He thought it would be easier if it had been some stranger he didn’t know anything about. Even though it had just been three days he had spent with her—maybe he couldn’t call her a friend, but he couldn’t think of her as a stranger anymore.
“I…”
Anima remained seated on the chair, unable to move. He thought that it would be easier to never come up with an answer at all.
Brunhild and the amber dragon headed for the old estate of the Siegfried family. The old estate was the house where they had lived at the time when the First Queen had been a priestess. After the First had become queen, her relatives had lived there.
They waited for the residents and servants to leave, and then Brunhild and the amber dragon attempted to sneak in.
The estate was heavily locked in order to prevent thieves, but Brunhild destroyed those locks with her power of Thunder.
They had come in order to search for documents about dragons. In the basement of the old estate were documents that had been written up by generations of Dragon Priestesses. They had deteriorated over time, so if you tried to carry them away, they would easily crumble apart. For that reason, they were unable to transfer them to the royal castle or the Academy, and they had continued to keep them at this house. Relations of the Siegfried clan lived in this house implicitly to protect these documents.
In the library, Brunhild found the documents she was after. They described dragon spells. In a gem necklace she had brought from another room, she made use of a chisel to carve in the charm.
The amber dragon asked her, <Are you making another gem to return me to my original form?>
The gem she had once given the amber dragon had been confiscated when he’d been imprisoned in the tower.
<I’ll make one of those too, soon.>
The chisel came to a stop. She had finished carving the charm.
Brunhild hung the necklace around the dragon’s neck. Suddenly, the dragon began to transform.
He turned into a high-rank knight of the royal castle. He was even wearing the same armor.
“Dragon spells essentially can turn you into whatever you like. I carved a charm that can transform you into a knight of the royal castle. Now, let’s sneak in.”
“I see. So then I take it I’ll sneak in on my own, destroy Kriemhild’s crown, and rescue her?”
“I can’t let you go alone.”
Brunhild headed to a servant’s quarters. There were a few sets of maid uniforms—from the maids who worked here at the old estate.
“I will disguise myself as a maid to go with you. You would be in trouble if something happened and you were alone,” she said, and she went into the servant’s quarters by herself. After about five minutes, she came out. In a maid’s outfit, Brunhild was quite lovely. She skillfully hid her white hair with a cap. If she closed her eyes, then she would look just like a maid.
Brunhild spun around to show off her clothing. The skirt fluttered beautifully. “So? I think it suits me.”
“It suits you. You seem to be enjoying yourself, at any rate.”
“I’ve always wanted to try on one of these. They’re cute.”
Even in an unfortunate situation, Brunhild never lost her cheer. Bernstein wanted to quickly save her from such circumstances.
The two of them left the old estate and headed for the royal castle.
At the castle, they were able to enter openly from the front. The gate guard bowed to Bernstein. His disguise as a high-ranked knight kept anyone from suspecting the two of them.
When they looked for Kriemhild’s whereabouts, they learned she was, as expected, in the throne room.
The two of them pretended to be a knight and maid and went into the throne room.
In the throne room were the old retainers, the knights including the knight captain, and some maids and butlers cleaning.
Kriemhild, sitting on the throne, looked like she was in pain, pressing the crown. She was desperately struggling against the crown’s commands.
“Kriemhild…!” Brunhild just about leaped out, ready to help her.
But Bernstein held her back. <Warren is here.>
The old soldier was in attendance at Kriemhild’s side. Aside from him, there were also countless knights in the throne room.
Pretending to clean, Brunhild watched Warren for a while, but there was no sign that he would leave Kriemhild’s side.
<It could be…that he’s anticipated I would come to save Kriemhild,> she said. But she hadn’t come to this place without any plan at all. <Wait at the nearby terrace. I’ll be right there.>
Bernstein followed her instruction and headed for the terrace.
From the entrance area of the throne room, Brunhild called out to Kriemhild on the throne. <Kriemhild. Come this way.>
She had called out using the Dragon’s Tongue. The only ones who could use this were the Siegfried family or dragons. The Dragon’s Tongue was not audible, so the soldiers of the castle couldn’t hear it. It would ring directly in the heads of those it was directed to.
Brunhild’s plan was to make use of the Dragon’s Tongue to have Kriemhild approach her, upon which Brunhild would destroy the crown with her Thunder, meet up with Bernstein on the terrace, have him turn back into a dragon, and escape.
<Kriemhild.>
It seemed Kriemhild had heard her call, as she lifted her head. <Sister?>
<I’ve come to save you. Can’t you somehow come to the exit of the throne room? If you do, then I’ll destroy the crown and we can escape.>
Kriemhild looked toward the throne room exit. <I can’t see you, though…>
<I’m wearing a maid outfit.>
Kriemhild looked around the area again and said, <Ahh, I’ve found you. I’ll go over there right away. I’ll make up some reason to get away from the throne…>
But that moment, Warren at her side said to the knights, “It seems Brunhild has come. Search for her.”
<?!>
The knight captain and his subordinates began to search for Brunhild.
It couldn’t be that they had heard the Dragon’s Tongue?
Impossible. There’s no way…
That was when Brunhild realized—Warren had been watching Kriemhild’s face. He must have figured out Brunhild was nearby from the changes in her expression. So then he probably already knew they had conversed in the Dragon’s Tongue. Warren had been aide to generations of queens. Even if he couldn’t hear the Dragon’s Tongue, it wouldn’t be strange for him to know of its existence and properties.
Not only were the knights approaching Brunhild—Warren was coming, too.
This is bad, this is bad, this is bad…
Brunhild was panicking, but she feigned calm as best she could and made to leave the throne room. She was dressed as a maid. There were a few maids in the throne room aside from her. If she didn’t act in a panic, she might be able to get through this.
So long as she stayed calm, she would be okay.
Or so she thought.
But she felt a powerful gaze.
Warren was looking at her. That realization sent shivers down her spine.
When the old soldier had said “It seems Brunhild has come,” he had not failed to miss one maid acting just a bit strangely. Warren had already fixed his sights on Brunhild.
He was briskly striding toward her.
Brunhild’s body cried out in fear.
Run—
Her body remembered the pain of being stabbed with his stiletto.
But she restrained that with her logic—or with emotion.
I can’t come this far and then flee without doing anything.
Brunhild readied her Thunder. Warren glared at her right hand with hawklike eyes.
She fired the Thunder. There was a streak of light.
Her arrow, trained in hunting, would never miss its target.
Although that was only when her opponent was not an experienced veteran. The old soldier easily dodged the arrow of light.
“Just as I planned…!” popped out of Brunhild’s mouth unconsciously.
She hadn’t been targeting the old soldier with her Thunder.
The lightning slashed past him, toward Kriemhild—more precisely, to the crown that was on her head.
The arrow that never missed struck precisely through the crown, some distance away. There was a sound like glass shattering, and the crown broke apart.
Even the arrogant old soldier was shocked to see that. He turned around toward Kriemhild, watching as the crown broke into pieces.
Warren immediately turned back to Brunhild. And then, unusually for him, he muttered in a voice filled with hatred, “You vile…”
Brunhild had already left the throne room. She was running through the hallway, but there was no way she could escape. Because Brunhild was sickly, she was a very slow runner. She would be caught before she reached the terrace where Bernstein was waiting.
Men’s footsteps were following from behind.
It’s all or nothing…
Brunhild turned a corner to leap into a nearby room. She figured she would hide inside to wait for them to pass—by going into a closet or diving under a bed, for example. It was unlikely that would go well, but that was her only option now. In the first place, in order for this plan to work, the room she entered had to be empty.
There was no time for hesitation. She leaped into the room. She pulled such a mad dash, her cap slid off, exposing her long white hair.
And unfortunately, there was someone inside.
But was this actually good fortune? Brunhild recognized the man there.
“Anima…?”
Anima, sitting on a chair, saw Brunhild and stood.
“Brunhild?”
The two of them froze, gazing at one another.
“Anima, why are you here…?” She gasped. “It couldn’t be that because you hid me…?”
He said with a bitter expression, “Well, basically…”
She considered before saying, “…If you want to escape, I’ll help you.” If something awful had happened to him because of her, then she had a responsibility to save him. “There is a high-ranked knight on the terrace ahead. He is my vassal, a dragon. You should ride him and get out of the castle.”
Anima was no fool. He could easily guess that the dragon was Brunhild’s means of escape. During the time they had spent together, Brunhild had said, “There’s someone at the castle I have to go save.” Her being disguised as a maid had to be related to that.
“But then you won’t be able to get away.”
“Never mind me. You saved me. I don’t want my savior to meet an awful fate.”
Anima felt quite pathetic. Right now, he was thinking, I can meet Warren’s expectations if I kill Brunhild now…
He looked at the spear leaning against the wall.
If he picked it up, he could kill Brunhild.
Without realizing what he was thinking, Brunhild urged him. “What are you standing around for? Hurry…”
I’m amazed this girl can be concerned for another when she might be caught, Anima thought. And meanwhile, he was thinking to kill the person who was trying to save him, for his own self-protection.
Anima was beset by intense indecision. Should he kill Brunhild or not?