Chapter 111

“Well, it’s impossible to reform anything if you’re too concerned over the little stuff. I must admit, it’s worked out well enough for me, since I get to spend time with such lovely young ladies. Ha-ha-ha! How do you like today’s treats? I prepared them for you personally.” “…I would’ve preferred to enjoy them without you around.” Sitting directly across from Sahara was a portly middle-aged man in a gentleman’s suit. As if his words weren’t creepy enough, something about his physical presence was viscerally repulsive. This was Director Kagarma Dartaros, a morally bankrupt man who preferred sneaking in the shadows. Incidentally, Sir Experion Riverse, a knight said to be the strongest man on the continent, was downstairs. Both of them happened to work for Ashuna Grisarika, who was now a close collaborator with Menou. Sahara hadn’t wanted anything to do with the massive upheaval those troublemakers were causing in this kingdom. If anything, she wished to run away, a thought that made her poke her head out the window and peer around at their present situation. Sahara was currently in a tower in Grisarika Kingdom where Kagarma had been kept for a very long time. It was in a particularly remote part of Grisarika and had been deserted until recently. But now, for whatever reason, people were gathered outside. The strangers down below stirred with excitement when they caught a glimpse of Sahara. “Lady Sahara…” “It’s Lady Sahara! The new world leader, who rebuilt the Fourth after it was reduced to a shell of its former self for years!” “She’s the key figure who invited Flarette here and became a sworn friend of Princess Ashuna!” “I’ve heard that she’s also the hero who brought about the ceasefire on the front lines of the eastern Wild Frontier!” “They say even conjured soldiers obey her, and she can control most monsters, too!” “Lady Saharaaaa!” The brief appearance of Sahara’s face at the window was enough to cause an uproar. Many whispered what were undoubtedly exaggerated rumors, but those were less concerning than the handful who let out impassioned cheers. These people weren’t citizens of Grisarika. They were people who’d just immigrated here recently. Lured in by the promise of a new world that abolished the caste system, they rallied around Sahara and settled here in what had recently been little more than a deserted village. In just half a year, they had expanded the place into a decent-sized town. Sahara slowly sank back out of sight and pretended she hadn’t seen anything. When she turned her gaze back to Kagarma, he smiled quite amiably. “Goodness, you’re popular. It’s no wonder Her Highness doesn’t want to let you go.” “Ugh. These people have too much time on their hands.” The world at large must have had far less to do than Sahara thought. It was much better to be bored than busy, she supposed. That incident half a year ago, when she got mixed up in the destruction of the holy land, was certainly an awful experience. She never wanted to deal with anything like that again. “Yep, peaceful is best…” Try as she did, though, Sahara didn’t feel pleased in the slightest. It had to be because of this utterly incomprehensible situation. Sahara groaned and flopped down on the sofa. “Your popularity shows you have talent, you know. Manon wasn’t nearly so well-liked. Come to think of it…I suppose it’s because she had no interest in other people. She was already freer than any of them. And her freedom had no need for anyone else.” Kagarma spoke so sincerely about Manon. While it appeared to be meant as a compliment, it bothered Sahara. “Shut up. You’re gonna betray me, just like you ditched Manon.” “Ha-ha-ha. I have lived quite a long time, you know. Besides, I didn’t abandon Manon. She did as she wished, and it led to her downfall, that’s all.” He was basically admitting that he had no interest in preventing someone’s demise, even if he was with them. “It’s Menou’s fault… Every single thing is Menou’s fault…,” Sahara grumbled. She was the one always pushing her accomplishments off onto other people. For some reason, Menou had assigned Sahara all the credit for her achievements in Grisarika. At first, Sahara had generously accepted any accolades she could get for free, and for some reason, the more she sat around doing nothing, the more popular she became. Feeling anxious about her position, which soared to new heights in less than a month, Sahara had approached Menou at one point to ask if they could call it quits. “Hmm? I thought you wanted to be special, didn’t you?” Menou had replied. I’ll kill her, Sahara had thought at the time. Did she enjoy dredging up the embarrassing remarks people made in their darkest, most vulnerable moments? Surely she didn’t seriously intend this as a gesture of goodwill, yet it seemed much too cruel for a joke. Sahara had only refrained from attacking Menou then because she knew she wasn’t strong enough to win. Also, she had to admit it was a little fun being worshipped by the masses. Ultimately, the people who gathered to admire Sahara managed to build this empty place into a flourishing town. It was unavoidable, really. Sahara had always harbored a deep desire for approval. There was no way she could resist letting all that attention get to her head. “Hmm… I wonder if there’s anything I can do about this, though.” Concluding that her current situation was inescapable, Sahara raised her Guiding prosthetic right arm. Once, Sahara had been a nun, as her attire still suggested. During that time, she’d gotten too deeply involved with the Mechanical Society of the eastern Wild Frontier and lost her right arm, which was replaced with a conjuring-enhanced artificial limb. Since it was connected to her spirit through her flesh, it moved as freely as a natural body part. After some more tribulation, the arm basically became the core of Sahara’s body. Its pinky finger was fitted with a black ring in the design of a little lizard. Cute as it looked, this was no mere accessory. As if to demonstrate this, the lizard raised its head to meet Sahara’s gaze. “Kagarma. Can’t you get rid of this thing?” “I’m afraid that’s far beyond me. Especially now that little Maya is off with Menou.” “Pretty useless for a so-called Elder. You really don’t live up to the stories.” “Ha-ha-ha! You’re far from the first to tell me that. Her Highness scolded me recently, too.” The moving ring, which might even look charming if one got used to it, was actually a Concept of Original Sin curse. She’d gotten it from Maya, the pinky finger of Pandæmonium who’d regained her sense of self and sanity. Sometimes, Sahara wondered if cutting her finger off would do the trick, but the ring had a tendency to move on its own. It would probably activate somehow if Sahara tried to escape the curse. The most frightening part was that she had no idea what kind of effects it might have. Just thinking about it was starting to scare her. Sahara buried her face in the sofa instead. “On that note, Sahara, shouldn’t you have tried to stop little Maya?” “Of course not. Now I don’t have to take care of that twerp anymore. If I’m lucky, I’ll sit around doing nothing like this forever.” So long as she ignored the crowd of admirers growing because of a reputation that really had nothing to do with the actual Sahara, she was in quite a fortunate position. She didn’t have to fight or think. She could laze around all day long. If anything, all this free time was a blessing. The clear sunlight beaming in through the window showed signs of an early spring. Sahara yawned, which suited her naturally sleepy-looking eyes. Suddenly, her shadow dragged her into the abyss. “Fwah?!” Sahara dropped with a sort of splashing sound, seemingly sinking right into the sofa. Since she was in the middle of a yawn when it happened, she let out a strange exclamation of shock. Sahara and her scream were swallowed and vanished. “…Oh my.” Kagarma raised his eyebrows at Sahara’s abrupt exit. He poured more black tea into his mug without any particular hurry or panic. The man considered himself a proper gentleman. “A summoning… Well, Maya’s shadow is connected to Sahara’s, after all. I assumed she’d be summoned away eventually, although that was much sooner than I’d expected. Ah, yes, the Starhusk and the Astrologer… Back when Flare and the Light girl went north, they learned the truth about the otherworld repatriation circle and gained management authority over the satellite weapon. Now, then…” He savored the scent of the tea, thought fondly on the past, and reflected on this generation’s youth. “This new group of girls is bound to make quite a stir, too.” By the time Sahara realized she’d been summoned, there was already a little girl in front of her. She wore a large kimono tied with a belt over a white one-piece dress with three holes down the chest. It was Maya. The girl was breathing hard as she glowered at Sahara, who she’d pulled from her shadow. “Glad…you could make it…Sahara, you lazy bum.” Only someone with the Pure Concept of Evil had the unique ability to summon another to their side if they met certain conditions. “I heard the whooole thing, you know. Awfully full of yourself for being one of my underlings, aren’t you?” “Oh, um, when I said I was bored, it was only…a figure of speech, like…” “Not now. I’m in big trouble here!” Maya completely ignored Sahara’s mumbled excuses, looking around nervously as she tried to catch her breath. From what Sahara gathered, Maya was being chased. Alarm bells sounded in Sahara’s head immediately. “Uh…what’re you doing?” “Can’t you tell? You’re so dense, Sahara.” Maya stepped behind Sahara and pushed against her back, like she planned to use her as a human shield. “Well, I can see you’re running away…” Sahara only had a broad idea of what Menou and company were doing in the north. Logically, however, there was no way Maya should be out on her own when she was virtually powerless. “…from home, I guess?” Maybe she and Abbie had finally duked it out during the journey. Maya and Abbie got along extremely poorly. One was based in a Concept of Original Sin, the other a Concept of Primary Colors. Similar as the two sounded, they were practically opposites, to the point where there didn’t seem to be a chance they would ever be on good terms. If Maya had run after a fight with Abbie, then Sahara wasn’t in any danger. Abbie called her “li’l sis” and doted on her to a disturbing degree, so it was doubtful that she would attack her. Sahara wondered if Abbie and Maya might do her the favor of destroying each other. Her hopes were dashed not a moment later. “I’m surrounded by knights. Fix it.” “Come again?” It was an incredibly vague order, not that Sahara was surprised. Menou was a highly wanted criminal; they would come after her in full force if they caught sight of her. Since Maya was known to be traveling with Menou, that probably applied to her, too. Sahara looked around for her old classmate from the monastery, yet there was no sign of the pretty face that was Menou’s one and only redeeming quality. “Where’s Menou?” “She’s not here. I’m on my own right now. You’re my servant, so fix it.” “Sorry?” When she heard that their leader wasn’t around, Sahara’s expression went blank. The situation was worse than she’d thought. Having been told a second time to “fix it,” Sahara covered her face with her Guiding prosthetic right hand. They were surrounded by knights, the enforcement officers of the Noblesse, with no support from Menou or Abbie. Why in the world had Sahara been dragged into such a losing situation? “…Why did you summon me? If you’d come to me instead, you would’ve gotten away safe and sound. That makes a whole lot more sense.” “But then I’d be in Grisarika Kingdom, silly. I wouldn’t be able to get back here.” “Well, yeah, but why do you need to be here at all?” Maya and Sahara’s summoning connection worked by way of their shadows. Maya could use her own shadow as an entrance to Sahara’s shadow, no matter how far apart they were. Only this child of Original Sin, holder of the Pure Concept of Evil, could perform such a feat. While this power had the incredible benefit of being able to summon from a long distance without a sacrifice, Maya couldn’t send the summoned person back where they came from, since she was using a Concept of Original Sin connection through her shadow and Sahara’s. In other words, if the two of them were captured, they’d have no means of escaping. All Maya’s summoning accomplished was turning Sahara into another victim. After all, Sahara had no motive to help. She lacked a reason. She might not even have the strength to aid Maya. “Because I have business to take care of here, obviously. Do you even need to ask?” Maya frowned. “Menou is trying to steal the Starhusk to save her friend… Um, Akari, was it? But I don’t know this friend of hers at all. Even if she’s trying to beat Hakua, this way is too indirect!” “Really? Akari’s a nice girl, you know. Personally, I’d like to see her rescued.” “Well, I don’t care!” Sahara was mostly interested in seeing the pink-haired pipsqueak’s face when her place at Menou’s side was finally stolen for good. “Sahara! There’s somewhere we just have to go, even if it means beating Menou to the punch!” Maya’s eyes burned with determination. We. Sahara turned pale as she realized she was already included in Maya’s plan. The knights slowly closed in on their target. Their goal was to capture the dangerous individual who’d suddenly appeared in town. Although the target resembled an innocent child, that was only a disguise. She was able to use a Concept of Original Sin, which meant she’d strayed from the path of humanity. Somehow, she was able to repeatedly summon monsters that would normally require multiple living sacrifices. Or perhaps the thing wasn’t human at all, but a person transformed by a Concept of Original Sin—a demon. When news of this came in, all of the knights in the city were mobilized at once. They’d followed the girl’s path from the station, repelled the monsters she summoned, and now they had finally cornered her in an empty alleyway. “Is the evacuation underway?” “Yes, sir. The Commons in the vicinity have already taken refuge. We have the go-ahead to engage.” “And the alley is completely sealed off?” “Yes, sir. Just to be safe, we’ve also positioned troops on the rooftops. Even if a flying monster is summoned, we should be able to strike it down immediately.” “Good.” They had her completely surrounded. Fortunately, the monsters she summoned were weak. The Commons citizens who lived nearby had already been ushered to safety. There was no need to worry much about any damage from the battle. The target’s capture was surely only a matter of time. Thus, the knights were too stunned to react immediately when a girl in a nun’s habit suddenly jumped out from the back alley. “What the?!” “A nun?” “Who is that? Backup? No, I think not.” The knights looked at each other and traded thoughts quietly. This new arrival appeared to be sixteen or seventeen. She had silver hair that fell in loose waves, and she wore the habit of a Faust trainee. Although she had decently good looks, the feature that drew the eye most was her right arm, which was a Guiding prosthetic. She didn’t resemble the young girl they’d been chasing at all, and the fact that she wore the garb of a fledgling member of the Faust, the highest-ranking caste, gave the knights pause. “A nun with silver hair and a prosthetic arm… C-could it be?!” While most of the knights were baffled by the sudden new arrival in an alley that had been empty save for their target, one among their ranks recognized her face and gave a shout of surprise. “That’s…Sahara, the governor of the Fourth!” A wave of shock ran through the group of knights. His subordinate’s realization jogged the captain’s own memory of the newcomer’s face. It truly was Sahara. Her fame even reached as far as the northern region of the continent. “What is the leader who completed the Director’s Fourth project doing all the way out here?!” “Okay, guess I’m killing you first.” Evidently, this observation had touched a nerve. “Governor.” Sahara promptly began charging her artificial arm with Guiding Force. Guiding Force: Connect—Prosthetic Arm, Inner Seal Conjuration—Activate [Skill: Silver Gauntlet] The conjuration carved into the prosthetic limb reacted to the Guiding Force and activated, transforming the arm into a battle-ready weapon in the blink of an eye. Raising her Guiding Force input, Sahara swung her fist straight into a knight and sent him flying. “Dammit… What’s Governor Sahara doing in a place like this?! I thought she was in Grisarika Kingdom. There’s no way she could have gotten here so quickly! Unless…” While his compatriot went down, another knight exclaimed, “Did she somehow acquire the legendary ancient relic of long-distance teleportation from the ancient civilization?!” “Got it. So you’re next, huh?” Sahara had chosen her next target. For once, her usually sleepy-looking eyes had a violent glint. Sahara had been the subject of too much special treatment lately, to the point that she now felt murderous urges toward anyone who tried to treat her as such. Under Sahara’s piercing glare, the shaken knight readied his sword. “I-if you’re trying to silence me, then I must have guessed right! What dastardly deeds are you plotting?!” “Ugh, pipe down. You people are always blaming stuff on me, adding made-up stories to my criminal record… Plus, the Dragon Gate was rooted in the earthen vein. It’s not the kind of thing you just carry around. In other words, I’m innocent. I had nothing to do with what happened in the holy land at all. In fact. Just leave me out of it.” Sahara’s matter-of-fact attitude only disturbed the knights even more. “Dragon…Gate? Is that the name of the ancient relic of teleportation?” “She speaks as if she knows its true name and nature… Then she must really be…” “I’ve heard whispers before that it might be in the holy land, but… Wait, does that mean the real reason Flarette destroyed the holy land was so the governor could acquire the ancient relic and—” Guiding Force: Connect—Prosthetic Arm, Inner Seal Conjuration—Activate [Skill: Guiding Shot] “Gaaaaaaah!” As a trio of knights tried to pointlessly string a new story together, Sahara blew them all away at once. Their intense battle training failed them in the face of this confusing and alarming situation. The Guiding Shot from Sahara’s prosthetic arm hit them head-on. Although the compressed Guiding Force attack looked flashy, Sahara kept its lethality restrained. She jumped on one of the defeated knights, grabbed him by the collar, and slapped him repeatedly across the face. “Listen. If you wanna live, go back and relay this message for me: ‘Sahara is no big deal, she’s just an ordinary nun. She clearly doesn’t live up to the title of governor. The stories going around about her are obviously misinformed and exaggerated.’ Got it? Repeat it back to me. Go on, let’s hear it.” “Grrr… You might have bested us this time, but we’re still knights, entrusted with the noble mission of keeping the peace in all human settlements. We’d never carry false information for you, no matter how you threaten us! We’ll relay everything we learned here, even if it costs ou—aAGHHH?!” The knight’s dramatic speech of valiant determination was cut short by a merciless headbutt that knocked him out cold. “Stupid bastard.” Sahara dropped the unconscious knight to the ground and cursed. At this rate, she was going to become the mastermind who’d arranged the destruction of the holy land to acquire the ancient teleportation relic known as the Dragon Gate. The rumors about her were already exaggerated beyond any semblance of the truth, and now they might get blown even further out of proportion. The whole thing was ridiculous. Sahara had barely committed any criminal acts. She’d only abandoned the front lines of the eastern Wild Frontier without permission because she’d happened to run into Genom Cthulha, the monster of the Commons, leaving her with no other choice. And her attack on Menou was excusable, considering she’d lost all emotional stability because of the Mechanical Society affecting her spirit. Surely, these extenuating circumstances would excuse Sahara from criminal responsibility. As for her so-called role as governor, that had never been true. Sahara was focused on self-justification, all to prove she’d done nothing wrong. “People are always trying to pile blame onto the innocent.” Sahara still clung to the faint hope that she, unlike Menou and the others, might still be able to return to a normal life. As such, she couldn’t afford to give herself a bad name by killing knights. Maya, meanwhile, hid in Sahara’s shadow. Wherever Sahara went, the girl would follow. It was certainly convenient to be able to latch onto someone’s shadow while staying out of sight, but it was surprisingly easy for attacks to affect the shadow space, so she had to be careful. Still sulking, Sahara looked around and saw that there were still a lot of knights standing. At most, Sahara could take on five at a time. Ten or more meant that she would be hopelessly overwhelmed. Whatever Maya did must have been bad, because no fewer than thirty had gathered to stop her. Worse, all escape routes had been sealed off, and the knights had the home field advantage. It was enough to make Sahara want to throw in the towel on the spot. She was a nun who’d trained to become a priestess. Sadly, though, she’d never even attained the level of a white-robed assistant. She certainly wasn’t overconfident enough to think she could best thirty trained warriors alone. Apparently, this was where her cursed luck ran out. Sahara smiled brightly, feeling strangely relieved by the vast disadvantage. “Give me all you got—you’ll learn who’s weaker soon enough.” Sahara was trying to convey that she wasn’t any kind of threat. She dared to hope that being caught here would finally put all the exaggerated rumors to rest. However, her relaxed attitude only gave the knights the opposite impression. As the girl in a nun’s habit took an easy battle stance, her opponents recoiled so dramatically that their formation fell into disarray. “Is she claiming she’s stronger than a squadron of this size?” “S-such confidence…” “Acting as if the Noblesse couldn’t possibly touch her… She really is the governor of the Fourth who singlehandedly abolished the caste system in Grisarika Kingdom…!” “Amazing. You really are the perfect fit to be my servant, Sahara! I love the way you turn a situation around! Keep it up! Let’s see what else you can do for me!” This last bit of instigation came from Maya. Sahara’s expression grew increasingly sour as the misunderstandings deepened. Her displeasure came from the fact that, between her taking out a few knights with that first surprise attack and this fresh disturbance, the ranks surrounding her were so broken that she might actually be able to escape now. Sahara was at least trained enough to know better than to miss an opening like that. “It’s Menou’s fault… Menou’s fault… This is all Menou’s fault!” Cursing to herself, Sahara launched into battle against the knights to break through the gap in their formation. “Damn it all!” Teach, an instructor priestess from the Executioner-training monastery, shouted in frustration and kicked the ground in a back alley. A week had passed since she’d received information that the Faust traitor, Flarette, had left Grisarika Kingdom. Flarette had assisted in the revolution in Grisarika Kingdom to gain support, and Ashuna Grisarika had readily accepted this. Grisarika Kingdom was a large and powerful nation. After the revolution, even the Faust couldn’t easily meddle within its borders. Thus, Flarette stepping out of that safe zone was a perfect opportunity. Destroying her was the best chance of restoring the honor of Executioners. Ever since the fall of the holy land, Teach had been gradually losing authority and having her personnel taken away. She’d gathered a handful of loyal students she’d personally raised and set out to destroy Flarette. Teach knew how strong Menou had been as an Executioner in training. She certainly possessed a special talent for stealthy kills, but like her master Flare, her skills in head-to-head combat were more limited. Teach had no doubt that if they caught her unawares, they’d be able to kill her and restore the Executioner name. But it had all gone wrong. “A Pure Concept… But how?!” Flarette, who’d always specialized in assassination, had somehow acquired the unusual power of a Pure Concept. Teach’s plan had ended in failure because of an unexpected counterattack. Worse yet, Flarette had clearly held back against them and even spared their lives. “How dare she make such a mockery of me!” Now Teach knew Flarette’s abilities. She was certain that she’d complete her mission next time. However, Michele had come and snatched that chance away. Teach touched a hand to her right cheek. There was a large scar on her face where a dagger had once pierced through her cheek. The old wound had not come from an enemy. “Hah! What are you teaching these brats, you incompetent fool?” The memory of a woman who laughed with her mouth thrown unnaturally wide-open flashed through her mind. Teach had once been an Executioner herself. She’d erased many taboos in the name of protecting world peace. After surviving those hellish days and becoming an instructor, she sought to pass down her hard-earned Executioner’s pride and dignity to her pupils. “The pride of an Executioner? Are you stupid or what? There’s only one reason we kill people.” The merciless hunter of the most taboos in history—she was the ultimate Executioner. Master Flare. She’d been reassigned and was supposed to learn how to be an instructor from Teach. Instead, she’d jabbed her dagger into Teach’s cheek and taught her a lesson of her own. “Because we’re villains, that’s why.” “…!” Teach dug her nails into her palm. She’d always believed that her work was meant to protect the peace. But Flare, an Executioner with far more outstanding accomplishments, had rejected that notion outright. Ever since, Teach’s pride had been broken. She’d spent her hollow days simply instructing children how to fight, precisely as she was told. “And now…Flare is dead.” Flare was dead, and Teach was still alive. She didn’t know exactly what happened, but that was the result. Flare had been killed by her own student, and now Teach was free to instill the pride of Executioners in her charges as she’d wished. But then Michele appeared, a woman who threatened to dismantle the very existence of Executioners. The position had to endure. Executioners couldn’t vanish just because Flare was gone. The only way to stop this was by producing inarguable results. Although loath to admit it, Teach couldn’t imagine defeating Flarette in a straight fight. The young woman had become so strong she was like an entirely different person, even without her scripture. But battling fair and square was never the nature of Executioners. “I swear I’ll get her back for this…” Flarette had gone soft, if letting Teach and her students live was any indication. Undoubtedly, she had plenty of weaknesses. Teach needed to prepare. She would form a plan, gather information, and gain an advantage over Flarette. Flare was dead, and her successor, Flarette, had betrayed the Faust in the worst way possible. This was Teach’s chance. “I’ll prove that I was right… That this world needs Executioners!” Teach thought she heard the echo of a woman’s wide-mouthed laugh when she spoke. Roughly half a day had passed since Michele’s surprise attack. Having acquired a room in a cheap hotel, Menou stared grimly out the window. After the showdown with Michele, Menou and Abbie made it look like they were fleeing town, then secretly returned to search for Maya. However, they couldn’t find her. “We’re going back to the ruins of the house,” Menou declared. Abbie rolled her eyes beneath her goggles. “Do we really still have to look for her?” “We do.” Menou curtly shut down Abbie’s whining, causing the latter to sulk. “Come onnnn…” “I will not ‘come on.’” She was having none of Abbie’s whiny objections. Menou donned her mantle and prepared to depart. “They’re after Maya. You must have noticed that much during Michele’s attack. Whatever they plan to do with her can’t be good.” Menou and company didn’t have any means of long-distance communication. When she was a priestess, Menou had been able to use her scripture to send messages to connected scriptures. Now that she lacked communication conjurings, it was far more dangerous for any of them to go off alone. Menou and Abbie could still figure out ways to meet up, if necessary, but not Maya. She had no combat training and lacked the skills required to track down others. And if she used her Pure Concept, she could lose her memories and invite terrible danger. Of the three of them, it was most important to keep track of Maya. “First, let’s go back to the house. Maya was acting strange after she got separated from us yesterday. I think she had Michele’s scripture at the time of the attack. If it’s still there, we might be able to gain some insight into what happened.” “Hear me out, though. Is it really a problem if someone disappears when the world is better off without them? It’s best to abandon her for the greater good.” “…” Menou furrowed her brow. Abbie would be invaluable in locating Maya. Unfortunately, she made no attempt to disguise her disinterest in assisting. At this rate, it was entirely likely that she would claim she couldn’t find anything if Menou pushed her to help. “We’re better off without her. Why are you even trying to find her, Menou? Let’s just forget it and focus on getting information about the Starhusk. Heck, let’s just decide Maya was a decoy!” “…Abbie.” “Whaaat? Listen, no matter what you say, I’m not…” Upon realizing that she would have to take a different approach, Menou cleared her throat. Despite appearances, Menou was actually quite good at acting. She gave Abbie a calculated puppy-dog look, complete with tears in her wide eyes. “Please, won’t you help me, big sis?” “I’ll help you!! I’ll do whatever it takes!” Abbie immediately created conjured soldier insects and sent them out to scan the area. Menou was aghast at the immediate about-face she’d produced just by swallowing her pride a little. “…I didn’t actually think that would work.” “I’m not stupid, okay? I know that was just an act, but…my heart can’t deny a request from a cute little sis like you!” During their absurd exchange, Menou and Abbie deliberately chose a more crowded street as they approached the site of the previous day’s battle. “We gotta talk about Michele. What kind of monster is she, exactly? I’ve been wondering ever since we first ran into her on the ship to Grisarika Kingdom half a year ago… How can she do all that without a scripture?” “We’re just lucky she didn’t have that priestess partner with her.” “Ah, the one with the glasses… You’re right. It’s impossible to handle the two of them combined. We only scraped by the first time because we were at sea. We’ll be done for if they use the earthen vein against us.” Michele boasted an inhumanly large amount of Guiding Force and the ability to control it with perfect finesse. Guiding Enhancement, crest conjurings, scripture conjurings, combat techniques… She excelled at every imaginable form of Guiding Force control, and her skills didn’t stop there. She had no weaknesses to exploit. There was no way to beat her in a head-on fight. Her flawlessness as a conjurer earned her the nickname Magician. She was, without a doubt, the strongest of the Elders that served Hakua. The only reason Menou and Abbie had escaped her at all was because they’d encountered her in town. Michele had refrained from using her greatest conjurings out of fear of harming passersby. She could reduce everything in sight to a wasteland with her massive Guiding Force capabilities if she truly desired it. Before long, Menou and Abbie arrived at the wreckage of the house where they’d been hiding. There were several guards stationed around the rubble. Appearances suggested they were hired Commons, not priestesses or knights. “Abbie?” “Don’t worry. It’s not a trap.” Abbie had already confirmed this by sending her insects to investigate. Evidently, Michele wasn’t lying in wait. “All right. Let’s do some digging.” “Do you even have any idea where to look?” “Of course I do. Maya came to my room last night, and she was carrying a scripture. I think it must have been Michele’s. Remember when Maya got lost yesterday? I think Michele must have given it to her then for some purpose.” “Uh-huh…” Abbie obviously had no interest in discussing Maya. Menou had her wait on standby and used Guiding Camouflage to conceal herself and slip past the guards. She pushed through the debris in the area where she’d been staying last night, removing it carefully so as not to catch the attention of the men keeping watch. Before long, she found the object of her search. Sure enough, it was a scripture. Menou touched it and let some Guiding Force flow through her hand. There was no conditionally activated trap. It was just a normal scripture. Hakua might detect Menou through the scripture, but there was little point in worrying about that when Michele had already run into them. Menou opened the scripture and found that a page had been torn out. Using Guiding Camouflage to move past the guards, Menou returned to Abbie. “Can you reproduce this page?” “Mm-hmm. Just leave it to your oh-so-convenient big sister.” Abbie took the scripture and held it against the gear design on her abdomen. Her tan skin absorbed the scripture easily. Her conjured soldier’s body, constructed from a Concept of Primary Colors, was connected to a separate dimension. More accurately, the part of Abbie that was here with Menou was really only a terminal. “Mm, delicious… Oh? Oh my.” While analyzing and reconstructing the scripture in the space within her body, Abbie made a bemused sound. For some reason, she thrust a hand into her stomach and drew a piece of paper out like a magic trick. “Here you are, the piece that was ripped out. The reconstruction I whipped up won’t even last five minutes, so read it quickly.” She handed Menou a re-created scrap. Menou inspected the Guiding Light image it produced and checked its contents. This confirmed her suspicions. Michele had given Maya this scripture to lure her away to Hakua. “So she betrayed us, hmm?” “…I don’t think it’s gone that far, at least not yet.” If she’d betrayed them right away, Maya would have worked with Michele the previous day. “I’d say it’s more like she’s been tempted into evil.” “Ah-ha-ha! That’s ironic, when she has the Pure Concept of Evil,” Abbie cackled, still openly hostile toward Maya. Menou frowned, voicing a doubt that arose as soon as she understood the situation. “I can’t imagine Hakua would really leave the holy land, even to lure Maya…” Was she missing something? Menou turned over the facts, trying to think outside the box. Maya’s nature, Hakua’s goal, the Starhusk, and what she knew about the abilities of the Pure Concept of Ivory—something felt off while she reviewed each. She dug deeper into the feeling, until realization struck like a bolt of lightning. “…Oh no.” “What’s up, li’l Menou?” Menou didn’t respond to Abbie’s question, instead only staring at her while rooted in place. It couldn’t be. Anxiety burned in Menou. If her prediction was right, then she’d realized it much too late. They should never have let Maya leave Grisarika Kingdom, and if they had to let her tag along, they ought to have watched her every waking second. Letting her slip away long enough to run into Michele had been a fatal error. If it unfolded as Menou feared, everything they’d done in the past half year would be for nothing. Perhaps it was already doomed beyond any hope of recovery. “Abbie!” “Bwuh?!” Abbie exclaimed in surprise. “We have to leave right now! Protecting Maya is all that matters!” They could no longer afford to be careful. Menou had been trying to cause as little commotion as possible, but that was off the table now. Depending on the circumstances, they might need to launch a surprise attack. They had to rescue Maya, no matter the risk. “You know, li’l Menou, you’re actually not very empathetic.” Menou still didn’t know what she’d said to upset Maya last night. Another emotion arose to join the anxiety. It landed in her chest with a heavy thud, settling there like an unmovable weight. What was Menou, who’d killed lost ones as an Executioner, supposed to do about this Otherworlder? Half a year had passed since she’d met Maya. Soon, she would have to face a problem she’d been avoiding all this time. “You’re not falling for that old trick, are you?” Sahara quipped. After escaping the circle of knights, Maya had explained the situation to Sahara, who’d criticized her immediately. “I mean, that’s super sketchy. Everyone knows that ‘come alone’ always means it’s a trap unless it’s a love confession. How could you possibly believe her?” “I know, but…” Maya had no argument. She just pouted at the girl with wavy silver hair and a nun’s habit. Her sleepy-looking eyes gave her the illusion of a languid young beauty, but Maya knew the truth. Sahara was just lazy and unmotivated. “Well, it could be the truth. Besides, it’s not your place to comment on your master’s decisions, you cheeky underling. All you need to know is that I have to see Hakua. So we’ve got to stay away from Menou and get to the City of Ruins by the appointed date.” “Oh yeah? Well, given how long it would take to travel from the holy land, and our current speed, I guess this is the only date that makes sense for a meetup… Hey, if that’s where you want to go, I’m not gonna stop you.” Sahara nodded once and offered no further thoughts. She didn’t seem terribly interested. Maya gripped her kimono sleeves. Sahara only obeyed Maya because of a threat, the ring the child had affixed on her pinky finger. Sahara wasn’t Maya’s ally, or her friend. In truth, there was hardly any curse on the ring at all. It only served as a mark that enabled Maya to create a link between their shadows and perform the summoning. If Sahara knew that Maya lacked the power to really harm Sahara, it was obvious what such a careless, flaky girl would do. She’d run off immediately. “As long as you understand. You’re my servant, so you need to do what I say.” “Right, right.” Thus, Maya couldn’t afford to show Sahara any weakness. The two of them were walking along a path beside the railroad tracks. Occasionally, a Guiding train passed by, shaking the ground and scattering motes of Guiding Light. It would’ve been faster to travel by train, of course, but they had to assume that all the stations had guards. Unlike Menou and Abbie, Maya and Sahara couldn’t disguise their appearance, which left them with no choice but to walk and keep hidden. As they proceeded in silence, white powder floated past their faces. It was starting to snow. “Ugh… I hope this doesn’t turn into a storm,” Sahara groaned. She and Maya were wanted criminals and couldn’t take the train, so a snowstorm posed a severe threat. If it came down too heavily, they wouldn’t get anywhere quickly, if at all. With Sahara involved, their pursuers would take them all the more seriously. The rumors about Sahara had gotten impressively out of hand. It didn’t help that Menou sometimes disguised herself as Sahara to cover her tracks. At this point, it was no exaggeration to say that members of the Faust and Noblesse who didn’t have inside information viewed Sahara as public enemy number one. If Sahara was alone, she could have evaded detection by navigating rocky, undeveloped territory. However, Maya lacked the stamina for such a journey. They needed to stick to even ground if they wanted to get anywhere on foot. “I knew it.” There was a security checkpoint up ahead. A group of knights inspected the faces of everyone who passed on the road. It wasn’t a bustling area, so there were only three knights at the checkpoint. Menou or Abbie could’ve handled this easily. Maya raised her head to look at Sahara, wondering what she would do about it. Eyes trained on the knights, Sahara said, “Maya. Stay calm and answer me one thing, okay?” Sensing that this was serious, Maya responded tensely. “Okay.” “Where are we, exactly?” Sahara asked after a pause. A chill wind blew with a whistling sound. Maya’s mouth dropped open. Sahara had been leading the way with such confidence that Maya had never expected her to inquire about such a thing. “Sahara…you’re joking, right?” “Think about it.” Maya’s lips quivered while Sahara explained with a deadly serious expression why she wasn’t at fault. “I was just relaxing in Grisarika Kingdom when I was suddenly summoned here, and then we were immediately on the run, remember? How would I have any idea where we are?” “Wh… Then why did you lead the way…?” “I walked down the first road I saw, that’s all. I guess you could say I left it up to chance.” Maya’s entire body trembled as Sahara spoke without the slightest hint of remorse. And no, she wasn’t shaking because she was cold. “I mean, who could blame me? I have no map, we can’t take the train, and I’ve never been to the north. I don’t know the first thing about the geography around here.” Having given her defense without hesitation, Sahara pressed her artificial hand to her chest. “In other words, it’s not my fault.” “SAHARAAAA!” Maya screeched. “Why are you always like this?! You just go with the flow! So thoughtless! Totally irresponsible! Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?!” “Of course not. Nothing is ever my fault, after all.” “How can you possibly believe that?! I don’t get it! Now sit right there so I can punish you!” “Yeah, no thanks. I do have some dignity, you know. I’m not going to just sit on the dirty ground.” “Forget about your stupid pride! Or do you want me to activate that thing on your finger?!” “I’m sorry. I’ll learn from this mistake and do better moving forward.” “Don’t give me some phony apology! What are you, a politician?! You make me so mad!!” Maya was shouting. She’d forgotten to keep her voice down. From an outsider’s perspective, a nun was being scolded by a little girl. The pair stood out like a sore thumb. “Isn’t that…?” “No, it can’t be…” “I want to say that’s impossible…but maybe not?” The knights spotted Maya and Sahara immediately and whispered to each other, confused. Their clothes and appearances matched the descriptions, but they drew too much attention to themselves and argued loudly over something too trivial to be a falling-out among criminal masterminds. The knights couldn’t believe that the famous governor of the Fourth would be lectured by a child. As the knights stood around stealing glances and wondering whether these two were merely uncanny look-alikes, the girls eventually realized they’d been spotted and fell silent. The little girl turned somewhat pale. Their reaction finally confirmed the knights’ suspicions. “We’ve spotted the governor of the Fourth!” “Call for backup! Keep your distance and don’t lose sight of the targets! Don’t do anything stupid before backup arrives! Just keep your eyes on them until we have enough men to overwhelm them with numbers!” Once they made a decision, knights were always quick to act. A messenger went running, and the rest fanned out to keep Maya and Sahara in their sights. They were intently focused, making sure that they wouldn’t take their eyes off the two until backup arrived. Maya turned bright red as she watched the situation take a turn for the worse. “Sahara, you useless piece of junk! You big stupid nincompoop!” “What, you think this is my fault?” “Of course it is, dummy! Michele’s not attacking us thanks to me, but now the knights are all over us because of you!” “Uhhh… Then maybe you shouldn’t have summoned me.” “Now you’re just splitting hairs!!” Maya shouted at the unimpressed Sahara while the two were forced to flee from knights yet again. A woman was being dragged out of the church by the collar of her priestess robes. She had dark jade-tinted hair and glasses. The small sword hanging from her belt indicated that she was an Inquisitor, though its hilt was so sparkling clean that it was doubtful whether it had ever been touched. Unlike Michele’s, which was wielded as a genuine weapon, this one was mere decoration. “Michele, please slow down…” The creases in the other priestess’s brow deepened when she heard her name. Her would-be comrade’s lighthearted tone hardly seemed appropriate for an Inquisitor, let alone one who was older than her. Michele continued dragging Hooseyard, who was technically her senior, while the latter continued whining. “I really don’t want to leave this town yet. There’s still lots of work to be done, like examining the Guiding Force lines we drew from the earthen vein and finishing up and submitting a maintenance plan. It’s not often that we get permission to connect directly to a town’s Guiding Force lines, so it’d be a shame to let this chance go to waste, don’t you agree?” “Is that part of your job?” “Well, it’s more like a hobby… Yeek?!” Michele smacked the dawdling Hooseyard on the back. While Hooseyard clearly lacked any enthusiasm for the job of Inquisitor, she possessed a unique ability. She was an expert at ceremonial conjurings, with supernatural proficiency that likely surpassed even Michele’s. That made her perfect for the unit of talented individuals Michele was gathering to serve under the Lord directly. Michele’s only weakness was a lack of personnel. She didn’t have enough pawns to chase down enemies who kept hiding and running away. That was why she sought to bolster her unit by bringing the Executioners under her command. They were losing their position thanks to Flare’s death and Flarette’s betrayal anyway. “First, we’ll use the Executioners to drive Flarette into a corner. You know the plan, yes?” “…I really don’t like it. I feel very guilty… I don’t want to do this.” “Oh? If you want to go on the front lines, just say so. I’ll ship you out right away.” “I’ll do my best here, thank you very much!” Hooseyard straightened up. As far as Michele was concerned, Menou had to be eliminated before she reached the City of Ruins. Now that she’d been separated from Maya, there was no reason not to erase her as soon as possible. Hooseyard had located her after she’d escaped the initial attack. “Oh dear… I’d hoped to spend some time meddling with the earthen vein some more…” The first concern when building a settlement was securing a stable supply of Guiding Force, for it was the fundamental energy source. It kept streetlamps lit, citizens warm, and towns running smoothly. So larger towns and cities especially were almost invariably built above the earthen vein. A church at the center of the town drew energy from the earthen vein, then distributed to other places by way of conductive materials that created a man-made network of Guiding Force lines. Miniature shrines were strategically placed at important points along the network to channel the required amounts of Guiding Force into homes, businesses, and so on. These Guiding Force lines were carefully laid out and managed, powering lives and industry. Hooseyard had borrowed the ceremonial conjuring device used to control the Guiding Force lines from the town church, singlehandedly operated a system that normally required dozens of conjurers, and used it to locate Menou and company.