Even as the scratches from the sparks continued to increase, they didn’t let out a single groan.
Could these really be considered people in their right minds?
The words they had memorized even sounded like some kind of incantation.
With an uncertain expression, Liselotte awkwardly repeated what they had said.
“Accept a new god through death? What does that mean?”
“It is not the Word of Command.”
“Does the religion here have some doctrine about seeing a god in the afterlife when you die?”
“…Liselotte. You have been to the temple, so you know.”
Leaving the struggling men in front of them, Liselotte and Eren held a serious discussion.
“Ah, right. Even while alive, the Imperial Family receives divine authority from God…”
As Liselotte squeezed her eyes shut and pondered deeply, something suddenly flashed through her mind.
“I know this!”
She had already seen countless similar cases.
Was it not something anyone who had lived a past life would have heard of at least once, stories of people who suddenly grabbed passersby on the street?
Liselotte declared confidently.
“A cult!”
Right. This was a place where people lived too.
There was no way that, on such a vast stretch of land, everyone believed in the same God.
With her doubts resolved, Liselotte snapped her fingers and nodded.
“If a power like the Word of Command exist, then someone claiming to be a god was bound to appear sooner or later.”
“I will contact the temple and summon the inquisitors.”
Without offering any rebuttal at all, Eren simply nodded and seriously laid out countermeasures.
Liselotte rather liked his personality of always providing a clear solution.
If it was heresy, things would actually become easier.
“This is… if we connect it properly, is it not at least treason?”
Considering the characteristics of the Perida Empire, where all Imperial Family members receive divine authority from God, would heresy not appear as a refusal to acknowledge the Imperial Family itself?
The corners of Liselotte’s lips slowly stretched into a long smile.
‘With evidence of Duke Gloria insulting the Imperial Family already provided in the lawsuit with the Magic Tower, the buildup and conclusion for pinning it as treason are perfect, aren’t they?’
Perhaps frightened by her expression, Kairi flinched and reflexively stepped back.
Clang. In that moment, the iron chains binding the two heretics slipped and fell onto the stone floor, breaking her train of thought.
“Huh?”
“They undid this as well in the end.”
Clicking his tongue softly, Eren lightly pulled Liselotte back.
The instant she stepped back, they lunged toward Liselotte.
Blocked by the defensive magic stones, they could only rake their nails through empty air.
Watching the effects of the gleaming magic tools in the dark underground, Liselotte narrowed her eyes.
“Just watching makes me hurt. Playing the role of an assassin is not something just anyone can do.”
“They are abnormal. With their power weakened, they will be taking the full impact of the magic tools.”
Eren’s arm came up in front of Liselotte’s face.
The intermittent sparks that flew from the defensive magic tools failed to reach him and fizzled out.
He still looked displeased with this place.
As if ready to protect her at any moment, all of Eren’s movements were tense.
“It would be best to finish this quickly. There is nothing to gain from dragging it out.”
Liselotte agreed.
Groping forward, she reached out and grabbed Kairi’s wrist.
His frozen arm trembled like a quaking aspen.
Contrary to his condition, his twisted expression and the grinding sound of his clenched molars were chilling.
It became clear that his earlier baring of teeth and threatening behavior had merely been an act of anger.
“Kairi. Do you recognize those faces?”
Even when Liselotte firmly called his name, his gaze remained fixed on those imprisoned in the cell.
Liselotte pointed to her own neck with her hand and asked.
“The green thread that was wrapped around your neck. Do you know how it is used?”
“Grrrk…”
Instead of answering, Kairi anxiously groped at the floor with the hand he had braced there.
He rose as if about to lunge, then repeatedly collapsed as his legs gave out.
Meanwhile, the two men in confinement continued to rake the empty air as if trying to dig through the iron bars.
Even when sparks flew, they paid no heed, repeating the same motion mechanically with blank expressions.
At first, their hands couldn’t even reach near the bars, but the more they repeated the motion, the more it felt as though they were inching imperceptibly closer.
The difference was so slight that it was hard to tell at first.
But at some point, the defensive barrier was visibly being breached.
At that subtle change, Eren’s eyes hardened.
Liselotte, watching with narrowed eyes, shook her head.
“That’s impossible. With their current strength, they are breaking through high grade defensive magic tools…?”
At some point, an arm suddenly burst through the sparks.
Liselotte grabbed Eren’s sleeve and called his name.
“…Eren!”
“Surrender.”
At the same time as her voice, Eren issued the Word of Command.
The hand that had lunged forward as if to claw at them, stopping just a handspan from their faces, froze in place.
At the same time, the two people inside the cell slammed down onto the floor with a dull thud.
Seeing an arm protruding out through the bars, Kairi’s body trembled even more violently.
“Ah, ahh…”
Now shaking off Liselotte’s hand and retreating backward, he curled up in the corner and frantically clutched at his own neck.
It was precisely the spot where the cord had once been tied, though the green thread had been removed long ago.
Watching him struggle like this made Liselotte feel uneasy as well.
“Kairi, I am sorry. For making you go through this.”
When she approached, Kairi shook his head and burst into tears.
‘He got frightened after seeing the heretic’s arm.’
Could it be that the green thread was something meant to be used on the arm?
The heretics glared at Liselotte, muttering as if chewing on their gags.
“Victim…”
The heretics, who had been babbling among themselves, suddenly went limp like dolls with their strings cut.
The hand that had stuck out beyond the bars fell limply onto the stone floor with a dull thud.
“…W-what is this?”
Eren nudged the hand lightly with the tip of his boot, but there was no response whatsoever.
“They are dead.”
“Just like that? After breaking through magic tools with such vigor until now?”
“It seems they committed suicide through the Word of Command.”
It was the complete opposite of how they had been charging at Liselotte, determined to kill her no matter what.
‘They died the moment Kairi reacted.’
They must have judged that evidence was about to leak.
If they had lived longer, they might have learned something more from Kairi’s reaction.
Conversely, the fact that they died made things clear.
‘So, the green thread really is used on the arm.’
***
“Kairi. Shall we look at this?”
Kairi’s temporary room.
Though it had been cleaned up, Liselotte and Kairi sat facing each other across a table that had cracked thanks to Kairi smashing it earlier.
Holding an ordinary piece of string, she smiled brightly and approached Kairi, who was sitting demurely on a chair.
“What do you think this is?”
Unlike in the underground prison, Kairi, now calm, tilted his head.
“Keung?”
“Oh my, it is a string! What could this be used for? To wrap around the head? Or maybe the neck?”
Holding the string, Liselotte mimed placing it around her head and neck.
It was an unavoidable choice, since Kairi showed aggression toward anyone but her.
Watching from a distance, Ail smiled and spoke to Eren.
“So, Princess Liselotte has that side to her as well. It seems we need not worry about an heir.”
“An heir?”
Eren asked back as if he had just heard an entirely unfamiliar word.
Meanwhile, Ail replied as though it were only natural.
“Yes. Your Highness grew up spending your childhood alone, so there has always been no small amount of concern.”
“For someone from the North, being thrown into a subjugation force during childhood is not all that surprising.”
“It may be so for us, but Princess Liselotte might be so shocked she would faint. So once the lawsuit with the East is over, would it not be best to discuss the matter?”
Instead of answering, Eren pressed his lips together tightly and stared at Liselotte.
All that entered his eyes was her wrapping the string all around, doing everything she could to bring it close to the arm.
Kairi’s presence had long since been automatically blurred out of his vision.
Watching Kairi’s reactions, Ail placed a hand near his heart and whispered quietly.
“In fact, ever since Kairi was given his name, I have narrowed down about ten candidate names for the heir by gender.”
A faint flush of anticipation colored his cheeks.
Eren looked down at him coldly and answered sharply.
“Before that. Contact the Magic Tower.”
“The Magic Tower does not seem particularly skilled at naming, though?”
“Not that. A magic tool was breached by the Word of Command.”
Eren’s expression, as he looked over the peaceful scene inside the room, was hardened with tension.
To protect this scene, the North needed to become a little safer.
