Chapter 63: The Wind Blows(5)

Click, clack──

Hearing the familiar sound of heels gradually approaching, Khamsin slowly raised his head.

“Councilman Khamsin.”

And soon, when the sound of heels stopped, Khamsin saw Ethesia looking down at him from beyond the iron bars.

“Ethesia…….”

He tried to get up, but groaned in searing pain and clutched his body, eventually slumping back down to the floor.

His body, hidden beneath his shirt, was already covered in bruises from the severe beating he received for no reason as soon as he was dragged here.

And yet, his face looked fine, as if someone had ordered them not to touch him above the neck.

“Ugh……”

“It seems my subordinates have done something unnecessary.”

And Khamsin looked up at Ethesia, who was surely the one who had given that order, with eyes still full of questions rather than anger.

“What in the world… are you doing right now…?”

“Establishing a new order in Daian.”

“…!”

To Khamsin, who managed to squeeze out his voice with such difficulty, Ethesia replied calmly, with the same gentle demeanor as always.

“Are you saying… you're staging a coup…?”

“For now, yes.”

“For now…?”

“Because a successful coup will no longer be a coup.”

At Ethesia's confident attitude, Khamsin was momentarily at a loss for words.

“You were… the hero of the city, who suppressed such a coup… weren't you…?”

Then, as if still unable to understand, he slowly shook his head with a pained expression.

“I was.”

“Then why, you of all people…?”

“Then and now, I have not changed.”

I am only doing what is necessary for this city.

Ethesia said calmly.

“I love this city where I grew up, Councilman Khamsin.”

“Someone who loves this city… would do something like this…”

“It's because I am such a person.”

Without a shred of shame or regret in herself.

“The knights' coup in the past was a meaningless rebellion staged by those who only cared about seizing power for themselves, without any regard for this city. So, I stopped it.”

“Are you saying what you're doing is different…?”

“It is different. Completely different.”

And as if without any hesitation.

“The news from beyond the Wall, Councilman Khamsin, you must know it well, having heard it in the same position as I have.”

We are going to lose.

At these words, like a firm declaration, Khamsin's eyes widened.

“The current Demon King is a figure who united the demon world, where only strength is worshipped and the law of the jungle prevails, with that strength alone. So with our current half-baked system, we can never stop him and his army.”

In contrast, Ethesia continued to speak nonchalantly, as if merely stating a foregone conclusion.

“We need a single, strong order, on the same level as the Demon King who united the demon world.”

“And that order, is you…?”

“Well. I don't know about that either.”

Ethesia crossed her arms and continued.

“But, it can at least be a start.”

“A start…”

“Those who know how to get their hands dirty for a necessary cause, not the cowards who settle for a reality they ran away from because they were afraid to fight, will surely be stimulated by my actions.”

At that, Khamsin, who had let out a pain-soaked sigh, soon shook his head again and muttered.

“The wind stopping, and the evidence of corruption you brought me all this time… it was all to use me to bring down the Grand Priest….”

As if lamenting his own foolishness for not realizing it and being played so beautifully.

“That old man is a clergyman to the bone who knows nothing but prayer. He is by no means a man who would be corrupted.”

She agrees that she too holds him in high regard on that point, Ethesia continued.

“But he is a rotten part that must be cut out. We no longer need a weakened old man who will just be praying quietly even when the Demon King's army breaks through the Wall and storms the gates of this city.”

“You… what you're trying to do… is by no means the right thing.”

“I know.”

Ethesia answered immediately without batting an eye.

“But it is necessary.”

“A person who loves this city, is going to point a sword at the people of the city with the excuse of protecting the city…? What kind of absurd contradiction is that…!”

“You've seen it correctly. I intend to arm this city with swords and shields.”

“Even if it means sacrificing innocent priests for that, and even if it means sacrificing the citizens you are supposed to protect…!?”

“That's why, in order to minimize those sacrifices, I need you.”

Ethesia uncrossed her arms, then.

“As much as I love this city, I love you, who brought a new opportunity to this city.”

She then extended a hand through the iron bars.

“Join me.”

If the iron bars weren't blocking the way, she would have looked like someone asking for a dance at a masquerade ball.

“If you stand by my side, we can quell the unnecessary chaos more quickly.”

Let's become traitors together.

“Our Daian, under one order, will become much stronger than it is now.”

“…….”

However, Khamsin, who had been looking at that hand for a moment, finally turned his head away, refusing to answer.

At that, Ethesia let out a small laugh as if she had expected it.

“I'd like to tell you to take your time and think about it… but unfortunately, it seems we don't have that kind of time.”

Everything will be over by tonight.

She added, withdrawing her hand.

“So you too, decide your answer and choose well before tonight.”

And with that one last word, she left the front of the cell.

Click, clack.

With the sound of her heels gradually fading away.

* * *

The reason Khamsin and Mistral had believed in Ethesia so implicitly wasn't just because she was a skilled actress at hiding her true intentions.

It was because they knew her past, her achievements, well.

The hero of the city who suppressed a coup, is now trying to stage a coup?

Not just them, but anyone would have found it hard to even imagine, let alone predict.

They thought that Ethesia was not a person who would betray this city, no matter what.

And in fact, their belief was, to some extent, correct.

Because Ethesia really wasn't that kind of person.

That's why, it made her firmly believe in her mind that, ‘not betraying the city right now is, in fact, truly betraying the city.’

So in some ways, you could say it was the same as with 「Marin(?)」.

“Wait. Don't tell me, this is that devil bastard's doing too?”

“It feels similar, doesn't it?”

Just as 「Marin(?)」 had believed without a doubt that he was Marin until the suggestion was broken.

“The fallen hero of the city── just the kind of stage production a devil would love.”

Right now, Ethesia firmly believed that her staging a coup was truly protecting this city.

That was what ‘the devil's trickery’ was all about.

“Th-Then, could it be that the current Great General Ethesia… is a shapeshifter in disguise like that time…?”

“Well. What do you think?”

Unfortunately, not this time.

The current Ethesia was undoubtedly herself.

It wasn't a case of another being turning into a hero, but a hero turning into another being.

And as much as she was treated as a hero, she was also damn strong.

“Well, we'll find out when we face her soon enough.”

Literally, soon enough.

We had just arrived in front of the command headquarters where she would be.

Upon receiving no contact from her subordinates who headed to the shrine, Ethesia seemed to have quickly activated Plan B as expected.

Therefore, as soon as we returned, Daian was already in a touch-and-go situation.

When the supply of reserve magic power was finally completely cut off, the enraged citizens had gathered in the square.

Because of that, even the guards who were supposed to be on duty had mostly gone to the square to disperse the citizens, leaving the checkpoint practically empty.

And this, ironically, was also the case for the City Guard Command, which was responsible for the city's security.

“Let's go.”

“Yes!”

The security, which would normally have been ironclad, was extremely lax because most of the soldiers had been dispatched to the square.

“…? W-What's that?”

“The cockroach, the cockroach can no longer walk.”

“Hey! This is── Ugh!”

The plan of me luring the guards who came trotting over after seeing my [Performance] and having the other companions ambush them from behind worked well this time too.

Having passed through the back gate without a major clash, we moved as stealthily as possible towards the building so as not to be seen by the soldiers in the parade ground who were busy preparing to deploy.

Perhaps because the remaining guards were all gathered in the parade ground, the inside of the building was quiet.

There were a few reserve troops wandering the corridors, but thanks to Rine's 「Presence Erasure」, we were able to pass them without difficulty.

Thus, we soon arrived at the underground prison.

Unlike the quiet corridors upstairs, even though it was a small prison with only a single iron-barred cell, because the person locked inside that cell was a Grand Councilman, a large number of people for its size were huddled together guarding this place.

Two guys guarding the front of Khamsin's cell.

Two guys on standby in a space that was too short to be called a corridor and more fitting to be called a room.

And one guy guarding the entrance to the prison.

Furthermore, these five were, in their own way, elite troops that Ethesia had deployed to protect the important person that was Khamsin.

However, in the end, they were all just ‘normal enemies’.

Unlike bosses who come out with ‘immunities’ plastered all over them to prevent so-called cheap shots, they were ‘normal’ enemies without any special immunities.

In other words──

“──!? Wh-What are you guys…”

『Twinkle, twinkle, little star』

It meant that they could all be put to sleep with the 「Song of Sleep」.

『How I wonder what you are』

“Thi… st…”

The only ones who could remain standing awake after hearing this song sung by me with my mask off were bosses with ‘sleep immunity’.

Or, Rine, who was the only one who had followed me down.

“Zzzzz……”

While the three without immunity stood guard upstairs, I sang a song to put the guards to sleep all at once with ‘sleep’, and Rine would take care of the defenseless ones one by one.

According to this plan, each time a magic circle appeared in front of Rine's staff, the sound of soft breathing disappeared one by one.

And when the overlapping sounds of breathing were no longer heard, I finally stopped singing.

“Umm…….”

At that, Khamsin, who had also fallen asleep like the guards, soon opened his eyes groggily with a short groan.

But that too was brief.

“──!”

Soon, Khamsin was startled, his eyes wide open.

“Y-You people…!”

It was understandable.

He thought he had just closed and opened his eyes for a moment, but the five guards who had been guarding this place until just a moment ago were all collapsed, and in their place stood five familiar people.

How could he not be surprised?

Khamsin, who approached the front of the cell, looked back and forth between me and Rine standing in front of him, and the other three companions who had followed us down, with eyes of disbelief.

“H-How did you get here…”

“Isn't it obvious?”

I quickly readjusted the slightly crooked mask I had put on in a hurry, and raised the corners of my mouth in a grin towards Khamsin.

“We came to save you.”

You, and “This city.”