I ordered Sacher to carefully place Frederika on the rail of the ship without ever dropping her. “I’m terribly sorry,” I said. “I shall be certain to give him an extra harsh scolding, so I beg for your gracious forgiveness.”
“I apologize for my untoward comment,” Sacher said, his head pressed down by my hand as I forced him to bow. “I failed to understand my situation and ran my stupid mouth.”
We both vehemently apologized for our actions.
“Oh, very well. I shall forgive you,” Frederika said. “But in exchange, can you listen to my request? ♪”
She has a big heart, but I wish she’d stop singing all the time. I could tell by her gaze that her request was aimed toward me. “Wh-What would that be?” I asked.
I braced myself as I forced myself to crack a smile. Yeah, yeah, I know. Judging from what we’ve been doing so far, I bet you want me to sing. I wish you’d understand that now really isn’t the time for stuff like that. I nervously waited for Frederika’s reaction.
“No, I mean—” Frederika started.
“Frederika, what is your request?” Queen Belletochka interrupted angrily. “The moment we set foot in the domain, the spirit attacked us, no questions asked. Aren’t you supposed to be in the holy ground? Why are you here? Where are the other mermaids?”
Frederika was flustered from being peppered with so many questions. “Wait, wait, you can’t ask me so many things at once. I don’t know what to sing! You’re confusing me.”
“You don’t have to sing. Just tell us, please.” The queen’s smile didn’t waver for even a moment.
“No wayyyy! We simply must sing during important events or emotional times, mustn’t we?”
Frederika clearly seemed dissatisfied with the suggestion. Actually, I feel like if you sing important conversations, they won’t really land very well, honestly...
“Frederika,” Queen Belletochka demanded firmly.
“All right, all right,” Frederika replied. “Fine! I feel like we’re not all excited yet, but okay. I request that you sing and dance!”
“Pardon?” I asked.
Frederika’s singing had been distracting me from understanding what she was getting at, but now that she was speaking normally, I nevertheless felt a question mark pop over my head. She explained so little that I just had no clue. What do we do now?
“Frederika, can’t you give us more details?” Queen Belletochka requested. “You’re as terrible at explaining things as ever, aren’t you?”
“What? Like I said, I want you to sing and dance in my stead!” She waved her arms around like a child throwing a tantrum.
Yep, I was still confused about what she was getting at. But the specifics aside, my mind was sounding the alarm at the terrifying words “sing” and “dance.” I felt it was best not to pursue this idea much further. I continued to fidget around in quiet panic.
“Um, do you want us to sing and dance here?” Magiluka asked since I was hesitating.
“Huh? No, no. I want you to sing and dance at the holy ground,” Frederika replied.
“And who will do that? By the sound of things, will it be Lady Mary?” She glanced at me apologetically, and I frantically shook my head in silent protest.
“Mary for sure,” Frederika replied. “The rest will have to be decided through further discussion.”
Part of me was stunned by the unrelenting pressure she was putting on me, but then there was a part of me that felt a ray of hope. My eyes lit up. “So, we’ll all dance together, then?” I asked, trying to drag my friends into this mess.
“Um, uh, why must one sing and dance at the holy ground?” Magiluka asked, swiftly changing the subject.
“To quell the spirit!”
Magiluka’s question sort of allowed me to grasp the situation. It seemed the spirit was currently furious, and singing and dancing was the way we could pacify it. This felt like a classic anime trope. Singing and dancing, huh... I forgot about my embarrassing performance earlier and envisioned myself dancing with everyone like a shrine maiden that I’d seen in an anime. I smiled at the thought.
“Wait, didn’t you say before that those performances are usually the role of the mermaids living in the holy ground?” the queen asked. “Even you wouldn’t have everyone’s approval to break tradition in this way.”
“Heh, no one will oppose me,” Frederika replied. “After all, everyone else is already goooooone! ♪” She wasn’t able to suppress her urges and sang the last part.
“What do you mean?” Queen Belletochka asked. “When I visited here with the Argent Knight, everyone was still around. What in the world happened?”
“Ahhh... Years ago, how many, I know not,” Frederika sang. “To Xeoral you brought the Argent Knight, and this occurred a while after. ♪”
“Hmm, and this is where you learned about Xeoral...” Emilia mused, breaking the flow of the song as ruthlessly as her mother.
Jeez, the Dark Lord’s family sure has some guts. I decided to take the opportunity to ask a question that’d been on my mind for a while. “Um, why did the Argent Knight head for Xeoral anyway?” I inquired.
“To be precise, it was no mere visit,” Frederika sang. “Indeed, the most accurate term, in a word, is a homecoming. ♪”
“Homecoming? So, the Argent Armor was there from the start?” Sita asked. She joined the conversation with great interest hearing this part of history unravel.
“I see,” Magiluka, our other ever inquisitive mind, chimed in. “Now I know what Queen Belletochka meant when she mentioned the ‘first island.’”
“B-But I thought the Argent Armor was being researched deep in Eneres,” Safina pointed out curiously.
“Shot in the dark, but judging from the memoir and the lab, maybe Nike carried the armor out there,” I guessed.
“Agreed,” the prince added. “The forest is too far for the mermaids to have brought it out, and it sounds like the mermaids here didn’t interfere with Xeoral, right?” He turned to Queen Belletochka for confirmation, and she nodded quietly. She glanced at Frederika for more information.
“Why won’t any of you sing with me?!” the mermaid demanded, no longer singing. “Where’s the melody?! Where’s the emotion?” She couldn’t abide our conversation’s lacking rhythm.
“Enough of that. What happened after I left?” the queen asked.
“E-Enough?! Hmph!” Frederika huffed. “If you’re so curious, why not ask that child over there?!” She turned away angrily, and we all looked toward the child in question.
“Huh? Me?” Noa asked with surprise, pointing at herself as everyone’s eyes landed on her. “I-I don’t know anything.”
Frederika cocked her head to one side. “You don’t? But didn’t you come down from Xeoral with the young man after a while?”
“A young man? Um, might his name be Agard?”
“Oh, that’s right. You know your info. But I bet you didn’t know this: That man is the Argent Knight!” Frederika huffed proudly. “Huh? You guys don’t seem too shocked.”
We all already knew about that, so none of us were particularly surprised. I hoped that our reaction, or lack thereof, wouldn’t anger her.
“I...came from Xeoral?” Noa mumbled. “Ugh...”
The one person among us who did react was Noa, as Frederika’s information seemed to have triggered her to recall some memories...but the accompanying headache looked to put an end to that.
I could’ve guessed that the young man was Agard, but what confuses me now is how he returned the armor to Xeoral. Also, he left the island with Noa in tow...? Why would he do that? Wasn’t Noa born in a lab in Eneres?
Only then did I realize that my initial assumptions must’ve been wrong. Noa had been asleep in the research facility, but there’d never been any reason to believe she was born and created in the lab. Was Noa born in Xeoral and brought to sleep in Eneres for some reason?
The armor disappeared, but then came Noa beside him instead. Was returning the Armor of God to Xeoral Agard’s way of sealing great power? But if it was that simple, I doubt he would’ve sought help from Kairomea. Or did he go there so that he could look into the existence of Xeoral? No, I don’t think that’s it either.
I was trying my best to piece things together by joining the information I had along with what Frederika was telling us.
“Frederika, Noa’s been asleep for a very long time, and I think that may have given her amnesia,” I explained. “We’re headed for Xeoral partly in hopes of her regaining some of her memories.”
“I see,” Frederika replied. “I’m sorry. I had no idea, so my suggestion was crass.” As she apologized, she stopped pouting and straightened her posture, no longer seeming too lax and unwilling to engage in the conversation.
“What was the Argent Knight doing in Xeoral?” I asked. “And what about the armor?”
“I honestly don’t know,” Frederika replied. “We didn’t really interfere with matters pertaining to Xeoral, and while I was personally interested, I felt it uncouth to pry. And Noa, was it? You were asleep back then. But I did ask about what he was planning to do. I couldn’t suppress my curiosity.”
“And what did Agard say?” Noa asked, paying no heed to the headache that she might incur.
“He said that he wanted to surprise you when you woke up and wanted to return to your hometown. He cradled you very preciously.”
“What does this have to do with our current situation?” the queen asked.
“For shame, Belletochka,” Frederika scolded. “I’ve provided you the groundwork for a most romantic ballad. Does it not tug at your songstress heartstrings? Where is your spark? Alas, you’ve grown old, haven’t you?” As soon as she gave that closing jab, Frederika did a toothy grin.
“Now simply isn’t the time for personal affairs, that’s all. Please don’t say that I’m old.” The queen sighed. She kept a smile on her face, but for a moment, I thought I saw the veins on her forehead throb.
I guess Frederika’s still angry the queen brushed her off...
Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything, Queen Belletochka. When I saw the veins in your temple swell up, I’m sure it was my eyes playing tricks on me.
“Did anything happen after that?” Her Majesty asked.
“Ah, yes. And then some time passed, you see, ♪” Frederika sang. “Until suddenly, they descended from above. ♪ The Argent Armor, once laid to rest, now came from Xeoral, and it wasn’t just one suit. ♪”
Everyone had been bracing for it, and sure enough, she’d dropped the shocking reveal in a singsong manner. I was honestly more surprised by how quickly I’d gotten used to retaining information delivered in musical format than by what she’d actually said, but no one else needed to know that!