“You mean to say that the sounds of your practicing reached Raddermark?”
“Seems like it. Thought this was enough distance, but looks like we underestimated.”
“What in the world were you even doing in the middle of these mountains?”
“I was just doin’…somethin’…with my partner.”
“Something? It took Cecelia five minutes to travel here by flight from the Academy, you do realize?”
“Five minutes, huh? It’d take my grasshopper over thirty.”
“Please don’t make light of this. Even a dragon’s call would reach Raddermark from here…but the townspeople informed me that they thought they heard the footsteps of a heavy giant—they even claimed they heard a volcano’s eruption tonight. We have no such thing anywhere near Raddermark. What in the world did they hear, then?”
“I’m sorry. I’m real sorry. That was all my fault.”
“Then give me a proper answer, Feil Fonaf.”
“Well, I— Right.”
Sasha’s tone was composed, as though she was shutting out her anger and distrust with reasoning.
But right then, I was trying to work out whether I could come up with some excuse. If Sasha hadn’t noticed Pandora, I was wholeheartedly devoted to keeping his existence a secret from her. I could have told her I’d suddenly used my Counterpart’s abilities to strengthen my electromagic, which must have been when the town had heard a clap of thunder—that was the excuse I’d been able to come up with, but for some reason, I couldn’t get the lie out into words.
In the end, still conflicted, I murmured, “Dammit. I don’t know what to do.”
Apparently, I just didn’t want to lie to the girl in front of me. The eighteen years of morals that had shaped who I was just refused to let me lie to Sasha to get out of this situation.
Why did it have to be the third princess of the land of Shidoh here instead of one of the Academy professors? And why did she have to come all the way to the mountains in nothing but a jacket-covered nightgown?
Actually, that must have been what she was wearing when she’d talked to the townspeople like that and told them not to worry because she would investigate it with her angel personally.
She knew what her responsibilities were, and she was the type of princess to fulfill her duties without complaint.
“If only I’d gone back with the others,” I mused.
I cursed my idiocy and the situation as I clambered to my feet. I lightly kicked the ground, knocking off some of the mountain I’d blown apart to hide Pandora’s head and exposing what was underneath.
I hadn’t actually wanted to bother anyone. I didn’t want to reveal Pandora for tactical reasons, but I also didn’t want to trick Sasha.
But still, the reality was that Pandora did exist here right now. And he was too big to hide, and it was way too late to recall him.
If I didn’t trick her somehow, didn’t figure out a cunning way to deceive her, she’d probably see through it right away. Dozens of confident lies and excuses formed in my head that I could have bet on just barely deceiving her, and I settled on using them.
When I raised my head nonchalantly…
“Oh…”
…the archangel had extended her hand toward me.
Sasha was trying to get down to stand on Pandora’s head without realizing what it was. I saw a look cross her face as she realized there was something odd about the mountain I was on, but the light of the angel’s skin wasn’t enough to reveal the truth.
Once she joined me on the head, she suddenly approached me, closing the distance between us.
“Wh-what…?” I said, drawing a step back, but she’d already grabbed my right hand so I couldn’t escape.
I had no idea how quickly she must have rushed here, but her hand was cold as ice.
The moment she stopped me from moving away, she brushed away my sweat-soaked hair with her fingertips. She did it roughly, like she was getting revenge for when I’d done the same to her in the past.
“I was worried. It’s much more difficult than you would think to search for a person’s presence through Cecelia’s senses.”
I lightly brushed away her hand and gave her a small, rueful smile as I said, “But you couldn’t have known we caused it.”
“These were abnormal circumstances, so we had an impromptu roll call, of course.”
“I see. And that’s how you realized I wasn’t in the dorms.”
“I’ve given the residential adviser full discretion to punish you for leaving without permission. You’ll have a scolding to look forward to in a few days.”
“I’m really sorry…”
“Once I return, I’m sure the town will settle back down, but I need a reason for what happened.”
“Right…”
“So, Feil Fonaf—what in the world were the three of you doing out here? Regardless of whether the town is told the truth, I should at least know what really happened as the person who will need to tell them.”
Her tone was like a mother trying to reason with a child. It shocked me for a moment, like I was hearing my dead mom’s voice in the back of my ears, like I could hear her in Sasha’s words.
“Uh, ahh…”
I let out a long sigh as I looked up at the layer of clouds above threatening snow.
Even with Sasha plucking at my heartstrings, I couldn’t betray Cyril and Myfila, who’d come all this way with me. I’d prepared myself to tell the lie of a century just as I saw the moon appear.
Its face peeked down at us from between the rifts of the cloud-covered sky. The silent moonlight streamed down, vividly illuminating the December night. The mantle of darkness enveloping the rocky terrain was pulled off one peak at a time.
We were in a ravine deep in the mountain range that had been eroded by a river. Though we were in a spot where we were looking down at the precipitous cliffs, only the one that Sasha and I stood on was a unique shape.
It looked almost as though an unbelievably massive devil had sat itself down right in the ravine. And the contrast with the surroundings revealed just how odd it looked. Naturally, there was something unnatural about it. The giant mountain didn’t seem like something that should have existed in the ravine.
“Now even the moon’s seen it…,” I murmured and scratched at my neck. Guess this is it, I thought.
A moment ago, I’d just decided to lie my way through this, but now that the place was illuminated, I wouldn’t be able to hide it. Something like this wouldn’t get by Sasha.
It was just a coincidence. Or maybe the god of justice and truth or something simply wouldn’t allow me to lie. Either way, the only path left for me was now in the opposite direction of where I’d been heading.
“All right, Sasha. I’ll let you get a good look, so keep your eyes open.”
After Pandora had been exposed by the moonlight and I’d decided to make my confession, I didn’t even need to complete my thought. “W-wait, please… What is this?!” she blurted out.
As the moonlight spread and Sasha saw the scene, she looked all around.
I kicked the dirt under my feet again and stomped—slightly dramatically—on the ground.
“This is my Counterpart.”
Sasha looked at me in shock. Our eyes met.
“The Legendary Beast of the Last Realm, Pandora. Kind of puts ya off, right?”
I’d never seen Sasha Shidoh Zultania’s beautiful face freeze from alarm or terror before…and I couldn’t help but grin when I saw the invincible summoner so dismayed. It felt like I’d seen something rare, and that just got me more stirred up—so worked up, I couldn’t even stop myself and what I did next:
“Though, right now, he’s dead and can’t move.”
And then, right after I’d said that, almost reflexively, I turned pale and thought—Oh. Crap.