Speak
Raon took another step forward. The weight of that stride crushed down on Wigen Arian's very soul, and the man's face went deathly pale.
"Who's standing behind you."
He lifted his chin, staring into those twisted pupils.
"I'm curious what name could possibly be so impressive that you'd let House Arian rot like this."
"Ghhhk!"
Wigen couldn't endure the bone-chilling pressure. His hands shook violently as he stumbled backward.
"A-a Palace Master!"
He screamed as if death itself were at his throat.
"Not some squad like yours—the lord of a palace!"
Wigen glared, declaring that one of Zieghart's Palace Masters was his backer.
"A Palace Master?"
The instant the words left Wigen's mouth, Raon let the aura that had been dominating the Audience Chamber recede.
"That's right!"
Wigen nodded, panting heavily. The fat of his belly rolled like waves.
"Starting to get it now, aren't you? You picked the wrong man!"
Seeing Raon withdraw his pressure, he seemed to think the boy had been intimidated. He grinned, flashing his broken teeth.
"You dare lay a hand on me? That little girl of yours is never going to die a clean death!"
"What did this toenail-looking bastard just say?!"
Even after hearing the words "Palace Master," Marta couldn't hold back. She clenched her fist and charged.
"Hiiiek!"
Apparently Wigen hadn't expected even that name to fail him. He dropped onto his rear all over again.
"Stop."
Raon raised a hand, and Marta scowled as she pulled back.
"So even you lot can't do a thing about rank."
Wigen's jowls quivered as he heaved himself to his feet. His expression was as arrogant as if he'd just staged a miraculous comeback.
"My lord!"
"Are you all right?!"
"These savages!"
The executives of House Arian, realizing their backer had landed, rushed in to prop up the staggering Wigen.
"You idiots. Did you really think we'd just sit here doing nothing?"
"Who's behind you?"
"Mm..."
Wigen seemed to sense something off. He didn't answer, rolling his eyes instead.
"Was it a lie?"
Raon lowered the hand that had been holding Marta back, the gesture itself a threat, denying Wigen any time to think.
"J-Jinmu Hall! Lord Balder's Jinmu Hall!"
The instant his eyes met Marta's, Wigen blurted out his backer's name.
"Jinmu Hall..."
Raon murmured the name of the hall he'd clashed with more than once.
People never change, do they.
There weren't many palaces to begin with. He'd figured it was either the Heavy Martial Palace or Jinmu Hall, and he'd been right.
"Hearing the name, starting to regret it now?"
Wigen's expression turned triumphant as he cocked his chin to the side. He looked even more arrogant than when they'd first arrived.
Crrrk.
The sound of Marta grinding her teeth came from behind. She seemed to be barely restraining the urge to leap forward and wreck Wigen on the spot.
"Haa..."
Raon let out a short breath and looked at Wigen and the executives clustered around him.
"Is there anyone here who'll confess their crimes and step down?"
At those words, the sneers on Wigen and the executives' faces only deepened.
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"What crime have we committed?!"
"Skipping a few patrols isn't a capital offense!"
"We'll compensate you for this incident, so just quietly..."
As the executives shook their heads and told him to shut up, the sound of metal hitting the floor rang out from behind.
Raon turned. Wendy Ariane, Captain of the Yellow Corps, was laying down her sword and removing her combat uniform.
"I failed to uphold this family's duty. I will step down as Yellow Corps Captain and withdraw."
Wendy disarmed herself, then dropped to her knees and bowed her head in submission. Once again, it was confirmed: in this place, she was the only one who still counted as a human being.
"Wendy..."
"Captain!"
"That damned woman..."
The executives ground their teeth at the sight of her, muttering about ashes thrown on a finished meal.
Just as I expected. Then...
Just as Raon was about to start the beating, one of the executives approached Wendy's side.
"I kneel over here, then?"
Veinder. A middle-aged man Raon hadn't seen before, the one who commanded the rangers, offered a faint smile as he disarmed himself.
"The name's Veinder. As captain of the patrol, I too neglected the duties I was meant to keep."
He dropped to his knees just as Wendy had and bowed his head.
"Veinder!"
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Get up this instant!"
Wigen and the executives shouted at him, but he didn't rise.
This one...
Raon narrowed his eyes at Veinder.
Good instincts?
He'd deliberately doused his aura and created an atmosphere that suggested he might back off—he hadn't expected anyone to kneel first. Living as a ranger, the man seemed to have a sharp sense for these things.
Doesn't mean I can't still hit him, though.
He'd confessed his own crimes. A beating proportional to that would suffice.
Raon approached Wigen and the executives, unleashing his aura. With every step the heat intensified, until their skin felt as if it would cook.
"W-what are you doing?!"
"Stay back!"
"Jinmu Hall stands behind us! Lord Balder himself!"
"And?"
The executives brandished the names of Jinmu Hall and Balder like threats, but Raon crushed those names under his boot as he advanced.
"Balder's Jinmu Hall, you said?"
"That's right! A position that doesn't even compare to the likes of—"
Raon drove his fist into Wigen's greasy, babbling snout.
CRACK!
A boom like a bursting cannonball, and Wigen's yellowed teeth were ripped out by the roots.
"GYAAAAH!"
Wigen writhed in agony, unable even to cover the mouth gushing blood.
"Hahk!"
"Y-you bastard..."
"What do you think you're doing?! Jinmu Hall stands behind—"
Raon smiled as he approached the executives. Fist after fist slammed into their trembling faces.
WHAM!
Even with his strength properly restrained, the sheer brute force of it sent the executives crashing to the floor—teeth ripped out, cheekbones and jaws caved in.
"Ghhhk!"
"Aagh!"
"Uuuugh..."
They thrashed and wept, as if this were the first real pain they'd felt in their lives.
"Hey!"
Marta shouted from behind.
"Leave some for me! If you hit them they all fall apart! These toenail-scum bastards!"
She closed the distance in a single bound and started stomping Wigen and the executives.
"I'm hitting them too!"
Crain burst out and started pounding the executives right beside Marta.
"D-do you think you'll walk away from this?!"
Wigen's voice leaked out, deflated, as he trembled.
"Lord Balder won't let you—"
Raon bent his knee and met the eyes of the Wigen still flapping his snout.
"I'd actually prefer if he did."
"Urgh..."
That gaze, cold as a slab of ice driven into his chest, made Wigen's entire body shudder.
"Because he'll end up looking just like you."
"Y-you're insane! Are you saying you can beat him?"
His pupils trembled in disbelief.
"No. I can't."
"Then why..."
"You're not the only one with a backer."
"What...?"
"Who did I say granted me full authority?"
Raon seized Wigen's head, a chilling smile on his face.
"...The Family Head?"
Wigen's jaw rattled. Only now did he seem to remember what had been said at the beginning.
"B-but that was regarding the mission! This is our family's internal affair! A clear overreach of—"
"This is also a mission included in the full authority he granted me."
There was no way Glenn was unaware of this family's condition. He would have wanted not only the swamp purified, but these pigs cleaned out as well.
Wigen and the executives had never once in their lives fought a battle where their lives were on the line. Having never faced a true crisis, they didn't read their opponent's mind—they simply trusted the blade they'd prepared, and it made them look like fools.
"Ah..."
"The Northern Annihilation King..."
"W-we're finished..."
With their last hope shattered to pieces, Wigen and the executives collapsed, their faces vacant.
"D-damn it..."
Wigen crumpled, his eyes empty.
"Who said you could lie down?!"
Marta rushed over and kicked his head. A sound like a wall cracking, and Wigen shot up toward the ceiling.
"Youuuu really are..."
Wrath popped out and narrowed his eyes.
"A wicked creature!"
What?
"To grant hope, then immediately follow it with despair and pain—is that not the work of the original demons of old?!"
The little thing sidled up and clamped down hard on his shoulder.
"As expected, it cannot be helped."
Huh?
"Thy talent is pointed toward the Demon Realm! Together with This King, the conquest of the Demon Realm—"
Not interested.
Three stone pillars stood driven into the far end of the Swamp of Death.
As if the battle between Raon and the Death Knight had been a lie, a man in a black robe descended onto the now-tranquil marsh. It was Manghongwi, wearing the mask of an Arch Lich, blue fire blazing in its eye sockets.
"Too late, perhaps."
Manghongwi clicked his tongue briefly, gazing over the calmed Swamp of Death.
"So Raon Zieghart really did come and go."
With so many preparations underway, even two bodies wouldn't have been enough. The Death Knight he'd planted here had been part of the plan as well—and it had vanished far too quickly.
"No. Perhaps this is actually for the better."
Manghongwi flicked a gray finger. At that crisp snap, the marsh beneath the stone pillars began to boil like lava.
GROOOOAN!
The swamp, bubbling as if it would explode, split down the middle. From within, a bead of lake-clear light—utterly unsuited to this filthy land—rose slowly into the air.
"Come here."
Manghongwi walked slowly and extended his hand. The bead that had surged from the marsh dropped naturally into his palm. He looked at the ordinary glass sphere, which seemed to hold no energy whatsoever, and smiled faintly.
The purification accelerated because of that child's death.
The original purpose of scattering undead here had been to purify this bead, and the Death Knight's death had sped the process. He could take it and leave without dragging things out any further.
No.
Manghongwi lifted his gaze toward the east, where House Arian stood.
This is an opportunity as well.
According to the reports that had come in, House Arian currently held not only Raon Zieghart, but also the Siren's Vessel and the Lizardman King's Vessel—the ones that idiot Merlin had let slip away.
A chance to kill Raon, who had been nothing but an obstacle to Eden in every possible way, and to take the two Vessels they had failed to obtain.
"And I can even run an experiment."
He poured dark mana into the bead resting in his palm. Black lines bored into the sphere. The bead, clear as a sky after rain, began to stain with a murky light.
Ziiing.
When Manghongwi opened his hand, the steadily darkening bead rose of its own accord, vibrating as if in resonance with the swamp.
Over the now-cleansed marsh, Death Knights and Liches of gray bone began to rise.
Manghongwi watched the highest-grade undead slowly taking form, a dry smile on his lips.
Raon had stuffed Wigen and the executives into a corner of the Audience Chamber and called Veinder over. Despite his slovenly appearance, the man bowed his head with proper courtesy.
"Why did you say you'd step down?"
"I've got a pretty sharp sense for these things."
Veinder scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.
"When you first arrived at House Arian, I heard you'd been granted full authority by the Family Head. I figured this wasn't going to work out, so I folded immediately."
He laughed, saying that living off reading the room had made him confident in reading people.
"If you knew that, why didn't you tell them?"
"When the plan to divert your route failed, someone needed to take the big fall."
Veinder smacked his lips, watching the executives getting smacked in the back of the head by Crain.
"So you're admitting you ordered the rangers to change their route."
"Yes. Of course, I did it together with them."
Once again, he dragged the other executives down with him.
Raon narrowed his eyes at Veinder, who had both hands raised in a gesture of surrender.
Something about this is unpleasant.
This was the textbook example of the slippery human Wrath was always going on about. A man who manufactured an escape hatch no matter when or where—someone who couldn't be trusted.
"I know I was in the wr—"
"You son of a biiitch!"
Marta couldn't take it anymore. She charged in and jammed her foot into Veinder's mouth just as he was about to speak.
WHAM!
Even with her strength held in check, emotion had gone into the blow. White teeth burst from Veinder's mouth like a spray of corn kernels.
"Gaaahk!"
"You spent this whole time running your mouth, and now you think saying sorry makes it all go away?"
She smashed her fist into the forehead of Veinder, who had collapsed sideways.
"You parasitic worm!"
Marta seemed to dislike Veinder—who'd used even Wigen and the executives—even more than the ones who'd held out to the end. She kicked him with vicious force.
"Don't kill him."
Raon patted Marta's shoulder and approached Wendy Ariane, who was still on her knees.
"Why did you say you'd step down?"
"Because I'm an executive of House Arian as well."
Wendy answered with her head still bowed.
"After hearing Frika's account, I understood. If the Death Knight had led the undead in, House Arian would have been wiped out."
The fists resting on her knees trembled.
"I should have gone to the swamp even if I had to go alone. I couldn't act because I was afraid of the Family Head and the executives, and I find myself so pathetic I can barely stand it."
"But you did call for us."
"That was the last of my courage. If I hadn't even managed that, I wouldn't be kneeling here at all."
Wendy's voice wavered; she was so ashamed of herself she felt she might never take up a sword again.
Raon didn't answer her. He drew her sword. The hilt was worn with the stain of use, and the blade was maintained so cleanly it could have gone into battle at any moment. It was the complete opposite of Wigen's sword.
"You've taken good care of it."
In this entire family, the only martial artists who could have actually fought an enemy were Wendy and the swordsmen of her corps.
"Hmph!"
The fact that Marta—the walking villain-detector who'd just knocked Veinder unconscious—was standing still said enough. Wendy was cut from a different cloth than the rest of them.
"Take it."
Raon returned the sword to Wendy and draped the uniform over her shoulders. With a faint smile, he brought her the round bead that hung above the dais—the emblem of House Arian.
"L-Lord Raon?"
Wendy's shoulders trembled as she received the family emblem, bewildered.
"Right now, you're the only one who can run this family."
"B-but I'm no different from them—"
"If everyone is guilty, then the one among them with the most conscience should be the one to take responsibility."
"Nnh..."
At Raon's even words, Wendy bit her lip. She clenched the family crest in her hand and closed her eyes.
"I-I wouldn't dare..."
"Of all the martial artists I met after coming to this family, the only ones I liked were the Yellow Corps swordsmen you lead. Every last one of them had trained both body and mind properly."
They might have been weaker than the Light Wind Squad, but they were martial artists who had honed flesh and spirit following Wendy.
"That said, I'm not handing it over immediately. I'll need to explain this to the Family Head, so I intend to stay here for a while and see how you run this house."
"That's..."
"If an administrator comes down from Zieghart, House Arian might not remain a vassal family at all—it could become a branch office outright. If you want to save this family, you're the one who has to put in the work."
At Raon's gentle threat, Wendy gripped the well-worn hilt of her sword.
"...I understand."
Wendy raised her head. Her eyes no longer wavered, as if she had made up her mind.
"I'll do it."
"If the family is properly put in order, I'll speak to the Family Head myself."
He felt he understood Glenn's thinking. If Wendy simply did her part, he was confident he could persuade him.
"I understand. I'll offer a proper, sincere thanks later."
"I'll wait."
Wendy bowed her head with formal courtesy and left the Audience Chamber.
Raon turned with a faint smile.
"Dorian."
"Yessir!"
Dorian stuffed the snacks he'd been eating into his pouch and nodded.
"Grab the skull and the head on the dais for me."
"Eugh..."
He made no effort to hide his disgust as he pulled out a sack and stuffed the Dullahan's head into it.
"The skull's a bit better, at least."
Dorian let out a thin breath and climbed onto the dais—and in that instant, fierce flames erupted from the skull's eye sockets.
FWOOOOSH!
The Death Knight's skull, blazing as if it would come back to life, split from the crown downward and scattered into gray ash.
Raon swallowed dryly at the sight.
That was...