Snow White
She didn’t know how far Frederica had gotten. Her inner voice was like a flicker of fireworks, and she’d been able to hear it until only a moment ago. She couldn’t pick it up anymore. But Frederica was probably running pretty quickly. They, on the other hand, were only able to somehow move forward at a walking speed at most, and at this rate, Frederica would eventually catch up to them.
The obvious assumption was that she’d catch up to them before they reached their goal. It was a straight path, so there was no way Frederica wouldn’t find them, and letting her go past them wasn’t an option. There was no point in that, when the goal was to keep Frederica from reaching the depths.
Once she caught up to them, it would be difficult to fight her off. It would be so difficult that, if Snow White wanted to save Tetty and Mephis, begging for their lives would have a higher chance of success than fighting back.
All Snow White could do right now was to move forward as fast as she could. They would reach their goal ahead of Frederica, somehow. How much time would it take in order to destroy the seed? If they couldn’t destroy it immediately even with Tetty’s mittens, then, to buy time, they would show off the seed Frederica sought and threaten to destroy it if she didn’t back off. Snow White didn’t really think this would work against Frederica. She would see through this, quickly drive them off and steal the seed.
So then the condition for victory would be to reach their goal somewhat earlier than Frederica. Could they even do that right now, the way they were?
“Hey,” Mephis said.
Snow White looked over to see she was pointing. She focused her eyes. Ahead on the path were some dangling yellow threads. They’d been stained by the green moss, changing their color a bit, but it was the first time in a while they’d seen something not green.
The three of them walked like they were dragging their legs through snow, and Mephis gingerly took the end of the thread in hand. The thread continued down the slope. Whatever was ahead, they couldn’t see from here.
“Isn’t that Lillian’s yarn…? What’s going on?” Mephis wondered.
“I think… No.” Snow White looked up at the ceiling, then looked down, then ahead. “This is her trying to help us.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“She’s clearly trying to do something different from what the ruins want.”
“The ruins…?” Tetty asked timidly.
Snow White was about to tell her, but the words caught in her throat with her mouth open. It wasn’t that she’d stopped talking because she couldn’t explain it. She could explain it, and it was because she didn’t understand even herself why she could explain it that the words caught in her throat.
Snow White put her right hand on the wall. It felt wet and soggy. It felt like her hand was going to sink into it, so she peeled her hand away and looked at her glove, dirtied with the green fluid. Her once-white glove wasn’t just speckled in green—there was no part of it that wasn’t green. She’d wound up like this just from walking along.
“…I see. It’s a voice.”
“The voice?” Mephis echoed.
“An inner voice. I’m most likely hearing the ruins’ thoughts.”
“What do you mean, most likely? Can’t you tell when you’re hearing thoughts?”
“It’s like being hit with a sound outside of your range of hearing… But the closer we get, the stronger the sound gets, and I can almost understand it… Or maybe I’m starting to understand it…?”
She’d thought that she’d been aware herself that she’d been hearing the voice of the ruins. But she hadn’t been able to grasp that fact properly until she’d actually tried thinking about it. She’d dimly accepted it in her hazy mind, and for some reason, she hadn’t been able to go past that. She’d just wondered what was going on.
Snow White looked at Mephis. She seemed confused. Tetty was visibly frightened.
“Okay,” Snow White said quietly, clapping her cheeks with both hands. Instead of a normal smack, it sounded like she was hitting water, so her face must have been mucked up.
“What was that for?” Mephis asked her.
“To get me going. And to keep me from getting drawn in any further. Anyway, what should we do about that yarn?”
“I dunno. I feel like it means we should keep going, though.”
“But…um…we already know the route, don’t we?” asked Tetty. “It’s a straight line, so we shouldn’t get lost.”
“Yeah, probably.” When Mephis tugged on the string, the string tugged back. She staggered. “Whoa… What’s up with this?”
She grabbed the string again. The string pulled Mephis firmly, and Tetty clung to Mephis, and Snow White hastily wrapped her arms around Mephis, too, but the pulling didn’t grow any weaker—in fact, it was gradually growing stronger. The three magical girls did not let go of the yarn, their feet popped out of the moss, and they were dragged along, flying through the air.
✦ ✦ ✦
Pythie Frederica
The way was blocked yet again. Frederica came to a stop, slicing the yarn that was strung up across the whole passageway, and started running again. Lillian must have learned that a basic trap like that of a child wouldn’t work, as it wasn’t trying to trip her, and there were more obstacles simply trying to get in her way. Getting covered in moss juices and dyed green as she moved down the path was already like an obstruction—if she came to a stop over every little thing, she would be at a turtle’s pace. She would be unable to make the best use of an incarnation’s excellent athleticism.
Thinking such thoughts, she came to a stop yet again. Though it should have been one straight path, there was no path at all. It was blocked with moss. Frederica wiped the moss juices off her face and flicked them away. It was as if she were swimming in green liquid.
Nobody would try to go in here.
With the body of an incarnation, she was just barely able to proceed normally. An ordinary magical girl would be worn down just from being here and before long would collapse on the moss, losing even her human shape, and not even leaving bones.
She drew a Lightning’s dagger out from her sleeve, stabbed at the moss, and cut it to the sides. And there, just like the one she had seen earlier, was strung a wall of yarn. By layering moss on top of the string that was strung up, they had made it look like there was no path.
Frederica made quick work of the yarn and moved on. She cut the green fluid to either side and slid forward rapidly, but she did not focus only on speed, expending resources on various things as she made her way along: keeping on eye on the terrain around her, and watching for anything unnatural, or any traps or surprise attacks. Of course, it would be faster to move along with no obstacles, but one couldn’t underestimate the danger in proceeding without caution.
The farther she went, the thicker the moss became, and the more green fluid there was. The smell became stronger, the air thinner, and yet heavier, and even with the body of an incarnation, her feet slowed. With all this going on, even if the traps gradually became more sophisticated, she had nothing but doubts about how far these magical girls could go, being pursued. They were magical girls, not specialized craftspeople, technicians, or tomb raiders. But she still had to keep her guard up. She didn’t want this to end with her tripping and falling.
Frederica quickly came to a stop. Where there should have been a way was filled with moss. She unerringly kicked it away and was about to keep going when she came to a stop again. Just beyond the yarn that was strung up, a single piece of yarn had been hung.
She very much felt that they were trying to irritate her. Frederica avoided the yarn, grabbed onto the wall at the right side, and started running.
Her sense of time had gone awry. Her magical phone wouldn’t display properly, and it was also difficult to say that her internal clock was working right. Those in pursuit of her might already have forces encircling her outside of this labyrinth.
But they can’t come in here.
The Magical Kingdom had been having repeated, endless internal conflicts. Frederica had done some rather extreme things in order to get ahead of the opposing factions. And these were ruins that those people had sealed without touching. The one thing that was really understood about them was that they were dangerous. Frederica would not scoff at them for believing that, despite the lack of specificity. If the First Mage was involved, it was most likely nothing good. Even Puk Puck, who had tried to save the Magical Kingdom by sacrificing all magical girls, had not included it in her plans.