25: Rage in Their Eyes
Lathus and I stood facing each other, a few paces apart.
“Lathus, I’ve come at your invitation, but—”
“…Wait.” Lathus raised a hand, cutting me off.
“Invitation? —You mean, for the Virus King?” He glared at the beastmen surrounding us with his wolf-like eyes.
Some lowered their tails, others flattened their ears. And none met his gaze.
I understood.
This is a rogue operation.
“I received an invitation through the royal castle… but it seems there’s been some sort of misunderstanding.”
“…You lot. Did you use my name without my permission?”
Quiet rage filled the air. Even I, not the target of his anger, felt a prickling sensation on my skin.
“L-Lathus-sama, this is…” The beastman with reddish-brown hair and ears, whose brother had been my subordinate, stammered.
“Answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”
“…Yes.”
“…Hah…” Lathus scratched his head.
“Don’t do it again.”
“Yes…” He turned to me.
“…My apologies. It seems my subordinates have caused you some trouble.”
“No… ‘nothing happened.’ Right? I ‘came at your invitation.’ That is all.”
“…That’s for the best.”
Lathus nodded grudgingly. He might not appreciate word games, but he was magnanimous enough to let it slide.
“Now that I’m here—”
“…I won’t accept this!”
The woman with reddish-brown hair pointed her sword at me again.
“Remove your mask! And… duel me!”
I sighed inwardly.
“Liz.”
“…Go ahead. Lathus-sama already knows… and they have a right to know as well. If they truly consider themselves our ‘allies.’”
Liz understood perfectly what I wanted to say.
I removed my mask.
The air around us shifted. Murmurs of unease rippled through the crowd.
“As you can see, I’ve removed my mask. However, I cannot accept your duel.”
With the mask removed, my voice returned to its normal tone, no longer the deep, distorted resonance.
The unease intensified as they heard my voice and saw my face.
“A woman…?” Lathus frowned.
“Oh, I thought you knew… did you not know my gender?”
“No…”
“Then allow me to introduce myself. —I am the Virus King, Lord of Disease. A human, and, like you, a supreme commander of the Demon King’s army.”
“Don’t change the subject! I will fight you and avenge my brother!”
“Aithys. I must refuse your duel.”
“…My… name? How…?” Aithys’s eyes widened.
“He—Eithys—was my subordinate. I read my subordinates’ files. …Especially those of the fallen.”
A similar name, the same birth year—meaning her twin brother had served in my army. That was all the information the files contained. And yet, I’d committed it to memory.
“Why… did you kill my brother…?”
“Don’t misunderstand. The ones who killed him were the Dragon Knights, Rank Kingdom’s elite forces. …That is the truth.”
“But he died in such a dishonorable, dangerous operation! What about his pride?! What about his honor?!”
It was as if oil had been poured on the simmering anger in my chest.
“He died following my orders. It’s understandable that you resent me. But even you, his sister, have no right to insult him.”
“What?!”
“Your brother did nothing to dishonor himself… he never disobeyed orders.”
I spoke coldly, my words laced with anger.
“I don’t know if he resented me. But even if he did, he followed my orders to the very end, carrying out his mission. I am proud to have had such a subordinate.”
I gripped my staff tightly, my knuckles white, to maintain a semblance of composure.
“He was my subordinate. And I did what I had to do. Using the information gained from their deaths, I erased those Dragon Knights from this world.”
“Gasp…”
The tip of the sword pointed at me trembled.
“Could you have done the same? —I didn’t let anyone else die. Could the proud and valiant Beastman Army have annihilated over one hundred Dragon Knights with minimal casualties?”
“Th-that… that’s…”
Her hand, still gripping the sword, was enveloped by a larger, black-grey furred hand and lowered. Lathus stepped forward, shielding her slightly.
“…Could you stop bullying my subordinate?”
“My apologies, Lathus. But this is convenient. Perhaps you could answer that question for her.”
“…Impossible. A thousand, two thousand… ten thousand. Perhaps even more sacrifices would have been necessary to achieve the same result.”
Lathus lowered his gaze slightly. For a moment, I thought I might have gone too far.
Then he looked up, his eyes blazing with quiet fury.
“—But that doesn’t mean I approve of your methods.”
…I’d gone too far in a different direction.
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