episode_0062

Befitting the name “banquet,” the meal was grandly prepared.

There were some local dishes favored by people from the Empire, like Maugrius or Talfinus, and also meals with strong foreign cultural flavors, like those enjoyed by Danoa or Bradamante.

Indeed.

Honestly, they were foods I missed.

It had been quite a long time since I was so busy that I hadn’t returned to my hometown or eaten hometown food.

So, normally, I would have eaten with a joyful heart.

If it had been normally, that is.

Slurp- Munch- Munch-

The busy clattering of dishes and the crude sound of chewing meat echoed alone in the banquet hall.

Unlike the heroes, who couldn’t possibly swallow their food after just witnessing the Emperor being beaten to death on the terrace, Cerebus was busily moving both hands and eating.

After deliciously finishing the beef bourguignon for a long time, Cerebus looked at the nervous chef, who was standing at the entrance of the banquet hall with both hands politely clasped, and spoke.

“The food is truly delicious, Chef.”

“……”

The chef, trembling with fear and sweating cold sweat, bowed in respect at those words.

Cerebus waved his hand as if to say “that’s enough” and dismissed the chef, and now only Cerebus himself and the heroes remained in the banquet hall.

He, wiping his mouth with a napkin, spoke.

“I apologize for showing such an unsightly display. As I am also from the Empire, it has been a long time since I had hometown food. Recently, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even had time for a proper meal.”

“Aren’t you afraid of us?”

Danoa said.

“What do you mean?”

“I meant, have you never thought that we might kill you if you are alone in the banquet hall without guards to protect you?”

It was as he said.

Unlike when he gave a speech on the terrace earlier, now, the two unknown figures who were following him and the Black Knights who surpassed the power of Imperial Knights were not guarding him.

After sending all members of Gram outside, Cerebus’s appearance, enjoying the banquet alone in private with the heroes, honestly looked no different than him begging, “Please kill me,” from the heroes’ perspective.

“Hmm…”

At those words, he pouted his lower lip and stroked his chin with his hand.

“Then kill me.”

“…What did you say?”

“I said, kill me.”

At those words, Danoa froze instead.

“Do you really think we won’t kill you?”

“No. From what I see with my precognition, each of you possesses at least 20 futures where you kill me.”

“But why—”

“Before that, I want to ask.”

His purple eyes gazed at Danoa.

“Do you think I fear death, and that’s why you’re making such absurd threats?”

“……”

Although she couldn’t answer, for Danoa, who had excellent intuition, discerning the opponent’s lies was not a very difficult thing if she only concentrated.

In that respect, the old man before her was speaking only the truth, without a single lie.

“In the first place, I don’t know why everyone is so desperate to kill me.”

He swept his gaze across the assembled group.

“Now that the Empire has fallen, I am the only one who can unify this fallen Empire, and I am the only one capable of facing the Death Army and other shadowy forces that will emerge in this chaotic world. Why are you so desperate to kill me?”

Maugrius flared up.

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Because you are Gram—”

“Haven’t I said it already? That I thought the current Empire was not right and became a shadowy force against their justice, and that I would create an Empire moved by human reason, not fate.”

At those words, as silence fell upon the banquet hall once again, Cerebus looked at the heroes and spoke.

“It seems you don’t believe me.”

“It would be stranger to believe it so easily.”

At Talfinus’s words, his gaze turned.

“Ah, Talfinus. Aren’t you one of the two highest authorities managing the Imperial Forbidden Archives? You, who have delved into countless pieces of information within the Forbidden Archives as much as the Imperial Librarian, still hold prejudice against shadowy forces?”

“…There are no normal individuals among those who are shadowy forces, so I can’t help but be prejudiced.”

“To say so, it seems like too hasty a generalization.”

As if he had been waiting for those words, with a single gesture of his hand, a pile of documents appeared, stacked high in front of the heroes.

Information about individuals and factions that the Empire and the prophets had excommunicated and turned into shadowy forces was written on them.

“A great drought befell the Orlo region and people suffered from famine, and due to the prophets’ prophecy that the populace, angered by the famine, would later bring great misfortune to the Empire, the Orlo region itself became a shadowy force.”

“A child from a poor family, because of the fate that she would become a witch and a great evil’s pawn in the distant future, had her relatives and parents murdered.”

“In a very distant past, an ancient empire that was responsible for tens of millions of lives, on the grounds that it would be tainted by the Demon King’s evil and be reborn as an evil empire, saw countless lives massacred and was overthrown by the prophets.”

“Furthermore, a woman from a reputable noble family, because she had the fate of giving birth to a great hero in the future, was abducted by the prophets and made a broodmare, ruining the future of an entire lineage.”

Thud-

He threw a seal onto the center of the table.

A dark-colored seal, bearing the Emperor’s mark, which could be considered a type of brand.

It was the Emperor’s seal, used to brand them with the ignominious title of “shadowy force” when they were excommunicated for going against the will of the Empire and the prophets.

“Fabricating non-existent crimes, under the pretext of being a shadowy force. As a result, they harbored evil grudges, and to eliminate the Empire and the prophets who took away what was theirs, they chose to go against justice.”

He turned to Talfinus again.

“Even so, do you expect the victims who suffered such fates to be normal?”

“……”

“I know as well. You, who have delved into countless knowledge in the Forbidden Archives, must know the fact that your own words are somewhat contradictory. Therefore, I will ask you.”

Rustle-

“The Empire and the shadowy forces, in your clever opinion, which of the two has harmed more innocent people?”

“……”

If asked who killed more innocent people, there was no need to hesitate.

It was the Empire and the prophets.

No matter how many massacres some madmen among the shadowy forces had committed, their numbers were inevitably fewer than those who died due to the atrocities committed by the Empire and prophets across the continent.

“Even so, if you think I, who overthrew the corrupt Empire, am wrong, then kill me. With no armor or sword on my body, I don’t know how you intend to kill me, a former Executor, but I also have no weapons, so perhaps Bradamante, a member of the Idylla family, could tear me apart with her bare hands.”

……

At those words, the heroes couldn’t say anything.

Because, when viewed rationally, his words were right.

And, to the extent that no one even harbored a doubt that it was his true feelings.

That Cerebus was sincere in his conviction could be known just by looking into his eyes.

-Eyes are mirrors that reflect emotions.-

As it was a famous adage known throughout the continent, the heroes who had reached a high level of mastery all felt with their intuition that Cerebus was sincere.

With his unwavering demeanor and his eyes.

“……Sigh.”

As if it was uncomfortable to move his old and worn-out body, he slowly leaned back against the chair’s backrest.

And after moistening his mouth with a sip of the Emperor’s champagne poured into the glass, he once again shifted his gaze to the heroes and spoke.

“I want to negotiate with you.”

“Negotiation?”

“Yes.”

He nodded his head at Kara’s question.

“As you can see, neither the current Empire nor the continent are in good shape. We must stop the Death Army that will soon begin to rampage again, and the stabilization of the Empire must also be completed quickly, and we must also eliminate the ‘shadows’ that will crawl up from various parts of the continent facing ruin. Also—”

His purple eyes fixed on Kara.

“Countless unknown challenges that led to the current situation, which we cannot understand.”

We must solve them.

“……”

Unknown challenges.

I didn’t know what Cerebus was referring to, but I seemed to know what he wanted from me and my comrades.

Even if Orlando is dead, among the heroes currently present here, there are three Experts, one Expert close to Master, and including myself who has already reached the Master level, a total of five human weapons are gathered.

Even if we suffered a helpless defeat against Gram’s Golden Armored Knight, while we might not know how to handle humans, we are experts who are well-versed in dealing with monsters that defy human common sense.

For us who have defeated ‘monsters’ rather than ‘humans’ for nearly 20 years, there was only one thing Cerebus wanted.

“Do you want to entrust the subjugation of the Death Army to us?”