55: Kuuga’s Attack

It was dawn the next day when the captured Godo was escorted to the castle.

It was a little later than Gadillas’ words because the knights’ movements somehow leaked to Godo and he made a stand in his mansion.

Restallion finally escorted Godo to the castle after overcoming the resistance of the Gunnis’ private army. Even though he stayed up all night, he was energetically giving instructions to his subordinates. As expected of his endurance.

Godo was taken to the dungeon and Kuuga tagged along to which Gadillas didn’t object and led the way. Restalion, who finished instructing his subordinates, was also accompanying them.

“I heard all about it along the way. He’s seriously hopeless.”

“…you mean crazy.”

“It’s a holy crusade for Sonilreus-sama! I tuned it out after that.”

“Tsk.”

From what he’d seen of the two men so far, there seemed to be many such followers of Sonilreus. Even though he resisted until he was caught, he still had a defiant attitude.

Restallion was originally not an ally that would talk to Gadillas, but maybe because they shared the same feelings right now, they’re sighing side by side.

“Sonilreus himself isn’t a bad guy… right?”

Perhaps losing confidence in his mutterings, Restalion turned to face Kuuga and Kuuga nodded once.

Gadillas noticed that it was only once and stopped with a suspicious look.

“Come to think of it, when you met him, you were acting strange. Is there something wrong with Sonilreus?”

[...I don’t understand him.]

When he loosely shook his head, both Gadillas and Restalion tilted their heads in confusion. They might have found it strange that Kuuga, who could read someone’s heart, showed such a subtle reaction.

“…you mean you don’t know. However, that will come later for the time being.”

“…shall we go?”

The two, who seemed to remember that it wasn’t time for that, took their eyes off Kuuga and started walking again. Kuuga followed, worried since he didn’t know how to explain once the topic was mentioned later.

The stairs to the dungeon were made of stone and dimly lighted. He then felt the air around him cool down all at once.

The sounds of footsteps from the two men, as well as Kuuga’s claws, echoed as they went down. When they finally reached the end, there was a door made of iron bars that separated the passage leading to the back with a soldier standing in front.

The knight saluted in a hurry as soon as he saw Gadillas and opened the door at Restalion’s order. Kuuga looked at the Knight hurriedly taking out the key and muttered in his heart that this man wasn’t suited for guard duty.

He didn’t have much concentration and would easily fall asleep. Furthermore, he’s the type that would accept bribes without hesitation. Far from being unsuitable for a prison guard, he’s perfect for a jailbreak.

Looking at how he’s perusing Gadillas and Restalion, it’s likely that someone already bribed him. He’d tell Gadillas later.

When they passed the door, there were many prisons lined up, but the front side was all empty. While watching the prison where only the restraints were attached to the walls, he followed Gadillas as they proceeded further.

The prison of Godo was in the back. Godo, who had his arms chained to the wall and sitting, had light brown hair that was terribly ruffled, perhaps a remnant of his resistance. Godo was in his early 40s, but Kuuga had the impression that he’d aged 10 years more than before. It looked like he’d seen something.

Godo seemed to have perceived Gadillas first as he immediately glared.

After that, he noticed Kuuga and seemed frightened for a moment, but seemed relieved at the bars between them. Then the man also glared at him.

“I did everything for Sonilreus-sama and I have no regrets about being executed.”

Godo quietly muttered as if he had prepared it, even though they hadn’t said anything yet.

Hearing those words, he saw Gadillas grinning side by side with Restalion.

“That’s not good.”

“Right? There’s nothing I can do if that happens.”

Certainly, if that happened, no matter who asked, they’d only say the same thing. The two people, who seemed to have decided so from their experience so far, looked like they’ve given up.

However, Kuuga wasn’t convinced. He couldn’t stand someone who tried to assassinate Gadillas to have that face like it’s an honorable death.

A low growling voice spilled from the back of his throat and his body glowed. Everyone looked at Kuuga as if they were surprised at the light that suddenly appeared in the dim dungeon.

When Kuuga, who had completed his humanization, stood up, Restallion tore off his cloak in a rush and wrapped it around Kuuga’s waist in a hurry.

“You…! Why aren’t you bothered with having no clothes on――”

He was complaining to Kuuga, who suddenly became humanoid, but when he saw the terribly cold eyes overlooking Godo, Restalion choked.

Godo looked at him in a daze. Kuuga, who was looking down on him with his arms crossed, ridiculed him with a small snort after a few seconds.

“I’m sorry for Sonilreus.”

“――w-what did you say…!”

Perhaps at a loss for words, Godo, who was surprised at Kuuga’s humanization, changed complexion and barked those words. Gadillas and Restalion glanced at Kuuga, who changed Godo’s complexion with just those words, in surprise.

“Isn’t that so? Even though he didn’t want it, since the person caught wanted it, it would be Sonilreus’ fault… right? I really sympathize with him.”

“D-don’t say such stupid things…! I’m not blaming Sonilreus-sama…”

“But I am. I can only hear, “I’m not bad because I tried to assassinate the king for Sonilreus-sama.””

“Wrong, that’s wrong! I didn’t say that! Don’t interpret it arbitrarily!”

“Ahh, so did you mean to impose sin on Sonilreus like that?”

“Wha-…! W-wrong! I-I…for Sonilreus-sama’s sake…!”

Godo’s complexion turned blue or an angry red while at the mercy of Kuuga’s malicious choice of words. Kuuga continued to talk while looking down at such a figure with cold eyes.

“Or did you do it under Sonilreus’ orders? Did Sonilreus ask you to assassinate Gadi because he wanted to be king?”

“T-that’s not the case! It’s just my selfishness――”

“Yes, that’s what you did.”

As if he was waiting for those words, Kuuga raised his lips into a cold smile. Far from Godo, Gadillas and Restalion felt a chill and moved back a little.

“Regardless of Sonilreus’ will, you… you wanted to make Sonilreus king… thinking Gadi was in the way, you… tried to assassinate him, right? You’re just blaming other people because you got caught.”

“I-I-I…”

“Sonilreus is a researcher. He doesn’t want to be the king. If he became the king, he won’t be able to do his favorite research and he’ll only feel pain. You can tell by looking at him. Ignoring the person’s wishes and imposing your own, even blaming Sonilreus… I could only see that you’re being malicious.”

“Wrong… you’re wrong…”

Kuuga crouched down and stared at Godo’s eyes as if looking through Godo, who was getting confused.

“Are you afraid to die?”

“…”

Godo opened and closed his mouth to dispel the fear of death. He inspired himself to be proud to die for Sonilreus. Kuuga, who could read that, blocked his escape route.

“If you assassinate the king, you will be guilty of death. Did you leave something behind? After all, Gadi, whom you tried to kill, is still alive. What’s more, Sonilreus would just be annoyed at being named, even though he had nothing to do with it. You just died without accomplishing anything.”

“S-stop it… don’t say it…!”

Godo shook his body and hugged his head. He shook it as if he could bounce off Kuuga’s words. Kuuga leaned over the bars and whispered.

“Your future death is just a waste.”

“Aahhhh… stop it… ahhh.”

“At most, you’ll regret what you did and die awkwardly while crying.”

“Ahh… ahhhhh… ahhhhhhhhh!”

While grabbing his head, Godo screamed as if to reject everything. Kuuga just stood there then moved his eyes away, as if he had lost interest.

Until now, he wouldn’t be able to tell people to die with such a cold heart. He hadn’t even thought about doing so to someone who would surely die.

But the fact that his king was about to be killed by this man dyed his heart black, and Kuuga blamed this man enough to kill him. He wanted to kill him with his own hands if possible.

Gadillas and Restalion, who couldn’t find the time to interrupt, ended up seeing the situation to the end with their mouths twitching.

“――he’s over…”

“No… he completely broke… I mean, was he such a person to break with just those words…?”

At Restalion’s impression that he weakly spilled out, Kuuga laughed coldly, still with the black feelings inside him.

“There’s no way a person would be normal when he just fought desperately against the fear of death.”

“I see, so he was about to break…”