I saw something very ominous before.
I focused on the problem right in front of me. The request from the Dwarf Republic still existed, and I had no intention of letting myself be a victim.
However, there was something unexpected. They called us back instead. According to them, we were politely invited back to the stage or something.
I read the letter in my hand. The paper had a strange texture. There were letters written in red. It was clear at a glance that it was written in blood.
“What a trivial little prank.”
“Right? Writing with a person’s skin and blood…”
“……”
“But I’m not the kind of Commander who would fall for such a provocation, am I?”
At Kluna’s casual words, I almost dropped the letter I was holding. Wait, this was made of human skin? Sure, the texture was odd, but still.
I was so surprised that I couldn’t utter a word. I was really hoping no one would mention something so outrageous casually next to me because my heart couldn’t take it.
Instead of a scream, I let out a deep sigh and tossed the letter onto the desk. I still felt a bit ick on my hands, but I ignored it, thinking it was just my imagination.
“I received a letter from that trash I faced before.”
“A letter…? Could it be?”
“It’s openly challenging us.”
“Ruby is right. They really did come to provoke us.”
The letter was filled with so many embellishments that it was hard to read properly, but stripping it down to its core, it said that if we didn’t come to the stage I prepared, they would kill the hostages.
And not just one or two hostages. Instead of the ruined village I visited before, they had completely taken over a different, intact village. If we didn’t come, they would kill everyone.
“Looks like they’re holding hostages from a different village, not the one I visited before.”
“Like it or not, it’s my homeland. It’s absolutely unforgivable to involve my fellow tribesmen…”
“I don’t like the Dwarves, but I won’t sit back and let innocent people die.”
Ruby and Clara were the first to react. Ruby was furious about what happened to her fellow tribesmen, and Clara, having bonded with Ruby, echoed that anger.
“W-well, first we should find out what the opponent is demanding…”
“Is it a priority to figure that out? You’re right, Bayard.”
“Th-thank you! Commander!”
“From here, I can explain.”
The Table of Equality. Unlike the past when it was a façade, everyone now sits equally and voices their opinions. This time, Yuren was the one to speak up.
“Do you know what that clown is planning?”
“Of course. It’s humiliating to say, but… some members, including myself, were captured alive.”
“I know that.”
“Ugh…”
“…Yuren Commander?”
For a moment, I thought I misheard her sticky voice, which was more like a moan. Yuren’s face turned red. Her black eyes were locked onto me.
“Y-yeah. It was a very shameful moment. But to think the Commander knows about it… what does that feel like?”
“Yuren, I hope you can concentrate right now.”
“I-I’m sorry. That was a slip of the tongue. We were captured, but the other members, aside from me, were essentially just hanging on to life. They were like living corpses.”
I focused on Yuren’s story. The demons had captured the surviving Royal Knights. What was important was that the clown guy had said he would prepare a stage for us.
“My team members, who were like living corpses, ended up with their limbs mutilated into grotesque forms. If their faces hadn’t remained intact, I wouldn’t have even recognized them.”
“They deliberately left the faces intact so that their comrades could recognize them.”
“That piece of trash!”
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t maintain my sanity at the time. The laughter around me wouldn’t stop. The children laughed at me. But that was far from ordinary laughter…”
“That was probably a kind of hypnosis or mind control power.”
I raised my hand to interrupt Yuren’s story. She wrapped her arms around herself, her voice trembling with fear. It must have been the worst experience for her.
Seeing her comrades turn into grotesque monsters right in front of her, with her own powerlessness and rage, Kompra-chikos used that to manipulate her mind.
Though dragons are part of the Race of Benevolence, they are also the strongest race on the continent. According to the lore, they are the only ones who can fight directly against the blood demons.
“That guy has the power to control minds. Of course, someone with Yuren’s mental fortitude wouldn’t be able to be dominated, but at that time, Yuren was in a broken state.”
“…I’m just ashamed of my own powerlessness.”
“That’s enough. In the end, all we can do for the dead is revenge.”
“Blood must be washed with blood.”
“I agree with the Commander and Kluna!”
“Then let’s go save the villagers right away!!”
At my and Kluna’s words, everyone stood up with their fighting spirit ignited, except for Helia and me. Everyone tilted their heads at the unexpected reactions when Helia asked.
“What do you plan to do, sir?”
I crossed my arms and replied coldly.
“We won’t go to the stage.”
A cold silence settled over the table.
*
Let’s prepare the stage once again.
A stage where everyone can laugh happily.
This time, we took extra care in selecting the actors. By requesting that one person, we were given even stronger powers. In terms of specs alone, they were already close to blood demons.
Moreover, unlike last time, they weren’t crafted under artistic aesthetics, but made very similar to their living forms. They had no choice but to come up. Because they were noble knights!
They would never just sit back and watch the powerless and innocent become victims! Glorious and noble! But these noble knights must face their past comrades on the stage!
To protect, they must fight their past comrades.
Would they choose the innocent instead?
Or would they choose to save their past comrades?
Whichever way it goes, it’s clear it will be a magnificent stage. Of course, it must lead to a box office hit! But before that, the safety of the audience must be ensured. Right, that was certainly the case.
Until the flames fall from the sky.
In an instant, the hot breath of the dragon burned everything to ashes. Even the carefully prepared stage and the audience. Everything vanished into dust all at once. It was standing there in a stupor.
We had worked so hard.
We prepared a stage where the audience could smile.
And it turned to ash overnight.
Unable to bear that truth, it let out a scream. In response to that, someone walked toward it. The clanking of armor. With a steel sword at his waist.
The face beneath the removed helmet had short black hair swaying, and one eye was covered by an eyepatch. He had a smirk on his lips, mocking that which lay before him.
“The moment you step on that stage, we cannot defeat you. No matter how it ends, you will be satisfied. Even if you meet your death.”
“Ha, haha. Ridiculous. That hasn’t changed much from now.”
“Not changed?”
“In the end, you are no noble hero. You sacrificed the innocent for a moment’s satisfaction of giving me despair. You burned the hostages to death.”
It loves humanity. It loves the literature and tragedy born from humanity. And now, right here, a tragedy is being completed. Someone who sacrifices the innocent under the pretext of doing it for the greater good.
How foolish. How pitiful.
Look. Is that your so-called hero?
The sight of you elevating such a thing as a hero is nothing short of a ridiculous tragedy!
In the end, that’s it. A noble hero who sacrifices for everyone!
Has never existed from the start.
I’m satisfied with that. Even if I die here, I have created a perfect tragedy through the sacrifice of just one. So I can gladly die. Yet, he tilted his head.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Are you lying now? How pathetic. That fact makes me even happier.”
“When did I say I abandoned the hostages?”
“…What?”
“I never abandoned a single one.”
“Th-there’s no way. In that short time, you can’t possibly save everyone…!”
He crossed his arms, gazing calmly at it. As if to say: “If you don’t believe it, check for yourself.” Like a lie, it began to move. Absolute nonsense. It’s impossible.
Its power is to create a stage. It can control props, actors, and even the audience on the stage it has created. That was its power.
Therefore, it, meaning Kompra-chikos, realized that all the actors prepared for the highlight of the execution had vanished. Kompra-chikos muttered blankly.
“How? Unless time stopped, there was no way to save them…?!”
“A basic, predictable setup that even an audience could read.”
Each word felt like a dagger stabbing.
“And on top of that, all the stages you prepared turned to ashes.”
He spoke coldly, taking one step closer.
“Even, you could not protect the audience who loved your stage.”
Finally, his steps halted.
“You truly are no better than a third-rate playwright!”
With that one line, Kompra-chikos lost his sanity.
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