And now he was here.
✦ ✦ ✦
“This was more or less what I expected.”
Salinger had waltzed into the Queen’s Space.
None of the guards he should have needed to look out for were around. Owing to the lack of protection, he was certain it would be the stage of the tragedy.
“Most of the royal family is at the ball, so a majority of the guards must be stationed there, too. Or rather, the Hydra intentionally put them there. It makes sense this area would have no personnel.”
He stepped into the Queen’s Space.
The ceiling and walls were scorched. The carpet had been turned to charcoal.
And the queen was bloody.
She showed no sign of rising and merely twitched on the ground. Normally, he would have been shocked to see the leader of the astral mages in such a tragic state.
……Where is Mira?
……There’s a chance she’s been ambushed somewhere else, but she’s not here.
That gave him a measure of relief, at least.
He was glad he had found only the queen on the ground. That meant there was still time.
“Tell me who you are, monster.”
“I-I’m…”
The monster’s shoulders twitched. She acted like a scared kitten. It was difficult to believe she had been the one to reduce the queen to a bloody mess.
“I am a witch.”
“‘A witch,’ you say?”
“Salinger, you really came… I was going to go through with the plot as though you weren’t showing up. I’m sorry!” The monster calling herself a witch scrambled to bow. “I—I need to hurt you now. I need you to be on the ground here alongside the queen… I’m sorry…”
“Do you think your act is working?”
“What?”
“You’re actually a cold-blooded killer on the inside.”
He pointed a finger and addressed the cowardly monster…or rather, the atrocity pretending to be cowardly.
“You enjoy tormenting others. You have a compulsion to hurt them. You feel a sense of superiority over people for being able to hide your evil, twisted cravings, don’t you?”
“…”
“Honestly, I have no interest in a monster like you. I don’t care what the Hydra are plotting.”
The witch furrowed her brows.
She couldn’t understand. Then why had Salinger shown up? Who would admit something like that?
✦ ✦ ✦
But how could he reveal that he had risen to this bloody stage to save a tragic heroine from her fate?
✦ ✦ ✦
“Unfortunately, I’m rewriting this plot,” he said instead.
Salinger’s footfalls echoed as he walked through the Queen’s Space.
“Nothing happened tonight. For the terrible monster that attacked the queen will have been exterminated.”
“Pfft!”
The monster laughed.
She cackled dramatically, as though she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! P-please don’t make me laugh, human. Have you really deluded yourself into thinking you’re the star of this performance?!”
“I am the star.”
“…Hunh?”
“Just once, I will rise to perform on another’s stage…”
He spread his arms.
He would humor the hackneyed, irredeemable script set on this bloody stage. He would show them what a real star was.
“So welcome me with cheers and applause.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It was one thirty AM.
The ball had ended at one AM, and only a few people remained in the venue, Mira included.
The guests had gone to their rooms.
But the Lou, the Zoa, and the Hydra stayed behind, as did their guards. Their expressions suggested they were disappointed.
Because Salinger hadn’t made an appearance.
“Good…”
“My lady.”
“Huh! Wh-what is it, Schwartz?”
Had he noticed her mind wandering? Schwartz was looking at her with curiosity.
“You look very tired. The guests have left, so why don’t you return to your room to rest?”
“Yes, I will…”
The ball had left her exhausted.
And she wasn’t used to wearing a dress or these shoes or accessories. And her makeup… She truly was exhausted after greeting guests from all over the world.
……I didn’t want to be involved in this.
……If I hadn’t been worried about Salinger coming, I wouldn’t have attended.
She hadn’t needed to be worried.
Because nothing happened in the grand hall, despite the fact she had stayed up all night.
“Let’s go back, Schwartz. It’s time for bed—”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Intruder! In the Queen’s Space!”
✦ ✦ ✦
Tense shouts echoed throughout the grand hall.
There were few people left in the venue. Just the servants who had been hauling out things from the space, two people from the royal family who had been tasked with sending off the guests, and the guards.
They all turned to the boy who had teleported in.
“The Queen’s Space is on fire!”
It was On, a purebred of the Zoa.
His face was covered with black soot, and even his child’s swallowtail coat had been singed. Just by looking at him, the intensity of the flames was plain to see.
“The queen is currently engaged in battle. Someone is in the Queen’s Space!”
“Is it Salinger?!” A commotion ran through the hall when Lord Arken of the Hydra asked this. “So he has made an appearance. Isn’t that right, On?!”
“No……”
A lengthy silence followed.
It lasted a strangely long time, considering they were in a state of emergency. The potential next head of the Zoa shook his head.
“I didn’t see who it was. We can determine who it is by saving the queen. We don’t need to figure it out now. More importantly… Huh?”
On stopped.
The grand hall, which should have been entirely still, suddenly filled with a large raging gust of wind. It seemed to follow the people in the venue.
“Wind… Is that you, Mirabella?!”
“I should be powerful enough to handle this on my own.”
The girl’s voice carried crisply.
“I’ll go help the queen. Everyone, please stay here. Though I don’t think you could move if you wanted to.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“You’d be in the way.”
The golden-haired girl daringly raised her skirt, unsheathing two daggers strapped to her thighs with belts.
“I’m all the help the queen needs. Everyone else, wait here in the hall.”
“But…”
“Otherwise, I might hurt you on accident.”
Nobody questioned her beyond that. When the Battle Automata—the strongest queen candidate in history—was serious, no one could object.
Actually, one person could.
And the Battle Automata herself was panicking because she knew that.
“Schwartz, please come with me.”
“Y-yes, my lady!”
“You will keep up correspondences. I will leave you in charge of every message coming to me and every message I have that needs to be relayed.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer.
Mira did not have the composure to wait any longer.
……I told him not to come.
……Please, Salinger. I pray you are not the one in the Queen’s Space.
She gritted her teeth.
When had this all started? When had she begun to hope she would never lose him?
She wasn’t ready to part ways with him yet.
Mira scowled as she ran down the hall. The Battle Automata had a doll’s face no more.