Tsushima’s words dissolved into the forest enveloped by stygian darkness. Lupus smiled weakly as she gazed at the rings.
“Yes. On the day of a festival, I was attacked. I narrowly managed to escape unharmed, but everyone I knew lost their lives, including my knight. Even though he and I had been together nearly ten years by that point, he betrayed me and tried to kill me. That’s when I realized I would have no hope of surviving as long as I was in Balga.”
Lupus shed tears as she recalled her past. She wiped her cheeks in the darkness, as if she were trying to hide them. But more tears kept coming, one after another, and for a while, they stole the words from her lips.
“Then Storm Hill approached me, claiming to have heard about my situation. They told me I was surrounded by enemies and that defecting was my only shot at escaping death. At first, I thought so, too. But it turns out that wasn’t true. My knight betraying me and Storm Hill reaching out were all part of a scheme. Every time I thought I had found my last hope, it turned out to be a lie. It’s a sick joke, isn’t it?”
Lupus laughed bitterly through her tears. Her face was so overwhelmed by grief that Tsushima instinctively rose to his feet. Closing the distance between them past the campfire, he gently put his arms around her small shoulders.
Surprised for a moment by Tsushima’s embrace, Lupus let out sobs as her emotions and tears overflowed. Feeling human warmth through her clothes, she covered her face and blubbered uncontrollably like a child. Tsushima silently stroked her shoulder.
Lupus was still only a girl, and yet she was burdened with a heavy lot in life that had crushed her spirit. With no one at her side to support her through that pain, her heart had been on the verge of breaking.
She had been left alone in the world to desperately grit her teeth against the pain; her situation reminded Tsushima of his former self. Before long, he found himself empathizing with her feelings as if they were his own.
After letting out her pent-up emotions for a while, Lupus raised her face, sniffling. Regaining some composure, she shyly wiped her cheeks as she turned to the campfire.
“The man who penned this scenario was Ross Ruber, the second prince. I have no doubts he was responsible for getting my knight to turn against me and sending Storm Hill to get close to me.”
Lupus turned her face at the sound of the firewood sparking, her gaze meeting Tsushima’s. She continued staring at him with clear intent in her honest, unwavering eyes.
“So I need to ask: Who sent you here?”
Lupus was adrift in a sea of schemes where she couldn’t tell friend from foe. Her first order of business was to clarify who she could trust.
Understanding her thinking, Tsushima sat down on the spot.
“I’d like to say the Elbar Informationist Guild arranged the job for me… But that isn’t actually the case.”
That one statement was enough to make Lupus’s face freeze. The next thing he knew, her gaze turned hostile. Tsushima raised the corners of his lips in a slight smile and shrugged.
“It was a direct request from Tachibana, the mayor of the Free City of Elbar. Requests for protecting foreign VIPs are fairly common. Though, I never expected the imperial family to be involved. Maybe Tachibana knew you were royalty.”
Tsushima stared at the campfire as he spoke.
Tachibana stood at the top of the Free City of Elba. He was one of the heroes who had fought through to the end of the War of Independence, a master strategist who was skilled in diplomacy.
The Free City of Elbar’s moves drew global attention, and the nation was awash with conflicting interests. The complexity of its political maneuvering was on a whole different level compared to the imperial succession disputes of the Balga Empire. The city had to manage intricate and sophisticated negotiations with long-term strategies. And the man at the forefront of this political battle was Tachibana. It would be no surprise if he knew everything.
“Mayor Tachibana, right? I’ve met him once. You can’t tell what he’s thinking. If I recall correctly, he’s one of the Seven Heroes of the War of Independence, isn’t he?”
“You know a lot, huh?”
“Well yeah, I’m still an Informationist, after all. I at least know the names of the Seven Heroes,” Lupus said, smiling slightly despite her reddened eyes.
Elbar’s War of Independence had been the fiercest conflict in world history, and it produced Informationists who came to be called heroes. They were known as the Seven Heroes, four of whom were still involved in running the Free City of Elbar.
Sniffling, Lupus counted them on her fingers as she showed off her knowledge.
“The Seven Heroes of independence are Mayor Tachibana; Ayman Droog, a level-thirteen Informationist; Kiriya Hina, commander in chief of the City Defense Force; and Tsukumo Kageri, representative director of Tsukumo Heavy Industries. The names of the other three aren’t known, only their titles. There’s the Thunder Informationist, the Ash and Dust Informationist, and the Shadow Informationist. Did I get that wrong?”
“No, that’s correct.” Tsushima nodded, looking at the flickering campfire.
Despite being hailed as Heroes of Independence, half of these Informationists had gone missing. There were rumors the Free City of Elbar had a dark side, to an extent, and these disappearances were part of it. Had Tachibana eliminated these heroes? Had they fled to another country? There were few who knew the truth.
Unaware of that darkness, Lupus gazed at the sky.
“Since Canus from the Six Imperial Swords made an appearance, I’d love it if even one of the Seven Heroes showed up to help us, but that’s impossible, isn’t it?” Lupus laughed at her far-fetched wish as she added more firewood.
Without a doubt, the only Informationists comparable to the Six Imperial Swords were the Seven Heroes from Elbar’s War of Independence and the Four Heavenly Kings of the Kilbis Empire. Tsushima frowned and touched the collar of his wet shirt.
“Well, who knows? If you really want it to happen, you should wish on a shooting star.”
“If I make a wish, will my savior really come?”
“If it follows the superstition,” Tsushima said, half smiling. But Lupus was looking at him earnestly.
Her gaze made Tsushima narrow his eyes for a moment.
“It’s not the Seven Heroes I would wish for,” Lupus said. She took a deep breath, then straightened her posture again and turned to face Tsushima. “This is a selfish thing for me to ask. And you came here on a job, so I can’t force you to accept. But if you’d listen to my request, I’d like to rely on you a little longer. Until we reach Elbar—”
For a moment, Lupus lowered her eyes to her hands and fell silent. The thing she wanted to say was stuck in her throat. After a brief pause, she spoke so quietly that her voice seemed like it would be drowned out by the crackling fire.
“—I want to have you by my side,” Lupus finished, clenching her fists atop her knees. Even in the darkness, Tsushima could tell her cheeks were red. Looking at her, he exhaled quietly.
The problems Lupus faced were significant. It would be extremely reckless of Tsushima to handle them alone. He wouldn’t get paid for it, so there was no longer any reason to continue working as her bodyguard.
It was clearly time for him to quit.
Yet he couldn’t find it in himself to turn down Lupus’s plea. He saw an image of Shion—who appeared even in his nightmares—overlapping with Lupus. The picture of these girls struggling to escape their own hells, separated by more than a decade, once again presented Tsushima with a choice.
Would he save her? Or lose someone again?
Although he had been unable to make this decision previously, now Tsushima felt no hesitation.
“All right.”
“Really?!”
Lupus cut in and leaned forward when she heard his response. Her eyes were round and glistened faintly with tears reflecting light from the campfire. Her guileless expression, free of concern over appearances, was almost blinding to an adult like Tsushima.