I had poured everything I had into this.
Kaien and his knight order were the kind of enemies that demanded nothing less.
“Urgh…!”
And even that wasn’t enough.
A hollow victory.
I was already battered and worn down before even reaching the first checkpoint.
“Haa…”
Still, I managed to defeat all of them. Well, it was less skill and more the power of my gear.
I had only succeeded because I burned through every consumable item I had.
“You’re not going to kill us?”
“…Not unless I have no other choice.”
“How naive.”
I spared Kaien and several members of the Sun Knights. Which, in other words, meant that I had killed some of the others.
Not villains, but people I killed simply because our convictions differed.
The bitterness left behind was stronger than ever.
“Because you weren’t people who deserved to die.”
“And what about you?”
“……”
Kaien’s words, spoken as he sat slumped against the wall, felt like they were tearing into my heart.
Then what about me?
The meaning behind his question was obvious.
“Do you even understand what you’re doing? Do you understand what consequences your stubbornness will bring?”
“I do.”
I know the Emperor’s plan.
I know Lobelia’s goal.
Their plans were intertwined, aimed at cutting away the rotten parts of the vast nation that was the Empire.
Whether those wounds would fester again was impossible to know, but it was certain that there would be far more room to prepare for it than before.
Then what about me?
One thing was certain.
Between the two of them, I was nothing more than a loach muddying the waters.
I’m interfering with their plan.
So if someone were to ask which of the three of us was the worst person, it would undoubtedly be me.
Compared to those two, who carried the banner of a cause meant for the good of the world, what I was trying to do was save a single person….even if it meant ruining everything they were working toward.
And to make matters worse, the very person I was trying to save was siding with them.
From a certain point of view, this was no different from a child’s selfish tantrum.
“To be honest, I’m not driven by some grand cause. I’m doing this for deeply personal reasons.”
I hate sacrifice?
I had no intention of hiding behind such a ridiculous excuse.
There had already been sacrifices. I knew about every one of them, and I did nothing to stop them.
And was that all?
I had even sacrificed Count Python myself.
So I had no right to claim that I opposed a peace built on someone else’s sacrifice.
“I’m definitely the kind of villain who deserves to die. That’s why I came here. I’ve accepted that. I came to become the villain. I’m nothing more than a loach stirring up chaos in a noble cause for the sake of my own personal desires.”
“Does thinking that way make you feel better?”
“Yes. It does.”
“Then let me offer a word of advice to a foolish brat.”
Kaien let out a long groan of pain. Staring up at the sky through half-lidded eyes, he spoke casually.
“No matter the reason, a person who goes to save someone is not a villain.”
“…….”
“Whether that person is a sacrificial lamb or the most notorious serial killer in history, valuing a life can never be a sin. Some people may not like it, of course.”
“…Why would you say something like that to me?”
“Well, someone just told me I wasn’t a person who deserved to die.”
I’d thought he was nothing but a rigid, humorless man, but he was more witty than I expected.
Honestly, it wasn’t a particularly funny joke…
But I appreciated the effort.
“You’re going to die.”
“If you’re going to talk to me, at least pick one….encouragement or insults.”
“Considering how much trouble you had dealing with us, you won’t even reach His Majesty the Emperor’s feet.”
“So you chose insults?”
“I’m stating an objective fact.”
“…….”
He wasn’t wrong.
The situation already looked hopeless.
I had only just made it through the gates of the Imperial Palace. Even then, most of the forces had been deployed to the execution grounds, and I had barely managed to win against a minimal security force.
If there was even one more opponent on Kaien’s level ahead of me, things would become dangerous.
And there were probably far more than one.
Just as he said, there was a high chance I would collapse before ever reaching Emperor Abraham. Before even laying eyes on him.
“Are you still going?”
“You’re asking that now? You’re the one who cut off my retreat.”
“But if you decided to cut down every last one of them, you could still turn back.”
“I’m not enough of a piece of trash to do that.”
“Good. Then you know yourself well. You’re not that much of a piece of trash. So stop calling yourself someone who deserves to die. Otherwise, you’ll be dragging the honor of those of us who lost to you into the dirt as well.”
“…….”
We had only just met, but he was a genuinely decent person.
Though why was it that most decent people seemed to end up as my enemies?
The people around me were all weirdos.
“Then I’ll be on my way.”
“……”
Commander Kaien said nothing.
He neither wished me a safe journey nor tried to stop me.
Until the very end, he remained a knight.
A knight who lived for his convictions and his oath.
***
The battle at the execution grounds was fierce.
As the Imperial Knights and the Resistance clashed in a chaotic melee, Ariel could not move.
“…….”
Because the man before her prevented it through his mere presence alone.
Without saying a word, the strongest archmage of the Empire, Tronios Ether, simply watched her.
The meaning of his silence was obvious.
Everyone present knew exactly whom he was keeping in check.
If two archmages were to clash in the middle of a narrow street, the resulting destruction would be catastrophic.
So neither moved.
For both of them, that was the only possible choice.
Everyone here understood that.
Not only the soldiers from the front lines, but even the civilians who had risen up carrying farming tools.
Everyone had seen the enormous crater created when Ariel Ether killed the Great Warrior.
Two archmages of that caliber.
A battle between them would be no different from a natural disaster.
“How strange.”
Perhaps because of that, the battlefield had fallen into an unusually stubborn stalemate.
With the two monsters standing still, the rest was left to the soldiers.
Viewed that way, there was nothing strange about it.
And yet, that was precisely what made it strange.
Because there was clearly someone here capable of sweeping aside the entire battlefield in an instant.
Narrowing his eyes, Tronios Ether muttered,
“Let the gale blow.”
His Word Magic, the supernatural power that was both his gift and his spell, rang through everyone’s ears.
The voice itself was quiet, but the mana contained within it was anything but insignificant.
“What are you thinking?!”
The one startled by his calm, almost casual action was Ariel.
It was an unspoken standoff.
If the two of them truly entered the battle, the resulting damage would spiral completely out of control.
So they had remained locked in place, each restraining the other.
Besides, whatever their circumstances, they were still family.
No one had truly believed they would point their blades at one another in earnest.
But that stalemate was broken.
A single quiet remark from Tronios Ether was like the signal flare that announced the beginning of war.
“Kh!”
Realizing his intent too late, Ariel unleashed her own awakened ability, Telekinesis, to stop his magic.
A massive barrier wrapped itself around the gale that Tronios Ether had summoned.
Even feeling its force through her telekinesis sent a chill down her spine.
The spell possessed enough power to sweep away everyone present, including the Imperial soldiers themselves.
“Rage.”
Boom!
The storm trapped within Ariel’s telekinetic cage began to roar violently, like a beast thrashing against the bars of its prison.
“Shatter.”
Whooooooooooosh!!
As all three Words stacked their power upon the storm, even Ariel’s telekinesis could no longer suppress its full might.
She managed to restrain most of it, but fierce winds powerful enough to make standing difficult began tearing across the battlefield.
Tronios Ether.
The Empire’s strongest mage.
The truly terrifying aspect of his power was not its versatility but the fact that he could alter, combine, and stack its effects simply by changing the words and sentences he used.
In a sense, he was the very model of a mage.
The more time he was given, the longer he could prepare, the greater the destructive force he could unleash.
Most high-ranking mages traded raw power growth for speed as they advanced, their limits becoming more defined.
Tronios Ether was different.
“Indeed.”
Tap.
Within the raging storm, Tronios Ether descended as casually as though he were taking a stroll.
Ariel frowned.
Even she was struggling to withstand the hurricane he had created, making it impossible for her to stop his leisurely advance.
A mistake.
Against Tronios Ether, she never should have engaged in a contest of magical firepower.
“I wondered why you refused to step onto the battlefield. So this was the reason.”
Tronios Ether came to a stop before Lobelia.
From afar, while watching her direct the battle, he had been unable to tell.
But now that he stood close enough, he could see it clearly.
“It has been a long time, Your Highness Princess Cynthia, Second Princess of the Holy Kingdom.”
“Haha! Uncle, you haven’t changed a bit, have you?”
There was a reason Lobelia had never stepped onto the battlefield.
She hadn’t been here in the first place.
She had left behind a stand-in.
A stand-in so extraordinary that suspicion was nearly impossible.
Eyes brimming with the same commanding charisma.
Vivid crimson hair, the unmistakable symbol of the imperial bloodline.
Her build, her appearance, her imposing presence.
Everything was alike.
Of course it was.
They were sisters.
That was why no one present had even considered the possibility.
“If it’s Her Highness the Second Princess…”
Not only the knights, but even the Resistance fighters were stunned.
No one knew what had become of the Second Princess after she left the Imperial Family.
Unlike Theseus, nothing was known about where she was, what she looked like now, or what she had been doing.
So even if she stood in for Lobelia, there was no one who could have recognized the deception.
Aside from Lobelia’s closest confidants, no one would have had reason to suspect a thing.
“Your Highness Princess Cynthia, why are you here?”
“Me? Well…”
Cynthia shrugged.
Originally, she had no intention of getting involved.
Even while the Empire was being battered by countless acts of terrorism, she had quietly continued hammering away at metal in her forge.
But there was one thing she could not overlook.
Even after throwing everything else away, there was still something she could not tolerate.
“The old man’s behavior was just too damn disgusting to watch.”
She had been the one who recovered Theseus.
When no one else could even approach him through the Emperor’s flames, only she had been able to do so.
She alone could walk through the cruel fire that burned even the Emperor’s own child.
Her ability was Hell Fire.
She had inherited the Emperor’s power almost perfectly, making her the child who resembled him most.
And because of that, she understood.
Through those flames, she could read Abraham’s thoughts.
“So I wanted to ruin it all. Then a perfect opportunity happened to come along.”
Killing one’s own child for the sake of a goal.
That kind of cruelty did not surprise her.
But the moment she sensed bitterness lingering within those flames, Cynthia felt nothing but disgust.
If he was going to be a villain, then he should at least commit to being one.
Instead, he looked like a man trying to justify his own actions.
“Then Her Highness Lobelia is…”
“That’s none of your concern.”
Fwoosh!
Hell Fire erupted.
Now that there was no longer any reason to conceal her identity, Cynthia chose to reveal her power for all to see.
“You’ll have to stay here and keep me company, after all.”
Cynthia grinned mockingly.
It had been a long time since her last outing.
***
My body felt heavy.
Just the battle with Sir Cayenne had already left me exhausted.
And now I was supposed to face the enemies beyond this point in this condition?
The very idea was laughably arrogant.
I looked ready to collapse at any moment.
“Urgh.”
My knees buckled on their own.
I had suffered far too many injuries while breaking through the first gate.
Realistically speaking, I could not even attempt the next trial.
Defeat was all but certain.
I was trying to throw myself into a battle I knew would kill me, driven by nothing but sheer stubbornness.
It was foolish.
Utterly idiotic.
And yet, I pressed on because there was something I simply could not give up on, even if it meant becoming this foolish.
“Khk…”
A mouthful of blood spilled from my lips as I crawled across the ground.
I did not have time for this.
I had to move.
I had to keep moving…
But once my knees gave out, they refused to straighten again.
So I was just about to drag myself forward across the floor when—
“Heave-ho.”
Someone grabbed my arm, pulled me up, and draped it over their shoulder.
Through my blurred vision, I lifted my head.
A vivid crimson gaze was fixed on me.
Lobelia Vicious von Miltonia supported me as she spoke.
“You wished to remain a spectator to the stage, so why are you here?”
Ah.
It had been a long time since I had heard those words.
Right.
That had once been the motto I lived by.
To never step onto the stage.
“Was it not you who said so? The stage has protagonists, supporting actors, and even extras, but you wished to be a spectator. So why have you stepped onto the stage?”
A fair point.
How had my life changed so drastically?
I had stepped onto the stage.
I had thrown myself into the fray, striving to become not an extra or a supporting character, but a protagonist.
Did that mean I had changed?
No.
I had not changed.
I was still a cowardly and selfish person.
Still the kind of unlikeable man who always made excuses and met everything with suspicion.
And yet, the reason I had stepped onto the stage was—
“Well.”
I let out a faint chuckle and answered.
“I guess it turned out to be an audience-participation show.”
At some point, the boundary between the stage and the audience had simply disappeared.
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