The Vessel of a King
When Raon brought his sword down, the flames of One Flame Extreme scattered like blades of grass in the wind. Above the dying fire, the Ice Troll Lord's massive frame—which had blotted out the moon—sank to its knees. A black hole had been punched through the left side of its torso, pierced by a spear of flame.
A wet sizzle rose from the wound. As if time itself were rewinding, the Ice Troll Lord's melted skin and flesh began to swell back into place. The regenerative power was staggering, befitting a Lord—but it was meaningless. Its heart had already been shredded by the flames of One Flame Extreme.
"Ghrrrk..."
Raon met the eyes of the Ice Troll Lord as it clutched its chest. Life drained from those white pupils, pale as perpetual snow.
I can't tell.
It might have been resentment. It might have been a plea for life. Or perhaps...
It might have been his imagination, but it almost looked like gratitude.
"I'll send you off without pain."
"Ghrrrk!"
Raon raised his sword again. He was about to take its head so it would feel no more suffering when the Ice Troll Lord's jaw trembled and it forced itself to its feet.
"Grrraaah..."
As if determined to fight until the very end, it clenched its fists and stood tall on both legs. The will not to die on its knees. Even now, it was every inch a king.
"Incredible."
The admiration was genuine. He never imagined he would feel something like this for a monster.
"GRAAAAAH!"
The Ice Troll Lord charged with a roar. Its balance wavered like a toddler just learning to walk, but it did not fall.
So that will would not go to waste, Raon poured everything he had into the cut. A blade steeped in the pride of House Zieghart severed the Ice Troll Lord's last breath.
"Kuruk!"
The Ice Troll Lord's thick lips curled upward. An unmistakable smile. He hadn't imagined it. The creature was grateful.
"KRAAAAGH!"
"Grrrrrk!"
"KYAAAAH!"
The monsters that had heard their Lord's final roar abandoned the fight and fell back. They scattered in every direction and fled as fast as they could.
"A king to the very end..."
Just as Raon had said, the Ice Troll Lord had died like a king. So much so that he almost felt ashamed by comparison.
Farewell.
Raon closed his eyes, hoping the creature that had died as a king would be reborn into a good life—the kind of life he had now.
When he opened his eyes again, Wrath was looking down at the Ice Troll Lord's corpse.
"Now that was a true king. It's been a long time."
"This troll was younger than you, if you measure it in human years. And at that age, it already knew what it had to do. A king through and through."
Yeah.
"Look at that young troll. It had nothing, and still it was born a king and died a king. That's how you know. Kings are not made. They are born—transcending even their own kind."
Wrath turned and met Raon's eyes.
"...Or so This King used to believe."
Used to?
"Indeed. But watching you changed This King's mind."
What do you mean?
"When This King first laid eyes on you, you didn't have so much as a chocolate chip's worth of a king's temperament. But you have changed. Not merely in strength—the caliber of your soul itself is different now."
Wrath's eyes flashed as if sapphires had been set into them.
A king's vessel...
"And yet you don't look like you have any intention of becoming a king."
You're right. I've never even thought about it.
He had been born the grandson of House Zieghart's patriarch, but the idea of inheriting the family had never crossed his mind. All he wanted was to gather what advantages he could, and for Sylvia and the maids to be happy.
"A king's vessel with a commoner's mind. Amusing. This King is curious how that vessel will change, how it will grow—and what kind of transformation your spirit will undergo. There is no one like you even in the Demon Realm."
So you're not going to take my body, then? Is that a concession of defeat?
"W-what nonsense is that! This King said it was interesting! This King never said This King wouldn't seize your body and soul!"
Wrath flailed his stubby arms and bellowed.
"Once This King sets This King's sights on something, This King will have it no matter what it takes! By any means necessary, This King will take your flesh!"
Ah. Right.
"While we're on the subject, This King's own temperament is much like that troll child's. A true king who would save his subordinates even at risk to himself. The difference is that This King's strength yields to no one—w-why are you looking at This King like that!"
Seeing Raon's gaze, colder than a sheet of ice, Wrath trembled.
Even at a time like this, this guy just chatters and brags...
"Raon!"
Just as Raon was shaking his head at Wrath, Dorian came running. His arm was broken, his whole body was covered in bruises, and his armor had been reduced to rags.
"You..."
Raon had thought Dorian had held out reasonably well. He was wrong. The boy had truly given everything he had to buy time.
"I really can't keep up with you. You killed the Azure Wine Ghoul and the Frost Fang Ghoul, and then you even took the Lord's head. I just fought the Lord and still ended up with a broken arm."
Dorian sniffled, touching his broken arm.
"What got into you? Why did you step up?"
"Well..."
He couldn't answer right away. He stroked his belly pouch instead.
"We fought the Crimson Blood Ghoul before, remember?"
"Yeah."
It had been more like enduring than fighting, but still.
"When I ran away that time, it felt like my insides were going to tear apart. Being hurt in the body is scary, but being hurt in the heart is even scarier. So I swore I'd never leave a comrade behind and run again."
"And this time you kept that oath?"
"Yes..."
Dorian hung his head, looking embarrassed.
"I see. You were a real help."
Raon smiled at Dorian. The boy's sincerity reached him, warming a corner of his chest. It was the first time anyone had ever helped him like this, and it didn't feel bad at all.
"And you as well."
Raon turned to look at Edquil, who was standing there awkwardly. His condition was worse than Dorian's. His armor was soaked in blood, and the bones in his legs looked shattered.
"...It was nothing."
"Formal speech?"
Edquil had suddenly switched to respectful language. This was the same man who used to mutter about killing Raon later.
"I stepped in because I wanted to. There's no need for you to concern yourself."
He bowed his head politely and headed back toward the castle. His eyes were clear, without a trace of murk. Something in him really had changed.
Terian stood atop the castle gate, blood-soaked sword raised, and roared.
"UWOOOOOOH!"
"Raon! Raon! Raon!"
The soldiers cried his name as if they had become a single voice. The name Raon shook the whole of Habun Castle.
Raon clenched his fist tight.
My name...
A name he had never been allowed to show in his previous life—a name he had only ever hidden—was spreading across the world. A hot thrill hammered against his heart.
"Let's go."
He clutched his tingling chest and was about to walk toward Habun Castle when a message sprang up before his eyes.
The moment he was about to smile at the flood of rewards, Wrath burst out and shrieked.
"Why are there so many of them?!"
Mount Rushain, the mountain that buttressed the western reaches of House Robert.
Beneath that mountain, famed for its spectacular scenery, lay an underground cavern no one knew existed. In the center of a hollow darker than night, some five hundred children knelt with their eyes closed.
The children had their hands clasped as if in prayer, and cold sweat poured endlessly from their brows and backs.
"Nngh..."
"Ah..."
"Kh..."
One by one, the children who had been biting their lips and holding on collapsed. Blood ran from their eyes or noses or ears as their entire bodies convulsed. Whenever a child fainted, the masked figures standing watch nearby carried them off somewhere.
As time passed, the children collapsed more and more frequently, until only one hundred and eight remained standing.
The tall masked figure who had been watching from the center climbed to an upper level that overlooked the entire cavern.
Derus Robert, his silver hair swept back like a field of snow, stood with a wine glass in hand and looked down. Despite the many years that had passed, he looked younger and more vital than before.
"The brainwashing is complete."
The masked man dropped to one knee and bowed his head.
"One hundred and eight, is it."
The one hundred and eight children were reflected in Derus's aristocratic pupils.
"Yes. More than expected. These dogs should prove quite useful."
"Cut that number in half."
"What?"
"Mediocre mongrels are worthless. What I need are hunting dogs that can bare their fangs even at a Master."
He smiled faintly as he looked at the children bleeding from their mouths. It was a dry smile, empty of feeling, and it sent a chill down the spine.
"H-how should I reduce them?"
"That's your job, isn't it? I don't believe that's something I need to concern myself with."
Derus's blue eyes gleamed with a strange light.
"I-I'm sorry!"
The masked man slammed his head against the ground and begged forgiveness. Blood dripped from his forehead.
"Have they been fed the Rage Worms?"
"Yes! We fed them the successfully improved specimens. There will be no chance of the brainwashing coming undone the way it did with Raon!"
"Raon. Raon..."
Unlike the heated name that had thundered through Habun Castle, a cold voice crushed it flat.
"He was quite a useful one."
Derus frowned as he looked at the scar that had risen on the back of his right hand. Among all the hunting dogs he had raised, Raon had possessed the finest skill. If the boy hadn't broken the brainwashing on his own, he would have been capable of killing even the highest officers of the Six Kings. In more ways than one, it was a shame.
As he was thinking of Raon, the wound on the back of his hand split open with a wet hiss, and sticky blood dripped to the floor.
"M-Master!"
The masked man sprang up and started to rush over, but Derus pried the wound open himself and smiled.
"Look. Even as he was dying, Raon sank his teeth into me. Raise those children into beings like that."
Darkness slowly bloomed in Derus's blue eyes.
Milland and the expedition force had run without a moment to breathe, but the sun had already been up for a long time. When they reached a snowfield from which Habun Castle was faintly visible, dozens of monsters came charging toward them in a rush.
"Kh—prepare for battle!"
He bit his lip against the unease and made ready to fight, but the monsters had no intention of fighting. They didn't even look back as they scattered in every direction.
Only then did he see their condition. Bodies stained with blood, empty hands, eyes full of shadow. They were the very picture of a routed army.
What is this?
Milland narrowed his eyes at the monsters fleeing in a panic. He had lived here for decades, and he had never seen anything like it.
"...We move again. Run at full speed!"
He hid the confusion in his gaze and gave the order to advance once more.
"Yes, sir!"
The expedition force was just as uneasy, and they began racing toward Habun Castle.
Because they were all elites, Milland and the expedition force reached Habun Castle before noon. But the state of the place was nothing like what they had imagined.
The walls had not fallen. Countless monsters lay dead beneath them. And yet not a single soldier's corpse was in sight.
"What... what is this?"
"What the hell happened...?"
"What happened this time?!"
The expedition force approached Habun Castle on trembling legs.
"C-Commander! Look at this!"
As Milland was surveying the area, Barti, captain of the 1st Scout Squad, shouted. When they went over, the corpse of a monster twice the size of an ordinary ice troll lay sprawled on the ground.
"Th-this is it! This is the Ice Troll Lord!"
"So it was a trap after all. But who could have..."
"Commander! There's an E-Eden ghost over here!"
"There's one here too! The F-Frost Fang Ghoul!"
The scouts found the corpses of the Frost Fang Ghoul and the Azure Wine Ghoul and stared in wide-eyed shock.
"The Ice Troll Lord, the Frost Fang Ghoul, and the Azure Wine Ghoul?"
Milland looked at the three monsters in turn and swallowed dryly.
"Just what happened here?"
Eden's two beasts, the Ice Troll Lord, and countless monster corpses. And yet there was not a single human body or scrap of flesh anywhere. He understood that Eden had set a trap. How anyone had survived it was beyond imagining.
"Let's go in first."
Milland steadied his breathing and approached the castle gate. Cheers and roaring voices rose from inside the walls. Listening closely, they were shouting someone's name.
"Raon?"
It was Raon. The boy's name was ringing out loud enough to reach the sky.
After hearing what had happened over the course of a single night, Milland and his officers sat in the conference room with their pupils trembling, as if their souls had left their bodies.
"In all my life, I never thought I'd see something like this."
"I know. Eden and the Ice Troll Lord attacked, and not a single person died. It feels like a dream. We must have received the War God's blessing!"
"Not the War God's blessing—Raon's. He did it all by himself again."
"He took down the Frost Fang Ghoul, the Azure Wine Ghoul, and the Ice Troll Lord and only broke one arm. The kid's a real monster."
The officers clicked their tongues in awe at Raon's martial prowess and strategy.
"We won, that's what matters. A festival! Let's hold a festival for three days and nights!"
"Three days and nights? We could do a whole week!"
"That's right. A day like this will never come again in our lifetimes!"
It was obvious the monsters wouldn't be coming for a while, so the officers raised their hands and called for a festival at once.
"A festival is fine, but there's something we need to do first."
Milland settled the conference room, which had grown as noisy as a marketplace.
"Something we need to do, sir...?"
"This Raon you all keep praising. You weren't planning to just cheer for him and leave it at that, I assume."
"O-of course not!"
"We must bestow the finest reward and a purse of gold coins!"
The officers nodded at once.
"That's right. I'm alive right now thanks to Raon."
Terian, who had told them all about Raon's exploits, smiled faintly.
"Then this will go quickly."
Milland rapped the table, his eyes flashing.
"I intend to give him Habun Castle's relic."