— Then we should hunt Biryuho...

— But if the residents get agitated...

— If you can't even placate your own residents, do you even have the right to be a Lord...

There are no losses to endure during the hunt, no damages after it is caught, and it is said that hunting Biryuho will even eliminate the annual drying of the land.

In such a situation, how many would back out?

The meeting eventually flowed toward hunting Biryuho.

It was just that a new topic of debate emerged, sparking another argument over whether to spread the truth before hunting it in consideration of the residents' backlash, or to hunt it first and deal with it later.

— We won't reach a conclusion at this rate. How about everyone takes a moment to cool their heads before we continue our discussion?

— I agree. We still have lingering issues to debate, such as relief measures in case of emergencies.

— I am in favor as well. To be honest, I've urgently needed to use the restroom for a while now...

Was it because of that? The expression of the Lord of Ednium, who had resolved to accept any sacrifice, turned somewhat blank.

Of course, even then, he didn't miss what he had to do.

"... Then let us resume the meeting in 30 minutes. How does that sound to everyone?"

— Sounds good.

— That works for me as well.

— Then we shall meet again in thirty minutes.

He swiftly gathered everyone's opinions and created a break time. With that, some disconnected their magic as if they had been waiting for the chance.

Actually, most of them did. Seeing the Mage say something about wasting magical energy, they probably did it because they wanted to conserve mana.

— I hope there will be an opportunity for you to visit our city someday.

Even the slit-eyed Lord gave me a wink before swiftly vanishing.

I wanted to grab him right then and there to demand a conversation, but at the same time, I really didn't want to. It was the epitome of contradiction.

— Lord.

Meanwhile, the only ones left in attendance were the people physically present in the hall and the Young Lord of Camberer.

A silent yearning and joy blazed fiercely between the eyes of those two.

"... When I first heard the story from Leon, I thought, 'It cannot be stopped.' I thought I couldn't save that child, and even if I could, it was a choice I shouldn't make as a Lord."

The Lord gripped his own legs, which couldn't even walk without the help of others. The bony legs he had kept covered with a single blanket were squeezed tightly by his two thin hands.

"But you all are telling me that I do not have to do that."

However, instead of looking at his legs for long, the Lord suddenly looked up at me. Thanks to the slight distance between us, there was no need for the Lord to crane his neck to the point of breaking.

"That I don't have to abandon my son like this."

In turn, I also snapped out of my complicated thoughts.

I couldn't dare to let my mind wander in front of a parent who had resolved to sacrifice his son, but was now barely able to save him.

— Lord...

Fortunately, the Lord didn't stare at me for long.

He slightly shifted his gaze midway to look at the Young Lord of Camberer. His aged face grew dim.

"However, I do not know if my residents will think the same."

The heartwarming atmosphere instantly vanished.

"I am sorry to that child and the Young Lord of Camberer, but... our city is currently filled with people who do not want to incur Biryuho's wrath."

— Such rumors are circulating in our city as well.

"It's not just on that level."

The Lord glanced out the window. For security reasons, thick cloth was draped over all the windows of the banquet hall, making it impossible to see outside.

"Right after the Great Demon's subjugation, ever since the giant vines covered the forest, the faith of our city has skyrocketed to the point of piercing the heavens."

Even so, the sounds seemed to be faintly audible. The memory of seeing the people murmuring as we came to the castle still lingered.

"Of course, if we take the time, we could probably persuade them someday. But... when exactly would that be? And would Leon be safe until then?"

After saying that, the Lord closed his eyes. "It might be funny for me to say this after forcing a sacrifice on him." The face that had seemed resolute might have actually been his own way of mourning.

"What's the problem? If the land stops drying up, isn't that good for the people too?"

"There's bound to be people who hate accepting it, ain't there?"

"So?"

"He's just worrying there'll be a backlash, you know..."

"Then wouldn't it be enough to crush them with force?"

"That's being a tyrant."

"Uhm, Berserker. Even if it is correct in the end, if the means are wrong, the result will also lose its light."

"The Berserker does not understand what you mean. The words of the weak, who do not even have the will to struggle, are not worth listening to."

"No, I mean..."

"Lord."

Just then, someone who had been standing silently in line behind the Lord quietly opened his mouth.

It was a butler who looked extremely strict with his whitened beard and neatly combed-back hair.

"Pardon me, but may I say a word?"

"I always listen to what you have to say."

The Lord replied lightly to that. At the same time, he looked back our way, though I wasn't sure if he was reading the room or asking for our permission.

"If it is a story we are allowed to hear."

However, seeing how the Archmage answered like that, it was probably the latter. The butler gave a silent bow and continued speaking.

"A long time ago, you said this. You said it was not right to turn a blind eye to the sacrifice of one person for the sake of everyone's peace."

"You, that's..."

"We elected you as Lord because you are someone capable of saying such things. And that heart of yours has surely not changed."

"Wasn't that back before I ascended to this position? To demand everyone's blood even while standing in this position is..."

"If the one Biryuho abducted had been another resident rather than the Young Lord, would you have made the same choice as you did this time, my Lord?"

The Lord pressed his lips tightly together at the butler's words. "There's no way... I would have..." His voice, holding back his emotions to the limit, was truly heavy.

"I know you act strictly toward yourself and the Young Lord because of the incident with the former Lord. However... if the residents learned of this truth, they would likely say, 'There is no need for that.'"

The Lord gritted his teeth and dropped his head.

"... In the end, green hair has brought forth blood once again. Isn't that so?"

"...!"

Wait, an arrow is flying this way now?

I had been focusing on the conversation between the butler and the Lord to get rid of my useless thoughts, only to be taken by surprise.

Seeing as I could hear the sound of disrupted breathing from behind, DeB must have heard it too. Naturally, considering the distance, he had no choice but to.

"Uhm, Butler, that is..."

"Blood that corrects what is wrong, I mean."

"...?"

The butler chuckled heartily before immediately making a face like he had made a mistake. His gaze was fixed on DeB, who had inadvertently become the excuse.

"My apologies. That must have sounded like a strange story to our guest."

"... No, well."

"But I hope you don't take too much offense. Blood was mentioned, but this superstition is by no means a negative one."

The elderly man smiled benevolently. The Lord also barely raised his head to join the conversation.

"... Yes. Those words definitely do not have a bad meaning. They are a signal flare announcing change and revolution."

It was a rather different start from the conversation I had heard once before.

This time, DeB flinched, trembling as he lowered his head.

"... Doesn't it just mean that blood will flow?"

"No. It is not something that simple."

The Lord gently shook his head and quietly unraveled the story.

"This originated... a very long time ago, from our mistake of standing by while someone died, just to maintain a superficial peace."

"... If it is the story about someone assassinating the former Lord, I've heard it. That afterward, the former Lord's family committed a massacre against innocent people."

"Since you know of it, the story will be quicker."

Perhaps having composed his emotions quite a bit, the Lord monotonously whispered as he stroked the armrest of his chair.

It was a story I had never heard before. I probably hadn't heard it because I stormed out of the restaurant back then, and never had a reason to hear it since.

"After that day, we realized that the true fault lay with us. That another's harm is truly never unrelated to one's own, and that standing by and watching evil is ultimately no different from siding with it."

However, right now, I didn't feel much of an urge to stop him.

"Because of that, we decided to make the green hair, which symbolized the former Lord's death, into a symbol. That if green hair were to flutter once again, it would be a warning that we had once again remained silent toward evil, and that blood must be shed to overturn it."

"...!"

That was probably because I judged that those words wouldn't have a negative impact on DeB.

"Therefore, the blood brought forth by green hair is righteous. Righteous equal to the weight of the courage meant to resist absurdity."

Or maybe it was because it was obvious that there would be no meaning even if I tried to intervene.

"In that regard, the Hero and his companions have brought us much fortune. Not only did you make me realize once again the truth I had forgotten, but you even reduced the blood that must be shed."

But why did I forget that truth and demand a sacrifice from that child? The Lord sighed.

"... Uhm, Lord."

Just then, DeB stealthily pulled his hood back over his head and mumbled as he opened his mouth.

"What is it?"

"Do you... not resent him?"

"Resent what?"

"The person... who killed the Lord."

"We do not."

I couldn't say what kind of expression he was making.

"We do not have the right to resent him."

But it probably wasn't a bad one.

"But a lot of people died because of him... He surely must have done it out of personal feelings..."

"With what feelings the one who stepped forward had does not matter. Whether it was for survival or revenge, the fundamental reason he could no longer endure and took up the blade himself was because no one stopped the Lord."

If the assassination that truly served as the signal flare for the massacre was indeed DeB's doing, it would be difficult to completely fill the black hole pierced through his chest with this alone...

"Of course, if we had stopped the Lord's tyranny from the beginning, would he have drawn his blade? If the citizens, who held the right, had united and restrained the Lord, would such an incident have occurred? By standing by and watching the evil deeds, we were the ones who threw out the signal saying, 'It is okay to do so. Even so, we will remain silent.' Just like the mistake I almost committed this time. Thus, that blade was ultimately conceived by our original sin, and the massacre that resulted from it is also our karma in the end. Therefore, we cannot criticize him."

One shovel. At the very least, a single shovelful must have been filled.

"Some ignorant fools might defend the dead former Lord, and those whose loss from the incident hurts too much might harbor resentment even knowing it is not right, but at least the many who stepped forward back then would think so. We do not resent the one who exposed our original sin."

That certainly wasn't meaningless.

* * *

The Young Lord of Camberer, Mia, quietly looked at the spot where the illusion had disappeared. The spot where the Hero and his party, the Lord of Ednium who hosted the meeting, and his butler had been.

"Wow, the position of Lord is no joke either. Having to sacrifice your own son."

"Because that's the easiest."

Johanna was not present. It wasn't a place that required the Young Lord's aide to accompany her.

Instead, there was a Mage who was rather easy to talk to. Mia leaned her head back against the chair with a somewhat relaxed mind.

"Isn't that right? Me shedding blood for others is an issue that only requires considering my own courage, but if someone else sheds blood for me, then the first thought that comes to mind is paying the price equal to the weight of what they shed."

"Well, that's true. It's a world where you even have to pay money to buy things, so you can't buy someone else's blood and life for free. Still, you people have plenty of money, right?"

"But we're people in power. And in incidents like this, power is actually a poison. Because even the slightest mistake makes it easy to be cornered for abuse of power."

"You could just ignore it, though."

"Usually, that would be the case. However, Ednium has a history of the Lord being replaced by the hands of its citizens in the past. Of course, in that Lord's case, he probably wasn't playing it safe out of fear of that... but anyway, that's how it is."

"He's too nice for his own good. I wouldn't do that if I were him. Living like that is exhausting, isn't it?"

Mia blinked at the Mage's words. Exhausting? It was definitely exhausting, pushing forward with only one's own moral standards without anyone to guide them. Endlessly scrutinizing and reflecting upon oneself was undeniably an exhausting task.

"But if the reward for that hardship is the people out there, isn't it quite worth doing?"

Even so, she did not regret it. She couldn't regret it.

"If I, and that Lord, hadn't lived the way we did. Those people, and the Lord's butler, wouldn't have stepped forward to speak up for us first."

How could she regret it when the reward for her exhausting life was endlessly echoing from out there right now?

"Salot."

"Did you call for me?"

Mia rang the bell to summon the servant, then briefly lowered her eyelids.

["In certain moments, there is an answer faster than words. That is the sword in your hand."]

Her mother, who was a graduate of the Munmunt Knight Academy and a formal knight, beckoned to her from a fragment of memory beyond the darkness.

Mia's eyes opened.

"Bring me my mother's sword."

"... Yes!"

"No one knows where Biryuho resides. So it will definitely take a few days to find it. Before then, I will join them over there, in my capacity as the representative of this city."

Although she did not have the qualifications of a formal knight, she still had the foundation she had built up.

Even if she couldn't participate in the subjugation itself, that was fine.

"Everyone is taking my side, so I should be allowed to be at least this greedy. Don't you think so, Mage?"

"... Even if you ask me, I'm not from this city, so how would I know? But, well. Far from stopping you, it seems like everyone would excitedly follow along."

If only she could see her beloved, and the beast bastard that tried to take her beloved away, she would gladly head there.

.

.

.

"I found you."

["You bastard...!"]

"I will not miss you this time."

She would gladly witness the downfall of that primeval beast.