kscans

Chapter 62 - The Last Forest and Kobito-san ~One~

"I see, so you’ll be stopping by on your return."

Glancing at the letter from the fast horse, which announced the pilgrimage to the Western Forest, Marquis Ansbackh let out a small sigh.

He shifted his gaze to the window, an indescribable feeling swirling in his chest.

The Golden King, whom he had an audience with at the beginning of summer, had the form of a child, but he had been astonished by her logical and methodical way of speaking. That was no little girl. He must not be fooled by appearances. He had thought she was just a precocious child, but her contents were that of a sly old monster.

The marquis glanced at a drawer in his neatly organized and arranged desk.

Inside was a letter from Frontier. A petition from Marquis Vanfel.

The content was simple. It was a request to prevent the Golden King’s pilgrimage. Whether it was the will of the gods or not, he could not allow Frontier to sink to the same level as the surrounding countries. It wasn't even certain if it truly was the will of the gods. To be deprived of it by the gods was one thing, but to voluntarily abandon it was the height of folly. The royal palace was being led astray by the ramblings of a precocious child, and no one would listen to reason. Therefore, he was beseeching the border marquis, who he believed shared his sentiments.

That was what the marquis’s letter said.

The border marquis couldn’t help but let out a derisive laugh at the old man’s stubbornness, to be able to write such nonsense after having seen that princess in person.

It was because he had seen this that Marquis Ansbackh had decided to see the child in question for himself. He had only heard rumors, but he had been interested upon hearing she was a girl who strongly resembled his grandson, Theodore. The other nobles probably didn’t know, but Heburaiheru had an inkling about that little girl.

His other grandchild, secretly raised under the name Fatimah.

He had thought her dead, but from the bits and pieces of rumors that reached his ears, Heburaiheru could not shake the suspicion that the little girl might be Fatimah.

And on the day of the audience, that suspicion turned to certainty.

The princess sitting before him was the spitting image of Habirush in her youth. His proud daughter, hailed as a world-renowned beauty. It was impossible for another face like that to exist in this world. With a countenance so similar to both Habirush and Theodore, who would think the three were not related by blood? It was no wonder that many rumors and questions had reached Heburaiheru.

Did the royal family not notice? By what process did she become the king’s adopted daughter?

The questions that floated in his mind were endless, but for the time being, he finished his greetings and asked Heburaiheru why he was abandoning magic.

However, the marquis was terrified by the response.

To the theory that humanity, as the children of the gods as parents, should become independent, the marquis had no room for rebuttal. He had never imagined that magic and sorcery were borrowed things. He had never even considered the reason why other countries had lost their magic. Magic was the divine protection given to save young, weak humans. Now that humans had established nations and developed civilizations, they should break free from the gods’ protection, the little girl had said. That logic settled in Heburaiheru’s chest with a strange sense of rightness. In fact, it felt like he had been given a clear answer to things he had been wondering about until now.

While his whole body shivered at the sight of the little girl speaking, Heburaiheru even felt a strange sense of relief.

If this was the answer, then Castrato was being manipulated by something that was not a god. Unlike Castrato, Heburaiheru, who had been raised in the highly liberal Frontier, had always felt a sense of incongruity as he grew up. With his own circumstances. The thoroughly managed successor training.

The Ansbackh border marquis family, which used Frontier while having Castrato as its backer. The education, tantamount to abuse, that was performed on those who were in line to be the head of the family. The strange household where it was branded into them through words and violence that Castrato was absolute. The numerous torturous educational methods that were continued until an excessive reverence, to the point of a conditioned reflex, was soaked into the very marrow of their bones, and they became absolutely obedient to Castrato. If it were a daughter, they wouldn’t do such troublesome things. They would be raised like dolls with drugs from a divinely bestowed pharmaceutical art. Like Habirush.

But it was not so for the men.

Boys, who had to deal with the nobles of Frontier, govern their territory, and manage it, could not be turned into dolls with drugs, so they were raised to be obedient through thorough management and education. There were those who rebelled. Such people would rot away in a dungeon, never seeing the light of day for the rest of their lives.

One day, Heburaiheru and his brothers were guided to a staircase leading to the mansion’s basement. It was a damp prison, and inside a filthy cage was a single man.

A gaunt old man, chained up and muttering something. The utterly filthy figure, clad in rags and reeking of a sour smell, was explained to be their father’s brother.

He had rebelled against the family and refused to obey, so he had been given up on in his early teens and thrown in here.

At first, he had apparently hurled insults, but gradually he began to plead, and in the end, he wasted the majority of his life shouting apologies. Please forgive me.

Once given up on, you could never go back. This was the end of one who was useless to the family, their father said, gripping Heburaiheru’s shoulder with a nasty smile.

Heburaiheru and his brothers were terrified to their core by the fate of the nonconformist they saw beyond the bars.

The old man, kept alive only as an example, had a vacant light in his sunken eyes and didn’t even see Heburaiheru standing in front of the iron bars.

I don’t want to end up like this.

A tragic sight that crushed their rebellious spirit to pieces.

What happened to the old man after that?

When his father passed away and Heburaiheru became the head of the family, he went to the dungeon, but the man was no longer in the cage.

Much later, he learned that the old man had passed away, but he didn’t even know what had become of his remains.

The Ansbackh border marquis family, which raised loyal hunting dogs for Castrato. While feeling a sense of incongruity, Heburaiheru had been unable to go against the family’s wishes and had meekly accepted everything.

The six years he had spent at the noble academy, living in the dorms. That had been his only free time. Frontier, where everyone was equally free as long as they fulfilled their duties and responsibilities. Nobles were no exception. Because the legal system was well-established, there were no nobles who acted tyrannically towards commoners, and there was a high level of consciousness where one would be scorned for trying to use their authority to get their way.

This was how humans should be, Heburaiheru had thought, and he had questioned his own environment.

And he felt that his homeland, Castrato, where such noble tyranny was commonplace, was a terribly barbaric and wicked country. The numerous words his father and teachers would say when they sensed a rebellious attitude from the children.

In Castrato, you would be whipped with a single lash. You would be roasted over a fire. You would have been disowned long ago.

While being beaten with words and a riding crop by his teachers at every turn, Heburaiheru was truly grateful that he was in Frontier.

Only six years. And since he returned to the border territory during long vacations, it was practically only four years of freedom, but for Heburaiheru, his life at the noble academy was a treasure more precious than anything.

And then, he remembered.

A close friend.

"I wonder if he is well. I have not seen him in many years."

He had heard that his friend with flaming red hair was serving as a knight captain in a border marquis territory on the opposite side of this one. Remembering the nostalgic name, the corners of Heburaiheru’s mouth slowly rose.

Whatever will be, will be.

The imperial order from his homeland Castrato was the capture of the Golden King. This also coincided with Marquis Vanfel’s intentions. In a sense, the letter from him was convenient.

It was a simple job of having Cyril administer a drug and carrying away the little child who had lost her ego. However, the Ansbackh border marquis family would be lost in the process. They would have to flee to Castrato with the captured princess.

It was simple, but it was the final stratagem, with the family name at stake.

On her return from the pilgrimage, the princess would visit Heburaiheru’s mansion and stay for one night. If he could get the Golden King in his grasp, it would probably be possible to make the monsters obey as well. Over a hundred years since his great-grandfather married into the family. He could finally achieve their long-cherished desire, yet Heburaiheru’s heart was not clear.

A small wedge had been driven into his heart from his audience with Kobito-san. It was deeply embedded in the yoke that had long bound Heburaiheru, and it was about to break it.

Unaware of the yoke creaking and groaning, Heburaiheru was trying to be nothing but loyal to the homeland he had never once seen in his life.

Loyalty to his homeland, implanted in his heart before he could even remember. His father's curses, which ate away at him like a curse. That all of it was brainwashing and abuse, when would he realize it?

His father had also followed the same path. He didn't even think it was abnormal. A distorted family line that believed that being harsh and strict was love, in order to prevent their beloved children from suffering the same fate as the brother in the dungeon. Heburaiheru had also inherited this negative chain of the clan. He too had subjected his sons to an abnormal education.

As a result, Heburaiheru was surprised to find himself feeling both proud of his sons, who had grown up to be emotionless and cold, and at the same time, pained for them.

Why? This should be correct. If they were branded as nonconformists, they would inevitably be thrown into the dungeon, and their lives would be over. I should have protected my sons.

Heburaiheru’s thoughts, managed and corrected over a long period, were not those of a proper human being. Loyalty to his homeland Castrato, born of fear and violence. There was no doubt in his heart, firmly shackled. ...Or so he had thought.

Until he had his audience with Kobito-san.

The little girl who stood with dignity, who did not revere the gods, but rather spoke of them as if they were family or friends.

The only things that were absolutely unshakeable were death and pregnancy. Anything else could be dealt with somehow. Kobito-san knew that.

To the border marquis, who lacked such flexible thinking, the little girl with a free-spirited and challenging gaze seemed like an inscrutable monster.

But he couldn't take his eyes off her. To Heburaiheru, who was bound hand and foot by the curse of his homeland, she was a princess so dazzling and captivating that he was drawn to her.

When he closed his eyelids, a confident and cheerful smile would appear.

Unaware that his own heart was wavering, the border marquis held a detailed meeting with Cyril and the others to capture the princess who would visit in the coming days.

Frontier, feeling the stirrings of the surrounding countries firsthand, regretted sending Chihiro out with such a small escort.

A few days later, Romel, having received the report from the fast horse, would hastily organize a knight contingent and pursue Kobito-san, but there was no way Kobito-san, who was heading straight for the Western Forest, could know.

Lost in thought about the Western Forest, Kobito-san had entered the border marquis’s territory. Visiting a small village, Kobito-san received a simple welcome. It was two more days to the last forest.