The crown’s purpose was ultimately to admonish members of the royal family. No one outside the family could hear that voice.
Warren thought—
He wished he could hear that voice one more time.
It would never happen—since he couldn’t hear what he couldn’t hear.
Though even if he couldn’t hear it, Warren would simply fulfill its demand anyway.
Offer yourself to the kingdom.
Kriemhild told Warren, “I won’t let you kill my sister. But I can’t say for certain that your ideals are mistaken… Nevertheless, I cannot avoid deciding which path to take—because I’m the queen.”
With all sincerity, she said, “Warren. Will you trust in me?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I…think I will make an official announcement about the Miracle to the people. That will mean the return of illness in this kingdom. But isn’t that unavoidable at this point? This ceremony is equivalent to human sacrifice, and I doubt it can go on forever—just as the evil dragon that demanded sacrifices was destroyed in the end.”
Warren quietly listened.
“The First Queen is dead. We cannot keep the kingdom exactly as it was. I do not speak solely of the production of the Miracle. Foreign nations are becoming a real threat, and new forms of class discrimination are emerging. Isn’t it part of the job of those who govern to speak honestly about what cannot be done?”
The reason Kriemhild had not fled, even after the crown had been broken, was in order to talk about this.
All this time, Warren had been protecting the kingdom the queen had made. He was supposed to be one of those who governed. Though his methods were inhuman, he devoted himself for the sake of the people of the kingdom. So she felt mutual understanding through compromise would be possible and making that attempt was the job of the queen.
“Please, believe in me…no, in us. I doubt we can build a kingdom as perfect as that under the reign of the First, but I promise you we will create a strong nation that can overcome disease.”
After getting that far, Kriemhild shivered.
Warren was looking at her with icy eyes. It was a look of penetrating cold, enough to make Kriemhild recoil from her determined speech.
“What nonsense you speak.”
She had thought of Warren as one who governed. That was her mistake.
“The First has passed away. That is precisely why those left behind have a responsibility—the duty to make the utopia the First created eternal.”
Warren was a guardian of the kingdom, but he was no governor.
He seemed like a governing figure with concerns for the people, but he was something else entirely.
He grabbed her arm. The strength of his grip drew a short cry from her. “The crown may be broken, but I will still have you cooperate.”
He pulled stilettos from his coat. Within an instant, their points had pierced Kriemhild’s arms and legs.
“If I pin you with these blades, it will be easy enough to restrain you, even without relying on the crown’s control. I will shackle you as well and toss you into the throne room. I’ll tell the knights that your health is poor and you will be alone for a while. If I do that, then the right to order the knights will remain with me, the regent.”
Kriemhild was afraid, but she looked Warren straight in the eye. “What a sad man.”
A stiletto pierced her throat.
“That will prevent your needless chatter.”
Warren left the throne room, locking it so no one could enter. He no longer sought any queenly ability in Kriemhild. Now that the crown was lost, he was only thinking of having her live a long life in confinement, in order to have her birth children—in other words, in order to make material for the Miracle.
There were two things he had to do.
One of them was to capture Brunhild. This was to kill her and make her into the Miracle.
The second was to capture Anima. This was to steal the spear that could kill Brunhild.
He had to give orders to all the knights and have them begin searching for Brunhild and Anima.
Warren also set out for the search himself. What he feared most right now was that Brunhild would have ridden the dragon that served her to flee out of the kingdom. He wanted to secure her person immediately.
Warren dragged Kriemhild deeper into the throne room.
“…”
From the shadows, Knight Captain Alois saw everything.
With the two of them on his back, the amber dragon alighted in a village a ways from the royal castle.
It was the remote countryside. Here, the knights should not be able to chase them down so quickly.
They got a room at an inn. Brunhild had said she wanted to have the unconscious Anima rest properly.
She laid Anima down on the bed. It was just the two of them in the room. Bernstein had gone out to get them some clothes.
After about an hour, Anima opened his eyes. “Why…am I alive? I jumped out the window…”
Brunhild explained to him what had happened after they’d jumped out.
“Ahh, that’s right. Because I tried to save you, my life plan has been totally destroyed…”
“I really am sorry about that. You’re free to complain to me as much as you like.”
“Then I’ll just go and say it…” Anima vented a variety of pent-up resentments at her.
But she listened, without giving him any nasty looks.
This seemed strange to him, and he asked her, “Why aren’t you bothered by all this slander?”
“I mean, I was just really glad that you called me a friend…”
Anima blushed, at a loss for words.
“You sometimes have a nasty mouth, but at the bottom of your heart, you think of me as a friend. So I’m fine, no matter what you say to me.”
He covered his face with a hand. “If you’re going to be like that…then I’m speechless.”
His silence then was charming to Brunhild.
After a while, he regained his calm and said, “Hey, after this…what should I do?” He wanted to return to a normal life—but he understood he was a fugitive now. “Now that I’ve pointed a spear at Warren…”
“That’s not all. Warren is most likely searching for your spear. Since I destroyed Kriemhild’s crown, it will be difficult to make her kill me. So the magic spear is the only tool that can get rid of me.”
Hearing that, Anima held his head in his hands. The situation was even worse than he had thought. “Do I have no choice but to live on the run?”
“I won’t make you do that. I will get you back your normal life.”
“How?”
“Obviously—we should just defeat Warren.”
They would either defeat him or strip him of his position as regent.
Then Anima and Brunhild would no longer be fugitives. So long as that man held the real power in the kingdom, they would have no future.
“…It seems to me that the kingdom he seeks to build is no longer possible to actualize,” said Brunhild. “I think we’re already at the stage where we should think about a new path for the kingdom.”
She thought the same as Kriemhild did.
Anima asked a very reasonable question. “Defeat him—how?”
After having been so talkative before, Brunhild now fell silent.
That made Anima laugh. “There’s no way you can defeat a monster like him.”
“I’d like to think of a plan. I want a little time…”
After that, they stayed in the rural village for a few days, but Brunhild just couldn’t come up with a plan to defeat Warren.
As she was thinking, Anima decided to practice fighting.
He didn’t really believe he could get any stronger in such a brief span of time. But he did want to do what he could. At the very least, he wanted to get strong enough that he wouldn’t hold back the magic spear.
Bernstein found him as he was swinging around the spear until late at night.
The older man said to him, “You’re sure working hard. But frantically swinging around that spear on your own isn’t going to help you when it comes time to fight.”
“Shut up,” Anima answered as he continued to swing the spear. “I’ll do everything I can. ’Cause that’s all I can do.”
Bernstein smiled weakly and said, “You’re so young.”
Anima didn’t get the sense from that remark that he was being scoffed at. In fact, he sounded a little envious.
“I’ll help you.” Bernstein transformed into a dragon and stood before Anima.
That made Anima recoil. The amber dragon was small for a dragon, just over five meters tall, but he was still plenty daunting.
The amber dragon glared at Anima. Even Anima, who didn’t understand the Dragon’s Tongue, could tell what he was saying.
If you flinch just to see me, then defeating Warren is but a faraway dream.
That’s what he was saying.
Anima swung his spear, and he began his mock battle with Bernstein.
Eventually, the time came.
Before Bernstein could think of a plan, the knights of the kingdom came to this remote village.
The knights were excellent at their jobs, and they’d pinned down the trio’s location faster than Brunhild had anticipated.
Leading the total force of twenty knights was the knight captain, a man named Alois. He was past middle age, with a fine beard and an old gladius hanging from his waist.
The knights and captain came to the village at night.
Twelve knights swiftly surrounded the inn where they were staying—to keep them from escaping, no matter what.
The one to notice they were surrounded was Anima.
He quickly woke Brunhild and Bernstein and whispered in their ears, “We’re surrounded. What’s more, it’s by some pretty strong knights.”
Anima recognized the armor of the knights who surrounded the inn. It was armor worn by the elite dozen of the order.
Brunhild peeked out the window. There was a knight with a bow. “It seems they think we’ll escape by flying away.”
“We should do that,” said Bernstein. “I’m strong enough to fly carrying the both of you.”
“No, we won’t escape via the air.”
“Why?”
“If it were just you and I, then we could escape into the sky. You have your regenerative abilities as a dragon, and I cannot die. But if on the off chance they hit Anima, there would be no undoing that.”
Anima got an uncomfortable look on his face. “Sorry…”
“Don’t apologize. You’ve saved me many times… Besides, there’s something that’s bothering me a little.”
“Hmm?”
Eyeing the face of the knight outside the window, Brunhild said, “I’d like to try facing them head-on.”
“We’ve managed to circle them,” a young knight outside the inn told the knight captain.
Ten of the twelve under the knight captain’s command were stationed so as to keep Brunhild and her cohort from getting away. The remaining two would enter the inn from the front, along with the knight captain.
The knight captain nodded solemnly. “Well then, let’s go.”
“Yes, sir!”
Right as Knight Captain Alois was about to enter the inn, someone came out of it.
“Princess Brunhild…!”