This is from the perspective of a magic swordsman who became the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings subjugation party.

***

My name is Wolfgang.

I’m a magic swordsman who used to be part of the Hero’s party.


Recently, I was selected as the leader of a party tasked with defeating one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army.

Several days passed as I prepared for the journey.
It would’ve been cheaper to stay at my family home, but since I’d already technically left home for good, I decided to stay at an inn instead.


And now, with departure finally set for tomorrow, I received a summon.


A white pigeon flew to the window of my inn room.
A letter was tied to its leg.


“If this were an invitation for a secret rendezvous, I’d be thrilled.”


As I read the letter attached to the pigeon, I heard the sound of someone stomping out of the room next door.


“Dog-ear Leader, look look! A pigeon brought me a letter!”


The one who charged into my room while clutching a pigeon was the Great Sage’s granddaughter.
She calls herself a genius, beautiful swordswoman, but as ridiculous as she is, she’s still one of my party members.

So the swordswoman staying next door had received the same letter I did.


“It’s a summon from the Saint of the Yellow Wings, isn’t it? I got one too.”


I have a terrible feeling about this.
Honestly, I’d rather not go, but ignoring it isn’t exactly an option either.
The last thing I need is any more trouble.



As we headed toward the place where we were supposed to meet up with the saint, the Great Sage’s granddaughter called out to me.


“Dog-ear Leader, you’re making a weird face. Do you hate meeting the saint that much?”

“Idiot, how many times do I have to tell you not to mention the dog ears outside!? And these aren’t dog ears, they’re wolf ears.”


Since the saint went out of her way to summon us, of course it made me uneasy. But there was no way I was going to admit that outright, so I dodged the question.


“You saw that white carrier pigeon earlier, right? It reminded me of something unpleasant.”

“What kind of memory?”

“Last summer, a white bird stole all the money I had.”

“What kind of story is that?!”


The Great Sage’s granddaughter burst out laughing.


“I’m serious. I helped a bird that was injured, but for some reason, it flew off somewhere carrying my pouch of money in its beak.”


Thanks to that bird, I suddenly found myself completely broke.
That was a rough time…


While we talked, we eventually arrived at the place where we were supposed to meet the Saint of the Yellow Wings.


It was a gazebo in the royal gardens separated from the main palace grounds.
That was our meeting place.


The Saint of the Yellow Wings had apparently already arrived. As soon as she saw us, she gestured for us to sit down in the gazebo.


“Thank you for coming all this way. We have little time, so I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Where are the other two?”


Our party is supposed to have five members.


“That is precisely why I summoned only the two of you today. Unlike the other two, neither of you was chosen for political reasons, which makes this conversation easier to have.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“One member, the son of the Captain of the Royal Knights, is backed by the First Prince. The other, a mercenary, was personally hired by the Hero, the Second Prince, and his wife, the saint.”

“We’re supposed to be defeating one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and yet they’re more concerned about the throne? What a joke.”


Rumors of the struggle between the First Prince and Second Prince over succession had been circulating for quite some time.

However, once the Second Prince became the Hero, and a saint from one of the kingdom’s most powerful ducal houses became his fiancée, it seemed all but certain that the Second Prince would ascend to the throne.

But after the saint defected to the Demon King’s army and subsequently died, the struggle for the throne had been reset entirely.


“Rather than the Hero himself, it seems the one obsessed with succession is his wife, the saint.”


So the saint apprentice who had once been Iris’s junior was far more ambitious than she let on beneath that quiet, well-behaved facade.


“So, what’s this secret you didn’t want the other two hearing?”

“There appears to be a mole for one of the Four Heavenly Kings within our subjugation party.”

“…Are you sure?”

“I can’t reveal the source of the information. However, it is highly reliable. That’s why I wanted the two of you to keep an eye on the other members during the journey.”

“And you don’t suspect us?”

“Sir Wolfgang has not been in the royal capital for years. In fact, under normal circumstances, you likely wouldn’t even have been summoned to this party. Therefore, you’re probably not the mole.”

“What about the Great Sage’s granddaughter over here?”

“She’s the granddaughter of His Honor, Great Sage Otfried himself, which alone grants her considerable trustworthiness. Furthermore, having lived in a rural village, she has no involvement with either the politics of the royal capital or the Demon King’s army. Therefore, I judged that neither of you are the mole.”


That leaves only two suspects.
But before that, there’s one more person who needs to be questioned.


“Saint of the Yellow Wings, do you have any proof that you aren’t the mole?”

“Unfortunately, I have nothing that can definitively prove my innocence. All I can do is ask you to believe that I’m your ally.”

“I did some digging into you. Someone who feeds the poor isn’t the kind of person I would expect to be evil, so relax.”

“So you were aware?”

“I know you built a restaurant in the royal capital for impoverished citizens, serving meals at extremely cheap prices so even the poor can afford to eat. At the same time, you also sell luxury food products to wealthy nobles, don’t you? Aren’t the profits from that keeping the restaurant running?”

“That is correct. A merchant I know has been helping me out, and somehow we’ve managed to keep the operation afloat.”

“Even so, it’s admirable. The other saint seems more obsessed with power struggles in the royal palace, so I’m glad at least one saint still cares about the people.”


The moment I finished praising her, the Saint of the Yellow Wings suddenly let out a pained groan and clutched her chest.
She looked ready to collapse at any moment.


“Are you alright!?”

“I-I’m fine… It seems my condition has flared up again.”


As she spoke, the Saint of the Yellow Wings pulled out something resembling a black flask from her robes.
With trembling hands, she gulped down its contents.


“My apologies for worrying you. I suffer from an illness that prevents me from living without this medicine.”

“Could that be… a lingering effect from that battle?”

“Yes. My body became like this after my last battle.”


The Saint of the Yellow Wings had once defeated one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army in order to protect a certain town.
Her actions during that battle were what led to her being officially recognized as a saint.

A frail Saint who had been stricken with illness in the course of fighting the Demon King’s army.


Gardenia’s second saint was sacrificing her own health for the sake of the kingdom.
And yet, the other saint had abandoned the people in her pursuit of power and ambition to become queen.
Because of that, the kingdom’s nobles had split cleanly into opposing factions over the fight for the throne.
All the while corrupt nobles continued to sink deeper into decadence by taking advantage of the chaos.


If only Iris, as the third saint, were still here with us…
What would she have said in a situation like this?

If she had survived and never defected to the Demon King’s army… perhaps this kingdom could have moved towards a brighter future.


Why did she betray the kingdom?
If I ever get the chance to see Iris again, that’s the first thing I want to ask her.

And there’s one more thing.
When the saint who once cared more about the kingdom than anyone died betraying both her companions and her kingdom, did Iris regret it in the end?
What was she thinking as she left this world behind? I can’t help but wonder.


After concluding the secret meeting with the Saint of the Yellow Wings, I walked alone through the royal capital.

Despite being the capital city, the number of impoverished people had grown drastically.
They were probably refugees driven from their homes by the Demon King’s army.


According to the Saint of the Yellow Wings, one of the Four Heavenly Kings had already completely rewritten the map of the kingdom’s western territories.

In the western frontier where the Four Heavenly Kings first rampaged, only Tower City still remained standing.

And yet, despite the kingdom being so devastated, they still intend to send a mere five people to defeat a Heavenly King and call it a solution.

It was madness.



The people of the royal capital were consumed in the struggle for political power, while the corrupt nobles cared only for their own wealth.
This kingdom has truly begun to rot.


If the kingdom was ever to return to normal, it would need to be united as one again.
Had things gone as they should have, the Hero who married Saint Iris was supposed to fulfill that role.



As I was lost in thoughts, a carriage suddenly stopped in front of me after emerging from the estate belonging to Iris’s family.


Soft crimson hair appeared from inside the carriage.
A woman adorned in extravagant jewelry leaned out and looked down at me.

It seems I’ve just ran into an old acquaintance.


She had once been a member of the Hero’s party alongside me, and at the time was Saint Iris’s junior saint apprentice.
And now, she’s married to the Hero.
If I recall correctly, this was the title she went by now.


“Why, if it isn’t the Saint of the Lamplight. It has been quite some time.”


Even though we were once comrades, she had married into the royal family.
Her status now far surpassed mine.
As I knelt before her, the Saint of the Lamplight spoke with the tone of someone who had just found something amusing.


“I heard the news, Wolfgang. So you became the leader of the subjugation party to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings. Do your best for the kingdom.”


After saying that, the Saint of the Lamplight instructed the coachman to continue moving the carriage.

Even if we were former comrades, opportunities to speak face-to-face like this might never come again.
Before the carriage could pull away, I asked the question that had been on my mind.


“What were Iris’s final words before she died?”

“Well…”


The Saint of the Lamplight gazed up towards the sky.
Then, as if recalling the moment, a grin slowly spread across her face.


“I believe she blew herself up… after cursing the Kingdom of Gardenia and its people.”


The carriage began to move again.
As the Saint of the Lamplight withdrew back into the carriage, she left me with one final remark.


“Oh, and by the way, she was trying to kill you too, Lord Wolfgang.”


The idea that Iris had wanted to kill me…
Those words hit harder than I expected.


Why had Iris, once praised as the kingdom’s treasure, fallen so deeply into darkness?


I can’t even begin to imagine it.
But perhaps Iris had seen something wrong with this kingdom… something I myself didn’t.


And if I want to learn the truth, then defeating the Four Heavenly Kings comes first.


The following day, our party departed from the royal capital.
Thus, we began our journey towards the western frontier.


Completely unaware that someone bearing the exact same face as Iris already existed there.

***

Author’s Note:

This chapter was told from the perspective of a magic swordsman and a former member of the Hero’s party.
The junior saint apprentice makes her first appearance since Chapter 1.

Next Time: The Four Heavenly Kings Arrive (Part Two)