Chapter 47 - He Just Seems Like a Thug, No Matter How I Look at It

“Y-you...!”

The second prince pointed at Amelia, his teeth clenched.

“What have you done to our brother...!”

Amelia tilted her head at that.

'Our brother?'

She took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts.

'Then that empty seat belongs to my eldest brother. My eldest brother is dead?'

Her fingers tapped her neck out of habit.

'The person who died might not even be a succession candidate. Why assume it was him?'

Her eyes fixed on the empty seat.

'Has he been absent for some time? Could they have gathered today to discuss his absence...?'

Having sorted out her thoughts, Amelia nodded with the refreshed expression of someone who had just finished cleaning.

'A leading contender has departed.'

“Wait, does that mean... she defeated our eldest brother’s knight?”

“How could she possibly defeat that knight...?”

Only now did they turn their attention to Chiron behind Amelia. He stood solemnly with a sword at his side.

Of course, all they saw was Daywin.

“... Was it him?”

They began jumping to the mistaken conclusion that Daywin had killed the first prince.

“So you do have someone to rely on... Amelia...”

One princess pointed straight at Daywin and asked the bodyguard behind her whether they knew him. But the bodyguard shook their head.

The appearance of an unidentified powerful fighter threw the siblings into confusion once again.

After Amelia had announced her return with a bang, she went to the palace gardens.

“How lovely. Perhaps I did miss this place a little.”

“... Amelia,” Chiron murmured quietly.

“Hm?”

“... How did things turn out like this?”

“Ah, you mean our eldest brother’s death?”

Chiron nodded slowly.

“They seem to think I killed him and took his ring... Well, that works in our favor. We can use it. Didn’t Hasgard say this was only the beginning?”

“... Nobody.”

“Nobody?”

“Why isn’t anybody sad...?”

Only then did Amelia realize what Chiron meant, and she stopped in her tracks.

“... Our brother is dead.”

Chiron looked close to tears, wearing Daywin’s face. Had he been wearing his helmet, no one would have noticed his expression.

With utterly inappropriate timing, Amelia’s heart was deeply stirred by the sight of a tearful Daywin. It thrashed like a freshly caught tuna.

But she quickly shook her head.

“Steel yourself.”

THUMP

Her small fist struck Chiron’s chest.

“Demon.”

“...”

“You’re far too soft for someone they call that.”

Amelia gave a little laugh, speaking just as she had when they were children.

Chiron drew a deep breath.

“... Yes.”

“It’s our fate, isn’t it?”

“There’s... nothing we can do.”

“Right. Let’s face it bravely.”

And let’s win.

If only for the sake of the man who had given them this chance.

047

A letter from Amelia arrived.

Out of nowhere, she asked whether I had killed the first prince.

Of course I hadn’t...

Even if I could kill someone, it was something I had to be careful about, whether they were royalty or members of the Death God’s cult.

Anyway, I sent a reply saying I hadn’t killed him and enclosed a map marking the graves where the war heroes lay buried.

I had drawn stars beside certain locations and added the comment, “These seem likely to be targets of the Death God’s cult.”

That was just how I phrased it. In truth, it was all but certain, not merely likely.

Since I couldn’t say so outright, I had scribbled it down as though it were a deduction.

If they took my advice, they would probably get there in time.

* * *

“Brother dear.”

Amelia picked up the helmet lying in the room.

“Don’t you no longer need this? You have the ring.”

She addressed Chiron, but he promptly took the helmet and pulled it firmly over his head.

“... Mana.”

“Hm? I wasn’t told anything about that. Does the ring require mana?”

As Amelia asked while putting on her coat, Chiron nodded silently.

“I had no idea. Nothing comes for free, I suppose. Hasgard used it so casually that I assumed there was no cost...”

“... It takes a lot.”

“Well, I suppose no magical item is without its drawbacks.”

He nodded again.

“Wait. That means... Hasgard knew you had enough mana to use the ring...”

Amelia checked her appearance in the mirror.

“Hmm. He may know more than I thought.”

She pondered that for a moment, then took a map from inside her coat.

“This arrived with his letter.”

Chiron took it and unfolded it. He glanced at the small comment Daywin had left and nodded a couple of times.

“What do you think?”

“... Start with the closest.”

“So you don’t intend to pick and choose?”

“... I’m... fast...”

“You won’t have a moment’s rest.”

“... I’ll be fine.”

Chiron drew his worn sword, inspected the blade, and sheathed it again. Then he tucked it at his waist and stood beside Amelia, who was ready to leave.

In a flash, the ring changed his appearance.

Amelia started when she saw his reflection in the mirror.

“Damn it. Why must it be my brother inside that face...?”

“... Heh.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“...”

Chiron silently pointed at the mirror.

There stood Amelia, her cheeks flushed and the corners of her mouth slightly raised the instant Daywin’s face appeared.

There stood a girl.

“... I’m glad.”

“What are you glad about?”

“You’re still...”

Chiron fell silent. He wasn’t being sparing with his words as usual. Unable to find the right expression, he spent a long while choosing his words.

“You still... seem human.”

“O-of course I do. Naturally I seem human. I am human.”

Chiron gave a slight shrug at her response.

“Uh... Let’s just get going.”

Amelia fastened her clothes and gathered her weapon. A huge hammer, considerably taller than she was, dragged along at her feet.

* * *

“I can hardly believe he’s the same person.”

Amelia watched Chiron in a daze.

He deftly evaded the undead pursuing him as it swung its long arms wildly. But he wasn’t merely dodging. He mixed sword strikes into his evasive movements, piling wounds onto its arms.

He was simply moving too fast for Amelia’s eyes to follow.

As though enraged, the undead swung both arms even faster. Chiron retreated out of its reach.

Before it could close the distance, he sheathed his sword and assumed a stance: the distinctive crouch he had used when striking at the twins.

Then his coiled body sprang open in an instant.

CRRRAACK!

Sword aura glittering like fireworks pierced both the undead’s arms and burst its head apart.

But these creatures smoothly regenerated. Like a video playing in reverse, they returned to their original state.

“...”

Facing an undead for the first time, Chiron stopped where he stood, momentarily taken aback.

“Do you need help?”

Amelia gripped her hammer’s long handle as she asked. Chiron deliberated for a long time.

“I won’t be hurt if you say no. Just what do you take me for?”

“Then... I don’t.”

He answered immediately, as though he had been waiting for her to say that, and adjusted his grip on his sword.

“Ah, brother.”

“...?”

“I’ve been thinking something looked different.”

His concentration broken, Chiron turned his head sharply.

“This.”

Amelia pointed repeatedly above her head.

“The real Hasgard would have this.”

Realizing she meant the halo unique to paladins, Chiron opened his mouth.

“Never mind the lack of armor. Wouldn’t that make you look more like Hasgard?”

Chiron agreed and raised his ringed hand slightly.

CRACKLE

A reddish light flashed above Chiron’s head.

An instant later, he staggered, clutching his forehead. The light he had conjured with the ring was already gone without a trace.

“... It hurts.”

“Hmm... I see. So God won’t let you imitate even that.”

Amelia’s lips curved upward like a child who had discovered something fascinating.

“Nothing to be done. Perhaps this is better, actually.”

“...?”

“I don’t mean it’s better for you to be in pain. Don’t go getting upset over nothing.”

She clicked her tongue.

“A rumor that a paladin won through swordsmanship alone, without using divine power, would be quite...”

Her eyes turned to the undead, which had risen again.

“Quite useful, I think.”

Chiron had noticed it too. He bounded toward it and swung his sword again.

CRACK! CRACK!

Rotten flesh and bone scattered from the undead. By now, however, Chiron knew those pieces would simply reattach themselves.

SWISH!

So he didn’t stop.

He unleashed an unending barrage of strikes until chunks became fragments, until fragments became dust, until not even that dust remained.

Unable to regenerate any longer, the undead softly dispersed on the wind.

After Chiron defeated his first undead, the news sent shock waves through the succession candidates.

The siblings, excluding Amelia, gathered around the round table once more for a secret discussion.

“Undead... Was Amelia telling the truth...?”

“Didn’t they all disappear when the necromancer was killed a hundred years ago? Grandfather clearly...”

“Are you saying that woman has come back to life? Impossible.”

“What do you mean, impossible? It’s already happened.”

“Uh...? What happens if the people learn that the undead have returned? Didn’t the late king earn his throne by wiping them out...?”

Everyone was saying whatever they wanted, making any real conversation impossible.

Then:

BANG! BANG!

The third prince pounded the table.

“This is no time for that!”

At least that focused their attention on one spot.

“Didn’t we gather to discuss what to do about Amelia?”

“Y...yes.”

“If she’s acting this boldly, it must be because she knows... something. She has something to rely on.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” one princess said bluntly.

“She has the man who killed our eldest brother as her bodyguard. He must be the one who defeated that undead, or whatever it was!”

She heatedly demanded whether they hadn’t all seen Daywin’s face.

One by one, the others nodded in agreement.

“I don’t know where she found him, but he’s certainly no ordinary man.”

“He has a name. Have you still not investigated him?”

The third prince cut in, his expression hardening.

“Daywin Hasgard.”

The name was thrown into the middle of the round table.

* * *

“Daywin Hasgard?”

Naturally, word that Amelia had regained her succession rights also reached the lords who held voting rights.

Among them was the bishop who had taken Daywin in during his previous life.

Archbishop Romeo murmured pensively as he shuffled through the documents.

'Isn’t this the fellow Commander Blash mentioned?'

He had heard that the commander had personally invited the boy to join the paladin order, only to be rejected to his face.

It was such outrageous behavior that Romeo worried for Blash’s pride. Yet instead—

'Didn’t he say it was enough that they were heading in the same direction?'

He couldn’t understand it. What charm did this boy possess that even Blash acknowledged and defended him?

'No matter how I look at it, he just seems like a thug... That’s the feeling I get, anyway...'

As he continued reading with those thoughts in mind, his gaze stopped abruptly on one section.

He had been the first to discover and defeat the undead. The remnants of war heroes, no less.

He had fought alone, even when no one believed they existed.

'Hmm...'

As an archbishop, he couldn’t help favoring his own side.

A king needed many virtues, but how had the late king won his throne in the first place?

By exterminating the Death God’s cult.

As a bishop of the Goddess’s faith, he could not deny the value of Amelia having secured someone skilled at killing undead.

'... Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing.'