Rokka no Yuusha - Volume 5 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 
Saints and Hieroglyphs 

While running through the forest, Adlet had a sudden thought. 
Why is Fremy so important to me? 
It was the eighteenth day since the Evil God’s awakening, and the sun had already begun to set. Adlet was running through the forest that covered the central-northern region of the Howling Vilelands. Behind him were Hans, Goldof, Rolonia, and Fremy. They were headed for an area called the Fainting Mountains. Dozzu and Nashetania had told them the place would hold important clues that could turn the tides of their battle. 
In those mountains was a temple in worship of the Spirit of Fate, constructed by Tgurneu in the utmost secrecy. They had heard that there, Tgurneu had created a secret weapon called the Black Barrenbloom to kill the Braves of the Six Flowers. The Braves’s current goal was to ascertain if that information was true and, if the Black Barrenbloom really did exist, to uncover its true nature. 
About half an hour earlier, the party had slain specialist number nine, the fiend blocking the road to the temple. Mora, Chamo, Dozzu, and Nashetania were beyond the forest already, waiting for the rest of them. 
Lying here and there around the forest were the bodies of the Dead Host. Some were former residents of Adlet’s home village. But he didn’t have the time to hold memorials for them or to mourn their deaths. 
“Adlet, you’re veering off course,” Fremy called to him from behind, but he didn’t react and just kept running straight forward. “Adlet,” she called a second time, and he finally snapped out of it. “Are you listening? I just said you’re veering off course.” 
He compared his mental map to the terrain and realized he was a little off the route toward their meeting point. He altered his course and continued running. 
“What’s wrong? You’re acting weird,” said Fremy. 
Adlet shook his head a little to tell her it was nothing. 
She was right—he wasn’t calm. Not long earlier, all the people from his village had died, including his friend Rainer. On the nightmarish day the people of Adlet’s village were abducted, Rainer had saved his life. Adlet had been timid as a child, and he had admired Rainer. Even after Rainer had been transformed into one of the Dead Host, he had continued to survive, fighting to pass on information to the Braves of the Six Flowers. 
That friend had died in Adlet’s arms. If he had only been a little faster, he might have been able to save him. 
“Fremy, please just leave him be right now. He’s had a painful experience,” said Rolonia. 
Goldof cut in. “More importantly…explain…what happened.” 
“Meow ,” replied Hans. “Once we’ve met up with Mora and the others.” 
But Adlet was troubled by more than just his friend’s death. The information Rainer had passed along was torturing him. The last thing Rainer had told them was the identity of the Black Barrenbloom, the hieroform Tgurneu had created. “The Black Barrenbloom is a hieroform in the shape of a human. A girl with white hair and a horn on her forehead. A girl with frighteningly cold eyes.” 
Adlet knew only one girl who fit that description. 
It wasn’t necessarily established that Rainer’s information was correct, and neither was there any proof that the person Rainer had described was Fremy. There could be another girl with cold eyes and a horn on her forehead. But there was no way Rainer could have been lying, and considering the situation, Adlet couldn’t imagine that the Black Barrenbloom could be anyone else but Fremy. 
If she was the Black Barrenbloom, and they had to kill her in order to save the world…then Adlet would have to do it. He was a Brave of the Six Flowers. The fate of the world rested on his shoulders. But that was too agonizing for him to bear—painful enough to rip him apart. He’d rather abandon his destiny to save the world than let Fremy die. 
If he had been the Black Barrenbloom, he wouldn’t have hesitated to kill himself for everyone’s sake. If any other ally had been the Black Barrenbloom, he would’ve been distressed, for sure, yet it wouldn’t have hurt this much. But it was different with Fremy. She had been special to him ever since they’d first met. 
Thinking about it, he didn’t have many pleasant memories with her. She’d saved his life, but she’d also taken aim at him more than a few times. When he had expressed his attraction to her, she had treated him coldly. When he worried about her, she’d rejected him in irritation. More than once, she’d told him flat-out that she hated him. 
He wouldn’t say it like Hans, but there were other women out there. Rolonia was a friend. It wasn’t like Adlet hadn’t gotten to know any women during his training or on his travels. But he couldn’t compare them to Fremy. 
Adlet prayed in his heart that she would not be the Black Barrenbloom, but his gut was telling him that his wish would not come true. 
“Meow , they’re gettin’ started straight outta the gate,” said Hans. They could hear the fiends screeching just beyond the forest. A fight had broken out where they were supposed to meet Mora’s party. 
The road leading to the temple had been blocked by specialist number nine’s Dead Host. But now, since that particular threat was gone, the fiends in the area must have gathered to stop the Braves, as well as Dozzu and Nashetania. The bulk of the military forces under Tgurneu’s command were unquestionably coming their way, too. Adlet expected those forces would arrive late into the night, but he wasn’t sure what would happen. It was clear that if the Braves dawdled, they’d be surrounded and killed. 
They had to hurry. They couldn’t ever stop moving, no matter what lay ahead. 
“It looks like we’ll be fighting all night,” Fremy said, drawing her gun. She blasted the head of a fiend that caught her eye. Hans and Goldof both drew their weapons as well and went to help Mora’s group. 
The nine of them defeated the fifteen-odd fiends in the blink of an eye and immediately set off running again. There was no time to celebrate the safety of their comrades. 
“You were late. What were you doing?” Mora asked as they ran. They were supposed to have met up immediately after specialist number nine’s defeat. 
“Obviously, that moo-head was being a drag. Chamo’s gonna give you a whacking, Rolonia. Come over here,” complained Chamo. Rolonia yelped; Fremy, Goldof, Dozzu, and Nashetania all shot them questioning looks. 
I guess I’ve got to explain , thought Adlet. But that was exactly what had been troubling him. Should he tell the others what Rainer had said? He really wanted to avoid hiding information as much as possible. It would invite unnecessary confusion and make the Braves suspicious of one another. But if he did tell the others, they might even kill Fremy on the spot. 
While Adlet was busy deliberating, Hans abruptly cut in. “Meow-hee-hee-hee-hee! It was a real shock! Adlet suddenly threw his arms ’round Fremy, meeeow! ” 
“Huh?” Mora made an uncharacteristically foolish-sounding reply. 
“And then he tried to drag her behind some nearby bushes! Rolonia and me tried to stop ’im, but he wasn’t listenin’ to us. He even started strippin’ down! I was so appalled, I couldn’t say a peep.” 
“Hey,” said Adlet. “Stop making stuff up.” 
Mora’s mouth hung open, aghast. Fremy shot Hans an irritated glare. 
“Huh? Why would he take off his clothes? Was he hurt?” Only Chamo seemed puzzled by the conversation. 
“Could we please have a serious discussion?” said Dozzu. 
Hans shrugged and then glanced over at Adlet as if to say You talk. 
Adlet understood what Hans was up to—he meant to hide the information and see how Fremy would act. Adlet was thinking the same thing. 
There was one other problem, beyond the question of whether Fremy was the Black Barrenbloom or not: How much did Fremy herself know? Was she herself unaware that she was the Black Barrenbloom? Or was she hiding what she really was? If Fremy knew and was keeping the truth from them, then she was entirely their enemy. 
But if she didn’t, the situation was different. That would mean Tgurneu was using her, that it had induced her to accompany the Braves of the Six Flowers without alerting her to her true identity. If so, then Fremy would help them stop the Black Barrenbloom. 
Adlet would hide part of the information for the time being, and then he’d probe for a reaction from Fremy. He’d mustered his resolve. “Yeah, I’ll tell you what happened.” As they ran, Adlet told the others what had occurred in the forest, casually observing Fremy’s expression the entire time. 
Adlet briefly explained that one among the Dead Host had been alive and aware of the Black Barrenbloom, and the survivor had been his friend. He also told them about the function of Tgurneu’s weapon as it had been detailed to him. 
But there was just one thing Adlet didn’t tell the others: Rainer’s final revelation that the Black Barrenbloom was a hieroform in the shape of a human girl with white hair and a horn on her forehead. 
“Rainer…that man in the Dead Host…was trying to tell us something else, but he couldn’t talk anymore. Rolonia was doing everything she could to heal him, too. But…” Adlet trailed off and shook his head. Still running, the others fell silent. 
“I wish I could tell you not to be disheartened…but I can’t. It must be painful for you, Adlet, but please, bear with it,” Mora consoled him. 
“I’ll express my respect for that brave young man,” Nashetania said. The allies stopped, and Nashetania put her hand to her chest. Goldof followed suit. Dozzu stood on its hind legs and lifted a front paw lightly to give its condolences. Chamo was looking down with the expression of one who didn’t know what to say. 
Fremy was looking at Adlet as if there was something on her mind. 
“What is it, Fremy?” he asked. 
“…I’m sorry. I wasn’t taught what you should say when someone dies.” 
“Oh. Don’t worry about it,” Adlet said, watching her expression. Was she concerned for him or was she thinking about something else? He couldn’t tell. 
Hans was watching Fremy, too, out of the corner of his eye. Had he managed to pick up on anything? 
“Anyway,” said Adlet, “what’s important is the Barrenbloom. We have to make the best of the information Rainer gave us, or he won’t be able to rest in peace.” 
The others nodded in response, and they took off again. 
“To steal the power of fate… Is it even possible for such a hieroform to exist? I can’t believe it,” said Mora, face pale. 
Adlet asked her, “What makes it so hard to believe?” 
“Two things. First, I’ve never heard of any method to steal power from a hieroform. The only person who can control the power of a Spirit is the one who acts as a vessel for it. You might lend someone your power by creating a hieroform, but to steal a Saint’s powers…” 
“It must be possible—for Tgurneu,” Dozzu said, cutting off Mora’s explanation. The fiend commander’s tone didn’t suggest the claim was an unconfirmed prediction. Dozzu seemed certain that Tgurneu had succeeded. 
“How can you tell? How can you know?” prodded Adlet. Dozzu clearly knew more than Mora, master of the techniques of Saints at All Heavens Temple. 
“It’s because of Hayuha,” Dozzu replied. “That’s all I can tell you right now.” 
That’s strange , thought Adlet. It was true that Dozzu had been able to investigate the events of the past with Hayuha’s help. But what they’d been investigating was the true nature of the Evil God. So how did it know about the powers of Saints, too? Besides, the Saint of the Single Flower had told all she knew to the elder of All Heavens Temple. Even if Dozzu had seen the past, it wouldn’t have learned anything that Mora didn’t already know. Did this mean that the Saint of the Single Flower hadn’t told All Heavens Temple everything? And if so, then why? 
But the issue at hand right then was the Black Barrenbloom and Fremy. 
“Adlet, Rolonia, Hans, was that all this man from the Dead Host told you?” asked Dozzu. 
“Yeah, that’s all.” 
“But what is the Black Barrenbloom made of? That’s the most important thing. Is it in the form of a gem? A book inscribed with hieroglyphs? A barrier? A crest? A flower…?” Dozzu speculated. 
“Rainer must have died before he could tell us.” 
“Frustrating. I should have trusted what Rolonia told us before. This was a failure on my part—I was present as well.” 
“This wasn’t your screwup. I didn’t believe most of what Rolonia was saying, either,” said Adlet. Dozzu didn’t seem suspicious of him. Apparently, they hadn’t realized he was hiding something. 
“Can we be sure of that information?” asked Fremy. 
Hans replied, “At the very least, I seriously doubt this was just some bluff of Tgurneu’s. We only found that feller ’cause of a series of coincidences. If it was a bluff, Tgurneu would’ve left the informeowtion somewhere easier to find.” 
Rolonia added, “P-plus, um, he didn’t seem like…the kind of person who would side with Tgurneu.” 
Her tone indifferent, Fremy replied, “But there is the possibility that his information was mistaken to begin with. Tgurneu has lied to me and other fiends to hide what it’s really thinking. Tgurneu may have deceived your man from the Dead Host.” 
“Meowbe so,” said Hans. Adlet was also taking that possibility into account. 
“How did the man learn all this?” Fremy asked. “He didn’t tell you, did he?” 
“Meow , he croaked before he could. If we’d found ’im a bit earlier, we’d have made it in time, though.” 
“…This is so frustrating, seriously.” Fremy seemed to be considering something. From the look on her face, she appeared sincerely disappointed that they hadn’t gotten ahold of that intelligence. She wasn’t very expressive, but she couldn’t completely hide her feelings all the time. 
“But we can’t do anything with this information alone. We must go to the Temple of Fate, after all,” said Dozzu. 
“Of course. Let’s hurry,” said Fremy. 
She wasn’t acting strangely at all. She just seemed desperate to gather whatever shreds of intel they could find about the Black Barrenbloom. 
“Why’re you just standing there, Auntie?” Chamo said suddenly. 
Mora had been probing the area with her power of clairvoyance, and she seemed confused. 
“You can use a technique to search for hieroforms, can’t you, Auntie?” asked Chamo. “Use that to find the Black Barrenbloom.” 
“O-oh, yes. Pardon me.” 
“Don’t go senile on me. Come on.” 
Flustered, Mora intoned the holy words. Her eyes sparkled faintly. Then she meticulously examined the members of their group and the area around them. 
“He said the Black Barrenbloom can’t operate unless it’s near the Braves of the Six Flowers. So does that mean the seventh has it?” speculated Nashetania. 
Chamo added on to that. “Chamo figures the seventh’s job is to hold on to the Black Barrenbloom and come to us. As long as they have the Black Barrenbloom, they won’t even have to do anything, and the crests disappear, and we all die…” 
“Aside from me,” said Fremy. 
That was when Adlet noticed the youngest Saint had gone pale. “Are you okay, Chamo?” 
“…It’s scary now. If the enemy just came straight to attack us, it’d lose for sure. But, like, a gem in your stomach, or a hieroform that erases the crests…Chamo’s powers can’t do anything against that.” 
“Calm down, Chamo,” said Adlet. 
“Chamo’s fine, totally fine!” Chamo gave her cheeks a few slaps. She was clearly frightened. “So, Auntie? You still can’t find it?” 
“The only hieroform traces I can see now are the eight Crests of the Six Flowers. There’s nothing else right here with us, nearby, or on the path we’ve walked.” 
“So does that mean the Black Barrenbloom isn’t here? Then maybe it’s still fine.” Chamo tilted her head. 
After her, Adlet added, “If I remember right, you can’t find a hieroform if it’s not being used.” 
“That’s right,” Mora replied. “I can only see traces if they are being used right this moment, or if they were used here in the past.” 
“Maybe they freaked out about the power of the Black Barrenbloom getting discovered and stopped using it,” Chamo suggested. 
“Most likely, Tgurneu is aware of the techniques that can be used to discover hieroforms. He must have done something to counteract that,” said Dozzu. 
The fiend was right—Adlet couldn’t imagine Tgurneu’s ultimate weapon could be discovered with just one technique. He asked, “Mora, is there a way to make it so that those traces can’t be found?” 
“I couldn’t say such a method doesn’t exist. Various criminals have attempted to do so in the past. A few may have succeeded. But without knowing what the Black Barrenbloom’s vessel is…” Mora sighed. 
Adlet recalled what had happened the day before. When he had been searching for Goldof, Mora had loaned him her power to search for hieroforms. Adlet had looked at Fremy then and seen nothing strange. Was she not the Black Barrenbloom? Or had she just not activated her power yet? Or would he be unable to see her power, even if it was activated? At this point, Adlet didn’t know. 
“In any case, Mora, please keep your technique for detecting hieroforms activated at all times from now on. I can’t say for sure, but it should prove somewhat effective in preventing it from being used.” 
“All right. It’s simple enough to use that and my clairvoyance simultaneously. Leave it to me.” Mora nodded and continued running. 
“Rolonia,” Fremy addressed the timid Saint, a tinge of kindness in her cold voice. “You did well. Thank you. We wouldn’t have learned this information without you.” 
“Th-thank you. I’m flattered by the compliment.” Rolonia smiled awkwardly. 
Adlet wondered—if Fremy was aware she was the Black Barrenbloom, would she say something like that? She would have shown some sign of relief, even just a small one, that the most vital piece of information hadn’t been disclosed. But she wasn’t acting any different than usual. She must not have known what she really was, after all—or at the very least, it looked that way to him. 
That was when Mora said, “About thirty fiends pursue us, and more fiends lie in wait on the fringe of the mountains.” 
Adlet clicked his tongue. They hadn’t been attacked for a while, but it seemed the fiends were finally ready to fend off the Braves of the Six Flowers. 
“Neow plan needed. Kill ’em all,” said Hans, and then he nimbly flipped around to attack a fiend behind him. The battle had begun. 
About two hours later, they’d slogged through battle after battle. Fiends threw away their lives to slow their group down. They would rush in, then withdraw, and when the Braves tried to move on again, the fiends would recommence the attack. Each time, Adlet’s party chipped away at the enemy’s numbers while pressing ever forward. 
At the front of their formation were Goldof and Rolonia. Even though Adlet knew they were allies, it was an eerie picture seeing Goldof expressionlessly scattering their enemies and Rolonia muttering vulgarities as she fought. 
“Fremy, watch out!” Adlet cried from the back of the line. A snake was about to attack her from behind while she was busy shooting down enemies. Adlet darted in from the fiend’s flank to sever its neck. It kept squirming, even when sliced in two, so Adlet stilled it with the stab of a paralysis needle. 
“Thanks.” 
“I’ve got your back.” He stuck right behind her with his eyes alert to their surroundings. There were a lot of fiends in pursuit, but he held them back with his throwing needles and sword. 
While fighting , Adlet thought. A regular warrior would have had difficulty paying attention to his surroundings and wielding his sword at the same time, but Adlet had trained to the point where he could pull it off. Besides, their entire journey thus far had been a continuous string of situations just like these. He was quite used to it. 
It really was hard for him to believe that Fremy was aware she was the Black Barrenbloom. Back in the Phantasmal Barrier, she’d saved his life, and she’d helped him unmask Nashetania, too. And she had contributed to the Six Braves’ efforts since entering the Howling Vilelands as well. When they’d fled Tgurneu, she had taken on the role of rear guard, and in the Cut-Finger Forest, she’d taken the lead and scouted for enemies. The one to snipe specialist number nine had been Fremy. She hadn’t caused any trouble for the group like Mora, Goldof, and Rolonia had. 
But none of this proved that Fremy didn’t know the truth of her identity. In the Phantasmal Barrier, she’d simply prioritized the discovery of the other seventh. And you could interpret her behavior in the Howling Vilelands as simple attempts to avoid suspicion. 
But what really didn’t fit was what had happened before they’d entered the Phantasmal Barrier, when Fremy and Adlet had first met. She’d refused to meet up with the other Braves, saying that if she was to encounter them, she’d be killed. Adlet had forced her into accompanying them. If Fremy was the Black Barrenbloom and her plan was to kill the others, then her behavior wouldn’t make sense, since the Black Barrenbloom couldn’t exercise its power unless it was close to the Six Braves. What would Fremy have planned to do if Adlet hadn’t stopped her? 
Thinking about these things, Adlet was forced to believe that Fremy didn’t know what she really was, after all. 
“Adlet,” said Fremy, “it looks like there’s something on your mind, but we’ll be in trouble if you don’t focus on the fight.” 
“Don’t worry. I can fight and think at the same time. I’m the strongest man in the world.” 
“You must be very skilled. And overconfident, as usual.” Fremy sighed. “Try not to do too much of that—we’ll be in trouble if you slip up and get yourself hurt.” 
“Everyone, the path is becoming steeper. Kindle your lights,” Mora said to the group. The sun had now set. They’d been making their way along by the faint glow of the setting sun, but it seemed that was as far as it went. Adlet touched the light stone in one of his waist pouches and recited the incantation he’d been taught. He made the light as dim as possible in an attempt to lessen the chances of discovery, even a little bit. 
The darkness didn’t affect the fiends. The one that looked to be their commanding officer cried out, and enemies charged in from ahead to attack them, all at once. 
“I’m breaking through!” Goldof said, assaulting the mob solo. He made full use of his armor and his heavy build to weather the hits as he routed the fiends. 
As they fought, Adlet continued to think. If it was true that Fremy didn’t know about herself, that would hurt Adlet even more. If Fremy was totally their enemy, he probably would be able to kill her. He would be able to forget his memories of her and the way they’d come to understand each other just a little bit. It would be like forgetting a dream. But if Fremy was an ally who’d fought by his side, and if everything she’d said so far was true… 
“…Damn it.” He couldn’t kill her. He just couldn’t, even if that meant betraying the whole world, even if it brought about his own death, even if he understood it would stop him from fulfilling the revenge he had devoted his whole life to. 
Why? Adlet asked himself. 
Fremy had weighed on his mind ever since their first meeting. When he’d seen her holding that puppy, she’d captured his heart. She’d seemed terribly wounded then, as if she was suffering far more than the animal in her arms. Adlet’s love had begun not with fluttering of his heart, but with pain. 
After that, in the Phantasmal Barrier, she’d told him about her past, how she had loyally served Tgurneu and her mother, how she had assassinated warriors who were candidates for Braves, and how after she’d lost to Chamo, Tgurneu had decided she’d served her purpose and discarded her. 
When Adlet had run from the other Braves, Fremy had told him the reasons she wanted revenge. She hated Tgurneu, her mother, and their allies not because of their abandonment or attempts to kill her. She hated them because they’d used her love. Because they’d been deceiving her with false love. 
“What I cannot forgive is not that they tried to kill me. It’s that they pretended to love me.” 
Adlet would never forget the expression on her face when she’d said that. 
Fremy lived a life supported purely by hatred, engulfed entirely by the loneliness of having lost her home. Her eyes reflected only despair. Adlet could understand her pain so well it hurt—because he’d been just like her. He’d been that lone killer with no reasons left to live aside from revenge. 
But he believed the real Fremy wasn’t just about despair and revenge. The hands that had embraced that puppy, the wounded fingers that had saved Adlet, these things had shown him who she really was. She was good and kind by nature. He could discern that. 
Adlet wanted to see her inner truth, the real person who was buried and hidden under despair and hatred, the person whom she herself believed was long dead. He wanted to free her. He knew it was love, and it was also his dream. His dream now was to give her a happy life. 
But that dream, too, might soon be crushed if it became clear that Fremy was the Black Barrenbloom, and there was no way to save the world without killing her. 
That was when Mora cried out, “I’ve found the Temple of Fate!” She was in the center of their line, using her power of clairvoyance. Her power’s range of effect was only the mountain she herself stood on. “The temple is halfway up the mountain. Brace yourselves, everyone! Just a little farther!” The others nodded and sped up the pace of their climb. 
“What’s going on with the fiends?” 
“I’m investigating that as we speak,” said Mora. “It seems…there’s none inside the temple. All the fiends have come out to fight us. Once we eliminate those nearby, there should be no others to obstruct our path.” 
Adlet looked up at the sky. The night was still young. They had some time until the bulk of the forces under Tgurneu’s command arrived. They could investigate inside. 
“Meow , Goldof and Chamo, y’all guard Mora. The rest of us’ll finish off the remainder of the fiends,” said Hans, and the group, which had been fighting in tight formation thus far, dispersed all at once. “You ain’t gotta fight, Mora. Investigate inside the temple and keep an eye out for any hieroforms goin’ off, too.” Mora nodded and focused on her clairvoyance and power to detect hieroforms. 
Adlet was firing his poison needles into the remaining fiends when Hans caught up to him from behind. He must want to talk about something , he thought. That was convenient. Adlet had some things to discuss with him, too. 
Hans had heard what Rainer had actually said at the end. They had to decide what to do about Fremy. 
“What’s it look like to you?” Hans asked so quietly, he was barely even audible. If he spoke any louder, Mora’s clairvoyance could pick it up. 
“Fremy hasn’t done anything that seems off. Considering all that’s happened so far, I think she doesn’t know she’s the Black Barrenbloom,” Adlet replied with confidence. 
But Hans eyed Adlet coldly. He was usually so easygoing, and he’d never shown Adlet a look like this before. “Meow , this is the first time.” 
“…The first time what?” 
“That I’ve been disappointed in ya.” 
That remark was a real shock to Adlet. He had been mocked and teased more times than he could count, but what Hans had just said meant something different. 
“Fremy has been worryin’ over somethin’ ever since we got onto this temple path,” said Hans. “And she’s tryin’ not to show it. Yer so blind, ya couldn’t even see that?” 
“So what do you think she’s worrying about?” 
“I don’t neow.” Hans sighed. “I thought ya were pretty good…but it turns out yer really just a kid.” As an assassin, Hans had contended with many different targets, as well as clients. By comparison, Adlet had spent just about half of his life in the mountains with Atreau. The difference in their experience and eye for people was evident. 
But Adlet was certain he and Fremy had a connection, however small. That was something Hans lacked. No matter what the other man said, Adlet wasn’t going to doubt Fremy. 
“I know fer sure she’s worryin’,” said Hans. “But I can’t say with confidence she’s the enemy. We should watch and see a li’l meowr.” 
Adlet agreed. What did the Temple of Fate hold? They could still wait until they found the answer before they revealed the secret. 
The others would get suspicious if they spent too much time talking, so Adlet figured he’d leave. But then Hans said quietly, “I’ll just tell ya one thing—and I’ll tell Rolonia after, since I can’t talk to her neow.” 
Adlet glanced over at Rolonia, who was spewing curses and insults ahead of them. It would indeed be difficult to talk to her right then. 
“Once we neow fer sure Fremy is the Black Barrenbloom, I’m goin’ to kill ’er,” said Hans. 
Adlet suppressed his distress as he objected, “And if she doesn’t kn—?” 
“It might be that she don’t neow she’s the Black Barrenbloom. But I’ll kill ’er anyway.” Hans anticipated what Adlet was about to say. “Don’t you stop me, Adlet.” And as if to assert that they had nothing more to talk about, Hans walked away. 
As Adlet watched him go, his own resolve silently grew stronger. 
If Fremy knew she was the Black Barrenbloom and had been lying all along, then he would kill her. He agreed with Hans on that point. But if she didn’t know, if she was just being used, then he would protect her. He swore he’d find a way to prevent her from killing the others without letting her die. 
This was probably dangerous. They all could die. But Adlet was resigned to the fact that he couldn’t choose any other path. Hans’s ruthless statement had only ended up fueling the young man’s new determination. 
There had to be a way to keep her safe. Once they got to the Temple of Fate, they might find a way to block the power of the Black Barrenbloom or prevent the power of fate from being absorbed. Then they wouldn’t have to kill Fremy. 
They had alternatives. Rainer had said so, right? He’d said the Black Barrenbloom wouldn’t be effective unless it was close to them. In other words, he just had to send Fremy off on her own. Leaving her alone would make him worry, but she was a fighter. It shouldn’t be hard for her to survive. It would hurt them to lose the manpower, but they could also have her act as a decoy or play a diversion. It shouldn’t pose a huge problem. They might find some other way to keep her safe. 
It’s my dream to make Fremy happy. She’s the most important person in the world to me, and I’ve still never seen her smile. I can’t take it. 
“I am…the strongest man in the world,” Adlet muttered. There was no way he couldn’t realize his dream of making one woman happy. 
It was just a few hundred more yards until they reached the temple. There were no more fiends pursuing them. Rolonia, in the lead, was rushing straight there, her route directed by Mora. 
That was when Mora used her power of mountain echo to call out to Adlet. “This is odd, Adlet.” He listened closely to her voice. “The fiends are behaving differently now. Some have retreated from us to hide.” 
That’s odd , thought Adlet. In their fights so far, all the fiends had come charging straight toward them. Before, it had seemed like the fiends’ goal was to slow them down. It was rather unexpected for some to be fleeing. 
“Your thoughts? Give me your directions ,” said Mora. 
“I can only imagine they’re setting up a trap. They might be planning to interfere with our investigation once we’ve gotten to the temple. Kill them all. We can go into the temple after. Figure out where they’re hiding and tell the group.” 
Mora gave the party directions with her mountain echo, and everyone went their different ways to slaughter the rest of the fiends. 
Adlet crossed swords with one, too. It was different from the others, who had naively charged straight at him. It retreated as the boy attacked it. It seemed as if it was acting under the orders of an especially intelligent one of its kind. When Adlet threw a paralysis needle to stop the enemy from moving, he heard a gunshot from behind. A bullet smashed the fiend’s head. 
“Oh, if you’re trying to help me out, I don’t need it,” Adlet said without turning to look back. He hadn’t even noticed Fremy approach him. She must want something , he thought. 
“Does the Dead Host still bother you?” she asked. 
“No. I don’t have the time to think about it. I have to move on—for Rainer’s sake, too.” 
“Oh? That’s good to hear.” Fremy cut straight to the point. “What has been bothering you, then?” 
Mora’s voice came to inform them that another fiend was nearby. As the pair headed over to it, Adlet feigned nonchalance and replied, “Obviously, there’s a lot of things on my mind. Like, what’s the Black Barrenbloom made of? Where is it? Who’s the seventh? What do we do once we get to the temple? That stuff.” 
“I’m asking because it seems like there’s more to it than that.” Fremy fired off a bullet to hobble a fiend. 
“Well, yeah, of course. I’m thinking about how I can make you happy.” 
“You must really not have anything better to do,” Fremy said coldly. 
“I’m thinking about it all the time. Ever since we first met.” 
“You should be focusing on other things. You don’t have to rack your brain to understand what would make me happy.” 
“And what’s that?” 
“To carry out my revenge and die quietly. That is the only thing that will make me happy.” 
Adlet fell silent. The two continued their search under Mora’s direction. “I don’t think it has to be.” 
“What makes me happy is not for you to decide,” Fremy said, rejecting him coldly and bluntly. “We don’t have time for you to be concerned with this. It doesn’t matter. Focus on the fight.” 
It does matter , thought Adlet. Because this is about you. “Sorry, but I don’t feel like stopping. I don’t think I can. I just end up thinking about your happiness before I even know what I’m doing.” 
“You’re an idiot.” 
“What I think about is not for you to decide.” 
“…Maybe so.” 
The air between them turned a bit awkward. They could hear Rolonia’s cursing and Mora’s instructions. The fiends were crying out in what seemed like coded language. Among all this noise, the two were silent. 
“Dying isn’t the only thing that could make you happy. Didn’t you tell me before that you wanted to see your dog?” 
“That doesn’t matter anymore. There wouldn’t be any point, and I couldn’t continue to care for it since I’m going to die anyway.” 
“But you still want to see it, don’t you?” 
“It’s not going to happen. The Howling Vilelands are vast. I could call or whistle for it, but the dog would never come anywhere near. I’d never find it.” 
She wants to see it, after all , thought Adlet. “Maybe it’s a small gesture, but if that’s what’ll make you happy, I’ll do everything I can to make it happen. You make me want to do it.” 
“Really? Do whatever you want.” 
“I promise you: I’ll make sure you see that dog again. I’m the strongest man in the world. I’d never break my promise.” 
Fremy shook her head as if to say How stupid. 
“Now that I think of it,” said Adlet, “what’s that dog’s name?” 
“Humans give dogs names, don’t they? I just found that out recently.” 
“Then why don’t you give it a name once you see it again? You should.” 
Fremy seemed annoyed for some reason. “This is exactly why I hate you so much I can hardly bear it—what makes me want to shoot you from behind.” 
None of my memories of her are nice, seriously , Adlet mused. But curiously, that didn’t change his feelings for her one bit. 
“I don’t know what you two are discussing, but there are two enemies behind you. They’ve fled from Chamo toward you.” Mora’s voice came to them. 
Adlet and Fremy scanned the area around them. They had indeed been hearing a fiend’s shouts. It sounded like it was giving coded instructions to its fellows. They’re close , thought Adlet. 
An instant later, two enemies leaped out of the thicket toward them. One was a medium-sized lion-fiend, and the other was a fairly small white lizard-fiend. Adlet immediately threw a paralysis needle while Fremy fired a shot. Both missed. 
The two fiends ran right by them, trying to escape. Adlet held the lion-fiend back and called to Fremy, “You handle the white one!” He figured she wouldn’t have a problem beating it. 
But then something unusual happened. Right as Fremy was about to load her next bullet, it slipped from her fingers. While it rolled to the ground, her target slipped past her and ran away. 
This was the first time Adlet had ever seen her fumble loading a bullet. Her fingers always moved smoothly, too fast for the eye to see. Her eyes were locked on the white lizard-fiend. She made no move to chase it. Had something startled her? 
There was no time to think about it. Adlet ran after the fleeing creature. It was yelling in a continuous stream. Judging from the sound of its voice, it could probably speak human language, but Adlet couldn’t make out what it was saying. 
That was when Adlet saw Dozzu, who’d been fighting farther away, dash toward them. “We don’t need the help!” Adlet yelled. 
Adlet crossed thickets and rock to arrive at a small flat area on the mountain slope. There were more than ten fiends lying dead. He could tell from their wounds that Rolonia was the one responsible, but he couldn’t see the white lizard-fiend he swore he’d seen before. 
In the next moment, the apparent corpses got up and charged him at once. 
“!” 
Three fiends had risen before him, and they weren’t the sort he could finish off instantly. Adlet dodged their attacks and somehow managed to defeat them all with his sword and bombs, but the moment he took a breath— 
“Watch out!” He heard Dozzu’s voice. Lightning roasted a fiend at Adlet’s feet. Adlet had thought the creature was already dead, but it threw back its head and writhed before breathing its last. 
A two-layered ambush , Adlet realized. Beforehand, the fiends had left a few of their comrades there playing dead. Then they had lured Adlet to that location, where they’d attacked him when he had his guard down. Once they made him think it was over, they’d gone in for the real strike. 
“Are you all right?” Dozzu came to ask. 
Adlet nodded. “Did you kill the white lizard-fiend?” 
“It didn’t run in my direction.” 
This isn’t good , thought Adlet. That was probably the one in command. They couldn’t let an enemy who had sprung such a trap live. 
That was when they heard Mora’s mountain echo. “…Adlet, Dozzu, it seems we’ve killed all the fiends.” 
“Really?” Adlet questioned. “Is the white one dead?” 
“…There are no more fiends left alive. Be at ease. I’ve seen that it’s clear.” 
Mora told them to head to her position, so Adlet did so, but he couldn’t clear his anxiety. There was that bullet Fremy had dropped, and the white lizard-fiend. One other thing was odd: Why had Dozzu come to save him? 
Maybe it doesn’t matter , Adlet figured, and he stopped thinking about it. 
Finally, they all stood before the Temple of Fate. 
The temple had been in sight before, even while they were killing the leftover fiends. But being confronted with it directly gave them all a shot of tension. Most of the temple was hidden under bare rock. But if they looked closely, they could just barely catch something rooflike. And under the earth, there was something like a door, locked with a chain. The rough-looking building did not suggest a temple. It looked more like a fort—or a prison. 
“Something this size, we can investigate pretty fast,” said Adlet. 
Mora shook her head. “It doesn’t seem this building is terribly important. I can only see very normal rooms that humans lived in and larger, more eerie rooms I assume were for fiend use. The most consequential finds are likely underground.” 
“What’s underground?” he asked. 
“…It’s less a basement and more a labyrinth. Wait. I’ll search for a path now.” 
As Adlet listened to her, he mused that this building didn’t seem at all like a temple. Underground rooms, a labyrinth, and thick, hard defensive walls? None of that would be necessary for a temple. 
That was when Mora gasped suddenly. In the dim light, Adlet could tell she’d gone pale. He figured she must have found something. 
“Wh-what in the…?” 
“What is it, Mora?” Adlet asked. 
Mora considered a moment before looking toward Dozzu and Nashetania and saying, “I’m sorry. But you two cannot accompany us any farther.” 
“Oh my,” Nashetania exclaimed, standing beside them. 
“Why not?” asked Dozzu. “Coming all this way just to wait for no reward? That would void all point in coming at all.” 
“I can’t let enemies of the Braves of the Six Flowers get near what’s inside.” 
“What did you find, Mora?” asked Adlet. Mora was shaking her head, as if she was afraid even to say it out loud. 
“Our knowledge may be necessary for your investigation of the Black Barrenbloom. Pardon me, Mora, but we can’t acquiesce to your demand,” said Dozzu. 
Chamo countered it. “But we’re already done with Dozzu and Nashetania, aren’t we, now that we’re here? Let’s kill them.” 
Tension electrified the air around them, but then a hand gently restrained Chamo’s foxtail. It was Fremy’s. 
“We still need them—for now.” In her other hand, Fremy manifested a bomb, and she threw it at the door. There were one, two explosions, and the chain that held the door shut shattered and fell. “Right now, finding out about the Black Barrenbloom is more important than anything else, though we always have to keep an eye on Dozzu and Nashetania.” 
“You’ll support us?” said Dozzu. “Thank you very much.” 

Fremy replied coldly, “I’m not doing this for you.” 
Dozzu and Fremy were about to step inside when Mora stood in front of the gate to stop them. “What you’ve said is reasonable, Fremy, but inside here is…” 
Adlet cut in. “You’re being really stubborn. What happened?” 
Falteringly, Mora said, “In a great room within the labyrinth…there is a Saint. She appears to be just a corpse, but she’s definitely alive.” 
“So what about this Saint?” asked Fremy. 
Still hesitant, Mora said, “I’ve only seen it with my clairvoyant eye, so I have no proof. I ask that you not laugh, if it’s a simple mistake on my part, but…I believe that Saint…is the Saint of the Single Flower.” 
All the Braves were shocked speechless—but Adlet saw that Dozzu and Nashetania remained unruffled. Their expressions indicated they were completely unsurprised at the news. 
Goldof and Adlet slammed the locked door with their shoulders, forcing it open, and the entire group surged into the Temple of Fate at once. They left a few of Chamo’s slave-fiends outside to keep watch. 
It hadn’t been visible from the outside, but the interior was quite well lit. Gems shone within the glass lamps embedded in the ceiling—light gems, just like the ones they carried, which had to be very valuable. To use them in place of simple lamps was wildly extravagant. Not even Piena’s coliseum or courthouse had such luxury. 
The interior was just as unlike a temple as the outside. The great hall by the entrance was decorated with paintings and rugs on the floor, just like a noble’s estate. 
Mora explained the structure of the aboveground area and the path through the labyrinth in simple terms, informing them that the all-important figure, the person she believed was the Saint of the Single Flower, rested in the deepest part of the labyrinth. 
“So it really is the Saint of the Single Flower,” Adlet said to himself. 
The group ignored the apparent dining rooms and great halls and proceeded straight down the path to go underground. 
The Saint of the Single Flower. To Adlet, she was less a historical figure and more like a character from a fairy tale. Hearing that she was alive and so close didn’t feel real. 
One thousand years ago, the attack of the Evil God and its fiends had brought the world to the brink of disaster, and the Saint of the Single Flower had suddenly appeared. Using the then unknown power of a Saint, she had fought with the Evil God, a being whom no one had previously been able to approach. 
After sealing the Evil God in the Weeping Hearth, the Saint of the Single Flower left the Crests of the Six Flowers and temples for the selection of the Six Braves to the people. She also instructed them on how they might become Saints. It could be said that every weapon they had to fight the Evil God was the legacy of the Saint of the Single Flower. 
And then, just as suddenly as she had appeared, the Saint of the Single Flower disappeared. No matter how the people searched for her, they couldn’t find a single clue. 
She had seemed inhuman—in fact, some people believe she wasn’t actually a human, but the Spirit itself. 
“It may not be so strange that she’s alive. The power of the Saint of Fate is beyond our imaginings. I couldn’t even deny the possibility that she may have overcome aging and death,” said Mora. “No new Saint of Fate has been chosen since the Saint of the Single Flower. It was always believed that was because the power of fate was unique. But…is the truth much simpler?” 
That she was alive, by itself, wasn’t important. The question was why she was there and what Tgurneu had been doing. What’s more, what did Dozzu plan to do? 
Just as Mora had said, it would be dangerous to let Dozzu and Nashetania approach the Saint of the Single Flower. Adlet couldn’t even guess what they might get up to. But they might end up leaning on Dozzu’s and Nashetania’s knowledge anyway to find out about the Black Barrenbloom. 
“This is it,” announced Adlet. 
They opened an iron door in the central area of the temple to find stairs leading downward. Conveniently, there was even a railing. Inside the stairway heading underground, they found more lamps shining with light gems, too. There weren’t as many, unsurprisingly, and it was rather dim in the stairway, but they would have no problems in their search. 
Chamo left some slave-fiends stationed by the entrance to the labyrinth, just in case, and the party ran through the maze of reinforced brick walls and stone paving. Mora’s directions led them up and down stairs. 
“This isn’t good,” commented Dozzu. “This route is quite complex. Do you understand the way, Mora?” 
“’Tis no problem,” Mora replied. “I’ve already determined the shortest path to the innermost room.” 
“Tgurneu has created quite the nuisance for us, hasn’t he? This would have been a serious difficulty without you, Mora.” 
Indeed, the underground labyrinth was absurdly large; searching through it normally would have taken a whole day. They were lucky to have Mora and her clairvoyant eye with them. 
“So, Dozzu. You knew the Saint of the Single Flower is here?” Mora asked as they proceeded. 
“All we knew was that the Saint of the Single Flower was alive and Tgurneu had her in his control,” Dozzu replied with no indication that it was hiding anything. “We didn’t know where she was, but we believed she couldn’t be anywhere but here. We also aren’t sure of what Tgurneu has been doing here—though we’ve made some hypotheses.” 
“How did you know the Saint of the Single Flower is alive? Was that because of Hayuha as well?” 
“Are you implying that there’s some other reason we could know?” Dozzu answered readily. 
“Why did you not tell us?” 
“Because we have no obligation to reveal all our information to you.” 
“I’ve figured you out. Your goal is to use us to reach the Saint of the Single Flower. What exactly will you attempt to do to her?” 
“Right now, our goal is to uncover Tgurneu’s plot and defend the Braves—nothing else.” 
Adlet listened to their exchange and thought That’s a lie. There’s no way those conniving schemers aren’t plotting anything. Their goal all along had been to use the Six Braves to get close to the Saint of the Single Flower. Their claims of cooperation with them might have been no more than a means to achieve that. 
As if reading Adlet’s thoughts, Nashetania said, “We’re telling the truth about wanting to find the seventh and stop the Black Barrenbloom. Don’t worry.” 
Pushing forward along the most direct route, they covered the whole maze in just over ten minutes and arrived before a thick iron door. Even without Mora’s explanation, Adlet could immediately tell this was the deepest part of the labyrinth. 
It wasn’t locked. Before opening the heavy iron door, Hans said, “Goldof, Chamo, watch Dozzu and Nashetania here. If they do anythin’ funny, let us neow.” 
The three humans and one fiend stopped outside the room, and the other five quietly went inside. 
“…Is that it?” murmured Adlet. 
The room was massive and boxlike, about a hundred yards square. The walls and ceiling were covered in white rock, and the barren space lacked any decoration at all. The only thing that drew the eye was the single chair in the room’s center and the person sitting on it. 
The figure was so odd that, at first, Adlet didn’t know which peculiarity he should focus on. The one sitting on that chair had transformed into a shriveled mummy: skin discolored to brown, thin skin over bones, and sunken eye sockets. 
Mysteriously enough, the mummy was beautifully dressed, wearing a loose-fitting gown with white lace. Adlet recalled that the nobles who had observed the fights in the Tournament before the Divine had been wearing similar outfits. The brand-new gown clashed with the ancient-looking room. 
All of her hair had fallen out of her head, and atop it was a tiara decorated elaborately with artificial flowers. Just a glance was enough to tell such an item was valuable. 
“Meow-hee-hee , that’s a pretty fancy getup. A li’l different from the stories I’ve heard.” In the legends of the Saint of the Single Flower, she had worn simple clothing. They said she’d had a worn-out robe, no shoes, and a unique mask that was always on her face. This well-dressed mummy didn’t seem at all like the Saint of the Single Flower. 
Adlet moved in closer. The whole body was bound in chains. The wrists and ankles peeking out from underneath the gown were wrapped in chains, as was the torso underneath the gown. The chains were about as thick as Adlet’s thumb, and looked severely deteriorated. 
Adlet was about to touch them when Mora yelled at him. “Don’t touch it so carelessly. That chain is a hieroform. I don’t know its effects, but there are incredibly strong powers within.” Adlet snatched back his hand. 
“Whoa, creepy. What is that? Is that really the Saint of the Single Flower?” Chamo was peeking in through the cracked-open door. 
“Keep a proper watch,” Hans reprimanded her. 
The mummy was not the only odd thing there. Next Adlet turned his gaze upon the baffling characters written on the floor around the chair. He’d seen characters like that before. Something similar had been written on that slate in the temple, back in the Phantasmal Barrier. It had to be those hieroglyph things, the language the Saints used for their techniques or creating hieroforms. The blue characters were densely packed around the chair, filling an area about fifteen feet in radius. It looked as if the words were faintly glowing. 
Fremy only glanced at the Saint of the Single Flower, then shifted her focus entirely to the hieroglyphs. 
“Is this really the Saint of the Single Flower?” asked Adlet. 
“I have reason to believe it is. If you observe closely, you should be able to tell, too,” said Mora. 
Adlet gave the figure a good look. 
Some of the fingers on her left hand were missing. Her pinkie was gone from the root, and the tips of her middle and ring fingers were gone, too. It was said that, once, the Saint of the Single Flower had lost the fingers of her left hand while battling with fiends. She had healed her wounds with the power of fate, but her fingers hadn’t grown back fully. Similarly, she was also missing her left ear. The legends told how she’d gotten that wound, too. The large scar running from her mouth to her jaw was from a fiend who would later be called Archfiend Zophrair. Her right wrist was slightly warped, too, where the Evil God’s tentacle had once broken it. The many scars matched the folklore of the Saint of the Single Flower. 
“It looks like her to me, too,” said Adlet. “Though it could just be a corpse with scars made in the same places as the legends.” 
“What about how ya said she’s alive?” Hans said next. 
Adlet was skeptical. The Dead Host, who they’d fought three hours earlier, had been shriveled and rotting, but even so, they’d still had enough function left to be alive. But this was different. This body was entirely mummified. 
“It’s alive. She breathes, and her heart beats,” said Mora. This was so unexpected, Adlet found it hard to believe. 
“Then what is she?” asked Hans. “A mummy that meowves around and wears fancy clothes?” 
“That’s a good question…but I don’t know,” said Mora. 
Adlet stood before the figure in the chair and said, “Saint of the Single Flower, so…good to meet you. I’m Adlet, the strongest man in the world. As you can see, I’m a Brave of the Six Flowers. We’ve come here to seal away the Evil God.” He waited for a reply but got no reaction. “There’s something I want to ask. We’ve got a fake Brave. They’ve infiltrated our group with a seventh crest that you can’t tell apart from the others. We can’t figure out who the impostor is with our powers alone. You must be able to tell.” There was no reply. 
Adlet gently touched her shoulder with his hand. It wasn’t covered in chains. “Saint of the Single Flower, pardon me.” Adlet shook the body. The chains swayed and jangled, but the Saint of the Single Flower didn’t react. 
Rolonia and Mora approached the Saint. “Let’s try healing her,” said Mora. “At any rate, it seems touching her poses no immediate danger.” Mora’s hands glowed, and the light was sucked into the Saint of the Single Flower’s body. 
Rolonia put her hands on the figure as well and tried to manipulate the blood within her body. But after a moment, she removed her hands again. “My powers won’t work. There isn’t a single drop of blood left in her body. I can’t use any of my techniques like this.” 
“So isn’t she dead?” asked Adlet. 
“There’s zero blood in there, but her heart is beating,” Rolonia replied. “I don’t understand how she’s alive.” 
“How about you, Mora?” Adlet looked toward the elder Saint. She looked to be pouring the energy of the mountain into the body, but Adlet couldn’t see any changes. Still, they had no choice but to continue. 
“Meow , and I had my hopes up.” 
“Yeah,” Adlet agreed. 
When Adlet had heard that the Saint of the Single Flower was there, he’d thought they might have been able to solve all their mysteries, since she was the one who’d created the crests. Not only did she have to know which one of them was the seventh, Adlet had also figured she could be able to tell them in detail about the Black Barrenbloom. But they couldn’t get any information out of her like this. 
Why was she here? Why was she chained up? Why was she wearing a modern gown? What had Tgurneu done to her? And why was she alive in the first place? Why had she disappeared without telling anyone a thousand years ago? Adlet felt like these mysteries were far from being solved—they were just getting deeper. 
Mora removed her hands from the Saint of the Single Flower and shook her head. 
“So?” said Adlet. 
“There’s nothing I can do. As Rolonia has just said—it’s unthinkable she’s alive at all in this state.” 
“Then how is she alive?” 
“The power of fate is the ability to reject unwished-for futures,” Mora explained. “It’s theoretically nearly omnipotent. If she has used the power of fate to refuse the future of her own death, then perhaps it may be possible for her to go on living.” 
They no longer had the option of asking the Saint of the Single Flower what was going on. What remained were the hieroglyphs written on the floor. Fremy had been on her knees for a while now, decoding them. And after giving up on healing the Saint, Rolonia had also turned her gaze to the hieroglyphs. 
“Can you two read that?” asked Adlet. 
“I-I’m sorry…I don’t understand it at all,” said Rolonia. 
“There’s no way around that,” said Mora. “You were only taught the crafts of battle and healing. What about you, Fremy?” 
“I get a little. It’s so sophisticated, and there are lots of parts I don’t understand, too. But I can parse the hieroglyphic structure. Look at this part.” Fremy pointed to a section near the center. “I think that’s probably an expression used to steal power from a Saint. Have you ever seen this?” 
Mora eyed it for a few moments. “This is the first I’ve ever witnessed such an expression, but…indeed, perhaps it would be possible to do so with something like this.” 
“Frankly,” said Fremy, “I only half believed that person from the Dead Host, but it’s becoming quite plausible.” 
Mora said to Rolonia, “Let’s proceed with the deciphering, and we’ll have Chamo help as well. You go take her place on watch.” 
“Y-yes ma’am.” Rolonia and Chamo switched places, and the three Saints inside divvied up the job of deciphering the hieroglyphics. 
“These are voidscribed. An unusual choice,” said Mora. 
“So who’s the source of the voidscribed power?” said Chamo. “The Saint of the Single Flower, then?” 
Fremy chimed in. “The language structure is the power of fate itself. It’s drawn in a dual-wheel format, which may indicate that the main inscription is not in the center.” 
With the women discussing the hieroglyphs, Adlet and Hans were excluded from the conversation. The pair couldn’t make heads or tails of it. They looked at each other and shrugged. 
“Adlet, Hans,” said Mora, “If you’ve nothing to do, then search outside this room. There are a number of small, suspicious rooms around here. My clairvoyance alone may not be enough to find everything.” 
“Yeah, gotcha,” Adlet said. But before leaving the room with the Saint of the Single Flower, he asked, “Let me just ask this. Once you’ve deciphered that stuff, what will we know?” 
Fremy answered. “Roughly speaking, hieroglyphs are a recorded expression of the function of a hieroform. You could say the inscription determines what the hieroform does. By deciphering them, we can understand what kind it is.” 
“So if you can decode this…?” 
“Then we’ll understand what the hieroform they created really is—and it’s most likely the Black Barrenbloom,” Fremy said, returning to translating. 
“So were the hieroglyphs here written by the Saint of the Single Flower?” Chamo asked, her eyes on the symbols. 
“No,” said Mora. “It was someone else.” 
“Why d’you think that?” Chamo asked. 
“The hieroglyphic book that the Saint of the Single Flower left to us still remains at All Heavens Temple. But her writing in those books is horribly messy and crude, unlike the inscription here.” 
Really? thought Adlet. It was an oddly human thing to learn about the legendary Saint of the Single Flower. “Well, whatever. Let’s go, Hans. It doesn’t look like we’ll be useful here.” Adlet went out. But right before leaving the room, Hans whispered something quietly to Mora. 
“What was that?” asked Adlet. 
“I just told her to watch meowt for Dozzu,” Hans replied. 
That seemed a little odd to Adlet, but he didn’t push any further. 
They left the room and told Goldof and Rolonia what was going on, then told them to stay there and keep watch on Dozzu and Nashetania. 
Nashetania said, “Adlet, is there anything I can help with?” 
“No. You just do as you’re told and wait right there,” Adlet told her flatly. He didn’t want them getting up to anything. 
“You’re being paranoid with us. There are plenty of ways we could assist you.” 
“Don’t need it.” 
Nashetania shrugged. 
Adlet decided to leave the others and look around in the various small rooms around the area. Hans went off to the west side, while Adlet headed to the east. 
With Mora giving him directions, he went around looking at the various small rooms. The first room he went into looked like a lounge with a few sofas, cupboards, and a chess board, along with a snakes-and-ladders board, too, plus some simple cooking implements. Everything there was covered in dust and seemed long-unused. 
A short distance away was a room that had to be for research. There was a large table in the center, a bulletin board on the wall, and many bookshelves, but it seemed everything that could have been informative to them had been taken away. 
It looked like quite a few humans and fiends had been going in and out of this labyrinth, though there was no way for Adlet to know what they’d been doing. 
He continued searching, but he wasn’t finding anything. He was beginning to suspect this was a waste of time. 
That made his mind turn to Fremy, and Hans, too. If they proved the truth of the Black Barrenbloom right now, and if it was Fremy, Hans would kill her on the spot. What should he do to keep that from happening? 
As Adlet considered this, he continued his search. The next room he entered seemed to have once been used by fiends. A few fiend bodies were inside, and a light gem lamp hung from the ceiling. 
The moment Adlet saw it, an insight flashed in his mind. He didn’t know if he could make this happen—he’d decide once the others were done examining the hieroglyphs. But if the time came, he had to do it. “Mora, Mora,” Adlet said. “Can you hear me?” 
After a moment, he heard Mora’s mountain echo. “What is it?” 
“I think there’s a fiend in this room. I got the feeling that something moved behind me. You didn’t see it?” 
“…I’m sorry. I was concentrating on deciphering the hieroglyphs, so I wasn’t able to watch you. However, it does appear from what I can see here that nothing has happened.” 
“…I understand. Sorry for bothering you.” 
Mora hadn’t been watching this room—so this would probably work. 
About an hour later, Mora summoned him, telling him the decryption was done. 
When Adlet returned to the room containing the Saint of the Single Flower, he found the others all standing in front of the door. When Adlet came to join them, Mora began to speak. “…I’ll explain the results, everyone. Frankly speaking, the situation isn’t favorable,” she said, her expression grim. 
But Adlet wasn’t the type to get rattled over something like this. 
“First, the person in that room is unmistakably the Saint of the Single Flower—the reason being that the hieroglyphs written on the floor include an expression for absorbing the power of the Spirit of Fate. The one seated over there must be the Saint of Fate.” 
Adlet nodded and listened to what Mora had to say next. 
“We also found out that a hieroform was created with this stolen power, one that absorbs the abilities that the Saint of the Single Flower left behind. The Black Barrenbloom. The information we received from that man in the Dead Host was no lie.” 
“I expected as much. So?” said Adlet. 
“In order to create a hieroform with great power, an expression is needed. The effects of the hieroform are manifested by inscribing hieroglyphs to define its function. So by reading the expression, it’s possible to decipher what it does, its shape, anything. We’ve achieved a general understanding of the Black Barrenbloom’s power.” 
“That’s weird,” said Hans. “If mew can find out what the hieroform’s power is by readin’ the hieroglyphs, then why didn’t Tgurneu erase ’em? Plus, they didn’t even have to write those expressions here. Tgurneu wouldn’t want it all gettin’ found, right?” 
“It seems you require an explanation,” said Mora. “First of all, hieroglyphs, once written, cannot be erased. If they were, it would affect the hieroform as well, causing it to malfunction and its effects to disappear.” 
“Then if we smash up these glyphs, we can stop the Barrenbloom?” said Hans. 
“That cannot be done, either. This has been inscribed with special characters called voidscribed hieroglyphs. You can think of it as using the Spirit’s power itself as ink. This can never be erased.” 
“Hrmeow…” 
Adlet asked further, “But why did Tgurneu write it here? There must have been a more secure location.” 
“The composition of this expression requires stealing power from the Saint of the Single Flower. It’s ineffective if not written close to her. Tgurneu must have had no choice but to inscribe the hieroglyphs here.” 
“I see…got it,” said Adlet. “Continue.” 
“Yes.” Mora spent a moment considering how to explain. “But not everything about the Black Barrenbloom is written here. The expression has been split in two. The fundamentals of the expression are inscribed here, while the rest is written elsewhere. I searched for the rest of the equation with my clairvoyance, but it’s not within this temple. The ones who created the Black Barrenbloom—Tgurneu and its subordinates—have deliberately concealed it.” 
“They got us there. What do we do?” Hans sighed. 
Mora continued. “First, I’ll discuss what we discovered based on what was written here: Everything that the man Rolonia saved said…was true.” 
“Oh…” Adlet was a little shocked. Somewhere in his heart, he’d wanted Rainer’s message to be a lie. If it was, they wouldn’t have to kill Fremy. 
“The Black Barrenbloom absorbs the power of the Crests of the Six Flowers,” Mora explained. “Or to be more precise, it may make something else absorb it. It can be read either way.” 
“That’s pretty vague,” said Adlet. 
“I’ll discuss it more later. There are many unknowns. But what’s certain is that as long as the Black Barrenbloom is here, eventually, our crests will lose power and vanish. All of us aside from Fremy will die, and Fremy will no longer be able to injure the Evil God.” 
“And Her Highness?” Goldof cut in. “Will her…crest…vanish, too? Is her…life…in danger?” 
“I don’t know. Nashetania’s crest is an exception. I can’t say anything now, and similarly, the seventh’s crest is an unknown.” 
Nashetania said to Goldof, “I can’t survive in the Howling Vilelands without the crest, either. Only Tgurneu’s subordinates have the ability to keep humans alive here.” 
“Never mind about Nashetania,” said Adlet. “What’s important is when the crests will disappear. How much time do we have left?” 
“That depends on how quickly the Black Barrenbloom is absorbing power,” answered Mora. “Unfortunately, it seems clear that it has already been activated. The voidscribed hieroglyphs are in the active state. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be glowing. 
“And the longer it is active, the more powerful it becomes, as it makes the power it has absorbed its own. The more it absorbs, the stronger it gets. And its effects will become even more powerful when we approach the Evil God—or to be more precise, the barrier that seals it in.” 
“Why is that?” asked Adlet. 
“Because the Crests of the Six Flowers are, in essence, a part of the barrier. When the Crests of the Six Flowers, the Black Barrenbloom, and the seal are all in one place, the Black Barrenbloom will begin to absorb tremendous power from the barrier to become even stronger. Then the Crests of the Six Flowers will fail.” 
“In other words…” 
“If we had unknowingly approached the Weeping Hearth…we probably all would have died.” 
A chill ran down Adlet’s spine. If he hadn’t chosen to go to the temple, or if they hadn’t joined up with Dozzu and Nashetania…it would have been over for them. 
“We were lucky.” Even easygoing Hans’s face was pinched tight. 
“I have just one piece of good news,” said Mora. “It’s pointless for the Black Barrenbloom to approach the Evil God alone. We’ve learned that its power only increases if it’s near the Crests of the Six Flowers. If the crests are not nearby, it can’t absorb anything from the seal.” 
They were all a little relieved. At the very least, it seemed they would be all right as long as they didn’t go near the Evil God. 
“We discovered one other thing,” Mora continued. “It seems Tgurneu is the only one who can activate the Black Barrenbloom—most likely because it’s wary of any scheming from Cargikk or Dozzu.” 
“That sounds like something Tgurneu would do. He doesn’t trust anyone but himself,” said Dozzu. 
“So then the issue is what to do,” said Mora. “We’ve not averted this crisis. If this hieroform is nearby, our crests will eventually disappear.” 
“Worst case scenario, we might have to split into two groups. Rainer said the Black Barrenbloom can’t use its power unless it’s near the Six Braves. So if we split up, then half of us’ll escape it,” said Adlet. 
But Mora’s expression clouded. She seemed to have a hard time saying it, so Fremy spoke instead. “…That won’t work, either. The Black Barrenbloom has to be near the Braves the moment it activates. But once it’s activated, it’ll keep absorbing power, even if they’re apart. It doesn’t work nearly as quickly compared to when they’re close, but separation doesn’t nullify the effect itself.” 
“So you’re saying the danger decreases…but doesn’t go away entirely, huh?” muttered Adlet. This is bad , he thought. Up until now, he’d figured that even if Fremy was the Black Barrenbloom, they could just solve the problem by separating her from the others. But now that plan was no longer an option. 
The party was looking grim, and not just the Braves. Dozzu and Nashetania wore severe expressions as well. Until now, they’d thought that if they just knew what the threat was, they’d be able to deal with it. But there was a possibility it was already too late. 
“There are various ways to stop it,” Fremy added. “First of all, just like any other hieroform, the one who activated it can stop it. We could kill the one responsible—this was also mentioned back in the Phantasmal Barrier. We could also break the hieroform itself. But there’s something about that which would concern me.” 
“What?” 
“There’s a strange expression engraved in here. It says that when the Black Barrenbloom is destroyed, a function that was stopped will activate.” 
“…Something?” 
“It doesn’t say what.” 
“Isn’t that bad? Does this mean that even breaking it might be dangerous?” 
“No. While there is something within the hieroform that will activate when the hieroform is destroyed, once the hieroform powering that function is broken, it can only manifest power for an instant—and nothing too powerful. What might happen is a mystery, but I can’t imagine that it’s any more dangerous than the continued existence of the Black Barrenbloom.” 
Adlet still believed they had to be cautious, though. 
“Let me talk about what wasn’t written here,” she went on. “First of all, as I just said, we don’t know what will happen if it’s broken. Other omitted information includes a description of its power, what it’s made of, and its shape. All information on that subject was thoroughly hidden. Tgurneu is more afraid of that being discovered than anything else.” 
“This stinks. That was the most important.” A rare occurrence for her, Nashetania scowled. The others had to be thinking the same thing. 
But Adlet knew the truth. 
He thought about telling the others—but he put it off. Not now. He looked at Hans and Rolonia listening to the discussion in silence, but it didn’t seem either would talk. 
“We also don’t know how long it will take for the crests to vanish, though this isn’t because it’s not written here. It depends on what happens after the Black Barrenbloom’s activation,” said Fremy. 
“Are there no clues as to where the rest of the expression is?” Adlet pressed. 
“There is something. We can tell that the rest of the hieroglyphs are written using a method called miteform inscription.” 
“What the heck is that?” 
“It’s the technique of engraving hieroglyphs on something very small,” Fremy explained, “such as a ring, a piece of wood, or a stake small enough to fit in your hand. The rest of the hieroglyphs are engraved on a similarly small object in safekeeping somewhere.” 
“The Howling Vilelands are huge…,” Adlet muttered. 
“We’d never find it.” 
Silence fell among the group. Then unexpectedly, Dozzu and Fremy both opened their mouths at the same time. Fremy gestured to Dozzu to speak first. 
“I beg your pardon, might I be permitted to speak?” 
“You’ve got something to say, Dozzu?” asked Adlet. 
“We have also come to understand a few things.” 
The Braves were surprised. They all gave Rolonia and Goldof accusatory looks. They had reminded the pair not to let Nashetania and Dozzu do anything. 
“Don’t worry,” said Dozzu. “We didn’t do anything without permission. I’m simply saying that just seeing the Saint of the Single Flower here has helped us learn some things. First of all, it was not Tgurneu who locked her up in this place.” 
“What do you mean?” asked Adlet. 
“She was here all along. After she disappeared from the human realms, she dug a massive hole in the ground here and locked herself inside.” 
“…How do you know that?” 
“Because both the chair she’s sitting in and the chains that bind her are hieroforms that she created herself, one thousand years ago.” 
Adlet was a little shocked. 
“Both are extremely powerful hieroforms,” the fiend continued. “First of all, the chair has the power to erect a barrier around this room. No one, neither human nor fiend, could enter this room, and even if someone was to discover it, its existence would instantly be erased from their memories.” 
“We could get in,” Adlet pointed out. 
“The hieroform has been stopped. Most likely, that was Tgurneu’s work.” Dozzu continued to speak. “The chains that bind the Saint of the Single Flower were also her own creation. The person confined by these chains cannot escape by any method, and neither can anyone move them from that place. It also prevents anyone from injuring the bound person, no matter how they try. That’s what it does.” 
“How do you know that?” 
“Because we…Hayuha and I, and Cargikk and Tgurneu, witnessed the Saint of the Single Flower creating these hieroforms in secret. She didn’t want anyone to find them.” 
“…” 
“At the time, I didn’t know what she intended to use them for, since there was no such enemy anywhere that would require the use of such powerful objects. But now I understand. The Saint of the Single Flower made those to confine herself.” 
Adlet gazed at the Saint of the Single Flower. She looked incredibly eerie to him. 
“One thousand years ago,” Dozzu went on, “after defeating the Evil God, the Saint of the Single Flower disappeared. She dug this hole in the earth and created this room so nobody would find her, and then she bound herself with these chains.” 
“I don’t get what you mean. So in other words, you’re saying that the Saint of the Single Flower confined herself?” 
“Yes.” Dozzu nodded. 
“The hieroforms weren’t stolen by fiends or someone she was fighting?” 
“No. No one in the world would have been capable of confining her. It would have been impossible even if all the remaining fiends at that time had worked together.” 
“What does this mean…? Why would she do something like that?” Adlet muttered. 
“I think Tgurneu used the hieroform Hayuha left behind to pin down the location of the Saint of the Single Flower. He broke through the barrier somehow and gained access to this room. Then he stole power from the Saint of the Single Flower and created the Black Barrenbloom. I have no proof, but I doubt I’m far off.” From its tone, Dozzu didn’t seem to be lying. 
Adlet’s eyes went to the Saint of the Single Flower beyond the cracked-open door. 
She was even more of an enigma than he’d imagined. She’d confined herself and then fallen into Tgurneu’s hands. Adlet didn’t understand at all what either of these things meant. 
“We can also make a hypothesis based on the results of Mora, Fremy, and Chamo’s investigation: The one who created your seventh crest was not Tgurneu, but the Saint of the Single Flower herself.” Dozzu went on. “If Tgurneu had stolen power from the Saint of the Single Flower to create a seventh crest, it would have been inscribed in the hieroglyphs here. But everything here is regarding the Black Barrenbloom. I’m forced to assume, then, that the one who created the seventh crest was the Saint of the Single Flower herself.” 
Mora seemed to recall something and said, “Tgurneu said the same thing—that the seventh crest was created by the Saint of the Single Flower and then bestowed to the one Tgurneu chose. So that was true as well.” 
Dozzu nodded and continued. “Despite our investigations with Hayuha, I was unaware that the Saint of the Single Flower had created an additional crest at some point. Neither could I hazard a guess as to why she made it.” 
So then what was the seventh crest? And who on earth was the outlier? They’d learned new information, but the mysteries had only gotten deeper. 
“Tgurneu is using the seventh crest…but the extra crest was created by the Saint of the Single Flower…” Mora put her hand to her chin, pondering. 
“If that’s true,” said Adlet, “then maybe the crest itself isn’t harmful to us. Maybe it just helps us out. Maybe Tgurneu stole it, and it’s using something that was originally supposed to be for us.” 
Dozzu replied, “That is a possibility.” 
“Thus far,” said Mora, “we’ve been thinking of it very simply: If we uncover the seventh, we kill them. But that may, in fact, invite disaster. If we kill the seventh and the seventh crest disappears, wouldn’t that only worsen our situation?” 
“Meow , that’s a problem. The seventh is Tgurneu’s agent, an enemy come to infiltrate our group. We can’t just leave ’em be.” 
Chamo replied, “Then we just hafta not kill ’em. We just rip off their arms and carve out their eyes, and the seventh won’t be able to do anything. Then we don’t have to worry about the seventh’s crest going away.” 
“Meow , true. Yer smart, Chamo.” 
“Tee-hee.” The two chatted gleefully, but Adlet was not enthusiastic about their ideas. 
“But we haven’t pinned down the seventh,” Mora said, “so we can do nothing on that front to begin with. But we should bear these things in mind, even though holding back with the seventh may prove difficult.” 
The allies nodded at one another. But Adlet still wasn’t fully convinced by parts of this. If the seventh crest would help the Braves, then why had the Saint of the Single Flower been hiding it? And was she even on their side to begin with? If she wasn’t, then what were the Braves of the Six Flowers? 
It looked like Dozzu still had more to say. For this part, it sounded less confident as it spoke. “There’s one more thing. It’s not really something I can call deduction—it’s nothing more than a hypothesis, but…” 
“I don’t mind. Tell us,” said Adlet. 
“I think Tgurneu has the ability to control human minds and force them to obey its orders.” 
That’s a really important thing to know! 
“There are two reasons I believe this. First of all, based on my comrades’ observations, there was something odd about the humans under Tgurneu’s command. The majority it either threatened and forced into obeisance or deceived. But there were a select few humans who displayed absolute loyalty to it.” 
“…And?” 
“There were really very few of them. I’ve only confirmed one or two. But these humans were possessed of extremely sophisticated knowledge on the subject of hieroglyphs and were likely to be at the core of his research.” 
“That alone is no basis to suppose that,” said Mora. 
Dozzu continued, “My other reason is the barrier that the Saint of the Single Flower created. One couldn’t break through such a thing with just any power. It had to have been impossible for any Saint or fiend. Even if Tgurneu and I had mobilized all our knowledge of hieroglyphs, I doubt we would have ever put a dent in it. I can’t think of any way the barrier could be broken…other than for the Saint of the Single Flower to let it down herself.” 
“So in other words, this means that Tgurneu controlled and manipulated the Saint of the Single Flower?” Adlet replied. 
“I believe that might be the case, though I don’t know how long she was being manipulated or what she was made to do.” 
It was a difficult story to believe. The Saint of the Single Flower was the most vital individual in the defense of the world. If Tgurneu had her under its control, then it really was over. 
“However,” said Dozzu, “the world has not, in fact, ended. The Braves of the Six Flowers were chosen as usual, too. I don’t know what this means, either. Has Tgurneu been unable to control the Saint of the Single Flower entirely? Or is there some other reason…?” 
“I wonder if Tgurneu’s controllin’ the seventh, too, meow. ” 
“…Perhaps so. But perhaps not. I couldn’t say.” 
Tgurneu controlling the seventh…that was a viable theory. But the seventh wasn’t necessarily the one being controlled. What with the seventh, Tgurneu’s powers of control, and the seventh crest, it seemed like the situation was getting more and more complicated. 
While Adlet’s mind was busy spinning, Fremy added, “There’s something I’d like to say, too.” 
Distracted by Dozzu’s theory, Adlet had forgotten that Fremy had been about to speak. But they had to have already covered everything on the topic of the Black Barrenbloom. What was she planning to say? 
“What is it? I thought we had made no more discoveries. Have you thought of something?” asked Mora. 
I doubt it’s anything important , thought Adlet. 
“Yes. There’s one thing I’ve been thinking about. I’ll get straight to the point.” 
But what Fremy said a split-second later made Adlet’s heart freeze. 
“I think I’m Black Barrenbloom.”