was tightly grasped. The eyeball design put in the handle felt as though it was goggling at Ayato.“Oh dear, this is a problem. An unexpected obstacle appeared.”
Impatience appeared just a little on the face of Gustave who did not break his smile so far.
“What will you do now, Gustave Malraux? I don’t mind being your opponent as is, but… it’s not the case for you, right?”
“…I see, what an unpleasantly shrewd young lady.”
Gustave confronted Claudia silently for a while, but he greatly sighed before long and shook his head.
“Haa… You’re right. I was certainly told not to lay a hand on you. Though it is a rare chance, I shall reasonably withdraw here.”
“It’s a wise decision.”
Contrastive to Claudia who chuckled, Gustave disappeared within the forest with a bitter face.
“Haa… You saved us, Claudia.”
“No, I’m glad that I made it in time. I already contacted the royal palace, so I think they will soon come to get us.”
“I see…”
At the same time as he muttered so, Ayato’s field of vision became blurred. And his consciousness rapidly faded away.
“Ayato? Are you all right, Ayato…?!”
While hearing Claudia’s cries, Ayato’s consciousness was sinking into deep darkness.
- ψ -
That greenhouse had already lost its function as a greenhouse long ago. The gla.s.s was cracked here and there, full of repaired marks and generally, it undeniably gave the impression of an old deserted house.
But still, in this country where the winter cold was severe, having been isolated from the open air meant that it probably had some level of benefit. The plants which grew as to fill up the greenhouse all retained a fresh green and among them, there were those which bloomed pretty flowers.
Inside it, a girl with rose-colored hair was only gazing absentmindedly at the girl with chestnut-colored hair who endeavored in gardening without getting tired.
“…I don’t understand after all. How is it fun making such a thing?”
At these words, the chestnut-haired girl shrugged her shoulders with a chuckle.
“Hmm… Well, if I have to say, it would be the actual experiences, I guess.”
“Actual experiences?”
“Yes. The experiences of coming to touch with a life.”
“I think that facing these runts would be more than enough for that.”
Although both of them were still children, too, there were many children younger than them in this orphanage.
“Fufufu, it’s not the same. These children[3] cannot talk, but in return they are very honest. When poured with affection, they will properly return it; conversely if you ease up on them, they will ignore you.”
“Plants? Ignore people?”
The rose-color haired girl made a face showing that she could not understand after all.
“Oh my, don’t you know? Even healthy plants will wither if they don’t receive affection from people.”
“…I didn’t know that.”
Although the rose color-haired girl noncommittally said, still she did not intend to leave the greenhouse.
For some reason, it was very comfortable here.
Though it was so old, small and ragged, she strangely felt at ease.
The roseate-haired girl somehow realized that the reason was the warm girl before her eyes.
“Hey, it’s boring to be always looking, right? Why don’t you try to help me occasionally, too?”
“…You mean me?”
“Is there anyone else here? Come, take this.”
The roseate-haired girl revealed a perplexed expression at the girl who peremptorily handed her a small shovel.
“I-I’ve never taken care of plants before…”
“Oh my… You really don’t know anything after all. Fine, I will teach you from scratch.”
Saying so, the chestnut-haired girl happily laughed.
It was a calm, gentle ── warm smile as she seemed to be really enjoying herself.
- ψ -
──His body was awfully heavy.
A feeling of pressure as if was being crushed by something.
As he opened his eyes to this unbearable suffocation, a dim room’s ceiling came into view.
Though confused for a moment, he immediately remembered.
This was Lieseltania’s royal palace, in the room which was a.s.signed to him.
“I see… I fainted after that…”
That meant, this weight on his body was probably due to Orphelia’s poison which was still effective after all.
He realized it as he tried to raise his body to confirm it when thinking so.
“N-Ngh…”
“Suh…”
On top of Ayato’s body, Saya and Kirin were soundly sleeping lying on him.
As might be expected of a room for an honor guest, the bed was also big, so there was still quite some s.p.a.ce even if three people slept on it. Then, Saya brought her face near Ayato’s arm and Kirin hers near Ayato’s feet, both of them raising a quiet sleeper’s breathing.
“Errr…”
As he was unable to completely grasp the situation and was wondering what he should do, the room’s door opened and someone came in.
“Ah, did you wake up? Honestly, don’t make me worry so much.”
That face, which was shadowed as the corridor was bright, could not clearly be seen; but he knew who it was by the voice.
“Hahaha… I’m ashamed. More importantly Julis, are you all right, too?”
“No problem. I woke up earlier than you.”
While saying so, Julis sat down on a chair beside the bed.
“How long do you think has pa.s.sed before you woke up?”
“Eh? No, I don’t know at all…”
As he honestly answered back since he did not know, Julis said with a mischievous smile.
“Three days.”
“Three days!?”
As expected, he was surprised at this.
“Orphelia’s poison is a.s.sorted, but the one you received this time acts on prana and it forcibly put one in the same state as when they run out of prana. Though it isn’t life-threatening, the troublesome thing is that the more aggregate amount of prana you have, the stronger the effect becomes. That’s why it would especially take time for you to recover.”
“Is that so…”
“These two were so worried that they constantly attended to you every day. You should thank them later.”
When Julis said so, she looked at Saya and Kirin with gentle eyes.
“And… I haven’t given you my thanks yet, too.”
“Thanks?”
“I heard the story from Claudia. Didn’t even Gustave showed up after Orphelia? Thank you, you saved me.”
“Ah, you mean that, huh.”
Though it was certainly true, he did what he thought was natural. Probably, if their positions were reversed, Julis would have done the same thing. They had already established such deep trust.
“It’s fine now. I hope you won’t start talking about favors or debts again.”[4]
Then, Julis calmly smiled and shook her head.
“No… I just wanted to say it properly.”
“I see.”
Though Ayato also returned a smile to such a Julis, he immediately returned to a serious look and asked.
“So, would you tell me, Julis? The relation between you and her ──Orphelia Landlufen.”
“…That’s right. Now that this happened, you also have the right to know.”
Julis seemed to have faltered for an instant, but she soon took out a handkerchief from her breast pocket.
“Ayato, do you remember this?”
“Of course. It’s the handkerchief from when you and I met for the first time, right?”
The handkerchief which had been carried by the wind and fell before Ayato who has just arrived at Seidoukan Academy. The time when Ayato handed it to Julis was their encounter.
He felt like already it was something of quite long ago, but actually only about half a year has pa.s.sed since then.
“Yes, that’s right. And I think I talked about it a little before, but this was given to me by everyone from the orphanage as a present.”
“If I remember correctly, you said they embroidered it together. And that among them, Julis’ close friend sewed it…”
Saying up to there, Ayato suddenly realized.
“Ah…! Don’t tell me…!”
“──Yes. That close friend is Orphelia.”
With nostalgic eyes, Julis traced the most unshapely embroidery with a finger.
“Then, she was also in that orphanage before?”
As Julis gave a small nod, she stood up, went towards the window and opened the luxurious curtains.
He didn’t know what time it was now, but the soft moonlight came in through the slightly cloudy sky.
“But, if she’s your best friend, why did she do such a thing…?”
As he remembered the fight between Julis and Orphelia, Ayato cast down his gaze.
Even friends would quarrel, but that was beyond that level.
“After I started going to the orphanage to play, Orphelia and I immediately got along well. After all, we almost had the same age and above all, even though our personalities were the exact opposite, we got along quite well. She was a gentle girl who couldn’t even kill an insect and she liked taking care of plants more than anything… When a beautiful flower blooms, only then was she a little excited.”
Orphelia’s character sketch which Julis talked about seemed totally different from the one Ayato saw.
“But one day, Orphelia’s figure suddenly disappeared from the orphanage. Even when I asked the Sisters, they would hold their tongues not telling me anything. So, I clung on to my big brother and had him investigated, and finally understood. About the fact that the orphanage’s management came to a deadlock, the huge debt, and──about the fact that as mortgage, Orphelia was half forcibly levied to a certain research inst.i.tution. And the worst of this was that I knew nothing till then. I was a child who really knew nothing whether it be this country’s state or its system or even what kind of position I’m in.”
“……”
“Naturally, in order to take back Orphelia, the child me tried any means possible. But as a result, I only realized how powerless I was. Eventually, there is no one in this country that can oppose a research inst.i.tution under the direct control of the Integrated Enterprise Foundation.”
Julis closed her mouth once there.
Silence ruled the room for a while.
Ayato too, just keeping silent, endured the heavy silence.
“──Having levied Orphelia was a research inst.i.tution of Frauenlob. That research inst.i.tute is the abandoned building which is in that snowfield.”
“That place is…?”
“Their research subject was... to create Starpulse generation posteriori.”
“Wha…?!”
Ayato unintentionally raised his voice. He had never heard about such crazy research.
“The person in charge of the research was a woman called , a student belonging to Allekant’s researchers.”“I see; that’s why you don’t like Allekant…”
“You may say that it’s a personal grudge.”
He finally understood the reason why Julis hated Allekant.
Julis slowly took out her portable terminal and opened a s.p.a.ce window.
There was a photo of two still innocent and intimate girls. One was a strong-willed girl with gorgeous rose-colored hair, and the other was a calm girl with chestnut-colored hair.
“This is me and Orphelia.”
“No way…”
He understood at first glance that one seemed to be Julis, but it might be said that Orphelia was a completely different person from the color of her hair and eyes, and her atmosphere to her look.
“Orphelia at the time was not a much less a . It’s really disconcerting that now she is the world’s strongest .”In other words, that meant that Orphelia was a made artificially.“Then, does this mean that the research succeeded?”
“Who knows? But if it was the case, then it’d be a great discovery of the century. And it should have been widely publicized. The fact that they didn’t do that means that there is some problem. ──Like Orphelia.”
“Problem?”
Julis shrugged her shoulders with a sorrowful smile.
“You saw that abandoned building, right? That’s the result of Orphelia’s power having run out of control. The building fell to ruins, the ground rotted and gra.s.s doesn’t grow there even now.”
“Run out control…? Why did such a thing happen?”
“I don’t know the details. What I only know is that when the research center was destroyed, it was Solneige’s Special Forces who rescued Orphelia. Afterwards, I don’t know what kind of deal there was, but Orphelia was transferred from Frauenlob to Solneige.”
“I see, that’s why she is now in Le Wolfe…”
Solneige was Le Wolfe Black Inst.i.tute’s governing body.
“Although, it was quite later on that I knew of these details. At the time, the research center’s destruction did not go public as it was concealed, and I wasn’t able to find even a clue about where and how Orphelia was.──Until I watched the that day.”“You mean the of the time before last, right?”Julis nodded at Ayato’s words.
“As expected, I doubted my own eyes. But no matter how much her appearance changed, my intuition told me that that was Orphelia. So, I tried to contact her, but…”
Julis’ voice faded weakly. With that alone, one could guess in what it resulted in.
“She has changed. It might have been inevitable, but it looks as if she gave up and abandoned just about everything. But… even so, I want Orphelia to come back. As things go, though not that serious, Orphelia’s body won’t last.”
Julis strongly chewed her molars.
“What do you mean by her body won’t last?”
“I’m also a , so I know. I don’t think it possible to completely control such mighty power. Orphelia’s miasma is nothing but a double-edged sword which also undermines herself the more she uses it. She’s virtually fights while reducing her lifespan.”Certainly, it was unthinkable that one could handle such overwhelming power with no risk.
“That’s why one year ago, as soon as I was admitted into Asterisk, I find out about Orphelia and went to persuade her. To at least stop anymore absurd fights. But eventually, she didn’t heed; and I’d told her to win a duel against me if she wants to continue no matter what… The result was, well… I don’t need to say it.”
So, that was the circ.u.mstances of a year ago, huh.
“It was a little long, but well it’s something like this.”
When Julis sighed as she said so, she put a hand on her waist with a somewhat refreshed face.
“Therefore Ayato, this is only a problem between me and Orphelia. I’m sorry to have involved you this time, but I must accomplish just this much by myself. Otherwise, neither Orphelia nor I would be able accept the outcome. Do you understand?”
“…I got it.”
To be frank, he wanted to help her, but everyone has a fight which they can’t compromise on no matter what.
“That’s it. Even you two there who are feigning sleep, I don’t want unnecessary interference about this matter.”
When Julis teasingly said so, Saya’s and Kirin’s bodies slightly moved.
“…So, you’ve noticed it.”
“Ha-Hahaha… I’m sorry.”
The two girls looked up apologetically.
“Oh, so you two were awake.”
That said, it was natural after they talked so much.
“Um, we didn’t mean to eavesdrop; how to put it, we couldn’t help it…”
“I don’t mind, so don’t worry about it. More importantly now, we’ve to give priority to Gustave Malraux over Orphelia.”
“By any chance, has anyone been attacked again since then?”
In that case, Ayato thought that it wasn’t the time to be leisurely sleeping like that.
“No, on that point, it’s all right. The guard staff largely increased in both the royal palace and the imperial villa, and the standby alert is set in the whole capital. Even that guy can’t take action at a moment’s notice. Just in case, I also took necessary measures so that a part of the guards’ staff might be dispatched to the orphanage, too.”
Because there was the incident with Flora, Julis was probably anxious, too.
“Besides, if he carelessly attacks, the Integrated Enterprise Foundation won’t just sit back, too. My brother should have already contacted them, but a certain number of soldiers are stationed in the research facility in the capital’s suburbs. Should war begin aside, it’s enough to deal with one criminal.”
“It’d be better if he’d just quietly withdraw though…”
Kirin said so and snuggled Senbakiri.
“…That’s probably impossible.”
“That’s right. Once we return to Asterisk, it’ll become extremely difficult for that guy to attack us── in other words, to achieve his goal. Not only will it be difficult to just get into Asterisk, even in the case that he succeeded in doing it, it’ll be impossible to get away to begin with. Therefore, he’ll definitely attack before that.”
“Then, he’s likely to aim for when we’ll be on our way back, I guess…”
If they were attacked somewhere on that mountain path, it would be quite troublesome.
“──Ah, that’s right. By the way, where is Claudia?”
There, Ayato remembered that there was something he wanted to ask Claudia.
Although vague, Ayato remembered the conversation between Claudia and Gustave. The way it looked, Claudia was more likely to have some kind of information regarding this matter.
“Ah, Claudia went back earlier.”
“Eh?”
“She said that there was some place where she must stop by. She seemed to be unusually in a hurry though.”
“Is that so…”
It looked like she did not tell about her conversation with Gustave to Julis and the others.
(Anyway, I’ll contact her later…)
It’s Claudia we’re talking about, so he thought that she had some plan; but he also wanted to ask her about that.
There suddenly, Ayato’s stomach greatly rumbled.
“Ah…”
Although it couldn’t helped since he had slept for three days, as expected it was a little embarra.s.sing.
After Saya, Kirin and Julis looked at each other, they burst into laughter all at once.
“Puh, Hahahaha…! Good grief… Well, it’s good to be healthy. I will ask to prepare some light meal. Wait a moment.”
At the time when Julis wiped tears which floated on the edge of her eyes and stood up──
“I-I-I-It’s terrible! Princess!”
Flora who barged into the room with the vigor as to blow off the door shouted while being flurried.
ReferencesJump up↑ up↑ up↑ children here referred to the plantsJump up↑ remember in vol1 where Ayato saved her from an arrow shoot by Cyrus, she told there that she owe him.