No One Knows Where the Fog Goes

Tup, tup. Akari bounced up the staircase with light footsteps.

In the sunny port city, the wind was blowing toward the sea. Leaving the hotel and heading out for a stroll, Akari appeared to be in high spirits as she rushed into the wind.

Looks like she’s having fun, Menou thought as she watched her.

It had been two days since they arrived in Libelle, and Menou and Akari had spent them walking around its streets.

Though the port city was primarily used for fishing, it wasn’t without any sightseeing spots. Besides, being surrounded by buildings and structures so different from the ones in their hometown was interesting enough that just walking around was full of fun little discoveries.

There was a considerable difference in elevation from the coastline to the heart of the city. On these slanted streets, no two homes had their roofs at the same height. At present, Menou and Akari were climbing up a stair-like brickwork path with residences on either side.

Just as they were about to reach the top, Akari suddenly stopped in place.

She twirled around to face Menou, holding out her hands and forming a frame with both thumbs and index fingers.

“Yep, that’s a keeper. I’ll call it ‘The Sea, the City, and Menou’!”

“Great.”

Akari seemed in a brighter mood than ever as she pretended to snap a photo of Menou.

She smiled down at the priestess, her black hair fluttering in the sea breeze. Menou considered pointing out that the salt was going to ruin her hair, but Akari’s expression was so gleeful that she couldn’t bring herself to ruin the fun.

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Uh-huh!” Akari chirped back innocently. “I’m glad I’m enjoying myself, too!”

Akari seemed to get a great deal of pleasure from looking around new places. Menou was very knowledgeable from her Executioner training and was a veteran traveler for similar reasons, so she gave a tour with explanations that delighted Akari.

“I don’t know all that much about it myself, but Libelle is a nice place.”

It was a bit more rural than the ancient capital where they’d been staying before, but since it was close to the border, it wasn’t remote by any means, either. Time seemed to flow a little more slowly in the peaceful seaside city, and since there were so many people coming in and out, it was friendly to outsiders, too.

Most of all, since it was a port city, the fish was incredibly fresh. After two weeks of eating nothing but preserved foods, Menou and Akari were happy to feast on fresh fish from morning until night.

Gazing out at the ocean, Akari pointed at something.

“Menou! I just found something wonderful. I wanna go to where that castle is over there!”

“Where…? Ah, the castle town on Libelle Island.”

Akari was pointing at an island that was linked to the mainland by a narrow road. It was a small landmass with a chalk-white castle at the center and twenty or so large buildings surrounding it.

This city was built near where a volcano had erupted long ago, so the terrain was quite rocky. The hill they climbed before arriving was actually the remains of a mountain that had been whittled away.

The island Akari was pointing at had been formed by lava long ago. The lava had flowed into the ocean, cooled, and solidified, becoming an island that was just off the continent.

“Unfortunately, that island doesn’t allow unauthorized entry.”

“Really?” Akari asked.

“I’m afraid that most of it is private property of the Noblesse, including the castle itself.”

Scenic islands tended to become either church facilities or the sites of vacation homes for the rich. In this case, it was the latter.

“I imagine the only people besides the Noblesse who can enter are members of the Faust who have business there or exceptionally wealthy Common folk.”

“But aren’t you in the Faust, Menou?”

“Yes, but I don’t have any business there. I’m not important enough to be appointed to negotiate with the Noblesse or anything.”

Libelle Castle, the château on that remote island, was home to the Noblesse in charge of governing Libelle. The lord of that castle was most likely Count Libelle, whose family made up the majority of the Noblesse in this city.

Akari furrowed her brow at the mention of the Noblesse. “It belongs to the Noblesse…? You mean those guys, right?”

“That’s right. We can’t say they’re the same as the Noblesse who summoned you, since they’re from a different nation, but they are the same social estate. We should avoid them if we can help it.”

After all, it was the Noblesse of Grisarika Kingdom who had summoned Akari as an Otherworlder. It was no wonder she didn’t have a good impression of them.

Maybe that was why she looked frustrated as she stared at the castle in the center of the island.

“So that means we can’t go see that island?”

“No, we can’t. You’ll have to give up on that one.”

The island was Noblesse territory. It was essentially considered a town of its own, separate from the port city. One couldn’t enter Libelle Castle or its surrounding area without an invitation. And since it was surrounded by the ocean, it would be difficult to infiltrate.

The Noblesse were divided into separate ranks depending on their roles. Counts were generally local administrators who primarily gathered the opinions of those below them and negotiated with the Faust. Menou had heard it was a difficult and stressful position, but that had nothing to do with her.

The knights who were in charge of maintaining public order were treated very differently. In Grisarika Kingdom, the princess herself had been a knight until recently, which was proof enough of the wide range in roles and approaches among the Noblesse.

“Aww, darn. It looks like such a cool castle…”

“You seem to really like those types of buildings, huh? You were the same way in Garm.”

“Well, yeah. Look how pretty it is! All girls dream about castles, you know!”

“Do they?”

Was that a particularly Japanese belief, or just her view as an average citizen? Either way, Akari always pointed and got very excited whenever she saw a castle.

Menou’s first thought upon seeing a castle, on the other hand, tended to be What would be the best way to break in? In this particular case, Libelle Castle might very well be the stronghold of the Fourth, who she was supposed to be investigating. Obviously, her impression of the place was far from positive.

“Ah, you can see that fog we saw before from here, too. I guess it really isn’t a cloud,” Akari observed.

“…Uh-huh.”

The white fog of Pandemonium was once again within view.

After Orwell tried to brainwash Akari in the ceremonial hall two weeks prior, it was discovered that she was using white liquid taken from the site of the Starhusk disaster in the northern part of the continent. The ceremonial conjuring that used materials from one of the Four Major Human Errors could interfere with and alter even an Otherworlder’s Pure Concept.

That was the frightening power of the Four Major Human Errors.

Which was why a certain idea had arisen in Menou’s mind.

If she were to throw Akari into that fog, wasn’t it possible that she might not be able to recover?

“…I suppose it’s worth a try.”

“Hmm? What’s up, Menou?”

“Looking at the ocean just gave me an excellent idea, Akari.”

Since Akari had noticed her talking to herself, Menou quickly smoothed it over with a quiet chuckle.

“Since we’re in a port city, let’s go see the ocean next!”

“Wooo!” Akari let out a cheer.

Nothing had happened there for around a thousand years, but the church still regularly observed the area, as far as Menou knew. If she asked Sicilia, they should be able to borrow one little ship without too much trouble.

“We’ll get on a ship and head out to the water. You can leave the sailing to me! I’m a pure, proper, and powerful priestess! I can do just about anything if I try!”

“Yaaay, Menou! You’re so pure, proper, and powerful!”

“But of course. I’m a priestess, after all!”

Akari’s eyes sparkled at Menou’s suggestion even as the latter was making calculations. The innocent joy on Akari’s face made Menou’s heart twinge.

It was the same prickling pain she’d felt in Garm: the strange sensation in her chest when she tried to kill Akari. What was it? Menou wasn’t so dull that she didn’t know.

It was guilt.

What a nuisance, she thought to herself.

Menou was an Executioner, but none of her missions ever involved spending much time with the target, until this one. She pulled off most of her assassinations by surprise or within the course of a day at the most.

It had been three weeks now since she met Akari.

But Menou’s guilt didn’t change the fact that she had to kill Akari.

It was fine. Probably.

She wasn’t the sort of person to let her conscience bother her.

Menou wasn’t really just a pure, proper, and powerful priestess. She had taken many lives. And why did she kill people? After the battle in Garm, she was all the more certain of the answer.

Because she was a villain.

“A ship sounds great, though! I wanna do that one thing. Y’know, where I stand on the prow and spread my arms out wide!”

“What?”

“Riiight. I guess you wouldn’t know about movies here…”

It didn’t matter if she was never in the light. If she could never be saved. Menou had to take lives, to make sure that no more people like herself were ever created.

That was her role as an Executioner.

She repeated this to herself, her reason for being.

She had no choice but to keep on reminding herself in the face of Akari’s smile.

Drifting on and on. She lived her life going along with the flow.

She never felt her own weight, her own will. If anything, there was only her role from when she was born.

So when she found the girl who had been swept onto the beach by the current, as twilight turned into night, she felt sure that their meeting was meant to be. As she reflected on that encounter from three weeks ago, Manon Libelle desperately bit back a yawn.

Each time another wave of sleepiness started to rise within her, she clenched her teeth and widened her eyes. A tear welled up, but she managed to stop herself from the rudeness of opening her mouth wide.

“Haaaah…”

The girl with soft, relaxed features just barely turned her yawn into a sigh. Her thick, perfectly smoothed hair was tied in a braid and dangled in front of one shoulder. Even more unique was the fact that she was wearing a kimono.

It was made of dyed cloth and tied around the waist with an obi. This garment had existed since the days of the ancient civilization over a thousand years ago, but it hadn’t spread very far, so it was unusual to see someone wearing it. One glance at Manon with her hands neatly clasped in her lap would probably convince anyone that she was a lovely, graceful young woman.

Currently, she was seated at a round table with ten or so other people, who were all fervently exchanging opinions.

“Are we sure we can trust the information that she’s here?”

“It’s from a member who was in the next nation over. If we calculate time from the incident that took place in the ancient capital of Garm in Grisarika Kingdom, it makes sense that they would arrive in this town next.”

“This is an unfortunate turn of events…”

The others ranged in age from an elderly person in their seventies to a woman in her late twenties. It was evenly divided between the Noblesse and Commons, though of course there were none of the Faust.

Together, they were the central figures of the Fourth based in Libelle.

Since they were having an emergency meeting, Manon had let them use a room in Libelle Castle, and the result was a boring conversation that had dragged on in front of her for longer than she could recall at this point. While she quietly battled her boredom, these full-grown adults continued their absurdly passionate conversation.

“We’ve already got one difficult person to deal with. And now Flarette is here on top of that? Why must they arrive now of all times? I’ve had enough of this mess…!”

“You mean that Princess Knight from our neighbors? True, the distribution of the monstrine has been delayed because of her. What a difficult woman. Isn’t there anything we can do about her?”

“It seems she’s gathering young people in the port city on some silly whim, but we can’t let our guard down. That princess’s track record is the real deal. And she is a princess from another nation, after all. We can’t lay a hand on her.”

“Tch. These fools don’t understand the noble ideology of the Fourth!”

The Fourth, indeed.

The days of the continent-wide organization that had caused a massive uproar in the name of freedom and independence were long over. Without the powerful charisma of the Director, the group had scattered into small fragments. To the rest of the world, they were just the hollow remains of a terrorist organization that had taken protests too far.

As her presence at this meeting implied, Manon, too, was a member of the Fourth.

Her father, Count Libelle, had been providing them with financial support since the early days of the Fourth, so when he fell ill, attending the Fourth meetings became one of Manon’s many duties. Since this meant she was under the surveillance of the Faust and the knights, it was an annoying inheritance to deal with.

And the current topic of argument was the priestess who had arrived in town just the other day.

“Curse that blasted Flare. Just when we thought she’d finally ceased her activities, she prepared an inconvenient little successor…!”

“She’s called Flarette or something, right? What’s she like?”

“Well, she brought down Archbishop Orwell. We can’t take her lightly.”

Flarette…the code name of one of the Faust’s Executioners, who sought to cut down taboo entities. Unfortunately for her and her secretive duties, her existence was already becoming infamous enough that she might be recognized on the streets.

It was the death of Archbishop Orwell in the neighboring kingdom that started this.

The public was told she had died in battle against a monster, but in reality, she had been meddling in illegal activities, using citizens as her test subjects. It was a shocking revelation, especially since the archbishop was near the very top of the Faust. Even with their influence, it was impossible to completely cover up all the information.

Including the person who had executed the archbishop for her sins behind closed doors: Flarette.

Just as Flare’s alias was widely known and feared far more than any Executioner should be, word of Flarette was starting to spread in certain circles.

“…Lady Manon. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?”

Manon had been concentrating all her efforts on staying awake, so she wasn’t prepared for the sudden question.

“Oh, er…”

They didn’t notice that I was yawning, did they? Nervously, Manon peered at the asker’s expression.

It was the old man who facilitated the meetings, but he didn’t seem to have any particular expectations of her. That was only natural. Manon was nothing more than a little girl to them. Since they were all close family friends, they had known her since she was an infant.

What was really important to them was the opinion of Count Libelle, who was currently bedridden.

“Could we not monitor the activities of Princess Ashuna and Flarette and leave it at that for now? Maybe they’ll move on without doing anything at all.”

Someone snorted.

Clearly, they all thought she was being naive. The others spoke up chidingly.

“Impossible, Lady Manon. Perhaps you’re too young to be aware of this, but when Flare came to this town long ago, our losses were immeasurable!”

“Exactly. If that monster’s apprentice is here, we must deal with her immediately.”

“Besides, Flare also brought down your mother, remember? This is the perfect chance to take revenge.”

“Although that was partly because she didn’t use her best weapon when she had the chance…”

Manon’s eye twitched at this last line.

However, the others just went on blathering without noticing her reaction.

“Besides, she’s an assassin. Princess Ashuna is one thing, but in Flarette’s case, the Faust won’t be able to publicly find fault with us even if we attack her first.”

“Ah, I see. Pardon my ignorance. I am only here on my father’s behalf, after all.”

Once she gave a listless response, they stopped bothering her.

Manon slumped into the back of her chair, having successfully evaded further argument. One way or another, she had fulfilled her duty of participating in the meeting. Now all she had to do was stay silent and hold off her sleepiness.

It wasn’t as if she wanted to participate in this stupid meeting anyway. Dealing with the actions of the Fourth was just a bother to her.

But Manon was the only daughter of Count Libelle.

Anyone who was within the framework of the Noblesse was duty bound to get involved with the work of their organization. Especially in Manon’s position.

How could anyone be free in a system like this?

The Fourth claimed to stand for freedom, but Manon couldn’t bear the restraints and boredom of that round table. In that moment, she felt utterly foolish for not being able to get up and leave her seat, even if she thought the whole thing was a farce.

“All right, then it’s decided.”

While Manon was lost in thought, the group seemed to have reached an agreement.

The old man who generally ran the meetings imperiously announced their conclusion.

“We cannot allow any more delays in the distribution of monstrine. We attack Flarette today. Lady Manon, is that all right with you?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I’ll make sure to tell my father about it, too.”

He must have asked for confirmation because she didn’t really say anything during the discussion. Manon forced a meek expression and nodded at the man. Privately, she was impressed with herself for not adding any snarky comments, like I don’t care.

“I’m counting on you, Kaiser.”

“We have every chance of winning, thanks to the strength our men have received from the monstrine Lady Manon provided us.”

“Ha-ha, of course. We’ll cut off Flare’s successor right here and now!”

The meeting seemed to have gotten them all worked up; it sounded like they really thought they could win. A particularly big and burly man at the Fourth’s table was planning to direct the attack himself.

As the other members cheered him on, the man looked at Manon proudly. What was his name again? It wasn’t worth the trouble to search her memories, so Manon just smiled back at him.

Whatever happened with the attack, it didn’t matter to her. Her growing hunger was far more important right now. Since the meeting had run long, she’d missed her chance to eat lunch.

There were some light refreshments provided at the meeting. The other members all dug in, but Manon had no desire to eat any of it.

“But we have no way of finding Flarette.”

“Hrmm, this is true.”

“We know her alias, but not her face or real name. And she’s an Executioner, too. Locating her will be difficult.”

They didn’t know her name, face, or location, yet they had decided to attack her? What a horrible plan. Sensing that they weren’t going to get anywhere, Manon decided to offer some information.

“I believe she’s at sea right now, actually.”

At that, all eyes of the Fourth gathered on Manon. She smiled back, unruffled.

“It seems she’s heading toward Pandemonium. If you keep close watch on the harbor, I imagine you’ll find her in no time. If you see a priestess coming back on a ship, then you’ll know that’s Flarette.”

One of the members looked at her searchingly.

“How do you know that, Lady Manon?”

“I have my ways of gathering information, too, you know.”

It wasn’t a lie.

But even if she told them the exact source of the information, they wouldn’t believe her.

If she said she’d heard it from someone who personally saw the priestess approach the fog, then she would likely earn more laughs. Glancing at their expressions, she noted that while they didn’t all appear completely cleared of doubt, it seemed like they were convinced enough not to press her further.

“And you’re certain this information is accurate?”

“Yes, quite so. It comes from a very trustworthy friend of mine. And it may also interest you to hear that this ‘Flarette’ evidently has a lost one with her, too.”

“What?!”

Hearing that the Executioner was accompanied by someone with a Pure Concept, the others all grew excited.

“If she has a lost one with her, that’s all the more reason we can’t let her be.”

“This is the perfect chance to kill Flarette and steal her companion.”

“We know where she is now, too, thanks to Lady Manon. We should go attack her right away!”

The conversation, so close to ending before, now grew heated again. The man who’d been chosen to lead the attack was the subject of many high expectations. The food that had been brought to the round table was quickly consumed, and still the discussion continued.

Manon, who had been hoping that the meeting was about to end, softly clutched her empty stomach. An immodest growl emitted from underneath her hand, but it was lost among the voices of the arguing members, so it appeared that no one had heard it.

No, there might be one person who did.

Her new friend who was lending her power might have heard the sound. She thought she heard a little giggle coming from somewhere within her after the growl of her stomach.

Well, that was embarrassing. Manon’s lips pouted. And there was only one cause to blame.

“It’s all that Flarette and her lost one’s fault.”

Muttering quietly to herself, Manon resolved that she would go buy some snacks in the city market once this meeting was finally over.

Guiding Force: Auto-Connect (Conditions Met)—Improper Attachment, Pure Concept [Time]—Release [Regression: Memories, Soul, Spirit]

When Akari opened her eyes, all she saw was pure white.

She sat up, and that movement alone made the surface she’d been lying on shake. She was sprawled out on a small boat.

“Aaah…”

Yawning in a very unladylike manner, she stretched out her arms and legs. Then she looked around, but she couldn’t see anything. The air around her was so white that it was impossible to tell what her surroundings were.

The thick mist roiled and shifted constantly, but there were never any gaps in it. It was so dense that there was no space for anything but more alabaster. Creepy noises echoed in the blinding fog. Her vision was obscured by it.

If she had awoken like this, it meant that certain conditions had been met. Fully awake for the first time in two weeks, Akari sorted through her memories.

The attitude Akari showed now was a stark contrast to the girl Menou knew. She was clearly in a strange predicament, yet she showed no signs of being flustered. Her calm demeanor made it seem almost as if she already had a complete understanding of her current situation.

And indeed, this Akari really did understand exactly what was happening.

“This must be Libelle, huh?”

The small boat carrying Akari bumped into something and stopped.

What she was floating on right now wasn’t actually the sea. It was difficult to tell in the fog, but the boat was actually on an ocean-sized accumulation of blood and flesh.

Truly, it was a horrific place. If she didn’t have a clue as to what was happening, no doubt her sanity would be draining away by the second. If anything, the fact that she couldn’t see was actually a blessing.

For she was in the middle of Pandemonium.

Akari wrinkled her nose at the smell of blood, but she had been here so many times that she was still relaxed.

“If I’m here now, that means things are going according to plan. I’m glad it’s gone well so far!”

Knowing exactly where she was and what was happening to her right now, she blithely twirled the ribbon of her headband as she talked to herself.

“So we made it to Libelle—that’s a relief. Now we just—wah?!”

That last shriek was owing to the fact that the boat had suddenly tipped upward.

In the next moment, Akari was sent flying into the air. Something had risen out of the sea of blood and attacked, sending her shooting upward, boat and all.

It was a giant monster, so large that only part of it was visible at such close range. It would be impossible to even calculate the size of its enormous, wide-open mouth, let alone the rest of its massive body.

“Hrmm. Sorry, Menou.”

Watching the maw come toward her, Akari clutched the headband to her chest so she wouldn’t drop it and shrugged.

If she was in the fog, that meant the journey was going just as she expected so far. She had already experienced everything that would happen here, too.

Which was how she knew this couldn’t possibly be the end.

“I can’t die here, either.”

Akari’s body was swallowed up into the gigantic mouth.

The place where Menou was standing swayed slowly.

Balancing on the rocking ship, Menou gazed at the fog.

She was at the prow of a small ship with a Guiding engine. Acquiring the vessel had gone smoothly: When she made the request to Sicilia, she agreed to lend her one even more easily than Menou had expected.

A mass of fog was ensconced over the surface of the blue sea, so dense it gave the illusion that a cumulonimbus cloud was sitting atop the ocean. If one gazed too long at the mist, it would be all too easy to lose one’s sense of distance and stumble right into it.

This was Pandemonium.

A giant fog that completely swallowed up the place where the Alliance of Southern Islands once existed. It was the quietest of the sites of the Four Major Human Errors.

But it only seemed quiet when observed from the outside.

The originator of monsters. The apex of demons. The lord of all evils, and a most despicable creature that sought to devour the world. One little girl’s wild fantasy had been materialized by a terrifying Pure Concept, and here was the ruin that resulted.

Sealed inside this fog was the lone girl who had brought the Concept of Original Sin into this world.

The only records that remained were akin to legend, but it was said that even a monster massive enough to consume entire islands obeyed her and wreaked havoc on the world. The barrier of the fog was the only way to keep the swarms of monsters in check, and so it was spread across a wide area.

And Menou had just sent Akari right into the middle of it.

It was not long after they set out to sea in the ship. Menou gave Akari a sleep-inducing drug, telling her it was to prevent seasickness, and soon she was sound asleep. Then Menou brought their ship as close to Pandemonium as possible before putting Akari on a lifeboat and letting it drift into the fog.

“Now…let’s see what happens,” Menou murmured to herself.

It was said that once someone went into the fog, they could never escape. It was simple enough to enter from the outside, but the barrier kept things from getting out. Thus, Menou hypothesized that perhaps even Akari, who had the power to turn back time and revive herself, might not be able to escape if she was sealed inside.

But…, a voice in the back of her mind objected. What if Akari has already come back from the future?

“……”

It was a theory she’d started forming after the incident in Garm: Menou had failed somehow at executing Akari, and she regressed time for the entire world.

If they were going to head toward the holy land, it was inevitable that they would pass through Libelle. And once they were in Libelle, there was no way it wouldn’t occur to Menou to trap Akari in the fog. The idea of getting rid of Akari by way of Pandemonium was an inevitability on this journey. But if this method of killing her actually worked, then there should be no way for Akari to then use Regression to turn back time.

She had wondered if something unexpected would happen right as she was about to send Akari into the fog, but it proceeded smoothly, without incident.

So when Guiding Light flashed on the ship where Menou stood, she was already half expecting it.

Guiding Force: Connect—NT?i?KC, Pure Concept [Time]—Invoke [Regression]

The light sparkled in the air and danced into the shape of a clock. She had seen this phenomenon once before. As Menou watched, the light scattered, and a girl appeared from its midst.

As she emerged from nothingness, the girl promptly whacked her forehead.

“Ow?!” She let out a frantic wail.

Looking at the girl who hadn’t been on this ship just seconds before, Menou heaved a sigh.

“H-huh? Wasn’t I sleeping in the cabin?”

“You got up half-asleep and hit your head. A shameful display, really.”

“O-oh, okay.” Looking around and blinking, Akari accepted this explanation. “Ahhh. I sure slept like a baby.”

“I’ve never seen anyone sleep for so long just from a drug for motion sickness before.”

Once again, Akari didn’t seem to think Menou had tried to kill her. Maybe she had died in the fog without even waking up.

Menou quickly ended the conversation and guided her back to the cabin. It was doubtful that Akari of all people would notice, but on the off chance that she asked why the lifeboat was missing, it would be annoying to have to come up with an excuse.

“We’d better head back to the harbor. Too much time in the sea breeze is bad for your hair.”

“’Kaaay. We wouldn’t want your pretty hair to get all dried out, Menou!”

Pandemonium.

She had thought it would be a fairly effective method of execution, but Akari came back from the dead. Since Regression was such a highly conceptual power, it was able to ensure that she revived in a safe place with her body sound and healthy.

A safe place… Meaning that right now, Akari considered Menou’s side the safest place she could be.

“……”

Menou had been fearful of Akari’s powers growing.

Pure Concepts gradually ate away at their users. As the Guiding Force closest to pure truth in this world, they changed even the person using them to be closer to their concept.

Those who became Human Errors lost their own personalities entirely and acted purely in accordance with their respective Concepts, to disastrous results.

The most obvious form of compensation was memories.

When Otherworlders like Akari used Guiding Force, they lost their memories. Guiding Force drew power from the user’s soul and controlled it using their spirit. Normally, the power of a soul would belong to the user, with nothing lost. People who were born with a lot of Guiding Force were often in danger of their spirits becoming off-balance, but that was easily regulated with training. Momo was one such example.

But the Pure Concepts which attached to the souls of Otherworlders when they were summoned were not that person’s power at all.

The power produced by a Pure Concept was stronger than any one individual should be, and always with a specific purpose. Since these Pure Concepts were a foreign substance, they naturally overrode any control from the host’s spirit.

As a result, using Guiding Force by way of a Pure Concept inevitably involved expelling the memories and personality of the soul as if they were foreign matter. The purity of the power would increase each time, until finally, the unwritten rules of the Pure Concept within that person’s soul became their sole guiding principle and motivation.

As Menou gazed at Akari’s back, she murmured to herself. “…It’s fine for now, I’m sure.”

Was her fear only that the Pure Concept would grow in power? Or was she more afraid of something else?

“Hmm? What’s fine, Menou?”

“I’ve been worried about it since I saw you in the bath, but… I just checked, and you haven’t gotten pudgy yet. You’re fine for now, Akari.”

“Excuse me?! What do you mean, ‘for now’?!”

Menou herself still wasn’t aware of her own inner discord.

It was more than just disappointment she’d felt when she failed to execute Akari. When the Guiding Force lit the ship, there was a bit of relief mingled in her expression. And the ache she felt in her chest when she cast Akari out to sea in the first place was beginning to be more than simple guilt.

It was a far more complicated, yet in some ways simpler, an utterly natural emotion.

I don’t want to do this.

Deep down, Menou was experiencing the same feeling she’d once sensed from the other kids at the monastery.

The ship carried the pair of them back to the harbor.

Menou operated the small Guiding engine–propelled ship. The basics of steering such a vessel were among the many lessons she’d had drilled into her at the monastery.

The vessel left a glittering trail of Guiding Light in the water. Akari was leaning over the side to watch this, so Menou kept an eye on her in case she fell.

“Ah! I see the harbor!”

“Yes, I know. Just stop leaning over the side. It reminds me of the time I almost drowned.”

“Huh? You’ve fallen into the ocean before, Menou?”

“Yes, I visited this city when I was little.”

Dragging Akari away from the side, Menou turned her gaze back toward the harbor.

Nearly a hundred ships of all shapes and sizes were docked there. Most were fishing vessels. The reason the sizes tended toward the smaller end was likely because they couldn’t sail out to the open ocean due to Pandemonium.

Akari didn’t end up falling into the water, and they made it back to the harbor safely.

“Land is so stable!” Akari shouted.

Even without Akari’s frolicking, Menou sensed eyes on them as soon as they set foot back in the harbor. She checked her surroundings discreetly, without moving her head.

Something strange was going on in the crowd.

They weren’t knights; their stares were too blatant. A proper knight would be a bit more tactful about watching a suspect. And there was little reason for knights to keep an eye on Menou, anyway.

Which left only a few possibilities.

“…It must be the Fourth.”

Menou walked by Akari’s side, not letting any reaction show.

As they proceeded from the wharf along the waterfront, voices soon came into earshot.

“Ooh!” Akari’s face shone.

The footsteps of people weaving between the lines of stalls, the couples sitting on benches and chatting, the cries of hawkers, and other noises mixed together to form a continuous roar.

“It’s so lively!”

“Yes, well, this is the market. It’s probably the most crowded part of the city.”

Akari’s excitement was in no way marred by Menou’s calm explanation.

They were visiting the open-air market adjoined to the harbor. It was close enough to the ocean to hear the crashing waves and was crammed with street stalls.

This bustling marketplace supported the everyday lives of the people.

There were countless kinds of products for sale. Most common by far was seafood; the smell of fresh fish was stronger the closer one got to the seaside. The next most popular were fruits and vegetables, but if one looked at the stalls closer inland, there were many other necessities for sale as well. Other stalls sold secondhand clothes and accessories, and there were even some sketchier stalls that sold conjuring materials or Guiding vessels engraved with simple crests.

Since Libelle was bordered by the Wild Frontier, adventurers sometimes brought in materials and ancient relics to sell. Looking around the street, there were people who seemed to be adventurers. This was probably the sort of place where Momo had sold the relics she found, too.

Before long, Akari gave in to temptation and bought some fruit. She seemed to have gotten used to the local currency by now and handed over a hundred-in coin like she was used to it.

“Okay, Menou. Say ‘ahhh’!”

“Hyah.”

“Oomph?!”

Menou stole the fruit Akari had jokingly pressed close to her mouth and shoved it into Akari’s instead. Akari’s eyes widened, but instead of panicking, she just chewed on it gleefully.

“What is this? It’s sooo good!”

“It’s watermelon. Nice and sweet, isn’t it? They’re in season right now.”

“Wait, really? It’s a different color from the watermelon I know, and it doesn’t have seeds… Isn’t this more like muskmelon? Oh, but now that you mention it, the taste is kinda similar.”

“Is that right?”

Akari was still voicing her needlessly specific assessment when it all went down.

A large, burly man came walking toward them.

At first, there was nothing unusual about it. He didn’t seem to be paying any attention to Akari. The street was crowded, so he was just one of many people walking through the market.

But something about him put Menou on alert.

The movement of his eyes, his gait, the way he kept his right hand in his breast pocket like he was hiding something. And most of all, it was obvious that he was very aware of Menou, too.

This must be him. Menou walked past the likely assailant, still acting perfectly casual.

At the same time, she sensed the construction of a conjuring behind her.

“Akari, get down.”

“Bwuh?” Akari stared blankly, her cheeks still stuffed with fruit as she failed to respond to Menou’s sharp warning.

Guiding Force: Connect—Ring, Crest—Invoke [Flame Shot]

A ball of flame whizzed toward Menou’s back.

It was slow. The construction was sloppy. Low power, too. And virtually no stealth to speak of. Overall, it was a shoddy excuse for a crest conjuring.

Guiding Force: Connect—Priestess Robes, Crest—Invoke [Barrier]

The flame was easily dispersed by Menou’s barrier.

“Tch!”

Seeing that his surprise attack had failed, the man pulled out a knife. He wasn’t alone, either—several other people stepped out from his shadow.

If that crest conjuring was their best effort, then Menou doubted they could harm her, no matter how many attacks they tried, but it would be troublesome if they caused any damage or injury to others.

“H-huh?! What’s going on?! Menou!”

“Calm down, Akari. I can’t believe they’d attack us in broad daylight in the midst of all these people, though…”

The group standing in front of them must be members of the Fourth.

If they were attacking right now, that meant they knew exactly where to find Menou, and who she really was.

A traitor? she thought at first, then shook her head.

If anything, there was a good chance Menou herself was the problem. The incident in Garm had drawn far too much attention to her. If they narrowed things down from that information, it wouldn’t be impossible to locate her.

The execution of a significant figure like Orwell was a major incident in Grisarika Kingdom. Add in the fact that she was the apprentice of the infamous Flare, and it might be enough to shift her position from an ordinary Executioner to a subject of serious interest.

“…This will make things difficult.”

The crowds surrounding them were standing stock-still, their eyes on Menou. It was so sudden that they didn’t understand what had happened.

Depending on how she dealt with this, it was all too clear that they were seconds away from breaking out in a panic. So Menou raised her voice clearly.

“Please remain calm. Stay where you are and get down!”

The reason the crowds obeyed Menou’s warning was because they inherently trusted the Faust. Only those who had been trained and carefully selected could join this estate. As a result, ordinary citizens had faith in priestesses.

Upon hearing the voice of someone in a priestess robe, the onlookers still seemed nervous, but they managed to stay calm. Once Menou saw this, she reached into the slit in her skirt and pulled out the dagger concealed on the inside of the belt strapped around her thigh.

Using a conjuring too stealthy for the men to notice, she carefully charged her dagger with Guiding Force.

Guiding Force: Connect—Dagger, Crest—Invoke [Guiding Thread]

“Akari, you get down, too. Here, hold this.”

“Wha—?”

Menou passed her dagger to the dazed-looking Akari, sheath and all. She doubted the other girl knew how to use it, but it was perfect for self-defense. With the Guiding Thread still attached to the hilt, Menou left Akari where she was and broke into a run. Their assailants were using tactics that could easily harm passersby. She had to knock them all out before anyone was injured.

Menou’s entire body glowed with Guiding Light.

After one step, she launched off the ground. She gave no warning. There was no need to take such considerations for terrorists. The attackers panicked at the unexpected movement and started to construct conjurings, but it was pointless. She landed in front of the men before they could invoke their attacks.

“Ngh!”

Menou went for her first target. She drove her fist into his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. In moments, he would be on his knees, vomiting—or so Menou thought.

But instead, his eyes glittered with rage.

“Hmm?”

The man counterattacked. He thrust with a knife, covering his pain with ire.

This level of toughness seemed downright unnatural. He wasn’t using Guiding Enhancement, yet his movements were incredibly fast. Suspicious, Menou knocked away the knife with her left hand and pushed closer, sweeping the man’s legs.

Once they were in point-blank range, the man went down so quickly it was almost amusing. As he lost his balance and tumbled through the air, she grabbed him by the collar and flung him toward the other attacker who was charging toward her from behind.

As the pair went down in a mess of flailing limbs, Menou was already targeting her next prey.

“Dammit! You little—gah!”

That made three. Interrupting the man’s roar with a roundhouse kick, Menou easily sent him flying. The slit of her skirt fluttered, revealing a glimpse of the boot-clad limbs beneath. But though her legs were shapely, they were also strong enough to knock out most men in a single blow.

Her skirt swished back into place. Even as she crushed the enemy with martial arts, Menou furrowed her brow.

She had intended to snap a bone or two for the man’s troubles, but judging by the sensation through her boot, her kick hadn’t even made a crack. This was all seeming stranger by the moment.

“That’s enough of that.”

Hearing a voice behind her, Menou turned around slowly.

“Don’t move, Flarette. Unless you don’t care what happens to your friend here.”

This was the man who had first attacked Menou with shoddy conjuring. The tip of his knife was pressed against Akari’s throat; he must have grabbed her while Menou was fighting.

“M-Menou… A-are these people after me…?”

So she was listening when Menou lectured her in the bathhouse the day before after all. Akari did have the dagger Menou had given her, but of course she didn’t know how to use it.

This was now, by all appearances, a hostage situation. The man holding a knife to Akari’s neck smirked triumphantly, certain of his victory.

“You put up quite a fight—I guess we should’ve expected that from Flare’s successor… Hey now, no funny business, or someone’s gonna die.”

Noticing Menou’s twitch toward movement, the man once again used Akari as a shield.

The men who Menou had knocked out before were already standing up, too. They had taken too much damage to recover that easily, but they were strangely resilient.

“You all seem to be very tough… Are you using that ‘monstrine’?”

“That’s right. Amazing, isn’t it?”

So their durability was an effect of the drug, although they didn’t even seem aware they were dabbling in a dangerous substance. Ignoring the man’s bragging, Menou estimated it was probably around the same potency as Guiding Enhancement used by a third-rate adventurer.

“How troublesome… And how did you know who I am, exactly?”

The enemy clearly had confidence that their information about Menou was correct. Rather than try to deceive them, she decided it was better to ask outright, relying on the man’s obvious pridefulness for an answer.

Sure enough, he fell for it. Grinning smugly, he was all too quick to show his organization’s hand.

“Word’s gotten around about that whole uproar in the next nation over, you know. We heard you went head-to-head against some of our comrades in Grisarika Kingdom, too. You’re the one who stopped us from getting our leader back, aren’t you?”

Just as Menou suspected, it was the Orwell incident. To make matters worse, it sounded like they’d also gotten some information from the group that hijacked the train to Garm. They were all part of the Fourth, even if they were from different nations.

“Executioner or not, you’re still part of the Faust. No way you’d be able to abandon a hostage in front of all these people. Besides, this one’s important to you, isn’t she?”

Judging by his attitude, Menou suspected he might even know Akari’s nature, too. Trying to feel out the enemy organization’s tactics, she decided to feign nervousness and continue questioning him a little longer.

“What are you after?”

“It’s simple. We want to eliminate you, Flarette. And we’ll be taking this one while we’re at it, too.”

So they even knew that Akari was an Otherworlder, just as Menou feared.

This was far too big of an information leak. For a moment, Menou let her shoulders sag.

Taking this as a sign of defeat, the man grinned even wider. But of course, Menou had no intention of giving up. And the actions of a group like this were beyond predictable.

It had all unfolded exactly as she expected, right down to Akari being taken hostage.

“Well, now I have more questions. I’ll be sure to ask the knights to thoroughly interrogate you.”

“…Do you realize what kind of position you’re in right now?”

“Oh yes. And I hate to tell you, but that idiot there was just a decoy.”

“Huh?”

The man looked doubtful. Shaking her head at his utter obliviousness, Menou let power flow into the Guiding Thread she was still maintaining.

Guiding Force: Connect (via Guiding Thread)—Dagger, Crest—Remote Invoke [Gale]

The Gale blew out of the dagger in Akari’s hands.

“Ungh?!”

The sudden blast of wind sent the man threatening Akari reeling with surprise.

He hadn’t noticed Menou preparing this attack, so he was caught off guard by the wind, unable to resist as it blew him backward. The group of attackers hadn’t even noticed that Menou was still holding on to the Guiding Thread as she fought, although it helped that she had concealed it with Guiding Camouflage.

There was no way such pathetic tacticians could get the jump on Menou. As the man lost his balance, Menou slipped among their ranks. She used the Guiding Thread pulled behind her to bind the men, rendering them immobile and toppling them to the ground.

“Amazing, Menou! I knew you could do it.”

“But of course. I’m a pure, proper, and powerful priestess, after all!”

Freed from her captor, Akari dashed over to Menou, who smiled proudly. They were in public. To reassure the crowd around them, she rather deliberately pointed out her own virtues.

Menou had moved away from Akari during the battle because she knew the girl would almost certainly be taken hostage. The enemy would let down their guard once they thought they had the upper hand, allowing her to win easily with the right preparations.

Someone in the market must have called for help: Knights came running up belatedly and took the men into custody.

“So that was monstrine…,” Menou murmured to herself.

It would take a fair amount of knowledge and skill to produce a strengthening drug like that. It was all too clear to her now that she’d faced off against people who were under its influence.

Manon Libelle… She might be even more of a threat than I thought.

Manon pressed a hand over her pounding heart after the uproar that had just occurred.

“My, that startled me…”

She had gone to the market to buy some snacks after that awfully dull meeting, only to happen upon the very attack they’d just been discussing.

As always, they were quick to act only at the most inopportune of times, seeing how they’d launched the attack right after the meeting ended. Even Manon had to admit that she had probably been tuning out the conversation a little too much.

“So that’s Flarette?”

She stared at the priestess fixedly from afar. She was a lovely young woman with her light-tawny hair pulled back by a big scarf ribbon. The slit in her priestess robes’ skirt allowed for an enchanting glimpse of her long legs.

Manon wasn’t the only one staring at her. After that commotion, a whole crowd was gaping with open curiosity. If anything, that helped make Manon’s stare seem more natural.

She had heard her name, too. The lost lamb girl had called her Menou.

“Ms. Menou, is it? It seems unfair for a pretty girl to be so strong.”

Manon ordered fruit from a nearby stall. It was a hundred in per slice, which seemed a reasonable amount.

Menou, Flare’s successor, left with her companion to bring in the captured men with the knights.

The failed attackers were being dragged along by the knights. They would probably be interrogated at the station. These men had no fortitude to speak of; no doubt they would spill all kinds of secrets.

Before she bit into the fruit, Manon paused in thought.

She could let them go, but it would be less than ideal for any extra information to be made public. More importantly, Manon had her own reasons to sentence the men to death.

“That’s the one who spoke ill of Mother at today’s meeting, isn’t it?”

Manon produced a red pill from her sleeve. Fortunately for her, the men were all under the influence of monstrine. There were any number of ways to deal with them.

Manon’s mother was killed by Flare, just as they had mentioned at the Fourth meeting. The reason was simple: Her mother was a lost one with a Pure Concept.

The pill rolling around in her palm glowed red.

Guiding Force: Sacrifice—Chaos Collusion, Pure Concept [Evil]—Summon [The child is hungry.]

The pill in Manon’s hand was offered up as a sacrifice.

It interfered with the drug that was already melded into their bodies and invoked a conjuring.

Behind her, there was a sudden commotion. The captured men were struggling. No, it was more than just a struggle.

“Hey, calm down—wait, wh-what’s happening to them?!”

The men’s bodies were undergoing transformations. The monstrine they’d absorbed had spread its roots inside them, and now it was suddenly eroding their body tissue and changing their form. Their hands and feet morphed into sharp claws, and their hair fused into their skin and hardened.

“They’re turning into monsters…!”

The captives that had once been men were reborn as monsters.

There were screams and cries from the crowd as they witnessed the unthinkable. It was an uproar far more riotous than the attack that had occurred before. The newly transformed monsters had shaken off their bonds and were attacking indiscriminately.

This time, it was all just as expected. Manon paid them no mind as she bit into her fruit.

Crunch. Its juices burst into her mouth.

“Mmm, delicious.”

Manon walked away, enjoying her snack, while behind her, the men who had transformed into monsters and started rampaging were defeated by the knights.