Claude’s eyes widen slowly, and then he smiles. Even if Cedric has become the father of the queen of Hausel, he’s still Claude’s brother, and imagining the hardships that lie in store make his heart ache. There may come a day when they are forced to oppose each other again. However, for now, they look out the window, gazing at the same view. The final bell tolls, announcing the beginning of the coronation ceremony. In the sky, a bell is tolling. “Are you sure you don’t need to wear the priestess outfit?” “Yes. In the Valkyries’ full-dress uniform, I’ll be able to move if something happens.” Cattleya has removed her veil, and she’s smiling the way she always does. For some reason, the sight relieves Diana. “What do you mean? Nothing’s going to happen; we’ve shown the kings to the spectator seats, and they can’t mobilize their armies.” “Still, we haven’t seen as much confusion as we were expecting. One of the countries may try something.” “I doubt it. The only thing…is that it looks like the nations are working together to deploy ships, fill them with ordinary citizens from Hausel, and escape.” “All the nations are working together?” Having lost their leaders, Cattleya assumed the countries would scramble to flee, and the people of Hausel would cling to them. There was no way any one country would be able to transport all the citizens. It would have made things easier for them if the nations had simply put themselves first, gotten mired in an ugly conflict, and destroyed one another. “Do you know who Roxane is? Ashmael’s principal consort? It sounds as if she’s called for cooperation, and the other noblewomen have agreed. I’ve only received a report myself, however, so I haven’t seen it personally…” “…I see. She was the villainess in RegaMaid 3, if I’m not mistaken. Even though we’re both villainesses, I’m detested, while it looks as if things played out differently for her.” “‘Differently’? Cattleya, you’re about to become the queen of Hausel…” “You understand, don’t you, Diana. I wasn’t able to. I’m sor—” “Stop that!” Sensing an impending apology, Diana hastily shuts it down. “Just stop. We knew all along that the reset ending was the best option. After all, we were practically done for as soon as we became Valkyries! But then Hausel fell, so we thought just maybe…” Since things are unfolding in ways that never happened in the game, they were hoping there might be “something good” in store for them for a change. But, of course, there wasn’t. That was all. “…We decided on this together. Don’t apologize like it’s all on you. We can just redo everything, starting now.” “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Cattleya thumps Diana on the shoulder. When she looks up, the other woman is smiling. “I’m glad we recovered our memories together. We weren’t all alone. That was really the only saving grace here.” “Don’t say things like that, either. It sounds like you’re saying your final goodbyes.” “Shall we go, then? Let’s get that fresh start of ours.” Diana returns her nod, then sets off to protect Cattleya, walking behind her. That’s right: They’re going to make a fresh start. They’ll throw away this world, which has done nothing but deny them. They activated the undersea facility by pouring the vast amount of magic and holy power they stole from the holy king and the two demon kings into it. In the end, the wall that appears aboveground near the end of Valkyrie of the Magic Lance absorbs the life force of everyone on the island and becomes a device that turns back time, with the sacred sword being the trigger. The “coronation ceremony” that Cattleya is going to perform is a ritual to rotate the sacred sword—which will have appeared in the pedestal—and turn back time. And then the world will be reborn. When they reach the foot of the stairs that climb to the plaza and its pedestal, they’re met by a roar of cheers. All they know from the cryptic text and the few images that are shown during the game’s ending is that Diana returns to a time before her hometown was attacked by the red-eyed demon—a time immediately before the game begins, or perhaps the day before. However, there are hints that she’s traveled through time with her memories intact: She’s shown finding Vica before he becomes the red-eyed demon and running off with him, and there’s also a line that says Cattleya and Ernst have gotten separated from Vica and that they plan to go look for them. In reality, Diana became a Valkyrie without ever seeing the red-eyed demon who attacked her hometown, likely due to interference from Regalia of Saints, Demons, and Maidens. She suspects that bit will be “corrected” as well. That means it’s going to be all right. Next time around, she’ll be able to live a life where she never becomes a Valkyrie. And if she meets Cattleya before her surgery, she can also keep her friend from suffering the same fate. This time it will all go well, except—will she be able to manage it alone, when Cattleya probably won’t have her memories? Diana stops partway up the stairs. Cattleya, however, doesn’t seem to have noticed due to restless murmurs surrounding them that replaced the cheers and applause. Luckily, Diana is used to battlefields, so she immediately anticipates an enemy attack and braces herself. The island is surrounded by a wall. It’s the same sort of magic wall that imprisoned them in Kilvas. It should let them know if there’s an intruder, but the alarm doesn’t seem to be going off. “—Up there! Huh? Demons are carrying people…” Diana is slightly higher up than the rest of the Valkyries, so she manages to make them out clearly. Humans are flying over the wall, carried in the talons of crow demons. The spell on this wall won’t allow demons to leave, but it doesn’t stop them from entering. Still, mere humans shouldn’t be able to get in… The crow demons release the people in their talons. They’re all men. Diana gets the feeling they look familiar, and she cries out in surprise. They’re the men who were turned into demons through the Valkyrie surgery. Humans able to turn into demons—the demonborn of Kilvas. They change into their demon forms in midair and land on the wall, crushing it. The wall isn’t as sturdy as the one in Kilvas, and the sheer weight of the demons makes it crumble. Now, humans can enter. Soldiers from all the participating nations flood in, as if they were waiting just outside. “I’ll stop you, Cattleya!” “Ernst…!” Cattleya groans, seeing the man who’s landed on the edge of the wall. On impulse, Diana turns to look behind her. She threw Vica into the spectator seats, wanting to make him watch and let the fact that he’s helpless really sink in, but she immediately makes eye contact with him. It’s as if he’s been watching her the entire time. Vica smiles in a way that makes his eyes narrow. It isn’t his usual foolish smile, but the smile of a demon king who’s looking down on her, trying to control her. The eyes of a man hunting his prey. She breaks out in goose bumps, but it isn’t from fear. It’s exhilaration. “Cattleya, you go on ahead!” “I’m leaving this to you, Diana!” “As if I’d let you go!” Ernst shouts. The familiar demons almost seem to take that as an order, because they stamp their feet, making the earth shake. They can’t use the Valkyries anymore, so now they’re using demons as soldiers? It’s a selfish solution, but for some reason, the emotion that wells up inside Diana isn’t anger. Her lips curve into a smile. She sets a hand against her chest. The divine stone implanted in her responds, and her magic lance appears in her hand. “Valkyries, this is a fight like any other! Kill the demons!” She didn’t want to become a Valkyrie. She and those like her are victims—victims of the men who don’t go to war. Of people in power who sit around doing nothing. Being a Valkyrie is proof that they’ve lost. “Don’t forgive a world that does nothing but use and exploit us!!” However, the magic lance she gained from it has never broken. As expected, the demons don’t approach the sacred sword. They descend from the sky to the area at the base of the wall, and no closer. Cattleya is glad she changed out of her dress. She runs up the stairs, making for the pedestal that’s usually located in the depths of the undersea facility. Angry shouts and screams echo around her as something plows into her from the side. Cattleya staggers on the shaking stairs and glares at the culprit. “Irena…!” It’s the woman who’d already been a Valkyrie when Cattleya joined up, accompanied by some of the Valkyries who broke away from Cattleya and Diana’s faction. The divine stones were removed from their magic lances, rendering them useless, but apparently, they managed to repair them somehow. She’s just been attacked with a magic lance from the wall. “It’s been ages, huh, Cattleya? And Diana’s here, too.” “I didn’t think you were here. We would have recognized you on sight.” “Well, I was back home until just a few minutes ago. We can’t leave Kilvas unguarded, you see. I raced over here with only a few people. I tell you, teleportation sure is handy.” “Only the demon king or the holy king can use tele—!” A hooded man abruptly appears in front of Cattleya, and she leaps away. Magic explodes where she was a moment before. Part of the stairway is gouged away and collapses. Cattleya has produced her magic lance on reflex, and no sooner does she land than bullets come flying at her from either side. She cuts them down, but two kicks speed toward her with enough force to clear away the smoke from the explosion. Catching them on the shaft of her lance, she narrows her eyes. “…Nameless Priests, hmm?” “We’re the demon king’s guards now. It’s Walt Lizanis. Don’t you think you could remember something other than Master Claude one of these days? Oh, and this is Kyle Elford.” “You’re going to return Master Claude to us.” “I’ve found him; he’s in that room in the wall, on the other side of that pedestal. It would take an enormous amount of power to break it, though. We’ll only wear ourselves down if we try to release him without a plan.” Above them, the hooded man is looking down at the room where Claude and the others are imprisoned. She feels as if she’s seen him before, too…but where? The three of them quickly turn and scatter. Diana has leaped over the crumbling patch in the stairs and landed by Cattleya’s side. “Huh? Isn’t that the final boss of the RegaMaid 1 fan disc? Elefas Levi?” Cattleya only recognizes the name. “That’s Master Claude for you. It wasn’t just the characters from Game 1; he also made the love interest characters from Game 2 and the final boss from the fan disc his subordinates. I hear he’s friends with the final boss of Game 3, too.” “…Cattleya, something’s clearly strange here. Sure, it’s a game world, but would this many game characters really just show up together?” Diana is unusually wary, and Cattleya’s expression turns grave. “It isn’t just the love interests, but the heroines and even the villainesses. Don’t they have too many acquaintances?” “If the heroine failed, it isn’t unnatural for the empress and the principal consort to be acquainted.” “But the empress has the villainess of Game 2 as her servant. Is this really all a coincidence?” “…If it’s not a coincidence, then what is it?” “I don’t know. I’m not sure, but maybe…!” The demon king’s subordinates have regrouped and attacked again. Diana tsks and counters them, while Cattleya strikes a magic bullet down with her lance. In the next moment, they hear wingbeats from above. A flock of crows—demons, making for the sacred sword. It’s inconceivable unless the demon king has ordered them to. Not only that, but a woman is riding that flock of crows, her golden hair streaming. “…Aileen Lauren d’Autriche?!” She doesn’t know why, but Cattleya is convinced she can’t leave the woman to her own devices. She shifts her grip on her lance, then hurls it through the air. She’s attacked in earnest. Elefas hastily casts a barrier, but it pierces that as well. The demons disperse, and Aileen falls. The lance streaks through the sky straight toward her. “Honestly, Lady Aileen! You owe me!” In a flash, a figure strikes the lance down from high in the sky. The sword she’s holding is evaporating, unable to withstand the impact. However, a serious attack from that magic lance could pin down a demon king, and she’s managed to block it. As Cattleya stares in astonishment, the violet-eyed woman smiles back at her. “Lilia Reinoise…!” Both her voice and her astonishment are swallowed up in the blinding glow from the plaza. Cattleya runs toward that searing light. So does Diana. The sacred sword is in the pedestal. It’s the key to their salvation that will let them start over again. “…Oh goodness, Lady Cattleya. Lady Diana.” By the time they step into the plaza, the light is gone. Claude is behind the wall at the back, along with the others. Cattleya had been looking forward to seeing what sort of expression he was wearing as he watched her climb the stairs to the plaza. However, she can’t even look at Claude anymore. “Whatever shall I do? I thought it was pretty, so I touched it, and the light vanished…” “You…!” Diana has caught up, and she looks furious. A dry wind blows. The woman who’s insolently touched the sacred sword turns around. “Dear me, have I done something again?” There’s a dauntless smile on her red-rouged lips. It’s a devil’s smile, the sort that befits a villainess. Isaac’s plan had been simple. First, they would gather all the forces they could. He hypothesized that the wall around the island was either the same as the one in Kilvas or an inferior version of it, then made sure the demons could get in. After that, everything happened fast. Almond and the crow demons would carry the demonborn soldiers brought by Ernst, who would break down the wall. Then they’d send in the soldiers they’d borrowed from the other nations, throwing the entire area into chaos. Ernst would take command on the ground. While the demon king’s guards were keeping Diana and Cattleya pinned down, Almond and the crows would then carry Aileen to where she could touch the sacred sword. “You really are hopeless without me around to save you, Lady Aileen.” Cattleya and Diana glare at the speaker, but Lilia pays them no mind and comes up to stand beside Aileen. Aileen’s eyebrows twitch, and Lilia tries to cling to her arm, but she shakes her off. “Why, Lady Lilia, good afternoon,” Aileen greets her. “Did you decide not to seek aid from the Valkyries after all?” “Who, me? The Valkyries? Why would I need to do that…?” “You’ve genuinely forgotten, haven’t you…! I think you should apologize to Lady Cattleya.” “Huh? But you played innocent and tricked them as well, Lady Aileen. Are you sure you don’t need to apologize?” “I merely failed to rectify a misunderstanding. I didn’t actively lie, as you did.” “You’re splitting hairs.” “Hearing that from you is thoroughly irritating!” “All right. If you insist, Lady Aileen, I’ll apologize. I’m sooorry. Tee-hee.☆” “…In other words, you two were conspiring together all along,” Cattleya says quietly. Aileen sighs, turning back to her. The demon king’s subordinates are behind Cattleya, but she signals them with a glance, and they back away. Naturally, the demons have strict orders not to get close to her. “It’s over, Lady Cattleya. Lady Diana. You can’t go back and try again.” “Not once the sacred sword has turned into the one from Regalia of Saints, Demons, and Maidens.” “Then the two of you also remember…?” Lilia laughs, and Diana retreats into frustrated silence. In exchange, Cattleya raises her head. “Is that your true nature, Aileen Lauren d’Autriche?” The corners of her lips curve strangely into what could be either amusement or hatred. Aileen elegantly smiles back at her. “I am Aileen Jean Ellmeyer. Master Claude’s empress and the demon king’s wife.” “I see. It looks as if I really did have the wrong idea. No wonder things didn’t go according to plan. Even in Kilvas… Was it you who was with Vica when he disappeared?” “I suppose something like that may have happened.” “I thought our world was the only one where the heroine and the villainess laughed together companionably,” Cattleya remarks. “Please don’t get the wrong idea.” Aileen folds her arms and glares at Lilia, who’s standing next to her. “I have no recollection of ever being companionable with Lady Lilia.” “Nor do I,” Lilia chimes in. “If Lady Aileen told me, We’re such good friends, aren’t we…, I’d be so grossed out, I’d barf.” “Excuse me?! That’s quite rude! We’re technically family now, you know!” “…So characters born in an easygoing game end up being similarly easygoing. Must be nice,” Diana mutters. Lilia promptly smiles back at her. “It must be nice to be born into a downer game: When you lose, you can blame it on the writers.” It seems a different fight might have just begun. Aileen is finding it hard to keep from chuckling. “We haven’t lost yet. We just have to retake the sacred sword.” Cattleya straightens up, having regained her composure. “I admit that we underestimated you. However, you didn’t defeat the demon king or fulfill your role as the Maid of the Sacred Sword, and you’ve lived in comfort, while we have been fighting the entire time. We’re fundamentally different.” Cattleya twirls her magic lance and points its tip at Aileen. “Our sacred sword is a mass of energy that turns time backward. While that may be the base for the sacred sword, it isn’t the sword itself. The sacred sword is born from the Maid of the Sacred Sword. If I remember correctly, Lady Aileen, you have inherited the blood of the Maid, but you are not the Maid of the Sacred Sword. You don’t have the ability to produce it. The same is true of Lady Lilia, who failed to carry out her role.” It’s a persuasive line of reasoning. Even Lilia is listening without interrupting. “This magic lance is linked to that sacred sword. That means all I need to do is draw it up into the lance, and it will return to normal. With our numbers equal, we’ll have the advantage.” “We won’t hold back, just so you know,” adds Diana. “I saw that fake sacred sword break back there. Why don’t you surrender before you get hurt?” “Oh…” Lilia gazes at the hilt she’s holding. It’s all that’s left of her weapon. “Oh crud. That’s right. Whatever will I do?” “Enough with the bad line reading,” Aileen says to Lilia, then addresses the other women. “I’m afraid you’re wrong, Lady Cattleya. Don’t you understand yet? I haven’t underestimated you at all.” She takes a step forward, her heels clicking against the ground, then gently reaches for the hilt in Lilia’s hand. “That’s true of you as well, isn’t it, Lady Lilia? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to bring a weapon that’s drunk the blood of the Saint of Salvation and has the Daughter of God’s ability to repair itself.” “Of course not. The only battles I want to fight are the ones I can win.” Aileen slowly lets the “base material” of the sacred sword flow from her fingertips and into the hilt, which instantly begins to change into particles of light. Cattleya frowns. “The Saint of Salvation? The Daughter of God…? Don’t tell me…” “It does seem strange that Amelia Dark would leave another sacred sword, doesn’t it?” Lilia says. “However, it makes sense if you think about it this way: If I—the real Maid of the Sacred Sword—can use it, then in the end, there won’t be any inconsistencies in her futures.” The two women look hopelessly bewildered hearing Amelia’s name. They don’t know about Aileen and Lilia’s pasts. “Either that, or maybe it really isn’t genuine,” she continues. “Still, if the heroine and the villainess of Valkyrie of the Magic Lance come at us, it’s only polite to strike back with everything we have. After all, their game is trying to crush Regalia of Saints, Demons, and Maidens. So—Lady Aileen. This is a special case. Just this once.” “Don’t be patronizing.” Aileen and Lilia stand face-to-face, each extending a hand toward the other.
Chapter 155
18 min read