A Princess's Vow of Vengeance
After Princess Arleah's shocking declaration as the survivor of the fallen kingdom, we all returned to the inn run by Beatrice's merchant group. The branch manager was waiting for us and immediately guided us to the best room in the house. Beatrice had apparently given the company head strict orders to treat me like an honored guest. The moment the manager learned through the group's intelligence network that the First Princess Arleah was traveling with us, his waist bent nearly ninety degrees.
Since the princess had already shown herself, the information would spread eventually. But the fact that she was staying at an inn operated by the merchant group meant the company would enjoy exclusive access to details about her for at least a little while. The branch manager of one of the Empire's five great merchant groups hadn't earned his position by being sloppy, so he would undoubtedly handle her location and protection with absolute care.
“Right, then. Let's discuss our plans moving forward.”
After giving Princess Arleah her own room, Lucas and I stepped into another. The obvious reason was that a man and woman couldn't share quarters, but the real purpose was to talk strategy without anyone listening in.
“Um… is it really all right to have this conversation with her right next door…?”
After tossing the still-unconscious Lieutenant Meln onto the bed like a sack of potatoes, Lucas glanced worriedly at the wall connecting our rooms.
“Isn't installing anti-eavesdropping devices standard procedure for the intelligence department?”
“It is, but… I've been taught that some high-ranking superhumans can ignore them entirely.”
“Ah…”
I had a pretty good idea who taught him that. And honestly, the lesson wasn't wrong. Anti-eavesdropping devices work by projecting a mana barrier around the room through built-in spell formulas. Under normal circumstances, even the sharpest senses can't penetrate a barrier made of pure mana. But for superhumans who have transcended human limits, their sensory precision reaches inhuman levels. Occasionally, they can punch straight through and listen in.
Take Scarlet, for example. She could absolutely pierce a barrier like that and eavesdrop on every word we said. So Lucas's concern wasn't entirely misplaced, but…
“If every superhuman could do it, the Empire's intelligence department wouldn't exist in the first place.”
If eavesdropping were that easy, one superhuman could have stolen every secret the department held. The Empire wasn't foolish enough to leave itself that vulnerable. There was a key condition: the listener had to rely on pure physical ability without enhancing their hearing through mana. Any attempt to use mana reinforcement would trigger an immediate alarm from the device. And to pierce the barrier with nothing but raw physical senses required at least 6-Ring mastery, plus an extreme body-tempered warrior.
Princess Arleah might have trained her body, but she wasn't 6-Ring, and her ears were only slightly sharper than average. We didn't have to worry about her listening in.
“So what does the intelligence department plan to do about her request?”
“When you ask what we plan to do…”
“Are you going to report it to your superiors exactly as she asked?”
I wish to cooperate in capturing Kyle Amillan. If it helps catch him, I am willing to provide every piece of information I possess about Kyle Amillan to the Empire.
That was what Princess Arleah had said. She wanted her request forwarded through the intelligence department or the special affairs unit to the highest levels. We couldn't exactly withhold what a princess had declared, so adding her personal request was a small enough concession.
“The part about killing him sits wrong with me,” Lucas said, his face twisting with discomfort as he glanced sideways.
“Cooperating to capture Kyle Amillan would certainly benefit the Empire, but saying we'll kill him…”
“You believe Kyle Amillan shouldn't be killed?”
“…Honestly. Yes.”
I nearly failed to keep a straight face at his unexpected answer. I was the traitor who had committed something close to treason against the Empire and then fled. Simply defending a man like that could earn you a punishment as severe as the crime itself. Yet the man in front of me refused to bend, holding firmly to his own beliefs. Setting aside how reckless it was to say such things in front of a special affairs officer, from my perspective it was rather pleasant to hear. Maybe I'd return the favor by making the decision for him.
“I don't know why you feel that way, but if that's what you believe, then report it. Everything Princess Arleah said—without changing a single syllable.”
“But I want Kyle Amillan to live. Why would I report every word…?”
“You'll understand once you do it.”
After all, this was the best way to keep me alive, and no one knew that better than I did. Lucas gave me a slightly sour look, then nodded. That very night, he sent the report about Princess Arleah straight to headquarters.
The next morning, he came to me with the reply.
“Kyle, we have a response from above.”
“What does it say?”
“Escort the key figure to the capital. The decision on whether to accept the proposal will be made there.”
Short and to the point. But the speed of the reply and the tone hidden between the lines told me everything I needed to know. The higher-ups wanted this princess situation handled as quickly as possible. Imperial bureaucracy usually moved at a glacial pace unless the matter was exceptionally urgent. It wasn't laziness—it was the nature of their analog system. Important decisions required layer after layer of consensus from below. If something was being processed this fast, it meant someone with enough authority to bypass all that had stepped in directly. And there weren't many people in the Empire with that kind of power. Someone who could make a decision in less than a day was probably…
“I've never seen a matter handled this quickly,” Lucas muttered, eyes wide as he reread the document.
“It just shows how seriously they're taking this.”
Well, it wasn't entirely without provocation on the princess's part. Wanting to kill the former First Star of the Empire wasn't too shocking now that a warrant was already out for my head. The real problem was what she'd said before that: Citizen of the Raziel Kingdom.
She had clearly chosen those words on purpose. They subtly revealed that Kyle Amillan—I—had once been a citizen of Raziel. Even though the kingdom was destroyed, the achievements I'd accomplished had all originated from Raziel. It was pure wordplay, of course. But in politics, even the smallest wordplay could shift national interests. The Empire was a den of people who would set their eyes ablaze and charge the moment someone tried to take what was theirs. Whether the princess had intended it or not, her statement would have felt like a deliberate provocation.
“They're not the type to let something like this slide.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing at all.”
I brushed off Lucas's question and left the room. For a moment I thought about the person with enough power to make this kind of decision instantly, then shook my head. I'd been extending my senses since earlier, monitoring what Princess Arleah was doing. While she moved around her room, her presence had been perfectly clear. The moment she lay down on the bed and fell asleep, however, it vanished completely. It felt less like I couldn't see her and more like thick smoke had suddenly clouded my perception. If I'd never been able to sense her at all, maybe I wouldn't have noticed. But the fact that my senses were blocked the instant she slept was downright bizarre.
Now that I think about it, the same thing happened when she first approached me.
Her presence was hidden, yet something about her was strikingly visible to the naked eye, so I hadn't been startled. Still, her energy was undeniably strange. From the moment she appeared until she opened her mouth, she didn't register in my senses at all. It felt as if she were wrapped in something. Then the moment she spoke, her presence became completely clear. That unpleasant sensation had lingered. At first I'd suspected some kind of artifact hidden on her body, but I detected nothing of the sort. And when I tried to probe deeper, I was met with a sharp wave of rejection that pushed me back.
I frowned, glanced once at the room where Princess Arleah slept, and left. There were many preparations to make for tomorrow.
"Kill Kyle Amillan."
"Kyle Amillan destroyed the kingdom."
"Avenge us."
The voices echoed endlessly in my head. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ghosts of the king and queen. They stood before me, thrusting their monstrous maws forward, demanding Kyle Amillan's death. The voices had followed me without fail every single day since I had been hurled from the ruined Raziel Kingdom to the southern reaches of the Empire. Even after listening to the endless screams of vengeful souls, the princess's mind remained calm. If anything, it had grown even colder.
Creak.
The survivor who carried the ghosts of a vanished kingdom groped through the darkness and slowly drew her beloved silver longbow.
Twang—!
Releasing the string sent a clear, resonant sound vibrating through the air. The princess stared quietly down at the longbow in her hands. Named Moonlight for its ability to deceive even the moon itself, the weapon radiated a pale, lunar glow. It was the final masterpiece of Raziel's greatest blacksmith, created at the cost of his own life. A divine weapon said to possess its own spiritual ego.
Unique-grade spiritual bow
Crafted by Raziel's greatest blacksmith at the cost of his life. Said to possess its own ego. Never once used in vain.
Like an arrow that flies without end, it carried the blacksmith's last wish: to achieve what she desired. Since hearing those words, she had never drawn this bow lightly. And that resolve had not changed, even after her kingdom's fall. Because what she wanted had always been one single thing.
Just as the blacksmith had willed, she would see her desire fulfilled.
“…I will kill Kyle Amillan.”
Even if it meant piercing the heart of the mentor who had once taught her.