The Lion's Embrace
Raon bit his lip as he watched the lion amble toward him.
A lion? Out of nowhere?
Just in case, he had stuffed the subspace pouch Dorian had given him with vegetables, fruit, nuts, grain, snacks, chocolate — even candy. None of it would do him the slightest bit of good now.
I'm screwed.
A rabbit, he could have at least given fruit. There was nothing in that pouch a lion would eat. He could hardly stuff chocolate into a maw that size.
Do I have to let it tear an arm off?
The situation was so far beyond anything he had expected that the absurd thought of offering his own flesh actually crossed his mind.
No, but why a lion?
Even if this place was remote, all it had was a small lake and a forest that was not particularly deep. He had no idea why a lion would be here. She really was an incomprehensible woman.
"Th-that thing has well and truly lost its mind..."
Wrath stared at the lion Merlin inhabited and shook his head hard.
"The one that used to chase This King around was bizarre enough, but this is a step beyond! Next she will show up as an elephant. Kill her now!"
He jabbed a finger toward her, his shoulders trembling.
He's right.
Raon nodded along with Wrath's words.
Merlin's the crazy one. This isn't my fault.
Showing up as a lion, expecting to be fed — those were Merlin's problems from the start. The feeding had become such a routine that he had started thinking of it as something he was supposed to do. But it was not his problem to worry about.
I almost let her walk all over me again.
Raon looked down at Merlin and straightened his back with deliberate composure.
"Heh heh."
Merlin stopped right in front of him and settled down with elegant poise. Now that he looked properly, it was not just any lion — it was a male, complete with a mane. Even more ridiculous.
"Why a lion this time?"
Of all the questions he could have asked, that was the one he wanted answered most.
"I've told you before. I don't dominate them one-sidedly. We make a trade — each of us fills what the other lacks."
"Then that thing also..."
"That's right. This child wants something too."
Merlin winked at him with a lion's face. Goosebumps crawled up his arms.
"Then grant its wish yourself and get lost."
Raon scowled. If he had had something to feed it, he would have. But a lion was more than he could handle.
"I saw you."
As usual, Merlin ignored his words and said only what she wanted to say. A faint smile touched her features as she lifted her chin slightly.
"This time, you weren't yourself."
"Until now, you've always avoided spilling too much blood. Even when you killed, you showed such overwhelming power that your enemies couldn't even think of fighting back."
She was not wrong. It was not that he feared killing itself — he simply did not want unnecessary slaughter.
"But this time, you didn't hesitate to kill. The killing intent coming off you was enough to make one's skin crawl."
As she spoke, Merlin licked her own paw with her tongue. Typical feline grooming.
"Haa..."
Raon let out a sigh and closed his eyes.
I'm going to lose my mind.
Trying to have a serious conversation while watching a lion flick its tongue was making it impossible to concentrate.
"Especially that man who looked like he was in charge. You killed him more cruelly than you needed to. I never knew you had that kind of venom in you."
"So you're disappointed?"
"No."
Merlin rose slowly to her feet.
"I was thrilled. So worked up my hands were dripping with sweat."
"Ugh..."
"Clean, solemn, cruel — all of it suits you. No matter when I look at you, you're the best..."
The cheeks of the lion she inhabited flushed red, and its paws began to tremble. It was as if her true body's emotions were bleeding straight through.
Raon clicked his tongue.
I was hoping she'd back off after seeing that.
He had never seen Merlin kill anyone herself, so he had wondered if she might have an aversion to blood. Apparently not. Whatever she saw, she showed no sign of wanting to let go.
"Sh-she's a genuine lunatic! She's completely lost it!"
Wrath groaned and fled into the Ice Flower Bracelet.
"So what favor are you after this time?"
Merlin nodded her chin as if to say, just name it.
"I don't have a favor to ask."
Raon shook his head and held out his hand.
"Tell me your wish. I have no intention of dragging this out. I'll hear it here and decide."
"A wish, is it."
Merlin took a step closer, a faint smile on her face. It was strangely impressive how well she could express emotion with an animal's features.
"My wish is..."
She paused and gazed at him steadily.
I can't even begin to guess what she'll say.
Just as Wrath had said, she was a woman who had lost her mind. There was no predicting what kind of wish she would make. He watched her mouth, tense.
"Give me a hug."
"Huh?"
"You don't know what a hug is? A hug."
Merlin lifted a thick forepaw and waved it around. Watching her demonstrate an embrace with a paw that could tear flesh from bone made his head swim.
"Looking like that?"
"Yes. Sensation still carries through in this state. I don't have a choice, so I'll settle for this for now. It's a wish you can grant easily enough, isn't it?"
She smiled as if refusal were impossible.
She's not wrong about that.
If she had asked him to kill someone or sell information, he could have refused on the spot. But a hug? That was fine. Especially since he would not even be hugging her actual body.
Except...
She could kidnap him again, like last time. There was a chance she would use an artifact to spirit him away, just as she had before. He could not simply accept without conditions.
"I swear it on my soul and my flesh. I will never do anything that would harm you."
The moment Merlin raised her paw, a pulse of mana rippled around her. It was a soul-and-body contract — a binding she was placing on herself.
"That's not binding you. Wouldn't the shock hit the lion's soul and body instead?"
"Absolutely not."
Merlin shook her head.
"..."
"She's telling the truth."
Wrath poked his head up over the bracelet.
"That vow binds her own flesh and soul. If she breaks the promise, a massive shock will strike that lunatic's body and spirit. Which means..."
His lips trembled.
"It's even more terrifying! She's genuinely insane!"
"...Fine."
Raon nodded. He had already given his word, so he had no choice but to go through with it.
"Ohoho."
Merlin crooked a forepaw, beckoning him closer.
"I'm looking forward to this."
"Haaa..."
Raon let out a long, deep sigh and stepped in front of Merlin. The lion was fairly large, so he only had to bend his knees a little.
Just endure it once.
He squeezed his eyes shut and pulled Merlin — no, the lion — into his arms. The mane was soft and fluffy, but the hide was as rough as sandpaper.
Just three seconds.
He had counted to three and was about to pull away when the lion's body suddenly went soft as pudding and began to thin.
"Hey! Hey! Hey, you!"
What the—?
At Wrath's frantic shout, Raon opened his eyes. The lion was gone. Merlin stood before him wearing her old woman's mask, her clean, delicate scent tickling his nose.
"This is nice. I'll have good dreams tonight."
"You—!"
Raon clenched his teeth and shoved Merlin away.
"Ohohoho!"
Merlin hopped backward, waving a hand.
"A person's warmth really does have to be felt firsthand."
"You swore an oath and then pulled this—"
"I didn't do anything that would harm you."
She waved her hand as if it were nothing.
"Hah..."
Raon let out a hollow breath. She was right — it was not harm, so the vow had not been broken.
"I enjoyed our time together."
She drifted up into the air and dissolved into foam.
"I have business to attend to, so I won't be able to see you for a while. But I'll be looking forward to your exploits."
With those last words, Merlin's presence vanished completely.
Raon let out a dry laugh and let his shoulders slump.
I'm exhausted.
He was more tired now than he had been after running all day.
Still...
"At least I don't have to feed a lion."
He was genuinely glad that Merlin's disappearance meant he no longer needed to find food for a lion.
"That's a relief."
"That was all part of that lunatic's plan!"
Wrath cautiously poked his head up and rolled his eyes.
"In This King's estimation, that lunatic has a portrait of you hanging in her skull where a brain ought to be!"
He said it was horrifying, his pupils trembling.
"This King no longer has any need for your body..."
Is it really that bad?
The House of Cloud — an orphanage that had once been filled with children's laughter on the surface and screams underneath. Now it was a desolate ruin, guarded by the knights of Owen.
"I still can't believe this orphanage was raising assassins."
A blond knight sighed as he looked at the House of Cloud.
"It's sick. Kidnapping children and raising them as assassins — that's the kind of thing you'd only find in a novel..."
A dark-haired knight lowered his eyes and shook his head.
"Sick doesn't even begin to cover it. Whoever ordered this is a demon wearing human skin."
"Yeah. No human could think of something like this."
The two knights were grinding their teeth, thinking of the mastermind who had raised children as assassins, when two more knights approached from the direction of Camelun. They were the relief shift.
"Halt! Halt! Halt!"
The blond knight drew his sword and leveled it at the approaching knights.
"Hands up! Move and I'll cut you down!"
The incoming knights raised their hands.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, it's me. Your year-mate."
The taller knight lifted his visor and smiled.
"Beer."
"Chicken."
Only after confirming the password did the blond knight lower his sword.
"Good work."
The newly arrived knights clapped the shoulders of the ones who had been on duty.
"How are the kids?"
The blond knight gathered his gear and asked the newcomers.
"The same. They don't talk, they don't smile. They just move like machines, following orders."
"It kills you just looking at them."
The knights who had come for the shift change clicked their tongues.
"Can't they just get better on their own?"
"They were under the brainwashing for a long time."
"They said someone's coming who can treat the brainwashing. We'll just have to wait."
The knights sighed, recalling the children's vacant, doll-like eyes.
"If that demon bastard who did this were standing in front of me, I'd cut him down on the spot."
"Easy. You—"
"Hm?"
The blond knight was waving a hand when he turned around.
Footsteps.
A tall man in a black coat was walking toward them. A gray mask covered his face all the way to his eyes, and the pupils visible through it were a bizarre, milky white.
"Halt! Halt! Halt!"
The knights who had just come on duty drew their swords, but the man did not stop. He kept coming.
"Stop!"
"One more step and we cut you down!"
All four knights had their swords out, killing intent rolling off them, but the man's footsteps never faltered.
"It's me."
He raised a hand above his coat.
"What?"
"I said I was the one who ran this place."
A chilling smile spread across the man's lips.
"You insane—!"
"Attack!"
The four knights moved as one. They deployed the coordinated formation they had trained so many times, charging from four directions and unleashing dense sword aura.
A wet, ripping shriek tore through the air.
The man slowly lowered the hand he had raised, and the knights' bodies were sliced into dozens of pieces that scattered across the ground. It was not swordsmanship. It was not aura. It was as if that ending had been written before the blades ever left their sheaths.
"Insects."
He twirled a finger, and the knights' corpses and blood crumbled into dust and scattered. Not a trace of them remained, as if nothing had ever been there.
The man stopped in front of the orphanage building, and black-clad figures in masks rose behind him like shadows. He removed his mask, revealing the face of Derus Robert — a face so cold it sent a shiver down the spine.
"Begin."
At his command, the Shadows scattered in every direction and began searching for traces.
After giving the order, Derus entered the orphanage himself. With eyes sharp as blades, he examined the floors, the walls, even the lingering traces of aura that remained. He scoured the orphanage building, then the underground cavern and the secret passages, before coming back up.
There's no trace at all.
Borini Kitten was a knight among knights. His nature was far too noble for him to have handled this so cleanly. Someone from the shadows — someone who had been through the mud — must have been with him. And yet there was no trace of that person anywhere.
This doesn't make sense...
No matter how thoroughly the knights had gone through the place, they were still human. Traces should have remained. But the only remnants here belonged to the Shadows and the knights. The presence of whoever had intervened had been completely erased.
"Outer perimeter of the breeding ground: no traces."
"Interior of the breeding ground: no traces."
"External and internal passages: no traces."
A vein rose on Derus's forehead with every report.
A low, rumbling growl rolled out of him. A chilling smile spread across Derus Robert's lips. The patience he had held onto all the way from Owen — held, and held, and held again — finally shattered, and his rage came flooding out.
The instant a hollow gray light erupted from his eyes, the orphanage and the underground space beneath it collapsed entirely, reduced to powder.
In the swirling sandstorm, Derus pulled off his glove. He smeared the blood running down the back of his hand across his lips and lifted his chin.
Derus Robert looked down upon the world with eyes so dry they seemed as if the blood itself had withered, a bone-chilling smile on his face.
Using his new identity, Raon took a dimensional gate and headed south. He deliberately traveled to a location well removed from House Robert, then alternated between footwork techniques and horseback to reach the Robert territory.
He had arrived far sooner than expected, but that thought never even occurred to him. Every sense he had was locked on House Robert in the distance.
Has it been twenty years...
Mansions that held a beauty and elegance like an emerald sea. Swordsmen who radiated a lofty spirit. Retainers who supported the house from below. In that place, as warm as dappled sunlight, there had never been a single spot for him. Nothing there had ever been within his reach.
Because the place I belonged was a sewer.
That place belonged to people who lived in the light. He had been nothing but a hunting dog, locked underground, grinding his fangs.
Rage boiled up from the deepest depths of his soul. As the fury spreading through his veins threatened to consume his entire body, he circulated the Ring of Fire and scattered it.
It's not time yet.
This rage was not something to be released in vain. It was a precious, precious emotion — one he would repay, one by one, to Derus and every officer who followed him.
"What is there to look at in a house that tiny? You've been standing here for an hour! This King is bored to death!"
Wrath scowled and grabbed his sleeve.
"You country bumpkin! When you see This King's castle someday, your jaw will hit the floor!"
Maybe so.
Raon let out a short laugh. Thanks to this creature, the mood that had been sinking began to lift, if only a little.
"This King is bored, so treat This King to the local cuisine! A delicious smell has been wafting over since earlier and This King can endure it no longer!"
Wrath pointed toward various restaurants, declaring he wanted to eat seaweed.
Fine.
It was mealtime anyway.
Raon chuckled and lifted his head. He was about to burn the image of House Robert's mansion into his eyes one last time and leave when a red-haired child approached.
"It's amazing, right?"
"Hm?"
"That mansion. You've been staring at it for a whole hour."
The boy seemed to have come over because Raon had been looking at House Robert the entire time.
"Yeah. It is impressive."
It was true that House Robert's buildings were more elegant than even House Zieghart's, so he nodded.
"I'm going to be a swordsman there too!"
The way he said it, so proud, made it clear the boy believed he simply admired House Robert.
"I'm going to be the greatest swordsman on the continent, just like the Heavenly Sword Star, and protect the south!"
Raon lowered his gaze and looked at the child properly. The boy looked to be in his early teens, a wooden sword dangling from his waist.
About the same age as Fyne.
He was no different in age from the children they had rescued from the orphanage this time. But their expressions were completely different. Unlike this boy, whose face still carried the mischievous spark unique to early teens, Fyne and the others could not even manage a smile.
The same age. The same human beings. And yet one demon had erased their very personalities.
It saddened him that he had nothing to say to a child who wanted to become like the demon who had done those things. And because of that, he understood once more what he had to do.
"Is that so."
Raon smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Work hard."
Raon ate everything Wrath wanted — lobster pizza, octopus steak, sizzling grilled squid, chili shrimp, gambas, and even bead ice cream — then set out in the direction of the Undersea Dungeon.
"What's gotten into you?!"
Wrath grinned from ear to ear and kneaded Raon's shoulder. It was the highest possible expression of good humor.
"At last, you've found the will to serve under This King!"
Having freely enjoyed delicious food, Wrath's voice was as clear as jade beads rolling across a floor. It had been a very long time since he had sounded like this.
Not a chance.
Raon shook his head. He had let Wrath eat whatever he wanted for an entirely different reason. He had not the slightest intention of serving under him.
Things are going to blow up soon. Better move fast.
Ignoring Wrath's endless chatter, he moved along the eastern coast. There had been plenty of tourists around House Robert, but the farther he went, the fewer people there were.
Time to get ready.
Raon changed into the kind of clothes southerners wore, blending in like a local, then suppressed his presence. He killed his presence so thoroughly that even standing right beside someone, they would struggle to sense he was there — then continued along the coast.
After moving all day, a sign warning of marine monsters appeared, along with a line marking the area off-limits.
This is it.
It had been more than twenty years, but the coastline had not changed much, so he remembered where the dungeon was.
And even more certain...
He looked at the sandy beach and the trees and smiled coldly. The Shadows guarding this place. The ones hidden between the sand and the trees made it even more certain. The dungeon was definitely submerged in the sea ahead.
Raon suppressed his presence even further. He reduced the pulse of every organ in his body to the barest minimum, until he felt less like a living being and more like drifting sand, then quietly watched the sea.
A day passed. Night fell. Still Raon did not move. He watched the sea in a posture that had not shifted in the slightest. Even when the Shadows hidden in front of him could not endure it and shifted their bodies, Raon did not so much as twitch a finger.
"Urgh! This King is freezing to death! And hungry besides!"
Wrath could not take it anymore and bellowed.
"Being forced to sit still all day without a single meal is torture!"
That's why I fed you so much two days ago.
"Urgh..."
His mouth fell open.
"S-so that's why you bought everything This King wanted to eat..."
I knew this was coming, so I stocked you up in advance.
"This King does not need that! Eating three proper meals a day is far happier!"
Then how about some Nadin Bread?
"That's just rubber that fills your stomach! You madman!"
You said you were hungry.
"This King would rather drink seawater than fill This King's belly with that!"
Oh, that works.
"N-no! That was a mistake!"
Wrath whipped his head back and forth. He seemed to think Raon would actually do it.
Raon chuckled and looked back at the sea.
"You wretched, exploitative employer! This is a violation of weekly working hours! And since you didn't feed This King, it's a violation of food sanitation law as well!"
That's not what food sanitation law is for... Quiet!
He clamped Wrath's mouth shut and swallowed dryly. For the first time in two days, someone was coming out of the sea.
Splash.
Thirty masked figures, a woman who appeared to be a mage, and a tall man in black emerged carefully from the water.
Just as I thought.
Matio.
Just as he had expected — while Derus was elsewhere, the one exploring the dungeon was Matio, steward of the Shadows.
After collapsing the dungeon...
A deep crimson light flashed in Raon's eyes.
I'll be able to take my revenge as well.