Lobelia shouldn’t be here right now.
She should be leading the Resistance and cementing her image in the minds of the public.
That too is part of the Emperor’s plan.
But she gave that up. She abandoned it and came here to help me.
I never asked for help.
I never even told her what I was going to do.
“How did you know? This was a choice completely unlike the usual me.”
“Well. Maybe I just have good intuition?”
“Doesn’t seem like very good intuition.”
“That may be true. After all, I threw away a smooth road ahead for the sake of someone like you.”
“You really did.”
“That attitude of yours is the problem. Even if it’s just out of politeness, you’re supposed to say that’s not true.”
“I’m the type of person whose strength is honesty.”
“And yet everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie.”
I’m not someone who lies very much, so I don’t understand why everyone around me thinks I’m a liar.
“Well then, should I say it’s because I didn’t want to follow the path His Majesty laid out?”
“That’s better. It feels much more like you.”
“Getting a single compliment from you is this difficult, huh?”
Whatever the reason, I was grateful.
This was, for all intents and purposes, the result of sheer stubbornness.
It wouldn’t have been strange at all if I had collapsed here.
Of course, I had no intention of giving up. I still had a last resort left.
But if I could keep moving forward without using it, wouldn’t that be ideal?
“What happened to the Resistance? Who’s leading them?”
“Cynthia.”
“Can that person really be trusted? Her temper seemed pretty fiery.”
“You commit disrespect toward the Imperial Family as naturally as breathing now.”
“I’m on my way to take on the Emperor. A little thing like that hardly matters.”
“True enough. I can’t say you’re wrong.”
If I had already decided to make an enemy of the Emperor, what did it matter if it was Princess Cynthia?
Besides, I don’t personally like her. I still haven’t forgotten how she bullied me over my appearance.
“By the way, have you rested enough?”
“Thanks to you.”
“Then stand on your own. I don’t think I can keep supporting you and move forward much longer.”
“……”
I raised my head from where I had been half-dragged along and looked straight ahead.
“I see.”
Standing there was someone even Lobelia probably couldn’t confidently overcome.
“Beautiful day today, isn’t it?”
The First Princess, Lapis.
Also known as Naraka, the living hell of this world.
She stood in our path.
“To be honest, I never thought you’d be the one to stop us, Sister.”
“Don’t say things like that, Lobelia. I’m not here to stop you. I promised His Majesty that I wouldn’t involve myself in the matter of the throne.”
Then had she blocked our path just to exchange greetings?
Honestly, Lapis was the kind of person who might do exactly that.
But the situation was what it was. The Emperor had gone so far as to explicitly warn her not to interfere in the succession issue. Would she really seek us out for no reason?
She couldn’t be that foolish.
As free-spirited as Lapis was, she wouldn’t do something as stupid as making an enemy of the Emperor.
“That’s right, little brother. I wouldn’t do something that foolish.”
“Were you reading my thoughts?”
“Of course. If I feel like it, something like that is easy. It’s even easier when you leave your mind wide open like that.”
“I see.”
Something felt different about her.
She sounded friendly enough, yet hearing her voice alone sent chills down my spine.
Where was this unsettling feeling coming from?
After thinking it over, I arrived at an unexpected answer.
“You’re speaking informally all of a sudden.”
“That’s because I didn’t come here as the First Princess today. You understand what I mean, right?”
She meant that she had completely set aside her public identity.
Not as First Princess Lapis, but as the transcendent being known as Naraka.
“I came here as your older sister.”
Ah, I really hate this. Please just go away.
“That’s a rather hurtful thing to think.”
“…You misunderstood.”
To be honest, I’d spent a lot of time criticizing Lapis in my head.
Well, not criticizing exactly. I just thought she was a bit lacking upstairs.
No, that’s not right either. I thought she was genuinely innocent and naïve.
Wow! Princess Lapis! What a kind and benevolent person she is!
“The fact that the moment you heard I could read minds, you immediately started coming up with every excuse imaginable is so very like you.”
“…I can say with confidence that I’ve never actually cursed you out.”
“Is that so?”
“Wait. Before that, may I clarify one thing?”
“Of course, Lobelia.”
Lobelia pressed a hand to her forehead and muttered. Even for her, Lapis’s presence must have felt unsettling.
“Didn’t you just call Johan your younger brother? I really hope I misheard that. That was a horrifying thing to hear.”
“There’s a long story behind that, Your Highness. To summarize, it’s a completely one-sided claim on her part.”
“That’s a hurtful thing to say.”
“Feel free to be hurt. Why do you keep trying to drag me into this?”
I’d really appreciate it if she would stop casually calling me her younger brother.
The Demon King and I are separate beings.
Even if a fragment of the Demon King exists within me, it can’t be more than one percent.
And yet she keeps talking about me as if I’m her little brother because of that one percent. Honestly, it’s way too much pressure.
“Whatever the case, I can’t just stand by and watch my beloved little brother go off to die.”
“That’s what she says, Your Highness.”
“She’s talking about you.”
“Jedidiah, I’m talking about you.”
“Who the hell is that?”
I’d never heard that name in my life.
Well, come to think of it, I vaguely remembered her trying to call me something similar once before, but still. No.
“I have no intention of letting even your last remaining fragment be destroyed.”
“What a touching display of family affection.”
“Please don’t say such horrifying things, Your Highness.”
“I’m genuinely hurt….”
Sniffling like that wasn’t going to help.
What isn’t true simply isn’t true.
“What am I supposed to do with you?”
“I’d appreciate it if you kept your distance.”
She’d been speaking casually and familiarly this whole time, and it was giving me chills.
Honestly, even when she used formal speech, things were better.
I never thought I’d find myself missing that sense of distance.
“Well, the solution seems simple enough.”
Lobelia loosened her wrists and stepped forward. Was she planning to fight?
Against a monster that even the Emperor had been unable to deal with and had simply left alone?
“Lobelia, I don’t want to fight you today.”
“Then all you have to do is step aside.”
Keep her promise to the Emperor or prioritize her own desires.
Lobelia had forced Lapis into a choice between the two.
It would be nice if Lapis simply backed down, but if she decided the risk was worth taking, things would become dangerous.
She might even be more difficult to deal with than Abraham.
Abraham had only been operating behind the scenes and setting the stage to make Lobelia the next Emperor.
His goal wasn’t for her to surpass him in combat but to determine whether she could endure the burden of the throne once she claimed it. As such, martial strength was not the deciding factor.
Which meant there was a high chance Abraham would not fight with everything he had.
Lapis was different.
The judgments of a hedonist with neither convictions nor goals were always bound to be extreme.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
The atmosphere around Lapis changed.
An unknown crimson aura began to seep outward from her.
The ground beneath her feet turned to sand.
No, “turned” wasn’t quite the right word.
Hell itself was being created from beneath her feet.
“Just because I’m enjoying the world right now doesn’t mean I’ve completely abandoned Father’s orders.”
That was rich.
She had never cared about the world’s destruction in the first place.
But one thing had become clear from those words.
She wasn’t interested in destroying the world, but neither did she have any particular reason not to destroy it.
“It’s still better than letting Father’s child die.”
“…Then would it be possible for you to take our side instead?”
“Why? There’s an easier option.”
She had a point.
Even I thought dealing with Lobelia would probably be easier than dealing with Abraham.
But there was one important thing that needed to be addressed.
“If something happens to Princess Lobelia, wouldn’t that ultimately make an enemy of the Emperor?”
“If I take you and run away, not even that man would be able to come after me.”
“…Damn it. Looks like I’m about to get kidnapped here too.”
“Has that happened to you before?”
Quite a lot, actually.
Including attempted kidnappings, it’s happened too many times to count on one hand.
“Unlike you humans, I’m not that attached to personal relationships. I can leave everything behind and walk away whenever I want.”
“That certainly seems to be the case.”
Considering her mind was practically a flower garden, it was no surprise her social life was a complete disaster.
Then again, it was a bit ridiculous to talk about relationships when she never had any friends to begin with.
“Now, this is your last chance. Go back right now, Jedidiah.”
“If you’re going to say that, wouldn’t it be better to at least get my name right?”
“Go back, Johan.”
“If you’re going to correct yourself that readily, you’re not really leaving me anything to say.”
It was somehow more uncomfortable because she complied so easily.
“Your Highness Lapis, let’s negotiate.”
“Negotiate?”
“Yes, negotiate.”
“What is it? Let’s hear it.”
There was only one way to persuade her: earn her trust.
Right now, her standard of judgment was Abraham’s strength. To be honest, Lobelia’s position was understandably unsettling.
She was probably expecting the possibility of being wiped out. And even if that didn’t happen, Lobelia might survive while I ended up dead.
The scales were already tipped.
In that case, if I could just make them tip in the opposite direction…
“I have a plan to defeat Emperor Abraham.”
Then she might choose to stand with us rather than against us.
***
Lapis became our ally.
When she was an enemy, she was absolutely terrifying, but now that she was on our side…
“My heart’s racing!”
She was exhausting.
Lapis followed behind us with a bright smile on her face.
Honestly, having her walk behind me while I led the way was the worst.
It felt like the Grim Reaper was right at my back.
“Johan, will this really be all right?”
“Well, it has to be. I knew what I was getting into.”
“Jedi… Johan! Say it! You promised me, remember?”
“Yes, Big sister Lapis.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear!”
In the end, I surrendered.
I wanted to keep a clear line between the Demon King and myself until the very end, but if I wanted to persuade Lapis, that line had to go.
I am the Demon King! Therefore, I have to call Lapis Big Sister.
It was a truly unpleasant situation. Still, at least I managed to get her to give up on calling me by that ridiculous name.
“Since you’ve decided to join our side, why don’t you tell us about Abraham, Your Highness Lapis?”
“……”
“Big Sister.”
“Of course!”
Good grief, she was unbelievably high-maintenance.
“Abraham is strong.”
“And?”
“Very strong.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you for that enlightening explanation.”
To be fair, I hadn’t expected much, so I wasn’t exactly disappointed.
Still, Lapis wasn’t completely useless. Simply having her with us allowed us to pass through most of the obstacles that would have otherwise blocked our path.
That didn’t mean Lapis had crushed them all with overwhelming force. The enemies simply failed to notice us at all merely because she was there.
It was an ability derived from a transcendent power, something entirely different from illusion magic.
Since even Lapis herself couldn’t control it, she said she liked people such as Lobelia, who could see through her true nature.
“Please be a good younger sister, Princess Lobelia.”
“You should focus on being a good younger brother yourself.”
Our Big Sister really was blessed. She’d ended up with both a good younger brother and a good younger sister.
In any case, all’s well that ends well.
We strolled through the Imperial Palace, chatting in a relatively relaxed atmosphere. Since there were no enemies to fight, the tension had naturally eased.
But that was bound to change as we drew closer to the audience chamber.
“……”
All three of us fell silent.
For some reason, the air felt hot.
Breathing became difficult, and my throat grew dry.
The heat alone was enough to tell us that Abraham was waiting for us.
“I’ll open it.”
“Will you be all right?”
“I’m the one who started this.”
I pushed open the massive doors of the audience chamber with both hands.
Abraham sat upon the throne at the far end of the hall, wearing an expression of weary boredom.
Flames surrounded him.
“So, the disobedient brats have arrived.”
He was smiling, but he certainly didn’t look pleased.
The hall was filled with monsters far beyond anything I could hope to contend with.
There was Emperor Abraham, of course, as well as Naraka and Lapis. And then there was the protagonist whom Abraham had personally chosen and who had endured countless trials to reach the brink of completion.
So what was I supposed to call someone like me, standing among figures like them?
I was a pitiful addition to that lineup.
“Johan Damus.”
And yet, everyone was looking at that pitiful person.
The greatest and strongest being in the room issued a warning as though he had designated me alone as his enemy.
“I distinctly told you not to step onto the stage.”
That single sentence was enough to make my body tense.
I was afraid. Even though I had supposedly prepared myself for death, I still found myself hesitant to meet the Emperor’s gaze.
Wasn’t that pathetic?
Wasn’t that weak?
“Did my warning amuse you?”
I was someone who didn’t even deserve to stand before him.
“Well.”
My voice was quiet. My body trembled, hunched in on itself.
A pointless death. Futile resistance. Foolishness. Stubbornness. Recklessness.
There were countless words people could use to describe what I was about to do.
But if I had to choose just one among them…
“Maybe I’m not the one who stepped onto your stage. Maybe you’re the one who stepped down onto mine.”
Alice’s Original Magic.
[Adventure]
That was the name I chose to give it.
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