A Shadow Approaches in the Dark
A shadow, drawing closer through the dark.
At Archbishop Marconi's words, the air in the audience chamber froze solid.
As if to shatter that silence, the Archbishop pressed on.
"After a thorough investigation by the Church, we have determined that within the city of Gransen there is only one unmarried man with pure silver hair: a boy named Alan Ludwig."
That much, at least, was understandable. In the entire Kingdom of Pallazinia, people whose hair was a true, clear silver — not white, not a muddy gray — were vanishingly few. Narrow that further to young, unmarried men inside Gransen, and the number shrank to almost nothing.
"And upon investigating those around him, we found someone with whom he is unmistakably at odds. A man with black hair, just as the oracle described."
A look of open disgust crossed Archbishop Marconi's face as he continued.
"We also obtained information that the Hero and this individual have already clashed over a certain young woman. We have confirmed that the girl in question has red hair."
He nodded, as though the matter were already settled.
"When the circumstances align this perfectly, we may take the oracle as fact. Your Majesty, I urge you to punish that man at once — before the Demon King's seal is undone!"
Having poured out his appeal with all the fervor he could muster, Archbishop Marconi turned a confident smile upon King Galarus, as if it were unthinkable that the king would do anything but obey.
"......"
"........."
Every soul in the audience chamber held their tongue. Their faces, however, told a dozen different stories: fury, bewilderment, disbelief, and the blank incredulity of people who could not quite accept what they had just heard.
When no one spoke, Archbishop Marconi opened his mouth again.
"Why does no one say a word? This is not merely a crisis for the kingdom — it is a crisis for the entire world!"
"......"
King Galarus regarded the Archbishop with eyes gone cold. He let out a single sigh, then looked Marconi full in the face and spoke.
"Listen well, Archbishop Marconi."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"...Y-Your Majesty?!"
Archbishop Marconi started so violently he nearly jumped out of his own skin.
"I have no idea who this Alan fellow is supposed to be. But Ventos and Ignis are the names of nobles of this kingdom. Do you imagine we would tolerate punishing our own aristocracy on the back of the Church's nonsense?"
"B-but this is a crisis for the world—"
"Can you prove that so-called crisis in any concrete way?"
"......"
The Archbishop had nothing to say. Of course he didn't. They had investigated a received oracle and nothing more; they possessed not a single scrap of evidence that any of it was true.
"As I have already said, the Demon King's complete destruction has been this kingdom's official position since the founding of Pallazinia itself."
"......"
"To deny that, and to agitate the people with talk of the Demon King's return — that may as well be taken as an insult to our kingdom. Would you not agree?"
"Y-Your Majesty! That is far too—"
"I am telling you that what the Church is doing right now is precisely that! Inciting the populace and demanding that we punish our nobles?!"
King Galarus slammed a fist against the throne, and the force of his anger drove Archbishop Marconi back on himself like a man suddenly afraid.
"I will lodge a severe protest with the Church over this matter."
"......"
Cold sweat poured down the Archbishop's face. In truth, he had gotten carried away. He had received an oracle, found people who more or less matched it, and let excitement run ahead of sense. Looked at coldly, the demands he had walked into this chamber and made were outrageous — and he knew it.
"I... I misspoke. Your Majesty, I beg your forgiveness..."
"There will not be a second time."
The king had let his anger show, but a genuine rupture with the Church would have done the kingdom no favors. However far the institution had fallen, however corrupt it had become, the faithful of the World Tree Church were still too numerous to ignore. He had seized the initiative, refused the request in no uncertain terms, and stopped there.
"Then, Your Majesty... might the Church at least be permitted to take Alan Ludwig and Riel Ignis under our protection? The Hero, that is—"
"This Alan fellow may go with you if he himself consents. But I will not permit the Church to abscond with a daughter of House Ignis as it pleases."
"...I see."
Archbishop Marconi said as much and stepped back. He had learned during the investigation that the girl called Riel Ignis was a daughter of the Ignis ducal house. He had never expected to simply walk off with a duke's daughter in the first place. Securing the Hero would have to be enough; he decided to be satisfied with that.
"May I say a word, Archbishop Marconi?"
The voice came from the direction of the throne. When the Archbishop looked up and realized its owner was still-young Prince Julius, he composed himself and answered with due courtesy.
"Please, Your Highness."
"This Alan of whom Your Grace speaks — I have seen him with my own eyes. Frankly, the notion that he is a Hero strikes me as utterly preposterous. His skill was inferior even to a Low-tier Knight."
"...Is that so."
Archbishop Marconi gave an answer, but he let the prince's words slide past him like rain off a roof. What mattered was that the boy was very likely the Hero. Ability was neither here nor there. He would have liked to secure the Priestess as well, if he could — but that, it seemed, would be difficult.
Well... it can't be helped. It would have been convenient to take her through official channels, but...
"You must halt your activities inside the Kingdom of Pallazinia at once!!"
The Continental Central Church was the World Tree Church's headquarters in every sense that mattered — land bound by non-aggression treaties, a place no nation on the continent would ever dare to touch. Inside one of its council chambers, a woman was shouting herself hoarse.
"To take information that isn't even confirmed, call it an 'oracle,' and raise a commotion in another country! Since when did the Church become so full of itself?!"
Her name was Alicia Melote, a devout believer whose family had served the World Tree Church for generations. Devout though she was, her relationship with the Church as it now stood was far from warm.
The World Tree Church of the present day was split into two factions.
The Pope Faction served the World Tree that watched over this world, and devoted itself to aiding the weak and punishing the wicked. The Cardinal Faction held that the only great beings worthy of worship were the World Tree and the fairies who served it, and that every other living thing was obliged to follow their doctrine and their will.
Alicia Melote's family had belonged to the Pope Faction since time immemorial, and they had never been on good terms with the Cardinal Faction — now the Church's dominant power.
"But Sister Alicia. This oracle was delivered by the World Tree directly to Cardinal Gerald—"
"Isn't the content of the oracle itself suspicious? It has been more than four hundred years since the Demon King vanished! And now, all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe in his resurrection? That's absurd!"
"But the oracle did occur! A great many people witnessed Cardinal Gerald receiving it. Is it not possible that the claim of the Demon King's destruction was simply wrong?"
"...What did you just say?"
Harsh words were nothing new in the fighting between factions. This, however, was something Alicia could not let pass.
"The Demon King's destruction was the content of an oracle that the great Pope of that age — Pope Bernardo — received directly from the World Tree. Are you claiming that that was wrong?"
"Yes! It must have been wrong! A crumbling record from four hundred years ago, versus an oracle delivered only days past — which of the two is correct should be obvious, should it not?"
"I beg your pardon?!"
Alicia strode toward the sneering priest, her face dark with fury.
"Say that again!"
"Don't tell me... you're jealous that an oracle was granted to a Cardinal rather than the Pope?"
"...Unbelievable. This is truly unbelievable."
There was no getting through to a fool. So Alicia concluded, clutching her aching head as she stepped back.
"So? What do you intend to do? You must know the kingdom will not sit still if you keep this up."
"If it is necessary, we shall do whatever we must."
Alicia fixed him with a hard, level stare.
"...Just what are you planning to do?"
"The Church's covert units are already in motion. They will secure the Hero and the Priestess shortly — and if possible, they will dispose of the Demon as well."
"...This is insane..."
It was an outrage that, if it went wrong, could turn the entire kingdom into an enemy.
"It is already too late to call the covert units back. Everything is for the World Tree. Sacrifices of that magnitude must be borne."
"You've gone mad... Completely mad."
She had not imagined they would go this far. Alicia stumbled a step backward, feeling the strength drain from her body.
Mother... the Church has gone as far as it can go. What am I supposed to do...!
She lamented to a mother already gone from the world. And then, in the midst of that thought, something else rose to the surface of her mind — the thing her mother had left her upon her death.
"Alicia, this is a precious treasure that has been passed down since the Demon King vanished... This is..."
"......"
"Sister Alicia, where are you going? It is already too late—"
"...I'll be going some distance away. Do as you please."
Alicia left the Church and made for the house where she had once lived. The thing her mother had given her was hidden there.
"I'll go myself... and confirm the World Tree's true will."
A treasure handed down through the generations — the Orb of the World Tree, which would let her go to the World Tree's side herself.
"What's this now?"
Riel and I had seen Emilia off and were on our way back to the dorms together when we noticed a crowd packed around the bulletin board. Curiosity got the better of us. We went over — and found a sheet of exceptionally fine paper pinned there.
The seal of the Demon King shall be undone.
By oracle of the World Tree, the Hero, the Priestess, and the Demon have appeared in this land.
"The Demon King's seal is going to be broken...?"
"Who the hell posted this lunacy on the board?"
"Ugh, you'll be struck down for saying things like that..."
That was the sort of muttering running through the crowd, so I read it myself — and yes, it was exactly the kind of thing that would make people talk like that. Even Riel, standing beside me, had finished the paper with her mouth hanging open.
"Whoever they are, they've got some nerve putting up a notice like this in the kingdom."
"No kidding. Looking at the paper they used, some rich idiot, probably."
I nodded in agreement. To post something like this in the capital of Pallazinia — a kingdom whose founding-queen legend openly declared the Demon King's complete annihilation — took a special kind of gall.
Then someone shoved through the crowd and came up to the board.
"Excuse me! Make way!"
It was a soldier in armor. He scanned the bulletin board, found the paper, and heaved a long, weary sigh.
"Haa... it's here too. How many of these did they put up?"
He peeled the sheet free, rolled it up, and tucked it into his coat before turning away. From the sound of it, he was making the rounds collecting them. Fair enough.
The Demon King, though. I hadn't expected something like this to surface out of nowhere. In the original novel, the Demon King showed up in the prologue... well, he was mentioned once in the same breath as the celestial and demon races at the dawn of time, and that was the end of it. He never appeared in the original story. He was never even mentioned again. The original's central conflict had been something closer to political thuggery over the succession to the throne, anyway.
"What a bizarre thing to post."
Riel lost interest, turned her head, and looked at me.
"Kyou, let's hurry back. Phyllis said she put together a little celebration party for today."
"...Huh? The Martial God Festival isn't even over yet. What celebration?"
"A party for your runner-up finish, she said."
"Ah..."
Nobody was expecting me to beat Iris, huh. Not that I was confident I could, if I was being honest.
"Come on, let's go!"
"Uh... r-right."
Riel suddenly hooked her arm through mine and set off, and my feet followed toward the dorms as if I were being towed. Ah — there was a small, faintly soft sensation against my arm... ahem.
"Target acquired. The capture objective and the elimination objective. They're together."
"...Wait until nightfall, when they separate. Carry out the mission then."