“Sharka isn’t a bad noble? Kill all the nobles? Lynx, what on earth are you saying? I can’t understand your thinking at all.”
The light vanished from Aquila’s eyes deep within the hood, and it seemed as if only darkness spread there.
Aquila’s voice trembled with anger, and the force with which he gripped Lynx’s neck intensified.
“Guh… but, Sharka… he saved my family from being executed…”
“Huh? A noble helping a commoner? What foolishness are you spouting? Nobles only squeeze and exploit commoners to fill their own pockets with luxuries. They show no mercy, no matter how much the commoners suffer!”
“Ugh…”
Nobles collect taxes on wheat harvests as a percentage, either in currency or wheat, so they don’t suddenly change the rate.
However, greedy and malicious tax collectors often skim more than the actual tax.
“If they find even the slightest thing displeasing, they immediately behead you, fabricate crimes to steal money—that’s what nobles are. There are no good nobles anywhere in this world, Lynx.”
“But… six years ago, Sharka must have…”
Lynx hasn’t been with the Union for long and isn’t fully indoctrinated with its ideology.
In contrast, Aquila has been raised since childhood to believe that nobles are the enemy and must be killed, so there was no way he could agree with Lynx.
“No buts! How much do you think they’ve oppressed and tormented us! They go around the territories under the guise of ‘Hero Hunting,’ searching for those with ‘Hero Factors.’ They kill the men and turn the women into tools for producing Stella-Class! That can’t be allowed!”
“…”
“Hey, Lynx, think again. When your family was suffering, did a noble extend a hand? Were they kind to you? Who was it that tried to execute your family in the first place? It was a noble, wasn’t it?”
“…U…”
What Aquila was saying wasn’t wrong.
The Ortenos’s annual tribute was indeed harsh.
Recently, the economy had improved, and life had become much easier, but until then, it had truly been hell.
“Nobles are evil. They’re the reason the world’s order is messed up. Not the Astrological Cauldron, not the Eastern Star Church, but we, the Union, must destroy the nobles and guide this world correctly!”
“…Guh, I, I understand.”
Lynx could only nod at Aquila’s fanatical words.
(…As always, Lynx is so easily swayed, it’s a relief.)
Aquila was satisfied with Lynx’s reaction and released his neck.
“Cough, cough…!”
Lynx, now on the ground, coughed.
There were clear marks on Lynx’s neck.
“Good, as long as you understand. Let’s continue to fight together as Heroes.”
“…”
As if the training was over, Aquila returned to his usual eerie smile.
Lynx was terrified by the emotional swings of Aquila.
“Well then, shall we head back soon?”
“…Yeah.”
Just as they decided to return, Lynx suddenly noticed a figure in the north.
“Aquila, someone’s coming.”
“Huh? That’s impossible. We’re wearing Perception-Blocking Robes, and we shouldn’t be visible from a distance.”
“But they’re heading straight for us… and they’re impossibly fast.”
“No way…”
Aquila couldn’t believe Lynx’s words and extended the cylindrical object in his hand to look through it.
“Huh?… No way, right? Is that Sharka?”
Witnessing the figure of a black-haired, golden-eyed boy with an unremarkable face, nearing adulthood, heading towards them at an incredible speed, Aquila felt a chill run down his spine.
“…Shouldn’t we run?”
“Impossible! How did he find our location!”
“Aquila, decide quickly.”
“…Damn it! We’ll use Maten to outrun him on Azalash!”
The two of them rushed down the hill and mounted the horses waiting at the foot.
Aquila applied Maten to himself and Lynx and spurred the horses in a southeastern direction.
“Impossible, impossible, impossible…”
Aquila couldn’t believe what he had seen and muttered like a curse on horseback.
“It’s no good, we’ll be caught at this rate.”
“How! We’re escaping with Maten!”
“Probably because of Sharka’s horse.”
“Horse?… Wh-what is that?”
Aquila looked back and was speechless.
The horse Sharka was riding was no ordinary horse.
Its coat shone with a pale blue light, and it had two antlers like a deer on its head.
Between the two antlers, thin, pale blue lightning crackled.
Its form was clearly too strange to be described as a horse.
The canter of that horse, he couldn’t tell how long each stride was, but it was clearly twice as fast as Aquila’s horses.
Aquila was confused, unable to understand.
“That’s probably a Phantom Beast…”
Lynx’s mutterings passed vainly through Aquila’s ears.