Eris didn't even flinch. She slashed her sword diagonally from a
point high above her head, looking to slice through both my wall and
the enemy in one stroke.
"Taaah!"
Her sword was too fast to see, but I heard her strike hit home.
She'd cut Auber in two; the upper half of him tumbled to the ground.
"We got him!" I yelled happily. But for some reason, Eris just
clicked her tongue in irritation.
On second examination, I realized that the thing lying on the
ground in front of her wasn't Auber's body after all. It was a log. An
ordinary wooden log, wrapped in a dirty brown cloak.
I'd been watching the entire thing with my Eye of Foresight
active, but I had no idea what I'd just seen.
A moment later, something came flying through the air toward
the log.
It was a metal claw tied to a rope. The claw snagged hold of the
cloak, then jerked quickly backward, pulling it through the air to fall
at the feet of the man who held the rope.
That was Auber, of course. Somehow, he was standing off in the
forest wearing a different cloak, this one camouflaged with a layer of
grass and flowers.
Instead of fleeing right away, he'd taken the trouble to retrieve
his brown cloak. That meant it was valuable to him. Maybe it was a
magic item that allowed him to swap places with whatever the other
cloak was wrapped around? That would explain the disappearing
act…
The guy's some kind of ninja. You could have warned me about
that trick, boss!
"You've improved considerably, Mad Dog!" called Auber. "I'll
take my leave for now, but I look forward to our next encounter!"
"Hey! Get back here!"
"Don't follow him!" said Sylphie, moving to intercept Eris as she
tried to charge after Auber. "There are still soldiers in those woods.
You can't run off on your own!"
Eris shot a hopeful glance in my direction; I just shook my head.
For a moment she gazed regretfully in the direction Auber had fled,
but eventually she sheathed her sword with a grumpy "Hmph."
With her prey gone for now, Eris came towards me. Sylphie was
keeping a careful eye on our surroundings, her rod still in her hand,
but it seemed like the enemy had completely disappeared. The only
armored soldiers I could see were the ones we'd killed in battle.
I breathed a small sigh of relief. We'd managed to survive their
first attack, at least.
That didn't mean we could relax, of course. Auber could hit us
again at any time, especially if we got sloppy. At the very least, we'd
have to stay on alert until night fell.
In the aftermath of the battle, we took some time to review the
situation.
The enemy squad had been nearly wiped out, and we'd
emerged basically unscathed. Ghislaine was sniffling and sneezing for
about an hour, but that was the worst of it.
I got a little worried when both healing and detoxification magic
didn't help with her condition, but it improved quickly once we tried
washing out her eyes with a water spell. It was surprising how many
things "healing" spells couldn't fix, really. They probably wouldn't
work on pollen allergies, either… although I hadn't really
encountered such things in this world.
Before moving on, we decided to dispose of the bodies of our
would-be assassins. I would have just left them where they were, but
we were in the middle of a forest—their bodies would turn undead if
they stayed out too long. And there was something of a taboo
against abandoning corpses, just in general. Our whole party got to
work stripping off their armor, dumping anything that looked like a
personal possession in a pile, then burning the bodies themselves.
Partway through this process, I noticed that Luke looked
distressed. In fact, his face was getting noticeably paler with every
passing minute. It wasn't like he'd never seen a dead body before,
though… he seemed to be fixated on the soldiers' armor, in
particular.
"Luke, isn't this crest… uhm…"
The reason for his reaction became clear soon enough. Among
the many soldiers we'd killed, a decent number had a specific crest
engraved on their armor. It was the symbol of the Milbotts region,
and by extension, of the Asuran lord who controlled it.
Milbotts was a rich territory ruled by one of the four great noble
houses of Asura. And apparently, their troops had been dispatched
to join the attempt on our lives.
"I can't believe it," Luke muttered to no one in particular.
It was all too clear what this meant.
Pilemon Notos Greyrat, the lord of the Milbotts region, had
betrayed Princess Arie
Chapter 3:
Suspicions and Theories
ABOUT AN HOUR after the attack, we pitched camp in a spot
fairly deep inside the woods. I encircled our campfire with a low
stone wall to keep the light from giving our location away, and we
settled down for a full-fledged strategy meeting.
"This can't be. It doesn't make any sense…"
Luke was still muttering to himself, his expression stunned and
disbelieving. Ever since we spotted the crest of Milbotts on the
armor of those soldiers, he'd been off in his own world, struggling to
come to terms with what he'd seen. It felt fairly obvious that his
father had betrayed Ariel's cause and dispatched those soldiers to
murder her, but I guess he didn't want to believe it.
In contrast to his shocked reaction, Ariel and her other allies
seemed to have taken the news in stride. I got the feeling they'd
viewed this as a possibility all along.
I had to wonder why Luke seemed this surprised. Obviously,
Pilemon was his father, so that probably had something to do with it.
But maybe the Man-God had been whispering half-truths in his ear
as well. Maybe he'd just found out that his new friend wasn't being
entirely honest with him.
Which seemed plausible. The Man-God tended to keep a lot of
things to himself, especially when the facts were inconvenient.
Maybe this was a chance to confirm my suspicions.
…No, not yet. Let's get the conversation moving in the right
direction first.
"Your Highness," I said, "There's something we should discuss."
"Yes, Rudeus? What is it?"
"Auber shouted 'We'll have to try this one again,' as he fled. I
think it's very likely that he'll be launching repeated ambushes on us
at some point in this forest, and maybe even after we cross the
border."
"Yes, I imagine so," said Ariel, tilting her head slightly. "What's
your point?"
The look on her face suggested that she'd expected all this from
the very beginning.
"We managed to ward him off this time, but Auber seems to be
even more dangerous than I expected, and he has a lot of troops at
his disposal. It looks like they're deadly serious about taking you out.
I think their next ambush will be much more carefully planned and
dangerous."
"…You think we might not prevail?"
I nodded firmly. "It's hard to say for sure at the moment, but I'd
expect their next attack might come right at the border fortress
itself. They could easily have laid a trap for us there, and it won't be
easy to break through by force."
"Perhaps so, but there are no teleportation circles active within
Asura. We have no choice but to press forward."
So far, this conversation was going exactly as I'd hoped. Ariel
was making this very easy for me. It felt like she already suspected
what I was getting at.
"Right. We do need to press on. But that doesn't mean we have
to blunder right into a trap that we know is waiting for us."
"Oh? Are you saying there's some way we might cross the
border without passing through the border checkpoint?"
"Yes."
"What did you have in mind?"
Page | 52
At some point, many of the others around the campfire had
started listening intently to our conversation. It made this feel a bit
more awkward, but I pushed on anyway. "I'm familiar with a group
of bandits based nearby that primarily makes a living by smuggling
goods and trading slaves across the border. With their assistance, we
could make it to Asura without moving through the checkpoint."
Ariel brought a hand to her chin and considered this. Sylphie
was staring at me with a slightly dubious look on her face. Eris and
Ghislaine didn't seem to be paying attention.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Ariel said, "but didn't you previously
argue that we should avoid resorting to any shady business?"
"Yes, and I still feel that way. But I think I misjudged how serious
our predicament is. I don't think we can afford to be too choosy
about our methods at the moment."
"I see." Ariel nodded and looked around the campfire. Her gaze
settled on Sylphie, who was frowning slightly at this point. "What do
you think, Sylphie?"
"It sounds… reasonable to me. I don't know how much we can
trust these bandits, but I do trust Rudy's judgment. If he says it's less
dangerous this way, I believe him."
Sylphie's words sounded sincere enough, but there was a hint of
displeasure in her voice. I think she was a bit upset I hadn't
mentioned any of this to her beforehand. But if I had discussed the
possibility with anyone ahead of time, it would have made me look
awfully suspicious when Auber popped up to push us in the right
direction.
"And what about you, Luke?" Ariel said, turning her attention
toward him.
The man raised his head slowly, almost like a zombie, and fixed
his eyes on me. There was something like hostility in them.
"What are you playing at here, Rudeus?" he murmured, his
voice trembling slightly. I could see the suspicion on his face now,
clear as day. "Your behavior in that battle was… strange. It felt as if
you knew Auber was going to launch that sneak attack."
"I anticipated he might try something, yeah."
"It almost seemed like you knew all about his combat style…"
"Well, I do have the Eye of Foresight, remember?"
And why do you know all this anyway, Luke? You were
supposed to be watching our backs. Auber was in your blind spot,
wasn't he?
"Auber certainly retreated quickly from that battle. And
cleanly."
"True. I imagine he would have played it differently if he'd
managed to kill me with that first attack."
"Couldn't you have stopped him from escaping, if you really
wanted to?"
"…Maybe, if I used a spell with a large enough area of effect. But
I would have hit Eris and Ghislaine as well, and there's a good chance
he would have escaped anyway, thanks to that weird magic cloak of
his."
"Hmph. If you say so."
Hey now. It sounds like you're implying that I might be working
with Auber behind the scenes, buddy.
Well… this actually made some sense, now that I thought about
it. Telling Luke that I was allied with Auber and Darius would be the
easiest way for the Man-God to manipulate him, at least in the short
term.
The thing was, that whole idea would fall apart if you just
thought about it for five minutes.
Get it together, man. I know you're upset about your dad
trying to kill us and everything, but I'm not the enemy here.
"Come on, Luke. You're the one who asked me to help Princess
Ariel, remember?"
"I did, yes… but none of this makes any sense. Why did my
father betray us? It wasn't supposed to be that way…"
What was that supposed to mean? This was getting stranger by
the second. I was feeling increasingly convinced that the Man-God
had told Luke something, although it was hard to say exactly what…
Hmm, wait a minute. What if the Man-God can't see Luke right
now?
I was wearing that bracelet Orsted had given me, and it
supposedly acted as a kind of "jammer" that blocked the Man-God's
sight. There was a chance he had foretold events inaccurately in his
conversations with Luke.
Another possibility also came to mind. Maybe the Man-God had
decided Luke wasn't useful anymore, and abandoned him entirely.
"You got something you want to say, or what?" said Eris. The girl
was glaring at Luke threateningly from across the fire. I felt like she
was on the verge of taking a swing at him.
Sylphie didn't say anything, but her eyes were darting warily
from me and Luke and back again.
Ghislaine just looked puzzled. Mind games were never exactly
her strong suit, I guess.
"Your Highness," said Luke, looking up with a stern expression
on his face. "I'm opposed to this plan. Rudeus' behavior makes me
fear he's hiding something."
"…Does it?"
"We have no proof whatsoever that these bandits are
trustworthy. I agree that it would be unwise to pass through the
checkpoint, but I think our best option is to turn back for now and
ask Lord Perugius for assistance."
Ask Perugius for help, huh? There was definitely some logic to
that. If the man lent us a handful of his servant spirits, we could
come back and overwhelm our enemies.
Sure. It felt like a reasonable alternative. As long as Ariel made it
through this alive, I didn't mind that much either way. The only
reason I was pushing the bandit plan was that I wanted to meet up
with Triss, and maybe I could go off to handle that on my own. Still,
there was a risk that Ariel might get assassinated in my absence…
"Ellemoi, Cleane," Ariel said. "What do you two think?"
"Sir Luke has my support," said Ellemoi.
"And mine," said Cleane.
"I see."
The attendants were both on Luke's side as well. That put things
at three to two in their favor.
Of course, Asura wasn't a democracy. Quite the opposite. At the
end of the day, Ariel's vote was the only one that really mattered.
Well… if the decision went against me, I'd just have to go meet
Triss on my own. I could always say I was going to scout ahead inside
Asura while they doubled back or something. They might get
suspicious if I went alone, so I could ask Sylphie or Eris to tag along…
Ariel didn't ask Eris or Ghislaine for their opinions. Instead, she
fell silent for a while, lowering her eyes and gazing deeply into the
fire. She was clearly lost in thought.
"All right."
After a while, she looked up again. Her gaze moved between
mine and Luke's several times, then came to rest on Luke's.
"We're going to go with Rudeus' plan."
"What?!" said Luke angrily. "But why?!"
"I don't believe Lord Perugius will be inclined to recognize a
woman who fled to safety at the first sign of trouble as the rightful
queen of Asura. We mustn't turn to him unless it's absolutely
necessary."
As she spoke those words, Ariel sent a quick, meaningful glance
in my direction. What was the message there? Was she taking my
side on this for a reason? I didn't entirely understand. It was
convenient, of course… but I couldn't see why she'd chosen to trust
me over Luke. That made me feel a little uneasy.
"But with this plan, you're risking your very life. Are we really
going to turn to bandits for help instead? For all we know, Rudeus is
planning to sell you to them as—"
"Luke!" said Ariel sharply, cutting him off mid-sentence."What's
the matter with you all of a sudden? You can't really believe that
Rudeus would do such a thing, can you?"
"But… my father…"
"Lord Pilemon has likely betrayed us, yes. But we'd always
known that was a possibility. You yourself once warned me that he
might do so under certain circumstances."
"W-Well, yes, perhaps I did. But I know I heard that he—"
Luke stopped himself abruptly, bringing his hand to his mouth.
I blinked in surprise. Ariel looked somewhat startled also. Her
eyes went wide, and I saw her lips tremble slightly.
"Luke. I don't want to even consider this, but has my brother…"
Ariel trailed off, leaving the rest unspoken. If she completed that
sentence, and accused Luke of disloyalty, there was a chance she'd
be forced to break her ties with him here and now. I think she'd
probably realized that herself.
Ultimately, she found a different and less risky approach.
"Luke Notos Greyrat, tell me what you are."
Luke looked up, startled, to meet her gaze. His eyes moved
briefly to the worried faces of Sylphie, Ellemoi, and Cleane, then
returned to Ariel.
Without breaking her gaze, he kneeled in front of her and spoke.
"I am your knight."
"That's correct. And I am your princess."
Ariel nodded firmly, and Luke lowered his head.
They both seemed almost rejuvenated in that moment. They'd
figured out what mattered most, and put it into words. Nothing else
really mattered.
Sylphie and the attendants looked relieved as well. Those two
did have a special bond. That much was for sure.
"Well then, let's get moving right away. Rudeus, will you lead
the way?"
"All right."
In the end, our party would be seeking help from the local
bandits after all. Luke wasn't about to betray us.
Still, I felt more uneasy than before. That conversation had
confirmed, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he was a disciple of
the Man-God.
***
The first step was to head back to the main road through the
forest.
I knew how to get us to the bandits' territory. One of the rocks
by the roadside would be marked with a certain symbol; all we had
to do was head into the woods right there and head due east. The
group made their home on the far eastern edge of this forest, under
a steep rock face at the foot of a mountain.
Once we entered the forest again, our speed dropped
dramatically. The main issue was that we had to disassemble the
carriage and load it on the horses. Ariel stayed on horseback for a
time, but as we travelled deeper into the woods, she ended up
getting down to walk. There were so many trees and tangled roots all
around us that anyone riding was at risk of being thrown off their
mount.
Heading due east was simple enough in theory, but the forest
was so thick that we struggled mightily to navigate it. We had to pull
the horses along, forcing our way through wherever we could.
Sometimes I even resorted to blasting a path open with my magic.
Clearing trees like this wasn't the best idea; it was a clear sign that
we'd passed through that area, after all. But we'd leave traces of our
presence any time we had to fight a monster anyway, so there was
no chance we could hide our tracks completely. Our group was large,
and burdened down, and most of us weren't exactly masters of
stealth. There was no point worrying about it.
We stopped for breaks numerous times. It was mostly for Ariel's
sake, since her legs were aching terribly. She probably wasn't used to
walking through this kind of terrain; still, she took the pain stoically.
We were only pausing long enough for her to catch her breath while
Sylphie used healing magic on her legs.
We all barely spoke. And in the absence of conversation, your
thoughts tend to wander. I don't know what the others were
thinking about as we trudged along in silence, but my thoughts
turned to the Man-God, his disciples, and the things he might have
told them.
Specifically, I was trying to figure out what advice he might have
given Luke. It seemed safe to say that he'd told Luke something, but
it was unclear when this had happened, and what he had said. Based
on my own experience, the Man-God didn't hand out his little hints
that frequently. Sometimes he repeatedly showed up in a brief span
of time, but his visits were generally spaced out annually. Assuming
the same was true for Luke, he'd probably only gotten one prophecy
so far, or maybe two.
I could think of at least one possibility. Before that trip to the
Library Labyrinth, Luke had come to ask me for my help. Maybe the
Man-God had told him something like "Go ask Rudeus to join forces
with you. It'll work out to Ariel's advantage." It was a good
explanation for his actions at the time.
Judging from Luke's reaction to the attack today, however, I had
to think he'd gotten another visit or two after that. This time, he had
snapped at me at every opportunity. He seemed convinced that I
was the culprit behind everything that was going wrong. Maybe the
Man-God had told him… uh… "Rudeus is planning to seize control of
the Notos house," or something?
That was just ridiculous, though. Anyone could see I wasn't
remotely interested. I wouldn't be living all the way up in Sharia if I
gave a damn about Asuran politics, right? Hell, I'd avoided Ariel for
years because I didn't want to get mixed up in all that.
That said… Luke might feel very differently. Everyone thinks of
whatever they want most as incredibly valuable, right? And if you
hear someone wants to steal it from you, well, you'll probably get
suspicious.
Wait. Did that mean Luke was dying to be the next head of the
Notos family? Never would have guessed it, to be honest.
Anyway, there wasn't much point speculating about this
endlessly. I had to wait and hope for more information.
What about High Minister Darius Silva Ganius? Orsted was
convinced he was the Man-God's second disciple, and I was inclined
to agree. At this point, it would be shocking if he wasn't. What was
the Man-God whispering in his ear?
At the very least, he'd probably warned the man that Ariel was
on her way back to court. Ariel believed that he'd anticipated her
return from the moment the king fell ill. Even so, it seemed unlikely
that he'd dispatched a force this strong on the basis of a hunch. The
North Emperor Auber and the North King Wi Taa were both key
weapons in his arsenal. Would he really have sent them here unless
he knew for a fact that Ariel was coming? The safer play would have
been to keep them close, to discourage the Second Prince from
trying anything.
We'd also teleported to this forest. It was hard to say how fast
information could travel from the city of Sharia to Asura, but it
seemed impossible that he'd sent those two up here after hearing
about Ariel's departure.
Finally, there was the fact that Auber had come straight for me,
instead of trying to assassinate Princess Ariel. They seemed to be
aware of who I was and my abilities. Was there a chance that Darius'
real target was me, rather than the Princess?
Hmm. It probably didn't matter either way. The two of us were
dangerous to both Darius and the Man-God. There was no need to
manipulate the man like Luke; the Man-God just needed to provide
him with accurate information.
The identity of the third disciple was still unclear. It seemed that
Pilemon Greyrat had betrayed Ariel. Was there a chance that was the
Man-God's doing?
Probably not, actually. In the future recorded in that diary, Eris
had been staying at Pilemon's mansion. And Eris was a member of
the Boreas family, who were loyal to the First Prince. That seemed to
imply that Pilemon would have betrayed Ariel no matter what. Plus…
in terms of his capabilities and influence, the man was basically just a
less useful version of Darius. All in all, it felt unlikely that the ManGod had chosen him.
What about Auber, then? From the sound of things, he'd
brought Wi Taa along because he knew about the members of our
party. Then again, that was information Darius could easily have
given him. It seemed premature to make conclusions about Auber
based on our single meeting. Clearly, he was particularly wary of me,
but again, that could easily be due to something Darius had said. One
way or the other, we'd probably end up having to kill the man.
…I'd been thinking this over for a while now, but I hadn't
reached any real conclusions or hit upon any brilliant insights. Oh
well.
Speaking of Auber, though, that guy really did have a bizarre
combat style. He clearly carried all sorts of strange items, magical
and otherwise, and knew exactly how to use them. There was more
where that pepper-spray and oil had come from, without a doubt.
And it was easy to fixate on his flashy, peculiar tricks, but according
to Orsted he was also formidable in an ordinary swordfight.
I'd gotten an accurate description of the guy beforehand. Still,
hearing him described was very different from actually seeing him in
action. I didn't feel like I'd let down my guard, or made any glaring
mistakes. At that moment, Ghislaine had really needed my help. But
he'd still taken that brief opportunity to sneak up behind me. The
next time we met, I really wanted to take him out for good.
Orsted had warned me that the man was practically impossible
to track down once he got out of your sight. Despite his brightly
colored costume, he was somehow capable of just… melting into the
trees. He'd earned his title, clearly. Although he honestly felt less like
a "North Emperor" or a "Peacock Blade" than a ninja master.
Hadn't been expecting to find any of those guys in this world.
The place was just full of surprises.
Hmm. I might have to try making my own version of that pepper
bomb thing… or maybe the oil capsule…
***
We kept moving all evening, but eventually it grew too dark to
continue. We pitched our camp in the woods, and set up a rotating
watch as usual.
I took this opportunity to make my second report to Orsted.
After that battle, there was a great deal I needed to tell him about.
"So Auber got away, then?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. I know you told me how to handle him, but…"
"It's all right. It takes time to put advice into practice. And once
Auber decided to flee, you had essentially no chance of catching
him."
After making the call to retreat, Auber's movements had been
very swift and decisive. He had all sorts of attacks, feints, and
diversions, and he'd used a magic item I wasn't familiar with. Orsted
was likely familiar with all his tricks and strategies, but there was no
way I could anticipate them all perfectly.
When you put it that way… couldn't Orsted just go on ahead
and kill him for us?
Hmm… well, it probably wasn't wise to ask too much of the
boss. Leaning on him constantly would not be good in the long run.
Dealing with Auber was a job he'd delegated to me. I needed to find
a way to get it done.
"What was the deal with that Wi Taa guy, though?"
"Someone must have summoned him here, I suppose. It was
likely the Man-God's suggestion."
"…Hmm. Do you have any information on him?" It wouldn't hurt
to get a better idea of what that halfling was capable of, at least.
"They call the man 'Light and Darkness'. He's a North King with a
bizarre style, and a pupil of Kalman the Third. I believe he's served
the Notos family for many years as a bodyguard."
The Notos family? Huh. Maybe he'd taught Paul how to fight,
back in the day?
"As his nickname suggests, he's a master of optical trickery.
During the daytime, he uses his polished armor as a mirror to blind
his enemies; at night, he covers himself in ink and uses thick black
smoke to hide himself in the darkness. You'll want to make his armor
dirty in the day, or light up the area with fire magic at night."
"Makes sense."
Once you knew how his gimmick worked, he didn't sound like an
especially intimidating opponent…
"As long as you counteract his tactics, Eris or Ghislaine should be
able to handle him. But be aware that his skill with the sword is
genuine. Don't let down your guard for an instant."
Ah. So the cheap tricks were just there to give him a little edge,
then? That made sense. You couldn't make it to a rank like North
King with nothing but a couple of weird gimmicks.
"In any case, I doubt Wi Taa was the only one they summoned,"
Orsted continued. "I'd expect they've hired others as well."
"Other… North King level masters?"
"I wouldn't expect any Sword Kings, but you might encounter
Water Kings, Water Saints, and perhaps a Sword Saint."
"You think they hired every swordmaster they could get to
overwhelm us with numbers?"
"I doubt Darius would spend so lavishly on other bodyguards
with the Water God already on his side. I would guess there's
another one or two at worst."
The Water God was the ultimate trump card. It made sense that
they'd gotten a little cocky after securing her services. The Man-God
might have pestered them to bolster their forces further, but I could
see Darius brushing off that advice.
"However, all the three blades of the North God should be in
Asura at this time. There is a possibility they were hired as a group."
"The three blades of the North God? I don't think I've heard of
them before."
"Ah, yes. I'll explain…"
Apparently, this was the name that a group of four top-class
North God swordsmen had given themselves as a way of asserting
their supremacy. All of them used particularly strange techniques,
and had a strong craving for the spotlight. Orsted went over the list
of members, and offered a few comments on how to deal with them.
Then we moved on to the next topic.
"So what do you think about this situation with Luke?"
"It's a positive sign. Because he has the gift of foresight, the
Man-God is inexperienced at conventional prediction. When he
manipulates multiple disciples at once, it's common for him to
undermine himself in this way."
Basically, the Man-God had been giving advice to his disciples
without really thinking through the effects it might have on the
others. Luke's stunned reaction today suggested an inconsistency
between his reality and the advice that Darius or Auber had received.
The Man-God's prophecies were accurate, but he'd probably lied to
Luke about something else. That tended to be his style; he'd tell you
anything at all, if he thought it would make you do what he wanted.
"It did occur to me that the Man-God might have abandoned
Luke at this point, also…"
"That's entirely possible. Luke's destiny is weak, so I doubt the
Man-God ever viewed him as a particularly valuable pawn. His main
role was likely just to keep an eye on your movements. And with me
close by, he's no longer even capable of that."
"But the Man-God only has three pawns to play with, right?
Would he really use one for just that purpose?"
Orsted frowned and shook his head. "The Man-God can see
everything, and any exceptions to that rule are terrifying to him. He
had every motivation to keep watch over you."
"…Okay, I think I get it."
The Man-God's vision was the ability he relied on most heavily,
and we'd prevented him from using it against me. Without Luke to
monitor me indirectly, he wouldn't even be able to anticipate any
possible changes to the future. He'd have to fight us blind, guessing
at our next move without a single hint—and he was terrible at
predicting things.
When you put it that way, it seemed unlikely that he'd let Luke
go completely. If nothing else, his presence would limit our options
going forward.
"Do you think it's all right to leave Luke be for the time being,
then?"
"Yes. But be on your guard. When the Man-God sees no further
use for a disciple, he'll often spur them to act in reckless, absurd
ways."
"Yeah… I guess so."
One time, he even threw this whimpering sad sack up against
the Dragon God himself…
"If he takes any dramatic action, kill him."
"…Before it comes to that, I'd like to try reaching out to him. At
least once."
"What do you suggest discussing with him?"
"I want to ask him if the Man-God's speaking to him, and find
out what advice he was given. If possible, I'd try to convince him not
to trust the Man-God… maybe even get him to act as a sort of
double-agent for us."
"Hmm…"
I didn't feel too optimistic about my chances. Luke clearly
thought I was suspicious. The Man-God had probably told him
something about my intentions. I almost certainly hadn't built up
enough trust with Luke to convince him to take my word for all this.
We weren't exactly friends or anything, you know?
"…I don't think it will accomplish anything, but feel free to try."
Okay, at least I got permission. Now it was just a matter of
finding the right moment to take my shot. Hopefully this wouldn't
backfire on my spectacularly.
"For the moment, things are going smoothly enough. The ManGod hasn't been able to disrupt our plans efficiently. Keep it up,
Rudeus."
"Yes, sir!"
With our second meeting at an end, I bowed to Orsted and
hurried back through the woods.
Things are going smoothly enough.
That was true, now that I thought about it. The plan had always
been to fight Auber at the Red Wyrm's Whiskers, then join up with
Triss. There had been some unexpected details and minor
complications, but nothing severe enough to knock us totally offtrack. I had reason to be confident.
I understood all that on some level. Still, I didn't feel confident
at the moment. Things were going so well that I was actually getting
anxious. I could sense some kind of danger, but it felt like it was
hiding somewhere just outside my field of view. The whole thing
with Luke was part of it, probably.
Orsted didn't seem concerned at all. Maybe that was just
because he hadn't actually seen everything I had today. Maybe he
could sense something a little off as well, but wasn't worried by it. Or
maybe I was just overthinking things. I wished I had some idea what
was going on in Orsted's head.
There weren't any major problems at the moment, so we were
staying put. I could understand that. Thrashing around blindly only
made matters worse, most of the time. Back in my old world, people
used to say "it's better to try and fail than to fail because you didn't
try." But that only applies when doing nothing guarantees failure.
Sometimes, maintaining the status quo is the best possible choice.
I didn't want to fail, of course. I didn't want to regret my
choices. And with that goal in mind, there were a few things I wanted
to try.
It felt worth risking a more proactive, open approach with Ariel
and Luke. In particular, I wanted to approach Luke when the moment
seemed right. I hadn't decided exactly what I was going to say to him
yet, and it might just make the situation worse. But I still felt the
need to tell him exactly how dangerous the Man-God really was.
It might not be the right call. I wanted to do it anyway.
"…"
I made my way back to camp with these thoughts running
through my mind,. All I had left to do tonight was to pop out of the
woods and inform the others I hadn't spotted any danger in the area.
Sylphie and Cleane were sharing my shift tonight. I'd left them
by the fire less than thirty minutes ago. But as I approached, I found
that there were three figures waiting for me now.
Had somebody woken up in the middle of the night? If a
monster had attacked in my absence, Eris or Ghislaine might have
gotten up to help.
The third figure sitting by the fire wasn't bulky, but they were a
bit taller than Sylphie with her small, slender silhouette, and about
the same size as Cleane. The size of an average woman, in other
words. Eris was noticeably taller than that, so it couldn't be her.
Who did that leave? Ellemoi? I had no idea why she'd be awake.
As I drew closer, one of the three silhouettes rose to its feet.
"It's a lovely night. Don't you agree, Rudeus?"
It was Princess Ariel. She was facing me now; the fire behind her
cast her shapely features in shadow. Sylphie and Cleane looked on,
their expressions troubled.
"Would you care to join me for a walk?"
As Ariel spoke those words, I could just make out the bold smile
on her face