Ishura - Volume 8 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11- Friendship

There were those looking to slip under the cover of the chaos to achieve their goals underneath Aureatia as well.

One such group was the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists. They had been reduced to a remnant force, led by Caneeya the Fruit Trimming.

However, the objective of their attack wasn’t one of Aureatia’s key positions—and put more accurately, this meant Kaete was technically guiding the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists to invade.

“If Obsidian Eyes is truly the mastermind behind this vampire disturbance…”

Caneeya stood at the head of the army corps and advanced down the underground waterway, but even further out in front of her were tiny golems equipped with searchlights shuffling ahead. These were simple reconnaissance golems made by Kiyazuna the Axle.

“The organization should already be destroyed. Would they really employ one that they themselves weakened?”

“Are you kidding?” Kaete answered with deeply held disgust. “Think over your own situation, and then talk. Not only were you destroyed by the Gray-Haired Child yourselves, but now you’re at his beck and call.”

“……”

“Aureatia simply did the same thing. Since an ex-Obsidian Eyes member—Zeljirga—was chosen as a hero candidate, it’s clear that there was a deal between Aureatia and Obsidian Eyes. Their organization was wiped out, so they can’t support themselves without Aureatia’s aid. Their only path of survival is to do as Aureatia orders, infecting the other hero candidates and then disposing of them. On top of that, as long as they follow their orders, it increases the chance of advancing their public-facing hero candidate.”

Obviously, every word Kaete spoke was a lie.

Aureatia and Obsidian Eyes were in a constant hostile relationship, with Aureatia making efforts to test for infections and produce antiserums in order to pin down Obsidian Eyes as the spy guild trying to hide its true indentity and use the Sixways Exhibition for its own purposes.

However, Kaete never had any obligation to provide accurate information to the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists.

What he and Kiyazuna needed to accomplish before anything else was to pit the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists against Obsidian Eyes and regain control of Mestelexil.

“After Alus the Star Runner’s attack, Aureatia revealed the proliferation of corpses themselves. Why would they purposefully present information to the public that would make the other hero candidates warier?”

For a dense Old Kingdoms’ loyalist fool, she sure picks at the right threads.

Kaete couldn’t get a read on Caneeya’s emotions from her tone. Her expression never changed either, so for Kaete, she was the worst type of person to talk with.

“Figure it out yourself. I don’t know about whatever purpose they may’ve had for announcements made after they kicked me off the assembly… But thinking over what Aureatia’s aims were, given they’re looking to eliminate hero candidates by using this vampire, they must have needed an excuse for Alus the Star Runner’s rampage to ensure the Sixways Exhibition continued. If they made a false announcement while having the body in their possession, it’d cause them trouble…assuming they’re thinking about continuing to dispose of the hero candidates in the later matches, too.”

“Should an infection get discovered in one of hero corpses after that, then Aureatia could end up lookin’ suspicious. That what yer getting at, Kaete?”

Kiyazuna the Axle picked up on Kaete’s intentions and backed him up.

Kiyazuna’s usual attitude was nonstop unpleasantness, but when it came to these types of sinister schemes, her malice became all too reliable.

“Aureatia managed to secure Alus’s body, but there’s no guarantee that the same’ll be true for the other hero candidates going forward. Especially the ones like Lucnoca, where just cleaning up the corpse is a huge task on its own. Before her, there were other hero candidates that got outta control like Alus did, even if they were made into corpses. Some people’ll start getting suspicious that maybe Alus had been a corpse, too.”

“And that’s why they purposefully made that announcement. I see,” Caneeya replied with a nod. Kaete had no idea if the explanation had truly convinced her or not.

Of course, for him, it didn’t make a difference either way. Whether she believed him or not, he just needed Caneeya to use this logic to mobilize her troops and justify the attack on Obsidian Eyes.

…Regardless of whether I can make her believe me, I’ll mobilize this dying organization.

Suddenly, a question floated into Kaete’s mind. “Why did the Gray-Haired Child abandon you lot?”

“……”

“Of course, I doubt there’s anyone in the world who would give any thought to saving a bunch of shabby anachronistic relics like you, but… Even still, it seems illogical for a man who allied himself not just with the Okafu mercenaries, but even goblins, to abandon your group and your group alone.”

In the beginning, the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists were a trading partner for the Gray-Haired Child.

However, Hiroto’s camp had been thorough and painstaking in their treatment of the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists after that.

Leading the Toghie City deadlock toward destruction, having Gilnes the Ruined Castle get captured by Aureatia, and disintegrating their armed forces all to ensure Hiroto’s own participation in the Sixways Exhibition, even now he used the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists as his pawns, all for the smallest amount of information and resources as bait.

“I said it before, didn’t I? The Gray-Haired Child is a terrifying opponent.”

Caneeya walked up ahead with slightly faster footsteps.

Kaete could tell she was trying to hide the expression on her face.

“You’re aware that the Gray-Haired Child is acting to once again establish goblins on this continent, yes? However, in our ranks…as well as in Aureatia right now, anyone who holds the Kingdom’s values possesses a firmly held prejudicial view against all non-minian races. No matter how intelligent they may be, no matter how beneficial it may be, no one would ever choose to live with goblins.”

“Of course not. Who would want to coexist with a hideous monstrous race like them—”

“However, if you include the new continent, there are more of them in number. You understand what that means?”

“…What?”

The Gray-Haired Child made goblins his allies, rather than any minian race. Kaete could come up with a tentative explanation around this bizarre fact—perhaps that goblins had been the first ones to support him.

But, if that wasn’t the case…

“It can’t be. It’s because the goblins…are the majority? That when you include the ones on this new continent or whatever…the largest population isn’t the minian races…but goblins…?”

“That is likely it. We didn’t understand that. Neither I…nor General Gilnes.”

A cold sweat beaded on Kaete’s forehead.

“W-wait… You said both in your ranks, and for Aureatia right now, didn’t you? In other words, the part about the goblins not being accepted…was referring to you?! You’re trying to tell me that the Gray-Haired Child…chose the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists before Aureatia?!”

The Gray-Haired Child hadn’t contacted the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists pretending to be an ally before then destroying them.

The Old Kingdoms’ loyalists had rejected the Gray-Haired Child themselves and met their fate.

“Hiroto the Paradox’s financial power would have become a powerful trump card for us in our inevitable confrontation with Aureatia. We spent a great amount of time trying to convince him to give his effort for the sake of the Kingdom, and not the goblins…but he must have made up his mind at some point.”

The Gray-Haired Child had first picked not Aureatia, but the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists, to use as his foundation for making the world accept goblins. What would have happened instead, had they actually accepted his proposal?

In order to make his own allies win in the end, he used every possible means at his disposal. When in the process, as he was forced to snatch something away from someone, his targets became those he had determined weren’t his allies.

If he continued that over and over, only his allies would remain.

“What…is he thinking?” Kaete murmured. He felt as though he was being watched…not by an enemy or an ally, but some nondescript massive, creepy thing.

The Gray-Haired Child had given shelter to Kaete, pursued by Obsidian Eyes, within the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists.

On this, the day of the tenth match, it had been the Gray-Haired Child who had passed on the information about the grand coup that Haade and Iriolde were instigating.

The Gray-Haired Child knew that Obsidian Eyes had secured Mestelexil for themselves.

“What is trying to get us to do?”

Were Kaete’s actions right now actually a true product of his own volition?

“Who’s to say. In any case, it’s probably a good thing you were chased out of the Twenty-Nine Officials. As far as I can see, from how they’ll treat goblins going forward… Aureatia’s already chosen the same path that we did.”

Caneeya the Fruit Trimming purposefully turned back and wore deep, profound grin.

“In order words, they’re no longer Hiroto the Paradox’s allies.”

Slightly going back in time—two days before the tenth match was scheduled to start…

Yuno, visiting one of the old town’s plazas on that day with Hiroto, was on guard.

This was partly due to the fathomless visitor Hiroto himself, but more than that, she couldn’t stop herself from worrying about the eyes of the Aureatian citizens. Wearing a plain, burnt umber hood far past her face, she made sure not to meet anyone else’s gaze.

“There’s nothing for you to be so scared of, Yuno.”

Returning to her, Hiroto wore a nonchalant smile. He looked to have been chatting about something or other with a shop owner just now, but was Aureatia really not cautious of the Gray-Haired Child doing such a thing?

“You don’t need to worry. Neither you nor I have been labeled wanted criminals. At least, the Aureatia citizens won’t try to capture you or anything of the sort.”

“…But even then, you should be under surveillance by Aureatia, right?”

Hiroto the Paradox wasn’t a hero candidate himself, but Aureatia’s Twenty-Fourth General, Dant the Heath Furrow, was said to have been specially attached to him to keep him under surveillance. Though this, too, was information she had only heard through the grapevine while working under Haade.

“That’s right. However, Aureatia’s surveillance system has a large loophole. I understood that the one tasked with keeping an eye on me was Zigita Zogi’s sponsor, Dant the Heath Furrow. He himself is an honest man, but he is with the Queen’s faction, who stands opposed to both the mainstream reformation faction and the military’s faction. There are very few who are going to unconditionally believe information from his faction. Even if he found something suspicious about my behavior and reported it, first he would need to prepare either enough proof or potentially benefits to get the other factions to act.”

“In other words… You needed to pull the wool over General Dant’s eyes whenever you did something?”

Hiroto smiled with amusement at Yuno’s question.

“Oh no, of course not. This all happened before the beginning of the Sixways Exhibition. I’ve already built an amicable relationship with General Dant, and at this point, there’s no need to pull the wool over his eyes at all. Besides, the person I am talking to is a fairly small-time entrepreneur. Even if there was a soldier keeping watch over me, there’s nothing shady about our conversation. Aureatia’s side doesn’t need to constantly have a close eye on me anyway, since if they interviewed whoever I talked to that day for information, then everything that I mentioned would end up getting leaked to them later.”

“But for these several days, General Dant isn’t acting at all—isn’t that right?”

“……”

Yuno was convinced, in some regards. While it may have seemed that he was simply moving forward with his business deals with private citizens, there was an inevitability to Hiroto’s actions.

Including the fact that he had brought Yuno along with him to walk through the city.

“That’s because the plan to overthrow Aureatia that General Haade—that Iriolde the Atypical Tome is advancing is actually happening. As long as there’s the slightest possibility of an attack on the royal palace that day, as head of the Palace Guard Bureau, General Dant will prioritize that above everything, and needs to work out the plan to defend the palace…that’s why he can’t spare effort to keep an eye on you—Dant’s in a situation where it’s possible to make that sort of excuse, right?”

“Ohhh.” Hiroto let out a sigh of admiration.

Ever since she had learned about one part of the conspiracy, right after the third match, Yuno had never stopped thinking about what might happen. She was accustomed to overthinking things. Her time spent worrying and wavering were the only long and plentiful moments she had.

“If General Dant is in an almost-ally relationship with you…then in few days until the tenth match, even if tried something that could be considered an act against Aureatia, it would mean that he could tacitly permit it. Since, victory for you…means that General Dant’s Queen faction, not one of the main factions at play, would grow closer to victory…”

“Hah-hah-hah-hah, a fantastic read of things, Yuno. Such a young student, yet you have the power to really observe the state of affairs and parse them out. You didn’t study this sort of stuff, did you?”

“N-no…it’s not anything…to be complimented…on.”

Faced with the unexpected praise, she couldn’t stop her words from quietly petering out.

She didn’t know anything specific about what Hiroto was setting up, for starters.

Over the past several days, desperately learning about the latest state of affairs in Aureatia, she believed she understood the situation Hiroto’s camp was currently faced with. As a result of Zigita Zogi’s defeat in the eighth match, they now found themselves at a severe political disadvantage. There existed almost no method at all to make Aureatia recognize citizenship rights of the goblins from this situation, with the economic activities of their mercenaries limited, and the loss of their hero candidate. Even if they formed an official collaborative relationship with Obsidian Eyes, it wasn’t going to change anything about the situation, was it?

Should they aim to break into the deadlock situation with martial might and take advantage of the massive coup to mobilize their goblins and Okafu mercenaries, they had no means to conceal the flow of people and materials. If they showed even the slightest sign of doing so, even General Dant would be forced to report it to the assembly, despite leaning toward their side.

Just by conversing with the merchants he normally did business with, he fooled Aureatia’s eyes and accomplished what he was after… Is something that sounds so magical even possible?

“I…”

Departing from the plaza, the two of them had boarded a carriage driven by a goblin.

There wasn’t anyone around to criticize their conversation.

“…would like to have Soujirou the Willow-Sword fight in his match.”

“…?! Wh-what…?” She thought maybe she had misheard him.

Even if he moved heaven and earth, it was totally impossible.

“There’s no way we could do that! Soujirou had his leg amputated in the third match…! Besides, his sponsor Haade was working on the side of Soujirou’s opponent from the very beginning…s-so there’s no way the tenth match is even going to happen in the first place! With Aureatia having full control over the operation of the tournament, they’re going to make sure not to hold it!”

“Yes. That’s why you coming to us was such a profound boon. If the tenth match ends in victory for Rosclay, any possibility of victory on this continent for us will collapse with it. Now that Zigita Zogi has sacrificed himself, I absolutely cannot give up.”

“But I don’t have any means to contact Soujirou…and it’ll probably be impossible to meet with him. The hospital is likely working for Aureatia, so most information is probably getting intercepted before it reaches him…”

“We understand Soujirou’s true wish. As long as he has a match, he’ll try to fight at any cost. It doesn’t matter if he only has one leg or not—isn’t that so, Yuno?”

“Well, yes, but…”

To Yuno, Soujirou was, without a doubt, one of the powerful individuals she detested, but in the Sixways Exhibition, her wish and Soujirou’s had lined up with each other. For Soujirou, it was to enjoy an all-out battle against someone stronger than himself, which he had yet to encounter. For Yuno, it was to deliver the powerful to their dooms and carry out her revenge.

However, as long as they were battling within a tournament bracket that Rosclay had drawn up, this had been an impossible endeavor from the start.

When Yuno had learned that Soujirou was heavily wounded in the third match, she had been almost glad—that it would give her more comfort to know he lost after being depraved of his strength, instead of being treated as having been defeated while still possessing the strength and will to fight.

“It isn’t only Soujirou, either—you want Soujirou to still fight, too, don’t you, Yuno?”

“……”

“You want to force Soujirou to fight. You want to get vengeance for the ruin of Nagan. You want to make General Haade feel the same sense of inferiority you did toward him. You want to save Linaris… I can tell all this just form observing you. Each one of them is something you truly wish for. Your feelings have turned into a complicated jumble, but that is because every time you come into contact with someone, you wish for something more. A person’s mental state isn’t simple enough to allow one to live as a revenge-driven fiend, throwing everything in life toward a singular goal.”

His gray eyes stared at Yuno.

A politician visitor. Yuno keenly felt that his strength was genuine. Though they had only interacted for a few days, he had completely seen through Yuno’s nature, as if he were a decades-old friend.

“…Have I gone mad?”

Despite having thought it for so long, she hadn’t been able to openly vocalize this suffering.

She hadn’t even breathed a word of it to Linaris.

“All of the wishes you said…every single one, without exception, might all be a lie. I don’t have the strength to go against the momentary rage urging me on. Even things I want myself I end up completely ruining.”

“That’s perfectly normal. Getting angry, struggling, resisting…all while simultaneously wanting peace of mind and bliss, it’s not strange at all.”

Hiroto closed his eyes. They were gentle words.

“It’s because you’re lonely.”

“—”

“You’ve been in anguish this whole time, Yuno. Having lost your homeland, your friend, and yet without anyone understanding how you feel, it would be impossible to hold it all in without screaming. You so desired someone who would pick up on this scream and look toward you, you could no longer stand for anyone who wouldn’t. On the other hand though, you know that no one necessarily hates you or dislikes you at all. That made it all the more unbearable…am I right?”

“…I’m…not so sure.”

“I believe it is.”

Yuno thought it was out of Hiroto’s kindness that he purposefully made this sound like firm conclusion.

Was what Yuno considered to be madness truly just loneliness?

Had she wanted to surrender herself to something she knew was tormenting her because she hadn’t wanted to forget the sadness from losing Nagan?

“…The reason I brought you along with me today, Yuno, was to ask about your wish. Since, right now, you don’t have any Obsidian Eyes surveillance watching over you.”

“Well…”

Lendelt the Immaculate, who had kept watch over Yuno, was holding a meeting with Morio the Sentinel regarding their actions following the tenth match at this moment.

There was no longer any need to worry that Yuno would leak information. Now that Hiroto’s camp and Obsidian Eyes had formed a collaborative relationship, the sort of information Yuno carried was being shared by Lendelt himself. Obsidian Eyes needed to prepare for the chaos of the grand coup themselves, and their leader, Linaris, was unconscious. Even in a situation like that, did they have another person surveilling them besides Lendelt, to be ready in case Hiroto or Yuno made any unforeseen moves?

Hiroto the Paradox—was it also possible for this visitor, possessing the deviant nature to meet people as if it were fate, to pick out the perfect opportunity to avoid any fateful first encounters?

“Getting a doctor to look after Linaris the Obsidian. That was your demand, wasn’t it?”

“…Yes. I believe in her current condition, she’ll be in danger unless she’s treated soon.”

The leader of Obsidian Eyes was called “the Obsidian.” Yuno had first learned that Linaris was said leader only after leaving the mansion. During this Sixways Exhibition, her guild was active in some kind of espionage activity away from the eyes of others, which was how they stole information from Haade’s camp during the third match.

“However, right now, your own body is in need of immediate treatment, Yuno. Did you know that?”

“What…?!” Her voice cracked. The topic came like a bolt from the blue.

Yuno didn’t feel physically out of sorts at all, and her understanding was that if there was anything wrong with her, it sure had to be some kind of mental disorder.

Hiroto continued. “There is one topic that Obsidian Eyes is purposefully keeping hidden. They are a collective of corpses headed by a vampire, and Yuno, you are already infected yourself. We performed a blood test on you as well, so we know this for certain. Right now, the parent unit, Linaris the Obsidian, holds the power of life and death over you.”

“Linaris?”

A vampire.

A monstrous race that threatened the world in the past. A deviant strain of illness. With an infection passing from organism to organism, it changed people into corpses that loyally obeyed the orders of their parent units, eventually remaking any children they birthed as well.

Those infected by the vampire virus, even after being changed into corpses, didn’t lose their free will. Thus, it was possible to never realize one was a corpse until it was pointed out to them by someone else.

Everyone was incredulous that they could possibly be infected right up until their infection was made clear.

But… That’s…what it was. I’m sure of it.

Pale skin like moonglow. Deep golden eyes that seemed to suck Yuno in. A beautiful body that was thin and delicate while still possessing feminine curves. A face capable of charming anyone with a smile, or causing them to sympathize with a look of sadness.

Linaris’s unearthly beauty existed because she was an unearthly vampire.

Linaris, a vampire…

That had been why Obsidian Eyes needed to flee and hide from Aureatia.

There must have been plenty of basis for Yuno to have noticed. Linaris was weak to sunlight. When they first met, she had made the Aureatia soldiers faint by some unknown means. The vampire that Aureatia announced to the nation, who had felled Alus the Star Runner, must have been referencing Obsidian Eyes, hadn’t it?

Hiroto’s tone sounded graver than it had just a moment prior.

“You were a Nagan scholar, Yuno, so you are likely familiar with how the vampire virus is transmitted. It’s not one easily transmitted through simple touch or ingestion. They send in their own blood through a deep wound…or they infect others through even deeper physical contact. Does anyone in Obsidian Eyes, or Linaris the Obsidian herself, come to mind when I say that?”

“O-of—”

She couldn’t hold back her shrill shriek. She nearly jumped out of her seat and to her feet in the carriage.

“Of c-course not, obviously! Th-that’s a…really rude question!”

“Yes, it is rude. However, while I may have lacked delicacy, this is a truly important conversation.”

Hiroto’s eyes were not the eyes of someone telling a joke.

“Well then, Yuno, what sort of process led to your infection? Infecting someone with the vampire virus is normally not a feat that can be done completely unbeknownst to the infected. Going by the results of the sixth match, there’s a chance that Obsidian Eyes took control of Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge… That happened when, and how? Furthermore, in the eighth match, my sworn friend Zigita Zogi was killed, also by an Obsidian Eyes attack.”

Yuno could already understand what he was getting at.

Linaris was a vampire who had obtained a strange route of infection that was unknown to their world. And that if he granted Yuno’s wish and healed her, Linaris may very well destroy Aureatia.

“Though the evidence is circumstantial, I believe it’s fair to say chances are low that one of Obsidian Eyes’ agents possesses this powerful infection ability. It is different for Linaris the Obsidian, however. More than a threat to myself or Aureatia, her existence is a threat to all miniankind.”

“……”

“I wish to grant the wishes of those who will become my allies as much as possible. Furthermore, saving Linaris wasn’t included in the conditions that Obsidian Eyes put forth. Now that you know the information she kept secret from you, would you like to change your request to me at all, Yuno?”

“…I…”

Yuno was at a loss for words.

Withdrawing her request to Hiroto here wouldn’t count as a betrayal. It was only natural for the minian races to act on their own behalf. At the very least, there was far more righteousness to it than Yuno’s choice to let a moment’s fury lead her to separate from Haade and Soujirou.

Moreover, it wasn’t that she was killing Linaris. If Linaris continued to die out as she was now, it would merely mean that her treatment was too late. Linaris had already chosen to sacrifice herself for the sake of her organization, and Obsidian Eyes had also accepted her choice.

“Even, still…I want to help her.”

“Do you mind if I ask you here to explain why you think so…? I think you need to hear your thoughts out loud as much as I do, Yuno.”

“…Sh-she’s lonely.”

She felt confused—several different emotions all flowed from her heart into her head.

“I think…she’s lonely.”

However, she felt this confusion was something different from the urge for revenge that had been spurring her forward.

She thought about the small month she had spent with Linaris. She was so very smart, and yet Yuno’s innocent stories of her homeland and her travels made her so happy. If Linaris truly was the parent unit with a position of superiority over all of Obsidian Eyes, then why did she always have a vaguely troubled look in her eyes? She simply seemed to not have many friends, but she had the heart of a young girl just like Yuno.

“If I was naturally born to be an enemy to minians…and forced to always be suspicious of everyone…then I think, if I was ever betrayed, even if I thought they were someone I could bare my soul to, I’d be forced to kill them… Do you understand that sentiment, Hiroto?”

“Please don’t worry. Right now, you aren’t under surveillance by Obsidian Eyes. I’ve taken care to ensure that regardless of your choice, it won’t be to your detriment.”

“…That’s not it. This isn’t about whether I die or not… It’s that, if she has to kill me, Linaris…I think it would be really sad and painful for her…not that I know that for certain or anything, I just feel it…”

Even sick in bed and vaguely conscious, there was no way the intelligent and bright Linaris who Yuno was familiar with wouldn’t have realized the danger in dispatching Yuno. If she had intended on entrusting Obsidian Eyes to the Gray-Haired Child in exchange for her life from the very beginning, then Yuno’s existence was nothing but a cause of worry that she might leak information.

Linaris must have wanted someone who would trust her, even after learning the truth behind Obsidian Eyes, right?

If they didn’t still trust her, then wouldn’t she be forced to kill them?

“There are perhaps few who can understand the reason why you view Soujirou with hostility after slaying the Nagan Dungeon Golem… It may seem bizarre at first blush, but it’s a logical sentiment to have. What you loathe is the existence of such powerful people itself.”

…That’s right.

“You fear and wish to defeat those who can trample all else underfoot on a whim…who never consider the weak.”

This man really is incredible. He probably understands these feelings I’ve never voiced out loud…better than even I do.

“You think Linaris the Obsidian is an exception?”

“Linaris is…”

Suddenly, she thought back to Dakai the Magpie, whom she fought in Lithia.

The visitor said he didn’t have either friends or family. It had to be true for Soujirou, having come from the Beyond, annihilated in the ravages of war, as well.

Most of the hero candidates appearing in the Sixways Exhibition must have been powerful individuals who, even if they had experienced loss or fear before, were equipped with all-powerful might that allowed them to accept their fate to live a solitary life at the top.

“Linaris is probably…different. Though she is one of the strong, wielding organizational power, she’s definitely different from you, Hiroto…and from the deceased Zigita Zogi. If you were to lose everything, and were left truly all alone, you’d be able to rise back up.”

“……”

“I should ask you the same thing, Hiroto. Why?”

Yuno kept her eyes downturned. She probably didn’t have the courage to look at Hiroto directly.

“…What do you mean?”

“…Hiroto, you understand me better than I understand myself, so…you should know for yourself that somewhere in my heart I sympathize with Linaris, and that I’m fond of her. Despite that…you revealed Linaris’s true identity to me, risking the chance that Obsidian Eyes might hear you to do so… You wanted to make me betray Linaris of my own volition. Isn’t that right?”

Hiroto the Paradox would take the side of his supporters no matter what.

He surely possessed a firm mental fortitude to be able to make his pledges to them a reality.

However, he had a heart, too. Behind the strength to survive on his own, there had to be a tiny bit of inconsistency and fragility, just the same as Yuno, left inside him somewhere.

“The truth is you want revenge, too. After they severed the goblins’ ambitions that were staked on the Sixways Exhibition and drove your friend to their death…you don’t want to forgive Obsidian Eyes, just for coming with heads bowed asking to work together. If I were in your position, I would wish for revenge. Like my hatred for the strong who destroyed Nagan.”

“Heh… I am truly surprised.”

Hiroto smiled like she had never seen him smile before.

The type of smile an elder who had lived through many decades wore, cynical and self-deprecating.

“Yuno the Distant Talon. It would appear that you’ve already become something far beyond than the mere powerless scholar you once were… You’ve grown far stronger than you think. This is based on my own experience, but…I believe that tasting emotions and doubts from many different perspectives, even for a short period of time, makes someone several times stronger than they would be spending a long time experiencing and learning in a single position.”

“Hiroto…you planned to leave Linaris to die from the very start, didn’t you?”

“Yes. However, seeing that you and I have made a commitment together, it would go against my own beliefs not to tell you this. Once someone has become a supporter of mine, I cannot lead them with lies. That’s because, I know for myself that in truth, I’m not an unselfish politician at all. I shouldn’t wield my power according to my own ego…”

Hiroto covered his face with both hands to conceal his expression.

Yuno could tell that the wide-open gray eyes peeking through the gaps in his fingers were looking at her.

“…Can you stop me?”

Yuno’s hair stood on end.

It was because she felt a will.

For the first time, she learned that a will could be felt as though it possessed a distinct mass and weight.

Hiroto the Paradox was going to kill Linaris the Obsidian.

The Gray-Haired Child was unmistakably a devil. He would make all the wishes of his allies come true, but he would thoroughly use, exhaust, and crush those who wouldn’t become his ally.

Knowing for himself that he possessed the power to transform absolutely everything in the world as he saw fit, he had used the firm limitation of being a politician to restrict his own rampage.

“I…”

Her words wouldn’t continue.

Terrifying.

They were merely sitting across from each other inside a carriage, nor did he possess a single means to attack Yuno, and yet she felt a horror that this persona of his had a firm grip on her soul.

Hiroto understood everything about Yuno, but that didn’t mean Yuno understood Hiroto, too.

Right before her eyes was unmistakably a shura who had transcended the limit of this land’s understanding.

“…If I don’t nod my head…then your only choice will be to do exactly as you promised, saving Linaris’s life and letting a doctor see her! I-isn’t that right…?!”

“Exactly. I will keep my promises to their completion. I will have a doctor examine Linaris the Obsidian while she still lives. Surely, Yuno, you understand that doesn’t mean that she is guaranteed to be safe, yes?”

“No…”

It had been so long, she had forgotten.

Was standing face-to-face with a shura always so terrifying?

“If I may, Yuno. In order to maintain who I am, choosing not to get revenge was always inconceivable. That’s why this isn’t advance notice. It’s already in motion. After the tenth match…if by some stroke of luck, Linaris and Obsidian Eyes are able to survive, I will promise you that I won’t do anything more than what I’ve put in motion. I will save their lives, just as we promised.”

Hiroto the Paradox was sure to keep his promise.

Which is what made this all the more terrifying.

He must have been capable of ignoring the will of a weakling like Yuno and still have his revenge, just as he wished for. Despite possessing such power, he was abiding by Yuno’s own wishes instead of his own self-interest. He continued to regulate himself with his monstrous strength of will.

He wasn’t someone like Soujirou, who acted according to his own desires and never considered weaklings like Yuno.

Nor was he like Linaris, who was strong, yet who would be unable to achieve what she wanted.

The Gray-Haired Child was…a monster that continuously realized the wishes of others, not himself.

“…I-in that case…Hiroto…”

The day of the tenth match was bound to be when everything would happen.

Iriolde would mobilize his army to overthrow Aureatia.

Soujirou and Rosclay would have their match.

Linaris would be killed.

“It’s fine…i-if I make that stroke of luck happen then, right?”

It wasn’t that Yuno had any prospects of victory whatsoever. This may have looked like the same desperate self-abandonment, spurred by uncontrolled emotion, that Yuno had exhibited up until now.

However, Hiroto the Paradox had to grasp that there was a similar, but different, motive driving Yuno now.

“Wonderful. I didn’t expect any less.”

The Gray-Haired Child, shadows still cast over his face, clapped without making a sound.

“I was correct to ensure you and I met each other, after all.”

“My reason for cooperating with Hiroto the Paradox? Weird to ask that now.”

There was one other visitor who had come to the old town that day.

A plump man with an impressive camera hanging from his neck, and who shouldered a wooden box on his back.

Yukiharu the Twilight Diver walked through the alleyway alone. There wasn’t any sign of someone to converse with.

“Because it’s safe.”

“Safe?”

A voice replied from the wooden box. It wasn’t even big enough to carry a baby.

“‘Never dies no matter what battlefield he ends up on’…some people talk about me like that, see, but even I’m making sure to calculate which power and what position I need to be in to remain safe and go around doing my thing, and that’s how I’ve survived. If I’m going to expose Aureatia scandals, then I’m gonna get better protection if I’m doing that under the Gray-Haired Child, right?”

“Hmmm… You’re a journalist, but you don’t actually have any political principles, huh?”

“Whaaat? Listen, being a journalist with political principles sounds real nice and impressive, sure. But it means that those people are using their coverage to change society in a way that’s convenient for them, right? There were a lot of guys in that position, actually. I don’t want to be lumped in with them.”

“You of all people are saying that…? You’re using false coverage to manipulate people, aren’t you?”

“But it’s not false, I’m telling you.”

Yukiharu’s work for the day still wasn’t over. He needed to propagate information.

From here he would go through several trade districts and finish laying the groundwork before the start of the tenth match.

Hiroto the Paradox’s request was precisely for a news report that turned a lie into reality.

“If it becomes the real deal in the end, it’s not actually a lie, don’t you think? Even supposing it is a lie, I’m a doing the crime for fun, not any political reason, so I’m essentially innocent.”

“Pretty sure it’s more heinous than that…”

“Why? I’m not doing it maliciously at all, though.”

Reporting on the truth that no one in the world had arrived at yet, and covering news in a way that made those who didn’t know the truth panic, were, in Yukiharu’s mind, two sides of the same coin.

As a result of working under Hiroto the Paradox, Yukiharu had a grip on what was, in some senses, the greatest secret this world had to offer. The identity of the True Demon King. The identity of the True Hero. He didn’t want to announce all this, and fling the whole world into chaos.

On the other hand, there was a matter that Yukiharu himself was pursuing.

“Besides, if this report succeeds, we’ll finally be able to get to the real reporting…”

Yukiharu licked his lips.

From his investigation up until now, he knew the target’s location, who they were with, and the goal to their actions.

Nevertheless, Yukiharu the Twilight Diver always wanted even more information beyond all that

The target was under extremely strict protection, but the day of the tenth match, when the mass uprising would kick off, was guaranteed to create an opening.

“It’ll make us able to get inside the National Defense Research Institute directly.”