58 - To the Next Stage
The day of the Hero's departure. On the main street leading from the castle to the North Gate, many knights and soldiers stood in formation. Although it was called the Hero's departure, in reality, it was the dispatch of reinforcement troops to the front lines where the battle against the demons was being fought. It was an attempt to send an elite army to bring the war against the demons to a conclusion.
The total force was ten thousand. However, most had already departed for the front, and the number of troops about to leave the royal capital was around three thousand. They were essentially a force meant to add color to the departure ceremony. After receiving words from the King upon their departure, an oath of certain victory was led by General of Ten Thousand Sieg, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement army.
Once that was finished, the march finally began. Knights and soldiers clad in gleaming armor set off in orderly ranks. The main street was packed with crowds who had gathered to see the army. Even those harboring anxiety about the war were in a festive mood today. The people of the royal capital knew that this was a gesture of kindness toward the knights and soldiers heading to a battlefield where death might be waiting for them.
But an event occurred that blew away that festive mood. Those who first noticed the trigger were mages sensitive to magical power, spies trained to sense the same, and a very small number of people with a special intuition that defied logic.
"...What was that just now?"
Geel, who possessed that special intuition, muttered with a puzzled look, having felt something.
"...I believe it was a detection-type spell."
Cecil, an excellent mage, had accurately grasped what it was. It was a detection spell that released magical power in all directions to probe the surroundings.
"As I thought, magic. But why would such a spell be used in a place like this?"
"I do not know."
What were they trying to detect during a march, and while still inside the royal capital? Cecil did not have the answer. That was only natural. Within the army, there was no one who could explain it.
"There it is again."
Again, Geel felt magical power pass by.
"...Could it be?"
Seeing the surrounding movements become frantic, a possibility occurred to Cecil. The fact that the army was panicking was proof that this magic was not intentional. Then, as for who was doing such a thing, Cecil could think of no one but Ray.
"...It is that way."
Determining the direction from which the magic was released, Cecil attempted to run toward it.
"Wait!"
Grabbing her arm, Geel forcibly stopped Cecil in her tracks.
"Please let go!"
"I have a bad feeling about this. Let us observe the situation for a while."
"But!"
Ray might be there. That thought made Cecil impatient.
"Calm down. Do you think that guy would choose a plan where he could be captured so easily?"
But Geel would not release Cecil's arm. Geel believed in his own intuition. It had saved his life many times.
"...That is true, but..."
"Others are moving too. If he really is there, we should find out soon."
They must have determined the direction of the released magic just as Cecil had. Several mages could be seen running off. Not only that, though most people did not notice, spies were also moving inconspicuously to surround the area. They too had realized the possibility that Ray was there.
'Found it! A magic tool!'
A voice was heard discovering a magic tool. From those words, it was clear that only the magic tool had been found. Then why was a magic tool placed there? The next voice provided the answer.
'Gwaaaaah!'
First, a pained scream was heard.
'Put it out! Put out the fire, quickly!'
And the next voice revealed the reason for the scream.
'Over there too!'
'Do not approach the magic tools! They spit fire!'
The magic tools had not been placed in just one location. Screams and the voices of panicked people could be heard from other places as well.
"...A trap."
His intuition had been correct. However, he was in no mood to be proud of it.
"But for what purpose?"
Cecil could not understand the reason for setting traps to kill two or three people. Above all, the people who became victims were not the Heroes that Ray was targeting.
"I don't know. Damn it. I still don't feel like I'd lose to him with a sword, but I might be no match for him in this kind of thing."
It was said that he would use any means to win, but Geel mostly challenged opponents to head-on battles. Of course, that was because he was the kind of person who could win that way, but even against opponents where that wasn't the case, he never brought in schemes or the like. He simply competed for victory or defeat in combat.
"Could it be an experiment?"
An experiment for a new magic tool. Cecil considered that possibility.
"An experiment? That's unlikely, right?"
"Why is that?"
"Experiments are fine, but if he shows his hand like that, he won't be able to trick anyone next time, right?"
"You are right."
"In that case... a diversion. Yeah, that's possible."
Only magic tools were found. Ray himself was not at the scene. If so, where was Ray and what was he doing? Geel was not the only one considering this possibility. The spies who had deployed to capture Ray had been searching the surroundings for a while, but having judged that they could not feel Ray's presence nearby, they decided to move all at once.
◇◇◇
As a result, Geel's guess was correct. However, Geel himself did not know this, as the march had resumed and he had left the royal capital immediately. At this point, the only ones who knew that the magic tool setup was a diversion were the spies who reached the scene where it happened, the leader who received reports from those spies, and the King who heard the report from that leader.
"Unbelievable recklessness."
Before mourning the deaths of the victims, this was what came to the King's mind.
"It is certain that he took advantage of a gap. The fact that we allocated people to guard the march. Furthermore, because of the magic tools used as a diversion, our attention was completely focused on the Hero."
"Even so, a reasonable level of vigilance was maintained. To think he would barge into the knights' quarters in that situation."
Ray's targets were the knights who had been holed up in the knights' quarters. The knights who had attacked Kamiira and the others living in the Forest of Bewilderment. The King, knowing they would be targeted, believed he had prepared a system to capture Ray. Ray had infiltrated the very place where that net had been cast.
"He must have had a calculation for victory. In fact, that man successfully carried out the killings and managed to escape."
Without being captured, Ray had escaped. The leader believed that the result was everything. He evaluated that the system they had prepared was insufficient.
"Was the same magic tool used for the killings?"
The cause of death for the knights was burning to death. Some had been cut by swords, but in any case, there were burn marks on all the corpses. Since magic tools were left at the scene, the King considered the possibility that they were the same as those used for the diversion.
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"I have just requested an analysis from the Mage Corps, so the details are not yet known, but it seems the mechanism was such that the programmed magic disappeared once activated."
If the programmed magic had disappeared, it was impossible to tell if they were the same. However, Ray had not created this mechanism to destroy evidence. He did it because he did not want the contents of the magic tools he created to be known.
"...Does he have an accomplice?"
There was no way Ray, an otherworlder, could possess such knowledge of magic. The King, not knowing that Ray had inherited that knowledge and the grimoire from Kamiira, could only think that.
"I do not know. It is possible there is a demon accomplice, but no traces of such an existence have been found."
There was no way they could be found. Because there was no accomplice.
"But for more than ten knights to be completely wiped out, even if it was by magic tools..."
The King acknowledged Ray's ability to some extent, but he had not thought him capable of killing every single one of that many knights.
"There are also traces that oil was scattered, not just magic tools."
"Even so, it is the same thing."
"Is that so? Judging from the state of the room, it is thought that the flames spread throughout the entire room. I cannot believe that man remained unscathed."
At the very least, Ray must have been there at the point of scattering oil in the room. Otherwise, the knights would not have stayed in the room. Even if he left the room after finishing scattering the oil, it would be the same. The knights, having realized Ray's intention, should have leaped out of the room. However, at the scene, while there were signs that they had tried to escape, all the knights had burned to death inside the room.
"Then what are you saying? That he suffered severe burns, but still escaped from the scene and is still hiding?"
"Yes. That is exactly it."
"What?"
The King was surprised that the leader readily affirmed the words he had spoken intending to suggest it was impossible.
"We should consider that the reason the knights did not escape despite the oil being scattered was either because the oil and fire were scattered in the room simultaneously, or they were caught off guard while judging that it was not a situation where fire could be lit."
"You believe he lit the fire in a situation where he himself would be caught in it?"
In either situation the leader mentioned, Ray would have been in the room. But if that were the case, Ray himself should have become a corpse. Considering the fact that he had not.
"Actually, he might truly be kin. I have started to think so."
The leader brought up this possibility. Until now, the leader had been generally negative about this possibility.
"...You mean he possesses the power of a demon itself?"
"The powers of demons vary, but it is certain that they are far more durable than we humans. If it is a minor injury, they recover immediately."
Things that seemed impossible for humans might be possible for demons. The leader's thinking was correct. Ray possessed the super-recovery ability of the Vampio race. This time, he utilized it to the maximum. He threw himself into the fray to bury the knights together. Enduring the pain of being burned, however, had nothing to do with the Vampio race's ability.
"...Was it thanks to that power that he survived without being killed by the Heroes?"
The Heroes believed they had killed Ray. That meant there had been that much of a sensation. If Ray were an ordinary human, even an otherworlder, there was no way he could have survived that. The King thought so now, belatedly.
"Thinking this way explains various things. Not because he is an otherworlder, but because he is kin, his growth is that fast, and he can do things that exceed our predictions."
Even among otherworlders, Ray was somehow different from the Heroes. This was a convincing reason for feeling that. Of course, this was only within the leader's head. In reality, he had only inherited the ability; Ray was not kin.
"...I see. In other words, we underestimated him."
If a demon had infiltrated the royal capital, the response would have been different. The King said this, but it was a mistaken perception. The leader had not been careless. The reason he was outmaneuvered was not just Ray's ability, but because his schemes were abnormal. The rewriting of the castle's intrusion detection system, which had been prepared since two years ago. The diversion using magic tools that did not exist in the kingdom, and the killing of knights through a method that discarded his own body. He had exceeded the leader's predictions with thoroughness and unexpectedness. However, the King did not highly evaluate Ray's intellect, which was unrelated to demon power. It was not that he judged his ability to be low, but that he did not recognize it as an ability to be evaluated. It would take a bit more time for the King to correct this perception. Time until he realized that Ray's schemes worked not only for assassination, but also in war. While the King and the leader were talking about Ray like this, the man himself—
(I have used up the magic tools I prepared. This is as far as I go in the royal capital.)
He was about to give up on any further activities in the royal capital.
(You can just make more, can't you?)
Kamui voiced an objection.
(I will make them. But with those magic tools, I can only kill a few people. Their original purpose isn't to kill people, after all.)
(Then make some for killing people.)
(It is a waste of time. You know I have to leave the royal capital, right?)
(True, but there are still people who need to be killed, aren't there?)
The Captain of the Royal Guard was still alive. However, Ray had not touched the Captain of the Royal Guard, who had looser security. Not just the Captain of the Royal Guard. There were still many targets for Ray's revenge in this royal capital.
(It is better to keep that one alive. There is no need to go out of the way to help the kingdom, right?)
Both the King and the leader were mistaken. The target of Ray's revenge was not an individual.
(I guess so. Then, what will you do?)
(It is decided. I will head north immediately.)
(Hah, finally. I just hope I don't get killed.)
The destination was the place where the Demon King's army was. The purpose was to meet the King of the Vampio race, Kamiira's husband, who should be there. Moreover, Ray intended to honestly confess that he had killed Kamiira and Rui. Kamui, knowing this, felt the danger of being killed.
(Even if I am killed, you won't die anymore, right?)
Kamui's will did not exist within Ray. It existed within the sword inside Ray. Even if Ray died, he should be able to continue living inside the sword. Ray thought that worrying about death was unnecessary, but...
(Are you an idiot? What can I do as just a sword? Because you exist and move for the same purpose, there is meaning in my living too.)
Even if he lived, he could not move on his own. With that, revenge could not be achieved.
(...Then, in the worst case, you'll have to find someone with the same purpose and have them become the owner.)
Ray did not have the confidence to say that he would never die. Thinking normally, he would die before achieving his revenge. He held that resolve.
(That's why... such a person won't be found so conveniently.)
(No, they'll be there, right? Our purpose is to destroy the Laurel Kingdom. The Demon King they are fighting now should have exactly the same purpose.)
Ray's revenge target was not an individual, but a country. He intended to take revenge on the Laurel Kingdom, which had summoned the Heroes to this world. For that, he needed the power to fight a country. Joining the Demon King's army was not only for the purpose of apologizing to Kamiira's husband. He wanted to fight the Laurel Kingdom as a member of the Demon King's army.
(...Even so, there is such a thing as compatibility, right?)
(No, don't ask for that. There is no way there is someone with better compatibility than me, who was the same person.)
Ray and Kamui, who had been one human. There was no way there could be a partner with better compatibility than each other.
(That's why I'm saying you're the best, right?)
(Saying I'm the best... don't say embarrassing things. It'll make me blush.)
(Don't blush! You blushing is more embarrassing!)
Naturally, Kamui had not the slightest intention of making a confession of love. Ray knew that too. He was just joking around a bit.
(Enough with the jokes, shall we go soon?)
(Is your body okay now?)
(Yeah, no problem. Though my hair didn't come back.)
Ray stroked his hairless head with a lonely expression. When he was engulfed in flames, it had all burned away.
(Of course. If even burned hair were regenerated, that wouldn't be healing anymore, right?)
(True.)
He didn't know exactly what the super-recovery ability was, but when it was expressed as regeneration rather than healing, he felt as if he had ceased to be human.
(Whether you have hair or not, your power to fight doesn't change, right?)
(Of course. I'm not worried about that. It's a matter of appearance.)
(It's fine. You can't see it yourself.)
Kamui did not consider Ray's feelings at all. Originally, Kamui did not care about appearances.
(...You've lost your heart.)
(What!?)
(You'd hate being bald at this age, right? That is how a normal person feels.)
(There are people who choose to be bald.)
(True, but being bald and being shaved are different.)
(If you put it that way, yours is shaved. It'll grow back eventually, right?)
(...I see. That is certainly true.)
It had only burned; the hair would grow back eventually. It would take a reasonable amount of time to grow enough that he could no longer be called shaved, but it wasn't that it would never grow. Realizing this, Ray felt more at ease.
(Satisfied?)
(Yeah. Satisfied. So, that's the end of the small talk. It's finally time to depart, but... there's nothing we've forgotten, right? We still have plenty of food...)
A considerable amount of food was stored in Shadow Storage. He had purchased a large quantity immediately upon entering the royal capital so that he wouldn't have to go outside the hideout unnecessarily.
(...Ah, that's right. It's not related to departure preparations, but while you were sleeping... ah, no.)
(What is it? If something happened, tell me.)
(No, the surface was just noisy. I wondered what it was, and it seems some of them are moving their dwellings.)
This was only part of what he had heard. Kamui hid the things that truly needed to be conveyed.
(...That's a good thing, right? There shouldn't be a place worse than the slums.)
(True, but it'll be lonely.)
(No, I'm leaving the royal capital too, so we wouldn't meet anyway. I mean, I only met one or two people, and only once each, right?)
This place was one of several hideouts. Kamui had not made the slums his base. If anything, he had avoided them. He had a desire to avoid involving the people of the slums as much as possible. Even so, the reason he used this hideout at the end was that he knew vigilance toward the slums had weakened as a result of the thorough search conducted by the intelligence department.
(Then it's fine. I have no lingering regrets for the royal capital. Let's say farewell.)
(...Strange. There's no way you'd have lingering regrets, right? If I can survive until the end, this royal capital will be destroyed. I am the one who will do it.)
(Yeah. I know.)
On this day, Ray left the royal capital and headed north toward the Demon King's army. Seeking a new battlefield. To create that place. And a few days later, Princess Ekaterina would also leave the royal capital. Accompanying her were Miria and the guard knights. And many former residents of the slums, who were hired as Princess Ekaterina's servants at her secluded residence. People who had responded to the wishes of Miria and Princess Ekaterina.