Rokka no Yuusha - Volume 5 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 
Suspicions Rekindled 

Fremy had no reservations about dying. She actually felt relieved, now that her demise was decided. The reality that she didn’t have to live anymore lifted a weight off her shoulders. Ever since that day six months earlier when she had lost everything, her life had been nothing but a burden. 
Once again, Fremy reflected on the past. 
She didn’t remember how she’d fought with Tgurneu. When she’d come to, she’d been walking along a wasteland, battered and in rags, holding nothing but an empty gun and the charms that had been tucked into her clothing. 
I won’t forgive you. I’ll kill you. All that she remembered was mindlessly muttering those words. 
Before, a transforming fiend with the power to disguise Fremy as a human had been accompanying her. She’d also had the support of the fiends who lurked undercover in the human world. But they were gone now. So when the humans saw a horned girl, they called her a monster and attacked her. After running from fiends, now it was her turn to run from humans. 
Fremy had thought many times about dying. She no longer had any place to return to, and no reason to live, either. She believed her only peace would be in death. She’d attempted to expose herself to the humans’ blades. She had also once put a bomb to her head, where her core was and tried to detonate it. But the split-second before she could do these things, she’d changed her mind and lived on. Every time Fremy tried to throw away her life, Tgurneu’s face floated up in her mind. She felt as though she could see the fiend sneering at her. “It was a bother that you let Fremy escape, but at least she killed herself for us.” She had the feeling Tgurneu would say such things about her. 
As Fremy wandered the human world, she’d tried to analyze Tgurneu. Why had it made her family pretend to love her? If it hadn’t made her family pretend to love her, she wouldn’t have suffered. If she had lived without ever knowing love, then she surely would have been able to die without any hesitation. But Tgurneu had taught her love and then betrayed it. 
That was when she finally understood. Tgurneu had clearly enjoyed seeing Fremy suffer from the loss of that love. It was clear it had given its orders for the sake of its own amusement. 
She couldn’t forgive Tgurneu. She had to kill it and pay it back for everything it had done. She had to make it experience the ultimate suffering for a fiend: the defeat of the Evil God. She had to, or she couldn’t rest in peace. 
In order to conceal herself in the human world, Fremy had broken off her horn. She’d sneaked into a blacksmith’s workshop in the middle of the night to steal lead for forging bullets, too. Once she’d gathered some other equipment for herself, she waited for her revenge. She had made up her mind: She would take advantage of the battle of the Six Braves to kill Tgurneu. 
Fremy did resemble a human girl, more or less. She knew that in the human world, girls received comparatively more kindness, and it was easy for them to get sympathy. Some came to her with a desire for her money or her body, but she could turn the tables on that sort with her bare hands. 
If word had gotten out that Fremy was the Brave-killer, the whole world would have been after her. But for some reason, there was no description of her appearance on her warrant, so few people were on her trail. 
It wasn’t difficult at all to go stealth in the human world. But this only lasted as long as no one found out she was a fiend. She hid the scar from her horn, the proof of her origins, by wrapping cloth around it. Her different-colored eyes drew far too much attention, so she covered one with an eye patch. But still, the cloth would come loose sometimes, and she would be found out. And each time, people fled in fear, only to come back later to attack her in armed groups. 
If Fremy was to fight, she would kill them. Even if she held back with them, she might give them severe, lifelong injuries. Every time she was attacked, she had no choice but to run. She had spent a long time training, received the power of a Spirit, and fought with Brave candidates. Attacks from regular humans would not injure her. The only thing they could hurt was her heart. 
After Tgurneu cut her off, Fremy didn’t want to kill any more people. She didn’t have the heart to hate humans for no reason the way other fiends did. She didn’t want to eat them. There was no reason to fight them. 
She told people again and again that she wanted them to leave her alone. She also tried to convince them that she didn’t want to fight. She even laid down her weapons to show them that she was surrendering. But none would believe her, and they never relented. 
There was only one reason for this: because she was a fiend. Fremy realized that a girl born of a human and a fiend had no place to go. 
Thinking about it now, she realized she should have killed herself then. If she had died, she would have accomplished her revenge against Tgurneu. 
It had been about ten days before the Evil God’s awakening when Fremy, entirely exhausted from running hither and thither, left a village in order to hide in a forest that appeared devoid of human habitation. Some humans had still found Fremy there and addressed her kindly. It was an old couple, hunters who lived near the mountains. Fremy had been seeking a safe place and a warm bed, and the couple had welcomed her. 
Fremy had believed she could trust these people. She’d assumed they would let her rest there until the Evil God awoke and the Six Braves showed up. Having received their warm hospitality, Fremy had even wanted to defeat the Evil God for their sakes. 
One night, Fremy had revealed her identity to them. She’d removed her eye patch and shown them the scar from her horn. Then she had told them about everything that had happened to her, hiding nothing. Telling them over and over that it was all true, she’d felt that the old couple believed her. 
But then the next morning, she’d noticed that the breakfast they served to her tasted a little off. She could tell there was poison in it, the kind they used to kill beasts. Without a word, Fremy had stood from her seat, packed up her bags, and left the mountain hut where that old couple lived. No anger or sadness welled within her, only exasperation at her own foolishness. 
The couple had watched in fear as Fremy left. 
The final words Fremy had exchanged with her family rose in her mind then, the curses from the ones she had loved when they had disclosed just how agonizing it had been to pretend to love her. Fremy had never felt animosity toward her family or toward that old couple. She had always tried to care for them. She had always wanted to devote herself to them. But that didn’t matter. Humans and fiends both would hate her just because she was there. She was a monster, and no one would love her. She was a monster, and no one would accept her. Even if some might pretend to love her, they never actually would. Even if she loved someone, that love would never be accepted. The truth had sunk deep into her flesh and bones. 
Fremy cursed her fate as a child born between human and fiend. She had wished for death. She had thought about how she could just be at ease if only she could die. But each time, right when she was about to choose death, her memories of Tgurneu got in the way. As long as it was alive, as long as her revenge lay unfulfilled, Fremy wouldn’t even be allowed to die. 
When the Crest of the Six Flowers had appeared on her body, she’d doubted her eyes. She didn’t understand the reason she’d been chosen, either. After some time, she recalled that after she had killed Athlay, Saint of Ice, she had fought with some pursuers. On the way, she had run into one of those coliseums for displaying your power to the Spirit of Fate and defeated some enemies inside. Thinking about it now, she realized that this was another part of Tgurneu’s plan to lure her into the Howling Vilelands so she could convene with the Braves of the Six Flowers. But at that time, she hadn’t figured out what Tgurneu’s plan was. Bewildered as she had been by her fate, Fremy had set off for the Howling Vilelands. 
And now, Fremy was pointing her gun at Adlet. Finally, she could relax and find death—if she could just eliminate the last obstacle remaining. 
Fremy had her gun trained on the middle of his stomach; of all the places on the body, a shot there would be the hardest for him to avoid. It could even kill him. Adlet sensed that if he tried to stop her, she really would try to end his life. 
Why would she go that far just to die? Adlet couldn’t understand it. “If you’re gonna shoot, then do it. No matter what you do to me, I’m not gonna let you kill yourself.” 
“…I see.” 
Right as Adlet was about to leap on Fremy, a hand came in from the side to grab his shoulder. It was Hans’s. His grip was hard enough to make Adlet’s bones creak—surprising, given his thin frame. “I’ll hold ’im back. You can rest in peace.” 
“Thank you.” Fremy’s gun turned away from Adlet, nearing her own head. 
But someone else stopped her hand in Adlet’s place—Rolonia stood in front of Fremy and grabbed both her arms. 
“Wait, please! You can’t die!” Rolonia’s arms trembled. It took all the strength in her body to hold Fremy back. 
“Think about this calmly, Rolonia. As long as I’m alive, the Braves have no chance of winning,” Fremy said, letting just a bit of anger slip into her voice. 
“Addy just told us, right? ‘It’s a trap. Don’t kill my daughter.’” 
“He just made that up.” 
“Addy isn’t a liar! …Well, he does lie sometimes, but he wouldn’t if it would put everyone in danger. It’s just that Hans couldn’t see it, and Lady Mora couldn’t find the source.” 
Rolonia’s support gave Adlet a little heartache. But he could never let that show on his face. 
“Adlet’s a liar,” Chamo asserted coldly, touching her foxtail to her face. “Move it, moo-head. Fremy’s gonna die now. Chamo feels sorry for her, but we’ve got no choice.” 
“No. I won’t move.” Rolonia would not budge. 
“Even if it is true that Adlet saw a message, we have no proof that it’s dangerous to let Fremy die.” Dozzu was the next to speak. “And that message could be fake information Tgurneu left here to prevent her death. In fact, that seems the more likely answer. I highly doubt Tgurneu, of all people, would overlook such an important clue.” 
“B-but…” Even then, Rolonia did not release Fremy’s arms. Adlet tried to shake off Hans’s grip. But the one hand restraining him was enough to keep him from moving at all. 
“Wait…I thought…we just talked about this…” Goldof spoke next. “The seventh crest…was made…by the Saint of the Single Flower. Killing the…one who holds it…could hurt us.” 
Still grasping Adlet’s shoulder, Hans replied, “I doubt Fremy’s the seventh. If she was a traitor workin’ under Tgurneu’s orders, she wouldn’t have confessed to us that she’s the Barrenbloom. Her story ’bout Tgurneu and her family betrayin’ her is probably true, too.” 
“…All right. Then…” Goldof stopped trying to put a halt to it. He approved of Fremy’s death, too. 
“There’s something wrong with all of you! It’s dangerous to kill Fremy! Killing Tgurneu is the only option left!” 
“Could you be quiet, you liar?” said Chamo. 
Watching, Dozzu sighed. “This is dangerous. For our part, as members of this alliance, we would like to avoid internal discord.” 
“No need to worry ’bout that. Fremy will kill ’erself now, and then it’ll be over.” 
“No. I’m not letting Fremy die,” insisted Adlet. “All of us together are going to go beat Tgurneu.” 
“…Whatever the case, we will not take part in your party’s decision-making. All you Braves should make that judgment as a group.” Dozzu and Nashetania backed away from the six a bit, indicating that they would not interfere. 
“Rolonia…let go…of Fremy,” Goldof said, approaching Rolonia. 
That was when Adlet made up his mind. He couldn’t afford to take the high road anymore. He reached out to a string that hung out of his clothing, and Hans instantly released his shoulder in anticipation of the tear bomb underneath. But Adlet had anticipated that. He didn’t actually pull the string, but rather turned around and kicked into Hans’s gut with his toes. 
“N…gh…” 
Adlet had kicked as hard as he could. That would stop even Hans, for a little bit. 
Adlet stepped toward Fremy and pulled a paralysis needle from a pouch at his waist in a flash. He would stop her from killing herself—by force, if necessary. He was left with no other options. First, he would paralyze her and subdue her, and then he had to run away with her in his arms before Hans or Chamo could kill her. Adlet wasn’t thinking about what would come after. Right now, this was his only option. 
“Adlet!” Goldof moved in attempt to stop him, and Chamo thrust her foxtail down her throat. But Adlet had moved so decisively that they were too slow. 
The first order of business was to ensure that Fremy couldn’t move. Adlet was ready to throw a paralyzing needle at Fremy’s exposed stomach, but one heartbeat later, a shock ran through his back, and he lost his balance and fell onto the stone floor. On the ground, he finally understood what had hit him. Hans had thrown his sword at Adlet, hilt-first, from behind. 
The red-haired boy rolled and threw his needle in one motion. It hit Fremy’s torso. 
“!” The effects were instant. The moment it hit Fremy, she stopped moving. Her arms went slack under Rolonia’s hands. 
“Stop, Adlet!” Goldof threw himself over Adlet on the ground. 
Hans had recovered from Adlet’s powerful kick and drew both his swords. He was right about to slice at Fremy when Mora came in and grabbed him. 
“What the meow are ya doin’?!” 
“Calm down!” said Mora. “Stop fighting with your allies!” 
Once the needle hit Fremy, she fell like a puppet with cut strings. Watching her, Adlet yelled, “Rolonia! Grab Fremy and run!” 
At the exact same moment, Hans yelled, “Chamo! Kill Fremy!” Chamo didn’t need to be told; she’d already begun. The slave-fiends she’d vomited up charged at the gunslinger. Reacting to Adlet’s cry, Rolonia swiped her whip horizontally to push the slave-fiends back. 
“Run, Rolonia! Hurry!” Adlet shouted, right as Goldof pushed him to the ground. Adlet desperately wrenched his left arm free to pull a smoke bomb from a waist pouch and throw it. It exploded in the center of the group of slave-fiends. 
The narrow hallway of the labyrinth was now choked with smoke. Inside the smoke screen, Adlet could just barely see Rolonia scooping up Fremy and dashing off into the labyrinth, Chamo’s slave-fiends in pursuit. 
“You fools! All of you, stop! Stop fighting among yourselves!” Nobody was listening to Mora. 
When the smoke screen finally cleared, Chamo, Rolonia, and Fremy were gone. Goldof was holding down Adlet while Mora was restraining Hans. 
“…This is dangerous. We can’t simply let Chamo and the others go,” Nashetania said as she patted dust off herself. Then she drew her slim sword and dashed into the labyrinth after the others. 
“Wait! Nashetania! Who said you could run off?!” Mora yelled. Without so much as a glance behind her, Nashetania disappeared around a corner. 
“Please don’t worry. I’m sure she just went to stop the fight. I doubt she would do anything that would cause trouble for the Braves,” said Dozzu. 
“What a disaster… Adlet, you’ve been so very foolish.” Mora shot him a reproachful look. 
Goldof, still holding Adlet down, looked angry, too. 
But if he hadn’t paralyzed Fremy, she would have killed herself. And if he hadn’t told Rolonia to run, she would have been killed. Adlet didn’t regret what he’d done one bit. 
The problem was what came next. The paralysis wouldn’t last long. He didn’t know how far Rolonia could keep running. After the drug wore off, how would he protect Fremy? Adlet couldn’t think of anything. 
“Haah, haah, haah…” 
Panting, Rolonia hurried through the labyrinth. Fremy, on her shoulder, was struggling fiercely to move her body, but she couldn’t budge a single finger. It seemed Adlet had used quite a powerful toxin. 
Fremy tried to manifest gunpowder in her hand. She meant to create a bomb that would kill herself without hitting Rolonia. But the needle affected not just her body, but her mind, too. She couldn’t concentrate, and the bomb wouldn’t take shape. He got me , Fremy thought. Distracted by Rolonia, she hadn’t been paying attention to Adlet. She had underestimated his abilities. 
“I have to…I have to run, um, which way…?” Rolonia muttered. It had to be tough, running with Fremy slung over her shoulder. Either due to integrity or instinct, Rolonia was even carrying the gun. Unsure where to go, Rolonia just kept on turning corners and going up and down stairs. It was likely only luck that kept her from hitting any dead ends. 
The slave-fiends cries hounded Rolonia from behind. Fremy could hear Chamo’s angry yells in the distance with them. “Moo-head! If you don’t stop, Chamo’s gonna kill you!” 
“Ahhhh! Wh-wh-what do I do?” 
The poor thing , thought Fremy. The cowardly girl clearly couldn’t withstand having Chamo on her trail. Fremy knew quite intimately just how frightening the child could be when she was chasing someone down. 
But this wasn’t the time to be feeling sorry for Rolonia. Fremy had to escape from her grasp somehow. Though even so, her body wouldn’t move at all. 
“Which way should I go, Lady Mora?! Lady Mora, please reply! Lady Mora!” Rolonia was yelling. But the mountain echo did not reply. 
Rolonia came to a fork in the path. Multiple slave-fiends approached from either branch. It appeared Chamo had given her minions instructions to spread out and encircle Rolonia. 
“I-I’m sorry, all of you!” Rolonia swung her whip and struck the slave-fiends. In the narrow hallways of the labyrinth, they couldn’t attack her all at once. With her power to manipulate blood, she wrung out the fluids of the slave-fiends to defeat them. The ones that remained cried out to tell Chamo of Rolonia’s position. 
“Fremy…please don’t worry. I won’t let you die,” Rolonia reassured her, running again. 
Gradually, both the roars of the fiends and the sound of Chamo’s voice grew distant. Chamo may have gotten lost on all the flights of stairs. 
What is she doing? Fremy wondered, irritated. Hans and Goldof, too. And they call themselves Braves of the Six Flowers? 
“Fremy,” Rolonia said as she stopped, catching her breath. “I understand that you believe you have to die for us and for the world. But I hate that idea. You can’t abandon your friends. You have to protect one another to the very end. If you don’t, you’ll end up losing even winnable battles. Besides…” 
Past a crossroads, there were more signs of slave-fiends. Rolonia stopped and hid in the shadow of a pillar. She watched Chamo’s fiends pass by in a different direction, then ran off in the direction they had come from. 
“Addy needs you. Without you, he won’t be able to fight anymore. His friends are dead, the people from his home village are gone, and you’re all he has left. Please understand that.” As Rolonia hid, she desperately kept trying to convince Fremy. “Please trust Addy. He can accomplish anything, if it’s to protect you. I know he can beat Tgurneu, too.” 
The poor girl , Fremy thought. 
She hadn’t yet realized how Adlet really felt—or who Adlet truly was. 
“Goldof, move. I have to heal Adlet.” Mora released Hans and came to Adlet’s side, forcing Goldof off to free the boy. Hans rubbed his aching stomach as he eyed the redhead. 
“He only hit me with the hilt of his sword. I don’t need healing.” Adlet pushed aside Mora’s hand and stood. 
That was when something on the ground caught Adlet’s eye, a piece of a broken toy, perhaps. It was the object Fremy had earlier pulled out of her clothing and crushed. 
Adlet picked it up. It was a wooden flute, broken in two, and it looked a lot like the one he used for calling fiends. A hunch told him it was a dog whistle. 
He also immediately realized its purpose, and why she had carried it around. Oh, Fremy, you really did still want to see your dog, didn’t you? “What are you doing?” Adlet muttered. How are you going to call your dog if you’ve broken it? I only just swore I’d make sure you see your dog again. I can’t fulfill that promise like this. 
But I can still fix it , he thought, tucking the dog whistle into one of his waist pouches. 
“What do we do now?” said Mora. 
“Obviously, we stop Chamo,” said Adlet. “We stop Fremy from killing herself. What other option is there? Use your mountain echo to tell Chamo she can’t kill Fremy.” 
“…I already did. But she won’t lend her ear to me. She shouted at me. ‘Back off, Auntie.’” 
“Damn it!” Adlet tried to run off into the labyrinth after Chamo. 
But before he could, Goldof blocked his way. “…I can’t…let you go.” 
Adlet was about to say Move . He figured he’d make his way through, even if he had to knock Goldof down to do it. But in the next moment, Adlet found his mouth couldn’t move. It was like it had frozen up. Goosebumps ran down his back, as if ice was touching it. 
“Hrmeow.” A funny-sounding noise echoed through the hallway. Hans had picked up the sword he’d thrown and was spinning it around as he watched Adlet. That action alone was enough to prevent the young Brave from taking even one step forward. 
It was a desire to kill. Only trained and experienced warriors could sense it. And with just will alone, Hans had frozen Adlet in place. He even overwhelmed Mora, Goldof, and Dozzu. 
When Hans had held his blade to Adlet’s neck before, it had ultimately been a mere threat. But now Hans fully intended to kill him. 
“…Hans, what are you doing?” Cold sweat dripped from Adlet’s cheek. Back in the Phantasmal Barrier, he had fought with Hans once before. But even then, he hadn’t felt this terrified. It had to mean that Hans was serious. Back then, the assassin had still been going easy on him. 
“Meow-hee!” Hans laughed. It sounded as if he was enjoying this with every bone in his body. Adlet was well aware what brought that sort of laughter from him. 
“…I’m real glad, Adlet. I think I’d like to have a little toast. Do ya understand why?” 
“I don’t care.” 
“I neow it’s a bad habit of mine. But ya can’t change yer nature. Fightin’ the strong is jus’ so much fun to me.” 
“So what?” 
“Ya might be surprised to hear this, but I think yer pretty good. I’ve always made fun of ya, but secretly, I always knew mew was the toughest among us. I think yer better’n Chamo, Fremy, or Goldof.” 
“Yeah. ’Cause I’m the strongest man in the world,” Adlet shot back, albeit weakly. 
“That’s why I’m glad yer the seventh.” 
“…What?” 
“Tgurneu is a nice fella. Neow one else would be givin’ me such a darn fine present. Lettin’ me fight ya to the death, fer real? I can’t resist.” 
Rolonia held Fremy and hid in a corner of the hallway. Fremy tried to create gunpowder in her hand, but it still wasn’t working. She wanted to run, but her body wouldn’t move. 
“Moo-head! Where are you?! Chamo knows you’re there!” Her voice echoed in the labyrinth. “Say something, Fremy! Chamo’s gonna kill you, ’kay? You won’t suffer!” But even though Fremy could hear it, she made no sound. 
Right then, they heard a few more fiends approaching. Rolonia searched for a different hiding spot, then shifted toward it. The moment she turned the corner, a slave-fiend found her, and its roar immediately reverberated through the labyrinth. Fremy could sense the slave-fiends in the area heading toward them. Rolonia started running, warding off the pursuers with her whip. 
They found someone ahead. Rolonia yelped and then stopped. 
“Oh, I finally found you.” 
It was Nashetania. When she saw a slave-fiend chasing Rolonia, she drew her sword with her one arm and extended its blade to stab through its face. “There are fewer in this direction. Come on, hurry,” she said, indicating the direction with the tip of her sword. 
Rolonia was temporarily flustered and confused, but eventually, she realized it was the only open path. “What are you here for?” 
“I came to protect you, Rolonia—worst case, Chamo might well end up killing you, too.” 
“Y-you don’t mean to kill Fremy…?” asked Rolonia. 
Nashetania giggled. “Hardly. If I were to lay a hand on her, Adlet would kill me, wouldn’t he? That would be rather frightening.” Relieved, Rolonia let Nashetania join them in their flight. 
This is bad , thought Fremy. With both Rolonia and Nashetania against her, even Chamo would have a hard time killing Fremy. Her body still wouldn’t move, and neither could she estimate when the paralysis would wear off. 
“Do you believe Addy?” 
“I can’t. But I also can’t be quite certain that he’s lying, either. I’m deferring judgment.” 
While listening in on their conversation, Fremy wondered if Nashetania hadn’t figured it out, or if she was just choosing to say nothing… 
…about how Adlet was the seventh. 
“…If you’ve gotta joke around, just stick to the cat stuff,” Adlet shot back as he raised his sword, though he did understand that this was neither a joke nor a trick to get information out of him. 
“I ain’t joking. I’ll say it one meowr time. Yer the seventh.” 
Adlet had figured he’d be suspected no matter what. Hans had indeed witnessed him lying and had never entirely trusted him anyway. But Hans couldn’t have the proof necessary to be sure about this. 
“This isn’t like you. You’ve made up your mind that I’m the seventh just because I lied? I thought you were more careful than that. Just so you know, I’m not lying, and I’m not the seventh.” 
Instead of replying, Hans sneered. 
A line of sweat dripped from Adlet’s cheek. “Stop stirring the pot. Right now, we’ve got to stop Chamo, make Fremy give up on killing herself, and defeat Tgurneu. We’ve got no more time.” 
“He’s exactly right, Hans.” Mora had been overwhelmed by Hans’s murderous aura, but she finally stepped in to stop the fight. “We can’t say for certain that Adlet is lying. Besides, even if he is, that’s no proof he’s the seventh. He might have lied to prevent an ally’s death.” 
“…Oh, meow. So ya won’t get it unless I spell it meowt fer ya? I guess this means I can’t kill ’im until I’ve convinced ya, Mora.” Hans shrugged. “Well, frankly speakin’, ’til just a minute ago, I thought that meowbe ya weren’t the one, too, Adlet, since I was gettin’ along so well with ya. I’m gettin’ soft. I’m a failure as an assassin.” 
Adlet had no idea which part of this man could be considered soft. 
“Hans,” said Dozzu, “I suspect Adlet as well, but I believe it’s rash to conclude he’s the seventh based on that one lie.” 
“I agree. I can’t…approve of this…without…real proof.” 
“I didn’t come to this conclusion just ’cause he lied,” said Hans. 
“I said I’m not lying! I swear I saw it! It said It’s a trap. Don’t kill my daughter !” said Adlet. But his insistence wasn’t even affecting Mora, let alone Hans or Goldof. The party had taken it as fact that the message was a lie. 
“…To be honest, I’ve got no sure proof about the seventh, neither. But neow I’ve gathered up enough evidence that I can say I’m certain.” Hans was sauntering about the area, but Adlet couldn’t lower his sword. There were no chinks in Hans’s armor. If the boy let his guard down, the assassin would slice him up. 
“But before I tell ya my evidence that Adlet is the seventh, I’ve gotta talk about my assumptions here. First of all, I think everythin’ Fremy has told us is true. She actually does hate the fiends, and she really did get betrayed by her family. That was no lie.” 
Adlet agreed with that. 
“But that means there’s somethin’ funny. Why would Tgurneu hurt her and make her hate fiends at all? What’d it have to do that for? All Tgurneu would’ve had to do is set up the fake Crest of the Six Flowers, order Fremy to infiltrate the Braves, and then have ’er keep on pretendin’ to be their ally until the power of the Barrenbloom kills us all. Fremy swore allegiance to Tgurneu. So why didn’t Tgurneu pick that option?” 
Hans continued. “There’s a bunch of possible answers to that question. Was Tgurneu afraid of the power of the Saint of Words, since she could stop anyone from lyin’? Ain’t out of the question. But in that case, all Tgurneu’d have to do is to send a fiend into the human realms to keep her outta the picture. 
“So did Tgurneu figger Fremy actin’ like she hates fiends would be harder to catch than makin’ her actually hate ’em? That ain’t it, either, meow. She ain’t stupid. She wouldn’t be that easy to read.” 
Hans spread his arms. “Makin’ Fremy hate fiends was a risky move for Tgurneu. What if she just gave up on life and offed herself? What if she didn’t even consider revenge and chose to live a low-key life in the human realms? After puttin’ all that work into its plan, it’d be back to square one. In other words, Tgurneu had to make Fremy hate ’em all, no matter how risky that was. I can only think of one reason for that, and that’s to make Fremy into a real Brave of the Six Flowers. Tgurneu would have to make her honestly hate fiends and sincerely want to beat the Evil God, or she wouldn’t get the Crest of the Six Flowers. That’s why I’ve concluded Fremy ain’t the seventh.” 
“So what?” said Adlet. 
“I ain’t done yet here. Hold yer horses. So if Fremy ain’t the seventh, that brings up another question: What did Tgurneu make a seventh for? Fremy is the Black Barrenbloom, and she can kill us all just by bein’ close by. So there’s no need for a seventh in the first place. In fact, a seventh bein’ around would actually hurt Tgurneu. If we suspected Fremy and killed her, then all those carefully laid plans’d be for nothin’.” 
He has a point , thought Adlet. He couldn’t allow himself to agree with Hans, but what he was saying did seem to be entirely true. 
“Yeah, there were a bunch o’ times it all coulda fallen apart. Back in the Phantasmal Barrier, Fremy was the first person we were suspicious of. And since comin’ to the Howlin’ Vilelands, me and Chamo have been eyein’ her this whole time. Why’d Tgurneu risk that? What was the point of a seventh?” 
“Well…” 
“It’s true that havin’ a seventh confused us. We suspected Mora, then Goldof, then Rolonia. We were suspicious of our allies, it prevented us from fightin’ at full strength, and it’s slowed us down. But meow , that weren’t enough to risk losin’ the Black Barrenbloom. 
“It was true that Tgurneu needed a seventh to pull that trick on Mora. But sorry, Mora, I can’t imagine Tgurneu would think killin’ you was worth losin’ Fremy. 
“Did Tgurneu plan for the seventh to kill the Braves as part of a separate plan? Neow way. The seventh had so many chances to kill us. If they were gonna betray us, they’d have already done it at any number of points. But even though they’ve had all those chances, the seventh hasn’t killed even one of us after all this time.” 
“Hans…” Adlet had finally come to understand what the assassin was preparing to say. 
“Based on all that informeowtion, this is what I figger. Tgurneu gave the seventh just one order: to make sure Fremy met the Six Braves and protect her the whole time. And that’s all, meow. ” Hans looked at Adlet. “Meow , so based on that assumption, think back on everythin’ Adlet’s done.” 
A chill ran down Adlet’s spine. He was terrified—by both the persuasiveness of Hans’s words and the conclusion they led to. 
“…He made up that story…about the glowing message…to protect…Fremy…,” said Goldof. 
Hans nodded. “What’s meowr, before that, he told us to hide what we knew about Fremy. Though, me and Rolonia agreed to that, so we share in the blame.” 
It’s true that I lied. But not on Tgurneu’s orders. He’d lied because Fremy was important to him and he didn’t want to let her die, not because he wanted to use her to kill the Six Braves. 
“Adlet made all those meowvelous declarations about not suspectin’ our allies without real proof. I won’t let ya say yer sure any one of us is the seventh , he said. Now, I think that was to protect Fremy.” 
That’s bullshit. He’d been desperate to prevent the members of the group from turning on one another. 
“Before we arrived…at the Phantasmal Barrier…Her Highness and I…attacked Fremy. Adlet protected her then…too,” said Goldof. 
Because Adlet knew she was a Brave of the Six Flowers. She was an ally, so he had protected her. He’d thought that was the obvious choice. 
“And when the Phantasmal Barrier was activated, Adlet kept sayin’ Fremy weren’t the culprit with no proof at all. She was the Brave-killer and the daughter of a fiend. How could he think it wasn’t her? Even when he was under suspicion and about to be killed, he didn’t suspect her, even once. So why? The answer’s simple. Adlet knew it wasn’t her, and he had to protect her. That’s the only reason, meow .” Hans continued. “And the biggest piece of evidence is this: Back in the Phantasmal Barrier, Fremy told me she never meant to meet up with us, but Adlet stopped her. He hounded her and chased her, then stole her packs and ran off with them. That was how Fremy finally decided to connect with us. I think that’s a clincher.” 
“That’s bullshit!” Adlet yelled. “She was an ally, and there was only going to be six of us! You know just how dangerous it would be for her to go solo without even talking to us! Is it weird to ask her to join up with us?!” 

“Not at all,” Hans replied. “Lookin’ at each thing on its own, none of it’s been weird—aside from that lie ameowt the glowin’ message. You’ve always made like you were fightin’ for the Braves to win. But everything you’ve done has been to help the Barrenbloom kill us. Until I came here, I’d considered the possibility that the seventh didn’t realize they were the seventh. But now I think there’s neow way. Yer clearly actin’ on Tgurneu’s orders and tryin’ to pull the wool over our eyes.” 
“I…” 
“At the very least, one thing’s clear: Without you, Fremy never would’ve met up with us, and the Black Barrenbloom wouldn’t have activated. That’s enough to say fer sure what you are.” 
“…That’s really forced. You’re adding one and one and making three or four.” 
“You were real clever ’bout it. Yer pretty amazin’, Adlet. If we hadn’t found out about the Barrenbloom, you’d have been able to keep up the deception the whole time. No, if I hadn’t exposed yer lie ’bout the glowin’ message, maybe you’d still have the wool over our eyes. 
“Adlet, yer the seventh. Tgurneu ordered you to protect Fremy. Have I convinced ya how I came to that conclusion?” 
Adlet was trembling—not in fear, but in rage. 
He had been so devastated when he lost his home village; he utterly loathed Tgurneu. What hell had he survived to take Tgurneu down? Adlet felt as if Hans was crushing all his feelings underfoot—even labeling his desire to protect Fremy as fake. “Tgurneu destroyed my home. Do you think I would obey that monster?” 
Dozzu said, “The humans Tgurneu most likely controlled have obeyed orders gladly, as if it was the greatest joy to them. Tgurneu’s ability to control humans…is likely quite powerful.” 
Adlet couldn’t recall any orders from Tgurneu. He would never obey that fiend. 
“We don’t really kneow if Tgurneu has that ability to control people or not. Tgurneu could be controllin’ Adlet, or the story about his village bein’ destroyed itself could be a lie.” 
“Tgurneu hasn’t ordered me to do anything! It’s a coincidence that I met Fremy! I protected her because she’s important to me! The moment I saw her, I wanted to protect her! There’s no other reason!” 
“Meow , that’s just what the seventh would say,” Hans said, scoffing at him. 
Slung over Rolonia’s shoulders, Fremy was thinking. 
It was only just a moment ago that she had become certain Adlet was the seventh. When he had lied about the glowing message, Fremy had figured there was about a 90 percent chance. When he had stabbed her with the paralysis needle and arranged her escape from Chamo, she became sure of it. 
But she had first begun to suspect him much earlier. Had it been when Rolonia had first appeared? Or when the seventh had shown up in the Phantasmal Barrier? Or perhaps she had suspected him ever since they’d first met. 
Fremy had a far tougher constitution than a regular human, so she was slowly regaining control of her body again. She could probably speak now. She could also likely create gunpowder—though that was continuing to be hard to control—but she chose to pretend the paralysis had still not worn off. If Rolonia noticed, she would tie up Fremy with her whip to prevent her from killing herself, maybe even knock her out. So once Fremy was recovered enough to move without trouble, she would slip off Rolonia’s shoulder and make a break for Chamo’s slave-fiends, who would kill her. Then it would all be over. 
Fremy had decided to give up on killing Adlet, the seventh, with her own hands. It was more important that she prioritize eliminating the Black Barrenbloom—herself. She would leave handling Adlet and defeating Tgurneu and the Evil God to her allies. Hans or Chamo would be sure to accomplish that. 
“This isn’t good,” said Nashetania as she skewered the creature attacking Rolonia. “Chamo knows where we are. If all her slave-fiends gather here, the two of us will clearly have a difficult time managing them all.” 
“I-it’s okay. I’m sure Addy will do something.” 
Fremy’s feelings were complicated as she listened to Rolonia. She was being deceived, and Fremy wanted to help her, somehow. But she doubted Rolonia would believe anything she had to say. 
Fremy recalled that Adlet had shown her favor ever since they first met. He’d smiled like such an idiot, saying he would protect her. That, she could understand—because he hadn’t known anything about her back then. 
But then Adlet had found out that Fremy was the Brave-killer, and Fremy herself had told him she was the daughter of a fiend. But in spite of that, nothing had changed about his attitude toward her. That was when Fremy had become certain that Adlet was using her. 
No human in their right mind would be friendly toward her. A human whose home village had been destroyed by fiends would not meekly accept one of them as an ally. Adlet had to despise her, deep down in his heart. He must have been hiding it as he feigned affection for her—in order to use her. 
When the other Braves had become suspicious, Adlet had taken Fremy as his hostage and run, and he’d used her to survive. He’d done whatever he could to try to get Fremy on his side: spewing tender inanities at her and falsely insisting that he’d fallen head over heels in love. Even as he’d declared he was the strongest man in the world, he’d relied on his allies to save him, and Fremy held utter disdain toward him for that. 
But in the end, she had saved Adlet. When Mora and Goldof had been chasing him, she had protected him. When Adlet had fallen wounded and nearly died, she had frantically treated his wounds. Fremy could write off these actions as a momentary lapse of judgment. It wasn’t that she’d trusted him—much less loved him. She’d been fully aware he was using her. Because she’d known that in his heart, he actually hated her. 
The morning after that, Rolonia had shown up, deepening the mysteries even further. Then the Braves of the Six Flowers had entered the Howling Vilelands and begun the real battle with Tgurneu. Adlet had continued to act as though he loved Fremy. His gaze was always filled with love toward her, though he wouldn’t spare even a glance at Rolonia, who was quite fond of him. 
Fremy had interpreted his actions to mean he thought she might betray them. He was probably worried that Fremy would hesitate to fight the fiends who had raised her; maybe she wanted to go back to her family. When Adlet had whispered about how he would make her happy, sworn he would protect her, and acted like he would never suspect her, he must have been trying to win her over to his side. The self-proclaimed strongest man in the world, and as others called him: the cowardly warrior. He had declared he would do whatever it took to win. He must not have felt even a pang of guilt for murmuring about the love he didn’t feel in the name of victory. 
Or that was how Fremy had interpreted his actions. Though she’d found him aggravating, though he infuriated her, she’d been unable to truly loathe him. She’d continually worried about him since he was so weak and unreliable. If they’d never come to this temple, she would never have realized how he really felt. 
Now, Fremy knew the truth about herself. She knew about the Black Barrenbloom, which could kill all the Braves just by existing. And at the same time, she also understood why Adlet had tried to protect her—to kill the Braves of the Six Flowers. He’d pretended to love her to make her let her guard down, and also because he needed to justify his protection. If he was a real Brave fighting to defeat the Evil God and Tgurneu, there would be no need for him to protect her at this point. He would have no reason to lie about any message. 
She no longer felt anger at being used—because she’d known all along. No one would love a monster like her. All she felt toward Adlet was a pure desire to kill. She would have her revenge against anyone who would ally themselves with Tgurneu. 
More slave-fiends were attacking Rolonia and Nashetania now. The pair took them down and ran, defeated more and then ran again, over and over. Little by little, the slave-fiends were catching up. 
“This might be impossible,” said Nashetania. The two together would be able to escape. But still, being surrounded by so many slave-fiends would make it difficult. “Adlet isn’t coming, so shall we resign and offer Fremy to Chamo?” 
“We—we couldn’t. What would we have come here for, then?” Rolonia was upset. 
“This was to stop a falling-out among allies. But even saying that, I have no obligation to expose myself to danger. I value my own life.” 
Fremy couldn’t understand what Nashetania wanted. At first, she had suspected she was complicit with Adlet in his plan to kill the Six Braves, but that didn’t seem likely anymore. Had she actually not realized who the seventh was? Was she that slow on the uptake? 
But even if Nashetania was plotting something, that wouldn’t change Fremy’s course of action. She was slowly recovering from the paralysis. Once she could move again, she’d simply wait for her chance to slip down from Rolonia’s shoulder. Then she would let a slave-fiend bite her head off. 
No matter how Nashetania’s blades or Rolonia’s whips sliced up the slave-fiends or drove them back, Chamo’s “pets” would immediately recover to chase them down again. Slowly, Fremy began to see the pair was getting exhausted. 
Hans was blocking the way into the labyrinth, and Goldof had circled around behind Adlet. Either might attack at any time. 
Enraged, Adlet took a deep breath to regain his composure. Right then, it didn’t matter that they were suspicious of him. This wasn’t the first time his allies had been hostile toward him. He didn’t have to lose control over this. 
The important thing now was to protect Fremy. The paralysis poison would wear off soon. He had to stop Chamo and change Fremy’s mind by then. But Hans was right in front of him, holding him down. 
“Hans, you really must not do this. Lower your sword,” said Mora. She stood in front of Adlet defensively. “I understand he’s suspicious. You’ve convinced me as well. But a number of things fail to coincide with the idea that he’s acting under Tgurneu’s orders.” 
“Probably, but I don’t give a meow . I’ve decided I’m gonna kill ’im here and now.” 
“Why?!” 
“A hunch,” said Hans, leaving Mora speechless. “I’ve been an assassin for just about ten years. I’ve escaped death more times than I got fingers. When it came to sink or swim, this intuition saved my life. If I don’t believe in my hunches, then there ain’t nothin’ I can believe, and it’s tellin’ me to make sure Fremy and Adlet die. If I don’t, I’ll be the one to die.” 
There was a metallic noise behind Adlet. Goldof, standing in front of the door, must have raised his spear. 
“Goldof, you too? You can’t tell me you believe in this hunch of Hans’s?!” 
“I feel…hesitant. But I think…this is one of those times…when we have to decide.” Adlet could sense behind him that Goldof was ready to kill. “But…I feel it…too. Fremy…and Adlet…are sure to…bring harm to Her Highness…eventually. I can’t shake…that feeling.” 
This is a disaster. The thought rose in Adlet’s mind. There had to be a way out of this, and then a way to stop Chamo. And most importantly, a way to make Fremy stop trying to kill herself. But Adlet couldn’t even guess at how he might accomplish that. 
But no matter how disastrous the situation, Adlet would never allow himself to lose heart. He stood back-to-back with Mora. Hans and Goldof were closing in on them from either side. “Mora, what’s going on with that game of tag inside the labyrinth?” asked Adlet. 
Using her clairvoyance, Mora told him where Rolonia and the others were, adding that Nashetania was supporting Rolonia. 
Adlet also asked, “Does it look like you can stop Chamo? Do you think you can convince Fremy, too?” 
“Fremy is still on your mind? You’re the one under suspicion,” Mora said, exasperated. 
But Adlet didn’t give a damn about himself. Right then, all he could think about was keeping her safe. 
“There is…the matter of the…seventh crest. It wouldn’t be…a good idea…to kill Adlet,” Goldof said to Hans. 
“I kneow. We’ll just poke out his eyes or cut off his hands to make ’im helpless. Oh, and Dozzu—don’t ya get yerself involved. Just sit right down there.” It looked like Dozzu had something to say, but the fiend obediently sat down. 
“Mora, you’ve got to convince them somehow. We’re going to make Fremy give up on killing herself,” Adlet said to Mora behind him. 
“She won’t listen to me. It’s no use, no matter what any of us tell her.” 
How can you give up before you’ve even gotten started? thought Adlet. He had no choice but to face Fremy and talk to her, after all. If he could convince her to stay alive, then with Rolonia, the three of them could face Chamo. If Adlet couldn’t convince her, then he’d have no choice but to hit her with another paralysis needle and carry her out of the temple. 
“Get the hell outta my way, Hans!” Adlet yelled, rushing at the assassin. 
At the same moment, Hans leaped, running up the wall to kick off the ceiling and attack from Adlet’s blind spot. The boy couldn’t even follow him. Hans had always been so much better at swordplay than he was. And to make it worse, Hans’s superhuman style of martial arts and swordsmanship shone most in close quarters. 
“Adlet!” Hans cried. 
There was no way Adlet could dodge that attack. He’d probably have a hard time blocking, too. So he wasn’t going to dodge. Adlet kept running straight ahead without making a single move to defend or attack. 
“Meow?” Adlet’s choice of action took Hans by surprise. He must not have anticipated that Adlet wouldn’t respond at all. Hans’s first swipe cut through air, and he landed on the ground with both hands to launch straight into another jump, slashing out at Adlet’s back. 
Still, the boy didn’t dodge. He took his chances. 
“I won’t permit that, Hans!” 
Adlet had figured Mora would stop Hans’s second attack, and he was right. She body-slammed the assassin into a wall. 
Adlet ran straight down the hallway of the labyrinth, but Goldof was not going to silently stand by and watch. 
“What are you doing, Hans?” 
Adlet felt something deadly bearing down from behind and instantly leaped. A dagger flew just inches under his feet. 
Goldof had thrown it. “Hans! After him!” 
“Meow!” 
Adlet could hear the two behind him. They’d catch him if he stopped, so he raced into the labyrinth at full speed. 
Adlet had dodged Goldof’s dagger, and Mora had blocked Hans. Seeing that, Goldof had attacked Mora. 
He wasn’t fast enough to catch Adlet. Hans was the only one who could stop him. 
After slamming Hans into the wall, Mora was trying to wrestle him down. 
Goldof thrust the butt of his spear into Mora’s stomach from the side. He did hold back, but the strike was enough to get Hans free. 
“Ngh, Adlet!” As Mora took the hit, she pulled something from under her armor to throw to him. He caught it without even looking back. 
“I’m not lettin’ ya go, meow !” Hans chased after Adlet. 
Then Goldof saw Mora pull out one other object. Blocking Goldof’s attacks with her armor, Mora threw it against the wall with full force. 
“Hrmeow!” Hans’s pursuit came to a sudden halt, as if he’d slammed into something. Goldof saw something membrane-like right at the turn in the hallway where Adlet had disappeared. 
“Mora…” He had witnessed something similar before, when they’d been barricaded in the Bud of Eternity. It was an instant barrier. Back then, Mora had trapped Tgurneu inside one. But this seemed to be just the opposite: a barrier that kept enemies out. The barrier blocked the path Adlet had gone down. Hans hit it with the hilt of his sword, but to no avail. 
With her mountain echo, Mora called out. “Adlet, if you throw that on the ground, it will raise a barrier. Generally, it would require continuous energy poured into it in order to be maintained, but in the mountains, it can absorb power from the earth itself. Here, you should be able to use it. If you encounter Hans again, use that and run.” 
“…So even after all that, ya still don’t get it, huh, Mora?” Hans was exasperated. 
“Your and Goldof’s hunches are wrong. I don’t believe Adlet is our enemy.” Mora slipped through the barrier and followed after Adlet. It seemed she was able to nullify the barrier for herself. “If you two will trust your hunches, then I will trust my own. I won’t let you lay a hand on Adlet ,” Mora said over her shoulder, and then she disappeared from Hans’s and Goldof’s view. 
Hans watched with a bitter smile. Despite how much more dire the situation had become, Goldof could see no urgency at all in his attitude. “Well, whatever. It’d be borin’ without this meowch at least.” Hans was enjoying this, for reasons Goldof couldn’t understand. 
It would doubtless be difficult, but nevertheless, they had to chase down Adlet. Goldof was about to run off down the open hallway, away from Mora, when Hans said, “Wait. You stay here and keep an eye on Dozzu.” 
Goldof turned to look back. Dozzu was sitting in front of the room with the Saint of the Single Flower. 
“Those two didn’t come here just to find out about the Black Barrenbloom,” Hans explained. “They’ve got to be plottin’ somethin’. Keep a watch on Dozzu, and don’t let it meowve a step outta here.” 
Goldof was uneasy about leaving Adlet at large, but he couldn’t just leave Dozzu there, either. And to be honest, neither did he know what Her Highness was up to, following after Rolonia. 
“You leave Adlet to me.” 
“You just…failed to catch him…though.” 
“Don’t give me that,” Hans said awkwardly, then ran into the labyrinth. 
But would he be able to capture Adlet in this massive maze? 
“…Good grief. And after we managed to uncover Tgurneu’s plot, too. This is troubling.” 
As if this was someone else’s problem, Dozzu settled itself down and watched the Braves fight one another. 
As Adlet ran, he wondered what he should say to Fremy in order to stop her from killing herself. But he realized he had no idea what was actually on her mind. I’m pathetic , he thought. He couldn’t comprehend a single thing about what went on in the heart of the woman most important to him. In this sad state, he was no “strongest man in the world.” 
There wasn’t even a single thought in his mind about how he himself was suspected. If the others had doubts about him, he just had to convince them. But the dead would never come back. 
“…Adlet ,” came Mora’s mountain echo. “Fremy and the others are in that direction. But if you continue on that way, Chamo’s slave-fiends will capture you. Go around.” 
“Yeah, I got it.” Adlet couldn’t afford to forget about Chamo, either. Even if he convinced Fremy, if Chamo caught her, she could kill her. Hans and Goldof also weren’t on his side, and it was uncertain how long Rolonia and Mora would continue to protect Fremy. He had to be prepared to keep on fighting alone. 
“…?” That was when Adlet got an odd feeling. His current situation, Hans’s inferences, and that he himself was not the seventh all solidified into one. 
As Hans had said, the chances that the seventh had been sent to protect Fremy were high. If so, what was the seventh doing? 
Hans, Chamo, and Goldof had resolved to kill Fremy, and Fremy had resolved to die. Rolonia and Mora were protecting Fremy, but neither was being proactive enough about it. Neither had shown any signs of acting without Adlet’s instruction. Adlet was the only one who had actively tried to protect Fremy. 
If the seventh did mean to protect Fremy, they would have interfered with the deciphering of the hieroglyphs. Adlet would have also expected them to present evidence that Fremy was not the Black Barrenbloom. But nobody had done anything. 
So who was the seventh? Why weren’t they intervening? Were they fine with Fremy being killed? 
That was when Adlet sensed a presence. His train of thought ground to a halt, and his feet stopped, too. He looked around, then started running again. “Mora, is this the path I should be headed down?” 
He heard the mountain echo’s reply. “Wait just a moment. I’m making sure right now… Yes, that’s correct.” 
Adlet kept on thinking. 
After running for a while, he noticed something unusual. Though he’d made his way through the labyrinth according to Mora’s instructions, he couldn’t hear the slave-fiends fighting with Rolonia and Nashetania. “Hey, Mora. Which way should I go now?” he asked uneasily. 
“Continue from there to take the long way around the outer circumference of the labyrinth and you’ll reach Rolonia. Turn right at the next junction.” 
Checking to make sure that Hans and Goldof weren’t following, Adlet ran on. Turning one more corner, he found a dead end. “…Mora, what’s going on here? Answer me.” 
He couldn’t hear her mountain echo. 
“Mora, answer me! Which way is it?! You made a mistake!” he yelled. 
The answer came to him immediately—not as a mountain echo, but as a voice from behind him. “’Tis no mistake.” Mora appeared, slowly rounding the corner. She stopped, blocking his way and preventing him from going anywhere. “I meant to lead you into a dead end all along. I can’t let you go to Rolonia and the others.” 
Adlet’s legs suddenly felt weak beneath him. Fremy’s paralysis would wear off soon. Once that happened, Rolonia wouldn’t be able to protect her alone, and there was no way he could rely on Nashetania. And in this labyrinth, without Mora’s guidance, he wouldn’t even be able to catch up to them. 
“Fremy will die now,” said Mora. 
But even so, he couldn’t give up. 
He used a smoke screen to cloud Mora’s vision and tried to run past her, but thanks to her abilities, it had no effect. She swept his legs out from under him and grabbed him, slamming him into the wall of the dead end. 
“Ngh!” 
The smoke cleared. Adlet was leaning against the wall as Mora watched him sadly. “I don’t believe you’re the seventh, as Hans does, and I don’t say this with intent to deceive you. I do feel this sincerely.” 
“…Move, Mora.” 
“…Let me tell you what I think.” Quietly, Mora began to speak. “Dozzu spoke before of Tgurneu’s ability to control humans. I don’t know if it truly possesses such an ability. This may just be a misunderstanding on Dozzu’s part, or it could be lying to us.” 
As Adlet listened to her, he was looking for his chance to dash past her. 
“But I simply can’t believe that any one of us is acting on Tgurneu’s orders. It seems clear to me we are all fighting in earnest. We may have different ideas and motives, but I believe everyone is putting in our full effort to save the world.” 
“…?” 
“You’re all good youngsters. You, Hans, Fremy—all of you.” 
Adlet slowly stood up. 
“Let me tell you what I believe,” Mora went on. “Fremy is the seventh, and she came here without being aware that she is the seventh, and also without being aware of her identity as the Black Barrenbloom. Tgurneu deceived her, and manipulated her into attempting revenge.” 
“What for?” 
“Tgurneu must have surmised Fremy stood little chance of being chosen as a Brave of the Six Flowers. Six other more qualified people could appear. A fiend may not even be bestowed with the crest in the first place. That would ruin the plan. The best way to ensure that Fremy would meet up with the Six Braves was to give her the seventh crest.” 
“…Get out of my way, Mora.” 
“After that, Tgurneu sprung that trap on me. If you all believed I was the seventh as I died, you would no longer suspect Fremy. We would also stop trying to kill one another. That was surely what Tgurneu was after.” 
Adlet didn’t care who the seventh was. He didn’t care what Tgurneu’s plan was, either. The only thing on his mind was a desire to save Fremy. It was his dream to make her happy and release her from her hatred and isolation. If this dream was left unfulfilled, then their victory would be meaningless, he felt. 
“We’ve won. You protected me then, Goldof protected Nashetania and built this alliance, Dozzu held that information about the Temple of Fate, and Rolonia found Rainer. We’ve destroyed Tgurneu’s plans completely.” 
“But still, I—” 
“Give up on Fremy.” 
Give up. Her words echoed inside Adlet’s skull. 
“I want to ensure her happiness, too, but she wishes for death. Allowing that death may also be a form of kindness.” 
Adlet wanted no part of such “kindness.” 
“Since it’s dangerous to kill the one who holds the seventh crest, we’ll transfer Fremy’s crest to Rolonia, who’s with her now. Or Chamo. I’m not certain one person may bear two crests, but it’s most likely possible. Though we also don’t know whether or not the seventh crest is transferable, so if that can’t be done, we must reconsider.” 
“What’s Rolonia…? What’s Fremy doing?” Adlet asked. 
“This will be painful for you to hear, but…it should be soon.” 
Adlet had stood up once, but he hit the wall again and slumped down. There were just moments left. Without Mora’s cooperation, he would not be able to communicate with Fremy. He had no means of stopping Chamo or backing up Rolonia. 
Was there no way at all? Was there nothing more he could do from where he was? Adlet desperately racked his brain. Don’t despair , he told himself. He recalled Atreau’s maxim: Laugh at despair. 
“Is our only option to let Fremy die?” Adlet muttered. But at the same time, it struck him that something was off. Even as he sank further into his despair, he contemplated what this odd feeling might actually be. He considered the actions of Fremy, the Black Barrenbloom; the as of yet unknown identity of the seventh; the suspicions toward himself; and Hans’s reasoning that Adlet was the seventh. 
He agreed that part of Hans’s deductions were on the mark. And he believed Mora’s reasoning was completely off. Tgurneu wasn’t that easy. He thought about the hieroglyphs that described the Black Barrenbloom, the as of yet concealed power of the Barrenbloom, and about how Dozzu had said Tgurneu was controlling someone. 
And then, there was the fact that he himself was not the seventh. 
He ruminated on his own doubts about why the seventh wasn’t protecting Fremy. And then finally, the actions of the fiends. Everything came together at one singularity, and he arrived at his conclusion. 
I’m an idiot. How had he never come up with this answer before? And then he thought, one more time, I have to protect Fremy, no matter what it takes. No matter what happens. Even if it means giving my own life. 
“Do you concede, Adlet?” Mora said quietly. 
Adlet covered his face with his hands, and his shoulders heaved with sobs. 
“…I don’t have the slightest idea what I could say to you now, Adlet…” Mora approached him. “I’m sorry for making you suffer like this. I was able to protect my daughter, but you…” Gently, Mora put her hand on Adlet’s shoulder. 
Until that moment, she hadn’t realized—that he was faking it. 
This was the only way. He didn’t have the time to think about what he would do afterward. Adlet was certain that if he let Fremy die now, then the Braves of the Six Flowers were over. 
“…?” 
Adlet grabbed Mora’s hand on his shoulder. 
Adlet and Mora had failed to realize that specialist number thirty was right beside them, camouflaged against the flagstones about a few dozen yards behind Mora, listening to their conversation. 
Meanwhile, Fremy was starting to feel like she could really move. She wasn’t entirely back to normal, but it was enough to escape Rolonia. There were quite a few more slave-fiends surrounding Nashetania and Rolonia now. The two had their hands full just defending themselves. 
Slung over Rolonia’s shoulder, Fremy broke her act of immobility by kicking Rolonia in the back of the head with her knee. 
“Ah!” Rolonia pitched forward. Fremy wriggled out of her grasp and began limping toward the slave-fiends nearby, since her legs hadn’t completely recovered. 
“You can’t! Fremy!” cried Rolonia. 
Fremy submitted her head to the fangs of a water snake slave-fiend. But that moment, all the slave-fiends froze, immediately returned to their mud form, and left like an ebbing wave. 
“…Huh?” Not understanding why, Fremy was confused. Rolonia panicked and jumped on her to pin her down. 
“Let go. You’re in the way.” 
“No, Fremy. You can’t die!” 
“…This is odd. Did something happen to Chamo?” wondered Nashetania. 
While shaking off Rolonia, Fremy was thinking the same thing. There was no reason for Chamo to stop trying to kill her. It couldn’t be— Had Adlet defeated her? 
But the moment that thought came to Fremy’s mind, they heard Chamo’s voice. “This is bad! Fremy! Stop trying to die right now!” Fremy was confused. Even as they spoke, the Black Barrenbloom was sucking away their power. 
“Rolonia! Princess! Stop Fremy! We can’t let her die right now!” Chamo’s voice was approaching. Rolonia looked relieved and released Fremy. She must have figured Adlet had done something. 
Chamo came over to the three of them, straddling a slug slave-fiend’s back. Her taut expression was burning with anger. She slid down from the slug’s back, marched up to Rolonia, and punched her in the head with her fist as hard as she could, enough to injure her own wrist. “You’re a huge idiot, Rolonia. You’ve really done it now.” 
“…Wh-what happened?” 
“Auntie’s mountain echo didn’t reach you?” Chamo was clenching her teeth in anger. Rolonia seemed to finally realize that something grave had happened. 
“Auntie got taken hostage—by Adlet.” 
“…What are you talking about?” 
“Adlet captured Auntie. She can’t do anything. If we kill Fremy, he’s gonna cut off her head right that second! That’s what he’s saying!” 
At first, Rolonia gave a little laugh, as if to say You’re kidding me. 
When she understood it was no lie, she sank down hard onto the floor. 
“…I see,” Fremy muttered quietly. “So it’s come to this, Adlet.” She felt no anger, nothing. She’d known for a while now that Adlet was the seventh, and he would use any means to win. 
“I’m going, Rolonia. I have to defeat Adlet and save Mora,” Fremy icily told the stunned girl.