CHAPTER 1
Dawning the Night of the Witch Hunt—The Morning After
1
Dawn was starting to break on the night that seemed endless.
It had felt eternal. They gulped, intently watching the seconds tick on the clock, shivering against the chilling winds of night—
That was how Iska and his unit spent the night of the witch hunt.
The Paradise of Witches, the Nebulis Sovereignty. Central state.
They were in a forest on the outskirts of the city.
“This was as much of a mess as I’d expected. The press and armed police have swarmed the royal palace. Not that we would ever step foot near it.”
The silver-haired sniper, Jhin, clutched a piece of paper. A newspaper extra, handed out at the station. It contained a report on the happenings in the palace, which matched the predictions of Unit 907.
First, the Imperial forces had invaded the royal palace overnight.
Second, the queen had been critically injured in a battle with a Saint Disciple and was currently undergoing emergency surgery.
Third, several members of the royal family had gone missing. Had the Empire taken them?
Each new detail in the report brought attention to something that had never happened before. That included the Imperial forces’ invasion of the palace and the capture of the Founder’s descendants, the purebreds.
“I knew everything would be pinned on the Imperial forces…,” Iska said bitterly as he held the same newspaper supplement as Jhin.
As reported in the article, it was true Imperial forces had attacked the palace. There was something else, however, that Iska knew hadn’t been reported accurately.
“There were two people behind the coup. That was Elletear and you—the one who invited the Imperial forces here.”
The raid had been abetted by the Hydra, one of the royal families in the Nebulis Sovereignty. The Hydra’s plan to assassinate the queen…shared a common goal with the Empire’s plot to invade the nation.
…In any other circumstance, an invasion by the Imperial forces would have been great news for our unit.
…The Sovereignty is our adversary. It would mean we’d successfully invaded an enemy nation.
Except Unit 907 had agreed to protect Princess Sisbell. The people of the Sovereignty believed that even Sisbell’s kidnapping—orchestrated by the head of the Hydra—was the Empire’s doing.
…A groundless accusation! Not a single citizen of the Sovereignty had realized that the Hydra, royalty in flesh and blood, were after the lives of the queen and princess.
“Iska.” Commander Mismis, who had been peering into the woods, turned around. “All we can hope is that they’ll tell us once they know where Sisbell is, right?”
“Yes. We just have to believe them,” Iska answered.
Sisbell hadn’t been abducted by the Imperial forces, but by the Hydra—by fellow members of the royal family. Unit 907 knew that, as well as…
“You were right…until the very end. I was the one tricked…”
“I’ll go after the House of Hydra. There might be proof…”
…Princess Aliceliese.
The night before, Iska and Alice had tried to engage in another death match. Currently, Iska imagined she was going after the Hydra to find her younger sister’s whereabouts.
“How’s it going over there, Nene?”
“Hmm… Foot traffic is higher, since the day is breaking. I bet some soldiers from Hydra are lurking in the crowds. I imagine they’re waiting for us to arrive.” Nene was standing next to Commander Mismis and holding a pair of binoculars.
They couldn’t be careless or be spotted in the woods. They were certain the Hydra had sent assassins as far as the roads of the countryside.
“Iska, should we keep lying low here?” Nene asked.
“For the time being. But we can’t stay in the woods forever. I think it’d be better for us to move somewhere else to wait…but I’m interested in hearing what you all think.” Iska directed his question at the five girls who had been motionless and quiet during this conversation.
Servants from the Lou family villa. Yumilecia, Ashe, Noel, Sistia, and Nami. The five girls had been pursued by mercenaries from the Hydra. Their eyes were glued to the newspaper, blazing with unbridled rage.
“The headline…,” whispered the eldest of them, Yumilecia, voice shaking.
She balled up the thin paper.
“Is a New Queen in Order?…Tell me you’re joking. Lady Sisbell’s kidnappers have gone too far!”
A news organization only in name. This article had been published by a company colluding with the Hydra, financially speaking.
In other words, it was a coup.
They were attempting to rush the conclave and the selection of a new queen by pinning the Imperial raid on the royal family currently in charge. The five girls could see through Talisman’s scheme just by reading the article.
“I don’t blame you for being upset,” Jhin said, growing impatient. “But we don’t care what happens to the Sovereignty and its administration. We only promised to get back Sisbell. So, where can we hide for the time being?”
“…We should return to the villa,” Yumilecia responded for the five servants. “Like you said, we have no provisions in the woods—no food, no water. And though I am loath to admit it, we need time to rest and recuperate…”
“We can’t go back there.” Jhin shook his head. “It was demolished by that witch—Vichyssoise—and her astral powers. People are going to be all over the grounds, trying to figure out what happened. I think it’s safe to assume the soldiers from the Hydra will be among them. If they see us, they’ll claim we’re stragglers and capture us.”
“No, not the villa. We want to go to the safe house behind it.” Yumilecia was undaunted. “There’s a large forest behind the estate, an area also owned by the Lou. It has a storehouse filled with provisions. We can spend several days there in safety.”
“…Are you sure?” asked Commander Mismis, the leader of their unit, in place of Jhin. “But isn’t that…?”
“Yes. An evacuation site in case we go to war with the Empire. But we need your help. So we’ve reached the decision to lead you there out of necessity.” Yumilecia turned around.
The four servants behind her stood up simultaneously as though waiting for her cue.
“You promised you would prioritize recovering Lady Sisbell above all else. If you betray us—”
“You can have my life,” Iska finished for them.
The servants stared at him with a look that could have been mistaken for animosity. Iska didn’t flinch and answered without hesitation, “We wouldn’t stay in the Sovereignty if we weren’t prepared to put everything on the line to save her. I mean, we could have met up with the Imperial forces to escape with them the other night if we wanted to.”
“……”
“Am I wrong?”
“I suppose you have a point. The fact that you’ve stayed with us is enough to show us that you intend to save Lady Sisbell.” Yumilecia’s lips formed a tiny smile. “We’ll lead you to the safe house. Follow us.”
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