“Phew, that was close!”
“I just want a warm bath…”
“And a cold beer to top it off, life would be perfect. Hehe…”
As the exhausted trio crossed the walls of Viduron, the residents of Arunvida who were either on guard duty or enjoying their free time started to turn their gazes toward them one by one.
The trio often went outside, but it was rare for Felice to accompany them.
Felice was carrying something large over his shoulder.
“Hey, Kevin. What have you been up to? And when did Sir Felice head out?”
One of the guards asked and Kevin replied with a grin.
“Kids, step aside~Kids, step aside~; there’s nothing good for you to know here. You carefree fools!”
“What are you on about? Making a fuss over nothing. Did you catch a monster or something? Judging by the size, it looks like an orc. Felice, what’s this about?”
Felice shook his head as he replied.
“I’ll tell you later. By the way, where’s the princess?”
“What’s there to hide… Well, isn’t she up in her usual spot? Sir Mimir did step outside earlier this morning though.”
“Really? Then the message was delivered. Got it. Keep up the good work.”
“Seriously, are you going to keep it a secret? Huh?!”
Leaving those questions behind, the trio returned to their lodgings first while Shane and Felice entered the castle.
When they reached the first floor, Anastasia who was clad in her usual armor greeted them.
“Well done, gentlemen. Is that an orc?”
“Yes. Should I take it down to the basement?”
Anastasia nodded her head at Felice’s question.
“Shane, I need to speak with you separately.”
“Understood.”
With that, Felice headed down to the castle’s underground area and Shane followed Anastasia to her office.
“I heard the story from Mimir. You spoke rather freely when someone was absent.”
“I didn’t think Your Highness would refuse.”
“Why?”
“Given that you have the unwavering loyalty of Arunvida’s people, I thought it was more than likely.”
“That’s true. Only those who follow orders remain.”
Her words sounded chilling but they were also true.
“It was quite a difficult cleanup.”
“Then it seems the time for another cleanup will come.”
“…Quite a bit of malice in your words for someone so young.”
Mimir had been right.
The killing intent emanating from the boy before her was unlike anything Anastasia had ever encountered.
Killing intent could take many forms.
There was the raw, unrefined bloodlust that soldiers exuded on the battlefield as they fought to kill their enemies.
There was the refined killing intent that flowed between two opponents who were each prepared to strike the other down in a one-on-one confrontation.
And then there was the insidious killing intent often found in the realm of politics.
All of these were manifestations meant to kill someone.
But the boy’s killing intent was different and impossible to decipher.
It was devoid of emotion.
It was as if Shane’s intentional display of killing intent was like… watching someone intent on destroying something inanimate.
It was the kind of killing intent that seemed to have no awareness of taking life, more like casually wiping dust off a table.
What kind of life must he have lived to become like this? Or had he been born with such killing intent?
And why did that aura feel so familiar?
Anastasia found herself curious about what this boy who was just four years younger than her was trying to achieve.
And she wasn’t the type to hold back her curiosity.
“I hear you’re planning to target my brother. Can you tell me why?”
“Because he’s a threat to humanity.”
“My brother, you say…”
Anastasia searched her memory and recalled her brother.
He was a mysterious person.
She had never been able to understand what he was thinking since he was young.
In some ways, he was similar to her twin sister, yet there was a distinct difference.
The First Princess, Zephyr D. Arsha Olicia, naturally drew people in with her charm.
On the other hand, her brother Zephyr D. Wyatt Samuell hid his expressions behind a mask of smiles, much like Olicia, but his smile wasn’t as genuine as hers.
It was a mask he had learned to craft.
Suddenly, the boy before her and her brother seemed to overlap in her mind.
Killing intent.
Yes, it was killing intent.
She remembered how, as a child, Samuel would sometimes give others the same look he had when killing insects.
But there was a difference between him and the boy standing before her.
The boy in front of her possessed a more inorganic kind of killing intent.
“You asked about what happened in the Great Mezaiya Forest.”
“Yes, I did.”
“At that time, I was threatened by the commander of the Imperial Guards. That’s when I heard it. Their purpose.”
To be precise, Shane understood it after absorbing his soul.
Anastasia had already heard related information from a report by Eleksa of the Lampert Adventurer Party, who had been dispatched as an informant.
“The only country for humanity. A unified country of mankind. That’s what they desire.”
“…It sounds good, but in reality, it’s a dictatorship.”
“Preparations are already underway in many areas. At most, within three to five years, the plan will be set in motion.”
Of course, due to Shane’s interference, the organization had encountered some discord unlike in his previous life, but Samuel’s plan could not be stopped by something so minor.
“Hmm… Why should I believe you?”
At this point, Anastasia asked the question to test Shane.
“Do you not still love the Empire? More than this place, Arunvida?”
“…….!”
Anastasia fell silent at these words. She was unable to continue speaking.
***
After his meeting with Anastasia, Shane returned to his room and, as usual, he cast soundproofing and alert spells around the area before sitting down.
The process of disassembling another’s soul often dulled his awareness of his surroundings.
The soul of the orc shaman was still intact.
Shane prepared to tackle the task he had postponed during his return and spread out the items on the old table.
Before examining the soul of the orc shaman, it was necessary for him to first investigate the totem from the orc killed in the underground prison earlier.
Objects used by humans or other races often carry a faint presence of lingering thoughts, especially those considered sacred like totems.
If there’s no trace of such thoughts in an item, there must be a reason.
Shane spent quite some time examining the totem using various methods.
He first infused it with magical power to see if there was any reaction and also tried using Origin, but there was no noticeable response.
“Hmm…”
He tried similar methods for a while longer but to no avail.
Perhaps a different approach would yield better results.
If nothing could be found in the item itself, it might be worth examining those who had used it.
He turned his attention to the soul of the orc shaman which was still screaming in agony under the grasp of the dark spirit.
The dark spirit read Shane’s intent and skillfully began the usual process.
“This one’s in better shape.”
Unlike the orc he had seen in the underground prison, the orc shaman’s memories weren’t fragmented.
Was there some other difference?
Unlike before, Shane decided to take a broader look at the life of the orc shaman.
During this process, he glimpsed a time roughly fifty years ago.
Back when the old orc shaman was still a very young orc.
The Shaman was making its way toward the temple dedicated to the god they worshiped.
Even considering the craftsmanship of the Orcs, the temple before him was both incredibly intricate and enormous.
Creak—
As the huge stone gate of the temple slowly opened, Shane felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
How could he describe it?
It was the feeling one gets when encountering something beyond the world.
At that moment.
[Interesting.]
“.……!!”
The moment an unfamiliar voice echoed from beyond the stone gate, Shane instinctively knew.
This was not a voice directed at the Shaman within the memory.
An overwhelming presence surged toward Shane and squeezed him.
It was as if the world was spinning out of control, collapsing, leaving him uncertain whether he was in his own room or in the Orcs’ unfamiliar temple.
This was the result of Shane’s soul being shaken by the sheer magnitude of the presence before him.
Not even when he had intervened in the minds of thousands of elves and hatchlings had he felt a presence of this magnitude.
It was reminiscent of when the persona of envy, born from corruption, had confined him deep within the recesses of his consciousness.
No, the presence felt even more intense than that.
It was as if alarm bells were clanging loudly in his head.
The spirit within Shane which had just finished a satisfying meal let out a howl.
It growled like a hunting dog. As if it was desperate to protect its master from the absolute being before it.
But that howl was etched with deep-seated fear.
[Child who has swum against the waterfall of fate. Because of you, the destiny of the world has been changed.]
Shane did not speak in response to the voice that followed.
Was it out of fear?
No.
It was to figure out just what that being was.
His whole body trembled before the gigantic presence looming in front of him, yet his mind was still racing and fiercely analyzing the situation.
Then Shane realized why this situation felt so familiar.
It was just like when he had faced the being at the summit of the Nameless Mountain.
However, the presence he felt now was even more intense than it had been back then.
As his thoughts continued to that point, he quickly organized his situation and past events and began to infer the current situation.
A gigantic absolute being. A dragon. The Great Forest. Priscilla. The northern orcs. And then…
“The Mountain… King?”
Before coming to Arunvida, he had asked Priscilla about the north and heard of the Mountain King’s existence.
And hadn’t he been dissecting an orc’s spirit just now?
It was a plausible theory, as the orcs were the last race to enter the northern region where the Mountain King existed in ancient times.
As his body stiffened involuntarily and a cracked voice escaped his lips, he sensed curiosity coming from the other side.
Even that slight fragment of emotion made Shane’s mind feel as if it were twisting.
[Hooh. Yes, that’s right. I was once called by that name.]
“How… did you… interfere with me…?”
[How amusing. To ask such a question even after seeing me. Yes, the totem was created by the orcs to worship me. And your existence has altered fate. Akasha, the god of this universe, has permitted it.]
“Akasha…?”
Shane’s soul was shaken once more.
It felt as though a heavy weight was pressing down on him. As if he possessed something he should never have had.
[It’s unfortunate, but I can’t tell you anymore. Yes… we are destined to meet again. Watching you will be an enjoyable task. When that time comes, we will be able to have a more proper conversation. You who walk the true path of a hero, I eagerly await that day.]
“…….!”
In an instant, the immense presence faded.
Before Shane could ask anything more, the Mountain King had completely vanished. Suddenly back in his room, Shane could only stare at the totem on the floor and he couldn’t even utter a groan.
“…As expected, this won’t be easy.”
An unexpected figure had appeared at an unforeseen moment.
What kind of disruption would this cause to his plans?
Even Shane had no idea.
***
Four days had passed since Mimir arrived at the imperial palace.
Despite having sent word in advance and stressing the urgency of the matter, it had still taken four days.
Of course, the Emperor was likely one of the busiest people in the empire.
Even so, the anomaly in Arunvida was not something that could be taken lightly.
“……This place hasn’t changed at all.”
And when the meeting finally took place, just as Mimir had expected, he was met with nothing but insults.
[That’s ridiculous! An orc using magic?]
[Even if that were true, how could those primitive orcs gather monsters and cause a monster wave? You need to say something believable if you want us to listen.]
[You expect us to mobilize our forces without any solid evidence?]
[Blood magic, you say? Gordon is dead, and their roots were eradicated during the Black Magic War. But you’re telling me that these primitive orcs, who can’t even use magic, are using Blood Magic? You need to stop joking.]
Tap- Tap- Tap- Tap-
From the political nobles of the imperial court to the lords of the north, all of them raised their voices and said the same thing.
The northern lords, in particular, were even more hostile because their interests were at stake.
Given the harsh weather conditions in Arunvida, mobilizing an army required a significant amount of resources.
Tap- Tap- Tap- Tap-
Mimir, however, inwardly scoffed at them.
How could they act so predictably and exactly as he had expected?
Mimir thought this as he tapped his fingers on the desk at regular intervals during the meeting.
Of course, it wasn’t that their words were entirely wrong.
Who would believe him if all he did was spout grand claims without solid evidence?
But at the very least, they could have offered to send an investigation team to get a clearer picture of the situation.
Surely, no one would dare spout nonsense in front of the Emperor himself.
Yet, they maintained a mocking attitude as if the matter wasn’t worth reconsidering.
If they truly cared about the empire, if they remembered the orc invasion from fifty years ago, they wouldn’t act this way.
But when he saw their behavior, Mimir actually felt a sense of relief.
Because—
Tap- Tap- Tap- Tap-
“It’s comforting to hear, isn’t it?”
This was the only way things could go according to their plan.
Mimir thought this as he welcomed the woman who visited his chamber late at night.
“When my mature younger sister was still cute, she would knock on my door because she was scared of the sound of thunder.”
Hair as platinum as an autumn barley field.
Emerald eyes reminiscent of a forest. she said as she knocked on the table at regular intervals.
“So, is there something you want to say, Sir Mimir?”
The First Princess, Zephyr D. Arsha Olicia, smiled gently as usual.
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