Published at 22nd of January 2020 4:44 pm

Volume 4, Chapter 3: The Same Hero King

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

It was a building wrapped in black walls that almost seemed to be built specifically with intimidation in mind.

It was Roland’s official Taboo Hunters headquarters. There, in a room with no notable qualities whatsoever, Rahel Miller’s eyes fell to the document his subordinates brought him.

“…Hmph.”

The creases between his eyebrows deepend. He had an intense, deeply wrinkled face and moved briskly. As always, his expression was more dignified than one would expect of a man not much older than thirty. And it wasn’t just his appearance, either. He had the ability and achievements to match.

He carried out his duty no matter what it was, and was flexible when the situation called for it.　And all of those impressive abilities of his had come from an unsupported orphan background… and he’d still managed to push himself towards the rank of major at his young age. That would normally be unthinkable - commissioned officers were rankings that were nearly always reserved for children of the nobility. Getting there with no relation to them should have been incredibly hard.

But nobody had complained when Miller was appointed major.

It was during the previous king’s age where all of the country’s real power was in the maddened nobility’s hands. But nobody had interfered.

Perhaps it was due to qualities like his character and impressive ability. But when he’d entered the military full of noble children back then, they’d evaluated him favorably.

In truth, there was a pretty significant reason for that.

The reason was Miller’s desired post: part of the Taboo Hunters. It was an organization that apprehended or erased magic using deserters from Roland to prevent the secrets of their magic leaking to other countries.

It was an extremely important department of Roland’s military. Leaking Roland’s magic to other countries meant leaking Roland’s weaknesses to other countries. It was giving them gaps from which they could attack. And if they left gaps… a war could break out.

So it was an extremely important department of Roland’s military, one tasked with deciding its fate. But the nobility hated it. The reason was simple: it was a job that held the real dangers of war without the glory of war. Jobs took place far outside of Roland, without the same support as working at home. It was terribly dangerous work. So the nobility hated it. So they imposed it on orphan-born commoners who they couldn’t care less about living. Then they mocked it for not being a department of people but one of low-born mutts. So they didn’t give a shit when Miller, orphan-born as he was, became the department’s top dog.

Of course he couldn’t become head of the department without a title. So he was given the rank of major. And with that, they let him be as the head of the Taboo Hunters. It was like they just didn’t feel like playing anymore… No matter how many commoners died, the nobility really just didn’t care. So Miller shouldered the duty of the Taboo Hunters. But the nobility didn’t notice.

As for why Miller choose the Taboo Hunters…

If one truly understood Miller’s ability, they would not have appointed him major. But the nobility didn’t notice.

He’d done it to steal promising personnel.

Claugh Klom. Calne Kaiwel. Luke Stokkart.

Others too, too many to count…

And then the time came. A great light was born.

A great light called Sion Astal.

It was a light great enough to change everything.

But it was not born of coincidence. It was inevitable. It was because the nobility killed too many people. It was because the nobility screwed around too much, knee-deep in their greed.

Miller had been gathering excellent personnel because the cracks forming from the nobility had gotten too large. The end of their age had been inevitable. Miller had already been able to see it. The nobility’s hands would be torn away, and everything would crumble back down to the foundation…

He advanced on that path. But the nobility didn’t notice.

And so he started a revolution… but that was another story.

Anyway, Miller’s eyes were running through the document his subordinates had brought.

A girl kept glancing at his expression questioningly as he did. Perhaps it was unfair to call her a ‘girl’ - she was just sixteen years old, but she was already chief of a Taboo Hunters team, and a lieutenant to boot.

Even so… she was small and cute, perfectly fitting the description of a girl instead of a lady or woman.

She was Lieutenant Milk Callaud. She had an adorable face and flaxen hair pulled up in a ponytail, big eyes, and a petite figure, but instead of it being a complement… it was more that she didn’t look like an independent, adult woman in the slightest.

Of course the fact that she had been appointed lieutenant at sixteen meant that she was a woman of outstanding ability. She far surpassed regular people in her magic theory to her technique, from her hand-to-hand combat to her strategic warfare ability…

She was an outstanding tactical genius.

She even grasped the hearts of his subordinates better than he did in an instant… but maybe that was a gift that came along with her disposition?

Miller turned his harsh face from the jittery Milk to her subordinates behind her.

Luke Stokkart. Lear Rinkal. Lach Velariore. Moe Velariore.

They’d all been Miller’s subordinates before, but now they were completely taken by Milk… no, perhaps it was better to say that they fancied themselves her guardians and pledged loyalty as a result.

“Maan, Major Miller’s making that strict face again today, huh, Chief Milk?” The tallest out of the bunch, a twenty five year old man and Milk’s assistant, Luke, whispered.

Miller thought about biting back with an instant ‘I can hear you, you know, Luke,’ but he didn’t.

“I wonder if he’s mad about our mistake…?” Milk whispered back. She glanced back to Miller, who looked back down to the documents in a hurry.

“That must be it, Chief,” Luke whispered back. “But it wasn’t our fault this time so don’t worry about it even if he scolds you.”

Goodness…

Miller internally smiled bitterly. This was the true extent of Milk’s power.

During the revolution… no, even before then, Luke wasn’t this lenient of a man. It was true that a glance at his lanky self gave one the impression that he was all kindness and smiles, and made one think he’d be soft-spoken too… but Luke Stokkart was really a man of unreal ability. He excuted his duty with cool composure, though that was impossible to discern from his naive looking smiles.

Miller had shouted with joy internally when he first found this genius. His ability might have even surpassed that of Crimson-fingered Claugh Klom who Miller found at around the same time. Of course Luke’s combat ability was overwhelmingly inferior to Claugh’s, but he used his composure to endure any kind of battle. He had the power to calculate how to win against his enemy no matter the circumstance. It was an amazing ability - as much as he called Milk excellent, there was no way she could compare.

Luke was a genius. Even so… he’d lose in a battle against Milk. Because he quickly lost his cold composure with her and doted horribly. Even as Miller looked at him now, Luke looked a spineless father gazing lovingly at his beloved daughter.

“Our opponent was just too strong,” Luke whispered to Milk. “Absurdly strong. He should remove us from this job after reading our report…”

The documents that Luke submitted and the ones that Milk submitted were about the man they were chasing, Ryner Lute, were somewhat different.

Luke’s said that ‘chasing a man around the same age as Chief Milk was extremely dangerous, and that as her guardian, he was so worried that he couldn’t sleep at night,’ and so on and so forth. What exactly had awoken inside Luke…? Miller’s face got sterner and sterner in this difficult to understand situation.

But it seemed like Lear, Lach, and Moe all adored her too… perhaps that was Milk’s real ability. It was quite the peculiar power…

“N-no, we can’t do that,” Milk whispered back to Luke. “I have to catch Ryner. B-because, because, because I made a promise to him a long time ago. But then he went and eloped with that beauty… So I have to catch him for his infidelity.”

Did she seriously think he wouldn’t hear her if she spoke that loudly?

“…Well, Chief… the real problem is if we can manage—”

“Yeah!! I’m definitely gonna catch him!!”

“H, hey! Shh! Shhh! Don’t be so loud, Chief! Do you understand where we are!? This is the Major’s office!”

“Ah! Right!” Milk whispered back. “S-sorry, Luke. Think he heard…?”

What a conversation… Miller had already given up on complaining about them being loud.

He couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “Heh… it’s good to see that you’re as cheerful as always, Lieutenant Callaud.”

“Y-yes, sir. It is thanks to you! And your face is as stern as… always…”

Luke patted Milk’s back, causing her to falter.

“Um… that’s not what I meant, uh… you seem well too, Major.”

Luke was smirking as she did. It wasn’t his usual smiling. It was smirking.

He was looking at Miller, clearly waiting for a reaction. He definitely knew that Miller could hear his and Milk’s whispered conversation. He’d become a pretty unlikeable guy while he was away.

“Leave the greetings at the door,” Miller said. “The real problem is that you couldn’t manage this as Taboo Hunters.”

He did say that, but even as he spoke Miller knew perfectly well that there was no way they could have managed it.

“Let Milk chase this Ryner guy. It’ll be really fun,” the king had said when he led Milk to them. So Miller looked Ryner Lute and his travelling companion, the swordswoman Ferris Eris, up. And their pasts were nothing short of exceptional. Ryner Lute was a survivor of Roland’s Special Institute #307, an institution made to create the strongest battle machines, and that wasn’t all - his grades there were downright legendary.

To top it off, he’d done something amazing as someone would could use any spell: commit a mass killing. He was an Alpha Stigma bearer…

And the girl travelling with him was a daughter of the Eris family.

It was too much for her to handle, even with Luke following her. Those taboo breakers had even made Nelpha’s Magical Knights, their strongest troops, withdraw… Chasing monsters of the battlefield like that was reckless. It would normally be impossible.

Right. It would normally be impossible.

“So?” Miller asked. “Can you take it? Or can you not?”

Milk nodded like it was natural. “Of course we can! It’ll be easy! Last time Nelpha’s Magical Knights got involved by chance, and…”

“W-wait, Chief?” Luke said, flustered. “What are you saying?”

“I-it’s impossible,” Moe said. “There’s no way we can win against monstrously strong taboo breakers like that. It’s better if we drop this—”

“Augh, geez! Be quiet!” Milk said, pointing a finger at her subordinates. “This time will definitely be okay!”

“…On what basis, exactly…?”

Milk nodded a single time, then spoke with an honest expression. “I wasn’t serious last time… If i get serious, I can beat him a few times hands down! I won’t let that girl whose nothing but a little beauty take him away! Right? Luke?”

“Huh? Oh, well… yes, but…”

Miller smiled bitterly. Luke hated the idea of Milk seeing this Ryner fellow again. So Miller’s smile turned mean and he nodded. “I see. If even Luke thinks so, then I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Huh?” Luke said, looking over at Miller with a dumbfounded expression. “Oh, um, no…”

It was the first time Miller had ever seen Luke make that face. “Good. Then I’ll leave this jo to Milk Callaud’s squad again.”

“Ah…”

Luke noticed the small smile that’d curved around Miller’s face. His smile deepened - Luke was a hundred years too early to get back at him. But it was unlikely that anyone but Luke, who had known him the longest out of the bunch, noticed his expression change…

If a normal person looked, perhaps they’d think his usual cold expression had melted just a tad, but he doubted they’d see anything else…

Luke nodded in disappointment.

Milk’s eyes were lit up with her fighting spirit. “Wait for me, okay Ryner! Now that it’s decided we’ll leave for the Runa Empire at once! Runa’s our ally so getting in is easy! Let’s go!” Milk said and practically flew out of Miller’s office, bursting with energy.

Luke looked to their subordinates, then gave the signal to follow Milk.

They all three nodded, then left noisily.

“Wait up, Chieeeef!”

“Wait, we’re finally back in Roland so how about we stay to play around a little, Chief?”

“Ah, I hear about a new restaurant opening while we were gone, so why don’t we go check it out?”

Luke watched their subordinate go, then shot another look at Miller’s expression and sighed.

Miller laughed.

Luke was astonished. “But really, Miller. Were you enjoying that earlier? Didn’t you see my report? It’s improper for that Ryner Lute fellow to be Milk’s opponent. She needs a kind, hard-working, and serious—”

Miller shrugged. “But this isn’t something I decided. Lieutenant Callaud is capable of deciding it. And so is…”

Luke grimaced. “Sir Sion, correct? He seems like a good person at first, too, but really he likes playing tricks… Please relay my information back to him, Major Miller. Chief Milk is still too young for love,” Luke said, nodding as if to agree with himself.

Miller was at a loss for words for Luke, the spitting picture of an overprotective father.

“In any case, what’s going on with Sir Sion now?” Luke asked. He’d dropped his ridiculous tone and traded it for a serious one.

“…He’s tough in more ways that one. Came by last night to try to convince me to take a promotion again.”

“Hmm. What post did he want you for this time?”

Miller grimaced. “He wanted me to command Roland’s entire military.”

“Uwah, he wanted you to be a marshal? That’d be nice, don’t you think? Everyone in the military except for the nobility wants to see it. Everyone would agree.”

Miller’s grimace deepened. “You know I declined, right?”

Luke smiled, satisfied. “I do. Because you aren’t the kind of guy who wants to be promoted, and you’re needed here. If someone else took your post and let taboo breakers get away, then… a war could break out—”

“That’s not why I’m staying here,” Miller interrupted. “There are plenty of others who could do this - you, Lear… and that’s what the King said too: leave the Taboo Hunters to Lear, make me the marshal, and make you and Claugh lieutenant generals.”

“Whoa… e, even me?”

“…That conversation was full of jokes. Apparently he’s short staffed. But I can’t just leave here. You and Lear can’t, either. Taking conspicuous positions would just limit our movements. Of course there’s a different point of view there too, though. Well, that’s why Claugh’s going to take the fall for us.”

Luke smiled. “Ah, then Claugh will become the marshal? He must have grumbled about it, right?”

Miller smiled, too. “Who can say? It’ll be announced tomorrow. Knowing him, he’ll be yelling about it.”

Luke laughed, enjoying himself. “But then Sion will have some reason or other why he can’t refuse, and easily coax him to take it… that’s how it always is with those two. Well, Claugh isn’t you, but I suppose Roland’s military will be heading in the right direction.”

Miller nodded. “But the problem is…”

“…The nobility…. right. So Sir Sion is finally beginning. Well, from my point of view he’s pretty late. This county can’t continue as long as the nobility is rotting it. Purge them for all I care. Do whatever it takes.”

Goodness. Miller scowled, searching Luke’s face. “Have you come to hate the nobility even more than before?”

“You hate them too, don’t you? They steal whatever they can without thinking about the consequences. There’s nobody they don’t hate inside the Taboo Hunters,” Luke said. He looked angry as he continued. “And to top it off, they’ve bullied Chief Milk so much! And she’s such a sunny kid… when she was eating breakfast with us the other day she said ‘I’ve never gotten to talk with everyone while eating before,’ and cried… what did they do to her? Just thinking about it makes me so frustrated that I sometimes can’t sleep at night… and yet Milk doesn’t hold a grudge against her noble fami… no, the nobles who bought her. Ugh!”

That again, huh… Miller shook his head, defeated. Milk was all Luke talked about lately. “Lieutenant Milk Callaud is an elite who graduated at the top of her class from a military academy, and she’s the daughter of a noble family, but she’s still easy to talk to. Interesting, right?”

Luke nodded like that was obvious. “She was an orphan just like we were… and entered their family through adoption. Instead of treating her like their real child, they treated her like a puppet to gain military recognition through… but despite that, she’s an unbelievably good kid.”

“Yeah… be sure to protect her. Roland’s future depends on its youth.”

“Huh? But I’m still young too, you know… Miller…”

“Twenty five is plenty old compared to sixteen.”

“Then that makes someone over thirty like you a geriatric.”

Miller grimaced. “Mrgh…”

Luke stuck his tongue out. “I better make a run for it before you get mad.”

“Yeah, hurry up and go. I have piles of work to do. Tell the rest of Milk Callaud’s squad that you’re on holiday for a while. You’ve finally returned to Roland, after all. Spread your wings for a bit. But watch yourself around the King, alright? Let your guard down for a second and he’ll promote you.”

Luke shrugged. “Understood. I’ll be careful around Sir Sion. I suppose I’m off to chase our princess then,” he said and left the office, arms crossed. “Still… even if he says to take a break, it’s not good for kids to live an unstructured lifestyle… Hrrmmm. This is difficult. I’ll consult with Lear and the others to make a schedule for a fun holiday for Milk… Perhaps camping is best.”

“....For god’s sake,” Miller muttered and sighed.

---

After that, Milk’s vacation passed according to the ‘Fun Summer Vacation Plan’ that Luke thought up for her. They spent every day hiking, having curry parties, and doing other fun activities. But even then the world continued to turn.

It started with the nobility who once held enormous power in Roland. A noble’s residence was attacked by assassins. He managed to repel the assassins so nothing much came of it, but… then assassins began attacking every other noble in turn.

Before long, they were at Milk’s parents’ home… no, the home of the nobles who had bought her… and unease spread across Roland. How many people realized that those assassins hadn’t killed a single person yet? Even though many nobles were attacked, not a single one was killed…

It was like they couldn’t die.

How many people realized that odd and uncomfortable truth?

Nobody died. There were no sacrifices.

But…

Miller’s eyes narrowed at the information.

“…So the purge has begun…”

Miller set the document back on his desk, then called for his subordinates. “What are Luke and the others… no, what’s Milk Callaud’s squad doing now?”

“Luke and the others left for the market in the castle town.”

Miller nodded. “Call them in. I have work for them.”

“Oh, but… They still have vacation days left…”

Miller shook his head. “I’ll say it one more time. Call them here. If they complain, tell Luke that Milk Callaud can’t stay in this country. If she does, she might get wrapped up in the power struggles. Got it?”

“Huh? Power struggles? What are you—”

The wrinkles on Miller’s forehead deepend.

“—Th-then I’ll go tell Luke. Pardon me,” Miller’s subordinate said and ran out of the office.

Miller watched him go, then placed a hand back on the document from before and stared at it. He sighed quietly.

---

Now we go back in time a bit, back to just after Sion heard that Noa had been attacked, in a mountainous place far away from Roland where Ryner and Ferris ran, full of vigor.

Their speed was no laughing matter. They were running faster than the average person could go on an obstacle-free course, and this was a mountain littered with trees, branches jutting out at every angle, with poor footholds, on a night with poor visibility.

Ryner spoke, his voice laced with anger. “It’s like, the middle of the night and we’re running up a mountain…. geez, I’ve been working way too hard recently. Hah… I’ll definitely make that bastard Sion use his special king privileges to make me an ultra high-class bed to lay down in…”

Speaking of Sion, he hadn’t slept in about thirty hours at this point, so that’d be pretty bothersome to him… but of course Ryner didn’t know that. Even if he did know, he’d probably still complain…

Ferris nodded. “The ultimate bed, the ultimate dango… hm. I said before that becoming god might be nice, but I think becoming king would be nice too. If I got bored I could even bully perverts like you and make you travel the world for my amusement.”

“You’d bully me? Really?”

“Hm? Wouldn’t I?”

Ryner skillfully crossed his arms while maintaining his pace. “Yeah, guess you would… but like, my legs are super tired right now… y’know?” Then he stopped, hidden in the shade of a tree. “Hah… we finally made it. Sure was far. It’d be real nice if they weren’t doing demon experiments all the way up here.”

Ryner poked his head out from the shadows, looking forward to the many bonfires in a man-made mountain clearing. It was a pretty wide area. To put it bluntly, it’d take a lot of cash to care to clear an area like this on a mountain. They’d have to cut down all the trees, flatten the land…

“But… if it really is what we think it is, they’d need a place where it was okay if the surroundings were destroyed,” Ferris said.

“…You’re right,” Ryner said and nodded. “A mountain is the number one most suitable place for this then. So then, about that Arua kid…”

Ryner looked back to the clearing. He could see a bunch of soldiers - about thirty. Thirty normal soldiers would be useless, but these weren’t small fry by any means. He could tell that they were skilled by the way they carried themselves. And it wasn’t just that: they weren’t wearing the same armor as normal troops. It looked sharp to the touch and was made up of ring-shaped segments. Their conspicuous armor and the air they had about them made what they were obvious at a glance.

Ryner grimaced. “Aww… those’re probably Magical Knights.”

Magical Knights boasted a strength capable of changing the tides of a battlefield with their appearance alone. They were the measure by which one assessed a country’s power. They were any country’s strongest troops, after all. And if even they were here…

“This is gonna be pretty tiring,” Ryner mumbled.

Ryner and Ferris made a pretty fearsome team, sure. But they’d have to save the kid and protect him while they fought… and this was Runa, their ally of many years. They had no idea what kind of magic they’d fight with. To top it all off, if their magic could only be used by the faithful then that meant that it was useless to Ryner even if he could copy it with his Alpha Stigma. There were even Magical Knights here. The bad just kept piling up…

Ryner suddenly looked defeated. “Ugh, this is literally impossible. Let’s just go home.” We definitely can’t⁠—”

Ferris covered Ryner’s mouth with her hand. “Be quiet. Look over there.”

Ryner followed Ferris’ line of sight.

“……”

He couldn’t say anything. The scene before his eyes was just too horrible…

There was a boy, still young and innocent, with the same black hair as Ryner. He was bound to a log with chains.

Then they rolled the log.

The tree was about three times as large as the kid, and it rolled over and crushed him time and time again. He screamed as it did. But it didn’t stop rolling.

The one man who wasn’t wearing armor there kicked him along by the head, shoving his shoe into Arua’s mouth and laughing. “C’mon, demon, hurry up and show us your rampage. Sure would like it if my report about you gets me a promotion… I have to spend every day deep in these fucking mountains doing research because of you. It’s your fault! Everything’s your fault!”

With that, he slammed his foot into Arua’s head again. Blood danced in the air. He’d probably cut Arua’s lip, because it kept coming out… but the noble seemed to be enjoying it, because he did it again and again and again.

The boy was already losing consciousness. It sounded like he couldn’t feel the pain anymore. Displeased, the noble went to grab a bucket of water, grabbed the boy’s head by his hair, and dunked it.

“Augh… au, uaahh…”

Arua began to come to, but the noble just dunked his head again.

He struggled. Squirmed. But when the man dunked his head again… he laughed.

“Ooh, the demon’s putting up a fight. Is this tough for you? It’s tough, right? Then grant my wish. Say that you want the saint Chez Calty to exorcise you! You’ll die if you don’t say it!”

But there was no way he could say that while his head was submerged in water…

Arua’s movements became weaker and weaker until Calty kicked the bucket with Arua’s head still in it. “Hah! This is so dull! Hurry up and go berserk!” He yelled.

It was absurd.

The girl they met in the village, Kuku, said that it had already been eight days since Arua was taken up here.

Eight days.

This had continued… for eight whole days.

“……”

Ryner… wasn’t angry. But his body shook.

It was sudden, but he knew that feeling. He’d seen this before.

The men… the men… had hit him. Kicked him. Starved him. Laughed at him and said monsters didn’t need to eat. Poured urine and shit on him. Hung him by the neck until he was on the brink of death.

It was the same stuff as what was happening here and now.

These were all things he knew… extremely, extremely well…

“Hey, Ryner,” Ferris said from his side. “Calm down. We won’t be able to save him if we just jump in there. We need tactics. First, I’ll…”

Ryner didn’t hear the rest. Because he already knew what’d happen.

He hated it… He didn’t want to see any more. He hated it.

Save him…

The man hitting Arua spoke. “Shit. Guess just hurting you isn’t going to do it. How about this?” He raised his head to reveal a disgusting smile. Ryner knew that, too.

They threw the naked, heavily wounded body of a woman before him.

That was all it took for the boy, who’d lost his voice to scream in pain until now, to start again. “M-mom… uooooaaahahhh!!”

It wasn’t just any regular scream. It was one of real and true despair. But the man just smiled. He was smiling… and smiling…

It brought another memory to Ryner’s mind. Their smiles. They all had the same gross smiles.

And then… he thought it. That he wanted to kill this man.

He wanted to kill this man and everyone else in this country.

But…

“Look, she died because of you,” the noble said with that smile. “Your mother died because you’re a demon. Don’t you think your father should die for the sins of your birth, too?”

This time, the soldiers brought the boy’s father out. He was still alive. He was covered in wounds and appeared to be deeply grieving, but… he was alive.

“A-Arua!?”

“Dad!” Arua yelled. “I-it’s my fault that mom—”

“It’s not your fault!” Arua’s dad said, shaking his head. “It’s not your fault… it’s theirs. These guys are mad. It’s definitely not your fault. So you can’t do as these men say, Arua. Don’t worry even if I die. You’re alive now. If you go berserk, you won’t be human any—”

This conversation.

This scene.

He didn’t want to see it.

He’d already seen it so many times now.

So he didn’t… want to have to suffer seeing it again…

“Ryner!” Something slammed hard into his head.

“Ow! H, huh? Um…”

Ferris had taken her sword out for some reason. She waved it around again. “Good. You were falling asleep on me again. The next hit will spurt from your neck…”

“Whoa, hey, spurt isn’t the sound hitting me makes! I’d die if you made me spurt!” Ryner whisper-yelled. He looked around. “Wait, what was I just doing?”

Ferris stared at Ryner for a while, then nodded once. “Mm. There’s no problem now. Perverts like you are always daydreaming. You were just having a really suspicious one.”

“Wha!? Seriously, why’re you always making me out to be—”

“Be quiet,” Ferris interrupted. “We don’t have the time for this. Your fellow master perverts are going to kill that boy’s father. We don’t have time for tactics anymore. Let’s force our way through.”

With that, she ran out.

Ryner stared after her, astonished. “Huh? H, hey… ugh, geez, force our way through, she says… aren’t there way too many enemies for that?” He mumbled to himself as he followed her out.

Ferris was already in the midst of it, fighting her way through. Ryner drew an incantation of light quickly as he followed, and covered Ferris once his spell was complete. The spell he’d used wasn’t one from Roland - it was one he’d copied while fighting the late Kingdom of Estabul’s army.

This way, even if they realized what country his magic was from the relationship between Runa and Roland shouldn’t sour. They had Roland’s crest on their armor and Ferris’ sword too, but… they weren’t prepared for their attacks, and they were moving as fast as they could. They shouldn’t be able to make their coat-of-arms out. Ryner chanted his spell with incredible vigor.

Runa’s soldiers were in shock. They probably hadn’t expected to be attacked. The thirty soldiers couldn’t understand why they were falling or what kind of attacks were hitting them. They couldn’t grasp their situation.

“We might be able to do this,” Ryner whispered to himself. But he scowled nonetheless.

Some Magical Knights had ascertained the situation and decided that their aim was Arua. They all gathered around the boy.

“I-it’s them! They’re using foreign magic!” A regular soldier yelled from behind. The soldiers reorganized, righting their formation.

Ryner clicked his tongue. “Shit. Guess a full-on assault wouldn’t go that well after all. We might not be able to save the kid or his dad… Hey, you! The kid’s dad! We’re here to save you guys, so make yourself useful and help us out! Whack that dumbass noble upside the head and untie the kid!”

“You c-came to save us?” The kid’s dad said, dumbfounded. “You’re a different country’s… ah, Arua, we’re going to save you!” He forced his wounded body up and hurried over to Arua on unsteady feet.

It was good luck that the noble had already run off.

Arua’s father headed for his son desperately.

Arua’s expression turned to unparalleled joy. “Dad! Dad!”

Ryner thought it could really work. His dad could undo his chains and they could escape together… They just had to fend off the enemy long enough for that to happen.

That was nothing they couldn’t do.

It’d be impossible alone, but… when he looked at Ferris, fighting like a whirlwind…

If he was with Ferris, they could do it.

Right. If they were here together, they’d definitely…

“I-I’m undoing the chains now,” Arua’s father said. “I’ll definitely save you…”

But then… he slumped down. His head fell off entirely and rolled on the bare ground…

A Runan soldier pulled his bloodstained sword back.

Arua saw it all. His eyes widened… and a crimson pentagram rose in either eye.

They were the same crimson pentagrams as what lay in Ryner’s eyes.

The Alpha Stigma.

People feared and loathed them for it… cursed them as monsters for it… and pretended that they were demons because of it.

And then when they stopped caring about any of that anymore… they went berserk and committed mindless mass atrocities, trying to make it all disappear even if that’s not what they really wanted.

But it went deeper and deeper and…

The boy’s mouth opened. He screamed.

“Aaaaaauuu, aaaaaaaaahhh!! Aaaaaahhh!!”

“N-no,” Ryner said. “I won’t let you. I won’t let that happen. Anything, anything but that!!”

“Go, Ryner!” Ferris yelled as she fought the soldiers away from him.

The Magical Knights tried to start a spell, but Ryner didn’t pay them any mind. He made a beeline for Arua, punching the soldier who’d killed his dad on the way.

Arua’s screams had turned to laughter. The pentagrams in his eyes had begun to multiply. Ryner closed the boy’s eyelids, then drove his fist into his stomach. Arua’s laughter faded. He’d stopped moving, too.

Ryner turned around. “I did it. Ferris, I did it. I stopped him. I stopped his rampage…”

Ferris was over in a second. With one flash of her sword, the chains binding Arua were cut away with ease. “Ryner, take the kid and run.”

Ryner nodded. “Got it. We can’t win this fighting, huh.”

“Let the demon go,” one of the Magical Knights said. “It’s our research subject. If you don’t let it go, God will bestow punishment upon you…”

“Aah? God’s… punishment?” Ryner asked. He looked back to the Magical Knights. His eyes… held the same crimson pentagram as the boy’s.

The Magical Knights were shocked. “Y-y-you’re one of the demon’s allies…”

Ryner glared. “You guys just said… god’s punishment, right? That we’d be punished for having these eyes…? You guys have done unspeakable atrocities and won’t be punished for squat, but we’ll be punished just because of our eyes?”

“Ryner,” Ferris said from his side. “We don’t have time to talk. We have to go. I’ll leave you if you’re not coming too.”

With that, she ran off.

She was so overwhelmingly strong that not a single soldier tried to approach her now…

“Shit,” Ryner muttered. He ran after her, his right arm holding the boy, his left hand pressed over the kid’s eyes to keep them shut. “Shit, shit, shit, shit… What the hell. What the hell was that? God will punish us? Then why did he make us? God, answer me if you exist. Why did you make us? You went out of the way for us to be born… was it just so you could punish us when you’re done playing with us? Don’t fuck with me! We aren’t your toys. We’re just… living. We didn’t want to be like this… we didn’t want to be born monsters. We don’t like having these eyes…”

The hand holding Arua’s eyes closed pressed harder.

He recalled being called a monster. Being called a monster, feared, and loathed…

He hated it.

He was sick of being called a monster.

And yet… he hurt people he thought he loved. He hurt everyone who was kind to him.

He didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to hurt them. He didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore.

And yet…

Because he was a monster…

His hand shivered. He knew that tears were falling from his loathsome eyes. He looked at the boy he was holding with his loathsome eyes.

This boy had been horribly sad and horribly weak.

“…Even so, are we bad…?” Ryner whispered. “If god really exists in this country, then please tell me…”

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