Chapter 9:
Ariel's Battlefield
OUR SETTING was one of the Silver Palace's grand reception
halls, primarily used for large gatherings and parties. Today, there
was a single long table in the room. It was adorned with large,
beautiful flower arrangements; plates, glasses, and cutlery were
already arranged on the tablecloth. All the seats were assigned
beforehand to one of the expected guests. Once the party got
underway, the food would presumably be carried out to them on
silver platters.
The hall was so lavishly decorated that you'd never suspect that
the whole event had been thrown together in just ten days. There
was something thrilling about looking out over the room, ready and
waiting for its guests, before anyone else arrived.
I was officially here as a member of the staff. Eris and I stood
near the entrance to the waiting room, studying the faces of the
attendees as they arrived. The waiting room itself wasn't too
cramped. There was something of a pre-party going on there, with
the guests milling around between tables of refreshments. Some of
them wore eager, hopeful expressions. Others looked anxious. But
many of them had arrived quite early.
Most of the conversation in the waiting room involved
speculation about what Princess Ariel was going to say today, and
how Prince Grabel's faction might react. The tone of that chatter was
mostly light—probably because none of the big names had arrived.
Most of the early guests were lesser nobles who wouldn't be too
seriously affected regardless of who took the throne.
The first major player arrived a little late. It was Pilemon Notos
Greyrat, accompanied by his eldest son.
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Pilemon paused at the entrance to glare at me with undisguised
hostility. "Hmph. Do you really think you can worm your way back
into the Notos Greyrat house after all these years?"
I was a bit taken aback by the venom in his voice. "The idea
never even crossed my mind, honestly."
"Remember this, boy: by all rights, you shouldn't even be
permitted to call yourself a Greyrat."
"Uhm… right. Okay."
After delivering this confusing attempt at an insult, Pilemon
studied the faces of the guests in the waiting room, and then
disappeared into a private room reserved for the high nobility.
"What is his problem?" hissed Eris quietly. She seemed much
more upset than I was.
Come to think of it… back when I was staying with the Boreas
Greyrats as a kid, they all seemed to assume I was uncomfortable
about my family's awkward social position. It didn't seem like a big
deal at the time. But what if Paul had asked the Notos family to take
me in, instead of the Boreas? What if I'd ended up tutoring one of
their children? With the likes of Pilemon around, that might have
been seriously miserable…
Well, it was all in the past now. Pilemon might be Paul's little
brother and my uncle, but he was also an enemy Ghislaine would kill
before too long. It was for the best that I couldn't stand the guy.
Following Pilemon's arrival, the rest of the important guests
began showing up at a steady pace. The parents of Ariel's attendants
and several members of Triss' family were among them. The other
heads of the four great houses all showed up as well. The Euros clan
came first, then Zephyros, and finally Boreas.
Who's the new head of the Boreas house again? Thomas?
Gordon? It's definitely a talking train engine kind of name…
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Oh, right. James.
Much like Pilemon, he'd strode into the room with his eldest son
at his side. The man looked more like Sauros than Philip had, and he
had a muscular build, but his face was noticeably haggard. From
what Ariel told me, he'd resigned his post as a High Minister to
assume his new role as the liege lord of Fittoa. Since everything in his
territory had disappeared in the Displacement Incident, he was still
struggling to get his feet under him.
In a way, it was impressive that the house of Boreas hadn't just
folded under the pressure completely. Maybe they were leveraging
the value of all their empty land somehow. Or maybe James was
keeping them afloat through heroic personal effort.
…Heroic effort, huh?
Well… the redevelopment of Fittoa was proceeding very slowly,
but the exhaustion on James' face was proof that he wasn't just
sitting around all day. He probably had to fight hard for his own
survival in the aftermath of that disaster. Although I wasn't sure how
many of the victims of the disaster would feel that much sympathy
for his position…
After a brief glance our way—at Eris, in particular—James
headed to a private waiting room as well.
Finally, after everyone else had already shown up, High Minister
Darius arrived. His only companion was a single bodyguard.
As soon as he laid eyes on me, Darius looked away with a fearful
grimace. But the bodyguard headed in my direction.
It was interesting to get a good look at the man in broad
daylight for once, although it didn't make him any less peculiar. He
was dressed casually, his hair made him look like a poisonous
mushroom, and there were four swords at his waist.
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"It's a great pleasure to meet you, sir. I am the North Emperor
Auber Corbett, although I'm commonly referred to as Peacock
Blade."
I glanced downward and saw that Auber was standing
comfortably on both legs. He didn't even seem to have a limp. But
given how wealthy Asura was, it was no surprise they had healers
who could patch up an injury like that in no time.
"The pleasure's all mine. I've heard quite a lot about you. My
name is Rudeus Greyrat."
"Ah, Quagmire Rudeus… or, perhaps you'd prefer Rudeus the
Dragon's Dog?"
Hmm. Would that make Orsted the new Kennel Master? How
nostalgic. Back in my adventuring days I was the one holding the
leash, but the tables had apparently turned. Orsted probably
wouldn't bother trying to improve the reputation of my people,
though…
"My apologies, sir," Auber continued with a smile. "I understand
your party's come under attack several times in recent days?"
"…I'm afraid so."
"They say you warded off the cowardly ambushes of your
opponents with great skill, however."
Uh, you're calling yourself a coward? Okay…
Auber was smiling lightly, like this was all just a little joke
between us. But his eyes didn't look amused at all. "Next time,
perhaps you'll have a fairer fight."
For just a moment, his face became uncharacteristically serious.
And then he turned and walked away.
Was that his way of declaring war?
In our two encounters so far, he seemed to have targeted me in
particular. Maybe he really was the third disciple.
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In any case, the single most important guest, First Prince Grabel,
wasn't coming to the waiting room at all. Instead, he was expected
to show up directly in the main hall once the party began.
In other words, all the players were now assembled.
The party had now begun in earnest.
The nobles entered the hall in a specific order, and took their
seats along the massive central table. I watched this all of this from
the periphery of the room, where I stood along with many other
bodyguards. Ariel had arranged it so that there were almost no
palace guards on duty, so most of the nobles had brought their own.
Eris and Ghislaine were by my side, keeping a wary eye on our
surroundings.
Sylphie wasn't here at all. She had an important part to play in
the ceremonies to come, and was currently waiting elsewhere.
Ariel stood behind the place of honor at the head of the table.
Once all the guests had settled into their seats, she took a step
forward.
"Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your busy
schedules to attend this party."
At first, her speech of welcome was conventional enough. She
began by mentioning the king's illness, made a few remarks about
the state of things in Asura, and spoke about how she'd felt watching
events from afar during her studies abroad… that sort of thing.
But soon enough, her attack began.
"Now then. There is a specific reason why I've gathered all of
you here today, as it happens. I have two people who I'd like to
introduce to you."
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As Ariel spoke these words, a voluptuous woman in a beautiful
dress stepped through the entrance. Without saying anything, she
slowly strode across the hall to stand at Ariel's side.
When he got a look at her face, Darius' eyes went wide. A few
other nobles at the table rose to their feet, the color draining from
their faces. Those were probably the representatives of the
Purplehorse family.
"This is Tristina, the second daughter of House Purplehorse. By
sheer coincidence, I met her on my travels—in the most unlikely of
places."
Plucking at the hem of her dress, Triss executed a flawless
curtsy. It was far smoother than anything Eris could have managed,
at the very least. "Thank you very much for the introduction, Your
Highness. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tristina Purplehorse."
There was a stir of voices all around the hall. "Didn't she go
missing?" "I thought she was dead!" "That girl's alive?" "She's
certainly blossomed into a beauty…"
Within a few moments, however, the comments began to
concentrate on one question in particular.
"But… what is she doing here?"
"When I found her and took her into my protection, Tristina was
in a terribly weakened state," Ariel said. "But she told me that she
had several things to say to all of you, and so I've brought her with
me to this gathering."
Triss stepped forward right on cue—and approached Darius,
who was seated at a high place at the table. Looking at him with the
disdain of someone studying a particularly filthy pig, she began to tell
her story.
She didn't speak in the rough tones of a bandit. Her words were
clean, elegant, like those of a proper noblewoman. She spoke of her
betrayal by her family, and of her purchase by High Minister Darius.
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She spoke of how he'd kept her like a pet, a dog. And she spoke of
how she'd nearly lost her life following the Displacement Incident.
She told the story of how she'd survived: the bandit gang that
purchased her, and her life as their leader's plaything. Finally, she
explained how Ariel had rescued her.
Triss delivered the entire (slightly dramatized) tale in a calm,
steady tone of voice. It was a story carefully tweaked to tug at the
heartstrings of anyone who heard it. She left out the part where
she'd become a bandit herself, implying that she'd simply endured all
the abuse until our party happened to rescue her.
A number of the nobles conspicuously broke into tears during
the story. I had a feeling Ariel had asked them to do so beforehand.
But many of the others, especially those allied with Darius, had clear
expressions of shock and dismay on their faces. The members of the
Purplehorse family in particular were white-faced with fear and
sweating visibly.
Darius himself, however, maintained a placid expression. he
gave no sign of losing his composure—on the surface, at least. It was
the face of a man who'd slipped his way out of tougher spots than
this before.
"And that's the entirety of my story."
Triss finally wrapped things up. And as she stepped back, Ariel
moved forward.
"Now then," the princess said, flashing her usual vibrant smile.
"This is all quite surprising, Minister Darius. I certainly didn't expect
to have such shocking events revealed in front of everyone like this.
It's truly hard to believe… could you really have abused your power
so blatantly? Kidnapped a girl of noble birth, and treated her as your
personal slave?"
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Her tone, calm at first, began to heat up rapidly as she
continued. By now, she was spitting out the words at Darius with
righteous fury in her voice.
"Is this truly how a High Minister of Asura comports themselves?
Is this truly the behavior of a man who administers our entire
kingdom? What an utter disgrace. Do you have anything to say for
yourself, sir?"
With a disdainful snort, Darius rose slowly to his feet.
"Princess Ariel, you take your little games a bit too far today."
His narrow eyes shone with malice, he turned to face Triss. "I hardly
expected you to grab some woman off the street and insist on calling
her a daughter of House Purplehorse. Oh, I know that my enemies
delight in spreading vicious rumors of this sort behind my back—but
truly, this is the first time anyone has thrown such lies directly in my
face."
Chortling loudly, he turned to look around the room, silently
encouraging the other nobles to agree that Triss was an impostor.
"You claim her story is untrue, then?" said Ariel.
"Naturally. Now, I have a question of my own for you, Princess
Ariel. Do you have any proof whatsoever that this… Miss Tristina is
indeed the second daughter of House Purplehorse?"
"Tristina."
At Ariel's prompting, Triss reached into the bosom of her dress
and retrieved something.
It was a ring. It had a beautiful purple jewel at its center, with
the image of a horse carved into its surface.
"Ah! An amethyst with the image of a horse. To be sure, that is
what the members of House Purplehorse use to prove their
identity."
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Darius had admitted all this easily enough, but his face hadn't
lost any of its composure. If anything, his smile had grown even
sharper and more hateful.
"I see, I see. Since this lovely girl carries that ring, it would seem
she truly is a Purplehorse…" Pausing for effect, Darius looked over
both Ariel and Triss like the dirty old man he was. "Or so one might
initially believe."
The smug grin on his face in that moment was sickening to look
at.
"As it happens," he continued, "I have news of my own to share
concerning Tristina Purplehorse. I'm afraid she was identified quite
recently."
"Identified?" said Ariel, tilting her head slightly.
"I'm sure you all remember, ladies and gentlemen, a certain
operation we conducted in the capital about a month ago," said
Darius. "Its purpose was to round up all the members of certain
criminal organizations that had taken root within the royal capital. In
the course of that exercise, I'm afraid that the body of Miss Tristina
was discovered."
Ariel drew a sharp breath at this.
A month ago? He'd been preparing for this in advance, then?
"Of course, her signet ring had already been sold on the black
market, so it was difficult for us to conclusively establish her identity.
However, Miss Tristina's body had a distinctive feature that only her
family knew about: a crescent-moon shaped birthmark at her
breast…"
Now that was just a lie, wasn't it? Triss didn't have any
birthmark of that kind. At least, not in any place that I'd seen… and
she wore very revealing clothing.
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"I believe the head of House Purplehorse will be able to confirm
all this for us. Isn't that right, Lord Freitus Purplehorse?"
Still, we had no good way to prove that Darius was lying. If the
head of House Purplehorse backed him up on this, this falsehood
would become the truth. And if Darius then demanded that Triss
expose her skin, he could "prove" her an impostor.
What now, Ariel? Were you ready for this one? Did we engrave
seven scars on her chest just in case?
The princess still had her poker face smile on, but that didn't tell
me much. Hopefully she wasn't screaming internally right now.
A man who seemed to be the head of the Purplehorse family
rose quietly to his feet.
Studying him closely, I could see a definite resemblance to
Triss…although his ashen face and quivering lips suggested he wasn't
much like his brazen bandit of a daughter.
"Go on, Lord Freitus. You identified the body yourself, didn't
you? You know as well as I do that Tristina is deceased, not missing."
Like a devil whispering in your ear, Darius murmured his words
in an almost soothing tone. The smile he'd turned on Freitus was
probably an attempt at looking friendly.
"The woman standing before you is an impostor who has
assumed Tristina's name. Perhaps you could testify to that effect,
sir? If only to bring an end to this distasteful farce? Unless you do so,
I'm afraid we'll have to ask the lady to expose herself in public, which
would be most regrettable."
Darius looked completely sure of himself. Ariel's slight smile
hadn't left her face, either.
Freitus, on the other hand, was trembling like a newborn calf.
The tension in the air was thick. I was just looking on from the
sidelines, and my mouth had grown completely dry.
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"M-My daughter…"
Slowly, haltingly, Freitus began to speak.
"My daughter was stolen from us… by Minister Darius…"
His words were… not exactly what I'd been expecting.
"Lord Freitus!" shouted Darius. "What are you saying?!"
"That woman standing there is my daughter, Tristina
Purplehorse! There's no doubt in my mind! Princess Ariel, I beg
you—give this man his rightful punishment for the abduction and
abuse of my child!"
Darius leaned forward over the table, knocking his chair back in
the process. "Don't be absurd, Freitus! You placed your seal on that
identification document personally!"
Ariel smiled very slightly. "No such document exists, Lord
Darius."
"Wha—"
Ah, okay. Now I get it. Sure, that makes sense…
Ariel had already won over House Purplehorse to her side. She'd
anticipated the kind of trick Darius might pull, and she'd undermined
it in advance.
I had a lot to learn from this woman. Seriously.
"Now then, High Minister. Given this testimony from the head
of House Purplehorse…"
Ariel still had her smile pasted on her face, but I was starting to
sense some malice of her own behind it.
"It seems that you truly did kidnap, imprison, and rape an
innocent girl of noble birth. Regardless of your importance to this
kingdom, such crimes cannot be excused. I expect you will be
punished in accordance with our laws."
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Darius' face contorted horribly in fear and rage, and his eyes
darted around the room. He no longer had a single ally sitting at that
table. Now that he'd been outplayed this thoroughly, his fall was
guaranteed. If his old friends had risen to his defense, perhaps he
could have wriggled free. But it seemed like none of them wanted to
assume the risk of being branded as his co-conspirator.
There was an easy explanation for this: they believed that First
Prince Grabel was now assured the throne, even without Darius'
help. The foundations for their victory had been laid by Darius and
Grabel in Ariel's absence, and those foundations were solid.
Basically, Darius' removal from the board at this stage would only
change one thing: all of them would move up one rank in the
hierarchy of their faction. And whoever managed to secure Darius'
former position would become the most powerful noble in all of
Asura.
All of the High Minister's former allies, the men and women
who'd eaten from his hand for years, had now abandoned him.
Darius was done.
Ariel had destroyed him. At this point, she could probably just
step back, and the other nobles would drag him down all on their
own. Even if he got off lightly in court, no self-respecting member of
the Asuran aristocracy would miss a chance to crush one of their
own.
There was only one person at this party who'd be
inconvenienced by Darius' fall. Someone who risked having his role
in the man's many schemes exposed.
"This party seems more… boisterous than I'd expected."
The man in question had now appeared. It was almost like he'd
been waiting for this very moment.
A blond, middle-aged man with a businesslike face. And his
name was First Prince Grabel.
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Entering the room from behind the seat of honor, he fixed his
eyes sharply on Ariel—but kept his face calm and neutral.
Round two was about to begin.
***
Grabel Zafin Asura strode straight toward his younger sister
without sparing a glance for anyone else in the room.
"What's the meaning of this disgraceful commotion, Ariel? Have
you forgotten that our father is seriously ill?"
"What commotion? I'm simply defending the honor of our
nobility as a whole."
"I'm saying there's a time and a place for these things," Grabel
said, shaking his head irritably. "With our father incapacitated, the
Kingdom of Asura can hardly afford to lose the many talents of our
High Minister."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. Either way, his crimes are real."
"Even if these accusations are true, Darius is a high noble, and
the members of House Purplehorse are of the middle rank. It should
be obvious which of them is more valuable to our kingdom."
In my previous life, where we'd come around to saying everyone
was equal, a remark like that would have gotten this guy fired from
his job in no time. But this was the Kingdom of Asura; people were
definitely not born equal here, and no one pretended that they were.
"I don't dispute that, Grabel. But while I hesitate to repeat
myself: his crimes are real. As a kingdom of laws, we can't simply
ignore them."
"And so he must be punished? I see. You're not entirely wrong,
Ariel… But you know as well as I do that there are many others in this
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room who ought to have their deeds exposed and punished. Do you
intend to toss every one of them into a jail cell?"
"Of course. If it becomes necessary."
Reading between the lines just a little there, Ariel was promising
that she wouldn't punish anyone who was "necessary" to her.
Nobody batted an eye at that, of course. It was amazing just how
stinking rotten this kingdom really was.
"Hmph. So you're convinced that punishing Darius is necessary,
then. And I believe the opposite." With a small snort of laughter,
Grabel smiled condescendingly at his sister. "It seems we're at
something of an impasse, then!"
"I suppose we are," Ariel replied.
Shaking his head theatrically, Grabel finally turned his attention
to the others in the room. "Regrettably, the two of us are unable to
reach a decision on this matter. The High Minister would usually
mediate such disputes, but as this concerns him personally…"
Pausing, he looked around the table, studying the faces of the
nobles one by one.
What's he up to now?
"In accordance with custom, we ought to put the matter to a
vote. Conveniently, it seems we have nearly all of Asura's foremost
men and women in this very room. Would you all be so kind as to
decide which of us is in the right?"
It sounded almost democratic. But of course, he was only talking
to the aristocrats. And what he was really asking them was: "Do you
think I'm going to win this fight, or Ariel?"
There was an unspoken threat there, too. Anyone who voted
against Grabel was going to be added to his list of enemies, and likely
purged from power once he had the chance.
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The nobles didn't seem particularly startled by this
development. They'd probably known something like this would
happen in the near future. Maybe a similar event had taken place
before, when Grabel was competing with the Second Prince.
In any case—they were going to decide, here and now, which
side they were really on. Many of them had been secretly allied to
one faction or the other for some time now, but this would be a
public declaration of their loyalties. They were going to evaluate the
situation as it stood, and make their decision on that basis.
Darius was broken. That was a serious loss for Grabel's faction.
However, they still had numerous other nobles of great influence
and power on their side. That included Notos and Boreas of the four
great houses, alongside several other high nobles.
Grabel's forces were simply stronger. His victory was essentially
guaranteed.
But just as the nobles were beginning to reach this conclusion,
Ariel spoke up with a bright smile on her face. "That sounds very
reasonable, Grabel. But before we come to that, there was one other
person I wanted to introduce to everyone."
"What?"
Ariel snapped her fingers. Ellemoi, who'd been waiting on the
terrace outside, sent the signal using her ring.
With an ear-splitting roar, a huge column of fire spiraled up into
the air just beyond the palace windows.
It was the Intermediate spell Flame Pillar, its size greatly
magnified through the use of silent spellcasting techniques. The
flame rose on and on into the sky, scorching the palace walls as they
went. Probably went without saying, but this was all Sylphie's
handiwork.
"What is the meaning of— Wha—?!"
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"Hm?!"
"It can't be!"
The nobles had risen to their feet to watch the flames go by. The
spell itself hadn't astonished them, however. It was easy enough to
see magic of that quality in the capital of Asura, if you wanted to.
Instead, their eyes were fixed on what was beyond it. Something
massive moved through the night sky, illuminated by the soaring
flames. And it was something you didn't see every day, even in a city
like Ars.
"Is that the floating fortress?!"
"When did it arrive in Asura?!"
The floating fortress Chaos Breaker had made its arrival.
Perugius' majestic castle approached at a speed that was
downright frightening, flying so low that it seemed likely to smash
right into us. And as the trembling aristocrats watched, riveted,
through the windows…
It stopped right above us.
The floating fortress hung in the sky just above the Silver Palace.
The room had gone absolutely silent.
I found myself wondering exactly how Perugius was planning to
get down here. He wasn't going to jump or anything, right?
Don't be stupid, Rudeus… The guy's an expert on Summoning
and Teleportation. He can probably beam himself down here just
fine.
"Wait… is he coming?!"
"…"
"No, that can't be true… and yet…"
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The nobles were beginning to whisper to themselves now, the
tension and fear on their faces giving way to excitement as they
stared outside the windows.
Ellemoi had positioned herself by the door at the foot of the
hall. Some of the aristocrats seemed puzzled by this—someone
murmured "Wouldn't he enter by the seat of honor?"—but no one
had an explanation for them.
After a little while, we heard footsteps approaching. Based on
that sound, it seemed there was only one person out there. But as
some of the bodyguards had clearly sensed, he wasn't actually alone.
There were twelve others silently accompanying him.
Those who'd noticed this were trembling where they stood.
They'd realized that the stories were true.
The footsteps stopped just outside the door.
"Our guest has arrived," said Ellemoi. It seemed like everyone in
the room was holding their breath now.
But when that door finally swung open, the mood changed
immediately.
"…Oh! Oh! It's him! It's truly him!"
A silver-haired, golden-eyed man in a white cloak walked into
the room. He wasn't a perfect match for his portrait, true; but his
overpowering presence, and the twelve servants who followed close
behind him, left no room for doubt.
Some of those who saw him shuddered, or flinched in fear.
Others stared with deep respect and admiration in their eyes.
Indifferent to all of this, he strode across the room, parting the
crowd of nobles as he went.
Finally, he reached Ariel and Grabel.
His twelve spirits split into two groups of six, and positioned
themselves on either side of the hall. One group now stood beside
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me, Ariel's bodyguard; the other beside Auber, who served Darius.
Sylvaril, who looked a little dressed up for the occasion, took the
spot directly at my side. It was hard to say for sure because of his
mask, but I had a sense he was in an unusually good mood.
"My thanks for your kind invitation, Ariel Anemoi Asura… But it
seems I'm a bit late for the party, perhaps?"
"Not at all. The guest of honor should always be the last to
enter."
Perugius had a small smile on his face, and Ariel was beaming
with delight.
Grabel, on the other hand, seemed to have no idea what to do
with himself. He was just staring at Perugius with his eyes wide open.
Turning his way, Ariel called out in a voice that rang with
confidence. "Everyone, allow me to introduce you to the Armored
Dragon King—one of the legendary Three Godslayers."
Perugius didn't bow, but simply ran his eyes over the crowd in
the manner of a lord. As the nobles met his gaze, they dropped
hurriedly to their knees and bowed their heads in tribute.
"Greetings. I am Perugius Dola."
It was almost comical how good he was at the role of king. He
had real authority here. Real prestige. In terms of clout, he might
command even more than the actual king.
"Now then, everyone, please do raise your heads. I join you
tonight as a guest, nothing more, nothing less. There's no need to
show such deference to a man you'll soon break bread with."
At these words, the nobles rose uncertainly to their feet. Soon,
the guests had all taken their places once again.
"Oh?" said Perugius, looking around the table curiously.
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There were only three open seats remaining: the place of honor
at the very head of the table, and two others to the side. Three
attendees were still standing. Ariel, Grabel, and Perugius himself.
"Well, this is something of a problem. It seems we only have
three seats available. Tell me, Ariel Anemoi Asura, Grabel Zafin
Asura—which of them should I occupy?"
Grabel inhaled sharply, and others at the table swallowed
audibly. This was all a farce. And if I knew that, so did everyone else
in the room. They'd all picked up on who Perugius had spoken to,
and in what order.
"By all means… please take… the seat of honor, Lord Perugius,"
said Grabel, his voice trembling.
He couldn't have said anything else in that moment. He was as
overwhelmed as anyone else. Perugius had no authority to decide
the next king, or to assign himself a seat at this table. There was no
need for Grabel to yield so easily.
Someone at the table could have pointed this out. Ordinarily,
someone would have. But in this moment, most of the guests were
incapable of considering the matter so calmly and so coldly. There
were probably a few exceptions, but they were too reluctant to swim
against the current and place themselves in danger.
By this point, they understood why Ariel had destroyed Darius
just before she staged this scene.
Perugius spoke, in a tone of voice that was almost casual, and
no one dared to interrupt him.
"No, I think not. I've spent too many years away from this
country to plant myself in the seat belonging to its next ruler."
Reaching over, he pushed gently at Ariel's back—at the same
time as he spoke the words next ruler.
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"Ariel, you take it instead. I'll content myself with the chair at
your side."
In that moment, every noble in the room knew that Ariel would
be queen.
***
Ariel had triumphed.
She had used me to ward off Auber, her own talents to control
Luke, Triss to bring down Darius, and Perugius to defeat Grabel. And
now her victory was assured.
Of course, she'd probably have many other battles to fight in the
coming years. But in this moment, she had triumphed. Darius and
Grabel had no cards that could trump Perugius.
But of course, those two weren't the only players in this game.
"…Lord Perugius!"
Just as Sylvaril cried out those words, the ceiling of the hall
caved in.
A grand chandelier smashed to the ground, crushing a noble
underneath it. Flying fragments of stone and metal wounded several
others.
The scale of the damage wasn't particularly large. It was only
the section of ceiling at the very center of the table that had fallen.
No—it wasn't the ceiling that had fallen. It was a woman. She'd
plunged down from above, ripping straight through it. She was small
in stature, and her skin was wrinkled with age. She held her gorgeous
golden-yellow sword as if it was a walking stick.
There was a little old lady standing in the middle of the rubble.
"Good grief. Guess this is what that prophecy was about…"
She murmured to herself as she hopped down onto our stage.
And with a fierce glance around the room, she called out to one
player in particular.
"Well, I suppose I'm here to save you."
It was the Water God Reida Lia, and she'd spoken those words
to Darius.
The Man-God had just played his final card.