Prologue

The woman lived alone in a forest hut.

She turned the page of her book in the early afternoon light.

Her name was Hilda.

It happened one day when Hilda was washing her clothes in the river that flowed through the forest. The water was so clear you could see right to the bottom. As she cleaned them, she fantasized about what she would read that evening. Not so long ago, books had been expensive and out of the reach of commoners, but they were coming down in price thanks to the development of the letterpress. Thinking about books made the time fly by. They were Hilda’s only friends.

Hilda happened to look down at her hands and noticed the water was cloudy. It wasn’t because she was sweeping up sand from the riverbed or because her clothes were just that soiled.

The debris was a faint, murky silver.

She looked up and saw a mercury-like liquid flowing toward her.

That made her curious. Packing her laundry into her woven basket, Hilda walked upstream.

She came upon a thicket by the shore. The liquid seemed to be coming from there.

When Hilda peered into the thicket, she let out a little shriek.

There was a creature collapsed in the brush—and not just any creature.

A dragon.

The beast made for a pitiful sight and was wounded all over. Its scales had been peeled off its body, and one of its wings had been torn off at the base. One of its eyes was clouded. The dragon’s silver blood had spilled from its cuts and into the river, flowing to the spot where Hilda had been doing her laundry. That explained the murkiness she had seen.

With the terrifying creature right in front of her, Hilda nearly fled.

But…

“What awful wounds…”

Despite her fear, she decided to approach the dragon. It was half-submerged in the river, but she managed to pull herself up to get a better look at the wounds covering its body.

When she picked up the dragon’s head, its eyes cracked open. Then it glared at Hilda with those dark eyes and said in a low voice, <Woman…don’t you touch me with your filthy hands.>

The dragon’s voice was no voice at all. She heard it not with her ears but in her mind. This was called the True Language. But the dragon’s voice was hoarse, sounding as though his throat had been crushed. It was difficult for Hilda to make out what he was saying. In fact, he did have old scars on his neck that looked like burns.

The dragon twisted around, trying to escape Hilda’s grasp. But he seemed nearly out of strength, for he couldn’t even break out of a frail girl’s arms.

Hilda said to the dragon in human tongue, “Don’t struggle. You’ll aggravate your wounds…”

The dragon stopped moving. But it wasn’t because he was doing as Hilda said. He just happened to lose consciousness again.

Hilda deliberated over what to do. The best thing would be to take the dragon back home, treat him, and let him rest. But she wasn’t strong enough to move such a large creature that far. While the dragon was lean, he was nearly eight meters long. She wouldn’t even be able to drag him for very long.

Leaving the dragon behind for the moment, she headed back. Racing along the forest path, she hurried back to her hut. She was panting and dripping with sweat. She’d left her laundry by the riverside.

What Hilda called home was a dingy wooden hut. It was so crude and rickety that it looked as if a strong wind might blow it over. Nevertheless, it was one of Hilda’s few assets.

And now, she was about to use the most expensive asset that she owned.

She probed around the ashes of her hearth. She had hidden a little bottle there. Inside the vial was a single drop of gold liquid.

Holding it with great care, Hilda returned to the thicket by the river.

She once again took the head of the fallen dragon into her arms. But the creature didn’t open his eyes like before. He no longer had any strength.

She opened the little bottle and let the single remaining drop of fluid fall into the dragon’s great mouth.

This golden fluid was called the Miracle of Life.

It was a wonder drug that could eradicate all wounds and illnesses. But the formula had been lost a century ago, and there was hardly any left in this kingdom. Even a single drop could be bartered for a high price. Hilda had been holding on to it for a rainy day, but just now, she had used it without hesitation.

The Miracle went to work in an instant, and the dragon’s wounds began to heal before her eyes. This would certainly save his life for the time being.

But it couldn’t fix all the dragon’s injuries. A single drop wasn’t enough to fully reverse the damage he had suffered. The drug couldn’t heal old wounds, either. And the dragon had plenty of those; raised scars ran in every direction all over his body.

Hilda continued to hold the dragon, cradling his head in her arms. The slumbering creature occasionally made noises, as if he were having nightmares.

She stroked the dragon’s head, praying the gesture would make his dreams a little sweeter, at least.

Before long, the dragon opened his eyes. The moment he noticed Hilda’s arms around his head, he thrashed and shoved her away. Hilda landed on her bottom in the river’s shallows, causing water to splash around her.

A large shadow fell over Hilda. The dragon’s great maw loomed before her. She felt like he might devour her.

But despite her fear, Hilda soothed the dragon. “It’s all right. I’m not your enemy. Don’t be afraid.”

The dragon wasn’t listening. His eyes were burning with the flames of hostility. He opened his mouth wide and made to crunch Hilda’s head.

But the dragon’s jaws did not clamp down on her.

Suddenly, he moaned and hung his head. It appeared his old injuries were acting up.

Nevertheless, the dragon exerted himself to try to kill Hilda. But the exertion aggravated his wounds, making silver blood ooze out of them. Moreover, it appeared he still couldn’t move as he wanted.

Hilda saw the trickles of blood and panicked. She cried, “Don’t flail around! I don’t have any more of the Miracle…”

<The Miracle…?> The dragon’s eyes widened in shock, and he backed down. Perhaps he understood she’d parted with the medicine to save his life.

But the creature was still glaring at her, a blaze of hatred burning in his eyes. And Hilda knew those flames—it was the gaze of an animal that had endured torment from humans.

Hilda addressed the dragon as quietly as she could. “You’re quite weak—so weak that your tenacious powers of regeneration aren’t quite working right. That means you can’t flail around. You have to rest somewhere.”

The dragon asked her, <You have knowledge of dragons?>

“I just know a few things. I can’t speak the True Language.” Relieved the dragon had replied, Hilda continued, “Anyway, we’ve got to hide you somewhere. Something attacked you, right? There are a number of caves in this forest, so—”

<It’s no use. I’m being followed. My pursuers will arrive soon enough. If I’m to get away, I have no choice but to leave this kingdom.>

“Even the closest border is a long way from here. You’re not going to hold up.”

The dragon eyed his own back bitterly. <If only I had both my wings…>

His gaze was on his single remaining wing. It seemed the other had been cut off a long time ago. The place where it had been severed was covered by old scars, so even the Miracle was incapable of bringing it back.

“Couldn’t you transform into a human?” Hilda asked.

Among dragon spells, there was one capable of transforming them into a human. She figured the creature might have a chance of leaving the country if he disguised himself.

<My old wounds prevent me from using spells.>

With that, the dragon ended his conversation with Hilda. It appeared the creature had nothing more to say to a human. He left Hilda’s side, making to leave the kingdom while still covered in wounds.

After taking a deep breath, Hilda steeled herself and said, “…You should come to my home.”

Hearing that, the dragon came to a halt.

“In dragon form…you’ll be easy to spot, and the knights will undoubtedly catch you. I’ll hide you in my hut until your wounds heal. My home is so dirty and run-down that I doubt the knights will look there. And since it’s outside the village, it’ll be away from prying eyes.”

The dragon’s feet stopped.

He had to know just as well as she did that it was unlikely he could escape from the kingdom right now. He was only trying to force himself to do so because he saw no other way.

The dragon asked her, <Why would you go that far, girl?>

While Hilda was embarrassed, she replied, “Because…you needed help…”

It seemed the dragon didn’t believe what she had to say. <If that’s true, then you’re quite the saint.>

Hilda and the dragon walked at a snail’s pace to keep the creature’s wounds from reopening.

When the trees began to thin, they immediately arrived at Hilda’s small hut. There was no chance someone had spotted them on the way over since her home was on the outskirts of the village. The dragon entered, leaving little room for Hilda.

Glancing at her wooden bed, Hilda said to the dragon, “I’d like to let you rest in the bed, but I don’t think it would bear your weight. It creaks just from me rolling over on it after all.”

So she laid out a thin carpet on the floor. “I’m very sorry, but please make do with this.”

The dragon lay himself down to rest on the carpet. He must have been able to relax somewhat, as he seemed to be struck by drowsiness. Even as he was dozing off, however, his eyes were alert.

Hilda said gently, “Don’t be afraid. Relax and go to sleep.”

Hilda gave shelter to the dragon. Thus began their new life together.

The dragon stopped displaying open hostility toward Hilda. It appeared she had convinced him she was not his enemy for the time being by saving him with the Miracle of Life.

On sunny days, Hilda would get up early and work in the fields. On rainy days, she would weave clothing at home to sell.

Her stockpile of food was by no means sufficient for both of them, but she gave up some of her own to give to the dragon. Even then, however, it was hardly enough food for a beast his size.

The dragon avoided conversing with Hilda as much as possible. Evidently, he had no intention of playing friendly with a human. Hilda figured he was just using her until his wounds healed, but she didn’t mind.

Taking care of the dragon made Hilda happy. She spooned thin soup into the dragon’s mouth with a wooden utensil.

At night, she would sleep at his side, in case he suddenly grew unwell.

After about a month of living together, the dragon said to Hilda, <…I should thank you.>

Surprised to hear him speak, she looked at him with wide eyes.

<You’re very kind.>

His statement left her feeling conflicted. “…I wouldn’t exactly describe myself that way.”

The dragon gave her a puzzled look. <Then why go this far for me?>

“Well…” After a stretch of silence, she said, “I was lonely… So lonely I thought I would go mad.”

<Lonely?>

“My family has severed contact with me. And the villagers are wary of me, too. They haven’t ostracized me, at least, so I can manage to eke out a living, but no one wants to associate with me…

“So,” she continued, “I wanted to be needed. Anyone would do.”

Hilda had saved the dragon out of her own self-interest.

“Thanks to you, I’ve staved off my loneliness this month. But it’s been hard.” She lowered her eyes. “I feel like I’ve been deceiving you…”

The dragon spat, <What an unpleasant human you are. So I’ve been here to console you?>

“…I’m sorry.”

When Hilda came back home from working the fields the next day, the dragon was gone.

Her heart clenched. So he left.

Their exchange the other day must have disgusted him. He’d recovered some energy since their encounter in the forest, so he must have been able to walk to the border.

Her hut felt vast and empty without the dragon in it. In fact, it seemed even bigger than it had before she’d taken the dragon in.

“Ah… Ahhh…” Crushing loneliness welled up inside her. Tears spilled from her eyes at the thought that she was on her own again.

However…

“Why are you crying?” A voice called out to her from behind—a man’s voice.

She turned around to see a tall man. He was covered in scars. Hilda knew those wounds. She had seen them each and every day for just over a month. She recognized the man immediately.

“It can’t be… Are you the dragon…?”

The man nodded. “My wounds have healed. Somehow, I was able to regain enough power to transform into a human.”

“…You didn’t leave?”

“Leave? Why would I? I haven’t completely recovered yet.”

“I thought for sure my selfishness had put you off…”

Sighing, the man said, “…It’s true you’re selfish, but that’s just how humans are. In fact, you’re more honest than most of your kind for saying it outright.”

The man offered her something he held in his hands. “I was stretching my legs after being cooped up for so long.” It was a bundle of firewood, all of it cleanly split and tied with thin rope. The dragon had been cutting firewood while Hilda had been working outside. “Chopping firewood is an onerous task for a woman. I’ll handle it from now on.”

Hilda took the firewood and said, “Y-you mean…you’re going to help me?”

“Until I leave this place.”

She was unbearably glad to hear that. Helping each other. That arrangement felt far better than just being needed. Tears beaded in the corners of her eyes once more, but they were surely of a different sort than she was used to.

Hilda and the dragon slowly grew closer, and they began opening up about themselves.

“Why were you dying that day?” she asked.

The dragon answered. “I was an experimental animal, kidnapped from Eden.”

“An experiment…?”

The dragon’s cloudy eye lowered. “I suppose this would be ten years ago now. A boy wielding the Power of God attacked me. Despite being a dragon, I could do nothing to oppose him, and he burned my throat. He set the whole island on fire and captured me.”

“…”

“Dragons’ bodies hold a variety of sacred mysteries. And I’m quite special. They examined every crevice of my body, down to the very last scale. Many of the experiments they put me through were painful, too. Those ten years of torture changed me. I ought to have kept my heart open to others, as God taught us, but that experience awoke feelings of loathing within me.”

Now everything made sense to Hilda. She had always wondered why the dragon had tried to take her in his jaws during their first meeting. After all, dragons were supposed to be creatures that followed God’s teachings and did not bear hatred.

“…Now I realize I have nowhere to go. My home went up in flames, so even if I did leave the kingdom… In that sense, it may have been fortunate you gave me shelter.”

“If you don’t mind my meager home…you may stay as long as you like.”

“I would like to hear about your past, too.”

“Huh?”

“Your circumstances have always weighed on me. It just doesn’t make sense that the village people ostracize you so. Why would a girl as mild-mannered as you be so reviled?”

“It’s not…it’s not a very pleasant story.”

“That goes the same for my background. It matters not whether it’s pleasant. I just want to know more about you.”

After some hesitation, Hilda began with a short statement. “I had an older brother. One whom I loved dearly.”

“By ‘had,’ you mean…?”

“He died.”

The dragon asked no more.

Living together, the woman and the dragon relied on each other.

The dragon did tasks that could be done indoors, like chores and sewing, while Hilda took care of tasks that necessitated going outside, like working in the fields.

The dragon said, “I think I should handle physical work.” Even if he was wounded, he was stronger than an ordinary human.

But Hilda stopped him. “It would cause problems if the villagers saw you.”

People would grow suspicious if they noticed an unfamiliar man around her, and the knights might find out.

The dragon gazed at Hilda’s hands. “I know that, but I feel the work you do is not fit for a woman.”

Hilda’s small hands were always dirty, and her skin was calloused.

“You’re always completely exhausted,” he added.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been used to it for a long time.”

In the end, she didn’t ask the dragon to do any hard labor beyond chopping wood at night in the backyard. Hilda sensed that he was displeased with this arrangement. She felt bad about it, so when the dragon started going out at night, she never pressed him about it.

One evening.

Exhausted from working in the fields, Hilda came back to the room in her hut where the dragon waited. A pleasant, appetizing scent tickled her nose, smelling faintly of herbs.

The dragon was in front of the hearth with a pot over the fire. The source of the aroma was the soup inside the pot.

“Oh, you’re back,” said the dragon, turning to Hilda.

“What’s this…?”

“I tried making food.” The dragon scooped some soup out of the pot, transferring it to a wooden bowl. “I don’t know if it’s turned out well, though.”

He handed her the bowl along with a spoon. It was a stew of mushrooms and forest vegetables. There was a dash of herbs in it, for the scent.

Hilda accepted the soup from the dragon and brought it to her mouth. It tasted just as good as it smelled.

And that wasn’t all. The more she ate, the more her exhaustion fell away. She could feel strength welling up from within her.

“This is good. It’s absolutely delicious.” She couldn’t stop spooning it into her mouth.

“I’m glad,” said the dragon, apparently relieved.

After finishing the soup made from the blessings of the forest, Hilda realized something. “Was this why you were leaving the hut every night…?”

“I was going to gather wild vegetables. This is a good forest. Medicinal herbs and edible mushrooms grow here in abundance.”

Hilda knew the dragon had a wealth of knowledge about the natural world, having lived in an Eden, which was green and lush.

From that night on, the dragon began to cook for her. As a result, Hilda no longer passed out from exhaustion after finishing a day’s work.

Now she ended the day with some energy to spare. Thanks to that, she began to chat with the dragon in the few hours she had before going to sleep. Hilda would tell him about what happened to her every day. She would talk to him about the time she’d found herself watching a cute little bird hopping in the fields, about how the flowers that had disappointed her last year because they hadn’t bloomed had bloomed this year, that she’d happened to see some beautiful scenery after finishing work, and about books she liked.

The dragon watched her with gentle eyes. “If you can speak with such energy now, that alone makes the effort of cooking worthwhile,” he said.

Hilda came to enjoy spending time with the dragon. It made her feel quite strongly that she wasn’t alone.

She had lived many years in isolation. In light of her personal history, she had been prepared to live her whole life alone.

But things had changed.

Now she had the dragon. Though he claimed to loathe humans, he was kind to her alone.

It felt to Hilda like she’d gained a family.

The seasons changed, and spring came.

One day, Hilda noticed a single flower had been laid before her house. Along with the flower was a gold coin in an envelope.

“It’s already that time of year.” Flower and coin in hand, Hilda returned to the hut.

Looking at what Hilda held, the dragon asked her, “Where did those come from?”

“I don’t know. Every year in spring, someone leaves them in front of the house.”

“A gold coin and a flower?”

“Yes.”

“It must be a gift from someone.”

“I would assume that. But I have no idea who sends it.”

Just one gold coin was worth enough to cover half a year’s worth of food. This annual coin was a key component of how she had been able to survive her circumstances.

The dragon’s gaze fell not on the coin but on the flower as he said, “I sense an indescribable affection in that flower.”

“Do you think?”

“Yes, there’s no mistaking it. Fallen though I may be, I am still a dragon. I’m sensitive to the goodwill of men. There may be a man with feelings for you in the village nearby.”

“That’s impossible. He would know I’m an outcast. Besides…the flower is one thing, but a villager would never be able to get that sum of money.”

Hilda opened the window and tossed out the flower, which fluttered away on a passing breeze.

The dragon had a wounded look as he said, “Should you be throwing it away like that?”

“It’s fine. A flower from a stranger just feels creepy… I’m sure whoever it is must be a coward. They can’t even talk to a young woman.”

The gold coin lay alone on the table.

A year had passed since she started living with the dragon.

That night, the dragon took her for a walk in the woods. The forest was pitch-black at this late hour, but the dragon cast a spell on Hilda that enabled her to see in the dark. The dragon took her hand and pulled her along as they walked. Aware of the dragon acting differently from usual, Hilda asked, “Why are we in the forest at night?”

“There’s something I want to show you,” he responded.

They went along an animal trail. The sound of twigs cracking underfoot rang through the stillness of the night. There was a chilly note in the air.

They must have walked for about an hour.

After they passed through a curtain of tangled vines, the landscape opened up.

Hilda’s breath caught.

“Amazing.”

Ahead of them was a forest clearing full of flowers in full bloom. Mysteriously, the plants were faintly sparkling in the darkness. The carpet of flowers was like a blanket descended from heaven, from which a sweet scent wafted. Nocturnal butterflies fluttered about in the air, wings glowing faintly like little fairies.

It was a glowing garden.

“I found this place when I was searching for medicinal herbs,” the dragon said.

“I’ve never seen such a lovely sight before.” Hilda smiled and breathed a sigh.

The dragon gazed at her. In his eyes was none of the hatred from their first meeting. “Your smiles comfort my wounded heart. They make me remember the nostalgic emotions of the past.”

“Nostalgic emotions?”

“It makes me remember my family—the one I had on my Eden island.”

Hilda was startled. The word family stabbed into her heart like a needle. “You think of me as your family, too?”

“Of course I do,” the dragon said. “I don’t think I’ll leave the kingdom. I have neither family waiting for me outside nor a place I can return to. I would like to comfort the person who saved me.” He then added, “Well, that’s only if you also acknowledge me as family, though.”

With a conflicted expression on her face, Hilda said, “Yes… I’ve thought of you as family for a while, but I was scared to acknowledge it.”

“Why?”

Hilda trembled. “Because my family was frightening…”

The dragon didn’t ask what had happened. “I don’t think I’ll be like them. I care for you.”

“Yes, I know that. We’ve lived together for a whole year, after all.” The dark expression had left her face. “We’re family, even though we’re different species with no blood in common.”

“Yes. Being with you puts me at ease.”

“Me too… But…,” Hilda added, gazing at the dragon, “If we’re family, then I want you to be in your own form.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want you to be in dragon form.”

He was using a spell to adopt the appearance of a human, but he was fundamentally a dragon.

“It would be a disaster if humans saw me.”

“We’re in the middle of the forest at night. We’ve walked around here a number of times before, but we’ve never run into anyone even once, have we?”

“That’s true, but…” The dragon gave Hilda a timid look. “I don’t want you to hate me. You wouldn’t want to see such an ugly sight.”

The dragon’s original form was quite pitiful.

But Hilda said, “How silly. There’s no reason to worry over that.”

Her words made an impression on the dragon. “Thank you.”

Then the creature undid his spell.

Instantly, the shape of the tall young man gave way.

What appeared was an ugly monster, with a shredded wing and a cloudy eye. He had no scales but countless scars running over his skin; a timid person would faint just from the sight of his body. But despite his unusual appearance, the look in the dragon’s eye was weak. As he watched Hilda, he seemed somehow guilty.

But she returned his gaze with a smile, touched the dragon’s claws, and said, “You’re very beautiful.”

The dragon’s tension melted away.

After that, the dragon and the girl snuggled close in the garden.

She wished the night would never dawn.

Chapter 1

Countless vehicles passed through the gates at the nation’s border as a train of cargo carriages returned from outside the kingdom. All were headed to the royal castle.

Among these carriages, one was particularly splendid. This heavily decorated vehicle was for nobles.

The train of wagons reached the royal castle.

When the nobles’ carriage passed through the castle gates, the people of the castle bowed to it.

The vehicle came to a halt at the front gates, and out stepped a twenty-nine-year-old man.

His hair and eyes were black. He was tall and far too slender, with a sharp look in his eyes. A gem hung from his neck, and a rapier from his waist.

His name was Sigurd. He was the young king of the kingdom and the heir of the Siegfried family. When the people of the castle noticed their monarch had returned, they all fell to their knees before him.

His chief minister came out of the castle to greet his lord back after his year-long expedition.

“Welcome back from your travels, Your Majesty the Dragonslayer,” said his minister, but Sigurd did not reply. Instead, he just pointed languidly at the carriages behind him.

“We just got ash again this time. Do you still need this stuff?”

The carriages were all transporting ash. But it was not just any type of ash.

“The Ash of Eden is a valuable resource.”

Sigurd’s expeditions were to the Eden islands dotting the world.

He would burn the Edens and return home with their ashes. That was the great endeavor King Sigurd was undertaking.

This sovereign had the Power of God at his command. He could kill the dragon protectors of the Edens and strip the islands of their resources. The Edens held divine creations, including the Fruit of Knowledge, which was what Sigurd and his crew were after. They would actually have rather acquired God’s creations unscathed, but they’d failed to manage that because God did not wish for His creations to pass into the hands of men. Once Sigurd and company completely conquered an island, the creations of Eden would burn up and turn to ash. This was the Ash of Eden. And even the remnants of those sacred islands were quite valuable. Blasting powder made with the ash was many times more explosive than conventional gunpowder, and swords forged with it would be much sharper and harder. The kingdom’s military might had increased dramatically in recent years, and this was thanks in no small part to its ability to acquire the Ash of Eden.

Sigurd had already destroyed five islands of Eden.

“I actually would have liked to burn more Edens, though.”

Alas, the situation had prevented him from doing so. This was due to the lack of development in seafaring technology. Going out to sea meant risking your life, and many boats never returned after leaving port. Due to these circumstances, finding the Edens dotting the seas was extremely difficult. Even though the kingdom had the power to attack the Edens, their ability to search for them was limited.

The chief minister bowed deeply to his king and said, “With your guidance, the kingdom will surely grow stronger.”

“That would be quite fine indeed.” Sigurd gave the minister a sharp look. “Now then…I have fulfilled my duty. I assume you produced results as well.”

The minister gulped. His face was pale.

“The dragon that I captured,” said Sigurd. “You must be able to extract the special ability it has by this point, no?”

“W-well…”

Hearing that, Sigurd sighed. “Hasn’t Etherium gathered all the top brains of the kingdom?” Etherium was an organization that conducted research on the Power of God.

“Well…um…”

Sigurd was no longer interested in the minister. “Whatever. Frankly speaking, I wasn’t expecting much. You haven’t been able to get anything done in ten whole years. You may leave.”

“But…there’s something else I must tell you.”

“…What is it?” At this point, Sigurd noticed the minister was quite frightened.

“I beg that you remain calm as you hear this, but—”

“Out with it.”

“The dragon…escaped.”

Silence fell. It was an eerie silence.

“Please have mercy…”

That was all the minister was able to say. A moment later, he was hanging in midair. Sigurd had grabbed him by the throat and was holding him aloft with incredible strength.

Sigurd’s eyes were wide as he laughed ferociously. “Bwa-ha-ha, what an amusing joke.” He wrapped his hand around the minister’s throat like a vice. His subordinate’s legs flailed in the air. “If it were just that you had no results, I could overlook it. But you let the creature escape? Just what have you all been doing while I’ve been out conquering Edens? Were you napping?”

He could hear his minister’s intermittent wheezing. At this rate, Sigurd would break the man’s neck.

“Now then, you waste of oxygen… What shall I do with you?”

But a man appeared to admonish his king. “Might you end your games here, Your Majesty?”

The man’s name was Richard. He was the king’s confidant. He had white hair and red eyes and a mild air to him, and he comported himself with class. The comfortable robes he wore enhanced his gentle image.

“It’s no wonder you would be angry, Your Majesty. But killing your retainer in anger would do no good. He’s just come to report to you about Etherium. He’s not the one at fault.”

After a glance at Richard, Sigurd clicked his tongue and freed the minister. The man fell to the ground and coughed.

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

The king had a stormy temperament, but Richard was the one person he would listen to. Apparently, this was because Richard had been Sigurd’s servant since the two were very young; Richard was essentially his king’s childhood friend.

“How vexing. Having to search for a dragon on top of conquering the Edens and invading other countries is the last thing I need.”

“You need not worry about that, Your Majesty,” the minister said after catching his breath. “We have an idea of where the dragon is. While we’ve been without clues this entire year, a villager has just given us a lead as to the creature’s whereabouts.”

A young man in a certain village had given them the tip. He had been roaming around the forest at night with a lantern in hand to prove his courage to some friends, only to come across a spot where flowers were in full bloom. There, he spotted from a distance a dragon so ugly that it set all the hairs on his body on end.

“An ugly dragon? That certainly fits the description of the one I caught,” said Sigurd. “So which village did this story come from?”

“From Tauber Village in the west.”

When the minister told them the name of the town, Richard went stiff from head to toe.

The minister continued, “It’s possible it has disguised itself as a human and is concealing itself in the village. Send the knights right away. If necessary, burn the village to the ground to find—”

“No need.” The king cut off his minister. “I shall go. I cannot trust anyone who would let that dragon escape.”

After resting just one day at the castle, Sigurd decided to head to Tauber Village alone.

Hilda and the dragon were living a frugal life on the outskirts of Tauber Village.

One day, he said to her, “Living with you has taught me something: You’re the kindest and most noble woman I know. I can’t thank you enough for having saved me.”

Hilda gave him an embarrassed smile. “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?”

“I wish to do something for you. I would like to give you a gift.”

“A gift?”

The dragon brought his face close to Hilda’s and said, “Power.” There was something slightly terrifying about his expression. “The power to attain everything. Wealth, fame, and anything else you desire.”

The dragon asked her, “Don’t you want it?”

Hilda flinched. “I don’t need anything like that…”

She had no interest in power. She was not concerned with wealth or fame.

But the dragon did not back down. “Do you really not need it? Every human in the world covets this power. It is the reason I was captured and brought to this kingdom. I’m sure you’ll grow fond of it, too. So…”

“More importantly, here.” Hilda handed the dragon a bundle of wood. “Go give this a good chopping. Right now, I want nicely cut timber more than some mysterious power I don’t understand.”

The dragon was dumbfounded for a moment. Then he burst into laughter. “Ha-ha-ha, forgive me. It seems that I still have yet to understand how amazing you are.”

“There’s nothing amazing about me. I’m just a girl.”

“If you say so.” The dragon continued happily, “That quality of yours is precisely why I felt I could bequeath this power to you.”

He took the bundle of wood and headed out to the backyard.

They had another day just like the day before.

Hilda’s only wish was for this life to go on forever.

She already had what she really wanted.

That very night, the people of Tauber Village assembled for a meeting. Carrying torches and lanterns, they gathered in the town square. The red lights eerily illuminated their countless faces.

One of the villagers said, “So the girl living in that forest hut really is a witch.”

Hearing that remark, another villager added, “My kid said he saw her with a dragon.”

“They say it was ugly.”

“I heard it has rotten flesh.”

“Just what is that girl plotting?”

“She might be planning to attack the village.”

“That has to be it. I heard a dragon attacked the village two hundred years ago.”

“What a terrible girl. I’ve always thought she was suspicious.”

“At the end of the day, she’s an outsider.”

“She won’t even say where she came from, either.”

“We need to make it clear whether she’s a witch.”

“I can’t even sleep at night.”

“But how can we tell if she’s a witch?”

“It’s simple.”

The villagers held blades and farm implements.

“You just have to stab her. I hear witches don’t bleed.”

The villagers formed a line and headed to Hilda’s hut.

Hilda and the dragon were snuggling up together and sleeping when they were roused by a noise.

There was something loud outside. It sounded unlike the buzzing of insects, the footfalls of animals, or the rustling of leaves. It was a series of heavy noises.

Hilda looked out the window and was shocked to see countless lights headed their way. It was a group of people carrying torches and lanterns. “…There’s a mob coming toward us.”

The dragon’s expression turned severe. “The villagers must have found out you’re sheltering me.”

“Perhaps… No, that’s most likely the case.” She squinted her eyes and examined the group once more. They were clutching lead-colored objects. “It looks like they’re armed.”

“This is bad. What do we do?”

“Leave it to me. I’ll go talk to them.”

“What would you say? They have weapons. I should turn into a dragon and—”

“There’s no point in fighting. If you go on a rampage, the knights will find out about it. They’ll put together a squad to defeat you… You won’t survive that. This is the nation of dragonslayers.”

“…That is true, but…”

“Hide inside. Fighting will be our last resort. If I fail to negotiate…then you’ll have to save me.”

Despite his unwillingness, the dragon nodded.

The townspeople approached Hilda’s home.

The village elder standing at the front of the mob loudly called out toward the hut. The way he was banging on the door was already somewhat aggressive. “Miss Hilda, there’s something we want to ask you.”

Hilda took a deep breath, then opened the rickety old door. “Yes, what is it…?” She greeted the villagers without making it seem like she’d noticed anything was amiss.

“I’m sorry it’s so late at night. But we’ve been hearing some nasty stories about you lately.”

“Like what…?”

“Someone saw you with a dragon.”

Instantly, Hilda realized someone had spotted her and the dragon while the two had been spending time in the forest.

She decided to feign ignorance. “I don’t know any dragons. Besides, there’s no way there could be one of those things in this kingdom. Everyone knows that the royal family defeated them all centuries ago.”

“Lies! She’s lying!” a young villager cried out. “I saw it. The night of the last full moon. This woman was with a repulsive-looking dragon. She’s a servant of the devil!”

“I think you must have been dreaming,” said Hilda. “There’s no way I would loiter around in the forest so late. Beasts wander about at night. It’s far too dangerous a place for a woman to tread alone.”

“Move it!” The young villager shoved aside the village elder and leaped in front of Hilda.

A silver knife shone in his hand. “I’ll prove you’re a witch!”

There was neither time for anyone to stop him nor opportunity for Hilda to dodge.

“Urk!” A shock ran through her stomach. She looked down and found a knife impaled in her gut.

“Ah, now you’ve done it!” one of the villagers shrieked. They hadn’t been certain that Hilda was a witch. Some of them thought she might just be a girl who lived alone.

“Ugh…” Hilda held her stomach and staggered—but no more than that.

Despite being stabbed, she was fine.

She’d known she might be attacked, so she had tucked a thick tome underneath her clothing just in case. Blocked by the book, the blade had hardly touched her body.

She didn’t bleed, even after taking a knife to the stomach.

A villager cried out, “She’s a witch! She’s not bleeding.”

“No, this is because…”

The villagers weren’t listening to what she had to say. They’d convinced themselves the woman in front of them was no mere girl. Hilda tried to pull the book out from under her clothes to show them, but they wouldn’t even wait for that.

“Kill her! She’s a servant of the devil!”

The mob surged toward Hilda, the villagers’ rusty blades and dully shining farm tools ready to tear her to pieces. She had no way of protecting herself.

“Listen…”

There was a splattering sound as blood flew into the air.

“Ah…” The village elder backed up, letting out a little shriek.

The person who had attacked Hilda was now a lump of meat. The dragon had appeared behind the girl and shredded the villager with his claws.

<How dare you assault my family.>

The dragon was ugly. He had not a single scale, and one of his wings had been torn off. Countless raised scars ran over his exposed body. One of his eyes was cloudy white yet fixed in a glare at the humans.

He was the spitting image of the devil.

He’d already looked fearsome to begin with, and now he was eyeing the villagers with clear hostility.

The townspeople screamed. They ran off in terror. Not a single one of them had the courage to face him.

“The devil! It’s the devil!” “A dragon! Aaaaaahhh!”

The dragon pursued the villagers, his whole body brimming with rage. He had to be intent on slaughtering them all.

“No! Stop!”

The dragon didn’t even listen to Hilda’s attempts to stop him. He’d hated humans to begin with, so he had no hesitation in killing them. Hilda was the sole exception.

The creature immediately caught up with the fleeing villagers. He tore them apart, crunching them in his jaws.

A number of the villagers escaped the dragon’s claws and fangs and made it back to the village to ring the alarm bell there. Its piercing sound rang out, breaking the tranquility of the night. The fleeing townspeople jostled their sleeping fellows awake and warned them of the dragon’s attack.

A little girl screamed and cried, running around in confusion. Some were praying to the heavens.

“Oh, save us…” “Oh, God, most holy, save us from this beast…”

They roused the men of the village. This time, the villagers faced the dragon.

When the humans came at him, the dragon fought back with his fiery breath. Flames spilled from his maw, scorching the people and burning their houses, turning the village into a sea of fire.

The villagers fought hard, but the outcome had been evident before the battle even began. Mere humans could never match a dragon.

Soon the clash was over.

The ugly dragon was the only thing left standing in the ocean of fire. Not a single villager moved.

At the creature’s side, Hilda wept.

She’d wanted to prevent this from happening. That was why she had tried to talk with the villagers, knowing the danger. But once the villagers attacked her, there was no option but for both sides to struggle against each other until one was wiped out.

The dragon looked at Hilda and said, <We must leave the country before the knights find out about what happened.>

Hilda wiped her tears and nodded. It was no use crying. She had no choice anyway. “Let’s leave right away. You should be strong enough now to break through the soldiers at the border…”

Right as she was about to walk away with the dragon, they heard a man’s voice ring out from somewhere.

“What’s this?” he said. “For God’s sake… And here I was taking pains not to burn the village, only for me to get here and find it already ablaze.”

The man cut through the flames and appeared before the dragon and the girl.

He had black hair and black eyes.

Hilda was struck speechless at the sight of him. This man was a far more dangerous opponent than the knights.

Bodies lay around the man. Among them were scorched and blackened children. One look at those, and he said to the dragon, “Listen well, foul beast. I came here to bring you back, but your sins are now beyond forgiveness. This is the land of the dragonslayers. I will pass judgment on your wicked kind.”

He gave a bloodthirsty smile meant to intimidate his foes and fixed his beady eyes on the dragon.

In response, the creature bulged his muscles and dug his claws into the earth.

<Sigurd, you vile man!> The dragon charged toward Sigurd. <I will never…!>

Even with the dragon charging him, the dragonslaying king showed no fear at all.

The dragon breathed fire in a conflagration capable of melting iron like candy. A human body could never bear such heat. Enveloped by bright red flames, Sigurd disappeared from view.

The king’s voice rang out from amid the fire.

“Have our countless battles taught you nothing? Dragon attacks have no effect on me.”

Even wreathed in flames, Sigurd was unscathed. He had a mocking smile on his face. His body was unaffected by the regular laws of physics. He would suffer no harm.

Sigurd waved his hand. In an instant, the flames around him were snuffed out. Next, he thrust his right arm at the dragon. Something like lightning ran around his fingers, becoming an arrow of light that assailed his foe.

<Ngh…>

The arrow pierced the right side of the dragon’s body. That was Sigurd’s special weapon against dragons.

It was called the Thunder.

<Hrk… Hng…>

Hilda could only watch the battle play out. “Ah… Ahhh…”

With his chest pierced, the dragon took Hilda in his jaws and fled from the king.

From behind, they heard Sigurd’s voice. “I’ll give you enough time to say your farewells. But you won’t get away, no matter where you go.”

The king followed them at a slow and easy pace.

With Hilda in his grasp, the dragon raced through the forest. But the strength and speed of his legs were beginning to wane.

When they reached the river, he collapsed. This was the place where they had first met. The arrow of light had gouged a hole in the right side of the dragon’s body, and the wound was oozing silver blood.

“Wah… Ahhh…” Despite her tears, Hilda pressed her hands over the hole in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The warmth of the dragon’s blood seeped through her fingers. The warmth of life was rapidly spilling from his body.

“What should I…? C’mon, what should I do?”

She couldn’t come up with any way to stop the dragon’s bleeding, and she was out of the Miracle.

<It’s no use, no matter what you do. Sigurd’s arrow delivered a mortal wound. I will soon die.>

“No! I won’t let that happen,” Hilda cried, though she normally never raised her voice. “I finally found my family. Don’t leave me alone.”

Now that she knew the warmth of companionship, she didn’t think she could bear the cold of losing it.

“If there’s nothing I can do to save you…” She took the dragon’s hand and pressed its claws to her own slender neck. “Then I’ll die with you.”

<Wait, listen to me.>

“Nothing you say can change my mind.”

<Listen…>

“Even if I survived this, I would be captured and burned at the stake.”

<Hilda!>

When he called her name, she finally stopped.

<There’s a way—a way for you to avoid death.>

“That can’t be possible…”

<I will bequeath to you a gift. The special power I told you about before.>

“I already told you I don’t need that.”

<Please take it. I don’t want you to die. So long as you have that power, you should even be able to beat Sigurd.> The dragon gazed at Hilda intently with his single unclouded eye. <Please. There’s no more time.>

She couldn’t disregard a look of that intensity from the one she loved. “…All right.”

<Thank you…>

The dragon bowed his head. He was trembling. She could tell that he was summoning the last of his strength. He pointed his claw at her. It appeared he was trying to touch her, so she helped guide him. The dragon’s claw came to rest on Brunhild’s throat.

Suddenly, Hilda sensed something flowing into her.

It was powerful and warm. It filled every part of her body.

<I have transferred my power to you. Listen carefully. You use it by—>

Suddenly, Hilda was struck by something heavy.

The dragon’s neck lost its strength, and his head had slumped onto her.

“Ah…”

An arrow of light had pierced the dragon’s skull.

Sigurd had caught up with them.

“Don’t say too much now, dragon.”

The creature’s head slipped from Hilda’s hands.

“Ah… Ahhh…”

The dragon was dead. His flesh rotted and began to melt. His body had somehow managed to keep its shape after taking the first arrow, but now it was finally falling apart.

“Wait. Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone.”

As the dragon’s corpse spread toward the water, melting away, she scooped it up with her hands. But the flesh slipped through her fingers, running away from her.

All that remained of the dragon was a single claw. It floated alone on the water’s surface like a memento of the dead.

“Hng… Ahhhh…” Hilda wept, holding the dragon’s claw as her resentment and lamentation echoed through the forest.

“So it’s true,” Sigurd muttered, gazing at her. “I never thought it would bequeath that which it had refused me so stubbornly.”

Hilda had no idea what Sigurd was talking about.

The only thing she knew was this:

This man had slain the dragon.

“You killed him…!”

For the first time in her life, Hilda was seized by the urge to take someone’s life. She leaped off the ground. She wasn’t even thinking about whether she could win or not. She had a weapon—the claw the dragon had left behind.

Facing her, Sigurd gave Hilda an arctic stare.

“How unsightly…”

He easily grabbed her hand as she was swinging the dragon’s claw downward, then pushed her to the ground.

Sigurd straddled her back, restraining her under him. She could no longer move.

Her face a mess from tears and snot, Hilda said, “Why…must you steal from me again? How many times must you take before you’re satisfied?” She glared at Sigurd. “Brother…”

The man she had called brother looked down at her with cruel eyes.

Before coming to Tauber Village, Hilda had gone by a different name.

Brunhild Siegfried.

Yes, the very man who had killed her family…

…was in fact her real kin.

“As far as I’m concerned, you are not my little sister,” he said.

Hilda—no, Brunhild felt numbness at the nape of her neck, and a smack sounded in her ears. The Thunder sent her consciousness spiraling into darkness.

Sigurd looked down at the unconscious woman, reflecting.

Vile dragon. What a nuisance to leave me with at the very end.

Sigurd knew exactly what the dragon had bequeathed to Hilda: the ultimate power he had been seeking for all these years.

He wanted to force her to give that power to him at this very moment. He wouldn’t even mind torturing her to accomplish this. But he needed to be cautious.

If the torture awakened Hilda to her powers, it would all be over for him.

Would it be better for him to just kill her, then?

On the off chance she became aware of her powers, there would be no going back. Wouldn’t it be safer to simply give up on taking the dragon’s gift for himself and consign Hilda to oblivion, powers and all?

That thought irritated Sigurd. He’d never liked his sister when they had lived together at the castle. Despite being his sibling, she hadn’t been attached to him at all. She was timid and had always acted distantly toward him. That had always rubbed Sigurd the wrong way.

Bright red anger surged within him. “I knew I should have killed her back then.”

He wreathed his hand in the Thunder. And right when he was about to burn her to a crisp—

—a cry rang out in the nighttime forest.

“Wait, Your Majesty!”

Sigurd looked over to see his confidant, Richard. The man’s clothes were muddy, with leaves stuck to them. Sweat was dripping from his bangs.

“You mustn’t kill her…”

Sigurd gave Richard a dubious look. “Richard, why are you here?”

“I came here to stop you from making a mistake. You must not kill Her Highness, your sister.”

“Listen, Richard. The dragon granted her its power. If I let her live, she may endanger me.”

“That power…” A line of sweat dripped down Richard’s cheek.

“Surely now you understand,” said Sigurd.

“No. You still must not kill her.”

“Why?”

Richard stayed silent for a moment.

“What? Tell me already.”

“I hesitate to say this…but I cannot avoid telling you.” After a gulp, Richard faced Sigurd. “Brunhild has received one of God’s powers. That would make her the ideal mother for the child of God.”

It took Sigurd a little while to process what Richard was trying to say.

“Not a chance in hell…!” Sigurd glared at Richard, eyes blazing with rage. “You can’t be telling me to marry this fool. I won’t stomach such an insult, even from you.”

“Your Majesty, I beg you to consider the state of your clan. No matter how great you are, you cannot restore your family’s fallen grace on your own. The Siegfried family—your offspring and their offspring included—must all be children of God like you,” Richard continued, pressing him. “The tragedy you have experienced must never be repeated.”

Sigurd fell silent. After hearing that, he gave in. “…You’re quite right. For the revival of the Siegfried family, I must make this woman my wife.”

“But,” he continued, “I will burn her throat.” For he had no love for his sister. “I don’t mind conceding entirely and taking her as my betrothed. But I have no need of her voice. I will erase it with fire, just in case.”

“That won’t do, either.”

“You have more impertinent remarks for me?”

“People will have nothing but contempt for a king who makes a maimed woman his queen.”

“I need to contain Brunhild by any means necessary. She has acquired a great and fearsome power.”

“No. If sealing her abilities is what you need, there are other methods of accomplishing this. Consider, for instance, the necklace you wear.”

Sigurd wore a necklace adorned with a crimson jewel.

“That is no mere piece of jewelry. It was originally made by someone who resented the royal family in order to to punish a child of God. When placed around the neck of someone who wields the Power of God, the Power of God contained within the jewel reacts, attacking the wearer.”

“So you’re telling me to have Brunhild wear it?”

“Yes, exactly. If you pour the Power of God into that jewel, then it will regain its original function.”

Richard hung his head. “However, I am ultimately only your attendant. I can only suggest paths for you to take. The final choice rests with you…”

After a long moment of consideration, Sigurd removed his necklace.

“An excellent decision.”

When Sigurd touched the gem, a faint light shone within. The Power of God flowed into the jewel, and the necklace regained its original function.

Sigurd placed the jewelry around Brunhild’s neck. He then tightened the chain, melting the clasp with the heat of his Thunder, gluing it so it couldn’t come off.

He ordered Richard, “Take Brunhild to Etherium. Test whether you can extract the power. I’m sure it’s a useless venture, but it must be attempted.”

“As you wish.”

Richard slung Brunhild over his shoulder.

Sigurd made to return to the royal castle first. With the Power of God, he could fly without wings.

Before taking to the skies, he said to Richard, “I’m impressed you came all this way.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Seeing how disheveled you are, I can tell you hurried. It must have been difficult for a human to catch up to me.”

Before Sigurd had even left for Tauber, Richard had gone as fast as his horse would allow toward the village. He’d needed a good head start in order to catch up to his king, who had flown there.

“You’re as loyal as ever,” said Sigurd. “Your service is my most valuable treasure.”

“I am undeserving of such praise.”

“No, your admonition kept me from going down the wrong path.”

Chapter 2

When Brunhild awoke, she found herself in an unfamiliar chamber. She had been laid down in a bedroom that could scarcely be called clean. She sat up and looked around. The chamber was small. There was nothing but a table and a chair. She wondered why she was in this dreadful place and recalled what had happened before she lost consciousness. Then it clicked—her brother had taken her away.

There was a weight on her neck. She looked down and saw she was wearing an unfamiliar necklace. It wouldn’t come off.

She tried to leave the room, but it was locked from the outside, and the door wouldn’t budge. She called out, “Please open the door,” figuring it wouldn’t hurt. Surprisingly, the door did open, and two men came in.

“Who are you?” Brunhild asked, but the men said nothing. “Where am I?” she asked as well, but they didn’t respond. It appeared they had no intention of speaking to her.

Wordlessly, the men restrained Brunhild. Then they forced her to take drugs, cut her with a knife to take samples of her blood, stripped her naked, and inspected every corner of her body. Based on what they had done, Brunhild was able to surmise who these men were.

In all likelihood, they were scholars from Etherium, the organization that researched the Power of God.

That meant she had to be at their facility.

They were here to investigate her for associating with dragons.

She could imagine why—the dragon’s final words.

<I will bequeath to you a gift.>

In that moment, she had felt something flow from the dragon to her. A supernatural power. Surely, it was the Power of God. That must have been what the scholars were after.

Day after day, the researchers investigated Brunhild’s body. She didn’t know precisely how long this went on. Locked in that room, she had no sense of the passage of time.

She heard bits and pieces of the scholars’ conversations. “What about just having her take the drugs…?” “Dissection might be our only option…” “But if we can’t extract it that way, then there’s no going back…” “Inhuman experiments are forbidden at Etherium these days, so where can we go from here…?”

Brunhild feared she would be torn to pieces in this place.

She might end up covered in wounds, just like the dragon.

But she was okay with that.

The dragon had died. There was no point in living.

The scholars came into her room again. But they didn’t make her drink any drugs that day. Instead, they took her out of her chamber. Brunhild assumed they were transferring her to a facility where they would do some serious experimentation.

She followed the men obediently. They left the room and went up some stairs. When they ascended, some knights met them to take Brunhild away.

They left the building, and she was placed in a carriage waiting outside. For some reason, the knights were treating her with care.

The carriage set off. She rattled around inside for about an hour.

They reached the royal castle. She had returned to her family home after several years away.

The knights escorted Brunhild to a room in the castle and made her sit on a magnificent chair. Upholstered with beautiful velvet, the seat was so large that it dwarfed her small frame. It was certainly worth more than the entire hut where Hilda had once lived.

There, she waited. She still had no idea why she had been brought to the castle.

After a while, someone came into the room.

It was Sigurd.

Brunhild was startled to see him. It felt like she had come across a fearsome predator.

She had never liked him. It was that sharp look in his eyes. When he looked at her like that, Brunhild would always shrink away. Her brother had a rough disposition.

Her fear must have shown on her face. Sigurd seemed exasperated by her.

“We’re discontinuing the experiments at Etherium,” he said. “We tried plenty with the dragon, and it was no use, after all. My reputation will be tarnished if you’re ruined entirely. I’ve decided to treat you with kindness.”

“…I never knew you felt such familial affection, Brother,” Brunhild replied aggressively, scrounging up what little courage she had. “Even if you show me such kindness, I won’t forgive you. You…killed my family.”

“A dragon and human being family, huh?” Sigurd snorted. “That’s just playing house.”

Brunhild clenched her teeth. “I’m going to kill you, Brother. I will take revenge…with my own two hands…” Her words were hateful and the greatest possible curse she could spew at him.

But even though she’d said that to his face, Sigurd’s expression was cool. There was disappointment in his eyes. “So be it. Go ahead and try.”

He showed her just the slightest bit of hostility. But that was enough to make her shoulders twitch. “To kill me, I mean. It would be quite an impressive feat. And even if you can’t, if you truly are prepared to do that…then I will acknowledge you as my sister.” He walked up to her.

Brunhild recoiled. “S-stay back…”

“Do you have the determination to accomplish exacting your vengeance, even if it means abandoning everything? The courage to stand up to even the greatest enemy?”

“I—I said to stay back!” Brunhild got out of her chair and retreated.

But Sigurd mercilessly pressed closer. “You have neither determination nor courage. You’re a born loser. The words you spit at me are weightless.”

The next thing she knew, Brunhild’s back was against the wall. She had been cornered.

Sigurd had already gotten right up in her face. She couldn’t back away any farther. She closed her eyes without hesitation.

I’m scared.

She was frightened of her high-handed and violent brother. Brunhild was introverted and timid, his complete opposite, so she couldn’t understand him.

“I have reasons for keeping you in the castle. You’re as dull as ever, but unfortunately, there is something quite valuable inside you.”

“The gift from the dragon…”

“Yes. It rightfully belongs to me. Since you bear the gift, by extension, you belong to me as well.”

“Don’t…speak of me like I’m an object…”

“You are one.” He grabbed her face with his left hand and fixed it there to keep her from moving, then brought his face close to hers.

“I-it can’t be… Sto—”

Before she could even finish, Sigurd had stolen her lips.

“Hmph!”

That was not all. He brought his hand under her jaw to grip her cheeks and squeezed, forcing her mouth open. Sigurd’s snakelike tongue penetrated Brunhild’s mouth.

“Hng… Ugh!”

It was an assault and ridicule. Her brother was saying, Go ahead and bite my tongue if you have the determination. And he knew—Brunhild didn’t have the courage.

After being released, she wiped her mouth and broke down in tears.

Her brother spat at her, “Get used to this. You’re going to be my wife.”

“What nonsense is this…? We’re siblings…”

“That’s no matter. With my character and your gift, our children will undoubtedly inherit the Power of God. They will certainly be of help in lifting the Siegfried family from its weakened state.”

With that, Sigurd left. Watching her brother go, Brunhild grieved. But not because he had assaulted her.

He’s completely changed.

She thought back to when they had been young.

“Why…?”

She still wanted to believe her brother couldn’t be doing this of his own volition.

The life they had been brought into was to blame.

Brunhild was born as the only girl of the Siegfried family, and Sigurd the only boy. The Siegfried family bore the Power of God, and it had been expected that they would both gain that power.

But neither of them had been able to manifest any abilities at all.

It wasn’t either of their faults. It had been decades since someone in the family had been able to inherit the Power of God. Both their mother and their grandmother had been ordinary humans who just happened to have black hair and eyes.

And so, despite its royal status, the Siegfried family’s position had become very precarious.

Their decline had started a century ago, with the reign of a foolish queen. Her time on the throne cemented the Siegfried family’s poor reputation with the people. To make matters worse, the children she sired neither inherited the ability to wield the Power of God nor contributed to the development of their nation. This only amplified the citizenry’s dissatisfaction with the royal family. Since the Siegfried clan lacked the authority to assert their rule, they responded to their people’s discontent by oppressing them, but this only achieved the opposite effect. Eventually, the people rebelled and assassinated a member of the family. The successful assassination proved the Siegfried line was now made up of just ordinary humans without any mystical powers to speak of, and this further stoked the people’s disillusionment. Now the family’s top priority was to give birth to a child with the Power of God and regain their lost authority.

It was for that purpose they had created the Etherium, with the goal of making their heirs acquire the Power of God.

Just about all of the children of the Siegfried family had been sent to Etherium. The family needed to ensure that some of them manifested the Power of God, even minimally. If they failed to accomplish this, then the family would lose its control of the kingdom in the near future. Due to their origins, the Siegfried clan had more aptitude for the Power of God than others. Of ten children, one or two would be able to gain the Power. Despite being forced through inhumane experiments, however, the royal children gained abilities so weak that they could scarcely be compared to even the ones their ancestors had wielded a century ago. Being able to fling the Thunder at will like the royals of old was still but a faraway dream.

Brunhild and Sigurd were both supposed to be sent to Etherium on their eighth birthdays.

Brunhild had loved Sigurd. She always depended on her kind older brother.

She remembered her brother turning eight and stroking her head before he went off to Etherium. Even as a five-year-old, Brunhild had known Etherium was a scary place.

On the day of their parting, the young Brunhild cried and wailed as she clung to Sigurd. “Don’t go, Brother.”

Sigurd gave her a troubled smile and said, “But I have to.”

Strangely, she sensed no fear in his smile. “Why? They’re going to do awful things to you.”

“I’m going so I can protect you from those awful things.”

Sigurd stroked Brunhild’s head. That made her stop crying. Her brother running his hands through her hair always put her at ease.

“I promise to come back. When that happens, make sure to welcome me home.”

She nodded, droplets spilling from her eyes with each movement of her head. “Uh-huh. I promise. You have to come back, Brother.”

Her words seemed to encourage him quite a bit. He showed no fear as he went off to Etherium in a carriage.

That was the last Brunhild ever saw of her brother.

Three years went by.

Once the experiments were over, Sigurd returned.

As she had promised, Brunhild welcomed him back, embraced him, and said, “Welcome home.”

She was happy he had kept his promise and returned. She wanted him to comb his fingers through her hair as he had done before.

But for some reason, her brother pushed her away. He looked down at her as though she was repulsive, then said, “What’s with this girl? How creepy.”

His words shook her, leaving her unable to get to her feet for some time. It took her a while to understand what he’d said to her. Even when it did sink in, she still couldn’t believe it. This was the first time in her life she’d ever heard her brother say something so cruel.

Her brother had indeed come back.

But not as the person she knew.

He had lost his memories. He didn’t remember Brunhild.

She didn’t know what sort of experiments they had performed on him at Etherium, but they had warped his personality. He was violent and said things that bewildered her. But for paying that price, he had successfully obtained the Power of God—the strongest manifestation of the ability in generations at that. Sigurd conquered an island of Eden all on his own at the tender young age of eleven.

But Brunhild didn’t care about such powers. Her one and only wish was for her brother to be kind and gentle again.

She tried to help him remember. She showed him books he’d loved and went on walks with him in the garden or in town to trace old memories. She had him touch her hair, too. But he just seemed irritated. She became more and more afraid of talking to him.

She felt the brother she had loved had died.

But even with a development as tragic as this, there was one saving grace.

Sigurd had brought with him an attendant named Richard.

The boy had come back from Etherium with Sigurd. He was the same age as her brother, with characteristic white hair and red eyes. He said they had met at the facility and hit it off, and he’d become Sigurd’s confidant.

Richard must have pitied Brunhild for how her brother ignored her. When she would hide and cry over how Sigurd had changed, Richard would find her and console her.

“It’ll be all right. The brother you love will be sure to come back one day.”

His words were just empty consolation. But they still made her glad. They made her try to believe her brother would return to how he used to be one day.

Brunhild came to cry in Richard’s arms more and more often.

Richard was fairly mature for his age. That had to be why—without even realizing it—she began seeing her brother in him. Brunhild gradually grew attached not to her brother but to Richard.

That made things worse.

Sigurd undoubtedly noticed his sister’s lack of affection for him and was put off by it.

When Brunhild turned ten, Sigurd decided to expel her from the castle.

“Without the Power of God, you’re the shame of the Siegfried family. Henceforth, I forbid you from calling yourself Brunhild Siegfried. Since you are no longer a member of the royal family, you have no right to live at the castle.”

His justifications for expelling her were entirely specious. Brunhild was not the only member of the Siegfried family who lacked the ability to use the Power of God. But by that time, her brother had taken the throne and was making full use of his overwhelming power. None could oppose him.

Brunhild was banished and forbidden from taking any of her belongings or so much as a single servant with her. She departed the castle in a wretched state.

I’m going to die like this.

A girl thrown out into the world without anything to her name would never survive. Succumbing to despair, Brunhild walked with no goal in mind.

Just then, however, she realized there was a strange weight in her pocket.

She thrust her hand inside. For some reason, there were two little items in her pocket. One was a small vial containing just one drop of the Miracle of Life, and the other was a gold coin. She had no memory of ever acquiring either item. They had popped up out of nowhere, as if by magic. But they gave her hope. If she had the Miracle, then she wouldn’t have to fear becoming ill or wounded, and the gold coin would be enough to feed her for half a year. It seemed like she could just barely manage to travel.

“This must be God’s will.”

Brunhild folded her fingers and offered prayers of gratitude to the heavens.

She searched and searched for somewhere she could live, but every place she visited was cold to outsiders. She wandered until her legs were leaden. The dwelling she finally found was an unoccupied hut in the forest on the outskirts of Tauber Village, where she settled down. She’d used up all her money by that time, so she found fruit, berries, and mushrooms from trees in the nearby forest and somehow staved off hunger. She’d loved reading ever since she was young, so she had some knowledge about plants, which saved her.

Brunhild’s life was one of isolation. She was able to survive—but nothing more. The people of Tauber Village were suspicious of her and her unknown background. Some even thought her a witch for living in a hut without involving herself with others. Her loneliness grew day by day, and there were even times when she felt there was no reason she should be in this world.

The next thing she knew, six years had passed. It was a hollow time.

That was around when she found the dragon dying by the river. By then, her loneliness had become unbearable. She’d wanted someone to need her—even a dragon would do. Her wish was granted, and she started to live with the dragon. The year they had spent together had been the happiest time in her life.

Nevertheless…

Her brother had killed the dragon, and now she was here.

“Hng… Ah…” Tears of frustration spilled from her eyes.

Her brother had driven her away, only to kill her family.

Just how long did she have to live at his mercy?

Chapter 3

By becoming her brother’s fiancée, Brunhild became royalty again. She was given a room appropriate for her status and was assigned exclusive servants. They gave her magnificent dresses and expensive jewelry, but it was all meaningless to her. The more magnificent the gift she received, the more she missed her life in the hut.

She wasn’t very good at interacting with other people. She had been rather poorly socialized to begin with. Still, in an attempt to engage with other people, she tried initiating conversations with the servants and nobles in the castle. However, the servants could not speak with her out of respect, and she couldn’t find anything to talk about with the nobles. Brunhild was ignorant of what was common knowledge to the denizens of the castle and the aristocrats, and she couldn’t even manage small talk. The more she spoke, the more starkly her unfitness for this environment came into relief.

Despite this, she slowly began to get used to her life at the castle. Perhaps it was more accurate to say she resigned herself to it.

One evening, when the moon was bright in the sky, Brunhild was sleeping in her room. She had come to love sleeping, as she would sometimes see the dragon in her dreams.

That night, she was able to meet the dragon again. They were cuddling by the banks of that river. Brunhild had forgotten the dragon had died.

Feeling happy, Brunhild said, “I hope we can be like this forever.”

The dragon began to rub his skin against hers.

She felt him slowly leaning against her. The weight increased, pressing her delicate frame into the carpet of grass.

“Hey, what are you…?”

The dragon dragged the end of his snout along Brunhild’s body like a dog. She laughed.

“That tickles.”

He began to press his nose harder against her. And not only that. The dragon also slid his nose underneath Brunhild’s clothing.

“Wait. Hey, I’m scared…”

The dragon didn’t listen to Brunhild’s attempt to stop him.

He said nothing, just pressed his nose against her body rather roughly. It made her think of a boar.

She grew uneasy. “…Say something.”

But the dragon said nothing.

Instead, he howled. His cry was like that of a wolf, and it made the trees rustle and the surface of the water ripple.

The dragon ripped Brunhild’s clothing with his claws and began to peel them off, exposing her pale skin beneath the cold light of the moon.

“No, stop. Stop it,” Brunhild said, wishing the dragon would go back to how he always was. But he had become a beast and would not stop.

“Please. Stop. Please…!”

Despite her pleas, he would not stop, so finally, Brunhild screamed, “Stop!”

Then she woke up.

She was no longer in the forest but in her bedroom in the castle. The only thing that was the same was the moonlight streaming in.

She was lying in bed. There was not a dragon sitting atop her but someone else.

Sigurd.

He had crept into her room to rape her. Her nightclothes were askew.

She cried out in fear, “Help. Someone, someone—!”

“Save you? You’re going to be my wife.”

“No. No. No…” It was so awful that the hairs on her body stood on end, but she couldn’t resist. When her brother looked at her, she froze with fear.

“Hic… Ah… Hng…” All she could do was cry. She wept and wailed like a child. Her face became a mess of tears and snot, and her cheeks turned bright red.

Seeing Brunhild’s crying face, Sigurd relented. Though he was still grasping Brunhild’s arms, he made no move to go further. Based on his expression, however, he didn’t appear to have stopped out of pity.

“How unsightly.” He fixed his own clothes and got off the bed.

“I would be sullying myself to claim a woman as sorry as you,” he spat at her right before leaving, and she lay dazed on the bed.

“We will be wed in six months’ time. That will make things clear.”

Brunhild just trembled, not even thinking about replying.

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll sleep in my room. You should have come there tonight in the first place.”

With that, he left.

Brunhild was in a daze. Slowly, her mind cleared, and sorrow welled up from inside her. Her situation finally felt real; she was going to marry her brother and bear his children.

She opened her desk drawer. Inside was a single claw, her memento of the dragon. She touched its tip to her neck. Should she use it to take her life? The claw dug into her flesh. It bled a little. Mild pain.

She could move it no further.

Embracing the claw, Brunhild collapsed.

She was pathetic. Her brother had been right.

She had no courage.

Not even the conviction to die, despite everything that had happened.

The claw in her hands, Brunhild leaped out of the room. She was so sick of it all that she wanted to run off.

She sprinted all around.

When she ran out of breath and could move no longer, she found herself in the garden. Red roses were in full bloom. Hoping the smell of flowers would calm her heart, she sat down on a wooden chair. She squeezed the dragon’s claw, but it didn’t make the sadness abate in the slightest.

“Save me…” The words spilled from her lips. “Someone, save me…”

It was so quiet that no one else would hear. She didn’t mind if no one could hear her plea. She didn’t think anyone would actually save her anyway.

And yet, someone did hear.

“Brunhild…?”

She lifted her chin and saw a familiar face.

It was Richard.

Unable to bear it all, Brunhild flung herself into Richard’s arms. She buried her face in his chest. “I wanted to see you…” Richard was one of the few people on her side.

“But why…are you in a place like this?” she asked him, meaning to ask why he was in the garden so late at night.

“Because I’m always watching you.”

His words eased the sadness in her heart just a little. It was nostalgic. He had often tried to make her laugh with these sorts of jokes.

“Why are you out in the garden so late at night, Brunhild?”

“I missed the smell of flowers, so I came here. You know, since I was living in the forest all this time,” she told him, a spontaneous lie. She didn’t want to worry him.

Brunhild drew away, and the two of them sat side by side on a bench.

“It’s been a few years,” she said.

“Six,” Richard corrected her. “I knew that you’d come to the castle. I actually wanted to see you right away, but I was busy handling the king’s orders and just couldn’t find the time.”

“I thought you were no longer at the castle.”

He lowered his eye. “I wanted to talk to you—and apologize.”

“Apologize? For what…?”

“I wasn’t able to do anything for you after you were expelled.”

“I’m not upset by that. My brother told you not to get involved with me, didn’t he?”

“I still should have opposed him…”

Brunhild shook her head. “You can’t go against him. You don’t know what might happen.”

Richard didn’t respond to her statement. “…I heard what happened to you. It’s a shame the dragon died…but you can’t just keep drowning in regret. You’re back at the castle, so you have to live here…”

“Live here…?” Her brother’s repulsive behavior rose in her mind. “Brother said he would make me his wife… He’s gone mad.”

Richard looked quite disgusted. “…I’m sorry. That’s…my fault.”

“Huh?”

“I advised him to do it. To take you as his bride, that is. If I hadn’t…he would have killed you that night.”

After apologizing, Richard told her about his conversation with Sigurd on the night he’d killed the dragon. He explained he had used the fact that Brunhild held the dragon’s gift as a pretext to save her life. Brunhild figured Richard couldn’t have gotten Sigurd to listen to him and spare Brunhild’s life any other way, as the king was quick to anger.

Brunhild brought her fingers to her throat. She had a feeling that was where the dragon’s power lay.

“It appears…my brother very much covets this power. But I don’t know what it is. Do you, Richard? Are you aware of the true nature of the power the dragon bestowed to me…?”

“I know. But it’s best that you don’t.”

“Why?”

“Because of that necklace.” Richard looked at Brunhild’s throat. “The moment you use your power, the necklace will punish you for it. I wouldn’t want you to discharge your power on accident and hurt yourself because I gave you incomplete information about it.”

He apologized once more. “I’m to blame for that, too. If only I had gotten to Tauber Village earlier or I had managed to advise him better…”

Brunhild had absolutely no desire to blame Richard, but the man wore an expression of sorrow.

“It’s all my fault,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it. You did it for my sake.” Brunhild told him “thank you” with as much gratitude as she could.

But Richard couldn’t accept that in the slightest. “I will take responsibility for this… I swear I’ll manage things somehow.”

Even if Richard couldn’t actually do anything, Brunhild was still glad he had expressed an intent to. Just having someone on her side in this castle was encouraging.

“Thank you. But…it’s fine.”

Richard cocked his head curiously. “It’s fine? What is?”

“You don’t have to save me.” She smiled weakly. “Offering me support will only threaten your position. I hate my brother, but I don’t want you to meet misfortune because of that.”

“You don’t have to worry about me—”

“I’m saying this because you’re important to me.”

At this, Richard’s cheeks flushed slightly.

“It’ll be okay,” said Brunhild. “I’m used to bearing things. And I’ll…I’ll do that this time, too.”

She had no other choice—

—not when she had been unable to resist him out of fear, even when he’d stolen a kiss from her.

Richard gave a little shake of his head. “I don’t think it’s right for siblings to marry.”

“Oh my, Richard. You’re so well learned, so you should know. There are many examples in other nations of close relatives marrying one another in order to preserve their bloodlines.”

She didn’t want to worry him, so she put on a smile.

But it was no use. Her grin faltered from the disgust she was feeling after her brother’s assault.

Richard said, “…You don’t have to put on a tough face in front of me.”

Instantly, her eyes grew hot. The fear she had been trying to resist burst free. Tears welled in her eyes and overflowed.

In a trembling voice, she said, “I’m scared…”

Richard wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“I’m scared of my brother touching me.”

He squeezed her tighter. She figured he could extrapolate what had happened from telling him that much.

“So I’ve erred after all,” he said. “I was preoccupied with saving your life. I never stopped to consider the awful things that would happen because of that…”

“It’s fine. There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“That’s not true.”

Richard brought his face close to hers—close enough that they could kiss. He most likely wasn’t doing it consciously. She figured he was just speaking so emphatically that he had leaned forward without thinking.

But Brunhild wasn’t scared. She felt uncomfortable around men, but Richard was the one man she was okay with. She had never thought of him as a man. Perhaps that was because of his graceful air.

“I will save you.”

His encouraging words made Brunhild’s heart feel just a bit lighter.

“Just hearing that from you is enough for me,” she said.

A gentle night breeze blew by. There was a hint of nostalgia on the wind.

Starting the next day, Brunhild began sleeping in her brother’s room, just as she’d been told.

She was afraid of sleeping at his side, but fortunately, he didn’t do anything to her.

But she knew this stalemate wouldn’t last forever.

That was why Sigurd had scheduled their wedding ceremony for six months from now. He had said he would make things clear. That had to mean he would get Brunhild pregnant on the night of the ceremony, no matter how unsightly and ugly she was.

Brunhild resigned herself to her fate and allowed time to flow by.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

That night, Brunhild lay at Sigurd’s side with dead eyes.

Detachedly, she gazed at her brother on the bed. He was already asleep.

He had a slim sword beside him.

It was a strange habit. Even when sleeping, her brother would not remove his blade. Was it that valuable? Just then, knowledge that had been slumbering deep within her surged to the surface.

Wasn’t this the Healing Blade?

There was a sword that had been passed down in the Siegfried family for a century. It possessed the power to heal the wounds and illnesses of its owner. The Power of God took a toll upon their bearers, inflicting them with shortened lifespans and ill-health. The aforementioned sword would prevent these effects.

If the sword at Sigurd’s side was the same blade, then it would make sense that he carried it on his person at all times.

But she didn’t care about the sword’s healing power right now. A certain piece of knowledge had been summoned forth from the depths of her memory. The healing abilities that lay within the blade—she seemed to recall that it was a variety of the Power of God.

Sigurd was invincible. He could only be wounded by attacks summoned with the Power of God.

But if this sword contained the Power of God—

Then couldn’t I kill him with it?

If Brunhild could draw this sword without waking him and stab him with it—

—her brother would die.

Suddenly, her heart started racing. An opportunity for a counterattack had fallen unexpectedly into her lap.

She could get revenge for the dragon.

She reached for the sword.

But—

Her hand was trembling.

If he noticed her, then it would be all over. He would glare at her, and she would freeze up in response. Even if she had already drawn the sword, she wouldn’t be able to fight him.

As Brunhild was gazing at her brother, she heard the faint sounds of him breathing in slumber. He was certainly asleep. Despite that, however, she couldn’t help but have an ominous feeling. Wouldn’t he wake up the moment she touched the sword?

“…Brother,” she called out to him. There was no response. He had to be in a deep sleep.

“Brother, Brother.” She repeated this many times. There was still no response.

He was most certainly asleep.

That meant she could kill him.

“Hah… Hahhh…” She felt her blood rushing around her whole body.

She could kill him. She could really kill him…

Brunhild slowly touched the handle of the sword, then gripped it. She felt the cold iron in her palm.

She quietly drew the blade, as slow as a turtle, so as not to make a sound. She felt a significant weight in her palm. It was far heavier than it looked. She felt like she would drop it if she wasn’t careful. Even the faint sound of the sheath and blade rubbing was frightening.

If her brother woke up now…

…she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of it. Sigurd was emotional. If he saw someone trying to draw his sword from his belt, he would most definitely take their life in anger. His plan to make her his wife would not shield her from that.

As the blade slid out of its sheath, Brunhild’s heart pounded even faster.

The weight in her hand became a lot heavier. Finally, the full length of the ominously shining blade was revealed to her.

She had done it. She’d managed to draw it.

Her heart was fit to burst. The pounding was so loud she thought Sigurd must be able to hear it, too.

She had to kill him first.

She had come this far. She couldn’t back down now. That situation pushed her forward. Somehow, she was capable of moving.

Brunhild got on top of Sigurd, straddled his waist, and aimed for his heart.

She pressed the tip of the sword to his chest, which was just barely peeking out through the gaps in his clothing.

For a moment, she hesitated. The man sleeping beneath her now had killed her family, but he was still her brother. And she would be taking his life in such a cowardly manner. The moment that thought hit her, the sleeping face of the man she was supposed to hate seemed innocent. She was about to do something truly dreadful…

But she shook off her hesitation. She had to do him in now, or she would spend her life being raped by him. This was the alternative to giving birth to the children of the man she hated.

Brunhild tightened her grip on the blade. Just as she was about to stab him, however…

…her brother began to groan.

She hesitated. She had yet to stab him. But an expression of anguish had come to Sigurd’s face. It seemed like he was having some kind of fit.

Brunhild tossed the sword onto the bed and panicked, shaking him.

“B-brother. What’s the matter, Brother?”

He opened his eyes.

“Ngh… Hng.”

He was holding his chest. He was hyperventilating.

“I’ll go fetch someone,” Brunhild said. Just as she was about to get up to exit the room, Sigurd called out to stop her.

“Don’t. There’s no point.”

“B-but…”

“I don’t need your meddling. Just get out of here. Now,” he said, then pushed her away. Brunhild rolled off the bed.

She was frightened. She debated whether to leave as she’d been told. But she could not ignore someone suffering right in front of her.

Her brother was silent. His shoulders were heaving, and he wore a pained expression. He’d been scratching at his head before, but now he was still.

His eyes started to tremble. They seemed hollow, and she couldn’t tell what he was looking at.

He started to say strange things.

“Ahhh, it’s dark. It’s so dark.”

Brunhild was startled. Normally, her brother’s voice was deep and low. But now his voice was quiet and high, like a boy’s.

“I don’t like the dark. Let me out…someone…”

She couldn’t believe the man before her was her brother. He was crying. His expression was clearly frightened.

“Hng,” he sobbed. “I’m scared, I’m scared, I’m scared.”

He held his head in his hands and curled up. His large frame became unbelievably small.

He was deranged.

There was no logical reason for what Brunhild did next. The next thing she knew, she was moving.

She returned to the bed and took Sigurd’s hand. “It’s all right. Don’t be scared. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Her brother’s hands were trembling. They didn’t stop even when she clasped them tightly, but she continued to hold them anyway.

Brunhild had a good guess as to why her brother had gotten like this.

He went back to his usual self at dawn. When he shook her hand off, she knew he had regained his senses.

The first thing he said was, “That was unnecessary.”

Brunhild asked him, “Are you all right now?”

“What a stupid question. I’m always in perfect condition.”

“After what I just saw, I find that hard to believe.”

“You didn’t see anything.”

With that, Brunhild understood why her brother had told her to “get out” last night.

“What was that fit you had last night, Brother? Why didn’t you call for anyone?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“No, it is my business. Wasn’t that…a side effect of the experiments?”

Her brother had been put through terrible experiments in Etherium. If these fits of his were an aftereffect of that, then it didn’t seem like it was none of her business. Her brother had undergone those procedures to protect her.

“So what if that’s true? It’s good for you, isn’t it? Since I’m suffering.” He glared at the sword lying on the bed. “You tried to kill me.”

Brunhild flinched. She had been so worried about her brother that she had abandoned the sword she had drawn from his sheath.

She couldn’t talk her way out of this. She cursed her own foolishness.

Her brother asked her another question. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

Brunhild answered honestly, “I just couldn’t…”

When she’d seen her brother suffering, thoughts of killing him had flown right out of her head.

Fearing her brother’s anger, she looked down.

But he just snorted in disapproval and said no more. He picked up his sword and sheathed it, then left the room.

He didn’t do anything.

Now alone, Brunhild reflected on what had just happened.

Her brother was right. Why hadn’t she killed him? She still resented him for killing the dragon. And she did hate him, but—

She found her answer immediately.

Ultimately, she still loved her brother.

In the depths of her heart, she wanted to see the kind person he had once been.

Chapter 4

Very rarely, her brother would have fits at night. When they happened, all she could do was touch his hand. He stubbornly refused to expound on the nature of these episodes.

During times like these, the only person she could rely on was Richard. He was closer to her brother than she was. Once, when Richard was doing his duties, Brunhild tracked him down and asked him about her brother’s attacks.

“It’s as you’ve surmised,” he told her. “The fits are an aftereffect of what happened to him.”

“So you know about them, too?”

“I do. He developed those symptoms after you left the castle. It appears he has a vision of being trapped in darkness.”

“He carries the Healing Blade, doesn’t he? Why doesn’t it stop the episodes?”

“Because they aren’t a bodily ailment. Even that sword can’t heal wounds of the soul.”

“The soul…”

“They used to carry out very inhumane experiments at Etherium. They would shut kids up in the dark, too. It drove some people mad.” Richard looked up, as if he was thinking back.

“That…must have been terribly frightening for him.”

“Well, I’m sure it was. But I think being in the dark might mean something else to him…”

“What do you mean?”

“More importantly,” Richard said, not answering her question, “why are you concerned about Sigurd?”

Brunhild quickly answered, “I’m not concer—” but broke off there. The things she was doing were a clear indication of worry. “…I am being strange, aren’t I? Even though he killed my family.”

“It is odd indeed. I think it would make more sense if you were glad to see him suffer.”

“I wish I could be, but… I mean, it’s not actually his fault—if he changed because of the experiments. And besides,” she added, “if we could heal the wounds in his heart, he might go back to how he was before.”

Richard smiled at her. “I’m sure he senses your kindness.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes, he certainly does. The time is nigh when it will be rewarded.”

Richard’s words were reassuring, and they gave her courage.

“Hearing you say that, I feel like my brother really will come back.”

Brunhild decided to go out into the city of Nibelungen to buy a book. She was looking for one that explained how to cure wounds of the heart.

She changed from her fancy gown into a plain brown dress, something a city girl would wear. This felt like it fit her better.

She went around from bookstore to bookstore. But she couldn’t find any texts on wounds of the heart. All they had were books about wounds of the body. After perusing a number of shops, she finally went into a little bookstore where she found a single text that fit her criteria. It was a book on healing the hearts of children who had been neglected by their parents. Brunhild bought this and headed back to the castle.

On the way, she passed by a square in front of a church. She could hear the cheery voices of children playing.

“Let’s go, evil dragon. I, King Sigurd, will defeat you!”

They were playing dragonslayer.

Surprised, she watched. It seemed her brother was popular with the children in town.

The child pretending to be a dragon howled, and the child pretending to be the dragonslayer swung a branch standing in for a sword. These kids had probably been taken in by the church. As she watched the heartwarming sight, she saw a familiar figure.

It was her brother, Sigurd. He was passing through the square.

The children noticed him and called out. “Lord Sieg!”

They addressed him differently from normal, running up to Sigurd with friendly smiles on their faces. “Lord Sieg! Play with us, play with us!” “Let’s play dragonslayer!”

One of the children swiped at Sigurd with the stick in his hands. “Judgment!”

The stick hit Sigurd’s waist with a thunk.

Brunhild blanched. Her brother would allow no disrespect.

Sigurd glared down at the boy. He then reached for the child’s head.

Brunhild anticipated a tragedy, but what came next was not a bloody spectacle.

“Huh…?” A sound of surprise escaped her lips. She doubted her eyes.

Her brother kindly stroked the boy’s head and said, “You can’t swing weapons at people.”

That was all.

Brunhild was completely unable to believe what had just happened in front of her.

Had she mistaken someone else for Sigurd? There was no way her brother would show kindness to anyone—definitely not someone swinging a weapon at him. But this man looked and sounded exactly like her brother.

Sigurd happened to look over at her.

Their gazes met. Both siblings startled, eyes widening.

Sigurd walked over to Brunhild. She wanted to flee, but it seemed like doing so would anger him, so she stayed still.

Her brother asked, “Why are you here?”

She answered honestly, “I left to buy a book…and just happened to pass through the square on my way back.”

Summoning just a bit of courage, she asked him, “Do you like children…?”

He answered expressionlessly, “Not at all.”

“But…you stroked that boy’s head.”

“I just hit him.”

He had done no such thing. When Sigurd ran his fingers through the boy’s hair, Brunhild had felt her heart growing warm. That was how he acted during the old days.

She felt hopeful.

She had the feeling she could find the brother she’d lost.

That was when Brunhild realized Sigurd’s gaze was not on her. He was staring at the object in her hand.

“What is that book?” Sigurd snatched the book from her hands. When he found out it was about healing wounds of the heart, his voice turned cold. “It seems you still have illusions about me. I’m not going to become the brother you want. Showing a little kindness to some children doesn’t mean I remember you as a child—I have no memories of you at all.”

“…I know that.”

“It would be irritating for you to get the wrong idea, so I’ll just say it: I can treat children with compassion because I can see my boyhood self in them—the way I was at the mercy of adults and the world around me. I’m not interested in people, but children meeting cruel fates is the one thing I can’t abide by. That’s all.”

From what Brunhild had just seen, it seemed the children were attached to Sigurd. Did that mean he showed affection to the children here on a regular basis?

Then there came footsteps. Someone was racing toward them. A boy came over and clung Sigurd’s feet.

“Lord Sieg! Lord Sieg!”

The name Sieg had to be an alias Sigurd used when he was hiding his identity as king.

Sigurd crouched down to put himself at eye level with the boy who had run up to him.

“What has you in such a panic?”

The boy said, “My friend was taken away. We were playing together, but then a man came…”

Sigurd’s brows twitched. “Calm down. Tell me what happened, right from the start.”

The boy was confused and babbled a lot. But Sigurd listened to him patiently. Sometimes, he asked the boy questions that would be easy for a child to understand to get precise information out of him.

“This is the work of kidnappers who have been causing trouble in the capital lately,” he said.

“Kidnappers…?” Brunhild asked.

“It seems the remnants of the old Etherium are snatching orphans.”

Once, Etherium had tried to manifest the Power of God through inhumane human experiments. When Sigurd took the throne, he outlawed conducting extreme experiments on people, but some scholars revolted against his edict. They believed these procedures were shortcuts to manifesting the Power of God. And indeed, their greatest masterpiece—Sigurd—was the result of human experimentation, so their ideas were convincing.

The remnants had gone underground to continue their inhumane trials. Apparently, they were now kidnapping orphans to use a test subjects.

“We have to tell the knights…,” said Brunhild.

“Indeed. If I show them the royal crest, then the knights will certainly spring into action.”

Most did not value the lives of orphans, so normally, the knights would not lift a finger for them. But the knights would not be able to refuse an order from her and Sigurd. While they had disguised their identities to come into town and weren’t dressed like royalty, they could convince the knights of their identities by showing them the Siegfried family crests branded on their wrists.

“Brunhild, you contact the knights.”

Sigurd said to the boy, “Where was your friend taken from? Take me there.” Then he ran off with the child.

Brunhild hurried to the guard station, narrowly avoiding crashing into people as she ran. People gave her strange looks as she raced as fast as she could down the main way. But she couldn’t afford to worry about that. Children’s lives were on the line.

However, her attention was drawn to a certain someone.

Right as she passed by a large-framed man, she smelled something strange coming from the jute bag slung over his back.

It was the scent of a living creature.

An ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to sense it. But Brunhild’s days in the forest had made her nose sharper than most.

She came to a stop and looked back at the man.

The sack was large—exactly the size of a child.

She had a bad feeling.

Perhaps she was mistaken. Even if the scent of a living creature was wafting from the bag, that didn’t necessarily mean there was a person inside it. Besides, she was afraid to talk to the man.

Nevertheless, Brunhild summoned her courage and said to him, “You, over there.”

If she was mistaken, she could just apologize. On the off chance he had a child inside the bag, however, there would be no taking it back.

The large man stopped and turned to Brunhild. “What is it?”

He was already hostile. She became even more suspicious.

She thought about what she could say to get him to show her the contents of his sack. She decided to imitate a method she had read in an old story.

“I’m a doctor serving the royal castle. I’m looking around the town to prevent foreign illnesses from entering the nation. This is proof that I serve the royal family directly,” Brunhild said, showing him the mark on her wrist. It was a bluff. “A smell like that of a beast is coming from the bag over your shoulder. Please let me inspect the contents of your sack. I need to ensure you aren’t carrying a foreign creature past the borders of our kingdom, slim though the odds may be.”

Now, if the man obediently showed her the contents of his bag, then all would be well. If he just happened to be carrying some animal meat, then she could chalk up her suspicions to needless anxiety.

Instead, however, the large man shoved Brunhild away and then ran off with the sack over his shoulder. Brunhild landed on her bottom.

She immediately got to her feet and ran after the man. She didn’t know if she could accomplish anything by pursuing him. But she would certainly lose sight of him if she called for the knights.

Brunhild didn’t like working up a sweat. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t fit. And her life in the forest had forced her to get even stronger. Consequently, she had no issues tailing the man, even when he was running at full speed. She could have caught up to him if she wanted, but she deliberately pretended to lose him. After all, she would have no chance of winning if he started a fight with her. He was a man, and he had a sword on his hip. She wanted to make him think he’d lost her and get him to let down his guard.

The man rapidly headed away from the city center.

Eventually, he came upon a ruined section of town. This area had been abandoned quite some time ago after a contagious disease from outside the kingdom had spread. People were wary of it now, thinking the source of the illness might still be there, so nobody would get near it. At most, he would run into a few beggars here.

The man stopped running. After looking around, he breathed a sigh of relief. Though he believed he’d shaken off Brunhild, she was actually hiding not too far away, watching him. She soundlessly followed as the man walked off somewhere. Her movements were so quiet, even the animals of the forest wouldn’t have detected her.

Eventually, the man reached a particular ruin. He placed his jute bag on the ground and undid its string. Appearing from within was the face of an unconscious boy. Brunhild had been right.

The man looked as though he was waiting for something. He might be due to meet someone here. If that were the case, then she didn’t have much time. She already had no chance of winning one-on-one; if the person he was waiting for came, then it would be two-versus-one.

Brunhild carried no weapons. All she had in hand was a book and some change. There was no way she could defeat an armed man like this. She just had to do something to save the boy.

She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. After steeling herself, she picked up a rock lying nearby.

She threw it at the window of a different ruin. The sharp sound of shattering glass rang out.

“Who’s there?!”

The kidnapper drew his sword and headed toward the noise. Just as Brunhild had expected, he left the child where he was; the man was anticipating a fight, and the boy would have just slowed him down. Brunhild rushed up to the child and stroked his cheek. He woke up.

“We’re running. Follow me.”

There was no time. The man would be back very soon. They just had to get away.

Brunhild pulled the child by the hand. Naturally, her grip was forceful.

Then the boy’s face twisted up.

Oh no, she thought, but it was too late.

The boy started to cry. His wails were as loud as an alarm bell. In retrospect, it made sense that he would see Brunhild as a kidnapper, too.

She heard wild footsteps. The real abductor was coming back.

She pulled the boy’s hand, but he was fighting her hard. It was clear they wouldn’t be able to get very far away.

Brunhild quickly fled into a different ruin, but it was a complete dead end.

“There you are.”

The footsteps were close now.

Brunhild left the crying boy in a spot visible from the entrance of the ruin, then retreated to the shadows by the building’s entrance. Using what little time she had left, she decided to stake everything on making a weapon.

The kidnapper came into the ruin. The boy was crying and wailing. Just as Brunhild had expected, the man focused on the bawling boy.

That made it easy to take him by surprise.

The moment the kidnapper came into view, Brunhild swung her weapon. She took advantage of the moment’s opportunity when the man had yet to notice her.

It connected surprisingly heavily—right on the man’s temple. Unable to bear it, the kidnapper slumped backward.

Brunhild was breathing shallowly from the tension. She looked down at the weapon she had used to take out the kidnapper.

It was an improvised bludgeon, just gold and copper coins in her sock. She’d learned to make it from one of her books. For such a simple weapon, the coins stuffed into the end of the sock packed more of a punch than one would expect thanks to centrifugal force. Hitting the kidnapper in the temple with it had been enough to concuss him, making him lose consciousness instantly. Brunhild hadn’t thought it would hit this hard.

By now, the boy had stopped crying. It appeared he had realized Brunhild was on his side after seeing her knock out the kidnapper. He called her “miss” and started clinging to her leg. It made it hard to walk. Brunhild pried the child away from her leg and took his hand instead.

“Let’s move,” she said, and the boy obeyed.

It happened right when they were about to leave the abandoned neighborhood.

She sensed hostility from behind her. It was similar to the feeling of running into a beast in the woods.

She immediately leaped to the side. She didn’t even look back. A silver blade was now in the place where she had just been.

It was the man she thought she’d defeated. She wondered if he had just regained consciousness quickly, but that wasn’t it. She hadn’t hit him hard enough and had actually failed to knock him out. Despicable as he was, the man was still a human being, so she had unwittingly held back.

Since she had leaped to the side so abruptly, Brunhild lost her balance, leaving her unable to dodge when he followed up with a kick. She slammed into the wall, hitting her head hard.

“Ugh… Ah…”

She crumpled. A beat later, half her vision went red. Her forehead had been cut open, and blood was flowing out of the wound. She tried to stand, but her legs felt weak. She was dazed.

“Miss!”

The boy tried to run up to her, but the kidnapper caught him first. He twisted the boy’s arm, and the child shrieked in pain.

“You’re coming with me.”

He was going to take the boy away. The boy started crying from fear again.

“Pipe down,” the man yelled at him, swinging up a fist.

Brunhild cried, “Stop it!”

Unable to stand, all Brunhild could do was scream. Despite this, she knew her words had no power.

Yet the next moment, something unbelievable transpired.

The man stopped right on the spot, as if he had obeyed Brunhild’s order. The man froze like a statue. He could only move his eyes to glare at Brunhild.

“What the hell did you just…?”

Brunhild didn’t know, either. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. But then she gasped.

The gift the dragon had given her…

Could it be she had used that power just now? She decided to put it out of her mind until later. Right now, she just had to save the child.

The instant this thought came to her, she felt a heat at her neck. For some reason, her necklace suddenly began to glow.

A moment later, light burst from the necklace, inflicting Brunhild with agonizing pain. The glow was burning her neck.

“Ah—aaaaaaahhh!”

It hurt so much that she curled into a ball. She couldn’t possibly move.

“The moment you use your power, the necklace will punish you for it.”

The warning she’d received from Richard rose in her mind. She had activated the power by mistake, and the necklace had reacted.

Her voice wouldn’t come out. Her neck hurt. When she touched it, a piercing pain ran through her. It was burning her horribly.

“Miss! Miss…”

The child ran up to her and shook her. She had to move. She had to run. Her willpower alone had rendered the man as still as a statue. She had to disable him. Since she didn’t know the nature of her power, she had no idea when he might start moving again.

Brunhild walked up to the kidnapper and whipped out her weapon.

She slammed her bludgeon into the side of his head. This time, the man actually blacked out.

Staggering, she approached the boy. The boy looked up at her anxiously, where she stood bleeding and burned.

“Miss…are you all right?”

She wanted to say, Yes, I’m fine, but her throat had been burned, and she couldn’t possibly say a word. She tried to smile to put him at ease, but she wasn’t sure if she managed it. Her body hurt all over. She could feel herself breaking into a greasy sweat. She had never been beaten this badly in her whole life.

Brunhild set out with the boy. She was still unsteady and couldn’t run. Even so, she tried to return to town as quickly as she could…

…only to freeze on the spot.

There was a man standing in their way. The only person who would come out to this deserted place would be the individual the kidnapper was looking to meet with.

Brunhild prodded the boy in the back. She meant to say, Run away on your own. But the boy would not leave her behind. Brunhild had no choice but to put the boy behind her and raise the weapon she’d made out of coins.

The man had his sword drawn. He was coming closer.

Brunhild tried to respond, but it wasn’t even a fight.

Something plunged deep into her gut.

She wasn’t even able to swing her weapon. She had been stabbed.

A hoarse groan escaped her lips.

She collapsed. Her face hit the ground. The impact of her fall resulted in sand in her mouth, and it tasted bitter. Her consciousness finally grew hazy. The pain of the stab was immense. There was a hole right where her most important organs were. Having read medical texts, she knew she was absolutely beyond saving. The world was spinning around her.

As her vision went around and around, she watched the child about to be taken away.

That was the one thing she couldn’t let happen. Brunhild grabbed the man’s leg.

“Let go, girl…”

He tried to shake off her grip, but Brunhild would not let go.

The man started to kick her. It hurt, but she did not let go. Scrounging up all the strength she had left, she kept the man from moving.

“Give it up already!” the man yelled, bringing up his knife once more. Under the light of the setting sun, its blade shone red. Brunhild thought it looked like the color of blood.

The blade swung down. She couldn’t dodge it or block it. The tip of the blade was almost at the back of her neck. Sensing oncoming death, Brunhild prayed for help. Amid her hazy mind, she pleaded for her brother.

The brother who had kindly stroked her head. The brother in her distant memory.

Save me, Brother.

At that moment, a flash of the Thunder fell, illuminating the area. The lightning turned the man to ash in an instant.

A man came flying down from the sky. He was the one who had passed judgment on the attacker.

The color of the man’s hair and eyes was so nostalgic.

When Brunhild came to, she was back in the royal castle.

She was looking up at the canopy of her bed. That was enough to tell her she was in the king’s chambers.

“You’re awake?” To her side was Sigurd, sitting on a chair.

“Bro…ther…?” Brunhild understood. “…I see. So you saved me, Brother.”

“I did.”

“Is the child safe?”

“Don’t worry. He’s not even hurt.”

She was relieved. Apparently, her efforts had not been in vain. “How did you know where I was?”

“I sensed your power—an immense might.”

“Power?” Brunhild touched the necklace. “…The moment I yelled at that man… For some reason, he suddenly stopped moving.”

Sigurd gave her a questioning look. “Hmph, were you not aware of it?”

“Aware of what…?”

He didn’t expound any further on her power. “The necklace punished you.”

“It burned my neck.”

“…Take care not to use such forceful language on others. That’s all I can say.”

“Language…”

Then Brunhild realized something strange.

Her throat should have been burned, but it didn’t hurt. The cut on her head, the burn on her neck, and the stab wound in her gut were also gone.

“Huh…? How am I alive…?”

She finally remembered. She recalled being stabbed in the side. Her organs had been so damaged that not even the greatest doctors would have been able to save her.

Sigurd answered her question. “I brought some of the Miracle out of the castle storehouse and used it. Be glad of it—that was the last bit of the Miracle in the kingdom. I’m the only person authorized to use it.”

“The Miracle…” Brunhild understood its value well. “Why go so far for someone like me?”

Sigurd didn’t answer, instead asking her, “Why did you go so far?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were basically dead. Why did you go to such lengths to protect that boy?”

Brunhild fell silent. He was quite right. Even if it was to save a child, she normally wouldn’t have had the courage to do something like that.

So then why had she done something like that today?

Brunhild knew why. “…Because I was glad.”

“About what?”

“That you were kind to children…”

It felt like looking back at themselves long ago. She’d wanted to protect that which her brother cared about.

Sigurd seemed to disapprove of this. He very much hated it when the present version of himself aligned with the past version of himself, whom he could not remember.

“I’ll only say this once, so listen well.”

Brunhild braced herself, thinking that Sigurd would say something cutting again.

“You did very well today. You summoned all your knowledge and courage to protect the weak despite lacking the power to fight.”

She was confused. “Wh-what are you saying…?”

But he left her and her confusion in the dust, locking gazes with her and saying quite clearly, “I thank you.”

Brunhild’s eyes widened. She doubted her ears. She was unable to respond for a few moments. “You’re…thanking me…?”

“I grant honors to those who demonstrate their prowess. It’s a king’s duty.”

“I see…” Feeling rather embarrassed, Brunhild looked out the window. It was already dark outside. “But I should thank you, Brother. For saving me.”

Since he’d spoken to her with surprising openness, she was able to be a bit honest with him, too.

She recalled being on the verge of death and wishing for her brother to come to her rescue.

He had actually come through.

Richard stood outside the room where Brunhild was sleeping. Had it been allowed, he would have liked to go inside, but whatever way he looked at it, she was still the king’s fiancée. He would be unable to see her without the king’s permission.

As he was worrying, Sigurd emerged from the room. “Richard, why are you here?”

“I was waiting for you, Your Majesty.”

“Oh, do you have any information on the kidnappers we captured? How are things going there?”

“A little beating was all it took for them to give up their boss’s identity. It turns out they belong to the remnants of old Etherium, after all. We also got them to tell us the location of the workshop where they carry out experiments.”

“…Damn ghosts,” Sigurd muttered bitterly. “Richard, I leave it to you to arrange a plan to eliminate the laboratory these miscreants are running.”

Sigurd giving Richard this assignment was proof of his trust. He knew Richard hated the remnants of Etherium, as he had suffered through the same experiments as Sigurd.

Richard bowed respectfully.

“You may take your leave,” said Sigurd.

“…May I ask one thing?”

“What is it?”

“It’s about Lady Brunhild.” The tone of Richard’s voice changed slightly. “I heard she’s been hurt. I’m concerned for her. Would I be able to see her?”

“Her wounds have healed. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“…I beg your pardon.”

Underneath his expressionless mask, Richard thought, “There’s nothing to worry about”? The arrogance! If you’re going to put it like that, then don’t let her get hurt to begin with. I heard she was so badly wounded that the Miracle was the only thing that could save her! Though these words began to creep up his throat, he just barely managed to swallow them. It would be unwise of him to get emotional and snap back at the king.

“As Your Majesty commands, I will set to wiping out those remnants.”

Once again, Richard found himself thinking Sigurd should not be at Brunhild’s side. The king wouldn’t simply bring her sorrow; he might also get her killed.

Before it could happen, Richard needed to take his lord’s life.

Richard had been secretly plotting to kill Sigurd ever since seeing Brunhild cry in the garden. He had his eye on the Healing Blade, the very same that had enticed Brunhild. Without the sword, he would be unable to so much as scratch the invincible king.

Richard conspired to swap out the rapier with a fake to acquire it himself.

He had already arranged for a counterfeit blade to be made, having ordered a blacksmith to forge an ingenious replica.

Now he just had to swap it with the real thing. But there were no chinks in Sigurd’s defenses. His protectiveness over the sword made sense, as his life would be at risk should someone take it.

And so, time passed by in vain, with Richard never finding an opportunity to swap the two swords.

Somehow, he had to come up with some other way of killing Sigurd.

While pondering this, Richard headed out to wipe out the Etherium remnants, as per Sigurd’s royal command.

The remnants’ laboratory was quite brazenly located just one town over from the capital. While this municipality was not as prosperous, it was still quite a fine place, with a decent population. The kidnappers had said the workshop was in a basement of a large estate in the city. Nobody would have imagined that the workshop was located so confidently and this close.

Richard convened the knights, then led them in a surprise attack on the remnants’ lab. He banged open the door and stormed into the basement.

A number of mercenary types fought back against him, but their resistance was futile. The knights Richard had gathered were elites who had eliminated many other laboratories in the past. It wasn’t even a fight. With his troops taking care of everything, Richard scarcely had to lift a finger.

He descended the stairs after the knights. By the time he was in the basement, the enemy had basically already been subdued, so he was able to observe the laboratory as he walked around.

There was evidence of a variety of experiments. Bottles full of eerily colored drugs and dubious magical books were scattered about. Complex magical sigils were drawn on the floor.

What drew his eye the most were the bodies of children. There were a few lying there.

They had to be the kidnapped kids. But they didn’t look like just ordinary children.

They appeared like deformed creatures—somewhere between dragon and man.

Each child was different. One had wings, one had a massive arm covered in scales, and another’s face was so reptilian it looked as if they were wearing a mask…

Looking at these children, Richard, who had once been an experimental subject himself, could imagine exactly what sort of experiments the remnants had been running.

“Are they trying to create dragons to obtain the Power of God…?”

Dragons were, fundamentally speaking, creatures that protected Edens. Very rarely, one of them would be able to use the Power of God. According to one theory, this was a vestige of ancient times when dragons had been angels. This workshop must have been trying to create artificial dragons that could handle the Power of God. They used children as test subjects because they believed their purity made them closer to angels and God.

It was not a very pleasant sight.

He eyed the bodies with disgust. They were alternate versions of himself. By the grace of fortune, he had survived the experiments, but with one misstep, he would have died like these children. He vowed anew to capture every last remnant of old Etherium.

But on the other hand, he felt conflicted.

Richard gazed at the experimental subjects. He couldn’t look away from them. Having once been put through experiments himself, he could tell these subjects had gotten very close. One more step, and these children would certainly have become able to wield the Power of God. Their half-draconic corpses were evidence of this.

As Richard examined the bodies, there came a cry from somewhere.

Someone was screaming.

“M-monster…!”

Richard was just about to turn around. Right before he could, however, he caught something twitching in the corner of his vision. He reflexively jumped back.

“It can’t be…” He doubted his eyes.

The corpses he had just been looking at were getting up.

“They were alive?”

He quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Their eyes were clouded, and they didn’t look as if they were breathing.

The corpses were moving.

Looking around, he saw that just about all the bodies that lay in the workshop were rising. And then, like puppets being controlled, they attacked the knights.

Two of the bodies attacked Richard, too. One of them swung half-dragon claws, while another bared knifelike fangs.

Richard immediately parried with his longsword. Fortunately, the corpses weren’t very strong. Slicing through his foes, Richard began to think of the corpses. Most likely, they were animated using foreign sorcery. He had heard tales of spells from another continent that could manipulate the dead.

He cut the corpses down, but they got right back up again. You couldn’t kill something that was already dead. Cutting them would slow them down, but it would take time to disable them. Richard figured he would have to defeat the person wielding the spell to put the bodies down for good.

He soon found the individual he was looking for; the man had killed a knight and was trying to escape the workshop.

He was a swarthy man. You could tell at a glance he was not from the kingdom. There were unfamiliar tattoos all over his body. Richard assumed they were foreign spells. The man was fighting with a knight, slinging spells with his dagger.

Two knights attacked the foreigner. The foreigner sliced them as they passed by, the blade sinking into the cracks of their armor. He was very fit, not at all what one expected from a scholar.

Blood was dripping from the tip of his blade.

The other knights made to attack him all at once. But—

“Stand down,” Richard ordered them. “Leave him to me. This will be a tough one. I don’t want you knights to shed blood for nothing.”

His troops left the foreigner to Richard and headed off to hold back the animated corpses.

Richard drew his weapons. His specialty was dual-wielding. With a longsword in his right hand and a main-gauche in his left, he faced the foreigner.

The two of them silently glared at one another. It seemed both were waiting for the other to make a move.

The first to act was the foreigner. He charged at Richard like an arrow. Richard met his strike, thrusting out with his longsword.

The foreigner outdid him, turning aside the longsword with the blade of his dagger. The longsword just slightly skimmed the foreigner’s cheek as it passed him.

A heartbeat later, they closed in. The foreigner kept going with his dagger, making to pierce Richard’s heart.

Richard blocked the blade with the knife in his left hand. A main-gauche was a defensive weapon. Using the shield built into the hilt, he turned aside his foe’s dagger.

Richard took a step back, adjusted the distance between them, and moved his feet continuously to maintain an advantageous space between them, where his longsword would just barely reach the foreigner. He swung his sword once more. The foreigner turned aside adroitly to avoid it, a technique characteristic of powerful fighters from his homeland. He moved gracefully, like a leopard.

Then the foreigner backed off. He also understood Richard would not be an easy foe to beat. He had to be rethinking how to attack.

Once again, the two men were glaring at each other, just like at the beginning of their duel. Neither had found any opening to strike.

But this fight was already over.

The foreigner’s legs began to tremble. His knees hit the floor.

The tip of Richard’s longsword was dipped in a numbing poison extracted from a fish. The battle had been his from the moment his blade skimmed the foreigner’s cheek.

The knights sighed in admiration. “Amazing as ever, Lord Richard.” “He’s not the king’s confidant for nothing…”

The animated corpses all fell. Disabling the foreigner appeared to have stripped him of his ability to control the dead.

Now all Richard had to do was deliver the foreigner to the knights under his command. With that, his task of wiping out this laboratory would be complete.

The knights came over, ready to take the foreigner into custody.

“Wait.” Richard stopped them. “Leave me and him alone. There’s something I want to ask this man.”

Upon receiving this order, the knights swiftly left the room. They must have assumed Richard was going to torture the foreigner to extract information about the laboratory.

Once they were alone, Richard said to the foreigner, “You can relax. I just want to talk.”

“Torture me as much as you like. I have nothing to say to you.”

“Such resolve… It seems you’re no mere scholar. If my estimation is correct…are you perhaps a soldier of an enemy nation? Seeing how you’ve bought up an estate in this town, large sums of money are most certainly involved.”

The foreigner glared at Richard silently.

“No fear in your eyes, even faced with your imminent death. I’m impressed. I suppose this means that you cannot betray your motherland.”

The foreigner did not reply. So Richard kept talking.

“Let’s talk about this laboratory. Doubtless, you were trying to create dragons capable of controlling the Power of God. And since you’re a foreign spy…that makes it quite obvious what the people researching the power here were trying to achieve.”

“Let me guess,” Richard said. “Your goal is to kill King Sigurd. To accomplish this, you need the Power of God.”

Sigurd was the hero of the kingdom. Being a child of God, he not only repelled attacks from foreign lands but also sought to expand the kingdom’s territory through war. Naturally, this had made him many enemies. The foreigner was not the only spy who had been sent to this land with orders to somehow kill its invincible king. However, if that were everything, then Richard would not have bothered to try to speak to this man.

There was one thing about this laboratory that was special compared to others. Namely, the progress of their research was remarkable. Richard had destroyed many laboratories before, but never had he seen one that had come so close to acquiring the Power of God.

In other words…

If Richard were to lend this foreigner a hand, he might acquire a weapon for killing Sigurd.

On a personal level, Richard loathed experiments involving children. He felt a sense of obligation to prevent others from being sacrificed like he had been. That was why he took the initiative with Sigurd to destroy the workshops.

However…

Brunhild’s frightened expression in the garden crossed his mind.

He wanted to see her smiling from the heart once more.

For her sake…

At present, Richard possessed no weapon that could kill the king.

And the man in front of him could give him exactly that.

Richard fell silent for a very long time, deep in thought. He hesitated so long that the foreigner grew suspicious.

But he finally opened his mouth. “Scum,” Richard insulted the foreigner. Or perhaps he was directing this at himself. “This workshop used children as test subjects for its experiments. If I got involved, I could furnish you with as many as you need.”

For the first time, the foreigner reacted to Richard’s words.

“Cooperate with me. Let us kill Sigurd together,” said Richard.

After finishing his takedown of the laboratory, Richard returned to the castle. The foreigner and his subordinates were confined in the dungeon, but Richard planned to help them escape later. From here on out, he would have his hands full providing an alternate laboratory for the remnants and devising a place to procure orphans.

On the inside, however, Richard was feeling slightly giddy. Despite the guilt he felt over the orphans he would have to sacrifice, he was glad he had found a way to save Brunhild.

I can finally kill Sigurd.

Still feeling worked up, he returned to his quarters. He was wide awake and anticipated a sleepless night.

Then his eyes fell on the table in his room. There was a ceramic jug of alcohol left there, one with a sophisticated pattern on it. It was not one of his possessions.

There was a cork in the jug. He opened the bottle, and a sweet scent tickled his nostrils. Peering inside, he saw it was filled with golden liquid. It was mead.

Then it clicked.

Sigurd had left this.

The king would show appreciation for his vassals’ efforts by granting them rewards. On top of that, he and Richard were like-minded in their hatred for the remnants of old Etherium. Sigurd must have left this for Richard, thinking him tired after wiping out the workshop.

But Richard snorted at the king’s consideration.

He opened up a window, thrust out the jug of liquor, and upturned it. Its sparkling contents spilled to the ground.

He wasn’t going to accept any charity from that man.

After throwing away the liquor, Richard scoffed. “How laughable.”

The king thought of the man trying to kill him as a friend. Richard found the kindness the man demonstrated to him on occasion unbearably disgusting.

But he would only have to suffer this unpleasantness a little longer.

Slowly but surely, his plans to kill the king were being laid.

Chapter 5

In this kingdom, the name Sigurd had once belonged to a foolish king.

With a name like that, perhaps he was bound to accomplish little from the start. And indeed, he had failed to manifest the Power of God at all.

And so, Sigurd was sent to Etherium. On the day he was put in a carriage to depart from the castle, he found the resolve to keep his sister from being sent there, no matter what. Right before leaving, he embraced his sister, who had the same black hair and eyes as he did.

He didn’t care what painful things he would have to endure. But he couldn’t have his sister go through the same.

“You must come home, Brother.”

He nodded firmly in response. He had to come back. The people had assassinated his mother and father. He was the only family Brunhild had left. There was no one to protect their fallen clan. He alone could protect his sister, as had always been the case.

He had to manifest the Power of God, whatever it took, and then return.

He actively participated in the experiments. Even when his body reacted strongly to the drugs, he would grit his teeth through the pain. The cruel experiments altered his appearance. His throat was burned by a drug like boiling water, turning his voice hoarse. The repeated experiments affected his bone structure, too. Frighteningly often, he would look in the mirror and wonder if the person staring back was really him.

But despite all that, he achieved no results.

Sigurd wasn’t even able to create a single arrow of light.

Nearly three years had passed since the experiments began.

His sister would soon be eight years old. Once she reached that age, she would be made to come to this facility as well—the thing he’d wanted to avoid most. But he was powerless.

That was when the incident happened.

As Sigurd was resting his injured body in a small basement room, there came a roar from above.

“He’s become deranged.” “There’s a fire!”

Sigurd happened to hear adults yelling as they rushed up the stairs.

Was there a fire upstairs? That meant it would be bad to stay in the basement.

Sigurd headed up the stairs—and met no resistance. Normally, the children weren’t allowed to go upstairs. If someone found them, the mercenaries would return them to their rooms. But nobody stopped Sigurd this time. Everyone was in such a frenzy that they couldn’t pay attention to the children. As the adults headed for the stairs, they were babbling things like, “Weapons! We need weapons!” and “Someone stop him!”

Some of the adults were carrying swords. This seemed quite serious. Sigurd chased after them.

When he reached the great hall of the workshop, he found a boy. Many mercenaries and scholars were surrounding him. There were fallen soldiers, too, and fires going up all over the place.

“Ngh… Ugh…” The boy held his head and groaned.

Sigurd recognized him. He recalled he was an orphan.

The scholars at Etherium had been carrying out experiments on orphans. No—what they did was so violent, one would hesitate to call them experiments. The scholars thought the Power of God would reside in those who were innocent, so they attempted to make the children even purer. To the scholars, purifying someone’s mind meant destroying it. They were convinced doing so would eliminate worldly thoughts. They used many methods to break the orphans’ minds, one of which was to throw them into the dark for a few months. Sigurd remembered this very orphan had been shut away in the darkness.

Once the process of eradicating a child’s mind was complete, they would then be exposed to a lump of the Power of God that was underground. Apparently, if you were lucky, it would imbue you with the Power of God. But when they gazed upon the uncanny light of the Power, most humans would go mad before gaining anything at all. The orphans used as test subjects had all broken, without exception. Once the orphans were rendered useless, the scholars would dispose of them immediately.

The First Queen had feared these sorts of repulsive experiments and the misuse of power, so she had only told the location of the Power of God to a few people in the royal family. But then tragedy struck.

The cause was the decline of the royal family with the passage of centuries. The current royal family had realized they could attempt to restore themselves with the Power of God that had been sealed away. But since they lacked sufficient knowledge of this power, they had no choice but to rely on Etherium. Consequently, they wound up sharing the location of the Power of God with the people of the laboratory. It was ironic, really—the noble aspirations of the First Queen had been subverted by none other than her descendants.

This black-haired boy, suffering and at the mercy of the adults, was supposed to have been one of those throwaway orphans.

He was clutching his head in his hands, as if withstanding great agony. “Urk… Hng… I can’t see…anything…”

He seemed somehow confused.

In addition to scholars, there were also mercenaries surrounding the boy. Their job was to suppress the children when they became deranged. Three of the mercenaries approached the boy and tried to hold him down.

No—were they really trying to hold him down? It looked to Sigurd like they were trying to kill him; the mercenaries were mercilessly swinging their swords and spears at the boy.

Thinking the boy was about to be slain, Sigurd looked away. He didn’t want to witness such a tragedy.

But his fear never came to pass.

The swords and spears made contact with the boy. But they didn’t pierce his flesh. The boy’s body was like steel.

He waved his right arm, as if brushing off the adults.

The room lit up in a flash of white. A beat later, the mercenaries were burning up. Having become balls of fire, they rolled on the ground.

Meanwhile, there was not a single wound on the boy’s body. Something was clearly wrong.

And that was not all. The boy had started floating, flying through the air even though he had no wings. He looked down on the mercenaries and the scholars.

At this point, Sigurd had a realization. “Could it be that he…?”

Eyes burning with hate, the boy glared at the scholars and swung his right arm.

Countless arrows of light appeared in the air.

There was no mistaking it. This was the Thunder.

Sigurd understood.

The scholars had succeeded.

They had used and discarded countless orphans in their experiments. But atop that great pile of bodies, they had succeeded. That boy displayed an incredible aptitude for the Power of God, controlling the power of Thunder at will and flying through the sky without wings, just like the First Queen of legend. The mercenaries didn’t stand a chance. Nobody could have imagined a child would manifest such immense ability.

What came next was a massacre.

At first, the scholars seemed to want to stop the boy, but gradually, they changed tactics to stopping him through lethal force. But they couldn’t even manage that; in the end, they were running around madly. However, not a single one of them managed to get away. The boy flew around swiftly, circling around to block their exits every time.

Sigurd watched in a daze as the boy wiped out the scholars. It was sheer coincidence that he was safe; the boy’s attacks on the scholars had simply happened to miss Sigurd. The scene was filled with the bodies of children who had been experimented on, just like him.

Eventually, the only two people left alive in that room that smelled of burning flesh were Sigurd and the boy.

The orphan noticed Sigurd. He pointed his bloodied white hand at him and walked over to him. “I’ll kill you.”

The boy was deranged. He seemed to perceive everyone else here as enemies.

He thrust his right hand at Sigurd.

The young royal knew he was going to die. At that very moment, a tear slipped down his cheek. He didn’t want to die.

He wanted to see Brunhild—just one more time, at least.

But his wish would no longer come true. He was only a child, so he had no way out of this situation.

The fingers of the boy’s right hand began to glow with lightning. It was the Thunder. Sigurd was going to be charred alive.

But—

“Hng… Guh…” The boy held his head in his hands again, struggling. “Ugh—waaaaaagh! Why am I…? Ahhhhh!” He howled madly as Sigurd watched him dumbly. “Someone. Someone. Someone… Someone…”

The boy suddenly fell to his knees on the spot. Then, in his disturbed state, he babbled, “Someone tell me. Who…who…who am I…?”

That made Sigurd realize the boy had lost his memory. This was not unusual. Continual exposure to the Power of God would destroy people’s minds, confound memories, and sometimes cause amnesia.

“I can’t see anything…”

That was when a jolt ran down Sigurd’s spine.

If he made the right move—

He realized if he was going to survive this, it was now or never.

Figuring it was sink or swim, Sigurd said to the boy, “I know who you are.”

Thinking he might be able to survive if he took advantage of the boy’s memory loss, he had blurted this out in an attempt to dissuade the boy from killing him.

The boy looked at Sigurd. His eyes were cold enough to make Sigurd shiver. “Tell me. Just who am I?”

Sigurd didn’t know who the boy was. He didn’t even know his name. All he knew was the boy had lost his memory.

What could he say to convince this boy? To satisfy him?

The boy’s right hand shone with Thunder. Sigurd had to think of something to say to win him over right this very moment.

“Tell me right now. I…!” The boy trained his black eyes on Sigurd in a fierce glare.

Sigurd came up with a plan. He didn’t know if this would convince the boy, but it was all he could think of.

“You’re the king.”

The boy was taken aback by Sigurd’s remark. “Me…?”

“Yes. Your black hair and eyes are proof you’re from the Siegfried family.”

It was true that the boy’s hair and eyes were black. They resembled those of Sigurd before he had come to Etherium.

“And you wield the Power of God, too. Only a member of the Siegfried family could have such aptitude for it.”

“This power…” The boy gazed at his right hand. But it seemed he wasn’t fully convinced. “I don’t know… Your words only sound empty to me.” He pointed his right hand at Sigurd once more. “What guarantee do I have that you speak the truth?”

Sigurd said as calmly as he could, “There is none.”

“Then die.”

“You must not kill me.”

“Why not?”

“If you kill me, then you’ll be trapped in darkness for eternity.” Sigurd himself didn’t feel his next words were convincing in the slightest. But he said it because he had no choice but to hang on to them. “I am your light.”

What a weak thing to say, Sigurd thought. But still, now that he’d said it, he had to keep going. “I’m the only one who knows who you are. I’m your only light. If you kill me, then you will have no way to find out who you are.”

He waited for the boy to react. If this didn’t stop him, then all was lost.

His words seemed to have an effect. The boy stopped trying to fire the Thunder.

“Light…”

“That’s not all. I’m your friend. We met at this experimental facility, and we told each other we would get through this together. You also promised you would make me your servant once you got out of here. Have you even forgotten that?”

He kept spouting nonsense on top of nonsense. He didn’t want to let the boy think calmly.

The boy pressed his forehead. He appeared to be trying very hard to remember, but there was no way that he could. Then he said to Sigurd, “Your name.”

“Huh?”

“What’s your name?”

“I…” He couldn’t tell the truth and say his name was Sigurd. That was a name for someone from the royal family. Now that he had explained that the royal family had black hair and black eyes, he couldn’t possibly claim he was also a royal since his hair had turned white and his eyes red from the experiments. It would make him seem suspicious.

A common boy’s name in the kingdom came to mind. “I’m Richard.”

This was when he abandoned the name Sigurd.

“Richard.” The boy gazed at Sigurd—no, Richard. After mulling this over for a bit, he said, “…I don’t necessarily believe everything you say.”

Richard waited for the boy to continue. He felt like he was waiting for an axe to fall.

“So make me believe. If you are my light, then guide me. If you cannot, then I will burn you to death.”

“Leave it to me, Your Highness,” Richard replied respectfully. From now on, he would pretend to be a servant.

“Richard, what should I do?”

“First, we should head back to the castle. Your retainers are awaiting your return.”

If Sigurd had gained the incredible Power of God, the people of the castle would certainly grant him a warm welcome back. The boy’s hair and eyes were black, so it wouldn’t be hard to pass him off as a member of the Siegfried family.

“All right. Well then, take me to the castle.” The boy started walking off.

Richard just about let out an automatic sigh of relief. He had made it out alive.

But then the boy turned back to him. “Richard, you haven’t answered my question.”

“Wh-what is it…?”

“My name. What is my name?”

Richard had absolutely no reservations about giving up his name. It had originally belonged to a foolish king, and he had already thrown it away. “You are Sigurd. Sigurd of the Siegfried family.”

This was how the boy became Sigurd, and Sigurd became Richard.

The reigning king was not Brunhild’s brother.

Richard was her true brother.

And Brunhild was completely unaware of this.

Just as Richard anticipated, Sigurd was welcomed back at the royal palace because he had manifested the Power of God. Nobody noticed the switch. This was partly because the real Sigurd had never grabbed much attention in the first place and partly because the boy looked very similar to Richard’s old appearance. It wasn’t difficult to make everyone around believe the boy was Sigurd of the Siegfried family.

It was a problem Sigurd had killed all the scholars at Etherium, but they swept this under the rug; for when they sent Sigurd to an Eden as a test, he managed not only to defeat a dragon but bring it back alive. This seemed worth the death of those scholars, so the matter was settled.

When the two boys returned to the castle, Brunhild came out to welcome them. She had grown into quite the lovely girl in Richard’s three years of absence. She appeared to have been anticipating her sibling’s return. As her brother, nothing could have made him gladder. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and stroke her head.

“Welcome home.”

Brunhild hugged her brother. But the one she embraced was not Richard.

She clung to Sigurd, who had replaced him.

It was no surprise she couldn’t tell who her real brother was. Richard’s appearance had drastically changed in the span of three years. His hair had turned from black to white, and his eyes from black to red. The voice that came out of his singed throat was hoarse, and between puberty and the experiments, his face and height had also changed.

Meanwhile, the color of Sigurd’s hair and eyes and the shape of his face resembled very much the boy Richard had once been. There were some differences in the details, but people chalked that up to three years of aging.

Richard wished he could have told his sister his true name, if it were possible.

But there was no way he could do so. He was the only one who knew the current Sigurd was an impostor. If he were to blurt it out without thinking, then he would put himself and his sister in danger. Besides, with how he looked, people wouldn’t believe him anyway.

Richard could only watch his sister embrace Sigurd.

“What’s with this girl? How creepy.”

Even when Sigurd shoved Brunhild away after she tried to hug him, he could only watch.

After that, Richard would always approach Brunhild as Sigurd’s servant.

Those days were very trying but also filled with joy.

On that day when he had been prepared to die, he had wished to see Brunhild once more. Though his relationship with her had changed, he was able to spend time with her again.

And there was more to rejoice over. Brunhild grew more attached to Richard. She didn’t seem to sense he was her brother at all. But that actually made him gladder. That she would become attached to him without knowing his identity conversely meant her love was true.

But those happy days did not last long. Some time after Richard returned to the castle, Sigurd said to him, “That Brunhild is an eyesore.”

Brunhild did not grow attached to her new brother. Being a sensitive girl, perhaps she sensed something was off about the new Sigurd.

And for his part, Sigurd must not have felt Brunhild was his sister, either. She was a complete stranger to him. And because she kept him at arm’s length, he did not have the opportunity to grow attached to her.

Additionally, Sigurd was extremely mentally unstable at that time. The experiments he had undergone in Etherium had left him unable to control his emotions. He could get upset and try to kill Brunhild at any moment.

“Brunhild doesn’t seem like my sister at all. She’s unpleasant. There should be no issue killing a talentless fool like her.”

“No, that will not do. Killing a family member will besmirch your honor as king.”

Richard prolonged Brunhild’s life with skillful wordplay. But there was a limit to the power of words. The most he could do was grant her a temporary reprieve. Even if Richard’s words convinced Sigurd for the moment, the king’s irritation would build the moment he observed Brunhild’s attitude once more.

Richard’s glib tongue only worked on Sigurd for two years.

“I’ve made up my mind,” said Sigurd. “I’m going to kill Brunhild. What makes her so distant toward me? Her rudeness is intolerable.”

Richard understood Sigurd could no longer be convinced. He gave up and said, “So then let us kill her.”

Sigurd looked quite pleased to see his servant agree.

But before Sigurd could speak, Richard continued, “But even if we’re to kill her, you must maintain your nobility as a king. Resorting to barbaric methods of execution is out of the question.”

“There’s no nobility or ignobility to killing, but I will listen to you.”

By this time, Richard had secured a certain degree of trust from Sigurd since he had been seeing to the other boy’s needs since returning to the castle. Richard also handled the miscellaneous matters and social tasks Sigurd didn’t wish to attend to. On top of that, Richard had also taught Sigurd the comportment and refinement appropriate for a king. He was only so earnestly devoted to the other boy in order to make the lie of himself being Sigurd’s servant seem true, but it seemed Sigurd saw Richard’s actions as proof of loyalty.

“We shall exile Brunhild. She’s a young girl. She doesn’t have the ability to live on her own. If you send her away, that’s essentially a death sentence,” Richard explained. “Exile is the most dignified method of execution, and the royal family has carried it out since ancient times.”

Sigurd let out smothered laughter, quite amused. “Richard, you’re quite the knowledgeable man.”

For a tyrant such as Sigurd, this was rare praise to give a retainer, but privately, Richard was seething with anger. Even if Brunild had escaped execution for the time being, his sister could no longer escape walking a path of great hardship.

And so, Brunhild was exiled.

She was neither allowed to take anything with her nor permitted to bring along a single servant.

Richard somehow managed to find the opportunity to sneak something into the pocket of her clothes: a small vial with a drop of the Miracle of Life in it, just in case she was wounded or fell ill, and a gold coin for her journeys. He really would have liked to give her many things, but this was the most he could do.

Brunhild left the castle.

Richard wanted to go after her. He wanted to be exiled along with her. But his concern for his sister kept him from following her. Richard was the only person the king trusted. If he were to vanish, then Sigurd would attempt to track him down by any means necessary. And if he found Richard with his sister, the two would surely be executed.

All Richard could do was see Brunhild off.

Richard would never forget the expression of utter despair she had worn right before leaving and how small she looked as she trudged off.

This was the precise moment Richard came to loathe Sigurd.

While working as Sigurd’s confidant, he searched for Brunhild’s whereabouts. He was deeply relieved to learn she had somehow survived and taken up residence in a place called Tauber Village.

After that, Richard would go to Tauber Village once a year. As Sigurd’s favorite, he was incredibly busy, but even so, he would make sure to go to Brunhild’s hut in the forest on her birthday.

Despite this, he couldn’t actually reveal himself to Brunhild. He had failed to protect her. Even if it had been to save her life, he had been the one who had recommended her exile. He couldn’t bear to face her.

All he could do was give her gifts.

He would lay a flower and a gold coin in front of her hut.

The flower was meant to be a celebration of her birthday.

He would watch from a distance as Brunhild came out of her hut and picked up the flower and coin, and then he would leave the village.

Richard would do this each and every year.

With the passage of time, Brunhild became a beautiful woman. Richard’s annual trip to her hut became the thing he looked forward to most.

However, it did make him feel uneasy that Brunhild had been living this whole time on her own. Whenever he observed her, she always seemed isolated and alone.

Finally, however, things changed.

On her sixteenth birthday, as usual, Richard traveled to Tauber Village to leave a flower and a gold coin on Brunhild’s doorstep. But this time, things played out differently from before. Brunhild emerged from the hut with a man. Richard watched Brunhild’s expression as she spoke with the man, and he could tell she had been freed from her solitude.

Now she would surely be all right. His sister would no longer need his help.

This year would be the last time he took gifts to his sister. With that thought, Richard returned to the castle.

Not long afterward, Sigurd went to Tauber Village.

By the time Richard learned of everything, it was too late. Sigurd had slain the dragon and almost killed Brunhild, too. Richard just barely managed to save her life, but it came at a terrible price: Brunhild, who had inherited the dragon’s power, would be forced to wed Sigurd.

Why did his sister have to meet such an absurd fate?

To be chased out of the castle, to have her family killed.

Had his sister done anything to deserve such miserable treatment?

No—absolutely not.

She had never rebelled against Sigurd’s orders, not even once. Despite that, however, her whole life had gone wrong due to the whims of a single man.

Though the king never noticed, the heart of his retainer had been smoldering with hostility for his lord all this time.

Chapter 6

He was dreaming.

It was a nostalgic vision. A memory of a night in the distant past.

Richard was small, consoling a young Sigurd. That night, Sigurd was in a mad frenzy. In the period immediately after their return from the laboratory, he was quite unstable. It had to be a consequence of amnesia.

“Who am I?” he demanded, tearing at his hair.

Richard answered, “You’re Sigurd.”

Yet the boy didn’t seem to find Richard’s words convincing.

Richard showed the boy various pieces of evidence that he was indeed Sigurd, including proof that Sigurd had lived in the house where he was born and had grown up with a sister.

But Sigurd couldn’t connect those things to himself. And there was little wonder why—because they were evidence of someone else’s life. Sigurd’s anxieties seemed to become particularly intense at night. That evening was no different.

Sigurd groaned, “I have nothing that seems certain.”

“…You have no memories of your own, so it makes sense you would feel that way.”

“You’re my servant, aren’t you?”

“That I am.”

“So then banish my worries. Give me confidence that I am me.”

Sigurd was waiting for Richard to say something. Richard had to give him a good answer, or he would probably be burned up on the spot.

Richard said, “I cannot do away with your worries right this minute.”

He could tell Sigurd despaired at his words. He gathered the Power of God in his right hand.

But before he could raise his arrow, Richard said, “But I can illuminate a path on which you might gain certainty.”

Sigurd abandoned preparing his arrow for the moment. Perhaps he figured he would just hear Richard out.

“You are the man who will become king. A ruler’s way of living will be your feeling of certainty.”

“What do you mean?”

“A king lays the course for others to follow. Therefore, he is not allowed to waver. That means if you become a great king, then you would also become a man who does not falter.” Richard continued, saying whatever came to mind so long as it sounded good. “Just like the First Queen, whose name is etched into the history books, you will become unshakable.”

A great king.

In his uncertainty, Sigurd seemed drawn to this notion—not that Richard cared. “A king,” the uncertain boy muttered.

“Richard, don’t just stand there in a daze.”

Hearing Sigurd’s voice, Richard came to his senses. He was standing in front of the throne. The late afternoon sun filtered through the window. It appeared he’d lost himself for a while under the rays of the sun. He’d been so busy lately that he hadn’t slept. Procuring test subjects for the foreigner’s human experiments proved surprisingly difficult. Not only did it take time to get the orphans in question, but Richard also had to collect them at night, making sure no one saw him.

“Pardon me… What were you talking about again?”

“This year’s ball.”

Once a year, the kingdom would put on a large ball. It was a pedigreed affair where the upper classes gathered. As royalty, Sigurd would naturally be in attendance.

“I hear this year will be a little different. Royals from foreign nations are also being invited as guests, are they not?”

Lately, Sigurd’s kingdom had been rapidly expanding its power. Acts of invasion were not uncommon, so royalty from foreign lands had begun to come to pay respects, thinking to build alliances with him. This year’s ball was also an attempt at exchange with these foreign nations.

Sigurd said to Brunhild, who was sitting at his side, “You’re going to attend as well.”

“Such a magnificent occasion would be too grand for me…,” she replied.

“You do barely count as royalty. Attendance is mandatory.”

“…Understood.”

And so, it was decided that Brunhild would also be attending the ball.

Richard thought that he might be able to use the ball to his advantage.

At the gathering, everyone would be dancing in the castle hall, Sigurd included. If Richard could sneak an underling into the event, they could get close to the king without raising any suspicions.

Richard had an idea.

If he could make things work, he might be able to acquire the Healing Blade. Richard was having the foreigner make him a drug that would grant him the Power of God, but you could never have too many cards in your hand. Besides, he didn’t know when exactly the drug would be completed.

Once everyone was asleep, Richard headed alone to the dungeon underneath the castle, which held criminals who were slated to be executed.

The man Richard chose had been arrested for the crime of assassinating a senior statesman. He had once been a mercenary, and he possessed a wealth of combat experience. He was perfect for Richard’s plan.

Richard went into the criminal’s cell. The bearded man was asleep, but the sound of Richard’s footsteps roused him.

“What do you want?” The man glared at him. His eyes held open hostility.

“I’m going to take you outside.”

The criminal didn’t believe Richard. He gave a mocking smile. “Outside? Don’t lie. I’m waiting to be executed. The king himself handed down my sentence.”

In this kingdom, it was the king’s job to decide how people who had committed serious crimes would be punished.

Richard said, “Then you should just kill the king.”

“What did you say?”

“I came to make a deal with you. I have my own reasons for seeking the king’s life, and I would like you to cooperate. If you agree to my deal, I’ll let you out of this cell.”

The criminal gave Richard an evaluating look.

“At this rate, you’ll just be executed. Why not struggle to live on?” Richard asked.

The criminal immediately shot back, “I refuse. In the first place, they say the king can’t be injured. Killing him is impossible.”

“That will be no problem. The source of the king’s immortality is a sword he always carries at his side. It protects its owner from any injury.”

That was a lie.

“I would have you cut the belt that holds the sword at his waist. After that, I’ll assassinate the king.”

The criminal hesitated but did not agree. “Your plan sounds too fishy. I’d choose death over being used,” he said, turning his back to Richard.

To this, Richard said, “You don’t want to see your family?”

The criminal twitched in response.

Richard held up a little piece of paper. On it was a drawing of a simple woman. They had confiscated it from the criminal when they apprehended him. The woman’s eyes very much resembled those of the condemned man.

“Your sister, I take it? If I were you, I would want to go see her before I died—no, even if I died.”

The next day, he gave the criminal his instructions.

Richard was in his quarters, selecting an outfit to wear to the ball. Robe, coat, cape—for each of these articles of clothing, long was best.

There came a gentle knock on the door. That reserved sound could only come from Brunhild. Richard opened the door and, as expected, found her standing there. She was a lovely sight, as always.

“What is it, Brunhild?”

Brunhild said apologetically, “The truth is, there was something I wanted to ask of you…”

“What might that be?”

“Could you help me with my dance lessons?”

“Oh, to get ready for the ball.”

Brunhild had lived in the forest for many years. She had taken dance lessons when she was young, but she must have forgotten everything but the basics.

“There will be many people in attendance, won’t there? I don’t want them to laugh at me…”

“I understand. Leave it to me, and everything will turn out all right.”

Richard had much to do to prepare for the day of the ball, and the exhaustion was getting to him. Yet he still couldn’t find it in himself to refuse Brunhild’s request. She came first above all else.

Straight away, they headed to an empty room where Richard taught Brunhild how to dance by having her watch themselves in the large mirrors there. She was quick to pick it up, and he sensed that she was fit.

Once they started sweating, they decided to take a break. While drinking water brought in by a servant, they talked.

“Thanks to you, I feel like I’ve managed to get the gist of it again.”

“It’s because you have the aptitude for it. If you continue your lessons, I don’t think anyone will laugh at you at the ball.”

“You’re quite right. Can I ask you to keep teaching me? It will have to be every day, though.”

“With pleasure,” Richard responded, before asking, “So…are things all right with Sigurd? You’re with him every night, aren’t you?”

“For now, it seems he won’t lay a hand on me until the night of the wedding. I’m actually more worried about him…”

“You are?”

“He cries out in his sleep like a child, saying it’s dark and he’s scared. When I hold his hand, he does seem to settle a bit, though.”

“…You hold Sigurd’s hand?”

“…It’s strange, isn’t it? Even though he killed someone dear to me, I can’t just sit there doing nothing when I see him having nightmares right next to me.”

“…You really are kind.”

“I’m just indecisive. I’ve even…found myself find myself looking back on the night when the dragon was killed a little differently. I wonder how my brother must have seen that dragon—burning the village and attacking people…” She trailed off. “I’m sorry.”

Richard thought that she had to be feeling despondent over the dragon’s murder again.

“Even I don’t know what to think of Sigurd anymore. Though I do resent him, I was happy to see him not too long ago, when he was being kind to some children…” She wore a peaceful expression. “It made me think, ‘Oh, he is my brother after all.’”

“No.”

Richard didn’t say this loudly. But there was an indescribable, intimidating air in his rebuttal. Brunhild’s eyes widened, and she felt silent.

After some silence, she asked timidly, “What do you mean, no?”

If only I could tell her. Everything would be so much easier, Richard thought.

Right now, he wanted to say, I’m your brother. That kind gaze of yours shouldn’t be for that man from God-knows-where but for me.

But it was not yet time. He had to kill Sigurd, or he could never be at ease and return to his sister.

Now was not the moment for her to embrace him and welcome him back.

So Richard said, “You shouldn’t treat Sigurd like your brother. You know he hates that.”

“He does.”

“It makes sense he feels that way. He must feel like he’s being compared with a stranger when people see him as the boy from a time he can’t remember. I think it would be best to treat him as an individual called Sigurd rather than as your brother.”

Brunhild looked as if the scales had fallen from her eyes. “…You’re quite right. That never occurred to me. I was being very selfish.”

“You’re not selfish at all.”

She was right to care for her brother. It was just that she was caring for the wrong person.

Brunhild said, “I’ll be more careful. Thank you.”

The day of the ball arrived.

The doors would soon be opening, and people were beginning to gather at the castle. One after another, foreign kings, queens, princes, and princesses made their entrances. When they ascended the great staircase and came to the thrones where Brunhild and Sigurd sat, they offered their respects in the manner of their various nations. Sigurd received them with expertise, but at his side, Brunhild was as stiff as a rock. Beside them, Richard was watching her. He felt sorry for her; sweat was beading on her forehead.

Once all the guests were done paying their respects, fireworks went up outside the castle. The flowers blooming in the sky signaled the start of the ball.

The attendees began to dance in time with the music played by the castle musicians.

“We shall dance as well.” Sigurd took Brunhild’s hand and made her get up from her throne. They descended the stairs to head into the great hall.

The two of them reached the center of the assembly room. The attendees all focused on the hosting pair’s dance. Richard also nonchalantly followed after them, staying close by his king’s side.

Sigurd and Brunhild began to dance. Brunhild’s daily lessons had borne fruit, and her dance steps were quite brilliant.

With Sigurd pulling her hand, Brunhild spun. Her dress spread around her like a blooming flower. The onlookers gasped.

Richard wanted to watch his sister dancing forever, but it wasn’t the time. He needed to be ready at any time to pull out the long object hidden beneath his robes.

The waltz ended. When Sigurd and Brunhild struck their final poses, it happened.

One of the participants leaped at the royal pair. It was the criminal from earlier, well-groomed and dressed like an aristocrat.

He had a knife in his hand.

Sigurd noticed the attack. He quickly stepped in front of Brunhild to guard her.

The assailant stabbed Sigurd, cutting off his sword belt in the process. The sword he’d been wearing hit the floor with a clang.

Richard rushed forward. He swiftly picked up the blade and tucked it away in his robes, then swapped it with the fake that he was carrying. Sigurd wasn’t watching. He was focused on the criminal, fixing him with a glare of rage.

The criminal was staring at Richard. His expression seemed to say, I leave the rest to you. He had gotten the sword away from Sigurd as promised, so he was telling Richard, Now you kill Sigurd.

However, Richard called out to denounce the man instead. “You bungling fool!”

The criminal gazed vacantly at Richard, who was glowering with anger.

“Know that you cannot escape the king’s wrath.” Richard turned to Sigurd. “Pass judgment on him, Your Majesty. This villain deserves to be burned to dust.”

The Thunder appeared in Sigurd’s right hand. Richard knew well just what to say to incite Sigurd to action.

Before Sigurd fired the Thunder, the criminal babbled, “No, that man, he—”

That was as far as he got. Sigurd unleashed the Thunder and burned the criminal. The man collapsed and became a ball of fire, then fell still. When the flames subsided, not even ash remained.

As the attendees reeled from the sudden incident, Sigurd clicked his tongue. “I suppose I should have looked into who he was working for before I killed him.”

Richard rushed up to Sigurd and held out the sword he’d swapped.

“Your Majesty, your blade.”

He’d already had a new belt made for the fake Healing Sword. Sigurd accepted the blade with a satisfied look and said, “You truly are well prepared.”

Sigurd hung the sword from his waist without noticing a thing.

Richard was satisfied. He had finally obtained a weapon with which to kill the king.

Restraining his urge to gloat, he listened to Sigurd and Brunhild converse behind him.

“Brother, um…”

“What?”

“Thank you. For protecting me…”

“…I cannot be injured. That’s all it is.”

That exchange was the only thing to dampen his mood.

Chapter 7

Richard had swapped the blade.

At present, the only issue was when he would take Sigurd’s life.

Sigurd’s invincibility made him careless, so simply stabbing him would be easy. But that didn’t mean Richard could attack him recklessly. It would be best to find an opportunity when he was certain he could deliver a killing blow.

Additionally, Richard would like to avoid someone seeing him assassinate the king if possible. He didn’t want to be caught. Not out of self-preservation but out of consideration for Brunhild. Sigurd wasn’t the only dark figure who lurked in the castle, and Richard didn’t want to leave his delicate sister alone here. He had to protect her, or she wouldn’t be able to survive. That was how things had always been.

Naturally, his opportunities for assassination were limited.

He considered getting someone else to do the deed, and there were several avenues to hire an assassin. But in the end, he chose not to. He didn’t want to leave his sister’s protection up to anyone else.

Time passed as he waited for his chance.

One afternoon, Sigurd went out hunting, a royal pastime he frequently indulged in. Brunhild and Richard were accompanying him.

The three of them headed for the woods on horseback. Sigurd and Brunhild were on the same horse. Sigurd was holding the reins, and Brunhild was sitting in front of him, between his arms. Richard followed them. He trained his eyes on Sigurd’s back to ensure he wouldn’t miss his chance to kill the man.

They dismounted upon reaching the forest where they would be hunting. The king’s retainers were standing at the entrance to the woods, waiting on standby with a hunting dog and a set of tools for killing game at the ready. Sigurd accepted a boar spear and asked Brunhild, “What do you want to eat?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking what sort of meat you wish to eat. You grew up in the forest, didn’t you? Didn’t you live off the blessings of the woods?”

“I did live in a hut in the forest, but I didn’t eat very much meat. I subsisted on fruit, mountain plants, and fish.”

“Do you not like meat?”

“It’s not that. It was too difficult for me to hunt wild animals. With handmade weapons, the only thing I could beat in a straight fight would be a deer, and the deer would have to be wounded or I wouldn’t be able to follow it.”

“So then let us hunt deer.” Sigurd held up the boar spear and said, “I’ll kill so many you’ll be stuffed before you can eat them all.”

“I wouldn’t say deer is a favorite of mine, though…,” Brunhild said.

The three of them walked through the forest, looking for deer. The dog sniffed along, picking up the smell of its prey.

The hound took the lead, going along the mossy trail.

After walking for a while, the hunting dog stopped abruptly and growled at the grass. It seemed to have found some prey.

Something black popped out of the grass about twenty meters away. But it was far larger than the creature the three of them had imagined.

“Eeek…” Brunhild recoiled. She automatically grabbed Sigurd’s shirt since he stood nearby, and it was no wonder. Even Richard was gulping.

It was a bear.

And a huge one in the prime of its youth at that. Its pelt was black and looked durable. The bear was staring in their direction. The creature took one step, then two steps forward on its thick legs, walking toward them. The hunting dog howled fiercely. That seemed to agitate the bear; it gave an earthshaking growl, then dashed forward, heading right for them. The bear was fast, and it was right in front of them in the blink of an eye.

“W-we have to run…” Having grown up in the woods, Brunhild fully understood just how terrifying bears were.

But Sigurd showed no signs of backing down. “I’m by your side. What need you fear?”

The great bear bounded along, leaping at them. The earth seemed to shudder with each step it took. It was quite close at this point. Now as frightened as she could get, Brunhild sank to the ground.

But before her dress could touch the forest floor and get dirty, Sigurd wrapped an arm around her. “This is where I show you how it’s done.”

Sigurd readied the boar spear in his free right hand, blade shining under the sunlight filtering through the trees.

The bear was right in front of the two of them. It rose up on its hind legs, casting a shadow over Brunhild. It was like a giant, standing three meters tall.

The bear swiped at them with a paw bigger than a man’s face, its claws as sharp as a dragon’s. It could easily break the neck of any man with merely a glancing blow.

Sigurd swung his weapon up to counter, thrusting the boar spear into the bear’s paw with precision and stopping the beast’s attack. The bear howled in anger, and it attempted to crush Sigurd’s head in its jaws, but Sigurd shifted aside just slightly to avoid it. He drew the spear from the bear’s paw, then plunged it into the animal’s breast. Heart pierced, the bear collapsed, shaking the earth when it hit the ground. There wasn’t very much blood, so Brunhild didn’t get dirty.

While looking down at the fallen bear, Sigurd announced with pleasure, “Today has been a good day. This is the first I’ve felled such a large beast.”

Then he said to Brunhild, who was still reeling from the shock of being attacked by a bear, “What’s wrong? Why don’t you say something?” Brunhild was speechless. “Your husband has killed some game. Is it not my wife’s duty to praise me coquettishly?”

He seemed proud. But Brunhild was not in the state of mind to be saying anything coquettish, which Richard noticed.

“Your Majesty, my lady appears too overwhelmed to speak.”

“What? Is she that disappointed I didn’t catch a deer?”

With Brunhild still on his arm, he attempted to proceed farther into the forest, probably intending to hunt deer.

Richard advised against it. “Let’s leave it at that, Your Majesty. My lady is unable to stand.”

“To leave now would besmirch my honor…”

It seemed Sigurd meant to keep going until he killed a deer. But when he looked at Brunhild in his grasp, staring up at him like she was ready to cry, he trailed off. Then he clicked his tongue and said, “Let’s leave it at that, then.”

Everyone was surprised to hear that from Sigurd—Brunhild, Richard, and likely Sigurd himself.

After the hunt was over, Richard went to Brunhild’s quarters.

Inside, Brunhild was sitting on a chair. Richard asked if she was feeling all right, and she told him she’d recovered right away.

“Good grief, that gave me a fright,” said Richard with a sigh.

“Indeed. It’s fine since Sigurd is invincible, but we’re not.”

“I wish he would consider the safety of those accompanying him.”

“You’re quite right.”

“But…,” Brunhild said, “…it was exciting.”

Richard’s eyes widened.

“When we were attacked, I was so very frightened. But looking back on it, I realize my heart was racing… I don’t usually get to experience that feeling. Well, I’m sure I only feel that way because I didn’t get hurt, though.” With a smile, she continued, “This didn’t occur to me at the time, but I think my brother was waiting for me to praise him for felling the bear. It was rather childish of him, though unlike the brother I remember. Still, I found it somewhat charm—” She noticed the ice in Richard’s gaze. “What’s the matter?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“Sigurd killed your family. Why are you getting attached to him?”

Richard came right up to Brunhild and grabbed her by the shoulder, digging in his fingers.

“R-Richard…”

“Remember what he did to you. Remember the awful things that have happened to you.”

“It’s not as if I’ve forgotten.”

“But you have. Otherwise, you wouldn’t speak fondly of him… He killed that dragon. Aren’t you ashamed to have almost called him charming?” Richard’s voice grew louder.

“You must not forget your sorrow for the dragon.”

Brunhild raised her voice as well.

“What do you mean? I don’t understand. Why must I hear you remind me of my sorrow for the dragon? You have no right to speak on it. This is a family matter.”

“What…?” Richard’s grasp on Brunhild grew tighter. “I’m saying this for your sake…”

He was so angry that his face was turning white.

“That hurts. Let go.” Brunhild twisted around. She was too weak to shake Richard off, but he came to his senses once he saw her face scrunched up in pain.

“S-sorry. I didn’t mean to…” He hastily released her.

Brunhild lowered her eyes, refusing to look at him, and said, “Besides, didn’t you tell me before I should see him for who he is?”

“I never said anything like that.”

She looked at him fearfully. Richard realized he had inadvertently harshened his voice. He softened his tone, saying, “You don’t have to ingratiate yourself to Sigurd like that.”

“Ingratiate myself…?”

“I know better than anyone how you really feel,” Richard said to her encouragingly. “It’ll be all right. I will save you.”

Brunhild stared at him with confusion.

“What…are you to me?”

“I…”

I’m your brother. That’s why I care about you so much.

He would probably have felt better if he could have told her that. But he couldn’t do it. At least, not yet.

“I’m Richard. Just Richard.”

With that, he left her quarters.

After departing from Brunhild, Richard went straight to the king’s chambers.

He was going to attack him right now, one way or another. He already had the sword on his person, so he could be ready to take Sigurd’s life at any opportunity. If he didn’t kill the man as soon as possible, his sister would be cajoled away from what was really in her heart.

Richard opened the door to the king’s chamber, hitting it so hard that it made a loud bang. Inside, Sigurd was polishing his boar spear. Noticing his servant, he called out, “What is it, Richard?”

Richard ignored that remark, striding straight up to Sigurd. He thrust his hand under his robe and was about to pull out the sword…

…but stopped the moment he grabbed the hilt.

Brunhild’s face crossed his mind. If Richard lost control of his emotions and bungled the assassination, then his sister would have no hope of escaping this man.

He regained his composure right at the last moment.

“What’s the matter? You look pale. Are you feeling ill?” Sigurd gave Richard a puzzled look.

Richard said, “Your Majesty, let’s go out hunting.”

“Hunting? But we just went.”

“I visited my lady. She told me she wished she could have eaten a deer you hunted.”

“A deer I hunted?”

“Yes, she was looking very much forward to it.”

Sigurd looked surprised. “She said that…?” Gazing at the blade of his boar spear, he said, “Perhaps I’ll be a proper big brother for once.”

At that instant, Richard nearly drew his sword. He desperately restrained his urge to kill.

“Well then, let us go now—just the two of us.”

Richard and Sigurd left the castle on horseback.

They began hunting in the same stretch of forest where they’d encountered the bear, letting a hunting dog lead the way. Richard followed one step behind Sigurd, looking for his chance.

Sigurd said to Richard in an easygoing manner, “Now that I think of it, it’s been quite some time since the two of us went out alone together like this.”

His face was as innocent as a boy’s. Not even Brunhild got to see him relaxed like this; Sigurd reserved this expression solely for the man he thought of as his closest friend.

“I’m so busy lately, conquering the Edens, invading other lands, and forging alliances… But before all this, we had leisure. What foolishness we would get up to in our free time. Back then, I hunted…” A vulgar smile crossed Sigurd’s lips. It was a smile completely lacking in class, one he would never reveal at the castle. “…not deer but women.”

“They say that great men have a great fondness for carnal pleasures, but it was truly difficult to counsel you back then.”

“Indeed. You never dallied with any women.”

“I’ve always only ever had one woman in my heart.”

Sigurd laughed. Unusual for such a haughty and arrogant man, it was self-deprecating. “…I feel like I understand that feeling now, just a little.”

When Richard heard this, murderous flames flickered in his eyes for just an instant. However, they quickly quieted down.

And so, the vassal’s hostility went unnoticed, and the king continued to speak in good humor.

“Let’s share a drink when we get back. It’s high time you told me about this woman of yours. No matter how many times I asked before, you never revealed her name. This time, you have to tell me.”

“Yes, once we return.”

As they walked along while engaging in lighthearted banter, the hunting dog’s head popped up. It had found a deer.

It was a young buck. It was sniffing at the ground about thirty meters away from the two of them. Perhaps it was searching for something to eat.

Without a word, Sigurd raised his hunting bow. He had a hang-up about not using the Thunder on hunts. Since these excursions were for pleasure, he would only use the orthodox equipment.

He pulled the bowstring back tight, nocked an arrow, and focused his eyes straight ahead, fixed only on the deer. Richard could tell Sigurd was concentrating.

This was the moment he’d been waiting for.

Richard touched the sword beneath his robes. Sigurd was so focused on hunting that he’d left himself wide open.

Richard quietly drew the blade from its sheath, then stood behind Sigurd.

His footfalls did make a bit of noise, but Sigurd was too absorbed in drawing his bow to notice.

From behind Sigurd’s back, Richard aimed for his heart.

He tensed, then raised the sword.

And then—

The hunting dog barked. It startled the little birds in the trees, sending them fluttering away.

Next came the sound of the arrow cutting through the air. Sigurd had shot at the deer. But the arrow he’d fired didn’t find its mark. Sigurd had sent it flying too late, after the deer had already fled from the barking.

“Damn deer.”

Sigurd lowered his bow and turned back to the hunting dog. The canine was barking at Richard. Richard hid the sword under his robes and said bitterly, “It seems this mutt isn’t cut out for its job.”

“The royal hunting dogs are supposed to be excellent, though.”

Sigurd prodded the hound’s head. Its tongue lolled out with a rather embarrassed look.

They continued hunting after that, but Richard didn’t get another opportunity to kill Sigurd.

The dog would start barking at Richard every time Sigurd was open. The creature was well trained indeed.

Ultimately, Richard found no chance to kill the king before the hunt wrapped up.

When Sigurd bagged a deer, a childlike smile came to his face. “This should satisfy Brunhild.”

The two men put their catch on a sled meant to be dragged behind them and headed back. As Sigurd’s servant, Richard was responsible for pulling the load. Sigurd didn’t help him, but on the way back, he found a stump that appeared comfortable to rest on and said, “Let’s rest a little. I’m tired from walking all this way.”

“Thank you for your consideration.” Richard sat down on the stump.

“You wait there.” Sigurd left Richard with the hunting dog and made to go off somewhere.

“Where are you going?”

“There’s a beautiful spring nearby. I’m going to get a drink.”

Sigurd headed off for the spring.

Richard sensed this was his last chance. When Sigurd drank from the water, he would attack from behind.

When he drew the sword out from under his robes, the hunting dog howled. Richard plunged the sword into its heart. The dog gave a little yelp before dying. There was now no turning back from this.

Stepping quietly, Richard headed for the spring.

Sigurd was kneeling in front of the clear water, drinking what he scooped up with his hands.

Richard approached quietly.

Sigurd’s back was wide open.

Richard swung down the sword in a single stroke. This time, he didn’t hesitate for even a single instant.

“—!”

Right before he was stabbed, Sigurd sensed Richard’s hostile intent and turned around, but it was too late for him to dodge.

A groan escaped his lips. Red blood flowed into the clear spring.

Sigurd said in anguish, “Richard… Why…?”

The sword had not reached the king’s body—Sigurd had blocked it by catching the blade in his hands. Blood ran from Sigurd’s hands down the length of the blade and into the spring.

Richard tried to push the sword into Sigurd’s body, putting all his strength and weight into it.

“Ngh…”

Sigurd raised his empty hand, manifesting a single arrow of light in the air that he shot at Richard’s hand.

The arrow went through his vassal’s right wrist, burning it. Losing balance, Richard fell into the creek with a dramatic splash.

Richard immediately turned toward Sigurd and tried to thrust the sword at him, but the tides of battle had turned.

Richard got up, turned away, and fled. He had to come up with a new plan.

“Wait, Richard!”

Ignoring the king’s pursuit, Richard continued to flee.

“The king has been wounded!”

There was a great commotion in the castle. Right as Brunhild stepped into the castle garden, she ran into Sigurd, who had returned from somewhere.

Even from a distance, she could tell something was wrong, so she rushed up to him. A dark-red cloth was wrapped around his hand. He’d torn off a piece of his clothing to make a bandage.

“Brother, that wound…,” Brunhild began, then trailed off.

Her eyes fell on the red object he was dragging behind him.

“Ah…it can’t be. It can’t be.”

A bloody corpse lay atop the sled they used for hunting. There was a great hole in the lifeless body’s breast. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to believe it—the corpse was Richard.

“Hng. Waaahhh…”

Unable to bear it, Brunhild sank to her knees. Her legs wouldn’t hold her up at all, and she grew faint. All sound grew distant.

Her head had gone entirely blank. Two of her maids came over and helped her back to her quarters, supporting Brunhild from each side.

After returning to her room, it took Brunhild some time to regain her composure.

A few hours later, when the sky turned dark, she finally regained the ability to think. The truth of Richard’s death had overwhelmed her. Now she was assailed by regret.

The last conversation she’d had with Richard had been a quarrel. Now that she thought about it, that had been their first fight. She and Richard had always been as close as siblings, so why did it have to end that way, of all things?

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Richard…”

If she’d known that would be their last exchange, she never would have fought with him.

Brunhild wept. All she could do was weep.

Once her tears had dried, she left her chambers.

She had to know.

She had to know why Richard had died.

Brunhild headed to her brother’s quarters. The hole in Richard’s body had come from one of her brother’s arrows of light.

Her brother was emotionally unstable. He might have lost his temper over something and killed Richard. If that was the case, then this time, she would absolutely not forgive Sigurd.

She headed to Sigurd’s room. She knocked, but there was no answer.

“I’m coming in,” she said to notify him, opening the door with uncharacteristic confidence.

Sigurd was sitting on his ottoman, hanging his head. The bandage around his hand was painful to look at. He didn’t even react when Brunhild came in.

She had come to ask him about Richard. She was timid by nature, but she had steeled herself, thinking she had to be unflinching just this once.

But now she was shrinking away. She hesitated to speak to her brother.

That was because Sigurd looked like he was just as hurt as she was, if not more.

Brunhild realized her guess had most likely been incorrect. Sigurd had not killed Richard over a passing feeling. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have been this depressed.

She did hate her brother. But he made for such an unbearable sight right now that even she could not help but worry about him.

“Are you all right, Brother…?”

He gave no response.

Next, she asked him with concern, “Brother, just what happened with you two? Did someone attack you?”

He still gave no answer.

“It’s not good to bear it all by yourself. That won’t fix anything. And Richard wouldn’t have wanted that, either. He must have gotten killed while protecting you…right?”

If Sigurd had not killed Richard, the only alternative she could imagine was some criminal attacking the two of them.

Sigurd did not answer Brunhild’s question.

“Please tell me what happened. Richard is dear to me, too.”

That made Sigurd finally look at Brunhild. His eyes were dark.

“I see. You feel the same.”

His gaze was doleful. His stare should have made her freeze. She’d been too scared to look him in the eye, but now it was fine. All his usual intensity was gone.

After looking at her for a long moment, Sigurd opened his mouth. “…We went to hunt deer.”

“Deer…”

That made Brunhild think back to what Sigurd had said before. He had been trying to hunt a deer for her. He’d wanted Brunhild to praise him.

“Oh…thank you.”

There was no response. Sigurd continued to speak. “On the way back, I went off by myself to drink from a spring. I was attacked there.”

Brunhild learned forward and asked, “By whom…?!”

“Richard.”

Brunhild froze. She didn’t understand what her brother was saying.

She thought she’d misheard him. She must have. Richard was her brother’s confidant and the closest thing Sigurd had to a childhood friend. There was no way he would do something like that.

Besides, Brunhild couldn’t even imagine why Richard would do such a thing.

“He tried to kill me with the Healing Blade. Somehow, he’d swapped the genuine one with a fake right under my nose.”

Sigurd held the blade out toward Brunhild. Upon close inspection, it was a cleverly made fake.

“Where’s the real one?”

“It sank into a poison bog in the forest. After his initial attack failed, I wasn’t able to follow him right away… I finally caught up to him at that bog. Richard grew desperate and swung at me with the blade. I instantly responded with the Thunder…and killed him. That was when the sword fell from his hand into the bog…”

The sword would be impossible to retrieve if it was at the bottom of the bog. The poison in that swampland was powerful and would quickly kill whatever fell into it.

As if it pained him to say, Sigurd said, “I’m drowning in regret. When I lost all memories of who I was in Etherium, Richard was the one who showed me the way back. He taught me how to behave like a king, how to be refined… My light in the darkness is…” Voice trembling, he wrung out, “So this is the pain of losing family.”

Those words struck a chord deep in Brunhild’s heart. They made her recall her own loss—when this very man had killed a member of her family.

But it wasn’t anger or hatred toward him that welled up in her heart.

“Brother.”

She sat at her brother’s side. And then, despite her intense uncertainty, she did it.

She gently embraced her brother’s head and kindly ran her fingers through his hair.

It was the very thing her brother had done to comfort her when she would cry as a small child.

He looked up at her and said, “What are you doing…?”

“When I was very little…I would stop crying whenever you did this. Though I’m sure you don’t remember…”

What am I doing? This is the man who killed the dragon, she wondered. But she knew this feeling so intimately that it hurt.

The pain of losing family.

She couldn’t abandon someone feeling the same pain right in front of her.

“I don’t recall having combed your hair… No, I have no memories of being young at all.”

“Even without your memory… Brother, we…” She trailed off there.

Her next words just wouldn’t come out of her mouth.

She thought, If there were no ill feelings in our family, then we could share this pain and overcome it.

She wanted to console Sigurd in his sadness, but the words just wouldn’t leave her lips.

Instead, Brunhild continued to comb his hair, hoping to stop the tears of his heart from flowing.

The preparations for Richard’s funeral began right away. Sigurd kept the fact that Richard had tried to kill him from everyone except Brunhild. He didn’t want to sully Richard’s honor.

It would take a few days of getting ready to put on a proper funeral. Richard’s body was embalmed and beautified to prevent decay and make him presentable.

The preparations were completed, and the day of the funeral arrived.

Brunhild and Sigurd went to the coffin holding Richard’s body to deliver their final farewell to their friend.

But then something strange happened.

They opened the coffin to find that Richard’s corpse had vanished. It was completely empty.

This was so bizarre the two of them were struck speechless. They immediately began a search for the body, but their efforts bore no fruit. The person supervising the funeral was adamant that Richard had been inside the coffin the day before.

At Brunhild’s side, Sigurd muttered, “He may have been alive.”

That’s impossible, Brunhild thought. No one could have survived that long with a gaping hole in their chest. Yet she was unable to deny her brother’s absurd suggestion. Someone dear to her had died, and his corpse had vanished, so she did want to believe he might be alive.

Besides, her brother would surely know better than her that there was no doubt Richard had died. Sigurd was the one who had killed him after all.

So there was no need for Brunhild to expressly deny his remark.

The funeral was put on hold. Without a body, there would be no ceremony.

Brunhild was worried Sigurd would be depressed over being unable to hold a funeral. But the only time he grieved openly was the night of the day Richard had betrayed him. The very next day, Sigurd went back to his usual confident self and returned to his duties as a ruler. But that didn’t mean that he had put all his feelings behind him. He was simply the king, and he couldn’t show weakness in front of his subjects.

Time passed, and Richard’s body still didn’t turn up. Meanwhile, the day of a different event was approaching.

Their wedding ceremony.

Brunhild was finally going to become Sigurd’s wife.

On the day of the ceremony, Brunhild changed into the traditional bridal attire and waited in her chambers for the wedding to start.

She felt no reluctance at the prospect of becoming her brother’s bride. She was not simply resigned to her fate. Rather, she no longer loathed him the way she once had.

The door to her quarters opened. She figured a servant was coming to get her. The wedding was to be held at the temple atop a hill, so she assumed the coachman had come for her.

But it wasn’t the coachman. It was none other than Sigurd.

“Brother?”

He didn’t move from the doorway. His eyes were locked on hers.

“What is it?” she asked.

He said, “There’s something I want to tell you before we are wed. It will be a little long, but hear me out.”

Brunhild was confused but nodded. Now that she thought about it, her brother scarcely came to her to talk.

“I am a Child of God. There has been no member of the royal family in the past century who has been able to control the Power as well as I can. My power could even be compared to that of the First Queen… But there is one ability I was never able to acquire.”

Sigurd gazed at Brunhild’s lips and said, “The voice.”

This made her think back to the voice the First Queen was said to possess. The First Queen’s powers had been the greatest of all generations, and her voice had been special. The words she spoke were “God’s Command” and were said to be capable of bending all creatures to her will.

“I sought a way to acquire that voice. I wanted to surpass the First Queen. Power alone was the proof of my existence. I felt the stronger I became, the more certain of my identity I would become.”

With no memories, all her brother had to rely on was the Power of God.

“I searched for ways to obtain God’s Command and discovered that dragon in the process. It was weak, as far as dragons went, but it made use of God’s Command to protect its island. I took it by surprise and burned its throat. Then I caught it and brought it back to the kingdom. The rest is as you know.”

After being taken to the kingdom, the dragon had undergone torturous experimentation. Brunhild finally knew what those experiments had been about. The researchers had been trying to extract God’s Command.

“That dragon was capable of bequeathing God’s Command to another if it so wished. But no matter how I tormented it, the dragon would not relinquish the power, saying it would die before handing it over to someone with a heart as ugly as mine. In the end…that voice came to reside in your throat.”

Brunhild touched her throat.

“Now you know. If you voice something as a command, any creature will follow you. Even me.”

Brunhild was startled. Suddenly, she understood everything Sigurd was trying to say.

“I cancel our marriage.”

Brunhild silently listened to her brother’s words.

“I don’t regret having killed your dragon. The creature was attacking a village and killing people. It was my duty to defeat it as a dragonslaying king, but…,” Sigurd said, “…I now understand your feelings a little. And so, in this moment and this moment alone, I will break my convictions and say to you”—he looked her straight in the eye—“I’m sorry for having killed your family.”

When Brunhild heard those words, she felt the last vestiges of the ill will she held for her brother melt away.

I’m sorry.

What simple words of apology.

But…

I see, I…

I’ve always wanted him to say that.

Sigurd approached Brunhild and melted the chain of the crimson necklace with his Thunder, then removed the jewelry. Now, even if she was to use God’s Command, she would not be punished for it.

“Go wherever you wish. You are free.”

With God’s Command, she could resist Sigurd even if he had a change of heart the next moment and tried to capture her.

Sigurd turned his back to her. As he was about to leave, Brunhild said, “I haven’t forgotten my sorrow over the dragon. Or my anger toward you. I’ll carry both until I die.”

“I’m sure.”

“But…,” she continued, “we should let bygones be bygones.” There was no more accusation in her tone. “Will you make a grave?”

Her question brought Sigurd to a halt.

“If you can do that, I’ll let go of my resentments,” she said.

Sigurd’s eyes widened. “What did you just say?”

“I’m saying I’ll forgive you.”

Not in her wildest dreams could she have thought the day would come when she would offer to forgive Sigurd.

“You’re contradicting yourself…”

“Indeed. I can’t forget my sadness or hatred. While I’ll carry those feelings with me forever, that won’t stop me from forgiving you.”

Sigurd listened attentively to what Brunhild said, then replied, “I’ll make a grave—if that’s what you wish.”

“Thank you, Brother.” Next, she said, “Well then, hurry and change into your wedding clothing. The carriage is coming.”

Hearing that, Sigurd got the most foolish look on his face. It was the first time she’d ever seen him with such an expression. “What are you talking about? You’re a free woman.”

“I’m free, so I’m going to do as I please. As you are now…I wouldn’t mind living with you.”

That was why Brunhild steeled herself and said the words, “We’re already family.”

Before long, the carriage came, and the two of them headed to the temple.

Brunhild and Sigurd kissed before the marriage altar as the spectators threw flowers to the heavens, and a pleasant storm of scattering blossoms filled the temple. Brunhild was happy. If only Richard were there, too, then everything would have been perfect. Surely, he would have acknowledged their union and celebrated them.

That night, the two of them were united as husband and wife.

Feeling her husband’s love with her whole body, Brunhild was enveloped with a sense of contentment. But in his embrace, she happened to realize something strange.

Even though they were siblings, she didn’t find touching him or being touched unpleasant in the slightest.

Now that she thought about it, this had always been the case—even when he had first kissed her and when they had kissed at the altar.

There had been a time when she’d felt repulsed by Sigurd as a person, but not once had she ever felt disgust toward him because he was her brother.

No matter how intimately they touched, Brunhild never felt any of the disgust for Sigurd that she would toward a blood relative.

Chapter 8

Let us turn back time to the morning of the wedding ceremony.

At this moment, Richard’s body was in the underground workshop. His corpse had not vanished, but he was not alive, either.

For, you see, his corpse had been stolen.

Richard now lay atop a pedestal, the foreigner at its side. This man had been the one to make off with Richard’s body. The knights’ security hadn’t been good enough; little wonder, as no one had expected someone would steal a corpse.

The foreigner pulled out a leather bag. Inside was a powder for sorcery made from human bones and decaying meat, along with the poisons of many other creatures. He applied it to Richard’s body and waited a while. First, the fingers of the body twitched. Next, its eyes slowly opened.

“Ah…” Richard’s eyelids lifted. His eyes were cloudy and white.

“I…” He looked down at his own body. In his chest was the hole that had been gouged out by the arrow of light. “What is this place…? What’s happened to me…?”

“I’ve revived you.”

“Revived me…?” Richard looked at the foreigner, sifting through his hazy memories. “…So that’s what happened.”

There had been animated corpses at this foreigner’s laboratory. Now everything made sense—he had brought Richard back to life via the same methods.

However, there was one thing that made Richard suspicious. “It seemed like the animated corpses in your workshop weren’t conscious, though…”

The bodies Richard had fought had been like dolls, without the light of will in their eyes. But he was clearly conscious.

The foreigner answered, “I borrowed the healing might of the Power of God, restoring your brain alone to how it worked during life. Without doing this, I would have had no reason to revive you.”

“And what reason is that?”

The foreigner asked Richard, “What did you do with the Healing Blade?”

Richard realized the foreigner had revived him to ask that question. “…How did you know I acquired the Healing Blade?”

“I figured you were waiting for me to complete the drug that bestows the Power of God so you could kill Sigurd. But then the king was attacked before I completed it. I surmised the reason was thus: You acquired a way to kill Sigurd without relying on my drug. The only thing capable of doing that is the Healing Blade.”

“You’re a sharp man. It’s true that I acquired the Blade. But I’m not going to let you have it. Now that I’m back, I’m going to kill Sigurd with my own two hands.”

The foreigner’s eyes were filled with quiet hostility. “Do you think a mere corpse can oppose me?”

Richard glared right back at the man, gaze just as hostile. “Don’t push your luck, foreigner.”

“Do you think I revived you out of kindness or pity?” The foreigner held up a little doll. It somehow resembled Richard.

“What did you do with the blade?” The foreigner stabbed the doll he was holding with a dagger.

“Urk, guh…” Richard gave a little groan, followed by a scream.

The instant the dagger pierced the doll, he was assailed by a stabbing pain. As he was racked with agony, his mouth started moving on its own.

“The Blade…is at the bottom of a poison bog…in the hunting grounds…”

It was now clear to Richard that he was the doll, and he would be forced to obey all orders from his master, the foreigner. He glared at the foreigner with rebellious eyes. That was all he could do. He was trying to attack, but his body wouldn’t move.

“Let’s head to that bog together,” said the foreigner.

“It’s poisonous. Go in, and you’ll die instantly. There’s no way for you to fish out the blade…”

“Come now, you should know better. You’ll be fine, Richard.”

He followed the foreigner to the poison bog. When they arrived, they could smell the stench of the swamplands even from a distance. Miasma was rising up from the surface of the water, which was bubbling as if it were boiling over. Under orders from the foreigner, Richard leaped into the bog. He was forced to retrieve the sword from the bottom of the muddy water. Though the bog’s poison could kill anything that it touched, it was powerless on a dead man. After fishing out the sword and emerging from the water, Richard felt humiliation beyond description.

Covered in filth, he knelt before the foreigner and offered up the sword.

“You did well.” The foreigner snatched away the blade with gloved hands.

“You fiend…I’ll remember this. Bested by a mere foreigner…”

The foreigner seemed unbothered by Richard’s glares. “Don’t glower at me like that—not when I’ve got a fine gift for you,” the foreigner said, handing something to Richard. It was a small vial. Inside was a fluid that sparkled like the sun. It resembled the Miracle of Life but didn’t glow quite the same.

“What’s this?”

“I’m a man of my word. This is the drug you requested from me. Drink it, and you will be able to wield the Power of God.”

“…So you finished it.”

“More or less, thanks to all the test subjects you provided me.”

But after observing the contents of the little bottle, Richard said, “No, that’s not right. If it were complete, why would you come here to retrieve the Blade? You could have just downed the drug and killed Sigurd yourself… This isn’t finished, is it?”

“I wasn’t lying when I said the drug could give you the Power of God. However, drinking it turns you into a hideous dragon, following which you will expire in a few hours. So no, I will not drink it.”

“How dare you give me such a product…”

“You wouldn’t mind taking it, would you? Since you’re already dead. Your brain is the only part of you I returned to working order with the Power of God. You can’t stop your body from rotting.”

Richard touched himself. He couldn’t feel a thing. He didn’t even have a sense of hot or cold.

“I’m not going to make you use that drug, though. I have my own plans—making you work as my doll. You won’t have any opportunity to take my creation.”

“So then why give me something like this…?”

“I told you. It’s an issue of principles. When I do something, I want to do it properly, or I don’t feel right.” The foreigner pointed the dagger at the doll in his hands. “I still need a few more days to prepare for the assassination, so I’ll have you go back to being a corpse for the moment.”

The foreigner was ready to stab the doll, but right before he could, Richard cried, “Wait.”

He must have sounded desperate. The foreigner relented.

“I have a request. If you just do that for me, then I’ll do whatever you say.”

The foreigner scoffed at him. “What are you talking about? I don’t care about what you want. With this cursed doll, I can make you follow any order.”

“I know that. But please. It’s a minor request. If you could just find it in yourself to grant it, I will cooperate of my own accord. Think about it: You’ll have a much easier time if you don’t have to use the cursed doll for every little thing…”

“…You have a point. Well then, tell me of this request of yours.”

“Let me see Brunhild. She’s my sister, the dearest person in the world to me.”

The foreigner gave him a questioning look. “I thought Brunhild was Sigurd’s sister…”

“There are reasons I can’t reveal my true identity to her. But I’ve always protected her from the shadows. Just one glance before I go back to being a corpse is enough. I want to burn her memory into my eyes. Please…”

Richard prostrated himself before the foreigner—the greatest form of sincerity he could offer.

The foreigner stared down at him.

Richard knew there was no reason for the man to hear out his request. He would certainly be refused.

But after thinking it over, the foreigner said, “So be it.”

Richard lifted his chin. He was in disbelief, even though he’d been the one to make the request in the first place. “Why would you listen?”

“I have family of my own.” A distant look came to the foreigner’s eyes as he gazed at the sky beyond the trees. “I left behind many brothers and sisters in my home country. They are very dear to me. If I were in your position, I would want to see my family at the end, too. And besides,” he continued, “today is a great opportunity to see Brunhild.”

“What do you mean?”

The foreigner gazed at the distant sun and said, “If you hurry back, then you might make it in time for the ceremony.”

“C-ceremony…?” Richard had a sinking feeling. “I-it can’t be that today…”

“Yes. It’s King Sigurd and Lady Brunhild’s wedding day.”

Richard felt a shock like a blow to the back of the skull. He clutched his head in his hands, staggering backward.

Wedding.

That one word rang in his head.

“Ah, it can’t be…”

All while he had been dead. He wouldn’t make it in time. He hadn’t made it in time… No, he had to stop the ceremony now. There was no way his sister could wish to marry Sigurd.

The foreigner approached Richard with concern. “What’s the matter? You seem pale. Well, you’re a corpse, so of course you’re pale.”

Richard forcefully shoved him away. The foreigner fell and hit his head on a rock and lost consciousness.

Richard ran off.

He headed for the temple—the place where the royal wedding would be held.

He just ran and ran, shoving people aside as he went. No matter how hard he dashed along, he never ran out of breath. That had to be because he was dead. Without the limits of blood circulation, he was able to run at full speed.

When he arrived at the temple, the festivities were at their peak. The people were gathering in order to celebrate the wedding. The many voices congratulating the king and queen were an evil omen to Richard.

He headed to the altar. There stood Sigurd and Brunhild.

Sigurd brought his face close to Brunhild’s. They were just about to make their vows as husband and wife.

Stop! Richard nearly cried out, but any yelling would just be drowned out by the cheering of the crowd and would never reach the couple.

Richard touched the vial in his pocket. The foreigner had said drinking it would allow him to temporarily gain the Power of God. Richard would destroy this wedding and kill Sigurd. Right as he pulled out the vial and was about to uncork it, however…

…his fingers stopped moving. They wouldn’t do as he commanded.

“Good grief. I show you concern for a heartbeat, and this is what I get.”

The foreigner was right next to him. He had caught up to Richard. He was holding the doll with a dagger thrust into it. The curse bound Richard. All he could do was plead.

“W-wait, please. I…I want to save my sister.”

“I’m not listening to what you have to say anymore. Now is not the time to kill Sigurd. Do you think I would carry out an assassination out here, where there are knights everywhere?”

Naturally, many knights were guarding the wedding.

“W-wait…”

“Sleep.”

Suddenly, all strength left Richard, and his consciousness dimmed.

With his vision growing dark, he took one last look at Brunhild.

His sister smiled as she gave Sigurd a kiss. Her happy grin seemed terribly heartbreaking in his eyes.

Chapter 9

And so, Brunhild officially became Sigurd’s queen.

After becoming queen, she immediately told her husband, “I would like to help with your duties.”

“What are you talking about? A queen’s job is to spend her time in leisure.”

“I was a village girl. Relaxing just makes me feel restless. Besides, I want to fill the hole Richard left.”

Richard had been Sigurd’s greatest retainer. Though Sigurd had immediately assigned a new vassal, he was not as competent as Richard. She wanted to help her husband out during a frustrating time.

“I have to work hard now that he’s gone.”

Sigurd accepted Brunhild’s offer.

She began to help the king. She managed wonderfully but still did not meet his expectations.

Whenever a retainer made a mistake, he would scold them mercilessly— and that held true even with his own wife. So during the day, their relationship was less like that of a king and queen and more like that of a king and retainer.

But Brunhild’s spirits weren’t dampened by his criticism. She encouraged herself, telling herself that Richard would have done better. Even when she was rebuked, she proved herself to her husband with results that made up for it.

Sigurd and Brunhild began to smile at one another when their eyes met during work.

Richard’s death had brought them closer together.

One night in the bedroom, Sigurd addressed Brunhild. He was sitting on the bed.

“The grave is almost complete.”

He meant the grave for Brunhild’s family. He had taken time out of his busy schedule whenever he could to work on building the grave he’d promised.

“Have you made sure to keep it simple?”

“Since you wanted that, yes. Though I still feel it should be decorated more extravagantly.”

“Making it fancier isn’t going to communicate more acknowledgment.”

Sigurd adequately conveyed his acknowledgement by remembering to erect a gravestone in the first place.

“…I still can’t feel like you’re my brother. Even you building the grave now feels different from how you acted before.”

“…I see.”

“But I’ve come to feel that’s all right. I’ve decided to stop trying to see you as you were and look at how you are now. So I’m sorry for always comparing you to your past self.”

“I see,” Sigurd said. “It was indeed unpleasant, being compared with the brother you loved…but things are different now.”

“They are?”

“I feel like I want to do brotherly things for you.”

Brunhild found herself smiling. “Oh dear. But I was just thinking that today I would stop calling you ‘Brother’ and start calling you ‘Sigurd.’”

“It would just be confusing for you to change how you address me now.”

“Perhaps so.”

Brunhild approached Sigurd and sat next to him. “Richard was the one who taught me I shouldn’t try to look at you as you were.”

The air between them became heavier. Three months had passed since Richard’s death.

“I hope they find his body soon,” she said.

Sigurd gave a quiet nod. “…I should have asked why he was trying to kill me.” He continued, “I’d like to see him one more time—even as a corpse.”

Brunhild examined his face. “Brother…won’t you cry?” She would shed tears when she remembered Richard’s death. But not once had she seen Sigurd weep. “I’m sure you must behave as a king in front of others, but you can let your feelings out with me.” Sometimes at night, she would see Sigurd get these terribly pained looks. “Crying might take some weight off your shoulders.”

“I will do no such thing.”

“Why not…?”

“It’s not befitting of a king.”

“When we’re alone—”

“I’m grateful for your sympathy. But this is about my convictions. I won’t do anything that would bring shame to Richard.”

At times like this, Brunhild felt frustrated that she was a woman.

It seemed like she was unable to understand an element of Sigurd and Richard’s friendship because she was not a man.

So when it came to this, nothing she said was of any use—no matter how much she wanted to support him.

“…If you insist, then there’s no changing your mind.” Brunhild ended the subject of Richard there.

She gazed fixedly at Sigurd. He looked melancholy—surely because she had spoken of Richard.

“Brother…” She brought her delicate fingers to Sigurd’s lips, then lightly stroked them before pressing her own to them.

She felt she was vulgar.

It felt pathetic and frustrating that this sort of crude consolation was all she could offer to the one she loved.

Sigurd accepted her comfort. But the melancholy on his face did not disappear entirely.

Three months had passed since the wedding ceremony, and the foreigner’s plan to assassinate Sigurd was progressing apace.

At first, the foreigner thought he would attack Sigurd while he was outside the castle. But that would be too difficult; the king had become highly wary of assassination. Not only had he nearly been killed once, but he also hadn’t managed to retrieve the weapon that Richard had at the time: the Healing Blade. The king now went out on far fewer occasions, and when he did, he only told those who were closest to him.

That left the foreigner with one option: infiltrating the castle to kill Sigurd.

It took three months to prepare. He worked out a means for this by buying off some knights. He ascertained which knights seemed bribable and arranged for the necessary funds. Following that, a whole three months passed as he was waiting for the moment when all the knights under his influence would be on watch.

But tonight, all the conditions had been met.

The foreigner dug up Richard’s body. He had treated his corpse to prevent decay, then hidden it in a graveyard by the church. It was a filthy place, where the bodies of those with no relatives were buried practically like garbage. Even the knights who’d been ordered to search for Richard’s body had avoided this graveyard.

The foreigner sprinkled the magic powder on Richard’s body, and Richard became an animated corpse once more.

But since three months had passed, his body was now at its limits. Even though he had been treated with sophisticated decay prevention measures from the foreigner’s country, parts of his body were falling off at this point, and a nasty smell wafted off him. By dawn, he would be rotting.

Heedless of his own state, when Richard awoke, he cried, “Brunhild…!”

His memories ended with the wedding ceremony. His head was full of thoughts of saving his sister.

The foreigner explained the situation to him. The fact that it had been three months since the wedding ceremony just about made Richard lose his mind, but he somehow restrained himself.

The foreigner said to Richard, “You want to save your sister from the king, don’t you?”

“I do…”

“Then tonight is your last chance. Your body won’t hold up until morning. Work with me.”

Richard looked down at his body. Parts were rotting off, and he was crawling with maggots. The once-beautiful young man’s face was just barely maintained.

Richard fell into thought.

In truth, he would have liked to continue watching over Brunhild. He wanted to support her until she died. He couldn’t imagine such a fragile woman living on without his help.

With conviction, he said, “Brunhild is crying right now.”

Since she was being raped by a man she loathed, she had to be spending the night weeping in sadness and frustration.

Instantly, their conversation in the garden rose in Richard’s mind, along with Brunhild looking small and frightened after being assaulted by Sigurd.

He had to save her. It was a brother’s duty to protect his little sister.

Richard’s heart no longer beat. But he felt as if it were pounding, sending hot blood around his cold body.

With frigid determination, Richard asked the foreigner, “What should I do?”

“Act as bait,” the foreigner said. “I will lure out the king with your rotten flesh.”

It was a quiet night.

Brunhild was reading a book in her quarters, a romance novel she had found at a bookseller she’d visited while disguised as a commoner. In the past, she’d hated these sorts of stories. Back when she’d thought she would have to live her whole life alone, they had only hurt to read. But now she could sympathize with the characters in the story, and they made her heart race. She looked forward to reading the book before bed every night.

As she was sitting on a chair and turning the pages, Sigurd came into the room.

He strode over to her briskly, his expression somehow brooding.

“Brother…?”

Sigurd took Brunhild’s hand and pulled her. The book she was reading fell to the carpet.

He thrust her straight to the bed, grabbing her arms again to prevent her from resisting, and crawled on top of her.

“Wait. Brother. Okay. It hurts. Don’t be so rough.”

But Sigurd did not stop. This was fairly unusual. His past rough behavior aside, he had been respecting her wishes lately. But now—

He peeled off her nightclothes.

“No, stop. Stop it, Brother.”

But words wouldn’t stop him.

And so, Sigurd took her.

During the course of it, she realized something. It was true he was being rough now, but it really didn’t seem like he was doing this to her out of hostility. The way he was acting, it seemed like he was so pressed, he felt he had to do it.

Above her, Sigurd wore a tormented expression.

Surely, there was a reason for this…

Brunhild tried to think of why that would be, but she couldn’t. Sigurd was as intense as a raging storm. She couldn’t maintain a cool head to analyze things. He wasn’t going to listen, no matter what she said, so all she could do was wait for the storm to pass.

After the storm had eased, Brunhild asked him, “Why were you so worked up?”

Sigurd combed her long black hair with his fingers. His hands were loving, the complete opposite of his earlier roughness. “I had a premonition. I might die tonight.”

“What…?”

Her brother had a faraway look in his eyes. It was as if he were gazing at something invisible. “I don’t think I can avoid it.”

Hearing that, Brunhild recalled a book of myths she had read long ago. Very often, the heroes in those stories were able to predict their deaths. She felt her husband might be like them.

“If you’re going to die…then is it really the time to be making love to me…?”

“I’m going to die. Is there anything I should be doing aside from loving you?”

“Still…I wish you had been a bit gentler about it.”

“I wanted to convey all my feelings to you.”

Brunhild wasn’t embarrassed to hear such direct words of love. “…Let’s get back to the subject at hand. If you know you’re going to die, then you have to do something about it.” She clung to Sigurd’s chest. “I don’t want you to leave this world.”

“Of course, I’ve already done what I can. I killed the knights on night watch.”

Brunhild’s eyes widened at his violent remark.

“First, I began by keeping an eye out around me. I found a number of knights who were behaving suspiciously. Before killing them, I tortured them and made them talk, and they said they had led a man from a foreign land into the castle. Right now, I have ordered only those knights I can truly trust to search for the criminal.”

“Brother, you should stay in your quarters tonight.”

“I plan on holing up here. But I have heard all petty tricks are meaningless when fate comes knocking. Who knows what will happen…”

That was when a knocking rang out through the room. It was the sound of a small and hard object striking something.

Brunhild jumped at the noise. “What…?”

“Calm down. That might just be…”

The sound had come from the window.

The two of them approached it. Taking the greatest care, they looked down at the scene below. Both their eyes widened.

“Richard…!”

Sigurd’s servant was outside the window. It seemed the earlier sound had been him throwing a pebble at the window.

Richard waved at Sigurd, then called out. “My king, Sigurd. It’s your servant, Richard.”

Brunhild just about shrieked with fear. “Why would a dead man be here…?”

Richard called out to them, “Your Majesty, please come outside. There’s something I wish to speak with you about.”

Sigurd complied with his request and just about rushed out the door.

Brunhild called out to him, “You mustn’t go.”

Sigurd stopped and replied, “Richard is back.”

“This isn’t right. Richard is dead.”

“It’s because he’s dead that I can’t let this chance go. I want to ask him why he tried to kill me. If I am at fault, then I want to apologize.”

Brunhild understood that feeling. If the dragon appeared before her, then she would be unable to restrain herself from heading off to see him, too. Even knowing that he was dead, the urge to see him and talk would be stronger than the desire to examine how odd it was.

She understood, but she had to stop him.

“Resist the urge. I don’t know why Richard has appeared when he was supposed to have died…but there’s no guarantee that he bears good will. He did try to kill y—”

“No.” Sigurd cut her off. “You…” He came back over to Brunhild, looking down at her with a ghastly glare. “Would you mock my friend by saying he would stab me in the back? I won’t permit that, even if you are my wife.”

“Acknowledge he tried to kill you once. Cool your head.”

“No. That was…” Despite talking back at her, Sigurd was slowing down. He must have understood that what Brunhild was saying was rational. He accepted his wife’s words and attempted to somehow restrain his emotions.

“You shouldn’t go outside. Even if he bears no ill will, as you hope, an accident might occur if you go out. Might that not be the omen that you’ve been sensing?”

“I see… You’re right.” Sigurd accepted Brunhild’s point. This was unthinkable progress for a man who had once acted so impulsively.

“But I can’t ignore him. That’s not how one treats a friend.” He opened the window, and from there he called out, “It’s been a long time, Richard. It’s good of you to come back.”

Richard responded with a smile. “Sigurd, my friend, I thank you for replying. Tonight, I returned from the land of the dead to apologize to you.”

“If you mean the incident at the hunting grounds, don’t worry about it. My wound has healed. I forgive you. I’m the one who must apologize for killing you.”

“It makes sense I would lose my life for targeting the king’s.”

“Tell me. Why did you try to kill me?”

“I’ll tell you, of course. There were forces that compelled me. Your Majesty, may I visit your chambers?”

“Can you not speak from there?”

“No, I wish to talk face-to-face.”

“First, you may explain yourself from there.”

“I would like to speak in person. If not, then I must go straight back to the underworld.”

After some consideration, Sigurd said, “So be it. Come.”

Brunhild said to Sigurd, “Brother, I told you not to.”

But this time, he would not listen.

Even though Richard had gained permission to come to the king’s quarters, he did not enter the castle right away. He continued to call up to Sigurd from below the window, “It seems there are more knights on watch tonight than usual.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll order the knights to let you in.”

“Those are not the words of a noble king.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look upon me.” Richard spread his arms and came forward. “Gaze at my ugly and pitiful state. If the knights were to see me like this, it would be the shame of a lifetime for me, as your retainer.” His clothing was dirty with soil and blood, and his body was rotting all over. “I don’t mind if it’s just for a few moments. Please dismiss your knights until I can get to you.”

Brunhild thought Richard was being quite cunning. He surely knew Sigurd valued honor more than anything and was taking advantage of that. If Sigurd was the one who had put Richard into such a sorry state, then to uphold his honor as king, he would have to make the knights withdraw.

Sigurd said to Richard, “I’ll dismiss the knights. However, I will not hold an audience with you in this room. Let us meet in the gardens.”

His statement left Brunhild in despair. Sigurd would follow through on his promise. Since he had said that he would leave this room, she could no longer stop him.

Sigurd left his chamber and had the knights outside go elsewhere. Then he gave them a new order: “Guard Brunhild in this room.”

“What are you saying? I’m obviously going to go with you,” said Brunhild.

“No. I don’t know what might happen to you. Wait here.” He turned away from her and headed out of the room.

“Hold on, Brother…” Brunhild tried to go after him, but the knights prevented her. They took Brunhild’s hand gently but firmly, pushing her back into the room.

“Your Majesty, we beg your pardon.”

Sigurd left Brunhild in his quarters and headed for the gardens.

Even after Sigurd left the room, Brunhild continued to worry for him terribly. She eyed the knights, seeing if she might not be able to get to the gardens somehow, too. But of course, there was no way she could slip through. They weren’t protecting her; they were watching her. The knights noticed her searching for an opportunity to escape and tightened their guard even more.

Now that things were like this…

Brunhild gently touched her throat.

If what he said was true.

Then she should be able to give God’s Command. With it, she should have no trouble getting the knights to pull back.

All she had to do was say what she wanted with the firm conviction of giving an order.

Brunhild looked straight at the knights. She didn’t really want to use this power, but she had no other choice.

She said to the knights, “I’m sorry.”

One asked back, “Whatever for?”

“I order you: Please let me escape from here.”

Would this be enough? Having lived many years as an ordinary girl, Brunhild had never really given orders before, so she didn’t really know. Despite her worries, everything went off without a hitch.

As soon as she gave the order, the knights seemed to freeze up. A beat later, they all fell to their knees, opening the way for her.

“My lady, please pass through.”

The moment Brunhild heard that, she felt shivers.

What a frightening power.

She’d known what it was capable of, so she hadn’t wanted to use it. This was an unjust power, for it violated the will of others.

But just for tonight, she had to use it.

To protect her husband, Brunhild slipped out of the room and rushed to the gardens.

When Sigurd came into the gardens, Richard bowed reverently to him as his vassal.

Sigurd gazed over the area, where roses were in full bloom. “This takes me back. When we were young, we would chat here in these gardens.”

“Indeed. The scent of roses makes me recall the past,” said Richard, despite lacking a sense of smell now.

“Have you hated me…ever since then?” Sigurd asked. “I’m not very perceptive of people’s emotions. I feel no need to pay attention to the riffraff. That feeling hasn’t much changed, either… But still, I can imagine, just a little, my arrogance must have been hurting you. Is that it?”

Richard was purely shocked to hear that from Sigurd. The man he knew would never say such a thing. He had changed unbelievably in a short span of time.

“Richard, why did you raise a blade at me? What urged you on?”

“I’m very sorry for replying to a question with a question…but what would be the point in you asking me such a thing?”

“So I can learn from it. I want to face you earnestly. Though I don’t know if you will forgive me…”

Richard fell into thought.

Was the man before him truly Sigurd?

Even as he asked himself that question, he realized he had been moved. As he was now, the king wouldn’t be violent anymore, would he? He wouldn’t torment Richard’s sister, would he?

Those emotions compelled Richard to continue listening to what Sigurd had to say.

“Even if you don’t forgive me, I must atone. My wife taught me that.”

There was a spasm at Richard’s temple.

“Tell me where I erred.”

Richard hung his head and fell silent. After some moments passed, he opened his mouth. “The wedding ceremony. At that time, I was at the temple. I saw you two kissing at the altar.”

“Me…and my wife?”

Wife.

“…Your Majesty. At first, I thought you felt antipathy toward Brunhild.”

“I did.”

“But I…I loved Brunhild from the start.”

Sigurd looked at Richard with shock. “It can’t be that you…”

Richard’s face twisted into something ugly. “She’s been dear to me since she was born. I’ve always protected her, even when you persecuted her unreasonably. When you chased her out of the castle, I secretly gave her a coin. I was also the one who watched over her, sending her money and a flower every year. When I learned she was living with the dragon, I rejoiced. And all the while, what were you doing? You were acting like a tyrant, never giving a whit of consideration to her. You went beyond unreasonable and stole her future when she was trying to take steps toward happiness. And after all that, now what? You made her your wife? Spare me the nonsense. Just how thoroughly do you have to violate her will to be satisfied? How dare you show up out of nowhere and steal what’s precious to me.”

Richard’s expression was fanatical as he ranted.

He gave Sigurd a glare filled with all the negative feelings in his body. And then he said, “It should have been me by her side at that altar.”

Sigurd was unable to look away from his menacing look. This was the first time he’d ever seen Richard express his feelings so openly. The vassal’s earnestness kept Sigurd’s attention locked on him.

That was why Sigurd didn’t notice that he was being stabbed until he felt the pain in his chest.

“Gah… Guh…”

Blood spilling from the corners of his mouth, Sigurd turned around. The foreigner had pierced Sigurd’s heart with the Healing Blade.

A normal person would die instantly, but Sigurd endured. God’s Power had made him stronger than a normal man.

Despite the pain, Sigurd began weaving the Thunder in his right hand.

The foreigner drew the red blade from Sigurd’s chest and swung it again, tearing into Sigurd’s right hand. His movements were accurate and precise.

The blade was piercing his right hand. He couldn’t fire an arrow of light like this.

The foreigner drew the blade from Sigurd’s right hand and attempted to attack once more.

But Sigurd wasn’t going to take that lying down. Even with his right hand in dire shape, he moved forward. He must have known that if he backed off, the foreigner would pull out the sword and wound him again. By sacrificing his right hand, he kept the blade from being used again. His opponent was unable to pull out the sword as Sigurd reached for him with his left hand.

The foreigner calmly responded, kicking Sigurd away.

This got the king to back off. The sword slid out of his right hand, and he hit the ground. Sigurd only managed to touch the foreigner’s foot slightly with his left hand.

His assailant raised his sword again, ready to strike the finishing blow.

But then something strange happened.

The foreigner’s foot started burning.

The place that Sigurd had touched went up in white flames. They crawled up from his foot, swallowing the foreigner up.

It was God’s Flame.

The foreigner rolled all around and tried to put out the fire. But no matter how wildly he flailed around, the fire showed no signs of abating. God’s Flame would not vanish until it had burned its enemy entirely.

His scream rang out through the gardens.

The foreigner burned up like the sun, then fizzled out. The Healing Blade was also swallowed up in the blaze.

“Ngh… Kuh…”

Having defeated the foreigner, Sigurd remained on his knees, unmoving. Blood gushed ceaselessly from his chest. Though he hadn’t been killed instantly, he was still mortally wounded. With not much breath left, he said, “Is…anyone there?”

But he had ordered all the knights away.

“Heh, heh-heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.”

After witnessing this all play out, Richard cackled.

Sigurd turned to him for help. He had no other choice. “Could you call someone for me?”

But Richard did not move. He gave a nasty smile, looking down at Sigurd.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment. God is with the good, after all.”

Richard pulled a little vial out of the pocket of his robes and drank down the contents, free from the foreigner’s control. There was no one to stop him now.

Richard’s body began to change.

His spine bulged out, and his body swelled up. His back split open, and membranes leaped out with a black spray of blood. They were wings. He grew claws that dug into the earth. His face transformed, becoming like that of a crocodile.

A dragon had appeared—and a great one at that, over ten meters long. It overwhelmed Sigurd with its majesty.

And then something strange happened to it.

The dragon’s skin sloughed off and began to peel away, then melted. A foul stench filled the air, drowning out the scent of flowers that typically filled the garden. Yellow pus burst out, scattering all around. Bloodlike mud spilled out from the holes in its body. When this polluted blood touched the flowers, they wilted and died.

This was the price for drinking the unfinished drug. Yet Richard also owed this ghastly form to the fact that he was already a corpse. He had become a dragon so hideous that one would think he was a messenger from hell.

The rotten dragon sensed power within his body. He knew it was God’s Power.

Then the creature opened his mouth, and a light began to gather there, the very same kind that made up the arrows of light. The rotten dragon fixed his aim on Sigurd and said, “Even if she did, I will never forget your sins.”

He condemned the king. “Atone, Sigurd.”

Sigurd closed his eyes. It looked as if he had accepted his judgment.

The arrow of light shot from the dragon’s maw, and a flash so bright it pierced through eyelids tore through the darkness of night.

There came the sound of the arrow tearing through flesh.

Then the sound of someone falling.

But the sound was lighter than expected. It was not the thump of a man falling.

Because a woman had fallen in his place.

The dragon’s and Sigurd’s eyes widened. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

Brunhild had collapsed. The right side of her chest, along with her right arm, had been blasted away.

“Brunhild…”

Sigurd embraced his wife with trembling arms. Red blood was gushing from her wounds.

He cried, “Brunhild!”

The dragon was confused. “Wh-why are you here…?”

The dragon and Sigurd both understood.

There was no saving this girl now.

The dragon broke down. “This…this wasn’t supposed to… Aaahhh!”

But Sigurd was quiet. He looked down at Brunhild and asked her, “Why didn’t you wait?”

She looked up at him with empty eyes. Her trembling lips moved. On the verge of death, the words on her lips were very soft. “Because I…don’t want to…see my family die anymore.”

Then she closed her eyes.

And she died.

Sigurd gazed at the body in his arms. Touched and full of reverence, he said, “Astonishing. Would you avert even my doom?”

The king was supposed to have died tonight. And Brunhild had changed his fate.

“But even so, the king will leave this world tonight,” said Sigurd.

The only person in the world this arrogant king respected was himself. Yet he had no hesitation in what he was about to do next.

Sigurd was one of the few Children of God in generations. He bore power comparable to that of the First Queen. The only ability of hers that he lacked was God’s Command.

The First Queen had been able to turn water into the Miracle of Life by touching it with her right hand. Sigurd had a power similar to that.

However, he couldn’t deny that it was somewhat inferior to the First Queen’s ability. But if he staked his whole soul on it, then he might be able to revive someone who had just died.

Sigurd clasped Brunhild’s hand. It was still warm. Before that warmth vanished—

He brought his injured hand to her wound.

Warm light spilled from his palm, making Brunhild’s cooling body warm up once again.

This was, so to speak, the act of turning his own body into the Miracle.

Brunhild regained consciousness.

On awakening, she was confused. She remembered having died. But her wound was closed, and her right arm, which had been blasted away, was back.

Sigurd lay at her side.

“Brother…?”

She had a sense of why she was alive. This sort of thing had happened before.

“So you saved me again.”

He smiled at her. It was different from how it had once been, but his smile was kind.

“In the end, I was finally able to act like a brother should,” Sigurd said and stroked her head. She understood he was imitating the brother she had loved.

Above her head, his hand crumbled. It turned to ash. Not only his hand but his whole body.

She didn’t understand what was happening, but nevertheless, she knew Sigurd was about to leave her.

“Wait.” She tried to touch him, but the ash passed between her fingers. “Don’t go.”

But Sigurd had turned to ash. In the place where he had been, there was nothing but a gray pile.

Stunned, Brunhild gazed upon the mound of dust.

The rotten dragon came up to Brunhild and stomped on the ash. He opened his great maw and spat, “‘Act like a brother should’? A ridiculous man to his last breath.”

Brunhild watched, dumbfounded, as he crushed the ashes underfoot. Next, the dragon said in a gentle tone, “You’ve done well to put up with everything for so long, Brunhild. While the route to get there was full of twists and turns, the tyrant is finally dead. Your days of suffering are over.”

“…Is that you, Richard?”

“It is. Not even death would stop me from coming back to see you. But in the morning, I will be a corpse again. I’m glad I could save you before that happened. Before then…” The rotten dragon embraced Brunhild. “I’m glad I could touch you.”

He tried to comb her hair with his crumbling claws. Rotten ooze dripped down and got stuck in her locks.

“Even after I’m gone, you must not cry since I won’t be able to comb your hair like this anymore.”

With her hair being combed, Brunhild murmured, “What in the world are you doing?”

The dragon was taken aback. She had spoken so coldly, said something so uncharacteristic of his sister.

“It’s true. There was a time when I suffered. But I overcame that. I was able to forgive. But you let my family die, right in front of me. Do you want me to suffer further? Did I do anything to make you hate me?”

The dragon was flustered. “You’re mistaken. Sigurd just used your sympathy to control you. You mustn’t forget how much he made you suffer…”

“No one has made me suffer more than you,” Brunhild spat.

Then she looked at the dragon and said, “Monster.”

She said it again. They were words of hate. “You monster.”

Not understanding what she was saying to him, the dragon was unable to move for a while. “Mon…ster?”

Slowly, he digested the words. It took some time for him to understand what she’d just said, and once he did, the dragon was filled with a violent heat.

“You just aren’t aware of how much I’ve cared for you. I’ve only ever had eyes for you. I’ve helped you countless times without you knowing. You shouldn’t have loved a man like him—you should love me. Because I’m your…”

Richard steeled himself and said it—the thing that he hadn’t been able to say until today.

“…I’m your real brother.”

He didn’t know whether she believed that right away. But it appeared she didn’t care whether it was true or not.

Because she replied, “So what?”

And then she delivered a fatal remark: “You’re no family to me.”

At that moment, Richard felt as if he heard the sound of glass shattering in his head. It was the sound of his illusions breaking.

Brunhild was looking at him with cold eyes. But that vision was a lie.

The truth was this:

Brunhild would cry tears of joy upon reuniting with her real brother, and she would realize how great her brother was to have protected her all this time. She would rush up to him and embrace him, whispering sweetly, Welcome home.

And then they would embrace until morning. Once it was morning, he would be a corpse again, but he wouldn’t be scared anymore. Since his sister, the sister he loved, was embracing him. Even if it was only temporary, he would have been able to return to Brunhild as her brother.

They were their only family in the world after all.

But—

But why was Brunhild not moving?

Why was she just glaring at him instead of embracing him?

It was like she was glowering at the enemy.

“This is…this is ridiculous… You…”

Why wouldn’t she say “Welcome home”?

Hadn’t she promised to welcome him back?

The heat that had been smoldering within the dragon blazed up all at once. It was the fire of anger. He had been betrayed. Brunhild would not reward the love he’d shown her, not even a little. It was all Brunhild’s fault.

“You!”

The dragon rose up to bear down on Brunhild, bowling over the petite girl. There was no way someone as small as her could beat a dragon.

The dragon howled at her. Scattering spittle, crumbling flesh, and dripping rot covered Brunhild.

“Die. Just die. You’re no sister to me.”

The dragon wielded his fangs, ready to crush Brunhild’s head in his jaws.

But she ordered him coldly, “You die.”

The dragon was the one to break. Everything above his neck exploded. A watery sound, like a rotten fruit being crushed, dissipated into the tranquility of the night. Filthy black blood, half-melted rotten flesh, and exploded brain plopped down to the ground, scattering over Brunhild. A moment later, the remains of the dragon collapsed.

It moved no more.

Epilogue

She wanted to die.

Everything had become loathsome to her. She was exhausted.

She understood she could expire peacefully if she directed God’s Command at herself. All she would have to do was say one little word—die—and she could pass on.

But Brunhild was unable to do that because she was no longer alone.

She touched her stomach. She felt a new life inside.

The last of her family, left by her beloved.

Ten months and ten days later, she gave birth to a child. After the pain of childbirth, a child was safely born.

The midwife brought over the baby. She tried to put the little pink life into Brunhild’s arms.

Brunhild shrieked and batted her hands away, and the midwife nearly dropped the child.

She didn’t want to see anything like that anymore—she was sick of it all.

She was scared of having a family.

Brunhild left her baby to a wet nurse. She didn’t nurse the baby at all. She gave the child everything it would need to live and made use of her power as queen to help it from the shadows, but she didn’t touch the child even once.

When the child eventually became an adult, Brunhild left the castle. She was fed up with getting involved with people. Since Brunhild had God’s Command, she had been a great ruler, no less than her predecessor. She had been popular. She was loved even by the child she had never touched.

Their love was revolting to her.

She settled in a hut in the mountains. There, she lived off the blessings of the forest. She was alone. She recalled that it had been terribly painful when she was young. But now, the tranquility of isolation was her greatest consolation.

A thought came to her: She should have done this from the beginning.

She should never have sought out a family.

In the early afternoon light, she turned the page of her book.

The woman lived alone in a mountain hut.

He heard the sound of the rain.

The man lay there in the darkness.

A raging storm was tearing him apart, a rain like needles stabbing at his body.

It was hell.

The place where those who commit sins fall.

This man had offered innocent children as test subjects for evil experiments; it stood to reason he would go to hell.

He was unable to get up. But not because the rain striking him was cold.

His heart was dead.

His sister’s rejection had shattered his heart. His whole life seemed terribly foolish in retrospect, and he wondered what he had ever worked so hard for.

But he wasn’t angry at his sister. Thinking about it now, he had been in the wrong.

To him, she had been family, but to her, he had not been. Of course. He hadn’t resembled the brother she had lost, even a little. And he had treated her as a stranger for a very long time. So of course, she would have rejected him at the end.

But his head had been filled with stories he’d made up to suit himself.

With the mistaken idea that she was still waiting for a reunion.

There had never been any family waiting for him.

That was just complacency.

But even so, his love for his sister smoldered within him.

He wanted to apologize to her, at least. He had said something cruel at the end.

But that could no longer be granted.

His sister was not in hell, and she would not fall here.

So the man could not get up. There was no reason for him to.

Time passed by, just like that. There was no concept of time in hell, but if there had been, then what corresponded to a hundred years would have passed, at the very least.

The man had become like a rock now. He was just a stone statue, battered by the rain.

A stone statue that would simply continue to lie there, on and on.

Then he happened to hear some footsteps in the distance. They came with the faint sound of splashing water.

Someone had come to the stone statue.

“I’ve finally found you.” That remark came from a man with black hair and black eyes.

There was a faint light in his right hand. It vanished like the flame of a candle. “That’s it for my Thunder. It just barely lasted long enough. I can’t even make my way through this true darkness now.”

The man knelt down by the stone statue.

The stone statue’s lips slowly moved. “…Get lost.”

He spoke for the first time in a very long time. It took him some time to remember how to speak.

The man looked up at the black sky and said, “What terrible rain.”

“I told you to make yourself scarce.”

“I figured you’d be lost. I thought a king should be magnanimous enough to show care for his retainers.”

The statue scoffed. “A king. A king, hmm? So you still believe that nonsense?” Words of hatred spilled from the statue. “You’re no king. You’re an orphan who doesn’t even know his own name.” The statue spoke his secret—what had made the man king. “Worthless. You’re the most worthless man in the whole kingdom.”

The statue hated the man. He was only telling him this out of hostility.

The man listened silently to the truth about himself.

After telling him everything, the statue insulted the man. “But even after falling to hell, you still believe you’re king? How incredibly comical.”

After hearing what the statue had to say, the man said, “If you say this is true, then I’ve no doubt it is.”

“Of course. You’re so self-important.”

“So it seems. But here’s what I think. I don’t mind if it’s just arrogance on my part.”

“What…?”

“You lit the way for me. Without that, I wouldn’t even have been able to live my life. I have no regrets at all about having walked the path you showed me.” The man added, “Thanks to you, I was able to be myself.”

“Are you a fool? Never once have I done anything for your sake. Everything I ever told you was nonsense. I’ve never taken you seriously.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you saved me. And that I still need you.”

“What point is there in seeking me, in this darkness where we can’t see a thing?”

“It’s precisely because we’re in the darkness that I seek light.”

Rain soaked the statue’s cheeks. Droplets dripped from his eyes. They flowed to the black earth.

The statue said, “Worthless. You truly are worthless…”

But the statue didn’t reject the man again.

Now neither of them was alone.

The man leaned against the statue.

Just like family.

Afterword

The truth is, there were two endings.

The first was exactly as in this book, where Brunhild goes back to the forest to read a book alone.

In the second ending, I wrote more after that.

What happens after is about Brunhild, who has begun living alone, ultimately coming to live with a family once again.

And that family, of course, refers to Richard, Sigurd, and the dragon.

Brunhild realizes that God’s Command is also effective on the dead. If she orders the dead, “Revive,” then their corpse comes back. And so, Brunhild continues to live happily with her revived family…

This fantasy of hers is the ending.

In reality, the revived men and dragon are a hallucination that her ailing mind comes up with.

Brunhild returns to the forest and begins living alone. At first, she is fine with this, but living for decades in isolation, the loneliness crushes her heart. But she still doesn’t have the courage to go back into the city. She’s scared to be involved with anyone.

And so, eventually, she is broken and comes to have visions of the people she loved. Of course, God’s Command doesn’t have the power to bring people back to life.

Surrounded by her illusory family, Brunhild feels happy, thinking, “Oh, what a relief. What I always wanted is right here,” and the curtain closes. That was the other ending.

…But after quite some waffling, I didn’t choose that ending. While I did feel like it was a very interesting conclusion, I felt that it was too cruel, and I didn’t like it very much. I don’t write stories because I want the characters in them to suffer. Placing your characters in difficult situations to write interesting things is a creative technique I struggle with. I don’t want to put my characters through unnecessary distress.

Because of that, I’m glad that I went with this ending.

For some reason, I rather like this way of concluding things. It’s quiet and lonely, but I think the mood is rather pretty. And I feel like Brunhild is happy, in a sense.

However, I thought some readers might prefer the hallucination ending, so I’ve added a summary of that ending in the afterword.

Well then, I’m looking forward to seeing you all again.