Moto Sekai Ichi - 083b

Stay healthy!

"……First Prince, Klaus……"

Quietly muttering that name, Windfield bit her lower lip. It was the worst timing for this.

"Good timing, Your Highness! Kill that woman lying down there and the grey-haired woman too! "

Prime Minister Val happily gave out instructions.

Silently pulling out the sword from his waist, Klaus made his way towards Windfield.

"Good at swordsmanship, was it? This is bad."

First Prince Klaus was quite skilled in 【Swordsmanship】 enough to become the captain of the First Knight Order at a young age. It was said that, aside from Title battles, his skill was unmatched across the Kingdom.

Windfield stood in front of Silvia as if to shield her while facing Klaus. Despite being a mixed one, she was still a spirit. She was stronger than normal humans. However, she wasn’t strong enough to face Klaus.

"Fuu……I guess I got, no other choice."

She thought of using her trump card. One she hadn’t told anyone, an ultimate trump card only usable by spirits.

Originally, she intended on using it if the worst-case scenario came to pass.

And just now, that worst-case scenario was happening.

If the capture of the Royal Castle was prolonged, a fierce enemy like someone who had participated in Title matches might appear as the escort of the Prime Minister. In that case, there existed the possibility that even Eko and Silvia together wouldn’t be a match. And if by some twisted chance of fate this scenario happened...... She planned to use her trump card. This, she had decided on yesterday.

Thinking "Now that it has come to this", Windfield decided to use her last move.

And in that aspect, this was the best move.

All that was left was her firm resolution.

"……Gram. Weren’t you on an expedition? "

At that moment, Klaus suddenly began speaking. Surprisingly, his words were directed to the Vice-Captain of the Second Knight Order, Gram.

Sensing the suspicious air, Windfield decided to take the stand of wait and see.

"Yes……The truth is, I returned today."

Not being able to ignore the words of the First Prince, Gram responded while still containing Eko.

"Strange. It's strange after all."

"What's wrong, Your Highness!? If you don’t hurry and kill that woman, they will kill you, my Prince! "

Prime Minister Val shouted as Klaus muttered to himself as if his time was running out. However, Klaus' demeanor didn’t change.

"You were suddenly called back, right? Were you contacted when the violation of the Knight's agreement became a topic in the Kingdom? "

"That, is-"

"That's correct, right?

"Yes……"

"That's enough! Gram, you stay silent! Focus on the battle! "

"Prime Minister! Shut your damn mouth! "

Klaus shouted in anger. It was at that moment when his doubts turned into conviction.

"I know your wife. She's a maid under the Second Queen Freon."

"Yes."

"I saw Queen Freon leaving the castle yesterday. But there was no sign of your wife with her."

"What are you trying to say!? "

"When I was bashed by the people, I once saw Queen Freon on the balcony. At that time, your wife was still her maid. After that, you were called back. With all this in mind, there's only one reason why you had to return from the expedition in this short amount of time...... how nauseating. It's easy to imagine the reason."

"My Prince! That's a misunderstanding! That maid was fired because of her ineptitude――"

"……Villain. You've been tricking me. You've been using me. Always, all this time! "

Klaus gradually raised his voice and glared at Prime Minister Val. He'd no longer be deceived.

"Queen Freon isn’t the kind of person who would fire a maid because of some failure. Gram isn’t a man who would simply leave a royal expedition, ignoring his subordinates to return alone. And me...... I'm not a man whose father can be killed and will keep silent!! "

Raising his sword, Klaus headed towards the Prime Minister.

"You are the pus of the Kingdom. Empire's dog. I will punish you now――"

"――Your Highness, please forgive me. I too have something I have to protect."

Gram then stood in his way.

About Eko……her 《Transform》 had come undone and she was beaten on the floor, falling like a ragdoll.

"Move. I'll cut you too."

"I can’t let you. I can no longer go against him."

It was almost as if declaring he had taken hostages. Still, there was nothing he could do.

And thus, Klaus and Gram were facing each other.

"Why won’t you step back. Aren’t you able to easily kill those two?"

"Their subordinates will move."

"Then, there's no other way?"

"Yeah. I can’t show my face to my family anymore."

Gram's attitude towards Klaus was, unlike with Silvia, very respectful.

"……I never expected to face against my teacher in this way."

"If possible, I too would have preferred to repay you differently.”

"Fuu, I'm sure."

The two of them slowly closed the distance against each other. Their sword stance was quite similar.

"Gram! That guy's useless now! Get rid of him! "

At that moment, Prime Minister Val yelled those words. However, his voice wasn’t heard by the two people, deep in concentration.

It was in an instant――Their 《Silver Swordsmanship》 flashed.

Just how much skill was packed at that moment? It was a world only these two could understand.

"Guuh……uhh."

Klaus fell to one knee. A deep one was visible on his thigh. It was a wound that wouldn’t let him stand unless healed.

Gram stared down at that scene with a saddened face. Despite it being for her wife and child's sake, he had hurt a Prince of the country, his disciple. This fact carved an unhealable wound in his heart.

"Good, Gram! Finish him! Kill him! And Maine, Hairai too, every one of them! Kill them all! Let's fuck up the Kingdom! "

Prime Minister Val laughed as if he was crazy. No, he was indeed crazy. The vassalization of the Kingdom had failed, the Empire had abandoned him, and now he had nowhere left to go. This turned him in a man thirsty for revenge, only wishing for ruin.

"…………"

Gram silently approached the still unconscious Silvia. He felt Silvia was the number one threat, so he decided to stab her first.

"……It's time, I guess. After all, I told him, to leave it to me, right?"

Now was the time.

Windfield started moving quietly. Without an ounce of hesitation, she walked towards Gram.

She had steeled herself.

"What?"

Gram stopped and was on guard. A woman was approaching him without taking any stance. There was nothing more suspicious than this.

"Well, it doesn’t matter. It's just, I'll be, a bit lonely. Maybe, I wanted to give him, one last greeting."

"……? "

Laughing with a smile, she spoke those words. Gram felt puzzled, not understanding the meaning of those words.

"Spirits, you see, can become invincible for a short while, by burning their very existence. About a minute, was it? In that time, I will kill you three and rescue Silvia-san and Eko-san. That, is my, responsibility."

Windfield's worries were, unfortunately, right on the spot. Therefore, she tried to take responsibility by using her trump card.

There were several other paths, but at this moment and at this time, this was the best one.

Was it the difference in values? The difference she had on her outlook about life and death?

If everything can be settled with just one life, I'll gladly give mine. Windfield was that kind of spirit.

"This is the solution. With this, it's done. There will be no issue except that I'll be gone. A good ending, right?"

Muttering with a grim expression, she held a hand over her chest.

At the place where the human heart was located, also lied the source of life of the spirits.

And she was going to destroy 'it'. An extremely easy, and equally scary method.

"Bye-bye――"

…………

The next moment.

Just as Windfield was saying those parting words towards the missing Second.

Darkness overflowed; the shadows seethed with an aura of intimation that would make people plead for their life.

An existence of fear that shouldn’t be here suddenly materialized from that shadow.

From the shadow of the fallen Silvia-

――And then.

"If it's a 'shadow' you remember, anywhere is possible, huh? Unbelievable. I didn’t expect you'd be able to transfer to the 'shadow of a person'."

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Thank you for reading.