CHAPTER 3
The Strongest Power in the World
1
The Imperial forces strengthened defenses in all parts of the Imperial territory.
In addition, the Imperial capital had increased security for all those coming in and out by two levels. They had taken special arrangements to catch Princess Mizerhyby, who was believed to be in hiding within the Empire.
But where was she hiding?
And what was she after?
“I have no idea!” Rin’s shout echoed throughout Alice’s room.
The chandelier on the ceiling nearly swayed from the force of her shout as she huffed and folded her arms.
“Listen here, Imperial swordsman! Lady Alice and I have no idea what Princess Mizerhyby could possibly be scheming!”
“I haven’t asked you anything yet…”
“I can see it on your face!”
“I was just going to ask what you wanted for lunch.”
“Shut up!”
Iska had ended up being scolded even though he’d answered honestly.
Their living arrangements in the Lord’s office were so cramped that he had just wanted to make sure they at least felt they had some autonomy over their meals.
“Lady Alice would like pancakes with jam, and I would like an omelet with potatoes.”
“You could have just said that from the start!”
“Read between the lines. The Imperial forces are not the only ones on edge about Princess Mizerhyby,” Rin said, looking rather surly and unhappy. “The Hydra are the ones behind Lady Sisbell’s abduction. I hope that they’re caught by the forces soon. We have no sympathy whatsoever for them.”
“I’ll keep that in mind… What about you?”
“What is it, Iska?”
Tap, tap, thunk…
Kissing was fully immersed in tapping a hammer on something. As she turned to him, her glossy black hair fluttered.
“I’m a bit preoccupied, but allow me to guess… You want to know what the Zoa and the Hydra are after because they infiltrated the Empire? And you want my opinions?”
“I’m glad you’re quick on the uptake.”
Kissing nodded without speaking. She seemed to be inviting him to ask whatever he wanted.
“Is it possible that the Zoa might have infiltrated the Empire to rescue you? Since Lord Mask is unconscious, are they trying to at least save you?”
“I don’t think so,” Kissing said without missing a beat. “If the Zoa household knows anything, it’s that there was a break in communication between my Uncle On and me. They wouldn’t have any idea that I was saved from Elletear’s Planet’s Song.”
“Then do you think they’re here to look for clues about what happened?”
“Doubtful,” she said, shaking her head.
In all that time, she didn’t once stop hammering away.
“If that were the case, they would hide in the Empire and dedicate themselves to investigating what had happened to my uncle and myself. But they destroyed a checkpoint and attacked an Imperial facility. If they had wanted to know my whereabouts, they never would have done anything to attract attention.”
“You’re right…” Iska could only nod.
……We actually talked about this in a meeting room as a unit.
……And we came to the same conclusion as Kissing.
That was why they were brooding over this.
If they didn’t know what the enemy wanted, they wouldn’t know where the Sovereignty would appear next.
“Then what do you think the Hydra and the Zoa are after?”
“Only one person from the Zoa was shown on the camera footage. Her name was Shanorotte, I believe? Then perhaps she was working on her own rather than with the Zoa?”
“On her own…?”
That was possible.
Shanorotte was a former commander. She knew how to act the part of an Imperial soldier perfectly. She probably could walk around town without ever being questioned. He could think of no one more dangerous than her.
“I know I’m asking for a lot…but do you think you’d be able to mediate with her? Commander Mismis also wanted to talk with her if possible.”
“That would be difficult.”
“Right. But also, why is that?”
“I think that’s quite obvious.” The black-haired girl put a hand against her face and feebly looked down. “Because…I’m not good with words…”
“You’re talking a ton right now! You actually talk a lot!”
“I can speak to someone I’m familiar with. In the Imperial forces, that’s only you, Iska.”
In that moment, Alice, who had been quietly sitting on the sofa, grunted and glared at Kissing, but the Zoa princess didn’t seem to notice.
“I’m curious what the Hydra are after. I don’t think this is the order from their leader.”
“You don’t?”
“Where could Talisman have gone? I saw the princess on the security footage, but their family leader wasn’t there.”
Thump.
Kissing brought the hammer down a bit harder than before.
“Uncle On said Talisman is the one who lights the Hydra family, just like the sun. The princess and their people are all only saplings growing under his light. So where has he gone?”
“So he’s the sun…?”
Iska had deep ties with the man.
When Talisman had made his way to the Lou’s villa, his eyes had been filled with mirth and a gentle quality like the sun—as he had attempted to annihilate everything within the residence.
He was a sly, deceitful man, and also an experienced soldier. That was the impression Iska had had, and it seemed the other royal families had the same impression of him.
“To put it another way, why is Mizerhyby acting without their lead—ow!”
Kissing let out a small cry. It seemed she had brought the hammer down on her finger.
“You distracted me by talking to me.”
“You’re only complaining about that now?!”
“I’d like an apology.”
“Sorry…”
“I’d like you to pay—through a physical act.”
“A physical what?!”
“Physical in what way?!” Alice shouted as she stood from the sofa.
Her eyes glinted and her eyebrows were raised.
“I have been silent until now…b-b-but what is the meaning of this?! How do you want Iska to pay with a physical act—?”
“I’d like him to pour me a cup of tea.”
“Oh…is that all? All right then…”
Alice seemed relieved, but Rin stuck her head in at that point.
“Lady Alice, what in the world were you imagining when she said ‘physical act’?”
“N-nothing at all! I was simply—”
The interphone to the door rang.
The electronic sound rang over and over again.
“Iska dear?!” Commander Mismis practically tumbled into the room. “We’re under attack! By Princess Mizerhyby!”
“So she really is after the Imperial capital?!”
“No!” Jhin tsked as he shouldered his sniper rifle. “We know what they’re after. It’s astral power.”
“…Astral power? Where would we have that in the Empire?”
“There is one place. It’s the only research facility that’s been approved by the Empire. We were treated like test subjects by them, remember? The same place that made the artificial astral crests.”
“You mean Omen, the research lab?!”
“The Empire military have tried to infiltrate the Sovereignty for the past century, and they would end up being seen through immediately, but… This time, I think this’ll work.”
“These are the fruits of the labors of the combined abilities of researchers of Omen and their skill.”
For example, there were the artificial astral crests.
Risya had brought a small cylinder which could apply an astral crest to a person’s skin.
The ones who had developed that were Omen, a unitary conglomeration of the most intelligent researchers.
It was the only facility allowed to do astral power research in the Imperial territories.
Put another way…
That was why we knew Kelvina’s lab was illegal.
They had been after Kelvina’s lab first.
And now Omen?
“We’ve got an update!” Nene came running in, out of breath. “Over half the facility in the fourth province has been taken over! The Imperial forces are on the scene, of course, and the researchers there are trying to fight back, but over ten people have already been captured…and Iska Big Bro, look at this!”
He looked at the screen on the comm.
There, he saw a woman with glittering blue hair. That was unmistakably Mizerhyby.
She walked down the halls of the lab as though she owned the place, but Iska’s eyes stopped on the person walking behind her.
It was a witch who was emitting violet flames from her entire body.
“Vichyssoise?!”
She had the power of the calamity, just like Elletear.
She had always been operating behind the scenes, and had even been involved in Sisbell’s abduction, but Iska had never believed she would reveal herself to the Imperial forces like this.
……They don’t care whether we know about Vichyssoise?!
……Do they not need to care anymore? Or are they so desperate that they need to use their full power to invade the facility?
Princess Mizerhyby seemed restless.
She didn’t have the composure or smile from when they had faced her at Snow and Sun. Her mouth was a tight line, and her eyes were bloodshot as she looked this way and that.
It was as though she were searching for something.
“Commander Mismis, do they have any demands? If they’ve taken over the lab and taken people captive, they must have something they want from the Imperial forces.”
“She hasn’t sent any yet…” Commander Mismis nervously shook her head. “HQ sent in a rescue unit to save the hostages, but they’ve only surrounded the facility and haven’t been able to get inside. They say they have no idea what kind of astral powers the enemy might use…”
“Would you entrust the matter to me?” The person who spoke was none other than Alice, who had been silent until that moment. “Commander Mismis, I will stop Mizerhyby. And I promise to follow the Imperial forces’ orders, of course.”
“R-really?! But Miss Alice, she’s one of—”
“She is no kin of mine.”
She spoke without a trace of reluctance. Alice’s tone was cold and sharp.
“I don’t think I can forgive the Hydra for what they’ve done. To me, they’re nothing more than a criminal organization.”
“Then I will join in, too.” Kissing, who had been hammering away, turned to them. “It was Shanorotte, wasn’t it? As Iska said, if she is working in accordance with the Zoa’s wishes, then my presence may put a stop to this.”
“Hey, even the Thorn Witch is getting in on this now?”
A voice carried to them from the hallway.
Mei looked between Alice and Kissing, scratching her bird’s nest of a head.
“I’ve gotta put my foot down. Sure, you say you’re trying to capture the Hydra princess…but you better not be using that as a pretext to get to her so you can change sides once all the royal families are reunited.”
“I already showed that we have no plans to do that,” Alice immediately said. “You heard Her Majesty over the comm—”
“Nope, nuh-uh. But none of the soldiers in the forces heard it. There are a lot of them who’re scared of witches. You gotta be aware that’s something they’ll always be afraid of.”
“Guh.”
Alice faltered with displeasure.
“……Yes, right. But Kissing and I still would be able to help face Mizerhyby. You don’t want unnecessary casualties in the forces, do you?”
“Of course not.” Mei’s grin deepened. “We’ll have you witches fight each other. But since we’ve gotta take into account all the soldiers on the field, I think I’ve gotta go with you to keep an eye on you. And you come, too, Isk. Plus one more… I want somebody in charge of communications, since I think it’s gonna be a pain in the tush.”
“Oh, then maybe I should go?” Nene, the girl with orange hair, pointed at herself. “Iska Big Bro, should I?”
“Wait, Nene. Say, Ms. Saint Disciple, I’ve got a question for you.”
As Nene had raised her hand, Jhin stopped her.
“The 907 unit just joined Special Division I. Who’s supposed to guard the Lord’s office? Aren’t you supposed to be one of the Lord’s guards, too?”
“I’ll leave it to you guys.” Mei pointed at Jhin and Commander Mismis. “You two are in charge of protecting the Lord’s office. Risya should be home soon, too.”
“What happened to the Saint Disciple of the second seat?”
“Oh, that one…”
Unusual for her, Mei sighed.
Mei was the Saint Disciple of the third seat. The first seat was Joheim, the traitor, but no one had seen the second seat anywhere. The Saint Disciple should have been somewhere in the Lord’s office.
“We can’t ask the second seat.” Mei seemed exasperated as she waved a hand. “That one hates witches more than I do. Threw a fit the moment we brought the witches to the Lord’s office. And you haven’t seen any other Saint Disciples here, right? That’s because the second seat’s been at HQ instead.”
“Which means that the boss and I are actually the only guards who’ll be here…?”
“We got a whole lotta problems right now, but you guys don’t have a problem with this, right? You won’t have a lot of people around, but the Lord’s office is filled with sensors and surveillance cameras. Anyway, let’s get ready to head out.”
Mei about-faced.
She turned her back to all of them.
“We got an emergency alert from Omen. They’re requesting urgent rescue. We haven’t got time to be scrupulous about prep work. The aircraft’s taking off in fourteen minutes.”
Elevation: 10 kilometers.
They had passed through the cloud barrier, leaving only droplets of precipitation on the windows as though they had just traveled through rain.
The white sea of clouds was right below them.
“Mother, that is all I have to report.”
Sisbell hesitantly exchanged a look with her mother, who sat in the seat next to her.
“I hesitate to say this myself, but I had a series of great adventures after going to Alsamira.”
“Yes, indeed. I’m shocked in two different ways.”
The queen put a hand to her temple.
Though they were sitting next to each other, the seats of the aircraft were spaced such that she and her daughter were an entire meter apart.
“I know that I did some reckless things when I was a teen, but they don’t compare to what you’ve done… But the Eight Great Apostles shocked me. I can’t believe that shadow leaders were in charge of the Empire in addition to the Lord. What true evil…”
“I’m certain it’s true. I saw it all using my Illumination power.”
“And you defeated the Eight Great Apostles?”
“Yes, Mother!”
Sisbell nodded firmly.
However, she had only fought Luclezeus. And even then, Sisbell had only helped the 907 unit, who had really been the ones to bring him down.
“And you vied with Lord Yunmelngen as an equal?”
“I am certain I did.”
Sisbell was brimming with confidence as she nodded again.
Though she had not “vied” with the Lord in any fight or negotiation. Instead, she had “vied” against the Lord in board games, but Sisbell had conveniently left this out of her report.
“The Lord was a formidable opponent. But I refused to withdraw one step, and reaped many rewards as a result of our skirmishes!”
“You did?!”
“Mother, I’ve done my duty as a princess.”
Those “rewards” she had reaped had come from winning those board games against the Lord.
First, she had asked to have more furniture in her room.
Next, she had asked for fruit with every meal.
And so on…
She hadn’t lied about anything, so it was all fine as long as her mother was happy.
……And I believe I’ve told her all the important points.
……There were five in total.
Those were the five pieces of information that Sisbell had reported on in the plane.
One, the Sovereignty’s true enemy was not the Empire but Elletear and the calamity.
Two, due to Elletear’s violence, Lord Mask and the best of the Zoa forces had been taken down.
Three, her sister Alice was still in the Empire and learning more about how to take down Elletear from the Lord.
Four, Lord Yunmelngen was an astral mage (or at least a type of one) and an old acquaintance of the Founder.
Five, if they didn’t defeat the calamity, the entire planet would be destroyed.
But by defeating the calamity, all astral mages would lose their astral powers.
Though Alice had already reported some of these things, the news was still gut-wrenching to the queen nonetheless.
Especially points four and five.
“You said that you were shocked in two ways…?” Sisbell asked.
The queen raised her head.
“First, that you went through such an ordeal. Second, by the fifth point that you shared with me.”
“Yes, Mother. I know that it’s difficult to believe…”
“But I do believe it.”
She realized that her mother was looking at her with clear, serious eyes.
“You were captured by the Hydra family, and ventured into the dangerous Empire, putting your life at risk for this information. I have no reason not to believe you.”
“Thank you…”
“Honestly, I wish there were two of me,” the queen muttered.
It was difficult to tell whether she was joking.
“If Schwartz agrees to take up the political duties in the Sovereignty, then I will go to stop Elletear myself.”
“Huh?! Oh, yes! Schwartz, I have something to ask you!”
Sisbell had forgotten she was wearing a seatbelt and wriggled in her seat to look at the elderly man sitting in the rear of the plane.
“To continue with what we were speaking about earlier, what happened after you were caught by the Hydra family? And how were you saved?!”
All she knew was what Iska had told her.
Schwartz was being held captive in Snow the Sun’s underground floor.
But Iska and his unit weren’t able to save him because they were too preoccupied with even escaping the facility.
She had no idea what had happened following that.
If the 907 unit hadn’t saved him, then had the queen’s rescue unit gotten to him?
“I am afraid to say…” In that moment, the elderly man exchanged a look with the queen that Sisbell didn’t understand right away. “…the one who released me from Snow and Sun was Salinger.”
“The sorcerer?!” Sisbell doubted her own ears.
She had never met him herself, but three decades ago, he had attacked the last queen, Nebulis VII, and had recently had a rampage at Orelgan’s prison spire. He was as bad as they come.
And that terrible person had helped someone else?
“Schwartz, do you know what his motive was for releasing you?”
“I’m sure it was on a whim. I can’t think of a clear motive for him to have helped me.”
Schwartz knitted his brows.
“But it seems he has a grudge against the Hydra.”
“Salinger, you…freed me from them…”
“Just to pester them. They got on my nerves a little. I’m sure losing their prisoner will cause them some trouble. “
But really?
She didn’t mean to doubt Schwartz, but if Salinger didn’t like the Hydra, he could have just destroyed Snow and Sun, too.
Would he have released their prisoner and taken Schwartz to a safe place just for that reason?
……It seems almost as if he really wanted to save Schwartz.
……It would make more sense to interpret his actions that way.
But in that case, her image of Salinger, the ruthless and villainous sorcerer, would change slightly.
“Mother…”
Sisbell turned again to her mother, who had been quiet the whole time.
“I do not know Salinger, but as I understand it, he is the man you fought thirty years ago and captured. So…well, is he a villain with a heart of gold? Would Salinger be the type to save Schwartz for that reason?”
“……I’m not sure,” her mother said after a long, extended pause.
When Sisbell looked at her mother from the side, she saw the queen was frightfully serious and had pressed her lips together as if she was brooding over something.
“The Salinger I know might do something so capricious. However, the Salinger who attacked the former queen would never even think of helping another person.”
“?”
What could that mean?
She was speaking almost as though there were two Salingers.
“I was cowardly, Sisbell.”
She looked out the window.
“You’ve witnessed many things at the risk of your life. You have experienced it all personally. In order to learn the truth, one must have courage in some cases. I think I ought to take a page from your book… I have a request once we reach the palace.”
“I know, Mother. You would like me to recreate the scene of the explosion that attempted to take your life using my astral powers so we may find the culprit!”
“No, there’s another part of the past I would like to see instead…”
“What would that be?”
“I will tell you once we reach the palace. Now, we’ve gone off topic quite a bit. I’ve also let my personal feelings come into this, but from here on, I will speak as the queen.”
She breathed out a sigh.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to Elletear or the Planetary Calamity. That is the conclusion I have come to. And now I see. An unprecedented threat is encroaching on the entire world. That explains why the Empire was willing to make concessions.”
The skirmish between the Empire and the Sovereignty was meaningless now.
If they couldn’t defeat the calamity, the entire world would be destroyed anyway.
“However, the future will be difficult…”
The queen leaned back deep into her seat.
“In the future that awaits after we defeat the calamity, all the astral mages will lose their powers… That would be as painful as prying off a bird’s wings. So we must decide whether we still have the resolve to defeat the calamity. I can’t immediately come up with an answer, either.”
“I believe I understand how you feel, Mother…”
Sisbell herself felt about the same as the queen.
There were two reasons for this.
To an astral mage, losing their astral powers was like losing a piece of themself.
In addition, if the Sovereignty lost all the astral powers and the Imperial forces attacked, the Sovereignty had no chances of survival. The queen couldn’t accept this as the leader of the Sovereignty.
“Sisbell, Alice knows this as well?”
“Why, of course.”
“And what did she say?”
“…”
Sisbell hadn’t discussed this with her sister directly, but she had seen it in her face. After Alice had spoken with the elder at the Astrals’ homeland, Alice had been just as pale as Sisbell had been.
“I think…that she’s grappling with the same worries.”
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