Chapter 2: No One Knows Where the Fog Goes

Chapter 2: No One Knows Where the Fog Goes

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.