【Cerulean, Third City of the Suiloku Kingdom】
The Suiloku Kingdom, a nation bordering Rainana and a long-standing ally. Composed of four cities and boasting a large port, it thrives as a trading nation with people coming and going from all over. Though the smallest nation on the continent in terms of landmass, it's blessed with abundant marine resources, making it a very fortunate country.
Among the four cities that make up the Suiloku Kingdom, Cerulean is the most diverse, a city where people from all walks of life—beastmen, refugees, commoners, and nobles—live together; a city that was, in a way, a symbol of peace.
And today is Armistice Day, a national holiday. It's a day to mourn the soldiers who fell in the war with the Holy State fifteen years ago, and to praise the Hero of Light, who saved the country and lived to tell the tale.
If it were a normal year, the streets would be lined with stalls, and many people would gather to listen to the bards singing of the Hero of Light's great deeds.
“The Hero of Space, who destroyed a nation, extended his devilish hands to Suiloku.
On the battlefield, the Hero effortlessly sliced and slaughtered the mighty Suiloku army, tearing through space itself.
Killing opponents without even touching them, trampling the battlefield with unrestrained power, he was truly the strongest in the world.
When everyone despaired at the Hero's power, a single knight stood up. To protect his country from the strongest being in the world, the knight faced him with a desperate resolve.
Suppressing his fear, he dedicated everything to a single strike, to protect his family and his country.
His all-or-nothing blow far exceeded the Hero's expectations. A miraculous strike cut through the Hero, taking one of his eyes.
Realizing his defeat, the Hero praised the knight and never appeared before Suiloku again.
And so, peace returned to the Suiloku Kingdom.
The hero who defeated the strongest in the world and saved his country.
The man later known as the 'Sword Saint of Light'—
Ideal White!”
A story every citizen of the Suiloku Kingdom has heard at least once. A heroic tale that inspires gratitude from the adults who knew those times, and admiration from the youth who know nothing of war.
The bards sing, the people's hearts soar, and the city thrives—as it does every year.
Today, the city should have been bustling with its usual vigor… or so it should have been.
“N-No, please… stop…”
What’s happening now is a barbarity far removed from the peaceful city it once was.
A woman living in the city begs for mercy from armed thugs. The thugs look down on the pleading woman with lewd gazes and assault her.
“Aaaaaaahhh!”
This is happening in the city's main thoroughfare, and no one tries to stop it.
Well, that's understandable.
Because the same thing is happening all over the city right now.
“Somebody, help!”
“Noooo! Darling!”
“Please, just save my daughter!”
Shouts and screams echo through the city.
The peaceful city is collapsing in less than a day.
People can only flee in confusion.
The captured women are turned into playthings, and the men who try to intervene are all killed. The city's guard has long been annihilated, and corpses litter the streets.
“Damn it, why… why is the gate to the sealed-off Fourth City open?!”
The cause of the chaos—it all began when thousands of thugs from the Fourth City, Sumalt, also known as the Slum, broke through the sealed gate.
The thugs are armed, and they've repelled the soldiers who came to suppress them with their superior numbers, and are now committing atrocities throughout the city.
“Lord Elephan, Sword Saint… please, someone, anyone, get these guys out of here!”
The residents of the Third City desperately hope for reinforcements to arrive soon.
But no more troops are being sent to quell the disturbance.
“Why isn't anyone coming to help us? What are the lord and the knights doing?!”
The city is being allowed to crumble without any reinforcements of soldiers or knights arriving.
That means—the upper echelons of this city aren't functioning.
♢
The only place that's quiet amidst the chaos of the Third City is, ironically, the mansion of the city's lord, Zou Elephan.
A particularly large mansion built on the outskirts of the city, offering a panoramic view. The size of the land and the quality of the mansion are comparable to those of the upper nobles of a great power.
And the owner of this mansion is the leader of the knights who protect this city, and a man of both literary and military prowess who governs the city.
His name is Zou Elephan.
He is known as a master of magic in the Suiloku Kingdom.
His appearance is characterized by a slovenly, fat belly and ornaments that he wears as if to say “Look at me!”. A middle-aged man that you can tell at a glance is a lord.
Because of his appearance, first-time observers tend to have a bad impression of him, but he's not poorly regarded by the residents of the Third City.
And while thugs from the Fourth City are rampaging in the streets, he's in his mansion.
Bound in chains—
“Why… why can't I use magic!”
He tries to use magic while wrapped in chains, but nothing happens. Every time he tries to exert his magical power, he feels a sense of weakness, as if his power is being drained away.
“My chains steal magic power. Your prized magic is useless without it, isn't it?”
The man looks down on the lord as if mocking him.
The lord is lying on the ground, frustrated.
“Look, you pig. At the way your livestock is being hunted down.”
The location is the lord's office.
There are two people in the room. A man with white hair, wrapped in chains all over his body. And around them are the corpses of those who served in the mansion, killed by this man.
The lord is grabbed by the hair and his face is smashed against the mansion's window. What the lord sees is the tragic state of the Third City, ravaged by thugs.
Fires are breaking out in the city, and screams and shouts reach the mansion.
A sense of despair washes over the lord, as if something precious has been destroyed before his very eyes.
“Ah, aaaaahhh!”
“Come on, apologize to the people of the city. Say you're sorry for getting so fat when the city's in trouble.”
The city, his subordinates, and his own dignity.
The lord's precious things are being destroyed before his very eyes.
The man enjoys watching the lord's emotions break down.
His appearance is like that of a devil, deceiving and denigrating people.
“Guuuhhh!”
“What a filthy cry. Hey, how do you feel right now? Tell me.”
“Please… help me…”
The lord pleads to the man who's restraining him, taunting him, and showering him with contemptuous words.
Everyone in the mansion has been killed by this man and his companions, and all he can do now is cling to him.
The lord's dignity is shattered, and all that remains is his life.
“Aah? Who should I save?”
“I'll give you as much money as you want… so please spare my life—guuh.”
The chains binding him are tightened even further, and he can't finish his sentence. The restraint becomes even tighter, and the lord is slammed to the ground.
The man watches him with cold eyes.
“I didn't expect him to break so quickly. So he really is just a pig with the title of lord. That's enough. 『Restraint Spirit』… strangle him.”
“Maa—…”
“【Menhera Out】”
At that voice, the lord's restraint intensifies to the limit.
Crack, snap, pop, splaaatter…
Spraying blood like a fountain, the lord dies.
“What a filthy pig to the very end…”
He says those words without any emotion, as if looking at a disposable piece of trash.
“Hey, Evil! There were other ways to kill him! You got grease on my clothes!”
One of the man's companions approaches, protesting that the lord's blood has splattered on his clothes.
He's one of the people who seized this room with the man who killed the lord, called Evil.
The man has long hair tied back and a feminine tone.
At first glance, he has a beautiful face that looks like a woman, but his build is masculine, and he's undoubtedly a man.
“Don't come near me, Blues. You stink of man.”
“How cruel!”
“You're slow. Don't dawdle too much, Evil. The Third City is finished, but there are still two cities left. Let's go back and prepare for the next one.”
While the two are talking, another companion joins them.
A man with a physique over two meters tall, characterized by thick muscles like armor. His body is covered with countless scars, giving him the air of a seasoned warrior who's been through many battles.
Because of his giant stature, he peeks into the room as if looking down, waiting for the two.
“You're the slow one, Bout. You did annihilate all the standing soldiers in this city, right?”
The man called Bout was instructed to attack the fort where the standing soldiers of this city were stationed as a commando unit.
“Of course. It's easy to take down the weak, even when they're in a group.”
The man called Bout was covered in blood. Most of it was just blood splattered on him.
As he said, every knight and soldier in the fort was annihilated without a single survivor. According to the observer, the fort had collapsed as if it had been hit by a disaster, turning into a pile of rubble.
“Tch, you monster… die.”
“Such harsh words for a friend.”
“No… that's the best compliment.”
Bout grins, looking somehow happy.
Evil, looking unamused by the joke, ends the conversation.
“Return, 【Restraint Spirit】.”
He retrieves the chains that bound the lord. The chains move like snakes, wrapping around Evil's body.
Having finished retrieving them, Evil leaves the room, and the two follow behind him.
Only the sound of the three's footsteps and the rattling of the chains echo through the mansion.
“Let's go… we're going to take the Suiloku Kingdom.”
“Yes♪ Boss.”
“…If that's what you want.”
With a mountain of corpses behind them, the three leave the mansion.
This riot won't just stop at the Third City, but will remain in history as the greatest civil war in the history of the Suiloku Kingdom. Etched in people's memories as a disaster in which just over a thousand people plunged all the cities into chaos.
Number of casualties: Several thousand
Total damage: Several hundred billion
And the names of the masterminds are—
"Black Fairy"
A dark organization based in the Suiloku Kingdom.
A new force that has broken “Gireusu,” the largest dark organization in the Suiloku Kingdom and the ruler of the Fourth City, in just a few years since its formation.
Replacing Gireusu, they control the Fourth City, and in the slum, they exploit everyone from children to the elderly as members of the organization.
“Tremble and wait, you pigs. Our next target is the Princess.”
The fall of the Third City is just the prologue.
No one knows that things are about to get even more intense.
The Third City, Cerulean, has fallen.
♢
Suiloku Kingdom, First City, Royal Capital Cyan
King's Bedroom
One day after the fall of the Third City, Crown Prince Sicilian, who was taking measures in place of the current king, received news of the death and visited the king.
Crown Prince Sicilian—a capable man in every way except for his weak body and chronic illness. He is serious, never neglects his efforts, and is capable of handling public affairs without any problems even after the king collapses.
Sicilian bursts into his father's bedroom without knocking.
What he sees before him now is his father, already dead.
Ryan Suiloku, the 15th King of the Suiloku Kingdom.
55 years old.
He had suddenly started vomiting blood several months ago, and eventually became unable to get out of bed. His body, which had been as strong as a great tree, was now as thin as a twig.
The sheets are stained with blood, and there are traces of vomit.
It went without saying how painful his final moments were.
According to the doctor's diagnosis, there's a possibility that he was poisoned. At first, it was diagnosed as just a common illness, but it gradually worsened, and by the time they realized it, it had progressed to the point where even high-level recovery magic couldn't cure it.
The culprit hasn't been found.
But the king's death at this timing, and this riot, don't seem unrelated.
It seems that people from the dark organization are leading this disturbance, and there's a possibility that they've infiltrated the interior as well. There are mountains of things to think about.
Sicilian goes to his father's body and speaks to him.
“Thank you for everything you've done until now. Please leave the rest to me.”
Sicilian quietly prays for his father's soul, facing his remains.
To be honest, he didn't like his father very much.
He didn't do anything that a father should do, and only did his public duties. He could count the number of times he'd even talked to him.
But as he did his own public duties, he learned about the responsibilities and pressures of being a king, and his bad feelings disappeared.
Fifteen years ago, his father experienced the war with the Holy State, and then devoted himself to cleaning up the mess. It can be said that the reason why our country, which is practically a defeated nation, is still safe and sound is due to the achievements of his father, the king.
I can respect him as a king who brought an end to a difficult period.
Even so, it was a war that he brought on himself….
“Now it's my turn.”
To protect the Suiloku Kingdom, there are things he must do.
For that purpose—
“I'm sorry, but I'll have to rely on that person.”
Returning to his office, Sicilian pens two letters.
“Deliver this letter to the King of Rainana with utmost urgency! And give the other to my sister.”
His sister is studying abroad in the friendly nation of Rainana.
His father, sensing danger within the castle, had her evacuate in the form of studying abroad, but her power is indispensable to quell this rebellion.
The power of that girl, who, despite being a princess, possesses unparalleled talent and is hailed by those around her as the next Sword Saint—
“Bring Leone back to the Suiloku Kingdom.”
