“You’re completely right, Annette. We’re not under any obligation to save other countries.”
A maddening heat rose from the very depths of her being.
She lowered her voice so only the girl beside her could hear.
“But before anything else, I was born as a Din aristocrat.”
That was who Erna was.
The title had held little meaning since Din became a republic, but the fact remained that she came from a noble lineage. Losing her family in a fire was what had set her life on its current course.
“As someone with means, it’s my duty to serve the less fortunate. That’s something I was taught at a young age, and it’s part of who I am. Mom and Dad had no patience for aristocrats who act all smug because of the sacrifices of others.”
That was why seeing people do that filled Erna with such fury. Klaus had recognized those feelings, which was why he put her at the front and center of the mission.
“As my mom and dad’s daughter, I want to save people—it’s the way Teach showed me to leave my mark on the world.”
She’d been born into a noble family, and now she was its sole survivor.
Her goal was to live up to her parents’ ideals and prove that there was value in her having survived.
That was why Erna became a spy, and that was why her very soul screamed in revulsion at the way Lylat’s aristocracy had corrupted its society.
Klaus had given her an outlet for that frustration, and she could never thank him enough for that.
“Don’t you worry, Annette.”
“Hm?”
“I’ll always find opportunities for you to lash out—opportunities like right now.”
“………!”
When Erna voiced her decision aloud, Annette’s eyes went wide. “Ohhh!” she shouted a few seconds later. Completely failing to appreciate the gravity of the situation, she leaped up and down with an innocent smile on her face. “Now I get it! So that’s what you were after! I had you all wrong, yo!”
All of her annoyance from earlier was gone without a trace.
Momus and his agents grimaced in discomfort at the abrupt shift in her demeanor.
“It’s not like you to be so slow on the uptake,” Erna said with a sarcastic smile.
“I blame my full tummy, yo. I’m practically nodding off over here!”
“You really have to stop gorging yourself.”
“Hmph! But I have to eat lots! Otherwise, I’ll never grow big and tall!”
“What, are you mad that I’m outgrowing you?”
“Rrrgh… Just you wait, yo!”
Momus was none too pleased about their sudden bout of cheerful banter. “I’m not here to listen to the squawking of children…”
He adjusted his monocle and readied his twin pistols again.
Erna and Annette were faster on the draw.
“You have my permission,” Erna said softly. “Get ’em.”
The two of them were in perfect sync now, and with their conversation finished, they leaped in opposite directions. Annette went backward, Erna went forward.
As Annette retreated, a set of four model planes came flying out from under her skirt.
The pistol-wielding Nilfa quartet was taken aback, but they intuited that the planes were bombs of some kind. The planes very nearly closed the gap, but the agents shot them down.
It was a wise decision, and their aims were true. They even realized that the bombs might still be functional, and they made sure to cover their exposed faces and necks.
Everything about their response was flawless.
That was why it caught them by such surprise to see a blond girl charging at them alongside the planes.
“I’m code name Forgetter—and it’s time to put it all together, yo!”
“I’m code name Fool—and it’s time to kill with everything!”
Annette pulled out a folding umbrella to protect herself right as the bombs went off.
“………What?”
Momus and his men couldn’t even begin to process what they were seeing.
What kind of deranged person would go and blow up their own ally?
Cornered spies did occasionally resort to suicide bombings, but the Nilfa agents had never seen someone catch their teammate in an explosion. As a result, they had no idea how to react to it.
The following sequence of events made it all clear.
After a two-second delay, the four model planes exploded. Right before they went off, Erna grabbed at the Nilfa agents and threw them off-balance. The planes burst, sending shards of metal plunging into all four of them. And as the bombs detonated, Erna repositioned herself yet again.
Once all was said and done, Momus and his men finally understood.
Thanks to Erna’s attack, the four of them had taken the shock wave head-on.
Despite having been right next to them, though, Erna had emerged completely unscathed.
“…You dodged the explosion by using us as shields?”
“She’s got plenty of experience avoiding misfortune.”
Erna calmly looked down at Momus’s shrapnel-riddled frame.
Her heart burned with a firm conviction.
“Forgetter” Annette was a master sadist who excelled at underhanded sneak attacks.
Meanwhile, “Fool” Erna was a master masochist who excelled at both placing herself in harm’s way and avoiding injury.
With the two of them working together, the possibilities were endless.
The explosion had wounded the four Nilfa agents badly enough that they wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon, and the girls took that opportunity to flee as fast as they could. There was no time for them to finish their opponents off. The fight had used up the last of their weapons aside from their knives, and they couldn’t afford to get surrounded by new foes who’d heard the explosions.