Chapter 104

Through all of that, Duke Cherity was still crying, still looking up at Iberin with that pitiful gaze.

"Your butler just saw that."

"Will you forgive me?"

"I'm telling you, he saw."

"Will you forgive me?"

Iberin lost the will to speak.

I knew he was unhinged, but…

She understood now what Lyssel had meant about not being able to hold a normal conversation with him.

---

To actually have a conversation, she figured she'd have to say she forgave him, so she answered.

"There's a condition."

"What is it?"

"Sign a formal contract pledging to help Lecashe. Then I'll forgive you."

"To be so generous-hearted — truly, you must be the one chosen by the god."

Cherity mumbled it, as if moved.

She hadn't even forgiven him outright — she'd attached a condition — and he was still moved.

"How would I even know what to put in a contract?"

"Write anything you want. It's all yours."

The man was genuinely unhinged.

Iberin stared down at Cherity with a thoroughly fed-up look.

Cherity, for his part, was already lost in his own little world.

"Anyway, that butler —"

"Don't worry about the butler. He's not the type to run his mouth. Let's start drafting the contract."

"Hh. Fine."

A short while later, the butler — who'd hurried out — returned with paper and a fountain pen.

"What is it you want?"

"…You said anything, so I suppose I'll write it like that."

The duke agreed coolly.

He went a step further and said they could even seal it with a magician's notarization.

"You believe in the god, and you'd take a magician's notarization?"

"Believing in the god doesn't make you perfect, so when you sign a contract with someone you can't trust, you get it notarized. Better to have things ironclad, no?"

"Fair point. Then we'll have it notarized too."

"Yes. It's not particularly difficult."

Nais agreed — if Cherity was willing to go as far as notarization, that wasn't a bad sign.

The truth was, Iberin didn't really know how the notarization worked, but once it was explained, it turned out to be a blood contract.

Whoever broke it first died. Properly terrifying.

"Now do you see my resolve? Tell me to die this instant, and I will."

"Really? Then would you mind?"

Iberin said it lightly.

At that, Duke Cherity drew the sword at his hip without hesitation and brought it to his own throat.

She'd assumed it was for show, but a thin red line opened up and blood ran down his neck.

"Stop!"

When Iberin cried out in alarm, the hand at his throat halted without hesitation.

"He's really lost it."

Nais muttered it, watching.

True enough — from the moment he'd brought up a contract that needed magical notarization, he hadn't been all there.

"Agreed."

Iberin said it as if she were giving up on figuring him out.

He'd very nearly driven the sword in for real.

And Duke Cherity hadn't so much as blinked while asking.

He was something else.

Lost for words, Iberin just stopped trying to think it through.

---

A man who'd been ready to actually die wasn't going to fake belief. There was nothing he wouldn't go through with.

Cherity was a duke the empire trusted, and he was quite useful.

A useful man with power.

"Lady Iberin, he seems pretty far gone. Are you sure this is going to be all right?"

Nais asked it as they left the ducal residence, glancing back over his shoulder nervously.

"What's there to not be all right about?"

"I don't think he's going to stab us in the back, but he seems impossible to read."

"True enough…"

When Iberin trailed off, Nais must have been thinking the same thing — he flinched and added,

"So if we tell him we don't need you anymore down the line, you think he'd say he's going to kill himself?"

"Possibly."

"Haaaa. I never imagined His Grace Duke Cherity could be a complete nutcase. Honestly. Among us commoners, he's hugely popular. Off-the-charts."

"Why?"

"His looks count for a lot with the women, but the truth is he's done a lot of good. Lots of charity, too."

That part she hadn't known.

Iberin's eyes brightened with interest.

"So if a Cherity like that called the temple a pack of villains, that'd land hard, wouldn't it?"

"…It would."

The truth was, what had unsettled her more about Duke Cherity was the way he'd looked at her.

She didn't quite know why, but he seemed to be acting that way because he thought she was connected to the god — and if she wasn't?

What happened then?

"On a different note, Lady Iberin."

"Hm?"

"…Are you really connected to the god?"

"I don't know myself."

He was worried.

That Cherity might one day cry betrayal and lose it.

Nais couldn't shake the bad feeling.

"I know what you're worried about, but don't be."

"You think it'll be all right?"

"For now, we're in the same boat — might as well make good use of him."

"True. Since it's come to this, we squeeze every drop out of it."

Nais, who'd been wavering, seemed to steel himself, and answered with a serious face.

---

Meanwhile, the west was still operating in a war footing, but things had eased somewhat.

At the front of all of it was, naturally, the Grand Duke Lecashe.

People sang Lecashe's praises more than ever.

But Lyssel didn't let it go to his head.

He was still Lyssel.

"Are you just going to pass them by again today? Everyone wants to see you, Your Highness."

He kept his distance from others and didn't welcome being approached. That was unchanged.

The commoners these days were curious about Lyssel and wanted to meet him at least once.

To say thank you, if nothing else.

"And?"

"Maybe just once…"

But Lyssel had not, to that point, shown his face outside even a single time.

Esmore, who'd followed Lyssel out here, let his voice trail off.

Lyssel cut him off cleanly.

"Cleaning up the monsters comes first."

"You want to get back to the territory that badly?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Becoming a hero for the people mattered less to Lyssel than getting back to Iberin.

Esmore let out a small, helpless laugh.

"What's funny?"

"You're so strangely inhuman and so human at the same time."

"What does that even mean?"

"Even I don't know what I'm saying. Lady Iberin will be waiting calmly, I'm sure."

The moment Iberin came up, a small smile touched the corner of Lyssel's mouth.

The letter he'd already gotten was practically worn through from reading.

He'd come out here essentially prepared to cede ground to the monsters, but the emperor wasn't interested in compromise.

He'd started clearing monsters with the mindset of I'll do what I can while I'm here, and to his surprise things were running smoothly.

Whatever Duke Cherity had said, everyone followed his lead, and the work was going well.

But smooth didn't mean the day he could go home was getting any closer.

He wasn't reading letters anymore — he wanted to see Iberin.

That was when it happened.

A knock came, and the messenger spoke.

"Your Highness. A letter has arrived."

"A letter?"

"Yes, from the Lecashe territory."

"From Iberin?"

Lyssel snatched the letter out of the messenger's hands.

The expression that had bloomed bright across his face froze the moment he unfolded the letter and started reading.

"What is it?"

Esmore, beside him, asked uncertainly.

When Lyssel read letters, his face was always happy.

But it had gone cold and still — something had clearly happened in the territory.

---

In the capital, factions were splitting hard over rumors no one could trace.

The monsters moved because of Lecashe?

What? What are you saying?

Why else would monsters that had been living perfectly fine in the Forest of the World Tree just up and move?

I mean, then why did he go to the west?

Because he wanted to be the hero. He cooked the whole thing up!

The earlier rumor that the temple's Saintess was a fake was already being buried under new ones.

People weren't curious about the Saintess anymore.

Lecashe did this, Lecashe did that!

Whatever was being shouted around quickly turned into that's right! and one by one, people started cursing Lecashe.

"Lady Iberin…"

"People have no spine."

Looking at the people savaging Lyssel, she wanted to shout what the hell do you know?

How could everything flip this easily, like turning over a hand?

"Mommy…"

Ether was tucked against her chest, eyes brimming with tears.

Even at five, he understood when something was being attacked.

"It's all right, Ether."

"Everyone hates the grand duke and curses him…"

"It'll pass."

"…Really?"

"Of course. Has mommy ever told you something that wasn't true?"

"Nooo. But when do I get to see big sis Rozel again…?"

"…That'll be soon, too."

"Ether will hold it in and wait."

"That's a good boy."

Now there were fewer people cheering at news of Lyssel's victories.

This was, of course, still only in the capital — it hadn't spread out into the regions yet, so out in those parts Lecashe was still a hero.

In the west, they'd even come up with {Leca-shoot (anyone who insults Lecashe gets shot).}(#bn8ay2gydxcj)

---

The emperor was in a fine mood.

His standing had been at rock-bottom until recently, but the rumors against Lecashe — coming from no traceable source — had pleased him enormously.

"Your Majesty. The war with the monsters has been brought under control to a meaningful degree."

"Has it now?"

"Yes. They haven't been wiped out completely, but at least the casualties have stopped. As long as Grand Duke Lecashe applies himself, there shouldn't be any further damage."

"So it's not over for good?"

"The whole of the western army says complete eradication is impossible."

"I see. Well, in any case, the men suffered through a war — they deserve a welcome."

"Yes. I'll see to it."

"Ah — Grand Duke Lecashe is essentially the man of the hour, so order him to attend in particular."

"As you wish."

The emperor knew better than anyone that Lecashe was probably not going to come.

But it didn't matter if he didn't.

If anything, it'd pour oil on the rumors, which suited him better.

He was looking forward to the welcoming ceremony.

As always, the villain would be Lecashe and the hero would be the emperor.

And the monsters that had moved west had been pacified by Lecashe — icing on the cake.

He'd use public sentiment as leverage and shove Lecashe into the west instead of the south.

If that didn't work, he could always have him killed.

The leftover monsters were a slight concern, but Aleta's strength should be enough to handle them.

A more thorough check was advisable, of course — better safe than sorry.

"Khahaha!"

The emperor burst into wild laughter, drunk on his good fortune.

The Seed of Evil that Lecashe carried at all times crossed his mind for a moment. But he brushed it off — that little seed.

Alone in the great hall, the emperor's eyes glittered.