CHAPTER 3
Path to the Sun
1
Kamilish Hotel. Forty-first floor.
Five in the morning. A time before room service served breakfast.
Iska caught sight of a girl walking down the hall.
“Rin? You’re up early.”
“I woke up an hour ago. I’m used to it…and it seems you are, too. I was thinking of beating you awake if you’d fallen asleep while on watch.”
Iska was standing in front of the room on guard duty.
Rin sounded incredibly surly. “Time to swap.”
“…?”
“I’m saying I’ll trade with you. We have another strategy session at noon. Rest until then.”
“No, I’m fine. I trade with Jhin in two hours anyway.”
“The fate of Lady Sisbell is in your hands,” Rin whispered. She looked down the hall as she spoke in a low voice so that no one would hear in the off chance they were being monitored. “I genuinely feel this way after talking to Lady Alice yesterday. It doesn’t sit right with me, honestly, but just this once, I’ll support you no matter what.”
“Thanks, but we’ve been taking turns resting.”
“Go train or something,” Rin said, because she was a first-rate fighter. “It’s not keeping guard so much as standing in the hallway for two hours. I’ll take over, so devote yourself to making sure you’re in the best shape.”
“……”
“You can take care of your swords or examine your equipment. At any rate, I’m sure there’s something better for you to do than standing around.”
“…I get it already.” Iska was the first to surrender when she stared him down. “But I don’t get to call the shots. I’ll ask Commander Mismis.”
He turned around to leave when his exchange with Alice the day before flashed in his mind.
“Oh…”
“What? I’ll stand guard, so hurry off and get to your room.”
“About yesterday. I wanted to ask you something.”
It was about the strategy session with Alice, during which they’d discussed potential locations where Sisbell might be held captive. Iska was concerned about something else: Alice had revealed a secret to only him before her departure.
“I know it’s strange of me to ask, considering our positions…but did the queen really fight against that Joheim during the raid three days ago?”
“…What do you mean by ‘that’?” Rin’s voice contained hidden barbs.
“I take it that you’re the queen of Nebulis?”
“I’m Joheim. I’ll have you know that I’m the Saint Disciple of the first seat.”
“The queen said she fought someone by that name,” Rin told him.
“What did he look like? You saw him, right, Rin?”
“Obviously. He was a tall man with a thin, long sword. His hair was red, and he wore armor and a coat. It was different from the usual battle uniform, so it must be a special order.”
“…Then I guess it’s true.”
Joheim the Saint Disciple. In this era when guns and artillery were the primary form of battle, he was the only Saint Disciple who was a swordsman like Iska. Not that Iska had never fought against him.
“Hey, Iska. Answer me this: Are you trying to say that the queen was wrong? Or that the guy was someone other than Joheim?” Rin practically snapped at him.
Iska slowly shook his head. “That’s not what I mean.”
The Saint Disciple of the first seat had attacked the queen. Iska was surprised to hear Joheim had left his master’s side, but no one else could have brought her down.
“It had to be Joheim. I can’t give too many details, considering my position.”
“Then what’s your question?”
“It’s about how Elletear had been struck down.”
“What?!” Rin’s shoulders quivered. “…What are you trying to say? Lady Elletear tried to protect Her Majesty, which resulted in her sustaining considerable damage. Lady Alice and I both saw it.”
“And Joheim took her?”
“Correct. She was taken away by car, but no one knows whether she is alive—”
“That’s what’s suspicious.”
Alice’s older sister—the one who was beautiful in inimitable ways.
Iska had heard something about her, however. Just before Vichyssoise had taken Sisbell, the witch had declared that Elletear was behind everything.
“What concerns me is the fact that no one knows if she’s alive.”
“What? What about it? After a grave wound like that—”
“It has to be fatal. That’s why it’s so strange. If she was actually taken down by a Saint Disciple, no one would question her condition. Even I would be beyond hope if I was on the receiving end of his sword.”
“What?!”
“If she was taken by Joheim, that means he thought she was still alive. Except all serious attacks dealt by a Saint Disciple are fatal. He had to have missed on purpose.”
“…But it wasn’t fatal. Then you’re trying to say…” Rin knit her eyebrows together.
A dozen seconds of silence passed.
“You think Lady Elletear was acting?”
“She was one of the people who might have been behind this whole thing. We basically know she’s connected to the Hydra. Plus, she was expecting us, and she threatened Sisbell to get her to the villa.”
“…So you think she was acting out the part of a tragic princess by saving the queen?”
“And didn’t that tug on Alice’s heartstrings?”
Alice had suspected Elletear’s involvement in the scheme…but witnessing this tragedy had forced her to rewrite her version of the truth.
…What if that was part of her calculations?
…What if receiving the blow was her plan?
Alice and the queen had been deceived. Even her own family—her flesh and blood—couldn’t see through the princess’s devilish plot.
“There’s…no way. I refuse to believe Lady Elletear would purposefully do such a thing… You didn’t see all the blood.” Rin bit her lip. “The floor was red. I saw it. No one was acting or anything. It actually was—”
“Vichyssoise the witch.”
“What?”
“The assassin of the Hydra. The monster. She didn’t die even after being cut down by a sword. I know you saw that, too, Rin.”
“After feeling no resistance at the tip of his blade, Iska was the one who stopped.”
“It was like cutting through water—”
There were so many similarities between the witch that Iska couldn’t hurt and Elletear, who had been sliced through by a Saint Disciple’s sword.
“…Impossible.” Rin stood still in shock. The color quickly drained from her lips. “…Are you saying Lady Elletear…is like that monster…?”
“If she is, then she wouldn’t die from such an attack. It all adds up, huh? Especially because she’s still alive.”
Elletear had to know she wouldn’t die. In fact, if she were colluding with the Hydra, she might have known about the secret to becoming a witch.
“So basically, the Saint Disciple never would have hauled her off if she could have been dead. He must have known she was alive.”
“…B-but…”
“Elletear let herself be struck down so she could leave the palace. It all makes sense if you think of it that way. She wasn’t taken by the Imperial forces: She fled to the Empire voluntarily.”
“ ” Alice’s attendant didn’t offer anything in response.
“Just to be clear, we don’t care about Elletear or what she is.”
There was a very small possibility that Unit 907 would run into Elletear in the Empire.
“I have no idea what she’s thinking. I’m not going to look into whether she was a spy for the Empire, and I can’t tell you even if she was one. The only thing we’re working together on is saving Sisbell, and that’s it.”
“…I understand.” Rin finally nodded. “All we need is for you to save her. Lady Elletear will be dealt with by the House of Lou.”
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