2. She Never Wagers on a Losing Bet

Had it all been a nightmare?

The imperial treasury, where the Empire's every rare and vital treasure was kept under guard. How could someone like me possibly have broken into a place like that?

And yet, that impossibility had become reality — and then, in the blink of an eye, it had become the past.

"In other words, you're telling me the treasury doors stood wide open, with not a single guard posted. Is that the gist of it?"

"…Yes."

I had so much I wanted to say, but now that the moment had actually arrived, my mouth had gone bone-dry and my tongue felt stiff, as if frozen in place. It would have been easier to clear up the misunderstanding if I could have explained myself properly, but the anxiety carved into my body refused to thin out no matter what I did.

"Do you honestly think that story holds water right now?"

My father fixed me with a look harder than usual, cold enough to sting.

"……."

And in stark contrast, my mother said nothing. She only kept silent, and kept silent again.

It was thanks to the Emperor moving quickly to contain the situation that we'd been given a private audience at all — but I had no doubt that rumors of this, none of them kind, would spread all the same.

"So. What did you do in there? Or rather, what did you experience?"

It wasn't an interrogation. The Emperor's voice was measured, and in the blue eyes fixed on me, I could see far more curiosity seeking answers than any judgment of guilt.

"……."

And yet.

How was I supposed to tell the truth?

My, the little ones have all grown up. To think their children are full-grown already… well, I suppose that's only natural.

It mattered, too, that this wasn't the Emperor's office but unmistakably a parlor meant for receiving guests. Even so, that golden woman drifting through the empty air, watching our situation with what looked like delight, gnawed at my nerves and grated on me endlessly.

"I… heard a voice, and… by the time I came to my senses… I was inside the treasury. I meant to leave at once, but…."

"Kariel. There is no need to speak so quietly. Set aside the impropriety and state the facts plainly to His Majesty."

"Ah, it's quite all right, Ermina. I can hear him well enough. Don't rush the boy so."

My mother broke her silence to chide me, but it was the Emperor, of all people, who waved her down.

"So — you answered some kind of summons and arrived at that place, yet strangely there was no keeper to be found, and the treasury doors stood open wide. Is that the shape of it?"

"Yes… that is… correct, Your Majesty."

My mouth was dry. The inside of it was burning. My heart hammered, and my hands and feet felt so restless I could barely hold them still. Merely suppressing it all was enough to scatter my wits to the wind.

Hmm…?

And then.

The golden woman, who had been idly observing my anxious state from midair, smiled with what seemed pure good humor — and then, just as quickly, curled her lips into something closer to a smirk.

But Kariel, sitting hunched and shrinking with his head bowed low, had no earthly chance of deciphering that mischievous, tangled expression of hers — or the intentions hidden within it.

Even then.

His palms were still slick with a film of unpleasant sweat, as if his inner turmoil were seeping out through his skin.

"This was not the work of magic."

The Empress, returned to the parlor at last, reported the findings of the investigation.

"There are unnatural elements, so something certainly intervened…."

The Emperor rubbed his chin and pushed back.

"Even so, we can hardly dismiss this as some simple supernatural phenomenon. Would you not agree?"

"It is possible a demon or a heretic was involved."

At my mother's remark, the Emperor inclined his head in calm acceptance.

"The truth of it may amount to nothing at all, but until the situation clarifies, nothing can be promised. We will see to this matter personally. Rueld, Ermina — I would ask that you not reproach Kariel too harshly."

"Thanks to my foolish son, I have no face to show."

When my father spoke with a bitter expression, the Emperor chuckled and shook his head.

"Between the two of us, what does that matter?"

"……."

My mother still looked as though she had plenty left to say, but even so, she held her tongue in silence.

"You must all be exhausted — go home and rest. And Ermina, is this not precisely the time for you to devote even greater care to your own health?"

"But…."

"I have already requested additional personnel from the Order, so rest quietly, I say. Not for your own sake — for your child's. You understand well enough what I am trying to say, do you not?"

"…I am grateful for Your Majesty's thoughtful consideration."

"Honestly. It's only the two of us — there's no need to stand on ceremony like that."

"Heh heh. If it were so easy to shrug off that weight on one's shoulders, I would not be Ermina."

"…Well, no, I suppose ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not."

After a few parting words of well-wishing, I found myself climbing into the carriage bound for our home alongside my parents.

"……."

"……."

"……."

Strangely enough.

The silence was, utterly, exhausting.

This is not a normal household, is it?

The golden woman lounged in midair, head propped on one arm. She watched the whole situation with evident interest — and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I never once let a hint of it show on my face.

Only after we returned home and I had shut myself inside my room did I finally spit out everything I'd been swallowing.

"…Just who — or what — are you?"

Finally asking, are we?

"It… wasn't exactly a situation where I could ask."

One careless slip of my composure while I'd been hauled before the Emperor and Empress, before my own parents, and….

You could have just been honest, you know. 'I heard a ghost, I heard a spirit,' something like that.

"…And then I'd hear exactly what you'd expect."

My father would have rebuked me without question — a weak mind, seduced by apparitions. My mother would have declared that I'd harbored impure thoughts and lived a crooked life, and that was why such a thing had latched onto me — and then squeezed my throat for weeks. And the Emperor, however generous and considerate he might ordinarily be… well, who could say.

And does hiding it resolve anything?

"It wasn't a problem that telling the truth would have solved, either."

'Adolescent rebellion,' then. No — I'd say it's rather that the bonds of trust are somewhat… deficient. Fascinating, if I do say so.

"You called my parents and even His Majesty by name so casually… did you know them all, in life?"

I knew them, all right. Unfortunately for everyone, we were bitter enemies.

Her smile was, quite honestly, enchanting.

I had been too tense to look at her properly until now, but I'd felt it even the first time I saw her — she really was a captivating woman. Her speech drifted between stately antiquity and sudden frivolity; her gestures and manner were a touch too unrestrained. And yet, perhaps precisely because of that, there was a free-spiritedness about her that was hard to look away from.

Ah, the tension's gone soft. Good — let's do this, then.

She had been floating lazily in the air, and now settled herself upright as if steadying her center of gravity.

There's the tedious way — questions and answers, back and forth. And there's the way where we understand each other in one stroke. Which suits your fancy?

"You're not suggesting… some magic that shares knowledge or experience between us? In that state?"

She was, unmistakably, a ghost. And she was proposing that — now?

Close enough, if not quite. So — which will it be?

With questions and answers, either side could hide or twist whatever information they possessed, as much as they pleased. The second offer, though… I couldn't tell. If she truly possessed power that far beyond mine, couldn't she simply toy with me one-sidedly? The worry surfaced before I could stop it.

You needn't trouble yourself with courtesy — I am no mob, and no tyrant. Fair dealing and mutual consent. Equivalent exchange. It is precisely such rules of trade that uphold civilization and society — the very least of civilization's iron laws.

"……."

I knew that manner of speaking. I had heard it before.

Fair dealing. Mutual consent. Equivalent exchange.

And.

The iron law that upholds civilized society.

That was….

"Are you a demon…? A devil of the Demon Realm?"

So we've settled on questions and answers after all?

"…No. Let's make it a contract."

At a snap of her fingers, letters written in light rose up out of the empty air.

Confirm the terms, then press your hand to it. Right there.

At the very bottom, a line had been ruled beneath, like a place for a signature. I examined the contents carefully, and when I brought my hand to that spot, my name inscribed itself there as naturally as breathing.

Tsk. Ratifying a contract that carelessly is a bad habit, little one.

"If you meant to swindle me, surely you'd have gone about it in a far more elaborate way."

And if my intent were to lure you deeper still, and bind you so you could never crawl back out?

"…Spare me the empty threats. I've already signed."

In front of the Emperor and your parents you were nothing but a cowering, friendless little boy, and now that you're in your own room, you find your courage. How valiant.

She let out a small, genuine laugh, then reached out her own hand in turn and pressed a final mark to the contract.

Now, then — sort through your own memories and choose what you'll disclose to me. Once I've reviewed that, I'll offer memories of my own to match.

"The contract didn't specify any order of disclosure, did it?"

Even if I raked through your entire life, it wouldn't amount to half of half of half of half of half — of half of mine! Enough chatter… take what you're being offered while I'm still being generous.

"……."

The golden woman waved me on with an air of perfect ease.

"So, um… how exactly am I supposed to hand it over?"

Exercise your will. It's not difficult. Think it through, organize it, then submit it.

…I'd have to have done it before to know how.

Still, I wasn't so defeatist as to give up before even starting. Following her words, Kariel calmly organized what he wished to show her.

Which meant….

Setting aside his vague, half-remembered early childhood —

Broadly speaking, from age fifteen until now. That much disclosed should be sufficient, shouldn't it?

Roughly two years' worth.

Having decided, he gave his inward permission — and for a moment.

As if an exchange had been struck and the bargain sealed, unknown memories welled up into him like springwater seeping through stone.

There wasn't much to them.

No — they were so starkly concise that he could only be bewildered — and then.

"……?!"

The Golden Beast.

The being heralded as the worst gold to ever curse the world.

The one said to have dragged the human race through four years of hell.

The Golden Demon King.

The existence who had handed down both the pretext and the beginning that made my father, and the Nine Heroes beside him, thunder across the world as its saviors.

He.

No — she….

"Y-you're?! Wh-why did you latch onto me?!"

Don't panic, child.

The woman smiled.

Did I choose it? You were the one who came to me. Let's be perfectly clear on that point, at least.

"……."

Seen like this, she was nothing more than a beautiful woman.

But that true form of hers was… a Demon King who had once dyed the world in the color of calamity.

She who was once called the Golden Demon King had been one of the vassals of the Great Demon King who unified the Demon Realm. And after the Great Demon King vanished, she had purged every rival and built a kingdom of her own — the last one standing, the final victor.

And yet, for reasons beyond my understanding, she now existed in this strange, translucent state.

"……."

To think you'd try to close out a contract by giving me nothing but your name! Isn't that rather stingy of you? Rather unfair, no? I'd expected at least this much grumbling and complaint — so you're not quite as green as you look. Heh heh heh!

"…You were the one who said it earlier. That if you meant to deceive me and strike from behind, you could have done far worse than this."

She was a Demon King, no less.

And the woman ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before me had not claimed that throne through raw strength alone.

Through wisdom and scheming — to be precise, through gold — she had become Demon King.

But had her martial power been weak, then? The tale that all nine of the Heroes had barely scraped out a victory on the edge of total annihilation could not possibly have been an exaggeration.

Even among the Heroes themselves, the subject of that Demon King remained taboo to this day. She had been feared to exactly that degree; they had been unable to suppress the shudder that gripped them at her name.

All of it was long past. And yet the wounds carved into them — the scars — remained, even now.

Had I truly resolved to deceive you, I could have called myself the Spirit King. I could have swindled you as a god, if I liked. That much was well within my power.

"Then why didn't you?"

Because I had no reason to.

She was utterly unbothered.

Why on earth would I stoop to imitating a rat? I might tease someone for sport, and if I were deceiving an enemy to win a war, that would be another matter entirely — but do I have any need to weigh such things now?

"But…."

Was she tethered to the surface of the world because she had lingering regrets? Or perhaps because she could not ascend to heaven, and must instead fall to hell — but could not even do that, and so clung to the earth against her will?

…I couldn't tell.

Worry yourself over nothing. I am a woman who knows how to accept defeat with grace. Had I lived, I'd have scraped and clawed and used whatever I could — however ignoble — to rise again. But as you can see, I'm dead, aren't I? Clinging and thrashing and dragging others down with me would be nothing but ugly. No fun in it at all.

"Doesn't it trouble you? What became of your people?"

What business is it of mine? The dead do not meddle in the lives of the living. I am no wraith and no vengeful spirit. What could I possibly pine for, that I should fret over earthly affairs even after death?

…It wasn't irresponsibility, exactly.

Her words held plenty of reason in them, in their own way.

Though perhaps.

Perhaps even this was nothing more than a disguise — a mask worn to deceive Kariel himself.

I made every preparation, in any case. If they are truly my people, they will most likely be maintaining proper relations with all of you as we speak.

Her smile turned feral.

Those who didn't heed my word are no doubt still being persecuted, hunted down, culled. Every field yields exactly what was sown in it. It is a subject's duty to obey when their king commands. Those who defy the throne must pay the price.

"……."

Was that the mindset of a tyrant?

Or the mindset of a rational sovereign?

Honestly, I couldn't tell.

More to the point — having seen your memories, my curiosity has only multiplied. I find I want to know it more deeply. Now that I've got the groundwork of you and the people around you, let's hear it properly, shall we? Why a man like you ended up in such a wretched state. What happened in your past.

"……."

And of course, I'll pay a fitting price. The thing you need most, right now.

How about it, Kariel.

Do you want power?

Power enough to overturn your miserable fate.

Power more overwhelming than anything else in this world.

You could change the world. If you wished it.

"……."

It was, in every sense, a devil's temptation.

A devil never wagers on a losing bet.

Just as someone had once said.

And yet.

"I don't need it."

Hm?

What was that?

Had I misheard?

The Demon King's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brow furrowed, and a tiny crease drew itself across her forehead of flawless white jade.