***

***

Gillotti’s voice crawled into Perso’s eardrum like a snake.

Perso had to lower his eyes for a moment.

If he looked straight into Gillotti’s eyes like this, he thought he would feel uneasy.

“Your Excellency said you wanted me to be safe, but even if I am not, I will continue to hate your emperor.”

“… To be more honest, I wish Gillotti Tanatos would die in the most brutal and desperate way he did to my people.”

Anna’s trembling voice came to his mind.

His heart grew heavier as her warm but strong brown eyes flashed in front of him.

He seemed to know the reason she looked strong.

Anna had a ‘belief’.

She had absolute values and goodness to believe in and follow.

But what about him?

Perso took a breath and looked at the emperor standing in front of him.

Maybe he had only seen him four or five times?

“You mean you won’t get down on your knees?”

Gillotti’s impression was grimly wrinkled by Perso’s eyes looking directly at him.

“Is it worth trusting and following the emperor?”

A chill fell coldly in Perso’s eyes.

Actually, it wasn’t difficult to get down on one knee, but Perso couldn’t figure out what he was getting from doing such a useless thing. Perso also knew Gillotti’s power. But Death has always been there.

If he felt afraid of it, it was no different from living with heavy sandbags on his ankles.

It made no difference.

“……Your eyes are rebellious, Duke of Gertium.”

Gillotti frowned and stared at Perso.

‘If I throw it away before I wait for it to be thrown away…’

Suddenly, his head became clear. He felt refreshed as id he was covered in cold water.

“Perso, ah…!”

It was then.

bang! Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

There was a huge roar and vibration that shook the entire palace.

Perso, Gillotti, and the guards present at the same time all looked back to the place where the sound was coming from.

“Ha, what was that?”

Kwaaaaaa!

Once again there was a roar.

Gillotti’s shoulders shrank at the sound of getting closer than before.

Perso jumped out without delay.

Screams were heard throughout the palace, and the attendants were running down the stairs at once.

“What’s going on?”

“The gap! There is a gap! Monsters appear…!”

As he grabbed a running maid and asked, she gibberished with a terrified face.A gap.

Everything was explained in that one word. Perso frowned and drew his sword.

“Everyone, follow me.”

The knights and guards who were waiting followed Perso and went upstairs.

A cloud of dust was scattered everywhere, and an unknown cry resounded throughout the floor.

Krrrrr!

Perso, who was listening, opened his eyes. He knew this sound.

‘Zagma.’

It was a monster that frequently appeared in Tanatos.

But strangely, now was not the season to tear the gap.

The reason why Tanatos people liked July the most was because there were almost no cracks in July or August.

The gap was usually most active from January to May, then gradually decreased and rarely appeared in July.

Then, in September, monsters appear again and disappear in November.

For most of hundreds of years, gaps had occurred in this way.

Of course, Perso also knew that the size of the gap was getting bigger and bigger and the frequency was getting more frequent.

It was also reported through reports that until last month, the number of gaps in various places had reached 30.

The emperor rejected the appeals of the local lords who requested troops on the pretext of the July festival.

In the capital, monsters appeared more frequently, so it would have been difficult to subtract the troops. Especially since the emperor hated it if it was a monster.

“It’s Zagma, sir. There are more than I thought.”

A senior knight who assisted Perso, Hanant, whispered after hurriedly grasping the surroundings.

“Nine.”

The guards counted the number of zagmas they were desperately blocking.

There were more than expected.

The gap would have been quite large for such a number to burst out at once, so why wasn’t it discovered early?

It was also the main palace with the strictest security… …

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important now.

“Hanant, Part, get the battle lines together! You can’t let them leave this floor!”

At the same time as Perso’s cry, the momentum of the dozens of knights following him changed.

The eyes of the veteran knights who came forward gleamed horribly.

“Charge.”

At the same time as the word fell from Perso, twelve knights rushed towards the zagmas.

****

That afternoon, Tamon and Asha heard that there had been a gap in the Imperial Palace.

“It is said that nine zagmas appeared in the central hallway on the third floor. Fortunately, there were the Duke of Gertium and his knights nearby, so they were able to kill them without difficulty.”

Anna, who was drinking tea, flinched in surprise at the name Gertium.

“They say that most of them quickly annihilated the zagmas without any major injuries, except Gertium. He hurt his leg.”

Unknowingly, Anna grabbed the teacup tightly and looked towards the Imperial Palace.

“How bad is it?”

Asha, who knew Anna’s mind, first asked about Perso’s condition.

The knight of Ronasso answered immediately.

“He got a stab wound in his thigh while covering for a knight. It’s not a big wound, but I heard there was a little bit of poison.”

Asha nodded her head as if that was enough.

Anna’s gaze was not falling from the window.

“Still, that’s amazing. 12 knights could kill 9 monsters in an instant.”

As if in admiration, Tamon let out a brief impression.

Even if there were nine small ones, it was a number that would be difficult to kill even if a big group of knights attacked them at once.

“Well, of course, if it were me, I would have taken care of everything by myself.”Tamon spoke arrogantly and appealed to Asha.

But Asha didn’t pay attention to him because she was busy checking Anna’s complexion.

“Anna.”

“Uh, huh?”

Anna looked at Asha in surprise at Asha’s call.

“Are you worried?”

“Worry? Oh no! Why do I care, who am I? There’s no one to worry about. No, absolutely.”

Anna waved her hands in denial. It seemed that she did not know that the fierce denial was rather suspicious.

“Ugh, it’s hot. I’ll go out for a walk and come back. Oh, you’re leaving now?” (Anna)

“Yeah. I think we’d better go when it’s busy there.” (Asha)

“… be careful, Rosie. Don’t overdo it.”

Anna anxiously hugged Asha and went outside.

“There was a commotion… it’s rather good for us.”

Tamon, who had changed into comfortable clothes for activities, said lightly. Asha also agreed with Tamon.

Since the palace was in turmoil, the security would have been rather lax.

Moreover, there was a high possibility that the guards were concentrated in the main palace where the incident took place. If so, the attention paid to the west tower where Hartz was would have been reduced.

“But there is a possibility that the security will be tighter from tomorrow because of this. So today is just the right time.”

After Asha also changed into her comfortable clothes, she neatly tied her hair up. The orange sunlight was turning into a twilight purple. Now it was time to leave.

Tamon and Asha looked around and came out.

She had already done it once, so the second time was much easier.

Asha led Tamon out of the dark and headed towards the West Tower.

As expected, the boundaries of the tower were broken to the point of ridiculousness.

Even the remaining guards were distracted by talking about what happened today, so it was very easy to break in.

The two easily entered the tower, muffled the sound of footsteps, and climbed to the top.

There were two guards guarding the tightly closed door.

Tamon lit the incense burner he had brought.

It took only about 5 minutes for the smoke to climb up the stairs and hit the guards.

The two guards fell down with a crashing sound.

The tightly closed door opened.

“……You are here.”

As soon as the door opened, Hartz smiled at the two as if he had been waiting.

“Did you know we would come?”

“Isn’t that enough to be called a prophet?”

Hartz greeted them with a joke and stood face to face in front of them.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue. However…… you’ve come a long way for nothing.”

“What do you mean?”

Hearing Hartz’s words, Asha asked with a firm face.

“I’m not going out. Please tell Hana and Mana to wait a little longer.”

“I think I need a more detailed explanation…”

At Tamon’s urging, Hartz sat down on the chair in front of the window and said,

“There is still work to be done. A licorice-like role in this gigantic play. Actually, it’s going to happen even if it’s not me, but…… Still, I want to do my best if possible.”

The west tower was built on the highest point in the imperial palace.

It was a place where you could see the capital and the Imperial Palace. He also watched the zagmas appear from here.

People poured out to escape the monsters.

The image of the future that Hartz saw and the image of those people overlapped.

Fortunately, in the future he saw, no one had that kind of face because of the monsters pouring out of the gap.

“…Now that I’ve come this far, I don’t want to be an audience watching from behind.”

Hartz smiled and looked at Asha and Tamon.

The two main characters of this huge play.

Seeing the two of them standing firmly, his heart trembled as if the future he had seen was so near.

“I want to be a good supporting actor and join the stage the two of you will show. So I’ll watch Gillotti Tanatos fall from the nearest point.”