a fuller account of the mission that took the Chief of Staff to Seintea this time."
"That was going to be one of the agenda items anyway, so let's set it aside for now."
The Grand Lord swept her gaze around the round table.
"Anyway, I don't see any problem with Sir Ron taking a Lord's seat. Well? Any other objections?"
That was when the Thunder Empress spoke up again.
"In that case, may I verify it myself?"
Verify? The meaning became immediately clear from what she said next.
"This human called Ron's capabilities — here and now, by my own hand. A light duel, at the very least. Surely the Grand Lord would permit that much."
...A chill ran through my chest. My heart lurched, and I forced my composure to catch it and hold it in place.
So it came to this after all.
The crisis I'd been dreading from the moment I walked into this chamber — from the moment I'd been seated among these monsters called Lords — had finally arrived.
"Are you serious, Second Lord? Planning to blow the Grand Lord Castle to rubble?"
The Tyrant Lord propped his chin on the armrest of his chair and grinned.
"With the Grand Lord present, I hardly think there'd be a problem. Heehee. This is getting interesting."
The Black Sea Empress chimed in, her antennae swaying. The other Lords all turned toward us with looks of keen interest.
"Hmm. Well..."
The Grand Lord stared straight at me. That faintly smiling expression of hers... I had the distinct feeling she'd anticipated this turn of events from the very beginning.
"What do you think, Sir Ron?"
...There was nothing to think about. The Second Lord, the Thunder Empress — Elisus. Fight that monster? The one who could summon a lightning storm across an entire region if she went all out? An ant versus an elephant would have been a far more reasonable matchup. A single gesture from her and my entire body would scatter as black ash. Because aside from Instant Kill, I had absolutely no abilities whatsoever.
I need a way out...
Everyone's attention converged on my answer. If I refused the fight without a proper justification, I had no idea what kind of reaction I'd get. But it certainly wouldn't go in a direction that favored me.
A reasonably convincing bluff flashed through my mind. I had no idea if it would land, but if I stayed silent any longer the atmosphere would turn strange. I glanced at the Thunder Empress and opened my mouth.
"If you don't mind me killing my opponent."
And then I added:
"I've never been much good at holding back."
"..."
Those two sentences dropped a deathly silence over the council chamber. Then a terrifying pressure erupted, flooding the space.
"How dare you... that insolent mouth of yours..."
A deep, rolling rumble filled the air. Sparks crawled across the Thunder Empress's entire body as she locked eyes on me, murder rolling in her gaze. Depending on how you took it, my remark had been a dismissal — that I could kill the likes of her whenever I pleased.
...So this is killing intent?
A crawling, electric chill ran through every inch of me. I took the Thunder Empress's murderous aura head-on, keeping my face expressionless. I felt the pressure in full, but thanks to Emperor's Soul, there wasn't the slightest mental or emotional disturbance.
There was a reason I'd gone and made the atmosphere even more bloodthirsty instead of dodging the fight. What I was angling for was the Grand Lord's intervention. I'd said I'd accept the duel if killing my opponent was on the table, and the Thunder Empress had flown into a complete rage at the provocation — a far more violent reaction than I'd expected, admittedly. If I made it so that neither side would walk away from a "light" duel, the Grand Lord would never allow the fight... right?
Somebody stop her. Fast.
The atmosphere was so vicious that lightning seemed ready to crash down on my seat at any second. A flicker of regret that I'd been too reckless had just begun to surface when the Grand Lord spoke.
"Enough."
A voice a shade more severe than before. The Thunder Empress obediently reined in her power, though she was still glaring at me.
"Well, that settles it. This wouldn't be a light duel at all, would it?"
The Grand Lord's voice skipped back to its usual innocent lilt as she smiled, easing the tension. I let out a deep sigh of relief inwardly. Thank god it had gone the way I'd hoped. The other Lords, who had no idea what was going through my head, looked disappointed to have missed a good show.
"Well, whatever. I don't really care either way."
Gwangrang grinned as she spoke.
"Doesn't seem like a vulgar bastard like that vampire, at least. Appointing a Lord is the Grand Lord's call anyway — why even ask us?"
"Why are you dragging me into this when I didn't even say anything?"
The Tyrant Lord clicked his tongue and muttered. Shintoe glanced at me, then spoke up in support.
"Sudden though it may be, I do not question the Grand Lord's judgment. And as has been said, the Seventh Seat cannot remain vacant forever. This one, too, has no objection to the decision."
Aside from the Thunder Empress, none of the Lords seemed to be voicing any real complaint. It was less that they agreed and more that they simply didn't care — or that the Grand Lord's will was clear enough that they were going along without a fuss.
But I hadn't even accepted yet. Why did this already feel like a done deal?
...Well, I suppose it would.
This was a Lord of Calderic, after all. The pinnacle of power in Calderic, one of the four great forces on the continent. Who in their right mind would turn down a seat like that?
The problem was that I had absolutely none of the ability a Lord's seat actually required. So far, circumstances had lined up so neatly that everyone was under a colossal misconception about my power. The truth was I couldn't even match a gate guard. And there was no telling how long this streak of luck would last. If I accepted the Grand Lord's offer and actually became the Seventh Lord, I'd be crossing a river I could never come back from.
But if I refuse...
That was a dangerous option too. None of this had been my choice, but the fact remained: I'd come to the Grand Lord Castle declaring I'd join Calderic, and I'd sat in on a Lord Council. And the Grand Lord had offered the best terms she could put on the table. If I tried to back out now, what kind of reaction would I get? That friendly demeanor of hers could turn to hostility in an instant — how dare you make a fool of me, she might say. Whether testing that theory would be stupid bravado or the right call to avoid the worst, I couldn't say.
Should I ask for time to think?
My mind was a mess. Wouldn't it be better to at least delay the decision a little?
That was when Gwangrang looked at me and spoke.
"Shame, though. We promised we'd go at it sometime, back in front of the council chamber. If you become a Lord, that's off the table."
...When exactly had we made that promise? And if I became a Lord it was off the table? I was about to wonder what that meant, then it clicked. Come to think of it, there was a setting that combat between Lords was strictly forbidden in Calderic — the bare-minimum rule that let Lords with such fiercely individual temperaments coexist without tearing each other apart.
"I hate wrapping things up halfway, too. A real duel goes until at least one of you is about to drop dead, right? Figured you and I might've gotten along pretty well. What a waste."
"..."
That bloodthirsty remark, delivered with a cheerful grin, suddenly conjured a terrible possibility. If I turned down the Lord's seat, that insane monster might come looking for a fight the moment the council adjourned. She'd shoved a sword at my throat the first time we met. The odds were more than high enough. And that wasn't all. Right now the Thunder Empress was still staring at me like she wanted to devour me whole. That one was far more dangerous. If I chose to refuse, I'd have to start worrying about what happened the second this meeting ended.
Accept or refuse. Either way, it was a choice between the worst and the next-worst, both of them rotten. Same as on the transport ship. A fresh wave of regret surged up — I never should have let things get this far. I should have found some way to escape this damned castle before I ever came face to face with the Grand Lord.
...But regret was useless, and time wasn't waiting for me. It demanded a choice.
"Well then. All that's left is Sir Ron's answer."
The Grand Lord's final declaration.
A hushed silence settled over the council chamber. Every Lord's gaze around the round table locked onto me. Having finally made up my mind, I opened my mouth, half in resignation.