Chapter 28

Everyone, in the Name of Hope -bright days, blighted maze- 1. Secret Meeting “Things seem to have taken a turn for the odd.” She heard a strange voice murmuring in her ear, a comment like that of an onlooker. To Nephren, the speaker of the voice itself was the first thing on the list that indicated things had taken an odd turn. “…” She glanced up, and a sky fish with vermilion-silver scales—or rather, a thing that looked like one—swam lazily through the air. Her body was partially see-through upon closer inspection. She could tell right away she was something like an illusion or ethereal being. The question was why this illusory or ethereal fish was here and why she was speaking so leisurely. “I’m not exactly the type to sit still, you see. I need to find that Ebon Candle as soon as possible and go search for that missing child.” “I agree.” Nephren couldn’t sit still, either. She didn’t know who this Ebon-whoever guy was, but she had to find her own missing adult—a difficult emnetwiht, who always put on a brave face while he pushed people away, one so fragile that he might fall apart at any moment—Willem Kmetsch. “—Pardon me for sounding so cruel, but you should probably give up hope.” The sky fish floated near the ceiling. Nephren knew she was the only one who could see and hear this thing, but she looked up to the fish and posed a question anyway. “What do you mean?” “Willem’s that nice-looking young man with the black hair, isn’t he? He’s not around anymore. I saw him completely give up on being an emnetwiht and turn back into a Beast with my very own eyes,” she said, her big, round fish eyes swirling in their sockets. “He might be all right, but he’s different now, not the boy you used to know. You should give up on any silly expectations you might have.” “That’s fine.” Nephren shook her head. “No matter what Willem’s transformed into, that doesn’t change what I plan to do. I’m just going to him.” Luckily, she didn’t seem to be an enemy to the Beasts after the changes she had gone through. So even if Willem had turned into one, she should be able to stay by his side. Probably. Most likely. “No matter how deep your love is, that doesn’t necessarily mean a miracle will happen, you know?” She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Why did the word love come up? All that was a specialty for girls like Chtholly. Nephren didn’t want to get close to him for such optimistic possibilities. “…Hmm? Did you say something, girlie?” The young boggard sitting beside her on the sofa turned to look back at her. “Just talking to myself.” Of course, that wasn’t the exact truth. No one besides Nephren could see or hear Carmine Lake. Naturally, their conversation ended up sounding like she was talking to herself. She had briefly explained this strange hallucinatory—or whatever it might be—sky fish to them. But it was too much work to explain the chats they had together as well. “Don’t worry about it.” “All right. Well…I can really relate to how uneasy you must feel.” The boggard—Glick was his name?—didn’t even bother to hide his agitation. He scratched at his bald head. They were aboard a massive airship that belonged to The Winged Guard. This was the guest reception room. The wallpaper with its magnificent floral pattern; the chandelier strung from the high ceiling above them; the thick, plush curtains hanging over the windows; the overwhelming amount of gold decorations on the furniture—in short, this was a space for someone’s nouveau riche sensibilities to be put on display. If Nephren was being perfectly honest, she would have called it extremely uncomfortable. It was just as Glick said—this wasn’t a place to relax. “How long do we gotta stay locked up in this stupid rich-people room?” “Sorry to keep you waiting.” The heavy-looking door had slowly opened, and a soldier entered the room. It was a white-haired rabbitfolk. The insignia of a first officer was embroidered on his shoulder. “The Winged Guard has found itself in an odd position as of late. All our time is being taken up by worrisome guests.” “Like I give a damn about your odd position,” Glick spat with displeasure. “The Winged Guard does not belong to any one island. Conversely, we can only continue to exist with the support of all the islands. At least, that’s how it is on the outside. There are even some brazen islands trying to demand favors from us.” “Do I sound like I care? Don’t you have more important things to talk about right now? No?” “Mm.” The rabbitfolk nodded slightly. “Absolutely. Pardon the delay—allow me to tell you my name. I am Baroni Makish, first officer of The Winged Guard’s military police depa—” “Okay, but it doesn’t really matter right now who or what you are, does it?” Glick leaned forward. “There’s just one thing I wanna know. Where are you taking us?”