Ishura - Volume 4 - Chapter 12.3

On that day Elea, secretary to the Seventeenth Minister, made her desires known.

“Would you relinquish your seat within the Twenty-Nine Officials to me?”

The elderly Seventeenth Minister laughed under his breath and seemed to brush off the conversation.

He must have taken his secretary’s question as little more than a silly joke.

…Yet he then wore a distant, far-reaching look and gripped his pipe in his mouth.

The fireplace lit up his profile.

“…Well, now. I suppose when the time comes, it’ll be passed on to you, then.”

“You’re toying with me.”

“Not at all. You’re young yet, but I think you’re an exceptional young woman, worthy of a seat among the Twenty-Nine Officials. There’ll be some who’ll quibble about your heritage, but that isn’t anything to get hung up on. From here on out, competent and capable people need to govern this country and be there to help the Queen.”

Standing behind the easy chair he sat in, Elea was at a standstill, maintaining her smile. She didn’t know what sort of expression she needed to twist her face into next.

The Seventeenth Minister was lying. The people who surrounded Elea were her enemies, scheming to deceive her and force her out of power. That was their sole objective.

“Everyone is drained and exhausted from the True Demon King’s reign. Biases and prejudices regarding social status or lineage… At this point, the era where minia should be fighting against each other is long gone.”

“……”

“I want to continue striving for such a world. Surely you understand, Elea.”

“Seventeenth Minister. Did you know? The chef at the Porcelain Swallow was apparently arrested.”

“…What are you talking about?”

The Seventeenth Minister turned to look questioningly at Elea.

She still wore the same gentle, beautiful smile. What sort of expression was she supposed to be making?

“That’s the restaurant where I talked to the Eighth Minister this afternoon.”

“I am aware. It’s a wonderful establishment.”

“Gahak, ungh!”

The Seventeenth Minister suddenly vomited, and an excruciating pain in his gut made him double over.

Once he had reached that point, he could only gasp out air, unable to breathe.

“…Even a wonderful restaurant like that isn’t without its own base individuals, it seems.”

“Gah, hngh, Ele—”

“In exchange for a trifling sum, they’ll serve food exactly as they’re told and ultimately sacrifice their own life in the process. Do you not think it’s appropriate for them to face prejudice and bias? I’m sure that people of vulgar blood do that sort of thing, too.”

“Hnah… Hngh, hah…haah, ah.”

The toxicity in the seeds of the blue moon fruit was relatively low. Thus, should its poison lead to death, it was nothing more than an unlikely stroke of bad luck, only rarely befalling the elderly or sick, who were already in poor health.

As long as said toxicity wasn’t strengthened with Life Arts.

Slipping Word Arts in between the gaps in a person’s perception was an assassination skill. Before they had even begun their conversation…while the Seventeenth Minister was dozing off in his chair, Elea had finished the Word Arts incantation necessary to kill him.

“…Now, then. Please, say it one more time for me, Seventeenth Minister. Will you make me one of the Twenty-Nine Officials? Did you truly, deep down, wish to do so?”

“Hah! Hah! Anh, gahk…”

It had been a lie. Elea knew that from the beginning.

Everyone was an enemy. He knew Elea’s lineage. As long as there was even one person who did, then one day, even this elderly man was assured to bring her to ruin.

“Is it absurd to divide and separate people based on their lineage or their social status?”

Elea pressed down hard on the Seventeenth Minister’s shoulders, even denying him the ability to writhe in his agony.

Bubbles overflowed from the sides of the Seventeenth Minister’s mouth, and even as the hemorrhaging of his stomach lining began to mingle with his spit, Elea continued to admonish him in his ear.

“…Now then, Seventeenth Minister. Were you kind enough to say the same things to my mother?”

“……! Ugh, hnnnngh! E-El…Ele…a…”

“My mother worked much, much harder than I did. To become a true member of the nobility. Striving so hard to be a woman worthy of you.”

Cruelly holding his spasming shoulders, venting her pent-up years of spite, she still looked down at him with the same, perfect smile. Just as her mother taught her, with the beautiful smile she’d inherited.

Become elegant and refined. So no one will scorn you.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“……! ……Hrngh! ……!”

“Go on, now. Say it, won’t you? That you lived a very happy life.”

Watching the light in his eyes fade, Elea continued to address him up until the end. Just as she had before on that day.

With this, he would die. She had to confirm the truth for herself, or she couldn’t find relief.

“That you were proud to have such a fine daughter.”

“…………”

The spasms stopped, and the strength drained from the shoulders she was pressing down on.

Looking at his face, frozen in his final moments of agony, Elea was finally able to wipe away her smile.

In the youth she had lived through, these moments were the only ones where she had peace of mind.

“Farewell, Father.”

“So this…is Rosclay’s…”

Faced with the cheering blanketing the garden theater, Ninth General Yaniegiz couldn’t help gasping.

They hadn’t imagined it. The situation before that hadn’t been included in their strategic estimations at all.

Even as Rosclay floundered so disgracefully, so clearly defeated, the people wouldn’t accept his defeat.

The judges of it all wouldn’t let Rosclay the Absolute lose. Even in this state, Rosclay was able to turn the spectators into allies.

“…Rosclay the Absolute won’t lose!”

It was a sublime spectacle.

Both Elea…and Yaniegiz, as well, had failed to recognize the extent of Rosclay’s influence.

Rosclay the Absolute. The pinnacle of valor. A true knight.

He was horribly wounded, without any hopes of victory, and remained unable to put up the slightest glimmer of a fight.

For the first time, he was laying bare a disgraceful sight that none of the citizens had ever seen before.

Rosclay strove nonstop to be perfect precisely because he believed that if he showed himself looking defeated to the people, it would all be over.

…He had been wrong. This wasn’t the end of anything at all.

“Even if his preparations were meaningless…! I-if…it’s plain to see he’s been defeated! That won’t be enough to finish Rosclay the Absolute!”

He had no way to victory. Nevertheless, maybe, just maybe.

It was the power to make even Yaniegiz, fully aware of the truth behind Rosclay’s abilities, believe in such a possibility.

Meanwhile, underneath the audience seating.

Watching just as intently, Elea the Red Tag feared the same power.

I understood… Anyone who put themselves up against Rosclay would be stood up on the side of evil. The longer and longer this match is drawn out, Kia will continue to be at a disadvantage!

The match was dragging on. From the very start, the World Word shouldn’t have needed to fear such a thing,

Whoever the opponent, with a single word, she could immediately bring the match to a close.

She should have been able to erase the champion without anyone in the audience understanding anything about how it happened—and make it clear that they needed a replacement in his stead.

“…Why?! Why, why, why…?!” Elea shouted aloud. Her voice reached no one.

“Don’t you want to save Eta?! You’re indebted to me, aren’t you?! Your enemy’s the very symbol of the nation that’ll bring ruin to your homeland!”

At this point, Kia was hesitating to attack the hopeless Rosclay.

Rosclay would be eternally without a road to victory, but Kia wasn’t able to kill him, either.

I would kill him if it were me. No matter what. I need to kill Rosclay, regardless of any malice or hatred toward him, or my happiness will never come. Kill him. I can’t relax until I see him torn apart to shreds. If it were me… If I were the one…

Blood dripped from her right hand. She had been keeping a viselike grip on something in her palm, hard enough to draw blood.

…Aaah.

It was a hair ornament.

The hair ornament Kia had bought from the photography studio the day prior. An ornament made with the quality of a toy.

She had said it made her look like a princess, and it really suited Elea.

She’s a child.

A normal child, who would pick out such a gift with her immature sensibilities.

She’s…she’s not like me…

Kia was just a child, merely gifted with the power of almighty Word Arts.

It was dark. Amid the underground darkness, the zealous cheers were the only thing that continued to echo around her.

In that place, neglected by everyone, Elea crouched down.

One after another, sinister black emotions welled up from inside her own heart. Anguish and regret, enough to make her entire life come to nothing.

“…Wh-why…? Why…? Such…such a simple thing!!”

Kia was a normal young girl.

A simple child who had lived in happiness without deceiving or killing anyone.

…In which case, what about Elea?

To Elea, presumption was obvious from a young age. Of course, she needed to kill.

Letting any of the enemies who threatened her remain alive was completely out of the question.

Elea didn’t believe in a natural goodness in all beings that Kia took as a given.

“Why…?! Wh-what was…what was I supposed to do?! Why me…and me alone?!”

The green sunbeams filtering through the trees she saw in Eta. Days spent walking through the peaceful hills and fields. Changing into a costume and frolicking about.

She would sometimes behave like a child.

The teacher from the central metropolis would be ignorant of something the children in her care knew to be obvious, and when they’d ridicule her, she’d poke fun at herself.

She was constantly taught by her students about the youthful days she never had.

Because she’d never been a child.

Kia, totally unaware of anything, believed in Elea, got angry on her behalf, and was always trying to give something back to Elea.

Children given love would end up like this.

“…Kia!”

While Elea, to a…to a mere child, had…

“E-enough already… End it…”

Rosclay the Absolute lingered in her sights.

This man would certainly not be a threat to Kia. Not only would piercing her all-powerful defenses be impossible, but even more fundamentally, at this point, he couldn’t even take a step forward.

However, the presence in front of her was, without a doubt, a deeply obsessed specter, summoned by the curse of the masses.

Tormented with fear, Kia desperately tried to think of a way to defeat him.

She came to one terrible conclusion after the next. No. She didn’t want to.

Even after she had brought all of Rosclay’s movements to a complete halt, he still didn’t give up.

“What am I supposed to do…?!”

What did she have to do to be able to defeat him?

Right now, it was Kia’s side of the match that needed to come up with the answer.

“Surrender… Right, surrender! Say that you surrender!”

“Sur…”

Rosclay’s trembling lips were forced open, and he spit up blood.

Physically controlling the movements of his mouth, she would make him say the words she wanted him to say. If that happened, then she wouldn’t destroy his mind or end his life.

“Sur, rend…”

In that moment, Rosclay’s right arm leaped up into the air. An instantaneous movement.

He cut his own throat with his sword.

“Eek…!”

He crushed his windpipe. Without a moment’s hesitation or reservation.

Rosclay understood instantly that he couldn’t let the people hear his words.

“Wh-what does that…what does it even accomplish?! Listen! You don’t have any way to win, right?!”

“Gahak, koff!”

Rosclay gave no reply to Kia’s words. He could no longer answer her.

His vocal cords and his windpipe were torn apart. There wasn’t much time left before his breath would catch in his throat, and he would die.

The only choice was to make it clear to anyone’s eyes that he couldn’t stand up again—

“Tw-tw… Twist!”

“Augh, hngh!”

With a horrible splattering noise, both of Rosclay’s legs were twisted backward at the knees.

She had to take both legs from him. If he was left with one, he’d stand back up again.

Blood oozed out from the flesh of his torn leg, and the champion’s body was now unable to stand ever again.

“I-I’m—I’m sorry… Please, I’m so sorry…”

Nevertheless, the match wasn’t declared to be over.

A wave of sorrow spread throughout the audience. Yet it wasn’t one of a despair…

“Get up, Rosclay…! C’mon, stand up!”

“Use your sword, Rosclay! Cut off that demon’s head!”

“Please… Please, Wordmaker, give Rosclay your divine protection…”

“Rosclay…”

“I believe in you, Rosclay!”

“Rosclay!”

“Rosclay!”

“Rosclay!”

They believed. Believed in the absolute champion’s victory.

Such worthless prayers.

“This isn’t right… A-all of you, something’s wrong with you, all of you…! J-just let this person…just let him lose already! Can’t you see?! Look at how beat-up he is! How do you expect him to stand up with his legs like that?!”

They weren’t aware of it themselves. How could they fail to realize that they were the ones trying to kill Rosclay?

Kia could see. The champion she was fighting against was unmistakably alive, minian, and painfully tormented by each and every one of his wounds—Kia could see it all.

This was all plain fact to anyone who looked upon him, just as evident as Kia’s victory.

Even with his legs twisted and broken, this champion still wasn’t allowed to lose.

What did Kia need to do? What did they expect her to do?

Trust changes into faith, and excessive faith turns into unquestioning belief, and the extremes of unquestioning belief leads to fanaticism.

All the people in this vast arena believed in Rosclay. From deep in their heart.

“Foul play!” someone shouted from among the throng.

Even if she was a tender-aged girl…as long as she was Rosclay’s enemy…

“N-no… It’s not foul play… Truly… I really did this all on my own, so why…?”

She could hear a Word Arts incantation.

Right now, in this arena, if there was any clear foul play at hand—Kia looked at Rosclay.

“Egirwezi io rozsl. Meameaokea. Nomkloer. Ea kot aarmeal. Wareaoir.” (From Ekraezi to Rosclay. Trudging beast’s path. Dwell in a single bough. Sword of all punishment. Expand.)

“Gaugh, hngh…mrrrn… Unnghh…!”

Rosclay had been forcibly holding in his screams, but he then let out a horrible, agonized groan.

The Life Arts coming in from afar were rapidly healing his throat and both of his legs.

Due to the exceedingly rapid healing, as a matter of course, his bones grew distorted and pierced through the skin on his knees.

The outer surface around the tip of his foot branched off, tearing away even more flesh.

While it was ridiculous to even call the resulting body part a leg, it made one single thing possible.

…He was able to stand back up.

“N-no… Aaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Now, then—”

Drenched in copious amounts of sweat and stifling the intense pain, even then Rosclay smiled. While spitting out blood from his throat, freshly healed with Life Arts.

He was Rosclay the Absolute, after all.

“Let us give it our all.”

The knight’s body was sent flying. He collided at high speed into the edge of the garden theater and collapsed to the ground again.

Just then, Kia whispered her Word Arts, guided solely by denial.

“Fl-fl… Hic, hnghh… Fly…”

It was fear.

A tremendous fear that made an ordinary person forget their aversion toward murder.

Many people don’t kill someone with a particular reason in mind. The kill simply out of fear.

Even Kia was capable of it.

“……”

Kia looked down at her own hands.

The sea of emotions billowing about inside her, in that single moment, seemed to quiet, as if she had never felt any of it in the first place.

“Ah.”

She wiped her tears. With it, she snapped back to normal.

She moved just as she had before the match…as if she couldn’t hear the voices of the crowd.

I…

A single fetter had fallen off her.

The tender-aged young girl, in that moment, for the first time, became cognizant of the truth in her own power.

……I can, do it…

She walked toward Rosclay, slammed into the wall.

Her father and mother. Her sister. Yawika and Thien. It was all to prevent her homeland from being annihilated.

She couldn’t care less about Aureatia, criticizing her to their hearts’ content, playing dirty and trying to pillage Eta for its resources. Even if, by chance, there were other faces mixed in among the masses that Kia recognized.

I have to do it.

If it was all to protect what she held dear… If it was while she had this resolve in her heart, she could definitely kill him.

This was an enormous change to the young girl Kia, but it was also the thought that her beloved teacher had continued to harbor every day.

I have to do it, I can do it.

Aureatia’s strongest knight had collapsed facedown, almost as if he were sleeping.

…She didn’t need to do anything special. If she gave the one-word command Die, she could bring his life to an end without any suffering, without witnessing any horrific spectacle.

“…The match’s mine. I win.”

“…Iska…”

The knight mumbled indistinctly as he lay on the ground.

“…Iska… I…… I…”

It was someone’s name.

“Hngh, gauugh, bleeergh!!”

Kia vomited.

Thi-this person’s… This knight’s…

Kia covered her face with both her hands. She was trembling.

All the fear she had but temporarily left behind came surging back.

She realized she was a hair’s breadth from dipping her fingers into a horrifying abyss.

Just moments beforehand—and over her own volition.

A person… He’s a person…! A person, just like, just like me…! He has someone dear, just like me… He’s a-alive…just like me, and I…!

She had overwhelming power. Absolute power she had obtained out of nowhere.

Kia had a wish. She had something she wanted to protect. She needed to fight.

But did she need to go that far?

With her unfair powers, bestowed by the Wordmaker, she could make all her intentions come to pass.

She could crush someone who thought just as she did, who desperately tried to live in the world just as she did, under her foot.

Did she truly have to do something like that no matter what?

Without realizing it, she herself was transforming into a monster who harmed others without a moment of self-reflection.

What would everyone back home—what would Elea—think seeing Kia like that?

“Your power is a gift to bring happiness to others.”

“I—I—”

It was at that same moment that someone’s body hugged her close.

The body warmth, the soft feeling, enveloped her.

“This is the Seventeenth Minister! We surrender!” the intruder shouted.

“Elea…”

Elea was in tears.

“N-no more… Don’t make her kill… Enough… Stop, please…”

Kia could do anything.

While she may not have possessed a second name yet, with how freely she could do anything she wanted with her Word Arts, she could easily give herself a name someday that would astound everyone.

Five years earlier. The world beyond the forest was under the threat of the True Demon King’s grave despair, and all the adults seemed to think that the Eta Sylvan Province where Kia and her friends lived was the only place left behind by the rest of the world.

The children like Kia and Thien were still young and hadn’t been taught yet about the existence of the True Demon King, so they simply assumed that all the adults were discussing some sort of difficult topic.

Yawika was still very small, and while all the adults went to their gathering, Kia would often look after her. Yawika was an elf born with tanned skin, which was apparently somewhat rare.

Since Kia was the one looking after this rare child, the adults also showed her more respect, and she felt that they should’ve then been more willing to overlook her teasing and pranks.

“Kia, Kia.”

“Yes, yes, what is it, Yawika? Sleepy?”

Kia had brought Yawika along to the lake as usual and was gathering mushrooms to use for cooking.

Frogs were croaking all around her, and Kia thought they sounded almost like musical instruments.

“Mrrrm, Kia, cheek!”

“Sheesh, what is it?”

Yawika’s small hand slapped against Kia’s cheek.

From an early age, Yawika had acted a bit spoiled, and while she wasn’t great with words, she was a cheerful child who smiled often.

“If only you’d hurry up and establish your words so we could actually have a conversation together.”

“Cheek! Cheek!”

Even in this world, where all sentient living beings could converse with Word Arts, it didn’t mean that newly born children could eloquently use their words to communicate. As they began to grow, they needed to naturally shape their inner system of words. Along the course of learning their own unique words, they begin to realize that those same words addressed the people and things around them. These were the Word Arts that could bring about various phenomena.

As Kia dipped her toes into the cold lake, she addressed the ground right by her side.

“Grow.”

With a speed that seemed to send pops into the air, mushrooms sprouted up from the gaps in the rock.

They were the mushrooms Kia was asked to gather for the day’s meal. She could make them grow right outside the house if she really wanted, without needing to come all the way out to the lake, but Grandma Micchi would get angry at her, so she thought it was better not to.

She claimed that mushrooms and fruits should each grow in their proper and befitting places, and if Kia kept using her Word Arts nonstop to make food, the forest might become sick.

I don’t really think there’s anything to worry about, honestly.

Kia could do anything. Whether it was creating, destroying, or even changing situations to be exactly how she wanted them to be.

With my power, I can reverse anything back to normal no matter what happens.

She used Word Arts once again on the mushroom.

“Disappear.”

The mushrooms Kia made appear now disappeared. Just as things had originally been.

Before she had fully formed her own words, Kia was equipped with Word Arts that could make anything and everything obey her as she saw fit. Thanks to this, Eta was never lacking food, all the houses in the village had been renovated anew, and they were never troubled by terrible weather.

Kia thought she deserved even more special treatment if she was being honest, but nevertheless, just like the other children, she was forced to look after and care for Yawika like this.

Although, in Kia’s case, she just needed to say, “Refresh the chimney,” or “Make it rain until tomorrow,” and her job would be over, so perhaps that was simply the way it was.

The adults were always hard at work tilling the fields, repairing the waterways, and trimming back the forest. If they asked for Kia’s help, it was all work she could finish with a single word, but she understood that the adults all thought there was value behind things gained through this intense labor.

“Ah, now there’s nothing to do, huh, Yawika…?”

That was why even Kia would bear with it sometimes. Even if the root vegetables she hated showed up in her dinner, she didn’t change them into different ingredients like she did when she was younger. Nor did she interfere when someone was spending a lot of time and effort making a wooden chair, by using her Word Arts to finish the chair for them unasked.

As she continued to mature, Kia grew to understand she had a vague and undefined set of standards. She could use her Word Arts if it was to help create food. If she was going to create toys to play with, she could use them as long as she made sure to clean them up afterward. If it was for everyone’s benefit, she could use them to change the weather. Manipulating the water level in the river wasn’t okay unless it was truly and seriously for the sake of everyone, too, but if necessary, she would absolutely use them.

“Grow. Disappear.”

“Mrrrr, mrrrrn.”

Yawika groaned. Perhaps she didn’t like that Kia was playing with the mushrooms. It was truly very rare for Yawika’s mood to sour when the two of them were together.

“What’s wrong, Yawika? Are you all right? Did a bug bite you?”

“Mmrrrr!”

“Are you hungry?”

“Kia, bad!”

Yawika’s nails caught a bit on Kia’s cheek as she slapped her face.

“Ow! Sheesh, what’s your problem?!”

She could do anything she dreamed of, and she was obediently looking after her, so why was she being treated like this?

“Why’re you mad? Want me to sing you something?”

“Shoes! Shoes! Mnnnh!”

“Sigh. I still don’t get it…”

Kia didn’t understand children at all. As long as their Word Arts language was still undeveloped, they were halfway between a beast and a sentient person. Maybe Yawika’s parents could understand what she was trying to say?

“Nooo! Mnnnn!”

Finding herself at a complete loss at what to do about Yawika’s cries, Kia’s eyes happened to fall on the mushrooms growing beside her.

Oh, right.

For some reason, up until that moment, the idea had never once occurred to Kia.

If her all-powerful Word Arts could bring forth anything and everything she wanted and even be capable of re-creating things entirely…

Perhaps she’d be able to make another person who understood Word Arts do whatever she told them to?

To Kia, it seemed like a truly genius idea. She had fixed up injuries for her parents and everyone in the village, but why then had she assumed she couldn’t change their thoughts, too?

“Hey, Yawika.”

Kia was truly just about to do exactly that.

There were no obstacles anywhere to stop her from putting it into practice, and a single instruction would have been all the incessantly crying Yawika would need.

“……”

Yet suddenly, her eyes stopped on the frog crying on the ground right next to Yawika. Truly, just a simple coincidence.

I mean, giving it a try on a frog first won’t change anything, right?

Kia looked toward the frog and commanded it.

“Stop crying.”

Instantly, the single frog in her sights stopped its croaking.

Up until that very moment, the frog had been desperately letting out a shrill cry without end.

“…Great. See, that went just fine. I’m a genius.”

Absentmindedly patting Yawika as she wailed in her lap, Kia kept observing the frog for a few moments. The frog didn’t cry.

As the collective choir of their croaks continued on loud enough to drown out the sound of the wind, the frog simply remained there, its eyeballs goggling about. Gradually, Kia began to find the sight unnerving.

This frog remained like this because Kia had told it to do so.

Even an overly serious boy like Thien would catch frogs and play with them, yet for some reason, the now absolute silence of the frog seemed a much more terrifying deed than dragging, spinning, and crushing one until it popped.

“G-go…”

It was okay. No matter what happened, she could do things over.

“Go back to normal.”

The frog once again began to croak. Kia breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness.

“Yawika?”

The young girl Kia held in her arms was no longer crying.

“Huh? No way.”

It was weird that she wasn’t crying. After all, she had been in such a sour mood a few moments ago.

“Wait, but why?”

She was unsettled. She needed to ask an adult for help.

There was a voice—gweh, gweh. Kia’s body trembled in surprise.

It was the frog’s voice. It had gone back to normal—and was croaking again.

“…G-go—go back to normal.”

Kia once again used Word Arts on the creature.

She couldn’t clearly say why. But she got the sense there was something off about this frog. Like the intervals and pitch of its cries weren’t exactly how they had been before.

It wasn’t croaking like it had been at first. It was as if it was croaking in the way that Kia thought it had been croaking.

“N-no, it can’t be.”

Kia hugged Yawika close.

“Kia, Kia!”

Yawika smiled, as if everything before had been a lie.

“C-cry. C’mon, cry.”

She was scared. Even though it was only an insignificant frog she had changed with her Word Arts—and she hadn’t actually used them on the tiny Yawika at all.

“Yawika. It’s all just a joke, right? You’re still you, right?”

“Cheek!”

She drilled her finger into Kia’s cheek. Just like always. Like the Yawika Kia knew. Without scratching her with her nails at all…

There was no possible way to confirm it for herself. Yawika still hadn’t fully developed her Word Arts. There wasn’t any way to prove if she had been eternally changed forever or not, no matter what she did.

“Yawika!”

Kia roughly shook Yawika.

“Mww…”

No one had seen. Yawika might be just as she was before, and Kia wouldn’t get yelled at—but it certainly wasn’t okay to do such a thing without the world ever knowing about it.

“Mweh.”

It was likely because her tiny body had been shaken so thoroughly—Yawika threw up the contents of her stomach.

“Weeeeeeh…!”

Then she started to cry. Just like normal.

“H-haaah…”

Kia lost her strength and sat down where she stood. It was a relief.

Thank goodness—she never even thought that Yawika would end up vomiting. Yawika hadn’t been transformed into a version that bent to Kia’s whims.

“Yawika…”

She stroked the young girl’s back. What a handful, a truly troublesome child.

But that was the Yawika she loved.

“Kia.”

Kia realized that, at some point, Yawika had taken off her right shoe. She had been so distressed that she didn’t have the presence of mind to notice before.

“Aaah… Right. So that’s what it was.”

“Shoes! Look!”

A tiny frog had slipped inside her shoe.

She had been crying because it was uncomfortable. Once she was able to get it off, her mood improved.

There wasn’t anything strange at all. That was the simple truth to it.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Yawika…”

For a few seconds, she continued to embrace Yawika while she cried. The fact that, in that moment, she didn’t go through with her intentions must have been the most fortunate period in Kia’s life.

“I’m so, so glad I didn’t use any Word Arts on you.”

In the middle of the garden theater, Elea kept her arms wrapped tight around Kia. Almost like a mother bird embracing her egg. As if to protect the girl from the noise and gazes of the audience.

“That’s enough.”

She wanted to cry more than anyone, and even now, Elea was truly the most unhappy of all, yet for some reason, before Kia, she spoke words of encouragement.

“All the scary stuff is gone now, okay?”

“…Elea. Elea.”

Kia was crying. Never in her wildest dreams thinking that everything had all been staged by Elea.

“It’s okay. I…,” Elea said, stroking the child’s golden hair. “I will always be right here with you, okay?”

She should have forced Kia to kill Jivlart.

If, back then, Kia had removed the shackles on her mind preventing her from murder, Elea surely would have won here.

More than anything, she should have understood that…and that was supposed to be her entire reason for summoning Jivlart to her house—why then, did she end him by her own hands instead? Why, in that one moment, had she made one mistake?

In any case, Elea had done it.

Before she could think things through, Elea had killed Jivlart with her own hands.

Why?

There had to be some reason. As she held Kia’s tiny body and felt her quivering against her chest, Elea replayed the same regret over and over in her head.

Why? Why? Why?

“We’ve confirmed Kia’s foul play!”

At the same time, the match adjudicator Meeka made an announcement.

“I will inform you all of the report I just received from our soldiers! We have several testimonies from our citizens! The Seventeenth Minister, Elea the Red Tag, made Kia stand on this dangerous battlefield…and provided her with Word Arts support from outside the arena! Therefore, for this fourth match! Kia is disqualified, and Rosclay the Absolute is declared the winner!”

There wasn’t anyone in the audience who doubted these words.

The ear-rending cheers rained down on Rosclay as he remained collapsed on the ground and unable to stand.

The champion didn’t get up, as if he was a godly idol with no mind of his own.

Supporting Kia in her severely exhausted state, Elea returned to the passageway.

Despite agreeing to make Jivlart fight against Rosclay, she had altered the agreement at the very last moment. To Aureatia, right now she was essentially a traitor.

“…Elea.”

“It’s okay. Breathe in, breathe out… Calm down, nice and slow, and it’ll all be okay.”

She rubbed Kia’s back for her. A small back that made the World Word’s power seem like a lie.

We’ll get out of Aureatia…and flee somewhere.

A future of darkness. It seemed like there wasn’t anywhere across the horizon for her to belong.

We’ll conceal ourselves, get outside the city on the steam train… then, in a carriage together…

If she was with Kia, she just might be able to pull off such an escape.

A young girl with almighty power. Elea could control her. She knew she could make her fight against their pursuers from Aureatia and even make her kill their enemies. If they kept that up long enough, then escape was really in their grasp.

…I know. I’ll be a teacher in Eta.

It seemed like a wonderful idea to her. In that tiny village, completely indifferent to combat or glory.

Playing together with the children, covered in flowers and mud.

Then, once more. She could look at the brilliant morning sun from the children’s secret spot.

Just like that day…

Soldiers blocked her path.

“Seventeenth Minister. You must be tired. Allow me to accompany you.”

“We’ll guide you from here. Come. We shall bring Miss Kia along with us.”

They were soldiers with Rosclay’s faction.

Given that her almighty Word Arts had come to light, Aureatia would secure Kia for themselves. As for who was needed to control the World Word, Rosclay’s camp now knew the answer.

The fight that Elea had gambled her life on had been a failure from the start, and the fourth match, not only before it even started…at the earliest possible point, had that outcome fixed.

Even then.

“I understand. Let us go together.”

Elea smiled slightly.

She showered the soldiers’ faces with the contents of the thin vial she kept hidden on her.

“Guagh?!”

“Bwahk?!”

“Huh, what’s going on?!”

“Time to run, Kia!”

Even then, Kia must not degenerate into a weapon for the sake of Aureatia. That was how she felt.

Elea the Red Tag had been unable to obtain anything she had sought after.

She had blown it all herself.

In which case, if she could just get one thing right.

She pulled Kia’s hand and fled. The Aureatia soldiers were trying to capture her.

The marketplace encircling the garden theater. Elea dashed across the midday market. The odd looks from the citizens pierced through her. Elea was a frantic mess, her clothes in disarray, covered in blood and tears.

Ah—Elea was supposed to always keep up appearances, to make sure no one scorned her, that no one looked down on her.

“Elea… Elea, listen to me! What’re you doing?! Tell me what’s going on!”

Kia was looking at her, too. The World Word Elea had discovered at the end of so much bloodshed was exactly as the preposterous legends spoke of…an invincible Word Arts user possessing absolute power.

However, they were a totally normal and innocent young girl who had never even experienced the death of someone close to them before.

I…

She had been jealous of Kia for being this way.

She ran.

Standing out in front of Kia.

To make sure she didn’t see her face.

I’m so…so hideous…!

Outside the world that endlessly tormented Elea, there was a world like the Eta Sylvan Province, one of tranquility.

And living there had been a young girl who innocently believed in her.

A genuinely beautiful young girl, smeared by neither spite nor malice.

“Kia. I have something very important to tell you right now.”

Elea stopped after they had reached the base of a long stone staircase.

There, she crouched down to Kia’s eye level. Elea gave her a smile.

“Do me this favor, okay? Listen well to what your teacher’s going to say, okay?”

“…Elea?”

Now.

Now was the time she needed to tell Kia the truth.

…The truth is: I’ve been fooling you.

Her turquoise eyes, like lakes filled with tears, reflected the world in its vivid, bright daylight.

The obvious and plain realization came to her, that the world reflected in a person’s eyes was the one they saw.

I… In truth, I was just using you to gain power. All the suffering you experienced was all according to my designs. In truth… I’m a terribly vulgar woman who betrayed you through all of it. Even everything involving your homeland was entirely because of me.

Elea the Red Tag continuously used everything she could in order to survive.

She hadn’t only deceived other people, but her own words and heart, as well.

Which was why this sort of deception was all-too-easy work for her.

…So. Everything here is my fault, so you alone need to escape.

With this, Elea gripped both of Kia’s hands.

“I’m sorry for scaring you. Kia… You showed your unbelievable strong power out there, didn’t you? That’s why Aureatia’s military is chasing after you. We needed to escape them.”

“O-okay…right. You’re right… I really did something terrible. Everyone’s probably scared of me…and hates me…”

At this, Elea stroked her golden hair.

“Not at all. Ever since coming to Aureatia… You did a great job obeying my rule about your Word Arts.”

“So um… Listen, Elea…! I—I…!”

Tears flowed from Kia’s eyes.

“I just have to run away by myself! Th-that way, they’ll just come chasing after me, right? I’m invincible, so I’ll be toootally fine, okay…?”

Indeed. When it came to Kia, Elea knew everything about her.

Elea could even tell the lies that would lead Kia to this exact answer.

The Aureatia soldiers were after Elea. As long as Kia’s weak point, Elea herself, wasn’t there with her, Kia would be able to cleanly escape no matter how far it may take her.

“So um, Elea! No talk about any goodbyes or anything, right?!”

“Of course. Make sure you escape. I’ll be here waiting for you the whole time. So please… Kia, be sure to use your Word Arts correctly.”

It was a lie.

She had tried, more than anyone else, to make her use that power incorrectly.

“Because that…that power…is a gift, for bringing happiness to others.”

A lie.

The World Word was a gift for bringing happiness to Elea.

Lies. Nothing but lies.

“Yeah… Okay…!”

“So for the time being…you’ve completed my lessons for you. I’ll give you your second name now, Kia.”

Elea brought her forehead to Kia’s and announced the name.

It was a name that Kia herself had been completely oblivious to, yet it was more appropriate than any other.

“…World Word. Kia the World Word.”

“My name…”

Elea acted as though she truly was a teacher.

Even as she resolved to tell her the truth, even if it was her final opportunity to do so.

Even if her ugliness ended up being exposed to everyone in the world, she wanted to remain this way in front of Kia alone.

Since Elea had always been the perfect teacher, beautiful and kind.

“…Thank you. Thank you, Elea.”

Kia nestled in close and pressed her cheek up to Elea’s own.

She took off the bandage over the eye Jivlart had injured and spoke.

“Heal.”

Then she smiled as she cried.

“I really do like those eyes. They’re so pretty.”

“Kia…”

“You know, Elea. The truth is, um, getting to spend all this time together with you…made me really happy.”

“I was happy, too.”

A lie. Not only these words, but everything else.

She had always been spouting nothing but lies in order to manipulate Kia.

“I love you, Kia… I do… I love you so much…”

Lies.

Another lie.

Elea the Red Tag was always telling lies.

Elea cried.

“I-it really is the truth…”

“…Elea. Miss Elea…was kind and pretty. Someone who everyone…was proud to call their teacher.”

The young girl with the almighty Word Arts made one final wish to Elea.

“Find happiness!”

They were not Word Arts.

Yet more than any kind of Word Arts, such parting words were…

Kia. Elea’s light, dearer to her than anything else, dashed off.

Her long golden hair fluttered, shining in the sunbeams and wind.

Elea turned her back and advanced toward the shade, diametrically opposite the young elf girl.

She wished happiness for Kia, more than anyone else. She wanted her to believe in the good.

Because Elea would carry all the darkness herself.

Kia, I—

One more time.

She found herself wanting to call out to the girl.

At that moment a soldier jumping out from the alleyway ran his sword through Elea’s waist.

She collapsed. Her vision dyed dark crimson.

“…Ah!”

The Aureatia soldier who slashed her seemed more unsettled than Elea.

“…My apologies, Lord Jel!”

He reported to the man standing behind him.

“I only wanted to cut her legs to immobilize her, but because she suddenly turned around, my aim was thrown off…!”

“No matter.”

A cold and levelheaded voice. She could hear the familiar tone of contempt.

Third Minister Jel was looking down over Elea.

“This latest incident has made it quite clear. Even if we spare this woman’s life…she will persistently use others for her own self-interest. A she-devil who putrefies Aureatia from within. We shouldn’t have ever given her a chance… I’ll take responsibility for the decision.”

…Ah.

There was something dirty right in front of Elea’s eyes.

The viscera spilling out from her stomach was soiling the ground.

She always strove to be beautiful. She wanted everyone to view both her birth and her appearance as pristine and fair.

Aaah, my…my insides… Not this…

All of Elea the Red Tag was present in its hideous form and color.

Vulgar. Base. Vile. Crude.

“…I take responsibility for all of it. I was a fool, a fool for expecting anything of her.”

…Stop. Don’t…don’t look at me… Brother…

As long as Kia could live on in happiness, that was enough. Yet. In truth, she…

She didn’t want to die all alone.

She didn’t want to die scorned by everyone.

“Die!” Jel shouted.

The levelheaded Third Minister made sure never to let his emotions show.

However, there was a distinct disappointment and rage contained in his shout.

“Cursed daughter of base blood! You betray your compatriots, manipulate a young girl, and kill…and even kill your own father! Don’t you dare think someone like you will be given a chance to atone for this! Elea the Red Tag! A pitiful death is exactly what a wretch like you deserves!”

Amid the pool of blood, there was a golden glint.

The hair ornament. The one that really suited Elea, that made her look like a princess.

…………

She desperately stretched her fingers out toward it.

There was sure to be light, at the end of the darkness.

But by that point, there was nothing. Her light had departed.

Before her fingers could reach the hair ornament, Elea’s life came to an end.

His optic nerves hurt. Even the glare from the lights was too bright.

Pain. Throughout Rosclay’s entire body was nothing but intense pain. The pain that came from being remade with healing Life Arts.

Lying down on an infirmary bed, he spoke in delirium.

“…I lost.”

Sitting at his side, Yaniegiz shook his head.

“That…is not so, Rosclay.”

How many of Rosclay’s wounds would recover? At the very least, he may have had more hope than Soujirou, who had completely severed his leg.

He was a champion who absolutely couldn’t die. There were a total of four Life Arts specialists in charge of Rosclay’s treatment. At least, they’d get him ready in time for the second round. Regardless of everything it would cost.

“…It was definitely your victory. If you hadn’t been so well trained yourself, you wouldn’t have been able to stay conscious in the face of those Word Arts. The Word Arts that demolished the mound of dirt and the Word Arts that healed your legs were all part of your preparations. Getting the Twenty-Sixth Minister to cooperate with us was also in thanks to your honest abilities.”

Ninth General Yaniegiz concealed his personal history publicly, but Rosclay knew.

Yaniegiz was also born poor. An individual Rosclay had once saved in the past.

One of those who felt genuine pride at being saved by the champion.

“…That’s just how many allies you’ve created for yourself. Far beyond what we imagined… Rosclay the Absolute has become a true champion…”

There was no room for any doubt. If it had been anyone else, they couldn’t have brought down the almighty Kia.

“To all the people of Aureatia, you are a magnificent champion. Rosclay.”

“…Still.”

Rosclay mumbled as he stared at the ceiling.

“Elea the Red Tag had worked alone.”

“……”

He had many more allies on his side than anyone else. The artificially constructed champion had won over the entire citizenry of Aureatia to his cause.

Nevertheless. If even a single element had gone awry, then there was no doubt…

“All by herself, she drove us all into a corner.”

Match Four. Winner, Rosclay the Absolute.