Fallen Leaves (3)
"An astonishing piece of information. Young Master Klein practices Necromancy..."
Within a darkness so deep that not even a trace of moonlight entered, a shadow muttered quietly while observing the battle in the clearing.
'My original orders were to kill Young Master Klein.'
Hidden within the shadows, the knight Sanchez clenched his teeth.
'But if I try to break through that...'
Knights were, by nature, warriors specialized in one-on-one combat.
Unlike him, the enemy was effectively an organized military formation.
'If I force my way through those ranks to kill Young Master Klein, there's a real chance I'll fail instead.'
Sanchez's expression darkened further.
If that happened, Helian's assassination attempt would be exposed because of him.
The thought of placing his liege in danger due to his own failure was humiliation he did not wish to suffer as a knight.
'And I've gained information far more valuable than killing Young Master Klein.'
Rumors surrounding Young Master Klein and his mother, Duchess Claire.
Recalling those ominous stories, Sanchez slowly nodded.
'Young Master Klein was already called the reincarnation of Archimond since childhood. If it becomes known that he practices Necromancy...'
The Empire did not prohibit Necromancy.
But Archimond's infamy remained deeply engraved in the minds of the continent's people.
And now, the young lord called Archimond's reincarnation used Necromancy?
What would happen next was obvious.
'The authority of the Leinrant main family will collapse, and the Order will intensify its pressure. In the worst-case scenario, they may even declare a Holy War.'
At that point, Klein's life would no longer be the issue.
Rather, keeping him alive would only accelerate Leinrant's downfall.
'Then my duty is not to fight, but to report this to my liege.'
Having reached his conclusion, Sanchez nodded to himself and turned away.
'The assassination plan failed. But with this...'
For the first time, emotion appeared on the face of the normally expressionless Sanchez.
With this, Leinrant would belong entirely to his liege, Helian.
And if that happened, perhaps even he—who had once lost his title due to mistakes made in his youth—might once again gain land and nobility...
"Hello~?"
A voice suddenly spoke from behind him.
"...!"
Sanchez immediately spun around.
Something was there.
A dark back alley devoid of even a single ray of moonlight, and his own killing intent as black as the darkness itself.
Yet the voice ignored all of that ominous atmosphere entirely, sounding innocent and cheerful.
Shiiing—!
As if it had risen from the ground itself, the figure appeared instantly.
Sanchez immediately drew his sword and raised his mana to its peak.
A cold chill shot up his spine.
"Who are you?! Where did you come from—?!"
Something was wrong.
An assassin? An undead?
Countless possibilities raced through his mind as Sanchez stared at the unknown being before him.
And then—
His thoughts stopped completely.
"Hehe!"
Standing in the middle of the dark alley was a young girl dressed in a maid outfit.
"Y-You are...?"
Large glasses covering half her face.
Brown hair tied into pigtails.
Sanchez's eyes widened at the unexpected intruder.
The girl smiling brightly as though she had simply come out for a walk—
It was Arin, the maid brought by Young Master Klein.
"Our Young Master is really cool, right?"
The innocent laughter of the cheerful girl rang in Sanchez's ears.
'...I didn't notice her. Not even her presence! She got this close and I sensed nothing...!'
As Sanchez stared at her with trembling eyes, Arin tilted her head and stepped forward.
Within the pitch-black darkness, only her figure stood out vividly.
It was as though the shadows themselves had forgotten their purpose.
A grotesque sight.
"I'm really glad I followed him. Thanks to that, I got to eat lots and lots of yummy things too~!"
"Yummy... things?"
Taking a step backward, Sanchez looked toward Arin's face.
A crimson liquid smeared around the corners of her smiling mouth.
A veteran of countless battlefields, Sanchez recognized it instantly.
Blood.
Human blood.
"Hii~!"
At the same moment Arin's bright laughter rang out—
Something strange happened.
Grrrrk... Grrrkkkk...
A grotesque sound echoed from the surrounding walls.
It sounded like the insides of some living creature.
The growl of an empty stomach reverberated from every direction around him.
"Ghk?!"
Sanchez turned toward the source of the sound—
And nearly screamed.
The walls had mouths.
The deep darkness he had mistaken for shadows—
Every surface surrounding him was filled with tens, hundreds, thousands of mouths grinning wide open.
Some resembled humans.
Some beasts.
Some birds of prey.
Some fish.
And some looked like the mouths of things that should not even exist in this world.
Grrrrrrrrk—!
Together with the horrifying growls of hunger, the countless mouths surrounding him began to drool.
Sticky, transparent liquid.
The instant Sanchez realized what it was, a violent urge to smash his own skull against the wall surged through him.
Saliva.
The very space he stood within was salivating as it looked at him.
"Guhhh—?!"
Finally understanding the situation, Sanchez immediately turned and ran.
'I have to escape. Somehow, I need to get out of here—!'
The composure and calm he had maintained his entire life as a knight shattered instantly.
A fear beyond comprehension constricted his mind mercilessly.
An absolute terror that pierced all the way into his soul.
The regret and horror of seeing something he should never have seen had already consumed his entire being.
"Hahk...! Huff...!"
He ran.
And ran.
And ran again.
Until every last bit of stamina and mana had been exhausted, Sanchez simply continued kicking off the ground like a madman.
It did not matter where he was running.
Nor where he was headed.
If only he could escape that monster.
If only he could escape that terror—
"No fair~!"
Darkness.
And when Sanchez opened his eyes again, despair overtook him.
After running until all strength and mana had completely drained away—
He realized he had not moved even a single step from where he originally stood.
"...!"
Only then did Sanchez finally understand.
The darkness covering this alleyway—
Was not a shadow cast by buildings.
The black substance flowing out from beneath her skirt had already completely consumed the entire space around him.
"Young Master told me not to leave anything behind and to chew thoroughly!"
Arin puffed out her cheeks in annoyance as she spoke.
"Young... Master?"
There was only one person she could possibly mean.
Sanchez slowly turned his gaze toward the clearing where Klein had been moments earlier.
Having already dealt with the two unconscious Fallen Leaves assassins, Klein was now looking directly at him.
Just as before, he wore that horrifyingly bright smile.
"Klein... Leinrant."
The last remnants of Sanchez's fighting spirit shattered.
The fact that he had been watching from the shadows.
The plans he had formed after witnessing Klein use Necromancy.
All of it had been within Klein's palm from the very beginning.
Clang!
"Hah... Haha...!"
With a hollow laugh, Sanchez let the sword in his hand fall to the ground.
He had thought Klein was merely a bastard child born of mixed blood.
A boy flaunting authority through talent gained by sheer luck.
Someone intoxicated by petty talent who had dared touch what should never be touched.
"So it was the opposite."
Who was it that had truly touched what should not be touched?
Who was it that had rampaged around believing the world belonged to them simply because they'd obtained a bit of temporary power?
"All those great ambitions I pursued for decades... all for nothing."
A hollow voice escaped him.
If he disappeared, Helian's restraint would disappear as well.
And if nobody could stop her obsession with the Empire's drugs and power—
The ending was obvious.
"Are you ready?"
Arin's gentle voice called out to him.
Ready.
At that word, Sanchez's eyes had already gone empty.
"My lady... please..."
Looking blankly toward the sky, Sanchez slowly opened his mouth.
As though welcoming him, the black sky itself opened its maw toward him.
"May you pass without pain."
A terror so absolute he could not even beg for his life.
Crunch—!
With those final words as his last testament, the mouths covering the sky devoured his upper body whole.
"Young Master!"
After handing the Fallen Leaves assassins over to the knights, I headed into the alley to retrieve Arin.
The alley where Sanchez had stood moments earlier.
Unlike before, when it had been swallowed in shadows, each object had now returned to its original color.
"I told you not to eat while making a mess. Hold still and let me see your face."
"~lololo"
Holding Arin's face in place, I wiped the blood smeared around her mouth and hands with a handkerchief.
"Young Master, though."
"What?"
As I wiped her face once more while she kept squirming away, Arin suddenly asked me a question.
"You always tell me I'm not allowed to eat people normally. So why did you let me this time?"
"... Ah, that?"
At her question, I nodded before answering.
"You've been holding back really well all this time. Once in a while, days like this are okay."
The moment I said that, Arin beamed brightly at me.
"I really think following Young Master back then was the best decision ever! Hehehe!"
"... Is that so."
As I responded to her smile and gently patted her head—
—No being I've ever encountered possessed such an alien aura.
Rudel, looking back and forth between the smiling Arin and myself, spoke in disbelief.
—Archimond... just what exactly are you raising?
"What do you mean? She's just a kid."
I answered casually, but Rudel immediately shot back.
—Just a kid? Since when does a normal child casually devour people? And even if it's been distorted, that power is...!
"Do you think it's a naturally occurring power?"
The moment I interrupted him, Rudel fell silent and stared at me.
—... The Order created her?
"I don't know the details. Whether they intended this from the beginning, or whether they failed while trying to create something else."
As I spoke and stood up, Rudel's emotions flowed into me.
Disappointment. Rage.
And strongest of all—
Betrayal.
—The Empire. The Holy Order. They prattle endlessly about justice and mercy, yet they've truly fallen as far as possible.
"As if they were ever different."
While I agreed with Rudel's bitter lament, Laia's knights approached after finishing cleanup of the scene.
—Doesn't seem like they'll give up so easily. What are you planning to do?
Looking at the now spotless scene without even a speck of dust remaining, Rudel asked me.
"I'll give them work. Something so massive they won't even have time to worry about someone like me."
As I answered, I pulled something from my coat.
A brass-colored mask engraved with the Empire's seal.
It had belonged to Pale, the Necromancer who conducted human experiments on the territory's miners.
"If her son dies at the hands of the Empire—her own ally—how do you think Helian will react?"
Seeing me grin while spinning the mask in one hand, Rudel spoke in exasperation.
—Honestly, when I look at you, I can't even tell who the real villain is anymore.
"Obviously."
I shrugged at his words.
"I'm not a knight like you people."
"I'm an evil Necromancer."
And the smile on my face as I said those words looked exactly like the villain from some dark tale.