Ishura - Volume 2 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Sincerity

Back before the day when Gilnes the Ruined Castle was killed in a duel.

Two people were having a conversation in a small room inside the Aureatia Central Assembly Hall. The Second General, prestigious and popular with the citizenry, Rosclay the Absolute. With him, the central figure and adjudicator of the meeting discussing the Particle Storm threat, leading their interception operation to victory, Third Minister, Jelki the Swift Ink.

“That’s all of the details on their fighting power that were verified during the interception operation. As we hoped, Kuuro the Cautious gave detailed status reports. The confused melee was not what we had originally expected, but if anything, I consider it a windfall.”

Jelki reported all the confirmed information regarding the battle to Rosclay.

Kuuro the Cautious’s spotting was communication utilizing what was an exceptional long-distance relay for an individual comms operator.

As such, his communications did not solely reach the troops under Kayon the Thundering’s command at Sine Riverstead. There was someone inside Aureatia’s borders who had intercepted the transmissions from the beginning.

Third Minister Jelki had a handle on everything that occurred during the operation.

He was well aware of the appearance of both the self-proclaimed demon king Kiyazuna and Toroa the Awful. Additionally, he had a better grasp of both of their fighting techniques and how they chose to fight than Cayon, the one tasked with commanding the operation.

“Toroa the Awful. And this Mestelexil. Both of their abilities are unmistakably capable of threatening the nation. Both will need to be put down…or engaged during the royal games.”

“…Supposing they did put their name in to participate in the royal games, would you accept them?”

Finally, the last one given this information was Rosclay the Absolute, who hadn’t attended the original strategy meeting.

“We will dispose of them within the constraints of the games. Without letting them put their full powers on display.”

“Naturally, I intended to do that from the start… The royal games are our way to deal with such monsters.”

Aureatia’s champion, holding great prestige among the people, Rosclay. The head of commerce and trade, and cornerstone of domestic affairs, Jelki. They had colluded together from the beginning. Even the measures to quell the Particle Storm were being used to lay groundwork, getting hold of information on candidates whom Rosclay was likely to face.

“Ultimately, the Particle Storm vanished during this operation. It’s highly like he died. No one is likely to look into more information regarding the operation… Including that its passage through Sine Riverstead was information we added on our end.”

The strategy meeting had developed under the premise that the Gray-Haired Child’s forecast was correct. The Gray-Haired Child, based on the Particle Storm’s path he had obtained from his weather observation techniques, estimated that the Particle Storm’s true form was a living creature with a will of its own, and from examples of countries the Particle Storm had destroyed in the past, he predicted the objective behind its sudden movement was an attack on Aureatia.

Considering the actual path the Particle Storm took, it had a high probability of ending up that way. Still, a future where Atrazek moved in such a direction was simply a possibility. Not a fact certain to become reality.

Nevertheless, during their meeting, the certainty of the weather forecast became the focal point. The moment the information was demonstrated to be reliable, the accompanying information about its passage through Sine Riverstead was determined to be true as well.

“…But, Rosclay. Why didn’t you directly order Cayon to bring the Horizon’s Roar into action? Given the pretext of defending Aureatia itself, I imagine he would be forced to agree to your demands.”

“That’s not it. With this operation, it was necessary to have Cayon, Mele the Horizon’s Roar’s backer, propose the idea himself. It, of course, couldn’t come from me, nor from yourself, either. If another person directed him to do so, a man of Cayon’s caliber… He would suspect that person was scouting out their future opponent. Not only that, but I believe he’s already sensed we’re colluding together.”

The moment he was told the Particle Storm would pass through Sine Riverstead, Kayon no longer had any choice but to get the Horizon’s Roar involved. If Mele’s homeland of Sine Riverstead were destroyed, he would lose all reason to participate in the royal games with it.

With the simple act of adding some details to the report, he had swiftly gotten an opposing contender involved, without any need for bargaining.

“Cayon getting Mele to help also did us a favor by making the Star Runner and the Passing Disaster unnecessary. Using them would put our own side in danger. The best course of action is to exclude any wild cards.”

Everything was to protect Aureatia. The sole reasons behind Rosclay the Absolute preserving his reputation and using every method possible to desperately defend Aureatia were the nation’s citizens.

Jelki, as well, shared in this ideal. Now, with the True Demon King dead, he sought to remove any out-of-control champions from the world and create a nation where the people were free from strife.

The royal games to decide the Hero still haven’t even amassed all the participants yet. However…

It was different for them.

Different for these intellectual monsters, amassing information, devising schemes, and claiming victory long before the start of any match.

It’s long since started. No matter how strong they may be, they’ll be taken down before they can even enter the ring. It’s our job to give them the impression that it all begins with the players facing each other, waiting for the starting bell.

Jelki started to speak. At the very the least, there was one other monster of intellect out there. A threat they had postponed dealing with.

“…Rosclay. With that in mind, there’s one thing I’d like to tell you—”

“The Gray-Haired Child, I assume?”

“That’s right. Toroa the Awful. Kiyazuna the Axle. Finally, the Particle Storm. I believe there is someone besides us who tried to glean information regarding possible royal games contenders, induce three unrelated powers to cross swords in one place. Going forward, I think we will need to dispose of the Gray-Haired Child.”

For Kiyazuna the Axle’s involvement in this recent event, there was no doubt the forecasts dispersed by the Gray-Haired Child were the source of her information. Then, supposing the same individual used the information regarding the Blasting Blade in her possession to get Toroa the Awful involved…

“Is there anything linking the Gray-Haired Child to Toroa the Awful?”

“The method that Toroa used to catch up to the Particle Storm in the ravine. Eyewitness information continues to Togie City, but after that, he disappears without a trace…before suddenly appearing in that ravine. In other words…”

“There was someone who prepared a method of travel, carriage or otherwise, and moved him there.”

“Deliberately, on top of that, to make him engage Kiyazuna. Why would someone outside of Aureatia purposely be trying to obtain information on probable candidates for the games?”

“I see what you mean.”

That was to say—there was more than one person who thought along the same lines as Rosclay the Absolute.

“Like whether or not they’ve already been given a spot, or if there were definite plans to give them one down the line, perhaps.”

Rosclay contemplated. The Gray-Haired Child was not truly an ally to the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists to any degree, even while doing business with them. There had to be a clear goal or purpose in his actions.

“Considering the end results, the predicted path of the Particle Storm the Gray-Haired Child sold off to each of the major powers guided the Old Kingdoms swiftly to destruction… They were bribed by false victory prospects, and their hurried offensive preparations led to their crushing defeat. Then, if my assumption’s correct, the power the Gray-Haired Child is now currently affiliated with is—”

Rosclay placed his finger on a spot on the map covering the table.

“—The Free City of Okahu. Can you look into it?”

“Okahu… I agree it was a bit of an unnatural movement on their part to back down in the middle of our war with the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists. We need to look and see if they’ve been active at all behind the scenes.”

“If anything, their movements advanced our plan. As a result of the Gray-Haired Child’s actions, the two powers hindering the start of the royal games have been taken care of. Then, from this stage, he’s been investigating candidates, practically screening them himself…”

“In other words, the Gray-Haired Child is also trying to make us start the royal games.”

“Yes.”

Without any hostility, without even getting directly involved himself, there was someone far outside Aureatia’s borders manipulating the government and trying to push the royal games forward.

If he had some aim in doing so, what could it be? What sort of final conclusion could these intellectual monsters be aiming for once the fighting was over?

“Jelki the Swift Ink. I’d like to place my confidence in your abilities and ask for your help. With this series of actions from the Gray-Haired Child in mind, I ask you to pay the absolute most attention possible to his movements going forward.”

“…You think he’ll become Aureatia’s enemy?”

“I’m asking precisely because we don’t know for sure.”

The greatest royal tournament in history, to determine a Hero.

Should it truly become a battle to greatly change the whole breadth of history, then it was unlikely to be simple duels among the powerful.

Aureatia. The Free City of Okahu. Obsidian Eyes.

The scheming shura capable of changing the world itself were spreading their roots.

“Requesting support! Kiyazuna the Axle spotted! I repeat, we’ve encountered the self-proclaimed demon king, Kiyazuna! With our troops alone, we are unable to handle anything beyond observing her movements! Requesting backup from Aureatia’s main force!”

The rank-and-file soldiers maneuvered frantically, maintaining a fixed distance coming out from cover and surrounding the elderly woman. Readying themselves to fire the exact moment they saw any movement, they prayed their backup would be there in time.

To the small Aureatia border patrol, she was a terrifying person to come across.

A nightmare, like a child walking just outside their house’s garden and coming face-to-face with a malevolent dragon.

“Dammit, why she gotta be strolling into Aureatia…! We’re just supposed to be out on patrol!”

“Sheesh, buncha loudmouths, eh?”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Are, are they in, the way?! Mama! I… I know! If they’re, in our way, I should, clean them up, right? I w-wonder, what their en-trails, are like?!”

The golem accompanying the self-proclaimed demon king Kiyazuna appeared at first glance to be a minian-shaped golem, with no quirks or specialized functionalities. But it only appeared that way.

So long as the weapon was of her creation, they needed to consider it an authentic supernatural threat, wholly impossible to deal with through normal means. Kiyazuna the Axle was the demon king who managed to alter an entire city into becoming her Dungeon Golem.

“Nah, just play nice. At least, for now.”

Completely baffling to each of the soldiers there, the self-proclaimed demon king, known for her wickedness, showed no signs of hostility. They were terrified that over a third of them would be annihilated, depending on the nature of her first attack.

“…Awful! C’mon, this bread’s hard as a rock and tastes awful! Hey, Mestelexil, can you make us up a toaster? Instead of just using Thermal Arts to burn it, you got some smart theoretical something you can wipe up, don’cha?”

“Got it! L-Leave it, to me! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Ah, great, now it’s pitch-black. I didn’t say to just torch it normally. Bread’s awful anyway, I guess.”

The two could be described as Aureatia’s most heinous criminals of all, and even while surrounded by soldiers, with their arrowheads staring them down, the two of them were squatted down in the road taking a break for food. Kiyazuna barked once more.

“Listen, you idiots! I’ve already talked with the bigwigs! Let me through, or your salary’s in trouble!”

“Save your nonsense, self-proclaimed demon king!”

One of the younger soldiers angrily replied from somewhere, terrifying the commander.

Hot-blooded soldiers with a strong sense of justice. Absolutely not the correct way to handle their current predicament.

“We’re not letting a villainous crone like you take a single step on Aureatia soil! Today’s the day you suffer and pay for all the citizen’s lives you’ve trampled over!”

“Oh, is it now…? Whoa, Mestelexil, where the heck did you learn the Order’s script?! That stuff’ll turn your brain to mush. Stick with the writing from the Beyond.”

“I-I am practicing, writing on, the ground! Doing it, every day, is best! I will, get smarter, too! I will become, knowledgeable, like Mama!”

“Hee-hee-hee! Aw, you’re so cute!”

Though the two considered this part of their pastoral everyday life, to the soldiers surrounding them, it felt like they were standing in front of a bomb that could go off at any moment.

The slightest move could trigger the attack, and then which soldier there would be the first to fall?

“… Commander, they’ve arrived! The reinforcements are here!”

“Is that them? Wait…a single regiment? Against Kiyazuna the Axle?”

Off in the distance, the commander could see what did appear to be Aureatia reinforcements. One single regiment of them.

“What the hell’re you all doing?”

The man commanding the unit was known as the fiercest and most militant civil servant—Fourth Minister, Kaete the Round Table.

A cold-blooded glare flickering from his strong, intense face, as he immediately began denouncing the soldiers encircling the pair.

“Which one of you received the report? You should’ve been notified to immediately break off this nonsense encirclement.”

“B-but, sir…! There was no way we could realistically do such a thing!”

“Which one of you dared to backtalk me? If you’re looking to lose your head, I’ll happily grant your wish. Let her through.”

Kaete the Round Table’s words were clear as day, and his orders distinctly reached all the soldiers there.

That was precisely why they were so bewildered, believing there had to be some greater design behind the meaning of his order.

“Um…”

“Are your skulls too thick? I said let her through.”

They couldn’t believe it, letting the self-proclaimed demon king through, a frightening menace to the world for many long years, just like that?

Kiyazuna the Axle leisurely stood up, chuckling to herself as she did.

“What did I tell ya? See, Mestelexil and I? We’re Hero candidates.”

“Y-yup! I will, become the Hero! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! I will, be so, cool!”

“D-don’t be ridiculous! A soldier of a self-proclaimed demon king, the Hero?! Your wicked lies have gone too far!”

“You’re the one making the fuss. Beheading it is, then.”

A single glare from the Fourth Minister shut the soldier up. Within Kaete’s words, and his intimidating air, was the power to truly make them fear they would be beheaded.

“Putting down self-proclaimed demon kings hiding out in each region. Sabotaging the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists’ rear encampment. Trapping and beating back the Particle Storm—all of her activities were under my orders. Let me ask you fools instead, are there any among you who can claim to have done more to serve Aureatia than Kiyazuna and Mestelexil here? Go ahead, tell me.”

Kaete gazed out over the cowering soldiers.

“What’s wrong? I told you to answer me.”

“Hee, hee, hee, hee!”

Kiyazuna laughed in delight. Self-proclaimed demon kings, the greatest enemies to peace. The general wisdom said she only ever laughed when she was involved in some sort of wicked deed, or when her children were involved.

“Rest easy, all of ya! Kiyazuna the Axle here’s hitchin’ her wagon to Aureatia!”

Kaete turned back to Aureatia, the sinister duo in tow. Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge—an invincible trump card, able to upend all the world’s knowledge and turn it on its head.

Rosclay. I will make absolutely certain you’re not the only one taking the lead in the royal games.

The lone hero. There was someone trying to use that hero’s existence to firmly solidify their authority.

While others plotted to topple such authority.

“You’re awake. Good.”

When he awoke from the blackness of death, a death god was standing at his bedside.

In which case, he might indeed have been in a hellish afterlife. He considered that if the world reflected in his eyes was indeed such an afterlife, he was okay with it.

—No, that alone wasn’t enough. Kuuro the Cautious wheezed as he endured his pain.

“……Is Cuneigh…here?”

“Been worried about you the whole time. She really adores you.”

“…I haven’t done anything for her. If anything…I’ve been awful. Ever since we met…I haven’t given her a single reason to care about me… Funny, isn’t it?”

There hadn’t been any type of dramatic event to start it all. During his meager life as a detective, they happened across each other, and his sight piqued her curiosity. That and… The two of them had both been alone.

“Listen… Toroa the Awful. You’ve come back from hell, right…?”

“Yeah.”

“…Do homunculi die eventually, too?”

Toroa nodded. Kuuro knew himself it was a foolish question. Really, he had been scared of this from the start.

“How am I supposed to repay her? Cuneigh’s… She’s always been there to save me…”

“Can I give you a simple answer?”

The death god’s eyes stayed fixed on the floor as he responded with detachment.

“Just be there for her. Chat with her, sharing memories and commenting on the scenery. That’s plenty… As long as someone’s got a sanctuary for their soul, they’ll keep going as far as they can go.”

“……”

“Even to the farthest reaches of hell.”

“…I wanted to use Cuneigh for myself. I wanted to convince myself there was a reason we were together.”

He wanted to think that Cuneigh was saving him in exchange for a reward. That she trusted Kuuro because she was foolish.

“I’m scared when things don’t have a reason.”

“I don’t know about your life… But not everyone you come across is out to use you, right?”

“…Trying to use somebody means that you have to trust them, right?”

At the very least, that was how it had been in Kuuro’s world. He though the same even now.

“Even the ones who shot me believed that I’d be able to stop the Particle Storm. That’s why they were able to wait until I did. If you don’t truly trust whoever you’re dealing with, you can’t use them at all, right…”

Maybe that was why Cuneigh’s confidence in him, free of any self-interest, was so terrifying to him.

“If that’s how you see it…then she might’ve lost any worth she has to you. I heard about your clairvoyance from her. Right now, you can trust your own eyes more than anything else, right?”

“…Then why?”

Kuuro weakly mumbled.

“Then why do I still want us to be together?”

“Those feelings of yours, that’s Cuneigh’s reason.”

The death god’s words finally made him understand. Understand what she had been thinking for so long.

As long as he could be together with Cuneigh, it didn’t matter where he went.

He wanted to see more, to the very ends of the world.

“Looks like you don’t need me to look after you anymore. I’m leaving. I doubt we’ll meet again.”

“…Thank you, Toroa the Awful. Make sure you don’t get used either.”

“Who do you think I am?”

The ill-omened Grim Reaper went to leave the infirmary, putting his hand on the door.

He saw the person resting on top of the chair awake and raise her head.

A winged homunculus, small enough to sit in the palm of his hand.

“…Toroa?”

“Clairvoyance, you called it? Kuuro’s power is quite something.”

Toroa muttered, his hand still resting on the door.

“He brought you along to that harsh battlefield and protected you to the end. Have you thought about the reason why?”

Cuneigh the Wanderer was never going to help observe the Particle Storm. Kuuro never even let her out from inside his coat once.

“That’s because I insisted on coming with him…”

“…Nah. I think…he was inadvertently choosing the best possible future. If he hadn’t been there with him, no one would’ve asked us to save him. You valiantly saved his life.”

“Huh.… Saved his life…? Kuuro’s life…?”

“That’s right. He woke up.”

There was a slight pause. Thick tears fell from the young girl’s eyes.

Her wings flickered. She called out a name.

“Kuuro… Kuuro!”

Toroa the Awful smiled faintly underneath his hood.

It was time for the death god to leave.

The same day, the Sine Riverstead’s Needle Forest was bustling with an unusual amount of activity.

“Meleee! Hey, is it true you fired your bow?!”

“So that bow wasn’t just for show after all!”

“No use trying to hide it! There’s plenty of kids that say they saw the stars!”

“Gah, shaddup already.”

Sprawled out facedown on the ground, Mele the Horizon’s Roar languidly moved his hand, trying to disperse the village children crowded on the hill.

Although the Aureatia army had evacuated the village during his long-range attack, the word spread in an instant among the Sine Riverstead and the villagers who knew Mele. Mele had woken up in the morning and shot arrows. Lots of arrows, at that.

“Whether I’m shooting arrows or breaking wind, what do any of you care? I’m trying to sleep here.”

“It’s already past noon, you lazy bum!”

One young boy kicked Mele’s fingernail. Despite being subjected to the treatment, the village’s guardian deity simply let out a yawn.

“Hey, hey, how many do you think he shot?”

A deeply curious young girl asked, gazing out at the Needle Forest.

“Mele, you shot a bunch of arrows, right? Just what sorta game were you hunting with all that, anyway?”

“Gotta be wyverns, right? He even eats them sometimes.”

“I bet the Aureatia arm set up this huuuuge target and made him hit it! If he’s gonna go up against Rosclay, they gotta at least make sure he can handle that!”

The Particle Storm once approaching Sine Riverstead, thanks to the life-threatening spotting from Kuuro the Cautious, was shot down long before ever reaching the region. No one in the village was aware of the fact.

“Hey, hey, Mele, how many did you fire?”

The gigant turned over in his sleep. The children who were tickling his feet squealed with laughter as they ran away from his shifting soles. The champion looked up at the sky and smiled.

“…Wasn’t really that big a deal, anyway.”

He was never without an optimistic smile.

There he was, without losing anything he cared about.

“Mele.”

A young boy ran up toward his face. He was a small boy. One of the other children must have carried him up here.

“Here. This is for you.”

It was an awkwardly made papercraft sword, smaller than one of Mele’s eyelashes.

He couldn’t even hold it between two fingers, let alone in his whole hand.

“Whoa, what the heck’s this supposed to be? This ain’t gonna be enough to fill me up!”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! You better not actually eat it, Mele!”

“You always eat everything!”

“Gwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don’t any of you brats know how to be quiet?!”

As he joked around with the children, he wrapped both hands around his precious paper treasure.

To the god who protected the Sine Riverstead with his supernatural skills, this paper sword was more than enough of a reward.

“Oh, hey! You’re Toroa the Awful!”

Aureatia was a peaceful city. He carried his numerous blades as he walked, so most of the city’s citizens gave him a wide berth.

Hence, the child approaching him without any hesitation was an extremely rare sight indeed.

“It really is you! Wow, you know, I’ve been so curious, see, ever since I heard those reports back in Gumana!”

“What do you want?”

“Huh?”

He was a boy of about sixteen years old. His clothes themselves were of quality make, and he wasn’t very tall.

“If you know that I’m Toroa the Awful, then you wouldn’t get close to me without some reason, would you?”

“Hmmm, a reason… I wonder. Because you’re cool?”

“‘Cool’?”

The young boy unreservedly smacked his hands on the enchanted swords Toroa carried on his back.

“Don’t. Some of the blades’ll kill you at the slightest touch.”

“Are all of them enchanted swords? Wow, that’s so awesome. Are you really missing the Luminous Blade? Rumor has it Alus the Star Runner nabbed it from you.”

“…Before that. Who are you? Tell me.”

“Mizial the Iron-Piercing Plumeshade.”

A smile filled with confidence swelled on the young boy’s face.

“Twenty-Second General of Aureatia. Amazing, right?! At my age, too!”

“Aureatia’s… I see. You’re the kid who was at the Gumana Trading Post, then. Never expected you’d be one of the Twenty-Nine Officials.”

“Wanna participate in the games?”

Mizial incoherently jumped at the proposal. His thoughts immediately spilled out of his mouth.

“I’ll back you. I’m sure everyone’ll be totally shocked.”

“…The imperial competition to decide the Hero?”

—I’m certain you’ll get your chance to fight Alus the Star Runner.

A place where no one will intervene, no fear of getting others involved—a stage where they can fight each other one-on-one. Exactly as the Gray-Haired Child had told him, such an opportunity did indeed wait for him in Aureatia.

In order to appear in that fight, the backing from one of the Twenty-Nine Officials was absolutely necessary. Toroa the Awful, and the enchanted swords not to be in the hands of anyone else, would need to battle at the behest of another.

He had decided not to get involved in fights like that.

“I’m the enchanted-swordsman slaying Toroa the Awful. Why would you pick someone like me for a battle with pride and honor on the line?”

“Huh? Hmm, good question… I’m sure the others in the Twenty-Nine would give a bunch of reasons, but…”

Aureatia’s youngest male general thought for a brief moment, before muttering as though he was speaking to himself—

“Because I’d enjoy it.”

“……”

“The legendary monster of scary stories everywhere, back from hell—that’s definitely gonna be awesome.”

Kuuro the Cautious had warned him mere moments prior not to let anyone use him.

Many conspiracies were circulating behind the scenes of the royal games, giving birth to both advantage takers and those being taken advantage of.

Nevertheless, such appallingly meaningless affairs were still common throughout their world.

“You think a worthless reason like that is enough to get me on board?”

“Aww. I don’t really think it’s that worthless if you ask me. Oh well, if you don’t want to, then that’s fine.”

Mizial put both hands behind his back and smoothly turned away from Toroa.

“But if you decide you want to, you hafta come tell me, okay? I decided that I was gonna be the one to sponsor you no matter what!”

Toroa watched as the young boy’s back slowly slipped out of sight.

The Grim Reaper muttered to no one but himself.

“…I’m not going to be anyone’s plaything.”

In this world there were always those taking advantage of others, and those being taken advantage of.

And the…there were those who couldn’t be taken advantage of by anyone at all.