“You told them of the invasion plan?! How could you be so foolish…?! And, how do you know anything of it in the first place?!”
Utsuwa had rushed back to the tower, and when she was done giving Danna Ryl a breathless account of what had happened in town, her mother screamed so loud that the very air around her shook. It was the first time Utsuwa had heard Danna Ryl raise her voice in anger. She was so surprised that the rage was being directed at her, she just crumpled to the floor.
“B-But Utsuwa…h-heard you talking, and…”
“So you were eavesdropping?”
“N-No…! It’s just… Utsuwa can hear your voice no matter where she is…”
“We must remain calm, Danna Ryl. This is a consequence of our own carelessness. Lady Utsuwa is not to blame,” said Zaza Ryl, helping Utsuwa up from the floor.
Pale with rage, Danna Ryl turned her back on Utsuwa and put her face in her hands.
“Danna Ryl, Lady Utsuwa is a part of you. Her pain is your pain, and you will bear the scar of any wound you cause her. You understand that, of course?”
“Of course, yes… It’s just… I’m sorry. I was somewhat shocked, and…angry with myself. I consider Utsuwa so much a part of myself that it did not occur to me to be wary.”
“Who, I wonder, could be wary of a part of you, my lady? I myself was all too careless. Lady Utsuwa, please forgive me for saying so many things you should not have had to hear. There is so much you should never have heard. Have you hurt yourself?” Zaza Ryl set Utsuwa on her feet and checked her over to see if she’d injured herself when she fell to the floor.
The girl shook her head. “U-Utsuwa’s fine…and Utsuwa doesn’t think she did anything wrong. Utsuwa wants Mother to make up and be friends again with the people from the Forbidden Land.”
“Yes, yes. I quite understand. We must encourage them to reflect on their actions, however. They defied Danna Ryl and killed one of our gatekeepers, and a suitable punishment is in order.”
“But…”
“Once they have been shown the error of their ways, the invaders will surely come to understand their crimes. Now then, Lady Utsuwa, please return to your chamber. Do not worry about the Ignas with whom you spoke, we will deal with them at once.”
“Deal with them?” Utsuwa asked. “What does that mean?”
Zaza Ryl clapped his hands, at which a number of servants appeared to usher Utsuwa to her room. Once there, Utsuwa heard for the first time in her life the sound of the key being turned from the other side.
“Why is Utsuwa’s door locked?”
There was no answer.
Trapped in her chamber, Utsuwa simply stood there, gazing dumbfounded at the door. She had never imagined any of this could happen: her mother shouting at her in anger, refusing to listen to a word she said, then locking her in her room… It was as if Utsuwa’s whole world had changed in the span of a single day.
“…Or is this the way it’s always been…?”
Utsuwa was a vessel for Danna Ryl. When she turned fifteen, she was meant to surrender her young body to Danna Ryl, who would then consume her soul. The two of them were one and the same, and had never before had a difference of opinion…or so Utsuwa had thought. But now she realized she had simply never before had any opinion of her own. And this was what happened to the world when their opinions differed.
“Mother doesn’t want the people of the Forbidden Land to know about the invasion… Utsuwa told Seth about the invasion… That means…to stop Seth from telling the Forbidden Landers about the invasion, Mother will surely…”
─Because if anyone finds out what you told us, we’ll be killed.
Utsuwa let out a cry. “What do I do now…? He told Utsuwa to keep it a secret…” He told Utsuwa that Mother would kill him, but I didn’t listen… I just laughed it off like some kind of joke.
Utsuwa rushed to the window and looked up at the sky.
“Thaumatheria…”
Great birds, their warning coloration a fiery red, were circling with armored Ignas on their backs. These were the constables responsible for chasing down the most heinous of criminals.
Seth is going to be killed, and it’s all Utsuwa’s fault.
When Utsuwa put a hand to her chest, she could feel her heart racing. She was, in that moment, on the verge of rebellion… She intended to ignore the implicit entreaty from her mother─her other half─not to leave her room.
“…You are me, and I am you.”
Utsuwa didn’t need to seek permission from anyone. That was how it had always been. They could lock her up like this, but it was too late─Utsuwa wasn’t going to change her ways.
“Utsuwa doesn’t want them to die.”
She slipped out through the window, hopped onto a two-wheeled wizard carriage, and followed the silhouettes of the soaring thaumatheria out of the city.
+++
Seth formed a caravan with ten or so fellow merchants, and together they drove across the wasteland toward the sea.
“Hey Seth, you sure this is the right way? Aren’t lost, are ya?”
“Nope, it’s a straight shot in this direction… Just like I told you five minutes ago.”
“It’s just, I’ve never gone overland without any roads before, and it’s making me nervous.”
The portly raccoon grumbling in the driver’s seat was named Zol El. To all appearances he was a timid, cowardly fellow, but he and Seth had been doing business together for decades. Seth knew that Zol wasn’t a coward, he was just extremely cautious. Which was exactly why he had approached him about this “move” he was planning.
“Wonder if the free district’s even real…”
Seth knew the rumors being spread by the Exinov were lies─but he also knew the free district did exist. The big question was where…and it just so happened Seth (and Seth alone) knew this, too. He had, after all, sold a wizard carriage to a certain reptilian beastfallen. And, as he had told Utsuwa, each of Seth’s vehicles was outfitted such that he could discern its location at all times in case of accident or theft.
At present, the lizard’s wizard carriage was on the ocean.
“You don’t reckon there’s a chance the two-wheeler broke down and he just threw it in the sea, do you?” Zol El ventured.
“Can’t be─it still moves around sometimes.”
“On the water? Thought you said it wasn’t equipped for that.”
“He might be driving it on the deck of a ship, or maybe there’s some small island we aren’t aware of. In any case, we’ll know once we get there.”
“Still worries me, though… Our fuel stores are low, and if we run out of mana on the ocean, we’ll sink like a stone.” Zol’s wizard carriage was amphibious, but if its power source ran dry, it would be nothing more than a lump of iron. “We might not even make it to the ocean in the first place, and─”
“They’re on us!” Seth’s shout cut across Zol’s mutterings, and the raccoon shrunk into his seat.
“See! They came after us, I knew they would! I told you we should’ve brought Lady Utsuwa along! We could’ve used her as a hostage!”
“Woulda made things even harder if we had her with us…!” Seth grabbed the passenger seat communicator and shouted to the other members of the merchant caravan: “Danna Ryl’s minions are here! Prepare to intercept!”
With his wizard weapon in hand, Seth opened the roof of the carriage and glared up at the sky. “Five mounted constables on thaumatheria!” he shouted into the communicator. “The beasts themselves are transport only, they have no attack capabilities!”
“Then we’ve got the upper hand in terms of weaponry. Look at ’em─just how old are those wizard guns?”
“The constabulary’s gear is only good for abusing unarmed Nurabehn. They think they can take on merchants who wholesale weapons to private monster hunting outfits? What a joke.”
“─Hm?”