Gakusen Toshi Asterisk - Volume 16 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

A RAY OF LIGHT

It was early morning, and Claudia had gathered everyone in a room in Hotel Elnath for an emergency meeting.

“It’s definitely a trap, right?”

“I—I think so, too…”

Sylvia and Kirin were both immediately suspicious when they heard the information Eishirou had just brought back. Saya, currently in a coma due to the toxins from her match against Orphelia, would no doubt have had a similar reaction if she were present.

Eishirou, probably exhausted, had collapsed after his return.

“It’s crazy to trust the Tyrant of all people. I know we don’t have anything else to work from at the moment, but this is worse than clutching at straws,” Sylvia said with a wave of her hand, heaving a sigh.

“Besides…,” Kirin added, “what does that even mean, they’re above and below? It’s too vague to really tell us anything…”

“You’re both right, of course,” Claudia noted. “However, given the lengths Eishirou had to go to for this information, it would be a shame to discard it without first weighing it up.”

At that moment, Ayato raised his hand. “Do you have anything that could add credence to it?” he asked.

Claudia was a compassionate person, but not one to let herself be swayed by emotion. No matter how difficult it had been for Eishirou to obtain this information, if its credibility was low, she wouldn’t have thought it worth discussing.

“I don’t have specific proof, if that’s what you mean… But before we get to that, what do you think, Ayato?”

“Me…? Yeah, I have my doubts. But then again, if they did want to lure us into a trap, wouldn’t it make sense to give us a more specific location? Like Kirin said, it’s too vague.”

“Maybe they’re just trying to confuse us?” Sylvia remarked, her skepticism undeterred.

Well, one could hardly blame her for thinking that way.

Ayato too had met Dirk Eberwein in person, and he hadn’t exactly come across as trustworthy.

“About that… By below, there’s at least one place that comes to mind,” Claudia said.

“The underground block, you mean?” Ayato asked.

“Exactly.” Claudia flashed him a soft smile.

“I understand that much, but the underground block is huge,” Sylvia added. “It would take forever to search through it properly. And besides, wouldn’t Stjarnagarm have noticed something during their regular patrols? …Right, Helga?”

Having stayed silent up until now, the commander of the city guard, Helga Lindwall, wore an unusually apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m not particularly proud of the current situation on that front…”

“Huh…?”

Ayato, Kirin, and Sylvia each exchanged worried looks.

“What do you mean?”

Haruka, who had been waiting quietly by Helga’s side, spoke up.

“Well, you see… Ha-ha, this is a bit of a pickle…,” she said evasively.

After removing the shard of the Raksha-Nada with the help of Elliot Forster and his Lei-Glems several days prior, Haruka had thrown herself into her duties as a member of Stjarnagarm with more vigor than ever before. She seemed perfectly at home in her uniform now.

“I was going to wait until after we cleared up the other issue, but seeing as the one connects to the other, perhaps we should deliver our report now…? Do you mind?” Helga asked.

“Please, go ahead.” Claudia nodded.

For her part, Claudia seemed already familiar with the particulars.

No doubt she had likewise consulted with her mother Isabella, who couldn’t make it to this meeting as she was currently attending the Concordia.

“As a matter of fact, an informant approached me earlier today…or yesterday, given the hour…”

“An informant?”

“Ernesta Kühne of Allekant Académie.”

“…!” Kirin caught her breath. “About the autonomous puppets, you mean?”

“Precisely.”

The puppets that Kirin had encountered in the lakeside city—clearly under the control of the Golden Bough Alliance—apparently resembled Ardy in appearance and abilities.

“She summed it up like this: It seems that a large number of puppets she designed for a previous contract have been brought into Asterisk, and she’s concerned that they’re being used illegitimately. She doesn’t want the authorities to think she’s involved with the culprits, so she wanted to provide us with information to prove her innocence, should anything happen.”

“That all sounds…rather convenient. But I’m sure she managed to keep up a look of nonchalance as she told you this,” Claudia said, pressing her hand against her cheek as she forced a smile.

Judging from her reaction, Claudia must have already received a report on the matter, even if she didn’t know all the details.

“That sounds more like she’s looking to make a deal than give information,” Sylvia said, pulling a face. “Isn’t she basically asking to be let go in exchange for her cooperation?”

“Even so, we’re desperate for whatever information we can get our hands on. I can’t deny it feels like we’re being taken advantage of, but I don’t think Ernesta Kühne was actually involved in the Golden Bough Alliance. It seems she doesn’t even know their true objective.”

“…Really?” Sylvia asked, still dubious.

“One of our Stregas at Stjarnagarm is capable of seeing through lies and deception,” Haruka added. “It only works on someone willing to be read, and it can’t be used for evidence, but we were able to confirm that she was telling the truth.”

“Huh. I didn’t know that.”

“Well, it isn’t something we make public. Anyway, according to Ernesta Kühne, the Golden Bough Alliance is composed of three members: Lamina Mortis, Dirk Eberwein, and the Varda-Vaos.”

“What about Erenshkigal and Agrestia?”

“Ernesta tells us that only those three are involved in the decision-making. Everyone else is just a tool to be used.”

“If I remember right, it was Ecknardt, Lamina Mortis, and the Varda-Vaos who put together the last plan…,” Haruka said, putting her finger to her temple as she rummaged through her memories. “Right. So Dirk Eberwein must be new, to take over Ecknardt’s role.”

“That brings us to the main issue. The most valuable information Ernesta gave us is about the puppets that have been brought into Asterisk. She provided us with their number and location, as well as their specifications.”

Kirin raised a timid hand. “U-um… The captain did say they were produced en masse…but is it really possible to make so many of them? Those puppets—Valiants, Percival called them—they’re powerful weapons. Probably only ranked Genestella would be able to stand up to them in a one-on-one fight. And against more than one, maybe only Page Ones would be able to resist. If they’re brought in by the dozen…”

“By the thousand.”

“What…?”

“Ernesta Kühne claims to have delivered a thousand units to her client.”

The room suddenly turned tense.

Ayato and Sylvia hadn’t faced the puppets directly, but given what Kirin had told them, it sounded like they would prove a major headache.

And there were a thousand of them?

“Wait a minute. How did Ernesta know they’ve been brought here? And their locations, too…?”

“She seems to have installed some extra functions to let her, and only her, track them—security in case something goes wrong.”

“That’s either very forward thinking of her, or else…”

Ernesta’s seemingly innocent and cheerful smile hid the depths of her strength and resolve well.

“Anyway, we used that information to raid a warehouse, where we found twenty of those things.”

“Ah.”

“…Everything was going smoothly at first… But the Valiants activated when I got there, and I had no choice but to destroy them.”

“…Oh.”

It was hard to tell whether that served as proof the information was accurate or if it only underscored the possibility it had all been a trap.

“Huh…? Um, are you saying…you went there alone, commander…?”

“We’re short on manpower. Most of my subordinates, Haruka included, had to be assigned to monitoring the perimeter and redirecting the public to a safe distance. Besides, we hadn’t yet seen what those Valiants are capable of firsthand, and I didn’t want to place my people in harm’s way unnecessarily.”

Still, given that Kirin had just opined that even a Page One would have a hard time going up against them, to think that Helga seemed to have defeated twenty all by herself…

“I rushed to the scene when I heard the noise. But by the time I got there, it was already over…,” Haruka added with an awkward smile.

“The problem is what happened next. Once the Valiants activated, the live tracking data that Ernesta provided us was lost.”

“Huh?”

“Of course, we still have the data backups, which we’ve used to continue our search…but the puppets seem to have been relocated.”

“So you’re saying the Golden Bough Alliance anticipated all this?” Claudia asked, spreading her hands wide in a show of exasperation. She was left with no choice but to laugh.

“I would say they deliberately overlooked the tracking mechanism that Ernesta Kühne installed in the Valiants and turned the situation to their own advantage. From our perspective at Stjarnagarm, having confirmed the presence of one batch of units, we’re left with no choice but to search all the other locations, too.”

“Indeed. We’ve already had to dedicate a considerable portion of our people to security at the Concordia, and there’s more trouble than usual among the tourists this year, too. Add to that a large-scale investigation of multiple warehouses and storage facilities, and we’re stretched to our limit.” Averting her gaze, Helga took a deep breath before adding, “And the biggest problem is that the warehouse we found the Valiants in was already included in the patrol routes I recently set up for this case.”

“…What does that mean?” Sylvia asked, eyes narrowed.

“When I questioned the officer responsible, he told me he knew it was part of his established route, but in light of the security situation, he prioritized areas more likely to see disturbances. In other words, he looked the other way.”

“Th-that…certainly is a problem.”

“My thoughts exactly. To his credit, he’s an honest officer, not one to shirk his duties. He’s never done anything to warrant a disciplinary punishment. After the interrogation, he couldn’t understand why he had even done it.”

“You know what they say, Stjarnagarm is short-staffed because Commander Helga is so demanding during the selection process,” Haruka followed up. “I’m just a newbie at this point.”

Helga’s expression, however, remained stern. “Given the situation, I asked Director Korbel to put the officer in question under psychosensory examination as soon as possible. The hospital’s tests take time, but they’re more accurate than those regularly conducted on IEF executives. As I feared, the director detected traces of mental interference—brainwashing—albeit in very small quantities.”

“So it was the Varda-Vaos…!”

“In all likelihood. No doubt the effect was fueled by my people’s zeal to maintain security and prioritize immediate disturbances… But getting back to the point at hand, there’s no way to know that something similar wouldn’t happen with any large-scale investigation of the underground block.”

“…!”

So that was how it all connected? In that case, there was definitely a possibility that the Golden Bough Alliance was lying low in the underground block.

“Above all, the most important lesson to take to heart from all this is just how brutal the Varda-Vaos’s abilities are. Typically, one’s prana will resist any mental suggestions that run contrary to their own will—however, there are clearly work-arounds. If the victim believes they’re acting according to their own beliefs, they can be manipulated into furthering the aims of the enemy… There may be more people than we can imagine who have been influenced that way.”

“…”

That was a scary thought.

To think you could be involved in their plot without even realizing it. Perhaps not even Ayato or the others were immune.

“…”

A heavy silence fell over the room, broken only when Claudia’s mobile began to ring with an incoming call.

“My apologies… Yes… Is that so…? I understand… We’ll be there shortly…”

After a brief conversation, Claudia glanced up at everyone and announced, “Saya has woken up. She has something important to tell us all, so she wants us to see her at once.”

At those words, everyone present stood up.

Saya seemed to have had some success talking with Orphelia during her semifinal match. Perhaps she had managed to garner some valuable information.

“My apologies. We’ll have to return to headquarters soon… I wish I could send Haruka to join you, but unfortunately I can’t spare her right now,” Helga said with a rueful shake of her head.

“I’m sorry, everyone… Of course, I’ll keep looking into the Golden Bough Alliance as best I can,” Haruka added, clasping her hands together in front her face with an apologetic bow.

It was she who had the strongest connection with the Golden Bough Alliance, so it was natural that she wanted to be at the forefront of this investigation.

But at the same time, it was equally clear that Stjarnagarm was undermanned, so she wouldn’t be able to abandon her official duties, either.

“Not at all,” Claudia said. “The first obligation of the city guard is to maintain peace and security throughout Asterisk. Please focus your attentions on that.”

“…We’re counting on you,” Ayato added.

“Ah, say hi to Saya for me, Ayato,” Haruka said. “Let her know I’m glad she’s okay.”

Helga gave Claudia a brief nod, and then she and Haruka hurried from the room.

“Dawn is breaking, even if the sun isn’t up yet…,” Kirin murmured as she turned her gaze out the window after seeing them off.

Indeed, thick, ominous clouds hung low over the midwinter sky.

“…You took forever!”

No sooner did they all enter her hospital room than Saya, waiting there with her arms crossed, puffed her cheeks out. She wasn’t wearing a hospital gown as might be expected, but rather her usual school uniform, and she didn’t particularly look like someone who had been in a coma until just a short while ago.

“S-Saya…? Are you sure you should be up and about?” Ayato asked.

“I’m okay. I got my arm looked at by a healer, and there’s nothing else wrong with me,” she answered, flexing her muscles for everyone to see.

That was good news, but the fact that she had been seen to by a healer at all meant that she must have sustained serious injuries, the kind that would leave long-term effects if treated through ordinary means. It was clearer than ever how reckless it had been for her to participate in that last match despite her weakened state.

“Th-thank goodness…! It looks like the toxins have been cleared, too!” Kirin exclaimed, sighing with relief.

“Yep. I’m a hundred percent back to normal,” Saya answered, flashing her a victory sign.

She certainly did look like her usual self.

“That’s what matters most. Now then…what’s this urgent matter you wanted to tell us?” Claudia asked, a sense of danger lurking behind her smile.

“Shhh!” Saya lifted a finger to her lips, glancing around worriedly.

Of course, they were in a private room, so there was no one else around.

“…Isn’t Isabella coming?”

“My mother? Ah, she’s preoccupied at the moment. I haven’t seen her face-to-face yet, either. I believe she’s still on the ferry.”

“Oh. Good.”

“What’s wrong with Claudia’s mom joining us?” Sylvia asked.

Saya looked unsettled. “You’ll understand once I fill you in.”

And so, she recounted what she had heard from Orphelia during their match.

It wasn’t a long account, but the faces of everyone gathered soon turned bleak.

“So that’s everything I heard from Erenshkigal.”

By the time she finished telling them the shocking news, no one could even bring themselves to respond.

Orphelia’s ultimate goal was to eliminate everyone in Asterisk.

They didn’t know her reasoning, but there was no doubt she had the power to pull it off.

And they had virtually no way of stopping her.

The first person to speak up was Kirin. “W-we have to do something…! Anything…! Somehow, whatever the cost, we have to stop her…!” Her lips were trembling, her fists clenched tightly as her face turned deathly pale.

Next was Sylvia, outwardly calm, but wearing the most severe expression Ayato had ever seen on her face. “Yes. I agree with you a hundred percent… But how…? What do you think, Claudia?”

“…From what we’ve just heard, it will be difficult if the Golden Bough Alliance has already completed its preparations,” Claudia stated calmly, though her bright voice seemed slightly strained. “In other words, they could flip the switch at any moment. The second we make an attempt to stop either the bomb—Orphelia Landlufen herself—or the ringleaders Lamina Mortis and Dirk Eberwein, they’ll immediately set it off. And with the group’s level of influence within the foundations, it will be impossible to move against them in secret.”

Though she had likely anticipated a great many possibilities regarding the Golden Bough Alliance’s true purpose, no doubt she had still been taken by surprise.

“But I understand why you didn’t want my mother to hear of this, Saya.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Kirin asked.

Saya was the one who offered up a response: “Isabella—or Galaxy, I suppose—would choose a strategy based on sacrifice. I couldn’t stand that.”

“A strategy based on sacrifice…?”

“To use the previous analogy, think of this as a bomb about to explode,” Claudia said. “She’ll be thinking about how to reduce the damage to Galaxy, how to conceal the existence of the Varda-Vaos after the explosion, and if possible, how to connect the Golden Bough Alliance to one of the other foundations instead. That sort of thing…” Claudia paused there, letting out a bitter sigh. “If it can’t be stopped, that would seem the logical course of action.”

“I guess, as things stand, there’s only one way to stop this,” Saya observed. “If, during her match against Orphelia Landlufen, Julis could—”

“No,” Ayato interrupted sternly. “She’ll never do that. Never.”

“I know. I wouldn’t want that for her, either.” Saya nodded in agreement.

“Then we’ll have to think of some other way… Hmm…” Sylvia crossed her arms as she sank into thought.

“Right… Didn’t you say it was supposed to be too late by the time you woke up, Saya?”

“Oh, that’s because I used up all my prana before the poison could get me.”

“…?” Kirin, not understanding, tilted her head to one side.

Claudia, standing beside her, began to explain: “The toxins used on Saya were probably the same ones that affected Ayato while we were in Lieseltania. It seems that the length of the coma depends on the total amount of one’s prana, so if you exhaust your prana before the poison can take effect, it makes sense that you would wake up faster as a result.”

“Ah, so that was the point of your final shot with the Helnekraum.” Ayato nodded.

Saya had done well to come up with that idea on the spur of the moment.

“Exactly.”

“You’ve given us time to prepare countermeasures, so well done, Saya,” Claudia concluded.

“Hee-hee.” Saya puffed out her chest with pride.

“…Time…? Time…?” Kirin suddenly looked up. “Ah, um, I…I just had an idea…”

“Huh…?!”

Everyone suddenly turned toward her.

“U-um, just wait a minute! I don’t know if it will actually work, and there’s at least one condition—no, two—that need to be cleared first…!”

“That can wait…! Just tell us what you’re thinking!” Claudia demanded, drawing closer to her.

Taking one more look at everyone’s faces, Kirin nervously revealed her thoughts.

“…”

Once they had heard her out, they all sank into thought.

“I see… Then there is a possibility,” Claudia finally murmured.

Certainly, they couldn’t expect to solve all their problems this way, and it would, of course, be a very fine needle to thread, but given the circumstances…

“Like Kirin said, the hard part will be setting up the preconditions,” Saya noted. “At the very least, we’ll need to know the whereabouts of Madiath Mesa, Dirk Eberwein, and the Varda-Vaos…”

“Back to square one, then…hmm…,” Sylvia grumbled.

“About that… Sylvia, can’t you find them using that song of yours?”

“Huh? To some extent, I guess… But you know I won’t be able to narrow down the exact location, right?”

Seeing as Stjarnagarm, which no doubt had individuals with expert detection abilities within its ranks, hadn’t been able to locate them, it stood to reason that the members of the Golden Bough Alliance had taken fairly solid measures to conceal their locations.

“I’ve heard the accuracy of detection abilities can be increased by narrowing down the range, so if we can pinpoint a certain area, wouldn’t it be possible to sense some kind of reaction even if they have taken precautions?”

“That’s… I’ve never tried it, so I’m not sure… Maybe?” Sylvia tilted her head to one side, deep in thought. “Still, how would we know where to focus?”

“I can answer that.” Claudia pulled out her mobile and activated a three-dimensional projection of Asterisk. “We should start here…,” she said, pointing to the ballast area in the underground block on the map—the area closest to the main stage being used for the Festa. “Lamina Mortis—Madiath Mesa—is probably around here.”

“…!”

Everyone jolted in surprise, but Sylvia quickly regained her composure and took a deep breath. Then, softly—

“Thought and memory, thou winged twins, fly, o swiftly fly, and tell me the lair of lurking demons.”

The lyrics were a little different, but it was similar to the song she had used when looking for Flora during her kidnapping.

She must have been using considerable prana, as mana raged throughout the room.

At that moment, two black feathers appeared on the three-dimensional map.

“Beyond the clouds of dawn, upon the winds of twilight, from the edge of nightfall, lead us onward…”

When they had been searching for Flora, the two feathers had roved all across the map, but this time, they didn’t move from the spot where the Festa stage was located, simply spinning around and around.

“Black emissaries, thought and memory, fly down to me and reveal now thy truth…”

As she sang, a tiny glimmer of light lit up beneath the wings, then quickly disappeared.

“Phew…” Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she let out a heavy sigh. “It was a small reaction, very subtle, but I felt it. Lamina Mortis really is down there.”

“…!”

Apart from Claudia, the rest of the room stared back in astonishment.

“…But how did you know?”

“I just trusted what the Tyrant said. ‘Above and below.’ By below, I assumed he meant somewhere in the underground block. From what we’ve heard from Haruka and Ayato, Madiath Mesa sounds like quite the sentimental type. At the very least, he certainly has a strong attachment to the past. So it stands to reason that he would be lurking somewhere with a close connection to his own history.”

“But I thought it wasn’t possible to receive or send communications from the underground block,” Saya remarked, remembering how she had gotten lost down there once before.

After all, wouldn’t it be incredibly inconvenient for his plans if he couldn’t contact the outside world?

“General communications aren’t available down there,” Claudia responded without hesitation. “But I’m sure that can be fixed by going through the management department with jurisdiction over the underground facility. That would probably be trivial for the Golden Bough Alliance.”

“I see…”

With that, everyone in the room was convinced.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

“I know you must be tired, but in that case, Sylvia, could you search above this time?”

“What…?! Do you know where to look there, too?”

“It’s only conjecture. But the Varda-Vaos must be up there. I was stunned myself when I realized the possibility…but I’m now all but convinced,” Claudia said, pointing out the window to—

“Hotel Elnath…?”

“…The top floor?”

In other words, the very hotel where Ayato and the others had convened just a short while before.

“Ahhhhh! Right, I see what you mean…!” Sylvia held her head in her hands, seemingly chastising herself for not realizing it sooner. “The site of the Rikka Garden Summit, right?”

The Rikka Garden Summit:

a famous dome-shaped aerial garden on the top floor of Hotel Elnath, where the student council presidents of Asterisk’s six schools met formally once a month—and which was otherwise off-limits to all, even executives of the IEFs.

Sure enough, when Sylvia used her ability once more, she felt a similar reaction.

“Ah… I was careless,” she said. “The garden is maintained almost entirely by autonomous puppets, and on top of that, it’s used only once a month. There’s no better place to hide…”

“This is only a guess, but the Varda-Vaos may have been based there this whole time,” Claudia observed.

“You’ve got to be kidding… So we’ve been having our monthly meetings in the enemy’s lair this whole time?”

“We’ve also been holding our meetings to resist them right at the enemy’s doorstep.”

Indeed, people tended to overlook what was near at hand, but this seemed ridiculous.

“This is as far as I can go, though,” Claudia said with a shrug. “I’m afraid I don’t know where the Tyrant is. Since he offered up this information himself, it’s probably fair to say he’s not with the others.”

“It’s good enough though, right?” Sylvia said. “But you seem to have taken the Tyrant at his word right from the beginning. Why?”

“It’s simple. I don’t trust him as a person, but I trust his character,” Claudia answered with a meaningful smile.

“The Tyrant’s character…?”

“Well, I’ve known him a little longer than you all have. I have a good grasp of him, I think. He’s more obsessed with frustrating winners than with seizing victory himself.” Claudia paused there, clapping her hands to change the subject. “Now, I’m afraid I don’t have any idea where he might be, so we’ll just have to try to locate him through other means… I’m thinking we should leave that task to Yabuki.”

“By himself? But isn’t that a little much for one person…?”

Wasn’t what happened last night proof enough of just how much danger would be involved?

“This operation will only prove successful if it’s carried out by people we know we can trust. If the only thing that mattered here was fighting potential, we could, of course, seek reinforcements from my mother. But that would be meaningless in this case.”

“Putting aside whether to trust Yabuki, Claudia is right,” Saya added. “Given the Varda-Vaos’s abilities, we need to keep the number of people involved to a minimum.”

“Well, I guess you’re right. Besides, our job is going to be even more dangerous, isn’t it?” Despite her words, Sylvia’s face was brimming with determination.

It was little wonder. She had been searching for someone precious to her for years, and now she had a chance to finally reach her.

“Hmm… All right. Let’s leave it to Eishirou.”

Ayato felt a little guilty, but this was a critical juncture, after all.

They couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

“Which brings us to that other condition, so to speak.”

“Y-yes…! If we go with this strategy, we’re going to need Julis’s help…,” Kirin added in a small voice, glancing up at Ayato.

“All right. I’ll have a talk with her.”

Checking the time, he realized it was now past nine o’clock.

The championship match was scheduled for noon, so there was little time left.

“Very well,” Claudia said. “We’ll proceed with the other preparations, and we’ll leave Julis to you, Ayato.”