Vol 2 Prologue (1/2)

Preface

A boy who had once been solely a tool for murder.

The first time he smiled was about a month after we first met.

The two of us having newly arrived in this world, we sought to gain a greater understanding of the labyrinth – the Magna PortaGreat Gate. To that end, we hid our ident.i.ties and ventured forth.

One day, we happened upon an untried adventurer, under attack by a Void Beast, whom we saved. He thanked us endlessly, and as we saw him off, I turned back to look – the edges of the boy’s lips had curled just a little.

“…You just smiled!”

“…”

The smile disappeared, and he watched me in confusion.

“I guess you weren’t aware of it, huh? Well then, what you just felt right here——”

I tapped him on the chest.

“That is a ‘sprout.'”

“A ‘sprout’?”

“Yes, the sprout of feeling. You need to nourish it and help it grow.”

“Grow?”

He looked even more confused than he’d been a moment ago.

His expression was so adorable I laughed aloud.

From that day on, we put an end to many Void Beasts, saving countless lives in the process. The people gave the boy the name “Snow Blade King,” and he was revered as a hero.

——That was the moment where it all began, when a “tool” took its first step toward becoming a “human.”

From that time forward, the two of us continued forward, together.

Unbound, as we were, by the chains of time, we truly believed those blessed, joyful days would never end.

——What fools we were.

Prologue

“Well, work is work,” the dark-skinned young man – Jahar – said with a smile. “——It’s just that, to be honest, this is a bit of a pain, you know?”

Deep within a temple of the s.h.i.+nki, in a section cut off from the rest of the world, was a room with a throne.

Currently, this room held three people: the master of the room and her attendant, as well as a visitor, Jahar.

“While the reward is certainly great, would you mind sharing with me the ‘reason this has to be done,’ O ‘s.h.i.+nki who Scatters the Stars’?”

“The reason? ‘Because it’s necessary’ – is that reason not good enough for you?”

“Necessary according to whom?”

“The world.”

“…Explain.”

“There’s no need for you to know any more than that, Duelist of the Moon,” the girl seated on the throne answered calmly.

She looked to be about fifteen, and boasted a sort of prim beauty, as well as an air of haughty willfulness.

“Both the reward and the task itself are beneficial to your master, the ‘s.h.i.+nki Crowned with the Moon.’ You’re nothing more than a pet – for you to insinuate that there’s more to my goodwill than appears is the height of arrogance.”

“As luck would have it, I happen to be something of a wild dog that delights in biting people. Manners and what have you – I’ve never bothered with those things.”

Jahar’s light tone seemed strange given the s.h.i.+nki’s contemptuous tone – if he hadn’t also pulled the huge red claymore from his shoulder. The atmosphere quickly grew tense——