Chapter 73

In the vicinity of Bornis, General Darius was defeated.

The news spread like wildfire, accompanied by shock, throughout the land.

It reached the slums on the outskirts of Holmenia, the capital of Hormea.

The river that flowed through the center of the capital meandered widely, covering the land with a constant dampness. This land, which had been flooded every time the river swelled, was a place that no one had ever cared about.

In such a place, there was a small slum.

Farmers who had lost their land, criminals who had been expelled from the city, and wanderers who had fled from their homes for various reasons. The faces of the people living in this town were diverse.

And, as if to demonstrate the disorder of such residents, the town itself was chaotic.

The shacks, built by piecing together whatever materials were available, were all different in size, color, and shape. The narrow paths that wove between the houses were complex, like a maze.

From a dilapidated thatched hut in the center of such a slum, laughter echoed.

"Ahahaha! I'm surprised. Yeah, I'm really surprised!"

Contrary to the half-tilted exterior, the inside of the thatched hut was solidly built, and the furnishings, though simple, were all practical and well-provided.

What particularly caught the eye was the bookshelf that covered an entire wall. Letters, wooden tablets, and scrolls written in various languages were neatly arranged.

In such a thatched hut, a young man was literally rolling on the floor with laughter.

"Really, we won! We really won against Darius!"

In front of the letter spread out on the floor, detailing Darius's defeat, the young man, who had lost both his arms, was slapping the soles of his feet together.

"Hey! You're surprised, right, Damia?"

The one addressed was a tall woman with long, flowing red hair. Damia, frowning slightly, asked her master.

"Master Tuto. After all the effort to get close to General Darius, is this all just a waste?"

"Yeah, that's right."

To get close to Darius, they had used all sorts of tricks and taken on jobs that couldn't be spoken of openly to sell their own strength. The effort was not trivial. However, all of that was now in vain due to Darius's downfall.

"Darius's downfall is a great loss. Truly, a great loss."

But despite that, Tuto's expression was bright.

"But, I'm more interested in this one than Darius. Oh, what kind of person is he? What's going on in his head? Yes, I'm excited. Very, very excited!"

At the sight of her master's madness, Damia sighed in exasperation.

"It's fine to be excited, but what do you intend to do?"

At Damia's question, Tuto's laughter abruptly stopped.

Then, with eyes as thin as threads, he looked at her sharply, like a bird of prey eyeing its prey, and said,

"Find out everything about him. His name, face, height, build, hobbies, preferences, birth, history, words, and actions. ——That's not all. What he ate that day, how many cups of wine he drank, what kind of woman he embraced, when he defecated. Everything. Investigate everything."

"Is that all you want?"

Damia suggested, implying that she could do more. However, Tuto shook his head.

"Not yet. But make sure you can act at any time."

After receiving further detailed instructions, Damia bowed to Tuto and left the thatched hut to make the necessary arrangements.

Tuto, left alone, leaned over the letter spread out on the floor, staring intently at its contents.

What was written there was the name by which the leader of the rebellion, spreading from the mouth of a surviving soldier in the country of Hormea, was known.

"……'The Child of Destruction.' Who are you, really?"

No one could answer Tuto's question.

◆◇◆◇◆

And in the border town between the countries of Hormea and Romanya ——

A soldier on a riding dragon galloped through the town, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"What's going on? It's quite a commotion."

Hopkins, a traveling merchant, was buying dried mountain grapes from a street stall. He brushed the dust off his shoulder and grumbled.

"Well, no wonder. The soldiers are all in a panic."

The stall owner, who seemed to know something, handed the bag of dried grapes to Hopkins and said,

"Just between us, one of my regular soldier customers said ——"

He made a show of looking around and then lowered his voice.

"Can you believe it? General Darius, of all people, lost near a town called Bornis. We were all shocked when we heard it!"

"General Darius? Really?"

Hopkins couldn't believe it at first.

"Really, really. Since the messenger with the news arrived two days ago, messengers have been coming every day."

In addition to that, the town of Bornis had been occupied by slaves, and the leader of the slaves was called the 'Child of Destruction,' a terrifying deity of death and destruction, and Darius had fallen from power.

The stall owner, seemingly unable to contain his excitement, told various stories without being asked.

As a token of gratitude, Hopkins paid a few extra copper coins for the dried grapes and headed towards a covered wagon where his family was waiting. When Hopkins called out to the covered wagon, his wife, with a worried look on her face, peered out. She glanced around and asked Hopkins,

"Hey, you. The soldiers seem to be in a panic. Could it be...?"

She didn't finish her sentence, but Hopkins understood what she meant.

She was afraid that their cooperation with Zoan had been discovered and that the soldiers were coming to capture them.

Hopkins put on a particularly bright expression to reassure his wife.

"It doesn't seem to be that. It seems the people of Bornis defeated General Darius."

"General Darius?"

"Yeah. That's why the soldiers are in a panic."

Hopkins climbed onto the driver's seat, saying, "Well, let's go."

"What are you going to do? Go back?"

"No. We'll head to Romanya as planned. I think we're still safe, but we don't know when it might be discovered. ——Besides, there's something I promised to do for that child."

At Hopkins's answer, his wife, who sighed softly, had a young boy peek out from beside her.

"Hey, hey. Is Shahata okay?"

His son, who had grown fond of Zoan, who had taken care of him while he was a hostage, asked in a lisping voice. Hopkins handed him the bag of dried grapes and patted his head.

"Yeah, he'll be fine."

At that answer, the boy smiled and Hopkins patted his head again.

Then, Hopkins gave the dragon pulling the wagon a gentle slap and slowly started moving.

Sitting on the swaying driver's seat of the covered wagon, Hopkins recalled the story he had just heard from the stall owner.

"'The Child of Destruction'... I didn't think it would be such a terrifying child."

◆◇◆◇◆

And in the palace of a neighboring country ——

In the royal garden, where flowers bloomed in all seasons despite it being winter, a young princess played innocently among the flowers. An old king, watching her with a smile, was approached by a courtier.

"Your Majesty, there is something urgent I must report..."

"What a bore. Is it so important that it must interrupt my time with the princess?"

The courtier leaned in and whispered in the old king's ear.

"A rebellion by subhuman slaves in Hormea? And General Darius, who was sent to suppress it, was defeated?!"

"Indeed. The one who defeated Darius is called 'The Child of Destruction.'"

"Hmm. ——Gather everyone immediately."

As the king left the garden, the young princess, who had been watching, whispered the words that had just caught her attention.

"……'The Child of Destruction'?"

◆◇◆◇◆

And in the palace of a small country, where intrigue swirled ——

Despite the bright sunlight streaming through the open windows, the room had a gloomy atmosphere. In this room, a young man was intently working on a wooden board on the wall. The plaster on the board was still fresh and damp. Using a brush and his fingers, the young man was applying various pigments to create a beautiful landscape.

"Your Majesty..."

In a dark corner of the room, a figure had knelt and bowed.

"We have received an urgent report from 'The Root' in Hormea."

"What is it? Speak."

The young man, called 'Your Majesty,' continued to work without stopping his hands.

"In the western town of Bornis in Hormea, Zoan and the slaves have rebelled. The 7,000-strong army led by General Darius, sent to suppress them, has ——"

The young man dipped his little finger in red pigment dissolved in water and was about to apply it to the plaster.

"——suffered a major defeat, losing more than half of their troops to someone called 'The Child of Destruction.'"

The young man's little finger trembled, and the pigment dripped onto the plaster.

For a while, the young man stared at the red droplets on the plaster, then let out a sigh and threw the board to the floor. The board hit the ground with a loud noise, and the plaster, which was almost dry, shattered and scattered.

"General Darius defeated... I never thought..."

The young man stood up and wiped the pigment from his fingers with a cloth on a nearby table.

"Considering Warius's narrow-mindedness, has Darius been demoted?"

"Indeed, Your Majesty. General Darius has been stripped of his rank and the right to attend the council."

The young man covered his mouth with his hand to suppress a laugh. The pigment on his fingers stained his cheeks, but he didn't seem to care.

"Foolish Warius. Darius is an essential color in the painting of Hormea. Removing such a significant color will make it impossible to create a beautiful painting."

With his hands still covered in paint, the young man hastily wrote a few letters. He picked up a candle from a candelabra, dripped hot wax onto the letters, and sealed them with a ring.

"Deliver these to 'The Root' in Hormea and Romanya."

The young man threw the letters to the floor, and the figure, which had been lurking in the dark, crawled out like a worm, picked up the letters, and respectfully held them before disappearing back into the darkness.

The young man, watching this, muttered to himself,

"'The Child of Destruction.' ——I wonder what color you are..."

◆◇◆◇◆

And on the sea ——

On a large island in the Bay of Vennes, south of the maritime trading nation of Jeboah, surrounded by various reefs, a girl was standing.

Despite the cold north wind and the icy water, the girl, wearing only a wide leather belt with shells sewn on like fish scales to cover her chest, was not wearing any warm clothing. Moreover, from her waist down, which was resting on a reef, she was still submerged in the sea.

Water dripped from the ends of her silver hair, tied in a single braid at the back of her head, indicating that she had just emerged from the sea. Yet, she showed no sign of being cold and was staring intently at the distant land.

Suddenly, she reached out to a trident lying on the reef.

"...Sister. You're here. I've been looking for you."

The one who spoke, emerging from the waves, was a girl who looked slightly younger than the first. The girl called 'sister' removed her hand from the trident and asked,

"Is something wrong?"

"His Majesty has summoned you. It seems that in the land, subhuman slaves have rebelled against humans."

The girl's eyes widened slightly, but she soon sighed as if in understanding.

"It finally happened..."

This was something the girl had foreseen.

The persecution of other species by humans and the intensity of it, even from the little she had heard, was enough to make her frown.

It was inevitable that other species would not tolerate such injustice forever. There would come a time when they would rise up against humans.

However, the next words from her sister surprised her.

"But, the one who led the rebellion is a human."

"A human? Impossible. Are you saying a human led the subhumans in battle?"

The girl, shaking her head in disbelief, listened as her sister continued,

"Yes. It's said that a human with terrifying power, calling himself 'The Child of Destruction,' led the rebellion."

"'The Child of Destruction'...?"

Her heart pounded heavily at the unfamiliar name.

Despite never having heard it before, her chest was suddenly filled with a strange excitement.

The girl, who had fallen silent, was met with a puzzled look from