Chapter 96

“Oh-ho! Well, maybe I’ll just go take a look!” Titan grabbed the paper and crushed it. Then she reached out to Fay with her other hand. “Kid.” Fay reached out, assuming she wanted a handshake, but his hand met empty air. “…Huh?” Instead, Titan reached around behind his head—and before he knew it, Fay was being drawn in for a big hug, whether he wanted it or not. Her skin was hot like lava, yet remarkably soft—and he found his face buried smack-dab in her chest. “?!” “This is human etiquette, right? To thank you for telling me where to go sightseeing!” Where had she learned etiquette? Even if Fay had wanted to ask, he couldn’t breathe, let alone get the words out. She was crushing him against her chest too hard. Just before he managed to get enough air to say so, four voices called out: “C’mon, now!” “Let’s get going!” “Th-that’s against the rules!” “And from an outsider, no less!” Fay was flushed with embarrassment, but Uroboros, Leshea, Pearl, and Nel were even redder with rage as they kicked Titan away, sending her flying high into the sky. “Wooooow! Is this another game?” Titan asked, managing to spin around in midair. Her lava-colored hair splayed out around her—and by the time Fay was able to look up, Titan had already flashed overhead. All he heard was her voice: “See ya, kid! And make sure you enjoy your games!” Just those few words, carried to him on the wind. 2 The Sacrament City of Ruin was among the largest of the “isle cities” that dotted the continent. Its tree-lined avenues were neatly manicured, and the electric automobiles speeding along them were all brand-new. Looking up, one could see clusters of high-rise buildings sparkling like rainbows—and the tallest of them all was the Arcane Court branch office. “Welcome back, Fay,” Miranda said, waving cheerfully when she spotted him in the first-floor lobby. “And Lady Leoleshea and Lady Uroboros, fine work out there. Same for you, Nel. Ah, and Pearl, too.” “Why do you make me sound like an afterthought?!” “Oh, I’m sure you’ve had a very long and difficult journey, Pearl. Although I admit I am curious to know how the Ange-Exclusive lunch platter tasted. You no doubt ate one while aboard the train.” The chief secretary slid her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Now then, Fay. No rest for the weary. I’d like to hear your report immediately.” “You mean about Chaos, right?” “Partly, but also about your team name. Further, if you’re going to headquarters, we’ll have to set up a schedule. Let’s just say I have a lot of questions for you.” Sunlight poured into the chief secretary’s office, where Miranda was pointing dubiously at a table piled with boxes of souvenirs. “…Fay, what’s all this?” she asked. “Souvenirs. I brought you Relic Cookies from Ange.” “Well, what about this one? “Relic Castella! That one’s from me!” Pearl chirped. “…And this one?” “Oh, I got that,” said Nel. “You just have to try this Relic Chocolate!” “Relic this, Relic that…” Miranda heaved a sigh. There were still two boxes of souvenirs on the table that hadn’t been claimed: Leshea’s Relic Rice Crackers and Uroboros’s Relic Chips. “I’d heard the rumors that there wasn’t much in Ange… But there’s really not much there, huh?” Miranda said. “You’ve never been there, Chief Secretary?” “No. That’s why I was so surprised when I learned Chaos had moved to that gods-forsaken place.” Miranda was already opening the Relic Cookies. She looked at one of the pillar-shaped biscuits, distinctly disappointed, then popped it in her mouth… “Hmm… It tastes like sugar and—urgh! It’s so bitter! Fay, what is this?!” “Ash, ma’am. They’re made with the volcanic ash you can find all over the city.” “…If possible, the next time you go on a trip, I’d appreciate souvenirs in more…conventional flavors,” she said, putting the lid back on the cookies. They thought they heard her mumble, “I’ll get my subordinates to eat the rest…” Then more loudly, she said, “Well, color me surprised. There really isn’t anything but relics in that city, is there? What do you suppose possessed Chaos to move somewhere like that?” That was the key question. It had occupied Fay’s thoughts on the train all the way home. There’s nothing there that Chaos could have been after except those relics—the remains of the ancient magical civilization. In which case, if he had moved on to another city, did that imply that he had completed his objective—investigated whatever he’d wanted to investigate? If so, where did he go next? If he’d already completed his objective in the Relic City, wouldn’t he just have come back to Ruin? But he hadn’t. So where had he gone after finishing his investigation—whatever it was—in the Relic City of Ange? “Quick question, Fay,” the chief secretary said, sitting on a corner of her desk. She made it sound like she was just going to introduce some whimsical banter. “Do you intend to keep searching for Chaos?” “……” Fay was silent. “Well, there’s a grim look.” Evidently, how he felt was showing on his face. Miranda looked downright amused. Fay sighed theatrically and said, “…You know, I was thinking it might be time to stop.” “Oh? Well, that’s unexpected.” “It looks like finding people isn’t my strong suit. I feel like I could search for him for weeks and not get any closer…” There was certainly precedent, considering he had only recently come back to Ruin empty-handed after spending six months looking for the red-haired girl from his memories. “Ah, I see. Your luck never has extended to your life outside games, has it?” Miranda clapped once as she came to a conclusion. “Now it all makes sense. You’re going to give up looking for Chaos, about whom you have no clues, and instead…” “Yes! We’re going to go to Arcane Court headquarters!” Pearl said, sticking her hand in the air. “There’s still the mystery of the Labyrinth of Lucemia. Just who caused apostles from around the world to be gathered and trapped there?!” Indeed. Uroboros had indicated that incident was the result of a mischievous god playing a trick. And the vehicle for the trick had been the Godeye lenses. “This is where that little prank started…… All the humans gathered in that maze were carrying one, right? The lens is like a collar, with the gods holding the leash. If a human is wearing the collar, you just pull on the leash, and boom! You can drag them straight to Lucemia.” With one good tug, apostles from all over the world who were wearing Godeye lenses had been dragged like dogs on a lead into the maze. And who distributed the lenses? Headquarters. The problem is figuring out who at headquarters was responsible and what they hoped to achieve. Causing a supernatural phenomenon like this on a worldwide scale is way beyond what any human should be capable of. Gods were behind it. “There’s a god there. Several of them, actually.” There were four gods in the Myth City of Heckt-Scheherezade. That much, Uroboros had been able to detect. That was why Fay was going to headquarters. “I can’t say I’m not curious,” the chief secretary said, as she pressed her palm to her forehead. “But suppose—just suppose—that the incident with the labyrinth was an innocent joke, or maybe a way of introducing themselves. The issue is that a little jape by the gods’ standards is more than we humans can bear. The Arcane Court can’t have them doing something like that ever again.” That was certainly true. Fay didn’t object to what the chief secretary was saying. But there was one problem… She’s wrong about one thing: What happened in the Labyrinth of Lucemia wasn’t a joke, and it wasn’t a friendly hello. It had clearly been deliberate. By Fay’s estimation, it was a borderline criminal act by some god—or gods—with more than the usual level of commitment to the games. “You, your friends, all humans, this very world, and the gods: I cherish them all. Because I cherish them, I wish to protect them. And that is why the gods’ games cannot exist.” That was what the unidentified god in the lightless Elements had said—the god Fay suspected of being the mastermind behind the Lucemia incident. Who could hear something like that and not wonder about it? What did it mean? Fay simply wanted to know who that god was and what they were after. That just so happened to align them with Miranda’s goal. “I’d like to ask you a question as well, Chief Secretary.” Nel, sitting properly on the sofa, straightened up even more. “There was a worldwide meeting between headquarters and the branch offices, wasn’t there? I gather we didn’t manage to prove anything about the Godeye lens at that meeting…” “Right. Not enough evidence.” The chief secretary nodded firmly. “Our key witness, Lady Uroboros, decided it was too much trouble to attend, which meant we had no one to testify about the lenses. Our suspicions about headquarters also remain nothing more than guesswork… I see what you’re trying to say, though. With things the way they are, we’ll never come up with an excuse to bust into headquarters and look around, right? Truly, Nel, you’ve got a head of lonsdaleite.” “Lonsdaleite?!” “It means your head is very hard. Did you know lonsdaleite, also called ‘hexagonal diamond,’ is even harder than common diamonds? Bit of trivia for you.” Miranda’s fingertips brushed across her monitor, prompting a massive screen to light up in front of the sofa where Fay and the others were sitting. It showed an image of a city floating in the air. “Just say you’re going to the Myth City as tourists. That will be enough of an excuse. Your team has been on fire in the gods’ games, so no one would blame you for wanting to take a quick rest.” “Y-yeah, I guess that makes sense.” “I have the distinct impulse to leave this all to you, but… Hmm. I don’t think there’s any choice.” Miranda stretched, reaching toward the ceiling, then rubbed her stiff shoulders. “I guess I’d better go with you this time.” “What?! You’re going to personally accompany us, Chief Secretary?!” “Uh-huh. Technically, this trip falls within the realm of administrative business. Can’t just leave it to some apostles. If you’re going to be interacting with headquarters, you should have a bureaucrat with you.” “Chief Secretary!” Pearl exclaimed, clasping Miranda’s hand warmly. “I’ve misjudged you! Here I thought you were perfectly happy to leave all the hard work to us apostles, but now I see that human blood really does flow through your veins!” “Ha-ha-ha! You just keep telling yourself that, Pearl,” Miranda said, shaking Pearl’s hand off. “I must admit, I’ve been getting a little tired of doing nothing but desk work. This will be the perfect chance to slip away for a change of scenery. And they say the Myth City is home not just to headquarters, but an excellent pancake place as well.” “Aww! Don’t ruin my moment of admiration!”