episode_0056

The new Star King of the Star Nation, the Holy Kingdom, said. His voice was filled with a humiliation unbefitting the ruler of a nation.

“So please, keep your promise.”

“I heard this nation is blessed by the Constellations.”

“…That’s right.”

It was Charlotte, once the princess of this nation, now reborn as the Star King.

“Where are those Constellations now, and what are they doing?”

The man in the rain coat asked again. Charlotte initially thought his question was easy ridicule, but then realized it wasn’t.

“I… once saw the stars.”

The man continued speaking. He stood before the ruler of this nation without showing any deference, a man who merely claimed to silently wind thread.

“I saw countless stars, heroes, and a goddess.”

“What on earth are you─.”

“Have you ever imagined how humans appear in their eyes?”

It was a monologue she couldn’t understand. So Charlotte didn’t answer. No, she couldn’t.

Because she couldn’t even dare to guess the scale of the story he was telling.

What on earth did this man see, and what was he plotting? The new Star King Charlotte unconsciously swallowed a breath at the depth of darkness she couldn’t even imagine.

That man was none other than Rain Grey, the undeniable leader of .

And as for Rain Grey’s other moniker, it was not unknown to her either.

The Enemy of the World.

What on earth was this they opposed? Would her act of joining hands with those who opposed such a world truly be forgiven?

Charlotte suddenly recalled something her father had told her when she was a child.

‘This nation is watched over by the stars in the sky.’

As a king, he was a dreadful man, to call him inept would be an understatement, but he was a good father nonetheless.

Similarly, the naive girl she was back then prayed to the stars in the sky every night.

‘Stars, please watch over this nation and my father.’

But now, while the king of this nation was assassinated and the kingdom ravaged, what on earth were all those ‘stars’ doing? When the kingdom’s strongest knight was killed by that man, and the kingdom’s foremost power was trampled by the serpent’s hand? They never responded.

No matter how much she prayed to the stars, her voice never reached them.

Beneath the mercilessly silent stars of the night sky, Charlotte merely smiled bitterly.

Stars in the sky watching over this nation were something found only in fairy tales. Reality was different.

Perhaps the Holy Maiden who received the goddess’s revelation felt the same sense of betrayal before the goddess who remained silent until the very end.

If so, what exactly were the stars and the goddess that man claimed to have seen? She couldn’t know.

But, for some reason, she wanted to know.

“What exactly do you desire?”

Charlotte asked.

“You had the power to control a nation whenever you wished, yet you remained silent. Why have you changed your mind now?”

She was a wise princess. Unlike her father, she was elegant and dignified, with long golden hair, truly a typical human blessed by the starlight of the Holy Kingdom’s royal family.

“I should be asking you. Why do you oppose their revolution?”

“Are you saying that even after hearing their outrageous conditions?!”

“I read their manifesto.”

The man, Rain Grey, said.

“Abolish feudalism, abolish excessive value-added taxes including the rights monopolized by the church, and remove occupational restrictions between nobles and commoners. Wouldn’t it be wiser to discuss with the revolutionaries and accept their terms?”

“Surely, you’re not telling me to join the revolution?”

“The promise will be kept.”

The man shook his head.

“As long as you follow my words, I have an obligation to protect the form of this nation ‘as you desire’ since you are a party to the promise. If you don’t desire a revolution, it doesn’t particularly matter.”

“Then why did you specifically ask me that?”

“Mere curiosity.”

“…Even someone like you feels curiosity.”

Charlotte scoffed coldly. She scoffed, but at the same time, there was a sense of relief that even he felt human emotions.

“On the surface, their story might sound rational.”

So she answered. As the ruler of this nation, immature yet by no means foolish.

“But as long as anger and fear drive them, the common people will surely seek blood. As a symbol of their revolution.”

“Royal blood, then.”

“…”

“They won’t stop until a river of blood flows through this nation.”

Charlotte bit her lip. After biting it, like an inexperienced ruler, she added a remark.

“It’s not just because I value my own life.”

“You don’t need to make excuses to me.”

“…Then tell me what I must do.”

The man answered Charlotte’s words.

“Stand at the negotiation table with the party advocating for revolution. Accept their words and act according to their will.”

“!”

Charlotte blinked her eyes at the outrageous words. But an answer that would convince her quickly followed.

“─For now.”

*

It was similar to reality, but it would never flow like reality. I knew that much.

Above all, what I desired was not a reproduction of reality.

The faith of a hero said to appear in times of chaos.

Facing the sole objective of bringing chaos to the world, the Holy Kingdom’s popular uprising, triggered by the truth of the Holy Maiden Jeanne, would bring about more than enough, even excessive, confusion.

Although I had the Duchy of Germania in mind as a contingency, the unrest within the Holy Kingdom had reached such an extreme that there was no need to go that far.

Perhaps even without the Holy Maiden’s incident, the accumulated grievances within the kingdom would have already exploded.

That alone had already sufficiently achieved my objective.

But along with that, there was one thing I needed to confirm. Something I absolutely had to witness with my own eyes.

A revolution is not a war.

No, even if it were a war, it wouldn’t be a simple war instigated by a villain consumed by conquest.

Apart from myself, who merely brought chaos from behind the scenes, there is no distinction between good and evil in the chaotic struggle between two factions divided by ideology. Yet, they kill each other. Simply because their ideals differ.

Then, in such a situation, when humans desire peace, which side would a hero who responded to such human desires truly take?

Would they bring peace by taking one side, sweeping away the other faction with overwhelming force, and exterminating them?

That was something I now had to confirm with my own eyes.

*

Leaving behind the events in the Holy Kingdom, I waited for the opportune moment in Scarlet Bathory’s territory.

Before me, he appeared.

The man had been smiling since I first saw him. Thus, his other name naturally became The Smiling Man.

The Smiling Man, Gwyn.

The man, whose grotesquely twisted mouth stretched into a crescent moon as he smiled, was a mute.

So when he, of his own volition, kidnapped and brought someone, I couldn’t help but be bewildered.

The very fact that he, who rarely expressed his intentions, had acted so proactively.

“…Who is this man?”

“Heh, heh-heh, heh.”

I asked. The Smiling Man laughed. He bent his body without saying a word, making a creepy and grotesque laughing sound as if from a horror movie.

It was now so puzzling how he had even become a member of .

“Well, wouldn’t it be better to ask the person themselves?”

Therefore, Scarlet, who stood by my side, shrugged her shoulders.

“Even if he seems this way, he’s not someone who’d do something without a reason.”

“Y-y-eek! P-p-please spare me, My Lord!”

The man he brought prostrated himself before us, bowing his head deeply.

“Who are you?”

“I-I am just a mere traveler! R-really!”

“Hmm, something smells suspicious.”

“Say, Commander!”

Scarlet smiled meaningfully. Seeing her, Alice asked innocently.

“Can I eat him?”

*

“The king must be dethroned. Considering what she and the royal family of this nation did to the Holy Maiden Jeanne, mere dethronement is not enough.”

The man with emotionless, cold eyes spoke. His voice was gentle but hollow, quiet but hid a sharp blade.

“She must be executed in front of all the common people.”

“L-Lord Robespierre! Surely you don’t mean─.”

“This nation must belong to our common people. Am I wrong?”

Robespierre, the leader of the revolutionaries, said.

“But how…?”

“Even if the power of the Holy Knights has weakened, how can we, who don’t even have the support of the nobles…!”

“You have no need to worry.”

When another revolutionary cadre asked worriedly, Robespierre smiled, saying there was no need to worry. He smiled softly, but unpleasantly, like a wax doll.

“What do you mean?”

“For this very day, I have prepared for a very long time.”

“An army of the common people, by the common people, for revenge.”