Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Butterfly's Dream (8)
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*
Compared to Kirhas Hearttaker's slender wrists and lithe frame, the greatsword was far too massive. Her eyes blazed like those of a wild beast, and because of it, the blade she gripped felt like a predator's fang.
She held that enormous sword in one hand, aiming the tip unwaveringly at Fernandez Cerned without the slightest tremor.
"Stake your neck."
"Out of everything I own, it's the least valuable."
Fernandez chuckled and flicked the blade lightly with his fingertip. Kirhas's eyebrow twitched.
"Are you mocking me?"
"Would I dare mock the Empress of the Great Wasteland? Clear the area."
"Why should I?"
"It won't do you any good if others hear."
At Fernandez's words, the attendants and elders lined up beside her bared their teeth and growled.
"Don't listen to that fool, Great Chieftain. The eastern priests are cunning with their words—they'll try to deceive you."
"Do you think I'd fall for such petty tricks?"
"But... they're Beitasser's hunting dogs. The blessings their god grants them are no light matter."
"I'm no different. Everyone, leave us."
"Yes, Great Chieftain."
At Kirhas's command, the elders withdrew, shooting glares. Fernandez marveled at their fierce stares. He could feel the respect and reverence this era's Kirhas commanded.
'Even those prideful elders swallow their objections and step back at her single word...'
It was a glimpse into her commanding presence. Controlling the elders meant, on a broader scale, controlling the key figures of each tribe—which meant she controlled the entire Tigerkin Alliance.
Now alone in the vast tent, facing off, Fernandez slowly offered her a goblet.
"Do you know what this means?"
"An offer to be friends, or allies?"
Kirhas took the goblet and slammed her greatsword into the ground. Resting one hand on the hilt, she said,
"I'll withhold judgment until you've finished speaking. Go on."
"The Kalani clan's sanctuary. [The Fall of Kazak Kadan]."
"...Ha."
Kirhas flinched at Fernandez's words. He spoke without haste, as leisurely as handling an enraged beast.
"You saw it yourself. Beyond those scales... that hall with Kadan's corpse."
"How do you know about that?"
"I saw it myself."
"Don't lie. After the Kalani clan fell, I was the first to set foot there."
Kirhas growled at Fernandez, glaring.
"After Kadan lost his divinity to Mumto's hands and fell to mortality, he begged Beitasser for power. For strength and revenge. In a broad sense, doesn't that make us brothers?"
Fernandez raised his goblet toward Kirhas.
"You can hear Kadan's voice, can't you?"
"Who are you?"
"Who would you like me to be?"
Staring into Kirhas's eyes, leisurely.
"What Kadan did to you, and what Beitasser did to us—it's all the same fabric. They bestow blessings and urge revenge and justice. We're nothing but puppets."
"My bond with Kadan is one of equals."
"Mine with Beitasser is the same. So we could have that kind of relationship too."
"What do I gain?"
"Revenge."
Kirhas's brow furrowed at the word.
"Don't beat around the bush. Unless you want to die. I've already settled all my old grudges."
"Revenge on Mumto, who stole Kadan's power. And revenge on the demons and demon worshippers who brought down the Kalani clan. How's that?"
"You talk pretty. But it's not a tempting offer. I'm no lone wanderer. I have people to lead. Did you think I'd just accept?"
"It's pragmatic, isn't it?"
Fernandez slowly walked toward a map of the Great Wasteland hanging on one wall of the tent. Gazing at it, he said,
"The wasteland... is just a wasteland, as the name implies. Sure, there might be some fine ancient relics or shiny trinkets buried in the sand... but that's no reason to wage war for seventy years. Why do you think the Emperor and Sultan have been fixated on this region generation after generation?"
"Human greed, I suppose."
"Half right. It's the demons."
Fernandez pointed to the center of the Great Wasteland, a vast empty plain.
"A great demon buried underground here. It's inciting war through its minions. Provoking, corrupting, tempting the key figures of every nation. We can execute the human apostates... but unless we uproot the source, those two empires will keep fighting until one destroys the other."
"So we hunt the great demon? That's idealism. From our perspective, it's better if those two human nations keep fighting."
"Shortsighted. Their war will end up burning the wasteland."
"What's left to burn?"
"If there's nothing, won't the flames seek other fuel and spread?"
"You dare? You dare threaten my territory? They wouldn't unless they'd lost their minds."
Kirhas let out a short laugh. Her tone carried an air of lofty pride. Fernandez turned to face her.
"Do you truly believe the Tigerkin Alliance is mightier than the Empire's forces? If the Sultan's Immortal Legion launches a full invasion of this region, are you confident you could hold? Be realistic. The beastkin Tigerkin Alliance isn't inherently overwhelming—it's just that the two empires don't want to stretch their fronts by bothering with us."
"You're an interesting one."
Kirhas slowly settled into her throne, crossing her legs.
"No one's ever dared say such things to me. Did I not know? Or are all my subordinates idiots who didn't? That we've grown our power here because the other forces deliberately avoid us."
Kirhas rested her chin on the armrest, fiddling with her goblet. Drink? No, not yet—this wasn't enough.
"Anyone can grasp the strategic situation. Your boldness intrigues me, but if you're just a brave fool, you're not that appealing. Killing the great demon and ending the war—what reason do I have to help with that?"
"The two nations' treasuries are already drained by this war. Even if it ends, they won't turn their blades on the Tigerkin Alliance right away."
"Ideal speculation. Next?"
"The long war has already reduced the civilized cities in the Great Wasteland to ruins barely holding their shape. They're little more than forward bases now, so most will withdraw once the war ends. That leaves the Great Wasteland in a power vacuum. With a few tweaks, we could make it a perfect void."
"And?"
Fernandez approached Kirhas. She showed no reaction, simply glaring into his eyes.
"I'll help you. If you help me first... I'll give you this entire wasteland."
"Amusing. You know unknowable secrets, with sharp eyes to piece them together. How did you uncover the origins of that sword? Now I'm curious about your identity. No divinity on you, either. I like it."
Kirhas let out a soft laugh and raised her goblet. Fernandez clinked his against hers. A clear chime rang out. They both downed the strong liquor.
Among Tigerkin traditions, sharing liquor signifies camaraderie. Kirhas hurled her goblet to the floor and yanked her greatsword free. She reversed her grip and offered him the hilt.
"Take it."
"Should I return it?"
"Ha!"
If it hadn't been a request for her possession—if it hadn't been such brazen audacity—she never would have met him. Ever since receiving Fernandez's letter, she'd been intrigued by him.
A few days ago, Beitasser's church had arrogantly sent her a missive demanding the return of 'their holy relic.' She'd calmed her raging subordinates and awaited this day.
Civilized society had always scorned the Tigerkin Alliance. Once her power grew vast and solid, that scorn turned to outright disdain.
For the Holy Pantheon of Good Gods' church to send her a secret letter and dispatch an envoy... it was intriguing. It meant they now saw her as a trading partner.
Kirhas's ambitions went beyond merely unifying the Tigerkin Alliance. Fernandez thought, gazing into her burning eyes. This hero's ambitions stretched to claiming the entire Great Wasteland and gaining legitimacy from civilized society.
Thus, it was a mutually beneficial deal. The Holy Pantheon offering to aid in unifying the Great Wasteland. Kirhas wasn't foolish enough to miss that.
The northern invasion was inevitable. Karadskar's great northern advance, too. But both could at least choose the lesser evil.
Until the great demon was unleashed into the material world and humanity's final war erupted, only thirty years remained. If they prepared adequately for those two events that would trigger the collapse of human civilization in the interim...
'We can avert doom.'
His goal wasn't eternal peace. Nor the construction of a perfect utopia. He dreamed smaller, more realistically—dreams tied to the life he lived, the lives he was responsible for, the lives he had to atone for.
Even if the peaceful world's shelter was just one paddy field, and the rest of the world burned to ash. As long as his family thrived safely within... everything else was expendable.
'Me too.'
*
The tent the beastkin had prepared was surprisingly cozy. Fernandez sat on the camelhide bed, gazing at the Keyblade.
He hadn't noticed during his meeting with Kirhas, but receiving the Keyblade and holding it without any reaction was odd.
'No divinity?'
The Keyblade was one of Beitasser's most powerful artifacts manifested in the material world. A symbol forged by the god himself, and the key sacrifice to later summon the archangel into the material realm.
It made no sense for a black mage with hellish mana to grasp such a relic without any backlash.
'Come to think of it, no response from the Pantheon either.'
At this time, the Holy Pantheon wasn't sealed. They couldn't actively intervene in mortals' lives, but they could relay oracles or miracles through their material agents.
Yet Fernandez hadn't received any Pantheon responses in years. What was happening in the world now should have delighted the Pantheon's gods most, but they were eerily silent.
'That day, there was definitely intervention from the transcendents.'
When he awoke at dawn and first visited the church. He had sensed the transcendents' presence—altering the statue's inscription, whispering in his mind. It had to have been divine beings intervening then.
But no intervention now? And no divinity from the Keyblade?
'For all that... Kirhas definitely had 'something.''
Kirhas Hearttaker. Kadan's anointed proxy on earth. From her emanated a presence beyond mortals. The oppressive aura unique to beings whose spirit surpassed humanity. One reason he'd sought her out was to confirm it.
The remnant of Kadan's spirit in Kirhas. To verify the spirits of minor deities left in the material world, unaffiliated with the Pantheon. A god's spirit couldn't be fabricated as illusion.
If it existed, he could discard the hypothesis that this world was mere illusion, that he was indulging in self-satisfying delusions in a dream.
Once more, the anxiety that had dogged him for years surged. What if this was a dream? A phantasm crafted by Mumto?
He'd done everything possible to prove otherwise. But an illusion refined enough to fool even the soul was indistinguishable from reality.
Fernandez bit his lip, resisting the sticky sensation squeezing his heart.
'I saw Kadan's spirit with my own eyes. He's in this world. This can't just be my hallucination. Damn it. Why no answer, Beitasser? Isn't this what you wanted?'
So devoted to this world's peace, why no response? Fernandez scowled at the Keyblade, utterly devoid of divinity.