At the center of what should have been a city shrouded in grief and confusion, Elder Mortar stood before his king, overwhelmed by a fierce admiration coupled with an ineffable sense of inadequacy.
As one who served the king, the events that had just transpired were utterly disgraceful. To have allowed the enemy to approach, worse still to have permitted an attack upon the king himself, was an unforgivable dereliction of duty. He opened his mouth to declare that he must atone for his sins first and foremost.
"My king. I offer my deepest apologies. This latest failure is entirely the result of our incompetence—"
"Enough of that."
"...Yes."
That he could immediately grasp what his king meant owed itself to the long life Elder Mortar had lived, rich with diverse experience. No small part was also played by his years serving at the king's side as a pillar of Mynoghra. In essence, the king was saying this: "If you have time to waste on apologies and assigning blame, then turn your mind to solving the problem before us."
And he was absolutely right. Apologies could be offered endlessly. Heads could be severed at any time. There was no room to devote thought to such matters. Though the king was unharmed, Mynoghra still found itself in a critical situation, for the cost of allowing the enemy's assault and losing the hero Atou was every bit as dire.
"E-Even so, my king, please issue your commands. We, the vassals of Mynoghra, stand ready to offer our lives at a single word from you."
Unable to endure the silence any longer, Elder Mortar spoke once more. That their strength had fallen short of the enemy's was an unfortunate fact. Worse still, since they had no idea what means the enemy had employed to make this attack succeed, devising countermeasures would prove extraordinarily difficult. No matter how fiercely they declared their willingness to lay down their lives, they were powerless to act in reality. That was what they had been reduced to. And so they had no choice but to rely upon the king's power. The overwhelming, ruinous power of their king.
Takuto gave a silent nod in response to Elder Mortar's words, which carried the weight of a prayer.
And he pondered. What to do now, he thought.
The situation could not be called good.
The fact that Takuto himself was unharmed was the best possible outcome in that it meant he had outmaneuvered his opponent. But above all else, Atou was still lost.
The character he trusted most from his heart, with whom he had shared so much of his former life.
And in this current life, the most precious existence with whom he had sworn to realize their shared dreams.
She had been snatched from right before his eyes.
Takuto quietly marveled slightly at his own inability to lose his composure in such circumstances.
He began to speak calmly, in a voice devoid of emotion, as if such things had never existed from the start.
"Having Atou stolen is the greatest failure. I never imagined an existence capable of seizing ownership through such a method. Following the RPG... this is a troublesome power."
"Lady Atou is an irreplaceably vital person for our nation. We shall devote our entire being to the recovery operation, sir!"
Their words were spirited, but the fact that they were outmatched could not be shaken.
With the authority granted to the Elful sisters as the new witches, they might be able to press their opponent.
Even so, Atou, who possessed such overwhelming power, had been brainwashed without recourse.
Moreover, all of the Dark Elves' attacks had been evaded through invisible means.
Even if they simply led their soldiers to attack the enemy, the success rate of the recovery had to be considered low.
Takuto likely understood this well.
He merely nodded at Old Mortar's words, offering no reply.
In that situation, the old sage felt an indescribable discomfort.
Having clung so long to the king's mercy to enjoy their peace, he was now burdened by an indescribable emotion toward their own powerlessness when their lord faced a crisis.
But that was not all.
(Oh, what terrible rage...)
For some time now, a crushing weight, as if a massive boulder had been loaded onto his back, had enveloped him.
Though Takuto feigned calm with his words, the swirling tempest of emotions within him leaked out, threatening to crush the elder Mortar beneath its force.
The King of Ruin was a being beyond human understanding.
He had thought he knew this well, but now, facing Ira Takuto directly, he even began to doubt how deeply he had truly comprehended it.
"…………"
A quiet moment fell.
The darkness wrapping Takuto was deep and stagnant. In Mortar's eyes, it seemed as though an eerie void, carved out from the world itself, and an abyss stood there.
Ira Takuto's safety was, above all else, a joyous occasion.
Yet, right now, the king before him was so terrifying, unbearably terrifying.
Time flowed—only a few minutes.
After a while, Takuto, his thoughts seemingly gathered, quietly looked at the elder Mortar.
Then, lifting his gaze to the sky and confirming the waning moon floating there, he began to relay his strategy for retaking Atou and exacting revenge upon the attackers.
"First, can we keep this matter secret? You can tell a select few like Gear and Emuru, but fundamentally, I don't want it spoken of to anyone else."
"But... but, Your Majesty... all of the subordinates are utterly disheartened. If we do not announce the King's well-being here, their spirits may break entirely."
Elder Mortar hurriedly raised an objection to the command. Normally, any word other than assent would have been impermissible, but the circumstances surrounding them were the problem.
The Dark Elf and Mynoghra subordinates were spiritually exhausted.
For the Mynoghra units, who were fundamentally beings detached from humanity, the strain wasn't as severe. However, the dejection among the Dark Elves was particularly impossible to overlook.
If this continued, there was even a danger that some might act out of desperation, causing problems with internal discipline. The thought was to announce the King's well-being as soon as possible.
"Oh, rest assured. It won't be for that long. Just a few days, perhaps. I need a little time."
"In that case, perhaps it can be arranged..."
At those words, a weight lifted from their chest.
Elder Mortar judged that the king likely wanted time to plan his next moves. During a period of confusion, information gathering and control were paramount first steps. Given that the enemy's forces had not yet been fully analyzed, he probably wished to avoid causing further chaos by openly proclaiming the king's survival. One never knew where spies might be lurking. If any were to carry word of the king back, it would squander the very advantage that had just been born. Their opponents still believed the Demon Lord of Ruin, Takuto Ira, was dead. This had to be exploited.
"I see. That is a relief."
"Is... is there anything else we can do? If it is within our power, we will work with all our might."
"No, that's right... Elder Mortar, there is something I need you to do. First, I'd like to speak with the Elful sisters. They're surely asleep by now, aren't they?"
The sisters had been informed of the events that transpired with the king. Though their exact reaction to the messenger was unknown, they were undoubtedly in a state of high alert. They were now Mynoghra's remaining primary fighting force; their value had increased even further.
"It's quite late to be putting them to work, but is it alright to meet with them now?"
A crescent moon hung in the sky.
Night was their time.
The next day in Dragontan.
Early in the morning, Elder Mortar was heading toward one of the meeting rooms in the city hall, accompanied by Gear and Emuru.
After the previous events, their King had stated she wished to consult with the Elful sisters on a matter and had secluded herself in the meeting room, admitting no one else.
During that time, Mortar had been busy disseminating information to the former heads of Mynoghra, conducting backroom preparations, and laying groundwork for future possible policies.
Having thus re-internalized every scrap of domestic intelligence, he had intended to discuss the safe return of Takuto and outline a future course of action, but...
"Wh-What did you sayyyyyyy!?"
Elder Mortar's cry echoed loudly through the hall.
The situation he confronted was utterly different from what he had imagined, and above all, utterly unforgivable.
Trembling and unable to process the report as reality, Elder Mortar opened and closed his mouth wordlessly.
Gear and Emuru, whom he had brought along, also stared wide-eyed in shock at the news.
Watching their reactions, the twin sisters Celia and Mearia wore expressions that seemed to say, "See, we told you," though the look defied simple description.
"Is... Is what you said just now true? That the King departed alone!?"
In other words.
It was the information that Demon Lord Takuto Ira had set off alone toward the Holy Kingdom of Quolia to aid the hero Atou.
At the old man's stunned words, the two sisters nodded deeply once more.
This was the reason Takuto had consulted only with the two of them the previous night.
Having already decided on the broad strokes of his plan, he had conveyed its contents at bullet speed to the groggy pair and then promptly left the city himself.
It was a choice no one could have predicted, one utterly beyond common sense.
"Why didn't you tell us!?" The rebuke came swiftly. "It is unthinkable for the King to venture out without an escort! Even you two should understand that much!"
Of course, the Elful sisters were not the sort who couldn't understand reasoning of that level.
They had warned him it would absolutely cause problems, and they had tried to stop him, saying it was far too dangerous and reckless.
But the king's decision was to sortie alone.
He stubbornly refused to budge from his resolve to single-handedly charge into what was likely the enemy's stronghold—the Holy Kingdom of Quolia.
"The king wants to show everyone something amazing, he said."
"We told him too, but once he orders something, we can't refuse. He also forbade us from telling anyone else. He said to keep quiet until morning."
"Persuading the king to change his mind despite that—that is the duty of a loyal retainer, is it not!!"
The sisters pressed both hands over their ears in distaste at the piercing scream that echoed through the room.
They had known this would happen. They had known, without a shadow of a doubt, that it would come to this.
Surprising the enemy with the king's unorthodox strategy certainly had a certain degree of effectiveness, they supposed.
More than anything, the king himself had made the decision. There was no one in this world who could overrule it.
But there was one decisive, fatal flaw—when it was put into practice, they would be the very first ones to take the blame.
Carrie had not yet forgotten the grudge from when she had timidly protested this point, only for him to say with complete nonchalance, "Well, just fudge your way through it somehow," as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
That said, Takuto must have had some reservations after hearing both of their objections, because he had prepared something—improvised though it was—that might just help them break through this situation.
"Carrie. Now is the time to bring that out."
"Understood!"
At Mearia's signal, Carrie produced a pristine white memo sheet from her breast pocket.
Even that nearly drew a rebuke from old Mortar, demanding they listen properly—but at Carrie's words of "It's a message from the king," his mouth snapped shut.
"It's a riddle from the king to Grandpa Mortar."
"It's something important, so everyone try to think about it too, okay?"
And so, the memo was spread on the table for them to see.
But... its contents were again utterly unexpected.
"What! This is!!"
"How could this possibly...?"
Gia and Emuru were stunned, and the old Mortar held his breath.
What lay there was a list questioning the means by which the king had escaped that crisis.
It went as follows—
One. Atou’s attack did indeed strike me directly, and it was a fatal blow.
One. The Saint Soarina’s attack (flames) were also fatal to me.
One. I possessed no recovery skill capable of healing my own wounds.
One. The one who received the attack was my true self, not a double, separate being, body double, or illusion.
One. I did not die and revive, including a restart.
One. I escaped this crisis without any third party’s intervention.
One. This entire series of events is all reality.
"Well then, how about it? This is the assignment given to you by the king."
"If you solve the riddle, we’ll relay the king’s orders."
Uncharacteristically, a heavy silence descended upon them.
And for good reason. Such a thing was impossible.
Elder Mortar had not simply passed the previous evening doing nothing.
Amidst processing various leftover tasks, he had been contemplating what means King Takuto Ira used to escape that desperate situation.
Yet the conditions that seemed to negate every one of his hypotheses left only the words "impossible" spinning through his head, breeding only confusion.
Even Elder Mortar was in such a state.
Gia, and of course Emru, were also staring with troubled expressions at the characters written on a single sheet of paper.
(Oh, it's gotten quiet)
(We should slip out slowly like this, big sis)
(Tiptoe~ sneak~ ♪)
This was the secret strategy the twin sisters had received from Takuto.
He had told them that posing this inquiry would buy them some time.
Well, as that time passed, the fury of Elder Mortar and the others would surely subside, and calm reason would return.
Once that happened, they could move from discussing what had happened to more practical future responses. They could also relay the orders they had received from the king.
Yes, the Elful sisters had received various directives.
Their job was not merely to wait here for the king's infiltration results without doing anything.
On the contrary, they had a mountain of tasks to complete within the allotted time.
That operation—the Atou Recapture Operation conveyed to them by the king—had been enough to leave them dumbfounded last night...
"It's going to be one big festival, huh~"
The two of them slipped out of the room and made a dash for it.
As they ran down the corridor, Mearia spoke up.
"Yes. In that festival, everyone will see... the king's true power."
Surely everyone would be surprised.
And they would know—that the King of Ruin was not merely a soft-hearted, nepotistic leader.
He was, in truth, the one who would bring about the end of the world.
When I heard from the messenger that the king had died, my first reaction was "impossible."
There was no way the king could die. He had promised to revive their mother, so he couldn't wither away in a place like this.
Above all, the preternatural intuition that I could understand precisely because I possessed the power of a hero eloquently told me that the king would never die.
Now, I had to prepare what was asked of me.
They had so much to do.
The Elful sisters began bustling with preparations for that moment.