[697] The Place of Reunion (6)
A master of the blade, versed in both practice and theory enough to have written the Kazra Court Swordsmanship — Beginner's volume.
He had once doubted Shirone and even used the ocular technique Clear, but this time he didn't even dare attempt it.
"Is this really the same boy from back then?"
Even without forcing their energies together, an aura that brooked no approach radiated from him.
"A candidate for the Ivory Tower. That's what makes it such a pity."
If Shirone had been the first prince, Kazra might at least have found a sliver of hope.
After Kashan's Teraje seized control of Kazra, the kingdom's strength collapsed and a sense of defeat spread among the people.
They could not defeat Kashan.
That certainty of the realm's ruin crushed the wills of many talents who had been pressing toward the future.
And Shirone?
He stood before them now with skill enough to confront any mage in Kazra without shame.
"You've trained tremendously. Almost inhuman," Walker said.
Shirone modestly deflected it.
"You flatter me. I haven't truly achieved anything yet."
"...Is that so?"
That had been the private part of the reunion.
Walker's expression hardened. He knelt and performed his formal duty.
"Ritni Walker, Captain of the Palace Guard, reports. His Majesty has invited Shirone to the palace."
Color drained from Adox and Migelan's faces.
"Th—the Captain of the Palace Guard?"
Compared to the senior official Adox, Walker was effectively on another plane.
It was one thing for Kazra's finest swordsman to show up and upend a town; it was another for him to bow to Shirone.
"Who on earth is that man?"
Shirone glanced back at Emma.
"I'll be going now. Thank you."
With the king's approval given, there should be no further diplomatic trouble.
'I should signal Kido,' Shirone thought as he headed for the door, but Adox stepped in his path.
"Wait! Even if this man is noble, can we just let him go like this?"
To let Shirone walk away without protest would be to lose their honor as soldiers and men.
"Honorable Captain, I don't know who this person is, but he attempted to dishonor my wife. We must investigate."
Walker's face flamed.
To argue after the king's command had been invoked would lay Kazra's reality bare.
'No. This is wounded pride talking,' Walker told himself, and forced calm over his face. He belatedly registered Adox's words and frowned.
"—He tried to dishonor your wife?"
That seemed unlikely given Shirone's character.
"Is this true, Shirone?"
"Yes. It's true."
Speaking the truth would change their lives.
Which should come first was for them to decide, so Shirone wanted to leave as if he had merely come to pay a visit.
Walker, thinking deeply, nodded.
"Hmm. There must be extenuating circumstances. Very well, depart. A carriage has been readied."
Adox looked stunned.
"Wait a moment, Captain. How can there be 'circumstances' that justify rape?"
"Shut your mouth, you fool."
Humiliated in front of a foreign realm's key figures, Walker shot Adox a terrifying glare.
"If this were the Age of Glory, your head would have rolled long ago."
How badly had they guarded their borders for Shirone to penetrate the town so easily?
When Walker used the eye technique Pressing, Adox choked.
"Guh... gurgle..."
It felt as if someone's hands were at his throat.
"S-s-save me..."
Just before he blacked out, Walker turned coldly, unable to contain his anger, and strode for the door.
"I'll go out first and wait."
Adox collapsed to the floor. Shirone and Rian stepped over him without a glance and went outside.
Walker's men brought the carriage. Normally they would have the household carriage in tow, but with mobility paramount they had kept the load light.
From inside the carriage Walker said, "This is the state of Kazra. I'm ashamed to raise my head."
Discipline had weakened and false prophets were running rampant; Shirone's arrival could not be said to have no bearing on the situation.
"We apologize for arriving like this. But there was something I absolutely had to tell His Majesty."
"Yes. I heard it was about the lost prince."
Shirone stayed silent because he wanted to deliver the message in person.
"...May I ask one thing?"
"Speak."
"When your conversation with Shirone is finished, might there come a time when I must draw my sword?"
Shirone intended to tell Orcamp the truth.
That the king's son had died in place of Heksa.
"Perhaps... that may be the case."
"I see."
Walker gathered his white brows.
"In that case I will do my utmost to cut him down. Please understand."
Rian's gaze sank into an abyss.
"That will never happen."
Kido had already come down from the mountain and was waiting.
When the party arrived in the city by carriage, they jumped to Kazra Palace through the Mage Association's teleportation circle.
No officials had come out—only guards, perhaps thinking the bureaucrats had nothing to gain here.
Walker took a secret route through the inner palace and inspected the party's weapons.
'I want to disarm them... but—'
They would likely refuse, and he couldn't force it.
Since the king's approval had been granted, Walker reported to Orcamp beyond the doors.
"Your Majesty, Shirone has arrived."
"Bring him in."
The doors opened and Orcamp and Eliza sat side by side on the dais.
'You look greatly wasted,' Shirone thought.
The aura of the royal family was now little more than a title-born illusion; neither king nor queen shone anymore.
"Greetings, Your Majesty. Arian Shirone."
Orcamp's eyes half-closed at the change in his demeanor.
'He's a completely different person now.'
Even before the ruler, he showed no tremor—only the iron will to see his purpose through.
"A soldier told me he heard your words in a dream. At first I doubted it, but it seems the oracle of Terapos was properly transmitted."
It appeared the oracle had indeed reached them.
"I'm sorry to have surprised you. There is something I must tell you in person."
Before she could hear it, Orcamp waved his hand.
"Everyone, leave."
When the retinues left the inner hall and the doors closed, Eliza leaned forward as if she'd been waiting and asked, "Are you saying you actually found our son?"
"Yes. I found him."
Eliza's face registered shock—she hadn't expected that.
"R-really... our son...?"
From this point there was no turning back. Shirone's expression turned cold.
"I found him, but I couldn't bring him back. The queen's son is no longer of this world."
"W-what did you say?"
Shirone told them everything.
He spoke only facts, but their minds distorted and reprocessed the words until they sounded like a tale from another world.
Orcamp squeezed out a voice. "So you mean to say... our son is dead?"
"No. That's not it."
Shirone stepped forward and knelt.
"Your son is not simply dead. He was sacrificed to save my life."
Silence fell over the inner hall.
'Shirone... you...'
Orcamp clutched the arms of his chair.
'How can you be so calm? How can you be so cruel?'
He didn't have to say it.
If Shirone had wished to spare the parents' hearts, he could simply have told them their son had died and left.
'He doesn't want to leave even a shred of guilt. He wants to strip it all away and go!'
Shirone lifted his head.
"You may take revenge. You may punish me. If it is something I can bear, I will accept it gladly."
"Whyyyyyy!"
Eliza shrieked like a banshee.
"Why you! Why! Who do you think you are!"
Veins bulged in her eyes and her throat made a raw, gasping sound; she doubled over as if to vomit.
"I'll kill you! I'll tear you apart!"
As Eliza clawed forward, Rian and Kido seized their weapons.
"Walker!"
At Orcamp's shout the doors crashed open and elite palace guards poured into the inner hall.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Walker, having sized up the situation in an instant, charged at Shirone.
'He must die.'
Nothing was more important than the king's safety.
"Waaah!"
Rian twisted and drew his greatsword.
The two blades met; monstrous force shoved them back as they scraped across the floor.
"Ughhh!"
Rian dropped his stance and leveled his greatsword; Walker halted his charge and thrust across in a crossing motion.
"Puuu."
From that first exchange their prowess was already clear.
'Incredible strength.'
Kido eyed the guards around him and spun his spear in brilliant arcs.
"Hmph! Come on, try me."
Shirone's voice stayed calm and measured.
"Kido, Rian. Stop. Lower your weapons."
"No. I won't. I can't."
When Rian refused, Kido—who had half-lowered his spear—snapped back into a fighting stance.
"It's fine. I don't want to fight. Lower your weapons."
Rian was as resolute as Shirone.
"No. I will protect you."
Shirone scowled and shouted, "Put them down!"
It was the only way to douse the fire in Rian, yet Rian kept his mouth shut and his grip tight.
Caught between them, Kido looked around in alarm. "W-what do we do? Decide quickly."
Shirone spoke again, calm as ever.
"Rian, you agreed to follow me. This is an order. Lower your weapon."
"If that's the case, then stand up from your knees. Then I'll lower mine."
"..."
Shirone refused to yield.
"Rian, you're not thinking of defending yourself now. And these people bear you hostility. I have no cause to bring down my sword. If I leave here alive, punish me then."
Kido, seeing the logic in Rian's words, snorted and tightened his grip on the spear.
"Rian, my roots do not lie with myself but with the prince of Kazra. That prince died in my place. That is the starting point of my life."
'Damn it!'
Rian bit his lip until it bled.
"If I can't strip it all away here... I don't think I can move forward."
Reason and feeling collided; the greatsword's hilt creaked under his strain.
'What do they expect me to do!'
To order them to lower their weapons before master swordsmen who radiated clear intent to kill—while Shirone stood with his back turned—was impossible.
'Right. They can't lower them.'
Walker also had to protect the king.
When the masters—beyond the realm of ordinary men—stared at one another without blinking, Orcamp gave the command.
"Walker, that's enough."
Walker, who had been glaring at Rian with bloodshot eyes, gave a faint nod as if signaling.
'Lower at the same time.'
The reaction speed in the inner hall was like living arrows; if one move had been mistimed, it would have been catastrophe.
With the utmost concentration of their lives, the two lowered their arms while watching each other.
The two swords clacked against the floor, and the explosive tension evaporated as if it had never been.
"Phew."
As the guards followed their captain and sheathed their weapons, Kido exhaled deeply and straightened.
'Traveling with humans is truly exhausting.'
It had been a short standoff, but it felt like a full-scale battle.