It was several hours after Ermes and Katia left the village.
"Are you the village chief here?"
Beside him stood a silver-haired youth and a beautiful blonde girl, with a host of menacing soldiers behind him — and at the center, a resplendent golden-haired young man.
Second Prince Aster addressed the village chief with an imperious attitude.
"Yes, that is correct, but..."
"I'll get straight to the point. A pair — a purple-haired woman and a silver-haired man — should have visited this village. Tell me when they left and where they went."
This was less a question and more a command. The village chief was silent for a moment before responding.
"— I don't know."
He answered flatly.
"What?"
"At the very least, I am unaware of any such pair visiting. Either they entered and left this village without my knowledge — or you are simply mistaken."
"Oh?"
Aster narrowed his eyes.
His pressure intensified, and Chris, Sara, and the soldiers behind him held their breath.
"You say I'm... mistaken?"
"I am merely saying it is a possibility. Perhaps the villagers might know something. Shall I go and ask? Though in that case, it would take some time..."
"..."
The village chief answered with such nonchalance despite the circumstances. Aster was silent for a moment.
"...Fine. Stand down."
"Huh?"
The voice of confusion came from the soldiers behind him.
No one rebuked it. Because everyone was thinking the same thing.
That village chief's attitude was the kind that would normally provoke Aster's wrath. The question of why he was letting it go—
—was answered by a single remark Aster made once he'd led the soldiers away from the village, out of earshot.
"I'm going to burn that village."
No one understood at first. But gradually, as the meaning sank in — this was no joke — shock spread all at once.
"W-Wait, burn it — you don't mean—!"
"Yes. My magic will reduce it all to ashes."
"Why!?"
"Because that village chief lied to me."
When a soldier voiced the obvious question, Aster responded as if the answer should already be clear.
"As I explained to you, prisoners in that prison have a spell placed on them to prevent escape. It continuously emits a unique Magic Power Trace in the surrounding area for a set period. We tracked those traces here, and since they exist in that village, it's certain those two visited. Yet that village chief told me otherwise."
"But, but there's a possibility he simply didn't notice—!"
"Impossible. That man was deceiving me. One look at his eyes tells me that much."
Incidentally, by pure coincidence, his deduction happened to be correct.
Even so, the soldiers around him couldn't fathom the decision to burn an entire village. Undeterred, Aster continued.
"Besides, what are those large holes around the fence? There appear to be strange contraptions on top as well."
"Those are... likely the village's unique method of dealing with Monsters. They lure Monsters into the large holes and then use what are probably catapults above to crush them—"
"Oh? So the villagers — commoners without Bloodline Magic — are attempting to slay Monsters on their own?"
"Y-Yes. Being in a border region, there are times when noble-led extermination campaigns can't keep up, so it's a natural means of self-defense—"
"That won't do."
The soldier's assessment was accurate, but Aster dismissed it outright.
"What is that nonsense? Slaying Monsters is the duty of us nobility, and being protected by us is the duty of commoners. For commoners to presume to imitate nobility — the audacity. In other words, they're expressing dissatisfaction with noble rule."
"Wh—"
"There are limits to arrogance. Such dangerous elements had better be eliminated now, for the good of the country."
He justified it.
Using every twisted piece of logic he could muster, turning anything and everything into material for denigration, and driving home the point that eliminating that village was the right thing to do.
Burning the village was for the good of the country. It was absolutely — not because the village chief's gaze had irritated him, a gaze that seemed to mock him, as though comparing him to someone else.
He convinced himself of this and steeled his resolve to act.
"B-But! Couldn't you show some mercy? Right now, the priority should be searching for Katia — we could simply follow the Magic Power Trace regardless of this village—"
"Do you still dare to talk back to His Highness!"
The soldiers attempted to voice more objections, but they were cut off by a sharp rebuke from a different direction.
"What His Highness says is surely correct! Rather, you should be grateful that you haven't been executed yet — that itself is His Highness's mercy!"
"C-Chris..."
"Don't overstep, Chris. But what he says is true."
Aster's affirmation. Pleased by this, Chris continued with an obsequious grin.
"Thank you! So, shall we proceed immediately?"
"No. At this hour, some people are still out of the village. If we're going to do it, it'll be at night when all the villagers have returned. Then my Bloodline Magic will reduce it all to ashes before they can even notice."
And so, though bewilderment still lingered, there was no one left who could stop Aster.
The village remained outwardly peaceful. The villagers working outside gradually returned, the sun set.
And then.
◆
"...What... is this..."
Red.
The cruel color of flames, blazing bright against the darkness of night. Spreading across the very spot where a village had stood — a village they had visited not even half a day ago.
Within the flames, the familiar buildings were gradually blackening and collapsing — a scene unfolding before their very eyes.
Ermes and the others, led by Lina, arrived at the scene.
Katia cried out with an expression of despair.
"Th-What about the villagers!? Don't tell me—!!"
"— Please calm yourself, Lady Katia."
A gentle voice came from the side. Turning around, they saw the village chief standing there.
Behind him, they could also make out many villagers — including the men who had been digging the moat.
"Lina acted on her own, and I apologize for that. But please rest assured — I confirmed the safety of all villagers just a short while ago. There are injuries, but not a single death."
"Ah... r-right. Even His Highness wouldn't go so far as to—"
"...No."
The village chief mercilessly cut through Katia's hopeful speculation — that even Aster wouldn't go this far.
"That prince intended, without question, to burn us all to the ground. He was thorough enough to wait until nightfall for that very purpose. ...But then..."
"A beautiful blonde came and saved us."
"Huh?"
The unexpected information from one of the male villagers surprised not only Katia but Ermes as well.
"She showed up alone around dusk, with a desperate look on her face, saying 'You have to flee right now!'"
"She kept saying we'd be killed if we stayed, and at first I couldn't believe it, but..."
"She said she was a friend of Lady Katia's."
"!"
"She was so desperate, and knowing Katia by name, we decided to trust her and flee — and thank god we did."
"...Lady Sara, you say? That she would do such a thing..."
She was probably accompanying Aster. If her actions had saved the villagers, it was something to be grateful for.
— But, looking at it from the other side.
If Sara hadn't been there, Aster would unquestionably have burned this village and every last villager in it.
He had heard the situation from Lina on the way here. Indeed, lying to royalty was a crime — but to go this far, for that...
And even though the villagers' lives were saved—
"Ah... our village..."
"That house... it was full of memories..."
"The fields are all ruined too... and that catapult — we worked so hard to build it...!"
What they had lost was undeniably vast.
"...Again."
Katia's murmur hung in the air.
"Again, because of me... because I got involved, dragged them into this...!"
"L-Lady Katia, that's—"
He thought this was bad.
It was true that this devastation had been caused by those pursuing Katia.
But it was his own miscalculation — he hadn't anticipated such precise and rapid tracking. Katia was not to blame.
Just as he was about to offer words of comfort—
"Oh? To think I'd run into you here."
A voice filled with delight. Pushing through the tall grass came a young man with the same hair and eyes as Ermes.
"I came thinking there might be village stragglers, but I never expected this! It seems God is on my side!"
"...Brother."
"Ha! How many times have I told you — you have no right to call me brother!"
Chris von Frenbreed.
Seeing this scene, the expression on his face said everything about what he thought of his master's actions.
"...You didn't stop him."
That was why Ermes asked.
"Stop what?"
"His Highness Aster committing such an act — didn't you feel anything about it?"
"Ha! What's this — saying it's cruel or tragic or whatever? Why would I feel anything!"
Without dropping his joyful grin, Chris answered loudly.
"Listen here — His Highness Aster is the most outstanding person in this entire country! And I, as his right hand, understand him better than anyone, serve him closer than anyone! The fault lies with you for not following His Highness, and this is simply the fitting punishment!"
"..."
"In the first place, you're just commoners living out in the middle of nowhere! What, a hundred of you at most? What difference does it make if you die?! Rather, you've served as a demonstration of what happens when you defy His Highness — you should be proud that you've become stepping stones on His Highness's path to supremacy!!"
"—!!"
At those words.
Katia, who had been sunk in depression, rose up with fury.
But — he stopped her with his hand.
"Erm! Why are you stopping me, this guy is—!"
"Lady Katia. May I ask one selfish favor?"
Katia paused.
It was because of the unexpected words, and because his voice had settled into an unnaturally calm tone.
"Leave him to me. Alone."
"...Erm."
Katia caught her breath, and Chris's eyes twisted with even greater pleasure.
"...Fine. But you must win — no, make him regret it. For drawing a blade against the people he should have protected, and for spewing those vile words."
"Leave it to me."
Chris, for some reason, was waiting with an air of supreme confidence.
The last time he fought Ermes, he had been thoroughly and straightforwardly crushed — so how could he be this self-assured?
He probably had some kind of advantage — but regardless, Ermes had no intention of losing, not even by a fraction.
"Well, I suppose there's no helping it... His Highness did say he'd handle things after me, but he's resting now. If I drag these two to him now, it'd only cause trouble... Yeah, no helping it. No helping it at all."
Chris muttered to himself for a bit, then spread both arms with a face full of manic laughter.
"Come then, Ermes! As your former brother, I'll give you one last lesson! Unlike you, you'll learn what the real difference is between you and someone truly chosen!!"
"No thank you. I've already learned quite enough from you."
The bad parts — as a cautionary tale.
Swallowing those words, both raised their respective magic power.
"Six are the holy bows, one is the magic bullet; its trigger is the arm of the false god!"
"Thus was the world created; the infallible truth is recorded here; throughout all heaven and earth without distinction, it is for the sake of the sole miracle!"
Both manifested their magic.
The longest-running entanglement between brothers in Ermes's life — the battle to settle it had begun.