Chapter 14
"Emperor! Please escape!"
"I will not flee. Prepare the defenses."
Having received word that the tsunami was approaching, Emperor Johannes chose to remain where he was.
It was not, of course, out of concern for the people. He had sealed away such personal feelings the moment he became emperor. He had judged that fleeing now would cause riots, or perhaps even a rebellion, in the eastern part of the Empire.
For that reason, Johannes stationed his few Imperial Guard knights along Kiel's walls and placed them in command of the garrison. Then he donned armor, took up his sword, and went to the front lines himself.
"Everyone! We must not allow the people of the east to suffer any longer! Defend this place with your lives if you must!"
The garrison's morale rose dramatically when the emperor himself took the field.
But that alone was not enough to deal with the monsters attacking in a steady stream.
Hordes of monsters continued to pour in from the east of Kiel, and the area outside the walls was soon filled with them. Excited and bereft of reason, the monsters charged into the city of Kiel, while the garrison fought them off.
Johannes himself cut down many monsters with his sword, but the odds were overwhelmingly against him.
There were three thousand soldiers in the garrison. But the monsters numbered nearly three times that.
Watching soldiers fall as they failed to hold the line, Johannes clicked his tongue. They were clearly at a disadvantage. He should flee, but if he did, their enemies would no longer be just monsters.
While Johannes was wondering what he should do...
Laughter rang out from the sky.
"Ahahahaha! Look, look, big brother! The emperor's making such a sour face!"
"Yes, little brother. How amusing."
Johannes glared up at the sky at the sudden taunt.
Two men stood there.
One was a boy with silver hair. Short and grinning innocently, he looked every inch a child.
The other was a man with long blond hair. With handsome, finely sculpted features, he gazed down at the emperor with a faint smile.
The one thing the two had in common was their unnaturally pale skin and extraordinary beauty.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Sam."
"I am Dean."
The emperor recognized their names.
Then, seeing the distinctive canine teeth in their mouths, the emperor gave a derisive snort.
They bore the telltale traits of one of the continent's several demihuman races: vampires.
The long-lived, powerful vampires openly ruled parts of the continent, and a few clans even formed nations of their own.
They had once been classified as monsters and waged war against humanity. But now, the two sides maintained a policy of noninterference, and vampires rarely showed themselves.
Even so, there was one pair whose names were widely known among humans.
"It was during the previous emperor's reign, but there was a pair of vampires who committed every imaginable atrocity, were cast out by the vampire clan, and placed on the Adventurer's Guild's wanted list. If I recall, their names were Sam and Dean, just like yours. A pair of vampires given a single S-rank monster rating. Are you them?"
"That's right! That's us!"
"The Adventurer's Guild treated us as no better than lowly monsters. An unforgivable insult. We have not forgotten it. Nor, of course, have we forgotten those who backed it."
"Oh? That's an awfully long wait for revenge. The previous emperor is already dead. Do you intend to take revenge on me in his place?"
"Of course! Humans are so frail, and they die far too easily!"
"I gave up on personal revenge. You and I live on different timescales, after all. So instead, I will take my revenge on your descendants and their possessions."
Johannes clicked his tongue at their declaration that the entire Empire was their target for revenge. Normally, he would have shot back, but given the circumstances, it was virtually certain that these two had caused the tsunami.
He was already hard-pressed just dealing with the tsunami, and now a pair of vampires judged to be on par with an S-rank monster had appeared as well. Even Johannes was at a loss for what to do.
If only he had his vaunted Imperial Guard.
That was what Johannes thought, but he had handed those very Imperial Guard knights over to the children.
They were far from Kiel, and even if they reacted immediately, only a handful could make it back in time.
"Well, your days of swaggering around just because you're the emperor are numbered. Once we've sucked you dry and turned you into a mummy, we'll toss you into the imperial capital!"
"Hmph! Then try it if you think you can! Even if you kill me, the Empire will not die! The Empire's finest will surely kill you! If that doesn't frighten you, then come and face me!"
"I will give you credit for that spirit. But no amount of barking changes the fact that you're at a disadvantage."
Saying that, Dean raised his right hand high.
Magical power gathered in his right hand, and a black sphere emerged. It was unlike the magic used by humans—a pure magical attack that only vampires, with their vast reserves of magical power, could unleash.
"Die regretting that you ever made enemies of us!"
He hurled the mass of magical power at Johannes.
Dean wore a cruel smile, certain of victory, but it quickly turned cold.
The ball of magical power Dean had thrown was sliced in two before it could hit Johannes.
"—Are you unharmed, Your Majesty?"
"Oh... Elna, you've come. Are you finished looking after Arnold?"
"...Please forgive me. I failed to obey your order to remain inseparable from Arnold..."
Seeing Elna's downcast expression, Johannes roughly grasped what had happened.
There was no way Elna could have arrived in time if she had rushed here alongside Arnold.
But Johannes smiled at Elna.
"It feels good to watch one's son grow. I have you to thank for that, Elna."
"Your Majesty... I..."
"Arnold sent you here. You responded to his feelings and arrived in time. That makes me very happy. Since you're here, would you show me how much you've grown as well?"
Elna gave a deep nod in response to Johannes's question.
Then, fixing her gaze straight on the two men, Elna readied her sword.
"As you command, my liege. I shall show them the sword of the Amsberg family!"
"Hmph! What's one person going to do? I know you! You're the knight who served that incompetent, washed-up prince, aren't you? So you didn't go far because the prince is incompetent, huh? Ugh, how pathetic. Don't let someone as useless as you smear my big brother's plan!"
"Don't let your guard down, Sam. The Amsberg family comes from a line of heroes. They're beyond the norm even among humans. Don't think of that woman as human."
Dean warned him, but Sam made no attempt to hide his carelessness.
But the instant he saw Elna's eyes, Sam shifted into battle stance.
"!!??"
Cold sweat poured off Sam in torrents as he felt killing intent unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Sam readied a scythe made of magic and put a little distance between himself and Elna. It was a complete retreat, but Sam did not realize it.
Meanwhile, Elna, having directed her overwhelming killing intent at Sam, slowly rose into the air.
For an accomplished mage, a spell to fly was not particularly difficult. But few could fly and fight freely in the sky. Elna was not a mage, yet she had reached that level.
When it came to the skills necessary for combat, the Amsberg family's prodigy had no weaknesses.
And Sam had just hit that prodigy's biggest sore spot.
"You just said the one word I hate most... How dare you say that in front of me! You deserve a thousand deaths. Prepare yourself!"
"Tch! Don't underestimate a human!"
A moment later, Sam attacked Elna with his scythe.
But Elna easily evaded Sam's scythe and struck him.
Sam somehow blocked the blow with his scythe, but the force of the attack was greater than expected. He faltered and looked to his brother.
"As expected of the Amsberg family's prodigy. They don't call you the hero of this generation for nothing. But I will make you regret opposing us vampires!"
With that, Dean joined the fight against Elna.
The three clashed fiercely in the sky above Kiel.
Below them, the emperor shouted to rally the garrison. The knights of the Third Order, Elna's subordinates, had joined the battle and pushed the monsters back a little, but there was still no sign of their numbers decreasing.
As they waited for further reinforcements, one of the princes appeared.
"Father! Carlos has arrived! Carlos has arrived!"
Carlos, the Fifth Prince. Twenty-three years old.
He was a handsome, brown-haired young man known for his gentle temperament. But he was also a dreamer who longed to distinguish himself spectacularly on the battlefield like the heroes of legend.
For Carlos, rushing to the aid of the emperor and the people alongside knights was the ideal scenario.
As many people turned their attention to him, thrilled that he had come as a reinforcement, Carlos ran at the head of the group, basking in their delight.
"Your Highness! Fall back! It's dangerous!"
"I'm fine! I'm a hero now!"
He was drunk on the situation when he said this, but his confidence was not entirely unfounded.
A short while earlier, Carlos had met Sam and Dean through an intermediary. They had arranged for Sam and Dean to cause a disturbance, which Carlos would then resolve. In return, once Carlos became emperor, he would petition the Adventurer's Guild to lift the bounty on Sam and Dean.
Carlos found their reason for cooperating with him convincing. The Adventurer's Guild almost never lifted a bounty. But the emperor of the Empire could make it happen. Even the Adventurer's Guild could not ignore the emperor's will.
That was why Carlos believed that Sam and Dean would withdraw the moment he appeared.
And just as he began dreaming of a future in which he would wipe out the remaining monsters and be hailed by all the people as a hero and the crown prince...
Carlos was sent flying by a magical projectile fired by Sam.
"That prince actually came. What an idiot."
"Ignore that small fry. Focus on what's in front of us! Here they come!"
The two did not give Carlos so much as a thought.
They had never regarded him as an equal negotiating partner.
The two had merely used Carlos. If Carlos had likewise intended to use them, he would not have charged in so recklessly. But his naive, sheltered nature had led him to trust them.
Without even a chance to regret his mistake, Carlos was slammed hard, and his consciousness began to fade.
One of the knights somehow caught Carlos as he was blown away, but his injuries were life-threatening.
However, the knights who had come with Carlos were galvanized by his condition and charged fiercely into the monsters.
It was hardly a graceful performance, but being the first one to go down could at least be counted as Carlos's contribution to the battle.
The time those knights bought gradually began to turn the tide.