Would You Buy Me Some Candy?

"AAAAARGH!"

"Belisen!"

"H-he killed him! He cut Belisen's throat—he's dead!"

"H-he's insane…"

The former executives of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠House Arian screamed at the sight of the treasurer's corpse, its head severed from its shoulders.

"W-what in the world is this…"

Wigen Arian's face had gone deathly pale. He lifted a violently trembling finger.

"How could you do something so vicious!"

"Vicious?"

Raon twisted his mouth as he watched Wigen Arian's pupils shake.

"The vicious ones are you. You abandoned your house in its hour of need and ran."

He ignored the screams and accusations spilling from the former executives and came to a stop in front of the quartermaster.

"State your crime."

"I—I…"

The quartermaster's jaw shuddered as he met ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Raon's eyes, which held not a trace of feeling.

I have to beg.

This man was nothing like Wendy. Treat him lightly because he looked young, and a head would leave its shoulders the way the treasurer's just had. Pride had to go. He had to bow.

"I—I'm sorry! Please, forgive me just this once!"

The quartermaster bent at the waist and lowered his head. He offered no excuse. He only cried that he had been wrong.

"For what?"

There was no emotion in Raon's voice. Once again, he refused to be led by words and drove straight into the heart of the matter.

"What, exactly, are you sorry for?"

"Th-the house was at war, and I r-ran."

The quartermaster spoke a truth not one of the other executives had been willing to say.

"You understand well."

Raon's voice seemed to soften, just a little. The quartermaster lifted his head, hope flickering in his face.

This is my chance. He had to persuade this man somehow. He had to live.

"I'll take whatever punishment you give. I'll break my bones for this house—just give me one more chance to—"

"That chance already passed."

"W-wait. I know the family's sec—"

"Kh—!"

The quartermaster felt a flash of light cross his vision and dropped the hand he had been raising.

What? His strength was gone, and it hurt like hell—

He never even managed to catch the red line drawn across his throat. He went down, eyes bulging as if he could not believe he was dying, and looked up at the executive standing beside him.

"Ghk!"

"AAAAAAARGH!"

"A-again! He killed another one!"

The executives of House Arian scrambled backward into the corners of the Audience Chamber as if they could outrun the blood pouring from the quartermaster.

"This is a m-massacre! We surrendered—why are you doing this!"

Wigen Arian shrieked from behind the rest of them, hiding at the very back.

"Even if Zieghart delegated full authority to you, this exceeds your power!"

"Exceeds it, does it?"

"Yes! We are still executives of this house! Who do you think you are, to kill us!"

"You're wrong on two counts."

Raon raised his index and middle fingers.

"First. I did not receive control of this place from Zieghart alone."

As he said it, he pointed to Wendy standing behind him.

"I was appointed Supreme Commander of this war by Wendy Ariane, the current head of House Arian. And I have not yet declared the war over."

He had collapsed the instant he burned away the sphere of death energy, and so he had never announced an end to the fighting. House Arian's war was not finished.

"Which means the war is still on. And as Supreme Commander, I have the authority to execute you on the spot."

"Ah…"

"S-summary execution…"

The words made the executives' shoulders shake.

"And second."

Raon folded his index finger and pushed the middle one forward.

"You are not executives. You are criminals. Thieves who sold out your own house, and deserters who fled a family in the middle of a war. Even if the war were over, you could still be beheaded on the spot."

Of everyone dragged into this chamber, not a single one was worth saving. If they had so much as thrown a stone during the fighting, he might have forgiven them. Instead they had taken hostages and run without looking back. They were garbage. If House Arian was going to be born again, these people could not be left alive.

"I've given you your answer. We'll continue."

Raon raised the Heavenly Sky Sword and walked toward them. The killing intent in his eyes turned their faces a sickly yellow.

"D-don't come any closer!"

"Over there—go that way!"

"We only wanted to live!"

"D-damn it…"

The executives huddled in the corner like insects and shoved the smallest among them forward as a sacrifice. They could not even stand together. They were already picking who would die first. A laugh almost left him.

"P-please spare me. I only followed the oth—"

Raon did not let him finish. He put strength into his wrist. The Heavenly Sky Sword curved like a scythe and swept through the man's neck.

"Ah…"

He clutched at the blood running from his throat, failed to stop it, and toppled backward.

After that, Raon took six more heads before he finally lowered the Heavenly Sky Sword.

Nnh…

He had gotten up the moment he could stand, still not fully recovered, and started swinging a sword. His fingertips had gone faintly numb.

"That's what you get for showing off."

Wrath clicked his tongue as if he could not believe what he was looking at.

"Maggots like that could have been dealt with later. What was the rush?"

Because they're the kind who could tear this house's entire system apart.

These were the people who had ruled this family for years. If the outsider standing here had been anyone but Raon, they would already be wagging their tongues and stretching their hands toward Wendy and the new officers. They had to be cut down now. All of them.

"Hah…"

Raon narrowed his eyes at the executives packed into the corner as if they had fused into a single lump of flesh. All that remained were Wigen and his brothers and sisters—Wendy's family.

"Lady Wendy."

He did not swing the sword at once. He turned and looked at her.

"Will you be all right?"

"Yes."

He would have cut them down even if she had said no. But she nodded without hesitation.

"This will be hard. You may leave if you wish."

"No. I will watch from here."

Wendy Ariane shook her head, her gaze not moving even a fraction. It was as if stones had been set in her sockets in place of eyes.

What happened to her?

The air around her was different from before. Something like a will that had passed beyond its own limits seemed to be rising off her shoulders.

"Are you truly all right?"

He asked one last time, and his teeth caught the edge of his lip.

They're her family.

To him they were strangers and sinners. To Wendy, they were blood. That she meant to watch until the end sat badly with him.

"I am all right. As head of this house, I will see the sinners to their end."

Wendy looked down at the executives with a gaze as cold as if she were looking at other people's kin.

"We-Wendy! Didn't this uncle carry you on his back when you were little!"

The goat-bearded chamberlain at the front gestured toward her.

"G-give me one last chance! If you forgive me just once—"

"You kicked that last chance away yourself."

Wendy did not even turn her head. She stared him down.

"All a deserter is owed is the blade."

Raon took that as leave, and nodded.

"She's changed."

She has. Something in her is different.

Whatever lived inside Wendy Ariane had taken on an entirely new shape. He could not yet tell whether that was a good thing or a bad one.

That doesn't mean it isn't hurting her.

A person's nature did not change in three days. She was barely holding herself together. The cleanest possible end would be a mercy to her.

Raon brought the Heavenly Sky Sword down. The blade fell without a shred of hesitation and opened the chamberlain's throat. Red blood ran, soaking the feet of the executives crammed into the corner.

"We-Wendy!"

"How can you do this!"

"After everything we did to raise you!"

"You won't even save us—you're egging him on! You devil of a girl!"

They screamed at Wendy. She watched them without so much as a blink.

Raon started with the ones who had cursed her, and took their heads one by one.

Hot blood dripped from the Heavenly Sky Sword. Before long, the only person left was Wigen Arian.

"We-Wendy!"

Wigen Arian crawled toward her on shaking hands and feet.

"I—I'm sorry! It was all my fault—everything, until now! Please, spare me!"

He clutched her ankle and wailed like a child. He had never imagined a situation like this. Panic had eaten him whole.

"I don't care if I spend the rest of my life in a cell! P-please, just let me live!"

"Do you remember the candy you bought me when I was little?"

"C-candy? What are you talking about! This is no time for games—you have to talk that monster into—"

Wendy closed her eyes as she looked down at Wigen on his knees.

The reason I endured all these years under you…

It had been because of a lollipop.

She could still see it. Childhood. The lollipop Wigen had bought her. The warmth of her father's hand and the sweetness of that candy had been enough to make her spend more than thirty years living in obedience beneath him.

She had asked because that lollipop was the first gift he had ever given her himself—and the last. As expected, he did not remember.

That candy has melted away completely now.

Through this war, the lollipop Wigen had given her had dissolved without leaving so much as a grain of sugar. She had no lingering attachment left.

Wendy lifted her head. In Raon's gaze as he looked this way, there was a trust she had never felt even from her own family. The vow she had sworn to follow him rose in her, and the heart that had been crushed underfoot began to beat, hard.

"Father."

Wendy bent her knees and met Wigen's eyes.

"I wanted to rebuild this house with you."

"Th-then…"

"Once you had paid for your crimes, I meant to give you the seat of Grand Patriarch and come to you for counsel. But you committed a sin that must never be committed."

A chill rose in her eyes, cold as a wind off the North Sea.

"A family head who takes hostages and flees his own house in its hour of crisis. There is no precedent for it in the history of the continent."

Wendy rose, her face set and cold.

"But you need not worry."

"Ah!"

Wigen's head came up. Hope sprouted in eyes that had sunk as if he were already dead.

"Th-thank you! Thank you so much! I'll serve the house for the rest of my—"

"You've misunderstood badly."

"What?"

"I meant you need not worry, because I will leave your ugliness—and this house's filth—in the historical record."

Wendy shook her head, as if to say he had gotten it entirely wrong.

"Lord Raon. Forgive me. I must ask this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of you."

"Understood."

Raon nodded and walked toward Wigen.

"W-wait! I am the head of this hou—"

So that Wendy would not have to hear any more of it, Raon cut Wigen's words and his neck at the same time.

"Ghh…"

Wigen collapsed, filthy nails clawing at the split in his throat.

"Hah…"

Raon shook the blood from the Heavenly Sky Sword and caught his breath.

Wendy Ariane looked over the dead one by one before she finally raised her head.

"Lord Raon."

A thin tear traced down her cheek as she looked at him.

A dim room with not even a single small window.

If not for the blue flame rising from the skeleton laid at its center, nothing in that dark chamber would have been visible at all. From within it came the sound of muscle and bone twisting out of true.

Crk-k-k-k-k.

The grotesque noise that had gone on for about an hour stopped, and from beneath the skeleton, Manghongwi rose wearing the mask of a High Archlich.

His appearance, however, was not what it had been. The death energy he had worn like a second skin was gone. His robe was in tatters. A gouge the size of a fist had been carved into the mask near the forehead.

"Damn it!"

Manghongwi slammed the ground and roared.

"Raon Zieghart! That maggot dares—!"

It had been finished. The jewel that had gathered death energy for a thousand years had been complete. He had been certain he could kill Raon Zieghart and every reinforcement the boy had called. Rimer had interfered, but the elf had spent himself fighting the Hell Pilgrim, and that one could have been handled without trouble too.

And then Raon Zieghart—whom he had thought already caught—had ruined everything.

That rat.

Raon Zieghart had deliberately hidden his strength, planted the belief that he could not break the veil of death energy, and then shattered the jewel and Manghongwi's own core at the same time with a dagger steeped in holy power. The holy power had delayed even his resurrection. Three days had passed before he could rise.

And the boy isn't even dead.

He did not know how, but Raon had survived that colossal explosion of death energy. A nauseatingly lucky creature.

I'll kill him. I'll kill him no matter what it takes.

Until now he had thought of the boy as a tiresome obstacle, nothing more. Not anymore. He would use every means he possessed and erase him thoroughly.

However long it takes!

The properties of the Arch Lich's mask had brought him back, but he had lost his finest body and the jewel besides. Recovering his strength would take a great deal of time. He would not give up. He would follow the boy to the edge of the continent if he had to, and he would kill him.

"I will kill you. I swear it."

"Don't you look pathetic."

The moment he vowed Raon's death, a voice crawled through the entire room, enough to lift the hair on the skin.

This voice—

There was no mistaking it. That madwoman. Merlin.

"Merlin? What are you doing in this room!"

Manghongwi shouted and spun around, but Merlin was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you! Come out this instant!"

He tried to cast a search spell, but the death energy left in his body was too thin. He could not force the power out.

"If you're going to be insane, at least do it properly!"

He gave up looking for her and set his hand on the wall, pushing out what little death energy he had left so he could leave.

"Hm?"

The door did not open. The only passage out of this room sat frozen, as if it had never been a door at all.

"What is this…"

Manghongwi's jaw trembled as he lifted his head. Only after his eyes adjusted to the dark did the upper part of the chamber begin to come into view.

This was not the room he had designated for his resurrection. It was something else—a half-transparent space, dark at the far side, like a fishbowl.

A fishbowl?

Surely not. The Golden Fishbowl?

The Golden Fishbowl was an artifact that could imprison a chosen target inside a fishbowl. Its power, considered on its own, was absolute—but because the victim had to spend more than two days within its boundary before the seal would take, it had been regarded as a nearly meaningless tool.

But…

After he died, he had been sent straight to his resurrection chamber, and he had spent three days there as a handful of bone. Which meant he had already fulfilled the condition. He was already caught.

"Merlin! You deranged hag! What do you think you're doing! Come out this instant!"

Manghongwi roared, and the far wall rippled like spring water. Merlin walked out of it wearing an old woman's wrinkled mask.

"You did something you should never have done."

Merlin looked at him, a chill light in her eyes.

"Something I should never have done? What are you talking about!"

"Raon bled. He collapsed."

"What?"

"He went six days without food, without sleep, doing nothing but fight. So you can rot in here for the rest of your life."

She smiled as if that were the most obvious price in the world, and the smile was enough to freeze the blood.

"Do you think Tatcheon will let this pass!"

"As long as I don't kill you, he won't know. The real me is carrying out a mission somewhere else."

Merlin shook her head, as if to say this body was only a clone.

"Knowing you, you wouldn't show your face before Tatcheon until you'd recovered your strength anyway. He won't even be suspicious."

The corner of the old woman's mask curled upward, and the hair on Manghongwi's body stood on end.

"And I wouldn't care if I were caught."

"What?"

"Because my path no longer points toward Reversion."

Merlin left him with that, and dissolved into bubbles, vanishing from the fishbowl. A clone, she had said. She had likely returned to her true body.

Manghongwi ground his teeth.

"She's lost it. She's well and truly lost it."

Reversion was Eden's ultimate goal. To say she no longer cared even about that meant she had fallen completely for Raon—that child.

Still. It's fine.

If that madwoman was not watching, there would be any number of chances to get out of here. It would take time, but he would be able to break the fishbowl and leave.

"Merlin. I'll kill Raon right in front of your eyes."

The mana inside the fishbowl was extremely thin, but it was not impossible to gather. He had begun forcing it together when a sting pricked the nape of his neck, and a creeping horror rose over him, as if someone were staring straight at him.

What is that?

Uneasy, he lifted his head.

Merlin. She had not left. She was watching the fishbowl from the outside.

"Ah…"

His heart clenched as if it would burst under the killing intent flooding those eyes.

Beneath the eyeball, crimson lips stirred, and a voice crawled out of them that did not belong in a human throat.

It was a voice like a knife turning in the ear. He clapped his hands over his ears, but it did not stop.

"AAAAARGH! STOP!"

Only when Manghongwi screamed as if he would tear his own throat did Merlin's voice cease. That was not the end. It was the beginning.