Chapter III: Inglis, Age 16—Leone’s Homecoming
The Star Princess soared over the outskirts of Ahlemin as Rafinha clung to Eris.
“Wow! That flying battleship really came to Ahlemin!” Rafinha said in awe. Controlling the Flygear was too hard with her tiny body, so Eris had taken over the job.
“It’s completely restored...” Eris murmured. The flying battleship hovered over the cathedral in the center of Ahlemin, originally built to contain the rime-bound Prismer. The cathedral below it was undergoing a major renovation, with scaffolding erected and thronging crowds moving to and fro. The mood surrounding it was quite lively in contrast to the drudgery of the work.
With the rebirth and defeat of the Prismer, Ahlemin’s role in monitoring it had come to an end, but now the town would take on a new life as the base for the flying battleship. Originally it was under the command of Venefic’s General Rochefort in his raid on Chiral, but Inglis had forced it down and captured it. With it assigned to the knights’ academy, Ambassador Theodore and Principal Miriela directed an all-hands effort to repair it and had made it functional again.
“Ah! They’re going over our paint job!” Rafinha puffed out her cheeks in a pout.
“Well, painting the whole thing pink was kind of, I mean... This will be the flagship for a new order of knights. It’s going to be used in a variety of operations, so its color shouldn’t draw too much attention,” Inglis said to soothe her. While the students at the knights’ academy were doing the repair work, Rafinha and Pullum had painted the entire ship pink, a decision that others considered inappropriate.
Inglis and Rafinha’s own Star Princess was a different story, but this ship wasn’t theirs, so its color wasn’t actually up to them. The Star Princess’s design, the fruit of Rafinha and Pullum’s friendship and cooperation, was unapologetically girly, with bright pink coloring and glittering eyes painted on.
“Ugh... But Pullum and I worked so hard on this one too...”
“Well, the color may have changed, but the eyes are still there, see? It’s fine.”
The glittering eyes Rafinha and Pullum had drawn—just like their work on the Star Princess—on the hull were intact. They were a dead giveaway that the battleship was the same ship no matter what color it was.
Leone’s letter had said that a new order of knights was being formed, with this as the flagship. Karelia’s forces were split between the Paladins and Royal Guard, and groupings like the knights of Ymir maintained by nobles at their own discretion.
The new order was to number among the former. With the Paladins already dedicated to fighting magicite beasts, and the Royal Guard to the defense of the capital and the royal family, Inglis wondered what its purpose would be. Leone’s letter had not filled in that detail, only noting that the ship was to be based in Ahlemin, which would be the home of the new order. However, Inglis had been pleased to find that Ambassador Theodore was coming here, saving her the trip to the capital.
Inglis and Rafinha had made plans concerning Leone’s family home, and they filled in Eris on what they’d done.
“Leone’s so serious and diligent. She could have thanked us when we met after vacation,” Inglis said.
“I bet she was just super happy about it. I love that about her!”
“I think it was a wonderful idea,” Eris said. “You two are very kind.”
“Thank you!” Inglis and Rafinha replied with a grin.
Eris winced. “It’ll be a bit of a shame when you two are back to normal.”
When Leone had entered the knights’ academy, she’d vacated the house and moved to the capital. The people of Ahlemin had still been bitter about their town’s reputation as a nest of traitors every time they passed by the Olfa manor, and she had needed the money for her tuition and expenses, so she’d decided to get rid of everything to fund her studies. Even if her friends offered to help, Leone, who was very modest, likely would have refused. Therefore, Inglis and Rafinha had spoken with Rafael and made arrangements to secretly buy the house and maintain it so that Leone could return one day. To be precise, by the time they brought it up, Rafael had already made the moves they had contemplated.
During her first vacation home from the knights’ academy, Leone had returned to Ahlemin to help with the repairs from the battle with the Prismer, and she’d noticed that it was unchanged. When she spoke with the financier who’d arranged its sale, she’d learned it was still hers and she could return to it whenever she liked. She’d immediately written a letter of thanks—a very serious act. How very like Leone.
“So, where shall we go first? To the Olfa manor?” Eris asked.
“Of course!” Rafinha said.
“If you would, Eris. It’s over there.”
With Inglis navigating for Eris, the Star Princess made its way to the Olfa manor. Gradually, it came into sight, no different from when they had last visited. There was the sturdy gate and a broad but completely denuded courtyard, but one thing was different. A crowd had gathered in front of the doors and appeared to be looking inside.
“Why are there so many people there?” Rafinha crooked her head.
“They probably all came here when they noticed Leone’s return?” Inglis offered.
“Ah! You mean they’re going to bully her again? This time in a big crowd?!” Rafinha’s brow furrowed.
“No, I don’t think it’s necessarily like that.”
“But if it is, we need to chase them off before they hurt her like that! She’ll feel so bad! Let’s hurry, Chris!” Rafinha tugged at Inglis’s hand.
“Sure, sure. Set us down, then, Eris.”
“Ah, wait!” Eris said. “You don’t need to rush. I’ll have it landed soon enough!”
“No! I’m going now!” Rafinha hugged Inglis from behind.
“You mean I’m going now?”
“Chris, your power is my power!”
Inglis laughed. “You’re not wrong about that!” Carrying Rafinha, Inglis jumped from the Star Princess, landing just in front of the crowd gathered at the gate. The sudden landing of a little girl carrying another little girl produced shocked gasps from the crowd.
“Huh?! What just—?!”
“She jumped down from above?!”
Inglis called out to them with a beaming smile. “Hello there, everyone. What happens to be your business here?”
“If you’re here to bully Leone, you’ll have to go through us first! So you should just go home!”
The crowd shook their heads in reaction to Rafinha’s proud stand against them. Many of them were dressed like knights, but some were not, and there were women and commoners as well.
“No, it’s not like that. That’s not why we’re here!”
“You two know Lady Leone?”
Rafinha nodded. “Yes. And?”
“Ah, I see! We’d heard she had returned here. Is that true?”
“Perhaps. Now, what is your business here?” Inglis asked.
Looking a bit embarrassed, one of the knights replied for the group. “We want to apologize for what we did to her.”
“Wh—?!” Inglis and Rafinha exchanged glances.
“I was in the fight with the Prismer! After it fell, when a flood of magicite beasts attacked, I saw her fight desperately to defend Ahlemin!”
“Me too! One of them was about to get me before her sword cleaved through it!”
“Even though we wronged her... We are ashamed of what we’ve done to her. We’re here to apologize.”
“I see.” Inglis had lost consciousness after defeating the Prismer, and the fighting had wrapped up by the time she awoke again, but it seemed the battle against the magicite beasts had been fierce. Even with the Prismer itself defeated, the countless army of magicite beasts it had created had launched an all-out assault. With Eris and Ripple unconscious as well, Rafael—who had awakened shortly thereafter—had fought with the bravery and intensity of a lion, and Leone’s own contributions had been second only to his. Liselotte had been a huge help too, leading to a recognition of her efforts at the banquet to celebrate the Prismer’s defeat.
The sight of them must have made quite an impact on the knights in the field. When Leone had left Ahlemin, she’d resolved to capture Leon herself and remove the stain from the Olfa name she’d experienced in Ahlemin. Even so, perhaps she had regained the trust of the people of Ahlemin in a different way.
“You should have told us that to begin with! I’m so glad—apologizing when you think you’ve done something wrong is the right thing to do!” Rafinha’s face lit up, and she nodded repeatedly. “So, let’s go see Leone! Everyone, come on in!” Rafinha beckoned everyone toward the gate.
“Rani, you can’t just walk in... I mean, it’s not your house.”
“It’s okay, we’re friends! I’m sure she’ll be happy!” Rafinha smiled, as relieved for Leone as she would have been for herself.
That smile of hers always got Inglis to go along with Rafinha’s wishes, and it was at maximum strength coming from cute little six-year-old Rafinha. “Well, if you say so.”
“All right! In we go!” Rafinha moved to push open the gate, propelling the knights into a panic.
“Wait, we can’t just barge in...”
“That’s right, if she can’t bring herself to forgive us, it would make an even worse impression.”
“Could you relay our message to her?”
The knights seemed reluctant. With how young Rafinha appeared, permission from her was less than convincing.
“Huh? It’s fine. Don’t worry about it!”
As Rafinha spoke, the gates opened from inside, and they saw Eris there. She must have landed in the courtyard farther inside.
“Oh, Eris. Thanks.” Rafinha was casual, but the crowd was astonished at the sudden appearance of a hieral menace, a guardian of their country.
“Wow!”
“It’s Lady Eris!”
“See? Even a hieral menace says it’s okay! Let’s go!” Rafinha proclaimed, but Eris’s expression sharpened.
“Wait! It might be dangerous.”
“Hm? What do you mean, Eris?”
“Dangerous?!”
“C’mon, Chris, don’t be happy about that!”
“It might be dangerous. You two come in. Everyone else, could you keep watch out here?” Eris asked. Inglis and Rafinha followed her through the grounds toward the house itself. The Star Princess was parked in the courtyard, and as they approached it, Inglis and Rafinha understood what Eris had meant.
“Ah! I smell blood!” Inglis said.
“You’re right,” Rafinha agreed. “What happened?! Is Leone okay?!”
“Let’s go find out,” Eris said.
The three approached the front door of the house. It was slightly ajar and could be pushed open easily. Inglis took point and put her hand on the knob. “I’m going in!” She pushed the door wide open and stepped in.
The large foyer had a grand staircase at one end. Inglis saw several people collapsed on it, bleeding. They were dressed like knights.
“They’re—!” Rafinha gasped.
“What happened here?!” Eris asked.
The smell of blood from outside correctly foreshadowed the scene before them. No, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario of it being Leone lying there, and Inglis was relieved for that, but only to an extent—this was no ordinary scene, and it made her worried for Leone’s safety.
“Oh no! A-Are you okay?!” Rafinha rushed toward the knights to check on them.
“Wait, Rani!” Inglis grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“But if they’re still alive, I need to heal them, or else—”
“It’s okay. We know whether they’re alive.”
“Huh? So there’s nothing we can do?” Rafinha’s expression clouded with the thought that it was too late.
Inglis shook her head. “Weeeellllll... Not quite. Watch.” She extended a finger and pointed at one of the collapsed men. “Drop the act and get up.”
Aether Pierce! Inglis shot a beam of light toward him. She had aimed for it to graze him, but before it struck, the man let out a roar.
“Grahhhh!”
He leaped up, dodging out of the path of the Aether Pierce. His movements were swift and showed no sign of his being seriously injured. Inglis could see that his hamstring was cut, and he was bleeding from the wound, but these weren’t reflected in his actions. His expression and eyes were unusual as well, with his eyelids strangely peeled back and eyes glowing brightly. Even his teeth were unusually sharp and enlarged. Hs canine teeth were polished into blades.
“Wh—?! What is that?!” As Rafinha shouted in surprise, the man rushed toward Inglis, flailing with his sword. It was a desperate attack with no regard for his own safety. His speed was quite beyond that of a normal person, making him a fearsome assassin.
“He’s fast...!” Even Eris was surprised.
He suddenly halted, as if things had paused. The tip of the man’s sword stopped just in front of Inglis’s face, caught between two fingers. No matter how hard the man pushed, the sword would not move.
“Hmm... You’re pretty strong. And you’re definitely faster than a normal person.” Inglis grinned. This wasn’t bad at all. A few dozen more of them, and she’d be having fun.
“He’s not a magicite beast, and he’s not using an Artifact! What is he?!” Eris didn’t seem to recognize what he was.
“He isn’t like the Rune-Eater either!” Rafinha said. “Wh-What is he, Chris?! There’s something not right about these people! What happened to them?!”
“He’s an undying.”
“A what?”
“You know, like zombies or vampires.”
“Huh?! I thought those only existed in fairy tales and scary stories!”
“Yet there’s one right here in front of you. You thought dragons only existed in stories, but they’re real, right?”
“Well, yes, but...”
“The world is just full of wonders, isn’t it?” However, these weren’t supernatural, otherworldly creatures like a dragon. These were within human reach. That is, they could be created with magic.
It was a forbidden magic that had existed during the reign of King Inglis. The king had made an effort to promote the spread of magic, but judged its use to transform humans in this way to be extremely immoral, and had banned the creation or control of undying as a forbidden magic. Powerful though it was, it was something that later generations would have no need for.
Inglis didn’t know how much time had passed since her reign as king, but here was that magic again. The victims were before her eyes. It could have been done with an Artifact, or by a Highlander’s magic. She had no way of knowing right now.
“The world can also be depressing.” She sighed. She had been trying to help by forbidding it, and yet...
The passage of time was cruel. It seemed all the acts of her past life had faded into nothingness. This was just another reminder. A reminder that, rather than chasing causes or ideals that would disappear with the passage of time, she should live to enjoy herself. Inglis Eucus would have no regrets in her final moments. She wanted to go into the great beyond smiling at the fun she’d had and the fact that she’d left nothing undone.
“Y-Yeah. That poor man... Chris, is there any way to change him back?”
“Once he’s this far gone, I don’t think we can. It’s like with turning into a magicite beast.” Responding to Rafinha, Inglis turned her eyes back to the undying before her. “Go for it! Just a little more force! Your sword’s almost there!”
“Grahhhh!” The undying pushed even harder, as if Inglis’s cheers spurred him on.
“You can do it! This isn’t over yet!”
“C’mon, Chris! You’re not supposed to be having fun!”
“I mean, I might as well!” The situation being terrible didn’t mean there couldn’t be a chance for an engaging battle. No matter who or what she was fighting, Inglis wanted to keep a positive attitude and seek personal growth in the battle.
“Sheesh...”
Snap! Splorch!
He pushed too hard, and his leg broke. He had ignored the limits of his body. Undying could not reason and felt no pain, so this was a common occurrence with them. Since his hamstring had been cut, the break began there.
“Eeek!” Rafinha’s face twitched in surprise.
“Th-They’re...” Eris stammered. “The undying lose their ability to feel pain! It’s torn away so that they don’t value themselves at all!”
“So you do know about them,” Inglis said. Of course, if anyone knew about the undying, it would be a hieral menace. She had such extensive knowledge.
“What’s puzzling me is how you know so much about them... Then again, there’s a lot else about you that I don’t get, so I don’t really mind.”
Rafinha fretted. She couldn’t stand watching the man in his current state and had to help him somehow. “I can’t sit by and do nothing! That poor man! Maybe this will somehow turn him back! Go!” Rafinha drew her trusty Artifact bow, Shiny Flow. The arrow of light it fired shone a pale blue, the color of those imbued with its healing Gift.
It struck the undying’s broken leg. Rafinha’s kindness was something Inglis found praiseworthy, but sadly, her efforts here were fruitless.
Crack! Goooosh!
Instead, the undying’s body disintegrated even faster, collapsing into a gruesome pulp.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkk!” Rafinha shrieked.
“Healing works in reverse on the undying,” Inglis said.
“So fast too. Though it’s a horrific sight,” Eris muttered.
Eris was right. The undying, unlike magicite beasts, were vulnerable to physical attacks, but they were still hard to defeat because they would not stop unless damaged to the point of physical destruction. Using healing magic on them was probably the fastest way to deal with them using normal Artifacts.
“T-Tell me that beforehand!” Rafinha protested.
“I didn’t really have time to stop you,” Inglis said.
“Ugh! Anyway, I’m going to go look for Leone! If she was alone and got attacked by these things, she must be terrified!”
“Wait, Rani. The ones napping over there are undying too.”
There were a couple others lying on the stairs. Their bleeding must have been from Leone’s counterattacks. But the undying, well, didn’t die. They must have been lying in wait for someone to draw close to their “corpses,” at which point they’d attack. Their creator must be controlling them to do so. This was no mindless assault, but complex behavior; it spoke to their creator’s power. It was quite impressive.
If Leone had let her guard down and approached them after “killing” them, she might have gotten hurt from their sudden attack. Inglis didn’t know whether Leone had fought them, or whether she was still in the mansion. But they needed to find her, quickly.
“I’d like you to take them down with the arrow you just used,” Eris prompted Rafinha.
“Huh?!” Rafinha gasped.
“It’s the fastest way to handle them. And if I did it, we’d end up destroying the entire building,” Inglis said. It was Leone’s home, so she wanted to show some concern.
“That’s right,” Eris agreed. “It takes a significant attack to finish off an undying. Your arrows can take them down without affecting anything else.”
“O-Okay... Go!” Rafinha’s healing arrows struck the undying and turned them into meat. Wounds opened where the arrows struck and spread out across their bodies until they were nothing but a gory mess.
“Ugggghhhhh... I can’t stand to look at this...”
“C’mon, Rani. Let’s go find Leone. You can shoot healing arrows at anything that looks like a person.”
“Yes, they won’t harm normal people,” Eris agreed.
Thus, the three began their search of the Olfa mansion. A pass through the first floor revealed no Leone—only several more undying. Each was handled with a healing arrow from Rafinha.
“She’s not on the first floor, then,” Rafinha said.
“Then let’s go upstairs,” Eris suggested.
“Ah, wait, Eris. I remember there being a cellar here too. I noticed it when we spent the night,” Inglis pointed out.
“Then let’s split up,” Eris said. “I’ll check upstairs. You two look in the cellar.”
“Sure!” Inglis and Rafinha set off for the cellar, but the door was closed.
“Leone! Leone! Are you there?” Rafinha called out as she knocked.
“No response... And it seems locked,” Inglis said. Leone might have closed it to get away from her enemies. If so, she was probably hiding inside.
“Guess we’ve gotta do it, Chris!” What Rafinha meant was perfectly clear.
“Sure, got it.”
Destroy the door and move on. But as Inglis stepped toward the door, someone on the other side opened it.
Crrrrreak!
“Ah! Leone?!” Rafinha peeked into the gap, but the face looking back was not the face she wanted to see.
“Grahhhhhhh!” An undying thrust its face up toward hers.
“Eeeeeek!”
“Gahhhh!”
Rafinha shrieked as the undying tried to grab her.
Oh no you don’t! Inglis had already sprang into action. Her tiny fist swept in from the side and slammed into the undying’s cheek.
Bammmmm!
The undying shot like an arrow back down the staircase and slammed into the wall at its foot. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t touch Rani.”
While Inglis grinned, Rafinha gritted her teeth. “Ugh...! That surprised me! Don’t scare me like that!” She sent a healing arrow into the undying that Inglis had knocked back. “Don’t look, don’t look, I didn’t see that!” she mumbled to herself, averting her eyes as the undying disintegrated.
“Let’s go, Rani. Leone might be down here.”
“Yeah!”
Inglis took Rafinha’s hand, and they descended.
“Leone! If you’re here, answer us!” Inglis yelled.
“It’s us! Rani and Chris! Our voices might sound a little funny, but it’s still us!” they called out as they walked through the cellar.
They heard a quiet, wavering response from the deepest point of the cellar. “Inglis? Rafinha?”
“Ah?! You’re here?!” Rafinha replied.
“Over here!” Inglis said.
In a corner of the cellar used for storage, Leone shook as she embraced her dark greatsword Artifact. Her cheeks were streaked with tears. She must have been crying. Inglis could tell she’d had a very frightening and painful time of things.
“Leone! Are you okay?!” Rafinha asked.
“I’m glad you’re okay. Everything will be fine now,” Inglis said.
“Eh? Inglis? Rafinha? Is that really you?” Leone asked. Inglis couldn’t blame her for being suspicious, since she and Rafinha appeared far younger than normal.
“Yeah, it’s us!” Rafinha said.
“There was an accident with an Artifact, and we ended up like this...” Inglis explained.
“Ah, okay,” Leone answered. “You startled me.”
“Anyway, Leone, are you okay?!” Rafinha asked again.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Inglis asked.
Leone’s clothes were soaked with blood—they couldn’t tell whether it was her own or that of her enemies.
“I’m okay, I’m okay... Just... What have I done...” Leone’s hands shook, and new tears welled up in her eyes.
“It’s okay! It’s okay!” Rafinha insisted. “We’re here for you now!”
“Yeah, Rani’s right,” Inglis said. “It’s okay now.”
Inglis and Rafinha each took one of her hands and patted her on the back. They stayed like that for a moment, and when Leone calmed down, she began to explain the situation. “Thanks to Sir Rafael and both of you, I was able to return here. Thank you so much...”
“Yes, we got your letter,” Inglis said.
“Because of that, we decided to visit Ahlemin,” Rafinha said.
Leone’s meticulous attention to etiquette was extremely lucky for her; without that, they would never have come here. If Leone had approached the undying pretending to be dead on the stairs without expecting anything, she might have been in danger.
“But the town’s knights visited, saying they wanted to talk about something, and I let them in... But then they started acting strangely!”
“And you had to fight them...” Rafinha nodded, getting a picture of what had occurred.
“They wouldn’t listen to me. I still didn’t want to hurt them...but I couldn’t avoid it. Even punching them didn’t knock them out, and they were so fast... So— So I had to use my sword...on the knights of Ahlemin...!” Leone’s hands began to shake again, and tears streamed from her eyes, as if just remembering it was traumatic. “Y-You all returned this place to me, but I never should have come back... I was a fool to think they would ever forgive me, but I got caught up in what I’d achieved and just came waltzing back in here, and then—! It... It’s all my fault!”
Leone thought the knights of Ahlemin hadn’t forgiven her and chose to attack her when they heard she had returned. Left with no other choice but to strike them down, she had done so in self-defense, but it still weighed heavily on her.
“That’s not true, Leone! You did nothing wrong! Nothing at all!” Rafinha hugged her tightly. “Right, Chris? Isn’t that true?”
“Yeah, Rani’s right.” Inglis, along with Rafinha, patted Leone’s back. “Think back, Leone. Did you recognize any of the people who visited? You didn’t know any of them, right?”
“Huh? Yes... That’s true... But there’s no way I’d know everyone in Ahlemin...”
“But the people out there might?”
“Oh...?!”
“They said they wanted to apologize to you, Leone. That after seeing you in the battle, they’d had a change of heart.”
“Th-That’s right!” Rafinha said. “The knights out there did say that! I’m not really good with faces, but...”
“They were the people who were angry with Leone the first time we came to Ahlemin,” Inglis prompted.
“Really...? Well, you’re good at recognizing people, Chris, so I’m sure you’re right! If even people who were that mad could have a change of heart, then the people that attacked you must be...” Rafinha was suddenly at a loss for words. “Must be... Er, what are they, Chris?” Rafinha had been so caught up in wanting to protect Leone that she hadn’t really thought matters through. That was charming in its own right.
“Assassins targeting you, Leone,” Inglis explained. “But no one related to Ahlemin.”
“Assassins...but from somewhere else?” Leone asked.
“But why?” Rafinha pondered.
Before Inglis could respond, someone else made a noise.
“Gwahhh!”
“You’re so loud. We’d all appreciate some quiet here.” Eris appeared, leading a single undying. He was carefully bound with sturdy straw rope so that he couldn’t be a danger to anyone.
“Eris!”
“Lady Eris!”
“Good, you found her and she’s safe. As for him... I thought I should take one of the undying into custody to serve as evidence and then turn him over to Ambassador Theodore,” Eris said.
“Good plan,” Inglis agreed. “He might have an idea of which Artifact or Highlander did this.”
“It looks like there are a lot of open questions,” Eris said. “I’m sorry. This feels like my responsibility to solve.”
Inglis laughed. “I get it. Look, Leone. He’s an undying... Something a particular Artifact or Highlander can turn people into. Think of him like a zombie or a vampire.”
“I thought those kinds of things only existed in ghost stories and folktales!” Leone protested.
“Well, someone created them for real, then had them pretend to be normal knights and attack you. They won’t die even if you take your sword to them. They just pretend to be knocked down and then leap up and attack you when you approach. You would’ve been in danger if they’d surprised you, especially because you were in anguish. Whoever it is planned for that.”
Leone had been deeply shocked by the thought that she had possibly killed the Ahlemin knights. In such a stunned state, unable to react immediately, the undying could have easily gotten the jump on her.
“Ah! That’s terrible! Who would do such a thing?!” Leone asked.
“I don’t know, but when you were in Ahlemin before, nothing like this happened, right?”
“O-Of course not!”
“So it’s probably not anyone from Ahlemin doing it. They already would have done something if they wanted to.”
Leone fell silent.
“I’m sure whoever made them into undying isn’t from Ahlemin. This many knights going missing would be noticed, and the people outside didn’t seem to have any idea, so they were likely brought here from outside Ahlemin. It’s something I need to investigate,” Eris said.
“Yes, please follow up on that.” Inglis nodded.
“See?” Rafinha turned to Leone. “It’s not like you thought.”
“R-Really? I didn’t kill anyone from Ahlemin?” Leone asked.
“That’s right! Let’s go talk to the people outside!”
“Yes, evidence is better than theories,” Inglis said.
It was fortunate that they had gathered at the Olfa mansion. That way, Leone would be able to hear from them immediately. And it was fortunate they’d lost their nerve and remained standing in a gaggle outside. If they had come in to meet Leone, they might have noticed something was wrong and entered the house itself, at which point they would have been devoured by the undying. That would have hurt Leone even more.
They left with Leone and asked the gathered crowd of knights and civilians about the situation, only to be answered with shaking heads.
“No knights have gone missing lately!”
“I haven’t heard of anything happening either!”
“Does anyone here recognize this man’s face? He may not look quite how he once did, but... Ah, he’s dangerous, don’t get too close.” Eris pointed to the bound undying.
“No, not at all.”
“Nor I.”
“Not me either.”
“And not me!” Everyone in the crowd shook their heads.
“Then, this may be hard to answer, but...can you think of anyone who, when they found out that Leone had returned, reacted viscerally? Or seemed to be planning an attack?”
In response to Inglis’s question, the denials only intensified.
“Of course not! There’s no one like that here! We knights of Ahlemin are ashamed of what we’d said to her!”
“That’s right! We were so caught up in the reputation of her family that we failed to see her for herself! But even still, she stood at our forefront in the defense of Ahlemin! She saved many of our lives!”
“Yes, so we wanted to apologize for our rudeness and thank her for her acts in battle! Attacking her? Trying to hurt her? That’s absurd! Not a single one among us would do that!”
Hearing the response, Inglis turned to Leone and smiled. “See, Leone? Who do you trust, the assassins or these people?”
“Th-Thank you, everyone...” Leone’s voice wavered as she teared up, but these tears were different from the ones she had shed in the cellar.
“We’re deeply sorry, Lady Leone!”
“Please forgive us for what we’ve done!”
“And thank you for saving our lives in the battle!” The crowd bowed to Leone as one.
“W-Wait! It’s fine, you don’t have to bow! Thank you for seeing me for me! Thank you so much!” Leone’s voice caught, and more tears welled up in her eyes.
“Isn’t that nice, Leone?” Rafinha asked happily.
“I don’t think it’s very nice to have assassins pretend to be townspeople and attack you,” Inglis said to Rafinha.
In response, Leone wrapped her arms around Inglis and lifted her up. “It wasn’t nice, but this situation here has turned out nice!” She buried her face in Inglis like she was a stuffed animal. This was bold indeed for someone normally as reserved as Leone. She must have been overjoyed.
Just as Inglis had said to Rafinha, this wasn’t all an occasion for joy. Someone was sending assassins after Leone. It was almost definitely not any of the knights of Ymir. If they’d been going to, they would have done so before she had even left for the knights’ academy.
They may have mistreated her, but they hadn’t chosen to directly harm her. And it would’ve been unnatural for them to suddenly take such radical action. There was an outside force at play, but there was no indication that its motivation had anything to do with the Olfa family. It was quite possible that the motive was a completely different one.
Inglis leaned toward this line of thinking. In regard to Leone and the Olfas, Leone had done nothing to intensify the public’s anger, and much to assuage it. So, what was the intention of this attack? Was Leone the only target? Ahlemin was to become the base of a new order of knights; might that be related? If it was, perhaps there was some conspiracy or political intrigue.
At any rate, there was the matter of the power to create and control undying. Inglis didn’t know whether it was from an Artifact or a Highlander’s power, but whatever it was deserved special mention, as it was strong, and it had to be eye-catching. An investigation would reveal the details. And while she didn’t know who had done it, if they brought forth a stronger undying—some kind of ultimate version, maybe a lich—she could enjoy fighting that.
A lich would probably be just as strong as an ancient dragon. In preparation for her rematch with Dux Jildegrieva, it was imperative that she gain more experience and refine her might. It was not necessarily a bad thing to have a powerful foe lurking in the background.
“It really is nice...” Inglis giggled as she patted Leone’s head, buried in her chest.
“That’s a suspicious laugh...” Rafinha shot her a withering glare.
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