Chapter 153

“Whaaat? Why, I thought we were all bosom buddies, for all the time we’ve spent naked together. Arrren’t weee?” —her pure, warm smile won Sora’s confirmation. Yeah. “Bring all you got at me. You can bring all the friends ya want…” Those were the rules. Any kind of mecha would do, and they could take as many friends as they wanted. There should be no question that Fiel was invited. And, after all— “Heh, why you gotta ask? We have to work together to beat Veig, bosom buddy. ” “Why, yesss. We’ll do all we can to help you win, since you’re our beeest friends. ” Friends forever… Seeing Sora’s and Fiel’s implausibly sunny smiles flashing back and forth… …Ah. Even Chlammy got it. “Why, to Sora and Shiro! Let’s form a team and get those seal rites designed!” Fiel walked off with graceful power, and Chlammy followed. But as she left, Chlammy took a reflexive look back at Sora and Shiro. Knowing Sora’s past, her eyes held a feeling hard to explain. But they also asked—Is it okay to say? Can I even ask? “…You’re okay, right?” Without indicating in what way regarding what, Chlammy’s eyes just said: “……” Nodding faintly at Sora’s and Shiro’s smirks, she didn’t once look back again. “…I hesitate to inquire, but, Masters, are you certain about this?” It seemed she’d watched and waited for them to disappear. Jibril knelt, still looking like a little girl, not seeming to notice Sora’s squint. “I recognize that that long-ears’ cooperation is essential to this game—but I am fairly certain she will betray us.” “Of course she will. She just basically swore that she’ll uphold the rules and betray us. ” Sora shot right back with a smile, more than adequately aware of and ready for such basic matters. —Indeed, the rules said you lost if your core, your soul broke. So Veig would win if he broke anyone’s core besides his own… But if anyone else broke Veig’s core, then who would win…? No question about it—the one who broke the core. In other words—the one who beat Veig. So: “With this game, we’re gonna give Veig the medicine whether we win or lose.” “…The only question, is…whether he’ll…pay up…with his, whole country…” “So if Fiel and Chlammy beat Veig before we do, it’s no-risk, full-return for them. Betraying us is a deal too good for them to pass up. ” …What was it that Fiel hoped to do with Veig’s country, though…? That was a little worrisome—enough for a few drops of cold sweat. But anyway. “That’s fine. They’re not gonna be able to win. They just gotta cooperate with us just like we asked ’em. ” Sora dismissed the threat with a devilish smile, and Jibril nodded. “…It is as you say. The only ones capable of handling seal rites are the Dwarves and the Elves, who are a lower-grade model of the same thing. In addition, only the Dwarves can build spirit arms—and they cannot be trusted. Victory is impossible.” Yes. This game required, at a minimum, a seal-rite machine and a spirit arm. Supposedly, they had access to all of the personnel and materials they wanted—Dwarven personnel, that is. There was no reason to trust them. Therefore, Jibril concluded that it was impossible for Fiel and Chlammy to beat Veig. “Hmm. Is it my imagination, or are you saying that we don’t have a chance, either?” “To be candid…I am. I’m afraid I am not blessed with the vision to perceive just how we might prevail.” Jibril took Sora’s snark with apologetic reverence as she further shrunk her juvenile self. Veig was the chieftain of Hardenfell because he was the greatest craftsman of spirit arms. He was Dwarf’s agent plenipotentiary because no one could outdo him in the field. So Jibril took it upon herself to speak, with a sense of apology for her presumption in assuming that her masters were doomed. “Why did you accept a game…your enemy is certain to win…?” That’s right—in the first place, it was Sora and Shiro who had been challenged and therefore had the right to decide the game, by the Covenants. Besides, Sora and Shiro had the drugs—yes, just as Veig had admitted. Drugs so undeniable they could compel Veig to offer up Hardenfell to them. There seemed to be no reason for Sora and Shiro to accept his challenge, much less on his terms. So why? At Jibril’s question, Sora and Shiro looked down for a second. “He has a point that it’s unfair for us to deny him credit when we haven’t paid ours.” Sora murmured as his ambiguous expression clouded over—which then transformed into an indomitable smile. “But hey! You’re asking why we accepted? Isn’t it obvious?” The trick to never losing was never playing a game you couldn’t win… So— “—It’s because we do have a chance to win. And Veig’s game isn’t unbeatable. ” “…And Veig isn’t…the best person…to build spirit arms. ” That’s right… He was a tough customer—but a customer nonetheless. It would be more trouble than usual, yet still they’d win, just as they planned. And just as they planned, they’d get Hardenfell. “Y-you say there is someone better than the chieftain, you do?! J-just who—” Who in the world could it be? Til shouted in consternation. Then she felt their eyes boring a hole in her. She looked around behind her to find who they were staring at. “Sir. Where is this person…? —Um, huh? …You’re joking, of course?” But their eyes continued boring in. At last, she realized who they were looking at. But— “Th-th-th-that doesn’t make any sense, it doesn’t!! I-I’m a grubby little mole, I am!” As she screamed that she didn’t know what they were after, her fragile eyes, nervous and weak and brimming with tears—yet also boldly convinced of her inferiority— “Yeah. That’s why you can do it. Or rather—only you can do it.” opened wide as Sora’s words took her breath away. And then……her fearful orichalcum eyes, flickering with pale blue flame as they looked straight into Sora’s blackness, seemed to say that she had no value and could do nothing. Seemed. “…I’m worth less than a chicken… What can I do…?” It seemed she didn’t know herself as she looked to the sky. Sora and Shiro answered her. “…With the power…of foreshadowing…! …The tropes…will rise again…!!” “The self-described loser and the invincible foe! The comeback ending is already set in stone!” Til’s eyes immediately filled with tears of despair, and she sprinted away…