92 – Gone Awry

“H-His Holiness…!”

“…What brings you here, Your Holiness?”

“Ah, just a little jaunt, that’s all.

No need to pay me any mind…”

Even if he told them not to mind him,

their lips were sealed, refusing to open.

No matter that their station was that of Duke, or a knight of the Imperial household,

they could never dare raise their voices as they did moments ago before him.

“Why, didn’t you say it was fine to continue the fight?”

“”….””

“Please, do carry on fighting to your heart’s content, without concerning yourselves

with the wounded being carried away so diligently over there?”

Still, his hands were clasped behind his back,

his face adorned with a warm smile.

But the aura emanating from him

was far from gentle, only sinister.

“…Forgive me, Your Holiness.”

“Ahem…myself as well…”

“There’s no need for apologies.”

He passes them by.

The two who offered him their apologies.

Without granting them even a single glance.

“Offer your apologies to those injured soldiers

whose treatment has been delayed because of your squabble.”

“Ahem… *cough*…”

“Yes, as you wish.”

A multitude of priests followed behind him,

Still smiling.

So many people,

One couldn’t fathom where they all came from.

“Right, everyone, move the injured,

Attend to their wounds first. Scatter, each to your duty.”

At the Pope’s word, the priests behind him

Surged forth in a flurry,

Each moving patients,

Calming them, infusing them with divine power.

“Well, doesn’t seem to be anyone here needing *my*…”

“Your Holiness?”

“Haha, haven’t seen that face in an age, eh?”

The Pope halts.

Right beside the carriage I’m inside.

The questioning voice of a high priest, trailing behind the Pope like a shadow, floats by,

But he pays it no heed,

Throwing the carriage door open with a start.

“It’s been too long, Brother.”

“…Greetings.”

“If it isn’t too much to ask, may I impose upon you

For a brief conversation in here?”

“…”

“Haha, many thanks.”

He enters the carriage

Before I can even answer.

His movements are fluid, completely unforced.

“…Is there some matter you wished to discuss with me?”

“…Huh, truly you have no idea?”

He bursts into the carriage

as if he were supposed to be here;

The Pope gazes at me as if the surprise of not knowing is the main point.

I can only stare back, my face mirroring his,

As I have not the slightest inkling what he’s talking about.

“Your renown has spread like wildfire,

Even in the shadows of the Empire. How could I simply pass by?”

“..What in blazes are you babbling about?”

*

It was merely a day or two after that incident occurred

in the Grand Forest.

Suddenly, a summons had been issued from the Empire,

directed to the upper echelons of even its most esteemed officials.

“What business brings us here so suddenly?”

“Has His Imperial Majesty ever summoned us

with such haste in recent memory?”

“Hmm, try as I might, I simply cannot recall such an occurrence…?”

Those overseeing the Empire’s law and administration,

as well as those possessing wealth of considerable renown within the Empire.

Those who shone brightly within the Empire

were gathered together, yet

not a single soul knew

why they had been summoned to this place.

“..I, too, am in the dark.”

“Ruin Del, are you saying you don’t know either?”

And Ruin Del, known as the Knight Commander directly under the Imperial Family

and hailed as a protector of the Empire,

he too was inwardly perplexed by the sudden summons

that had arrived from the Imperial Palace.

“Hmm, I wonder what sudden matter His Majesty…”

“Surely, you would be privy to such things, no?”

“..I do not know.”

At last, the doors swung open, and four figures entered.

The heads of the Four Great Houses.

Yet, they were no different from the rest.

They, too, had been drawn here by the sudden summons.

They were unaware of the reason for their gathering,

but they could hardly defy the Imperial command.

They could only wait quietly for the originator

of this entire affair.

“..By the by, you seem unperturbed?”

“What is it you wish to say, Lunuiel?”

“Oh, nothing~ I simply thought that with your House’s blemish erased…

you might appear a bit more… radiant, you see?”

“..Your tongue is as sharp as ever, you unsightly old fox.”

“His Radiance approaches!!!”

As Reinhard and Renwiell traded pleasantries – though beneath ran a current of unspoken rivalry –

a great bellow resonated throughout the hall.

A voice so thunderous, it commanded the attention of all.

The moment the roar subsided,

music swelled from some hidden source,

and silence blanketed the assembly.

Only the sound of approaching footsteps, growing ever louder,

filled the void,

until the Sun himself appeared.

“We behold the Sun!”

“”We behold the Sun!!””

Every eye in the chamber

fixed upon a single point.

The man who strode forward with unwavering confidence,

and settled leisurely upon his throne.

“It has been some time, wouldn’t you agree?”

The throne was adorned with golden sunbursts,

and inlaid with a fortune in gems.

And upon it, the man unfurled a crimson cape, the same fiery hue as his own hair.

“Today, well, I simply had a few matters to discuss.

So I summoned you all here… Did I perhaps inconvenience you?”

“No, Your Majesty!!”

The Emperor of this realm,

the man known as the Sun.

His name was Siegfried.

Siegfried Pravelle.

*

No one dared to speak carelessly.

Not since that man had appeared.

For they were acutely aware of

the one before them.

The Sun. He was the Sun of this empire,

and a flawless sovereign.

“Your Majesty, might we inquire as to

the reason you have convened us at this hour?”

But some, it seemed, were less easily silenced than others.

The Four Great Houses, amongst the nobility,

held the most formidable power and renown.

Having long kept the Imperial Throne in check,

they had no reason whatsoever to feel intimidated.

After all, the Empire needed them.

“Haha, of course.”

“Then, could you tell us the reason, even now—”

“Before that, how much do you know about

the attack that occurred recently within the Empire?”

An abrupt question.

Entirely unrelated to the current situation.

“If it is recent… are you speaking of the attack

that transpired within the Order itself?”

“Yes, is it not strange?”

The Emperor rises from his throne.

His crimson cloak, still blood-red, billows.

Step. Step.

The sound of the Emperor walking down the hall

echoes throughout the chamber.

“Why, why attack the Order of all places?”

“….”

“If the goal was to sow chaos within the Empire,

surely other places would have been viable.”

“….”

“Furthermore, the Order at that time had an important

announcement pending, making internal and external

security incredibly tight.”

“….”

“And yet, why did they insist on the Order?”

No answer emerged to the Emperor’s question.

As he said, the situation was patently strange.

They attacked the Order, insisted solely on the Order,

and only the Order suffered damage.

“Even though the members are comprised mostly of priests,

the Order is by no means an easy opponent, is it?”

“….”

“And yet, they nearly achieved victory against the Order,

so I had an investigation conducted.”

Information on emerging powers is always essential, you see.

As soon as the Emperor finished speaking,

servants scurried forward from somewhere.

Each holding a stack of documents in their hands.

“The material I’m distributing now contains information gathered on the faction that attacked the Order. Read it carefully.”

Each read the documents in their own way.

Some flipped through the pages as if

they couldn’t care less,

but others, seemingly intrigued,

raised their monocles and read meticulously.

Lueniel, meanwhile, was simply using magic

to scan the documents.

“..Hmm, certainly… at this level…”

“No, but where on earth did such a force emerge from?”

“One might say they possess the strength

of a small nation…”

However, the assessment of those

who finished reading was mostly the same.

Strong.

To call them merely a gathering of small heretics

would be to dismiss their numbers,

and to disregard their power would be to

overlook their unusual accomplishments.

“No, but that they found a pile of

high-grade mana stones at their suspected hideout─”

“Th-this level of magical formula, even most

high-ranking mages─”

“That they appear to have been experimenting

on monsters, what does that─”

High-grade mana stones were one of the

most prized energy sources even in the Empire,

and the magical formulas they’d etched

into the walls and floors looked complex at a glance.

Moreover, a notebook detailing the appearance and

characteristics of never-before-seen monsters

was found in their hideout.

Their actions were too peculiar to

simply consider them a common heretical group.

“Furthermore…even exhausted as he was,

they apparently fought the Pontiff to a draw?”

“Ha, what is this?!”

“No, that’s impossible─”

A final word from the Emperor drove the nail in,

for those already in shock.

The hall, which until moments ago

had been filled with silence,

The room had grown thick with murmurs, and

the Emperor’s voice didn’t cease there.

“Speaking of which… I hear even the Great Sylvian Forest

was laid to waste by what seems to be a remnant of their ilk.”

“The… the Great Sylvian Forest, you say?!”

“That place overflowing with those arrogant pointy-ears…!”

“Indeed, and because of it, it seems

we too have suffered rather grievous losses.”

The chamber, previously filled with murmurs,

now reverberated with clamor.

The Great Sylvian Forest had been attacked?

That forest, teeming with spirits and elves?

“Then… then this is no time for us to be idle, is it?!”

“We must prepare for an assault!”

“J-just a moment, first we must confirm the facts…!”

The Emperor, pleased by the nobles’ disarray,

resumed his stroll.

Towards the Four Great Houses.

“Haha, be that as it may…

You must be quite disappointed, wouldn’t you say?”

“What do you mean, Your… Majesty?”

No, more precisely, towards Duke Reinhardt.

“The moment we heard of the attack on the Great Sylvian Forest,

the Imperial Palace dispatched a messenger.”

“….”

“To determine whether we should offer aid, or instead seize this opportunity

to devour the Great Sylvian Forest whole.”

“….”

“But it seems the situation was already concluded?

All that remained was news that someone had slain the monster.”

“..Your Majesty, how does that concern me…”

“Indulge me a moment longer, it’s relevant.”

The Emperor continued his tale,

a smile playing at the corners of his lips, and

Duke Reinhardt thought it to be a very,

unsettling smile.

“Who do you think slew the monster?”

“….”

“At first, I assumed it was the knight commander

I’d sent as escort, or perhaps even the elves themselves.”

“…”

“But the returning intelligence tells a different tale, eh?

That the one who slew him was neither the Knight Commander, nor the Elves.”

The Emperor seemed to glide past Reinhardt’s side,

before landing his hand, firm, upon his shoulder.

A humorless smirk played on his lips as

he observed the Duke’s profile –

a sight most would deem utterly loathsome.

“The stain upon the Reinhardt Ducal House, the one you

cast out from your family not so long ago, as the world knows it.”

“…?”

“They say *that* child is the one who vanquished the beast.

All the reports that reach my ears, at least.”

The Duke couldn’t fathom what expression painted his face.

The identity of the individual named from the Emperor’s lips

was someone he’d never considered, not in his wildest imaginings.

“Haha… Your Majesty, your jest has gone too f─”

“A jest? I assure you, it is not.”

“…”

He’d dismissed it, naturally, as one of the Emperor’s cruel pranks,

letting out a snort of incredulous amusement, but

the response was unwavering, absolute,

his voice grave and steeped in seriousness.

“Well, the Imperial Family can only be grateful.

Didn’t you say you’d cast the child out?”

“…”

“Had you not, your influence might have swelled even further, hmm?

To the point of threatening Imperial authority itself, perhaps?!”

“…”

“It has been some time since I found cause to thank you so, haha!”

The Emperor roared with laughter, clapping the Duke’s shoulder

several times before strolling past once more.

The Duke, unable to muster even a faint smile,

formed a stark contrast beside him.

Try as he might to conceal it with his hand,

he could not fully hide the contortion of his features,

nor could he erase the image burned into the eyes of all present.

A face that betrayed the dawning realization that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.