Kbalt of the Demon King's Four Heavenly Kings (1)

Pink has a strange power to soothe the heart.

It was knowledge I had picked up while staying in a room steeped in pink light for the sake of my own stability.

"Unni, how is your body feeling?"

"Not bad."

I was more at ease than I had been in a long time. Was this the power of color therapy? The resentment and tightness that always filled a corner of my chest had somehow melted away. Even the sight of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the village outside the window, painted pink from end to end, no longer put me off. It almost seemed like a decent idea. It would be effective at suppressing a vampire's bloodlust, after all.

Of course, I still disliked the name Clitia Volunteer Corps. Didn't it sound less like a group serving the public and more like one devoted entirely to me?

"I was really worried about you."

While I was drifting through my thoughts, Selen tightly clasped my hand.

"From now on, I'll consult with you about everything before I decide, Unni."

"You're the one who has to make the decisions."

"I'm still far too lacking."

Why was she suddenly like this again? I shot Eluke a look asking for an explanation, and she answered with a knowing smile.

"She was deceived by an oracle impersonating the Goddess and failed to follow your will."

Selen hung her head in shame.

"She hemmed and hawed and finally confessed it to me. When I analyzed it, the culprit was, tiresomely enough, Kbalt again."

Then it had been beyond her control. Kbalt specialized in dominating minds.

"I'm sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing? There was nothing you could do."

She seemed to feel guilty even though it wasn't her fault. Being too kind really was a problem in its own right.

"It's all because I was so naive. Please, guide us."

Selen lifted her head and pleaded with earnest eyes. I meant to refuse her coldly, but the desperation in those platinum irises caught hold of my heart and would not let go.

"She is still a patient. Please do not press ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her so hard."

Fortunately, Eluke stepped in and spared me the awkward situation.

"Hero, I would like you to step outside now, as the others have."

"Understood…"

Selen rose obediently and started out, then suddenly looked back. Her gaze locked onto the hood of Eluke's robe.

"Is something the matter?"

"I have wondered about this for some time. Why is your voice so completely identical to Clitia Unni's?"

I had expected her to notice eventually. That was why a countermeasure was already in place.

"Do you not remember? We held a Public Enemy conference."

Eluke pushed her hood back. Unlike before, her hair was down, and the long locks—longer than mine—caught the eye. More important than the length, though, was her appearance. Just as at the conference, she wore my little sister's face.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Marinea Eluke."

"Ah, so that was it…"

"Please keep this a secret from the others."

Only then did Selen leave the room looking thoroughly relieved.

"It went better than expected."

Eluke touched the earring-type magic tool Riella had given her, returned to her true form, and sat down beside me.

"She will not grow suspicious for the time being."

"It won't last forever."

"Of course not."

In truth, fooling everyone completely was difficult. Against Ruel the fairy in particular, deception through a magic tool would not work.

"Would it not be simpler to simply reveal my identity?"

"No. In your world you'd have to go as far as saying you defeated the Demon King."

I hated the very idea of what had happened in other worlds becoming known. If it did, our Hero party would start analyzing why we had lost.

"Understood. I will continue posing as Marinea for now."

"Thanks."

Sorry, Marinea, but I was going to have to borrow your name. She only stayed at home anyway, so it probably wouldn't be a big problem.

"By the way, it was not only the Hero who worried a great deal. Why did you collapse so suddenly?"

"I don't know either."

More than the reason I had fainted, something else nagged at me. Why had the Goddess who appeared in my dream said those things? I still didn't understand what I was supposed to forgive. Plenty of possibilities came to mind, yet none of them quite sat right. When I turned it over carefully, the cause was the emotion I had felt in her words. It was as if she were apologizing not for something in the past, but for something yet to come. Of course, that was only how it had felt; I had no idea what she had actually intended. With no promise of when she might appear again, all I could do was feel frustrated.

"What are you thinking about so intently?"

Eluke's voice cut off my wandering thoughts.

"Just something on my mind."

"…Is it perhaps because of the truth you uncovered before you collapsed?"

"Truth? What are you talking about?"

I asked back in confusion, and her usually calm face twisted slightly.

"Did you not have something you meant to tell Logan?"

"I didn't."

"……"

Eluke studied me with a grave expression.

"Do you also not remember that the Demon King was the Great Warrior?"

"I fainted while I was listening to that."

I had lost consciousness right in the middle of the important part. I had planned to ask her to tell me again later.

"But why are you asking about that?"

"It is nothing. I was only confirming that the aftermath of your collapse had not scrambled your memories."

Something about it felt off. But it wasn't the first or second time something like this had happened, so I decided not to dwell on it and asked something else instead.

"Did anything unusual happen while I was out?"

I had a feeling some incident involving pureblood vampires must have occurred. There had certainly been enough time for it.

"Well… there was, in fact, something important."

Eluke took a small, transparent orb from the pocket of her robe and set it on the floor.

"It is a message magic tool delivered to this village. Please take a look."

Before long, the orb projected an image onto the wall. It began with a skeleton—presumably a Lich—standing in the middle of a cluttered room and waving.

It was the very Lich we had set our sights on. I was hearing his voice for the first time, and it was surprisingly thin. Remiraen displayed the figure of a woman on the wall beside him—a young vampire with shimmering golden hair. A face I knew. The recording ended with Remiraen bowing at the waist.

"…When is the night of the full moon?"

"Today."

It looked like a proper rest was going to be difficult.

"What did Dwain say?"

"He awaits the judgment of his Guardian Saintess—you."

"Figured as much."

I calmly weighed the various possibilities. Could we actually stand against Remiraen? If he came alone it would be fine, but if he brought his entire undead army, protecting the village would be hard.

"Hand her over."

I made the call quickly. We weren't even close; there was no need for us to suffer for her sake.

"Wait!"

A loud voice rang out overhead. Looking up, I found a bat clinging to the ceiling.

"We agreed to form an alliance, and you're just going to give up on me like that?"

The bat grumbled as it dropped to the floor and transformed into human shape. It was Lirasia herself, the very party named in the deal.

"Don't you think that's a little too cruel?"

"Then just run away on your own."

"No. The Vampire Lord is slaughtering the opposition that didn't attend the gathering. If I get caught, I die."

She had lived for thousands of years, and she was still weaker than the Vampire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lord? She certainly looked like someone who had put more effort into beauty than training.

"You said that when the weak die to the strong, it's just the natural order."

"What are you talking about? If that weak one is me, of course it's a different story."

"……"

She was so shameless I had nothing to say.

"Come on, help me."

"You want me to stake the lives of everyone in the village just to protect you?"

"I do have a conscience, you know. If you protect me, I'll give you information you'll like."

Lirasia smiled sweetly and twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"I hear you're the previous Saintess? I also heard about how you were excommunicated."

"…Why bring that up now?"

"I know. What happened on the day the previous Hero party fell to the Demon King."

My face twisted of its own accord.

"You said you didn't know."

"As it happens, that calm girl's boyfriend asked me to look into what happened that day."

I glanced at Eluke; she was biting her lip. At the very least, it didn't seem like something they had agreed on.

"So I investigated, and there was a witness."

"……"

"Well? Isn't that an attractive offer?"

I considered it only briefly. The answer was already decided.

"The information is solid, right?"

"Of course. Don't doubt me—just protect me well."

It was a deal that put me at a disadvantage, but with the truth of that day on the line, refusing was hard.

"Eluke, let's get ready."

"Understood. I will gather every combatant we can mobilize."

Now that it had come to this, I would protect the village even if it meant tearing my own body apart. I was the one who had put them in danger out of personal greed.

"O radiant Sun, grant me the sunlight to protect them all."

A rocky mountain in the region where the blighted zone began. Inside a cave tucked away where few eyes would ever reach, two undead stood.

"Will you be all right?"

Remiraen checked on Liam's condition. Half skeleton, half still brimming with vitality—this was the main body, a Death Knight and the commanding specimen of the Corpse Locusts.

"The seizure of control isn't finished yet, so you must be uncomfortable."

"It doesn't matter."

Liam sat quietly, resting. The madness that had been growing worse of late was, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for once, still.

"Honestly, I don't want to attack that village."

In the quiet, Liam spoke out of nowhere.

"Why not?"

"They're using the name Clitia Volunteer Corps. How am I supposed to attack that?"

"I thought you might say that."

As expected, the word Clitia was like a fuse that set him completely off. When did he even start liking her? He had never shown any interest while he was alive. Only after dying and coming back had he confessed his feelings and grown obsessed.

"If that was how you felt, you should have treated her properly while you were still alive."

"I realized my heart too late."

"You could have just behaved decently day to day."

"You're right."

Liam meekly admitted his fault. Proof that some humanity still remained in him.

"What a joke, hearing undead talk like that."

Then a sinister voice drifted in from somewhere.

"You bag of bones. Did you dare try to steal my Death Knight?"

A hazy spirit form burst through the wall.

"Kbalt…"

Remiraen immediately traced a black magic circle in the air. But Kbalt only smiled with easy confidence and made no move to defend himself.

"Black magic cannot kill me."

"And you can't possess this body of mine that's nothing but bones, can you?"

"You've grown as dull as the rumors say. Still don't understand why I only half-turned the previous Hero into a Death Knight?"

"…Don't tell me."

Kbalt was closing in on Liam—slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.

"A weakling like you dares."

Liam settled into a combat stance, raising a miasma that, among all powers save Holy Power, was the only force that could touch a spirit.

"You call me a weakling?"

In that instant, another Kbalt burst from the wall. One more emerged from the floor, another from the ceiling, until before long the cave was packed with spirits.

"Do I still look like a weakling?"

The voices of countless Kbalts speaking as one rolled through the entire cave, accompanied by a pressure that seemed to crush the mind.

"Previous Hero. Become my flesh. Submit quietly, and I will place the excommunicated Saintess in your arms."

"Get lost. Now."

"Foolish."

Then the swarm of Kbalts surged forward. Liam's miasma rose to meet them in rolling waves.

"Clitia is mine to claim with my own hands!"

Those were the last words Remiraen heard before he was swept up in the battle.