Fallen leaves covering the brick road crunched underneath young Linaris's leather shoes.
She was seeing a dream of a day gone by. How many years had it been since she had raced through town at midday like this?
"Father!"
The image of her father in his formal garb was exactly like her vivid memories of that day.
Rehart the Obsidian. Her outstanding father, who she revered more than anyone else.
"Get your breathing under control."
His golden eyes were fixed on her. A low voice, calm and mild.
"In that state, both your appearance and your language will grow sloppy." "…I-I'm sorry… I had something I wanted to ask you, no matter what…" "An important topic, is it, Linaris?"
Linaris nodded, tears welling up in both eyes.
"Father… Is it true…that your job involves uncovering people's secrets a- and…murdering them? The lord of the last town…and the nobles in the town before that, were they all the work of Obsidian Eyes?"
"…Ah, I see. Who did you hear that from, Linaris?"
"Yufick…said all of that… I love you, Father, and you're always so kind, so… I—I didn't want to believe any of it, but—but!"
A large palm was placed on Linaris's head. Just like always. Rehart solemnly whispered.
"It's necessary."
"…Father."
"You know this, Linaris. The weak make up many of the Obsidian Eyes members. I don't mean physically weak, but the weak who are unable to live in society. What do you think it is, Linaris, that differentiates them from the strong?"
Linaris answered in a thin, strained voice.
"I don't… I don't know."
"It's whether they can keep secrets."
Her father stooped down and rubbed Linaris's back as if to make her understand.
"Those who have to steal nobles' money to survive. Those who betrayed their lord for the sake of their lover. Those who have killed many of their own friends. The people who join Obsidian Eyes are those who have had secrets they wished to keep hidden exposed to the light of day. Everyone knows their sins— and that they're unforgivable. Despite surely wishing for nothing of the sort."
"But everyone is…so nice… They're even nice to frail children like me… Children unable take care of themselves…"
"You're right. They're no different from any of us. Who can possibly save them? The nobles, the military…even the royal family has secrets they wish to keep to themselves. They kill their siblings, exploit the people, and hide their wealth, yet the weak are persecuted. They are different from our friends in one way only. Their secrets have yet to be exposed."
Her father whispered, bringing his face in close. He would always do this, teaching her what was right.
…However.
"The weak need to eat secrets to live. They've lost their own, so they need others' secrets. All of it's necessary to help everyone…to help our friends."
"For everyone's sake…"
"You're a sharp girl. You understand, right, Linaris?"
"Yes… Thank goodness… I was right, Father… You're a nice person."
Linaris wiped her tears. Looking at the golden eyes they both shared, she did her best to smile.
Lies.
Even at a young age, before she had reached puberty and before she had awakened to her vampiric powers, Linaris had another inherent ability. The power to read the minds of others and deeply study their thoughts. The power to expose secrets.
This was why she could understand.
The justice her father talked about was a lie.
Obsidian Eyes was not an organization for saving the weak.
With the power gained from devouring numerous secrets, Rehart the Obsidian wished for the arrival of bleak and chaotic war.
She hugged her father. Though she understood everything, she couldn't stop
herself from feeling the way she did.
Father, I love you. I love you. Even though you're doing such awful things, I'm sorry. I still love you, Father. I love you. I love you. I love you…
The next day, Yufick was gone.
She learned that those who had lost their secrets would go on to die.
Midnight had come and gone. Even within Aureatia's borders, the mansion was located near a tranquil waterfront.
"…My lady."
The voice outside the door woke Linaris from her indulgent nap. She pulled the sheets up to her chest.
"Mhhn…"
In the dark room, absent the light of a single candle, her porcelain skin and the gold eyes peeking out from her long eyelashes were the only things giving off any light. The night air filtered in and chilled Linaris's bare skin.
"My lady. There's been movement among Okafu's troops."
"…Thank you. I will hear the details in my father's stead. May I have some time beforehand?"
Linaris answered the voice on the other side of the door. It was always Frey's duty to summon Linaris from her bedroom.
"It is not critical news. You must be tired, my lady. Please, relax." The sound of footsteps faded into the distance.
"..."
Linaris once again went to lie down on her bed. "Father."
The beautiful vampire tenderly stroked the cheek of her father, continuing to sleep right beside her.
The body, still preserved even now with Life Arts, was exactly the same as it been before. Even if it no longer sent any words her way or guided her.
"I, Linaris…promise…to devote myself to your glory."
Though she possessed the supernatural ability to make anyone obey her, she wanted to obey someone, to be controlled, more than anything else.
Even in death, her father controlled her just as she wished.
After she fully dressed herself, Linaris descended to the large room downstairs.
Her mansion was always enveloped in quiet. Many of the agents of Obsidian Eyes were entrusted with espionage duties in various places around Aureatia, with a limited number of personnel guarding the manor. Currently, there were merely two within its walls.
A housekeeper and staff wielder, the leprechaun woman was the organization's oldest serving member—Frey the Waking.
A lycan warrior from the Zehf Tribe, Hartl the Light Pinch. "Good evening. Miss Frey, Miss Hartl, welcome back." "Indeed, my lady. It is a lovely night."
"Thank you, my lady. My apologies for summoning you from your slumber with my report."
"Tee-hee-hee. Please, not at all. I should be apologizing for making you wait here so long."
"It involves one of our pawns in the Free City of Okafu. Frey here can provide the details."
The "pawns" Obsidian Eyes spoke of were members of another organization who had been turned into corpses.
In general, unless a corpse remained in close proximity to their vampire parent, they would preserve their original self, and making them execute advanced orders was considered impossible.
However, Obsidian Eyes was different. Just as it had been with Atrazek the Particle Storm, through the destruction of the host's mental barriers by the vampire's domineering infection, they were able to create sleeper agents capable of reliably executing orders without being close to their parent. The technique to destroy the mind, instead of the body, was a special characteristic of Obsidian Eyes, passed down from the previous generation.
Through their power to control these pawns, distinctively different from simple corpses, Obsidian Eyes had developed into what was known as the greatest spy guild in the land.
"Yes, yes. Now then, let's go through the report. Before nightfall, at least seventy Okafu soldiers departed Aureatia. I believe they plan on withdrawing all the personnel they had infiltrate the city."
"…How honest of them. It would have been so much nicer if they wavered on their next move for us."
The ambush attack on Soujirou the Willow-Sword was one part of the large-
scale operation of Obsidian Eyes.
Haade the Flashpoint, head of the military faction and known for his highly belligerent nature. His long embattled opponent, the Free City of Okafu. By manipulating Okafu soldiers to stage the attack on Haade's envoy, the objective of their operation was to fan discord between both parties.
That wasn't the entirety of it. The other objective was to give Soujirou the Willow-Sword a grazing wound.
The chakram he had blocked at the end of the fight belonged to an Obsidian Eyes marksman named Veeze the Fluctuation. Linaris's corpses didn't inherit her unique airborne transmission of the vampire pathogen. However, by using a trace amount of her blood coated onto a weapon, they could force a transmission through blood.
…However, both objectives ended in failure.
The trap set for Soujirou had admittedly been, in some senses, an ancillary plot.
However, despite handing Haade the ideal excuse to go to war with Okafu, not only was there no declaration of war, but there also weren't any hints of sanctions against the city, either.
If Master Haade fully accepted the Gray-Haired Child's claims and wasn't questioning Okafu's responsibility at all… Then it's almost as if Haade himself was purposefully trying to avoid war.
Putting her index finger up to her pale, tinted lips, Linaris followed her enemy's line of thought. Her talent was the power to discern the minds of others and thoroughly pursue them.
The Gray-Haired Child, as part of the negotiations around this latest incident, might have used the withdrawal of Okafu troops from Aureatia as a bargaining chip. The withdrawal of Okafu forces was a move that promptly discarded his advantage, the ability to openly bring troops in and out of Aureatia, while also fundamentally being the best way to deal with the situation.
As long as they weren't here in Aureatia, Linaris would be unable to manipulate the Okafu soldiers. She could, of course, control them to ignore the withdrawal order, but in that case, Okafu's side would be able peg the soldiers disobeying the orders as suspects behind the ambush. If they pursued things even further, there was a chance they'd discover Linaris's camp was controlling the situation behind the scenes.
Presently, the one she considered to be behind their strategic plans was a Sixways Exhibition hero candidate named Zigita Zogi the Thousandth. As well
as Hiroto the Paradox, known as the Gray-Haired Child. Once they had identified a breakaway group within the Okafu soldiers, it had taken them just under two days to bring Aureatia to agree to this large-scale withdrawal.
With this, they couldn't expect any further progress in their plan to lay suspicions on the Free City of Okafu or make the other hero candidates off each other, either.
"Let's kill them."
The lycan Hartl spoke up with his arms crossed.
"If the Okafu soldiers investigate their pawns, there's a big risk they'll look into our identity. Dead bodies reveal our existence more than anything else. If they autopsy the body of the infected, and happen to examine their blood, we'll end up handing over proof to them all on a silver platter that a vampire is maneuvering behind the scenes."
Infection and control through airborne transmission. At first glance, it seemed like an unrivaled power. However, it was ultimately still a power based on the racial nature of vampires.
There existed an antiserum for the vampire virus that protected against infection.
The manufacturing process was extremely unique. With fears of possible side effects, adoption was limited to a select group of people, those involved in medical treatment and the like. But the instant it was suspected a vampire was spreading their virus, there'd be measures taken against them.
Furthermore, the vampire virus that Linaris possessed could only infect through the air if it was coming from Linaris herself. The moment she infected another, and the virus took hold, it would turn into an ordinary virus transmitted through blood.
"My lady. I can kill and incinerate the ones we'd turned into pawns immediately. The biggest strength of corpses is that they can be prepared quickly
—and easily replaced. There's no need to hold on to them for dear life. In any case, Okafu's likely already discerned that there is another organization besides Aureatia executing their own espionage operation."
The members of Obsidian Eyes, while Linaris's corpses, were not under mental control. Making it possible take their opinions into account—determined by their own observed experiences as individuals, swearing loyalty of their own volition—made Linaris's Obsidian Eyes distinct from a normal vampire colony.
"Quite so."
Accepting the dangerous proposal, the young lady smiled with grace.
"Miss Frey. If they're suspicious of a collaborator, then Okafu is performing an internal investigation, yes?"
"Yes. They appear to have already begun. They're also investigating if there have been any secret acts of sabotage from other organizations as well. It goes without saying that our pawns will not be identified that easily."
"From among those targeted by Okafu's investigation, would it be possible to take two or three of them who aren't our pawns…and kill them without infection? Not only Okafu, but let's kill the ones in Aureatia, in Sun's Conifer, and in the Order as well. We'll make them out to be our spies."
"…I see. People from several different powers disappearing all at once. For those who know the truth to some extent, that there's been sabotage behind the scenes, they'll simply correlate these organizations to the deaths all by themselves."
"That's right. Given that our opponent is looking into us…making them believe the scale of their enemy is much bigger must be more convenient, wouldn't you say? For Zigita Zogi, as well as Aureatia."
It was also in part a diversionary tactic against the Free City of Okafu to delay their cooperation with other powers. It'd be impossible with the information they had to determine which powers in Aureatia she had sunk her hands into.
Additionally, a slew of suspicious deaths occurring simultaneously with the Okafu army's large-scale withdrawal would be reason enough for the suspicious eyes of the other powers in play to turn their focus on Okafu. Obsidian Eyes would set a quiet attack on all the players at once in order to sow these seeds of doubt.
Petite Frey's smile remained as she repeated Linaris's orders.
"Yes, yes. Then, let's kill a few of them at a time. The job can be done in three days if we rely on Veeze's sharpshooting."
"Please do, then. As I'm sure Father is hoping for just such a thing." Linaris the Obsidian spelled disaster.
Just as Atrazek the Particle Storm or Kia the World Word could do the same themselves, it was perhaps possible for her to control the nerve center of the world, including the Aureatia Assembly, and annihilate the current minian society.
However, the existence of Obsidian Eyes couldn't be exposed. The pestilent vampire would lose a large amount of her superior positioning the moment her existence was uncovered, and measures were put in to combat her.
Linaris was the only person who could infect through the air, when her corpses were unable to do it, too. It was a shortcoming at first glance, but when looking at it as a survival strategy, she considered it an advantage, if anything.
If all of Aureatia was inflicted with disease by way of indiscriminate airborne transmission, the minian races would band together, pursue the origin of the infection, and put an end to her. The same conclusion as any normal epidemic.
However, as long as Linaris didn't make any moves, she could keep the path of infection completely within the palm of her hand. Additionally, with warriors of the caliber of Obsidian Eyes under her command, meeting the conditions for blood transmission was simple.
Therefore, it was necessary for Linaris to choose her targets carefully. In order to achieve her goal, simple destruction wouldn't be enough.
She needed to usher in discord among the minian races' fellow members and bring forth a voluntary demand for chaotic war. Ensuring Obsidian Eyes didn't become a mutually hated enemy, she would create a world where only those capable of living in darkness would be allowed to exist.
That was what the Sixways Exhibition was for. If, by using this special event, she could sow decisive seeds of doubt between a power with plenty of reason to oppose Aureatia—the Free City of Okafu—and Aureatia itself, then the maelstrom of conflict she wished for would descend on the world.
Yet Haade avoided starting a war.
She had thought that Haade the Flashpoint was the first person she should set her sights on. Linaris might have been mistaken in her choice of targets.
…The first round. In the third match, Haade's champion, Soujirou, will battle against Ozonezma, who has Zigita Zogi at his back… But after that, there was the second round…then the third round. If Haade is setting up what I fear he is, then the meaning behind his attempt to avoid war…
A plague that could think. She would only ever take action herself when she had her sights on a truly vital target.
"…I entrust dealing with the Okafu side of things to you. I myself will probe into Haade's movements."
"My lady. Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm able to investigate much deeper secrets than anyone else in Obsidian Eyes."
Behind her composed smile, Linaris was afraid.
She feared her comrades dying. She feared coming to an end without being able to honor her father's dying wishes. These fears could very well become
reality.
If she let the moment pass her by, the decisive secret that lay behind this Sixways Exhibition would slip out of her reach.
"…And with everything staying a perfect secret."
Once again, she brought her index finger up against her lips.
Until the match began—and even after it had, she couldn't let anyone catch wind of her true identity. She would take hold of all the secrets and achieve her goals under the cover of shadow. Such was the way of the Obsidian Eyes.
"Because if we don't, we won't be able to survive."