――In the imperial capital, Lupgana, the "Witch" Sphinx was defeated, and the outcome of the "Great Calamity" was decided.

The large-scale forbidden arts orchestrated by the "Witch" were interrupted, and those resurrected in this world through distorted rituals were left with no choice but to linger on earth with limited lifespans.

Those who were unwillingly resurrected and manipulated by the "Witch" considered it fortunate and returned to the resting place of their souls by reducing themselves to dust, but naturally, many did not choose to do so.

Even if they were deceased, every imperial citizen knew the "Iron-Blooded Law."

Even in their resurrected state due to an irrational power, many of them, if they could wield a sword again, did not care about the presence or absence of life and were determined to adhere to their will, and this fighting spirit was present in the army surrounding the "Fortress City."

However, in reality, the battle surrounding the "Fortress City" Garkla was settled almost simultaneously with the decided outcome of the "Great Calamity," and the undead who had narrowly escaped death fled in disarray.

Why did the army of undead abandon the battle and choose to flee? — It was due to the collapse of the front lines caused by the absence of the commander, leading to the abandonment of the combat.

Even for imperial citizens who did not fear death—much less an army of the undead—they did not see any value in wasting their lives in a battle already lost.

And why did such a situation of the commander's absence occur—,

"This, this is ridiculous...!"

Palladio lamented as he tore at his green hair, watching his camp fall apart.

This should not happen. Yet, it did. All because of the irrationality that worked against everything surrounding Palladio.

Palladio, who was given the role of the commander of the vast army of the undead directed toward the fortress city, endeavored to fulfill his duty as a revered member of the Vollachia royal family.

However, every strategy Palladio employed was obstructed by the common folk of the city, compounded by the missteps of the undead not following his orders correctly, leading to dire straits.

Of course, he had no intention of giving up because of this. But the accumulated debts of absurdity erupted into distortions, ultimately forcing Palladio into a bitter retreat.

—No, this was not a retreat.

This is an honorable retreat and a stepping stone for victory. Otherwise, it wouldn't add up for someone like him, a Vollachia royal with the blood of the superior Evil Eye tribe, to face such a fate.

"What 'Witch of Greed'! What a grandiose claim only to leave me in such a predicament...!"

What crossed Palladio's mind was the loathsome presence that first crumbled among the accumulated debts. The anger was directed at the white-haired 'witch' who had joined under Palladio’s command, almost turned the tide of the battle once, but then irresponsibly abandoned her duty suddenly and disappeared.

Casting a spell to bring down stars and devastate the fortress city would have been fine.

But that, too, was thwarted by interference from the imperial capital, and then, as a consequence, began a fierce counterattack by those whose eyes bore flames.

As far as Palladio's evil eye could see, all the living beings confined within the fortress city—even the powerless evacuees—had eyes lit with flames, took up arms, and were pushing back the undead.

It was right after that. The 'Witch of Greed' turned to dust and disappeared without even attempting to bring the situation under control.

"—Ah, I see. I, as Sphinx—"

It was infuriating to recall the witch's profile as she disappeared without even giving a backward glance, leaving those words behind. Why did the witch end with such a satisfied look?

He couldn't understand anything. On top of not being able to understand, Palladio was left with nothing but disadvantages.

"Damn it, damn it, damn itdamnitdamnitdamnit...!"

Spewing curses as if coughing up blood, Palladio escaped from the plains and fled into the forest.

Around the time the 'Witch of Greed' vanished, Palladio understood the anomaly in the undead—those who were supposed to be able to resurrect countless times stopped coming back to life, rendering the immortal army non-functional.

There is a flow to battles.

That's true in any battle. And even more so when it involves a war that determines the future of the empire.

Therefore, Palladio immediately sensed the shift in the tide, abandoned his camp, and made the best decision to retreat from the battlefield with only a few followers to prepare for a comeback.

Thus, this is not a mere escape, but a stepping stone for victory.

"Today, they may believe they have won. Vincent, Priska...!"

However, that is only a temporary, granted victory.

Thus, the fleeting moment would end with Palladio escaping, recovering, and seizing an undeniable victory without the help of the 'witch.'

Next time, this time for sure, he would place the Vollachia Empire under the control of the rightful emperor.

Palladio possessed the magic eye for that very purpose.

Granted the eye of heaven, he was certain that he would ascend to the emperor’s throne—

"——"

With that conviction, Palladio tried to use the power of his magic eye to ascertain the path he should take, and he noticed. Somehow, the attendants who were supposed to be with him were nowhere to be found.

"What? Hey, hey!? Where have you gone!? You dare to leave me—"

Palladio's anger about their disappearance was immediately quelled by a sensation as if cold water had been poured over him.

For a moment, he suspected that the attendants had abandoned him disrespectfully, but if that were the case, his magic eye would have caught sight of their fleeing backs. So the reason they disappeared was clear—they were dead.

"——"

Feeling his lifeless body shudder, Palladio instinctively drew the 'Sun Sword,' the proof of the royal lineage of Vollachia and a sword-shaped destiny qualifying him for the emperor’s seat—

"——"

—The arm holding it was severed from the shoulder, and Palladio collapsed to the ground.

"What, what, what..."

Opening his three eyes wide in shock, including the one on his forehead, he tried to comprehend what had happened.

Immediately after, a shock ran through his remaining arm, and in an instant, he lost both hands used to grip the sword. Palladio understood that this was the result of a sneak attack with an axe.

However, understanding went only that far, just that far, no further.

"Why..."

Why his special magic eye, the eye of heaven, had failed to detect the sneak attack.

Unable to comprehend, unable to understand, it suddenly occurred to him.

A story Palladio had heard once.

About a tribe that had committed unredeemable sins, was regarded by the most excellent and feared emperor of the Vollachia Empire as a being worthy of disdain under the 'Iron Blood Rule,' and had become unrecognizable to others.

Those were the detestable beastmen who, in the empire, were considered deserving of death just by living—

"—ma"

"Won't wait."

The cold and merciless impact permanently removed Palladio Manesque from the stage.

—That was the crucial blow behind history that led to the loss of the commander of the undead army surrounding the fortress city, resulting in the complete defeat of the "Great Calamity" and the collapse of the battlefront.

△▼△▼△▼△

The wheels of her wheelchair creaked as Katya despaired at the vastness of the room she was assigned.

"My brother said that because he became a special 'General,' even I, as his kin, would receive special treatment, but... this is too much..."

Looking around the spacious room, Katya sighed, thinking about the future.

The imperial capital where she originally lived would take a long time to recover due to the effects of the "Great Calamity," so for the time being, evacuees from the imperial capital were required to live distributed across the fortress city and the surrounding towns and villages.

In such a situation, Katya, whose brother Jamal acquired the position of an attendant close to the Emperor Vincent for various fortuitous reasons, was receiving far better treatment compared to others.

However, Katya was not inclined toward a luxurious lifestyle, and even if she were provided with various luxuries, she doubted she could fully enjoy them, being just a lame and ungracious maiden.

Therefore, she declined most of the privileges.

"The ones who sneakily approach are annoying too..."

Incidentally, the Aurelie family was a minor noble family of the empire, and Katya was in the position of a nobleman's daughter. Although there were servants in the household to take care of her, she had no qualms about it, different from the time when they were only a declining noble family. Now, with Jamal's significant position, there were quite a few people who approached Katya seeking connections with him.

For Katya, the comfortable distance with Rem was exactly because she didn't care one bit about such trivial premises and external factors.

"...Well, talking about someone who is no longer here is pointless anyway."

Though Katya acknowledged her own difficult and troublesome personality, Rem, who was surprisingly blunt and said things Katya didn't want to hear, turned out to be a suitable match for her. Simply put, Rem was Katya's first-ever friend.

Even Rem had left, returning to the Kingdom of Lugunica with the man who came to fetch her and her older sister.

As the day of their parting approached, seeing her sad face made it unbearable, and she promised to exchange letters, though she had no idea what to write in them.

"Even on normal days, my life is so uneventful..."

Despite the recent tumult, Katya’s days were essentially flat and monotonous, nothing special ever happened, it was just a slow march toward death.

In such a situation, even if she wanted to write a letter to Rem, she felt there was nothing worthy to write about. Before she knew it, Rem would be fed up, the frequency of letters would gradually decline, and eventually cease altogether.

Such a pessimistic future vividly emerged in Katya's mind.

"Ugh, I hate this... I really want to die..."

As soon as she was alone, an overwhelming sense of loneliness engulfed her, and she continued to sink into despair.

By nature, Katya was pessimistic in everything and had a strong tendency for self-blame. It was merely that someone by her side had always held back those thoughts.

Until yesterday, it was Rem, and before that—

"...Idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot, such a fool."

Clenching the wheels of her wheelchair tightly, Katya muttered hatefully, but powerlessly.

Forcibly intruding into Katya's world, holding her close even when she rejected him, whispering countless sweet nothings she didn’t want to hear, and then leaving without permission.

Remembering that foolish person made her heartache immensely.

"Ah, no, no, I don't want to cry..."

Feeling a hot surge welling up behind her eyes, Katya was in agony.

If she had to endure such miserable feelings, she should have just died during the chaos of that 'great calamity' while protecting Rem. If she had done that, Rem would surely have scolded her and called her a fool, but the thorn would have stuck deep in Rem’s heart, ensuring she would never be forgotten.

She could have avoided being disliked further by writing miserably awkward letters.

The people who are dead are unfair. Because once they're dead, they can't be spoken ill of any further.

Therefore, Katya made it a point to speak ill of the dead so as not to permit such unfairness.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot...!"

The attempt, which seemed like a fit of unjustified anger or spite, ended up being counterproductive.

Continuing to speak ill of someone who has died means, by the very act of speaking ill, you are continually thinking of that person.

Because of that, not only did tears well up, but even her nose began to sting.

Surely, if she looked in the mirror, she would see an unbelievably ugly woman with a bad attitude sitting in a wheelchair.

"I can't take this anymore... I don't want to see anyone..."

Muttering this, Katya turned her wheelchair around and headed toward the bed.

Although it's impolite, she thought about collapsing onto the bed without unbraiding her hair or changing her clothes, and just lying there until she starved to death. Of course, starving to death wasn't actually possible. Inevitably, her hunger would interrupt her plan to starve, and she would end up eating something while sniffling.

Even so, she didn't want to wallow in grief for someone in such a state of mind—

"—? Who is it?"

Just as she was about to proceed to the bed, the door to her room was knocked on from the outside.

Despite thinking it was bad timing, she hesitated to ignore it and head to the bed. Currently, everyone was in a tough situation with communication breakdowns and problems occurring everywhere. If Katya threw a tantrum now, it might prevent someone from meeting a crucial deadline.

Displaying her fundamentally serious nature, Katya headed to the door.

For a moment, she hesitated about what to do with her surely dreadful appearance, but it was just a moment. No matter what anyone thought of her, she didn't care, and she reached for the door.

And then—

"Yes, who's there...?"

With these words, Katya slowly opened the door and—

"—ah."

A faint breath escaped weakly from her thin throat.

△▼△▼△▼△

"Good work, General Jamal."

"Ah, you too."

Returning the salute to the imperial soldier who promptly saluted him and stepped aside, Jamal twisted his lips in a smile.

The title "General" addressed to him was a special rank allotted to Jamal, who had been recognized for his role alongside Emperor Vincent in the current great war.

As for his role, he holds the honorable position of serving as Vincent's personal bodyguard. —— For Jamal, who originally sought the success of the Aurelie family and aimed to become a 'general,' this is a coveted position.

With this, he can prove wrong those who laughed at Jamal for being presumptuous, and above all, he can provide a good life for Katya, who cannot live without the support of those around her.

He knows that Katya, who is passive in all matters and does not recognize her own worth, dislikes these kinds of arrangements by Jamal, but nevertheless, she is his only little sister and precious family.

Despite whatever she says, he understands that Katya cannot completely refuse.

"Damn it, this kind of meddling from your big brother wasn't really necessary, you know,"

He voiced his frustration with nowhere to direct it, and his feet carried him toward Katya.

Triggered by Jamal's promotion to general, the treatment of his relative Katya has also become different from that of ordinary imperial citizens.

For the time being, until the reconstruction of the imperial capital progresses, it's temporary accommodation, but having had a hard time, he wants to provide Katya with a life free from inconvenience.

For a while, the daughter of her friend who stayed with Katya has also returned to the kingdom.

By now, it’s about time for Katya to be done grieving.

"Once that's over, we'll have the finest liquor and meat."

Saying so, Jamal shook a bottle of liquor he had retrieved from the storeroom with his general's authority, as well as a bag containing high-quality meat, contemplating how to console Katya.

Luxuriously grilling a thick piece of meat and biting into it while gulping down the finest liquor.

That was Jamal's way of dealing with sadness.

"Katya, are you there? It's me."

He knocked on the door and called out to Katya, who should be in the room.

Katya, who finds it difficult to go out alone, usually stays shut in her room unless something comes up. So, she should be doing the same now.

However, there was no response from inside the room, and Jamal knitted his eyebrows suspiciously.

"Are you asleep? Hey, I'm coming in."

Unconcerned, as it was not uncommon for her to sulk and sleep like the dead, Jamal opened the door and stepped into Katya's room.

In the room that had just been moved into, devoid of any personal touch from its owner, Jamal looked around and found it puzzling that there was no sign of anyone in the bedroom.

“Katya?”

Sure enough, there was no silhouette in the bedroom when he peeked in.

Not only that, but Katya was nowhere to be found in the entire room. This was rare, but Jamal thought he might have missed her as she went out.

――It was then that he noticed the letter placed on the desk in the bedroom.

“――――”

Initially, his consciousness had been drawn away from the letter, but now it strongly attracted Jamal’s attention. There was nothing peculiar about the letter itself. The notable thing was what had been placed alongside it.

What lay there was a bandana that vividly remained in Jamal’s memory, the one that a certain man used to wear――.

“――tsk”

Reaching out for the letter hastily, he roughly tore open the seal and scanned its contents.

What he found was a marriage certificate, adorned with Katya’s frail handwriting that appeared lifeless, and another strong, contrasting handwriting.

“The damn bastard.”

The moment he grasped the intention behind the marriage certificate, such a curse slipped from Jamal’s mouth.

Despite the words’ content, his heart was filled with an inextricable sense of relief and joy, the complex emotions of an older brother who had his cherished sister taken away by an exasperating friend.

“Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!!”

In the end, Jamal placed his palms over his face and burst into hearty laughter. He laughed and laughed until tears flowed from the eye covered by his eyepatch.

It would never be recorded in the histories of the empire, which had seen many tears shed for partings, that this was one of the few tears shed for joy.

However, the fact remained that on this day, here, the marriage of the disappeared noble lady and the impudent man who took her away was celebrated by one “general.”

――From this point on, the whereabouts of Katya O’Reilly would become unclear.

However, the incessant letters that continued to reach her only friend afterwards, devoid of any trace of sorrow or unhappiness in their writing, would be the clearest proof that this was not something to despair over.