Chapter 257: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (50)
Chapter 257: Lainella's Fate is Decided by Lainella (50)
At the man’s indifferent words, the Saintess felt a surge of frustration and could only raise her voice in response.
Having grown up as an orphan, her love and care for the weak were genuine. She wasn't the type to be convinced and move on so easily.
“Did you know it would turn out like this?! If you did, you could have kept that Dark Priest alive and sought another solution!”
“Keep Mitram alive?”
The man let out a short, mocking snort, as if the idea was utterly absurd.
Perhaps it was the alcohol, but he was showing slightly more emotion than before. Even so, it was a faint flicker, barely recognizable unless one looked closely.
“Don’t make me laugh… Do you have any idea how rare it is for that cunning bastard to reveal his true body? If I had let him live, he might have operated for years to come. And the number of people who would have been hurt or killed by his schemes would have exceeded hundreds, at the very least.”
“T-That may be true, but…”
This is your territory, the Saintess wanted to say, but the man’s expression was nothing short of frigid.
He spoke in a resolute tone.
“There are no ‘buts’ in war. If you look at every individual case, everyone has their own circumstances. That’s why you must always make the most efficient and rational choice… You can’t make exceptions. Not for me, and not for anyone else.”
It was the Saintess who ran out of words first.
This was a matter involving at least hundreds of lives. There was no way she could take responsibility for those countless lives just by arguing. Having saved and lost many lives herself, she understood the weight of his words.
The next to offer a rebuttal was Elsie.
Her attitude was slightly softer than before, yet her voice was still laced with firm hostility.
“……You won’t know unless you try, right?”
The man didn’t even spare Elsie a glance.
He simply tilted the whiskey bottle again. Half of the heavy liquor was already gone.
Infuriated by the blatant disregard, Elsie shouted.
“You’re not the Master anyway! Who are you to tell us to abandon the Master’s territory?! Do you have any idea how strong the Lainella family’s Magic Corps is? How can you say that without even trying……!”
However, her heated voice was soon cut short.
The man simply looked at Elsie.
His eyes were so devoid of emotion it was chilling. If there were a person who could live without a heart, one couldn't help but think it would be the man standing before them.
There was no personal feeling in the man’s decision.
Yet, Elsie felt as if she could glimpse the man’s memories through that parched expression. She clenched her fists and turned her head away.
It wasn't that he didn't want to save them.
He simply couldn't.
He had likely tried, over and over again.
In the distant future.
And after falling and being wounded too many times, he had simply stopped trying.
“Is the talking over? I’ll handle the persuasion of the Head of the Family, Arthur, and Sir Reynold myself, so everyone, pack your bags quickly. This is a large-scale operation; there’s no more time to waste.”
As the man finished speaking and stood up, someone spoke up.
“……If you abandon it like that?”
It was Celine.
With confusion still lingering in her eyes, she asked again in a trembling voice, not even knowing if it was a question or a provocation.
“By abandoning everything like that, what exactly did you protect, Brother?”
The man’s hand, which had been reaching for the whiskey on the table, paused.
His eyes turned toward Celine with scrutiny.
Unlike the other women, Celine did not stop. Instead, she poured out her increasingly heated emotions.
“Family? Friends? Or a lover? What on earth did you protect by going as far as abandoning your territory……!”
“The world.”
Silence fell instantly.
Celine’s eyes drifted blankly toward the man.
He had emptied half a bottle of strong liquor. His pupils should have been unfocused by now, yet his gaze remained piercing.
Like embers remaining in a pile of ash.
“……Other than that, I couldn't protect anything.”
Family, friends, lovers.
All of them.
The man took one last swig of whiskey and trudged away.
His back looked profoundly lonely.
In the painful silence, only the Saintess let out a prayer mixed with a sigh.
“Immanuel……”
Abandoning hundreds of lives.
That was the conclusion reached in that room.
The man’s actions after leaving the reception room were unprecedented.
He immediately sought out Arthur, the Administrator of the Empire.
Just as he had with the women, the man explained the situation, but Arthur didn't seem convinced.
The man had walked into the meeting room reeking of alcohol. No matter how much information he claimed to have obtained from the Dark Priest, it was hard to trust him implicitly.
Arthur shook his head and spoke.
“It is impossible. This is a matter His Majesty the Emperor is personally interested in. To launch a large-scale retreat based solely on the words of a Dark Priest……”
It was then that the man traced his finger through the air.
Strange characters began to be engraved in the void, as if blood were flowing down.
As an Administrator of the Empire, there was no way Arthur wouldn't recognize them.
Arthur’s eyes bulged as if they were about to pop out.
Despite the dramatic reaction, the man spoke in a flat, level voice.
“This is not a request; it is an order. Take responsibility and carry out the retreat operation. Tell Sir Reynold that this is an Imperial Decree.”
“……Y-Yes, sir!”
Arthur was merely an administrative official of commoner birth with no backing. It was impossible for him to refuse the man’s command.
No, even if he had backing, it was an instruction he couldn't decline.
The Dragon Blood Runes were synonymous with the Emperor’s authority.
Therefore, an order given by a possessor of the Dragon Blood Runes was identical to an order from the Emperor himself.
Unless the Emperor personally appeared out of nowhere to revise the instructions, it meant Arthur had to carry out the man’s will even at the cost of his life.
Stunned, Arthur suddenly remembered something and hurriedly stood up, attempting to kneel.
That is, until the man’s cold voice struck him down.
“Do you have time for such useless formalities? Then get to work immediately.”
“U-Understood!”
Arthur had no choice but to sit back down, his voice trembling.
After revealing the Dragon Blood Runes, everything proceeded with lightning speed.
Persuading Viscount Percus was also simple.
By borrowing the authority of Arthur, the Imperial Administrator, and relaying the message as an Imperial Decree, it was settled. There was no noble in the Empire who could defy the Emperor’s will.
Viscount Percus appeared confused, but he soon had to issue orders to his household with a sigh.
To issue an evacuation order for the entire territory.
Of course, the man’s storm-like progress didn't stop there.
Having moved to the back garden, he spoke in an indifferent voice.
“……Neris.”
“Yes, Lord Ian.”
As if it were the most natural thing, a shadow descended behind the man.
It was Neris of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, a beauty with brown hair and deep green eyes. She had been hiding in the back garden of the Percus mansion while gathering information.
“Send word to the Sword Duke through the communication network. Tell him it seems he needs to come to the Percus territory. And request the dispatch of the White Wing Knights.”
“……P-Pardon?”
Neris had decided not to harbor any more doubts, but the content was so shocking that she couldn't help but let out a bewildered sound.
The Sword Duke was a member of the Imperial Family and the only Master in the Empire. He was not a figure anyone could simply tell to come or go.
This remained true even if the person was a possessor of the Dragon Blood Runes. The Sword Duke was a great elder of the Imperial Household, someone even the Emperor acknowledged and deferred to.
Furthermore, the White Wing Knights—it was equivalent to asking for the dispatch of one of the elite knight orders of the Imperial Central Army.
However, Neris soon bowed and accepted the man’s command.
Her eyes, which had been blankly staring at the man, had caught sight of the hand axe.
Upon seeing it, she immediately returned to being Ian’s loyal subordinate.
“I-I will do as you say!”
Despite her belated compliance, the man seemed somewhat dissatisfied.
He tapped the hand axe hanging at his waist as if deep in thought. With every tap, beads of sweat dripped from Neris’s forehead.
Fortunately, the man didn't actually draw the axe.
He merely issued a warning in a chilling tone.
“……Don’t forget. An Imperial Crow must be blind.”
It meant she should feign ignorance of the person’s identity and the information she had gathered. It also meant she should quietly follow the orders from above like a blind person who knew nothing.
As if to show she would keep it in mind, Neris struck her head against the ground once and hurriedly departed.
It was to activate the Imperial Intelligence Agency’s communication network.
While the events unfolded at a frantic pace, a bottle of whiskey was always in the man’s hand.
The first bottle he had been drinking was long empty. Now, even the second bottle was more than half gone. A slight drunken flush was inevitable on the man’s face.
It was a wonder that his eyes remained sharp despite the alcohol.
The man walked unsteadily toward the room prepared for him in the mansion. It was early evening, but it was time for him to lie down and sleep.
However, there was one person who followed him.
It was Reto.
As soon as he found the man, he grabbed his shoulder.
The man’s gaze naturally turned back, and Reto asked while meeting those golden eyes.
“……Is it impossible for you?”
No answer came from the man.
So Reto had to ask again.
“With your power, can’t you defeat that Agent of the Evil God or whatever it is?”
Before long, a sigh heated by alcohol escaped.
The man placed a hand on his forehead and then shook his head.
“I can’t. Even being summoned now is an exceptional situation. Because of this, things are going to get difficult for a while… There’s a limit to how much I can personally twist the future.”
That was why he could only provide fragmentary information, the man added.
While he could provide more detailed information now because there were already known clues, the more specific the information he provided beforehand, the more power it consumed.
That alone was enough of a result for Reto having stopped the man.
Nevertheless, Reto seemed to have more questions.
In a serious tone, he pressed the man for additional information.
“Then what about providing your memories to Ian? From what Ian says, he’s been having mysterious dreams… Aren't those your memories? It seems he’s even learning the techniques you used after that.”
The man didn't deny that deduction.
He simply let out another sigh.
“……The synchronization rate has become too high.”
“What?”
“The synchronization rate… That novice has peeked at my memories too much. That’s why, even though I should only appear when I want to, I get summoned whenever he loses consciousness.”
He exhaled a long breath and leaned his back against the wall next to the door.
As if to finish off the remaining alcohol, the man tilted the whiskey bottle and gulped it down.
“The more that happens, the more he’s bound to be influenced by my intense emotions… If his mental strength were as strong as mine, it might be different, but there’s no way. That’s why he’s becoming increasingly violent and strange.”
“……What happens if the synchronization rate gets higher than this?”
“I don’t know.”
The man shrugged and added.
“Do you think I’m the second person to ever return to the past? I’m the first in history… So I don’t know. I have no choice but to be cautious.”
Because if the novice breaks, it’s all over.
With that faint murmur as his final word, the man drained the last of the liquor onto his tongue.
Then, wiping his mouth, he unsteadily opened the door to his room.
It was a signal to end the conversation.
Reto simply watched him quietly.
Instead of a farewell, Reto uttered a single-syllable question.
“……Why?”
The man’s golden eyes flickered toward Reto.
His movements were already those of a drunkard, but his gaze was incredibly intense. It felt like looking at someone who couldn't get drunk even if they wanted to.
“Even if you save this world, there’s no benefit for you… So why are you going to such lengths?”
Keeping his mouth shut, the man stared into space for a moment.
His silence didn't last long.
The man let out a hollow laugh and replied.
“……I don’t know.”
Those were the last words the man left that day.
*
The next day, Ian Percus returned.
“……What is all this?”
He was met by the people around him, whose attitudes toward him had completely changed.