Chapter 37

The Sun Hound, Solagarmr.

Yosef Haider's Ars, which summoned a giant, insubstantial shadow wolf.

Its stomach was connected to a strange, dark place and Yosef liked to use this place as his personal dueling ground and execution site.

The shadow wolf itself possessed great power, but he had little interest in that.

What honor and what fun would there be if he didn't kill the enemy with his own hands?

He was a warrior, not a trainer.

“It's just perfect for when I want to fight one-on-one with someone I like on the battlefield.”

Inside the Sun Hound's stomach, there was a strange darkness.

It was an endless abyss, but his opponent and the ground they stood on were clearly visible.

In the darkness, the one-eyed old man's laughter echoed unusually loudly.

“If you look carefully, you'll find Marina's three fingers rolling around here somewhere.”

“…And your eyeball… must be next to them……?”

“I will place Your Highness' corpse beside them.”

I was still being held by the neck.

My first Ars, the ‘Fantasy Finger’, had the power to tear through steel.

Seventeen of them were attached, yet it was a struggle to block one of Yosef's arms.

And even this arm was likely not at full strength.

“In any case, I am not without my apologies for this.”

The one-eyed old man roughly scratched above his eye patch.

Roughly, as if to wipe the inside of the empty eye socket.

“Her Highness Leniar seemed to genuinely covet Your Highness Zionis, but this Yosef, the only thing I've gained with age is my intuition.”

How could his gaze be so, with only one eye remaining.

The aura of the man who had once been the best in the Duchy of Volmark gave even the regressed hero the chills.

Since my regression, I had not met anyone with such an aura, except for the Great Emperor Continua.

“-Your Highness, you are a liar, aren't you?”

Yosef grinned.

I was dangerous.

He knew of Leniar's hidden brother, Prince Etsi.

He had some deep connection with the Great Witch of the Silver Dragon Magic Kingdom.

But it felt as if he was hiding an even greater secret.

“You cannot smile like that without deceiving yourself. You are truly something. Just what kind of secret are you rotting away inside you? I shall ask you now. What are you hiding?”

“…Well. I don't have anything that would make a crazy old man act like he's wringing a chicken's neck.”

I forced the corner of my mouth up.

The unchanging smile of a secret-keeper.

The old Yosef was certain.

He was hiding something.

He didn't know what it was, but he had piled up so many secrets that a normal person's guts would twist.

The one-eyed man, even more excited, wagged his tongue.

“Ha, haha, ha-! Any last words?”

“Seen up close… your beard is really dirty……”

“Oho, you don't know a man's charm.”

My smile was unwavering.

It was as if I wouldn't tell my secret even if I died and in fact, I wouldn't.

No matter how much he had grown up in the demonic realm that was the Great Palace, this was not the attitude of a mere eleven-year-old.

Yosef Haider clenched his fist.

It held a monstrous strength that could flatten not just an eleven-year-old child but also a magi-soldier.

“Farewell, Your Highness… hmph!”

Yosef, who was about to crush my head, staggered.

The lightless space tore slightly, and through it, Hermai's roar was heard.

‘You baaastard!’

The torn space healed quickly, but Yosef scratched above his eye patch with a displeased face.

“Hermai Merhes, he's pounding on the outside quite hard. I wonder if he'll last a minute.”

This was the stomach of the Sun Hound.

In the spot where I and Yosef had disappeared, a shadow wolf was crouched, and Hermai was pounding on it with all his might.

It didn't seem like it would last long.

“And our little prince has slipped out of my grasp in the meantime……. Oh my, you've gone far.”

I had not missed the moment he staggered.

In a brief moment, I was almost eighty steps away.

Yosef Haider smiled benevolently, like a grandfather looking at his grandson.

“It seems we have to start our game of tag from the beginning, but you won't mind, will you?”

The short old man's steps were as leisurely as if he were out for a walk.

But with one step, he covered twenty steps, with two, forty, and with three, he was suddenly right in front of me.

It didn't even take a second, not even half of that.

“Two seconds should be enough this time too.”

“For goodness sake……”

Yosef Haider was at a distance of barely ten steps.

If I blinked, he would be standing next to me.

I had tried to block him with the ‘Fantasy Finger’, but it was useless.

Even if I clad myself in Valziart, it was not a fist I could block.

I, Shion Pollinglight, let out a small sigh.

“…It was a good thing I unlocked the second secret.”

Septem Arcana.

The second.

***

Yosef leaped.

I was right in front of him in an instant.

“Hmm?”

He looked down at his hand.

He had thought he had grabbed my head, but it was empty air.

I was standing a little further away.

He had taken a step.

It was a distance that wouldn't even take a quarter of a quarter of a second.

They had closed the distance in an instant, and a strong fist was heading for the prince's head.

“Ugh-hmmm?”

Another miss.

I, who had been right in front of him, was now far away.

Yosef realized.

It wasn't that I had moved, but that he had been pushed back.

His one remaining eye glinted eerily, and the warrior of Volmark took a step.

Again, a punch, and a miss.

“Just when I think I've reached, you're far away… Even if I get close, the distance doesn't shrink.”

Yosef Haider's conviction was quick.

“This is an Ars.”

A power that forced a distance on the opponent.

It was hard to think of anything other than an Ars for such a strange power.

It wasn't strange, as the Ars of the Cordis royal family tended to be powerful and manifest early.

“Let's see.”

He lunged at me several times.

Even if it was several times, it was all within a span of just 2 seconds.

He failed every time and when he came to his senses, the distance between him and me had widened.

He did not panic and measured the distance.

The widening distance was constant from the beginning.

“The distance that widens is one, two……”

Yosef's one eye was fierce.

“About eight steps, is it?”

“Your calculations are also quick.”

I smiled.

I seemed to have regained my composure.

“Since it's just the two of us, I'm showing you this specially, Lord Yosef.”

“Hmm. I thought that something that grabbed my arm was Your Highness' Ars……. Your applications are quite varied.”

He didn't even think that I had two Ars.

It was a matter of course.

The Ars was a secret power, a power that was more than enough for one to be given to a single soul.

The promise of the seven secrets that wielded seven Ars was a special case among special cases.

Of course, this also came with a huge price, and I was still paying it.

“So I cannot approach closer than eight steps. What should I do, Your Highness?”

Whoosh-!

Yosef, before he had even finished speaking, tore something off and threw it.

It was an iron buckle.

It was at a ferocious speed, but it couldn't come within eight steps and was blocked by the ‘Fantasy Finger’, falling to the ground with a thud.

But it was a feint.

Yosef's hand was already coming out of his pocket.

“……!!”

Shhhk-!

The sound of something cutting through the air was fierce.

There were things that were lunging through the air.

Their momentum was incomparable to before.

It was difficult to even follow them with the eyes.

The seventeen ‘Fantasy Fingers’ blocked them, but it was not enough.

“…You've brought a lot of things with you.”

I missed a couple.

One for the neck, one for the leg.

Valziart became like a black spear.

I deflected the one heading for my neck and dodged the one for my leg.

However, a long cut was left on my calf.

I bit my lip.

“I heard that the chaser would not be allowed to carry any weapons.”

“Are you nitpicking over trivial things, so unmanly?”

Yosef Haider, ha, haha, ha-!

laughed and showed his pocket.

From axes the size of two fingers to iron needles the size of a fingernail, it was full of dozens of throwing weapons.

He threw another volley of small axes and shouted.

“And as I thought, that Ars only pushes away living things. What a shame, I should have brought a bow.”

Saying so, he threw nearly ten arrowheads.

Their power was greater than if they had been shot from a longbow.

‘Fantasy Finger’.

This time, I blocked them all.

But from behind, an iron needle was shot.

Yosef had already circled behind me.

With them being shot from various directions, there was no way I could keep my wits.

I swelled my body with Valziart.

My life was on the line if I hid the power of the mana armor.

I transformed into the shape of a black beast.

“A black armor?”

Yosef, who was throwing arrowheads, laughed like a beast.

“As I thought, even the name ‘Black Sword Zamuk’ was a lie. Nothing but lies.”

Yosef twisted the corner of his mouth.

That armor that rippled like black mud, that must be the real Treasure that Zionis had obtained from the library.

He could be even more certain of his choice to kill me.

“My intuition was right.”

“Kuh……!”

The one-eyed old man was behind me, in a spot I couldn't do anything about.

He had thrown six axes from his pocket and three of them had wounded my body.

In that opening, something was thrust in.

A single, collapsible short spear.

Since he had hidden it in his pocket in pieces, it was not that long or sturdy.

However, it was enough to pierce a heart and longer than eight steps.

“Now, Your Highness.”

The spear tip, right in front of my heart.

“Farewell.”

The spear was thrust.

How many battlefields had he been through?

He was one of the Volmark Six Warriors.

At this distance, this one strike, the spear tip had to pierce the heart, I had to die, embracing my secrets and lies.

“This……!”

Yes, at this distance, it was certain.

At these eight steps, it was unmistakable.

“…Damn it, you son of a bitch!!”

Yosef Haider ground his teeth.

There was no trace of a smile.

He looked at the spear tip that had cut through empty air and at me, who was standing at a distance, and shouted.

His last shred of courtesy towards the imperial family had flown away.

“What do you mean, eight steps! It was another lie, you damn kid-!!”

“I don't recall saying that eight steps was my limit with my own mouth.”

There was a distance between them that could not be closed.

It was the gap created by my second Ars.

But it was more than twice the eight steps, one, two… it looked to be about fifteen steps.

“Weren't you the one who made a mistaken assumption, Lord Yosef?”

“You brat! No, Your Highness must have made me make a mistaken assumption.”

His tone returned to being polite, but his killing intent was thick.

“Ah, you really are a damned liar, Your Highness Zionis. But to be beaten so soundly like this……”

Yosef Haider glared at me with his one eye.

What kind of kid was this?

There was a limit to being skilled in stratagems.

It was as if he had been rolling on the battlefield for ten years.

With a crack, a purple light shone.

“…This Yosef is also getting old.”

Time was up.

The lightless space was breaking.

***

Hermai Merhes had an even more fearsome appearance than before.

His body had lost its boundaries and was in the form of a lump of lightning and nine dragons made of dark clouds flew around him, roaring low.

“Yo-sef Haider-!!”

Chains of lightning struck down and bound Yosef Haider.

The one-eyed old man did not resist.

It was his complete defeat.

In the prison of lightning, Yosef held up his two hands.

“Take me away, you old Hermai.”

“Oh, I plan to! To dare to take the life of a prince in the Succession War……?”

Hermai Merhes' words trailed off.

About twenty steps away from Yosef, I was standing.

The Mana Armor Valziart had already been quickly put away.

The eleven-year-old prince, though wounded here and there, looked quite alright.

“…You're alive?”

“Yes. I couldn't kill him. I, Yosef.”

“So that's why you were so docile……”

Hermai stroked his beard.

He was just as surprised.

To think that the eleven-year-old Zionis had survived for a whole minute against Yosef Haider.

However, there was something more important than surprise.

Hermai opened his mouth fiercely.

“You, Yosef Haider. The crime of aiming for a prince's neck is grave. You'd better not expect a special pardon like 23 years ago!”

“Ha, haha, ha-!! I didn't expect one!”

Hermai waved his hand.

The dark clouds gathered and turned into a dark gray metal, creating a prison.

Chains of lightning and a prison of dark clouds.

It still felt insufficient to bind Yosef Haider, but since he himself had no intention of resisting, it would be alright.

“Anyway……”

The administrator of the Grand Convergence, Hermai Merhes, couldn't help but frown.

He clutched his aching head and opened his mouth.

“…The situation has become complicated.”

“Hmm. There's no need for that.”

Secundus Debius took up his words.

A subtle anger was in his voice.

Though he was trying to hold it in, it was clear that he was very angry.

“It's a fact that Zionis was caught in 2 seconds. Separate from Yosef's independent action, the match was decided then. I admit defeat.”

The giant prince glared fiercely at Leniar.

The silver-haired princess averted her eyes.

Secundus threw down the ‘Iron Lion Belt’ as if throwing it.

“But I cannot give you Zionis. Take this belt back instead!”

“…What can I say?”

The silver-haired princess cautiously took a step.

She came in front of her brother and bent down to pick up the belt.

The loser glared down in anger, and the victor bowed her head, ashamed.

“…Lord Yosef.”

She stopped in front of the chains of lightning and the prison of dark clouds.

The silver-haired princess cautiously asked the old man she trusted most and relied on.

With this incident, her position had become extremely precarious.

“Why did you do it?”

“You know, don't you?”

“…Yes.”

Leniar fell silent.

Prince Etsi, the brother she loved more than her own life.

However, his identity was a secret.

So Yosef had tried to kill me.

All for Leniar de Volmark.

“It seems I must leave, Your Highness. Will you forgive my rudeness in leaving your side when the Succession War is at its peak?”

“Though I am truly disappointed, I will not specifically scold you, considering your long service.”

“Oh, how merciful our princess is.”

The one-eyed man and the princess exchanged words.

The silver-haired princess, looking at the bound old man, spoke as if reciting.

“…I was always grateful, Lord Yosef.”

“It was always an honor, Your Highness Leniar.”

The princess turned her steps.

Would they be able to meet again?

It was unknown.

They could only bury it.

The old man, ha, haha, ha- laughed.

As if he had no regrets.

Ha, haha, ha-!

***

“This is a headache.”

The Imperial Chief Mage, Hermai Merhes, spat out, not even hiding his annoyance.

“The Grand Convergence, an Imperial Consort's duel and even an attempt to assassinate a prince. This will be a Succession War that goes down in history. It will be remembered very honorably!”

His tone was completely devoid of dignity.

However, the fifteen hundred soldiers could sympathize with him.

It was because a series of events that could be called exceptional among exceptions were continuing.

Hermai stroked his beard irritably.

“Tomorrow, the Grand Convergence will conclude with the First Prince's turn. Everyone, return to your camps!”

“Well, there's no need to wait until tomorrow, is there?”

The First Prince, Ferbias Caseptus, opened his mouth.

“Let's go to the next one right away.”

Hermai, who did not have a good feeling towards him, glared fiercely, but the First Prince paid no mind and continued.

Beside him, the jade-eyed man with a double-edged sword had already appeared.

“This side is all ready. As it happens, everyone has arrived.”

Hermai saw.

The flags fluttering as they came over the horizon.

Those flags belonged to the nobles who supported Ferbias.

The old magician's face hardened coldly.

“Pay your respects. They are the loyal subjects who willingly moved for me, this Ferbias.”

“…That Ferbias bastard, until the very end……!”

“A man must have consistency. Now that it's become a mess, shouldn't we see it through to the end.”

Ferbias had already brought a force of a thousand.

But the new force that was now appearing looked to be at least twice that size.

Leniar and Secundus were in a situation where they were caught between Ferbias' forces.

A troubled expression was deep on the faces of Secundus and Leniar.

Three thousand elite soldiers.

If he moved this much military power, it was already in the realm of war.

No matter how indifferent the Great Emperor Continua was, he would not stand by and watch.

But Ferbias Caseptus was confident.

“It is finally my turn.”

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