Monsters-1
The Nine Kingdoms.
It was easiest to think of them as an alliance of nine separate nations, united by a single goal: the fall of the Empire.
Of course, the kings of those nations could not all gather in one place at once, so they had sent their most trusted envoys instead.
“Haaah…”
“Ibelit, are you sighing right now? Don’t tell me things are already starting to go wrong!”
The rulers of the Nine Kingdoms had gathered in one place.
Inside the royal palace of the Parneina Kingdom, in a vast council chamber.
So many people were shouting, threatening one another, and throwing things that the whole room had become a storm of chaos.
Watching men who stood at the very top of their countries lose their temper and snarl like this made me wonder if they were really kings and grand dukes at all.
Ibelit rubbed her forehead and let out a long sigh.
The sharp brilliance that always lived in her eyes dimmed at once, replaced by clear fatigue.
Apparently annoyed by her reaction, prickling, irritated stares jabbed at her from every direction. Someone muttered under their breath.
“How did it suddenly get exposed…?”
“Our smart Queen Ibelit can’t think for a moment now, can she? Kalufen had been preparing to turn on us from the start! And whose fault was it for handing him that damned crystal orb?”
One grand duke pointed at her and barked furiously.
Ibelit turned those cold eyes on him.
Her silver pupils gleamed as though someone had set a block of ice into them.
The others nodded along, as if to say, That’s right.
The grand duke ignored her icy stare and kept sneering.
“What are you going to do about it? Weren’t you the one who swore you could bring the Empire down for sure?”
“Grand Duke Auschurint, do you even know who you’re speaking to? Ah, yes, yes. You’d prefer to dump the blame on me somehow, wouldn’t you? It was all fine and dandy when you were cackling about how nice it would be if the Empire fell, but now that you don’t think you can pull it off, you’re flailing like this.”
“What did you just say…!”
“Grand Duke Auschurint. Sit down and keep your mouth shut. I turned a blind eye when you came here and deliberately inflated your price, so sit there quietly. Do my words sound like someone else’s to you?”
Ibelit’s expression hardened as she gave the table a small, sharp tap with one finger.
Grand Duke Auschurint stared at her in stunned disbelief, then clicked his tongue and sank back into his seat.
It’s amazing we’ve made it this far with a pack like this.
For now, she would have to calm them down.
Ibelit rose slowly to her feet.
All eyes in the chamber turned to her.
“Our plan has hit a snag, but it’s still fine for now.”
“And what exactly is fine about it? The moment Kalufen leaks our information to the Imperial Palace, we’re all….”
“We’ll incur the Empire’s wrath. But wasn’t everyone already prepared for that much?”
Ibelit clasped her hands behind her back as she spoke.
Unlike the other kings and queens, she wore a military uniform, and that alone made her seem all the more imposing.
Under the brim of her cap, in the shadowed half of her face, her silver eyes flashed.
“If there is any nation here that is not prepared to make an enemy of the Empire, speak now.”
“…So you’re saying your words have changed from before.”
“They have. But think carefully. There are still spies everywhere, and corrupt nobles are still everywhere. Are you really going to back down over one setback?”
Ibelit tilted her head and fixed one king with a hard stare.
The king fell silent.
Not because of Ibelit’s words, but because every eye in the room had turned to him.
“Now is not the time to let go of the chance to bring the Empire down. We should be tightening our grip, not muttering cowardly nonsense about retreating already.”
“Ibelit. If we fail, do you intend to shoulder the blame? No. It will be the entire Nine Kingdoms that stand in danger.”
“You came here to bring down the Empire without even considering that danger? What a weak-minded thing to say!”
Ibelit snapped, veins standing out at her throat.
Her eyes burned.
She drew a single baton from within her coat and pointed to one spot on the map.
The vast Empire, and off to one side, the cluster of Nine Kingdoms and the other principalities.
Tap. Tap.
She rapped the baton against the Empire as she spoke.
“All we need is for the Empire to fall. That Empire that has always looked down on us, always oppressed us—look at it now, weak and half-dead. Ha. What kind of king are you if you have no nerve at all?”
“What did you say…!”
“Exactly. We only need to bring down the Empire. Forget danger, forget everything else—we simply have to tear into the Empire while it’s weak. There won’t be another chance like this… you all understand that, don’t you? You should be ready to shoulder that risk.”
Ibelit smiled slyly and arched one eyebrow, as if to say, Well?
That sight—a face that was usually cold and severe twisted by the hint of madness—made everyone in the room flinch.
“Were we not all gathered here for one reason, and one reason only? To bring down the Empire?”
“Our Kaurupen Kingdom came here because we were promised the Empire’s fall, not because we wanted to take unnecessary risks….”
“If Kaurupen fails to seize this chance, it will fall too. Do you understand? Admit it. You are the weakest of us all. The moment word spreads that you raised a banner against the Empire, you become the juiciest prey.”
…
He seemed about to say something, but meeting her silver eyes made him shut his mouth.
Then he nodded.
Ibelit pointed the baton toward the center of the Nine Kingdoms.
“Once we have joined hands, we are already bound together by fate. If the Emperor of the Empire changes, and if Princess Lobelia ascends the throne, then we all fall together.”
“There’s no basis for that.”
“Have you forgotten what the Empire was like when it was still thriving? What happened to Karten is only the beginning. The more corrupt nobles disappear, the more the Empire will return to its original shape.”
Seeing whether there were any objections, Ibelit swept her gaze across the chamber.
A king proud enough to choke on his own pride, a queen who knew nothing, a princess.
None of them spoke.
Her charisma was simply abnormal.
Like a monster existing solely to drag the Empire down.
That was how her silver eyes burned.
“If you want to live like the Empire’s servants, then leave this council chamber right now.”
“How can you be so certain? It’s only Karten.”
“The man who spoke of Karten’s death was a man named Hawin. It was also Hawin who delivered the news of Kalufen’s betrayal. He is not someone I would normally trust, but for now he has spoken only the truth.”
Hawin.
The name of the man who had brokered the exchange through Kalufen.
Someone influential enough to grip the Imperial Palace by himself, and ambitious enough to match.
…Honestly, I don’t trust him.
Not only because the information had come through Kalufen, but because he had extracted it in such a short time.
There were too many suspicious points to count.
And yet, so far, he had told only the truth.
“…Hawin? Is he the one who recently revealed Kalufen’s betrayal?”
A king stroked his beard and asked.
“Yes. Karten’s death has made it nearly certain that Kalufen betrayed us….”
“And so?”
“Kalufen holds a great deal of our information. He knows better than anyone that the Empire’s greatest weakness is its corrupt nobility. And yet he still had Karten’s head cut off?”
“…I see.”
The king took a drink of water, as though his throat had gone dry.
A little thought was enough to understand it.
“There will be no chance like this one. This is the perfect opportunity to bring the Empire down. If we do not seize it, time will pass far too quickly.”
“…What is your plan? Since things have gone awry, speak more specifically.”
“There are still thousands, hundreds of thousands of moves left to us. It seems a little early to worry.”
Ibelit smiled thinly.
“We will never, absolutely never, let the Empire stand.”
…
After the meeting ended.
Ibelit was busily investigating the documents spread before her.
If we’re going to bring down the Empire, that man Hawin is probably the most important piece.
All the other traitors were cowards with big ambitions and very little brains.
Well, that was probably why they had joined hands with the Nine Kingdoms in the first place.
Kalufen had been the one she had placed her hopes on, but signs of betrayal were already showing….
“We couldn’t find anything on the man named Hawin.”
“…Couldn’t find anything?”
Ibelit frowned and glared at the investigator.
The investigator flinched, then nodded quickly.
Even inside the Imperial Palace, even among the nobles, he was known by nothing more than his name.
His identity remained unknown.
“That can’t be… Then how did he get in contact with Kalufen…?”
“He’s just a country youth. There’s no more information than that.”
“Damn it.”
Ibelit turned her head away.
Her gaze fixed on the map of the great Empire.
She looked at the map when she slept, pinned to the ceiling above her bed, and she looked at it again whenever she thought during the day.
…I have to bring it down.
She had climbed this high after killing princes and everyone else who stood in her way for that one belief alone.
And now she was being troubled by one man named Hawin?
“I’ll turn it into a sea of fire. I will.”
Her silver eyes moved toward the heart of the Empire.
“War, screams, blood… cannons belching flame… even those once-mighty fortresses will fall. In the end, only one thing will remain. Me. Ibelit.”
“…Your Majesty?”
“Just who are you, Hawin?”
Ibelit wore a smile that made my skin crawl.