After the battle ended, Ermes and Lucius returned to Liliana's camp. First, they confirmed that everyone was safe and accounted for, then reported everything they had experienced.
Every piece of it was met with astonishment by everyone. The mysterious humanoid monster. Its extraordinary power, enough to overwhelm even both Ermes and Lucius working together. A special ability that bore a striking resemblance to Ermes's own magic replication. And then.
"'Herc...!'"
The one most shocked by the final piece of news was, as expected, Liliana.
The mastermind behind that coup d'état—the person who was undoubtedly at the center of the whole chain of disturbances beginning with the incident at the Royal Capital. Why had he been doing what he did, in a place like that?
There were many unknowns—the monster's true identity, the mystery of its existence, and so on—but...
"...For now,"
let's start with what's closest at hand.
At the very least, there was someone present who appeared to know at least part of the full picture. Ermes turned his gaze toward them.
"What that thing is, and why His Highness the First Prince—who should be sitting on the throne—was fighting it. Could you tell us? —Members of the King's personal unit."
Asked directly, the members of the unit—led by their captain—nodded.
For the time being, the discussion began, based on exchanging information between both sides, in order to understand the current situation.
◆
"...As for what kind of being that thing is, we don't know."
That was the first thing the captain said upon opening his mouth.
"What we know for certain is this: it is a monster in human shape. It possesses power on a completely different level from any monster seen before. And... it harbors killing intent toward us to a degree that makes dialogue impossible."
"...I'd imagine so."
That much was undeniable even for those who had faced it directly. Between the level of power that had taken both Ermes and Lucius together just to fight on even terms... and the feeling from when they'd exchanged words.
"We could communicate in words, but not in meaning. Its values, its thought processes—everything about it was entirely different from us. That was the impression I received."
If anything, the fact that words could be understood made it worse.
"Yes. ...Therefore, His Majesty and we decided, from six months before that thing appeared, to dedicate everything beyond the bare minimum of state affairs to its extermination. To prevent that monster from ever entering the country. And to ensure it would never be seen by the eyes of our citizens."
"? Why is that?"
There, Lucius raised an objection.
"I understand that His Majesty and you are all quite formidable... but that thing is nothing one ordinary person could handle alone. It's clearly a catastrophe the entire nation should mobilize to defeat. Shouldn't you be requesting cooperation from the other noble families to ensure its destruction?"
"...There are two reasons for that, eldest son of Frodeit."
To what was, if anything, a perfectly natural question, the captain gave his answer in order.
Why they could not request cooperation from other noble families.
The first reason was that thing's—Karma's—characteristic ability. Given its nature of replicating any magic it witnessed, challenging it with multiple nobles—in other words, multiple Bloodline Magic users—risked having every single one of those spells copied by it.
Adding half-hearted military strength could actually work in its favor. That was why, as Herc had been doing just moments ago, the standard approach against Karma was to take a single mage—or a small elite force—and push their power to the absolute limit.
"As for the second reason... I want you to think about what it would mean for that monster to enter the Royal Capital and be seen by the people—for the monster's existence to become public knowledge."
"Meaning?"
Lucius tilted his head in confusion... but Ermes had already more or less figured it out.
A few others seemed to have reached the same conclusion, and Katia answered on their behalf.
"A being with that level of power and a human-like appearance exists. In other words, there are beings that cannot be distinguished from humans at a glance."
"!"
"In other words, if it so chose, it could blend in among people. A being with power far beyond humanity, harboring killing intent toward humans, could walk right beside you and no one would notice. ...That terror would be beyond words, I imagine."
To that concise summary, Niina added on.
"Right. From what I heard, it looks like nothing more than a child... and as for magic power, only Erm and your brother were able to tell it was a monster at first glance, right?"
"...Yes. I was not able to tell."
"In other words—someone at Lilii-sama's level can't do it either. Without magic perception on par with Erm or your brother, it's impossible to determine whether that thing is human or not."
"...Then there are probably fewer than ten people in this entire country who could tell the difference."
That settled it. If many people became aware of its existence, everyone in the country would be forced to live in fear that a killer might be standing right beside them—and that alone—
"—that's not the only problem, is it?"
But.
There, cutting through the group's consensus, Rose—who had been silently watching from the corner until now—spoke up.
The members of the King's personal unit couldn't help but shudder. They had been told beforehand by Liliana that she was an ally, but their instinctive wariness still kicked in.
Paying no attention to them, Rose continued with an expression that revealed nothing of her thoughts.
"...Master?"
"Erm, Katia. If it were just the kind of people you're imagining—cowards who'd panic—that would still be manageable. If its influence were really limited to that level, it would still be more beneficial to mobilize all the nobles and crush it together."
In other words... was there more to it? Was there another reason the King had decided to defeat that monster alone—or rather, that he had to?
Receiving their questioning looks, Rose answered.
"All right, then. Let me give you an example. Say that brother of mine—the King—threw caution to the wind and mustered most of the nobles in the Royal Capital to throw everything at it... and let's say they somehow managed to defeat it."
"..."
"The problem is what comes after. Once you've moved on that large a scale, keeping it secret is utterly impossible. It would spread from noble to noble... and eventually throughout the entire country: apparently, monsters exist that can disguise themselves as humans and be indistinguishable from them. And then, those who are clever—those skilled in the use of power and magic—would think this."
There, she paused.
After looking each person in the eye in turn, she took a breath.
"—Then, couldn't they frame anyone they don't like as a 'monster'?"
"————"
"Say there's someone you want gone—someone who's in your way. But there's no flaw or misdeed sufficient to punish them. In that case, all you have to say is this: 'You might be a monster. If you're not, prove it. If you can't prove that you're not a monster that's disguised itself so well no one can tell the difference, then you are a monster.'"
"Wh—"
"Incidentally, the people around them would probably agree. Nobody wants to live next to someone who might be able to kill them easily. Rather than live in that kind of fear, they'd want to eliminate the person first—even if that person wasn't actually a monster at all."
"Something like that..."
She couldn't say it was impossible. Because Ermes had already encountered such people—who would twist every fact to suit their own convenience—countless times before.
The fact that "monsters exist that can disguise themselves as humans" would hand those people the perfect excuse.
If such methods were allowed to spread, everyone would fall prey to suspicion and mistrust. Laws would lose all meaning—where everything was judged by false accusations and fabrications. It would be like amplifying the worst aspects of this country several times over—
"You can't say it won't happen, can you? Especially not you lot."
Ignoring the stunned expressions on Ermes and the others' faces, Rose continued. But her words were not directed at them—she was addressing the King's personal unit.
"After all, isn't this exactly the same as what you lot did to me back then—calling me a 'Witch'? What, did you actually learn from that experience? That's quite a change—"
"Ro-Rose-sama!"
There seemed to be some kind of history between them. As Rose moved to press the matter with a thin smile that seemed to have no bottom, Liliana called out to her to stop. Realizing that she herself was getting heated up as well, Rose took a breath.
"...You're right. Now isn't the time for this. It's my dear niece's request—let's not dwell on the past here."
Saying that, she released the unconscious pressure she had been exerting.
...Ermes was curious about what had happened to Rose in the past, but she was right—now was not the time.
In any case, they now understood that Karma was not merely powerful, but also extraordinarily troublesome in terms of its influence—a foe that had to be defeated here, no matter what. At the same time, they grasped why the King had been fighting it alone all this time—or rather, why he had had to.
With that settled, came the next question.
"Then... why was His Highness Herc doing what he did? I understand he was facing something that should be defeated—but to do something like that while leaving the Royal Capital unattended..."
Based purely on their impression from that encounter, Herc seemed—strangely—to have been obsessively determined to defeat that thing single-handedly. In fact, he had even emphasized that it was "his prey."
If his only goal were simply to defeat it, those words and that attitude would never have come out.
In response to Ermes's question, the members of the personal unit fell into a heavy silence.
Then the captain spoke first.
"Probably... as an act of atonement."