In the middle of the third month, 1,547th Year, Continental Calendar — Royal
Capital Parnam
As the sun set and the curtain of night fell, three shadowy figures raced through
the royal capital. The shadows seemed to avoid the light, proceeding down back
streets not lit with lightmoss streetlamps. They could be seen turning and looking
back again, and again, and again, as if they were being pursued by something. Then...
"Guh!"
""Urkh!""
One of the shadows tripped and fell. There was a kukri knife (a dagger with a
curved blade) sticking out of his back.
Our pursuers are nearly upon us! Instantaneously realizing that it was dangerous
to stay clumped together, the other two shadows split off left and right, going in
different directions.
The presences following them all went after the one who had fled to the left.
Though the one who went right felt sorry for his comrade, it relieved him that he
would likely be able to get away. However...
"...?!"
The shadow came to a halt. There was a large man who gave off an imposing aura
blocking his way.
The man's appearance was bizarre and unsettling. He wore black-painted armor
over his large, muscular body, and a mask based off of a sword tiger over his face. He
was like some sort of monster.
"The Black Tiger of Parnam..." the shadow whispered despite himself. Lately, he
had been the subject of rumors among the grass.
The grass said that there was a black tiger in the Kingdom of Friedonia, and no
member of the grass who had seen him had returned alive. Now, you might wonder
how anyone knew such a person existed if those who saw him never returned, but
the tiger had handily cut down the grass while not laying a hand on a certain
merchant who happened to see him do it. Based on the vague statements of that
merchant combined with a member of the grass disappearing at exactly the time he
said, rumors spread that there was such a being in the royal capital.
They also said this:
If a spy encountered the Black Tiger of Parnam, they should drop everything and
flee. He wasn't an enemy who could be bested in combat. Those rumors also always
closed out with, "...well, if you can get away, that is."
When the shadow met the rumored Black Tiger, he became certain that those
rumors were the truth. He was just standing there, but the shadow could find no
openings to strike. He had a posture almost like that of an old warrior who had
defended the front lines for decades.
"Surrender," the Black Tiger said. "My master is merciful. If you do not resist, I
guarantee you will not be harmed."
Perhaps because of his mask, the Black Tiger spoke with a muffled voice. He did
not say this out of consideration for his enemy. It was pure formality; he was
delivering an ultimatum.
However, the shadow he was pursuing smiled.
"Curse you, you *******," the shadow said. "We do not beg for our lives."
With that said, the shadow drew the two short swords at his hips and lunged at
the Black Tiger.
The two swords closed in on the Black Tiger. However, the Black Tiger calmly
drew the odachi hanging from his hip, and split the man clean in two with a diagonal
slash. When he did...
"?!"
The moment after, the bisected man's body was enveloped in flames. He must
have intended from the beginning to die to silence himself, and to incinerate his
body to eliminate the evidence.
Disgusted, the Black Tiger shook the blood from his tachi and returned it to its
sheathe. There was a time when the Black Tiger would have thought it was a
splendid display of loyalty. Now, however, he could no longer see it that way. If there
was to be any meaning in dying for loyalty, it had to come from a master who would
mourn your death. To die for a master who used and then cast aside his followers
like this was to die in vain.
When he returned from his thoughts, the Black Tiger... Kagetora was surrounded
by men in black masks. These were the elites who served directly under Souma,
protecting Friedonia from the shadows: the clandestine operations unit, the Black
Cats.
"Master Kagetora," a Black Cat said.
"...What of the rest?" he asked.
"The same as this one."
"I see..."
Kagetora thought for a moment, then gave an order to his Black Cats. "Handle the
cleanup. I will report this to his majesty."
"""Yes, sir!"""
Once Kagetora had watched the Black Cats scatter, he recalled the words the
shadow had spoken.
"Curse you, you infidel."
The shadow had spoken that last word under his breath, and Kagetora had only
barely been able to hear it.
Infidel, huh. This... could be troublesome, Kagetora thought as he melded into the
darkness.
◇ ◇ ◇
Half an hour later — Governmental Affairs Office in Parnam Castle
It was a night in March, when the weather had started to warm considerably.
Today, like most days, I had Liscia helping as I did my paperwork. Something
happened just as we were saying it was around dinnertime, so we ought to call it a
day.
The glass door to the terrace flew open. When I turned in surprise, there was
Kagetora, his black metallic armor stained with blood. It was a good thing we were
the only ones in the room. If one of the maids who occasionally came in had seen
this, she'd probably have fainted. No doubt he'd been aiming for a time when no one
else would be here.
"Blood?!" Liscia tried to wipe the blood away with a cloth she had handy, but
Kagetora held up a hand for her to stop.
"It's not mine. Nothing for you to be concerned about, my princess."
"Oh... I see."
"Also... the odachi that Your Majesty presented me with has an incredible cutting
edge." Kagetora placed a hand on the odachi that he wore at his hip, then bowed his
head to me.
Oh yeah. I had given the odachi we'd developed while researching Nine-Headed
Dragon katanas to Kagetora, hadn't I? I'd created it for improved sharpness and
range of slashing attacks, but its length had ended up working against it. Unless a
person was tall, they would have trouble using it well. (It was hard to draw it from
its sheath, among other issues.) For someone as tall as Kagetora, I'd figured that
would be no issue, so I'd given it to him. It was good to hear it was serving him well.
"Well, as long as you're okay, that's good enough for me," I said, half in
exasperation.
I heard a slight chuckle from beneath his mask.
"...What? Did I say something strange?" I asked.
He chuckled again. "I was just thinking I've been blessed with a good master."
"Hm? Are you being sarcastic with me?"
"No, I meant that sincerely."
Maybe it had touched on something he was thinking about, because Kagetora
sounded pleased when he said that. I wasn't entirely satisfied, but... Well, it wasn't
important right now. There was no way that the head of the elite clandestine
operations unit, the Black Cats, was here to engage me in idle banter.
"So, do you have something to report?" I asked.
"Yes, sir. The grass has grown more active of late."
The grass... Spies, huh. In other words, there were spies from another nation
operating in the castle town.
"Is it the Gran Chaos Empire?" I asked.
"If it were the Empire, we wouldn't have such trouble with them. We have some
'connections' with them, and we would come to terms before we came to killing one
another."
"Connections...? You make deals with them?"
"We frequently trade intelligence about other countries."
"I suppose the darkness has its own rules..."
This was an area where I was best to keep my mouth shut and let him do his
thing.
"So, these spies we have running around, what country are they from?" I asked.
"They've destroyed the evidence, so we have no proof, but... most likely, the
Orthodox Papal State."
"...The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria, huh," I muttered.
The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria. It was a theocracy ruled by the Lunarian
Orthodox pope. The most recent thing I'd heard about them was that they'd incited
their believers in Amidonia to revolt, then tried to intervene.
"But we're not openly hostile to the Orthodox Papal State, are we?" I asked.
"Spies do not exist solely to be dispatched to hostile countries. Even if it's a
country you want to establish friendly ties with, spies might be dispatched to gather
intelligence and lay the groundwork for negotiations."
"Hm... Well, if they're becoming more active, that means..."
"It is likely that they may make some move in the near future."
"That's troublesome..."
I recalled some things that Roroa had said when I'd first met her.
"Because that country hates the Star Dragon Mountain Range and the Gran Chaos
Empire, that's why."
"In Lunarian Orthodoxy, the pope is the only one who can recognize someone as a
saint. In fact, there's a woman in Lunarian Orthodoxy who's called a saint. That's why
the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria sees Madam Maria as an unforgivable villain
who's misrepresentin' herself as one."
"That's why, now that Elfrieden's grown bigger by absorbin' Amidonia, the
Orthodox Papal State won't be leavin' you alone. Somewhere, somehow, they'll try to
make contact. Could be they'll offer you some made up title like 'Holy King' and try to
drag you into their conflict with the Empire."
If it was like Roroa said... this was going to be another hassle.
And some days later, a request for an audience came from the Orthodox Papal
State of Lunaria's saint.