Evess Mountain Range, rocky ridge.
The mountainous region was filled with gigantic boulders weighing several tons.
Black smoke puffed up into the air.
“How foolish…”
Men and firearms lay scattered on the ground.
Though he and Mira had cleared out the band of thieves who had set up their roost in the secluded region, Salinger didn’t sound the least bit satisfied by the accomplishment.
“Me, wiping out bandits? What kind of third-rate script is this? Spit it out, Mira. Why did you really bring me all the way here?”
“I’m glad you’re quick on the uptake.”
The golden-haired princess climbed the rocks. They had split up to capture the bandits and, naturally, she had come out unscathed.
“You’ve helped a lot, Salinger. This was much easier, thanks to you taking the other side.”
“Enough with the preamble. Tell me.”
“Then I’ll begin the questioning, Salinger.”
“What do you mean?”
“Seventeen days ago, someone set fire to a private house on the main street. Five days ago, three military police were attacked with Flame astral power from behind at the station.”
“……?”
“And finally, for the icing on the cake, someone attacked the previous head of the Zoa, Lord Logias, along with his attendants Harley and Gauch. The three of them are still unconscious and in critical condition.”
Mira recited these things mechanically.
It seemed that these events had occurred in the central state, but this was the first Salinger was learning of them. He had never been interested in what went on within society.
“Stop screwing with me. Are you asking me to help you find the person who committed those crimes?”
“You are the suspect. The royal family is conducting an investigation to determine whether you were the perpetrator of these incidents.”
“…Hunh?”
The next moment, Salinger’s anger at these groundless accusations was overpowered by his scorn of the royal family for their incorrect suspicions.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! You think I committed those crimes when I knew nothing about them?! I can’t believe the incompetent royal family could pursue such an outrageous investigation!”
“So you’re saying it wasn’t you?”
“Think what you want. There’s no value in explaining myself.”
He was saying it had not been him.
He wasn’t even going to humor her by explaining himself. Evidently, he found it too idiotic. There was no reason for him to indiscriminately attack strangers.
“You’re the only one I have my eyes on!” he shouted.
“Uhhh!”
The golden-haired girl leaped.
For some reason, Mira widened her eyes in front of Salinger, seeming restless as she gazed at him.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Y-you didn’t mean that in a strange way, did you…?”
She was acting like a malfunctioning machine. She awkwardly jerked her face, turning it away from him so he could only see her profile.
“Can you say that again…?”
“You’re the only one I have my eyes on!”
“Uhhh!”
She flinched.
Salinger couldn’t understand why she was behaving like this, even as he watched her do it.
“Are you trying to make a fool of me?”
“N-no… I’m not at all.” The princess cleared her throat. “Don’t you think that’s enough, Schwartz?”
The air wavered like a heat haze. Behind Mira, a gentleman in a gray suit appeared.
That had likely been a form of Fog astral power. Salinger had noticed someone was watching them this whole time.
“Who is he?” he asked.
“This is Schwartz, my attendant and tutor. And just as you heard…” Mira turned to Schwartz. “Salinger has nothing to do with the incidents he’s suspected of. And you can see from how he helped me route those thieves that he isn’t a villain at his core.”
“My lady…” The attendant frowned with discomfort. “It’s quite alarming for a queen candidate to be openly associating with an infamous sorcerer… What transpired between you and him?”
“He’s my enemy, of course.” The princess didn’t hesitate to respond.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
Schwartz was shocked by how nonchalantly she said this.
“Salinger is a criminal. As a princess, I plan to capture him,” she explained.
“Th-then we should do so right away—”
“But not yet.”
“Wha?!”
“I will not arrest him for the incidents that he’s been suspected of. Those accusations are unfounded.”
“B-but, my lady! You can’t let this man go free!”
“Weren’t you listening, Schwartz?”
The princess turned around.
She pointed her delicate fingertip—or rather, her rough and calloused fingertip she used to handle knives—straight at Salinger.
“This man only has eyes for me. He’s a beast consumed by obsession. As long as I’m around to keep him in check, he won’t go after anyone else. Isn’t that right?”
“…”
“I’m asking you a question, Salinger.”
“……Ugh.”
He couldn’t admit it.
Owning up to what he had said just a few moments ago would be tantamount to surrendering to her.
“I won’t repeat myself…”
“You just did earlier. You can’t say it a third time?”
“Enough.”
This was no fun for him. He was embarrassed that he had been looking forward to fighting her in these remote lands.
He turned around to leave as quickly as he could.
“Oh, please wait, Salinger. I’d like to take a picture to prove that we took down the bandit gang.”
“You already took some earlier.”
“I’d like one with you. As proof that you only have eyes for me.”
“……What?”
“Schwartz, we can, can’t we?”
Salinger turned around and saw the attendant reluctantly accept the camera.
Reflexively, he objected to having his picture taken. Salinger turned his face away.
“You’re kidding me!”
“Oh…”
The princess stared straight ahead as the sorcerer stood next to her while looking away. Mira took hold of the unlikely picture.
“I can’t believe you’d object to having your photo taken. You’re like a child.”
Mira sighed.
Despite her lament, she carefully put the picture into her pocket.
“Don’t slip up now, Salinger. I found you first, so you must be a fitting enemy for me and only me.”
The girl leaped off the cliff. He watched her pale-faced attendant climb down the rocky tract in silence.
“To think I’d allow myself to be pulled into a third-rate performance…”
He clicked his tongue.
He was about to leap off the mountain in a different direction from where Mira had come, when his comm rang at his chest.
“Who could that be?”
There were only a handful of people who contacted Salinger.
He looked at the name on the LCD screen and uncharacteristically furrowed his brows.
“So he didn’t run off on me…”
It was the engineer he had hired to analyze the chip in the sun brooch he had stolen from the Hydra. Salinger had asked the engineer to extract the chip’s contents.
The princess had left at the perfect time.
“It’s me. Took you long enough to finish the analysis.”
“……”
“Hello?”
The other end of the comm was silent. Salinger strained his ears and heard someone breathing. He could tell the engineer was listening to him.
“It’s me. If the analysis is going to take longer, then—”
“This is bad…”
“Hmm?”