183. Executioner
183. Executioner
What broke the silence was the sound of blood droplets hitting the floor and scattering in every direction.
Until then, it had seemed as though all sound had vanished. No, perhaps it really had vanished.
Leona's killing intent and the still-unidentified Intent may have erased the sound.
"Huh, well..."
At last, Leona drew in a startled breath.
What, you were about to do something worse than me, and now you're surprised?
The windows in this sickroom can't be broken by ordinary means.
Even a blade wreathed in Aura wouldn't be able to leave a scratch on them.
But Leona had shattered the glass with nothing more than the release of her Mana.
And the power coiled in that clenched fist. Mikel didn't seem to have seen it, but I saw it clearly.
Not her usual golden Mana, but Mana of a dark crimson light. Was it Intent? I couldn't say for certain, but if that fist had been thrown, Mikel would have died without leaving a corpse behind.
The reason it hadn't been thrown was probably.
Because she had weighed her concern for the Beastkin living in the van Chaser territory against her fury at Eustetia being insulted.
Mikel. This bitch got lucky. She really did.
Ignoring Leona's surprise, I stared steadily into those green eyes. They didn't waver. They didn't twist with pain.
Even with the hand that had tried to grip a sword crushed, the left shinbone and both ankles shattered, and her hair held fast in my grip, her eyes remained calm.
And within that calm, a glistening madness.
Blind conviction. Fanaticism. Faith. A cloying, sticky piety squirmed within.
The face reflected in those eyes.
Was just as calm.
A natural result.
For now.
Rage had not yet overtaken reason.
"I misspoke."
"Didn't I say there wouldn't be a second time?"
Leona had said it, but I said it once more.
"Then kill me."
"Fine."
I raised the hand gripping her hair.
Mikel's blood-streaked face rose to a convenient height for striking.
"However, there is something I wish to say before I die. Will you hear it as my last words?"
"No."
I clenched my other fist hard.
"I beg of you."
Mikel's awkwardly bent knees touched the floor. My gaze naturally dropped, and Mikel immediately opened her mouth.
"The reckless words I spoke, calling Eustetia heretics, were not my true feelings."
"Ah-ha... no. Today I'm going to beat you to death and become a heretic, so from now on you can call us heretics. Even if it's the imperial family, killing an Executor makes you a heretic, doesn't it?"
"My earlier statement was a slip of the tongue and a reckless utterance. It was a conclusion that did not follow doctrine, and sinfully, it was meant to test Lady Eustetia, a descendant of the Hero. So even if I am killed by you here, Eustetia will not be declared heretical."
"That's still insolent. Who the hell are you people to 'declare' Eustetia heretics? And if there's not even a corpse left of you, there's no evidence, so how exactly would you declare us heretics?"
"Executors are those who live and move by the will of heaven. To kill us is to defy heaven's will and commit apostasy. All who do such things are heretics. And even if one blinds the eyes of the world, even if one covers the sky with a ceiling, above it there is still the sky. The light of that sky is the eye of Yurphia, who gazes down upon the world. One may blind human eyes and blind the eyes of the world, but one cannot blind the eyes of Yurphia."
"Ha-ha..."
I've been radiating killing intent for a while now. There's no hesitation in the hand gripping her hair, in my face, or in my clenched fist.
And yet this insane zealot refuses to bend her convictions.
Sooner or later, those are bound to shatter.
When they shatter, will she despair, or will she accept it?
"Fine. Since I'm curious how it'll turn out, let's find out."
I raised my fist.
"I have learned to the marrow of my bones that the 'direct line' of Eustetia despises demons. The hatred you harbor, my lady, may well be deeper and more viscous than that of us Executors."
I stopped the fist I was about to throw.
She put emphasis on the word "direct line."
So she knows the collateral line is up to something. And the reason she couldn't touch them?
"A shadow of demons has fallen over the Holy Kingdom."
Those words were enough to make me lower my fist.
The process got a little tangled, but.
I got what I wanted.
"Please, help us."
"Why are you asking me, instead of begging for salvation from the god you believe in, from heaven, from Yurphia?"
"We did beg Yurphia for salvation. Those untainted by the darkness of demons offered prayers. And so we received a Revelation."
"A Revelation."
"A being that called itself Sacred spoke, saying that a descendant of the noble Hero would restore the blue sky of the past. That was the Revelation."
Sacred. The Stigmata dwelling within Luna's body.
Luna is currently presumed to be somewhere beneath the Holy Kingdom.
Revelation. God. Heaven. Yurphia. Miracles.
I don't believe in any of that shit.
But I do believe in my own judgment.
I believe in the Havar that Luna left behind.
I believe in the bastards who were my comrades and friends.
A Revelation saying a Hero's descendant is needed.
Sacred, a Sacred Relic, issuing a Revelation?
As if.
If, by some one-in-a-million chance, there really is a being that issued a Revelation.
Then it must be.
"...Ha."
I buried the thought that had surfaced.
I released Mikel's hair and turned my back.
"You brought holy water, didn't you? Drink it, and once your teeth are properly reattached, speak clearly."
I returned to the bed and pulled the blanket over myself again.
"And deal with the people who come swarming because of the commotion yourself. Oh, right. These broken windows broke because of you anyway, so handle the compensation yourself too."
"...Thank you for your mercy."
Leona, her brow furrowed, looked at me.
I shot her a wink and closed my eyes for a moment.
I played it off smoothly, but still.
Still, the anger hadn't completely subsided.
I hadn't known I would react this strongly to hearing Eustetia called heretics.
-No matter what we do, no one can call us heretics.
-We are the agents who tear Demons apart in place of a god that only remains silent and stands by. We must not be insulted, and we must not endure insults.
-So, Ronan. Just as I brought divine punishment upon that zealot in your place today, you too, someday.
-For me, for us... please, get angry.
-Hehe, no. This is... this is, like a promise... it isn't something that binds us. This is, simply...
-Trust between people. Not faith, but trust. A bond that will not be severed. And our tie, sworn to reunite no matter what world we are in.
-A request based on those things.
Luna's request?
As if. This is just... Dad, Mom, Uncle.
It pissed me off that people belonging to my family were being insulted. Yeah, because it pissed me off.
Because I was furious and annoyed.
That's all. A trivial reason like that.
Chuckling dryly, I steadied my emotions as I breathed in the scent of the summer wind coming through the broken window.
It should have been a muggy wind, but somehow it felt cool. Had my temperature really risen that much?
What a pointlessly honest body.
*****
I didn't move to another sickroom.
I'd planned to leave tomorrow, but I changed my mind and decided to leave tonight. So there was no need to change rooms.
Mikel's wounds were cleanly healed by the holy water, just as I'd expected. Seeing even her broken teeth reattach cleanly, it must have been fairly high-grade holy water.
Leona was still glaring at me and grinding her teeth. It was a little... scary, and I felt bad, but I put off releasing her until after this conversation was over.
...I have no idea how to release her, but now isn't the time to worry about that.
The information I wanted had come out of Mikel's mouth.
It had been a rather shocking and unconventional statement.
A shadow of demons fallen over the Holy Kingdom.
Within the Holy Kingdom, beneath the Patriarch, there are numerous cardinals, clergy, priests, the Blood Heaven Knight Order, and the Executors.
Which bastard among them could it be?
Before I asked that.
"What were you going to do if I'd just killed you on the spot, after you ran your mouth testing me like that?"
"If I die here, then it is simply the will of God. My role would have ended today."
"And now?"
"That I am alive and breathing, and able to converse with a descendant of the noble Hero, is also the will of God. My role is not yet finished. Of course, I know that the mercy of Lady Eustetia and Leona Megenberta is also part of it. But that too lies within God's grand design."
"Hya... just wonderful. You die, it's God's will. You live, it's God's will. And if you die, don't you people go up to heaven? So you'd be satisfied even if you died, huh?"
"Whether my soul enters heaven is known only to the sky. We merely accumulate good deeds and faith in order to enter heaven."
"And if you live like this and get thrown into hell, that's God's will too?"
"Yes. It would mean my faith and virtue were lacking."
Mikel answered smoothly, without a moment's hesitation, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
As expected, these bastards aren't worth having a conversation with.
Extracting information is enough.
I clicked my tongue and waved my hand dismissively.
Mikel, who had been prostrate with her head to the floor, rose and sat in a chair.
A strawberry milk bottle cap was stuck firmly to her forehead, showing no sign of falling off.
"I swear upon my existence and upon heaven that not a single grain of falsehood is mixed into the information I will now share, and I will tell you everything I have ascertained."
Mikel spoke with infinite seriousness, the bottle cap with its cute strawberry character still stuck to her forehead.
I grabbed my trembling lips and averted my gaze.
Is this bitch a robot? Have zealots truly abandoned the human heart?
"...Um, take the bottle cap off your forehead before you speak."
"Understood."
Pop—the bottle cap came off.
"A shadow of demons has fallen over the Holy Kingdom."
"You already said that. Let's skip straight to the conclusion. What do those bastards want, even to the point of joining hands with Demons?"
"The will of the demons is the Resurrection of Gluttony."
And then.
"The apostates of the Holy Kingdom."
Luna Sacred Pnasensia.
"Are hoping for the Saintess's resurrection."