The Sword That Screams
I truly cannot stand this...
Anastasia wanted nothing more than to throw the Hero's Party out of the council chamber on the spot, for daring to show up unannounced and uninvited.
The only reason she held back was their towering prestige in the Empire — prestige earned from the achievement of slaying the Demon King. Otherwise, she would have issued an order of expulsion without a second thought.
A campaign that never would have succeeded in the first place without Logan, who now stood behind her.
Every other member of the Hero's Party had been so utterly incompetent that they had actively hindered the subjugation rather than helped it. The mere thought of it made her blood boil hotter and hotter.
But I can't simply cast them out...
As she had reminded herself before, raising a fuss in this chamber — full of people who knew nothing of what had really happened on the campaign — would only cost her. No one else.
The Empire's political landscape stood as follows.
First, the Emperor Faction — loyalists supporting her, though vanishingly few in number. Then the Noble Faction, led by the loathsome Cardo. And finally, the Neutral Faction.
With the court split three ways like this, clashing publicly with the Hero's Party and its gleaming reputation would create nothing but trouble. All the more so now, when the Empire's reconstruction could not wait.
They're practically begging me to lose my temper and run wild. It will never happen.
With that resolve, Anastasia moved to open the council. And yet —
Before the first agenda item could even be raised —
"This reckless reconstruction project must not proceed!"
Rian bellowed, bulldozing straight over the flow of the meeting.
"...I believe I made myself perfectly clear, Hero? Refrain from unnecessary outbursts."
"How is this unnecessary? Have you not seen the suffering of the people ravaged by the Demon King's invasion? Taxing people already struggling to survive will only crush them further!"
"Which is why it has already been decided that the nobility — not the imperial citizens — will bear the financial burden."
Anastasia forced her voice into the calmest register she could manage, determined not to lose her composure as she explained to Rian.
Then she turned her gaze toward Cardo, seated in a quiet corner of the chamber.
"In fact, it strikes me as rather strange that you, Hero, know anything about a policy that hasn't even been implemented yet. Do you truly believe it's acceptable to leak council deliberations so freely, Duke Lindemark?"
The exact shape of the project had not yet been finalized — nor had the method of securing its funding.
The previous session had concluded only this: taxation would unavoidably rise to cover the enormous costs, and to lighten that burden on the common people, the nobles would shoulder a greater share of the expense.
And yet Rian was raging, even though the decision had been made precisely to minimize the taxes levied on the populace — which could only mean someone had been pouring oil on the fire.
"There's hardly any reason to keep it secret, is there? The Hero is a man who worries and agonizes day and night for the Empire's future."
The culprit himself, Cardo, shrugged with perfect nonchalance, sneering back with brazen shamelessness. A subtle twitch passed through Anastasia's brow as she swallowed a cold smile.
"Quite right. There's no need to hide it. But feeding him exaggerated or outright false information — that is a problem."
"False...? Exaggerated...?"
Bewildered by her words, Rian turned toward Cardo as if demanding an explanation.
Cardo flinched — he knew full well he had fed the Hero a distorted account — but quickly composed himself and deflected.
"I merely told the Hero what I knew. Nothing more."
"Oh? You told him what you knew, and that's why the Hero is this furious? The tax increase on ordinary citizens is hardly steep at all, is it?"
"Th... that is...!"
Cardo's mouth snapped shut under Anastasia's questioning. The truth was that the rate she had imposed on common citizens was genuinely modest.
People might grumble at the prospect of paying more, but if the reason was laid before them — an unavoidable project to rebuild the Empire — the amount was hardly beyond their means.
And so Cardo, scrambling for an answer, found himself utterly flustered.
He needn't have bothered.
Rian had already absorbed and judged the information entirely on his own, and he only raised his voice further.
"Regardless, it's true that taxes are going up, isn't it! And the nobles are citizens of the Empire too! I believe it is wrong to burden them like this!"
"Ha...!"
Anastasia could not suppress a bitter laugh at Rian's brazen obstinacy.
"Then are you suggesting we abandon the imperial reconstruction project altogether, Hero?"
Deciding there was no longer any reason to honor such a fool with respect, Anastasia dropped the honorific from his title entirely.
It was a clear signal of her displeasure, but Rian paid it no mind and shouted back with even greater pomp.
"That's not what I mean! The imperial household has amassed an enormous fortune over the years, hasn't it! If you simply put that to use..."
"How laughable. Do you honestly believe such a thing exists? Even if the treasury wanted to accumulate wealth, you and your church and your nobles would have embezzled it away under a hundred pretexts before a single coin remained."
"I beg your pardon?"
Caught completely off guard by Anastasia's retort, Rian's face went blank with confusion.
She fixed the fool with an icy stare and pressed on.
"Since the old days, they've dredged up every excuse imaginable to shortchange their taxes. Then during the Demon King's subjugation, they invented more excuses still and contributed not a single coin. Thanks to them, His Majesty — left without a budget or proper support — now lies bedridden and groaning. Do I truly need to spell it out this far before you understand, Hero?"
"Th... that's..."
As Rian faltered and fumbled, Sera cut in with a gentle, benevolent smile.
"Your Highness, I fear you exaggerate. The nobles each had their own circumstances, and as for the Church — we certainly never attempted to hide our assets. Every legitimate income was faithfully reported to the Empire on time, and we spared no expense in relief efforts for the poor."
"Ha...!"
Anastasia was left speechless by the vile hypocrisy of the woman before her. And Rian, mistaking her silence for concession, began to roar with renewed confidence.
"Precisely! Why do you heap the blame on us? Can you not see what's in front of you? Look how gaunt and haggard Duke Lindemark has become from his impoverished circumstances!"
Rian declared this with utter certainty, convinced that this time Anastasia would have no possible rebuttal.
But Cardo and Sera — who remembered the humiliation of the last council, and who knew exactly what was at stake — felt their expressions freeze in dismay.
You absolute fool of a Hero!
Hah — why couldn't this imbecile just keep his mouth shut!
Sera hurriedly stole a glance at the center of the section where the Neutral Faction's nobles were seated — at their leader, Duke Lionel von Barenhoff.
"......."
He listened to the argument in perfect silence, his face a blank mask. Sera had to click her tongue inwardly.
Tsk... this is bad...
His expressions rarely changed at the best of times, so she couldn't read his thoughts precisely — but the atmosphere was sour.
He was a noble himself, after all; naturally he would resent shouldering the financial burden of the project.
Yet the fact that he hadn't breathed a single word, simply watching from the sidelines, amounted to a declaration that he had no intention whatsoever of taking their side.
This idiot is ruining everything!
Too late, Sera jabbed her elbow into Rian's ribs to stop him — but the stubborn fool gritted through the pain and kept right on talking.
"Urgh..! Th... therefore, the funding for the reconstruction should be borne all the more by the imperial household! And beyond that, relief grain should be distributed to the impoverished citizenry..."
Then.
"Your head is still a field of flowers, Rian."
Logan, who had been listening in silence, cut him off with a voice like frost.
"What did you...?"
Rian, mid-peroration and brimming with self-importance, reeled at the unexpected strike. But Logan's expression didn't so much as flicker as he drove the blade in deeper.
"The Demon King is already dead. How long are you going to cling to this nonsense of yours and force it on everyone else?"
"Nonsense? This is conviction!"
"Conviction? Do you have any idea how many people died because of that conviction of yours?"
"That's...!"
For a moment, Rian had no answer to the accusation. A murmur began to ripple through the chamber.
"Sacrifices, because of conviction...?"
"It seems something unpleasant happened in the past..."
Sensing the tide turning against him, Rian hurriedly raised his voice in rebuttal.
"Digging up the past and cowardly muddying the waters — you've really changed, Logan! I told you clearly, didn't I? It was a sacrifice made for the greater good!"
"Ha...! Changed? Would it be strange if I had? I parted ways with someone like you — a man who never even tried to bend his damned stubbornness, who just wrapped the corpses of countless people in pretty packaging — so of course I changed!"
"Th... that's...! There was no choice! We are the righteous Hero's Party, carrying out the Goddess's will in fair and honorable..."
"What a joke! Did the Goddess truly tell you to do that? Did she tell you to place your precious fairness above human lives?!"
Had he ever, in his entire life, shouted with this much fury?
As if venting every emotion he had ever bottled up, Logan roared — and then shifted his gaze from the Hero to the Saintess.
"Asking you would be pointless. Better to ask that self-important Saintess over there! Am I wrong? Come on, Sera — answer me!"
"!!!"
The moment the arrow pointed her way, Sera panicked.
That useless, good-for-nothing imbecile!
She cursed Rian inwardly. His runaway tantrum had dragged them all into a truly dire situation.
If it were up to her heart alone —
I'd love nothing more than to say yes, it's all true...!
But she couldn't.
Anyone else, perhaps — but not to this man...!
She couldn't afford to. So Sera's mind raced, searching desperately for the right answer.
And then, unbearably —
"Don't torment Sera! I'll prove it myself!!"
Rian shoved in front of her and reached for the Holy Sword.
Sera went pale with horror and grabbed at him.
"No, Hero, don't!!!"
"Stay out of this, Sera! I have to show Logan — the traitor who abandoned our party to grovel at the Crown Princess's feet — exactly what the Goddess's will looks like!"
"Stop—!"
Sera fought desperately to restrain him. But Rian had already drawn the Holy Sword Elysium from its sheath.
And then —
WEEEEEEING!!!!
Elysium let out something like a scream, emitting a sinister, unstable vibration.
CRA-CRA-CRACKLE!!!!
White flames and bursts of what looked like lightning erupted erratically from the blade —
And then, suddenly, it exploded.
KWAAAAAAANG!!!!!!!
"AAAAAAGH!!!"