97 – The World of Power and Authority

*Crash-*

Something clatters noisily on the desk, breaking into pieces.

A sound utterly incongruous

with this bright, beautiful day.

It echoes from within

the Reinhardt Ducal Estate.

“Eek…!”

“Y…Your Grace, please calm yourself…!”

“J…just a moment…!”

The pristine white tablecloth is soiled,

the wooden legs of chairs splinter and break,

and floating shelves, sustained by magic,

are reduced to utter dust.

*Bang-*

*Cra-shing-*

*Crunch-*

The pitiful cries of the servants,

terrified by the constant sounds of destruction,

rose from every corner,

but *Gnashing-*

it was all in vain

against the Duke, who still ground his teeth in furious rage.

“Who in the world would do such a thing…!”

“Eek…!”

With a single sweep of his arm,

a fierce gust of pressure dominates the house.

Through the swirling wood splinters

and the cloud of sawdust,

A fluttering thing, a single sheet of paper.

The kind that litters the marketplace,

The kind even snot-nosed children play with.

[The Truth of the Reinhardt Family, One of the Four Great Houses.

Even family members are used as sacrifices…]

“What… what is the meaning of this?!”

“aaah!”

“P-please calm down… aaagh!”

The Duke’s aura intensified,

and with it, the screams of the surrounding servants.

The maids who had been trying to rise

collapsed back to the ground in heaps.

Even the manservants, who had barely managed to prop themselves against the wall,

fell backward, sprawling.

“P-please stop, Father.”

Dodging servants falling and tumbling,

and splinters of wood flying,

someone walked toward the Duke.

Clank-clank, the sound of metal,

wearing the armor of a Knight-Apprentice.

“…Allen?”

“Yes, Father. It is Allen.”

“…What business brings you here?”

At the sight of his son,

the Duke’s aura diminished, if only slightly.

A precarious hold, but proof nonetheless

that reason still remained.

It was enough to make Allen breathe

a sigh of relief.

“Father, perhaps you should calm down, just a—”

“…Calm down?”

Ah, I should have waited a bit longer.

The thought flashed through Allen’s mind

the moment the Duke’s aura surged again.

Slightly stronger than before.

“…You think I need to calm down?”

“Ugh… Father, now is not the t—”

“Do you think I *can* calm down, Allen?”

Shreds of wood and sawdust rose again into the air,

gathering and dispersing in a maddening dance.

Clang—

Across the still-whole windowpanes and glasses,

spiderweb cracks unfurl, then shatter them completely.

Wherever his step lands,

fissures begin to spread,

and his hair, his cloak, too,

flutter aloft, influenced by the force.

“Whatever insect dares, they openly provoke my House.”

“….”

“And you, as the eldest of House Reinhardt,

would you presume to tell your Lord to be calm?”

“Gh..ahem..!”

He grows even more ferocious.

The power surging through the Duke’s very frame.

The cracks in the floor deepen, widen,

his power beginning to take shape.

A semblance of a sword.

“Allen, do you think so as well?”

“..Wh..at..hekk..do you mean?”

“Do you, too, believe… I should not have cast him aside?”

“….”

Allen could not answer.

Something had muted in his voice.

And the force, that had raged so fiercely until now,

had calmed, just for a moment.

He did not wish to shatter this air.

“My father said it as well.

Powerless justice is but a useless thing.”

“….”

“So, I cultivated power. So I could survive.

So that I could rise to this seat of Lord.”

“..Yes.”

“This House, forged by my strength alone,

I will not let it be ruined by such as this.”

He wields the sword.

Or rather, the magic that has taken the sword’s form.

A single downstroke from the heavens,

falling as if dropped, without any apparent effort.

“aaagh…!”

“R..Run for it…”

But the aftershock wasn’t weak at all.

Five meters ahead, where he’d unleashed his mana.

The ground in that direction had been utterly gouged out.

“It’s alright to ruthlessly discard those who are unhelpful

in the process.”

“….”

“That was my life, and I acted that way, in fact, to

achieve success and stand where I am now.”

The mana vanishes.

The mana he held in his hand.

At the same moment, he turned and headed somewhere,

and at the end of that path was his chair, the only thing left intact.

Slowly, he sat down,

resting his hands on the armrests as he spoke.

“Even if it’s wrong, I won’t deny my life now.

Regret is fleeting; in the end, it’s the outcome that proves everything.”

“Fath…Father.”

“Ultimately, the world is power and influence, regret is fleeting.

Therefore…I wasn’t wrong, definitely.”

His words sounded almost like a soliloquy,

and Allen couldn’t lift his head the whole time.

It seemed as though this had all happened because he hadn’t lived up to expectations.

‘..Jennison, what in the world did that b*stard do…!’

“Allen.”

“Yes, Father.”

“First, find him, the one who spread that rumor.

And bring him before me.”

“Yes.”

Allen managed to get to his feet.

Even as he stepped on shards of the shattered wall,

grinding glass fragments beneath his feet,

he didn’t raise his head.

He didn’t bother the servants, who had already fled far away

and were watching this way with frightened expressions.

He just silently left the mansion.

*

“What’s this, Ella?”

“I… I don’t rightly know, Master.

Just found it wandering about in the street, so I picked it up…”

“….”

“But… isn’t this about young Master’s family?

Why is it…here, in the market street?”

Ella looked bewildered, suddenly confronted

with a tale from my old workplace.

Of course, I, the “member of the family”

this paper spoke of, was just as unsettled.

The Duke tasking me with that…

Few within the family even knew.

“…Aria, it’s you.”

“Pardon, Master? What did you say?”

“…Nothing at all.”

Aria.

Her last words to me flickered in my mind –

her vow to seek an audience with the Duke.

The moment that memory surfaced, I knew

she was behind all of this.

‘…I should meet with her soon.’

To me, the Duke was nothing more than a man

who neglected my mother and failed as a father,

but to her, he was a father to be revered.

Seen another way, this was a treasured daughter

publicly denouncing her father’s shame.

The scrutiny of the world that would fall on her

could prove an immense burden.

‘…I need to see her, gauge her state─’

“…aster.”

‘And I need to ask her why, why take such

a drastic step in the first place.’

“Master!”

“…?”

Had she finished loading

all of the purchases into the carriage?

Ella stood empty-handed beside me,

calling my name with such urgency.

“What is it, Ella?”

“Young master, you’re going to the Imperial Palace now, aren’t you?”

“….”

“You must go…! What if they find fault, saying you didn’t visit immediately upon arriving in the Empire…”

Ella’s worried voice echoed

within the cramped carriage.

She seemed genuinely concerned

that something might happen to me.

Her eyes and silvery hair drew

close to my vision.

“And if it’s an order from the Imperial Family─”

“..Alright, I understand.

I said I understand, so move away.”

“Really?”

“..Yes, I cannot disobey an order from the Imperial Family, after all.”

Only after I gave her the answer she wanted

did her expression brighten,

and I, too, felt relieved and turned my head away.

Unknowing that her questioning gaze

was fixed on the markings on my neck.

*

Not only had Greed perished,

but even Envy had ceased all contact.

At this point, it’s difficult to dismiss it as coincidence.

“This is no ordinary matter. If more

are killed, the loss of power will be substantial.”

“Hey, isn’t it possible they just died because they were stupid?”

“Ha, looks like your brain is as base as your body, isn’t it?”

“..Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden, old man?”

At least three voices,

two male and one female,

resounded within the darkness-filled chamber.

“I would hope you both realize that this is not the time

for infighting amongst ourselves.”

“Did I do something wrong? That old geezer

started picking a fight with me, right out in the open?! Acting exactly like the fossil he is.”

“Hah, you’re the same age as me, yet you keep calling me

an old man, old man..”

“Enough.”

A sonorous male voice reverberated.

That sharp, unwavering voice brooked no further argument.

“First, the energy source that Jealousy was meant to secure,

we will divide among ourselves to find.”

“..Alright, well…sharing some essence will do.”

“Understood, I’ll lend my strength too.”

“And…for the time being, it would be wise

to refrain from venturing outside.”

No need to endure further power attrition.

“We must succeed in this endeavor, for the greater cause, and for our Mother.

And if even a shred of doubt taints this plan,

it will not do. Do we all agree?”

“Words well said, agreed.

I shall be more discreet from now on.”

“Heh heh, matters not to me…but that old maid,

what will she do without her men?”

“Oh, just shut it–”

The woman’s words were cut short,

and the surrounding darkness receded.

All that remained in that place was

a middle-aged man.

And what could be seen in that place was…

“Mother, finally, I have reached this point.

I will ensure…we succeed…”

The man muttering to himself,

and the moonlight illuminating his shadowed face,

only the pale blue moonlight.