“Not ‘only.’ With Miss Har Bell’s cooperation, we might steal most all the secrets of the New World and its technology. Indeed, we have many of the items themselves in our possession. This would serve to decrease the value of the New World’s exports. They seek an absolute assurance that Miss Har Bell will not act to the disadvantage of the New World.”
“And you’re saying I…tore up that assurance?”
“Just so,” Los replied, before catching herself and adding, “though I do not mean to blame thee for this. I have a great love of the freedom to choose one’s own path in life. Those who do so can rejoice in my pardon above all others. The mere thought of how it must have felt to rip up a blood contract handed thee by the highest authority in the land has me in ecstasy!”
“But I’ve caused you all so much trouble as a result…”
“’Tis true─but what of it? Wilt thou meekly turn over thy kin to Danna Ryl for our convenience?”
“Well… I…” Har Bell’s long rabbit ears drooped.
“What about a bribe, then?” Saybil suggested. “Can’t we just give that police officer a mana potion so she’ll look the other way?”
Har Bell shook her head gravely. “That won’t work. Lady Danna Ryl ordered the capture of two criminals. If she found out Lana just let us sail away with them, she would definitely be punished.”
“Then maybe we could take her with us?”
“What do you think, Har?” Hort chimed in. “Would she come if we offered?”
“I’m not sure… But considering how Kudo sold those mana potions to that wizard carriage dealer, there do seem to be some Ignas interested in buying mana potions directly, even if it means hiding it from Lady Danna Ryl. If we promise to take Lana to the Forbidden Land, there’s a chance she might be willing to betray her master.”
There was room to negotiate─or at least, there might be. The four of them nodded to each other and left the cabin, making their way down to the pier where the officer waited.
Lana heaved a quiet sigh. “Unfortunate. Very unfortunate.”
“B-But we haven’t even said anything yet…?!”
“I told you, didn’t I? I can’t wait long.”
“Huh…?”
“You’re out of time─the sentence will be carried out.”
Even as she said this, a strange wave of sound set the air and water around them rippling. It was so loud they felt their eardrums might burst. Instinctively they covered their ears and looked up at the sky, where the sound seemed to be coming from.
“Is that…a gatekeeper…?!”
Har Bell began to shake.
The shadow of the great fish blotted out the sun. Its voice began to vibrate, at which the sea grew even more turbulent. Hort peered into the water and reeled back in shock.
“Professor Los, down there…!”
There was a gatekeeper in the ocean, too, its mouth open wide, waiting to suck their ship down and crush it to flinders with its row upon row of great sharp teeth.
“’Tis the same fish we saw in the Ocean of Death! So it has come all this way?! Ah, but no.” Los glared up at the sky. The giant fish swimming through the firmament had its empty eyes fixed squarely on her. “I see… So that is the thing’s true body.”
“Professor! It’s going to swallow the ship!” Saybil shouted.
“Hey! Are you making it do this?! What do you mean ‘sentence,’ anyway?!” Hort shook the officer by the shoulders.
“I’m not the one doing this. You’re the ones who concealed two people deemed criminals by the Keybinder. Hence the gatekeepers have adjudged you a foreign enemy. The gatekeepers are the will of the city.”
“Little Ludens!” Los brandished the Staff of Ludens above her head and a fine thread shot into the sky from its tip, wrapping itself all around the giant fish’s body.
“Time for dinner.”
As Los whipped her staff down, the serenely floating fish was cut to pieces, heavy chunks of moist flesh raining down all around. In the same instant, the fish threatening to swallow the ship disappeared from the ocean without a trace. Los swung the Staff of Ludens again, and it gobbled up every last piece of falling meat.
Silence descended on the pier once more, leaving only a stunned Lana rooted to the spot and a crowd of Nurabehn onlookers thoroughly unable to comprehend what had just happened.
It was then that the dragon took wing.
“Set sail! NOW!”
The dragon’s roar shook the sky, and everyone sprang into action. As the ships began departing one after another, Har Bell reached out to help Lana up from where she had collapsed to the ground.
“Coming aboard?” she asked.
Lana forced a smile. “As your captive?”
“As my friend.”
“…I can’t. My family is here.” Her grimace collapsed into a rueful smile as she pulled her hand away. Taking the wizard pistol from her belt, she held it out to Har Bell.
“Shoot me, Har.”
“I─”
“Please. I don’t want my family to die because of me.”
Har Bell took the gun and shot Lana in the legs, then clean through both shoulders.
“I’m sorry. I can’t kill you.”
“This’ll be plenty good enough. Thank you.”
Har Bell left her bleeding on the jetty and boarded the ship. As it slid away from the harbor the sails caught the wind, carrying them smoothly out into the open ocean. Only after the port had disappeared over the horizon did Har Bell finally turn to look at the members of the delegation arrayed on the deck behind her.
“I have a request to make of you.”
The truth is, Har Bell had always thought it was strange.
That having horns made you great.
That having beast ears made you better than others.