Translator: Alpha0210
Of course, he had fully expected that Pale had some intent, some scheme of her own. He simply hadn't imagined the circumstances behind it ran like this....... Though now that he'd heard it, it was thoroughly in character for the Blue Knight.
So there was no shock. Or was it more accurate to say there was little of it?
Then again, who could say.
If Residue had shared the trust Pale had shown, he might have felt the faintest trace of betrayal in this moment. No. On second thought, even if that woman had stabbed him in the back, he probably wouldn't have tasted much bitterness over it.
In truth, Agolet mattered more than Pale.
What in the world was this bastard thinking right now? Why spout that pointless drivel about mixing in lies and throw me into confusion? Come to think of it, wasn't the very claim that he'd lie a lie in itself? Or maybe he'd announced he would lie and then not done it at all.......
...Sometimes it made him want to pluck the man's eyeballs out just to see what sort of view of the world they gave.
But he wasn't the kind of man whose thoughts could be guessed from his face, not if one stared at him all day, so Residue soon lowered his gaze.
"Agolet."
"Yes."
"Don't tell me every word you just blathered was a lie."
"Of course not."
"So you told exactly one lie?"
"Who's to say."
Should I just force it out of him?
No. In the sluggish state his body is in now, he doesn't think he can win. Anyone else, perhaps, but against Agolet or Pale – or any of the other Rulers – he had no confidence of coming out on top.
Residue shook his head and said,
"And how did you come to know all of this?"
"I made my deductions using only established facts as grounds."
"A moment ago you were carrying on as if anyone who leaned on evidence was a blithering idiot."
"Your Majesty, surely that is a different matter entirely?"
Residue suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a look reserved for the pitiful.
"There is no such thing as a perfect riddle in this world. To this Agolet, at least. Given only two elements, my brilliant mind and a certain amount of time, there is no secret, however ancient, that I cannot unearth without much trouble."
"Is that so. Then why didn't that brilliant head of yours explain what 'the Outside' is?"
"That would be inefficient. It would take a staggering amount of time, and my lifespan would run out before I arrived at an answer."
Did the Four Knights even have such a thing as a lifespan?
A stupid question surfaced for a moment, and Residue swallowed it back down.
"Fortunately, this particular riddle did not require much time. By repeating inference and failure, I succeeded in obtaining the answer."
"Words alone give me nothing to go on. I mean proof that this damned novel of yours is fact."
Residue said it while looking at the book lying on the table, but Agolet answered with the same composed expression as ever.
"In that case I shall have to offer one piece of proof. I have found a way to communicate with 'the Inside'."
"The Inside?"
"Yes. The place we left behind – the Unified World, I mean. Of course......."
Watching Residue's slight bewilderment, Agolet finished with a heavy face.
"The situation over there isn't good either."
*
– At a glance she was nothing more than a frail girl in light clothing.
– And to think that such a girl was stronger than anyone else in that conference hall. It was not an easy thing to accept, and yet,
Prostrate on the floor, Peran found himself wanting to give his own head a smack for ever having entertained that thought.
A frail girl? How had he ever managed to see that in such terms? The Half King merely sat upon her throne, chin propped on one hand, gazing quietly down at Peran.
...She is not flaunting her presence. Most likely the Half King isn't even aware that she is bearing down on Peran at all.
And yet, merely having her attention turned his way left his breath ragged and cold sweat running down his back in streams.
The urge to bolt from this place that very instant kept rising in him.
"I heard from the Beginning Wizard."
The Half King began slowly, then just as slowly corrected herself.
"No. From the Beginning Wizard's proxy, was it. In any case. I'm told this operation was your plan."
"...Th-that is correct. Your Highness."
Damn it. He'd nearly bitten his tongue.
It was a disgrace he had not once committed in his life.
"What do you make of it, Futurix?"
"I find it an absurd operation."
The woman standing to her right answered in a blunt voice and looked at Peran. Her cool gaze is like an ice pick rummaging through his brain.
...I still cannot read the Half King's thoughts, but that woman, who appears to be her close aide, plainly finds Peran's presence unwelcome.
"Residue said it himself. That Destruction is divided into five types in all. And according to our observations, the Destructions approaching from either side each possess power comparable to Your Highness's own."
"To be precise, stronger than me."
"...Yes."
Futurix gave a slight nod at the Half King's correction, though she looked somewhat dissatisfied.
"I shall continue. From the total quantity of power, we were able to determine that these are different types of Destruction. If a single type of Destruction had divided itself in half, the two entities could not both hold power on par with Your Highness's."
"Is that not thin ground to stand on by itself?"
"Your meaning is......."
"It is largely wishful observation. Destruction was said to grow more troublesome the further along it comes, so this one may be far stronger than those that preceded it. Which is to say, the possibility that a single Destruction split in two is not entirely nonexistent."
"You are quite right."
Futurix nodded as she spoke.
"Then I shall present one more piece of evidence. To begin with, they revealed themselves at opposite ends of the world. The reason they went to the trouble of dividing their forces in two rather than driving through a single point. I judged that it is because they would turn on one another if they met."
"Reasonable. Destructions of differing types do not regard one another as allies."
Of course this alone was not enough, but the enemy was, from the outset, a thing that could not be made certain in any number of respects. For now there was nothing to do but carry the discussion forward on two reasonably plausible premises.
"...The First Destruction alone killed half of the Twelve Void Lords. As for how much damage was done across the Unified World as a whole, the tally is still being taken. Which is why the Giant now marching on the King's Castle must be fought by every fighting force of the Unified World combined."
"Is that your opinion, Futurix?"
"It is, Your Highness. If you will excuse me a moment."
Futurix closed one eye partway. A faint beam of light spilled from the remaining pupil and cast a hologram display. Peran, who of course knew nothing of such scientific matters, assumed she had used some manner of illusion magic.
"A Giant's rate of advance is by no means swift."
The hologram showed the figure of a Giant.
They were calling it a Giant for convenience, but it did not particularly strike him as a giant human. To begin with, something like a pitch-black shadow shrouded its entire body, so its form could not be made out properly.
All that could be told was that it was staggeringly vast, and even its actual size failed to register properly. There was nothing around it to measure that bulk against.
Right there in the background of the image the hologram was projecting – whatever sat about the Giant's feet might have been a small hill, or a mountain risen high enough to pierce the clouds; there was no telling.
[Boom.......]
Either way, it would be trampled flat under the Giant's advance all the same.
"If they maintain this pace, the time it will take them to reach the King's Castle is roughly 150 to 180 days. In which case what we must do now is gather every soldier we have as swiftly as possible, and bring down one of the Giants first."
Futurix's voice was clear.
That is the bearing of one who holds certainty in her own judgment. Dependable, and dangerous in equal measure.
Just as the Half King was weighing whether she ought to point that out now.
"But......."
Her gaze turned forward again.
In that instant Peran realized that he had spoken aloud the words he had only been turning over in his head.
His breathing, which had settled a little while the two of them talked, went ragged once more.
This Futurix is a crushing presence in her own right. Only natural, since she is one of the Twelve Void Lords. A being stronger than the master who is all but a god to Peran.
Even so.
Strangely, a stubborn defiance surged up in him.
Peran clenched his fists hard enough for his nails to bite into his skin, and spoke.
"To leave the other one entirely unattended carries far too great a risk."
"Did you listen to a word I said? It is not being left unattended. There is ample time before the two Giants reach the King's Castle. We pour everything into subjugating one of them, take all the time we need to regroup, and then fight the other."
"But there is no guarantee that the other Giant will keep to its present pace, is there."
"What?"
"While we throw our full strength at one Giant, the other side may, for instance, do something unforeseen."
Futurix fell silent.
"Nor is that all. Your Highness and the rest of you may be overlooking the most important fact of all."
"And what would that be?"
"Which of the two Giants is the more troublesome."
"......!"
Futurix's mouth closed.
Peran's words this time stung less as an injury to her pride than they landed like a hammer blow. He had struck the mark, and it was a problem she had indeed overlooked entirely.
...There is no guarantee that the two Giants possess similar combat strength. Had the words not come out of Futurix's own mouth only moments ago? That Destruction would grow more troublesome the further along it came. If those two were Destructions of differing types, then even though they had appeared at the same moment, there was surely an order to them.
It was a thing a moment's thought would have revealed, so why had she failed to consider it?
The answer came at once.
Because the two of them, as confirmed through reconnaissance, had taken forms far too identical.
The shape of a Giant reaching all the way to the sky, its whole body draped in something like a pitch-black shadow....... Strip away the backgrounds and their appearances were alike enough to be taken for one and the same being, and so she had rushed to a conclusion.
But even if they wore the same shape and moved at the same speed, they were fundamentally, utterly different beings.
"...Furthermore, it has been said that Destructions turn on one another, but that may be a matter limited to the First Destruction and the Second Destruction. The Destruction that has appeared now may possess an altogether different nature. We know nothing about them, and so we must conclude nothing."
"And that is why – we must come to know them. Even at the cost of heavy losses. Yes. That was your opinion."
The Half King murmured in a low voice.
There was no telling what expression she wore. Peran was still prostrate. Of course, it would have made no difference even had he looked her full in the face. The Half King's golden eyes were not something one could meet for long.
It was less the discomfort of the eyes themselves than the strange thoughts that kept surfacing the longer he held them. It felt as though he were being turned back upon himself rather than upon her, and when that happened, an inexplicable shame would rise in him as well.
"We'll go with this."
"......!"
"Your Highness......!"
The approval he had never dared expect had come down.
Even so, Peran could not simply be glad of it, and he lifted his head only slightly to look at the Half King with startled eyes.
"Your Highness, I beg you to reconsider. This is not a matter to be decided rashly."
"No. This way is the most correct."
"Why?"
"You will be disappointed when you hear the reason. Is that all right?"
Futurix blinked her two eyes in bewilderment, and the Half King said,
"I don't want to fight something when I don't even know what it is."
"Pardon?"
"Fighting a thing you can't even name. Is that not frightening?"
"Y-you mustn't say such....... I shall pretend I did not hear that."
"Pretend you did hear it, Futurix. What cannot be known, what is not understood, is bound to be frightening. Of course, one may feel a tremor, or excitement, or exhilaration upon meeting the unknown, but at bottom those are emotions derived from fear. That is human nature."
"Yes......."
Futurix could only wear a face that was, naturally, unconvinced.
"What did you say your name was?"
"Peran Jun, Your Highness."
"I see. Peran, it is a splendid plan. I pay my respects to your insight."
"N-not at all."
Peran had once had a private audience with the emperor of the continent. That had come of the particular circumstance of his birth as the legitimate son of a ducal house. The emperor, too, had marveled at Peran's genius and offered words of commendation, and at the time he had of course felt properly humbled.
But the excitement he felt now was of an entirely different kind. His chest ached faintly and heat hung about his face. The moment he realized he was as moved as a general who had just won honor on the battlefield, Peran could only be astonished.
The joy of being acknowledged by a superior, or a sense of accomplishment.
He had not known such a desire lived in him.
"Is there something you want? Not that there is much I can do for you."
"......."
At the Half King's words, Peran fell silent.
Still, there was something he had to say.
"...Your Highness. My master Harun, the man who now serves as Acting Lord of the Magic Planet, has ordered me to take command of the Southeast Army, one of the two armies. Not once in my life until now have I thought myself anyone's inferior, but since the worlds were unified it has been otherwise. I know now how small a being I am, and how vast the universe is."
"Hmm."
"I beg Your Highness to withdraw the expectations my master has placed upon this unworthy disciple. It is not a post I could presume to bear."
At least the man knows his place.
Futurix nodded inwardly.
It was certain, at any rate, that the Half King's mind had tilted toward adopting the plan. Once matters came to that, no remonstrance from Futurix would carry any meaning, so from here on her role was to raise the operation's chance of success.
She granted the human called Peran his insight, but command of an army could not be entrusted to him.
The Southeast Army meant that all those spanning the eastern and southern regions of the World of Void would be formed into a single unit. Off the top of her head alone there were the Red Knight and the Executor, the Beast, the Death Worm, and Futurix herself belonged to it as well. Add in the figures from the Three Thousand Worlds and others she had not yet accounted for, and the scale of that force would swell beyond anything that human's small brain could hold.
Above all, there was something Peran decisively lacked.
'He is far too fragile.'
Among humans he might be in the running for the strongest, more or less, but beings of that level were strewn everywhere these days.
Even were it only nominal, would there be any who would take no offense at having a human like that placed above them? There might be a few, but never a majority.
...And yet, for all that she had more than enough of these rational reasons in hand, Futurix found herself looking at the Half King's profile without quite knowing why.
The Half King noticed Futurix's gaze, glanced over, and twisted the corner of her mouth slightly.
– Ah. Good heavens.
That smile, whether or not she realized it herself – it resembled that delinquent man far too closely.
Futurix felt she knew exactly what was coming, and she shut her eyes tight.
"No."
Just as she had expected, the Half King smiled broadly and said,
"You are the commander of the Southeast Army."
*****
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