Chapter 143: Plaudite! (2)
Chapter 143: Plaudite! (2)
About an hour earlier, Cruel had inspected his sword.
He seemed thoroughly determined, stashing several daggers not only on his sword belt but also against his thighs, drawing and sheathing them a few times. Watching his actions silently from one corner, his subordinate Senzer quietly spoke up.
"You're going, then."
"Yeah."
"I'll follow."
"No."
Clack. Having finished his preparations, Cruel turned to face him with an expressionless face. The subordinate who had always silently supported him from behind, seemingly present and absent at once, was looking at him.
How long had it been since he met him? They had been together even before entering the Duke's service, so he was certain it was no short span of time.
A subordinate he trusted—or had trusted—enough to rely on and entrust things to, even if he had never expressed it outwardly.
Thanks to him, Cruel had learned one thing.
"Senzer."
"Yes."
"When did it start? You no longer calling me 'my lord'?"
The measure of betrayal was not divided by the length of time spent together.
He thought about it. How had the Duke obtained that note? The moment he broadened his perspective slightly, the answer came readily.
Cruel closed his eyes gently. His eyelids trembled faintly above them, as if his pupils were wandering.
"Just when..."
In contrast to the price of the uncovered truth being his life, the answer was utterly pathetic.
"...did you become the Duke's eyes?"
He suppressed and swallowed the wretchedness he could not bring himself to show.
There was no one else who knew of the note's existence and route and could intercept it. Because Senzer had always been watching from behind whenever Cruel did something.
Even if they couldn't be together twenty-four hours a day, just as when Cruel participated in the hunting competition to save Deon Hart, Senzer had pieced together the circumstances and reported to the Duke without necessarily following and watching, Senzer would have noticed the contents of Cruel's commission. And so, he would have reported it this time too.
"......Does that matter?"
Senzer lifted his gaze, which had momentarily been directed downward, and met Cruel's eyes. A gaze so utterly unashamed it could render a spectator speechless stared directly into the green eyes.
"......No."
As if asking when he had ever shown agitation, the green eyes were calmly settled.
Now was not the time to waste attention on something irrevocable. Cruel adeptly averted his gaze.
"I will not permit you to follow."
"But I...."
He knew. You must have orders from the Duke to watch me.
But did I necessarily have to accommodate that?
"I don't have a strong enough stomach to move with a traitor at my side during something important."
"......."
"If I fail, you can just kill me. Is there really a need for you to follow and monitor me in person? There are probably others besides you hiding and watching me in secret."
"......Understood."
The watchers would move the moment any suspicious signs appeared.
Senzer nodded obediently and withdrew.
Tap. Something cold settled on the tip of my nose.
"Ah, snow...."
Snowflakes filled the sky and swirled so densely it was hard to believe it had only just started, flooding my field of vision. In stark contrast to the pure white snow, the insides of me felt like they were blackening to cinders.
Goddamn my luck. War's going to get rough. Seeing how thick the flakes were, it looked like it was going to pile up quite a bit...
'But seriously, how far was this bastard planning to drag me?'
I glared resentfully at the thick-knuckled hand pulling my wrist along.
My sharp gaze should have been palpable enough, but there was no way a grip that hadn't loosened even when I thrashed and swore earlier would come undone from just that. Having already thrown a fit and exhausted my strength, I soon gave up and moved as the bastard led, recalling the earlier situation.
After narrowly escaping the demons' trap, getting lost, encountering another group of demons, and barely surviving that god-awful situation to return—
Honestly, I didn't remember the circumstances of my return very well. My arms and legs hurt like crazy and my body wouldn't move, so I was too busy just focusing on my own state. I do remember the mad dogs carrying me, but... at any rate, the fact that I returned safely was certain.
And I became a hero! I was already a hero, but...!
'Damn. Who knew that path was the supply route?'
The demons I encountered had been the ones transporting supplies.
'As if I didn't already have enough internal enemies, looks like I just made more....'
As is usually the case, the closer one gets to power, the more extreme those become who can't stand idly watching someone else rise steadily.
The checks on me would probably intensify too. The number of assailants would definitely increase.
Already, talk was going around that I had arbitrarily cut off a route that could have been exploited in reverse.
Of course, it seemed nobody was paying it any mind since it was clearly bullshit no matter who heard it, but it was infuriating nonetheless. That wasn't my intention, I tell you.
'What do you want me to do about it? It got cut off because those mad dogs ran wild and caused a landslide....'
I remembered that part clearly, precisely because I'd nearly died. I really thought that place was going to be our grave back then.
Even amidst the frantic escape, the way they carefully looked after me—a cumbersome piece of baggage—without ever letting me fall was a bit touching, but since they were also the root cause of me nearly dying, not many kind words came to mind at the time.
'Still, I got better quickly and I'm up and moving like this now. Maybe I should think of it as thanks to them.'
My body was fine, thanks to the mad dogs going berserk and shouting for a physician the moment they arrived. There were no major issues, though they said my muscles were heavily damaged from overexertion. Ah, and they said my leg bone was slightly misaligned, so they reset it properly too.
I heard our capable Lady Rien had barely managed to find the way back.
'Finding the path and controlling the mad dogs... you must've had a hard time, Lady Rien....'
Anyway.
I looked straight ahead. The dark back of the head walking in front of me entered my vision.
I'd barely finished treatment and was resting in my assigned barracks when he suddenly barged in, dragged me out, and just kept walking endlessly like this.
"Just what is it you have to say? I told you I had no intention of listening."
"......."
"......Goddamn bastard."
Goddamn Cruel Hart.
I chewed the curse, lacing it with all the emotion I could muster. It was then that his steps, which hadn't stopped throughout the entire journey, finally halted.
"......Deon."
Sching!
Letting go of my wrist was all well and good, but Cruel drew his sword.
......I admit I swore a bit, but was it really something worth going that far over?
With the familiar mountain range entrance as a backdrop, the sight of him approaching with a sword in one hand was intimidating enough that I faltered and stepped back. But he closed the distance in a single stride and placed his bandaged hand on my shoulder.
A small voice whispered.
"......There are people trying to kill you."
"Well, that's...."
"They're dead serious this time. They've sent enough force to kill a single Hero, and me along with it."
"......."
The words 'it's always been like that' went right back down my throat.
Forget the force sufficient to kill a Hero—they sent Cruel? To kill me?
'......Crazy.'
I knew Cruel's skill well.
Had he deliberately dragged me to a deserted place to kill me? But if that were the case, we'd moved far too much, and for far too long, to the point of being unnecessary....
Had my senses dulled because of his incomprehensible behavior? Even though I should have shaken off his hand immediately and put distance between us, strangely, I felt no killing intent despite this proximity.
As I hesitated because of this, he turned his body and pushed my shoulder lightly toward the mountain range.
"Go 'that way'."
"......!"
The familiar mountain range entrance, the long distance we'd traveled specifically to get here, and Cruel pushing me in that direction.
I grasped the situation quickly.
"Go, and don't ever come back."
Cruel knew that I came and went to the Demon Realm.
I needed to interrogate him. His voice had sounded strangely choked up, which made me hesitate for a moment, but I steadied myself, assuming it was my imagination.
"You...."
However, before I could get the words out fully, a throwing knife flew in from somewhere.
Cruel, who had deflected the one aimed precisely at my left eye with a lightning-fast swing of his sword, looked back at me as if urging me on. Facing his eyes, which rarely showed emotion, I faltered back with an unknowable fear, like someone confronting an unknown entity.
'But... even so, there's no way I can cross the boundary line of the mountain range....'
This boundary line was one that both the Demon King and the Emperor deliberately pretended not to know about and kept hidden. The slightest misstep could end up guiding the hidden attackers right to it, wherever they might be lurking.
'If that happens, won't the Demon King kill me...?'
I moved to survive, but I might end up in a situation where I die inste...!
As if they now considered Cruel, who had protected me, an enemy as well, countless throwing knives came flying, mixed among the snowflakes. With the two of us targeted broadly and the knives raining down like a shower, getting hit would turn anyone into a pincushion.
To make matters worse, the snow made it difficult to even pinpoint the exact positions of the knives.
I laughed hollowly.
'Yeah, I guess today's the day I die, one way or another.'
But at least it wasn't dying while exhausting myself trying to cross the mountain range. Wasn't that a relatively decent death?
Thanks to treatment, I could move around, but vigorous activity like combat was still difficult, so I was standing there half-resigned when Cruel pulled me toward him and swung his sword.
Clang! Thunk!
......Thunk?
"You...!"
There was no pain in my body. It meant I wasn't the one hit. Rolling my eyes slightly, I saw a dagger that hadn't been there before embedded in Cruel's right arm.
His left hand had been wrapped in bandages, and now his right arm too... He was really going all out.
Perhaps because it was for my sake, the sarcasm didn't make it past my lips.
"Why...."
Blood seeped out drop by drop, dyeing his clothes red and slowly running down to his sleeve. It felt like an illusion. I couldn't understand it.
Even while shielding me, he had allowed only a single attack to land. If Cruel had been alone, he could have deflected and dodged them all. Then why?
'Why did Cruel take that hit in my place?'
Hadn't Cruel abandoned me? Since when did he go this far for me? Don't tell me....
"Don't think about it."
My vision went dark.
A low voice cut off my frantically racing thoughts.
"Just like you always do. Rationalize it, and look away."
Clang, clang! Thunk! Slice!
My vision blocked, my sharpened hearing picked up the sounds of metal clashing and flesh being cut and slashed. Perhaps because of the bandages wrapped around them, the large hand covering my eyes was cold, like a corpse.
"But...."
My body was turned, and my vision cleared. Cruel and the attackers were apparently behind my line of sight; all I could see was the mountain range entrance, now closer than before.
Behind me, Cruel gripped my shoulder and continued speaking slowly.
"If you truly wish to open your eyes."
The brutal sounds continued as a backdrop. Thunk! The sound of someone being stabbed by a blade rang out directly behind my back.
I tried to turn around urgently, but the hand on my shoulder pressed down with force, restraining me. Instead, a low, calm voice, no different from usual, rang in my ear, as if to signal that he was fine.
"Then before you do, face all the things you've done up until now."
"......."
"Now, go."
Hurry.
On the day the Count's residence was covered in blood by the hands of his one and only younger sibling, Cruel had stood at a crossroads of choice.
Should he kill Deon and take revenge, or should he protect him, who had become his sole remaining blood relative?
Cruel's choice was the latter.
He knew his younger sibling had committed these acts out of some misunderstanding. He also knew it was connected to the Eight-Year War.
In such circumstances, even if he were to kill the child for revenge, all he would gain was an immense sense of loss.
In that overwhelming sense of loss, Cruel had no confidence that he wouldn't turn his sword upon himself.
Even if he took revenge, it was a life bound for death. That was also the reason he resolved to pour everything into his younger sibling instead.
'Move.'
He learned that there was someone behind the scenes responsible for Deon becoming involved in the Eight-Year War.
But their family had already died at the hands of the mistaken Deon. Fearing that the child, upon learning the truth, would go mad with guilt and vengeance, brandishing his sword in all directions and ultimately trying to take his own life, he decided to hide that fact.
'More.'
He learned that Duke Stave Illustar was targeting Deon.
He volunteered to stay by the Duke's side to distort and soften his orders.
'What should I do?'
Cruel Hart became the bait.
He concentrated Deon's anger onto himself so that Deon wouldn't question the circumstances of his participation in the Eight-Year War, and he served as a filter, sifting through the Duke's killing intent toward Deon at least once. In the midst of that, erasing any evidence that might cause Deon to harbor doubts was a bonus.
Perhaps that was why the sorcerer had said such a thing back then.
[If it truly seems you will die, kill that child first, and then die.]
He knew.
If I die, sooner or later, that child will learn the truth.
He knew it all. That he would be crushed by guilt and would whet his blade of revenge. That the sword drawn for vengeance might turn into a situation where he would seek out new targets for revenge simply to keep swinging the sword.
But.