episode_0010

“..Also, for the development of Karsten and your safety, if you see even a hint of the Shinigami religion, eradicate it immediately..”

Hmm… it’s long.

I know they’re talking about something important, but it’s so boring that I can’t just sit and listen. I guess high-ranking people tend to talk for a long time. Well, I don’t usually talk much, so it makes sense if they just talk all at once when they have the chance.

The Church of the Dead is a sect that literally believes in the God of Death, and they are incredibly crazy. The God of Death itself is said to be a scary god, but a god is just a god and doesn’t really have any influence on us. There’s no way a god would harm humans just because he’s bored. It’s just that the lunatics who believe in the Church of the Dead cause trouble not only in our kingdom but all over the continent.

The Grim Reaper is said to rule over corruption, death, and despair, and there are myths that he caused entire fields to rot in order to compete with the god of agriculture, or that he spread infectious diseases to make people despair. From an academic perspective, you could say that he just blamed natural disasters on the gods, but since gods are real in this world, fact and fiction are mixed, and scholars are dying from research.

In any case, the goal of the Shinigami cult is to spread despair across the continent and restore the power of the Shinigami. Although there are differences in each record, the Shinigami is always depicted as being sealed deep underground, out of reach of human hands, so that may be the reason.

“Princess, you should start getting ready.”

Huh? Already?

When I looked back at Yugram, who was whispering in a small voice, I saw him holding a plate and a glass in both hands.

ah.

I thought I should change my clothes already, but I didn’t.

The unique thing about Karsten is that when you toast, you have to hold the plate in the opposite hand to the one holding the glass. The origin seems to be that you have no intention of assassinating or ambush, so you use both hands. Honestly, I think this is a bit strange. Anyway, I tried to sneak up to the nearest table and get it, but I’m short, so I couldn’t see the table very well.

While everyone was focusing on Dad, I was seriously wondering if I could just step on the chair and climb up without anyone noticing, when I met eyes with Yugram, who was looking at me with a very pitiful expression. Ah. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of servants in the banquet hall, so I guess I can just give orders to anyone.

Since I just sat still every day and everything was done automatically, the idea of taking the initiative and ordering others to do things never came to me in the first place.

As I was feeling embarrassed, straightening my clothes and going back to my seat, my eyes happened to catch a glimpse of a man.

The middle-aged man named Gabinas that I saw earlier. Maybe because the distance is much closer than before, the force and physique that comes from his appearance are much more noticeable. He is a dandy man who is worthy of the title of a true reversal general.

“..Now, everyone, cups and plates! For the glory of Karsten!”

Aaah! It’s too late!

I felt like everyone around me was raising their arms. I was the only one who was doing nothing and was just flustered, so I hoped no one would notice me, but at least Yugram was looking straight at me.

By the way, that prosthetic hand of that guy named Gavinas is really amazing. He can lift a fragile glass cup without any hesitation or awkwardness, so much so that you can’t even think of it as a prosthetic hand. Seeing that amazing performance, I think, why don’t I try one too? See. If he uses a prosthetic hand to make a toast like that, he can hold a cane with his other right arm.

uh?

Did I see something wrong? Something seems strange.

Why is there a right arm?

.

.

.

I sighed as I looked at Liliane, who was standing in front of the table, looking flustered.

It is clear that the princess has a very bright mind, and the knowledge she has accumulated so far is deep enough to easily achieve top grades in any academy. No, to be exact, she has already studied more than an academy graduate. However, for some reason, she sometimes does very stupid things, so I couldn’t help but be concerned about that.

‘..No. It was my fault just now for not considering that the princess had no experience using servants.’

She signaled to a nearby servant and prepared a toast plate and glasses. A competent and well-trained servant would usually be able to figure out what she wanted just by the atmosphere of the place and the look in the eyes of her superiors, so if the princess had known this, she wouldn’t have foolishly walked up to a table that was higher than her height. Probably.

“..Now, everyone, cups and plates! For the glory of Karsten!”

The king’s toast rings out, the nobles raise their arms and the servants bow their heads. The princess is the only one in the room, just looking around blankly. I want to bring her in myself, but it’s hard for me to do that. At the very least, I can only hope that no one notices the princess or that few people notice her.

“Glory to Karsten!”

The nobles repeated the king’s words and tilted the glasses in their right hands. Personally, I don’t like this toast very much. It’s okay to drink from the glasses together. However, for some unreasonable reason, you have to hold the plate in your left hand, or eat the food on the plate with your right hand without putting down your glass… Although only the kind of food that can be eaten with your hands is prepared, it is an ugly custom no matter how you think about it.

My eyes were drawn to the princess who was climbing onto the chair instead of coming over while emptying her glass. What on earth is she doing? The princess’s gaze was directed to another corner of the banquet hall… Gavinas. Gavinas was holding the glass in his right hand without any intention of emptying it… and he was holding a cane with his other right hand, not the one holding the glass.

‘Fuck!’

He immediately threw away the cup and plate, and at the same time, he turned his magic power to his body and reached for his waistband. However, it was naturally forbidden for anyone other than the escort knights to bring weapons to the banquet hall. Naturally, he only felt his waistband, which was empty, but there was no sword. He felt the flow of time slowing down as if it was being torn apart due to extreme excitement and concentration, but even so, nothing changed.

What he felt from Gabinas was the curse of the cult of the dead that the king had just mentioned. It was the very embodiment of despair that could not be overcome by human power. What if it was directed at the king? He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen.

“Oh..a──”

‘Did no one notice? The King? The Commander? The guardsmen or the guards?’

An extremely static world where even if you wanted to know, you weren’t even allowed to look away─probably in reality, it was only a moment. He already knew the answer. No one but himself had noticed the current attack, and he couldn’t stop it either. Only his thoughts were running ahead of him, and in reality, his body hadn’t even moved properly yet. The cup and plate he’d thrown hadn’t even fallen to the floor, and the hand he’d thought was groping his waist hadn’t even come down from his chest yet. His head simply knew the obvious.

At that moment, I confirmed that the princess had entered my field of vision. Also, the princess wasn’t just sitting on the chair… That was…

At that moment, time, which had been slow, suddenly sped up as if releasing a taut thread, and the sense of time, which had been extremely slow, returned.

◦Protect @◦─!!”

‘shield?’

“Take my son, Bearkart! ”

My scream and Gavinas’s scream were almost simultaneous. Was the target of the curse not the king but the first prince? But what on earth did that matter now? Before I could kick the ground and run towards Gavinas, Gavinas’ curse was already activated faster than the knights could react to my scream and the unpleasant sound of the dishes breaking as I threw them.

But at that moment, the princess’s small body, which had kicked the chair and jumped up, blocked the path of the stage where Gavinas and the royal family were, and soon fell to the ground. A suffocating silence swept through the banquet hall.

The attack that occurred during the king’s speech—and the fact that the attack used the curse of the Death Cult—was not enough… The fact that the culprit was Gabinas, the pride and loyal subject of the kingdom and the one who had led the way in punishing the Death Cult more than anyone else, shocked me as if I had been hit over the head with a giant hammer.

A chilling coldness that seemed to freeze the bones hit the banquet hall. However, it was not a real coldness. It was a coldness called fear, a primal human instinct. The afterglow of the cursed magic of the cult of the dead engulfed the nobles of the banquet hall, and their faces turned pale. What broke the silence of the banquet hall where time seemed to have stopped was…

“That, that, this, Bill, that fucking bitch..”

Gavinas, who was stuttering in embarrassment,

“Keep! Squeak, kkeueek, kk, gaaak!”

A scream so heartbreaking and horrifying that it’s hard to believe it came from a 10-year-old girl.

“Subdue the traitor!”

And it was my order that I spat out as if lamenting my helplessness.