Vitalianus had raised his upper body in bed.
Abundant blond hair, and beneath it a body like steel. He was wrapped in bandages, but they did not look particularly effective.
After all, the body of a superhuman had already healed most of its wounds.
People crowded around the luxurious bed set in the center of the spacious room.
There were three healers solely to tend to his body, and dozens of attendants and maids to assist him. Even so, the room was as quiet as if only a few people had gathered.
No one opened their mouth rashly. Each step was taken with care, and they moved cautiously, as if afraid even the rustle of a sleeve might sound.
Sylvia Verden.
The highest authority on the continent, and the ruler of the empire.
It was because the Empress herself had come in person for the Sword Saint.
Besides her, the presence of each individual was tremendous—the guardian knight Hio Pavlenko, Duke Robelun, the commander-in-chief of this war and a core figure among the nobles, and the Royal Knights under Vitalianus—so everyone was careful in every movement they made.
“Take good care of yourself, Sword Saint. Many are worried about you.”
Sylvia’s words carried a dignity quite befitting an emperor.
Vitalianus answered her calmly.
“To think they would worry about this old man, needlessly sturdy as he is. It seems I must have been far too quiet. Hoho.”
“The most needless worry of all is worry for the Sword Saint. Still, you ought to treasure your body a little more. Ataolf of the Black Mist was no easy opponent, was he not?”
“Hahaha. In the end, though, it was the mage who settled it. Since the result was good… it is a relief.”
Vitalianus conversed with Sylvia in a manner so peaceful it was hard to believe he had been on the verge of death.
No one found it strange.
Was it not a good thing?
The Sword Saint had survived, and he had defeated the continent’s worst villain. It could rightly be called a heroic deed worthy of praise from the entire continent.
Before long, there would be an official announcement, and grand festivities would be held.
People would praise the Sword Saint and the guardian knight who had fought against the worst of villains.
And so Vitalianus laughed together with those gathered, chatting with them with a bright expression.
Though he had been gravely wounded and was still recovering, everyone congratulated him with joyful hearts.
“……”
Only Hio said nothing, merely gazing quietly at Vitalianus.
“I shall take my leave now. I have kept an injured man for too long.”
Sylvia was the first to turn and leave the room.
Her red cloak fluttered, and behind her followed a dozen maids and one Death Knight.
“Then I shall be going as well.”
“We will take our leave, Commander.”
Following her, Duke Robelun and the Royal Knights left the room one after another.
Vitalianus saw them off with a smile.
And Hio Pavlenko remained unmoving, as if he had no intention of leaving.
Gazing at the door through which they had departed, Vitalianus slowly opened his mouth.
“So many people worry for me. Is that not a happy life?”
The faint smile that had lingered at his lips had vanished at some point.
“What do you think, mage? Do you think so as well?”
Instead of answering, Hio looked around and said,
“Would you all leave us for a moment?”
At that, the attendants, maids, and even the healers beside Vitalianus bowed their heads and left the room in perfect order.
In an instant, only the two of them remained in the spacious room.
Vitalianus slowly turned his gaze and met Hio’s eyes.
His golden eyes, like those of a lion, somehow seemed hollow.
“Then, mage. How was my friend’s end?”
For the only one who had remained standing to the very end atop the spire of the Gray Castle was Hio Pavlenko.
In other words, he was the only one who knew how the war had met its conclusion.
And Hio had told no one how Ataolf had met his end. No matter who asked, he had dismissed it by saying nothing of note had happened.
As the Emperor’s guardian knight, he had the right and the power to do so.
Unless the Emperor herself asked, he had no obligation to answer, and Sylvia was not the sort of person who would forcibly pry out what Hio did not wish to reveal.
Of course, Ataolf’s end had been utterly shabby.
A villain’s ending was so obvious it might not even need saying.
But at least to the one and only friend who had tried to save him, there was an obligation to tell.
“He stabbed his own heart.”
No more and no less, he conveyed the truth as it was.
“…I see.”
To Vitalianus, who nodded calmly, Hio delivered Ataolf’s final words.
“He said he was sorry he could not keep the promise.”
“…A promise. Yes, we did make one.”
They had promised, in their still very young days, to rise to the very top together and become heroes together.
So he had still remembered that.
Vitalianus slowly laid his body back down on the bed.
His gaze naturally turned toward the ceiling.
“What is a hero, and what is the Sword Saint? I am human.”
“You are human, and a hero, and at the same time the Sword Saint.”
“I achieved what I set out to achieve. Those with whom I shared glory have all died, or are destined to die. My one and only friend, too, I failed to save, and he killed himself before my eyes. What is left to me?”
The words were spoken calmly, like a murmur.
“For what must I take up the sword again?”
For Vitalianus, wounds of the flesh were things that would soon heal, so long as they did not kill him.
What was truly dangerous was the thing swelling deep within his heart. A terrible sickness of the mind.
Its names were solitude and futility.
“What goal am I to live for now?”
What had Vitalianus felt as people congratulated him the moment he awoke?
When, amid those congratulations, he realized that even the final goal of his life had at last departed, with what feelings had he smiled?
That, Hio could not know. But there was one thing that was certain.
“Hey. Vitalianus.”
Vitalianus Mahel.
A symbol of hope bearing a sword. A superhuman above superhumans.
The strongest knight on the continent must never collapse here.
“There are many things in this world that are hard to believe.”
In the game, Ataolf’s death had come much later. It had been after the Abyss broke out and began spreading across the world.
Rather, Vitalianus had died before Ataolf.
In a world where that had been reversed, there was no telling how Vitalianus might change. And so Hio spoke to him quietly, almost chanting.
“You see, this world isn’t my first.”
He felt sorry for him, but the Sword Saint could never be allowed to collapse here.
For the sake of the world, he had to raise that heavy sword once more.
“You’ll have to take up the sword, even if you don’t want to.”
What Vitalianus needed was a clear goal. A reason to keep wielding his sword.
“Otherwise, the world will be destroyed.”
To ignite the fading star of the sword once more.
“The imperial capital burned, the kingdom collapsed, and neither you nor I nor the ruler of the western sea nor anyone else was able to stop the destruction.”
At those incomprehensible words, Vitalianus, who had been gazing indifferently up at the ceiling, turned his eyes toward Hio.
“…So, mage. Are you saying you have gone back in time?”
“Well, something like that. How else do you think I would know about what happened between you and Ataolf? I heard it all directly from your own mouth.”
Vitalianus’s golden eyes filled with doubt and confusion.
He stared into Hio’s eyes, trying to grasp the meaning behind his words, but those eyes were only solemn. It was difficult to find even the slightest hint of a lie.
“You say you don’t know what you should take up the sword for? I’m saying the day will come when you realize just how complacent that sounds.”
“What in the world… is going to destroy us?”
His confusion and questions swelled, and what grew no less than them was, as expected, a powerful curiosity—or perhaps a fighting spirit.
“It’s called the Abyss.”
“Are you saying it is that strong?”
Vitalianus slowly raised his body.
“They are beings that ignore the laws of the world.”
A golden gleam flashed deep within his eyes.
“Tell me in detail, mage.”
The fading star of the sword had caught fire.
* * *
After finishing his conversation with Vitalianus, Hio found himself facing Sylvia without a moment to rest.
Sylvia had cast off her heavy attire and various ornaments and was sitting across from him in comfortable clothes.
“Goodness, you wouldn’t believe how much fuss they’re making. It comes up several times a day, you know?”
Where the solemn tone and dignity from earlier had gone, no one knew; Sylvia poured out words nonstop in rapid succession.
“They keep making a commotion, saying I must hurry with a national marriage. They say it’s already late enough, and I must hurry and prepare a successor or whatever… Honestly, it’s absurd. Right?”
It was none other than because of marriage.
From the perspective of loyal subjects who thought only of Sylvia and the future of the empire, it was only natural.
She had to marry, bear a child, and continue the succession, and given Sylvia’s age, this was the most suitable and healthy time.
“Honestly, marriage. I’ve never even thought about it before. Hm? What do you think?”
Sylvia’s face as she said that was, for some reason, flushed, and Hio, who had been spacing out, asked back in bewilderment.
“Hm? About what?”
“Marriage, I mean. Have you ever thought about it, Hio?”
As if that unexpected question had drained the tension out of him, he leaned back against the sofa and shook his head.
“I’ve never thought about it at all. Me, getting married? I don’t even have time to date.”
“Ahahaha! Mm, of course. I thought so too. Ahaha……”
Sylvia hurriedly fanned her face with her hand, and her face was reddish.
Was she hot?
“……”
It was strange that the Death Knight standing behind her was staring at him with a terribly displeased look, but that was not exactly a new thing, so he roughly ignored it.
“Anyway, what happened with what we talked about before?”
At those words, Sylvia, who had been laughing ahahaha to herself, came to her senses and straightened her posture.
“Right. As you said, Hio, I sent an official document to the Adventurers’ Guild, asking for cooperation regarding the Abyss.”
At the same time, Sylvia’s atmosphere changed drastically.
Looking at the silver-haired Empress as she elegantly lifted her teacup, one could no longer find any trace of the innocent girl from a moment ago.
“What did they say? They’ll cooperate willingly?”
Hio, too, set his ridiculously large hat down beside him for a moment and leisurely lifted his teacup.
It was now for the empire to begin conquering the Abyss on a national scale.
It was something he and Sylvia had discussed when he visited the imperial palace for the coronation, and all that remained was to put it into action.
“At first, they tried to play dumb, saying they didn’t know what I meant, but once I mentioned your name, Hio, they immediately said they would cooperate.”
At present, everything concerning the Abyss was being managed by the possessors, and the one in overall charge was the current Adventurers’ Guildmaster.
She, too, was a possessor.
In fact, she was a fourth-ranked ranker, higher than Sirvert.
So there should have been no insufficiency in her managing the most important thing—the entrance to the Abyss.
“Beyond cooperation, they asked whether you could come as soon as possible, if you could.”
“They asked me to come quickly? Why?”
What reason was there to go quickly?
The Abyss was, at this point, only about ten floors in difficulty. The Black Fang forces that had been harassing them had also collapsed, so the power of the faction opposing its clearing should have weakened considerably.
“They say a labyrinth appeared.”
“…A labyrinth?”
“Yes. It seems an unexpected variable has appeared… Wait a moment.”
Sylvia brought a document from the desk and began reading through it.
“The appearance of a labyrinth-type floor that should only appear around the middle stages. As there was no preparation whatsoever for a labyrinth, related skills are critically lacking, and there is not much time left to clear it. If contact with Hio Pavlenko is established, request support as quickly as possible. Well, that’s the gist of what was sent, very politely.”
Hio’s expression sank gravely.
“A labyrinth… appeared?”
The forms of the Abyss became more varied the farther one descended.
Among them, one of the most troublesome was the labyrinth form.
Unlike other floors, one could not return outside. Once you entered, one of two things had to happen.
You died, or you cleared it.
Not only did you have to find the path, but there were also all kinds of Abyss monsters and traps. Loss of direction and narrowed vision were always part of the package.
And on top of all that, they said there was not much time left.
Leaving aside why such a variable had occurred, it had to be cleared quickly above all else.
Otherwise, Abyss Gates would appear throughout the entire world.
“I need to go right away.”
There was no time to hesitate.
“I’ll borrow Eos.”
As Hio sprang to his feet and said that, Sylvia’s eyes widened and she rose after him.
“You’re leaving already? At least finish a cup of tea before you go.”
“Next time!”
Without even looking back, Hio rushed out, leaving in the Emperor’s spacious bedroom only—
“…Sigh.”
Sylvia, letting out a small sigh.
“……”
And Theor, staring pathetically at the door Hio had burst through.