This guy... Alexander Darius King. He's involved with Anastasia's absence from school?
Why is it that all I get from this image are bad vibes? Even the way he's looking away from the camera is...
"Tell me what you know."
Alicia nodded.
"As I said, he's the second son of the King family. In England, the King family have the same, if not more, authority than the Reishville family."
"So is it something like Anastasia is being forced against her will?"
The girl squinted her eyes.
"That's correct, yet not really."
"Hm?"
"It was probably 9 or 8 years ago when they first met. Sister had significant trauma for around 2 years after her mother and brother died. During that period, she met Alexander Darius King, who was set to be her fiancée and husband when she became older..."
Her voice trailed away and Alicia appeared anxious as she explained.
"Did he do something to her?"
"Alexander Darius King is a sadist. And so, he tortured Anastasia in as many ways as possible. He didn't do anything extreme like fingernail clippings or burn marks but he did whip her. A lot. That installed permanent fear within her."
Hearing this story, I could feel an unsated animosity bubbling and boiling within me. I carelessly let mana leak from my body. The moment that happened, I controlled my anger and stopped the mana leakage.
"Sorry, please continue."
Alicia nodded.
"Because of her fear, she's been afraid of him ever since. I think he did it on purpose at her weakest so that she would do whatever he said. Ever since she was tortured by him, she's been like an obedient dog to him."
I silently clenched my fist.
Alexander Darius King. I want to kill this bastard. The moment I see him, I'll—.
"Shoya. There's no use in getting angry. You can't do anything to Alexander."
"Why is that?"
I asked her.
"You may be powerful enough to take on an Emperor but you can't take on a Mortal Sin."
"A Mortal Sin?"
Alicia went onto her phone and seemed to be searching something up. She then showed me her phone screen.
It was a family photo. It looked to be the King family since I saw that bastard, Alexander, in the photo with others who look like him. There were two emblems behind the family.
"You see that emblem on the right with a dragon wearing a crown?"
I nodded.
"That's the emblem of the Mortal Sin of Pride. The King family have the backing of that Mortal Sin. As long as he exists, then you can't do anything to Alexander."
I would love to say that I'll beat the shit out of him but I can't do that even with my authority as an Emperor. Seeing how powerful Aden-Lada was, there's no way I can deal with the Mortal Sin of Pride. I'm starting to wonder how Altair defeated Aden-Lada in my body.
That is annoying though. He seems to be doing all of these bold things because of his backing. God, I want to beat him up so bad...
[The Mortal Sin of Pride, huh? That makes sense as to why I found traces of divine mana on the twins.]
A voice resonated within the room.
I looked at my shadow. It was empty. Erebus wasn't in my shadow.
I looked at the door and there he was. Erebus was floating, with only his upper half, from the katana on the floor. Alicia's mouth gaped as she gawked at Erebus.
"S-Shoya, who—no, what is that?"
"Uh..."
(Oi, do people know about you being the Black Emperor's weapon?)
[No.]
He whispered to me.
"This is Erebus. He's a Familiar I contracted though he's bounded to a weapon, so he can't fully manifest."
"E-Erebus?! You mean the Primordial God?!"
I shakingly nodded at Alicia.
Before she would ask any more questions, I began talking to Erebus.
"S-so, Erebus, could you tell us more about the Mortal Sin of Pride?"
[Sure. The Mortal Sin of Pride's name is Vritra. He's of the dragon race, more commonly known as dragonkin. They're humanoid dragons.]
A dragon? I killed a wyvern last week. If I ever meet him, which I doubt, I hope he doesn't kill me.
[He's a strong Mortal Sin. If I were to rank him, it would be third. He's only second to Regulus and Aden-Lada, who is first.]
"That would make him the strongest Mortal Sin then, excluding the Emperors."
I said.
"See, Shoya? Attacking Alexander will only bring no good."
Alicia told me, still shaken by Erebus' appearance.
[He is strong but any two Emperors could take him on and defeat him.]
Of course, that would be excluding me. He's being careful not to disclose any information about me knowing the Emperors or me being an Emperor.
He's doing it like a natural.
"Anyway, what do you suggest I do?"
[If I'm being honest, nothing will work. Even if you take care of the King family and Alexander, Vritra will still come after you. Taking care of Vritra will also be practically impossible so... nothing really.]
That's a bad sign. I can't just leave Anastasia be though.
Honestly, this seems so stupid but my best bet would be to speak with Alexander. I doubt he'd let Anastasia go seeing as he's taken a hold of her again.
Gah, I can't do anything of use right now. I can't help Anastasia when she needs it.
"Shoya?"
"Can I talk to Alexander in any way?"
"Oh, he's... he's staying in a hotel near Altheria so he can keep an eye on Anastasia though, during the day, it looks like he's usually in Sister's room."
I'll go there tomorrow after thinking things through a bit more. Going in now, while I'm angry and impatient, will only make things worse. I'll cool down and try tomorrow.
I took my cola and gulped the entire thing down. It felt refreshing but it didn't cause my anger to dissipate.
"Heh..."
I heard Alicia on the other side. She was swaying and making a silly expression.
"Are you okay?"
It was like she was drunk. However... she only chugged an entire bottle of sparkling water.
[This is crazy...]
Erebus facepalmed.