#182
Escape Operation from the Demon King’s Castle (4)
With Olivia’s appearance, the “aura of fear” unique to high-ranking undead instantly began to encroach upon the surroundings.
Simply being near her made one’s whole body tremble and one’s breathing quicken; facing that presence head-on shattered one’s composure, and thoughts began to cut off in fragments.
Riley gritted her teeth to somehow gather her wits and hugged Hesperon tightly in her arms.
‘Banshee Queen Olivia. A monster who earned infamy under the second Immortal King and was even recorded in the history books…!’
On a personal level, she was also the very one who had abducted Isea while Riley was with her and brought her before the Immortal King.
Back then, with protective magic and the power of all sorts of magic tools, overcoming that fear had not been difficult. But now that she was facing an executive-class undead with nothing to protect her, Riley, whose realm was not especially high, could barely endure it.
[Hmm… I have heard much about beings from another world, but… I truly did not think you would be able to leave this place…]
Olivia gazed quietly at Hesperon, who was vomiting blood from the backlash of his mana, then slowly shook her head.
[Even so, it is not something I can overlook…]
In truth, she had not just arrived here.
It was simply that, as a ghostly body with an overwhelming advantage in concealment, those of lower rank had failed to notice her.
To be exact, she had already arrived while Hesperon was in the middle of beating the crown prince and had been quietly watching the situation, grasping what was going on.
‘If it had ended as merely a fight, I intended to slip away quietly…’
She had been informed in advance about how they were to be treated, so she had not bothered to intervene while the crown prince was being one-sidedly beaten.
She had merely watched until the end in case Hesperon, not satisfied with subduing him, tried to kill him—or conversely, in case the crown prince counterattacked and injured the other two.
But then, out of nowhere, they began talking about escape, did they not?
And it was not mere talk. Seeing them do something as though they were about to put a plan into action at any moment, she intervened in something of a hurry and first disrupted Hesperon’s mana manipulation.
‘His body was somewhat damaged in the process, but… An injury of that degree can be recovered from easily enough, given time…’
Since she had injured someone whom the Immortal King himself was paying attention to, she might well be severely reprimanded for this.
Still, it was far better than allowing some unforeseen situation to occur and truly letting them get away.
[For the time being, I shall manage that man separately… Miss Princess, please wait here obediently…]
“Kh—!”
At the sight of the Banshee Queen approaching while issuing that firm notice, Riley bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
The hope she had found amid despair had come right before her eyes, and yet she had to let it slip away so emptily…
More than anything, the fact that there was nothing she could do at that moment made her all the more miserable.
‘…What Iron-Blooded Princess? What next emperor? I can’t do anything on my own, so I only rely on others, and when a crisis actually comes, I’m not even of any help!’
Outside, she had failed to realize that fact.
She had been one who stood above all others and pointed the way, and there had always been people around her waiting to carry out her orders.
Even in her childhood, when she had been unable to hold her head high before her siblings, her authority as an imperial princess had remained, and after Isea became her emotional support, she had actively used that authority to grow her faction.
Once she had entered the imperial succession struggle in earnest, the faction that supported her became both the weapon and armor that protected her.
But now…
Riley lowered her gaze slightly and looked at the man in her arms.
Perhaps the impact of the mana backlash had been considerable, for his eyes were squeezed shut, and he was only breathing roughly, as though in pain.
‘…Yes, I can’t keep hiding behind others forever. At the very least, the emperor I aim to become is not such a person.’
There was no one left to protect her now.
A situation she had to overcome solely with her own strength.
The possibility of a miracle occurring was endlessly low, and to begin with, she did not even know what she should do or how.
But was it not impossible for someone called the “Iron-Blooded Princess” to give up without doing anything?
Srrk—
Riley drew up her mana, strengthened her body, and slowly rose from her seat.
All while holding Hesperon firmly in her arms, as if she would never let him go.
[Haa— You must know very well that this is meaningless resistance… Please submit to control obediently…]
Seeing the unwavering look in Riley’s eyes, Olivia lightly cupped her cheek with one hand and shook her head.
To someone whose condition was not good because of mana backlash, her very existence was harmful.
In order to take him away, she had to handle her energy as delicately as possible, but if they resisted like that, it would inevitably become a little troublesome.
‘Though it is, quite literally, only a little troublesome…’
Well, did she not have more than enough time anyway?
Olivia smiled faintly and slowly flew through the air toward them.
“Hoo, haa—”
‘Is there really no way?’
As Riley retreated little by little with deep breaths, moving this way and that, her gaze fixed once more on the Banshee Queen, who was gradually approaching.
In truth, she had not had any special countermeasure from the beginning.
Perhaps, just as her opponent had said, it was nothing more than meaningless resistance.
‘But.’
Riley pressed her bleeding lips firmly together and, overcoming the fear that assailed her through sheer willpower alone, glared straight at the approaching enemy.
‘I know it won’t work. Even if it’s meaningless… I don’t want to give up without doing anything!’
If she did not do even that much, she felt she would never be able to endure the time that remained.
And at the very moment she renewed her resolve.
Clap—
A sudden hand gripped Riley’s arm tightly.
She flinched without realizing it, then immediately realized whose hand it was and looked down with delight.
“Heron? Are you all ri—!”
Squeeze—
The hand tightened even more around her arm without a word.
Though blood soaked the area around his mouth, Hesperon stared straight at her with eyes that shone brightly.
“…Heron?”
Sensing something unusual, Riley called him carefully.
And Olivia, too, had noticed that something about them was strange.
[What are you trying to do this time…]
Abandoning her leisurely attitude, she immediately stretched out her hand toward them.
She intended to set aside Hesperon’s safety for later and first make certain to subdue them, but…
[Ah…? Wait, what is this…!]
The situation unfolded differently from what she expected.
The power she released could not affect them at all, as though it had been blocked by something… no, as though space itself had been severed.
[This is absurd… This is a space prepared personally by the King…!]
Olivia, shocked, flew forward herself and attempted to approach.
But even she, a ghostly body, could no longer get near the place where they were.
Even though she had been entrusted with the overall management of the Immortal Castle and thus possessed a certain degree of authority over the space!
[W-wait… Surely not, truly…?]
Just as she, flustered in earnest for once, was about to draw up her black mana with all her might and respond—
Sssss—
The man and woman who had been there until just moments ago vanished cleanly in an instant.
They had not merely hidden their forms.
Their presence could truly no longer be felt anywhere—not in this residential area, nor anywhere inside the Immortal Castle.
[What… What is this…?]
Stunned by the unexpected situation, Olivia examined the surroundings for a long while before she was finally forced to admit it.
They had truly escaped from the Immortal Castle.
[No… If I begin the search now and capture them again… Ah?]
However, just before she released the ghosts and began tracking them.
At a sudden signal ringing through her mind, she stopped all her work and bowed her head respectfully into the air.
[Did you call for me, my King…? Please command me at any time…]
As it happened, the Immortal King had visited and was calling for her.
His scheduled visit had already been drawing near, so she had finished up all other matters and had been waiting for him.
Though she had never expected him to arrive at the very moment such a thing occurred.
[Um… My King… Forgive my impertinence, but there is something I must report…]
It would have been better if he had come after she had settled the matter to some extent.
But she could not simply pass over such an important matter without reporting it.
Prepared for a harsh rebuke, she reported in detail what had happened here and cautiously expressed her opinion that she should begin pursuit immediately.
[Yes? Yes… I understand… I shall obey your command…]
But as though the Immortal King had already anticipated everything, he merely reacted as if it were nothing significant, rendering her tension meaningless.
In the end, Olivia gave up trying to judge the King’s intentions, dispersed the ghosts she had prepared, and, after looking around the residential area one last time, disappeared from the spot.
Thus, the garden of the Immortal Castle’s second residential area fell into silence in an instant.
There, where even Olivia had vanished after the man and woman,
only Crown Prince Simon, sprawled out like a rag, was left all alone.
***
Three or four hours after the commotion.
“Ugh— Damn it, my head…”
A figure crumpled on one side of the dirt ground kept writhing, then slowly raised his upper body and looked around.
But in the garden, where not a single presence could be sensed, only he remained, battered and tattered.
“Grrk— Those damned bastards dare do this to me, the crown prince…!”
Recalling the situation before he lost consciousness, Simon ground his teeth in surging rage.
An insolent man whose identity as a mage was even questionable, and Riley, who had looked down on him from behind that man as if ridiculing him.
The scene of them leaving while laughing at his fallen self automatically formed in his mind.
“Kh, could I have fallen into a trap? If those bastards had planned in advance to humiliate me and spread a barrier around the area…”
Unable to accept his defeat no matter what, he soon came up with a plausible hypothesis.
And upon examining it in detail, was this not an extremely likely possibility?
At least in his mind, it was far more realistic than the idea that he had lost to a mage in hand-to-hand combat.
“Yes, without that, there’s no explaining his movements. That coward dared to deceive me…?”
Having convinced himself of the hastily fabricated excuse and vented his anger alone, he looked around again, then staggered to his feet with difficulty.
This was not a suitable place to rest, so he intended to return to his lodging first and properly recover his body.
‘No doubt about it. They knew I would approach and laid a trap in advance. To think I carelessly entered the territory of mages—I was too hasty.’
As he moved his feet, he analyzed the cause of his defeat with a mind that had regained some reason and considered countermeasures for the future.
He, too, was the crown prince, one of the empire’s heirs.
No matter how much he had lost his composure due to extreme stress lately, he had not become so stupid that he would charge in again with no measures after already being beaten once.
‘Yes, I’ll admit this defeat for now. But next time will be different.’
Naturally, he had no intention of simply taking this lying down.
This time, he had suffered humiliation because he had underestimated them too much and let his guard down, but now that he had resolved to take them seriously, he would not fall for the same trick again.
‘For now, I should recuperate and devise a plan. They may be mages, but their level is not that high, so there must be limits to the traps they can set. If I fight properly without letting my guard down, there’s no way I’ll lose.’
The only thing he was worried about now was Lilith returning before he could take revenge, but opportunities like this would likely continue to arise afterward.
In any case, time was the one thing they had in abundance here, so there was no need to rush.
Simon dragged his aching body into his lodging, washed, and lay down on the bed.
By now, those bastards were probably in the middle of celebrating their victory and laughing at him, but…
‘Enjoy yourselves while you can. Once I’m fully recovered, I’ll show you all a proper hell.’
With that, he slowly drifted off to sleep, dreaming of revenge.
Looking forward to the day he would bring the man and woman who had humiliated him to their knees.
Unfortunately, he still did not know that he was the only one left in this living space.
It would probably be quite some time before he grasped the situation for certain.
By then, he would realize that the operations he had devised and everything else had all become meaningless, but...
They say revenge is inherently empty, so perhaps that, too, had its own meaning.
“Mm— pheheh... You lowly vermin... I’ll make you my slaves... mnya.”
Perhaps this moment, when he was dreaming sweet dreams, was the happiest one of all for him.
***
Immediately after the sudden teleportation.
“Huuup—!”
Riley’s eyes flew open as she drew in a deep breath.
The aftereffects of long-distance spatial movement made her head ring for an instant, but such trifles were not important right now.
“...Outside? Don’t tell me, in that situation, we really succeeded...?”
White clouds drifted proudly across the blue sky, and warm, brilliant sunlight poured down.
Their surroundings were not merely on the level of a garden; all sorts of plants formed a natural vegetation, and insects that had made this place their home scurried about here and there.
A scene of nature itself, something she had not been able to see in that artificial garden for nearly two months.
For a while, she could only stare at it blankly.
“Cough—! Kuhak—!”
Until a rough coughing sound came from within her arms.
“Ah! Heron! Are you all right?”
Perhaps because he had overexerted himself in that crisis, he vomited even more blood than before and struggled to open his eyes.
“...Riley? The escape... what happened...?”
“We succeeded! Heron, you really...! Ah, don’t talk anymore. Close your eyes and rest. I’ll handle the rest somehow!”
She hurriedly stopped him as he opened his mouth in a cracked voice, then used enhancement magic to lift his sturdy body and sling him over her back.
He had managed to get them out in the end, even after ending up in this state. How could she possibly hesitate here?
“Phew— Just in case, I’ll move as carefully as I can. Southward.”
Roughly two months after the crown prince and the fifth imperial princess of the Azerion Empire had been kidnapped by the Immortal King.
At long last, Fifth Imperial Princess Riley had escaped from the Immortal King’s grasp and seized her freedom.
‘Good. This makes for quite a satisfying finale.’
Along with the pleased smile of a certain director.