Ishura - Volume 7 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12- Victor

The spacious marble room had a far chillier impression than the actual temperature suggested.

While the reception hall had been owned by aristocratic lineages from the time of the Central Kingdom, Iriolde the Atypical Tome could use such facilities freely regardless of whether he was invited or not.

“The True Demon King. A name that now brings back fond memories.”

Sitting across the large table from Rosclay the Absolute, it appeared that the outrageous comment wasn’t silly nonsense or a bluff, but words spoken truly from the heart.

There wasn’t anyone who could talk of the True Demon King like they were a bygone terror. Fully understanding this for himself, Iriolde was still able to pretend otherwise. His voice and way of speaking were one aspect of the power that made Iriolde the Atypical Tome the Fifth Minister once before, bringing him to the nucleus of Aureatia.

“The days and months pass by so very quickly. Now, the people appear to fear a new threat in place of the True Demon King, yes…? I imagine you must be at quite a loss yourself about how to soothe them, Rosclay.”

“No, never.”

Rosclay flashed a perfectly symmetrical smile.

On his left sat Ninth General Yaniegiz the Chisel, keeping a strained and tense watch over Iriolde’s every move. The only others present were Iriolde’s four bodyguards.

Aureatia’s light and shadow. Rosclay and Iriolde hadn’t directly confronted each other like this since Iriolde had been expelled.

“As you’re well aware, we used Aureatia’s might to take down Alus the Star Runner. Similarly, Lucnoca the Winter…can no longer become a demon king at this point.”

“Impressive, Rosclay the Absolute. Correct…you seem to have a very correct understanding of the situation.”

Iriolde extended a gnarled fingertip from his pure white robe.

“The monster’s death brings a true sense of relief. The strongest of all dragons, a potential threat to Aureatia…and to the last habitat of the minian races, has finally been killed. A truly joyous event, yes…”

“I agree. Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation, having defeated Lucnoca the Winter, is a powerful champion worthy of the title of Hero. He gives hope for the future of the Sixways Exhibition.”

No matter how detached from the actual reality of events it was, Rosclay had to treat it as such.

Without any civilians to witness it, they needed to prove that Psianop the Inexhaustible Stagnation was a champion who defeated Lucnoca the Winter in a just fight, and eventually prove that the True Hero surpassed this strength.

“Psianop. Oh yes, Psianop, hmm… An ooze killed the strongest dragon in history. Who is going to believe that…? Even at this stage, you still plan on holding the matches, do you?”

Iriolde the Atypical Tome revealing himself on the main stage and setting up a personal meeting with Rosclay like this—it could only mean one thing.

“True duel matches to determine the True Hero. There’s no longer any need…to keep up this charade. I believe we both already know…a way to ensure there won’t be any more needless damages and sacrifices…”

The winds of the political strife had firmly shifted.

He was conveying to Rosclay his declaration of victory over Aureatia’s political regime.

Iriolde, as he hid in the shadows behind Haade, wasn’t fixed on winning the Sixways Exhibition. His aim was to obtain the status of a champion on par with the True Hero through far more direct methods.

Famed to be the strongest to ever have lived, Lucnoca the Winter had indeed been worthy of such an achievement.

In all of history, there hadn’t been anyone capable of bringing her down. She was a legend who had been around far longer than the True Demon King.

“I don’t believe that suspending the Sixways Exhibition is the method.”

“Rosclay. You… You’re still young. A wonderful thing. However, as a result, you lagged one step behind the gambit to slay Lucnoca… Haade the Flashpoint acted far more quickly than you did. He got out ahead of you and resolved to protect the citizens of Aureatia, regardless of how much of his military force he needed to exhaust to do so.”

While possessing a military force on par or potentially surpassing the reformation faction, Iriolde hadn’t kept it for the military confrontation during the overthrow of Aureatia, but instead, he trained it on Lucnoca to gain superior legitimacy over the reformation faction.

No matter how much power Iriolde’s camp may have possessed, given their position as usurpers, they lacked this legitimacy. If they truly got the people on their side, they would resolve the general situation without it ever reaching a military confrontation. Suspending the Sixways Exhibition was the first step.

“In another pleasing turn of events, Haade shares my feelings as well… He believes that the Sixways Exhibition is nothing but a disaster for Aureatia, inviting Alus the Star Runner, Lucnoca the Winter…Kiyazuna the Axle, this vampire group, and other such individuals… The safety of the citizenry is more important than the renown of the Hero. I am sure you agree with me in that regard…”

“With all due respect… Minister Iriolde. Authority over the continuation of the Sixways Exhibition lies with the Aureatia Assembly and Her Majesty the Queen. No matter what situation may arise, Aureatia’s prestige is staked on seeing it through to the end. In other words, it is not something that can be influenced by my opinion or yours.”

“Oh, no, no, no… Heh-heh-heh.”

Iriolde laughed, looking deeply amused, before repeating Rosclay’s words.

“‘No matter what situation may arise.’”

Even Rosclay, with his clear intellect and insight, when confronted with the man, was unable to read Iriolde’s true intentions.

Iriolde possessed terrifying and extraordinary powers all his own.

“…Thinking on it now, it’s been nothing but that kind of talk during this whole event. Unrivaled superpowered abilities. Deathly sublime technique. Undefeated myths. An absolute champion. Heh-heh. Pleasing, hollow words, yes? It’s as if you almost want such things to exist.”

“…”

“‘No matter what situation may arise.’ You said it yourself. The question then is, has everything in this battle been within the scope of your expectations?”

Though he knew Iriolde was inciting him, Rosclay couldn’t help turning the question over in his thoughts.

Mainly since it was an instinctual habit that Rosclay had ingrained in himself.

Kia the World Word. Perhaps that would fit the bill.

The young girl who nearly ruined Rosclay’s whole plan from the very first round.

There still wasn’t anyone who had a grasp on exactly what level of Word Arts user she was. His knees, destroyed with just a single word from Kia, would cost a small fortune to treat.

What of the hypothesis that this was all a part of Iriolde’s plot?

No.

That incident had to have been a scheme of Elea the Red Tag alone.

If someone else had backed Elea, she would have found a pawn to put forward that was far more suitable and easier to rein in than Jivlart the Ash Border.

The reason Elea the Red Tag failed in her rebellion despite having such a powerful player under her control was that she was alone…and had to carry everything out by herself, not even conspiring with Kia.

What about the possibility that Iriolde arranged for Lucnoca the Winter to join the tournament?

If there was another unforeseen matter, it was the presence of Lucnoca the Winter.

Quite capable of bringing ruin to Aureatia herself, it was realistically impossible for Rosclay’s camp to remove her as they first expected to—a subjugation prompted by labeling her a self-proclaimed demon king.

The possibility that there was a backer of some kind behind Harghent’s quest to find her.

“Now then, Minister Iriolde. I could take that to mean you expected everything. Is it safe to assume that would include Lucnoca the Winter’s involvement as well?”

“Kweh-heh-heh. I’m not falling for that… I’m diametrically opposed to doctrines of destruction. I’ve never thought even in my wildest dreams about destroying Aureatia. The one who invited Lucnoca the Winter… Oh, what was it again…? I don’t remember his name, but it was just pure folly.”

“Yes, I think so as well. Even you can’t keep everything cleanly in the palm of your hand.”

Iriolde’s camp intended to saddle Lucnoca the Winter with the role of killable demon king, as the new threat to the minian races following the True Demon King.

There was never any guarantee of success, even if he had such a plan from the start.

He’s not lying… They weren’t manipulating Harghent, nor did they anticipate Lucnoca the Winter’s presence…

If there was a duty to search out Lucnoca, they had plenty of people more capable than Harghent to choose from. Was there anyone who could have ever imagined that he would manage to successfully negotiate with Lucnoca the Winter? It had been impossible for even Alus the Star Runner to accurately gauge the legendary dragon’s power.

Rosclay judged that these unforeseen developments on his end hadn’t been set up from the beginning by Iriolde.

…He’s just spouting words to confuse me. My hypotheses haven’t given way yet.

“You’re really thinking, aren’t you, Rosclay? Your abilities to meditate and speculate on things are truly wonderful. It’s…a strength far greater than what the citizens esteem you for. Far more wonderful than that ‘Absolute’ second name of yours…”

“Yes. My second name is indeed Absolute. Minister Iriolde, since we’ve been gifted with this opportunity to chat, I wouldn’t want to bother you with idle talk.”

“Kweh-heh-heh. Don’t say that. You aren’t at all interested in joining hands without a struggle and moving Aureatia forward together? That proposal…is why I’m here talking to you in person. If you act now…no one will be hurt.”

Even Iriolde must not have thought that these words would seriously change Rosclay’s mind.

He had arranged this sparsely attended meeting to make it clear that he had more than enough chance of victory. He was trying to plant a seed of doubt in Rosclay that he had contact with others like this and to make Rosclay’s camp fall into dysfunction.

“I wish to entrust the government with you…to the young… I truly wish for it. A new country needs to begin. Aureatia is meant to be reformed.”

Aureatia needed to be reformed. Rosclay was thinking the same thing.

However, not through Iriolde’s methods.

If they tried to control this world without eradicating the terror of the True Demon King, that terror was bound to one day bring it all down. Even right now, with all focus on the Sixways Exhibition, there were signs of it.

Both Rosclay and Jelky wanted a Hero because they understood the terror the people felt.

“Rosclay the Absolute. I wonder if that second name hasn’t become a bit empty. Can you vow that there isn’t any part of your heart that resents the foolish people…? We gave the citizens too much freedom. We accidentally gave them the freedom to depend on champions, to fear, and to go mad. The terror of the True Demon King. Belief and faith in champions. The nonstop influx of culture from the Beyond. Mutant species. Visitors. A future where all such elements of chaos are put in order is guaranteed to become a world that needs no artificial hero…”

“…I intended on keeping quiet, but…”

Yaniegiz the Chisel had indeed kept silent up until that moment.

He kicked back his chair, standing up, and even began to put his hand on his sword.

Iriolde’s elven bodyguards immediately took aim at Yaniegiz. He continued to talk without paying them any thought.

“I have to ask…just how long is some crusty old codger…not even a bureaucrat steering the government…going to mistakenly believe he’s standing on equal footing here?! You think that Rosclay is going to lose to someone like—”

“Hmm? He’s already lost, hasn’t he?”

Iriolde actually looked happy as he replied.

“You already lost a long time ago, ever since you were made to choose the bracket that had you facing Haade in the second round… Am I wrong, Rosclay?”

“…Well.”

Rosclay the Absolute held the power to determine a tournament schedule that guaranteed him victory.

That very fact had been the strongest card that even a normal person like Rosclay could play within the Sixways Exhibition, where monsters that eclipsed the very limit of imagination gathered.

“Kweh-heh. You see… I understand your feelings very well, Rosclay. There isn’t anyone capable of constant, nonstop success…no one who can pick out the correct answer from all possible options without ever making an error. Despite that, there are so many imbeciles like that Yaniegiz over there who irresponsibly seek perfection from others.”

“The meeting’s over! Iriolde!”

Yaniegiz appeared on the verge of cutting Iriolde down, regardless of the consequences.

“I suppose that is the wise choice here.”

Iriolde slowly stood up.

Right before he left the room, he looked at Rosclay and twisted his mouth up.

“There’s no one who will understand you.”

“…”

Rosclay had no words to shoot back at him.

Left behind with Yaniegiz in the white hall, and maintaining the silence in the room, Rosclay might have come across as a pitiful, defeated loser.

“Yaniegiz.”

“Yes?”

However, Rosclay the Absolute was a champion who had continued to win by inevitability.

The expression Rosclay wore in such moments was different from Iriolde’s.

He wasn’t smiling.

“You played your part well.”

Haade the Flashpoint, like any other day, sat his sturdy physique in the chair inside the barracks office.

This man, leading Aureatia’s largest military division, was the strongest pawn of all under Iriolde the Atypical Tome’s command.

Behind him was a large window looking out into the courtyard.

In order to ward against sniper fire, it certainly didn’t have a fantastic view, but the room did get a fair amount of sunlight.

He was quite fond of the room.

“Might be my last time with this view.”

The time to act was approaching.

Haade could say that all of his preparations had progressed just for this day.

Both Alus the Star Runner and Lucnoca the Winter had been tremendous foes capable of annihilating Aureatia, Haade’s most desperate moves against them still proving not enough; but for him, it hadn’t been the best fight of all.

He asked the middle-aged female staff officer, “How’d things fare?”

“Not particularly well.”

She seemed to have a slight bit of confusion in her tone.

He might have indeed given her rather incomprehensible orders.

“It would be one thing if we were using the same chain of command we’ve always used within the army, but establishing an independent communications network within His Excellency Iriolde’s private forces and the National Defense Research Institute…could instead disrupt control and invite disorder.”

“That’s the promise I got from old man Iriolde, okay? As a reward for slaying Lucnoca, I’ll be able to deploy all the camp’s troops.”

Tuturi and Psianop’s brave efforts had been more than Haade had expected.

In which case, missing this chance to efficiently use their accomplishments wasn’t an option.

If he was going to start a war anyway, then he’d rather have one that got the whole army involved.

“However, to mobilize the army while Lord Iriolde is currently in the middle of negotiations…”

“Don’t worry. Everything’s set to go smoothly.”

The most difficult operation of all, killing Lucnoca the Winter, had been successful.

The job from here on out was like his long-awaited deserts.

“Hey, this job ain’t too hard.”

His force would move. Blood on a scale hereto unseen would flow.

The premonition of the imminent heat made Haade’s lips curl up into a smile.

Since the era of the True Demon King, no matter how much hell he witnessed, no matter how many nightmares he tasted, even if the world regained its peace, he would never forget that heat.

The heat of war.

“We’re just going to crush the Sixways Exhibition, that’s all.”

The second round, match ten.

Swordsmanship and stratagems. It was a desperate struggle of minia between minians who both stood far above all others, while simultaneously, a certain fight for all, where the two biggest forces in Aureatia, squirming behind these shura’s backs, would collide.

A political contest on the biggest possible scale.