Chapter 215
The night Leticia was kidnapped.
Guided only by starlight, Leo and the Griffon Knights raced across the night sky.
Without stopping to rest, they kept moving, their eyes fixed on Noir's path.
Leticia had been kidnapped in the middle of the night. Nearly a full day had passed since then.
Leo and the others were currently at a point between the north and the Imperial capital. The Griffins were flying a distance that would have required several ordinary horses to wear themselves out.
Moreover, Noir was not simply flying straight ahead. He continued flying while searching for some faint trace, circling and changing direction repeatedly. The Griffon Knights following him were beginning to show clear signs of fatigue as well.
Frustration, fatigue, and anxiety.
All manner of things assailed them, trying to give them reasons to stop.
Even so, no one stopped.
That was because Noir, who led the way, and Leo, who rode on his back, never stopped.
In the Kingdom, many of those who opposed the Empire were civil officials who worked at the castle. Meanwhile, those who supported the Empire were people who fought on the front lines. This was because many of those who revered the Saint had fought alongside her on the battlefield.
Among them, the Griffon Knights chosen for this escort were comrades who had fought alongside Leticia from the earliest days. They had always been at her side and continued protecting her, and they took pride in that.
They prided themselves on having no equal when it came to loyalty to the Saint.
That was why, as long as Leo refused to give up, they would not stop. They could not allow themselves to lose to a member of another country's royal family.
There was another reason they were able to keep going.
Riding a griffin was not easy. The griffin did the flying, but merely sitting on its back caused fatigue to build. As the least experienced rider, Leo should have felt that more than anyone.
Nevertheless, Leo kept his back straight and continued leading the way. His bearing continued to inspire the Griffon Knights behind him.
That did not mean Leo had energy to spare.
Noir made no effort to accommodate Leo. Riding him was more uncomfortable than riding any wild horse Leo had ever known.
Even so, Leo did not complain. He thought that was how it should be.
"Noir, please... Hang in there a little longer."
There was no reply.
However, Noir's speed increased slightly.
Flying at full speed for an entire day while carrying a human was a tremendous burden even for a griffin.
Even so, Noir continued flying, guided by a single presence.
The Demon Lord's Order had suffered three miscalculations.
The first was that the Empire had someone far more sharp-witted than they had imagined.
The second was that Leo had set out together with the Griffon Knights.
The last was Noir's existence.
Noir was not following Leticia's scent. He was not following something so uncertain.
What Noir was following was the presence of the Holy Staff. It was a trace far too faint for a human to follow. However, Noir had known since childhood that if he followed it, he would find Leticia.
And because of its rarity, the Demon Lord's Order had never relinquished the Holy Staff.
That was how they found the place.
"Noir!?"
Seeing Noir suddenly begin to descend, Leo called out.
It did not look as though exhaustion had simply overcome him.
That was why Leo reached for the sword at his waist.
He knew Noir had found her.
"Descend!!"
At Leo's command, the Griffins began descending one after another.
Noir descended straight into an entirely ordinary village.
It was a typical Imperial village, and the villagers came out of their homes to see what was happening.
"Your Highness... Is this the place?"
Because the village was so utterly ordinary, one of the Griffon Knights murmured that question.
Leo did not answer him. Instead, he raised his voice.
"Is the village chief here!?"
When Leo called out, an old man appeared.
"I-I am the village chief..."
"I am Leonart, the Empire's Eighth Prince. We are pursuing a criminal organization. Have you seen anything?"
"P-Prince Leonart!? I beg your pardon for my rudeness!"
Saying that, the village chief and the other villagers immediately fell to their knees.
Their surprise seemed natural, and the Griffon Knights' expressions clouded.
They looked exactly like ordinary villagers.
"Please answer my question. Have you seen anything?"
"W-We haven't seen anything...! I apologize!"
"It's fine. I wasn't expecting much."
Saying that, Leo approached the village chief and drew his sword.
He then unleashed a powerful killing intent against the village chief.
The chief trembled at the sudden killing intent, but Leo paid no attention and continued approaching him.
"Y-Your Highness... I apologize for my rudeness!"
"I said it was fine. By the way, Village Chief, how are you still awake at this hour? Moreover, every villager came out immediately. What were you doing?"
"!!??"
As he spoke, Leo raised his sword.
The village chief rose to his feet with fire wrapped around his right hand.
"Die!!"
Fire magic came hurtling toward Leo.
For an instant, Leo was engulfed in flames, and the Griffins held their breath.
But...
"Sometimes it's worth imitating my brother. To be honest, it was a bluff. Thanks. Now I can kill you without holding back."
"Eek!?"
Leo swept the flames aside with his sword and swiftly beheaded the village chief.
At that moment, more than ten spells were fired at Leo, but he had already lowered his stance and charged forward.
"Begin the attack! There has to be some kind of trap here! Search the houses!"
Deflecting the approaching spells with his sword, Leo issued his orders.
Then he closed in on one of the mages and beheaded the mage without hesitation.
Leo had always been poor at cutting down living beings.
Maybe he could make them understand by talking. If he killed them, he would squander that chance forever.
Hearing such words from Leo, the instructors who had taught him swordsmanship would clutch their heads. Every one of them told the Emperor the same thing.
"The prince has a talent for swordsmanship, but he will never become strong."
The instructors knew the absolute truth: a hesitant sword could never be strong.
Leo was simply too soft-hearted to be a swordsman.
But Leo steadily grew stronger. Whether hunting monsters or putting down bandits, he achieved results far beyond what his instructors had expected.
However, that did not mean Leo had overcome his weakness.
His swordsmanship was simply good enough to defeat his opponents even while he hesitated.
While pitying them, regretting it, and begging their forgiveness.
Leo had fought his enemies while exposing openings fatal for a swordsman.
That had not changed even recently. He had swung his sword while suppressing his feelings and enduring it, telling himself that he had no choice.
Yet his pointless thoughts remained.
Normally, when faced with an enemy, a swordsman should think only of how to defeat that enemy. But Leo had been unable to do that.
Leo almost never had a clear view of the battlefield during combat. The only time he had experienced that was during the unrest in the south, when his opponents had been lifeless monsters and demons.
Even when giving his all, he could never truly fight in earnest. That was the Leo of the past.
But by focusing solely on his desire to save Leticia, Leo was able, for the first time, to give his all against human opponents.
He no longer spared thought for his country or anyone else.
The sharpness of Leo's swordsmanship, focused solely on cutting down the enemies before him, was enough to make the mages facing him feel despair.
When they cast magic, he cut through it. When they tried to chant, he was already upon them before they could even notice. And once he closed the distance, he was so fast and powerful that no barrier could withstand his strike as it sent their heads flying.
"Impossible... Even if he's the Heroic Prince... This is almost..."
"A hero."
As the mage muttered those words, the mage's head went flying.
Leo murmured in response.
"Don't compare me to Elna. It would be disrespectful to her."
Saying that, Leo created flames in his right hand with magic.
Ahead of him, five mages were creating flames of their own.
Five against one.
Normally, this would have been a magical battle Leo could not possibly win. But he drew on the vast magical power inherited from his royal blood and created a massive flame, sending it flying.
The flames collided, but they could not even stalemate each other. Leo's flames swallowed the flames of the five mages, and the mages met the same fate.
Thanks in part to Leo's efforts, the mages disguised as villagers were almost completely subdued.
Seeing this, Leo searched for Noir.
Noir was smashing through the wall of one of the houses. He kept crying out from there.
Judging that something had to be there, Leo entered the half-destroyed house.
There was nothing unusual as far as he could see.
However, Leo did not miss the momentary sense of wrongness.
Beneath the broken bed, he felt something snagging there. Leo imbued his sword with magic and slashed once.
The barrier covering the area collapsed, revealing a hidden door leading underground.
"Here?"
"Your Highness!"
"I'm going in. Follow me."
Giving the brief order, Leo opened the hidden door with several Griffon Knights and entered the underground room below.
■■■
The basement was far larger than anyone could have imagined from outside.
But Leo single-mindedly swung his sword, subduing everything in his path.
Then Leo burst into one of the rooms.
"Stop him!!"
A barrier had been erected in the center of the room. The Holy Staff rested at the center of that barrier.
The moment he saw it, a sense of relief arose in Leo's heart.
It confirmed that she was here.
The mages in the room did not let that opening go to waste.
They closed in from both sides, trying to bombard Leo with magic at point-blank range.
But Leo countered them, letting his body react on its own.
"Don't—get in my way!"
Without even looking at the mages whose heads he had severed in one fluid motion, Leo struck the barrier. Then he seized the Holy Staff.
To Leo, who was not its wielder, it was nothing more than an ordinary staff.
Even so, it became a driving force that pushed Leo forward.
Leo headed toward the staircase beyond the room.
For some reason, he was certain.
Leticia was there.
So Leo descended the stairs, allowing his feet to carry him onward.
On the way, Leo cut down a man who blocked his path and reached the area containing the cells.
There, he found a robed old man named Auguste. A closed cell stood before him.
Leticia was in there. He could not see her, but he knew that much. At the same time, joy and anger began to well up in Leo's heart.
"Prince Leonart!?"
"I'm here to take Leticia back!"
Leo charged toward the final enemy, but Auguste blocked his advance.
Auguste had formed a wall out of dead spirits.
"Too bad! It is physically impossible to break through my wall of dead spirits!"
"!?"
Leo had sensed its danger before Auguste even explained it.
A horrifying wall of overlapping black smoke. The smoke gradually changed shape, becoming human faces.
A black wall formed from a multitude of faces.
Its sinister nature was unlike anything Leo had ever seen.
"A mage who manipulates the souls of those who died with lingering regrets! That is what a necromancer is! May the voices of their resentment consume you and drive you mad!"
Saying that, Auguste sent the completed wall advancing toward Leo.
In response, Leo took a breath and held his ground.
And then...
"That flame descended from the heavens, to save the righteous; supreme holy flame, burn nobly and annihilate all evil—Holy Blaze!"
He chanted a holy-magic spell.
Auguste was astonished by the advanced holy magic.
However, his composure did not waver.
"As expected of the Heroic Prince! You seem to have been blessed with talent! However! That level of power will never purify my army of dead spirits!"
There was not enough firepower to burn away a wall infused with countless dead spirits.
Auguste had realized that.
"You said you would take her back, but Saint Leticia already belongs to the Demon Lord's Order! We don't accept returns!"
Saying that, Auguste burst into loud laughter.
If Leo died like this, he would become an even more powerful dead spirit. The stronger one's regret and lingering attachment, the more powerful a dead spirit became.
To watch the woman he loved die before him, unable to save her.
Auguste laughed, imagining how deep Leo's regret would be, but Leo answered in an angry voice.
"I see... Then what I have to do is clear."
Saying that, Leo wrapped the holy flame residing in his left hand around the sword held in his right.
A magic sword.
It was a fusion of magic and swordsmanship—a technique for creating an artificial magic sword.
However, the more powerful the magic, the more difficult the technique became.
A magic sword using holy magic was the highest level of difficulty. After all, holy magic itself was the most difficult form of modern magic.
Yet Leo succeeded simply by coming up with the idea on the spot.
Even Auguste's eyes widened at that.
"What...!?"
"This is the first time... I've ever felt such a clear desire to kill someone!"
Saying that, Leo cut through the wall of dead spirits vertically.
The wall itself did not disappear. However, the sword cloaked in holy flame carved out a path through it.
Before the wall of dead spirits could fill the path, Leo charged straight toward Auguste.
"Damn!!"
Auguste had been certain his wall of dead spirits was absolute, so when it was breached, he panicked and unleashed other dead spirits at Leo.
But Leo swiftly cut them apart and closed in on Auguste.
"Wait! I'll give you back the Saint!"
"I don't need that! If she belongs to you, then, true to the Adler name, I'll plunder her from you!"
Saying that, Leo drove his sword through Auguste's chest.
Perhaps the holy flame judged Auguste, who had been stained by dead spirits, to be evil. It began burning his body from the inside out.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!"
With a death cry, Auguste began crumbling into dust.
Only after seeing Auguste turn completely to dust did Leo look toward the cell.