Chapter 15
"Ah, did I say something unnecessary..."
"Enough."
He cut off my attempt to backtrack after I realized I'd let slip that I'd addressed him as "Your Grace." Kaiser Crisis fell into deep thought upon hearing my answer.
'No way... he's not mad, is he?'
His expression gave nothing away, so there was no way to tell. As his silence stretched on, leaving me drenched in cold sweat from head to toe, there came a knock.
Tap tap.
"My apologies for interrupting your conversation, but the knight order has finished preparing to depart."
Taylor's voice was like a savior to me.
"Your Grace. I'm terribly sorry, but I must take my leave. May I have permission to attend to my duties?"
I glanced cautiously at him as I asked. He, who had been lost in furrowed contemplation with eyes closed, slowly opened them.
After a moment of silence, Kaiser extended his large hand and removed the ring from his thumb. It was a blood-red ruby that gleamed like congealed blood.
"Take it."
"......Pardon?"
"You know full well that a hundred gold as a reward for slaying magic beasts is absurdly low. I never intended to make Luju Village pay it in the first place. This is the Crisis Ducal House's reward."
His lips tightened. I stared down at the ruby ring resting on his outstretched palm and shook my head.
"I can't accept it."
"Why not?"
I met his piercing red gaze head-on.
"Because the agreed amount was a hundred gold. I can't take more than that."
It might make my life comfortable for years. To Kaiser, this ruby ring was probably no more than a pebble rolling around, and I knew full well how foolish it was to refuse.
'But Aria's going to the earl's house soon. I don't need much money living alone.'
If I were going to keep living with Aria, I might have hesitated. But Aria would be adopted into the earl's family, and I was content just scraping by to feed myself.
To fatten my own mouth with unpromised rewards went against both my pride and my conscience.
"You're truly strange."
Kaiser propped his elbow on his thigh, covering his mouth with his hand as he leaned forward. The emotion flickering in his eyes was too subtle to read.
I scratched at my uncovered mouth below the mask.
"It's only natural."
"There are far too many in this world who don't know what's natural."
'Kaiser... he doesn't seem like a bad person at all.'
The gap between the rumors I'd heard and the image before me was so vast it unsettled me. He let out a soft sigh, still lost in thought.
"......Very well. You may go. You'll need to depart soon."
"Ah. Yes. Thank you."
I rose lightly from my seat. Through the window, I could see the knights finishing their preparations for the journey.
"Thank you for your consideration. Eternal glory to the swords of the empire."
Drawing on my experience working with nobles a few times, I bowed politely and recited the Crisis greeting that Howell had hurriedly taught me before coming.
Kaiser nodded.
"Good luck."
I turned from Kaiser and left the reception room. It was time to set out.
"Mir is supporting the magic beast subjugation in Luju Village?"
The telegram from the Mercenary Guild arrived thirty minutes before the expedition's departure, utterly shocking.
Kaiser, who had been dressing in his uniform before heading to the Imperial Palace, paused mid-button and furrowed his brow.
"Yes. It seems Mir has volunteered."
"That mad sword of a mercenary king, Mir?"
"Among the Golden Shield mercenaries, the only one named Mir is the Black Calamity, so it must be her."
Even Taylor, a veteran servant of the Crisis house well-versed in maintaining composure, showed a hint of excitement when speaking of Mir.
"Why her?"
Kaiser finished buttoning up and posed a perfectly reasonable question.
The residents of Luju Village were simple folk. When they heard the Black Dragon Knight Order was coming to help with the subjugation, they insisted on not being a burden and gathered mercenaries on their own to assist. Their offer: limited to Golden Shield mercenaries, a reward of a hundred gold.
It was an outrageously low price for excessively high conditions. Living on the frontier, they clearly didn't understand the ways of capital mercenaries. Everyone in the ducal house was certain no one would take the request.
Suspecting some lowly schemers might try to use the opportunity to curry favor with the Crisis house, they'd even sternly instructed the Mercenary Guild not to casually mention the Crisis name.
Yet right before departure, the mercenary king Mir drops in out of nowhere—who wouldn't be surprised?
"I've instructed her to come to the ducal house first... but what should we do?"
Taylor asked cautiously. Kaiser frowned in contemplation.
"Mir is famous for helping poor villages with magic beast subjugations even normally, so she's probably not coming with ulterior motives. The titles of hero and mercenary king aren't given lightly. She's the undisputed top expert in beast slaying, so her help could reduce casualties in the subjugation. However...... her true identity is unknown, which is a bit unsettling."
Taylor's words were all spot on. Kaiser narrowed his eyes.
The mercenary Mir was like a dragon. Tales of her ferocious strength in beast slaying spread like ghost stories, yet no one knew her identity, as if she were a specter. On the other hand, poor villages she'd helped overflowed with tales praising her, making her an object of respect and admiration for all who wielded swords.
"No need to refuse someone offering help on her own. Her participation would certainly make the subjugation easier."
"Yes."
"However...... when she arrives, bring her to the reception room. Tell her I wish to see her."
A faint smile tugged at Kaiser's lips. Taylor, surprised to see his usually indifferent master taking interest in something, quickly schooled his expression with practiced skill.
"I'm curious what kind of person she is."
A subtle spark of intrigue glimmered in Kaiser's eyes.
If asked Kaiser's first impression of the mercenary Mir, he would ponder long before answering: peculiar. But that was merely because he was poor at expressing himself; in truth, it was far more complex.
"......I greet Your Grace. I am Mir, a mercenary."
The moment the door opened and he met those two fluorescent pink eyes sparkling through the mask, Kaiser felt something deep within—something that had never surfaced in his life—begin to sprout.
His primal instincts twisted, and his intuition screamed wildly. A moonstruck sensation.
It was the most intense emotion he'd ever felt.
'Red-tinted eyes?'
Confused by the unfamiliar feeling for a moment, Kaiser dismissed it as mere surprise and scowled.
The empire had a founding myth. It began with the Sun God Ra, gazing down from the heavens at the chaotic continent, sending three dragons to the earth to pacify it.
The golden dragon of dominion founded the empire. Its descendants were the current Solatine imperial family, with direct lines bearing golden hair generation after generation.
The silver dragon of purification cleansed the empire's land of magic corruption. Those inheriting its power wielded divine force—that was the present-day temple. Popes had sky-blue hair for generations.
The black dragon of slaughter cut down enemies to protect the empire. Its descendants were the current Crisis Ducal House. Direct lines bore red eyes for generations.
The black dragon's eyes were originally blue, but turned red as its soul was tainted by magic from excessive slaughter—that was the legend.
The outward traits passed to the imperial family and popes were known even to street children. But only the Crisis ducal house direct lines having red eyes was a fact known solely to ducal house direct descendants, imperial direct lines, or the pope.
There was no benefit in publicizing that Crisis blood was tainted by magic from birth.
In the empire, no lineage had red-tinted eyes except those carrying Crisis blood.
Yet Mir's eyes, shining through her mask, held a clear red hue—how could he not be bewildered?
'No way......'
Kaiser narrowed his brow at the absurd hypothesis flashing through his mind. Only when Mir cautiously lifted her head did he pull himself together and sit in his chair.
Kaiser gazed steadily at the small figure before him.
It was public knowledge that Mir was petite, but he hadn't realized she was this small.
'Just skin and bones standing there.'
He couldn't fathom why she irked him so. Wrists so thin they might snap if gripped. Small stature and frame, like she'd never been properly fed. A small face easily imaginable even hidden by the mask. A cloak so worn it was impossible to guess how many years she'd had it.
And those tense, uncertain, adorably pink eyes.
'......Adorable?'
Kaiser twitched his brow as he recalled his recent sentiment. It was strange. Truly strange.
"You."
Those innocently blinking eyes touched something unfamiliar within him.
"Your eyes are pretty."
"......Pardon?"
That uncharacteristically ticklish remark slipped out because of it.
"Th-thank you."
Even her awkward stammering was adorable—it was clear he was going mad.
"I sought you out because I have questions."
"What might that be?"
To steady his rippling emotions, Kaiser downed his tea and opened his mouth. To ask what had truly piqued his curiosity.
"Why did you take this request?"
"Pardon?"
"I've wondered for a while. They say mercenary Mir is a hero who helps poor villages with beast subjugations—so why do it?"
Humans were selfish. That was their nature. Having faced the world's filth countless times, Kaiser didn't believe in heroes. He thought it impossible to help without gain.
'......Though there was that one time in my life.'
Exactly once, he'd helped someone without reason—but that was precisely once in his life. Repeating such folly was impossible. At least for him.
"Why do you take on such bothersome tasks?"
Sword Masters easily felt life's disgusts. At the pinnacle, Kaiser felt emptiness in all things. Everything came too easily to him.
Mir, surely another Sword Master like him, must feel endless futility—yet how could she live like that? He couldn't understand.
"I don't really know myself."
For the first time, those pink eyes that had avoided his gaze met his squarely.
Kaiser held his breath for a moment.
Since ancient times, humans had called eyes the windows to the soul. They held everything long gazed upon, harboring one's life beneath the black pupils.
If that were true, Mir's soul must be drowned in filth.
"I lived diligently, grew strong... and once strong, I saw the weak around me. The empire's highborn seemed unconcerned with them...... and I'm not steadfast enough to ignore the blood of the innocent."
The calm eyes answering him were thick with grime. Soaked in blood and ash like someone who'd seen hell's depths. A fragile soul steeped not just in experience but overwhelmed by worldly waves.
Calmly decaying, putrefying—yet those unbelievably pure, shining eyes were a contradiction.
'How does she do that?'
Kaiser harbored a perfectly justified question.
He'd occasionally seen such eyes in those fallen to the bottom, with nowhere lower to go. They usually didn't last long, ending their own lives. He'd seen such wretches lash out in rage, but one speaking of goodness with those eyes was not just unfamiliar—it was unprecedented.
"Those with power bear responsibility for it. This is my duty."
Simple. Foolish. And thus, brilliant.
A mindset utterly opposite his own, a way of life in direct contrast. Yet the same Sword Master rank, the same red-tinted eyes. Different, yet alike.
Kaiser truly felt his heart stir for the being before him.
"Ah, th-that was unnecessary talk—"
"Enough."
He stopped Mir, who belatedly looked troubled after saying her piece, and slowly rested his chin on his hand. He was genuinely curious about this creature.
"Take it."
"......Pardon?"
He'd handed over the family head's ring—symbol of the Crisis Duke—purely to see her reaction.
Clad in a tattered cloak, Mir looked poor to anyone. Kaiser expected her to snatch the jewel eagerly.
"I can't accept it."
Her response, though anticipated, still surprised him.
"Why not?"
"Because the agreed amount was a hundred gold. I can't take more than that."
She was unbelievably foolish, simple, idiotic.
'But that's why...... I like it.'
Kaiser took a liking to this ignorantly upright little mercenary. He covered his mouth with his hand. Strangely, laughter bubbled up.
"You're truly strange."
He even liked how she scratched her lips sheepishly at his mutter.
"It's only natural."
"There are far too many in this world who don't know what's natural."
Kaiser exhaled softly, cutting it cleanly.
"Very well. You may go. You'll need to depart soon."
"Ah. Y-yes. Thank you."
He watched intently as she stood awkwardly.
"Thank you for your consideration. Eternal glory to the swords of the empire."
Kaiser stifled a laugh at Mir reciting the nobles' greeting with such an awkward expression.
"Good luck."
After Mir left with her back turned, one thought gripped Kaiser.
'How do I keep this amusing thing by my side?'
It was the moment Kaiser Crisis—who for 39 years had been indifferent to all—met a being that set his curiosity ablaze.