Half a Month Until the Storm
It was morning by the time I opened my eyes, though I had no memory of when I'd fallen asleep the night before.
……Well, morning might be generous.
The clock had already crept past noon.
Worse still, the scent of the night's passion still lingered, seeping into her nose, and Aria let out a slow, heavy breath, sinking into the exhaustion and afterglow rolling over her.
And even like this, Lapis wanted more……?
Even taking turns sharing the bed as two wives, it would have been a struggle.
How on earth had Lapis endured being with Rohen alone, night after night?
She'd lost count of how many times he had finished inside her. Her lower belly still tingled with enough heat that she could vividly recall the weight and shape of him, and her womb, filled with a strange satiation, was still convulsively spilling out the excessive seed within.
She might not be able to wear a skirt for a while.
One step, and she was certain it would come dripping down her thighs to the floor.
And yet, when she looked back at the large hand wrapped around her from behind, at Rohen sleeping soundly with his face nuzzled against the small of her back like a child, a happy smile spilled out of her all on its own.
She was the one who'd been worked the hardest, so why on earth was Rohen the one still sleeping like this?
Maybe I'll stay like this a little longer.
He'd wake the moment she stirred, but for some reason she didn't want to. Especially not now, past noon, when the maids came knocking at the door — Aria only waved them away.
Lapis might well be jealous of her for still hogging Rohen all to herself, but the desire to be greedy just a little longer won out.
Hardly an unreasonable greed, was it?
"You're awake?"
But as if he had no inkling of what was in her heart, Rohen fidgeted and rolled over, his eyes drifting slowly open.
At moments like this, he truly was infuriating.
His eyes were still hazy, unfocused with lingering drowsiness, but when he reached out one large hand to brush the hair from her forehead and pressed a kiss full of affection there, even the irritation she'd felt a moment before seemed to melt away like snow.
Was there any moment happier than the one when a wife could be certain she was loved by her husband?
"Satisfied?"
Since they were both awake now, there was no chance of lounging around tangled together any longer, so Aria pushed herself upright.
The blanket slid down, baring every unmistakable trace of the night, and she snorted a laugh.
"No need to ask, really."
It made her think of a child who'd gotten paint on their hands and feet and crawled all over a pristine white canvas — even that might come out cleaner than this. Aria dampened a white cloth with water and meticulously wiped the dried, pale residue from her body.
"Should I call the maids……?"
Rohen asked, lending his words the power of his Dragon Tongue, but Aria shook her head.
"I already sent them out once. And I'm not shameless enough to let them wait on my bath while showing them all of this."
Clear handprints marked her wrists and ankles, her full breasts. From her slightly parted sex, seed that had yet to dry still trickled down.
Worst of all, the seed that had traveled past her perineum to the vicinity of her rear had dried to a whitish crust, and as Aria wiped that region clean she couldn't help but feel a flush of shame.
"Thank the gods you weren't born a commoner. If you'd ever bedded the girls at a brothel, they'd all have had to retire after a single night."
"Mind your language……"
"Loosening a maiden into a rag in one night, and now he wants to lecture me on decorum."
Aria stuck her tongue out briefly, playfully berating him as she set the cloth aside.
"Come on."
"Where to?"
"A bath. I'd be too embarrassed to have the maids serve me, but I suppose it's fine to have the husband who did this to me do it instead."
Before Rohen could even answer, Aria reached out with both hands, pulled him into her embrace, and settled herself skillfully onto his lap.
Even in that brief moment of climbing over, the seed trickling from her sex ran down her thigh, and Aria pressed her legs together slightly.
"Hurry. Because of you I smell of fish, I feel grimy, my back aches, and my lower belly stings. I need to soak in hot water and let it all go."
Faced with that impossible-to-refuse coquetry, Rohen could only surrender. He did what he could to straighten her thoroughly rumpled dress, rose from the bed, and made his way toward the bath.
Afterward, Aria soaked luxuriously in the warm water, leaned lightly against Rohen's shoulder, and let out a languid sigh at the limp, boneless feeling before speaking.
"And yet at times like this he's all cute and shy. How ugly those veins were when it was swollen, and now look at it."
She teased playfully, prodding at the shrunken member visible beneath the water's surface.
"I suppose this little one's used up all its strength too. Still, I'm sure I felt better than Lapis did. Half our blood is shared, after all — isn't it practically a custom-fitted sheath for your blade?"
"……"
Her phrasing was astonishing in an entirely different way — Rohen was struck speechless, and yet laughter escaped him all the same.
It wasn't entirely wrong, come to think of it.
Once they had bathed clean and emerged properly dressed, Lapis was waiting to greet them both.
"Did you have a pleasant night?"
"Pleasant, my foot. If we weren't husband and wife, Rohen would be rotting in prison for violating an imperial princess."
"P-please, Your Highness……"
Blushing and stammering, Lapis soon turned to Rohen and drew close.
「Good morning. Though 'morning' is rather a stretch at this hour.」
Rohen answered her with the paper and pen he always carried tucked at his breast, and when Lapis rose on tiptoe to loop her arms around his neck, he pressed a practiced, gentle kiss to her lips.
……
Watching the scene, Aria found herself pouting without meaning to, her head tilting slightly.
With her sitting right there, the two of them were staging an awfully fresh, romantic tableau — how was she supposed to be pleased about that?
But when Aria saw Lapis retreat after the kiss ended, instead of kissing Rohen herself——
"Hup—!"
She grabbed Lapis by the arm, pulled her close by the waist, and kissed her on the lips.
Lapis couldn't comprehend what had just happened — a heartbeat later she shoved Aria away and scrubbed at her lips with the back of her hand.
"Wh-wh-what do you think you're doing?!"
"You can hardly begrudge me the leftovers."
Aria shrugged and ran her tongue slowly over her own lips.
What an analogy……
Rohen sighed inwardly at the sight, but when Aria whimpered that her back hurt and asked for his arm to lean on, he offered it.
Instead, Lapis — her eyes glinting slyly — slipped into that spot first.
"Excuse me……?"
"I'm merely returning what I received. Supporting Her Highness the Princess is no trouble for me either. Shall we go eat?"
Aria flustered and tried to snatch her hand back, but Lapis, who had received no small amount of tutelage under her father Duke Asis, lightly suppressed the resistance and swept Aria along ahead of her.
Was this what it looked like when a sheep that had strayed from the flock got herded away by the sheepdog?
Chuckling softly, Rohen gazed up at the sky through the window, where relatively gentle sunlight streamed in.
The weather was brilliantly clear.
But beyond it, the Demonic World Tree, grown every bit as tall, loomed faintly into view.
Time that flowed on with no fixed destination was a rather frightening thing.
Because one only ever realized its passing after the fact.
"……It's grown so much."
"The Magic Tower was in an uproar over it too, when I visited a few months ago."
Like the North Star guiding travelers through the night sky, the Demonic World Tree had now grown to the point where it could be spotted at a glance from anywhere on the continent.
Even if one wished to look away, it filled the eyes — and so the anxiety of the populace, quiet for a time, would only swell anew.
With the timing this ripe, suppressing things by simply banning the hunting of monsters would no longer suffice.
"Besides, it's time everyone learned proper vigilance. In a way, that's for the best. No one can live on by forcibly forgetting a crisis looming right in front of them."
"They say a man's breeding instinct sharpens when he faces his own death. Is that what's been driving you lately?"
"……Come again?"
This outing was a rare change of pace, taken ahead of the season when everything would grow busy again — and here was Aria, out of nowhere, hanging an accusation on me.
I made an aggrieved face.
"……I was only wondering if that's why you've been pushing me even harder in bed than before. Or is this your roundabout way of saying you're dissatisfied with us? Look — Lapis isn't complaining, is she? It's not as if either of you could possibly have gotten used to keeping pace with my absurd stamina."
"I-I don't think that at all……"
"Slithering out of it with sweet words, just like a snake — though I suppose that's not a bad survival skill in its own right. Don't worry, Lapis. I'll play the villain."
"Th-that's not what I meant."
I was about to add my own word in defense of Lapis's troubled expression, but Aria reached out and jabbed me in the cheek.
"Kidding."
Then, with a soft laugh, she settled into her seat and slowly laid her head on my lap.
For all the moments she could be maddening, at times like this she was more than lovely enough — my hand drifted naturally to her spilled platinum hair, smoothing it down gently.
Watching us, Lapis pressed herself snugly against my other side and leaned in as well.
And so, saying nothing at all, the three of us simply savored the noon spring breeze as it blew past.
……From here on out, there would truly be no room left to enjoy even this small sliver of ease.
Thirteen days ago, we had sent word to the Allied Kingdoms to fix a date for a final summit — meaning the Demonic World Tree's revival was at most half a month away.
To buy even a little more time, we had settled on a policy for the regions bordering the Barren Lands: near the frontier, the monsters were no longer simply to be hunted, but driven back with greater force.
But monsters were not without intelligence. They had learned the pattern, and injuries among the hunters were mounting — the approach had its limits.
That the timing might come earlier than expected couldn't be helped, but in truth it didn't even register as a variable, so I felt nothing particular about it.
"How goes the growth of your mana?"
"At the longest, three months. At the shortest, about a month. By then I may be able to break past my current limit."
Those gifted with mana expand their capacity little by little — depleting the mana they hold and drawing in fresh stores to replace it.
Of course, the width of that limit is fixed from birth, something no amount of effort can overcome.
That Aria's mana capacity was still climbing without hitting any wall was genuinely remarkable.
By the rumors spreading about, she stood on the verge of the rank of Overlord before long — frankly, a claim hard to believe.
Her mother's line, after all, traced back to Duke Alteir, who had been executed in his youth.
Blood could not be denied, it seemed — the qualities of a peerless mage had been passed down to her in full.
"Asking questions you never bother with on ordinary days. I suppose even you have your quiet anxieties."
"……It's nothing like that."
"You wouldn't be saying this sort of thing otherwise?"
I answered with silence and scratched my cheek.
"Still, it's better than agonizing alone in the dark. I'd rather see that side of you than not."
"You can lean on me too, Lord Rohen."
Lapis, quiet until now, wrapped her arms around mine and held on.
"Of course I'll rely on you too, Lapis. Dana will be joining us once she graduates from the Academy and settles her personal affairs. The two of you can lend me your stratagems together."
There was only one of me, after all. I dared not entertain the arrogance that I could end a war single-handedly.
"Oh — come to think of it, your birthday is coming up soon, isn't it?"
"We've done nothing but receive from you all this while. Is there anything you might wish for?"
"Hmm…… I'll have to think on it."
Half a month was the outermost limit.
Which meant that if we lost the war, my next birthday would never exist at all.
Spending that final birthday in a way that meant something — there were worse fates.
With the summit at hand, the final council between the Allied Kingdoms and the Empire convened.
I attended the session openly and without apology, accompanied by Dana, who had at last joined my side, and by my father and the assembled ministers.
Once we took our seats, the atmosphere was as grim as expected.
Despite the considerable number gathered, a solemn hush hung over the chamber as everyone sat.
This summit centered on me, in truth, and seeing every seat filled with not one vacancy, I lent my voice the power of the Dragon Tongue and rose.
Into my hand, conjured from thin air through transmutation, came the artifacts — the Banholhyang and the White Feather Fan.
Those appointed as chief envoys had received such things as well, and presumably taking these as an extension of the same, they showed no surprise.
"The matter most on everyone's minds ahead of this summit must be the war that erupted the last time the Demonic World Tree revived. The Banholhyang could summon the souls of the dead for conversation, and so I was granted the rare privilege of speaking directly with His Imperial Majesty, the First Emperor."
"Ohh…… Then might you summon him once more?"
"Regrettably, a soul once called cannot be called again. But please, do not worry. I had prepared my questions in advance and obtained the necessary information before I ever used it. The only reason I did not summon him at that time was that it predates the appointment of the chief envoys."
With that, I shared, step by step, the information I had gathered on that occasion.
"The Demon King's own power is the very crystallization of raw martial force. His Majesty described him as close to a one-man legion, and surmised that with each successive revival of the Demonic World Tree, the reincarnated Demon King and his armies would return bearing ever greater strength."
"You mean to say that even if our present forces surpass those of the past, this could still be a desperate, grueling battle……"
"Quite possibly."
I let the words trail off, and sighs escaped from those around the table.
"That said, there is no cause for despair. The armies of men were once utterly overwhelmed by the Demon King's legions as well — yet in the end, did we not fight them to an even footing through the development of artifacts powered by magic stones? His Majesty judged it highly likely that something similar will occur this time as well."
"But there is no guarantee of that, is there?"
"His Majesty the First Emperor was not certain either…… but I found the counsel sound. From the first, it is a strange contradiction that the very demons who are our mortal enemies should provide us with anything of benefit. His Majesty called the Demonic World Tree itself a guillotine that tests the greed of mankind."
And so the most important thing, one might say, is moderation.
Turning that profit to good use to avert crisis in the thick of war is all well and good — but if, blinded by that profit, we cling to it even after the war ends……
We would sow with our own hands the seeds of leaving another Demonic World Tree behind.
"The reason detailed records of that past war do not survive, His Majesty said, is that he purged them himself for precisely this reason. He judged that even leaving behind those records and his counsel, we would likely fail to destroy the tree even after winning — and so he arranged for fear of the unknown to compel the destruction instead."
"I apologize for raising such doubts at this late stage, but frankly, it strikes me as suspiciously convenient — as though the pieces have been assembled a little too neatly."
"……No. Your suspicion is entirely fair."
I nodded.
"But then, do I have any motive to deceive you? To cast the pact aside and reduce the Allied Kingdoms to vassalage through a monopoly on Permanent Magic Stones? Had I harbored such intentions, I would have acted when the plague first spread. Delay only a little longer, and countless people would have crossed the border into the Empire by desperate force. I could have treated only the royal families, left the rest to rot, and provoked a revolt."
Khem!
Perhaps because of how nakedly blunt my rebuttal was, the delegates of the Allied Kingdoms coughed into their fists, faces stiff with discomfort.
"We grant that Prince Rohen's argument has merit, but taken as you say, does it not imply that with every war, the balance between our two sides naturally realigns itself……"
"And is there any guarantee that a coin flipped a hundred times will land heads every throw? His Majesty's conjecture is indeed a highly probable inference — but we must prepare for contingencies all the same."
"……"
"Which is why the founding principle remains unchanged: victory in the war first, then the destruction of the Demonic World Tree."
As if to forestall any further protest on that point, I struck the table with some force, swept my gaze around the chamber, and continued sharing the information I had withheld until now.
When at last it ended, I sat back and wet my throat with cold water — and my father rose to his feet.
"Now then — no need for anyone to overcomplicate this. From what you've heard, the first matter of priority is this: by what condition does the Demon King arrange his own death? Uncovering that is the crux of it all."
Settling the matter with swift efficiency, I lent my voice the Dragon Tongue once more and added to my father's words.
"Therefore, I propose we do not passively await the Demonic World Tree's revival, but deliberately force it to full bloom at a moment of our own choosing. Delaying it further may be beyond us — but hastening it remains well within our power."
At my words, puzzled expressions spread around the table.
Understandable — even if postponement were impossible, what possible sense could there be in moving it earlier?
"Set aside the Banholhyang. This artifact — no, this sacred relic, the White Feather Fan — can read the past as far back as three hundred years."
The plan I had in mind was comparatively simple.
First, we would fix a date and deliberately slaughter the monsters, bringing the Demonic World Tree's growth to completion and forcing the Demon King's army to reincarnate.
Then I — lying in wait in advance — would strike with a single blow from the most powerful of the divine artifacts I had transmuted.
Ideally, that ambush alone would end it, but that would not come to pass.
However, the most desperate moment — the instant of his revival, when the enemy crashes upon us — should induce a comparatively simple choice of death.
Within that fleeting instant, he would not have the composure to weigh the intricacies of an elaborate death condition.
Then, falling back, we would use the White Feather Fan to peer into the past and seize our clue.
And to be clear, hastening the schedule did not mean doing so now.
If six months were to remain, we would execute the plan when five months remained — that is all.
The Demonic World Tree's revival had been fixed at roughly half a month away, but calculating the precise date carried too much uncertainty.
To wield this means correctly, we had no choice but to kill the monsters ourselves and set the timing to the hour.
"……If you possess a trump card powerful enough to throw us into crisis in a single instant, would it not be better to husband it carefully instead?"
"We must end this war in the shortest term possible. Planning for a prolonged conflict offers nothing but loss — it only manufactures excess variables. And do not hope too much for miracles. The power of the Dragon Tongue is not omnipotent."
With those words, I began, together with all those gathered here, to sketch the blueprint in finer detail.