Encounter
He could not have said exactly how much time had passed, but he knew it had been more than a few hours of sleep. His condition was simply too different.
The ringing that had seemed to bore straight through his skull was markedly weaker. Eyes that used to slide shut on their own if he so much as held still were clear now, and the faint delay between a command from his brain and the body's answer had narrowed a great deal.
…How long has it really been?
This was a body he had driven to the point of abuse for nearly ten years. Once before, he had held out for weeks without rest and then collapsed into sleep, and even after sleeping a full day straight he had woken still exhausted. If someone asked whether he was at his best now, the answer would be no. But the absence of any deep fatigue told him this was not a recovery a single day's sleep could have bought.
…What became of the work?
The memory came back to him of the night he had hurled the communication artifact in a drunken fit and shattered it. The anger had surged and he had broken it in an instant, but looking at it again now, it had been an unmistakable mistake. An emergency might have broken out while he slept.
First… I have to get back to the capital.
His quarrel with the king was a personal matter between the two of them. The deaths of the innocent still had to be prevented, as far as he was able. He needed a means of contact—a channel through which they could speak.
Rian turned to leave the forest, then stopped and looked back. He stared at the burial mound with complicated eyes and spoke.
"Don't be too disappointed. It'll take a little longer, but I will have my revenge."
The king had changed his word on his own and broken the promise. Even so, Rian believed there was still room to talk. He would try persuasion first. And if, even then, words still failed—
Then I'll change my nationality if I have to, and see the goal through anyway.
Achieving it through the Kadema Kingdom would be best, but the other options were hardly bad. In the course of his work he had built friendly ties with several kingdoms of the east, and he liked to think he had spent ten years proving his own worth in person, rolling through every hellish place there was. Surely at least one nation would reach out a hand.
"Next time, I'll come back with good news."
No answer came, of course. Rian cleared the weeds that had grown thick around the grave with a few strokes of his blade and left the forest.
The communication artifact had been issued by the royal palace, and he needed to speak with the king besides. His destination was the capital. Each time his foot struck the earth, the scenery around him changed. Keep on like this, and even the capital would not take long.
He was still driving forward when his face hardened.
"…?"
In an instant the flow of air against his skin changed. The mana drifting through the air had grown more than ten times as dense. He had entered a mana barrier someone had raised.
Focusing his sight upon the space, he found the barrier immense—nearly a kilometer across. As far as he knew, no one inside the kingdom could handle mana on so vast a scale. When he concentrated harder still, the view hundreds of meters out came into sharp focus.
At the center of the barrier, riding the wind and racing through the sky, was a woman he knew: a long-eared woman with sky-blue hair streaming behind her. He had seen her in the register of the Empire's principal figures.
High Elf Khalifa. A giant who occupied a seat, without the slightest apology, among the infamous leadership of the Empire.
What is she doing here?
Confusion took him. Why was an imperial powerhouse tearing through the very heart of the kingdom's territory? Had the Empire broken the accord and started a war? Just how long had he been asleep? Questions crowded his mind, but brooding alone would not settle a single one of them with any certainty.
To learn the truth of all this, he had to take Khalifa first.
The conclusion took him no more than a second. Already airborne from a kick off the ground, he turned his body where he hung, poured mana into his feet, and kicked empty air. Space warped with a crack, and Rian's body shot forward like a fired shell.
One leap brought him to Khalifa's face. Shock froze across her eyes.
She had been scouring the north of the Kadema Kingdom in search of the Hero, and at last her detection had succeeded. The moment she found him she had moved to close the distance—and in the space of a blink, Rian had arrived in front of her instead.
"!!"
Khalifa flinched and thrust out a hand before she could think. Rian, watching her, raised his own.
Even within the vast Empire, Khalifa was one of a handful of true powers. He had to neutralize her for certain before she could try anything clever—even if it meant using more force than suppression required. Rian closed his fist. A vast mass of mana gathered into his hand. He meant to inflict a serious wound in a single blow and put her out of the fight at once.
But what Khalifa did next left him no choice but to release the power he had packed into that fist.
"……?"
The two hands he had taken for an attack shot desperately past him and rose toward the sky. Both arms lifted above her head: a posture that declared, with the body itself, that she had no will to fight.
…What?
He was briefly lost in the strangeness of it. Khalifa did not waste the opening. She cried out in a rush.
"I—I surrender!"
Terrified he might change his mind and throw the punch after all, she hurried on.
"I have no intention of resisting whatsoever! I'll accept whatever you decide, unconditionally, so let's use words! Words!"
…What was this, really?
Rian could not make sense of it easily, but if she was going to take so low a posture, he saw no need to hurt her. He dropped to the ground, and Khalifa followed him down. He addressed her.
"Khalifa of the Storm. What brings the Director of the Imperial Central Intelligence Bureau into the kingdom?"
"Th-that… hah."
The trembling Khalifa drew a deep breath and spoke in a composed voice.
"Coming this far across the kingdom's territory was, without question, my fault. I know that…. But! Even if it meant breaking the accord, there was something I wished to say to you, Hero! And that is…!"
"That's far enough."
Rian cut her off. She might look guileless, but she was a bloodless, tearless monster who had risen to prominence by her own strength alone in an imperial society that was a den of demons in all but name. Yield the initiative even once, and he would be swept up before he knew it.
"You answer only the questions I ask. Don't attach your own opinions."
"Ah. Yes—yes, sir!"
Khalifa shut her mouth.
"Second question. What is today's date?"
"Uh… today is the nineteenth of November, year 1624 of the Continental Calendar!"
"The nineteenth…."
Counting from when he had arrived at the forest where the body lay, roughly a week had passed. He had guessed as much the moment he opened his eyes, but he had slept longer than he expected. No wonder his body had felt strangely light.
Rian was quiet for a moment, then asked again.
"You said you crossed the border because you had something to tell me. What is it? Don't tell me you came to declare war."
At that, Khalifa recoiled.
"No! War? The Empire has not forgotten the accord! We never break a promise once it's made!"
Rian tilted his head. For some reason her words felt as if she were trying to press a point. But it was only a feeling.
"For someone who hasn't forgotten the accord, you've broken it rather openly."
"Th-that's…."
He sighed at her flustered stammering and asked again.
"I'll ask once more. For what purpose did you enter the kingdom?"
The woman who had been panicking brightened, eyes shining. She had met crisis after crisis after crossing into the kingdom, and somehow she had pushed through all the way here. At the end of it, the chance had finally come. The measure of the course the Empire would take from here rested on her. She barely steadied her trembling heart and opened her mouth.
"Hero, I'll be direct. Will you come to the Empire? Unlike a certain shameless king, we do not commit the despicable act of taking everything there is to take and then neatly shutting our mouths! It may be difficult right away, but in the near future we can even raise an expedition into the Demonic Realm for you! And…!"
In her head, a mountain of secondary rewards waited beyond the Demonic Realm expedition. A signing bonus astronomical enough to buy an entire nation outright. A salary so vast it would ignore every existing pay scale in the Empire. A noble title of at least ducal rank, and ultra-luxurious treatment befitting a state guest of the highest order.
If Rian wanted it, they could fill a whole palace with beauties of every different charm and build him a harem of his own.
It was absolutely no lie. She had already secured the Emperor's approval. If he still would not believe her, she could stake her soul as collateral before the God of Death and swear an oath of truth.
But before Khalifa could lay out every condition at length, Rian's firm answer fell and closed her mouth.
"No."
He looked down at her with cold eyes.
"You're talking nonsense. Why would I go to your Empire? The moment I cross over, war will be declared on the east—that's obvious without looking. And where did you hear that the Demonic Realm expedition was refused? Don't tell me you've been running secret schemes behind my back. Well. That's twice now you've been caught violating the accord in front of me."
"Ah… uh…."
Khalifa's eyes wavered. Her lips moved without sound. The life drained from her face until it was white.
The sight was a long way from the figure in the Alliance's reports—a cold-blooded creature without blood or tears, a monster wearing a human face. The thought that something was off did occur to him. It was not what mattered now. Before the Khalifa who could not pull herself together and only stammered, Rian drove in the last nail.
"And even if I left the kingdom over my discord with His Majesty the King, how many kingdoms in the east are on friendly terms with me? Would I cross over to the Empire? Consider the offer unheard. Unauthorized border intrusion will be punished under kingdom law. Understand that."
"…Pardon?"
Khalifa, who had been listening in a wilted daze, tilted her head when he finished—the reaction of someone who thought she had misheard. Rian narrowed his eyes.
"What? Don't tell me you invaded the kingdom on a whim and planned to slip away using the offer as an excuse."
"No! That's not—! I mean…."
Khalifa studied Rian's face: an expression that could not even begin to guess what had gone wrong. She watched him for several seconds, then ventured, carefully,
"By any chance… do you not know what happened in the eastern kingdom these past few days…?"
"? What are you talking about…."
Rian broke off mid-question and turned his head. The loud beat of hooves struck his ears. Knights were riding this way.
Khalifa's face hardened again. The company was the pursuit force hunting her. She had spread her mana and moved in search of Rian, so discovery had been inevitable. She had fled on her characteristic speed, but the time spent caught by him had closed the distance, and in the end they had caught up.
The gap had already narrowed. The knight at the head of the pursuit shouted.
"We've caught her at last! Khalifa of the Storm, a chief of the Empire! And beside her…."
The knight's eyes went wide.
"…The Hero? What are you doing here?"
Rian answered as if it were nothing of note.
"I happened upon her while traveling to the capital. Do you have mana shackles? I'll help neutralize her, so take her into custody and escort her."
Had he not met the pursuit, he would have escorted her himself, but now that he had found them there was no need for him to take her. Arresting a high official of the Empire would surely carry enormous merit. It would be a great help to them someday.
The knight, however, did not accept the courtesy. He stared hard at Rian.
"You happened upon her. Are you certain? This isn't us walking in on you colluding with an imperial leader?"
"…What?"
Rian frowned. The knight's words were nonsense he could not even have imagined.
"I colluded? With the head of the Imperial Central Intelligence Bureau? Do you think that makes any sense?"
"And why wouldn't it? You ignored the royal family's orders, vanished, and a week later you turn up with Khalifa, one of the Empire's highest officials. Isn't that worth suspecting?"
For a moment Rian's face showed sheer disbelief at what followed—then it twisted again. Khalifa was the director of the intelligence bureau, and she had planted spies in the kingdom, so it would not be strange for her to know of his quarrel with the king. But how did a mere knight know about it?
"If you truly wish to prove the charge false, show it with action."
The knight pointed at Khalifa.
"Execute her. With your own hand. The pretext lies with her anyway—she crossed the border first. Cut her head off here and there won't be much of a protest."
Rian slowly turned his head and looked at Khalifa. When their eyes met, she trembled slightly.
"You. Since you entered the kingdom's territory, have you taken any lives?"
"…P-pardon?"
"I asked if you killed anyone inside the kingdom."
Khalifa lifted her head and met his eyes.
"…No. I didn't. I swear I only ran."
"Is that so."
Rian turned his gaze to the knight's hostile face.
"I don't have a hobby of killing an enemy who's already surrendered, just to get blood on my hands."
He put force into his voice.
"That won't do."