The Daughter of Evil - Volume 3 - Chapter 1.24

Chapter 1, Section 2-Chance Meeting of a Sworn Friend; Scene 4
Praeludium of Red, page 52-69

♣ Yukina ~In the Beelzenian Empire, “Langley Unit Garrison”~

.

Chartette explained that a ghost town was being used as the army garrison. Next to a worn out water wheel clanking and spinning around, some muscular men were training with swords and lances.

“Is she here?”

I briefly looked around. But I couldn’t find the person I’d come here to see.

“Can’t see her. Maybe she’s in the main office.”

“Where’s the main office?”

“I’ll show ya.”

Chartette once more walked forward, and I followed after her.

“The Langley Unit’s core forces is composed of the Lucifenian Revolution’s soldiers…Basically former resistance members, yannow.”

Chartette began an explanation into the unit as she walked ahead. Passing soldiers greeted her. It felt less like it was out of respect towards a superior, and more out of a sense of affection.

“Former resistance members?”

“Yeah. After the revolution, the resistance kept fightin’ against King Marlon when he announced he was absorbin’ Lucifenia, yannow.”

Apparently at first, they had the advantage in the battle. Within a short span of time, they had occupied the Lucifenian territory’s Breck Mountain and Retasan Fortress.

“But things didn’t go as good as they did durin’ the revolution, yannow. After Lucifenia’s lady general Lily Mouchet started her counter-measures we kept getting losses–eventually they took back Retasan Fortress, and we fled to Beelzenia.”

Lily had said as much when I’d first met her. Even after becoming governed by Marlon, Lucifenia and Beelzenia still had their skirmishes for one thing or another.

It seemed the cause of the skirmishes was regarding treatment of the resistance members.

“The Beelzenian Emperor refused Marlon’s demands to turn over the resistance, yannow. Thanks ta Master Gumillia puttin’ in a good word for us.”

Gumillia, the topic of conversation at the moment, continued to walk behind us with no expression, appearing uninterested for the most part.

“In return, later on the resistance ended up workin’ for Beelzenia as one of their units.”

So it seemed their interests overlapped–the resistance who needed a backer, and the Beelzenian emperor who was struggling with dwindling manpower.

I gradually understood Marlon’s reason for being on guard against Beelzenia.

The resistance and the “witch” Gumillia were assembled here in this country. And on top of that, the Beelzenian Emperor leading them was ignoring their demands entirely.

Basically, this place had many sources of anxiety for Marlon, and they couldn’t just let that slide.

It was here that Chartette said something unexpected.

“…Well, I only heard all that from other people, myself, yannow.”

“Really?”

Surprisingly, it seemed that she hadn’t been participating in the resistance this entire time.

“I got to Beelzenia maybe about one year ago, yannow. When the resistance got officially recognized as a unit, I became commander in York’s stead, on account a him having to retire from the front lines ‘cause of his injury.”

“You must be an enormously popular person, Miss Chartette, becoming commander so soon after joining.”

“Heh heh, I do my best, yannow!”

Chartette puffed up her chest.

She didn’t seem to hear Gumillia murmur behind her, “There just wasn’t, anyone else to vie for candidacy.”

“But then, where were you until you got here, Miss Chartette?” I asked.

Chartette replied without turning around, “Just like you, I was travelin’.”

.

In the center of the garrison was a building larger than the others, one that might have originally been the village chief’s home. Chartette opened the door of that building.

“This is the main office. Come on in!”

When I and Gumillia entered after being invited in, there were two men each sitting in their respective chairs. One of them was a large, one-eyed man, and the other was a man with green hair and delicate features.

“I brought 'em over!” she said.

The one-eyed man stood up, extending an arm to shake hands. He leaned on a cane, as though he had a bad leg.

“I’m York le Corbusier. We met once before, long ago–remember?”

I was able to recall soon enough with a little bit of thought. I gripped York’s hand and replied, smiling, “Long time no see, Mister. I last met you at the Corpa mansion in Lucifenia, right?”

It was after my home in Elphegort burned down, and the whole family was taking refuge with an acquaintance in Lucifenia. There were some people who visited my father to negotiate his financial aid in the revolution. York was one of them.

“Your father was a great help to us back then.”

Having made his greetings, York once again returned to his seat.

“Have you got bad legs?”

At hearing my question, York patted his right leg embarrassedly.

“They got stabbed through with a lance by Lucifenia’s lady general. Now the right one’s made of iron.”

At that, the other man who was writing a letter at his desk said, looking exasperated, “You can’t fight squarely anymore; you should retire already.”

York retorted, a miffed expression on his face, “Shut up, Minage. You oughtta go home every now and then and see your brats, you cur. Sekka’s been complaining to me.”

“Yeah yeah, got it, 'father-in-law'…Oops, sorry. Didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

The man called Minage seemed to be writing some sort of composition on a piece of paper he had on hand, but after taking a break and setting down his pen, he stood and bowed his head.

“I am Deputy Commander Minage. I hail from Elphegort, so I have no last name.”

In Elphegort, common people who weren’t members of the royal family or aristocracy generally only had first names.

I had heard the name Minage before. If I recalled correctly, that was the name of the revolutionary who made contact with King Thorny in Elphegort during the revolution.

“Pleased to meet you. I know of your role in Elphegort in the revolution.”

“I was just a negotiator.”

“Oh no, I’ve heard that if it weren’t for you connecting with the Elphegort army, the revolution would never have been able to succeed.”

While Minage was being humble, Chartette restlessly looked around next to him. Then she asked York, “Where’s Big-Sis?”

“Who knows? Probably getting drunk somewhere, huh?” York immediately replied, sounding disgusted.

“Yukina came here to meet her. She’s heard stories about her, the leader of the revolutionary army.”

“-Sigh-…What’s this, then?” York asked, turning again to look at me.

“I intend to write a story someday regarding the 'Daughter of Evil’. And so I want to interview people who were connected to her.”

Half of that was true, and half was a lie.

“…That’s reasonable enough.”

It seemed the authenticity of what I was saying wasn’t very important to York. He turned away, expression saying clearly showing he thought I was wasting his time meeting up with him for a “hobby”.

“Well, she can’t have left the garrison, so you should try to properly search the area.”

“I’ll do that.”

Gumillia, who had been silently watching everything behind me up until this point, suddenly spoke up.

“Can I go back, soon? The introductions are over, and I have work to do.”

“Hey hey, you’re not gonna leave this guest here are ya, Master Gumillia?” York complained, but it fell on deaf ears. She turned around without getting permission from anyone.

“I don’t mind. Thank you for everything, Miss Gumillia. I might go to talk to you again one of these days, so I hope you’ll be willing to receive me.”

“…That would be alright, if I have free time.”

Saying only that, Gumillia went outside and returned down the road we’d come from.

After seeing her off, Chartette offered up her left hand and said, “Then I’ll escort ya around, Yukina!”

But Minage interjected, “You have to do your work too, Commander~. Help me out sorting these documents. You’re the only other person who’s literate here.”

“Ugh, but…”

Chartette made a troubled expression. Was that because she had wanted to show me around, or just because she didn’t want to work?

“It’s alright. Let me walk around properly on my own. I won’t trespass anywhere that looks classified, so you have nothing to worry about.“

I curtseyed, and then left the building. As I closed the door, I could see York grabbing Chartette by the collar and pulling her back as she tried to follow after me.

 .

I faintly heard the sound of bells from far away.

They were probably ringing from the church inside the graveyard that was set along the road that led here.

It’s teatime.

When I was in my native country, I could look forward to having cream tea that the servants would prepare for me. I’d sampled quite a few delicious dishes of each country I’d been to during my journey up until now, and so the simple flavor of that cream tea was something that I missed.

Maybe I was suffering from a little homesickness. I wondered if Aile and Shaw were doing alright.

Huh? What’s that?

I could see a silhouette moving in the shade of a tree. I’d approached it thinking perhaps it was a cat or something, but I realized it was actually a collapsed person.

“Urgh…”

This is bad!

“Are you conscious? I am going to go get someone now, so please wait here for a little bit okay?”

As I was about to go do that, the fallen person—they looked to be a woman—grabbed the hem of my skirt with her left hand.

“Don’t go…”

“…”

“I don’t—I don’t want to be all alone…Dad…Allen…”

Was she having a nightmare? The woman was murmuring deliriously.

And in her right hand she was clutching a liquor bottle.

 .

“—Have you composed yourself?” I asked.

As I did, the woman sitting in the shade of the tree nodded without a word.

"Sorry for the bother, young miss. Looks as though I had a little too much to drink,” she said with gratitude, looking up at the sky and resting a thick cloth drenched in cold water on her head.

The soldiers in the garrison all, men and women alike, were either clad in military uniforms or armor of a deep crimson, the main color of the Beelzenian army. But she was wearing a red dress.

Although I don’t think she’d realized it yet, this was not the first time that she and I had met.

I came here today to see her.

“I don’t think much of drinking so heavily this early in the day, Miss Germaine.”

“—Have we met before?”

My impression of her now was much more lethargic and melancholy than she had been five years ago, but it was no mistake. She was the hero of the revolution, Germaine Avadonia.

“I am Yukina Freezis. I had the pleasure of seeing you before at the Corpa estate in Lucifenia, Miss Germaine.”

After introducing myself I lightly curtseyed.

“Ah, Keel’s daughter? You’ve gotten big.”

Germaine looked my way one more time, before once again turning to look at the sky.

“How is Keel?” she asked, her gaze still on space.

I didn’t know, myself. I hadn’t heard any news of his death at least, so he was probably alright.

“I’m not sure? I haven’t seen him for about a year, so I don’t really know.”

“Hm? Did you run away from home?”

Germaine pulled the cloth off her head and set it beside her.

“I’m not sure I’d put it like that, but…Right now I’m in the middle of a journey to broaden my views.”

“A journey, huh? …That’s good. I went around various places myself up until last year.”

A small smile played out on her lips.

“Were those journeys of yours with Chartette?”

She had just told me that she’d arrived here one year ago, too.

“Yeah. After the revolution everything just sorta got really tiresome. I’d planned to leave Lucifenia by myself, but before I knew it she was tagging along.”

“Everything got tiresome…? Just what was the specific reason?”

I adopted an inquisitive tone without thinking.

“The reason was–nothing in particular.”

Germaine looked at my face with an expression that seemed to say that even if there was, she had no obligation to tell me.

“Why’d you come here today, Yukina?”

“I came to see you. I wanted to talk to you.”

In truth, seeing Germaine Avadonia was another one of the goals of my trip.

There was a rumor regarding her, relating to the Witch Hunt Order. I wanted to hear from Germaine herself whether it was true or not.

So when I’d heard from Gumillia that Germaine was in this place, I’d begged Gumillia to take me here with her.

Germaine looked the slightest bit bothered.

“I don’t have anything that interesting to tell.”

“What about the Witch Hunt Order–”

The moment I said those words aloud, Germaine’s expression turned grim.

“Three months after I left the country, the Marlon government put me on a wanted list, didn’t they? Publically they said it was because I’d been plotting treason.” She made no attempt to hide her displeasure. “It was just an excuse. I wasn’t planning any treason.”

“But your allies–the resistance members–revolted against Marlon after that. I heard about that just a little while ago.”

Germaine objected that the order of things was the other way around.

“Kyle was the one who suddenly started trying to get rid of us–we had no choice but to oppose him after that.”

Why would Kyle try to purge the members of the resistance? It seemed Germaine didn’t know the reason either.

“It was pretty lucky that I was out on a trip at the time. York said he didn’t know how things would have gone if I’d been in the country when it happened.”

“About that,” I prefaced my next words by explaining it was strictly gossip, and then broached the real issue at hand: “Maybe King Kyle thinks that you murdered Elphegort’s diva, 'Michaela’.”

The incident regarding the singer “Michaela” was one of the causes of the Lucifenian Revolution.

Marlon’s King Kyle had been engaged to the “Daughter of Evil”, Riliane. But he had fallen in love with Michaela, and broke up the engagement. Enraged, the princess retaliated by invading Elphegort, and in the midst of that war Michaela was murdered by someone.

Michaela had been popular, and her death had amplified the anger of the people of Elphegort, as well as intensified the rebellion in Lucifenia. It’s said that it invited success for the revolution as a result, as the main forces of the Lucifenian army became unable to return home from Elphegort.

“Germaine Avadonia, in order to stir up the people’s opposition to the Lucifenian royal family, found the hidden Michaela and killed her. King Kyle has found out, and in his anger is trying to take revenge on Germaine–that’s the story as I’ve heard it.”

Germaine listened to me silently. I couldn’t tell from her face whether she was angry or aggrieved at hearing it.

After a short while, she opened her mouth.

“Where did you hear something like that?”

Well, I guess it was natural she wonder that.

“I’ve overheard some things while I’ve been out traveling,” I replied.

Though in reality, I had obtained that information by keeping up with the characteristic information networks that the Freezis family had laid out all over Evillious.

There were people employed as “information brokers” under my father’s patronage in every country. I didn’t interact with them much normally, but they had served me well in my travels whenever I ran into a bit of trouble.

Controlling information is the key to success–that was my father’s motto.

“…I see.” Germaine sprawled out in the grass under the shade of the tree. “I don’t know if all that’s true, but that would explain Kyle’s sudden change.”

I peered into her face, gazing directly at her eyes.

“Then what happened? The rumor that you killed Michaela…is it true?”

"…You’re awfully serious. Is that really so important to you?”

“I knew Michaela when she was alive.”

Germaine lifted the upper half of her body.

“Hm? What sort of relationship did you have with her?”

“Michaela was—a servant of the Freezis family. Didn’t you know that?“

“I see. …That’s how it is. Well then, what will you do? If I am the culprit, are you going to arrest me here and hand me over to the Marlon government?”

“…First I’d like to know if it’s true. –I want to know whether or not you really killed Michaela.”

Germaine was silent for a short period, looking into my eyes. I had thought so when we first met before, but she had quite pretty features.

“…I didn’t kill her. I’d never even met Michaela.”

We looked at each other for a little while.

Finally, I slowly closed my eyes and said, “I see, understood. For the time being, I believe you.“

"…Ha ha. You must have a lot of faith in me.”

Of course, I didn’t swallow her version of events completely. But I didn’t have any proof that she did do it, and her supposed motive felt a little off to me.

Even so, I’d still wanted to hear it directly from the person herself. Was Germaine Avadonia evil or not? Unlike five years ago, having grown to be fourteen years old I wanted to ascertain that with my own eyes.

“As I thought. The hero Germaine Avadonia isn’t the sort to imperil another person’s life for her own goals.”

“…You don’t know anything. Nothing at all, about me.”

I’d been trying to give her praise, but for some reason it seemed to have made her sad.

“You’re right. I haven’t yet gotten to know you, Miss Germaine.” I would need more time to learn her true nature. “Well then, what ought I to do in order to get along better with you?”

I pretended to think for a minute. It was just a ruse. I had already decided before I came here.

A place related to the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”, Elluka’s apprentice, and people related to the “Daughter of Evil”.

Everything that I’d been seeking was assembled here. I couldn’t afford to overlook that.

Germaine looked puzzled, apparently unable to figure out what it was that I was considering.

“Right! I’ve got it! I’m going to spend some time here with everyone for a while!”

“What!? Why would you do that?” Germaine was dumbfounded at my words. “A civilian can’t accompany a military unit!”

“All the people of this unit were originally just civilians themselves, weren’t they?”

“Everyone will oppose you.”

“Oh, the Langley unit would treat unkindly the daughter of their benefactors, the Freezis family?”

“…You don’t have permission from a higher-up.”

“But it seems the commander of this unit is a huge fan of mine. I’m sure if I told her it was for research she’d be more than happy to give me permission.”

“Not Chartette, someone from the top brass!”

“Don’t underestimate the authority of the Freezis clan. My father provides support to the Beelzenian emperor as well.”

“…You’re not embarrassed to use your parents’ connections?”

“Not at all.“

"…What an unexpectedly ill-natured girl you are…”

Germaine appeared to be so flabbergasted that she said nothing more than that.