Vol 1 Prologue (2/2)

“Your Majesty! The princess has returned!”

The lady-in-waiting shouted this as she burst into the audience chamber

“…!?”

She froze in place, stricken with terror

Normally, an overabundance of retainers would be in the reception hall This enorht to have been called a symbol of the emperor’s authority, but now, it had been coh the s, dyeing the entire roouid color

And then–there, in the center

The throne, upon which the e, was empty

Instead–

“Y-Your Majesty!?”

The lady-in-waiting couldn’t help but gasp

A short distance away fro on his stomach She couldn’t see his face, but with that build, and with that lavish gold and silver thread woven through his clothing, there was nowho he was

Furthermore, there was no doubt that this incredible man had already died

The evidence: a pool of blood, gradually expanding across the marble floor

“T-this is…”

Afterstared out over the e in a seht people All of thehts with their swords and wizards with their Gundo A demi-human with beast-like ears and a tail also seemed to be in the mix Each one of them wore a different uniform, and their personal features and skin color were also all different Most likely, this athered from all kinds of countries

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…Your Majesty!?”

The lady-in-waiting continued to scream as she rushed over to the corpse and fell to her knees

But in that next instant–

“Your Majesty, Your–”

Thud

A dull sound rang through the reception hall

One of the eight people had ht hand, they had sliced off the lady-in-waiting’s head

The girl didn’t actually see it happen, but she saw that the swords in a different position, and she saw the lady’s head which continued to show a surprised expression as it whirled through the air There could only be one conclusion

And then–

“Are you…the dehter?”

One of the eight spoke

The eight collectively focused their line of sight on her

The lady-in-waiting’s earlier shouts of “I have brought the princess!” had truly been careless

Even if she had denied it or played dumb, they wouldn’t have considered mercy No, even a situation in which the lady had kept silent wouldn’t have turned out any differently

In this castle infested with death, it wasn’t like anyone would bat an eye if the body count went up by one or two And if they let soet away, they would merely look like a pack of vicious murderers who had massacred everyone

“Then, guess there’s no way around it”

“Even if she’s just a child, there can be no exceptions”

The eight began to approach with an air of composure

“For peace”

“For justice”

“For society”

“I won’t ask for forgiveness”

The swords his longsword

“Now then, you can curse and scream all you want”

And then–

Year of the Continent, 1604

On the continent of Verbist, the 300-year era of vicious conflict had come to an end with the collapse of the Gaz Empire in the north

Its hts as well as soldiers, wizards, saboteurs and mercenaries There were about six hundred and twenty thousand total in the force, with a nuic-based weapons, three sky fortresses, an arhts that were able to be scrounged up Even so, the Gaz Empire, “the root of all evil”, was completely and utterly wiped from the face of the earth

After the destruction of the Eether to forreed to a peace treaty from then on, which was in truth a declaration that the war had ended

The Gaz E amount of resources and wealth the Taboo Est the these effectively for post-war recovery, and the y that the empire prided itself on was also distributed in the same way

The era of peace that everyone had hoped for in their hearts had finally arrived

But…