The Trusted Axe Strikes the Foot
A trusted axe will strike your own foot.
Evan left the task of greeting the guests entirely to Kaede and retreated to his room. He mechanically shed the black robe he wore and tossed it onto the wall hook, then undid a couple of buttons on the shirt that had been fastened tight to his throat.
“…Haa.”
Evan exhaled a weary sigh, as though venting his suffocating frustration, and sank into the chair at his desk. With an empty hand he picked up a thick bundle of research notes stacked on the surface. His languid eyes skimmed the title on the first page.
Research on Converting Death Energy into Life Energy… This should suffice.
It was a project he had recently finished with no intention of developing further. The work had produced respectable results and its value was assured, yet it lay far from his true goals, so its disappearance would mean nothing.
He spoke the incantation.
I OFFER
Black flames ignited. They consumed only the ink, never touching the paper itself. In less than ten seconds the research notes had become pristine white sheets. Evan confirmed that the sacrificed joint of his left index finger had returned cleanly, then set the blank pages down.
This one was a failure.
He could not even recall what research he had offered as the price, yet the meager amount returned told him everything. Evan clicked his tongue and muttered with self-mocking bitterness.
“I wasted time.”
The time he had poured into that research was half a year. Objectively, the knowledge gained from a mere six-month study had been rare enough to serve as a spell’s price. Subjectively, however, Evan considered it a failure. Had the knowledge been truly undiscovered by anyone else, the power returned would not have been so paltry.
A poor return meant not only that someone had already conducted similar research, but that Evan himself had failed to advance beyond it. Therefore, no matter what anyone said, it was a failure in his eyes.
Was the topic flawed from the beginning?
He stared at the empty pages, pondering what new research to begin, when a knock sounded at the door.
“Enter, Kaede.”
“Yes, Master.”
Unlike the brutal way she had torn the carriage door off its hinges earlier, Kaede opened the door with careful hands. She kept her arms behind her back as though concealing something, her expression apologetic as she avoided his gaze.
Evan asked with a sinking feeling.
“Did you kill the man? Or perhaps the older woman as well?”
“N-no! How could I commit such rudeness toward the guests Master personally invited! I assigned them two separate guest rooms according to gender and provided the fluffy blankets and refreshments I had prepared in advance!”
Then what did you do wrong that you’re watching me like this?
When Evan narrowed his eyes in deeper confusion, Kaede hesitated before finally offering what she had hidden behind her back.
“Master… this.”
A tiara studded with exquisite jewels.
Evan sighed.
“Kaede, the treasures in the underground vault were gathered for a different purpose. They are not trinkets to be used lightly.”
“But Master’s finger…”
Rather than explain at length, Evan simply waved his now-perfect left hand. Kaede’s eyes widened, then she dropped to her knees in overwhelming emotion.
“It has been only half a year since you began the research on converting death energy into life energy… Have you already completed it, Master?”
So that was the research I was conducting.
That saved him the trouble of asking.
“Master?”
“……”
Evan stayed silent, once more sinking into deep thought as he gazed at the blank paper. Knowing that their master would not stir even if thunder roared beside him in this state, Kaede did not press further and retreated with quiet steps.
“Then I shall return at dinnertime.”
Even as she spoke, Kaede knew the odds were high that Evan would skip the meal entirely.
He really ought to look after his health.
Unlike them, he was only human—fragile. Yet knowing the depth of his stubbornness, she could only swallow her worry and quiet bitterness.
“Hm?”
It was then that a single ray of sunlight slipped through the window.
In any other place it would have been an everyday occurrence. In Abaddon, it was a miracle that could never happen.
“Impossible.”
Kaede rushed to the window. In the garden visible directly below Evan’s room, a young girl stood with her hands clasped in prayer.
“How can such a thing…”
Sunlight fell only upon the spot where Iris prayed. It looked like the Heavenly Mother’s personal favor—as though even this forsaken land would answer if it was she who prayed there.
“Her name is Iris. She is the Saintess of the Heavenly God Church. Seems her mind is… damaged.”
At Evan’s explanation, Kaede flinched and spun around. He had approached without a sound and now stared down at the garden, brow furrowed.
“Hmm…”
He must not be displeased at having his concentration disturbed.
If her master was uncomfortable, she would stop the girl—even if it meant beating her unconscious. Power surged through Kaede’s limbs. She was about to leap down into the garden when—
STOP
Evan’s spell seized her. Her body felt dozens of times heavier; her mind flooded with inexplicable fatigue and irritation. She could have forced her way through if she truly wished, yet the simple fact that Evan had intervened became the heaviest shackle of all.
“Forgive me! I lost my reason again and—”
Kaede apologized at once, carefully reading his expression. Instead of anger she found the faint curl of a smile at the corner of his mouth—the rare, pleased look that appeared only when his research had taken a significant leap forward.
“Master? Have you had a promising idea…?”
“Kaede. In that state, can you break the spell using nothing but raw strength?”
“Only… strength, my lord?”
She could ignore the spell and move. She could endure until it dissipated. Having observed him for so long, dispelling a minor working like this was well within her ability. But breaking it with pure force sounded as absurd as trying to scoop soup with a fork.
“My understanding is lacking, so I must ask—is that even possible?”
“No.”
Evan answered without hesitation.
“It is impossible.”
Not difficult—impossible.
“Just as you may tear a locked door off its hinges or smash the lock to pass through, yet cannot unlock it with brute force alone.”
“Then why…?”
Is this punishment for trying to act on my own?
Yet Evan’s face showed neither anger nor irritation. Instead it brimmed with curiosity and anticipation rarely seen on someone of his years.
“I’ve been wondering since the carriage ride.”
“Pardon?”
“Besides, this may be my only chance to study it. If I can analyze the principle and reproduce it, the value would be enormous.”
Only then did Kaede realize that although Evan was speaking to her, he was barely present. His dark eyes remained fixed on the girl in the garden, fatigue forgotten, as though spellbound.
The girl seemed to have finished her prayer. She looked up with childlike innocence and met Evan’s gaze. An utterly guileless smile bloomed across her face at once.
“Evan-Evan! Come down! I made it all sparkly!”
Standing in the sunlight, she waved both hands above her head as if to say look here. In the pitch-black garden she resembled a single pink flower swaying in full bloom.
“Kaede.”
“Yes, Master.”
“The next research topic is divinity. The goal is to reproduce the power known as a god’s miracle by another means.”
Kaede nodded. Remembering research topics in place of Evan—who offered both the process and the memories themselves as price—was always her duty.
“It is a subject you have never attempted before.”
Yet among all the topics she had memorized, this one ranked among the three most dangerous.
“If the dogs of the Holy Kingdom heard it, they would declare a holy war on the grounds of blasphemy.”
“Which only increases its rarity as knowledge. Even if reproduction fails, simply illuminating the principles of divinity would multiply the research I can pursue by dozens of times.”
Kaede bowed her head. What she had to say was always the same.
“As Master wishes.”
“Therefore, attend to our guests with special care.”
“……That is.”
“I mean restrain your temper, Kaede.”
“I will make the effort. But as you know, it is rather like a sneeze, so…”
Evan sighed at the sight of her bowed head.
“Then at the very least, avoid being alone with that male priest.”
Iris overflowed with baseless goodwill toward him, so she was harmless. Rowena could still separate public and private matters. The only real concern was Alphonse.
“I will keep it in mind, Master.”
Even after saying so, Evan could not relax.
Perhaps I should find a way to drive that priest from the mansion entirely.
“I will speak with Rowena separately, so—”
“If you won’t come down, I’ll come up—!”
“…Entertain the Saintess in my stead for a while.”
. . .
“King of Abaddon, for what reason have you summoned me?”
Rowena’s tone was icy. Her gaze kept drifting outside; she appeared worried about the Saintess left alone. To Evan it seemed an utterly pointless concern.
Who could possibly harm that monster of a Saintess?
It was like a baby chick worrying whether a snake might injure a wyvern soaring through the sky.
…Of course, two snakes lived in this mansion whose extreme venom could wound even a wyvern.
Unless those two lose their minds, they would never seriously attack the Saintess.
At any rate, the important thing now was to keep Rowena focused on the conversation. Evan spoke.
“It concerns the Saintess’s curses.”
Rowena’s head snapped toward him.
“…Continue.”
“I already told you she is afflicted with four curses.”
“You did.”
“I wish to learn about those curses beforehand.”
Rowena’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
She made no attempt to hide her suspicion.
Understandable.
Only hours earlier he had spoken of hostile relations and declared he had no duty to cooperate. Anyone would find his sudden cooperativeness suspicious—anyone except Iris. Evan therefore wrapped his true intentions in confidence.
“In any case, the Holy Kingdom has no alternative, does it?”
“Are you still unable to abandon your excessive greed?”
“Whether it is a holy relic or something of equal value, the Holy Kingdom has no choice but to pay my price and entrust the Saintess to me.”
Rowena could not refute that and fell silent.
“If I must treat her one day, would it not benefit the Holy Kingdom for me to know the nature of the curses in advance?”
Evan offered bait that Rowena—still wary—could both accept and rationalize.
“The curses upon the Saintess are so vicious and rare that even I have never encountered their like.”
“…Even you cannot identify them?”
“Correct. If I investigate the curses beforehand, I gain valuable data on rare maledictions. The Holy Kingdom benefits by shortening the time required for treatment.”
She has no choice but to accept.
Evan waited for her answer.
“In that case…”
KWAANG—!
Something smashed straight through the reception room wall, hurtled between Rowena and Evan, and slammed into the opposite wall with such force that it collapsed as well.
“Huaaak!!”
“……”
Rowena screamed with her mouth agape. Evan squeezed his eyes shut. Only then did he understand why he had felt uneasy even after giving Kaede such strict instructions—his instincts had been warning him.
So this is what it feels like when the axe you trust strikes your own foot.
“Haa……”
Evan let out a deep sigh. What was done was done. Unless a miracle could turn back time, the only sensible course was to decide how to clean up the mess.
“Kaede.”
He addressed the figure not beyond the shattered wall but beneath the heap of collapsed stone.
“Make your excuse.”
His voice carried irritation and anger he could no longer suppress.
“M-Master.”
“Why exactly are you fighting with the Saintess?”