“Is this the place?”
“Yes. This is definitely the location written in the note.”
Answering the First Wife, Dane looked around with interest.
“They seem to have chosen quite a clever location. I do not know who these <Seekers> are, but they are remarkably…… thorough.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, I suppose you are not accustomed to this sort of thing, my lady.”
Dane smiled.
“After all, even within the family, you were never particularly talented in black magic.”
“…….”
“It truly is a pity. Had you possessed the talent, perhaps by now you would have become Ralke’s…….”
“Shut up.”
The First Wife glared at Dane.
“If you mention that subject in front of me one more time, I will not let you off.”
“How?”
Dane tilted his head.
“Ah, are you planning to ‘order’ me? I would welcome that. You know you do not have many chances left to give me orders, do you? Perhaps one major order, or two or three minor ones?”
“……!”
“Then I would be grateful. You would be granting me freedom over such a trivial reason, would you not?”
The First Wife’s face turned deathly pale.
Because it was true.
The only reason she could control a vicious hound like Dane was because she still held his leash.
Without that leash, the first person that vicious hound would tear apart would be the First Wife herself.
- I will give you an ‘excellent card.’
Before she married into Messiah, Duke Ralke had given her Dane as a gift.
Dane was a Half-Demon.
And not just any Half-Demon, but a special one with the blood of a high-ranking demon noble flowing through him.
He possessed tremendous power, and his mastery of black magic was considerable as well.
Dane had dirtied his hands countless times at her command.
He assassinated those who might stand in the way of her plans, or destroyed them with curses.
After giving him countless orders over the years, the compulsive force she had left to control Dane was now nearly exhausted.
Dane asked.
“Then will you ‘order’ me?”
“…….”
The First Wife squeezed her eyes shut.
She had brought Dane here in preparation for any unforeseen situation.
There would be no need to ‘order’ Dane here.
She would resolve everything safely before it ever came to that.
But if, by some chance, a situation arose in which she had to give Dane an ‘order’…….
‘I’ll kill that thing.’
That order would be used to kill Dane.
The First Wife’s eyes gleamed viciously.
***
“It’s the First Wife.”
Looking at the First Wife not far away, Deckard spoke as though it were no great matter.
“We could simply kill them all. Why are you taking such a roundabout route?”
“It would be troublesome if we killed her. Well, even if that caused problems, it wouldn’t matter too much…….”
“So this is not part of some grand plan?”
“That’s right.”
Deckard smirked at my answer.
“You draw up rather impressive grand plans for someone who has only been alive for ten years.”
“They’ve worked so far, haven’t they?”
“That they have.”
Deckard grimaced as he continued.
“Besides, if what we learned about this whole affair really is ‘true’…… then my real enemy is the Ducal House of Ralke itself.”
“Are you going to take revenge?”
“Do you even need to ask?”
Deckard answered.
“I will stake everything I have and show them hell.”
Well, of course he would.
I nodded at Deckard’s words, then looked toward the First Wife, who was almost upon us.
“Sir Deckard, watch your expression.”
“I’m wearing a mask anyway. What does it matter?”
“That’s true.”
I gave a faint laugh and waited for the First Wife.
Before long, she arrived before me.
Jet-black hair and black eyes.
She looked as though darkness itself had been given form.
It was also a characteristic of the Ralke bloodline.
The First Wife stopped several steps away and stared at me.
“……Are you one of the <Seekers>?”
“I am.”
“You speak rather rudely.”
“I do not know how to speak respectfully to humans. Even less so to one who has committed such discourtesy.”
The First Wife frowned at those words.
Struggling to suppress the trembling in her voice, she asked me.
“My…… son?”
“If you mean the First Young Master, he’s here.”
I lightly snapped my fingers.
Schubert’s body dropped out of thin air.
“……!”
The First Wife’s eyes widened.
She looked ready to rush toward Schubert at any moment, but she forced herself to remain where she was.
“What do you want?”
“Let’s see. What do I want…….”
With those words, I subtly glanced toward Kravalt’s scrawny body.
“Madam, you’re not stupid. From the moment you received that note, didn’t you already have some idea of ‘what’ we wanted?”
“…….”
“If you have guessed what I am, there is no way you do not know what I want.”
The First Wife glared at me coldly.
“Kravalt’s heart?”
“So Ralke had it after all. Then the heart that was inside Kravalt’s body was not the real one?”
“……!”
Deckard’s shoulder flinched beside me.
If the First Wife nodded to my question, it would mean Kravalt’s rampage had been directly connected to Ralke.
“Anyway…… a Demonic Dragon’s heart becomes so heavily corrupted that it is impossible to distinguish. Even if you substitute it with ‘something else,’ no one can tell.”
“Ah, right. That’s true.”
I answered casually and glanced toward Deckard.
He did not show it openly, but the eyes visible through his mask were bloodshot.
The First Wife had practically confessed to Ralke’s crime with her own mouth.
“So, did you bring the heart?”
“Do you intend to revive Kravalt? Even if you have his heart, there is no way that could be…….”
“That’s my concern.”
With those words, I raised my sword and lightly stabbed Schubert in the neck.
SQUELCH.
The tip of the sword sank in, and drops of blood trickled down.
“Stop!”
The First Wife, her face drained of color, shouted urgently.
Clutching her chest, she spoke.
“I-I brought it! I brought it! I happened to have it with me!”
“To keep him under control, I assume.”
“Yes, so……!”
With those words, the First Wife hurriedly pulled something from her clothes.
A wooden box about the size of her palm.
Of course, that was only what it looked like from the outside.
It was an expensive sealing device made of premium materials and treated with magic.
“Would you fetch it for me, comrade?”
I said to Deckard.
He nodded, then retrieved the wooden box the First Wife had placed on the ground.
The moment I opened the box, I felt an immense amount of mana.
“It’s real.”
I understood instinctively.
What lay inside this wooden box was Kravalt’s true heart.
After confirming its contents, I immediately handed the wooden box to Kravalt.
Kravalt stroked the heart with trembling eyes.
“It truly is my heart.”
“I see.”
With those words, I removed the sword aimed at Schubert’s neck.
“Unlike humans, we keep our promises without fail. Because we know that mana remembers promises.”
With those words, I lightly pushed Schubert with my foot, sending him over to the First Wife.
The First Wife hurriedly gathered her son into her arms.
Only after confirming that there was nothing seriously wrong with Schubert did she finally let out a sigh of relief.
“My, what impressive maternal devotion.”
“……Are you prepared for the consequences? You made enemies of two of the Four Great Houses just to obtain a Dragon Heart.”
“Oh? The moment you get your hostage back, you immediately bare your hostility? That doesn’t seem like a particularly wise choice.”
I tapped the mask covering my face.
“Are you confident you can make it out of here alive against us?”
“If I weren’t, I would never have come. And I know the rules of dragons.”
Still holding Schubert in her arms, the First Wife began retreating one step at a time.
“Dragons cannot use their power recklessly, can they? Not unless they become a Demonic Dragon like Kravalt.”
“…….”
“If you truly are a dragon, then now that you have received your payment, you cannot take our lives. That is your rule.”
As expected of the First Wife.
As a direct descendant of Ralke, she certainly possessed the necessary knowledge.
Dragons were indeed such a race.
Besides, if I wanted to play the role of a dragon, I also needed to remain faithful to that ‘setting.’
However.
“When did I ever say I had received ‘all’ of my payment?”
“……!”
“The heart was something you were supposed to return in the first place. You stole it as you pleased, yet you have the audacity to claim ownership over it. How shameless.”
The First Wife gritted her teeth.
With tension plain on her face, she asked me.
“What payment…… do you want?”
“You took something precious from one of my kind, so we should take something ‘valuable’ from you as well.”
With those words, I pointed toward the black mage standing quietly beside the First Wife.
“Hand over that black mage.”
“……!”
The First Wife’s eyes widened.
“Dane?”
“That’s right. I will take that black mage called ‘Dane’ as payment.”
With those words, I turned my gaze toward Dane.
Even though the discussion was proceeding entirely without regard for his wishes, Dane was smiling.
Well, of course.
That was the kind of bastard you were.
“What will you do?”
“…….”
The First Wife’s eyes darted rapidly.
I knew exactly why she was hesitating like that.
Of course I did.
I had been ‘Number One.’
I knew what kind of existence Dane was and what sort of relationship he had with the First Wife.
I also knew how much ‘command authority’ she had left at this point.
That was precisely why I was doing this.
“I can see the thread of the contract binding you and that black mage…… no, that Half-Demon.”
I could not actually see it, but saying it this way sounded more convincing.
In any case.
“Give him an order. It’s simple, isn’t it?”
“Th-that…….”
The First Wife could not answer immediately.
But after a moment, the conclusion she reached was neither option.
The First Wife stepped backward.
And in an instant, she pulled ‘something’ from her clothes.
I did not bother stopping her and simply let her take it out.
Because I already knew what it was.
The moment the First Wife activated it, she gave Dane an ‘order.’
“This is my final order, Dane.”
“Ha, your final one?”
Dane snorted.
“What is the order?”
The mark around the First Wife’s wrist suddenly flared with light.
But the First Wife’s command did not end there.
“<Stop them.>”
Then she continued.
“<After that, kill yourself.>”
Immediately after giving the order, the First Wife vanished in a flash of light.
Dane was left behind, abandoned by the First Wife, standing before us.
“Well now, I’ve been betrayed.”
Dane spoke with an utterly unconcerned expression as he looked at me.
BOOM.
At the same time, an enormous amount of demonic energy began swirling around Dane.
“To be perfectly honest, ending this peacefully would be ideal, but I am in a position where I have no choice but to obey the order.”
“And the suicide?”
“Well, yes. I suppose that will happen as well.”
Dane spoke of his own death as though it were nothing and raised a hand.
FWOOSH!
Flames blazed fiercely above his palm.
They were no ordinary flames, but Demonic Flame formed through sophisticated black magic.
“To tell you the truth, I realized quite some time ago that you are not actually a dragon.”
“Is that so.”
“Therefore, allow me to offer my modest condolences. Unless you happen to be a Master…….”
“Ah, I’m not a Master.”
I grinned and continued.
“Me, that is.”
“……Pardon?”
Dane’s eyes widened.
And before he could react, Deckard appeared directly behind him.
“Wait, don’t tell me……!”
Dane belatedly tried to respond to the ambush, but Deckard was even faster.
THWACK!
Deckard struck Dane in the neck.
The flames Dane had manifested vanished without a trace.
Dane immediately lost consciousness and collapsed limply.
“But Young Master, is there a reason to take him alive? You said he’s a Half-Demon.”
“Yes, there is. It’s certainly true that Half-Demons are ominous beings, but…….”
I recalled my previous life.
Dane had been one of the ‘associates’ I knew well.
We had been fairly close, especially because the fact that we were both slaves had given us a certain sense of kinship.
That was why I knew him well.
“He’s quite useful.”
“Oh?”
Yes.
He was useful.
Extremely so.