Episode 12: Side – Alkalion Snaps
Time rewinds slightly.
She was the Prime Minister of the Holy Dragoon Empire, a High Elf who had supported the Empire for several hundred years.
Olga von Butler.
Being a High Elf, she possessed an almost terrifyingly perfect beauty and was a popular woman who received active advances even from other women.
Olga was焦っていた.
(It’s happened!! That foolish minister, of all people, has harmed the one who would be Her Majesty’s husband!!)
Olga had received information from the spies she had placed in various locations and had rushed to the Imperial Palace in a great panic.
She ordered her fellow High Elves and Elves residing in the Imperial Capital to evacuate immediately and also issued an evacuation advisory to the general populace.
To her kin and the citizens of the Imperial Capital, these orders must have seemed incomprehensible.
However, perhaps because they were the orders of the Prime Minister who had supported the Dragoon Empire for centuries, everyone reluctantly complied with the evacuation.
(The problem is—)
Feeling her heart pound fiercely with terror, Olga arrived at the great hall of the Imperial Palace.
It was the great hall normally used for audiences.
Upon entering, she found Alkalion seated on the throne.
“Y-Your Majesty.”
“—My boy has been abducted.”
Olga felt as if her heart had stopped.
“My treasure has been stolen by someone.”
“I-I shall immediately arrange for a search—”
“Unnecessary. I have already pinpointed his location and sent Rosemary to retrieve him.”
Her actions were far too swift.
Olga, who had known her for several hundred years, knew the reason.
The Dragon Eye possessed by Empress Alkalion.
It was a power akin to that of a god, capable of reading all of creation and seeing through even the infinitely branching possibilities of the future.
“Rest assured, Olga. I do not intend to rampage as I did in the past. Even so, things don’t always go as planned, do they?”
“…I can only imagine what you’re going through.”
Everyone might think that with a power akin to a god’s, she could have foreseen the kidnapping and prevented it.
However, that was a cruel expectation.
A god is closer to a machine than a living being. A perfect being possesses no emotions, does not reproduce, and has no desires.
That is precisely why Alkalion strives to be imperfect.
Because the more she unleashes her full power, the more her own self would collapse.
That was why Alkalion always kept the majority of her power sealed.
This time, it had backfired.
“It seems you’ve evacuated the citizens.”
“Y-Yes, I took the liberty of doing so, Your Majesty.”
“A good decision. Previously, I lost myself and nearly destroyed the continent.”
Olga felt a wave of relief.
She was reassured to hear that, at the very least, Alkalion did not intend to rampage as she had centuries ago.
“However, the ones who abducted my boy—their entire clans will be executed. —You won’t try to stop me, will you?”
“U-Understood.”
“That’s good. You are like family to me, so I didn’t want to kill you.”
Being told implicitly that she would be killed if she tried to stop her, Olga shivered.
“B-By the way, regarding the kidnappers…”
“I am aware. The Minister of Military Affairs ordered my boy’s abduction. It seems he’s quite eager for war. He apparently wants to restart the war by framing the Agaram Kingdom for my boy’s kidnapping.”
“Y-You knew, as I suspected.”
“Yes, I can see everything now. It seems he’s plotting something else as well.”
Alkalion was not looking at Olga, but gazing fixedly into the distance.
Whether it was the present, the future, or perhaps the past.
It was impossible to tell when or where she was looking, but an terrifying amount of information was undoubtedly flowing into Alkalion.
Olga refrained from speaking carelessly, waiting for Alkalion to close her eyes.
It was then.
A fat man, utterly incapable of reading the room, entered the great hall.
“Th-The Minister of Military Affairs…”
“Your Majesty!! This is a disaster!! Reichel-dono has been abducted!! Traces of Agaram-made magical tools were found at the scene, so it must be their doing!!”
Olga clutched her head.
Any resident of the Dragoon Empire knew that Alkalion possessed an all-seeing eye.
However, only long-lived races like Olga truly believed it.
The Minister of Military Affairs was a fifty-year-old human and did not know that Alkalion had nearly destroyed the continent in the past.
He did not believe the stories that all lies and schemes were useless against Alkalion.
(What a fool. However, from what I’ve heard, Reichel-dono doesn’t seem to have a particularly harsh personality. If he were to stop Her Majesty, telling her that executing entire clans is going too far, perhaps the massacre could be avoided.)
The number of people who knew of Alkalion’s cruel side had finally dwindled over these past few hundred years.
Three times in the past, to Olga’s knowledge, Alkalion had similarly flown into a rage, causing the populace to fear her, and the nations she had painstakingly built had fallen to ruin.
That was merely three times within Olga’s knowledge.
It was possible she had done similar things even before that.
The Dragoon Empire was, as far as Olga knew, the most prosperous nation over which Alkalion had reigned as a ruler.
Executing the Minister of Military Affairs’ clan and instilling unnecessary fear in the populace was something she wished to avoid.
She had to somehow meet Reichel before the mass execution took place and have him stop Alkalion.
Just as she was thinking that.
“—You, did you abduct my daughters as well?”
Alkalion’s golden eyes pierced the Minister of Military Affairs.
For a moment, the Minister was genuinely confused, not understanding what she meant, but he quickly grasped her meaning.
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
“‘Let’s dispose of the incompetent Second Princess, who only drinks, and the lazy Fourth Princess, who only sleeps, all at once.'”
“!?”
“‘If we blame it all on another country, we can restart the war. We can profit from the war. It would be problematic if the Empire didn’t go to war.'”
“Y-Your Majesty, that is…”
“That’s what you were discussing with someone from your pet munitions manufacturing company about ten days ago.”
Cold sweat poured down the Minister of Military Affairs’ face, while Olga looked on with an exasperated expression.
“I won’t blame you for lining your pockets through war. Humans often do such things; it’s very human-like. However, you laid hands on my husband and my daughters. You laid hands on treasures more precious to me than my own life.”
“W-Wait!! P-Please, let’s talk—”
“‘I only wish to help Her Majesty unify the world as she desires,’ is it?”
“!?”
Alkalion read the Minister’s mind, predicting his next words.
Then, Alkalion, her expression unchangingly blank, said,
“Allow me to tell you why I am plotting world conquest and waging war against the world.”
“Eh?”
“Because it is more befitting of a living being.”
Because it was more befitting of a living being.
It wasn’t that she particularly wanted the world, nor did she wish to destroy other countries.
She simply wanted to dominate others, to define herself as human through such actions.
It was an act born of being a superhuman, not human.
“I wage war to remain myself. When one lives for a long time, one goes mad if one doesn’t do such things. But recently, I’ve found something more human-like than war. It is romance. It is love.”
Humans create humans through love. Humans raise humans by loving children.
That was the sole reason she had stopped the war.
Alkalion knew no act more human than loving someone.
Therefore, war was no longer necessary.
Because truly loving the man named Reichel allowed her to be more like a living being.
“W-Wai—”
Alkalion mercilessly lopped off the Minister of Military Affairs’ head with a hand chop.
Then, she quietly informed Olga.
“I thought I would be fine this time, but knowing that they even laid hands on my daughters, I don’t think I can hold back. I will rampage in a little while. Olga, you should evacuate.”
“U-Understood.”
“I plan to vent my anger as quickly as possible, within about three days. Until then, do not let any of the populace near.”
Olga fled the scene at full speed.
Not merely to obey Alkalion’s command, but to minimize the damage to the Imperial Capital.
Olga headed for the Dragon Knights’ barracks and reached for the magical communicator in its communication room.
Her contact was Rosemary, who had gone to retrieve Reichel.
“Her Majesty is enraged!! Only Reichel-dono can stop her!! Please return to the Imperial Capital at once!!”
Then, Olga hastily exited the Imperial Capital.
Immediately after, a colossal white dragon, hundreds of meters in length, manifested in the Imperial Capital.
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Afterword
A Trivial Little Story
Author: “I wish someone loved me this much too…”
Rei: “I’m here for you!!”
Author: “I want to be loved by a beautiful girl, you harem-building bastard!!”
Rei: “That’s your problem right there.”
If you thought, “Alkalion snapping is terrifying,” “The Prime Minister really has it rough, huh?” or “Author, that’s your problem right there,” please leave your thoughts, bookmark, rate with stars, and review.