Chapter 84
An Executioner cannot speak of their own covenant.
So I already knew that Nerissa’s remark about the fall of the empire wasn’t the truth.
That was why I was curious.
Just what kind of covenant was it that, out of all the many lies she could have told, she asked for the Empire to fall?
Was it a personal grudge, or a deep-rooted hatred embedded in her entire race?
I had my doubts about what it could truly be.
“I don’t know the reason why the entire race hates the Empire.”
Through a very short conversation, I learned that the entire Mermaid race hated the Empire.
Should I say the atmosphere itself naturally desired the fall of the empire?
I couldn’t know, and so I decided to just create a new reason right now.
“From now on, the reason the Mermaids hate the Empire will be that their race was exterminated by the Crown Prince of the Empire.”
That was what it meant to turn against the Empire.
Extermination, ruin, and extinction naturally followed.
Recently, all the kingdoms on the Continent had been too busy bowing their heads, so there were few opportunities to show proper strength.
Since they were kindly providing a place for me to warm up, there was no reason not to do it.
White Night was about to touch the seawater slowly.
Bubble bubble bubble.
Massive bubbles began to boil up from the sea, and soon began to generate an enormous amount of steam.
Even though the steam hadn’t properly touched White Night yet, the spot where the Mermaids had been was caved in.
A bizarre phenomenon where the sea, not the ground, was caved in.
It was as if a large, invisible circle existed around White Night.
It looked as if the waves were fleeing outward from the white sphere, as if the sea was afraid of White Night and avoiding it.
“Have the Mermaids already fled?”
“Come to think of it, they are more cowardly than an Elf, so they must have already sensed it.”
“Well… it doesn’t matter, since I just need to push White Night all the way to the Deep Sea anyway.”
Could I push White Night all the way to the Deep Sea, and to the place where the Mermaids lived?
I had never worried about that in the first place, nor did I need to.
Because I planned to keep doing it until it worked.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
“What the hell! What is going on!”
“Kailen Marin! He’s trying to repay our kindness with hostility!”
“The Empire! It’s the Empire! The Empire is trying to erase our race!”
White Night slowly entered beneath the sea.
The Mermaids appeared far away from White Night and began to shout loudly.
As if begging us to listen to them.
“They’re doing something so obvious.”
“What do you mean?”
“They don’t want to get along with the Empire, so they don’t want to speak first. But it feels unfair to just suffer like this, so they’re shouting loudly, begging us to listen to them. That’s what I mean by obvious.”
“…What does Your Highness do at times like this?”
Arveda tilted her head as if she genuinely didn’t know.
I smiled gently at that question and increased the size of White Night even more.
“They don’t seem to have come to their senses yet, so I should wait until they do.”
Fwoooooosh!
The moment White Night entered beneath the sea.
A large spherical void was created underwater.
Nothing much was happening because this was being maintained for the time being.
When White Night disappeared, a massive aftermath would occur.
That aftermath would naturally reach the Imperial Eastern Region as well.
But the reason I could exercise my power without hesitation despite that was…
“I believe.”
Because there was enough national power to easily erase something like an aftermath.
'Do they think I’m endlessly raising knights, fed and trained at great expense, for nothing?'
No!!!
Tell him to stop!!!
It really looks like it’s going to reach the Deep Sea!!!
We’ll melt!!! Everything is going to melt down!!!
Contact the King! Right now!
I was ignoring the voices of the Mermaids from the surroundings.
It was around the time I was continuing to drop White Night into the Deep Sea.
“There seems to be… some misunderstanding, so how about you temper your wrath at this point?”
A Mermaid wearing a crown on her head rose above the water’s surface.
“Hah.”
And he did so while holding my White Night in the palm of his hand, at that.
+++++
The promised time shall come.
In five years, the Empire will inevitably fall.
A woman will approach and peacefully rule the world.
A prophecy has been passed down to the Mermaids for a very long time.
The Mermaids believed in this prophecy with ironclad faith.
There was only one reason.
“Everything written in the prophecy book is actually happening.”
“From now on, we just need to believe in this prophecy book!”
It was because the accuracy of the book containing the prophecy they believed in was incredibly high.
It wasn’t written just simply that the Empire would fall.
Large and small events related to the Mermaids were written in detail, and through this, the Mermaids were able to cope skillfully with large and small disasters.
As a result, the prophecy book, which in the past they used to check only for reference, gradually began to be regarded as the truth.
In the past, they moved in a way to prepare for almost all cases since they didn’t know what would happen.
Now, they reached a point where they didn’t consider a crisis at all if it wasn’t written in the prophecy book.
Thus.
“The Empire must be getting incredibly weak by now, right?”
“Well, if they’re at the level of falling in five years… isn’t it obvious without even looking?”
“I wish Nerissa would destroy the Empire quickly.”
The Mermaids eventually didn’t even treat it as a danger if it wasn’t written in the prophecy book.
“They say an Imperial vessel has appeared?”
“A vessel?”
“Kailen Marin is riding it too!”
“Eh? That idiot? Why did he show up again?”
“But they say he’s riding with someone, someone who seems of higher rank than Kailen Marin.”
“If they’re higher than a grand Duke, they’re of the Imperial Family… so I guess they’re a high-ranking official? But nothing much will happen, right? There wasn’t really anything about it in the prophecy book.”
“Right!”
This was the very reason why the Mermaids acted so audaciously toward the Crown Prince.
Since it wasn’t written in the prophecy book, it wouldn’t be a threat at all.
Even if they were in a higher position than Kailen, there was no need to bow to a high-ranking official of an Empire that was going to fall anyway.
It was a response born from such thoughts, and the responsibility for that response weighed incredibly heavily.
“…It seems we have made a grave mistake.”
The King of the Mermaids, Thalassa Nereus.
He had mobilized all the power he possessed to bring White Night above the water’s surface.
Because he couldn’t subjugate the white sphere before his eyes with his individual power alone.
Thalassa was currently drawing upon and using the entire power of the Mermaid Kingdom.
“And yet, I still cannot extinguish it?”
A handsome man with golden hair and red eyes entered Thalassa’s field of vision.
The eyes were calm yet filled with anger.
It felt as if the quiet embers would burn away the entire sea at any moment.
“Such a person was definitely not mentioned in the prophecy book.”
He felt a certain conviction, facing him directly right before his eyes.
that if he made any more mistakes here, the Mermaid race itself would be erased.
Thalassa fell into confusion over what he should believe: the danger right before his eyes or the situation not written in the prophecy book.
“Are you the King of the Mermaids?”
“I am called Thalassa Nereus.”
“Thalassa, do you know Nerissa? Your names happen to be quite similar.”
A mere human was speaking down to the king of a race.
It was a clear insult and disrespect, but Thalassa couldn’t make any response.
He was getting the feeling that a single being held the power of life and death over his entire Race.
“…I know her. She is the strongest… being in our clan, and my niece.”
The expression 'our' came out naturally.
The events transpired from the appearance of the Empire’s vessel to White Night falling upon the Kingdom of the Mermaids.
Come to think of it, it was a very short time, and during that short time, the hierarchy had been perfectly established.
“The expressions of the surrounding subjects toward the strongest being and the king’s niece were rather harsh. They forbade her from returning home until she brings ruin to the Empire. Do you perhaps know anything about this?”
Bellon continued speaking like that, smiling only with his eyes.
A gaze that left it to his imagination what would happen next if he didn’t tell him everything he knew.
It wasn’t a lie or a bluff.
Because even at this very moment, at this very instant.
Sizzle.
White Night was burning Thalassa even now in Thalassa’s palm.
If the Crown Prince, Bellon, made up his mind, he could detonate White Night right here and now.
“…If you are speaking of the Executioner’s Covenant, I do not know the details, as it is not written in the prophecy book.”
In that fear, Thalassa made a slip of the tongue he would never normally make.
“A prophecy book?”
And Bellon wasn’t one to miss that slip of the tongue.
“Your Highness Thalassa!”
The surrounding Mermaids were startled by the prophecy book itself, amplifying the suspicion.
“There is a prophecy book? What does it prophesy? The future of the Mermaid Kingdom?”
“It is a book passed down only to our race.”
“Can I see it?”
“I apologize.”
Bellon was certain that the prophecy book Thalassa mentioned was related to Mirne.
A position that involved desiring the fall of the empire, which he thought at least one of the executioners would have.
And a prophecy book exists passed down through generations in the clan of the race and linked to that position?
A race desiring the fall of the empire and a prophecy book - this was too blatant not to check.
But naturally, since a prophecy book was treated as something incredibly precious, Bellon’s proposal to see it was rejected.
Of course, even so.
“There is no need to apologize, as I plan to go and see it myself.”
Bellon wasn’t one to give up.
“I will open a path to the Mermaid Kingdom.”
The blade of the Second God-Slaying Sword, Sword #2, began to be dyed white.
Just how far did the Crown Prince’s power reach?
Could he truly part the sea all the way to the Mermaid Kingdom deep underwater?
It was time to find out.