It was simple for Six to take the stance that he had “invited” us to see him at the tower when we arrived via the underground waterways. From this point of view, if the emperor asked, “Did Reinald’s people break into the tower?” Six could answer, “There were no intruders.” He would also be free from the searing pain that came from outright lying. But if the emperor asked, “Did you invite guests to the tower?” then answering “Not that I’m aware of” would result in a world of pain.
“But you can still travel great distances on the emperor’s command?” I asked.
“Of course. I even went as far as Falkrum—you know that.”
“Speaking of which, and I know this is going back a while, but when you were traveling in Conrad, was that an order?”
“Oh, you still remember? That was when I met your brother, yes? Yes, that was by the emperor’s order, of course. But it was just so pleasant! I had to come back here occasionally, but for the most part I was free from the empire, and more than anything else I barely ever had to look at Karl’s disgusting face.”
“And who were you talking to when I approached you?”
“I was sharing intel with Reinald. Well, as much as I could at the time. He was not a member of the imperial family then, so I could not tell him much in any great detail.”
“Oh? So you were working with him because...?”
“It was generosity on my part.”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of that,” commented Reinald. “Wasn’t I just another toy for you to play with?”
“If I didn’t play a few tricks here and there, I only would have drawn Karl’s suspicion. It wouldn’t have been enough to put it down to scouting operations. I had to give you the runaround because otherwise the emperor would have sent Baldur. Please, understand that I was trying to protect you.”
“I won’t say I don’t believe you, but how many had to die for that?”
“You realize I had my arm chopped off, don’t you?”
Huh? An arm...
“Sir Reinald,” I said. “Six has drawn Elena’s ire before, hasn’t he?”
“If it’s about me,” muttered Six, “Why don’t you just ask me?”
“Will you give me a serious answer?” I asked back.
“Depends on the question.”
There you have it.
Reinald thought about my question for a moment, then nodded.
“While I can’t regale you with the particulars, he did get her angry enough that she got violent, yes.”
“Angry enough to, say...lop off an arm?”
Six was feeling left out now, and so he squeezed himself into the proceedings.
“Yes, I remember,” he said. “It was the first time we worked together. She’s never had an ounce of patience for me ever since. Draws her sword at the slightest provocation... Just unbelievable, I tell you.”
“I’d say it’s exactly what you need,” countered Reinald. “Thanks to her, none of my subordinates have had to pointlessly march to their deaths.”
Elena was a good person, but when it came to Six, she was curt, she was rude, and she did not hide the fact that she would prefer him dead. She was also overly protective of me whenever it came to the mage, and I’d had to ask Haring why.
“Your ‘tricks’ almost saw her dead, from what I hear,” I said.
“Yes, but she didn’t die. Neither did anybody else. Everybody made it home safe, and with no lingering aftereffects either.”
The operation in question had seen discord and fierce arguments between troops, to the extent that none of them were in active contact anymore. It had left Elena’s heart deeply wounded, and that wound still had yet to heal. Ever since that experience, whenever Elena made friends, she felt a fierce desire to protect them, especially when she saw them at a disadvantage or weak. It had always been a part of her personality, but the past had made her even more protective.
“And besides, now she has new friends, and isn’t that nice?” said Six. “And if you tell her to play nice, Reinald, she does.”
According to Haring, Elena wanted to be friends with me but was too overly protective to actually make it happen. I was a little shocked, being that I thought we already were friends, but I kept that to myself—I was a little embarrassed that I’d gotten the wrong idea.
But I do hope that Elena opens up to me one day...
But that was Six. He looked like the sort who wouldn’t harm a fly, but in fact, he was the opposite. I mean, he happily referred to himself as a misanthrope, and he’d left Reinald alone to die in the underground waterways as a child. All the same, Haring said that Elena didn’t hate everything about Six, and so things were complicated.
The whole time we spoke, Six twisted and stretched Black Bird in every possible way.
Well, being that we’ve veered off-topic already, I suppose there’s no harm in taking another conversational detour...
“In any case, what was that you were saying earlier, that thing about people’s souls transferring to other bodies upon death?”
Six’s eyebrows rose. At first, I thought I’d made him mad, but it was actually just surprise.
“Ah, so your generation doesn’t even know? It’s a myth from the fabled mountain capital.”
“Mountain capital?”
“Just another nation that was overthrown by the empire. Unlike Falkrum, however, it was burned to the ground. The royal family surrendered and was demoted to the rank of ordinary nobles, but even then, they survived for a time. But when Karl was enthroned, he saw to it that the family was split, and that was the end of that.”
Six spoke as if it were a recent event, but when I pushed for a little more detail, I learned that the nation’s ruin had taken place quite some time ago.
“I haven’t thought of the place in forever,” mused Six. “It was located deep in the mountains. It was much, much smaller than Falkrum, and getting to and around the place was anything but convenient. But strangely enough, it flourished and prospered. It was such a pleasant location.”
Six spoke as though he’d visited in the past. The mountain capital had existed far beyond the Tuna region, in a place that was now simply mountain ranges and forest.
“Magical technology had advanced far beyond even what exists in the capital today,” said Six. “It was amazing. They never lacked for water because they had a means of bringing it up to them from underground streams, and it circulated the entire nation. Their agricultural development was just as astounding. It’s believed that the mountain capital is where our understanding of fertilizer and greenhouse cultivation first originated. And the imperial capital’s glass lamps couldn’t hold a candle to what the mountain capital boasted.”