The Holy Kingdom's Ruin
"Offering… help…?"
"Yes. I had my own little gift prepared, and I'd like to ask what you thought of it. Thanks to that, at least you avoided having all the association presidents gather in one place, didn't you?"
"……No way."
While staying in the room and sharing conversation with the children, one part of it flickered through his mind.
"What about the others?"
"Rowina and Hwan have both left their posts. They went personally to confirm after hearing that someone presumed to be their master had been discovered."
At the time he had simply thought, I suppose that's how it is, and let it pass.
"So that was information you intentionally leaked here……."
"Correct. The fact that the source of the false information comes from our side has been thoroughly concealed, so I would appreciate it if you kept it secret as well. Turning all the association presidents into enemies would become rather exhausting. I could claim it was unintentional, but that would only point to our own incompetence, which is also a loss. Of course, if you were to speak of it, we would simply have to accept the consequences."
"……As if I would say anything."
At the sour reply, Edardo gave a low chuckle.
"Thank you for saying so. In truth, this is a form of apology. Aurell failed to properly hide your traces this time."
"……I don't believe that's something that requires an apology. I never expected that much from the beginning."
How could humans who could not even remember him for a full month be expected to remember and help him ten years later?
Having learned over one hundred and fifty years to feel joy simply from the fact that someone was making an effort to remember him, Raven instead felt as though the man who, even after ten years, had approached him and spoken the word "acquaintance" was something out of a dream.
So he toyed absently with the crow's feather and murmured in reply.
"What you did to hide me ten years ago is already more than enough. You handled the matter perfectly back then, so I have no intention of finding fault. Besides, this incident appeared so suddenly that there would have been no time to prepare—"
"No. Such things cannot serve as an excuse. In the end, you were still caught by those who wished to keep you hidden ten years ago."
This was clearly a failure of our own capability.
The golden beast lowered his stance. It looked like both a gesture of consideration for the other party and the preparatory posture of a predator right before the hunt.
"That is why I wish to seize this chance to make amends. What do you think?"
"……You seem to be lowering yourself far too much."
"Consider it my selfish desire to maintain our connection, if you would."
From the records, the abilities Raven had displayed while working with Aurell had been beyond imagination. He had even closed the Gate before the city gates alone recently, so his skills had not grown dull.
The fact that he was the very person those association presidents had been desperately searching for could become a danger bordering on calamity, but it also held the potential to become an enormous advantage.
Considering Raven's personality as gleaned from past records and their current conversation, Edardo concluded that maintaining friendly ties would only be beneficial. With a softly relaxed face, he continued.
"Therefore, I state it plainly. Aurell failed to properly fulfill the contract from ten years ago. As compensation for that failure, we wish to assist you. I hope you will remember that Aurell stands among the forces you may freely command."
"Honestly, I don't see any reason for you to go this far for me……."
Raven lifted his hand from the crow in his arms and looked at Edardo.
Perhaps it was not for nothing that he was called the image of the sun; the man carrying such a vivid presence stared back with eyes more resolute than ever, as though refusal would not be tolerated.
"Since you call it greed, I'll accept it with gratitude. I was planning to make a request anyway. Saying it's burdensome would only earn me another lecture."
He would probably ask, Do I look like such a small vessel to you?
As expected, Edardo laughed quietly, acknowledging that he had been seen through, then picked up the earlier topic.
"A request, you say. What is it?"
"I need information from the past. More precisely, information regarding a certain individual who existed in the mythic era."
Raven tapped his fingers as though organizing his thoughts.
"Green eyes and black hair. Died before the age of thirty, and presumed to have been officially recognized as a hero while alive. I want to find that person's name."
"Green eyes and black hair… So the same colors as yours?"
"……Yes. Exactly the same colors as me."
"Any other clues? The more details, the easier it will be to locate him, so even trivial things would help."
Having done this sort of work more than once or twice, Edardo did not pry into the reason behind the request. He immediately seized the given clues and began digging in.
His impeccably neat attitude made Raven's expression ease considerably.
"I'm being cautious because hasty guesses could interfere with the investigation……."
"We will filter them appropriately on our end, so you need not worry."
"Seeing the stitch marks around his neck, it appears he died from having his throat cut and was later patched back together. It is also presumed he was an Awakened in life. And……."
Guardian Spirit ??? remains silent.
"He seemed accustomed to battles of protection. Since he said he continued practicing even after death, he most likely died while fighting to protect something."
"You speak as though you met the individual in person and even conversed with him."
"Well… he is my Guardian Spirit, after all."
"A Guardian Spirit, you say……."
It seemed he had seen records of such beings existing.
Interesting, but that was not the part requiring focus. Edardo set aside his personal curiosity and organized the information he had obtained.
"If he practiced even after death… it means he could not protect to his satisfaction. For a being so sacrificial and altruistic that he died protecting others, 'satisfactory protection' lies close to the realm of impossibility, so the information is largely useless."
"I agree. 'Satisfaction' is extremely subjective."
Having said that, Raven glanced down at the crow in his arms.
……A new disciple has been born. Giving one gift as a commemoration wouldn't be bad.
He gently stroked its head with a fingertip, then drew a small piece of paper from his pocket and held it out.
"I'd also like you to look into matters related to the slave traders."
"……Slave traders?"
Edardo, who had casually accepted the paper and checked its contents, showed a subtly changed expression.
He set the paper on the table and answered calmly.
"You need not concern yourself with this. The matter has already been resolved."
"Really?"
Raven immediately realized that Edardo had been involved in resolving the issue. Edardo noticed that Raven had caught on and gave a short laugh.
As though offering information to purchase trust, an unrequested explanation followed.
"We also view the illegal slave problem with great seriousness. Those taken are mostly powerless poor without connections or support. As you know, the poor form the foundation of Aurell."
"……."
"It has already been eight years since the war between the Empire and the Holy Kingdom ended. Even though we have entered a period of relative stability, the number of slaves has not decreased. This means there are many illegal slaves, so the problem is indeed significant—"
"……What?"
"It means this is something we pay constant attention to, so you need not worry yourself over it."
"No, not that part."
Raven asked with a stunned face.
"The Holy Kingdom has fallen?"
"……You did not know? The demigod currently gripping and shaking the Empire is the one who destroyed it."
"Huh……."
The Holy Kingdom. Abbreviated as the Sacred Kingdom.
It was a nation that believed in the existence of a nonexistent god, where the pope also served as king.
To think that a kingdom which had been quite magnificent until it vanished into hiding had fallen. And with the shocking information that Deciever had intervened, Raven pressed a hand to his forehead with a dizzy expression.
His lips moved silently several times before they finally produced a meaningful sentence.
"……I believe I will need a detailed explanation."
"As you wish."
.
.
.
The explanation that followed was shocking.
Nine years ago, the demigod Deciever suddenly appeared in the current Empire of Ardal, revealed his rank, displayed his power, and used threats to place himself above the emperor. In exchange, he promised to give an entire country to the Empire and took the lead in destroying the Holy Kingdom.
Thus, only three nations now officially existed on the continent: the Empire, the Republic, and Esperanes, with the Empire being the largest by far.
"In just… one year, all of this happened……."
"Yes. Everyone was stunned."
"……He really caused quite the incident."
The map, centered on the small kingdom of Esperanes and split vertically above and below it, blurred his vision.
The north belonged to the Empire, the south to the Republic.
Raven stared at the territories marked differently from what he remembered, then squeezed his eyes shut.
But the explanation was not yet finished.
"The war was originally expected to last much longer, but when the situation seemed slightly delayed, the impatient emperor provoked him."
You call yourself a demigod, yet why do you fight no differently from an ordinary human?
He had even gone so far as to question Deciever's identity and abilities as a demigod.
"This……."
Only now did he understand why the current emperor had ascended the throne at such a young age.
The one who had easily fallen for provocation and broken the neck of the master he once called father would never generously overlook a mere human's taunt. At the expected result, Raven swallowed the sigh threatening to escape.
"The demigod killed the emperor where he stood, then appeared on the battlefield drenched in his blood and revealed what is called divinity. Not only the enemies but even his own allies were crushed by something—whether it was his rank or his momentum—unable to breathe. In that silenced space, he spoke."
With black sclera and red pupils that could never belong to a human, gleaming.
"'Do you wish to win this war?'"
To the enemy, not his allies.
"'Do you wish to live?'"
Beg me.
Say you want to win. Say you want to live.
"Revealing himself as a demigod, he turned his back on his allies and told the enemies to direct their wishes toward him."
"……So, did they wish?"
"So the story goes."
Faced with an otherworldly rank, crushed and stripped of their will to fight, how could mere humans maintain their sanity?
One of the Holy Kingdom's soldiers present whispered a plea. Not to the god the Holy Kingdom served, but to the demigod before their eyes.
"O god."
Let us win this war. Save us.
"The result was horrific, but."
"……I can imagine."
He had never seen Deciever grant wishes as a 'demigod,' but it was easy enough to infer that an error-riddled being who was not even a proper demigod could not grant them properly.
Sure enough, the demigod who heard the wish smiled and answered.
"Very well."
"I shall grant that wish."
And at the same time, the heads of every last one of those numerous enemies exploded simultaneously.
It had been a truly overwhelming and terrifying sight, Edardo recited calmly, quoting the testimony of the Empire's soldiers who had been present.
"In the blink of an eye the Holy Kingdom's forces vanished, so the battlefield fell into silence for an entirely different reason. The rest was settled in less than a day."
The Holy Kingdom was defeated, and every possible threat was killed off.
"Having ended the war in a single stroke and returned, the demigod killed every one of the emperor's children except the youngest and most docile—who could not even ascend the throne and only watched his mood—then personally placed the emperor's crown upon the survivor."
"……."
"Everyone expected that a demigod of such an untamed personality, now holding absolute human authority as well, would rampage quite loudly, but surprisingly he went into seclusion afterward. He would appear from time to time, just as people began to forget and grow lax, reminding them of his existence."
He had been recovering. Raven guessed without difficulty.
Though full of errors, he was a being bearing the title of 'god,' standing one step above the existences of the earth.
For such a being to have 'directly' killed 'numerous humans' on the ground would be interpreted as excessive intervention beyond the established line. Naturally, a price would follow.
And the reason he rampaged like this is…….