Hio stared at the two people before him with an absurd look in his eyes.
'What’s with them?'
The moment their eyes met, she suddenly startled all by herself and plopped down on the floor. He could hardly believe it.
- Heh heh heh. Perhaps she was frightened by your face?
'······.'
He remembered how, until just moments ago, he had been tearing at his hair and raving like a madman.
She must have thought he was insane and collapsed in shock.
'What an outrageous misunderstanding.'
To clear up the misunderstanding, he equipped a kind smile on his lips and tried to move.
- Wait a moment.
Purnell’s voice sounded in his head.
- That child has eyes that can see souls.
'Eyes that can see souls? What’s that?'
- Hmm······ How should I explain it?
Purnell pondered for a moment before answering.
- A talent that, should she set her mind to it, could easily stand at the pinnacle. An ability to govern death and reign above all living things.
'······She has an ability like that?'
- She does, but from the look of it, it doesn’t seem to mean much.
At Purnell’s words, Hio looked at the girl before him with a stiff expression.
The masked girl was coming back to her senses and lifting herself up.
- That child will die soon.
* * *
Sylvia, who had briefly sunk to the ground after her strength left her, soon rose to her feet.
"······Your Highness."
Teordo looked at Sylvia with eyes full of concern.
Had her chronic illness worsened again?
Sylvia’s long-standing ailment, whose cause no imperial physician nor priest of the temple had ever been able to identify.
"I’m fine. It’s not that, so don’t worry too much."
Why had such a cruel trial been given to such a kind and noble girl···?
All manner of emotions surged within him, but Teordo forced them down.
For this had been familiar to him ever since the moment he took up the sword for the imperial princess.
"He is the one we were looking for."
Having risen, Sylvia began walking toward the man standing there blankly.
The person said to be absolutely necessary for their plan.
It was surely him.
If not, it made no sense that he had seen through and blocked Sylvia’s ability, which no one else had ever noticed.
Sylvia walked forward with dignity and stood before the man.
The man, dressed in a ridiculous outfit, looked at her with faintly narrowed eyes.
Sylvia slowly lowered the mask covering her eyes.
"Well met."
A mask that distorted perception.
Only after it was lowered did her long silver hair begin to appear clearly.
Her clear, large silver eyes.
"I am the imperial princess of the Empire, Sylvia Verden."
The imperial princess, now fully revealing her face, looked at the man.
Since they were the ones who had come concealing their identities to ask for help, she had willingly introduced herself first.
One who knew courtesy would lower his head and express the honor of standing before someone noble.
However······ even after a suitable amount of time passed, the man took no particular action.
He merely stared at Sylvia with his eyes wide and round.
"Huh?"
And tilted his head.
* * *
Imperial Princess Sylvia Verden.
The unfortunate imperial princess who had died in vain, becoming the pretext for the war of imperial succession.
By now······ they should have been in the midst of tearing one another apart over her death, so why was the imperial princess alive and standing before his eyes?
Amid his confusion, a powerful force swept toward Hio.
"Impudent."
One short word.
And yet what he felt was a heavy power.
It was the pressure radiating from the large man standing behind the imperial princess.
- That one is strong.
'······He is.'
- Magic has declined, yet those brutish knights have grown even stronger.
Amid Purnell’s grumbling, the knight’s aura surged even more fiercely toward Hio.
"Kneel and bow your head. She is the sun of the Empire."
Words spoken calmly, and a force that was anything but.
The energy rippling like a heat haze was aura manifested from the knight’s body.
The symbol of a superhuman who had shattered the limits of humanity through endless training.
The fact that he could control it so delicately and apply pressure only to Hio showed that his realm was far from ordinary.
"Enough."
But even that tremendous pressure vanished as if washed away at Sylvia’s single word.
The threatening force disappeared, and in its place came Sylvia’s radiant smile.
As if it had all been part of a scripted performance.
"My knight’s loyalty is strong, so forgive his rudeness. Now then, what should I call you?"
The imperial princess asked in a gentle voice.
"Hio Pavlenko······."
At Hio’s answer, the knight standing behind the imperial princess twitched an eyebrow.
"······sir."
He hurriedly added the honorific, but it was certainly not because the knight’s expression was frightening.
Still, this was a society of rank, was it not? Respect had to be shown.
"Sir Pavlenko. We came all the way here from the capital in search of you."
"······."
So she had not come here by coincidence, but by design.
The imperial princess, who should have died, had come looking for him just before a civil war broke out.
Was what this meant not obvious?
Someone who knew Hio had saved the imperial princess and sent her to him.
Hio’s expression grew serious.
Because he could guess who had sent the imperial princess, and for what purpose.
"I apologize for asking this upon our first meeting, but could you grant me one request?"
Contrary to Hio’s expression, Sylvia smiled and held out her hand.
It was a beautiful smile that seemed to brighten the dim interior.
Within it, Hio looked at Sylvia’s outstretched hand.
"Make me emperor."
As she said that, Sylvia’s expression was proud and her posture lofty.
Though she was making a request, there was no servility in her, and her dignity remained intact.
But what Hio was looking at was not that dignity.
He did not miss the faint trembling of Sylvia’s tense hand.
He had already noticed that the corners of her lips, forced upward with effort, were quivering.
She was pretending to be calm, but in truth, she was not.
The imperial princess was afraid.
Afraid of the reality that she had fled as though driven out of the imperial palace.
Afraid of the two imperial princes who would be searching for her.
Afraid of the miserable situation in which she could die at any moment.
Beneath the mask of an imperial princess, her inner self was in truth exceedingly fragile.
And so Hio quietly looked down at that faintly trembling hand.
At that pitifully extended hand.
"Sorry."
And turned away.
* * *
Eyes that could see souls.
As Purnell had said, it was an incredible talent that could stand at the pinnacle.
- As a necromancer, that is.
If the imperial princess could become a necromancer, anyway.
- Do you think those eyes merely look into souls? Absolutely not. Do you know how dangerous an act it is to look into a soul? If one meddles with it even slightly wrong, one could be driven mad or brought to death.
And that was not all.
If that talent bloomed to its extreme, she could even see the lifespan of a soul.
She would be looking into death.
In other words, she was far too closely connected to death.
- That is precisely why it is the finest talent for a necromancer. Would you like to switch to my eyes and look at the world?
'Through a ghost’s eyes?'
The traits he had obtained by consuming the essence of a specter: Ghost Eyes and Spirit Body.
While Spirit Body was a trait he had used quite often and found rather useful, Ghost Eyes had not been particularly useful in the game.
But now that this had become reality, it was different.
「Trait - 'Ghost Eyes' has activated.」
Ghost Eyes overlaid Hio’s own eyes.
A ghost could, in a sense, be called a soul itself.
And the world seen through the eyes of such a ghost was···
- How is it? Quite gruesome, is it not?
It was a world entirely gray, as though all color had drained away.
And in that gray world, he could see a particularly dense darkness gathered in one place.
It was none other than the body of Imperial Princess Sylvia.
- That is the energy of death, death qi. The power you must learn to handle.
Sylvia’s body, filled to the brim with the energy of death, was clearly visible through Ghost Eyes.
- So much energy has accumulated in her despite the ability not even having properly blossomed yet. If she had been a black mage, she would have dyed the continent in death, and if she had been a necromancer, she would have led an immortal legion······ but regrettably, this is an age that has lost magic.
Magic was the result of mana being researched and developed to its utmost limits.
To have lost that magic was no different from having lost most techniques for handling mana.
- The energy of death is continuing to gnaw away at that child. If she is left as she is, she will certainly die.
'······Is there no way?'
- Well. That energy must somehow be expended······ but I cannot think of any method besides having her use magic herself.
Hio looked at Sylvia, who was sitting a short distance away.
To the people of this world, she might be a noble and remarkable existence, but to Hio, she was merely one fragile girl.
A pitiful girl crushed beneath a weight and gazes she could not endure, even deceiving others about her fear.
- What will you do? According to you, is this not the plan of that Sirbert fellow who came from the same world? Did you not say that cooperating with his plan would lead to the most stable future?
Purnell was right.
Contrary to Hio’s expectation that Sirbert would stand with the crown prince or the second prince and quickly bring the war to an end, Sirbert had chosen the imperial princess.
It was not difficult to guess what he was thinking.
Sirbert had judged that now was the time to decide the match.
Would the Empire’s strength be united as one?
Or would it completely fall apart?
The worst, or the best.
Either make the powerless imperial princess emperor, seize power in the imperial palace as the foremost contributor, and prepare for the future.
Or fail in the plan, end up neither here nor there, and lose even more power.
Of course, with the calculation that the Supreme Heavenly Demon, Hio, would help, he must have set things in motion aiming for the best, not the worst.
"Haah······."
But that plan had an all too fatal flaw.
'What does he expect to do by helping an imperial princess who’s about to die?'
It was none other than the death of the imperial princess.
The imperial princess, who originally would have been brutally murdered, was fated to die in the end even though she had barely managed to escape.
'But I can’t just ignore it either.'
Sirbert must have already prepared many things for this plan.
That meant he had no way back either.
And if Sirbert failed, it meant there would be no one left who could involve themselves in the Empire’s politics.
That would truly be the worst of the worst.
Whether the crown prince or the second prince ascended the throne, public sentiment would not be good, and the Empire’s strength would also have weakened due to internal strife.
They would try to redirect that unfavorable public sentiment elsewhere.
They would attempt to show that the Empire’s national power remained intact.
It was obvious they would lead an army and start a war.
This was, in fact, an incident that had occurred in the game after the internal conflict.
If even Sirbert, who had penetrated the political world the deepest, was cast out and either the crown prince or the second prince ascended the throne, then the Empire’s future truly could not be predicted.
Perhaps they would have to prepare for the Abyss without the Empire’s help, and the possibility of that was······
'There’s no way that would be possible.'
There was none.
One hand could not block ten.
With the possessed ones, who could not even unite properly, there was an obvious limit.
In the end, the world would meet the same destruction as in the game, and every living thing on the continent would die.
It was an assumption that might sound somewhat extreme, but it was also the most realistic thought.
"Haah······."
Hio’s worries could only deepen.
* * *
"Teordo."
Sylvia called Teordo, who was at her side.
"It’s all right, so don’t concern yourself too much."
Because he was the knight who had protected her since the moment she was born, she could see clearly what he was thinking, even though his expression was no different from usual.
This taciturn knight was currently angry.
Surely at no one other than himself.
"I shall escort you."
What was he angry about?
He was angry at his own weakness.
If only he had been strong.
Like the great Sword Saint, whose very name made everyone bow their bodies flat.
If only he himself had been strong.
Then would they have been tossed about like this by that rude scoundrel who knew nothing of courtesy?
To begin with, would Sylvia have had to suffer so much?
To reassure such a knight, Sylvia smiled.
"I’m not trying to take that man with me because I don’t trust you. I know better than anyone how strong my guardian knight is."
Even so, there was another reason she was trying to persuade that man.
"Hio Pavlenko, was it? My ability does not work on him."
"Your ability··· you mean."
A flicker of surprise passed across Theordo’s face as well.
“Was it empty, like that professor?”
“No, not that kind. My ability didn’t work on him at all.”
The ghost’s voice that had echoed inside her head.
She still could not understand the meaning of those words that had rung out so resoundingly.
That it was still too early to look inside.
Because she could not understand, she was certain.
There was something unknowable about that man.
Some kind of power existed within him.
“That is why we must persuade him.”
She pressed down on her hand, which had begun to tremble little by little, with her other hand.
Whenever there was an opening, it trembled like this.
It was partly because of her long-standing illness, but the greater reason was probably fear.
An emotion she could not bear to reveal and had no choice but to swallow down—fear.
The imperial palace she had fled from overnight.
From the moment she realized that, had she not run, she would have been brutally murdered, she had in truth been terrified enough to go mad.
A place she had never been in her life.
Things she had never experienced before.
Assassins who might strike at any moment.
Worries about the future.
The feeling of wanting to simply set everything down and give up.
Every day was a crisis, and every night she was tormented by nightmares.
Even so, Sylvia forced herself to smile.
“It’s all right.”
Though even she herself did not believe those words…
She barely managed to smile, hoping that at least her one and only knight would believe them.
“Everything will work out.”
It was a precarious smile, one that looked as though it might collapse at any moment.
* * *
“…I guess there’s no helping it.”
Having made his decision, Hio rose from his seat.
—Oh. Have you made up your mind?
“Yeah. It’s not like I have a choice.”
—So you have decided in the end. I respect your decision.
He strode over and stood before Sylvia and Theordo.
—As you said, it cannot be helped. What meaning would there be in helping an imperial princess who will soon die?
Facing the imperial princess and her knight as they looked at him, Hio scratched the back of his head.
Really, there was nothing else for it.
There was no meaning in helping an imperial princess who would soon die.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
…He had no choice but to try to save her somehow.
It seemed impossible, but when had anything ever been easy?
Giving up without even trying really did not suit his temperament.
“Of course, I have a few conditions.”
To that end, he first put forward the first condition.
“First. Don’t expect courtesy or honorifics from me.”
They would be spending quite a long time together, and having to treat her like royalty and mind his manners the whole time… as a modern person, wouldn’t that be far too much torment?
“Of course, in front of others, I’ll show you proper respect.”
Unlike Sylvia, who remained calm even at that condition, the expression of the knight standing behind her visibly stiffened.
Doing his best to ignore it, Hio said,
“Second.”
He stated the second condition.
“You’re going to die soon.”