Chapter 172 - <15>
“I hear Barat has been taken into custody…”
Anil, looking utterly exhausted, arrived late in the afternoon of the day after they had handed Barat over to the Autonomous Guard. After searching everywhere, to find that the person in question had turned himself in to the Autonomous Guard, and that the people who had been with him until the day before were his backers—Anil’s dejection was understandable.
In the room of Edward and Anna, where they had somehow gathered, Anil sat down in the offered chair and covered his face.
“Don’t I look like an idiot?”
Franz had no words to offer the groaning Anil. In a situation where no one could say anything, only Anna was quietly preparing tea. Anna, who had regained her spirits for a moment after Ritz’s return, seemed to be troubled after hearing Barat’s confession.
It was, of course, about the member of the Clan of Darkness named Kuchiba. In Roshozu, Kuchiba had declared to Anna that he would “cause trouble wherever you go,” and the catalyst for this incident was Kuchiba. And the one Kuchiba was truly challenging was their party, with Anna at its center. From Anna’s perspective, she might feel that Kamala’s misfortune was their fault.
By the time the aroma of the tea Anna had prepared filled the room, Anil, who had finally calmed down, raised his face. He then looked straight at Edward.
“Could you tell me the details?”
“…Details of what?”
“The truth.”
“The truth lies only with those involved. All we know is the truth as Barat sees it. Are you alright with that?”
“Yes.”
“Are you confident you can listen calmly, no matter what the story may be?”
“I am. And since Barat visited you all, I have a general idea.”
His stiff expression unchanging, Anil looked down, then finally raised his face and looked straight at Edward.
“Please.”
“…Very well.”
At first, Franz listened to Edward’s voice as he calmly and logically explained Barat’s halting and utterly confused story, but soon he sank into his own thoughts.
He thought about what he would do.
Instead of Kamala, the face of the Diva appeared before him. The one she had loved was him, not his father. Now that he had heard the story from Constanze, he understood that clearly. Though he was only eleven years old, he had been strangely cold and mature for his age. She had first pitied him, and later loved him as another captive, just like herself.
The Diva was still only eighteen at the time. Franz was seventeen when he met Ritz and Anna and set out on his journey. Almost the same age. It had only been a little over a year since he started his journey, but he recalled how he had been full of emotions and hot-headed when he had just begun. Thinking back now, he had made sarcastic remarks and gotten confused without really understanding why. He, back then, and the Diva, back then, were the same age.
In that case, she too was not yet an adult.
If she, like Kamala, had committed murder to protect her life with the person she loved. If she had killed his father to be with Franz, could he have taken her hand?
He had hated his father. But he had not left Saradio. A part of him was coddling himself, and while he found his father loathsome, he had been unable to completely escape his father’s grasp. If he had not met Ritz and Anna, if his master had also disappeared and he had been left all alone, what would he have done?
Thinking that, a shiver ran through him. While hating, despising, and looking down on his father, he probably would have returned to the Lucina family. And while looking down on his father, he would have performed the role given to him, and perhaps he would have smugly believed that there would be no problem if he became a different kind of lord than his father, and lived out his life as a lord.
Could such a Franz have protected the Diva who had killed his father, and fought alongside her for her sake?
The answer was no.
Even the Franz of today, if the Diva offered him a blood-soaked hand, would hesitate, probably step back, and agonize over it. And after thinking it over, he might turn away. The abandoned her would be driven to madness. It might not be the happy fantasy the Diva had escaped into just before her death, but a violent madness like Kamala’s.
Sensing a presence, he looked towards Anna. Behind the downcast Anna stood Ritz, who had been lying on Edward’s bed, looking bored and re-reading the details of the incident that Franz had written.
Ritz placed his palm on the head of the thoughtful Anna and stroked it lovingly. His touch was gentler than one could ever imagine from the usual Ritz. Stealing a glance, Ritz’s eyes were fixed squarely on Anna.
Though Ritz was irresponsible, a night owl, and a womanizer, he had something unshakable that Franz lacked. It was an absolute standard of values that he had set for himself.
The trust Ritz had for Edward was said to have never wavered since they met, no matter what happened. Though the two usually exchanged childish complaints over trivial matters, during the assassination attempt, Ritz had shown his readiness to lay down his own life for Edward and his determination to protect him through and through.
And then there was Anna. If Ritz were in Barat’s situation, he would take Anna’s blood-stained hand without hesitation. And surely Ritz would fall with her, committing sins without fear.
Franz could not become Ritz. Just like Barat, he knew all too well that he was an ordinary person. But he did not want to remain at a standstill, the same as he had been when he ran away from the Diva.
That was why he wanted to talk to Kamala. He wanted to ask her how she could be saved. It wasn’t that he was trying to atone for the Diva now. Franz simply wanted to know, and to accept the pain he had once cast aside.
“It’s about what I imagined.”
Anil’s dark, sunken voice brought him back to his senses. He realized the tea that had been placed in front of him had long since gone cold. He reflexively looked out the window; dusk was approaching.
“If Barat had the kind of personality to do something so bold, this incident would never have happened in the first place. That’s what it comes down to, isn’t it?”
Groaning as he muttered that, Anil looked down and laughed weakly.
“It would have been better if he had just run away from the start. Before my sister thought she had to kill our father to be with him, if he had just told me, I would have guided them to the foot of the mountain anytime.”
Anil’s chuckling voice was trembling. Not just Franz, but everyone had noticed that his clenched fists were shaking slightly.
“If he had, my sister wouldn’t have had to go mad…”
With words of regret, tears fell with a soft sound, leaving round marks on the table. No one said a word to him. In times like these, everyone knew that any words of comfort would ring hollow.
And even Anna, who always had something to say at times like these, seemed unable to speak. Anna probably felt a sense of responsibility, thinking about what the man named Kuchiba had done to Kamala. Franz didn’t think Anna should bear that responsibility. Perhaps thinking the same way as Franz, Ritz was still stroking Anna’s hair.
Just as the room’s atmosphere sank into a deep silence, a sudden gust of wind blew through. The window attached to the guest room vibrated violently and shattered at once, blowing into the room.
When he came to, Franz was on the floor. Someone had reflexively pulled him down. Turning his head to the side, he saw red hair. Anna, who had been sitting next to him, was also on the floor, held down by someone else.
That someone was Ritz, who had been standing behind Anna. As if sensing there would be no second wave of attack, Ritz slowly got off of Anna and Franz.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“No.”
Answering briefly, he got up to see Edward and Anil moving on the other side of the table. They both seemed unharmed.
“What was that?”
Ritz muttered, brushing off the shards of glass from his body.
“…It felt like a shockwave.”
Anil, who had been crying just moments before, answered with a dazed expression, still sitting on the floor, without wiping his tear-streaked cheeks.
“A shockwave?”
“Yes. When you manipulate wind spirits violently and at high speed, it makes the surrounding air vibrate and create a shockwave. I think it was probably that.”
After reflexively explaining that much, Anil tilted his head.
“But who would do something like this in the middle of the city?”
As if cued by those words, another fierce gust of wind blew through. There was no more window glass to fly, but the wind rampaged through the room. Reflexively, Franz grabbed onto the leg of the table. The heavy wooden table creaked and moved as it was buffeted by the wind.
And the moment the wind died down, a rumbling sound like an earthquake echoed.
“What was that?!”
Ritz, who had been holding Anna to protect her from the gust, instinctively stood up and looked out the window.
“That’s dangerous, Ritz!”
Without reacting to Anna’s call, Ritz leaned out and looked outside. After a moment, he turned back and looked at the room with a tense face.
“A tornado is tearing through the city… the damage is terrible.”
At those words, something occurred to Franz, and he rushed to the window. As if thinking the same thing, Anna also ran to the window. The moment she saw the scene outside the window, she got goosebumps. Next to her, Anna also gasped.
“A Wind Dragon…”
At Anna’s murmur, Anil stood up, stared out the window, and his eyes widened. Then he collapsed back into his seat, pale as a sheet.
“Do you know something, Anil?”
When Edward asked him in a strong tone, Anil looked at Edward with a face stiff with fear. His eyes were colored with despair and shock.
“Anil.”
When prompted strongly again, Anil looked down and his body trembled.
“…It’s Kamala.”
“What?”
“Right now, there are less than ten people with enough power to use a Wind Dragon. They are, of course, the elders in the holy land, but Kamala is also among those ten. But I can’t imagine the elders destroying the city. If that’s the case, that dragon is…”
“Kamala…”
“Yes.”
Franz turned his eyes back to the scene unfolding before him. A giant Wind Dragon was flying wildly around the city. The chaotic Wind Dragon, like a lost child with nowhere to go, was a terrifying sight to Franz, a spirit user. He couldn’t imagine being able to control it again himself.
In fact, Franz had once been nearly swallowed by a Fire Spirit. That raging Wind Dragon probably couldn’t be stopped by anyone anymore. Before the despair-filled eyes of Franz, the Wind Dragon let out a loud roar as if it had found someone and sped up, rushing up the city of Tashkur.
“The Wind Dragon is heading upwards!”
“Up?”
“Yeah. At an incredible speed.”
Hearing Anna’s words, Ritz shouted.
“If Kamala is controlling the Wind Dragon, that means Kamala is at the dragon’s destination, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Could it be that Kamala found out where Barat is being held?”
At those words, everyone froze.
“Which means, where that dragon is headed is… the Autonomous Guard headquarters?”
“That’s a possibility.”
“…What for?”
“To rescue Barat… or maybe…”
Ritz’s words trailed off. But even Franz could guess what came next.
Kamala might be planning to kill Barat, who would not answer her feelings.
“Let’s go!”
Anna said, turning around. Her eyes were filled with strong determination.
“We can’t let this go on. No one will be saved. Besides… Kuchiba might be there too.”
Without answering, Ritz left the room. A short while later, he returned wearing a jacket and carrying his greatsword on his back.
“I’m ready. And we’d better hurry. If this city gets completely destroyed, it’ll be a disaster.”
“Ritz!”
Anna smiled happily, put on her jacket, and took her silver staff in hand. Watching them, Edward and Anil also began to prepare. Franz, who had been standing there stunned, came back to his senses and hastily grabbed his jacket and spear from his room. If he cowered before the overwhelming power of the Wind Dragon, he would be the same as his old self. If he didn’t want that, he had to go. He wanted to go and talk to Kamala.
“Well then, shall we go for an evening stroll?”
Edward said with a smile.
When the group stepped outside the inn, the night in Tashkur was already in a state of great chaos. The people living in the entertainment district, most of whom had no spiritual power, were running around in a panic, not knowing what was happening. But as they ran up the levels and entered the upper residential area of the Birdfolk, the people’s demeanor changed. They were all looking up with expressions of terror at the Wind Dragon, which was letting out a dark, churning roar from the depths of the earth and rampaging through the sky as it headed upwards.
On them, the debris of the buildings destroyed by the Wind Dragon rained down mercilessly like a shower of stones. Before their eyes, helpless people were being struck and injured by the stones. It was a scene of a terrible disaster, the likes of which Franz had never seen in his life.
“This is just like a battlefield.”
Ritz muttered under his breath. He had never been to or seen a battlefield, but the thought that it could be like this sent a chill down his spine.
“Look!”
Anna, who had been running, pointed to the sky and shouted. At the raging Wind Dragon’s location, another Wind Dragon had appeared.
“…It’s big…”
He stopped and murmured involuntarily. Anna and Anil, like Franz, had also stopped and were looking up at the sky.
“A very magnificent Wind Dragon…”
It was a Wind Dragon more than a size larger than the one rampaging through the city. And that dragon did not hold the fierce anger of the Wind Dragon wielded by Kamala, but possessed an overwhelming strength filled with pride.
“It seems the elders have come out,” Anil said with a pained expression.
“No matter how strong Kamala is, she’s no match for a dragon handled by several elders at once. She’ll be erased soon.”
“In that case, we don’t have time to worry about the dragon.”
Edward, who was at the front with Ritz, glanced at Franz and the others who were still standing.
“Our priority is to stop Kamala.”
Nodding, Franz looked up at the sky again. The Wind Dragon, which exuded a sense of malevolence, and the elders’ dragon clashed head-on, and a shockwave swept through the surroundings. The wind pressure rustled the group’s hair. It was a clash of overwhelming power, but it was certain that the elders had the advantage.
“Let’s go, Franz.”
Ritz tapped him on the shoulder, bringing him back to his senses, and he followed his companions who were moving ahead. As they ran through the chaotic city towards the upper levels, the damage became minimal. The dragon had appeared in the entertainment district below and had gradually moved up, destroying the town as it went, so the damage in the lower levels was the greatest.
Hurrying along the road to the Autonomous Guard headquarters, ignoring the Birdfolk people who were peering out of their windows in fear, this place was strangely quiet compared to the chaos and pandemonium of the lower levels. Just as he thought they might reach the headquarters without any further incident, Anna’s scream-like cry shattered the silence.
“Look out! Get down!”
Reflexively turning his gaze towards where the two dragons were fighting, Franz’s eyes widened. With incredible speed, the two dragons came flying towards them, tangled together. He instinctively ducked, and the Wind Dragon was violently slammed into the middle of a terraced apartment building a few dozen meters away.
With a loud crack, the wall split, and the entire wall collapsed at once.
“…What kind of a fight is this?”
Ritz, who had instinctively ducked at Anna’s words though he couldn’t see the spirits, muttered in a daze.
“It’s collapsing.”
Edward’s calm groan made Franz’s eyes widen. The building, standing on a stone wall that had been passed down for hundreds, thousands of years, was slowly tilting and beginning to crumble.
“Anil!”
Edward called to Anil with eyes as cold as ice.
“Yes.”
“Urge the residents on top to evacuate. Right now.”
“Ah…”
Anil seemed to struggle to grasp the meaning of his words for a moment, but the next instant he understood and turned pale. If that building collapsed, the people inside would never be saved.
“Yes!”
With his reply, Anil took to the air. He shouted at the people peering out from the building to evacuate. At Anil’s words, the Birdfolk people hurriedly called out to their families and began to fly out of the windows.
“Please make it in time.”
At Ritz’s murmur, Franz also clenched his fists tightly and nodded. A large number of casualties would lead to a tragic situation.
“Goddess, Spirit Kings…”
Anna closed her eyes tightly, clasped her hands in front of her, and prayed with a trembling voice. Just as the last of the many people had escaped into the air, it happened suddenly. With a deafening roar, the entire slope collapsed at once.
The residential building that had been there was swept away with the landslide, leaving behind a scene like that of a cliff collapse. Although the residential area of the Birdfolk was crowded, the roads were wider than in the lower levels, so the landslide didn’t flow down to the level below but remained as a pile of rubble on the spot. It was a terrifying sight.
In this strangely quiet place, Anna muttered in a trembling voice.
“Did everyone escape? Are they okay?”
“I hope so…”
Franz, too, stood there stunned, rubbing his trembling body and watching the disaster. The sun had completely set, and the darkness of night was closing in.
After standing there wordlessly for a while, Anil landed in front of the group.
“Anil! Is everyone safe?! Did anyone not make it out?”
At Anna’s eager question, Anil shook his head weakly.
“I don’t know. I’ve asked them to check, but…”
“No…”
After a while, an elderly Birdfolk man landed next to Anil.
“Anil, three are missing. We don’t know if they were out or inside.”
A heavy silence fell. As everyone stood there, unable to utter a word, Edward let out a small sigh and made a calm decision.
“Ritz, we need someone strong for the search. Stay here and help the Birdfolk. Besides, you’re not a spirit user, so you’ll be of no use in this fight.”
“Yeah.”
“Anil, act as a liaison between Ritz and the Birdfolk and conduct the search.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll stay too! I can heal the injured!”
Anna volunteered, but Edward gave a wry smile.
“I’d like nothing more, but Anna, Franz, and I are heading to the Autonomous Guard headquarters.”
“Huh…?”
“Kamala is a wind spirit user. We need a spirit user who can counter her.”
“But Franz is here.”
“A Fire Spirit will be important to lead the charge. But if we’re fighting a wind user, Anna, a water spirit user, has the advantage. Fire could escalate the damage. And we might be able to avoid injuring the culprit. We can’t let her kill Barat. If that happens, Kamala will truly have no way of turning back.”
“But…”
It was Anil who pushed the hesitating, bewildered Anna’s back.
“Please go, Anna.”
“Anil…”
“I want to see my sister too, but as her brother, I will take responsibility for the disaster she has caused. So please, stop my sister.”
Still hesitating, Ritz gently placed a hand on Anna’s head.
“Leave this to me and go. If there are any injured, I’ll do everything I can to help. If you can catch Kamala and come back right away, it’ll be fine. Okay?”
Biting her lip and looking down, Anna looked up after a moment. Her eyes, looking straight at Ritz, held a smile filled with determination.
“I’m going, so you do your best!”
“Yeah. Leave it to me.”
At Ritz’s usual confident and fearless smile, Anna nodded brightly and turned back to them. There was no hesitation in her eyes.
“Franz, Ed-san, let’s go!”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s.”
They were almost at the Autonomous Guard headquarters. The three of them ran through the city, which was beginning to be enveloped by the darkness of night, with all their might.