Nagi could feel a repulsive prickling on his skin. He already knew this was instinctive fear toward blood calibers. He could feel it far more strongly from the enemy forces.
“This might be bad. It looks like their side is stronger. Plus, they’ve got the walls to protect them.”
“But we have the greater numbers, don’t we?”
“Technically. There’s a lot of commoners from the capital among our ranks, but the only ones with Halahala are Cobalt. No matter how many extra commoners we have, they can’t hurt anyone.”
“So, there’s no point?”
“Not necessarily. Even a commoner might be able to knock a knight off balance. Using that chance, a blood caliber or Halahala-coated weapon can defeat them. That’s Crow’s plan, anyway.”
“Is it going well?”
“More or less. But dozens on our side die for every noble we defeat. We won’t be able to push through at this rate. Winning within three days seems pretty reckless.” Nagi then recalled Lernaean’s words. “Saya, I guess you still don’t know how to use it?”
She had already told him that she couldn’t use the royal caliber. And just as expected, her answer remained unchanged.
“It kind of feels like I do, but don’t. Sorry.”
Saya looked sad. He hadn’t mentioned to her yet that Lernaean believed they would lose without the royal caliber. Nevertheless, Saya surmised that great hopes rode on her using it. Did such a large responsibility really need to be placed on this girl’s shoulders? It seemed far too heavy, even if she truly was the Sovereign.
Nagi still couldn’t believe it. In his heart, he still saw Saya as the girl he had met in the Garden. He still found it hard to understand that she was a noble. There was no way he could be convinced that she could influence the outcome of this battle.
What was going on here to begin with? Nagi only wished for Saya to be free. Before he knew it, this wish led to the tremendous destruction and violence before his eyes. He couldn’t have possibly imagined this outcome.
“Will it really end with this?” Nagi muttered.
“I hope it does,” Saya answered immediately. She was thinking of the same things he was.
“What do you want to do when it does?”
“I don’t know. I understand a little more now, but I’m still ignorant about this world.”
“Same here. I’m well aware of how ignorant I am now. But isn’t that the same for everyone? Our lives are far too short. We die without really getting to know anything. Oh, maybe nobles are different, though.”
“I don’t think so. Nobles are the same. No matter how long they live, they only know about themselves... No, perhaps most people don’t even know that much.”
“Still, given a little more time, I want to learn more. Even if it’s limited, I should be able to live a little longer. Blood offerings are going away, after all.”
“Crow says everyone will be able to get Amrita.”
“Something is fishy about that. Creating Amrita requires commoner blood. It’s impossible to divide Amrita among everyone.”
Nagi had felt uneasy about the way Crow and Senak widely announced news of Amrita’s distribution. He’d dwelt on the matter for some time, and he couldn’t avoid the conclusion that there was a giant gulf between the synthesis method Dimitri spoke of and the future Crow preached to the commoners.
“Crow is only saying those things to get more allies,” Nagi said. “To win this battle.”
A mob surrounded the palace. This scenery was impossible to consider only a short while ago.
“So, what happens after it’s over? What happens when everyone finds out they won’t get Amrita?”
“I think it’d be best if we just stopped making it. In that case, there would be no more nobles and commoners, right?”
“I see. You’re right.”
A society where everyone simply had the lifespan granted to them at birth. Even as she nodded, Saya didn’t seem to realize there would be a single exception: the Sovereign. Nagi shut that thought away inside his heart.
“I guess I’d like to go around and see many places,” Saya suddenly blurted.
“After the fight is over?”
“Yes. I still don’t know much about the capital, and there are many other towns, right? Have you been to them before?”
“Just a few. I walked all over the place after we got separated.”
“What kind of places?”
“Hmm, I was kind of desperate, so I didn’t really stop to take a look around.”
“Want to go look at them together?”
Saya peered into Nagi’s eyes. They were now face to face, staring at each other. Nagi felt like he was being sucked into her clear, red eyes. Her white cheeks were flushed.
“I want to travel with you,” Saya added in a trembling voice.
Her eyes then suddenly shot open. It was like she just heard something he couldn’t.
“Huh? Just now...”
“What’s wrong?” Nagi asked.
“Oh, it’s gone. I lost it.”
“Lost what?”
“Just now, I felt like I could get it. How to use that power, I mean. But it’s no good. It slipped away.”
Why now? Lernaean had told Nagi he had to find out.
“Sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize, Saya.”
Nagi thought it over. The situation was completely different from the last two occasions. There had been a direct threat to their lives in both cases. Nagi thought that was the key, but perhaps he was mistaken.
Looking over the confrontation of two knightly orders at the gates, Jubilia once more felt pure awe toward Lernaean’s bottomless depths. Normally, he would be a man of status, far beyond a lower-ranked noble like her, but he recognized Jubilia’s devotion to her betterment and took her in directly under his command. Such treatment was unprecedented in noble society, where a family’s status meant everything. Jubilia swore her allegiance to him ever since.
Thinking back on it now, he was in need of loyal subordinates for this exact rebellion. The Order of Sapphire Blood was filled with such figures. When Jubilia failed to rescue Saya and was defeated by a commoner, it wouldn’t have been strange for her to be executed. And yet, Lernaean hadn’t abandoned her. On the contrary, he had assigned her the important role of being Saya’s personal guard. Jubilia’s loyalty to him became even more unwavering.
She still didn’t have a full grasp of the man, however. He had spent time beyond reckoning assembling the stage and the players for the scene playing out before her: the first war since Agartha’s creation. Jubilia and all of Lernaean’s primary subordinates knew he was aiming for this. Actually seeing the tragic reality was something else entirely.