Anger is a volatile emotion.
When it ignites, it burns hotter than anything else, but once calmed, reason can be quickly regained. Therefore, I preferred to remain silent when my head was hot.
I couldn’t predict what I might do when I was angry.
Moreover, I was an aristocrat of the Empire and a capable swordsman studying at the Academy. The weight of the responsibility that came with my actions was incomparable to that of ordinary citizens.
However, perhaps due to having lived so gently, I had never once reached the peak of fury.
Today, for the first time, I learned.
Anger was not a hot emotion. Rather, as its intensity deepened, the turbulence in my mind grew quieter and quieter.
It was calm and cold.
Yet, a chilling malice dominated my heart. Like a sharpened blade, my thoughts derived only means to massacre the opponent.
I recalled the moment Emma was struck and fell.
The pale-faced woman I had seen in the Intensive Care Room of the temple.
Her father was shedding tears. It might have been my fault. No, deep down, I believed it was my fault.
Visions overlapped.
Snow fell over the fallen woman. Her bloodless face bore wounds scattered all over. The sword she had not released from her hand until the end lay pitifully beside her.
The woman silently whispered in my ear.
“…Live.”
How could I live?
I wished to ask that with my trembling voice, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
Memories twisted again. It was a season that changed its colors.
Before the crackling remnants of fire stood a man. In a solemn atmosphere, priests and soldiers knelt in prayer.
It was a ritual to send souls to the Heavenly Deity.
I stared at the flames without a word. Inside that wooden pyre stacked layer upon layer, there must have been the corpse of a woman. The man bit his lower lip against the rising emotions.
It was wrong.
I had been far too complacent. Why did realization always come too late? To avoid regret, one had to be crueler than anyone else.
So that no one could touch them.
Moist gold eyes floated in the void.
The blurred scenery passed through the dust toward the desert. There, the woman stood as well.
Her closed eyes showed no sign of opening.
She was blind.
Thunder rolled, and distant noise echoed across the earth. The hissing and annoying sound of breath reached my ears.
In the distance, the mountain range shifted. A living black shadow, one of Omeros’s Seven Deadly Sins.
In the face of that overwhelming sight, silence and fear spread among the thousands of troops.
Pale faces were abundant. It was hardly a situation to stir any fighting spirit.
Even the man could not maintain his composure before that colossal form. His golden eyes momentarily became vacant.
It felt impossible to even think of the possibility of “victory.”
Nevertheless, the woman with her eyes closed remained calm. She wore a faint smile.
“Leave, sir.”
“But…”
The startled man tried to shake his head, but the woman’s will was resolute.
“You have things left to do, don’t you?”
The man opened and closed his lips.
His head drooped helplessly.
“…I will die together.”
“Then it’s an order.”
With that quiet declaration, countless shapes began to be drawn in the void.
Dense magical power intruded upon the laws of nature like humidity. The air trembled ominously. The might of the Archmage was indeed so great.
The woman laughed. Though I could not see those eyes.
“I shall bear my karma alone. So please, sir…”
That voice pierced my heart like a curse.
“…please live.”
The sound of a sob echoed in the empty earth. It was a sorrowful cry.
Running and running, the man gritted his teeth.
Because he was weak.
Thus, he had to run away. He had not been granted even the life to die together.
Never again, never again would he flee.
Never would he retreat.
The reiterated voice echoed in his ears. His eyes turned red with tears.
As precious people disappeared one by one.
There was a man who walked unsteadily, etching each of their names into his heart, leaving scars he would never erase.
Even as darkness settled, his golden eyes shone brightly.
He had to kill.
Though it was a blurry whisper, the sound tickling my ear was crystal clear.
He must kill, or tear them apart.
So they would never resist again.
Suddenly, my vision returned.
A woman with trembling eyes looking up at me entered my sight. One by one, her limbs had fallen away, leaving her in a pitiful state with only one leg remaining.
It was a cruel sight.
And yet, inexplicably, I felt nothing.
I spoke in a chilly voice.
“Who did this?”
It was an unexpected question. Soon, the expression of the noblewoman Lupeisia turned vacant, and then she trembled and replied.
“Wh-what do you mean… I-I’ll tell you! I-I’ll tell you!”
But the moment my sword was raised, she quickly curled up and strained to wrack her brain.
The bleeding was severe. No matter how trained an academy student was, at that level, fainting was inevitable.
There was no choice but to feel dizzy. Yet, as she tried her best to think, noblewoman Lupeisia shouted as if she had realized something.
“…The News Department!”
My arm, holding the sword aloft, suddenly froze.
The News Department, a name I had heard before.
Wasn’t it a branch of the Empire’s Intelligence Department?
A laugh stifled in my throat.
It was ridiculous.
“The News Department said… you wouldn’t want to be expelled! To curry favor with Her Imperial Highness, you had to torment those around you… Everyone said so!”
At last, a piece of the puzzle began to fall into place.
Those disguised as the News Department were, in truth, agents of the Empire’s Intelligence Department, and of course, they must be skilled in information manipulation, propaganda, and incitement.
I didn’t know how they had buttered up the picky aristocrats at the academy.
That was something I could figure out gradually.
Once I went to the News Department and took care of a few of them, they’d spill the beans. After all, most of the agents of the era’s Intelligence Department hadn’t even properly completed torture resilience training.
Peace was truly frightening. It seeped into daily life like venom.
Noblewoman Lupeisia was still gasping for breath, looking up at me. Her pupils seemed to have dilated from the blood loss.
I pondered for a moment.
Should I set an example this time so that no one would ever touch those near me again, or should I just let it slide?
The grip on my raised sword fluctuated as I wrestled with my hesitation. After quite a while.
The one who ended my hesitation was an unexpected figure.
“…I-Ian!”
The call of the girl I had forgotten for a moment caused my thoughts to drift.
Who was she?
My body slowly turned back. There, reddish-brown hair was waving.
The woman embraced me tightly.
As that soft sensation gradually revived my memory, yes, it was Emma.
The person I had to protect.
My senses jolted back to life. It felt as if a unique feeling struck my mind when rising suddenly from a dream.
Gasping, I staggered back. My head throbbed painfully.
The verdant gaze looking up at me was pitiful. In those wavering eyes, various emotions swirled.
Surprise, worry, and fear.
Emma was afraid of me. She had every reason to be. There wasn’t a person who wouldn’t fear a madman casually severing limbs.
Nevertheless, Emma bore her feelings and approached me. For my sake.
Only then did I take a clear-minded glance around.
Crimson stains were smeared all over. It was soaked in blood.
“I-Ian… Ar-are you okay? You look like you’re not normal…”
Emma said with a tearful expression, and I slowly began to piece together my memory.
I had severed limbs one by one. And I had responded to noblewoman Lupeisia’s provocation with even more brutal violence.
Why had I done that?
At first, I had planned to just teach her a lesson. Maybe shatter a nose, and if necessary, it would be acceptable to punish her a bit more under the pretext of insulting an aristocratic family.
A duel in the name of noble honor was always a matter of life and death.
Yet, the moment my tether to reason snapped, I simply couldn’t stop.
Emma’s delicate body trembled slightly. It seemed the shock had not yet subsided. At least, this wasn’t the kind of appearance I wanted to show her.
My expression darkened.
“I-I’m fine… So you can stop, Ian. What to do… look at all the blood…”
With a quivering voice, Emma took out a handkerchief from her pocket and started to wipe the blood off my face. Until then, I hadn’t been able to say a single word.
A voice of self-reproach spilled from Emma’s lips.
“I-It’s because of me… Th-this wasn’t supposed to happen. I’m sorry, Ian… A commoner girl causing trouble…”
Fearing she might start to sob, I gently placed my hand on Emma’s shoulder first.
Emma, who had flinched, soon looked up at me.
I forced a tired smile.
“…It’s okay, Emma. I guess I was feeling a bit off.”
I shook my head, shaking off my stray thoughts.
The state of the moaning female students was gradually becoming dangerous. With such severe bleeding, that could happen. No matter how tough the academy students were, there were limits.
Magical power was useful, but it wasn’t omnipotent.
If massive blood loss continued, death was inevitable. So I said to Emma.
“Emma, do you happen to have any potions?”
“Uh, yeah? I have a few…”
Then the conversation became simple. I cautiously asked Emma.
“Can you do some first aid? After that, go to the temple and summon the Lady Virgin Saint. I’ll speak for you, and she’ll understand.”
“…And you?”
My mouth momentarily closed.
Emma’s eyes were colored with worry. Even though she must still be afraid of me, seeing her care this much warmed my heart a little.
But once I started, I had to see it through to the end.
I said with a forced smile.
“I need to go to the dorm and change clothes. It would be too conspicuous to walk around like this, right?”
That was, on some level, true. And also an awkward excuse.
If one commits a crime, it’s right to deal with the aftermath before leaving. Yet, asking a third party like Emma to cover for me before leaving felt strange.
However, Emma seemed to be in quite a state of confusion. She simply nodded.
As I was about to leave the scene, I took a moment to gaze at the disaster I had wrought.
Fortunately, the severed parts were clean. If it was the Lady Virgin Saint’s skill, stitching them back together shouldn’t be a big problem. But they would still need some stability for a while.
In the midst of that, I might have been trying to keep some semblance of morality. To be honest, I was half out of my mind back then, and my memories were vague.
Yet, one thought had lodged deeply in my mind like a nail stuck in an icy pond.
I needed to head to the News Department.
Unless I subdued that place, similar incidents would continue to occur for some time. With my resolve settled, my footsteps began to move slowly.
My eyes sank coldly once again.
The News Department was a club with a certain history and tradition.
While many clubs published newspapers, there was only one with the name “News Department.” Just that alone showed how significant an organization it was.
Except for the fact that the quality of that “newspaper” was lacking.
Perhaps because of that, the News Department had the privilege of occupying an entire building, unlike other clubs. It was a small two-story building, but considering most clubs were assigned one room, it was quite a remarkable advantage.
I stood before the front door. A member of the News Department who happened to be entering glanced at me.
Blood was splattered on my clothes, and so my appearance was anything but normal.
The News Department member, gauging my reaction, cautiously asked.
“U-Um, what business do you have…?”
I ignored him and burst through the front door. The startled member of the News Department immediately followed me.
Upon entering, a long hallway unfolded. Several News Department members hurriedly walked by and cast their gazes toward me.
The News Department member who had followed me from outside gripped my arm and called out, alarmed.
“W-Wait! Why are you coming in like this without permission!”
“…The Empire’s Intelligence Department.”
Suddenly, the movements of the entire News Department came to a halt.
The News Department member looked at me with a peculiar expression. His head tilted in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re agents of the Empire’s Intelligence Department, aren’t you? Won’t this secret leak?”
The News Department member’s face showed perplexity. Most would have likely given up at this point, not understanding what I meant.
But I sensed it instinctively.
Now, it was coming.
A dagger shot like a ray of light and grazed my arm. I quickly twisted my body, shaking off the News Department member.
Clang, the sound of metal colliding resonated.
An axe and a dagger sparked with bright red flames. The hallway was too narrow; it was better to respond with the axe than the sword.
Perhaps caught off guard by my response to the ambush, the News Department member’s eyes widened.
That was the end of it.
With a sickening crunch, the axe blade rammed into his shoulder joint.
The News Department member staggered back with a soft groan.
The eyes of every News Department member passing through the hallway turned toward me.
“So, quit rambling and come at me.”
With those words as the signal, all the documents held by the News Department members were tossed to the ground in unison.
The battle had begun.
