What’s the Bathroom?
Adelia had left.
She had said a lot of things, but nothing really stuck.
To be honest, Kael hadn’t understood a single word of it.
He was only just starting to adjust to life in the guard.
To someone like him, whether she was talking about the Empire or the Crown Prince, there was no way he could follow along with Adelia’s story.
I’m not interested anyway.
He had no desire to get tangled up in the business of people who sat too high above everyone else.
Besides, once he’d gotten used to guard duty, it wasn’t so bad.
This much is fine, I guess.
If it wasn’t broken, there was no reason to fix it.
Kael tried his best to keep his thoughts positive.
“Would be nice if only that thing wasn’t around.”
Kael shot Balmung a glum look.
His already miserable life had started going sideways in earnest because of this thing.
...Though it did save my life.
He didn’t know much about the Seven Deadly Sins or whatever, but he did remember almost getting killed by that monster.
Right before he had crossed the river to the afterlife, a strange voice had wormed its way into his ears.
I didn’t think it could talk too.
So national treasures really were different, huh?
No matter how he thought about it, it had been a bizarre experience.
The moment he drew the sword, Kael’s body had slipped out of his control.
He had moved in ways he hadn’t intended, as if someone had taken over his body.
How did I even do that?
He had trained in martial arts professionally, but there was no way Kael could explain it.
Technique aside, it seemed difficult to beat a cold weapon with bare hands in a real fight.
Even though the guard had taught him a bit of swordsmanship, Kael, who was hardly an expert with blades, could still tell it had been sloppy.
That was only natural.
It would be stranger if a mere guard unit, not some famous knight order or the imperial guard, could teach proper swordsmanship.
Honestly, if you were talking pure practicality, a spear was probably better anyway.
“But how could that guy not recognize something right in front of his face?”
If a guard like Kael didn’t know what Balmung looked like, that was understandable.
But if he was one of the Imperial Five Swords, shouldn’t he have recognized it?
He’d be equivalent to a four-star general in the army.
And yet Adelia had stood there with Balmung plainly in front of her and still failed to recognize it, speaking with a dead-serious expression about reclaiming Balmung.
Even now, Kael still had no idea how he was supposed to react to that.
“Well, at least I didn’t get caught.”
Kael decided to think positively.
When he tried to get out of bed, his whole body screamed in protest.
Kael gritted his teeth and forced himself upright.
“Still... doesn’t seem like there’s any real problem.”
He had been an athlete once, in a professional sense. If anything was wrong with his body, he’d know it immediately.
But he wasn’t feeling that kind of warning right now.
Just the sort of soreness you’d expect the day after a match.
No idea why I’m fine.
He clearly remembered that by the end, his whole body had been a wreck, and his arm hadn’t just been broken, it had been crushed outright. He’d also cracked several ribs.
And yet now, aside from some muscle soreness, his bones and muscles were perfectly fine.
In truth, the reason Kael’s body was still in such good shape was the expensive elixir Adelia had used, but he himself had no idea.
Kael picked up the rough sword leaning against the wall, Balmung.
“I definitely remember it saying something...”
The moment Kael stroked the hilt.
[Your manner of touching is thoroughly offensive.]
“...Huh!”
A familiar voice burrowed into his ears. Startled, Kael dropped the sword to the floor.
[What are you doing? Pick it up at once.]
...What the hell was this?
A talking sword?
It was more than creepy. It was downright revolting.
He’d thought it was just some sort of voice function, but if it could communicate like this, didn’t that mean it had a mind of its own?
This is terrible.
Kael grimaced as if he’d bitten into something foul and picked Balmung up again.
[Do not behave so sluggishly.]
The tone was obnoxiously condescending.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
“...Hey, do I know you? Since when do you start talking down to people like that?”
[Wh-what did you say?]
“No, seriously. You’re the one who scared me first, and now you’re acting offended? And I can drop something if I want, can’t I? Calling me sluggish...”
[Y-you insolent brat! How dare you spout such nonsense before me...!]
The voice trembled with fury.
Kael blinked at Balmung, then slowly shook his head.
“Man, I was trying to be nice, but I guess that didn’t work. Hey, you want to go into the toilet? Come to think of it, if you’re there, nobody’ll catch us.”
[W-what... a toilet...?]
Balmung thought it had misheard.
The shock was that severe.
A toilet?
It had never imagined that, of all things, it would be threatened with being tossed into a toilet.
“Hold on, the more I think about it, the better that sounds. There’s no way some lunatic would think of shoving the Empire’s national treasure into a toilet.”
[I-I was wrong! So please, stop this at once!]
Balmung cried out in panic. It would swallow its pride if it had to, but it did not want to end up crammed into a toilet.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“...Haa.”
Adelia, having left the manor, let out a sigh.
Her heart felt heavy, as though a huge stone had been laid across her chest.
One of the Seven Deadly Sins is dead.
She had no idea what kind of shock waves that event would unleash.
It wasn’t something to celebrate simply because one of the most vile criminals in existence had died.
The Seven Deadly Sins were not ordinary criminals.
Each one was a human weapon, one of the strongest beings on the continent.
If they moved in earnest, bringing down a small kingdom would be no more difficult than breathing.
One member of that monstrous group had lost his life.
And inside the Empire, no less.
Of all times, why now?
If the Empire had been stable, they could have responded.
The Seven Deadly Sins were certainly powerful enemies, but a fully intact Empire could have handled them.
The Imperial Five Swords were strong enough to stand on nearly equal footing with them.
But the Empire, as it stood now, was in a deeply unstable state.
One of the Imperial Five Swords had betrayed the Empire.
At the same time, Balmung, the Empire’s national treasure and the Sword of Destiny, had been lost.
Even the Emperor was in a grave condition.
On top of that, real governing authority had already passed entirely into the hands of the Crown Prince.
It was a deeply disrespectful thought, but Adelia did not trust the Crown Prince. To her, he was a very dangerous man.
The Empire had begun to rot from within.
How did it ever come to this?
Regret welled up in her. But regret was always late, no matter how fast it came.
Adelia slowly wiped a hand across her face.
...It’s too soon to give up yet.
There was a man who had thrown himself into danger for the Empire without hesitation, and who had cut down Harkan, the Sin of Wrath, in a single blow.
That man was the key to saving the Empire from its crisis.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“I mean, just thinking about you gets me sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night. Seriously, it’s ridiculous.”
Kael poured out the resentment and complaints he’d been bottling up without pause.
His life had started going to hell because of a sword that had suddenly shown up out of nowhere.
An endless round of chasing after a supposed national emergency and the search for Balmung.
When the thing they’re looking for is with me.
What a colossal waste of time.
Playing dumb like this was one thing for a day or two, but every single day of it was hell.
[You shameless wretch! I saved your life when you were on the verge of death, and this is how you repay me?!]
“If you hadn’t clung to me like a leech in the first place, none of this would’ve happened. Do you even have a conscience?”
[A leech...?]
Balmung’s voice trembled in shock.
There was one more thing Kael hated.
So you can talk like that now, but you kept your mouth shut the whole time before, huh?
What a joke.
From the very start, Kael’s dislike for Balmung had shot straight to the ceiling.
He didn’t care about the Sword of Destiny or the national treasure nonsense.
To Kael, Balmung was nothing more than a single inconvenient, irritating sword.
[The more I listen, the more you crawl higher and higher. If you’re trying the limits of my patience...]
Balmung’s voice turned cold and severe as it issued a warning.
But Kael was not the kind of person who responded to threats.
“This isn’t getting through. Fine, then I’ve got no choice either.”
Kael sprang to his feet. His body still creaked a little, but this was manageable.
At the sight of Kael striding forward, Balmung felt a flicker of unease.
What was this brat planning to do?
Balmung was not easily rattled by anything, but when it saw the wild look in Kael’s eyes, it had a hard time pretending to be calm.
Kael yanked the door open.
The maid standing there flinched in surprise.
“I-Is your body feeling any better?”
Her voice trembled faintly. She couldn’t bring herself to meet Kael’s eyes properly. His gaze looked that dangerous.
W-why on earth would Lady Adelia trust someone like this...?
She was frightened, but she couldn’t bring herself to show it.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
“The b-bathroom... you mean? If you’d like the one used by honored guests, I can show you...”
“No. I’d prefer the dirtiest, most unsanitary bathroom you’ve got. The one the servants use.”
“...Pardon?”
He wanted the dirty one when there was a clean one right there?
It was nonsense no sane person could understand.
Human beings feared most the things they could not understand.
The maid, now completely terror-stricken, told him where the toilet was.
“I-It’s over there, for the servants.”
“Ah, I see. Thanks.”
With steps that showed no hesitation at all.
Balmung felt a primal kind of fear as well.
[...Wait.]
When Kael ignored it completely, Balmung finally pulled out its last card.
[I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, so please just stop!]
Kael stopped dead and curled one corner of his mouth upward in a grin.
He should have said that from the beginning.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Imperial Five Swords, now reduced to four, had finally gathered in the capital.
From the moment they crossed the walls and reached the inner depths of the Imperial Palace, each of their footsteps rang out with weight.
As soon as they arrived at the Empire, they headed straight for the circular council chamber in the center of the palace.
The five blades representing the Empire had gathered in one place.
Only a heavy silence lay over the chamber.
Then, in the solemn atmosphere, the door opened.
The heads seated around the round table turned naturally toward the sound.
“Oh, so everyone’s already here?”
A bright, vigorous voice filled the chamber.
The man walking in with confidence wore a pale red ceremonial robe instead of a black mantle.
That color symbolized the authority of the imperial house.
“Well then, shall we begin the meeting?”
He was the one who ruled the Empire in place of the Emperor, the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Cassian Alberich.