Then after some time had passed, people started to appear at the gate.
The prisoners. Like the hostage boy, they were wearing clothes unthinkably threadbare, considering it was winter. The paladin who must have escorted them was visible for a moment at the gate opening and then disappeared back inside. Either there were so few people that they were shuttling them, or they hadn’t finished taking control of the village. Perhaps both.
With joy expressed in every movement of their bodies, the liberated prisoners walked toward Neia.
But once they were within a certain distance, they stopped in their tracks.
They must have spotted the King of Darkness. After a few moments, they started walking again. Maybe they thought he was wearing a mask.
One of the men rushed forward.
Running up to them, out of breath, he kneeled before the boy on the ground. No, perhaps it would be better to say that he fell to his knees.
Then he caressed the boy’s cheek, and when he confirmed there was no life in him anymore, his sobs were practically screams.
It had to be the boy’s father.
Neia bit her lip.
The father cried, calling his boy’s name, and the King of Darkness addressed him gently. “I’m the one who killed him.”
Neia stared at the king in shock. You’re really bringing that up now?!
But the wise King of Darkness wouldn’t suddenly broach the topic without some sort of objective in mind.
“Wh-why would you do that?!” The father looked up with hatred blazing in his eyes.
And in response, the King of Darkness smiled wryly. “To save the rest of you, of course.”
“Wh-what?!”
For just a moment, the father’s eyes brimmed with fear. He must have realized that the king’s face was no mask or illusion. And when his eyes cast around for help, they landed on Neia.
But before she could say anything, the King of Darkness asked a question. “So let me ask you: Why didn’t you protect your son? He was hauled out before us as a hostage!”
“I did, but they took him! They’re stronger than me—there was nothing I could do!”
The King of Darkness put on that wry smile again. “Then I have another question. Why are you alive?”
That caught the man off guard.
“I’m asking you why you didn’t die protecting your boy. Lives don’t all have equal worth. I would have thought you valued your son’s life above all from the attitude you showed just now, so why didn’t you put yours on the line for him?”
The others were watching the conversation unfold from a distance.
He must have been anxious and frightened and angry at the one who had killed his son.
“Wh-what are you saying…?”
“You failed to protect him. Don’t blame someone else for that. It’s your fault for being weak. And it seems like you might be misunderstanding something… I’m stronger than the bufolk, who you said were stronger than you, you know… Given that you’re mourning your son, I’ll tolerate a little mouthing off, but if you go too far, I’ll kill you.” He extended a bony finger and pointed at the man’s face.
“B-but you’re powerful—you’re powerful and that’s why you can say that! We’re not all strong like you!”
“No, you’re right. I can say it because I’m one of the strong ones. And you—you’re weak, so of course things are taken from you. It’s utterly natural for the strong to take from the weak.” He surveyed the other people around them. “You all experienced it in there, didn’t you? At the hands of the powerful bufolk?”
“So if you’re strong, you can just do whatever you want?!”
“Yes. If you’re strong, anything goes. That’s the law of this world. And it applies to me, too. If I encountered someone stronger than me, I would lose everything in just the same way. That’s why I seek power.”
Neia understood why the King of Darkness wanted Jaldabaoth’s maids.
He wants power to protect his country, to protect the children of his country. So it’s really…all about power…
“Well, but that’s why you weaklings were sheltering under the supposedly powerful Sacred Kingdom… I do pity you, being under the protection of a nation so weak. If it were my country, the Nation of Darkness, protecting you, this sort of tragedy would never have happened. Why? Because I would have done everything in my power to defend my people and driven the bufolk off.”
No one said a word.
The King of Darkness’s perspective was hard-boiled and cruel, but he was explaining this world like it was.
The only way to refute it would be to appeal to emotions instead of reason. But the greatest emotion they felt toward him—fear—wouldn’t allow it.
“Th-this guy’s an undead, isn’t he? What is an undead doing here?!” Too frightened of the King of Darkness to say anything, the father turned on Neia.
But before she could say anything, the king spoke up.
“That’s obvious. I’m here to save your country. And in reality, you were just saved by this undead. If you don’t like that, then how about trying to rescue your kingdom on your own?”
At that pronouncement, the man turned to look at Neia, but she couldn’t say anything—because the King of Darkness was speaking the truth again.
If the humans could have defeated Jaldabaoth alone, the King of Darkness wouldn’t have been there.
Terrified, the man scooped up his boy’s body and ran away. The people in the direction he fled looked fearful.
Whether the king was talking to the man’s back or to himself, Neia didn’t know, but she heard him murmur, “If I were weak, I would lose everything, too. That’s why I can never stop seeking power. I have to remember that there must be someone out there as strong as me.”
3
After attacking one prison camp and freeing the people there, the liberation army moved on to another camp the next day.
It wasn’t due to momentum, but rather the pressure of several concerns. One of the biggest problems was, as feared,
