For two years.
Yuto had researched the fall of the Kingdom of Belkain and the circumstances before its destruction as far as he was able.
Belkain had fallen five years ago.
Back when ‘Yuto Belkain’ had been nine years old before the regression.
His royal father, Luke Belkain, had passed away.
It had been a sudden death from illness. Yuto had become king at a young age, but even while carrying out affairs of state, he had enrolled at Maria Academy to pursue his studies.
That had only been possible thanks to aid from the Kingdom of Listal, Belkain's brother nation. The king of Listal had been a close friend of the late Luke Belkain, and that bond had extended to their children.
What would have happened without the king of Listal's help? Yuto's Kingdom of Belkain would likely have been shaken to its foundations.
No matter how loyal the nobles were to the royal family, they could hardly have served a nine-year-old child who knew nothing of the world with perfect devotion merely because he was king.
With the king of Listal's help, Yuto had made it safely through childhood, and with the knowledge and connections he gained at the academy, he had been able to reign as Belkain's king.
All the while, he had investigated his royal father's death. There was much about the sudden death of a man who had been in good health that did not sit right. By that point, Yuto had even learned the truth that Rufus Marigold, the family head of Marigold, had been poisoned, so he had suspected that his father, too, might have been poisoned as part of someone's conspiracy.
While investigating his royal father's death, he had discovered a box in a hidden space within the royal office.
Inside was a small book his father had left behind. It was no simple diary. The book was an indictment of the Constellations who watched human history and amused themselves with it.
Not every Constellation devoted itself to humanity.
Some Constellations saw human lives as a play. They chose a protagonist, subjected that person to cruel trials, and took pleasure in watching a human struggle desperately amid despair. At times, they did not limit the protagonist to a single person. Even the rise and fall of kingdoms was decided solely by a Constellation's amusement, and history itself was no different.
His royal father had reached that truth, and a Constellation had killed him while he was delving further into it.
―That was what Yuto had believed at the time, and he had sworn to avenge his father. He had sought to punish the evil Constellations that manipulated the world to satisfy their desires and defeat every Eclipse that served as their pawn.
Shiro Listal.
Though they shared no blood, Shiro was as close to him as a true brother, and he had supported Yuto's vow.
By hunting down every Eclipse, Yuto and Shiro had severed all the Constellations' limbs. The world became more peaceful than before, and all that remained was to hunt the evil Constellations themselves.
That was what he had believed.
‘Back then, I believed not every Constellation was evil.’
GRIND.
Yuto clenched his teeth.
‘At least...... I believed that ’Broken Star‘ wasn't an evil Constellation.’
The great Constellation that protected Belkain's royal family. The being Yuto had served all his life, who had blessed his resolve and lent him strength on every battlefield. The one who had lit his way so no darkness would fall across the road he walked: ‘Broken Star.’
Yet Broken Star had betrayed Yuto fatally at the moment he needed it most.
[Yuto Belkain. Your role ends here.]
Broken Star's voice, heard on the night Shiro Listal betrayed him. That lightning had struck Yuto and Flokiro, not Shiro.
‘My...... role.......’
Yuto's eyes wavered.
According to the information he had gathered over the past two years, in this world to which he had returned through regression...... there had never been a prince of Belkain named ‘Yuto Belkain.’
It was something he had vaguely suspected. The place where Yuto had awakened after regressing was not Belkain's castle. In this world, Yuto had been a boy from the slums. He had no memories of his parents. Perhaps Yuto's parents did not even exist in this world.
The present Yuto was a castaway who had wandered against the flow of time and fallen into a worldline where he did not exist.
Through that conclusion, Yuto arrived at the truth of ‘why’ Belkain had fallen.
The world before his regression.
His royal father's sudden death.
A kingdom cast into chaos.
A nine-year-old king.
It was a common, predictable scenario. The story of a child king growing through hardship.
He discovered a vast conspiracy surrounding the world and vowed to avenge his father.
Facing the powerful villains known as Eclipses, the little king became a hero acknowledged by everyone in the world. Then he met the woman he loved, married her, and had an adorable daughter.
At the happiest moment of his life, the story turned into a tragedy.
Yuto's life before the regression had been a show staged for the Constellations' pleasure. But in the present world, Yuto did not exist.
That was why Belkain had fallen. The Great Cataclysm that struck Belkain five years ago. The lightning that poured from the sky and the massive earthquake had been no natural phenomena. They were divine punishment the Constellations had inflicted upon Belkain's king, and that punishment had destroyed not only the king but the entirety of Belkain.
‘Because I wasn't there...... Belkain fell.’
It could not be called Yuto's fault.
Yet Yuto felt guilt. He felt rage and hatred. Countless citizens had died screaming in the space of a single night. For no reason beyond drawing close to the truth, the people of Belkain had been buried alongside the royal family.
The weight of that entire tragedy bore down on Yuto's shoulders. Clenching his molars, he glared at the ashes of the extinguished campfire.
There was no need to light another fire.
The ominous night was passing, and morning was coming.
*
Yuto had endured the night with almost no sleep, but he did not feel tired. That was thanks to the stamina enhanced by the stats in his Status Window.
“Are you all right?”
The question, delivered by someone who showed no trace of fatigue, left Levian dumbfounded. She had been chewing on a medicinal herb to restore her energy, but she took out another one and quietly held it toward Yuto.
“Do you...... need some?”
“It can't hurt to eat it.”
Yuto answered as he accepted the herb. He was not tired, but neither was he in perfect condition. They would be entering Belkain in earnest today, so it was best to prepare thoroughly.
After eating the same kind of meal as the day before and washing up, the three of them climbed onto the coachman's seat.
*
The carriage crossed the Rasia Plains, now transformed into a red wasteland.
Only after several hours of travel did the carriage reach Belkain's gates. Belkain had once been praised as the Kingdom of Steel and held dominion over the east, and its enormous gates and towering walls had never once yielded to an enemy assault.
But the gates and walls now retained none of their former glory. Five years ago, on the night of the Great Cataclysm known as the Judgment of the Constellations, the upheaval that swept the kingdom had left hideous scars all across the walls.
The colossal walls, dozens of meters high, had collapsed in several places, and the watchtowers that once surveyed both sides of them had slumped into miserable ruin.
Yuto regarded the gates with cold eyes. Normally, dozens of strong men would have needed to work the pulleys to open those massive doors. Levian hesitated for a moment before speaking to Yuto.
“Let's find another gate.”
The gates could not be opened from the outside.
“Considering that graverobbers and criminals have made it inside, there must be another entrance.”
The scars of the Great Cataclysm still remained plainly visible on the walls. If they circled the perimeter, they should be able to find at least a gap large enough for a person to pass through. And if they threw open the main gates and entered openly, they would draw the attention of those hiding in the ruined city.
Levian's suggestion was reasonable. There was no need to insist on using gates that would not even open and attract attention in the process.
“No.”
But Yuto shook his head. He knew Levian's suggestion was reasonable, but this was one matter on which he could not compromise.
“We're going in through the main gates.”
Yuto climbed down from the coachman's seat and walked toward the enormous, firmly sealed steel gates.
“W-wait, Yuto. You're going in through the main gates? How in the world are you planning to open those.......”
“I.”
Yuto's low voice struck the gates.
“I will not enter through some back door.”
Even if a person named Yuto Belkain had never existed in this world, he was Yuto Belkain, the last king of Belkain.
Levian stared blankly at Yuto's back. What he had just murmured was closer to a private utterance that could not reach her. Yet Levian could hear grief and resolve in those words.
Yuto slowly reached toward the gates. WHOOSH—! Pitch-black haze erupted behind him. Two Void Hands materialized in an instant and pressed against the gates.
The aether in his core vibrated. Reinforced by that aether, the Void Hands turned even darker and swelled to an immense size.
RUMBLE......!
The Void Hands pushed the gates. The steel screamed. The sound of a seal of death that had remained firmly shut for years being torn away by force echoed across the wasteland.
From the slowly widening gap between the gates, Yuto felt powerful resentment.
Yuto ground his teeth at the wails of those who had not survived the Great Cataclysm five years earlier. ―BOOM—! The Void Hands grew even more violent in response to his emotions. Not content merely to open the gates, they shattered the hinges and sent the gates flying into the distance.
“That's impossible.......”
Levian muttered in a daze. She was well aware that Yuto's mysterious power was strong, but seeing him wrench open those enormous gates through brute force surpassed anything she had imagined.
“Let's go in.”
Yuto steadied his breathing before returning to the coachman's seat. Emotion had surged through him at the realization that he had returned to Belkain, but he could not let it show in front of Levian.
“Yes.......”
Levian swallowed hard and nodded. The Iron Horses pulled the carriage through the gates―no, through the massive passage where the gates had once stood.
Levian drew a sharp breath at what soon came into view. The knowledge she had gained from Maria Academy's textbooks felt meaningless. She covered her mouth and hunched her shoulders.
The scene looked like a hell where time had stopped. The city had been swept away by the Great Cataclysm. The ruins of collapsed buildings lay scattered like bones. The stench was horrific as well. It was as if corpses were rotting there―or perhaps the smell truly did come from rotting corpses.
“......!”
Levian flinched at a sound in the distance and turned her head. Hazy figures repeatedly appeared and vanished within the purple fog drifting far away.
They had human forms, but their limbs were mangled. The eye sockets in their faces, twisted with agony, gaped empty without any eyes.
[Why...... us......?]
[So...... hot.......]
[I can't...... breathe.......]
They were the vengeful spirits of citizens who had died on the night of the Great Cataclysm without even managing to scream. They did not directly harm the living, but, unable to pass on, they wandered the fog and cried out in pain.
Yuto stopped the carriage and stared at them. Then he bit his lip, leaped down, and approached the fog.
“Ah.......”
He drew near the fog and reached toward the spirits, but the moment his hand was about to touch them, their forms blended into the fog and vanished. Yuto's shoulders trembled faintly as he clenched his outstretched hand into a fist.
“I'm...... sorry.......”
Yuto's voice trembled. Levian, who had climbed down after him, heard it and froze. But Flokiro did not stop. It approached Yuto and tightly grasped his hand as he stood motionless.
From the sight, Levian sensed a bond between Yuto and Flokiro that she could never understand. She also sensed that their bond was not entirely beautiful.
‘Perhaps, Yuto, you.......’
Levian had begun to suspect something, but she could not bring herself to ask Yuto about it yet.