Published at 22nd of January 2020 4:40 pm

Volume 4, Chapter 1: The Same Exhaustion

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The sky was crimson, dyed blood red from the evening sun.

He gazed up at it, strangely listless. “It’s like… when the sky gets all red that means it’s almost night already. Doesn’t it make you tired?”

“Hm. Then does that mean you don’t get tired when the sun is still high up in the sky? Because that’s what I’m hearing.”

“Huh? Oh, um, no. Don’t you just wanna take afternoon naps in the afternoon?”

“Then when aren’t you tired?”

“Hmm… good question,” Ryner Lute said, crossing his arms. “I wonder if there is such a thing as a time when I’m not tired,” he said and seriously got to thinking about that worthless topic.

They’d somehow gotten past the Imperial Nelphan border and crossed over into the Runa Empire, and had been walking on a main road for some time now…

Although it was already dusk, he was walking around with his black hair still tousled in obvious bedhead, looking so tired and relaxed that he seemed like he’d fall asleep on his feet any minute now. His tall and lanky back was slouched - all his motivation had long since been destroyed.

Despite his unmistakable air of laziness, he was somehow allowed to wear the uniform of Roland’s Magical Knights, made of white armor and a robe.

Ryner was caught up thinking with a sleepy expression, looking like he’d drift right off. “So like, I did try thinking about it, and I’m tired in the morning ‘cause I just woke up, then tired at noon ‘cause it’s nap time, then I’m tired in the afternoon ‘cause I get tired after I snack, and I’m tired in the evening ‘cause it’s gonna be night soon, and then of course I’m tired at night. Everyone knows you’ve gotta sleep at night…”

“Do you think that watery argument is going to work on me?” Ryner’s accomplice asked from his side.

Ryner glanced at the unbelievably beautiful woman by his side. Her glossy blonde hair was shaded red by the evening sun, and she had almond-shaped blue eyes. Her face was so perfect that it exceeded ‘handsome,’ and her extraordinary body was wearing leather armor. Her lovely, delicate arms didn’t look like they could hold the longsword at her waist.

Ferris Eris.

She was seriously beautiful. The kind of beauty where one felt shy to be around her as day turned to night and willed the time to never change. But when she spoke she was strangely detached and monotone, and her expression never changed at all except to stick her tongue out to lick the last dango on her skewer lightly before eating it. It was the last one, after all, so she didn’t want it to be over yet and wondered how to best savor it…

It seemed that this strange beauty didn’t notice him worrying alone at all…

“In the first place, you sleep too much,” Ferris said. “I have been observing this for some time now. You have already slept as much as the average person sleeps their entire life, so you may be able to live without sleep from now on. Rejoice. You can now work for me the rest of your life without needing another blink of sleep. Be happy.”

“Uwah… There you go with your absurd ideas again,” Ryner said, half-lidded. “I’d obviously die if I stopped sleeping.”

Ferris nodded easily. “Mhm. You’d normally die. But anyone can do the impossible when they’re cornered. So I’ve decided that I’ll punish you for sleeping now. I call it my ‘Uwah! I’ll be punished if I sleep so I’m too scared to sleep anymore!’ plan. It’s an experiment to test if you’ll become accustomed to not sleeping and be able to live without it. We have to complete a thesis on it by the next academic conference…”

Ferris pulled a notepad from her pocket and started to draw Ryner shivering in fear with Ferris taking a battle stance between him and his bed, sword at the ready. Ryner’s face was strangely terrified.

“Whoa, that picture is way too realistic, I hate it… wait, no! Augh, geez, you made me play the straight man in our comedy duo again. And what’s up with this academic conference stuff? Have you done that kind of thing before?”

“Mm. My sister Iris and I did made something regarding the search for the mysteries of the world—”

Ryner scowled and interrupted. “Ah… so it’s something that jump-kicking sister of yours did for fun… and isn’t the topic here kind of a problem? There’s no way people can live without sleeping just because they’ve been punished too much. What kind of punishments are we talking, anyway?”

Ferris put that creepily realistic picture from before back in her pocket like it was something important and nodded. “Hm. First I’ll throw my sword softly into your neck—”

“If you did that even once I’d never wake up again!!”

“Mm. Well, leaving jokes aside… let’s talk business.”

“You aren’t gonna cut my head off the next time I try to sleep, will you?”

“Hehe.”

“Ah!! You laughed!! I just heard a ‘hehe!’”

“Mhm. But I’ve already started writing my thesis, so there’s nothing you can do about it. Give it up.”

“There’s no way I can just give uuuuuupppp!!” Ryner screamed.

Ferris ignored him like always. “Hm. Anyway, do you happen to know anything about the Heroic Relics in the Runa Empire?”

“Hey, that’s pretty sudden… well, whatever,” Ryner said, tired. “But like, look up at the sky. The day’s already almost over. We finally got away from Nelpha’s Magical Knights and made it into Runa and you still wanna talk work. I’m more worried about finding an inn to stay the night at.”

Ferris nodded with him. “Mm. Right. I’ll change the way I ask then. When you were in Roland you wrote and presented a report to Sion, correct? That’s why it’s your duty now to lead the search for the Heroic Relics.”

“No, he snagged my report all on his own and then had the audacity to tell me to go find the Heroic Relics even though I obviously don’t have that kind of motivation…”

“Mm. Something like that happened to me too. I got mixed into this because he threatened to demolish my favorite dango shop… Someday I’ll make him pay for that.”

Ryner nodded enthusiastically. “I approve! I really approve! We get along when it comes to this, huh.”

“Mhm.” After reaffirming that neither of them had any motivation for this at all, Ferris continued. “In any case, you did write a report on the whereabouts of the Heroic Relics.”

Ryner nodded. “Well, yeah. But like, all I really wrote about was the stories about the legendary heroes in Roland and its neighboring countries. I researched the stories and made a map for where the relics might be.”

“Mm. So you have an approximate map in your head for where Runa’s relics are?”

“I’m telling you that I only have an approximate idea. What’re you trying to say?”

Ferris pointed straight ahead on their path. “Tell me if there’s an inn along this path that we might reach by nightfall.”

“Hm.” Ryner looked across the prairie. It stretched as far as the eye could see. “I’m not really sure? There weren’t any stories about this area that I could investigate in Roland’s libraries. Anyway, the Runa Empire isn’t like Roland, right? The church has a lot of power here, doesn’t it?”

“What are you going on about?” Ferris asked. “Are you making stuff up because you don’t actually know anything about this region?”

“…No, I just wouldn’t say anything then…”

“Mm. Fine. Continue. I also would like to know about this area since we’ll be working here for a while.”

Ryner nodded. “Well, let’s see. Umm, so this place is pretty peculiar, right? They have absolute faith in god and even the power of magic, since they believe magic is just a power borrowed by god… So according to the stuff I read back in Roland, people who aren’t religious can’t use their magic.”

“Hoh. That’s pretty troublesome.”

“Yeah. I’m not religious at all, so I guess even I can’t use it with my eyes,” Ryner said, pointing to his eyes. They were the same sleepy black eyes as always. But they were special. It was normally so thin that it was hard to see, but he had a crimson pentagram in the center of each eye. It rose to the surface, its red glinting harshly. “So even if I can copy their magic’s organization with these, I can’t use it.”

His eyes had the special ability to copy a spell just by seeing it and allow him to use it. No matter what country the spell was from or how special it was, as long as he had his eyes, using it was easy.

“But like, I definitely don’t believe in god at all,” Ryner said. “So I definitely won’t be able to use Runa’s magic. Like, if god existed, then why would we have wars? Why would there be people whose lives are full of hardships? If there was a god, they’d make it so that everything’s peaceful and we can just nap all day, right?”

“Mm. That would be simple,” Ferris said. “If god exists, then being a god, he must be really busy. I’m sure he doesn’t have any time to watch over perverted sex maniacs like you or the fools who start wars.”

“Wow, you’re pretty persuasive… and we go over this every day, but enough with the crazy sex maniac stuff! Ugh, I gave in and argued again… But if I were a big shot god I’d be too busy living a life of luxury and napping all day every day to watch over humans who won’t stop acting like fools.”

“Mm. I’d be too busy with dango every day if I were god. I’d change every shop in the world to a dango shop. I’d make every country make dango instead of war and compare it at the grand dango competition to decide who gets the most territory, with the country with the best dango craftsmen being declared the winner. And then once every year, those skilled dango craftsmen would present their dango to me… I would always be eating the world’s best dango. Ah, will next year’s be three-colored dango or will it be red bean dango…?”

Ferris looked intoxicated by the thought. “You’re dreaming pretty big there…”

“Mm. I’ve started feeling a bit jealous of god, if he should exist.”

Ryner sighed. “Daydreams aside, we’re in Runa. It’s really religious, unlike our country. So all of their legends are religious.”

“Hoh. Such as?”

“Um, for example, ‘god’s angels descend and bestow a gift upon kind people that allows them to become king,’ and ‘if a demon appears, you must chase it away by praying to god’ and stuff. They’re pretty much stories made so people can get themselves more power, so everything I’ve heard is a bunch of lies about god and the king and stuff.”

“Hm. What are you trying to say?”

“Yeah. All the stories are pretty much centered around the royal family and the capital, so that’s the only part of Runa I’m familiar with. I have no idea how long this road goes on for or what’s on it—”

“So what you’re trying to say is that you’re trash whose life has no worth?”

“…Doesn’t that make you the trash? You don’t know anything about this place.”

Ferris shook her head. “No, I…”

Ryner just stared at her. He already knew exactly what she was going to say. So he stared and stared. When he did, Ferris’s usual expressionless face became red and she averted her eyes.

“…W-well, anyway…”

“Oh, you aren’t going to say ‘I’m a beauty’ like you always do…?”

“I-I wasn’t going to say that.”

“Then why’s your face red?”

“Mrgh… It only appears red because of the sunset,” Ferris said, but her usual porcelain-like pale skin was red down to her ears…

Ryner smiled wryly. “Well, whatever… Anyway, it looks like there’s a sign at the fork in the road.”

The fork in the road had appeared in the distance before them while they were talking. It looked like the sign would be able to tell them what might lay to the left or right. They approached the sign.

“Hm. It looks like there’s a village to the right,” Ferris said. “Ridget Village.”

“And there’s a church to the left. Says it’s called Yashback Church. So where should we go? I have a feeling the church might let us stay the night for free… It’s convenient for us that Roland and the Runa Empire are allies. They should let us stay if we show them the crests on our armor.”

Ferris nodded. “Mm. Roland just annexed Estabul and got stronger, so Runa won’t want to pick a fight. I doubt that they would be cruel to us. But…”

“‘But?’ What, is there a problem?”

Ferris pointed to the ground. “Look at the board that fell here.”

Ryner looked down. It was a board that’d likely been hanging up on the signpost with the other ones, adding additional information to the directions.

Ridget Village has been cursed by a demon. Entry is prohibited until God purifies it.

Do not approach the village until God has warded the evil off.

Travellers coming from the Nelphan border: Do not travel through Ridget Village. Instead, make your way to Yashback Church by foot.

Runan Imperial Army

What a thing to write…

Ryner and Ferris shared a look.

“A demon’s…”

“…Curse?”

Ryner scrunched up his face. “Well, guess that’s it. Can’t go to Ridget Village. It’s scary and it sounds like it’s dangerous to go near it. Guess we’re going to Yashback Church. Let’s go!”

Ryner took a step to the left, but Ferris grabbed his shirt’s collar from the back. “Are you serious? Someone who isn’t afraid of god shouldn’t be afraid of demons either, correct?”

“Ugh, geez!” Ryner said, grimacing. “Think about the situation for a second! We worked our asses off to cross the border and now I’m tired. And I dunno about demons, but if we end up somewhere that’s got weird stuff going on that might have something to do with the Heroic Relics then I’ll have no choice but to investigate it. And that’s tiring, right? So let’s go to the church, sleep for thirty days, and then think about if we should go or not—”

Ferris unsheathed her sword with a high-pitched, echoing shiiing and lightly tapped it to the top of Ryner’s shoulder.

“F-fine, I get it,” Ryner said, already at the verge of tears. “I get it, okay? But there’s no way they’re gonna let outsiders like us stay the night if we waltz in after ignoring the military warning. We’ll end up camping outside… So how about tomorrow? We can go tomorrow, right? Let’s go to the church for now…”

Ferris didn’t say anything.

She didn’t say anything, and yet…

“Augh, I lied! I lied! But like, it’s a demon, right? Isn’t it interesting? I’m so interested that I’m going to go there and investigate without sleeping, so… could you please slowly remove your sword from my shoulder…”

Ferris moved her sword faster than the eye could see. “Mm? Well, there’s nothing I can do about it if you’re all fired up and want to work. Let’s head for Ridget Village.”

“…If I’d been four or five seconds slower, my arms would be laying on the ground right about now… go easy on me…”

Ferris had started on the road to the right. “There’s no way that I would do that.”

Ryner followed. “Liar! You were definitely gonna cut them off!”

Ferris shook her head. “No, I truly had no intention of doing that. If I just cut off your arms, you probably wouldn’t die and it wouldn’t be all that interesting. So I was thinking I’d cut you at the neck…”

Ryner didn’t even listen to the end of that. He just held his head in his hands. “Augh, but even if we do search all of Ridget, there’s no way there’s even a single demon—”

“Hm? Did you say something?”

“Huh? Uh, no, not at all. But like, I wonder what kinda person the demon is?”

And so they walked towards the cursed Ridget Village, talking just like always.

---

It was a grand building, the likes of which were unrivaled by any other in all of Roland. From its sheer size and its every corner’s beautiful ornaments to its intensely vigilant guards to whom even a rat couldn’t pass unharmed, it was in every way a splendid building that others just couldn’t catch up to. Well, that was how it was built to be, so that was pretty obvious though…

It was the castle home to Roland’s king.

Inside an office so plain that it was eerie inside the otherwise grand building, the country’s most powerful man sat working, extremely busy as always. He’d been fighting a tough battle with the mountains of documents atop his desk for over twenty hours straight now. As soon as he signed one document, the next was in his hands for consideration.

“…Err, this is…”

His beautiful and willful golden eyes narrowed. He had a symmetrical and handsome face surrounded by silver hair. He was Roland’s young king of only nineteen years old, Sion Astal. He already looked the part of king.

Sion had played a spectacular part in ending the war with the former Kingdom of Estabul, shooting him through the upper ranks of Roland’s military…

Then he led a brilliantly skilled revolution, dethroning the tyrant king, and earning the title of the hero king who saved their country.

He was born with innate charisma, good ability, and looks, all of which he used masterfully to obtain the unwavering support of the people… and on top of that, he’d easily suppressed the recent Estabulian rebellion. He’d achieved nothing but perfect results since he took the throne, governing flawlessly in every regard…

That was how it looked from the outside.

Sion’s hand stopped for a moment. He sighed softly.

It really looked like there were hardly any problems at all from outside, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Geez… Being this busy makes me want to quit being king,” Sion said, smiling bitterly. The truth was that there were mountains of problems before him, much like the mountains of papers before him now.

Estabul’s rebellion hadn’t just been a problem with their nobility - their popular princess, Noa Ehn, had also taken part. She was now a part of Sion’s faction, something that appeased her people, but…

Sion gazed into the mountains of documents and groaned. They were all reports regarding the misappropriation of resources and tyranny inside the territory of a few nobles he’d had investigated.

It was wretched. Far worse than he’d been expecting.

The nobles ignored him completely and just did whatever they wanted. But that was natural… after all, although they weren’t rebelling or anything, the nobles of the anti-monarchy faction had more power than Sion since the previous king’s time. Their country wouldn’t be coherent until their two factions unified.

That wasn’t the only problem. The other countries’ recent movements were bothering him too. But if Sion focused his sights outside the country, then the nobles inside would take action…

Sion pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed once more.

And then—

“Whaaaaaaaaam!!”

Sion’s chair was flipped over alongside someone’s yell.

“Uwah!”

Sion flipped over right with it, unable to react in time to avoid being flipped onto the floor. The chair had been knocked over with amazing force, after all. So he lay there on the floor awkwardly. Not even a rat could enter his office, as vigilantly guarded as it was, but just now an intruder had managed to do so. To top it off, Sion hadn’t felt even the slightest presence. He looked up, tired, at the intruder.

She was a lone girl with beautiful blonde hair and a pretty face, wearing a frilly dress with a backpack, the two parts of her look in complete conflict.

“Hey, Iris. Welcome back,” Sion said. “I trust that you weren’t in any danger coming back from Imperial Nelpha?”

Iris nodded real big. “Yup, I’m fine!” She said, full of energy.

Sion nodded, reassured, then stood up slowly. “So, I’d really like it if you could tell me why exactly you knocked my chair over again today?”

Iris nodded real big again, like she’d been waiting for this. “Um, umm, see? My big sister Ferris said to do it so Iris did it! Is Iris remarkable? Remarkable?”

“Yeah, remarkable. Yup. So why did Ferris tell you to knock my chair over? Do you know?”

Iris nodded and nodded. “Um, so like, do you know what a sigh is?”

“Huh? A sigh? You mean a normal sigh? When you exhale like this—”

Iris suddenly covered Sion’s mouth with both hands, flustered. “Augh! You can’t do it! You can’t!! I-Iris knows better! My sister told me that if you sigh three times in one day then you’re too tired and you’re going to die of exhaustion!”

Sion smiled bitterly. “That Ferris tells you nothing but lies…”

“That’s why Iris does her best!” Iris said proudly. “So I knock your chair over when you look like you’re gonna sigh! Remarkable?”

Sion smiled sweetly at Iris’ innocence. “I see… yup, thanks to you, I’ve narrowly escaped death. Thanks.”

“Eheheh. Yay! I was praised! My sister will definitely praise me too! See, since you became king, my sister said, um… um, that your tyrannic… tyranny… uh, I forgot, but anyway it was something like that and she said you’re busier so you’ll sigh more and I can’t stop hitting you for it.”

Sion smiled bitterly. “Is she trying to get me to change…? No, she probably just hates me.” Sion crossed his arms and thought about it, but in the end he just didn’t know. “This is a tough one… but I have the feeling it’s the latter.” He looked to Iris. “Anyway, Iris. Do you have any information from Ryner and Ferris?”

Iris nodded real big, then reached into her backpack to pull out a notebook. She handed it to Sion. He took it and opened it. As usual, it was full of Irisese - pictures with hard to understand meanings. But Sion had recently begun to understand a little Irisese. There was a collared, drooling dog and a winged angel leading him around while hitting him…

“This here is Ryner, ‘the Beast,’ as you call him, right? And the beautiful angel who rewards good and punishes evil is your sister Ferris. This is a picture of her dragging him around, right?”

“Spot on!! Amazing, Sion!”

Sion turned the page as she praised him. This picture was of a crab with its pincers out for some reason, the beast and beautiful angel running away…

“Hm? What’s this?”

“Um, umm. What was it again? See, um, if this crab had armor with a sword ons hands like the Beast and my sister, then he would’ve been able to cross the border easy too!”

Sion’s face clouded over. “Cross the border easily using that armor… If you’re talking about armor with gauntlets bearing swords, then… Could it be the armor of Imperial Nelpha’s Magical Knights? Did those two steal their armor to cross the border?” Sion wondered, tired. “Geez, those two are ridiculous. I go out of my way to pay Nelpha a courtesy call to preserve the peace, and now they go and do something capable of sparking a war…”

Sion breathed in deeply like he was going to sigh, but then he noticed Iris’ big blue eyes staring.

“Ah, I’m not going to sigh, see?”

“Really? You absolutely can’t sigh, okay!? Iris would get lonely if you died!”

Sion smiled and patted Iris’ head. “Right. I won’t die so that you won’t get lonely. But the same goes for you, alright? I’d be sad if you died, so don’t go doing anything too dangerous.”

Iris took a curious expression. “Huh? Iris isn’t going to die, you know?”

“Of course not,” Sion said with a smile. “But if you do anything too dangerous, you might die. Then me and Ferris would be sad. So you have to pay attention to your health, Iris. Go home and sleep for now, okay? You must be tired from your long journey here. I’m sure Ferris would be disappointed if you didn’t get a good night’s sleep.”

“Huh!?” Iris said, suddenly flustered. “So my sister would be disappointed too! Nooo! I, I! I’m going to sleep! I’m going to sleep as soon as I can! So that my sister won’t be disappointed! I definitely will! Goodnight!!”

Iris leapt out of the window before Sion could say anything…

Sion gazed out after her for a moment, dumbfounded. “Hm. I shouldn’t sigh for a while… I don’t want to make Iris worry.”

Sion stood his chair back up and sat back down in it, returning to his paperwork. But then there was a knock. It wasn’t from the window this time - it was a proper knock from the door.

“Sion, I’m comin’ in,” a man said, and soon he entered - a tall redhead with sharp eyes. He had a trained physique like steel and eyes the same red as his hair. He was Major General Claugh Klom. He was a man in his mid-twenties, and he was one of the only people in the current Roland who addressed Sion without any honorifics, along with Ryner and Ferris.

He’d been Sion’s direct subordinate since his time as a marshal in the army, and also served as a guard for Sion after he became king. He was a major general at the top of the food chain in both popularity and brute power, but…

Sion’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Claugh. Though he was at the top of Roland’s military in practice… there was still proof that Sion was not in complete control over the country. If he were, there would be nothing strange about Claugh being marshal of the military, but… titles in the upper levels of the military were only bestowed upon nobles. So Claugh, who was just a major general, leading the military was only possible because they were all under Sion’s command. Sion was able to lend his power as king to the common-born soldiers that chose to follow himself and Claugh like that, defending them from the nobility, preventing a rebellion, and preserving the peace.

But the common-born soldiers had to endure harassment from the noble-born soldiers day after day, so they were all waiting for the day that Sion was able to completely unite their country.

According to both surveys and Sion’s noble-born supporters, the common-born soldiers had to endure horrible abuse, and there were a number of noble-on-commoner assault cases… so he had to hurry up and solve the problem of the anti-monarchy faction…

Claugh looked into Sion’s face as he thought the issue over. “Ah, aaah, you’re makin’ that worrywart face again…”

Sion looked up, a little surprised. “Mm? Was it that bad?”

“Nah, it wasn’t super worried? You were makin’ that annoying full of yourself face again, smile and all. You barely ever show us on your own even if you’re worrying. So if we never noticed, you’d be sholdering everything alone until you died, right? Geez, you’re so much work.”

Sion smiled bitterly. “I’m not so weak that you have to worry about me.”

“That’s the problem,” Claugh said. “If I leave you alone, you’ll collapse before you complain. So? How many hours has it been since you sat down to work?”

“Hm?” Sion shrugged. “I must’ve just begun…”

Another man appeared from the door behind Claugh. “Yes, that’s a lie! Claugh, Sir Sion is lying again. He’s definitely lying so we don’t worry. I asked Eslina to check on him and she said it’s already been over fifteen hours since he entered his office,” he said. He had soft, wavy blond hair and adorable blue eyes. All in all he gave off a delicate impression. He was Calne Kaiwel, another of Sion’s chief vassals who had risked his life working for Sion during the revolution.

A girl in a white dress followed behind him. Perhaps calling her a girl didn’t do the air about her justice though… She had dignified blue eyes, a handsome face, and shoulder-length amber hair. She was Eslina Folkal, the younger sister of Sion’s late secretary Fiole Folkal. He had been killed by the anti-monarchy party to teach Sion a lesson…

His sister came to Sion to succeed her brother’s will… and now worked under Calne.

Sion was astonished. “Calne, you made Eslina watch me…?”

Calne puffed up his chest. “You work too hard, so taking care of your health is the number one most important job in this whole castle. I couldn’t leave this work to anyone but Fiole’s sister, Eslina. If you keep working without sleeping, Fiole will get mad in heaven and come back angry. Won’t he, Eslina?”

Eslina smiled happily. “Yes! You shouldn’t do it, Your Majesty! Please don’t do anything that’d make my brother sad,” Eslina said, with that face of hers that resembled Fiole’s…

Sion couldn’t help but grimace. “Uu… you guys are ganging up and bullying me, aren’t you…?”

Then a clear voice came from outside the door. “Your Majesty is blessed to have subordinates who truly worry about your well-being. The seat of Roland’s king is a happy one.”

The door opened to reveal a girl. She was a rare beauty with dark blue hair, the likes of which were unusual to see within the Roland Empire. She had resolute blue eyes and was pretty in a graceful way. Her elegance was accompanied by a strand of intelligent sensibility - her eyes expressed it openly in a look one wouldn’t expect belonged to a girl of only seventeen.

Noa Ehn.

She was the lone princess of the annexed Kingdom of Estabul.

She had been with the Estabulian rebellion to see them take innocent hostages and commit atrocities, and their behavior wounded her deeply… and so she alone stood up against Estabul’s nobility, defeating them herself, and as a result of her acting in the interests of Roland’s well-being as well as Estabul’s, she was dubbed a patriotic hero and granted a noble title within Roland.

That was her official story… but the facts were different.

After Roland pulled several plots on Estabul, she eventually managed to protect the hostages, accepting all the blame and criticism of taking them in the first place. Even so, she became a noble of Roland so as to protect the people of Estabul.

She had an uncommon resolve, that was for sure.

Noa stared right into Sion. “But you are necessary for this country right now, Your Majesty. Destroying your body with overwork is a bit selfish to do while you’re still needed, is it not?”

What a thing to up and say to him…

“I’ve let you see something rather embarrassing, Princess Ehn,” Sion said. “It has been a while. What business has brought you to my office today?”

For a brief moment Noa’s smile flashed with anger. “I do not have business with you, Your Majesty. It is Major General Klom that I have business with. Although I was promised dinner, no matter how long I waited he did not appear, and I happened to hear that he was here…”

“Augh!?” Claugh said, his tone saying it all. “Ah, um, uhh, Calne, what time is it…?”

“Huh? It’s seven now… Wait, what time did you agree to meet Miss Noa?”

Claugh looked troubled at that question. “……Five…”

“Uwah!? It’s been t-two hours!? You made a beauty like this… ah, how rude of me. But you really made her wait two hours…”

“Uuh, shut it, Calne! Uh, umm, see Noa, there were all sorts of extenuating circumstances…”

Noa was calm and collected as always. “I understand, Major General Klom. I also understand what it is like to be very busy.”

“Oh, um… yeah. Right. You get all wrapped up in work, yeah?”

“I keep telling you to contact women when you’re going to be late,” Calne whispered. “It’s basic ettiqu—”

“Shut it!! There’s nothin’ I can do about it if I’m so busy I can’t even do that!”

For some reason, Noa nodded. “That’s right, Sir Calne. According to the rumors, Major General Klom has lovers everywhere. That alone is quite a lot of work, so when you add his official duties on top of it, there is no way that he has the free time to contact me.”

Claugh held his head in his hands. “Ugh, geez. Take a break, okay Sion? Something came up so I’m gonna go now,” he said, taking Noa’s arm and leading her out of the room…

“Er, ah, that is the situation, Your Majesty, so with that,” Noa said, and left with Claugh.

Even when they were gone, their voices could be heard from the hallway.

“Seriously, it’s my bad. So there’s no need to be so angry…”

“Heheh. I was just joking. But I was really looking forward to tonight, so I thought I would bully you a little…”

“You don’t gotta bully me…”

Their voices got farther and farther away.

Those two had gotten strangely close since Claugh saved Noa. Noa only really let her guard down around him…

When they were so far away that their voices couldn’t be heard anymore, Sion, Calne, and Eslina all exchanged a look and laughed.

“Did you see Claugh’s face just now?” Sion asked. “He had such a stupid, flustered expression. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look so flustered.”

Calne nodded. “Me too. He’s usually calm even when girls are fighting with him, no matter what the fight is about…”

Last was Eslina, who took up the expression of a girl dreaming. “Those two are dating, aren’t they? Or do they just look like a couple?”

Sion crossed his arms. “What do you think, Calne?”

Calne honestly considered it too. “Hmm. I wonder. It might be a little problematic if those two actually dated.”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Sion asked.

“Well, Claugh has always had a rough time with all sorts of women, but he’s never had a favorite. Or maybe it’s better if I say it another way. Even if he did end up finding someone he really liked, he’d part with them.”

Eslina tilted her head. “Why is that?”

“Well, even when I asked I couldn’t hear it from him himself… but it seems like it’s because he’s a soldier. He could die at any time, so he can’t have a lover.”

Eslina looked sad. “Oh no… so even if someone fell in love with Sir Claugh, he… I pity him…”

Calne nodded. “But Roland has been peaceful lately, so if you ask me, I think it’s about time to settle down… ah, I should say the same to Sir Sion too.”

Sion scrunched up his face. “Hey, you. Why are you bringing me into this all of a sudden?”

“Well, it’s a serious conversation, and everyone’s been thinking it. Everyone wants you, our blessed and benevolent king, to leave an heir behind…and I definitely don’t think this’ll be the case, but what if you died now? That’d be the end of Roland. No matter how hard the rest of us work, if you weren’t here and you didn’t have any children, we’d lose against those irksome nobles. Roland would be ruled by someone like the previous king and the nobility again… and we’d return to those dark ages once more… so…”

Calne smiled mischievously.

“Please find someone to marry lickity-split and have some kids!” Calne said. “I can find you some candidates to interview! They’ll be…”

Calne turned to Eslina, who nodded. “I will find some at once—”

“You don’t have to do that!” Sion said, flustered.

Calne and Eslina exchange a look, all smiles.

“If you’re trying to say that there will be opportunities to get married later, then you can’t die now, so quit your work at once and go to sleep!” Calne said.

Sion grimace. “Ah, let me finish just this one document first…”

Calne shook his head. “I can’t do that. Eslina has already prepared a bed in the next room over so you can sleep now.”

“Uuh… she’s got skill… Ugh, fine. I just have to rest, right? Geez, my work will have doubled by tomorrow morning…”

Calne looked strangely relieved. “Good, you’re finally in the mood to rest. Now we can relax enough to eat. See, I’ve been having these weird dreams all about Fiole lately. He comes and tells me, ‘Make His Majesty reeest,’ ‘Make him reeest,’ and he just won’t shut up. So I think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. So you have to sleep now, okay? Do you understand? Now then, Eslina, let’s go eat. I’ll treat you.”

“Oh, really? Yay!”

With that, the two of them left…

Sion watched them go, tired. “If Fiole was really appearing in your dreams, wouldn’t he be more likely to say, ‘Don’t lay a hand on Eslinaaaa,’ instead?” Sion mumbled to himself.

He made to return to his work, but the hand holding his pen stopped. Sion looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe I should rest a little today. If I don’t, you’ll haunt Calne’s dreams again…”

Sion smiled. He rounded up the documents he’d already signed and stood… but then a single knock sounded at the door. “Hm? Who is it?”

He looked up at the door. Calne had left it slightly ajar, and a lone man now stood in it, though Sion wasn’t sure when he’d appeared.

“The door was left open. Though I believe it is a bit selfish of me, I let myself in… Your Majesty.”

He had a detached, cold voice. Though he spoke politely, his lack of expression made it come off as rather cold.

Sion’s eyes narrowed. “So it’s you, Froaude…”

Sion sat back down in his chair and examined him. He was a man with beautiful, pitch black long hair. He was about the same height as Claugh, but quite slender in contrast. His beautiful fingers wore an unusual black ring, and he had such a handsome face that one’s breath caught in his throat looking… but that wasn’t what stole their gaze. His cold, dark eyes were enough to overshadow his beauty entirely. They were a cold, ice-like dark blue that looked down on all others with a cutting chill, emitting a strange darkness as they did…

He was Colonel Miran Froaude, the most conspicuous of Sion’s subordinates…

He had offered his service so as to create a Great Roland Empire out of the Menoris continent with Sion at its throne. And the second that he began to work under Sion, saying he’d do all the dark and dirty work necessary for a military rule himself, he did everything so perfectly that it was unpleasant. Froaude had a social position firmer than that of Sion’s other subordinates, and did all the work Fiole had done as well as the dirty work that Sion could not have left to Fiole himself.

Froaude walked an efficient path where the number of sacrifices didn’t matter. That was the kind of man he was. Because of that, he didn’t get along well with people like Claugh and Calne…

Froaude smiled coldly. “But it would be impolite of me to have imposed while you, our popular king, had visitors… I trust your break from work went well?”

Sion grimaced. “Is that supposed to be a snide comment? You do dislike Claugh and Calne, after all.”

“Snide remarks and the like are unthinkably rude. It is regrettable that I am disliked by Major General Klom and Colonel Kaiwel… I have assessed them both to be of great value. Crimson-fingered Claugh Klom is a well-known soldier even in neighboring countries, and Colonel Calne Kaiwel is a valuable piece of His Majesty’s,” Froaude said.

He just called Claugh and Calne pieces right before Sion’s very eyes, perfectly composed. That was the kind of guy he was.

Froaude noticed Sion’s expression distorting. “And they also carry out the work I am unable to do, such as allowing Your Majesty’s heart to rest… they are necessary people.”

Sion smiled bitterly at Froaude’s addition. “There’s no need for you to take my feelings into consideration. I already know how you see my other subordinates. You think they’re all pieces on the board that leads towards a military rule, don’t you? If they weren’t necessary, then no matter who they were, you’d cut them down without hesitation. That’s the kind of guy you are. And you’d do it all by yourself. I have no complaints.”

Froaude’s cold expression became a little happy as a small smile rose to his face. He inclined his head slightly. “I accept your words as the greatest praise.”

Sion shrugged. “So what do you want today? I looked over your documents. They’re right here.”

Froaude bowed again. “I apologize for the inconvenience they may have caused. Now then…”

Froaude turned his cold eyes to Sion as if he was about to ask something. But he didn’t continue when he saw Sion’s tired face.

The documents Froaude had presented to him this time were far more pressing than last time. They were about the movements of various countries in Menoris…

About the north’s great country, the militant Stohl, and the Gastark Empire, a newly-formed developing country… or so it should have been. But it was taking chunks out of Stohl one after another. And that wasn’t all. He had information Gastark had annexed numerous small countries and was expanding significantly as of late… and other countries had begun to invest more in their militaries as a result.

All signs pointed to a huge war breaking out in the near future.

Up until now, the powers in Menoris had been in equilibrium. But now that equilibrium was breaking and a world war may erupt… if that happened, sooner or later the flames of war would reach Roland.

And the current Roland…

Froaude spoke as if he read Sion’s mind. “The current Roland is unlikely to stand a chance against the countries currently buffering their armies. Even if we have won over Princess Noa Ehn and annexed Estabul, Roland’s power as a country is still approximately fifth strongest on the continent and cannot stand up to the great northern power Stohl’s military, and there is no way that we could possibly stand up to Gastark which even Stohl has been unable to stop from infringing on their territory. Well…”

“Well,” Sion mumbled to continue his train of thought. “Roland is currently unable to expand its military power and territory. Not until the disorder within has been dealt with. If we tried to advance into other countries now, Roland’s nobility would likely pull the rug out from under us. And then we’d lose everything…”

Sion tsked internally.

He became king so that he could create a peaceful country that didn’t know war.

He’d dethroned his war-mongering father so that he could ensure that Roland no longer faced tyranny or wars, so that everyone could grow up smiling and living in peace…

But things didn’t go that well in reality.

In reality…

“It is absolutely imperative that we unite the Roland Empire as quickly as possible,” Froaude said in that detached tone of his. “If we do not, the temporary stability that Your Majesty has established will be destroyed by the nobility from the previous king’s era… This is a problem best solved with the fastest methods…”

Sion already understood what Froaude was trying to say.

Purge them.

Kill each and every noble who defied Sion.

Even so…

“I wrote about it in the documents I presented as well, however… could we not go along with them and hear the will of the nobility for a while?” Froaude asked. “Could we not accept each and every one of their proposals of how they wish to return to an age like that of the previous king’s, one built on tyranny and bribery?”

Sion grimaced. “And in doing so, tear their guards down until they’re careless, gather them all in one place, and kill them… right?”

Froaude nodded. “It is the method that would stabilize the Roland Empire the fastest.”

Sion met Froaude’s gaze. “But even if it’s only for a short while, many people would die of starvation just like under the previous king’s era.”

“What of it?” Froaude said simply.

Phrases like ‘the people would die’ had absolutely no meaning to this man.

“……”

Sion was quiet.

He was wrong…

People would die. That was a phrase that didn’t have any meaning to him either. He knew that.

To a king, ‘the people’ existed only as a statistic.

The sacrifice of a few was necessary to save the majority. Understanding that was the basic qualification to be king.

He had the resolve to do that when he became king. He knew that pretty things alone didn’t make a country move.

But… but still…

Froaude’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Sion think. Then he spoke with his usual cold and emotionless tone. “Does that bother you? If so, I will propose alternate plans. Yes. You are a benevolent lord. Our benevolent king, matchless in all of Roland's history. You govern the people well, and even use the nobles that used to persecute you skillfully and without judgement. At this rate, in time all of the people and nobles of this country will obey you in time. But the sad truth is that by that time, Roland will have been destroyed by other countries…”

That was indeed the truth. Sion understood that as well.

According to Ryner, other countries were already moving behind the scenes in Nelpha. They hardly had any time left at all.

He had to make a decision.

“……”

Froaude’s lips curled into a smile. “But please do rest for today. If you continue to work despite your fatigue, your body will deteriorate. It would be troubling if that happened. Every decision is yours, Your Majesty… I will obey whatever you should choose. Please do consider it carefully…”

With that, Froaude bowed once and left the room.

Sion didn’t move. He just sat and stared into nothing for some time…

“……”

And so the night continued…

---

It was already late at night in the gardens leading to the palace.

Noa Ehn was gazing up at the dark sky, sparkling with stars, happily. “We ended up returning a bit late, didn’t we?” She said, though her voice was still lively despite the hour.

“…That isn’t meant to be a bite about me not coming for our meeting time, is it?”

Noa looked back, surprised, at Claugh, who was walking a few paces behind her with a troubled face. She smiled. “No. Do I look like the kind of woman who stays angry about something so small forever?”

“Well, no, but women are tough to get, so…”

“My, Major General Klom, are you speaking from experience as a playboy?”

“I’m tellin’ you, cut it out with the ‘Major General Klom’ stuff. Claugh’s fine.”

Noa smiled happily and turned her eyes back to the sky. “But really, I’m not angry. I just have never gotten to go out so late at night before, so it’s just so rare for me to be able to look up at the beautiful night sky… I was the sole princess of my country before, after all.”

Noa knew that Claugh felt awkward even without looking at his face. She giggled, then narrowed her eyes.

She had been raised as a princess since birth, but Estabul was already gone. All of the nobles who had kindly supported her were killed by Froaude’s scheme, too. Even Noa would have been at Froaude’s mercy had Claugh not come to save her at the end. She was burdened with the sin of making hostages of both Roland and Estabul’s people alike and allowing them to be killed…

Right.

It was all thanks to Claugh that she was alive right now. Even so, he looked at her like he felt obligated to do this.

Noa was happy.

Being pitied was not a happy thing. She did not want that, and she had not survived just so that she could be pitied.

But even in Roland, which had taken Estabul over, a man like this was the king’s right hand. A man like Claugh. That’s what she was happy about. He was a human who understood the pain of the people. He was someone who honestly hated it and was sad when people died, and he stood at the king’s side. That was a happy thing.

She knew that a king’s job was to calculate the destinies of the people. The sacrifice of a few was necessary to save the majority. She did understand that. She knew that countries, that the world, weren’t fueled by pretty things like this night sky alone. Even so, she felt that people like Claugh should be by any king’s side.

Even if everyone made fun of them and said that kind of world couldn’t exist… Even if everyone laughed at them and said they were just spewing platitudes… Even so, it was necessary to have people who wished for a peaceful world where everyone could grow up happy by the king’s side. So Claugh was absolutely needed in this country. He was needed for the sake of its peace, and so that the people of Estabul could be raised smiling within it.

If only people with dangerous thoughts like Froaude were present, they’d surely lead the country to ruin.

So…

Noa looked at Claugh. He had been known as Crimson-fingered Claugh in Estabul, a nickname that incited the same fear as a demon. That was how strong he was. And yet when he looked up at the night sky with her, his expression was kind. It couldn’t be farther from a demon’s if he tried.

“Is it really that pretty?” Claugh asked. “It looks the same as always to me. Or do you have another way of lookin’ at the sky in Estabul or something?”

He spoke in a boorish way that made it clear that he didn’t understand women. Noa smiled. “It’s all the same sky. The individual stars may be different, however… more than that, the experience is different depending on who you look at the stars with. Am I wrong?”

“Hmm. That so?”

Noa just smiled at his indifferent response. Most people would have heard what she had just said as ‘the sky is beautiful when I look at it with you,’ but as expected, this man hadn’t noticed… That was strange, especially coming from a man just over seven years to Noa’s senior.

But what Claugh did notice was Noa watching him with a smile. “Aah? Somethin’ funny?”

“Yes. Ah, er, no. The night is getting late, shall we return?”

“Wha? You’re pretty weird…”

They continued their walk back while chatting.

Noa lived just on the other side of the garden from the palace Sion resided in. It had once belonged to a noble, but he had been removed along with the previous king in the revolution… so it stood empty until Noa moved in with a number of servants.

Noa turned back to face Claugh at the door. “I had lots of fun today. Thank you,” she said and bowed.

Claugh scrunched his nose up just a little. “Ah, umm… sorry about being late this time. That was my bad.”

“My, does that mean you intend to invite me out again?”

“I’m always showing you around the castle whether I invite you out or not.”

A mischievous smile curled around Noa’s typically elegant face. “I see… I was so worried that my carelessness had caused you to hate me when you didn’t show for so long…”

Claugh instantly became flustered. “Ah? Me, hate you? You, careless? That’s not right at all. Today just happened ‘cause I forgot, not ‘cause I hate you,” Claugh said and then noticed Noa staring with a smile. He was dumbfounded. “Ah, you’re teasing me again.”

Noa again bowed politely. “Today really was fun. Thank you…”

It is thanks to you that I have been able to heal as much as I have.

That was how she wanted to finish, but… she didn’t get that far. Claugh raised a hand and waved her off.

“You don’t need to thank me. Just hurry up and go home and sleep. A seventeen year old kid shouldn’t stay up too late.”

“Then don’t seduce a young and sweet child of seventeen,” Noa said with a hand on her door.

“Huh!? W-when’d I do that!?”

Noa smiled. Claugh did fluster easily. “It was a joke. You are tempting me quite selfishly though…”

“Hah!? Hey, you mean—”

“Goodnight,” Noa said and entered her manor. Three servants greeted her at the entryway as usual. Noa smiled. “Sorry I was late. You see, Major General Klom forgot our meeting time…”

Noa stopped.

She was faced with an unbelievable sight.

The heads of one of the women who always greeted her suddenly slumped down and fell.

“Kyh…”

Noa made to scream, but then knives stabbed through the other two servants’ necks. Men in black soundlessly surrounded her… and she swallowed her scream.

She understood her situation.

One of the men was conspicuously tall, a height that wouldn’t look out of place next to Claugh… perhaps even taller than him. “You recovered quickly. You are a sensible lady. You understand your current situation, do you not?”

Noa met his eyes. “If I screamed, you would kill all of my servants who heard.”

The man nodded. “If you scream, your servants die. If you run, your servants will die. If you do not obey us, your servants will die,” he said in a detached tone.

He was strong. She understood that with a single glance.

There were eight men in black surrounding her. Eight men surrounding a lone woman was beyond careful. She couldn’t see any gaps.

It was the worst possible situation. What could she possibly do? She frantically ran through options in her head, but she couldn’t think of anything.

Claugh may have been able to defeat these men then save all the servants and escape, but…

Noa looked at her own thin hands and smiled bitterly. It was impossible for her. She was far too weak.

The only thing she could do was…

“Will you be following our orders?” The tall man asked.

“…What do you intend to do to me?”

“Let me see… How about you remove your clothes first?”

Noa instinctively shivered. She felt the men in black’s smirks on her.

“……”

She did not want to cry. It would only give these men pleasure.

No matter how strong she tried to be, they had seen her shiver in fear.

She was scared.

She didn’t… want these men to do what they wanted with her.

Noa gritted her teeth and forced herself to overcome the need to shiver. “My servants will be saved if I obey you, correct?”

“Yes,” the man said and nodded easily.

But Noa knew that to be a lie. The servants could not be saved and neither could she. These were likely assassins sent by Roland’s nobility. They would violate her and then kill her…

And then the people of Estabul would go mad with rage at the news, at Roland’s king who had promised to protect her, and raise her as the banner for a new revolt…

That was their script. Many people of Estabul would die again…

“……”

There was no way that Noa could let these men kill her. It was all she could do to go along with their demands. She faced the men with a smile.

“Fine. I will remove my clothes,” Noa said, looked down, and began to undress. She bit her tongue inside her mouth as she did.

“Don’t fuck with me!” The man said and shoved his arm at Noa’s mouth harshly, forcing it open.

They figured her out…

This time she despaired.

She could not die.

The man held her mouth harshly, holding her up by her face.

“It would be troublesome for me if you did something so selfish,” he said. “Our client is expecting you to be raped before you are killed. If you died before then, our client would be displeased. Now then, it appears that the lady dislikes disrobing herself. Please aid her.”

The men swarmed her.

It was scary. She couldn’t help but whimper. “Clau…”

But then they gagged her, leaving her unable to even scream.

Their hands moved across her, removing her clothes. She tried to keep them off, but she couldn’t compete with them.

There was nothing she could do.

She stopped resisting. She looked at the door separating her entryway from outside.

She was out there with Claugh just a moment ago. She was smiling just a moment ago. Because today was really, really fun. The tenseness she’d experienced since Estabul fell had been a little lighter today. She’d eaten dinner with Claugh and watched the night sky with him…

It was like something she’d have been able to do as a child… Like something a normal seventeen year old girl might do… It had reminded her that trivial things like watching the stars were still fun…

Today was really, truly fun. And yet… the door separating her from outside was horribly far away now…

She’d been frantically holding her tears back, but one finally fell…

---

Claugh stood with his arms crossed just after showing Noa to her door.

“…Ahh, I really don’t understand women at all,” he mumbled.

Well, he wasn’t really that worried about what to say to other girls, but… for some reason, Noa always got to him. She’d made him go crazy ever since the first time they met in that confrontation with Froaude. Just when he thought of her as someone who could suddenly yell at Froaude and get him to agree to a deal, she showed him her childlike innocence and yanked him by a chain.

He knew she wasn’t a normal girl. She was just seventeen, but her eyes held maturity past her years… and he knew that she came to Roland with her own determination. So he shouldn’t have felt that from her.

If she wanted something in her dainty and pretty arms, he wanted to help her.

“I really understand why she’s so popular in Estabul,” Claugh said to himself. He took a step away from her manor, but then he felt it. Claugh’s eyes narrowed, making him look like a different person entirely. “Mm?”

Unease washed across him. He didn’t know what it was. It just made him uneasy. He turned back around to look at Noa’s manor. Something about it was different. He didn’t know what it was, but it was wrong. There was a horribly disagreeable air to it.

He’d felt the same feeling many times on the battlefield. He felt it in little bits and pieces here and there, and knew it was wrong. Eerie. It told him to not go where he was headed.

It was a warning.

Of course there were times when his intuition filled him with needless anxiety too, but anyone who had survived as many battles as Claugh knew that intuition was something that he should definitely pay attention to. And right now, that intiution of his was telling him to not go into the manor Noa had just entered. And then, as if to prove his intuition correct, all of the lights inside suddenly went out…

Its words became abruptly clearer as the darkness thickened: Don’t go. Don’t go. It’s dangerous. Don’t go.

“Shit!” Claugh said and set out in a run. He slammed the door to the manor open hard enough to break it with unbelievable speed. “Noa! Are you okay!?”

The inside was pitch black. His eyes couldn’t see a thing.

No matter how late at night it was, there was always light from the moon and stars. It should have been impossible for it to be so dark. Even so, it was. Horribly, unsettlingly dark…

Claugh strained his eyes. This was artificial darkness made by magic - it was one of Roland’s spells. But it wasn’t an easy one. It took a skilled mage to make this much darkness. The entire entryway was pitch black…

Just by that, he understood that this mage was good at what they did.

There wasn’t a single sound, either. They were waiting for him to move to search for Noa. They’d attack the second he did.

He was at a disadvantage. Claugh knew that he’d lose if he moved, but he didn’t have the time to wait around for his opponent to move instead. Waiting around would put Noa in danger.

Claugh gazed into the darkness, then took a step inside. He looked around. “C’mon, we don’t have the time for this. Hurry up and attack me.”

He heard a small sound, no different from wind against a house.

They were as cutthroat as expected. He didn’t feel their presence at all, and they attacked him with some kind of device. Claugh couldn’t avoid it. No, maybe it was better to say that he just didn’t avoid it? He shifted but took the hit. It cut into his flesh with a sound. He could tell that it was a knife by the sensation it left as it stabbed into his left shoulder.

“Ha. I expected a hero of the military to be better than this. You can’t fight honestly with a wound like…”

His words stopped there.

A strange sound echoed through the darkness, and in that instant the darkness itself lifted.

Claugh could see again. He cracked his neck, knife still in his shoulder, and saw several unmoving men in black. Noa was there, too. Claugh’s eyes narrowed even further when he saw her.

She’d been stripped of her clothes and lay completely naked, hands and feet bound. Her mouth was gagged with rope, too…

She was crying.

Tears were spilling from her eyes that were always so determined…

Claugh’s eyes went harsh at the sight. He pulled the knife from his shoulder and tossed it at the ground and spoke in a shaking voice. “What did you do to her…?”

A man beside Noa who was just as tall as Claugh, no, taller, answered. “Nothing yet. We have only been standing guard since hearing you. We were busy setting a trap, and our real work hasn’t progressed at all. Though wounding you was a worthy result…”

Claugh glared at him. “‘Nothing?’ Then why’s she crying?”

The man smirked. “Granted, but there’s nothing you can do with that wound.”

“I’m asking why Noa’s crying!!” Claugh yelled loud enough to shake the house’s trinkets. He ran in a beeline for the tall man.

The men moved throw knives at Claugh.

Claugh raised his right arm. His sleeve ripped, revealing numerous tattoos of magic circles. They began to shine. Six of the men were chopped up into ribbons in an instant.

It all happened so fast. Nobody understood what had happened. It was like a fight between infants and an adult…

“R-ridiculous,” the tall man said from Noa’s side. “What just… uwah!?”

Claugh was closing the distance between them. The man took a knife from his waist and threw it.

Claugh didn’t try to dodge it. It made its way towards Claugh’s shining, tattooed arm… and nestled itself in his flesh with a sound. But not his arm’s flesh - his palm’s. But that didn’t stop Claugh. He grabbed the man’s arm. Crushed it.

But the man didn’t raise his voice even as he groaned. “Ih, hygaah…”

Claugh took his head in his hand and shoved it against the wall. He tried to fight back, but Claugh just shoved him into the wall again. Once, twice, three times, all with his incredibly muscular arm.

The man was left unable to move.

Claugh looked at him like he was a worm. “I think you should die. Serves you right for making Noa cry. Did you think I’d just let you go? No, I’ll turn you into ground meat little by little…”

The man raised his head. “Guh… I, I didn’t think… you’d be so strong… Y-you’re like a monster, aren’t you? B-but I am also a professional. I will not tell you the name of my client just because of some torture.”

Claugh looked at his face. He was smirking… and then he crunched something in his mouth. His face paled in an instant and he slumped over dead.

Claugh clicked his tongue. “Tch, bastard… Suicide by poison.”

He let the man’s body fall to the floor. He looked to Noa.

“Uh.... umm,” He got close to her, avoiding looking as much as possible, and released the binds on her arms and legs and removed her gag. “Noa, are you o—”

“C-Claugh! Are you alright!?”

“Huh? Well, I… what?”

Noa looked angry, her expression screaming ‘what do you mean, what?’ “Your shoulder! And your hand! You’re strong, aren’t you? So what are you doing! You got these wounds to protect someone like me!”

She was earnestly angry. She frantically applied pressure on Claugh’s injuries in an attempt to stop the bleeding…

“Ah, these are nothin’,” Claugh said.

“R-really? So they’ll heal soon?”

“They’ll heal, they’ll heal. More importantly, you’re…”

“Huh? I…”

Noa scrunched up her face. She’d been clinging to Claugh to get at the blood on his shoulder, and her beautiful dark blue hair had gotten dirtied by his blood, but she kept holding him like she didn’t care at all…

She was shivering. He could still feel tears dripping from her eyes. She must have been really scared. She’d been so brave even when standing up to Froaude, but she was shivering so much now…

She almost looked like a small child. A child scared by the dark of night. A small child that shouldn’t be left to live alone.

Claugh pet her head in an attempt to stop her shivering. Neither of them said anything for some time…

It was quiet. Everyone else who lived in this manor had probably already been killed.

It was a peaceful night where even the wind was quiet. Had this not happened, she would be smiling… Claugh held her, and they stayed that way for a while.

“I-I’m fine,” Noa finally said. Her voice had nearly returned to normal. “It was fine. They… hadn’t done anything yet. And you saved me again, Claugh…”

“Sorry I was late. Were you scared?”

She shook her head a little and smiled. “Not at all. I’m already used to these things. I am a princess, you know.”

She was joking to show him her strength. And she did look strong, insisting that she was okay. She really was a strong kid.

She could have cried and complained, but she didn’t. He gazed into her unharmed elegantly beautiful face… and laughed a little.

“Ahh, did you just laugh at my face?” Noa asked. “It is quite rude to laugh at a woman’s face, you know.” She puffed her face up a little in anger.

Claugh smiled wryly. “No, I was just looking at you. You’re so strong and fearless. I think it’s interesting.”

Noa stared fixedly at him, her face earnest once more. “Yes… I may be strong. But I was certainly scared, and shivering in fear… But, but my heart is fine. Because… I believed that you, Crimson-fingered Claugh Klom would come save me… And you really did. So I think I won’t be so scared next time.”

What a thing to say…

“Ahn? So you’re saying I’ve gotta come save you time and time again? What a pain.”

“Saving women is a gentleman’s duty, is it not? Or am I not a good enough rescuee for you?”

Claugh held his head in his hand. “No, that’s not it… Well, anyway.” Claugh stood and moved to avoid seeing Noa, then found her clothes and threw them to her. “I’ll be faster next time.”

“Yessir,” Noa said. She sounded happy. “Oh, please wait for me to get these clothes on. From now on…”

Claugh nodded. “Yeah. We’ve gotta figure out who those guys were and what’s going on.”

Claugh looked through the manor’s broken front door, out into the starry night. Something was happening in Roland now.

It was a calm night, but the wind was blowing harder than before.

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