I Am the King
After I contracted with the Saintess, keeping that contract all the way to the end required power first. The power to stay alive. Without it, every other clause was nothing but a scrap of paper, so the man she meant to attach to us as an instructor needed his skill tested before anything else.
Not long after, the Saintess brought someone to the monastery. The front courtyard.
The man standing at a crooked angle before the seven of us was, from the first glance, a long way from any priest. Shaggy brown hair, an unkempt beard, rugged clothes, and a deep diagonal scar running across his left eye. A mercenary tavern would have suited him far better than a monastery.
He looked us over the way a man appraises livestock, then spat it out short.
"Pierre."
His voice was as blunt as his face.
"From here on, I'll teach you how to fight. Call me Instructor."
"Haaah?"
As expected. The first seizure button to get pressed was Iresia's.
"Some stray that rolled in from god knows where, and you're already barking orders? Huh?"
Pierre didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.
"Let's keep this quiet, if we can."
"I don't like that shitty way of talking."
"How you feel ain't my problem."
"You actually wanna die?"
He's got killing intent like that in his face, and he brushes it off without a blink?
Not an ordinary man, then. My assessment of him ticked up a notch.
Aselia was already dozing against the wall, and Golieta smacked her lips as she eyed Pierre's forearm. Avarel and Videllia weren't particularly well disposed either. Only Luceria kept up that ever-kind, revoltingly virtuous smile she always wore.
And me.
If the Saintess brought him in the moment the contract was signed, he can't be ordinary.
That was as far as it went.
"I asked if you wanna die, you bastard!"
Pierre flicked his chin like the whole thing was a nuisance.
"You heard the Saintess, yeah? During training, you can fight however you like, so long as you follow my orders."
"......Yeah."
"Then quit running your mouth and come at me."
A seven-year-old body shot out like a thrown spear.
Pierre tilted his head a fraction. Iresia's fist sheared empty air a hair from his nose.
"......?"
"Slow."
"You son of a bitch!"
The fists came one after another, and not a single one so much as touched his collar.
"Grrgh! Stop dodging, you pain in the ass, and get hit!"
"First time in my life I've met somebody who says don't dodge in a fight. Just stand there and take your beating."
Pierre thought for a moment.
"No. A girl, is it?"
He laughed to himself. The assessment that had climbed a moment ago slid right back down.
Then he hooked a foot, light as anything.
"Gyaak!"
Iresia's body spun once in the air and slammed into the dirt.
I narrowed my eyes.
......He is strong.
He hadn't crushed her with raw force. He'd let the incoming power slide off and collapsed her center of gravity with exact precision. There was a reason the Saintess had gone out of her way to bring him.
"Again!"
Iresia shot to her feet, face caked in dirt.
"No."
"What, you scared?!"
"Too much trouble."
"Fuck, I'll rip you to pieces for real!"
Just as she was about to charge again, Pierre said it, dry as dust.
"Come at me one more time and I report it to the Saintess exactly as it happened."
Iresia's body locked up as if the words themselves had seized her.
"......What?"
"I'll tell her, not one syllable off, that you flew at your instructor like a mad dog on day one and got in the way."
"......"
Iresia, who had been grinding her teeth, slowly lowered her fist.
"......That's kind of cheating."
Unbelievable. To think the day would come when that unleashed Iresia put her killing intent away over a single sentence.
Pierre seemed just as dumbfounded. He stared at her for a moment.
"Hell of a temper, and you listen to the Saintess like a charm."
"'Cause the Saintess is a really fucking good person."
Not a line I would have expected from the mouth of a lunatic who, a second ago, had been charging in to tear someone apart.
The Saintess certainly broke that dog in properly.
Pierre's lessons were simple. Run. Roll. Eat dirt. Dodge. Get hit. Get back up.
For the first few days we weren't even allowed to touch a sword hilt. We ran until our breath jammed in our throats, rolled across the ground, fell, and stood up again, over and over.
I knew fundamentals mattered. But once the same training had gone on for nearly a week, a question started to form.
"Instructor."
"What."
"I have a question."
"Ask."
"This training."
I steadied my breath and looked at Pierre.
"Isn't the direction a little off?"
Pierre's eyebrow twitched.
"How."
"Are you raising us as ordinary soldiers?"
"......"
"The Saintess said that in time we would become battle nuns, meant to face demons."
I knew we needed basic stamina and a body that knew how to move. But if there was something about us that set us apart from ordinary soldiers, it was better to confirm that first.
"Wouldn't it be more efficient to identify the traits we possess and set the direction of the training to match them?"
Pierre stared at me.
"Seven years old, and already harping on about direction."
"Am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong."
He scratched his beard.
"The Saintess did say that. If you ask something, answer you, unless there's a good reason not to."
......She knew I would ask.
His gaze swept over the seven of us.
"You've heard there's something special inside you, yeah?"
"You mean that demon power, or whatever it is?"
"Yeah."
I straightened.
"Specifically, what is it?"
"I don't know the exact workings either."
"......"
"What's with that face."
"Nothing. Please continue."
His credibility had merely taken a small hit, right at the outset.
Pierre clicked his tongue.
"Whatever's in you—your nature, your desire—they say if you let out the thing you can least stand to hold back, the power comes."
"......That's remarkably vague."
"Don't take it up with me. I'm just repeating what I was told."
He was certainly not the man to put in charge of a lecture.
"Originally I was going to drill the basics a while longer before I had you try it."
He jerked his chin.
"But since you're so hung up on efficiency, we'll give it a shot."
Then—
"Iresia."
"Huh?"
"Come out."
Iresia blinked.
"Why me?"
"You look the easiest."
"Easiest at what, you bastard?"
"Getting angry."
"Oh."
She had no rebuttal. I agreed with that one too.
Pierre asked.
"You mad right now?"
"Yeah."
Not a second of hesitation.
"At what."
"Just everything. Fuck, all of it pisses me off."
"You holding it in?"
"......A little."
"Why."
"If I cause trouble again, the Saintess won't like it."
"Don't hold it in today."
Iresia's eyes went wide.
"......For real?"
Pierre pointed at the live-combat dummy in the corner of the training yard.
"That one's yours. Do what you want with it."
"Even if I smash it to absolute shit?"
"Suit yourself."
The corner of Iresia's mouth climbed all the way to her ear.
"And get angrier."
"Angrier?"
"Angry enough to drag out whatever's inside you."
Iresia clenched her fist.
"Now that I think about it, this is bullshit again."
"What is."
"You tripped me at the start and dropped me on my ass."
Pierre didn't answer.
"The nuns piss me off too, they feed us portions the size of a booger, prayer goes on for fucking ever......"
Her face twisted further. Her breathing roughened.
And then red energy exploded. The shockwave kicked dirt in every direction.
"......!"
I threw an arm over my face before I knew I was doing it.
A blood-red heat haze shimmered around Iresia's small body. The veins in her neck and arms stood out as if they might burst, and even her irises had clouded over with a murky red.
Pierre's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah."
"......"
"That's it."
Iresia stared blankly down at her own arm.
And then she grinned, wide open.
"Hahahaha!"
She liked it a great deal.
"Hit it."
"Yeah!"
Her fist drove into the dummy's torso. The iron plate crumpled like paper.
"Hahahaha! Fucking die!"
The upper body tore clean off.
Iresia climbed onto the wreckage and laughed, bright and delighted.
"This is so fucking fun!"
Pierre watched her for a moment, then turned his head. Our eyes met.
Ominous.
"Altiera."
"......Yes."
"You try it too."
"Right now?"
"You're the one who said we should start."
That was true. I stepped forward.
"Drag out what's inside you."
"......"
"Why are you just standing there staring."
"I'm thinking for a moment."
The thing I wanted most, stronger than anything else. Freedom. A comfortable life. Never taking an order from anyone.
I closed my eyes and focused.
I want to live free.
Nothing happened.
I don't want to take orders from other people.
Only the wind blew.
Pierre asked.
"Feel anything?"
"No."
"Again."
"I already did."
I looked at Iresia, who was splitting what remained of the dummy with her bare fists.
And then—
......Don't tell me.
An ominous, and extremely rational, hypothesis rose in my head. I am not an arrogant person to begin with. That thing styling itself a god had simply classified me as Pride on its own whim. But this power was tied to each of our sins.
Which meant—
I'm not actually Pride, so it won't come out?
The puzzle fit. Far too cleanly.
Of course.
The corner of my mouth lifted a little.
An administrative error.
Now everything was explained. What I had been saying even before I died had been right. Throwing me in with those murderers in the first place had been a classification error from the start.
Even gods make mistakes.
No. Looking at the way that bastard carried on, a mistake of this size was well within his range.
I was right after all.
Some corner of my chest went strangely at ease.
Pierre looked at my face and frowned.
"What are you thinking."
"Nothing."
"You've got a real unpleasant look on your face."
"You're imagining it."
"The power?"
"It isn't coming."
"Hm."
He let out a short breath and looked the other way.
"Iresia."
"What!"
"Come here a second."
Iresia came running, delighted.
"What am I doing?"
"Spar with Altiera."
"With Bluey?"
Bluey. A name Iresia had stuck on me for no reason except that my hair was blue. I had corrected her several times. It hadn't helped.
I turned my head.
"......Why?"
"Because it might burst out in an extreme situation."
"A remarkably primitive approach."
"It works."
"And the safety?"
Pierre looked at Iresia.
"Just don't kill her."
"Got it!"
"That's your answer?"
"I'll be stuck right beside you."
The answer came far too fast. I raised a hand.
"Wait. I felt absolutely no safety in that answer just now."
"Here I come, Bluey!"
"Hey!"
Iresia was already charging. A fist flew at my face, and I ducked in a panic.
"You crazy bitch!"
"Hahaha! Dodge it!"
Again. I slipped aside.
"Instructor! Do I actually have to do this?"
"Looks like you do."
"On what basis did you decide that?"
"You're still talking too much."
Bastard.
The red energy had already settled by then. At first it was just bare fists, so I dodged however I could. That beast's strength was abnormal, but her technique was far cruder than Pierre's.
She missed again.
"Hey."
"What."
"Why do you keep dodging."
"You're the weird one, wanting me to just stand there and take it."
A vein stood out on Iresia's temple.
"......This is pissing me off."
The smile vanished.
"This is real bullshit."
In that instant the blood-red energy burst out again.
"......!"
This time even Iresia herself froze for a heartbeat. She hadn't drawn it out on purpose. The moment irritation and rage surged, the same power as before wrapped her body on its own.
Pierre's face hardened at once.
"Iresia. That's enough."
But Iresia wasn't listening. Those reddened eyes were fixed on me alone.
The ground burst.
"Shit!"
The speed itself was nothing like a moment ago. I barely twisted my head. The wind that grazed my cheek stung the skin by itself, and I tumbled backward.
There was no time to get up. Iresia charged again. Dirt sprayed in every direction, and I rolled and barely got clear.
"Iresia!"
Pierre's voice roughened.
"Stop!"
Once. Twice. Three times. I dodged. No—I barely avoided being hit. That was all.
My heart was hammering like mad. Suddenly everything had gone to shit. Battle nun or whatever. Demon power or whatever. If this kept up, I was actually going to die.
And the moment that thought hit, irritation shot all the way to the top of my head.
Why me?
Why should I have to be beaten to death by some murderer like that? Why should I be thrown in the same basket as insects like them, treated as the same kind of sinner, put through the same training, and end up about to die under that lunatic's fists?
Wasn't all of it because of that defective god's error?
No. The more I think about it, the more absurd it gets.
I had said it clearly. An administrative error. I was not like them. And that bastard had dumped me here as if his judgment were unconditionally correct. And now, because of that error, I was about to die.
Iresia's fist shattered the ground right beside me. A stone shard scraped my cheek. A stinging pain. The smell of blood. She was right in front of my nose, and the face that had been laughing until then held nothing but irritation. Her fist drew back.
This time, I couldn't dodge.
"Iresia! Stop!"
Pierre moved. The dirt where he kicked off caved in, and in the blink of an eye the distance to us closed. But Iresia's fist was closer. It was already at my nose.
In that moment, something snapped clean.
Administrative error or not. The god was wrong and I was right. I didn't care about logic like that anymore. The simple fact that the bitch in front of me was looking down at me—I couldn't stand it.
You little insect.
How dare you. Whose presence are you holding your head up in? Something like you, standing in the same place as me, deciding whether I live or die?
This is just bullshit.
I didn't need a reason. Not logic. Not analysis. I didn't need any of it. Insects like that ought to act like insects.
Crawl on the ground.
Blue light exploded, the same color as my hair. A light cold enough to sting the eyes burst from beneath my feet and swallowed everything around me in a widening circle.
"......What?"
Iresia's eyes flew wide. The fist flying toward my face stopped a hair from my nose.
And then one knee was forced to buckle.
"Ghk?!"
The other knee slammed into the dirt as well.
"Wh-what the fuck is this!"
Pierre, arriving a beat late, stopped dead where he stood. His gaze dropped to the blue light spread beneath my feet.
Iresia tried to stand. She couldn't move. Her back bent, little by little. Her head went down, as if an invisible hand were crushing her skull and ordering her to know her place.
I hadn't known either. It was a power I was using for the first time in my life. And yet, strangely, I could tell.
Ah.
The blue space spread beneath my feet. The place where I stood on my own two feet. Here, my will stood above hers. Who stands, and who kneels. Who holds their head up, and who has to crawl. I was the one who decided that.
I rose, slowly, and looked down at Iresia planted in the dirt. The beast that had been at my eye level a moment ago was beneath me now, grinding her teeth as she looked up. Murky red eyes. My own, reflected in them, were shining blue.
Strangely enough, it felt natural.
In that moment, it became certain. This place was my domain. And within it—
I am the king.
"Bluey......"
Iresia ground her teeth.
"Let this go. Right now."
I didn't answer. My heart was still hammering like mad. This was a body that, a moment ago, had genuinely believed it was about to die. And yet, strangely, I wasn't afraid.
Instead I walked slowly toward her.
"Hey."
"......"
"Hey, Bluey. Don't do something you'll regret."
And then I brought my fist down on the crown of her head.
"Aagh! You son of a bitch!"
It hurt. My hand. As expected, you don't hit a person's head with a bare fist. Even so, I had no intention of stopping. Just now she had sincerely tried to kill me. She hadn't stopped even when Pierre shouted, and I didn't know how long this power would last. If it let go while she was still like that, the one who died would be me.
"I'll kill you! The second this comes off—I'll rip your gut open for real—"
"Aagh!"
"Fuck! Bluey! You really—"
"Ah!"
Once more.
"......"
She went quiet. Effective. I nodded, satisfied.
"If you'd listened from the start, this would have been better for both of us."
The results of the lesson appeared immediately.
That was when Pierre's voice came from behind me.
"Altiera. Quit hitting her."
I ignored him and hit her once more.
"Ah......"
Iresia wasn't even cursing anymore.
"Altiera."
Pierre walked this way.
"I said stop."
One step. Two. The moment he stepped into the blue light, I raised a hand.
"Don't interfere."
"......"
Pierre stopped.