Chapter 63 - Dovan

Dovan stared blankly at the table.

'Platinum-colored...'

A platinum-colored rosary. He knew all too well what it meant.

"... So you are apostles of the Holy Empire."

His gaze turned to Renée and Bera. He knew there was only one girl that young among the Holy Empire's apostles.

"No, not merely an apostle. I failed to recognize that the Saintess herself had come."

A sudden, hollow laugh escaped him. What was happening? The identity of the guest he had thought merely unusual was so astonishing, so unexpected, that the question sprang to mind. Like anyone confronted with a sudden turn of events, Dovan could find nothing to say. He simply waited for Renée's reply with a dazed expression.

"I'm sorry. It isn't something I can reveal carelessly..."

"What is there to apologize for? Naturally, the Saintess's travels would be kept secret."

Dovan shook his head as he answered, then straightened in his seat and bowed his head. It did not matter that Renée was blind, that she could not see this gesture of respect.

"I greet the Saintess. I hope you will forgive me for being unable to kneel on account of my condition."

"Oh, no! You don't have to go that far..."

"It is only proper courtesy. I am no lout who fails to recognize who placed freedom in his hands."

Renée looked uncomfortable.

"But I wasn't the one who did that..."

"Considering what the title of Saintess means, it is hardly inappropriate for you to accept it. If it truly troubles you, consider yourself accepting my gratitude on His Holiness's behalf, and convey it to him later."

Dovan raised his head.

He hummed thoughtfully, considering the offer Renée had made when she held out her rosary: whether there was anything she could help with. Could he tell her? Was it right to explain his circumstances and ask for help?

As he pondered, his gaze shifted to Aisha. She was utterly rigid, her face frightened. Clearly, she had caused trouble or been rude again. She was probably terrified of being scolded.

Watching her, Dovan gave a weary smile, then spoke.

"Aisha, would you prepare some tea for our guests?"

"Y-yeah!"

Aisha fled the room.

Watching Aisha leave and slam the door behind her, Dovan steeled himself.

'... When someone offers a helping hand, it is right to take it.'

Had he been the only one who would suffer from this affair, he would have refused the Saintess's help. But Aisha was with him. He did not want that young child to experience the pain of loss twice.

"... This is not something Aisha should hear, so I sent her out. Thank you for waiting."

"Then..."

"If you will help me, I would gladly accept. I have little to offer, but..."

"No. We aren't asking for anything in return."

Renée smiled awkwardly at his words and waved away the suggestion, then continued, getting to the heart of the matter.

"Now, I heard that those soldiers and other nobles have been causing you trouble, Dovan. Could you tell us why?"

"Hmm. How should I explain this..."

Dovan sorted through his circumstances in his head, then asked a question.

"Just to be sure, do you know why the present alliance of kingdoms was formed?"

"Oh, yes. As I understand it, it was to maintain a balance of power so that someone like Haman could never emerge again."

"Correct. On the surface, at least."

A bitter expression crossed Dovan's face.

"Then you must also know that, despite calling themselves an alliance, they are locked in a vicious struggle with one another."

Renée flinched, her fingertips trembling, then nodded. The beastfolk's conflicts were something she knew very well.

How could she not? When she had first set out for the Holy Empire, the alliance had been among those targeting her. They had sought her out to put an end to their vicious infighting.

In the end, internal discord had prevented them from reaching her, but Renée knew perfectly well what they hoped to achieve, even if it meant taking possession of her.

Watching Renée's expression darken, Dovan continued his explanation.

"Those five kingdoms all want one thing. Unification by their own hands, and the title of empire that would come with it."

His words were steeped in revulsion. Renée sensed it and nodded.

"So the war has gone on for fifty years..."

"Without end. Because none of them will yield, and none of them has a rightful claim."

Renée understood what he meant. Her lessons on the state of the continent had included the beastfolk's conflicts.

"... Because they lack legitimacy."

"Exactly. The rulers of those kingdoms have no legitimate claim. Every rightful heir of the original imperial family—the one that ruled before Haman swallowed it up—is dead. They have no grounds to claim an empire."

It was no simple matter. In beastfolk society, claiming an empire without any legitimacy and attempting unification by force were utterly unacceptable.

There was one reason: that was how Tiger King Haman had seized the empire. Unification by force would repeat precisely what Haman had done sixty years earlier, when he stormed the imperial palace alone, slaughtered everyone of imperial blood, and took the throne. That was why the beastfolk, above all, required legitimacy from anyone claiming an empire.

Putting what she knew together with Dovan's explanation, Renée asked,

"Is that situation the reason you're in trouble?"

She could not understand the connection between his difficulties and the state of the alliance.

Dovan's lips moved for a moment as he hesitated, then he nodded. What followed filled both Renée and Bera with shock.

"... Yes. Because I am the last living survivor of the empire's former imperial family."

* * *

In the smithy's backyard, Renée sat dazedly in a chair, turning over what she had just heard.

"I never imagined it. To think Dovan was..."

The last survivor of a fallen imperial family.

Bera nodded as he watched Renée trail off, still looking stunned.

"Indeed. This is something even I never imagined."

Who could have guessed that any imperial blood remained? Even Bera, who had turned back an entire lifetime, could not have known this.

'In my previous life, the alliance of kingdoms was never unified.'

Naturally, he could not have known. Until the moment it was destroyed by the Demon King, who rose six years from now, he had never heard anything about the return of the imperial bloodline.

Bera looked toward the smithy.

CLANG! CLANG!

Dovan had already begun working, the ringing of metal carrying out to them. As Bera listened, he recalled Dovan's final words.

["When Haman invaded the imperial palace, I was the only one who escaped. I was a newborn then. I grew up on the fringes of the empire, knowing nothing, and only learned that I was an imperial descendant after I reached adulthood."]

["I have no wish to give them the unification they want. I do not want to take part in creating another Haman. Even if I sided with one of them and brought the war to an end, I simply cannot believe there would be peace."]

["I would be content simply to live as Dovan the blacksmith, leave behind a great work, and die. But their tyranny grows worse by the day, and I have no proper means of driving them away."]

["I will not ask for much. Only one thing: could you keep them at bay until I finish my Masterpiece? Once it is done, I intend to go somewhere far away and live quietly with Aisha."]

His words had been full of bitterness, with something almost desolate about them. Bera broadened his thinking, beginning to connect Dovan's circumstances with the events of his previous life.

'The Masterpiece will be completed.'

But Dovan's wish would not come true. He would meet his death in the end.

'Aisha takes the demonic sword onto the battlefield.'

That must be what happened, since Aisha had gone to war, and the sword in her hand had spewed resentment.

He did not know what choice Dovan had made in his previous life, when neither Renée nor he had come here. But it was clear that the outcome had been far from good.

Something stirred within Bera.

'What should I do?'

All he knew was the eventual outcome. To steer them away from it, he needed to know the course of events, but his knowledge of that was far too scant. His only real clue was that the Masterpiece's nature had been 'resentment.'

'A Masterpiece's nature is determined by the karma etched into it during its creation.'

The event that would etch 'resentment' into that sword. He had to discover what it was.

Bera was considering what might make Dovan bear a grudge against someone when he sensed someone approaching and turned his head. A small figure was peeking out from behind a tree.

'... Aisha Dragnoff.'

His eyes narrowed.

'If Dovan were to bear a grudge against someone...'

It would surely have something to do with that ill-mannered brat.

* * *

Aisha slowly approached Renée and Bera, her face tense.

'A-apologize!'

She had to kneel and beg. If she pretended nothing had happened, those people from the Holy Empire might hurt Master.

... Or so Aisha thought.

In truth, no one cared about what Aisha had said or done, but wasn't that how a child's worries worked? The slightest prick of guilt could send anxiety bubbling up until their whole body squirmed.

After spending a long while weaving closer through the trees, Aisha met Bera's eyes and jolted.

"If you have something to say, come here."

At Bera's words, tension began mounting inside Aisha all over again. To her ears, they sounded like, 'If you don't want to die, come here and kneel this instant.' His gaze was far too somber.

Aisha gulped and approached Renée on trembling legs. A moment later, Renée spoke.

"Aisha?"

"Uh... Yes, ma'am?"

Realizing she had almost answered too casually out of habit, Aisha stared at Renée, sweating profusely. Her ears were folded back, and her tail hung down, its fur puffed out.

With tension filling the air, Renée smiled gently and asked,

"What's the matter?"

Her tone was kind, but Aisha knew. This Saintess with something wrong in her head might suddenly change expression and turn on her.

Aisha did not hesitate. For Master's sake, and her own.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Aisha dropped to her knees with a thud, bent her upper body forward, and shouted.

"I'm... sooorry!!!"

It was a picture-perfect full bow.

"H-huuuh?!"

Even as Renée let out a bewildered exclamation, Aisha continued her abject apology.

"I was wrong!!! I take back calling you a religious nut!!!"

Her voice grew tearful. Huge tears plopped down as Aisha searched for something else to apologize for.

"A-and, ummm...!"

After a brief moment wondering what to say, she remembered the request Renée had made earlier and shouted again.

"I'll keep it secret for the rest of my life that you cried, Saintess!!! Cheating is ba—"

"Aaaaaaah!"

Renée erupted. It was an involuntary reaction to Aisha's words, which had dredged up her mortifying past without warning.

A shrill whimper burst from Aisha's mouth, all the fur on her body standing on end.

"Eeeeek?!"

Watching the scene from right beside them, Bera squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to witness Renée's disgraceful display.

All the while, he was thinking, 'I saw nothing.'