……A month ago, Ellesol had visited the Great Elder with her sibling.
A tent enveloped by the desert’s hot wind.
The Great Elder, leader of the Jeokgwe, greeted them with a face more haggard than she had ever seen before.
“Hello.”
—It has been a long time.
Elli spoke, and Ellesol moved her hands.
The Great Elder gave a small smile.
“It has been a while. Those little children have grown into adults before I knew it.”
—Not at all. Now is not the time for old stories.
“Even so, there is no need to be so hasty.”
—…….
Ellesol narrowed her eyes.
The Great Elder’s benevolent and affectionate disposition did not sit well with her heart these days.
—Please accept this.
Ellesol held out documents. Papers containing plans for the “assassination of key figures,” including Deculain, and the “liberation of the camps.”
“……You have prepared many things.”
The Great Elder read the preamble with a stiff expression.
However, his answer was no different from before.
“Child. It is merely a chain of hatred.”
—In that case.
Tang! Ellesol struck the table.
—What thoughts do you hold, Great Elder? Just what... In this darkness. Or at the edge of a cliff. In the thick, murky fog, our clan stands at the crossroads of annihilation.
“Child. What do you think?”
—It is simple. To resist until the cost of suppressing the Jeokgwe far exceeds the benefit.
If the Empire can gain a benefit of one hundred by suppressing the Jeokgwe and confiscating their property, then we respond with a harm of two hundred. And thereby render the suppression of the Jeokgwe utterly worthless.
“What does the Empire gain by suppressing us? They oppress us without gaining anything.”
—No. They wanted our lands in the past. This time, they want our property and talents. Therefore, mutual assured destruction. That is our path. If there is nothing to gain. And if they know their own lives are precious. They will tire of it on their own.
“To do that, we too need weapons and power befitting the Empire. Mutual assured destruction is ultimately mutual ruin—do we have the power to destroy them?”
—Yes. The Jeokgwe have power. A talent the continent’s people call the devil’s power.
Ellesol looked at Elli. It was a rather displeased gaze.
—Elli alone can do it. Kill all the desk-sitters in the Imperial Palace.
“Then why has this not been done until now?”
—She does not listen to me. She only listens to the Great Elder.
Tang! Tang-tang-tang! Ellesol struck the table as if angry. Then the Great Elder silently looked at Elli.
Elli gave a small smile, and the Great Elder also grinned.
“……Elli. You did not kill Deculain.”
“Yes. I did not think there was a need for that.”
Tang! The Great Elder restrained Ellesol, who was striking the table again.
“Why did you think so?”
“Yes. Because if we kill him, it becomes irreversible. I think I understand Ellesol’s feelings. But isn’t killing him also playing into the Temple’s hands?”
“……That is so.”
The Great Elder nodded.
“Ellesol. I praise you for building such vast facilities underground, for creating a city and embracing countless Jeokgwe, but you must not be too radical.”
—……Silence.
Ellesol brought her hands together to form a triangle. It was sign language meaning silence.
“Just as the Gifrain Imperial Family has sinned against the Jeokgwe, so too have we sinned against them. To resolve that old grudge, mutual forgiveness is needed. It is simply not yet the time.”
The discrimination and contempt the Jeokgwe have endured. Disdain and disregard. Expulsion and oppression. That heartbreakingly sorrowful history.
On the other hand, the crimes and terror the Jeokgwe committed in resistance. The atrocities of some tribes. The collusion with the Temple.
Which side erred first, and the right or wrong of it, cannot be determined now.
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer to that foolish question is simply to not think such questions at all. To become people who have no need for such questions, and to make the world such. But this continent has killed too many lives trying to find an answer to that answerless question.”
Ellesol bit her lip and soon shook her head.
—I know. Even when I was young, I believed the Great Elder’s opinion... that it would shine upon us brighter than anything. But now, there is no other way.
Ellesol tapped the table.
—That we have no connection to the Temple. The Empire does not believe it. I have already sent them countless letters. I have begged for diplomacy and negotiation.
“…….”
—But even if I scream and beg them to believe us. They only think of cutting our throats in the end. The current Empress Sophienne is like that. Once the gas chambers operate. The clan will die. And I cannot endure those devils’ deeds.
Silence settled for a moment.
The Great Elder, who had been gazing at Ellesol, soon gave a pleased smile. It was an agonizing rage, but her heart for the clan was admirable.
“......Take it, Ellesol. I believe you may now inherit my legacy.”
The Great Elder handed Ellesol a register. It was the 「Jeokgwe Registry」, formed by his mana.
—What use is this now?
Then the Great Elder silently opened a specific page. Both Ellesol and Elli tilted their heads.
“Read it.”
“…….”
The two looked at the paragraph the Great Elder pointed to.
[ Yeriel von Dellun Yukraine ]
Ellesol paused for a moment upon seeing that name.
Like a wind-up doll with its spring unwound.
“…….”
For a long while, she only blinked blankly.
Creak— She turned her head and examined Elli.
“......Huh.”
Elli, too, was gaping blankly…….
* * *
......Returning to the present, this place is the mountainous region around Recoldak.
Ellesol looks at Yeriel.
Yeriel, who had stepped out of the carriage, is bound but gazing somewhere.
The object is a squirrel among the bushes. The creature, which had been climbing a tree leisurely, cautiously approaches after making eye contact with Yeriel.
Rustle— Rustle—
And it gnaws on Yeriel’s bindings with its teeth.
Rustle—!
When Ellesol made a sound with her foot, the creature flinched in surprise and turned around; rather than fleeing, it bared its teeth and threatened her.
Kyaaaaah—!
Playing the part of some escort knight.
Ellesol looked at Yeriel.
—The animals follow you.
“......Ah, damn. I told you I don’t know sign language.”
—…….
She wrote a sentence in her notebook again.
—Deculain knew it well, though.
“We each have different fields of focus. Reading magic tomes from various countries requires language. Instead, I’m a prodigy at management, economics, and personnel management. If I need an interpreter, I just have someone do it.”
Ellesol looked at Yeriel and deliberated.
Should she tell him that fact, or remain silent?
Of course, Deculain had said it mattered little either way.
Since the two’s relationship was poor, perhaps he simply intended to discard Yeriel, or perhaps he wanted to destroy his sibling with his own mouth, but…….
Either way, it would be nice if it could be of help to this friend.
“What did you just say?”
—I asked if animals follow you well.
“Yeah. It’s been like that since I was young, so what? I can even talk to them to some extent.”
—A talent completely different from magic. Have you never doubted it?
“What doubt, no, what does it matter? More importantly......”
Yeriel asked with a shrug.
“He’s not coming, right?”
—He is coming.
“What? No, why!”
He shouted furiously at the words that she had negotiated with Deculain. It was an unexpected reaction.
No, perhaps they truly hated each other that much.
“The negotiation terms?”
—The release of the forty Jeokgwe captives Deculain took.
“......Is that all?”
—Your relationship with Deculain isn’t good, after all.
There were other important agreements as well. She had obtained what she desired, but she had no intention of revealing the details.
Yeriel nodded calmly.
“See? I told you, didn’t I? That I’m useless.”
—…….
Ellesol sat on a boulder and looked up at the sky.
The pale air of a bitter winter. Pressing in tautly as if tearing the skin.
She lowered her head again and looked at Yeriel. Before she knew it, a crowd of squirrels and chipmunks had gathered and were openly gnawing at his bindings.
Ellesol showed Yeriel her notebook.
—Even after the hostage exchange is over, you can escape. Even if you can’t now, someday. I will give you the chance.
“......What nonsense is that? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?”
Ellesol let out a small sigh.
If it were revealed that Yeriel was Jeokgwe, the dignity of both Deculain and the Yukraine family would suffer serious damage. There was a high possibility that even their authority in the capital would be jeopardized.
From the Jeokgwe’s standpoint, it was an opportunity to weaken Yukraine’s position while delaying or even diverting the direction of the oppression.
—......The negotiation condition I presented to Deculain was not you.
Naturally, Deculain would make efforts to ensure it did not come to that.
Ellesol could easily guess what that effort would be.
As long as there was no evidence, there was no way to know whether Yeriel was Jeokgwe or not.
“Then what is it?”
The method to eliminate evidence is death.
Yeriel might be murdered by Deculain.
—…….
Ellesol moved her fountain pen.
Stroke by stroke, she carefully formed the sentence.
—Yeriel, you will not publicly reveal that you are of our blood.
For an instant, Yeriel’s expression hardened. More precisely, it was a face that didn’t even know what it meant.
“…….”
Silence bloomed at the feet of the two. The cold mountain air swirled between them.
Eventually, Ellesol, who had put away her notebook, added a few more words.
—Yeriel. You are not Yukraine. You are Jeokgwe—that is, of our clan.
* * *
Noon at Recoldak.
I, who entered the middle of the mountain range, am digging a grave.
“Save me, please save me! Professor! I was wrong! I’ve committed a mortal sin....... P-Professor!”
A grave to bury the likes of Zaken and his crew alive.
“B-Boss. No matter how you look at it......”
Luina beside me tried to dissuade me, but I paid no heed. I simply glared at those who would be buried and spoke.
“Did you come to my Recoldak without being prepared for even this much?”
“N-No, Professor! I was wrong! Professor......!”
As the scum screamed and thrashed about, the pit was completed, and I lifted the steel wires binding them with 「Psychokinesis」.
“U-uh, uwoooh——!”
“Kraaack!”
“P-Please, kehk!”
I dropped all forty of them into the pit.
Luina lowered her head as if she couldn’t watch, and Ifrin had fled wherever.
“......Is it alright to treat prisoners like this?”
To Ihelm, who asked with a bitter tone, I answered simply.
“They are not prisoners. They are Jeokgwe.”
“Hmm...... Whatever the case, your former fiancée will hate this immensely. It’ll be fodder for the papers too. Beyond the Reaper, an apostle of live burial or something like that.”
I shoveled dirt over them.
Thud—
Thud—
Thud—
Each time the grave was covered, desperate shrieks and pleas echoed.
“U-uh, uh! No! No—! Professor! Please!”
“I was wrong! I truly was wrong! W-We are completely innocent. It was only Zaken—”
“What are you saying! You all swore to burn with me!”
“Bullshit, when did I!”
Of course, I would not actually kill them like this. It did not suit my nature.
The purpose of this grave was not murder, but exchange.
A hostage exchange that would not draw anyone’s suspicion. The humane execution would be handled by Ellesol instead.
“Please, pfft! Pfft!”
Thud— Thud— Thud—
Clumps of earth stuffed into the bastards’ maws. I glared into their eyes and clicked my tongue.
It was truly a nauseating sight.
“Please, please...... please......”
That piteous begging also ceased at some point, and the pit was filled with earth.
I turned around.
“......Urp.”
Luina holding her mouth with both hands. Ihelm scratching the back of his neck. Delric and the Imperial Knights gaping in astonishment.
To them, unable to hide their respective shock, I spoke.
“Go on ahead. I will watch until these bastards are sufficiently dead.”
“Yes? Ah, yes. Yes. Understood...... E-Everyone! What are you doing! Not moving!”
They turned and went back the way they came, and I waited for a while.
......Not long after.
A small flame rose from a certain peak.
It was Ellesol’s signal.
* * *
—Yeriel. You are not Yukraine. You are Jeokgwe—that is, of our clan. The proof is......
A deserted mountain devoid of any human presence.
A frozen wasteland where even the fallen leaves have perished.
“…….”
Yeriel stared at the ground with a vacant expression.
Her lowered head swayed like a reed, and her two freed legs staggered this way and that.
“Ah…….”
Should she run away now?
Or should she just die?
Yeriel raised her eyes and looked at a tree branch. It seemed sturdy enough to hang a noose from……
Just then.
Rustle—
The sound of footsteps crushing leaves.
And, at the same time, a voice that swept over her—a voice she so desperately wanted to deny, one that shook Yeriel’s heart.
“Yeriel.”
Yeriel looked that way.
It was Deculein, the person she least wanted to see right now.
Nausea surged up from deep in her throat.
“You’ve come quite far.”
At those words, Yeriel trembled.
Not far from her, he stood at the bottom of the slope and took another step forward.
Yeriel hurriedly stopped him. She thrust out her arm.
“……Stop!”
He asked back shamelessly.
“What is it?”
“You… you know. You do too.”
“What are you talking about?”
She barely held back the tears that were about to burst forth.
Right now, Yeriel could not understand Deculein’s heart.
He had accepted even the fact that she was not his blood, even that she was not his real younger sister, but if she was the Jeokgwe he hated most—
How would he treat her?
It was an agony too cruel to bear.
“Don’t come closer!”
“Do not speak so informally.”
“……Don’t come!”
“No.”
“What the hell!”
Yeriel shouted. Taking advantage of that opening, Deculein took one large step forward, and the startled Yeriel turned to run, but—grip!
He caught her by the nape of the neck.
“……Ack.”
With tearful eyes, she looked up at Deculein. He wore the same face as always, the same unchanging expression.
“Ugh…….”
Yeriel gritted her teeth.
Then, in a tiny voice, she said,
“……I know everything.”
“What do you mean?”
At that moment, she glared resentfully at Deculein.
Pretending not to know when he did.
“That I’m not your sister. I’m not your sister, am I? I’m not.”
“…….”
“Even so, up to that point…… up to that point, I understand too. But…….”
“Yeriel.”
Deculein cut her off. He forced her down onto a chair that had appeared before she knew it.
“How pathetic. Such things do not matter in the slightest.”
“What…….”
Saying that, he looked at Yeriel. Yeriel could not bring herself to meet his eyes.
“Listen carefully.”
“……I don’t want to.”
“Listen. Do not run away.”
“…….”
Right now, what was he thinking?
What feelings was he harboring?
Betrayal, irritation, disgust—or perhaps murderous intent?
Yeriel did not know.
She could not know.
Naturally, she had never stepped inside his heart.
“I have never, not even once.”
And so, even now.
She was still, just a little, doubtful.
“Thought of you as anything other than my sister.”
“……?”
Even as she looked at Deculein, who declared it so.
“No matter what blood flows in your body.”
Even as she listened to his steady voice.
“No matter what you may appear to be on the outside.”
Even knowing that this was Deculein, who never spoke lies.
“You are still Yeriel…… and still my sister.”
“Wha—”
Her body moved on its own. Her lips trembled madly, her heart pounded, and her throat tightened so much she could not breathe.
How annoying……
“So listen carefully.”
Her vocal cords were blocked, leaving her unable to say a single word, and because of tears or something else, even Deculein looked hazy.
Her arms and legs shook like a complete fool, and her damned head was dizzy, as if anemia had suddenly struck.
……Like this, her body had long since slipped beyond her control.
“Even if, someday, Yukline were to abandon you.”
But her two ears were open clearly.
His voice.
That cold voice as always, that tone as transparent as ice.
“I will not abandon you.”
She took it in without leaving behind even a single syllable…….