184. Executioner
184. Executioner
Resurrection.
Wasn't the word "resurrection" supposed to be used for the dead?
I'd heard that Sacred had not returned to the Holy Kingdom's sacred ground.
Which meant Luna was still alive.
And the vision I'd seen. Luna's form, sealed away without one arm.
Her breathing, her voice, her expression, her face, her warmth, her scent.
I hadn't felt any of it, but I'd known instinctively that she was alive.
And on top of that, as far as the world currently knew.
All the other Heroes except Ronan Luzarak, who was already dead, were listed as missing.
Luna, Paulo, Arisa. And Kaloso, who never even made it into the histories—all missing.
And now, resurrection?
I shifted my gaze slightly and studied Leona's expression.
She looked shocked. Shocked enough that she couldn't hide it. But I could feel fury. Thick hatred, even killing intent.
Not shock at "Luna's resurrection."
She looked shocked at the idea that "they intend to resurrect Luna."
"...Resurrection. What, what... does that mean?"
My voice was shaking. There was no reason for it to shake.
Why should I be shaking?
Because this body is weak. Because it's shabby and frail.
A girl's body. A body in the middle of puberty, pumping out weird hormones.
That's why. That's the only reason.
It is absolutely not because my emotions overflowed.
I steadied my breathing.
With trembling hands, under the blanket, from my chest, the bandage-wrapped—
I took out Havar and gripped it. Cold sweat soaked the bandage. Soaked the hospital gown. Sticky and unpleasant.
I steadied my breathing once more.
I opened eyes I didn't even remember closing and asked.
"Has her death... been confirmed?"
"Sacred appeared at the sacred ground."
Leona wasn't surprised.
She reacted as if she already knew.
"When...?"
"August 12th, seven years ago."
Leona answered.
Mikel nodded.
-Oh my? Where in the world did this expensive liquor come from... Ah-ha. Everyone, did you secretly prepare this because... today is my birthday? Good heavens! Good heavens, good heavens! Ronan! Wh-what's that card? Are you planning to play cards with me today?! What's the stake?
"...I see."
I closed my eyes again.
Four hundred years is a long time. Long enough that even Leona, outstanding even among the Beastkin known for their long lives, had to partition her memories and bury them deep in her consciousness just to stay sane.
So, for four hundred years... a human sealed away with the Demon King—Luna—yes. She might not have been able to endure.
We had transcended humanity by a vast margin, but even so, I hadn't assumed she'd definitely be alive.
Maybe it was only natural that she hadn't endured.
If she'd barely clung to life... yeah. Even if she'd become a wrinkled old woman, that would've been the natural outcome.
And if she died, well, nothing to be done about it.
Because four hundred years is an unfathomable span of time.
That's what I'd told myself.
That it was the most likely possibility.
I hadn't let myself stay mired in the past. I hadn't held out much hope. The more I did, the more miserable and pissed off I'd be—that was certain—so I hadn't wanted to expect anything.
But I, fool that I am,
ended up asking Fabiana and getting confirmation. I heard that Humble and Sacred had not returned.
And then, I saw it.
What state Luna and Paulo were in, what kind of time they'd been enduring.
But now, Sacred had already returned?
Was Fabiana's information wrong?
Was what I saw a vision of the past?
Then what about Humble?
Sacred came back. But Humble?
Paulo.
I let my breathing stay shaky. Trying to force it down would only make my voice sound even more pathetic.
And on top of that, this shabby body seemed about to burst into tears.
So I just... just let it be, without forcing it down.
The moment I parted my lips.
"...Ha."
Not a voice—a hollow laugh escaped.
From Havar, gripped in both hands, a strange warmth radiated. An unfamiliar warmth. But a familiar one.
Holy Power. Holy Power I hadn't wished for flowed out.
'Luna.'
I called her name.
The Holy Power was still warm.
It didn't grow stronger or weaker. It was just the same warmth.
'Luna Pnasensia.'
I gripped the bandage as if to tear it apart—still unchanged—and called again.
'You rotten gambling-addict bitch.'
Heat surged. It was hot. My hand felt like it was burning. No light escaped from under the blanket, but the heat was vivid. Was my hand burned? It probably actually was.
How could it not burn when it was this hot and painful?
Could I block it by wrapping myself in Mana? Aura?
Nothing could block it.
Holy Power—no, the Holy Power Luna wielded—couldn't be blocked by anything. How many times had that crazy bitch hit me with it?
And what happened after I got hit like that?
Unlike the Holy Power she poured out like a lunatic, Holy Power like a cozy blanket stuffed full of feathers would wrap around me warmly.
Yeah.
"Hh..."
Just like now.
Like my hand being healed right now.
"Hh, hk..."
Luna. Luna Pnasensia.
You rotten gambling-addict bitch.
What kind of insane thing have you done this time?
What trick did you pull, what did you want to do, that you sent Sacred back to the Holy Kingdom?
Was it even you who did it?
There's no answer. I didn't ask expecting an answer. I'll go myself and confirm it with my own eyes.
I'll see with my own eyes the Sacred that supposedly returned, and you, sealed somewhere beneath the Holy Kingdom.
If you're not dead, then don't die—wait for me.
If you're going to die, at least die in front of me.
You've been like that for four hundred years, so another month or so won't hurt.
It's embarrassing, but I'm still weak, and the academy's vacation—ah, right. After I reincarnated, I somehow ended up attending the academy...
Before that, can you see what I look like? I reincarnated as a woman.
I'm not even 150 centimeters tall. And my name is—
No.
That's for when we meet.
I have a lot to tell you.
So wait for me.
Havar.
I tucked the lingering attachment named "reunion" back into my chest.
The tears that had barely been clinging to the corners of my eyes pattered down. This shabby body really does have a lot of tears.
In my Past Life, I could've just tensed my tear ducts.
Maybe after Body Reformation?
"Sniff..."
I opened my eyes, swallowing through my stuffed-up nose. Leona and Mikel were looking at me with puzzled expressions.
"Hic... The blood of the Hero's descendant... hik! Must have reacted... sob... on its own."
I made up some excuse and pulled the blanket over my head.
"Before I, I jab you in the... hik, in the eye... hyuk... stop staring and... hic... keep talking."
"...I'll continue."
*****
I sent Mikel back alive.
It would've been a waste to just kill a quality informant I'd finally gotten my hands on, and she was still useful.
However, what came after their objective wasn't particularly helpful.
She knew nothing about the resurrection process, nor about the faction that had joined hands with the Demons.
Because the position of fourth squad captain wasn't that high?
No. It was because there were moles hidden within Mikel's own faction, so the reliability of the information was low.
Mikel knew that too. So she said she wouldn't share uncertain information.
I didn't bother asking either.
Vague information like that only causes pointless hesitation. Better to stick with what's certain.
As for whether it was true... well. For now, I think it was. Didn't a fanatic of that caliber swear upon the heavens?
If that fanatic's display had been an act to deceive Leona and me—
if accepting her own death without so much as blinking in the face of that much killing intent had been an act—
Yeah. I'm willing to be fooled that thoroughly.
Anyway, the conversation somehow came to an end, and Mikel returned to the Holy Kingdom.
Would the other side notice that she'd passed information to us?
Would Mikel end up dead right away?
No, if they've got any brains, they'll keep her alive. Killing Mikel would change the course of action for the faction she belongs to.
So for the sake of maintaining the status quo, they'll leave her be for now.
Well, there's no reason to worry about the life of a fanatic who'd call even death God's will.
What I need to worry about right now is Leona, glaring at me with a vicious face right in front of me.
"You'll get wrinkles."
"Eliarnes. Don't you have something to say to me?"
"...I'm sorry."
"Why do you do things you'll be sorry for?"
There it was. The infinite cycle that even I, who had reached Tier 10, could never escape.
A labyrinth more terrible than the Labyrinth of Sloth...!
Do you have anything to say?
Why do things you'll have to apologize for?
Do you even know what you're sorry for?
If you knew, why did you do it?
Do I look like I'm sitting here just to hear a measly "sorry"?
You always try to brush it off like that.
Forget it. Don't say things you don't mean.
Are you really going to stop just because I told you to?
Back when I had no choice but to open the Gates of Purgatory and spray blood from my whole body, Luna always healed me as she always did... but in the process, she'd grill me with the most exquisitely polite formal speech.
That deadpan, curse-free, soft-spoken yet relentless formal speech... had felt scarier than Luna's merciless beatings.
Back then, I'd stammered and stuttered, sweating bullets. But now, who am I?
Eliarnes Eustetia.
A seventeen-year-old beauty, even by my own standards.
Four hundred years ago, maybe not, but this is an era where you can weaponize your looks!
I don't know about other people, but it works great on Dad, Leona, and the Flame Emperor.
I immediately turned the corners of my mouth down.
I lowered my chin slightly, made my eyes as pitiful as possible, and tilted my pupils up just a touch.
Then I mumbled through my lips.
"But I feel a little wronged too. I got what I wanted in the end, didn't I? And that bitch! She started it. If I hadn't done it, you would've killed her, Master. I moved first for your sake."
"Then why did you hide that the branch family was up to nonsense?"
"Umm..."
No luck...
So there was another topic.
Leona really isn't stupid.
She seemed to have picked up on every key point from the conversation that had just passed by.
"...I was planning to handle that myself. It's a family... matter, after all. If you're curious, I'll set aside some time and tell you."
Leona, who had been glaring at me for a while, let out a small sigh. Seeing her expression soften a little, it seemed she wasn't going to press about the branch family for now.
Or maybe, like me right now, she wanted to set aside complicated thoughts for a moment.
After all, Leona is the only being, excluding the Demons, who knows "us."
So her feelings must have gotten complicated over anything involving Luna.
"You were too reckless and emotional. Well, you always are."
"That's the first time I've heard such slander. Do you know how calculating, rational, and thorough I am?"
"Ha, you talk a good game. Fine, did you have a basis for it?"
"Of course I did."
I spread my fingers wide.
Then folded my thumb down.
"First, you were behind me, Master. You wouldn't have let me die."
I folded my index finger.
"Second. Maybe if it were the Executor commander-in-chief, but a mere fourth squad captain can't declare the ruler of a duchy a heretic."
I folded my middle finger.
"Third. You were about to kill her yourself, so I stepped in first."
I folded my ring finger.
"Fourth. She was acting like an ass and it pissed me off."
I folded my pinky too and thrust my fist out—pow!
"Fifth. Even if you hadn't been there, I could see I'd win, so I just swung."
I'd made it sound half-assed, but I really had finished all sorts of calculations before swinging.
Unlike my Past Life, this life has too much to lose, so there's a lot to keep in mind.
"Only the first and second are actual reasons. The rest are just why you hit her, aren't they?"
"Can't you just take it as is? Do you have to nitpick everything your disciple says?"
"I'm not in the mood for jokes."
"Yes, ma'am."
I shut my mouth tight and straightened my posture.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to the Holy Kingdom."
"You don't believe in the Revelation, do you? If you say you do, I'll beat you right now until you don't."
"Why would I believe in that crap? I'm not going because of the Revelation. Like I said before, I have things to do and things to see there."
"Fine. Then come with me."
"Didn't you say you were going to Ge Vihenum during vacation? You promised to go help my mom."
"Julie would be thrilled if I sent you off to a place like that and went to help her."
"Can't you just keep it a secret, Master?"
"Aren't you underestimating Nameless's intelligence network?"
Leona smiled bitterly and picked up an apple to eat.
"If I don't go and Julie goes instead, it might start a war."
"I think the same would happen if you went, Master."
"With me by your side, who would dare come at you? The only beings who could are the Legion Commanders and the Demon King. So there'd be no need for me to use my strength."
Arrogant words, but I can't refute them...
"But Shadowless is different. Shadowless—Julie—if you were in danger, she'd flip the Empire and everything else upside down. And it wouldn't just be Julie. Turius would step in too, and then the entire Eustetia Knight Order would follow."
It sounds absurd, but for some reason I can't refute this either.
I did think, "Surely she wouldn't go that far," but the fact that I even thought "surely" is the problem.
Because the moment the thought "maybe" crosses your mind, it means the possibility isn't zero...
"Hmm... Then let's go together, and you can hide your appearance, Master."
"Weren't you going to hide your identity anyway?"
"Once I'm inside, I'll conceal it thoroughly, but when entering the country, I'll have no choice but to reveal my identity."
"Aha. So that's how it is for you."
A mischievous smile settled on Leona's face.
"My disciple. What is this master's other name?"
"If I say it, you'll hit me, won't you?"
"How could I hit my one and only disciple?"
"You hit me all the damn time."
Seeing Leona's fist clench, I immediately changed the subject.
"My master is the Fist Demon."
"That's right. Your master is the Fist Demon. One of the Six Pillars of the Empire. And for the Six Pillars of the Empire, it's faster to count the things they can't do than the things they can."
Nyahahaha! Leona laughed and rummaged through her clothes.
"This is an ID that can conceal everything—records, traces, existence itself. You can withdraw unlimited money, and no matter what transportation you use, you don't have to wait in line. And when you go to a famous restaurant, there's no need for lines or reservations."
An ID plated in the platinum color symbolizing the imperial family. Leona took it out, held it before me, then turned her gaze toward the Imperial Palace.
"How many do you need, my precious disciple?"
"Oh..."
I clapped my hands—clap clap—and opened my mouth.
"I'll let you know about that tomorrow, so can you give me a new Device first?"
"Device? Why? Is it broken?"
"Yes, it's broken."
I showed her the crumpled Device.
Leona narrowed her eyes at it.
I shamelessly met her gaze.
"...Tsk, something smells fishy. You crumpled this yourself, didn't you?"
"Why would I do that? I barely even use the thing."
"That's true, but something smells fishy."
Leona examined the Device for a while, then finally nodded and rose from her seat.
"Got it. The Device—today, no. Things are busy for a while, so I'll send it tomorrow. Let me know as soon as possible about the Holy Kingdom trip."
"Understood."
"When are you leaving?"
"I should get changed and head out soon."
"Then get dressed quickly. Let's go together."
"Keep your eyes closed."
"Ha, as if there's anything to see."
"Ha, you're one to talk."
"What did you say?"
"I didn't say any—whoa? What the? You're, you're raising your fist again? Again? You said you wouldn't hit me earlier!"