Chapter 170 - Damn Reincarnation

The Competition

The Lionheart main estate underwent a number of minor changes.

First, the family head returned after spending several years away. Gilead looked as thin as he had when they parted at Black Lion Castle, and at the sight of her husband, Anisilla forgot all about her dignity and burst into sobs.

Ciel, who had accompanied Gilead to several funerals, returned as well, along with Cyan, who had been training under the captains at Black Lion Castle. Anisilla wept so openly not just because her husband had returned, but because her children, who had been away from her embrace for so long, had come home too.

The Black Lion Knights’ Third Division, led by Carmen, did not leave the main estate as scheduled. This was at the request of Gilead and Klein, the newly appointed head of the Council of Elders.

Their request was simple: train the main family’s White Lion Knights.

The White Lion Knights were already accomplished enough to be counted among the continent’s finest orders. But Eward’s rebellion had been enough to shake the loyalty of the White Lions, who had taken such pride in serving Lionheart.

The family needed to restore its prestige... What would it take to earn the knights’ respect and make them look up to Lionheart again? A knight whose excellence was beyond question. One without the sense of superiority peculiar to those of pure blood, who did not discriminate against subordinates and was generous with their teachings.

... Carmen Lionheart, now called the strongest in Lionheart, was chosen as the person suited to that role. Thus, rather than returning to Black Lion Castle, she remained at the main estate to mentor the White Lion Knights.

As a result, the White Lion Knights’ quarters beside the main estate’s training grounds were greatly expanded. An office for Carmen was added beside the White Lion Knights’ commander’s office on the first floor, and the facilities became far more luxurious overall. All of this was Anisilla’s strategy to fill the knights’ hearts with gratitude and pride. Their living conditions had already been excellent enough to leave no room for complaint, but the extensive renovations Anisilla pushed through even filled the White Lion Knights’ pockets to overflowing.

The annex was also torn down during the expansion of the knights’ quarters. Insisting that family must remain family even if they did not share a single drop of blood, Anisilla had the annex where Eugene lived rebuilt right beside the main house. The buildings themselves remained separate, but passages connecting each floor now allowed easy movement between them.

A large amount of training equipment was also added to the training grounds, and development began in the forest where the World Tree sapling had fully taken root.

There had been some concern that the elves might oppose the development, but they were keenly aware that they were living under Lionheart’s protection. Perhaps that was why they picked up shovels and axes themselves to help with the work.

“... I think it’s a little excessive.”

Carmen’s office.

She had filled the space with everything that suited her tastes.

A whiskey display cabinet occupied one wall. Of course, Carmen liked neither the aroma nor the taste of whiskey. Rather than drinking that bitter liquor that tasted like sucking on wood, she preferred sweet drinks, warm milk, or soothing tea.

Beside it stood a wine display cabinet.

Like the whiskey cabinet, every liquor cabinet Carmen had installed as “decor” was of the highest quality. They were artifacts made from the finest wood and minerals, decorated with cut gems, and designed to provide the optimal temperature, humidity, and other storage conditions for each kind of liquor. Only wealthy drinkers with more money than they knew what to do with owned such cabinets, but Carmen spared no expense when it came to her tastes.

Naturally, the wines filling the cabinet were also luxurious drinks of the highest price. Whiskey and wine tended to become more expensive with age, and if the ages of all the liquor in Carmen’s cabinets were added together, the sum would rival not only Hamel’s age, but that of a good many high-ranking demons.

Of course, Carmen did not drink wine either. Not that she never drank it. She quite enjoyed sweet ice wines and dessert wines, as well as chilled sparkling wines. But other wines? Red, white, whatever the hell they were—wasn’t grape juice or apple juice better than drinking those?

... Still, a cabinet full of liquor elevated a person’s dignity and prestige simply by existing. Or so Carmen believed. Though she disliked wine and whiskey, she very much liked the sight of herself holding a wineglass or a whiskey glass.

The same went for cigars. The drawers of the imposing desk in her office held neatly arranged cigars she never smoked. Needless to say, every cigar she owned was a premium product hand-rolled by an artisan from a renowned region, and the cases and cutters were custom-made, engraved with black and silver lions.

The bookshelves were also packed with impressive-looking books she never read. Large Lionheart and Black Lion emblems adorned the wall directly behind her desk, while flags and armor she never wore stood by the windows as decorations...

... This room was more excessive than any other room Eugene had ever entered. Hearing the word “excessive” from Carmen, who had decorated it herself and was now sitting with both legs propped on the desk, made him feel as though his grasp of reality was collapsing.

“... Uh... Hmm... Is it?”

“Yes. There’s no reason to train even the elves, is there?”

“Well, it wasn’t my idea... They say they want to do it.”

Eugene shrugged as he answered. As he had just said, the elves living in the forest had begun training. Levera’s helpless abduction by Iris had awakened their sense of danger and stirred Siknard, who bore a deep grudge against Iris.

The training was voluntary. The elves’ wishes had been incorporated into the forest’s development, adding several training facilities. Siknard had taken up his sword to teach them himself, and both the White Lion Knights and the Black Lion Knights were helping instruct them.

“... By excessive... I mean...”

Unable to find the words to continue, Carmen rested her cigar on the ashtray. That beautiful ashtray had never held tobacco ash since it was made, and it never would.

“... Aha.”

Eugene realized what Carmen was trying to say.

“This is about the White Tower Master, isn’t it?”

“... Mm.”

Carmen nodded with a reluctant expression. To Eugene, she and Melkith were remarkably alike in their embarrassing antics and inability to act their age. Surprisingly, however, neither seemed interested in becoming friends with the other.

He felt it was a kind of kinship mixed with self-loathing. Their similarities made them conscious of each other, and seeing how those traits looked from someone else’s perspective was so unsightly...

‘... No... Rather than loathing... Is it competitiveness...?’

When Melkith wore a mink coat, Carmen wore an even fuller mink jacket.

When Carmen wore a leather jacket, Melkith wore a leather coat with an even glossier sheen.

“... I know elves have an exceptional affinity for spirits. But having the White Tower Master, an outsider, teach members of the Lionheart household is excessive.”

“Well... Didn’t they ask to learn that too? If swordsmanship or hand-to-hand combat doesn’t appeal to them, spirit arts are a good choice. Besides, their teacher is someone known as the greatest spirit mage of all time.”

The matter of the lightning flame had given Melkith relatively free access to Lionheart’s forest. But perhaps she had begun to feel awkward about visiting so often, because she had coaxed the elves into taking lessons in spirit arts. Now she even stayed in the forest for days at a time, using “teaching” as an excuse.

“... It is excellent for strengthening Lionheart’s forces, but... Well... When it comes to personal dignity, doesn’t the White Tower Master’s behavior go a little too far...?”

“Pardon?”

“... Well... Hmm... While I was taking a walk last night, at the artificial lake in the forest... Hmm...”

Carmen stumbled over her words, unable to continue. She fidgeted with her fingers and even averted her eyes slightly, looking embarrassed.

“... The White Tower Master was sitting naked in the middle of the lake.”

“... Pardon?”

“There were no people—no elves watching. The White Tower Master seems quite thorough about such things. A barrier that blocks perception... Without insight on my level, one couldn’t even have witnessed her bizarre behavior. But, in any case, actually seeing it was terribly... undignified.”

“Yes...”

“Of course... Hmm... She wasn’t doing anything strange. I only caught a glimpse before retreating in embarrassment, but her expression was serious, and the flow of mana around her was truly beautiful. Meditation in a state of complete absorption... She was probably practicing her spirit arts.”

Carmen cleared her throat again after saying this.

“... But... Well... An ordinary person... Not that the White Tower Master is ordinary, but in any case, someone who understands shame...”

Was it morally right for the word “shame” to come out of Carmen’s mouth?

“Training while sitting upright, naked, on a lake beneath a brilliantly moonlit sky... Isn’t that something people simply don’t do? Or can I not accept it because I’m a knight rather than a mage or spirit summoner?”

“...”

“Is that sort of training common among mages and spirit summoners? Eugene. As both a mage and a spirit summoner, do you secretly enjoy training that way too?”

[“Hamel.”]

“If... If that is the case, do the elves learning spirit arts from the White Tower Master train like that too? It doesn’t... matter in Lionheart’s forest, but if they trained that way when there were guests at the main estate... Especially... Hmm... Eugene, I believe you have that much good judgment. But if you were completely absorbed in your training, and someone else saw you...”

[“We must kill the White Tower Master, Melkith El-Hayah.”]

Tempest whispered inside his head.

[“She is dragging the reputation of spirit mages into the gutter. Just look at this. Even that bizarre woman is confused by how far her behavior strays from common sense.”]

“...”

[“As I told you before, the idea that communing with spirits naked yields greater results is nothing more than baseless superstition... I can only lament that a woman so steeped in superstition has reached such heights as a spirit mage...”]

“... I...”

[“Why is a spirit mage contracted with the Earth and Lightning Spirit Kings practicing spirit arts on the surface of a lake in the first place? Surely she wasn’t following the superstition that forcing communion with spirits one has no affinity for enhances one’s original affinity...?”]

“... I have never trained naked, nor have I ever wanted to.”

[“How could a great spirit mage of her caliber... No... All beings who transcend the human realm possess a corresponding madness... Just as Carmen Lionheart does... Melkith El-Hayah, too, has her madness...”]

“The White Tower Master is the strange one. Other mages and spirit mages don’t do crazy things like that. I’ll make sure to caution the elves about this, and warn the White Tower Master as well.”

Relieved by his answer, Carmen sighed, then abruptly opened a desk drawer and took something out.

PING.

A black-and-gold Dupont lighter flicked open at Carmen’s fingertips, producing a clear note.

“...”

PING.

“...”

PING.

“It’s impressive.”

Understanding what Carmen wanted, Eugene nodded.

PING.

“I think it sounds clearer than Iris’s.”

“It’s custom-made.”

Only then did Carmen nod with a satisfied expression. Eugene struggled to keep his mind from growing hazy. He hadn’t come to see Carmen so early in the morning to have this sort of conversation.

“Isn’t it about time you pretended to give in and told me?”

“... I... I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No matter how many times you pretend not to know, I’ll keep asking.”

“... Young Blood Lion. Can you bear the truth?”

“Bear it or whatever. I’m already used to that damned Blood Lion name, and it doesn’t bother me when other people call me that anymore. So bringing it up won’t make me back down, Lady Carmen.”

Elves had sharp hearing.

When Carmen had bestowed the epithet Blood Lion on Eugene in front of the warp gate, only the Black Lions and Levera had been nearby. But her voice had reached every elf in the forest.

Thus, Eugene heard the epithet from the elves’ mouths again, and it spread to the servants and then to the White Lion Knights.

However painful it was for Eugene to hear, everyone in Lionheart now knew him as the Blood Lion.

‘... Eugene the Blood Lion is better than Hamel the Stupid.’

Eugene clenched his goosebump-covered hand into a fist and glared at Carmen.

“You were the one dropping hints practically begging me to notice in the first place.”

“... I... I never did that.”

“What was that mysterious experience you had as a child, decades ago?”

“...”

“Even in the carriage on the way back, you clicked your pocket watch every time Sir Alchester mentioned dragons, as if you wanted me to notice.”

“... There is a subtle difference between asking someone to notice and having them actually notice.”

“I don’t understand that subtlety, so I’ll have to hear it from you.”

“As I’ve told you several times, I cannot speak directly about my experience myself. That is... an important promise.”

Carmen desperately tried to change the subject, but nothing came to mind. If she’d known this would happen, she would have brought out the Dupont lighter later. Had she taken it out now and let him hear its ringing notes, his mind would have been filled with the greedy desire to own a Dupont lighter instead of those questions...

“Honestly.”

Eugene let out a deep sigh and sank into the sofa. He had been visiting Carmen and following her around for days now, asking about dragons... But she simply would not answer.

At this point, he had no choice but to believe her. A promise bound by Dragon Speech. She must have received that... Heaven Genocide from a dragon. The fact that she could only drop vague hints without stating anything clearly herself made it certain that she had exchanged a promise with one.

“... If you can’t tell me directly, how about at least giving me a hint?”

“... That encounter...”

Carmen hesitated for a long time, lost in thought. She seemed to be sorting out what she could and could not say. Several times she tried to speak, only to close her mouth and frown.

‘Looks like she’s being stopped regardless of what she wants.’

[“A promise exchanged with a dragon through Dragon Speech is absolute.”]

‘You’re the fucking Wind Spirit King. Don’t you know a single dragon?’

[“... I do know dragons, but even a Spirit King cannot carelessly divulge information about those they are contracted with. So do not expect me to help you search for a dragon, Hamel.”]

Tempest’s excuse sounded pathetic, but there was nothing to be done about it. Wind existed everywhere in the world. If Tempest’s help had allowed Eugene to search through even the lowest wind spirits... he might have been able to obtain every piece of information in the world.

“... I... I once stayed with the Dragonic family when I was young.”

After a long hesitation, Carmen finally opened her mouth.

“As I said back then, I was Alchester’s martial arts instructor. I never favored weapons such as swords or spears, even as a child, so I taught him hand-to-hand techniques—punching, kicking, and the like. The head of the Dragonic family at the time passed on his family’s martial arts to me... though they weren’t much use.”

He had heard this in the carriage before.

“... Alchester was quick to learn. He was a little boy who had only just turned five, but he was so mature for his age that he never complained about my lessons...”

“You met a dragon at the Dragonic estate?”

“But... Mature as he was, he did have his childish side. Five-year-old Alchester was a dreadful little fellow who would put the boogers he picked into his mouth...”

Eugene had just learned something he had never wanted to know about the empire’s greatest knight.

“Then should I visit the Dragonic estate too...?”

“... Eugene the Blood Lion. Why are you interested in dragons?”

“Is there anyone in the world who isn’t interested in dragons?”

A mythical race that had not shown itself for three hundred years. Eugene knew the reason well. Three hundred years ago, the dragons had suffered terrible losses in the war against the Demon Kings.

Half their race had been killed by the Demon Kings. The Demon King of Incarceration and the Demon King of Destruction had been involved in the slaughter of that great race.

No, more precisely, it would be no exaggeration to say that the Demon King of Destruction had carried out the slaughter alone. The Demon King of Incarceration had killed a few dragons in the initial clash, but had subsequently withdrawn from the front against them.

As if to fill that vacancy, the Demon King of Destruction descended.

And half the dragons died. Eugene did not know what that battlefield had been like.

While wandering Helmuth... they had met a dying dragon. A dragon wounded in battle against the Demon King of Destruction, who had fled. Unable to escape Helmuth, it had awaited death in a crudely constructed dungeon.

After tearing out its own dragon heart and giving it to Vermouth and his companions, the dragon left its final words.

[“You cannot fight Destruction.”]

When Eugene saw the Demon King of Destruction from afar, he realized how true and grave that warning had been. It was exactly as the dragon’s dying words had said. Even now, looking back, he could not recall precisely what shape “it” had possessed. The movement of “color.” He had not known whether that was the Demon King of Destruction, yet what else could possibly be called Destruction? Overwhelming terror and despair that made resistance impossible.

The dragons had tried to fight that Demon King of Destruction. Perhaps to tend to their deep wounds and psychological trauma, most of those who survived the front had gone into seclusion. They had not appeared in the world for three hundred years.

‘... That bastard Oryx wasn’t half-human, half-dragon. Why was there a dragon at the Dragonic estate?’

Had it come to see what was going on because some lunatic had proclaimed himself half-dragon, and his family had been treated as dragon descendants for three hundred years? That did seem plausible.

“... How about advising me on a way to get into the Dragonic estate?”

“If you visit and ask for a tour of the estate, little Alchester won’t turn you down.”

“Will that alone let me meet a dragon?”

“... I... Hmm... As a training instructor... While staying at Alchester’s estate...”

“Right, an ordinary guest won’t do. Then what should I do... Maybe spend a little time as a training instructor, like you...”

“... Alchester has a young son. I believe he turned ten this year.”

Carmen composed her expression and looked at Eugene.

“... If you demonstrate your skill in front of Alchester today, I will ask Gilead to arrange an exchange to foster harmony between the two families.”

“Hah.”

Eugene gave a short laugh and looked back at Carmen.

“I said I absolutely wouldn’t participate in today’s competition... Is this what you want, Lady Carmen? Or does the family head want it too?”

“Let us call it Lionheart’s wish.”

Carmen chuckled and put her cigar between her lips.

It had begun with a trivial quarrel. For a month, the White Dragon Knights under Alchester’s command had been guarding the Lionheart main estate from outside its walls. This had led to a dispute between them and the White Lion Knights.

Simply put, some of the White Dragon Knights’ lower-ranking members had been caught bad-mouthing Lionheart. They had said that Lionheart’s power was no longer what it had once been, and that the family was rotting and festering from within. They sneered that despite boasting of their descent from a great hero, Lionheart had been so frightened of the Rakshasa Princess, who had left Helmuth for the countryside, that they now needed protection from an imperial knightly order.

Unable to stomach what they had heard, the White Lion Knights challenged them to duels, with victories split evenly between the two sides. But the matter did not end there. Other knights joined in, and the scale of the dueling grew.

Alchester had wanted to smooth the matter over, but the White Dragon Knights’ loyalty lay with Kiel’s emperor, not Alchester. Perhaps they had received some order from the emperor, because even White Dragon Knights who had not been assigned to guard the Lionheart estate began flocking there to duel one after another.

Once matters had progressed that far, Gilead could no longer stand by as family head. He intervened personally, proposing a formal competition between the White Lion Knights and the White Dragon Knights. The terms stipulated that, depending on the outcome, the winners would offer the losers an unconditional apology and appropriate compensation. Ten members from each order were to be selected to duel after noon today.

“I’m not a member of the White Lion Knights.”

“The family head and his children are among the White Lion Knights’ commanders. Surely you know that?”

“Even so, having a member of the main family participate personally is a bit... Wouldn’t the White Lion Knights feel uncomfortable too? The lord they serve would be stepping in to deal with their problem.”

“They would feel that way if Cyan, the official heir, participated. But you are not the heir, and you have renounced your right of succession, haven’t you? Besides, the young White Lion Knights hold you in awe. Your participation in the competition would greatly raise their morale.”

Judging by how smoothly she spoke without a single hesitation, she must have intended to persuade him from the start. Eugene clicked his tongue and tilted his head.

“You really do play dirty.”

“Call it strategy.”

Carmen smiled contentedly, waving the cigar held between her fingers.