Kingdom of Lies

by Yuri Kitayama

  But if he had to pick a reason, it was probably because he felt something towards the girl who had tried to help him, even a little — enough to save her, at least. The same reason had compelled him to dive off the cliff. But that was probably hypocritical of him; there was no guarantee he’d be rewarded for being swept away by his emotions and acting according to his beliefs. This, he was fully aware of; he had failed once before because of that, after all.

  Even so, his body moved because of what was in his heart. Just when he’d had the chance to leave the academy without anyone’s knowledge, he threw that chance away.

  But there was no looking back now. Whatever happened would happen — such indifferent thoughts passed through his mind as he desperately swung his sword.

  Perhaps his senses had been sharpened by the body enchantment, or perhaps this high-stakes battle heightened his focus to its limits, but all of his opponents’ movements seemed slow to him.

  Strangely, he didn’t feel like he could lose.

  Rio had been exchanging the litany of blows with the creature for just a few moments before an opportunity to end the struggle presented itself. Until now, Rio had been using the minimum amount of effort to parry the enemy’s blade, waiting for the right moment to launch his own all-out attack...

  “MROH!”

  The monster shouted and gave a huge swing of its sword; its frustration with its inability to put an end to the match — against a underwhelmingly tiny opponent — had made its movements careless.

  Rio didn’t let that brief chance slip by.

  Before his enemy could bring down its sword, he launched a swift attack against its torso. His blade landed cleanly, straight across his opponent’s body, making the giant’s face twist with anguish. It flung its sword around in pain, but Rio backstepped safely out of reach.

  But he wasn’t running away. His true objective was to prepare for the timing of an all-out attack. Rio held his sword in both hands and kicked off from the ground.

  “Aaaaaaaah!”

  With a feverous yell, he launched his best shot with all his might. The bull-headed creature also lowered its sword through its pain, but failed to make contact. Rio used his enemy’s body as a stepping stone to rush upwards, then sliced its neck off.

  The severed head flew through the air as the headless frame swayed and fell to its knees. The fierce glint of light faded from the creature’s deep crimson eyes. After a short pause, its body snapped apart, and rapidly started to crumble away, and disintegrated until there was nothing left.

  Only a considerably large aqua stone remained — an enchanted gem. The ones left behind by the goblins and orcs couldn’t even compare.

  Rio picked up the fallen enchanted gem. “So it really was a monster...” he murmured as he inspected the stone up close.

  Enchanted gems were the only items monsters left behind — it was the one signature that all monsters had in common. Still, it was quite rare to find such a violent monster like this one just loitering about. The academy certainly wouldn’t hold a drill in the vicinity of it...

  So why did it appear in this forest? Had it migrated here from somewhere else? Just as Rio pondered that—

  “Princess Flora!”

  The echoes of people calling Flora’s name could be heard from far across the now-silent forest. They were probably searching for her.

  Rio scanned the forest, searching the gaps between the trees with his eyes. He stopped on a moving mass just barely inside the limits of his vision.

  It was Flora.

  She had probably observed Rio’s battle from afar, but he didn’t to get into any more trouble. With that in mind, he immediately left the scene.

  ◇◇◇

  In the sky, far above the current scene, a black-robed Reiss was floating through the air. His eyes, which far surpassed the ability of any human’s vision, were focused on a hastily retreating Rio.

  “...And there he goes. Well, that was much more interesting than I expected... Definitely worth the effort of sending in a powered-up minotaur. Heheheh.” Reiss couldn’t help the smile that played on his lips.

  “That black hair probably means he’s an immigrant from the Yagumo region. If so, it makes sense that he can use spirit arts — but it’ll be terrifying to see what the future holds for him,” the man analyzed with a hum.

  Spirit arts — a secret art unlike any sorcery that had yet to spread through the Strahl region. There were some records of it hidden deep within the tomes of old literature, but no detailed knowledge about it was available. What was known about it was that it was similar to sorcery, in the way that essence was used to cause abnormal phenomena to occur, spell names didn’t need to be chanted, and that it was used mainly by elves, dwarves, and werebeasts — species that humans looked down upon and referred to as “demi-humans.”

  Yet, somehow, Reiss had insight on spirit arts that no normal person had access to. That was why he understood why it was so amazing that Rio, a human living in Strahl, could use this level of spirit arts at his age.

  “If I cannot feel any of the aural characteristics of spirits at this close distance, then he must not have a contract with a spirit. I suppose I shall just take a note of it and leave him be. That would suit that person’s plan better. Now, I must return to my original mission...” he said, before gliding off through the air into the distance.

  Chapter 7: Truth of the Lie

  On the evening of the outdoor drill, Celia was walking through the Academy grounds.

  “Good grief! What am I, a slave? Do your own research! Just because I’m the lowest ranked professor here doesn’t mean I’m a secretary! And it isn’t exactly easy to find information about monsters from the Divine War...” Celia grumbled under her breath as she headed for the director’s office.

  Her bitterness was due to the order she’d received from her superior to investigate a certain monster while she was doing her own research in the library.

  “I was even told to go to the director’s office... What’s the rush?”

  She briefly considered the possibility of the monster in question appearing somewhere, but dismissed the thought immediately.

  The monster Celia had researched was a minotaur, a monster shaped like a person with a bull’s head. It had played a large role in the Divine War, a great war that had occurred over a thousand years ago. The Divine War was a conflict that had spread between the humans, who were led by the Six Wise Gods, and the demons, who were led by the Demon King. Minotaurs were said to have drastically decreased in population towards the end of the Divine War. They were very rarely spotted in the kingdoms towards the north and west, but there had been no sightings in Beltrum for the last several hundred years.

  Celia contemplated such things as she arrived at the director’s office. She stopped before the door, noticing that it was slightly ajar. The voice of the director, Garcia Fontaine, could be heard talking to the superior who had given her the order. She peeked through the gap to check if she could go inside.

  “But the matter of Her Highness being pushed off the cliff cannot be so peacefully resolved. I suppose some form of punishment will be necessary?” Garcia asked with a hint of annoyance.

  Celia leaned in at the mention of something so serious.

  “I’m afraid it cannot be avoided. However, there is also a conflict in the facts presented... It seems there is no mistaking that Duke Huguenot’s son was the one who collided with Her Highness, but...”

  “But?”

  “Over half the students are testifying that the one who pushed Duke Huguenot’s son in the first place was a student named Rio. On the other hand, the Second Princess herself is insistent that that cannot be possible...”

  Huh? Rio? What was going on? Celia gulped nervously at the unexpected mention of Rio’s name.

  “And why is that?” Garcia asked.

  “Because this Rio was also the student that saved her from falling off the cliff. At the cost of falling off himself.”


  He fell off a cliff? Was Rio still alive...? A chill suddenly ran down Celia’s spine.

  “Then where is this Rio now?”

  “Missing. After falling off the cliff, he appeared once more while the aforementioned monster was attacking the Second Princess, who had been separated from the others. But he immediately disappeared again after defeating the creature.”

  Thank goodness. He was alive — while his missing status intrigued Celia, that alone was a relief to hear.

  “That would certainly imply he had no intention of harming Her Highness. Does he have a motive for pushing the son of Duke Huguenot?”

  “According to the students, he panicked when the group of monsters attacked.”

  Rio, panicking over a few monsters? ...Something didn’t sound right to Celia.

  “I see... Then is there any testimony that disproves that majority opinion?”

  “No, no one including the Second Princess witnessed anything contradictory.”

  “Hmm...”

  “The fact that he hid himself afterwards is proof of his guilt. Otherwise, he would have stepped forward and explained himself,” the elderly professor declared boldly to Garcia, who appeared contemplative.

  “If it were possible to completely prove his innocence, perhaps,” Garcia murmured quietly.

  “Huh?”

  “Mmm, it’s nothing.”

  “Very well... Then what shall be done about the report to the castle? Duke Huguenot is pressing for it to be written immediately.”

  “Hm. If we were to disappoint Duke Huguenot here, that dissatisfaction would surely reach His Majesty. We conveniently have a scapegoat at the ready... It would be unwise to thoughtlessly make a bigger deal of these matters.”

  “Then shall I consolidate it as an issue caused by a student named Rio in the report to submit to the royal court?”

  What was that...? So they weren’t even going to give Rio the chance to explain himself? Anger surged within Celia as the conversation turned towards abandoning Rio.

  “That’s right. The majority of students testified to the same story. The rest we can leave to Duke Huguenot in the royal court — he should be able to take care of that much himself.”

  Honestly speaking, Garcia couldn’t care less what the truth was. Whichever option was the most convenient and least messy would be his version of the truth.

  “Then I shall proceed to report that to the court.”

  “I leave it to you. I shall bring the report to His Majesty and await his judgment. Inform all the teachers that the child is to be apprehended if he returns to the academy.”

  “Understood.”

  Celia trembled with worry as she eavesdropped on their business-like exchange. What should she do? Rio was in danger at this rate... and Celia believed in him. She couldn’t quite figure out the sequence of events from the conversation just now, but she was certain that Rio would never push Stewart out of panic.

  ...Although she could definitely imagine the reverse happening.

  Rio had probably disappeared because he knew he would be placed under suspicion. It was quite easy to say he hadn’t done it, but to prove it would require the devil’s proof. Rather than having to jump through hoops to disprove these false accusations, it’d be easier to get a running start from the beginning.

  With that realization on Celia’s mind, she took a deep breath to calm herself and knocked on the door.

  ◇◇◇

  That night, Rio returned to the capital and snuck into his bedroom in the Academy dormitory.

  The city gates were normally closed at night, making it impossible to enter the walls, but Rio had enhanced his physical body and abilities to gain the power to leap over the walls entirely, successfully sneaking in. Once inside the walls, there was nothing he had to fear. Similarly, he jumped over the wall into the nobles’ inner city and headed for the academy.

  With most of the students back at home, the security at night was much weaker than during the daytime. Rio used his extensive knowledge of the academy grounds to easily walk around without being discovered by the patrols. Eventually, Rio opened the door to his now-familiar bedroom, noting that there was no sign of anyone else having entered his room yet... Though he didn’t have very many belongings to begin with. Once he had confirmed the state of his effects, he removed the bag hidden beneath his bed. Inside was nearly all the reward money he had received from saving Flora five years ago. It was more than enough to live off from now on.

  Next, Rio took out a change of clothes from his drawer and placed the money in the bag attached to his belt. While the academy uniform was excellent in combat, it unfortunately stood out too much.

  Once he was done preparing, Rio left his room. He headed towards the only person in the academy he could trust — Celia.

  I hope she’s still around...

  Celia often holed herself up in her research laboratory until late in the evening. Praying she hadn’t headed home yet, Rio traversed down the familiar underground corridor below the library tower. Most of the professors had left for the day, making the silence in the corridor more prominent than usual. Keeping an eye out for others, he eventually arrived at Celia’s research laboratory to see the light from a lamp shining from the gap beneath the door.

  It seemed like Celia was still inside, so Rio knocked quietly on the door.

  “Who’s knocking so late—”

  Celia opened the door with a little pout, but her eyes widened dramatically at the sight of Rio. She was almost about to shout when he gently covered her mouth with a finger.

  “Shh. I apologize for the disturbance. If possible, I wish to speak with you,” Rio said in a low voice.

  Celia couldn’t help but blush before she glanced up and down the corridor.

  “Come in,” she whispered, inviting Rio into the room. Once both of them were inside, the door shut with a click. Rio was agonizing over where to start his explanation when Celia moved in for a tight hug.

  “P-Professor?” Rio asked in confusion. He could feel Celia’s warmth through his clothing; it felt like her heart was thumping loudly, too.

  “You’re not hurt, are you?”

  After a moment, Celia touched his body as if to check for injuries.

  “That tickles... But I’m fine,” Rio said, smiling at the ticklish feeling.

  “Thank goodness...” With tears in her eyes, Celia smiled in relief.

  Ah, it’s Rio... He’s safe — she was overjoyed. Released from her worries, the tight feeling in her chest finally loosened up.

  “Did you hear anything about the drill yet?”

  “Yes. They said you pushed Stewart and placed Princess Flora in danger... And that you defeated a minotaur by yourself...”

  “Second part of that aside, the first part is a completely false accusation,” Rio stated with a tinge of exasperation.

  “I knew it! There was no way you’d do such a thing.”

  “Thank you for believing in me...”

  “That should be obvious!” Celia asserted immediately.

  “But that isn’t the case for everyone else. I really appreciate it,” Rio said with a shy smile. Celia hugged Rio once more.

  “...It’s all right. I believe you. I know you, after all.”

  I have no allies in this academy — Rio might have been thinking.

  You have an ally here in me — that was what Celia wanted to tell him.

  “Professor...”

  Warm.

  He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt warmth from another person. Unable to resist that comfort, Rio allowed Celia to cling to him for a while.

  “Hey, will you tell me what happened? I’m not quite sure if I have the story right...” Celia eventually asked.

  “Sure, I guess. It all started during the drill...”

  “How could they say that?! It clearly wasn’t your fault!”

  After Rio finished speaking, Celia released all her pent-up anger.

  “Those with power hav
e the right to decide whose fault it is,” Rio said in a sage voice, as though he had given up from the start. In a society structured around social status, justice was a fluid concept decided by the powerful.

  That was why justice would never befall the weak. Justice existed for the strong.

  “Maybe, but... Rio, you’re being falsely accused when you’ve done nothing wrong!” Rio’s words, steeped in realism, made Celia shout with a pained look.

  “But even if I came forward with the truth, the powerful ones of this kingdom would never take my side. If anything, they’d persecute me further because the son of Duke Huguenot was involved in this incident.”

  The current Great Lord of Beltrum was Duke Huguenot. In contrast, Rio was just a commoner with no status nor support.

  If the truth behind this case were to be exposed, Duke Huguenot would suffer greatly on the political front. While the incident itself was an accident, his son had nearly killed a member of the royal family. Considering the current political status of Beltrum, that wouldn’t be a desirable situation for the powers of both the royalty and nobility of the kingdom. That was because of Duke Arbor, who — after losing much of his power in his failure five years ago — had regained a somewhat significant portion of his influence within the royal court.

  Recently, the Huguenot and Arbor factions had been butting heads behind-the-scenes over diplomatic relations with a hostile kingdom. That hostile kingdom was the Proxia Empire — an emerging nation to the north that had invaded many of the smaller kingdoms in the region, causing tensions to run high with Beltrum. The king and Duke Huguenot’s faction supported peaceful discussions to curtail the tense relations, while Duke Arbor’s faction supported a more aggressive approach that required military expansion. Duke Huguenot’s faction was still winning out at the moment, but any failure now would be sure to tip the scales in Duke Arbor’s favor.

  If that happened, it would only be a matter of time before war was declared.

  That was an undesirable outcome for many of the royalty and nobility, including the king himself.