Editing Sorcery Hacker:Volume4 Phase03 (section)

===Part 16===

A beam of white light exploded out.

That had to be Queen Astaroth Revolver.

Ayato felt a squeezing in his heart.

He didn’t even need to check the spec sheet. This was an illegal level of destructive power not found in any of the official swords of succession. That great power overturned all of the assumptions that had been worrying them so much. If the impregnable barrier protecting the consul guest quarters was breached, the dying emperor could be killed!!

“Oh, no!”

Ayato was up above the ceiling of Room 0108.

He had Level 5000 at his disposal, but nothing to hack. He had no way of interfering with the massive beam launched from the courtyard toward the window.

His breathing truly stopped.

And just then…

“Ohhhh!!”

Someone released a great roar.

Everyone was overwhelmed.

Guardeleo had jumped from the window of the neighboring Room 0109 and toward the courtyard. He drew Creation Sword Publitie in order to guard the dying emperor’s life from the deadly beam.

“Not on my watch!! Did you think a man could sit the throne without acting as a shield to any who are in neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed!!?”

It exploded.

Ayato Criminaltrophy knew the devil’s revolver better than anyone, but he had never seen this before.

It had been stopped.

The devil’s attack ensured death using a massive curse, yet a single individual had stopped it.

Creation Sword Publitie.

It was said that sword could even create a world. That king’s sword was wielded for the people and it could supposedly gather up all the invisibly small dust filling that vast empty space to form earth and then manipulate the “miraculous odds” needed to create life.

Had Guardeleo been supported by the Creation Sword, or had the Creation Sword obeyed his fighting spirit?

Stopping the beam head on left his muscles torn and his bones shattered and he was spurting blood, but the old man had successfully held back the scorching beam.

Even though he had supposedly declined to the point of needing a wheelchair.

Stopping that one attack alone was a miracle.

(Dammit.)

Ayato wanted to run to the courtyard right away, but he had his own job to do.

He stabbed his linkage plug sword into the base of a special antenna and manipulated Room 0108’s media summoner through a line of intangible mist mana.

A harmless bluff was enough. He made the air quality reading drop rapidly.

He consul guest quarters’ thick barrier was released from within.

The crystal tarot display linked to the room’s media summoner told Ayato the door had been unlocked.

But.

Henrietta and 14th Princess Carrisy did not storm into Room 0108.

“Attention all forces.”

That came from Hemylina Luxshine.

This was not a response to the media summoner display. After seeing Guardeleo collapsed outside the window, she had accepted something and released the barrier.

“Halt the landing. I repeat, immediately halt the Static Continent landing operation!! The Combined Royal Family remains a friend! Our true enemy is not the king who risked his life to protect our emperor!!!”

The tides were turning.

In a major way that couldn’t be accomplished with simple sorcery hacking tricks.

If the rooms has the same design, these consul guest quarters would also have a panel in the ceiling. With the thick barrier gone, Ayato could drop into Room 0108.

Little Emperor Milbert was breathing shallowly in the bed.

He was stained with blood.

“We need to-”

He heard a voice from the courtyard window.

Teleria was uncertain what to do, but old Guardeleo remained unshaken.

“I am ill and would not last much longer regardless… And don’t worry, I no longer sense the sniper’s presence. Please focus on saving the life that can still be saved. Sorcery Hackers, I beg you.”

Ayato clenched his teeth.

And steeled himself.

Steeled himself to choose which life to save.

“Kh…Miss Teleria!!”

“R-right away!!”

The king, collapsed in the courtyard, appeared to be smiling silently at all the motion within Room 0108.

There was nothing Ayato could do in the consul guest quarters.

He entered the courtyard through the window.

Guardeleo had fallen to the ground and had even lost his grip on his sword, but he quietly called a name.

“Micha Angelos.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I will state my last will. Listen impartially and commit these words to memory.”

His tone made it clear there was no room for politely arguing his intent here.

From the moment he had named Micha Angelos, his mind was made up.

Given whose maid she was.

“The Graves of the Lost Five,” he said, struggling to breathe.

It was clear to everyone present that each breath brought him closer to his last.

“The ancient king who attempted to save the children starving in the alleys ultimately ruined those five’s lives. Our Combined Royal Family learned from that past mistake…and aimed to create a kingdom where no one is trapped by their birth or status and no one has any one set of values forced upon them. And the diplomatic ties I formed with the other continents was intended as a part of that…”

But he didn’t stop there.

And no one moved to stop him either.

“However…I failed to tear down the wall separating human from demon. Even though problem was much closer to home than those continents found across the ocean. And that goal is not a mere fantasy. That empire accomplished it. You made an attempt there. Your research was a magnificent thing. It contains a power surpassing all that I ever accomplished. So make sure that you succeed. No matter how many times you fail in the process, you must succeed in the end.”

What sort of future was Guardeleo envisioning?

What had he seen that was out of reach within his own limited lifespan?

And.

How did he view the person who could achieve it someday?

“Humans and demons. Break down the division between them. Bring true peace and equality to our Static Continent and the larger world…”

There was envy in his eyes.

Those were the eyes of a small child, not of an elderly man.

Perhaps the ability to honestly appreciate the things he lacked in anyone of any status was one of his strengths.

“If you understand this, you will not lose your way. The right to sit the throne is not determined by surface-level appearance…or how attractive you are…”

He couldn’t last any longer.

Teleria had her hands full healing the emperor.

The collapsed and unmoving king held out a hand to stop the Royal Guard rushing over with a medical kit in hand.

“No matter the circumstances, you must always act as a shield for those in need… Your concern was not the profits of the city-states or manors and you looked beyond just the people living there. Unlike all the other princes and princesses, you looked past the bounds of humanity and continued your sorcery research in search of a future where we could walk alongside demons. That makes you the one worthy of wearing the crown next. No matter what anyone might say, you have my assurance. 1st Prince Liberca Bran Zorca Totalinus, you deserve the crown for taking a viewpoint that makes even me look narrow-minded.”

The king had no queen by his side.

Nor did he have a maid to guard his sword.

Even so, Guardeleo had stuck around to the very end, doing whatever it took to protect his kingdom, and now he gathered all his strength to force out these words.

With a smile.



“It is in your hands now, my son… Both the future of this kingdom and of the world beyond this one continent.”



It was over.

Silence fell.

Behind a large tree in the same courtyard, the minotaur heard those last words while leaning back against the trunk.

“…Yeah.”

He didn’t move much.

He lowered his head, but not in dismay. The man carrying two swords silently nodded.

“You can count on me, father.”