Chapter 56
"I will do as you say."
Said the new Star King of the Star Kingdom, the Land of Stars. Her voice filled with humiliation, unbefitting of the ruler of a nation.
"So please, keep your word."
"I've heard that this country is blessed by the Holy Thrones."
"...It is."
It was Charlotte, once a princess of this country, now a holy king.
"Where are those thrones now, and what are they doing?"
The man in the raincoat asked. At first, Charlotte thought the question was an easy mockery, but then she realized it was not.
"I... saw these stars earlier."
The man who stood before the ruler of this country, who could wind a thread in silence, without setting any examples, continues.
"I have seen unfathomable stars, heroes, and goddesses."
"What do you mean-."
"Have you ever imagined the human form in their eyes?"
It was a nonsensical muttering to himself, so Charlotte did not answer. No, she couldn't.
For she could not even begin to fathom the magnitude of the story he was telling.
What had this man seen, what could he be planning? King Charlotte swallowed hard, the depths of darkness unimaginable to her.
The man was Rain Gray, the undisputed leader of the Black Snake but she was no stranger to the other name he was known by.
Enemy of the World.
What was this
Suddenly, Charlotte remembered what her father had told her when she was young.
'This country is watched over by the stars in the sky.'
He was a terrible man, not to mention a terrible king, but he was a good father.
Likewise, in her youth, she prayed to the stars at night.
'Dear stars, please watch over this country and my father.'
But now, with the king assassinated and the kingdom ravaged, what are all those "stars" doing?
When the kingdom's strongest knight was murdered by that man, when the kingdom's greatest power was in the hands of a serpent? They never answer.
No matter how many times she prays to the stars, her voice never reaches them.
Under the eerily silent stars of the night sky, Charlotte could only smile bitterly.
The idea of a heavenly being looking out for the country is the stuff of fairy tales. Reality is different.
Perhaps the holy maiden who received the goddess's revelation felt the same betrayal in the presence of the goddess, who remained silent until the end.
What, then, were the stars and goddesses that the man claimed to have seen? She couldn't know.
But somehow, she wanted to know.
"What do you hope for?"
Charlotte asked.
"You have the power to control an entire nation whenever you choose, and you have been silent on the subject, so why have you changed your mind now?"
She was a wise princess. Unlike her father, she was graceful and dignified, with long golden hair, blessed with the starlight of the typical royal family of the Holy Kingdom.
"I ask you, why do you oppose their revolution?"
"You say that after hearing their outrageous terms!"
"I have read their manifesto."
The man, Rain Gray, said.
"Abolish feudalism, abolish the monopoly of the Church, abolish excessive taxation, abolish the restriction of occupation between nobles and commoners; would it not be wiser to talk to their revolutionaries and accept their terms?"
"You don't mean to ask me to join the revolution?"
"The promise will be kept."
The man shakes his head.
"If you take me at my word, then I am obligated to keep this country in the form you 'wish' it to be. If you don't want a revolution, it doesn't really matter."
"Then why did you bother to ask me about it?"
"Simple curiosity."
"Even someone like...you is curious?"
Charlotte mocked coldly but also relieved that he felt human emotions after all.
"At first glance, their words may sound reasonable."
So she replied. As the ruler of a country she may be inexperienced, but never foolish.
"But with anger and fear driving them, the people will surely want to see blood, as a symbol of their revolution."
"The blood of royalty."
"...."
"They won't stop until there are rivers of blood flowing in this country."
Charlotte bit her lip, and then, like an inexperienced ruler, she added.
"It's not just that my life is worthless."
"You don't owe me any excuses."
"Then tell me what I must do....?"
The man replied to Charlotte's words.
"Go to the negotiating table with the partisans of the revolution, accept their words and do as they say."
"!"
Charlotte's eyes widened at the absurdity of his words. But the answer came quickly enough to convince her.
"─For now."
*
It's like real life, but it never works like real life. I knew that much.
What I want most of all is not a reproduction of reality but a hero's faith in the midst of chaos.
The uprising of the people of the Holy Kingdom, sparked by the truth of the Holy Maiden Jeanne, will bring enough chaos to the world to be enough.
I have the Duchy of Germania in mind as a backup plan, but the unrest in the Holy Kingdom has reached such a fever pitch that I don't even need to go there.
Perhaps it is not the work of the Holy Maiden, but the discontent within the kingdom has already reached a boiling point.
That alone had already served its purpose.
But there was one other thing I needed to see. Something I must see with my own two eyes.
A revolution is not a war.
Or, if it is, it's not the kind of war that's easy to recognize, fought by conquest-mad villains.
There is no distinction between good and evil, aside from me, who merely brought chaos from behind the scenes, there are two factions divided by ideology, fighting in chaos. Nevertheless, they kill and kill each other because of their differences.
So, in such a situation, when humans pray for peace, which side does the hero who answers their prayers take?
Will he bring peace by siding with one side, and by overwhelming and exterminating the forces of the other?
That's what I had to see with my own eyes from now on.
*
With the events of the Holy Kingdom behind me, I waited for the right time at Scarlet Bathory's estate.
Then he came to me.
The man was smiling from the first moment I saw him, so his tinnitus naturally became that of a smiling man.
Gwyn, the laughing man.
The man with the grotesquely twisted mouth, torn open like a crescent moon, laughing, was a mute, unable to speak.
When he kidnapped someone of his own volition and brought them to me, I couldn't help but be puzzled.
The fact that he was being so proactive, when he rarely expressed his will, was itself a surprise.
"... Who is this guy?"
"Hick, hick, hick, hick."
I asked and the smiling man laughed. He didn't say anything, he just bent over and let out an eerie, bizarre laugh that sounded like something out of a horror movie.
I was now wondering how on earth I had become a member of the Black Snake.
"Well, in a case like this, it's better to ask them, don't you think?"
Scarlett, who stood by his side, shrugged.
"Even if he looks like this, he's not the kind of guy to do that for no reason."
"Hee, hee, hee, help me, my lord!"
The man he'd brought cowered in front of us and jerked his head.
"Who are you?"
"I, I'm just a stray, I'm just a stray, I really am!"
"Hmm, I smell something fishy."
"You know what, Chief!"
Scarlett smiled meaningfully, which made Alice ask innocently.
"Can I eat it?"
*
"The king must be dethroned, and after what she and the royal family of this country have done to the Holy Maiden Jeanne, it's not enough to be dethroned."
Said a man with cold, emotionless eyes. His voice was gentle but hollow, silent but concealing a sharp blade.
"They must be executed in front of all the people."
"Sir Robespierre, you can't mean that."
"This country, this nation, should belong to us, the people. Am I wrong?"
Said Robespierre, the leader of the revolutionary faction.
"But how can...."
"Even if the Crusaders' power is said to be weakened, we don't even have the support of the nobility, so how can we...!"
"You have nothing to worry about."
Robespierre smiled as another Revolutionary officer asked worriedly. It was a soft but unpleasant smile, like that of a wax doll.
"For this very day, I have prepared for a very long time."
"For what?"
"An army of the people, by the people, for revenge."