[787] Alpha Fish (5)
"Ughhh..."
The man who had bitten his tongue in a desperate attempt to die fell to the ground from a strike to the back of his neck, and the entire village went unconscious.
The only ones still conscious were the gypsies; their different clothes made them easy to spot.
Even if they hadn't been distinguishable, the captain of the guard would have had no trouble picking out the guilty residents.
'This is why His Highness is unparalleled.'
Habitz did not fear.
'Even if he takes the world's blame, His Highness is the ultimate a human can strive to be.'
That was why a man bearing the title of the Empire's Greatest Sword would willingly serve a border lord who was effectively exiled to the frontier.
'I will make him emperor, no matter what.'
Seven years later, he was decapitated in a single blow by the battle doll Natasha who had come to Habitz's playground.
His last words, spat from a severed throat, were said to be, "I have seen the ultimate of combat."
"Habitz?"
The gypsies stared vacantly at Habitz holding Abella.
He wasn't Emperor Gustav Habitz the 16th, but simply being Habitz, the ruler of Arkaba on the eastern frontier, made him a godlike figure to them.
'I heard he's an unprecedented tyrant.'
The rootless gypsies knew that among the emperor's sons there could be those possessed of boundless madness.
"Abella! Come here! Hurry!"
Having tasted Habitz's cruelty through the pirates, Abella's mother dared not approach and only motioned.
"Don't be scared."
When Habitz whispered, Abella nodded.
"Okay. I'm not scared at all now."
For a nine-year-old who had seen people die and had nearly been raped, the scene of death was no different from a natural disaster.
What mattered to her was that the villains who had tormented her were gone.
"The man beat the monster."
Only adults could see the invisible tightrope.
"Put me down."
Even the world's foremost scholars couldn't pin Habitz down.
"Are you going to your mother? Then shall we play tomorrow?"
To Abella, Habitz looked like a boy her own age with some superpower far greater than any adult's.
"We have to leave now."
Abella, who had lived a gypsy life, knew her people would move the village tomorrow.
"Really?"
Habitz showed a hurt look.
"Abella, come on over. Don't bother the important man."
As her mother mustered the courage to approach, Abella reached out a hand toward Habitz.
"Mister, can grown-ups give me money?"
"Abella!"
Her mother shouted.
"Sure, I'll give you ten billion gold. I've got plenty."
Habitz agreed readily, but Abella shook her head as if to say that wasn't it.
"No. I want to buy one flower here. This time, one whose name and breed I know. Then I'll sell flowers."
"How can you run a business with one flower?"
"You plant a seed every year. Tend it, grow it, tend it again, and when there are enough flowers for a flower shop..."
Tears welled in Abella's eyes.
"Will you come to my shop? Let's play together again."
So heartbroken at parting, Habitz sniffled and rummaged through his pockets.
"Of course. If we're going to play together, I have to grant your wish. I'll definitely come see your flower field."
A gold coin was placed on the small hand.
"Abella!"
When Habitz left the village, Abella's mother ran up and smacked her on the butt.
"What on earth are you doing?! You could have been killed! Do you understand?"
"Waaah! Why did you hit me!"
The child's tone showed she didn't grasp the seriousness. Her mother gripped her shoulder and forced her to meet her gaze.
"Look at me. I told you not to go off with just anyone. Don't you even know who that man is?"
"Huh? That man?"
Abella glanced back at the place Habitz had left, wiped her tear‑streaked face, and smiled brightly.
"The mustache uncle."
"Waaah! Waaah!"
Even on the way back to the palace, Habitz's weeping went on so pitifully that the captain of the guard spoke.
"Your Highness, if parting upsets you so much, why not bring all the gypsies to the palace?"
Habitz's tears stopped, and a chill the captain had never known shot into his eyes.
"I—I'm sorry!"
He didn't know what he had done wrong.
"She said she would tend a flower field and show it to me. And you tell me to bring them here? Are you even a man?"
'I can't get a read on him at all.'
Was it so important that Abella tend a flower field and that Habitz someday visit it?
'He acts on desire, and yet...'
Sometimes he exercised perfect restraint.
'No, that too is an expression of desire.'
A promise to a mere nine‑year‑old—an adult indulgence.
To Habitz, it was above all else the driving force of his life.
"She's a witch."
There was some sense to why he hadn't slain the captain on the spot.
"Before you condemn the residents of Bardol to death..."
The captain bowed immediately.
"Give the orders."
"Investigate all family ties. Trace cousins, distant kin—even down to the eighth and ninth degrees—and kill them all. Leave no one alive."
"What?"
Even a rough estimate put the number well over ten thousand, and the captain raised his head in disbelief.
Seeing sincerity on Habitz's face, he hastily bent his waist and blurted his reply.
"I will carry out the command!"
* * *
"It wasn't done unknowingly."
Woorin said.
"Habitz is free from the Law, but by Law No. 2 he feels another order that points to himself. Of course, as a manifestation of chaos, it's distant from reason. Still, on a sensory level..."
The result was shocking enough to warrant a pause.
"He actually traced every cousin, distant kin, and remote relative of all the Bardol residents and killed roughly twenty‑two thousand people."
Minerva spoke while watching Abella's shoulders tremble again.
"You knew, on a sensory level."
"Yes. If the chaos called Habitz hadn't slipped into that village fourteen years ago, Abella would have been raped by the pirates."
That is how one becomes a witch.
"Even if she hadn't awakened there, the massacre of the villagers would have become a new root cause that would follow Abella her whole life."
Habitz had sealed that at the source.
"For a full fourteen years—until she came of age—he bombarded every variable that might have tormented her, turning them into a Law‑made wasteland. That's why Abella did not become a witch."
Minerva glared at Abella.
"You knew, too? After you left, everyone who had even a drop of shared blood with those villagers was killed."
"N—no!"
Abella hesitated, then confessed.
"Actually... yes. Later my mother told me. If it hadn't been Mister Habitz, I would have become a witch."
"They were innocent. Did you know that too?"
Abella's tears fell in drops.
"Yes."
When she was nine, she could see the same things and empathize with Habitz.
But when she grew up, she learned to see the invisible tightrope, and she understood all of it.
Shirone asked, "Have you thought about calling Habitz to your flower shop?"
"No. It was a childish promise. Later I realized how meaningless it was. The flowers I bought with the money he gave me withered in a year. I cried for days then."
"The problem is..."
Iruki said, "Habitz still considers that promise valid. He's probably still waiting for Abella to call him."
No one disagreed.
"That raises our chance of success, but..."
Shirone cut in over Minerva.
"Abella, your mother—?"
"She passed away two years ago. She was always frail. But she was happy that I opened a flower shop."
Since Yus had been gone some time, Abella had no family left.
Minerva spoke again. "We intend to kill Habitz. The most important thing is your will. Can you do it?"
'Mister Habitz...'
Abella knew how many people had been sacrificed so Habitz could break the fate of a witch.
'He's a bad man. A truly bad man.'
Abella closed her eyes.
'He buried people alive, started wars, even killed unrelated people... and because of that...'
And that's how I live happily.
'The conflict must be intense.'
Shirone understood Woorin's point.
'Evil can sometimes look attractive.'
Because it achieves what humans cannot.
"But that is an illusion, Abella. Habitz is nothing but endless chaos—the ultimate evil as humans define it."
One who has no place in the human world.
"I will do it."
Abella opened her eyes slowly and decided.
'Yes. Let's die. Let's die together, mister.'
Woorin said, "I'll give you one last chance to think it over. Not for your sake, but for ours. We know this can't be achieved by coercion."
"No, I've decided. Even though Mister Habitz helped me, many people died because of me."
She wanted to atone.
"I'll do it. I don't know what powers I have, but I'll do my best."
When Gando took Abella away, Woorin looked around the room and said, "We've secured the Alpha Fish. Now we only need to bring back the Beta Fish and all preparations will be complete."
Iruki propped his chin on his hand. "...There was a survivor."
Shirone realized as well. "Oh, I see."
"Those twenty‑two thousand innocents Habitz ordered killed. But even an emperor could not possibly find all kin. He already found someone, didn't he? The one who hates Habitz the most?"
Woorin spoke candidly. "Yes. The woman who escaped the massacre fourteen years ago now lives in the Arakne Kingdom."
Legally, it was a perfect match.
"Arakne? That's in the southern hemisphere?"
Gudion added, "It's the Seven Kings' Seat representing the ten island kingdoms of the Southern Continental Sea. A political haven, famous as a resort."
"It's also where the world beauty pageant is held."
Everyone turned to Mys.
"Just... curious who'll win. It's that season. No other feelings."
Woorin exhaled. "The problem is she's hiding her identity. So Shirone, I'll ask you."
Shirone was already prepared. "Bring back the Beta Fish. If you're one of the Five Great Stars, you can request the Arakne government's asylum records."
"What information do you have on her?"
"Her real name is Amery Jestin. We couldn't confirm what name she's using now. She's twenty‑seven, and she has burn scars she suffered while in exile—under her right breast toward her flank."
A distinctive wound would certainly help.
"Kashan is almost end to end. Considering layovers at the international station, flying isn't much different."
Iruki asked, "Isn't that the more monstrous plan?"
Woorin smiled with his eyes. "Take the Latusa. It'll help."
A Tier‑3 monster, the monstrous bird Kaidra.
He remembered vividly breaking through the desert god Noskarta together when they stopped by the Oasis Vanguard of the southern desert.
'It was really tough, but that's a memory now.'
He suddenly missed Rian and Kido.
"We'll depart immediately. Get the Latusa ready."
As Shirone opened the door with Iruki, Mys suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Make sure you bring back the winner's swimsuit color!"
Bang—the door closed.