Rinko was furious with herself. She’d miscalculated badly, missed the signs—
“Moving the whole castle?!” she murmured, curled up in a ball. “That was planned well in advance. Right under my nose! Everything’s going wrong today. We’re in it deep.”
She’d love to count on the Kunlun villagers, but Eve had hinted at a way to foil them. If she’d taken Alka down, it was unlikely any other villager could stop her.
“There’s no way to turn this around,” Rinko whispered, tears in her eyes.
The backup she’d been counting on was still in Azami. She was out of ideas—
“Are you okay?”
But somehow, Lloyd was here.
“Colonel Chrome and Rol are both down! What happened?”
“……The castle’s tilting.”
“That was a lot of shaking— Look, outside!”
“Huh? Huh?!”
And Lloyd wasn’t the only one. Riho, Phyllo, and Selen were all here with him. Rinko couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Wh-why were you in the castle? Weren’t you all fighting outside?”
Lloyd turned her way, looking very intent.
✦ ✦ ✦
“We’re here to save the Azami princess!”
“What?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Rinko’s eyes flicked over Lloyd’s shoulder—to the actual princess, Marie.
She seemed equally baffled.
Meanwhile, Lloyd was chattering away.
“The chief told me Eve was targeting someone! I hadn’t seen the princess around, so I knew it must be her, and I ran straight for the castle!”
“I’m right here…”
Her target had likely been Anzu, who was meant to carry the Holy Sword for her.
Classic Lloyd misunderstanding. Frankly, the fact that he still didn’t know Marie’s identity was itself a miracle.
“Is that why?” Selen blinked. She’d clearly followed him without any thought.
“Selen…”
“Well, if Lloyd goes running, so do I!” she said, owning it.
“Fair enough,” Merthophan said. “Myself, I saw Lloyd’s intense stare and had a horticultural hunch something must be wrong. That’s why I followed. Was that not why you came along, Riho Flavin?”
“Except for the horticultural hunch part, sure,” Riho said, glaring at the only man alive who’d come here in a loincloth.
Allan and Mena concurred.
“Farming crap aside, when Lloyd means business, he’s never wrong.”
“We’ve known him long enough!”
“Mwa-ha-ha, as have I! Our relationship: Long ☆ term!”
Nexamic interrupted the conversation with his buttocks out, which made his contribution sound positively bawdy.
“Nexamic,” Renge growled. “That phrasing is inelegant.”
Seeing every one of them doing their bit proved comforting, and Rinko started laughing.
“Mom?”
“Lost my footing,” she said. “And these wounds hurt pretty bad.”
Lloyd leaned in close. “Are you sure you’re okay, Your Majesty?”
“I’m fine. But she was after the Holy Sword.”
“The Holy Sword? Not the princess?!”
“She went that way. And she has the sword.” Rinko pointed through the shattered wall.
Lloyd looked shocked—he recognized the view.
When the stir died down, Rinko explained how Eve was controlling Anzu.
“So she’s using Anzu to carry the Holy Sword? So inelegant,” said Renge.
“Don’t blame Anzu, Renge. It’s hardly her fault!” Nexamic insisted.
“Oh, that was pure pity. Nothing less elegant than getting mind-controlled, is there?”
Lloyd listened, arms folded, eyes closed—and then he opened them. “Okay, I’ve got the gist.”
“Lloyd?”
“I’ll go thwart Eve’s evil schemes! Don’t worry, I’ve got this!”
“……Okay…… Go for it.”
Seeing how motivated he was, Rinko chose to say nothing else. This purehearted boy had already worked wonders.
Eve had called herself the protagonist—but Rinko was nominating Lloyd for that role.
“I’ll lead the way! Everyone, back me up!” he said.
They were already nodding.
“Lloyd, you know we will.”
“Marie…”
Selen jumped between them, drawing attention. “Of course! I’ll follow you to the bowels of hell!”
Riho scratched the back of her head. “You may be going to hell, but Lloyd’s bound for heaven.”
“……Selen belongs in hell. That’s a given.”
“Grrr! I am still but a young maiden! I have more than time enough to earn my ticket to the pearly gates! If it’s about being disqualified for your sins, I might be in a spot of trouble, but if you can buy your way in with good deeds, I can easily accrue sufficient marks!”
Not necessarily the time to debate heaven’s admission standards.
But Selen was not taking Phyllo’s comment lying down.
With these girls around, no straits stayed dire long.
Fixing the cut of his loincloth, Merthophan moved over to Lloyd.
“Any true farmer would want to settle things on the land that cultivated their agricultural spirit.”
Choline and Chrome winced. Their former colleague had changed a lot, in hindsight—and in that loincloth, they had a fine sight of his hindquarters.
“He’s not the man he was— Maybe inside he’s the same, but the outside matters, too.”
“What will we do with him?”
Chrome was leaning heavily on her shoulder.
“How are your injuries, Chrome?” Lloyd asked.
“Doesn’t matter now,” Chrome said, thumping Lloyd on the chest. “You’re not the boy who failed the entrance test, got all depressed, and tried to get a job at my cafeteria anymore.”
Back then, he’d looked so timid.
“No! I can do this!”
Lloyd was still forthright as ever, but he was also a fine soldier.
“I’ve watched you grow, both in the cafeteria and in the academy. Go get ’em!”
Lloyd took this to heart with a nod.
Marie stepped up to offer her own words of encouragement.
“I trust you, too! As the princess—”
Booom!
Just as she tried to slip the truth in, a huge impact echoed through the area.
“No time to dillydally! Thanks for the kind words, Chrome! I’ll do my best!” Lloyd was ready to run off to save Kunlun.
Marie saw him fired up…and hung her head.
“………He definitely didn’t hear me.”
“Nope.”
“Not a word.”
“……Mm.”
“That was totally the right timing for a reveal, too!” Marie wailed. She hadn’t missed it! But the results were not on her side. Time was ever against her.
“All we can do is sally forth to put an end to Eve’s wiles! And score points with Lloyd’s homeland, Kunlun! Lay the foundations for our future!”
“Selen, you’re a broken record.”
“……Mm.”
Leaving Marie to her misery, the others headed off to Kunlun.
Lloyd was about to follow, but Rinko grabbed his sleeve.
“Lloyd, Eve’s got a weapon that only works on Kunlun villagers. Careful.”
“She does?! Oh no! I hope they’re all okay!”
Rinko was relieved. It was very Lloyd to worry about others first.
“That kindness is your weapon, Lloyd. Best of luck.”
“Okay! Huh?” Just as he was about to go, something caught his attention. “Rinko, were you trying to wipe the dirt off your face?”
“Mm? I don’t think so.”
She looked puzzled.
“Then let me!” he said, taking out his handkerchief. “We don’t want germs getting in those wounds! Just let me clean you up.”
“I’m fine, Lloyd. You need to hur— Huh?!”
Rinko’s jaw dropped. Her eyes locked on the disenchant rune embroidered on his handkerchief.
“Lloyd, is that…?!”
“Oh yes! It’s called the disenchant rune, I guess? If you wipe dirt with it, it comes right off! A little housekeeping tip from me! It’s also great for cleaning wounds when you’re hurt. Weren’t you trying to use the same rune?”
He pointed—to where the half-written anti-immortality rune glowed.
“Huh? They’re actually not quite the same. What is this?” Lloyd said, taking a closer look at Rinko’s rune.
Rinko was busy comparing his disenchant rune to her anti-immortality rune.
“Oh…I hadn’t seen this one before, but it makes sense. It is a form of enchantment… Alka developed her own runes, so it all connects…”
She took Lloyd’s hand, her eyes filled with hope.
“Lloyd, there’s something I want you to remember.”
“Wh-what?”
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“Your ‘household wisdom that helps with cleaning’ can save the world. Sounds impossible? But I’ve got a tip that will make it happen.”
Rinko’s grin broadened.
And Lloyd didn’t hesitate.
✦ ✦ ✦
That big noise earlier was the result of Eve’s attack.
Kunlun villagers lay in heaps everywhere, victims of the hannyatou’s power.
“Hannyatou for you! Hannyatou for you! Spray my troubles away!” Eve was blasting it everywhere like a bug exterminator.
Facing her was the man who’d raised Lloyd—Pyrid.
“Fah!”
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
It was his shockwaves that had caused that explosion.
He stood before Eve, his gabby geezer act replaced with firm politeness.
“I’m afraid I must ask you to stop brandishing that spray. It’s making the villagers suffer.”
“And here’s the Fierce God Pyrid! A present for you!”
But Pyrid had seen how she’d toppled the other villagers, and he smoothly dodged the hannyatou’s spray.
“Hahh!”
And a snap of his hand scattered it all to the sky. It was an impressive move, but Eve arched an eyebrow.
“You’re gonna play me like that? Still, all it takes is a single breath! How long can you hold out?”
“I may be old, but I can still hold my breath a full day.”
“……So inhuman! But, well, so am I. Can’t really grumble.”
“You’re wha— Hurk?!”
Treant roots were at his feet. She’d snuck them over while they talked.
And the tips were spraying hannyatou.
Naturally, Pyrid dodged it—but not all of it.
“Ha, that won’t be enough to— Aughhh!”
Hannyatou worked like a curse—even the slightest contact made the effect kick in.
“Age caught up with me… What a disgrace… Nevertheless!”
“It sure was a close one— H-hey!”
He hadn’t earned that title for nothing. His instincts were sound, and his will to protect the village was powerful.
But Eve was no less off the charts. She dodged his blows and sprayed more mist.
Each dose he took slowed him further.
And yet still he did not stop. Eve could not help but be impressed.
“Fierce is certainly the word for it! All this hannyatou, and you can still move?”
She would normally have stopped to play, but she had a goal here. She kicked Pyrid out of her way.
“Hahhh!”
“Gah!”
He hit the wall of a house and was buried in it.
When she was sure he wasn’t getting up, she turned to move on—
✦ ✦ ✦
“You really ought to show the elderly some respect.”
“……Who?”