Eris was panting, lying on a rumpled bed while she caught her breath. She wrapped the white sheets around her and felt the sweat seep from her skin into the clean cotton. She felt bad for dirtying them, but she needed to have some sort of shield around her. Despite it all, she hadn’t yet given up. Holding those sheets in place was the only way she had found to resist. This was not something she wanted.
“What are you resting for?” Archlord Greyfrier peeled away the sheets she’d wrapped herself in. His expression remained stoic even as he forced the depths of his desires upon her.
“Please let me rest for a moment.” Evading his gaze, she wrapped the sheets around herself again.
“Hmph. Do not vex me. If you do, I shall have to send for another princess.”
“N-No! Please! Not Tiffanyer! I’ll be your partner, I’ve rested enough...”
Eris pulled back her sheets and lay nude in front of Greyfrier.
“Mm. A willful one, you are.” A faint grin spread over his face for a second as he pulled Eris’s legs apart.
How many times has it been?
At first, it had filled her with disgust and fear, then pain, and she had cried alone after the deed was done. Now, she had gotten used to it. She still hated it, but it was the only way for a queen in name alone—lacking power and popularity—to fight back against an archlord from Highland.
In a way, it was a blessing in disguise that his eyes had fallen on her. Her price at first had been an end to the mage hunt; she was able to negotiate for their banishment instead. She hated that they had lost their homes, but that was better than losing their lives. At least she could hope that they had found peaceful lives in some country far away.
In addition, while Highland could still freely recruit from her people, she had managed to add the conditions that they must join of their own free will, report to her at her palace, and not be treated as slaves. Her threat to Greyfrier that she would take her own life if these terms were broken had worked, or Greyfrier seemed to be following them.
The price she had demanded from Greyfrier for her body was counted in the saved lives of her compatriots. So...it was a trade she had made. It was the best she could do. She supposed some might say that she had sold her country to Highland to live in the lap of luxury, or that she was merely their whore. Surely, the reputation of Queen Eris was not a sterling one.
Several hours passed, and Eris’s panting continued.
Once Greyfrier had left, Eris had continued to lie in bed, thinking while she tried to catch her breath. No matter what was said, she would do what she could for her country and its people.
That was the trade she had made.
◆◇◆
Approximately a year after Greyfrier’s arrival, Eris walked through a deserted corridor leading to the courtyard.
“Hmm, strange.”
It was still early in the morning, but not enough for it to be so empty. The maidservants should have been busy with their morning duties.
Eris loved to take in the courtyard’s flowers early in the day. Tiffanyer was visiting, and they often strolled through the courtyard together, so Eris was familiar with the daily rhythms of the palace staff.
She quietly tilted her head in confusion as she walked along, and she soon discovered why her surroundings were so quiet. Several armed knights leaped out from the shadows of the pillars.
“Ah?! Wh-What?!”
In no time at all, they had their blades at the ready and surrounded her.
“A-Are you turning on me?!”
Their intentions were obvious, though. They were here to take her life—this was an assassination. What disturbed her most, though, was who was among them: the knight-captain who had taken her side in the rebellion just before Greyfrier had arrived.
“No whore for Highland can be our queen! Your life is ours!”
“W-Wait! If I hadn’t gone with the archlord, do you know what would have happened?! Even more people would have died! And if I don’t keep this going, things will be even worse for our people! If I didn’t—!”
Eris no longer valued her own life. Regardless, no matter how pathetic, humiliating, or worthy of criticism it may have seemed from the outside, she believed it was for the sake of protecting her country and its people.
“I know you all are hurting, but believe me!” she pleaded.
Authorities with Highland’s blessing had assumed most of the knights’ rightful duties; those under Eris’s rule couldn’t act without explicit approval from Highland. Their only remaining role was as palace guards. Eris knew the Highlanders looked down on them for it, jeering that even a dog could handle that job. Still, she’d thought the knights had noticed that she suffered alongside them.
“No excuses! There are things in this world more precious than life!”
“That’s something only the powerful can say! People like my father, or my brother!”
“I said, no excuses!” The knight-captain leveled his sword at Eris and prepared a lunging thrust.
“Yes...you’re right...”
As its gleaming point jabbed toward her stomach, Eris stayed still. She truly was on her own here; the knights had cleared the hall of everyone, meaning not one of them among them or among the servants or other workers around the palace saw fit to prevent her assassination. Not a single person had tried to warn her. Therefore, no one would mind that she’d be gone. Of course, things had turned out this way—they had furrowed their brows at her, not understanding the good she was trying to accomplish.
Perhaps her death would be for the best.
No longer would she be Greyfrier’s plaything. No longer would she suffer. It was what everyone around her wanted. Eris closed her eyes and waited for the fatal moment. This would not be an untimely end; it would be liberation from her burdens.
Yet that moment never came. She clearly heard the sound of something striking something. Yet she felt no pain.
“Wh—?!”
Hearing the knight-captain gasp, she fearfully opened her eyes, only to see his sword embedded in Tiffanyer.
“Tiffanyer?!”
“My dear Eris...” Tiffanyer smiled at Eris as she crumpled to the ground.
Eris rushed to her side. “Tiffanyer! Tiffanyer!” The sword’s blade had pierced her stomach, and blood welled forth, staining her dress crimson. “Aaah! I-I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! This is all my fault!”
Eris had no one else to blame for Tiffanyer’s pain but herself. The knights misunderstood her decision to offer herself up to Greyfrier and the Highlanders, not realizing she only wanted to improve their treatment of her country and its people. Nonetheless, she was the one who’d made that decision.
Even when Eris was broken and powerless, Tiffanyer had not abandoned her, had protected her with her very life.
When I just wanted it to end, when I was ready to die, she sacrificed herself for me... Eris couldn’t stop the tears. She let out a loud cry, as if the walls she’d been trying to keep up had suddenly collapsed.
“I-It’s okay. Don’t cry. You sacrificed yourself to protect me, and this country, and its people... So I...I did the same...” Tiffanyer coughed, and her lips were stained red with blood.
“No! Tiffanyer, no, don’t speak! Let me treat your wound!”
“Do you really expect us to just stand around?” The knight-captain and his men stayed crowded around Eris. He pointed his sword at Eris, Tiffanyer’s blood still on the blade. “What a shame. But at least we can send the queen and her family off together!”
“A shame?! Who, then, do you think did this to Tiffanyer?!” Eris asked.
“You, when you failed your duty as a queen and sold your body to a Highlander!”
“How dare you! You have failed as knights, muttering complaints now that you’ve lost your status!”
“Impudent, aren’t you! Here’s an idea: what if we kill you and bring peace to the country?”
“Just try!”
Tiffanyer had saved Eris’s life, and she couldn’t bear to lose it here. She wanted to live now. She would resist to the very end, struggle, and somehow survive. Even if she was unarmed and outnumbered, she couldn’t let Tiffanyer’s last memory be anything else.
The knight-captain gave a scream as he swung his bloody sword, but all he hit was thin air. “Huh?!”
Eris, too, was trained in martial arts. She dodged its sharp tip and managed to keep away from the subsequent rising slash and sweep. Somehow, she was keeping up. I’ll find an opening somehow! she thought, but then something heavy smashed into her back. She gave a high-pitched grunt as the pain spread through her. Caught by surprise, she slumped to her knees. One of the knights had closed in from behind and bashed her with his sword’s pommel.
“Ngh! Not yet...!” She still wouldn’t give up. Couldn’t give up.
“Hold her down!” Before she could stand up, the knights quickly swarmed her, pinning her to the ground.
“Release me! Get off of me!”
“You’re not getting away now!”
Eris struggled, and the knight-captain grinned from above her. She expected his blade to fall on her immediately, but it did not. Instead, he crouched in front of her, pulling her head up by her hair, and he laughed. “If we’re doing this anyway, maybe we should have a little fun with you before you die. Really show that Highlander what for! Don’t worry, boys, you’ll get your turn too!”
The knights grinned at one another to Eris’s disgust. Her country had lost their best and brightest, her father and brother among them, and men like these were all who remained.
But for her, this was an opportunity. “Do what you will.” It would keep her alive a little while longer—give her an opportunity to find a way out. As long as she was still alive, she had a chance of getting away. Tiffanyer wouldn’t want her to give up anyway.
“No, I will not allow it,” a deep, displeased voice said.
Eris heard something roll along the ground, and suddenly, she was looking the smiling knight-captain in the eyes. At least, looking his lopped-off head in the eyes.
Eris couldn’t help but retch. It was Greyfrier who had taken his head.
He must have been using some kind of advanced magic, as his arm itself had transformed into a heavy blade and dispatched the knight-captain in a single blow. She felt, somehow, almost relieved to see him, but that feeling lasted only for a moment. A second later, she saw nothing but red as the blood spurting from the knight-captain’s head covered her face.
“Eeek!” While she tried to control her shock, she heard men’s voices rise in anger.
“You killed the captain!”
“You damned Highlander!”
“We’ll put you in the ground!”
It was likely for the best that Eris could not see what was happening in front of her. Scream after scream rang out as blood poured down on her, its choking scent wrapping around her.
Eventually, all went silent. She stood, wiping her face to see Greyfrier picking up Tiffanyer’s body.
“Tiffanyer! Tiffanyer!” Eris ran to her and called out, but she did not respond. Meanwhile, Greyfrier strode off with Tiffanyer in his arms. “What are you doing?! We need to treat her wounds!”
“I’m taking her to Highland.”
“Can they save her?!”
“If she’s lucky.”
“P-Please! Please, I don’t care how...!”
“I make no guarantees.”
At that, Eris bowed her head deeply to Greyfrier.
Tiffanyer never again returned to Eris’s palace after her departure.
But even though this had all begun with Highland’s invasion of the surface...
Even though Greyfrier had killed her father and brother...
Even though he threatened her with the specter of violating Tiffanyer as well...
Even though he kept her caged...
Even though she knew exactly who he was, even though she resented him, even though she hated him...from the next time Greyfrier visited her chambers, Eris stopped hiding herself beneath her sheets.
◆◇◆
But those days came to a sudden end.
A long rainy season of the Prism Flow was sweeping the land. Highland’s Artifacts had improved their ability to resist magicite beasts, and somehow the people endured—until their defenses were no longer enough.
A Prismer appeared. The long rains had finally brought forth one of the strongest and vilest of magical beasts. Its very existence was a natural disaster. Nothing on earth could stop it. People could only flee for their lives.
Nor was it any different for Highlanders.
Whirrr... Whirrr...
From the windows of the palace, ships could be seen taking to the sky. Meanwhile, Eris had latched on to Greyfrier. “Wait! Please, wait! You take us for all we have when it’s convenient, and then you flee when it suits you?! You’re cowards! After all Tiffanyer and I went through!”
“We can fight magicite beasts with Artifacts, but Prismers are something different. I never said we could destroy those.”
“But if you don’t—”
“I have my regrets, but I cannot sacrifice my men for nothing. Highland has made many investments in this country, but nothing can be done about a monster like that. Consider this your warning: run somewhere far, far away.”
“I have nowhere else to go! I’ll fight to the end for this country and its people! If you won’t defend us with your Artifacts, at least leave a strong one behind for us to use!”
“No existing Artifact can do anything against that Prismer. You’ll die trying.”
“I’ve been as good as dead for so long!” She had killed her heart, and she would kill herself for the sake of her country and its people. She would stick to that resolve until the end. There was no turning back.
“Hmm... Would you prefer to take a gamble? In exchange for the power to destroy a Prismer.”
“Ah! That’s possible?!”
“No, Prismers are indestructible.” Greyfrier shook his head.
She hated him for lifting her hopes, only to dash them. “Are you mocking me?!”
“I’m doing no such thing. Nothing can destroy a Prismer—thus, we must create something which can.”
“How?”
“We make the ultimate Artifact, one with human form—a hieral menace.”
“A hieral menace?!”
“Some call it absurd, but I find it just as absurd that something like a Prismer can be beyond human reach. We have tried before, but each one has ended in a failure. The odds of success are minimal. Nonetheless, will you risk becoming a hieral menace?”
“Yes, I will,” Eris replied unflinchingly.
She would do whatever she could for her country and its people. This was for Tiffanyer’s sake too. If there was a chance, she would take it. There was no time to hesitate. Each moment, the Prismer drew closer to destroying the country. If she didn’t hurry, she’d be too late.
“How is it done?” she asked. “We have no time to waste!”
“Let us go, then. The equipment is in Highland.”
“Understood. Let’s hurry!” she said with a nod.
With that, Eris followed Greyfrier.
She would return. She would protect her people. She would offer up everything for this land.
Thus, Eris set off for Highland. When she awakened as a hieral menace, time had long passed her by. The country she’d sworn to protect had vanished completely from the world.
◆◇◆
When Inglis came to, she was in front of the device containing Eris. The light which had washed over her had faded, and the world around her was filled with an unchanging silence as if nothing had happened.
Eris was still crying inside.
“Eris...”
Was that vision real? Had that been the life Eris had led?
“That’s terrible...”
Inglis couldn’t point to one single reason why Eris was crying. There were too many horrible experiences. No matter where Inglis looked, there were moments worthy of tears. Eris’s memories were vastly different from King Inglis’s memories of glory or Inglis Eucus’s memories of happiness. Nothing had gone her way. She had made decisions she thought were the right ones, only for things to become worse. That was Eris’s very real tragedy.
“I haven’t treated Eris well, have I...” Inglis pondered.
After all Eris had experienced, Inglis had bullied her into sparring matches, had instructed her to transform into a weapon so that she could play around with divine feat, had even broken Eris in her weapon form. All this led to her having to reenter the Greyfrier sarcophagus. Eris must have hated it. Just hearing Greyfrier’s name must have stirred up memories of the past. That must have led to these tears now. Despite that, Eris had not flinched. She had bravely chosen to enter the Greyfrier sarcophagus. She was a strong woman, someone who Inglis felt deserved a lot of respect.
“And, Tiffanyer... The next time we meet, I’ll have to be a bit nicer.”
Tiffanyer treated Rafinha cruelly, something which Inglis couldn’t forgive, but a bit of kindness might be a good thing regardless. Greyfrier had sent Tiffanyer to Highland when she was at death’s door after taking the thrust meant for Eris, and she must have also been made a hieral menace sometime after that. She was quite different now, but perhaps something happened that had decisively twisted her personality. Inglis didn’t know, but Eris might.
Eris must have seen so much between being reborn as a hieral menace and now. Greyfrier had never told her the process would take hundreds of years. She had expected to become a hieral menace right away, return to her country, and fight the Prismer. Nor had he warned her that she would drain her wielder’s life. What had Eris and Tiffanyer thought when they found that out? Even from Eris’s memories, Inglis could only guess.
“Archlord Greyfrier, an enemy to all women.”
Even if he was a Highlander, he had been alive for centuries before. It was quite likely that the only remnant of him in this world was his name for the sarcophagus. But if she ever met him—well... As much as Inglis preferred to focus on self-improvement in her fights, she would have no objections to wielding Eris and fighting him as she wished.
“And that’s another reason I have to do something about this.”
Inglis couldn’t rest forever. She slapped herself lightly on the cheek to work herself up.
“All right! Wait for me, Eris.”
Turning away from Eris, Inglis returned to her training.
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