Chapter 7: Feint

Chapter 7:
Feint

 

THE BABY WRIGGLED back and forth as it tried to force its way out of the room, but it couldn’t get its shoulders past the door frame. The building creaked under the stress until the wall finally gave way.

The abomination took up nearly the entire hall. It looked up and down the length of the hall with great interest before sitting down. It fixed its attention on Slowe, who had by this time lost control of his bladder.

“Aaauh…!! No, stay back! Stay baaaack!” His voice quavered in fear.

This only seemed to draw more attention from the baby, and it started to crawl toward him.

“Aaugoo?” It brought its face close to Slowe’s and seized his leg in its stubby fingers. “Ahyuu…goo…”

It gazed at him with pure curiosity, as if this was the first man it had ever seen in its life. It seemed like it wanted to play with him, but it soon grew tired of just holding him. The baby started to bring him toward its mouth, head first.

Deep in its throat, Slowe caught sight of the same fleshy red spiral that he’d seen earlier where Luke’s face should have been.

“No, no…please, nooooo!!”

Slowe’s body refused to obey his commands. He was done for. Just as he was about to give up—

“Slowe, duck!!”

Flum’s Prana Sting shot straight toward the space between the baby’s eyes—and was deflected by some invisible force. Fortunately, the impact of the blow itself still made itself felt.

“Waaaaaaah!” The baby let out a low, throaty cry in annoyance and turned its attention to Flum.

The murderous look in its eyes sent a clear message: stay out of this. The creature seemed to have a mind of its own, but it wasn’t human. Just as with the Necromancy program, Origin had bonded with its host, using it to play the part of a child.

Flum dashed over to Slowe, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and dragged him back toward the chapel.

“Ow, owww!!”

“Deal with it; we don’t have time!”

“O-okay! But what was that thing?? What’s it doing here?!”

“That’s what I’d like to know! Luke referred to it as the third generation, I think.”

All the other Children until this point were similar; this thing started out monstrous and only drifted further from humanity with each passing moment.

“Oh, did you make some friends? I’m hardly surprised. You’re my baby after all.”

The nun who walked out of the room seemed oblivious to the horrific scene. She merely brought a hand to her cheek and smiled. It was clear there was something wrong with her and that she was only semi-lucid.

Between the spiral in the Child’s mouth and the force field protecting its body, it was safe to assume an Origin core was involved.

The core’s got to be located where its heart would be; I’d be grateful for such a large target if its giant head wasn’t in the way!

It was almost like Origin meant to use its head as a shield from the jump.

“In that case, I’ll just have to start there!” Flum let out a battle cry, ducked low, and dashed toward the creature. The baby was still enraged by the previous blow and rushed to meet Flum.

This time, Flum imbued her sword with reversal magic to ensure that she wouldn’t be deflected again, sweeping her blade across the baby’s eyes.

“Hyaaaaah!” She felt Origin’s power resist the blade for the briefest of moments before her blade broke through the barrier and struck flesh.

The top half of the creature’s head, including its eyeballs, flew off into the air.

“Uaaaagh…”

The room filled with blood stench as chunks of its brain and eyeballs splattered against the floor. Slowe threw his hands over his mouth to hold back his vomit.

The baby’s insides were, for all intents and purposes, identical to a normal human’s. Its open wound began to twist into a spiral, firming up and starting to turn.

Flum raised her blade. She had to smash the core before its body could harden enough that her sword could no longer pierce through to its target.

Just then, a massive blast of air shot out from around the baby and threw Flum backward.

“Aaack!” The spiral blast hit her head-on, throwing her all the way down the hall and back into the chapel, where she smashed straight through a pew. Wasting no time, she pushed herself back up.

“Aaaaaah…waaaaaaaaugh… Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” The baby let out a low roar. It almost sounded like it was crying.

The whole building shook as if it, too, were trembling with terror. Slowe fled, only stopping once he was at Flum’s side. “It…it looks like something weird’s going on!”

“Yeah, it looks mad. And I bet it has more up its sleeve than just that wind blast.”

The swirling pattern atop the baby’s head twitched for a moment before something started to peek out of it.

“Is that its…its head?! I think I’m going to be sick…”

Another head, nearly identical to the one she’d chopped through mere moments ago, grew out of the wound. It was slick with blood and stopped at the neck.

“Waaaaaaaaaaugh!”

The new head slammed to the floor and roared as it rolled toward Flum. It was a terrifying, disgusting sight that felt blasphemous to the core.

Flum reflexively drew her sword, charged it again, and hacked away at her mark. The Souleater easily split the head in two, but in a matter of moments, spirals began to form on the discarded halves. She was willing to bet they’d be spawning heads of their own in moments, leaving her up against three of these things.

“Eyauuuugh! Th-they’re multiplying?!”

“Multiplying…spawning…this is just like Ink. In that case, that could only mean…!”

Obviously, the creature’s power wasn’t just about sending heads leisurely rolling after people. What’s more, there was something about the protective spiral that reminded Flum of her battle with Luke. Could that mean that this third generation could use all of the powers of the first- and second-generation Children?

“Flum, something’s moving farther down the hall!”

Slowe was looking at the scalp that Flum had lopped off earlier. It crawled like a slug along the ground, up the baby’s body, and then finally came to rest atop its head.

The two open wounds squelched as they came together.

“Aaugoo!”

The baby cooed excitedly and swung its head from side to side, satisfied that its scalp was now in one piece again.

“Connection…that’s Nekt’s ability.”

“It can even heal itself?? We’re doomed! There’s no way we can beat that thing!!”

But Flum wasn’t quite so easily cowed. “There’s no need to be so negative.”

Unlike the second-generation Children who, though young, were still able to act and make decisions of their own free will, the third-generation subject attacked without any forethought or planning. More importantly, its powers were inferior to those of the second-generation Children, who had each specialized in the use of their own abilities.

Flum took a deep breath, filling her lungs with oxygen, and slowly let it out as she focused on her muscles.

She lowered her hips and launched toward one of the incoming rolling heads, practically gliding across the ground. She slashed through the new head with blinding speed before continuing on, choosing to ignore the new heads forming out of the wounds of the last.

She pushed through the growing swarm of heads, recklessly mowing them down until she reached her target.

“Aaaaauooooo!”

The baby was well infuriated by the sight of her by now.

GAGOOON!

There was a loud crash. Suddenly, Flum found herself standing at an angle.

It wasn’t just her—from where Slowe stood in the chapel, it looked as if the entire building had twisted to the side, like some sort of optical illusion.

“So I guess you had one more ability up your sleeve, huh?”

No matter what it did to the walls and floor, she could overcome it easily by getting airborne. The baby opened its mouth as it witnessed Flum charging through the air at it. She watched as air began to whip around inside its mouth, preparing to shoot.

“You’re not even as good as Luke!” Flum batted the attack away with her left hand and thrust her sword into its forehead with her right.

“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee!!”

This time, she split its head down the middle, though it only took an instant for the spirals to form across the wounds and spawn new heads.

“It’s no good, Flum! It just keeps making more!”

“Then I’ll just have to kill it before it can get us!” Flum made no effort to retreat. Rather, she dove straight into the injury in search of the Origin core that should have been further inside, right past the neck.

She grasped the Souleater’s hilt in both hands and charged right in, managing to get shoulder-deep into the baby’s body, angling for the core with the tip of her sword. Try though she might, she couldn’t turn up the core. She spun and twisted the hilt in her hand to widen her search.

“Flum, we’re running out of time! You gotta get out of there!”

Just as the words left Slowe’s mouth, Flum felt the clink of her sword hitting something hard. A smile came to her lips as she cast her spell.

“Reversion!”

The sound of the black crystal shattering was followed by the baby’s eyes growing glassy. Its limbs fell limp, and its massive body dropped to the ground with a loud thud before splaying out lifelessly on the ground. Even the newly spawned heads stopped moving. Satisfied that it was dead, Flum withdrew her sword and gave it a good shake to get the blood off. She gave a soft smile and willed her sword away, the mark on the back of her hand glowing faintly.

“D-did you kill it? Amazing!”

“Once its power source is destroyed, it can’t regenerate anymore.”

“Power source? Don’t you mean its heart?”

“That’s just the kind of creature it is. I guess it’d be better to call it a weapon. The church made it.”

While they were talking, the now-childless nun collapsed to the floor at the end of the hall. Slowe tried to run for her, but Flum grabbed his shoulder and shook her head.

“We have to help her! She was in the same room as that baby and acting strange!”

“Hmm, they were together? It’s too late then.”

“No, it isn’t. Look, her eyes are opening!”

Even if Slowe couldn’t comprehend what was going on, Flum knew what happened to the nun as soon as she saw her eyes.

“Her body is alive, but her heart is another story.”

Flum figured that the baby used a power similar to Mute’s to alter the woman’s mind.

She seemed not to even notice Flum and Slowe, merely staring off into space as drool poured from her slack mouth.

“That’s awful,” said Slowe. “I’m sure she never would have imagined that she would die today at the hands of such a creature.”

People lived each day as if tomorrow and the day after were bound to come. But the truth was that death found everyone in the end, and it cared little for whether they were prepared or not. Origin just happened to be crueler and more malicious about it than most.

If you died in an accident, you could write it off as bad luck. But Flum could never allow Origin the same latitude. Cruel as it was and arbitrary as it appeared, it was a willful menace to humanity—and more importantly, one that could be hurt in kind.

 

***

 

Now that the battle was over, Flum and Slowe stopped outside the church to rest. Flum wanted to return to the guild immediately, but the consecutive battles had taken a lot out of her, and she felt bad leaving such an ugly scene behind without bothering to explain to anyone what had happened.

Truth be told, she also wanted to do something about her torn clothes and Slowe’s stained pants before they returned to the guild.

“Haaaaah…” Slowe slumped to the ground and leaned his back against the church. Flum stood beside him and rested against the wall, politely keeping her gaze skyward to avoid looking at his pants.

Between witnessing the mass suicides, letting Mute and Fwiss get away, battling it out with Luke after her chance encounter with Slowe, and then having to fight a giant baby creature right after, it’d been a chaotic day.

However, Slowe seemed to be pretty excited about what he’d witnessed of Flum’s fight.

“Hey, Flum, I saw you chopping through that enemy back there without even touching it. Was that magic, too?”

His tone was uncannily eager.

“That’s a sword technique called Cavalier Arts.”

“So you mean if I work at it, I might be able to do it, too?”

“Did you want to be an adventurer, Slowe?”

“Maybe if I had the knack for it. But I’d hate to worry my mother.”

“So that’s why you came to work at the guild, huh? Good for you. Being an adventurer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“But look at you, Flum. You’re not just an adventurer—you were part of the great journey to slay the Demon Lord.”

“I didn’t exactly choose to do either of those things.” Flum absentmindedly ran her hand across her cheek. It was easy to forget that she was still marked as a slave, surrounded as she was by such kind and caring people. Fortunately, Slowe didn’t seem to care either.

“And yet you can throw yourself into combat like that, even if you didn’t choose this life for yourself.”

He mumbled on about how great and amazing it was until the nuns finally started filtering back into the compound from the large road out front. Flum spotted Elune, one of the nuns who had been particularly worried about Sara.

A look of concern washed over her face as she caught sight of Flum and made her way over. “Flum? What happened to you? Your clothes are in tatters.”

“It’s been a while, Elune. I heard something awful happened out on the thoroughfare.”

“Yes, it’s quieted down a fair bit now that most of the injured have been cared for, but…never mind that. I’m more worried about you. You don’t look injured, but my goodness, you’re covered in blood. And your friend—”

Slowe looked away and pretended not to notice what she was referring to.

“Before I answer your question, I have one of my own.” Flum’s voice took on a grave tone. She expected news of a regenerating baby would be a bit of a shock to the nuns around her. “Just a little while ago, we were attacked by a massive baby. It’s dead now, so we were just taking a brief rest.”

“A giant…baby? What are you talking about?”

“In one of the rooms past the chapel, we found a nun and a child. Do you have any idea who that might have been?”

Elune and the other nuns were clearly shocked by the news.

“Sister Nalei was taking care of a baby left in our care yesterday, but she started acting strangely and wouldn’t let us in her room this morning.”

“So you just left her here?”

“That’s correct. But what do you mean that you were attacked?”

“It’s exactly as I said.”

She was attacked, she fought back, she killed. Nothing more, nothing less.

“You say that a child was left in your care yesterday morning,” Flum went on. “What happened?”

“The child was abandoned at the gate, so the church took charge of the child’s care until the parents could be found. Nalei was the first to hold the child. It took a liking to her.”

So naturally, the job of caring for the child fell to Nalei. In fact, her transformation may have taken place the moment she first held the child.

“Now that I answered your question, please answer mine. Just what happened here?”

“Let’s go inside; I’ll explain there. But please realize that it’s a pretty shocking scene, so you may want to prepare yourselves.”

With that, Flum led the party of nuns into the chapel. It was only a matter of moments until the group began screaming at the sight that awaited them.

The chapel was in shambles, strewn with colossal heads, and a mammoth infant with its head cleaved open lay on the floor. The brain-dead Nalei was right where Flum and Slowe left her. Even though she’d warned them, the sight was still too much for several of the sisters; they passed out, sparing them from contemplating the sight any further.

“What should we do? Maybe we should summon the church knights and leave the cleanup to them.”

While Elune fretted, Flum offered her own advice. “They’ll just cover it up.”

Elune swallowed hard. Sara, Ed, Jonny… She’d already lost these three who she’d thought of as children to the church. Her growing distrust for the church had reached its limits.

“I think you could ask the guild…and Shoppe Mancathy for assistance. They’re not on the church’s leash. You can count on them.”

Though it would be tantamount to turning her back on the church, they had already betrayed the sisters at this point. Elune quickly agreed to Flum’s proposal.

 

***

 

Obviously, the church knights would realize that something was up if a group of adventurers were suddenly dispatched to the Central District church. Bringing in a bunch of brash newbie adventurers to create a human wall, on the other hand, could temporarily keep the knights from getting in. While that was going on outside, they began preparing the remains of the third-generation creature for disposal.

“Yuck, this is nasty. We have to carry this thing?”

“Hey, I hear Shoppe Mancathy is paying up.”

“But what if I get sick from touching this thing? There’s gotta be a better way to move it than by hand.”

The adventurers encircled a large chunk of head and scowled down at it.

A man holding a rope walked over, his black hair swaying in the breeze as he moved.

“In that case, I’ll use my magic to lift it. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on keeping all of the money for myself.”

“Yeah! I knew we could count on you, Croswell! You’re awesome!!”

This was the first time Flum had ever seen the man, but she figured he was a well-known S-Rank adventurer.

“Hey, Leitch, where are you taking this mess?” she asked.

As far as Flum was concerned, they could have just ground it into hamburger and thrown it all away.

Leitch looked back at her and offered up a weak smile. “We’re bringing it to one of Shoppe Mancathy’s warehouses for further research. If we can find some sort of weakness, it may even the odds in your future fights.”

Gadhio crossed his arms and looked over from where he leaned against the wall. “You must have a pretty big place then. I guess it’s no surprise coming from one of the biggest businesses in the country.”

Welcy popped up from behind her brother and started poking and prodding his cheek. “Stop blowing things out of proportion. You’re just going to send this to the product research lab, aren’t you?”

“Cut that out, Welcy. And you wonder why people always treat you like a child. Anyway, I trust your work is done?”

Welcy puffed out her chest in pride. “Mind your own business, bro. I got one of the newbies to mop up. Besides, the editor does stuff like this all the time. So ha!”

Leitch could only sigh in response. It seemed more likely that she finished the parts of the interview process that interested her before passing the buck on to someone else. She had just finished using her power of “burn projection” to create images of the horrific scene before interviewing some of the nuns, adventurers, and even the church knights.

Flum laughed. “Well, you’ve certainly got a lot of energy, Welcy!”

“She’s been like this since she was a child. Quite a hassle to have a sister like this, really.”

“You’re too much of a homebody, Leitch. I have to be active enough for the both of us!”

Leitch sighed once again, though as far as Flum could tell, this was the sort of ribbing that was inevitable when siblings spent long enough in the same room.

The sound of a cart could be heard outside. Flum didn’t pay it much heed, since adventurers and Shoppe Mancathy staff had been coming and going all day, but the doors to the chapel flew open and a figure ran full tilt at her, nearly bowling her over in a tight embrace.

“Hnnnggff!” She looked down at the delicate silver hair and caught a whiff of something sweet. “Milkit?! What’re you doing here?”

Milkit looked up, tears forming at the edges of her eyes.

“I heard that a lot of people died in the capital, and we just couldn’t find you, so…”

“I see… So you were worried about me. I appreciate it, Milkit.”

Flum gently brushed her hand across Milkit’s cheek to wipe away her tears. Milkit smiled at the warm touch and buried her head into Flum’s chest.

This moment of sheer bliss instantly made Flum forget about all the torment and anguish that had filled her head.

Slowe—now in a fresh pair of pants—watched Flum and Milkit with great curiosity. Y’lla, who came along with the adventurers for reasons she didn’t elaborate on, stood at his side with a similar expression on her face.

“What are those two to each other?”

“Don’t think too hard about it. It’s a waste of time.”

She said it with such finality that Slowe could only cock his head to the side in confusion and let the subject drop. Another figure stood close by with an annoyed expression planted firmly on her face as Flum and Milkit were lost in their own little world. Despite how close they were, the two girls seemed completely oblivious to Eterna’s stern gaze.

“And would anyone like to thank me for bringing her here?”

“Huh?? Oh, thank you, Eterna! That’s right—Milkit couldn’t make it here on her own!”

“I’m here, too!” Ink chimed in, Eterna’s hand held firmly in her own.

“Heh, I guess this is nothing new for the two of you,” said Flum.

“It’s kinda what we’re known for, I guess,” said Ink.

“Eterna, Ink, would you please let me interview you? I’d love to hear more about this.”

“Eterna and Ink aren’t like that!!”

Eterna and Ink both turned to Flum, confused at her sudden outburst. Even if she lacked the self-awareness of her own actions, she certainly took issue with the insinuation about Eterna and Ink.

“Master, your clothes are all torn up. Were you attacked?” Milkit slid her finger through one of the holes near Flum’s heart, eliciting a deep blush from her at the ticklish sensation.

“Uh, yeah, with Luke and then a monstrous baby. What about you, Gadhio? It seems like you got caught up in whatever that chaos was back in the Central District.”

“Ah, right. I stopped a few runaway carts. I caught sight of Luke there, but he got away.”

“It sounds like you ran into him while he was on his way to me.”

“Maybe so, though I doubt that he was looking for you. He must have been heading to the church to check on that third-generation thing.”

“Third generation?” said Ink. “From what I’ve heard, it sounds completely different from me and the second-generation Children.”

“From what I could tell,” Flum said, “this thing was meant to be a weapon. Given that Luke came to check in on it, I get the sense that it was still missing some essential parts.”

“I don’t imagine Mother can continue his research after the church knights took the lab. This must have been the state it was in when we were at the Necromancy lab.”

Which explained why Mother lost interest in Nekt and the other second-generation Children. And yet, Mute, Fwiss, and Luke were all still fiercely loyal to Mother.

“If they’d had just a few more days…”

“Man, look at this place. You did a real number on this church…”

“Yeah, I know. Hey, wait! Is that…?!” Flum spun in place.

“Heya, Flum.”

“Nekt?!” Flum spun around. “Why do you always pop up out of the blue like this??”

The young boy—er, girl, as Flum reminded herself—shot Flum a snarky grin. Despite her surprise, Flum was happy to see her.

“Nekt…so this is one of the Children??”

Leitch’s shout immediately drew the attention of all the adventurers nearby, who quickly prepared for a fight. They’d already received a general explanation of what went on in the church—including that the Children were involved.

“Wait a second! She’s one of the Children, yes, but she’s on our side!”

“I can also assure you that she’s no enemy,” said Gadhio. “Not right now, at least.”

The adventurers had no choice but to listen to their guild master. They stowed their weapons, grumbling with reluctance.

“Apologies for causing such a commotion.” Leitch bowed his head.

“You gotta get a handle on yourself, Leitch.” Welcy teasingly kicked at his shin several times to drive the point home.

“Sorry to surprise you like that,” said Nekt, “but ya know, I can’t exactly come in through the front door with all the church knights outside. Let it go this once, yeah?”

“I don’t really care either way, but I think Milkit deserves an apology.”

Milkit was still visibly shaking as she spoke up from behind Flum. “Ah, n-no, it’s fine. Really.”

Even if she understood logically that Nekt could be trusted, her body couldn’t forget the trauma she’d endured.

“Aah, yeah, listen…I’m really sorry about that.”

“It seems that you and Master have come to an agreement, so I’ll do my best to get over it.”

“Now that I think about it, I don’t remember the last time I heard you give a sincere apology, Nekt.” Ink snickered before she went on. “You’ve really changed, huh?”

“I don’t need to take that from you. I’m not here for idle chitchat.” Nekt grew serious once again, but Gadhio interrupted before she had a chance to speak.

“I saw you and Ottilie through all the chaos back at the thoroughfare a while ago,” he told Nekt.

“Ottilie??” said Flum.

“Heh, so you saw me? I thought I did a good job covering my face.”

“I know your mannerisms too well. What were you doing there?”

“I was just trying to stop Luke, but it was too late by the time I caught wind of the situation.” The sadness was clear in Nekt’s voice.

Ink let out a sad sigh, and Eterna ran a comforting hand through her hair.

“Hold up,” said Flum. “What were you doing out together with Ottilie? I’m sure she…”

“She was released from the army just before the church knights absorbed them,” said Gadhio. “After that, a church resistance group picked her up. I imagine you’re a part of that as well?”

“Bingo, old man.”

Nekt was impressed by Gadhio’s response, though he looked none too pleased at being called an old man.

“Whoa, a secret society??” Welcy was immediately enthused by the revelation. “Now that’s the kind of news that gets a muckraker going! Who’s in charge? C’mon, I need to know! If you don’t tell me, then I’ll just follow you until I find out!”

Though Leitch was usually quick to put an end to his sister’s antics, he simply put a hand to his chin and looked at Nekt.

“Cardinal Satuhkie, I presume?”

Nekt chuckled.

“I can’t tell you that. It wouldn’t be a secret then, would it?”

Judging by her response, it was pretty clear that he had guessed right, and she wasn’t terribly interested in keeping the secret.

“Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I was hoping you could let me keep a piece of this creature’s body.”

Eterna replied immediately. “Not a chance.”

Nekt’s shoulders slumped at this. “You’ve always been a tough one to work with, you shriveled-up ol’ bat.”

“You can go straight to hell, kid! Cross…”

“Whoa, whoa, calm down, Eterna! And you too, Nekt. Don’t be so brash!”

Nekt laughed. “Sorry, I just knew I’d get a fun rise out of her. Listen, I won’t do anything bad with it, and we’re all in this to fight the church, aren’t we? You know that Ottilie and I are working together, so you must realize that we’re on your side.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that we can’t trust Cardinal Satuhkie,” said Gadhio.

“I agree with you, old man. But I can tell that he’s committed to putting a stop to the Children’s rampage.”

Flum agreed with Eterna and Gadhio that Satuhkie could not be trusted. Something about his presence gave her an uncanny migraine. A peculiar feeling shot across the palm of her hand just hearing his name. On the other hand, she wanted to trust Nekt.

She squeezed Milkit a little tighter and made her decision. “…All right, you can take a piece with you.”

“Are you serious??”

“Yes, Eterna, I am. There’s no one in a better position to analyze this thing than Satuhkie, after all.”

“I mean, that’s true, but…”

“Thanks, Flum. In that case, I’ll take a part of the spiral and pieces of the core then.”

After collecting only what she absolutely needed, Nekt prepared to use her Connection ability to teleport away. Before she left, Flum called out to her.

“Hey, Nekt, do you know Slowe over there?”

Nekt was about to say that she knew nothing about the guy when, upon taking a closer look at his face, she let out a small yelp.

“You know, I’d been told that someone was always keeping watch on him.”

“Huh?”

“If anything really dangerous would happen, someone would step in to help out. I figure he was left alone this time since you were there to watch out for him, but I’m sure they’ll be back sooner or later. They have to, ya know. Well, see ya!”

“Wait! What does that even mean??”

“Can’t answer that yet.”

“Fine. But what about the Children?”

“…What about them?”

“What are your plans? Even if they did become normal humans after committing such atrocities, I don’t know if…”

Nekt’s voice and face emptied themselves of all feeling. “I’ll save them, no matter what.”

“But that…!”

“Connection!”

“Wait, Nekt!!”

Nekt quickly disappeared, almost as if she were desperate to escape Flum and the conversation.

Flum stared at the ground and then shook her head free of the grim feeling that hung on her. She turned her attention to Slowe.

“So, Luke really was after you from the very beginning.”

“And that church knight Rischel was trying to kill him, not attack the guild,” said Gadhio.

“Slowe, just who are you?” Y’lla asked.

Alas, Slowe couldn’t answer Y’lla’s question—he didn’t even know the answer. All he could do was slowly shake his head as eyes fell on him in light of this growing riddle.

 

***

 

Ultimately, Welcy agreed to look into Slowe’s past while the rest of the group returned to Flum’s house. Gadhio agreed to escort them on their trip through the West District.

“Cyrill’s still kidnapped.”

Flum’s heart was heavy as she gazed up at the setting sun.

“I heard about that. I’m so sorry, Master. But I’m sure you can save her next time.”

“I don’t even know why the Children would want to abduct Cyrill in the first place. Any ideas, Ink?”

“Nope, not a clue. We really had nothing to do with the heroes.”

Gadhio sighed. “All I can think of is that they mean to use her as a hostage or for research.”

This only darkened Flum’s mood.

Milkit eagerly squeezed her master’s hand. “I hope I have a chance to meet her someday. Speaking of Cyrill, Linus didn’t show up today either.”

“There are just too many people working in the shadows here in the capital,” said Gadhio. “Now we have Satuhkie’s group to add to it.”

“Right. You never have a chance to let down your guard,” said Flum. “I wonder what Cyrill’s doing right now?”

Milkit watched Flum with great concern as her master fretted over Cyrill’s fate.

 

***

 

The group eventually broke up in front of Flum’s house, where she would finally have a chance to relax.

Gadhio agreed to take Y’lla home and then escort Slowe back to his abode, where they would pick up his mother before going back to Gadhio’s to spend the night. Y’lla’s eyes lit up as soon as she heard. Flum had no idea what sort of audacious request she made, but at this point, she no longer cared. She just wanted to kick back.

Dinner was made up of whatever they had lying around the house. Everyone pitched in to prepare the dishes, and they made quick work of the meal. They all took baths and then went to bed early to wake prepared for the day to come.

“I’m going to turn the light off.”

“That’s fine.”

Lying under the comforter together, Flum and Milkit each found comfort in the warmth of the other’s body. Even through her closed eyelids, Flum could sense someone watching her in the dark. She slowly opened her eyes to find Milkit staring at her.

Their eyes met, and Milkit stumbled over her words. “Umm…”

“What is it?” Flum offered up a warm grin, like a mother speaking to a young child.

“Cyrill, is she…well…Master’s… What is she?” After a great deal of struggle, she finally managed to force into words the dark feeling that had taken hold over her. She was hesitant to even ask the question and felt even worse about having the feeling in the first place. But even so, she couldn’t ignore it.

Flum, on the other hand, simply laughed it off. “She’s a friend.”

She couldn’t think of a better word to describe her and Cyrill’s relationship.

“A friend…”

Milkit repeated back the word like a parrot.

“We both came from similar upbringings in small towns and were thrown into being a hero out of nowhere. And, y’know, we both had a bit of a sweet tooth. Made it easy to bond.”

“Do you still feel that way?”

“Of course. I don’t bear any ill will toward her, and I’d love to go out for cake again sometime.”

The smile on Flum’s face was almost too much for Milkit to bear. Flum held no grudge, even in spite of the fact that her friend had done her wrong in the past, and yet here Milkit felt this way just from listening to Flum’s honest feelings. She hated herself at that moment. Why did she have to be born? Even if she knew that what she was feeling was wrong, that did little to stop the feeling.

“I’m…not your friend, right?”

“Hmm, I’d say you’re something different.”

“What is that something different?”

Just being on the receiving end of Flum’s affections was more than enough to make Milkit happy. It seemed presumptuous to ask such a question, but it was the warmth and affection that Flum had shown her—and that Milkit had become addicted to—that compelled her to seek the answer.

Flum, for her part, couldn’t fathom where this question was coming from beyond a simple interest in her best friend. But there was something about the way Milkit was asking that suggested it was less to do with her and Cyrill’s relationship than the difference between how she treated Milkit and Cyrill. In other words, something about that difference had her worried or unhappy.

She pondered how best to answer to ease Milkit’s worries.

“Well, for example, Cyrill and I never shared a bed. We never held each other, and we didn’t hold hands like this when we walked together.” Flum clasped Milkit’s hand in her own under the covers.

These had all become completely natural for Milkit, but Flum knew that this was far from normal. She’d never felt the need to embrace Cyrill—or anyone, for that matter—like she did with Milkit.

“You mean…I’m the only one?”

“Right. You’re the only one I’ve been this physically close to. So I guess…hmm. I don’t really want to rank people, but I suppose in terms of who I’m closest to, you’re number one.”

Milkit’s finger twitched at this. Flum realized that it was in response to her saying she was number one.

Could Milkit be jealous of Cyrill?

Flum felt a strange sensation grip at her chest as she came to the realization.

She must really be enamored with me if she’d get so jealous over the mere mention of someone else. But I have to admit, she really is cute like this. Gah!

The more she thought about it, the more her composure threatened to fracture.

“I’m just…scared. You’re such a fascinating and strong person, Master, that I think many people must be enamored with you.”

She could tell Milkit was dead serious. Slaves were forbidden from even considering such emotions, even though they were completely normal for the rest of the world.

“Of course, I realize that you treat me differently from everyone else, and I believe everything you say. But…while you are constantly surrounded by so many different people, I only have you, Master.”

“Hmm…that is a problem. What can I do to help get rid of your anxiety then?”

“I’m sorry for causing you problems like this.”

“Ah, no, no…not at all. I guess it’s that you’re focused on me while my attention is taken up by many other people and things. So…hmm…” Flum looked up and hummed quietly to herself as she rolled her head from side to side like a metronome. After several trips back and forth, she finally stopped with her head stuck to one side. She turned to Milkit, her mind made up.

“I like you.”

Flum’s words struck deep in Milkit’s heart. Even in the dark, she could see her eyes go wide.

“I can’t think of any better words to explain it, so I guess I’ll just have to show you instead.”

“N-no, that’s fine. It’s more than fine. I understand. Sorry for the strange conversation, Master.”

“Not at all. I’m actually glad that you’ve grown confident enough to ask me.”

Flum let go of her hand for a moment to intertwine their fingers.

Milkit’s heart raced so fast, she felt it might explode. Master was so calm and collected, even when she came to her with absurd worries like this. She turned to gaze at Flum.

“Ng…”

Their eyes met. Flum’s cheeks were burning red, but she looked aside, trying to play it off. Milkit tended to think of Flum as a calm, cool person, but in truth, Flum was also reaching past her comfort zone in order to alleviate Milkit’s concerns.

Milkit felt her embarrassment evaporate away and averted her gaze.

The girls looked off in opposite directions but never let go of the other’s hand, not even for a second.

 

***

 

Eterna kept a dim light near at hand so she could read while Ink lay on her bed.

“Hey, Eterna.”

“Oh, you’re still awake?” Eterna tensed up for a moment and glanced quickly at the bed. She’d thought that Ink was asleep this whole time.

Ink lay face up toward the ceiling as she spoke. “Just what is Flum and Milkit’s relationship, anyway?”

Apparently, she’d heard the goings-on in their bedroom.

Eterna smiled softly before letting out an exasperated sigh and turning her attention back to her book. “Who can tell, really?”

With that, the room fell into silence again.