6
A few days passed.
“It’s been a while, Crow.”
After being released from a long interrogation that lasted hours from the military police, Crossweil walked home and talked to Yunmelngen for the first time in a while.
“I’m myself again after ten days. Though I’m not sure if it’s my human self or astral power self talking.”
“…There were some really bad things happening here while you were sleeping.”
“Seems like your older sister made a mess of things.”
They hadn’t been able to stop her. He’d more or less known. Like Yunmelngen’s, the influence her astral power had on her was too strong. Then that overwhelming astral power had become enraged and blown away part of the Empire.
“How much do you know?”
“More than you would. At least about the gravity of the crime your family member committed.”
They both paused for a while.
“She came into the assembly hall to take back Musha, a witch. Then she gravely injured the guards who came to meet her and destroyed the lower level of the assembly hall without leaving a trace. The Eight Great Elders were also severely wounded while they were interrogating Musha.”
“Right.”
“The whole event was caught on the security cameras and has been made public to the rest of the world.”
This was the decisive moment, when they’d encountered a violent witch. This hadn’t been made up by the Imperial leaders. It was real.
“It looks like we’ve created a crystal-clear case of someone possessed by astral power who is dangerous, right in front of the whole world. It’s not just Eve. This event has warranted even worse treatment toward all astral power contaminators.”
“And Eve is a wanted criminal now.”
“Yeah. I can’t help her in this case. I’d like to ask her what happened directly, but she’s not with you, is she, Crow?”
“She’s not. She disappeared.”
After releasing Musha, they’d both disappeared.
“I can’t stop it either anymore.” The Crown Prince sighed. “The Lord still isn’t awake, and the Eight Great Elders have taken over the government in his place. They’ve been gravely injured. I’m sure you can connect the dots.”
“She’s made powerful people in the Empire into her enemies.”
“It’ll be the start of a witch hunt. Soon, persecution of astral power contaminators within the Empire will begin. Oh, that’s not true. Since contaminators are viewed as the wrongdoers, they won’t call it prosecution, but justice instead.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?!”
“…”
Silence fell over them. It was the longest stretch of silence between them since they had started talking with each other.
“I’ll be direct. This country is no longer a place for astral power contaminators, including you, Crow.”
“You can’t mean…”
His throat felt dry, and it took all he had to get his voice to come out.
He didn’t even need to guess at what Yunmelngen was implying because it was so obvious. It was too cruel.
…We’ll all be treated as criminals in the Empire.
…But we still live here.
Only the humans in the Empire called them contaminators, witches, and sorcerers.
There was still time. They could find a country in this vast world that might still accept them.
“Are you saying I should escape from the Empire?”
“I have my position as the Crown Prince here. I can’t publicly help, but I also won’t stop you. I can look the other way.”
But where would they run to? They would need to move out of the Empire. Trying to find the thousands of people around would be an unprecedented challenge and preparations would take months. And where would they run? How would they live?
“You should think about it. If it comes down to it, you can just run with your family.”
“This is really the last resort we have…”
He’d started to feel an attachment to their home. He’d finally gotten used to living in the Empire, too.
“I’ll talk to Alice. But Eve’s not around, so we don’t have any way to decide.”
He hung up and started walking down the main road. Most of the houses were dark, their lights off. He shrunk against the freezing wind as he navigated using the unreliable streetlights. When he finally arrived home, he found his sister nervously standing in front of it.
“Crow! Oh, good. You’re safe,” she said.
“They were interrogating me again today. Trying to get me to cough up Eve’s location.”
He wanted to know where she was, too. He had no idea what she was doing or where she was since she’d disappeared in front of the assembly.
“It must have been cold. Let’s get inside.”
Once they were inside, they were back in their warm and bright living room, out of the suffocating cold outside. But then everything went dark.
Had the electricity gone out? He’d thought that for a moment upon seeing the room blacked out.
Then a girl with golden hair leapt out from a black void.
“Eve?!” Crossweil said.
“Eve?! Wh-what…?!” Alicerose blinked several times at her sister.
Now that Crossweil thought of it, this was Alicerose’s first time seeing her sister’s power. And her power wasn’t manipulating flames or wind like some magic trick. Instead, it was some godlike ability that allowed her to warp space itself.
“Eve…?”
And her sister looked entirely different as well.
Though there was no wind to speak of, Eve’s golden hair continuously undulated. She also wore a cloak that seemed as though it’d been made from the shirt she’d once worn.
“Alice, Crow,” she said. Her voice was emotionless as she addressed them. It was enough to make Crossweil shudder. It was almost as though it were lifeless.
“We have something to discuss,” she said.
“Eep?!”
“What?!”
They hadn’t even had time to blink.
As Eve grabbed their hands, the world in front of them began to fissure. He and Alicerose were both being pulled into one of the pitch-black voids.
By the time he realized what had happened, he was inside a dark abyss, as though a black curtain had been pulled down on him.
It was the inside of a black tent. In the square space around him that spread dozens of meters out all around, he saw black towers in the corners. They had the glossy finish of obsidian. Where was he? What was this place? They weren’t outside or in their home. It was as though they were in some empty subspace.
“Alice!”
“Musha?!” Alicerose shouted in surprise as she caught a girl in her arms.
It was Musha. Since Eve’s attack on the assembly, she had disappeared with Eve.
“You were safe, Musha?! I heard you were arrested by the military police…”
“It’s all a lie! They forced me into a car and told me I was being investigated. When I tried to fight back, they blew it out of proportion and said I was being violent!”
“It was the same for me.” Next, Drake, their leader from the excavation site spoke up. “The military police came to my home, too. Eve saved me before they could take me in, and brought me to this odd shelter. The same applies for everyone else here.”
Crossweil then noticed that it wasn’t just Musha and Drake with them. Hundreds of people, old and young, men and women were there. He saw people from the excavation site as well as those he’d seen on the streets of the Empire.
That was when he realized.
Many of the people gathered had concealed their foreheads and wrists with bandages. He didn’t even need to guess what was under those.
…They’re all astral power contaminators who were arrested.
…Eve has been saving all of them on her own.
She had disappeared for days.
As the Empire went into emergency alert, Eve had been taking people to this space one at a time.
“We don’t need the Empire anymore.” Her harsh voice rang out. “We’re leaving it.”
Murmurs ran through the space. Over a hundred people searched their neighbors’ faces, but Crossweil alone balled his hands into fists. He’d heard this before.
…What kind of irony is this?
…We’re fleeing the Empire. She’s agreeing with Yunmelngen.
And was claiming that was their only option.
The Crown Prince and the girl rebelling against the Empire had both reached the same conclusion.
“Tell your family and kindred this,” she said. “Take all that you have and run. If the military police obstruct you, I will eliminate them.”
Her declaration of rebellion was chillingly calm. She spoke as though the police were nothing but insects.
“B-but…!” a man, unable to keep quiet, shouted. “If we turn against them, then the Imperial forces will be next!”
“I’ll do the same with the Imperial forces. I’ll get rid of them on my own.”
“……What?!”
“I will show no mercy to anyone who stands in our way. No matter how many there are.”
Silence filled the place. When faced with how much Eve had changed, and the transcendental power and self-confidence she had, everyone subconsciously realized something.
She wasn’t lying.
The astral power in this small girl was strong enough to wipe out the entire Empire.
“We will carry this out in three weeks’ time,” she continued. “We should abandon this country as soon as we can.”
“Wait, Eve!” Alicerose’s strained shout echoed throughout the black space. “We’re all shaken up. I don’t think it’ll be as easy as you think to flee from the Empire. We’ve all grown to love this place from living here. We can’t cut ourselves off from our livelihoods, families, and friends that easily…”
“However—”
“We need more time!” Alicerose interrupted Eve.
This was the first time Crossweil had seen this happen. The younger twin was showing a resolve strong enough to interrupt her own older sister.
“Please, Eve. Please give everyone time to think.”
“…”
“We need time to prepare, too. The military police are on high alert all over the Empire. They’ll notice if thousands of people leave the capital. Right?”
Eve was silent. She listened seriously to her sister’s pleas.
“Let’s take some time to figure things out. We need to think about where we will head once we leave the Empire, how we will make a living there, and how to make sure everyone feels safe.”
“…”
“Please, Eve.”
There was an exceedingly long stretch of silence after that.
The two sisters stared at each other unblinkingly until the elder sister finally replied, “Okay.”
Heh, Eve’s expression softened for just a moment.
“Since you’re smart, Alice, we’ll do that. I’m no good as an older sister, after all.”
After all this time, Crossweil had forgotten what his sister’s smile looked like.
But that had been…
…the last time he saw it.
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