Chapter 210
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Ferda quietly lowered his head and paid his respects to him.
“First, allow me to apologize regarding your son. I had no intention of truly insulting the dead.”
“You…… already knew?”
“Yes.”
“And yet you left me, his father, with pain enough to tear me apart.”
“It was necessary.”
A resentful gaze shot toward him.
But the anger was not as intense as it had been when they first met.
“Yes, it must have been necessary. I was the only fool in that whole affair, anyway. I hope this will be the last time we mention it.”
“Of course. Please, have a seat.”
Duke Yurei sat down at Ferda’s invitation, and Ferda served him some liquor.
The liquor he tasted for the first time in a long while was exceptionally sweet.
“So tell me what you released me to do.”
“The continent is currently in a situation where war may break out between the Kingdom of Heinkel and the Arken Empire. I believe you’re aware of that.”
“I’ve heard it until I’m sick of it.”
“We want Your Grace to give a speech and call an emergency session of the Grand Council.”
“An emergency session……”
It was the best way to ease the tension surrounding the war.
That was why the proposal struck him as so strange.
“Though you’re also a member of the Empire, why would you want to make such a choice?”
“If one calls oneself an Imperial citizen, Duke Yurei, then the ideal outcome would be for you to die. It would allow us to acquire valuable territory, after all.”
Duke Yurei snorted.
“There’s a traitor hiding within the Empire.”
“You may call me whatever you like. I’m here for the sake of my fiancée.”
“Doesn’t the Empire’s will align with Her Highness Valdrova’s?”
“This war is being started by treating the demonfolk too lightly. The demonfolk must be eradicated from this continent, and if that cause is twisted into a pretext for personal gain, it will only bring even greater chaos.”
“……That sounds plausible.”
Ferda answered clearly, and Duke Yurei looked at him.
There was an oddly profound depth of experience in those eyes.
“At least you’re not someone who would conspire with that damned grand duke.”
“Of course not.”
Duke Yurei covered his face and pondered before opening his mouth.
“First, I need to send a letter. I have to inform the Kingdom of Heinkel.”
“I’ll prepare it.”
Ferda handed him a pen and paper, and Duke Yurei began writing.
He wrote that he had escaped safely and that he had managed it with the help of Barney Swallows.
He did not mention Ferda.
Leaving it in writing would be tantamount to repaying kindness with hostility.
Although he was under protection for the time being, he concluded the letter by saying that his condition was poor.
“Send this to the Kingdom of Heinkel.”
“Understood.”
The messenger mounted his horse and set off at a gallop.
All that remained was to wait for a reply.
“Let’s talk, Regent Ferda.”
Duke Yurei said this as he poured liquor into his cup.
“If they learn that we let such a good opportunity to expand our territory slip away, they won’t sit idle either…… What do you intend to do about the Empire from now on?”
“We’ll milk it for all it’s worth while we still can. Isn’t that our immediate goal?”
“You don’t hesitate to say things that would turn a lord’s stomach.”
“But don’t you like it?”
“I suppose I do.”
He gave a faint chuckle and drank.
He tried to force a smile, but the corners of his mouth would not easily rise.
“William……”
Duke Yurei carefully let the name slip from his lips.
“Why are you making him run around like that?”
Ferda was slightly surprised.
He had never imagined that Duke Yurei would be interested in him.
“In terms of skill and refinement, he wouldn’t lose to any knight…… I wondered why he was still doing something as lowly as serving as a village security captain.”
“He’s become entangled in quite a few matters, but I admit that he’s an excellent prospect. I even tried to bring him in as a knight of the Valdrova Grand Duchy. But William himself refused.”
“And you allowed him to refuse so brazenly?”
“Would it be wise to trample carelessly on his convictions? He’s a man who even turned down the Empire’s offer to make him a Guardian Knight.”
“So even a position as an imperial knight wasn’t good enough for him?”
“He asked that it be merely an honorary position, so it was practically the same as a refusal.”
“……”
How could anyone persuade a man who even disliked the position of Guardian Knight?
Duke Yurei’s expression was complicated.
Ferda could only infer that the two of them had spoken about something.
“The Empire will not send anyone else after you. Rest comfortably here for the day.”
“……Thank you.”
Duke Yurei fell asleep after drinking, and Ferda quietly waited until the following day.
The next day, a messenger arrived at Ferda’s location once more.
The handwriting belonged to the king of the Kingdom of Heinkel, Sigmund Heinkel.
He had written the following:
-I will personally go to welcome my friend.
* * *
Ferda and Duke Yurei arrived at the plains within the Kingdom of Heinkel.
That was where they were to meet.
“This brings back memories.”
Duke Yurei gazed across the plains and spoke nostalgically.
“Sigmund Heinkel…… He was so young back then that we called him Zig. We used to play at pretending to be knights together on these plains.”
“So he’s even come out here in person.”
“It’s not a very kingly choice, but it’s not hard to understand either. His Majesty and I have been together since childhood. We saw each other’s faces for nearly forty years and shared every wedding and funeral, so we’re brothers and friends like no others.”
Bitterness lingered in Duke Yurei’s voice.
“It weighed heavily on me that such a friend had been captured in an enemy country.”
“……”
“I don’t know how pathetic I am for being swept up in my emotions and failing to see the bigger picture.”
“Who wouldn’t have done the same?”
Emotions stirred desire and clouded judgment.
Around the time the sun reached its zenith, something caught Duke Yurei’s eye.
Beyond that hill, something like a flag was fluttering high in the air.
It was unmistakably the emblem of the Kingdom of Heinkel.
At the sight of the emblem on the standard, Duke Yurei was overwhelmed with emotion, as though he might burst into tears at any moment.
Dozens of elite knights filled the ridge in a line, displaying the might of the Kingdom of Heinkel.
When the standard-bearer moved aside, a middle-aged man wearing a golden crown appeared in the center.
“Ferri! My old friend……!!”
Sigmund Heinkel dismounted from his white horse and ran toward Duke Yurei.
Duke Yurei also dismounted and walked forward.
Ferda followed behind him and looked at King Heinkel.
‘That man is Sigmund Heinkel.’
Ferda knew it at a glance.
He was not a man suited to be a king.
The face running toward them belonged to an incredibly kindhearted middle-aged man.
Was that why?
Ferda instinctively felt something ominous.
Suppressing his joy, Yurei paid his respects.
“I cannot express how happy I am to see you, Your Majesty.”
“I feel the same. I began preparing the moment I saw your handwriting!
“I’m sorry for making you rush here without even putting on your shoes.”
“My friend has returned alive. How could I sit around and wait? But…… who is this man here?”
A presence that made the atmosphere of the emotional reunion awkward.
King Heinkel looked toward Ferda and asked.
“I am Regent Ferda.”
“Ferda? Are you the one you mentioned……?”
Sigmund wore an expression that seemed unable to understand why Ferda was there.
Ferda merely paid his respects quietly, while Duke Yurei briefly explained the circumstances.
“If not for the Regent’s help, I would never even have dreamed of escaping.”
“Ah, is that so? Then he’s your benefactor. Let’s go to the castle instead of standing around here. Shouldn’t we hold a banquet?”
“We don’t have time for that.”
Duke Yurei spoke in an urgent voice.
“As you anticipated, the Empire is creating a pretext for war.”
“Yes, I’ve heard.”
“Now that I’ve escaped, we must prepare a counterattack. Please summon all the nobles within the kingdom and confer with them.”
“Ah, that matter?”
There was something strangely cold in King Heinkel’s tone.
Though it was only a few syllables, Ferda instinctively condensed his mana.
“There’s no need to think too deeply about that.”
“Pardon? What do you mean?”
From that moment onward, Duke Yurei sensed it.
Something was going wrong.
“Yurei. We have no intention of avoiding a war.”
“What do you mean? You have no intention of avoiding war?”
Duke Yurei could not understand.
King Heinkel feared and hated the horrors of war.
The pacifist King Heinkel was now steeling himself for battle and going to war?
King Heinkel spoke without even blinking.
“The Empire wants war with us, and the other kingdoms are desperate to tear us apart. I did a great deal of thinking while you were gone.”
“And if you intend to go to war…… we’re all finished, Your Majesty. Please reconsider this—.”
“Don’t worry, Yurei. I have power. The power to protect the kingdom.”
“Power……?”
He raised one hand.
Duke Yurei witnessed something he could scarcely believe with his own eyes.
“A-Aah!!”
Flames created from mana blossomed in his hand.
A man who had never had anything to do with magic in his life was now wielding it with ease.
But that was not the end of the problem.
The flames he produced were dark flames that swallowed all the surrounding light.
That magic, which defied the natural order, made King Heinkel smile.
“Look. These flames…… Aren’t they magnificent?”
But Yurei could only tremble as he watched.
“Your Majesty……. No, Sigmund……. Did you make a pact with a devil?”
“That’s not so. Didn’t you always say that devils never make deals at a loss?”
“Then who in the world could have given you something like this?”
“The demonfolk.”
Yurei’s body reeled violently.
“You joined hands with the demonfolk?”
“I had no choice. But I don’t regret it.”
“Sigmund……”
“Because thanks to them, I opened my eyes.”
The light of reason faded from his eyes.
“I realized how futile the affairs of this world are.”
Madness was all that remained.
Yurei came to his senses and reached for his waist.
He had a sword there, worn for ceremonial purposes.
“Why should I suffer because of misunderstandings? Why should I suffer through life for the sake of an afterlife that does not exist?”
“Sigmund…… Don’t say another word.”
“The painful past, the suffering present, and the future that will bring more suffering. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to cast it all aside and live forever in a dream?”
“Please! Don’t give me a reason to cut you down!!”
“Yurei…… my friend, I wish you could know this feeling too.”
“Sigmund!!”
Yurei drew his sword and slashed at King Heinkel.
With one clean strike, King Heinkel’s head flew off, and the body beneath it collapsed limply.
Then something astonishing happened.
“What……!?”
What had been King Heinkel until the moment before the slash was now the head of a helmeted man.
Looking closely, it was the helmet of the standard-bearer who had stood at the front.
Then where was the standard-bearer?
Yurei raised his head.
King Heinkel stood where the standard-bearer should have been.
Holding the flag, he looked down at Duke Yurei with a disappointed expression.
“You…… As I thought, you don’t understand. The others were the same. Springfield, Hosho……”
He raised a hand.
“But after seeing what I saw, they realized their own foolishness.”
The knights accompanying him all drew their swords.
“I’ll open your eyes as well.”
He lowered his hand.
The knights charged all at once.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Protect Duke Yurei and the Regent!”
The forces on Ferda’s side numbered only around ten, having come to serve as an escort.
They were ridiculously few to fight against the charge of more than fifty knights.
But if that had been all, it would have been fortunate.
“What is that……?”
As the horses pounded across the hard ground and approached, their forms began to twist more and more.
The knights’ skin gradually turned black, while the horses’ muscles bulged violently until they became dozens of monsters.
The king’s knights had transformed into demon riders in an instant.
Ferda assessed their strength.
‘The knights who became demons are knight-tier. The warhorses are at a comparable level.’
A single demon rider possessed enough power to easily sweep away an entire infantry battalion.
“Regent Ferda……”
Duke Yurei called his name in a trembling voice.
He looked at Ferda’s face, but Ferda did not waver in the slightest.
Ferda had remained composed from beginning to end.
“There is no need to worry.”
That was because he was always prepared.
“I requested reinforcements five minutes ago.”
Even if he had requested reinforcements five minutes ago, what good would that do?
He looked around, but there was not even a single ant to be seen on the plains.
“There is still one place you haven’t looked.”
Ferda pointed upward, toward the sky.
The blue sky and the blazing sun.
And a dot.
The dot turned red and grew larger and larger.
Kuuung!
It fell into the middle of the demons.
The impact against the ground made Duke Yurei’s body stagger.
‘Did he summon a meteor!?’
The last thing Duke Yurei knew about Ferda Valdrova was that he was a fourth-circle mage.
One had to be at least a sixth-circle mage to summon a meteor.
The object that had made a crater in the ground was not a meteorite.
“An axe……?”
It was a gigantic axe, large enough that only an ogre could wield it.
That was not all that came flying down.
When he looked up at the sky again, a silver comet came rushing in.
Kwagagagang!!
The comet that arrived late snatched up the axe and charged straight ahead.
Duke Yurei was even more astonished when its figure entered his view.
The one who had snatched up the massive axe was a girl whose frame was even smaller than it was.
She was a little girl wearing a maid outfit.
However, the pair of horns rising from her head and the tail behind her showed that she was no ordinary girl, while the way she held the axe proved that she was thoroughly seasoned in battle.
Luri Silverwind.
Before becoming a maid, she had been a Silverwind Spawn and the girl known as the Frost Giant’s Nightmare.
She leaped into the middle of the demons and slammed down her axe with all her strength.
Kuuung!