An Impossible Report
Some time later, in Duke Kaiser's office.
Walter set a torn scrap of black hide carefully upon the duke's desk.
Carved into the leather was a vivid crimson sigil. The moment Kaiser confirmed it, a deep furrow cut between his brows.
"This is... unmistakably a demon's brand. And you mean to tell me it was found inside the domain?"
"Yes, Your Grace."
Walter began his report on the mission with calm precision, laying out every detail: the investigation in the border village, the tracking of the gnoll's trail, the discovery of the abandoned heretics' hideout, and the battle that had unfolded there.
Hearing it all, Kaiser let out a short, low sound.
"I never imagined that old ruin was still standing. But how did those demonkin find the place? Was there something inside that might have drawn them?"
"No, Your Grace. I saw nothing of the sort."
"Then it was mere chance. Hardly welcome news."
Kaiser clicked his tongue lightly and looked down at the scrap of hide once more.
Holding back the Red Forest beyond the Great Forest, and the monsters that dwelt there, was one of House Roenheim's principal duties. Even on the frontier, a Branded Monster discovered inside the walls was not a matter that could simply be dismissed.
"Their movements have been unsettling of late as it is. According to the patrols, the number of monsters found near the Great Forest has risen several times over compared to previous years."
At the word that the Red Forest was worsening, the old knight's expression hardened. He might hold the post of Lucas's escort knight now, but he was a man who had survived countless real battles, and he knew the danger of the Red Forest and the demonkin that lived there better than anyone.
"You mean the black gnoll slipped through that gap and crossed the wall."
"Not only that."
There Kaiser produced an unexpected piece of information.
"I had already heard of that creature. In all likelihood... it is the monster Edwin let slip."
Walter's eyes widened slightly, caught off guard.
The second son of the ducal house, Edwin Gregor von Roenheim. A leading candidate to become the next duke, he was renowned—unlike his wastrel of an elder brother—for exceptional swordsmanship and a virtuous heart.
"Is Lord Edwin not away on a reconnaissance mission in the Great Forest?"
"He is. As it happens, I received a report that he engaged several Branded Monsters near the wall not long ago, and that one of them escaped. The creature was a black gnoll, and in the fight with Edwin its right arm was severed."
"Then... there can be no mistake."
Had it been only the species, one might have doubted. The detail of the severed right arm was decisive.
"But... you say Lucas brought down this branded demonkin?"
Kaiser asked again, as though he could not believe it. What lay in his eyes was open suspicion. Even so, Walter's answer did not change.
"Yes, Your Grace."
"How?"
"The circumstances are exactly as I have already reported."
Walter called back the account he had just given: that Lord Lucas had not only overcome the Fear, but had used himself as bait to lure the monster, until the two of them were sealed alone inside the collapsed stone chamber.
And so—
"You expect me to believe that?"
The duke's voice rose a fraction. Walter understood the reaction well enough. He had felt the same. Had he not witnessed it with his own eyes, he would never have believed such nonsense.
"Your doubt is only natural. I am merely reporting what I saw and heard."
"Ha... well..."
Kaiser let out a hollow laugh, but he pressed no further.
Walter's loyalty had continued unbroken since the days of Kaiser's father. A faithful old knight on the verge of retirement would never spin an absurd lie like this for the sake of Lucas, the boy everyone had written off as a wastrel.
"Then... this is a truly strange affair."
And so Kaiser ceased to doubt Walter. In his place, he began to doubt the unbelievable reality itself.
"You mean Lucas finished a monster even Edwin could not put down."
Edwin might not match the eldest daughter, Serena, but he was a genius who had already reached the realm of a 3-Star Knight in his late teens. That Lucas had felled a Branded Monster even such an Edwin had failed to deal with—even granting that the thing had lost an arm, it was impossible by any common sense.
"What in the world happened to Lucas?"
Kaiser's question was not limited to this incident alone. He was asking after the fundamental change in Lucas, and its cause. But even Walter could not offer a clear answer.
"I cannot be certain either. Only... a few days before the last family council, Lord Lucas..."
Walter began the story of the day he had brought Lucas back, found sprawled and blood-soaked in a back alley of the city. But Lucas being dragged in drunk by the soldiers was an everyday occurrence, and Kaiser responded flatly.
"And what of it? Hardly worth remarking on."
"This is only my conjecture, but..."
Walter hesitated a moment, then went on.
"I wonder whether Lord Lucas's claim—that he gave away jewels and learned swordsmanship in return—might not have been the truth."
At Walter's words, Kaiser wore a puzzled look. It was a possibility he had never once considered.
"Why do you think so?"
"Setting aside the change in his attitude, the swordsmanship you yourself witnessed, Your Grace, was a level that could never be attained without someone's instruction. And yet not a single knight of the house, myself included, has ever taught the young lord the sword."
Kaiser nodded with a thoughtful hum.
"So there is someone outside the family who aided Lucas. Is that what you're saying?"
"That is what I believe."
In Walter's firm reply, Kaiser read something more. Walter had handled confidential work for the ducal house before. He was not a knight who left his own conjectures as mere conjecture.
"You've already looked into it, I take it."
"Yes. But I found no solid evidence. Only..."
Walter's voice dropped a little.
"I uncovered signs that there was an assassination attempt against the young lord that night."
At the word assassination, Kaiser's eyes went cold.
Lucas might be a villain the ducal house itself had resolved to cast aside. But an outside power attempting to assassinate him was a problem of an entirely different order. Was it not an act that dared to challenge the authority of the ducal house head-on, within its own domain?
"...The one behind it?"
Walter quietly shook his head. He meant he had not managed to learn that far.
"And yet is that not itself the clue to this fateful encounter?"
Kaiser was silent for a moment. It was a reasonable conjecture.
If Lucas had been alone that day, even a clumsy assassin would never have left him alive. But in the end, Lucas had lived. Which meant a third person had helped him—someone capable of disposing, without a sound, of an assassin targeting a direct descendant of the ducal house.
Was that person the very fateful encounter who had taught Lucas the sword, and even calmed that vicious nature of his?
"...That, too, is a tale difficult to believe at face value. It isn't as if some fairy did it."
"You may think of it however you wish. It is nothing more than an old man's delusion."
"Haha. You'll toss out a plausible theory and then slip away like that?"
Kaiser gave a bitter smile, and Walter merely bowed his head.
"Without firm evidence, we had best leave that story there. More to the point—what did Lucas have to say about this matter? He must have demanded something."
Kaiser turned the subject. A trace of concern was mixed into his voice.
This was a son who had always been arrogant beyond measure. Now that Lucas had achieved something that could, in its way, be called a merit, Kaiser was certain the boy would be making some outrageous demand.
But—
"He asked for a sword."
"A sword?"
An unexpected answer slipped from Walter's mouth. He had been sure the boy would throw a tantrum demanding money or drink, or gold and jewels easy to exchange.
"And he requested that he be allowed to choose the sword himself."
"Ha... interesting. Before, he wouldn't take one even when it was offered."
Kaiser let out a hollow laugh.
"Has he finally found the will to follow the family's wishes?"
Kaiser muttered as much, but Walter shook his head inwardly. He was remembering Lucas after the black gnoll's death, grumbling that a cheap sword simply would not do.
"Very well. That much I will allow."
"Understood. How far shall the armory be opened?"
"Up to the third."
"...Are you certain?"
Walter asked carefully.
The ducal house possessed five armories in all. The Fifth and Fourth were for ordinary soldiers and knights. The Third Armory was where famed blades were kept for high-ranking knights, the knight-captain among them. They did not reach the Second and First Armories, permitted only to the direct line of the house, but they were treasures of tremendous value all the same. Walter feared Lucas might pull some foolish stunt with such a weapon.
"It does not matter."
To this, Kaiser spoke with finality.
"On the contrary, let him choose as freely as possible. I want to know whether that boy has truly changed after some fateful encounter, or not."
"I shall obey."
"Good. You may withdraw."
Kaiser said as much, but Walter remained where he was, down on one knee.
"Is there still something you wish to say?"
"Forgive my presumption, but... may I be permitted to pass the family's mental method on to the young lord?"
"The mental method?"
Kaiser's brow arched slightly.
"This incompetent old man wishes, even now, to carry out a duty he failed to complete long ago."
"That duty was discarded ages ago. There is no need to concern yourself with it."
"It is the last regret left to me."
At those words, Kaiser regarded Walter in silence for a moment.
In the past, Kaiser had indeed tried, through Walter, to teach Lucas the mental method. Forming an aura core through that method was the beginning of the sword, and a knight's first step. But Lucas, who possessed not a scrap of patience, had refused the transmission with all his might, and in the end both the ducal house and Walter had given up on setting him straight as a knight.
And yet, to request it anew, of all times. Had this old knight seen some spark of hope in Lucas because of this incident?
"...Do you truly believe that child has changed?"
Kaiser murmured it like a sigh.
Walter did not answer, but that silence itself was assent. Kaiser closed his eyes briefly, sunk in thought, then soon gave his permission.
"Very well. It is far too late, but if that boy means to become a knight, I will not stop him. Do not push him too hard, however. This is only a single incident. I do not believe Lucas's nature has changed."
Distrust of his son still ran thick through his voice.
"Only entrust it to me."
Walter said so, and bowed his head.
Having finished the mission and returned to the ducal house, I headed for the bath first of all, to wash away the black gnoll's blood tangled with my own, and the dirt caked over all of it.
When the hot water poured down over my body, the tension finally began to loosen.
"Haa..."
I soon left the bath, dried myself, and sat on the edge of the bed.
There had been this and that along the way, but in the end the mission had been a success. I had met an unexpectedly powerful foe in a Branded Monster, yet I had dealt with it regardless, and every member of the unit had returned safely. Above all, I had completed the first task the duke had set before me. For the time being, at least, I would not have to worry about being driven out of the ducal house.
But there was something that weighed on me.
"A Branded Monster... that shouldn't be showing up already, should it?"
I frowned, recalling the black gnoll I had brought down.
Branded Monsters were a class of hostile monster that had appeared in Crius Saga as well—creatures strengthened, according to the setting, by borrowing a demon's power. In the game's scenario, they only began to appear in earnest after the middle stages, once the war that would destroy the empire was underway.
Have I misread the timeline?
I shook my head at the thought. No. That couldn't be.
Just in case, I had sounded Walter out about the empire and the surrounding situation, and it clearly pointed to the early game—or even before that. The Goddess Church's new saintess, for instance, had yet to appear. And the aged northern margrave, who dies at the start of the scenario, was still holding his seat.
Then there was only one possibility.
"Some side effect of the game turning into reality, then."
It was not a difficult conclusion. In a game, the story advanced according to the update schedule, and things that had never existed popped into being left and right. But the place I stood now was no game. It was reality, plain and simple. And so, even if the Branded Monsters had appeared all at once in the game, here they might show themselves rarely along the empire's frontier, like the first signs of what was coming.
"I'll have to be careful from now on."
Which meant things might not unfold strictly according to the game's scenario.
Having accepted that, I turned my gaze to the status window. Was it because I had felled a foe I would never have dared face before? The reward shown there was by no means small.