The House of Cloud
Beyond the thick grey walls, buildings rose like spires into the sky. Sturdy ramparts and tall, chic high-rises — this was Camelun, one of the continent's foremost commercial cities, where more than ten thousand people came and went each day.
Raon and Dorian sat astride their horses, gazing at Camelun's walls just as they had five years ago on their first visit.
"This is already our fourth time here. We've come a lot."
Dorian, his hair dyed brown, smacked his lips.
"Yeah."
Raon nodded. He had changed his hair and eyes to black, matching the disguise.
The two of them were known to be returning to House Zieghart, so they had altered the color of their hair and eyes and thrown on windbreakers like ordinary travelers, all to throw others off their trail.
"Let's go."
Raon jerked his chin at Dorian and urged his horse toward Camelun.
"I'm glad I can restock my supplies, but… why are we going to Camelun?"
"Sightseeing."
"S-sightseeing?"
"Yeah. Let's loosen up a little."
"Uh..."
Raon clapped Dorian on the shoulder as the boy fumbled, then held out a forged identification to the gate guards.
"Sightseeing, my ass!"
Wrath settled onto Raon's shoulder, wrinkling his nose.
"There's no way a black-hearted wretch like you came here for nothing. This King knows you've got some scheme. For such a pathetic weakling, you sure keep a filthy lot of secrets."
Hmm. I was planning to eat a lot of good food today...
"I-is that true?!"
Yeah.
Raon snorted a laugh at Wrath, who had bolted upright as if on a knee-jerk reflex.
We're going to enjoy ourselves.
He nodded and rode into Camelun.
"Welcome, welcome! The fruit's excellent today!"
"You idiot! That goes over here!"
"Come on, knock the price down. We're both in the trade — what's with this?"
"There's no margin even at that price!"
Camelun was as lively as ever. The heat of the crowd pressed against the skin so fiercely that Raon wanted to draw his sword and start training on the spot.
"Aren't you going in?"
Dorian, having passed the checkpoint, tilted his head.
"Just a moment."
Raon didn't move right away the way he had on previous visits. He looked around with the dazed expression of someone seeing Camelun for the first time. After about thirty seconds of letting his gaze wander, small footsteps approached from the side.
"Hello."
"Hm?"
At the bright voice, he glanced over. A girl with blue hair tied back like a horse's tail was bowing her head.
"Is this your first time in Camelun?"
"It is."
Raon gave the child a curt nod.
"Then shall I show you around the city? We at Blue Cloud specialize in guiding travelers."
The girl pointed to the vest she was wearing, which had a cloud drawn on it.
"For a single silver coin, I can show you Camelun's best restaurants, the sights, even the landmarks — whatever you'd like!"
"What's your name?"
Raon met the child's clear eyes as he spoke.
"I'm Fyne."
The girl smiled, tipping her head slightly to one side.
"I'll trust you this once."
"Thank you!"
Fyne beamed and raised a hand.
"Where would you like to start? There's a festival going on right now, so it'd be best to begin there!"
"A festival..."
"A festival means food! And food means a festival, does it not?!"
Wrath tugged at Raon's sleeve, insisting they start with the festival.
"All right. The festival first, then."
"Yes! This way, please!"
When Raon nodded, Fyne answered brightly and set off at once.
She's like Yua. That clear voice and light step reminded him of Yua when she worked at the tavern.
"U-um..."
As they followed Fyne, Dorian sidled up beside him.
"This isn't our first time here. It's our fourth. So why...?"
He whispered, asking what on earth Raon was thinking.
"That child has to eat too."
Raon pointed to the blue cloud on Fyne's back.
"That emblem means parentless children earning money by working themselves."
"Ah! I-I didn't know that."
Dorian scratched his cheek, looking embarrassed.
"We're going to sightsee anyway. Having a guide is nice, isn't it?"
"That's true!"
Perhaps because they were doing a good deed, Dorian grinned and nodded.
"So that's how it is..."
Wrath looked at Fyne and twisted his mouth.
"Give that child twice the pay later! Working already at that age — isn't she admirable?!"
Hah...
Raon let out a sigh. What kind of Demon King was this soft-hearted?
Talking with Dorian and Wrath as they walked, they soon arrived at the festival grounds.
"Here we are!"
Fyne raised a hand and pointed. Nearly four whole blocks had been given over to the festival.
"It's way bigger than I expected!"
Dorian's mouth fell open.
"It's the city's Founding Day Festival! Lots of people, lots of events, and lots of food!"
Fyne waved her hands up and down, laughing. It was the kind of young, unguarded smile only a child that age could wear.
"I see."
Dorian smiled and patted Fyne's head.
"From the left, This King smells chicken skewers! Salt and soy sauce both! From the right, the aroma of whole roast pig is spreading! The center! Ice cream in the center!"
Wrath pinpointed every food stall as if mapping an enemy's position, his tongue flicking. To identify both the type of food and its location at the same time — he was worse than a hound.
Ugh...
Wrath, my ass. No matter how you looked at it, this one was nothing but the Demon King of Gluttony.
"Where would you like to start?"
"Hah..."
Raon glanced at Wrath, let out a short sigh, and lifted his head.
"Food first."
"Yes!"
Fyne smiled and gestured.
"This way!"
Evening settled over Camelun.
The sky darkened by degrees, but thanks to the heat of the festival, darkness never truly reached the city.
"I'm sorry."
Fyne bowed to the two travelers she had guided all day.
"Our facility only lets us work until six. I think I have to go now."
"Six?"
The round-faced man with brown hair, who had spoken so kindly all day, tilted his head.
"Yes. Our director's philosophy is that children should rest well and sleep well. We aren't allowed to work from evening on."
"He sounds like a good man."
"He is! You have no idea how well he treats us!"
Fyne nodded, beaming.
"Understood. You did well today."
The tall man with black hair and black eyes handed over the guide fee. Not one silver coin, but two, resting in her palm.
"This is too much. You even bought me meals..."
"It's fine. Take it."
He said it was a little extra because she had done a good job.
"Take care."
The brown-haired man smiled and waved.
"Thank you!"
Fyne grinned and bowed at the waist. She waved both hands wildly at the two of them, then headed for the exit.
They were good people.
The two guests, who looked like travelers, had been kind even to a child like her, and they had treated her with courtesy. Every time they bought food from a stall they bought her one as well, and she had filled her stomach for the first time in a long while. They had even packed sweets for her to give a friend, and that had warmed her heart.
If only every customer were like that...
Fyne thought back over the pleasant day as she left Camelun and walked for a long time. After about an hour, her steps stopped in front of an orphanage called the House of Cloud.
"You're back."
An old man sat in a chair at the entrance, holding a lantern. A gentle smile bloomed on his kind face. This was the director of the House of Cloud.
"How was today?"
"It was fun."
The moment Fyne answered brightly and stepped inside the House of Cloud, her eyes went slack. Her gaze locked in place, as if she were no longer a person but a doll.
"Yes, yes. You did well."
When the director patted her back, Fyne's feet trembled slightly, and she walked toward the orphanage building. The light step she had shown in Camelun was gone. She moved stiffly, like a marionette on strings.
Ah...
Fyne's lips trembled.
It's happening again.
A sensation she felt every day and never, ever got used to. Goosebumps rose at the feeling that someone else was steering her body. No — not just her body. Even her mind was being kneaded by someone else's hands.
With not a shred of her own will, Fyne entered the director's office. She pressed a button on the right-hand wall, and a hole opened beneath the desk. She descended into it without hesitation.
At the bottom of the deep stairs lay a vast cavern. Children Fyne's age, wearing the same cloud vests, stood in ranks. Their faces were sunken with a sorrow that looked ready to spill into tears at any moment.
Black-clad figures in black masks stood in front of the children and behind them. One of the men at the rear crooked a finger at Fyne.
"No. 45. Come here."
"Yes."
Fyne answered in a low voice and approached him. No. 45. Not Fyne — No. 45 was her real name.
Clink.
No. 45 set the money she had earned from guiding down in front of the man.
"Anything else?"
She took the sweets the travelers had given her from inside her clothes and laid them out.
Crunch.
The man in black crushed the sweets under his boot and looked at No. 45.
"Report."
"Black hair, black eyes. Height six-foot-two, weight one hundred ninety-four, right-handed, swordsman, numerous openings. Brown hair, blue eyes. Height five-foot-ten, weight one hundred seventy-four, right-handed, swordsman, no openings."
No. 45 recited the information on the two travelers she had met that day, exactly as it was. She had not wanted to speak. She had not wanted to investigate. She was only seeing and speaking as she had been trained to do.
"Could you kill them?"
At the man's question, No. 45's head turned of its own accord.
"If I guided them to Gabriel's tavern, where the stairs are high, ambushed the brown-haired man from behind, and severed the black-haired man's Achilles tendon before he could react, I believe I could eliminate them."
No. 45 ran the simulation in her head, then answered.
"Well done."
When the masked man nodded, No. 45 went and stood in the center like the other children. Even though she had come back from a pleasant day's work, her face twisted into a miserable grimace. It was an expression so natural that anyone looking would have known she had suffered something sad.
"Number two."
The masked man in front called out "Number two," and the children who had been crying only a moment before all lifted the corners of their mouths into bright smiles. It was the same happy smile No. 45 had worn the entire time she had been guiding today. No. 45 let that unshaken smile play across her face and swallowed dryly.
How long do I have to live like this?
The only freedom she had was during the day — and even then, she could not run. No. The thought of running never even occurred to her. That choice did not exist.
No. 45 smiled as brightly as sunlight and wished for her own life to end.
No. 45 finished both expression training and assassination training, and it was dawn before she returned to her room. Calling it a room was generous — it was a tiny space with nothing but two worn-out beds.
She was sitting on a bed that creaked when the door opened and a red-haired girl came in.
"No. 86."
No. 45 called the red-haired girl softly and gestured.
"What?"
No. 86 staggered over to her side. With a blank face, No. 45 slipped a hand to her waist and drew out a single sweet. She had palmed it before the masked man could crush them.
"Eat this."
She broke the sweet in half and held it out to No. 86.
"C-can I?"
"Of course."
No. 45 nodded. No. 86 took the sweet with a trembling hand and put it in her mouth.
"Mm..."
Even with the sugary sweet filling her mouth, No. 86's expression did not change. Emotional control had been drilled into them so thoroughly that she could not even smile properly on her own.
"Eat this too."
"But..."
"I ate a lot today. I'm fine."
No. 45 held out the remaining half as well.
"Really. Take it."
No. 86 had shared this room with her since the day they first arrived, and they had comforted each other ever since. Without her, No. 45 could never have endured this life.
"Thank you."
A single tear fell from No. 86's frozen pupils.
The two children clung to each other and fell asleep just like that.
Raon clicked his tongue on a high hill overlooking the orphanage.
Same as ever.
Using his sensory perception and the Demonic Eye of Wrath, he had confirmed every facility underground. The Robert bastards were drilling the children even more viciously than they had twenty years ago.
Hah...
Damn Derus Robert. Just looking at it brought his past life roaring back, and his heart clenched tight.
"Those dog-spawned bastards!"
Wrath bellowed at the orphanage. A vast aura of wrath blazed up from him.
"Even in the Demon Realm, we let the young demons off! And they dare treat these young, weak things like that?!"
That's what I told you. The real villains are a different breed.
Raon patted Wrath and ground his molars.
"S-so that isn't really an orphanage..."
Dorian stared at the building, biting down on his lip.
"Right. It's a breeding ground for raising child assassins."
He could not say it was Derus's facility, so he called it only an assassin training ground.
"Haaah..."
Dorian let out a ragged breath. He seemed unable to believe that the cute child who had guided them through the festival with such a bright face was undergoing assassin training.
"It isn't that child's will."
"T-then..."
"They brainwash them and use them. During the day they sharpen the children's eye for observing people. At night they teach assassination techniques. A filthy, disgusting method."
Raon wore a smile so cold it was chilling.
"U-um, Vice Leader, how did you know that?"
"This secretive bastard will never tell you."
Wrath twisted his mouth and scowled.
"You remember going with the Heavenly Sword Squad to escort Lady Encia, when we went looking for the Saint?"
Raon sat on the ground and looked down at the orphanage.
"Of course I remember! That's when you earned the title Frost-Flower Sword Hero."
Dorian nodded quickly.
"We caught Temus then."
Temus had been a physician secretly serving Derus Robert. After his plan to swallow the Yonan Family while pretending to treat Encia had failed, he had even come after them and launched a surprise attack.
"Ah!"
"So it was then!"
"The information I got out of him."
That much was not a lie. He had tortured the man at the time and learned that a new cradle for assassins existed here.
The chance has finally come.
From the moment he had heard that story, he had wanted to save the children, but he had not known Derus's location, so he had endured until now.
But now...
Now he could do it. At present, Derus was heading toward Valkar with the people of House Robert. The distance was considerable, and Derus could not move carelessly — which meant this was the moment to smash this place.
"There's a space under the room to the left of the orphanage entrance that connects to the underground."
Raon pointed to the director's office, where the stairs leading down were located.
"You go down there and protect the children."
"What about you, Vice Leader?"
"I'll be outside, taking out the trash."
Inside were the training staff; outside were the security staff. There was a Master-level fighter on the security side, so Raon had to handle it himself.
"Use only sword techniques anyone would know. Don't let them identify you."
"Why? This is a good thing, isn't it?"
Dorian tilted his head.
"We're hiding our identities right now. If we move out in the open, we could get attacked by the other Five Demons again."
"Ah. That's true."
Dorian touched his own brown hair and nodded.
Raon operated the Demonic Eye of Wrath again and surveyed the orphanage.
There are more children than I expected.
Relative to their outstanding emotional control and assassination skill, the number of children was high. From the look of things, they were about to put them through that training.
They might even do it tomorrow.
Once that training was complete, Derus Robert's brainwashing would swallow the children's minds whole. This place had to be destroyed before that happened.
"When are you going to hit it?"
"In two days."
Raon's eyes grew still.
I need to gather information.
How many people were here in total, what level the strong ones were at, how to protect the children safely — he had to grasp all of it with certainty before he moved.
And I need to confirm Derus's location too.
Derus was moving toward Valkar. In two days he would definitely have reached it, which meant they could strike this place from a position of safety.
"Haa..."
Dorian let out a deep breath, as if the tension were getting to him.
"Having to save children from assassins... I'm really nervous."
"Then go back to the inn and rest."
"What? Then what about you, Vice Leader..."
"I'll watch a little longer, then go."
"I-I'll stay too."
"No."
Raon smiled faintly and shook his head.
"One person staying is enough. You going back to rest is how you help."
He waved a hand, telling Dorian to go sleep.
"U-um, don't overdo it, and come back soon."
"I will."
Dorian nodded as if he had no choice and returned to the inn.
Even after Dorian left, Raon spread the Demonic Eye of Wrath and his sensory perception, observing the orphanage.
Looks like they rotate every twelve hours. Same as before.
It was a newly established site, but the way it was run had not changed. The watch times, the shift changes, the movements — all of it was exactly as he had predicted.
Everything else is as expected. The problem is...
What to do with the children? It was a relief that that training had not finished and so many of them were still alive — but he had no idea where to send them after this place was dealt with.
What's the best way...?
He could not take them himself. These children were not yet fully in the grip of the brainwashing. They had bright futures, which meant they had to be left with someone trustworthy.
Someone I can trust...
Around here, there were only those two.
Raon made up his mind and turned around.
"You're there, aren't you?"
He narrowed his eyes and looked at the brush behind the hill.
"Merlin."
"Yep!"
With a bright voice, a yellow rabbit whose color blended with the ground popped out.
"Hah..."
Raon covered his eyes and sighed. He had wondered, and she really was there. He had called her himself, and still the goosebumps rose.
"Urgh..."
Wrath's lips trembled.
"Y-you can't possibly mean to leave the children with that madwoman?!"
That's not it.
Raon shook his head and approached Merlin, who was twitching her nose.
"I have a favor to ask."