Chapter 40

Voices rose in surprise when I showed myself.

Though, some were too surprised to make a sound.

The noblewoman whose shadow I had come out of–the one who was a Shadow like myself, she was frozen and wide-eyed.

I tried waving at her.

“…”

No. She was too stunned to react.

“Oh, so you are here. When did you arrive?”

“Just a short while ago. As you were talking about me, I decided that I shouldn’t wait.”

“Yes, we were talking about you. What do you think about her? Don’t you think she would make the perfect Patron?”

“We haven’t really spent much time together yet.”

“Yes. But do think it over. You may go now, Rymidia.”

“Y-yes. …Please excuse me.”

And so the noblewoman who I had delivered the bread to, made her exit, though she moved very awkwardly.

I remained.

And I could feel the murderous glares on me.

Did the Left Hands hate me so much?

“Quite impressive. I had no idea that you were here.”

“I came to make a report regarding yesterday.”

I said plainly.

Well, had I not dove into human shadows, I might have triggered a barrier or two.

It was always harder to enter than to escape. I would have to inspect the different types of barriers on my way back.

“Very well. Let’s hear your report.”

Her carefree voice was like a wind that blew away all the murderous anger around me. That was the Queen for you. She was not moved by others.

And so I tried to sound cheerful as well.

“I succeeded in eliminating Through. And Double as well.”

“I heard about that. Double… Oh, what was it again? Predicting Double? He had some such name.”

“Predict…?”

Like a prophecy?

Neither of them had been impressive in combat.

As they were the ones that remained, I had assumed that they were combat magicians.

“In the past, this Double detected simultaneous attacks on their bases. It was as if he had the ability to see multiple locations at once.”

Perhaps it was some kind of magic tool of farsight.

They really weren’t fit for combat.

“Through had very advanced detection magic. He was able to detect the Right Hands before they got close enough.”

“So, how did he manage to enter the Royal Castle?”

“I can only speculate, but either his detection magic just happened to be a good match, or he was able to detect a very wide range of magic.”

Regardless, he was dead now. So there was no need to fear what he was once capable of.

“I see. Thank you, Leon.”

“Everything is for you, Your Majesty.”

I said and was about to take my leave. However, the Queen was not yet finished with me.

“So, tell me about Foul Eater and Thousand Needles.”

She said.

I would make my excuses.

“They attacked me immediately after I succeeded in my mission. And so I had no choice but to fight them.”

I had no idea how it had been reported by that lady, but I told the truth.

“Indeed. But did you really need to go that far?”

“To be honest, I didn’t expect him to be so weak. While I had no intention of showing mercy, I was only reacting with the same amount of force.”

In other words, I attacked him just as he had attacked me, and he happened to die. His death was a result of him being too weak.

“Perhaps. And what will you do if you encounter the one that survived?”

“I will kill her, of course.”

I tilted my head as if to ask if there was a problem with that.

“You know, she’s been through harsh training to get where she is.”

“Yes. I will let her go then. But if she ever antagonizes me again, then I will kill her.”

“That is fine. …Oh, yes. I’m sure you’ve heard about Makoku’s sudden scheming. Do you know the reason?”

“No. I must be ill-informed, as I haven’t heard about it.”

This was true.

I had heard that Through was the cause of something important getting into the hands of Makoku, but I didn’t know what it was and why Makoku was starting to move now.

“Word of this must not leave this room. But a Great Shift is about to occur.”

“Bwffaahh!”

What?

Great Shift? What? Was it what I was thinking about?

“You seem surprised.”

“Of course, I am. …By Great Shift… Do you mean that the Shadow Moon Road is going to move?”

“That’s right. Signs of this have appeared when observing the way that the two moons overlap.”

Uhh. I did not want to hear that. But it was something I had to hear.

“Is that the information that Makoku found out?”

“Yes. It seems that they know. The Great Shift will happen in four years. Of course, this will be the first Great Shift ever since we started making detailed observations.”

“…”

Eidana and Kaida were the two moons in the sky.

When the two moons came close together, ‘steel husks’ would fall from Eidano.

And when they crashed on the surface, the Moon Beasts were born.

Dragon Masters were the only people in this country that could defeat Moon Beasts.

The place that the steel husks fell, in other words, the place where the Moon Beasts appeared, was usually the same. It was the route that Eidano moved in.

The route had been the same for a long time. And in this country, it was called the Shadow Moon Road.

And so towns and roads avoided it.

In the past, the two moons had come together a number of times.

Each time, countless steel husks rained down to the earth. And then, Eidana would be pulled by Kaida, and the moon would move.

“Hmm, when was the last Great Shift? Nearly 200 years ago?”

“To be precise, it was 176 years ago, Your Majesty.”

“Ah, yes. Back then, the Shadow Moon Road moved to the north, and Ryukoku suffered great losses.”

“Yes. It had been documented thoroughly.”

“They tell me it will move north this time as well. That is not really a bad thing for us, but Makoku is a different matter.”

I brought up a map of Makoku in my mind.

If the current Shadow Moon Road moved north…

“…Co-could it really…”

The Queen nodded.

If I was right, then Makoku would fall.