Kays Translations

Chapter 48: The One Who Was to Kill and the One Who Was to Be Killed

Days later, while news of the Baldor Mountains spread throughout the imperial capital, the Imperial Castle remained in turmoil.

The disaster had centered on the world-renowned Imperial Military Academy and its prestigious Special Class final examination. The government could not avoid a full investigation into who had engineered the incident and why.

Ironically, the crisis produced a level of cooperation the rival factions rarely achieved.

The parents of the candidates were furious regardless of whether they belonged to the Hero Faction or the imperial faction. Their anger fell first upon the academy’s board.

Some attempted to blame Dean Chronois Highland. That argument quickly collapsed.

Chronois had left the country before the final examination under a government order, and the board’s own minutes recorded that she had explicitly rejected the Baldor Mountains as an examination site.

The investigation therefore shifted to whoever had overturned or manipulated that decision after her departure.

“I heard something interesting, Edgar.”

Ulysses Ignat spoke after leaving a large conference room in the castle.

The corridors, normally solemn and quiet, rang with heated voices. Edgar walked beside his lord and narrowed his eyes against the morning sunlight entering through the windows.

“I would be pleased to hear it.”

“A nobleman serving on the academy board was found dead.”

Edgar’s expression sharpened.

“The man who performed the final inspection of the magic ship carrying Lady Fiona?”

“As expected of you. Yes. He swallowed poison before the incident became public. Knights are searching his estate now.”

“They will find nothing useful.”

“I agree.”

Ulysses stopped and leaned against the wall, folding his arms.

“The body was badly decomposed when discovered. Even so, they say he appeared to be smiling.”

“As though death did not frighten him.”

“Or as though it pleased him. Suppose he served a master and believed this disaster would benefit that master. A fanatic might have considered death a reward.”

“Then he was a loyal retainer, in his own way.”

“So it seems.”

Ulysses smiled.

The murderous pressure behind that smile made passing officials instinctively avert their eyes.

“The time has come when faction alone can no longer determine whom we trust.”

The plot had endangered candidates from both major factions.

“The Demon King cult,” Edgar said. “That was the name reported by the adventurer who rescued Lady Fiona – or rather, by Ren Ashton.”

“Ah, the ‘adventurer.’ The official story says the information was overheard at a guild. At least it allowed us to confirm the cult exists. Finding its trail will be the difficult part.”

Ulysses recalled the conversation he had held with his daughter after her return.

“Fiona, let me ask once more. An unnamed adventurer saved you, and Asval ultimately destroyed itself. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Father.”

“And the part of your power that had troubled you has now become quiet?”

“Yes.”

Relief at Fiona’s survival had overwhelmed everything else when they reunited. Once Ulysses questioned her calmly, however, he immediately recognized that she was hiding something.

“Both that boy and my daughter are far too gentle,” he had muttered.

“Did you say something, Father?”

“Only that I am grateful you are alive.”

Ulysses finished recounting the exchange and sighed.

“My daughter appears to have excluded me from the truth. If I questioned the Clausel knights directly, they would be obliged to name every adventurer involved.”

“Perhaps Lady Fiona and the boy were too exhausted to construct a better story,” Edgar said. “Or perhaps Ren never intended to conceal himself permanently.”

“The latter. He trusted me to understand the hint. He is asking for time to think.”

Ulysses did not resent it.

He had a clear image of the boy who had saved Fiona twice, and he intended to respect Ren’s judgment.

“Baron Clausel will eventually send a report containing what his knights saw and heard. The boy will not make a careless decision.”

Rather than chase Ren, Ulysses would act on the information already available.

Fiona’s account and the reports from the mountain provided enough leads to begin.

“I have no further business in the capital,” Ulysses said. “There are more useful things to do. Let us return, Edgar.”

Edgar found his lord’s restraint unusual. He had expected Ulysses to leave several nobles politically ruined, if not literally buried.

Instead, Ulysses had done little beyond demanding the necessary records and identifying responsibility. Other nobles were making far more noise.

“Are you certain? I expected you to leave claw marks across the capital.”

“I have many thoughts on the matter, but this gathering is becoming a farce. Without information about the cult, the factions will only accuse one another. That is a waste of time. I would rather return to Fiona.”

Ulysses was not abandoning the matter.

He had already decided what he needed next.

◇ ◇ ◇

In another corridor of the Imperial Castle walked a silver-haired boy and a young woman.

The boy, close to Ren’s age, carried himself with unmistakable dignity.

His companion was a half-Cait Sith. She appeared mostly human, but cat ears rose from her hair and a tail moved behind her.

“That is why, nya!”

“What do you mean, ‘that is why’? You skipped the explanation. Start again.”

The silver-haired boy sighed.

“There was a mark on the body of the board member who killed himself. Continue from there.”

The girl giggled until he lightly pinched her cheek.

“Why did you pinch me, nya!?”

“Because you were being foolish. And I barely touched you.”

“As expected of Your Highness! Your control over the strength of a pinch is magnificent, nya.”

“That is not praise I need. Explain.”

The girl cleared her throat and adopted a serious expression.

“The mark contained the same kind of mana once found in the bodies of the Demon King’s retainers.”

“Then the culprit is either a remnant of the Demon King’s army or someone attempting to revive him.”

“That is the conclusion, nya.”

“Troublesome. If nobles in our own country have been seduced by the Demon King’s power, membership in the imperial faction cannot make them trustworthy.”

“What will you do, nya?”

“Gather allies I can trust and uncover those connected to the cult.”

The girl frowned.

“Finding people who truly share Your Highness’s intentions will be difficult, nya.”

“I know. But the Demon King is too great a burden to carry alone. If I bite at this problem without support, it will swallow me.”

“Before gathering allies, Your Highness should choose a dedicated knight, nya!”

“I would, if I had found one I wanted.”

“That is why I keep having to fill in for the royal guard, nya. Please consider the feelings of your attendant.”

The silver-haired boy sighed again.

◇ ◇ ◇

“What I need now are allies whose ideals and judgment I can trust,” Ulysses told Edgar.

Edgar smiled.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Forgive me. I did not expect to hear you speak so openly about needing companions. But I believe you are correct.”

Ulysses gave a self-mocking shrug.

“It will not be easy. Few nobles think as I do.”

“Anyone entrusted with a matter involving the Demon King must be intelligent, powerful, and steady enough to risk their life. Your requirements are demanding.”

“I know. I still cannot abandon them.”

Chronois came immediately to Ulysses’s mind, but he needed more than one possible ally.

Baron Clausel was also trustworthy, although Ulysses did not yet know whether Lessard would share his larger ambitions.

“I need companions,” Ulysses repeated.

From beyond the next corner came another voice.

“And I need both reliable allies and a dedicated knight.”

The two speakers reached the bend at the same time.

“Good morning.”

“Hm?”

Ulysses and the silver-haired boy stopped.

They had encountered each other many times inside the castle, but now they studied one another in silence, each aware that the other had overheard the preceding conversation.

“Your Highness Radius,” Ulysses said.

“Ulysses.”

Radius, the Third Prince, did not lower his eyes before one of the empire’s most intimidating nobles.

“Do you have time to speak?” Radius asked.

“I intended to return to Eupheim immediately. But if Your Highness invites me, I will accompany you.”

They began walking.

After several steps, Radius asked, “What would you have done if your daughter had died?”

“Do you mean during the recent incident, or when the imperial family refused to provide the monster material needed to save her?”

“The latter.”

Edgar’s heartbeat quickened. He knew his lord would not soften the answer.

Ulysses spoke as casually as though discussing the weather.

“If Fiona had died then, I would never have forgiven Leomel or the imperial family.”

“And what would that lack of forgiveness have meant?”

“I cannot say with certainty what I would have done. But I believe I would have sought Leomel’s collapse. To achieve it, I would first have killed you – the Third Prince said to be the most likely future emperor.”

“My lord!” Edgar exclaimed.

Radius raised a hand.

“Leave it. His answer tells me precisely how he regards me.”

The prince stopped and faced Ulysses.

“Even so, could I not join hands with you for a goal we share? You may hate the imperial family, but our interests can still align.”

“And you do not fear that I will stab you from behind?”

“If my work also protects your daughter, you will use me before you kill me.”

Silence stretched between them.

Edgar and the half-Cait Sith attendant watched without breathing.

At last Ulysses laughed softly.

“You are the first person to speak so boldly to me.”

He held out his hand.

Radius took it.

In the story Ren knew, Ulysses Ignat was the man destined to take Radius’s life, and Radius was the prince destined to die by his hand.

Ren would learn only later that the killer and his intended victim had instead chosen to join hands.

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