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“IS everybody ready?” Charles asked in a hushed tone, loud enough for them to hear but not loud enough for the sound to travel. Quietly, they all nodded in reply, keeping their voices down as they braced themselves.
“You know it,” Ark whispered.
“I’m ready, too,” Leo said.
“And me,” Lille chimed in.
“Of course, I’m always prepared,” August said gruffly.
Under the cover of an invisibility charm, they had to speak softly. August had been wholly against the idea until the very last moment, but finally let it slide under the circumstances.
Lille looked at the city around them with a strange feeling in her chest. She had lived on its outskirts as a child, so the city center wasn’t familiar to her in the slightest. Charles’s hometown was nothing like it, either. Perhaps because it wasn’t a magic nation, many of the workers boasted large, muscular bodies, and the main form of transport appeared to be horse-drawn carts.
“All right. Let’s do this,” Charles said, taking a deep breath.
Ark flew down from Charles’s shoulder, turning into his original, colossal roc form as he landed. The impact of his transformation sent a huge gust of wind flying down the road, whipping up a cloud of dust in its path. The townspeople looked a little bewildered by the sudden change in weather, but soon dismissed it and carried on as normal.
“…So far, so good. C’mon, Lille—hop up,” Ark urged her, lowering his body. She clambered onto his back with a grunt. Whenever she rode him, she couldn’t help but recall the first time she had done so—the day everything started.
And today, everything will end.
The long, convoluted sequence of events that had led to that day would finally come to a close.
“Lille,” Charles called to her, his tone serious. “If I feel like you’re in any danger at all, I’ll cast an invisibility charm on you again. Don’t push yourself, okay?”
She nodded. “I won’t, Master Charlie.”
“You can do it, Lille. We’ll be helping with our own magic from behind the scenes,” Leo reminded her.
“Thank you, Leo.”
“If the situation calls for it, I’ll cast you a very sturdy barrier at once. So don’t worry, and simply carry out your own duties,” August said firmly.
“Thank you very much, Master August.”
With a huge flap of his wings, Ark and Lille left the three of them behind, their nervous faces getting smaller and smaller. Buffeted from above by rhythmic blasts of wind, an increasing number of townspeople started to look up into the clouds in confusion.
Once they were high enough, Ark beat his wings more slowly, maintaining their position in the sky. Far below them, Charles gave the signal.
One, two, three…!
After counting to three in her head, Lille tightened her grip on Ark’s feathers, clenching her fists. Things were about to get risky.
“Wh-What on earth is that?!”
“Is that bird magical? I’ve never seen one so big!”
“Wait. I think I can see a person on its back!”
“Yeah! They’re glowing! And—are those wings?!”
As Charles undid the invisibility charm on Ark and Lille, the townspeople began to clamor. They stared up at the sky in stupefied amazement, gasping and exclaiming in surprise. Lille could see the soldiers that had been standing guard outside the castle sprinting toward the commotion.
“…Silence!” Lille commanded, shouting into the open air. Within moments, the frantic noise of the crowd died down.
My ears are ringing. My voice doesn’t sound anything like my own.
The wings fanning out from her back were a result of Leo’s handiwork, who had stayed up many nights crafting them. He was casting magic from the ground to make the wings move in a believable way. Meanwhile, Charles cast an amplification charm on her voice, and caused a halo of light to glow around her. August was in charge of the barrier surrounding them, constantly making sure no one could hurt either of them.
The long, white dress Lille wore was made especially for the occasion; luckily, The Three Needles had been able to get it done within the week. It was unlikely that anyone would recognize Lille, but Charles ensured the glowing light obscured her face all the same.
“Who the heck are you?!” one man shouted from within the throng. Most of the crowd was looking at her blankly, as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Lille’s script had been written and agreed on by all five of them. She had practiced it so many times that the words were effectively seared into her brain. All she had to do was trust in herself.
“I…am a god,” she announced, smiling fearlessly after a pause for dramatic effect. Only five people in the whole world knew that she’d rehearsed that smile countless times in the mirror.
“A…a god…?”
“She can’t be!”
“If it’s true, why would she show up somewhere like this?”
The people were reacting just as they’d expected. That was a good sign.
“I have descended upon this country to save it from chaos,” she declared, her voice strong and confident. Murmurs rippled through the crowd. “The government of this land is trying to initiate warfare. They plot to invade the magic nations.”
People began to shout, complaining that they’d heard no talk of such plans. It seemed to be the case that the government had planned on keeping the fact to themselves.
“If the war comes to pass, this country has no chance of surviving. Many people will die, and the towns and cities shall be consumed by flames,” Lille said knowingly, attempting to appeal to their emotions.
Many were terrified, but others grew angry. Most likely, those individuals had never even considered the possibility that they could lose a war.
“Prepare to meet your end, scum!”
“Get her!”
The soldiers finally arrived within range and began shooting arrows into the sky. Immediately, they bounced off August’s barrier with a clatter.
“It is futile to attack me. I have witnessed the way you treat sorcerers all these years. That must change. If you choose not to heed my warning, I may as well destroy this land here and now,” she threatened. Children began to cry in response to her menacing tone. It wounded her heart to hear, but her deceit was for the greater good.
“Who says you’re a god anyway?!”
“What a load of old crock! Sorcerers sell their souls to demons, you know!”
“Exactly! If she’s defending those criminals, she’s gotta be a demon, not a god!”
In contrast to the women and children cowering in fear, the men and soldiers became even more agitated. However, Lille had anticipated them calling her a liar. In fact, this was the most important part of the performance—and something only Lille could do.