"What the fuck are you talking about!"

"The Red Dragon Sword, Barstein, was gone."

The place where Barstein should have been was empty. Flustered, Martin had checked every artifact in the secret vault, but to no avail.

"The Red Dragon Sword has already found its master."

If someone had stolen it, the custodian could not possibly have been unaware. That meant it had been taken through legitimate means.

"Do you dare lie to me?"

"I would stake everything I have on it. The Red Dragon Sword was not in the vault, and no one is more bewildered than I am."

The Red Dragon Sword was the symbol of the Empire. If someone had taken it, would that have been the end of it?

No. The Red Dragon Sword was not something that could ever be quietly swept under the rug.

"If someone had taken the Red Dragon Sword, the entire Empire should have been in an uproar."

Whether it was celebrated as the emergence of an heir who would wield it to lead the Empire to greater heights, or condemned as a seed of unrest threatening the Empire and its emperor.

Yet there had been no rumors of the Red Dragon Sword whatsoever. It had been buried quietly. Very quietly.

"What did the custodian say?"

"I asked, but he would not answer. I can only conclude that His Majesty tacitly approved."

And the emperor had concealed the very fact that the Red Dragon Sword had accepted a new master.

"... Why?"

"Have any members of the imperial family entered the vault?"

"The other three, apart from me, have already taken artifacts from it."

"And before them?"

"They are all dead now, departed souls. Their artifacts were reclaimed."

Ultimately, the artifacts in the secret vault belonged to the Empire. When a person deemed worthy of obtaining one reached the end of their life, it returned to the vault.

"Then it must be one of those three."

"Doesn't that make it even stranger? If they had the Red Dragon Sword, they should have spread the word. As loudly as possible."

Possessing the Red Dragon Sword lent considerable legitimacy to a claim. It might even allow someone to sweep aside the other heirs and become Crown Prince in one stroke.

"... No, perhaps..."

Martin stopped speaking.

"It seems something occurred to you. A possibility just occurred to me as well."

"... His Majesty was not chosen by the Red Dragon Sword. In fact, very few of the Empire's past emperors were chosen."

"Then its symbolism and significance must be all the greater."

Perhaps enough to threaten even the emperor.

'If so...'

The Red Dragon Sword was already in someone's hands—specifically, the hands of one of the other three imperial royals.

'Then one of those bastards...'

Was the motherfucker deeply involved in killing Berge.

"Find out who took that sword. No matter what. If you can find that out..."

Berge's eyes turned cold.

"I will give you more cooperation than you could ever hope for."

Martin shuddered at the faint killing intent seeping through his expressionless face.

"... Understood."

He nodded.

* * *

"Martin met someone, then entered the secret vault afterward..."

Rufus Jespine, the Empire's First Prince, always kept a close eye on his younger siblings' movements.

Even without that vigilance, rumors that someone had entered the vault had quietly spread throughout the imperial household.

"Have you identified the person he met?"

"Yes. A man called Pale."

"Pale?"

"He is widely rumored to possess mana as pure as a spirit's. You must have heard that the Kingdom of Akan is desperate to obtain his blood."

"That was him? But why would he meet Martin?"

"Pale has ties to Hillen Cargill. He accompanied Hillen during the expedition to Habstrain Gorge to subjugate the dark mages. And Hillen..."

"Has ties to Martin. So this Pale fellow could be called an envoy sent to Martin by Hillen Cargill."

"That is my assessment."

"Interesting."

Every artifact obtainable from the secret vault was a treasure worthy of the name. All were bound to be enormously useful, so it was customary to enter the vault as soon as one received a token.

It was better to put an artifact to active use—or conceal it as a dagger up one's sleeve—than to save the opportunity.

Yet Martin was the only imperial royal who possessed a token without having entered the vault.

And he had gone straight there after meeting Hillen Cargill's envoy.

"I take it we cannot find out what he brought out?"

"My apologies."

"Can we assume Hillen Cargill has committed himself entirely to Martin?"

"Yes."

"So he makes a foolish choice in the end."

Rufus's lips twisted.

Heroes were symbols of humanity, adversaries who stood against Demon Kings.

Thus, the prestige a hero possessed was no small thing. That was why, despite its friction with the Heroes' Guild, the Empire maintained its connections and tried every means to recruit outstanding heroes.

The current state of affairs could not be discussed without accounting for heroes.

Naturally, the finest among them—the Stars—were all the more valuable. Especially Hillen Cargill, whose rise continued unabated after killing two Demon Kings.

"What of Balaf Dislord?"

"We have heard nothing yet."

"He will be able to find the tower, won't he?"

He did not ask whether Balaf could kill the Demon King. Balaf was the strongest hero, and he believed that even a Demon King who behaved differently from the others could not possibly be his match.

There was only one way Balaf Dislord could fail to subjugate the Demon King of Hellfire: failing to find the tower yet again.

"He will find it. Even if he does not, it will not tarnish his reputation."

"I disagree."

"Hillen Cargill failed to find the Tower of Hellfire as well."

"But this time, he rescued Hilderan's Crown Princess. Having rescued her..."

Balaf stopped speaking. His brow slowly furrowed.

"... Why didn't I think of that?"

"What do you mean?"

"This Pale fellow is Hillen Cargill's envoy, is he not?"

"He is."

"And Hillen Cargill is more than a mere hero. He is a Star and an Argan. He is also the Hero of Hilderan."

His renown had soared even higher after he rescued Hilderan's Crown Princess.

"Nor is it any secret that Hillen Cargill has accompanied Hilderan's Crown Princess to various social gatherings."

"So he may be an envoy of Hilderan, rather than simply Hillen Cargill's envoy."

"Exactly!"

He had focused too narrowly on Hillen's position as a hero, even though heroes and politics were inseparable.

"Keep a close eye on this Pale fellow."

"What would you have us do?"

"Hilderan is a long way from the Empire, is it not? I hear people sometimes go missing or fall ill during arduous journeys."

A faint glimmer of killing intent showed.

"As Hillen Cargill's man, he warrants particular attention."

"Indeed. Is someone who dares bring a foreign country into the Empire's affairs not a worm without a shred of imperial pride?"

Nothing was certain yet, but that did not matter. The very notion of involving a foreign country displeased him.

"You are quite right."

"I would like to see this pure mana that so captivated Akan for myself."

He was also curious about what the fellow and Martin had discussed.

"You shall."

The prince and his aide exchanged sinister smiles.

* * *

After concluding his meeting with the Third Prince, Berge decided on his next destination.

'To Hilderan...'

Ernyan's voice still lingered in his ears, insisting that he visit Hilderan now that he was leaving the tower.

He might as well make the most of it. He could see her while meeting Hillen Cargill to give him his next orders.

'It's infuriating that the sword has already found a master, but at least I've confirmed it was the right sword.'

Barstein was the symbol of the Empire, and many records of it remained. Through a recording orb Martin had procured, Berge had confirmed its appearance.

It was.

That sword was indeed the one.

'It comes back to the Empire after all.'

The hero who had killed Berge was connected to the Empire.

In a way, it was only to be expected. What had ultimately led to Berge's death was his abduction of the Empire's Crown Prince—Rufus Jespine, currently the First Prince.

"Welcome."

"I would like to use a teleportation circle."

Arriving at the imperial capital's mage tower, Berge stepped onto the teleportation circle bound for the border city of Frisia.

And then...

"... Who is responsible for this?"

He found himself facing masked men glaring at him in a clammy, humid swamp.

Nothing about it looked like Frisia.

'The coordinates were distorted.'

This was not his intended destination.

But in the imperial capital, at its mage tower, it was more accurate to say the coordinates had been deliberately altered rather than distorted.

Someone with enough influence over the imperial mage tower had targeted Berge.

Who?

One of four possibilities.

The Empire's First Prince.

The Empire's Second Prince.

The Empire's First Princess.

Or nobles with power.

If none of those, there was a very slim possibility it was the emperor.

'Did they discover I met Martin? That I accompanied him to the vault entrance too?'

He had been distracted by the red sword. He could not deny he had been careless.

His identity as Pale was no longer that of an unknown man who had appeared out of nowhere, and Martin was the Empire's Third Prince.

Too many people would take an interest. Too many could recognize him.

"Do you intend not to answer?"

'Ten.'

Berge slowly studied them. Every one of them was formidable.

"Come quietly, and we will not hurt you."

The man at their head spoke in a flat, rigid voice.

"I'd at least like to know why."

"Someone wishes to see you."

"Who? The First Prince? The Second Prince? The First Princess? Or perhaps..."

The emperor?

"... You would do well to watch your tongue."

"And if I refuse to come quietly?"

"Your opinion is irrelevant."

SHING!

Ten swords were drawn.

"They say you are an accomplished mage."

Their auras resonated. Like magic, they vibrated the air, bearing down on Berge and throwing the mana into unstable fluctuations.

"Can you cast magic even under these circumstances?"

CRUNCH!

The ground fractured. Powerful pressure crushed down on Berge's body.

The corners of his mouth lifted.

"You're laughing?"

"I don't sense anyone else nearby."

No one would know what happened here.

"Indeed. So even if you die, no one will..."

Know.

Berge waved a hand. A minute crack appeared in the linked circle of ten men.

"Do you know why I came to the imperial capital alone, even though that Third Prince bastard might betray me?"

"What are you talking about...?"

"Because I was confident."

Confident he could survive whatever the bastard did.

────!

The crack widened.

Their auras wavered under an enormous, rending wave of power. The masked men gritted their teeth.

"Once I put my tower beneath the sea, I no longer needed to worry about being discovered."

"... Tower?"

Black energy clashed against their auras. The masked men recoiled in shock at the ominous, chilling power, utterly unlike mana.

"A d-demon?"

"All the demonic energy that accumulated after I evaded the hero's journey and abducted eight more princesses—nearly twenty million..."

All of it.

"He's a demon! Don't let your guard—!"

"I used it to lift the dimensional interference."

Demonic energy erupted.

Not over too wide an area. But enough to instill terror in the knights.

"So I no longer need to hold back."

How dare they.

"I need not tolerate those filthy tongues threatening me."

"And there is no reason I cannot crush those disgustingly defiant eyes."

Berge took a step forward.

"I only need one mouth to tell me who is behind this. As for the rest of you..."

Die.

Darkness swallowed everything.

Nothing remained where the flames subsided.

And then...

Red flames purified the darkness.

* * *

"Wiped out?"

"... Yes. All the Black Lion knights waiting to abduct him have disappeared. All that remains are signs of a fierce battle, piles of ash believed to be the knights, and pure heat and fire energy."

"Are they saying he's strong enough to wipe out the Black Lion knights single-handedly? Even with Otor leading them?"

Otor was the captain of the Black Lion Knights, one of the three strongest warriors in House Osrian.

He had undertaken such dirty work because the order had lost nearly half its strength during the Habstrain expedition.

To restore its ruined forces, he had accepted Rufus's outstretched hand and secured a promise of support. That should have made him all the more desperate to succeed.

Yet one man had killed ten Black Lion Knights, including their captain.

"Is there any chance they revealed everything...?"

"Their training against torture and the mental restraints placed on them are flawless. Unless the Demon King of Carnal Desire, that succubus queen, cast mind magic on them, that would not happen."

But she was already dead. Besides, there was no conceivable reason Pale, supposedly Hillen Cargill's lackey, would have any connection to the Demon King of Carnal Desire.

"What has he done since?"

"There is no sign that he has used a teleportation circle."

"So we've stirred up a hornet's nest for nothing. Ordinary forces cannot even capture him."

Rufus's brow furrowed.

"There was someone under Hillen Cargill who warrants even more attention than he does. For now, take no further action. Track his movements and dig into his past."

"Yes."

"If not now, then someday, I will make him pay for this bloodshed."

Rufus's eyes gleamed with killing intent.