The Dragon Emperor’s eyes narrowed, almost as if he saw through his expression.

“It’s childish, your way of doing thing.”

However, right now, he was frightened of this man’s eyes.  They were the eyes of a man who neither expected nor hoped for help from anyone.

“What happened to the Black Dragon’s cry?  Was the dragon controlling flute completed?  What are Maynard’s objectives?  Answer me.”
“…”
“You refuse to answer unless its to the kind Jill-sensei?  You want to be told ‘Well done,’ while being patted on the head?”

That voice laced with mockery blew his fear away.

“—I- I already gave them the magical device that recorded the Black Dragon’s cry!  It’ll be complete once they register the cry, but they won’t be able to extract the sound.  It might look the same, but I broke the magic enchantment used to collect the sound, so it should take them some time.”

The Dragon Emperor looked surprised.  That gave Lutiya a small sliver of satisfaction, and so he smiled with a stiff, strained expression.

“I’m not stupid.  Those guys from the Blue Dragon Class, they really did treat me… like one of them.  I’m sure Noin also… Once the war starts, I doubt Maynard-aniue will bother eliminating the students.  Any appeals they make will just be dismissed as conspiracy theories.  If I’m abandoned, they’ll all be saved… Even I… can at least provide, that much of an insurance…”

Spoken aloud as it was, it couldn’t be called anything more than immature.  It was nothing more than a makeshift measure.  Lutiya looked down in shame to hide his blush when a rough pat rustled his head.

“Wh- What the heck is that all about?”
“…I wonder?  Well, that felt right just now, so—”

Hades stood up midsentence.  Several sets of footsteps could faintly be heard.

They had probably grown impatient waiting for Lutiya and had sent soldiers to investigate.

“Want to escape together?”

Lutiya shook his head in response.

“I’m fine the way it is.  There are still things I can do.  I’ll… take some of the responsibility. You should hurry and escape though?  Even Jill-sensei would be troubled if you were to get caught.”
“Yeah, understood.  Alright, do as you’d like.  I could always save you later.”
“…What’s with you?  Saying that all of a sudden, it’s creepy.”
“Well, I wanted to try doing something older brother-like at least once.”

Lutiya lifted his head.  The older brother he saw for the first time under the sunlight smiled, and then vanished as though he had been an illusion.

Except, he knew.  He knew that hadn’t been an illusion.

—If I am going to be saved, I want to at the very least be someone worth saving.

It’s a bit late, and it might not be much, but— I’ll do what I can.

They had probably thought dressing Lutiya poorly would draw pity, so the fact that he was dressed primly was fortunate.  Before being told to stand, he stood up straight.  Then, even with shackles on his wrist, he walked forward in a straight line.

Being able to do that much, so long as it was by his own will, meant he was fortunate.

“—He’s here, Lutiya Theos Rave!”

He had wondered what they intended to do for the public interrogation, but they ended up bringing him aboard one of the many warships anchored in the harbor.  When he was made to stand at the bow, he could see crowds packed on the piers, wharf, and along the quay.  Countless eyes, filled with scorn, confusion, and curiosity, focused on him.

Against a crowd like this, rescue was surely impossible.  They probably wouldn’t even be able to use the infiltration route planned for the operation.

Despite that, he strangely felt calm, refreshed.  Not even the jeers reached his ears

“Silence!  The charges against Lutiya Theos Rave will now be stated.  Objections may come afterwards.”

A wry smile formed on his lips.  In other words, the charges had already been assumed.  Everything happening was just for formality.

However, Maynard was nowhere to be seen.  Now that he thought about it, he had been reported injured.  That too was strange considering Maynard and Gunter had been cooperating.

“—That is all!  If there are any objections, speak now!”

The reading of the charges had ended while Lutiya was lost in thought.  He turned once again to face the eyes focused on him.  No matter what he said, the course of events from then on had already been decided. That was likely why Maynard had abandoned him here.

He drew in a slow, deep breath.

I hate this country.

When the homeland fell into chaos, they got ahead of themselves and actied like Lutiya might become the emperor.  Yet the moment doubt was cast on the Rave royal bloodline, they completely abandoned him.  Now the adults were trying to use him like this, while the foolish masses went right along with it.

I hate… every single… last one… of them.

“—Beloved citizens of Lacia,” However, every single person— the foolish and small minded— were just like him.

Human.

The crowd fell completely silent as Lutiya smiled.

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