Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Side Story - The Love and Despair of Teguneu, Leader of the Evil Demons
A monster who has never known love. A boy who has lost everything to it.
For three hundred and twelve years, Teguneu has watched humanity from the shadows—cold, calculating, and utterly alone. Branded a heretic even among his own kind, the leader of the Evil Demons has long since abandoned any hope of warmth. Until the day his black lizard swarm carries him to a nameless village at the foot of the Jörmungandr Mountains, where he witnesses something that shatters his icy composure: a brother and
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers Side Story - The Love and Despair of Teguneu, Leader of the Evil Demons - Where Loyalty Leads — The Real Hidden Within a False Heart, and the Lost Left Arm
The air inside the cave lay stagnant and cold.
At the southern foot of the Yormungand Mountains, there was a nameless cavern that had been erased entirely from human maps. Deep within, in a darkness untouched by light, Teguneu rested his hand on a shelf of obsidian. On his shoulder, a single black lizard perched motionless, pressed close to its master's presence.
Roughly two weeks and some days had passed since he had activated the power to manipulate love.
The cave floor was still scattered with flakes of jet-black scales, alongside the memory of those three days and nights of bloody vomit. The cold of the rock beneath his fingertips reminded him how low his own body temperature had become.
Teguneu exhaled slowly.
(It is time.)
The pact of the three commanders. Whoever slew the most Braves of the Six Flowers would command the other two. Both Karguik and Dozzu had already begun their hunt for the heroes. But if it came to a contest of numbers, he had his legions of special-class凶具—his horde of special-class凶具.
Teguneu sent his consciousness out into the swarm of black lizards.
From every corner of the cave, countless small shadows came crawling forth. Dozens—no, more than a hundred black lizards gathered at Teguneu's feet, encircling his body.
"...Number Two, Number Six, Number Twenty-Four, Number Thirty-One."
His low voice was swallowed by the rock walls and vanished.
"I will feed you. Head for the Braves' encampment. Kill every last one of them."
The swarm of black lizards stirred all at once.
Through the black lizards, the command would reach the special-class凶具 lurking beyond the mountain. Number Two's hardened carapace. Number Six's shapeshifting. Number Twenty-Four's underground tunneling. Number Thirty-One's charge. Dozens of these凶具 were now on the move toward the Braves' camp.
Teguneu closed his eyes.
The black lizard scouts sent him the Braves' positions. At the center of the camp, Adlet Mayer. Beside him, Fremy Speeddraw. A short distance away, Hans Humpty.
(Adlet Mayer.)
Teguneu murmured in his mind.
(You are a pawn, controlled by the false heart I planted in you. Will you abandon your comrades and flee, or will you charge in recklessly and die? Either way, you end here.)
Teguneu's calculations were perfect.
Adlet, implanted with false love, would be driven by fear to abandon his companions. Or else, spurred on by the bravado of being the strongest man on earth, he would plunge into the encirclement of凶具 and die.
Whichever way it turned, the number of Braves would decrease.
Teguneu slowly twisted the corner of his mouth.
(Show me. Show me your final moments.)
——
The encampment.
Night had fallen. The cold autumn wind stirred the trees and made the flames of the campfire flicker.
Adlet Mayer sat beside the fire. His bright brown hair swayed in the firelight. Around his left wrist was a charred cloth—his sister's keepsake.
Beside him was Fremy. Her long, snow-white hair drifted gently in the night breeze. Her right eye was pink, her left blue—a pair of mismatched eyes. Catching the firelight, those eyes glittered.
A short distance away, Hans Humpty leaned his back against the base of a tree. Short dark-brown hair, with two tufts sticking up at the crown. His yellow-green cat eyes blinked slowly in the darkness.
"...Hey, Fremy."
Adlet murmured softly.
"What."
Fremy answered curtly. But her voice was somehow gentle.
"You know, these past few days, I've been thinking the whole time."
The fire crackled and popped.
"About what's inside me—these feelings for you. Whether they're really mine or not."
Fremy's fingertips trembled faintly.
"...You've said that before, you know."
"Yeah. But I still haven't found the answer. It's just—"
Adlet gripped the cloth around his left wrist tightly.
"Even if it's fake, right now, the fact that I want to protect you—that's real. That much isn't a lie."
Fremy didn't answer.
The firelight dyed her white hair orange.
That was when it happened.
—Rustle.
A sound came from beyond the bushes.
Adlet raised his head.
"...Something's coming."
"I know."
Fremy rolled a metal sphere in her palm. It became a cartridge and gunpowder, then a bullet.
Hans rose slowly to his feet.
"Nyaa... there's a lot of 'em. What a pain."
The next instant.
With a rumble, the horde of special-class凶具 emerged from the darkness.
——
In the darkness of the cave, Teguneu watched the battlefield through the eyes of his black lizards.
Number Two's hardened carapace charged at the vanguard. The steel-like shell covering its body reflected the firelight with a dull gleam. Number Twenty-Four burrowed underground, preparing to strike from beneath their feet. Number Thirty-One began its charge with its massive frame.
The encirclement was perfect.
By Teguneu's calculations, Adlet would end here.
But.
"Fremy! Hans! Follow my orders!"
Adlet's voice rang across the battlefield.
"Number Two's shell is hard! Blind it with a flash grenade! Spread the oil! If you get into the gaps in its shell, the inside is soft!"
Adlet pulled his inventions from the pouch at his waist. Flash grenades. Small vials of oil. He hurled them one after another.
—Bang!
The flash burst, and Number Two's vision went white. Then the oil spread across the surface of the hardened carapace, and on the now-slick ground, Number Two's massive body tilted.
"Number Twenty-Four is underground! Lay down iron plates! Restrict its path!"
Adlet slammed the iron plates he'd been carrying onto the ground. Hans drew his two hatchet-like swords and leaped onto them.
"Nyaa, boss. Quite the command, ain't it."
Hans laughed, mimicking a cat's meow. But his eyes weren't laughing.
"Number Thirty-One is the charging type! I'll be the decoy! Hans, you finish it!"
Adlet kicked off the ground.
Number Thirty-One's charge bore down on Adlet in a straight line. Its massive horns tore through the air.
"Over here!"
Adlet dodged by a hair's breadth. The horns grazed his hair.
"Now, Hans!"
Hans leaped.
With catlike movement, he ran up Number Thirty-One's massive body and drove his hatchet swords into the nape of its neck.
—Shhk.
Black blood sprayed.
Number Thirty-One let out a death cry and collapsed.
In the darkness of the cave, Teguneu bit his lip.
(Why.)
His claws dug into the rock wall.
(Why can you—with the false heart I planted—smile like that?)
The expression the black lizard's eyes caught on Adlet's face was not one twisted by fear. It was a resolute face, trusting his comrades, focused on the fight.
A pawn controlled by false love should have abandoned his comrades and fled. Should have charged in recklessly and died.
And yet Adlet had grasped his comrades' positions and abilities precisely, trusted them, and taken the dangerous role upon himself.
A hole was opening in the encirclement.
"...Interesting."
Teguneu murmured low.
"Then let me see how long you can last."
——
At that moment, a faint presence came from the cave entrance.
Teguneu turned slowly.
A single figure emerged from the darkness.
It was a female凶魔. She resembled a human woman, but her skin was pale blue, and small wing-like protrusions rose from her back. Her long black hair swayed in the cave's draft.
"...Lord Teguneu."
Number Six. Fremy Speeddraw's mother. One of the special-class凶具.
"What do you want, Number Six."
Teguneu's voice was cold.
Number Six walked deeper into the cave. Her steps were somehow heavy.
"There is something I wish to ask."
"I'll hear it."
Number Six stood before Teguneu.
"Please... do not use Fremy—my daughter—as a tool any longer."
Teguneu furrowed his brow.
"You of all people say that?"
"I am that child's mother. I know how much she suffers. Every time she kills a hero candidate, her heart breaks a little more. And she is my daughter, and yet—"
"Your so-called love is, in the end, part of my scheme."
Teguneu's voice cut her off sharply.
"Fremy Speeddraw is the black blossom I created. A tool for killing hero candidates. And a catalyst for implanting false love in Adlet Mayer. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Even so, that child is my daughter!"
Number Six's voice echoed through the cave.
"I beg you. Set her free. Isn't it enough? She has killed so many people for your sake. And each time, she wept. Without telling anyone, alone, in the darkness of the night—"
"Silence."
Teguneu's golden eyes shifted to deep crimson.
"Your maternal instinct—I cannot understand it. Why can you love that girl so much? Why do you possess, as a matter of course, the very thing I could not obtain once in three hundred and twelve years?"
Number Six took a step back.
But even so, she persisted.
"...That child has begun to harbor real feelings for Adlet Mayer."
Teguneu's movement stopped.
"The false love you implanted is no longer false. She loves that boy of her own will. Her heart has slipped from your hands."
"...What did you say."
Teguneu's voice grew low and cold.
"Her feelings are genuine. As her mother, I can tell. She truly loves that boy."
Deep in Teguneu's chest, a scorching jealousy flared up.
False love. The false emotion he had planted himself.
It was turning into something real.
His own scheme was slipping from his grasp.
"...Get out."
Teguneu spoke coldly.
"If you come to say the same thing again, I will kill you. In front of Fremy Speeddraw."
Number Six bit her lip.
"...Lord Teguneu, you believe in love, do you not? Then why do you try to destroy theirs?"
"I said get out."
Teguneu's voice shook the cave.
Number Six bowed deeply and left the cave.
Teguneu was left alone in the darkness.
(Real feelings.)
Teguneu leaned back against the rock wall and looked up at the ceiling.
(The false love I planted turns real. Then my plan collapses from its very foundations.)
He gripped the fallen scales.
Cold.
Though they were part of his own body, they were cold as ice.
——
The battle at the encampment ended in victory for the Braves.
The horde of special-class凶具 fell one after another to Adlet's command, Hans's blades, and Fremy's bullets.
"...Is it over?"
Adlet looked around, breathing hard.
The corpses of the凶具 lay scattered everywhere. Black blood stained the ground.
"Nyaa, boss. You're pretty good, ain't ya."
Hans approached Adlet, sheathing his hatchet swords.
"I knew from the start you weren't just some blowhard."
"...Flattery won't get you anything."
Adlet smiled wryly.
A short distance away, Fremy rolled her metal sphere.
"...Are you hurt?"
"Heh, just scratches. For the strongest man on earth, a wound like this is—"
"Let me see."
Fremy grabbed Adlet's arm.
"Ah, hey, Fremy."
"Don't move. I'll treat it."
Fremy began wiping the wound on Adlet's arm with a cloth.
Her fingertips trembled faintly.
Adlet, gazing at Fremy's white hair, thought:
(Whether these feelings are real or fake—I still don't know.)
(But right now, you're treating my wound. And the fact that it makes me happy—that's real.)
"...Thanks."
Adlet murmured softly.
"It's nothing. I'm not doing it for you."
Fremy answered curtly. But her voice was clearly gentle.
——
That was when it happened.
From the forest east of the encampment, a woman appeared.
A slender sword hung at her hip, and she was clad in white armor and a helmet shaped like a rabbit. Her long blonde hair shone in the moonlight.
"Hello there, Braves of the Six Flowers. You look exhausted."
Nashchetanía Loei Piena Augustla. First Princess of the Kingdom of Piena. A saint bearing the power of the God of Blades.
"You're... Princess Nashchetanía."
Adlet spoke warily.
"I've come as reinforcements. Personally, from the Kingdom of Piena."
Nashchetanía smiled brightly.
"I heard you were struggling, so I brought the Black Horn Knights. Though the main force is waiting in the rear."
"...The Black Horn Knights?"
Hans narrowed his cat eyes.
"Yes, Goldof is here too. He was eager to see you all."
From behind Nashc
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.