Meanwhile, the wolf-fiend was desperately continuing its act. A little while ago, number twenty-four had stopped talking, and there was no more contact from Tgurneu. It had told the wolf-fiend about Adlet and Hans’s capture and then nothing more.
Not knowing what to do, the wolf-fiend had simply ordered its subordinates to keep going as is—slow down any Braves skulking nearby and kill Mora and Goldof, who were holed up inside their barrier.
All the wolf-fiend had been doing for some time now was fending off Dozzu’s tenacious attacks while informing Tgurneu of the Braves’ movements. The wolf-fiend’s subordinates were looking at it with skeptical eyes.
“<Healing fiend, don’t let your guard down. Prepare yourself for immediate action,>” the wolf-fiend said to specialist number seventeen at its side. It had told its subordinate fiends to observe Fremy from a distance. If something unexpected was to happen to her, number seventeen would rush in to heal her immediately. Number seventeen’s ability could even bring back a fiend from the brink of death.
They could not allow Fremy to die. That was an absolute order from Tgurneu.
That was when a messenger rushed toward the wolf-fiend. When the wolf-fiend heard its message, it doubted its ears.
“<Fremy is fïghting with Rolönia and Nashetania. She’s bétrayed the Braves!>”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Please, come to your senses!” Rolonia yelled as she blocked Fremy’s bullets with her whip.
“I misjudged you, Fremy! Don’t you understand that you’re being deceived?!” Nashetania’s blades stabbed toward Fremy from the ground, and the Saint of Gunpowder just barely dodged them. Their acting was good, in her opinion. To the fiends, the fight must have seemed real.
They could hear dozens of fiends approaching them from the front. Farther into the forest, Fremy spotted the wolf-fiend.
“Tgurneu! I surrender! Don’t attack me!” Fremy leaped into the fiends’ midst. The lower ranks attacked Rolonia and Nashetania while Fremy laid her gun on the ground and knelt before the wolf-fiend. “…I was wrong. I once wanted to kill you, but no more. I realized the only place for me is among fiends, after all.” Fremy knew the wolf-fiend wasn’t Tgurneu, but she chose to pretend to believe the ruse.
“I see, but you do often lie. You aren’t plotting something, are you?”
“It’s no wonder you would suspect me. But all I can do is insist that I’m being honest.” As Fremy spoke with the wolf-fiend, she scanned its unit out of the corner of her eye—and discovered the one she was looking for. A caterpillar-shaped creature: specialist number seventeen.
The one with a restorative ability that could heal the wounds of any fiend.
✦ ✦ ✦
“A healing fiend…,” Rolonia had muttered with skeptically upon hearing Fremy’s suggestion just a few minutes earlier.
Fremy was uneasy, too. There was no way to cure the red mark except to remove the tumor from her heart, but even Fremy would die if her heart was gouged out.
Then she remembered one of the fiends in Tgurneu’s forces—in the wolf-fiend’s unit. It was a healer of some renown within Tgurneu’s faction. That fiend, specialist number seventeen, could repair bodies—even restore a lost limb or bring a fiend back from the brink of death. Fremy’s mother had told her it was even capable of healing Fremy, though her body was much different from a regular fiend’s.
“Gouge out my heart and have that healing-fiend restore it. Do that, and we might be able to heal this.”
“…I can’t! Making the enemy heal you…” Rolonia trailed off.
“I’ll pretend to betray you. They were trying to make me surrender before, so if they believe I’m their ally, they’ll heal me.”
“We have no guarantee of that,” said Nashetania. “They might well abandon you following your betrayal. And neither can we be sure that healing your heart will eliminate that red mark.”
“But this is the only way,” Fremy shot back. It seemed they agreed on that much.
“They’re not going to see me killing myself right in front of them. I’ll pretend to betray you two and assault you. During the fight, I’ll give you an opportunity—attack my heart then.” Fremy looked at Rolonia’s face. She had to leave this to the one with a precise understanding of where the tumor was located. Fremy gazed into her eyes.
Though Rolonia seemed hesitant, she nodded. “But will the enemy really believe you actually betrayed us?”
“I’ll convince them,” said Fremy. “Once the red mark is healed, we’ll carry out the plan immediately. If it fails and I die, then go through with it anyway.” She handed Rolonia a tiny firecracker. Setting it off would ignite the dry leaves and envelop the forest in flame, along with the gunpowder on the last two aerial fiends in their way. Then, once they killed number twenty-four, that should cut off all avenues of contact between Tgurneu and the wolf-fiend but the one.
They would leave killing number twenty-four to Nashetania. Now, even without Fremy, they could still go through with the plan. Once they were ready, Fremy pointed her gun at Rolonia and fired, making sure the bullet would just skim her ear.
✦ ✦ ✦
The healing fiend—number seventeen—was monitoring Fremy closely. It seemed to suspect her, just like the rest of the wolf’s unit.
They couldn’t try to get number seventeen to heal her heart yet. Fremy had to assure them that she had really betrayed the Braves, or the fiends might leave her to die. So what should she do to make them believe her? She looked over at Rolonia and Nashetania, embroiled in battle with the fiends. She would just have to show them a fight between her and the others.
But the moment she made her decision and stood, the wolf-fiend grabbed her arm with a tentacle. “There’s no need for you to fight. Instead, tell me: Why didn’t you come to me immediately when we called for your surrender?” it asked. She would have to give it a good reply, or they would recognize her betrayal as an act.
“…I was confused. I thought maybe you were trying to deceive me again.”
“I don’t follow your thinking. Are we sure you’re not the one trying to deceive me? There’s something strange about this, Fremy.”
To avoid revealing the agitation in her voice, Fremy carefully searched for an answer.
“Could you tell me what brought you to this decision? Did something happen with Rolonia and Nashetania?”
Fremy closed her mouth. She searched for an answer that would convince the wolf-fiend and Tgurneu behind it. She had to find it, or Adlet would be lost.
✦ ✦ ✦
Meanwhile, Adlet was gripping his sword and getting to his feet. He’d resolved to kill Tgurneu. Just imagining the pain of losing Fremy gave him goosebumps. But the strongest man in the world had to withstand it. I can take this , Adlet told himself. The very thought made him feel like he would die. He would rather die. But he raised his sword anyway.
“…Oh-ho.” Tgurneu watched Adlet with disbelief. “I’m quite impressed you would resist so. You would even abandon your love to kill me?”
“…Because I’m the strongest man in the world.”
The ten fiends surrounding the pair were ready to jump on Adlet to hold him back. But Tgurneu indicated with a hand that they were not to attack. Adlet was furious. Just how much contempt does it have for me?
Just then, a four-armed great ape–fiend yelled something in code. Adlet remembered it as the one that would occasionally whisper things to Tgurneu. It had to be the communication fiend, specialist number twenty-four.
“Hmm,” said Tgurneu. “It seems an important message has arrived. Perfect timing.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The wolf-fiend pressed Fremy. Why surrender now? Did she think nothing of the allies with whom she’d fought so far?
“I realized that, ultimately, they’re humans. They’re not on my side. And once they’re done with me, I know they’ll kill me,” Fremy lied through her teeth.
“Is that so? Then I’m going to kill them all. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I don’t.”
“…That’s suspicious. I didn’t think you were capable of such coldheartedness.”
Fremy scowled. Even that wasn’t enough to convince it? But she couldn’t think of anything else to say to make it believe her. “…But…” Fremy spoke hesitantly.
“But what?”
“Don’t kill Adlet. Being with him made me want to live, just a little. He makes me angry, but I don’t want to let him die.” A thoughtlessly sincere request slipped from her lips. Before she had even realized it, Adlet had become irreplaceable to her.
Once it was out of her mouth, she regretted saying it. This might have the opposite effect. If the wolf-fiend thought she still had lingering attachments to keeping the Braves safe, that would strengthen its suspicions.
But unexpectedly, the wolf-fiend replied, “I see . Finally, I understand how you truly feel. Was it for Adlet’s sake? It seems your betrayal of the Braves is legitimate. Fine. I’ll let Adlet alone live.”
Fremy hid her joy as best she could. She had managed to deceive the wolf-fiend. Now, perhaps, Adlet would be saved.