Swamp Girl!

During this interval, my body regained the ability to move.
Slowly, I got to my feet and took a deep breath.

Maybe I was confused because of the extent of the damage. That thing, I held in my left hand. The sword in my right… was now at my feet.
It was after picking it up that I noticed. It was too bent to be of any use anymore. And it wasn’t something I would use against Chris. As I thought, I really was a mess — I cast the sword aside.

“Nah. That’s it. My employer up and died on me over there, you know. Contract’s over. Big loss for me. ‘Sides, when this is over, I’ll be public enemy number one. What a pain in the a.s.s. So when I saw the perfect timing, I took the stage. So how about it? Right now, things look — ”

“Done. For your asking price.”

Looking down at me, Maddox spoke with a smirk. There wasn’t a hint of timidity in his manner.
But I wasn’t in the mood to chat. Cutting him off, I made my decision on the spot.

He was a guy who really screwed around, but as an ally, there was no one more rea.s.suring. I tossed aside my reservations without the slightest hesitation.

“Lord Leon… But — ”

Groaning, Arcteur gave me a look like he wanted to say something.

“I know what you want to say. But there are things that take priority. Besides, so long as a mercenary is guaranteed money, he won’t turn traitor. Isn’t that right, Maddox?”

“Shall we work that out first?”

What a shrewd man. But this wasn’t the time to sweat the details.

Before us, Tetra raised several more golems. Three — no, four.
That brought the number of golems up to seven. The remaining three were still being held up by Vyde and Rupert. Vyde had one down, one to go. Rupert, two. It wasn’t that there was a particular difference in strength between them. These golems were just a poor match for a lightweight fighter like Rupert.

And that Rupert, dodging the golems’ attacks with ease… looked over here with a startled expression on his face.
He must have a.s.sumed that things had taken a turn for the worse. His expression transformed as he approached.

“You son of a b.i.t.c.h!”

To no one’s surprise, he went after Maddox.
Seeing Rupert sprint toward him at full speed, Maddox’s eyes sharpened into those of a hunter. So the man wasn’t from the mercenary mold. Just a fight addict.

But I interposed myself between them.

“Wait, Rupert. I understand how you feel, but stop right now.”

“B–But, he — ”

“Just now, I told you to stop.”

I knew how he felt. After all, the man had defeated him once. And most importantly, he’d been on the enemy’s side.
And now, I said to treat him as an ally.
Just where should a warrior’s dignity turn?
I understood — but right now, there was nothing to do but grin and bear it.

Vyde, too, broke off in the middle of combat and cautiously retreated.
Glancing at the grinning Maddox, he came to me.

“We have a cease-fire with Maddox. Work with him.”

“…Got it.”

“I understand.”

The two responded reluctantly. Even Vyde spoke like he understood but couldn’t agree.

I was fully aware of how high-handed it was of me to say it.

Though they were my subordinates, this was a completely personal matter. There wasn’t a shred of any grand ‘protect the country’ kind of sentiment to be found here.

“Maddox. You take on those stone golems. But don’t lay a hand on Tetra. That one’s mine.”

“Well, you’ll get your money’s worth and then some — !”

His tone careless, Maddox brandished his sword.
As he said, he cut clean through the waist of one of the golems that had been giving us such a hard time. With a kick, he demolished its flailing torso.

“Ha–hah! Just like so much dirt!”

Maddox was more pleased with the stone soldiers than I thought.
At least for now, it was enough just to know that their monstrous strength wouldn’t be directed at us.

“Vyde, Rupert. You two keep on harrying them. Throw them into confusion.”

“Understood.”

“… — Roger!”

I didn’t know what they felt, what they thought, in following my orders.
But I didn’t doubt their loyalty in the least. That’s why I was relying on them now. No matter how arrogant that expectation was.

“Arcteur, can you go?”

“…After two, maybe three more spells, that will be the end.”

“I see…”

At any rate, I had to get close to Tetra.
But that magical barrier and no-incantation shockwave were an impregnable fortress. And our earlier attack had resulted in a crushing defeat.
Though Maddox made a strong addition to our ranks, that said, there was no way it would force Tetra’s personal involvement.

What do I do?

Because it had the same form, I burned with impatience every time I looked at Tetra.

“…Hey, you.”

While I was in the middle of holding back my frustration, focusing my thoughts, a voice called out to me from the side.
Irritated by the interruption, I turned to find the unfamiliar man standing there, covered in blood. Though his manner was unexpectedly grounded, and I sensed a strong will in those steady eyes.

Suddenly, I felt as though I’d seen that figure somewhere before.
Something tugged at me.

“Who — ”

— are you. I was about to say it when it hit me.
The man had already fallen by the time we got here. I’d a.s.sumed he was Lucien’s attendant, but when I thought about it, it was strange for there to only be one.

“…Mind filling me in? That’d be nice. ‘Cause the prince got b.u.mped off. And to make things worse, even Maddox is here. I have no idea what’s going on.”

From the looks of it, Lucien didn’t tell him anything. That was too lax a way to go about things.
But well, he might just be that kind of person, Lucien. He brought this guy here without saying anything to him, didn’t he?

— If so, what was this man doing here?
Bringing someone here for no reason was going too far.

“Prince Leon. He’s Christopher Carson.”

While my mind went around in circles, Arcteur gave me the answer.

I took a sharp breath.

— It’s him.

Various feelings mixed together inside me.
But in the end, what I felt was displeasure, or possibly disgust.
I knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, but an ugliness forced its way forward anyway. That earlier feeling of familiarity only added fuel to the fire.
But why did I feel that way? I didn’t want to know the reason at all.

And I had to wonder, how did Tetra manage to take over Chris? It came down to that reason.
Chris had found out. When this man appeared before her.
That she — wasn’t Chris.

— And it destroyed her.

I grit my teeth.

Just like Lucien to be so meticulous. I didn’t know what exactly drove him to do it.
But — I couldn’t forgive him. I looked at his fallen body. Even though I knew it was impossible, it seemed as if his face was sneering at me.
Broken things, lost things, don’t return to how they were before.

— They don’t return, do they.

[Chris] didn’t come back.
Allie won’t come back.
And Chris?
Broken Chris?

“Guh–…!”

“Prince Leon!”

“Lord Leon!?”

Thoughts, thoughts I couldn’t afford to entertain, crept out from the recesses of my mind.
For a moment, my vision darkened. The strength went out of my legs, and I fell to my knees. I just barely put my hands out in time to prevent myself from falling over.

— No, not yet.

“Lord Leon! Chris, save Chris!”

“Lord Leon! Lord Leooon!”

I know.
I know!

With Aira and Palmira clinging to me, their voices in my ear, I slowly stood up.

They both know. That I have to.
I have to. I’ll protect Chris.
I can still go on. I can still do it.
Even if it breaks me. Even if it kills me.

I — will protect — Chris.

“Arcteur!”

A life and death struggle with the golems unfurled before me.
The golems that Maddox, infected with madness, was mowing down one after another. Vyde and Rupert were doing a good job too.
But the golems sprang up one after another. Still, they fought on. What did they have, what did they fight for?
For what they felt. For something they believed in.
If so, then I had to fight too. For what I felt, for something I believed in.

“Huh!? Yes!”

“Speed casting. Shockwave, straight ahead. And a teleport behind Tetra. Can you do it?”

I told Arcteur my spur-of-the-moment plan.

” — I can. I will.”

What I required from him was dual casting.
This would probably render him useless afterward. But there wasn’t going to be another chance.
Perhaps understanding my thoughts, Arcteur gave me a determined nod, his expression resolute.

“Now then, you. There’s something I want you to do.”

“M–Me?”

And I called out to the confused-looking man, who hadn’t been able to follow any of the developments.

–

–

“Here I go! — ジ”

Arcteur launched his speed casting. With two floating invocation stones glowing red before him, he began to cast with both hands. A tremendous energy crackled through the air.

“s.h.i.t, I took on a really weird job, I don’t really want to get close to that thing, but…!”

Chris Original rattled off a stream of complaints as he sprinted dead ahead.
Unable to refuse in the face of insistence, the both of them. Unconsciously, I smiled wryly. And they both had their hang-ups about Maddox.1 It was precisely because I could see it, that I felt something I couldn’t put into words.

“Prince Leon. I’m firing!”

“Yeah.”

At the sound of Arcteur’s voice, I kicked off the ground too.
He released a roaring shockwave directly ahead of me. Before it reached Tetra, it flashily exploded, sending up clouds of dirt and dust, same as before.

“I’m telling you, it’s futile. You should just give up on these inane tricks!”

“Deploying teleport!”

Then, before the other side vanished in the debris, I could see Tetra holding a hand up in the air.
At the same time, Arcteur’s voice rang in my ears again.
A golden wall materialized. Just a short distance away, its counterpart opened behind Tetra.

“Let’s go! ORAA–!”

Chris Original’s voice rang out. There was a desperate edge to it.
Then, I —

— appeared out of the golden wall. Behind Tetra.
It seemed perfectly timed.

“You lowly fool!”

Turning in the s.p.a.ce of a moment, Tetra struck with its raised hand.

— That’s right.

Tetra could sense magical power. That’s why it was naturally impossible for it not to notice the golden wall — the thing was basically a ma.s.s of magical power.
And it attacked the creature that came through.

Tetra’s shockwave smashed it to pieces.

“Wha–!?”

It was a stone golem.
I only asked one thing of Chris Original. It was: Push the nearest golem into the golden wall that appears beside it.

Chris performed his role perfectly. But of course — it’s Chris.

And when I finally heard Tetra’s surprised voice, I shouted back:

“Get out of Chris! Tetra!”

Straight ahead. Cutting through the dust cloud from the shockwave, I stabbed Tetra with the black dagger in my hand.
The one Chris stabbed herself with that night.
Arcteur told me what it was. His magic-absorbing trump card.

As surprise colored Chris’s face, I buried the knife into her chest all the way to the hilt.

“Ga–AAAAA–AA–AA!?”

Staring at the knife in disbelief, Tetra screamed in shock.
Something like dark lightning ran through the core of the knife, rushing into Tetra’s — Chris’s body.

“By — By something like thiiiiiis — !”

I dragged the struggling Tetra down to the floor, restraining it.
The knife emitted a blue light, and that blue pattern ran along Chris’s body, streaming into the blade.

At the same time, I could see the golems crumbling away out of the corner of my eye.

“Am I — ! Am I going to be robbed again!? No! Help me! Help — ”

Its earlier nonchalant expression torn away, Tetra kept screaming.

It’s over, Tetra.

I suspected that something had happened to Tetra, too, in the past. I understood enough from the odds and ends of its broken exclamations to imagine.

— But, while that may be true, it was impossible for me to forgive it.

“Chris! Come back, Chris!”

Holding down her thrashing body, I focused solely on calling out to Chris.
The knife glowed brighter and brighter. The blue radiance paled. Then, burning white-hot, it flashed pure white.

“Stop… help… again… I… ha….”

Along with that dazzling light, that expression, the light in those eyes, gradually faded away.

It was clear that Tetra was disappearing.
When it was completely gone, would Chris come back?
As I watched Tetra’s consciousness gradually extinguish, I sensed my own feelings fading.

As if my heart were disappearing.

“Chris…!”

“Big Sister! Big Sisteeer!”

“Chris, please! Come back!”

Before I knew it, Aira and Palmira had come close, calling out to Chris the same way.
Clinging to her in desperation. Screaming on the verge of tears.

That’s right, Chris. Everyone’s waiting for you.
Please…!

“Ah-…ah…”

Eventually, the light of the shining knife — went out.
It was just like the torch of her life.
Watching the light disappear the same way from Chris’s eyes, I held her tightly.

“Please. Chris… Come back…!”

–

–

— I —

Footnotes
1. Guessed: それにマドックスに、思うところがあるのだろう ↵

Used ‘it’ for Tetra, does it sound weird? I figured since Leon refers to Chris as ‘she’ and Tetra as ‘that existence/being’, it might be more appropriate. Also, it made the p.r.o.noun game so much easier. Though I’ve otherwise referred to Tetra as female (in the discussions regarding her historical presence) so… Thoughts?