Ishura - Volume 7 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10- Turbid Waters

The military barracks office. Hidow the Clamp had only been inside the room a handful of times, even during his time as one of the Twenty-Nine Officials. It was essentially the living space of the Twenty-Seventh General in command of the military, Haade the Flashpoint.

However, this time, Haade was confronting Hidow with a different face.

“Real stroke of bad luck, eh, Hidow?”

Opposite Hidow, sitting with his legs crossed in the visitor’s chair, Haade puffed on his cigar on the other side of his large desk.

Wrinkles and white hair accumulated over his many years, as well as a sharp gleam in his eye that showed no signs of waning.

The fact that he treated Hidow with the same attitude after he had been expelled from the assembly and reverted to being just a young noble was really an expression of Haade’s power and composure.

“Sounds like that old fart Iriolde’s taken an awful strong liking to you, eh? I bet it must’ve been a real nuisance coming up with all the mess going on, but I’ve some circumstances of my own, and that means I gotta keep on his good side.”

“The leader of the world’s largest army is scared of an old codger on his deathbed? Pretty pathetic to hear, Haade.”

“Gwah-hah-hah! Don’t say that. I plan on getting back at that old dog in my own way.”

The largest opposition force against Rosclay’s reformation group, presently the mainstream faction amongst the Aureatia Assembly. This was the military faction under Haade’s command—or that was how it was perceived by society at large.

However, above that was an even greater mastermind proceeding with a plan to overthrow Aureatia.

That mastermind was the former Fifth Minister, Iriolde the Atypical Tome.

Economic support for the New Principality of Lithia’s independence. Taking over the Toghie City assembly for the Old Kingdoms’ loyalist uprising. It was said that Iriolde’s powerful connections and resources lay behind the scenes of the numerous disturbances that suddenly occurred ahead of the Sixways Exhibition. If anything, it was unnatural that a player as dangerous as him hadn’t been assassinated following his expulsion from the Aureatia Assembly…

“You and your military…were sheltering him from the very beginning, weren’t you? Well then, of course all that time would pass by without him ever getting caught, huh?! What the hell were you thinking during Alus’s attack? You’re telling me you feigned ignorance, collaborated with Rosclay…while the whole time secretly scheming to overthrow Aureatia?”

“Of course.” Haade answered Hidow’s denunciation without so much as a twitch. “If Aureatia really does end up in ruins, I’d be in trouble, obviously, but Iriolde would be, too. I mean, he’s doing all this because of how much he wants Aureatia for himself. Hell, for Lithia and Toghie, it was all just about pecking away at the reformation party’s ability to respond to things… The actual Sixways Exhibition started without any incident, right? Gathering up threats to Aureatia and disposing of them meant that his interests aligned with Rosclay’s factions—at least partway through, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Iriolde doesn’t even think there needs to be any Hero in the first place.”

“…”

He wanted the Hero who defeated the True Demon King.

All the people who lived in this world longed for them. Even Rosclay and that ice-cool and composed Jelky were acting to make this sole longing of the age come to fruition.

“So, Hidow. We’re thinking it’s about time to put an end to this whole farce.”

“Hold up…! You’re going to halt the Sixways Exhibition midway through?! Sure, Iriolde may be fine with all that, but do all the people below him know?!”

“Gwah… I mean. Hell, I want a Hero, too. Thing is, see. For all of us who know the behind-the-scenes details, we know that any hero decided by the Sixways Exhibition will still ultimately be a phony. We’re all hellbent on some crap we never believed in to begin with… Ridiculous, don’t you think?”

“…”

What Haade said wasn’t wrong. There hadn’t been a day during the Sixways Exhibition, while everyone was desperately fighting, that Hidow hadn’t felt doubts about his actions. Even then, as one of the Twenty-Nine Officials, he needed to believe that the symbol of the Hero would truly bring salvation to the people.

However, some aberrations didn’t share this same ideology.

The shura, who believed themselves strongest of all. The Gray-Haired Child, from beyond this belief of theirs.

Or others like Haade and Iriolde, who didn’t believe in anything but power.

“…What are you going to do about the hero candidates? There’s no other way to get rid of them all without using an opportunity like this!”

“Not so sure about that. With the first round over, the players left on the Sixways Exhibition stage are… Psianop. Lucnoca. Soujirou. Rosclay. Kuze. Shalk. Uhak. Mele losing one eye may’ve been a windfall, but there are still others like Kia or Mestelexil who are gonna need to be dealt with outside the tournament structure. If the goal was just to measure their fighting power, the first round was enough to do the job. Among the eight left…how many can only be killed within the confines of the Sixways Exhibition?”

“…Lucnoca the Winter. She’ll only come out of Igania Ice Lake and fly to the Mali Wastes on her own for the Sixways Exhibition. She wants to enjoy herself fighting, so she won’t imagine that she’s falling into a trap. Beyond the Sixways Exhibition, there are no circumstances that would make it possible for minian races to battle Lucnoca the Winter profitably.”

“See, you get it. So if Lucnoca’s disposed of in the next match, then the Sixways Exhibition is over.”

“We wouldn’t have so much trouble if it was that simple.”

Originally, Rosclay had the same plan. They’d make both Alus and Lucnoca fight to the death in the second match, and they’d annihilate the other with Aureatia’s combined forces. However, Lucnoca’s fighting capabilities eclipsed all predictions, as if she existed in a completely different dimension. And even Alus, supposedly killed in battle, made a monstrous recovery and launched an immense attack on Aureatia.

As a result, the combined forces of the hero candidates and Aureatia’s full military might had been needed to face Alus the Star Runner. There was absolutely no hope of coming up with a countermeasure against the healthy Lucnoca.

“I saw the second match. Aureatia can’t kill Lucnoca.”

“Pfft. Don’t tell me that testimony of yours is the only grounds for all of this. Rosclay and his buddies are making their moves fully aware of the discrepancy in fighting power, right?”

“…? Of course it’s not. Our camp isn’t a place where personal judgments without evidence are taken at face value. No clue about how it goes for all of you, though.”

“Forget it. It’s basically just what I imagined. Rosclay doesn’t intend to make any moves during the ninth match.”

Before Hidow could ask Haade more, there was a knock from the other side of the office door.

Haade urged them to enter without sparing a look in their direction.

“Excuse me, General Haade. I have information to report regarding our investigation, but…”

The soldier glanced over at Hidow sitting in his chair.

“Oh, you can ignore him; he’s fine. Go ahead.”

“…Yessir. Indeed, the reformation faction’s military shows no signs of any activity. In addition to no flow of personnel, there’s nothing to suggest the magic tools stored in each region were brought forth, either… The only remaining possibility is deploying the hero candidates, but—”

“No movement from them, either.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“I figured at least they’d make Mele provide ballistic fire, but…in that case, it’ll mean that Lucnoca the Winter will be completely let loose during the ninth match, huh? Watching on the sides and kicking her extermination down the road.”

Even after he made the messenger leave the room, Haade appeared to be spending a long time thinking things over.

“…”

Appeared to be—since to Hidow, it felt like Haade was trying to pretend that the conclusion he had already reached in his mind was instead an answer he got after thinking it over.

“Hey, Hidow… Looks like we’re just gonna have to do it.”

Haade then spread his mouth into a hitherto unseen, and pleased, smile.

“…You’re kidding,” Hidow could only reply in blank amazement. “You all are going to take on Lucnoca the Winter?”

“I saw it the same way; Aureatia can’t beat that thing. But we’re not the Aureatia army. Even up against an opponent like Lucnoca the Winter, we have plenty of tricks that only we can use.”

It wasn’t that sort of problem at all. He was going off the rails.

Haade’s decision would simply lead to pouring fighting power—meant to be deployed in overthrowing Aureatia—up against an opponent like Lucnoca and exhausting it all. Even if they did manage to defeat her, what exactly would they do after?

What was going through Haade and Iriolde’s mind about what waited for them at the end of this fight?

“What the hell are you smiling about…Haade?”

“You think it’s weird for me to smile? We’re the only ones who get to wage war against the strongest dragon of all…”

Haade the Flashpoint. The strongest military officer standing atop Aureatia. Soujirou the Willow-Sword’s sponsor.

This old general possessed a certain abnormal temperament, one which he shared with the visitor he sponsored.

“I absolutely love war.”