Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: The True Terror of Monsters 

We treated Shildina as best we could and then sent her away before heading to the main keep ourselves. According to those left alive in the castle, the current Heavenly Emperor was still there, all alone. 
“He’s just a young boy, correct? Knowing he was cornered, maybe he’s sent everyone else away and is just waiting alone?” I asked of Raluva when he came to report to me. The kid had given all sorts of stupid orders thus far, but maybe at the end he was finally acting a bit like a real ruler. 
“Actually, it seems Makina told him this would all be over quickly and left him alone in the keep,” Raluva reported. 
“While Makina herself actually tried to escape using a secret passage. We saw what happened to her after that,” I said. Raluva nodded. That just made me hate her even more. She’d caused untold damage to this nation and yet taken no responsibility. Just as when she tried to take over Shildina as a ghost, I was reminded horribly of Witch. If it wasn’t for the queen, Melromarc might have ended up exactly like this place. She’d really got under my skin, making me think like that. 
“Rafu.” Huh? Raph-chan was clinging to something that looked like a ball. What was it? I did want to check it out, but we carried on, reaching the main keep and proceeding to the Heavenly Emperor’s room behind the audience chamber. 
We opened the sliding door. 
“W-who’s there!” The speaker was a boy, maybe around eight years old, dressed a bit like a priest. He was looking in our direction with fear in his eyes, clutching onto a stuffed toy clearly modeled after a filolial chick. 
He was even younger than Raphtalia when I first met her. So this was the moron who had been acting as Q’ten Lo’s emperor? 
His room was packed with filolial merchandise. It started with pictures and included stuffed toys and even wooden carvings and bronze statues. I took a moment to look for ones made of gold and gemstones—yep, there we go—although on closer inspection it was just gold leaf. The gemstones were cheap ones too. 
It also looked like there were lots of books, but about what? A quick look at the covers revealed more images of filolials. All of those depicted were white with cherry pink coloring. Exactly the same as Filo. Just why was that coloring so popular? 
“W-where is Makina? Someone! Anyone! Shildina! Help me!” he shouted. It looked like he didn’t have a full understanding of the situation and had just been left—abandoned—here. What to do, then? 
It was really starting to look like he’d just been used and had no real understanding of good and evil for himself. That said, his frivolous application of the protection of the Heavenly Emperor was definitely a lingering problem. 
“Ah! That outfit! I’m the only one important enough to wear that!” the kid yelled, pointing petulantly at Raphtalia. It looked like the first order of business was to make sure he understood exactly the position he was in. Just capturing him without any explanation and putting him to death was a situation I definitely wanted to avoid, but it didn’t change the fact he was going to come off his high horse, down from all that power, with a bump. 
 
“Sorry, kid, but anyone who might have sided with you is either dead or captured. You’re not important. You’re not anything anymore. You must understand that much at least, right?” At my question, the kid hung his head and gave a nod. 
“I thought that was the case,” I stated. Oh? Looked like maybe he had a better grip on things than I first thought. 
He began to speak. “Makina said she would be right back, but after all this time she still hasn’t returned, and sometimes when I was hiding I heard people saying things about me that weren’t all that nice. But still . . .” The kid —no, he was too smart for that, at least worthy of being called a “boy”— went on. “I still wanted to believe in them. That they would end this chaos and come back to me.” 
“Sorry that didn’t work out for you,” I scoffed. The boy remained silent in the face of, let’s be honest, my pretty dickish comment. Hey, I wasn’t his babysitter. 
“Please, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia pleaded. Of course, she had picked up on it. “Can’t you be a little bit nicer to him?” 
“I know, he’s just a boy. But this is still the one who sent all of those after your life, Raphtalia. That’s a big problem, even if we cut him some slack,” I stated. The very fact this boy was such an ineffectual leader had led to Raphtalia being targeted. If he’d actually been in control, assassins might never have been sent out just because she put on a stupid outfit. 
 
Wringing what bravery he could from his trembling body, the boy looked at us and spoke strongly. “So what will do you with us? We are defeated, correct? Then take us where you will and execute us if you must. But those who followed us are without blame in all of this. Will you please see right by them?” he begged. He had it all the wrong way, of course. Those who “followed” him were the true criminals here, making this boy far closer to blameless than they were. Honestly, from my perspective, they were the ones I wanted to execute. 
Still, his tone was now markedly different, and was that the royal “we”? He’d had some training in his post, a least. Hmmm, when I took into account his attitude as a whole, with a proper education, he might have turned out okay, I thought. He was still related to Raphtalia, after all, even if he was just a distant cousin or something. 
“We’ll see. I’m not inclined to take it easy on you, but we’re definitely starting by taking away your title of Heavenly Emperor. What happens after that, we’ll decide later.” At my words, the boy quietly closed his eyes and quelled his trembling. Our intel suggested his parents had been killed while he was still a babe, and he’d clearly come through his own share of hardships. 
With our capturing of the eastern capital, anyway, the state of play in Q’ten Lo would dramatically change, with almost no one left who could oppose our forces. The old city would be restored and would be called the “Royal Capital,” and peaceful rule could be expected to be restored as well. 
 
We’d done a pretty good job extracting the puss, from the look of it. 
Of course, by the customs of this world, if we were announcing the birth of our new authority to the people, then we should hold a public execution of the captured Heavenly Emperor. But I wasn’t so sure about that. 
In either case, those who had set all of this up would definitely get what was coming to them. Not to mention, at this point, my own purpose here had pretty much been fulfilled. 
“Maybe we’ll give him a slave mark and see how he holds up under torture?” I’d suggested in order to see what his reaction was to that, and think about his future based on it. 
“I-if that is to be our punishment, we shall accept it!” he stuttered. Oh? He was pretty forthright about it. He had some awareness of his responsibilities as the Heavenly Emperor, then. Even if his awareness of the concept of “torture” wasn’t especially fleshed out, he had to know it would be painful and scary. 
Yeah. I was having a hard time really hating the boy. Considering the information we had already collected, he was definitely only being used. 
That’s what it seemed like, anyway. But I wanted to make sure. See his true self. 
“Hmmm. Just give me a moment,” I said and ordered Raphtalia and the others to stay there to watch the kid. Then I took the human-form Filo with me out of the room by basically pushing her out. 
“Maaaaster, whaaat’s—?” 
“Filo, I want you to turn into your filolial queen form, stay silent—that bit is important!—and follow me back inside, then stare at that boy. When I give the signal, I need you to grab his collar with your beak and lift him into the air. If you do everything I say, to the letter, I’ll make you a special meal later,” I explained to Filo. 
 
“Really!” Filo looked really happy, then turned into her filolial queen form and followed me back inside, practically skipping. 
“Oh? Mr. Naofumi, just what—why is Filo in that form?” Raphtalia began. 
“Oh my?” Sadeena exclaimed. 
“What do you think Naofumi is planning?” Ren inquired. 
“Don’t ask me!” Itsuki said. 
“Feeeh?” Rishia mumbled. 
This was how my other companions in the room all reacted to this turn of events. It was pretty easy to imagine what their reactions would be to what was going to happen next. 
“Ah, a filolial!” The boy’s eyes lit up and he moved over to her. Yes, that’s right. This was the idiot Heavenly Emperor who made the proclamation about not harming living things because of his love for filolials. So this was the best way to really see his true nature. 
The boy rushed over to Filo and started to stroke her plumage. Filo looked to be enjoying it and turned her gaze on the boy. I’d told her to keep quiet, in no uncertain terms. If she’d spoken, even a few words, she and the boy might have quickly become friends. Filo had that way about her. But she stood true to my instructions and said nothing, just continued to look at the boy. 
 
It didn’t take long for his smile to fade into fear. 
Just as I thought. From all this merchandise he had collected, I’d been pretty sure that he didn’t really understand much about real filolials. To frame it in terms from home, he was like a super otaku. I could place the sentiment because of my own otaku tendencies—the type who loved the heroine of their favorite show rather than a real woman. 
In other words, he didn’t know a thing about real filolials. 
“Eh? A-aaaah!” Heh. Ah, Filo. She’d completely forgotten how everyone in the village had first been so scared of her. “Waaah!” She was in a great mood, her appetite stimulated by my promise of food, even as she continued to just stare at him. 
Indeed, stare and salivate. She was looking at the boy like a bird of prey staring down its next meal. 
The boy’s face completed its descent into terror, and his legs almost gave out. Truly, if she had spoken, the entire scene would have played out quite differently. At the moment, his reaction was quite a bit like Melty’s had been. 
That said, Melty had still done her best to make friends, even with a starving filolial. Just as I’d surmised, this boy had a liking for filolials, but he wasn’t all that familiar with them. 
I gave Filo the hand signal. 

With that, she started to move slowly toward the boy. She made a slurping noise, looking exactly like a predator closing in on prey. 

“W-wah! S-stay back! Please, save me before I’m eaten!” he screamed in terror. Filo stopped and looked at me, clearly uncomfortable. Maybe she realized that I’d set her up. But she immediately started moving again. 
She wanted to eat my cooking that badly? 
When I asked her about it later, she said she’d thought it was a punishment for causing so much trouble for Raphtalia and the people of the country. 
“Oh my,” Sadeena said again. I felt a crowd of cold looks collecting on me. 
“Ah—can I ask, just what are you doing?” Raphtalia took the initiative to ask for everyone. 
“First things first, he needs to be punished,” I announced, making sure he could hear me, of course. But I also spoke in such a way that hopefully the others would cotton on. “If he loves filolials so much, I think he deserves to die by being eaten by one. Eaten alive, no less!” 
“N-no! Please, spare me that!” he begged. Ah ha! Finally, we were reaching his true nature. No matter the regal front he tried to put on, he was still just a child at heart. And even if he had been used by those around him, he needed to be punished for making the proclamation against hurting living creatures and placing blessings on the sealed monsters. 
Experiencing this terror for himself seemed about right. Have him feel for himself the damage done to the people of his nation by monsters. 

“W-waaaaaah!” The terror of being attacked by a filolial, in exactly the form and colors that he loved so much, was surely going to be burned into the child’s brain. 

As I thought that, I noticed one of the leaders of the revolution using a video crystal to record the proceedings. What were they planning now? That item had been imported from Siltvelt, if I recalled correctly. 
At the point that Filo lifted the child up by his collar, they stopped shooting the video. That was it, then. Spreading this footage across the land as the execution of the Heavenly Emperor would put the people at ease. 
“Gyaaaaaaaaah!” he screamed. Of course, he wasn’t actually eaten by Filo. 
Still holding the boy in her beak, Filo came over to me. After screaming for a while, the kid pissed himself and then continued to beg to be saved between gasping for breath. Upon finally realizing that no one was going to help him, he just struggled harder, but to no avail; when he finally gave up and slumped still, I ordered that he be released. 
“Uh—” He gasped for air. Realizing that he was free, the boy tried to scramble away from the source of his terror. Raphtalia and the others looked on, not especially approvingly. 
“I think maybe he’s had enough now?” 
“There’s so much more I’d like to knock into him, but I guess this is a good first step.” Now, at least, he had an understanding of how terrifying monsters were. 
“Master, that was mean!” Filo scolded. 
“Shut it. How would things have gone if the kid was Melty?” 

“Huh? Well, she would have given me food and stroked me where I liked it and made me all fluffy and happy!” Exactly. Even if Melty was facing execution in this manner, she’d surely be able to overcome it. 

That was the big difference between Melty and this boy. 
“I-it’s speaking! It’s saying something!” Ren announced. 
Filo had spoken to me in the language of Melromarc. She could also speak the languages from Siltvelt and Q’ten Lo too. Her experience of being put on show in another world had left her with the lesson of quickly wanting to learn new languages. For this boy, though, even a talking filolial was now a source of fear. He was curled up in terror in the corner. 
“Boy. I’m going to tell you something very important,” I began. 
“W-what?” 
“Filolials may have always just looked cute and fluffy to you, but they are vicious, violent creatures. You’ve experienced that for yourself now, haven’t you?” I said. 
“Boo to you!” Filo didn’t like that characterization. 
“Why are you being so antagonistic toward filolials now?” I ignored Raphtalia’s sharp comment too. 

“I’m guessing those you’ve touched in the past have been trained not to get violent or been restrained,” I continued. The boy nodded. He understood the difference now. “Wild monsters are not the same. In fact, you went around putting the blessings of the Heavenly Emperor onto horrible monsters that could have really harmed your nation. Do you understand what that means?” The boy lowered his head at my words, and Raphtalia held her tongue as well. It looked like everyone finally understood my intent with all this. 

“Boo!” Well, everyone other than Filo and her puffed-up, indignant cheeks. In this moment, though, she was just helping to make my point. 
“That terror wouldn’t be the end of it either. You should have been chewed up, shredded by claws, covered in poison, died painfully—and that is what has been happening to your people. That’s what you did, even if you didn’t know it.” 
“We see. We understand now. In which case, we’re truly not fit to be Heavenly Emperor. Everyone called her an imposter, but it is as you say. For one who serves the revolutionary Heavenly Emperor, we will give the throne to her,” he stated. Wow! He was still a kid in many ways, but he knew what was going on. He wasn’t some moron thinking just about money and luxury, so this would probably serve as punishment enough. 
“I can’t really speak to what’s going to happen next, but it might be good for you to leave this country and see more of the world,” I said. 
“If we were to be given that opportunity—” he began. It was also worth noting that the idiocy of the Q’ten Lo we’d fought against had honestly helped us out, allowing us to take the nation so quickly. Banishment was likely more fitting than execution. If he really had just been used, it would be good for him to see the world and learn more about real life. 
He was related to Raphtalia too. 
Publicly, of course, we would tell people he had been executed. We could even take him to the village and privately call him Raphtalia’s cousin or the former prince. 

“Anyway, we’ll decide exactly what to do with you later,” I said. The boy looked scared by my words, but also receptive. Right, then. Seemed like a good chance to share some other important information with him. “Let me share something else important with you. Here’s a monster that’s much cuter, smarter, and more useful than any filolial,” I said and picked up Raph-chan with both hands and presented her to the boy. 
“Tali?” Rafu chirped. What! A new sound? What new evolution was this! Raph-chan cutely raised a hand to the boy. 
“What are you playing at now?” Raphtalia snapped. She had clearly reached the limits of holding her tongue. But I carried on. The boy said, “I’ve n-never seen a monster like this before. Never even in a book!” With that, the boy reached toward Raph-chan. She purred with rafu sounds, enjoying being stroked by the child. Starting from the head, the boy stroked her on the cheeks, belly, hands, feet, and tail, and she even stroked the child’s hand in return. 
“Oh wow!” His eyes sparkled, and he clearly wanting one of his own. 
“This little cutie is a monster made from the hair of your relative. Cuter than a filolial, isn’t she?” I asked. 
“Boo!” Filo continued her booing. 
“Please, Mr. Naofumi. Stop this.” Raphtalia didn’t look pleased either. The others were just shaking their heads. 
“That girl you see over there, she’s called Raphtalia. The revolutionary Heavenly Emperor, and your relative.” 
“Okay.” 
 
“Those around you may have said the bloodline of the Heavenly Emperor was best if it was only you and that others were imposters and should be killed, but wouldn’t it be better for your family to get along?” I inquired. 
“Yes. Just why did everyone say she was my enemy when we’re related?” 
“Why do you think? Because, for the “everyone” you’re talking about, Raphtalia being alive was a problem. An inconvenience. That’s why they gave the orders to kill her.” 
“I see.” Even though he was a child, he seemed to have some understanding of political affairs. It had been a quagmire of corruption, after all. 
“Anyway, if you’re going to be friendly with us, I’ll let you pet Raph¬chan a little longer.” The boy looked from Raph-chan to Raphtalia and then nodded. “So rather than filolial merch, how about making some Raph-chan —” Raphtalia grabbed my shoulders tightly. 
“Mr. Naofumi, I’m not sure what you are planning, but don’t take things too far,” she scolded. Gah. Enough for now. I could bring him into the light of Raph-chan worship later. 
“Anyway. We’re not going to treat you badly, and we can be a bit flexible, so you just need to learn more about the world.” 
“Very well. If you will give us—me—the opportunity, I’ll do what I can to make up for all the trouble I’ve caused.” Phew. Things seemed to have worked out pretty nicely. We took the boy into our protection and left the castle behind. 
 
“You think this is okay?” I asked Sadeena abruptly. 
“I think so. You’ve really risen to the occasion, little Naofumi, which I’ve loved to see, and I couldn’t be prouder of Raphtalia.” 
“Although, this was all the fault of that miko outfit. If I’d never put that on, we wouldn’t have got caught up in this conflict,” Raphtalia sighed. No need to bring that up again. 
“Tali, rafu.” 
“Why is she starting to say the rest of my name now?” Raphtalia asked, turning her complaining to Raph-chan now. She had lots of energy even though she’d just been in a major battle. 
Amid this chatter, we quietly sneaked the boy out, and our invasion of Q’ten Lo finally came to an end. To be honest, I was amazed at the incredible speed we took the nation. They’d clearly been on their last legs, but “sloppy” hardly covered the way they had waged war. 
Atla and the others who arrived late to the battle, of course, were upset at missing the action. But as Raphtalia had been the one doing the fighting, everyone else had only watched anyway.