The incident half a month ago, when we defended against an assassin infiltration, had a tremendous impact on the world.
If one looked only at the conclusion, then I, who had been called a genius and courted from all sides,
had, sure enough, taken firm control of a real crisis and proven my worth once again…
“As expected, the Demon King’s mark remains thick upon them. These are all assassins of the Demon King—the Terror Unit.”
“It is fortunate, at least, that not all of them were absorbed by blood magic. The corpses were in such a state that analyzing the remains took some time… but even that much is something.”
“And what this fact proves is that the young master annihilated the entire Terror Unit.”
“…Earth-shattering. The world will tremble.”
The results of the inspection by the mages of the count’s castle.
The ones I had subjugated were, as expected, assassins personally raised by the Demon King.
Naturally, rumors spread one after another, and the world grew even more noisy.
And even if something like this had happened in ordinary times, that alone would have been enough.
But as it turned out,
the world was apparently in chaos right now.
“An urgent report from the royal castle!! Your Lordship, please confirm it!”
“—They say a Great Invasion has begun.”
“An in-invasion…”
“Yes. The first in three hundred years.”
For the past three hundred years, the demons had seemed content to watch humanity’s decline and destruction from across the river, let alone launch a full-scale invasion.
Then, all of a sudden, they reorganized themselves
and charged into the human realm at full speed.
The human realm was being swept up in the clutches of the Great Invasion,
and the border regions were said to be getting devastated in real time.
Of course, the kingdom was practically bleeding from every orifice as it poured all its strength into stopping this invasion.
But with its men rooted out, the population had dwindled,
and its military traditions had not been properly maintained. There was no way it could perform well.
In the end, all that came in were tragic reports of defeat.
One after another.
However.
In the midst of all this, if there was one place from which a report of victory reached the kingdom’s ears,
it was Tark Territory.
Because here, I, a specter from three hundred years ago, was still very much alive,
and somehow, I had ground down every last one of those bastards called the Terror Unit.
“Y-young master, I’m sorry. I’m so sorryyy! But I think you need to get up quickly!”
So.
When I heard the maid’s voice waking me earlier than usual,
I could somehow tell at once what had happened.
“…You don’t have to fidget. You were only doing your duty. Did you think I would get angry just because you woke me early in the morning?”
“B-but…”
“That’s enough.”
The fact that I had to go would not change anyway.
And if I made her keep talking, she would only start babbling nonsense.
Pat, pat—
“Eek, aah…!!”
I gave her shoulder a rough pat,
then passed by her and headed to the audience hall.
“Th-thank you. Young maaaster…”
In the past, that would certainly have been something to make her shriek in horror.
But from experience, I knew that in the future world, it was more convenient to short-circuit people like this and move on.
Bang—
And when I opened the door and entered,
I saw the royal castle’s messenger breathing hard,
only for her face to brighten the moment she saw me.
“Ah, Heir Valter.”
Pure white hair.
Blue eyes.
‘Now that I look closely, it’s the one who came last time.’
“We meet again.”
“It is good to see you.”
Since it was obvious she had come to bring troublesome business,
I was not particularly glad to see her.
But for Valeria, who was watching from the side, I nodded and offered a perfunctory greeting.
“You have come, Valter. We were waiting.”
“Mother.”
And the moment Mother, who had been receiving her, had me sit in attendance in the audience hall,
the royal castle’s messenger I had seen last time looked up at me as if she could wait no longer.
“…First, His Majesty the King has duly received the report of victory sent up a few days ago. He has expressed his intent to commend your meritorious deed.”
“That is good to hear. Humanity is in turmoil, after all. Would it not be best to have even one more victory?”
“—However, His Majesty also wished to ask you one thing.”
“What would that be?”
Her blue, burning gaze shone as she spoke.
“It concerns the ‘Evil Spirit’ not recorded in the report, yet attested to by many witnesses. The being that created that crimson cloud of blood.”
“……….”
“What exactly was its identity? It used a strange power not found among the army Tark Territory previously possessed. Thus, His Majesty wished to learn about it.”
As expected.
Jade had drawn far too much attention there,
and it seemed word had reached even the king’s ears.
However.
To explain that, I would have to reveal that I was the Sword Ghost from three hundred years ago.
Was there any need to do so?
There were many things in the world that people were better off not knowing.
Since there was nothing good to be gained from pretending to know about me, I had deliberately left that being out of the report.
What was so important about the king that he had to ignore my consideration and dig into it like this?
“……….”
And so.
My expression hardened.
To begin with, when he had problems piled up to his own nose, why send a messenger to a remote territory where his control barely reached and interrogate us like this?
But.
What the messenger said next was truly the clincher.
“I will take your silence as a denial. So the House of Tark conceals the truth even in response to the king’s question. In that case, all I can do is record it in my report.”
A truly insolent remark.
For a moment, my mood soured considerably at those words.
Unexpectedly, however, it was not I but Valeria who stepped forward first.
“You asked my son something that we, as a count’s domain, could not know. He simply could not answer. This is excessive interrogation.”
“I merely conveyed the king’s will as it was given.”
“Ah, are you the king? To dare make a judgment on a scene His Majesty could not even see and call it the king’s own—if anything, is that not precisely impersonation and deception of your sovereign?”
“……….”
“Please do not forget the essence of the matter. You are merely the king’s messenger. You are not the only one who can write a report. So let the answer to that question be: ‘Tark Territory has not identified it.’”
“…Understood. To have misspoken before the victor and hero of the count’s territory—I still have a long way to go.”
As expected.
She might be hopeless only in front of me,
but as a territorial lord, Valeria’s incisiveness was thorough and flawless.
……….
…….
….
“Hehe…”
No.
If only she had not looked at me afterward as if saying, “I did well, didn’t I? Lord Sword Ghost. I did well, didn’t I?”
Honestly, my favorability might have risen a little.
In any case, that messenger soon said what she had come to say as if nothing had happened.
“—Therefore, His Majesty the King has ordered the full-scale requisition of the Tark Territory knight order.”
Sure enough.
It was the war requisition bill our kingdom had presented to the count’s territory.
“As I was dispatched urgently as a courier, the detailed amounts of supplies and manpower demanded will be conveyed in writing by the royal delegation that will arrive before long.”
The white-haired woman held out a document bearing the king’s official seal
and presented it to us with confidence.
“And His Majesty the King has requested one thing.”
“…What might that be?”
“At the vanguard of the iron steeds leading the knight order, Heir Valter must stand.”
“Our Valter, you say…?”
When Valeria asked back,
the woman merely nodded with a thin, unpleasant smile on her lips.
The meaning behind that disagreeable smile was probably something like, “This is a wartime order. So you won’t be able to run away like last time.”
“He defeated the knight commander and recently brought news of victory as well. It seems His Majesty intends to make important use of him.”
At that, Valeria, who had heard my explanation
and knew I did not want to leave the territory and be “bound” to the king,
“An order… an order……”
“Yes, this is a wartime order. It is not a summons you can oppose with reasonable personal grounds as you did last time.”
Even in this situation, she seemed to be working her mind furiously to protect me.
But perhaps because no sharp solution came to mind,
a faint cold sweat beaded on her.
‘Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.’
But I understood the situation as well.
And I knew there was no rational reason to ignore the king’s order in wartime.
So, feeling the inevitability of it, I placed a hand over my chest and spoke.
“Mother.”
“…Valter.”
“The world has fallen into misery, and His Majesty the King seeks me through a sacred summons. Born as a subject, born as a man, how could I not answer it?”
“Are you truly going to do that…”
Perhaps she was deeply frustrated that she had failed to save me.
She merely answered with her lips pressed tightly together.
“Please trust me. I will manage this somehow.”
“…Uu. Valter.”
“In return, please help me a little from here on. You are my revered mother, and the master of this Tark Territory, which the mighty Mark founded with ‘divine aid.’”
However.
When I spoke those meaningful words at the end,
“…Oh my.”
Her eyes shone with puzzlement.
Divine aid.
Those were words only the head of our family could know.
On the surface, it sounded like I was simply boasting about the family.
But if one knew that the person who had bestowed that aid was me…
‘I hope you protect whatever I am about to do. Repaying the grace I bestowed—that is your role, isn’t it?’
—That was what those words became.
However.
The messenger, who could not even begin to notice any of this,
only smiled with unadorned happiness,
as if she had finally managed to carry out a successful mission.
I approached her
and politely took her hand as I spoke.
“Come to think of it, we have met before, yet I still do not know your name.”
At that, she looked steadily at my face,
then turned her gaze slightly aside and said,
“Ah, that is true. This was official duty, after all…”
“Even though you know my name.”
“…B-but. Even if you knew the name of a mere envoy like me, you would have no use for it, would you?”
Without letting her notice,
I gestured to everyone watching us to calm down.
“It is the first time I have seen a beauty with hair as white as jade and blue eyes. I simply wanted to know her name.”
I did my best to ease her suspicions.
Since she had blatantly shown me such an impudent attitude, everyone seemed puzzled by my behavior.
But she, who had suddenly become the center of this situation,
did not seem to dislike receiving advances from me.
With her cheeks slightly flushed, she revealed her name.
“…Naria.”
“A pretty name, fitting for your appearance.”
“Thank you. Then I shall take my leave…”
And.
This was precisely what I had been aiming for.
“The roads here are nothing to boast of, so your journey may be uncomfortable. If you do not mind, may I escort you?”
“Me, you mean…?”
“You are the royal castle’s messenger, are you not? Mother, may I do so?”
At that, perhaps Valeria immediately realized what I intended to do.
She squeezed her eyes shut and answered.
“Wild animals often appear nearby. Nothing may happen, but if you let your guard down, you could meet with an accident. As a man, accompany her. Valter.”
“Yes, Mother.”
And so.
I set out to see her off.
***
“…By the way, you called them poor roads, but I quite like roads like these, Valter.”
“Ah. Is that so?”
And perhaps she had taken more of a liking to me than expected.
Naria, who was riding back with me beside her, had relaxed appropriately. Though belatedly, she spared no praise for the territory and glanced at me.
“I may be working as an envoy now, but my birthplace was nothing more than a frontier much like Tark Territory.”
“Mm.”
“…Hmm, but. Something keeps bothering me. It is about the wild animals Count Tark mentioned. I did not see any on the way here, but do they really appear that often?”
“Not really.”
“…Pardon? Then why—”
“Naria. Get down from your horse.”
I said nothing further.
When I calmly told her to dismount,
“Eh— urk?”
only then did Naria seem to sense that something had gone wrong.
Her face turned pale, and she froze.
However.
I had no intention of letting her go.
If wild animals appeared often,
then it would not be strange for a messenger to die before ever reaching the territory.
“Get down from the horse.”
I said.