Chapter 58 - The Grand Duke’s Daughter
10 min read ·
“Promise me just one thing.”
Just as Aiden was about to leave for the estate of the grand duke’s daughter, Lisa Aslan, Grand Duke Aslan stopped him.
“... Unlike Damian, Liza has at least some sense. Try to go a little easy on her.”
“... If she has any sense, wouldn’t that mean I don’t need to beat her up?”
“Not quite that much sense.”
“...”
Apparently, children never quite measured up in their parents’ eyes...
Mulling that over, Aiden nodded.
“I’ll pull my punches a little.”
Grand Duke Aslan nodded in satisfaction, but in truth, that was a necessary choice for Aiden as well.
-Side Quest
▶ Protect the target ‘Liza Aslan’!
▶ Successfully completing the quest will greatly increase several characters’ affection!
“...”
He had no idea what was going on, but this window had suddenly appeared before his eyes.
‘What sort of situation is she in right now...?’
Aiden tilted his head.
Still, after seeing enough of these, a person was bound to learn a thing or two.
Whatever the details, if someone would need protecting, something bad was definitely going to happen.
In that case, what he needed to do was...
“...”
Stroking his chin as he stared at the window, Aiden cocked his head.
“Hmm.”
... Certainly, going in without any “preparations” would be foolish.
▣
Every member of the ducal House of Aslan was a warrior of lofty reputation.
Of course, Grand Duke Aslan himself would click his tongue and say that both Damian and Liza Aslan were all show and no substance compared with their public reputations. Still, those reputations were certainly not entirely unfounded.
The conversation taking place in Liza Aslan’s office was proof enough.
“I refuse, Minister.”
Had Aiden heard that unbending answer, his opinion of her would surely have risen considerably.
The equation was simple: anyone hostile to Rad Ilza Barfon was an ally of Aiden’s.
Of course, she had her reasons for being so adamant.
Liza stared at the man before her in disbelief.
The minister of administration. The prince’s closest confidant.
Everyone who knew him agreed he was a scheming man.
And what he was saying did absolutely nothing to contradict that assessment.
“Your soldiers will need to grow stronger if you want an advantage over your elder brother in this struggle, won’t they? This is hardly the time to be picky about your methods.”
“...”
“I imagine Lord Damian is already giving serious consideration to attacking you by force.”
Within reasonable limits, she probably would have agreed.
Liza was, fundamentally, every bit as ambitious as her brother, and she took whatever she needed to achieve her goals.
Even so, she had certain lines she would not cross as a human being.
Sweeping back her curly blond hair, Liza hurled the vial onto the table.
The minister of administration had just handed it to her to “try out.”
“A potion that turns people into magical beasts? Are you in your right mind, offering me something like that?”
“Its effectiveness is guaranteed, you know.”
The reply came without a moment’s hesitation, and Liza’s eyes blazed.
Demonic energy was itself a deadly poison to living things. One only had to consider why the void region was off-limits to reach that conclusion.
Even if it worked as well as this man claimed, the soldiers who received it would inevitably suffer side effects.
Everyone living in the Duchy of Aslan knew that.
People exposed to demonic energy for long periods, or “infected” through the blood of magical beasts and the like, invariably underwent physical changes, great or small. Some became so violent that their very personalities changed.
And he wanted her to administer a substance derived from magical beasts directly into their bodies?
“Of course I want the grand duke’s title. But you want me to inject demonic energy into my soldiers? That’s as good as telling them to die!”
However desperate she might be, Liza still possessed a commander’s most basic sense of responsibility toward her soldiers.
“Heaven’s Light is coming, my lady.”
The man whispering those words in an insinuating voice, however, looked as though he could not care less about any of that.
“...”
“The capital will soon be plunged into chaos. Will you still be able to say the same then?”
“... You...”
“Granted, His Highness and I must keep our heads down for the time being... But this is more than a simple ‘offer of cooperation.’”
The minister continued, still smiling pleasantly.
“... Everyone in the Empire will soon have to choose a side. His Highness the prince, or the opposition. I’m offering you a chance to join the ‘advantaged side,’ you see?”
“...”
For a time, Liza was speechless.
It was simply too absurd.
“You were crushed after trying to frame the Lionhearted just recently, yet your confidence knows no bounds. Do you think I don’t know what position you’re in?”
“Well, we aren’t saying this without grounds, either.”
... True, he was acting far too confidently for someone backed into a corner.
As though he had something to rely on.
But regardless, the minister’s proposal was absolutely unacceptable.
“... Get out. This is your last warning. Otherwise, I really will cut you down.”
Liza growled.
At her response, Rad shrugged and picked up the vial.
“If you feel that strongly, I suppose there’s nothing for it.”
At least he seemed willing to back down. The tension around Liza’s eyes eased, her threatening expression softening somewhat.
It looked as though this might end fairly peacefully.
It might have, had Rad not immediately drawn “black magic” out around his body.
“... You, what are—!”
With a shout bordering on a scream, Liza instantly drew her sword.
As someone from a duchy bordering demons and a fragment of their god, she knew better than anyone.
“We managed to bring over a rather useful creature from beyond the void region this time. This year’s Night of the Hunt should be quite entertaining, but apart from that, I have a promise to His Highness to keep.”
The thing before her was not human.
Not human, but some devilish “something”...!
“And so, since that man and his companions happen to be nearby, and I’ll need at least some ‘field data’ on this drug before I can put it to use in the capital...”
The next moment...
“... Would you be so kind as to provide it yourself, my lady?”
Rad’s eyes glowed red.
▣
“Something has gone wrong with the world.”
Noel muttered those words in a voice weary of life itself.
Anyone would probably react much the same way if told they would spend the day laying waste to the grand duke’s son’s estate, then head to his daughter’s estate at night to wreck that one too.
‘... This won’t be as easy as dealing with Lord Damian.’
Of course, all the members of the ducal House of Aslan were renowned warriors, but Liza was far more widely respected than Damian.
Indeed, it was generally accepted among the nobility that Damian so often made the first move to keep Liza in check out of an inferiority complex.
And now they were on their way to attack her estate.
Yet Aiden, who had set all this in motion, had excused himself, saying he had preparations to make. Being left alone with Katya only compounded Noel’s exhaustion.
“...”
And what had he put the Lionhearted and Deathwish, two exceptionally valuable assets, to work on?
Meticulously laying out their supernatural powers like a net around the area.
They were spreading Noel’s energy and Katya’s divinity around as “invisibly” as possible.
Dispersed this thinly, their powers could exert almost no physical force.
At most, if Noel and Katya concentrated with all their might, they could just barely tell when someone passed through a point in the net.
But they had to encircle the entire estate, so it was a considerable undertaking even for the two of them.
‘... I’m tired.’
That was all she could think.
“Why? It’s nice having a packed schedule.”
Of course, nothing in this world was absolute.
Noel pressed her fingers firmly against her temple as she watched Katya walk along, humming cheerfully.
She seemed utterly delighted simply to be on her way to beat someone up...
‘Yet another reminder.’
She and this woman had nothing in common, from start to finish.
Watching Katya, she could see that they were polar opposites even in trivial things like their taste in food.
The one saving grace was that Katya did not show much hostility toward her when Aiden was involved as their common denominator.
Normally, bringing her along meant fretting over what trouble she might cause, but whenever that man asked her to do something, she became astonishingly compliant.
Of course, that did not make her any less uncomfortable to be around.
“By the way, there’s something I want to ask.”
“Yes?”
“What are you two, really?”
“...”
For a start, having such an exceedingly sensitive question thrust in her face was hardly to Noel’s liking.
“... Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“No reason, really. You just don’t seem like an ordinary married couple.”
“...”
“... Doesn’t it feel like you’re hiding a lot from each other?”
What made Katya all the more difficult to deal with was that she was not merely headstrong. Her mind worked faster than one might expect.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while. Something about you two feels unnatural. I keep getting the feeling you haven’t known each other for very long.”
“...”
“Are you really engaged?”
In the past, Noel would probably have changed the subject or given an evasive answer.
Or it might have escalated into a fight, as it had before.
The subject itself was awkward enough, and Noel was hardly pleased to see Katya’s eyes brimming with suspicion.
“...”
But instead of answering, Noel clamped her mouth shut.
After all...
‘... What are we?’
She herself was undoubtedly the person least able to answer that question.
Of course, they were not on bad terms. They were not distant, either.
But was their relationship significant enough for her to give Katya a serious answer?
Her eyes wandered over their surroundings. She almost looked as though she were trying to suppress her embarrassment.
“...”
Soon, however, her gaze returned to Katya, filled with seriousness.
Katya’s eyes narrowed when she saw Noel place a hand on her scabbard.
“Your Highness.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll be honest. I don’t like you very much.”
“What a coincidence. I feel exactly the same.”
It was an exceedingly hostile exchange for two people whose expressions had not changed in the slightest, but neither Noel nor Katya seemed to think much of it.
“But there is at least one thing we can agree on.”
“Hmm.”
Then Noel’s hand flashed into motion.
Her sword traced a cold gleam beneath the moonlight spilling from the night sky.
In its path was a “something” creeping toward them through the darkness.
A monster with multiple limbs that could never be mistaken for human, its body grotesquely warped, twisted, and crushed out of shape.
Alongside the sword’s arc, Katya unleashed her divinity, following up on Noel’s slash to strike the same target.
Hit simultaneously by two of the very strongest wielders of supernatural power, the creature shattered before it could even scream in pain.
“... At least when we fight together, we seem to work well as a team.”
“Yes. I agree with that.”
Perhaps it was because they both had someone they wanted to protect.
Thinking that, Noel sheathed her sword again.
“The Night of the Hunt hasn’t even begun... and there are magical beasts roaming about already. I suppose this really is the border of the void region—”
Noel’s casual remark broke off abruptly.
The magical beast that had taken both her attack and Katya’s was staggering to its feet before her eyes.
“... What? It’s pretty tough, isn’t it?”
Katya tilted her head as she spoke, but Noel’s gaze was fixed on something else.
Amid the rising magical beast’s form, she had caught sight of something strangely familiar.
Its shape was that of a magical beast. With multiple shaggy legs sprouting around its body like a spider’s, it could not possibly be human.
And yet...
The body that had formed the “basis” of that shape, the human figure panting through ragged breaths with reddened eyes...
Had a face Noel knew well.
“... Lady Liza?”
GRAAAAAH!!!!!
Instead of an answer, all that came back was a horribly distorted roar.