Chapter 160
Chapter Discussion
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“Leon! I heard you defeated a monster all by yourself! Is that true?”
The news of Leon’s solo subjugation reached the ears of those around him.
Aurora, unable to wait for Leon to return, had come out to the courtyard of the Imperial Princess’s Palace to meet him.
“Yes. That’s how it turned out.”
“Really? Isn’t that incredibly amazing?”
“Of course it’s incredibly amazing. It might even end up in the history books.”
“Wow.”
Aurora let out a pure exclamation of admiration.
Why else would the Three Great Calamities be called calamities?
They had earned that name because they were comparable to natural disasters beyond humanity’s power to do anything about.
Even Aurora, who knew little about magical-beast ecology, understood their danger well.
‘He defeated that all by himself.’
Leon had always been amazing, or so she thought—but she had never imagined he was this amazing.
His exploits always surpassed her imagination.
“What did Father say? Is he going to emancipate you?”
“He said we’d discuss the details later. From the looks of it, he seems likely to do it.”
“That’s wonderful! That’s really wonderful! Congratulations, Leon!”
“Thank you.”
Aurora hopped up and down, clapping as though it were her own accomplishment.
Leon was grateful for her congratulations, but he honestly couldn’t understand why she was acting that way.
‘Why is she so happy about this?’
It was a question that remained unresolved.
If Aurora had intended to set him free from the beginning, he could at least have understood it by thinking, ‘She’s a good person.’
She had worked him hard as a writing slave until recently, then switched her attitude at some point.
As though his becoming a free citizen would benefit her greatly, too.
‘What on earth is that about?’
He racked his brain again and again, but still couldn’t come up with a satisfactory reason.
Well, was there any need to worry about it?
Once he obtained his freedom, it would be over. If she tried anything strange, he could simply run away.
‘I should take it easy until the Emperor calls for me.’
When would he call?
Today?
Was today a little too soon?
Then tomorrow?
It normally took time to settle accounts after a raid, after all.
If he waited, the Emperor would call for him in due course.
Leon had been thinking that and preparing to relax in peace when—
“Excuse me.”
A voice suddenly cut in.
“Shabel!”
It was the Hero, Shabel.
Aurora greeted her with a radiant smile.
“Hello.”
Shabel likewise offered Aurora a polite greeting.
“You two know each other?”
“Yes. She’s Shabel, a princess of the Kingdom of Breta. We used to see each other from time to time. She’s active as a Hero now.”
As the Imperial Princess of the Empire and the princess of a kingdom, they had met occasionally to foster relations and grown close.
Aurora, being a little older, had adored the little princess from another country.
In private, she even had Shabel call her Sister and looked after her affectionately, like a real sister.
“Shabel, when did you arrive in the capital?”
“I came here while pursuing Rahav. But it had already been subjugated by the time I arrived.”
As she said this, Shabel shot Leon a sidelong glance.
Aurora had no idea what had passed between the two of them.
Without hiding her smile, she pushed Leon forward like a doting parent and began to boast.
“Our Leon was the one who took down that calamity. All by himself, no less.”
“I heard about that. But I was told this man’s master is Her Highness the Imperial Princess. Is that true?”
“Yes, that’s right. Leon is my slave. He’s incredibly amazing, isn’t he?”
“I suppose he would be. He did defeat a calamity.”
Her words carried a strangely pointed edge.
Leon immediately realized that Shabel had come looking for him.
“What brings the Hero to the Imperial Princess’s Palace?”
“I came because I have business with you.”
“What business would that be?”
Shabel’s silver eyes stared straight through Leon.
The same stinging gaze that had stabbed him in the back of the head all the way back to the capital was now being fired at him from point-blank range.
Shabel got straight to the point.
“Fight me. I need to know how strong you are.”
***
Shabel de Rochefort.
The protagonist of the beautiful-girl-raising simulation [Lady Maker] DLC.
She was a princess of the Rochefort royal family in the Kingdom of Breta, far from the Empire.
The Kingdom of Breta was a small and weak nation, but it enjoyed peaceful days under the care of a wise king and a benevolent queen.
As a princess who monopolized everyone’s affection, Shabel too had a childhood with nothing to envy—in short, she was a precious flower in a greenhouse.
It was a calamity that shattered that peaceful life and plunged the continent into terror.
Rahav, the Despair That Crawls Across the Sky, which suddenly descended one day.
The monster annihilated the Kingdom of Breta. It vanished from the map overnight.
Shabel was the sole survivor amid the ruins of the burning royal castle, and her life was completely twisted.
Only one thing sustained her after everything precious to her had been taken away.
A fierce desire for revenge.
With the single-minded determination to kill the monster that had ruined her homeland, she roamed the entire continent slaughtering magical beasts.
She killed countless magical beasts and saved countless people in the process.
Naturally, her existence became a beacon of hope to the crowds trembling in fear.
The leaders of various nations recognized Shabel’s extraordinary combat power, which could stand against a calamity.
In the name of a multinational alliance, they officially granted her the highest title of “Hero.”
The adorable princess had been reborn as a Hero.
She had crossed countless thresholds of death and risen to the ranks of the Heroes.
Yet the calamity she had sought revenge against had been killed by the hands of a slave whose identity no one even knew.
Not a Hero.
Not a sage.
Not a proper army.
By a mere slave.
‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.’
This was not how it was supposed to happen.
Then what was her kingdom?
If it had been a monster that could be cut down by a mere slave,
then what did her kingdom, trampled and destroyed by that monster, mean—and what of the family and people who had died?
An immense sense of futility overwhelmed Shabel.
It felt as though the world were playing with her.
‘I can’t let it end like this.’
The calamity is dead.
Even though she hadn’t taken revenge, her enemy was dead anyway, so Shabel lived happily ever after.
She could never accept an ending like that.
There was only one thing she could do in this situation.
-Swish.
Shabel circled her hand through the air. A black lance appeared in her hand.
The instant the spear appeared, a fierce wind began to blow.
As if it were the mournful song of a ruined kingdom.
Or like the sobbing wind of a requiem mourning the souls of a people who no longer existed.
Leon knew the identity of that weapon.
The national treasure of the Kingdom of Breta.
The Black Spear, Requiem.
“Draw your sword. And fight me.”
Defeat Leon, who had defeated the calamity. Trample him beneath her feet and deny his achievement.
If I defeat you, then in the end, it will be no different from Rahav having been killed by me.
You were merely lucky.
You were only faster than I was.
That was the only way she could create an ending she could accept.
Otherwise, she felt she would go mad from the emotions whipping through her.
The air instantly turned cold.
Aurora was startled by the sudden act of radiating killing intent in the middle of the Imperial Princess’s Palace in broad daylight.
The knights guarding the Imperial Princess’s Palace hurriedly drew their swords.
“Sh-Shabel? What are you doing all of a sudden?”
“I’m sorry. I have to settle things with this man.”
But nothing else entered Shabel’s eyes. They were fixed fiercely on Leon alone.
“Leon, did you do something wrong?”
“It’s because I’m a slave. Whenever anything happens, it’s always the slave’s fault.”
“Is that how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”
It’s not as though this was the first time he had been unfairly blamed.
It was the same now.
Shabel was staring at him with the ardent gaze of someone passionately pursuing him.
Leon naturally knew that she had devoted her life to subjugating the calamities.
But who would have thought she’d radiate killing intent merely because someone else had subjugated one?
‘If this isn’t unfair treatment, then what is?’
Leon quietly sighed.
The answer was already decided.
“I refuse.”
“Are you planning to run away in disgrace?”
It was a provocation whose intent was plainly obvious.
“I’m a slave anyway. Is there any honor I need to protect? Whether it’s disgraceful or not, as long as I live well, that’s enough.”
Perhaps because she had become a Hero before ever entering politics, Shabel was clearly inexperienced at intrigue.
She was nowhere near skilled enough to provoke Leon.
It was on the level of a child picking a fight.
Go learn from Renua.
“But, Hero.”
“What is it?”
“You haven’t forgotten that there are still two calamities left, have you?”
He had a point.
Leon had only subjugated Rahav; two calamities were still rampaging in plain sight.
Why was she so fixated on a calamity that had already been subjugated?
Couldn’t she simply hunt the remaining ones and complete her revenge?
“Of course that’s important, but……”
Shabel faltered, having been hit right where it hurt.
Leon did not miss the opening.
“Are you saying venting your anger takes priority over subjugating the calamities? Is that acceptable for someone who calls herself a Hero?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“Is that so? Then you won’t mind if I subjugate the other two as well, right?”
“Th-that’s not allowed!”
This was a man who had already subjugated Rahav.
Anxiety swept over her at the thought that, if he put his mind to it, he might really cut down the remaining calamities before she could.
If she lost all her targets before completing her revenge, she would have no way to keep herself sane.
“Then stop wasting time here and go already.”
“……”
Shabel bit her lip tightly.
In the end, she put away her spear.
The wind that had filled the courtyard died away without a trace.
“……Just you wait. I absolutely won’t let you take them from me.”
Whatever.
Leon lightly shrugged his shoulders.
Shabel bowed her head to Aurora.
“My apologies, Your Highness. Please forgive my rudeness.”
“Ah, yeah……”
Shabel shot Leon one last glance, then turned around.
She left the Imperial Princess’s Palace with hurried steps filled with impatience.
“She’s a completely different person. She wasn’t that sharp-edged before……”
Cute.
Pure.
Lovely.
She had been a princess straight out of a painting.
There was not a trace of her former self to be found in her now.
Unlike the grand title of Hero, she looked so fragile that she seemed ready to break at any moment.
Aurora watched Shabel’s departing back with a sympathetic gaze.