# 053. Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden

## 01. Volume 1 - Paradise Illusion

### 001. here

- November 29, 2014‎ - Volume 6 Epilogue & Afterword completed

- November 27, 2014 - Volume 6 Final Chapter completed

- August 18, 2014 - Volume 6 Chapter 3 & Intermission completed

- August 8, 2014‎ - Volume 6 Chapter 2 completed

- July 26, 2014 - Volume 6 Chapter 1 completed

- July 24, 2014 - Volume 6 Prologue completed

- July 19, 2014 - Volume 5 Intermission, Epilogue, & Afterword completed

- July 14, 2014 - Volume 5 Final Chapter completed

- July 11, 2014 - Volume 5 Chapter 4 completed

- July 4, 2014 - Volume 5 Interlude completed

- May 7, 2014 - Teaser page created!

- May 5, 2014 - Permission to host Volumes 1-3 from CE LNT granted to Zerry Mark.

### 002. Prologue: Floating Continent - Orbie Clar

And here marks the start of Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden.

********************

—Ice cold rain.

The pain seems to go deep into the marrows just by being drenched by it. It was as though crystallized ice had rained down...... That was how icy the downpour was.

The crazy torrents were like tears of heaven, that nearly chiseled through the roofs. From the surrounding came the sound of rumbling water, which had exceeded what should be the sound of rainfall - calling it a waterfall would have been more appropriate.

For how long had it been raining?

The rainfall from the distant borders of the sky had already broken all previous records. However, the rain did not seem to be waning at all.

*da*

On the dark road in night, appeared a tiny ripple.

Accompanied by the roars of the rain, the public lights shone on a certain object. Beneath the blurry lights, crawls a black shadow on the road filled with water.

—It was a teenage boy.

Approximately fourteen or fifteen years-old. His tea-red colored hair that is close to purple, reflected the brilliance of the night lights.

"...... Ugh..... Uh Ugh......"

The teenage boy let out a soundless moan, and continued crawling in the icy downpour. What looks like a ceremonial coat was already in tatters, revealing his skin drenched in blood.

...... *siii*!

A sound of burning was mixed between the sounds of the rain. On the road where the teenager had crawled past, the trail was slowly dissolving as though it was splashed by corrosive acid.

A thin layer of dark purple mist envelops his body, suggesting that they were the cause for the strange happenings. It was like his body had been controlled and cursed by some unknown things.

"...... Ugh...... Ah......"

For a typical person, he probably could not have survived. But the teenager continued forward.

He dragged on his dying body, and willed it inches forward, again and again.

His destination was an empty public shed in front of him.

If he could reach there, he could perhaps shelter himself from the stabs of the icy rain. Even for his bleeding wounds, he would have to treat them there as well.

Five meters...... Four meters...... ...... ...... ...... Three meters.

Two meters. At a distance where he was just within reach at the shed's door, the teenager could hold on no longer. He collapsed head down into a puddle on the road.

Huge amounts of blood flowed out with the rain. His face was buried in the muddy water.

The teenager did not wipe them off - his whole body was just lying there motionless. No, he could not move. The huge amount of blood lost together with the icy downpour had caused him to be unable to move any longer.

...... *da*

On the dark road at night, came yet another tiny ripple.

Beneath the lights that are illuminating the roads, a silhouette of a person appeared.

"......"

Hearing the footsteps, the collapsed teenager lifted his head faintly.

It was silhouette of a person who was wearing a tight-fitting vestment despite the freezing night.

As the lights were not strong enough, one could not make out the appearance of that person in detail. However, from the voluptuous curves as well as the seductive figure, even a child could have recognized that the person was a female.

"—Welcome back to the floating continent - Orbie Clar."

The lady looked into the sky, her luscious lips gave a slight smile.

She was a young lady. Judging from her voice, she may not even be twenty-five yet.

"I had been waiting for you. Waiting for your return...... That feeling, it is like waiting for the return of my disappeared lover."

—A mysterious scene.

Before the rain drops could touch her, they bounced away from the lady's body

which was shimmering in light.

As though there was an invisible barrier of light that separated her from the rain.

"......"

With a pair of eyes that had lost their focus, the teenager looked at the lady in front of him.

"Ah, you do not even have the strength to reply?"

The lady stretched out her hand towards the teenager. At that instant-

—*zzz*...... *zzz*......

Azure sparks similar to lightning burst forth between the two of them.

"!"

She reflexively retracted her hand, but her fingertips was already left with what looked to be burnt scars.

Upon seeing the scar-

"...... Not bad."

In the darkness, the lady laughed lightly.

"Your body is filled with mateki from '

Garden of Corrupted Song

' - and your mateki is strong enough to actually be on par against me. It looks like you had fallen into a really deep level."

The body of the teenage boy gave off a strange black smoke. The lady looked at that lovingly, then reached out for the teenager with her hands yet again.

The teenager suddenly shrunk away. Upon seeing that, she gave a bitter smile.

"You fear rejection subconsciously - that is a normal reaction. However, you do not have to worry, at least for now. I have done something so that even if we are to come into contact, there will be no chance of repulsion. That is to say, if you are bearing any ill-intention towards me, I will not be able to defend myself."

"......"

The teenager maintained his collapsed state, and lifted his head to look at the lady.

His pair of blue eyes gave off a shimmer of light, as though they were trying to say something.

"I see, it looked like I was in too much of a rush just now. That's right, your sole intention of returning is so that you can see her again."

Looking into the teenager's eyes, her expressions became gentle for the first time.

With a gentle expression close to a light smile, as though she was a mother welcoming the return of her child.

"I just wish to ask you something. To which level of

Garden of Corrupted Song

had you fallen into? The Fifth Mirror? Or the Sixth Mirror? Or, had you heard 'that song' which only flows in the deepest areas?"

Upon being asked that question—

The teenager, who had been silent all these while, opened his mouth weakly. However, he did not have the strength to speak. His half-opened mouth only managed to croak out faint breaths.

"You wish to answer but your body does not allow you to? Well, it does not matter. You will understand soon enough."

She brushed her black hair with her hands, which was still dazzling despite being in the dark.

"My name is Tsali. You do not have to remember it now. One day, you will be hearing my name frequently. So for now - allow me to welcome your return once again."

Following that.

A flash of light shone from deep within her amber eyes. The lady who addressed herself as 'Tsali' grabbed hold onto the teenager's hands tightly.

"I welcome you. Oh young man, who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song ,

and returned back to the floating continent. For a thousand years, the frozen paradise have always been waiting for you

—"

On that night, floating continent - Orbie Clar had recorded the one heaviest downpours in history, something that was rarely seen.

### 003. Chapter 1: The street where the wind is born

Alright, a few things to say after completing chapter 1.

Firstly, I've merged all the 4 parts together, so that I can link it from the menu. To start reading from part 4, just search for {4}.

Secondly, the forth part has some explanations of the special terms, as to why they are named that way. Since I had explained those at the content page, I'll not bother to re-explain here. Give that a check.

Lastly, the ■ things that you will be reading are not typos or errors. They are there in the novel.

With that, enjoy.

********************

{1}

'Did night shift last night, catching up on my sleep. Come again later. — Sheltis'

Stuck on the door was a piece of note written in messy handwriting.

The furniture in his room consist of only a bed, table, chair, and a dresser. To put it nicely, it was neat and refreshing; to put it bluntly, it lacked any features worthy of mentioning. In a corner of such a room-

A teenage boy was snoozing in regulated breaths.

His slender arms are a little too slim for a guy, and his face looks slightly androgynous. The slightly purplish tea-red colored hair is not neat, and gives off the impression that it was casually snipped. From his height, his age is probably somewhere around sixteen or seventeen. However, he does look one or two years younger, from the way he was sleeping.

"Fu......"

It was not known if that was him sleep-taking, or simply him breathing.

Next to the bed he was sleeping on, was a folded apron hanging on the back of his chair. On the floor was a piece of paper that had fallen down, on which was written 'Duty timetable, Sheltis'.

He had forgotten to switch off the light on the ceiling, under its illumination, only the clock next to the pillow was moving along with time. Just then-

"Shel-nii, Shel-nii!"

The door of the room opened suddenly, and a young girl peeked her head inside from the corridor.

She is a young and innocent girl roughly of the age of five to six, with a pair of eyes that is filled with happiness. Her shiny smooth black hair is tied to the back in twin tails, and there is a sky-blue scarf lightly wrapped around her neck. Her looks gives one a rather lasting impression.

After staring around the room, the girl suddenly locked her sight. The place she was looking at, was the teenage boy who was still sound asleep. After looking at that scene for some time-

"...... Ah!"

The young girl clapped her hands with a mischievous smile, and rushed into the tiny room.

"Shel-nii, Shel-nii—"

She ran towards the chair next to the bed, and used it as a platform to make a jump.

Next.

"Shel-nii, time. To. Wake. Up——!"

"-Ugh?"

A dull thud.

The young girl's jump kick landed directly on the teenage boy's head.

"...... Girls are not allowed to do jump kicks."

Grabbing onto his painful head, Sheltis lifted himself out of the bed.

"Waa- this bed is awesome. The body will actually sink down?"

"That is because the bed has a memory foam material beneath it...... Wait, Yuto? Are you listening to me?"

"Eh- But....."

The young girl named 'Yuto' stopped jumping on the bed, and lifted her head to look upwards.

"Eyri-nee said that if I do that, you will definitely wake up."

"...... I woke up in a shock. In my dream just now, the fine meadow was suddenly dyed blood-red."

"But, Shel-nii has finally woke up. Let us hurry to the plaza! Eyri-nee asked Shel-nii to go there quickly."

With his sleeves tugged endlessly, Sheltis climbed out of his bed unwillingly.

"The plaza? She's doing experiments again?"

"Mmm, the usual! Hurry hurry!"

Yuto waved her arms and urged on.

"Really, Eyriey just loves to bring me trouble......"

He took a short jacket and hung it on his shoulder. His white shirt and black shorts were what he was wearing while he was sleeping.

...... Really, there went his rest time, which was hard to come by.

After putting the fallen timetable back onto the table, Sheltis left the lounge.

Outdoor cafe '

The Two Swans

' is located on the main street of the Second Residential Sector.

The so called 'cafe' was actually just a front, as the red tea served taste rather typical. It's a rather strange shop, as it is their hand-made cakes and the ever-changing daily set meals that are more popular with the customers.

"Chef, are you busy?"

After instructing Yuto to wait outside, Sheltis opened the backdoor of the kitchen. Together with the sounds of the automatic dishwashers working busily, came a certain scent of red tea.

"Ara, Sheltis, are you here to volunteer your help?"

In the kitchen which was rather relaxed due to being after-lunch hours, a lady with golden-hair tied up high on her head turned her head towards Sheltis.

Even then, the knife in her hand continued chopping the vegetables.

"How can that be? Oh right, can I go out for a while? Eyriey said that she will be doing some new machine testing in the plaza again."

"That's not good. If you don't go there quickly, someone will be suffering yet again. Since the machine will be out of control anyway."

The chef placed the knife on the chopping board, then crossed her arms while giving a troubled expression. Despite her being the shopkeeper of the cafe, due to her own personal interest, she preferred others to call her chef.

"Remember to come back before the break is over. The shop is lacking in manpower."

"...... You are already that busy, and yet you have time to try out new combinations?"

While watching the back of Chef, Sheltis sighed.

The kitchen was stacked with all sorts of ingredients. For the past two years being the errand-boy of the shop, Sheltis had never seen a single day with the same combination of ingredients that had been used before.

"It is not a new combination, but a 'new dish'. Fufu, please look forward to it."

Without shifting her sight, her hands began cutting the decorative fruits. In actual fact, a majority of the customers love her dishes, so that could not be helped.

"Then again, chef. What's for dinner?"

"Mumu-shellfish's Piping Hot Steak, and Jirususu-plant's Shrieking Condensed Soup."

"Putting the names of the dishes aside, ain't those ingredients a little too disgusting?"

Those huge pink spiral shells on the chopping board were Mumu-shellfish, while the bright red plants with spikes on their stems were probably Jirususu-plant.

"Ara, you can't judge a book by its cover. They are all really tasty."

Chef covered her mouth and laughed.

"Mumu-shellfish and Jirususu-plant both contain lethal poison...... but on the account of that they are cheap."

"Chef-! Did you just say something?"

"Don't worry, I have cleared all toxins cleanly. They are absolutely safe."

"...... That dangerous smile of yours is hardly convincing."

"Also, it does not matter since the one to test for the poison is you, Sheltis."

"Me?"

Sheltis took a step back in shock. Just then, Chef had already turned her eyes towards the pot in front of her.

"Alright, stop talking about such silly stuff. Hurry up and get Eyriey back. I cannot handle everything without the help from you both."

"And here I go...... before I am forced to test for any poison."

Bidding goodbye to Chef, who was waving her hands, Sheltis left the kitchen.

{2}

—The winds were very comfortable.

A gust of wind rustled his tea-red hair, as though it was trying to give him a push from behind.

"...... Has it been two years since I have came to the living sector, away from

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>?"

Sheltis, who was standing at the side of the main street with a sense of loss, lifted his head up.

The cotton-like clouds were blown into pieces by the blowing winds, then they each flew in their own directions. Regardless of rain or shine, or even snow, there was never a single day where the streets do not have winds blowing.

That is the trait of the city- no, the continent where all humans live in.

Floating continent - Orbie Clar.

That is the name of the continent beneath their feet, and at the same time, the name of the world.

The continent floating in the skies ten-thousand meters above the everlasting frozen seas - that is what Orbie Clar, the only land where humans can live on.

No one knows how, or why, the continent floats in the sky. However, according to legends, this continent has been floating above the frozen world ever since a thousand years ago.

Since history has begun to be recorded down, humans has always been living on this piece of floating continent.

Countless floating islands around Orbie Clar have huge windmills installed on them, to harness on the endless wind energy to produce electricity.

The electricity will then be sent to Orbie Clar via electric cables from the island to the main continent.

Thus, the civilization has naturally moved itself towards the age of machinery. The bikes and cars travelling along the roads are mostly electric-powered floating vehicles, that moves while floating a few centimeters above the ground. Lifting his head towards the sky, one can see the streamlined aircraft gliding through the sky gracefully.

"...... Right, where did Yuto go?"

Hearing the sounds of footsteps behind him, Sheltis turned to his back, and saw a young girl running towards him in stumbling steps.

"Shel-nii, are you ready?"

"Mmmm, we can leave now."

Yuto firmly attached herself to Sheltis the moment he nodded.

"Shel-nii, I want that!"

The young girl was hopping about, while stretching her arms out at the same time. What did she mean? She wished to walk while holding hands at the same time? Just when Sheltis was about to ask, Yuto lifted her head and smiled.

"Yuto wants a ride."

"Ah- I see."

He knelt down, placed the girl onto his shoulders, then stood up once again.

"Waa- this is high! I am taller than Shel-nii!"

"W-Wait Yuto! Don't move about, or I can't stand steadily."

After calming down the excited girl on his shoulders, Sheltis began to walk towards the northern end of the main street.

The roads on the floating continent are nearly all paved with light greyish-green bricks. It is said that the surface, which shines in a bright silver under the rays of the sun, is being regulated by some thermostat, which gives it the ability to maintain a comfortable temperature despite the seasonal changes.

"Shel-nii, look behind you. The weather is great, and we can see the tower clearly!"

"Hmm......?"

Hearing Yuto's words, he turned his body backwards.

At a considerable distance apart from the Second Residential Sector, in the center of the floating continent-

Stood a huge white tower that goes into the into the sky.

Tenketsu Palace

.

Built in the center of the Orbie Clar, it is the largest structure on the continent.

It is two thousand meters tall, with a total of two hundred and ninety one stories. It is a tower that stretches past the heights of the birds and the clouds, extending straight towards the skies.

"Yuto still remembers what Shel-nii had said to me. Queen-sama is at the highest story of the tower, while the level below are the five Priestess-sama!"

The Queen and the five Priestess. There is not one who lives in Orbie Clar that does not know them. That towering

Tenketsu Palace

, is a tower built specially for them.

That's right. That is because they are in charge of the 'barriers' which protects this floating continent-

"Mmm......"

"Eh? Shel-nii hates that tower? Yuto likes it a lot - its glittering look is really pretty."

"I don't hate it...... It's just that I had strong memories of there."

—Ymy, how are you doing?

Under the glaring sunlight, Sheltis narrowed his eyes and looked at the peak of the tower.

—Ever since I have came to the living sector, I understand even more strongly about the fact that humans can only live such a peaceful life on the floating continents due to the relentless hard work of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Memories? Shel-nii had been to that tower before?"

Carrying Yuto, who had her mouth wide in surprise, Sheltis shook his head while smiling with a hint of bitterness.

"That is something that happened years ago. Alright, Eyriey is still waiting for us at the plaza, right? We will be scolded by her again if we don't go there quickly."

"Ah, that's right! Shel-nii, hurry up! Run!"

"Yes yes...... Yuto, I think you have forgotten about it cleanly."

He turned back towards the direction of the plaza.

With his back against the huge tower, Sheltis began to walk.

***

"Isn't it great, Shel-nii! There are a lot of pretty flags!"

Upon reaching the plaza, Yuto began to exclaim happily.

"...... I see, the Festival of the Stars is about to approach."

After putting Yuto onto the ground, Sheltis took a look around the plaza.

Having left the man-made pavements, the huge green pasture greeted them before their eyes.

Len's Plaza-

In the huge empty space wide enough to hold a short-distance sprinting competition, the dark green turf seemed lively under the good care of the people, and children were running about bare-footed. At the sides of the plaza, were flags of different colors fluttering in the winds. Below the flags, were all sorts of simple stalls, lined up together.

The countless flags and stalls were probably in preparation for the festival that was about to be held on the plaza.

"How's it, Shel-nii? I really look forward to the festival! I heard there are lots of stalls selling things to eat!"

"...... Before that, we have something more pressing to deal with."

Sheltis crossed his arms, and looked in front of him.

A huge metallic-grey robot was chasing a teenage girl who was wearing an overalls.

"Sh...... Sheltis! Hurry up and save me——!"

That was a robot with a body full of spikes, which looked like it was made of countless thin sharp metallic needles.

Its height was about as tall as Sheltis. And it was nimbly chasing the girl who was desperately fleeing, with speed and smooth actions unlike that of a machine.

"Ah. Its actions are really smooth this time round. Eyriey must have put in quite a lot of effort, right?"

"W...... Wait, Sheltis! Now is not the time for you to be impressed............ Whoa! I-It hurts! It really hurts! Stop seeking shelter there, come and help me quick~~~~~!"

After being poked by the robot's sharp fingers in the back, Eyriey yelled while looking back.

With a pair of rich brown eyes, a small body frame with a head full of untidily cut orange hair. She is one year younger than Sheltis, and is an strange sixteen year-old teenage girl who loves to research on machines.

"Then again, it is really impressive this time. Don't you think so, Yuto?"

He looked at the young girl next to him. Yuto's eyes were sparkling brightly as well.

"Mmm. Eyri-nee is really good!"

"St..... Stop talking, hurry up and think of something~~~~"

In the mechanized Orbie Clar, exists many robots that can accurately replicate the actions of a human being. Even so, they require a certain level of technical skills to be built. Eyriey was probably the only person out of the whole floating continent who build them from scratch, purely through her personal interests.

"...... Problem is, Eyriey's machines always goes out of control unexpectedly."

After observing for a while, the machine still shown no sign of stopping.

She was always building her machines on the plaza, and they had always went out of control for some unknown reasons. The people on the plaza were thus used to such a scene, and many were even cheering on the two-man chase. There was no one who was afraid.

"Then again, what should I do? The usual?"

"Th...... That's right! Press the stop button behind that fella's back!"

"I am thinking, why didn't you make a remote control that can stop it from afar?"

"The machine lost control just when I was about to make one-"

...... I say, you should at least make the remote first.

Sheltis swallowed the words that were about to come out, and turned them into a sigh of breath.

"Whatever. Yuto, hide at somewhere first. It is dangerous here."

After Yuto had left, he walked towards the robot.

...... Things were slightly more troublesome than usual.

Even though it looked rather hilarious while chasing Eyriey, the robot had a strong engine powering its body, which was not to be ignored. After all, its power is enough to drive a metal frame weighing over a few hundred kilograms. Even a grown adult will fly quite a distance if hit by its arms.

"Alright. First......"

—*thud*. He began his run by lightly kicking off against the ground, then slowly increased his speed. The winds brushed past his ears, while the scenery flowed past him in a blur.

"Kneel down!"

Not waiting for Eyriey to do so, Sheltis' tip of the foot kicked hard against the turf.

A leap that was much higher than the height of a grown man or the robot, as though there was no gravity. Sheltis' right foot landed wickedly on the shoulders of the robot, which was about to reach Eyriey.

*creak*. The processed metal sheet bent with the sound, and the robot's posture was ruined. However, it was not stopping down. Just when Sheltis landed, the opponent's eyes locked onto him.

"Tough...... A simple kick will not make it stop?"

He twisted his body to avoid the incoming left fist, then looked at the assaulting arms that were moving at him like a pair of pincers. The huge mechanical limbs, thin as timber, were coming towards him at a blind angle from above his head......

*ta*!

A faint sound of landing. At then, onlookers who had witnessed everything from the beginning were holding their breaths. That was because the teenage boy's silhouette had blurred in an instant - in the blink of an eye, he had leaped up onto the arms of the robot.

It was all done in an instant. He would be swept away by the arm of the robot should there be any mistake. A normal person's visual acuity and reflexes, would definitely not have allowed him to do all the astounding actions.

"Oosh."

He stepped onto the shoulders of the robot after jumping from its arms, and placed his hand on its head. With that, he somersaulted once in the air, then landed on the back of the robot...... Was that the button?

He pressed on a red button protruding from its back. In an instant, the robot stopped moving.

"Right, a huge success...... Eh?"

A strange feeling flashed past his mind, causing Sheltis to blink and stay rooted on the ground.

Despite it being motionless, the robot somehow began to vibrate slightly. That was weird. Typically speaking, the stop button should have been able to stop all moving mechanisms.

"Ah, Sheltis! Hold on a second!"

Eyriey's words broke the silence.

"Please press the green button, as the red one is the emergency self-destruct button."

".................. What did you just say?"

"I said, the 'stop' button is the green one. Do not ever press on the red button."

...... What did I just press?

Sheltis said nothing, and looked at the back of the robot again.

Beneath the huge red button, stood a small green one. Upon closer inspection, the red button had 'Do not press!' written on it in untidy handwriting.

"Could it be that you had already pressed it?"

"Don't install something as dangerous as that——!"

Without any time to run, Sheltis was engulfed by the black smoke emitted from the robot.

"Really- a normal person will not press on a button as obvious as that. Red is the color of warning. Isn't that right, Yuto?"

"Yes, Eyri-nee."

Yuto and Eyriey were walking happily together hand-in-hand.

"...... Well I guess I am wrong for not confirming carefully."

After a while, Sheltis finally caught up with the two of them.

"Mmm? Ahh, don't worry. It is named as the self-destruct button, but in reality, it is just an ordinary device produces smoke."

"I don't think that's what the problem is!"

He waved his arms with force, and made a firm protest. Despite saying that, as he had immediately jumped away, his body was not blackened by the smoke.

"But still, thanks to you, I was finally saved."

With her overalls full of oil stains, Eyriey said while smiling.

"...... Upon facing that sort of smile, I really can't get mad at you."

"Mmm? Sheltis, what's wrong?"

"No, this...... is nothing."

Sheltis felt really embarrassed by her stare, and turned away subconsciously...... TThat's right, ultimately, he was being involved in things like this out of his own free will. Even though he was busy every single day, deep down it felt quite fulfilling. In the short two years since he has came to the living sector, his current lifestyle was not too bad as well.

"Speaking of that, Shel-nii is really awesome! Everyone was praising about how impressive Shel-nii was!"

What Yuto was talking about was probably what had happened at the plaza.

"Really? I thought it was something rather ordinary."

"No no, stop joking."

Eyriey shook her head.

"I am drenched in cold sweat just by thinking of myself rushing straight at a berserk robot. Its horsepower is not something to joke about. Sheltis did avoid it all right, but if you had been kicked by it, I dare not think about the consequences...... How dangerous!"

"...... Since you said so, then make a smaller robot next time. So that you will not have to worry even if it runs out of control."

Just then, Yuto prodded his back. After getting the girl to sit on his shoulders, Sheltis resumed his steps.

"What can I do? If I did not do tests on a robot of that size, I will not be able to know the actual running conditions of the moving mechanisms. But thanks to that, I can probably finish the customization of the bike before the coming weekend."

"Weekend?"

Sheltis pondered for a moment. He had no idea what it meant by Eyriey's customization of the bike. Before the weekend...... Is there something happening during then?

"You had forgotten? Didn't everyone agree on going for a barbecue this weekend?"

"Everyone?"

"That's Yuto, Eyri-nee and Shel-nii-"

Yuto, who was on his shoulders, emphasized that point by moving her legs about.

"I have not heard about it at all."

"That's strange. Yuto did not inform Sheltis about it?"

"Eryi-nee's the one who did not tell Shel-nii?"

With that, both girls gave a stunned expression at the same time. It looked like both of them had expected the other person to inform Sheltis.

"...... Whatever. Weekend, that's the day after tomorrow, right? That was quite a sudden decision - will the shop be able to cope?"

He thought about Chef, who was probably waiting for his return in the kitchen of '

The Two Swans

'. If both himself and Eyriey were to take leave on the same day, she will be the only person left in the shop.

"Mmm, I had told her about it, so no worries. Just that Chef had said, 'Better be well prepared, upon returning back here!'."

"Chef was angry? She must have been."

"Doesn't matter. There is a saying, pain comes after gain."

Upon hearing Eyriey talking about it in such a relaxed manner, Sheltis could not help but hug his head and moaned, "My head, which was kicked by Yuto earlier, have began to hurt again."

{3}

The shining stars looked like jewels that were embedded in the night sky.

After the sun had set, when people on the streets became scarce, '

The Two Swans

' was about to close down as well. The shop does not have a fixed time to close down. Instead, they would only do so when there are no more customers visiting them.

"No matter how mechanized we are, in the end, it is only us humans that can carry out tasks like these."

He wiped the tables on the street one by one, then proceeded to gather the fold-able chairs before shifting the tables back into the shop. It was rather time consuming, as they made up quite a number.

"Alright, it's done!"

Sheltis stopped and took a brief look at his surroundings, before lifting his head to look into the sky.

—The stars were very bright.

In the morning, the sky was clear and cloudless; at night, it was a starry sky without any obstructions.

There was not a moment where there is no winds blowing on the floating continent Orbie Clar. As such, there are rarely clouds that stayed above the lands of Orbie Clar for too long. Even though there are frequent rains throughout the year, the rains are not heavy. Even if it is to rain suddenly, one will just need to spend some time in the resting areas located throughout the living sector, and the skies will clear before they know it.

"Chef, I am done packing-"

"Thank you for your hard work, you can clock out now. Can you please help call Eyriey over?"

Chef's voice came from inside the shop.

"Mmm. Eyriey should probably be in her room now."

He cleared the cleaning cloths on the table, and walked into the shop. Moving along the passage-way for staff use, he walked towards the staff's resting quarters located at the annex.

There are a total of three people working in '

The Two Swans

'. Aside from Chef, who is the boss as well, the other two are temporary hires. Sheltis is one of them, and his task is to mainly clean the dishes or do other things, like being a waiter.

The other temporary worker is Eyriey, who, like himself, lives at the staff's quarters.

"Eyriey, are you there?"

"Come in, the door's not locked-"

At the instance the door opened, a pungent smell of machine oil and exhaust came gushing in.

*Uonuonuon*...... the sound of exhaust akin to an insect's flapping of wings, came from the monitors located on all corners of the room, as well as the giant computers connected to them.

"Whoa! Could it be that your room has been upgraded yet again?"

Looking downwards, tens of cables entwined together on the floor.

"Ehehe, I have fixed up a new computer with my salary that I had obtained earlier. The processing speed has increased by two folds."

"...... What's the use of that?"

"Speed is what machines are all about. Isn't that much cooler!"

The teenage girl in overalls stood up from her chair, while sounding rather pleased.

"Well then, I have a good news for you, Eyriey. The dishwasher in the shop is behaving rather strangely."

"No way?"

"Also, a few buttons on the cash register are damaged, and the lights in the toilet are blinking."

"Ahh— how irritating, to pick a crucial time like this!"

Eyriey pulled her hair with a bitter face. Her job is to maintain the store's utilities. Her job scope ranged from repairs of machinery, to maintaining the interior decors. Her work load is typically small, but emergencies like that do occur occasionally.

"...... There is no choice, I'll hurry back after the repairs."

"Crucial time?"

"Mmm, this this!"

She pointed to the screen in front of them.

On the green screen, there was a complicated rectangular casing, which was drawn using a cursor.

"It's the experiment in the day. The engine driving the robot had worked really well during its operation at the plaza. I should be able to finish the final adjustments by tonight."

"You are going to install it on the transport that we are gonna use for the barbecue?"

"That's right, since it will not do if we do not utilize it fully. Just wait and see. It will be a comfortable ride."

"I'll be very happy if it does not go out of control...... Ah, speaking of that."

While sitting on the chair at the corner of the room, Sheltis thought of the young girl with her sky-blue scarf.

"Is Yuto free?"

"Mmm, she says she can go."

Though she loves to stick close to him, Yuto is neither his blood-related younger sister, nor is she a friend whom he had known for a long time. Different from the two who live in '

The Two Swans

', it looks like Yuto has her own house to return to.

"I see......"

"What's wrong? You suddenly have that worn-out look on your face."

Eyriey crossed her arms and moved her face closer.

Facing such an innocent-looking act, Sheltis shook his head and smiled.

"No, I am just sighing. I have known Eyriey and Yuto for two years already."

It had been two years since he was forcefully brought to the Second Residential Sector. Back then, while the homeless Sheltis was wandering along the streets, he accidentally came across the notice of hiring posted by '

The Two Swans

'. Knowing Eyriey there was the start to everything.

"Since the first time we had met, Eyriey has been interested in machines."

"Of course. Honestly though, Sheltis has really changed a lot. The first time I saw you, your expressions were so moody, it looked like you were half dead. You would not answer to anything I asked."

"...... That was because the blow of being exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

was something too huge for me."

"Exiled?"

"Ah, nothing...... I am just mumbling to myself."

—The things that had happened two years ago. Even if he was to say it right then, it would probably just come as a shock for Eyriey.

There was no need to tell anyone about the things that happened between him and

Tenketsu Palace

. As for those words which he had accidentally let slip just now, it looked like Eyriey did not manage to hear it, due to them being too soft.

"Right, why don't we change the topic."

With that, she handed a cup to Sheltis. The hot steam gave a sweet-smelling fragrance. She had added in a small amount of honey in replacement for sugar into the red tea - that is her favorite way of brewing tea.

"Hmm?"

"Sheltis, do you have a girl whom you like? I am talking about the subject of love."

At that instant, Sheltis spouted out the tea which he had just drank.

"Whoa, what's with that! The screens will be ruined by that!"

"That is because you asked such a weird question all of the sudden!"

"Really. Well, what's your answer? I am really concerned about it-"

"...... I choose to exercise my right to remain silent."

"Fufu, that reaction of yours - it means there is someone."

Seeing how Eyriey's eyes were sparkling with interest, Sheltis subconsciously shifted his sight downwards. That was not due to him being embarrassed. Rather, he himself does not know what the real answer was.

"However, I don't think we will ever get to see each other again."

"Ara. Why is that so?"

"It's complicated, so simply put...... I'll probably be giving her trouble if I am to see her now. The reason for me coming to the living sector - that is probably the biggest reason."

That's right. Perhaps, he was an unforgivable existence, even at the living sector.

—That is because, Ymy is the exact opposite of me. She is the Priestess whom everyone on the floating continent respects.

"Ohh- That girl lives in the Second Residential Sector as well?"

"No. She's in

Tenketsu Palace

."

"Mmm? So she works in that huge tower huh. A staff there?"

Eyriey's finger touched the screen in front of her.

The screen changed, and on it appeared a tall white tower.

"You can probably call her that. Though there is some minute difference. Oh right, why are you asking that all of the sudden?"

"Mmm- it's nothing much really. I guess you can say that I am curious..... Strange, why is your face red, Sheltis? Ah, could it be that Sheltis had thought that I am interested in you, and thus I was asking those things? How's that? Am I right?"

"N...... Nothing of that sort......"

Sheltis hurriedly waved both of his hands to deny it, but that only made her smile even more delightedly.

"Ahaha, did I make you misunderstand things? I am sorry, but I totally do not see Sheltis as a subject of love. It is much more interesting to research on machines instead."

"...... That sounds really cruel."

"Alright, the joke ends here. Truthfully speaking-"

Eyriey put her hands together and stretched them upwards, and put on a relaxed posture.

"I do enjoy playing with Yuto and Sheltis, you know?"

Looking at that simple smile, Sheltis was speechless for a moment. He had once again came to realize - at the living sector, there too were friends of his, who are willing to accept him with a truthful smile.

"What about Sheltis?'

After a moment of consideration - or rather, he pretended to consider.

"I don't find it bad."

"Really, then there's no problems. I really look forward to the barbecue during the weekends. Ah, Sheltis is to be in charge of the preparation of meat. It does not matter if there are less vegetables, but please get some top-quality meat!"

"...... Can I retract my statement?"

{4}

The white rays unique to the early mornings were shining softly on the turf below their feet.

The mist that lingered on the plaza was probably formed from the water vapors of rain from the previous night. The scent of the grass accompanied the damp cool air.

Len's Plaza. Despite being there only two days ago, unlike then, there was barely anyone around.

"As expected of the early mornings."

Sheltis stretched his arms and took a deep breath, then lifted his head and looked at the clock-tower located at the side of the plaza.

They were to meet at seven in the morning at the plaza. As both Yuto and Eyriey are normally punctual, both of them should be about to arrive soon- just when he was thinking of that.

A sounds of fast-paced steps echoed in the plaza.

"Shel-nii, I've made you wait!"

It was the familiar face of a girl in the age of five or six. Her neck has her usual sky blue scarf, while her clothes were a light red one-piece dress and a pair of white shoes. It looked like they were her outdoor clothes, since the colors were brighter than usual.

"Right right, where is Eyri-nee?"

Yuto raised her arms and jump about.

"I think she should be here soon...... There, here she comes."

A huge object was approaching them, together with the sharp sounds of the winds. From afar, it looked like a metallic-grey block of thing, but upon getting closer, its shape grew more apparent as well.

It was a huge electric powered vehicle.

Looking at its front, Yuto could not help but exclaimed,

"Wow...... what a huge bike!"

It was a three-wheeled electric powered vehicle, with a front wheel and two back wheels. The body of the vehicle is painted with a heavy metallic paint. Its width is wide enough to allow three grown man to sit along it side-by-side. Its height is roughly around Sheltis' shoulders.

"Sorry for making you guys wait- Good morning!"

Eyriey jumped down from the driving seat without waiting for the wheels to stop. She was still wearing that greasy overalls, but for that girl, that was the attire most suitable for her.

"Eyriey, you made this whole thing by yourself?"

"That's right! I had bought parts from the junk store, and assembled it by myself. It's really cheap!"

She proudly patted on the seats of the the vehicle. If not for him being used to the robots that Eyriey had made, Sheltis would definitely question about how complete the vehicle was.

"Then again, where are we going in that huge thing?"

"Eh? Ah, it seemed like I had forgotten to tell you about it. It's the natural park at the outskirts of the nature sector. There should not be any dangerous creatures there, no matter what happens."

From the middle of the floating continent, it is divided into three sectors in this sequence.

Firstly is the center of the continent, the huge tower that stretched straight into the skies -

Tenketsu Palace

.

Surrounding it, is the first sector, or the so called 'living sectors', where humans lived. The living sector is then again divided into the First Area, the Second Area and the Third Area, from the closest to the furthest away from the center. Though that is just something for easily locating the specific locations in the living sectors.

The next is the second sector, which is named as the 'nature sector', where the environments are controlled. Simply put, it is a man-made nature park. People will normally visit there for sight-seeing or a holiday.

Even further away, are the areas encircling the borders of the floating continent, the third sector which is named as the '

ecosystem-conservation sector

'. As people rarely set foot on there, it still retains the original state of the ecosystem. Due to the presence of many wild and dangerous creatures, one must obtain permission from

Tenketsu Palace

before they are allowed to enter the area.

—That's great. There would be no problems if it was the nature sector.

"Ah- I feel relieved. I thought we are going to the

ecosystem-conservation sector

."

"That is part of the plan as well."

"...... Stop joking. There are the nests of Earth Dragons at the ecosystem-conservation sector."

"Uh- Dragon hunting sounds rather interesting."

...... I had nearly lost my life when I was sent there on a mission with Leon at the age of fourteen.

Sheltis swallowed the words back into his heart without showing any expressions.

"Forget it, in any case, let's go! Just put the stuff at the boot at the back. Done? Well then, Yuto shall take the front seat, while Sheltis shall take the back seat."

Upon her urging him, Sheltis sat on the red colored seat.

"Mmm, remember to fasten your seat-belts. Has Yuto fasten hers?"

"Done—!"

Both Yuto and Eyriey secured their seat-belts in front of their chest. Upon seeing that, Sheltis felt a chill behind his back.

...... Seat-belts? Do a three-wheeled vehicle have things like seat-belts?

"Sheltis, hurry up and fasten on yours as well, or you will be blown away."

"Blown away?"

"Because, once this thing is activated, it can reach a speed of over a hundred kilometers an hour, in a matter of six seconds."

"W...... Wait! If that is the case-"

He could not help but to jump off his seat.

The laws of the continent state that the maximum speed limit for civilian vehicles are eighty kilometers an hour. If they are traveling on the roads of the living sector, the speed is peaked at forty. If anyone is to exceed more than ten kilometers per hour over the legal speed, the automated patrols that are in the sky will sound their sirens and chase him to the world's end.

"The patrols......"

"I know that. Once they have found their prey, they will chase it at a speed of hundred-fifty kilometers an hour, right?"

"Since you know that-"

Before he had managed to finish talking, Eyriey lifted her clenched fists.

"This lovely vehicle of mine can reach a maximum speed of a hundred-eighty kilometers an hour while carrying three passengers. We can easily shake them off even if they discover us."

"Doesn't that make things worse!"

"That's how it is. Let us set off for the barbecue!"

"Yey! Move out!"

"Eh? Ehhhh? Even Yuto is joining in? R...... Right...... I have not fastened my seat-belt yet—!"

"Don't talk while we are accelerating, or you will bite your tongue."

The hissing sounds of the engine rang, and the illegally customized bike shot forward like a raging bullet. The sounds of the metallic chassis ripping through the air, together with the cheers of two young girls and Sheltis' horrified screams, rang through the plaza in the early morning.

***

In front of their eyes, laid a green world.

Different from the turfs of the plaza, various different plants of all shapes and sizes took up each and every inch of view. A forest of trees extended endlessly on their right.

From the sky came the invigorating cries of birds. On the meadows, cute animals were running about in a small groups.

—The southern side of the nature sector, Park Number Four.

"This is probably my first time here."

Grabbing onto the baggage on the back of the vehicle with one of his hands, Sheltis glanced through the surroundings.

Despite being named as a nature's park, the atmosphere there is still quite similar to that of the third sector's

ecosystem-conservation sector

. The only difference is that there are no beasts there that would attack humans.

"Well, I have tried my best to go as deep as I can. We will probably not be of disturbance to anyone if we are to do our barbecue here."

"Eyri-nee, please~ let~ me~ go~?"

Eyriey had caught Yuto, who was about to run off happily.

"Yuto will have to help too. I have been driving since the morning, and my stomach's now grumbling. It's dead tiring to be driving for four consecutive hours."

"...... Out of which, three of them were us being chased by the patrols."

Sheltis opened the hand carrier while complaining.

He began to fix up the black barbecue pit, then proceeded to put in two to three items called 'fuel stones'. What was left was for him to press the fire button.

"Where's the ingredients for the barbecue?"

"All in the cooler box. Yuto, open it."

Yuto opened the blue box. Its interiors were divided into two parts, the top refrigerating cabinet for the vegetables, while the bottom was the freezer for the fishes or meat.

"Well then, since Sheltis had prepared for us some top quality meat, let us hurry up and barbecue them-"

"...... I'll say this first. I have already spent this month's pay on the things here today. Also, shouldn't we start barbecuing the vegetables first, since they take longer to cook?"

Sheltis had already half given up on whether he would get to eat anything, so instead he chose to take the initiative by placing the vegetables on the barbecue rack. If not, there would definitely be a heap of vegetables left over after that.

"Is the meat ready—?"

"Yuto, don't eat those half-cooked meat. Here, I'll give you some vegetables."

He stopped Yuto from trying to eat the meat in secret, and handed some vegetables over.

...... Weird, why did it feel so nostalgic?

Upon facing that scene, his heart was filled with an indescribable feeling for a short instant.

That's right. A long time ago, something similar had happened as well.

—Ymy, Leon and me, we had barbecued together before.

—Both of them are probably holding the highest positions in

Tenketsu Palace

...... I will have to work harder in the living sector as well.

"Ah- Shel-nii had stopped."

Upon regaining his senses-

With her left hand grabbing her plate, and her right grabbing her fork, Yuto was standing by his side waiting, and was puffing her cheeks unhappily.

"Ah, sorry. I was dazed for a moment."

He hurriedly placed the pieces of meat and vegetables onto the barbecue rack.

"Is Sheltis tired? You do go blank suddenly sometimes."

"No, nothing of that sort-"

Just when he was shaking his head at the worried Eyriey.

—*thud*!

"!"

Sheltis suddenly dropped the utensils and plate that he was holding, and quickly turned his body to face the forest behind them.

"Wa...... Wait a second! Why did you throw the vegetables and meat away!"

"Quiet."

He stared intensely into the forest, while holding Eyriey back.

—From his neck down to his spine, he felt an intense chill, as though he was stabbed by an icicle.

Could it be......

"Eyriey, there should be an electric spear on the vehicle for defensive use, right? Those assembly ones."

"Well...... There is."

"Lend me that."

After receiving the silver colored rod-shaped item, Sheltis extended it to about his own height.

Despite being called a 'spear', the front end of the rod is of a round shape, which will discharge a strong jolt of electricity at the press of a button. It is made out of a metal alloy, and are both light and tough at the same time. It is typically used by women as a defensive weapon.

...... Though it will not be of much use, it was still better than nothing.

"Ho...... Hold on Sheltis, where are you going? It's the forest over there!"

"You two wait here. I'll be right back."

Step by step, he slowly inched towards the forest.

He got past the boundary of the forest, and was walking on a path leading slightly leftwards. After advancing a few meters, he made another turn, and finally stopped in front of a huge tree.

...... This is-

Just then, came the sound of two pairs of footsteps, stepping on the dried branches.

"Hey— Sheltis, stop running off by yourself!"

Eyriey pried away the branches and walked towards him, while grabbing on to Yuto's hand.

"Wait, Eyriey. It is better if you do not get close to here."

Sheltis raised his hands up high to stop both of them from moving closer.

"......."

"Sh......Sheltis! Why have you been keeping quiet since just——!"

Having reached behind him, Eyriey lifted her head, and made an inaudible cry.

"...... What...... What is this?"

The trunk of a huge tree of over hundred years old had rotted into a purple color, and it was dead just like that.

At the tip of a thin branch was a leaf.

All of them had been dyed in a strange purple color, and were already rotten.

Not just that, the fallen leaves, the dried branches and even the soil - they were all giving off a purple mist. The decay had continued eroding into the neighboring trees.

"Purple mist...... could it be...... the work of 'that'......?"

A pale Eyriey stood rooted on the ground.

"......"

Sheltis knelt down in an attempt to touch the soil, which was gradually corroding to a purple-

"——Sheltis!"

But Eyriey had pulled him back by his shoulder.

"What are you thinking! You do know that you will get infected once you come into contact with that!"

"...... That's right, sorry."

He retracted his hand from the ground, and stared into the decaying scene. The traces on the ground were fresh. That thing appeared there probably an hour ago...... no, perhaps even closer. It may had just been a few minutes ago.

"Yuto, Eyriey. I think it is best if we leave here immediately. At a situation like this, it is much better if we leave it to the experts."

He stood up, and faced the two girls behind him.

"Experts...... People of

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"Yup. Commoners who have discovered traces of 'that' should inform

Tenketsu Palace

immediately, and evacuate from the scene - Eyriey should know that well, right?"

That was the rule that everyone of the floating continent knows. Even then, there will not be any punishment should one does not plan to follow. However, no one can then guarantee their safety if they choose to do so.

"That's how it is. Alright, move quickly!"

Urging on the two frightened girls, Sheltis followed them closely from behind.

...... It should be fine doing this, right?

Currently, he does not belong to

Tenketsu Palace

, and is just a commoner, so there is no need for him to interfere with 'that'. He just need to leave the scene like everyone else.

"Come here, we should be safe for now."

Walking out of the forest and into the plains, the barbecue stand was there by itself, smoldering in smoke.

"What about the barbecue stand......?"

"It's fine leaving it there. The guards from

Tenketsu Palace

will recover it. Moreover, any items that could have been contaminated will need to be purified as well- What's wrong, Eyriey?"

Eyriey had suddenly stopped in her tracks, and was looking at Sheltis in admiration.

"No, it's just that Sheltis is quite manly sometimes."

"...... So I am just undependable normally......"

The next instance.

The cries of the birds around them died down all of the sudden.

—It's coming!

"Yuto, Eyriey! Back down now!"

At the same time when Sheltis shouted, something dashed out of the forest near to them.

Its exterior is of black-purple, 'something' which transcends all knowledge.

"Yuugenshu? It can't be...... Why does it appear at a place so close to the city!"

Upon seeing the thing that came out of the forest, Eyriey cried out loud.

'Something' that was shrouded in a thick dark-purple mist, where a single look at it could make one feel as though he would be drained away all of his energy.

One could roughly see the muscular limbs and sharp claws similar to those of a lion, from within the mist. But they had no idea if that thing was a person, a beast or a dragon. The only thing they could see clearly, was an ominous flash of blood-red light, coming out from what seemed to be the position of the eyes, on its head.

......zz......zzzz......zzzzzzzzzzz.............!

The mist-like assaulter closed in with an eerily high speed. All places that it had stepped on, regardless of plants or soil, had rapidly decayed into purple. It was a mysterious existence. No one know if it was even a living thing.

It was precisely so, that people address them as 'Yuugenshu'.

"Yuto, Eyriey, both of you, get onto the vehicle quickly!"

The Yuugenshu suddenly stopped moving. What followed-

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

A strange sound rang through the meadows, a sound that makes one associate it with the word 'curse'.

The purple mist surrounding the Yuugenshu gave off light like an amethyst. Not long after, these light gradually turned into rays thinner than strands of hair.

—Mateki?

"Eyriey, run!"

"Eh?"

The rays wove themselves into a complicated spiral-shaped image, and the concentric circles were expanding outward. Eyriey was at lost on what to do, and stood rooted on the ground despite those circles expanding towards her direction.

The violet light began to intensify in color, and began to materialize-

"I'll not let you succeed!"

At that instance, Sheltis tossed out the electric spear in his hands.

*Cha*...... The sound of the spear stabbing into the soil. The thrown spear had pinned the Yuugenshuu onto the ground. The impact of the spear had actually caused the body of the Yuugenshu to be airborne for a brief moment. Due to the interference, the light that had engulfed the metal barbecue stand and was about to touch Eyriey, stopped expanding for a moment.

At the same time, the originally violet light began to materialize.

...... zz ...... zzzz............

"The barbecue stand?"

The stand, that could easily withstand temperatures of nearly a thousand degrees, disintegrated in a flash, like a pile of sand collapsing. Upon witnessing that scene, Eyriey's face turned deathly pale.

—Mateki.

That term is used specially on the special abilities unique only to Yuugenshu. Decay, poison, comatose and mental corruption- it is an energy wave that erodes and contaminates all living things and items of the floating continent. As a strange curse-like sound is given out during its activation, it has been given the name 'Mateki'.

"Eyriey, take this opportunity to start the engines!"

"...... Didn't you just defeat it?"

At the ends of Eyriey's sight, was the Yuugenshu pierced to the ground by the spear.

"An attack like that can't defeat that thing- hurry!"

Sheltis pointed towards the vehicle while he fixed his eyes on the monster with its mist. Yuugenshu are not something that can be easily defeated. In the past, they had been the things he was always fighting against, thus he knows that better than anyone else.

...... zz ...... zzzz ............ zzzzzzzzzzzz ................!

The tip of the electric spear which skewered the Yuugenshu had began to melt, and flowed onto the ground as a pool of molten metal.

What was left, was the mist monster suffering not a single scratch.

Those bright-red eyes became even fiercer, shining like blood-red rubies.

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

The dark-purple mist turned into a bunch of light yet again, which then transformed into millions of thin rays. The strands of rays gathered together, and formed a huge ring on the ground.

Within the domain of the light, stood a motionless Yuto, who was looking at the light below her feet.

...... It was too late. The area of mateki was way to wide, and Yuto could not escape by herself. Just as he was thinking of all that, Sheltis had already rushed into the swirling deep-purple lights.

"Shel-nii."

"Sorry, Yuto. It may hurt a little!"

Grabbing hold on the shoulder and waist of a smiling Yuto, Sheltis lifted her up in a single breath.

"Eyriey, I'll leave Yuto to you!"

Following that, he threw Yuto towards Eyriey with all his might.

Yuto flew a parabolic path in the air, and got out of the domains of mateki.

—That will do.

At then, the light of phantom had materialized.

"Sheltis, you too-!"

Eyriey's shout was engulfed by the ear-splitting sounds of the ground cracking up.

*Boom*. With the sounds similar to the bubbling magma, the grasslands turned white in an instant. Grounds shattered, then melted into a gooey state. Regardless of living or non-living things, the mateki of Yuugenshu will cause anything on Orbie Clar to rot and be destroyed. No matter how strong the person is, once he is exposed to mateki-

Just like that, the teenage boy who risked his all to save Yuto, had no longer any way to run.

The brilliance of the dark-purple lights cause them to not be able to look at them directly. Poisonous rays that corrupt the human body and destroy every single cells in it, had engulfed the whole of the teenage boy's body.

"...... Sheltis—!"

Eyriey face was horribly pale.

There was no hope for Sheltis. No one could survive being engulfed by those poisonous rays of light.

"......... How...... How can this be......"

The situation caused the teenage girl to fall to the ground. The mist monster then locked its sight onto her.

There was no need to use its own mateki. The ground corroded by it was expanding towards the girl at a blinding pace.

In the body of mist, extend a black claw with throbbing veins-

"Don't even think of hurting them, you monster."

Just before the claw touched Eyriey, it stopped.

The teenage boy with tea-red colored hair was grabbing hold of the Yuugenshu's claws with his bare hands.

"...... Sheltis?"

Eyriey said with a trembling voice. She had just witnessed something unbelievable. The level of shock was as though she had seen someone reviving from the dead.

Yuugenshu's mateki, which destroys all trees, soil and living things within its range - despite being exposed to that sort of energy, Sheltis was still standing there fine, and was protecting her right in front of her eyes.

"Eyriey, are you alright?"

"Eh...... But...... But...... Sheltis, you......?"

"I am not afraid of Yuugenshu's mateki."

"—Eh?"

Sheltis lifted his right arm in front of Eyriey, and-

He wickedly struck onto the mist monster's body, which is full of deadly poison.

"———— Uuuuuuuuuuu!"

The Yuugenshu gave a painful howl, and jumped backwards.

What a strange sight. A monster which was not harmed even after being speared by a metal spear, actually had its mist disappeared by more than half of the original amount, after taking a single strike from the teenage boy's bare fist.

"...... That can't be? Why is it effective?"

"I had struck its core while it was distracted. A pity that I have no weapon with me, or else I could have shattered it in a single shot."

At the body of the Yuugenshu, located at the middle of its mist body, is what looks like an amethyst core. Its size varies, but most are of a size similar to that of a human fist. A Yuugenshu will disappear with the destruction of its core.

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

The third mateki was no longer of the barrier form, but a beam of laser after gathering and compressing the light. Evading the powerful purple beam which was obviously stronger than those of before, the young man rushed towards the Yuugenshu.

UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Yuugenshu gave off a strange roar which sounded as though it could cause their ears to burst, and lifted its clawed front limbs. At the same time, Sheltis took aim at the Yuugenshu, and threw out his fist.

The shadows of both bodies passed each other, and what followed-

*Crack...... kura....... ra..........*

The sounds of a tough ore shattering into pieces.

The cold and clear sounds, with a hint of sorrow, echoed through the meadows.

The Yuugenshu, with its core destroyed, ceased its movements, and gradually evaporated off after turning into mist.

"Sheltis, are you alright!"

"Hmm? Ahh, I am slightly hurt by its claws. Just a small scratch-"

"I'm not talking about that!"

Eyriey was pointing to the spot where the Yuugenshu had disappeared. At that place, all plants growing there had already withered, and the soil had turned purple from corruption.

"You had came into contact with Yuugenshu...... and had exposed yourself to mateki in order to protect me! We have to get to the purification center of

Tenkeusu Palace

right now! If we do not hurry, it will be too late if the contamination is to spread!"

"It is fine, there is no need to purify. What matters is that Eyriey and Yuto are alright."

"Idiot, what are you talking about-"

"No. I had said it before, Yuugenshu's mateki has no effects on my body."

At the shoulder where it was scratched by the Yuugenshu's claws, was the skin turning slightly red, but other than that, there was not a single thing to suggest that he had been contaminated.

"Your body...... no way, I have never heard anything like that. I do hear people saying, that if you have powers similar to those of the Queen and the Priestess of

Tenketsu Palace

, then you will be able to resist mateki."

"I don't belong to that group, but I am really fine. Don't worry."

Pressing onto his slightly bleeding shoulder, Sheltis gave Eyriey a smile.

That smile was not to make her feel at ease. Rather, it was due to Eyriey worrying about him.

"...... But."

"It's really great that you both are safe. There's nothing more important than that."

That's right. That was his heartfelt truth.

Because he had successfully saved his only friends at the living sector.

—Ymy. Perhaps, returning back to your side is just an unattainable dream.

—However, I am living fine at here, so at the very least, you do not have to worry for me over at

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Urm......"

Eyriey asked in her rare hesitant tone,

"I have never taken the initiative and asked you that...... could it be, that Sheltis had fought with Yuugenshu before?"

"Well...... it's not a pleasant topic, you know."

Evading the stares of Eyriey that suggested that she wanted to press on further, Sheltis began to walk.

"Alright, in any case, let us go back first. It will be dangerous to continue staying here."

### 004. Intermission: Prayer

Here's the short intermission chapter. Enjoy.

********************

......*plop*

Small droplets leap from the surface.

A deep blue water surface.

With colors deeper than the emerald green waters of a shoal, clearer and more vivid than the ultramarine of the deep seas.

The ceilings gave off lighting as bright as the sun - without knowing the presence of the artificial light source, one would not have thought that the place was indoors.

In a huge circular room where one can barely see the walls-

The mysterious waters were silently wobbling, and time were slowly passing by.

......*drip*

Another tiny ripple appeared on the water surface. From a brief look, it looked like something was rising upward towards the surface beneath the blue water. A human-shaped shadow was wobbling between the ripples-

It was a girl.

Her age is more than ten, probably sixteen or seventeen.

Her long, pale golden hair was shimmering under the lights from the ceiling. Despite her eyes being shut tightly as though she was in a deep slumber, her face still looks graceful, delicate and charming. On the whole, she struck a great balance between prettiness and cuteness.

The teenage girl was gently floating on the water surface, while revealing her stark naked body.

The smooth curves of the chest belonging to that of a girl's was rising and falling repeatedly, giving the hint that the girl was breathing. That was the only clue that showed that she is a living person.

A harmonious silence.

Not long after the girl had floated out of the surface, there was a change within the room.

"—The designated time has been exceeded. The fluid's temperature and the osmotic pressure are both under stable conditions."

A mechanical female voice sounded along with the rays of the ceiling light.

"Body temperature, heartbeats and breathing are all within normal range. It is recommended to immediately begin the barrier training targeted against '

Garden of Corrupted Song

'. Ymy, how are you feeling?"

"......Mmm."

The girl who was being addressed as 'Ymy' opened her eyes.

With her jade colored eyes, she looked at the lighting above in a slightly dazed state.

"There is no problem, I can do it."

Ymy slowly nodded.

"Verbal confirmation from the subject has been accepted. In accordance, analyzing shinryoku............ Shinryoku's waveform, stable. ...... amplitude, stabilizing at peak levels - Inquisition of Tower's Law article number two-hundred and seventy-three, 'Barrier System' has been cleared. Transition to 'Anti-

Garden of Corrupted Song

Arts' has now been acknowledged."

At the same time when that had been said, the level of the deep blue surface began to fall. The fluids in the room turned into a striking purple mist, and spread throughout the room.

After the huge amount of liquid had been totally evaporated.

"......"

Ymy remained on her grounds, and lightly tugged at her fringe, which had a droplet of water.

At her feet were small puddles of the blue fluids, but they too had evaporated into an invisible gaseous state, and spread into the room.

"From now on, the special training against '

Garden of Corrupted Song

' shall commence."

The voice notifying Ymy of the situations was still of a mechanical tone, but at the same time, it had an element of respect towards the teenage girl.

"

ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris

"

The words with power held within them.

The lips of the teenage girl began to sing the opening sequence, which signified the activation of power. The next instance, blue particles covered her naked body as though they were blessing her.

"Activation of shinryoku confirmed - begin simulation of 'Hyouketsu Kyoukai'.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, please construct

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

."

Yu/ Uhw =C r-sanc uc Eden

term-l-pile xel, xin, ole fusen elchel

The teenage girl was singing.

*Kra...... kra..... kura......*

From all corners of the room, came the sound of freezing.

"——"

The girl looked at the feet.

From her ankle onward, her feet was encased in transparent blue ice. That's right. The blue fluid that had just evaporated had slowly started to freeze. It was at an astonishing scale, where the whole giant room could be totally frozen.

xearcs let laphin yahe, bie omia hec lihit clar

noi-roo-xin, noi melras I noe-l-habes pianic cia eyen

The ice gradually crept upwards. From her ankles to her knees, then to her stomach, followed by her chest.

The girl, with more than half of her body frozen by the ice, continued singing. That was because, the dazzling frozen world was her spell, and the requirement for the spell's activation was the prayer which she had been singing.

=C hypn phenoria, Eec qhaon nes ei getie, nephies paf lef bis cley kis ei roos

=C hypn phenoria, Eec wat nes ei getie bies killis cley kis ei mihas

Her lips were purple from the unimaginable cold, and her body were shivering continuously. Despite so, as a Priestess, the teenage girl endured silently, without giving even a whimper.

Just when the ice crept past her chest and was about to approach her shoulders.

The girl, who until then had not moved an inch, suddenly lifted her head and looked towards the ceilings - no, the girl was looking towards the other side of the ceiling, at a place much further away.

"Sheltis...... Can we no longer see each other again......?"

*plop*

A drop of crystal clear tear slid down her cheek.

"You said that you are to become my 'Sennenshi'...... Can you really not fulfill that anymore?"

But even that drop of tear was encased by the freezing blue ice as well-

The teenage girl sank into the frozen world filled with azure brilliance.

********************

Here are some of the new terms used in this chapter.

千年獅: Sennenshi. Literally translated as 'Thousand Years Lion'. More shall be revealed in the future chapters, especially as to how the name came about.

沁力: Shinryoku. The energy opposing mateki. Literally translated as 'penetrative energy'.

### 005. Chapter 2: The person whom the girl is waiting for

Part 2 finally done. Long chapter is long. Again, this combines part 1 into the post, so search for {2} to start reading from there, for those had read part 1.

For those who are reading the whole chapter for the first time and have missed the individual posts: I'll port one of the explaination over from the post of the sub-chapters. We have the introduction of a few characters in this chapter. One of them is Meimel, a Priestess. Her full name is

Meimel in Carnation

. It may be a little confusing to some due to the 'in', so I'll just highlight it now. Also,

Run

is Meimel's Sennenshi. Both of them have confusing English names.

But let us set Hyouketsu Kyoukai aside for the moment. For those who visit this site for Onii-ai, volume 3 is done translating from JP->CN, and I've finished reading the volume already. It is slightly shorter than the previous two volumes, base on the amount of pages that are on my pdf format.

My current plan is to split up my attention and do both series concurrently, by alternating and releasing chapters between the two series. However, depending on situations, I may choose to clear Hyouketsu Kyoukai vol 1 before I proceed with Onii-ai. I'll inform you guys about my decision after I am done with chapter 3 of Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

With that, enjoy.

********************

{1}

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty seventh story-

*Ka*...... A strong and firm footstep rang through the passageway.

"Northern side of nature sector, Park Number Four? That is no more than ten kilometers away from the Third Living Sector."

"............ Mmm."

"There has been a lot more reports on Yuugenshu breaching Hyouketsu Kyoukai recently."

"............ Sorry, Leon."

The rhythmic sound of footsteps suddenly stopped.

"There is no need for Syun-rei to apologize, since I am existing for that very reason."

Swaying his pure white coat, the teenage boy named 'Leon' turned backwards.

Soft yet determined. The teenage boy of these two traits has a handsome face that makes both males and females turn back to take another look at him.

His stout figure is coupled with a height of over hundred and eighty centimeters tall. There is no excessive fat or flab to be seen on his well-trained body. The figure of his makes one think of a well forged blade.

"The floating continent will not be able to survive without the Priestesses or the Queen. So please be more confident of yourself, Syun-rei."

"............ Mmm."

After giving a wry smile to the black-haired girl who was sticking tightly to his back, the silver-haired boy took a turn at the passageway, while regulating his pace to match that of the girl's.

"In any case, let us report that to the other Priestesses. Who is currently around?"

"............ Ymy and Meimel."

"Run should be informing Meimel about it, so we are left with Ymy huh- hmm?"

Leon stopped walking. The teenage girl, who had been hiding behind him all these while, had suddenly tugged the sides of his coat. That is her habit, which means she has something to say.

"............ Ymy is currently training. She is at the Training Level at two hundred and seventy sixth-story...... it should be done soon."

"Is that so. Then it can't be helped. We shall just wait until then."

—Strange?

While sticking tightly to Leon's back, the girl named 'Syun-rei' was bewildered.

The teenage boy, who is her personal guardian, is one of the best swordsman of the floating continent, as well as the most well known training fanatic. She had originally thought that he will be sweating it out in his personal training room, until Ymy's training is over.

"I will have to inform Ymy such an important news as quickly as possible...... I'll just go to the training room later."

Leon gave a sigh. Perhaps he was thinking about the same thing.

The place he was heading to was not the elevator of Tenketsu Palace , but the spiral staircase for emergency use. It was probably so that he can more or less exercise his body by climbing the stairs.

"Syun-rei, do you want to take the elevator instead?"

Upon facing that question from Leon, Syun-rei considered for a moment. No, she had pretended to consider.

Her answer had been decided all along.

"............ I'll be with Leon."

In a rare sight, Syun-rei went to his front, and showed a light smile - the two of them are inseparable. That's right, that is the relationship between her and him.

The five Priestesses who entrust their lives and their everything to their guardians, so that they can focus on praying.

And the strongest guards that put their lives on the line to protect all of these, the Sennenshi.

Priestess Syun-rei, and her guardian, Sennenshi Leon.

Along with the neat pacing and sound of footsteps, the two of them walked down the spiraling stairs of

Tenketsu Palace

together.

***

A world of ice.

At a temperature tens of degrees below zero, where all time of life stops. Without any need of special machines, the temperature was maintained purely by the azure ice which filled the room.

A silent space, where even air would not flow.

"It has been thirty-six hours since the activation of the barrier. The training ends here.

It has been hard on you, Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole."

A mechanical voice came from the ceiling that gave off a blinding light.

*...... kra...... pra...... kura......*

The azure ice which filled the room began to crack.

A hair-like crack of merely a few millimeters. It gradually widened. Initially, it was just on the surface of the azure ice, but it spread into the interiors of the ice as well-

The huge azure ice, which covered over an astonishing area of thousands of square meters, cracked open. The small pieces of ice that flew into the air became smaller and smaller.

*Pacha*

On the leftover waters on the ground, stood a girl with light-golden hair, that is close to a full brilliance of real gold.

"............. Fu......"

She looked into the ceiling, extended her arms out wide, and took a deep breath.

Her body had been frozen for thirty six consecutive hours. In that frozen state, the body stops breathing as well, and it will not breathe if one does not do so deliberately.

After a few repeated breaths, she inhaled in yet another deep breath.

"Co...... Colddddddd!!"

Hugging onto her wet naked body, Ymy cried out.

"So cold...... I am...... nearly....... frozen!"

The barriers of ice that were created out of the shinryoku from her body.

For a barrier spell that locks down 'Yuugenshu', even if it is of a simplified form for training purposes, it still brings about a huge burden on the physical and mental state of the caster.

"....... It feels so terrible every single time."

The body's shivering had not stopped.

With her pale white lips, she quickly walked into the showering room, which was separated by a door.

Upon opening the door, the scent of body soap, together with the warm mist of water, brushed past her hair. At the same time, waters of moderate temperature began falling down from the shower head on the ceiling.

*Shaaaaaa*...... The sounds of the water spray, similar to that of a rain, were comforting to the ears.

Ymy closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of her ice-cold body gradually regaining its warmth.

—Sheltis.

—How are you right now?

Are you living fine in the living sector? Do you still train your sword-play everyday, like you did two years ago? Or have you been living the life of a commoner ever since you had been exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

?

"But...... What was I doing? I was actually thinking of things like these during such an important training."

She shook her head, and picked up a bunch of her dripping wet hair, then stared into the misty, shiny gold hair for a long while-

"Fufu- It feels different to shower in the day-"

A door at the end of the changing room slowly opened.

"...... This lazy voice, is it Meimel?"

She stopped her showering and turned her body. In front of her, stood a beautiful tall lady.

Her emerald green hair cascaded down past her back like a bunch of fine threads. Her grey eyes that were looking at Ymy were filled with gentleness as well.

"I am still showering."

"Ara ara- isn't that Ymy? Sorry- it seems like I have entered the wrong showering room or something—?"

A woman whose slender figure was paired with a light-colored ceremonial robe - Meimel. Similar to Ymy, she is one of the five Priestesses of the floating continent.

"...... Can you please enlighten me - this is my personal-use training level, my personal-use training room, and my personal-use showering room. So how exactly did you manage to get to the wrong place?"

"Don't say it like that. As your senior Priestess, I do hope to share the troubles that my juniors are facing - isn't it better to chose a place like this where we will not be interrupted by someone else, when we are talking about your private matters?"

"Sharing my troubles?"

Upon being asked by Ymy, the senior Priestess gave a know-it-all smile,

"It seems like you are still not too used to barrier-type spells yet - your body was nearly frozen just by a mere thirty-six hours of training, right?"

"...... I have always been working hard."

"Well- actually, that is what I am most curious in."

Meimel touched her beautifully shaped chin with her fingertips, and did a pose suggesting that she was deep in thought.

"In actual battles - during the times when you were really supporting Hyouketsu Kyoukai, Ymy had actually performed really well. So why is it only during your training, do your art of Hyouketsu Kyoukai become rough, and you burn a lot of physical energy?"

...... Ymy could not rebut.

Meimel in Carnation is the second Priestess in ranking. Being the Priestess most well-versed in barrier arts out of the five Priestesses, she could naturally see past all that in a single glance.

"The key to the barrier-type spells lies in being in a peaceful state of mind. You will have to suppress your inner feelings, and maintain a quiet state that surpass that of a plant or a rock. However, it seems like Ymy is distracted during training."

"N...... Nothing of that sort!"

Ymy shook her head in a hurry, and wiped away the face of the teenage boy from her mind.

Maybe that was really how it was. Despite it not being obvious, she did suddenly think of that boy during her training from time to time...... She was troubled by a confusing feeling.

—Sheltis, do you still remember the reason of me being a Priestess?

—It is because you had always been by my side, that I am able to hold on until now.

"In...... In any case, I am fine! In the real situations, I'll put in my all!"

"Mmm...... I guess. As of now, there had been no problems regarding your concentration during actual combat."

After shifting her white fingers away from her chin, Meimel said yet again,

"Alright, let us not talk about that. I say, Ymy. Recently-"

Upon being stared at by Meimel who was putting on a strange smile, Ymy could not help but to take a step back.

"Wh...... What?"

In actual fact, she had noticed that Meimel had been eyeing her body for quite a while now. The look from her eyes seems suspicious, or rather, lewd-

"Fufu, compared to the barrier-type spells, your development in 'that area' is much more significant-"

"...... Wait...... Wait a second, where are you looking at!"

She covered her breasts in a hurry, but the Priestess in front of her just seemed to get happier.

"What's wrong with that? Syun-rei had said that Ymy's body has been developing really fast recently, and she is rather envious about it."

"Syun-rei will not say things like that!"

Ymy stopped drying her hair with her towel for a moment, and felt a sense of helplessness.

...... Sigh- She is actually a really beautiful girl, if only she will shut her mouth and stop talking.

She has a gentle and charming face, as well as a slender and well-toned body. Her powers as a Priestess is rather exceptional as well. If she were to stand there and to remain quiet, she will be an absolute beauty. Just that she will be like that, once she opens her mouth.

"Well, do you have anything else?"

"Mhmm- Syun-rei was waiting for you outside of this room. She had went back to her room, after waiting for quite a while. It seemed to be something important, so you better hurry over."

Ymy had no idea how to reply.

The Priestess in front of her does have a rather strange personality, but she has always spare a thought for others, without them knowing - just like now. However, no matter what, she should not have chosen to barge in at time when one is bathing.

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing."

Ymy turned her head to a side, then walked into the changing room that Meimel was in. After putting on her robe in a flash, she once again turned towards the senior Priestess behind her.

"See you Ymy. Well then, I shall take a shower too-"

"That's fine, but please use the shower room at your own level."

After chasing away Meimel who was about to remove her clothes, Ymy locked the door securely.

{2}

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty seventh story.

At the story close to the peak, the rooms there not only functions as the private space of Priestess Ymy,

But it is also her home as well.

She stretched out her hand in front of the door. What followed was the verification of her voice, thumbprints, pulse and visual image. After those verifications, the door opened with an mechanical exhaust sound.

"I am back, Ilis."

This is a private room specially assigned for a Priestess. The room is spacious enough to have no problem accommodating a family of four, but for Ymy who is living alone, such a huge space becomes a sort of trouble for her as well.

"Welcome back, Ymy. First, a report - about one hour eight minutes and thirty seconds ago, Syun-rei and Leon had stopped by. The two of them will be coming by again later."

A mechanical female voice came from the desk in the middle of the room.

"Mmm, Meimel informed me about it. I am planning to go out again."

On the round wooden table, a machine crystal was giving off a blue light.

"Ah, another thing. Though I know you were undergoing the barrier's training, it was still too boring for me to wait for thirty six hours. In order to kill time, I had created a report detailing Ymy's weights for the past two weeks, as well as a prediction on their trends for the next three years. Do you wish to know the outcome of the prediction?"

"...... You must be really bored."

"For this weekend, as you will be attending Meimel's tea party in the day and making muffins with Syun-rei at night, there will be a predicted increase of thirty percent in your calorie intake. Please take note."

Machine Crystal

.

It is an artificial-intelligence terminal with the appearance of a crystal. Up until two years ago, it belonged to a boy named Sheltis, and currently she is who Ymy talks to everyday.

"Then there is next week, regarding Meimel's invitation for lunch-"

"...... Let's just stop there, Ilis. I want to go to Syun-rei's room."

Machine crystal

gave an unsatisfied voice.

"Well then, let me go along with you. Since I have nothing to do anyway."

"Fine, fine. I'll bring you along, but don't get too mouthy."

After wearing

machine crystal

on her neck, Ymy headed towards the door yet again.

Ymy took a brief look at the empty passageway, then walked towards the junction in the middle. The whole of two hundred and eighty seventh story is shared only by Ymy and Syun-rei.

"I think, I should just head to Syun-rei's room first?"

She walked quickly towards the junction - at the turn, she passed by a guy who was carrying huge objects on his shoulders. He was in his teenage years, and had probably arrived at

Tenketsu Palace

not too long ago.

"Ah, good afternoon."

"～～～～～～～!"

For some unknown reason, the guy gave a shriek upon seeing Ymy.

"Urm, good afternoon?"

"Eh...... Ah...... Good...... good afternoon!"

"That looked heavy, are you alright? Do you need me to help carry it to the lift?"

"It's...... It's fine! Sorry to disturb you!"

With that, the guy grabbed onto the objects on his shoulders tightly, and dashed towards the direction of the lift.

What was left was Ymy standing there in her lonesome, with her hands about to stretch out.

"Ahh- how pitiful. That is probably a staff who have just came here not too long ago. To be called by a Priestess all of the sudden, and the Priestess had gracefully offered to help - it's not strange to find him in such a state of shock."

"...... I have no intention to scare him."

Machine crystal

hanging in front of her chest gave a soft wry laughter,

"The Priestesses are the representative symbols of the floating continent. It is natural for that staff to be that shocked."

"That is true considering our stands, but......"

No matter what, she still felt slightly sad, for the staff to be that afraid of her. It was not like she was planning to eat him - it was just a greeting.

"Before I have became a Priestess...... Just one year ago, I was just an ordinary girl as well."

Her robe swayed with her footsteps. That is the robe bestowed to her by the Queen herself, at the Priestess' inauguration ceremony. Ymy's robe has a white base, that is matched with reddish-blue lines.

It signaled her accomplishing her lifelong dream to become a Priestess. However, at the Priestess' inauguration ceremony a year ago, that teenage boy was not around to see her in her current clothes.

"That's right. I hope that you have more self-awareness as well."

Sounds of sturdy footsteps rang from her back.

"...... Director Albert?"

"It has been a while, Priestess Ymy. I feel deeply honored that you have remembered my name."

A middle-aged man who is taller than Ymy by a head's height, was greeting her respectfully.

He is Albert, the director of

Tenketsu Palace

, who is in charge for maintaining and managing the place. He had worn his suit very meticulously. His already stern looks was coupled with an expression of a stare.

"I had seen everything, regarding the incident with the newcomer. I am not very pleased with that."

Despite his words being quite polite, there was a tone of reproach in his voice.

"...... But, he is someone working in

Tenketsu Palace

, just like us."

"We have been deeply concerned about your self-awareness for a while. For a year since you have became a Priestess, I have frequently reminded you about similar things as well."

After what seemed to be a sigh, Albert knitted his eyebrows.

"The Queen and the five Priestesses who have been sustaining the floating continent. Priestess Ymy, you are one of them. Due to all of you erecting and maintaining the barrier, this floating continent has been spared from the invasion of

Garden of Corrupted Song

."

Garden of Corrupted Song

- the world at which the Yuugenshu resides.

It is a black territory located at ten thousand meters below the floating continent.

It is filled with pitch-black miasma and flows of black muddy waters. Regardless of the strength of light use to shine into the place, one cannot see what the interiors are like. Yuugenshu exists in a strange place like that, and have continuously tried to invade the floating continent.

"It is the Queen and the Priestesses who have frozen and barricaded that dreadful

Garden of Corrupted Song

. Due to that, you are the guardian angel that sustains this floating continent, and the figure of admiration for the people here."

Ymy took the stare from the director head on.

"...... I am well aware of that. After all, I am the Priestess who was bestowed of the title by the Queen herself. I do know what my responsibilities are, and I have not once slackened on my training."

Till now, no one knows the real form behind the mysterious mist-like presence of the Yuugenshu. Under the attack of tens of thousands of Yuugenshu that came from

Garden of Corrupted Song

, the floating continent had came close to being destroyed several times.

It is the Queen then, possessing the strongest shinryoku, who had saved the continent from the multiple crisis.

A barrier named 'Hyouketsu Kyoukai' has successfully frozen the whole of

Garden of Corrupted Song

. That was something that had happened a thousand years ago. The barrier has been upheld ever since, and the spell was passed down several times, up until today. Currently, it is the Queen and her supporting five Priestesses who are in control of the barrier.

"If so, you should be more self-aware of your situation. Priestesses are the symbols of mystery and hope. You cannot come into contact with anyone as you please, just because they are the people of

Tenketsu Palace

. Being the guardian of the floating continent, I hope that you can maintain a certain level of prestige as well."

—Is that really so? Do I really need to maintain a certain level of prestige in order to protect the floating continent?

Ymy swallowed back those words that were about to come out of her mouth.

The Priestesses that protects the floating continent, holds a rank that is unrivaled in

Tenketsu Palace

, not even if the opposite person is the director of the tower. All a Priestess need to say is "Shut up", and everyone will have no choice but to obey. It was precisely so, that Ymy has always chose to endure. If she was to retort back, the man in front of her will lose all his rights of speech.

...... I do not wish to use the authority of a Priestess to shield myself.

"Actually, the reason for me being here is to discuss with you about another thing."

Perhaps that man had realized that. His stare became even sharper.

"Priestess Ymy, why have you not assigned your own personal guardian?"

"...... You are referring to my Sennenshi?"

"Yes. Not just me, but the directors of shinryoku bureau, legal-affairs bureau and mechanical bureau as well. This has been the topic of discussion among various directors during our meeting, and has been brought up multiple times. You are the only Priestess left who has not decided on a Sennenshi, whose role is to protect you from the harms of Yuugenshu. What will you do without the protection of a Sennenshi, should there be an assault from the Yuugenshu? Should there be anything that happens to you, it will turn into a huge crisis for whole of the floating continent. You should know that better than anyone else."

The barriers created from the Priestesses' prayers - Hyouketsu Kyoukai does has its limits.

There are still the rare few Yuugenshu that can slip through the barrier that seals

Garden of Corrupted Song

. The people responsible with dealing with those Yuugenshu are the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

. Martial arts, swords, guns and heavy artillery - there are over a thousand guards specializing in various different combat techniques, and they are tasked with protecting the floating continent around the clock.

"The Priestess has the privilege to pick anyone whom she trust the most, out of all the guards in

Tenketsu Palace

, to be her personal guardian. I don't think I have to repeat that rule to you, right?"

"I...... I'll decide on it soon! I am just deliberating...... on who to be my Sennenshi!"

"You had said the exact same thing a month ago."

"Well......"

"It shall end here, Director."

The silver-haired young man who reminds one of sharp blades.

...... Leon.

Fair skin, together with a height that is way taller than the director's. The well toned physique was well emphasized even through his pure white coat.

"The Priestess entrust her life to her Sennenshi, in order for her to be able to focus on maintaining the barriers better. Since she is to entrust her life onto someone else, Ymy naturally wishes to consider on it carefully. That is how I feel, as a Sennenshi."

Leon Nestorius Ova - the most well-known great sword user from the whole of the floating continent. He is also a guy whom Ymy knows before they have even entered into

Tenketsu Palace

.

"But Sennenshi Leon. No matter what, for her to go on for a year without the protection of a Sennenshi, that is just......"

"Director. May you please consider, the reason for the personal guardians of the Priestesses to be named 'Sennenshi'."

This time, Leon's rebuttal had caused the middle-aged man to remain silent.

That was something that had happened a thousand years ago, back when the barrier sealing

Garden of Corrupted Song

had still not been erected.

Upon being besieged by a huge amount of Yuugenshu, the Queen sought the oath from the last standing guard that was beside her - those words are something that everyone from

Tenketsu Palace

can recite with ease.

"...... Will you always be by my side?"

"Do not show such an uneasy expression. For that, I am willing to sing the lullaby for you. Even when you sleep, I shall be forever by your side."

"Forever...... really?"

"The lion never sleeps. If you so desire, it can be for hundreds, even thousands of years."

The huge organization tasked with the job to protect Orbie Clar -

Tenketsu Palace

.

The strongest five person out of the thousand guards in

Tenketsu Palace

, are the Sennenshi. The origin of that name is said to come from the oath between the Queen and her guard.

"I know the Director is worried about Ymy's safety. However, to a Priestess, the matter of Sennenshi is just so important. Can you give her more time to think about it, regarding the candidate for her Sennenshi?"

At one side, was the director of

Tenketsu Palace

, who is in charge of the whole operation of the tower. On the other side, stood the man handpicked by a Priestess, the strongest swordsman of the floating continent.

The two of them clashed with each other heads on, despite not speaking a word.

"—Seems like the meeting is about to begin."

The person to back down by himself, was Director Albert.

"Priestess Ymy, I have to stress yet again. No matter what, please appoint your Sennenshi as quickly as possible."

The middle-aged man, whose expression had not changed since their encounter, disappeared in the direction towards the lift.

...... What a relief. Ymy pressed both of her hands on her chest, and took deep breaths to calm her body down. The few minutes of encounter had already caused huge beads of sweat to appear on her forehead.

"Thanks for your help, Leon."

"Man, I really can't see who is holding the higher position there, between the director and the Priestess."

The silver-haired young man said wryly with his arms crossed.

"Alright, Syun-rei. You can come out now, everything's over already."

"............ Mmm."

The black-haired girl, who was sticking tightly behind Leon, stuck her head out timidly.

The buds of spring, Syun-rei. [TLNote: Her name is actually 春蕾 in Kanji. Fist Kanji is spring, second is bud. Furigana has the name as シュンレイ. A really good name, imo.]

She is a Priestess wearing a robe made of red and white cloths, with a purple sash tied at her chest. Though she is seventeen, the same as Ymy, she looks to be a year or two younger, due to her small frame, her baby face and her introvert personality.

"............ Ymy, are you alright?"

"Mmm, thanks to both of you, Syun-rei and Leon...... I would not have known what to do otherwise."

"It does seem strange to others, for a Priestess who has not chosen her Sennenshi for so long."

It was precisely as he had said. Just like how Syun-rei had chosen Leon, Ymy will have to choose a guard from the

Tenketsu Palace

to be her Sennenshi as well.

"...... I know very well, that I have to choose someone. But, whenever I think of that......"

My chest will start to hurt, and it gets difficult to breathe. Is it really fine to pick someone from the current available guards - the voice that echoes in her mind has been tormenting her endlessly.

"Are you still waiting for that person?"

"I don't know...... it hurts so much, precisely because I don't know how I myself feel."

—Sheltis. Are you really not coming back?

—Is it really fine for me to choose someone other than you as my Sennenshi?

"............ That person?"

"Ah, no. It's nothing, Syun-rei."

The only people in

Tenketsu Palace

who knows about the relationship between Ymy and Sheltis is Leon. No, strictly speaking there is another person, although it is not quite accurate to use the term 'person'. It is the thing hanging in front of Ymy's chest-

"Sorry to change the topic, Leon. Seems like you had just went to Ymy's room?"

"Is that Ilis? Long time no see."

Looking at

machine crystal

in front of Ymy's chest, Leon gave a wry smile.

"Long time no see, Leon. I've heard that you are still a training fanatic, even after promoted to be a Sennenshi."

"Well of course."

"Fufu. Syun-rei, you should be feeling really secure, to have Leon as your guardian."

"............ Mmm."

Upon seeing the teenage girl nodding her head with a blush, Leon stared at Ilis exasperatedly.

"Ilis, stop teasing Syun-rei already."

"No no, that is my heartfelt truth, you know? Going back to the point, please state your intentions in visiting Ymy."

"You are really in high spirits," Leon mumbled, while crossing his arms.

"Whatever...... Ymy, there is something that I wish to tell you. Syun-rei had sensed the presence of Yuugenshu, and it came from Park Number Four, at the south of the nature sector."

"That close?"

Ymy almost thought she had heard it wrongly. That place is located near to the Third Living Sector. The routes where children take nature hikes passes by there frequently. Many families go there for sightseeing as well.

"Well, how's the damage?"

"...... I think, there should be no damage done."

The person who replied was Syun-rei, who was standing in front of Leon. The people whom she can talk to beside Leon, are probably the four other Priestesses. Syun-rei will run away immediately if she ever sees the tower's staff.

"That...... when I arrived there with Leon, the Yuugenshu......"

Upon noticing that Syun-rei was looking at him in hesitation, Leon nodded his head.

"When we had arrived, the Yuugenshu was already defeated by an unknown person."

"How?"

"Strong traces of mateki were left on the ground, but the Yuugenshu was destroyed due to its crystal core being shattered. What was left was the remains of mateki when we reached there."

...... It can't be? Ymy covered her mouth, and looked into the ceiling.

There exists Yuugenshu of the size of a small cat, and yet with mateki strong enough to bring down a small dragon. There are also Yuugenshu big enough to swallow a whole aircraft. Even if there is only one, it is not something that a typical person from the living sector can handle with ease.

"Are there members of Tenketsu Palace nearby? Like the apprentice-Priestesses, or shinryoku-spellcasters."

"Nope. That's what confuses me and Syun-rei. The shinryoku of a normal person should not be able to resist the mateki of the Yuugenshu."

The cursed powers of Yuugenshu - mateki.

On the other end, the power opposite to mateki, which humans possess - shinryoku.

'The power that allows miracles to penetrate throughout the world', that is how the name 'shinryoku' came about. Different uses of the energy can invoke different phenomenons. Just like a magnet, it has repulsive properties against mateki. [TLNote: I've explained the kanji of shinryoku at the end of intermission chapter]

Upon being born into the world, humans will carry shinryoku of various degrees in them. However, the power will gradually weaken if they do not consciously train it consistently.

"I too, do not think that there is someone from the living sector with shinryoku comparable to that of yours and Syun-rei."

"...... I think so as well."

The difficult training to become a Priestess, cannot be described with just the word, 'miserable', alone.

There is a very strong connection between one's shinryoku and mental strength. Similar to using boiling water to bring out the fragrance from the red tea leaves, one must force her mental conditions to the limit, before her shinryoku can blossom.

That includes praying in the blizzard, and training under burning hot conditions, where one's sweat will evaporate in an instant. Such training can carry on for days without sleep, and it was done when the girls had not yet reached the age of ten. For the past five years, only two person had managed to succeed out of the thousand of apprentices. Both Ymy and Syun-rei had endured past the training, and were standing right here.

That's right - it was all so that they can control 'Hyouketsu Kyoukai', which seals the

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

"Hyouketsu Kyoukai is currently maintained by the Queen, so it should be in a stable state."

The records of the past few days had shown that the activities of

Garden of Corrupted Song

were of low levels - however, it was still dangerous for a Yuugenshu to be that close to the living sector.

"I understand. I'll be more careful as well."

"That's great - speaking of which, about the fact that the Yuugenshu was defeated at Park Number Four, there is only one ordinary person who can do it, that came to mind. It is the person whom you are most familiar with."

"Eh?"

An ordinary person, who I am familiar with?

"Leon, could it be Sheltis that-"

Halfway through, she was interrupted by the speakers from the ceiling.

"Oi~, is Leon there?"

From the speakers mounted at the ceilings, came the voice of a girl.

"Is that Run?"

Leon retained his crossed-arms posture, and looked at the speakers above.

"Oh, there you are! I am really bored now, so lets have some training. Or else I'll get bored to death."

"How about your subordinates?"

"Mmm- they did improve recently, but it still won't do. How should I say it? It feels smashing each time I duel against you. Well then, let us meet at my training room ten minutes later, at floor two hundred and seventy four. Later!"

"Oi, oi, I am not done yet-"

The speakers became silent yet again.

"Damn Run, she's got some guts, to cut me off after saying what she wants."

A dangerous smile appeared on Leon's face. Syun-rei looked at him rather timidly.

"Are you going, Leon?"

"Of course. A man can never run away from any challenge."

Leon quickly walked towards the door, before anyone could stop him.

...... He really has not changed.

Ymy chuckled while watching his back as he walked with firm steps.

He is usually calm and collected, but when he faces any sort of challenge, he will immediately turn into a stubborn young boy who hates losing. The personality of the silver-haired young man is that straightforward.

He has not changed. It has always been so ever since Sheltis, Leon and herself knew each other.

"............ Ymy, are you going?"

"Ah, I wish to watch as well. Let's go."

"Mmm- it does not hurt to take a look."

Under the persuasion of Syun-rei and

machine crystal

, Ymy caught up with Leon as well.

***

Tenketsu Palace

. Two hundred and seventy fourth story.

After walking out of the elevator, what appeared before their eyes was a huge space shinning in the brilliance of copper-green light.

The copper-green light came from the shine of the metals that were exposed to light. Not just the floor, but the all the surfaces other than the side walls, the ceilings and the lighting, have been covered by thousands of heat-resistant and shock-absorbing plates.

This room was designed by the Sennenshi who owned the story, and it is specially used for training.

"Ara, Ymy is here as well-"

There was a lady sitting on the metal chair in the room. She was a Priestess with a beautiful body, and was wearing a light-colored gown.

"What's wrong, Ymy? You don't look too happy."

"...... No, I am just thinking, could this be some sort of crazy idea from Meimel."

"Fufu. The practice duel between two Sennenshi is something huge, you know? I can take this opportunity to understand my guardian better as well. Ah, come here, Syun-rei, so that we can share some snacks together-"

Meimel gestured Syun-rei enthusiastically, and placed a box full of cookies onto her knees.

"Well then- Run and Leon, all the best to both of you-"

"Oi oi, Meimel. At a time like this, shouldn't you be focused on supporting me?"

At about twenty meters away from the trio.

The teenage girl facing Leon was crossing her arms, and looking rather annoyed. That's right, that girl is the Sennenshi in charge of protecting Priestess Meimel.

"Fufu, it is a wiser option to support both sides at the same time-"

"...... Forget it, I can't win you with words anyway."

The girl who looks very tomboyish, with her yellow hair cut casually - Run. [TLNote: original is flax-seed colored hair, but......]

Her amber eyes gave a mischievous shine, and on the whole, she reminds people of a cat. Her clothing were just a pair of white shorts, and a pure white short-sleeved jacket. Compared to Leon's bulky coat, her clothes looked considerably lighter.

"Rules?"

"Mmm, the usual - no restrictions."

Standing in front of Leon who was inquiring on the rules, Run took out a pair of gloves made of black steel.

On the other hand, Leon's right hand was grabbing on what looked like the hilt of a great sword. From its shape, it seemed to be a hilt of a double edged sword. It was unquestionably a great sword, but the all important blade was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the sounds of the wind re-vibrated in the room, and Leon's hand disappeared for an instant. At the next instant, there was a change to the hilt in his hand.

It was a blade that was giving off a blue brilliance.

Azure crystals had appeared from the hilt, and turned into the shape of a blade within an instant.

It was a blade created from the azure crystals that were extracted from Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

The frozen crystals created from shinryoku are not only tougher than metal, but they are also light and flexible. Not only that, the azure ice by itself is a form of crystallized shinryoku, thus enabling it to slice away the mateki from Yuugenshu.

"............ Ilis."

Just when Ymy's eyes were hooked onto Leon's great sword, the necklace at her chest suddenly began to flash.

"Ymy, it can't be that you have forgotten the mechanics behind the appearance of the azure ice of Hyouketsu Kyoukai on Leon's hilt?"

Upon being asked that question by

machine crystal

, Ymy was temporarily shocked.

"Th-That's because....... we Priestesses know nothing about machines."

That is due to the Priestesses focusing on shinryoku. In the highly mechanized world, they are not too familiar with anything that has to do with the word 'machine'.

"The hilt in Leon's hand functions as a transporter as well. A vibrating sensor is installed in the hilt, that activates upon Leon fulfilling the criteria of swinging the hilt at supersonic speeds. What happens next is that pure azure ice will be transferred from Hyouketsu Kyoukai to the hilt, which will then be refined into the shape of a great sword."

Ilis explained it to Ymy once again after a deliberate sigh.

"Mmm- Then again, it's a really intriguing combination-"

Meimel gave her rare wry smile, while looking at the two Sennenshi.

Leon, with a robust physique, was holding onto a sword that was as long as his height in his hands.

On the other hand, the girl he was facing has a comparatively small frame. Not only that, Run had only put on a pair of black-steel gloves, and had not a single weapon in her hands.

"If I remember right, I should be leading with eight victories and seven defeats."

Run fights with her bare hands. In order to be able to come into contact with Yuugenshu that will normally destroy a human's body upon contact, Run's whole body has went through rites that engraved her body with marks, which grants her shinryoku.

"That's hard to say, since I had won twice consecutively recently. It seems like the goddess of luck is smiling on me."

"Dream on. Just you wait, I'll smack you up to the moon."

The two squabbled like children, and stepped backwards at the same time.

"Meimel, you shall give the signal to start."

"Alright~", the Priestess agreed with her mouth munching on something.

"Well, let's start when I am done with this cookie."

"Who the hell knows when that will be!"

Upon being retorted by both Run and Leon, Meimel gave a rather troubled look.

"You two are just..... Oh well, I'll just create a mock barrier."

"phia-So la telah sitra

"

Meimel's shinryoku began activation. That was the opening verse.

With that verse sung, an azure radiance began expanding, and covered the whole chair which the Priestess was sitting on.

"Doubling the first ballad

Chanting with the barrier series - the Arts of the Princess

With an informal interpretation of Tower's Law number seven

The second Priestess has requested for the use of shinryoku"

Shinryoku comes in the form of a wave.

Similar to how the ripples spread from the point where a drop of water strikes the surface of the lake, shinryoku has the property that permeates outward with its caster at the center point. What Meimel did was to sing her chants as transmitting waves, and used it to penetrate outwards into space. As a result, the speed of spreading of shinryoku increased by leaps and bounds.

"The rites in between...... that's too troublesome, so I'll skip.

Under the guidance of the barriers, everything up until the twenty-second power of the second verse shall be repeated - alright, activate."

Small dots of light tinier than snowflakes.

Just like the petals dancing in the winds, the faint lights swirled around Leon and Run, and brought about a gentle breeze. Meimel's mock barriers then expanded over an area of over a ten meters radius.

—At the same time, the two Sennenshi began their fight.

Run, with a slight smile, dashed straight at Leon.

She moved in a straight line without any excessive motion, and her speed was fast for a young girl just in her teenage years. However, in the eyes of the exceptional Leon, her speed seemed to be on the slow side.

In contrast, Leon did not even move.

The distance between the two were at ten meters...... eight meters...... seven, six...... five meters.

At then, Leon moved - just when Ymy had came to realize that from afar, he had already swung the great sword that is of the same length as his height.

The only thing seen was a flash of the azure blade, after which the howls of the wind followed.

Despite its weight being so heavy that even a grown man will have difficulty lifting it, Leon's swing of the sword still exceeded the speed of sound.

A slash that a normal person would not be able to react to, came crashing towards Run.

—*don*

In the next instant, the body of the girl vanished.

...... Vanished? Leon lifted his head. Ymy followed his line of sight......

At the ceiling, about seven meters above his head, the female Sennenshi was standing upside down on its surface. The exceptional muscles that she was born with, together with her speed of response, had enabled Run to perform actions that are normally deemed impossible to a typical person.

Leon had landed in an unfavorable posture due to his miss. Run clenched her fists tight, and pounced onto the swordsman by kicking on the ceiling.

However, within the short time period where Run was descending from the ceiling to the ground, Leon had already positioned his blade vertically. Aiming at the girl that was approaching from above his head, he swung his great sword upwards.

"Ha!"

A slash coming from the bottom.

The reflexes of a human does not allow one to change his direction while in midair. That is common knowledge.

However, that common knowledge was easily debunked by the tanned girl. At the instance where her fist and the swords crossed path, she twisted her body in midair and avoided Leon's sword, then followed up by striking hard on the body of the sword.

*Kan*, the blade of the sword, which is tougher than metals, gave a dull sound under the huge force.

Predicting that Leon would not let go of his sword, Run sprang off the sword and made a somersault in the air. With the momentum generated by the spin, she aimed her heel at Leon's head - everyone could see that the attack could not be dodged.

Even so, the Sennenshi holding his sword was hardly flustered. Knowing that he would not make it if he chose to block with the blade, he swung his hilt horizontally in order to parry away the Run's incoming heels.

*Zaa* - piercing sounds of friction and burns was generated. Under the lights, silver sparks flew about.

"That's the first time I have seen that. Is that a new move?"

While swaying his fringes, Leon stabbed his great sword onto the ground.

Due to the impact from the hilt, Run's heels had shifted considerably from it's intended position. In the end, her drop had only managed to shave off a few strands of Leon's fringe, before she landed back onto the metal plates on the floor.

"...... Mmm - that move had worked flawlessly on my subordinates every time. It looked like there is still spaces for improvements."

Upon returning to the ground, the girl gave a troubled expression.

"It would be better if you skipped the somersault and proceed straight for a kick."

"You think so too? I have always wish perform the action of somersaulting once in the air gracefully, before proceeding with a kitty-kick. Don't you think that is much cooler?"

"That is a heel drop, rather than a cat-kick."

"Mmm, wasn't it cute?"

Leon crossed his arms, while Run looked at him and answered cheerfully.

"Well, I am satisfied with trying it once. Well then, it is about time that I get serious."

Run stopped smiling, and removed her jacket. All that is left was a sports vest.

At the same time, the atmosphere became much colder. The sparring just now was too quick for Ymy to make much out of it with her naked eyes. However, that was just warming up for two Sennenshi.

A tense feeling lingered in the static airs of the scene. Then-

"Oi, Leon. Hurry up and put on your stance. What's wrong with you?"

The girl had first noticed the abnormality in the swordsman. The silver-haired young man had been staring at the great sword in his hands, while not moving an inch.

"...... Can't do. As expected, I am not in the mood to be doing this today."

With that, the blade in Leon's hands shattered into tiny pieces. After watching the frozen azure crystals melted and vanishing into thin air, the young man turned his back towards the girl.

"Oi oi! Did you eat something wrong?"

"I have always maintained myself in the best condition."

"If so, why-"

"...... I am sorry. I just thought of a weird person all of the sudden."

Leon focused his sight onto the hilt that had just lost its blade.

"A weird person?"

"A friend who I know long ago. He was stubborn and had insisted that dual swords are much better, despite me trying to convince him into using great swords...... Simply put, he is an irreplaceable, strong sparring partner."

"A strong sparring partner? How can there be any swordsman on the floating continent that can match you in terms of swords-play?"

Run scratched her head, looking all confused.

There are up to a thousand guards in

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>, out of which many are swordsman. However, Leon is the strongest out of all of them. The only people who are on par with Leon, are the Sennenshi, which includes Run. However, all the other Sennenshi specializes in their own weapons, and none of them wields a sword.

"Don't you always say that you can't find someone whom you can pit your swords against? Since there is no one in

Tenketsu Palace

who can do so, then it is impossible for you to find anyone else from the floating continent."

"...... There is."

"Mmm? What did you say, Ymy?"

"Ah, no....... Noth...... Nothing."

With a painful expression, Ymy shook her head ever so lightly.

...... No, Run. There is really such a person.

Though he is not in

Tenketsu Palace

, but there is such a person on the floating continent. The person who Leon was about to name, before they had came to this training room. The only person who lived ordinarily in the living sector, but was able to defeat a Yuugenshu-

"There is only one person."

At the front of Ymy's chest, the

machine crystal

hanging from the necklace shone.

"A teenage boy by the name of Sheltis Magna Yehle."

"...... Ilis?"

She had wanted to cover

machine crystal

, but it was too late.

"Ymy, what is forbidden is coming into contact with Sheltis. However, his name itself is not included into the restriction - Leon, the person who you are thinking of is him too, right?"

Leon did not answer. However, from his motionless stance, it meant that he did not deny it either.

"Oi - you two and

machine crystal

over there, what are you guys talking about?"

"If I remember right - that name had appeared on the list of the permanently removed members of

Tenketsu Palace

, years ago."

Meimel crossed her arms in front of her chest, and stared into the ceiling, while deep in her thoughts.

"Run, that was something that happened before you have became a Sennenshi. Back then, Syun-rei and Ymy were still apprentice-Priestesses, while Leon was at the position of executive-guard, just one step away from rising to a Sennenshi, right-?"

"Oh- What about the details then, Ymy?"

"That......"

No words could form successfully from her parched throat. In actual fact, she had not intended to tell it to anyone. That was because her heart was in a state of mess ever since that incident.

"Ymy, I should not be the one to talk, but regardless, this is a good chance for you to openly tell everyone about it clearly. You can just treat it as a sort of information, so that as Priestesses, Meimel and Syun-rei will know about it - that there is such a unique person living on this world."

In the silence, the Priestess sitting next to Ymy gave her an uneasy look.

"...... Ymy, if you do not wish to talk about it...... you do not have to force yourself."

"No. Thank you, Syun-rei, but I think Ilis is right."

Under the gaze of Syun-rei, Ymy nodded slowly.

"...... Sheltis is my childhood friend. We two had always been close to each other, and it was rare for us to be separated. But-"

The two of them were together even during meals, or while playing. She had thought that such a thing can go on forever. However, the thing that brought about a change to all that, was a letter.

"I was shocked...... It was written on the letter, that I had been chosen to be an apprentice-Priestess."

If she was to become a real Priestess, then she will have to spend nearly all her days at

Tenketsu Palace

. As it is hard for commoners to obtain permission to visit the Priestesses, she may never get to see Sheltis ever again, if she was to become one. Despite so, Ymy had a reason to be one.

"I had thought about it for days...... and finally, I had decided to tell Sheltis about it. That was because, this continent has always been under the shadows of the Yuugenshu. Even if we are to live a stable life now, we will never know when we will be attacked by Yuugenshu in the future...... If I can become a Priestess and maintain the barriers, it will mean that I am protecting Sheltis as well. That was what I thought."

She hoped that she can protect the memories between them, as well as the floating continent which had matured her, with her own hands.

That's right. Her motive for becoming a Priestess is so that she can protect the ones who are most precious to her.

"Thus, I told Sheltis about my decision to enter

Tenketsu Palace

...... Though we have always been together, but sorry. It is about time that we say goodbye."

—To protect him, she had chosen to leave him.

It was inconceivable to her as well, as she could not hold back her tears. Even though it was a decision that she had finally made, after much deliberation.

However, he smiled and said to her crying self,

"This is not goodbye."

"—Sheltis?"

"Since Ymy wishes to become a Priestess to protect me, then I shall become a Sennenshi that protects Ymy. If so, we will be able to be together, right?"

"............"

"So stop crying, alright? Don't worry. I will definitely head to Ymy's side, to the peak of the tower."

"On the very day that Ymy entered into

Tenketsu Palace

as an apprentice-Priestess, Sheltis had entered into

Tenketsu Palace

as a guard as well. That was something which Sheltis told me personally."

"...... Yes."

There was someone by her side, who was working his hardest in order to protect her. Due to that sense of security, Ymy had managed to endure past the harsh training of a Priestess.

"To add on, while Ymy was enduring through the harsh training, Sheltis was working tirelessly to improve himself. Despite him not having any exceptional talents or build, he had managed to find himself a good opponent - am I right, Leon?"

"I have no comments on that."

The silver-haired young man smiled bitterly.

"Eh? So it is you?"

Run was surprised. As for Leon, he puffed up his chest, and showed a rare expression of pride.

"I'll say this first. I am leading with seven hundred and ninety three victories, against my seven hundred and ninety two defeats."

"Strange? Sheltis told me that his records are seven hundred and ninety three wins, with seven hundred and ninety two losses."

"What?"

"............ Ymy?"

Upon being asked by Syun-rei, Ymy whispered into her ears with a wry laugh,

"One of those matches ended in a draw, but both parties felt they had won."

That's right. She and Sheltis, together with Leon whom they knew later, shared a very close relationship. The three of them had always sneaked out of

Tenketsu Palace

to travel about, and the three of them were reprimanded together when they were caught.

—Despite the tough training on the route to become a Priestess, everything seemed so enjoyable when the three of them were together.

"However, it is not easy for someone to be on par with Leon. I can't fathom how an exceptional person like him would be removed off the list permanently."

"Run, you are right...... and that was something that happened in summer three years ago."

It was during the time when Ymy's grades were gradually rising above the rest of her fellow apprentice-Priestesses.

Sheltis was fourteen years old, while Leon was fifteen. Three years ago, the two of them had raised themselves to the position of the executive-guards in record time - the position of the Sennenshi-reserves.

"Back then, I was about to undergo the final test to become a Priestess, while Sheltis was sent to a new danger zone. It was the outskirts of Orbie Clar, the highest frequency of occurrence of the Yuugenshu."

The designated two weeks had past. Even when the third week was over, Sheltis was yet to return. Just when the uncertain Ymy was about to ask around about it, Leon appeared before her doorstep.

"............ There is something that I have to tell you."

"What's wrong, Leon? Why are you putting on such a painful expression?"

"Ymy, Sheltis will not be coming back."

"Eh? ...... Stop it, Leon...... don't joke about things like that."

"I don't believe it myself either. However, this is a report sent back by the members of Sheltis' team. Ymy, listen to me calmly. Sheltis-"

"I could not believe it, that Sheltis had fallen off the floating continent, and plunged into

Garden of Corrupted Song

."

The edges of the floating continent consist of cliffs and waterfalls.

One can only see the sky if he is to step off the cliffs. As such, Orbie Clar have installed walls around the edges to prevent people from falling off.

—Despite that, there are many that still fall off the edge of the floating continent.

Such as when their aircraft were assaulted by beasts, like the flying dragons. Or when they came under the attack of Yuugenshu, and so on.

The place they fall into, is the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, filled with poisonous miasma and mysterious black waters. If a human being is to fall into the place where Yuugenshu resides, the results are obvious...... Up till now, there has been no survivors.

"Ah, I had seen a report about that. It says that a member of

Tenketsu Palace

had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. Although the name of the member was not revealed."

"That's right. You can still find traces in the electronic records of

Tenketsu Palace

. However, the records of what happened later has been deleted from the public records of

Tenketsu Palace

. What happened after that was-"

Ilis said that much in reply to Run's inquiry, before falling silent again.

"...... Ymy, I think it is better if you are the one to say it."

After breathing out the remaining air in her chest, Ymy took a slow breathe.

"Sheltis is still alive."

"...... Hold on, that person named Sheltis, isn't he dead? He had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, you know?"

"He had returned, from

Garden of Corrupted Song

back to the floating continent."

The expressions on Syun-rei, Run and Meimel froze. To have fallen into the mateki-filled

Garden of Corrupted Song

, and not only survive, but to return back to the floating continent as well - such a miracle could not have happened.

"It's not just Ymy. I had seen that person with my own eyes as well."

With that, Leon grabbed onto his great sword tightly.

"Initially, Ymy and I could not believe our eyes either. With his clothes in tatters, and his body suffering from fatal wounds...... but that person was unquestionably Sheltis."

He is alive. Despite being at a loss at the sudden situation, Ymy still thanked the occurrence of such a miracle. She was crying, and wanted to hug him - and that was when the real tragedy began.

Until now, Ymy still dreams about that scene occasionally.

"What I cannot believe is...... why...... why couldn't I hold onto Sheltis' hands?"

Hugging, or even the simple gesture of holding hands, are no longer possible between the two of them.

That is all due to a phenomenon that could not have happened under normal circumstances.

"Mmm? What happened?"

"...... She couldn't hold his hands...... they are rejecting each other...... He had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

...... the energy opposite to that of shinryoku...... Ahh, could it be......"

Run knitted her eyebrows in confusion. In contrast, Syun-rei and Meimel both nodded their heads after looking at each other. Meimel then explained,

"Run, what will happen when strong forces of shinryoku and mateki comes into contact with one another?"

"Well...... Since they are two opposing energies, they should be repulsing each other. If both forces are extremely huge, then it will trigger the occurrence of the special phenomenon called 'Elbert Resonance'."

"Please stop."

"—Mmm?"

"Run...... I am sorry, but I do not wish to hear that term."

Elbert Resonance. The term which Run said, had caused Ymy to clench her teeth subconsciously.

...... I really do not wish to think of it again.

Two years ago, the pain of the taboo flames that sparked off between Sheltis and her.

"—Ehem. In any case, Run. You should have understood what had happened to Sheltis after he had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song ,

and the reason he and Ymy are repulsing each other."

"Mmm...... if that is the case, then Sheltis......"

Upon realizing the meaning behind Meimel's words, Run's expression turned somber in an instant.

"That's right. Sheltis has indeed survive after falling into

Garden of Corrupted Song

. However, the shinryoku of a human is gone from his body, and what has replaced it is mateki from

Garden of Corrupted Song

."

"The energy unique to Yuugenshu - mateki. There has not been a single case in history where a human being had came into possession of mateki. At the same time, such a situation is not allowed. Should the public come to know of it, what will happen after will only be disputes and chaos. The various bureau of

Tenketsu Palace

naturally do not wish for the existence of Sheltis to be exposed as well-"

Meimel said to Ilis, her eyes shining with a knowledgeable brilliance.

"Generally, that's how it is. Of course, there were no records in regards to that."

"Fufu. But there should be another reason, for the people to be in such a state of panic? It should concern the Queen and us Priestesses, and Hyouketsu Kyoukai as well."

"As expected of Meimel. Such deep insights."

Ilis gave praise to Meimel, who seemed to be enjoying the task of unraveling the mysteries.

"The reason for the state of panic of the upper brass, was because the mateki that is inside of Sheltis is something of an unknown existence. If the mateki-bearing Sheltis is allowed to continue staying in

Tenketsu Palace

, there will be no one who can guarantee the safety of the Queen or the Priestesses. Neither can they ensure that Hyouketsu Kyoukai will not come under any negative influence. As such, after much discussions from the knowledgeable ones, the decision was to exile Sheltis from

Tenketsu Palace

. All his contributions, feats and everything about his past has been erased as well."

Ymy and Leon had voiced their opposition as well. However, as both of them had deep ties with Sheltis, they were deemed to be just shielding Sheltis, despite how much they had pleaded.

"Simply put, it had been decided that it will be best for Sheltis to be as far away from

Tenketsu Palace

as possible. Though that was probably the only option available to them at that point of time, but it still leaves a bitter taste in your mouth."

Just like Meimel had said, Run was putting on a gloomy expression, as though she could not accept the truth.

"In any case, everyone, please keep this a secret."

"I am planning to do just that- but I have one final question. Isn't that right, Ymy?"

Unknowingly, the Priestess dressed in her gown had directed her sight towards Ymy. That seemingly harmless smile was mixed with a bit of a piercing glare from Meimel.

"For a year since you have became a Priestess, you have still not chosen your Sennenshi yet."

—As expected, it was about that.

Sweat was coming out of the palms of her clenched fist...... in the end, the senior Priestess had noticed that as well. She was most afraid of being accused of that, when she had talked about the matter regarding Sheltis.

"Are you still waiting? Waiting for the return of the boy named Sheltis."

First, there was silence, and then-

"............ No."

At the moment when she made that answer, her heart felt a throbbing pain that made her felt like vomiting blood.

"I am perfectly clear...... that as a Priestess, I cannot get caught up with my personal feelings. I...... I am just deliberating on who I should pick."

With each and every word forced out of her mouth, the taste of blood gradually began to spread in her mouth. She understood very well what Meimel was trying to say. However- even so, it still hurts for her to be actually saying it.

"I guess. It is rather harsh, but that is the correct course of action. Should anything happens to you, the floating continent will sink into danger - you do know, that a Priestess can absolutely not die. Even if we have to sacrifice others, we will have to survive, in order to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. As such, the Priestesses should never be influenced by their own personal feelings."

"....... Yes."

"Alright, I was just mimicking the words of the directors from the various bureaus of

Tenketsu Palace

."

Suddenly, the look from Meimel softened down.

"I am not asking you to pick your Sennenshi immediately. After all, the

Queen

has not said anything about it, right? If so, it means that she has accepted your willfulness to a certain degree."

Queen Salah. She is the lady who is holding the position as the mistress of

Tenketsu Palace

.

She owns shinryoku of the highest purity on the floating continent, and is constantly praying in order to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai, which freezes the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. Ymy and the rest of the Priestesses are her support, and can be considered to be her apprentices.

"Well then, I should get going - Ymy, you rest well too."

The Priestess gracefully stood up, gave a light smile, and left.

***

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty seventh story.

"............. I'm beat."

After changing into her pajamas, Ymy laid on the bed of her room.

"Ymy, your robe will be creased if you do not place it properly after taking it off."

The observant

machine crystal

on the table reminded her. She fits the role of someone to chat with well enough, but the only bad point about her is that she can be rather strict.

"...... The fairies will tidy things up for me when I sleep."

"It's not the fairies, but the attendants."

—Back then, it had always been Sheltis who had helped me to tidy things up.

Ymy was in charge of cooking, while he was in charge of cleaning things, as well as washing of clothes. Due to them constantly splitting up the work that way, Ymy became poor at washing and tidying, while Sheltis was not good at cooking.

"In any case, take a rest. You are left with two days and four hours, before you have to take the stage again."

"Mmm."

The praying of the absolute barrier - Hyouketsu Kyoukai, is done at the highest story in

Tenketsu Palace

. Hyouketsu Kyoukai is constantly being maintained, by the prayers done in rotation between the Queen and the Priestesses. There are three days left, before it is Ymy's turn to take over from the Queen.

"There is no need to worry. It had went on rather smoothly during my mock training as well. It is the job of a Priestess to ensure that her body gets sufficient rest, in order to tune it to be at its best condition."

She buried her face into the pillow. The pillow gave off a light fragrance, which induced a comfortable drowsiness.

"You are right, it is your job to keep your body in the perfect condition...... Oh right Ymy, you can continue lying down, but just turn over for a moment."

"Why?"

After turning her body over, she faced

machine crystal

.

"This...... this reading! Ymy, you are totally......"

"What's happening?"

"That's really scary...... According to my censors, your bust size has increased yet again? There is a saying, that a child will grow faster if she gets more sleep, but Ymy's body had developed at such a shocking pace in the short time span of just two years. I think you will kill most guys just by wearing your robe and puffing up your chest- Whoa!"

Upon being pressed on by the pillow flung at it,

machine crystal

became silent for an instant.

"...... Ymy, it really hurts."

"Stop picking up on Meimel's way of speaking."

After returning to the position of lying downwards, Ymy brought out a spare pillow.

"Meimel is a really outstanding senior Priestess. It always seems like she is teasing you, but that is her way of showing concern towards you."

"Half of it is definitely due to Meimel's personal interest."

"If Ymy says so, then so be it."

The

machine crystal

said with a teasing laugh.

"...... Let me ask you something, Ilis."

Ymy lifted her head from her pillow, and stared into emptiness.

"I...... am I a useless Priestess?"

"That is rather sudden."

"Because...... A Priestess is someone who puts her life on the line, in order to maintain the barrier, right? I do know that. However, the person whom I wants to protect the most, is no longer around...... what should I do then?"

It was all for Sheltis. She had became a Priestess for him.

However, she could not see him during the Priestess' inauguration ceremony, and

Tenketsu Palace

no longer have a place for him either. She had heard that he was forcefully brought to the living sector, but in actual fact she has heard nothing from him ever since.

"Since you are a Priestess, you will have to contribute to the floating continent. On the other hand, the young man who you want to protect the most, is at a place that is out of your reach. The feelings of a Priestess, and the feelings of a teenage girl, have came into conflict-"

The voice of

machine crystal

was firm, as though it was counselling her.

"......That is probably what you mean by 'being willful', right? That must be what is causing me to be unable to choose my Sennenshi, right?"

"Whether you are being willful or not, that is a rather subjective matter. But the reason for you to be unable to pick your Sennenshi, I think it must be due to the conflict that is occurring within you."

The conflict within me. There will come a day, when I have to make my decision-

"Regarding that question, Ymy will have to seek for the answer yourself."

"Mmm......." She hugged the pillow tightly in her chest, in replacement of her answer.

"Alright, we have chatted way too much. Time to switch off the lights."

The lights on the ceiling gradually disappeared. The sun-like brightness slowly dimmed into darkness - after a while, the lights of thousands of stars shone on the ceiling.

The projection of the night sky.

Machine crystal

had projected the night sky of Orbie Clar, based on its own memories. It was an endless sea of stars, glittering with the brilliance of gems. There was also the moon shining in clean bright whiteness, with its well-defined contours.

"Good night, Ymy. May you have a sweet dream."

"Good night, Ilis."

While being in a room that had replicated the night skies on its ceilings, Ymy lightly shut her eyes.

### 006. Chapter 3: The festival of the stars

Well, chapter 3's done.

I can understand how some people is finding Hyouketsu Kyoukai boring due to its slow pace, so I'll start alternating Onii-ai and Hyouketsu Kyoukai like I had said, beginning with the first two chapters of Onii-ai before resuming on Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

—The winds blowing into the streets was damp with morning dew.

The sun was still half-covered by the horizon. Red light was slowly seeping into the dark sky.

"............"

At the outdoor cafe, '

The Two Swans

'.

At the courtyard next to the back door, a teenage boy was standing in the cold winds of the morning.

It was at a green garden encircled by three walls. The boy was focusing at the tree in the middle - hanging on a branch of the tree, was a white piece of paper hanging by a piece of thin string.

"Oi— Sheltis. You have not talked since just now. Are you ready to start—?"

"Eyri-nee, Yuto is hungry."

"............"

"Ahh, me too. I am hungry as well. I've brought some chocolates. You want some?"

"Yay— I want it!"

".................."

"Alright Sheltis, stop staring at that piece of paper already, come and have a chocolate——"

"Ahhhhhhh! I am distracted yet again! Didn't I ask you not to talk to me?"

Sheltis yelled, and turned to look at the two girls behind him.

"What are you complaining about? It's the person who is distracted that is wrong. Isn't that right, Yuto?"

"Wrong——"

"......You two are the ones who wanted to see this."

Suppressing his urge to sigh, he took a firm grip at the silver-colored metal sticks. These are the alloy batons that is legal for use under the continental laws.

He reverse-gripped the two batons, with his two arms dropping downwards in a natural position.

The next instant.

With the winds and sounds purged off at the area he was standing on, Sheltis made his move.

With the girls watching, the young man's body became blurry at the instant.

And that happened just in an instant. The young man did not shift from the place he was standing on, and the batons were still hanging from his hands. However, beneath his feet, a small pit appeared on the ground where Sheltis' right foot came into contact with. The sands and grass rustled into a swirl.

It was as though something had past by at an extremely high speed.

"...... Huh?"

"There, saw it clearly?"

He turned back to see Eyriey, who was at a loss for words.

The rectangular white paper that was hanging by the string, had been cut into two pieces neatly. A gentle gust of wind blew the bottom half of it to the roots of the tree.

"Ohhh...... How should I put it?"

Eryiey was still focusing on the ends of the string, and the remaining piece of paper was hanging from.

Despite being cut off at the dead center, the remaining upper portion of the paper did not move an inch. There wasn't even the slightest vibration to be seen on the thin string.

—There wasn't even a trace of any wind. His single move had achieved absolute silence.

"This...... is that even possible, physically?"

"Eyriey, not there. Look here, here's the place where you should focus on."

He waved at the girl that was standing quite far away from him.

"Mmm?"

"Not the paper. Take a close look at the string."

He lightly flicked at the string that was supporting the paper beneath it.

...... *Zaa*

The string, with a thickness of only the size of a pencil tip, was split into two vertically downwards..... the split gradually extended downwards, and finally, even the remaining half of the paper was sliced into two as well.

"Eh...... How...... How is that possible? Is it magic?"

"Urm- I just slice at it like I normally do."

The baton at his left hand was drawn out like he was pulling out a blade from its sheath, and made the initial slice horizontally at the center.

At the same time, his right hand was reverse gripping the second baton. Swinging it upwards, he sliced the top half of the paper, together with the thin string...... Then again, as his actions were way too fast, Eyriey could not make sense of what exactly had happened.

"Mmm- I still don't get it. The baton has a round end, so how did you manage to slice up the paper and the string that beautifully? Sheltis, let me take a look at that."

Holding onto the two batons, Eyriey carefully inspected their ends.

Due to it being a weapon for self-defense, the baton was designed with an arced tip. The baton itself was made of light-weight alloy, and thus do not have much weight by itself. One will probably end up mashing the paper if they use it to slice paper.

"I did it by scrapping past it. The tip of the baton was used to brush past the surface of the paper."

"...... Ugh, if I had known earlier, I would have recorded it down."

Eyriey puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms in dissatisfaction. Ignoring her reaction, Sheltis once again looked at the string that was tied to the tree branch.

"But Eyriey, to a guard from

Tenketsu Palace

, this is not a big deal."

Only after one has survived through the hellish training and acquired extraordinary skills, can he consider himself to be on the starting line. If not, he will not be able to fight against Yuugenshu.

"You are joking, right? To me, that is already pretty sick...... That is just something minor?"

"That's right. Especially for the guards that are chosen to be Sennenshi, their skills are even more shocking. If it was Leon, he could have sliced it with his great sword, and not miss a single time, even with his eyes closed."

...... Perhaps, that was what one calls a 'window period'.

Even after he has moved to the living sector, Sheltis has never forgotten about his own personal training. However, at the instance where he was swinging the batons, he could clearly feel that his body has became dull, and he had nearly forgotten the feeling of slicing through air. It is natural for his body not to be in its best condition since he was far away from the battles, but he still felt worried-

"......Eh?"

Sheltis blinked, and looked at the baton in Eyriey's hands.

—Then again, why do I have such a sense of crisis?

The current him is just an ordinary person who is living in the living sector. He has no need to enter the battlefield, nor does he need to train on his swords play. So even if his techniques were to deteriorate, there should be no need for him to be worried. However, after moving into the living sector, he has been using the batons as swords to train, before he had even realized it. He was always worried about his skills deteriorating......

"Oh right, Sheltis."

"Mmm?"

He turned back momentarily upon hearing Eyriey's voice.

"Speaking of which, Sheltis used to wield swords back at

Tenketsu Palace

, right?"

"Yeah, but why?"

She immediately revealed an expression of incomprehension when she heard that.

"That's because Sheltis looks rather skinny, and you don't seem like you have much strength. It is hard for me to imagine you holding onto a great sword and swinging it about."

"...... You have hit the place where it hurts."

"So then? What is it in reality?"

"A great sword is way too heavy, so I can only use dual swords instead. Similar to the batons that I am using, except that it is thinner and lighter. Generally, I hold one sword normally, and another by reverse grip. It depends on my mood."

Suddenly, there was a tug at the edge of his short jacket. He turned back to take a glance, and saw Yuto looking at him in anticipation.

"...... Do you want a ride, or do you want me to piggy-back you?"

"A ride!"

"Alright. Well then, does Eyriey finally believe in me now?"

After placing Yuto on his shoulders, he directed the question to Eyriey.

"After seeing those things just now...... I'll believe you for now that you know a Priestess from

Tenketsu Palace

. However, to be honest, there are still some things which I am still half in doubt."

"Things about me?"

Eyriey shook her head quickly.

"Not about Sheltis, but the mateki that exist within you. That is the only possible explanation for you being able to fight head on against Yuugenshu with your bare fists, and coming out unscathed. But......"

"Initially,

Tenketsu Palace

was dumbfounded by that as well. They had thought that it is something that is not possible."

It has been three years since he had fallen into

Garden of Corrupted Song

, while it was two years since he had returned to the floating continent. He has nearly no memories of the period of time where he was in that cursed world - obviously, one whole year had passed before he managed to return back.

How exactly did mateki get into his body during that time? Until now, there has been no answer to that question.

"About the mateki, will you be conscious of its existence in normal times?"

"Totally not."

This time, it was Sheltis who shook his head. The body which is infected with mateki, is no different from his normal one. There were no anomalies found under the rigor checks by

Tenketsu Palace

as well.

"I guess - since it is unlike those of Yuugenshu, which gives off purple mist. Which means to say, even though you are the carrier of mateki, but under normal circumstances, it will be hidden in your body."

"Ah, that is not quite right. It is kind of like static electricity."

"What do you mean?"

"Though it is not in the form of mist that can be seen by the naked eyes, the mateki in my body will still radiate outwards. Due to that, once I come into contact with a Priestess giving off shinryoku, there will be a repulsive reaction."

"Wai......Wait! Which means to say, that we will be infected by mateki once we come into contact with you?"

"That can't be considered as coming into direct contact with mateki, I think?"

"Oh, sorry, but I have an urgent matter all of the sudden - Yuto, run away quickly! We ordinary mortals will die once we come into contact with mateki!"

"...... If that is really the case, I would not have been able to live in the living sector."

He walked to the trunk of the tree, while carrying Yuto on his shoulders.

He caught a leaf that was slowly falling down in mid air. It should have rapidly decayed upon coming into contact with Yuugenshu's mateki, but despite touching Sheltis, its emerald green color still remained.

"Ohh! Then again, why is Sheltis' mateki safe?"

"I have no idea. Why is that so?"

Once again, he looked at the leaf in his hand. There was still no change to it.

"Were there any experiments conducted on your mateki, back when you were still in

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"Yes. Like shutting me in a huge machine and exposing me to huge doses of shinryoku, and locking me in a room and monitoring me via close-circuits television for a few days straight....... I was no different from a lab rat."

However, even with the countless tests, they still could not unlock the secrets to the mateki in his body.

"In the end, they could only come up with two conclusions. One is that my mateki will not bring about a negative effect even if I come into normal people like Eyriey. The other, is when the person in question possesses overwhelming amount of shinryoku, like the Priestesses or the Queen, a repulsion will occur."

"Mmm, so that is why you can't stay at

Tenketsu Palace

, but you can live in the living sector. I guess it is not all rain and no shine."

"However, I think I may be still under surveillance. I've mentioned it yesterday as well, when I was exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

, I've briefly heard the term 'surveillance' being mentioned."

"Whoa....... can it be that our conversation is being tapped as well?"

"Hard to say. At the very least, it does not feel like we are currently under surveillance. Moreover, this may be a farce by them, in order to keep me in check."

He had told Eyriey briefly about his situation the previous night. As she had personally witnessed him being unscathed after coming into direct contact with mateki, rather than to stay quiet and let Eyriey make wild guesses, he had decided it is easier if he was to take the initiative and come clean with her.

"A question. You have never once seen the Priestess-sama after that?"

"You are referring to Ymy?"

"Mmm. Since two years ago after you were exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

, you two has not even met each other once? How about exchanging letters?"

"Just like I had said yesterday, they has released an order later, that no one from

Tenketsu Palace

is to come into contact me in anyway...... Then again, how surprising, for Eyriey to be using a term that is full of respect, like 'Priestess-sama'."

In the two years where he has worked with Eyriey together at 'The Two Swans ', he had hardly seen Eyriey using honorifics to anyone.

"Eh - that is because they have protected the floating continent. It is due to their hard work, that I am able to focus on my research in machines. That is something that I can't be forgetting."

"You better not say these things while you are talking to her. Or else she will probably find a hole to bury into or something."

If the actual person was around, her face would probably be flushed red. But while she was feeling embarrassed, she would probably feel really happy from the bottom of her heart as well.

"Oh right. The Priestess-sama whose name is Ymy, she is older than me by a year right? What sort of person is she?"

Eyriey asked excitedly. Sheltis stared at the sky for quite a while after being asked that.

"What sort of person...... she's just a really ordinary girl. Though she makes a mess at cleaning and tidying."

"Eh— I am really curious about this. Is Sheltis really just in a childhood-friends relationship with that Priestess-sama? Or do you two actually share a much closer relationship than that?"

"Ah, it's time for work."

"Wait! Stop trying to end the topic!"

With his shirt being tugged by Eyriey, Sheltis turned around rather unwillingly.

"Nothing that you are expecting. We are just your normal childhood friends. Moreover, I am currently just your average commoner, while she is a Priestess. Regardless of the place we live in or our standing, we are worlds apart from each other."

...... I must convince myself with that.

Two years ago, Ymy was still one of the many apprentice-Priestesses, but now she is one of the Priestess that maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai. She has turned into one of the people who is absolutely essential to the floating continent. On the other hand, he himself is just an ordinary person living in living sector, who will not be granted the permission to see her even if he wanted to.

"For me...... as long as Ymy stays safe and sound, I am happy."

"But- that Priestess-sama named Ymy, she has not assign her own Sennenshi yet, right? Doesn't that mean that she is waiting for someone?"

Eyriey pressed on. Her intentions were good, but Sheltis had no option other than to smile bitterly.

"No. I force myself not to think about things like this. I'll waste a day if I think too much about such things."

Perhaps it was purely due to the fact that there is no suitable candidates around. Either way, as someone who can only live in the living sector, things like these are just way out of my reach.

"...... Whatever. Since this is what Sheltis has decided, then I'll not talk too much about it."

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, then raised both of her arms up high suddenly in the next instant.

"Alright! Well, in order to cheer Sheltis up, let us make use of the Stars Festival to enjoy ourselves as much as we can! We'll eat and play a lot!"

"...... Eh?"

"Ah! But it seems like the person in question is not too thrilled about it."

"My pay for the month is dried up, after buying that top quality meat."

In actual fact, he had planned to survive on water alone, until the day his next paycheck arrives.

"Don't worry, I've checked. One can get free coupons just by helping out in decorating the streets. With that, we can eat and play as much as we like on the very day!"

"Oh- So there is such a thing...... Wait, who will be in charge of getting those coupons?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

Eyriey smiled.

"I'll think of ways to get my own coupons, so you shall be in charge of getting yours and Yuto's, alright?"

***

The streets next to the plaza were filled with flags, that had pictures of moons and stars drawn onto them.

One could see countless colorful balloons floating in the sky. The adults were setting up the stalls, while the children were picking up trash on the streets.

"It seems like everyone is busy with the preparations for the Stars Festival."

On the roof of the outdoor cafe, '

The Two Swans

'-

Sheltis looked downwards at the street, while grabbing onto a bundle of ropes and flags used for decorative purposes.

The streets are already bustling during the normal days. Right now, the temporary stage has already been set up in the plaza for the festival's use, while arching gates has been constructed along the streets.

"Hadn't I said so already? This is a once in a year festival."

Eyriey was at the roof of '

The Two Swans

' as well. She was inflating up the balloons with a pump. They will be released into the air during the festival.

"I happened to be working last year, so this may be my very first time attending the Stars Festival."

"Eh? What about the times when you were at

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"I had been busy, since I was tasked to guard the place. Since-"

Sheltis stopped his work momentarily, and pointed to the direction of the white tower.

"There is not much chance for the Queen to leave the tower."

Stars Festival - the festival with the longest history on the floating continent. It is to be held the day after tomorrow, which coincides with the time when the Queen hands over control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai to the Priestesses.

"Oh right, has Sheltis ever seen Queen-sama before?"

"I've just talked to her once. During the time when I was taking the test to be a cadre-guard."

"How is she?"

"Hard to describe. She is covered in a shawl from head to toe, even her face...... However, she is a really amazing person. One of the reason that Ymy wants to be a Priestess, is because she aspires to be someone like her."

Queen Salah holds the highest position in

Tenketsu Palace

, and is deemed as the one possessing the strongest shinryoku in the whole of the floating continent. The Priestesses that aids her do hold high positions as well, but the Queen is at a level above them all.

For the Priestesses, the task of maintaining the absolute barrier - Hyouketsu Kyoukai, is just something over a three days period. However, the Queen maintains it for a cubic amount of days, which is twenty-seven days.

"If I remember right, she is Salah-sama, right? There are rumors that she is the most impressive person ever in history."

"Mmm."

The Queen holds Hyouketsu Kyoukai for twenty-seven days, while the Priestesses take over for three days. In Orbie Clar, thirty days equate to a month, while twelve months makes a year.

In the twenty-seven days, the Queen will have to pray continuously, without sleep or rest. The only time where she is relieved of all that, is during the three days where the Priestesses take over. In order to show their gratitude and respect for the Queen, the Stars Festival, which is held once per year, will take place during the three days resting period.

"Come to think of it, why am I the only one who is working, since some time ago?"

Sheltis' job was to decorate the houses in the area. He had been leaping between the roofs of the various buildings to put on the decorations, which was rather tiring.

"My job is already done. Here, look, there are no more balloons in the box."

...... Really.

One can get free coupons for helping out with the festival. Sheltis was originally thinking of how to obtain coupons for both Yuto and himself, and in the end he had no choice but to do the job load for two person.

"Well, with that, I am done...... Alright, I've successfully cleared the job for today."

"It's been hard on you. Let us head back down then. The view here is nice, but the winds are slightly too strong."

Eyriey was walking towards the ladder with the pump in her hand, when Sheltis called out.

"Ah, hold on a second. I remember Eyriey has a computer, right?"

"Mmm, and?"

"There is something that I hope you can help out with."

Upon hearing that, she gave a sinister smile.

"Oh-? Are you thinking of something that is up to no good?"

"How do you know?"

"Simple. Because Sheltis will normally not beat around the bush."

"Mmm, you are right- Ah...... Wait."

Just when he was about to nod his head, Sheltis stopped moving subconsciously.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I am thinking...... never mind, forget it."

"What the- I am even more curious now, since you have said things like that. Stop thinking too much and just shoot. I will be the one to decide if I can do it or not."

Eyriey said angrily.

"Mmm...... Well, here I go."

Despite having no one else on the roof, Sheltis still lowered his voice.

"—Are you able to hack into the central computers of

Tenketsu Palace

?"

At that instance, the expressions on Eyriey's face had disappeared.

She crossed her arms and looked into the distance, while muttering to herself. What she was muttering were high-leveled equations and proofs.

That is a habit of the girl. Whenever she is thinking of something, she will flood her brain with mathematical equations, in order to pressure her mind.

"I'll say this first. This is an illegal act, no matter how you see it."

Having finished reciting the mathematical formulas, Eyriey reverted back to her normal expression.

"Because I need some data."

"Come again?"

"I need the records of the appearances of Yuugenshu that

Tenketsu Palace

is holding. The list that details when and where Yuugenshu are sighted at. If possible, please compile the monthly reports into a year, and I need the records for at least ten years."

"Huh, that simple?"

"...... Eh?"

Upon hearing how simple Eyriey made it sound to be, Sheltis could not help but to doubt his own ears.

"Mmm? What's wrong with you?"

"No...... is it really okay? I'll make it clear, those data are of second-class security."

"Mmm, in any case, I'll try to help you find it."

...... Does she really understand what I am asking for?

To hack into the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

. Even as someone who is not well versed in the areas of information technology, he could easily imagine how difficult the task will be.

"Uhhhh...... For you to agree that easily, it just makes me feel uneasy...... Is Eyriey just an ordinary girl? Can it be that you are actually some sort of spy for some secret agency?"

"Nope. Even though I have not tried it before, I don't think there will be much of a problem. Come to think of it, this is actually quite interesting."

What is interesting?

Before he managed to come up with an answer, the teenage girl shrugged her shoulders and gave a wry smile.

"Sheltis has actually wanted to obtain information on Yuugenshu from the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

. That's no different from the guards from

Tenketsu Palace

."

"...... Eh? Is that so?"

"You are not even aware of it yourself?"

Eyriey's expressions became complex.

"Sheltis, you had said it to me before: 'If I am to be involved with things related to

Tenketsu Palace

, I'll be causing trouble for Ymy, who is a Priestess. As such, I will have to live on in the living sector as an ordinary person'. Right?"

"Mmm...... To think I had already experienced it myself two years ago."

For someone who is a carrier of mateki, his existence is on the opposite ends with Ymy, who is a Priestess. For him, the only thing he could do now is to care about Ymy from a place far away.

"However, aren't you getting involved with

Tenketsu Palace

's matters, by wanting to illegally hack into their main computers? Most people will not be doing that. The reason for your hesitation is due to that, right?"

"...... Don't go about guessing randomly. I am just concerned about the information on Yuugenshu, due to us having encountered them recently."

"Well, I am just asking casually. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

A secure yet lonely expression. The two conflicting emotions were flickering between Eyriey's eyes.

"It's enjoyable to be with Sheltis - that is good enough for me. I think Yuto thinks the same as well. However, you really do not wish to return back to

Tenketsu Palace

? In actual fact, you must have been worried about Priestess-sama, right?"

"...... That's quite a difficult question to answer."

He did not know if he was smiling and crying at the same time, when he said that.

When being asked if he is worried about Ymy, the answer is a definite yes. That was because, he had yearned to become her Sennenshi more than anyone else. However, two years ago, he had experienced it personally, and realized that it is a wish that can no longer come true.

"Even without me around...... Ymy will still be a competent Priestess."

"Forget it. Since you have put it that way, I will feel sorry if I am to retort any further."

"In...... In any case, I'll leave the matter about the data in your hands."

"Alright. However, don't you think you will need to prepare some sort of reward?"

Eyriey's sight went downwards - to the signboard of '

The

Two Swans

'.

"I am originally in charge of buying the ingredients needed for tomorrow. As you know, I am a night owl, so it will be tough for me to wake up early in the morning."

{2}

Outdoor cafe '

The Two Swans

'.

As the front door was not opened, Sheltis entered into the kitchen via the back door.

"I'm back. Good morning."

"Welcome back, Sheltis. Morning."

Chef turned away from the pot to look at Sheltis.

"I have helped Eyriey to purchase the ingredients. Not sure if I get everything right."

He placed the towering ingredients that he was hugging in his chest down onto the table.

"Let me see. Peransa-grass, Garagara-fish, petrified-mushrooms...... Perfect, everything's there."

After arranging the strange ingredients in a straight line, Chef clasped her hands in satisfaction.

"A new combination again?"

"You mean new dishes. Interrogation-tortured Garagara-fish, and Stubborn Salad with Peransa-grass and petrified-mushrooms."

Despite the unappetizing names, Sheltis could not understand why they are always popular with the customers.

"Chef, such things are usually not used as ingredients right...... nearly all of them are poisonous."

"Ara, Sheltis does have quite a bit of knowledge. However, as long as they are cooked properly, they will be very delicious........................ and they are cheap too."

"That last line is probably what matters to you the most!"

"Fufu, that's a secret."

"I understand. I heard nothing. I shall go back to sleep."

He left the kitchen and walked towards the staff's corridor. Since the market opens in the wee hours, plus the fact that he had been working on the night shift, he had barely gotten any sleep.

"Ah, Sheltis, Eyriey's been looking for you. She asked you to stop by her room for a while when you return."

Chef's voice suddenly came from the kitchen at his back.

"Eyriey's looking for me?"

The first thing that came to his mind was the thing he talked about yesterday.

"So in the end, it is still difficult huh......"

Not only is it difficult to hack into the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

, there is the danger of being arrested if they discover any traces left behind. Though Eyriey agreed readily, it would not be strange for her to change her mind within the night.

"Eyriey, can I enter?"

"Go ahead-"

From the other side of the door, came the relaxed voice of Eyriey.

"Well then, I'll be entering...... Whoa! What...... What's this?"

At the instant he opened the door, stacks of papers came crashing down. He barely managed to maintain the balance of the stacks of papers that were about to fall on his head, by pressing them down with his hands.

Before his eyes was a stunning scene.

There were probably hundreds...... no, thousands of printed papers. They were stacked together pieces by pieces, and the tower of papers had even exceeded the heights of adults. Multiple towers were clustered together in several groups. The originally huge computer and its cables took up a huge portion of the room, and thus there was no longer any room for one to stand on.

"Be careful. I've printed these out in sequence."

Behind the forest of the paper towers, was Eyriey sitting on a chair with her back facing him. She was looking at the screen and tapping on the keyboard with amazing speed.

"...... What's with this?"

"I am already done with the stuff that Sheltis had requested me to do yesterday. Didn't you want the data from

Tenketsu Palace

?"

She continued on typing without turning her head backwards.

"............"

"What?"

"No, nothing."

—Seems like I have worried too much.

Sheltis gave a wry smile at the girl who was concentrating on the screen.

"Well, are you really ready with hacking into their system? That's great. I do hope it will be done as soon as possible too."

"Mmm, no no."

"No?"

"What I meant is, I have already finished hacking. These printed papers are the data. They are printed on both sides, and there are a total of thirty-nine thousand six hundred and three pieces."

"Ugh, which means to say......"

After being stunned for a full ten seconds, Sheltis finally shouted,

"It can't be?"

"What can't be?"

"No...... It just feels impossible for you to complete it, since I've only requested you to do it yesterday. Or should I say, that I myself is half in doubt...... How did you hack into their system?"

There are no direct connection between the computers in the living sector and the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>. To hack in, one will first have to tap into

Tenketsu Palace

's reception terminals, before cracking into the control tower's terminals, main system, followed by

Tenketsu Palace

's integrated system.

However, all of them are independent systems. Not to mention, a firewall named 'Sanctuary Class' exists after the stages of the main system.

"Mmm- in principle, I took it heads on. Actually, up till the main system, you have that thing to give thanks to."

She pointed to the computer next to the screen.

"First, I picked a pay-to-use terminal at the cafe in the living sector, and tweaked it so that I can control it remotely. Next, I launched a series of intensive assaults with its amazing processing speed. While the initial system was overheating due to intercepting my attacks, I slipped a pre-written trojan into their systems.

Tenketsu Palace

's integrated system and their main computers had something called

'Daibo Shinsuu'

which is rather tough to crack, but I've managed to crack it after a series of tough battles. That's how it is." [TLNote: the

'Daibo Shinsuu'

is actually 大母真数, but it does not really make sense to me, so I've just slipped in its pronunciation.]

Eyriey finally turned herself to face Sheltis, by giving a push to the rotating chair, which gave off a weird sound.

"I've downloaded the information straight after, and sent them over to four auxiliary-processors. However, I do not know when they will do a remote edit or delete. As such, I've chose to print them out physically, and they are the stuff that Sheltis sees before you."

"...... I'll try my best to look through everything."

"Well, that's fine with me, but there are just too many unnecessary information sandwiched in between. Thus, what I am doing now is-"

She lifted her finger, and touched the button on the screen.

At the same time, a printer by the side began to work. After a series of mechanical sounds, it threw out a single piece of paper.

"Take this. You have to thank me properly for it."

The craftily smiling girl was pinching on the printed paper.

"I had converted all the raw information into data, then sent them for processing, before detailing them onto the map of Orbie Clar. Simply put, all the information in these piles of paper have been condensed into that single sheet of paper."

"Eyriey...... For the first time ever, I think you are absolutely amazing!"

Sheltis blinked his eyes, and stared blankly at the piece of paper that he had received.

"The robots that you have made has always went out of control; the homemade rocket launcher that you used to kill cockroaches had wrecked half of the cafe; the automatic dishwasher which you repaired had broken all the plates due to the immense water pressure, and so on...... I have originally thought that you are just a troublesome girl who is good at inventing stuff that will ultimately fail...... Eyriey, how much you have grown!"

"Hmph, now you are finally looking at me in a different light huh?"

Eyriey said proudly with her arms crossed, while still sitting on the chair.

"That's right, human beings are a species that is constantly evolving. I have already left the failures and sufferings of the past, and is moving into the mechanized future at maximum speed-"

At the back of the girl who was speaking endlessly-

A *beep* sound rang.

"Maximum speed...... Eh......?"

The screens turned pitch black for an instant. White text then began to pour down from the top of the screen. That continued on for tens of seconds, before another *beep* followed. This time, the screen turned totally white.

"Format complete."

"Ah...... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—! The...... The data which took me great pain to obtain, they are all gone!"

The teenage girl cried out loud in front of the screen.

"...... Fu...... Fufu...... If one does not key in a certain command within a specific time-frame, the data will be formatted along with the computer huh? I really did not think that such a sinister trap will be implemented on their secret data...... I've been had."

"That's more like the Eyriey who I know. I feel slightly more relieved now."

"What do you mean by that...... Forget it, since it has already happened. Thankfully, I had everything printed before they were wiped away. Right, Sheltis, do you find anything after looking through the data?"

"Uhhh- I've just glanced through it, without taking a close look at it."

Printed on the paper, were the places of appearances of Yuugenshu. The time and frequency of appearance were differentiated by different colors and symbols. Overlapping those things, were the defense lines of

Tenketsu Palace

at the respective time, indicated by various colors as well. After putting all the information together with the map of Orbie Clar-

"Sheltis? Why did you stop speaking all of the sudden?"

"...... It does not feels right...... or rather, it seems too unnatural."

He passed the paper to Eyriey, and looked into the ceiling.

"The fact that

Tenketsu Palace

's defenses are not perfect, has came under criticism multiple times in the past. That's because it is possible for Yuugenshu to break through the areas where the defenses are weak."

"Mhmm, everyone knows that."

"However, the Yuugenshu that bypassed the defense lines did not invade the living sector. Why is that so?"

The paper which Eyriey was holding.

It had indicated with a line, that the recent Yuugenshu breaches have all occurred close to the outskirts of the living sector. That was the first thing that Sheltis had noticed.

"Is that so? Think about it, there are barriers erected by a Priestess-sama along the living sector as well, right? By a person named Meimel, who specializes in barrier spells."

"Even so, it is not perfect. Back when I was at

Tenketsu Palace

, I had battled with Yuugenshu that had infiltrated into the living sector. But according to the compiled recent data done by Eyriey, the Yuugenshu had actually got close to the living sector, and yet most of them just stuck to their positions and stopped advancing further in."

Could it be that they were afraid of Priestess Meimel's barriers?

No, her barriers are actually just there to act as a basic defense. In order to cover a huge land area, the force of the barriers cannot be maintained at a high output. Rather than preventing the invasions of the Yuugenshu, it is there to slow down their movements.

If so, why did the Yuugenshu not breaking past the barrier and assaulting the living sector, despite such a long time?

"I say, Sheltis is behaving strangely."

Eyriey cast her sight on Sheltis.

"Mmm?"

"This is the first time in two years since I have lived with you, that you have asked me to steal some data, no? Could it be that there is something that caused you to be suspicious about the movements of Yuugenshu?"

A question that is hard to answer. To put it bluntly, it was a gut feeling. However, if she wants to go into details-

"It is probably the thing that happened during the barbecue."

"When we had met the Yuugenshu?"

"Eyriey had said something like, 'why did the Yuugenshu appear near the city', right?"

"Yuugenshu? It can't be...... Why does it appear at a place so close to the city!"

That will be the first thing that most people from the living sector will think of, including Eyriey. On the other hand, if it was a guard from

Tenketsu Palace

, he would have been relieved that the Yuugenshu has been detected before it infiltrated into the living sector.

"At that time, a question appeared in my mind. Since it had already reached the nature park next to the Third Residential Sector, why didn't the Yuugenshu follow up by attacking the humans in the living sector?"

"Wait, hold on. Wasn't we attacked by it?"

"That's what I initially thought. However, after thinking about it for the whole night, my take on it has changed. Somehow, it just feels like that Yuugenshu had no intention of attacking us."

"—Eh?"

Prior to the Yuugenshu's attack, Sheltis had seen the rotting tree among the forest of trees. They were attacked only after the Yuugenshu had left forest of trees.

"The Yuugenshu had been hiding among the trees. We were actually the ones who entered there first. In other words, we had probably provoked the Yuugenshu."

"............ And then? What are you trying to say?"

"The Yuugenshu at that time had 'something else to do', that was more important than attacking humans. Due to us closing in on it and provoking it, as a result, it attacked us. That's what I think."

Well then, the Yuugenshu that should be attacking humans, what exactly was it doing back then?

That thing is—

"Just as shown by the data, it had been loitering near the living sector, with its intentions unclear?"

"Sadly, up till now, all these are just my conjectures."

"From the way you put it...... it is as though you have a clear idea on what the Yuugenshu are up to."

"Not until that stage. It's just, based on the analysis of the data - the Yuugenshu that we saw at the nature park, as well as the recent Yuugenshu that appeared, their reason for breaking past Hyouketsu Kyoukai and into the floating continent, is not to attack humans."

"Then why did they do it?"

"It is so that they can observe the human world."

"To be more precise, they are observing the forces of human that are capable of repelling the Yuugenshu - the Queen, Priestesses, and Sennenshi. They are observing the situation and structure of

Tenketsu Palace

. If it is me, I'll be thinking along that line."

At that instant, the room became deadly quiet.

The only sounds to be heard was the exhaust from the computer. The girl slowly lifted her head.

"............ If that is really the case, then it is quite scary."

"That's normal. Any ordinary person will feel that way."

If his guess was real, then those mysterious beasts may be more crafty than what humans have imagined. They had no longer chose to enter by force, but instead, they picked a more reliable method of observing the floating continents.

However, the bad thing about his conjecture, was that there was not enough solid proof to substantiate.

"Mmm, if only Ilis is around, we will have someone whom we can discuss this with."

"Ilis?"

"It was something bestowed to me by the Queen, when I had risen into the cadre level of the guards - she had said, 'I shall entrust this to you'. It was an observation unit, a machine crystal by the name of Ilis."

Observation unit - artificial intelligence that are tasked with the job observing the mateki of Yuugenshu, and relaying their positions to its holder. Due to the huge mateki-observation machines that exist within

Tenketsu Palace

, there are not much observation units for individual use. Ilis was something that the Queen had bestowed to Sheltis personally.

"Are things like that rare?"

"Observation units by themselves are not rare, but Ilis is different. Not only is her specs high, but she can freely connect to any other electrical devices as well. Though she is an artificial intelligence, but her personality is closer to that of a human's."

Even then, Sheltis had only owned Ilis for a short time-span of a few months. On the day he was exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

due to him falling into

Garden of Corrupted Song

, all the things he owned, including his dual swords, were confiscated. He has absolutely no idea who the current holder of Ilis is as well.

—Since Ilis is not around, how shall I prove the validity of my conjecture?

"Eyriey, can you hack into the computers of

Tenketsu Palace

for another time?"

"The time-span between the attacks is too short. That is way too dangerous. This time round, we may be tracked down by them."

Eyriey put her arms in a symbol of 'X', to show that she was against the idea.

"This time, you just need to bypass the initial firewall. Please."

"Mmm...... Ahhh, you are hopeless. With that, I shall not owe you anything anymore."

"Owe?"

With that, the teenage girl in her overalls turned her head away rather embarrassingly.

"Didn't you save me and Yuto at the nature park?"

"That incident? It's nothing big-"

"You think that is something normal? Then you can't be anymore wrong."

With the opposite party being a step quicker in her retort, Sheltis had no choice but to close his mouth.

"It is something different if we are your relatives...... However, against such a disgusting Yuugenshu, how many people will actually put on their courage to save someone else? Especially when things were going so badly."

"...... Is that so?"

He entered into

Tenketsu Palace

, with a determination to become a Sennenshi to protect Ymy. Till now, his beliefs has never wavered.

—It is his mission to fight against Yuugenshu.

"If you think that is to be expected, then I think you must have still treated yourself as someone from

Tenketsu Palace

."

A smile appeared on Eyriey's face, though it was not clear if it was her smiling wryly, or her smiling out of sympathy at Sheltis.

"I...... am not hanging onto the past......"

"Forget it, since it does not really matter. In any case, let us get to work."

The computer in front of her lit up. The lights then extended into the terminals by both sides. Multiple screens in the room began to operate. For a while, the room was filled with the unsynchronized sounds of the machines.

"Alright - time to prepare to hack into the monitoring systems of

Tenketsu Palace

. Round two, here we go."

Like a child who was challenged to solve the puzzles, the teenage girl stared at the screen with intense concentration, and a smile appeared on her face.

{3}

A transparent sky-blue sphere.

In the dark blue world, the fringes were gradually dyed red in the setting sunset.

"Yet another day that is about to end......"

This is one of the rooms in Orbie Clar that is closest to the sky. Ymy was sitting next to the window in her personal room, and glided her fingers past the glass.

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty seventh story.

A height that is over one thousand and nine hundred meters tall, penetrating past the clouds and into the sky - it is a place that not even birds can reach with their pair of wings.

"There is less than twelve hours to go before the Stars Festival starts. The living sector should probably be bustling by now."

Machine crystal

, which should originally be in energy-saving mode, spoke.

"Yeah......"

The Queen who has been maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai for twenty seven days is fast approaching her rest time, and Stars Festival is about to start as well. In another words, it is about time to hand over the control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai to Ymy and the other Priestesses.

There is no room for failure for the ceremony. Should Hyouketsu Kyoukai ever collapse, the whole Orbie Clar will fall under merciless assault by the Yuugenshu of

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

"Don't worry, there will be no problems if you follow the instructions of Meimel. Her abilities in the area regarding barrier-type shinryoku spells are unquestionable."

"I have never once doubted her, you know."

Meimel is the most experienced in terms of barrier spells, while Syun-rei is the youngest and most talented Priestess.

Personally, Ymy was not too worried about the arts of Hyouketsu Kyoukai either. She had worked hard on her way to become a Priestess, and after becoming one, she has constantly studied on it.

"But please be careful. I have a bad premonition."

"Premonition?"

For a machine, the term 'prediction' should suit it better. However, Ilis always prefers to talk in a human-like manner.

"The Yuugenshu seems to be at unrest. It looks like they might be up to something bad."

—Eh?

Ymy was confused. The Yuugenshu that attacks the floating continent has always been a source of danger. As such, it seemed strange for Ilis to use the term 'unrest'.

"Before I explain. Ymy, do you know that someone had illegally hacked into

Tenketsu Palace

's computers this morning?"

"Nope, I've only come to heard of it now."

"I guess, since I had helped the opposite party as well. There should have been no one who has realized it."

"I see, if so, then it is really............ Eh?"

She hurriedly walked towards the table, and roughly grabbed

machine crystal

.

"Ilis! What's the meaning of that?"

"Simply put, I was quite curious about the intentions of the hacker. Judging from the methods of hacking, it was obvious that the person is someone who possess machines with high specs, and also well versed in the relevant knowledge as well. He does not seem like those newbies who are just hacking for the sake of having fun. Thus, I really wanted to know what information of

Tenketsu Palace

is that person interested in."

"Which means to say...... you gave that person free reign in his actions?"

"I was the one who had retrieved the records, so you are right to say that. However, part of the reason for me doing so is due to my respect for the hacker.

The main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

are protected by encryption program named

'Daibo Shinsuu'

. It looked as though the hacker was spending quite some time there, thus I helped by secretly overwriting his trojan with the decodes. On the side note, it is already an impressive feat for that person to have hacked till that stage."

Ilis said tirelessly. However, for a machine dummy like Ymy, it was quite commendable for her to be able to understand about roughly half the contents. The only conclusion that she could make is—

"This...... so, it means that Ilis is really good as well......?"

"It is my honor to receive your praise. Alright, next is the important part. Having received my help unknowingly, do you know what was the hacker aiming for?"

...... How should I know?

She could barely make out the contents, much less come up with an answer.

"Don't be shocked. It concerns the female employees of

Tenketsu Palace

- it's their three sizes and underwear-"

"Ilis? I am actually listening to you very seriously, you know?"

Her grip on

machine crystal

tightened.

"Ymy, it hurts it hurts...... the joke shall end here...... ahem, actually, it is the data on the appearances of Yuugenshu."

"Could it be someone from

Tenketsu Palace

? Typical people should not be interested in things like these."

"I thought so too back then. But not long ago, an interesting message has popped up on the public terminal systems of

Tenketsu Palace

, and it was sent anonymously. The hacking had occurred at about over ten hours ago, and it read-"

"Warning - there is abnormalities in the behaviors of the Yuugenshu."

"...... It happened at only more than ten hours ago, meaning that not even a day has passed yet. Is it really something that has happened not long ago?"

Considering that Ilis was explaining in such detail, could it be-

"That's right. There is a very high possibility that the hacker back in the early morning is the same person as the anonymous sender of the mail."

It was hard to imagine it as a normal staff from

Tenketsu Palace

. Well then, could it be the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

? No, rather than doing all that, it would be easier to just report it to Sennenshi Leon or Run - there was absolutely no need to post it anonymously on the public terminals...... If so, who could it be?

"Then it is someone from the living sector?"

"I think so too. He is definitely not your ordinary person though. Since he had made a warning about the abnormalities in the behaviours of Yuugenshu, he must be someone who is well versed about Yuugenshu."

A person from the living sector.

And well versed in Yuugenshu—?

"..... Oh. Speaking of which, is there some truth in the warning?"

Ymy asked casually. The

machine crystal

on the table went silent.

"Looking at the way things are now...... Upon being reminded by him, it does seems like there is room for investigation."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems like the Yuugenshu are observing the Queen and Priestesses who are maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai - the recent sightings of Yuugenshu are spread evenly around

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

> in a circle. And they are all within a fixed area."

"Observing us......?"

Which means to say, the Yuugenshu were closely monitoring the human's world.

"Then again, that is a phenomenon that has just happened recently. If we are to compare it against tens, even hundreds of years worth of data, then we can only explain it by calling it a coincidence. With regards to the warning,

Tenketsu Palace

will most probably just continue to monitor on things, and nothing more. As the warning has clashed with the ceremony of the Queen handing over the barrier to the Priestesses, there is really no manpower that they can spare to look into this."

The validity of the warning was unknown. Just like what Ilis had said, if one is to extend it to tens, hundreds of years, then there might be similar incidents in the past. That's right, the people of

Tenketsu Palace

must have thought so. Even for Meimel, as someone who has been a Priestess for quite a while, she may probably just consider it as paranoia.

However...... if the person is the childhood friend who she knew-

"If it is Sheltis...... then what will he say?"

"Not that, surely? Don't you already know the answer?"

"I'll investigate. Ymy, wait here for my return."

He will definitely say that.

...... Why did things turned out to be like this?

If that young man...... if he is the Sennenshi protecting her, then even if she was to encounter an inexplicable happening like this, she would definitely not feel uneasy about it.

"Ymy, regarding Sheltis-"

"I know, I should be concentrating on the things related to Hyouketsu Kyoukai, right?"

Emptying the swirling thoughts in her mind, Ymy once again walked to the window.

She touched the glass with her fingertips.

The hard and icy touch seeped into her burning body, and her soul seemed to calm down from that. Right now, she must fulfill her responsibilities as a Priestess.

"Alright, it's fine! I'll do my best!"

"Where are you going?"

While pointing to the ceiling, Ymy walked quickly towards the door.

"To the highest story. There is not much time left, and I wish to let my body get used to it first."

{4}

At the lift leading to the highest story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

In front of the door of the lift, Ymy stretched out her hand.

"Confirming...... Connection to the Bureau of Shinryoku: normal...... Checking...... Waves of shinryoku: match............ Confirming......

Confirmed to be the fifth Priestess, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole."

The two doors of the lift parted sideways. Ymy stepped into the small circular space. Upon walking right to the center of the lift, the doors closed automatically, and the lift began to move.

It continued to rise, until it reached the peak of the tower that is located deep in the skies.

*Ding*

The bell rang, and the lift stopped.

"...... Fu."

She took a deep breath in, and out.

"Calm your heart down. You must be calmer than the hundred years old trees that are still firmly implanted to the grounds, or the huge boulders located deep within the valleys. Your heart must be burning with belief that is stronger than anyone else, and you must hold on to a wish that is purer than anything in the world - only by fulfilling that, will you be qualified to be a Priestess."

She murmured the words that were said to her by Meimel on the very day that she had became a Priestess.

...... No problem, I can do it.

The doors of the lift opened, and Ymy took a step forward.

What followed-

Was a endless world of ice, appearing right before her very eyes.

Two hundred and ninety first story of

Tenketsu Palace -

the uppermost story that is named < >.

There is no ceiling nor walls. Just an area that seems to extend on endlessly.

—As if it is another world.

Above her head, the ceiling-less space were filled with lights of the white night. Beneath its radiance, is the scene of azure ice walls that extend endlessly. The surface of the icy walls are crystal clear, and shone brighter than any precious stones - just like a mirror reflecting the views of the world.

...... Her breathes were nearly frozen.

Any sort of cold wear is meaningless. All living things, objects and Yuugenshu - the art of shinryoku that freezes anything, and seals away their time and soul: Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

Looking ahead, is a corridor made of azure ice and mirrors.

This is the praying area of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, and it is a room that is most strongly affected by the barrier.

Even the spellcaster herself must endure such freezing coldness.

"...... I can never get used to such a temperature."

Biting on her lips that were trembling from the cold, she walked down the corridor of azure ice. The peaks of the ranges of ice suddenly disappeared not too long after, and the blizzard accompanying them had quietened down as well.

The < > located at the upper most story of

Tenketsu Palace

- in its center, lies a huge slab of crystalized azure ice.

A lady was sealed in the center of the transparent crystal.

One can barely see the pure white robes of the lady, who was deep inside the azure ice.

—Queen Salah.

A lady that devotes herself to the azure ice which freezes everything, and prays for Hyouketsu Kyoukai alone. Due to her constantly staying in this room for nearly the whole year, and also the fact that her face is always covered with a veil - even Ymy has never seen her real appearance before.

...... The person who I yearn to be.

A woman who can pray endlessly for many days consecutively without sleep or rest, despite being in the barrier that freezes right down to the bone.

She cannot be compared to the Queen, who is just too far away from her grasp.

The chills one will experience exceeds that of pain, and it will gradually becomes a giddy and nauseous feeling. Initially, when Ymy first stepped into the room as an apprentice-Priestess, she could barely hold for a few minutes.

The Priestesses must maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai for three days after taking over from the Queen. If they work harder, they can perhaps maintain it for a little longer. However, what exactly must be done, in order for one to maintain it alone for a period of nearly a month? And in such an icy cold room that will pushes one to the boundaries of insanity.

"....... Why exactly are you working so hard for?"

The huge azure crystal.

This question will never reach the ears of the Queen, since she was sealed deep within the bulky ice.

Ymy listened carefully to the melody that flows through the story, as though she was waiting for an answer.

The world of ice that freezes the flow of air, the movement of the atoms, and even time. In such a tranquil space, flows a tone that is gentler than any existing melody-

Yu/ Uhw =C r-sanc uc Eden

term-l-pile xel, xin, ole fusen elchel

That was the song of prayers that maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai, sung by the Queen who was sealed in ice.

xearcs let laphin yahe, bie omia hec lihit clar

noi-roo-xin, noi melras I noe-l-habes pianic cia eyen

Her single singing voice reverberated among the surrounding azure ice, and a rich tone was formed due to that.

It was as though the dull colors had entwined by themselves, thus forming a beautiful rainbow - similarly, her voice has been deeply enriched by the multiple reflections due to the icy mirrors. It was a sonata that was cold and desolate, and yet filled with love at the same time.

=C hypn phenoria, Eec qhaon nes ei getie, nephies paf lef bis cley kis ei roos

=C hypn phenoria, Eec wat nes ei getie bies killis cley kis ei mihas

There is no score to this melody.

It is a thousand years old melody that is passed down through singing, from the Queen to the Priestesses, and the Priestesses among themselves. Ymy learned of its existence from Meimel as well, and learned it in this < > after listening carefully to the voice of the Queen.

evhes ualen, deus Uhw leya quo feo

nefit Uhz yulis noi kamis egic, Sew ele nelar ris-ia sophia

Ris sia sophia, kyel hiz phia nefis loar mille

Shinryoku

— "

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

".

The secret melody known only between the Queen and the Priestesses, the song of prayer that maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"...... How beautiful."

Ymy closed her eyes, and quietly listened from her spot. What a beautiful singing voice.

It has a tempo that naturally penetrates into the human heart, while the lyrics and melody are filled with a heart-wrenching frailness. She had always dreamed to sing this song as a Priestess.

....... However, there is just one thing that she could not really understand.

A small question in her mind, that she had never brought up to anyone before.

"It sounds...... really similar?"

That's right, it is indeed similar. The song that maintains the ultimate arts of shinryoku, and Yuugenshu's—

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

And Yuugenshu's mateki is extremely similar.

The meaning to the lyrics of the song, the tone, the characteristics upon the activation of power, and even the lingering sounds of each and every note.

"The place where the Priestesses are at is

Tenketsu Palace

, and the

melody

that flows within is the

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

...... Which means......?"

The mateki of Yuugenshu has been commonly thought to be a depressing curse-like tone. However, since such a song exist within her own shinryoku, then, perhaps there is a song with a tone similar to hers, that resides within the Yuugenshu of Garden of

Corrupted Song

.

"...... Eden Code?"

Mateki - the

melody

of

Garden of Corrupted Song

. If it really exist, then what sort of power does it hold? How does the Yuugenshu, which uses it, comes about in existence? And will it appear on the floating continent?

—One day, you will understand everything.

"Eh?"

Ymy raised her head quickly, as though she was electrocuted.

...... I thought I have heard the voice of the Queen just now. Was it my illusion?

Despite her staring into the crystal before her, the Queen within the azure ice walls remained unchanged.

That was obviously so. The Queen was concentrating on her prayers, thus there is no way she could have heard Ymy's words. Even if she hears it, she could not have made any reply.

"That's how it is......"

Ymy shook her head lightly, and showed a bitter smile.

Mmm, it's about time I go back. Ilis will get bored if I don't talk to her soon.

"Well then, Salah-sama. I will be back again later."

The Queen who continued singing, and her

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

. Humming along to the beautiful voice that flowed out of the azure ice, Ymy turned around and left the room.

### 007. Chapter 4: Yuugen

And here's chapter 4. Now to Onii-ai for about 2 to 3 chapters, depending on its length.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

At the resting room of outdoor cafe '

The Two Swans

'.

The young girl with her sky-blue scarf was continuously shaking the teenage boy, who was sleeping on the makeshift bed.

"Shel-nii, wake up quickly— The festival is starting soon—!"

"...... Let me sleep for an hour more. I worked till late last night."

"No— if you don't hurry up, the festival will end soon! Hurry, hurry!"

...... The Stars Festival will be held for three consecutive days, so it will not really matter if we miss it today.

Sheltis grumbled in his mind, and opened his eyelids slightly. He coincidentally looked straight into a listless Yuto, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Shel-nii...... are you really not going?"

"Uh...... that............"

"Do you hate being with Yuto?"

"...... No, nothing of that sort...... Ahhh, damn...... I understand, I admit defeat, alright!"

He could not endure that pitiful look of hers, and jumped out of his bed in desperation.

The three days of Stars Festival, which is dedicated to the Queen, will be held at the Second Living Sector.

The whole plaza was filled with banners of stars and the moon, as well as ceremonial decorations like pinwheels and wind chimes, which symbolizes the never ending winds of the floating continent. In comparison, the streets had a more typical look to them. They were typically filled with colorful balloons or ribbons, and the streets were bustling with activity from the various types of stalls.

"Oh, it has really started. So it is that lively right from the opening ceremony."

Sheltis took a brief glance at the surroundings after he placed Yuto down. The place was already filled with people, to the point where one will easily brush onto the shoulders of the passerby while walking.

"Ah- Sheltis! You are slow, I've waited for so long!"

The girl in overalls walked through the crowd. Her left hand was holding on a balloon, while the right was cotton candy.

"...... You are enjoying yourself really early."

"Well, I am waiting for you guys while enjoying myself. Ah, the balloon's for Yuto. Here's the pocket money as well - you can buy whatever you like."

"Yay! I like Eyri-nee the most!"

Having received the pocket money and the balloon, Yuto ran towards the stalls excitedly.

"Is it fine for Yuto to be alone? It will be bad if she gets lost."

Eyriey showed a confident smile:

"Don't underestimate me. There's a tracker attached to that balloon."

"...... So you have already expected her to get lost...... Forget it, it will be fine if we can get hold of her location."

Giving up on Yuto, who was already out of sight, Sheltis walked on with Eyriey.

Countless stalls were lined up along the two sides of the streets. Despite food and game stalls taking up more than half of the numbers, there were a few unique stalls around as well.

"Ah, Sheltis, look at that. There's a stall with a signboard that says, 'Helping you to find your lost items'."

"Probably a shinryoku spell that grants far-sight. It should not be a difficult spell if the area of effect is not too wide. Should be popular at festivals like these."

On the other side, was a temporary clinic set up by a shinryoku healer.

In this civilization where shinryoku and machines blend in harmony, the rapid mechanization may cause an illusion of a decline in shinryoku's usage, but in festivals like these, there are still remains of shinryoku deeply rooted into their culture.

"Oh right, Eyriey. How's it going?"

"Hmm? This cotton candy is delicious. Sheltis wanna try some?"

"I don't mean that......"

"I know, I know. You are talking about the message that I had left at

Tenketsu Palace

, right?"

Her mindless speech in the crowd had caused Sheltis to be in quite a shock. However, there was no suspicious glares from nearby. In such a festive place, there should be no one who is interested in listening to the conversation of others.

"There's no action from

Tenketsu Palace

yet. Since it was left there only yesterday, plus the fact that

Tenketsu Palace

is busy preparing the ceremony of handover from the Queen to the Priestesses, there's not much hope to begin with - wasn't you the one who had said that, Sheltis?"

"Mmm...... you are right. Not to mention, this is all just my hunch."

He lifted his head and looked into the sky.

Blue and white. On the blue sphere of sky that reminds one of the deep seas, were clouds floating at a soothing pace. There is also chalk colored

Tenketsu Palace

, that pierces through the clouds and the sky.

"Eyriey, isn't it time for the cannon salutes?"

When the Queen's praying period is over, the control of the barrier will be transferred to the Priestesses. At the same time,

Tenketsu Palace

will fire the cannon salutes, to signify the official start of the Stars Festival.

However—

"...... Eh? That's strange."

The person who broke the silence was Eyriey.

"What's wrong?"

"No, it just feels strange. It's already past the scheduled time for the cannon salutes."

She took a look at the clock located on top of the street light, and compared it with her own watch.

"Hmm? It's the same? My watch seems normal."

There was no cannon salutes. That meant the control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai was not successfully transferred over. Logically speaking, that was something that will never happen. The maintenance of Hyouketsu Kyoukai is a huge ritual that is linked to the survival of the floating continent. At the very least, the time in regards to the handover should be flawlessly accurate.

Could it be that some accident had happened?

"...... Ymy."

As he mumbled out the name of the girl who is already a Priestess, Sheltis looked towards the huge tower.

{2}

"Meimel, Syun-rei. I've made you guys wait."

The two Priestesses were already waiting for Ymy in the middle of the room when she reached the floor.

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty first story - the Grand Holy Hall.

The ceremonial equipment shining in a yellow brilliance, together with a huge colorful stained glass etched with images of the stars and the moon. This is the biggest praying hall in

Tenketsu Palace

, as well as the sacred room that is used for the initial training for the Priestesses.

"............ Morning, Ymy."

The Priestess dressed in kimono turned around. The expressions on the typically docile girl was much more stiffer than usual. It was probably due to her nervousness.

"Morning, Syun-rei. Let's work hard together today!"

"...... Mmm!"

The people outside

Tenketsu Palace

were perhaps already enjoying a lively celebration of the Stars Festival.

However, for the Priestesses, they were about to carry out their absolute mission. They are to gain control of the barrier from the Queen, and then the three of them will have to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai together for three whole days.

"Speaking of which, Meimel doesn't seem nervous at all."

"Fufu, how rude - I am really nervous too?"

Despite saying that, there was still a slight smile on Meimel's face.

"Alright, the three of us are already here. Salah-sama has been maintaining the barrier for a month, and she is nearly at her limits. We should hurry there to take over, yeah?"

There is the Queen, and her five Priestesses. However, not all Priestesses are staying in the tower. In practice, there will always be around two Priestesses who are in charge of patrolling the borders of the continent. This time, the three Priestesses staying in

Tenketsu Palace

will be tasked with maintaining the barrier.

"Well I'll be heading there first. See ya later!"

Meimel gave a slight teasing look. She then disappeared into the lift.

Her destination is the highest story of

Tenketsu Palace -

the story named < >, where the Queen was. The handing over of Hyouketsu Kyoukai cannot be passed to all Priestesses at one go. As such, by sequence, the Queen will first hand it over to Meimel, then to Syun-rei, and finally to Ymy.

"............ Leon."

"Syun-rei, don't look so worried. Just do as you normally do."

The silver-haired young man propped his body off the wall of the Holy Hall.

"You need not worry about the things of

Tenketsu Palace

. You just have to focus on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Leave the rest to me."

"............ Mmm!"

The girl let out an almost inaudible voice, and nodded her head.

"............ I'll do my best."

With that, the black-haired Priestess trotted towards the lift as well. Upon seeing all of that, Ymy could not help but to mutter.

"...... Leon is really something."

"How so?"

The young man gave her a questioning look.

"It feels like Syun-rei trusts you from the bottom of her heart."

"Obviously."

Leon's reply was not out of pride. There must be a undoubted trust between the Priestess and the Sennenshi who is in charge of protecting her. However...... why was it so? Despite knowing that it is something to be expected, she still could not help but to be envious of Syun-rei and Leon's relationship.

...... If only I can have someone whom I can entrust myself to, just like how they are-

"Ymy?"

"...... No, nothing. Sorry for the sudden lapse."

Ymy hurriedly squeezed a smile, and acted as though nothing had happened.

"Ah, that's right. Can I put this in your care?"

She took down the necklace which has a blue crystal hanging from it, and handed it to Leon.

"That's how it is. Please take care of me, Leon."

"Ah, so it is Ilis."

"I will not be back for these three days, so I hope there will be someone whom she can talk to."

"This fella is really troublesome."

"Can you please use the words 'afraid of loneliness' instead? Not to mention, you should have nothing much to do as well, since Syun-rei is not around."

Machine crystal

flashed about in Leon's hand.

"Well then. I shall get going as well. I will leave the rest of the things to you both."

Ymy stretched out her hand in front of the small lift located in the Holy Hall.

It was then, when she heard something.

*Ding...... innnnn............ nnn......*

Ymy stopped her footsteps, and turned her head subconsciously.

It was the sound of a solid object cracking, nearing the cries of a wail. The stained glass of the Holy Hall perhaps? No, that's not right. They were perfectly fine.

"...... It's as though...... something has broke?"

It was a sorrowful sound which was not commonly heard, that induces a feeling of numbness to the listener. Did it come from below her feet? No, it came from way further than that. Not from the floating continent either, but something that is deeper-

"What's wrong, Ymy?"

"Leon...... what's the sound just now?"

In actual fact, that sound was really faint - it was like the illusion of a mirage. But she had indeed heard it. That-

Just then, her sight was dyed red.

The lights from the ceiling disappeared in an instant, and was replaced with the red lights used in emergencies.

"A warning? What's happening? Oi, tower controls! Can you hear me! What is happening?"

Leon yelled at the receivers at the ceiling.

*Za...... zaza......*

With a piercing sound, a broadcast came from the ceilings-

"Warning, this is an automated message to all members of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Currently, the Queen has declared the status of a level one emergency.

According to Tower's Law article number twenty-one, all members are to stop their current task, and take instructions from the Queen."

The broadcast stopped, and all that was left was the warning sirens.

"What's happening? A level one emergency...... it can't be......"

The level one emergency will only be activated when the floating continent is facing a crisis of being destroyed. It also means that humans are facing the danger of annihilation.

"Ymy, you said you had heard a sort of breaking sound, right?"

Even the tone of

machine crystal

was filled with an anxiety that had never been felt before.

"Actually, at that instant, my systems had detected a huge reading of mateki while it was monitoring

Garden of Corrupted Song

. Base on the standard strength of a typical Yuugenshu, its strength is akin to that of hundreds, maybe even a thousand Yuugenshu."

"Hundreds...... how can that be possible? Ilis?"

If that was real, then it would be the biggest amount ever seen since Hyouketsu Kyoukai has been erected.

"...... What exactly is happening here?"

Ymy clutched onto her wildly beating chest. As a Priestess who maintains the barrier, she has never encountered a situation as bewildering as that.

There will always be a few Yuugenshu that manage to break through Hyouketsu Kyoukai alone every year. However, that was due to them doing it alone, resulting in them being able to squeeze through the narrow gaps of the barrier.

But this time, there was over hundreds of Yuugenshu from

Garden of Corrupted Song

that broke through the barrier at the same time?

"............ Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached."

The voice came from Syun-rei, who should have had headed to the highest level earlier on.

Following her, was the Priestess in her gown.

"This is bad— What a headache."

Meimel's tone was as lazy as ever. However, her pace of walking was significantly faster, as though she was being chased by something.

"So even Meimel has came over...... what exactly has happened?"

"Calm down, Ymy. I'll explain it to you right now. Run, you there?"

"—Yes."

*Kree......ee......e......* A dull sound rang, and the silver-decorated door of the Holy Hall was slowly opening. Behind the doors, stood a girl, whose skin was engraved with ritual marks.

"Firstly, there's me and Leon for the Sennenshi. As for the Priestesses, we have these three. Generally, that's all we have for the top brass in the tower. Though I am not sure what exactly is happening, but the situation seems to be really serious. According to the instructions from the top, all departments of the various guards are to gather at the two hundred and sixtieth story to await for further orders. At the lower levels, all Lions Squads have already been gathered, and are currently on a roll call. Currently, the Second, Forth and Fifth Lions Squad are ready to be deployed."

"That's excellent, Run. As expected from my Sennenshi-"

The teenage girl's concise report put a small smile on Meimel's face.

"In any case, I shall briefly explain the situation. Just like what Syun-rei had said, Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached."

...... Impossible.

Having heard Meimel's explaination, Ymy felt as though it was all just a dream, and could not believe that it was all real. Hyouketsu Kyoukai is the strongest shinryoku barrier that has not been breached for over a thousand years, so why now-

"To be honest, the reason for its breach is probably due to us humans underestimating the Yuugenshu...... The Yuugenshu have targeted the moment when Hyouketsu Kyoukai is at its weakest."

The barrier will become weak?

Only one thing came to mind.

"Could it be—!"

"That's right, the instance when the Queen handover the control to the Priestesses. During the moment where the Queen passes control to the Priestesses, there will be a brief pause in the prayer that maintains the barrier, no? It seems like they have locked their sight on that brief window-"

The words "Star Festival" flashed past Ymy's mind, together with a chill that ran down her spine.

The festival starts at the same time as the Queen finishes her prayers. It was almost like the festival is announcing to everyone about the exact moment of the handover.

At the same time, she recalled what seemed to be a warning message, that

Tenketsu Palace

had received.

"Warning - there is abnormalities in the behaviors of the Yuugenshu."

So that warning was real...... If only she had tried to confirm its validity, perhaps-

"In any case, we have no time to be regretting. Meimel, please carry on."

"Well, up till now, there is only a small portion of Hyouketsu Kyoukai that is breached. It's a hole about the size of a few hundred meters. From the sheer size of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, that is nothing more than just a dot. That hole was opened for only a few seconds, and it has already been patched............ However, the problem is-"

At then, Meimel closed her mouth. It was not like she was hesitating to say it, but rather, there was no need for her to continue.

The Yuugenshu has always been waiting for the chance to attack the floating continent. For those strange beasts, a small 'hole' in Hyouketsu Kyoukai is more than enough for them.

Those unknown presence, has always been waiting for this very moment-

"In any case, I think the observation units should have detected over a thousand Yuugenshu that had passed the barrier...... By the estimation of Salah-sama, we have about an hour before the first wave of attacks from the Yuugenshu arrives."

Huge amounts of Yuugenshu were rising from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

ten thousand meters below, up towards the floating continent. The sheer size is something that has never been seen before since the establishment of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, and their intention was-

"The observation units of

Tenketsu Palace

has send back numerous reports. The Yuugenshu are currently moving upwards towards the floating continent in various large groups, instead of acting individually. From that, we can deduce that they are not targeting the whole floating continent, but rather, they are attacking a specific place."

Everyone went silent for a moment after hearing Ilis' explaination.

There can only be one target on the floating continent.

Without a doubt, it is

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>. The Yuugenshu will be here soon.

"...... Meimel, what should we do? Salah-sama should be at her limits soon."

Ymy looked at the senior Priestess in front of her, while clenching on to her trembling fist.

For the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

like Leon and Run, the number of Yuugenshu was just way too huge for them to handle.

Without the support of the Priestesses, they will definitely suffer from huge casualties. However, the three Priestesses are required to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai, as the Queen is about to be exhausted of her strength.

"Salah-sama is nearing her limits, and as for us...... aside of concentrating on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai, there is not much we can do. That said, are we letting Leon and the rest of them to fight against the Yuugenshu by themselves?"

"That's our only option."

The silent silver-haired young man broke his silence with a sigh.

"Run and I will gather our remaining subordinates who are on standby, to prepare for the attack."

However, a Priestess clutch onto his coat.

"Syun-rei?"

"............ Leon, don't....... Leon will die, so don't go alone."

The black-haired girl shook her head repeatedly, with an expression close to crying - Leon himself knew, that this is an attack by the Yuugenshu with a scale that was never before seen in history. There are some variants among the Yuugenshu that are strong enough to even take down a huge dragon by itself. No matter how strong a Sennenshi is, to be facing against such a number of enemies-

"But, what else can we do?"

"Hold on. That is just too reckless. We can assist you guys, but-"

Just when Leon was planning to shake Syun-rei off.

Meimel placed her hand on his shoulders.

"Listen. Us Priestesses can support the Sennenshi for up to a maximum of three hours. That is the time limit that determines if the floating continent will fall."

Upon hearing that, Leon stopped moving.

"...... What do you mean?"

"I am about to explain that, but I need to tell that to everyone on the floating continent as well. Ymy, Syun-rei, you two come over here."

Meimel elegantly waved her hands.

"I am about to send a telepathy message to the Priestesses and Sennenshi that are patrolling the borders, as well as the people of the floating continent. Similar to Hyouketsu Kyoukai, it will be easier if us three are to split our jobs. I will be in charge of the putting the spell together, while Syun-rei will be in charge of controlling the spell. Lastly, Ymy will be providing the necessary shinryoku required."

"...... Hold on, Meimel."

Run walked over with loud footsteps.

"Telepathy is Syun-rei's strength, and you are in charge of putting the spell together, so I have nothing against that. However, won't the burden be too great on Ymy?"

The telepathy shall spread throughout the floating continent.

That means, that Ymy will have to release her shinryoku to cover the whole of the giant continent.

"Well, don't worry. Ymy's not too good at controlling spells, but the amount of her shinryoku is shockingly deep. You should know that too, right? Aside from Salah-sama, Ymy is the only other person who can maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai for three days, as though it was nothing."

"Still-"

"...... Run, thanks for your concern. However, I am willing to do it."

Facing Run who was still not willing to back down, Ymy gave her a nod of agreement.

Just do it without reservation. At that situation, it was due to the trust of the senior Priestess in her, that she was delegating such an important task to her.

"Ymy is a really good girl. It may be slightly tiring later, but not to worry. Your spells may be in a hopeless state, but it seems like you have a limitless source of energy to power them."

"...... Meimel, are you trying to turn around and be sarcastic at me?"

"Nothing of that sort. Well then, Ymy and Syun-rei. Let us resonate the spell with < >. Can you two do that?"

Her originally smiling expression disappeared in an instant. Her eyes became sharp with the smile of hers gone.

"Just do like we always do during practice. Don't worry, you both have accumulated quite a bit of experience from training already."

Upon hearing her said that, Ymy and Syun-rei could not help but to look at each other.

...... Aside from practices, that was the first time they were using it.

< > is an aria sung by three spellcasters. They not only have to sing in unison, but their lyrics have to conform to the other two singers as well, resulting in a melody with hundreds of combinations of different lyrics. Due to that, it was extremely difficult.

"Well then - Ymy, Syun-rei and me. Let us synchronize ourselves."

The Holy Hall became dead quiet in an instant.

All sound had disappeared from the sacred hall, including the faint sounds of breathing.

Lin Endes pel On Nes

phia-So la telah sitra

ele So Phi-a Arma-Riris

————————————————————————— Following along the left side Singing along to the melody

Threefold Sonata Under the domains of the territory This shall be the main tune That links the melody together

————————————————————————— Following along the right side Singing along to the melody

A lengthy tone A dreamy timbre Circling the world Weaving into time

A faraway tone Luring people to sleep Converting into pulsation Changing into spiral

An unrestricted tone Filled with rules Creating ripples Surpassing countless forms

The great Blessings from within Words and phrases Are briefly sketched

The intricate And unparalleled glamour Words and phrases Interweaving together

The swirling Resonance overflows Similar to thin lines Circling endlessly

The trails of the dream Awakens the slumber from the faraway garden Dreams and reality Satisfy my body

The woven dreams The streams of the world transforms into a mirror Rules and regulations Makes me feel fulfilled

The burning stone within my embrace The scattered parts shall gather here today The lyrics and song Fills me up

The falling stars Streaks past the rings of the deep All so that I can know you here

The settling moon The intricate occasion All so that I can liberate you here

The torrential rain Flows along the lands All so that I can find you here

Winds Everything that is moving Shall become A miraculous road of impact

Winds Everything that has fluttered down Shall become A endless road of for the circling stars

Winds Everything that is ruffled up Shall become A road of hope for thousands

—

— The forth Priestess Under the guidance of the domain, Using the procedures of the thirty-third power of verse three to construct the world

—

— The second Priestess Under the guidance of the barrier, Using the procedures of the thirty-third power of verse three to create the world

—

— The fifth Priestess Under the guidance of the baptism, Using the procedures of the thirty-third power of verse three to recreate the world

*......plop*

The sound akin to a falling water droplet, is the sound created by the spreading lights of shinryoku.

Similar to how a water droplet strikes the surface of a pool, which creates small ripples - the light that envelops the three Priestesses are expanding outwards at a blinding pace.

It passes through the walls of the Holy Hall, and went out of

Tenketsu Palace

. The light gradually stretches out to a size big enough to encase Orbie Clar, including the other conservation areas that are outside of the floating continent.

"............ Capture."

Syun-rei opened her tightly shut eyes.

Her gentle black pupils were giving off a emerald glow, having received the shinryoku required for the territorial spells.

"............ Nature sector, to the north of the Park Number Three. The southwest side of the conservation sector. There are traces of Priestesses and Sennenshi."

"It's tough for you, Syun-rei, but please continue to trace their location. I shall be performing the telepathy. Ah— ahem."

"To the two pairs of Priestesses and Sennenshi that are patrolling, it has been hard on you all. As for the people of the living sector, good day everyone. I am Priestess Meimel. Sorry for the sudden interruption, but I have something important to tell everyone, so I have no choice but to do it via telepathy."

An amplified voice of Meimel rang in Ymy's mind. Not just herself, but Leon and Run, and everyone in

Tenketsu Palace

should be hearing Meimel's voice as well.

"Everyone, listen to me calmly - just not too long ago, Hyouketsu Kyoukai, which seals

Garden of Corrupted Song

, has been breached by the Yuugenshu."

"Meimel!"

Leon lifted his head in shock. Meimel was way too direct with her speech.

The contents of the telepathy bears a huge impact. The residents may fall into a state of panic should they know that Hyouketsu Kyoukai had been breached.

"Leon, believe in her."

Ymy nodded at the silver-haired young man.

...... Meimel knew that better than anyone here, so please trust her in whatever she is about to do.

"Thousands of Yuugenshu are approaching Orbie Clar. To elaborate, the floating continent shall come under their attack within less than an hour."

The tall Priestess continued on without pausing.

There was no room for hesitation - Meimel's calm tone clearly emphasized that point.

At the same time, her message cannot be vague. That will result in her unease being revealed for all to see, which will cause panic among the residents of the living sector, resulting in chaos.

"Does everyone understand the situation we are in? As such, I seek cooperation from the residents of the living sector. Please head to the underground shelters within thirty minutes. The guards of

Tenketsu Palace

will be protecting those places with their lives on the line. Understand?"

Meimel heaved a huge breathe of air.

This time, her audiences had been changed to the fellow comrades that were outside of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"The following content goes out to the two Priestesses and the two Sennenshi that are on patrol. Due to the time constrains, I'll cut to the chase...... Just as you have all heard, the situation is in a dire state."

The Priestess in her gown shrugged her shoulders.

Her tone was as lazy as ever, but it had a sense of authority in them.

"Currently, our biggest problem is that there are just too many Yuugenshu that have broken past the barrier. The Sennenshi and guards in

Tenketsu Palace

will not be able to handle them all by themselves. As such, the Priestesses will have to support as well...... However, that will result in a situation where there will be no one who can maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Queen-sama is about to reach her physical limits, so the Priestesses will have to take over as quickly as possible."

However, if the Priestesses are to take over at the highest story, then there will only be the Sennenshi left that will be fighting against the incoming Yuugenshu.

"As such, I am about to convey the suggestion from the Queen - ready?"

"I can still hold Hyouketsu Kyoukai by myself for about three hours.

All Priestesses, Sennenshi and the guards on standby are to eliminate the Yuugenshu that has broken past the barrier within the time period...... However, I will not be able to do anything should the time exceeds three hours. Once the time is up, the Priestesses will have to take over the control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Please remember that clearly."

Eliminate the Yuugenshu within three hours, and then the Priestesses are to take over the control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai from the Queen. Those are the absolute conditions for protecting the floating continent.

"As such, I am asking a favor from the Priestesses who are patrolling outside of

Tenketsu Palace

. As you all know, Yuugenshu are a creature with a mist-like body, and are floating upwards from

Garden of Corrupted Song

ten thousand meters from below. They will be reaching the borders of the floating continent first, which means they will strike from the conservation sector and the nature sector. As such, prior to them attacking the living sector, please reduce their numbers as much as you can. Thirty...... no, a minimum of forty percent. The rest of us in

Tenketsu Palace

shall take care of the remaining Yuugenshu. That's all, and good luck everyone."

The telepathy ended.

Meimel turned around, her forehead filled with sweat.

"Everyone heard it as well. We have to destroy all Yuugenshu within three hours, then gain control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai from the Queen. These are the absolute conditions to protect the floating continent. Once the time is over, even if there are remaining Yuugenshu, the Priestesses will still have to head to the highest story. We will not be able to wait, even if we are to see the Yuugenshu attacking others."

"That's enough. That is what us Sennenshi is here for."

Having received Leon's agreement, Meimel showed a smile.

"That's really trustworthy. Then I shall leave this place to Syun-rei and Ymy - let's go, Run."

With that, the Priestess turned away from everyone else.

"Meimel, where are you going?"

"Do you even have to ask? Who will be protecting the civilians if we do not head over to the living sector?"

The senior Priestess replied calmly, with her back still facing them.

"But, what about Hyouketsu Kyoukai?"

"Ymy, I shall leave Hyouketsu Kyoukai to you. We have always deployed multiple people to maintain the barrier, in order to play safe. However, you should have undergone training to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai by yourself, right? In actual fact, one Priestess is all it needs to maintain the barrier. To be safe, Syun-rei can support as well. Shouldn't the remaining Priestess lend their strength on the battlefield?"

"But......! If so, let me go instead. Should Meimel leave

Tenketsu Palace

-"

Currently, the one in command is Meimel.

Ymy and Syun-rei lacks the experience, and has never lead the whole of

Tenketsu Palace

before.

"Ymy? How are you able to lead the battle without a Sennenshi protecting you by your side?"

"That...... However, didn't Meimel say that Priestesses are absolutely not allowed to die?"

An important task of protecting the civilians will be added to their objectives, should they head to the living sector to fight. Despite being a Priestess, such a mission would be way too dangerous for her.

...... As such, being the Priestess of the lowest position, I should be the one heading out. Should anything happens to me, they should be able to find a replacement for me easily.

"Ymy."

The senior Priestess in front of her slowly turned her body.

"You must remember - there is no Priestess who should die in vain. The positions are just arbitrary - it does not mean that I am more important than you, due to me having a higher position than you."

...... How unbelievable. The positions of the Priestesses are bestowed by the Queen herself. Ymy was surprised to hear that from Meimel, as someone who views the positions with great importance, more so than anyone else.

"Just like how Syun-rei is good at territorial spells such as far-sight and telepathy, you do possess the absolute strength of shinryoku. Every Priestess have fields which they are good at - for me, its the barrier types. I am the only one who can construct barriers around the shelters, and fight."

"Still...... Even more reason for me to go!"

Facing Meimel who had continuously kept her calm, Ymy raised her voice.

If she is to direct her powers to the barriers of the shelters, then Meimel will not have enough shinryoku to protect herself. Should she come under an attack from Yuugenshu in that condition......

"Ymy, that's what Priestesses are. Priestesses are to protect the floating continent with all their might, while the Sennenshi are in charge of protecting the Priestesses. The floating continent can retain stability for over a thousand years due to such a trusting relationship. It is natural of us to put ourselves in danger to protect the people of the living sector. Isn't that right, Run?"

Meimel winked at her guardian and Sennenshi.

"Don't worry. I will protect Meimel."

...... I have finally understood.

I understand how deep the trust is between the Priestesses and their Sennenshi. I have understood what I, someone who does not have my Sennenshi, lack. The absolute relationship that is brought down for over a thousand years, is right in front of me.

"Well then, it's been decided - we shall be in charge of destroying the Yuugenshu that are heading towards the living sector. Despite us aiming to annihilate all of the Yuugenshu, considering the fact that we have to protect the civilians who cannot escape in time, we can probably clear about forty to fifty percent of them. As such, once they have broken past this line of defense, there will be nothing else protecting

Tenketsu Palace

. Leon, I shall put

Tenketsu Palace

in your hands...... You must give in your everything. I shall not let you off should anything happens to the Priestesses and the Queen."

"You just like to worry for nothing. You yourself should concentrate on protecting Meimel."

Having heard Run's provoking speech, Leon struck back with an aggressive smile.

"Syun-rei, Ymy. I shall be engaging the Yuugenshu at the hall at two hundred and forty first story. Please take over the defense of the Holy Hall. Once three hours is up, head over to the highest story."

"...... Mmm."

Ymy placed her hands gently on her chest, and gave a nod...... the overwhelming pressure had caused her chest to hurt a little. The final line of defense is herself and Syun-rei. That place shall be the last fortress that protects the Queen.

"Ymy, what about this fella?"

Leon took out

machine crystal

, that was tied to a necklace.

"Leon, bring me along with you. I can track the Yuugenshu that are entering

Tenketsu Palace

and give you the respective reports. You can then instruct your subordinates at the hall."

"Well, it seems like everything has been settled. Well then, dismiss. Let's hope that we can all be safe."

Meimel clapped her hands, and gave her last order.

The Grand Holy Hall. Everyone at there began to make their moves, according to the tasks assigned to them.

{3}

"Just not too long ago, Hyouketsu Kyoukai, which seals

Garden of Corrupted Song

, has been breached by the Yuugenshu."

— Priestess Meimel's telepathy message had spread through the whole of the living sector.

Yells, shrieks and chaos filled the streets in an instant.

Everyone, including the storekeepers, started to run. People separated from their families, and people searching for their lost lovers. The crowd formed a tsunami, which swarmed towards the shelters with an earth-shaking rumble.

Sheltis stood on his ground, and looked at the scene for a long time.

"...... That's terrible. Things are way worse than I had imagined."

He gritted his teeth. To think that Hyouketsu Kyoukai will be breached......

"She...... Sheltis! What should we do? Should we follow the instructions of that Priestess, and escape to the shelters?"

Eyriey was already by his side without him noticing.

— Those trembling lips did not seem to be just his imagination.

"We are just ordinary civilians, so that's the only thing we can do for now."

If the words of the Priestess was true, then the Queen is still at the highest point of

Tenketsu Palace

. That was an emergency message released by the Priestess in place of the Queen, who was unable to do so. Its contents are absolute, not to be questioned or refuted.

"...... We should locate Yuto first."

"Shel-nii—!"

A familiar girl's voice came from a tiny crack of the incoming crowd. However, the sound was immediately drowned by the stampede and the screams.

"Yuto!"

Following the source of the sound, Sheltis pried open the crowd. Just before the short girl was about to be squeezed to the ground, Sheltis grabbed hold of her hand.

"Yuto..... That's great. We've got you."

"Shel-nii, what's wrong with these people?"

Yuto looked at the escaping crowd in confusion. Perhaps it was due to her enjoying herself too much, but it seemed like Yuto had heard nothing about the Priestess' warning.

"No, nothing. Let us escape. Follow me!"

He pulled Yuto's hand, and just when he was about to leave in a hurry-

"...... Eh? Shel-nii is running away?"

Despite allowing her hand to be grabbed by Sheltis, Yuto did not move an inch away from the ground.

"Mmm. We have no time to explain. We have to get to the shelters first."

"Yuto wants to be with Shel-nii."

"I know. I will be accompanying you at the shelters too."

"No, I don't mean it like that."

The little girl shook her head gently. Her sky-blue scarf was blown upwards by the winds.

"Shel-nii will protect me, right?"

"—Eh?"

*Badump*

Deep inside, it was as though something else was beating, and not his heart.

"It's fine as long as Shel-nii protects Yuto if Yuto is with Shel-nii "

"...... Me?"

His steps towards the shelters had stopped as well.

"As long as Shel-nii protects Yuto, then it's fine. Shel-nii had saved me at the park too......"

His throat was parched. He could speak not a single word.

...... I can save others from the wrath of Yuugenshu?

...... Me, a person who has lost everything after being exiled by

Tenketsu Palace -

who is not even allowed to meet the Priestesses?

"Sheltis, what's wrong?"

"No....... N-Nothing."

A worried Eyriey then shook her hands in panic.

"Really, stop standing there and start moving! We are supposed to escape to shelter six. It's a little far from here, so we have to hurry."

— Seek shelters? Is it really fine to do that? Could it be that I am hoping to seek protection from someone else?

The voice that reverberated in his heart countless times was none other than his own.

His childhood friend whom he was banned from making any sort of contact, has already become a Priestess who protects the floating continent. His past friend too, is a Sennenshi who is protecting his Priestess. Both of them are already figures commanding respect from everyone in the floating continent.

On the other hand, he is just an ordinary civilian from the living sector.

There was only one thing that he can do. That is to pray in the living sector, and hope that both Ymy and Leon will be safe.

...... That was something I had told myself two years ago.

But, what's with this sense of anxiety that I can't shake off from me?

"Ymy......"

Amid the surrounding shouts and shrieks, Sheltis turned his body, against the flow of traffic.

— He then looked at the tall white tower.

***

The Third Residential Sector.

This is the area furthest away from

Tenketsu Palace

, and closest to the nature sector as well. Different from the commercialized Second Residential Sector, this area has a strong emphasis on housings, with lots of apartments everywhere.

However, there was no one to be seen on the streets.

"There is no one on the streets. Houses...... are empty as well. Everyone must have followed instructions and sought shelter."

Yet, a dozen or so pairs of footsteps had rang through the silent streets.

They were a group of people with an obviously different atmosphere around them as compared to your ordinary civilians. They were dressed in robes, coats and gowns. Despite their strange attires, everyone was in their pure white ceremonial clothes.

— They are the guards and apprentice-Priestesses of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Aside from closed-ranged weapons like great swords and spears, there were also bows, throwing weapons and firearms. All of them are the rare experts in their fields of combat styles or shinryoku arts.

"How quiet. Run, can we impose ourselves at the houses of the civilians for a while?"

"Meimel, you are thinking of having tea-break already? But we have not settled things yet."

The Second Lion Squad of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Standing next to the Priestess in lead, Run shrugged her shoulders.

"We have to rest when we have the chance to - don't you all think so?"

Flipping her gown-like vestment aside, Meimel turned her head.

However, no one from the Lion Squad gave an answer.

....... Isn't it obvious? We are nervous too.

"Meimel, could it be that you are really tired?"

Meimel had visited all ten shelters in the living sector, and cast anti-Yuugenshu barriers at all of them, before arriving here. Run had no idea how draining that was, but it was definitely a huge burden for Meimel.

"Well of course - I am already panting from the walk."

Meimel stopped in her tracks.

In front of the many guards, was a huge protective metal wall. Its height is over ten meters tall, and it serves to separate the living sector from the nature sector, and at the same time, protect humans from the attacks of wild beasts.

"Not too long ago, the two Priestesses at the nature sector and conservation sector had sent a telepathy message."

"What did they say?"

"They said they were in battle. There is way too much Yuugenshu...... 'There are a few hundreds that has bypassed the line of defense, and are heading towards the living sector'. The communication was cut right after they said that. It seems like they had no energy left to spare for telepathy."

The tall Priestess turned her back to the wall she was looking at earlier. Her gaze was directed to the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

, all on standby and awaiting orders.

"Just as all of you guards should know, I had already done imprinting rituals onto everyone's ceremonial clothes, so it should offer some sort of resistance against the mateki of the Yuugenshu. However, the Yuugenshu that we are about to face, are all the strong variants that has breached the barriers. One must be prepared for the worse should they come into contact with the Yuugenshu's mateki. I'll stress this first: I will not have spare time to help those who are infected."

Upon being infected by mateki, even the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

will not be spared.

Out of the various effects of mateki, the most representative ones are poison, permanent coma, decay and mental corruption. The worse thing is, all it takes is just a touch of the mateki, to be infected by its curse. There is only one way to cure it, and that is to be purified by someone with strong shinryoku. However, they will be beyond hope if they are to receive the treatment too late.

There will be no time for purification. Meimel's speech was similar to her saying that she will watch them die.

"Mmm, that can't be helped."

Run added.

None of the members of the Lion Squad showed an expression of surprise. If they are frightened by such tiny matters, they will not be able to survive their daily training, much less becoming a guard of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"That's fine. Though I think some of you guys may have the wrong idea about what I am trying to say-"

"Wrong idea?"

Run raised her eyebrows when she heard Meimel's mutter.

"Run, repeat the line that I always say, so that the others can have a listen."

"Mmm, let me see...... 'The Queen and the Priestesses who support Hyouketsu Kyoukai are the most precious lives on the floating continent. You people are the guards who has sworn your lives to defend the Priestesses. I absolutely cannot die. If my live is to come under danger, then please sacrifice yourself to protect me' — right?"

That is the unwritten rule that the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

adheres to.

As the members of the Second Lion Squad, everyone already knows that mantra of Meimel by now.

"Don't worry. No one from my team has tried to escape from a battle before."

"............."

However, Meimel was silent for quite a while.

"Meimel?"

"Speaking of that, I have something I had forgotten to tell everyone."

With a slightly embarrassed expression, the Priestesses took a deep breath of air.

"Just like I have always said, as a Priestess who maintains the barrier, I cannot die. Should something happen to me, then it is the guards' highest priority to sacrifice themselves to protect me. However, that only applies when the Priestess is in danger, so listen carefully - a truly capable guard will never allow the situation where the Priestess is exposed to danger."

Meimel then turned around yet again.

Looking at the wall in front of her, she continued,

"The Second Lion Squad falls directly under Run and my command. I do think that you people are the finest guards in the whole of

Tenketsu Palace

. Precisely so, you guys should be able to do it, right? If the Priestess is not exposed to danger, then you will not have to sacrifice yourself to save her. Which means to say, not only will I not die, but so do everyone here as well - can everyone do that?"

*Kra...... kra...... krakaka............*

A sharp cracking sound came from the metal wall that was over ten meters high.

The heavy metallic barrier was being eaten. Just by the crunching sounds, once can already deduce that there were not just tens, but hundreds of creatures pushing on the other side of the wall.

They were the Yuugenshu.

Despite facing such a terrifying scene that would have made anyone tremble in fear, the Priestess remained motionless.

"This will be the last. As the second Priestess; as the Barrier Priestess - I order you all."

Meimel lifted her hand up high.

In her hand was a ray of dazzling blue light - the clear brilliance of shinryoku.

"I chose to lead everyone into the battlefield because I trust all of you. So, please put your all into the battle, hold on till the very end, and survive. I do not wish to see any familiar faces missing from here. Therefore, I shall do my all to support everyone as well."

She just looked so strong, elegant and pretty.

The Priestess who is protecting the floating continent; who is filled with honor, dignity and love - she is standing right in front of my eyes.

...... It is really hard to deal with our Priestess.

Run brushed the corner of her lips, and tried to hide her wry smile.

"Everyone heard that? Just protecting our Priestess and the civilians is not enough! Aside from protecting everyone, we have to survive through this as well. That is our mission!"

She removed her ceremonial clothes, and tossed it high into the air-

That was the indication of the start of the battle.

"Everyone, show your spirit! Let's go!"

With that, the young female Sennenshi rushed out.

"—Smug bastards. Watch me smash every one of you up to the moon!"

And endless amount of Yuugenshu came swarming out of the broken wall, and filled up nearly all of their sights.

***

The collapsed stalls of the Star Festivals. The goods from the stalls were scattered onto the floor, which were then stomped to beyond recognition by the escaping crowd. No one could be seen even on the main streets. What was left was the lonely scene of settling dust, with telling traces of the civilians who had all escaped.

—The Second Residential Area had been reduced to no-man's land, due to the majority of the civilians escaping to the shelters.

"Hurry up, move faster! The entrances to the shelters will be closed if we are late!"

The breathless Eyriey shouted.

The three-wheeled electric vehicle behind her roared in activation, and was ready to go off in an instant. On the back seats were clothes, food and medication, all enough for a couple of days. Those were all hurriedly scavenged from her room.

"Final check, Sheltis and Yuto have not forgotten anything right?"

"I am fine. So is Yuto."

Sheltis shook his head, while carrying Eyriey's computer.

"............"

He looked at the clock-tower on the street. At this time, the Yuugenshu must have already invaded the floating continent in full force. The guards of

Tenketsu Palace

should had set up a line of defense at the living sector to engage the Yuugenshu.

...... But can they really hold out against the Yuugenshu?

...... According to the words of that Priestess named Meimel, wasn't the number of Yuugenshu in the hundreds?

It is impossible to fend off such a large number of Yuugenshu. The best they can do is to bid for time, so that the civilians in the living sector can escape to safety.

No, perhaps it would be asking too much of them to stall for time. As a threat, a single Yuugenshu is more than enough - but now there are over hundreds of them. Since they were those types that had breached past the barrier, they would be much stronger than the ordinary variants. At times like these, an extra man will be an additional help.

"Sheltis?"

Sheltis could only nod silently at Eyriey's call of concern.

"Shel-nii will protect me, right?"

...... What's wrong? That line had been echoing in my mind all these while.

The person who said that was waiting in front of the electric vehicle. There was no hidden meaning in Yuto's words. She had probably said it without thinking. Despite knowing that, there was still an asphyxiating pain deep in his heart......

Suddenly, a huge shockwave came from the grounds.

*Groooooooo...* The ground gave a deep rumble.

In the next instant, the loud sounds of heavy objects collapsing gushed onto them like an incoming tsunami.

"Could it be—!"

Sheltis turned around to look at the faraway Third Residential Sector.

A towering building of over ten stories high was gradually tumbling down in thick black smoke.

Building around it were collapsing in a similar fashion as well. Even though they were reinforced with ceramic and have an excellent resistance against acidity, the buildings could not withstand the corrosion of the mateki, and were gradually melting into a poll of viscid liquid.

"Crap, they were already-"

Eyriey froze halfway into her sentence.

Above the Third Residential Sector, were dark purple mist that are floating along with the winds.

"That is not mist...... Those black dot-like particles, they are all Yuugenshu?"

A huge amount of Yuugenshu had swarmed the sky pitch black. Though the winged variants are rare, Yuugenshu themselves do have the ability to change their bodies into a mist-like state. Right now, the winds were blowing in the direction of

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>. All the Yuugenshu need to do was to ride along the winds, and they can easily get themselves within striking distance of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"...... Shel-nii, I am scared."

Unknowingly, Yuto was already hugging on Sheltis' leg tightly. She shifted her sight in an attempt to look away from the frightening beasts, and was trembling in fear. Her feelings were conveyed to him clearly.

"———"

The flying bodies in the sky paid no notice to the Second Living Sector. These strange beasts had only one target, and that is the huge white tower.

Tenketsu Palace

, the place that maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai. The Yuugenshu were heading in that direction.

...... That's right.

After slowly heaving out a breathe of air, Sheltis closed his eyes.

"Of course you will be scared......"

Everyone is the same. Including the Queen, the Priestesses, and the Sennenshi - there is no one who is not afraid of that strange existence. In fact, everyone will want to run away.

However, despite all that......

"Ymy, she...... will definitely not run away."

The Priestesses will never run away. That is because, their mission is to protect

Tenketsu Palace

until the very last moment.

Leon too. That man will never cower. As long as the Priestesses are still in

Tenketsu Palace

, the Sennenshi will put their lives on the line to protect them.

...... The promise of that day was just that.

"Since Ymy wishes to become a Priestess to protect me, then I shall become a Sennenshi that protects Ymy. If so, we will be able to be together, right?"

"............"

"So stop crying, alright? Don't worry. I will definitely head to Ymy's side, to the peak of the tower."

— He had always worked hard to fulfill that promise.

The reason for him being that persistent in his dual swords during his time at

Tenketsu Palace

, was due to that.

He can only protect himself with a single sword. To protect his most important person, together with himself - due to him having decided on protecting two people at one go, he thus requires two swords.

"............"

Sheltis gently opened his tightly closed eyes.

...... Let's go.

"Sorry, for making you both so afraid. However-"

He tenderly stroked Yuto's hair.

"It is already fine. I will end everything."

With a smile, he then slowly turned his back to Eyriey and Yuto.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Eyriey and Yuto, you both should get to the shelters quickly. I am going to retrieve back the things that I had lost."

His dual swords, his friends, and his memories. And the most important thing of all - the promise between him and her.

He had abandoned everything in that tower two years ago.

— Let's get it all back.

"That's right. Exile? What bullshit is that."

Just because he was robbed of his right to be a guard of

Tenketsu Palace

? Just because he was sentenced to eternal exile?

There was absolutely no need for him to be concerned about insignificant matters like that. Even with the mateki-contaminated body of his, there should still be some things that he can do.

"Why are you going alone? Get on the vehicle, quick!"

"Sorry. You can leave me alone. Go seek shelters first-"

"I don't mean it like that! You are going to

Tenketsu Palace

right? Then get on quick, I'll give you a ride."

For a moment, he could not comprehend what Eyriey was saying.

"—Eh?"

"It will be too slow if you are to run there. Come. Yuto, take the back seat."

Eyriey made Yuto sat at the back seat. She then fastened up the safety belts in a flash. Upon seeing that scene, Sheltis could not help but to be in doubt of his own eyes.

"What...... what the heck are you talking about! Watch carefully - those are the Yuugenshu that are heading there!?

Tenketsu Palace

at its current state is just way too dangerous for you both!"

"But, Sheltis is going there, right? I am scared, to be honest. However, I've decided to follow through. I had already prepared myself for such a possible scenario ever since you had requested my assistance in hacking into the systems of

Tenketsu Palace

."

The young girl answered in a half joking tone.

"That...... It is indeed my fault for getting you involved in all these."

"Moreover, you will not make it in time if you are to run such a distance, right? Also, it will not be good if you are to waste your physical energy before even getting to

Tenketsu Palace

. How's it? Just be a good boy and accept my offer."

The girl in overalls beckoned Sheltis, while putting on a calm smile.

"...... Thank you."

That was all he could muster.

"Alright, it's decided then! Let's go! Since everyone is at the shelters, the road shall be clear of obstacles. Let us speed our way to

Tenketsu Palace

!"

The metallic chassis gave a loud roar.

Amid the shrill sound of the wheels rubbing against the road, the three-wheeled vehicle flew like a bullet.

"...... Eyriey, when everything's over, I'll introduce Ymy to you. Please befriend her."

"Ohhh! That's great!"

Come to think of it, it was not like he had gained nothing from his two years at the living sector. That's because he has came to know of a great friend who is willing to do crazy things like this along with him.

"...... That's why, Ymy. You must wait for me."

I will definitely reach the peak of the tower in time.

### 008. Final Chapter: The touching fingertips

All four parts here. Enjoy.

********************

{1}

The dark skies. The dark purple mist emitted from Yuugenshu were blocking off the rays of the sun. The surrounding vision were gradually getting obscured.

The visibility in darkness was reduced to below one meter, and it was spreading outwards......

"Everyone, I'll be dispersing these mist. It will be slightly blinding."

Meimel's telepathy message rang in their minds.

In the next instant, a strong ray of light appeared above Run's head, it was so bright that Run could hardly open her eyes. After emitting blue light that was more brilliant than that of the sun, Meimel's large-scaled shinryoku barrier expanded outwards in a flash, thus dispelling the mist that were lingering above the skies.

Beneath the glittering rays of the sun, were tens of Yuugenshu. Their body size ranged from that of a small cat to a lion, and one could vaguely see the four limbs in their mist-like body. They were Yuugenshu that walk on land.

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

The curse was changing into chilly and uncomfortable sound waves, that will cause decay to one's eardrums just by listening to it.

Mateki, the mysterious powers unique to Yuugenshu. However-

"Too slow!"

*Kra*. The sound of the road cracking from her steps.

Prior to the release of the purple lights of mateki, Run dashed into the group of Yuugenshu. Possessing superhuman reaction, nerves and muscles, Run's start to her sprint was already at a speed barely detectable by human eyes.

At the same time, the lights of mateki spread into the shape of a fan, with the possible intention of protecting the Yuugenshu.

...... A defensive barrier?

Clenching her shinryoku-filled fist, which was made possible via the ritual marks, Run slammed it into the light barrier created by mateki - however, her fist was repelled away. That was the repulsive effect created when shinryoku and mateki were to clash into each other.

"Stop hindering me—!"

Run let out a roar while riding on her unstoppable momentum.

She forced her repelled fist back, and broke the purple barrier. The fist blew away the mist of the Yuugenshu as well, and hit straight into the core in the middle.

The Yuugenshu gave a painful cry before it was destroyed.

"Is there no way to solve the problem of shinryoku and mateki repelling each other?"

She shook her hand, in order to relieve her numb arm.

Shinryoku and mateki are two opposing forces, and they repulses each other. Even if she is to attack with her shinryoku-filled fist, its power will decrease considerably from the repulsive effect of the mateki barriers created by the Yuugenshu.

"But Run. Thanks to that, the Priestesses are safe."

"............ I know."

Run's face cringed a little when Meimel pointed that out.

The same applies to both humans and Yuugenshu. If Meimel is to come under the attacks of Yuugenshu, her shinryoku will repels the mateki as well, resulting in a decreased in the strength of the attack.

— Meimel actually has the spare time to tsukkomi me.

Suppressing a bitter smile, Run felt a sense of relief.

"Then again...... Their target is still

Tenketsu Palace

huh?"

As Run had already destroyed over ten Yuugenshu, there were only a few remaining Yuugenshu left before them. However, the troublesome thing is that the Yuugenshu were not targeting the humans at their current area. They were always look for opportunities to avoid the battle, and head straight to

Tenketsu Palace

. Up till now, from what Run knows, there were already tens of Yuugenshu that had bypassed their defense line. She was in no mood to calculate the actual numbers.

— I can't let anymore through.

Run bit on her lips tightly, and took a leap. With the aid of the streetlights, she moved to an even higher position.

She destroyed two winged Yuugenshu with a single kick. She then allowed her body to fall, and swung her fist into the Yuugenshu which was directly below her. Within a short time span of only a few seconds, she had already destroyed three Yuugenshu.

"With that, I should be able to buy some more time—"

Just when she was about to wipe the sweat off her face, one of her subordinates suddenly gave a yell.

"Ah...... ah......? ...... Ah...... Ahhhhhhhhh......... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

It was neither a scream nor a cry before death, but a strange cry from insanity.

He swung his twin swords madly, without caring whether he could have slashed anyone in accident. One could see a faint deep purple mist enshrouding the back of his head.

"...... It's mind control!"

That is one of the abilities of mateki - the power to send the person that it has cursed into a state of panic. Even though it will not directly result in death, the effect is way worse than decay and poison in a hectic battlefield. That is especially so if the person cursed is a well trained soldier. Even if he was just slashing about wildly in confusion, he would still be posing a huge threat.

"I'll restrain him. Meimel, purify him while I do so!"

Even though that would result in some Yuugenshu breaking through the defensive line, such a curse would have to be removed as quickly as possible. Just as she was suppressing her anxiety, and was about to act against her subordinate—

"There is no time to be purifying right now."

A young man with tea-red colored hair appeared before her all of the sudden.

The surrounding members could not react to the sudden intruder. The young man easily dodged the slash from the swordsman of Tenketsu Palace , then slid past the swordsman's side to his back. He raised his hand—

—*Thud*

He gave a vicious chop at the back of the swordsman's neck. The swordsman collapsed on the spot, and fainted immediately.

"For mental control in battle, it is much more effective to just knock the cursed person out cold. Isn't it so?"

The young man gave a slight smile.

"Eh...... Ah...... Ahhh."

Regaining her senses, Run hurriedly nodded her head in agreement. Indeed, she could not be more familiar with the method used by the young man.

However, at the same time, she knew very well how difficult it is to knock out a swordsman of

Tenketsu Palace

from his back. If it was not properly done, there is the chance of the executor getting injured by the swordsman instead.

As the commander, Run preferred the much safer option.

Then again, who is he?

He seemed to be extremely familiar with the attacking radius of the swordsman. After baiting the enemy's attack, he had skillfully avoided the slash with his clever movements. Aside from Sennenshi, how many people in

Tenketsu Palace

can actually execute a move like that?

"Oi! You......"

Obviously, he was not an ordinary intruder. Who exactly is he?

"— Well then, I'll leave things here to you!"

"Ah, wait! Don't leave!"

Ignoring the looks from the surroundings, the young man turned around and escaped. There was a huge electric vehicle waiting in the direction that he was running to, which obviously looked like it had been illegally modified.

"Sheltis! What are you doing? Now is not the time to complicate matters!"

— Sheltis?

The name which the girl in overalls had called out sounded very familiar to Run. It was a name which she had heard of not too long ago.

"Sheltis is my childhood friend."

"Could it be...... Oi, are you Ymy's—!"

Just as Run was about to stretch out her hands, the modified vehicle had already gave a roar from its activation.

...... Could that person be the one who had fallen into

Garden of Corrupted Song

—

***

"Sh—el—tis—? Can you please tell me if you are planning to go or stay?"

After nodding to a unhappy Eyriey, Sheltis jumped back into the vehicle.

"Sorry, I just want to obtain a weapon before reaching

Tenketsu Palace

."

A pair of thin swords that was kept in a white sheath - Sheltis took the opportunity to borrow it after the swordsman had fainted from his attack.

"Whoa! Right after the illegal intrusion, you have committed yet another crime of stealing. Sheltis is becoming more and more of a criminal!"

"...... I'll return it back to him later. Ah, I won't be needing the sheath."

While sitting in the galloping vehicle, Sheltis threw the sheath out. What was left were the frozen blades bathed in azure light - it was a pair of swords made from Hyouketsu Kyoukai, and both carried strong shinryoku in them.

"Oh, how beautiful. Just like a crystal. Do all guards of

Tenketsu Palace

use weapons like this as well?"

"Generally. Since weapons will not possess any destructive powers against Yuugenshu, if they do not contain shinryoku."

He held the blade under the sun, and the mirror-like blade reflected the surrounding landscape - a black dot appeared in the azure scene.

"Eyriey, turn left!"

"Ah?"

"Don't ask, just turn the vehicle to the left!"

The vehicle spun leftwards with a skid. Just as the wheels were giving off a sharp screeching sound, the walls to the house on their right collapsed suddenly.

*Grrr...... rrr......*

A strange-looking beast emerged from the decaying walls.

"Eyriey, maintain the current speed! Just keep going straight, no matter what happens!"

"B-But, it is chasing us!"

"Just do as I say!"

The monster chased them with a terrifying speed. It gradually caught up with the vehicle that was going at speeds of two hundred kilometers per hour. It leaped upwards with its weird limbs, with the intention of crushing the vehicle from above - at the same time, Sheltis jumped up from the vehicle as well.

The silhouettes of the mist beast and the young man overlapped, and—

*...... Rinnnnnn...... inn......*

The sounds of a bell. A ringing sound, beautiful enough to make one nearly forget about the current situation, rang throughout the street. Above them, was the mist beast hanging in mid air, with its crystal core destroyed.

"That's dangerous. These Yuugenshu are indeed elusive."

While listening to the melody of the breaking crystal core of the Yuugenshu, Sheltis landed back into the backseat of the galloping vehicle.

"...... You have defeated it?"

"Mmm. But this is just the beginning. Those that are attacking

Tenketsu Palace

will be even stronger."

The difference in strength between each individual Yuugenshu is huge, even if they look roughly the same. Some possesses mateki that is more than ten times stronger than your average Yuugenshu. One can only gauge their strength after having engaged with them.

— The real fight starts from there on.

The sharp white tower. A huge gate before its grounds came into their sight.

"Alright, we are breaking through!"

After breaking through the unguarded front gates, the three-wheeled vehicle sprinted on the grass turf.

The turf had already turned black, while the defensive and outer walls of the tower were already melted.

Tenketsu Palace

coming under the attacks of Yuugenshu is already an indisputable fact. They have no idea how many Yuugenshu had infiltrated into the tower currently. Not a single person was in sight - as a precautionary measure, all staff except for the guards should have already escaped to the shelters.

"Where are we going now? Are we going to enter the first floor via the main door?"

"Can't. There should be a line of defense set up there."

The first floor is a wide foyer, which should be one of the most efficient places to engage the infiltrating Yuugenshu. An impregnable line of defense should be there already.

"Eyriey, turn right at the next forked road! Circle the exteriors of the tower!"

"Roger!"

The vehicle started to speed around the huge tower, which had nearly occupied all of their sight.

The tower is a gigantic building with a diameter of over a few hundred meters wide. The journey seems to be never-ending, as they traveled along the curved walls.

"Alright, destination? Since we are not entering via the main door, what is left are the side doors by the two sides?"

"Mhmm...... Ah, there's a red door over there! Stop the vehicle there."

A door which opened by parting both ways from its center was installed at the side of the tower. Different from the main door, which were shining in grandness under the lights, this was a heavy metallic door which was painted bright red.

"Hopefully, the password is still the same as before......"

Standing in front of the electronic screen next to the door, Sheltis began to key in a complicated password consisting of more than ten characters. The electrically locked door then began to open slowly from both sides.

"Oh- this should be a lift, right? The walls look pretty sturdy."

Eyriey took a knock at the the vertical walls, and listened closely to the sounds. It was a space enclosed by four walls. Aside from the pale colored carpet beneath them, all the other walls was of cold metallic color.

"A mechanical sound like that...... Could this be a catapult?"

"Yes, it is a type of mechanical cannon, which is said to be able to fire objects weighing over hundreds of kilograms to the foyer located at the two hundred and fortieth story. Though it is not designed to carry human passengers, now is not the time for us to be caring about things like that."

He turned his body, and the door in front of heavy metallic door in front of him closed once again.

— There is no turning back.

They could only depend on themselves, during the journey to the two hundred and fortieth story.

"This is indeed a most convenient shortcut. So we are to be fired upwards like a rocket...... Yuto, grab onto the hand rails tightly. It will be dangerous."

Eyriey extended her hand, and grabbed onto the lever that controls the firing mechanism of the catapult. Next to her, was Yuto, whose whole body was hugging onto the hand rails tightly.

"Sheltis, here we go?"

While holding onto the twin swords that were giving off an azure shine, Sheltis looked upwards. At a place beyond the ceilings, located at the highest story two thousand meters off the grounds into the sky, 'she' is right there waiting for him.

"Eyriey, fire."

And so, I'll just go upwards.

To take back all the things that I had left in this tower two years ago.

{2}

A black shadow streaked past his sight.

Leon jumped up instinctively before he could even figure out what that was. In the next instant, the collar of his coat was ripped apart, with its surrounding fibers decaying as though it had melted.

*Grr...... rr......*

The mist monster were slowly advancing on him while giving off a strange sound from its mouth. Its sludge-colored limbs made a strange leap, and the grotesque claws at the ends came closing in. At the same time, Leon's great sword sliced through the body of the Yuugenshu, along with its claws.

The crystal core was smashed, and the body of Yuugenshu disappeared.

Before he could even catch a breath,

machine crystal

hanging in front of his chest gave a shout.

"Leon, behind you!"

The shiny blade of the sword had captured the scene behind his back. There was another Yuugenshu at an uncomfortably close distance behind him.

"Che!"

He spun his body with all his might.

However, he saw no deep-purple beast behind him. The only traces left were the smoke given off by the floor, which had corroded due to the Yuugenshu.

Is it above?

"Above you!"

Before his brain had even processed the warning given off by Ilis, Leon already gripped onto his great sword tightly with his hands.

"— Ha!"

The great sword is as long as his height. Despite that, he easily lifted the sword, which is heavier, more destructive, and out-speccing just about every other weapons available. The blade shimmering in azure light swept past his head.

*klang!*

The mateki-filled claws clashed together with the shinryoku-filled great sword.

Leon chopped off the claws of the opponent in a single slash, and pounced straight at the Yuugenshu's body - however, the Yuugenshu's body shone purple, and a light barrier was erected in front of it.

A repulsion effect occurred between the shinryoku-filled sword and the barriers of the Yuugenshu. The blade was repelled back.

"Leon, the barrier of the opponent is very strong. My analysis says it will be difficult to break through the mateki-barrier in a single shot. I recommend to attack it multiple times, so that you can split the destruction of the barrier into various phases."

"There is no time to be doing that......!"

Leon clenched his teeth tightly, and stomped hard on the ground. Ignoring the croaking sounds given off by the muscles of his shoulders, he swung his blade yet again.

The barrier shattered like glass. The Yuugenshu was busy regenerating its claws behind it, but before it could react in time, the great sword had already pierced through the core in the center.

"How should I put it...... Your strength is really astounding."

"Every second is precious now. I don't have a choice."

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and forty-first story, foyer.

Aside from the two Priestesses tasked with protecting the Grand Holy Hall, that place is the final line of defense. However, the situation of that floor was not looking good either. The people infected by mateki were lying in the corners of the room, waiting to be treated. The guards were barely standing up, and were more or less injured. Everyone on that floor were busy fighting with the Yuugenshu. None of them could spare any time to listen to Leon's commands.

"Syun-rei, Ymy...... I am sorry, please take care of it."

He firmly believed that he himself could stop a majority of the enemies, but it is an undeniable fact that there were still plenty of Yuugenshu that had managed to break through the defense line.

"Sennenshi Leon, the line of defense on the first floor of

Tenketsu Palace

has been breached yet again! Over twenty Yuugenshu are heading upwards via the elevator shaft!"

— There was just no ends to it. After hearing the hasty report, a taste of bitterness spread in Leon's mouth.

Yuugenshu were constantly appearing from below, like the endless waves of tide. Not only do they arrive in huge numbers, but since they were able to bypass the line of defense on the first floor, they were all individuals which possesses strong mateki as well.

"How's the damage status on the first floor?"

"Over ten people are infected with mateki, as for the injured...... countless."

"Send a few of the apprentice-Priestesses over. They will die if the purification of mateki is to be administered too late."

"But, the apprentice-Priestesses of this floor are all exhausted as well......"

"Just the minimum amount will do! At least one of them must know the arts of purification!"

He roared in reply, and hurried back to the center area of that story.

...... Things were in a really bad state.

In order not to let his subordinates around him sense it, Leon feigned a calm expression.

There were originally about a hundred outstanding subordinates here, but as of now, most of them were suffering from injuries. As for the apprentice-Priestesses who were in charge of purifying the mateki-infected people, their energy were burning at a shockingly fast rate.

The sweat at his forehead flowed into his eyes - just then,

machine crystal

glowed.

"Reporting. The observation units of

Tenketsu Palace

has detected a huge reading of mateki, one thousand three hundred meters below Orbie Clar. It is a large flying-type Yuugenshu, and its size is roughly the same as a small dragon. The analysis suggest that it is the commanding body of this assault."

"...... The commander?"

Yuugenshu usually acts individually. There are occasions when they will move in a small group, but up until now, they have never heard of a commanding Yuugenshu.

"From this assault of the Yuugenshu, we can see that there is a consistent modus operandi between all of them - which is to lock their sights on the Priestesses and Queen of

Tenketsu Palace

. Adding on them realizing the weakness of Hyouketsu Kyoukai and using it to break past the barrier, plus the fact that they are attacking

Tenketsu Palace

as a strong group. All of these suggests that there is a strong commanding presence behind these actions."

"And it is that thing?"

"I think that should be it."

In their current fatigued state where they were all barely holding on, there was an even stronger presence lurking behind the scenes.

— What should they do?

For such a strong commanding Yuugenshu, there is probably only him left in the tower, who can fight against it.

However, as a Sennenshi, he is the commander of the two hundred and forty-first story as well. Seeing how the mental state of his subordinates were nearing their limits, they would probably not be able to hold on should the commander be absent from the battlefield.

"If only there is someone here who has the abilities of a Sennenshi......"

Despite knowing that to be an extravagant wish, his heart could not help but to yearn for it. That's right, if only his only best friend - the idiot who will never admit defeat, is still around—

"...... Haa, I have actually said such depressing things?"

Heaving a deep sigh, he reprimanded himself for being that weak inside. As of now, he should only focus on coming up with a plan to overcome the deadlock. He should not be thinking about the commanding Yuugenshu either. At the very least, he should be dealing with the swarming Yuugenshu first, before anything else.

"Second wave's incoming."

At the same time when Ilis was saying that, the four corners of the floor were dyed pitch black. After coming into contact with mateki, the walls were slowly decaying and peeling off bit by bit.

"The enemies are coming, not a single one of them are to pass us!"

The walls of the story collapsed in succession, and the monsters in deep purple mist appeared together. The surrounding guards held their breaths. In front of them, were Yuugenshu, their numbers large enough to be covering the whole wall. There were just too many of them.

Everyone at the scene dared not move.

"Leon, there is a reading of another Yuugenshu approaching this floor. And it is a very strong reading."

"Is it that commanding Yuugenshu?"

Damn. If the commanding Yuugenshu is to appear at the same time—

"No, that's not it...... it's not the same Yuugenshu...... but, this—"

"Ilis?"

It was the first time Leon had seen

machine crystal

stuttering.

"What's with this...... it is a reading of mateki, but it is not a Yuugenshu that is coming up...... Even I am not sure what this is...... But there is a sort of...... nostalgic feeling."

Nostalgic?

Before Leon had the time to consider the meaning of that word, the Yuugenshu began to close in on them—

Just then, the approaching Yuugenshu were blown away, as though they were hit by an explosion,

"Wha.......!"

Leon's eyes widened from the scene before him.

Deep in the deep purple glow of mateki - inside the strong shine of the cursed rays that will corrode human beings, all life, and just about anything in the floating continent, there was a blinding flash from a sword.

For the Yuugenshu that were blasted into the air, their mateki barriers were gradually breaking apart. In the end, even their cores were crushed as well. Their bodies then dispersed into thin air.

The floor regained its silence.

The surrounding guards, including

machine crystal

<

Ilis>

, could not speak a single word. It was then—

"Yo, Leon. It's been a while."

Despite being in the poisonous rays of light, the young man, who was holding onto a pair of swords, waved his hand and greeted Leon nonchalantly.

His messy tea-red colored hair, with an androgynous face. He was wearing the old ceremonial clothes of

Tenketsu Palace

on his slim body - he is someone who Leon is familiar with, more than anyone else.

"...... You—"

And he understood, the reason that caused the nostalgia in Ilis.

Nothing has changed. Be it the shy yet mischievous expression of his, or the general feel that he gives.

"...... You bastard."

A warm sensation flowed out of his heart. His originally withering soul was once again burning up.

Why was that so? He just felt like swearing at Sheltis upon seeing him...... No, that should be fine. He has been sharing a close and harmonious friendship with Sheltis since a long time ago.

"Hmm? Could it be that Leon is on the brink of collapse?"

"You...... who do you think is the person responsible for the state that I am in?"

In reply to the provocative smile which the young man was showing him, Leon gave the same smile as well.

Speaking of which, Leon had nearly forgotten how to smile like that. It was not an expression of superiority as a Sennenshi, but a smile that he could show to someone who stands equal before him - a person whom he can speak freely to—

"You have returned too late, Sheltis!"

After leaving

Tenketsu Palace

for two years, his only best friend was standing right in front of him again.

"...... Mmm. I've caused lots of trouble for you guys. I am really sorry."

"It's fine. But, you'll have to pay that back twofold, together with your tardiness as well!"

Leon took off the necklace with

machine crystal

, and tossed it to Sheltis.

"Go quickly! The two hundred and eighty-first story - both Ymy and my Priestess are in the Grand Holy Hall!"

"...... Is this really fine?"

Looking at the young man, who was putting on an expression of shock, Leon stretched out his hands to instruct the people around him.

"I have to stay here to command them! You will have to think of something! Don't be telling me that your skills have declined drastically!"

"— Thanks, Leon."

Just when Leon was about to urge him to get going.

"Oh right, I'll leave the two girls here in your care."

"What?"

He looked in the direction where Sheltis was pointing to.

"...... Ughhhhh....... I...... I will never ride on a catapult ever again...... ugh......"

"Eyri-nee, are you carsick?"

What he could see, was a teenage girl in overalls who was suffering from dizziness, and a small girl looking on with a concerned look.

...... What the hell? Ain't those two civilians?

"In any case, I'll leave these two to you!"

"Oi, hold on a second! What's with these two girls?"

However, the young man was already sprinting towards the direction of the emergency stairs.

"...... That fella, he always tossing the troublesome stuff onto others."

Leon gave a long sigh. He then lifted his head once again—

"Whatever. I am used to that personality of his since a long time back."

On the face of the silver haired Sennenshi, were a pair of eyes filled with a strong will. With his confusion and hesitation swept cleanly aside, his eyes were as clear as that of an innocent child.

"Everyone listen up! There are two civilians here. As the guards of

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>, we cannot allow them to come under any harm!"

He had remembered. He remembered the days when he was burning with passion.

Those days where he had wholeheartedly wished to become a Sennenshi, and swore that he will be the one protecting the Priestesses. The days of Sheltis, Ymy and himself. The days where the three of them were to look at

Tenketsu Palace

, with the same aim of reaching the highest point of the tower.

— The three people back then were finally reunited together once more.

"Don't worry about me. You just have to worry about Ymy, and go all the way up to her."

Locking on to the Yuugenshu at the walls, Leon ran towards them with the great sword in his hands.

***

"The Grand Holy Hall huh......"

Sheltis was sprinting up the emergency stairs, which began from the two hundred and forty-first story.

The Grand Holy Hall located on the two hundred and eighty-first story of

Tenketsu Palace

- the whole floor is not just a bethel, but it is also the biggest holy hall in the tower. Ymy and Leon's Priestess were both there waiting, and the two formed the last line of defense against the Yuugenshu.

There was already not much time left. The most important thing now is—

"Ilis? Can you hear me, Ilis?"

He called out to

machine crystal

<

Ilis>

that was hanging off on the necklace in front of his chest. He had obtained

machine crystal

from Leon earlier, but since then, it had lost its glow, and was not giving off any sort of reaction.

Weird. Since Leon was wearing it, it should mean that

machine crystal

is functioning properly.

"Are you still angry at me for dumping you? I apologize, so please say something. I have never been here before, so I have no idea where to go."

There was no response, which only caused Sheltis to get more and more anxious. The him of two years ago, had only traveled up to the two hundred and seventieth story. To reach the two hundred and eighty-first story, he will need someone to give him the directions.

"Urm...... I am in desperate need of some advice from the outstanding Ilis?"

"............"

"The world's smartest and cutest Miss Ilis, can you please help me out?"

"............"

"Ugh...... You are perfect...... and outstanding...... and...... Ahhhhhh, how frustrating!"

Sheltis could no longer stand the unnatural silence. He removed the necklace from his neck, and directly grabbed the blue

machine crystal

.

"Listen up—— Wake up, you piece of junk!"

That was all he had said. But what happened next—

"......Who...... W-W-Who...... W-Who............"

A bright glow was emitted from the center of

machine crystal

.

"Who are you calling a piece of jun~~~k! Sheltis you meanie!"

"Ah, that's great. So you are not broken."

"...... How terrible. You are calling me a junk just because I did not say anything for seventeen seconds."

With a sound effect akin to a sigh, the artificial intelligence continued on endlessly.

"Also, I have plenty of things to say to Sheltis as well. What's the meaning of dumping me all by myself? And for a whole of two years? There was not a single word from you after that. Do you still consider yourself to be my holder?"

"I apologize for that. However, I do have my own circumstances as well."

"I know that. Even so, in a situation like this, the guy should be the one who takes the initiative and apologize! Listen up, Sheltis. To dump and ignore a delicate and fragile machine such as myself—"

"...... I know, I know. I am at fault, for leaving you here by yourself."

Just then, the originally furious Ilis went silent all of the sudden.

Her originally angry tone was replaced with a rather gentle voice.

"You will have to apologize to Ymy too, alright?"

Just that.

However, what came next was a heart-wrenching pain. It was more far-reaching than any of the scoldings Ilis could have said.

"Ymy has been waiting for you all this time. Because she firmly believes that you will be back some day. Even when you are not around, she has continued to do her best in the discipline of a Priestess."

"............ Mmm."

"Are you reflecting on it?"

It was as though Ilis was reprimanding him.

Grabbing hold of

machine crystal

tightly, Sheltis nodded his head strongly.

"I am reflecting on it. That is the truth."

"...... Fufu."

"What's with that laugh of yours?"

"No no. I just like that straightforward personality of yours. Therefore—"

The

machine crystal

on the necklace was shining with an even brighter glow.

"From now onward, Ilis shall once again acknowledge Sheltis Magna Yehle as my holder, and will do my best to assist him."

*—Krinnnng—*

In the blink of an eye, the twin swords in his hand gave a clear sound, and the blades shattered.

"The twin swords that you were using is probably borrowed from someone, right? I'll be reconstructing the blade now, so as to match your frame and your strength."

A silver line began extending outwards from the hilt of the sword, which was now devoid of any blade. Azure frozen crystals began to form over the line, and they gradually turned into the new blades of the sword. A pair of sharp double-edged thin swords - it was the shape of the sword which he was using three years ago.

"Fixing a silver monad as the core, and encasing its surrounding with a layer of azure crystals of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Its limit to destruction is set to be at sevenfold. These are the settings similar to that of three years ago. How's it?"

[TLNote: The monad thing refers to

Monadology

. Click on link to wiki page for more info if interested.]

"...... It's longer than before?"

The blade which used to be just right for his size when he was fourteen, had lengthened as well to match his current height.

"I had calculated the distance of your steps from the vibrations detected as you were running up the stairs. After comparing to those recorded when you were fourteen, I've managed to obtain your current height. At the same time, I've measured the strength of your grip as well, and deduced your current strength, based on the data when you were fourteen years-old."

When did she do all that?

The question in his mind was answered easily without much thoughts. There was no response from Ilis just now, no matter how he called out to her. So it was then—

"I was busy obtaining the data and comparing them..... That can be considered to be a sort of assistance, you know."

Ilis said with a rather embarrassed tone.

"Just to confirm, are we heading towards the Grand Holy Hall?"

"Before that, I wish to go somewhere else first."

It is a definite must to reach the Grand Holy Hall before it comes under the attack of the Yuugenshu. However, there is something else that need to be done before that.

"The levels above us are under the attack of Yuugenshu as well, right?"

"You are saying that you want to destroy all Yuugenshu at every floor, and reach the Grand Holy Hall before the commanding Yuugenshu does? To be frank, that is impossible, with the amount of time you have in your hands."

The emotionless mechanized voice replied calmly.

"...... But, there is no one else aside from me."

The members of

Tenketsu Palace

had set up the first line of defense at level one. Leon's commanding the second line of defense, and are repelling the Yuugenshu at the two hundred and forty-first story. As for the two Priestesses, they are the last line of defense, and are guarding the two hundred and eighty-first story with all their might.

— If so, who will be protecting the levels in between?

"This is the flight of emergency stairs at two hundred and fifty-fifth story, while Ymy's at two hundred and eighty-first story. What will become of the levels in between? Those who did not manage to escape may come under the attacks of the Yuugenshu."

"Yes. However, should the Queen's Hyouketsu Kyoukai collapse, then the whole floating continent will be finished."

She's right. Everyone knows that.

The Queen can only maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai for a maximum of an hour more. They will have to defeat the commanding Yuugenshu, and allow the Queen to pass control of Hyouketsu Kyoukai to the Priestesses.

"Each and every one of these Yuugenshu is extremely strong. If you are to fight against them head on, even though you will most probably not lose, it will still take you a long time to destroy them. The worst situation will be the the commanding Yuugenshu infiltrating into the Grand Holy Hall while we are dragged down by other Yuugenshu."

"If so, I'll just have to mount a lightning quick offense."

"What do you mean?"

The memory crystal asked in doubt.

"...... Three years ago, I had fallen into

Garden of Corrupted Song

, causing the shinryoku in my body to disappear, only to be replaced by mateki - ever since I was forced out of

Tenketsu Palace

, I had been thinking all this time."

He is the sole person in the floating continent to have survived the ordeal of falling into

Garden of Corrupted Song

. However, the price of survival, is that mateki from

Garden of Corrupted Song

has occupied his whole body.

"Upon thinking that I will never get to see Ymy again, my initial first year was filled with darkness, and I had barely any will to move on. I thought that no one will need me anymore. But as of now—"

He suddenly reverse-gripped his swords, and turned around. The white wall behind him was stained by darkness. Pores grew, and the wall was decaying fast.

"I have already decided. Even if I have to drag this cursed body of mine along, I will redo everything all over again."

The walls crumbled, and deep purple mist was given off from within.

"I've detected the readings of two Yuugenshu, and they are coming from the wall behind you!"

The two Yuugenshu crunched off the walls, and got into the passageway from inside the room. The beasts looked like lions shrouded in deep purple mist, and they both pounced at Sheltis at the same time.

"Sheltis, evade them immediately!"

Sheltis ignored Ilis, and instead dashed towards the Yuugenshu in front of him.

— I can definitely do it.

He parried away the sharp claws which were coming from above his head with the sword in his right hand, and while grazing past the Yuugenshu he followed up with a slash from the sword in his left. That single slash was all it took for the Yuugenshu to vaporize into thin air.

"Just a single hit to destroy the barrier?"

The usually calm

machine crystal

exclaimed in surprise.

In the battle between humans and Yuugenshu, a repulsion phenomenon will occur when mateki and shinryoku comes into contact with each other - similar to the poles of a magnet repelling each other. Due to the phenomenon, when a Yuugenshu activates its mateki barrier, the power of the shinryoku-filled bullets or swords will be reduced significantly. That is one of the reason why it is difficult to destroy a Yuugenshu.

However, Sheltis's swords had totally ignored the barriers of the Yuugenshu, and instead struck the Yuugenshu directly.

"Sheltis, could it be, you......"

The azure blades are still constructed out of the azure crystals of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. However, due to mateki flowing within the swords in Sheltis' hands, the blades were giving off a violet glow.

Shinryoku will evoke a repulsion. However, if it is changed to mateki, then it will no longer be repelled.

Only Sheltis, who has mateki in his body, is able to bypass the barriers of Yuugenshu, which possesses the same properties.

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

The body of the other Yuugenshu began to tremble, and it released a curse-like sound. That is the curse which the Yuugenshu possess, filled with the powers of

Garden of Corrupted Song

. The reason it is called 'mateki', is due to these sounds.

Decay, poison, coma and brainwashing. There are various ways it can cause harm to anything that exists on the floating continent. One will never know what's the specific effects without experiencing it himself.

The deep purple lights had engulfed Sheltis......

"Sheltis, escape quickly!"

"— No need for that."

He turned his body immediately, and swung his wrists alone with the momentum. He sliced horizontally at supersonic speed.

There was not a single sound of moving air. All that could be seen was a quiet slash of the sword in a blink of an eye. The mateki, which had a distorted sound and glow, was cleaved away by Sheltis' sword.

The mateki produced by the Yuugenshu had totally vanished.

Before the Yuugenshu could recover from that, Sheltis had already sprang above the Yuugenshu. He jumped off the horizontal walls of the passageway to step on the ceilings. Using it as a leverage, he dived at the enemy below him.

*—Kin*

A clean sound of dismemberment.

As the sound rang, the remaining Yuugenshu had already stopped moving. Its body gave a brief tremble, before bursting into tiny pieces with a dry sound.

"...... I have finally understood the reason for your confidence just now."

Ilis continued on softly with an extremely serious tone.

"Up till now, there has never been a case of a human carrying mateki in him, but 'negating Yuugenshu's mateki with your own mateki' huh...... I see. Perhaps I should say you are lucky? In the case of fighting against Yuugenshu, the current you do possess a power that severely topples the balance of the game. However—"

After a slight pause, Ilis said,

"Sheltis. Do not forget, that can put you in great danger as well."

Since he is carrying mateki in him, he has the ability to render the barriers of the Yuugenshu useless. But at the same time, it means that he is exposing himself under the attacks of the Yuugenshu without any form of protection. If the neck is attacked by the fangs of the Yuugenshu, a Priestess can use the shinryoku within her to form a barrier, thus lowing the damage done to nothing more than a scratch. However, since Sheltis lacks the shinryoku to protect himself, the result could very well be his artery getting severed from the attack.

— Any hit suffered will be a fatal one.

In the upcoming battles with the Yuugenshu, the harsh conditions will carry on forever.

"No problem. I'll just have to do the pre-emptive strike."

"What a simpleton...... is what I would love to say, but according to the data gathered, there is credibility to what you have said."

Since he can attack without having to worry about the barriers of the Yuugenshu, he is thus able to defeat them in the shortest amount of time. Even if he is to clear away the Yuugenshu that are to be found all over

Tenketsu Palace

, he will still be able to make it in time before the commanding Yuugenshu arrives.

"I'll remind you again. If you are to suffer from an attack from the Yuugenshu, you will not be able to avoid the fatal blow. If you are to continue fighting against the Yuugenshu before the arrival of the commanding Yuugenshu, the possibility of that happening will increase greatly...... Despite all that, are you still going to do it?"

"Of course. I am here just for that."

A short moment of silence.

Machine crystal

then gave a flash, of what seems to be her agreeing to it.

"...... Understood. Well then, I'll do my best to assist you."

"Thank you. I have faith in your abilities."

"What a headache, to have an owner who abuses machines."

The memory machine gave a sigh, and its colors gradually became fiery red.

"The space required for the locating of Yuugenshu, confirmed and completed..... Beginning the synthesis of 'Second Hypothesis World', and the sub-interface shall be set as 'rainbow colors'. Along with 'Crystal Language',

program release

...... Reporting. Currently, I am able to capture the locations of all Yuugenshu that is within a radius of ten thousand meters away from me."

"That's more than enough."

"Analyzing the location of the commanding Yuugenshu...... position captured. It is currently at the Third Residential Sector, and flying towards our direction. It is gradually rising from the current low altitudes of a hundred meters. Taking into account its flying speed, the estimated time of its arrival at

Tenketsu Palace

, is only fourteen minutes."

Fourteen minutes. He would have to destroy all the Yuugenshu in the various levels, and reach the Grand Holy Hall within that period of time.

It was a race against time.

"Understood. Please lead the way."

"It is a great honor to be able to assist you. Sheltis, please be careful."

Holding on to the twin swords which he used in the past—

Sheltis sprinted towards the peak of the tower.

{3}

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty-first story - the Grand Holy Hall.

The whole floor is a sacred praying hall, which is used by the Priestesses as a place to train and pray.

"——"

On the quiet altar, the black haired Priestess was praying with her hands clasped together. A pale azure glow was expanding from the young girl's surroundings. The dots of lights were gradually seeping into the interiors of the Grand Holy Hall.

Black stains began to appear on the brass floors next to the feet of the girl. The originally tiny stains of black dots increased in size gradually. Dark purple mist flowed in from the pores.

Just then, Ymy released the spells that she had been accumulating.

ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris

*Shaaaaaaa.......* A spiraling barrier of red light covered the floors of the Grand Holy Hall, wiping clean the emerging Yuugenshu and their barriers together. That was baptism spell from the arts of shinryoku, used to purify mateki.

"............ Thank you."

Syun-rei opened her eyes and smiled gently.

"...... It's fine now, Ymy. The door has been activated."

She pointed to the only route to the highest level - the Sacred Door of the Grand Holy Hall. It is extremely sturdy. The solemnly crafted door is shimmering under the glow of the blue rays of shinryoku.

— The door was covered with an anti-Yuugenshu barrier.

As the place was used as the training ground for Priestesses, due to the long term usage for a thousand years, it had naturally came to possess the shinryoku of the Priestesses as well. Among other things, the Sacred Door's powers of shinryoku is the greatest, making it a sanctuary-class barrier strong enough to withstand all mateki thrown at it.

Syun-rei had originally thought that the powers of the door would vanish along with the breach of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. However, it had been confirmed that the door had regained its powers, along with the repairing of Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"Next...... is the walls over here."

It is almost certain that the crucial door will no longer fall under any invasion. However, even though the floor is filled with shinryoku, there are still places that are weaker than the rest of the areas - in this case, it is the outer walls and the floors beneath them. The flying type Yuugenshu would be able to chew off the outer walls, while the floors beneath them can be penetrated like what had happened just now. All Yuugenshu that can reach there are variants that contains strong mateki in them. There was no room for carelessness.

"...... How very quiet."

The room was filled with an awkward silence. That was perhaps the usual atmosphere of the grand hall, but the usual silence which they should have used to, chilled their spines instead in their current situation.

"............ Leon."

Syun-rei muttered the name of the Sennenshi who was battling various floors beneath her. It was either due to her worrying about his safety, or her feeling uneasy from being separated - no, it was most probably due to both reasons.

"Don't worry, Syun-rei. I know very well about Leon's capabilities!"

Ymy gave a slight smile while patting on the shoulders of the girl, who had her head lowered.

She has already known Leon for over ten years. That silver haired young man has been competitive and strong ever since she knew him. She knew that better than anyone else in

Tenketsu Palace

.

Run and Meimel too. Everyone will be fine.

"Cheer up, okay? Since we are the last line of defense."

"............ Mmm, I'll do my best—"

Just as she was lifting her head up, Syun-rei stopped moving all of the sudden.

A drop of sweat streaked past Syun-rei's cheek, and dripped off her chin. Her black pupils turned light blue, a trait that signifies that she was currently using her powers of far-sight.

"............ It's a very strong mateki. It's flying...... and getting close."

***

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and seventy-sixth story, the floor of religious training for the Priestesses.

"At the right of the next junction. There's one thirty meters away, heading towards us."

At the same time when

machine crystal

had sounded her warnings, a gigantic Yuugenshu crawled into sight from the junction. Its huge body filled up the passageway, which could have easily accommodate multiple adults walking shoulder-to-shoulder at the same time.

— He could no longer evade sideways.

Two clawed front limbs suddenly appeared from within the mist that was covering its body.

Dodging the incoming limbs, Sheltis jumped into the air. He gave the chandelier in the ceiling a kick, resulting in countless glass shards raining on the head of the enemy. The Yuugenshu was distracted by the falling objects from above its head, and its movements slowed down just a little.

*—Kin!*

That brief window of opportunity had been locked on by the pair of violet colored swords.

After breaking through the erected mateki barrier, the twin swords crushed the Yuugenshu, along with its core, at the same time.

"...... With that, this floor should be done."

The Yuugenshu gradually disappeared with a sharp sound of shattering. Not pausing to witness the scene, Sheltis changed his direction immediately, and ran towards the emergency stairs located at about ten meters straight ahead of him.

"Sheltis, listen to me while you run."

"Hmm?"

"We are currently heading upwards at a really fast pace. You can say that it has surpassed my predicted speed. However, that is due to you straining yourself. I must warn you, that your breathing is slowly becoming irregular."

The

machine crystal

informed him composedly.

"Your mission is not just to reach the Grand Holy Hall, but to defeat the strongest body, which is the commanding Yuugenshu. It is best if you start to conserve your physical strength from now on."

"...... And so?"

"Didn't you notice the injuries located on your right shoulder and your back?"

Under the reminder of Ilis, he touched his right shoulders with his left hand. A piercing pain could be felt from his shoulder to his back, and his palm was smeared with his own blood.

He was inflicted with the injuries while fighting against the hoard of Yuugenshu at the lower levels.

"It may be a small scratch in the past, but you no longer have any shinryoku to protect yourself, thus resulting in the injuries being much more serious than before. Your shoulder and back were struck by the claws of the Yuugenshu, and the wound is probably deep enough to reach your bones."

Not just that. Upon a closer look, countless lacerations on his cheeks, arms and thighs were already swollen red. Sheltis' body was filled with injuries all over.

"You should have antihemorrhagic agent with you, right? We are about to face the commanding Yuugenshu. I advise you to proceed with the minimal amount of first aid to disinfect your wounds and stop them from bleeding. It will all be for nothing if you are to collapse here."

"............"

Sheltis did not reply. He continued running up the evacuation stairs quietly.

"Sheltis!"

"Sorry. However, I wish to spend those time on something else instead."

Should he continue moving like that, there is a chance for his wounds to widen from his movements, resulting in more bleeding. Even if that does not happen, the constant bleeding will cause a significant impact to his mobility. Despite knowing that, Sheltis continued running up the stairs, while enduring the sharp pain coming from his back.

"But, if you continue to ignore your wounds......"

"If there is enough time, I wish to apologize to Ymy."

Just one sentence will be enough. He hoped he has the time to apologize.

For leaving her alone, for not fulfilling his promise, and causing her to be uneasy. To apologize for all that.

"...... Ymy is not angry at you, you know?"

He himself knew that very well.

She is not that type of girl. He knew that more than anything else.

"However, I still think it is important. Since I am starting all over again, I wish for it to be perfect."

"You are really stubborn."

There was a slight teasing tone in the voice of

machine crystal

.

"I understand your personality very well. You are the type who will not budge once you have made your decision."

"I am sorry. You are just being considerate, and yet."

"I am used to it already. In return, don't complain when your wounds open up—"

Machine crystal

went silent all of the sudden. The timing was way too strange, so Sheltis had thought that she was suffering from a malfunction. However, the crystal portion was still flashing normally.

"The position of the commanding Yuugenshu is confirmed to be in the skies, five hundred meters above

Tenketsu Palace

— it's here."

Upon hearing that, Sheltis could feel the goosebumps on his back.

"Move quickly. Fortunately for us, there are no other readings of Yuugenshu at the higher floors. Let us head straight to the Grand Holy Hall located at two hundred and eighty-first story."

While listening to the cold echoes reverberating in the emergency passageway, Sheltis dashed upwards by leaping past roughly ten steps with each stride...... Breathing was really difficult - and it was a sort of heavy breathing not caused by fatigue.

It came from the pressure in anticipation of his fight against the commanding Yuugenshu. Should he lose,

Tenketsu Palace

will fall.

"Are you alright?"

"— I can still hold on."

He answered with a slight smile. The door leading to the two hundred and eighty-first story was just before his eyes.

Despite shouldering on the huge pressure, Sheltis had already prepared himself mentally.

"I see......"

"Ilis, what's wrong?"

The tone of

machine crystal

reminded him of a depressed Ymy.

"Sorry, Sheltis. There is still something that I cannot bring myself to tell you. Though I should have informed you about it earlier, but I still could not say it...... That is something which you do not know, as someone who has never stepped into the Grand Holy Hall before."

"What do you mean?"

"No, in any case, try activating the door in front of us first. What happens next will be up to fate."

As Ilis urged on, Sheltis gently pushed the door of the emergency passage.

The door opened easily. Having heard Ilis' hesitant speech, he had thought that the door would be locked up.

"Just enter via the Sacred Door of the Grand Holy Hall in front of you."

A huge door appeared in front of him - a door that no one could refrain from looking up at it in awe.

The metallic door was decorated with solemn yet clear carvings. The whole door was giving off a pale blue glow.

"A door protected by shinryoku?"

"...... The door is not locked. Try opening it."

*—Zzzzzz...... zz......*

"What the......!"

Suddenly, blueish white sparks similar to lightning was given off. He barely resisted the impact, which nearly blew him off. His hands were indeed repelled by the doors just now.

"............ Could it be, 'Elbert Resonance'......? But at a time like this......!"

Ignoring his burnt hands, Sheltis stared at the door before him.

Elbert Resonance.

The shinryoku of humans and mateki of Yuugenshu are two forces with totally opposite properties. When an especially strong shinryoku comes into contact with an equally strong mateki, a phenomenon will occur. The two forces will repel each other similar to the like poles of a magnet, and will even cause distortion to the laws of physics, resulting in the release of sparks.

"As I had thought...... the worst case scenario has happened."

"Ilis, what's the meaning of this?"

"The Sacred Doors of the Grand Holy Hall, holds power that is just a level lower than that of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Meaning to say, this tightly shut door, is actually a strong shinryoku barrier by itself."

"I can see that! What I want to know is—"

"The reason for the repulsion...... Sheltis, it's because the mateki within you is overly powerful."

Mateki that is powerful enough to match the shinryoku of the Priestesses, and evoke Elbert Resonance.

"The barrier is just like a net. Smaller Yuugenshu possess weaker mateki, and thus they can slip past the holes of the net. That's because even if they pass through, they will not be much of a threat to the Priestesses or Sennenshi. However, you..... no, your mateki is viewed as a threat to the Priestesses."

The defense mechanism of the Grand Holy Hall had prevented him from passing through. Its standards for determining the rights to pass though, is if the person or thing possesses mateki that is strong enough to be of a threat to the Priestesses.

...... Just like back then.

Back when he was exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

. The mateki in him is viewed as a threat towards the Priestesses - no matter how much Ymy pleaded, the verdict did not change.

Everything was just like two years ago.

Ymy was just behind that door...... And the commanding Yuugenshu is about to strike......

"...... I'll never accept this!"

This was different from two years ago. Due to him having experienced the regret of two years ago, he had returned yet again. He would not give up at a place like this.

"I—!"

He lifted both swords in his hand, and swung them at the door.

A sizzling sound. At the instant the edges of the swords struck the door, the shinryoku barrier on the door would repel them back. The sparks created by Elbert Resonance hand burnt his limbs black.

"Sheltis!"

"...... Not yet! It's not over yet!"

Grabbing on to the twin swords with his injured arms, he struck at the door again and again. However, the twin swords, which could easily break past Yuugenshu's barrier, could not even make contact with the door. They were repelled by the light barrier just before contact.

...... What can be more ironic than that?

He had rushed here to protect the Priestess, and yet he was denied entrance by

Tenketsu Palace

, which viewed him as a threat to her.

In the next instant, the whole of

Tenketsu Palace

shook wildly.

A deafening sound of rupture. The vibration originated from ahead of him, which is the interiors of the Grand Holy Hall. It was so violent, it was as though the outer walls of

Tenketsu Palace

was blasted by a huge cannon.

"Could it be......"

Sheltis lifted his head to look upwards. The tremors had caused parts of the ceiling to peeled off in pieces.

"It's the commanding Yuugenshu. Seems like it has already crunched past the outer walls, and is infiltrating into the Grand Holy Hall—"

It was too late.

A cold shiver ran up his spine before his brain could even comprehend that.

"

—

Ymy!"

No matter how loudly he yelled, the tightly shut door prevented his voice from reaching in. That's right, regardless of his swords, his voice, or his longing for Ymy. Everything was crushed mercilessly by the door, and turned into nothing.

"...... Ilis!"

He shouted at

machine crystal

in a pleading voice.

"Ilis, anything will do! Is there anyway to open this door?"

After a moment of silence.

"The only way is to rid the mateki in your body, or—"

Machine crystal

said wryly.

"To look at it from another point of view, you will have to obtain powers that are on par with the shinryoku that is protecting this door. In another words, you have to possess mateki of equal power to the shinryoku of Hyouketsu Kyoukai............ However, that is almost impossible

—"

...... Mateki that is of the same strength as the Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

Having heard the suggestions of the mumbling Ilis, Sheltis suddenly raised his head.

...... That's right, I remember hearing something about this back in the past.

Ymy had once told him that among the Queen and the Priestesses who are maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai, exists a song of prayers that is used to do just that. Since it is linked to the skies way above, the tower is named as

Tenketsu Palace

. And as it is a

melody

that is sung at the highest point of the tower, the song is thus named as '

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

'.

It is a song that maintains the functionality of the ultimate shinryoku barrier - Hyouketsu Kyoukai. And speaking of the thing that is on equal terms with it, it must be something that exists within the

Garden of Corrupted Song

—

Garden of Corrupted Song

's............

melody

......?

"...... I've got it."

Sheltis raised his head subconsciously.

"What are you talking about, Sheltis?"

...... That was something that happened back when I had fallen into the deepest levels of

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

On that day

At the ends of the world—

I had definitely heard the song that flows through the

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

"I've got it...... There is a way, Ilis."

Letting go the swords in his hands, Sheltis focused at the door in front of him.

"What's wrong? Could it be......"

"— I have found the way to open the door."

That's right. The answer lies back then.

At the bottom of

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

***

Along with a crumbling sound, the outer wall of

Tenketsu Palace

was reduced to rubble, scattering all over the floor.

"............"

Despite all the rubble next to her feet, Ymy continued to focus her sight on the enemy that had appeared, following the destruction of the wall.

A pair of wings, and four thick limbs, and a lizard-like head that stretched out from within the deep purple mist.

This is a Yuugenshu which is very similar to the dragons that flew outside of the floating continent. Her body was probably about as large as the feet of the Yuugenshu. She would probably be crushed straight away if she was stepped by it.

"...... No."

Cold sweat was forming behind her neck. Up until then, they had faced quite a number of strong Yuugenshu, but none of the Yuugenshu was as overwhelming as the monster in front of them. Their face went pale.

...... No, I can't be scared. Because I am a Priestess who protects

Tenketsu Palace

.

Clenching her trembling hands, Ymy took a step forward towards the Yuugenshu.

A Priestess can still fight.

The baptism powers of shinryoku that can purify mateki - if that can strike the Yuugenshu directly, she would be able to defeat it. Spells of baptism are what she is the best at. She was confident that she could handle any Yuugenshu.

— However, the monster had already made its first move.

Oe/ Dia =U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele

<■■……■，■■■，■……■……■■■，■，■……■>

"Mateki!"

*Zzzzzz* A sound of electrical discharge rang, and a cursed tone came out of the mouth of the Yuugenshu. Violet flashes of light engulfed the surroundings. The tiny thread-like rays of light entwined with each other, gradually forming into a light wave.

The floors, walls and ceilings were dyed black and slowly decaying, when coming into contact with the rays of mateki. There was no time to dodge - in the blink of an eye, the mateki had already crept close to her feet—

Just then.

A freezing cold and strong bouts of headache assaulted her.

"...... Ugh...... Ahhh......!"

In the Grand Holy Hall filled with poisonous rays of light, Ymy collapsed onto her knees. If she had possessed shinryoku of the strength of an ordinary human, all the cells in her would have already been corrupted and decayed.

"...... B-...... But......!"

Willing her weakened body, Ymy stood up again. No problems, I can still take this. I will probably not survive from the long exposure under the lights of mateki, but before that—

*...... Thud*

From her side, came a soft sound of someone collapsing.

"Syun-rei!"

The young girl had fallen to her side, her eyes closed tightly, and her greyish green lips were trembling non stop. Impossible. No matter how strong the mateki was, she could not have collapsed that quickly—

At the place of her collapse, another black stain was expanding from near her feet.

"— There's another one?"

Ymy began to activate the spell of baptism, to purify the floor Syun-rei was lying on. Under the purging lights, the Yuugenshu hiding in the floor gave a painful cry, then disappeared.

...... So there is another one hidden here.

Due to the surprise attack from below her feet, Syun-rei's barrier became unstable for a brief moment. The commanding Yuugenshu did not let that opportunity past by, and forced itself in.

"............ I am...... alright."

Syun-rei attempted to push herself up with both of her hands — how could she be fine? Her face were deathly pale, and the beads of sweat were falling off her forehead like a waterfall.

*Uuoooooooo............ Oooooooooooa..................*

The thundering roar of the Yuugenshu caused a nauseating feeling to swell up in them. At the same time, a strange sound came - it sounded like the buzzing of the wings of an insect, only to be magnified louder by a hundred times. The sound gradually closed in, and gathered at the hole of the wall of the Grand Holy Hall.

That's right. It came from the hole which the commanding Yuugenshu had gnawed off.

A roar of the wind. Beyond the hole, was an endless stretch of clouds and the sky, together with the azure horizon.

Through the hole, groups of mist beasts squeezed into the Grand Holy Hall.

"It is summoning its allies......?"

One, two, three...... Lots of smaller Yuugenshu gradually appeared around the commanding Yuugenshu. Hiding their bodies within the shroud of mist, they expressed their hostility with those crimson eyes of theirs.

More than ten Yuugenshu were there, with the commanding Yuugenshu leading the pack.

Their mouth gave off the cursed tones at the same time.

"Ugh!"

Ymy began casting the purifying spells to clean away the mateki.

*...... Sa*

She could hear the sound of the black haired Priestess collapsing onto her shoulder. She had not fainted yet, but it was already difficult to retain her consciousness—

...... As expected, Syun-rei could not concentrate on controlling her spells in such a situation.

On the other hand, Ymy was preparing a highly effective baptism spell which had a narrow area of effect, which can only cure the mateki on her body. If so—

"Syun-rei!"

Upon understanding that, Ymy hugged onto Syun-rei tightly. She turned her to face the Yuugenshu with her back, and positioned herself to shield Syun-rei. Also, she changed the target of her spell to Syun-rei as well.

"Ymy?"

"Don't worry, just grab onto me quickly!"

"............ No........... Stop now............ Ymy will die."

Facing a struggling Syun-rei, Ymy hugged her even more tightly.

"Syun-rei, listen to me. Don't move."

As her friend, and not as a Priestess, she was really unwilling to lose Syun-rei.

...... Because, she is a friend whom I have made, after much difficulty.

...... I don't want to be separated from my friends again. The empty feeling which I had felt two years ago, when Sheltis left

Tenketsu Palace

. I don't want to experience it ever again.

"............ No............ You can't............ Ymy...... stop."

"——"

Ymy bit hard on her lips, but she had no intention of loosening her arms that were hugging Syun-rei.

Behind her, were countless Yuugenshu, and the evil glow of mateki.

............ Is there really no hope?

............ Will everything end here?

If she was to collapse, then

Tenketsu Palace

will lose the Priestesses who can maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Along with the vanishing of the barrier, the floating continent will be totally annihilated by the attacks of the Yuugenshu.

............ Please, anyone will do......

............ Someone who has the ability to protect everyone on the floating continent......

............ I beg of you—!

Strange. The face that flashed past her mind, was not that of a Priestess, nor the Queen's, nor any Sennenshi's. The face that took shape belonged to the boy, who is her childhood friend.

The blinding shine of mateki.

Lights of poison were released from the Yuugenshu before her.

— Just then.

In the radiating Grand Holy Hall, rang the sound of that melody.

Mateki

— '

Seventh True Rythym

'.

Oe/ Dix shel =E, pile noa myizis egic

Oe/ Dix shel =E, cross Kyel solit xes Miqis I

At that instant.

All Yuugenshu stopped moving.

clar dackt, mihas /x-madel, elmei valen lihit ti-o yulis

Sera, X ele slin kyel cielis cley

xeos loar sis flan-s-keen, Nel sis hiz tinny xes riris tes Zalah

A heart-wrenching melody that seemed to have gathered the pains and sufferings of all human beings. Despite that, there was a feeling of nostalgia at the same time, and the song was gradually filling up the emptiness in the heart—

...... Could this be a form of mateki as well?

kamis wire /x-gorn zay nazalis rei

Nid hiz loar nec cross-Oz-yulis noa missis ciel

It was totally different from the curses of Yuugenshu that she had heard up until now.

Ymy knew of another extremely similar melody. That's right, isn't that the '

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

' that us Priestesses have been singing?

It forms a contrasting tone to the gentle and loving '

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

'.

Just like a pair of wings. Two faces of the same coin.

Oe/ hypne Xe yanhe, ria ole /en-dackt stery

Oe/ iden Xe uirse, ria elmei valen

Oe/ kills Xe haul, ria mihas /x-madel zayxus

...... But, how could this be?

It's neither the melody, nor the lyrics. What Ymy had noticed, was the 'voice' singing it.

That was definitely not the sound given out by the Yuugenshu.

"...... It can't be............"

She couldn't believe it for a moment. The singing voice was owned by the young man whom she was most familiar with. His voice—

=E mille- Ye-hypn pheno =E Mil kiss hiz qelno, belit elmei Eden cia iden

ris-ia sophia, X ele dia kyel ririsis Uls

The door of the Grand Holy Hall slowly opened, along with a dull sound.

The door with powers that nearly rivals that of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. The sacred door which Yuugenshu can never open, had actually released its own seal.

As though the seals of the door has always been waiting for the moment, when a tone like that would be sung.

Oe/ sia Eden, Ole ele, Selah pheno sia-s Orbie Cley

On the other ends of the opened door, stood a young man.

Tea-red colored hair, with an expression that was pure, intimidating, and with a hint of shyness at the same time.

"............."

The young man slowly turned his body.

Ymy had forgotten to even breathe.

Because...... the man in front of her, was the person who had left

Tenketsu Palace

back then—

"Sorry, Ymy. I have...... made you wait for a long time."

With that, the young man gave a gentle smile.

The injuries on his body had dyed his shoulder red. His cheeks, arms and legs were all covered with countless scars. Even his breathing seemed laborious as well, as he required the heaving of his shoulders to assist in doing so. That look of his was not cool at all, and one could even say it was embarrassing to look at. However—

He was still smiling. His smile was cheerful, without a hint of gloominess.

"............ Ah...... ah......"

The fluid flowing out of her eyes were gradually obscuring her sight.

No matter how much she tried to hold it in, the tears just would not stop flowing. The tight sensation inside her had disappeared in an instant. Despite the fact that nothing has ended...... but as long as he was there, it just felt like she had protected the most important thing to her.

The young man with twin swords in his hands, who had sworn to be her Sennenshi.

...... You have finally came.

Sheltis Magna Yehle was standing right there.

With that, the frozen time started spinning.

The mateki of Yuugenshu resumed their flow, and an ominous glow lit up the whole Grand Holy Hall. However, the young man with twin swords had already dashed into the hall a step earlier than them.

Two bright slashes flashed through.

The sword in his right shattered the mateki and the barrier, while the sword in his left blew the crystal core of the Yuugenshu into smithereens. Seeing that their mateki barrier was rendered ineffective, the remaining Yuugenshu fall into a state of panic. Sheltis rode on the opportunity to destroy the three crystal cores of Yuugenshu to his left and right, and back.

The young man moved at a blazing pace, and did not pause anywhere for even a second. The high speed massacre looked like a blur from afar.

"............. Amazing."

Having witnessed the swordplay and abilities of the young man, Syun-rei exclaimed in full of praise, while looking on at the side.

*—Kin!*

Avoiding the pounces from the Yuugenshu coming from all sides, Sheltis jumped on the candle-stands at the side walls, then leaped upwards to the ceiling. He then somersaulted in mid air, and landed behind the hoard of Yuugenshu.

The twin swords gave off a blinding flash of light.

In the blink of an eye, all the crystal cores of the smaller Yuugenshu were smashed, and they disappeared into thin air one by one.

The only one left was the commanding Yuugenshu.

However, the huge Yuugenshu was nowhere to be seen when the young man turned his body.

"............ It disappeared?"

Syun-rei looked at her surroundings with unease. The commanding Yuugenshu had disappeared without any traces or sound. Where could it have escaped to? Even Ymy, who was watching everything from a further distance away, had no idea about that.

Just then, the loud sounds of flapping wings came from the hole in the wall of the Grand Holy Hall.

"It's outside the Grand Holy Hall. It has abandoned this place, and is planning to directly attack the Queen at the highest level!"

The

machine crystal

at his chest was flashing intensely.

As the Queen was focusing on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai, she was in an absolutely defenseless state. Queen Salah, the person who is constantly concerned about the floating continent, and sacrifices her everything in order to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai — she is about to come under attack......

"—Sheltis!"

Ymy shouted out loudly to the young man in front of her, after having realized that.

She knew that it was extremely selfish of her, to be requesting something like that, from the young man who had been exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

.

...... However, I still wish to depend on him.

Because he is the only one here who can do it? No, that's wrong. Even if Leon or Run is here, I...... I'll still make my request to him.

A Priestess have to entrust her everything to her one and only Sennenshi.

— I have finally understood the meaning behind those words.

"Sheltis...... Please!"

Ymy shouted.

She was shouting to the person who she had been looking for all these while, the young man whom she can entrust her everything to.

"Please protect Queen Salah...... No, please protect the floating continent that everyone lives on!"

Her voice was nearly drowned by the raging winds that were blowing into the hole.

She did not know if her hoarse voice had reached the ears of the young man. However, Sheltis had definitely turned his head back to look at her into her eyes—

...... Sheltis smiled?

After a short pause, the young man jumped through the hole, and out of

Tenketsu Palace

.

***

His could only hear the howling winds.

There was not a single day where the winds do not blow in the floating continent. The higher one goes, the stronger the winds get. The winds at the highest story of

Tenketsu Palace

is strong enough to easily blow an adult off his feet.

Sheltis was outside

Tenketsu Palace

- two thousand meters in the air. The unfiltered rays of the sun shone into his eyelids, while his body was swaying to the winds.

He continued rising with just a single leap off the grounds.

— Found it.

The commanding Yuugenshu which was located at the airspace much higher than he was, and flying towards the highest story.

However, he had stopped rising after confirming the position of the enemy. After all, what was propelling him upward was just the single leap off the Grand Holy Hall.

Under the influence of gravity, his body slowly began to fall.

Below him, were the fluffy sea of clouds. He could faintly see the buildings scattered on the ground via the gaps.

"Sheltis, act quickly!"

Acting on the reminder of Ilis, Sheltis stabbed the sword in his left hand into the walls of

Tenketsu Palace

. Using the sword as an bar, he pulled his body upwards with a single hand.

"This is your only chance left to jump. Good luck."

With that, Sheltis stepped on the hilt of his sword, and sprang upwards into the sky again.

The final leap. Riding on the winds that were blowing upwards of

Tenketsu Palace

, the young man was flung up high by the additional thrust, and he traveled to the head of the Yuugenshu.

At the same time when he passed the Yuugenshu, the sword in his right flashed violently, and swung out at the wings of the enemy with precision.

*—Kin!*

A dull sound rang. The sword, which had been killing Yuugenshu with a single blow, was actually repelled off.

There was a brown-yellowish luster on the wings of the monster. The cause of that was the countless reversed-scales, which formed a protective armor that is many times stronger than steel. Ordinary physical attacks will never inflict damage on it.

The enemy swung its front limbs. There was no need to confirm that with his own eyes - Sheltis could already tell from the expressions of the monster.

He switched the sword to his left hand, to counter the incoming blow. As the tip of the blade parried the limbs with ugly claws, his whole arm gave off a weird sound immediately. A great surge of pain followed as his body flew off from the impact. The sound was either his shoulder blade or muscles tearing, or perhaps it was the sound of both.

As he could not negate the force of the blow, he was smashed straight into the outer walls of the tower - just as he had noticed that, an overwhelming impact spread through his body, which nearly caused his breathing to come to a stop.

"...... Ugh....... Gya......!"

"Sheltis!"

He had not much strength left in him to reply to Ilis.

The shoulder and back which he had injured earlier below, was giving off an incredible pain.

"...... I...... I am fine!"

The area around his shoulders were already dyed crimson red, but the young man still grabbed onto his sword. He propelled himself off the dent in the wall with the tip of his foot, and shot above the head of the commanding Yuugenshu again.

— I can't lose...... because...... this is the reason why I have came here!

A flash of the sword.

His target was the base of the Yuugenshu's wing, and it was the exact same place that he had struck earlier. The first impact had destroyed the defensive scales of the wing - this time, the sword of the young man had sliced the wing off.

*————Ziiiii!*

The monster roared in anger. At the same time, its body began releasing the radiance of mateki.

Locking on to the young man, who could not evade in mid air, the corrosive and poisonous rays of light began to wrap around him layer by layer - it's mateki, the unique powers of Yuugenshu. The strongest attack.

However, the Yuugenshu could see very clearly. In the midst of the purple ball of light, the sword of the young man was shining exceptionally bright.

On it, was the azure crystals that held the shinryoku of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, as well as the lights of mateki.

Two rays of light which should absolutely not be compatible with each other, were actually appearing on the sword at the same time.

"I heard you, Ymy!"

In the next instant, Sheltis swung out the sword in his right hand.

The crystal core of the commanding Yuugenshu broke, and scattered into dust amidst a bell-like sound. At the same time, the huge body of the Yuugenshu turned into mist, and slowly disappeared into thin air.

{4}

Taking another look into the interiors of the Grand Holy Hall, one would never associate the scene with the word 'tranquil'.

The carpet on the floor were peeling off from the decay, while the lights on the ceiling had turned into a molten mess of corrosion. The candle-stands on the walls were bent due to the erosion from mateki.

— However, they were not too late.

Ymy and the Priestess in kimono attire were standing together at the center of the room. They did not suffer from any direct injuries, and the pains from mateki seemed to be disappearing as well.

That's right, I have finally protected the person most important to me.

But, why was it so? Even though everything had already came to an end, the anxiety gripping his heart did not seem to be waning. No, instead, that sort of feeling was becoming more intense, while he stood in front of her—

"Urm...... Look......"

Suppressing his painful and wildly beating heart, Sheltis squeezed his voice out.

Sheltis had no idea what he should be saying, as he faced Ymy, who had her head lowered. Despite trying his hardest to come up with something to say, the words were cut off when it reached his mouth.

"...... You are alright...... that's really great."

No, that's not it. That's not what he wanted to say. Despite knowing that, that sort of ordinary speech was all he could muster. But on the other hand, he was really glad he could finally say something.

"............"

The girl was still lowering her head, and she spoke not a single word.

"Oh...... yeah, Ymy's a Priestess now. To be speaking with you like this...... for an ordinary person like me, that is just asking for too much."

He had saved

Tenketsu Palace

from the unprecedented danger. Ymy was fine too. As long as she can continue maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai, the floating continent will be safe. For someone who was forced out of

Tenketsu Palace

, that was quite an astounding feat already.

....... I actually want to tell her badly, that I want everything to start all over again.

But that wish would never be granted. The danger had subsided, and the situation in

Tenketsu Palace

was gradually stabilizing.

So, it was time for him to go back. As an outsider, he could not stay in

Tenketsu Palace

for too long.

"Ymy...... Sorry, but I cannot stay in

Tenketsu Palace

much longer. I..... am going back."

He turned around, his back facing the two Priestesses, and began walking towards the door of the Grand Holy Hall.

"...... Don't go."

He had only realized that it came from Ymy, upon seeing her trying to open her trembling lips.

"I-...... Idiot...... Sheltis you huge idiot! Why...... why......"

A huge tear appeared on her lashes, and her words nearly turned into a whimper. However, the young girl continued to clench her fists tightly, and held back by clenching her teeth.

"It's so unfair...... I...... I thought you are finally willing to see me again...... And yet...... you are planning to leave without saying anything? To think that I...... has always been waiting for you......"

Sheltis finally understood.

Even though she had became a Priestess, the girl in front of him still has not changed one bit.

Even after becoming a Priestess, the girl in front of him is still waiting for him all these while.

"...... Ymy."

"Welcome back...... You have finally returned here."

The young girl opened her arms, and began walking slowly towards Sheltis with a soft smiling expression.

In the silent hall, the two reached out their hands at each other, and their fingertips touched - just then.

At the same time, both young man and young girl remembered the tragedy two years back.

*— Zzzz...... zzz......*

At the intersection between their hands, blueish-white sparks that were similar to electricity, began to form.

"............ Uhh!"

The pain was so intense that they could not even cry out in pain, so who was the one who gave a moan?

Their tightly clasped hands parted reflexively, and all that remained were the barely connecting fingertips. However, the blueish-white sparks burnt their fingertips yet again.

Elbert Resonance.

When an overly strong shinryoku comes into contact with mateki, the law of physics will be twisted. Electrical discharge will be released in the air, punishing the two parties for coming into contact with burning flames.

*— Zzzz...... zzz......*

The electric-esque flames mercilessly burned their reunited fingertips.

"Ah......!"

The young girl gave a silent cry of shock, and was pushed away by a strong force.

"Ymy!"

"............ Ah...... haha......"

What replied him, was a stiff laughter.

*Plop*

A bright red fluid dripped off the fingertip of the young girl. A thin red thread sank to the side of her feet, forming a pool of red liquid.

"...... It's the same...... two years ago......?"

The originally silent Ymy lifted her head for the first time. At the same time, Sheltis finally realized what that fluid was.

It was blood.

Blood flowing from the burns of her hands, caused by the repulsion of mateki and shinryoku.

"...... Strange...... we had not done anything bad, right...... So...... why..........."

A liquid flowed yet again, this time from her face.

The second liquid were sparkling, transparent drops of water.

"Ymy?"

The young girl collapsed onto her knees. Tears flowed out of her eyes continuously, like an endless stream of water.

"Why...... can't both of us...... do something as simple...... as holding hands...... Ahahaha............"

The young girl did not made any attempt to hide her face, which was in a mess due to her slight smile and her tears. She cast away all her reservations, and said her heartfelt words.

The young girl who maintains the barrier, and is the center figure of the world; The young man who possesses mateki, and is ostracized by the world.

The two who could not touch each other, were ultimately stuck in their current position.

"...... It's really strange isn't it? Towards you, I am actually that—"

The end of that sentence was drowned in her cries.

The young girl stood up again.

However, her sight was not directed at the young man. Rather, it was directed to the black haired girl, who is similarly, a Priestess like her.

"............ Ymy."

"I know. It is already time."

The absolute time limit to the Queen's maintenance of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. The ones in charge of taking over were the two Priestesses in front of him. Meaning to say, Ymy would have to head to the highest story of the tower.

She turned around, and began walking slowly towards the elevator.

With an indescribable melancholy, Sheltis gripped tightly onto his burnt fingers.

...... Could it be...... that we are about to be separated like this?

No, definitely not. Ymy must not have wished for such an ending as well.

"Sheltis, sorry—"

"Ymy!"

Looking at the back of the young girl, Sheltis squeezed out his remaining voice. He could not totally express his feelings in the little remaining time. Thus, he said only a single line.

"I...... will definitely not lose to the mateki within me!"

The body corrupted by mateki. He had sunk into a state of despair two years ago, due to that situation of his.

He wished to start from all over again. Even with a body occupied by mateki, for the current him...... no, that's not right. There must be things that only the current him can do.

"My body may have became like this, but I will never be defeated by such a curse! So..... I hope you can wait for me. I will definitely return back to your side!"

And this time, I must succeed.

To reach the distance, where we can touch each other with our fingertips.

"............"

Ymy did not turn her head as she walked towards the elevator.

However, his voice had definitely reached her clearly.

### 009. Resolution Chapter: Shouten

Enjoy.

********************

— Ice cold rain.

The pain seems to go deep into the marrows just by being drenched by it. It was as though crystallized ice had rained down...... That was how icy the downpour was.

The crazy torrents were like tears of heaven, that nearly chiseled through the roofs. From the surrounding came the sound of rumbling water, which had exceeded what should be the sound of rainfalls - calling it a waterfall would have been more appropriate.

For how long had it been raining?

The rainfall from the distant borders of the sky had already broken all previous records. However, the rain did not seem to be waning at all.

*da*

The sound of the dripping water reverberated in the cold, bright night sky.

"The young man rejected by the world, and the young girl at the center of the world. Will the two get back together once again, after being forcefully separated two years ago—"

Beneath the stars high up in the sky, a silhouette of a woman was fiddling her black hair enticingly.

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and ninety-first story - the highest level.

She was in the center of the vortex of raging winds. She was standing on the tip of the tower, which is about as wide as a pin, with the tip of her foot — this lady was standing on the highest point of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"This torrential rain is similar to that of two years ago. Is this just a coincidence?"

Her luscious lips curled upwards with a light smile. She lifted her head to look at the pitch dark sky that was releasing rain.

—A mysterious scene.

The rain bounced away from the lady's body while shining in bright light, before it even managed to strike on her.

As though there was an invisible barrier of light that separated her from the rain.

"Do you still remember? The night when you and I met in the heavy rain - the night that is the prelude to everything."

Beneath her, was a landscape consisting of countless dots of light from the living sector, flickering non stop.

There is no stairs that leads to the tip of the tower. How would she go down? No, actually, how did she get up there in the first place? These questions seemed to be of no importance to her, as she continued to stand silently on that place.

"Fufu...... well well. It seems like my skills have deteriorated quite a bit in the past two years where I have been protecting you under the guise of surveillance. Don't you agree, Sheltis?"

The woman was talking happily.

She gently encircled both her arms around her abdomen, and lifted her seductive breasts.

"However, considering that the process is not too boring, but instead, interesting, I'll not fuss too much about it. Since it is the undisputed truth that the floating continent has been awaiting your return."

Her gaze went even further into the skies.

She opened her arms wide, as though to entrust her tall slender body to the winds.

"This rain, this night - everything is the same as back then. Therefore, Sheltis. Representing the whole of the floating continent, I hereby welcome you again."

And then, Tsali looked into the ends of the skies.

"Welcome back. Oh young man, who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, and returned back to the floating continent. For a thousand years, the frozen paradise have always been waiting for you—"

### 010. Epilogue: And so the young man aims for the tower

Annnnnd, I am done with Vol 1, one week earlier than initially scheduled.

Thanks to Alice and Merc for following through the proofreading. Also,

Crazy Cake!

for the raws.

I personally enjoyed this series a lot, but I am not quite sure how the rest will feel about it. Generally, you can pretty much grasp the writing style of the author in this volume. Character/plot development, and fights in the last part. That's the basic flow of Tasogareiro (except for the last 3 volumes or something) and the first 3 vols of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, so expect something similar to this in vol 2.

Also, I'll resume on Onii-ai and try to finish it asap. Then I'll have to do my internship report, before starting on Hyouketsu Kyoukai vol 2, and a test run on Sayonara Piano Sonata.

Feel free to post your opinions about the series here, as well as any comments and constructive criticisms in regards to my translations.

********************

Outdoor cafe, '

The Two Swans

'.

The cafe, which faces the main street of the Second Residential Sector, was filled with its regulars early in the morning.

"Chef— A red-tea set for table number three!"

"Thanks for your help, Yuto."

In contrast with the fully filled seats, there were only three people working in the shop. They were Eyriey and Chef, who were both busy in the kitchen, as well as Yuto, who came to help temporarily.

"Yuto is really hardworking. You will be able to rest soon, so do your best!"

"Ehehe—"

Yuto ran off happily after being praised with a pat on her head.

"Speaking of which...... Eyriey, is Sheltis taking a paid leave for today as well?"

Chef asked with a sigh, while planting her hands on her hips.

"He says he is still tired, and wants to rest for another day."

"That's rare, for Sheltis to be that tired. I thought being energetic is his strength."

"Well, you can't really blame him for this time."

As she stopped decorating the salad, Eyriey showed a wry smile.

...... There is probably no one who will believe it.

That the young man working in such an ordinary cafe, is actually the same person who has saved the Priestesses of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"But still—! Even though you are tired!"

She hugged the tray, and clenched her fist—

"Sheltis you idiot! Going to sleep by yourself and leaving all the work to me! That's unfair!"

Eyriey shouted into the staff passageway.

"Sheltis, are you skipping work for today as well?"

"...... It's a paid leave."

In the staff's hostel.

The tea-red haired young man was currently lying on his bed. He opened his eyes, and his sight landed on

machine crystal

, which was on the necklace in front of his chest.

"Then again, you went too wild this time."

"............"

"In order to destroy all Yuugenshu on the other levels, you had caused your body to suffer from plenty of injuries. Also, if not for my guidance, we won't even know if you can take the right route in

Tenketsu Palace

, and reach the commanding Yuugenshu in time."

"...... Urm, how should I put it......"

"In the end, your whole body is aching all over from the lack of regular exercise. You can only be resting in bed like this, for these three days."

"............ Uh...... things like this......"

"I've heard that Leon has resumed his own training regime the day after the battle was over, as though nothing had happened in the first place."

"......"

"There really is not a single redeeming quality in you, Sheltis."

"Shut up."

He turned over, and buried his face into the pillow—

"However, you are undoubtedly the one who has protected Ymy. You should be proud of yourself for that, you know?"

Machine crystal

said that in a slightly teasing voice. She then continued.

"The three days period of praying for the Priestesses is already over. From today onward, the Queen shall resume the maintenance of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. You can go to see Ymy again."

That's right. It had already been three days since the collapse of Hyouketsu Kyoukai and the invasion of Yuugenshu.

Thinking back, if felt as though the catastrophe had just happened yesterday. The contamination of the streets, as well as the destruction - however, human beings are still living on. Everyone was working hard to purify the contaminated roads, as well as repairing the destroyed facilities.

"That is the case, but...... it just feels a little embarrassing."

The scene at

Tenketsu Palace

, where he saw off Ymy. As the two of them did not have the chance to speak with each other properly, it felt a little awkward to be looking for her now.

"You are a really spineless man."

"I'll go. I'll go...... but give me some time to prepare myself mentally."

Just then, cheers could be heard in the direction of the cafe.

"Hmm? What's happening?"

Sheltis got up from bed, and listened intently towards the cafe. What was happening? It felt like there was a sort of uproar or something.

"Oi— Sheltis."

He could hear a flurry of steps, and the door of his room opened. A girl in overalls and apron popped her head into the room.

"What's up, Eyriey?"

"You have a visitor. Well then, I'll make my move. You two take your time."

A visitor? He did not remember arranging to meet with anyone today - just as he was confused about the situation, a girl walked slowly into the room.

She was wearing a huge sun hat, coupled with a white dress. Her face was obscured by the shadows of the hat, but her long hair was giving off a golden luster from the rays of the lights.

"May I ask...... who are you?"

"............"

The young girl did not say a word. Suddenly, without warning, she grabbed a small cushion from the chair, and threw it at Sheltis with all her strength.

"Wait! W-Whoa.....! What's with this?"

"Idiot, I thought you will be there at

Tenketsu Palace

...... I've waited there for nearly a day, and yet you don't seem to be appearing anytime soon!"

The girl seemed furious. Beneath the hat, was the face of the girl that he is familiar with.

"...... Ymy?"

For a while, Sheltis could not believe that she was standing right in front of him.

It would be easy for her to find out where he is living at. However, as the Priestess of

Tenketsu Palace

, there should not be much chances for Ymy to visit the living sector.

"Follow me."

"Eh?"

"Stop asking, and just come with me!"

Seeing that Ymy had already started walking away, Sheltis could only follow behind her.

She stepped into a dark alley via the back door for staff, and headed off in the direction of north. The looks of her silent back suggested that Ymy was still fuming with anger.

"...... Ymy, are you angry at me?"

At that instant, Ymy stopped in her tracks.

"I had prayed for Hyouketsu Kyoukai for three days, thinking that a certain someone will be there waiting for me once I am done with it. However, I had waited and waited, and the person just would not appear."

The young girl showed the side of her face. Her eyes were puffy from fatigue.

...... So she has been waiting for me all this time.

The Priestesses cannot eat or sleep, as they prayed continuously for the whole of three days to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Despite her being in a state of exhaustion, Ymy still suppressed her fatigue and waited for his visit with anticipation.

"...... Sorry."

"It's fine. Actually, I am not really angry."

As she took off her hat, Ymy flashed a mischievous smile.

"It has been a long time since I have been to the living sector. Due to me being confined in

Tenketsu Palace

, I am really glad to be able to take a stroll like this."

The young girl sounded especially delighted.

"...... Oh right, can I ask you something?"

That was something concerning her. For the past three days, Sheltis was really concerned about it.

"Is Hyouketsu Kyoukai alright? Should it be breached again the next time—"

"We have changed the wavelength of the shinryoku used in the barrier, so the same method of breaking through Hyouketsu Kyoukai should not work again. Also, even though it is an additional burden to us, we have added in yet another cycle of rites into the spell of the barrier."

Ymy said tirelessly.

"Sorry, I can't understand a single thing which you had just said."

"Fufu, am I more and more like a Priestess already?"

She made a spin on the spot, and her dress flared along with her motion.

Different from the vestment, that attire should be something that is worn while in disguise. The cheers back at the cafe should be the civilians realizing her real identity.

"...... Speaking of which, where are we going?"

"It's a secret. But it is not a place to be suspicious about."

The two of them walked through the empty alleys, and moved forward one step at a time. The dark alleys were definitely nowhere near 'clean', but there were still a bounce in her every step.

— A place where no one can see them, a time spent where no one can disturb them.

How long has it been, since the last time they had walked together by themselves like this? Sheltis thought to himself: the reason for Ymy picking that route, was probably due to her thinking of the same thing as him.

As they walked on.

Unknowingly, a tall tower which shoots into the sky, appeared before Sheltis.

"Alright, we are here."

As she stood before the pristine white tower, Ymy opened her arms out wide.

"

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"Yes. Follow me."

The place which is surrounded by huge protective walls. She walked to the main gate. None of the guards at the entrance were surprised at his presence - perhaps they were already informed about it before hand.

"Sorry for waiting. I've brought him here!"

A huge space covered by fresh turfs of grass.

As she went through the main gate, Ymy waved at the four people before her.

"That's quick."

The silver haired young man, who was standing with his arms crossed, was the first person to greet back with a raise of his arm.

"Leon?"

"It's Syun-rei. She really wish to thank you."

Behind the bitterly smiling Leon, was an extremely shy black haired girl. Sheltis remembered that she was the Priestess who was together with Ymy at the Grand Holy Hall.

"...... Uh...... Urm...... Thank...... you......"

After gently bowing her head as thanks, the young girl hastily hid herself behind Leon's back again.

"Hi— we meet again. You are Sheltis huh?"

A young girl in the coat of Sennenshi was greeting him from the side without reservations.

"Eh? You are the girl back at the Third Living Sector?"

"Yes, name's Run. Thanks to you knocking my subordinate out cold, there was not a single life lost! Well, about half of them are still in the hospital, but they should be up and running in about a week."

The girl gave a cheerful smile. Beside her, was a comparatively more mature lady dressed in a gown. She slowly walked towards him.

"That's right— I was really shocked when you appeared. Thanks for your help—"

Speaking with a slightly lazy tone, the lady gave a slight bow of appreciation.

"I am Priestess Meimel— nice to meet you. You are the childhood friend of Ymy, right? No wonder you had bathed with her since young—"

"...... Wa! Meimel, when had I said things like that?"

"Ara ara— isn't that the truth? Don't be so angry, Ymy."

The tall Priestess tried placating the fuming Ymy.

"Alright, joke's over - I am really grateful towards you. As the representative of all Priestesses, I thank you once again. Ymy had already told me about the things you had done to your credit. Also, Queen Salah wishes to thank you personally as well. I think there should be plenty of opportunity to see her personally, once you are living in

Tenketsu Palace

."

...... Living in

Tenketsu Palace

? What does she mean? I am an ordinary citizen living in the living sector, so I should not have the chance to see the Queen again.

"Ymy, what's going on?"

"You know, I was not the only one who was paying close attention to you, as you were heading to the peak of the tower."

Spinning the hat with her fingertip, Ymy winked suggestively.

"Just as Meimel had said, Syun-rei and I had informed Meimel and Run telepathically about how you have saved Syun-rei and me, as well as how you have defeated the commanding Yuugenshu. So, everyone here is a witness — go ahead, Leon."

"Oh right, I have nearly forgotten to return you this."

Leon tossed out something.

Under the bright sun, a glittering silver badge flew in an arc, before landing in Sheltis' hands.

A familiar name was carved on the badge.

"This is...... my badge?"

It was the badge confiscated from him two years ago. Sheltis thought it had already been destroyed.

"It took me, Ymy, Syun-rei, Meimel and Run quite a bit of effort - the five members of the highest positions in

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

> have banded together. Even though we could not retrieve back the deleted data of your past, we have still managed to get a place for you within the cadets of

Tenketsu Palace

. You will have to start from the lowest position."

Having heard all that, Sheltis took another look at his own badge.

The rank beneath his name was blank, while the date of entering the tower was the date of today. Beneath all that, was the carving of personal signature of the Queen. Which means—

"...... It can't be? But I...... can I really?"

Nervousness and shock caused him to speak in stutters.

As someone who was permanently expelled, he was about to become a guard of

Tenketsu Palace

yet again......

"Hurry up and return to my side. Training is hardly challenging without you as my opponent."

Leon tossed something else to him. There were two objects this time, and they were significantly bigger than his badge.

The hilts of the blades which he could not be more familiar with.

"Here's the swords you were using three years ago. It's not like I can do much with it."

After determining their traveling path with his eyes, Sheltis grabbed onto one sword in each of his hands. A sense of security came from their weight, along with their nostalgic touch.

"Of course, I will be in charge of reconstructing the blades. From today onward, I may be accompanying you for quite a long time. Don't ever leave me by myself and disappear for a few years again."

"...... Mmm."

He gently touched

machine crystal

with his fingertips.

"Sheltis."

Ymy pointed to the highest story of the tower.

"I am already a Priestess. Therefore—"

Following her line of sight.

Standing beneath

Tenketsu Palace

, Sheltis lifted his head to look at the tip of the tower as well.

"I will be waiting for you at the top. You must come quickly this time! Understand?"

The meaning behind those words may not be as simple as him reaching the highest story of the tower.

But to actually reach the highest class of guards of

Tenketsu Palace

, and be the person protecting the Priestesses of Orbie Clar - a Sennenshi.

— This time, I will wait for you to be my Sennenshi.

Ymy pointed to the sky. There was a sense of joy amid her shyness.

"...... Yeah."

Looking at her, Sheltis replied with a strong nod of his head. That's right, even if his body is carrying mateki, there are still things that only he himself can do. There, let's redo everything all over again.

It is fine starting from the lowest class, and it matters not regardless of how long he takes.

One day—

"I will reach there. This time, I must reach the peak of the tower."

## 02. Volume 2 - Forbidden Crystal

### 001. Prologue: It all begins on that day —young man—

Alright, time to resume Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

********************

"The time now is 24 hour and 00 minutes."

"Beginning special training of mock scenario #03."

"Confirming the location of enemies via far-sight, they are approaching us...... Here they come!"

I shouted towards the three guards in my team.

The place I was pointing to was the dense forest no more than ten meters in front of us. At the same time, I could feel a spine-chilling nervousness that was spreading throughout the team.

...... My lips felt so dry.

...... No, I must concentrate.

All of my three teammates lifted their weapons - great sword, broadsword, and heavy firearms. I clutched my chest tightly

My weapon is something that belongs only to me, and is different from the rest of the three. It is the arts of shinryoku of an apprentice-Priestess.

The next instance.

A dark purple mist erupted from within the dense forest.

"It's a Yuugenshu!"

I had no idea who shouted that.

The mist 'object' appeared from within the forest next, as though to answer the call of my teammate.

The mist was pulsating like a living thing. Its four limbs and head were hidden in the mist, and one could only see a pair of ruby-like eyes shining brightly.

Yuugenshu — an unknown existence came here after bypassing the barriers of the Priestesses. They originated from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, which is located ten thousand meters below the floating continent.

Until now, no one knows if they are a living thing or just an agglomeration of mist. Due to that mist-like appearance, us humans refer to them as 'Yuugenshu'.

zzz... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...... zzzzzz......

The grotesque monster pounced towards us.

Oe/ Dia =U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

A strange sound rang through the meadows, a sound that makes one associate it with the word 'curse'.

The purple mist surrounding the Yuugenshu gave off light like an amethyst. Not long after, these light gradually turned into rays thinner than strands of hair.

—Mateki.

Decay, venom, coma and mental destruction. It's a wave of curse that embodies all negative effects.

"Monica, erect the barriers, quick!"

One of my teammates called out my name, and I finally snapped back to reality.

...... I was distracted due to my nervousness.

"A-Alright!"

The rays wove themselves into a complicated spiral-shaped image, and the concentric circles were expanding outward. Just as it was about to engulf me, I sang a short verse of the prayers.

Sia Sec elis arc...... Is io Miel

A shinryoku barrier constructed using the special language of the Priestesses.

A power that can permeates miracles throughout the world, and is thus named as 'shinryoku'. It is a wave that appears as someone is praying, which can create all sorts of miracles - the source of energy of the barrier.

The transparent blue light expanded, as though it was blessing everyone—

But it was still too late.

The mateki of Yuugenshu was quicker, and struck onto us.

At that instance, the training ended.

"Time's up. Mock scenario #03 [Anti-Mateki training] ends right here."

"Results of damage caused by mateki - all members are dead, including apprentice-Priestess Monica. This constitutes as a 'fail'. Please submit your reports within three days."

A mechanical voice reported the results with a calm voice.

All that happened within an instant...... And it ended up as a failure, before I could do anything.

"Uh...... Urm...... I am really sorry!"

I apologized quickly to the three people who was smiling bitterly in front of me.

"Well, everyone's bound to fail some times, so don't take it to heart. Just reflect on it, and make sure it don't happen again."

The captain nudged the barrel of his machine gun onto the Yuugenshu with a *klang*.

Or more specifically, a mechanical dummy replicating the looks of a Yuugenshu. It's the same for the mateki - it was harmless rays of light created with the ingenious use of mist and black light.

"But Monica, should that be an actual battle, we would all be annihilated by the mateki of Yuugenshu already. Since you are an apprentice-Priestess, you should be able to handle the mateki of Yuugenshu."

"............ Right."

"It will be fine if you understand that. Alright, it's about time I go to sleep."

Everyone returned to their own rooms after the training. As for me, I ran out of the first floor of

Tenketsu Palace

, into the training grounds by myself.

It was late night, and most guards and apprentice-Priestesses of

Tenketsu Palace

should be sound asleep by then. Silently going to the training grounds in the middle of the night had already became something that I must do every single day.

"...... Is he here today as well?"

I secretly peeked out from the huge tree next to the training grounds—

*Kin!*

Two silver slashes of the swords cleaved through the dark.

...... There!

He was a guard wielding dual swords. A teenage boy with tea-red hair, wearing a black ceremonial clothing. His slim, slender frame of a teenage boy was coupled with a slightly childlike and androgynous face. He was probably as old as me - somewhere around fifteen or sixteen? Or perhaps even younger.

What shocked me was the incredibly impressive swordplay of his.

One, two, three and four strikes. He swung his swords gracefully, with a smooth flow of actions. I could not follow his speedy movements with my eyes, despite watching from a distance away.

There was not a single pause. The affluent streaks of his swords had no hesitation in them.

"............"

I could not pry my eyes away from that scene for a long, long time.

It was not due to the remarkable swordplay of his. He silently swung his dual swords daily - in the middle of the night when everyone else was still in their slumber, and during early mornings before everyone was awake. It was that hardworking attitude of his which attracted me deeply.

"...... I will have to work harder too."

As I looked on, it felt like I had gained the courage to do so.

That teenage boy must have put in a great deal of time and effort, to possess such exceptional abilities. That could not be any more clearer, after witnessing his training with my very own eyes.

I will have to work harder, so as not to fall behind.

I'll work harder and harder, and then...... Some day, I will become a true Priestess.

I gave a huge nod, and turned my back towards him.

The teenage boy was still behind me swinging his swords. He will definitely continue training even after I left.

...... If...... If I can become a Priestess.

...... At then, I hope my personal guardian will be—

I left the scene as I hid that small thought of mine deep down into my heart.

However, the dream of that day will never be fulfilled.

The teenage boy whom I admired died while on a mission, by falling off the floating continent into

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

...... I heard about the news only after several weeks from that day.

### 002. Chapter 1: Reentering the palace

Here's the completed chapter 1, with part 4 at the end.

Regarding the questions about the posting dates, I think blogspot has changed the system to such that it posts the date when I started on the chapter. Since I work and edit the translations on the blog itself, the initial date will be usually much earlier than the posting date.

Also, the chapter has already took up about a quarter of the book, and as such, I'll be swapping to Sayonara Piano Sonata.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

Floating continent Orbie Clar.

A piece of land that floats ten thousand meters above the endless sea of ice, and protected by the barriers maintained by five Priestesses - the only place where humans can live on.

In the center of the continent stood a tall tower.

Tenketsu Palace

. It is a giant tower that is two thousand meters tall, and has a total of two hundred and ninety-one floors. At its grounds—

"Morning, Sheltis. What a beautiful morning."

"...... Fascinating. The sun is about to rise, and I have not even slept yet."

That was how this morning started for the seventeen year-old Sheltis.

A color of dark red was slowly mixing into the vast pale black skies. At a time when it is not even dawn yet, and the chirps of the birds could not be heard—

"Yeah, the weather for today looks fine too."

"...... Mmm."

Sheltis went along with the strangely excited mechanical voice, as he tried to shake off his sleepiness.

The casually trimmed tea-red colored hair, and eyes that matched. An androgynous face. Along with a black jacket worn over his white shirt.

"According to the data gathered from the cloud patterns, wind direction and wind speed around the floating continent, today's weather will be sunny, and the probability of rain is close to zero. A great day to wash your clothes."

"...... Yeah, it is a great day to do so."

"An outdoor picnic is a another good option as well. As of the current season, the leaves are dyed in the bright greens of summer."

"...... Yeah, a picnic's not bad."

"Sheltis?"

The mechanical female voice finally slowed down as she stopped her endless chatter.

"You seem rather listless. Anything wrong?"

"Well, the thing is......"

He lowered his head to look at the

machine crystal

, and mumbled.

"The thing is?"

"...... Why do I have to stay up all night to sweep the grounds of

Tenketsu Palace

?"

As he held on to the old-styled broom, Sheltis complained softly.

"That's because eight hours ago, the swordplay training between Leon and you was overly intense. It resulted in you two slashing up all the leaves to the grounds of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"No...... wait—! That was obviously done by Leon. You saw that too, Ilis!"

"Ah— Indeed, that was shocking. The leaves were blown down just by the wind pressure from that swords of his."

"...... That muscled moron."

In front of him, were heaps of leaves he had gathered.

As he looked at the fruits of his own work through the whole night, he added in yet another sigh to the countless ones which he had done before.

"And why am I the only one who is cleaning this up! Isn't Leon part of this mess as well?"

"Because—"

In response to that question, the

machine crystal

replied with a straightforward tone,

"Leon's job is to protect the Priestesses. Cleaning up is not part of his job scope."

"...... Damn, he's sly."

As he leaned onto the broom in his hands, Sheltis gave a low moan of protest.

The pure white structure was giving off a faint glow amid the pale black sky. The tall tower was named the '

Tenketsu Palace

' due to the sight of it stretching into the skies. Sheltis was granted entry into the palace just three days ago.

"Sigh— So Leon's in the tower right now? I am so damn sleepy......"

"He is the guardian of the Priestesses, so he should be somewhere on the highest floors."

The Queen and her five Priestesses - thanks to protective barriers maintained through their prayers, the floating continent has survived till today.

Tenketsu Palace

is a building that was constructed especially for the Queen and her Priestesses.

"It will be great if Sheltis can quickly obtain the same status as Leon's."

"You mean the status of a Sennenshi?"

The guards of

Tenketsu Palace

are in charge of protecting the Priestesses. Everyone is skilled in a certain martial art of weapons - out of which, the strongest five guards will be granted the highest position, the 'Sennenshi', and become the personal guardians of the Priestesses.

"Yes, that's what I meant. Do your best."

"...... You made that sound really easy."

"You were just a step away from being a Sennenshi three years ago, no? You have risen to the rank of Cadres at the age of fourteen. Back then everyone was saying the speed of your promotion is something that rarely happens."

— That was then.

Upon hearing the casual tone of the

machine crystal

, Sheltis shook his head.

"No one will believe all of that should I bring it up now. All of my past records have already been deleted."

"Right. Since everyone thought you had already died."

"...... There you go with your satirical speech again."

Everything started three years ago.

The accident in which he fell into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, ten thousand meters beneath the floating continent. He miraculously survived, but was expelled from

Tenketsu Palace

. After losing his right to be a guard, Sheltis began living in the living sector as a commoner.

"After being expelled for two years, you have finally returned to the

Tenketsu Palace

, and yet your rival Leon has already reached the ranks of a Sennenshi, the highest position available for the guards. On the other hand, you have to start afresh from the bottom as a cadet guard. How should I put it? You are extremely unlucky to have faced such different treatment, compared to Leon."

"Shut up."

He flicked the

machine crystal

in front of his chest with his fingers, and grabbed onto the broom tightly.

"...... Still, this is strange. I am already back in

Tenketsu Palace

, so why am I here sweeping throughout the night, instead of going through the training of the guards?"

"Ah, speaking of which. The enrollment ceremony for the cadet guards is at nine o-clock this morning."

It had been three days since Sheltis had entered the palace as a guard - the protectors of the Priestesses. All he had done was go through the typical admin stuff like a series of health checkups, interviews and room allocations for the time being.

"You should be meeting the instructor and your fellow cadet guards at today's enrollment ceremony as well, right?"

"Yup yup...... Mmm, this can't go on. I'm getting out of here!"

He placed the broom against the tree trunk, and clenched his fist tightly.

"Ooh, that's some impressive enthusiasm coming from you! But are you done with cleaning up?"

"Yeah. I can't possibly attend the enrollment ceremony with my current sleepy state. It will be bad if I leave a bad impression on the others."

"I think it is just you not wanting to continue sweeping the grounds."

"Ah— Ah— I can't hear that. I heard not a single word of what you have said."

Sheltis turned his face away from the teasing of

machine crystal

, and headed towards the main doors of the

Tenketsu Palace

.

Tenketsu Palace

, eleventh story - dormitory of the cadet guards—

For the sky-scraping tower with two hundred and ninety-one floors, this is nearly the lowest story of the whole tower. Starting from this story and along with the next few floors, have all been designated as rooms for the cadet guards.

"Ah, as expected. The lights are out here as well."

Sheltis glanced around the dimly lit passageway.

After walking out of the lifts that operated around the clock, all Sheltis could see was a silent and dark passageway that extended endlessly.

"Of course. It's just four in the morning. Even the morning practice will not begin till an hour later."

"Ah, the term 'morning practice' sounds rather nostalgic."

Typically, the cadet guards will start their training from nine in the morning, under the supervision of the instructor.

However, the self-training in the early mornings is something of an unwritten rule among the cadet guards. If they do not have such burning passion, they will not be able to stand out from the rest among the intensive competition to graduate into an official guard.

"...... So I'll be training one hour later?"

"Since the enrollment ceremony is held today, it should be fine if you reach the training grounds by nine."

"Really? Yes! I'll rest till then!"

"Mhmm. There will be a bunch of training waiting for you tomorrow, so you better enjoy it while you can for today."

"Stop that, or I won't be able to sleep...... Right, where's my room again?"

He stopped walking, and looked at the doors of the rooms that had lined up along the passageway.

Since there is close to a thousand cadet guards, there has to be enough rooms to house all of them. As such, the sides of the passageway are nothing else but rooms after rooms.

"Let's see, it should be the third room after the junction...... Ah, here we are."

The cards given to all the cadet guards serves as their badges, as well as the keys to their rooms. The electronic authentication code is the electronic key that opens the room.

—Acknowledged—

The lock to the door disengaged itself along with the mechanical tone, and the door slowly opened to the side.

Just the bed alone takes up about half of the single rooms used by the cadet guards. There was barely enough space left for a small desk and chair, and thus there was no need for them to fret about the arrangements of the furniture.

"...... I'm beat!"

Sheltis collapsed onto his bed after giving out a huge sigh.

"Ahhh— that's a little too slack of you, Sheltis."

Just then, the naggy

machine crystal

began to give off flashes of light.

"Your jacket will get creased when you wake up if you do not remove it now. And don't forget to wash your hands and rinse your mouth, or else you will catch a cold. Ah, you have to place your shoes in their proper position. And most importantly, you shouldn't forget the skin care for the

machine crystal

! You'll have to wipe the crystal surface with a piece of clean cloth. The pressure applied cannot be too hard or too weak. You should gently wipe it as if you were caressing it."

"Mmm, I'll do everything. Except for the last part."

"Ehhh? Hmph— That's just too mean!"

"...... I'll look into it after a snooze. Please help me switch off the lights."

Within seconds, the lighting on the ceiling was switched off.

It was as though the white lights of the sun had disappeared, and replacing that was the blue glows of the night.

That was no ordinary light - the source of light came from the thousands of stars that formed a sea on the ceiling. There was also the exceptionally visible moon which was giving off a hazy blue glow.

Planetarium. The

machine crystal

had recorded the night skies of Orbie Clar, and projected the image onto the ceiling.

"...... It's beautiful. But sorry, I'm gonna sleep."

"That's fine. This is just to entertain myself. I mean, I am a

machine

who gazes at the stars - doesn't that sound really romantic?"

"Right, right."

Sheltis gave a casual reply, and closed his eyes—

"Ah, Sheltis. It's a shame, but it's time for your training."

Having heard the words of the

machine crystal

, Sheltis originally thought that she was just joking.

"Mmm? What are you talking about, Ilis? That starts at nine in the morning, right?"

"Because Leon's here."

Just as the

machine crystal

finished her sentence.

"Sheltis! It's time to train!"

The door to the room opened all of a sudden, and a silver-haired young man wearing a pure white coat shouted into the room.

"You...... you~~....... you......"

Sheltis immediately leap out of his blanket and off his bed.

"What the hell are you doing, Leon!?"

"What am I doing? It's time for practice. I'm just here to wake you up."

Leon crossed his arms with a calm expression.

His height is fitting of the long coat that he was wearing, which is coupled with the awe-inspiring, handsome and fair look of his. The young man is said to be the strongest great sword wielder of the whole floating continent, and is one of the Sennenshi as well.

At the same time, he has been the best friend of Sheltis for the past ten years, and even more so his rival and enemy.

...... Ugh.

Sheltis took a glance at the electronic clock which is embedded in the wall.

"It's just four-thirty, you know?"

"It's 'already' four-thirty. Just in time for morning practice."

Leon nodded calmly.

"Really? See you then, I'll continue with my sleep......"

He planned to lay back down on his bed.

"You are coming too, Sheltis."

"W...... Wait, don't pull my arm!"

Sheltis quickly shook off Leon's arms as he grabbed onto his wrists.

That's right. That young man is not only the strongest swordsman of the floating continent, he is also the craziest training fanatic.

He will shut himself in his private training floor to carry out the special training for his swordplay when he is free. He is known as a weirdo who enjoys training himself, more than his three meals a day. No, it would be alright if that was all there was to it. The problem is, as part of his training, he will definitely get me to be his spar—

"Hmm? What's wrong with you?"

"What else...... I spent the whole night sweeping, and I don't even have the time to shut my eyes even once."

"There may be the need for us to stay awake for three whole days during our missions."

"That's another case altogether if we were talking about that. Moreover, I have to attend the enrollment ceremony later at nine."

He directed his gaze at the schedule on the table, but Leon gave an expression that said 'I don't give a damn'.

"You just have to show your face and take a commemorative photo. No matter how tired you are, I don't think there is a problem as long as you have the strength to crawl to the gathering place."

"It's a photo-taking session, so is there a need for me to get all dirty?"

"Listen up, Sheltis. Calm down and think about the situation you are in."

Leon released his arms, and pointed at Sheltis.

"Even though you have finally returned to the

Tenketsu Palace

, you are starting anew as a cadet guard. Since you've been living in the living sector for the past two years, your skills haven't returned to their prime. Under such conditions, how long do you think it will take for you to become the Sennenshi of Ymy?"

"Uh......?"

"Arara, Leon has hit the spot that hurts most."

The

machine crystal

gave a snicker, in agreement with what Leon said.

"B-But...... Ymy said she would be waiting for me!"

Ymy— prior to entering

Tenketsu Palace

, she was his childhood friend.

About ten years ago, she entered

Tenketsu Palace

as an apprentice-Priestess. After going through countless training and trials, she has finally became one of the five Priestesses of this world.

The reason for Sheltis's return to

Tenketsu Palace

, is because of the promise he made to her back then, that he will be her exclusive guardian, her Sennenshi.

"How very naive. There's no guarantee that Ymy will have the luxury of waiting for you forever. This is especially true due to the incident not too long ago, where Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached. Since then, there have been calls that 'a Sennenshi must be assigned to each and every Priestesses'. Even if Ymy has no intention of choosing anyone else other than you, there is no guarantee that she won't succumb to those demands because of the pressure."

"I..... am well aware of that."

The final decision of the candidate of the Sennenshi still lies within the hands of the Priestesses. Due to that right, Ymy has not picked her Sennenshi till now...... However, there are already many within

Tenketsu Palace

who are feeling uneasy in regards to the fact that Ymy has not chosen her Sennenshi after such a long time.

"I'm not wrong, am I? If so, the first thing that you have to do is regain your physical abilitiy and swordsmanship from the past. How else are you going to be a guardian of the Priestesses?"

"...... Leon, I never expected you to be that concerned about me."

"You've only realized it now? That's right, the reason for me making you train with me is because I am concerned about you."

"I understand, Leon. I was wrong this whole time!"

Even though he was his rival in swordsmanship this whole time, Sheltis was deeply touched by the concerns that Leon had for him, although Leon was not very good at expressing them.

"I used to think that the reason you took me to take part in your training was because you wanted to have a sparring partner. But that was not the case!"

"Yes. You have finally appreciated my actions."

Leon gave a nod of satisfaction, and a manly smile appeared on his face.

"Of course. That is my true intention, but how can I possibly say it out loud............ Oops."

"As expected, you've revealed your true colors!"

"Urm...... that's not important. In any case, let us move quickly. There is no one else like you whom I can test my skills on with my sword. It's really boring."

"You are graciously admitting to it after being exposed!?"

"Shut up, be quiet. You are bothering the rest of the cadets."

"Let— me— go——— Uwaaaa......!"

Leon grabbed onto Sheltis' neck, and dragged him into the dark passageway.

{2}

Tenketsu Palace

, paved roads—

Sheltis sprinted through the neat turfs of grass, and yelled,

"Ahhhhh, I can't make it, I'm gonna be late!"

"Sheltis, you have three minutes till nine o'clock."

"Leon that bastard—!"

They originally agreed on just training on their swordplay for morning practice, but it somehow escalated into full-fledged mock combat. Their fight got more and more intense, and before he knew it, it was about time for the enrollment ceremony.

Just then—

"There's a shortcut over here."

Came the familiar voice of a girl. He turned his head—

A girl with light golden hair was standing there in a pure white vestment. She had a pair of jade colored eyes, along with a cute face. Her overall appearance is a fine balance between prettiness and cuteness.

"Morning, Sheltis. You just enrolled in today, and you're going to be late for the ceremony already?"

She raised her slender shoulders, and gave a snicker.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole - one of the five Priestesses who maintains the protective barrier of the floating continent. At the same time, she was Sheltis' childhood friend and had lived with him, before moving into

Tenketsu Palace

.

"And what is with that embarrassing look of yours?"

Ymy walked towards Sheltis, and her sight was fixed onto him the whole time.

"Your clothes are creased, and your face is full of dirt. This will not do, you know. They are taking a commemorative photo today, so you will have to dress yourself properly as well."

"...... Well, me being late, my clothes being creased, my face filled with dirt; and not to mention, my severe lack of sleep - Leon is the cause of all these things."

"Ah, I saw Leon just not long ago. He was saying 'nothing beats a good work out' with a satisfied expression on his face, so I had a premonition then. So you were dragged to train with him?"

"...... That training fanatic."

I'll have to install a booby trap on my door next time, so as to prevent him from barging into my room. For example, rigging a bomb that would explode if he opens the door - things like that.

"Speaking of which, why is Ymy here? It is extremely rare for a Priestess to come down from the top floors to the grounds of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"Fufu, perhaps it is because we're both heading towards the same place."

Ymy nodded her head profoundly in response to the question raised by the

machine crystal

.

"Meaning to say, Ymy is going to the training ground as well?"

"Mhmm. Today is the enrollment ceremony which is held once per month. As a Priestess, I will have to greet the people who will become guards in the future."

The speech made by the Priestesses is one of the events of the enrollment ceremony.

The Priestesses are the ones protecting the floating continent, while the guards are tasked with the job of protecting the Priestesses with their lives. Sheltis did remember the scene where the Priestess will address the newly-enrolled cadet guards with her speech.

"So let us head down to the training ground together."

"...... Is that fine? Won't people be suspicious of the fact that a Priestess and a cadet guard are walking together?"

"This is nothing. You worry too much. Moreover—"

Ymy walked to his side, and narrowed her eyes as though she was reminiscing something.

"I never had the chance to say this to you ever since you came back— Welcome back."

"...... Mmm."

I'm back — Sheltis somehow felt really embarrassed as he said that while looking at Ymy's face. He subconsciously shifted his sight away.

"It somehow feels...... like this is all a dream."

He mumbled, and lifted his head to look at the blue sky above him.

— I am actually back.

Together with that fact that I am walking together with Ymy, and talking to her like this. He never thought that such things would be possible, ever since he was expelled from

Tenketsu Palace

two years ago.

She is someone holding an absolute position - the position of a 'Priestess' - in

Tenketsu Palace

, while he is just a cadet guard who is starting from the lowest position there. Despite knowing the staggering difference in their status since two years ago - to be given the opportunity to be with her like the way they are now, he felt like he had regained the courage in his heart to carry on.

"You are exaggerating too much."

The Priestess gave a laugh.

"However, I have really been waiting for you all this time. Though you are starting all over as a cadet guard, I believe that you will definitely become an official guard someday."

I'll do my best. Sheltis nodded his head with force with that thought in his mind.

It was then when he suddenly noticed something, and he stared at Ymy's face.

"Ymy...... are those dark circles under your eyes?"

"Ah, is...... is it obvious? I've already asked for Meimel's assistance to cover it with the help of make-up, but......"

Ymy hurriedly covered her face with her hands.

"No, it's really well done. I just noticed it now."

The dark circles were small and not easily noticed. As her childhood friend, Sheltis could barely see it even at such a close distance, so perhaps it would go unnoticed at a further distance.

"I had my barrier training yesterday, and it ended too late. When I was finally done with drafting my speech for later, it was already morning before I realized it...... Ehehe, I'm not really good with such things."

She gave a smile. However, there was an obvious hint of exhaustion beneath that smile of hers—

"You must be really busy, right?"

"It's the same for today's speech as well. You don't have to go if you are really busy. Things like giving speeches, a Priestess would only need to do it if they are free."

Ymy did not agree with the opinions of Sheltis and the

machine crystal

.

"No, I am doing this willingly. Those who are becoming cadet guards are all part of the group of people that are protecting the Priestesses. The speech today is my chance to offer them my thanks."

...... Looking at the way Ymy is behaving now, she does really act like a Priestess.

One year ago - while he was still expelled from

Tenketsu Palace

, and was living in the living sector.

Whenever there is an emergence of a new Priestess, the news will immediately spread to all corners of the floating continent. Sheltis heard about the news in the living sector as well, but he was feeling a sense of uneasiness along with the happiness in him. As her childhood friend, he knew Ymy's personality very well. She is no different from an ordinary girl, so is she really up to the task to be a Priestess that protects the whole floating continent?

Even after returning to the

Tenketsu Palace

, that feeling of uneasiness was still within Sheltis.

But having heard that from Ymy, he could clearly feel her consciousness and determination as a Priestess.

"You are quite the good example as a Priestess."

"Right? And also......"

The sincere look of hers changed. Ymy proclaimed strongly,

"Have a good look later, Sheltis. Ever since I became a Priestess, I've improved leaps and bounds in my abilities to deliver a speech!"

"Weird, I remember you being really shy back then, no?"

"No problem. I have nearly conquered that weakness of mine since I became a Priestess. Come, let us get moving."

As he looked at Ymy walking in confidence, Sheltis caught up to her side.

Tenketsu Palace

, outdoors training ground—

About twenty newly enrolled cadet guards had lined up properly.

"Urm...... urm...... therefore...... as one of the Priestesses, I am really happy that you guys...... no wait, I am really glad for everyone's enrollment into the palace! Ah, mmm, well then...... P-Please take care of your bodies, and continue doing your best!"

On the stage, was a Priestess that was making her speech with a blushing face.

"She's still the same as always."

"Yeah. After seeing Ymy being the girl whom I am familiar with, I feel strangely at ease."

She walked down the stage after she was done with her speech. A female instructor dressed in a dark blue suit went up to her.

"That's an impressive speech, Priestess Ymy."

"R-Really? Thank goodness!"

"Yes. You have improved by roughly forty percent, as compared to the one you gave previously. That...... the speech which was banned from being aired - that was quite honestly incomprehensible, but your performance this time is rather outstanding."

"T-that is just a slip of the tongue! How mean! Didn't we agree that we would no longer bring up that topic!"

Ymy tried to stop the instructor from continuing. The instructor just laughed while shaking her head.

"Ha ha ha, well, that is already a thing of the past."

....... Ymy, what exactly did you say during the last speech?

"Well then, I shall take my leave."

— Sheltis, do your best.

Ymy gave a mischievous smile, and left the place after winking at Sheltis.

In comparison.

"Alright, Priestess-sama is done with her speech. With that, the enrollment ceremony for today will come to an end."

The female instructor turned around with a dangerous smile on her face.

"I haven't introduced myself - my name's Yumelda, and I will be your instructor. Everyone's dismissed for the day. Starting tomorrow, I'll be drilling you all till you can't even stand. Be mentally prepared for that."

Despite being a female, her height is about the same as Sheltis'. She has a pair of long slender eyes and her jet black hair was trimmed neatly at the shoulders. In her mouth was a cigarette that was constantly giving off white smoke from its end. She is the instructor in charge of training the cadet guards, and is nicknamed the Devil Instructor, as she is famous for her ruthless 'teachings'.

"So everything's over, and we can head back now?"

Sheltis heaved a sigh as he walked in between the group of cadet guards who were all heading back to

Tenketsu Palace

.

Though his dirty looks had invited strange looks around him during the photo-taking, he could finally be at ease for now. However, tomorrow marks the start of a series of tough training. He could tell from their faces, that the group of cadet guards that were returning to

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

> were feeling nervous.

"Eh— it's already over? How boring. I thought you would take the opportunity to showcase yourself to others."

"You sure know how to talk, Miss Ilis. I was raided by Leon after working through the night, and was forced to undergo nearly five hours of morning practice—"

— Who's that?

He suddenly stopped talking halfway, and turned around to face the stare that was coming from behind him.

"What's wrong, Sheltis?"

"Ilis, do you know who that girl is? The one standing beneath the tree."

He signaled towards the direction with his eyes. Deep within the training ground, at about ten plus meters away from him, a girl was standing beneath a tree.

Her bright sakura-colored hair was bundled behind her back. Her age seemed to be roughly the same as his, though she may be one or two years older. Her mature temperament and the penetrating gaze of hers left a deep impression on him.

"What's wrong with the girl?"

"She has been staring at me since just now."

As for now, the girl acted as if nothing had happened, and was doing warm-ups by herself. However, she had indeed made eye contact with him before turning away. She was wearing the white ritual clothing of

Tenketsu Palace

. All he knew was that she's a cadet guard just like him, since he couldn't see the badge of an official guard on her shoulder.

"Hmm...... I don't think she is someone whom you know. From my data, there is no records of you seeing her before either."

"Really? Then forget it."

...... But, what's with that strange feeling?

The girl who was currently doing her warm-ups silently. However, there was a strange feeling that lingered in his mind, even though all he did was exchange eye contact with her - something felt out of place.

..... That dignified look of hers - had I seen her somewhere before?

"Just who exactly is she? I don't have the expression of talking to her face to face before."

"Maybe you had passed by her by coincidence somewhere in

Tenketsu Palace

?"

Right, he felt it was exactly like what the

machine crystal

had said. However, he was still very concerned about her gaze earlier - perhaps it was due to them staring straight into each others' eyes.

"Hmm...... whatever, I'm not that worried about it. It's just—"

Sheltis stood in the middle of the training ground with a complicated feeling within him.

However, he had no chance to sort out his thoughts.

"Oi, how long are you gonna stand there for?"

A crisp sound of footsteps suddenly rang, along with the kicking of dust. He turned around, and saw that Instructor Yumelda was crossing her arms and standing right before him.

"I had already declared for you guys to be dismissed. For you to be ignoring my instruction by standing here motionlessly - does that mean that you're not planning to follow my orders?"

The female instructor tossed her smoking cigarette next to her feet, and extinguished it by stomping onto it with the tip of her shoes. On her face was a dangerous smile, akin to a carnivorous predator that had found its prey.

"Eh...... N-No...... How should I explain this?"

Sheltis took a step back, but the instructor advanced two steps forward.

"I see. So you are a lad that does not follow the orders of his instructor. Seems like I'll have to shower you with the love of my iron fists."

"W-Wait! L-Listen to me...... Whoa!"

*Swash*— A fist that was as sharp as blades grazed past his cheeks. Sheltis quickly dodged the attack by shifting sideways. His fringes were lightly swayed by the gush of wind generated by the punch.

"...... Ho? You can actually dodge my fist?"

"Eh? W-Well......?"

"Ku ku ku. Not bad. Not bad at all."

He originally thought he would be chewed out by the instructor. However, the instructor showed a gleeful expression, and cracked her knuckles.

"It's been years since I've seen a cadet guard capable of dodging my fist. Seems like I've met a newcomer whom I can put in my effort into training."

"Huh?"

Before he could ask any questions, Sheltis was already being held by his neck.

...... Strange?

After thinking about it, something similar had happened just like this earlier this morning. And the next thing that followed would be......

"S-Sorry, but I was about to go rest for now."

"Follow me. From today onward, I'll be training you under a special regime designed by me. Don't worry - you'll definitely become an official guard easily should you live through my training."

"S-Someone save me————!"

***

Tenketsu Palace

, eleventh story - cadet guards dormitory—

"We're finally back."

"Yeah, I feel drained...... I want to take a shower right now."

Sheltis walked through the passageway, his body drenched with sweat and his body covered in dirt.

He was finally able to escape from the training of that Devil Instructor not too long ago. Dinner time was long gone before he knew it, and most of the cadet guards were already preparing to sleep when he returned.

"Let's see, the third room after the junction...... Ilis, this should be my room, right?"

He focused his eyes in the dark to look at the plate that says 'Sheltis Magna Yehle'.

"Right. Seems like you just can't remember where your room is."

"Since I had been living in the living sector for the past two years. This just somehow feels unreal."

"Oh right, I do want to hear about your life there. What I knew was that you survived by working in a cafe, but I had no idea you were that friendly with two girls. Fufu, I really can't underestimate the Sheltis who is a play-boy."

"We do get along well with one another, but we're just friends."

"Ara, is that so?"

"Yup. As long as I'm not working, regardless of day or night, it will—"

"Ah, I've found Shel-nii!"

"Right right. It would be something like that— Eh?"

A sound came from near his legs.

As he was thinking that, a small petite body suddenly hugged his legs.

"Wa, it's really Shel-nii! Yuto misses you so!"

"...... Yuto?"

The person hugging him is a black haired girl around five or six years old. The look of curiousity from her amber colored eyes, as well as the way her hair was tied into twintails flowing behind her body, made her look really cute.

"Eh...... is that really you, Yuto?"

"Ehehe. Yuto's here, and Eyri-nee too. Hurry up Eyri-nee, I've found Shel-nii!"

The little girl hugged his legs tightly while shouting excitedly.

*thud...... thud......*

A figure appeared in the passageway along with the sounds of light footsteps.

"Oh, it's true. Long time no see, Sheltis!"

The girl in her oil-stained overalls waved her arms in his direction.

She looked like fifteen or sixteen. Despite that, her orange hair was rather messy, and she did not wear any makeup on her face. But somehow, all that suited her style better for some unknown reason.

"Even Eyriey too...... Why are you two here?"

"Eh? Do I even have to explain why?"

Eyriey — the girl in overalls ran towards him and patted the head of the little girl.

"It's obviously because we were feeling bored without Sheltis around. Right, Yuto?"

"Yup, Eyri-nee."

"...... Strange? Didn't I promise you guys that I'd find some time to visit you both at the living sector?"

Sheltis couldn't help but to give a wry smile upon seeing the relaxed looks on their faces.

"But it has been a few days since we last met, so I guess it can be counted as 'long time no see'."

He was forced to live as a commoner in the living sector for two years after being expelled from

Tenketsu Palace

. Eyriey and Yuto are both girls whom he befriended during his time in the living sector. He knew Eyriey from his work at '

The Two Swans

'. As for Yuto, she got close to him and gradually loved to stick around him due to her frequent visits to '

The Two Swans

'.

Regardless, these two girls were his only few friends while he was in the living sector. As he was unwilling to break off from them just like that, on the day he returned to

Tenketsu Palace

, he promised them that he would find a time to visit them in the living sector soon.

"Shel-nii, come play with us! Yuto doesn't want to sleep till you have done so with me."

Yuto tugged the edge of his shirt coyly.

"I see. So that's the reason you girls came here...... But wait a second. How did you two get in here?"

As

Tenketsu Palace

is the signature building of the floating continent, it receives a huge number of tourists from the living sector daily. However, the floor which they were on is specially reserved for guards like Sheltis, and is not opened to the public. The public elevators will not stop on this floor either.

"Fu fu fu, feast your eyes on this. Tada—!"

Eyriey fumbled around her chest, and pulled out a silver colored metallic card. Embedded on its edge, is a gold colored electronic key.

"Eh? That's the official badge of

Tenketsu Palace

? Eyriey got into

Tenketsu Palace

as well?"

As suggested by her oil-stained overalls, Eyriey's interest is in researching machines. Her knowledge in that field is already past the boundaries of those of a mere hobbyist - building an adult-sized robot from scratch was child's play to her, and she even hacked into the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

with a computer she made herself. As a machine technician, she is probably the talent that

Tenketsu Palace

is desperately looking for.

"Eyriey, how did you get that badge......?"

However, she replied with her usual relaxed voice of hers,

"Actually, Yuto found this on the side of the road."

"Yuto's great, right?"

"This is undoubtedly a misuse of lost items! Return it to the owner quickly!"

How should I put it? It really fits their style.

"Well— But Yuto has forgotten where she picked it up."

"...... I am already lacking sleep, and right now, my head's starting to hurt too."

That was a typical example of the misuse of a lost badge. Then again, he was probably the only victim under that sort of misuse.

"No worries. Let's take this opportunity to play. We've been waiting for you."

"...... even so, I'm really tired right now."

"But Ymy is waiting for you too."

"Eh?"

"Ah, hold on. I've just received a telepathy message...... It's from Ymy— Ah, hello? Yup. Mmm, Sheltis just returned. Right, then let's meet at the conference room on the two hundred and sixty-first story..... Eh, Ymy's coming here...... Mmm, there's totally no one in the passageway at night, aside from of us. Right then, we'll be waiting."

Eyriey looked into the ceiling and nodded her head constantly.

"So Ymy wants to come here by herself. Well, there's not many people at this time, so it should be fine for a Priestess to come down to the bottom floors."

"...... What's with this? The Ymy you are referring to is Priestess Ymy?"

"Yeah— she is Sheltis' childhood friend, right?"

"So she is...... Strange, how did you get to know Ymy?"

Eyriey lives in the living sector, while Ymy lives in

Tenketsu Palace

. There should be no point of connection between the two of them.

"I just met her today. Ah, here she is."

Eyriey pointed to the special elevator that connects the lower floors to the upper floors. The lights above the door were flashing, signalling that the door was about to open.

"Sorry for making you wait, Eyriey. Thanks for informing me."

Beneath the lights of the elevator, stood a girl who was wearing a pure white vestment.

She carefully surveyed the surroundings. Only after confirming that there was no one else around, did she smile and wave her hands at them.

"No problem. Speaking of which, telepathy is quite a convenient thing. Will I be able to use it if I practice hard on it?"

"Well...... I guess you may be able to do so if you persist with all the training while crying your eyes off for eight whole years?"

"...... I'll just stick to handphones."

Eyriey cringed. Upon seeing that, Ymy gave a pleasant wry smile.

— Strange? Why is this happening?

Sheltis looked at their interaction with surprise.

His childhood friend Ymy, together with Eyriey whom he got to know during his time at the living sector. Those two girls had somehow become rather close, as though they had been friends for years.

"Ah...... well......"

"Ehehe, surprised? I am already friends with Eyriey and Yuto."

Ymy said that shyly, as she hugged Yuto who had pounced into her.

"Friends?"

"Sheltis said before that he would introduce me to Priestess-sama, right?"

Eyriey was the one to answer him. The

machine crystal

then followed closely behind,

"Back when Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached, you rushed down from the living sector to

Tenketsu Palace

on the electric vehicle driven by Eyriey. As a token of appreciation, you said that you would introduce Ymy to her, so that they can be friends. Isn't that right, Sheltis?"

"Ah, now that you mention it......"

All the Priestesses, including Ymy, have few chances of making friends with people their age. The biggest reason is because typical people will be overly timid and respectful when they see the Priestesses. However, if it is the candid Eyriey, then perhaps she would be able to treat Ymy normally. I hope you can become friends with Ymy— he had indeed made that request to Eyriey before.

"Yup yup. This afternoon, we were on this floor looking for Sheltis, and by coincidence, Ymy was heading over via the elevator as well. Isn't that right, Ymy?"

"Yes, I was addressing the cadet guards in the morning. As I was making my speech from the stage back then, I had planned to greet them face to face, one at a time. And thus, I met Eyriey and Yuto when I got here. Since she saw me, Eyriey shouted, 'Ah, it's Priestess-sama! Have you heard from Sheltis? My name's Eyriey, can we be friends?' To be honest, I was quite surprised back then."

Ymy gave a slight giggle, perhaps due to her reminiscing the scene back then.

After hearing Ymy recount their story, Eyriey heartily gave a pat on the Priestess' shoulder.

"Sorry! I thought Sheltis had already told you about us. Though she had no idea what was going on in the beginning, we finally smoothed things out after I mentioned Sheltis' name and explained everything to her."

— So that's how it is.

Before he could introduce them to each other, the two girls had already become friends.

"Right, they seem to have used some interesting fabric for the vestments of the Priestesses. What does it feel like when wearing it?"

"Mmm— it feels really uncomfortable in the beginning, but that differs from person to person. Is Eyriey interested in trying it?"

"Eh? Can I really?"

"Mmm. Come to my room next time. You can try it anytime."

Eyriey was touching Ymy's vestment enthusiastically, while Ymy was looking at Eyriey's overalls with a curious gaze - upon witnessing that scene, Sheltis was temporarily relived.

"Isn't that great, Sheltis. Rather than introducing them to each other deliberately, it may actually be much better for them to meet like this and let them get along with each other naturally."

"Mmm."

...... It's really great that they can get along so well with each other.

"Oh right. It's already this late, so why did Ymy make the trip here?"

"Ah...... Well, Sheltis has successfully completed the enrollment ceremony, right?"

Ymy stood up while hugging Yuto in her arms.

"This may just be me meddling too much, but I had just finished chatting with Leon, and there was something he said that I am quite concerned with. Therefore, I wished to tell you about it as quickly as possible."

"Leon?"

"Mhmm. He said...... 'While he's with the other cadet guards, Sheltis will have to be aware of the position he's in. Otherwise, he may be ostracized'."

— My position? Ostracized?

What does he mean?

"I am not too sure...... In any case, he said things like 'he'll be facing all sorts of troubles should he act like how he used to in the past', and that made me worry quite a bit."

...... So Leon had actually said things like that.

That man has never told any lies nor has he cracked a single joke before. That's probably what he really believes, and is quite certain it'll happen. Therefore, he told Ymy about it.

"Ah...... Sorry, seems like I have caused you to become uneasy."

Ymy hurriedly shook her head when she interpreted his silence as a display of his uneasiness.

"Don't worry, I am fine. Thanks for coming all the way here to inform me about it."

"Mmm. What I said may be confusing, so you can try asking Leon himself if you want to know more about it."

Ymy placed Yuto back down on the floor, and took a deep breathe.

"Ah, Ymy-nee is going back? Bye bye—"

"See you two again, Yuto and Eyriey. If it is convenient for you both, please come visit me in my room at the two hundred and eighty-seventh floor. I'll inform security beforehand so you don't trigger the security system by accident."

"Ohhh— Really? I'll definitely go!"

"Mmm, I'll be waiting."

After turning her head to wave goodbye, Ymy walked back to the elevator.

The automatic door closed quietly. Eyriey stared at the elevator as the orange lights lit up, which signaled that the elevator was going upwards, then she suddenly mumbled,

"I originally thought that the Priestesses were out of our reach."

"Mmm?"

"Then I realized that Ymy really is Sheltis' childhood friend. After the conversations we had, it felt like she was just an ordinary girl. Ah, I'm actually praising her."

"So you can be Ymy's friend?"

Eyriey raised one of her arms happily upon hearing that question,

"Of course! Or rather, we are already friends. Isn't that right, Yuto............ Eh?"

"............ Eyri-nee, Yuto can barely open her eyes."

Yuto leaned herself on Eyriey's body, and rubbed her nearly closed eyes.

"Arara, could it be that you relaxed yourself too much after finding Sheltis? Can't be helped, we'll be heading back then. Oh right, there should be a resting room on this floor, right?"

"There is, but it can only be used by the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

."

Having heard that, Eyriey took out a badge from her chest.

"Fufu, there's no problem with this around."

"...... The person who lost it must be worried sick. Go and make a lost-and-found report tomorrow."

"Alright. Well then, seeya tomorrow."

"Mmm."

Sheltis looked on as Yuto and Eyriey waved goodbye to him, then he too returned the gesture.

— It was something so typical, but somehow it felt so nostalgic to him.

{3}

The turfs were wet with morning dew and were gently giving off a comfortable fragrance of the grass.

The skies of dawn was gradually turning from red to white, and then to the color of deep blue. And on the grounds that were reflecting the colors of the skies—

"Eh? I'm lost?"

In the middle of a huge clearing of the

Tenketsu Palace

, Sheltis looked around in a confused state.

"Strange, I remember that I took a left turn along this path yesterday."

"Shel—tis—? That's the reason I asked you to follow the directions stated in the electronic map."

"Ugh. I thought I didn't need to worry, since Ilis is here."

Ymy guided him to a shortcut yesterday before the enrollment ceremony, and Sheltis tried to take the path today. However, he was lost before he knew it.

"So, in which direction should I be going?"

"Sorry. I was sleeping then, therefore I did not record the route you had taken."

"Machines need to sleep too?"

"Because, the lack of sleep is the biggest nemesis for a woman's skin."

The

machine crystal

said with a sweet voice.

"The lack of sleep will actually affect the surface of an artificial crystal?"

"But of course. The lighting mechanisms of the crystal will be affected should my operating capabilities drop. As such, I'll conduct regular maintenance on myself to delete all unnecessary memories that are within me. That is my so called 'sleep', and it just so happens that it goes in line with the saying, 'beauty should start from within."

"...... Having heard your detailed and serious explanation, I really don't know how to reply to that."

What a headache. He could no longer remember the correct path due to that.

"I advise you to retrace your steps, and follow the correct route as shown on the digital map."

"Man, seems like that is my only option left."

He gave a shrug, and turned to face the direction he came from. Just then, he came into eye contact with the girl that was walking behind him.

"...... You are......"

Sheltis was rooted to the ground. His eyes widened.

"Yes?"

The first thing that came to his sight, was the bright sakura-colored hair.

That hair was tied to the back in a ponytail, and was shimmering brilliantly under the rays of the sun. Her grey eyes were giving off a faint glow of blue. There was a mature air around her, and that was coupled with a calm voice and a sharp gaze.

— The girl who was staring at me yesterday?

"Ah...... Urm, well......"

Should I ask her about yesterday? Is it the right time to ask?

There was a chance that he may be misunderstanding things. Just as Sheltis was hesitating on how to raise the question, the girl raised her hand and pointed at the pathway,

"There is no need to go back. You can reach the training ground by going straight after the left turn along this path."

"Eh......?"

"You must be lost, right? It is common for the new cadet guards."

And with that, she walked along the route she had just mentioned. As the sight of her back got smaller and smaller—

"...... She's gone."

Sheltis watched her go with a confused gaze.

Who exactly is she? Though she doesn't seem like a bad person.

***

Close to twenty cadet guards were standing in a line on the outdoor training grounds.

The cadet guards ranged from girls who weren't even fifteen, to guys who were past their thirties. Everyone was wearing the pure white ceremonial clothing that was assigned to them not long ago.

Everyone was sweating buckets, as they bathed in the rays of the sun.

"...... There are generally four types of guards in the

Tenketsu Palace

. You guys are the cadet guards. The second group are the official guards of

Tenketsu Palace

, the regular guards that carry out missions to protect the Priestesses. The third group are the elite guards - the leader or cadres ranked guards in charge of managing the regular guards. Finally, the exclusive guardians of the Priestesses with the special rank - 'Sennenshi'."

The only person who had a relaxed expression on her face, was Instructor Yumelda from yesterday.

Despite wearing the same dark blue suit with a tie she had on yesterday, she didn't even break a sweat, even under the merciless sun.

"Therefore, your top priority should be to become a regular guard. Though of course...... should you continue to remain a cadet guard, you will still be assigned missions, but not those that involve protecting the Priestesses, which is the most important of them all. That would be quite pointless for you guys, right?"

She wrote that info on the whiteboard with smooth handwriting, only to erase all of it a few seconds later. That was perhaps so that the cadet guards would be forced to remember it all in their heads.

"Also, aside from the term 'guards', the term 'members' will sometimes be used as a form of address. If so—"

The female instructor was lecturing non-stop, while the cadet guards were standing motionlessly and listening to her attentively. In the corner of the group of people,

machine crystal

spoke in a soft voice,

"Sheltis, do you need me to record this?"

"For the moment, no. I went through all of this three years ago."

He gave a slight shrug so as not to let the people around him notice. Just then—

"Oi, the newcomer from yesterday."

Without any warning, the instructor standing by the whiteboard suddenly pointed towards Sheltis' direction.

"Why don't you try explaining the difference between the two methods of addressing each other?"

"Eh...... Ehhh...... Who me?"

"Seems like she fancies you quite a bit."

Sheltis gave a flick at the snickering

machine crystal

so as to make her shut up.

"...... I think the term 'members' includes the apprentice-Priestesses."

"That's right. When the term 'members' is used, it refers to the regular guards, the elite guards and the apprentice-Priestesses. The Sennenshi and the Priestesses are all of a special rank, so they do not fall under this rule. Oi, what's with that expression of yours, as if you were already done with all of these? Next question."

"Ehhh!?"

"The ranks of apprentice-Priestesses and cadet guards, have the terms 'apprentice' and 'cadet' in their respective name. Explain the difference between the two."

...... Let's see.

All he could depend on was the knowledge he learned three years ago, but he was not sure if it was still applicable now.

"Well...... the cadet guards are not official staff here, while the apprentice-Priestesses are ranked equally to the regular guards, which means they fall under the official staff as well...... something like that?"

"Ho? Looks like you've studied quite a bit on your basic knowledge before coming here."

Instructor Yumelda showed an intimidating and seemingly malicious smile.

"All in all, you guys have to remember this! You are the cadet guards, or in other words, you all aren't even considered to be official members of

Tenketsu Palace

. And because of that, I'll be thoroughly training all of you starting today. Work on your physical strength for a year first. No one is allowed to touch their weapons prior to that!"

"One year!?"

"..... It's one year in theory, but that's still really long."

One year is wasted on physical training. And with the combat training that follows, heaven knows how long it will take before one can rise to the ranks of a regular guard. At the rate things are going, he may not even reach the ranks of a Sennenshi even after ten years.

...... I can't make Ymy wait for that long.

"Ilis, do you have any good ideas?"

"As a cadet guard who has only been around for two days, it is best to assume that you have no right to speak. It will be safer to just go along with the flow for now. However, there may be a glimmer of good luck that appears in the midst of all these bad luck."

"Good luck?"

Sheltis was unsure of what the

machine crystal

was trying to say.

For the past few days - especially after his enrollment into the team - was there any incident that could be considered as lucky?

"Oi, the newcomer over there. Come here for a while."

Instructor Yumelda's holler shattered that thought of his immediately.

"Seeing as you are extremely talented, I have already created a special training regime for you. You should be crying your eyes out and thanking me for my care and concern towards you."

"See? Here's your good luck."

Just as I had said — the

machine crystal

said that triumphantly. Sheltis was too lazy to give a retort, and resorted to looking up at the sky.

"...... I know I'm not in the position to be complaining, but that's just way too 'lucky'."

A huge outdoor training ground where one can see the horizon. There's lots of different terrains within it.

Flat grasslands, a red wilderness filled with rubble, a hilly terrain, and even a torrential waterfall. All possible terrains in the floating continent had been faithfully replicated here via artificial means.

*Za......*

The sound of shoes sinking into the compact sand reverberated in the sand dunes.

The grains of sand, which consists of some metallic elements, were reflecting off the rays of the sun that shone onto them. Due to the heat radiation coming from all directions, the surrounding temperature is kept at a steady rate of above forty degrees Celsius. Depending on the weather conditions, it is said that the temperature can hit above fifty in some cases.

An endless run around the man-made desert. That was the so called 'warm-up' as instructed by Yumelda.

"It's so hot! Sheltis, I am about to go black."

"Nothing's wrong with a little tan...... As for me, I don't think I can hold on much longer."

The temperature was constantly sapping away his bodily fluids, while the heavy sands were causing a drag in his steps. He had probably ran for around two hours under those conditions.

"Hoo, seems like you are finally getting tired."

"...... Instructor Yumelda, can I ask something? Why do I have to carry Instructor on my back and run the full course, even though the terrain is already difficult to navigate as it is?"

Upon hearing the voice from his back, Sheltis asked the question without bothering to turn his head around.

"But it feels really enjoyable for me."

"That's not the case for me at all! How is this a 'warm-up'!?"

"Yeah, I've been waiting for you to say that."

A deep voice rang next to his ears.

"After an initial intensive and torturous training session on the very first day, it will be interesting to see how many people are able to hold on and continue with the morning practice on the second day. To be blunt, this is a sort of entry test created by yours truly."

"I see......"

She was creating a setback for everyone on the very first day, in order to test their mental strength to see if they can take it in stride. If they could not recover from the training, then they will not be able to endure the harsher training in the future. If that was the case, then it would be better to make them quit now, and walk another path instead.

That was her responsibility as the instructor of the cadet guards, and an act of goodwill as well.

"So you should burn away all your energy quickly, or else the test will not end."

"That's way too much!"

He re-positioned Yumelda on his back, and once again ran up the sand dune in front of him.

His views suddenly broadened. From above the sand dune, he could see the nostalgic greens of the turf.

"So are you done? Well, your body should be all warmed up with that, right?"

"It's not just warmed up. My body is totally burning......"

After placing the instructor down from his back, Sheltis wiped off the sweat on his neck.

"It's the same. Alright, continue your run till you have reached the initial gathering place. Speaking of which, since you are aspiring to be a guard, you should have learned some swordplay or martial arts before, right?"

The instructor crushed the empty cigarette box, then stuffed it into the pocket of her suit.

"...... Just a little in dual swords."

"I see. Well, the match-up is just about right."

He looked in the direction the instructor was pointing to - there was a young male swordsman, with a great sword in his hand.

He was wearing the ceremonial clothing of the

Tenketsu Palace

. As there was no badge of the regular guards on it, he is most likely a cadet guard.

"That's a cadet who is in his third year. As of now, he has already learned just about all of the basics of swordplay. This may be demanding of you, but why don't you try pitting yourself against him."

A mock battle against Yuugenshu - regardless of whether you are a cadet guard, a regular guard or a cadres guard, all members of the

Tenketsu Palace

will have to go through the most basic training at least once a week.

The swordsman grabbed onto the sword which was about as tall as his height, and positioned it parallel against the ground.

— The tip of the sword was not even a millimeter away from the optimal position, which showcased the fine strength and balance the swordsman possessed. Just from that alone, one can see the impressive skills that the opponent has.

However, such a well trained swordsman is still not good enough to be a regular guard of the

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Ilis, please construct the blades of the swords."

After nodding his head at the

machine crystal

, Sheltis drew out the blade-less hilts.

"Fixing a silver monad as the core. The blades will be constructed using high strength Elnie-silver alloy. In consideration that it will have to withstand the attacks of a great sword, the limit to destruction is set to be at eightfold — the settings for duelling against a human is complete."

Under the remote control of the

machine crystal

, a pair of silver blades was constructed from the tip of the hilts.

Sheltis grabbed the brilliantly shining swords in reverse in each of his hands, and came face to face with the opponent swordsman.

One second...... Two......

A minute had passed, and yet neither of them made their moves.

The representative great sword wielder no the continent is none other than Leon. That man is adept at working the length of the great sword to his advantage, and using it to launch a series of blazing attacks. However, the opponent before him did not even move an inch. Even though the both of them are great sword wielders, their temperaments are different. That is perhaps the most troublesome part about dueling.

*Ka*

From the tip of the swordsman's feet, came the faint sound of the pebbles shifting - here he comes!

"Ha—!"

He swung his great sword fiercely.

A silver flash of light cleaved through the air, and approached Sheltis with a piercing screech.

But before that, Sheltis had already made his move by pouncing towards the chest of the swordsman.

The opponent's expression changed as he realized that Sheltis had infiltrated his blind spot. He jumped backwards, but Sheltis pressed on by leaping forward.

Using the sword in his left hand, Sheltis gave a wicked strike at the opponent's right elbow. He then smashed the other sword into the left shoulder of the opponent.

The exchange lasted for only a few seconds.

*Klang*

With his right elbow and left shoulder struck by the swords, the swordsman lost his grip. The great sword slipped from his hands and fell to the ground.

"This ends here - seems like I've said too much."

An all serious Instructor Yumelda puffed out a cloud of white smoke from her mouth that was chewing onto a stick of cigarette.

"Hmm. Using the pebbles beneath the feet of your opponent to determine the shift in their center of gravity, and then leaping towards them without any hesitation...... It is a very risky way of combat, but your body possess enough techniques to carry out the action nicely. You may look clueless, but your judgement and decision-making isn't too shabby."

"That's right. Sheltis uses the clueless and cute face of his to make his opponents lower their guard against him."

"How very true."

"...... Urm, what are you both talking about?"

"Nothing. Newcomer, pass me your badge."

Instructor Yumelda suddenly beckoned him with her arms.

"Eh?"

"What are you waiting for? Hurry."

"Haa......"

After handing over his silver badge to her, Yumelda stared at it with a gaze as if she was burning a hole through it.

"Hmm. Sheltis huh? I remember there was a dual sword wielder with the exact same name a few years back."

That sentence caused Sheltis' back to be filled with a cold sweat.

"I-Is that so?"

"...... Well, whatever."

As she gave a profound smile, she dug out her own badge from the chest pocket of her dark blue suit, and pressed the two chips in the middle of each badge together.

—Acknowledged—

"Here, don't go losing it."

The instructor tossed the badge high up into the sky. Sheltis caught it hurriedly. He then realized that his name on the badge was now showing a color of red instead of the original blue.

"With that, it is confirmed that Sheltis is promoted from cadet guard - first grade to cadet guard - second grade. From tomorrow onward, you'll be able to apply to the 'Merit System'."

"Merit System?"

He never came across that term three years ago.

"You'll know after a brief check by yourself. Just focus your attention on the training...... is what I would love to say, but according to the rules, you'll get to enjoy a thirty minute break."

"Eh? W-Wait a second......"

"I'll be off to buy some cigarettes. Should you have any question, save them for after the break."

Instructor Yumelda waved her arm casually in the air without even turning back. For quite a while, Sheltis stared at her as she slowly disappeared from his sight—

"As for the Merit System, I guess we'll just have to inquire on it later."

"...... I guess. Let's grab a drink."

Sheltis turned away from the instructor, and walked towards the water cooler. Having been forced to sprint around the man-made desert for a few hours since the early morning, his throat was already parched.

"Sheltis, continue walking while listening to what I have to say. I think you should have realized already."

"Mmm."

He gave a nod at the

machine crystal

, who was talking to him in a low volume.

"There are people watching us."

He could feel the stares from his back, and it came from many people. Despite not knowing the exact figures, he could feel that the stares were especially intense during his mock battle against the great sword wielder.

"There's no point thinking about it for now. Here, this is the water cooler that you have been waiting for. A gentle reminder, do not ever let the water come into contact with the

machine crystal

."

"Alright— Ah, the icy-cold water feels really comfortable."

"H-Hey! I just said it not too long ago, and here you are, makings things all wet already!"

"Ah, sorry."

He shielded the water spray, and soaked his burning palms and face in the cold waters.

...... What's happening? I can't seem to calm down for some reason.

Sheltis stared blankly at the water that was flowing through his palms.

The cold water was slowly removing the excess heat away from his body. Even then, there was a sense of irritation that continued to linger within his heart.

It was due to the countless stares from all around him just now.

The girl who was swinging her sword at the training ground; the gunner who was maintaining his pistols; the rest of the people who were resting under the tree. It felt as though everyone had their sight trained onto him.

Strictly speaking, those stares were not friendly at all. Rather, it was as if they were evaluating something.

"It's not just you."

— A voice came from the water spray next to him.

"All new cadet guards will be subjected to similar appraisal. This is to determine if they are worthy enough to be roped in."

The voice came from a girl with sakura-colored hair. She wrung the wet towel dry, and gently dabbed the sweat off her forehead. The sleeves of her ceremonial clothing was rolled upwards, revealing the porcelain white skin from within.

"You are the one from this morning......?"

The cadet guard who stared at him during yesterday's enrollment ceremony, as well as pointing out the path for him this morning. He never thought that she would engage in a conversation with him by her own will.

"Thank you for pointing out the path this morning."

"It's nothing. I was just passing by."

Her voice was not cold, but it was not friendly either. It fits her stern disposition to the point where she could just stop a conversation abruptly with her tone.

"Urm...... Can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"What do you mean by 'rope in'?"

The girl was still wiping her sweat off with the towel, but her hands suddenly froze.

"...... Seems like the term I used is not that appropriate."

What seemed to be bitter and self-depreciating smile appeared on her face.

"Simply put, it is to try to talk the newcomers into joining their squads. As the results of the Merit System will determine if one gets to be promoted or not, it is a must for a squad to strengthen itself whenever possible."

Merit System. That term yet again. Since it was something that he had never heard of even after rising to the cadres rank, then it must be a new system that was implemented during the three years of his absence.

"Promotion...... In order to be promoted to a regular guard, doesn't one have to complete the missions given out by the

Tenketsu Palace

? Either that, or it will be determined by the results of the simulated combat."

Having heard that question, the girl widened her eyes a little in surprise.

"I have no idea where you heard all those things from, but that's from the old outdated system of a few years ago. In recent years, the promotion system of the guards have undergone many changes."

"Ilis, do you know about this?"

"I have just checked the statutes of the

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>. There seems to be a new system for the promotion of the cadet guards to the regular guards. Firstly, the cadets will have to form a squad consisting of three to five members."

Perhaps she was directly referring to the information found online - there was not a single pause to the voice of the

machine crystal

.

"After forming a squad, you execute missions. There are different bureaus in the

Tenketsu Palace

- out of which, the more significant ones are the Law Enforcement Bureau, which is in charge of managing the guards, as well as the Environmental Bureau and the Mechanical Bureau, and so on. Each bureau will release missions that involve things like protecting VIPs, scouting dangerous and uncharted territories, or subjugating the dangerous creatures that appear near the F

loating Archipelago

- the squads will then have to accept and complete the missions. After the completion of a mission, the squad will be rewarded with points as dictated by the Tower's Law, in accordance to the difficulty of the mission. Once the accumulated points have hit above a certain threshold, they will receive the rights to face the test to become a regular guard...... generally, that's about it."

In other words, it does not matter how skilled one is. He will not be able to become a guard if he does not accumulate enough points as required.

But why did they implement such a system?

"As for the fights against Yuugenshu, you can consider the hypothetical situation where the barrier of the Priestesses is breached yet again."

She placed the towel on her neck to cool herself down, and continued,

"When the Yuugenshu are attacking from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, the most crucial factor is how the guards work as a team within their squads. Should anyone in the squad move by their own accord and cause the collapse of the line of defense, the floating continent may fall into a state of emergency."

"Then, this system is in place to force everyone to work on their teamwork?"

As the missions are assigned to squads and not individuals, the cadet guards will be able to improve on their teamwork, which will be essential in their future battles against the Yuugenshu. If they are not able to do so, then the missions will result in failure. And since they are not able to accumulate enough points, they will not receive the right to face the test and be promoted to the ranks of a regular guard.

"I see. They are not seeking for the highly-skilled, but instead, guards who can work together to fend off the Yuugenshu as a team - indeed, with such an impressive promoting system in place,

Tenketsu Palace

will be able to develop their required talent."

"Even so, it is undeniable that this system has caused a situation of bottle-necking."

She lowered her voice, and gave a sigh that couldn't be heard by the people around her.

"Under this system, the cadet guards are given much freedom in the formation of their squads. Despite them restricting the members to be made up of cadet guards only, the squads can either change the number of members as they please, or settle on a core group of members. As far as the efficiency of the system goes......"

"It is still much better for the squad to settle on a group of core members. Since the members will be placing their lives in the hands of their teammates, it is much better to do so with a group of trustworthy teammates, rather than to work with a squad of members whose skills and personalities you are not familiar with."

The

machine crystal

finished her sentence.

No matter who, everyone will be thinking the same thing.

"..... It's as she said."

Sheltis could remember what happened three years ago. Back then, he had always worked on missions together with Leon. It is of utmost importance to be able to entrust your back to your partner, and that is even more so in dangerous missions where you are putting your lives on the line.

"Because of that, the majority of the cadet guards have already formed tens of squads, and are actively seeking out new outstanding members to be roped into their own squads. That is the situation as of now."

The girl shifted her sight away from the splashing waters, and lifted her face.

"I get it...... So that's the reason why everyone has been staring at me with those evaluating gazes."

"But to look at it from another angle, you can treat it as if you have already gained everyone's attention."

Sheltis had no idea if the girl was joking or being serious - there was no emotion in her voice.

"Not long after your enrollment, you have already defeated a cadet guard in a duel, despite him being here for many years already. With such an outstanding performance, I think it will not be long before the emergence of squads that will be convincing you to join them. I advise you to carefully select members whom you think you can work with."

"Oh right......"

After a moment of hesitation, Sheltis finally called out to the girl, who had her back facing him. He did not know if it was appropriate for him to do so, but that was the only thing he wanted to know.

"You were staring at me during the enrollment ceremony. Is that a sort of evaluation from you as well?"

"How can that be?"

What answered him was a self-depreciating laugh.

"For a failure like me...... I am different from the likes of you. There is absolutely no squad that would invite me to join them. Needless to say, I don't even have the right to evaluate others."

With the towel in her hand, she walked towards the training grounds.

{4}

A clear, cloudless sphere of the skies in the dark night.

Tenketsu Palace

was giving off a faint white glow in the dark. It extended up into the endless skies, as though it was trying to pierce through the heavens.

The material that the

Tenketsu Palace

is constructed of absorbs the rays of light from the sun in the day, and releases them at night. From a distance, the whole tower looks like a pillar of light.

"There's totally no need for the lights, right? Though it would be slightly darker without them, it's not like it will cause an inconvenience for those walking by."

"No matter how bright the glow from the

Tenketsu Palace

is, it probably won't reach the outdoor training grounds."

Beneath the faintly glowing

Tenketsu Palace

, Sheltis was walking on the paved roads in the night, while looking at his shadow that stretched out from beneath his feet.

"Hmm— a stroll at night is a really romantic thing. It's a pity that there is only a guy walking by his lonesome on this path - what a painful reality this is. Do you want to head back to the

Tenketsu Palace

to invite Ymy out for a walk?"

The

machine crystal

suddenly said those baffling words.

"I am just going for my night practice."

"Fufufu, even if the person is Ymy, she would definitely be wearing a thin piece of casual clothing at night as well. You wouldn't not know this, but Ymy's growth in the past two years is really impressive. What's more, she is still in the process of developing! Sheltis would probably faint on the spot if Ymy was to reveal just a bit of her skin."

...... Should Ymy hear those words, Ilis would probably be crushed alive by her hands.

"Ilis, could it be that you're really bored?"

"Ah, so you actually noticed? I was way too bored during the day, since most of my processing space was idle back then."

"...... I knew it."

A gust of wind that was carrying the remaining heat from the day breezed by Sheltis silently.

Pressing on to his jacket, Sheltis continued his walk on the turfs in the dark.

"Let's see. I should turn left here."

"Right. I've recorded it all down, so it will definitely be correct this time."

That was the shortcut shown to him by Ymy yesterday, and he was reminded of it again during the day. After walking straight through the grassy path that was not recorded in the digital map—

His view broadened instantly.

"...... Upon looking at it again, this place is indeed huge."

The outdoor training grounds.

The turfed areas only occupied about half of the whole area. The remaining area is made up of landscapes that are replicated in reference to those found on the floating continent, such as the sand dunes, the rocky areas, as well as the barren lands, and so on. There is no place to seek shelter should it rain - training will be converted to suit the wet conditions should that happen.

The training grounds extended endlessly into the darkness on the other side, where light cannot reach.

"Though it is only the cadet guards who will be using the outdoor training grounds, there is around nine hundred of them. I think such a huge place is necessary for everyone to train at the same time."

"Whoa, there's so many of us? I remembered there was only about eight hundred back when I was around."

The increase in the amount of guards is probably an indication that the threats posed by the invasion of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

is becoming greater than ever.

"On the other hand, the strength of the regular guards have decreased to below three hundred. Don't forget, the competition for a spot among the regular guards is intense each and every year."

"...... I know that. That's the reason I came here tonight."

Most of the guards sleep and wake up early - which means they are living a typical healthy lifestyle. As such, when the clock hits five in the morning, the training grounds will be filled with cadets who are there for their morning practice. At night however, it is just like what he was seeing - the place was quite empty.

"The regime set by the Instructor is not intense enough?"

"No...... I just feel like swinging my swords, so as to get back my touch from three years ago."

Just as the instructor had said, they will probably be working on their basics for a year. If so, practice for his dual swords could only be done at night. It sucks for Leon to be hitting the nail on its head, but no matter what, he will have to rediscover the touch he had back in the old days.

"Ilis, construct the blades."

"Switching to the anti-Yuugenshu settings. Fixing a silver monad as the core, and encasing its surrounding with a layer of azure crystals of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Its limit to destruction is set to be at sevenfold."

A silver line began extending outwards from the blade-less hilt. Azure frozen crystals began to form over the line, and they gradually turned into the new blade of the sword - its the pair of swords that he is the most familiar and comfortable with.

...... Purple huh......

Upon seeing the blades, Sheltis heaved a heavy sigh.

The azure crystals were giving off a brilliant glow at night. As they were absorbing the mateki from within his body, the blades were gradually dyed violet.

"Ilis, it's still the same as before?"

"...... Unfortunately, there is no change to the waves of the mateki you emit."

Mateki — a strange wave that is unique to Yuugenshu.

The powers of Yuugenshu called 'mateki' is now currently in the body of Sheltis. Or rather, it is more accurate to say that his body is being 'forcibly occupied by mateki'. The strange thing is that the mateki in Sheltis' body has absolutely no effect against ordinary humans. Only when it comes into contact with shinryoku as strong as those of a Priestess, will repulsion occur.

Due to that, Sheltis is unable to touch even the fingertips of Ymy till now.

"...... The mateki of

Garden of Corrupted Song

huh......"

Garden of Corrupted Song

— a world of Yuugenshu sealed by Hyouketsu Kyoukai, ten thousand meters beneath the floating continent. Three years ago, Sheltis fell off from the floating continent and into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. As a result, Sheltis was infected by the mateki from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. Till now, they have not discovered any method to cure him.

His greatest wish is to be able to purify the mateki that exists in his body.

However, it is equally important for him to be able to regain the skills he possessed as a guard back then.

"...... I'll have to focus on my training."

He calmed himself down, and directed his focus onto the tip of his blades.

*—Swash!*

He lifted the sword in his right hand, and stabbed it downwards into a puddle of water beneath his feet.

There was no signs of ripples on the surface of the water.

What happened was, the blade had quietly pierced through the surface of the water. It did not tear through the surface roughly or cause a splash, but instead, it had just barely sliced through the surface tension and the molecules of the water surface.

However—

"Hmm? Why is the female instructor of the day standing there?"

After Ilis had said that, there was an immediate tremble to the tip of the sword, resulting in a huge ring of ripples on the surface of the puddle.

"Sheltis, that will not do. You'll be creating ripples if your hand moves."

The

machine crystal

gave a snicker.

"Ah...... Damn you Ilis! I was finally able to concentrate, and yet you distracted me! How is it possible for Instructor to appear at a time like this!"

"Fufu, seems like it will be difficult for you to overcome your fear of the instructor within a short period of time."

"...... That's totally cheating."

He swung the sword to his side unhappily to fling away the water droplets on the blade.

"Oh right, since you are the only one here on the training ground, why don't you work on something that is more intense? Like cleaving the ground open with a single slash, or stirring up a tornado with a swing of your sword—"

"Ilis, pipe down for a moment."

"Hmm?"

"Hush— be quiet!"

Sheltis retracted the swords in his hands, and hid his presence within the shadows of the nearest tree.

— That is......

Beneath the faint glow of the light, a bunch of long sakura-colored hair appeared faintly in the distance.

The cascading hair was tied into a ponytail behind her neck, and the girl with a stern disposition was walking towards their direction with firm and sturdy footsteps.

"Oh, she's the girl from this morning. It is rare for a cadet guard to be coming to the training grounds at a time like this."

"...... Mmm."

She walked past the tree without noticing their presence.

She was wearing the pure white ceremonial clothing during the day, but now, she had changed into a casual attire consisting of a white training shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts. In her hands were a pair of rods made of black metal. Their length were slightly shorter than that of his dual swords, and a unique hook extended from each of their sides.

"Jutte — so it's actually a pair of

crossed rods

. The black metal should be an alloy of chrome and ceramic. It's a very tough and light material, and its weakness towards heat is removed as well."

[TLNote:

十手 (Jutte)

, a Japanese weapon. As for the

十字昆 <ロザリオ＞

(

crossed rods

), it's probably referring to weapons that form a cross when the two rods/sticks/whatever crisscrossed with each other. The kanji + furigana combination is probably a term coined up by the author]

"That's quite a rare weapon that she's using."

As for its characteristics - the weapon itself is of a simple shape, so it is very easy to pick up. Moreover, as it is a branch of martial arts related to stick fighting, plus it can be dual wielded, the wielder can easily execute an impregnable defense. Striking weapons like swords, spears or staffs are naturally out of the question - even for an experience gunner, it would be difficult to break through the perfect defense of the

crossed rods

as well.

Despite all that, there are very few people in

Tenketsu Palace

who choose that as their choice of weapons.

"...... Since its offense is horribly weak."

Sheltis set his sight onto the weapons in the girl's hands.

They have no blades, and their weight is not comparable to that of a typical staff. Those weaknesses may not be much of a problem in a typical duel. However, in the most crucial battles, which is those against the Yuugenshu, the weaknesses will put its user at a severe disadvantage.

"And now we shall see her skills."

*Swoosh*

With a piercing sound of the winds, the girl began to move. Under the glare of the lights, she executed horizontal cleaves, lashes and stabs with the

crossed rods

in her hands. There was no hestiation in her actions.

She made a jump, and sliced horizontally with the

crossed rod

in her left, and followed up quickly with a vertical slash using the

crossed rod

in her right.

She manipulated the shiny black weapons nimbly, and it looked as though she was dancing.

"That's quite beautiful."

"Ah, Sheltis is all mesmerized."

No, that's not it — he shook his head silently.

"What I mean is, her actions are too perfect."

He carefully shifted his position in the shadows, and moved to a spot where he could see the girl clearly.

...... Just as I thought.

After his reassessment of her movements, Sheltis knitted his brows.

Her movements were really well polished. However, it was almost like she was just replicating the moves as written in the

crossed rods

manuals faithfully.

It does not matter if she is fighting against humans, beasts or even the Yuugenshu. She is far from capable of landing her hits on the opponents with those moves of hers. She can block the attacks of her opponents, but that is a far cry from being able to defeat them.

And that was the problem she was facing.

A pair of

crossed rods

which lacked offensive power, and her movements that were too faithful to those taught by the manuals. Either one of the two problems are enough to cause her not to be able to defeat the Yuugenshu. She should be well aware of those problems as well.

...... Hmm?

As he watched on, the girl suddenly stopped in her tracks. She slammed the bottom of the

crossed rod

in her left hand to that of the

crossed rod

in her right, and began to twist it.

*Klang*— the two

crossed rods

combined together with a clear ringing sound.

"Ehh. So she actually combined the two shorter

crossed rods

into a long staff. Is such a thing possible?"

"It's probably modified."

But what was the reason for that?

Its overall length may be longer than that of a great sword, but that was nothing more than the simple action of combination, and its overall toughness will still be very fragile. Should she use that as a long staff, it will cause more trouble than its worth.

"...... Fu."

He had no way of understanding her actions.

The girl took a breath of air, and lifted the combined long staff.

In the next instant—

Sia Sec elis arc...... Is io Miel

The words of power began to weave from her mouth into a smooth uninterrupted flow.

...... That is?

"The opening prologue of shinryoku?"

Shinryoku — they are known as waves that are in anti-phase with mateki, a mysterious power that can produce miracles. However, learning how to control it is no easy task, and it is said that one will have to undergo a long period of training in a special organization in

Tenketsu Palace

before they can use it.

But why was such a form of shinryoku appearing from her?

"— Prayers, are just an illusion.

The objects of desire, at a place out of reach.

Reality, exceeds all reasoning.

Thoughts, forgetting everything.

——————————————————————............"

The waves of shinryoku overlapped with the chants of the girl. The miracle that permeates the world began to show its presence.

"Oh blessed metals...... the Third Stone...... Descend, the crystals of white silver!"

As though it was proving the truth to what Sheltis was seeing, faint snow-white particles of light began to glow all around the girl's body. The radiance flowed through her arms, and gradually gathered on the black metal staff.

"Under the guidance of the Priestess...... the twenty-second power of the second process shall form the world."

In the blink of an eye, the originally transparent and gentle white glow collected itself onto the staff, and they began to crystallize.

The lights of shinryoku turned into a brilliantly shining crystal at the tip of the staff - the staff looked like a spear with a white silver blade on its end.

"That is the materialization of shinryoku, that belongs to the advent-type spells. I see, so the reason for her choosing the offensively lacking

crossed rods

, is because she can enhance the powers of her weapon via the arts of shinryoku. By changing forms of the

crossed rods

to one that possesses shinryoku, she can weaken the mateki of the Yuugenshu. This is quite surprising."

The

machine crystal

exclaimed in praise.

But then—

"...... How is that possible?"

The scene of the girl had caused Sheltis to nearly forget to breathe.

There were two reasons for that. Firstly, the practitioners of shinryoku are extremely rare among the members of the

Tenketsu Palace

. All guards who are adept at shinryoku will be granted positions above the rank of a regular guard unconditionally. If so, why is this girl still ranked as a cadet guard even now?

And the other reason, which is perhaps the most shocking one out of the two—

"Ilis, the activation arts which she just used is similar to that of a Priestess, right?"

"Yes. That includes the opening prologue, the prayers, the coefficient of the cycles and the manifestation. Despite the slight differences between the two arts, the procedures are similar in general."

The shinryoku-practitioner of the guards uses other techniques instead. For example, for simple things such as the enhancement of weapons via shinryoku or telekinesis, they can be activated through simpler procedures.

However, that is not the case for the activation arts of a Priestess. For a Priestess who exemplifies miracles and mysteriousness, her arts are especially complicated, and follows a strict ritual procedure.

That is especially so for the initial part.

The opening prologue sung using the Priestess-language is something incomprehensible to everyone else other than the Priestesses. If so, then this girl must have trained in the

Tenketsu Palace

as an apprentice-Priestess before.

"Since she wished to become a member of the

Tenketsu Palace

, a typical person would have chosen to enroll into the tower as an apprentice-Priestess...... as the rank of an apprentice-Priestess is the same as that of a regular guard, no? Then why is she lowering her own rank to be a cadet guard?"

"If necessary, I can check on her past. Do you need me to obtain her records from the main computers of the

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"...... No, that's not necessary."

Sheltis gave a vague reply to the question of the

machine crystal

. He was indeed curious, but that is the girl's personal problems, and he was in no position to step in.

"Why don't you ask her directly then? There is no one else around if you are to approach her now."

"I'll leave it for next time. It's about time I focus on my own practice as well."

As he put on a small smile on his face, Sheltis grabbed his dual swords and made a turn. He slowly walked away from the girl in silent strides.

"Eh? You seem to be rather happy."

"Mmm."

There was only one thing which he was certain of.

It was not the fact that she is a shinryoku-practitioner, nor was it the fact that she may have underwent the training of a Priestess - but something simpler, something that is more important—

"So Leon and I aren't the only freaks who come here by our own accord to train."

Sheltis gave a chuckle in his mind. He then lifted his head to look at the night skies.

"I think she must be someone who works really hard. Don't you think so, Ilis?"

"...... I do. But to be that happy just because you've found another person who is similar to you - you really are simple."

### 003. Chapter 2: Isolation

Removed the original Part 1 post because of the major changes to the terms, from Floating Islands to Floating Archipelago . It will be a pain in the ass to change that in Part 1 as well, so I chose to delete that instead.

Oh right. Many people's asking for Onii-ai vol 4. The thing is, I am waiting for the Chinese translations as well, just like how everyone here is waiting for mine. There is no news from Nuretapantsu yet. Remember, it has only been a month since the release in Japan. For vol 2, it took nearly half a year for the Chinese translations to be done. In the worse case scenario where he has dropped the project somehow, there is still the official translations to go, although I don't think vol 4 will be coming anytime soon as it is still at vol 1.

All I am asking for is patience. There is no need to bug me on when vol 4 will be released, because I'll be updating you guys when the Chinese translations are available for it. If there isn't any, I'll just focus on Sayonara Piano Sonata and Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden.

Here's the whole chapter. Enjoy.

********************

{1}

"It's morning already."

"Heh?"

"Sheltis, stop sleeping already. I'll blast your eardrums with loud soundwaves if you don't wake up right now."

"Don't go about scaring me this early in the morning......"

Rubbing his tired eyelids, Sheltis got off his bed slowly.

He navigated through the dark room based only on the blurred images captured by his eyes. He reached his hands out towards the draped curtains.

"...... What, it's still dark out there."

"It's already five. You're the one who said you wanted to do the morning practice, right? Are you still tired from your practice yesterday that went late into the night?"

"...... I'll do my best."

"If you really can't take it, you can continue sleeping, you know? I'll wake you up again when it's time for you to attend the morning gathering at nine."

"I...... I will not succumb to your temptations!"

"Fufu, that uptight expression of yours is really cute."

...... She's teasing me again.

Ignoring the

machine crystal

who was flashing about happily, Sheltis grabbed a white shirt and a short black jacket from his wardrobe.

"Speaking of which, Sheltis' black jacket looks very similar to the old ceremonial clothing of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"It's not 'similar', it is indeed the old ceremonial clothing. I re-tailored the clothing that I wore three years ago and made it into a jacket."

Leon's long coat is the pristine example of the newest line of white ceremonial clothing used across the board. It is because it contrasts well with the dark purples of the mateki of Yuugenshu, making it easy to spot an infected ally.

And as of now, Sheltis was the only person who was still wearing a black jacket.

"Won't you receive a warning for not wearing the white ceremonial clothing?"

"Since the cadet-guards aren't official members yet, the most I'll get is some advice to do so. Of course, it would be better if I change into the official ceremonial clothing."

It is recommended for the cadet-guards to wear the white ceremonial clothing, but it isn't compulsory. The reason is that cadet-guards will not be dispatched to missions where they are required to fight against the Yuugenshu.

"But since everyone else is wearing white, wouldn't it be better if you follow suit? Especially because you just entered the palace not too long ago."

"It would be bad if I wore white clothing. I could be easily spotted should I come into contact with mateki while wearing a set of white clothes. And if anyone caught sight of that—"

After falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, Sheltis' body had been infected by powerful mateki.

In exchange for the price of purging the shinryoku from his body, he had obtained the ability to nullify the mateki of Yuugenshu with his own mateki.

"Ah, I see. A typical guard would be in danger should he come into contact with mateki, but Sheltis would be fine. If you are shown to be alright despite coming into contact with mateki, you would only be inviting the suspicions of the people around you. It will be much more convenient for you to claim that you have not come into contact with mateki by wearing that black jacket, which is of a similar color to that."

"...... Mmm, though that is quite a masochistic reason."

He was the only one wearing black among the pure white clothing. That was obviously asking for attention, and him attracting the curious gazes from everyone around him was something to be expected as well. The truth is the cadet-guards were all trying to get away from him during the photo-shooting conducted the day before yesterday.

"Somehow...... while the term 'isolation' is a little too exaggerated, the only thing that I can do now is accept my current predicament."

"Yes. You will also have to take note of any people who knew you three years ago. The elite guards back then, which were the leaders or cadres ranked guards. Most of them are still currently serving as guards."

Prior to his fall into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, the cadres ranked Sheltis had teamed up with many of the guards before. Should they meet again, there will be a high chance that they will recognize him.

"Even so, you can still relax while you are a cadet-guard, since it is rare for the cadet-guards to team up with the regular guards, and there's also the fact that guards with rankings of official guards and above will all be training inside the

Tenketsu Palace

."

"...... I can never be too careful."

The incident of him falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, the mateki in his body, as well as him reentering the palace after a lapse of three years.

None of the above matters can be revealed to anyone. The only people who know about those things are the few people in the

Tenketsu Palace

whom he is familiar with, such as Ymy and Leon.

"Mhmm. Let us get back to our original topic then. That black jacket does indeed suit you really well. I have zero desire in seeing Sheltis being all prim and proper in his clean white ceremonial clothing."

"That last part was unnecessary."

After putting on the chain with the

machine crystal

hanging from it, everything was in place.

"Right, there's no point in us continuing with our conversation. Let's head out for morning practice."

"What about breakfast?"

"There's a canteen located at the outdoor training grounds. I used to eat there all the time."

After confirming that the automatic door was securely locked, Sheltis left his room.

The passageway in the early morning was still dark.

He walked through the spacious passageway, then made a turn at the junction to head towards the central elevator.

— However.

Right after he made the turn at the junction, he could hear the shuffling of feet and the bustle of many people before him.

"Strange, did something happen?"

About ten people had gathered around the elevator, and they all seemed to be cadet-guards who were wearing the whole set of the white ceremonial clothing. Upon taking a closer look, he realized that everyone was holding onto some colored cards.

At the ends of the queues, were a few desks and chairs placed together. The receptionists at the desks were all cadet-guards as well.

"What are they applying for?"

"No idea. Want to take a look?"

He made a detour to an area with less people, and peered into the crowd—

"Here— everyone, queue up properly! We will be distributing the recruitment cards to everyone now! The squad's name achievements are printed on the front, while the application form is located on the back. Please hand it over to the counter at the Law Enforcement Bureau when you are done signing it!"

"Ah, the girl walking over there. You should be a new cadet-guard who just joined us yesterday, right? Come, here's the recruitment card for our squad. We're all girls, so there will be less pressure on you if you join us. We usually hang out at sector eight of the outdoor training grounds, so please come over and take a look if you're interested!"

Before him were cadet-guards who were planning to head for their morning practices, as well as cadet-guards who were stopping them.

Next to the elevator and behind the desks, were the recruiters. The line of people gathered before the desks were the newcomers who took the commemorative photo with Sheltis the day before yesterday.

"A lobby?"

"Hard to say. From how they are distributing the recruitment cards to the nearby cadet-guards, I think it is more appropriate for you to say they are promoting or advertising themselves, rather than 'lobbying'."

"I'm getting more confused by the minute. I guess I'll understand when I get my hands on one of the cards?"

Just as he and the irregularly flashing Ilis were feeling all clueless—

"Weird, so Sheltis doesn't know anything about it? They're explaining how to join a squad."

"Eh?"

A girl with orange hair in overalls, and a little girl with black hair and an innocent smile suddenly walked out of the crowd.

"Good morning, Shell-nii—"

"Morning, Sheltis. The cards will be gone if you don't join the queue quickly."

"...... Eyriey and Yuto, what are you two doing here?"

The two who were walking away from the crowd had already amassed more than ten cards of various colors in their hands.

"Didn't I just say it? Everyone's here to recruit new members for their squads, or to look for a recommendation into a squad. See, I've received so many cards too. The registration form is located at the back of the cards."

Eyriey fanned out the red, blue, green and yellow cards in her hands. The cards vary from hand-written ones, to the mass-printed ones - the differences were huge.

"It's like what the girl with the sakura-colored hair of yesterday had said. They are convincing the newcomers to join their squads."

...... So that's whats happening.

It had only been two days since the new batch of cadet-guards enrolled. Though it was just the distributing of the cards, he was still surprised at how quickly the squads had made their moves.

"Oh right, why are you here?"

"Mmm? Well— Yuto woke up really early, and she said she wanted to play. I brought her here with the plan of finding you in your room. However, I was greeted by many people the moment I stepped out of the elevator. I was all confused about the situation, and before I know it, I had already joined the queue unknowingly and took the cards. I found you after that - something like that? It's probably because I am treated as a cadet-guard, due to me wearing the lost badge which we found yesterday— see, just like that."

Eyriey was pointing to the passageway in front of the elevator, which was of some distance away from them.

Many of the senior cadet-guards had surrounded a group of newcomers, who were just about as clueless as Sheltis.

"Hi— morning. You must be the new member here? We'll be depending on you!"

"...... Huh?"

"The training results of yesterday! Your physical strength must be quite something for you to be able to keep up with Instructor Yumelda's training on the very first day. Please consider joining us."

"...... Ah, right......"

"Then we'll be waiting for the good news."

"Okay......"

The members were proactively approaching the group of clueless new cadet-guards and shaking their hands, before moving away to look for new targets. The cadet-guards were left standing motionlessly behind them, without any idea of what was going on around them.

"Well, something like that."

Eyriey smiled wryly as she shrugged.

"— Therefore, these are the various squads and their members, as well as a short speech...... or rather, reasons for joining their squads. I don't need any of these, so take them."

After spreading out the cards, she stuffed it all into Sheltis' hands.

"I have to look through every single one of them?"

"If you want to. Though most of them were written with things similar to 'please join our squad'."

"I knew it."

"And there's some rare classics in them, such as 'It was a heart-wrenching scene to see you guys being yelled at by the Instructor and running about on the training ground while desperately trying to hold your tears back. Our hearts ache for you as we remember that silhouette of your running bodies. Please join our squad!'...... Mmm, I highly recommend those."

"Wow, it's totally tailor-made for Sheltis."

"Why is Ilis saying that too! And isn't it just weird? Everyone had indeed underwent the training yesterday while being brutally yelled at by Instructor, but I can't quite imagine any touching scenes to be seen from that?"

"Alright, the joke ends here. What are you planning to do?"

"Eyri-nee, Yuto's bored" — Yuto pouted unhappily with a bored expression on her face. Eyriey looked at Sheltis pleasantly as she patted Yuto's head.

"What do you mean?"

"Those guys over there thought I was a cadet-guard, so they told me quite a few things. As such, I have a rough idea about what the promotion system is all about. Under the current promotion system, you will not be able to accumulate points if you do not clear missions, but you can only take on missions as a squad with at least three members in it. If so, Sheltis will have to get into a squad to earn some points, right?"

"It is as you have said......"

"If so, it will be for the best if you take a look at all these cards."

She secured the thick stack of cards with a paperclip.

"Here. Well then - Yuto, let's go!"

"Right—"

The two held hands and were about to leave.

"Hold on, where are you two going? Didn't you guys come here to play?"

"You will just have to focus on reading the cards. We are heading to the aviation division of the Mechanical Bureau on the fifty-ninth story. Yuto told me there's something interesting going on over there."

The various bureaus of

Tenketsu Palace

, such as the Mechanical Bureau and the Tower Controls, are located along the thirty-eighth story to the two hundred and forty-first story of

the tower. While it is not a restricted area, they aren't places where commoners like Eyriey would normally be interested in.

"...... I don't know what's so interesting, but don't go about causing problems for the staff there."

Right— the duo replied to him loudly, before running off together.

After watching the two disappear from his sight—

"Sorry, but there is something that I'd like to say."

The

machine crystal

spoke with an unusually soft voice.

"Something feels strange here. Even if the other cadet-guards are not queuing up, they will still be handed cards by the recruiters. We are the only ones who are not being approached by anyone."

"...... Mmm."

Sheltis realized that too.

He had the feeling since meeting up with Eyriey and Yuto. The recruiters close to him were the only ones who refused to approach him, and there was a considerable distance between him and them. The recruiters all looked away when Sheltis was about to make eye contact with them - it was as though they had seen something extremely scary.

"Seems like everyone is trying to avoid you."

The

machine crystal

whispered.

"You are a cadet-guard who has already received your white ceremonial clothing, and yet you refused to wear them. Even though you have just joined the squad, you have already defeated a senior cadet-guard in a duel...... in their eyes, you are not an outstanding cadet-guard - rather, there's too many mysteries about you."

"...... I can't blame them."

He did not know if the smile on his face was a self-depreciating one or a bitter one, but he started walking anyway. He avoided going to the crowded elevators and made a detour along the outskirts of the crowd, and went into the emergency stairs.

"Really?"

"Mhmm, because...... I can understand their feelings."

The painful feelings of isolation he once felt back when he was expelled from the

Tenketsu Palace

.

It was very similar to what he was experiencing now.

"It would be great if I could change into my white ceremonial clothing and interact with them normally."

"I guess. Still, it is better for you not to provoke the upper brass of

Tenketsu Palace

for now."

The reason he could reenter the palace was because he had the joint support from five of the highest ranked members of

Tenketsu Palace

- the Priestesses and Sennenshi, including Ymy and Leon.

Typically speaking, a single Priestess or Sennenshi will be more than sufficient to wield their absolute power to influence the decisions.

But Sheltis' reentering of the palace required the joint efforts of five people for the matter to pass through. In other words, there was a huge force that resisted his reentering the palace, and it required that much influence to counterbalance the opposition.

"In other words, you will have to properly conceal your true identity as long as you are in here. Should anyone ask why you wear that black jacket, you would have to reject them directly. Even if that would result in you facing distrust and criticism from everyone, you absolutely cannot allow anyone to know about the fact that you have fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

before, or how your body is now carrying mateki."

"...... Yeah."

It was the decision of the top brass to expell Sheltis from the

Tenketsu Palace

two years ago. He had not came into contact with them yet, but they should be very unhappy about his reentering of the palace.

"The top brass of the

Tenketsu Palace

, especially the directors, are all very concerned about the social order. If the fact about them allowing a person carrying mateki to reenter the palace is exposed to the public, it will cause a huge uproar among the civilians, and not just within the

Tenketsu Palace

."

"I know. I definitely won't reveal my true identity, even if it means not being trusted by the people around me."

Should chaos result from the disclosure of his secret, he would definitely be expelled from the

Tenketsu Palace

permanently, so as to take responsibility for all the commotions caused.

"That's how it is. Also, in regards to selecting your squad, it will be better for you to chose a squad that has as few members as possible."

"I'll try my best, though I don't know if things will go that smoothly."

He learned about the gist of the promotion system from the girl with sakura-colored hair.

He was not sure if the current system can be considered good or bad. But in the short time span of two years which he was not around, there had been many changes which he was not aware of, and he could clearly feel how he was left far behind from all the developments of the palace.

"Compared to how things were when I first started out, there really has been a lot of changes."

"Yes. But you will have to face them all, starting today."

There will be a practice on team battles conducted in the afternoon for the the second grade cadet-guards who are interested. Naturally, that includes Sheltis, who was only promoted to that rank just a day ago.

"Since it is a team battle, you may have a chance to see for yourself what the current squads are like. Try to join a squad which still has some space left for extra members, and experience it yourself."

The most important thing for him right now was to confirm what sort of squads there are via actual combat.

"In any case, I'll know how things are like by today."

Sheltis mumbled softly as he stared at the cards given to him by Eyriey, as though he was talking to himself.

***

Tenketsu Palace

, two hundred and eighty seventh story.

"............ Leon, urm......"

Upon hearing the hesitant voice of the girl, Leon opened his tightly shut eyes.

The floors were covered with an orange carpet. From the ceilings hung a glamorous chandelier made from refined glass. Behind him was a well tidied bookshelf and desk. A spacious family kitchen exists deeper within. The size of the room is big enough to allow a family of four to live comfortably.

"............ Sorry for interrupting your meditation."

"Don't worry about it. Anything wrong?"

The girl who was lowering her head timidly.

The buds of summer, Syun-rei - the Priestess who Leon is assigned to protect exclusively.

She has black hair and eyes, and her delicate looks make her look a year or two younger than her actual age of seventeen. Her unique vestment is made up of red and white fabrics, with a purple sash tied along her chest.

"............ The deadline for the mission assigned by Queen Salah is approaching."

"Ah, that mission......"

Queen Salah holds the highest position in

Tenketsu Palace

. She is a woman who possesses the strongest shinryoku in the whole floating continent.

She leads the five Priestesses, and spends most of her time throughout the year in the top most level of the

Tenketsu Palace

, which is named < >. As of now, she should be in < > focusing on her prayers for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

During her resting period last month, the Queen assigned a mission to Leon.

A mission that will involve a certain secret - something that can only be done by a Sennenshi.

"............ 'The team should consist only of a minimum amount of people, so as to keep the issue as low as possible. Aside from Sennenshi Leon, there can only be one, at most two more people in the team. Please pick someone trustworthy to go along with you'...... what should we do?"

"Seems like the issue about the team is much more troublesome than the actual mission itself."

Having taken a glance at the mission outline, it was certain that the cadres or leader guards will not be able to participate in it. The only people who can join are those who are of low positions in

Tenketsu Palace

. Also, the person must be tight-lipped, trustworthy, and possess fine skills all at the same time.

"............ Does Leon have someone in mind?"

"There's probably only one person who can fulfill such ridiculous requirements."

***

"I had already told you yesterday during night training that we would be conducting battles in teams of two at 1500 hours."

The instructor's roaring voice echoed throughout the outdoor training grounds.

"So everyone is to find a partner and submit your application as a pair to the digital roster located at the first resting area. Those who are done with the application can rest till 1500 hours."

...... Team of two huh?

Sheltis took a quick glance at over a hundred cadet-guards who had gathered here.

"We guessed wrong. I thought it would have been a team battle of a much larger scale."

"Yeah."

If the teams were to be made up of three or four people, then Sheltis' prediction of how the teams will be made up of the usual squad members would probably come true. He can then observe the situations of the various squads to look for one that is suitable for him. But that could no longer work with the situation they were in.

"That's all. Dismiss!"

As the instructor turned away from them, the cadet-guards began to leave.

"That's quite a problem we have here."

Having heard that from

machine crystal

, Sheltis surveyed the scene yet again.

The cadet-guards were heading out in all directions in synchronized footsteps. They were all second grade cadet-guards, which means they were granted access to the Merit System. However, as someone who had just been promoted into the ranks only yesterday, Sheltis didn't recognize anyone.

There were over a hundred of them there, and they ranged from men in their forties, to girls in their teenage years. Who's good at fighting, and who's good with their strategies? What about their choice of weapons? How's their personality and habits?

Sheltis had no clue who he should team up with.

"Sheltis, over there. It looks a little strange."

"What's wrong?"

"Look at the people around you. It may look like they are dispersing in all directions, but everyone's heading towards the north in pairs in the end."

"—Eh?"

Acting on the reminder of the

machine crystal

, Sheltis hurriedly looked at the cadet-guards around him.

Only a few minutes had passed since the dismissal of the cadet-guards, but everyone was already heading towards the northern pathway with a partner. The pathway leads to the first resting area, which was where the digital roster was located at.

...... How can that be? There were no discussions on teaming up among the cadet-guards.

"Seems like the reason for the initial dispersion was so that they could make contact with their squad-mates. They will then break up into teams of two when everyone in the squad has assembled. If the squad is made up of an odd number of people, they'll probably team up with another squad whom they are on good terms with."

Things are not looking good.

I'll have to find someone who I can team up with as quickly as possible. That is of a greater priority than winning or losing.

"...... I get it."

As he bit on his lips tightly, Sheltis recalled Leon's words that were passed to him through Ymy.

He will have to be aware of the position he's in within the other cadet-guards. Otherwise, he may be ostracized.

Should he act like how he used to do so back in the past, he will face a lot of problems.

That was exactly what was happening to him. Regardless of how outstanding a cadet-guard he is, he will not be able to promote or participate in training if he is not in a squad.

...... I never thought that things would be that serious.

Without a squad, he will not be able to get a partner who he can train with. He totally did not anticipate that.

"Then again, it's not like everyone will be able to team up with people whom they are familiar with. You should approach the cadet-guards who are still lacking a partner, and form a team with them."

"Mmm— Ah, the gunner over there. Can you please team up with me......"

He walked towards a heavy-gunner and extended his hands.

"......"

Having seen Sheltis approaching him, the heavy-gunner made a forced turn and walked away from him.

There was no way he could not have heard that.

"Eh, strange? Wait............"

He shouted at the person, but the gunner did not turn back.

It was the same with the female archer after that. She turned away from his direction before he could even open his mouth to speak.

"It is indeed the same as this morning. Everyone's avoiding you."

"...... Let's try to find someone else."

Sheltis began to ask the cadet-guards one by one, but no one was willing to answer him. It was akin to him trying to grab water with his hands - no matter how hard he tried, the opposite party would somehow slip away from him.

That scene repeated on for countless times.

Before he knew it, Sheltis was the only person left.

"There's not much time left till 1500 hours."

At then, even the voice of the

machine crystal

that he was so used to hearing sounded just like the solemn declaration of his death.

"I know, but what can I do?"

Sheltis shrugged in frustration with a sigh.

The faint feelings which he had during the incident near the elevator this morning had turned into something definite and concrete.

It was obvious that all the other cadet-guards were shunning him — the unknown and mysterious cadet-guard who wears the unique black jacket. The victory he obtained in the duel on the second day should have been an opportunity for him to showcase his skills, but instead it had caused everyone to distrust him.

"What a pain it is......"

It would be okay if it was just for today. However, such things will definitely continue on from tomorrow onward.

As a cadet-guard, he has a more definite goal than everyone else, and possess exceptional skills as well. However, he was facing the helpless feeling of isolation in just about everything else.

"Seems like the only thing we can do is ask the instructor to pair you up with someone."

"That won't do. It will not be a solution to the roots of my problem............ Ah!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Sheltis suddenly ran towards a person whom he had caught sight of in the corner of his eyes.

"W-Wait, Sheltis! Where are you going!"

Sheltis sprinted on the dunes of the training grounds without answering. The silhouette of the dot in the fringe of his sight soon became clearer and clearer—

"You are......."

Upon sensing someone approaching her, the girl lifted her head.

"H-Hey! Are you alone right now? Have you teamed up with anyone else?"

"Who me?"

With one of her hands holding onto the

crossed rods

, the girl with sakura-colored hair opened her eyes wide.

"If you are here, it means you are one of the participants for the team battles, right?"

"I am...... you're not in a team yet?"

"Mmm, cause nearly everyone else has a partner already."

Having heard that, Sheltis could see a change in the girl's expression for the very first time. She was putting on a faint wry smile, as though she had seen something strange.

"How surprising, I thought you would have joined an excellent squad already."

"...... It's just the opposite."

"Opposite?"

The smile on her face disappeared, and her expression became serious once more. Sheltis spread his arms out wide and explained,

"Well...... you see, everyone's wearing white, while I'm the only one who's wearing a black jacket. After my duel with the cadet-guard yesterday, it seems like I can't break into the circles of the other cadet-guards...... Seems like everyone is finding me suspicious, and I'm always rejected no matter who I approached."

"But of course. The paired mock battles can be considered as a sort of formal exercise. It is the same as putting yourself in danger if you do not team up with a person whom you can trust."

That's right.

The words that she had said must be what the heavy-gunner and the archer were thinking back then as well.

"...... So it's indeed like that. For a loner like me......"

If that was the view of the only girl whom he had talked with and feels slightly closer to, then it would be even more so for the other cadet guards.

...... There's probably no hope in participating in the team battle this time round.

"Sorry for disturbing you then."

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To find Instructor. I'm telling her there's no one who's willing to team up with me, and I'll request for her to allow me to train on my own."

"You're here to ask me to partner up with you, right?"

"Yes, but......"

Allow me to finish what I have to say — she showed an expression as though she was saying that, and sighed,

"Well, I never rejected you, did I?"

"Eh?"

The girl seemed to be rather embarrassed, and turned her head away.

"I'll warn you first. My performance is poor, and thus no one is willing to team up with me...... Therefore, I am in the same boat as you."

"R-Really!? Can I really partner up with you!?"

"Or rather, are you sure you want to team up with me? There should be other cadet-guards whom you can still try your luck on. In consideration to my combat abilities, I think it is better for you to choose other cadet-guards instead."

"N-Nothing of that sort!"

In response to the confused expressions of the girl, Sheltis shook his head furiously.

"It's because the only person who has spoken to me and is willing to team up with me is you."

"I...... it's actually......"

"I'll be in your care then! Ah, my name's Sheltis. May I know your name?"

"...... Monica. Monica Esperanto."

Despite her surprise, she managed to tell Sheltis her name, albeit rather shyly.

"There's ninety eight participants, which totals up to forty-nine teams. That's slightly less than the original numbers, but since it will be easier for me to organize everything, I am mighty fine with it."

The suited female instructor stopped her fiddling of a tread-like tobacco, and loudly said,

"Just like what I said, you guys are gonna do team battles in a pair. I've already randomly decided on your opponents, and have already sent the details to your badges. Hurry up and head towards the combat area after you are done confirming your opponents."

"That's it. Hurry, Sheltis, hurry...... let me take a look at your badge, or else I'll hack into it."

"Ah— man, what's with the hurry?"

The badge of

Tenketsu Palace

functions as an identity card and a communicator at the same time. Aside from controlling the locks of their room, one can receive instructions and commands via the simple messages sent to their badge.

"Eh? That's strange."

He could find no information about their opponents on the screen behind the card.

A malfunction? Or perhaps the instructor got it wrong or something?

"It's the same for me too. There's no records about our upcoming opponent."

Monica finished meddling around with the screen, and looked downwards with a confused expression on her face.

There were a total of forty-nine teams participating. As each team will only be facing another pair, there will be a single team left after dividing the teams into twenty four different battles. Due to their late registration, they could be the team that was left out of the battles.

"Oh, I've finally found you. Sheltis, and this is Monica, right? What are you guys hanging around here for?"

The female instructor pried open the surrounding crowd and walked towards them.

"We aren't hanging around. It seems like our opponents haven't been registered into the systems yet......"

"Your opponents are over there. I told you, I've already decided on your opponents."

She pointed the smoking cigarette in a certain direction — it was a dome made of translucent reinforced glass, used specially for major fights with spectators involved.

"There?"

"Yeah. Your opponents inside should be about done as well."

One could clearly see the clouds of dust inside the dome through the glass walls.

— That's?

An occasional streak of metallic grey light flashed from within the dirty-yellow and brown clouds of dust. There were also countless lead-colored impacts bouncing off the glass walls randomly, as though they were trying to destroy the dome.

"Seems like they are done. They will be your opponents. Oi, Jin and I'sa!"

The instructor yelled out as she lit up yet another cigarette.

The dust inside the dome gradually cleared away. With the dust clearing up, they could gradually see the two people inside.

A petite girl with her golden hair tied in twintails. There were several huge metal balls floating by her side.

A tall and stout bald male dual gunner, with a pair of heavy pistols in his hands.

Both of them were wearing the ceremonial clothing of the

Tenketsu Palace

. However, there was an obviously different air around them as compared to the cadet-guards nearby.

"The dual gunner guy in the half-coat is Jin, while the girl wearing the skirt is Issha. Hurry up and enter. Don't make them wait."

"Instructor, this......? What's going on here?"

Monica turned around to question the Instructor with a soft voice. What she was looking at were the badges located on their left arms.

— The badges of a regular guard.

"I have a faint impression of that puppeteer and the dual gunner. They are the real deal, the regular guards."

Having heard Monica's words, Sheltis directed his sight back to the dome.

There was no need for him to look at the badges on their left arms. The intimidating presence of the two people were more than enough proof that they really were the regular guards of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"You scared?"

"N-Nothing like that......! It's just that the difference in strength is too overwhelming."

"It's fine. Let's go."

He gave a pat on Monica's shoulders, before turning around to face the dome.

"Don't worry. Since I was the one who invited you to be on the team, I'll think up of something."

"Do we....... have a chance of winning?"

"Well, the probability's not zero. Moreover, we will have to face them sooner or later anyway, should we want to become a regular guard or even higher. Isn't that right?"

If the aim is to become the guard of the highest rank, the 'Sennenshi'.

There is no longer any no room for retreat. That was the resolve he had since returning to

Tenketsu Palace

.

"That's right, just go in and fight. The results will be for later."

As the happy voice of the instructor rang from behind them, the two of them walked towards the battlefield made of glass.

The dome has a circumference of about thirty meters wide. The internal terrain is a replica of the mountainous areas made up of sand and jutting rocks.

"A signal will be fired three minutes later. The battle shall start with the sound of the gun."

The instructor's voice blared through the speakers on the ceiling.

...... Right, what's next?

There was a distance of at least twenty meters between them and the two regular guards. Their opponents seemed to be discussing something as they looked towards them, but it was impossible to hear them from such a far distance.

"Monica's weapon is that pair of

crossed rods

right? Can you use any long-ranged weapons?"

"Sorry, I only know how to use this. What about you aside from your dual swords?"

"It's the same for me too."

"It will be a real headache for you two to face the dual gunner, since the both of you are close-ranged fighters. Not only does he have quick reflexes, due to him being a regular guard, his typical training consists of him accurately shooting down cherries that are a distance of fifty meters away. In a caged dome arena like this, there is probably no place where you two can escape."

As such, they would have to force the battle into a close-ranged one. However, there was an obstacle to that.

A regular-guard who is a shinryoku-practitioner — the female 'puppeteer' standing next to the dual gunner.

They are guards who do not rely on martial arts for combat. Different from the shinryoku arts of the Priestesses and apprentice-Priestesses, they utilize shinryoku arts that have been specially modified for combat. One of the many forms of a shinryoku-practitioner is a puppeteer.

"I think you should know already. Puppets are objects that have received shinryoku from their hosts, who will then fight by remotely controlling the puppets. She may look small, but we cannot allow ourselves to drop our guard."

Monica lifted her

crossed rods

calmly.

"Her puppets are the four spheres on the ground. It's size is about the size of a child's hugs, but their weight should be at around fifty kilograms each. If she is controlling them via shinryoku, then the range of control...... should be about twenty meters."

"Prior to getting close to the far-ranged dual gunner, we'll have to deal with the puppeteer who is in control of the mid-range...... Speaking of which, you know quite a lot about these things."

"That puppeteer named Issha is a well known shinryoku-practitioner among the regular guards."

She shrugged her shoulders as a matter of factly.

"So? Do we focus on her first?"

"That's about the only thing we can do. However, we will be easy targets for the dual gunner if we are to move together. The opponents will probably expect us to do the same as well."

Sheltis shifted his sight to the dual gunner for a brief moment, before focusing on onto the puppeteer girl again.

"So we might as well go for a one-on-one tactic. I'll try to finish the girl, and then we'll both gang up on the dual gunner."

"...... You want to take on the puppeteer, who is a regular guard, alone?"

"Mmm. As for Monica, try your best to divert the attention of the dual gunner— here we go!"

*Boom!*

The signal shook the glass. At the same time, Sheltis and Monica leaped off in two different directions.

*Bang*— the opponent's bullet came smashing through the walls at the same time the signal was fired. No, perhaps it was even earlier than that. Is that their way of greeting us?

"Monica, I'll leave him to you!"

With his back facing Monica, Sheltis focused his attention on the puppeteer girl.

He ran, and began to accelerate.

He sprinted on the sides of the hills which were faithfully replicated off their originals, and jumped off a huge boulder. His surroundings changed in an instant - he had gained grounds on the girl in a blink of an eye.

"...... He's fast."

The girl named Issha mumbled expressionlessly, and jumped backwards.

Puppeteers excel in mid-ranged combat. As he tried to chase the girl who was attempting to keep a considerable distance away from him, Sheltis dashed through the bumpy slopes as though he was running on smooth level ground.

— "Deploy, and release" —

The girl lifted her right arm.

At the same time, two metallic grey spheres came gliding in through the air.

"As for the controls of the four spheres, the opponent has chosen to utilize the basic setup of using half of it for offense, and the other half to defend herself."

The spheres were made up of highly compressed metals. Having obtained shinryoku and the potential energy, the extremely heavy objects were zooming in from his left and right at high speeds. He lured them before his eyes—

*Don*

As though he wanted to shake off the sounds of his footsteps, Sheltis immediately stopped himself from advancing further. The silver spheres which were aiming for Sheltis lost their targets, and sailed through the thin air.

He shot a quick glance at the spheres, before accelerating yet again.

"!"

The girl's expression changed suddenly as she realized that the young man had shrunk the distance between them in a flash.

— "Engage" —

The other set of defensive spheres were activated.

The extremely heavy 'puppets' which were giving off a metallic silver glow were crashing diagonally downwards at Sheltis' head. However, instead of dodging it, Sheltis chose to pick up speed in the direction of the spheres.

He seized the exact moment to swing his dual swords at the incoming spheres.

A brilliant flash of his swords.

At the same time, the floating metallic grey spheres fell onto the ground with a dull thud. The girl was totally speechless - the two fallen spheres were sliced perfectly in half along the smooth surfaces.

"......!"

That is unbelievable. He could clearly feel what the opponent was thinking from the expressions on her face. However, as expected from the regular guards, she immediately released herself from the shock, and returned to a calm state.

— "Seek, and release" —

Abandoning the destroyed defensive spheres, the girl sent instructions to the two initial spheres...... But this time, Issha was forced to open her eyes wide.

The spheres which were originally in her control were no longer moving.

"Sorry, those won't work either."

"Eh?"

Sheltis pointed towards his back.

What came to her eyes, were the other two spheres that were sliced in the same manner.

"Eh...... H-How is that possible?"

"No, all I did was make a slash prior to my dodge - or what is commonly known as 'Zantetsu'." [TLNote: 斬鉄, literally hacking of metal. I guess it is a name of a move or some sort, so I chose to preserve its pronunciation.]

"...... What a mess."

With all her weapons destroyed, the girl could only fall onto the ground in a daze.

"Are you really a cadet-guard? And not an elite guard or a cadres guard?"

— There are a lot of reasons behind what you are seeing.

Sheltis made a silent answer to the girl in his heart, and turned away from her.

Where's Monica— there she is!

The battle on the other side was exactly opposite of what had happened on his side. The two of them were fighting near the edges of the walls.

Monica had reflected all the bullets fired at her from the dual pistols. The

crossed rods

had indeed lived up to their name of sporting an impressive defense...... However, it was ultimately a situation where she had been suppressed by the opponent the whole time.

She could find no opportunity to close the distance, and instead she was slowly forced against the wall.

"Guh!"

Her left shoulder was struck by a bullet which she was unable to deflect. Despite it being a dud, it still packed quite a punch. A sharp pain spread from her shoulder to her wrists, which resulted in the

crossed rods

slipping off from Monica's hand.

"Monica!"

Sheltis yelled in her direction.

Or that was what it looked like. In reality, his actual motive was to attract the attention of the dual gunner.

"...... I'sa has been defeated?"

The expression of the dual gunner changed for a brief moment as he saw the young man running towards him at high speeds. He continued restraining Monica with the pistol on his right, and diverted his sight to Sheltis.

Sheltis had managed to close in on the dual gunner as well by evading the multiple bullets fired at him. Upon realizing that, the opponent changed his direction nimbly and made effortless jumps on the uneven rocky slopes to pull away from Sheltis.

"This regular guard named Jin is quite impressive in terms of his physical abilities. That retaliatory posture of his while jumping through the air is really graceful to look at."

Sheltis once again took chase at the dual gunner who the

machine crystal

was praising, and tried to force him against the wall by rounding him up.

Five meters remaining. It was the face-off of the young man who kept trying to close in the distance between the two in a single breath, against the dual gunner who was constantly evading him. The chase continued on for a few minutes.

— It's now!

Out of no where, Sheltis raised his dual swords.

"!"

The opponent lifted his eyebrows in confusion. As there was still a five meter distance between them, it was impossible for the twin swords to strike him. Despite knowing that, Sheltis...... tossed out both of his swords at Jin.

"...... What?"

The dual gunner gave a gasp of shock as he witnessed the swords flying towards him. He deflected the incoming swords with his pistols, then took aim at the weaponless young man.

Just then, a dull sound came ringing from within the dome.

".................."

An unexpected impact on the back of his head had finally caused the dual gunner to collapse onto the ground.

"...... This is for the shot at my shoulder earlier."

Behind him, was a panting Monica holding onto a pair of

crossed rods

in her hands.

"Ohhh, a perfect hit."

"Stop mocking me."

She turned her slightly red face away.

"Mmm, Jin and Issha, it's been tough on you two. Return to your stations for now...... As for you two."

After giving thanks to the dual gunner and the puppeteer, Instructor Yumelda turned around to face them.

"I'll ignore the initial part of the battle, which was extremely reckless. Well, the part where you threw your swords to gain the attention of the enemy, followed up by a strike from behind, is something that can be considered as a pass."

The instructor lit up yet another cigarette.

"See, I told you, you can't just go rushing in recklessly right at the beginning. Learn to use your brains for once."

"I'm already trying my best."

Sheltis gave a slight pout and retracted his blades.

Then again, he didn't remember performing that sort of combination attack with Leon back then.

As the both of them possess exceptional skills, he could easily count the number of times they had teamed up.

"But this is quite a problem for me now. I had originally planned to say 'Hurry up and get on your feet' to the both of you after you two had been soundly defeated by them. I didn't make any plans for the aftermath of your victories."

"So we are that weak in your eyes huh."

"Whatever. Do your own training for the rest of the day then. Dismissed."

"...... How very slip-short of her."

He could not come up with a decent retort, and could only wave his hands at her as she left.

"Oh right. Thanks, Monica. It's all thanks to you, that I had the chance to participate in the training."

"Ah...... Ahhh."

The expressionless girl blinked for a moment, as though she was recovering from a daze.

"What's wrong with you?"

"No...... I never expected us to win......"

As he was used to her stern disposition, that stuttering look of hers was quite refreshing in Sheltis' eyes.

"Just because they are the regular guards?"

No, it's not that.

Monica mumbled, and stared at the sky in a daze.

"...... This...... is the very first time I have obtained victory in a team battle by teaming up with someone else...... Of course, I know very well it was all due to your efforts that we won."

First time?

It sounds way too exaggerated for a cadet-guard to have not won even once.

"You think it's strange......? For anyone who can't get into a good squad or team up with good teammates, they will end up like how I am. To me, you are the unfathomable one. You are a newcomer who enrolled here just a few days ago, so how did you manage to overwhelm that pair of regular guards?"

"No, it's actually quite difficult for me as well. I guess part of the reason is they were underestimating us due to our ranks as cadet-guards. You're exaggerating by saying that I was overwhelming them. Moreover, what I'm more surprised about was how Monica was practicing the arts of shinryoku deep into the night—"

He said too much.

He realized that only after seeing the expression on Monica's face.

"...... You saw everything?"

He did not know if it was her sorrow or anger, but an intense emotion swelled up from within her grayish blue eyes.

Her delicate shoulders were trembling slightly.

"......!"

Monica's head sunk low, and she was biting onto her lips tightly. She turned around without saying a word.

"Ah...... urm...... wait, Moni—"

"Don't follow me!"

He was about to stretch out his hands, but her yell stopped him in his tracks.

She wanted to get mad, but she couldn't do it; she tried to cry, but she could not cry either. While she was hopelessly stuck in between her swaying emotions, she finally let out a stubborn yet fragile voice.

"............ Training's over............ Please allow me to rest."

{2}

"Ahh— it's finally over."

Sheltis slumped onto his bed with a sense of tiredness in his sigh.

"............"

He held his breath and closed his eyes, as though he was trying to confirm the sensation of his body sinking into the bed sheets that he was lying on.

"You don't look like you are sleeping, but rather, you are thinking about something."

"....... I just feel like I've done something wrong to Monica."

Which included him peeking at her training.

As well as knowing how she can use the rites of a Priestess.

He should not have said anything in front of her.

"...... Will she forgive me if I apologize?"

"It's hard to say. From a neutral point of view, I don't think Sheltis has done anything wrong. The training grounds are an open place, and since she chose to train there, she should be mentally prepared to be seen by someone else. It was only natural that she got seen by you."

"Well, you're not wrong, but it's still not good for me to look at her while hiding myself in secret."

"Fufu, I am not denying that. Therefore, I won't object if you wish to apologize to her."

He flipped over and stared at the ceiling.

...... Mmm, I should just apologize.

...... Because she is the first person to talk to me, and she treats me rather nicely.

Sheltis would not have been able to join the team battle without her. After countless rejections, she was the only one who agreed when he invited her to team up, and that made Sheltis really happy.

"So back to the previous topic. Why isn't that girl in any of the squads? Her abilities are not particularly outstanding, but she's not weak either."

It would be a different case if she was looking to join a squad that is made up of highly-skilled guards, but if she isn't overly demanding, she should be able to find a squad that would be willing to accept her at the very least. But from her words, it's not that she is 'not willing to join', but rather, 'she was not accepted'.

Why is that?

"In the end, we'll still have to ask her if we want to get some answers."

"Right, but you can't be overly anxious about it. In any case, apologize to her properly tomorrow."

"Mmm...... got it."

I'll just rest for today.

Just as he was about to switch off the lights in his room—

"Sheltis, there's a mission for you."

A familiar voice that leaves no room for questions blared out from the speakers on the ceiling.

............ Leon?

"I need to speak to you. Take the central elevator to the two hundred and eighty-seventh story now."

"...... Fu— Fu—"

"There's no point in you faking. I heard your conversation with Ilis clearly."

"That's just too cheap!"

Sheltis jumped out of bed.

"...... I had been suspecting this all along - is there some sort of surveillance camera installed in this room?"

Who'll be interested in photographing Sheltis in secret— after tossing the grumbling crystal onto the pillow, Sheltis looked up into the speakers unwillingly.

"Fine, I'll just have to head to your room?"

"Yeah. We'll talk in my room. And bring Ilis along as well."

The two hundred and eighty-ninth story to the two hundred and eighty-seventh story are specially reserved for the use of the Priestesses and Sennenshi. Leon, Syun-rei and Ymy's room are all located on the two hundred and eighty seventh story.

But, what sort of important mission are they going to discuss, seeing as they need to do so in Sennenshi Leon's room?

"We'll be safe from the ears of others if we are to discuss it in my room."

"Oh— Alright. Let's go, Ilis."

"Uhhhh, but I am tired already—"

After puting on the necklace with Ilis hanging on it, Sheltis left the room.

***

"That's quick of you."

The sight of a silver haired young man in a pure white coat suddenly appeared before his eyes as the doors of the central elevator opened.

Leon flashed a wry smile as he held on to a brass watch in his hand.

"I wonder who's the one who is persistently hastening me...... Eh?"

Sheltis couldn't help but blink his eyes upon seeing the faintly moving shadows behind Leon.

"Urm...... You are Syun-rei, right? Good evening."

As she grabbed onto Leon's coat tightly, the girl with black hair and eyes popped her head out of his back.

She's the forth Priestess out of the five — Syun-rei Pia Nucclene.

According to Ymy, she has severe anthrophobia. She is extremely wary towards males, to the point where she will just turn around and run away if she spots a staff of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"............ G-Good...... evening."

After saying that with an almost inaudible voice, she quickly hid behind Leon's back again. On the other hand, Leon was looking rather pleased.

"Oh, Syun-rei's trying her best. So you've learned how to greet others, right?"

"............ Mmm."

The girls face was blushing slightly upon receiving the praises of Leon. As someone who is very timid even towards the other Priestesses, her partner Sennenshi is the only person whom she opens her heart to.

"In any case, let us continue the talk in my room. Follow me."

Leon began to make his move on the passageway, and Syun-rei followed tightly behind him. Sheltis followed up with them as well—

Just as the group of them was about to approach the junction in front of the central elevator.

"Eh? Leon and Syun-rei? What a surprise to be seeing you two at this hour."

A girl in her white vestment made her turn at the junction.

She greeted Leon and Syun-rei with a smile, and was walking towards the direction of the elevator - which was towards them.

"...... Sheltis?"

Ymy stopped in her tracks with a confused expression on her face.

"Why are you here? Anything wrong?"

"Ah. Well—"

Before he could even explain—

"It's about that mission from the Queen. Me and Sheltis will be carrying it out together. As we have to keep it a secret from the rest of the members, I will be explaining it to him in my room."

Leon replied before him.

"The mission about the

Floating Archipelago

?"

"Yeah. Needless to say, the only other person coming along is Sheltis."

"...... I see."

Ymy was still standing on her spot with her eyes looking in the air blankly. Not long after, she said with a determined expression,

"L-Look, Leon. I want to tag along too...... can I?"

I wish to join the both of you. She looked at Leon akin to how a child looks at his parents as he begged them to buy something for him.

After a moment of silence.

"— That may be quite difficult."

Leon rejected her heavily.

"The mission is too dangerous for you, since you are without a Sennenshi."

"But, Leon and Sheltis are both going right? There should be nothing to worry about if that's the case."

"I do feel the same way as well, but that is not the case for the General Affairs Council, the Mechanical Bureau as well as the Tower Controls - just like how it was with Director Albert the last time round. You can try requesting to join in the mission without your personal Sennenshi, but I think you will definitely be facing stiff resistance from them."

"............"

Ymy kept silent.

Leon's words were absolutely correct, without any room for refutes.

"Moreover, without the presence of any Sennenshi, the

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

> will be protected by someone else during my absence. Syun-rei had planned to stay here this time, so we will be depending on the both of you."

"...... Mmm."

Ymy nodded her head sullenly - however, she then lifted her head suddenly.

"Syun-rei...... Sheltis.................. What's up...... with you two?"

"What's wrong, Ymy?"

"B-Because......"

Ymy lifted her hands. Her lips were trembling.

"You two can actually...... can actually touch each other......?"

She pointed at the left shoulder of Syun-rei.

Unknown to them, Sheltis' right arm had somehow come into contact with Syun-rei's left shoulder. Perhaps that was the case all along since their sudden pause at the junction.

...... However, that should be something that is impossible.

"How? Something like this—"

Without any clue to how that happened, Sheltis immediately jumped backwards away from Syun-rei.

Logically speaking, he should not be able to touch the Priestesses at all.

'Shinryoku' are the source of power for the Priestesses that opposes the power of the Yuugenshu, which is 'mateki'. The two powers of different nature should be repelling each other upon contact. Moreover, since he possess the mateki of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, there should be a strong repulsion occurring against the Priestesses, who are in possession of strong shinryoku.

If so, why did nothing happen even after coming into contact with Syun-rei?

"What's happening? I thought you couldn't touch the Priestesses?"

"I thought so too. But, why......"

Leon was confused as well.

"Sheltis. Leon and I know very well about how Ymy's shinryoku and your mateki will repel each other under contact. What about the other Priestesses then? Will there be the same phenomenon as well?"

The

machine crystal

broke the silence that filled the air with nervousness and shock in a calm voice.

"Well......"

He never tried. The reason for finding out the existence of mateki in his body was due to the repulsion against the shinryoku of Ymy.

Tenketsu Palace

would never agree tolet him try it out with the other Priestesses.

That's right. He had never tried it till now. Sheltis assumed his mateki would be rejected by all the Priestesses without any confirmation. It's the same not only for Ymy, but for Leon as well.

"Then, could it be......"

Sheltis could only stand in shock after understanding what the

machine crystal

was trying to say.

A dizzying bewilderment that exceeded all anger and despair gradually spread out in his heart.

...... Why is reality that cruel?

...... There's only one out of all the Priestesses whom I am repelling.

"———"

At that moment, unknown to Sheltis, Ymy had switched to a determined expression and was stretching her finger out towards his shoulder.

"Ymy! You can't!"

...... Eh?

He turned his head and saw Ymy biting her lips. Those eyes of hers were close to crying—

Her delicate finger touched his shoulders.

*Zzz...... zzzzzz......*

His shoulder and her fingertip. A blueish white electric spark was given off from the point of contact.

Elbert Resonance.

When an overly powerful shinryoku meets an equally powerful mateki, the laws of physics will be twisted. Sparks will be produced in the air, delivering punishment to the two that tried to touch each other with flames.

"......!"

Ymy retracted her burnt fingertip and squatted down.

"Ymy!"

"What are you doing—"

Leon and the

machine crystal

yelled out at the same time.

"............ Because......"

That was the only thing she managed to say.

"............ This is just...... too cruel."

That sentence alone was more than enough for everyone at the scene to understand her feelings.

Why— Why am I the only one who can't touch Sheltis. Her sorrow was clearly shown via the sight of her trembling back.

"...... There's only one explanation for that."

The

machine crystal

broke the silence yet again.

"It's the same with how Sheltis was repelled by the doors of the Grand Holy Hall. Ymy, you are in possession of the strongest shinryoku out of the five Priestesses. The reason why you're the only person to repel Sheltis...... is because your shinryoku is too powerful."

"......"

Those words seemed to have had its effects on Ymy.

Ymy stood up with her head still hanging low, as though she had accepted that explanation.

"Sheltis...... do your best in the mission."

She said that in an emotional tone.

"Ymy......"

Even though he had something he wished to say to Ymy, Sheltis chose to remain silent.

— Sorry, Ymy. Regardless of what I say right now, you will probably think I am just trying to console you.

— However...... My feelings are the same as yours.

He clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging deeply into his palms. He endured the overwhelming feeling of anxiety within him that could make him go crazy.

"Sorry everyone, for interrupting your mission debriefing. I'll be heading back first."

She then turned away from everyone.

Her long hair was swaying gently. They could faintly see her jade-colored eyes through the light-golden slits - there were tears that were about to fall off from the corners of her eyes.

"...... Syun-rei."

The black-haired girl turned her head upon hearing her name.

As he looked at Ymy's delicate back that was disappearing from his sight, Sheltis called out to the other Priestess next to him.

"Please, can you stay by Ymy's side?"

"............ Mmm."

The black-haired girl agreed instantly.

She nodded her head to her partner, and chased Ymy with her small steps.

"Sheltis. It may not be the best time to be doing this, but can we discuss the mission now?"

"...... I guess."

Sheltis leaned his back against the walls of the junction and stared into the ceiling. It seemed like he was thinking of something.

Though he has not found any solution to the mateki in his body, he believed there is definitely a way for him to purify the mateki within him.

He held on to the belief in him — as of now, the only thing he could do is focus his attention on the mission before him.

"Aren't we going to your room?"

"You will probably be filled with thoughts about Ymy anyway. Also, I don't wish to abandon Syun-rei and head back to my room alone."

Leon crossed his arms and smiled bitterly.

"It's late night anyway, and since they have tight controls over the entrance to this floor, I think it will be fine for us to talk here............ Well then, where should I begin?"

"Ymy mentioned something about the

Floating Archipelago

. Are we heading there?"

"Ahh, all the Priestesses and Sennenshi know about it already. We are heading towards the

Floating Archipelago

."

The only place where humans can live on — floating continent Orbie Clar.

That was the only continent in the world, with countless islands of various sizes floating around it.

The floating islands were used for many purposes - agriculture plantations were built there; giant windmills were constructed there as well to harness the wind energy to produce electricity. Even though the floating continent was the only place where humans could live, the

Floating Archipelago

are equally essential to humans as well.

"Let's see...... the mission is to head to the islands? That's pretty common. There are lots of missions involving things like exploring uncharted islands, as well as investigating the geological makeup or the ecology of the islands, and so on."

He could not even cover the amount of missions he could have thought of with the fingers he had. The missions that required traveling to the

Floating Archipelago

differ widely in nature, and there are a lot of those missions as well.

"That's right. Our mission falls under the guise of 'a mission that requires us to travel to the

Floating Archipelago

'. Well, to start off, I think you should know the need of aircraft when we are traveling to the

Floating Archipelago

. For the past few months. it seems like huge amounts of electric faeries have appeared along the main aviation routes. Our mission is to subjugate them."

Electric faeries are a sort of faerie that are active near clouds of thunder.

They love to store electrical charges in their bodies. However, they will cause a disturbance in the magnetic fields of nearby airspace if they appear in a large group. Though they cannot be considered as harmful as beasts, the humans can't simply ignore them either, as they will pose a problem for aircraft near them.

"...... This mission seems typical enough. Why is it considered classified then?"

Having heard that question, Leon showed a bitter expression which was not commonly seen from him.

"Because this involves the Government Sector."

"...... Them?"

On the floating continents, defense and politics were handled by two different organizations.

The Queen and her Priestesses are the ones with the highest positions in

Tenketsu Palace

, and are tasked with the responsibility of protecting the continent.

On the other hand, the Government Sector are in charge of all things related to politics. Even though they are located in a corner of the

Floating Archipelago

, and do not reveal themselves much on the floating continent regularly, they are still in charge of various core organizations that control the legislation, laws and etc.

If the Priestesses are the symbols of miracles and mysteriousness, the Pope of the highest order signifies politics and authority.

"The relationship between the Government Sector and

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

> was never good to begin with, right?"

"Yeah. I only came to know of it after I became a Sennenshi. It was way worse than I had imagined."

It's damn irritating— Leon followed up with a grumble.

As they are the protectors of the floating continent, the residents of the living sector have naturally adored

Tenketsu Palace

.

However, as an organization that is in charge of politics, the Government Sector needs to maintain its prestige as well. The Government Sector seemed to be unhappy with how a good portion of the people respected only the Priestesses of the

Tenketsu Palace

, and has always stirred up trouble because of that.

"The floating island which we will be heading to is located within the territories owned by the Government Sector. They had always disliked interference from the

Tenketsu Palace

. If it is a group of typical guards heading there, they may face unnecessary hindrance from them."

"Which is where Leon comes in. That may be the case for the typical guards, but if the person is a Sennenshi who protects the Priestesses, the Government Sector will not openly impede him. The reason for bringing along a low-ranking Sheltis is to deceive the public as well.

Tenketsu Palace

can claim that this is a mission done by a certain newcomer, and the Sennenshi is the supervisor who is taking care of the useless cadet-guard."

"As expected of Ilis, you got it immediately."

"...... Urm...... then my stand...... ah, forget it."

Having to face the

machine crystal

and Leon who were going along with each other seamlessly, Sheltis could only continue on with the topic aside from releasing a glare of protest.

"So, when will the mission start? Next week? Next month?"

"It's tomorrow."

"............ Right, I should be going back to sleep. I still have morning practice tomorrow."

He suddenly turned and made a sprint towards the elevator, then pressed the button of the floor where his room was located...... but before he could do any of that, Leon had already grabbed him by his shoulder.

"Are you still planning to run away at a time like this?"

"Problem is, why do I have to head off tomorrow when I just heard of the details today? I don't know how that instructor will torture me if I skip my training without a valid reason!"

"Relax, Sheltis. I have already informed the instructor prior to this."

"...... Say what?"

"She asked me to relay this to you: go ahead and enjoy that short holiday...... when you return, 'I'll be loving you tenderly'. From the looks of it, this instructor is quite a considerate person."

"Can't you tell that she's really angry?"

"Hmm, is that so?"

"...... So you're not pretending to be dumb."

Sheltis lost his will to argue, and could only surrender unwillingly.

"Well, that's all. We'll gather at the airfield on the sixty-fifth story at nine tomorrow. Remember to go to the fifty-ninth story first to carry out the standard procedures at the counter of the Mechanical Bureau's aviation division."

The aviation division on the fifty-ninth story.

Strange? I've heard about it somewhere before.

"And another thing. It's about the make up of the team."

With that, Leon pointed towards the ceiling.

"Typically speaking, it is impossible for a Sennenshi and a cadet-guard to form a two-man team. If possible, I was hoping you'd find another trustworthy and tight-lipped person to join us. Only cadet-guards are allowed."

"Hmm— that's difficult, since I just returned not too long ago."

"I guessed as much...... whatever, we'll just go as a pair then, and settle it as quickly as we can."

The Sennenshi gave a helpless shrug.

In the end, it's still the same two-man combination from three years ago.

"Understood. Well then, I'll try to come up with something by tomorrow."

"Yeah. Also, I'll ask Syun-rei to take care of Ymy while we're on the mission."

"Mmm, please."

After directing a glance in the direction of Ymy's room, Sheltis left.

***

Tenketsu Palace

, eleventh story.

"Eh?"

Sheltis stopped in his tracks after walking out from the central elevator.

He saw someone hanging outside of his room. Since the lights of the passageway were already out, plus the fact that he was still quite a distance away, all he knew was that the petite silhouette belonged to that of a girl.

"If she is a cadet-guard, she may be there to invite you into a squad. Though everyone's shunning you, there may be some cadet-guards who are actually impressed with your skills."

"She sure knows how to pick the time."

Really.

In a deliberate attempt to make himself heard by the person before his room, Sheltis walked towards her with loud footsteps.

"Sorry, may I know the reason for......"

A bunch of sakura-colored hair appeared faintly beneath the rays of the night light. She was wearing a plain colored shirt, which exposed her ceramic-white limbs in the air.

"Monica?"

"............"

The girl pursed her lips and looked at him with a sharp piercing gaze. The memories of the day appeared clearly in his mind upon seeing the girl's face.

— Right, I'll have to apologize quickly.

He had no idea what Monica was there for, but he will have to apologize first for peeking at her while she trained in secret last night. Everything else is of secondary importance.

"L-Look, Monica. I am really sor—"

"Sorry."

".................. Huh?"

"I-I said, I'm sorry!"

Monica subconsciously raised her voice. She forgot that it was already deep into the night.

"...... I am really sorry for what happened during the day. You are the one who had invited me to team up for the battle, and it is because of you that we won. However, not only did I not thank you for all that, I threw a tantrum at you, and caused things to be so stiff between us."

She turned her slightly blushing face to the side, and bit her teeth hard.

"That's what I wished to say. Sorry for taking up your time."

"Ah. Monica, wait!"

"What?"

"You came all the way to my room just so that you could say those things to me?"

If she wants to apologize, she could have chosen to visit him tomorrow instead. However, she chose to come despite the late hour. And even though she knew he was not in his room, she still waited for him patiently.

Why is she so insistent—

"That's how I am. Is it really weird?"

"...... No."

Sheltis replied with a gentle laugh.

"I feel I should be the one apologizing. Sorry, I accidentally saw you while you were training in secret."

"Well, it's fine...... It's late, so I'll be heading back."

She was about to turn around and leave yet again.

Looking at her back—

"...... Ahhh!"

"Huh? What's with that loud yell all of the sudden?"

"G-Give me a second!"

Sheltis took out his badge from his chest pocket, and activated the communication device. He then connected himself to the Sennenshi whom he was familiar with.

"Hello? Leon? Eh, you're still training? That's not important, listen to what I have to say. I've found the third person for that mission. Don't worry, there's no problem. I can guarantee you that she is trustworthy. Mmm, please handle it then."

After a few quick words, he disconnected the call.

"Ah, sorry. I've just asked Leon - it should be fine for you to join us."

"...... Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Monica was looking at him cluelessly.

"Urm, how should I put it?"

It was as though a kid had thought up an excellent prank — that was the expression Sheltis had on his face as he asked,

"Monica, do you want to team up with me tomorrow? It's a real mission this time."

### 004. Intermission: The night of initiation

And back to Sayonara Piano Sonata.

Edit: I've also changed Floating Islands to Floating Archipelago .

********************

It was as though the sphere of sky was dyed with a transparent black ink.

The transparent night sky was so very dark, and yet it seemed to be within grasp at the same time.

There was the mysterious shadow of the azure moon, as well as the scattered stars that looked like jewels spilling out from a knocked-over chest.

...... It was a quiet night.

The cries of the birds, the buzz of the insects, as well as the rustling of the plants - none of those sounds could be heard.

The lush forestry. In the middle of the night where all living things were asleep—

"What a comfortable night."

A joyful female voice was gradually penetrating through the forest of the night.

In the deepest area of the sea of trees that were over a hundred years-old.

"It's not too bad to immerse yourself in nature occasionally. Having constantly exposed myself under artificial lighting, I have nearly forgotten the light of nature"

As she lifted her head to look at the countless twinkling stars, the corners of her lips became gentle.

*...... Plop*

She walked barefooted on the surface of the lake, producing a delicate sound from the waters.

It was a scene straight out of a fairy tale.

She was standing on the surface of the lake silently, amid the sea of trees.

A thin mysterious membrane of light was glowing in between her bare feet and the water's surface.

It was as though the light was supporting the lady, preventing her from falling into the water.

"— Hmm, 'I feel the same too' huh? Seems like you have finally understood those feelings."

She gently closed her eyes. A smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

That was not her talking to herself.

She was actually directing her speech to a certain someone.

"Haha, 'Don't treat me like a kid'? Right, I get it."

The shoulder's of the lady trembled slightly.

A beautiful and dignified face, as well as a pair of amber-colored eyes that were close to golden. Her soft silky black hair draped down her back and onto her slender body.

Despite those exceptional features, the most attractive part about the scene was probably the graceful posture of her standing in stark nakedness, baring her skin for all to see.

"Hmm? Put on my clothes first before we talk? Why does it matter? It's your fault for sending me the telepathy message while I was enjoying my bath."

The moonlight was cold yet clear. Beneath the alluring lights—

A luscious naked body could be faintly seen.

"Moreover—"

She made a mischievous smile, and hugged her shoulders with her crossed arms.

"I am different from you. I won't feel embarrassed even if my body is seen by someone else."

Those slender shoulders of her tall body were tightly entwined by both of her arms.

Her barely covered breasts gave a slight quiver, as though they were about to spill out from the gaps of her two arms. Her thin waist and shapely hips carved out luscious and seductive curves exemplifying that 'devilish' body of hers.

It was as though the beauty of her exposed body existed for the sole purpose of seducing men.

"Speaking of which, it's about time that child-like figure of yours—"

"...... Tsali, I am being serious here."

The slightly angry voice of a young girl reverberated through the silent forest.

It was one of the phenomenons of telepathy. It signified the intense emotions that the owner was experiencing.

"Don't be so angry. Fufu, you are so very cute."

However, the lady named Tsali looked really happy, and the smile on her face deepened.

"Rather than wasting your shinryoku to convert your telepathy messages into your voice, why don't you concentrate on the prayers of Hyouketsu Kyoukai instead?"

"...... I have never once slackened in regards to that."

With that, the voice of the young girl quieted down.

"That's right, be good and keep it to telepathy— Well then, what's your reason for contacting me via telepathy this late into the night?"

After a brief moment of silence.

"...... I see."

Having received the telepathy message from the young girl, the lady named Tsali cocked her eyebrow slightly.

"'The Cage of Frozen Time'...... It's the Forbidden Crystal?"

There was a hint of ecstasy in her laugh.

"How surpising. I thought it would be quite a while before we will be heading down to that floating island............ Ahh, we have to act before the Government Sector can get their hands on 'that'?"

Beneath the moonlight, the lady lifted her arms and peered into the surface of the lake.

"Understood. If so, I'll tag along as well."

"Sorry for the trouble."

"Jeez."

Her smile deepened once again with the voice of the young girl.

"Though I am quite interested in this as well."

*Woosh*— a gust of wind breezed past the water's surface.

It was similar to the gales of autumn, galloping through the gaps of the forest. The blown leaves were creating multiple ripples on the surface of the lake.

The wind then died down.

"— Ah, how very exciting. Don't you think so, Sheltis?"

On the surface of the lake that had regained its tranquility, was the reflection of a dark black vestment decorated with silver white ornaments.

Tsali was standing on the surface of the lake leisurely. She was wearing a thin vestment that complemented her seductive curves perfectly.

"Oh young man, who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, and returned to the floating continent. It's time to proceed."

*...... Plop*

Along with a tiny ripple, she spread her arms out wide and gazed into the sphere of night sky.

Then.

"'The Cage of Frozen Time' — the dreams of

Garden of Corrupted Song

that is still slumbering. What sort of

reality

will it show you?"

Deep in the desolate forest, Tsali was silently smiling.

### 005. Chapter 3: Lagoon Floating Archipelagos , under the enticement of an unknown intention

Part 3 located at the end. Enjoy.

********************

{1}

Mechanical Bureau—

Just as the name suggests, this is the division that focuses on the mechanical aspects of the tower. Most of the staff here are the clerical staff or technical staff. Their main task is to develop and maintain the electronics of the

Tenketsu Palace

, as well as huge sized machines like aircraft.

The Mechanical Bureau occupies the forty-eighth story to the sixty-seventh story of the

Tenketsu Palace

, which is a total of twenty stories. Most of those are used for research and development of machines, and one can easily see the staff walking with the developing robots just about everywhere. It is a rather unique bureau.

Within the Mechanical Bureau.

The most outstanding place is the < > created by combining the sixty-fifth story and the sixty-sixth story — an aviation center located within

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Whoa......!"

The gate is located at the southern side of the floor.

Sheltis lifted his hands and broke into a cheer as the aircraft flew out of the floor and into the sky.

"That's just amazing, Ilis. You see that? The consecutive take off of the two aircraft."

He could easily see giant aircraft painted in black and gold around him. Next to those were the silver mini-aircraft designed for the use of multiple people. Beside those mini-aircraft, were the unmanned scouting crafts which were giving off a loud humming sound, all raring to go.

"You seem rather happy."

"It's been a long time since I've been here. I've always loved to ride in those aircraft."

Nothing has changed.

The two flat runways in the middle of the place; the uniformed technicians who were conducting the final checks for the machines; as well as the guards in their ceremonial clothing who were watching everything. Even the broadcast which announces the liftoff times are exactly the same as before.

"Well, it's fine for you to be happy, but we're still a little too early, no? It will be a while before nine."

"...... I'm reflecting on it. I'll just grab a cup of tea, I guess."

He pointed to the corner of the floor, which consists of food vending machines surrounded by transparent glass. He slotted a coin into the container next to the automatic door, then walked to the drinks section after it opened to allow him in.

"Ara, so you'll have to pay before entering."

"It's self-service and drink-all-you-want, as long as you pay before hand...... Problem is, I don't know what I should choose."

Freshly grounded coffee, branded red tea, or citrus juice. He crossed his arms in hesitation before the table that had a wide array of jars on it. Just then—

"I'll have coffee with a teaspoon of sugar and no cream. That's the best for keeping me awake."

"Ah, Monica. Morning. How was your night?"

"...... Do you think I could sleep last night after knowing that I'll be heading off on a mission in the morning the very next day?"

As she skillfully poured the coffee into a white ceramic container, the girl with sakura-colored hair said with a slight wry smile.

"Let's not talk about that. What are the details of the mission?"

"We'll be heading to the areas near the

Floating Archipelagos

to drive out the electric faeries. We may have to get on the deck of the aircraft. Are you afraid of heights?"

Monica did not answer, but pointed to the ceiling with her index finger instead.

Tenketsu Palace

itself is a extremely tall building with two hundred and ninety one stories, so it is normal to get used to the height if we're working in a place like this — perhaps that was what she was implying.

"Right, Sheltis. I have something to ask you."

As she brought the cup close to her mouth, Monica's gaze shifted upwards.

"Where did you get this mission from?"

"Eh?"

"Aside for a small exception, most of the missions available to cadet-guards will have the takers chosen from a list of squads that volunteered. However, our mission is not listed in the records of the Law Enforcement Bureau. I am quite curious about that."

"Ohh, straight to the point. And you have actually looked it up before hand. That rigid personality of yours is really something—"

Ignoring the praises of the

machine crystal

, Monica narrowed her grey eyes into slits.

"Urm...... I don't know how to explain it to you. Actually, I'm not the one who picked this mission up."

Upon being asked that question, Sheltis lifted his head to look at the clock in the shop.

"It's eight-thirty now, which is thirty minutes from the scheduled time...... Leon's a punctual guy, so he should be here soon."

"Who?"

"A fellow member who's doing the mission with us. I think Monica should know him as well."

"Me?"

The girl put on a confused expression. Just then, the mechanized doors of the shop suddenly opened.

*Ka......* Came the sounds of shoes stepping onto the hard floors.

The dining area suddenly became dead quiet in an instance, in contrast to the originally lively atmosphere. The clerical staff adjusted their ties, while the guards straightened their backs. Everyone knew that the guy in the white coat was someone who possesses an absolute position in

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Oh, it's Leon. Speak of the devil."

"Ahh. You are unexpectedly punctual, Sheltis."

The silver-haired young man, who had a badge of the Sennenshi hanging from his left arm, said in response. As he walked towards the drinks section, Leon looked at the girl with sakura-colored hair, who was stunned motionless with the cup of coffee in her hands.

"That girl beside you, is she the one whom you told me about yesterday?"

"Yeah, I'll introduce the both of you. This is Monica—"

"W-Wait a second, Sheltis! W-W-Wha...... What's the meaning of this?"

Monica put down the cup of coffee in her hands, then proceeded to shake Sheltis hard by his collar.

"W-Whoa......! Hey...... Monica, relax for a moment!"

"How do you expect me to relax like this! Why is a Sennenshi - Captain Leon here, and why are you two that familiar with each other!? What's the meaning of this? I originally thought this was just a typical mission—"

"In any case."

Leon said that with a low voice, and directed his sight to an aircraft that was parked in the hanger.

"We'll talk there. This is not the place to be discussing about our mission."

"...... Sorry."

Both Sheltis and Monica nodded obediently and unanimously under the stares of the people around them.

"So I'll summarize this — you and Captain Leon happen to know each other, and he invited you to join in the mission which will most likely involve the Govenment Sector. Right?"

"Mmm, though it's more of me being forced, rather than invited."

Monica was looking at him suspiciously. Ignoring her sharp gaze that was as if she was trying to see through his everything, Sheltis gave a nod to the Sennenshi next to him.

"Is that right, Leon?"

"Ahh, that's how it is. Your name's Monica, right? Sorry for making you join us all of a sudden, since the mission is rather urgent."

Upon being looked at by the representative great sword wielder of the continent, Monica began to fluster.

"N-No, it's fine! I've always heard about the heroics of Captain Leon...... It is my utmost honor to be able to be in the same team as you...... Hey, what are you laughing at, Sheltis?"

"No, it's seldom I get to see Monica in such a flustered state— Ah, just joking! Ouch!"

His stomach was elbowed by her. He quickly retreated backwards, to get away from the furious girl.

Just then, the sounds of moving machines came from his back.

"Seems like everything's in place."

Leon murmured as he looked at the gradually accelerating propellers.

The copper-green shock-absorbent tiled flooring vibrated gently. The lights in the cockpit of the silver aircraft blinked on.

There were fin-like wings on the streamlined chassis. It can carry up to ten people, which is about two times less compared to civilian aircraft.

"It's time, let's go—"

Leon was about to lead the pack, but he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Hold on. I'm receiving an incoming telepathy message."

Telepathy messages sent via shinryoku.

The only person who would send a telepathy message to a Sennenshi at a time like this is—

"Syun-rei?"

The person who said that name was neither Sheltis himself nor Leon, but Monica, who was originally looking at the aircraft.

"............ Leon."

The doors of the elevator which leads into the indoor airfield opened, and a black-haired girl timidly stuck her head out from behind it. She was scanning the whole place, and was obviously relieved when she managed to locate her partner.

"Syun-rei, you came here by yourself?"

"...... I'm really scared, but......"

The Priestess grabbed onto the coat of her exclusive guardian, and stuck onto him without any intention of letting go.

"What's wrong? Something happened?"

"............ No."

The black-haired girl is looking at— me?

"............ Ymy............ she has begun the disciplines of a Priestess."

Syun-rei looked at Sheltis' direction with those deep, transparent black eyes of hers.

"............ So, she asked me to pass this message on to you...... 'Please return safely'."

The single sentence from Ymy—

Syun-rei came all the way to a place which she is afraid of, so that she could pass those words to me?

"............ Because of the mateki...... she couldn't send the message telepathically............"

"——"

Having heard that, Sheltis could only bite hard on his lips.

Telepathy is a product of shinryoku. Even if Ymy wished to send the message telepathically, Sheltis could not receive it due to the mateki in him. Though there were instances of him receiving telepathy messages earlier, that was actually with the help of the spells that were completed with the aid of Meimel's powers.

She could not transmit the telepathy message. If so, the only thing she could do is ask someone to help pass the message on her behalf.

"...... Thanks. I got it."

"Mmm."

That was the only time when the Priestess showed no fear on her face.

"Sennenshi Leon, and Priestess Syun-rei. Sorry to interrupt, but it is time for us to leave. There are other aircraft that are waiting in line to leave."

Monica informed us with a voice that was more emotionless than usual.

Leon nodded. Syun-rei directed her sight towards the source of the voice—

"............!"

At that instance, the Priestess gave an inaudible cry.

She looked at the girl with sakura-colored hair, with her eyes opening wide in disbelieve.

"............ You...... You're......"

"It's been a long time, Priestess Syun-rei. You seem as fine as ever."

Monica stood before the Priestess, lowered her gaze, and calmly offered a bow.

"Syun-rei, do you two know each other?"

"No. It's just that I had received plenty of care from the Priestess in the past."

Monica answered Leon's question. As compared to the shaken Syun-rei, Monica's answer was of the usual stern tone.

"Priestess Syun-rei, I'll be taking my leave, as I am heading out on a mission."

She turned her back towards the Priestess, and made her way to the silver aircraft alone.

***

The cotton-like clouds appeared beneath them through the pressure-resistant glass. The tower scaling over two thousand meters in height could barely be seen at such a distance as well.

"...... We're finally off the ground. Ah, it should be off the tower."

After ensuring the lighting up of the indicator which signified that the aircraft has entered its predesignated airline, Sheltis stood up from his seat.

"Monica, you can get up and move around now."

"Ahh. The interior of this aircraft is quite luxurious. It's hardly comparable to the aircraft which the guards take during normal missions."

Monica stood up from her seat too, and looked about the cabin.

The floor was covered with expensive carpet, while the seats of the cabin were actually comfortable sofas. There was a huge fridge and dining table at the back, and the fridge was even filled with all sorts of ice-cold drinks.

Forget about the transports of the guards, the interiors of this aircraft is comparable to the first-class cabins of a civilian aircraft.

"There's a Sennenshi on board, so it's not that surprising for such exaggerated treatment."

"Right, where's the person himself?"

"He said 'It's training time' right before the takeoff, and went into another room by himself."

"So he can't even sit down properly during takeoff. That training maniac...... Forget it, I can't be bothered."

He returned to his seat.

"Then again, Sheltis, where are we heading to? Up till now, all I know is that we will be infringing on the airspace of the Government Sector."

"Ah, now that you've reminded me......"

"It's the eighty-seventh airspace located to the north, at about a distance of two thousand meters away from the floating continent. The aircraft has already entered mach speed and is on its scheduled path. If there is no interference on our journey, the journey will take about two and a half to three hours."

"Heh, as expected of Eyriey. So you even know how to pilot an aircraft.................. Eh?"

Sheltis blinked his eyes, and rubbed hard on his eyelids.

The person who appeared before him, was the girl in overalls whom he could not be more familiar with.

"Yuto, it's on autopilot, so you can come to the passenger cabin now. Are you thirsty? There should be some fruit juice in the fridge over there."

"Yay— Yuto can drink whatever she likes? Does Shel-nii want a drink as well?"

"Ah, I've just had some back at the shop on the sixty-fifth story.................. no wait a second!"

He sprang himself up from his seat after giving out a yell of surprise.

"Why are Eyriey and Yuto here!"

"Why, because I am the captain of this aircraft! And oh, Yuto's the co-pilot."

The girl crossed her arms and answered him as a matter of factly.

"...... Captain?"

"Yup. Yuto said to me sometime ago, 'Eyri-nee, there's someone looking for us', and so we went to the fifty-ninth story of the tower...... It's a place called the Mechanical Bureau, I think? We went to the aviation division there. Once there, I was immediately surrounded by a group of middle-aged men who seemed to be pretty high ranked, and they asked me things like, 'Do you have any experience with flying? How long have you been flying?'. After giving them some answers, I was somehow made the captain of this aircraft."

"Yuto brought you there?"

"Eh?"

Perhaps she was shocked by the sudden mention of her name - Yuto looked at them in confusion with a cup in her hands.

"No, Yuto's not quite sure what happened herself. I think we were stopped by an unknown lady while we were strolling in the tower. Seems like that person used her influence on the Mechanical Bureau and made them assign me as the pilot of this mission. Who is she exactly though? Yuto can't remember as well. I remember her name's Tsa...... something. Does Sheltis have any idea who she may be?"

"That's her name? I can't quite think of anyone with that little information either."

Since they were on an aircraft chartered for Sennenshi Leon, there is no allowance for any incident to happen. The higher-ups of the Mechanical Bureau should have prudently chosen the pilot for the mission - however, there was someone who possessed an absolute power that overrides the decision of the higher-ups, and forcefully assigned an unknown Eyriey into the position instead. Even a Priestess or a Sennenshi may not be able to show such an absolute display of power...... So who exactly was that person?

"That Tsa...... whatever. Does Eyriey know of such a person in

Tenketsu Palace

?"

"How can that be? Yuto said she was a very tall lady with black hair, but that's too little info to work on. Or rather, I don't have a friend in the

Tenketsu Palace

who fits that description."

"...... I guess."

She should not be lying.

Knowing Eyriey's personality, she dislikes hiding things from people. More importantly, he never saw any signs of her being related with the

Tenketsu Palace

for the past two years in '

The Two Swans

'.

"Eyriey didn't reject them then? Don't you think it's a little too strange?"

"Totally not. For me, this is an excellent chance for me to earn some quick cash. And since I saw your name in the list of passengers, I decided to give it a try."

"...... I see."

Eyriey might not know it, but that group was following the secret orders of the Queen. As such, it is very difficult to imagine them delegating an ordinary person to pilot the aircraft for this mission. But Eyriey...... and there's Yuto too. The two of them joined, which means that there should be someone who agreed to allow them to be part of the mission as well.

— If so, whose idea was it? The Queen's, perhaps?

"Sheltis, why did you suddenly stop talking? Can't we tag along?"

Just as he was thinking about all those questions, Eyriey stuck her head into his sight.

"Ah...... No, that's not what I meant."

He did not understand the reason for such an arrangement. The only unease he had, was the possibility of Eyriey or Yuto getting themselves into some sort of danger.

— Then again, it's not like the two of them can head back to

Tenketsu Palace

anyway.

"...... Ugh— Though there's still a lot of things to be suspicious about, there's no point in thinking about them for now. I'll leave everything in your care, Captain. Please don't crash the aircraft."

"How rude— flying an aircraft is way easier than driving an electric vehicle."

Eyriey planted her hands on her waist and puffed her cheeks in anger. Monica, who was looking on from the sides this whole time, suddenly stood up slowly from her seat.

"Sheltis, are they your friends?"

"Yeah, I'll do an introduction. Hmm......"

Just as he was about to speak, Eyriey walked up to Monica by herself.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Eyriey, and somehow I was made the pilot of this aircraft. This girl's Yuto. How about you?"

"Monica. Monica Esperanto. I'll be in your care."

Monica readily shook the outstretched hands of Eyriey.

"...... You fine with this?"

"What's wrong?"

Monica asked in return. Sheltis whispered into her ears,

"Though it is slightly rude for me to be saying this, but don't you feel uneasy for such a girl to be in control of the aircraft, especially when we are in such an important mission?"

"Isn't this fine? It will be the era of female pilots in the future."

The girl crossed her arms and nodded her head in satisfaction.

"...... Seems like you've misunderstood what I'm trying to say. Alright, forget it."

Just then.

"It's pretty noisy outside. What's going on?"

With his training done a short while ago, a sweaty Leon stuck his head out of the opening of the door.

"Oh, Leon? Thanks for just now. You're done with your training?"

"Yeah. I can't be dragging a tired body around during the missions, can I?"

Eyriey lifted her hand to greet him, while Leon nodded his head in reply.

"Right, how's the piloting of the aircraft?"

"Leave it all to me. It's almost fully automated, so even Yuto will know how to pilot it. Right~?"

"Ya~!"

Eyriey, Yuto and Leon. As he watched the three of them interacting with one another—

...... Hold on, could it be......?

"Eyriey, so you already know Leon...... that's impossible, right?"

"What are you talking about? Of course we know each other. Moreover, I've already made friends with Syun-rei. She said she'd invite me for tea next time."

Eyriey and Yuto nodded their head calmly.

"Leon, she's telling the truth?"

"Yeah. It happened yesterday during the introduction to the captain of the aircraft."

Leon as the Sennenshi, along with the two Priestesses, Ymy and Syun-rei.

They are people possessing absolute positions in

Tenketsu Palace

, and will easily cause uneasiness to just about anyone whom they pass by. However, Eyriey got close to them easily.

"Somehow, I've discovered a shocking talent of Eyriey's."

"I am deeply impressed with her exceptional communication skills. In contrast, Sheltis is totally like a bad example...... Oops, my tongue slipped."

"You did that deliberately, right!?"

Just as he was about to argue with the

machine crystal

.

The alarms on the ceiling released a sharp ear-piercing sound, together with the flashes of red light.

"There's a malfunction to the controls. It's caused by the strong magnetic fields in the nearby airspace...... Seems like they've finally shown themselves. I think we've entered the turf of the electric faeries."

Eyriey released the cup in her hands and stood up quickly.

— Electric faeries.

They are a type of faerie that look like cotton candy, and live within the seas of clouds. Though the amount of charge stored in each individual is weak, they are known to gather in a huge area by the hundreds. If the area overlaps with the aviation route of an aircraft, they will cause malfunctions to the vehicle.

"Right, shall we stick to the original plan?"

"Ahh, please do."

"Understood! Well then, Sheltis and Monica, please return to your seats, and fasten your safety belts."

— Eh?

Sheltis was wondering if he heard the girl's instructions correctly.

"Leon, ain't we heading to the deck? I mean, we're going to subjugate the electric faeries, so we'll have to hurry. Or else this aircraft won't hold."

"That's fine. The pilot and the manual pilot function has been arranged specially for this reason."

Eyriey said that nonchalantly. Monica was looking from behind with a confused expression as well. She looked out of the aircraft through the windows.

"What's going on?"

"This aircraft is about to deliberately come under the attacks of the electric faeries. Isn't that right?"

The one who answered was the

machine crystal

.

"There's a lot of things that don't seem to fit, in regards to our current mission. Though we are entering the airspace of the Government Sector, there's no need for the Sennenshi to leave the side of his Priestess just so he can participate in this mission. On the other hand, this mission is so important that all the Priestesses, including Ymy, knew about it before hand. If so, aside from subjugating the electric faeries, there must be another mission behind this facade. And that is—"

"To investigate the

Floating Archipelagos

."

Leon was the first to take his seat and fasten his seat belt securely.

"Sorry I didn't tell you guys about it sooner. It was the Queen's order not to, so as to prevent the leaking of information. I could only tell you guys that we are on a mission to subjugate the electric faeries, till we have arrived at our destination."

"Ah, I see. That's fine...... But."

Sheltis crossed his arms, and suddenly closed his eyes.

— There was still something which he could not understand.

There's nothing strange about a secret mission hidden behind the front of another mission. It is especially so for the cadet-guards - since they are not viewed as official members of the guards, it's common for them to be hidden from the truth throughout missions. In fact, it's quite rare for them to be informed about the real objectives.

However, Queen Salah had personally ordered Leon to conduct an investigation on the

Floating Archipelagos

?

"Is it really okay to be investigating the

Floating Archipelagos

located in the airspace of the Government Sector? In principle,

Tenketsu Palace

and the Government Sector will never infringe on each other's airspace. However, the Queen herself is about to break the unwritten rule......"

"I'm not sure. I was only informed of the mission details, but not of the objectives for doing so."

"...... So Captain Leon doesn't know the objectives of this mission either. Is that even possible?"

With her hands touching on the pressure-resistant glass window, Monica turned her head around to look at them. With that, Leon answered in a calm tone,

"I've received only one order - to investigate the

Floating Archipelagos

that's within the airspace of the Government Sector. They may protest us infringing on them, but if we are to stage a crash-landing due to a malfunction, they probably would not blow the matter out of proportion. There's no other orders received other than that. I am also contemplating on what I should be investigating after we arrive on the island."

"Then we don't even have an idea on where to start."

They were instructed to investigate the

Floating Archipelagos

, but they were not told what to investigate.

The person who gave them such an unreasonable request was actually the Queen herself — it sounds unbelievable, even if that came straight from Leon's mouth.

"To be honest, I wasn't really eager to accept this mission. One of the reasons is because I'll have to leave Syun-rei by herself in the

Tenketsu Palace

. More importantly though, is the fact that this mission is extremely shady. I planned to take a quick look around, then head back to the tower."

"I agree. Well then, how are we going to stage the emergency landing—"

"No worries. Being attacked by the electric faeries is just an excuse that we'll be using on the Government Sector when we return. Since we'll have to cook up a damage report for the aircraft, it's enough for us to receive a single attack from them. There's no need to force a real emergency landing."

"Ahh, that's great. I thought we are gonna make the whole aircraft do a crash landing."

"Stop talking nonsense. Now get back to your seat quickly."

Alright— just as his hand came into contact with the back of his seat.

*Zaa* A flash of electricity streaked past the other side of the pressure-resistant glass window. It looked like an intimidation from the electric faeries.

"Oh......"

The aircraft shook, and began to tilt. In the next instance, the sirens rang from above the ceilings yet again, along with the flashes of red light.

— Damage report, control functions to the left wing has hit 110% off the normal readings.

— Damage report, abnormality detected in the engines. Reason: electric overload due to high voltages.

"Damage to the wings, as well as stopping the engines. Aside from the warnings on display, she also added in voice warnings. It seems so real."

"Yeah, I never instructed her to make it so real. It's totally similar to the mock training we had back in the

Tenketsu Palace

."

Monica was looking out of the windows calmly. As for Leon, he seemed really impressed.

"Sheltis, I heard you know Eyriey from when you were in the living sector?"

"Mmm, we were working together in the living sector. She is really well versed when it comes to machines, to the point where she is on par with the technicians at

Tenketsu Palace

."

Just then.

*Bang* — the doors to the captain's cabin opened.

"Ah, Eyriey. We were just talking about your wonderful achievements—"

"............."

Strange? Did she not hear that properly? Eyriey is not responding.

Just as he was thinking that,

"...... Sorry, but I have bad news for everyone here today."

She turned around, and continued speaking.

"Urm— actually, I was overly confident, and I rushed straight into the cluster of electric faeries, and that caused them to get angry. They are currently attacking us in full force, which means—"

"Which means?"

Eyriey closed one of her eyes uncharacteristically and made a face.

"The report on how the aircraft is heading downwards is not a simulation, but they are actually real. Which means, this aircraft will definitely crash...... Ehehe."

"Hold on a second———!?"

Aside from Yuto who was still unaware of their current situation, the rest of the people had all jumped up from their seats.

"...... Ahh, the skies are still as beautiful as ever."

"Eyriey, stop running away from reality! What should we do now?"

"Nothing else but to take a stroll in the sky. Here, take a parachute. Yuto will be coming with me."

After putting a child-parachute onto Yuto, Eyriey secured Yuto's parachute onto her own via a special cable.

"Is it okay for Yuto to be with you? How about leaving her with me instead?"

"What are you talking about? Just leave everything to me. Think about who's the one who made this parachute."

"After hearing that from you, I'm feeling even more uneasy now"

He unwillingly put on the parachute that Eyriey claimed she made. He then took a quick glance at the scenery beneath them through the windows.

The blue skies from a while ago had already disappeared, only to be replaced by an endless stretch of dark green.

It's the destination of their journey — the primeval forests of the

Floating Archipelagos

.

"Well then, get ready."

Eyriey disengaged the escape door to the side of the aircraft.

The doors slowly opened. The winds outside came gushing into the cabin.

"If we jump now, we should be able to land somewhere on the floating island. Let's meet up with those that are closest to us after we've hit the ground. We'll be heading off, Yuto. Yaaahoo—!"

"Yahoo—!"

Eyriey and Yuto jumped off the aircraft with an excited cry.

Their bodies appeared smaller and smaller...... suddenly, a bright orange parachute appeared. Upon seeing the two of them slowly floating downwards like a dandelion, Sheltis couldn't help but slap his chest in relief.

"That's great. So long as the parachute can open safely, both of them should be fine."

"Alright, you're next, Sheltis."

—Eh?

Before he could even prepare himself, Sheltis was given a hard kick on his back

"Leon——— You better remember this———————!"

Sheltis made his endless plunge down from the blue skies, head first towards the ground.

{2}

Floating Archipelagos

.

A cluster of islands that float around the floating continent. Their sizes ranged from that of a house, to those spanning several kilometers. Should an island be large enough, it can be used to construct electric windmills or research labs. However, due to the varying differences in the ecology as well as the geology of each individual island, the usage of large islands will be restricted to those which humans can develop.

"...... An island covered by primeval forests huh."

After taking a glance at the large trees that were around him, Leon pinched a bit of the soil off from the ground.

The dark brown soil felt slightly damp. It's the moist soil unique to the forests.

"No volcanic ash, and no gravel. Only soil. I see."

He flashed a strange smile with the corner of his lip, then turned around to face the girls behind him.

"I'm basically done with things over here. How about you?"

"I've already located them both, though they are of a considerable distance away from us."

The girl in overalls lifted her head - she was carrying a small boxed transmitter in her arms. Next to her, stood a black-haired girl who was staring intently at the screen of the transmitter.

"It seems like Sheltis and Monica are together. They're somewhere to our west, a few hundred meters away from us in a straight line. Though strictly speaking, that's the location of the transponders in their parachutes. If they moved somewhere else, then I won't know their exact location.

"That's more than enough."

After taking a look at the parachute on the ground, Leon redirected his gaze back at Eyriey.

"I don't know if you remember, but I saw a huge crevasse before landing."

"I did, I did! It's that large crevasse, right? We'd be goners if we fell inside it."

It's a huge crevasse that splits the floating island in two.

After analyzing the positions displayed on Eyriey's transmitter, they themselves should be located on the east side of the crevasse, while Sheltis and Monica should be located on the west. The two groups were separated by the crevasse.

"We'll have to go around the crevasse if we want to meet up with them. Looks like there will be quite a bit of distance for us to cover."

"Yuto and I are fine with it. Right, Yuto!"

"Yup— Eyri-nee!"

"That's really dependable. Let's go."

After confirming the location of the sun above him, he began to make his way northwards into the primeval forest.

Their destination was the black smoke that can be seen through the gaps of the huge trees. That was the crash landing site of their aircraft. Sheltis should be heading there as well. Due to them passing by electromagnetic fields of the electric faeries earlier, the functions of the badges had become rather unstable, and therefore he could not use it to send an electronic mail to Sheltis.

Thus, the only thing he could do is to bet on the possibility that both groups will meet up on the crash landing site later.

"Oh right. You said, 'I see' after touching the soil on the ground. What did you mean by that?"

"It's this."

Leon did not slow down his footsteps even at the sudden question posed by Eyriey. Instead, he pointed next to his feet with the fingers on his right hand.

"There's no volcanic ash, no gravel or boulders. Geologically speaking, it is exactly the same as Orbie Clar."

"Mhmm."

"Next, I see no signs of huge beasts running about. I saw a few winged insects flying by, but I guess that's just about all there is to this island."

"Ohh...... and?"

"Don't you think this island is extremely suitable to be used for the construction of electric windmills, research labs, and etc? If the grounds consist of volcanic ash or gravel, then it would be too weak to support any buildings. On the other hand, an island made of solid boulders would be too hard for any penetration to take place. Therefore, the conditions on this island are perfect for the development of humans."

An excellent ground condition.

If there are no ground dragons or harmful beasts about, then it would be abnormal for people not to utilize this island.

"However, there are no signs of development on this island at all. If there are rare creatures that live here, then the whole island should be listed as a protected island, and recorded on the map of the

Floating Archipelagos

."

He opened up the aerial map he brought from

Tenketsu Palace

, and passed it to Eyriey.

"Ah, is it the same as what I got from the Mechanical Bureau?"

"Probably. This is the latest version of the aerial map released by the Government Sector."

The airspace owned by the Government Sector is marked in red, while the

Floating Archipelagos

are portrayed using black dots.

As it will be impossible for them to show every single island, in accordance to the guidelines for map labeling, the maps will only show the locations of protected islands or islands with facilities built on them.

"You saw it on the aircraft as well - this island is not registered on the aerial map. Meaning, it's neither a protected island, nor is it an island that humans had stepped onto before."

A floating island with pristine conditions for development.

However, it's not recorded on the maps of the Government Sector.

"So what you're trying to say is...... why is the Government Sector leaving such an excellent island unattended? That's what you're most curious about, right?"

"That is all but my conjecture."

However, it should not be too far away from the truth. If so, there is a reasonable explanation as to why the Queen is unwilling to clarify the objectives of the mission.

"You two, be on alert. There's something strange about this island."

***

"Ah— Leon that bastard, he pisses me off! What's with him kicking me off the aircraft!"

Sheltis removed the crumpled parachute off from his back, and brushed away the leaves on his body.

After being booted off the aircraft, he fell headfirst into the primeval forest. Though he barely managed to get the parachute open, he crashed straight into the branches, resulting in his body getting covered with leaves.

"We're lucky to be still alive."

Next to him was Monica carefully folding up the parachute.

"It seems like we're the only two around here. We're left with Captain Leon...... and Eyriey plus Yuto, right? I hope they're alright."

"Yeah. Leon's a strong fella - I think he'll be fine even if he jumps off the aircraft without a parachute. The only problem are with Eyriey and Yuto. I think they should have met up with Leon already."

"Why do you think so?"

Sheltis pointed to the parachute in her arms in response to her question.

There was a black rectangular device on the straps. A green light in the middle was flashing on and off continuously, as though it was giving off a signal.

"A transponder?"

"Eyriey said she's the one who made these parachutes. She's a person who loves transponders and transmitters the most. I guess she had initially made the transponders, then attached them to the parachutes later so she could conduct some tests on it."

"...... That's quite something."

Monica laughed wryly as she looked at the transponders with a slightly dumbfounded expression.

"If so, the two girls should have headed out to find Leon, and have probably met up already. Also, they should have located our position as well. Why don't we wait for the three of them here, instead of moving about randomly?"

"Mmm— that's a tough choice we have here."

Sheltis crossed his arms and pressed his finger against his forehead, as he tried recalling the terrain of the island.

"I remember seeing a giant crevasse to the east as we fell. Their parachutes should have floated past there and landed on the other side of the crevasse."

If they were to wait at their current location, then the three people will have to get by the huge crevasse. However, those people consist of Eyriey and Yuto too.

"Leon is obviously fine, but will it be a good idea to make the two ordinary girls walk within the primeval forests for a long time...... I see, I did not consider things deeply enough. To lessen their burden, it will be better for us head in their direction to meet up."

"Precisely."

He removed the transponder from the parachute and slotted it into a small bag. With that, Eyriey would know that they were on the move as well.

"Seems like everything's been decided already."

Monica looked towards the north, where a black column of smoke was rising upwards into the sky.

That was the location where their aircraft had crashed into. As it is too far away, they could not pinpoint its exact location. However, it should have avoided the crevasse and crashed somewhere in between their location and Leon's.

"We'll reach the crash site if we follow the black smoke. I think Captain Leon can see that as well, so it should be the perfect place to meet up — I believe they will be thinking of the same thing too."

"I'm quite worried, so let's head off immediately."

"Right. Even with Captain Leon around, they are still your ordinary citizens."

Seeing how serious Monica was, Sheltis laughed wryly to himself.

"The person who I'm worried about is Leon."

In many different ways.

***

"La～ La～ Lalala～ Lala～ La～"

"Whoa— we're hiking, Eyri-nee! This is fun!"

"............"

"Mmm— it's not bad to be in a place full of nature. We didn't manage to have our barbecue meat the last time we were at the nature sector. It should be fine if we changed the location to here, right?"

"Yuto wants to eat meat—"

"...... Can the both of you maintain a bit of tension here?"

Leon stopped in his tracks and said exasperatedly.

"Eh, but of course we do. We are already thirty percent more serious than usual. Right, Yuto?"

"Yup— Eyri-nee."

The girls held hands together and nodded at each other harmoniously.

...... Is this a new method of torture?

Perhaps he's already used to the normally quiet Syun-rei, but he would be very alert should there be any movements around him. However, the most painful thing about this was that he could not ignore the two behind him.

"Whatever. It's better than them not being able to walk due to fatigue."

After switching his viewpoint on things, Leon continued walking.

— Is that where the problem lies?

Beneath the shelters of the dark brown canopy, the sunlight was getting weaker as they walked deeper into the primeval forests. As of now, they could not even see their own shadows on the ground.

"Ouch!"

Suddenly, the scream of a girl came from behind him.

"...... It hurts!"

"Eyri-nee fell? Are you okay?"

Eyriey had totally fallen forward onto the ground. Yuto was looking at her worriedly by her side.

"Are you alright?"

"...... Mmm, I tripped."

Eyriey brushed the soil off her knees.

She pointed to a large jutting root on the ground. It seemed like the primeval forest is rather ancient, as the surrounding trees are all over ten meters high. Since the roots are as thick and big as boulders, one may fall or sprain their feet should they trip on them.

That's not all. The roots had spread all over the ground like a web, it will be difficult for them to clear it if they wanted to.

"Alright...... I can move now. Let's go."

The girl in overalls stood up unsteadily. Upon seeing the worried Yuto, she squeezed a smile that says 'I'm okay'. Just then—

"Don't move."

Ignoring her reactions, Leon lifted up Eyriey in a single move. With that, he piggy-backed the girl who had her eyes widened, and resumed his walk nonchalantly.

"Whoa! I'm being carried by a guy? Whoa— what's with this touched feelings that I've never experienced before!"

"Hey, stop fooling around."

He raised his voice to silence the girl who was getting noisy yet again.

"Even Sheltis has never piggy-backed me before, you know. He allows Yuto to ride on his shoulders, but he said I was too tall. Therefore, I'm slightly moved here."

"That guy's too weak physically. Don't you worry, I'll train him properly."

Leon moved forward one step at a time, while avoiding the roots on the ground and the branches above his head.

"Are you alright by yourself?"

"Yuto's okay— this place is fun!"

The black-haired girl leapt between the roots of the trees happily.

...... Seems like I don't have to carry two people at once.

While surrounded by the trees around them, Leon lead the two hyperactive girls deeper and deeper into the forest.

***

"Hachoo!"

The young man's sneeze echoed through the quiet forest.

"Why did you sneeze suddenly?"

"...... Feels like someone was talking about me."

And it is definitely some baseless gossip. There's definitely nothing good coming out of that.

"Captain Leon?"

Monica, who was walking beside him, showed a half-surprised expression as she laughed wryly.

"Damn him."

As he heaved a long sigh, Sheltis ducked past the protruding branches.

...... Seems like it will take some time.

The place they were originally at seemed to be an area with less trees. They could initially see the skies above, but right now it was obscured by the dark brown leaves above them.

Beneath their feet were roots that were as hard as rocks, while above their heads were sharp branches jutting out. With no proper roads paved out on the ground, the two of them could only make their way forward by avoiding the obstacles above and below them.

"We've indeed made the right choice by trying to meet up with them. This sort of terrain is just too difficult for them to navigate."

"Yeah. Leon's as good as a dog when it comes to sniffing out things like this, so he'll probably provide them with plenty of rest along the way, instead of rushing the girls to meet up with us...... But yeah, it's really difficult to navigate through this forest."

Despite him being strict on himself, Leon will never hesitate to show his concern towards his subordinates or the weak. That's the sort of man the silver-haired swordsman is. That is also perhaps one of the reasons why the anthropophobic Syun-rei opens her heart to him.

"Do you and Captain Leon always act like that?"

He could feel Monica looking at him from the sides, as though she had suddenly thought of something.

"Like what?"

"I can't really say if you two get along well or not, but it just feels rather unbelievable."

Monica stared at Sheltis' face seriously. His expressions suggested that he was in a rather pleasant mood.

"When Captain Leon kicked you off the aircraft, I originally thought that there was some bad feelings between the both of you...... but when I thought about it later, the reason Captain Leon wants you to be in this mission is probably because he holds you in high regards. You said that he's 'as good as a dog when it comes to sniffing' - it may look like you are insulting Captain Leon, but I can see that you hold a lot of faith in him."

"Well, we have been rivals since way back."

He pried open the branches that were about to poke into his eyes, and continued walking forward.

"I told you before, we already knew each other before entering the

Tenketsu Palace

. We competed against each other back then to see who could be a Sennenshi first. In the end, Leon's a Sennenshi now, while I'm still a cadet-guard."

"...... I am envious of you two."

Monica gently leaped past the root before her.

"You're envious?"

"Unlike you, I do not have any friends whom I've known for a long time in the

Tenketsu Palace

."

And then.

"Ever since I started my training as an apprentice-Priestess, I've always been alone."

The footsteps of his suddenly stopped.

— Monica?

"Apprentice-Priestess...... you are referring to the girls on the floating continent who are selected to become candidates of a Priestess?"

Ymy had once walked down that path as well.

On the floating continent, right after a baby is born, they will have their absolute shinryoku strength measured by a special machine. For girls who possesses shinryoku of strength past a certain threshold, they will be chosen to be an apprentice-Priestesses, and train in the

Tenketsu Palace

since young.

In the living sector, it is considered an absolute honor to be selected as one of the apprentice-Priestesses. That's because that is the only way for the girls to become a Priestess that represents the whole floating continent.

"However, I'm just someone who was rejected at the very end...... A failure who can't become a real Priestess."

Monica resumed walking with a dry smile on her face.

"Hold on a second. You just said 'someone who was rejected at the very end', right? The so called 'very end', means that you managed to go all the way to the final test in the Grand Holy Hall?"

"I think so. They were about to select the new Priestess out of the three people left."

Having known the truth, Sheltis was at a loss for words.

...... Then isn't that really amazing?

There are up to a thousand apprentice-Priestesses. However, it is said that the majority of them will give up that honorable position willingly after a year into their training.

It's because the training is way too tough.

"I am not too sure about the details, but is the training really that tough?"

"I was brought into the

Tenketsu Palace

at seven years old, and I had underwent training for about eight years...... I loitered between the borders of life and death for about half of the time. I was encased within ice under a fully awake condition, so as to be in a state of suspended animation — that was the very first training I underwent, just so I can endure the freezing temperatures of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Even so, that is probably the easiest training for us. As for the training after that...... I don't even want to think about it."

*Kra* The girl stepped on a fallen branch, and continued walking.

After looking at her back and that sakura-colored hair of hers for a while, Sheltis finally moved himself and caught up with her.

"As for the final test three years ago, after listening to the instructions at a place called the Grand Holy Hall, the other two selected ones and I were brought to the highest story of

Tenketsu Palace

."

The two hundred and ninety-first story of

Tenketsu Palace

, the highest floor named < >.

That is the actual place where the Queen and her Priestesses pray for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"Do you know what's the final test to be a Priestess?"

"...... No."

"It's simple - we have to maintain the barriers of Hyouketsu Kyoukai alone. Being able to do that or not will decide if we are qualified to be a Priestess...... and I did not manage to do it."

After a slight pause, she squeezed out her voice yet again.

"Though it may sound strange for me to be saying this as a failure, it would not be surprising for any one of the three to be chosen as a Priestess. In fact, there were people who viewed me as a favorite to become a Priestess. However, I failed in the very last test, and I quit my position as an apprentice-Priestess the very same day."

"...... This may be a strange question, but perhaps it was just you not being at your prime that day? Since you were an apprentice who made your way all the way to the final test, you may have passed it on your very next attempt."

"There's something that even the training can't help with."

"It's the absolute strength of your shinryoku."

The silent

machine crystal

seemed to have noticed what she was talking about, and continued speaking,

"Shinryoku is a power in the form of waves. The more stable the shape of the waves, the better one is suited for barrier-type spells; the shorter the wavelengths, the better it will be for territorial-type spells like telepathy and far-sight. The disciplines of a Priestess focus on strengthening these two areas - in other words, it is to stabilize the waves so they will be smooth flowing, and to increase the speed between each wave cycle. However, there's a property of the waves that is extremely difficult to improve via training, and that is—"

"The 'amplitude' of the waves, which is the absolute strength of shinryoku...... The strength of my shinryoku is not enough for me to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai till the end. That was when I was fifteen."

She stared into her own palms.

In order to make up for the lack of power in her shinryoku, she had trained hard in spells of other disciplines to make her way to the final test. However, that was still not enough for her to overcome her handicap.

"The person who managed to pray for Hyouketsu Kyoukai for twenty-four hours straight during the final test, is the current Fourth Priestess — Syun-rei Pia Nucclene."

"............ You...... You're......"

"It's been a long time, Priestess Syun-rei. You seem as fine as ever."

So that was the reason for Syun-rei, who was a Priestess, to flinch at a low-ranking cadet-guard back then.

"...... I see, so that's how it is."

The two of them were not only rivals, but companions who underwent countless harsh training together.

When Monica, who was an apprentice-Priestess just like her, reappeared before her as her subordinate, Sheltis could easily imagine the shock that Syun-rei must have felt.

"Pardon my rudeness, but were you sick of being an apprentice-Priestess after your unsuccessful attempt to be a Priestess?"

Despite the polite tone, the

machine crystal

had undoubtedly asked Monica something that was extremely personal.

"I do know you are slightly lacking in terms of your shinryoku. However, since you possess the abilities to make it all the way to the final test, your capabilities in terms of the arts of shinryoku should be faultless. Even if you can't become a Priestess, you should be more than capable of taking up an important position to develop and train the other apprentice-Priestesses, right?"

The question voiced by the

machine crystal

made sense.

Anyone who's skilled with shinryoku can easily get a job in the

Tenketsu Palace

. However, she chose to forsake all of that, and became a cadet-guard instead.

"After being an apprentice-Priestess for eight years, it should not be easy for you to change your class to be a guard, who focuses on their physical capabilities instead. As a machine, I cannot comprehend your reason for choosing such a difficult path."

"...... Back when I was still an apprentice-Priestess, there was a young man who was a guard, whom I admired. That's all there is to it."

She replied rather embarrassingly.

The girl began to recall the days with a nostalgic voice,

"That teenage boy woke up earlier than anyone else, so as to swing his swords alone by himself. Even after I was done with the training of an apprentice-Priestess, he was still there practicing....... The scene of him working hard relentlessly gave me a lot of support. I hoped to become someone like him. Therefore, when I knew I could not become a Priestess, I decided to be a guard instead."

The morning practice by himself, as well as the training given by the instructor during the day.

Even at night, he was silently working on his swordsmanship alone while everyone else was sound asleep. After coming up with an estimation of the hours spent on training, Sheltis unconsciously let out a cry of surprise.

"That's a really crazy amount of training we're talking about. That guy must have trained on his own accord even after training in the day."

— Who exactly is he?

There's only Leon and himself who trained like that, like a pair of idiots. If there's anyone else who did something like that, he should have an impression of him as well.

"He's a really impressive person. That twin sword wielder became the cadres guard of the executive rank at the young age of fourteen...... but that was already some years ago. I still remember hearing the news of him falling to his death into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

while he was on a mission. I couldn't sleep because of the shock after that."

"——*cough*!"

"Hey...... what's with the sudden coughing?"

"B-Because...... ah, whoa!"

Sheltis fell headfirst onto the ground as he tripped on a root.

"Sheltis, that's quite embarrassing of you."

"...... Mind sparing a thought for me?"

With his limbs lying flat on the ground, Sheltis closed his eyes and took in a deep breathe.

...... I see.

...... Indeed, there's only one such person.

A twin sword wielder who became a cadres guard at the age of fourteen, and that crazy amount of training. That's right, regardless of how huge

Tenketsu Palace

is, there's still only one guy who fulfills those conditions.

...... He's the me three years ago.

He could never imagine that, not even in his dreams.

Aside from Ymy, there was someone else who was paying attention to such a low-ranking person like him.

"So, the reason for you showing me the way back then......"

"Ahh. I hope you don't mind, but...... because...... you looked really similar to him, so I just couldn't leave you by yourself."

Monica's face was blushing slightly. She turned her face away with an embarrassed expression.

"D-Don't misunderstand! I have no intention of comparing you to him. And it's not like I wouldn't help you if you didn't look like him. No matter what, I wouldn't leave a helpless cadet-guard alone."

"Mmm, I get it."

Even if he was not the one who was lost, she would definitely lend the person a helping hand. It just so happens that he looked like 'the young man whom she admired'.

...... Well of course. I am the person himself.

He heaved a breathe that was neither a sigh nor a bitter laugh.

— I definitely cannot say it. I cannot tell her that I am the person from back then.

That was the conclusion he had reached with the

machine crystal

, before coming here.

And since she knew about him falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, that's even more reason for him not to tell. The upper brass of the

Tenketsu Palace

did not wish for anyone else to know about them allowing someone with mateki in his body to reenter the palace. Should that fact be made public knowledge, there will be a high possibility that he will be forcefully expelled from the palace. In the worse situation, he may even implicate Monica as well.

"...... The skies are becoming dark."

The skies covered by the leaves. The originally blue skies that filtered through the gaps within had unknowingly became the red of the setting sun, then turning into the grey of twilight. Along with the change in colors of the skies, the small column of black smoke emitted from the aircraft was gradually blending into its surrounding as one.

"The smoke is almost not visible already."

Monica said as she peered into the northern direction of the skies while narrowing her eyes.

"It will be too dangerous for you two to explore an unknown floating island at night, especially when we are talking about an uncharted forest like this one, since the ecosystem of the day will be totally different from that of the night. I advise you two to start a fire and rest here for the night."

"You're right. I was planning to look for a more open area though."

Tall trees with scales-like barks stood erected all around them.

"I guess we'll have to compromise."

After finding a flat boulder to sit down on, Monica suddenly lifted her head to look into the sky. She was looking at the grayish setting sun that was located on the other side of the dense branches.

"...... There's no clouds. If we weren't in such a dense forest, then we would be able to see the starry skies of the night. What a shame."

{3}

*Pa...... Pa......* The sounds of crackling sparks of fire.

Under the swaying illumination of the red flames, one could see the faint outlines of the forest in the night.

"Whoa— it's a campfire, Eyri-nee!"

"Mmm— it's pretty good. I feels quite excited to be able to camp outside at a place like this."

The two girls played with each other by circling around the campfire.

"How's your feet?"

"Mmm, thanks to you, it seems to be almost recovered. I should be able to walk by myself tomorrow."

"That's great then."

Eyriey patted her own knees. Under the influence of their cheerful disposition, Leon's expressions had gradually softened as well.

...... It's been a long time since he had enjoyed that sort of mood.

Though there were several occasions where he camped outdoors like this while he was on missions, the other members were all very restrained under the presence of a Sennenshi, and none of them dared to talk actively. That might be the correct way in which they should act, but in the end, isn't that one of the reasons that caused distrust among the members in the squad — such thoughts appeared in Leon's mind occasionally.

"Eyriey, I heard you first met that guy back in the living sector?"

"You mean Sheltis? Mmm, it's the same with Yuto too. Both of us worked together in the same cafe."

"Working in a cafe huh...... that's not quite like him."

Leon couldn't help but laugh as he imagined the look of Sheltis in an apron.

"His tasks were mainly to be an errand boy, as well as testing Chef's new dishes for poison — from what I saw, it seemed like he was enjoying it a lot."

Eyriey sat on a huge protruding root which she found.

"Oh right, I have a question as well. Sheltis mentioned before that he had once competed with you to see who will be a Sennenshi first, right? But Leon's already a Sennenshi."

"And then?"

"In the eyes of a senior, do you think Sheltis has what it takes to be a Sennenshi? Can he become Ymy's guardian? Because you see, won't his mateki repel the shinryoku of a Priestess?"

"...... I'm surprised. You know quite a lot of things."

"Ehehe, I'm on very good terms with Ymy as well. We've agreed to meet up to play some time soon."

...... It's no wonder she knew about the things related to Sheltis and Ymy.

That may be proof that she has already gained a huge amount of trust from those two people.

"So, what are your thoughts?"

"Well, he reached the cadres rank three years ago. Even if we were to take only his swordsmanship into consideration, no one would oppose him rising up by several ranks in one go."

Aside from his swordsmanship, the thing that is of worth mentioning is the strong mateki that exists in his body. As a young man who has acquired powers similar to those of a Yuugenshu, he is able to utilize the mateki in him to ignore the barriers of the Yuugenshu. If they were to talk about the advantages he has when it comes to fighting Yuugenshu, he is probably among the top few people within the whole of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Hmm, there's no problems then?"

"— No."

Contrary to the girl who was nodding her head, Leon rejected her claims with a brief shake of his head.

"This is something I've experienced myself. The current him is just exactly like how I was back then...... he cannot understand something, which is: the reason a Priestess is assigned their exclusive Sennenshi."

"Eh? Isn't the Sennenshi the guardian of the Priestesses?"

"There's another reason behind it. Syun-rei only told me about it much later."

He tossed the dried branches into the camp fire, and watched the dancing sparks of fire.

"I don't quite get it. Can't Ymy just tell Sheltis what he's lacking?"

"It's very hard. The relationship between the two of them is still currently at the stage of 'childhood friends', so not even Ymy can tell him about it. Sheltis is generally slow when it comes to these things. If there is no one to tell him about it, then he won't be able to realize it by himself....... I'm sorry, but I can't be the one to tell him about these things either."

As he listened to the crackles of the fire, Leon shut his eyes temporarily.

"It only there is someone close to him who understands the true feelings of a Priestess."

***

*Pa............ Pa......*

The sparks of fire fluttered in the air, and disappeared before reaching the ground. Before their eyes was a simple campfire made from stacked branches and a bottom layer of leaves.

"——"

Sitting on a heap of leaves that was laid out onto the ground, Sheltis leaned himself against a tree. He hugged his knees with both of his arms, and secretly stared at the girl sitting in front of him.

Monica was sitting behind the campfire.

"You can't sleep?"

She moved her lips, but not her gaze.

"It's my turn to be on guard now. Or could it be that you're not confident in my abilities?"

"Nothing of the sort...... it's just me being unable to sleep."

"Really."

With that, the girl sank into silence yet again. Amid the quietness around them, the only signs of time flowing was the swaying of the flames as well as the crackling sparks of fire.

...... It's really hard to be in a team.

With his arms still hugging his knees, Sheltis lifted his head.

How much distance should he maintain between his teammates and himself? He should not infringe on the privacy of others, but talking about pointless things won't yield meaningful results either.

Thinking back to three years ago, it was due to him frequently teaming up with Leon that they could always argue or crack some jokes with each other.

"This is probably how things really are out there."

"...... Mmm."

It is rare for teammates to consist of members who are incredibly skilled and whom you share deep ties with - just like how Leon is to Sheltis. Miscommunication frequently occurs within a team, or some teammates may actually be pulling the others down. Moreover, it is common for teams to fail in their missions.

It's until now when he's in a two-man team with a female partner, that he had finally realized something: that it is extremely difficult to work together with the members of your team.

"Since you're not sleeping yet, can I ask you something?"

With her

crossed rods

placed next to her hands, Monica asked Sheltis that as she stared at the campfire. You don't have to answer if you don't want to — she added in that line before voicing her question.

"Since you know Captain Leon, does that mean you're aiming to be a Sennenshi as well?"

"...... You can put it that way."

"Do you have any definite reasons for wanting to be a Sennenshi? A reason for you to want to be a Sennenshi, regardless of all odds."

"I've promised a Priestess, that I'd definitely protect her."

For a moment, Monica looked at him with widened eyes. After a long while—

"...... If you say that during the interview at the

Tenketsu Palace

, the examiners would probably be dumbfounded."

With that, it seemed like she could no longer endure it, and finally let out a soft laughter.

"I did say it, and they mocked me for quite a bit."

"But of course. The way you put it, it sounds like you are very close to one of the Priestesses or something."

...... It will be better for me not to tell her that I am Ymy's childhood friend.

I'll only be causing trouble for Ymy if I were to tell others about our relationship.

"Urm, it's rude of me to be laughing like that. Sorry...... It's just, I never thought you'd say something like that."

Monica turned her face to the side, as though to hide her laughter on the corner of her lips from him.

"Ah, I feel the same too."

"...... I am very embarrassed about it too, okay. Can we stop talking about this already? It feels really shameful."

He tossed a small pebble into the campfire, and watched the paths of the exploding sparks of fire.

"But Sheltis, is that your main reason? What about others?"

"There should be nothing else."

He shook his head at the next question. If Ymy didn't become a Priestess, he definitely wouldn't have walked the path of a guard. That was all there is to it.

However—

"I just want to remind you of something...... I'm not trying to deny your reason, I'm just hoping that you can remember this. I'm not saying this as a cadet-guard, but as someone who was once an apprentice-Priestess. My real feelings."

He could detect a strong sense of determination in her words.

"If I was a Priestess, I would definitely not choose someone who only wants to protect the Priestess as a Sennenshi."

"............ Why is that?"

"Because for that sort of person, it's just about as good as not understanding the Priestesses at all."

Her words cleaved through the tense atmosphere. With a calm tone, the girl who was once an apprentice-Priestess voiced out that harsh criticism.

"Other than fighting the Yuugenshu, what else do you think are the foes that a Priestess must battle against for a whole of twenty-four hours, even during her rest?"

"...... Foes?"

"It's pain and burdens."

Perhaps she was thinking about herself in the past - the girl pressed her right hand against her chest.

"The Priestesses have never once rested mentally. Before becoming a Priestess — before the age of ten, she will have to cry and endure the painful training of encasing herself in ice...... When night falls, they will be near the brink of collapse just by recalling the training back in the day."

Monica's hands were trembling slightly.

She was in such fear just by reminiscing the training in the past — after seeing that sort of reaction from her, he could better understand the sort of hardships she had went through.

"After becoming a Priestess, there will be a more painful burden awaiting her - the important responsibility of protecting the floating continent. That is obviously so when they are maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai. But aside from that, whenever there are reports of Yuugenshu sighted, they will have to be ready to move out regardless of the condition of their body. Moreover, they will have to be in the

Tenketsu Palace

for most of the time to be on standby, and thus have very little chance to see the world outside of the tower. That sort of life is just like being in a prison...... but they take it all quietly, without any complaints."

Day after day of painful training, as well as the burden of maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

The ordinary people in the living sector will never understand the pains of the Priestesses. That is because the Priestesses hide their pains behind the masks of a smiling face.

"The Priestesses who live on the top floors of the

Tenketsu Palace

are alone. In order to protect the floating continent, they have devoted their whole lives to training and the maintenance of the barrier. However, who will be the ones to save them from their suffering?"

"Well......"

Facing the questioning gaze of Monica, Sheltis could barely squeeze out a reply.

The other Priestesses cannot do that. The most the Priestesses can do is to share the pain of each other. If there is anyone who can erase their pains and sufferings, then they will have to be those who are always by the sides of the Priestesses—

"...... Sennenshi?"

"Yes. A Sennenshi cannot just protect a Priestess. Only when a person can fully understand the pain and loneliness of a Priestess' training, as well as understand the importance of reducing those emotions, will he be qualified to take on the role of a Sennenshi."

The true feelings of a girl who wanted to be a Priestess but failed. A girl who understands the Priestesses better than anyone else.

...... It is indeed like what she says.

There's no denying it. Everything is as what Monica had said.

"If so, then the combination of Leon and Syun-rei is really perfect."

Sheltis nodded his head in agreement with what the

machine crystal

had said.

It's not just protecting the Priestess from the harms of the Yuugenshu. It's precisely due to the assistance and the constant support of the brave Leon by her side, that the shy and introvert Syun-rei can entrust herself fully to him, and focus on praying for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

If Monica is to become a Sennenshi, she will definitely do the same as well.

As a person who understands the pain and suffering of a Priestess better than anyone else, she can definitely accompany them by their side and erase all their discomfort.

— Then what about me?

— All I'm thinking of is to be with Ymy.

— Can the me in the past really understand the sufferings of a Priestess?

He shut his eyes for a while, and listened to the sounds around him.

And then.

"...... It's really far away."

When he opened his eyes once again, Sheltis was already lying on his back.

"...... Sheltis?"

"Thank you, Monica. I've always misunderstood things. Perhaps it's true that I really don't understand the things between a Priestess and her Sennenshi."

His sword rival Leon is a Sennenshi, while his childhood friend Ymy is a Priestess. As he is stuck in the middle of the two, he had unknowingly took the existence of a Sennenshi and a Priestess for granted.

"Now, I finally understand how far the position of a Sennenshi is away from me."

He stretched his hands towards the night skies that were peeking through the gaps of the leaves.

The far and endless sphere of the sky. The Priestesses and Sennenshi are at a similar distance above him.

...... I'm sorry, Ymy.

...... All I wanted to do was protect Ymy, but I never knew you were under such pain and suffering this whole time.

If she was still an apprentice-Priestess, then perhaps his wish of 'being together with her' would suffice.

However, for Ymy who has already became a Priestess, those vague thoughts of his are far from enough. The simple reason of him being her 'childhood friend' is not enough for him to be by her side supporting her.

"...... I definitely can't do it by myself."

Three years ago, he had a strong companion in the form of Leon, which caused him not to notice the difficulties and cruel truths behind heading out and completing missions together with teammates.

However, without those bits and pieces of experience, he will never become a Sennenshi in the future.

Because if he cannot even protect his teammates, he will naturally not be able to protect a Priestess. And those who cannot communicate with their teammates will definitely not understand the sufferings of a Priestess.

— That is what was lacking in me three years ago.

"I'm sorry for disturbing your rest time."

Monica suddenly lowered her gaze.

"But I really do hope you can understand that. You're different from me - there's a high chance of you becoming a regular guard. After seeing how you will be scaling up the positions in the future, I can't help but tell you all that."

Different from me?

At that instance, Sheltis quickly propped his upper body off the ground, as though there was a spring beneath him.

"Monica? Isn't your reason for joining the team to be a regular guard?"

"I've said it ever since the beginning. Regardless of being a guard or a Priestess, I'm just a failure."

She did say that during their first true conversation as well.

"Ever since failing the final test to become a Priestess, my body will become stiff and immobile whenever I face something important...... I think it's probably due to this scar within me that hasn't been totally healed yet."

A psychological scar that has yet to be fully healed.

Pressing against her chest with her left hand, Monica gave a self-depreciating laugh.

"I am a clumsy woman who fails whenever I am needed the most. I am a well known failure among all the cadet-guards, so which squad will ever accept me? Therefore, I'll forever—"

"You can definitely do it."

Sheltis interrupted her with that sentence.

He looked intently into her.

"Monica, you are always practicing on your

crossed rods

by yourself in the middle of the night, right?"

"That's because...... I'm originally an apprentice-Priestess, and my physical capabilities are not on par with the other cadet-guards."

"It's fine, we'll definitely complete this mission successfully."

"Why are you so sure of that?"

Don't say things as though it's that easy — it's like the sharp gaze of Monica was trying to tell him that.

"Because there's me."

That was the only answer from Sheltis.

There was no reason or argument - instead, his sincerity was more than enough to fill up the gaps of those two missing elements.

"Though I still don't quite understand our current mission, I'll definitely ensure that it ends up successful. Don't worry, no matter what happens, I'll definitely be at your side assisting you."

They looked into each other's eyes through the flickering flames.

After a long while.

"You're a naively optimistic idiot."

Monica turned her face away. A hint of smile appeared on the corner of her lips.

"That's his only good point anyway."

"....... Monica and Ilis, are you two praising me or looking down on me?"

"What do you think? Still, I'll be in your care for tomorrow as well."

She hugged her knees with her arms, and said that while lowering her gaze.

It's time for them to switch shifts. Sheltis will be guarding from now on until dawn comes.

Amid the silent sea of trees.

"Isn't that great. Your originally obscured objectives have finally became clear."

After confirming that Monica's breath signaled that she was asleep, the

machine crystal

spoke in a soft voice.

"Mmm, I think so too."

The final objective of being a Sennenshi. In the process of teaming up with someone to complete the mission, he had gradually caught sight of it as he inched slowly towards his objective.

"Alright, I'll have to work hard tomorrow as well. But first, I'll have to meet up with Leon and the girls."

That will be his first task.

...... Wait for me, Ymy. I'll definitely return in triumph.

### 006. Intermission: Tranquility of the heart

And here's the intermission. I'll be working on 3 chapters of Sayonara Piano Sonata, which I think are the crunch chapters for me. If I can clear them successfully, I'll can most probably finish up volume one.

Enjoy.

********************

The time flows by slowly and silently.

As she immersed herself in what felt like time that had been diluted and extended indefinitely, Ymy stared at the ceiling of her own room blankly.

"...... There's only one explanation for that."

"It's the same with how Sheltis was repelled by the doors of the Grand Holy Hall. Ymy, you are in possession of the strongest shinryoku out of the five Priestesses. The reason why you're the only person to repel Sheltis...... is because your shinryoku is too powerful."

The

machine crystal

explained the reason for Elbert Resonance.

When an overly powerful mateki comes into contact with an equally powerful shinryoku, the laws of physics will be distorted, resulting in the release of electricity.

"............"

After being burnt by the flames of Elbert Resonance, her fingertips were now slightly whitish in color, and it felt painful when touched.

"Ymy, the waves of your shinryoku are large and beautiful."

"As a Priestess who maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai, that should be something to be proud of."

She could still faintly remember those words of blessing from a senior Priestess, back on the day she had became a Priestess.

The amplitude of the waves signifies the absolute strength of the shinryoku.

What irony.

The pristine and absolute qualities of a Priestess has now turned into the reason which denied her the rights to come into contact with the person whom she is closest to.

"............ Ymy, are you thinking of something?"

With both of her hands carrying a red tray, the black-haired girl in a woven vestment had quietly walked out from within the room.

"Have some tea...... here."

"Thank you, Syun-rei."

After accepting the cup of tea, Ymy gently cupped her hands around the sides of the cup.

"............ Ymy, you really wanted to go along with them, right?"

"Mmm...... However, after calming myself down and thinking about it, I realized I had actually arranged for my disciplines later."

Tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that.

A discipline that requires her to submerge into the waters of over ten meters deep that is filled with floating ice, by tying heavy objects onto her body - it's a discipline that pushes her mental state to its limits. There's also the other extreme, which requires her to pray in the burning hot sand until she is exhausted physically.

Since their days as apprentice-Priestesses, they have been undergoing such training that is akin to torture.

Those are disciplines to ensure that no matter what sort of mental conditions they are in - or in other words, even if they are to completely collapse psychologically - they will be able to continue the prayers for Hyouketsu Kyoukai. The discipline of < >.

She do know very well that those disciplines are essential for a Priestess. However, wouldn't it be great if there is someone by her side who can understand the pains that she is going through?

All she needs is someone to tell her "It's been hard on you" — and yet as a Priestess still without her Sennenshi, there is no one whom she can depend on psychologically.

"That can't be helped, I'm fine with the way things are for now."

"............?"

Syun-rei looked confused.

After showing a slight smile to Syun-rei, Ymy looked up at the ceiling of her room.

"Because, I am already very happy about the fact that he returned to the

Tenketsu Palace

."

Mateki and shinryoku that repel one another, and their fingertips that harm each other. Everything may seems unchanged, but there is a difference compared to two years ago - the young man has returned to the

Tenketsu Palace

.

Even if it is unacceptable to the ways of the world—

Even if we cannot touch each other's hands, we can still convey our feelings via words.

"I know Sheltis is trying his best to become a regular guard. Therefore, what I can do now is properly fulfill my role as a Priestess. It'll be okay for me to leave the issue about the mateki within him for later."

As a Priestess, she will be on the highest floor of the tower, awaiting for the arrival of that young man.

It's a trust that transcends all words.

"............ Mmm."

Syun-rei smiled gently and carefully handed out the red tea tray.

"............ Want to have another cup?"

"Ah, yes please. Can you add a little bit of sugar in it?"

"............ No."

### 007. Chapter 4: Forbidden Crystal

Here's the whole Chapter 4. Didn't realize part 3 is that short. Enjoy.

********************

{1}

The rays were shining through the gaps of the dense forestry. The moisture released by the trees turned into mist, and lingered around the gradually brightening sea of trees.

"Mmm— the forest during the night time has some mysterious aura about it, but the forest in the morning is pretty awesome too. The smell of the trees are much heavier."

"Eyri-nee, I saw a butterfly that was this big!"

The girl in overalls took a refreshing deep breath as she stretched her arms out wide. The black-haired little girl by her side was jumping around with a smile on her face.

"You two, don't get too far away."

Leon quickened his pace as well, so as not to lose sight of the two who may disappear from their wandering at any moment.

...... They're really energetic.

They had fooled around the whole time last night, so he had no idea where their energy came from.

"Ah, I can see the aircraft!"

Eyriey pointed to the silver object which they could see amid the trees.

"So we shall just wait here?"

"Yeah, I sent a mail to Sheltis' badge last night. Seems like we got here first."

After circling the aircraft once, there was still no sight of those two around.

"...... The damage to the aircraft is much lighter than what I had anticipated."

The silver aircraft was lying horizontally on the ground after it had knocked down a tree.

Despite being attacked by the electric faeries, they could not see many noticeable traces of damage on the outside. The worst was just the scratches to the outer coat of paint when it crashed onto the ground.

"But of course. It crashed only because the currents to the engines were not stable."

"It'll crash just from that?"

"Machines are actually very sensitive. However, I'll have to check through it once. It may be able to move now after a night, and even if it can't, we can still release a distress signal."

With that, the girl squeezed into the aircraft excitedly.

...... So I'll be looking after the kid while I leave the aircraft in her care?

"Can Yuto go there? There's a big tree over there!"

As he looked downwards at the little girl who was tugging onto his trousers, Leon gave a sigh,

"I'll come along as well. Don't stray off too far from the aircraft though."

The current in the engines had been tuned back to normal, and its output had been restored back to eighty percent.

"So everything's fine. What a good girl."

As she caressed the dials on the cockpit, Eyriey tossed the green gloves in her hands at the windows. She was originally worried that there might be a short-circuit when she conducted the check on the engine, but it seemed like she had worried too much about it. In fact, she was surprised by how normal everything was.

"Eyriey."

She turned around. The silver-haired young man was standing there.

"Ah, good timing. It seems like the aircraft is operational."

"That's perfect...... We've encountered something over here too. Yuto's waiting outside. You come along too."

With that, Leon walked out of the cockpit.

What's wrong?

Despite her being all confused about the situation, Eyriey still followed behind him.

"Ah, Eyri-nee! It's great! I've found something!"

"What's up, Yuto?"

After descending from the steps of the aircraft, Yuto and Leon both walked up to her.

"So, what's happening around here?"

"Just as you were checking the aircraft, I took a walk around to check up on our surroundings. Did you notice something strange about this primeval forest?"

"I don't really know how to answer that sudden question of yours, since I'm not too well versed about biology."

"Especially the trees in that area."

Leon pointed towards an area of the primeval forest where there was a group of large trees clustered together. There were over tens of them, and they were protruding out of the forest like a small hill.

They had lined up in a circle, as though they were shielding something.

"Oh?"

"That's right, that's the only place with a cluster of tall trees grouped together. I walked there to take a closer look, and...... I think it's better if you see it with your own eyes."

Leon turned around, with his coat swaying in the air.

"Ah, wait. We don't have to wait for Sheltis at the aircraft?"

"I've just contacted him. It seems like it will be a while before they reach here, so I asked them to head straight to that area to join in the search."

What exactly is that?

With a half curious and half confused mindset, Eyriey followed behind Leon and Yuto.

"Actually, the person who discovered that is Yuto."

The young man who was paving the road by prying open the branches suddenly stopped in his tracks.

...... This is?

"A research facility?"

It's a dark grayish rectangular building. There were no decorations nor windows on the walls, just green moss all over it. It's as though the building had camouflaged itself into the surrounding forest.

"Strange? Wait, this is definitely a research facility. But if so, isn't it really strange for it not to be registered on the map released by the Government Sector?"

"That's the most suspicious thing about this place."

Leon stared at the building before him.

"A research facility built on a desolated island; a totally enclosed structure without any windows. The green moss on the walls acts as a camouflage beneath the leaves of the trees, thus totally hiding itself from aerial view...... Well then, what exactly is the Government Sector planning?"

*Za* — The silver-haired swordsman walked to the front of the building with firm steps.

"So there's no main door at its front huh? Whatever. Let's find a place where we can enter. I'll head right. Eyriey and Yuto, you two head left."

"Understood. We'll just have to circle it once, right? Let's go, Yuto."

With her back facing Leon, Eyriey began to head towards the left side of the building with Yuto.

"...... Then again, it's really surprising that you can find something like this, Yuto."

"Ehehe, I'm good?"

"Well, it's no wonder we never noticed it. There's no way we'd realize it unless we got closer to it."

Alright, where exactly is the door located?

The two of them fixed their gaze on the walls as they walked on. However, they found nothing that looked remotely like an entrance despite them scanning through the walls of the building. The deep-gray paints on the building had already faded slightly due to the constant weathering...... from that alone, one can deduce that the building is not something that was built in recent years.

As they turned the first corner, they encountered the second wall.

It's almost the same as the first slab of wall that they saw - there are no windows nor decorations on it. The most they could see aside from the moss were the vines scaling the walls.

"Well— we can't get in at all. I wonder if Leon found anything over there."

Suddenly, she realized that her surroundings were deadly quiet.

............ Yuto?

The black-haired little girl was standing motionlessly at the first corner - it was as if she had stopped blinking and moving as well.

Those amber-colored eyes of hers were giving off a glow, as though she had detected something.

"Yu—"

Just as Eyriey was about to shout.

"So it's here?"

Perhaps it was due to the wind, but Eyriey could barely pick up the soft words that came out of the little girl's mouth. In the next moment, Yuto's left hand shimmered, similar to a gush of hot air—

*Guooooooooooooooooo!*

There was a rumbling sound akin to that of a wild beast. The originally seamless walls suddenly sank inwards. *Kan* - an entrance about the width of an adult appeared before them after the walls had totally sunk inside.

A secret passageway?

"Eyri-nee, here, here! This is great!"

"Eh? Ah......hhhh, mmm."

Eyriey finally regained her senses when she heard Yuto calling her with her childish voice...... Could that sound have been an illusion of hers?

"This is really impressive! Isn't this a secret passageway? How did you find it?"

"Mmm...... let's see?"

Yuto pushed her finger against her lips.

"Yuto doesn't know either! It just seemed like this wall was really clean."

"Ah, I get it. There's no moss over here."

Different from the other walls that they saw, since this wall had moving mechanisms, it would be hard for the moss to grow on it. Yuto probably saw it by chance, and never really thought that deep into it.

"So what do you guys got? Found anything?"

The silver-haired young man walked towards them from a corner far away.

"Ah, good news! Yuto found a secret passageway!"

"Oh? You've done quite a great deal, considering that you discovered the research facility as well."

"Ehehe—"

The little girl closed her eyes in happiness as Leon patted her head.

"I've found an ordinary door over the other side. It's locked, but I don't really need much effort to destroy that sort of simple padlock...... So where should we enter?"

Eyriey pointed towards the dark passageway without hesitation.

"Of course the place that was hidden."

"My thoughts exactly."

Leon crossed his arms and nodded.

"I'll lead the way. You two must really be on your guard this time around."

***

"A research facility hidden amid the primeval forest huh — they've used some creative methods to conceal the building too. Leon and the girls are really something."

"...... Darn, I thought we could head back immediately. Seems like things are not as simple as I first thought."

Sheltis gave a slight wry smile as he looked at the dark gray building.

It's about two stories high, judging from its height. Since there were no windows to be seen, nor were there any seams, there may be more floors within than anticipated.

"How are things over there?"

He made a cross with his arms in reply to Monica's question, who was standing a considerable distance in front of him.

"Absolutely nothing. I've checked the surroundings thoroughly, but there's only a single place that seems suspicious."

There was a brand new copper-colored padlock on the door. The metal door was full of red rust, and yet the padlock looked as good as new - perfect proof that there's someone who's been using the door recently.

"I've found a secret passageway here...... though someone probably discovered it already. All I saw was an entrance."

"That should be Leon. He just sent me a message saying that he'd explore the place first, and asked us to help out when we arrived."

"So, what should we do? Do we chase them via that passageway?"

"No."

He pointed to the door that opens from the middle, and grabbed onto the metal padlock.

"We'll go this way."

"I was thinking the same too."

Monica swung the

crossed rods

in her right hand. There was a hint of a smile in her sharp eyes.

The door was destroyed with a dull sound.

"Right, let's go."

— The reason the Queen sent a Sennenshi to this island.

— If the reason is because of this research facility here......

"Monica, I don't think I need to remind you, but please stay on your guard."

Gripping onto the two handlebars, Sheltis pushed opened the door of the research facility.

{2}

A dim, narrow passageway.

Each step they took brought up a cloud of dust into the turbid air.

"I've already prepared myself psychologically for this, but I still never expect this research facility to be that ghastly."

Monica cringed her face slightly as she touched the walls that had a poor finishing on their surface.

"It's dark and cramp, and there's a musty smell too...... I really don't feel like staying around here."

"I feel the same too. Even if we're here to find something, I hope we can get things over and done with quickly, and leave this place."

As they stood before a door at the ends of the passageway, Sheltis shot a glance at Monica.

— I'm gonna open it.

After receiving a nod of approval from her, he increased the strength exerted from his arms. Unexpectedly, the door opened up really easily.

Before them was a huge dark space. It felt like the place was rather spacious, but since there was no lighting inside, they could not grasp the full interiors of the room.

"What to do? Ilis, why don't you release some light like a machine? Just release light at about thirty times brighter compared to normal, and we should be able to see the interiors of the room clearly."

"I can if you want me to. However, due to the overload, I'll become hotter than a heated frying pan."

"...... Let's just look for a switch to the lights."

"Found it."

Monica's voice came from far away.

A *kacha* sound rang, and the room was flooded with a blinding flash of light for a brief moment.

"...... A library?"

Sheltis murmured as he took a look at the room under the shine of the lights.

It's a huge space that extended inwards for over ten meters long, and the sides of the walls were filled with giant bookshelves lined up together. Each of them was approximately three meters high, and it was designed such that the top shelves can only be reached via ladders.

There were four round desks in the middle of the room, and each desk had three chairs assigned to it. There were stand-alone computers and screens placed on the desk.

"Illustrations of plants, distribution of the vegetation, makeups of the soil, the climate of the floating island...... They are probably things left by the explorers of this island. Each and every report is rather detailed."

Monica tapped on the keyboards of the computers at a rapid speed. The details shown on the screens before them were undoubtedly information left by the researchers.

"The books on the shelves consists of similar information as well."

"...... Which means, this is just an ordinary research facility?"

Sheltis randomly picked out some encyclopedias from the shelves, and browsed through it roughly. However, they were typical encyclopedias. There's not a single problem about the publishers and the date of release as well.

"They may be just a facade. Want to check through each and every terminal and book?"

"Hmm— we should leave these things to units that are in charge of carrying those tasks. It's not like we are familiar with these things anyway."

In the investigation of the

Floating Archipelagos

, the guards only plays the role of a scout, to ensure that there are no harmful beasts and insects, or that there will be no danger of the ground collapsing and such. Special expertise teams will only investigate about the topology of the islands much later.

"So are we meeting up with Captain Leon?"

"I guess, though I wonder if they are—"

Just then.

There was a sudden violent rumble beneath his feet.

***

Let's turn back time to an hour before that.

"...... Right, what shall we do now?"

Leon stopped in his tracks when he saw the strange sight before him.

After going through the passageway that an adult could barely squeeze through, they came to a mechanical room at the end of it.

At their feet were red and blue wires of various width crisscrossing together messily like a spiderweb. There were plenty of pipes hanging from the walls and ceilings, and their ears were filled with the sounds of gases flowing through the pipes.

There were computers of various sizes in front of them. They seemed to be connected to the grounds, and all that could be seen were tiny indicators giving off a weird neon glow.

"...... Oh—"

Eyriey was walking around the room, but she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The place she was looking at was the measurement instruments located at the innermost areas of the room.

"Is this place the control room of the building?"

"Twenty points. Full mark's hundred, by the way."

The young girl replied without even turning her head back.

"About twenty percent of the machines in this room is related to the power source and etc. That's quite easy to see, but I am not quite sure about the remaining eighty percent. I think there should be a control terminal somewhere else in another room. If there is none, then I really do not have any idea what they are."

"If so, that means you don't understand the use of these computers here?"

Perhaps she had already expected that Leon would ask her that - Eyriey flashed an profound smile of bitterness, and scratched her head.

"...... Urm— the best I can do is to guess. Can I?"

"Ahh."

"Then here I go. This is probably a 'Control Device'."

After hearing her voice reverberating in the room, the young girl continued,

"The huge computer is online and operational even though there's not a single person in the facility. From that, it should be because these machines are used to maintain something."

— She sounded pretty sure even though she said she was guessing.

The young girl was probably pretty certain about her conjecture. And Leon was quite confident about that speculation as well.

"...... So what is it controlling?"

"I have no clue. However, it should be located somewhere in this facility. I originally thought this passageway will lead us to somewhere, but it seems like we've hit a dead-end. If so, there may be other secret passages or hidden rooms......"

After scanning her surroundings once, Eyriey's sight rested on a certain area in the room.

"Can I operate this for a while?"

It was a stand-alone terminal located in the middle of the room.

All that was displayed on the screen was a blank white background.

"That's......"

Anyone who stepped into the room would probably see that terminal first. However, as that terminal was way too eye-catching, Leon did not dare to touch it casually.

It might be a trap.

Even if it is not, something bad may happen should there be any error occurring when they were working on it. In the worst situation, it may be installed with a program that will trigger off the self-destruction device that will blow up the whole facility.

"Sorry, as for that terminal......"

"Ah, sorry. I've already touched it."

"Oi!?"

"Ahaha! It's because you were to slow with your reply."

Eyriey flashed a mischievous smile as she tapped onto the keyboard of the terminal at great speeds.

"Moreover, this terminal is probably not a trap."

"Why so?"

"The possibility of an outsider arriving here is already very slim. This is an unregistered floating island, and we were forced to land on here without the prior approval of the Government Sector. We first found the research facility hidden in the depths of the primeval forest by chance, then we happen to find the secret passage as well before we are able to reach here. Do you really think there is a need for them to set up any further precautionary measures?"

In contrast to her lighthearted tone, Eyriey's reasoning was highly logical.

...... And it probably is just as she had said.

It's the same for Leon. If not for the orders of the Queen, he would never have came to this island by himself. There's no possibility of him exploring the

Floating Archipelagos

by his own accord if he has not received any mission in regards to it.

"And there's another reason as well. It seems really easy to operate this terminal. If it is a trap, then shouldn't it be much more complicated?"

Eyriey's fingers were dancing furiously on the keyboard as if she was playing a piano. The blazing rhythm had even produced a sense of beauty from it. The girl suddenly raised her fingertips up elegantly, and then—

"Right, let's see what we've got here."

At the instant she keyed in the final button.

Came the sound of a certain giant object moving.

***

"Something really interesting has appeared."

The

machine crystal

broke the silence by saying that casually.

"That's quite sudden...... We did nothing here, so perhaps Captain Leon and the girls did something on their side. Or it may be someone luring us to a trap. What should we do, Sheltis?"

Monica stood at the side with the

crossed rods

in her hands.

That line of hers showed the tense atmosphere in which both of them were in. She stared straight at the target beneath her, without blinking her eyes.

A flight of stairs that went downwards.

The floor shifted along with the rumbling which they felt earlier, and the entrance to what seemed to be a basement was revealed.

The stairs were shrouded in darkness, and they could not see the ends of the path no matter how hard they looked.

"If that is the destination of our trip here, then I think it will be better for us to head down by ourselves first."

Shelits said that to Monica as he fixed his gaze on the stairs.

"We are not waiting for the instructions of Captain Leon?"

"Eyriey and Yuto are still with Leon. If we are to ask him to meet up with us before heading off, then the girls will have to follow along as well. Eyriey's not a guard, while Yuto's still young, so I absolutely cannot allow them to face any sort of danger."

"Smart choice. It is much easier for a pair to act should the two of you encounter anything. We shall be the scouts."

Mmm— Just as he was nodding his head in agreement with the suggestion of the

machine crystal

.

He noticed that Monica, who was beside him, was strangely quiet.

"......"

The young girl was gripping onto the pair of

crossed rods

in her hands, but her face was pale white.

"Monica?"

"............. Ah...... Ahhhh."

She suddenly widened her eyes.

"You alright? Your expression was really frightening."

"...... I'm fine. I just feel slightly dizzy."

With that, she took a step forward.

"Alright, since it's already decided, then let's head off quickly."

"—Mmm."

Monica slowly walked down the stairs that led to the basement, as the sound of her shoes rang. Sheltis followed in her steps quickly after taking a look at her back.

*Ka.................. ka..................*

The dreary footsteps of the two people reverberated along the passageway as they walked down the stairs, which had a visibility of barely two meters ahead. After confirming the situation they were in via the echos, he gripped onto the

machine crystal

that was hanging before his chest.

"Ilis, this flight of stairs is quite shoddily built."

"I am thinking about the same thing as well."

The

machine crystal

replied him quicker than he had expected.

"The materials which the stairs were made of is obviously different to those used on the floors and walls above. The floor was made out of strengthened metal alloy, but this place is constructed using cheap alloys. That's the reason for the echoes of your footsteps."

"...... Meaning?"

Monica, who was walking in front of him, turned her head around and asked.

"It's highly possible for this flight of stairs to be constructed much later. If so, the possibility of the flight of stairs being a trap will be greatly reduced."

It's the same with how fake drawings will always be more "real" than the originals. Since the point of faking is 'to be more real than the originals', there is probably no one who will design a trap that looked like an obvious shoddy work.

"This means we're heading in the right direction?"

"Yes. The possibility is quite high."

He gently gripped onto the hilts of his dual swords. He could not construct the blades due to the narrow flight of stairs. As such, the

machine crystal

was on standby mode, ready to construct the blades at the voice of his command.

*Ka——*

Their line of vision suddenly broadened when they walked past the final step.

............ This place is?

It was a huge room which was as spacious as the floor above them.

The only difference was that instead of shelves of books, the room was filled up with large black computers instead.

The wires beneath their feet were crisscrossing with each other messily, while huge pipes were hanging from the ceilings above. The thing that was lighting up everything which they were seeing were eerie red-colored light cast down from the ceiling.

It was a peculiar sight. However, the strangest thing was the object located in the middle of the place.

It was an extremely large screen that extended all the way from the floor to the ceiling.

"...... What's displayed on it?"

Monica raised her guard and took a step closer.

*Zi...... Ziiiiii....... Ziiiiiiiiii......!*

A black and white screen filled with static. Not only they were forced to decipher the image with only the monochrome colors, but the resolution of the screen was pretty low as well.

"Is it broken?"

She knitted her brows.

...... No, that's not it.

The screen is not broken. What it is displaying, is the thing that is located in the middle—

...... A girl?

"Sheltis, what's wrong?"

"Somehow, it feels like...... there's a girl in the middle of the screen."

He could indeed see what seems to be a silhouette of a girl, in the center of all the static.

And then there's the transparent shadows that were encasing the girl — they could be either ice or crystals. The girl was sealed within layers of hard, transparent crystals. That's what Sheltis felt the screen was showing him.

"I am really sorry, but I can't affirm what you had said. What about Monica?"

"I can't make out that either. Perhaps it's just your illusion due to all the static on the screen."

An illusion due to the distortion of the static. Indeed, he could not deny the possibility of that happening. Putting Monica aside, he was fully certain of the

machine crystal

's image processing capabilities.

...... So I am the one seeing things?

He rubbed his eyes, and looked at the center of the screen once more.

His eyes came into direct contact with the eyes of the girl's in the screen.

...... Shel...... tis.

...... Are you the person...... who is looking at me?

...... Looking at the frozen dream of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

...... Looking at the Forbidden Crystal......

At that instant, a scene suddenly flashed past his mind.

A world filled with black waters.

A young man with tea-red colored hair was slowly sinking down with his eyes closed.

Deeper and deeper.

He was sinking downwards in a world filled with darkness, a world that was incredibly quiet and slow.

The deep purple lights encased his body, as though they were blessing him—

...... Sheltis......

...... At the Floating Continent where everything is still in their dreams, at the

Garden of Corrupted Song

where all time are frozen......

...... You...... and your mateki...... awakens......

"Sheltis!"

"Oi, Shel-Sheltis!"

"!"

Sheltis finally returned back to his senses when Monica shook his shoulders.

"What has happened to you?"

"Ah, no....."

Just then, the young girl in the screen turned her head to look towards his direction...... no, she was looking at him.

A screen appeared before his eyes the moment they exchanged gazes with each other.

Is that...... me? Could it be back when I fell into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

—

"Sheltis, are you alright?"

"...... Mmm. Monica and Ilis, please take another careful look at the center of the screen. I am certain there's a girl there."

*—Kra—*

There was the sound of something cracking, as if it was laughing at what he had just said.

They originally thought it came from the screen, but the screen was still filled with the monochrome image and the static.

It's not the screen. What's that then?

"Behind it?"

Monica walked around the screen that was almost blocking the whole room, and made her way to its back. Just as her body was about to disappear behind the back of the screen, Sheltis hastily reminded her,

"Monica, be careful."

"I know. I am just curious about what is behind—"

Monica's voice was suddenly cut off at an extremely unnatural moment.

"............"

"Monica?"

"............ Ahh...............................!"

A hoarse shout that sounded neither like a shriek nor her weeping.

"Monica, what's wrong?"

He squeezed past the space beneath the screen, and got next to her side.

There.

"This is—"

Even the

machine crystal

was at a loss of words as well.

What appeared before them was a giant column of water tank.

The water tank was filled with a blue liquid and countless tiny air bubbles. That's all.

However, the

machine crystal

could not say a single word. Monica was staring at the water tank as she bit hard on her lips.

As for Sheltis—

"............"

He quietly gripped tight on the hilts of his dual swords after seeing the object that was in the water tank.

It was a Yuugenshu that was being "incubated" in a huge water tank.

{3}

"Warning."

"Abnormalities detected to the hypnosis wavelength of Experimental Body #2, code-named 'Slumbering Child'."

An automated voice suddenly rang from the ceilings. At the same time, the warning red lights began to flash throughout the floor.

"Eyri-nee, I'm scared......"

"W-What's with this alarm! Did I press something wrong at the terminal just now?"

Yuto pressed herself against Eyriey, who hugged her tightly in return.

"No."

Leon shook his head to disagree, as he looked at the floor being dyed red by the crimson lights.

Just like what she had said earlier, the possibility of a trap set on the terminal is very low. If so, then there must be another reason for the alarm to went off.

— Experimental Body #2.

There was a strange term mentioned in the automated warning. They did not find anything that looked like it in the floor where they were on. If so, the only possibility was that Eyriey had triggered a path at the other stories after she had operated the terminal.

"Eyriey, take Yuto and run back to the aircraft right now! I'll go and meet up with Sheltis and Monica. Seems like the place where they are at is the real crux to the matter."

"Yeah, I think so too. In any case, let's get moving, Yuto!"

Eyriey planned to make a dash for it after she grabbed onto Yuto's hand. Just then—

Along with the tremors of the ground as well as a strange metallic sound, the innermost wall of the building collapsed.

"Warning."

"It is confirmed that the hypnosis for 'Slumbering Child' has failed. It is speculated that there is an infiltration of a malicious third party, which in turn awakened it."

"To prevent the second wave of damage, begin the automatic destruction of 'Slumbering Child' as well as the malicious third party."

*Zu...... Zuzuuu............*

The floor was rumbling.

A shiny black gigantic object was slowly approaching them from within the dark floors.

"Combat robot?"

Eyriey could immediately recognize what it was from a brief look at it.

A thick armor which gave off a dull metallic shine. Its both arms were equipped with shiny black heavy weapons, and it was carrying armored-vehicle-class shells on its back. That's not all. There were bluish-white patterns all over its body. The straight-lined patterns were flashing repeatedly, and the glow had covered the whole body of the combat robot.

"Heavy-armed combat robot, with the marks of shinryoku engraved on it...... To think they have actually shipped this thing specially onto this island."

The robot inched closer to them with loud steps.

"............"

Faced with such an overwhelming presence, Leon silently swung the hilt of his great sword.

"W-What are you doing? Shouldn't you be running away in a situation like this?"

"The so called malicious third party is probably referring to Sheltis and Monica. Something may have happened there, so I have to destroy this fella."

"No, that's not what I mean—"

"It's fine,"

After saying that, Leon began to dash towards the combat robot.

"In any case, if you do not wish to be hit by the stray shells of the heavy weapons system, then hide yourself at the corner of the room right now."

***

*—Piki...... ki...... ki......—*

Cracks began appearing on the reinforced glass of the water tank. The blue fluid flowed all over the ground.

Each time the beast which was shrouded with the dark purple mist pulsates, the cracks on the water tank would widen.

"How can this be...... who will actually do such a thing like...... breeding a Yuugenshu?"

"We'll investigate on that later. The important thing is to deal with this thing here and ensure we come out alive."

Sheltis walked to the front of Monica, and stared at the enemy before them.

...... The Yuugenshu has responded to our infiltration?

His hunch told him that he was not too far off from the truth. The Queen's order was not really targeted at the facility itself. Rather, the real target were probably the image in the giant screen, as well as the bred Yuugenshu.

That's right. There was not just a single objective behind their mission. Taking that into consideration, one can then understand the reason for the lack of focus behind the Queen's order.

"Ilis."

"Begin the construction of the anti-Yuugenshu blades. Fixing a silver monad as the core, and encasing its surrounding with a layer of azure crystals of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Limit to destruction is set to be at sevenfold."

A thin silver line extended outwards from the blade-less hilts. The brilliant azure crystals began to encase it, and they gradually formed the blades.

The glass of the water tank had shattered.

*Slosh*...... With its body covered with fluids, the four limbs of the Yuugenshu came into contact with the floor.

A wild beast shrouded with an eerie mist all over its body, sending chills down the spines of whoever that sees it. Amid the dark purple mist, was a pair of red eyes filled with animosity, and looking towards their direction.

"...... So we've no choice but to strike?"

"Seems like it— here it comes!"

The howl of the beast.

What followed next was the shocking 'transformation' that came immediately after.

### 008. Final Chapter: Let everything resemble that day, I pray that it would become like that —youngsters—

Here's the whole of the final chapter. As much as I like Kei Sazane's works, I still think he can use some improvement in the fighting scenes. Improve on those, perhaps with a little less cheese, and this will be perfect.

Enjoy.

********************

{0}

...... I, Monica Esperanto, entered the

Tenketsu Palace

at the age of seven.

I was one of the contenders to be a Priestess that protects the world — an apprentice-Priestess.

Just like the rest of the apprentices, I was really happy when I was chosen to be an apprentice-Priestess. I thought I could finally contribute something. Though it may be a little too exaggerated for me to be saying that...... but one day, I may really become an essential person on this floating continent.

However, most of the apprentice-Priestesses who entered the

Tenketsu Palace

with that dream in mind had left the place willingly within a year.

Training that was akin to torture, mixed together with our tears and blood.

Glamorous and mysterious. Many apprentice-Priestesses were hit hard by reality, which was way different from the image of the Priestesses they had in their minds.

— As for me, I ended up failing horribly on the final test.

For someone who could not become a Priestess, how should I go about with my life next?

The people close to me recommended that I take up roles to develop the other apprentice-Priestesses. However, I hoped to be just like that dual-sword wielding young man - since I couldn't become a Priestess, I might as well walk on the path to protect them.

A cadet guard since the age of fifteen.

However, I'd be hit with constant failure...... for the next three years. Things like a mock team battle, or even when I was carrying out the actual missions - my body would not move due to nervousness whenever I was at critical juncture.

That was a psychological scar in me.

Because, I would always recall the final test of a Priestess — the scene in which I failed.

The eight years as an apprentice-Priestess; the eight years that I went through, supported by my tears and my pain - everything disappeared in an instant. I couldn't move whenever I thought of that.

An utterly useless cadet guard. Since I was labelled like that, over time, there were no longer any squads that were willing to welcome my participation.

For about a year after that, I was always alone—

"H-Hey! Are you alone right now? Have you teamed up with anyone else?"

Because of that, I was really happy when there was someone who invited me to participate in the mock team battle.

That was the very first time that I was victorious in a team training exercise. Since that day, it was like everything changed. With those thoughts in mind, I participated in this mission.

The enigmatic

Floating Archipelagos

; the mysterious research facility; the bred Yuugenshu.

However, the enemy is just a small-sized Yuugenshu.

Even though the danger still exists, I am still able to fight against it with the arts of shinryoku that I had learned before. As a part of the team, I am able to contribute as well.

...... That's what I have always thought.

............ However.

{1}

"...... What's going on...... This monster......"

Due to the shock from the scene before her, Monica was murmuring in a daze.

*Gya...... Chiiii......!*

The density of the mist surrounding the Yuugenshu had increased explosively all of a sudden.

The body of mist was expanding. One could see changes to the legs of the looming Yuugenshu amid the mist. There were originally thick shells on its legs, but the top layer of the shell was blasted apart, and the leg slowly became thicker.

The legs had already exceeded four to five meters in length, even though it was just barely one meter high at the start. Its diameter used to be as thick as that of a human wrist, but now it had grown to exceed the width of her own body. Not just that, it was tightly encased with a layer of newly grown shell.

— Battle mode? No, that's wrong. Could it be that it has grown that much within this short period of time?

*Zu...... Zuzuuu...........*

The ceiling, which was reinforced by metal, was beginning to melt after coming into contact with the mist of the Yuugenshu.

It was originally just the size of a human child, but now it had grown into a giant Yuugenshu that reached the top end of the floor.

*Pra*— even the screen before it was crushed and shattered by the Yuugenshu.

The body expanded horizontally like a crab. The whole body was covered with a layer of spotted shell. Six legs that were as sharp as spears extended out from that body. It was over five meters in height, and one would have to lift their head up high to be able to see the whole Yuugenshu.

"...... This is?"

She said those words unknowingly through her lips.

That had way exceeded the definition of growth.

— A mutation?

That was way different from any of the living organisms that were on the floating continent. More importantly, even though she had encountered Yuugenshu during her stint as an apprentice-Priestess, she had never seen variants that had gone through such strange changes.

How should she fight against an unknown opponent?

"Monica, evade!"

"Eh?"

Everything was already too late when she came to her senses.

The Yuugenshu had already approached her silently, and it had swung its leg, which was as thick as a log. When she lifted her head to see what was above her, the sharp spear-like leg was already crashing down on her swiftly—

It was too late for her to escape.

Upon understanding that fact, the world around her slowed down, just like a tiny frame in the movies. She could feel the time around her flowing slowly, as though there was some sort of slow-motion effect going on.

...... The moment just before death.

Everything, including herself as well as the movements of the Yuugenshu, were in the world of slow motion. Even so, nothing has changed. The leg of the Yuugenshu was still cleaving down towards her like a giant axe.

*Don—*

Eh?

Someone knocked into her from her sides, and pushed her body out of the attack of the Yuugenshu.

...... I'm saved?

Just as that thought came to her mind, Monica was immediately overwhelmed by a sense of regret, that almost made her cry.

The Yuugenshu delivered the wicked blow.

And what happened before her was—

The young man, who protected her by crashing into her, was struck hard behind his head. He was blown away by the attack.

"...... Sh...... el......"

Blood spewed out from behind his head like a blooming flower. His whole body slammed into the wall close to the edges of the room. He remained motionless after that.

With that, the time of the world resumed its normal flow.

"Shel...... tis............ Oi! Shel—"

No response.

The young man collapsed onto the floor in a pool of crimson red blood.

That one thing signified everything.

"...... Ah............"

...... H-Hey, don't make jokes...... like that............

...... You'll definitely stand up immediately, right? You're...... just pretending............

........................

.................. How............

Someone, anyone, tell me this is not real.

The young man remained motionless.

"————————!"

The shriek of the young girl sounded far from that of a human cry - it was a tone of absolute sadness. Even though she was shouting his name, that was not what came out of her mouth. Despite her wanting to run up towards him, her legs remained immobile.

For the first time ever, Monica understood what a shriek was.

Though she had teared or sobbed during her training as an apprentice-Priestess, she had never cried that hard before.

As such, it was the first time that she was experiencing everything. Including the bloodcurdling scream from her throat, as well as the despair that exceeded her anger which she felt due to her own foolishness.

"Sheltis...... Sheltis!"

Despite her repeatedly squeezing that name out of her mouth, all that succeeded in doing was creating echoes in the floor in which they were in.

The young man was lying motionlessly on the blood-stained floor.

"I've said it ever since the beginning. Regardless of being a guard or a Priestess, I'm just a failure."

"Ever since failing the final test to become a Priestess, my body will become stiff and immobile whenever I face something important."

............ It was indeed like what I had said.

............ Regardless of where I go to, the scar that I got back then will haunt me for life.

"I think it's probably because of this scar within me that hasn't been totally healed yet."

*Klang*

The

crossed rods

fell off from her hands, which had already lost their strength.

"...... Everything is my fault."

Monica no longer had the will to pick them back up. She knelt down on the floor.

...... If I wasn't around, then Sheltis wouldn't have collapsed from protecting me.

...... If I wasn't around...... If I wasn't on this team......

The Priestesses that she used to look up to.

She hoped she could become the essential someone in everyone's eyes - someone who protects the floating continent. Therefore, she held back her tears and managed to hold on till the final test, despite her knowing very well that the absolute strength of her shinryoku was lacking.

The guard whom she used to look up to.

Even though she could not become a Priestess, she still hoped she could contribute by protecting the Priestesses.

Therefore, even though there was no squad that was willing to accept her, she still practiced her

crossed rods

by herself everyday, just like the dual-sword wielding young man she saw on that day.

However, the results still ended up as a failure.

Till the very end, she is a useless failure who could not become a Priestess nor a guard...... That was something that had been decided by the wounded world that she was in since the very beginning.

"......"

The Yuugenshu raised its sharp leg yet again.

— Her body could not move.

It wasn't due to the usual nervousness, but rather, her mind was occupied by the events of her teenage years - there was no room left for her to be concerned about her own safety.

Above her head was the incoming merciless strike, along with a swift gush of air.

She subconsciously closed her eyes upon seeing the giant leg that was about to hit her from above—

............

............ Huh?

The incoming blow, the pain that should follow, as well as the death which should dawn onto her - all of it never came.

...... Why?

She timidly opened her eyes.

The young girl could not believe what she was seeing.

The originally collapsed young man had used his dual swords to block the attack from the leg of the Yuugenshu.

"............ Sh......"

"You're giving up just like that? That's not like you at all."

She finally realized what she was witnessing was real, upon hearing his voice with her own ears.

*—Kin!*

The twin swords severed one of the legs.

"—————— Grr!"

Contrary to its huge body, the movements of the Yuugenshu were extremely agile, and it leaped a considerable distance back in a single jump. On the other hand, the young man did something that was even more inconceivable.

After locking onto the retreating Yuugenshu, he dashed forward in full speed.

*Plop*

A trail of blood traced the path of the young man. Each time he took a step forward, the motion of his body would cause blood to flow out from the wound behind his head.

"...... Wha......!"

Monica looked at the scene in a daze.

That's just too reckless. He should not be moving about after suffering such an injurie. Ignoring whether his body can hold on despite the blood loss, what about his consciousness? Can he really maintain a clear state of mind? Shouldn't his vision be blurry?

As he ran, the young man suddenly fell onto the ground, despite there being no obstacles around him.

— She was indeed right. There was no way he could move around freely after sustaining such a serious injury on his head.

"Stop, Sheltis! If you continue on like this—"

He may still be able to move for now, but if he continues to force himself, he may really cause damage to his brain...... no, he may actually endanger his life.

However, the young man did not stop moving.

He twisted his body to avoid the two legs that struck from his left and his right, and took the opportunity to chop one of them off cleanly. Using the wall to his left, he jumped up onto the ceiling and ran crazily to reach the back of the Yuugenshu in an instant.

But then, the young man knelt down to take a rest yet again.

Just as his shoulders were heaving up and down because of his breathing he lowered his head, at that moment the Yuugenshu attacked by swiping one of its legs horizontally towards him.

"Sheltis!"

He flew into the sky, just like a leaf that was fluttering in the air.

And similar to what happened before, he was slammed against the wall and then fell onto the ground—

But he did not collapse.

Sheltis used his dual swords to support his body and stabilize his steps.

He did not collapse. He will never collapse.

............ Why?

............ Why can he still stand?

............ And he has suffered such serious injuries because of me, so why—

"It's not your fault."

With his head still hanging low, he suddenly mumbled that out with a hoarse voice.

"...... Eh?"

"It's natural for me to protect Monica...... Because, we are teammates."

"B-But—"

"Monica, didn't you say that there was a guard that you admired? You said you wished you could become just like him - that young man who fell into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

."

"W-Why are you mentioning that all of the sudden......"

"If that young man was still alive, he definitely wouldn't bow down to an opponent like this. Aren't I right!?"

— Just then.

A certain sound seemed to have rang from deep within my heart.

"T-That's because...... he...... was different from me. He—"

"There's nothing different!"

Just as I was about to explain, I was interrupted by the yell of the young man.

"Haven't you always hoped to become someone who can protect the floating continent! Even though you did not manage to become a Priestess, that conviction has allowed you to continue working hard to get to where you are today, right? You are always practicing later into the night than anyone else, isn't that so!?"

I could not speak.

It was as though he had seen through everything...... No, he did understand. Including my feelings, as well as the screams in my heart which I could not hide very well.

"You have always hoped that someday, you could be just like what that young man was, right? Get on your feet! This is the best chance for you to do so right now— so Monica, pick up your

crossed rods

!"

The dual-sword wielding young man whom she admired.

As well as the young man who was still fighting against the Yuugenshu, despite the multiple injuries on his body.

She did not know the reason why she did.

But Monica—

Had already overlapped the young man before her together with the 'young man of those days'.

— If so...... that should be enough.

Sheltis heaved a large breath of air as he wiped away the blood from his eyes.

"You are as reckless as ever."

"Totally not. It's because we are teammates from the same squad."

The attitude that all guards should have.

Three years ago, because he had an overly powerful teammate by his side in the form of Leon, he had never realized that not everyone possesses the physical and mental fortitude that he has. It's the same with the puppeteer and the dual gunner that he had fought together with Monica. In reality, everyone will have a weakness or two, that they will have to make up for.

— That was something that the him of three years ago did not notice.

"If I was a Priestess, I definitely wouldn't choose someone who only wants to protect the Priestess as a Sennenshi."

The him of three years ago did not understand what being a Sennenshi was all about as well.

The feelings which the Priestesses have in them, due to the tough disciplines that they must endure each and every day.

What sort of things the Priestesses are seeking from their Sennenshi.

The one who told him all those things was Monica who was in the same team as him. Therefore, he would not allow himself to fall.

Not as the young man whom she admired, but as her teammate.

"Can you still hold on?"

He ignored the question of the

machine crystal

.

"Monica!"

Enduring the overwhelming dizziness and headache, Sheltis called out to the girl hoarsely.

"Let's work together. I'll be in charge of attracting the attention of the enemy. I'll leave the rest to you, just like what we did last time."

"...... Sheltis."

"Don't worry. You've always been practicing, no?"

He smiled and flashed a wink — Sheltis then made a dash for it.

Due to his dizziness, it felt like the floor was tilting. Not to mention, his sense of balance was totally disrupted. He had no idea if he was still running straight on the floor.

Even so, he could not stop.

The three legs were about to attack him from above, left and right. Sheltis depended on his blurred vision as well as his intuition to avoid the assaulting legs that were encased in a thick shell.

He skipped to the side to avoid the first strike which was going for his head. He then used the broad side of his blade to slam it against the incoming second strike that was approaching him, and used the recoil to keep his body afloat in the air. He landed on the leg of the enemy just like that, and swung the dual swords in his hands.

He sliced off the leg, along with the spotted shell as well as the mateki barrier which was protecting it.

— Half of it was done.

What's left are two right legs and a left one.

Just then, there was a sudden change in the atmosphere surrounding the Yuugenshu. It stopped moving its legs, one of which was lifted high into the air. The strange glows around its body burst outwards like millions of thin fibers.

The fibers entwined into threads, and the threads merged into lines. The lines combined together to form a giant glowing ring, big enough to occupy nearly half the area of the floor they were on.

A brief look at it would be enough for one to lose their vitality. However, the dark purple glow continued to intensify—

Oe/ Dia =U milve /x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

<■ ■, ■ ...... ■ ■, ■ ■ ■ , ...... ■ ...... ■ ■>

A strange tone reverberated throughout the floor.

Mateki. The source of power of all Yuugenshu; the cursed melody that erodes everything on the floating continent.

*...... Zyuu...... zi.........*

The brilliance engulfed everything, together with the young man. The grounds, walls and ceiling began to boil and evaporate.

The high-intensity beam swept through the whole floor, which easily melted the heat-resistant alloy. What was left was the Yuugenshu, which believed that it was assured of the victory. Amid the space that was filled with the white smoke of the smoldering metal—

A flash of two swords.

The twin swords of the young man had chopped off the leg of the Yuugenshu.

"———— Grr!"

For the first time ever, the Yuugenshu was unsure of what was going on.

That was the power which Sheltis had acquired after he was infected by the mateki of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. In return for paying the price of losing the shinryoku of a human, he utilized his own mateki to render the mateki and the barriers of the Yuugenshu useless.

...... Right, that should be enough?

After understanding that it's mateki was ineffective, the Yuugenshu aimed for the head of the young man, and swung its remaining two legs at it—

In the next instant, while remaining in the posture with its two legs raised in the air, the Yuugenshu stopped all of its movements.

Sia Sec elis arc...... Is io Miel

The words of power flowed out of the young girl's lips, without a moment of hesitation or pause in between.

*Zaaaa.............* a sound similar to raindrops falling against leaves rang. The floor which was polluted by the mateki was gradually cleansed by the brilliantly shining white lights, which looked like fresh snow.

"

valen =C kis towle

<— Prayers, are just an illusion.>

shel =C eyen roo.

Kyele =C sion tis.

phia =C delis elma.

————— ole =C kis eyen noe

—————

"

"...... You idiot."

She had activated the arts of the Priestesses using their language.

The praying arts that will bring the world blessings and miracles. Something which is not easily used by anyone. Something that can only be manipulated freely only after years of training in

Tenketsu Palace

.

However, there's a girl here who has worked hard at the her training, harder than anyone else—

"You've said a bunch of stuff to me, and with that righteous tone too."

The line of sight of the Yuugenshu did not land on the ground or the walls, but at a place directly above it.

With a cluster of faintly glowing dots of white light, the girl leaped into the space close to the ceiling.

"Oh blessed metals...... the Third Stone...... Descend, the crystals of white silver!"

Pure white.

A color that is paler, more uncertain, and more easily stained than any other color out there.

But at the same time, it's a color that is unrivaled in terms of elegance and beauty.

....... That's right, I am not a Priestess.

....... However.

"Under the guidance of the advent...... the twenty-second power of the second process shall form the world."

The pale white particles of light shone around the whole body of the girl. The rays of light traveled through her arms, and blessed the

crossed rods

in her hand.

In that instant, the pale white light clustered themselves together, and began to crystallize.

The light of Shinryoku formed a brilliantly shining crystal at the tip of the rod, turning it into what seemed like a lance with a silver-white blade.

— As a guard, I hope to dedicate this power within me.

— And thus I swear.

— From now on, I will be the same as him whom I admired back then......

Ris sia sophia, yupa Sez =C cia dies, r-warb, als vel dia.

Ris sia sophia, elma cia kis eyen bie qo. ...... Is io miel.

The young girl raised the

crossed rods

above her head, took aim, and tossed it towards the Yuugenshu with all her might.

The

crossed rods

turned into a flash of silver light. But just before it reached the crystal core of the Yuugenshu, the Yuugenshu began to materialize the deep purple brilliance to form a barrier.

Shinryoku against mateki.

The two opposing forces clashed, and they were currently repelling against each other. If the forces are of equal strength, the shinryoku crystal on the

crossed rods

will then shatter at the same time the barrier is destroyed.

If that was the shinryoku crystal of an ordinary shinryoku-practitioner, then that may very well be the result.

However—

"It's my..... victory."

The young girl surrounded by the brilliance of shinryoku said that solemnly as she landed on the ground.

The person standing there was a girl who had pledged to become a Priestess.

An apprentice-Priestess who had endured her tears and pain for eight years, as she continued to bear the dream of becoming a Priestess.

With her blood and her tears as the price, she had obtained the real arts of shinryoku of a Priestess. Naturally, such dignified arts would never lose to an opponent that had only woken up not too long ago.

As such—

The silver-white

crossed rods

destroyed the remaining two legs of the Yuugenshu along with its barriers. After losing all of its legs and the mateki barrier, the Yuugenshu stopped moving due to it being caged by the barriers of the shinryoku.

"Alright, do you have anything to say?"

Monica showed a gentle smile after landing on the ground. And on the other side—

"It's a really beautiful spell."

Sheltis took aim at the Yuugenshu and soared into the air.

His vision was obscured by his blood and his dizziness.

The functions of his brain were mostly numb, resulting in a chaotic sense of balance. Under the twisted world, the only thing that he believed in was the feel of the two swords in his hands. He raised them over his head, and made a powerful jump.

Using the brightly shining point - the

crossed rods

- as a marker.

He tried his hardest to maintain his consciousness that was about to disappear, and once again took grip of the dual swords, which were about to fall from his hands.

— Let's put an end to everything.

"............ Ymy............ she has begun the disciplines of a Priestess."

"............ So, she asked me to pass this message on to you...... 'Please return safely'."

That was what Syun-rei passed on to him before they left for their mission.

The other reason he didn't collapse.

"...... I must return."

There's a young girl at the tower who believes that he will definitely return. Therefore—

Even if it's unacceptable to the ways of this world, returning to her side is the only thing that cannot be stopped by anything.

Right now, that was the only thing that he could do for Ymy.

He approaches the head of the Yuugenshu.

Gripping the dual swords in reverse, he raised them up high above his head. And then—

The swords of the dual wielding young man destroyed the crystal core of the Yuugenshu.

{2}

"Ahh...... ugh...... feels like my head is about to burst."

Sheltis sat cross-legged on the floor, and moaned as he pressed his hand against his head.

"It's because you pushed yourself too hard, you idiot."

Next to him was Monica, who was sitting with a straight posture in seiza.

"Well, such things are commonplace, so just ignore him. He's stupid to the point that he can't be cured anymore."

"...... Ughhh, it's so painful, I no longer have the strength to retort to that."

They had finally managed stop his bleeding with the use of anti-hemorrhagic agent and disinfectants, together with a compresser on the wounds using bandages. However, it's not like his wounds were treated just like that. He would still need to receive real treatment when he returned to the

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Darn, what exactly is Leon doing at a time like this?"

"Speaking of which, I haven't seen Captain Leon either. It's the same as when we were on the floor of the hidden passage—"

"Speak of the devil."

There were sounds of running that echoed in the passageway. The hurried footsteps stopped right before the door, which then opened immediately after that.

"Sorry for the wait, Sheltis! Where's the enemy, the so called 'Slumbering Child'?"

"Sheltis, where's the enemy!"

"Where—?"

It was Leon, who was carrying a great sword on his shoulder. Behind him, was Eyriey and Yuto, who were both looking around the room.

"......"

With the three people before them, Sheltis and Monica could only look at each other.

""Sorry, I'm really too tired. Allow me to take a snooze first.""

After saying the exact same thing in sync, the both of them collapsed onto the ground straight away.

### 009. Epilogue: The thing in which he protects

Iris shall now be changed to Ilis. I'll explain why later.

Enjoy.

********************

"I've heard you need a month for a full recovery."

"...... I know that."

"But I'll be really bored if that's the case. So please work hard and recover fully within a week."

"...... I'll try my best."

The

machine crystal

was placed on the table next to the bed.

In response to the slow-talking conversation partner, Sheltis could only sigh and turned his body while lying on his bed.

Tenketsu Palace

, twenty-second story - the tower's hospital. It's a twenty-four hours operating hospital that takes care of everything within the tower, ranging from the prescription for general colds to the performing of major operations. They open their doors to everyone inside, regardless of whether you are a guard or a staff of the tower.

"Then again, it's really great. The aircraft could operate normally, and the mission was successful as well. Incidentally, you've managed to survive as well."

"So my most important life is actually something of an incidental occurrence to you......"

"Didn't the doctors say so as well? If the impact was slightly off from where it is, your skull would have been smashed, and the pieces would have pierced your brain."

"Whoa— stop! I don't wanna think about it at all!"

Three days ago, Sheltis left the

Floating Archipelagos

in a state close to death, and returned back to

Tenketsu Palace

. He was taken straight to the hospital for emergency treatment right after he arrived at the tower. It was just a crack on his skull — even though the usage of the word 'just' may be slightly strange, that was exactly what the doctor had said. Considering the fact that they are treating countless of guards who are taken there each and every day, it is of no surprise that the injuries which Sheltis had sustained was nothing more than just a typical injury in their eyes.

"Oh right, there's a total of four people who came to visit you while you were sleeping soundly in the morning."

"Four?"

"Yes, and that is a present for you."

There was a strange looking safety helmet on the table. He was wondering what that thing was.

"Seems like it is named as 'Skull-correcting Helmet'. It will read your brainwaves and adjust the pressure on your head via the machines accordingly, and can reconnect your broken skull in an instant. But beware, do not overuse it."

"...... The only people who'll make such weird machines like that are probably Eyriey and Yuto."

He had not seen the two girls since they jumped off the aircraft with their parachutes. He was worried, and the fact that the girls had made it out of the adventure on the

Floating Archipelagos

without suffering from any major injuries was probably the only blessing amid all the bad luck.

"Out of the remaining two people, the person to come first is Leon. Probably somewhere around four-thirty in the morning."

"Isn't it a little too strange to be visiting at a timing like that?"

"He said he's rushing off for the morning training. And then he said things like how you will have to continue training your body even if you are staying in the hospital...... and the details of the aftermath of the mission."

"Which is?"

"Firstly, the report for the mission was already submitted to the Queen. With that, the mission will be considered as completed, and according to the rules of the reward system, it seemed like you'll be rewarded with a considerable amount of points...... however, do remember not to mention to anyone about the mission which you had taken."

The floating island within the airspace of the Government Sector, which was not shown on the map. The unknown facility, the underground passage, as well as the Yuugenshu which was incubated in the water tank.

"The Queen's the one who sent Leon out for this mission, right? If so......"

Queen Salah. The person who stands at the peak of all the shinryoku practitioners of the floating continent; the figure in

Tenketsu Palace

who leads the Priestesses. Did she know about the facility found on that floating island?

"......"

"Sheltis?"

Sheltis stared at the ceiling in a daze, with no intention of replying to the

machine crystal

.

— The Forbidden Crystal. That was what the girl had said.

...... Shel...... tis. ......

Are you the person...... who is looking at me?

...... Looking at the frozen dream of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

...... Looking at the Forbidden Crystal......

The hidden facility was breeding a Yuugenshu. However, what concerned him more was the girl who appeared on the screen. What was the place it was displaying, and who exactly is she?

How did she know who he is?

"......"

After staring into space for quite a while, Sheltis heaved a sigh subconsciously.

"...... A lot of things are beginning to connect together."

"The things we saw at that facility? The bred Yuugenshu, as well as the girl whom you claimed you saw on the screen. And even more so, the true intentions behind the Queen's orders."

"— And my mateki too."

The Forbidden Crystal, the intentions of the Queen, as well as the Yuugenshu. It is impossible for those three to not have any sort of relations.

If he continue to investigate, he may be able to understand the secrets behind the

Garden of Corrupted Song

some day.

"So the immediate problem for now is...... the Government Sector huh. Since that facility is located on the

Floating Archipelagos

of the Government Sector."

"Leon seems quite concerned about it as well, but he can only keep those doubts deep in his heart for now. It may be possible for Leon or one of the Priestesses to make a move in the future in regards to that."

"...... You're right. Regardless of how concerned I am about it, I don't have much authority to act since I am just a cadet guard."

"Yes. Therefore, your most pressing problem for now is to raise up to the ranks of a regular guard as quickly as possible, and it will be even better if you can go higher than that. This is so that you can fulfill your promise of heading to Ymy's side, with regards to the mateki in you as well."

After a quick pause, the

machine crystal

continued to flash.

"Don't worry. I'll not lose my way."

That's right. There is no change in his objective.

Which is to continue forward step by step, and climb up the ranks among the guards. That's all there is to it.

"...... Back on topic. I've mentioned about four people visiting you."

"Mmm."

"The last person was Monica."

To be honest, she was the person who intrigued him the most out of the four persons whom he traveled with to the

Floating Archipelagos

. Moreover, they had discussed about many complicated topics during the course of the mission as well. How is she doing after the completion of the mission?

"She said you looked fine, and she'll be coming another time."

"...... I see."

"Your expressions suggested that you've just heaved a sigh of relief?"

"Mmm, perhaps."

He laid on the side of his body, and looked at the bright windows beside him.

"I guess Monica should probably be fine already. Regardless of what sort of missions she will be facing in the future."

***

"...... That is probably what that person is thinking of right now."

As she sat down at her designated seat beneath the tree, Monica wiped off the sweat on her neck.

The outdoor training field was scorched by the blazing sun, and that day was just the same as any other. The hollers of the instructor were ringing throughout the place, and the new cadet-guards were all running with timid expressions.

The young man with tea-red colored hair was no where to be seen among them.

"He needs a rest, but there's no danger to his life, and there won't be any complications huh......"

— That's great.

Compared to her first ever successful completion of a mission, she was much more pleased about how they had managed to return back safely.

...... However, there were a few things which she wished to question him.

Sheltis was exposed to the mateki openly while he was engaging the Yuugenshu, but he managed to get out unscathed.

His life will be in danger once he is exposed to mateki — but despite her telling him that, and the fact that she had learned purification spells during her time as an apprentice-Priestess, he repeatedly stressed that he was fine, and insistently denied to receive her purification. And in actual fact, nothing has happened to him even after he had came into contact with the mateki.

Why is that so?

"............"

— Phew.

After staring into space for a while, Monica made a slight wry smile, and looked at the turf beneath her feet.

"Forget it. It's rude to question a patient about things like these anyway."

"Monica."

She once again lifted her head when she heard that voice.

Instructor Yumelda was standing right in front of her, wearing her suit and smoking on a stick of cigarette.

"How very surprising for you to actually accept a mission."

"Eh?"

"No point playing dumb. With the authority of an instructor, I know every single detail about each reward points awarded to all the cadet guards."

...... That's bad.

So the instructor before her actually checked through the reward points of the few hundred cadet guards personally each day?

"Right, who did you go with?"

"Well............"

"Hmm? Well, since you have no intention of telling me, I won't ask you that much about the details."

The female instructor placed the lighted cigarette into her hand and twirled it around smoothly.

"However, it has already been three years since you've became a cadet guard. Ignoring about the current situation, it's about time for you to consider joining a squad."

"......"

"Hmph, I knew things will turn out like this."

With that, she fished out an application form from the front of her chest.

"This is?"

"The application form for a squad. Not to join one, but to start one. I have originally intended to tell you about it, but with the successful completion of your mission this time, I guess this is a good opportunity for you as well?"

A smile appeared on the edges of the instructor's lips.

"There's no need for you to ask the other squads to accept you in. You just have to start a new squad yourself."

...... Me?

"You do know that we have close to twenty newcomers this month. One of whom is an idiot who has injured himself at his very first mission."

The instructor looked at the rising smoke with a profound smile on her face—

"You and that fella had performed pretty well during that paired battle, yeah?"

"...... Eh?"

"In any case, you're free to choose whoever you like."

With that, she turned around and walked away coolly without even waiting for Monica's reply.

The squad's name, squad members, as well as the name of the squad leader was left blank on the application form in her hands.

Monica grabbed onto the piece of paper tightly with her hands that were stained with dirty water, while she stood by herself.

"...... Can I do it?"

A new squad.

Teammates who clear missions with me, and strive towards becoming a regular guard together.

And the first person to appear in her mind was—

"If...... I am the one inviting him this time, will he be willing to join me?"

Monica folded the application form carefully, then picked up her

crossed rods <Rosario

>.

***

After listening to the reports of the

machine crystal

, Sheltis fell into a slumber yet again. An unknown amount of time had passed since then.

He was lying on his bed when he opened his eyes.

What appeared before his eyes when he looked upwards was neither the lights nor the ceilings, but the face of a girl.

A young girl with pale golden long hair, wearing a pure white vestment.

"...... Ymy?"

"Ah, you're awake."

The girl who was staring at his face showed a gentle smile, and went back to take a seat at the chair next to the bed.

He felt rather embarrassed for his sleeping looks to be seen by her. He forced his sluggish and sleepy body prop itself up on the bed.

"Sheltis, you don't have to force yourself. Just continue sleeping."

"It feels really embarrassing to sleep like this."

"What do you mean? You're weird."

Ymy covered her mouth and let out a laugh.

"Oh right Ymy, is it okay for you to be here?"

They were at the twenty-second story of

Tenketsu Palace

. There will be a huge commotion should a nurse or a staff see a Priestess appearing at a low-level floor.

"This is a ward for a single person, so it's fine. And you may not have noticed, but it is currently night time."

"Two in the morning. The lights in the wards have long been switched off."

The originally silent

machine crystal

on the table suddenly said that, before falling into silence yet again.

"It's been tough on you. I've heard from Leon that the mission this time is not that easy."

Ymy slowly reached out her hand towards his bandaged head — and stopped right before she was about to touch him. The fingertips that cannot touch him.

They were separated by the shinryoku and the mateki, and forced apart by an absolute blank territory which can never be overcame.

"Who were you protecting, for you to suffer from those injuries?"

"...... Why?"

Why could she say that with such certainty?

"Because the reason for your injuries is usually because you were fighting for someone."

The young girl who is his childhood friend showed a slightly sorrowful smile.

He knew that very well, but he still did not wish to see it with his own eyes — that smile on her face.

Therefore, Sheltis replied with a single sentence.

"She's the same as you."

"The same?"

"The same as how Ymy trains hard everyday, so that you can become a Priestess."

In response to the young girl's widened eyes, he continued on,

"I happen to hear it by chance from a girl who used to be an apprentice-Priestess. The Priestesses has always been looked upon as someone really incredible, or an incredibly sacred existence...... me included, I've always had that sort of impression."

But that's wrong.

Beneath those beautiful smiles, what sort of painful disciplines must the Priestesses and those aspiring to be one suffer?

"The Priestesses who live on the top floors of the

Tenketsu Palace

are alone. In order to protect the floating continent, they have devoted their whole lives to training and maintaining the barrier. However, who will be the ones to save them from their suffering?"

When Monica told him that, he swore that he will say this to Ymy,

"It's been tough on Ymy too. You must have underwent the disciplines for the barriers, and that's the reason for you to come here at such a time, right?"

"............"

For a brief moment, she looked like she was about to cry, but she tried her best to hold back her tears.

Ymy turned her face away in embarrassment.

"Eh? Ehehe...... it just feels a little regrettable. I originally hoped that you can say that to me personally after you've became a Sennenshi............ However, I am still really happy."

"Mmm, I'll do my best to become a Sennenshi."

During the latest mission, he finally understood how far away the goal was from him, especially back when he was walking towards it without any sense of direction.

As the him from three years ago did not know anything about it, he had neglected the steps which he should have taken. It was perhaps due to that very reason that he had slipped and fell to the ranks of the cadet guards, right at the very bottom.

However, it seems like he now has the confidence to climb upwards, one step at a time.

"But thank god that you are not in a life-threatening state."

Ymy placed her hand on her chest and heaved a sigh of relief.

"I really won't know what to do if Sheltis were to fall into a state of coma just like that."

"That's just exaggerating. See, ain't I all fine here?"

"You can't— You can never take things too lightly!"

...... There's really nothing I can do about you.

He showed a wry smile upon hearing Ymy berating him with a tone akin to a mother who is scolding her child.

"It's really unlike Ymy, for you to be that worried."

"............"

He originally thought she would deny it angrily, but instead, she lowered her head.

"............ Because......."

"Ymy?"

"Because...... what am I going to do if you didn't come back, just like how things were three years ago?"

The young man fell off from the floating continent into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

during a mission three years ago, and he never came back. This time, the mission required him to head towards the

Floating Archipelagos

- the young girl was afraid that the same thing would happen again.

Her slightly trembling shoulders were clearly displaying the state of feelings which she was in.

At the same time, Ymy's previous words reappeared in Sheltis' mind.

After listening to Leon explanation about the mission at the two hundred and eighty-seventh story, she actually made a request. If he remembered right—

"L-Look, Leon. I want to tag along too...... can I?"

"Could it be, the reason for you to want to join us in the mission, is because—"

"...... Will you laugh at me if I say it's because I was afraid?"

The fear in her. The fear that the young man, who have finally returned back to

Tenketsu Palace

, will once again never come back after heading off to the

Floating Archipelagos

.

Due to the uneasiness in her, Ymy had voiced out her request for joining along as well.

"— No."

Sheltis shook his head as he looked at Ymy, who was still lowering her head.

"Thank you for worrying about me, but I am really fine."

"...... Mmm."

Ymy finally raised up her head. The expression in her eyes was just like that of a lonely orphan, which caused him to had an indescribable feeling of affection towards her.

"It's about time you take a rest. You must be tired, yeah?"

"...... You're right. I'll do just that."

After standing up from the chair, Ymy took a deep breath. Those emerald eyes of hers looked like they were about to shut tight, perhaps due to her fatigue.

"Well then, Sheltis. I hope you can recover quickly. Within three days."

"...... Somehow, it feels like Ilis was a little too benevolent, since she told me to get well within a week earlier on."

"Fufu, I am just joking. Goodbye—"

The silent ward. After waiting for the sound of her footsteps to gradually disappear—

"—How tiring."

Sheltis collapsed back onto his bed.

"One of the cute things about you is how you love to act tough."

"Hmm?"

"It must have been really difficult for you to prop up your upper body just now, right? The doctor did say you'll be temporarily experiencing giddiness and headache."

"...... How can I possibly say such things in front of Ymy?"

He heaved a heavy sigh towards the

machine crystal

on the table.

"That does make sense. If not, she'll probably be even more worried about you."

"She is such a worrywart. And for her to specially come down to the hospital...... has she forgotten about her position as a Priestess?"

"Oh— But you are really happy to see how concerned she is for you, right?"

"............ I don't know."

He pretended not to hear Ilis' snickers.

Sheltis then pulled the thin blanket over his head and shut his eyes.

## 03. Volume 3 - Golden Boundaries

### 001. Prologue: Countdown Remaining 72 hours — Maha —

Mystrael from Baka Tsuki has began work on

Tasogare-iro no Uta Tsukai

. For those who don't know, it's a series that takes place in the same universe as Hyouketsu Kyoukai, but on a much earlier timeline.

I had said before that you don't really need the knowledge of Uta Tsukai to read Hyouketsu Kyoukai, but the story will be much more interesting with the background knowledge. Especially when Hyouketsu Kyoukai gets into vol 4 onward.

Anyway, here's the prologue. Enjoy.

********************

That person was a strange man.

At the green plains of a flat gradient.

The plains can be aptly described with the term 'weedy'. The man was standing on top of the slightly elevated hill which was filled with weeds.

"............"

A tall and stout man, dressed in a dirt-yellow robe which colors had already faded.

His eyes were hidden deep within his hood. The long robe stretched from his head to his feet, covering the whole of his body. Not a single part of his body was exposed to the sun - even his fingers were hidden by the sleeves of his robe. Aside from his strange outfit, what was even weirder were the mechanical rings that were restraining the suit.

Located on his neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist and knees.

It's a metallic-colored machine that would give off a glow after each fixed period of time, and they acted like bracelets or belts encircling the various parts of his body. The machines were bound to the body tightly, revealing his broad shoulders as well as those muscular arms.

"............"

There was no wind.

The man was standing motionlessly on one spot, just like the still grass around his feet.

Not a single motion.

Not just that. He was perfectly still.

The heartbeats, the heaving of the shoulders due to respiration, and even the most basic movements of a living organism — all of these were perfectly absent.

An unknown amount of time had passed in the area dominated by silence and stagnancy.

The change came suddenly.

A wild gust of wind raged through the plains.

"Sorry for making you wait, Mr Maha."

Everything happened almost simultaneously.

The wild gust of wind.

The cheerful voice of a man rang through the fields at the same time.

The man in the robe who was motionless the whole time then turned around.

"...... Igun-I."

"I am really sorry. I saw some evening primrose on my way here, which made me lose track of time."

Said the man respectfully, who was being addressed as "Igun-I".

A black coat adorned with golden buttons and coupled with a black pair of shoes, as well as a black fedora. His white pair of gloves was the only thing out of his black outfit that was retaining the sense of coordination amid the chaos.

"Oh yes, speaking about evening primrose."

Ha— a faint hint of smile appeared on the corners of Igun-I's lips. He pointed towards the back.

"I have found some wild strawberries over there. Their redness made them look really sweet. I am planning to pick some before I start my work. How about you?"

The beauty akin to that of a devil.

His pale golden hair was peeking out of the fedora that was hiding his eyes. His nose and mouth were beautifully shaped. And despite not being able to see his eyes, the overall contours of his face gave one the impression of an exceptionally handsome face.

Coupled with a resounding male treble voice as well as a slender and beautifully shaped body, there was more than just beauty exuded by that man - there was an indescribable devilish charm around him.

"............"

"Eh? Leave the strawberries for later, and start on our work first......? You're really impatient, Mr Maha."

Igun-I shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly.

"Guess we have no choice. Since the time has come, let us begin now."

*—don*

As he said that, a giant water tank suddenly appeared next to him.

The cylindrical water tank was big enough to accommodate multiple adults at once. When exactly did he have that prepared? And more importantly, how exactly did he transport it to the plains? The water tank materialized on the plains while Igun-I was speaking — that was the only way to describe what had happened.

"............"

However, the man named Maha did not flinch one bit when he saw the supernatural scene. All he did was lift his head to look into the 'insides' of the water tank.

There was blue liquid in there, as well as countless air bubbles created by the machines beneath the tank. And amid them, floated an 'object' that was shrouded in dark purple mist.

"This is a Yuugenshu. As you can see, it is currently forced into a slumber due to the barriers of shinryoku."

As he looked upwards at the dark purple beast, Igun-I continued speaking in that shifty voice of his,

"Speaking of which, the time of its capture is not too long ago, at the time when the Queen and her Priestesses' Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached and

Tenketsu Palace

was suffering a large-scaled assault by the Yuugenshu. It was indeed overly difficult to try to capture the commanding body, but we did manage to capture quite a few of the weaker ones."

"............"

"Eh? These weak individuals are a killjoy? Please do not make things difficult for me. I am the weakest when it comes to the barrier-types shinryoku spells. And moreover—"

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

"The weaker Yuugenshu are better suited for our current 'experiment'. Most of the strong Yuugenshu are not obedient. As experiment subjects, they get out of normality easily, so they are not suitable in experiments that demand accuracy...... And also, it will be a huge headache should they go out of control."

*Kon* Maha gave the glass of the water tank a knock.

"Well then, do you still remember the aim of our experiment? The reason you are sent here is so that no humans, beasts or natural disasters harm this water tank during the seventy-two hour experimental period. You are to eliminate anything that attempts to get close to it."

Igun-I then pressed his hand on his fedora.

Though it's uncertain if he was preventing his fedora from being blown away, or if he was just unwilling to show his face that was hidden beneath it.

"That's right, in other words— that body of yours is the strongest barrier. The barrier that is protecting this water tank. Regardless of how many people there are, none of them are allowed to bypass this golden barrier."

The words were said firmly.

It was more than just self-belief. Those words represented absolute certainty due to his unwavering trust.

"............"

Maha, who was looking at the water tank all these while, suddenly turned around. It seemed like he had something he wanted to say.

"Ahh, of course. You will be the only person in charge of this. I mean, I am just a small fry who has to be out there running about...... It's not like Mr Maha loves to move about, right?"

"............"

"Fufu, I'll be here to pick you up later— alright, there are people coming."

He directed his beautiful chin towards his right.

The black-suited Igun-I, as well as Maha in his golden robe. They could faintly see a five-man team dressed in white ceremonial clothing located quite a distance away from the hill which they were standing on.

While they needed to squint their eyes to be able to barely see the team clearly, the distance between them was gradually shrinking.

"They are

Tenketsu Palace

's...... ahh, those are the guards. They probably received a mission to patrol the nature sector. But what a shame though— seems like Sheltis isn't in that team. I will really love to stay if he is there."

"............?"

"Ah, sorry. I am just mumbling to myself."

He remained in his frivolous attitude and dismissed the curious Maha with a laugh.

"Alright, let us get back on topic. The clash is happening much earlier than anticipated, but Mr Maha's mission is incredibly straightforward: eliminate all that you encounter - no exceptions."

"I see. Then I shall begin."

As he looked at his partner who gave the short reply, Igun-I smiled lightly—

"Well then, 'Golden' Maha. We shall meet again in 72 hours."

That sentence rang throughout the plains.

And at that very moment, the black-suited man was already no where to be seen.

### 002. Chapter 1: 60 hours — Kagura —

Hyouketsu Kyoukai will be getting a manga. Too bad it is not done by Kasukabe Akira.

Anyway, here's the completed first chapter. I'll work on chapter two before hopping over to Sayonara Piano Sonata. Enjoy.

*******************

{1}

"Con~gra~tu~la~tiooooon on your discharge, Sheltis!"

Eleventh story of

Tenketsu Palace

, dormitory of the cadet guards.

The grand sounds of the trumpets as well as a round of applause were waiting for him when he opened the door.

"............"

He froze for a good while with one of his feet stepping into the room—

"Huh......?"

The young man in his black jacket crossed his arms and blinked in confusion.

He's in his teenage years with a slender face and limbs, as well as a stern expression with a hint of childishness in them. And then there's the head of tea-red colored hair that easily stands out.

"Ah— geez, what a poor reaction, Sheltis! On the rare occasion when there's actually someone who's celebrating with you, it won't do if you don't use your entire body to express your joy. For example, you should yell out 'Banzai!'."

Eyriey lifted both of her arms up happily while holding onto a toy trumpet.

Fluffy orange hair and oil-stained overalls. Despite being in the prime age of sixteen, this girl here hardly needs to doll herself up or put on any make-up.

"Banzai?"

"Hey— you've been living in the hospital for the past two weeks, right? It will be a huge waste if you don't celebrate it with a more jovial mood!"

With one of her hands placed on her waist, she swung the other hand with the trumpet together in the air.

While facing the girl, the young man, Sheltis, sighed as he continued to hug onto his luggage from his time in the hospital.

"No...... what I'm more curious of is how Eyriey is here when I locked my room?"

Everything began two weeks ago.

After receiving the secret order from the Queen, Sheltis headed off to the

Floating Archipelagos

to carry out his mission. Not only did they discover the secret facility that was hidden there, he also fought with a cultured Yuugenshu, which lead to him suffering from serious injuries on his head. One full month was required for a complete recovery from his injuries.

And so, Sheltis had been staying in the tower's hospital located on the twenty-second story for the past two weeks......

"...... Could it be that Ilis did something to allow you to get into my room?"

"You're right!"

Eyriey blew on the trumpet yet again.

"It was Ilis who got me here. She said, 'Sheltis is not around, and I am really lonely'."

The girl pointed towards the direction of the bed. The

machine crystal

, which looked like the crystallization of lapis lazuli, was flashing repeatedly in short intervals on the white bed.

"That's right, Eyriey. That's the way to do it. Put in a few more words for me!"

"...... So it is indeed Ilis."

"What do you mean by 'indeed'!? I was so bored, I have calculated pi all the way to its forty seven quadrillion, two hundred and nineteen trillion, eighty four billion, two hundred million, forty two thousand and twenty seventh decimal digit!"

I am really angry right now — the

machine crystal

was giving up a bright red brilliance, as though she was emphasizing that.

"That sounds very interesting."

"Not at all! Sheltis you big idiot! Even machines will die of boredom if there is no one by their side!"

"...... But you're the one who was chased out of the hospital because you were so noisy, no?"

Though she was initially staying in the hospital with Sheltis, she began to constantly complain about things like:

"Hey Sheltis, I am about to die from boredom!"

or

"Hey hey, come play with me—"

. After the protests from the doctor who could no longer put a blind eye to what she was doing, he had no choice but to leave her alone in his room.

"Putting that aside, what are your thoughts about the hospitalization?"

"Incredibly painful. I spent nearly everyday sleeping. Even the doctor was stunned and asked me, 'Just what exactly did you do to get an injury like this?'."

"Geez...... Fractures to your skull coupled with bruises all over your body? Your head was bleeding profusely, and the fractured skull would have pierced its way into your brain if you had moved about carelessly. Just what were you doing?" — that was what the female doctor who was in charge of him said.

Special equipment and machines were used to administer various treatment cycles to his head, in tandem with medication to increase his rate of healing and to keep the inflammation under control.

He had undergone two consecutive weeks of the above mentioned treatment by the doctor who was in charge of him. Despite recommendations from the doctor to stay in the hospital for a week longer, he was discharged today as he insisted on recuperating in his own home.

"The doctor said that it's just a superficial recovery for now, so I am strictly barred from training temporarily. The wounds may crack open if I do any overly-strenuous exercise."

"As a machine, I think human beings are really fragile when it comes to this. If it is a machine, all that it need is a replacement of its parts, and it will be good as new. Sheltis, why don't you try replacing your whole body with mechanical parts?"

"That sounds too scary. No thanks."

"Eh— It's not bad being a machine, you know?"

After rejecting the

machine crystal

's suggestion, Sheltis placed the luggage on his bed.

"Right. How're things going on your side?"

"Very enjoyable. I have heard plenty of things from Ilis for the past two to three days. Ah, though she's not here today, Yuto had always been together with us as well."

Eyriey hummed a tune as she poured some hot water from the teapot to a cup.

"Oh right, did you know this? Back when I was hacking into the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

, it was actually Ilis who helped me decode

Daibo Shinsuu

. At that time, I thought it was really strange that I had suddenly managed to decipher the encryption just like that."

"Is that so?"

That was the first time he heard about it. Then again, it is not like the

machine crystal

will tell him anything if he does not take the initiative to ask.

"Mhmm. After chatting with Eyriey, the world suddenly feels much smaller."

And with a relaxed tone, the

machine crystal

continued,

"Back then, I was purely interested in the technical abilities of the hacker. The person definitely must have possessed a certain level of relative knowledge as well as talent. He would be incredibly outstanding if he was in his thirties, and can be considered to be a genius in the floating continent if he was in his twenties. However, I never expected the hacker to be a girl as young as you."

"That's embarrassing. I was just fooling about."

"No, you are really outstanding. Sheltis should learn from her hardworking qualities as well— Mmm!"

The

machine crystal

finally toned down after being stuffed into Sheltis' bag.

"...... Geez. To think I finally managed to return after much difficulty."

"She must have been really lonely. Also, while I did manage to bring Yuto to

Tenketsu Palace

to play, Chef has been missing you as well. Though she could not make it down here due to work."

Eyriey said that as she brought the tea cup to her lips.

"Chef?"

For the two years following his exile from

Tenketsu Palace

, it was the young female shopkeeper of

The Two Swans

who took him in while he was at the living sector, and allowed him to live in and help out at the shop.

It has been a month since he returned to

Tenketsu Palace

, so it was about time for him to visit.

"Did Chef say anything?"

"Mmm. She said, 'Sheltis has been working in the shop for two years, and the shop feels a little empty without him around'."

"...... Is that so."

With one less male, the work load of

The Two Swans

would definitely increase. Back when he said that he would be going to

Tenketsu Palace

, she had sent him off with a smile that he never thought she would be that depressed about it now.

"She will occasionally lean her face against the table and mumble to herself while looking at the ceiling."

"You mean Chef?"

It was hard for him to imagine that the listless person was the incredibly cheerful and energetic Chef whom he knew.

"What did she talk about?"

"Things like 'What a problem I have here...... I really hope someone as strong as Sheltis will fall off from the sky, so that he can help me with the testing of poison' and etc."

"She's not depressed at all!"

"No no, she really was? And she also said, 'Ahh, I do really need a guy like Sheltis who can work for forty-eight hours straight without food or water. Where on earth do I find someone like that?'."

"...... Well, I am relieved to hear how well she's doing - help me tell her that. Also, no one will drop from the sky to the ground without rhyme or reason."

"Alright~ But you know, she does seem really lonely."

Maybe that was really the case.

Despite her relaxed voice, Eyriey's eyes were giving off a really serious look.

"Well I guess. I'll only need to rest at home for a week. After that, I'll take some time off to pay her a visit."

"Ah, you mean you can't move about yet? That's boring."

"I have a whole load of stuff that I need to settle."

He gave up his chair to Eyriey and sat on the edge of his bed. Sheltis heaved a sigh as he felt the repulsion from the springy properties of his bed.

"...... There's something that I need to think about."

"Hmm? Why are you suddenly being so serious?"

"That's right, that's not like Sheltis at all. Hurry up and get to the point—"

"It's regarding the Yuugenshu."

That sentence made Eyriey and the

machine crystal

fall silent at the same time.

"I've been thinking about it during my stay at the hospital. There's something that just doesn't feel quite right...... No, rather, I am gradually beginning to feel like something's amiss."

The group of Yuugenshu that breached Hyouketsu Kyoukai and infiltrated

Tenketsu Palace

, and how they were led by a commanding presence.

And then two weeks ago, the thing that they saw on the unnamed floating island — the Yuugenshu which was being cultivated in the water tank.

"Both Eyriey and Ilis should have seen the cultivated Yuugenshu, right? I will have to confirm what that thing actually is. Also, back during the large-scale assault, it was the first time we saw the existence of a commanding Yuugenshu. Don't you two feel like there has been a lot of strange things going on recently?"

"I can understand your feelings, but the existence of the Yuugenshu have remained a mystery for the past thousand years. Even if you wish to investigate it, you must at least have direction for you to work towards. Do you have something in mind?"

"Mmm— for example, how about re-investigating the places where the Yuugenshu appeared?"

The person who replied was actually Eyriey, who had been sitting on the chair and being silent until just now.

"I am just an ordinary person, so I'm not too sure about the things regarding the Yuugenshu. If you ask me, I will probably start by consolidating data. Since we are dealing with monsters which we're uncertain about even after one thousand years, I'm holding doubts about the legitimacy of the current compiled data."

"Same as what I am thinking. Therefore, I'm thinking of visiting the places where the Yuugenshu had appeared before. Well, one step at a time."

The Yuugenshu that came from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

ten thousand meters beneath the floating continent, and squeezed through Hyouketsu Kyoukai to get here. Where exactly did those mist monsters land, and how did they launch their attacks? He hoped he could comb through the whole floating continent and try to see it for himself.

"I agree with your intentions. Should we be able to predict the appearance of the Yuugenshu, we can reduce the damage inflicted by them. However, this is a colossal task. Do you want to seek assistance from Ymy, so that she can mobilize the whole

Tenketsu Palace

with her authority as a Priestess?"

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole. The name mentioned by the

machine crystal

is actually one of the Priestesses protecting the floating continent, as well as Sheltis' childhood friend.

...... I would love to do that, but—

"No. We'll have to keep it a secret from Ymy."

He stared at the brilliantly shining

machine crystal

, which possessed high levels of artificial intelligence as well as judgement, and shook his head.

"It's best if Ymy doesn't know about this. I don't wish to make her worry."

"Because of what Monica said on the

Floating Archipelagos

? The thing about how much pain the Priestesses go through to maintain the barrier?"

"Mmm. I was thinking about that during my stay at the hospital."

The only people who can maintain the shinryoku barrier that protects the floating continent are the Queen and her five Priestesses.

While they are always putting on a smile when facing the public, they have to undergo blood-curdling pain and intense disciplines when they are alone, so as to be able to maintain the barrier.

"I think...... it's best if I don't add on anymore burdens to the Queen or the Priestesses."

The reason for erecting Hyouketsu Kyoukai is because the biggest threat to mankind are the Yuugenshu and the

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

Looking at it from another point of view, once the mysteries to Yuugenshu and

Garden of Corrupted Song

are solved, the burdens on the Priestesses should decrease. If they can look up on the recent abnormalities to the Yuugenshu, they would definitely be able to find a breakthrough.

"Therefore...... I wish Ymy to focus her attention on Hyouketsu Kyoukai, and not be distracted by the matters of the Yuugenshu. It's more than enough for me to crack my head on that myself...... What are you two laughing about, Eyriey and Ilis?"

When he refocused his attention on the two, he was confused by their reactions.

"Eh— Because...... right?"

With her close to bursting out in laughter, Eyriey said to the

machine crystal

with a meaningful smile on her face.

"That's right, Eyriey. Fufufu. I see. Here I was wondering why Sheltis has such a clear goal all of the sudden. So it is all for Ymy's sake."

"Mhmm. How to put it? It's really touching."

"...... Hey you two. I'm being serious here."

"There you go again— Right, Sheltis, why don't I just help you create a love potion or something? Make Ymy drink it, and let her confess to you. Then you can just go along with the flow and—"

"I don't need that! Get away from me! Shoo!"

Eyriey's eyes were giving off a shine, as though she was expecting something. Upon facing her bottom-up gaze, Sheltis pushed her away hard.

"Urm— ahem. Enough with the jokes, let us get back on topic. You'll be restricted by your rank somehow or another should you continue to remain as a cadet guard. It is fine for you to want to investigate the Yuugenshu, but you will have to accept more missions that allow you to get promoted to the ranks of a regular guard."

"I will. I won't be able to participate in the conferences if I'm not a regular guard. Moreover, it will be a huge inconvenience in many other areas."

That includes the intelligence gathered about the Yuugenshu, the things happening in

Tenketsu Palace

as well as the weapons used by the guards. Since everything will be given priority to regular guards and the ranks above them, there will be times where they cannot cater to the demands of the cadet guards.

"Even if we set all those things aside for the moment, I still think Ymy will be very lonely if you continue to remain as a cadet guard."

"...... I'll do my best."

Just then.

Eyriey suddenly nudged him on the side.

"Hey hey, what about me?"

"You?"

"I mean— seeing how you are deliberately talking about all these things in my presence, you should have some request for me, right? Just like when you want me to hack into the

Tenketsu Palace 's

computers."

"Ah, so you noticed? Actually, I do have a favor to ask from you."

"Alright. Since I'm really bored, I guess it's not too bad to work on something?"

Eyriey puffed her chest with a gleeful expression on her face.

"I'm hoping you can help predict when the Yuugenshu will appear. Though we already have information of where the Yuugenshu will appear, we still do not know if there are any patterns to that."

That may seem easy enough, but it is actually an extremely difficult task. For the past few decades, the analysis team of

Tenketsu Palace

have been continuously attempting to tackle the problem, but up until now they still have not found any concrete answer.

"...... Predicting the appearance of the Yuugenshu? An old and yet innovative idea. There have been plenty who have tried to research that, but everyone gave up halfway into it — in other words, this is an area that has been abandoned since everyone is helpless about it."

The opinion of the

machine crystal

was pretty much spot on. A long time ago, there were ideas of attempting to predict the appearance of the Yuugenshu based on the statistics gathered from their data, and the researchers had arrived at one conclusion.

It is totally unpredictable.

They could not find any correlation from the past data of the Yuugenshu.

Then again, back when he asked Eyriey to hack into the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

. he had pretty much viewed it as nothing more than just an attempt at it. And perhaps like back then, she may be able to come up with something shocking.

"Hmm...... I don't know how I should say this."

Eyriey crossed her arms and pursed her lips into a straight line.

"All I can say is, if all you are asking from me is just the forecasts, then I can give you as many as you like, since I can just repeatedly analyze vast amounts of data gathered. However, if you want me to produce forecasts with good reproducibility and repeatability, then I can only know after I try. These sort of things require gut feeling and inspiration."

"But then, this may actually be really interesting."

Next to Eyriey who was crossing her arms, was the flashing

machine crystal

.

"Eyriey, after chatting with you for the past few days, I realized you are filled with a totally different and innovative imagination and creativity that

the researchers of

Tenketsu Palace

and I

lack. The ability to think and construct theories from an extremely unique view-point is something that the rest of us do not have, and it's a weapon that belongs only to you."

Should Eyriey be able to successfully establish a hypothesis that none of the researchers had ever thought of before, then perhaps they will be a step closer to understanding the secrets behind the Yuugenshu.

"Mmm, I'll give it a try. Oh right, is there a deadline? It would be better if I can come up with something by the time Sheltis' home recuperation comes to an end, right? Which means a week later?"

A week may be too much of a rush.

Since that means he is expecting her to complete something within just a few days, when it took the researchers years to do research on it.

"There's no deadline, but try to be as soon as possible. Okay?"

"Okay. However, I have already received another request before this, and it may take up quite some time. Well, the requester is over there."

She pointed towards the table.

Following the direction in which she was pointing at, all Sheltis could see was the

machine crystal

lying on the table.

"Isn't there only Ilis?"

"Yes, that is right! The requester is me, the extremely cute Ilis!"

"...... This is the first time I see a machine claiming itself as cute."

He took a look at the

machine crystal

while letting out a sigh. He already knew this clearly since way back, but the words and actions of this machine crystal are very humane.

"Well, to put it in the context of human beings, this request is like a health check. She will be conducting checks on my thoughts program, processing program and stored data to see if there is any virus that modifies my data. Generally speaking, I have always been conducting checks on my own, but there is the possibility that my diagnosis program is damaged. Therefore, it is important for me to get someone to conduct a check on me."

"That's right. Therefore, I'll be the one in charge of conducting the check. Ilis already told me the things to do, so what follows next is assembling the machines and writing out the program."

Eyriey raised her arm quickly.

"I have already booked

Tenketsu Palace

's presidential suite located at the forty-seventh story that is reserved for VIP use for a whole week. This is to reward Eyriey for your services, so please do a good job on my diagnosis."

"Ohho, you really booked that room? Well done, Ilis!"

Eyriey hugged the

machine crystal

at her chest and jumped up with a wide smile on her face.

"That's nothing. It is me who should be thanking you for agreeing to my unreasonable request— oh right. Sheltis, I originally planned to get someone to pass the message to you, but thankfully you got discharged early. Please take a look beneath your bed."

"Beneath my bed....... hmm?"

Deep in the darkness, are a pair of blades shimmering from the dim sources of light.

"Fixing a silver monad as the core, and encasing its surrounding with a layer of azure crystals of Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Its limit to destruction is set to be at sevenfold— you must be more familiar with it than anything else, since those are the twin swords specially constructed for anti-Yuugenshu use. Also, I constructed a black sheath made of chrome ceramic, and it is placed in the wardrobe. You'll be able to use them should there be any emergencies during the period when I'm not around."

The

machine crystal

shall temporarily remove herself from the role of assisting him.

As he is normally dependent on her in various different aspects, he could not help but feel a little uneasy. However, there was no helping it this time round.

"I guess that's all you can do. Eyriey, I'll leave Ilis in your hands."

"Alright. Then I shall make my move."

Eyriey tied the necklace with the

machine crystal

on her neck.

"—Ah, right. Due to this, regarding the research on the regularity of the appearance of Yuugenshu that we were talking about earlier......"

"Mmm, but you're going to perform the diagnosis on Ilis first, right?"

Just as he was done saying that, Eyriey showed a mischievous smile and crossed her arms to make a '×' shape.

"I was only half done with what I wanted to say. In regards to that request of yours, how about I introduce you to a friend of mine? She's a girl named Kagura. She has a slightly weird personality, but she is incredibly strong when it comes to analysis."

"Eyriey's friend?"

"Well— it's not like we are on really good terms with each other. We only got to know each other at the finals of the < > held by the Mechanical Bureau of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"What competition is that?"

"Participants are the calculator-fanatics from all over the floating continent. There's a total of one thousand and five hundred participants."

"No wait, that's quite a strange amount of people! To think that it's actually more than the number of guards in

Tenketsu Palace

!"

Then again, it was indeed very much like Eyriey's style of making new friends.

"Putting that aside, I initially didn't know that she was working in

Tenketsu Palace

. After that, I bumped into her not too long ago, and so I greeted her with 'Ah, long time no see' and such."

"Ahhh, I see. Which means that the girl works for the Mechanical Bureau?"

"No, I didn't ask her yet. It's not like I'm interested in which department she works in."

The girl shook her head very quickly.

"In any case, help me find her, Sheltis. I'll do a check on the electronic name list of

Tenketsu Palace

later. Well then, that's all!"

With the necklace of the

machine crystal

worn on her neck, Eyriey picked up a half-assembled machine with one of her arms and took off.

Sheltis looked at her tiny back as she left his room.

"...... Phew."

As he stood in the center of the silent room, Sheltis took a deep breath.

— I wonder how Ymy's doing.

As he thought about the face of the girl who is now taking on the role of a Priestess, Sheltis leaned his body against the chair.

The last time both of them met was two weeks ago, during the night when he was sent to the tower's hospital. Since he knew about the hectic workloads of a Priestess, he could not help but worry if Ymy was pushing her body too hard despite her fatigue.

"So it's also the job of a Sennenshi to worry about things like that huh......"

Not only do they have to protect the Priestesses, they have to care about the Priestesses' body and mind as well.

And that was something that he learned after visiting the

Floating Archipelagos

with the Sennenshi Leon and the ex-apprentice-Priestess Monica.

Leaning against the back of the chair, he looked up into the ceiling and bit his lower lips in bitterness.

"Forget about the Sennenshi...... the entry to become a regular guard is already so difficult."

To become a regular guard, one must form a team consisting of at least three cadet guards, and take up missions issued by

Tenketsu Palace

. However, he has not joined any team yet.

Even though he had already made a promise with her, he was being rejected by the promotion system of

Tenketsu Palace

.

— I can't make Ymy wait. I'll have to shake off my rank of a cadet guard as quickly as possible, so that she can be at ease.

Despite his desire to become a regular guard, there was nothing that he could focus his attention on. The only thing that had changed were his worries, which were gradually accumulating thicker and thicker, like snow.

"I know I can't act with undue haste, but time is still going by way too quickly."

The electronic calender on his desk was giving off a blue glow in the field where it was displaying the date.

— It's already time for that.

The handover ceremony for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

It has been exactly a month since he entered

Tenketsu Palace

, and it was getting closer and closer to the ceremony where the Queen hands over the barrier to the Priestesses.

{2}

The lights replicating the illumination of the sun were illuminating the corridor brightly.

The speakers installed in the ceiling were playing out the cries of the birds as well as the rustling of plants. The sounds were not artificially synthesized, but recorded straight from the nature sector on the floating continent.

The singing of the wild birds, the foams of the waterfall, the flowing water of the streams as well as the cries of the insects. All of them interwove together to form a majestic sound.

Two hundred and eighty seventh story of

Tenketsu Palace

— the floor which was designated to the fourth and fifth Priestess was filled with the refreshing sounds of nature.

"............ Mm~~mm...... What should I do......"

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole — a girl with golden hair, jade-colored eyes and a pure white vestment. Her looks leave a deep impression to anyone who sees her.

Her left hand was holding onto a small notebook, while her right was holding a pencil. On her adorable face was an expression deep in thought. Ymy was writing and erasing on the notebook repeatedly.

"..... Let's see...... 'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for gathering here despite your busy schedules'...... sounds a little too stiff. Then how about 'Everyone, thanks for gathering here today!'............ that is easy for me, but it sounds a little too casual............ Ah— geez! Someone please help me with this!"

Upon confirming that there was no one else in the corridor, she let out a cry.

"...... What a headache. It will be tomorrow soon."

The handover ceremony of Hyouketsu Kyoukai, an important monthly ceremony to the Priestesses, will be held tomorrow. The Priestesses will temporarily replace the Queen and shoulder the huge responsibility of maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

The person in charge of maintaining the barrier this time round is her senior, Priestess Meimel. Meimel is the second ranked Priestesses of the five, and is also the Priestess who is most well-versed in the arts of barrier-types shinryoku. Nothing will go wrong with the ceremony. Even if something happen, Ymy and Syun-rei will be around to assist immediately...... that's right, there was no need for her to worry.

— However, it was different for the residents in the living sector, as well as the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

.

A large-scale invasion of the Yuugenshu occurred a month ago. The Yuugenshu set their sights at the instant when the Queen was about to handover the barrier to the Priestesses, and used the opportunity to break through Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"That was our responsibility, so it is inevitable for the people to feel uneasy...... they are afraid that the barrier will be breached once more."

Of course, the Priestesses were not planning to repeat the same mistakes as well.

New rites had been added into the barrier spell, and the shinryoku waves of the barrier had been modified and strengthened as well. Even if the Yuugenshu were to try to break through the barrier yet again, it is highly unlikely that they will succeed with the same methods.

However, it is difficult for the residents of the living sector to understand such technical terms. They had to use some other methods to remove the uneasiness in the civilians.

"But still, to convey the message of 'please do not worry, everyone' via a speech...... that is just exaggerating."

She walked listlessly in the corridor.

She had no idea who was the person to suggest it, but it must surely be one of the directors of the tower. In order to stress the fact that the handover of Hyouketsu Kyoukai is successful, they had made a last-minute decision to have a Priestess announcing it to the public while doing so in front of everyone in

Tenketsu Palace

.

Since Meimel has to take part in the handover of the barrier, Ymy was the only one left to deliver the speech to the public. Also, it seemed like the upper brass were expecting a grand speech instead of something simple.

"..... My head hurts. I'm the weakest when it comes to this."

The speech will be held at the outdoor training grounds of

Tenketsu Palace

. Not only does she have to deliver the speech under the sight of over a thousand guards, it was said that the speech will be broadcast live to all the houses in the living sector through the official channels, so it's something incredibly important.

Her cheeks went red just from the thought.

She definitely will not be able to sleep tonight. Her nerves will keep her wide awake. Just as she was about to hug her head and let out a moan— Ymy suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Speaking of which.

...... I have to give a speech in front of the guards.

...... Meaning to say, that includes Sheltis as well? Will he be at the scene too?

Her childhood friend who was injured while fighting against the Yuugenshu at the

Floating Archipelagos

.

She was worried about his condition, but considering her stance as a Priestess, it will be very difficult for her to visit a mere cadet guard who was hospitalized. Two weeks had passed by unknowingly while she was trying to find an excuse and a chance to visit him.

"...... I really want to see him."

She wondered if he was resting properly and not pushing himself to train. Is he eating his meals punctually everyday? Is the recovery of his injuries going well? Once she started thinking about all these things, she could not stop. Her line of thought became chaotic, and there was a terrible sensation in her chest.

...... He has done so much for me, and had even injured himself as a result.

...... And yet I cannot even visit him regularly.

One of them is a Priestess who wields absolute authority in

Tenketsu Palace

, while the other is just a cadet guard, the lowest position available in the tower. That is the vast difference between their ranks.

It won't be easy for them to even speak to each other openly in public.

"Just as I thought...... I've really burdened him, right?"

Since we are childhood friends, I may not have noticed it - however, upon thinking about it a little deeper, I must have caused a huge burden on him for the past month.

The reason he wanted to be a Sennenshi is because he promised to protect me.

He returned to her after being exiled to the living sector. Since then, he had received missions as a cadet guard, and was injured during his fight with the Yuugenshu......

Should I really not do anything for Sheltis, who is being that selfless?

Should I really do nothing but to wait for him at the peak of the tower till his arrival?

...... I don't like this at all.

"———"

She pressed her hands lightly against her chest.

"Please, do not put yourself in danger ever again."

At the very least, I hope you understand that you do not have to push yourself so hard. I know better than anyone else about the amount of effort you've put in. Therefore, there is no need for you to be so impatient for my sake and get yourself into danger as a result.

I really wish I can tell him that.

"....... What is this feeling...... in me?"

Even though she was just being concerned about her childhood friend, as per usual.

However, she could not understand the feelings that were growing in her heart. It encompassed the feelings of happiness, unrest and uneasiness. How should she describe that feeling?

Just then—

A voice suddenly rang out, which caused her to break out of the dream-like state that she was in.

"There there— Syun-rei, you won't be able to run away. Don't be shy, there's no reason for you to be—"

At the other end of the corridor, came the slow voice of the senior Priestess.

"............ But should someone else see this......"

"Don't worry— this floor is for the Sennenshi and the Priestesses' exclusive use. The only other people who will come here are the clerks."

It seemed like the two Priestesses were talking about something.

One of the Priestesses has bright emerald-colored hair, a long and slender body, as well as an elegant air around her. The other was a Priestess wearing a red woven vestment with a tiny stature and a tender looks that were especially striking.

They were the second Priestess Meimel and the fourth Priestess Syun-rei respectively. At first glance, it seemed like Syun-rei was busy running away, while Meimel was chasing her from behind with a paper bag in her hands—

"Fufu, caught you— Why don't you just give up already, Syun-rei?"

"............ I-I do not want to wear these clothes."

"I don't think so— I think you will definitely look good in them."

While grabbing onto both of Syun-rei's arms tightly, Meimel took out the clothing from the bag.

It was a pale red one-piece dress, which looked to be rather chic. It was made out of lace that is slightly translucent and thin. From the intricate sewing, one can easily know that it is made from the hands of an incredibly skilled seamstress.

"............ It is transparent."

"This style is the latest rage in town— the clothes that you typically wear are kimono. Once in a while, you should try your hands on how girls your age dress up in the living sector."

"........... My shoulders will be seen."

Syun-rei stared hard at the one-piece dress which exposes the wearer's shoulders and refused to give in. To her, compared to the vestments that she usually wears, that dress might just be as revealing as underwear.

"Look, Syun-rei. Leon may actually like this, you know?"

"............ Leon?"

Syun-rei was trying to break free, but she froze all of the sudden.

That person is her exclusive guardian and also a great sword user. As someone who is anthropophobic and afraid to walk out of

Tenketsu Palace

alone, Leon is the only male whom Syun-rei gives her absolute trust.

"That's right— why don't you wear this dress and welcome him when he returns from his trip? His heart will definitely skip a beat if he sees you in a different style of clothes from usual."

"............ B-But............?"

"I know, you must be shy to be the only one wearing it, right? But don't you worry. That's because—"

Syun-rei's rationality was left hanging on a thread.

And as such, Meimel showed her brightest smile yet.

"I've prepared an even better dress for Ymy."

"............ Ymy too?"

"Mhmm. I know you'll be very embarrassed by yourself. Here, take a look."

Meimel then took out another one-piece dress.

It was totally different from Syun-rei's dress. At first look, it may not seem to be revealing. However, the slit by the side was opened all the way up to the thighs. It was also designed to be body-hugging, meaning that the curves will be exposed for all to see.

"............ T-This is?"

"I secretly ordered it to be custom made for Ymy. You see, the slit opens all the way up to the thighs here."

Syun-rei gulped. Meimel began to explain happily,

"And also, should you tighten this thing here, her beautiful curves will be made even more obvious. What do you think about her wearing this?"

"............ She is really daring."

"Right? Look at her bust and waist that doesn't match her age at all. Not only that, but according to the records of her measurements which I sneaked a peek at, it is shocking to know that she is actually still developing! Should she wear this, a whole bunch of guys will definitely be smitten by her charms. The strongest Priestess is about to be born."

"............ Mmm."

"Seems like you finally understand. If so, then Syun-rei should be willing to change into this dress, right? There is no need to worry, since Ymy's dress is much more—"

And before Meimel could finish her sentence.

"W-Who will want to wear that sort of thing———!"

"— embarrassing than yours— Gyu!"

The notebook thrown by Ymy had landed accurately on the the temples of the senior Priestess.

"Y-Ymy...... you've indeed grown. That is a surprise attack that came out of the blue."

"Meimel! Will you stop teaching Syun-rei these strange things!?"

Ymy ran between the two of them and shielded Syun-rei from Meimel, who was putting on a strange smile.

"...... Geez. I was thinking what important things the two of you might be talking about, and I was listening to it so attentively."

Behind them was Ymy's room. Meaning to say, the two girls were putting on a farce right in front of her room.

"And Meimel! Tomorrow is the day where her Highness hands over the barrier to you, so how can you be so relaxed? D-Do you know that I haven't been sleeping well since yesterday, and was wrecking my brain the whole day to try to come up with a speech for tomorrow!?"

"...... Boohoo, I'm being lectured by Ymy."

The senior Priestess pretended to cry.

"Mei— mel—? Can you please be more serious—"

"You're right— well then, let's talk about something serious."

"...... Eh?"

Meimel was originally feigning tears, but her expression changed immediately into that of a sneaky smile.

"I have something to say to you and Syun-rei — I found Syun-rei really quickly, but since you weren't in your room, I have no choice but to attract your attention by using this method. And since Ymy insists on talking about serious things, I guess we have no choice but to do so—"

This is way too suspicious.

I can feel my sweat sliding past my cheeks. To think that the series of mischief pulled off by Meimel was all just a trap to lure me here.

"U-Urm...... I suddenly remember that I have some urgent matters to attend to."

"Ara, don't even think of running away—?"

"T-That's just too sly! So that was all just a trap to lure me!"

"There there, calm down. This is something that has to do with the Government Sector— and it concerns Sheltis as well."

— It concerns Sheltis as well as the Government Sector?

With that said, she could not help but recall the incident that happened two weeks ago.

"Is it about the incident earlier? Regarding the

Floating Archipelagos

."

"That's right. It's about the three man team with both Leon and Sheltis in it. The investigation team that was sent to the

Floating Archipelagos

in the airspace of the Government Sector under the orders of Queen Salah."

"...... I'll stick around."

She nodded hesitantly.

The Government Sector — in this world, it is a huge organization in charge of handling the politics.

For

Tenketsu Palace

, the Queen and the Priestesses hold the highest rank, and are responsible for the rituals and protection of the floating continent.

Tenketsu Palace

symbolizes mysteriousness, while the Government Sector symbolizes order.

Both parties have the same task of maintaining a reign over the floating continent...... Though in actual fact, it is the Queen and the Priestesses who are well adored by the citizens, and the Government Sector is quite unhappy about that.

The clash between the two sides intensified over time.

In fact, the Government Sector used to be stationed on the floating continent, but they moved their headquarters to the

Floating Archipelagos

instead, and declared it as their territory. According to rumors, they have been conducting research and development in their territory as well......

"You should have read Leon's report, right?"

There was no room for question or objection.

That was how authoritative Meimel's voice was despite her calm tone.

"...... Yes."

The things Leon and Sheltis witnessed on the

Floating Archipelagos

.

The floating island was uncharted on the maps, and on it was a hidden research facility. There was a secret passage in the facility which leads to the basement. Located deep within the grounds, was a giant water tank that was incubating a Yuugenshu.

"If I remember right,

Tenketsu Palace

has issued an official inquiry via the directors to the Government Sector last week. In the official inquiry, we asked only about the existence of the research facility, but we did not mention anything about the 'water tank'."

"That's right— We've received their reply this morning, but there exists a small problem. Firstly, they did not answer any of the queries that we had raised. Secondly, they are demanding an explanation and apology for Leon's team's aircraft infringing the Government Sector's airspace."

"...... That is quite brazen of them."

Not only were they ignoring all the questions about the facilities, they were actually demanding an apology from

Tenketsu Palace

. A response as one-sided as that is not something that one will expect from an official reply.

"

Tenketsu Palace

had responded calmly to that. However, here lies the crux of the issue — they are claiming this: 'Taking into consideration the incidents that happened earlier, we are unable to tolerate the infringement of our airspace that has occurred over the past few years'."

Infringement of the airspace over the past few years?

Upon realizing Meimel's doubt, Ymy and Syun-rei looked at each other.

"That's strange. The only records of us trespassing the airspace of the Government Sector was just that sole incident. Of course, there were cases where the aircraft were forced to land there due to accidents, but such things typically do not happen more than once a year."

"I find this weird as well— there is an obvious discrepancy between the information of

Tenketsu Palace

and the Government Sector's, and out of which one of the sides must be wrong. However, both sides had issued official statements about this, and both are very confident about it. Just what is happening here?"

"Well......"

Since Ymy knew very well what was happening around

Tenketsu Palace

, she had no doubts on official statement issued by

Tenketsu Palace

. If that was the case, was it the Government Sector who had got it all wrong?

"What is your opinion on this, Meimel?"

"Me? Well......"

She closed her mouth and placed her finger on her luscious lips. Ymy and Syun-rei held their breaths as they waited for her to speak—

"I guess I won't say it just yet. Now is not the time for me to reveal this."

However, Meimel put on a smile and turned her body around.

"Eh? H-How can you do that? That is just too sly of you to leave us hanging at a time like this!"

"Nope— this is a secret. There is still something I have yet to confirm with Queen Salah...... Speaking of which, there is something that I will like to ask you instead, Ymy."

In contrast with the gentle smile she had on earlier, the senior Priestess' smile had changed into a mischievous one.

"Ymy, you are to give a speech to everyone in

Tenketsu Palace

tomorrow, right? In front of more than a thousand people."

"....... That is the arrangement."

"Mmm— since this is such an important task that has no room for failure, it is best that you practice it, right? As a senior Priestess, it is my duty to guide my juniors so that they will not embarrass themselves."

"...... H-How should we go about doing that?"

"To have a relaxing and delightful rehearsal, of course. Syun-rei and I shall be the audience, so just treat it as though you are giving a real speech, okay? Ah, don't forget to smile."

Meimel leaned over while trying her hardest to hold back her laughter.

Under her nervousness and shyness, the junior Priestess who was trying her hardest to say the scripted speech is definitely someone worth teasing — it was as though Meimel's sparkling eyes were telling Ymy that.

That's bad.

"I-I'm still coming up with the script."

"It's fine, it's fine. Just say what comes to your mind. Ah, right, I have a great idea here. Since we just so happen to have this thing here, why don't you change into this dress while you are doing your speech? I think all the males in

Tenketsu Palace

will definitely have their gaze fixed on your body!"

Meimel once again took out the custom-made one-piece dress.

"Uh...... Uhhhhh!?"

....... How can that be possible?

She's asking me...... to wear that shameful dress while I give that embarrassing speech...... There is no way I can do that. And should Sheltis ever see me in this, I will not be able to face him for the rest of my life.

— It is best that I run away from this.

Right after Ymy made up her mind, she shook off Meimel's hands and ran away.

"I-I suddenly remember that I have something urgent to attend to!"

"Ah, Ymy, wait! Syun-rei, let's give chase!"

"............ Those two are really energetic."

Syun-rei sighed as she looked at the two Priestesses engaged in an intense game of cat and mouse...... there was nothing she could do about them. Since Leon was not around, she decided to return to her room to rest.

— Eh?

Just then, she noticed that the electrical lights on the wall were flickering continuously. Whenever the conference room is flashing, it means that the meeting is not the typical ones. That should be the signal that is calling for an emergency meeting.

"............ The two hundred and sixtieth story?"

It is the conference floor that is under the jurisdiction of the Law Enforcement Bureau. Meaning, they were holding an emergency meeting for the squad captains as well as the cadres guards.

— What is happening around here?

Since Leon was not by her side, Syun-rei could not understand the implications behind the flashing on the white wall.

### 003. Chapter 2: 37 hours — Monica —

1/3 of the volume done. I'll have a change of pace and do SPS next.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

"It's only the morning training, and yet you guys are all worn out already? Don't give me that, you brats!"

The furious roar from the instructor rang through the outdoor training grounds.

There are close to a thousand cadet guards, and ten instructors who are in charge of training everyone. While about half the cadet guards have already rose to the second rank and are already carrying out missions, the training grounds were still filled with people everywhere.

"Kagura, Kagurakagura......"

Sheltis was sitting leisurely on the bench at a corner of the training grounds.

He was murmuring the name of Eyriey's friend while staring at the training.

"Ah— can't do it. There is no way I can recognize her. If only they have her picture on the electronic name list."

Everything started from an hour ago.

"There are two people who fulfills the criteria."

After searching for 'Kagura' in

Tenketsu Palace <Sophia

>'s electronic name list, he had obtained two results. However, there lies the problem.

— There are actually two person named 'Kagura'.

And Sheltis had no way of differentiating which Kagura was the one whom he was searching for.

One of them is from the computer development division of Towers Control, and is in charge of controls management.

The other seemed to be the same as Sheltis - a cadet guard.

"...... So who is the Kagura whom Eyriey was talking about?"

He scanned through the vast training grounds.

Out of the two Kaguras, he had decided to focus his attention on the cadet guard. After coming to the training ground with that intention in mind, he then realized that it was not easy to find a specific person within such a huge area.

The root of that problem lies in the fact that he had no idea how Kagura looks like, and he did not know any of her unique traits either.

"Since it's not easy to find her here, should I try looking at the Towers Control instead...... But I have never went to that floor before."

The other Kagura who is in the computer development division.

The computer development division maintains and manages the mainframe of the whole tower. That division has no direct link with Sheltis, who is a guard. Simply put, that floor is not a place where he could get close to easily.

"...... As with the way things are now, it's not about whether I like it or not. I'll just give them a visit."

He was about to stand up from the bench.

Just then—

A female cadet guard walked past him.

A girl holding onto a pair of

crossed rods

, with her long sakura-colored hair tied behind her back.

On her beautiful face was a pair of grey eyes that were sharp and serene. Her slender figure could be seen clearly despite the pure white ceremonial clothing that she was wearing. Each of her hand was holding onto a

crossed rod

crafted out of black gold.

...... Monica?

Just as he was thinking of her name, the other girl turned her head around at the same time as if their thoughts were connected. Her eyes widened.

"Sheltis?"

"Ah, long time no—"

"You idiot!"

He did not have the chance to finish his greeting. Everything happened in an instant.

"Why didn't you tell me you have been discharged?"

"Eh? No, I am discharged, but I am still recuperating, so it's nothing huge."

"— Idiot."

The second 'idiot' from her.

However, that line was filled with gentleness that was missing from the first.

"Even so, you are to report that to me as well. Because I...... well..... I am very worried, you know?"

Monica turned her face to the side, perhaps so that she could use her sakura-colored hair to hide her blushing face.

"...... You're right. Sorry, I didn't think of that."

Thinking back, that was indeed the case. Monica had visited his ward countless times for the past two weeks. She must have been really worried about him.

"I am not demanding an apology from you. Then again, it's great that you are fine now."

Monica took a glance at the empty seat on the bench. Go ahead — after giving her a nod of approval, Monica sat herself on the other empty seat.

"............"

Sheltis sneaked a peek at her side profile.

Monica Esperanto.

She should be a year older than him - a cadet guard who is eighteen years old. She used be an apprentice-Priestess, but she changed class to be a cadet guard.

"Since you are not participating in the training today, that means that you have not recovered fully yet?"

"The doctor's instruction is that I am banned from training for a week. Only after that does she finally agree to me recuperating at my home."

"What. That's not long, but not short either."

Monica seemed to find that pretty interesting, and let out a light laugh.

"It will not be easy for you when you return back to the squad after your recuperation period is over. The term 'just recovered' does not exist in the dictionary of the instructor."

"...... Spare me from that."

Monica's ceremonial clothing was slightly dirty and her face was glistering from her sweat. She had probably just gone through the hellish training of Instructor Yumelda.

"Speaking of which."

Monica sorted her feelings a little after ending that topic on a happy note.

"It's obvious you'll be continuing with the training, but will you be accepting the missions under the rewards system as well?"

"After my body recovers, since I'll not be able to take part in the test that is required to get myself promoted as a regular guard if I do not take up missions to earn myself the reward points. I'll have to work hard on that."

After a moment of silence.

"Have you decided on which team to join?"

"How can that be? Monica, you should know very well about how I am being ostracized by the rest of the cadet guards. I'll probably be rejected even if I want to."

"...... I see."

Disappointment and relief. The two conflicting feelings were sandwiched in Monica's words.

And next.

"Well—"

"Actually—"

At the exact same moment.

The both of them spoke and looked at each other.

"D-Did you want to say something?"

"You too, Monica."

Monica's face went red from embarrassment as Sheltis pointed that out.

"I-I am fine with saying it after you, so you go first— Hey, why are you laughing...... I am being serious here!"

"Ahaha. Sorry, it just feels really funny."

She has always given him the impression as someone who is always calm and collected, so her flustered expression was something rare, and she looked really cute. However, he would probably receive a harsh scolding from her should he say that to her.

"You can go first."

"...... Okay. I'll go straight to the point then."

She coughed lightly once, and then—

"I hope you can join the team that I have created."

— He had never heard her talking about it while he was hospitalized.

She must have really wanted to tell him about it, but she dare not do so.

"I have been thinking about it for a long time......"

The girl's hands that were on her thighs were trembling, as though she was releasing the emotional feelings inside her.

"Before I met you, I have always been a failure. I am very clear about the fact that no team will want me...... but deep down, I was still holding on to that glimmer of hope...... I naively believed that one day, there will be a team that will welcome me in....... But that won't do. I will never change if I continue to wait passively."

She bit her lips and looked into the sky.

"So this time, I want to invite you into the team that I have created myself. My abilities are not as impressive as yours, and I have no experience as a team leader. But at the very least...... there is something that I can do."

"I will become a team captain who trust my team members more than any other captains of the other teams."

It was as though she was telling him her dreams.

Her grey eyes which originally gave people the impression of calmness were suddenly giving off a shine - they were lit with a passion that was never seen from her before.

"And so, I hope you can join my team."

"I......"

"I can wait if you need time to consider. You can just reject me if you are unwilling to do so."

"No, that's not what I meant!"

Sheltis raised his hands and waved them around when he saw Monica looking at him with an uneasy expression in her eyes.

"It's not that I am unwilling...... I was just surprised. I thought that the previous mission was the last time I will team up together with Monica."

"Why?"

"....... I thought that the other teams would have approached Monica already."

Just as he had discussed with Ilis back then, Monica's capabilities are definitely not poor.

After the fight against the Yuugenshu at the

Floating Archipelagos

, she might have regained her confidence. During the two weeks when he was in the hospital, there was a possibility of her joining a team which she liked. Either that, or she might have already gathered some teammates to set up a new team.

"D-Didn't I say it just now!? I...... you know...... I wish form a team with you."

Monica blushed as she explained with an almost inaudible voice.

She was waiting for him. And despite the fact that she could start her recruitment first, she deliberately waited for him, and had thus delayed the formation of the team.

"We were together during the team battles as well, so...... it feels like there's an affinity between us."

"............"

— That's right. And that's the reason why Sheltis was surprised.

He had never dreamed that someone would invite him into a team.

He is the only cadet guard to wear black among all the others who wear white, and he did not reveal everything about himself. Not only do the people around him look at him with strange glances, most of the teams were filled as well, so there were no place for him to join in.

Under those circumstances, should he want to earn the reward points, he could only hope for teams that are recruiting temporary members, or to perhaps sneak into the existing teams whenever a mission pops up. He had already prepared himself to do all that.

"...... I'll confirm with you once more. You sure you are fine with me?"

"Is there anything that is holding you back?"

That concise question stabbed deep into his heart like a sharp blade.

"Well...... I am personally very concerned about it."

— There is no way I can reveal my past.

That I am someone who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

three years ago, and is officially proclaimed by the authorities as dead.

The twin sword wielder who has returned from the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. He had lost his shinryoku that should exist in all human beings, and instead he brought along with him mateki, which is the same as those in Yuugenshu.

"I am feeling very uneasy about myself."

"Why?"

"...... Perhaps because of how mysterious I am compared to all the other cadet guards."

Sheltis bit on his lips and looked upwards into the eyes of Monica.

The twin swords wielder with a mysterious past — there is the possibility of him bringing mistrust to the whole team due to his existence. It is a team that Monica created after much difficulty, but the problem of mistrust may arise because of one heresy cadet guard.

"I...... can't quite talk about myself. Even if Monica is willing to believe in me, the other teammates will still treat me with mistrust. That will obviously lead to the breakdown of the camaraderie of team, which will in turn be a problem for you. Therefore—"

"So that's what you are worrying about."

"...... Eh?"

Oh you — she heaved a sigh while smiling wryly.

With her arms crossed in front of her chest and her eyes narrowed, she looked just like a mother who was about to enlighten her naive child.

"Isn't that something very normal? Everyone will have one or two secrets that they cannot reveal to anyone. It's the same for me, and the same for you as well. If there are secrets that cannot be revealed, then there are secrets that can be shared with everyone as well. It all depends on you."

"But."

"No buts. Think about my words carefully. Is there anything wrong with what I had said?"

He thought about it repeatedly...... and finally, Sheltis nodded his head hesitantly.

"...... There's nothing wrong at all."

"Then there's no problems here. I want the relationship between the teammates to be built on trust, and not prying deep into one another's heart. Should there be anyone who meddles with the privacy of others, I'll definitely reject him."

"............"

"I am not sure about the secrets that you are holding, but I am not planning to ask, nor will I allow the teammates to do so. Should there be that sort of person...... Hmm? What's wrong? Why are you being so silent all of the sudden—"

"............ Ahaha, ahahahahahaha, ahaha!"

Unable to contain his laughter any longer, Sheltis laughed so hard his body had curled up into the 'ㄑ' character.

"Hey, I am being really serious—"

"Ah, ahaha...... S-Sorry, I have no idea why I am laughing as well....... It's probably because I am feeling really happy right now."

He gently brushed away the tears at the corner of his eyes.

He never thought there would be someone who is so passionate about getting him into her team.

Despite being exiled once by

Tenketsu Palace

,

and also the fact that he is carrying the curse of mateki in his body, there is actually someone who wants him. Upon realizing that fact, his body relaxed immediately, and what followed next was the urge to laugh out loudly.

"Geez. Is the condition of your head injuries actually worsening?"

Monica stared at him with a dumbfounded expression and gave a sigh.

"Maybe. Mmm, thanks to you, I feel much better now all of the sudden."

...... If the person is Monica.

Despite the mateki in him, he wants to repay her trust. That was his heartfelt feelings.

"Well then. I'll be in your care from now on, Monica."

"Y-Yeah. It is me, the newbie, who needs your assistance."

She was a little shy and a little embarrassed at the same time.

Monica replied in stutters without knowing what sort of expression she should be putting on.

"I am really sorry though. You have finally got the team running, and yet I am still recuperating from my injuries."

"One week passes by really quickly. Moreover, there's a bunch of procedures that I will have to take care of first. For instance, I'll have to register the new team at the Law Enforcement Bureau, apply for the communication frequencies for our team, and so on. But most importantly, we have to get one more team member."

The subjugation of the harmful beasts, protecting the VIPs as well as investigating the

Floating Archipelagos

.

All missions issued by

Tenketsu Palace

, including those from the Law Enforcement Bureau, generally require the teams to have at least three people - which means himself, Monica and one other person. Though they can get a temporary member for the missions if it is something really urgent, for the sake of the stability of the team, it is still better for them to get a fixed teammate.

"I have no idea who to get. What about you, Monica?"

"I have someone in mind. I'll say this first though - that someone is a little strange. That person has no desire of being promoted to a regular guard despite being in the lowest rank of the cadet guards. Why don't I introduce you to that person right now?"

With that, Monica began to move. From the direction in which she was heading to, it seemed like she was not walking towards the training grounds. Instead, she was heading to the main path which will lead them to

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Urm, what's the reason for that person not wanting to promote to a regular guard?"

"In the words of that girl, it's 'because it is a part-time job'. She only trains for about ten days a month, and the rest of the days are spent on her main job, which is research. She is in the computer development division of Towers Control, which is the division in charge of controls management."

"So she's a girl...... and from Towers Control?"

Sounds like he had heard it from somewhere.

Computer development division of Towers Control — he was very clear about that. Back when he was searching for Kagura who was recommended to him by Eyriey via the electronic name list, there are two people who fits the criteria. One of them is a cadet guard, while the other belongs to the division which Monica was talking about.

Meaning, they are both the same person?

"Did that person participate in some sort of calculator contest held by the Mechanical Bureau before?"

"You know Kagura?"

Monica turned her head around swiftly in surprise.

"Whoa! So it is really her. Well...... I do know her, but I have never seen her before."

"I am sorry, but I have no idea what's the relationship between you two."

"...... Seems like I'll have to explain everything from the beginning."

Sheltis shrugged and flashed a wry smile while looking at Monica, who was all confused.

***

"Investigate on the patterns to Yuugenshu's appearance? So that's the reason Eyriey introduced Kagura to you?"

Monica was crossing her arms while walking on the floors of

Tenketsu Palace

.

"Mmm. So what is she like?"

"From what I know about her? She's a petite girl in terms of looks. Not good at sports, and her age is probably somewhere around sixteen. She is not used to looking into the eyes of the person whom she is talking to, so she is always looking at the computer screens instead. She has a strange personality, but possesses exceptional talent when it comes to numbers and machines."

"...... Sounds like someone who is hard to get along with. I wonder if she will be willing to accept my request."

"It will depends on how you go about doing it."

After turning past the corner with quick steps, Monica continued,

"Her interests is to gather data. Once she gets interested in someone, she will take the initiative and approach them regardless of whether they are the clerical staff or her fellow squad mates. For example, she'll go, 'You are Monica Esperanto, right? I am very interested in you, so please answer my questions'. So long as you answer her questions, she'll help you in exchange for that."

"...... Seems like she is someone who is really difficult to handle."

You will get used to it — Monica smiled wryly as they continued to chat while walking.

"That was how I got to know her. Kagura asked me several questions for quite a few times, probably because she found my history to be really interesting. That was how we got close to each other."

Monica is someone who converted her class from an apprentice-Priestess to a cadet guard. There should be lots of people who will be interested in her should they get to know of her past, and not just Kagura alone.

"So you answered her truthfully?"

"That's right. She is strange, but she speaks in a very serious manner. I am very satisfied about the results, since we managed to become friends."

"Thank you, Monica. You are always honest and thorough in your answers towards my questions."

"From my judgement, you are a person whom I can trust. Please look for me should you face any troubles, okay? I will do my best to assist you."

"That's pretty touching. But she is becoming more and more unfathomable as you speak."

Considering her personality, he could imagine Monica being especially patient towards Kagura's questions.

But it sounds a little too exaggerating for Kagura to declare Monica as 'a person whom I can trust'. And judging from her next line, 'Please look for me should you face any troubles, okay' - isn't her change in attitude a little too quick?

"It's because she is a human subspecies. Do you know about the Nell?"

"The 'People of Nell' who lives in the Northern clusters of the

Floating Archipelagos

?"

On the

Floating Archipelagos

away from the floating continent, lives many human subspecies, and they formed their own cultures over time. One of the groups are the 'People of Nell', and some of them are actually serving in

Tenketsu Palace

as well.

"I remember them being a race that is incredibly strong in mathematics, right? For example, they are knowledgeable in the complex movements of the heavenly bodies, or they can formulate equations from the laws of nature and integrate them into their calendar."

"Seems like it. And Kagura appears to be one of the most capable of her race...... and there's something important to take note: she has inherited one of their other unique traits as well."

Monica gave a small shrug as she continued walking. Sheltis nodded his head in agreement as he looked on from her side.

"The people of Nell are incredibly mistrusting."

The people of Neil are born with incredible mathematical talents. At the same time, they are very mistrusting towards others. They will never open themselves to people whom they are seeing for the very first time, and adopt a cold attitude when doing so. On the other hand, they will become incredibly sincere and warm towards those who deserves their trust.

Monica is deemed by Kagura as 'someone trustworthy'.

"So in another words, I will have to first answer her questions or help her out to gain a certain amount of trust from her before I can get Kagura's assistance?"

"Yes. In any case, let's pay her a visit. I'll try asking her."

The first story of

Tenketsu Palace

. Monica quickly walked past the main foyer that was filled with visitors and the waiting crowd. She was not heading towards the middle area where the central elevators are located, but a small high-speed elevator located somewhere on the first floor. That elevator is used specially for getting to high places that are at two hundred stories and above.

"The computer development division of Towers Control is located on the two hundred and nineteenth story."

Monica said that as she stared at the scenery on the other side of the reinforced glass.

As the elevator began to move, the scenery outside turned into a blur.

*—ding*

The sound of a bell rang, and the elevator stopped.

"Speaking of which, I rarely come to the Towers Control. How about you, Monica?"

"It's the same for me, so I can only bring you to Kagura's research laboratory...... Don't get yourself separated from me, as it is difficult to search for people in here."

"Ah, w-wait! You're walking too fast, Monica!"

He increased his speed to catch up to Monica, who was already ahead of him.

...... If only Ilis is around. He would not get lost.

He never thought he would come to miss the benefits brought to him by the

machine crystal

- who has the interiors of the towers well within her grasp - that quickly.

After making a few more turns as well as passing by countless clerical staffs—

"Here we are."

Monica suddenly stopped in her tracks.

What appeared before him was a silvery-grey mechanical door. As the doors of the rooms at either sides were painted in warm colors, the grey door gives one the impression that it will lead the user into another dimension.

"This is......"

"A mechanical door made by Kagura herself. According to her, it is equipped with a surveillance camera, fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, vein mapping and so on. Basically, she has installed all the possible safety features that came to her mind."

He had no idea if that was due to the mistrusting nature of the people of Nell, or was it purely for protecting the secrets in the lab. In any case, one could clearly see the some of the personalities of Kagura from the door alone.

"Kagura. It's me."

Monica stretched out her hand to touch a blue sphere on the door. The sphere was flashing at high speed, as though it was checking something.

The sound of a *beep* came a few seconds later, and the door opened slowly towards both sides.

It was a dark room.

Shelts took a step into the room, and realized there was barely any lighting inside. The only illumination in the room was the faint glows coming from the three huge giant screens that were encased onto the wall.

And at the center of the room, was its owner staring at the middle screen.

"It's been a while, Monica. And also, it's the first time I am meeting you, Sheltis Magna Yehle."

The girl turned her chair around to face them.

"You know me?"

"Collecting data is an interest of mine. I dare say that I possess a greater volume of data as compared to

Tenketsu Palace

's data vault. And they are much more accurate too."

Kagura told him in all seriousness.

Actually, they could not see her true expressions at all. She was wearing a mechanical helmet with a visor, and the only way to guess her expressions was via the movements of her mouth.

"Monica, are you here to discuss about the formation of the team which you had talked about earlier?"

"Actually, there is another thing as well. I hope you can investigate something for me."

"If the subject is something that interests me."

"It's about the Yuugenshu."

Kagura's lips tightened into a straight line when she heard that.

"...... Carry on."

"

Tenketsu Palace

are in possession of data on where the Yuugenshu will appear on the floating continent. From these data, we will like to know if there is any patterns to the appearance of the Yuugenshu. It's not about the probability of their appearances, but rather, we wish to get hold of how their movements."

"This is quite a difficult request, and the difficulty lies in the point that even if we can filter out the data, we have no way of proving if the results are accurate or not. As such, this idea is pretty much still in its infancy."

"We can take care of that. Should you be able to filter it out successfully, we are willing to investigate the different areas of the floating continent based on the pattern that is discovered."

"...... I see."

Kagura became silent.

After a while, she raised up her head as she thought of something.

"Monica, this idea is extreme and very flexible at the same time, so it should not be from you — is it your idea, Sheltis?"

He could clearly feel the gaze of Kagura through her visor.

Her gaze was not locked on Monica, but onto himself.

"So?"

"....... Mmm."

He could only nod his head in admission, as there was no way he could hid it from her any longer.

"Monica should have told you about me being one of the people of Nell. We are a race that are timid and shy. I am not an easygoing person, so I will not usually agree to help someone whom I am meeting for the very first time...... However, I have been interested about you since a while back, just like how I used to be interested in Monica. Therefore—"

"You have a condition, right?"

Sheltis replied before her.

— Monica was right.

Prior to gaining her trust, he would have to accept her conditions before he could raise his own requests.

"Yes. Please answer this question of mine. You will pass if you can answer it, and I will respond to your request sincerely."

"Just a question?"

"Yes. I have no other conditions."

...... Was it because of Monica that she was being easy on him?

He should be easy to answer her right on the spot if it was just one question. Just as he relaxed his body—

"Where and what are you doing three years and two years ago?"

............ Eh?

He could feel a sudden chill down his spine. A chill which he had never experienced before, and one that surpassed any fear.

Three years ago was the time when he had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

And two years ago was when he was exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

.

"............ What do you...... mean by that?"

"Just like what I had said. Please tell me the incidents that has left the deepest impression in you three years and two years ago. Don't tell me you have forgotten them?"

Kagura's tone was incredibly calm and unchanging like a machine. However, her words sounded undeniably sharp and cold to his ears, just like icicles.

— Sweat streaked past his cheeks.

He could finally understand the meaning behind the words that she had said at the beginning.

"Collecting data is an interest of mine. I dare say that I possess a greater volume of data as compared to

Tenketsu Palace

's data vault. And they are much more accurate too."

The data detailing everything about him up to three years ago that was deleted off from

Tenketsu Palace

— could someone have duplicated the data and kept it for their own use?

...... If there is a copy of my data of three years ago.

...... This means that Kagura has been suspicious of me right from the very beginning.

She was suspicious of the twin swords wielder named Sheltis.

She suspected that Sheltis and the person who had died three years ago after falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

could be the same person.

"Are you unable to tell me? My question should not be a difficult one to answer."

"............"

There was no way he could say it.

He is a heretic who was infected with mateki after falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

.

Tenketsu Palace

will definitely be thrown into chaos should they come to know about how a person like him is undertaking the role of a guard here.

And should he spark a huge uproar, he will definitely be exiled from the place permanently. More importantly, he will never get to fulfill his promise to become Ymy's Sennenshi.

"...... Can you change your question to something else?"

"Sorry, but this is the only question that I want to ask."

Monica took a step towards Kagura, who was putting on an aggressive tone.

"Kagura, this is not like you."

Her voice was calm and strong at the same time, just like the surface of a frozen mirror.

"I do not know your reason for this, but can't you be more flexible and change the question?"

"I can be very obstinate at times. Moreover, what I am doing may be for your own good, Monica."

"? What—"

Just as Monica was narrowing her eyes in surprise.

"Hey— Is Kagura around—? Please give me an answer regardless of whether you are in there or not—!"

The mechanical door opened all of the sudden, and a girl in overalls with fluffy orange hair walked straight into the room.

"Eyriey?"

"Ah, so Sheltis is here too. What, I was thinking that you may not be able to find Kagura, so here I am talking a look at the situation. Ah, so Monica's here as well. Long time no see—"

Eyriey was originally heading to the upper levels of the tower along with the

machine crystal

. She happily waved her hands in the direction of Monica before turning her body to face the owner of the room.

"...... So it's Eyriey."

The edges of Kagura's lips broke into a slight smile.

That was the first time the girl was putting on such an expression.

"So you knew both Sheltis and Monica? What a problem...... I never expect the you to be the cause of all these things."

"Hmm? But all I did is to introduce Sheltis to you."

"That's what I meant!"

Kagura suddenly threw a tantrum for some unknown reason.

"Well well. Let's put that aside for now. How's things going for you, Sheltis? Are you successful with the negotiations?"

"Urm...... Well...... Nope."

"Oh—"

Eyriey shot a meaningful glance at Kagura.

"Well, Kagura is busy most of the time. I see, I guess it's better if I am in charge of this. After I am done with the matters of the

machine crystal

—"

"P-Please hold on a second, Eyriey."

Kagura stood up hurriedly.

She was a lot shorter than Eyriey. Out of the people Sheltis knew, she is probably of about the same height as Syun-rei. Even after taking into consideration that she is a girl, her stature is petite in comparison.

"I never expect this...... that you have actually involved yourself in the analysis to the possible regularity in the appearance of Yuugenshu."

"Actually, I am the one whom Sheltis approached immediately. I was busy then, so I asked him to seek your assistance instead. But since the negotiation is not done yet, I might as well—"

"D-Didn't I ask you to hold on a second!?"

Kagura wove her fists about and yelled.

"Sheltis...... though I am very unwilling, I will agree to your earlier request."

"Eh? But......"

He had yet to answer the question in exchange for her assistance.

"It's fine. I have already found what I should be doing, and it had appeared right before me."

She stared hard at Eyriey and pointed in the direction of her nose. It was as though she was not even paying any attention to Sheltis.

"Listen up, Eyriey - let's have a showdown between us! We shall see who can correctly churn out the patterns behind the appearance of the Yuugenshu!"

"Hmm? What? I have no idea what's going on, but I guess I'll accept your challenge."

Eyriey agreed readily despite her being all confused about the situation. On the other hand, Kagura was putting on a sinister smile on her face.

"...... Fufufu, I will definitely show you my skills this time round. With the pride of the people of Nell on the line, I will definitely not lose to you, a representative of the human race!"

"Eh? I am representing the human race here? How very embarrassing."

"What's there to be embarrassed about!? You should be showing some nervousness at the very least— Ah............"

Perhaps she had finally noticed.

Kagura turned her body away awkwardly, and cleared her throat.

"Ahem. In any case, leave that to me."

"...... Right."

"A-Alright, you can leave! Eyriey too, please leave this room immediately. Since it has already been decided, I'll like to be alone so that I can focus."

— What's going on here?

Sheltis and Monica glanced at each other while Kagura was shoving them away.

"So Kagura's willing to help. That means everything is settled peacefully?"

After the mechanical door was shut, Eyriey turned around to face them.

"I can focus all of my attention on the

machine crystal

, and Sheltis can finally relax himself and recuperate."

"That's how it is, but it seemed like we had caused some troubles for you, no? Kagura suddenly issued you a challenge out of the blue. What's with that?"

"Ah— I am already used to that."

Eyriey's laughter echoed in the corridor.

"She may not look it like, but that girl hates losing. Whenever she feels like it, she will always come and 'challenge me to a showdown', whether it is things like guessing the winning digits to the lottery, or predicting the amount of rainfall. Generally speaking, all challenges are in the areas of numbers or machines, and that has been the way ever since our very first encounter. But that's fine, since it is rather interesting."

"I have finally seen another side of her as well."

Next to Eyriey, Monica was nodding her head repeatedly.

"That was the first time I see Kagura being that stirred up. Did you win all the challenges, Eyriey?"

"Nope. I was losing all the way—"

...... Eyriey lost?

Eyriey possesses an incredible amount of knowledge as well as skills when it comes to machines. Even after knowing her for two years while staying at the living sector, Sheltis has barely seen the real capabilities of Eyriey. The

machine crystal

was also deeply impressed by her techniques when she was hacking the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

. There should be no doubt about her talents.

And now, there is actually a mechanic who is of the same age as Eyriey, who is even more skilled than her? Sheltis couldn't quite believe that right away.

"That means Kagura is better than Eyriey?"

"How should I put it? Hmm— she should be very strong? Isn't that fine? I have never put any thought into this. Why don't you ask her directly?"

Eyriey pointed towards the mechanical door. Compared to the emotional Kagura, Eyriey was relaxed and at ease throughout the whole thing.

"I do want to, but I will probably be yelled at by her should I enter her room now."

Monica smiled wryly.

"Let us head back for now. We will attract the attention of others should we stay here any longer, since we are cadet guards. Also, Instructor Yumelda will be angry should I not head back for my training soon."

***

— Before her was a passageway made of ice walls that was giving an azure brilliance.

...... It's cold.

Cold that was beyond iciness. No— it had surpassed the limits to her body's sense of touch. All she could feel was pain on her exposed skin.

It was a world of ice that extends outwards endlessly - there were no ceilings nor the normal walls.

Two hundred and ninety first story of

Tenketsu Palace

, the highest story which is named as < >. Different from the stories below it, it would be more adequate to say that this place is of another world.

There were no shelter above her, only light that seemed to come from the white night.

Beneath the brilliant lights was a scene of erected azure ice walls that stretches on forever. The surfaces of the ice walls were crystal clear and more dazzling than any other crystals. It's like mirrors that are showing the reflections of the world.

Her breaths.

The warmth of her body.

Everything was frozen in this world. And that includes her memories and her conscience.

It is pointless to wear any winter clothing here. All living things, all objects and even the Yuugenshu. It is a barrier that freezes everything and seals their soul and time — Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

"Ah— it hurts. It's cold and it hurts."

Meimel was wearing just her vestment as she walked in the frozen world.

The colors of her feet which walked on the frozen floors were pale from the lack of blood. The sharp ice shards scratched her skin, which resulted in tiny traces of blood on the places where she stepped on.

However, her expressions remained composed. She was even putting on a smile.

It was not that she could feel no pain, nor was it because she was showing no reaction to the iciness. As of now, her lips were purple and her shoulders and fingers were trembling non-stop.

Even so, the Priestess' expressions were at ease as she continued walking in the frozen world.

"Allow your heart to calm down. You must be more tranquil than the huge trees that were rooted for over hundreds of years, or the giant boulders erected at the faraway canyons. Your heart must be burning with a will that is stronger than anyone else."

She had already said those lines to her junior Priestesses for countless number of times, and she herself does follow strictly to what she preaches as well.

Tranquil Heart.

All the pains that one is experiencing on her body, as well as the corrosion of her mental wellness. Even if she has lost her rationality, and even if she collapses from a mental breakdown, she will continue praying for the barrier.

That is the culmination for a Priestess.

And the one who portrays that culmination is the second Priestess, Meimel in Carnation.

"Meimel is here, your Highness."

She had reached the center of < >.

In the middle of what seemed like a giant pool of steam waters, was an incredibly large azure ice crystal. A woman was sealed in the center of the clear crystal.

One could faintly see the pure white vestment which the woman wearing deep in the azure ice.

Queen Salah.

She is someone who sacrifices her body into the azure ice which freezes everything, and prays continuously for Hyouketsu Kyoukai by herself.

"Well then, Queen Salah—"

She stretched out her fingers to touch the azure ice crystal.

phia-So la telah sitra

She said the opening prologue. Her words were filled with the power of shinryoku that was released from her own body.

"As of now, I shall take over Hyouketsu Kyoukai for the next three days."

The remains of her shinryoku transformed into a light barrier. The azure light enveloped the whole of Meimel's body. It was as though those light was a supreme sacred-raiment that was made out of azure threads.

And next.

As she coordinated herself to the singing voice of the Queen, Meimel began to sing with her own voice as well.

Yu/ Uhw =C r-sanc uc Eden

term-l-pile xel, xin, ole fusen elchel

Shinryoku

— '

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

'.

A mysterious melody which maintains Hyouketsu Kyoukai, it's a song of prayer that is passed down only to the Priestesses of

Tenketsu Palace

.

xearcs let laphin yahe, bie omia hec lihit clar

noi-roo-xin, noi melras I noe-l-habes pianic cia eyen

It was at that very instant.

It is incredibly difficult to reach the instance where the two singing voices resonate, but it was the point where it sounded especially beautiful — and that is why Meimel loves the arrival of that very instance the most.

The feeling of the tone ringing in the cold and yet clear world of their throbbing souls.

=C hypn phenoria, Eec qhaon nes ei getie, nephies paf lef bis cley kis ei roos

=C hypn phenoria, Eec wat nes ei getie bies killis cley kis ei mihas

She closed both of her eyes.

Meimel sunk even deeper into the hard and transparent azure ice crystals.

{2}

"...... Everyone's working really hard."

Sheltis stared at the training while sitting on the bench located at the outdoor training fields.

It was the team battles between the cadet guards.

A team of two great sword wielders were fighting against an archer and a heavy gunner in the artificial desert terrain. At the forest terrains further away, the cadet guard with throwing knives was up against a dual sword wielder.

Mock bullets were used for the guns, while the swords had their edges removed. However, the fights were no less intense than actual battles.

"You seemed pretty bored, Sheltis."

Instructor Yumelda walked towards him while stomping on the sands. She was wearing a blue suit without creases, and the cigarette in her mouth was still emitting swirling smoke.

"Get yourself up immediately. You'll be up next for the team battle."

"...... I am still recuperating."

"I know that. It's just a joke."

The instructor said that as she looked at the slowly rising smoke. Contrary to her words, her expressions were serious and the tone of her voice did not sound like she was joking.

"So when will you recover?"

"I should be able to resume training next week."

The cigarette which was thin like a needle was twirling about in the instructor's fingers. With his eyes chasing the path of the spinning cigarette, Sheltis told her just as how he was instructed by the doctor.

"Next week? That's boring."

"...... You know, I do hope you can show some sympathy to a patient who is still in his recovery."

"That's not what I meant. I was planning to get you on a mission."

The instructor sat on the bench. Her gaze were sharp as thorns.

"Fourteen hours ago, we lost contact with a group of cadet guards that were sent to patrol the nature sector."

"...... Was there an accident?"

"It all started when we did not receive a scheduled response from the team despite it being way past the zero hours. In accordance to paragraph four of article number fifty eight of the Tower's Law, we issued orders for a team of cadres guards to be on standby. As we were still unable to come into contact with them three hours later, we had deemed them to be in some sort of trouble. Four hours after that, which is seven o'clock this morning, six elites of the cadet guards were chosen to form a rescue team, and were dispatched to investigate on the matter."

It's something that happens every year — the instructor lifted her head to look at the rising cigarette smoke as she murmured those words.

"I think you should know this as well, but such things will happen every year. It could be a malfunctioning of the communication devices, the encountering of a Yuugenshu...... there are plenty of causes, but we do manage to rescue them successfully for most of the cases. I was originally planning to draft you into the rescue team."

"You are planning to recommend me?"

There is only one condition to be successfully drafted into a rescue team, and that is exceptional performance."

Should the capabilities of the rescue team be too weak, they will just end up in the same situation of the predecessors. To prevent that from occurring, it is stipulated that the rescue team must be made up of outstanding cadet guards that were drafted in by the instructors personally.

"I won't deny the fact that I do think highly of you, but there is another reason for me to recommend you this time round."

"Another reason?"

"It's the injuries on your head. I have no idea how you get yourself injured like that, but it does not seem minor, am I right? In other words, you may become the next person to be in the KIA list if you were unlucky. I had thinking of making you see look at those involved in an accident, so that you can learn a lesson or two from them."

If something was to go wrongly, he could very well be the next person to appear on the KIA list.

He had personally witnessed the scenes of accidents before, so he could understand how horrible it is. He reminded himself that he must never make the same mistakes.

"I will be more careful from now on."

"Of course."

Her tone was cold and straightforward, as per usual. However, there some other expressions mixed in to the stern face that the instructor usually wears.

Silence fall upon the bench—

"Ah— finally! I've found you!"

However, that was immediately broken by the shouts of a girl.

"I'sa, it's fine for you to appear all of the sudden, but can calm yourself down?"

"Ah...... Uhhhh. Sorry for my interruption, Instructor Yumelda. It's a pleasure to see you here."

The girl pinched the edges of her skirt and bowed respectfully.

She was a girl with golden twintails which was shimmering brightly under the rays of the sun. She was wearing a pure white ceremonial clothing, but the bottom half was replaced with a skirt instead. On her left shoulder was the badge of a regular guard.

"Eh? That girl from before?"

Sheltis blinked in surprise when he saw the familiar person.

It was something that happened two weeks ago. She was one of the two regular guards who were his and Monica's opponents during the team battles. If he remember right, her name is......

"I am I'sa Isu Ishmeal, a regular guard who uses shinryoku-arts. My

class

is a 'puppeteer'...... Don't tell me you have forgotten me already?"

The young girl flashed a proud smile.

"I do remember. So, do you have any business with me?"

"Of course! I want to have my revenge for our last fight!"

The young girl pointed her finger in Sheltis' direction as her hair and skirt swayed in her movements.

"Calm down, I'sa. You are not making sense."

Just then, a stout dual gunner suddenly grabbed her by her arm. Sheltis recognized him as well. He was the regular guard whom I'sa paired up with. He remembered that his name is 'Jin'.

"Urm, you two are the opponents whom I had faced back during the team battles, right?"

"It's great that you can remember us. We have learned our lessons from our last defeat, so we want to request for a rematch."

Contrary to I'sa, Jin was calm and composed.

"Fu fu fu, we'll not lose to you this time round. Since that last defeat, I requested my Onee-sama to conduct some special training for me. Wait till you see the new frontiers that I reached after much difficulty—"

"It's not referring to how the control over the number of 'puppets' have increased from four to five, or something along those lines. Right?"

"............ Ehhhhh!?"

Upon hearing those murmurs of Sheltis, I'sa pressed her hands against her chest and straightened herself as though she was struck by lightning.

...... Eh, so I actually guessed it right?

The four huge metal balls which floated around her. He was just randomly saying how the numbers have increased from the previous four to five.

"J-Jin, this is not good! This person here actually knew about my secret techniques! What should we do? He must have seen through your plan of using the dual pistols at close range as well!"

"...... Why are you revealing my secret plans?"

"But......"

The young girl was complaining to the dual gunner with teary eyes.

As for the person who was being complained to, he looked like he was already used it.

"Don't you think it's about time you two stop with your couple's acts?"

The slightly dumbfounded instructor crushed the empty cigarette box with her bare hand.

"Sorry for the wasted trip. You two came at the wrong time today."

"Eh? Why?"

"That's because this idiot had injured himself while on a mission, and is currently recuperating."

"Eh——!?"

The girl let out another loud scream yet again.

"What are you doing, you idiot!? Do you know how tough it was for me everyday back when I was training together with my Onee-sama!? T-To think that——!"

"Why is everyone calling me an idiot!?"

First Monica, then the instructor, and now this girl here.

Why? He had done nothing bad, and yet he was called by others as 'idiot' recently.

"What to do? I deliberately skipped training to come here. I wonder what will Boss say if she comes to know of this."

...... Boss?

"She's the captain of the Second Lions Squad. Actually, it will be more appropriate for me to say 'Sennenshi' instead...... Crap, I guess I'll just lie and say that Instructor Yumelda had asked me to assist her in the training. I'll pretend that I have to fight against the cadet guards—"

"Yo, I'sa."

A hand appeared on I'sa's shoulder before she could finish her sentence.

"You know, what were you saying about how it's bad if I come to know of something?"

"Whoaaaaaa............ C-Captain Run......? W-Why...... are you here?"

"Obviously because I had tailed you two all the way here."

Run — she is the guardian of Priestess Meimel, and is one of the five strongest guards in

Tenketsu Palace

.

The badge of Sennenshi was worn on her left shoulder.

Her yellow hair was cut casually, and her amber-colored eyes were like those of a cat. Her pure white ceremonial clothing was designed to be a short sleeved shirt that is paired with short pants, both revealing her tanned limbs.

"So you two skipped training without valid reasons and chose to slack here instead?"

"C-Captain...... my neck, my neck is being strangled...... I cannot breathe!"

...... It's probably a habit of I'sa's.

It seemed like her way of speech will become very polite she is speaking to someone of higher ranking than her.

"Alright, so where's the 'crazily strong cadet guard' who made you two came over here despite your training? I do want to take a look myself since I am already here— Eh?"

Run's eyes opened wide in his direction as she released her hands that were strangling I'sa's neck.

"Oh— isn't this Sheltis? How are you doing? I heard you went to the

Floating Archipelagos

together with Leon?"

"Whoa! Y-Y-Y-You can't say this here!"

"Oh?"

Run's curious expression was just like those of an inquisitive kitten. Sheltis lowed his voice and said,

"The mission about us going to the

Floating Archipelagos

is top secret. We can't talk about this here."

"Oh— yeah! Ahaha, I have nearly forgotten that! Sorry."

...... Is that really fine?

Sheltis felt slightly weak when he saw the Sennenshi laughing in a relaxed manner.

Speaking of which. He had met Run for quite a few times already, since she is Meimel's Sennenshi. However, this was the first time he was speaking to her face to face like this.

"I finally get it— I was wondering why I didn't see you recently. So you are still a cadet guard. Which means, the 'crazily strong cadet guard' whom I'sa is talking about is......"

"...... Me?"

"Ah— I see. It all makes sense now."

Her gaze alternate between Sheltis and I'sa for quite a few times. She then finally said with a voice full of pity,

"I'sa."

"Yes?"

"It's hopeless. You're still ten years too early for this."

"Ehhhh!? Whose side is Captain on!? And why are you speaking to him in as if you two are very close to each other? Could it be that Boss actually know this dual sword wielder!?"

"Nope, not at all."

"No way—!? Please do not shift your eyes away, Boss! Just what exactly is the relationship between the both of you!?"

"You are to call me 'Captain', not 'Boss'. Also, is this the attitude that one should be having even after she has skipped her training? Alrght, Jin, take I'sa away."

With that, Run grabbed I'sa with only a single hand.

"...... U...... Whaaa! B-Boss...... please stop! You'll cause my skirt to lift up—"

The girl was tossed high up. Her body soared through the air before finally landing in front of the dual gunner.

"Understood. Let's get going, I'sa."

"Uhhh...... I'll be leaving, Instructor Yumelda."

Jin nodded his head silently. Having seen the actions taken by Jin, I'sa pinched the two sides of her skirt unwillingly and lowered her head.

"What about you, Run? Don't you need to head back?"

"Ah— me? Well, Meimel will not return for the next three days as she has to maintain the barrier. And since my sparring partner Leon is outside patrolling, my schedule is boringly empty till the evening."

...... She did seemed to be really free.

Run was slumping lazily against the bench. She looked just like a cat which is listless in the summer heat.

"Right, Sheltis, why don't we spar against each other? I'll get bored to death if I don't move about once every hour."

"Why do you make yourself sound like a bunny...... And it's regrettable, but I am still recuperating."

"You're right— okay, I'll just go straight to the point then."

"Is there something you want to say?"

"Mmm, I suddenly remember it after seeing you."

Run took out a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her shorts.

"Here. Leon wants you to take a look at this."

***

Two hundred and nineteenth story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Monica was heading towards her friend's room. On her way there, she passed by many of the staffs from Towers Control who were all walking briskly on the passageway.

"...... It's probably my first time doing this?"

The first time she visited Towers Control twice within the same day.

"Kagura, it's me. Sorry for disturbing you once more."

While standing in front of well guarded door, Monica placed her hand on the blue orb of the scanner.

Lock opened.

The door opened as though it was the sea that was parted into two, revealing the silhouette of her friend.

"It's really rare to have someone visiting my place twice in the same day."

"Are you working?"

"If you are referring to the my from Towers Control, then I have already finished up to two weeks worth of my workload, so there's no need to worry. Also, I am really sorry for not receiving you properly earlier. I should have at least brewed you some tea."

*koto* — Kagura placed a small bottle on the desk.

It was a capped bottle that is sold in the tower. It will not spill its contents onto the machines should one tip it over accidentally,. There were absolutely no glasses or teacups to be seen in Kagura's room.

"I am sorry for coming here without informing you first."

"Since you are an important friend of mine,"

Kagura turned her chair along with her body to face Monica. She stared straight into her.

"I know the reason for you coming here. It's about the analysis on the possible patterns behind the movements of Yuugenshu. The stuff we talked about in the morning. Right?"

"There's something that really bothers me back then."

As she sat down on the chair offered to her by Kagura, Monica began to recall the exchange a few hours ago.

The meaning behind the question that Kagura raised for Sheltis to answer.

"Where and what are you doing three years and two years ago?"

"What are your reasons for asking those questions?"

What was Kagura's intentions for asking those questions?

And also, Sheltis chose to reply with an unnatural silence as well.

"Do you know something about him?"

"............"

Kagura did not answer her directly. Instead,

"Just not too long ago, he was having a friendly conversation with an important someone of

Tenketsu Palace -

Sennenshi Run."

"Captain Run and Sheltis?"

Monica is well aware of Kagura's very own information network.

That should not be a mistake. If so, then why does Sheltis, who is a mere cadet guard, knows Run, who is a Sennenshi and holds the absolute rank in

Tenketsu Palace

?

— And right after Caption Leon, was Captain Run?

"Monica, don't you find everything about Sheltis strange?"

"...... Please go on."

"Firstly, his abilities are incredible for a new cadet guard who has only been in the palace for a few weeks. You should know this better than anyone else, since you two were together during the team battles."

I'sa and Jin.

Both of them are famous puppeteer and dual gunner among the regular guards. However, that young man had obtained victory almost all by himself. It was at then when Monica finally caught a glimpse of Sheltis' actual strength.

"That's surprising. You are very thorough in the investigation."

"I have installed hidden cameras without prior approval from my superior. There's above ten of them at the training grounds alone. And that includes the shots of you wiping your sweat in the shelter of a tree after training."

"I'm confiscating them."

"I am really sorry, but the CDs and the photos were already all sold out."

"You sold them!?"

"— Let's not talk about that for now. Aside from what I had mentioned earlier, there are also a few other suspicious points."

Kagura gave a fake cough.

"What I am most curious about is how his past history is a total blank. The only information I obtained is he was living in the living sector a month ago. On the other hand, he seemed to be an old acquaintance with a few of the Sennenshi. To look into that even deeper, there's also that black coat which he wears...... it looks like something that is modified from the old ceremonial clothes of

Tenketsu Palace

. Why does he possess the old ceremonial clothes despite only entering into the palace not too long ago, and why is he insisting on wearing it?"

"So that's your reasons for asking him for his history three years and two years ago?"

It was exactly two and a half years ago when they abolished the old black ceremonial clothes and replaced it with the white ones that Monica was wearing. Should they know what happened before and after that time period, they should be able to guess Sheltis' past.

"And there are other reasons for me to do this as well."

"...... There are still other reasons?"

"Yes. But— just as I had expected, he was unwilling to answer my question. If my speculations are correct, then he............"

Kagura was about to say something, but she snapped back her senses and raised her head. Her mechanical helmet and visor swayed about her head due to her movements. She then let out a huge sigh.

"No, forget it. It's still too early for me to be making conclusions."

"You can't reveal it even to me?"

"I am doing this because of you in mind, Monica."

...... What does she mean?

Just as Monica was pondering the meaning behind those words, Kagura said,

"In any case— It seems like Sheltis is being ostracized by the other cadet guards. I feel the same way as well. He obviously does not fit into his surroundings. I am interested in him due to the mysteries behind his real identity, but it's another thing altogether if we are to talk about trust. Not only that, I am extremely wary of him."

Sheltis, a dual sword wield whose background is a total mystery.

"...... I guess, since even I do not know everything about him."

The Yuugenshu which was incubated in the facility at the

Floating Archipelagos

. She had personally witnessed him being perfectly alright despite being coming under direct exposure to the mateki of the enemy. As an ex-apprentice-Priestess, she was really curious as to how Sheltis defended himself against those mateki.

"Maybe. But Monica, do you really trust him and want him into your team?"

"Yeah. I wanted to tell you this all along...... I don't know how to explain this, but I think I can trust him."

She was indeed worried about all the secrets that Sheltis is holding. However, she believed that he will definitely tell her everything when the time comes.

"That answer do sound like something you will say...... and it's an answer that I, as a people of Nell, is unable to say. It's something that I am envious of."

Kagura showed a wry smile after a pause.

That was probably something which can't be helped. Kagura is someone who belongs to a race with incredible wariness, and unlike Monica, she did not have any experience of carrying out missions together with Sheltis as well. It was normal for her to see Sheltis as a guy with a shady past.

"And that's the reason why I am keeping my distance away from him...... however, due to the circumstances, I had no choice but to accept his requests. And since it has turned to that, I will work hard to come up with the possible patterns to the movements of the Yuugenshu. I should be able to come up with something substantial by this week."

"Thanks for your help."

"Monica, there is no need for you to thank me, since you are my friend."

It was as if her eyes behind the visor were putting on a smile.

{3}

"Mmm—"

Sheltis stared to and fro the ceiling and the piece of paper in his hand as he laid on his bed in his room.

He turned around to lay on his sides, and mumbled,

"...... What a headache."

It's a copy of the official reply from the Government Sector. Something that Leon passed it to Run, who then passed it to him.

The contents had them protesting against

Tenketsu Palace

's unauthorized landing on the

Floating Archipelagos

.

"It's all about them protesting. They did not give any answers to the most important question, which is that of the facility. This is quite unlikely, but since they insisted on not knowing the things that were witnessed personally by the guards of

Tenketsu Palace

...... does that mean that the Government Sector is very certain about it?"

The underground facility which was incubating the Yuugenshu.

And also the girl in the image who is surrounded in mystery, and claims herself as the Forbidden Crystal.

Since they were dead set on denying it, it means that they must hold a lot of confidence to do it. However, it is not known if they were really clueless about it, or if they were confident of eliminating the evidence before

Tenketsu Palace

could request and start on a new investigation.

....... There would be no way of investigating on this should the evidence be removed.

"Ah— Damn! How can I possibly ignore this!"

It is stated on the official document that they will be holding a conference next month.

The envoys of

Tenketsu Palace

will head down to a place prepared by the Government Sector. The reason for Leon to pass him that copy was a message from him asking Sheltis to 'come along as well'.

"....... I'll have to tag along after reading this official document, huh. Damn, I've been had by Leon. I was finding it strange all along - how can he allow a cadet guard to see this classified document!"

He jumped off his bed and stared at the papers in his hand.

"I wonder who else will be going. Me...... and the other witness, Monica? There should also be the upper brass from either Towers Control or General Affairs Council. Then I'll have to add in the cadet guards who will be on a protecting mission, as well as a handful of regular guards, and then......"

"Sheltis, you are to head to the outdoor training grounds immediately."

Just as he was about to sort out his thoughts, he was interrupted by an announcement coming from the speakers located in the corner of the ceilings.

"...... I've said this a lot of times already, Instructor Yumelda, but I cannot participate in the trainings—"

"Our dear Priestess is about to give her speech."

The Priestess' speech.

He could not recall any scheduling of such an event.

"It was something decided while you were still hospitalized. You should know that today's the day where the handover ceremony of the barrier will be conducted between the Queen and the Priestess?"

"I do know that."

A change of the prayer. The Queen can only rest for three days every month. The handover ceremony is a ritual to allow the Priestesses to maintain the barrier while the Queen is resting. No one knows what sort of spells are used, or how the ceremony will be conducted. It is something passed down in secret between the Queen and her Priestesses only.

"The ceremony has just ended. Priestess Meimel has successfully took over Hyouketsu Kyoukai. Priestess Ymy will personally relay that news to the public. All staff and guards of

Tenketsu Palace

are to gather at the outdoors training grounds."

The Priestess will relay the news to everyone in

Tenketsu Palace

.

— And Ymy's the one doing it?

"I heard it is something decided during the directors meeting. There are many people in

Tenketsu Palace

, as well as those residents of the living sector, who are worried about how the infiltration of the Yuugenshu will happen once more. This is a measure taken to quell the fears in them. Now stop wasting time and get here immediately. Lateness will not be tolerated."

"Eh? Ah, wait, Instructor...... Geez, why can't she tell me that sooner?"

He sighed in the direction of the silent speakers.

After slowly expelling the air in his lungs, Sheltis stopped lying on his back and got to his feet.

"There's over a thousand guards, and there should be more than ten thousand working staff in

Tenketsu Palace

...... That's a really incredible number."

Probably not everyone will be attending this, but the number of participants should be somewhere in the thousands.

It should be difficult to stand in front of that many people. Moreover, the person who will be doing so is none other than his childhood friend.

...... The Ymy whom I know will probably be too nervous to speak.

Standing in front of the public, and tasked with the responsibility of protecting the floating continent.

That's what a Priestess is.

"The Ymy whom I am not familiar with...... huh?"

Despite being very happy to be able to see Ymy's taking on an active role as a Priestess, Sheltis could not help but to be depressed by how out of reach she had become.

Sheltis left his room with those conflicting feelings in him.

***

The madder-red colored sky.

The sun at the edges of the sky was about to sink into the other side of the horizon. It painted the colors of the yellowish dusk on the canvas made out of the sky.

"...... So it's already evening."

Sheltis looked up into the sky as he walked on the paved roads.

It was back in the morning when he visited Kagura together with Monica. He then met the puppeteer and the dual gunner slightly after noon. After reading the report which he obtained from Run, it was already evening before he knew it.

— But, are we really gathering at the outdoor training grounds?

It is probably the only place that can fit everyone from

Tenketsu Palace

. However, his current impression of the place was still fixed at the scene where the guards were all focused on their training back in the day.

"Ah, considering the personality of Instructor Yumelda, she had probably concentrated all the training in the day, as she cannot use the training grounds in the evening...... Mmm, that is most probably what happened. Or rather, that's the only possible scenario. Am I right, Ilis—"

Just as he was about to speak to the

machine crystal

which was hanging before his chest, Sheltis finally came to his senses.

— Oh right, I have already handed Ilis to Eyriey for the check.

There was no one who can reply him. And that was the first time he realized that.

All that was missing was something which he had taken granted for - the truth is, he could not get used to not hearing the voice of the

machine crystal

.

"...... Ah— mmm. In any case, I hope Ilis' check-up will be completed successfully."

While thinking of that, he walked past the paved roads and made his way to the turfs. It was then when he heard the sounds coming from the huge crowd.

"This is......?"

Countless conversations. Sounds of the shoes. The rubbing of clothes.

All the sounds mixed up together and reverberated beneath the skies of dusk which was originally enveloped by silence. He was a considerable distance away from the training grounds, and yet he could already hear those noise from his place.

In another words, there were already that many people at the training grounds?

"Shit, has it started already?"

He quickly ran through the turfs under the urge of his accelerating heartbeats, and made his way to the training area where the ground was filled with fine sand. Finally, after making past the barrier erected out of metal wires,

"............ Ah."

Sheltis was awestruck by the scene before him, which made him stopped in his tracks subconsciously.

The training ground was already dyed red due to the brilliant rays of the madder-red colored sun of dusk.

The gigantic area was filled to the brim with people.

Male staff in their suits and with a employment pass hanging from their necks; the female attendants in charge of servicing the Priestesses; also, there were the directors of the various bureaus in the tower. Further on were the faces of the fellow cadet guards whom he was already familiar with. Standing behind them were the elite guards — the elites who are candidates to be the next Sennenshi.

"...... That's quite a sight."

He had never seen such a scene before.

"You are one hundred and seventy seconds late."

Came the voice from behind.

"I have already made it here in haste."

He turned around. As expected, the voice did come from Instructor Yumelda.

She was not biting on to a stick of cigarette, probably in consideration for the crowds. Instead, she put on some purple lipstick, which made her look especially striking.

"Maybe. My estimation was that you will be late for roughly two hundred seconds."

"It is an important event."

"You think you are here to protect her? I am sorry to say this, but there is no room for you cadet guards to show your worth here. The responsibility of protecting the Priestess is all handled by regular guards and above."

"Ah, no...... That's not what I meant."

"Hmm? Whatever. That does not matter."

The instructor said that with a meaningful tone. From the looks of how she was silently crossing her arms, it seemed like she will not ask him any more questions. And after shifting his sight away from her slightly—

"It is indeed...... a really important event."

Sheltis bit on his lower lips softly and said that with an almost inaudible voice.

— I want to know the Priestess side of Ymy as well.

This was something Monica told him before.

"A Sennenshi cannot just protect a Priestess. Only when a person can fully understand the pain and loneliness of a Priestess' training, as well as understand the importance of reducing those emotions, will he be qualified to take on the role of a Sennenshi."

Sheltis is confident of knowing Ymy better than anyone else, if it is about the side of her as his childhood friend.

However, that does not give him enough qualification to become her Sennenshi. In order to protect Priestess Ymy, he will have to understand the Priestess side of her as well.

...... And that is exactly what I am lacking right now.

"Oh, it's about time."

Instructor Yumelda pointed towards the glass dome that was situated in the center of the training grounds.

The dome was made out of translucent fortified glass. It is the place used whenever they are holding a major competition with spectators involved. It is also the most conspicuous building within the training grounds.

...... It's where Monica and I took part in the team battle.

Back then, the interiors were set to be of a rocky terrain. As of now, the floor was paved with a simple carpet, and on it was a small platform along with a microphone on its stand.

And next, the surroundings became silent.

The noise which he was hearing had all disappeared. No one was willing to give off any sound. The silence was as though he was standing in a forest piled with snow.

Before long, two Priestesses appeared within the glass dome.

One of them was a tiny girl with black hair and eyes. She was wearing a woven vestment, and was sitting uneasily on the chair with her head lowered.

"...... Syun-rei?"

"You are to call her Priestess Syun-rei! But it's surprising for her to reveal herself before that many people. I mean, she has a really delicate personality."

The instructor was probably expressing her views in a roundabout manner by using the term 'delicate'.

She has an extreme fear towards people.

She was sitting on the chair while biting on her lips and clenching her fists...... It seemed like the black hair Priestess was trying her hardest to endure the situation.

Just then, Syun-rei's trembling shoulders—

"Hey, compose yourself. Straighten your back."

The young girl, who was wearing a ceremonial clothing with a Sennenshi badge on it, placed her hands on her shoulders.

Run — she was originally the Sennenshi who is supposed to be protecting Meimel. This time round, it seemed like she had also taken the role of protecting Syun-rei in place of Leon.

"............ M-Mmm."

As Syun-rei lifted her head with an uneasy expression on her face, Run whispered into her ears with a smile on her face. And at that very moment, a glow reappeared in the Priestess' eyes.

"Leon will definitely be shocked should he know that you are able to come here by yourself. Therefore, you must hold on for now so that you can show Leon how brave you are. Understand?"

"............ I will do my best."

As he watched the Priestess and the Sennenshi smile at each other, Sheltis could almost hear the above conversation playing in his ears.

— That's really something to be envious of.

That casual interaction was especially dazzling in Sheltis' eyes.

It's because the distance between the Priestess and Sennenshi which is depicted in that very scene is something he yearned for ever since he came to

Tenketsu Palace

.

And then.

"Good evening, everyone."

The second Priestess - the girl with pale golden hair and wearing a pure white vestment - stood on top of the stage in the dome.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.

The place was dead silent. Hundreds and thousands pairs of eyes had all gathered on the body of the young girl who is a Priestess.

"Urm...... Well...... It's nice seeing everyone here."

Ymy began by greeting everyone as she grabbed onto the microphone stiffly.

It was a large, unfamiliar stage. And despite being at a place that was hard for her to speak and caused her legs to be wobbly, the Priestess still did her best to maintain her smile.

Her face was stiff, and her smile showed her nervousness.

However, it was that clumsy smile of hers which conveyed something to everyone there.

The sight of her trying her hardest to keep her smile had clearly showed everyone something - the feelings of hers while she was making her speech on the stage.

"U-Urm...... firstly, I wish to apologize on behalf of all the Priestesses...... One month ago, Hyouketsu Kyoukai was breached and we came under the attack of the Yuugenshu.

As the Priestesses whose tasks are to maintain the barrier, we take full responsibility for what had happened. As a result of the breach, many are injured and countless buildings were destroyed. The whole floating continent was scarred as a result, and we Priestesses will shoulder the responsibility for all that had happened...... We are really sorry."

Ymy bowed her head deeply.

Syun-rei stood up and did the same thing as well.

"And that is even more reason why we have to do our best to ensure that the barrier will not be breached again.

For the past month, everyone of us Priestesses have been working around the clock to check on the spells of the barrier. We discussed and ensured that everything is safe and secure.

— And just a while ago, Priestess Meimel has already took over the barrier from the Queen successfully.

I believe there are those who feel uneasy and fear that Hyouketsu Kyoukai will be breached via the same methods once more. As a Priestess who had once allowed the barrier to be breached, I may not be qualified to ask everyone of you to be at ease. Even so...... I do wish that everyone here, as well as those who are listening to my speech in the living sector - I hope that everyone can be at ease.

...... Because I feel that this is what a Priestess is supposed to do."

Fuu— after taking a deep breath, the seventeen years old Priestess took a firm grip on the microphone once more.

She did that with her frail shoulders and slender arms, as though she was not willing to let it go.

"And all that is what I am supposed to be telling everyone as a Priestess.

— Next, allow me to voice out my own views."

She took a pause and looked at the thousands of people of

Tenketsu Palace

who had all gathered at the place—

"...... I am a human being.

I cannot survive if I do not breathe. I will get hungry if I do not eat. I will sleep talk while dreaming............ Just like everyone else, we Priestesses are all human beings.

Therefore...... there will be times when we experience failure. This is not an excuse. I am really a muddle-headed Priestess who always fails no matter how careful I try to be.

B-But, I do really work hard! That is a definite truth!

And so...... I wish to make a request here.

I am doing my best despite my incompetence, so I hope everyone can support me. To all the staff of

Tenketsu Palace

as well as the guards, I do hope everyone of you can offer your support to a Priestess like me."

She said that with a voice that was close to shouting.

And then, Ymy lowered her gaze and shook her head slowly.

"— No, I am not the only person who yearns for the support of others.

I hope everyone can offer your support to the rest of the fellow members of the tower. Not just to me alone.

When someone is in trouble, you should offer your helping hand without waiting for him to ask for your assistance...... I can only maintain the barrier, but I believe that everyone here can do much more things that I can possibly do.

And so, please, do not ever be reckless and put yourself at risk.

...... You should not work hard all by yourselves. Rather, you should do what you can do and help others by doing so. I hope everyone can build a relation where people will help each other.

...... This tower is just so tall.

And without the support of everyone, it will collapse."

Ymy's face turned red. She fidgeted about and showed an embarrassed smile.

"And so, urm...... from now on, let's support each other...... Because we are fellow companions who are all living on the floating continent, and residing in the same tower.

...... S-Sorry for saying all these things...... I had thought about it for the whole night, but I still could not come up with a beautiful way to end my speech......"

No one spoke a word.

There were no response from the thousands of people whom she was conveying her message to. As such, the young girl with the microphone in hand felt a little depressed and disappointed—

"............ W-Well? So...... this still won't do? I'm sorry—"

At that very instant.

A round of applause broke the silence and spread throughout the training grounds. It covered over Ymy's words.

The applause went on endlessly like the torrential waterfalls.

Regardless of whether the person is Instructor Yumelda, who is famous for her devilish training; the stern leader guards or the director who was putting a solemn on his face - everyone was convinced by Ymy's words. They offered their unreserved applause.

Offering it to the Priestess who is much younger than them, and still has a slightly childish air around her.

"S-So everyone is willing to give me a round an applause? ...... Thank you!"

The Priestess bowed repeatedly.

That act of hers in reply to the applause had made it confusing for one to discern whichever side was of the higher position.

The applause and the cheers continued on for a long time.

It showed their respect, reverence and praise to the Priestesses who are protecting the floating continent.

Even though Ymy was waving her hands in embarrassment to signal 't-that's enough!', the cheers showed no signs of stopping. And among all the commotion—

"............"

Sheltis was the only one to remain standing on his original place. He gently closed his eyes.

Amid the darkness, the only thing that was transmitted to him clearly were the resounding rounds of applause.

"That's incredible, Ymy. You have really...... became an outstanding Priestess."

She had said words that seeped deep into the hearts of thousands in front of her who were listening to her speech. And she did all that while protecting the floating continent as a Priestess. That is the person his childhood friend is currently.

She has became so incredible within the two years which they were apart.

In comparison, he was just one out of the thousands of people who were here to listen to the Priestess giving her speech. As a cadet guard, the only thing he could do is to give her a round of applause.

— She's so far away from me. However, I must get to where she is.

And not only that.

"

I hope everyone can offer your support to the rest of the fellow members of the tower. Not just to me alone."

"It's...... indeed like something that Ymy will say."

Sheltis put on a light smile while standing among the crowd.

That has not changed even after she has became a Priestess. He's dumbfounded by how dazzling and straightforward his childhood friend is. She is an undeniably kind girl.

— And that's the Ymy whom I want to protect.

Ever since he had made up his mind on that, Ymy has never changed till now.

"Yeah...... This tower is just so tall, so it will need the support from everyone."

He will have to obtain the highest position, the rank of a Sennenshi, with his own hands.

However, he should not be overly rash in his quest for it. Should he focus on only the peak, he will definitely miss out those beside him who has fallen and need his help.

"

And so, please, do not ever be reckless and put yourself at risk.

"

It was as though she was deliberately conveying that line to him, who was ostracized by the rest of the cadet guards.

"...... You don't have to worry. I feel the same way too, Ymy."

There is no need for him to be frustrated, nor is there a need for him to work hard by himself.

All he needs to do is to help out the fellow companions in the tower as much as he can, and make his way towards the peak one step at a time. Because Ymy will be waiting for him.

"I'll try my best."

Sheltis murmured and turned his back towards Ymy.

### 004. Intermission: 29 hours — Igun-I —

Enjoy.

********************

In a sea of trees shrouded within the mist.

The humus on the ground stuck itself to the soles of the shoes with each step taken. The skies were blocked by the rich canopy, thus sheltering the ground from the sunlight and heat.

Deep within the dark and damp sea of trees.

"...... Nothing found huh?"

Leon sighed as he stepped on the damp and sticky ground.

In his right hand was a huge sword the length of an adult. He brought it along with him just in case, but there was no need for him to use it this time round.

"With the existence of that water tank, it wouldn't be surprising if there are Yuugenshu here."

Two weeks ago, he visited this island under the orders of the Queen. This time around, he used the absolute authority of a Sennenshi to come here, and obviously so without any approval from the Government Sector.

Tenketsu Palace

and the Government Sector will be having a conference in the near future, and the issue of trespassing should be brought up during the meeting. If so, the number of times that he trespasses the island should be of no issue, since their response on the matter would not change.

"Then again, everything's the same as it was two weeks ago."

The absence of people on the island as well as the hidden facilities — everything was the same as it was when he and Sheltis visited this place two weeks ago. This included the state of destruction of the secret underground passage caused by the Yuugenshu that was named 'Slumbering Child'.

— Was that the only water tank used to breed Yuugenshu?

Leon's purpose in revisiting the floating island was to investigate that.

They discovered a water tank two weeks ago. Should there be any remaining water tanks around, he might be able to use that and find out the people behind their installation......

"I guess there's nothing else I can do...... moreover, I have left Syun-rei by herself in the tower."

As he recalled the face of the Priestess whom he left at the tower, Leon began to walk towards the direction of his aircraft.

———?

Then came a incredibly feeble presence which disappeared almost immediately.

No wait, something's not right here.

"Who's that!?"

He turned around in an instant and increased his grip on the great sword with his right hand.

There were only trees before him...... nothing felt out of place.

The malaise in him had disappeared as well.

He could only hear the rustling of the leaves around him.

"............"

He widened his eyes and held his breath for ten seconds...... twenty............ after five minutes had passed, Leon finally took a breath. —Whatever.

Whenever something like this happened, Leon has never once questioned himself if it was just an illusion.

It does not matter even if there is a foe ambushing him. Till the moment when they strike and he apprehends them all......

"You better be careful."

After announcing that to the deserted forest, Leon turned his body away once more.

***

Deep in the sea of trees, after the silver haired young man had left—

Another five minutes passed by.

"Ohh, that was scary."

A man with a black fedora suddenly appeared from within the trees.

"Even though I had already concealed my presence to such a feeble state...... I am speechless by how he could detect me."

He shook his head and shrugged.

"Alright. Since I am lucky enough not to be spotted by that scary Sennenshi, it's about time I began my work too...... oh?"

He quickly lifted his foot which was about to step on the ground.

There was a plant next to his foot which was bearing red fruits on it.

"Ahh, there are wild strawberries here too."

Igun-I - a tall and skinny man in a black suit with golden buttons - exclaimed in delight.

"There's another one here. Ah, there as well. I should be able to bake a wild strawberry pie with this many berries around me."

A jet black suit with a jet black fedora. Amid the blackness, he readjusted his pure white gloves properly before picking up the red fruits carefully with his long and slender fingers.

The silent sea of trees.

Only time was flowing at the depths where not even the smallest animals could be seen.

"Phew— this should be enough."

Igun-I gingerly hugged the plastic bag filled with wild strawberries before resuming his steps yet again.

"Geez, it's really tough being an errand boy. First, I have to go to the nature sector at the floating continent. Then I have to make my way to the

Floating Islands

that was so far away...... Oops."

While carrying the bag of wild strawberries with one of his hands, he used the other to press on his fedora.

— So as not to let his fedora get blown away by the breeze which came through the gaps of the trees.

"What a teasing wind that was."

Kuku

His charming lips curved upwards while his eyes remained hidden under the brim of his fedora.

"Right, I've reached my destination."

Igun-I stopped in his tracks, lifted his head and looked at the building before him.

It was a facility built with dark grey walls. The walls were almost covered with lichen. Looking at the building from above, the lichens provide a camouflaging color that blends the building into the tender-green colors of the trees around it.

There were no windows and doors. One could not make out the number of stories of the building from the outside.

"...... That's just too careless of them. The reason

Tenketsu Palace

discovered its existence is because they had left it unattended for too long. The 'Lords' do possess incredible capabilities, but their lack in the sense of crisis remains much to be desired."

A deep breath.

Next, he fished out a copper-yellow pocket watch from his chest and confirmed the positions of the needles. It's not those type of electronic clocks that can run for thousands of years, but those wind-up types which needs its batteries changed once every few years.

"Everyone laughs at me for using this antique, but I guess I like things like this the most. It is the best way to experience the sense of flowing time."

*tick tock...... tick tock......* As he stared lovingly at the longest hand that ticked by every second, Igun-I began walking towards the facility filled with lichen.

"Mr Maha should be putting on quite a show right now. I guess I'll begin with the things on my side as well."

There's only twenty-nine hours left till the rendezvous of Igun-I and Maha—

### 005. Chapter 3: 12 hours — Jin —

Here's the completed chapter. Oh Ilis, I'll make sure you'll never feel lonely ever again.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

Four-thirty in the morning.

The cloudless spherical sky above his head was of the colors of the night, in which the stars were still shining brightly. The horizon at the far end was faintly glowing red from the sun's rays, indicating that it was close to dawn.

With the remnant of the cold air of the night lingering around his skin, he took a deep breath.

His lungs were filled with cold air. The comfortable chilliness was gradually causing his sleepy body to awaken. Sheltis had always love this feeling.

"...... Mmm...... phew......"

Neck, shoulders, arms. He slowly relaxed his whole body patiently before injecting strength and tensing up his muscle fibers which had loosened from his stay in the hospital.

Just then.

"—Sheltis."

He could feel a slight presence from behind him due to that person's steps on the grass.

"Has your body already recovered fully? Didn't you say you'll have to rest for a few more days before you can rejoin training?"

A bunch of eye-catching sakura-colored hair appeared beneath the cold sky.

With her hands holding onto a pair of

crossed rods

, the young girl in a set of spotlessly clean, pure-white ceremonial clothes was standing on the training ground filled with dew.

"Ah, morning, Monica. And also—"

"...... Morning."

Another girl was walking a few steps behind Monica.

Her body was small and frail. The ceremonial clothes which she wore were as ordinary as those of Monica's, but the mechanical helmet and visor which covered her head were especially striking.

"Eh? Kagura's here as well?"

"You sound like it is surprising for me to join the training. As one of the cadet guards, I must occasionally participate in the training as well...... Moreover, I was scolded by Instructor Yumelda yesterday. She instructed me to join in more often."

Can't be helped— the young girl put on a listless expression. It seemed like she was not too willing to participate in the training.

"You hate training?"

"I don't detest an adequate amount of exercise. I just find it a chore to remove my research clothes to put on my ceremonial ones. Also, the mechanical helmet is a hindrance during exercise."

*Ka*. She rapped the sides of her helmet once with her fingers.

...... So she won't remove it even during training?

"Are you curious?"

"Eh? Yeah, sorry. You noticed?"

"All thanks to my experience. I had been asked by many others before."

Kagura raised two of her fingers, perhaps to signify that there were two reasons for her wearing it.

"This visor is connected directly to the computer in the research laboratory and doubles as a screen, thus enabling me to monitor the programs even when I am out of the lab...... The second reason can be explained simply by this: I am a People of Nell. You should understand, right?"

"Mmm. I've seen a few of your kind in

Tenketsu Palace

"

Compared to 'humans', the ears of People of Nell are long and pointy, and covered with fur like that of a cat's — this is due to the fact that the People of Nell live in the cold parts of the

Floating Archipelagos

, which resulted in that evolutionary trait. Their long ears allow them to pick up sounds in a blizzard, while the warm fur helps to fight against the cold.

"My ears will be open for all to see once I remove my helmet. I hate being stared at just because I am one of the People of Nell. I hope you will not judge me based just on my appearances alone."

Kagura placed her hands at the sides of the helmet where her ears were located inside. Her lips were pursed into a straight line.

"I won't."

"...... That's quite a straightforward answer from you."

"Mmm, it's because you're in a situation similar to mine. Take for example this coat of mine."

He insisted on wearing the old black ceremonial clothes instead of the white ones issued to him by

Tenketsu Palace

. He had no option but to do so due to the mateki in his body. Even so, it was still difficult for him to get used to the strange stares from others. Since he can understand those feelings, he will not allow himself to judge others based on looks.

"...... You're right."

Kagura nodded her head as she said that bitterly.

"In that case, I guess the two of us are actually quite similar—"

Just as she was saying that.

"Ah, n-nothing of that sort! You haven't even gained the slightest bit of recognition from me! I am still treating you with a clear sense of wariness and animosity!"

"I know. Also, I'll only be practicing for a maximum of an hour before heading back to my room."

Just then— the silent Monica lifted her head. Her gaze was fixed on the twin swords placed on the bench.

"Since you've brought them here, it means you're planning to participate in the training?"

"The doctor told me it's okay to swing my swords for an hour or so."

He thought of his twin swords which were made of brilliantly shining purple crystals. He grabbed hold of the unsheathed swords to reaffirm their feel in his hands.

After much begging to his main doctor, he finally obtained permission to undergo training after many difficulties. Despite the fact that there was still a long way to go before he could join in the mock battles, he had at least obtained permission to swing his swords by himself.

The reason for doing that was because he could no longer do nothing after seeing Ymy's performance yesterday.

"It is quite a waste to use that precious hour to train under the dark skies as the sun will be out in about two to three hours time...... Then again, you will probably be found out by Instructor Yumelda if you do that. Should that happens, the length of your training will probably not be limited to just an hour."

"That's right. That's why I must stretch myself now."

He grabbed onto one of the swords with his left hand, and lifted the other horizontally with his right—

He slashed the right sword at the air at the exact same time as he breathed. The purplish glowing sword cleaved the emptiness before him in two as though it was parting the sea.

It was as precise as an accurate scale.

He could feel the weight of the molecules of air and the specks of dusts via the edge of the blade.

— That feels pretty good.

The 'restrain' and the 'release' of his strength were good enough to allow him to accurately sever a drop of water with his blade. The actualization of that was due to his well-trained nervous system as well as his mental state. Both of them were of no difference compared to their state two weeks ago when he was not yet hospitalized.

— What about moving?

His brain questioned his body.

Despite the slow responses of his muscles, which was purely due to a temporal slackness caused by a long period of rest. And once he knew his responses were dulled, he could come up with the correct countermeasures.

— No problem.

After realizing the problem, Sheltis stomped against the ground and flew towards the air. With three diagonal slashes from the right sword and two horizontal cleaves from the left, he cut out the ideal paths for the blades.

"Ha!"

He swung the twin swords hard in the air.

Horizontal sweeps, cleaves, heavy slashes and uppercuts.

After sketching out the ideal paths in his mind, he began implementing the movements one by one. Scars of the air - vacuums resulting from the slashing of the emptiness - appeared before him, and before they could disappear completely, new vacuums were etched by the other sword. His movements were swift and sharp. The audience was rendered breathless from his swordplay which flashed past their eyes.

After swinging the final move, he leaped forward and landed at the ground faraway in front of him—

*Biki*

"...... Ouch."

The pain and sounds of his body chapping reverberated in his mind.

...... So it's still too much for me to take?

He began to take in deep breaths as he pressed his hands against his temple so as to quell the burdens of his body.

"Are you okay?"

"Mmm...... looks like I have not recovered fully yet. I thought I had held myself back quite a lot already."

"You idiot, how's that holding yourself back!?"

The dumbfounded Monica crossed her arms and shot a meaningful look to the young girl beside her.

"What do you think?"

"...... I should have prepared video cameras in advance. His movements are abnormal. There is no way we can catch those high-speed motions with our naked eyes."

There was a rare enthusiasm to be heard from Kagura's voice.

"What were those moves just now? Were you practicing on a predefined set of moves?"

"It's nothing as serious as what you've said. All I had done was to come up with a random set of moves in my mind before acting them out with my body."

"So those were done impromptu...... are you a freak?"

"It's not like that."

"Eh?"

"That is the minimum standard required to be able to protect the Priestesses. Actually, I don't think that's enough. If you think I am incredible as compared to the rest of the people, that's because you are comparing me against the other cadet guards."

The regular guards are a level above the cadet guards. Going a step higher are the fifty elites named the cadres guards — and they are also the candidates for the Sennenshi.

...... It's the cadres guards who pose the real challenge.

Only five Sennenshi are chosen from within the fifty cadres guards. The competition is unimaginably intense. Even Leon was just a cadres guard two years ago as well. Also, Sheltis was once among the fifty. All the cadres guards are highly skilled, and thus the intense competition between them. Sheltis has had enough experience with this three years ago.

"I see. I am indeed looking at thing from the point-of-view of a cadet guard. That also means that your words are right where I wanted them to be......"

How so?

"Sheltis, you are indeed the person of three years ago—"

Just as Kagura was saying that with an expression of praise.

*Kacha*. The sound of the safety of a gun being disengaged came from far behind their back.

"Step down!"

"Eh?"

It's already too late to warn Kagura of what was going on. Having come to that conclusion within a split second, Sheltis turned his body around and swung the twin swords in midair.

The bullet was a silenced one. From the angle of the barrel that he could faintly see, he worked out the path of the bullet.

—*Kin!*

The bullet was deflected away along with the sound of clashing metal.

"...... W-What are you two doing!?"

Kagura was the first to shout.

One of them was a dual gunner wearing a large ceremonial coat, while the other was a young girl dressed in a skirt. The badges of the regular guards were clearly visible on their left arms.

Jin and I'sa. The two people whom he had seen just yesterday were walking towards them leisurely.

"You're really something to be able to respond just from the sound of the safety disengagement."

"...... What do you mean by 'you're really something'? Attacking from the back isn't something that should be coming from a regular guard."

Kagura berated them furiously as she suppressed her shock. Her sight was focused on the jet-black pistol in the hands of the dual gunner — the barrel was still emitting thin trails of white smoke.

"Please stop with these horrible jokes of yours. I'll be reporting to the instructor for what you have done earlier—"

"Hold on, Kagura. It's not like that. They were not aiming for us."

"...... Huh? What are you talking about, Sheltis?"

"What I mean is, we were not their target."

Using the blade that he had used earlier to parry the bullet, Sheltis pointed towards the direction of the ground. It was a black trail that streaked past the turf. Judging from its direction, it would have only grazed past Sheltis, Kagura and Monica and made its way towards the trunk of the tree.

"I had deflected the bullet out of reflex. The bullet would not have hit us anyway."

"It's great that you understand. It would be troublesome for us if you complain to Instructor Yumelda or the Boss without knowing the truth."

While combing her golden twintails, I'sa pointed her fingers in their direction,

"Mmm, you've passed. I shall permit you to join us. Follow me."

It's a pass? Join them?

Sheltis looked towards Monica and Kagura in confusion, but he was met with their gazes as well. All of them must be thinking of the same things right now.

"Sorry, but I do not get what you mean."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"There is a severe defect in your conversational capabilities. I can recommend you a really good doctor. You can try again once he has you fixed."

"What's with the attitudes of you all!? To think that I have specially made my way here to find you...... Umhhh?"

"Calm down, I'sa. You're not making any sense."

After covering the mouth of the girl, the dual gunner, Jin, placed his dual pistols back into the holsters at his waist.

"Sorry for frightening you guys with that sudden snipe of mine. That was me playing along with I'sa's silly plan of 'testing your capabilities by attacking you in secret', which had resulted in what happened earlier. However, the results were within our expectations."

"What's your motive?"

Monica asked without blinking an eye.

"It's just like what I'sa had said. We are here to invite the twin sword wielder to join a group of four regular guards, which includes me and I'sa, to take on a mission."

...... Me?

Both Jin and I'sa were looking at Sheltis,

"We've lost contact with a group of cadet guards who were patrolling the nature sector about twenty-nine hours ago. We have no idea if it was a malfunction of the communication devices, or if they had encountered any sort of mishap...... the headquarters deemed it as a mishap, and had thus dispatched a rescue team. That was something that happened yesterday morning, twenty-two hours ago."

"Mmm, I heard that from Instructor Yumelda already."

The members of the team consisted of a group of cadet guards selected under a set of strict criteria. Sheltis would have been recommended as well if not for his injuries.

"That rescue team suddenly stopped responding to our calls six hours ago."

Jin's tone became stern. As for I'sa who was standing by his side, her eyes showed nervousness which was never before seen from her.

"Six hours ago, the rescue team sent a SOS signal to us. Just as

Tenketsu Palace

was about to ascertain the situation, there was a deafening roar from the other side of the speakers — and that was all we've got."

"...... Is it the Yuugenshu?"

Monica raised her head questioningly.

Despite not quite sounding like a roar, the mateki of the Yuugenshu do carry with them a strange sound. The rescue team may very well have encountered a strong Yuugenshu.

"No. The analysis team is currently analyzing the sound, but it seemed to be different from the mateki of the Yuugenshu. To add on, it does not sound like the cry of a harmful beast."

I'sa replied as she combed her cascading hair with her fingers.

"In other words, the cause of their mishap is unknown. The rescue headquarters has deemed the situation to be serious, and has thus decided to dispatch an official team which comprises of regular guards and apprentice-Priestesses for the rescue mission. I'sa and I are summoned to the team."

"...... I now understand what is going on, but why are you inviting me into an official team?"

For an official team which comprises of regular guards and above, there are cases where the cadet guards will be allowed to join the team to train and study under them. However, it is rare for that to happen when it comes to an important mission like this.

"This is a good opportunity for you to learn."

Jin continued calmly without any change in his expression.

"

Tenketsu Palace

is in need of outstanding guards. Back during the two-man team battle...... I'sa and I could not understand why we had to fight against the cadet guards. However, we've finally understood the reason behind Instructor Yumelda's request. With your skills, you should be promoted to a regular guard in no time."

"If that's the case, then it will be good for you to amass some experience, isn't it so?"

On one side was the calm and collected Jin, and on the other was I'sa with her haughty smile. Despite the vast differences in their attitudes, Sheltis could not detect any malice coming from them.

"Did someone recommend me? People like Instructor Yumelda, for example."

"You must think it's strange, but the answer is no. Neither the instructors nor the Sennenshi have interfered in this. The team originally consisted of only the two of us, but I'sa mentioned you suddenly."

"J-Jin! You don't have to tell him that!"

The young girl hastily nudged the sides of the dual gunner with her elbow.

"It's you?"

"...... Uhh, fine. Since Jin has revealed it already, I might as well as be honest about it."

I'sa stretched out her finger and pointed towards Sheltis with a lofty smile on her face.

"Listen up. I really hate losing. Ever since our horrible defeat in that team battle, I have been dying to have a rematch with you. The reason for inviting you to the rescue team is so that you can see for yourself just how much I've improved — and you have to thank me for that. There's not much chance for a cadet guard to be part of a team that consists of regular guards."

"But, like I had said earlier, I am still recuperating."

"It sure doesn't look like it from the way you were swinging your swords earlier on...... Putting the jokes aside, the mission is practically done with with me and Jin in the team. All you need to do is to be in charge of the records and communications. If that's the case, then there's no need for you to be personally involved in it."

...... So she has planned out everything already.

Her proposal made Sheltis really happy. Having been ostracized by the other cadet guards and put in a situation where he could not join any squad, he had never expected the regular guards to invite him into their team.

"...... Thanks."

"It's decided then. Go get yourself prepared, we'll be setting off in an hour."

"But forgive me for rejecting your offer this time."

"Eh?"

I'sa blinked her jade-colored eyes.

"The doctor had specially instructed me not to take part in any training before my recovery...... Moreover, I've something urgent to attend to, which may take up a lot of my time."

And so, I'm sorry — Sheltis shrugged his shoulders slightly in apology.

"Looks like it is really not fated to be. Let's go, I'sa."

"It can't be helped. Whatever, we'll definitely defeat you in the next team battle so that you'll be convinced of our strength. Make sure your body is completely healed before that happens."

After flashing a meaningful wink at Sheltis, I'sa flipped her skirt as she made a half-turn and chased up to Jin in a light jog.

After watching their backs disappear from their sights—

"When you were talking about the urgent matter, were you referring to me analyzing the Yuugenshu?"

Kagura broke the silence with her question.

"That's one of the reasons. It's also because Monica had just invited me into her squad. Under these situations, it will be too selfish of me to join the team of others and leave Kagura to analyze the Yuugenshu by yourself."

"Of course. I will definitely not help someone as selfish as that."

Kagura turned her body away after saying that.

"Hmm? Where are you heading to, Kagura?"

"The research laboratory. Since the matter on the Yuugenshu is really urgent...... I'll not make you wait longer for it. Ahh, it's not like my opinion of you has improved due to what had just happened. It's simply me wanting to beat Eyriey, that's all. Please do not get the wrong idea."

Kagura left without looking back.

"...... So I still cannot win her trust after all?"

"At the very least, it is much better than when she first met you. But that's quite the problem. I have no idea if she will be joining the squad with the way things are going."

Monica was putting on a complicated expression as she crossed her arm. Sheltis has no idea if that was her feeling troubled or at ease.

"We'll have to think of a way for you to gain her trust.."

"...... You're right."

As he could not bring himself to look straight into Monica's face, Sheltis turned his head away lightly instead.

Telling her his past in order to obtain Kagura's trust...... is something that can never be done. He'll spark a huge uproar should the existence of a young man who possess mateki in his body due to falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

come into light.

But on the other hand, they will not be able to get the minimum number of members required for the squad should he fail to obtain Kagura's trust. If that's the case, he will not gain access to the missions required to be promoted to a regular guard — he was at a loss of what to do.

"...... What should I do?"

Without any concrete ideas in his mind, the only thing Sheltis could do was to raise his head and stare at the sky blankly.

***

*Ku...... u......*

Rays of the sun shone through the stained glass. The rays were dyed with the colors of the glass, resulting in the pure white corridor being decorated by the multicolored lights.

The well-lit corridor was spacious and silent.

The two hundred and ninetieth story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Out of the two hundred and ninety one stories of the sky-scraping tower, it is the level which is located directly below the floor of < >. It is only accessible via an elevator that serves certain special floors, including those where the Priestesses live in.

"...... It's so quiet."

The silence was absolute and overbearing. The corridor was dead quiet, and the air was clear and transparent.

It was as if sound dreaded that solemn space.

"...... It's really quiet."

Ymy walked along the lengthy corridor as she listened to her murmurs echo in the passageway.

There is only a single named room on this vast floor.

Queen Salah's < >.

It's the room that belongs to the Queen, the holder of the absolute position within

Tenketsu Palace

— a private room where the Queen can rest herself sufficiently during the three day rest period after praying for Hyouketsu Kyoukai for nearly a month.

The place is rarely visited even by the Priestesses. Meimel claimed that she will visit the place occasionally due to 'private matters', but this was only the second time that Ymy was here.

...... My heart is beating so fast.

There may be some who may laugh at her if she as a Priestess was nervous about coming to this place. However, just like how the residents of the living sector see the Priestesses as the embodiments of holiness, the Priestesses revere the Queen from the bottom of their hearts. It is no easy task to pray for the barrier continuously for a month — and it is because that they know for themselves just how difficult and painful that was, that the Queen became the person whom the Priestesses yearn to emulate.

At the end of the corridor.

What stood before her was a giant metallic door that made her raise her head subconsciously to view it. Aside from being coated in a bright silver color like that of mercury, the door was decorated in the colors gold and sky-blue all over.

"Sorry for interrupting."

Ymy made a deep bow in front of the door and placed her hand on the lock.

"Authenticating...... connection to Shinryoku Authority Bureau normal...... checking...... match found of the wave pattern of shinryoku............ verifying......

Verified to be fifth Priestess - Ymy Ele Soufflenictole."

The only key that can open that door is the wave pattern of shinryoku. The door will not react to anyone other than the five Priestesses and their Sennenshi, as well as the few attendants.

*Gi......* The door opened from both sides along with a solemn sound.

On the other side of the door was a dazzling blue sky.

Three of the four sides of the room were surrounded by glass walls, and beyond those walls is the sky two thousand meters off the ground.

Even though the room was located in the center of the tower, Ymy could somehow see the skies through the walls. However, her inquiry was soon drowned by the majestic scene of the sky before her.

The room was paved with a pure white carpet.

The daily necessities are kept on a small table in a corner and in a wardrobe. That was nothing surprising, considering the fact that the room will only be used for three days every month. However, the room was a bit too empty in contrast with the solemn and magnificent image of the Queen.

There was only a large canopy bed in the middle of the room.

The canopy with drapes flowing down from above was made out of pale red lace. Next to it was a layer of translucent cloth with frills on the sides.

There was a silhouette of a person behind the sheer cloth.

"Good afternoon, Ymy. Sorry for making you wait."

"N-Not at all! I am the one who should be sorry...... for interrupting your rest!"

Ymy replied respectfully when she heard the voice of the Queen.

...... What to do what to do!?

She had cleanly forgotten the words that she had prepared earlier. All she could do was to squeeze out those awkward words from her mouth.

"There is no need for you to be prudish."

*kuku*

The silhouette of the Queen trembled slightly behind the lace canopy.

"Please take a seat. The chair is over there. Feel free to help yourself to the water in the teapot should you be thirsty."

"A-Alright. Thank you."

Ymy finally settled down after hearing the surprisingly easy-going speech from the Queen....... though it may be just the Queen acting in consideration of her. Still, it is hard for her to get used to pompous speech.

Speaking of which.

— Queen Salah's voice sounds surprisingly young?

Perhaps it is because Ymy was used to hearing her stately voice in official situations. Upon conversing with the Queen privately in a relaxed manner, the Queen sounds much younger than usual. No, actually, it is more accurate to say that she sounds more innocent. Probably around the age of twenty...... no, perhaps even younger——?

"Oh. Ymy."

"Yes."

"Your speech was excellent. The event was really lively."

"............ Eh!?"

She exhaled the breath that she had held in her lungs due to her nervousness.

"W-Wha...... D-Did you see everything, Queen Salah!?"

"Mhmm. From this very room."

...... T-That's so embarrassing.

My cheeks are so hot, and my ears must be red as well.

"T-That...... was just me being too full of myself."

"Not at all. I thought it was a really important inspiration from you — but let's not talk about that for now." Behind the sheer cloth, the silhouette of the Queen was getting up slowly

"You have something that you want to discuss with me, don't you?"

"Y-Yes!"

Ymy was snapped back to reality in an instant. It was just as if the Queen had seen through her thoughts. She straightened her back on reflex.

"I am the only other person here, so feel free to speak your mind."

"...... Alright."

Ymy tried to calm herself down by grabbing onto the vestment in front of her chest. The questions that she wanted to ask and the things that she wanted to know. It would be a month before she can see the Queen again should she miss the chance to do so now. She had to clear her queries right away.

"If you may, please tell me everything about mateki."

"That's surprising. To think that you, a Priestess, would like to know more about the mateki. What do you wish to know about it?"

She could feel the gaze of the Queen through the translucent canopy.

"...... If someone is to possess mateki within his body, would there be anyway to purify it?"

"The baptism shinryoku arts that can purify mateki — is it not the art that you excel at the most?"

"Yes. But......"

She stared at her fingers that were placed on her chest.

White fingers with sakura-colored nails. A month ago, those fingers were dyed with her own blood.

"Strange...... Why...... can't both of us...... do something as simple...... as holding hands......"

The boy that I was yearning for had finally returned. I wanted to hug him out of joy — however, despite reuniting after being apart for two years, the two of us could not even touch each other.

Elbert Resonance. The intense pain brought about by the sparks that injured both of us and what was close to driving me crazy — it is the result of the repulsion of my shinryoku and his mateki.

Two weeks ago, the

machine crystal

said this.

"...... There's only one explanation for that."

"Ymy, you are in possession of the strongest shinryoku out of the five Priestesses. The reason why you're the only person to repel Sheltis...... is because your shinryoku is too powerful."

The night before Sheltis headed off to the

Floating Archipelagos

. I had finally realized the fact that Elbert Resonance will only occur between me and him.

...... That......

...... Is just too cruel.

"It is mateki that I cannot purify given my current self."

The overly powerful mateki and shinryoku. Even my baptism spells were rejected by the repulsion of the two forces. After thinking over it for a long time, I realized that the Queen may be my only hope.

"If that's the case, then why don't you seek the help of the other Priestesses?"

"...... I've thought about that before as well."

I am the only one who is repulsed by Sheltis' mateki.

If Syun-rei is willing to spend the time to cast the baptism spells patiently, she may be able to do just that. However......

"I hope to do it myself."

That's right, I want to be the one to remove the mateki in him.

— Did Sheltis hear the speech that I gave yesterday?

The reason he wants to become a Sennenshi is because of me.

If so, then how should I go about to answer his feelings?

I hate waiting while doing nothing. I wish I can repay Sheltis' feelings myself.

And that is precisely why I must live up to my responsibilities...... I hope I can become a Priestess who Sheltis can be really proud of, and not just in name alone.

— To become a real Priestess of Baptism.

"I think there must be a way. Queen Salah may have the answer to it."

"How very intriguing. Let's set aside the possibility of me knowing the answer to your question for now. It seems like you are dead certain that a method to eradicate the mateki exists."

"— My confidence is based on

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

."

She stared straight into the gaze of the Queen through the sheer cloths.

"I...... noticed it at the Grand Holy Hall. I have also personally experienced how shinryoku and mateki will repulse each other. However—

Despite being mateki as well, the

Seventh True Rhythm

was not repulsed by the doors of the Grand Holy Hall."

She still could not forget that very moment.

Back when

Tenketsu Palace

was under the assault of Yuugenshu, Syun-rei and herself were surrounded by them. The scene in which Sheltis' voice had opened the doors of the Grand Holy Hall, even though it was originally rejecting mateki.

"Mateki and shinryoku...... will repulse one another. However, I do not think that is all there is to it. It seems like there exist secrets of the mateki and shinryoku which even the Priestesses do not know."

"If that's the case, then the

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

may possess certain special properties as well. Is that what you are thinking?"

"...... Yes."

Silence.

After what felt like an eternity, the Queen behind the drapes spoke once more,

"Here's my conclusion: the possibility is almost zero. The reason is that the current

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

is something that is 'rearranged' to become the exclusive shinryoku melody for Queen Salah, who is me."

"Rearranged?"

"There is no need for you to think too hard into it. It will be difficult for me to explain everything to you clearly even if I have the whole night to do so. Moreover, there exists other possibilities within you."

Other possibilities?

It was something that is hard for her to comprehend. There should be no other methods to remove the mateki in Sheltis' body other than

Seventh Heaven Rhythm

.

"Is that true!? Then what—"

"Ymy, I know you are very anxious about it, but please do not forget your standing as a Priestess. As the fifth Priestess — as the Priestess of Baptism, you will have to be more adept at the baptism arts than anyone else...... do you understand what I am trying to say?"

"...... Ah."

Her emotions calmed down gradually.

...... As the Priestess of Baptism, you will have to discover the method yourself.

That was what the Queen was implying.

"...... I am very sorry."

"Fufu, it's nothing. It has been a year since you have became a Priestess. Meimel has been praising how hardworking you are. She is not one who praises others easily, you know?"

Meimel?

If she remembers right, Meimel frequents this floor......

"Speaking of which. I have a question for you, Ymy."

"S-Sure. May I know what it is?"

"Nothing of great importance— ah, I've said this earlier. Feel free to drink from the teapot. This room is a little dry."

"I will not hold myself back then."

...... Thank goodness. Ymy's throat and lips were parched from her nervousness.

Ymy took the swan-shaped glass teapot and poured the water into a glass on the table. She tipped the glass to her mouth as she enjoyed the cool touch of the glass.

"Ymy, what is your relationship with Sheltis Magna Yehle?"

"~~~~~~~~~~!?"

She spat out the water in her mouth.

"Ku...... Ka...... Kha...... W-What do you mean by that?"

"He's the one who you want to treat, isn't that so? You wish to remove the mateki in his body. Are you harboring that thought as a Priestess? Or as a girl?"

"So...... you know about him?"

"It's another thing if we are talking about people who are infected by mateki. However, there is only one person on the floating continent who possesses mateki within him."

Indeed. The Queen knows everything. In another words, she had no option but to be clear about her stand.

"Both applies to me...... I think."

"Both as a Priestess and as a girl?"

Ymy nodded her head in silence. The Queen should be able to see that clearly from behind the drapes.

...... I may be scolded by her.

...... However, I will never give up these feelings of mine, regardless of the situation.

As someone who cannot abandon my own personal feelings, I may be seen as an incompetent Priestess.

"Your feelings are nothing commendable, but it's not like it is something bad either."

"Eh? Ah......"

"You thought you'd be scolded by me? Your thoughts are written clearly on your face."

On the other side of the translucent drapes, the Queen was smiling gently as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"What I cannot accept is someone who neglects the responsibilities of a Priestess due to the excessive concerns she has for someone. That is all. One does not have to abandon her own feelings just because she is a Priestess. The two are not the same."

"H-Ha...... Right."

The Queen was rather abstract with her words. She could not discern from the Queen's tone if she was lecturing, admonishing or praising her.

"Then again, it would be too cruel of me to leave you clueless. I shall grant you a key to unlock the possibility within you."

— The possibility in me?

— A key?

"Ymy, do you know about Syun-rei's art of < >?

"Ah...... I do. It is an art to see the 'forms' of a person's shinryoku."

"Mhmm. Just as you've already knew, each and every Priestess has different arts in which they excel in. Yours is the baptism-type which can purify mateki, while Meimel's the barrier-type which allows her to deploy her shinryoku over a large area. And as for territorial-type which includes far-sight and telepathy — in another words, extra-sensory systems, Syun-rei is the most capable out of you all."

The arts in which they excel in.

There are some Priestesses who can use some unique spells within their excelled systems.

Syun-rei, the youngest Priestess of them all, is one of them.

"Syun-rei's < > can see the 'forms' of our shinryoku in each and every one of us. The 'form' represents our nature. I believe you had gotten her to take a look at yours as well, did you not?"

"...... Meimel told me about it on the day I became a Priestess, so I had Syun-rei to take a look at it."

Shinryoku are waves of miracles granted to humans at birth, and closely related to their spirits.

Its shape will represent the image of a person — that was what Meimel had said.

"In any case— whenever she looks at the 'form', it is equivalent to her peeking at the heart of the person. Syun-rei uses that ability to determine who she can trusts.

...... Under the restraints and shackles of her anthropophobia, her gifted ability provides her with a way of survival.

And then she finally found it. Out of more than a thousand guards, she found the 'form' of shinryoku that can accept her warmly, and was as brilliant as the sun — the holder of the < >.

And that person is Leon.

That is the reason why Syun-rei chose Leon to be her Sennenshi."

"So, did Meimel reveal her 'form' to you as well?"

"Yes....... I remember it was the < >."

No one knows for sure the criteria for her judgement.

However, Syun-rei is not a girl who lies. That must be what Meimel's shinryoku looks like her eyes.

"So returning back to the topic, do you still remember your 'form'?"

"O-Of course I do! Meimel told me I must never forget it. And so, in my own spells......"

ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris

In the opening sequence when she activates her shinryoku — the word '

Arma-Riris

' was entrusted within them. [TLNote: Amaryllis is a species of flowers, wiki link

here

]

That is my image.

"It's a flower bud, isn't it?"

"Yes."

On the day when she got Syun-rei to look at her own 'form', Syun-rei was carrying with her a herbarium.

"............ Ymy's 'form' is a flower bud."

"............ It looks very much like the bud of this flower."

Amaryllis — a tiny flower with crimson petals.

Much brighter than roses, and much purer than flames. That is how authentic its redness is.

"Ah...... B-But Queen Salah, what does that have to do with me?"

"You will know in the future — when your spirit grows and your image blossoms."

The Queen sounded just like an encouraging mother.

"You will take a few detours along the way, but there is only one thing which I can say — Ymy, make the possibility which belong to you bloom. That is the only way for you to fulfill your wish."

"I will put it to heart."

...... So a method does exist?

It all sounds very abstract — however, it did not seem like Queen Salah was lying just to give her hope. If so, there must be other ways of purifying the mateki in Sheltis.

That knowledge itself was a huge gain in this visit. As long as she knew there is hope...... she will be able to hang on no matter how difficult the path would be in the future.

"Thank you very much. I feel much better now."

"It is great to be of help to you. I am looking forward to your performances in the future."

"Yes. I shall be taking my leave."

Ymy gave a deep bow before leaving the < >.

After the Priestess with pale golden hair had left the room.

"Phew......"

Queen Salah — the lady who was named as such heaved a loud sigh.

It was a voice which makes one think of the tender green leaves. Her voice was much more childish compared to the one used in official situations or when she was talking to Ymy earlier — it was the voice of a young girl.

"It's tough. It was really tough picking the right time to tell her."

She sighed as she stretched her arms to lift the sheer drapes of the canopy. Her eyes narrowed in response to the blinding rays of the sun. She then placed the drapes down again.

"It's still so bright outside...... I was thinking of going to the large bath, but I will probably garner lots of unwanted attention should I go at a time like this. Looks like I have no choice but to wait until the sky is dark."

In any case, she could hardly move her body due to the fatigue from praying for Hyouketsu Kyoukai for a month. She would have to rest a while longer.

"I'll rest until the night."

Salah laid herself back on the bed as she murmured that.

{2}

Eleventh story of

Tenketsu Palace

, dormitory of the cadet guards.

"Next, question number thirty-two. Please answer this question by putting yourself in the shoes of a Yuugenshu. You are now a Yuugenshu that has just broken past the barrier and is now attacking the floating continent. What will your very first targets be: humans or buildings?"

"...... Probably not humans."

"Question number thirty-three. Your reason for that?"

"That's how most of the Yuugenshu I have seen acted."

"Which means to say you are speculating based on similar happenings? Well then, question number thirty-four—"

"W-Wait! Let me rest for a while. Also, there are questions that I want to ask you as well!"

While sitting on a chair, Sheltis raised his hands up to interrupt the young girl who was keying in data at high speed.

"If you wish to ask me things pertaining to my questions, then I am sorry to say that I cannot answer. Feel free to ask me anything else."

The young girl in front of him — Kagura, remained staring at the screen. She continued to type on the keyboards of the computers with her nimble fingers while conversing with him.

"Urm...... how much longer till it is over?"

"Just like I had said earlier on, I will have to amass a certain amount of data before I can use them as references to derive the patterns of the movements of Yuugenshu."

"I have already been answering your questions for one whole hour."

"It's because you are always hesitating with your answers. Monica only took half of the amount of time you used. Isn't that right, Monica?"

Kagura turned towards the direction of the girl with sakura-colored hair, who nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah. Though my questions were different from yours. I answered them all with my gut feelings."

"That's right. You have yet to hypnotize yourself as a Yuugenshu, Sheltis. You have to integrate yourself into the role better."

"...... I'll try my best."

He took a deep breath and braced himself.

It all began when he was done with his dinner on the thirty-sixth story of the tower and had returned back to his room.

Kagura and Monica barged into his room at just the right time, and that was how the lengthy conversation started. Since it was something related to his request to Kagura, Sheltis was more than willing to help. However, it was a little draining to answer questions for an hour straight.

"Rest time's over. Question number thirty-four. Please answer this question by putting yourself in the shoes of a Yuugenshu. To your left is a fallen beauty, and to your right is a stout swordsman with a sword in his hand. Who will you attack?"

"...... That's a difficult one."

In the end—

It was two hours later when Kagura finally stopped her hands from keying in any more data.

"That should be roughly it. It's been hard on you."

"It's over?"

"Yes. I am now doing the fine-tuning, so I no longer require any more assistance from the two of you. Thank you for your help too, Monica."

Kagura informed them simply before directing her attention back to the screen. Even though her eyes were hidden beneath the visors, it felt like she did not even blink her eyes once.

"That was really long."

"It's not my fault."

Sheltis sighed in response to Monica's pitying smile and sat on the bed.

Different from Kagura's laboratory which is of a decent size, his room was built specifically for the cadet guards' use. Not only was the place small, there were also not enough chairs for the three of them.

"Sorry for looking around...... but this room feels very neutral in terms of gender," said Monica as she scanned the room enthusiastically.

"Well, my room......"

"Actually, Monica's room is much emptier. Since she owns very little cosmetics or casual clothes, she does not need much space to store them."

"—U...... Uh!?"

Monica was rendered speechless momentarily from the words of the sharp-eared Kagura.

"K-Kagura! How about you focus on your analysis instead of wasting your time talking about other people's room? Didn't you boast that you will have the results ready by today?"

"I am done with it."

Thousands of lines of characters gushed on the screen like waves. When the characters vanished, what was left on the screen were the words 'Analysis Results'.

"How's it?"

"— Simply put, it's 'an unexpected result that is within expectations'. I'll print it out."

The printer on the desk was activated immediately as Kagura touched the screen with her finger. Two sets of two-page data were printed within seconds.

"Here. Please take a look at it, Sheltis and Monica."

"Urm...... the first page is filled with mathematical formulas. Are those the calculation results?"

The whole paper was filled to the brim with formulas. It was not just filled with equal and unequal signs, but also with other mathematical symbols which Sheltis has never seen before.

"That's right. To explain it in laymen's terms, this is what I meant by 'an unexpected result that is within expectations'. One can understand how illogical the actions of Yuugenshu are after taking a look at this data. They have strayed far from human logic."

After printing a copy of the data for herself, Kagura pointed at the top of the sheet and continued,

"For example, what would the Yuugenshu attack first — humans or buildings? If it is humans, then would the priority be on the adults or the children? The males or the females? Also, who would have a higher chance of being attacked — those who wear red or those who wear yellow? As for the buildings, would the hotels be prioritized, or would it be the office buildings? I have asked both Sheltis and Monica questions like these earlier, and the conclusion that I've obtained is that they are 'totally undependable'."

"The answers from both of us?"

"Yes. I can see a certain trend from both answers. For example, Monica will give priority to the stronger opponents, while Sheltis will tend to choose foes that are easier to defeat. However, the Yuugenshu do not have any inclinations of that sort. It's like they are picking their targets by chance."

"Since they do not choose their targets, it means that they are attacking at random?"

"That's the most problematic part. We cannot assume that."

Beneath her visor, Kagura continued with a serious tone,

"How should I put it...... I feel that certain rules do exist among the Yuugenshu, although they are something unknown to us and cannot be converted to a mathematical model for now. Then again, that view has long been discussed to death in past researches."

"Meaning to say, there is nothing we can do until we discover their rules?"

"Not quite."

Kagura's mysterious smile deepened.

It was as if she was waiting for him to say that all this time.

"In any case, I'll explain it later. Do not think about it for now. Let us go straight to the second page."

Both of them flipped to the second piece of paper as she urged.

Different from the earlier form of presentation, the next page was a diagram filled with lots of colorful symbols. There were plenty of red ▲ markings scattered all over the map of the floating continent. There were also blue lines connecting various parts of the floating continent together.

...... What an intriguing diagram.

The red ▲ and the blue lines. It was hard to locate areas where the red and blue intersect — perhaps it was because of the difference in the data used and represented.

"You should have already realized that this is the map of the floating continent. The red ▲ symbols represents areas where the Yuugenshu has appeared twice or more. And then...... based on those results, the blue lines show the possible areas where the Yuugenshu can show up in the future."

"Hold on, Kagura. I have a question. Since those red ▲ represents areas of high frequency, wouldn't it be more logical to view those areas as the possible places where the Yuugenshu will appear next?"

"Past data means nothing when we are dealing with the Yuugenshu."

Kagura's voice was filled with an absolute confidence in reply to Monica's question.

"The areas with two or more occurrences are probably nothing more than just pure coincidences. What I did was to go against the thought patterns of humans — first, I assumed that the choices made by Sheltis, Monica and I are good enough to represent those made by a majority of humans. I then keyed in totally opposite results into the database for analysis."

"...... And was it successful?"

"How could that be?"

Kagura was quick to dismiss her actions.

"Ultimately, the computer is designed to analyze, following rules set by human beings. God knows the number of times messages like 'formulation error' and 'error: calculations exceeded predefined settings' have occured — that's right, everything was within my expectations. It would be problematic if they weren't."

Her voice was filled with an enthusiasm and emotions previously unseen from her.

And a self-confidence which they never knew of.

"The trails of the blue lines represent the areas where the errors occurred. After hundreds and thousands of errors, a boundary is then formed by connecting all the unknown areas together."

Beyond the boundaries of human logic.

Beyond the settings of the man-made computers.

Forcing the occurrences of the illogical results and stringing them together to form an unknown boundary line. So that was what Kagura had came up with — was that her interpretation of the rules of the

Garden of Corrupted Song

in which the Yuugenshu resides in?

"Along the blue line are a few areas marked by the symbol ●. They are places where it took the most effort to filter out — simply put, they are places with the highest 'illogical' ratio."

"...... There are five in total."

Two in the nature sector, and three in the

ecosystem-conservation sector

.

Those are the possible places where the Yuugenshu may appear at.

"And that concludes my explanation. Despite the short amount of time, I did this with all of my sincerity. I will answer any queries which you may have."

"I know nothing about the technical aspects of the report."

Sheltis looked straight at Kagura as he grabbed onto the papers tightly.

"But thank you. I'll make sure the data is put to good use."

"Alright. But like I had said earlier, I will only help you once. I did it because of Eyriey and Monica. Please do not assume I will be providing you with any more assistance."

"...... You sure are strict."

"I can reconsider things if you are willing to answer 'that question'...... Putting that aside, what are you planning to do, Monica? Will you be accompanying Sheltis in his quest to verify my analysis results? I'll remind you now that this is not within the domains of missions. Not only will you not receive any reward points, there is also a high possibility that you will be doing it all in vain."

Kagura's doubts were harsh but reasonable.

It was Sheltis who had requested for the analysis, so Monica has no obligation to participate in the verification of the results. Rather than to waste her time on things like this, it would be much better for her to clear some missions and earn reward points.

...... Monica should be aiming to get herself promoted to the ranks of regular guard as quickly as possible.

He glanced at her quietly — Sheltis then held his breath due to his surprise from what he saw.

...... Monica was actually smiling?

"I'll follow Sheltis wherever he goes."

The girl nodded, and her long sakura-colored hair swayed along with her action.

A barely noticeable smile appeared on the edge of her lips.

"To the cadet guards, this may be something unrelated to the missions. However, I invited Sheltis into the squad because I want to be promoted to the regular guards together with him. I am willing to do it."

"...... Do you really believe in Sheltis?"

"Well, it is just like how Kagura believes in me."

"............"

The silence from Kagura was longer than any of her previous ones.

"...... I am very interested about my analysis results as well."

She crossed her arms in slight frustration.

"It is not like me to just provide you two with the data and leave the rest of the work in your hands. Sheltis, call me before heading out on the investigation. I will be coming along as well."

"Are you okay with that?"

"I would not come along if

my friend

was not going. Moreover, I was planning to personally verify my research as well. And should the Yuugenshu appear in the predicted areas...... though I am not dying to see them, it would prove that my theory is right."

Kagura turned around.

"Well then, I'll be going off now. It's already late into the night...... oops......"

Her body suddenly leaned towards her side.

"Kagura?"

"I-It's alright, Monica. I'm just...... very tired from staying awake and focusing for thirty-three consecutive hours."

She stood up wobbly and pressed her hand against the table at her side to regulate her breathing.

"Geez, you've not changed a bit."

"Mmm. I'll take a snooze after a hot water bath."

Under the supervision of Monica who was putting on a wry smile, Kagura walked slowly through the corridor. Sheltis could not help but to knit his eyebrows as he looked the sight of her frail back.

"...... Somehow, I feel really apologetic when I see her like this."

Thirty-three hours. The time period mentioned by Kagura was the time difference from when he first met her until their separation not too long ago. In other words, Kagura was focused on the job of analysis without having taken a rest ever since she had accepted his request.

...... Though she seemed so unwilling to at the beginning.

"I am already used to it. That is just how she is. Speaking of which, what should we do with this?"

Monica shut the door quietly. Her hands was still holding onto the two pieces of paper given to her by Kagura.

"There is no need to hurry. But since we've already obtained the data, should we visit one of the spots?"

"Let's begin from the place closest to us."

The blue trail that was sketched on the map of the floating continent. The areas on it that were not marked by ▲ are the places predicted by Kagura to be where the Yuugenshu would be appearing next.

Two of those places are located in the nature sector, while three are in

ecosystem-conservation sector

. And the place closest to them is—

"Sector four in the western area of the nature sector huh...... it's not close to us, but not far away either. Too close to travel to by aircraft, but it would take around five to six hours by the transport vehicles of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"We can treat it as a sightseeing trip. It's a giant plain, which makes it perfect for an outing."

As Monica stared at the data, Sheltis booted up the terminal that was installed in his room for the guards' use. After keying in the ID on his badge and the password, he began applying for a four-seater transport vehicle through the Law Enforcement Bureau.

Monica watched from behind him as he was doing all that. She then suddenly pulled her face close to his.

"Oh, did Eyriey contact you or something? There is something I am quite concerned about."

"If you are talking about the same thing which I requested of Kagura, I have not received any notification yet. She said that the checks on the

machine crystal

were very time-consuming, so we may have to wait a while longer."

Did you just think of something— Monica stared hesitantly into blank space when Sheltis asked her that question.

"Well, what I am concerned about is...... it would be for the best if Eyriey and Kagura's analysis results were the same. However...... I apologize for saying this, but the possibility of that is extremely low."

"Perhaps."

It's not hard to see the reasoning behind Monica's words.

Since he had entrusted two person with the task at the same time, there should be some differences between their analysis. If that's the case, then whose result should they trust and act on?

"Who would you believe?"

"Both of them."

Sheltis shrugged his shoulders in response to the difficult question from the young girl, and continued with a relaxed voice,

"I will verify each and every area regardless of whether it came from Kagura or Eyriey. It would be our win if we discover something. If not, I'll just view it as a case of bad luck."

"If that is what you think, we may just really have to travel around the whole continent."

Monica could not help but laugh. She then turned her body away.

"Let's part for tonight. Please contact me once you have something from Eyriey."

"Understood. Well then, good night."

The girl left the room after nodding her head in acknowledgement. When he confirmed that the sounds of her footsteps have disappeared outside his door, Sheltis directed his sight back at the terminal.

...... There was something that he did not tell Monica earlier on.

"Is this just a coincidence? If that's the case......"

He began typing into the terminal while calming down his increased heart rate.

The registration page for transport vehicles appeared on the screen. One could see a list of people in

Tenketsu Palace

who were using the transport vehicles.

"User: I'sa Isu Ishmeal

Purpose: Emergency orders (others)

Destination: Western area of the nature sector, sector four"

"It's exactly the same."

He was supporting his face with his arms. On the side of his elbow was the diagram made by Kagura, which showed patterns of where the Yuugenshu might appear next.

The five ● markings represent areas of the highest possibility. Out of which, the closest ● marking to

Tenketsu Palace

is sector four of western area of the nature sector.

In another words, the destination for the transport vehicle which he was about to apply for happened to be the same as that of the

puppeteer

and the

dual gunner

.

"Do coincidences...... really exist?"

The mission of the two is to rescue the cadet guards whom they had lost contact with, and the destination is Kagura's predicted area where the Yuugenshu will appear.

"Six hours ago, the rescue team sent a SOS signal to us. Just as

Tenketsu Palace

was about to ascertain the situation, there was a deafening roar from the other side of the speakers — and that was all we've got."

"The cause of their mishap is unknown."

"...... Unknown cause of mishap huh?"

Contact was lost with the team of cadet guards who were investigating the nature sector. The whereabouts of the first rescue team was also unknown. And now, they were dispatching the second team of regular guards which includes I'sa and Jin.

There was a sense of unrest in his heart...... he had an ominous feeling about it.

The loss of contact did not seem to be caused by the malfunctioning of communication devices. If that's the case, then what could it be? If it's neither the Yuugenshu nor the violent beasts, then—

"Hopefully, they will not get themselves into trouble."

Sheltis leaned against the back of his chair and stared into the ceiling before closing his eyes.

{3}

"Achoo! Achoo!"

Eyriey's sneezes echoed in the glamorously decorated room.

"Ah...... why the random sneezes? Is it because of the air-conditioning?"

She sniffed as she pressed her hands against her mouth.

"Or perhaps someone is talking about you."

The voice that was close to laughing came from the

machine crystal

besides Eyriey's arm. Its crystal part was connected to multiple wires where special equipment were used to measure her processing space.

"Hmm— who could that be? Yuto said she's going out, and Chef should be sleeping by now. Which leaves us Sheltis? Or perhaps Kagura's the unexpected winner?"

"There's an even more unexpected scenario: it may be both of them."

The

machine crystal

looked like she was flickering in happiness.

"Jeez. They will die of envy should they know that I am living in such a wonderful room."

She sat on the incredibly soft sofa and her body sank itself deeply into it. Her right hand was typing on the terminal. She picked up the teacup on the table with her left.

"Ah— speaking of which, this is really something. I never expect such a luxurious room to exist within

Tenketsu Palace

."

Gentle rays of light were coming from the chandeliers above her head; on the carpets were the geometric images of the leaves and vines of plants. The living room is big enough for a game of hide and seek; the bathroom was built using cream-colored rocks that were polished to be as bright as crystals. The rest of the furniture were all extravagant, with examples including the velvet curtains at the windows.

The accommodation facilities located on two hundred and forty seventh story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

It's a high-end suite that is reserved only for the VIPs from organizations like the Government Sector and etc. However, the

machine crystal

had hacked into the systems in secret and booked the room under the name of someone else and not Eyriey.

"Mmm, I love these spacious places the most. I can go all out to make machines and pile them up. My legs would not be tripped by the wires, so the incidents of short-circuiting will be reduced greatly."

"Fufu, that is just like you."

"I originally wanted to bring Yuto here as well, but she just had to go out at a time like this...... hahhhhh. Oh crap. I've relaxed myself totally after the sneeze."

She shook her head in order to resist the urge to yawn.

She had already drunk countless cups of coffee, but it looked like forty hours without any sleep or rest had finally taken its toll on her body.

"Because you have been focusing on my checkup. I am really sorry."

"Not at all — I am enjoying myself as well."

The machines required were built from scratch under the instructions of the

machine crystal

. Unconventional theories were utilized in the machines, and they were built via methods and materials that would not be used typically — all that had pleased Eyriey greatly.

It could probably be seen as a impetus of her creativity.

Strokes of inspiration on ways to improve the machines appeared in her mind one after another, as though they were flowing out of an endless fountain.

"Ah— give me a second. Let me record down the idea which had just came to my mind."

She fished out a notebook which was as thick as a dictionary from the pocket of her overalls. Its original thickness was not even half of its current width, but it had become thicker and thicker as she kept adding in more pages in between the original ones.

She slipped a memo paper in between a heavily scribbled page before writing down her ideas quickly on the black spaces.

"Oh. That's surprising?"

"You mean the notebook?"

"Yes. I thought you would record it down in some storage devices, but little did I expect it to be a book. I never knew you belong to that camp."

From the increased pitch of the tone of the

machine crystal

, she did sound rather surprised.

"It's actually very inconvenient. Moreover, I've never organized its contents before, and my writing is not pretty."

"Hmm— perhaps it is due to the inconvenience it brings. The things stored in the storage devices can be copied very easily. Though you think you have already deleted the data, it is actually still stored inside the devices. If we are talking about notebooks, there will be no one but me who can decipher the contents, especially if it is something that cannot be seen by anyone else."

"............"

"Is that weird?"

"N-Not at all! I think it's a really great idea!"

The

machine crystal

flickered in a fluster.

"Ahaha, there is no need for you to be polite with me."

"T-That's not it...... You may laugh at me since I am saying this as a machine, but I can't help myself but to think of the past when I look at you just now...... So I wandered about in the vast sea of data for a while and was lost in sadness."

"Oh? Things of the past?"

"She's a girl who's very much like you. She too would always record things down on her notebook, and her explanation was: 'It will be really embarrassing if it is seen by others'. Urm, she is a mechanic like you as well."

"Heeh?"

What an interesting mechanic. Her reason for using the notebook was exactly the same.

"Is she really like me?"

"She was totally a carbon-copy of you, right down to the looks and personality— ah, however, she is quite a muddle-head. For example, she would definitely neglect something important when she was asked to come up with a design document. In comparison, you of the current era is more outstanding than her."

"............"

Despite the calm tone of the

machine crystal

, there was no hiding for her emotions within — it sounded like she was introducing someone who is very important to her.

"She must be someone very important to Ilis, is she not?"

"She is."

After pondering on the

machine crystal

's answer repeatedly.

—Ahh, so that's the reason why Ilis requested me to perform a check on her.

"Anything wrong?"

"Nope, nothing."

Eyriey quickly retracted the smile at the corner of her lips.

...... She must have overlapped that important person......

...... Overlapped her memories of that important person with me......

The

machine crystal

did not realize it. She might have done so unknowingly.

The reason she asked me over when Sheltis was in the hospital must have been because she was very lonely, and that made her subconsciously sought someone whom she yearns to rely on, isn't it? She looked for me since I am the person who is most similar to that person.

—Jeez.

—She's such a hopelessly adorable machine, and yet is as fragile as a human at the very same time.

"There, there. Ilis is a good girl."

"Eh...... H-Hold on, Eyirey, don't touch me like that! I-It's ticklish!"

The response of the

machine crystal

was comical when her surface was caressed by Eyriey.

"Oh right, could that person be......"

"...... Yes. She is my—"

Just then.

The

machine crystal

went silent all of the sudden. The crystal portion had lost its glow as well.

"E-Eh......? Ilis? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

She thought something had gone wrong with the checkup. However, the wires were still connected to the crystal, and the screen of the computer had no problems on it as well. It looked like there was no abnormality.

"Hello— Ilis? Did you fall asleep?"

"......Ah, s-sorry. There was interesting information in the network of

Tenketsu Palace

, so I couldn't help but to get my hands on it."

"You went to retrieve data? You can't do that, Ilis. The checks will not be accurate if you continue to do things like that...... though that is what I wanted to say, but I guess you should have known that already."

In other words, the information is much more important than the current things in hand.

And it appeared deep into the night when everyone should be sound asleep?

"It seems like they are about to carry out an emergency meeting in the headquarters of the Guards Command that is established within the Law Enforcement Bureau...... The level of secrecy was actually determined by the royal decree of the Queen. It looks like the Priestesses and the Sennenshi will be participating in the meeting."

"That sounds very serious."

Even though a commoner like Eyriey has no idea about the detailed protocol, it should be no trivial matter if the Priestesses are summoned in the middle of the night — what exactly is going on here?

"Could it be the Yuugenshu?"

"Nope. They would have carried out some other special protocols should that be the case. Things are different this time round — the only thing for sure is something serious has happened. I will go and take a look."

With that, the

machine crystal

became silent once more.

### 006. Chapter 4: 1 hour — I'sa —

Here's the completed chapter. I've edited the term from "Golden Six Surfaces" to "Golden Hexahedral".

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

— Something felt wrong.

Sheltis leaped up from his bed when he was assaulted by a strange, indescribable feeling.

"...... What's going on?"

The clock on the wall showed it was three. It was not quite morning yet - it was a time that was in limbo between midnight and morning. Sheltis and the other cadet guards would not do their morning training at a time like this. That was right, everyone should still be sound asleep.

...... Why was it so noisy?

The commotion was the cause for him to wake up all of a sudden. And that was coming from outside of his room — the corridor.

It was not like there was a ruckus happening outside. Instead, people were walking with an unnaturally quiet manner as not to disturb those who were still in their dreams. Was it a squad that was setting off in the morning? No, there was way too many people for that to be true.

What is happening? The atmosphere is really heavy.

It like he was pulled into a quagmire — the atmosphere was difficult to breathe in. He had experienced that feeling countless times already. Whenever that happens, his ominous feelings always comes true.

— Let's take a look at what is going on.

He opened the door slowly.

A few people happened to pass by the door just as he opened it. One of them was a tall lady who had blended herself into the dark thanks to her blue suit. The cigarette in her mouth was burning like a phantom light.

"...... Instructor Yumelda?"

"Oh. It's you, Sheltis."

His instructor turned her head around. Behind her were several guards who were wearing pure white ceremonial clothing with the badge of regular guards sewn onto their shoulders.

— So I was right. What's happening?

There was no reason for an instructor to lead a large number of guards in the middle of the night with normal circumstances. If that was the case, then it was only during emergencies when......

"The cause of their mishap is unknown. The rescue headquarters has deemed the situation to be serious, and has thus decided to dispatch an official team which comprises of regular guards and apprentice-Priestesses for the rescue mission. I'sa and I are summoned to the team."

A sole reason appeared in his mind.

"Could it be...... Instructor!?"

"I see. Looks like I am quite unlucky to bump into you."

The Instructor put on one of her rare bitter smile and bit hard onto the end of the cigarette.

"I've no time to explain since I am on my way to a meeting...... head to the twenty-second story if you think it is something that concerns you."

Twenty-second story. That is the floor where the tower's hospital is located at, the place where he received treatment only a few days ago.

"...... Just what is going on around here?"

He could clearly feel the trembling of his clenched fists.

Sweat streaked past his cheek down towards his chin. Despite the burning sensation on his face, it felt like his spine was stung by a chill as cold as ice.

"Ugh!"

"Sheltis!"

He suppressed his urge to make his move after hearing the roar from the instructor.

"Remember this — don't you dare do anything reckless. We've already decided to send in the third squad — the team led by Sennenshi Run."

"............"

Sheltis turned his body and ran in the direction of the elevator without giving a reply.

***

He was greeted by a blinding light when the door of the elevator opened.

...... It's still lit up at a time like this?

He made his way quickly through the blinding corridor while suppressing his anxiety. After turning past the final corner that led him to the hospital's counter, what appeared before his eyes was—

The scene of countless injured guards lying in front of him.

"...... That was just appalling."

The cadet guards on the beds looked incredibly weak. Their pure white ceremonial clothing were stained with dirt while the emergency bandages were stained with fresh blood.

Hollers and instructions were flying across the room.

Doctors were flipping through medical records quickly and communicating with each other in loud voices. As for the nurses, they were dashing through the narrow pathways with both their arms filled with medical supplies.

"Move to the side! Stop blocking the way!"

Stretchers were hurriedly transported past the place he was originally standing in. Not just one, but two, three...... The numbers would be astounding if there were more stretchers that were unable to get on the elevator during the first trip.

Why have things become like this?

"What's happening......!"

He bit his lower lip and squeezed his way past the crowd and the counter. As he moved towards the treatment rooms that were located inside, he checked the injuries on each and every cadet guard he could see.

Finally.

Sheltis stopped in his tracks when he saw a dual gunner lying on a bed and a girl with her head lowered in silence as she sat quietly on the bench at the side.

"I'sa?"

"...... You're that...... dual sword wielder......"

The young girl lifted her head. Her eyes were red and puffy.

The sleeves of her ceremonial clothing were filled with holes, revealing the purplish skin beneath them — haematoma. Her legs beneath her skirt were covered with dirt as well.

However, what was surprising was the fact that she was the only person to suffer from light injuries, compared to the rest of the guards who were unable to move.

"It's...... uhh......"

The young girl was close to crying.

"...... Jin, he...... protected me......"

The comatose dual gunner was placed on a respirator.

—Mmm.

So that was the reason for the strange feeling he had when he first saw them.

"...... I don't get it. What exactly happened?"

"What happened?"

I'sa's voice rose by a pitch as she glared at him.

"What happened...... that's what I'll like to know as well............ why...... why have things become like this......"

Sheltis stared at girl silently, whose shoulders were trembling nonstop. She did not require his words now; what she need was time to calm down so she can break away from her terrified state.

I'sa regained her calm after a while.

"...... Sorry, I got emotional."

The young girl took in a deep breath to regulate her irregular breathing. What a strong girl she was — she actually suppressed her panic forcibly with pride and reasoning. Sheltis was deeply in awe of her mental fortitude.

"I should be the one apologizing. Pardon my rudeness."

"No...... you made your way here despite the early hours. Thank you."

I'sa took yet another deep breath as she gripped her left arm tightly with her right.

"You should know this by now. Jin and I were dispatched to rescue the two teams...... the team whom we initially lost contact with, as well as the first rescue team who suffered from the same fate. Both teams' communication were broken off at the same location."

"The western area of the nature sector?"

"So you did your homework......? You're right."

— Just as I've thought.

Interpreting his silence as acknowledgement, I'sa continued with much difficulty,

"It's the fourth sector, at an area that consists of large plains. The cadet guards of both teams had all collapsed there...... To be honest, we did not expect ourselves to locate them that quickly, so we all thought the mission would be an easy one."

However...... the young girl's lips began to tremble. He could detect fear in her voice; terror could be clearly seen from her drooping eyes.

"However, Jin felt that something was wrong after seeing those collapsed guards. It's quite normal to, right? I mean, both teams had collapsed on the empty plains. It's as if......"

"Someone moved them there?"

The teams were downed at another location. They were then shifted to a faraway place so as to keep the location a secret.

"Mmm. There were traces on the plains suggesting that the cadet guards were dragged from another place. We left the remaining two members behind to provide medical treatment to the collapsed guards. Jin and I then followed the trails and began our investigation........... and then............"

"We met...... a monster."

"...... What do you mean by a monster?"

Sheltis could not help but to reconfirm his doubt after hearing the strange term from the young girl.

There was nothing on the floating continent that could be classified under the term 'monster'. If they were talking about Yuugenshu - creatures that threaten the human race - they would be referred to by their name. If they were harmful beasts like dragons and etc, they will be referred to by their general species.

"Not Yuugenshu or harmful beasts, but a monster?"

"He's a human being."

"...... Wait, a human being? Three teams were defeated by a single person?"

"Mmm, that's right. But, somehow...... it somehow feels like we were not fighting against a human. It was a one-sided fight...... we could not even retaliate. We were unable to resist or defend ourselves...... You can even say it's a fight between the strong and the weak...... that's how much of a monster the opponent was."

...... How could that be possible?

The unconscious guards in the infirmary looked like they were suffering from all sorts of injuries: incisions caused by sharp weapons; contusions by what looks to be from huge iron balls; some of their bodies were filled with bruises all over as though they were thrashed about by wrestling techniques.

It was hard to imagine that a single person could deal such a wide variety of injuries.

"Can you give me more details?"

"Why do you want to know? What's the point?"

I'sa asked with self-depreciating laughter.

"Now's not the time for a cadet guard like you to take the stage. Queen Salah has already passed down the royal decree by giving orders for Run's squad to sortie...... she must have deemed the task to be beyond the means of regular and cadet guards."

The young girl laughed in disdain.

The laughter was filled with grief as well.

"...... I............ couldn't do...... anything............ Jin protected me............ and despite him collapsing right before me............ I............"

Her fist placed on top of her thighs were trembling nonstop

The young girl suddenly stood up from her chair.

"Why...... Tell me why!? I...... I too wish to have my revenge on Jin's behalf............ but why...... why am I so pathetically weak!?"

All that happened in an instant.

I'sa grabbed Sheltis by the collar of his coat and pulled him into her gaze.

"Are the regular guards...... really that useless............? Can we depend only on Sennenshi like Captain Run or the higher ranked elite guards during real times of trouble......?"

The young girl bit onto her lips in an attempt to stop herself from crying. Despite that, large tears were still falling from her eyes.

"—You know."

The young girl lowered her head while gripping onto Sheltis' collar tightly. She then continued choppily,

"...... I could not accept the results...... of our fight against you, so I told Jin it must be because luck was on your side. But do you know what Jin said to me? That idiot actually said......

'

Really? I thought it was something very interesting'......"

"Yeah, I thought it was interesting. Think about it, I'sa. If a cadet guard could defeat regular guards, then it may not be impossible for us regular guards to win against the elite guards."

"If so— don't you think we should thank the dual sword wielder for bringing us a glimmer of hope?"

"What a joke...... how can he be so certain and optimistic about it?"

The dual gunner had a respirator on his face. He was receiving treatment after suffering heavy injuries from protecting I'sa. But to Sheltis, those lines sounded like they were coming straight from the person himself.

"...... I...... I............ Why............"

Her hands on his collars were trembling weakly.

She could not stand up on her own, and yet her pride did not allow her to depend on others. Thus— the young girl could only barely support herself by grabbing onto the young man's collars tightly.

"............ Therefore."

An almost inaudible voice.

A sound as faint as a drop of rain falling onto grass.

"...... I should not be requesting the help of an outsider...... However."

The young girl took a deep breath.

"—— Please help me............ take care of Jin."

I'sa pushed Sheltis on his shoulders to move herself away from him. Her face cringed in pain from the aggravation of her injuries. She turned her wobbly body away.

The young girl then dragged herself towards the door of the infirmary.

"This is my personal problem. It's an obligation...... that's between Jin and me."

Where is she going? The answer was obvious even without asking.

She was planning to sortie.

She wanted to take on the enemy by herself despite her injuries and the fact that she could not match up against him even with the combined efforts of Jin and herself. She even agreed that she has no chance of victory, but she could not allow herself to sit around and do nothing.

"You want to take revenge for Jin?"

"...... That's none of your concern."

I'sa continued walking as she tore away the unnecessary bandages on her arm.

— I can't let things end like this.

Sheltis could understand the feelings of I'sa very well.

But...... even if I understand her feelings, can I really let her go?

Despite knowing the injuries on her body, do I still let her do as she wishes?

Or should I stop her even if it means I have to trample on her current feelings?

Or—

"...... If I can help I'sa......"

Just as he was mumbling to himself, the warning from Instructor Yumelda suddenly flashed past his mind.

"Don't you dare do anything reckless."

"...... So that's what she meant."

Sheltis put on a bitter expression when he realized the meaning behind his instructor's words.

Should the Yuugenshu attack, any unauthorized solitary actions may expose

Tenketsu Palace

and the Priestesses to danger. That's the reason why cadet guards are drafted into teams and preached the importance of working as a team.

...... If I help I'sa now.

...... I'll be creating trouble for Monica since I've already agreed to team up with her.

Should he join I'sa, they would definitely be punished severely if they failed. That would cause trouble for Monica, and he would also be further away from his goal of becoming a regular guard. That would result in his promise with Ymy becoming out of his reach.

Should I risk it to help I'sa?

...... I'll have consider it carefully.

The reason he entered

Tenketsu Palace

was so that he can fulfill his promise with Ymy. He was an irregular who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, and that had caused many inconveniences for him. He could not act recklessly, nor did he have any spare attention left to care about others.

I'sa's behavior stemmed from her own will, so it had nothing to do with him at all. Considering his current situation as well as his promise with Ymy, that should be the logical conclusion.

...... However.

"—That's...... not the point!"

Sheltis lifted his lowered head as he clenched his fists tightly.

...... I'll definitely regret it if I do not help I'sa.

Even if he managed to become a regular guard or perhaps even a Sennenshi — if he kept ignoring the troubles of others like he did today, would he be able to lift his head up high in front of Ymy when he finally achieved his goal?

...... There would be no way he could do it.

Three years ago, he was chasing the backs of the Sennenshi blindly without ever understanding the sufferings of the Priestesses as well as the responsibilities of the Sennenshi.

At the age of only fourteen, he was still too childish to understand the significance between the bonds of the Priestesses and their Sennenshi.

But things are different now.

He finally realized it was the process that was the most important in the path of becoming a Sennenshi.

"I......"

He clenched his teeth and fists as he looked at the girl who had her back to him.

"...... I had sworn I'll never repeat the mistakes I made before."

"Eh?"

I'sa turned her head around in shock when she heard his voice coming from behind her. Sheltis nodded his head hard in reply to her gaze.

...... Isn't that right, Ymy?

He would never make decisions that would put himself in shame when he finally face Ymy as a Sennenshi.

Because back then, Ymy—

"As a Priestess, I can only maintain the barrier — but I believe that everyone here can do much more things that I can possibly do.

You should not work hard all by yourselves. Rather, you should do what you can do and help others by doing so. I hope everyone can build a relation where people will help each other."

...... That was right, Ymy was the one who said that.

His childhood friend was so incredibly dazzling and honest when she voiced out her ideals calmly. She is a really kind girl.

I've decided to protect Ymy precisely because of the way she is.

So there's no reason for me to hesitate any longer.

Even if he had to take a detour after helping I'sa — even if that was not the shortest possible path in his quest to become a Sennenshi, he would still move onward bravely.

"I'sa."

"...... What?"

She knitted her eyebrows with a bewildered expression.

"You can't go."

"Ha! What's this? Are you trying to stop me? I've said earlier on that it is my problem—"

"It has to be you who takes care of Jin, no?"

"...... Well...... But what do you want me to do!? Who will take revenge for Jin if I am to stay here?"

"I'll go in your stead."

"........... What!? What are you talking about?"

"I'sa, you can stay by his side. I'll be fine by myself."

"Are you joking—"

"I'm serious."

That was his only answer.

And with that, he flashed a smile at the girl who was glaring at him. He directed his gaze towards the comatose dual gunner while the girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"It may be strange for me to be saying this now, but I was really happy when you two invited me to the mission. Even within the cadet guards, Monica is the only person who has ever said that to me — and so, thanks for inviting me."

"............ That's your reason?"

"That's very important to me, just like how important Jin is to you."

"............."

The young girl became silent.

Just as Sheltis walked past her,

"I was trying my hardest not to ask a favor from you......"

I'sa held back her sniffles. She then lifted her head suddenly.

"I was thinking, why must a regular guard like me humble herself towards a mere cadet guard...... That's the reason why I forced myself not to say it just now."

"Mmm."

He could understand her feelings very well. The girl's eyes were searching for hope despite her painful expressions as she tried her hardest not to seek his assistance — that was more than enough for him to understand her reasons behind her actions.

"...... Are you really willing to do it for our sake?"

"I am not someone that great, nor do I have capability to devote my attention to the matters of others. I am just a cadet guard."

Sheltis shook his head and flashed a smile at the girl who had lifted her head in order to look at him.

"It's more of me acting according to my feelings, so there's no need for I'sa to feel like you're owing me anything — I am doing it for myself. That's all there is to it."

"............"

She became silent once more. And then—

"............ I thank you on behalf of Jin."

On behalf of Jin? Just as he was about to ask,

"I'll reserve my thanks till you return back in triumph...... is that okay?"

"That's more than enough."

Sheltis couldn't help but to smile at the girl who had finally returned back to her stubborn self.

That was right, that stubborn personality of the puppeteer suited her best.

"Another thing. I...... am not too sure if I heard it right, but our opponent said this during our fight...... 'there's nineteen hours left'."

"And when did you guys fight?"

"In the evening...... at about five."

It was currently four in the morning of the following day. That meant eleven hours out of the nineteen had already passed by, so there were only eight hours left. Adding that to their current time—

— That falls right at noon.

Even if he was to get on a transport vehicle and make his way to the nature sector immediately, there was no guarantee that he would be able to make it on time.

"Be careful. He's a puppeteer just like me, but he's way more than just that."

"Mmm."

"...... You'll definitely win and return safely, right?"

I'sa suddenly stretched her fist into the air.

Sheltis replied by doing the same thing as well.

"Definitely."

They knocked their fists into each other with a thud. A sound of promise reverberated gently within the room.

And with that, Sheltis left the infirmary.

— Let's go. Just like the things Ymy had said to everyone with all her courage......

— I...... just want to do all that I can.

***

Silence.

Her ears were almost in pain from the deafening silence. The temperature of the room had frozen everything, even the flowing of the air.

A sacred sanctuary that was totally different from the typical space where humans live in.

It was the two hundred and eighty-first story. The Grand Holy Hall.

The brass ritual equipment were giving off a golden luster. There was a giant stained glass with images of the moon and stars. The ceiling was painted in blue to symbolize the firmament.

To the apprentice-Priestesses, this hall is the place where the results of the final test to become a Priestess will be revealed. To the Priestesses however, this was a special place for prayers that was used during the rituals.

"———"

Ymy, the only person in the hall, was sitting down with her eyes closed.

She was kneeling motionlessly on the hard, icy floor. Her breathing was incredibly faint. She had consciously lowered the functions of her body to achieve a state of suspended animation, thus freeing her thoughts from the restraints of the distractions caused by her body — from the distractions of coldness, headaches, hunger and sleep deprivation.

Tranquil Heart.

To the Priestesses, it was something that is basic and yet profound at the same time. It is also her senior Priestess's favorite method of focusing her mind whenever she needs to be calm with her thoughts.

...... A way to purify mateki.

...... Queen Salah told me that a way does exists.

She listened to her voice that was echoing endlessly in her mind. To Ymy, that felt like she was talking to another copy of herself.

...... My current shinryoku spells of the baptism arts are more than enough to deal with mateki which contaminates human beings.

...... Well then, what if the mateki assimilate itself into the whole body instead of contaminating it?

...... And also, what should I do if that mateki is strong enough to rival the powers within me?

Her thoughts flowed endlessly.

New ideas merged with the old ones which were replayed nonstop in her mind as if in a whirlpool.

...... Currently, my shinryoku repels Sheltis' mateki.

...... But to look at it from another perspective, does that mean I'll be able to eliminate his mateki if we do not trigger Elbert Resonance?

...... Does this method really exist?

"———"

She endured the discomfort from the stinging rays as she opened her eyes amid the holy hall that was doused in light. At the same time, the severed sense of her body were beginning to reawaken as well.

"...... It's cold."

The metallic floor had sapped away the heat from her already frozen knees.

Ymy bit onto her lips softly as she pressed her fingers that were soaked with the chilliness of the holy hall onto her face.

"To think that the human body can become as cold as this......"

Her hands were frozen and her breaths, icy.

She yearned for some warmth; she wanted to hold his hands.

"But it will not do to just wait...... Queen Salah said so as well."

She would have to seek the answer proactively as the Priestess of Baptism.

There must be a way for me to be able to touch him again. And I must find it.

"I will have to work hard....... because I am a Priestess as well."

Ymy nodded her head with her pursed lips as she closed her eyes once more.

{2}

"...... Gotta move fast."

Sheltis dashed into his room on the eleventh story and kicked his wardrobe open.

A pair of metal sheaths gave off a black luster.

They were made from chromium porcelain and constructed specifically for dual swords. The

machine crystal

had them prepared for him just in case — he never thought he would actually use them.

He took out the twin blades hidden beneath his bed and slid them into the sheaths before securing them onto the fasteners located on his back.

— The fourth sector of the western area of the nature sector.

The 'person' who attacked the members of

Tenketsu Palace

was at one of the spots predicted by Kagura, where the Yuugenshu may appear.

There are only eight hours left.

The deadline mentioned by I'sa fell at exactly noon today.

He did not know the implications behind it, but it was definitely something bad. And in order to prevent that from happening—

"Run...... is unlikely to make it."

The first story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Sheltis reached the pathway and dashed past the empty lobby.

It would be much better if he could team up with a Sennenshi, but she must have teamed up with the elite guards by now.

The disadvantage of moving as a team was the time spent on logistics. Gathering group members, preparing the transport vehicles and ironing out a battle plan — it will be past dawn by the time everything is done. If so, it is unlikely for them to make it to the fourth sector before noon.

I'sa must have realized that as well. That was why she insisted on sortieing alone.

"...... Monica will probably stop me if she comes to know of this."

Is it because he disobeyed the instructions from the instructor? Actually— she would probably stop him all the same even considering that. Monica would definitely not allow her teammate to head to the battlefield when his body was not even in the condition to undertake any training...... That was just the way she was; the girl who cared for her companions from the bottom of her heart despite her past struggles to become a Priestess.

That is why he must not say it.

He had to start and end everything silently.

"The hangar should be located here."

He slipped past the passageway reserved for the members of

Tenketsu Palace

to make his way out of the tower. The world was shrouded in darkness and the cries of birds were nowhere to be heard. Only the edges of the sky were dyed in a pale white.

He ran all the way to the outdoor training area. A large rectangular shadow began to slowly appear before his eyes. The white walls under the bright illumination of the lights and the large shutter in the center of the walls were becoming closer and closer.

It was the hangar — a depot under the care of the Law Enforcement Bureau, where tens of transport vehicles were parked in the building.

"...... I'm not too familiar with this, but I guess it will have to do."

Sheltis had his eyes set on a two-wheeled high-speed electric vehicle. Since he was travelling alone, that vehicle offers a higher top speed and better maneuverability compared with a transport vehicle.

Just then—

"This model will be better if you want to head to the nature sector."

A strong ray of light shone down from the hangar's ceiling.

"Type 21 of the floating models, with the largest horsepower rated seven hundred and fifty Joules. Its maximum speed may not be comparable to that model there, but since it travels by a floatation device instead of wheels, it will produce a much smoother ride at the unpaved areas of the nature sector."

The person who switched on the lights of the hangar was a young girl with a mechanical helmet and visor on her head — and as she pointed towards a dark blue floating vehicle, she said,

"Geez, thank goodness I did not slacken in my monitoring of you."

"...... Kagura?"

"From your expressions, you're wondering why I am here, am I right? As much as I do not want to, with a large number of regular and elite guards gathering for a meeting this early in the morning, it is inevitable for me to wonder if something bad has happened."

*Kan* — Kagura gave the blue vehicle a light kick.

"Monica knows about how I've secretly installed hundreds of surveillance camera inside and outside of the tower. Part of the reason is due to my personal interests, and the other half is because I was approached by the Towers Control to do so. Upon noticing the commotion outside of my room, I activated the screen and voila — as I expected, I saw a certain someone running breathlessly."

And of course, that person was none other than you.

The young girl took a dig deliberately at Sheltis.

"To think you came down to this hangar in secret despite the early hours...... I want to be around during the investigation of the Yuugenshu — didn't I say so before?"

"It's not that, Kagura. Listen—"

He suddenly withheld his words.

No, I can't waste any more time explaining.

"The place I am going to...... is the western area of the nature sector. The fourth sector."

"Oh, so you are really going to investigate on the Yuugenshu. The place is exactly the same as that found in my data—"

"I am not investigating the Yuugenshu."

"Why?"

"I don't have any time left to explain. Can you please let me off the hook this once?"

Hmm— Kagura thought in silence as she placed her finger on her lips.

"Looks like you are really in a hurry. Fine, I'll not question you any further at a time like this — on the condition that I'll be tagging along as well."

...... Just as I thought.

Sheltis had already braced himself for a request like that.

"I don't think this is that bad a condition. I promise I'll not divulge anything about today if I get to come along with you. How about I drive this vehicle instead? It will definitely be a more comfortable ride if I am to drive it instead of you."

"...... Are you that insistent on figuring out my motives?"

"Yes. You're even hiding it from Monica. So where exactly are you going? I promise I'll keep it a secret if you allow me to come along, even from Monica."

What to do? Considering her personality, Kagura will definitely pester him with more questions should he reject her now. He no longer has any time to waste.

"...... Alright. But promise me this: you are to run away immediately when you sense any danger."

"And that seals the deal."

Nodding her head, the young girl climbed into the driver's seat of the vehicle.

"Here, you can take the co-driver's seat. The breeze of dawn is very comfortable at this time of day."

{3}

The howling of the wind.

While travelling on the electric vehicle that sped through the road, the wind that brushed past his ears made a shrill as sharp as that of a flute. There was an indescribable sadness in the sound of the wind.

...... It was the same as back then.

The large-scale invasion by the Yuugenshu against

Tenketsu Palace

. It sounded just like the cry of the wind back when he squared off against the commanding body in mid-air, two thousand meters above the ground. It was the wailing sound of the wind that was pouring into the floating continent.

"Sheltis, Sheltis! Can you hear me!?"

"Eh? Ah, yeah. I'm fine."

Kagura, who was sitting in the driver's seat before him, inquired with her voice that was raised a pitch. Sheltis tapped her shoulder in response.

"Anything wrong? You look out of sorts."

"I'm just thinking of something."

"And that's looking out of sorts. Geez...... 'You are to run away immediately when you sense any danger' — you are the one who told me that, you know?"

The young girl sighed.

"Then again, is it really true that everyone in the team of regular guards were defeated?"

"There is no point in hiding this from you. The instructor should be announcing it to the cadet guards today."

"...... That's just unbelievable."

"I can't believe it as well, but......"

"That's not what I meant. I am referring to you."

Kagura increased her grip on the steering wheel.

"We're talking about a monster who crushed two teams of cadet guards and a team of regular guard which included apprentice-Priestesses in its setup...... Why are you planning to take on that person alone should he really exists? Is it because the regular guard I'sa came crying to you? Or are you affected by the heroism of the dual gunner named Jin? In any case, that's just too reckless of you, isn't it?"

"...... You're right."

Sheltis flashed a light smile after hearing the lengthy speech from Kagura.

"Perhaps it's just as you've said. No, I think that's really it. Monica will probably stop me if she comes to know of this...... It's strange, isn't it? I mean, my body has not recovered fully, and my doctor barely gave me permission to practice on my swordplay for no more than an hour a day."

"Then why?"

"Why huh? Probably because...... I am really happy about the fact that they did not shun me."

He was an irregular cadet guard who possessed exceptional skills and had attracted the attention of others due to that. As the only person who wore a black jacket all the time, he also hid his past from others.

But just like Monica, the two of them invited him into their team despite knowing all that.

"It may be too late for me to say this, but I do really feel that if I had joined them in the mission back then...... I might have been able to help them somehow."

"I see......"

*Kiiiii*— the electric vehicle made a sudden stop in midair.

The vehicle that floated a few centimeters off the ground began to descend slowly. The sound of the engine slowly disappeared as well.

"We've reached our destination. The fourth sector of the western area of the nature sector. I've parked the electric vehicle here just as you've instructed. Are you really planning to scout on foot?"

"Mmm. The fourth sector's not large, so it's much more convenient for me to survey the place with my own legs."

...... Three hours left huh.

The electronic display on the vehicle showed nine o'clock. Sheltis leaped off the electric vehicle hastily after confirming the time and landed on the lush green grounds beneath him. He then made his way towards the entrance of the gently sloping and endlessly wide plains. He will have to cover the large plains at least once in the next three hours.

"Are you okay with walking?"

"I will keep up just fine. I'm not a child anymore."

Sheltis flashed a wry smile in the direction of the girl who was throwing a tantrum and began walking towards the plains.

***

"Hold on Sheltis...... wait for me!"

As he turned his head backwards, he saw Kagura running towards him hastily from a distance of more than ten meters away from him.

"Can you be more aware of your surroundings? You're walking way too fast."

"R-Really?"

In actual fact, he did cut down his speed to accommodate Kagura.

Back when he walked along with Monica at the

Floating Archipelagos

, his pace was much faster than this despite the fact that they were walking on rough terrains filled with the roots of trees.

"The distance between us will increase with each step due to my small size. Ah....... d-don't you misunderstand! I am definitely not saying that my legs are short!"

...... She's really talkative.

Kagura forms a strong contrast to Monica's reserved personality.

"Sorry, but I have to speed up my pace."

"I know that. It's not like I am walking so slowly for no reason though. I have been gathering data while we were walking."

The young girl continued walking as she typed on a floating mechanical sphere.

The reason for her lagging behind was not just due to her walking speed; it was mainly because she focused her attention on the bewildering controls.

"I'm curious about that floating sphere. Is that a machine?"

"You've finally asked. This is my masterpiece out of all of my inventions."

Kagura happily caressed the mechanical sphere that was floating before her chest.

It was a perfect sphere with a circumference that's roughly the length of a child's hug. There was a metallic luster to its color, making it obvious that it was a machine of some sort.

"This little thing here is a '

machine pearl

'. To put it simply, it's a portable computer. Also known as a 'large mobile computer', this thing here can connect itself to the main computer located in my lab and process calculations at extreme speeds. Just as you've seen, thrusters are included in its frame so that it can move along by my side."

He processed her words in his brain for a brief moment.

The first thing that came to Sheltis' mind was the girl in overalls who loved to invent things.

"That sounds just like something that Eyriey would invent."

"She would not invent something like this."

The young girl suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"That's right, she has disdain for things like this. She has zero interest...... in these high-performance, practical and ordinary things."

"That's ordinary? I think it's pretty impressive."

"...... I have quite a few opinions about your response, but I guess I'll that it as a praise from you for now. Speaking of which, you're friends with Eyriey, right? Did she talk about me before? For example, how's her appraisal of me?"

"Well, like how you're incredibly strong when it comes to machines and calculations."

"...... I guess."

Phew— Kagura heaved a sigh which sounded a little disheartening. That should be a word of praise, so why is she putting on such a sad smile?

"Eyriey also said she always loses whenever she's competing against you."

"That's right, I did win all the time...... but that's just how it looks like in the eyes of an ordinary person."

The young girl resumed her steps after a brief pat on the

machine pearl

.

"Let's chat while we walk. The first time I met her was at the < > held by the Mechanical Bureau of

Tenketsu Palace

. It's a major event where thousands of enthusiasts from all over the floating continent gather to pit their skills against one another."

"I heard that from Eyriey before..... so the Mechanical Bureau will organize these strange events from time to time."

"It's because we have a bunch of cute weirdos gathered at the Mechanical Bureau as well. But putting that aside, I won by an overwhelming margin in the preliminary theory papers as well as the semi-finals. To be honest, I was a little disappointed by how easy my wins were............ however."

The young girl pouted fiercely.

"I was stunned when I saw the scores for my competitor in the finals. Her scores for the preliminary theory papers as well as the semi-finals were way above those of mine. I guess you should know by now, that person is none other than—"

"Eyriey?"

"That's right. The topic on the final decisive round is 'Destruction that Brings about Creation'. We are to build from scratch a brand new calculator that breaks itself free from the constrains of the current calculators in two hours time. My creation is a calculator that not only retains its original functions, it can also create documents, send emails and doubles as a music player. Needless to say, the judges are in full praise of my creation. They thought it's good enough 'to be mass-produced immediately and sold to the public'."

"To think you can actually create such high performance machines in a mere time-span of two hours......"

But of course— Kagura nodded calmly in response to that. Perhaps it was really nothing to her.

"Back then, I thought to myself: I had it in the bag for sure. However, when Eyriey's calculator was revealed...... that was the first time in my life that I was in awe of something. That girl is definitely my destined rival whom I must overcome."

"...... Is her invention really that great?"

"It can explode."

"Eh?"

What did she just say?

"Eyriey created an 'Incredibly High Performance and High-Powered Fireworks Calculator'. Think about it, a calculator displays the digits from 0 to 9, isn't that so? Upon keying in a predetermined series of commands, it will create a huge explosion three seconds later and shoot the fireworks into the air.

The colors and scale of the fireworks will differ according to the digits keyed into it. Even the pyrotechnic experts would bow their head in defeat after seeing a design like that."

"............"

"And so her calculator blew itself up along with the the audience as well as the judges. It's a firework of immense firepower and artistic merit. The fleeting beauty that was displayed live right before my eyes...... It was as though I was gazing at the starry skies above me—"

"That's crazy. There's no way that thing is good."

"What are you talking about? Look, what matters most to a researcher is creativity. An ordinary person will not come up with things like a fireworks calculator that explodes — and even if they do come up with the idea, no one will actually make it. However, the judges decided that I am the unanimous winner...... Those amateurs. It's obvious that Eyriey's the deserved winner."

"Nope. If you include their hatred towards Eyriey thanks to the explosion, I think it was a rather fair result."

However, the girl who was walking beside him could not accept whatever he had said.

"And that's the same for the later competitions as well. She keeps creating things that are way beyond my imagination — for example, an automated prank-calling phone; or an anti-cockroach rocket launcher...... Before I know it, I was already deeply interested in her inventions. I always wondered, 'What will Eyriey come up with this time?'. However, the judges will always rule the results in my favor as they cannot appreciate the ingenuity of Eyriey's inventions...... that's just silly. It's obvious that those victories belongs to Eyriey alone."

I see. In everyone else's eyes, the winner is Kagura; however, Kagura herself is in favor of Eyriey. That explains Kagura's rivalry towards Eyriey, and also Eyriey for saying 'I am the one who always loses'.

"Hmm...... I'm more or less understands what's going on. But I am a little skeptical about the criterion for winning."

"Plenty of people say that. This is what you mean by the battle of the powerful against the strong — I guess it's to be expected, since this battle is way above the levels of what the ordinary people could comprehend."

Ahem— Kagura cleared her throat.

"Moving back to the topic of the

machine pearl

. Actually, this little thing here is what stores all the data that I had gathered in

Tenketsu Palace

. The equipment in the laboratory are actually used specifically for processing."

"Then it must be really important."

"Definitely. It also stores the data of the dual sword wielder from three years ago — the person whom Monica admires."

A wild gush of wind swept by his feet, almost unbalancing him in the process.

"Putting Monica aside, there's something that I'd like to discuss with you alone."

"...... Do we have to talk about it right now?"

"Don't worry, you can listen to me as we walk. Moreover, this is quite a silly speculation and inference from me. A simple suspicion, a fantasy......... and a story."

Kagura remained walking in front of Sheltis with the floating

machine pearl

by her side.

"Monica said the main reason she became a guard was because of a dual sword wielder whom she used to admire. He was a guy who rose to the ranks of the cadres guard at the young age of just fifteen. From my investigation, it seems like he shared a deep friendship with Sennenshi Leon. However, he disappeared from

Tenketsu Palace

three years ago. There are rumors that he was killed in action due to him falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, but the validity of that is unknown. That's because all related data about him has vanished from the main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

."

"...... Monica mentioned that before as well."

The main computers of

Tenketsu Palace

should not have his data from three years ago. When he returned back to the tower from

Garden of Corrupted Song

two years ago, everything about him should have been treated as 'non-existent' and deleted.

"However, if we focus our attention on the current day, then it is where the problems begin to surface."

Kagura continued on without a pause.

"One month ago, a dual sword wielder came to

Tenketsu Palace

. Despite being a cadet guard who joined the tower only not long ago, he already possesses skills that enabled him to triumph over the regular guards. It is said that he and Sennenshi Leon, Sennenshi Run plus a few Priestesses knew each other. On the other hand, all information about his past is a blank despite his unbelievable connections and skills. The only thing we know about this young man, who mentions nothing about his past, is his name and the fact that he is seventeen."

And that person is none other than you— her tone was implying that despite the fact that he could only see the side of Kagura's face.

"And with that, it makes the inference much simpler. The guy whom Monica admired was about fifteen years old back then, so that means he should be around the age of seventeen or eighteen after a span of three years. And so— the gears of the past and present finally meshed together. An incredibly skilled dual swords wielder; seventeen years of age; a deep friendship with Sennenshi Leon. Considering all these factors, there is enough basis for my doubts to become a convincing speculation."

Kagura stopped in her tracks.

She turned around slowly and stared at the black jacket that was swaying in the winds.

"Your jacket should be the old ceremonial clothing of

Tenketsu Palace

. It might have been reworked on, but based on the results of me comparing between the data, I am certain they are both the same thing."

"You mean, that's your proof that I've stayed in

Tenketsu Palace

before? I'm sorry, but I got it from someone else."

Kagura suddenly stopped talking.

The

machine crystal

did warn him about his jacket before. Therefore, it was not difficult for him to have an answer prepared when he had anticipated the possibility of that happening.

"...... I guess. The possibility of that being true is low, but I do have to consider it as well. That is the reason why I am unwilling to say this to Monica till now."

Phew— she heaved a sigh through her lips.

"I am well aware of the fact that I am a typical People of Nell. Everyone says we are a tribe with a very strong sense of wariness, but on the other hand, we will never hold back in our assistance towards those whom we trust. That applies to how I treat Monica as well. Since she is my friend, I want to do things for her that will make her happy."

With her attention focused on what's before her, Sheltis could only see her side profile. She kept walking on without stopping.

"If...... and I mean if — if Monica knows that the supposedly dead dual sword wielder is still alive, she will be really happy. This may become a new source of motivation that pushes her on her path to become a regular guard, and she will probably become more energetic thanks to that...... However, I do not want her to be disappointed from a false alarm. I will be hurting Monica if you turn out to be someone else."

— So everything was for Monica's sake.

There was a slight change to Sheltis' initial impression of Kagura. He always thought she was doing all of that in order to satisfy her own curiosity.

In actual fact, Kagura's curiosity stems from her acting with the interests of her friend in mind.

"That's why I want to speak with you alone without the presence of Monica...... I'll just voice my conclusion: you are the dual sword wielder who is supposed to be dead three years ago."

That was right— that was the question which he and the

machine crystal

were trying their hardest to avoid, and was also the question that was hidden deep in Kagura's heart.

"You mean the incident of the guy falling into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

?"

"That may be a falsified information which

Tenketsu Palace

released deliberately. No one has ever survived the fall into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, so we shall not include that in our discussion. My speculation is this — you were sent away on some secret orders, and has finally returned after a span of three years."

"I see......"

Sheltis gave a mumble. A strong breeze caused countless leaves to flutter in the air. He set his eyes set on the floating leaves and the sky.

...... No one has ever survived the fall into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

huh......

...... Can't blame her. It will be difficult for them to believe that anyway.

And it all boils down to this — no one will believe that a guy will survive a fall into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

, much less the fact that he is carrying mateki in his body. Should the outsiders come to know of the truth, it will definitely cause a huge commotion that will shake

Tenketsu Palace

, and that is unacceptable. It's not only for his sake, but for Ymy's as well.

"Are you willing to give me your answer?"

"Sorry, but I am not the person whom you are talking about."

There was no hesitation in his answer.

There was no reason for him to since an alternate answer does not exists.

"Considering the size of the floating continent, there should be lots of people who's similar to me. I think it is just a coincidence that I am similar to that person who was in

Tenketsu Palace

three years ago."

"...... I see."

The girl heaved a deep sigh.

"Though I'm feeling sorry for Monica, it looks like I can't reveal this to her for now."

"Sorry for disappointing you."

"It's okay. I'll definitely get to the bottom of this some day."

And with that sentence.

It probably means that Kagura is still suspicious of him.

"That's fine with me, but I think it's about time we direct our attention away from this topic."

He stretched out his arms to signal an end to the discussion.

The entrance which they began their journey from had already blended itself into the horizon. Right now, what appeared before their eyes was a green ridge which extended outwards gently.

— The fourth sector of the western area of nature sector. They were approaching the heart of the sector.

"I have been focusing on the radar display of this little thing the whole time."

The mechanical sphere shimmered brilliant silver under the rays of the sun. It seemed like the screen in front of Kagura was displaying the results of the search.

"I've obtained a pretty interesting reading. It's coming from behind those hills."

She pointed towards the green ridges located diagonally to their left. Meaning, it was located at a sheltered area past the hills that were granting them the best vantage point.

"Can you make out what that is?"

"There is no movement from the target. It is probably an object or something."

...... An object? In the dead middle of the plains?

If they are talking about the nature park located near the living sector, it is possible for that to be a monument or something. However, they were in the territory of the nature sector. It is strange for a man-made object to be erected in the middle of the untouched plains.

"Strange. I don't remember the installation of any weather-monitoring devices or something like that around here."

"In any case, let's go and take a look."

He hastened his pace, leading the bewildered Kagura. The ground was covered with grass which looked like a green carpet. They could feel the softness on the sole of their feet with each passing step.

"This is a really relaxing place. The wind is very comfortable as well."

"........... Do you really think so?"

"Eh?"

Kagura reached the peak of the hill a little later. Sheltis then silently pointed in the direction before him.

An object.

A transparent container was erected at about ten meters beneath the hill. It was filled with a blue liquid, with countless air bubbles which rose up from the bottom of the container.

A dark purple beast was immersed within the liquid.

The water tank with a Yuugenshu encased within it was erected in solitude before them.

"Wha............! What in the world is that......"

The girl beside him said with a trembling voice.

"— It's exactly the same."

Sheltis held his breath in silence as he stared at the object which was obviously out-of-place with its surrounding.

He saw the same thing back when he was at

Floating Archipelagos

with Monica. The water tank of that research facility was already destroyed by the Yuugenshu. If so, was the water tank before them a different one?

"Step back, Kagura. That Yuugenshu is real."

His hands reached out to the twin swords that were secured to his belt. Regardless of who did it and for whatever purpose, this thing cannot be allowed to exist on the floating continent.

"Sheltis, what are you talking about...... It will be too dangerous if that is the real Yuugenshu!"

"And it will be even more so when it awakens. Since it is still in its slumber—"

Just then, he took a look at the shadow at his feet.

It was the shadow of him and Kagura. Besides that, there was another small black dot which appeared on the ground.

...... A shadow? Of what?

Just as he was focusing on the areas around his foot, the small black dot expanded slowly — it turned large enough to swallow the shadows of both of them.

A chill shot up his spine.

"Get down!"

"Eh...... K-Kyaaa!"

Without waiting for her answer, Sheltis hugged Kagura and leapt towards the side.

And at the same time.

Something struck the hill which the two of them was standing on earlier, destroying everything.

There was a deafening blast and a shockwave from what looked like a large-scale explosion — with the epicenter of the two occurring at the hill which they were on.

Both of them spread outwards in all directions.

"...... Ugh!"

Their bodies were thrown upwards thanks to the shockwave created by the blast of impact. As they were flung high up into the air, Shetlis hugged Kagura and barely managed to stabilize his body's position in mid-air. While shielding Kagura with his left arm, he used his right to push against the ground and rolled against it in order to dissipate the impact.

"Where's the hill?"

Kagura was rooted on the ground speechlessly.

The reddish-brown ground suffered from a brutal blast. The hill which the two of them was standing on earlier had disappeared, replaced by a giant crater in its place.

"...... Nothing can stand before my 'Golden Hexahedral' and emerge victorious."

A deep voice came from the bottom of the crater.

Sszzz...... szz...... sszzz......

A tall man was climbing up the reddish-brown slope.

It was a strange sight. His whole body was wrapped up in a faded dirt-yellow robe — and that included his fingers which were kept in the sleeves. Mechanical rings bound the robe in all places. They could clearly see his neck, shoulder, elbow and wrists being constricted tightly by the rings.

— This person here......

All he did was to look at the man, and Sheltis was breathless from the intimidation.

His instincts told him right away that the man is the culprit, and at the same time...... he was an unfathomable monster.

"My name's Maha. The 'Golden Maha'."

His name was announced from deep within his robe as though he was chanting a curse. That marked the start of the battle.

"Proceeding with the intervention. Beginning the elimination of the witnesses......"

The fourth sector of the western area of nature sector.

It was only one hour till the rendezvous of Maha and Igun-I.

### 007. Final Chapter: Zero — He who shatters the Gold —

Here's the completed chapter. Edited the chapter's title a little.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

"This is the person...... who defeated all the regular guards......?"

The girl in her mechanical helmet was the first to shout.

"W-Who are you!? We are the official members from

Tenketsu Palace

!"

"............"

Maha. The man who called himself by that name did not reply.

All he did was to climb up the crater one step at a time.

"D-Did you hear what I had said? What are your motives—"

"It's pointless."

Sheltis interrupted her. He pulled out the twin swords from the sheaths behind him and held them in reverse grips.

"He has no intention of communicating with us."

There was a strong animosity in the pressure emitted from Maha's body. They were looking at the person who downed the squads from

Tenketsu Palace

one after another, so there was little chance of him listening to them. The sneak attack from earlier proved just that.

...... Earlier, that guy just referred us as witnesses.

There's the mysterious water tank with a Yuugenshu in it. That man must be the guardian of the tank, and he will eliminate all who gets close to it.

"Kagura."

Sheltis lowered his voice to barely within Kagura's auditory range.

"I'll be moving in. Stay away from me."

"Eh? But......"

"Don't worry."

With that said, Sheltis refocused his sight on Maha.

— I'sa said this person is a puppeteer.

They are casters who direct their shinryoku into objects to control them — the amount and type of objects controlled will depend on the capabilities of the caster. It would be tough for Sheltis should Maha increase the distance between the two of them.

— If that's the case, I'll just have to strike before he can use his 'puppets'!

A whirlwind was created from his leap.

"Ta". Sheltis stomped his foot hard against the ground and created an afterimage. With the speed of his feet that was fast enough to stir up a whirlwind, he pressed his body as low as he could and dashed towards the crater.

The surroundings became a blur due to his high speed. He shortened the distance between himself and Maha in a blink of an eye and raised his brilliantly shining sword against the rays of the sun—

Just then.

"I, define the universe."

Sheltis could see the lips of the robed man curving upwards.

"Za...... da...... dadadara...... ka......"

Strange sounds were coming out from the man's mouth.

...... What's that?

Maha was right before him. At the moment when the battle would be decided with a swing of his sword — an ominous chill spread throughout his body.

"Zazakazada............ da...... zakarakara...... zadadadazakakakazadazakazada............ rada...... rakazazakakadada...... za...... zaza...... karakara...... zadadadada............"

*Psh*.

Objects sprang out from the slope of the crater.

Golden stakes.

Countless stakes shot up from beneath the ground with the speed of bullets, and the sharp ends of the stakes stabbed towards him like the tips of a spear. Hundreds of stakes appeared.

— All of them are his puppets!? What an incredible amount. Is it really possible for a person to control all of them?

"Ugh!"

A flash.

As the wide area attack approached, Sheltis swung the swords in his hands. He sliced, wrecked and severed the sharp tips of the stakes that were flying towards him one at a time before parrying them all away.

The fallen stakes stirred up a cloud of dust before losing their golden luster and turning into soil.

...... They're not made of gold? Then why are stakes made of soil shimmering with a golden luster?

"Define. The dream of a world covered in roots."

As Maha said that in a low voice, the ground beneath his feet began to rumble.

*Sha*. His ankle was ensnared by something. Sheltis moved his sight in that direction.

"...... Roots?"

His right ankle was ensnared by a dull, cypress-colored root. The root, thicker than a human's arm, was bound around his ankle in a spiral.

"Define."

A certain object clawed out from the ground next to Maha's feet.

Two lion statues with flowing manes.

"Replicated with soil. Color - 'deep red'; nature - 'gallant'; shape - 'lion'. Two shall appear before me. Defined to eliminate the enemy before me."

The two large lions were as tall as humans were.

They were originally just lion statues made of soil. However, their eyes gave off a fiery glow as the color of their body turned ruby red.

"...... Could it be?"

After he saw what happened before him, Sheltis realized what the Maha's spell was.

The two lions roared beside Maha. They were the mystical beasts of the floating continent that were rarely seen by anyone.

"Sheltis!"

"Don't come here!"

He stopped Kagura from sprinting over. Next, he chopped away the roots that were binding his ankle.

— Kagura would be attacked if she make any sudden movements.

The two lions were baring their teeth in hostility. As the two lions closed in on him from both sides, Sheltis moved in and closed the distance between them.

He jumped upwards and dodged the razor-sharp claws above him. Next, he blocked the paws of the other lion with the sword on his left side.

"Haa!"

While enduring the burning pain from his left shoulder-blade, he slammed the sword in his right hand towards the jaw of a lion.

The beast gave a painful cry. It then turned into sand and rained onto the ground below...... Where was the other one?

As he lifted his head, he could hear the screams of the young girl from afar.

"Kagura!"

He sprinted at subsonic speed, leaving the winds behind him.

With its sight locked onto the defenseless girl who was rooted to the ground, the lion was about to mercilessly pounce on her. Sheltis tossed the sword in his right hand. The blade grazed past the mane of the lion, forcing it to stop in its tracks momentarily.

Taking advantage of the brief window of opportunity, Sheltis slashed the back of the mystical beast with the sword in his left hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yup......"

The red lion turned back into soil before the girl as Kagura trembled with her head lowered in fear.

"Sheltis, this spell is—"

"Define. The world shall turn into stones."

Kagura was interrupted by the chants of Maha.

Rrr...... rrrrrrr...... rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

The ground beneath their feet rumbled and began to sink. In contrast, giant boulders as tall as large castle gates were sprung up at their sides. They were surrounded by countless high-density and impermeable boulders that were closing in on them.

Both of them were enclosed in a boulder cage within mere seconds.

"We're trapped?"

"...... No."

A chill ran down Sheltis' spine as he raised his head to stare at the boulders that were blocking out the sun. Trapping them within the boulders was merely the first phase of the attack. The second phase was to use the cage itself to—

"Eliminate the opponents by crushing them."

*Kra*— the boulders with a total weight of more than ten tonnes burst apart.

The stone ceiling above their head came crashing down like a tidal wave. The boulders were sizes of adult males despite the fact that they were split into fragments of the original. The sheer amount of rocks was unfathomable.

"We'll be squashed!"

"Hang on tight!"

As he grabbed the shrieking Kagura, Sheltis began to leap through the minute spaces between the boulders.

Swiping aside the unavoidable sharp fragments with his blades, Sheltis jumped onto the slanted surface of a giant boulder that was falling downwards. He dashed to the peak of the boulder before jumping towards another incoming one. Sheltis made his way to the top of the cage with Kagura in his arms by climbing up the boulders and squeezing through the minute spaces.

"...... Incredible. That is some crazy athletic ability."

Exclaimed the girl who he was carrying on his left shoulder. Sheltis chose to ignore her statement.

— We're out.

After breaking free from the collapsing cage, the two of them landed on the peak of the leftover boulders. Sheltis glared downwards at the robed man who was some distance away from him.

............ I'sa was right.

Despite the fact that they were both puppeteers, their 'object' controlling abilities were miles apart. Maha could accurately control such heavy boulders to trap his opponents; moreover, his spell allowed him to destroy the boulders as he wished. He was probably much stronger than any other shinryoku-practitioners Sheltis had ever seen in

Tenketsu Palace

.

............ But something felt off.

The main focus of Maha's art was not the control of the objects. Instead, it on was what happened before that—

"Define."

A large bird statue appeared besides Maha.

The stone statue emitted a golden glow due to the shinryoku within it. It underwent gradual changes as Maha defined it in detail.

"Replicated with organic matter extracted from the grounds. Color - 'black'; nature - 'incensed'; shape - 'bird'. Appear before me with fire in your body. Defined to get within range of the enemies before me and destroy them."

After the formation of its sharp beak and claws, the strange-looking pitch black bird flapped its powerful wings.

Heeding the instructions of Maha, it flew slowly towards the boulder that they were standing on. The slow-moving actions were not something replicable by the birds of nature — its speed was no faster than that of a walking man.

...... Strange.

With its huge size and slow speed, it was practically begging to be destroyed.

"Wait!"

"Eh?"

Before he knew it, Kagura grabbed tightly his left sleeve.

"Organic matter extracted from the ground............ fire within its body?"

The girl was mumbling what Maha had chanted earlier. She kept repeating those words while ignoring the giant bird which was closing in on them.

"Incense...... fire within its body............ organic...... extracted...... which means...... organic compounds?"

She suddenly lifted her head as though she was electrocuted.

"Sheltis, that's not a bird. It's a bomb that's shaped like one!"

"...... A bomb?"

"Nitroglycerin! That bird itself is a huge explosive chemical compound! You can't strike it down or the vibrations will set off an inferno and a shock wave!"

"What should I do then?"

"You should—"

Her yell came too late.

Sheltis made his move long before Kagura could finish her sentence. The pitch black bird slammed itself into the boulder beneath their feet. And then—

Their sights were dyed white.

An inferno and a shock wave spread outwards at supersonic speeds, and engulfed and swept aside everything in their paths.

The boulder that the young girl and man were standing on earlier was reduced to small rocks. The plains was razed by the inferno, and turned into scorched land.

All that was left was the thick black fumes emitted from the ground.

"............"

As the heatwaves swept through the lands, the motionless Maha focused his attention onto the center of the explosion. The vision turned clearer as the wind blew away the thick smoke.

The charred land was razed mercilessly by the inferno.

Boulders were shattered into pieces due to the shockwave from the explosion.

However, the two of them were not seen at the center of the blast.

"............ They're determined to have escaped,"

Said Maha quietly before turning his body away.

"........... Forty-seven minutes remaining."

With his head lifted upwards in the direction of the water tank, Maha stopped moving once again.

***

— He probably will not find us here.

Sheltis heaved a sigh of relief as he looked towards the robed silhouette below him.

"Are you alright?"

"...... Y-Yes."

The girl in close proximity to Sheltis replied softly.

Countless number of fissures were created on the ground, and they were hiding in one of them. The cage made of huge boulders had caused a great disturbance in the ground, which was then compounded by the huge explosion in the end. These spells from Maha resulted in huge fissures on the ground. Maha probably did not expect them to be hiding in these fissures, and it seemed like he did not deploy any searching spells to locate them either.

"...... Unbelievable. Is this the arts of a human being?"

Kagura bit onto her pale lips tightly.

"The man can control enough matter to cause disturbances in the ground itself. A typical puppeteer can only control up to a few hundred kilograms of mass. However, those boulders had a mass of at least ten tonnes. That's just atrocious......"

"That's not the problem."

"...... Are you referring to the red lions or that strange-looking bird instead?"

He nodded in silence.

Those were originally made of soil, but they became mobile after receiving shinryoku from Maha. The red lions attacked with agile movements that were on par with that of real ones, while the bird was granted the ability to fly towards its target and self-destruct.

"That guy said this: 'I, define the universe'. Do you remember that?"

"Are you saying that the guy's shinryoku arts allows him to create and control anything? That's impossible. Just like what Monica always says, shinryoku itself is not an omnipotent power. That is why grueling training are necessary."

"I know that. But......"

Those red lions and the strange-looking bird, together with how he manipulated the boulders from within the ground — they were all real. The arts of that man is undoubtedly one of the most shocking he has ever witnessed up till now.

"What I am more interested in is that strange chant."

"You mean his 'define' thingy? He said things like nature, colors and such."

"No. What's most bizarre is that 'rakazazakakada' thing which he said earlier — those lines sounded like the flapping wings of an insect."

*Tok* — the girl tapped onto her visor with her finger.

"Did you notice this? That chant was made up of only 'ra', 'ka', 'za' and 'da'. The frequency of 'ra' used was significantly lesser than that of 'ka', 'za' and 'da'. There must be some sort of rules to that chant...... a huge secret hidden behind it."

She remembered it all in such a short period of time?

"I did mention that this little thing here is my pride, did I not? It had recorded down everything earlier,"

Said Kagura as she hugged onto the

machine pearl

.

"The way I look at it...... the chants made up of those four syllables form the main body of the spell. The 'define' part is probably just the secondary part to the spell or something?"

"I hold the same opinion as well. The four-syllables chant is like the loading of bullets, while the firing mechanism is the 'define' part that forms the second phase of the spell. However...... even if our hypothesis are right, it will be pointless if we can't decipher that four-syllables chant."

"Can you do that?"

"If I have the luxury of time, I am confident of doing it. However, I can't do it here."

And why's that?

The young girl shook her head before he could even ask.

"I cannot guarantee the accuracy of my decipherment if I am given only a short period of time. A wrong analysis would result in wrong instructions which would lead to our annihilation — the risks are far too high. Moreover, he would definitely try to stop me if he realized what I am doing. I'll be in a defenseless state during the deciphering process, so my life will be exposed to danger during that time."

"...... I'll take care of that."

"Are you planning to buy time for me by becoming the bait? Sorry, I do not think you can protect me from that scary arts of his."

That was an incredibly blunt declaration.

And at the same time, it showed her distrust towards him.

"I've said this many times already — I do not trust you. On paper, you may be asking me to decipher the contents while you act as the bait. However, there is the chance of you running away in times of danger and leaving me behind...... Laugh at me if you want, but that's what I am most afraid of."

The young girl's shoulders trembled as she hugged onto her

machine pearl

.

She imagined the scene of Sheltis abandoning her as she faced Maha alone; the images of her body collapsing onto the ground with injuries all over her body.

"........... I see."

Kagura's answer might have been different if it was Monica instead.

Her answer might have been different if the person asking her was someone whom she could entrust herself to.

That was the decisive gap between them — a unbridgeable distance between him and Kagura caused by the lack of trust.

"Thankfully, our opponent has not realized our hiding place for now. We should be able to escape given the right opportunity. I should be able to focus on deciphering his chants when we returned back to

Tenketsu Palace

, and we can even ask for reinforcements. We can then decide if we should revamp the team or......"

"Mmm."

"So you got it? Well then—"

"Let's split up from here. I'll keep him busy. Kagura, you shall head back to

Tenketsu Palace

."

"...... Eh?"

"You said there will be an opportunity for us to escape, but Maha's not someone who will let us go that easily."

Sheltis smiled as he prodded at the mechanical helmet on Kagura's head. The bewildered expression on the girl's face was cute in a childish way.

"It's not your fault that I cannot gain your trust. It is very clear that the problem lies with me. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you the truth."

"U-Urm...... Sheltis...... What are you planning to do?"

"I'll be staying back to fight against Maha. He'll have to give his full attention to me, and that will allow Kagura to escape."

"A-Are you an idiot!?"

"I'm not idiot, yeah? I've originally planned to take on him alone anyway."

"Those are the words of an idiot! You're facing someone who's beyond the realms of our understanding...... Moreover, aren't you instructed to rest? The doctors even banned you from undergoing any training, so how long do you think that body of yours will last?"

"...... It'll last for a while more."

He pressed gingerly onto the injury at the back of his head. *Pa* — a cracking sound reverberated in his head, and a searing pain shot down from his head to his neck to his spine.

He had no idea how much longer he will last, but it should not be long. That's what his body told him.

It will be all over if the injury opens up.

...... Can I defeat that man while protecting my injury at the same time?

...... No, I have to win.

"I'm curious about the implication behind the 'forty-seven minutes remaining' said by that man."

Even as he was eliminating his enemies, Maha did not once step away from the water tank and the Yuugenshu that was encased within it. What is his motives? Somehow...... the ominous feeling inside him was getting stronger and stronger.

He has to stop Maha now. It will be too late if they return to

Tenketsu Palace

for reinforcements.

"You mean, there will be changes to the Yuugenshu that's within the tank?"

"That's highly possible — in the worst case scenario, his ally will be here as well."

"...... What do you mean by that?"

"If the forty-seven minutes refers to a time-limit, then someone will be here to meet him when the time is over. In this case, there must be someone to check if Maha has managed to protect the water tank successfully."

"So that man...... has an ally?"

"Definitely."

As a shinryoku-practitioner, the abilities of that man is incredible — however, it is highly unlikely for that man to be a researcher like Kagura is. The water tank and its imprisoned content should be made by someone else.

"H-Hold on a second. If that monster has an ally...... and if that ally shows up here, there is no way you can take on them both."

"Right? That is why I have to take him down while he is still alone."

The abilities of that robed man was way beyond his gauge. Sheltis had no confidence of surviving if someone else is to appear as well.

"............ Why?"

The girl suddenly raised her lowered head.

"Why are you forcing yourself?"

There was an incredible innocence in the voice of the young girl.

"Isn't that so? All those things we discussed earlier were nothing more than just conjectures. But...... why are you staying back because of these unproven conjectures? A sense of justice? Your vanity? Your moral values? Or is it simply because you're a sore loser? I cannot comprehend why you chose to fight against that monster."

There was nothing clean or dirty about that question of hers.

It was nothing more than a purest form of doubt — one that is formed after filtering all the impurities.

"There's a promised land."

The peak of the tower; the place where Ymy was waiting.

"I have to go to that place, because someone is waiting for me."

"I-If that's the case, then why—"

As he took the gaze of Kagura head on, Sheltis continued—

"...... I do not want to disappoint her. She was waiting for me all these while despite her being in a place that's out of my reach even as the years flashed by...... That's why I can't just aim to reach her. I have to take a path that she can be genuinely happy and proud of."

The path of absolute conviction will definitely lead him to the place where she is waiting for him.

He has no intention of turning away.

"I saw I'sa and Jin before coming here."

"I heard. They are the ones whom we met yesterday, yes? The dual gunner named Jin suffered heavy injuries from protecting the girl named I'sa."

"She cried."

"...... Eh?"

The female puppeteer cried at the hospital. She lamented on the fact that she could do nothing when Jin collapsed before her; she cried about how weak she was.

And yet, she planned to take on Maha alone despite her tears.

Their situations overlapped with each other.

I'sa wanted to take on Maha in revenge for the dual gunner, her partner. Despite being alone, she insisted on fulfilling her responsibilities as a guard—

As for Ymy, she kept waiting for Sheltis who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. She did not pick her Sennenshi which should have been necessary, nor was she assigned any guards. However, Ymy continued to give her all as a Priestess. The situations of the two different girls were similar in a sense.

"I do not wish to disappoint her...... because I can understand her feelings very well."

"B-but, you are not related to I'sa in any way! Why are you doing all these just because you understand her feelings?"

"Because we are all from the same tower. That's a good enough reason for me, isn't it?"

Upon hearing that line from Sheltis.

Kagura swallowed the words she was about to say and lowered her head for a long while.

"...... You are the exact opposite from me."

Her voice was close to tears.

"The only people who I trust are those whom I believe in, but you are willing to trust those who believes in you............"

It was as though Kagura was murmuring to herself.

"Sheltis...... if...... and I mean if............ if I swear now that I'll assist you, will you believe in me as well?"

"No."

Before Kagura could answer.

Sheltis put on a mischievous smile.

"There is no need for you to do that. I've always believed in you, Kagura. Didn't you do your best in helping me to analysis the appearance of the Yuugenshu when I asked you to?"

"!! ...... W-Wait! Wait a second—"

"Alright, make sure you escape from here."

Sheltis flashed a brief wink before picking up his dual swords once more.

***

Maha looked upwards into the direction of the water tank despite the fact that his eyes were obscured by the hood of his robe.

In the water tank lies the Yuugenshu that was captured by Igun-I. They had specially moved it here so that they can perform the 'resonating experiment' at the faraway

Floating Archipelagos

.

"............"

How boring, Maha thought to himself.

His job was to eliminate all who came close to the water tank. It has been seventy-one hours since the mission had proceeded, and there was only an hour left before he completes his task. However, was there a need to activate him for this job?

He did not meet anyone who was worthy enough to be his opponent; a strong opponent who was on the same level as he is, someone who can force him to activate the true powers of the 'Golden Hexahedral'

.

And so, Maha thought,

I gained nothing from this task.

"............"

Then again, there was that dual sword wielder.

The one who fought him and managed to escape from his arts despite the fact that he was protecting a girl at the same time. If it's that dual sword wielder—

"............"

Maha turned his body around when he heard the footsteps.

"— Let us begin."

The two blades were giving off a violet glow in the rays of the sun.

There was no sneak attacks or any concrete plans. All the young man did was to walk slowly towards Maha one step at a time.

Sheltis Magna Yehle stood right before him.

"............"

Maha flashed a hidden smile beneath his hood.

Right, that should be the way. Or else it will be pointless for me to be at this place.

"Za...... da...... dadadara...... ka......"

The creation and control of the art, 'Golden Hexahedral'.

"Zazakazada............ da...... zakarakara...... zadadadazakakakazadazakazada............ rada...... rakazazakakadada...... za...... zaza...... karakara...... zadadadada............"

It was all so that he could defeat the dual sword wielder in front of him.

***

"Why are men such egoistic creatures?"

Back in the fissure, Kagura hugged the

machine pearl

and shut her eyes.

"How can he possibly win against that Maha guy by himself? That shinryoku-practitioner is way beyond the realms of our understanding."

The 'Golden Hexahedral' was an all-powerful art. There must be some sort of secrets behind it, and it is likely to be hidden in the semantics of that chant.

"It will be impossible to win without the cracking of that chant...... I should have told him that already."

There is no way he can defeat Maha if he did not decipher its secrets.

If that is the case— what if he knew the secrets behind it?

If someone is able to crack the chants of Maha, will Sheltis be able to win?

"I-Impossible! That will not happen! It is impossible...... for that to happen."

She tried her hardest to reject the idea from her mind.

That is definitely impossible. I am the only one around who can do that. There is no way the chants will be cracked if I do not assist him.

That's right...... that will be the case...... if I do not believe he stands a chance in defeating Maha.

"How could he possibly win with those injuries on him......"

It's not just the injury on his head. Back then that strange-looking bird exploded—

The inferno and shockwaves which surpassed the speed of sound. Both of them was engulfed in an explosion which shattered tonnes of rocks easily. Back then—

"...... If he did not protect me............"

I could not escape in time. Sheltis was the one who shielded me with his back and brought me to this fissure.

His back suffered from burns caused by the explosion.

"...... Even though he already knew how timid I am......"

Those burns which stretched from your neck to your back — was it all from protecting me?

...... I cannot bring myself to ask him that question. I was afraid he will give me the answer I expected from him.

"For a creature as timid as I am......"

What are these feelings inside of me?

Why am I still here instead of running away from this place?

"............ Monica...... I want to be like you too......"

Her trembling did not stop.

She continued to hug the

machine pearl

tightly. And at the deepest areas inside her—

"Monica...... please............ grant me courage."

Should I abandon everything? Not at all.

Now is the time for me to resolve myself.

{2}

"Define. Chant the 'forest' of the world."

Giant roots sprung from the ground as well as from the fallen leaves and petals on the ground.

Zazaa............ aa......

A giant patch of 'green' rose upwards as though it were trying to block off the rays of the sun. Riding on the wind, it came sweeping towards Sheltis. If he were to be engulfed by that, it would probably be the same as jumping into a whirlpool in the sea — his consciousness would taken away.

"...... If only Leon were around."

That great-sword wielder could part waterfalls with his sword. If so, it would definitely be easy for him to sweep this green waterfall apart in one strike.

— There was no way that could be stopped by two swords.

He secured the twin swords in the holster at his back and focused his gaze on the green waterfall in the air. Just as the green swirl was about to reach him...

— *thud*.

Acceleration. Sheltis moved just before the roots and tendrils came into contact with his jacket.

He repeatedly dodged the tsunami of petals which brushed by his side. Countless after-images were formed as he alternated between acceleration and deceleration constantly.

At an extreme speed undetectable by the eyes of a typical human, Sheltis appeared before Maha in a flash.

"Define."

However, the robed caster began to construct yet another spell.

"Replicated with poison extracted from the ground. Color - 'white'; nature - 'timid'; shape - 'snake'. Fangs with deadly poison, ten of them shall appear. Defined to seal the enemy before me with poison."

Snaked-shaped clay figures began to appear around the feet of Maha, transforming under the influence of the golden shinryoku. Multiple lifelike poisonous white snakes appeared, and barred their poisoned fangs towards Sheltis.

"...... Don't get in my way!"

Sheltis dodged past the snakes that were attacking him from all directions. He then drew his swords and dashed straight towards Maha.

— Five meters left.

Just as he broke past the army of snakes, the tall man suddenly stopped moving.

"Define."

Gold shinryoku enveloped the whole of Maha's body.

The glow of the advent-type spells that conjure matter was glowing way brighter than ever before.

"Replicated with the ores beneath the ground."

The earth split.

Giant ores rose up from within the fissures. The ores with the masses of hills blocked Sheltis' path towards Maha.

"Color - 'brown'; nature - 'savage'; shape - 'dragon'. Attention to details is unnecessary. Large sized body and fangs, unparalleled razor-sharp claws. One shall appear. Defined to crush all enemies."

The ores began to pulsate as the golden shinryoku shrouded them.

Ten meters long. Its giant body was encased with basalt-like black scales.

The inverted triangular-shaped head was akin to that of a lizard, and two horns extended from the back of its head. The wings on its back was degenerated, but in exchange it was blessed with the evolution of the four thick and muscular limbs, each of which was larger than an adult human—

"Earth dragon...... he's got that too!?"

The largest creature on the floating continent — one of the species of dragons. Its four limbs were developed specially for moving on the ground, and it also had a long tail. They were viewed as one of the most violent species among the dragons.

The earth dragon gave a roar. But just as Sheltis lifted his sword to face the overwhelming creature before him......

Severe pain.

"...... Ugh......? Ka............"

An indescribable dull pain shot up from his spine to the back of his head.

...... Shit, at a time like this!?

He increased his grip so as not to drop his swords.

...... Just hang on. Just a while longer will do.

...... Just a while more.

His opponent was not endowed with unlimited physical strength either — that earth dragon was the proof of that. Maha must be in a state of exhaustion from casting such a large-scaled spell within a short amount of time.

— If I can down this dragon!

The ground rumbled as the earth dragon pounced towards him. Sheltis leaped away from the giant limb which came crashing down from above him. He then twisted his body to dodge the tail that swept past him.

His body reached its limit after avoiding all that.

Sheltis collapsed onto the ground as he could no longer steady his body.

...... My body...... can no longer move?

He was at his limit. It took him a great deal of effort just to fend away the searing pain that could rob him of his consciousness at any moment.

"Define."

Maha's voice rang through the plains.

"Replicated using clay—............"

His chanting was interrupted by a gunshot.

It felt like time was brought to a standstill. Maha and the earth dragon stopped moving.

"............"

Maha silently turned his body towards the source of the sound. Sheltis' eyes widened.

"W-What are you doing there lying on the ground!? To think you were acting all cool just a while ago!"

The young girl aimed her stun-gun at Maha.

Her hands and lips trembled slightly — but she still stood firmly.

"Kagura? Why......"

"Why didn't I escape? Obviously because I am here to support the undependable you!"

With that said, she did something incomprehensible.

She tossed away the stun-gun, her only weapon, and hugged the

machine pearl

after kneeling on the ground. It was painfully obvious that she was defenseless.

"Just hold on for another fifty seconds."

"......W-What's going on?"

"Do I even have to explain? I'll analyze Maha's chants for you. That's right, I'll decipher everything!"

The silver

machine pearl

gave off a pale greenish glow.

"I believe that you will protect me."

Despite her cold and calm tone, it was a display of her unwavering faith in him.

That was her answer.

"Crush them."

The earth dragon began to move after receiving the command from Maha.

Its sight was locked onto the girl who was sitting silently with the

machine pearl

in her chest.

— Kagura did not move an inch.

There was no way she could miss the rumbling of the ground, or remained unshaken from the roars of the earth dragon. However, all she did was to stare at the computer and focused all her attention on her analysis.

Just because she believed that there was someone who will protect her.

"............ Alright."

Sheltis stabbed the sword into the ground and used it to lift his body upwards.

Fifty seconds. That was the amount of time she entrusted herself to him.

...... I'll accept your request.

As he gritted his teeth to endure the searing pain, he diverted energy into his legs.

He dashed off and began to accelerate. After catching up to the earth dragon that pounced towards Kagura, he aimed at the four limbs and swung his swords.

Forty seconds left.

"——— Grrrrr!"

The enraged earth dragon turned its body towards him.

It stomped its injured limbs on the ground and lifted its tail high up. And at that moment, Sheltis jumped upwards to reach a height that was higher than anyone else.

After a wobbly landing onto the tail of the dragon, he ran towards its back. He then leaped past the deformed wings and took aim at its head.

Thirty seconds left.

Sensing danger, the dragon twisted its head and attacked with its jaws opened wide. As he slithered through the sharp sword-like fangs, Sheltis swung his swords towards the head of the dragon.

A sharp pain almost robbed him of his consciousness.

"...... Hsss............"

The earth dragon released a feeble hiss before its death and thrashed violently. Sheltis was flung off of its body, and landed hard on his back on the ground. Along from the pain from the impact, a red fluid flowed past his cheeks. The injury on his head had reopened.

—What's this...... nauseous feeling!?

The pain from his head was more than what he could handle, and turned into an intense bout of dizziness and nauseousness.

"Define."

Maha moved his gaze away from Sheltis who had collapsed knee-first onto the ground and turned towards Kagura.

"The sky-piercing Mother Earth. Fire at her with a thousand spears."

The vast grounds began to release a gold shimmer upon receiving the golden shinryoku.

*badump..... ba...... badump...... badump............ dum......*

The land was pulsating. What looked like bamboos shot up from the ground with incredible density. However, those objects were much sharper and more malicious than bamboos—

"...... Spears?"

Golden clay spears. That was the initial spell used by Maha, but it was obviously much stronger than before. Countless spears appeared from the ground...... the sheer number and scale of the spell was not comparable to that of earlier.

A thousand. If Maha said so, then there must be many more spears than that.

"Kagura!"

All of them were aimed towards the young girl sitting on the ground.

She only had the

machine pearl

in her arms - there was no way she could defend herself.

"Escape............"

Escape now— but Sheltis could not finish his sentence.

Kagura did not notice that she was surrounded by a thousand spears.

She remained on the ground, focusing her attention only on the screen of the

machine pearl

.

She could neither see spears nor feel the trembling of the ground. Her consciousness was cut off and contained within her body and her world where she processed the information.

"I believe that you will protect me."

She does really mean it.

"............ Damn."

As he stared at the back of the young girl, Sheltis actually flashed a bitter smile.

...... Even though you asked me not to be reckless.

...... Aren't you the more reckless one compared to me?

The thousand spears continued to protrude from the ground.

It would take a miracle to save Kagura should those spears be fired at the speeds of bullets. His could not move his body at will due to the numbness spreading throughout his body as well as the pain and nauseousness. Actually, it would have made no difference even if he could have moved his body freely. It was nigh impossible for anyone to save a girl from thousands of spears and come out unscathed.

...... That's absolutely...... impossible............

............ Is that really true............

...... If there is a way out...... it would be to nullify the shinryoku.

............ And that method............

"........... It exists."

He propped his wobbly body off the ground with the aid of his swords, before keeping them in the holster at his back again.

— The method does exist.

The forbidden curse. The pulse that floods the

Garden of Corrupted Song

. A negative tone which curses and corrodes everything on the floating continent.

Despite the fact that it was a taboo power, if the situation calls for it.......

"Fire."

Maha proclaimed.

And at the same time, thousand of spears shot toward Kagura.

Kagura, who was still hugging onto her

machine pearl

, remained motionless. The fastest spear was aimed towards the machine helmet of the defenceless girl. And then—

*...... Ka...... rara............*

Bullseye. The machine helmet dropped onto the ground.

Dark green hair and round black eyes, and the horizontally extended ears unique to the People of Nell. The girl's face was revealed after the loss of her protective gear. The other spears approached her from all directions—

Mateki

—— "

Seventh True Rhythm

Symphony of the Third Mirror Boundary"

neoles xin cia tis kyel corn.

Oo/ X =E lis, char copha noi I. ende hypes eden ele xeph.

The thousands of spears stopped in their tracks.

ualen, yahe, char, kamyu

paravel ment deus Ahw xeph quo ferm fel, quo xeph fern kyel

A gentle tone reverberated throughout the plains.

A dark purple glow began expanding outwards along with a faint melody.

Sophit, viresel, ole, zarabel

paravel shel deus Ahw mille quo ferm fel, quo eyen ferm kyel

*Zaa...... aa............*

Upon coming into contact with the new light particles, the shinryoku that resulted in the ground glowing golden gradually disappeared.

"It has suppressed shinryoku? Could those deep purple light be—"

"............ Mateki?"

Both Maha and Kagura uttered of surprise.

Oo/ X =Elis, teo elmei hypne, ende phio in neightis cley.

ele tis-sek paravel char noi wi lef ilmei omia

It was a mystifying scene.

After exposing to the mateki, the spears lost the shinryoku imbued in them and dropped back to the ground. Not just that, but the roots and the protruding bedrock — everything had returned back to its original state.

As though he was healing the scars of the earth.

Even though mateki should be something that pollutes and corrodes everything on the floating continent, it had actually restored balance to the world distorted by shinryoku.

— Oe/ sia Eden, Ole ele, Selah pheno sia-s Arma Riris.

<— For the sake of all the forgotten ■■■>

Fifty seconds. When the time which they agreed on was up—

The young man shrouded in purple mist shielded the girl who was hugging onto the

machine pearl

behind him.

"............ Why are you carrying mateki despite being human?"

The person who broke the silence was Maha.

He gently flipped his robe as he stared at the mateki neutralizing his spells.

"Unconfirmed to be whether human or Yuugenshu — object deemed as highly dangerous."

After pulling a distance away from Sheltis, he began chanting once more.

"Za...... da...... dadadara...... ka......"

"2...... 1...... 111、...... 0......"

As Maha's chant began, so did the voice of Kagura.

"Zazakazada............ da...... zakarakara...... zadadadazakakakazadazakazada............ rada...... rakazazakakadada....... za...... zaza...... karakara...... zadadadada............ zakazadakazadadadaraza............ kakakazaradadadakaka............ zazazadaka............"

"22021............ 1...... 20、0、......21112000212021............、1...... 、0220011...... 2...... 22...... 0、0、...... 21111...... 202102111、2............ 0002、111100............ 22210............"

Everything was in sync — not a second off, nor were there any characters that had deviated.

Absolutely perfect. The young girl chanted it as though she was performing a piano legato.

"— Analysis complete. We'll win for sure."

"Eh?"

"There's not much time left, so I'll just tell you the important parts."

Kagura stood up slowly as she said that calmly.

"Maha's chants are based on a ternary numeral system."

"Sheltis, you should know that this is one of the systems of addition. We are currently using the decimal numeral system, where we will carry '1' for every ten digits. It is speculated that the reason for such a system is because humans have ten fingers. On the other hand, Maha's chants utilizes a ternary numeral system made up of 0, 1 and 2. 'Ka', 'da' and 'za' corresponds with the digits '0', '1' and '2' respectively. These digits are endowed with meaning, which are then used to construct complicated and powerful spells."

Kagura lifted her head slowly.

Her dark-green hair was of shoulder length, and her ears were extending horizontally outwards.

"Phew, it's been a while since I removed my mechanical helmet. The winds are really comfortable."

The young girl closed her eyes in pleasure as she stood against the wind.

"I originally thought 'ra' corresponds with '3', which will make it a quaternary numeral system. However, the frequency of '3' is way too small. Therefore, I deemed it to serve the same purpose as the comma '、'."

"But, why......"

"Why am I sure it's a ternary numeral system? The hint lies in the name of the art, the 'Golden Hexahedral'. I've no idea if you know this, but a regular hexahedral is cube. Well, I guess it will be easier to understand if you picture it as a dice. It represents the length, breadth and height — and all the independent elements will result in a three-dimensional body. It is similar to the concept of the ternary numeral system with the three independent elements of 0, 1 and 2. That is the reason why Maha's art is named 'Golden Hexahedral'."

Kagura opened her eyes once more.

With her shiny black eyes filled with an absolute confidence, Kagura pointed towards Maha.

"Those powerful spells of Maha are supported by these complicated chants. It may look invincible, but there are actually interesting weaknesses within his spells."

But— as she said that, Kagura looked in the direction of Sheltis.

"That is if you believe me."

"Sure. I'll do just that."

"...... You should at least hesitate a little in a situation like this."

Kagura covered her mouth and gave a brief giggle — she then sharpened her gaze.

"Your powers earlier were not shinryoku, but mateki. Am I right?"

"...... So you've seen everything."

"You are really an unfathomable person. Why is a human carrying mateki in his body? To be honest with, if I had seen that randomly by chance, I would have even thought that you're a Yuugenshu."

Said Kagura bluntly.

"You're an idiot for allowing someone untrustworthy like me to witness your strange powers. What are you planning to do should I tell others about it?"

"..........."

That's right. He'll be exiled from

Tenketsu Palace

once more should that happens. He will never be able to fulfil his promise to Ymy.

...... But if I do otherwise, I'll never be able to protect Kagura.

"I—"

"Don't put on such a sullen face."

That line from Kagura was way beyond what he had expected.

"Thank you for revealing such an important secret to me. You were forced to use your mateki in order to protect me, aren't you? You showed me your mateki because you believed that I'll keep that a secret."

The People of Nell will reveal their smile only to those whom they trust — and a smile was appearing on the face of the young girl. The face revealed by the loss of the helmet.

"Ahh, this is great. You've finally answered my question. And with that, I am finally able to put the pride as a People of Nell on the line — in order to repay your trust............ I shall entrust my everything to you."

With her right hand still pointing towards Maha, she placed her left hand softly on her chest.

"I'll assist you from the side. The weakness to the spells of Maha...... it may be as difficult as putting a thread through the eye of a needle, but we'll definitely be able to shatter that Gold. You can do it, right?"

— There was no need for him to answer.

Sheltis stomped hard against the ground as the young girl finished her statement.

Accelerate. Accelerate. And accelerate.

As he accelerated to hyper speed, the scenery flew past him in a flash. Riding on the gale, he sprinted on the plains at speed that exceeded those of the winds — his eyes were fixed on the man who was waiting for him.

"Define."

Three soil statues appeared by Maha's side.

"Replicated with soil. Color - 'deep red'; nature - 'gallant'; shape - 'lion'. Three shall appear before me. Defined to eliminate the enemy before me."

Three red lions, deemed as the mystical beasts of the floating continent. They gave an earth-splitting roar before pouncing towards Sheltis with their powerful limbs.

"...... Ugh!"

The lions were agile and armed with sharp teeth and claws. It would be fine if he took on them one at a time, but fighting three of them together at once would not be easy. Just as he was about to change his direction and take on them separately—

"Stop moving!"

Far behind him, Kagura yelled,

"Objects defined as 'gallant' will only target moving objects! Just stop moving and wait till they pass by you!"

How could that be possible?

That is just...... despite the suspicion of him hearing her wrongly, Sheltis chose to believe in Kagura. He stopped quickly and stood still with the swords in his hand.

The lions appeared before him in a flash, and just as the claws were about to tear through his nose—

When they realized Sheltis was no longer moving, the three lions sprinted past Sheltis as though they were uninterested in a target that has lost his will to fight.

"It's fine now. Continue running!"

Upon receiving her instruction, Sheltis resumed his sprint.

"Listen to me as you run. Remember, what supports those powerful spells of Maha are the long chants as well as the hundreds and thousands of complicated definitions. But at the same time, that is their weakness as well. You can render a large majority of the spells useless once you've analysed the defined conditions. Maha's chants were made out of a ternary numeral system precisely because he does not want others to realize the conditions to his spells!"

"...... Damn you."

Maha's moan was proof of the accuracy of the young girl's hypothesis.

"Define — replicated with poison extracted from the ground. Color - 'white'; nature - 'timid'; shape - 'snake'. Fangs with deadly poison, thirty of them shall appear. Defined to seal the enemy before me with poison."

Poisonous white snakes appeared before Maha.

And as for his action towards the white army that was slithering towards him—

"Just run through them!"

And this time, he followed Kagura's instruction without hesitation.

"Contrary to what happened earlier, objects defined as 'timid' will only attack those who are rooted on the ground from their fear! Raise your swords and continue your dash!"

The snakes stopped moving as though they feared Sheltis. Sheltis ran past them without even giving them a second look.

— Got you!

Maha was within the range of his swords. There was no time for him to pull a distance away, neither does he have any form of defence.

"...... My arts is invincible."

Maha looked upwards towards the sky. He then spread opened his arms and swung them down hard.

The final spell used by the man who continued standing on where he was.

"Defining the 'Golden Hexahedral'."

Golden sand flowed from the sleeves as he swung his arms. No, the sand were much more brilliant than the sun. There was no doubt that they were gold itself.

"Replicated by gold. Color - 'golden'; nature - 'Maha'; shape - 'human'. Attention to details is unnecessary. Appear before me with gold within. Defined to manipulate the universe."

Another Maha appeared.

An avatar formed by gold. It was then when Sheltis finally understood. That was the true strength to Maha's arts — the profound and yet basic 'Golden Hexahedral'.

"Sheltis, this shall be my last assistance for you."

Kagura's voice rang behind him.

"I believe you. Shatter that Gold!"

The Golden Maha brandished both of his fists.

The fists came flying towards Sheltis at an incredible speed, carrying with it an incredible amount of power. Strangely, there was no fear within Sheltis.

"I'll reserve my thanks till you return back in triumph...... is that okay?"

"...... You'll definitely win and return safely, right?"

The girl puppeteer, and also—

The words conveyed from his childhood friend to him.

"— No, I am not the only person who yearns for the support of others.

I hope everyone can offer your support to the rest of the fellow members of the tower. Not just to me alone."

*Shhh*— the golden fists grazed past his cheeks and severed several strands of his hair...... and Sheltis could feel a warm sensation on his cheek. The shockwave from the punch scraped his face, resulting in blood flowing out from the injuries.

However, that did not stop the young man in his tracks.

"Remember this,

Gold

!"

A slash of his sword. A glowing violet blade appeared all of the sudden to split the golden Maha statue apart. Next, Sheltis lifted his two swords high up in the air.

"Don't you ever think of harming my companions again!"

The dual swords of the young man—

Swept through the golden spellcaster, together with the Yuugenshu water tank behind him.

{3}

Peace returned to the plains once more.

"Yes, that's right. In regards to this incident, everything is fine now. I mean, we've just resolved it...... Yes, you're speaking to Kagura and Sheltis. Two cadet guards."

Kagura remained calm as she reported to the

Tenketsu Palace

Headquarters.

"What happened to the opponent? That is a difficult question. We did win, but I do not think that's the end of everything. Mmm, it's just like what I had reported earlier. Yes. We'll submit a detailed report when we return— Yes. That is all."

Phew— Kagura sighed as she disconnected the call.

"It was originally an operator who picked up the call, but Instructor Yumelda popped up out of nowhere and gave me a harsh scolding."

"What did she say?"

"We are to prepare a report as well as a letter of repentance. And also, she mentioned you as well, Sheltis. Here's what she said: 'Consider the fact that you've ended up victorious, I'll not dwell on the fact that you ignored my orders. However, seeing how energetic you are, you are to resume training from tomorrow onwards'."

"...... Spare me from that."

He pressed his hands against his aching head and sat down on the ground.

"It's not the end of everything, huh......"

As he dwell on the words Kagura said in her report, Sheltis took a glance behind him.

— The dull yellow robe.

The robe worn by the man who calls himself Maha had fallen onto the ground, and was flapping haplessly against the wind.

"...... That's a really scary opponent. I never thought that man was a dummy made of sand."

Kagura bit her lips as she stared at the golden sand on the robe.

That's right, their opponent was just a dummy created by the 'Golden Hexahedral'. Thanks to the strike from Sheltis, their opponent reverted back into golden sand, leaving behind the robe on the ground.

"But...... you don't seem too surprised."

"I saw through that quite a while ago."

Sheltis nodded blankly.

"You realized that? When?"

"Right from the beginning, I guess. It didn't feel like I am fighting against a human being. And also his breathing, or the lack of it. It may be hard to distinguish it due to the robe covering his whole body, but you'll notice that he's not breathing if you look carefully."

"I see. So that's what the robe is for. I never realized that...... That's careless of me."

Kagura smiled wryly.

"Oh, I have to apologize."

"For?"

"The thing on your head...... It's broken."

Ahh, that— Kagura shrugged as she glanced at the fallen mechanical helmet. With her face basking under the sun, she put on a very happy smile.

"It's alright. I was thinking it's getting a little too tight for me. I'll make another one."

"Really? I thought it was rather huge."

"This thing here, they're different from yours."

As she said that, she touched her straight ears that were covered with warm fur.

"Right?"

There was a mischievous and childish smile on her face, which made her look very approachable.

...... So she can actually wear such a nice smile.

She had finally showed him her act of trust. Not words nor her knowledge, but her brightest smile.

"Alright, let's head back. There's still the report and the repentance letter waiting for us. Let's change your swords to pens and finish our work quickly."

### 008. Intermission: The colorless eyes

Enjoy.

********************

The eighty-seventh airspace located in the territory of the Government Sector.

There were many unnamed floating islands in the

Floating Archipelagos

, one of which was covered in a lush primeval forest—

"There, mission complete."

Igun-I nodded his head in satisfaction as he put his white gloves back on.

Dipping his fingers into the chest pocket of his black suit, he fished out a watch to check the time.

Seven minutes till noon. He wanted to take a stroll around the primeval forest, but he had to meet up with Maha, who was very peculiar about time. The time was just about right. Maha is probably irritated from waiting.

Just then—

"Hmm? A call?"

The communicator in his pocket rang.

"Hello— ahh, it's been tough on you. Is the experiment done? That's great...... eh, that's not good at all! What happened...... mhmm."

After hearing the reasons through the communicator.

"Oh? Mr. Maha's dummy lost? And the water tank was destroyed?"

The ends of his lips curved upwards, forming a bewitching smile.

"Weird. I thought Mr Maha's very confident of that dummy of his. Oh? People from

Tenketsu Palace

...... Sennenshi? Eh, the dummy had autonomous control, so Mr. Maha himself had no idea huh............ Fufu, you're funny. How can I possibly know?"

He said that lyrically.

Igun-I's voice was filled with happiness.

"Yes, my work here is done. The tracking screen of the 'Forbidden Crystal' and the water tank for the 'Slumbering Child' were destroyed. Mmm, I'll be heading back right now."

He disconnected the call and slotted the communicator back into his pocket.

"Is that so...... so that's what happened...... Welcome back."

The smile that appeared earlier was becoming deeper and deeper.

"Welcome back, Sheltis. I have been waiting for you all these while."

Stretching his arms out wide, Igun-I stared into the sky. It was as if he was welcoming someone whom he had been waiting for a long time.

"It's been really lonely. I've looked forward to this for so long...... I've always been waiting for your return. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry up and come to my side.

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. Fill my blankness with your mateki.

Whiter than snow, and darker than night,

Redder than blood, and bluer than the seas,

A color that was more brilliant than the sun, the moon, the stars or the rainbow.

Dye me all over with your color.

Turn me into your color...... so that I can be by your side."

A gust of wind rustled the leaves of the trees.

By the time silence returned to the forest, the man was no longer on the

Floating Archipelagos

.

### 009. Epilogue: To warm the icy fingertips

And with this I'm done.

You guys probably won't be seeing any updates for Hyouketsu Kyoukai for a while, so just a heads up.

Enjoy.

********************

{1}

"I won't tell Monica about the mateki within your body."

Before the gate that led to the grounds of

Tenketsu Palace

.

Kagura, who was sitting in the pilot's seat, turned her head around and said that as the cruising vehicle came to a halt.

"Are you fine with that?"

Sheltis asked uneasily. The girl replied with her usual cold expression,

"Yes. However, I think she'll come to know of it some day. When that happens, it's best that you're mentally prepared to tell her the truth yourself."

The dual sword wielder whom Monica admired three years ago — the fact that the young man who had fallen into the

Garden of Corrupted Song

was still alive.

Not only so, he was carrying mateki in his body as well.

"...... I guess I do need to prepare myself mentally for that."

"I'll leave that to you. Let's not talk about that for now. Here, this is for you."

She passed him a piece of paper.

"This is the pass to my communication network. We're about to become teammates, so we should be able to communicate with each other at the very least."

Monica, Kagura, and Sheltis.

That's three, the minimum number of people required to take on missions.

"Well then, I'll be going. You should hurry to the hospital on the twenty-second floor as well."

"Mmm. See you."

Kagura drove the floating vehicle towards the hangar.

As he stood at the quiet area in front of the gate of

Tenketsu Palace

and listened to the sounds of the engine, Sheltis turned his body away to face the direction which they came from — the western area of nature sector.

...... The 'Golden' Maha. And his companions whom I do not know of.

"— Not like it matters."

He stretched his hands to touch the holster that held his two swords on his back.

The water tank that incubated Yuugenshu, and the other which caged another Yuugenshu.

He had no idea what those two things signified, but he'll stop them if they endanger the safety of the floating continent as well as the safety of the Priestesses.

No matter when and how many times it happens, he would have to stop them. That was all there was to it.

"Don't even think about harming Ymy."

That must be the reason.

The reason he returned to

Tenketsu Palace

.

***

Two hundred and forty-seventh story of

Tenketsu Palace

.

In a tower built specially for the Queen and the Priestesses, one of the floors was specially reserved for the accommodation of the VIPs. Kagura was running breathlessly in the corridor of that floor.

"Huh...... Huh...... Ha..... Just you wait, Eyriey!"

After bidding Sheltis goodbye and parking the electric vehicle into the hangar, Kagura immediately took the main elevator to make her way to the floor.

— All so that she could challenge Eyriey.

"I-It should be here...... right? I'll...... I'll take a breather first."

She cannot allow Eyriey to see her in such a breathless state. Kagura took a few deep breathes to regulate her breathing...... Phew. Alright, this should be okay.

*Ding dong*

Came the cute sound of the doorbell.

"Hello, who is this?"

A relaxed voice came through the speakers.

"It's me. May I come in?"

"Oh— It's Kagura, isn't it? Sure, come on in."

There was the disengaging sound of the mechanical lock of the room. Kagura kicked the door open and rushed into the room.

"Oh, it's Kagura without her mechanical helmet. You ears are really cute."

"People of Nell? That's rare."

Eyriey was sitting on the sofa of the room, while the

machine crystal

was placed on the table next to her.

"My ears are of no importance! ...... Fu...... Fufu. That carefree attitude of yours shall end right now!"

Kagura stretched out her hand all of the sudden and pointed her finger at Eyriey.

"Eyriey, I am here to issue you a challenge!"

"Oh, what? If it's a challenge, then I'll accept it—"

Eyriey nodded her head with a cup of red tea in a hand. With that, Kagura began chanting,

"Zazakazada............ da...... zakarakara...... zadadadazakakakazadazakazada............ rada...... rakazazakakadada...... za...... zaza...... karakara...... zadadadada............. There! What's the meaning behind that?"

"Hmm? What's with that disgusting quaternary numeral system? Ah, no wait, it should be a ternary numeral system."

"I do think it's a ternary numeral system as well. It is intricately disguised as a quaternary numeral system, but the 'ra' probably functions as a comma to signify a phrase."

The answers came instantly.

"Ah, so that's the opinion of Ilis as well huh?"

"Yup—"

"—Uhhh!? T-That easily!?"

They answered her immediately.

She lost totally.

"............"

"Oh? What's wrong, Kagura? If you wish to challenge me, you should shoot your question."

Kagura clenched her fists as she looked at the confused Eyriey.

"E-Eyriey, you're an idiot! That's the reason why I hate you the most——!"

"W-Whoa! What's wrong, Kagura!? Calm down!"

{2}

— It was already deep into the night when she woke up. A time when most people in the tower would be asleep already.

Someone had pulled open the curtains, allowing the moonlight to shine in.

The clear bluish-white moonlight happened to shine onto her eyelids through the slits of the curtain. That must have been what caused her to wake up.

"...... My face's a mess. Onee-sama would definitely scold me if she sees me like this."

She must have cried herself to sleep. I'sa laughed wryly when she saw her puffy eyelids in the reflection of the glass panes.

"Jin......"

Next to the chair that she slept on.

She tried calling out to her comatose partner who was on a medical ventilator. He obviously could not reply. Despite that, she still wished to call his name.

"............"

Pulling the blanket down slightly, she could see her bandaged arms.

"The ward...... is so cold."

I'sa gripped tightly onto his fingers — fingers that had became rugged due to the constant holding of the guns. As she gripped onto his hands quietly to offer him warmth—

"Hi, I'sa."

"H-Hyaaaa!"

I'sa's heart almost jumped out of her mouth when someone tapped on her shoulders all of a sudden.

"B-Boss...... sorry, Captain Run! W-W-Why are you here!?"

I'sa straightened herself immediately when she saw the girl who was roughly the same age as her.

She was a Sennenshi, with her lion's badge shimmering under the moonlight.

"I'm here to pay him a visit, of course. I had attended lots of meetings, and that occupied me a lot of my time. I asked the doctors before coming here, and it seems like no one is in critical condition, right?"

"Y-Yes! But of course. The members of

Tenketsu Palace

are no weaklings."

"I see. That's good."

*Cree* Run leaned herself onto the old chair.

"Speaking about the meeting which ran through the night, it's about that incident related to you guys—"

"...... Right."

That was obvious.

It was the incident of them encountering a mysterious shinryoku practitioner at the nature sector. Three squads were crushed by that person, so the commanders of the Law Enforcement Bureau had considered sending in a specialized team over.

"It's resolved already."

"............ Eh?"

"That strange shinryoku practitioner? He was taught a harsh lesson."

"...... Captain Run did that?"

"Idiot— how can that be? I intended to go, but someone got ahead of me."

Run pouted and crossed her arms with a bored expression.

"You should know who that person is, don't you?"

"............"

Someone who could defeat that monster. Someone other than the Sennenshi.

I'sa could only think of one person who fits the criteria.

How could that be possible? No, but...... it could only he him.

"I'll go in your stead."

"I'sa, you can stay by his side. I'll be fine by myself."

The dual-wield cadet guard.

...... He really went.

...... And he actually won.

"A-Ahaha...... So that's what happened."

Even though she was exhausted from crying. Despite the fact that her tears had dried up.

— A drop of tear slid down her cheek.

"That's all from me. I'll be heading off."

"W-Wait a second, Boss."

She addressed her superior as that in a fluster, but Run did not seem to mind.

"If you see him...... can you thank him for me?"

"Haa? You should be doing that yourself."

"I can't......"

I'sa shook her head gently in response to Run's frowning face.

"I don't think I'll be able to say that. Because if I ever see him, I'll definitely be saying something else."

"Which is?"

Her superior asked her with a serious expression.

I'sa clenched her fist and looked at Run with a determined expression.

"............ 'I'll definitely not lose the next time'."

"So you do know what is expected from you."

Run put on an innocent smile.

"We'll definitely win the next time round — including that shinryoku practitioner which gave us so much trouble. That's an order."

"Mmm. We'll not lose."

That shinryoku practitioner as well as the dual sword wielder. She will definitely not lose to them ever again.

I'sa nodded her head repeatedly as she grabbed onto the hands of her partner.

***

At the entrance of the hospital.

"Looks like...... it's not the right time for me to enter."

Realizing that I'sa and Run were chatting happily in the ward, Sheltis walked away restlessly.

"Oh well, it's already this late into the night. There's always tomorrow."

First, he received treatment in the hospital, followed by a lengthy lecture from Instructor Yumelda which lasted for a few hours...... and before he knew it, it was already late into the night.

— It's about time I head back to sleep as well.

"The doctor must have been really angry, right? She must have said how reckless you are and so on."

"I am already sick of hearing that."

A familiar voice came from his back. He knew who person was without even turning around.

"But of course. I'll definitely be furious if I was the doctor as well."

The night lights were shining on a Priestess in the dim corridor.

The first thing that came to his eyes was her pale golden hair. Next was the pure white vestment with a touch of blue. And finally—

"I'm here to pay a visit...... Run and I...... and everyone else were attending the meeting till late at night."

An elegant and gentle girl was standing before him with a smile on her face.

"A meeting?"

"Under the orders of Queen Salah, Run was to prepare herself for the trip to the nature sector. Whenever things are serious enough for the Sennenshi to be activated, the Priestesses will be notified about it as well...... But before that could happen, a certain someone had already settled everything by himself without any concern of his own health and safety."

Ymy could not help but to giggle when she emphasized on 'a certain someone'.

"The upper brass of

Tenketsu Palace

were still discussing this issue. Who is the person who defeated the squads? From the way things are, it seems like they had secretly dispatched an investigation team to look into the matter."

"They are investigating the Government Sector?"

"...... They did not say it, but I guess they will be focusing their attention on them."

Sheltis thought of that possibility as well. If that man belonged to a faction other than

Tenketsu Palace

, then the only faction left would be the Government Sector. Moreover, both water tanks were located on the

Floating Archipelagos

that were under the jurisdiction of the Government Sector.

"But...... Is it really okay for us to do that?"

The young girl walked over to his side.

"I felt disgusted when I heard that. Why do we have to suspect each other? We are all living on the floating continent."

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.

She was a Priestess who protects the floating continent. At that time, her eyes were filled with grief.

...... She did say this during her speech.

"From now on, let's support each other...... Because we are fellow companions who are all living on the floating continent, and residing in the same tower."

An unknown amount of time passed as he stared at the profile of her depressed face.

"I can't really say it very well."

Suppressing the frustration for his inability to express the thoughts of his mind, Sheltis tried to voice his honest feelings.

"But I think there is no need for you to worry about this."

"Why?"

"It's the job for the directors of

Tenketsu Palace

to worry about the negotiations with the Government Sector. We are not omnipotent. Of course, thinking itself is not a bad thing, but thinking too much into things will not help either. Only a Priestess can do the things a Priestess is supposed to do — aren't you the one who said that in front of everyone?"

That caused Ymy's stiff expressions to soften a little.

"Ah...... Well, I am really happy...... so you heard my speech?"

"Mmm. I thought your performance was spectacular."

There was no one else around the entrance of hospital.

Ymy had been listening to him quietly for a while. She finally asked hesitantly,

"...... So Sheltis thinks so as well? Am I really thinking too much?"

"It's the same for me too. Just today, I thought about too many things, but what I saw was only a narrow portion of the whole thing. It's about time I reflect on that."

That applied to his impression of Kagura. He originally thought of her as a blunt and wary person, so he never expect that innocent smile of hers after she removed her mechanical helmet.

"...... Queen Salah said almost the same things as you did, Sheltis."

"Queen Salah? That Queen?"

"Mmm. I consulted her in something, and she gave me the same answer as well. Since you are a Priestess, you will have to first play the role as a Priestess...... she is right."

Her smile was mixed with a hint of worry—

"Sheltis—"

His childhood friend nodded her head and changed her tone into a light one.

"I'll work even harder so as not to let down my name as the Priestess of Baptism...... And so, please give me a little more time in regards to your mateki."

"My mateki?"

"I think I can promise you this. It may take me a while, but I'll definitely treat your mateki. Because when you've finally become my Sennenshi—"

Ymy suddenly stretched out her hands.

Under the illumination of the lights in the dim corridor, the fingertips of the young girl seemed incredibly white. They stopped short of coming into contact with his chest.

It was a distance that is closer, and yet further away than anyone else — the repulsion from Elbert Resonance forbids them to come into contact.

"...... Right?"

Her eyes were originally filled with grief, but the young girl finally overcame that sadness and broke into a smile.

"There will be a distance between us should this continue on, am I right? I'll think of a way to deal with the mateki in Sheltis' body. Therefore, all you have to do is to focus on your things and continue to do your best."

Ymy tapped her own chest confidently.

Sheltis could not help but to blush when he saw her childish and innocent smile.

"Promise?"

"...... Mmm."

He could only nod his head embarrassingly in response to her gaze.

"Well then, I—"

"I?"

Upon being stared at by the gaze of Ymy that was filled with anticipation, Sheltis could only offer a wry smile—

"I'll do my best. In lots of areas."

"Ah, that's unfair! Tell me what they are! That's the most important part!"

"...... I put it that way precisely because it's embarrassing, so please spare me from that."

## 04. Volume 4 - Heavenly Melody ( Full Text )

### 001. Afterword

People’s resolve can weave the heavenly melody.

.

Thank you very much for picking up this book, I’m Sazane Kei.

How did you enjoy Eden volume 4? Volume 3 was an epic showdown between the main character and the Golden Spell so I tried to draw volume 4 in line with the idea of a “life-sized person”. The compositions of volume 3 and volume 4 became completely opposite but I wonder if the impressions given at the end are similar?

With the main characters also making a first appearance and the happy accident known as a drama CD, I feel like I’m being pushed on and that I’d like for the story to start running all-out.

……And with that.

Like I just announced, “Eden’s” drama CD has been finalized!

Sazane himself was surprised, but this is all ─── all thanks to the editors, K-san and Kasukabe Akira-san, and above all else, all the readers who have taken this book into their hands.

After this, the drama CD’s information will be released in Dragon Magazine and on Sazane’s blog and there are also plans for it to be featured on the producer, Marine Entertainment-sama’s homepage. Key points, check!

. Next Volume Preview

Frozen……I have always……always awaited you.

Now, Sheltis, please chase after me . That will be the beginning of everything.

.

Representatives from both organizations gather at the Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector’s assembly.

The Priestess representing the tower, Ymy, and the Cadres Guard, Ishtar. And Sheltis once more heads to the Governmental Sector as an escort together with his comrades.

Ymy attends the assembly. On the other hand, Sheltis gets a glimpse of the secret the Governmental Sector is hiding.

However, there lies another shadow of the “uninvited”───

.

Well then, let us meet once again in December in “Hyouketsu Kyoukai Volume 5, Absolute Sanctuary”.

Last third of June, 2010 Sazane Kei

### 002. Intermission: Gathering

Floor 288 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

A height of two thousand metres. Closer to the heavens than the ground, that floor held the personal rooms of the second and third Priestesses as well as their respective Sennenshi.

At the center of the floor was a balcony that gathered sunlight. One could even enjoy sunbathing in the dead of winter within this area that was enclosed by transparent strengthened glass.

Upon that balcony which was large enough to even accommodate dancing.

“Ah, right there, Ran……a little lower……yeah, there. A little stronger──”

“Good grief, you’re really a Priestess with a lot of demands.”

It was a Priestess lying atop the air cushion spread out on the floor and the Sennenshi that was continuing to massage her shoulders and back.

“Ah── that feels good. Ran’s really good at massages──”

“It’s thanks to a certain somebody’s demands being so particular.”

Ran had the sleeves of her formal attire rolled up as she continued to massage.

She was a girl whose flaxen-colored hair stood out against her sunburnt skin. Her petite features and somewhat larger mischievous eyes gave one the impression of a cat.

……The trick is not to push or rub the muscles, with a sensation like lightly pinching and pulling.

……Was this how it went?

She located the shoulder blade from above the vestments and alleviated the tension in the muscles supporting the bone. From the center of the shoulder blade to the back and from there to the waist. She had only been average in just about everything at the very start, but after doing it how many times, she felt that she had gotten the knack of it. It was work that required attention but hearing her say “It feels good” made it not so bad.

“It looks like it was quite tiring.”

“Yep──. It’s hard maintaining the barrier. I don’t have any intention of complaining though──.”

The tall girl closed her eyes, laying down while looking like she was feeling good.

Meimel In Carnation ─── a woman with vivid, long jade green hair and a tall and slender body.

Her vestments were tailored in an elegant style that suited her beautiful looks.

……Well, I should indulge her desires at least this much.

She had just finished maintaining the barrier for three days in place of the Queen. Massaging her for an hour when she had finished her duties as a Priestess was cheap as a reward.

“Oka──y, Ran, please put on suntan cream──”

Or so she thought, but then Meimel stripped off her vestment.

“……You’re confusing this with a beach, aren’t you.”

“It’s fine, isn’t it. It feels great to sunbathe──”

“……You should get baked at least once.”

To begin with, Sennenshi were protectors. Performing a massage to relieve weariness was one thing but rubbing on sunblock was odd.

“Don’t you have any better requests?”

“In that case──, I want to eat sweet things.”

As if anticipating that, the outstretched Meimei faced in her direction.

“Please, Ran. I’d like a parfait.”

“The Tower’s Grand Dining Hall’s?”

“Nope. Outside the tower, there’s a well-known store in the Living Districts. I’d like the head chef’s original recipe, the , from the outdoor cafe in the second Living District, The Albireo Two Swans .”

“I can’t tell if that parfait is hot or cold.”

“Rather, it’s not a parfait but a pancake.”

“……That name’s a scam.”

Sighing wearily, Ran began preparations to head out for shopping.

.

“Ha──i, sorry to keep you waiting.”

Mixed in with the hustle and bustle of the main street, there was a shop filled with the scent of refined tea and the light and sweet fragrance of cakes.

Outdoor cafe, “The Albireo Two Swans ” ─── a coffee lounge that looked out at the main street in the second Living District.

Facing the ever-busy street that ran through the shopping district, it was a shop that was packed all day with people that loved the head chef’s famous daily special meals and cakes.

“Here is the that you ordered.”

“Ohh, so this is the rumored one.”

At an outdoor table on large plates were enormous pancakes fit for ten people. The fresh cream and ice cream was overflowing on top, and above that was a mountain of seasonal fruits.

That came atop a piping hot iron pan, so there was plenty of impact.

“……Wow, it’s more than I expected.”

“Are you a first-time customer? I’m the head chef, Kyrie; feel free to patronize us from today on.”

The woman wearing an apron with an adorable dog applique gave a small nod.

With her dazzling blonde hair fastened high up on her head, the shop manager had a strange air about her that made her seem like she could be in her tens, twenties or thirties.

And came a man’s scream from the kitchen at the interior of the shop.

“He-head chef───────! H-help me……the Moomoo shellfish are getting violent!”

“Agaaain? That’s why I told you to be careful when cooking the Moomoo shellfish. If you get stabbed by their poisonous needles, you’ll be out for three days, you know?”

She held her head while saying oh boy.

“Ah──ah, it looks like there’s just no outstanding talent that can replace Sheltis. Maybe I’ll have to settle on that kid as the successor……I’ll go to Sophia Tenketsu Palace and barter with Meimei a bit.”

“H-hurry, hurry! Uwawaa, the poison needles came out!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m going now so calm down. Well then, customer, please enjoy yourself at your leisure.”

Carrying knives in both hand, the head chef disappeared into the shop interior.

Sending her off with a smile───

“But it’s really much more than was rumored.”

The customer in a black suit pushed down on his brimmed hat and gulped.

“……Can a single person finish this?”

That was an odd patron.

He wore a pitch black suit with golden buttons, pitch black shoes and a pitch black rimmed hat.

Light golden hair and a shapely nose could be seen from under the rimmed hat which was pulled low over his eyes. The eyes couldn’t be seen, but it was easy to imagine a beautiful young man’s face from the general outline.

“Let’s see……”

He scooped up a bit of the pancake with fresh cream on it and took one bite───

“Ah, this is delicious.”

His lips loosened slightly and he sighed without thinking.

“It looks like good ingredients were used along with the fresh cream and the pancakes are cooked just right.”

One bite, and another bite.

“Ahh, it’s delicious. ……How nice. That Sheltis, he worked at such a wonderful shop. Maybe I should try working here too.”

Just as he had quietly murmured that.

.

“ Ah──, we found Ignid. “

“ Yeah, we found Ignid. “

.

The voices that drifted over from somewhere were accompanied by a slight laugh.

“Oh dear, I’ve been found.”

Different from an auditory hallucination and the howl of the winds, the resonating sound like that of an instrument was a person’s voice.

Innocent and pure, mixed with childishness ─── the voice of children.

“ You’ll be scolded if you skip out on work. “

“ Yeah, you’ll be scolded. “

The telepathy that wouldn’t reach anyone on the main street.

Only one person, the man named Ignid, raised his lips with a chuckle.

“My job is done. But even so, I’m just doing a little reconnaissance.”

“ Maha Golden is waiting for you. “

“ Yeah, Maha Golden is waiting. “

The two telepathic voices laughed.

“ Maha Golden is really strict about being punctual so if you don’t hurry, you’ll be scolded. “

“ Yeah, Maha Golden is really strict about being punctual. “

“Yes, yes, I’m going. It was the Governmental Sector’s……fourth sector that we were gathering at, right?”

“ It’s behind the third sector’s aircraft hangar. “

“ Yeah, behind the third sector’s aircraft hangar. “

“……Fuu, it can’t be helped. I wanted to eat a little more though.”

Just leaking a sigh was bewitching.

The parfait was left upon the table. Gazing reluctantly at it with its wafting sweet scent, he stood from his seat after having made his resolve.

What was ahead of Ignid’s vision was a gigantic tower visible even from the second Living District.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace ─── the white-walled tower that extended into the blue sky.

“Well then, Sheltis, I’ll go on ahead and wait for you at the Governmental Sector.”

While pushing down his black hat that covered his eyes, he made a single bow───

.

And without anyone’s notice, that existence disappeared.

### 003. Part 1

Located in the center of the floating continent, a tower so large it pierces the heavens — Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

With two hundred ninety one floors and a height of two thousand metres, it was the largest structure on the floating continent. The pure white tower that extended into the azure sky, creating a beautiful contrast between blue and white which could be seen from the distant living sector.

On the 11th floor of that tower, in a corner of the Cadet lodging.

“No, no, I’ve already said I don’t know anything. I mean it.”

Unique reddish brown hair and on top of that, the eyes of the same color but slightly stronger. A seventeen-year-old boy with a slim body suited to a teenage boy and balanced figure wearing a black jacket.

“Don’t lie. There’s no way you don’t know, being the person himself.”

“……Please spare me.”

In an enjoyment space at a corner of the floor.

He dipped his head and sighed without thinking at the table there.

“Say, Kagura, I’m already sleepy. ……It’s already four in the morning; isn’t this becoming an all-nighter barrage of questioning?”

“There is no problem, the sun won’t rise for a few hours.”

Answering without delay, Kagura sat in the chair opposite him.

She wore a mechanical helmet that had an eye shield that fell below her eyes.

Her ears, which were longer and more pointy than those of humans, were of the [Nell Folk], and she had an impressive, intellectual manner of speaking that mismatched with her youthful appearance.

“I’m not tired?”

“That’s because your Carcadian rhythm is out of sync with mine by half a day. Normally people sleep at night and wake up in the morning, so if somebody doesn’t sleep at night, he or she will be tired.”

“It’s fine. Rather than that, I can’t help but be interested in the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , so tell me about it.”

“……It’s as I said before.”

Rubbing his eyes that were drooping from drowsiness, Sheltis leaked a breath out.

—Though he did know how Kagura felt.

—But he truly did not remember.

The Garden of Eden Corrupted Song which lay ten thousand metres below the floating continent. Brimming with thick miasma and foul water, it was the habitat of the Yuugenshu that repeatedly invaded.

“But three years ago, you fell into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , did you not?”

“It looks like I passed out from the impact. ……Though I just thought of that now.”

The dual swords user that fell into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song three years ago at the age of fourteen was Sheltis.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace had listed him publicly as KIA, but that the boy had lived to return to the floating continent and that he had lost the Shinryoku that people are endowed with in exchange for the exact opposite — the same Mateki as the Yuugenshu, even within this tower there were few that knew.

“Fumu, fumu, well, it’s a miracle you’re even alive.”

Machina Machine Pearl — the girl nodded as she typed something into this personal-use computer.

“You’re quite the vigorous pursuer.”

“That’s because I am half Cadet Guard and half researcher.”

The handful of those who knew that Sheltis had fallen into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

Kagura was one of those few people. No, she also intended to hide that secret. A few days ago when they had battled the powerful Shinryoku practitioner called ‘Golden’ Maha, he had used Mateki in order to save her which led to her coming to know of it.

“But I am truly deeply interested in it. I never thought there was a survivor of the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and that he would house Mateki within himself. It would cause quite a commotion if it were to become publicly known.”

“If you know that, then—”

“It’s fine. I won’t tell anybody else that you carry Mateki.”

She smiled beneath her mechanical helmet.

……Isn’t she a lot more open than before?

The Nell were an openly wary race. When he had first met Kagura who descended from that lineage, she had been wary of him and even been openly hostile. That had improved as a result of the battle with Maha; it could be considered great progress as she even showed him her smile.

“Of course, that also includes Monica, right?”

“……I’m seriously requesting that.”

“Yes. Well, putting that aside, it’s about what the question just before but……I see, it can’t be helped if you can’t remember.”

Kagura regretfully drooped her shoulders.

“Right?”

“But it’s a pity. Somehow……mm? That’s right, it might work if I just ask your body directly.”

“……My body?”

“Yes. I’ll administer sleeping medication and run a CT scan on the entirety of your head. After that, I’ll commence surgery at the operation room. It might work if I attach electrodes to your brain and forcibly stimulate your brain cells.”

“That’s scary!?”

He jumped backwards without thinking while still seated.

“It’s decided! Go on a date with me next time, Sheltis. We’ll meet at this tower’s clinic’s entrance, go around to the X-ray and MRI scan rooms and end off at the emergency surgical room!”

“What kind of date plan is that!? Or rather, what do you plan to do to me!?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt, you know? I’ll be gentle since it’s your first time?”

“That’s why I’m asking what you plan to do!?”

“No need to worry. I was just joking a little.”

“……Don’t mislead people.”

She placed the teacup that was on the table to her lips,

“But there aren’t many people I can joke with like this, you know? You could even count how many of them are within Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“……Are those words of praise? Should I be glad?”

“Yes. Looking at it like this, I’m also looking forward to doing my best with the rest of the guards. I’m also a researcher from the Tower Control Bureau, so I haven’t truly experienced anything with the entire force. Of course, I know we’re not playing around but I’m still looking forward to it.”

……Looking forward to it, huh.

Supporting the teacup with both hands, Kagura’s tone matched her words as she seemed a little happier and livelier.

“How about you, Sheltis? As a former Elite Guard.”

“Things that I enjoyed……probably not much.”

“Elite guards are Sennenshi candidates. As a result, the responsibility they shoulder is also great.”

“That’s also true, but that’s not all.”

He rested his head on one hand above the table as he stared into space.

“At any rate, three years ago I strongly felt that ‘I have to become a Sennenshi even a day sooner’. That’s why apart from Leon, I had nobody I was especially friendly with.”

“You were rushing?”

“Yeah, thinking back on it, that’s how it was.”

“Fu—n. Why?”

“Eh. Well, Y………………”

Ymy was waiting — he frantically closed his mouth that was about to say that.

“N-n-n-n-no reason, you know?”

“……How suspicious of you to falter right there. Ah, don’t avert your eyes!”

“Hey, Kagura, how about another cup of tea?”

“You won’t trick me, what’s the rest after “yu”!”

“Yu……Yu-Yuto asked me to do something.”

“Yuto? Ahh, that young girl that’s been coming and going from Sophia Tenketsu Palace with Eyriey lately. Wait, you won’t fool me! If you won’t tell me, I’ll reveal your secret to Monica.”

“That’s dirty!?”

“Come on now, if you don’t say it quickly, I’ll tell Monica—”

“What’s this about me?”

The figure of a person patted Kagura’s shoulder.

“Talking in such a loud voice so early in the morning, and what’s more, yelling out my name.”

Her vivid sakura-colored hair seemed to shine against her pure white ritual clothes. It was a girl with a dignified aura whose Rosario crossed rods were fastened at her waist.

“Ah, good morning, Monica.”

“Kagura and Sheltis, you two are up early as well. There’s still one hour before early morning training.”

“Good morning……actually, for me, rather than waking up, I haven’t even slept yet.”

He greeted Monica, who was tilting her head, with a shrug. Looking at his condition, she seemed to have sensed something as she smiled wryly.

“You’ve been caught by Kagura’s barrage of questioning, haven’t you.”

“You realized?”

“I’ve been through the same thing many times. You just have to wait until her curiosity has been sated.”

Monica put a coin into the meal dispenser beside the enjoyment space.

A bread in packaging came out of the left box and from the water heater in the right box came a teacup which was then filled with coffee.

“What are you two doing for breakfast?”

“Sheltis and I have also bought sandwiches from there. By the way, Sheltis chose hot milk and I had black tea.”

A sweet fragrance was still wafting from the teacup of Kagura who answered with that.

“In Kagura’s case, it’s dinner, right?”

“You could say that. Having dinner while watching the morning sun is also nice.”

Kagura added sugar to her teacup as she answered. She added one, two, three…………and when it came to the fifth scoop.

“Kagura, what are you doing?”

“You ask strange things, Sheltis. Black tea is something you drink, isn’t it?”

“Well……the sugar’s not dissolving in anymore. I seem to recall you also putting in a mountain of honey just before, but you’re still adding more?”

Sheltis pointed at the black tea which had metamorphosed into a syrupy sludge.

“Rather than calling that black tea, it’s more appropriate to say it’s a black tea-like sugar lump. Can you really drink that? Or rather, is it even okay for a human to put that in their mouth?”

“Sugar is a necessary requirement for the brain’s functionality, after all. I drink this ten times a day.”

“Geh……my tongue feels numb just from imagining it.”

“I’m a thinker, so it’s fine. By the way, Monica, what’s the status on the new unit?”

“It was accepted yesterday. It seems the unit’s activities will also begin today.”

Monica stacked her coffee cup on top of her plate with a clack.

“Sheltis, how’s your condition?”

“Thanks to you, I seem fine.”

He had sustained an injury at the Lagoon floating archipelago and grown weary from the harsh battle with ‘Golden’ Maha. He had abused his body in succession, but spent the last few days here resting.

“There’s some reason you’re asking about my condition.”

“Yeah. I wanted to immediately go and take on a mission from the Merit System. We’ll also be able to improve the unit’s teamwork in actual combat.”

“A mission……was there some interesting reward?”

“We’ll search for that as well. I’ll explain, so just wait until I finish drinking this.”

Monica placed the coffee cup to her mouth again.

And Kagura’s expression under the mechanical helmet distorted.

“I can’t believe it no matter how many times I see it. How can you drink that without sugar, Monica; I can’t think of it as something sane to be ingesting that bitter liquid without adding anything.”

Seeing Kagura’s actions, Monica turned to Sheltis with a deeply meaningful look.

“It’s that. How about you, Sheltis?”

“Yeah. I think that’s how it is for me too.”

“That? What’s this about you two?”

Sheltis and Monica answered together in response to Kagura who was tilting her head with a serious expression.

“It’s because somebody’s a child.”

### 004. Part 1

Tenketsu Palace, Outdoor Training Grounds.

The roaring sound of water and fog-like mist. She was there in the field where an imitation waterfall was flowing magnificently from a steep cliff.

She wore a navy blue suit devoid of any wrinkles along with a bright red necktie. Carrying a pitch black whip, she sputtered smoke from the cigarette in her mouth.

It was Instructor Yumelda who was known as a demonic coach amongst the Cadets.

“Ah, there you are. Instructor, the truth is I have something I’d really like to consult you about.”

Sheltis called out to that back profile.

“No.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!?”

“I’m joking. So what did you need?”

While spinning a spare cigarette with her fingertips, she gradually turned towards him.

“Well, it’s about the four person limit for mission number 16 from the merit system”

“No.”

“That’s! Why! I said! I haven’t finished saying everything!?”

“It’s something I’ll understand even if I don’t hear it all. You want to go on that mission that has a four person limit but you don’t have any comrades outside of your group of three. You’d like to see if it’s possible to apply with just three people or otherwise be introduced to someone who seems like they would enter your unit as the fourth member ─── that’s about it, right?”

The instructor stared sidelong at the Cadet Guards participating in mock battles opposite the waterfall. She wrote down an evaluation on the score sheet in her hand and showed a grin.

“Well?”

“ Perfect. It’s accurate to the point that it can’t even be grumbled about. “

The Ilis machine crystal flickered. That the Ilis machine crystal who rarely complimented anyone would give praise of this degree showed that the instructor’s observation was just that spot-on.

“ It’s very interesting. How did you figure it out to such a degree? “

“There were other units that came to me with the exact same question. You guys are just starting late; the other units already started moving to secure a fourth member yesterday, you know?”

In others words, all the people with prowess were already snatched up.

“By the way, up to today a total of twenty teams have registered for mission number 16. The screening has already started so if you want to get in, you better hurry.”

“……Is what she says. What do we do, Sheltis?”

He stared into space while feeling the gazes of both Monica and the instructor.

───Even if the competition amongst units is harsh, I’d still like to aim for that mission.

It wasn’t just because he wanted to go together with Ymy. There was that Yuugenshu cultivation water tank at that facility as well. Then there was the girl who was known as the Forbidden Crystal.

……I have to go, that’s what my gut is telling me.

“It’s just my selfish wish, but I’d really like to find a fourth member and take that mission.”

“I see. Then it can’t be helped, I have a single candidate in mind.”

And with that, Kagura lifted her head that was staring at the Machina machine pearl ’s screen.

“Ehh……Kagura has someone in mind?”

“Yes. It will be hard to win him over but I think [he] will be good.”

He, meaning a male Cadet Guard. But who? To think that she, whom everyone knew tended to be weary of strangers, would go as far as to recommend them herself.

“Fumu, I’m interested. Who is it?”

“Him. The problem child that the instructor also knows very well───”

The instant Kagura replied, the instructor was was about to put a cigarette in her mouth froze up.

“……Hey, you wouldn’t be about a name that starts with ‘V’.”

“It is that very one. We will invite him.”

“No, well, hold up, Kagura. Don’t be so rushed.”

With an uncharacteristically meek expression, instructor Yumelda held onto the shoulder of the girl wearing a mechanical helmet.

“He won’t become a fighting force. That eccentric guy……it’ll be negotiable if it’s just registering a member, but you can’t expect anything from him as a comrade.”

“Well, we’ll see. Come on, we’re going, Monica, Sheltis.”

Kagura shook off the instructor and quickly continued on.

“……Problem child?”

“……Eccentric guy?”

Both of them left behind, Sheltis and Monica exchanged looks.

### 005. Part 1

“ ……I see, a man like you might also be necessary for the tower. “

Instructor Yumelda in regular clothes whom he’d come across by coincidence at a corner of the Living Districts. That was the beginning of his entrance into Sophia Tenketsu Palace and him becoming a Cadet Guard.

Early in the morning, Vaiel walked far away from the training grounds.

“Ah──, damn it, why did it become like this.”

It was Kagura, if he recalled correctly. The perpetrator responsible for disturbing people’s afternoon naps and even using coercion that was half a threat to rope him into a unit.

“What is with ‘It’s a unit battle so please protect me’? ……You can’t rely on somebody like me. Thinking somebody will help you when you’re in trouble is just you seeing a pipe dream.”

Sticking his hands in his pockets and curling his back, he loosed criticisms as they came to mind. He knew there was no point in letting them out. Half of it was just something he liked saying.

“……Pointless, so pointless.”

Clicking his tongue slightly, Vaiel hurried to his afternoon nap spot.

───Guess I’ll go back to sleep until the unit battle.

The bench on the outskirts of the training grounds was for that purpose. It was part of the training grounds but was so far back that the instructors didn’t patrol there. Thanks to that, it was his favorite comfortable spot.

Continuing down the small path in the lawn, he finally saw the large tree that marked the location.

It was as unpopular and deserted a space as ever. The bench underneath the tree as well, although finally in use, only had one person sitting on it……

“Ahh? What’s this?”

Seeing something uncommon, he stopped without thinking and rubbed his eyes.

The bench that was usually deserted. Somebody’s head was bobbing in and out of view behind it.

The small head’s black hair was tied into two in the back. The head was just barely visible, so judging from the sitting height, it was likely not an adult.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, spare me the jokes……a kid?”

He sighed while staring up at the sky. The girl called Kagura or something had also been there a few days ago, but it seemed like he was fated to have kids attached to him.

“Sheesh, just who is this. This kid that’s occupying my designated seat so early in the morning.”

These were the training grounds so it was probably a Guard. There was no way a Regular Guard or Instructor would be resting in such a deserted place so it was most likely a young Cadet Guard who had run away from training.

“Sheesh, that’s my spot.”

Scratching the back of his head with his right hand, he walked up with his left hand still stuck in his pocket.

Ten metres to the bench……five metres……three metres, and then.

“Hey, you. Person I don’t know.”

Coming around to the front, he looked at the one occupying the seat.

“This has been my seat for a hundred million years. If you don’t want your front teeth shattered, move now. Got it? If you do, then get………………”

Moving right now. Vaiel wasn’t able to say those last few words that came to mind.

The one sitting on the bench wasn’t a guard,

“? Yuto doesn’t really know what you mean?”

Tilting her head, the young girl looked at him with her clear black eyes.

Her jet black hair was fastened into two locks behind her head. She was wearing a lovely white one-piece dress. A sky blue muffler was wrapped around her neck in a flowing fashion. No matter how you looked at her, she was a civilian.

“…………This is my unlucky day.”

“Unlucky day?”

The young girl looked up at him with adorable movements.

Ignoring that, Vaiel put a hand on the bench’s backboard while pressing a hand to his head.

……I’m getting a headache. That Kagura or whatever girl was also like this, but why have I been running into these kinds of brats over the last few days.”

“Or rather, what the heck are you doing here?”

“Is it not okay for Yuto to be here?”

“That’s not the point. This is a training ground, so some civilian brat like you shouldn’t be able to get in.”

“? But Yuto is here?”

“…………Damn it all. Okay then, I’ll change the question so even a brat can understand.”

Spurred by how annoying it was and sleepiness, with an expression that was practically glaring, Vaiel moved his face closer. It was a face that would scare kids and make them cry. ……Or it should have.

“Ahaha, onii-chan, your face is scary.”

“Hah? I’m sleepy so it can’t be helped!”

“Yuto’s full of energy, you know──? I slept enough!”

Somehow he had made her happy.

“……Damn it, whatever. How did you get in here?”

Saying that, the girl called Yuto looked up at the sky in thought.

“Yuto’s searching for Eyri-nee.”

“Eyri-nee? Who’s that?”

“Eyri-nee is Eyri-nee? Yuto is always with Eyri-nee.”

“……I see, so that person’s your guardian.”

He’d come to understand the basic situation.

There were a lot of civilians that came to sightsee at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . ……But there were those few. Kids who ran off the instant their parents took their eyes off them for a moment and became lost. This young girl was probably one of them.

“Sheesh, if you’re going to act as a guardian, then take proper care of your nuisances.”

He sighed as he looked at the young girl called Yuto occupying the center of the bench.

“……You won’t listen even if I say to move, huh.”

“? Okay. Let’s do a half-and-half!”

With a smile, she happily moved to one end of the bench while swinging her legs noisily.

“Hoh. You actually do get it. That’s well-done for a brat.”

Sitting down on the empty spot, he leaned back on the bench.

……It was annoying that he couldn’t sleep lying down though.

He couldn’t ask for that luxury in this case. At any rate, the first one to occupy the bench had been the young girl and that young girl had explicitly freed up half for him.

Crossing his arms and legs, he closed his eyes───

……I can……not sleep like this.

Normally, he’d drop right into a dream immediately but it wouldn’t go so easily this time.

There was no need to say that the cause was the young girl beside him. While swinging her legs noisily, she kept stealing glances at him. It couldn’t be helped that he was conscious of that gaze from a while ago.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“You, how long have you been doing that?”

“Mm. I don’t know. But since yesterday……I wonder where Eyri-nee went.”

The young girl’s shoulders drooped with sadness. She looked like she would smile not too long ago and now she looked like she was about to cry. It would’ve been best not to ask. Even with that thought, it was already in the past.

“Hey, since yesterday means……you’ve been here the entire night?”

“……Yuto doesn’t know how to go back home when it gets dark.”

There were few people who passed by here and no lighting that actually seemed like lighting. So she had been crouching here at this bench the entire night ────── was that it?

“Hey, hey, do you know Eyri-nee?”

She tugged on the left sleeve of his formal attire.

“Haa? There’s no way I’d know her.”

“…………Sorry.”

The young girl cast her head down in loneliness and sadness. Being looked at with sidelong expectant glances, Vaiel turned away without thinking.

…………

……Damn it. Why are the Guards always like this.

Those Guards that shoulder the great duty of protecting the Priestesses from the Yuugenshu can’t even realize that there’s a troubled young girl this close to them.

……It’s always like that. The Guards around him were only creating strong units for the sake of promotion.

Nobody realized that this young girl was at a loss. Those who swore to protect the Priestesses were always staring up at the tower, forgetting to extend a hand to the people right before them.

“……That’s wrong, all wrong.”

Rather than becoming a hero as a Guard, a regular person was still a ‘person’.

Was that not the backbone of being a Guard?

“Nobody understands.”

He bit back the bitterness within his mouth.

“Hey, do you know Eyri-nee?”

“Ahhhhhhh, you’re noisy! Don’t look at me with those eyes!”

The sudden loud voice surprised Yuto and her shoulders drew back. Taking a glance at the young girl, Vaiel sighed deeply and stood up.

“Come on, you stand up too.”

“Fue?”

“I’ll take you to the first floor’s lobby. They’ll understand if you make a tower-wide announcement.”

“I’ll find Eyri-nee?”

A complete turnabout from the sullen expression just before, the young girl’s eyes were sparkling.

“At any rate, let’s go.”

“Yeah!”

Nodding, she held out her right hand with a smile.

…………Hey.

…………Don’t tell me, she wants to hold my hand?

“Damn it, nobody’s looking, right.”

Just in case, he looked around and finally grabbed that hand ────── the second he did grab it, the young girl’s body lifted gently into the air.

“Waa, wawawaa!”

The young girl clung to his leg. It seemed that their heights were too different so holding hands would mean Yuto couldn’t reach the ground.

“Ah──, guess this is the consolation prize.”

This was convenient for him. But it seemed like she didn’t share the same opinion. She folded her arms in thought and then her face lit up.

“Piggyback!”

“Hah?”

“Piggyback! Yuto wants a piggyback!”

“……Hey, hey, hey, don’t get all worked up, brat. What kind of joke are you trying to pull on this Vaiel-sama.”

“Vaa-nii? Vaa-nii?”

“Don’t just shorten people’s names like that; listen up, in the world, naive thinking like yours───”

“……I can’t get a piggyback?…………okay. Yuto will walk.”

The young girl trudged on ahead.

That back let off a feeling of loneliness even without words.

“………………Damn it, hey, wait a second!”

Grabbing her under both arms, he lifted her above his head like that in one motion.

“Waa, wawawa!”

Yuto flapped her arms as if trying to swim in the air. Ignoring her struggling in surprise, Vaiel placed her on his shoulders, completing the piggyback.

“There, now you have no complaints.”

“Waa! Thanks, Vaa-nii!”

“……I told you not to shorten people’s names so relaxedly.”

“Vaa-nii! Vaa-nii! Amazing──, it’s higher than Shel-nii!”

“…………Whatever already. Do as you like.”

Sighing for the umpteenth time in response to the high-spirited young girl on his shoulders, Vaiel walked towards the tower.

### 006. Part 1

The far-off cry of wild birds could be heard.

An area of scattered large trees that towered towards the sky. Within that world of deep green, advancing would bring an equal amount of green and serenity.

A vivid orange transport vehicle continued on ahead within that silence.

A detour made to the giant trees to avoid the swamplands. Finally ─── the dense pack of trees thinned out and the transport vehicle stopped at a point that had good visibility of the area.

“ Oh──, what an amazing sea of trees. It reminds me of the forests of the Lagoon floating archipelago we went to last time. “

“You’re being too loud, Ilis. The time we went to the Lagoon floating archipelago is a secret from everybody.”

Calming the high-spirited Ilis down, Sheltis placed his luggage on his shoulder.

“So we’ve arrived. It’s the final selection so don’t get careless.”

“……Since we’ve come this far.”

Kagura and Monica stood up with their luggage in their hands. He moved to follow the two who exited through the back doors on either side of the vehicle but suddenly stopped to face the teammate behind him.

“We’re here, it seems.”

“I got it. Sheesh, what a pain this was. An overnight transport, and on top of that, the road was bumpy so I only managed to get an hour of sleep?”

Vaiel, who had been reclining at the seat furthest in, got up.

“Let’s get going; it seems like we’ll lose points if we keep the examiner waiting.”

Sighing at the weight of the luggage biting into his shoulder, Sheltis descended from the transport vehicle.

“Hurry and line up, you guys; Nash’s unit has already lined up ─── now then, mission number 16, [Governmental Sector Deployment]‘s final selection shall commence.”

The examiner, I’sa, pointed around at her surroundings.

“As you can see, this is deep within the Nature District. It’s closer to a biotope than the Living Districts. There are no first-class dangerous species like dragons but there isn’t a lack of large species that will attack people. We’re out in this place so there’s no guarantee that it’s safe……more than anything, there is a chance of encountering Yuugenshu.”

The Regular Guard surveyed the expressions of the eight Cadets.

“I think you understand but the protection of the Queen and the Priestesses at the tower is the mission of the Guards. What you guys will do is one part of that, a patrol for the purpose of investigating the Yuugenshu.”

Of course, Sophia Tenketsu Palace had instruments for detecting Yuugenshu.

However, they measured the wavelength of a Yuugenshu’s mateki so they could not track those that appeared and disappeared. For that reason, the last measure was to confirm by eye ─── patrols were carried out in a human-wave tactical effort.

“You’re likely well-aware of this as well but the first and third rank Priestesses are also patrolling the perimeter of the floating continent. Well, that just means this is that important of a job for the Guards as well. Act without forgetting that……here, Sheltis, distribute these.”

“Eh? Ah, ahh. Understood.”

He handed everyone theirs from the stack of paper I’sa passed him. The first sheet showed the three-day schedule. Then the second was a map of this area’s surroundings.

“Everyone’s got one now, I see. You can understand the first one by looking at it, so I’ll explain the second sheet. We’re currently at the white circle and the area bordered in red is the patrol area. The eastern side is Nash’s and the western one is Monica’s.”

The area indicated in red likely stretched out several kilometres in all four directions. With the three day period in mind, it was a safe amount of land.

“Then the all-important schedule and……hey, hey, what’s this immediate departure upon arrival about?”

Vaiel sighed after looking at the schedule.

“Then will you sleep outdoors? I forgot to mention this, but the blue circle is the cottage you will be using. There’s no food or water until you reach it.”

“……God damn it.”

I’sa smiled loosely in response to Vaiel who was in a bad mood.

“You understand, right? By the way, I’ll be patrolling alongside you guys as the examiner. I intend to do the first day will be with Nash’s unit, the second with Monica’s.”

### 007. Part 1

“Instructor? It’s me, ……yes, the circumstances are as I communicated earlier.”

The sea of trees returned to silence.

Only the examiner girl’s tense voice echoed.

“I’d also like to request the location of Nash G. Endolfin’s emblem’s signal. ───Ward 7, section 3……ward 7?……independent action, as I thought. Yes, we will proceed to rescue efforts at once.”

I’sa who lifted her hidden face shook her head.

“It seems my bad feeling was right on.”

Her self-derisive smile that turned to them.

“You remember that the Yuugenshu discovery report was from ward 8, section 68? I gave orders to return to the cottage in that same ward 8 and go on standby. The signal from Nash’s emblem is coming from ward 7.”

Rather than the cottage, contact with Nash’s unit was lost in ward 7. What could be inferred from that───

“……That moron. He went after the Yuugenshu himself.”

Vaiel spat out with a loathsome look.

“Leave the blame for later. For now, we pray that the unit is safe and only think about rescuing them even a moment sooner.”

Leaving behind words with a trailing note, I’sa waved her formal clothes.

“I’ll be temporarily assuming command. Follow me.”

.

### 008. Part 1

───He awoke in the medical ward of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“You’re awake?”

Closing the book she was reading, the female Instructor wearing a suit placed her knees together at the chair beside the bed.

“Rushing to gain achivements, this result isn’t like you.”

Nash remembered all he’d forgotten when Instructor Yumelda spoke those words.

“……Ending up in this condition from pursuing the Yuugenshu is laughable, isn’t it.”

While suppressing a low laugh, the intense pain of his injuries returned.

“How about the other three?”

“They’re in the middle of treatment at a different office. They’re at the regular office and you’re in the purification ward. You were the only one who was bathed in mateki so you’ll be hospitalized until the mateki response completely disappears.”

That was the reason he was wrapped in a shinryoku carved seal spell cloth from his neck to the tips of his toes.

“What are your impressions from your first fight with a Yuugenshu?”

“……The positions were the reverse of what I thought; if I said that, would you be satisfied?”

He had piled on Yuugenshu simulation training and never had a rough battle even against the mock puppets. But the opposite was true; that strange monster hadn’t broken a sweat against them.

“You need knack and experience to fight against a Yuugenshu. There isn’t an Instructor who thinks that Nash the Cadet Guard is weak but those who think it was rash are not few.”

“……I’sa the examiner as well?”

Saying so, his face tightened with a self-derisive feeling.

“What happens from now on is dependent on you guys.”

The Instructor continued to just chew her cigarette without lighting it. She placed the magazine under her arm and stood up, then walked towards the door───

“……I have no intention of it ending like this.”

Nash proclaimed while still lying down.

“……I……we absolutely won’t give up. Next time, we will magnificently claim indisputable victory ────── tell that examiner.”

“That attitude towards the examiner as well?”

“Add that too.”

“Then I’ll tell her; don’t disappoint us next time.”

Lifting the corners of her mouth fearlessly, the Instructor known for her demonic training showed a rare smile.

.

### 009. Part 10

The steep and hard slope of bedrock and the precipitous cliff just below it.

What made up their footing were countless rocks of varying size. From those the size of a palm to gigantic ones that surpassed an adult’s height, they were placed without consideration, forming an area that one could barely walk on.

“……The theme is a mountain, huh.”

He took a deep breath as he looked over the tall mountain field. Sitting down on a jutting out rock, Sheltis put away his dual swords into their holders.

───Unit battles, complete.

The time taken was twenty four minutes and seven seconds. It was victory by surrender of the enemy general. The battle’s conclusion wasn’t dangerous, but getting to it couldn’t be said to have been easy.

“Ah~ jeez, that’s why I’m asking you why you didn’t protect me! Where can you find a comrade who ditches the general! This time was really, really dangerous!?”

“You mean I’d shield you and take attacks? Don’t be stupid, I’d get hurt doing that.”

From a cliff a ways away came Kagura’s angry voice and opposite to that was Vaiel who was about to descend with an expression that showed that he thought it was a pain.

“I’m tired so I’m gonna sleep.”

“Eh, no, wait. This is where we go over the battle or have a meeting.”

“Do that between you fellow guards that get along well. See ya.”

The blond young man immediately descended the slope. Even if they went out of their way to invite him, it would just make it worse ─── having come to that conclusion, Sheltis sighed and watched him go.

“ It was a great effort. “

“Is that sarcasm?”

“ Oh, how cruel. I meant it as positive encouragement. “

Ilis Machine crystal said nonchalantly.

“ You said it yourself, that there are a mountain of problems. ”

“……I guess.”

He put his elbows on his knees and propped his head up.

Sheltis was the solo suicide attacker at the far front lines. Monica who was at the center was stalled by one person and Kagura who was the general was chased around by the enemy’s pursuit from beginning to end.”

“Somehow……it felt like a dispersed battle.”

“ Victory had the highest priority this time so I don’t think you need to worry that much about it. Kagura also said it, that it would be fine even if you didn’t adapt immediately. “

Unusually, Ilis machine crystal also had a considerate tone.

───Which means it was that far away from ideal.

Result-wise, it was a victory by crushing the enemy unit’s general. However, that was a victory gained through solo conduct, it was not a victory made by combining the unit’s strength.

“What needs to be done is regarding the orders that will allow Monica and Kagura to best utilize their abilities. I understand what I need to do but it’s not working.”

He looked for a flat rock and lay down face-up. He reached up a hand towards the azure sky that was showing through a crack.

……Yeah, it’s really difficult.

While he was moving around in order to give them orders, he was also taking orders from them. That was the ideal and it was his duty to facilitate it in practice.

“ But in reality, the only one with the leeway to look around at his ally’s movements is you. For Monica who’s burdened with the duties of a unit leader, you have to support her burden in combat. “

“Yeah. I tried just now and……yeah.”

If he paid too much attention to Monica and Kagura’s movements, he’d be distracted from his own and his movements would become dull. Making the unit’s cooperation and his personal strength coexist. He didn’t think it would be this difficult.

……This will be my assignment for a while, huh.

A cloud like cotton torn to pieces. He absentmindedly chased with his eyes it as it rode on the wind.

“Were you injured anywhere?”

A shadow cut across the middle of his vision.

“No, I’m thinking. The answer isn’t coming out at all.”

“……The instructor is calling. If you’re fine, please get up.”

Monica lightly brushed aside her sakura-colored bangs. He took her outstretched hand and she pointed down the slope.

“It seems we’re to gather at floor 269 of the tower……what about Vaiel?”

“He said he was tired and went back.”

“I thought so. Then let’s go by ourselves; Kagura also said she was going to organize her Machina machine pearl ’s recorded data and will catch up later.”

The slope formed from countless giant rocks. Sheltis followed after her as she jumped from boulder to boulder descending the slope.

……Floor 269 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?

The highest floor an ordinary guard could enter. It was an important floor for important meetings that included the Priestesses and Sennenshi. It was not a floor Cadet Guards like them used.

“That the instructor called us to that floor……did something happen?”

He muttered to answer himself and stared down the steep slope.

### 010. Part 11

Floor 269 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the floor for meetings.

The path that returned to silence was without a single person and had the atmosphere of an empty husk.

“Is this place always this quiet?”

Behind him, Monica looked around as if it had just struck her.

“It's a room for important meetings so with the door it’s completely airtight. No matter how loud the meetings get, it won’t be heard out in the passage.”

“You know quite a bit, huh?”

“Ah……y-yeah. Ilis told me before.”

I used this floor a lot back when I was an Elite Guard three years ago ─── not saying that, Sheltis came up with some reason for it.

“Rather than that, look. Probably after rounding this corner……”

They progressed just as was written on the electronic map. After turning however many corners, the recognized figure of a female instructor in a deep blue suit was standing there.

“The other two?”

With one glance over here, Instructor Yumelda raised an eyebrow.

“Kagura is servicing her Machina machine pearl and Vaiel is……getting treatment for his wounds.”

“There’s no need for worry. He’s skipping anyway, right? It’s as I expected.”

The instructor looked sullen as she chewed up the end of her cigarette.

“Well, whatever. At any rate, I’ve formally received notice of your passing the second screening. If you pass the final screening, you’ll be cleared to take on mission 16 and journey to the Governmental Sector.”

“ Yes, ye──s, one question! When is the final screening? “

Ilis Machine crystal asked in a carefree tone. The instructor also didn’t mind that and,

“It will be from the day after tomorrow over a period of three days. Meet up at the training grounds at nine in the morning and I’ll introduce you to the proctor and the opposing unit.”

A selection test that took place over three days and even had a proctor. It was difficult to think of a unit battle taking that long. It was also unlikely that they’d have a written or interview at this point. What he could think of was───

“Patrol defense of the nature district or a practical of VIP escorting, one of these?”

“Sheltis, look forward to tomorrow’s announcement.”

The instructor played dumb with a happy smile. From the expression, it wasn’t a problem of which was correct but what would happen within them.

“We’ll disperse here for today. Do independent training ─── or so I’d like to say.”

She took out a communicator from her breast pocket,

“……It’s me. ……Yes, that’s right. They’re gathering right now, please come at your convenience.”

Their superior was reporting something in an unusually polite way to someone.

Who could it be? Someone that this instructor would be that polite to……a bureau chief? No, there’s no reason for her to contact a bureau chief. Then someone from the guards. Considering that for many of the Elite Guards she was originally their instructor narrowed it down to those above that.

In other words, a Sennenshi, or possibly───

“A Priestess?”

Monica who kept silent nodded and gulped.

Yes. If one considered that Instructor Yumelda had specifically told them to assemble within the tower, he or she would eventually reach this conclusion.

“You guys are aware that you’ll be traveling with a Priestess for mission number 16.”

She put the communication device away in her breast pocket and looked over with a remarkably sharp look.

“Well, then. Whether a Cadet Guard will do something rude in front of a Priestess, we had the intention of having a surprise inspection now. Before the important journey to the Governmental Sector.”

“……Huh? But you’re not supposed to say that be”

There was no meaning in it being a surprise.

“I said we had the intention of inspecting. I was worried about Vaiel, you see. If that problem child isn’t here, there’s no point in holding the inspection, right? Well, in exchange it’d be good if you received one or two encouragements from the Priestess ────── there, speak of the devil.”

Ring came a sound like a bell.

The high-speed elevator before them came to a halt and slowly opened left and right.

“Ymy-sama, I’ll introduce them to you. Here is the unit leader,”

“Monica-senpai!”

“That’s right, Monica-senpai……senpai?”

In front of the instructor who dropped her cigarette, the girl who came out of the elevator ran in small steps to Monica.

“I knew I was right! Senpai……Monica-senpai, right!?”

Letting her off-gold hair fly, it was the vestment-clad Ymy.

Running to the girl wearing formal attire with a bounce in her step, and still with that vigor ─── the Priestess took the hand of the Cadet Guard.

“H-hya!?”

The surprised voice came from Monica who had her hand grabbed.

“Senpai, when did you become a guard? Why, why didn’t you tell me!”

“Eh……ah,……um……ah……u……?……th-this is…………you’re wro”

Ymy’s voice was lively with happiness. But the one whose hand was being held wasn’t moving and her face color was switching back and forth between pale and bright red.

“……Ilis, what does this mean?”

“ Please don’t ask me. “

He watched over those two for a little while and───

“Hey, Sheltis.”

The instructor whispered into his ear.

“Is Monica an acquaintance of Ymy-sama?”

“……Well, that’s what I what to know.”

He didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t know too much about Monica from her days as an apprentice Priestess. Even Kagura probably wasn’t too clear on it.

“Fumu. Then it’s best to leave them alone. I’ll be returning so I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Eh, wa-wait? That’s just shoving the bothersome stuff on───”

“I won’t hear excuses. Report how it goes afterwards later.”

“Are all adults this unfair!?”

By the time he raised a shout, the instructor had already rounded the bend at the crossroads.

“……Why me.”

“ Isn’t it fine. Come, rather than that, look in front, in front. Pay attention. “

Following Ilis machine crystal ’ words, he turned to the front and.

“Monica-senpai!? Hey, why haven’t you said anything since a while ago!?”

“Ah……um……err……that is”

Over there was a really ─── oppressive expression worn on the face of the Priestess who was pushing back the girl with sakura-colored hair, and had been cornered her right up to the wall.

“I’ve been lonely ever since senpai left! Even so, why!”

“………………Th-that is……em……emba……rra, ssing.”

“Eh? Em?”

The excited Ymy hadn’t heard that. She closed in to the person in question until their faces were almost touching.

“Senpai? Um, your face is totally red?”

“…………Hauu!?”

Monica seemed to be enduring something as she kept silent and hung her head. And then,

“She-Sheltis! I’m going to check up on Kagura. I’ll also inform Vaiel about tomorrow……I won’t be back for a while!”

She turned her head to the side and shook off Ymy’s hand and ran away with intense vigor.

“Eh? Ah, wa……wait, Monica-senpai!”

“…………!”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment and turned around but immediately after, she ran off again.

This time she didn’t stop. She was even too impatient to wait for the elevator doors to open, so she descended the emergency stairs at the edge of the floor as if tumbling down them.

The floor once again became silent.

The ones left were himself and Ymy who was watching the back of Monica who had left.

“…………”

That girl contracted her shoulders and stood there looking extremely lonely.

“Sorry, Sheltis. I showed you a bad side of me……”

After a little while, his childhood friend turned to him with a calm feeling about her.”

“……I wonder why. Even though she was that kind of a senpai before.”

“You mean Monica, right?”

Ymy affirmed it with a nod.

“ Excuse me. I’d like to confirm but Monica-senpai ─── would mean your senpai as an apprentice Priestess, am I correct in assuming? “

“Yeah……she was a very kind senpai and my aspiration.”

A long time ago, it was something he had heard as foolish gossip. The relationships of apprentice Priestesses were not actually that good. They were fellow competitors in aiming to be a Priestess until the bitter end.

That’s why having a companion as an apprentice Priestess held great meaning.

“Monica-senpai took the final test for a Priestess three years ago. But she failed right at the very end and quit as an apprentice Priestess……and about what happened after that, she didn’t tell me no matter how much I asked.”

“───Because she wanted to become a guard.”

He told it to the downcast Ymy just as he’d heard from the person herself.

There was no reason for her to hide that she’d become a guard. After all, Ymy would probably have recognized that when she saw her in her formal clothes.

“Even if she couldn’t become a Priestess, she said she wanted to be in a position to defend the Priestesses. That’s what I heard.”

“Yeah……it sounds like something senpai would say.”

To his childhood friend who was being bashful with a nostalgic expression,

“Say, this is just my thinking but”

Sheltis told her the impression he’d felt just as-is.

“Wasn’t Monica embarrassed?”

“……Embarrassed?”

“Monica has been a Cadet Guard for three whole years. That she just couldn’t become a Regular Guard, she herself is very mindful of that. That’s why probably ─── she wanted to keep it a secret and clearly tell you when she became a Regular Guard.”

Her expression when she had been approached by Ymy. Her face went bright red and trembled, and although her words had gotten stuck, it was definitely not an expression of dislike.

“She just wasn’t mentally prepared and was surprised to meet you.”

She wanted to meet her but the time wasn’t right. She had decided that in her heart but hadn’t thought that Ymy would be the one to approach her.

“…………That’s, right.”

Ymy strained her voice so she could hear herself say it.

“Yeah, that’s definitely it. Because Monica-senpai is a kind person. Not just me, she was someone who always looked after all the other apprentice Priestesses.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I think you don’t have to worry, Monica hasn’t changed.”

Sheltis didn’t know the Monica of three years ago. But he somehow understood, Monica’s base hadn’t changed at all from her time as an apprentice Priestess.

“ She’s quite unfortunate. She was Ymy’s senpai as an apprentice Priestess and is the leader of Sheltis’ unit as a guard. “

“Ah, as I expected? The one who invited Sheltis into a unit was Monica-senpai. No, that’s not it, as I expected, Monica-senpai has a discerning eye!”

Folding her arms in a satisfied manner, Ymy had an expression of coming to some conclusion about something on her own. Or so he thought, but she ─── opened her eyes as if having just realized something.

“Sheltis?”

“Mm, what is it? Changing like that.”

“……Monica-senpai is kind, right?”

“It’s as you just said. I wonder, maybe it’s possible to call it seeing into someone.”

For Kagura and him, either one was a Cadet Guard isolated from other units. The one who involved them who were like that was her.

“…………Th-that’s right!…………”

“Is there something wrong?”

“U-um……Monica-senpai is a beautiful person. ……Her skin is really white and beautiful and her hair is also a wonderful color, and her style is also smart, right?”

“I don’t understand anything about skin though───”

Maybe it was the result of her efforts in training, her entire body gave off the impression of being without excess. Her well-arranged sharp looks let one feel the intensity of her will and her momentary smiles in embarrassing times were also lovely.

“Yeah, it’s probably just as you said.”

“……That’s right──. Even I see senpai as wonderful.”

Haa, sighed Ymy.

“? What’s wrong?”

“Sheltis!”

Slowly balling her hands, Ymy took one step forward.

“……Wh-what is it suddenly?”

“Y-you can’t! No matter how cute senpai is…………th-that is……you can’t just look at only senpai!”

“Come again?”

Ymy whose face was as red as a cherry didn’t stop.

“……E-even if she asks you to, you can’t! A lap pillow……like L-Leon isn’t allowed! Do-don’t misunderstand. This isn’t me having a guilty conscience……umm, this is a problem of the mental health of the character of a guard───”

……A lap pillow? Like Leon? The mental health of one’s character?

“Err, Ymy? Sorry, I don’t understand what you’ve been saying since just now.”

“Th-that’s all! Th-then I’ll be going now!”

Just saying everything by herself, she quickly waved her vestment.

“Eh……ehh! That one-sidedly!? That’s why I’m asking what you meant!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know anything─────────!”

For some reason, his childhood friend dashed off with a expression that seemed like she was going to cry.

Sheltis chased after her.

“ People’s thoughts are complicated. “

Only Ilis machine crystal who had seen the entire thing from start to finish was worrying endlessly in a circle.

### 011. Part 2

Floor 21 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Organization Terminal Space.

One side of this enormous floor was covered entirely by a line of completely new computers.

The Merit System — in order for Sheltis’ group to be promoted from Cadet Guards into Regular Guards, they had to complete a certain number of missions from Sophia Tenketsu Palace . This was a specialized terminal for the purpose of accepting those missions.

“Come now, Kagura, don’t pout.”

“Wh-who’s pouting! E-even I can……drink coffee without sugar.”

“Yes, yes. It’s best to not force yourself and just drink what you like.”

Pacifying Kagura who was puffing her cheeks, he sat her down in front of the computer. Of the three of them — rather, even out of all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s members, there were none who surpassed Kagura in handling machinery. It would be for the best if they left this terminal to Kagura as well.

“Then I shall start searching. Monica, tell me your preferred mission conditions.”

Starting with defending, a great diversity of missions from the General Affairs Bureau, the Tower Control Bureau, the Environmental Bureau and others came up. From VIP escorts to investigations into the Lagoon floating archipelago , to harmful beast extermination and nightly tower defense. They varied in their difficulties and durations, and more than that, the merit points were spread thin amongst them.

One would have to save a set amount of those points to have the right to challenge becoming a Regular Guard.

“……The first one is a simple thing, after all.”

Monica nodded with her fingertip upon her lip.

“Well then, let’s search starting from ones that end in a few days. The time period is anything from tomorrow and after.”

Kagura’s slender fingers danced over the terminal’s keys as she typed.

“Take a look at this one.”

The girl pointed at the display.

‘ Mission Number 58. ‘Tower Patrol’

Subject ‘Defense’, Destination ‘None’, Duration ’2 days’, Recruits ‘Fifth Unit’ ‘

It was a nightly defense patrol of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s premises.

With the low difficulty, one couldn’t expect many merit points, but it was just right for them to warm up as a new unit. It ending in short time was also favorable.

“I don’t think it’s bad but what about you, Monica?”

“It seems good. There’s still a lot of room left in the recruitments though, so we should look at other missions before deciding.”

“Yes, then we’ll add the additional constraint of ‘outside the tower’.”

‘ Mission number 81. ‘Harmful Beast Extermination’

Subject ‘Subjugation’, Destination ‘Nature District, Eastern Area’, Duration ’1 day’, Recruits ‘Second Unit’ ‘

“Ah, this one might be bad.”

To inform the other two, he crossed his arms into an X shape.

“Why? Harmful beast extermination is a typical mission.”

“This here, the duration period of one day smells fishy. The nature district is more than a hundred kilometres away from here, but doing a round trip and defeating a beast in one day……it’s a pretty difficult time limit. Which means this is probably an emergency.”

There may have been a large outbreak of beasts in the nature district or something large and dangerous like a dragon species may have appeared.

Either way, it was a mission with a high degree of danger.

“……It’s dangerous for a new unit, huh.”

“There’s also that, but you said it yourself, Monica, that we’d be forging our teamwork while undertaking a mission. This won’t suit that, I think. Leaving for the nature district and coming back all in a big rush won’t allow us to deepen our bonds, right?”

“I, I see……a unit leader needs to think that far.”

The new unit leader nodded with a face that seemed impressed and directing a piercing gaze at the screen.

“Kagura, sorry but please bring up the mission before this.”

“Yes. We’re applying for this one, I suspect. I’ll immedi…………mm?”

Kagura’s fingers that had been typing came to a halt.

“What is it?”

“The terminal’s memory changed abnormally……it’s being monitored remotely from another terminal.”

The mouth peeking out from underneath the mechanical helmet stiffened into a line. While he was thinking about that, she suddenly stood up and turned on the computer next to them.

“……This terminal is normal. That means it’s not a system for monitoring the entirety of the defense force. That means we can assume that it’s for monitoring one of our unit member codes.”

There was no unrest in Kagura who was continuing smoothly.

“Is that dangerous?”

“No, it’s most likely an instructor. It’s a commonly used method of confirming our mission statuses. I’m going to ignore it and apply for the mission from just now, but are you fine with that?”

Just when Kagura was about to pull up the screen once again.

Sheltis’ card-type badge that was at the breast of his jacket began vibrating.

“A call?”

“It seems like it, wait a second……”

The badge that a guard carried with them was a card key that both acted as authentication and could perform simple communications.

The size was enough to fit snugly into one’s palm and the interior was the crystallization of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s technology.

“Yes, who is it?”

“ It’s me. ”

“…………”

He cut off the communication with a click.

“Sorry, Monica, it looks like they got the wrong person.”

“Is that so? It didn’t seem like it.”

In the time it took Monica to tilt her head with a look of confusion, a second call came.

“ Suddenly cutting me off like that is quite defiant. “

“……I’m just going to say this ahead of time, but I don’t have time to accompany you in training right now.”

“ I’ve also just returned from an official trip. I have something to talk to you about that, so come to the fourth room on floor 28. It’s a room for Regular Guards, but your member code will be permitted. “

……Look at that, it really is me accompanying you, isn’t it.

Since the moment he heard the voice of the man calling, he had a feeling it would be like that.

“Could it be that the one who’s monitoring my member code is”

“ The absolute authority of a Sennenshi is pretty handy. “

“……This is an abuse of authority.”

He hung up while wanting to look at the heavens.

“Sorry, something urgent came up. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“Well, just a little over there.”

He pointed up with his index finger in response to Monica who asked again.

### 012. Part 2

“His characteristics?”

Kagura said while looking at the guidance screen on the Machina machine pearl . She was heading away from the training grounds and Monica called out to her with a stiff expression.

“Yeah, the instructor’s reaction was kind of……not good.”

“It is as the instructor said. He’s a ruffian and a sloth, as well as an outcast from the rest of the Cadet Guards. In the five years since he enlisted, he has done at best one or two missions.”

“……He sounds like quite a horrid guy. I wonder if there’s a reason for it. For example, a serious illness or the like.”

“No, he is the type that only has his body’s sturdiness to brag about.”

The girl with the mechanical helmet replied smoothly. She stealthily exchanged glances with Monica who was about to speak and then it was Sheltis’ turn to inquire.

“A strong body means……he has good endurance?”

“That’s probably not true. He has the basic body strength but he’s the type that thinks training is a pain so his strength probably ranks in the middle of the lower half or the bottom of the upper half. He also has no exceptional techniques.”

Those were the backbone of a Cadet Guard. He found that harsh training to be a pain and was a ruffian and a lazy person.

……Is such a person really okay?

“By the way, Kagura, why did you think that person was good?”

“ Because he’s a good-natured person. “

A good-natured person? I wonder what she means. He looked at Monica from the side and she shrugged her shoulders saying, “Don’t ask me.”

Several minutes after they started walking.

In front of a bench that was far away from the training grounds, Kagura suddenly stopped.

“Okay, we’re here.”

“……Nobody’s here though.”

Looking around in front of the bench, there was not a single person there. Just to make sure, he also looked around at the surroundings, but there was not a hint of a Cadet Guard like [him] whom Kagura had described.

“Sheltis, not there, over here. Here, look up.”

“Up?”

What Kagura pointed to was not the bench but the large tree beside it that was almost a hundred years old.

The moss-covered trunk was about the diameter of even an adult’s embrace. That split into a complex set of branches and even further along those, the leaves were in full bloom.

“He should be here skipping training around now. So take this.”

Here, she said as she handed him an iron mallet.

“The interior is filled with gunpowder, so if you strike the base of the tree, it will release an immense explosion noise. It was originally for catching bugs atop the trees. By the way, it’s pending a patent.”

“……So it’s your invention. So I hit the trunk?”

He brandished the heavy mallet with both hands. He added his waist’s movement to his muscular strength and, just like that, slammed the mallet into the center of the trunk as hard as he could.

Zun ─── came a roaring sound.

The explosion noise rattled the large tree and the immense explosion noise echoed in the surroundings.

“〰〰〰Iittt huuurts……my ears……my ears are breaking!?”

He thought his ears were getting done in by the excessive explosion noise.

“ Sheltis……you’re that kind of person. Couldn’t you tell beforehand that it would be like this? “

“Shut up.”

He looked back at Kagura while covering his ears that were still hurting.

“Kagura, I wasn’t told that the noise would be this extreme!”

“I have my ears hidden by this mechanical helmet, after all. Look, Monica also took refuge far away.”

“Isn’t that unfair!?”

“Come now, don’t say that. Look, our goal fell out properly.”

After Kagura pointed overhead───

Zaa……zuzazazazza……zazaaa……together with severed branches and countless leaves, something fell from the upper part of the large tree.

The one that fell backwards onto the ground was a young man.

“I…, i………it huuuuuuuuurts!?”

Letting out a yell, that Cadet Guard sprang up.

He had short-trimmed blond hair and light brown eyes. He was taller than Sheltis by about a fist’s length and he was muscular with a large build as Kagura had said. He looked to be in his early twenties. His looks were orderly but wasted because of how bad his face was; he was that kind of man.

“Ah, s-sorry. Are you okay ─── u-uwaa!?”

“Ahh!? Yoouu, you’re the bastard who’s disturbing other people’s sleep!?”

Calling out to him, the young man grabbed his collar.

“You’re pretty brave, aren’t you; if you’re looking for a fight then───”

“Yes, yes, stop there. Well, wait just a bit, Vaiel.”

Kagura held the fist of the man called Vaiel tightly.

“Huh? Who are you? Why are you suddenly butting in?”

“I apologize for disturbing your nap. We have come today with a request for you.”

“Haa, who the heck would listen to what a brat like you has to say.”

“Come now, don’t say that. The thing is”

“Do you want your front teeth broken? I already said I won’t listen!”

“It will take fifteen minutes.”

“Get lost. Get lost right now.”

“Then ten minutes.”

“…………Farewell.”

“No.”

The hand of Vaiel who was about to leave was once again grabbed by Kagura.

“You……can’t you hearing me telling you to get lost?”

“The thing is we’re looking for a fourth member for our unit.”

“I see, it seems you wanna be sent flying. Grit your teeth.”

“And we have selected you. We have already told Instructor Yumelda.”

“Hey, somebody take her to a hospital; this isn’t even worth con───”

“First comes the explanation of the unit.”

“………………Damn brat.”

Vaiel’s eyebrows stiffened and he fell silent.

In contrast to he who seemed to be ready to throw a punch any second, Kagura was looking up at that with an unchanging nonchalant tone.

“ Uwaa── amazing, she’s silenced her opponent. Look, Sheltis, that’s how it’s done. That kind of self-centered negotiation. Please learn from it. “

For some reason, the Ilis machine crystal was being lively and seemed to be enjoying herself.

“Learn that?……I don’t wanna.”

Sheltis shook his head with a speechless look.

“Five minutes. I won’t listen for even a second more.”

Vaiel sat on the bench with a thump.

“Then I shall be brief. If I had to sum it up, we’re looking for someone to join our unit and we have come to invite you.”

“You guys’ unit?”

He leered over here and smiled.

“Hah! Two girls with no sex appeal and some mediocre looking brat. This unit looks like you’re playing house.”

“……Hey, Kagura, what’s with this guy. This kind of rude guy───”

As expected, Monica couldn’t keep silent and she stepped up front.

“Yes. We’d very much like you to take up the papa role in this play house.”

“…………”

Having it returned so deftly, Vaiel fell silent once again.

“……I don’t feel like it. To begin with, three people is good enough for a unit. You can go on missions and also become Regular Guards. You don’t need me.”

“There is a four-person mission we want to go on.”

“Hah, aren’t you honest! In short, it’s that, you want to just make up for your lack of numbers!?”

Vaiel scoffed. In the face of those provocative argument, without so much as a change in face color, Kagura slowly shook her head.

“I told you. That we would like to add you as a proper member.”

“…………”

“If you look at us, we’re a mish-mash of members, but I recommend us.”

“Are you stupid? Who would trust a mish-mash of three brats?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Right? So───”

Kagura shot out her hand in front of him as he tried to put an end to the conversation.

“So let’s do it like this. First, we’ll go on a mission together. Then we’ll see how it goes.”

“There’s no chance.”

“You don’t want to?”

“I don’t. I’ll pass on annoying stuff like that.”

It was curt. Resolutely cutting it off, he confirmed the time on his watch.

“It’s been five minutes. I’m gonna go sleep, so listen. Don’t appear before me ag───”

“Wait.”

Kagura called out to the back of the man who didn’t even turn around.

“I see. Then we’ll go with the last method: persuasion by force.”

“Hah, you will?”

That calm manner of speaking seemed to grate on his nerves. Vaiel looked over with an expression that was half-angry and half-sneering.

“Yes. Until you cry and beg for forgiveness───”

“Ha ha ha, a hit from a brat like you won’t hurt or even itch.”

“ I take it you are fine with me leaking your secret throughout Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? “

For an instant, nobody understood the meaning of those words and a eerie calm settled.

“…………Oi, what do you mean by that?”

“It’s simple. I have over one hundred observation cameras that I personally installed within the tower so I know secrets that people never want others to know.”

She pointed with her finger.

In that instant, the floating Machina machine pearl divided into a puzzle piece shape and spread out in the air. On that small piece, something was installed ─── a small camera with a high-powered lens.

“……You couldn’t have.”

He seemed to have understood what she meant as he bit hard on his molars.

“Have you understood that this is not a threat? Well then, what were you doing in a place nobody knows about, I wonder. For example, yesterday at the storehouse next to the outdoor training grounds──────”

In that instant, Vaiel’s face suddenly went pale.

“Wai-wait a second! That’s dirty, how is this not a threat!”

“It’s not a threat, it’s a negotiation. Once is fine, so come with us on a mission just once. If you do, I promise I won’t leak your secret to anyone. Of course, the decision of whether to properly join after the mission will be your own.”

“…………Interesting. Let’s do this, peeping young lady.”

The young man’s fist was trembling and a dangerous smile floated up on his face.

“Negotiations have succeeded then.”

“……That compromise will only happen once. Got it?”

“Yes.”

She nodded seriously and then turned to come over here.

“Well then, Vaiel, I’ll introduce you to our unit. This is Monica, the unit leader. The unattractive one beside her is Sheltis.”

“The unattractive bit was unnecessary!”

His complaint was easily ignored.

“Well then, Vaiel, you also introduce yourself. With your full name.”

“Ha? Who would go to the trouble of naming himself to people he’s only going to go on one mission with. This Vaiel Bahhabel has no name to give you!”

He raised his voice and folded his arms.

……Umm.

Not thinking on how to react, Sheltis timidly put his thoughts to words.

“You just named yourself. You said Vaiel Bahhabel.”

“I also heard that.”

“ It’s also perfectly recorded in my logs. “

“Ah…………”

Having finally realized it after having it pointed out to him, he kept his arms folded and opened his mouth.

“Y-you guys, that was nothing just now, nothing! Forget it, forget it immediately!”

He went bright red and flapped his arms.

“See? He’s unexpectedly amiable.”

Pointing at him like that, only Kagura chuckled with a smile.

### 013. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , 1st floor, the information lobby.

From guides for tourists to interview appointments, to taking care of lost children, dozens of people were usually present to fulfill these. Within the tower especially, it was a gigantic lobby packed with civilians.

“Hey, hey, I asked yesterday as well, but do you have any information?”

“Yuto-san, wasn’t it. Black hair with a white one-piece. Age is……”

The receptionist tapped on the search terminal.

Eyriey gazed at that screen as if to eat into it as she leaned against the window.

───Where did you go, Yuto?

Since noon yesterday, and as late into the night as possible, she had searched the tower to no avail.

Ever since she’d lost sight of her on the upper floors of the tower, a whole day had already passed. During that time, it was hard to imagine that she had wandered around inside the tower without anybody seeing her. She hoped that she was under somebody’s care though.

“It’s a pity, but no information has arrived.”

“I see, ……thanks.”

She closed her eyes while biting on her lower lip.

……Just where did she go this time?

Truthfully, this was not the first time Yuto had gone missing. She would periodically just not be there and no matter how much Sheltis and she searched for her, they wouldn’t find her.

But a few days later, she’d return all of a sudden with an energetic smile.

She wanted to believe that was the case this time as well but she couldn’t discard the possibility that she’d really become lost.

“Sheltis as well……I wonder if he won’t come soon.”

Having decided it would be difficult on her own, she had requested help from him not too long ago. She’d told him they’d meet up at the 1st floor’s information lobby, so he should be coming soon.

“Same as yesterday, if I find something out, I’ll contact Eyriey-san.”

“I’m counting on you. She’s a cute girl so I think you’ll know immediately. She has beautiful black hair that’s tied into two like twintails. Her clothes are also a pretty color so they should be readily recognizable.”

“Ah, it’s Eyri-nee──. Over there, there!”

“Yep, yep. It’s this feeling of ‘Eyri-nee〰’ that…………that”

She turned around and there was ─── the young girl with the features she’d just described to the receptionist, waving at her with a smile that covered her face.

“Yuto!?”

“Eyri-nee! Waa, I’m glad. It’s Eyri-nee! Look, look, Vaa-nii.”

“……Mm, yeah. Here.”

The man that had been piggybacking Yuto until now let her down and and she ran towards Eyriey at full speed. Eyriey firmly hugged back the young girl that jumped at her chest with both arms spread.

“Yuto! I’m glad……where did you go?”

“Ehehe, Yuto doesn’t really know.”

“……Jeez. Though I expected that. Mm? Yuto, what are you holding?”

Yuto was holding something in her tiny hand.

One was candy wrapped in a vinyl bag and the other was a glass rendition of the tower’s mascot character ‘The Arma Dusk Dragon ’. Either one was a souvenir sold at the entrance to the tower’s 1st floor.

“You know, you know, Vaa-nii bought them for me!”

Yuto pointed at the young man that had been piggybacking Yuto until not too long ago.

“You brought back Yuto? Really──, thanks. I was worried about where she got lost and was just in the middle of searching.”

“……She was wandering around the training grounds.”

The young man sighed with a tired expression. He was a tall young man with darkened golden hair that was cut short and his face was moderately tidy, but his expression of displeasure made all of it count for nil.

“The training grounds? Ah──, of course I couldn’t find her.”

“Well……I was searching for Shel-nii.”

“For Sheltis? Ah── I see, it would have been nice if you told me.”

And she knocked her own forehead against Yuto’s.

“Ehehe, sorry, Eyri-nee.”

“It’s fine if you understand. So, thank you as well. For guiding her, as well as for the candy and souvenir.”

“……That brat was whining about being hungry. It was just right for shutting her up.”

He scratched the back of his head, or so she thought. Fed up with doing that, he turned his back.

“Ah, wait! I didn’t get your name. As thanks───”

“I don’t need thanks, and it was nothing so major that I should name myself for it.”

Turning his face away, he was about to leave just like that.

“……Vaiel?”

That was when somebody else called the young man’s name.

Reddish brown frizzy hair and amiable eyes, a boy who wore an impressive black jacket ─── Sheltis stared over in their direction vacantly.

### 014. Part 2

The ground was strewn with tree leaves.

They entered the path which was, with its muddiness despite the lack of rainfall or other precipitation over several days coupled with the large trees that were gathered here and there which made it even more complex, a path which couldn’t be called such.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with this place. Is this really a path? This is just the inside of a forest.”

“……Don’t split off, Vaiel, you’ll become a lost child.”

Monica’s tone was completely serious. Gripping her Rosario Crossed Rods in her right hand, she parted the branches with her free left hand and continued in that manner.

“Kagura, we’re going in the right direction, right?”

The third member following after Monica and Vaiel was Kagura.

“Yes. Please continue like this for another five minutes. We’ll be going off the shortest path to the cottage but this path is safe.”

“Safe? This kind of spiderweb-like route is?”

“The shortest route is the habitat of cry birds and home to many of them. They’re harmless but their cries are very loud and will cover up the footsteps of dangerous wild beasts. Dangerous, right?”

“……Shut up.”

Leaking out a grumbling complaints that showed he consented, Vaiel went silent.

“Sheltis as well, I think you understand already, but please be wary of the rear.”

“Understood, the rear is secure.”

He glanced behind again before replying to Monica. The tail of the group is the most dangerous spot and could become a blind spot so the responsibility attached to it was great.

“It doesn’t look like anything in particular is there; I’sa’s also not here.”

“I’sa……that examiner? If it’s about her, she said she’d be moving together with Nash’s group.”

“It’s an examiner’s trick.”

Having them let down their guard by saying she would go with the other unit, but in actuality, she would be following them secretly.

“Whether the unit is slacking off or not, or skipping out or not. You’d get a large demerit from not realizing the examiner was tailing you.”

“……I see. I didn’t think that far.”

Monica smiled wryly while sidestepping a protruding rock. Then the third in the line, Kagura, who was operating her Machina machine pearl , raised her face suddenly.

“By the way, Monica, what do you plan to do?”

“About what?”

“This patrol is basically for the purpose of finding the Yuugenshu that came up to the floating continent. Most of them would be found in their biotope but the chance of individuals penetrating as far as the Nature District isn’t zero. That it’s not zero means it wouldn’t be strange to come across one right now around here.”

If they just found traces of a Yuugenshu, it would be settled with reporting to the examiner. The question was what to do if they stumbled upon not the traces but the actual Yuugenshu.

To run away or to engage in battle.

“Haa? It’s obvious that we should run away from that kind of thing. Cadet Guards like us can’t win against that. Run away and report to that examiner brat! That’d settle it.”

Vaiel turned around to face Kagura who was behind him.

“Fumu, you’re being quite realistic.”

“‘Course I am.”

“……So he says. Well?”

Kagura’s words seemed to be testing her. On the other side, the unit leader that stood at the head of the group hadn’t opened her mouth yet and continued to remain silent.

“We’ll decide based on the situation.”

Monica swung the Rosario crossed rods in her hand. Breaking the branch that was obstructing her path, she kept on looking ahead the entire time.

“It will depend on the Yuugenshu’s strength……as long as it’s not a special case, I have a feeling that fighting would go well for this team.”

“Hah? Hey, hey, hey, captain-san, what kind of joke is this?”

The ever-unapologetic Vaiel shrugged his shoulders.

“Cadet Guards like us can’t win against Yuugenshu. Before that, we haven’t even seen a real───”

“We have.”

She suppressed Vaiel’s words with a nod.

“We have seen and fought one. Since I was……an apprentice Priestess until three years ago.”

This time, it was Vaiel’s turn to be coerced into silence.

An apprentice Priestess’ rank was the same as a Regular Guard. As part of their training to become a Priestess, they would form a unit with Regular Guards and fight with Yuugenshu on patrols.

“……First time I’ve heard you were an apprentice Priestess.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t get it.”

It was expected that Vaiel would spit that out. Because an apprentice Priestess who held the same rank as a Regular Guard had purposefully lowered their own rank to that of a Cadet Guard.

“Ahem, well that would be a long story, so let’s just leave that aside.”

Privy to the circumstances, Kagura cleared her throat.

“The words our unit leader spoke are true. If you doubt them, please consult the tower’s digital information. Her name is also upon the apprentice Priestess list of three years ago.”

“……Moron, like I’d do something that annoying.”

He seemed to feel a certain amount of credibility in Kagura’s information. Putting both hands in his pockets, he only groaned in annoyance.

“Then at that hypothetical time, you plan on a hard struggle?”

“Of course I intend to fight at the head but it’ll be rough with just me alone. Half……more than half of it will be Sheltis.”

“Eh. ……Ah, r-right. I’ll do my best.”

He straightened up reflexively when his name came up suddenly. ……He had thought it would be coming but didn’t expect it to be so frankly stated.

“Heeh, you, huh.”

Vaiel turned to him with a dubious look.

“Well, do as you like. I’ll say this ahead of time, but if it comes to that, I’m bolting by myself.”

“I see.”

“……Indifferent, aren’t you, captain-san.”

Vaiel, with a sour expression, drew near Monica who had been speaking calmly to the end.

“I’m saying I’ll ditch my comrades and run. You’d normally be angry.”

“ If you really planned to ditch your comrades, you wouldn’t say so beforehand. “

The one who answered was Kagura.

“……! Don’t just decide that by yourself; I’m seriously gonna run by myself! Got it! Don’t cry about it later!”

Vaiel thrust out a finger and Kagura calmly gazed at him.

“ Umm, umm~, say, say, could I say one thing? “

Ilis Machine crystal interjected with a nonchalant tone.

“Ilis, we’re busy right now───”

“ You said we should proceed straight ahead for five minutes, but hasn’t it already been long past that? “

“Ah……”

Four peoples’ voices overlapped at that spot.

### 015. Part 2

The sea of trees was dyed in the singular color of scarlet.

Upon the animal trail shrouded in an eerie silence, the puppeteer girl’s figure ran along as if flying. The solid and pointy bedrock and marsh were ignored by sprinting through the large trees, leaping from branch to branch.

It was a form of movement that rendered the complicated landscape inconsequential as well as circumvented wild beasts. It was a simple spring, but the amount of continuous running needed to cover the harsh territory like this in one hour was truly as expected of a Regular Guard.

───How about this side?

Monica and Vaiel were lined up chasing I’sa who was at the front, with Kagura lagging slightly behind.

It wasn’t by file but simply the order of speed and physical strength. Vaiel had physical strength from his outstanding physique amongst men but the unit captain Monica was also keeping up well.

……It looks like she’s having trouble, but Kagura is also doing her best.

The last of the five people, Sheltis surveyed the backs of the members ahead of him.

───If it’s like this, we can perform the rescue faster than I thought.

“I wonder if we’ll make it.”

“ That’s what we’re here for, right? “

Ilis’ reply that could even be called a challenge was correct.

Rescuing the lives of those attacked by Yuugenshu was a race against time. If it formal wear that had carved shinryoku seals applied, then there was more or less a resistance against even a Yuugenshu’s mateki. At any rate, if they arrived before it developed into a serious incident, there was the possibility that Monica’s purification spells would be enough to heal them.

Because they understood this, Kagura was trying her hardest to keep up and Vaiel, wearing his signature displeased expression, didn’t seem like he was going to voice any complaints.

Finally.

“…………”

I’sa who was at the front wordlessly held her hand parellel to the horizon. Lower your speed ─── reading that sign, Monica and Vaiel, followed by Kagura, halted.

The destination was close. At a crawling pace, they silenced their footfalls and pushed through the tree branches. What awaited them after they circled a gigantic tree was───

.

Four Cadet Guards were lying face-down on the ground.

.

“Monica, come with me! Sheltis, Kagura and Vaiel, keep watch on the surroundings!”

I’sa ran towards Nash while quickly sending orders out.

Holding up the black-haired young man, I’sa immediately pressed her finger against the artery in his neck ─── after a little while, she breathed out a long sigh with an expression of slight relief.

“It looks like the three over here are also breathing……I’m glad.”

Monica sighed, having confirmed the other three’s breathing in the same manner. But having been an apprentice Priestess, she soon tightened up her expression and bit on her lip.

“Examiner I’sa, I shall take over the rescue of Nash.”

She softly laid down the three people being held up. Monica, with a severe expression, stared at the dark purple mist coming off Nash’s formal wear.

───The corruption of mateki.

Yeah, said I’sa with her eyes slightly widened.

“I heard from Instructor Yumelda that you used to be an apprentice Priestess.”

“……I wasn’t very good at the baptism-type spells right to the end though.”

With a shadow falling within her eyes, Monica smiled wryly.

.

[Sia Sec elis arc......Is io miel]

[That day's dream, once more......for the sake of that.]

.

The girl’s aria that wasn’t enough to be a short tune.

Her sakura-colored hair was, by a very deep red ─── it became shrouded in particles that shone with a crimson light. The light gathered to form a line which expanded and blew away the dark purple of the mateki.

The mateki eating into Nash’s formal wear was purified, then the ground underneath, and then it spread to wash away even the mateki that had infected the large tree to the rear.

“……The corruption of mateki has been repressed for the time being. How’s that side?”

“Not doing so well.”

Myun-fa ─── Kagura scowled as she held up the female shinryoku practitioner. The hand stopping the blood flowing from her shoulder and back wounds was soaked red with the bleeding.

“There’s no corruption of mateki but her injuries are more severe. ……She may have taken a surprise attack from behind so there’s a really deep wound on her back which might have pierced an artery. The other three also seem to be in the same state.”

───A surprise attack from behind.

Remembering their unease with that single phrase from Kagura, the other members turned around.

“Then it’s decided. There’s no use loitering here.”

Shouldering one of the Cadet Guards, Vaiel stood up.

“Come on, let’s start heading back. The Yuugenshu that attacked these guys might be hiding close by.”

“They’re not. There are traces of fleeing.”

Staring him head-on, I’sa didn’t quiver at all. The scars on the ground that were giving up smoke formed a direct line away from the large tree they were standing at.

“Hey, hey, don’t tell me you intend to pursue it……you sane?”

“In just a little under an hour, it’ll be night.”

I’sa didn’t turn around. In the sea of trees that were dyed crimson, the sun that was setting towards the horizon shimmered in the gap between the tree leaves overhead.

“The Yuugenshu at night are dangerous. The dark purple mist that covers their body blends into the night and they’re practically invisible……even if we return to the cottage, it’ll be dangerous if we receive a surprise attack.”

Then they should pursue now and strike.

I’sa’s words were filled with a force that wouldn’t accept any dissent.

“We’ll be dividing the unit into two groups, the pursuit squad and the rescue squad. Firstly, for the rescue squad that will stay here and look after Nash’s unit……Kagura and Vaiel, can I leave it to you?”

“Understood.”

“Ah? Me?……it’s a lot easier than fighting Yuugenshu so it’s just what I wanted.”

Kagura nodded and Vaiel didn’t seem to have any objections.

“Then it’s settled. Monica who can use shinryoku to resist mateki, ……and that dual swords user over there.”

Not his name but dual swords user. The puppeteer girl presumed to call him that.

“I’m asking just in case but do you have any experience fighting Yuugenshu?”

“I won’t be any trouble.”

He drew out the hilts of the dual swords from the holder on his belt.

“I see. Then come along; don’t betray my expectations, okay?”

After I’sa who rustled her formal wear, Sheltis ran through the sea of trees wordlessly.

Seeing off the three who were following the Yuugenshu’s escape tracks───

“It’s just the two of us.”

“Ahh?”

Vaiel turned around with a sour look and Kagura smiled wryly at his unchanging aggressive tone.

Just the two of them. She had wanted to ask for a long, long time and had searched for a time and place to no avail. She hadn’t thought the chance would come with this timing.

“……Could I ask one thing?”

“What’s this, don’t get all strangely formal.”

She chose to remain wordless in the face of that displeased tone.

“──────”

She silently took off her machine helmet. Deep green hair and ash grey eyes. The girl’s face was young and transient. The signature pointed ears of the Nell folk were exposed.

“…………”

For an instant, for just an instant, his expression had certainly changed. She felt that.

“Have I met you before?”

Do you remember me? About me who had collapsed while crossing the desert in the middle of training……and how you piggybacked me all the way to the medical office.

“It’s already been two years.”

“No idea.”

Turning his face to the side, his response was quick.

“……Is that so.”

I knew. I should have known but……as I had expected, he has forgotten me. When I invited him to the unit and trying to drag him in by even proposing a threatening deal, I had hoped that perhaps it would cause him to remember.

“How pointless. Don’t expect too much of people.”

Within the sea of trees dominated by silence, his click of the tongue echoed dully.

“……Is it bad to have expectations?”

“Think about that yourself. It’s because you don’t understand that that you’re a brat.”

.

### 016. Part 2

At the medical office next to that───

“You stayed alive well; a person’s life force is amazing.”

“……You, don’t you have anything else to say?”

Vaiel glared up at the girl who had came under the pretense of visiting. This was the point where he’d like to grant her his fist if he could move but unfortunately his body had been wrapped in a spell cloth and lain down.

“I see, then ─── thank you very much.”

“…………”

“Ahh, look, you just averted your eyes. I thought this would happen so I tried starting from something casual.”

Kagura sighed. Her arms and legs were also wrapped in spell cloth but it seemed that the mateki curse was slight so there was no problem in walking around.

“Say, Monica?”

“Honestly, if somebody hadn’t performed emergency purification, what would have happened?”

“……I’m telling you that was just pointless interference.”

“If you have that much willpower, then you’re fine.”

Monica folded her arms and smiled wryly.

“Well then, Kagura, I have a report to make to the Instructor.”

“Yes, see you later.”

Seeing off the unit captain from the room, fuu ─── Kagura softly exhaled.

“The removal of mateki has finished so I should be able to be discharged after a second check-up.”

“……Hmph, a troublesome mission awaits after that.”

Their competitor, Nash’s unit, had defaulted, making the expedition to the Governmental Sector their mission. To start with, it was just another troublesome thing added to the mix for Vaiel though.

“Jeez. In the end, I have to take care of you brats.”

“Ah, that’s right. That made me remember. It’s about the trade conditions from when I invited you before.”

.

“ I take it you are fine with me leaking your secret throughout Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? “

“ For example, yesterday at the storehouse next to the outdoor training grounds────── “

.

“……You haven’t leaked it to anyone, right.”

“Yes, I won’t say that you’re secretly keeping a pet kitten behind the storehouse .”

“! Y-you! The doctors passing by in the hall can hear!”

“It’s okay, I made sure the door was closed. ……If someone as tough as you were to be known for keeping something as soft as a kitten, it would destroy your image, would it not?”

Vaiel decided to keep silent in response to Kagura who was nonchalantly talking.

“Do you like kittens?”

“……I don’t like them; it’s just because nobody realized it was weakening under the rain.”

“Well, then let’s leave it as that. At any rate, this is the extent of what I know of your secrets. I don’t have anymore things to negotiate with. That’s why”

The girl slowly drew near.

“This time is a request without trade conditions. Would you enter our unit? Not just for the Governmental Sector mission……the next one as well and the one after that too.”

“…………”

“I don’t mind if you answer later. Well then, it will soon be my check-up time so I’ll excuse myself here.”

Towards her who was turned and ready to leave for her own hospital room.

“It’s a three person unit riddled with brats. ……It’d be troubling if you ran off solo like this time so……that is, well……if I feel like it, I’ll look after that.”

Vaiel muttered with his face turned to the side.

“Really?”

“Men don’t repeat themselves.”

“I understand. I will inform Monica immediately. ───Yes, this is Kagura calling to inform you that the chef has just become a comrade. With this, we can also be relieved about the issue of the unit’s culinary lifestyle.”

Chef? He called for the girl who was speaking quickly to stop upon hearing a word he wasn’t used to.

“……Hey, wait. What’s that chef thing?”

“It’s your role in the unit since you’re the only one who can cook. Does it displease you?”

“Of course it does. Damn it, I look like an idiot for having actual expectations. Oi, it’s null, null; I’ll be taking back what I said earlier. I’m nulling what I said about looking after your troubles.”

“Unfortunately, I actually finished registering your name under the unit yesterday.”

“Th-that’s dirty! You guys submitted the application while I was asleep!? Oi, wait, I’ll cancel it, I……I won’t accept this, damn you!”

.

### 017. Part 3

“……It’s nostalgic.”

Continuing down the path that could fit five full-grown adults standing side-to-side, he looked around at the spread-out rooms.

The tower’s 28th floor was prepared for the guards’ training. The Cadet Guards were assigned the outdoor training grounds so there wasn’t much of a chance to visit here but he remembered from his time as an Elite Guard three years ago.

“The fourth room, so it’s this one……”

He placed his badge to the card reader as Leon had said.

—Authenticated—

“Oh.”

Immediately after the door opened, his eyes were seared by the strong brilliance that imitated the sun.

The room was modeled after a canyon — with the floor as a gigantic boulder and the four walls made of rock that rose perpendicular to the ground, it had been faithfully reproduced.

At the center of that room was a young man in a white longcoat who was standing still.

Upon the white that would make a woman take a second look without thinking was long silver hair which evoked the image of a lion. His burly and well-trained body would remind one of a steel blade.

“I’m here.”

“Jeez, while I was out on official business, what were you doing?”

Leon Nestorius Ova. The man recognized as the greatest great sword wielder on the floating continent. He had been his friend for ten years and his sole rival in peerless swordsmanship.

“What do you mean, I was applying for a mission.”

“Not that. What I wanted to talk about was the mission that I just mentioned.”

……The one you just mentioned?

Let’s see, was there a mission that Leon had told me about.

“It’s the Governmental Sector case. We went on a confidential mission, remember.”

“Ahh, if it’s that one, there’s no way I could forget.”

It had happened three weeks ago. He had been invited by Leon who had received a direct order from Queen Salah to the Lagoon floating archipelago . There, they had discovered a peculiar facility hidden within an island.

Then they had found a hidden Yuugenshu cultivation water tank. It was within the Lagoon floating archipelago which was Governmental Sector territory, so the possibility of it being related to the Governmental Sector was high. Based on that judgment by the executives of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , a meeting had been arranged between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector.

“The meeting is pretty soon, right?”

“It’s in exactly two weeks. And you’ll also be slipping into that meeting.”

……Slipping into?

That almost sounded like he was going to secretly attend the meeting.

“Secretly, you mean? We’re the ones who found the Yuugenshu water tank. I thought we might be called to the meeting as witnesses.”

“It’s the executive office’s job to report that. Discussions aren’t our specialty, after all. It’ll be a complex exchange about that facility behind the scenes, so it’s best to leave that to the experts.

“Ah, well……that’s kind of self-explanatory.”

The Yuungenshu that was sleeping underground was the problem. They had only discovered one, but if there were more by any chance, it would be much too dangerous. The executive office should be able to explain that well.

“The executive office doesn’t specialize in Yuugenshu, so the Yuugenshu’s water tank is”

“Being investigated by those suited to it.”

Leon nodded slightly with his arms crossed.

“The Priestesses are doing it.”

“The Priestesses? The Priestesses are travelling outside the tower?”

He doubted his ears upon hearing the words Leon spoke. That the Priestesses, of which only five existed, would leave the floating continent was unheard of even if they were attending a meeting.

“It just means this is that serious of a matter.”

Perhaps he had thought the same thing as Leon nodded once again with a sigh.

“No matter what the goal, cultivating a Yuugenshu is outrageous. No, to begin with, there is a necessity to obtain confirmation about whether that’s truly possible. If the Priestesses personally set out, then even the Governmental Sector will show some movement. And that role will likely fall to Ymy.”

“Ymy?”

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole — Sheltis’ childhood friend. She had become the fifth Priestess at the age of seventeen and also become able to choose a Sennenshi.

“But Ymy doesn’t have a Sennenshi, so going outside is……”

“None of the other Priestesses are free. The one most suited to discussions is Meimel, but it’ll be right after she finishes maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai in place of the Queen. She’ll be fatigued.”

Of the five Priestesses, the first and third are currently patrolling outside the tower.

The three remaining are the second Priestess, Meimel, the fifth Priestess, Ymy and the fourth Priestess, Syun-rei. If Meimel can’t, then Ymy and Syun-rei are the next candidates but—

“……I see, it’s difficult for Syun-rei.”

Thinking upon the black-haired Priestess, he agreed with Leon.

Syun-rei became a Priestess the youngest and was an outstanding Shinryoku practitioner but she was also burdened with extreme anthropophobia. If it was Syun-rei who couldn’t even walk around the tower without Leon, there was no way she could go to the distant Lagoon floating archipelago on business.

“So by process of elimination, it falls to Ymy?”

“That’s how it is. It seems the third Priestess was going to come back instead of having Ymy travel far but……that’s a waste. I’m going to change back to the original topic, about the mission.”

A Priestess and the upper echelons of Sophia Tenketsu Palace would be setting off for the Governmental Sector. There was only one thing he could think of as a mission for a guard following along.

“An escort?”

“That’s right. Those attending from the Governmental Sector haven’t been announced, but the Chiefs of the General Affairs Bureau and the Office of Management Affairs will be attending from Sophia Tenketsu Palace with two secretaries. Together with the Priestess, that makes five people.

As an escort, five people was a small group, but with a Priestess included, the responsibility was heavy. At any rate, they were the protectors of the floating continent, so there could not even be the chance of an accident.

“Wait, are Cadet Guards like us even allowed to escort Ymy?”

Escorting the Priestesses was entrusted to Sennenshi. Not to mentioned Elite Guards or Regular Guards, but having Cadet Guards as the escort had never been done.

“As you expected, that much is impossible. Considering the tower’s rules and precedents, in all probability, the escorting will be temporarily left with the Cadre Guard.”

The Cadre Guard — out of the Elite Guards who possess superior true ability and repeat the severe ranking competition, this was the person whose skills stand at the summit of that.

……If Ymy were to choose her Sennenshi without waiting for me.

……The guard who would definitely become a Sennenshi, huh.

“Be careful. They’re someone who’ll figure out your true identity if you act carelessly.”

“Eh?”

Sheltis opened his eyes wide at Leon’s abrupt words.

“You also know the person who’s the Cadre Guard right now. You’ll understand if I say it’s ‘Jelshuvessa’ whom you’ve competed with countless times.”

“Jelshuvessa……no way, it can’t be.”

“It’s her.“

“Uaa……wa-wait a second! That’s no joke!”

He yelled out while holding his head.

“I’m bad at dealing with that person. I really can’t tell what they’re thinking.”

The opponent he had competed with countless times as fellow Elite Guards three years ago.

‘She’ stood out from even amongst the Elite Guards. It was such that it was strange that she hadn’t become a Sennenshi up until three years later.

“Even I’m bad at dealing with her. Anyway, I’ve warned you.”

“Yeah……well, it can’t be helped. If it’s her, then there’s no mistaking her skill.”

“Aren’t you honest?”

“It’s because it’s much better than having some random Elite Guard I don’t know escorting Ymy. ……I know I can’t be the one escorting her.”

He had no right to escort a Priestess, being a Cadet Guard. There was still a need for somebody to defend Ymy.

“……To be honest, it’s a little frustrating but there’s no point in bluffing.”

“That’s some admirable attitude. At any rate, that Cadre Guard should temporarily become Ymy’s escort. It’ll be fine if you go along to the Governmental Sector as the escort of the other VIPs.”

“I see, understood.”

He calmly stopped breathing and looked towards the ceiling.

……I wonder why, my heart is pounding.

……Even though my goal of becoming a Sennenshi hasn’t been fulfilled yet. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this tension.

If he was chosen for this mission, he could travel together with Ymy.

It wouldn’t be him protecting her but it felt like the first great step in that direction.

“The first thing is to win that mission. Chances for a Cadet Guard to travel together with a Priestess are rare so the corresponding merit points for the mission are also high. You should keep in mind that other units will also be aiming for it.”

“I’ll do my best. Since the first thing is to win the mission.”

“You do that. Well then, I should be going, I’m keeping Syun-rei waiting.”

“Ah, Leon. Hold up.”

Flapping his coat, he turned towards his back.

“What is it?”

“……Tell Ymy something. We’ll definitely be going together.”

“If I don’t forget.”

Replying with a blunt manner of speech, the silver-haired young man left towards the elevator.

### 018. Part 3

Floor 48 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Mechanical Bureau Reception Lobby.

“Shasa……Shasa, huh. I did a name search, but it’s not showing up……it doesn’t seem like she’s our bureau’s member.”

It was a past middle-aged man who was looking at an electronic terminal’s screen.

“I see, thanks, occhan. I’ll go search again.”

……Hm──, didn’t find her like I thought.

Scratching at her unkempt orange hair, Eyriey sighed for the umpteenth time today.

“Maybe it’s the General Affairs Bureau or Tower Control Bureau? The ones with the highest member count are those two so the change is high.”

“Ohh, that’s good information! Well then, I’ll go check it out!”

“Is she an acquaintance?”

“Yeah, that’s it, it’s a girl I just became friends with not too long ago in the tower. I was a little interested.”

[The next time we can meet will be in one month.]

It seemed like as an office girl, she would be swamped with work for a month.

“I thought that it was quite a difficult job so I was going to give her some candy.”

“Ohh. Then you really must search for her.”

“Yeah. Later then, occhan, sorry for bothering you in the middle of work.”

Waving at the staff member that was boxed in at the counter, she once again dashed down the path.

……As I thought, not here either.

There had been no matches in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s name registry. After that, she had been checking every Bureau’s individual name registries at random but the name ‘Shasa’ had not had a match.

[My name is Shasa Endens Lin Kale.]

[It's difficult to remember, isn't it. Everybody knows me as Salah, so you can also use that."

She was sure she had named herself as that.

"Mm── this is looking more and more like I misheard it. Hey, Yuto?......Yuto?"

The young girl she should have been with wasn't there. Eyriey noticed that after rounding the path's corner and nearing the elevator.

"......Nooot good."

With haste, that was the moment Eyriey's objective went from searching for someone to searching for a lost child.

### 019. Part 3

……Why was Vaiel with Eyriey and Yuto?

“Umm, say.”

He turned his gaze to the smiling young girl.

He didn’t know the circumstances, but at any rate, he had found Yuto, right? ─── Before Sheltis could voice that Eyriey pointed at the young man beside her.

“And so, a kind person found Yuto.”

“……Vaiel did?”

“That’s right, he went so far as to piggyback her and guide her. And even more than that, he bought candy for Yuto who was hungry and also a souvenir! Right?”

“……I didn’t do anything major.”

He turned his back towards them and headed towards the exit with quick steps as if running.

“Ah, wa-wait, Vaiel?”

Despite calling out to that back, there was no reply.

In contrast with he who had melded into the crowd of tourists and disappeared, they were left isolated in the lobby.

“Eyriey……I’m checking once again but Vaiel brought Yuto over?”

“That’s right. Wha──t, he’s an acquaintance of yours?”

“Well, if I had to say it, he is. It’s a complicated relationship.”

Perplexed, he was unable to answer, and Yuto poked his leg.

“Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii!”

### 020. Part 3

Seven hours later.

“Th-that’s it. It’s our cottage.”

Comparing the digital map on the Machina machine pearl many times with what was before them, Kagura let out a small cheer.

“……It took a long time.”

“……It took over three times the original estimate of two hours after all.”

“ The cute Ilis was bored and bored and about to die. “

“……I’m too tired to say anything.”

“Sh-shut up! I just made a little mistake on the route and we took the long way around!”

With her cheeks dyed bright red, Kagura swung both her arms around.

“It’s not just Kagura’s fault. ……At any rate, let’s check it out. We need to confirm the cottage’s interior as well.”

It was a two-floor cottage built with light metals. Against the deep green backdrop of the surrounding forest, the bright white paint of the walls made it obvious even at a glance from far away.

───Confirmed───

The card reader that scanned Monica’s emblem blinked. They could hear the sound of electronic locks being released behind the door and the mechanical door slid to the side.

“I’m surprised, it’s the same door as the dorms of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s lodgings.”

Holding her luggage over her shoulder, Monica passed through the open door.

“……The interior is impressive as expected.”

In the lit living room, Monica left her luggage on a chair and took a deep breath.

The residential kitchen had a refrigerator and sofa. With a table and whiteboard for meetings and a wireless computer, it certainly was a facility used for patrolling.

“Kagura and Vaiel, go ahead and check out the second floor. I’ll look outside. Sheltis, you have the communicator. Inform the examiner.”

“Understood. I’ll tell her we arrived at the cottage.”

He put down the luggage on his shoulder, took out and set up the large communicator on the ground.

If it was a simple transmission, then the emblems had such a function, but for reporting unit activities like this, it was customary to use a reliable communicator like this.

“I’m pretty sure it was this button───”

He pushed the red power supply within the blackened body and placed the wireless receiver in his ear.

“Ah-……testing, testing. ……It’s strange how I can really hear with just this alone.”

“ Don’t say stupid things and just get on with the report. “

He ended up being flat-out interrupted by I’sa.

“Umm, then I’ll make the report. Monica’s unit has arrived at the cottage.”

“ Just that? “

“Eh, just that……meaning”

“ Meaning you finally arrived at the cottage. “

The other end of the receiver sounded not angry so much as astonished.

“ Nash’s unit also just arrived at the cottage but they’ve already patrolled half of the assigned area today. “

“Geh……that’s fast.”

“ And on your end─── “

“No, no, no, have no worries! Umm……l-look, we’ll just save today. We’ll get our bearings for today and wrap it all out in one go tomorrow!”

“ I’ll be looking forward to that. I’ll meet up with your unit at your cottage tomorrow, so for today until 23:00, work on a schedule for tomorrow and present it. “

“……Understood, examiner. With this, tomorrow’s gonna be rough.”

Sheltis cut off the receiver with a clack and collapsed onto the sofa.

### 021. Part 3

The land corrupted by mateki gave off smoke as it decayed. That smoke became a path, showing where the Yuugenshu had escaped to.

“Monica, this is about Yuugenshu.”

He ran alongside Monica who leaped over a rock that was sticking out of the ground. Sheltis informed her while confirming her facial expression from the side.

“Keep careful watch on your surroundings while fighting. There might not be just one Yuugenshu.”

“……What did you say?”

Her grey eyes narrowed like a crescent moon.

“But there are only tracks for one Yuugenshu?”

“I know. But that area was very unnatural .”

Monica had been focused on Nash’s recovery and I’sa was checking out the Yuugenshu’s pursuit trail. Kagura and Vaiel had been focusing their attention on keeping vigilance of the surroundings.

On the other hand, he had been concerned with the blade marks and bullet traces gouged in the large trees and ground.

“Did you realize? The surrounding trees and ground where Nash’s unit collapsed had indiscriminate blade marks and bullet holes. If the opponent was a single Yuugenshu, they wouldn’t leave such large traces behind.”

The swords that had failed to strike the target and bullets that had missed the mark were too numerous.

“It was too unnaturally scattered. As far as I know, those kinds of battle traces are only left during times of a Yuugenshu’s mental control with mateki.”

Mental destruction ─── by breaking down reason, it would drive people to one form of rampage. It was like having an ally turn into an enemy. It was the most troublesome thing outside of immediate death.

“Those under mental control will rage without distinction of their enemies and allies so it’s easy for there to be blade marks and bullet traces like that.”

“You’re saying Nash’s group was subjected to that?”

“───No.”

Keeping his vision on I’sa to the front and staying vigilant of the sides and behind, he shook his head.

“The only one who received mateki this time was Nash. Then the one who was under mental control should also be Nash. Thinking along that line, I looked at the tools of the other three but amongst those three’s wounds, there were none inflicted by Nash’s weapon. If he had fallen into a panic after being mentally controlled, it wouldn’t be strange for at least one of them to have a wound from Nash’s weapon.”

There were none. That is to say, he hadn’t been mentally controlled.

“Then what are you saying?”

“I don’t know either. But we need to be prepared. ……I’sa.”

“───You meddler. If you talk in such a loud voice, I’ll hear it whether I want to or not.”

The Regular Guard who lightly jumped from branch to branch turned towards him.

“That’s for the best.”

“Hmph, I had no intention of letting my guard down from the beginning. Rather than that ─── we’re close.”

Letting out a small breath, I’sa came to an emergency halt.

“……I’ll praise you for not running or hiding.”

A fearless smile rose up on her face.

About ten metres ahead in the gap between two especially large evergreen trees.

Just like a king sitting in his throne, the Yuugenshu glared at them boldly. It was as large as a lion. Within its body formed of dark purple mist, its crimson eyes shined fierily.

─── [Deploy • Emission] ───

In the direction I’sa indicated, the super heavy steel ball drew in on the Yuugenshu. It was a “puppet” granted her shinryoku so if it directly hit, it would crush the Yuugenshu’s crystal.

But.

The steel ball passed through the Yuugenshu and simply formed a depression in the ground on the other side.

“Ehh……!?”

I’sa and Monica let out voices of shock at the same time.

.

■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■, ■ …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■ ■, …… ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U elfa clar, deus mille phes thes, deus mille hypn noa thes.

.

Little by little, the Yuugenshu’s body began to tremble. The mist shrouding that body let off an eerie light and gradually spread to the surroundings. ───No, it was expanding.

“The Yuugenshu’s mist is increasing……it’s getting larger!?”

“That's wrong. This is”

Staring at the strange beast from the front, Sheltis muttered softly.

The dark purple mist shimmered like a heat haze and formed an image like a mirage. Another mist was born from within the mist, forming another body.

“It’s multiplication .”

Seven monsters’ crimson eyes shined. No,

“I’sa, there’s another one to the rear!”

Crish. The sound of the Yuugenshu’s claw ripping something to shreds echoed vividly.

“……Don’t underestimate me, you monster!”

Bearing a wound on her back, I’sa manipulated her puppets. Two shining steel balls closed in from directly to the side and crushed the Yuugenshu that had just injured her into little pieces from the left and right.

The annihilated Yuugenshu became a dark purple mist. ───There was no effect on the remaining seven.

“Illusions that also have physical properties……you sure can do it.”

The puppeteer girl stood up while grimacing from the wound on her back. Rather than being from the wound on her back, it was more an expression of irritation that a single attack from her puppet didn’t work.

“ It is a Yuugenshu that I have little data on as well. Be careful. “

“───It doesn’t change what we do.”

The twin blades reverse-gripped in his hands let off light in the forest that was dyed deep red. The mysterious purple of the blades was formed by having mateki permeate the azure Hyouketsu crystals, resulting in a wondrous color.

Bathed in Monica’s shinryoku, her Rosario crossed rods were wrapped in a silvery white layer of crystal.

I’sa steel balls once again flew high.

.

Then the three people and eight beasts collided head-on.

.

“───Haa!”

Ahead of anyone, Sheltis took aim at and ran towards the eight Yuugenshu.

Two from the flanks and two from the center, a total of four of them were approaching him. From within the dark purple mist, eerie limbs and claws extended───

From the front, directly to the side, underneath, above, behind; many claws were aimed and launched at every blind spot. He dodged, parried and blocked every one of them.

Djidii. He dodged the Yuugenshu’s claw that grazed his bangs by jumping.

A sword flash.

Not letting the opportunity to strike slip, the dual swords mowed down the surrounding two Yuugenshu.

“───Two down.”

“ Not yet. “

Not even allowing time to breath, Ilis machine crystal shone.

───Shinggg!

In the next instant, Sheltis stopped three Yuugenshu coming from the sides with his sword. At a separate location, I’sa was engaging two of them and Monica was taking on two at the same time……seven? There were nine Yuugenshu if he counted the two he’d just defeated. They had increased from before.

“ At the same time Sheltis defeated them, two new illusions appeared. If you put together the main body with the illusions, it seems the max is eight bodies but I think the illusions can spawn indefinitely. ”

“No way but to defeat the main body, huh.”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……

Decaying the ground and flowers, the misty beasts pushed on towards him at a crawling pace. Two of them were circling around to his sides and the two that had just formed jumped into the air.

───Which one is real?

The four bodies were just like reflections in a mirror. Moreover, the movements of the four were different from each other so it was troublesome. It would be easy to single one out if it was the only one taking separate action but there was no other way but crushing them one by one if all of them were irregular.

However, it was pointless to destroy an illusion because it would just come back.

“……There’s no end to this.”

“It means there’s no point in beating the small fry.”

Monica yelled from the rocks at the far back and I’sa yelled while leaping up to a large tree’s branch. It seemed the two of them had also realized it. He could sense nervousness and impatience that wasn’t there before.

“Monica, I’sa, ignore the illusions and go for the real one!”

Shouting to the two, he leaped backwards. Kicking off a large tree’s trunk, he lept towards another large tree then kicked off that, staying afloat. In the blink of an eye, he had ascended to a height of roughly ten metres.

A bird’s-eye view.

He looked down on them from a location where he could see all eight Yuugenshu.

“……As I thought.”

He confirmed it once again after comparing the eight bodies. No matter how much their units were unmatched, the eight of them were attacking as if in competition.

───Strange.

If the real one was amongst the eight, then it would be over if they defeated that. If Sheltis was in the Yuugenshu’s position, then he would station the real body at the innermost of the formation in order to avoid the one in ten thousand chance that it would take a hit. But there was completely no semblance of that amongst these monsters.

It was almost as if they were saying it didn’t matter even if it the real one was taken out.

“Ilis, what’s the possibility that the real one isn’t amongst them?”

“ Zero. The real one is certainly amongst these eight. “

Ilis Machine crystal flat out denied it.

“My calculation area is certainly sensing the Yuugenshu’s mateki. I can’t confirm the exact location because of the illusions but the real one isn’t a separate body.”

“Then───”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

Two Yuugenshu were climbing their way up the large tree. There was no time to collect his thoughts. Feeling the quickly approaching killing intent, Sheltis jumped down to the ground.

“You’re in my way!”

Deflecting the awaiting two’s claws with his sword, he sprinted to open up distance with the Yuugenshu again.

───There are seven illusions. There’s one real body.

───But none of them are moving like the real body. As if they’re all the real body.

“That’s possible, huh.”

One. A completely outrageous hypothesis came to mind.

“Ilis, what if the Yuugenshu’s core crystal is transferring!?”

“ ……That’s a bold hypothesis. All eight are real but the core crystal controlling them is just one. “

The theory was just like I’sa’s “puppetry”.

Manipulating the illusions created from its own mateki. If it was a human, this would be settled by attacking the real one but the Yuugenshu were mist-form creatures to begin with. If they were destroyed without breaking the core crystal within, they would just dissolve in light. It might not affect the concept of the real body.

In other words, the box containing the core crystal was the real body and it didn’t matter which box that was.

“ If it looks like the core crystal is going to be destroyed, then that core crystal will transfer to another illusion. After that, that one will act as the real spawn and spawn illusions─── “

“What’s the probability?”

“ There’s enough value to be worth confirming. But it’s a hassle. “

That’s right, if his conjecture was correct, then the only way to defeat this Yuugenshu would be before the core crystal transferred ─── all escape routes would have to be sealed.

In other words, the destruction of all eight bodies at the same time.

“……It won’t be easy.”

He naturally put power into his hands that gripped the dual swords. The range of his weapon was this at most this short. Three……no, he had the confidence to take out four at the same time. More than that was a bet. That’s why he abandoned the notion of protecting himself and went for a suicidal attack for six.

“───Kuu!”

Monica was being pressed into a defensive battle by two bodies.

Due to the blessing of the shinryoku silvery white crystals on her Rosario crossed rods , her weapon held great offensive power against Yuugenshu. But the problem was her technical ability to handle that as a Guard. Even if she could handle apprentice Priestess’ spells, even Monica was still a Cadet Guard.

“There’s no end to this……”

Passing through the space between large trees, I’sa skillfully widened the gap with the Yuugenshu by flitting through the branches.

It was possible to control up to four steel balls at once with her puppetry, but the weakness was that their movements would become monotonous. In her previous two-man cell, that was the reason Sheltis could cleave the steel balls regardless of it being the first time he’d seen them. By the same token, the Yuugenshu were gradually getting used to the steel balls’ movements.

“……It’s no good.”

He gave up on the idea of taking out eight bodies with three people. Right now, the communication required to match up their timings would be difficult. The two who were in a defensive battle didn’t have that leeway.

……Think; isn’t this something you decided yourself.

……What I can do for the unit.

.

“ Those with the leeway to observe their surroundings during battle probably consists of only you. ……It’s a shameless thing to ask but I’d like you to decide the commands for everyone to respond well. I would like you to give orders. “

.

The thing he had thought up with Kagura and resolved himself to.

He would support Monica, who was embracing her responsibility as unit leader, on the battlefield.

“Ilis, how many ways can you think of to dispatch the illusions?”

“ ……Only one conventional method. As you know, a shinryoku barrier’s territory is confining. “

Barrier spells, in other words, the widespread release of shinryoku. Like Hyouketsu Kyoukai ─── it could weaken the mateki of the Yuugenshu within.

“ However, Sheltis, for that, you ─── “

Ilis Machine crystal said something but held back.

“I won’t do that.”

Raising a laugh with traces of self-mockery, Sheltis directed his gaze at the other two.

There were numerous cuts carved into their formal wear. Being continually pushed by the Yuugenshu’s fierce offensive, these were the wounds from that harsh battle. Amongst those were some considerably deep lacerations.

Both of them were also tired.

I can’t let them push themselves. ……That’s why it’s best if I’m decisive.

.

“ You are not used to battles where you receive support. “

“ But I would like you to adapt to it. We require your support and you will make the best of our support ─── that kind of battle style. “

.

……Kagura also spoke trivially of it.

……But if that is my role.

“I’sa, Monica! Enclose the Yuugenshu in a barrier after forty seconds!”

Erasing his slight self-deprecating smile, Sheltis looked at his two comrades and shouted. The two girls and even the Yuugenshu paused for a moment at the sudden loud voice. Using that opening.

“Monica, how wide can you open a barrier spell!?”

“Eh, ah……? W-what do you───”

“Never mind that, just hurry!”

“I-if it’s a circular shape, up to a radius of twenty-two with a height of seven metres! I can reliably expand it to twenty metres with a height of nine metres!”

Monica yelled with a slightly red face. Beating only the approximation of twenty metres into his head, Sheltis continued to yell.

“First, Monica, erect a shinryoku barrier with me as the center. It’s enough if it’s twenty metres!”

And to the puppeteer girl.

“I’sa, deploy all four of your puppets at the same time! Set them up at the four corners of the barrier and obstruct the Yuugenshu that try to escape.”

“Wha!?”

The two shinryoku practitioner girls widened their eyes in tandem.

“Wh-what are you saying! Sending away all of my puppets……it’s the same as being naked to a puppeteer! It’d be the same as being defenseless!”

“The same for me. I’d have my hands full just erecting a large-scale barrier……”

Deploying a shinryoku barrier and even setting out a net to prevent escape. However, for the girls, focusing on only that was a thought close to being defenseless.

But he once again conveyed his idea with renewed conviction.

“I want to limit the Yuugenshu’s illusions. Within the shinryoku barrier, even those illusions can be obliterated and its movements restricted. That’s something only you two can do.”

“……Wait, we can’t defeat the Yuugenshu by just enclosing it in a barrier.”

Taking on I’sa’s piercing identification head-on, he slowly nodded.

“I’ll take over after that.”

The ones who would wipe out the illusions after restricting them in the barrier would be Monica and I’sa.

Sheltis would have a direct showdown with the Yuugenshu within that barrier.

“……Okay. It doesn’t look like there’s any other way.”

The first assent came from the direction of the girl who was allowing her sakura-colored hair to flutter.

“……Being ordered by a Cadet Guard……but it’s fine.”

Seeing Monica returning her Rosario crossed rods to their holders, I’sa also once again let a smile rise onto her face.

“I’ll return the debt from Maha. I’ll owe you nothing with this.”

Then the three moved without a word.

─── [Deploy • Emission] ───

I’sa who deployed her puppets in four directions and Monica who was forming the spell jumped back. This was because they would otherwise be drawn into the battle that would be limited to within the barrier after its deployment.

Then───

.

[Sia Sec elis arc......Is io miel]

[That day's dream, once more......for the sake of that.]

.

Within the sea of trees dyed crimson, an azure shinryoku barrier was soundlessly erected.

The glittering particles of light danced in the air.

The azure shinryoku barrier. The light fragments that resembled Hyouketsu Kyoukai’s crystals each had the power to oppose the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ’s curse.

───Those two are already outside of the barrier.

Zaa……zaa……

Without hiding the sound of his footfalls, he prepared the swords in his hands and drew in.

“ ────────────! “

The mist beast howled in a strange voice. The seven illusions were negated by the shinryoku barrier and its body gave off sputters of black mist.

“……Are you taking damage from the shinryoku barrier?”

The beast did not answer.

But the strength within its eyes that had been there until now was gone and its movements were clearly lacking.

“……I see.”

Looking at that, Sheltis weakly shook his head.

.

“Me too.”

.

The dark purple smoke was also coming off the boy’s body.

That body which housed mateki from falling into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song . In exchange for nullifying the mateki of Yuugenshu, this body would take damage from the shinryoku that people were supposed to possess.

……I knew that I would take damage within a shinryoku barrier.

But he had had Monica and I’sa erect the barrier while prepared for that. That was his role. Without that resolution, he would not be able to be a member of the unit.

“Perhaps there’s not a single difference between you and me. ……I might not have the qualifications to speak on what people are. However”

On his back and neck and his entire body, every spot was inflicted with burn wounds. As if to show that, the boy drew near the beast step by step.

“……Even so, I wish to return to the place of those waiting for me.”

He raised the shining blades that were facing each other.

Then───

The boy’s dual swords shattered the Yuugenshu’s core crystal this time.

“…………”

From outside the barrier shining with azure light, Monica was staring fixedly at its interior.

……What’s going on right now?

With the barrier shining and the sea of trees and thickets added in, she completely couldn’t tell what was happening inside. She wondered if Sheltis who was left there was alright.

She knew his skills but his opponent was still a Yuugenshu.

Immediately after, the vague shadow of a person wavered from within the barrier.

“Sheltis!?”

She ran with her breathing in a mess to the boy who walked out of the barrier.

“! Those burns……were you bathed in mateki!?”

“Ah, no, I’m fine.”

The boy acted bashfully.

“These burns are……from yesterday’s dinner when I messed up the strength of the gas burner.”

She wondered if something like that happened during yesterday’s dinner. Putting that aside, his expression as he slightly averted his face seemed somehow very……lonesome.

───I don’t want to see Sheltis with that kind of expression.

The moment she thought that, her chest tightened painfully.

“Idiot.”

Monica placed her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see that bitter expression. If he was safe, then she wanted him to be lively.

“Don’t make……that face.”

“Eh?”

“……Don’t make the captain……worry so much, you scoundrel.”

Was it because she was relieved Sheltis was safe?

What was this. The heat within her chest was irrepressible. As long as she couldn’t put it into words, she entrusted herself to his shoulder───

“Unit captain Monica? Indiscreet relations within the unit is the largest demerit.”

Having I’sa whisper into her ear, Monica sharply returned to her senses.

“Y-you’re wrong! You’re wrong, examiner, th-this isn’t”

“Hr──m?”

Even if she was the examiner, she was just gazing over with a deeply meaningful look.

“Well, whatever, at present we’ve defeated the Yuugenshu. Next, we’ll go to Nash”

“ No, please wait. “

The gem attached to a pendant at Sheltis’ chest ─── Ilis machine crystal twinkled.

“ It’s strange. Even though we should have defeated the Yuugenshu, the mateki response hasn’t disappeared. “

“……What did you say?”

“ I’m currently in the middle of observation but……this is……dangerous. It is approaching the two from our unit and those of the injured unit at a high speed. “

He doubted his ears at Ilis machine crystal ’ words. That couldn’t be since Sheltis had defeated the real body and as proof, the illusions had disappeared.

“ There were two Yuugenshu from the beginning……we’ve been had; the Yuugenshu was possessed by another Yuugenshu. You could even call it parasitism. “

───If that was so, then another part also became understandable.

Those seven illusions were not simply the result of the Yuugenshu’s battle-use mateki. It had been a disguise to hide that there were multiple mateki responses. ……But in that case.

“The Yuugenshu is heading towards Kagura and Vaiel!?”

.

### 022. Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 287.

Sheltis continually checked the time displayed on the elevator door.

“……I wonder if I’ve kept Ymy waiting.”

The promise with her was for XX PM. However, there was the report to the Instructor and the writing of the report on the specifics of the Yuugenshu they’d defeated. With the creation of that report, the promised time had passed by before he knew it.

The elevator stopped with the ring of a bell.

The space was filled with only silence. It was already lights-out for the Priestess-use floor and only the fluorescent emergency lighting faintly illuminated intermittently.

Tap……p……tapp……

Listening to his own footsteps, he headed to the promised intersection.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Rather than that, I heard from Instructor Yumelda just before.”

Underneath the dum emergency lighting, her off-gold hair shone.

“We can go to the Governmental Sector together. ……I’m glad.”

Her face that had the purity of a baby smiled gently.

It was kind of embarrassing for Ymy to be so happy like it had happened to herself that Sheltis nodded with his face slightly averted.

“By the way, what’s up, was there something you were worried about?”

Today at noon. While he was in the middle of writing the report, Ymy had suddenly called him through an emergency line and said, “I want to see you.” She added on that today would be good because there was something she wanted to discuss.

“…………Ah, ……umm.”

His childhood pressed down on the bosom of her vestment. Letting her gaze wander through thin air, she looked for words to describe what was within her heart ─── it was that kind of trailing note.

“……Nope, as I thought, never mind.”

“Eh?”

“Originally, there was something I wanted to consult you about. Like about me……and about Priestesses. Also about the barrier and the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .”

The words mixed into her speech were all things that were serious points of discussion.

“It’s okay, Ymy, don’t hold back. I can listen to what you have to say all night.”

“Thanks. But it’s fine, really. Somehow……I felt relieved seeing Sheltis’ face so I’ll think about it more on my own. If I’m still anxious, I’ll consult you. Also”

She began twirling a tuft of her off-gold hair around her index finger. Unchanged from their childhood, it was Ymy’s way of hiding her embarrassment.

“Well, how to say this. It’s been a while……since we went somewhere together.”

“To the Governmental Sector? Ymy’s going for negotiations and I’m going as a mission though.”

“But it’s a big step, right?”

“……Yeah.”

Ymy was this happy that they would be traveling together to the Governmental Sector. It had been a screening battle that even turned into a fight against a Yuugenshu but it was worth it to see this smile.

“That’s right. About Monica,”

“Ah, that’s right! I’ll also be able to go with Monica-senpai. ……How was senpai?”

Monica had just walked out on Ymy without saying anything before.

“Be at ease. It looks like she really was just embarrassed and had wanted to report to you after becoming a Regular Guard, but she was flustered because she’d been seen before that. It’s just like Monica.”

“……I see. That’s great……I was wondering what I’d do if Monica-senpai hated me.”

His childhood friend sighed in a grand expression of relief.

Seeing her shoulder relax after having been bunched up with tension, she had probably been pretty mindful of it.

“Is she that important of a senpai to you?”

“Of course! She’s really kind and good and looking after others and her reliability is…………is…………”

Saying so, Ymy’s expression froze over.

“Th-that’s no good! As I thought, I can’t say anymore! I’ll become disadvantaged!”

“……Disadvantaged?”

What did she mean?

Even though he tilted his head, Ymy’s face went bright red.

“She-Sheltis shouldn’t pay it any mind! Rather, you can’t, you’re not allowed to!”

“Ehh, again!? Ah, wait, Ymy, why are you running!?”

“Sheltis, you idiot─────────!”

### 023. Part 4

“Well? Was it there?”

“I’m in the middle of searching. ……Ah, this is it, isn’t it.”

Kagura’s fingers which were typing at high speeds on the computer’s keys halted.

‘ Mission number 16. ‘Governmental Sector Dispatch’

Subject ‘VIP Escort’, Destination ‘Governmental Sector’, Duration ’4 days’, Recruits ‘First Unit’ ‘

—This is undoubtedly what Leon was talking about.

Confirming the information upon the screen countless times, Sheltis slightly tightened his fists.

“The date of posting is yesterday……it’s a freshly updated request.”

Beside him, Monica had her arms crossed with a meek face.

With it being a rare deployment to the Governmental Sector and furthermore, including travelling together with a Priestess, the other units must also be extremely interested. Thinking that and investigating it, there were already seventeen units registered as their rivals.

“The recruiting period is until noon tomorrow. They might multiply the closer it gets to the deadline.”

“……It’ll be difficult, Sheltis.”

Monica, who was staring at the screen, knit her brows.

“I know. In exchange, the merit points are also high.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“H-huh? That was wrong?”

He blinked and looked at the screen and Kagura pointed at the bottom left of the screen.

“Please look at this warning carefully, Sheltis.”

“……Four people?”

“Yes. This mission’s recruited units have ‘four people’. We don’t have enough with just us.”

The unit leader, Monica, and the members, himself and Kagura. They were one person short.

“They even have limits on the number of people……”

“No. They exist as provisions, but in reality, they’re rare. The difficulty and importance influence it, but an exact limit like four is uncommon.”

……Was it the Governmental Sector?

It was possible that a limit had been placed on the number of messengers from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“So we need another person if we’re going to participate, huh. After that is”

“Yes, ye—s, Shel-nii! Yuto’s here! Yuto will go too!”

“Then Yuto will; what’s this, it’s perfect. …………Or, wait!?”

There was a sensation of someone clinging to his leg. He timidly peeked down.

“Yuto!?”

The young girl was tightly clinging to his right leg.

Her black eyes were shining with avid curiosity. Her apparent age was five or six. Her shiny black hair was tied into two locks behind her and her azure muffler flowed gently around her neck.

“Shel-nii, I wanted to see you—!”

“U-um……Yuto? I’m happy about being able to see each other too but how did you get in here?”

This was the meeting room, so the door was auto-locking. Those not related to Sophia Tenketsu Palace shouldn’t be able to open the door.

……Ah, no, wait. I have a hint of whose specialty this falls under.

“ Tada—, I’ve kept you waiting. The incompetent Ilis makes her return to the front lines! “

“……It’s Ilis, as I expected.”

“ How cold! You’re terrible, Sheltis, how can you have that reaction to the return of the one who was your partner just a few days ago!? “

Ilis Machine crystal flickered bright red.

“……Two people and one thing have joined three people. Suddenly the room has become more packed.”

Kagura was looking not at Yuto and not at the Ilis machine crystal , but instead her gaze was directed at girl in overalls who had Ilis machine crystal dangling from her neck as a necklace.

“Hey there. Sorry for just barging in suddenly.”

She had unkempt frizzy hair and oil-stained overalls, and her appearance was lacking in make-up or sex appeal, but that suited this simplistic girl best.

Eyriey Leccento — similar to Yuto who was at his feet, she was an acquaintance of his from the living district. They had also been fellow workers at the outdoor cafe ‘The Albireo Two Swans ’ which was located in the second living district.

“What is it. We’re in the middle of a serious meeting here.”

“Now, now. Here, Sheltis, Ilis’ maintenance is done, you know?”

“ Wa-wait, Eyriey! When handing me over, you should be more gent— “

“Whoa.”

He received the machine crystal Ilis, who was voicing some complaint, with both his hands.

“Hey, gotten better?”

“ Of course. If there was something off about me, it would also be a big problem for you, right? “

—I’m glad, it’s the same Ilis as always.

Her strong self-assertion in various areas despite being a machine hadn’t changed at all. ……No, it might have been better if that self-assertion had been fixed.

“Yeah, it’s the same Ilis as always. Thank you, Eyriey.”

“Yes, yes, I also enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s VIP room. Well then, we’ll excuse ourselves here. Come on, Yuto.”

“Eh—……Yuto wants to go with Shel-nii.”

The young girl clung to his leg while saying “Dun wanna, dun wanna”. ……What a predicament. It would feel pitiful if they were to forcefully separate here.

“Umm, shall I look after her for just a little?”

“Ah—, it’s fine if you don’t ignore it. We’re looking for somebody.”

“Is there a lost child? In that case, why don’t you try announcing a lost child on the first floor of the tower?”

“That’s not it. That’s right, I’ll also introduce her to you this time, Sheltis. It’s a girl I came to know while working on Ilis’ maintenance. She’s a really cute girl named Sasa!”

Eyriey winked after lifting Yuto into her arms.

“Sasa?……That’s a strange name.”

The way the name resounded was strange and it was spelled in a way that wasn’t often seen on the floating continent. He had never heard of it in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , not to mention at the living district.

“Is she from the living district?”

“Nope. She seems to be a live-in worker in the tower. Being a General Affairs staff member at only fourteen and even being able to use Shinryoku.”

“She can use Shinryoku?”

The one who knit their brows at that was Monica. It was unmistakably a word that stirred up the interest of Monica who had been an apprentice Priestess.

“That’s right. So after completing Ilis’ maintenance, I thought we could go have fun with her. But when I did a search in the name register for Sophia Tenketsu Palace , nothing popped up.”

“……Was the name wrong?”

“Mm~, truthfully, it didn’t feel like that. That’s why I decided to go around searching on foot. Well then, let’s get going, Yuto.”

“Oka—y. See you, Shel-nii.”

The two boisterous girls dashed down the path.

“Those two are full of energy.”

“ It was the same during my maintenance. Those two are like a lump of energy. Good grief, that Master supervisor ……was really shrewd in getting friendly with Eyriey. “

“Hmm?”

Master supervisor . He felt like he had heard a fairly strange and uncommon word just now.

“Ah, it’s nothing, just me talking to myself.”

“……Well, that’s fine. So what should we do, Monica?”

Eyriey’s group having set off on searching the tower and they had a mountain of problems. They didn’t have enough people for the Governmental Sector mission.

“First, I’d like to have a solid plan.”

Monica operated the terminal in place of Kagura. With experienced movements, she brought up the screen to display the list of defense missions.

There were currently fourteen missions recruiting. Eight of those allowed for a team of three members.

“There are other missions three people can go on. We should decide if we’ll narrow down the missions we can go on with our current team or if we’ll supplement a fourth member.”

They could aim to be Regular Guards even with just the current members. They had to decide if they would continue with the current minimum members or search for more comrades.

“Sheltis, you want to take on that mission, right?”

“That’s right. The merit points are high and there’s no loss in getting experience with VIP escorting.”

Going to the Governmental Sector with Ymy — even without those personal circumstances, it was still a mission worth applying for. The opportunities to escort would increase when they became Regular Guards. He would like for them to gain experience ahead of time as a Cadet Guard.

“VIP escorting and patrolling the nature district, it would be best if we were to experience both of those at least once.”

“……I see, what do you think, Kagura?”

“Sooner or later we’re going to need a fourth member so I have no qualms in aiming for this mission.”

Kagura rested her elbows on the table while holding her head up with her hands.

“That’s unexpected. What’s your reason for thinking that?”

“There is a big difference in the tactics for a three-person team and a four-person team. ……For example, let’s say we’re currently split into the ‘Control Tower’, ‘Vanguard’ and ‘Rear Guard’.”

Kagura’s eyeshield slowly turned towards him.

“Here’s a problem for you, Sheltis. How many different ways can we split three people into these three roles for our tactics? The time limit is ten seconds. Ten……nine……one. Okay, stop.”

“Didn’t you count only three seconds just now!?”

“ 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 patterns. The first person to choose gets three choices. The next person can’t choose the same as the first one, so he or she gets two choices. The last person has the final role, so he or she doesn’t get to choose. ”

Even Ilis’ voice sounded like one of somebody who had just seen something pitiful.

“……Are you possibly making a fool out of me?”

“Well, keep listening. Like was said just now, we can only form 6 patterns with three people. However, with four people, that become 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 patterns. Just by adding one person, it increases by four times. That’s a big difference.”

The limit of a three person unit with the three roles of ‘Control Tower’, ‘Vanguard’ and ‘Rear Guard’.

However, adding a fourth person would allow, for example, Monica to not be the control tower and instead act using her Shinryoku techniques that she learned as an apprentice Priestess.

“The battle strength of one more person is necessary, huh……that’s right, but the problem is who to invite.”

Monica sighed with her arms folded.

“Unfortunately, I have no clue. How about you, Sheltis?”

“Same here.”

“ For the time being. “

Ilis Machine crystal said that with a sigh and murmured.

“ In times like this, why not consult with that instructor? “

### 024. Part 4

The sound of passing through that rent the wind.

That which was dancing about in the sky roared and nosedived, approaching in one go.

"One unit approaching, jump to the left!"

Responding to the girl's voice behind him, he jumped. Dodging the black scrap of metal that passed by right beside him, Sheltis slashed into open space with his right sword.

────Clang!

The deflected scrap of metal flew in the exact opposite direction and collided with another scrap of metal. Becoming entangled, the two scraps unified and fell to the ground.

"Monica, go right, and Sheltis, go around the right just like that!"

Kagura was the one giving out successive instructions.

While checking both the screen of the eyeshade and the Machina machine pearl at the same time, she calculated the path which would guarantee optimal dodging space.

" Ohh, this is pleasant. Maybe I could have an afternoon nap? "

"Don't say such easygoing things!"

Silencing the Ilis machine crystal ' carefree talking, he defended against the black scraps coming one after another with his left sword. Taking the strikes and killing off the impact with the back of the sword, he struck them down with his other sword the moment they stopped.

He did that how many times of times───

"Stop right there."

The instructor's order reverberated across the testing grounds.

"Fumu, it was passable."

Instructor Yumelda wrote a number down on her score sheet.

"Shooting down count ─── Sheltis, 74, Monica, 21, Kagura, 1......that totals to 96 for the unit; it's passable that it didn't reach triple digits. There were two instances of being shot as well."

"It looks like we'll pass the screening."

Monica said as she put a bottle of drinking water to her lips.

"The criteria for the first screening are shooting down over 90 and only being shot up to 7 times. It's a number for screening so it would be troubling if this didn't pass."

......For the time being, the first screening has been cleared, huh.

He disassembled the blades Ilis machine crystal had constructed and put the swords that had become only hilts into their holders.

"However, that was another extreme assignment of roles."

The instructor who was blowing tobacco smoke narrowed one eye.

"Kagura is specialized to control, Monica is interception and Sheltis is the suicide attacker. It's incomparably extreme. An organization whose capacity would be paralyzed immediately if a single person fell isn't something I should be praising."

"Please say that it's the right person in the right place."

"You sure can say it well. By the way, where's the Vaiel problem child ? I heard you'd roped him in."

"Ahh, if you're talking about him."

Kagura pointed to the bench that lay beyond the sandy soil. Taking up a position at the center of that was a blond young man who seemed to be in a bad mood and oozed an air of not wanting to do anything.

"I don't see anything but his usual self. He's not going to participate in the mission's screening?"

"Our promise with him is that we'll travel together for the mission so the screening before the mission is outside of our negotiations."

"......Well, I don't mind if you guys says you're fine with it."

An appalled sigh or sympathy or otherwise ────── the smile leaking onto the instructor's face was filled with numerous emotions.

"By the way, you guys have no external injuries? Excess stamina?"

"We're fine."

Sheltis, who reflexively answered like that, regretted it immediately after.

"Okay, then we'll do up to the second screening today."

"Eh?"

" ......Sheltis? "

"......People like you."

"......What are you doing."

### 025. Part 4

The path leading to the training grounds.

Running down the winding trail, he finally caught sight of Vaiel’s back.

“There he is. H-hey, wait a second. I have something I want to ask.”

“Ah? What is it, something where the punchline is that you’ve become a lost child now?”

His usual displeased face that looked over his shoulder and his voice didn’t have their usual force.

“……Are you possibly tired?”

“Taking care of that brat since morning, of course I’d get tired.”

……Then he really did look after Yuto.

“Thanks.”

“Ahh!? There’s no reason for you to thank me.”

“The two from just now are acquaintances of mine.”

Vaiel went silent with a scowl. His heart hurt slightly upon seeing that gesture.

───I thought he was just a lazy Cadet that found everything to be bothersome.

Same as the thoughts of those around him, I thought he was a ruffian with looks to fit the part.

But Kagura and Yuto.

……It’s because I think he’s a good person. Is that bad?

Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii!

……Maybe I’ve overlooked the most important part of him?

“Say, Vaiel, you don’t usually participate in training, right?”

“Participate in training? That kind of thing is up to the person.”

“Not that, I was just wondering what you do when you’re not training.”

“Sleeping at noon.”

“And when you’re not sleeping at noon?”

“…………”

Continuing wordlessly along the trail for a while, they stopped at a fork in the road. And then.

“Nobody understands.”

He muttered in an unusually quiet voice.

“Competing senselessly to become a Regular Guard or training more than anyone else to be stronger than everyone. Being enraptured in that all the time makes them miss the important things.”

“……Important things?”

“When you guys are training, who’s gonna look over a brat like just before?”

He stuck a hand in his formal attire’s pocket and continued on in a brusque manner.

“Train and form teams however much you want. But don’t push that stuff on me. If I’m not there, who will inspect the weapons’ storehouse? Who do you think will help a brat like the one just now?”

“That’s……”

No words came out. It’s not that he was overwhelmed, his words just had that much meaning in them.

That meant basically───

While other Guards were training, he was inspecting the weapons’ storehouse?

While other Guards were forming units to get promoted, he was going around by himself and extending a helping hand to those in trouble like Yuto just now?

“You’ve……been doing those every day?”

“There’s nobody else who will do it other than me; that’s all it is.”

Being replied to so bluntly, Sheltis gasped.

……All alone……without anyone knowing, he’s been doing his best.

The usual training and missions which made up unit activities. He wouldn’t participate in the so-called activities of a guard as he let his sweat flow helping others in a place nobody else could see.

Rather than the Priestesses atop the tower, there is also a man that is influenced by ‘ something ‘ completely different.

……What Instructor Yumelda had spoken about was this.

It was different from himself who was aiming to fulfill the promise with a Ymy Priestess .

The feelings of he who earnestly strived for the image of a Guard that he had described ─── they had certainly been conveyed.

Their respective goals were different but their fervent resolve……he felt that they resembled each other.

“……Well, I guess I should say sorry. I completely didn’t realize that you were working so hard.”

“Ahhh!? Don’t just flatter people when you feel like it; it feels bad.”

Vaiel threatened him with the usual sour look.

“Nope. I’m not flattering you, I’m serious.”

“So what are you saying?”

Sheltis cut in front of him and,

“I’ll also help next time. Not just in practice……Monica and Kagura will also help of their own accord if they learn what you’re doing.”

“Haa, you’re an idiot. I’ll pass on that even if I die.”

“Why?”

“You just don’t get it.”

And Vaiel turned his face to the day after tomorrow.

“You’re not a man if you get women involved in troublesome things. That’s why I said I’ll do it alone.”

### 026. Part 4

“……We have to do our best tomorrow.”

Monica looked the comrades of her unit after they gathered in the living room once again.

Drawing a map on the giant graph paper laid out atop the table, she wrote down the patrol route in red pen.

“Nash’s unit will probably finish patrolling their assigned area tomorrow. At the very least, I’d like for us to follow suit. We have to go around the assigned area all in one day.”

“We will depart at four in the morning and return late into the night. ……We’ll walk way too much and have muscle pains the next day.”

Propping herself up on her hands against the table, Kagura muttered in a soliloquy.

The route drawn on the map was basically a net. There was no telling how far it would take to walk the entirety.

“Tomorrow will be a day of endurance. We’ll be departing at four in the morning, so keep that in mind. We’ll finish off here for today, so each of us should rest up.”

“The first and second floors both have three rooms each so there was an excess in rooms. The first floor will be for the men with the second floor for women. Here, these are the rooms’ card keys.”

Kagura indicated the card keys upon the table.

“I’ll just say this ahead of time, but if you come up to the second floor in the middle of the night, I’ll shoot with you with a stun gun, no questions asked.”

“Fool, like I’d have any interest in brats with no sex appeal like you guys.”

Vaiel took the card key and snorted.

“Fu, you don’t understand; true, my body is still not fully developed, but a slender body that seems like it would snap with only a touch has its own merits. Especially that one time Monica helped───”

“Why are you throwing my name out right there!?”

Monica covered up Kagura’s mouth that was speaking.

“A-at any rate……save the stamina for engaging in entertaining conversation for tomorrow.”

Monica took a card and folded her arms.

“Now are there any questions? If not, we’ll end off here.”

“Ah, just one thing……it’s not really that big of a thing.”

The three gazes fell in this direction as Sheltis timidly raised his hand.

“……What are we doing about dinner?”

The unit once again felt nervousness run at this instant.

“This is a problem.”

“Yes, this is a grave issue.”

Looking into the refrigerator stationed in the kitchen, the female pair of Monica and Kagura grimaced.

Within the freezer were vacuum-sealed bread, vegetables and smoked meat that was salted to preserve it. On the shelf beside it was a full assortment of spices. The variety and amount were both bountiful so it was well enough for three days or even a week, but the problem was───

“ Fumu, fumu. The things that can be eaten without cooking are really just the packaged bread and bottled water. Well, if they were cooked they couldn’t be preserved so it really can’t be helped. “

At Ilis machine crystal ’ calm words, the two female representatives exchanged looks again.

“……Kagura, can you cook?”

“……Monica as well, this is your time to shine as the unit captain.”

“……You know that I was an apprentice Priestess. I put all I had into my training and had no time for something like cooking.”

“……I also am working as a researcher for the Tower Control Bureau alongside being a Guard.”

It would appear that both of them were weak at cooking.

“……Kagura, what’s this flat iron tool?”

“……According to what I’ve read, it seems to be known as a frying pan. You use it like……this as a weapon to hit your opponent, I think.”

“……It seems like you could use it as a shield too. But why is there a weapon in the kitchen?”

Correction. Weak wasn’t how it would be described. Staring fixedly at the frying pan, the two ladies were discussing some frightening things with serious expressions.

“U-um, you two……a frying pan is for frying things……”

“Sheltis!”

“Y-yes!?”

In an instant, the two of them overlapped their voices and turned towards him.

“How good are you at cooking!?”

“No……I’m sorry if you were expecting something but there’s not really a big difference between us.”

His position was different from them; rather than using it for cooking or such, he spent every spare hour training with his twin swords.

“This is bad, really bad. As I thought, somebody’s going to have to take the plunge and try cooking.”

“However, Monica, taking a risk here is not a good idea. Rather than everybody here retiring tomorrow from stomach pains, it would be best to go with the packaged bread”

“But that won’t be enough for us───”

The two who had started discussing again didn’t notice. There was a fragrant smell filling up the kitchen they were in.

“Hmm, there’s a good smell.”

Sizzle……the first one who realized that there was the sound of something being fried was Sheltis. Turning around, he found a young man with smoked meat and vegetables atop a frying pan on the fire.

“Eh, don’t tell me, Vaiel can cook?”

“‘Course. As a man, what would one do if he couldn’t prepare the meals he ate.”

While heating the ingredients on the frying pan, he quickly cut the remaining meat and vegetables into bite-sized pieces and spread them over the nabe. Solid soup and salt and pepper, with just the peel of dried fruits that had been sliced thrown in for the scent. Amongst that, a toaster that had been set up who-knows-when had browned bread peeping out.

To do this much in such a short time ─── this man, he’s capable!

In response to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the three exchanged looks with their eyes shining.

“……It’s a complete loss; who would have thought that we’d find the unit’s final weapon here.”

“Yeah, I thought Vaiel was a capable man. As I thought, the men of my unit are different.”

“It came, it’s here! With this, our victory tomorrow is unshaken!”

The three sent a grand applause from behind him but───

“Ahh? Ain’t you guys misunderstanding something?”

“Eh……”

The three’s expressions froze.

“Who said I’d make your portions? Like I’d do something that much of a pain in the ass.”

“…………”

“You guys are naive. You’re not kids, so nobody’s going to help you if you’re in trouble.”

Vaiel didn’t notice as he immersed himself in his lecture, arms crossed.

That Monica, Kagura and Sheltis had each grabbed the weapon nearest them and were edging closer.

“Got it? If you do, then make your portion yourself……mm? What’s with you guys, standing there wordlessly with a frying pan, pepper grinder and chopping board───”

“Hand over dinneeeeeerrrrr!”

The three that had gone wild attacked.

“Guhaaa!……Y-you guys! Three against one is cowardlyyyyy────────────!”

Pushed down in the blink of an eye, Vaiel caved in to the force of numbers.

At the same time, in a cottage far away.

“…………”

In the other cottage, I’sa the examiner, could hear the sequence of events coming from the wiretap as she sighed in exhaustion.

“A unit that has internal strife from stealing food……this is terrible.”

### 027. Part 4

Without forewarning, that appeared before them.

.

“……Oi, this ain’t no joke.”

Feeling the pressure of that from up close, Vaiel felt shivers run through his whole body.

Yuugenshu.

Carrying the ability to decay whatever they touched, the invaders from the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

“Don’t screw with me; I didn’t hear nothin’ about this! The examiner or the unit captain, what happened to those guys that were crazy worked up!? You telling me they all got done in!?”

“───No, I can’t imagine the group of three including Sheltis was done in.”

The one who answered was Kagura. But the lips that were peeking up from under her machine helmet were pale and that tone that seemed calm at first glance was shaking with fear everywhere.

“It probably ran away to here.”

“Isn’t that the same thing!……damn it, what do we do about this guy!”

It was the first time the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors he wore on both arms felt so unhelpful. It was a fear of death that he hadn’t felt from any gathering of valiant men in the unit battles. That was just how “real” the beast before his eyes was.

A real Yuugenshu.

It was a strange existence that would be rare for a Cadet Guard to fight, let alone even encounter.

……On this side are me and this Kagura. And behind are the four injured members of a unit?

……Like hell there’s a way to win.

“Oi.”

Even while backing away quickly, he whispered to Kagura who was standing directly beside him.

“We’re grabbing those four and running; fighting with those absurd bastards isn’t sane.”

“ ………… ”

The girl didn’t reply. It was like she didn’t even hear him.

“Oi, you listening? Oi!”

“It’s futile. Running away with these four by ourselves? While we do that blockheaded act, we’ll get wiped out in one shot by mateki.”

“Then what the heck are you saying we do!”

But the girl once again fell into silence and didn’t answer.

“Damn brat, are you only powerful in times of peace!? You───”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

Without the time to speak more, the Yuugenshu moved, leaving traces of decay along the ground. Their eerily shining crimson eyes were locked onto them without a doubt.

───This is bad.

The mist beast jumped at Vaiel whose reaction was slow, lunging at him as if leaning.

.

Light filled his vision.

.

Being hit from a very powerful light from the front, the Yuugenshu stiffened.

What made him realize that it was a flash bullet from Kagura was the resounding noise of a small machine having fallen after being tossed high into the air.

“…………“

Wrapped in wrath that seemed to freeze the atmosphere, the Yuugenshu turned around.

“I didn’t think my machine helmet’s eye shield would become useful in a place like this.”

Once again, the small clattering sound of something light hitting the ground.

The machine helmet the girl had removed was rolling around on the ground.

“Now, this way!”

And then she added a shot, she now took out the medium range-use stun gun and shot it after turning towards the Yuugenshu. There was no way it would work but if that single shot made the Yuugenshu feel like it “received an attack”, then that was enough.

“…………Oi, what are you”

His eyes not working because he’d been bathed in the flash grenade at close range, Vaiel was staggering.

……I don’t get the meaning of this.

……This brat, challenging Yuugenshu like this……does she have a death wish?

“Stop, you idiot! Playing around like that”

“I’ll be targeted? It would be troubling if that didn’t happen .“

“───!?”

For a moment, he truly doubted her sanity.

“I will lead the Yuugenshu away to the best of my ability. If I buy enough time, Monica and the others will make it in time.”

Replying indifferently like that, the girl rode atop the Machina machine pearl .

…………Oi, don’t tell me this brat.

…………In order to let me and the four behind me escape, she’s becoming……the bait……?

“Wait up, damn you! Such an arbitrary”

“The one who invited you to the unit was me. My responsibility……it is my duty to ensure that you are safe.”

The floating Machina machine pearl let off a noticeably brighter shine. Halting its functions as a computer, it was concentrating all its output on propulsion as an escape pod.

“……Kuu……wha……what arbitrary”

His eyes couldn’t see well because of the flash bullet so he could barely stand up. While he couldn’t do anything, and while he couldn’t stop her.

“───If I come back alive, let’s do our best in the unit again, okay?”

Even though he shouldn’t be able to see anything.

Her smiling visage was vividly burned into his vision.

.

And once again, the forest returned to silence.

.

There was nothing in his vision that had finally cleared up.

Not the Yuugenshu nor the figure of the girl who fled far away to lead that Yuugenshu.

“………………”

He wordlessly tightened his fists, then.

“Ddddoo……ooon’t screw with meeeee!”

Vaiel roared.

The Yuugenshu and Kagura actions, whichever one didn’t sit well with him. ……As he thought, it was just as he thought. Nobody and nothing understood. About everything, everything───

“A dream……you’re dreaming too much……what’s this about Monica coming to save you or Sheltis coming to save you.”

There weren’t just those convenient events.

A Guard is a Guard. They weren’t like those heroes that came up in stories that would come running to someone’s predicament.

“……You’re wrong…………that’s wrong.”

There was nobody like that in reality. There wasn’t so somebody, somebody there would have to defend them in place of a hero. Even a man with no redeeming features had times where he would have to rise up.

Wasn’t that so as a human and as a Guard?

For example, that day when he piggybacked a girl that had collapsed in the desert .

“ Have I met you before? “

“ No idea. “

At that time, Vaiel had acted as if he didn’t remember. He didn’t like gaining debts of gratitude or having words of repayment spoken.

“……Damn it, that brat……causing people nothing but trouble…………I’ll hit that joking face of yours and make you remember.”

He bit down on his trembling lips and gripped his quivering fist tightly.

His feet ───────── forward ───────── forward.

Forward.

“That’s why……until I come to hit you……………………don’t die.”

.

### 028. Part 5

Floor 287 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

There were only four rooms established on this vast floor. They were the rooms of the fourth and fifth Priestesses as well as the Sennenshi that guard those two.

Out of those, at the room assigned to the fifth Priestess.

“Ah— jeez, it’s busy, so busy! Why did it come to this!?”

Holding a large luggage bag with both arms, the girl with faint off-golden hair whined.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole — she was a lovely girl with jade green eyes and was clad in pure white vestments.

She was valued at an absolute rank in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

She was a guardian deity of the floating continent but in contrast to that holy image,

“I-I’m done with this—!”

Her shout spread throughout the living room.

“What do I do, what do I do……I have to get ready, discuss the plans and my training schedule as a Priestess is also jam packed.”

She stared intensely at her notebook’s calendar while constantly sitting and standing from a chair.

In comparison to Ymy who was flustered like that,

“I understand that you’re busy but you’re wasting too much time just panicking like that, you know?”

Leon said while sitting directly on the carpet.

“B-but, but, suddenly participating in the meeting with the Governmental Sector……I didn’t hear anything about this!?”

“You’ll likely only have to say one thing until you reach the Governmental Sector. The small discussions will be handled by the Chief of the General Affairs Bureau.”

“That one thing is difficult……”

—But yeah, there’s no point in yelling.

She reverted her ballooned cheeks and sat down in a chair.

“But, you know, haven’t there been a lot of events lately? Even though I greeted everyone not too long ago, I only have two weeks until the meeting with the Governmental Sector.”

“There are no other substitutes from the Priestesses, after all.”

“It’s not that, ……The true duty of a Priestess is to pray together with the Salah Queen -sama for the barrier. Greeting everyone and participating in a meeting are completely different.”

Those are of a totally different importance and I think it’s not good that a Priestess is intruding into that. Just like this time, going out as a means of negotiating with the Governmental Sector would be unthinkable normally.

“I am……still inexperienced but if the Priestesses didn’t do their best, the barrier around the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song would dissolve. As I thought, I really want to do my best to prevent that instead.”

“Was this a hint from Meimel?”

“No, it’s just something I thought about myself……is it strange?”

“No.”

Leon said that with a face that was serious about something.

“I just thought it was a very Priestess-like way of thinking. In a good sense, it means that I’ve heard that you understand the necessity and importance of Priestesses.”

“I-is that so?”

……He is praising me, right?

It couldn’t be helped that having Leon who rarely complimented others say that would leave one feeling ticklish.

“Did something happen?”

“Eh……”

“Did something happen to make you change your thinking about Priestesses?”

“I-it’s not anything as major as that……probably.”

I just — want to purify the Mateki residing within Sheltis.

For he who is doing his best and aiming to become a Sennenshi, I would just like to be able to respond to him.

“Just like you, Leon……I just thought that I had to study more.”

While being recognized as the strongest great sword user on the floating continent, even now he continued to train and moderate himself more harshly than anyone else. That was something no one should emulate.

“If so, all the more reason that you shouldn’t be flustered over something of this degree.”

“Th-that’s because……well……umm.”

After being hard-pressed for a reply, while twirling the napkin upon the table.

“What is it?”

“No……we-well……”

……It’s hard to tell Leon, isn’t it.

……That I’d like to spend time choosing my clothes and other things if Sheltis is coming along.

“What, so it’s about Sheltis?”

“—Y-you’re wro!? I-I-I, I-I didn’t ha-have that kind of intention?”

“You’re not speaking clearly.”

Oh boy, I thought she’d become a little more Priestess-like……sighing while looking like he wanted to say that, Leon stared at her with a deeply meaningful look.

“I don’t mind if you think about him but I’m begging you, don’t show that flirtatious attitude when you have to act like a Priestess. It’ll set a bad example for your subordinates.”

“Uu……kuu? But! You don’t have the right to say that!”

“Ohh?”

Leon’s eyes flashed aggressively.

“Saying that I’m flirtatious is interesting. I’d like you to tell me just how I’m flirtatious.”

“There’s no need to tell you.”

Gently shaking aside the hair in front of her eyes, she pointed in his direction.

“……What’s that on your lap?”

“Hrm?”

The lap of Leon who was sitting cross-legged directly on the carpet.

A girl wearing kimono-style vestments was there sleeping soundly.

“It’s Syun-rei.”

“It’s Syun-rei, right?”

It was the early afternoon. The girl who was sleeping happily with shallow breaths and the one supporting her, the silver-haired young man.

The degree of warmth in that motif was enough to make one sigh just from looking and inspire a painter to paint a picture just from passing by.

“Wait, Ymy.”

He called for her to wait with an ever-serious face.

“Whaaat is it?”

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t do anything. Syun-rei did this on her own.”

“ …………Welcome back, Leon. “

“ …………I’m sleepy. “

Syun-rei approached Leon who was sitting on the carpet. Facing that lap, she suddenly lay down and while he was thinking about what to do, she fell asleep.

“But she won’t wake up even though we’ve talked this much. Was she that sleepy?”

The young man tilted his head with a look of admiration.

“She was lonely while you were traveling, Leon. Isn’t it that she’s relieved?”

She rested her chin on her hands above the table and gazed at the two.

……Ah, but.

……Syun-rei looks like she’s really enjoying her sleep.

Syun-rei rolled over as she watched. Soft murmuring, “U……n,” she was really sleeping upon Leon’s lap with a relieved expression.

……Somebody……it seems really nice.

……Being that relieved and supported……it’s against the rules.

I don’t know what to say but, like this, they really suit each other.

Syun-rei had a small build to start with and Leon was blessed with a good physique even amongst men.

Because it was those two, they became like a painting and the happiness from them reached others; it was already at an unfair level, that truly wonderful scene.

In comparison with that, her and Sheltis were—

Mateki and Shinryoku, it was the law of the world that they would reject each other.

He and I……can’t touch even a single fingertip.

That’s why it was well-known to her that the relationship of the two before her eyes was her ideal.

Wishing and wishing and it was still further on, a relationship that was much too far from her.

“Th-that’s against the rules! There’s too much power in that!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ju-just talking to myself!”

Yeah, there’s no way……I’m jealous. I’ll absolutely one day also have a relationship like that. I’ve decided to dream of that and do my best, after all.

“…………”

“What’s wrong, Leon? You suddenly went quiet.”

“The meeting will be soon.”

Leon alternated from looking at the clock on the wall of the room to the Priestess on his lap.

“……When will Syun-rei wake up?”

“I think it’ll probably be a while longer.”

“…………”

A second silence.

“Ymy.”

“What?”

“……Help me. I can’t move.”

“Isn’t it fine, just indulge a Priestess’ selfishness for a day.”

Smiling — Ymy watched over the two before her eyes.

### 029. Part 5

They changed locations to a shaded water supply area───

"......Well, sorry."

Unable to withstand the silent pressure, Sheltis submissively apologized.

───Though the truth is there was a reason.

He thought the question the instructor asked there was also a part of the screening test. If they gave a weak-sounding response there, they'd be targeted for a failing grade. Fearing that, he had answered more quickly than anyone else but it had backfired.

"It has already happened, so it can't be helped."

Monica waved her hand at the base of her neck.

A slight feverishness tinged her snow-white nape. Her skin's pigments were probably faint to begin with. That appearance made one naturally feel that it was sweet and amorous.

"At any rate, let's clear the second screening as well. Two hours later......I heard that it will be a unit battle."

Monica was regathering her hair into one lock when her expression stiffened.

"It's a four-person battle, so we'll need Vaiel to participate as well."

"Haa?"

The person in question who was sprawled on the bench said crossly,

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, don't joke around. This is different; I said I'd go on the mission, but I didn't hear anything about participating in this farce of a unit battle."

"But───"

"Well now, Vaiel, how about this."

Interrupting Monica, Kagura took a step forward in her place.

"You don't have to do anything other than come out just to fulfill the number requirement. If you're at the very back of the formation, then there will be no reason for the opponent to attack you."

"You mean the rear guard?"

"Yes. Otherwise, I suppose I'll leak that secret to everyone."

"H-hey! You......"

Perhaps it was a really hazardous secret as Vaiel's face immediately went pale.

"How about it?"

"......Damn it, but I'm only being the rear guard. Even if you make a mistake, I'm not moving up front."

"Of course."

Understanding the meaning of his words, Kagura smiled.

"Sheesh. This is the worst, why did I have to meet these kinds of people today."

Vaiel turned around while cursing. Monica chased after him.

"Hey, Vaiel, where are you going?"

"Ahh? I'm just going to get my weapon. Should I go out completely unarmed? I haven't used it lately, so it hasn't even been maintained."

He shrugged without looking back. With his formal clothes draped over his shoulder, he was without a single weapon just as he'd said.

"B-but independent movement is......"

" Do you not trust a single word your comrade says? "

"!"

This time it was Monica's turn to fall silent.

"......Understood. After your weapon's maintenance is complete, please meet us at the southern desert field."

"I'm not a brat. I at least remember the location."

"......We'll be gathering in an hour and a half."

"You're persistent, I said I'll keep my promise ."

Leaving behind his words in a tone that sounded neither like a lie nor a truth, the young man lazily walked away. They became unable to see that well-built back.

"......He got me."

Monica smiled bitterly with complex emotions on her face.

"I couldn't retort with anything for a moment there. ......That's right, he's also our comrade right now. Then I must believe that he will come on time."

It was truly risky. If Vaiel didn't have the intention of keeping his promise or his weapon's maintenance wasn't finished in time, they would be short of people for the unit battle and lose by default.

"He will come."

But as if to dispel that insecurity, Kagura lightly nodded.

"......Aren't you quite trusting of him?"

"Yes. Sheltis, you also heard. He said that he would keep his promise."

However, it couldn't be helped that he would become even more interested. The [secret] that had been used in the negotiations with Vaiel was the only thing that hadn’t been told to Sheltis and Monica.

“Say, Kagura, is the secret that you say you ‘ will reveal ‘ really amazing of a secret?”

“No, it is absolutely nothing major.”

“Eh?”

“It’s nothing major, but it has great importance for him.”

……What does that mean?

But even with him and Monica asking her, Kagura didn’t tell them.

“Rather than that, we’re having a strategy meeting. First is the formation───”

### 030. Part 5

“Sheltis, ……and Vaiel. Isn’t this rare seeing you two together?”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , public road.

Monica raised her hand at the fork leading to the outdoor training grounds.

“And, well……about yesterday, sorry for showing you an embarrassing side of myself.”

He looked at her for a little while after she finished saying that to start with───

“The thing about ‘Monica-senpai’?”

“Yeah……I didn’t think I’d meet her at a place like that.”

She nodded with her head downcast.

───I knew Monica would also be concerned about it.

It was only yesterday that she had been pressured by Ymy and ran away without saying anything but jumbled words.

He’d heard from Ymy that she was her senpai during her time as an apprentice Priestess but Sheltis was interested in what the key person, Monica, thought.

“Running out so suddenly like that, Ymy……did I offend the Priestess-sama?”

“Nope, on the contrary, it looked like she wanted to talk with you more.”

“……I see.”

Monica’s expression gradually shifted to a lonely smile.

“Monica doesn’t dislike that Priestess-sama either, right?”

“Of course. She’s an important Priestess-sama, ……and my former kouhai.”

Little by little, with a tone that seemed like she was grasping the core of her memories, she recounted it for him.

“Three years ago when I quit as an apprentice Priestess, I didn’t tell her that I became a Cadet Guard. ……Somehow I had a feeling like I had betrayed her when we’d worked so hard together for so long……and it became hard to say. I wanted to inform her when I became at least a Regular Guard.”

“And like that, time passed by.”

“It’s a shameful story. ……My former kouhai is now a marvelous Priestess-sama.”

The fear within those grey eyes was clear. Envy from being surpassed by a kouhai ─── rather than that, Monica looked off somewhere far into the distance with a deeply complex gaze.

……I’m glad. She doesn’t hate Ymy.

“It would be great if you could talk even a little on the trip to the Governmental Sector.”

“Yeah. For that reason, we must win the final selection.”

She balled both of her hands into fists.

She stared straight at the location enclosed by wire mesh ──── the door that led to the outdoor training grounds.

“Good morning.”

From beside the door, Kagura greeted them, accompanied by her floating Machina machine pearl .

“Good morning. You’re here early, Kagura.”

“You’re just barely on time. Look, it’s really soon.”

Holding the Machina machine pearl , she turned around and what she pointed to was───

The figures of five people approaching from the direction of the training grounds. The female instructor and behind her were four Cadet Guards.

“Fumu, Monica’s unit is here as well. Then as planned, we’ll go over the details of the final selection and do the introduction of the examiner ─── and finally, we’ll do the member introductions as well.”

The instructor pointed the cigarette she was holding in her mouth at them.

Facing them at the head of his unit was a black-haired, young, male Cadet Guard.

His age could be around twenty. His was tall and lean, with a nice face of delicate features. Upon that was an ever-present benevolent smile. But his scornful and hostile eyes seemed like they would swallow someone up.

“Heeh? Are introductions necessary?”

With that haughty attitude, he laughed exaggeratedly in a surprised manner.

“Introductions or whatever, shouldn’t each side have already investigated the other team?”

“I’ve decided it’s necessary.”

“……Well, if the instructor says so.”

With one hand in the pocket of his formal wear, he looked over with a condescending gaze.

“I’m Nash. Nash G. Endolfin. It’s a pleasure. Do the other three also have to introduce themselves? Starting from the left, the one with the great sword is Kimberly, the heavy spear knight at the center is Lasdax and the shinryoku practitioner is the sole female of the group, Myun-fa.”

Nash shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated motion.

“And you?”

“……I am”

“Though there’s no need to ask.”

Kukuu, came a slightly suppressed laugh.

“You’re the unit leader, Monica, right? That girl is Kagura, and he’s Sheltis. Behind that is Vaiel. The results of the first selection were publicly announced but being hit twice is an admirable number. You also wiped out your opponent in the second selection safely. The first battle was six minutes, fifteen seconds. The second was……what was it, Myun-fa?”

“Ten minutes, seven seconds.”

“That’s it. Those are also impressive numbers. Even though I thought you were just a mish-mash team to begin with. Passing the first selection and winning even the unit battle, and you even crushed Shandy’s team yesterday. Ah, Shandy’s the opponent you fought with in the unit battles yesterday. If it went as expected, I thought we’d be battling them in the final selection.”

……They’d done some detailed research.

Without it showing up on his face, Sheltis was applauding them in his heart.

Their speech was superficial and arrogant. But opposite that, one could see that they were a team that was serious, meticulous and didn’t slack on gathering information about their opponent’s unit.

“Nash, are you done talking?”

The instructor’s expression remained unchanged.

“The participants in the final screening are these two units. That’s all. After this is the explanation from the examiner.”

The instructor waved her suit and a single Regular Guard came in to replace her.

Her dazzling blonde hair was tied into two locks behind her head. The girl with two reddish brown eyes adorning her lovely face was wearing the normal formal clothes, but the lower half was a skirt.

“……I’sa?”

Seeing the figure he recognized, Sheltis reflexively called that name.

“Good day, Cadet Guards, I am this time’s examiner, I’sa.”

But she only cast a glance in his direction and continued on as if she didn’t know him.

“It’s eight people as planned. Well, it would be out of the question to be late here.”

She said that with a glance and deeply meaningful smile.

“Well then, let’s get to the details of the final selection ─── the final selection isn’t like the tests of battle strength until just now, it will measure the strength of your coordination as a unit. The theme will be patrolling of the nature district mission. I’ll be going along with you to check you all out in detail.”

……So it’s a patrol mission as I thought.

The last selection being a test of coordinated strength was a standard of sorts. Even within the types available, a Regular Guard would go out on a patrol mission periodically so it was easy to make it into a test for measuring the aptitude of Cadet Guards.

“The duration is three days. After completing your preparations, assemble at noon. The finer instructions will be passed on aboard the transport. Any questions?”

Out of the eight people there, no hands were raised. Having decided there were no questions, I’sa narrowed her eyes slightly.

“If there are no questions, then I’ll just give you one warning. ……Unit leader, Nash G. Endolfin. That haughty attitude is not befitting of a Cadet Guard. I advise you to rework it.”

“Oh my, and here I had the intention of listening seriously.”

The young male unit leader shrugged his shoulders with a scoffing expression.

“Even though while I was explaining, you had your eyes closed and were frivolously smiling? Then I’d like you to understand your position better.”

“Position……position, is it.”

Being glared at by a Regular Guard who was his superior, Nash’s slight smile still didn’t vanish.

“That’s about you, isn’t it. The failure of a younger sister whose older sister is much too exemplary , right?”

“It has nothing to do with onee-sama. I am the examiner here and I have no intention of borrowing from my sister’s prestige. I’ll continue the test fairly and impartially.”

“Then that’s fine. Well then, there are preparations to be made for tomorrow, so we’ll excuse ourselves here.”

Nash’s group made their exit from the gathering of guards. After confirming he couldn’t see his back, Sheltis made eye contact with I’sa who was still there.

“Is now okay?”

“For what, I wonder?”

“Umm……see, ……various things.”

About the wound she sustained from the battle with Maha. About her partner, the dual gun wielding Jin. About her position as the examiner this time. There were too many things he wanted to ask about so he didn’t know which to begin from.

“Fool, get things straight in your head before you start speaking.”

I’sa sighed after folding her arms. It was not the attitude she took on as an examiner but the confident and high-handed one that Sheltis knew.

“Umm……well then, starting from that one case.”

“The Maha case? I was only injured slightly to begin with and Jin’s recovery is going well. If it’s about how I’m the examiner this time, I made the request myself. Jin’s in rehabilitation at any rate.”

“Heeh, that’s rare. You yourself said that you wanted to be the examiner?”

Even though the job of an examiner required time and effort.

“Well, the Cadet Guards that pass this exam are the ones that will be traveling together with onee-sama to the Governmental Sector, right? I don’t want to let some unknown person travel together with onee-sama, so I thought I should choose who it would be myself.”

“Your onee-sama will be traveling together……traveling together?”

He repeated I’sa’s words several times with a cocked head. The ones going on the trip to the Governmental Sector were Ymy, the clerk of the General Affairs Bureau and the Cadres Guard. That would mean that I’sa’s onee-san would be one of those people.

Then who would it be……

“Heeh. I’sa’s onee-san is a clerk in the tower?”

“What kind of stupid things are you saying. She’s the Cadres Guard, the Cadres Guard. The Guard closest to the Sennenshi.”

Suddenly, Leon’s warning came back to him.

“ Be careful. They’re someone who’ll figure out your true identity if you act carelessly. “

“ You also know the person who’s at the summit of the elite guards right now. You’ll understand if I say it’s ‘Jelshuvessa’ whom you’ve competed with countless times. “

“No way!?”

“What’s not possible?”

“No, well……you can’t possibly be that Ishtar ‘s……little sister?”

“Oh, so you know. Well, onee-sama is famous so that much is assured.”

I’sa puffed her chest with satisfaction.

“……I’ve somehow come to an understanding.”

There were many females Guards but there were only a handful amongst the Elite Guards which were in the upper echelons. However, within that handful, there were periodically female Guards that were hiding power enough to crush a male Elite Guard.

───The one at the top of all that was Ishtar Is Ismael.

I’sa had also affirmed her with the lofty title of “onee-sama”. That was just how powerful her older sister was, standing far above even amongst the Guards.”

“Well, let’s put that aside. I’m glad, with I’sa as the examiner, I can be at ease. If it was a Regular Guard I didn’t know watching, I’d feel awkward.”

“……As naive as always. But it was true that I will be judging fairly.”

I’sa thrust her extended finger out at him.

“It’s a test to travel together with onee-sama. I have no intention of favoring you just because I know you. I will be evaluating you Cadet Guards as the examiner. Remember that.”

He stared down that finger and look straight on. Exchanging glances with Monica and Kagura, Sheltis was representing the unit in their stead.

“I know, we also have the intention of doing our best fair and square.”

“Fun, then that’s fine. Try your best.”

I’sa snorted and turned around. She then headed off.

“And with that, the gathering has come to an end. I’m heading back first.”

“H-hey, wait, Vaiel. We’re going to discuss the strategy going into the final selection now.”

Monica held back Vaiel who was about to leave.

“I’m sleepy. I’ll just listen to the results of the meeting afterwards.”

“That’s kind of selfish───”

Just before Monica raised her voice, Sheltis cut in between them.

“Wa……wait, wait, Monica! Sorry, just forgive him today!”

“Eh?”

She blinked with a puzzled and lovely dumbfounded expression.

“I’ll pass on the details of the meeting to Vaiel later. Okay?”

“……If Sheltis is going to go that far, fine.”

Monica assented with an unsatisfied look.

“But what happened? If there’s a reason, I’d like to know.”

“Eh……well, if you insist and Vaiel runs away here, it’d also be a problem.”

Without mentioning the thing about Yuto in the early morning, he pulled through with a deceptive smile.

……Absolutely do not talk about it, huh.

……Even though he’s doing such great things all alone, he won’t tell anyone.

### 031. Part 5

The smell of earth was carried upon the wind. Inside the forest that was visible behind the steam that had humidity mixed in, the figures of five people walked on the desolated animal trail that couldn’t even be called a path.

“Ahh, damn it. I’m sleepy and sluggish……and because of the humidity, the ground is sticky and annoying.”

The one who was grumbling endlessly by himself was the third in the line, a young man with blond hair who was the tallest of the group.

“Vaiel, don’t be so noisy and look around you. This isn’t just a stroll.”

“I go──t it. I tell you if I find the mist of mateki, the traces of mateki or I feel a presence hiding. Right?”

Monica who stood at the forefront of the line assented without turning around. Just like yesterday, her left hand was empty and the blackened Rosario crossed rods in her right hand glinted with a dull shine.

Looking at that───

“Fuun. That girl, she’s overly serious, but she might fit the role of a captain. There’s one noisy problem child, but she’s keeping him down somehow……”

At the very back of the line, I’sa the examiner smiled like something was interesting.

The second day was the day that their unit would be traveling with the examiner. Their every movement being scrutinized and this feeling of being unable to settle down had both already continued on from when they’d awoken at four in the morning until now several hours later.

“That kind of thing is also graded?”

“Of course. So that nothing is left up to arbitrary decision by the examiner, it’s a given that the basics of the grading are extremely picky.”

She probably won’t say. Thinking that, Sheltis turned around and she had told him honestly with an affable smile.

“By the way, if just by grading, Nash’s group is perfect. The unit’s discipline, capacity in patrolling and in their reports to the examiner, there’s nothing to mention.

“……That’s a story to add pressure.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Because in grades, you’re completely losing.”

I’sa combed her blonde hair that shone even in the dark forest. It was in a small voice so it probably didn’t reach Monica, but Kagura might have caught wind of it.

“……Well, in the first place, there was nothing good to say about that group’s attitude towards the examiner. If there was a demerit to be given, that’s where it would be. Even then, their total is outstanding.”

“Their attitude wasn’t good?”

“That would be him in your group, right? Nash’s group is rebellious. It seems they’ve been a unit for a long time so they have enough merit points. Amongst them, they believe that they’re already Regular Guards. That’s why they have a tendency to take the words of a Regular Guard examiner lightly.”

“Yes, I told Nash in accordance with those grades. However”

Do you understand what I want to say? ─── I’sa smiled with that kind of challenging look in her eyes.

“Nash’s group is here with the intention to win with only that demerit. Do you get it? For them, this kind of demerit is like a handicap.”

“You mean they’re looking down on us that much?”

“That’s right. For me, well……I more or less know about you and Monica but you haven’t been a unit for very long and there are points about subordination I’d like to groan about. Nash’s group understands their superior position very well.”

……Kagura also said something similar.

That it was his job to give orders in the unit battles. He would look at how the battle was progressing and put Monica and Kagura’s specialties to use by controlling his surroundings. She said he would have to adapt to that kind of new way of battling.

“But it’s strange.”

“Why Nash’s group is rebelling against me that much?”

Yes, even moreso since Nash’s unit had been completing missions for a long time. When they became Regular Guards, they would also have to think about forming up with I’sa as fellow Regular Guards depending on the situation.

Having discord over a trivial thing like this would only do harm.

“They’re the same as me.”

“……The same?”

“Not too long ago, in the western area of the Nature District, a case where a unit of Cadet Guards ceased contact occurred. An instructor from headquarters was also in the group so they gathered the best of the best and dispatched a rescue unit to the location they thought the unit was lost at.”

“……That wouldn’t be”

“Yes. The case from that time. The case of ‘Golden’ Maha’s attack. At that time, the first rescue unit chosen was Nash’s. And then same as me, they lost.”

Snap.

I’sa toes snapped a small branch.

“Do you get it? A man who was outstanding until becoming a Regular Guard was all of a sudden mixed up in a case he didn’t understand and injured; it’s his chagrin from having the position of a Regular Guard distanced from him. The Instructor had expectations for him which is why he was recommended to the rescue unit but it became the feeling of having betrayed those expectations.”

“…………”

He shouldn’t not understand it. Having ascended to an Elite Guard, the despair of losing the entirety of his position after falling into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ─── Sheltis had also tasted that.

“I don’t know if it’s right to call it impatience but I think he hasn’t come to terms with it even now. That’s why he’s leading a unit despite not having fully recovered.”

That rebelliousness had become a distortion, and manifested as a rebellious spirit against Regular Guards.

“……That’s frustrating.”

“Well, but that’s that. There are those who should sympathize with him but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t strike back as the examiner. The exam will proceed fairly.”

I’sa brushed a leaf off her skirt.

Like that, they both kept their silence───

“By the way, this is a personal question, but you said you knew my onee-sama?”

He certainly remembered saying that in front of the door to the training grounds.

“Because the name of Ishtar is famous even amongst the Elite Guards.”

“……Could it be”

Her small voice he could feel from behind resonated with his slight shaking.

“You’ve fought with onee-sama?”

“……Can’t be. I’m a Cadet Guard and she’s the Cadres Guard. Our positions are completely different.”

“That’s right. If that’s so, then that’s fine. I was just a little interested.”

It looked like she had something left to say. Leaving behind that lingering feeling, I’sa fell silent.

“We should take a break soon.”

The light murmuring of a river carried over.

Monica stopped as they approached an open rocky area.

“Ah── so hot. How many hours more is this gonna continue?”

Vaiel fluently dipped his hands in the flowing water. Just like that, he scooped up water and washed his face and Kagura who was drinking the water downstream knitted her brows.

“H-hey, do that kind of thing downstream! I nearly drank the water you washed your face in!”

“Ah? It’s your fault for being downstream.”

“No, it is your fault for being upstream.”

Putting aside the two who were glaring at each other───

“Monica, how much have we walked now?”

“Embellishing it a bit, about thirty percent. We might return to the cottage in the dead of night, or it’ll go right through into the morning.”

“……That’s right.”

Sitting down on the rocky area that was jutting out, Sheltis looked up at the brilliantly shining morning sun. They’d walked for five or six hours. The sun that had been at the horizon when they left now neared the zenith.

……In the future, this will be something we have to experience even if we don’t like it.

……It would be for the best if we suffered a little right now.

The center of the floating continent was the Living District, beyond that lay the Nature District and either further out was the Biotope. This one would end with the Nature District but they’d be entrusted with patrolling the Biotope as well when they became Regular Guards.

It was the turf of first-class dangerous creatures starting with dragon types.

Regardless of noon or night, the patrol missions were always fraught with danger. It would last for about a week, but during that time, he had no memories of sleeping enough.

……That’s right, I wonder if I’sa has been to the Biotope before.

“Say, I’sa. Have you been to the Biotope───”

There was no response.

“I see……I got it. After going around the indicated area once, there were only traces at that one place. Yes, there were also traces of an escape, right?”

The female Regular Guard who was more upstream than anybody in the unit was currently in a conversation on the small communicator in her hand. Without blinking even once, her expression as she held the communicator to her ear had slight traces of tension.

“Pursuit? That’s a job for Regular Guards. Yes, please contact the Guard Institute of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . I will be returning in the middle of the night.”

She cut off the conversation and returned the communicator to her belt holder.

A breath that wasn’t a sigh or deep breath leaked out from between I’sa lips.

“It doesn’t seem like that was a regular contact.”

Listening to the conversations of your superiors is a demerit ─── or so I’d like to say, but I’ll let you off this time.”

Getting off the rock she was sitting on, she looked down at the unit members lined up downstream. Normally, this should be where she gave a high-pitched laugh.

“Listen up, okay, I have a notice. Sorry for doing this in the middle of a break but I have something to say.”

That expression contained the same tension as when she was on the communicator.

“There was a report from Nash’s unit. ───It seems they found traces of a Yuugenshu.”

Monica gripped her Rosario crossed rods , Kagura held her Machina machine pearl and Vaiel, who sat away from the group, knit his brows slightly.

“The location is the northern area of the Nature District, ward 8, on the western side of section 68. It extends several metres in all directions and the large trees and ground, whatever it may be, have been corrupted by mateki and corroded. An image of the scene was also transmitted, ……eight or nine times out of ten, there’s no mistake.”

“Our current location is ward 8, section 4′s north side. It would take time to get there. What shall we do?”

Kagura’s Machine machine pearl displayed a digital map.

“The assignment shall continue; that’s also written in the Guard Institute’s manual, right?”

I’sa response was quick.

“It’s not odd to find traces of a Yuugenshu in the middle of an assignment. If the assignment was stopped partway because of that, it wouldn’t work. That’s why, well, we’ll just respond as usual.”

The assignment would continue so long as the Cadet Guards had no qualms.

The fastest in terms of dealing with the Yuugenshu would be the Regular Guard unit closest to the scene, so they would be in pursuit.

“What’s the Yuugenshu’s direction of movement?”

“Nash’s unit reported that they would remain on standby at their cottage so the details are still unknown. At any rate, a Regular Guard unit is in pursuit so I think this will be confirmed soon.”

“……It’s quite tense.”

Kagura murmured with the same expressionless face as always.

“If the Yuugenshu’s escape route overlaps with our patrol route by a one in ten thousand chance”

“Observing the response at that time is the assignment, so be prepared.”

Four metal spheres floated around I’sa’s proximity.

They were the puppeteer I’sa’s puppets, endowed with shinryoku as her weapon. She had increased that to five previously but it seems she returned to using four as she was used to it.

“I’ll give the orders in an encounter. Everyone, keep that in mind.”

Saa……kasasaa……

An instant. Directly behind the rocky area Kagura was sitting at, the thicket shook unnaturally.

───No way.

“Kagura, get away from there!”

Materializing the translucent purple blades, he carried the twin swords in his hand and moved into position to defend her. In replacement of Kagura who hurriedly lept to the rear, he held his twin swords at the ready at the frontlines closest to that spot.

The time that wouldn’t forgive even a blink. From there, three seconds……five seconds……ten seconds passed.

Kasaa……sasaa……

The thicket swayed once again and something flew out from within.

“───A rock fox?”

Looking at the fox that jumped along and was getting further, Vaiel murmured.

It had blackish gray fur, large ears and a small tail. It was a herbivorous species of fox that lived in the Nature District. Its numbers were small so it was rare to come across one.

“……Jeez, don’t surprise me, damned fox popping out.”

“It’s better than a Yuugenshu. Rather than that, we should end our break. There’s still a lot to go.”

Gripping her Rosario crossed rods with both hands, Monica flapped her formal wear.

Following that were Kagura then Vaiel.

“ It’s rare that a rock fox would come out in front of people. “

The only one left behind of the unit, Sheltis continued to leer at the interior of the thicket.

“Ilis, what’s the possibility that the rock fox just now was being chased by something?”

“ It’s not zero. And it was something scary enough that it didn’t mind being seen by people. I think that possibility exists. “

“……Ilis, go into standby as well, so you can produce the blades at a moment’s notice.”

Sheathing the twin swords that had lost their blades into their holders, he went off after Monica.

The deep green forest of trees, the reddish-brown earth and the perfectly clear azure sky.

Sunset ─── the time when everything was died in a color that was a mix of yellow and scarlet. The cottage that was one shade of white as well, its walls were dyed in a vivid shade of scarlet.

“I’m saved. I’m already exhausted.”

“Sheesh, in the end, after that, not a single animal came out. Such a fuss.”

Kagura and Vaiel continued to sigh. They were normally talkative, but because of the fatigue from the second half of the patrol, they had become silent.

“……In the end, we completed the seventy percent we planned to do in the morning.”

Monica folded her arms with a complicated expression. At first, they had had the intention of patrolling the entire area but she had suggested a sudden change. They would give up on the late-night patrolling and return at sunset.

“I think it was a decisive judgment.”

Exchanging looks with Monica who was talking to herself, Sheltis pointed at the setting sun.

The sea of trees in which they couldn’t tell if a Yuugenshu was hiding. For Cadet Guards like them, searching in the forest at night after the sun had sunk was fraught with peril.

Should they persevere to match up with Nash’s unit or pull back to ensure the safety of the unit.

At the end of troubling over that, Monica had chosen the latter.

“The assignment is to patrol the assigned area over three days. It’s obviously better to get it done faster but we’ll just be thorough to make up for what we’re missing.”

“……That’s right. The test lasts until noon tomorrow, after all.”

Maybe she had wanted support from somebody else as Monica’s expression relaxed.

“Anyway, let’s end today’s patrol. We need to make an official report to the examiner……or so I thought, but she’s in the middle of a conversation with Nash’s unit.”

I’sa had the communicator up to her ear. But what let on that something was strange was her voice being too quiet.

……She’s not talking?

I’sa was wordlessly holding the communicator to her ear.

Normally, like this afternoon, she would give affirmations or give orders as the examiner.

And then.

“……No response. It looks like they got done in.”

I’sa muttered while putting force into her hand that was holding the communicator.

“Everyone, I’ll have you perform a single job now.”

“Mm? Hey, hey, what’s this, you’re not gonna say you’re tacking on an exam, right.”

In response to Vaiel who was conspicuously scowling,

“I won’t say that. It’s not an exam, it’s a real battle.”

I’sa cut him off with a calm tone.

“All members, listen well. Communications from Nash’s end have ceased. I think it’s likely that they engaged the Yuugenshu in combat and were wiped out. ……You understand, right? As members of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , what you must do in times of receiving a direct injury from a Yuugenshu.”

Placing the communicator in its holder, the Regular Guard girl held up her left hand.

─── [Deploy] ───

Responding to the puppeteer’s directions, four metal spheres rose into the air.

“The time is seventeen hundred hours and twenty-three minutes. In accordance with article nine of the Guard Institute’s regulations, the assignment is temporarily on hold. Starting now, the Cadet Guard unit’s rescue and Yuugenshu pursuit shall commence. ───Come with me.”

### 032. Part 5

“Kagura! Hey, Vaiel! Kuu……”

Yelling into the communication device, Monica’s face was unpleasantly strained.

───There was no response from the two.

“…………”

Looking at the side profile of Monica whose face was unpleasantly distorted, Sheltis wordlessly tightened his fists.

They had ran and ran and ran with all their strength through the sea of trees.

Even then, the anxiety within their bosoms would not be quelled. Disregarding people like Monica who had a special background, it was exceedingly difficult for a Cadet Guard to win against a Yuugenshu.

Then did they run? No, Nash’s injured were still there. He didn’t think they could escape a Yuugenshu while carrying them.

Other than somebody sticking himself or herself out and holding back the Yuugenshu, there was no way to save everyone.

But just who could do such a dangerous act?

Kagura? Or perhaps───

“ He would help someone when they were truly troubled. ……She came to think that. “

“ Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii! “

“ There are two qualities in a Guard. There’s a need for at least one guy like that around. “

Why.

Why am I remembering only these kinds of conversations now?

.

“ There’s nobody else who will do it other than me; that’s all it is. “

.

……Vaiel.

A ruffian and a sloth. That kind of loathsome Cadet Guard. He had also thought that to begin with.

But that was wrong. Yuto, Kagura and the Instructor had told him.

……This might just be my wishful thinking.

……But Vaiel, please help Kagura.

.

### 033. Part 6

A desert ─── one of the harshest fields aboveground.

The shining assassin-like direct sunlight coming from overhead was burning his eyelids and the fine sand mixed with metallic materials underfoot was reflecting the sunlight back. There were no shadows or oases in those hot rays.

It was normally forty degrees Centigrade, and depending on the day it had been recorded to reach fifty degrees.

It was a plot of land that faithfully replicated the deserts that lay far from the floating continent. It was the stage designated for the second screening.

“Ahh──……It’s such a pain with this heat, what the Hell was the guy who made it thinking?”

Vaiel had his formal clothes’ sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

On his two hands were Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors . They extended all the way from his fists to his elbows and had numerous designs on the front that showed the formal carved seal of Shinryoku.

“That’s quite an uncommon weapon.”

“Ahh? This is?”

Nodding wordlessly, Sheltis also readied his dual swords in both hands.

“Since I haven’t really seen anybody who uses them.”

Knuckle Dusters Iron fist protectors were a weapon that specialized in [ hitting ].

They aimed to raise striking power and also protect the fists from the impact.

Depending on how they were used, they were stronger than edged weapons because of their ease-of-use but───

“You’re not going to say it’s dangerous?”

“……Hmph.”

A Yuugenshu’s entire body was a lump of curses. For that reason, using hand-to-hand combat which required close proximity was extremely dangerous. Even though there were Shinryoku carved seals upon those Knuckle Duster iron fist protectors , it was the same as saying that taking an attack with anything other than those fists would result in being showered with Mateki.

For example, the Sennenshi, Ran ─── she was the sole guard who fought Yuugenshu empty-handed, but that was because her skin was directly engraved with the formal carved seals. It was because she had endured the harsh pain and rejection reactions of the carved seals that she was permitted to do that. If it wasn’t like that, fighting up-close with a Yuugenshu was a suicidal action.

Yes, unless they were extremely reckless or were unparalleled in skill.

“I haven’t used any other weapons before.”

“Ah, i-is that so?”

……So it was because he’s reckless.

He scratched his cheek in response to the answer he had somewhat expected.

“I’m just gonna say this, but I’m only here to make up for the count. I’ll just be loafing off in the rear guard.”

“……That’s what we promised.”

It seemed like he really intended to make up for the count. His behavior didn’t beget any will to participate in the unit battle……but if he had no intention of becoming a Regular Guard, why had he entered the tower in the first place?

“Can I ask one thing? Do you have some kind of goal, Vaiel? Like aiming to become a Sennenshi or something.”

“None. To begin with, even though I had no interest in becoming a Regular Guard, that Instructor Yumelda half-forced me to enlist. The instructor’s a scout or something like that.”

“A scout? That’s definitely strange.”

There was no end to the hopefuls who enlisted as a guard. At any rate, out of those who were skilled in martial arts, an instructor singling one of them out was exceedingly rare.

“It’s a real nuisance for me though.”

“But───”

Something had caught the instructor’s eye. There were also the hopes of the instructor and it should be fine for them to aim to become Regular Guards together.

“It’s time. You two, get into your positions.”

Suddenly interrupting their conversation, the Monica unit leader raised her voice from behind.

“Sheltis, I’m sorry but I’ll be relying on you.”

“ Rather, we’re welcoming that. Work him as hard you want. “

“Is what she says.”

Flicking Ilis machine crystal to silence her, he lined up to the right of Monica.

……That’s right, I have to focus on this first.

The battle with four people unified as a unit.

On the opposing sand hill about twenty metres away. Beside that should be their starting position.

“Well then, we’ll start. First unit, limit of four people.

The format is [ Open Flag ], time limit is three hours.”

The instructor’s reverberating announcement.

Open Flag ─── one of the main methods for unit battles. One person from the team would be the general and defeating that person would constitute victory. Who was the captain would be openly known to both sides and that person would come under concentrated attacks.

“Kagura, I leave it to you.”

“My specialty is escaping, after all.”

She sat down on the floating Machina machine crystal with a pwoof.

“Ohh, you can ride that?”

“It also serves as an emergency pod that accommodates one person. Rather than that, Sheltis, you need to attack the enemy general or we won’t win. You know that.”

“───Suicide attacker, right.”

The general holding out at the back would be Kagura and the central interceptors were Monica and Vaiel. And the duty assigned to him was front line enemy lines penetration.

“Start!”

At the same time that the instructor’s order came, four shadows flew out from the sand hill.

Two of them were approaching without hesitation while the other two were keeping their distance and circling around.

“ The general is positioned in the back. It’s a standard formation with two up front and two in the back. “

“That’s convenient.”

Against their vanguard that consisted of two people, they also had two interceptors. Without significant difference in their battle strength, Kagura’s defense line wouldn’t fall. The only thing left was for him to engage the two in the rear guard in a solo suicide attack.

“……Let’s go.”

He broke into a run and accelerated.

He kicked off the sand and jumped, closing the distance between him and the opponent’s vanguard.

───Two people in the vangaurd.

───One used a rod and the other and the other wielded a metal cane.

Either of their weapons had long reach and were well-suited to high-speed movement during use.

Whooooosh.

The rods whipped up the sand and the metal cane came crashing down from above. It was a pincer strike. He blocked the rod and used the resultant impact to dodge the metal cane.

It was a momentary passing.

Passing by each other, they only exchanged glances as they ran.

……So they won’t pursue me.

There was no meaning in a showdown between vanguards in Open Flag. If they wasted time on a match between the vanguards it would only serve to heighten the chances of a draw. Both sides were only aiming for the general.

The rest was a battle against time.

Dashing up the hill, he chased after the two who were trying to widen the gap with him.

“ One is a heavy spear guard and the other one is…… “

Before the Ilis machine crystal could finish speaking, something silver flew over.

The thing shining with the sunlight showering it was a circular blade. On that large flat circular blade was a donut-like hole in the center. One, two, three of those drew arcs───

“ Chakram Throwing steel , huh.”

A throwing weapon that resembles the full moon. They didn’t have much power on their own, but each circular blade was razor sharp so grasping their movements in midair was exceedingly difficult.

“Tch!”

He crossed his dual blades and matched them to the path of the Chakram throwing steel ────── and out came a dull grinding sound. He intercepted the incoming circular blades and smacked them to the sand.

……The sun is a nuisance.

The direct sunlight was beating down from above and reflecting off the ground. The enemy was aiming for the point where the two multiplied each other’s effects so the already hard to see blades of the Chakrams throwing steel were made even harder to see.

“ The enemy’s general is a heavy spear guard. Taking out the defender first and then attacking the general is the safest course of action; the other means is a little riskier and involves just going straight for the general. “

“Which one do you recommend?”

“If you weren’t my master, it would be the safe method. But if you’re aiming to be a Sennenshi, then it’s the latter, and please do it with no injury in a swift breakthrough.”

“……How nice of you to make it sound so easy!”

Replying with a fearless smile, Sheltis faced his feet in the direction of the heavy spear guard.

Directly to the side, the Chakram throwing steel user sent out the circular blades in one motion. Five Chakram throwing steel danced through the air and approached, each on a different path.

───There was no need to go out of his way to track the circular blades that were hard to see.

It would be fine if he just dodged according to the predicted paths. Of the five, three were just threatening shots that weren’t actually meant to hit. He stared only at the two that were sure to hit and then.

Scraaaaaaape……!!

Each of his dual swords deflected one of the two Chakrams throwing steel back.

“!”

His two opponents’ expressions trembled and their movements slightly stiffened up. He dashed, aiming for that moment. He passed and left behind the defending Chakram throwing steel user.

───What’s left is the finisher.

“!”

The heavy spear guard readied a very long spear in both hands.

Even amongst metal spears, the heavy spear boasts an especially great range. If the opponent were of the same calibre, dual swords wouldn’t be able to break through and he would get speared. It was that much of a bad match-up.

His opponent’s skill was unknown. It would be fine if it was just simple Cadet Guard-level skill but if by chance it was Regular Guard-level, carelessly jumping in would entail the danger of being one-sidedly speared.

……If so.

He took a rough estimate of the heavy spear’s length and came to abrupt stop just short of it.

A distance that was uncrossable with dual swords. Ignoring the doubt that crept onto his opponent’s face, Sheltis swung down his sword at the sand below with all his strength.

Zaaaaaaaaaaaaa…………countless sand particles flew up into the air and completely shrouded the vision of Sheltis, the heavy spear guard and the Chakram throwing steel user who were in that area.

“Wha!?”

A confused voice was raised.

In the world veiled by a cloud of sand, Sheltis faced the heavy spear user, drew an arc and kicked off the sandy ground. Immediately after, with a whistle of the wind, he passed through the enemy’s spear’s right flank.

───As I thought.

The heavy spear guard thrust their spear out impatiently as a result of being blinded. If Sheltis kept going straight here, it would be a direct hit but he dared to take a roundabout route and the spear went in the wrong direction.

“Haa!”

Holding back his breath, he sliced up with his right-hand sword from directly below.

The sound of metal colliding echoed.

The uplifted cloud of sand silently lowered to the ground and in his vision that had cleared up───

The boy thrust his dual swords at the heavy spear and its user that had been blown back.

“Fumu, let’s stop there.”

Then came the reverberating order from the instructor that sounded like she hadn’t found the battle enjoyable.

“The second unit will break up for today. Think up counter-measures for the second match tomorrow.”

……Finally a single victory.

The first day of the second day of the screenings was finally over. He didn’t think that the competition between units before the merit system mission would be this harsh.

“Good work.”

“Ah, yeah. You too, Monica.”

The girl with sakura-colored hair descended the sand dune towards him. There was sand clinging to where sweat had flowed on her cheek and there were sand-colored patches on her formal clothes here and there……

“Was it also hard being the interception?”

“We won so it’s good result-wise but that was dangerous.”

She nodded with a halfhearted expression. She pointed to the other end of the sand dune with her Rosario crossed rods , indicating someone who was nonchalantly chasing someone else───

“Hold on, Vaiel, why didn’t you protect me even though you were in the interceptor role?”

“Ha? You’re the one who said something like escaping was your specialty.”

Kagura sat atop her Machina machine pearl as she protested about something with Vaiel who had his face turned away.

“There’s a limit to everything. You can’t just keep running away! If Monica hadn’t been covered for in time, right about now───”

“Idiot, for I who is a man amongst men, I can’t get serious in this kind of unrefined match.”

“A man amongst men? Then you shouldn’t be ditching and should come to help. Protecting a frail lady is the beauty of that.”

“Hah! A brat with no sex appeal shouldn’t run her mouth off in some knowing tone. Protecting someone in this kind of safe match guided by regulations can’t decide a man’s worth. A man will only get involved and protect a woman in a large battle of life and death. That’s my belief.”

“A man who can’t protect in a match saying that isn’t trustworthy.”

“So when was there ever a need for you to trust me? Ah── it’s so hot, what an unbelievable pain in the ass that there’s another unit battle tomorrow.”

“Ah, wait a second!”

The girl followed after the young man who was getting more distant as if trying to run away.

……Umm, so what basically happened?

Judging from the conversation just now, he could somewhat imagine what had transpired just now.

“So it would be correct to say that Vaiel who was on interception duty didn’t do anything and so you had to do your best to defend her?”

“That’s a good guess. ……It looks like it’ll be the same tomorrow, so it’s giving me a headache.”

Fuu. Monica sighed deeply.

“Let’s make a plan in preparation for tomorrow. I had intended to divide up but if Vaiel is going to do nothing like that that then it would be for the best to think of a formation for the three of us.”

“Yeah. ……It’s best if you don’t push yourself too hard. I’ll make up for the slack.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

Leaving behind a momentary smile, she left as well. It truly seemed to have been a harsh battle. That back didn’t have its usual energy.

……I see, for Monica.

……This was her first unit battle as unit leader.

“ It’s obvious that she’d also be mentally exhausted. “

“……That’s right.”

The responsibility of a unit leader. Monica’s worries would continue for a while longer. Depending on the situation, he might also have to think up a way to alleviate her burdens.

“Hey, Sheltis.”

Instructor Yumelda’s voice came from behind him.

“Do you have any external wounds? Still have energy? Okay then, we’ll start today’s training.”

“Tell me, how did it lead to that!?”

He hurriedly jumped aside to dodge the hand coming for the scruff of his neck.

“Ah, but I’m glad. I had something to ask you, instructor. About our fourth person.”

“Are you interested about Vaiel?”

“Well, yeah. ……He’s actually hiding some ridiculous ability, and I was just wondering why.”

“Fool, you’d understand from his actions. He’s only at the top of the lower half of the Cadets at best.”

It was conclusive and without any hidden meaning.

“If so ─── why did you scout him?”

“…………”

She lit her cigarette than was as thin as a needle and gazed at the flame.

“There are two qualities in a guard. There’s a need for at least one guy like that around.”

“……Eh?”

“There’s no loss in remembering this. Rather than the Priestesses atop the tower, there is also a man that is influenced by ‘ something ‘ completely different.”

I wonder what that means.

“I said you’d come to understand naturally, right. Rather than that, now’s training so let’s go so I can try the hellish training I thought up yesterday that I’ve been itching to test out.”

“……No, that’s why I said I”

“If you get careless, you’ll die. Now come along.”

“Like ─── I ─── said ────────────!”

His arguments had no effect as he was caught by the scruff of the neck and dragged along the desert.

### 034. Part 6

Dead silence.

An almost painful silence and a chill that seemed to even freeze the air currents.

The holy room in the tower which bound heaven ─── floor 281, the Cathedral.

The room’s ritual equipment shone with a brass color and stars and the moon adorned the stained glass. The ceiling’s deep blue mural mimicked the azure sky.

“…………”

Ymy stood there completely alone with her eyes closed.

Immersing herself in the silence, she felt the passage of time with her entire body as she faced the heavens.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Her lips chanted the release preface that indicated the activation of power. In an instant, overflowing crimson particles shrouded Ymy’s body that was clothed in pure whites vestments.

Crimson, that was the shine for Shinryoku of those that were specialized in baptism.

The power to purify mateki.

“ You don’t need complicated prayers for the purification types. The release of shinryoku. That is everything, the pinnacle. “

Those were the words of her senior Priestess, Meimel.

Releasing the shinryoku within herself and purifying mateki. Just that. What determined its effectiveness was neither the shinryoku wavelength nor technique. The reason she who excelled in potential was reputed as the Baptism Priestess even amongst Priestesses was for this reason.

───I thought I would do my best.

Syun-rei was of the territory type and Meimel was proficient in barrier rituals.

───I thought even I had done my best to not bring shame to the name of the Baptism Priestess.

───But only the mateki residing within Sheltis is…………

The mateki that had taken root within the body of her childhood friend was the only one she couldn’t do anything about.

Elbert Resonance ─── a phenomenon where sufficiently strong mateki and shinryoku of roughly the same strength would repel each other and, distorting the laws of physics, would give off powerful light and flames.

“ Ymy, awaken the possibility that is only available to you. ”

There is a method to overcome Elbert Resonance. And it’s closely related to the “form” of my shinryoku. Queen Salah taught me that.

……But what is it.

……I wonder why there’s a connection between the “form” of my shinryoku and Elbert Resonance. Syun-rei taught me that my “shape” is a “flower bud”.

The crimson amaryllis flower, she said.

……Hmm, but speaking of crimson.

“The same color as the light of baptism……? Is that just a coincidence……?”

The color of shinryoku that indicated baptism and the color of her “form” was the same.

Crimson, it might become a clue.

“…………”

It was no good, thinking about things with a possible relation, nothing was coming to mind. Even if she turned everything she had learned as an apprentice Priestess upside-down, the word “amaryllis” had never come out in her studies of shinryoku.

“Really? You really don’t remember anything?”

A voice she didn’t recognize suddenly came from right behind her.

“Wh-who!?”

She turned around as if having been repelled───

Over there was a gigantic dark purple brilliance that filled her vision. Wrapped in a dark purple mist, it was a strange beast whose crimson eyes were shining.

“Yuugenshu!? N-no way……how is it in this sanctuary?”

Yuugenshu had infiltrated this Cathedral once one month ago during the great infiltration where the Yuugenshu had penetrated Hyouketsu Kyoukai. ……It couldn’t be that it had hidden here at that time?

“Kuu!”

There was no leeway to think about why the Yuugenshu was here. At any rate, activate a spell to protect herself───

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■■■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

The smoke covering the Yuugenshu’s body gave off an amethyst-like glow. The glow gave off became light and the light formed bands of light that were thinner than hair.

The activation of mateki.

───Not good……the spell won’t make it in time!?

The light spread out in concentric circles with the beast at the center and the floor that came into contact with the light was progressively decaying ─── without completing a defense spell or baptism spell for attack, Ymy was swallowed up by the mateki’s light.

She resolved herself for death.

…………

………………Huh?

There was no pain. From her experiences with being bathed in mateki, there were a dreadful nausea and pain inflicted. But there was none of that just now. ……Why?

She timidly opened her eyes.

Before her was the glow of the Cathedral that hadn’t changed until just a little while ago. The floor and walls that should have been invaded by the mateki and decayed hadn’t changed a bit and the ceiling’s ornament was also being bathed in light.

More than that, the figure of the Yuugenshu was nowhere to be seen. Exactly where did───

“Did the illusion just now appear real?”

“!”

She now turned to the voice that came from directly to her side.

“……Who are you?”

Shiny deep black ─── a girl with jet black long hair was there.

She wore form-fitting black vestments with a silver jacket. Her age appeared to be twenty three or twenty four. She didn’t seem much older but that profound smile on her face……it was like sharp and beautiful like a drawn blade that had been completed over a great deal of time.

“Me? I am───”

She combed her ruffling hair with her hand and turned her amber eyes towards Ymy.

Even now, her voluptuous twin mounds that seemed like they would spill out, tightly bound waist, and expanding out once again, her waist, formed a bewitching figure which was visible even with her vestments. Her devilish silhouette was to the point where she, who was of the same sex, also gasped.

“Tsali, that is my name. I also do not mind ‘Master of Heaven’.”

Chuckle, chuckle. Her lips that wore black lipstick were laughing a little.

……Tsali?

It was a name she’d never heard before. No, to begin with, was she really someone from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? She was wearing something that resembled the tower’s vestments but Ymy had never seen vestments with such a personalized design like that.

“The Yuugenshu just now was an illusion, is what you said, right?”

“An illusion of paradise. Everything is a portion of the [Forbidden Crystal]‘s memories and I merely gave it form.”

Her heart thumped strongly for an instant.

……Wh-what? What was that feeling?

An illusion of paradise, as well as that Forbidden Crystal. ……I don’t really get it. But the instant I heard those two terms, something suddenly grew restless within me.

“J-just now……you did something, didn’t you!”

Pressing down on her pulsating chest, Ymy glared at her, but she just laughed while feigning ignorance.

“Nope, I’ve done nothing. I’ve simply hummed the key to this world. You just reacted to it on your own ────── your shinryoku resonated with those names.”

Holding out her left fist, Tsali turned to the ceiling and opened her palm.

A lovely glass ware fell down. Carved from the dark purple crystal was a small winged dragon. She recognized it; it was the souvenir sold at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s lobby.

It was the tower’s mascot, [ Ama Dusk Dragon ]. Why did she bring out that kind of silly thing?

“This is really interesting. While I wasn’t looking, they sold this kind of thing at the tower.”

The small glass dragon sat upon the palm of her hand. It was nothing but a souvenir that anybody could get but she was gazing at it lovingly with half-closed eyes.

“Is there……somebody about that?”

“I bought it. Together with a bag full of candy.”

“Eh?”

“Well, that’s fine. What I was saying was interesting was how this dragon became Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s mascot, even though nobody remembers its origin ────── is what it means, Priestess-sama. Rather, Ymy. Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

“……What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re the only one who hasn’t changed a bit from three years ago.”

“!”

Her chest experienced a squeezing pain. Different from the heartbeat just now, it was like the sharp pain from having a blade thrust in there. She clenched her fists but that wasn’t enough so she bit together her molars.

“……I am……truly not up to par but”

“You’re doing your utmost as a Priestess? Doing your best has caused growth? That’s also an illusion; the training your devote your body to is a meaningless virtual image. It’s a virtual image that has no reflection in a mirror.”

“Th……that’s not true!”

But Tsali seemed to have been waiting for those words as her smile grew wider and,

“Have you noticed that the world around you is undergoing a rapid change?”

“……Eh?”

“The boy that fell to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song has returned to the floating continent. Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated, even if only for a moment, resulting in a large-scale invasion. Also, the cultivation tank found at the Lagoon floating archipelago . These have all occurred within roughly the same time frame. What if they’re all connected?”

……I really wonder who she is.

Incidents that should only by privy to the Priestesses of the tower were known to her to this extent.

“The world is in flux. Even though you are at the center of that vortex, you haven’t realized it. That’s why I’m here. ……That’s right, it’s a good occasion for the frozen time to begin moving .”

Tsali slowly opened her right fist.

“Change. The stimulus for your shinryoku to bloom will definitely not be strong enough. That’s why I shall impart it to you. In place of that restless Queen, I will teach you the melody you do not know.”

What was laying within her hand was a scarlet crystal fashioned to look like a flower petal.

─── [ Red Song Keinez ] ───

She hummed something.

In that instant, light was created. The scarlet crystal shattered into pieces and melded into the air, then each fragment spurned out torrents of richly colored light.

The lights illuminating the Cathedral converged and drew a single figure.

……Wha……what is this.

Before her eyes, the lights had converged to form a door.

“The beginning is a thousand years ago at the illusionary paradise. Now, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── when you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected , what will be your impressions?”

From the door of light came forth strong luminance akin to dawn───

Then Ymy lost consciousness.

The sky was burning bright red.

### 035. Part 6

The time was about one hour ago.

Jyuuuuu……

Even now, the scars upon the earth continued to give up smoke. Grass and earth had fused, and the trees had withered and died standing without a single leaf. The smoldering deep purple groaned just like a living creature and that cursed area was spreading even more.

───The corruption of mateki.

Glancing at the wounds from the Yuugenshu’s escape route, Nash leaked a slight smile.

“There’s barely been any time since the corruption; it’s been driven into a corner.”

It was easily several hours since they’d made their report to the examiner. It had taken a considerable amount of distance but that would come to an end shortly.

“Kimberly, Lasdax, just like always. It’s a single Yuugenshu.”

The great sword user and heavy spear knight each moved up wordlessly.

“Myun-fa, at the same time the Yuugenshu flies out, play one shot .”

“Leave it to me, I’ll play it flashily.”

The shinryoku practitioner woman prepared a koto with grace.

───It will happen before we go on a mission. With the merit points from defeating this Yuugenshu, everyone will become a Regular Guard.

There was the merit system which granted merit points for completing a mission, but there were also ways to gain merit points dubbed the “back rules”.

That was when one resolved a case that went beyond expectations. Rescue operations during a calamity and discovering a Yuugenshu while on patrol were also included, and defeating it alone could be used to request additional merit points.

……That’s right, that’s how it should be.

……Like I can always be dallying around in this place.

It wouldn’t end with becoming a Regular Guard. In the future, he would become an Elite Guard and then a Sennenshi.

Though that was so, he was being ordered around by that examiner as she liked and in the end, even received orders that engaging the Yuugenshu was not permitted and he was to stay on standby? This was no joke, since they had enrolled to fight Yuugenshu.

……Who knew that he would hit a standstill at that time.

“ There are no enemies before my [Golden Hexahedral]. “

The rescue unit pulled together by the Instructor’s command. Being chosen for the unit that selected only the best of the best even amongst the Cadet Guards, while heading to the scene with enthusiasm.

“ Now beginning intervention. Commencing elimination of the witnesses. “

In the face of the monster they met with on the meadow, Nash had been unable to do anything. When he came to, he was lying in the medical wing. That was his first and last humiliation as a Cadet Guard.

……I have no more intention of being content with the status of a Cadet Guard.

“A person who will become a Regular Guard……can’t be afraid of a single Yuugenshu.”

Leading the unit, they moved to the backside of a large tree.

At the base of the large tree ─── not hiding or planning a surprise attack, a beast swathed in a dark purple mist stood there boldly.

……You won’t attack?

It was just prepared without even twitching.

“Haa, there are also pleasant Yuugenshu. It’s just revealing itself boldly even though it’s alone……Myun-fa, cease your ritual. Observe its condition.”

A transparent blue bullet.

Loaded with bullets that utilized the Hyouketsu crystals from Hyouketsu Kyoukai, a large revolving pistol was readied.

“I wonder where that fearless confidence is coming from.”

Nash looked down the sight and pulled the trigger.

The blasting sound of gunpowder. But───

The bullet simply passed through the body of the beast wrapped in dark purple mist.

“…………Wha!?”

What’s going on, this is a bullet made from the Hyouketsu crystals formed with shinryoku. It should be a fatal wound with just one shot against a Yuugenshu but there’s not a scratch?

“Nash, behind!”

He felt a shiver at Myun-fa’s scream and turned around while ignoring the Yuugenshu before him.

North, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest.

In all eight directions with them at the center ─── a Yuugenshu just like the one ahead of them was standing there; they were encircled.

“……There are eight Yuugenshu.”

What is the meaning of this. No matter how you look at them, the traces of corruption left behind by the escaping Yuugenshu were only caused by one. Though that’s so, there are eight. And when did they appear? They completely had no presence.

……Why did the shinryoku bullet have no effect?

……How did eight of them hide in this forest?

He didn’t understand at all.

“……No way.”

We had the intention of pursuing, but instead we were guided?

Fifteen minutes after that, communication with Nash’s unit was lost.

## Final Chapter: The Fourth Person

### 036. Part 6

───Tosaa.

The sound of something touching the ground. What Kagura heard was the sound of her body hitting the ground.

“…………Ah.”

She could taste earth upon her lips. It probably got in when she fell face-down.

Even though she wanted to wipe away the dirt in her mouth, her hands and feet couldn’t move at all from the intense pain.

Her hands and feet that had been bathed in mateki ─── she was too scared to look to see what was happening to them. Even though she couldn’t feel anything with her fingertips, only the pain was resounding noisily like a roar. Whether it was necrosis or burns, their seriousness appeared to have a paralyzing effect.

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

The sound of the Yuugenshu’s footsteps that creeped along the ground was growing closer. Even if she couldn’t see it while face-down, it should be arriving soon.

───As I expected, it was limited to several minutes at the highest output.

The Machina machine pearl that had expended its remaining energy fell to the ground and she’d tried to escape on her own feet, but without passing even ten metres, she’d been bathed in mateki and ended up in this state.

“……Ah……haha……ahaha.”

Even so, Kagura laughed.

With her entire body corrupted by mateki, her consciousness fading and the Yuugenshu soon to be upon that location.

───As I thought, I can’t be like Sheltis.

I’m a support-type that could only devote myself to the rear even in the unit battles. That is an existence that differs from the goals of a Guard that places themselves at the front to protect the Priestesses.

.

“ Don’t you ever think of harming my companions again! “

.

For she who was like that, it was her first time meeting the real thing.

While looking at Sheltis who challenged “Golden” Maha who was blocking his way, her eyes were stolen away despite being a Guard just like him. She made her resolve in response to that ability and spirit.

Just once was fine. She admired that which was not a supporting role.

Just like he protected me, I want to protect somebody. That was why she had tried to protect Vaiel and the injured unit of four.

───I’d be laughed at if they knew the reason……was this kind of thing.

Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

The sound of the monster’s footsteps which reached her ears arrived at her feet───

───It’s over.

The instant she closed her eyes in fear.

“!”

That suddenly jumped far back . A violent sound. It was the sound of the Machina machine pearl sticking halfway into the ground.

───Somebody threw the Machina machine pearl at the Yuugenshu?

The Machina machine pearl also had a thin armor of shinryoku applied to it. The Yuugenshu had taken evasive measures because it loathed that……she understood that much. But who did it?

“……She……lti……?”

No, that dual sword user wouldn’t do something like this. To begin with, an acquaintance who brought to mind the savage image of throwing the Machina machine pearl ……that acquaintance……no way──────

A single person, just one, was there.

But……but…………that shouldn’t be……that man is……

“Don’t underestimate humans, you black fur ball.”

The Nell folk ─── Kagura’s ears which were much more perceptive than a human’s certainly heard that voice.

“……This……voice is……?”

With her body unable to move, she forced herself to the limit to bend her neck and what she saw there was───

Not the puppeteer Regular Guard that was traveling with them as the examiner,

nor the girl with the sakura-colored hair who carried the Rosario crossed rods ,

nor the dual sword-wielding boy who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupsed Song ,

.

“The one who’s gonna hit and train that brat is me; a beast isn’t welcome.”

.

it was the young man with short golden hair and a sullen face.

“…………Va……ie……l?”

Why are you here…………why…………didn’t you run away, why, why did you come here alone? Why did you come alone without calling Sheltis or Monica───

“That’s why you’re a brat.”

That was what he said first.

“……Eh?”

“Stupid, how stupid! What’s this about Sheltis or Monica. Are either of them here? Did you really think they’d come to save you? What are you pointlessly trusting in; don’t over-expect things of people.”

Don’t expect things.

Again, once again those words. The words he had said not too long ago with the two of them.

“Why……are you that cold?”

She thought he had come to help her, but why was he saying these words that thrust her away?

“I’m not cold.”

“Then wh───”

“Don’t have expectations of people; the ones people have expectations of are Guards!”

All of the words that were at the tip of her lips were blown away by that one speech.

“To begin with, you’re pointlessly pretentious! What’s this “ It’s my responsibility “……while acting like a good kid and saying “ Let’s do our best with everyone “, when it comes down to it, you go on a suicide attack by yourself! Can you just not trust in your comrades, huh!”

“…………Y-you……”

She didn’t understand what he was getting angry at in front of her. Saying not to expect things of people, now he was getting angry about whether or not she could trust her comrades.

She just could not comprehend what he was trying to tell with him being like that.

“…………Damn it……you still don’t get it, you moron?”

He clicked his tongue loudly.

“Listen up, I’ll only say this once!”

In order to gloss over something ─── in order to hide his red face, he shouted.

.

“ I’m here! You added me to your unit, so why can’t you depend on me, you damn brat! “

.

……That was to say.

That he really thought of himself as a member of our unit?

That he came running to save me?

“Bu……but……why”

Why so suddenly.

Because if he was that strong-willed, then he should have done so during the unit battles───

“For sure, you can’t call me outstanding as a Guard. Ever since I was scouted by the Instructor for some reason, it’s been a given that I’d skip training and I’d definitely avoid a battle with a Yuugenshu. …………But you know!”

He kicked off the ground.

Running away by myself while making somebody else, what’s more, a woman, the bait? That’s wrong, all wrong! There’s somebody collapsed in front of me. At times like that, even before being a Guard, there are things you just don’t compromise on as a person !”

Kagura remembered.

What he had said several days ago after the unit battles when he hadn’t protected her.

.

“ Hold on, Vaiel, why didn’t you protect me even though you were in the interceptor role? “

“ Protecting someone in this kind of safe match guided by regulations can’t decide a man’s worth. A man will only get involved and protect a woman in a large battle of life and death. That’s my belief. “

.

That’s right. He certainly said that.

Even though he said that, I didn’t believe in it.

……Even though I didn’t believe in it.

Even then, he came running. Just like he said.

“B-but……you can’t win……a Cadet Guard can’t”

“You’re noisy; who else is here? Is there a Regular Guard or Sennenshi here? Guards aren’t some kind of knight that appears when the princess is in a pinch. There’s no other way but for those there to stand their ground. That’s what you do as a Guard, as a person!”

“…………”

He was vulgar, lawless, boisterous, pointlessly loud and thought everything was a pain.

Even then, he came alone, running until his breath was ragged to save me.

He told me to trust in my comrades.

……It’s frustrating.

……In the end……rather than me, he’s definitely closer to Sheltis.

Tears welled up in her eyes and traveled along her cheeks but she didn’t understand the reason for them.

But my heart can tell. I……wasn’t wrong.

……As I thought, this person……is someone who can’t leave others alone when they’re truly in trouble.

“What are you crying for?”

“I’m not c-cc……crying……I’m not crying!”

“Jeez. Whatever. Anyway, the brat at an age with no sex appeal should just shut up and watch. I’ll shatter its front teeth!”

“……How stupid; do Yuugenshu even have front teeth?”

Unable to even hide the tears in her eyes, Kagura suddenly smiled.

“……How noisy. ……That’s why I hate kids.”

Vaiel spat that out. His sour face tensed up.

And then he ran.

“Ohh, ohhhhhhhhhhh!”

Roaring to wipe away fear, he brandished his fists. If the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors which were shining azure from the shinryoku carved seal ceremony were to directly impact the Yuugenshu’s core crystal, it would be able to shatter it.

An instant.

In front of his raised right fist, the shine of mateki spread in a fan shape to protect the Yuugenshu.

The shinryoku-infused Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors and the defensive wall that shone with mateki clashed.

“Whaaaa!?”

Having his fist repelled head-on, Vaiel’s large body floated into the air. It was the repulsion from having the two directly opposite forces of shinryoku and mateki collide.

“Vaiel!”

“……I-it’s nothing; I told you to shut up and watch.”

While using abusive language, he shakily stood up. He’d been blown back through the air several metres and fallen on his back but it seems his body really was sturdy. However───

The Yuugenshu rushed in before Vaiel corrected his stance.

Jyuuu……when the mateki that decayed all it touched and the formal wear infused with shinryoku met, it scattered a large flash of light.

“Guu……that hurts!”

Confused by the Yuugenshu’s approach, Vaiel jumped away.

His right shoulder ─── the formal wear’s fibre had been decomposed leaving a large hole, and the surrounding area was dyed red. There was also a limit to the formal wear’s carved seals. The Yuugenshu had eaten away where the shinryoku armor had been destroyed by mateki.

“……You!”

Defending his wounded right arm, this time he threw his left out.

But the result was the same as before. Repelled by the Yuugenshu’s defensive wall, he was attacked before falling and a part of his formal wear was corrupted by mateki.

“……This……bastard.”

His left leg’s knee dyed with blood, Vaiel used his left hand as a support and stood up.

“That’s…………just perfect…………”

His leg injured, he moved at a speed closer to walking than running.

This time ─── the Yuugenshu didn’t really have a sense of caution. It just awaited the man approaching it and deployed the defensive wall to meet the swung fist.

.

That repeated itself many times.

.

Vaiel was blown away by the defensive wall and smacked into the ground. She didn’t know how many times it had been. And this time, he didn’t quiver as he laid face-up.

“……Vaiel? I-it can’t be. Vaiel, Vaie──────”

“You’re noi……sy; I can……hear you.”

The voice was hoarse as if spewing blood and if it wasn’t Kagura who came from the Nell tribe, one might have missed it.

“……Just shut up……and watch. Damn brat.”

With his entire body shaking a bit, he stood up. His bleeding right shoulder showed no signs of letting up and the bleeding on his left leg had dyed up to his shoes in the color of fresh blood.

Lastly, his face was pale from losing blood.

“……St……stop……it……”

“Ahh?”

“Stop already! Please, I’m fine, so run already!”

Kagura shouted in a hoarse voice. She told him that it was enough. She was really happy that his spirit had not been a lie and his feelings to protect her. But……that was enough. She didn’t want to see anymore.

“Please……you can’t die. ……I’m happy you became a comrade but that’s exactly why I don’t want my comrade……to die.”

However ─── he didn’t stop even then.

With tottering steps that a kid would laugh at and eyes that didn’t see anything other than their focus, he swung his fist.

“Vaiel!”

……Why, why are you being so stubborn?

Even though it’s fine if you choose to “run” instead of “fight” just once. Why won’t you choose it? Why are you so set on saving me?

“……Have your eyes gone bad?”

“Eh?”

He indicated the Yuugenshu’s defensive wall. But……she couldn’t see. Because of the tears welled up in her eyes, her vision had already been severely obscured from a long time ago.

“There’s a crack in his defensive wall.”

Supporting himself against the large tree beside him, Vaiel stood up. Even though his injuries were heavy enough that he shouldn’t be able to stand, there was strength in his voice.

“After one or two more……I’ll punch out that damn fur ball.”

“You’re lying……that’s a lie!”

“It’s not a lie, there’s really just a little left.”

“Isn’t that one shot painful!……With that beat-up body……you can’t even walk anymore, right? Your arms and legs……they have necrosis, don’t they!”

His burns were inflamed and his arms and legs were swelled to purple.

His formal wear’s shinryoku armor was already unstuck and falling off. That was the result of someone who went to punch a Yuugenshu without protection by shinryoku.

He shouldn’t be able to move; he shouldn’t be able to stand. Kagura’s body was currently decaying from being bathed in just one attack. Even now, she would immediately faint if she wasn’t gritting her teeth and fall into a state where she wouldn’t wake up.

“That why, please, ……please stop already. The one who invited you to the unit was me and the one who got you wrapped up in this exam was also me…………I’ll apologize for doing it at my convenience. Please, I don’t want to see you hurt…………for my sake anymore.”

It was at that time.

He who had been looking only at the Yuugenshu turned his gaze to her.

It was a perfectly clear gaze. It was his true face that he hadn’t shown her once until now.

“It’s not your fault; I was the first one to start this.”

“……Eh?”

“I carried a brat that had collapsed in the desert to the medical office. ……That’s why you invited me to the unit, right? Then the cause is me, not you.”

…………

…………No way……

He remembered me. That means he knew everything from the beginning and came along knowing that.

“…………Liar. You lied about not remembering me.”

“Like there’s any way I could forget a brat who made me do something so annoying.”

“……You’re the worst; even at a time like this, your mouth is foul.”

Not caring about her face getting dirty from the earth, Kagura pushed herself to wipe her tears away on the grass. All so she could watch over him from behind.

Vaiel advanced while dragging his feet.

With the hole-ridden formal wear that had lost its shinryoku armor, he dragged his necrosis-laden body that had received the mateki’s curse and advanced. He moved his legs that shouldn’t be able to move and tightened his fist that shouldn’t be able to close.

“────────────!”

The vigor that wouldn’t become a voice shook the sea of trees.

Tightening his necrotic right fist to the point of breaking, he held it above him and brought it down on the beast before him.

Shinryoku and mateki. The two overlapped head-on───

The Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors and the defensive wall let off a clear sound and shattered.

“ ────── “

The Yuugenshu immediately made to repair the destroyed defensive wall and its mateki gave of brilliance.

But somebody made a move before that.

“Yo, black fur ball, I’ve got one warning for you.”

Vaiel, who had completely lost his Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors , clenched his right fist.

And then.

.

“ Don’t underestimate humans when they’re serious ?”

.

The young man who was just a human punched the Yuugenshu with that right fist.

Even though just touching the Yuugenshu’s body would curse him and his right fist became inflamed all at once, it didn’t stop. Passing the outer layer of mist, it reached the core crystal located at the center of the real body……and the sound of the Yuugenshu’s core shattering certainly echoed.

“What’s this……oi.”

While hearing the death throes of the Yuugenshu that was disintegrating in light.

“That was an easy win, Yuugenshu.”

An unusual smile appearing on his face, Vaiel collapsed right there.

Inside his fading consciousness.

“……I’ve been saved by you again.”

The cheeky voice of a girl resounded strangely vividly.

### 037. Part 7

Floor 11 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the Cadet Guard lodging.

“Even though I was tired from the unit battles, why does the instructor always prepare something to add on top!?”

“ The instructor was quite lively! “

“……She had the greatest smile on her face.”

Carelessly replying, Sheltis dropped down onto his room’s bed. After he ate dinner on the 25th floor, took a shower and returned, it was already the dead of night.

“Look, Sheltis, the stars are beautiful.”

In the window ─── the night sky that was shining like a tipped-over jewel box. Their respective radiances were meagre by themselves, which is exactly why they did not drown out each other and seemed to support each other as they shone.

“Ilis really likes stars.”

“ Is it not romantic? I think they are the sole thing that goes on without changing. “

Ilis shined at the base of the pillow almost like a star.

“ But you seem sleepy. “

“……I haven’t slept since yesterday. The main culprit is Kagura.”

Because of her lust for knowledge, he had been questioned by her since last night until the early morning, went through the first and second screenings and then taken the usual training from the instructor.

“Ilis, wake me up when it’s time to get up tomorrow.”

With that said, good night.

Lying face-down with his pillow hugged up to his eyes───

“Sheltis, come to my room now.”

“……Somebody, save me. A demon with a machine helmet is obstructing my sleep.”

“Who’s a demon?”

The one he could hear from the speaker at a corner of the ceiling was Kagura whom he’d just spoken of.

“Could it be another questioning session?”

“Of course not. Worry not, this time it won’t take more than thirty minutes. There is something regarding tomorrow unit battle that I would like to consult you about. It’s something I’d like to keep secret from Monica.”

It was odd that Kagura wanted to consult him about the unit battles and even wanted to keep it secret from Monica.

“Is there a reason?”

“We’ll talk at room 085 on floor 14, so could you come quickly?”

“Yeah, probably in a few minutes.”

His usual shirt and black top were in the closet. He was currently in his room-use attire. They could also be used during training, so there would be no problem going out just like this.

“Then I shall be waiting. Ah yes, just one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve called you out and it will be just us two. ……If you assault me, I will immediately press the emergency report button.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh when you’ve called me out!?”

Floor 14 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“ Sheltis, why are you acting this nervous? “

“It’s because this is a girls-only floor.”

Disregarding in the middle of the day, he had no idea what somebody would think if he were found in the middle of the night like this. They might overlook it if he explained his circumstances but it would be best to have no misunderstandings.

“ By the way, it seems Leon almost met the same problem before. His was due to night patrolling but he was surrounded by female Cadet Guards who knew that. “

“A molester uproar?”

“ The opposite. The girls on the floor all came and gave him a hearty welcoming. ‘How about tea in my room?’, ‘Rather, please stay over!’; with that popularity, it’s an anecdote of how he was chased around and escaped. “

“……That’s unreasonable.”

“ He’s good-looking and tall with the superior first-class swords skills of a Sennenshi, and to top it off he has a serious personality. Of course he’d be popular. Why don’t you learn from him? “

“I’m not frustrated or anything!?……well, forget that. We’re here.”

Number 085 had a door that was just the exact same as every other room. The machine lock was also standard. That’s how it was even though her room at the Tower Control Bureau was different right from the door.

“……Unexpectedly, her room for sleeping is normal.”

“This room is regulated by the Defense Institution so even if I wanted to remodel it, the procedures are a pain.”

The voice from beyond the door.

“I’ll be opening it now, please come inside.”

───Authorized───

The door unlocked with an mechanical and electronic sound. The mechanical door slid to the side.

“You were pretty fast. Please come this way.”

“……I’ll be intruding.”

Just a few steps from the front door was the living room. Further in was a kitchen and path. It’s structuring was completely the same as the room allotted to men.

It was the same for the interior design.

On the floor was a warm-colored carpet. In the living room was a table, chair and bed, as well as a closet.

“This is also more normal than I expected.”

“Did you think that I would have bundles of documents and machine cords covering the floor?”

Kagura who answered with a serious face was also in a thin dressing gown. Perhaps it was also for sleeping as the faint yellow clothing was sewn with soft-looking fabric and there were frills attached at the collar and on the sleeves.

And there was one more thing that caught his eye more than anything else───

“You’re not wearing your mechanical helmet?”

“Yes. There’s no reason to hide it in my own room. And I just took a shower, so it would be too wet until my hair dries.”

Facing outward from her dark green hair were two long ears.

Wrapped in warm fur like a fox, they were the distinguishing characteristic of Nell folk like her. She didn’t like having other people see them so she would normally hide them.

……Ahh, I see.

She’d removed her mechanical helmet so she didn’t want to go outside, so she’d invited him to her room.

“Well, it’s already late for you, right? Let’s proceed straight to the main topic.”

There were two chairs at the circular table. Being invited over, Sheltis sat down in the seat opposite her.

“I’m going to say it plainly. Did you go easy in today’s unit battle?”

Even though it should have been simple.

It took him a little while to comprehend those words.

“……You mean me? No, I didn’t do something so obvious.”

Different from the actual combat that he did when he exchanged blows with Leon, he put in as much strength as he did in the morning training. If he didn’t do that, his skills would rust.

“But when you fought with Maha, your movements weren’t like this.”

The gaze of her clear black eyes seemed to pierce through him.

“ Fue? Who’s this Maha? “

“I’ll show you the recording, so please stay put for a little.”

She connected the Machine machine pearl with Ilis machine crystal and left them on the floor. In any case, with this she should stay quiet on things to say for a little bit.

“……That fight with Maha wasn’t a situation to hold back in.”

Even within his numerous experiences with actual combat, ‘ Maha ‘ was in a different class. Boasting inhuman strength on those grasslands, and with just a puppet; being such, just how strong the real one was……he couldn’t even imagine.

“And that was a real battle, so it was done with spirit.”

“It’s not a problem of spirit or conscience. I wanted to voice a different cause. There is a more frank and concrete reason.”

Putting both her elbows on the table, the Nell girl held each hand in the other.

“This is what I think. I think you were unconsciously tense.”

“……Which means?”

“You’re not used to it, right? Rather than battles where you guard other people, you’re not used to battles with other people supporting you ─── how about it?”

Things that pertained to that meaning arose in his mind.

“…………”

Without himself realizing it, Sheltis stared at the ceiling.

……That might be true.

It was already something from however many years ago. The time he had just enlisted.

He had been paired with Leon until he became a Regular Guard, so they had been able to act as they liked.

When he became an Elite Guard as well, he was surrounded by people of superior ability. There was no need for support; rather, it felt embarrassing to have to request support.

───I have no experience in battles where I’m receiving support.

It was exactly as Kagura had said.

“……I understand but”

The past and now are different. Because Leon wasn’t in his unit.

Monica’s true worth was in combining her Rosario crossed rods with her Shinryoku arts and Kagura was completely a support type. There would be no hope for the unit’s growth if they were not making the best of their specialties.

“That’s right, you understand in theory as well. But that backfired today.”

That was about today’s unit battle.

“You moved while being conscious of Monica who was in the center and I who was in the very back, right? We can assume your thoughts of ‘I have to cover the both of them’ were too strong so they hindered your movements.”

Small hindrances would pile up to become great strain. The strain only from sensing Kagura at a location away from him. That was surely something greater than he had thought.

[Crossed his dual blades and matched them to the path of the Chakram throwing steel ───]

Kagura quickly wrote an “x” sign on the white paper above the table.

“Even though there was only one Chakram throwing steel that time, you receive it with both swords. But you shouldn’t have needed to. With the skill you showed me in the battle with Maha, even if you ignored it you would have been able to deflect it with one sword.”

But why didn’t he do that?

“The answer is simple. You didn’t see the Chakram throwing steel at that time. Instead of deflecting it with one hand, you were watching both of us who were behind you, right?”

“……That was just once.”

“That’s right. But I think that’s enough. It is normal for the attacks to concentrate on the general in the Open Flag format. ───And the precedent for the real issue ends here.”

She stayed from for a moment and her gaze became icy.

“In tomorrow’s unit battle, I would like you to help Monica.”

“Help……you don’t mean just covering for her, right?”

“As you suspect, I mean my instructions in the midst of battle. Those with the leeway to observe their surroundings during battle probably consists of only you. ……It’s a shameless thing to ask but I’d like you to decide the commands for everyone to respond well. I would like you to give orders.”

While touching her extended out ears, Kagura continued.

“The unit’s leader is Monica, but in actual combat, you are the one who can best control the unit’s flow. I think Monica can also do it if she becomes used to it but it’s too much to expect from her when just became a unit leader.”

The first unit battle with first-time members and a first-time unit leader. Monica was dealing with all these first times. There was an unknown amount of pressure on that back.

“There are other things only Monica can do, after all.”

“That’s right. Applying for the creation of a new unit entails creating the name registry and contact list as well as the application to the Defense Institution, and other things.”

But the most important is……of course, the gathering of unit members like us. I am, as expected of my personality, not meticulous. Since you also want to hide your past from others, it’s hard to lead a unit, right?”

Nobody else could command the unit except Monica. There was no other choice but to depend on her.

───That’s why I will support her.

───Each of the unit members would, in things other than that, in areas they specialized in.

“So you’re saying the unit battle is my task.”

“Yes. If we expand it, that includes all of our battles as a unit. I will support in the area of information gathering for all things I can’t help with in that area.”

Kagura nodded.

“You are not used to battles where you receive support. You are confused so it’s an obvious result that your movements become constrained. But I would like you to adapt to it. We require your support and you will make the best of our support ─── that kind of battle style.”

“……I’ll do my best.”

He had intended to recognize that requirement but he had felt it for real in today’s unit battle. It would take time to get used to this kind of battle.

……It’s quite harsh with only me at the front lines right now.

While fighting at the far front lines as an attacker, he had to keep Monica who was at the middle and Kagura who was at the very back in mind. As Kagura had pointed out, his movements were being hindered by that right now.

If only there was at least one more attacker.

“……Vaiel is”

“We can’t expect much of him. Just having him participate in the unit battle is a big step forward.”

The Nell folk girl just shook her head.

“Hey.”

“Are you wondering why I value him that much?”

He wordlessly assented. Doing so,

“That’s right.”

The expression of the girl suddenly broke down after she turned her head to the side. Her eyes that seemed to be nostalgic about and regretting something, mixed with holding back tears about something important───

“……It’s because I thought he was a good person. Is that bad?”

It was a strange and sad voice that sounded like a laugh.

“But……we fought after today’s unit battle. Why didn’t you protect me, I said.”

“Ahh, that was just simple communication.”

“That was?”

“Yes. He answered you properly, right? He said he’d also come for tomorrow’s unit battle.”

[So when was there ever a need for you to trust me? Ah── it's so hot, what an unbelievable pain in the ass that there's another unit battle tomorrow. ]

“……That had that kind of meaning?”

“He didn’t say anything about how to interpret it. It’s just me interpreting it as I like.”

Kagura chuckled and smiled with a cheerful look.

“Even saying that, that’s not enough proof. ……Then I shall tell one story from a long time ago.”

The girl told him.

That was a story from almost two years ago. An episode about a certain Cadet Guard.

“It’s well-known, but there is training that consists of running across the entirety of the desert field.”

“Yeah, that’s……”

The first day when Sheltis had just enlisted, that was the task the instructor had assigned to him. It was harsh training where a great deal of the newcomer Cadet Guards had retired partway.

“It wasn’t on the day of the enlisting ceremony, but there was a day when that was part of the regular training menu. ……A girl participated in that. For the girl who was normally a computer systems researcher, it had been a long time since she’d undergone training.”

That was none other than Kagura.

There was nobody else who was a researcher and a Cadet Guard at the same time.

“The girl who wasn’t used to training collapsed after running half of the hot sand area. It wasn’t heatstroke or anything, she just didn’t have the vitality……and normally it would end there with an instructor or relief squad helping her but it was different that day. The Cadet Guard who came from behind her piggybacked her and ran across the hot sand, carrying her all the way to the medical office.”

“…………”

“And the Cadet Guard who had carried the girl to the medical office also reached his limit and collapsed the instant they arrived. Say, he’s an interesting person, right?”

Those eyes that communicated that were smiling just a little sadly.

“The image of that time is probably strong. Even though he was saying that it’s such a pain, it’s such a pain, he would help someone when they were truly troubled. ……She came to think that.”

Being gazed at by those unblinking eyes, his words wouldn’t come out.

───Was that Vaiel?

He who kept saying everything was a pain and didn’t do anything during the afternoon’s unit battle?

“That there was such an old story, it would suffice if you just remember it for now.”

Narrowing her eyes in nostalgia, Kagura stood up.

“……I’m counting on you to keep this story a secret from Monica, okay?”

The girl said that in a calm voice.

### 038. Part 7

“……Where……is this?”

Pressing down on her dizzy head, Ymy shakily got to her feet.

She had fallen onto a field she had never seen before……looking around, she could see water fountains and a benches, and numerous slides were erected over sand hills.

“A nature park?”

Tall trees had been planted that encircled the park and were probably a replacement for a barricade. Even deeper than that, about a hundred metres ahead of where she stood were a line of large structures.

If it was a park within the city, then there were numerous ones around Sophia Tenketsu Palace . ……There were, but she had never seen this one. And what she was curious about was,

“……The sky is kind of scary.”

Looking up at the sky, she unconsciously grimaced. The clouds were large and black, with the sky a blood-like red. It was like the end of this world ─── the sky carried that kind of atmosphere.

……Where is this?

She had been talking with the woman called Tsali and then the world a thousand years ago……she had said she would show her the world before Hyouketsu Kyoukai had been erected. When she came to, she had fallen here.

A dream? A hallucination? No, that wasn’t it. The solidity of the ground, the smell of the air, the feel of the clouds. It was unthinkable for them to be a hallucination. It was unmistakably the real world. But no matter what power was used, this kind of───

“……No.”

Thinking about that would come later. She had to search for a way to return from here for now.

.

“ Emergency notice, emergency notice. “

.

At the same time she put out one foot, a warning suddenly came.

“Wh-what?……What’s happening?”

.

“ Yuugenshu battalion approaching from the northern skies.

Those living in the Living Sector, please evacuate to the shelters. “

.

……Yuugenshu, it can’t be!

.

An instinctual commotion pressured her chest. Reflexively, Ymy looked up at the sky.

The bright red sky and the sparse black clouds. One portion of those clouds was being torn to pieces unnaturally……it was strange. In these windless conditions, there was no way a cloud would move like that.

.

“ I repeat, a Yuugenshu battalion is approaching.

Those living in the Living Sector, please evacuate to the shelters. “

.

The change was sudden. The second she thought the torn black clouds had ceased moving ────── it fell in a straight line to the ground.

As I thought!

That was not a cloud mist, and that thing which was shrouded in a dark purple mist was.

“……A Yuugenshu!?”

The attacker from the skies fell to the park’s field.

Juu……uu……uuuuuu……

The corruption of mateki. The ground where the Yuugenshu landed boiled and decayed.

“……That time’s commander!”

Biting her lips together and waving her vestments, she glared at the Yuugenshu that had descended.

A pair of wings and four massive limbs as well as the lizard head which protruded out of the dark purple mist.

She recalled that appearance that resembled a dragon’s. There was no way she could forget. It was the Yuugenshu commander of the great invasion.

.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

.

Out from the Yuugenshu’s mouth came a curse-like sound.

Dark purple light swirled like a vortex and gathered towards the Yuugenshu, then suddenly expanded several hundred metres.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Lifting her spirit, she offered a prayer of baptism that resisted mateki. Following the release chant, scarlet particles wrapped around her───

A chill.

“! Ky, aa!”

Being pushed back by the surge of mateki, she was blown backwards. Blown back around ten metres, she slammed hard into the large trees lining the park.

She’d lost in a simple comparison of strength between shinryoku and mateki? That……shouldn’t be……until now, that had never happened once.

“……Ka……aa……?”

She couldn’t breathe because of the intense pain on her back.

───This is bad……the next mate……ki……I need to……focus my consciousness.

Calm Mind.

She forcefully separated her mind from the harsh pain of her body and focused only on the shinryoku spell.

It was a posture with both knees and both hands on the ground. In addition, her face was raised. Her vision was blurry but she still forced them open and glared at the Yuugenshu.

……I……can’t, lose.

……I am……a Priestess, ……so there’s no way I can lose.

She prepared a spell to defend against the next mateki───

But the [next] didn’t come no matter how long she waited.

“Eh?”

Paying no attention to her, the Yuugenshu spread its wings and flew off. ……Why did it leave even though I’m still fine? The Yuugenshu should have known that much as well.

───Tosaa.

From directly to her side came a light sound of something falling to the ground. Another Yuugenshu? She spun towards the injured body. Over there was not the comrades of the strange beast.

“……A kid?”

The one who had fallen face up on the field was a single person……a boy of about ten years old. The fiber of his clothes was tattered and his skin that went in and out of view was being corrupted by an ominous dark purple speck.

───It wasn’t mateki aimed at me.

She had been surprised leading to her realizing it too late: the Yuugenshu had been aiming at this kid from the start. That’s why, having accomplished its goal, it had flown away.

……At any rate, I should purify him.

Changing the target of the spell that had been aimed at the Yuugenshu, she chanted a spell that would bless the target she was in contact with.

.

O seven colors of the interweaving dream

Yu/ ubinis ole = C kis tih Ies.

.

“……You’ll be fine.”

Holding the fallen boy, she embraced him.

.

The slumbering spring’s rest is at an end, wishing, the augite that awakens with the path.

mios huda yum xeph fel hypne shel sephat, xephnis wision.

.

Now in this place, the accumulated songs of praise, the quivering pulsations, arrive at the heavenly sound.

mehnes nelar, Ee toga-s-sia vea clar = C nelves zahl tis kyel Sophit.

.

“I will……heal you.”

The touching skin, the body heat she could feel and her own.

The scarlet light that was blessing her was passed through her arms to the boy.

.

The pouring drops, lovingly fill and run towards the fated time.

kei yum lisy r-blow-s-miel xins clue Is-Ye-fio missin.

.

O wishes, become the path of thousands of hopes.

Ris sia sophia, shel evoia steras tis lef ilis.

.

The dark purple light that was eating away at the boy. The scarlet light that was purifying that curse.

The two lights swirled together like a vortex.

.

───For the time the world is filled with prayers, I sing.

Yu/ Se = C clar fears valen r-miel noi I.

.

And then the scarlet light───

The scarlet light was reflected by the dark purple light and unilaterally destroyed.

.

“…………Eh?”

Not understanding what had happened, she seriously doubted her eyes.

“……No way……you’re kidding, right?……”

My baptism spell had no effect? There’s no way it was rejected like with Sheltis. The shinryoku was certainly penetrating the mateki’s barrier. But for it to be deflected……

She had seen a phenomenon like this many times.

Those who just became an apprentice Priestess had been repelled just like this when they tried to purify mateki.

The reason was just that their specs were too low. Even if a film were taken in high quality, if the television was of low quality, the picture quality would become low quality ─── even if the amount of shinryoku was sufficient, there was no meaning if the spell could not match up with it.

……I made the same mistake as an apprentice Priestess?

It was the same just before. Her defense spell had lost to the mateki. And if she considered the phenomenon with the baptism spell just now, one idea came to mind. It was an idea simpler than anything.

.

The Yuugenshu’s mateki is surpassing my shinryoku as a Priestess?

.

Her defense spells were of no help and her baptism spells were being treated completely like a child.

……That, that kind of thing.

……Until now……even though I’ve done my best in training……while shedding tears…………

While holding the child that had lost consciousness, she lost her strength and fell to her knees.

The penetration of the mateki eating away at the boy wasn’t stopping. His body turning completely dark purple was proof that his body’s cells were in necrosis from the mateki infection. Even so, all she could do was watch.

This is, this is──────

.

“ When you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, what will be your impressions? “

.

This was the world a thousand years ago.

Before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, it was a matter of course that Yuugenshu as fearsome as this were running rampant.

“………………I don’t like this.”

Biting her lips together enough to spurt blood, she wiped away the tears in her eyes.

……I don’t like it.

She definitely did not want to give up.

Because the world was like this, someone was necessary. Because the world was like this, Priestesses were necessary. If the Priestesses gave up, everything would end. ……That’s why I won’t give up.

She gathered power once again in the hand holding the boy.

She was about to start the baptism chant again but Ymy’s mouth froze in an open position.

……Zuu……zuzuu……zunn……n……

A rumble shook the ground and a gigantic [something] roared.

“!”

A slight pain could be felt on her skin as the ground swayed. It wasn’t because of the shaking, it was because of the overwhelming pressure given off by that which was closing in. Even though she still couldn’t see it.

It’s there and ─── it’s coming!

The moment she felt that, that appeared from the space between the structures in the park.

.

Reaching even the buildings that were about ten floors tall, it was an unheard-of enormous Yuugenshu.

.

Her eyes met with its crimson eyes that were as large as people.

“……Ah……h……”

Her body wouldn’t move. The moment their eyes met, she had been went stiff like she’d been paralyzed.

───I can’t win.

───I can’t……no, humanity cannot win against this monster.

Time did not move until her body, her heart, and her instincts told her such. Even the Yuugenshu just before had a size and pressure that was out of the question. More than anything, the shine of that mateki that covered it was like a solar eclipse that blotted out the sun. It was enough to cover the sky.

……I’m sorry.

……It looks like……I won’t be able to help you.

Holding onto the boy whom the mateki was eating away at, she couldn’t do anything but look up at the Yuugenshu.

.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■■■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

.

The roar of the Yuugenshu. That mateki shook the sky and released a brilliant and mysterious shine.

The ring of light enveloped Ymy and the boy in the park───

……I’m sorry.

Holding the boy tightly, she shut her eyes. No, the instant she was about to close them, somebody flew out in front of her.

.

Come now, let us offer up all the promised children.

Elma sia Risis ele Selahphenoria

.

The girl whose mysteriously colored hair was flapping in the wind chanted.

Like silk thread of seven colors, the ruffling hair changed its beautiful color.

Crystal colored ─── with a transparent silvery white like ice as its base, the parts touched by light shone with a mix of pearl and gold.

Azure light.

The brilliant and gentle shinryoku light activated before the mateki arrived.

A barrier type shinryoku spell?

The mateki’s shine that shrouded the world was rejected by the light barrier. That instant.

.

───Dchidchi……dchii!……───

.

Blue-white sparks that made one think of a lightning flash surged from the barrier’s border.

“Elbert Resonance!?”

……It’s the same as with Sheltis and I.

Even forgetting the situation, her eyes were drawn in by the shining sparks before her eyes.

Elbert Resonance, a miracle phenomenon that only occurred when sufficiently strong mateki and shinryoku collided. That’s happening between that unheard-of Yuugenshu and that girl?

The mateki and barrier were mutually annihilated.

The Yuugenshu that understood its attack had been blocked was visibly disturbed. In that momentary instant, the girl once again spun shinryoku release chants.

.

[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable......]

[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]

.

It was an azure light barrier that continued out to the horizon.

The light ring bound the Yuugenshu’s movements and next a spear of light that shone golden pierced it, fastening it to the ground. Lastly, the azure barrier shifted from that color to scarlet ─── it changed to the color of baptism which was most effective of the Yuugenshu.

“……Amazing.”

She couldn’t say anything other than that.

Azure was the color of barriers. Golden brilliance indicated an advent spell, and last was a large-scale blast of baptism.

A combination spell of three different types of systems. With that much of a range, that powerfully. And it was activated with only one phrase of a release chant.

“That child appears to be contaminated by mateki. Shall I purify him?”

Letting her transparent crystal hair flow, the girl turned back towards her.

She was wearing a modest and plain shirt and skirt. Her shoulders and body were slim to the point that they looked like they’d break, and her height was roughly the same as Syun-rei. She wasn’t even in her later tens. As best, she was thirteen or fourteen.

“Ah……ah……umm”

There were two reasons she was mumbling. Her unfulfilled promise with her baptism having no effect. Also ─── her gaze was stolen by the girl’s gem-like cuteness.

Her moist eyes which were tinged with sorrow were a vivid lapis lazuli color.

Her skin was a transparent white like white porcelain, smooth and slim without a single blemish. Her looks were lovely and ephemeral, her figure enough to allow one to see a fairy.

……Just who is this girl?

“The spell, I’ll do it.”

Looking over at Ymy who was holding tight the boy, the girl said that in a moderate tone.

“The necrosis has started so he may act up. Hold down that child like that.”

“Y-yes!”

The girl kneeled down on the field and sung the same release chant.

[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable......]

[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]

This is her release chant?

Is it a coincidence?……it feels like it greatly resembles my release chant. And this voice, it feels like I’ve heard it somewhere. And not just once or twice, it feels like I’ve been hearing it all the time as of late.

“It seems fine already.”

“Eh, al-already?”

She looked back at the boy. The venomous dark purple speck had disappeared and his skin had returned to its original color. There was a slight spot with necrosis but he would be saved with a surgical procedure.

“You are a kind person, aren’t you.”

Having that said all of a sudden, Ymy blinked in surprise.

“Eh?”

“This child didn’t act up at all to the end. He’s calmed down a lot. I think your feelings have definitely been transmitted.”

“……Ah, i-is……that so. I was focusing so hard……”

But she was happy. She had almost become depressed by herself who couldn’t do anything and she felt that that would be mitigated by a single phrase.

“U-um……what’s your name?”

Please let me hear your name. She was about to say that but realizing the presence behind the girl, she felt a chill throughout her whole body. ───This pressure.

The Yuugenshu with the unheard-of gigantic body lifted its body that had been broken down and stood once again. It had become a more brutal wounded beast. The dark purple shine overflowed from its entire body.

“Be-behind you! It’s not over”

“───No.”

Perceiving the beast with a sidelong glance, the girl told her this quietly.

“It’s already over.”

.

A light from the heavens cleaved the Yuugenshu into two clean halves.

.

A sound like glass shattering. The Yuugenshu’s massive body fragmented into light particles and proceeded to annihilation like the dispersal of the leftover shinryoku.

……What happened?

This girl had done nothing. It shouldn’t be that the Yuugenshu had suicided. If so.

.

“ Shasa, are you okay? ”

.

A silver-haired girl wearing a light-emitting mechanical outfit.

She seemed to be slightly taller than Ymy with about the same age. Her dignified voice and expressionless face that couldn’t be read were strangely suited to each other. That kind of girl was standing there.

“Of course. Rather than that, how about that side? Is the evacuation of civilians complete?”

Shasa ─── the girl with crystal hair smiled.

“ Comparing the digital map with the residents’ register, 98% evacuation was confirmed. The remaining civilians have been left up to the guidance members. We’ll now be moving from raids to full annihilation. “

The silver-haired girl held up her right hand. Unbefitting of a girl in her teens, she was holding a massive great sword that far surpassed her in height.

……Don’t tell me the one who cleaved the Yuugenshu in half just now was this girl?

……Furthermore, with that great sword?

“ Is a battle status report necessary? “

Shasa nodded and the silver-haired girl continued onto the second part.

“ That mid-size Yuugenshu just now was the last one in the city. However, we’re picking up readings of 1700 Yuugenshu in the northern airspace. About this, I have judged that I alone am enough to clean them up. The expected time for annihilation is 17,200 seconds later at 4:30 PM. “

“You do that and I’ll purify the parts of the city that are corrupted.”

“ Yes. However, due to the distortion in the airspace, large types are expected to appear in eight hours. From the response, there will be two. They are expected to both possess the code melody [Black Song]. “

“……Two of them is troublesome. Will we be splitting them between us two?”

Shasa’s expression increased in severity.

This was the girl that had dealt with a Yuugenshu of that calibre carelessly.

“ Yes. It’s redundant, but a Yuugenshu in possession of the “Black Song” will render barrier type, advent type, territory type and worship type shinryoku completely ineffective. Please counter it with only baptism type spells. “

“I know. We can’t lose……let’s show those invaders what it looks like when humans get serious. ───And speaking of which.”

Shasa casually tilted her head with an adorable face.

“How about Yuto? What happened with her?”

“ She is engaged in battle with the pack of invaders at the western airspace. There are also those possessing the “Black Song” over there but she said to help the fourteen year old child rather than her. “

Shasa turned her face away with a pout that was a youthful action befitting of her age.

“……Unfortunately, I have no idea who that could be about.”

“ Is there a need to answer? “

“I don’t need it. ───Then let’s meet up eight hours later; I’ll designate the location shortly. I’m counting on you, [Machine God Mikuva]-san.”

Shasa smiled teasingly.

On the other end, the silver-haired girl whose expression could not be read shifted her scarlet eyes and,

“ I believe I have introduced myself as Ilis before? “

……Ilis? She said Ilis.

……Also, just now……Machine God Mikuva……what exactly does that……

“Well then, we’ll be going now.”

“Eh? U-umm.”

Being glanced at by Shasa, Ymy hurriedly fixed her posture.

“I’m sorry, I still have things to do. The Yuugenshu in the city have been wiped out by Ilis, so it’s safe. It is safe to return to your house so”

“Wa-wait! Umm, you all are──────”

She reached out towards the two who were leaving.

She reached out.

.

There, Ymy’s consciousness paused once again.

“……Uu.”

A cool feeling against her cheek. When Ymy came to, she was lying face down on the floor.

“This is……the Cathedral?”

She absent-mindedly rubbed her closed eyes. The brass-colored ritual implements, azure sky ceiling, the chill that wrapped the entire room. Without a doubt, it was the Cathedral she was very familiar with.

…………What was that……just now?

…………A dream?……

No, her memories were too vivid for a dream and there was this sense of fatigue. It felt like she had just traveled the boundary between a dream and the present.

“That’s right, that person───”

The woman whose background was unknown and went by the name of Tsali. The person responsible for showing her this thing that she distinguish as a dream or reality. It was best to ask her. However.

“……She’s not here?”

Ymy sprung up and looked around but there was no trace of her.

It was like a mirage or heat haze. In that case, maybe everything including her existence was a dream? She took a deep breath with her hand on her chest.

At that moment, she looked at her own vestments by chance and her breath stopped.

“───! This is……”

A part of the flank of the vestments was slightly torn.

When did it tear? Yesterday? No, the maintenance was left to a seamstress specialized in vestments. She wouldn’t have ignored damage this large and Ymy herself would have noticed if she tore a hole this large.

In that case, it was torn today and furthermore───

.

“ Being pushed back by the surge of mateki, she was blown backwards. Blown back around ten metres, she slammed hard into the large trees lining the park. “

.

“No way……that can’t”

She stared down at her feet while shocked stiff. There was mud clinging to the tips. If this was also something that stuck on when she collapsed during the battle with the Yuugenshu, then it made sense.

“It wasn’t a dream……?”

Ymy fell to her knees and placed her hand on the ground in blank amazement.

It was all real. That world and what she saw?

“……That was the world a thousand years ago.”

The world without Hyouketsu Kyoukai. A world threatened by Yuugenshu that held a power which couldn’t be imagined in present times. It was harsher, more ruthless, laden with despair ────── but those two.

The girls named Shasa and Ilis had fought.

.

“ Let’s show those invaders what it looks like when humans get serious. “

.

Even in that harsh of a world, they were still fighting with all they had.

“…………”

Filled with fervent passion and serenity, they were both heated and cool.

……That was probably all true.

She didn’t know who the woman called Tsali was nor her true purpose for showing her the scene just now.

But what she had seen in that world ─── the two girls, Shasa and Ilis, fighting Yuugenshu to save someone, had not been a lie. She felt that.

“…………”

She breathed in the frozen air and exhaled.

“I am…………an idiot.”

At the base of her heart, she still had naive views about how fearsome Yuugenshu were.

She had thought that they were safe so long as the priestesses prayed to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. But that was wrong: at the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song that lay beneath the barrier, Yuugenshu that were beyond the imagination of the current world lurked. There was no doubt that they were biding time until the day the barrier was destroyed.

Protecting the world from those monsters was the duty of the Priestesses.

……I am still lacking that power.

……I have to become strong. In mind and body, and in shinryoku.

If she didn’t, she couldn’t help Sheltis either. As long as she couldn’t purify the mateki, she couldn’t help him who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

“……Sheltis,”

Her voice echoed. While listening to her voice that resounded within the cool silence───

“It feels……like I’ve understood something.”

Ymy drew her two hands near her gently pulsing chest and closed her eyes slowly.

### 039. Part 8

The edges of the sky were being dyed red.

In the blink of an eye, the stars were also hidden somewhere. As if a black canvas had been painted over with red, this was the time the heavens slowly changed to the color of dawn.

“Today is the crucial part of the unit battles.”

Taking a break from flexibility exercises that stretched the elbow, Monica muttered that to herself.

“It seems there were twenty-two units that applied for mission 16. It was narrowed down to 14 in the first screening and from there, two units with high scores from the second screening will advance to the final screening, huh.”

There were a total of four battles planned for the second screening.

A win was three points and a draw was one. It was set up so the two teams with the highest scores after four battles would proceed to the final screening.

……We won yesterday, so we’re at three points.

“Monica, what happens if three or more teams end up with the same amount of points?”

He had been curious about the other units, but Sheltis didn’t have that kind of time yesterday.

“……That’s possible. They’d probably add another unit battle in. We have to leave excess strength in the odd chance that does happen.”

“ By the way, it seems to have become even simpler than that. “

The Ilis machine crystal swaying at his chest deliberately made a sudden interjection.

“ If you win the first match today, you’ll pass the second screening. There are only four units with all wins, so these four teams will fight each other in the first match and the winner will advance. “

“……That’s strange. I asked Instructor Yumelda about the number of applications yesterday. There should be at least fourteen units in the second screening.”

Stopping her flexibility exercises, Monica tilted her head.

“ About that─── “

“The teams who lost and tied yesterday all withdrew their applications. The ones left are only us and the teams who won yesterday.”

Wordlessly continuing her flexibility exercises, Kagura lifted her head.

“Fourteen unit battles were conducted with five of them reaching conclusions and two ending in a draw. At this point in time, everybody except the five units that won seem to have given up on this mission.”

“Ah, I see.”

Putting together Kagura and Ilis’ words, Sheltis also came to see the current situation.

The second screening used a system where the collective results of four unit battles would decide the outcome.

However, with a loss in yesterday’s single battle, it would be difficult to come out on top. Then they would give up on this mission and apply for another ─── it was an experienced decision.

“ There were five teams that won yesterday but one of the main members in one of those teams was injured. As a result, four teams are left. If we win once more, we can proceed to the final screening. “

“……We can’t lose, huh.”

“ The opposing unit should also be thinking the same thing. They will absolutely not be off-guard. “

“Of course.”

Monica re-tied her vivid and long hair.

“Can we do it with the same setup as yesterday?”

“I’m good. Kagura?”

Yes ─── with a nod, the girl with the mechanical helmet got onto the Machina machine pearl .

“Kagura’s also fine. And the last one is Vaiel.”

Vaiel still hadn’t shown up. Monica had told him it would be early in the morning at the training grounds but doing something so troublesome ─── it seemed like he would flat-out refuse it.

“Sheltis, rather than about him, this is about you.”

Getting Monica’s attention, Kagura whispered into her ear.

“Our deal with him is only that he enters the unit battles to meet the person count requirement. It’s that kind of promise. Whether we win this unit battle depends on you.”

“……I understand.”

Different from three years ago, it was combat as a member of a unit who would receive support. While affirming the battle situation, he would also be expected to issue orders in place of the unit leader.

───For the sake of Monica who is a first-time unit leader.

───The battle that is a first for me as well is waiting.

“ Are you nervous? “

In response to the question posed by Ilis machine crystal , he unconsciously made a wry smile.

“A little.”

It was different from when he was a Cadet Guard or a Regular Guard and his competitive battles with Leon.

It was also different from his solo battling as an Elite Guard.

The first time he would fight like this. To add to that, he hadn’t thought about how it would be during an important step in slipping into the Governmental Sector.

“ If you focus too much on how you’re not used to it, the unit will fall into a predicament, so just avoid that. “

“……I know, I have to put winning as the first priority.”

Sheltis looked at his hand that was slightly sweaty for a little while.

### 040. Part 9

“Ymy-sama, excuse me.”

The girl saluted courteously.

With a sharp gaze and countenance, her deep blue suit suited her tall and slender body.

“He-hello, Instructor Yumelda!”

Stopping her hand that was shoving clothes into a travel bag, Ymy looked back in hurry.

A certain Priestess’ private room on the 287th floor of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It was unusual that the instructor who usually drilled Cadet Guards outside the tower would take the trouble to come here.

“Sorry for coming during your precious relaxation time. Is this a good time?”

“O-of course. Ah, go ahead and sit.”

“Don’t mind it. This will only take a few minutes.”

At the spot immediately after entering the room, the instructor corrected her posture. Behind her was one more person, a girl with dazzling blonde hair that was bound into two locks was on standby. Her age was……probably one above or two below her own. Her upper garment was the formal clothes of the guards and the bottom was a pleated skirt.

“Our business is regarding the matter with the Governmental Sector that will be coming up before long. The matter for which you will be traveling.”

“……That matter?”

She unconsciously fixed her posture.

“First of all, your escort has been officially decided. The Cadres Guard will be in charge of that. Her abilities as a guard are assured so please be at ease for the journey.”

“───I understand.”

It was rare for Instructor Yumelda to praise someone. The Cadres Guard was a person whose skills were such that even the instructor recognized them.

“……Perhaps”

The one standing behind the instructor on standby, that Elite Guard───

“Ahh, no, it’s misleading, but she’s not her. The introduction is late, but this is the Regular Guard I’sa. The blood-related younger sister of the Elite Guard that will be traveling with you. “

“My name is I’sa. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She grabbed the ends of her skirt and respectfully curtsied.

“Y-yes. I’m also glad to meet you! I’m also counting on your for the Governmental Sector……h-huh?……But just now, you said younger sister. I’sa-san is……the younger sister?”

Not the Cadres Guard herself, the instructor had specifically brought a relative of hers with her for the greetings?

“There’s a reason for that.”

The instructor took out a cigarette from her pocket. While putting that in her mouth,

“We’re currently in the middle of choosing the Cadet Guards who will be traveling with you. We’ve whittled it down to the last two units but the last test will be proctored by I’sa here. That’s what it is.”

And the Regular Guard that saw that frowned slightly.

“That’s no good, instructor, you can’t smoke in front of a Priestess.”

“I haven’t lit it. I can’t settle down if I don’t have something in my mouth.”

She was a heavy smoker so she obstinately kept her smoking habits.

Of course Ymy was also aware of that. She saw that she wasn’t going to light it so she hadn’t pointed it out.

“Nash, and Monica ─── there’s no need to memorize the unit leaders’ names but the plan is to have one of the teams they lead accompany you on the journey.”

“……Monica?”

“Oh, is there something”

“Ah, n-no, no, no, no! I-it’s nothing. It’s fine!”

Being looked at by the instructor who had her head tilted, Ymy frantically waved her hands.

……Monica……Monica is a girl’s name, right.

……Is that my……the name of the person who was my senpai?

[We might meet in an unexpected place, you know?]

[See you, Ymy, I’ll be cheering you on to becoming an outstanding Priestess.]

Is it a coincidence?

Is there such a coincidence?

“Then I shall make a quick report. We will have the final screening in two days, so the introduction of the unit’s members will wait until the day after.”

“U-um, Instructor Yumelda? Could I ask you something strange?”

“What is it?”

“Umm, what kind of teams do you see the two teams as?”

……I wanted to know more about the person called Monica.

It couldn’t be helped that her heart was pounding since the moment she heard that name.

“Fumu. Let’s see, Monica’s unit was just formed. It’s a team that still needs looking after……I’m a little worried about their teamwork and cooperation but it’s a unit that’s achieved complete victory for the unit battles.”

She took out the scoring sheet from her chest pocket. Confirming the results which were written in elegant strokes, Instructor Yumelda gave an unusual wry smile.

“Ah, umm……so this Monica person is truly that strong?”

“Monica is an older sister character who’s good at looking after people. Her accomplishments as a guard aren’t outstanding or bad. In essence, the one pulling up the unit’s level is a single dual sword user. That boy has trained for a long time……if it’s just in his battle ability, he could blow away the entire opposing team all by himself.”

“I-is that so?”

……A dual sword wielding boy……ahh, I’m glad.

……Sheltis is also there as promised. Just one more until we can go together.

She pat her chest as she put the good news she’d heard to heart.

Leon had also said that the competition for the expeditionary mission to the Governmental Sector was harsh so she’d been worried that Sheltis might have lost in random happening.

……Hmm? But, but, wait a second?

……That basically means that Monica-senpai and Sheltis are in the same unit?

“And so saying,”

The sharpness of the instructor’s eyes multiplied.

They seemed to see into the deepest parts of her heart.

“We cannot decide the superiority of a unit based on their strength in battle. The unit that excels in control and discipline of the entire unit is Nash’s and their balance is good. Opposite that, the members of Monica’s team are too strong individually. Their cooperation is also superficial.”

“Yes. To tell the truth, I am uneasy letting them travel together with Ymy-sama.”

This was the person that she knew was like a lump of cooperation.

……So like she thought, it was a different Monica-san?

“Fumu. Then would you like to meet them?”

“Eh?”

“If you would like to, I will introduce you to the two units. Don’t worry, this is also prior inspection. We can’t choose a unit that’s rude to the Priestess, after all.”

### 041. Prologue

“Monica-senpai……are you really quitting as an apprentice Priestess?”

The room with all personal items completely removed. Only silence filled the desolate space.

Two girls stared at each other. Each of them was wearing a plain vestment.

“Senpai, why didn’t you tell me!”

The girl with an innocent and adorable face raised her voice. Her jade eyes were teary and her long, off-gold hair reflected the ceiling lighting dazzlingly.

“……It’s true, isn’t it.”

“…………”

Contrasting that was the girl with sakura-colored hair tied into one lock who wasn’t saying anything.

With her slim and petite body, her apparent age was in the mid-teens. Contrasting with her dignified and calm face, her bluish grey eyes housed loneliness somewhere within them.

“Why……didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s not like I haven’t told anyone. It’s just……that I didn’t tell you.”

Unable to bear her kouhai’s accusatory gaze, Monica turned her face away.

“I’ve made it to the last test for a Priestess. I have no regrets already. So I thought I’d end it off here.”

A Priestess — the girls that protect the barrier of this floating continent. Employing the use of miracle wavelength called Shinryoku, there were only three of these rare arts users.

For the sake of becoming the fourth, Monica had been practicing as an apprentice Priestess for a long time.

From the age of seven when she became an apprentice Priestess to fifteen years old, it had been nine years. She had been frozen in ice while alive and sunk to the bottom of a deep body of water. While undergoing that cruel training that bordered on lunacy, her Shinryoku developed.

She lasted until the final test……but Monica didn’t become a Priestess.

“It’s a relief for you. An apprentice Priestess like me leaving means that you have one less rival.”

“…………Senpai.”

“I know, I’m joking. ……But I’m sorry. I was just teasing.”

Consoling Ymy who was staring at her wordlessly, she urged her towards a chair. Shall we sit and talk? —But the kouhai paid no attention to that.

“U, um……Monica-senpai. I think if it’s you, you can definitely become a Prelate! Since an apprentice Priestess that can reach the final test is rare.”

“Teaching the newly enrolled apprentice Priestesses the basics of Shinryoku, that instructor job?”

“Y-yes!”

Looking happy, Ymy nodded un, un with sparkling eyes.

“With that, you don’t have to move out of this room……I want to learn more from senpai just like until now.”

In contrast to that kouhai.

Monica quietly told her with her grey eyes downcast.

“I think I already have nothing left to teach you. The rest depends on you.”

“…………That can’t be.”

“It’s not like I’m being cold. It just means that you’ve progressed. I’m praising you.”

This time, Ymy hung her head with a dejected expression.

“…………You’re really going, aren’t you.”

“Yeah, it’s something I decided before taking the final test. That if it wasn’t good enough, it can’t be helped.”

“We can’t……meet again?”

She would cease to be an apprentice Priestess. That meant that she would vacate this room and leave the tower.

Usually that would be the case, however—

“That’s not the case.”

“Eh?”

“We might meet in an unexpected place, you know?”

“……That,”

What do you mean — Ymy who wanted to say those words was cut off,

“See you, Ymy, I’ll be cheering you on to becoming an outstanding Priestess.”

Placing the baggage at her feet on her shoulder, Monica waved to her kouhai.

And then three years later.

At this time, these two had no idea that they would happen across each other at the tower once more.

### 042. Prologue: The Dream’s End, The Dream’s Continuation

## Prologue

“Monica-senpai……are you really quitting as an apprentice Priestess?”

The room with all personal items completely removed. Only silence filled the desolate space.

Two girls stared at each other. Each of them was wearing a plain vestment.

“Senpai, why didn’t you tell me!”

The girl with an innocent and adorable face raised her voice. Her jade eyes were teary and her long, off-gold hair reflected the ceiling lighting dazzlingly.

“……It’s true, isn’t it.”

“…………”

Contrasting that was the girl with sakura-colored hair tied into one lock who wasn’t saying anything.

With her slim and petite body, her apparent age was in the mid-teens. Contrasting with her dignified and calm face, her bluish grey eyes housed loneliness somewhere within them.

“Why……didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s not like I haven’t told anyone. It’s just……that I didn’t tell you.”

Unable to bear her kouhai’s accusatory gaze, Monica turned her face away.

“I’ve made it to the last test for a Priestess. I have no regrets already. So I thought I’d end it off here.”

A Priestess — the girls that protect the barrier of this floating continent. Employing the use of miracle wavelength called Shinryoku, there were only three of these rare arts users.

For the sake of becoming the fourth, Monica had been practicing as an apprentice Priestess for a long time.

From the age of seven when she became an apprentice Priestess to fifteen years old, it had been nine years. She had been frozen in ice while alive and sunk to the bottom of a deep body of water. While undergoing that cruel training that bordered on lunacy, her Shinryoku developed.

She lasted until the final test……but Monica didn’t become a Priestess.

“It’s a relief for you. An apprentice Priestess like me leaving means that you have one less rival.”

“…………Senpai.”

“I know, I’m joking. ……But I’m sorry. I was just teasing.”

Consoling Ymy who was staring at her wordlessly, she urged her towards a chair. Shall we sit and talk? —But the kouhai paid no attention to that.

“U, um……Monica-senpai. I think if it’s you, you can definitely become a Prelate! Since an apprentice Priestess that can reach the final test is rare.”

“Teaching the newly enrolled apprentice Priestesses the basics of Shinryoku, that instructor job?”

“Y-yes!”

Looking happy, Ymy nodded un, un with sparkling eyes.

“With that, you don’t have to move out of this room……I want to learn more from senpai just like until now.”

In contrast to that kouhai.

Monica quietly told her with her grey eyes downcast.

“I think I already have nothing left to teach you. The rest depends on you.”

“…………That can’t be.”

“It’s not like I’m being cold. It just means that you’ve progressed. I’m praising you.”

This time, Ymy hung her head with a dejected expression.

“…………You’re really going, aren’t you.”

“Yeah, it’s something I decided before taking the final test. That if it wasn’t good enough, it can’t be helped.”

“We can’t……meet again?”

She would cease to be an apprentice Priestess. That meant that she would vacate this room and leave the tower.

Usually that would be the case, however—

“That’s not the case.”

“Eh?”

“We might meet in an unexpected place, you know?”

“……That,”

What do you mean — Ymy who wanted to say those words was cut off,

“See you, Ymy, I’ll be cheering you on to becoming an outstanding Priestess.”

Placing the baggage at her feet on her shoulder, Monica waved to her kouhai.

And then three years later.

At this time, these two had no idea that they would happen across each other at the tower once more.

### 043. Chapter 1: As Much as a Wish

## Chapter 1 – As Much as a Wish

### Part 1

Located in the center of the floating continent, a tower so large it pierces the heavens — Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

With two hundred ninety one floors and a height of two thousand metres, it was the largest structure on the floating continent. The pure white tower that extended into the azure sky, creating a beautiful contrast between blue and white which could be seen from the distant living sector.

On the 11th floor of that tower, in a corner of the Cadet lodging.

“No, no, I’ve already said I don’t know anything. I mean it.”

Unique reddish brown hair and on top of that, the eyes of the same color but slightly stronger. A seventeen-year-old boy with a slim body suited to a teenage boy and balanced figure wearing a black jacket.

“Don’t lie. There’s no way you don’t know, being the person himself.”

“……Please spare me.”

In an enjoyment space at a corner of the floor.

He dipped his head and sighed without thinking at the table there.

“Say, Kagura, I’m already sleepy. ……It’s already four in the morning; isn’t this becoming an all-nighter barrage of questioning?”

“There is no problem, the sun won’t rise for a few hours.”

Answering without delay, Kagura sat in the chair opposite him.

She wore a mechanical helmet that had an eye shield that fell below her eyes.

Her ears, which were longer and more pointy than those of humans, were of the [Nell Folk], and she had an impressive, intellectual manner of speaking that mismatched with her youthful appearance.

“I’m not tired?”

“That’s because your Carcadian rhythm is out of sync with mine by half a day. Normally people sleep at night and wake up in the morning, so if somebody doesn’t sleep at night, he or she will be tired.”

“It’s fine. Rather than that, I can’t help but be interested in the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , so tell me about it.”

“……It’s as I said before.”

Rubbing his eyes that were drooping from drowsiness, Sheltis leaked a breath out.

—Though he did know how Kagura felt.

—But he truly did not remember.

The Garden of Eden Corrupted Song which lay ten thousand metres below the floating continent. Brimming with thick miasma and foul water, it was the habitat of the Yuugenshu that repeatedly invaded.

“But three years ago, you fell into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , did you not?”

“It looks like I passed out from the impact. ……Though I just thought of that now.”

The dual swords user that fell into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song three years ago at the age of fourteen was Sheltis.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace had listed him publicly as KIA, but that the boy had lived to return to the floating continent and that he had lost the Shinryoku that people are endowed with in exchange for the exact opposite — the same Mateki as the Yuugenshu, even within this tower there were few that knew.

“Fumu, fumu, well, it’s a miracle you’re even alive.”

Machina Machine Pearl — the girl nodded as she typed something into this personal-use computer.

“You’re quite the vigorous pursuer.”

“That’s because I am half Cadet Guard and half researcher.”

The handful of those who knew that Sheltis had fallen into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

Kagura was one of those few people. No, she also intended to hide that secret. A few days ago when they had battled the powerful Shinryoku practitioner called ‘Golden’ Maha, he had used Mateki in order to save her which led to her coming to know of it.

“But I am truly deeply interested in it. I never thought there was a survivor of the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and that he would house Mateki within himself. It would cause quite a commotion if it were to become publicly known.”

“If you know that, then—”

“It’s fine. I won’t tell anybody else that you carry Mateki.”

She smiled beneath her mechanical helmet.

……Isn’t she a lot more open than before?

The Nell were an openly wary race. When he had first met Kagura who descended from that lineage, she had been wary of him and even been openly hostile. That had improved as a result of the battle with Maha; it could be considered great progress as she even showed him her smile.

“Of course, that also includes Monica, right?”

“……I’m seriously requesting that.”

“Yes. Well, putting that aside, it’s about what the question just before but……I see, it can’t be helped if you can’t remember.”

Kagura regretfully drooped her shoulders.

“Right?”

“But it’s a pity. Somehow……mm? That’s right, it might work if I just ask your body directly.”

“……My body?”

“Yes. I’ll administer sleeping medication and run a CT scan on the entirety of your head. After that, I’ll commence surgery at the operation room. It might work if I attach electrodes to your brain and forcibly stimulate your brain cells.”

“That’s scary!?”

He jumped backwards without thinking while still seated.

“It’s decided! Go on a date with me next time, Sheltis. We’ll meet at this tower’s clinic’s entrance, go around to the X-ray and MRI scan rooms and end off at the emergency surgical room!”

“What kind of date plan is that!? Or rather, what do you plan to do to me!?”

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt, you know? I’ll be gentle since it’s your first time?”

“That’s why I’m asking what you plan to do!?”

“No need to worry. I was just joking a little.”

“……Don’t mislead people.”

She placed the teacup that was on the table to her lips,

“But there aren’t many people I can joke with like this, you know? You could even count how many of them are within Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“……Are those words of praise? Should I be glad?”

“Yes. Looking at it like this, I’m also looking forward to doing my best with the rest of the guards. I’m also a researcher from the Tower Control Bureau, so I haven’t truly experienced anything with the entire force. Of course, I know we’re not playing around but I’m still looking forward to it.”

……Looking forward to it, huh.

Supporting the teacup with both hands, Kagura’s tone matched her words as she seemed a little happier and livelier.

“How about you, Sheltis? As a former Elite Guard.”

“Things that I enjoyed……probably not much.”

“Elite guards are Sennenshi candidates. As a result, the responsibility they shoulder is also great.”

“That’s also true, but that’s not all.”

He rested his head on one hand above the table as he stared into space.

“At any rate, three years ago I strongly felt that ‘I have to become a Sennenshi even a day sooner’. That’s why apart from Leon, I had nobody I was especially friendly with.”

“You were rushing?”

“Yeah, thinking back on it, that’s how it was.”

“Fu—n. Why?”

“Eh. Well, Y………………”

Ymy was waiting — he frantically closed his mouth that was about to say that.

“N-n-n-n-no reason, you know?”

“……How suspicious of you to falter right there. Ah, don’t avert your eyes!”

“Hey, Kagura, how about another cup of tea?”

“You won’t trick me, what’s the rest after “yu”!”

“Yu……Yu-Yuto asked me to do something.”

“Yuto? Ahh, that young girl that’s been coming and going from Sophia Tenketsu Palace with Eyriey lately. Wait, you won’t fool me! If you won’t tell me, I’ll reveal your secret to Monica.”

“That’s dirty!?”

“Come on now, if you don’t say it quickly, I’ll tell Monica—”

“What’s this about me?”

The figure of a person patted Kagura’s shoulder.

“Talking in such a loud voice so early in the morning, and what’s more, yelling out my name.”

Her vivid sakura-colored hair seemed to shine against her pure white ritual clothes. It was a girl with a dignified aura whose Rosario crossed rods were fastened at her waist.

“Ah, good morning, Monica.”

“Kagura and Sheltis, you two are up early as well. There’s still one hour before early morning training.”

“Good morning……actually, for me, rather than waking up, I haven’t even slept yet.”

He greeted Monica, who was tilting her head, with a shrug. Looking at his condition, she seemed to have sensed something as she smiled wryly.

“You’ve been caught by Kagura’s barrage of questioning, haven’t you.”

“You realized?”

“I’ve been through the same thing many times. You just have to wait until her curiosity has been sated.”

Monica put a coin into the meal dispenser beside the enjoyment space.

A bread in packaging came out of the left box and from the water heater in the right box came a teacup which was then filled with coffee.

“What are you two doing for breakfast?”

“Sheltis and I have also bought sandwiches from there. By the way, Sheltis chose hot milk and I had black tea.”

A sweet fragrance was still wafting from the teacup of Kagura who answered with that.

“In Kagura’s case, it’s dinner, right?”

“You could say that. Having dinner while watching the morning sun is also nice.”

Kagura added sugar to her teacup as she answered. She added one, two, three…………and when it came to the fifth scoop.

“Kagura, what are you doing?”

“You ask strange things, Sheltis. Black tea is something you drink, isn’t it?”

“Well……the sugar’s not dissolving in anymore. I seem to recall you also putting in a mountain of honey just before, but you’re still adding more?”

Sheltis pointed at the black tea which had metamorphosed into a syrupy sludge.

“Rather than calling that black tea, it’s more appropriate to say it’s a black tea-like sugar lump. Can you really drink that? Or rather, is it even okay for a human to put that in their mouth?”

“Sugar is a necessary requirement for the brain’s functionality, after all. I drink this ten times a day.”

“Geh……my tongue feels numb just from imagining it.”

“I’m a thinker, so it’s fine. By the way, Monica, what’s the status on the new unit?”

“It was accepted yesterday. It seems the unit’s activities will also begin today.”

Monica stacked her coffee cup on top of her plate with a clack.

“Sheltis, how’s your condition?”

“Thanks to you, I seem fine.”

He had sustained an injury at the Lagoon floating archipelago and grown weary from the harsh battle with ‘Golden’ Maha. He had abused his body in succession, but spent the last few days here resting.

“There’s some reason you’re asking about my condition.”

“Yeah. I wanted to immediately go and take on a mission from the Merit System. We’ll also be able to improve the unit’s teamwork in actual combat.”

“A mission……was there some interesting reward?”

“We’ll search for that as well. I’ll explain, so just wait until I finish drinking this.”

Monica placed the coffee cup to her mouth again.

And Kagura’s expression under the mechanical helmet distorted.

“I can’t believe it no matter how many times I see it. How can you drink that without sugar, Monica; I can’t think of it as something sane to be ingesting that bitter liquid without adding anything.”

Seeing Kagura’s actions, Monica turned to Sheltis with a deeply meaningful look.

“It’s that. How about you, Sheltis?”

“Yeah. I think that’s how it is for me too.”

“That? What’s this about you two?”

Sheltis and Monica answered together in response to Kagura who was tilting her head with a serious expression.

“It’s because somebody’s a child.”

### Part 2

Floor 21 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Organization Terminal Space.

One side of this enormous floor was covered entirely by a line of completely new computers.

The Merit System — in order for Sheltis’ group to be promoted from Cadet Guards into Regular Guards, they had to complete a certain number of missions from Sophia Tenketsu Palace . This was a specialized terminal for the purpose of accepting those missions.

“Come now, Kagura, don’t pout.”

“Wh-who’s pouting! E-even I can……drink coffee without sugar.”

“Yes, yes. It’s best to not force yourself and just drink what you like.”

Pacifying Kagura who was puffing her cheeks, he sat her down in front of the computer. Of the three of them — rather, even out of all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s members, there were none who surpassed Kagura in handling machinery. It would be for the best if they left this terminal to Kagura as well.

“Then I shall start searching. Monica, tell me your preferred mission conditions.”

Starting with defending, a great diversity of missions from the General Affairs Bureau, the Tower Control Bureau, the Environmental Bureau and others came up. From VIP escorts to investigations into the Lagoon floating archipelago , to harmful beast extermination and nightly tower defense. They varied in their difficulties and durations, and more than that, the merit points were spread thin amongst them.

One would have to save a set amount of those points to have the right to challenge becoming a Regular Guard.

“……The first one is a simple thing, after all.”

Monica nodded with her fingertip upon her lip.

“Well then, let’s search starting from ones that end in a few days. The time period is anything from tomorrow and after.”

Kagura’s slender fingers danced over the terminal’s keys as she typed.

“Take a look at this one.”

The girl pointed at the display.

‘ Mission Number 58. ‘Tower Patrol’

Subject ‘Defense’, Destination ‘None’, Duration ’2 days’, Recruits ‘Fifth Unit’ ‘

It was a nightly defense patrol of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s premises.

With the low difficulty, one couldn’t expect many merit points, but it was just right for them to warm up as a new unit. It ending in short time was also favorable.

“I don’t think it’s bad but what about you, Monica?”

“It seems good. There’s still a lot of room left in the recruitments though, so we should look at other missions before deciding.”

“Yes, then we’ll add the additional constraint of ‘outside the tower’.”

‘ Mission number 81. ‘Harmful Beast Extermination’

Subject ‘Subjugation’, Destination ‘Nature District, Eastern Area’, Duration ’1 day’, Recruits ‘Second Unit’ ‘

“Ah, this one might be bad.”

To inform the other two, he crossed his arms into an X shape.

“Why? Harmful beast extermination is a typical mission.”

“This here, the duration period of one day smells fishy. The nature district is more than a hundred kilometres away from here, but doing a round trip and defeating a beast in one day……it’s a pretty difficult time limit. Which means this is probably an emergency.”

There may have been a large outbreak of beasts in the nature district or something large and dangerous like a dragon species may have appeared.

Either way, it was a mission with a high degree of danger.

“……It’s dangerous for a new unit, huh.”

“There’s also that, but you said it yourself, Monica, that we’d be forging our teamwork while undertaking a mission. This won’t suit that, I think. Leaving for the nature district and coming back all in a big rush won’t allow us to deepen our bonds, right?”

“I, I see……a unit leader needs to think that far.”

The new unit leader nodded with a face that seemed impressed and directing a piercing gaze at the screen.

“Kagura, sorry but please bring up the mission before this.”

“Yes. We’re applying for this one, I suspect. I’ll immedi…………mm?”

Kagura’s fingers that had been typing came to a halt.

“What is it?”

“The terminal’s memory changed abnormally……it’s being monitored remotely from another terminal.”

The mouth peeking out from underneath the mechanical helmet stiffened into a line. While he was thinking about that, she suddenly stood up and turned on the computer next to them.

“……This terminal is normal. That means it’s not a system for monitoring the entirety of the defense force. That means we can assume that it’s for monitoring one of our unit member codes.”

There was no unrest in Kagura who was continuing smoothly.

“Is that dangerous?”

“No, it’s most likely an instructor. It’s a commonly used method of confirming our mission statuses. I’m going to ignore it and apply for the mission from just now, but are you fine with that?”

Just when Kagura was about to pull up the screen once again.

Sheltis’ card-type badge that was at the breast of his jacket began vibrating.

“A call?”

“It seems like it, wait a second……”

The badge that a guard carried with them was a card key that both acted as authentication and could perform simple communications.

The size was enough to fit snugly into one’s palm and the interior was the crystallization of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s technology.

“Yes, who is it?”

“ It’s me. ”

“…………”

He cut off the communication with a click.

“Sorry, Monica, it looks like they got the wrong person.”

“Is that so? It didn’t seem like it.”

In the time it took Monica to tilt her head with a look of confusion, a second call came.

“ Suddenly cutting me off like that is quite defiant. “

“……I’m just going to say this ahead of time, but I don’t have time to accompany you in training right now.”

“ I’ve also just returned from an official trip. I have something to talk to you about that, so come to the fourth room on floor 28. It’s a room for Regular Guards, but your member code will be permitted. “

……Look at that, it really is me accompanying you, isn’t it.

Since the moment he heard the voice of the man calling, he had a feeling it would be like that.

“Could it be that the one who’s monitoring my member code is”

“ The absolute authority of a Sennenshi is pretty handy. “

“……This is an abuse of authority.”

He hung up while wanting to look at the heavens.

“Sorry, something urgent came up. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“Well, just a little over there.”

He pointed up with his index finger in response to Monica who asked again.

### Part 3

“……It’s nostalgic.”

Continuing down the path that could fit five full-grown adults standing side-to-side, he looked around at the spread-out rooms.

The tower’s 28th floor was prepared for the guards’ training. The Cadet Guards were assigned the outdoor training grounds so there wasn’t much of a chance to visit here but he remembered from his time as an Elite Guard three years ago.

“The fourth room, so it’s this one……”

He placed his badge to the card reader as Leon had said.

—Authenticated—

“Oh.”

Immediately after the door opened, his eyes were seared by the strong brilliance that imitated the sun.

The room was modeled after a canyon — with the floor as a gigantic boulder and the four walls made of rock that rose perpendicular to the ground, it had been faithfully reproduced.

At the center of that room was a young man in a white longcoat who was standing still.

Upon the white that would make a woman take a second look without thinking was long silver hair which evoked the image of a lion. His burly and well-trained body would remind one of a steel blade.

“I’m here.”

“Jeez, while I was out on official business, what were you doing?”

Leon Nestorius Ova. The man recognized as the greatest great sword wielder on the floating continent. He had been his friend for ten years and his sole rival in peerless swordsmanship.

“What do you mean, I was applying for a mission.”

“Not that. What I wanted to talk about was the mission that I just mentioned.”

……The one you just mentioned?

Let’s see, was there a mission that Leon had told me about.

“It’s the Governmental Sector case. We went on a confidential mission, remember.”

“Ahh, if it’s that one, there’s no way I could forget.”

It had happened three weeks ago. He had been invited by Leon who had received a direct order from Queen Salah to the Lagoon floating archipelago . There, they had discovered a peculiar facility hidden within an island.

Then they had found a hidden Yuugenshu cultivation water tank. It was within the Lagoon floating archipelago which was Governmental Sector territory, so the possibility of it being related to the Governmental Sector was high. Based on that judgment by the executives of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , a meeting had been arranged between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector.

“The meeting is pretty soon, right?”

“It’s in exactly two weeks. And you’ll also be slipping into that meeting.”

……Slipping into?

That almost sounded like he was going to secretly attend the meeting.

“Secretly, you mean? We’re the ones who found the Yuugenshu water tank. I thought we might be called to the meeting as witnesses.”

“It’s the executive office’s job to report that. Discussions aren’t our specialty, after all. It’ll be a complex exchange about that facility behind the scenes, so it’s best to leave that to the experts.

“Ah, well……that’s kind of self-explanatory.”

The Yuungenshu that was sleeping underground was the problem. They had only discovered one, but if there were more by any chance, it would be much too dangerous. The executive office should be able to explain that well.

“The executive office doesn’t specialize in Yuugenshu, so the Yuugenshu’s water tank is”

“Being investigated by those suited to it.”

Leon nodded slightly with his arms crossed.

“The Priestesses are doing it.”

“The Priestesses? The Priestesses are travelling outside the tower?”

He doubted his ears upon hearing the words Leon spoke. That the Priestesses, of which only five existed, would leave the floating continent was unheard of even if they were attending a meeting.

“It just means this is that serious of a matter.”

Perhaps he had thought the same thing as Leon nodded once again with a sigh.

“No matter what the goal, cultivating a Yuugenshu is outrageous. No, to begin with, there is a necessity to obtain confirmation about whether that’s truly possible. If the Priestesses personally set out, then even the Governmental Sector will show some movement. And that role will likely fall to Ymy.”

“Ymy?”

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole — Sheltis’ childhood friend. She had become the fifth Priestess at the age of seventeen and also become able to choose a Sennenshi.

“But Ymy doesn’t have a Sennenshi, so going outside is……”

“None of the other Priestesses are free. The one most suited to discussions is Meimel, but it’ll be right after she finishes maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai in place of the Queen. She’ll be fatigued.”

Of the five Priestesses, the first and third are currently patrolling outside the tower.

The three remaining are the second Priestess, Meimel, the fifth Priestess, Ymy and the fourth Priestess, Syun-rei. If Meimel can’t, then Ymy and Syun-rei are the next candidates but—

“……I see, it’s difficult for Syun-rei.”

Thinking upon the black-haired Priestess, he agreed with Leon.

Syun-rei became a Priestess the youngest and was an outstanding Shinryoku practitioner but she was also burdened with extreme anthropophobia. If it was Syun-rei who couldn’t even walk around the tower without Leon, there was no way she could go to the distant Lagoon floating archipelago on business.

“So by process of elimination, it falls to Ymy?”

“That’s how it is. It seems the third Priestess was going to come back instead of having Ymy travel far but……that’s a waste. I’m going to change back to the original topic, about the mission.”

A Priestess and the upper echelons of Sophia Tenketsu Palace would be setting off for the Governmental Sector. There was only one thing he could think of as a mission for a guard following along.

“An escort?”

“That’s right. Those attending from the Governmental Sector haven’t been announced, but the Chiefs of the General Affairs Bureau and the Office of Management Affairs will be attending from Sophia Tenketsu Palace with two secretaries. Together with the Priestess, that makes five people.

As an escort, five people was a small group, but with a Priestess included, the responsibility was heavy. At any rate, they were the protectors of the floating continent, so there could not even be the chance of an accident.

“Wait, are Cadet Guards like us even allowed to escort Ymy?”

Escorting the Priestesses was entrusted to Sennenshi. Not to mentioned Elite Guards or Regular Guards, but having Cadet Guards as the escort had never been done.

“As you expected, that much is impossible. Considering the tower’s rules and precedents, in all probability, the escorting will be temporarily left with the Cadre Guard.”

The Cadre Guard — out of the Elite Guards who possess superior true ability and repeat the severe ranking competition, this was the person whose skills stand at the summit of that.

……If Ymy were to choose her Sennenshi without waiting for me.

……The guard who would definitely become a Sennenshi, huh.

“Be careful. They’re someone who’ll figure out your true identity if you act carelessly.”

“Eh?”

Sheltis opened his eyes wide at Leon’s abrupt words.

“You also know the person who’s the Cadre Guard right now. You’ll understand if I say it’s ‘Jelshuvessa’ whom you’ve competed with countless times.”

“Jelshuvessa……no way, it can’t be.”

“It’s her.“

“Uaa……wa-wait a second! That’s no joke!”

He yelled out while holding his head.

“I’m bad at dealing with that person. I really can’t tell what they’re thinking.”

The opponent he had competed with countless times as fellow Elite Guards three years ago.

‘She’ stood out from even amongst the Elite Guards. It was such that it was strange that she hadn’t become a Sennenshi up until three years later.

“Even I’m bad at dealing with her. Anyway, I’ve warned you.”

“Yeah……well, it can’t be helped. If it’s her, then there’s no mistaking her skill.”

“Aren’t you honest?”

“It’s because it’s much better than having some random Elite Guard I don’t know escorting Ymy. ……I know I can’t be the one escorting her.”

He had no right to escort a Priestess, being a Cadet Guard. There was still a need for somebody to defend Ymy.

“……To be honest, it’s a little frustrating but there’s no point in bluffing.”

“That’s some admirable attitude. At any rate, that Cadre Guard should temporarily become Ymy’s escort. It’ll be fine if you go along to the Governmental Sector as the escort of the other VIPs.”

“I see, understood.”

He calmly stopped breathing and looked towards the ceiling.

……I wonder why, my heart is pounding.

……Even though my goal of becoming a Sennenshi hasn’t been fulfilled yet. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this tension.

If he was chosen for this mission, he could travel together with Ymy.

It wouldn’t be him protecting her but it felt like the first great step in that direction.

“The first thing is to win that mission. Chances for a Cadet Guard to travel together with a Priestess are rare so the corresponding merit points for the mission are also high. You should keep in mind that other units will also be aiming for it.”

“I’ll do my best. Since the first thing is to win the mission.”

“You do that. Well then, I should be going, I’m keeping Syun-rei waiting.”

“Ah, Leon. Hold up.”

Flapping his coat, he turned towards his back.

“What is it?”

“……Tell Ymy something. We’ll definitely be going together.”

“If I don’t forget.”

Replying with a blunt manner of speech, the silver-haired young man left towards the elevator.

### Part 4

“Well? Was it there?”

“I’m in the middle of searching. ……Ah, this is it, isn’t it.”

Kagura’s fingers which were typing at high speeds on the computer’s keys halted.

‘ Mission number 16. ‘Governmental Sector Dispatch’

Subject ‘VIP Escort’, Destination ‘Governmental Sector’, Duration ’4 days’, Recruits ‘First Unit’ ‘

—This is undoubtedly what Leon was talking about.

Confirming the information upon the screen countless times, Sheltis slightly tightened his fists.

“The date of posting is yesterday……it’s a freshly updated request.”

Beside him, Monica had her arms crossed with a meek face.

With it being a rare deployment to the Governmental Sector and furthermore, including travelling together with a Priestess, the other units must also be extremely interested. Thinking that and investigating it, there were already seventeen units registered as their rivals.

“The recruiting period is until noon tomorrow. They might multiply the closer it gets to the deadline.”

“……It’ll be difficult, Sheltis.”

Monica, who was staring at the screen, knit her brows.

“I know. In exchange, the merit points are also high.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“H-huh? That was wrong?”

He blinked and looked at the screen and Kagura pointed at the bottom left of the screen.

“Please look at this warning carefully, Sheltis.”

“……Four people?”

“Yes. This mission’s recruited units have ‘four people’. We don’t have enough with just us.”

The unit leader, Monica, and the members, himself and Kagura. They were one person short.

“They even have limits on the number of people……”

“No. They exist as provisions, but in reality, they’re rare. The difficulty and importance influence it, but an exact limit like four is uncommon.”

……Was it the Governmental Sector?

It was possible that a limit had been placed on the number of messengers from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“So we need another person if we’re going to participate, huh. After that is”

“Yes, ye—s, Shel-nii! Yuto’s here! Yuto will go too!”

“Then Yuto will; what’s this, it’s perfect. …………Or, wait!?”

There was a sensation of someone clinging to his leg. He timidly peeked down.

“Yuto!?”

The young girl was tightly clinging to his right leg.

Her black eyes were shining with avid curiosity. Her apparent age was five or six. Her shiny black hair was tied into two locks behind her and her azure muffler flowed gently around her neck.

“Shel-nii, I wanted to see you—!”

“U-um……Yuto? I’m happy about being able to see each other too but how did you get in here?”

This was the meeting room, so the door was auto-locking. Those not related to Sophia Tenketsu Palace shouldn’t be able to open the door.

……Ah, no, wait. I have a hint of whose specialty this falls under.

“ Tada—, I’ve kept you waiting. The incompetent Ilis makes her return to the front lines! “

“……It’s Ilis, as I expected.”

“ How cold! You’re terrible, Sheltis, how can you have that reaction to the return of the one who was your partner just a few days ago!? “

Ilis Machine crystal flickered bright red.

“……Two people and one thing have joined three people. Suddenly the room has become more packed.”

Kagura was looking not at Yuto and not at the Ilis machine crystal , but instead her gaze was directed at girl in overalls who had Ilis machine crystal dangling from her neck as a necklace.

“Hey there. Sorry for just barging in suddenly.”

She had unkempt frizzy hair and oil-stained overalls, and her appearance was lacking in make-up or sex appeal, but that suited this simplistic girl best.

Eyriey Leccento — similar to Yuto who was at his feet, she was an acquaintance of his from the living district. They had also been fellow workers at the outdoor cafe ‘The Albireo Two Swans ’ which was located in the second living district.

“What is it. We’re in the middle of a serious meeting here.”

“Now, now. Here, Sheltis, Ilis’ maintenance is done, you know?”

“ Wa-wait, Eyriey! When handing me over, you should be more gent— “

“Whoa.”

He received the machine crystal Ilis, who was voicing some complaint, with both his hands.

“Hey, gotten better?”

“ Of course. If there was something off about me, it would also be a big problem for you, right? “

—I’m glad, it’s the same Ilis as always.

Her strong self-assertion in various areas despite being a machine hadn’t changed at all. ……No, it might have been better if that self-assertion had been fixed.

“Yeah, it’s the same Ilis as always. Thank you, Eyriey.”

“Yes, yes, I also enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s VIP room. Well then, we’ll excuse ourselves here. Come on, Yuto.”

“Eh—……Yuto wants to go with Shel-nii.”

The young girl clung to his leg while saying “Dun wanna, dun wanna”. ……What a predicament. It would feel pitiful if they were to forcefully separate here.

“Umm, shall I look after her for just a little?”

“Ah—, it’s fine if you don’t ignore it. We’re looking for somebody.”

“Is there a lost child? In that case, why don’t you try announcing a lost child on the first floor of the tower?”

“That’s not it. That’s right, I’ll also introduce her to you this time, Sheltis. It’s a girl I came to know while working on Ilis’ maintenance. She’s a really cute girl named Sasa!”

Eyriey winked after lifting Yuto into her arms.

“Sasa?……That’s a strange name.”

The way the name resounded was strange and it was spelled in a way that wasn’t often seen on the floating continent. He had never heard of it in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , not to mention at the living district.

“Is she from the living district?”

“Nope. She seems to be a live-in worker in the tower. Being a General Affairs staff member at only fourteen and even being able to use Shinryoku.”

“She can use Shinryoku?”

The one who knit their brows at that was Monica. It was unmistakably a word that stirred up the interest of Monica who had been an apprentice Priestess.

“That’s right. So after completing Ilis’ maintenance, I thought we could go have fun with her. But when I did a search in the name register for Sophia Tenketsu Palace , nothing popped up.”

“……Was the name wrong?”

“Mm~, truthfully, it didn’t feel like that. That’s why I decided to go around searching on foot. Well then, let’s get going, Yuto.”

“Oka—y. See you, Shel-nii.”

The two boisterous girls dashed down the path.

“Those two are full of energy.”

“ It was the same during my maintenance. Those two are like a lump of energy. Good grief, that Master supervisor ……was really shrewd in getting friendly with Eyriey. “

“Hmm?”

Master supervisor . He felt like he had heard a fairly strange and uncommon word just now.

“Ah, it’s nothing, just me talking to myself.”

“……Well, that’s fine. So what should we do, Monica?”

Eyriey’s group having set off on searching the tower and they had a mountain of problems. They didn’t have enough people for the Governmental Sector mission.

“First, I’d like to have a solid plan.”

Monica operated the terminal in place of Kagura. With experienced movements, she brought up the screen to display the list of defense missions.

There were currently fourteen missions recruiting. Eight of those allowed for a team of three members.

“There are other missions three people can go on. We should decide if we’ll narrow down the missions we can go on with our current team or if we’ll supplement a fourth member.”

They could aim to be Regular Guards even with just the current members. They had to decide if they would continue with the current minimum members or search for more comrades.

“Sheltis, you want to take on that mission, right?”

“That’s right. The merit points are high and there’s no loss in getting experience with VIP escorting.”

Going to the Governmental Sector with Ymy — even without those personal circumstances, it was still a mission worth applying for. The opportunities to escort would increase when they became Regular Guards. He would like for them to gain experience ahead of time as a Cadet Guard.

“VIP escorting and patrolling the nature district, it would be best if we were to experience both of those at least once.”

“……I see, what do you think, Kagura?”

“Sooner or later we’re going to need a fourth member so I have no qualms in aiming for this mission.”

Kagura rested her elbows on the table while holding her head up with her hands.

“That’s unexpected. What’s your reason for thinking that?”

“There is a big difference in the tactics for a three-person team and a four-person team. ……For example, let’s say we’re currently split into the ‘Control Tower’, ‘Vanguard’ and ‘Rear Guard’.”

Kagura’s eyeshield slowly turned towards him.

“Here’s a problem for you, Sheltis. How many different ways can we split three people into these three roles for our tactics? The time limit is ten seconds. Ten……nine……one. Okay, stop.”

“Didn’t you count only three seconds just now!?”

“ 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 patterns. The first person to choose gets three choices. The next person can’t choose the same as the first one, so he or she gets two choices. The last person has the final role, so he or she doesn’t get to choose. ”

Even Ilis’ voice sounded like one of somebody who had just seen something pitiful.

“……Are you possibly making a fool out of me?”

“Well, keep listening. Like was said just now, we can only form 6 patterns with three people. However, with four people, that become 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 patterns. Just by adding one person, it increases by four times. That’s a big difference.”

The limit of a three person unit with the three roles of ‘Control Tower’, ‘Vanguard’ and ‘Rear Guard’.

However, adding a fourth person would allow, for example, Monica to not be the control tower and instead act using her Shinryoku techniques that she learned as an apprentice Priestess.

“The battle strength of one more person is necessary, huh……that’s right, but the problem is who to invite.”

Monica sighed with her arms folded.

“Unfortunately, I have no clue. How about you, Sheltis?”

“Same here.”

“ For the time being. “

Ilis Machine crystal said that with a sigh and murmured.

“ In times like this, why not consult with that instructor? “

### Part 5

Floor 287 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

There were only four rooms established on this vast floor. They were the rooms of the fourth and fifth Priestesses as well as the Sennenshi that guard those two.

Out of those, at the room assigned to the fifth Priestess.

“Ah— jeez, it’s busy, so busy! Why did it come to this!?”

Holding a large luggage bag with both arms, the girl with faint off-golden hair whined.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole — she was a lovely girl with jade green eyes and was clad in pure white vestments.

She was valued at an absolute rank in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

She was a guardian deity of the floating continent but in contrast to that holy image,

“I-I’m done with this—!”

Her shout spread throughout the living room.

“What do I do, what do I do……I have to get ready, discuss the plans and my training schedule as a Priestess is also jam packed.”

She stared intensely at her notebook’s calendar while constantly sitting and standing from a chair.

In comparison to Ymy who was flustered like that,

“I understand that you’re busy but you’re wasting too much time just panicking like that, you know?”

Leon said while sitting directly on the carpet.

“B-but, but, suddenly participating in the meeting with the Governmental Sector……I didn’t hear anything about this!?”

“You’ll likely only have to say one thing until you reach the Governmental Sector. The small discussions will be handled by the Chief of the General Affairs Bureau.”

“That one thing is difficult……”

—But yeah, there’s no point in yelling.

She reverted her ballooned cheeks and sat down in a chair.

“But, you know, haven’t there been a lot of events lately? Even though I greeted everyone not too long ago, I only have two weeks until the meeting with the Governmental Sector.”

“There are no other substitutes from the Priestesses, after all.”

“It’s not that, ……The true duty of a Priestess is to pray together with the Salah Queen -sama for the barrier. Greeting everyone and participating in a meeting are completely different.”

Those are of a totally different importance and I think it’s not good that a Priestess is intruding into that. Just like this time, going out as a means of negotiating with the Governmental Sector would be unthinkable normally.

“I am……still inexperienced but if the Priestesses didn’t do their best, the barrier around the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song would dissolve. As I thought, I really want to do my best to prevent that instead.”

“Was this a hint from Meimel?”

“No, it’s just something I thought about myself……is it strange?”

“No.”

Leon said that with a face that was serious about something.

“I just thought it was a very Priestess-like way of thinking. In a good sense, it means that I’ve heard that you understand the necessity and importance of Priestesses.”

“I-is that so?”

……He is praising me, right?

It couldn’t be helped that having Leon who rarely complimented others say that would leave one feeling ticklish.

“Did something happen?”

“Eh……”

“Did something happen to make you change your thinking about Priestesses?”

“I-it’s not anything as major as that……probably.”

I just — want to purify the Mateki residing within Sheltis.

For he who is doing his best and aiming to become a Sennenshi, I would just like to be able to respond to him.

“Just like you, Leon……I just thought that I had to study more.”

While being recognized as the strongest great sword user on the floating continent, even now he continued to train and moderate himself more harshly than anyone else. That was something no one should emulate.

“If so, all the more reason that you shouldn’t be flustered over something of this degree.”

“Th-that’s because……well……umm.”

After being hard-pressed for a reply, while twirling the napkin upon the table.

“What is it?”

“No……we-well……”

……It’s hard to tell Leon, isn’t it.

……That I’d like to spend time choosing my clothes and other things if Sheltis is coming along.

“What, so it’s about Sheltis?”

“—Y-you’re wro!? I-I-I, I-I didn’t ha-have that kind of intention?”

“You’re not speaking clearly.”

Oh boy, I thought she’d become a little more Priestess-like……sighing while looking like he wanted to say that, Leon stared at her with a deeply meaningful look.

“I don’t mind if you think about him but I’m begging you, don’t show that flirtatious attitude when you have to act like a Priestess. It’ll set a bad example for your subordinates.”

“Uu……kuu? But! You don’t have the right to say that!”

“Ohh?”

Leon’s eyes flashed aggressively.

“Saying that I’m flirtatious is interesting. I’d like you to tell me just how I’m flirtatious.”

“There’s no need to tell you.”

Gently shaking aside the hair in front of her eyes, she pointed in his direction.

“……What’s that on your lap?”

“Hrm?”

The lap of Leon who was sitting cross-legged directly on the carpet.

A girl wearing kimono-style vestments was there sleeping soundly.

“It’s Syun-rei.”

“It’s Syun-rei, right?”

It was the early afternoon. The girl who was sleeping happily with shallow breaths and the one supporting her, the silver-haired young man.

The degree of warmth in that motif was enough to make one sigh just from looking and inspire a painter to paint a picture just from passing by.

“Wait, Ymy.”

He called for her to wait with an ever-serious face.

“Whaaat is it?”

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t do anything. Syun-rei did this on her own.”

“ …………Welcome back, Leon. “

“ …………I’m sleepy. “

Syun-rei approached Leon who was sitting on the carpet. Facing that lap, she suddenly lay down and while he was thinking about what to do, she fell asleep.

“But she won’t wake up even though we’ve talked this much. Was she that sleepy?”

The young man tilted his head with a look of admiration.

“She was lonely while you were traveling, Leon. Isn’t it that she’s relieved?”

She rested her chin on her hands above the table and gazed at the two.

……Ah, but.

……Syun-rei looks like she’s really enjoying her sleep.

Syun-rei rolled over as she watched. Soft murmuring, “U……n,” she was really sleeping upon Leon’s lap with a relieved expression.

……Somebody……it seems really nice.

……Being that relieved and supported……it’s against the rules.

I don’t know what to say but, like this, they really suit each other.

Syun-rei had a small build to start with and Leon was blessed with a good physique even amongst men.

Because it was those two, they became like a painting and the happiness from them reached others; it was already at an unfair level, that truly wonderful scene.

In comparison with that, her and Sheltis were—

Mateki and Shinryoku, it was the law of the world that they would reject each other.

He and I……can’t touch even a single fingertip.

That’s why it was well-known to her that the relationship of the two before her eyes was her ideal.

Wishing and wishing and it was still further on, a relationship that was much too far from her.

“Th-that’s against the rules! There’s too much power in that!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ju-just talking to myself!”

Yeah, there’s no way……I’m jealous. I’ll absolutely one day also have a relationship like that. I’ve decided to dream of that and do my best, after all.

“…………”

“What’s wrong, Leon? You suddenly went quiet.”

“The meeting will be soon.”

Leon alternated from looking at the clock on the wall of the room to the Priestess on his lap.

“……When will Syun-rei wake up?”

“I think it’ll probably be a while longer.”

“…………”

A second silence.

“Ymy.”

“What?”

“……Help me. I can’t move.”

“Isn’t it fine, just indulge a Priestess’ selfishness for a day.”

Smiling — Ymy watched over the two before her eyes.

### 044. Chapter 2: Three People Plus One

### Part 1

Tenketsu Palace, Outdoor Training Grounds.

The roaring sound of water and fog-like mist. She was there in the field where an imitation waterfall was flowing magnificently from a steep cliff.

She wore a navy blue suit devoid of any wrinkles along with a bright red necktie. Carrying a pitch black whip, she sputtered smoke from the cigarette in her mouth.

It was Instructor Yumelda who was known as a demonic coach amongst the Cadets.

“Ah, there you are. Instructor, the truth is I have something I’d really like to consult you about.”

Sheltis called out to that back profile.

“No.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!?”

“I’m joking. So what did you need?”

While spinning a spare cigarette with her fingertips, she gradually turned towards him.

“Well, it’s about the four person limit for mission number 16 from the merit system”

“No.”

“That’s! Why! I said! I haven’t finished saying everything!?”

“It’s something I’ll understand even if I don’t hear it all. You want to go on that mission that has a four person limit but you don’t have any comrades outside of your group of three. You’d like to see if it’s possible to apply with just three people or otherwise be introduced to someone who seems like they would enter your unit as the fourth member ─── that’s about it, right?”

The instructor stared sidelong at the Cadet Guards participating in mock battles opposite the waterfall. She wrote down an evaluation on the score sheet in her hand and showed a grin.

“Well?”

“ Perfect. It’s accurate to the point that it can’t even be grumbled about. “

The Ilis machine crystal flickered. That the Ilis machine crystal who rarely complimented anyone would give praise of this degree showed that the instructor’s observation was just that spot-on.

“ It’s very interesting. How did you figure it out to such a degree? “

“There were other units that came to me with the exact same question. You guys are just starting late; the other units already started moving to secure a fourth member yesterday, you know?”

In others words, all the people with prowess were already snatched up.

“By the way, up to today a total of twenty teams have registered for mission number 16. The screening has already started so if you want to get in, you better hurry.”

“……Is what she says. What do we do, Sheltis?”

He stared into space while feeling the gazes of both Monica and the instructor.

───Even if the competition amongst units is harsh, I’d still like to aim for that mission.

It wasn’t just because he wanted to go together with Ymy. There was that Yuugenshu cultivation water tank at that facility as well. Then there was the girl who was known as the Forbidden Crystal.

……I have to go, that’s what my gut is telling me.

“It’s just my selfish wish, but I’d really like to find a fourth member and take that mission.”

“I see. Then it can’t be helped, I have a single candidate in mind.”

And with that, Kagura lifted her head that was staring at the Machina machine pearl ’s screen.

“Ehh……Kagura has someone in mind?”

“Yes. It will be hard to win him over but I think [he] will be good.”

He, meaning a male Cadet Guard. But who? To think that she, whom everyone knew tended to be weary of strangers, would go as far as to recommend them herself.

“Fumu, I’m interested. Who is it?”

“Him. The problem child that the instructor also knows very well───”

The instant Kagura replied, the instructor was was about to put a cigarette in her mouth froze up.

“……Hey, you wouldn’t be about a name that starts with ‘V’.”

“It is that very one. We will invite him.”

“No, well, hold up, Kagura. Don’t be so rushed.”

With an uncharacteristically meek expression, instructor Yumelda held onto the shoulder of the girl wearing a mechanical helmet.

“He won’t become a fighting force. That eccentric guy……it’ll be negotiable if it’s just registering a member, but you can’t expect anything from him as a comrade.”

“Well, we’ll see. Come on, we’re going, Monica, Sheltis.”

Kagura shook off the instructor and quickly continued on.

“……Problem child?”

“……Eccentric guy?”

Both of them left behind, Sheltis and Monica exchanged looks.

### Part 2

“His characteristics?”

Kagura said while looking at the guidance screen on the Machina machine pearl . She was heading away from the training grounds and Monica called out to her with a stiff expression.

“Yeah, the instructor’s reaction was kind of……not good.”

“It is as the instructor said. He’s a ruffian and a sloth, as well as an outcast from the rest of the Cadet Guards. In the five years since he enlisted, he has done at best one or two missions.”

“……He sounds like quite a horrid guy. I wonder if there’s a reason for it. For example, a serious illness or the like.”

“No, he is the type that only has his body’s sturdiness to brag about.”

The girl with the mechanical helmet replied smoothly. She stealthily exchanged glances with Monica who was about to speak and then it was Sheltis’ turn to inquire.

“A strong body means……he has good endurance?”

“That’s probably not true. He has the basic body strength but he’s the type that thinks training is a pain so his strength probably ranks in the middle of the lower half or the bottom of the upper half. He also has no exceptional techniques.”

Those were the backbone of a Cadet Guard. He found that harsh training to be a pain and was a ruffian and a lazy person.

……Is such a person really okay?

“By the way, Kagura, why did you think that person was good?”

“ Because he’s a good-natured person. “

A good-natured person? I wonder what she means. He looked at Monica from the side and she shrugged her shoulders saying, “Don’t ask me.”

Several minutes after they started walking.

In front of a bench that was far away from the training grounds, Kagura suddenly stopped.

“Okay, we’re here.”

“……Nobody’s here though.”

Looking around in front of the bench, there was not a single person there. Just to make sure, he also looked around at the surroundings, but there was not a hint of a Cadet Guard like [him] whom Kagura had described.

“Sheltis, not there, over here. Here, look up.”

“Up?”

What Kagura pointed to was not the bench but the large tree beside it that was almost a hundred years old.

The moss-covered trunk was about the diameter of even an adult’s embrace. That split into a complex set of branches and even further along those, the leaves were in full bloom.

“He should be here skipping training around now. So take this.”

Here, she said as she handed him an iron mallet.

“The interior is filled with gunpowder, so if you strike the base of the tree, it will release an immense explosion noise. It was originally for catching bugs atop the trees. By the way, it’s pending a patent.”

“……So it’s your invention. So I hit the trunk?”

He brandished the heavy mallet with both hands. He added his waist’s movement to his muscular strength and, just like that, slammed the mallet into the center of the trunk as hard as he could.

Zun ─── came a roaring sound.

The explosion noise rattled the large tree and the immense explosion noise echoed in the surroundings.

“〰〰〰Iittt huuurts……my ears……my ears are breaking!?”

He thought his ears were getting done in by the excessive explosion noise.

“ Sheltis……you’re that kind of person. Couldn’t you tell beforehand that it would be like this? “

“Shut up.”

He looked back at Kagura while covering his ears that were still hurting.

“Kagura, I wasn’t told that the noise would be this extreme!”

“I have my ears hidden by this mechanical helmet, after all. Look, Monica also took refuge far away.”

“Isn’t that unfair!?”

“Come now, don’t say that. Look, our goal fell out properly.”

After Kagura pointed overhead───

Zaa……zuzazazazza……zazaaa……together with severed branches and countless leaves, something fell from the upper part of the large tree.

The one that fell backwards onto the ground was a young man.

“I…, i………it huuuuuuuuurts!?”

Letting out a yell, that Cadet Guard sprang up.

He had short-trimmed blond hair and light brown eyes. He was taller than Sheltis by about a fist’s length and he was muscular with a large build as Kagura had said. He looked to be in his early twenties. His looks were orderly but wasted because of how bad his face was; he was that kind of man.

“Ah, s-sorry. Are you okay ─── u-uwaa!?”

“Ahh!? Yoouu, you’re the bastard who’s disturbing other people’s sleep!?”

Calling out to him, the young man grabbed his collar.

“You’re pretty brave, aren’t you; if you’re looking for a fight then───”

“Yes, yes, stop there. Well, wait just a bit, Vaiel.”

Kagura held the fist of the man called Vaiel tightly.

“Huh? Who are you? Why are you suddenly butting in?”

“I apologize for disturbing your nap. We have come today with a request for you.”

“Haa, who the heck would listen to what a brat like you has to say.”

“Come now, don’t say that. The thing is”

“Do you want your front teeth broken? I already said I won’t listen!”

“It will take fifteen minutes.”

“Get lost. Get lost right now.”

“Then ten minutes.”

“…………Farewell.”

“No.”

The hand of Vaiel who was about to leave was once again grabbed by Kagura.

“You……can’t you hearing me telling you to get lost?”

“The thing is we’re looking for a fourth member for our unit.”

“I see, it seems you wanna be sent flying. Grit your teeth.”

“And we have selected you. We have already told Instructor Yumelda.”

“Hey, somebody take her to a hospital; this isn’t even worth con───”

“First comes the explanation of the unit.”

“………………Damn brat.”

Vaiel’s eyebrows stiffened and he fell silent.

In contrast to he who seemed to be ready to throw a punch any second, Kagura was looking up at that with an unchanging nonchalant tone.

“ Uwaa── amazing, she’s silenced her opponent. Look, Sheltis, that’s how it’s done. That kind of self-centered negotiation. Please learn from it. “

For some reason, the Ilis machine crystal was being lively and seemed to be enjoying herself.

“Learn that?……I don’t wanna.”

Sheltis shook his head with a speechless look.

“Five minutes. I won’t listen for even a second more.”

Vaiel sat on the bench with a thump.

“Then I shall be brief. If I had to sum it up, we’re looking for someone to join our unit and we have come to invite you.”

“You guys’ unit?”

He leered over here and smiled.

“Hah! Two girls with no sex appeal and some mediocre looking brat. This unit looks like you’re playing house.”

“……Hey, Kagura, what’s with this guy. This kind of rude guy───”

As expected, Monica couldn’t keep silent and she stepped up front.

“Yes. We’d very much like you to take up the papa role in this play house.”

“…………”

Having it returned so deftly, Vaiel fell silent once again.

“……I don’t feel like it. To begin with, three people is good enough for a unit. You can go on missions and also become Regular Guards. You don’t need me.”

“There is a four-person mission we want to go on.”

“Hah, aren’t you honest! In short, it’s that, you want to just make up for your lack of numbers!?”

Vaiel scoffed. In the face of those provocative argument, without so much as a change in face color, Kagura slowly shook her head.

“I told you. That we would like to add you as a proper member.”

“…………”

“If you look at us, we’re a mish-mash of members, but I recommend us.”

“Are you stupid? Who would trust a mish-mash of three brats?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Right? So───”

Kagura shot out her hand in front of him as he tried to put an end to the conversation.

“So let’s do it like this. First, we’ll go on a mission together. Then we’ll see how it goes.”

“There’s no chance.”

“You don’t want to?”

“I don’t. I’ll pass on annoying stuff like that.”

It was curt. Resolutely cutting it off, he confirmed the time on his watch.

“It’s been five minutes. I’m gonna go sleep, so listen. Don’t appear before me ag───”

“Wait.”

Kagura called out to the back of the man who didn’t even turn around.

“I see. Then we’ll go with the last method: persuasion by force.”

“Hah, you will?”

That calm manner of speaking seemed to grate on his nerves. Vaiel looked over with an expression that was half-angry and half-sneering.

“Yes. Until you cry and beg for forgiveness───”

“Ha ha ha, a hit from a brat like you won’t hurt or even itch.”

“ I take it you are fine with me leaking your secret throughout Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? “

For an instant, nobody understood the meaning of those words and a eerie calm settled.

“…………Oi, what do you mean by that?”

“It’s simple. I have over one hundred observation cameras that I personally installed within the tower so I know secrets that people never want others to know.”

She pointed with her finger.

In that instant, the floating Machina machine pearl divided into a puzzle piece shape and spread out in the air. On that small piece, something was installed ─── a small camera with a high-powered lens.

“……You couldn’t have.”

He seemed to have understood what she meant as he bit hard on his molars.

“Have you understood that this is not a threat? Well then, what were you doing in a place nobody knows about, I wonder. For example, yesterday at the storehouse next to the outdoor training grounds──────”

In that instant, Vaiel’s face suddenly went pale.

“Wai-wait a second! That’s dirty, how is this not a threat!”

“It’s not a threat, it’s a negotiation. Once is fine, so come with us on a mission just once. If you do, I promise I won’t leak your secret to anyone. Of course, the decision of whether to properly join after the mission will be your own.”

“…………Interesting. Let’s do this, peeping young lady.”

The young man’s fist was trembling and a dangerous smile floated up on his face.

“Negotiations have succeeded then.”

“……That compromise will only happen once. Got it?”

“Yes.”

She nodded seriously and then turned to come over here.

“Well then, Vaiel, I’ll introduce you to our unit. This is Monica, the unit leader. The unattractive one beside her is Sheltis.”

“The unattractive bit was unnecessary!”

His complaint was easily ignored.

“Well then, Vaiel, you also introduce yourself. With your full name.”

“Ha? Who would go to the trouble of naming himself to people he’s only going to go on one mission with. This Vaiel Bahhabel has no name to give you!”

He raised his voice and folded his arms.

……Umm.

Not thinking on how to react, Sheltis timidly put his thoughts to words.

“You just named yourself. You said Vaiel Bahhabel.”

“I also heard that.”

“ It’s also perfectly recorded in my logs. “

“Ah…………”

Having finally realized it after having it pointed out to him, he kept his arms folded and opened his mouth.

“Y-you guys, that was nothing just now, nothing! Forget it, forget it immediately!”

He went bright red and flapped his arms.

“See? He’s unexpectedly amiable.”

Pointing at him like that, only Kagura chuckled with a smile.

### Part 3

Floor 48 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Mechanical Bureau Reception Lobby.

“Shasa……Shasa, huh. I did a name search, but it’s not showing up……it doesn’t seem like she’s our bureau’s member.”

It was a past middle-aged man who was looking at an electronic terminal’s screen.

“I see, thanks, occhan. I’ll go search again.”

……Hm──, didn’t find her like I thought.

Scratching at her unkempt orange hair, Eyriey sighed for the umpteenth time today.

“Maybe it’s the General Affairs Bureau or Tower Control Bureau? The ones with the highest member count are those two so the change is high.”

“Ohh, that’s good information! Well then, I’ll go check it out!”

“Is she an acquaintance?”

“Yeah, that’s it, it’s a girl I just became friends with not too long ago in the tower. I was a little interested.”

[The next time we can meet will be in one month.]

It seemed like as an office girl, she would be swamped with work for a month.

“I thought that it was quite a difficult job so I was going to give her some candy.”

“Ohh. Then you really must search for her.”

“Yeah. Later then, occhan, sorry for bothering you in the middle of work.”

Waving at the staff member that was boxed in at the counter, she once again dashed down the path.

……As I thought, not here either.

There had been no matches in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s name registry. After that, she had been checking every Bureau’s individual name registries at random but the name ‘Shasa’ had not had a match.

[My name is Shasa Endens Lin Kale.]

[It's difficult to remember, isn't it. Everybody knows me as Salah, so you can also use that."

She was sure she had named herself as that.

"Mm── this is looking more and more like I misheard it. Hey, Yuto?......Yuto?"

The young girl she should have been with wasn't there. Eyriey noticed that after rounding the path's corner and nearing the elevator.

"......Nooot good."

With haste, that was the moment Eyriey's objective went from searching for someone to searching for a lost child.

### Part 4

The sound of passing through that rent the wind.

That which was dancing about in the sky roared and nosedived, approaching in one go.

"One unit approaching, jump to the left!"

Responding to the girl's voice behind him, he jumped. Dodging the black scrap of metal that passed by right beside him, Sheltis slashed into open space with his right sword.

────Clang!

The deflected scrap of metal flew in the exact opposite direction and collided with another scrap of metal. Becoming entangled, the two scraps unified and fell to the ground.

"Monica, go right, and Sheltis, go around the right just like that!"

Kagura was the one giving out successive instructions.

While checking both the screen of the eyeshade and the Machina machine pearl at the same time, she calculated the path which would guarantee optimal dodging space.

" Ohh, this is pleasant. Maybe I could have an afternoon nap? "

"Don't say such easygoing things!"

Silencing the Ilis machine crystal ' carefree talking, he defended against the black scraps coming one after another with his left sword. Taking the strikes and killing off the impact with the back of the sword, he struck them down with his other sword the moment they stopped.

He did that how many times of times───

"Stop right there."

The instructor's order reverberated across the testing grounds.

"Fumu, it was passable."

Instructor Yumelda wrote a number down on her score sheet.

"Shooting down count ─── Sheltis, 74, Monica, 21, Kagura, 1......that totals to 96 for the unit; it's passable that it didn't reach triple digits. There were two instances of being shot as well."

"It looks like we'll pass the screening."

Monica said as she put a bottle of drinking water to her lips.

"The criteria for the first screening are shooting down over 90 and only being shot up to 7 times. It's a number for screening so it would be troubling if this didn't pass."

......For the time being, the first screening has been cleared, huh.

He disassembled the blades Ilis machine crystal had constructed and put the swords that had become only hilts into their holders.

"However, that was another extreme assignment of roles."

The instructor who was blowing tobacco smoke narrowed one eye.

"Kagura is specialized to control, Monica is interception and Sheltis is the suicide attacker. It's incomparably extreme. An organization whose capacity would be paralyzed immediately if a single person fell isn't something I should be praising."

"Please say that it's the right person in the right place."

"You sure can say it well. By the way, where's the Vaiel problem child ? I heard you'd roped him in."

"Ahh, if you're talking about him."

Kagura pointed to the bench that lay beyond the sandy soil. Taking up a position at the center of that was a blond young man who seemed to be in a bad mood and oozed an air of not wanting to do anything.

"I don't see anything but his usual self. He's not going to participate in the mission's screening?"

"Our promise with him is that we'll travel together for the mission so the screening before the mission is outside of our negotiations."

"......Well, I don't mind if you guys says you're fine with it."

An appalled sigh or sympathy or otherwise ────── the smile leaking onto the instructor's face was filled with numerous emotions.

"By the way, you guys have no external injuries? Excess stamina?"

"We're fine."

Sheltis, who reflexively answered like that, regretted it immediately after.

"Okay, then we'll do up to the second screening today."

"Eh?"

" ......Sheltis? "

"......People like you."

"......What are you doing."

### Part 5

They changed locations to a shaded water supply area───

"......Well, sorry."

Unable to withstand the silent pressure, Sheltis submissively apologized.

───Though the truth is there was a reason.

He thought the question the instructor asked there was also a part of the screening test. If they gave a weak-sounding response there, they'd be targeted for a failing grade. Fearing that, he had answered more quickly than anyone else but it had backfired.

"It has already happened, so it can't be helped."

Monica waved her hand at the base of her neck.

A slight feverishness tinged her snow-white nape. Her skin's pigments were probably faint to begin with. That appearance made one naturally feel that it was sweet and amorous.

"At any rate, let's clear the second screening as well. Two hours later......I heard that it will be a unit battle."

Monica was regathering her hair into one lock when her expression stiffened.

"It's a four-person battle, so we'll need Vaiel to participate as well."

"Haa?"

The person in question who was sprawled on the bench said crossly,

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, don't joke around. This is different; I said I'd go on the mission, but I didn't hear anything about participating in this farce of a unit battle."

"But───"

"Well now, Vaiel, how about this."

Interrupting Monica, Kagura took a step forward in her place.

"You don't have to do anything other than come out just to fulfill the number requirement. If you're at the very back of the formation, then there will be no reason for the opponent to attack you."

"You mean the rear guard?"

"Yes. Otherwise, I suppose I'll leak that secret to everyone."

"H-hey! You......"

Perhaps it was a really hazardous secret as Vaiel's face immediately went pale.

"How about it?"

"......Damn it, but I'm only being the rear guard. Even if you make a mistake, I'm not moving up front."

"Of course."

Understanding the meaning of his words, Kagura smiled.

"Sheesh. This is the worst, why did I have to meet these kinds of people today."

Vaiel turned around while cursing. Monica chased after him.

"Hey, Vaiel, where are you going?"

"Ahh? I'm just going to get my weapon. Should I go out completely unarmed? I haven't used it lately, so it hasn't even been maintained."

He shrugged without looking back. With his formal clothes draped over his shoulder, he was without a single weapon just as he'd said.

"B-but independent movement is......"

" Do you not trust a single word your comrade says? "

"!"

This time it was Monica's turn to fall silent.

"......Understood. After your weapon's maintenance is complete, please meet us at the southern desert field."

"I'm not a brat. I at least remember the location."

"......We'll be gathering in an hour and a half."

"You're persistent, I said I'll keep my promise ."

Leaving behind his words in a tone that sounded neither like a lie nor a truth, the young man lazily walked away. They became unable to see that well-built back.

"......He got me."

Monica smiled bitterly with complex emotions on her face.

"I couldn't retort with anything for a moment there. ......That's right, he's also our comrade right now. Then I must believe that he will come on time."

It was truly risky. If Vaiel didn't have the intention of keeping his promise or his weapon's maintenance wasn't finished in time, they would be short of people for the unit battle and lose by default.

"He will come."

But as if to dispel that insecurity, Kagura lightly nodded.

"......Aren't you quite trusting of him?"

"Yes. Sheltis, you also heard. He said that he would keep his promise."

However, it couldn't be helped that he would become even more interested. The [secret] that had been used in the negotiations with Vaiel was the only thing that hadn’t been told to Sheltis and Monica.

“Say, Kagura, is the secret that you say you ‘ will reveal ‘ really amazing of a secret?”

“No, it is absolutely nothing major.”

“Eh?”

“It’s nothing major, but it has great importance for him.”

……What does that mean?

But even with him and Monica asking her, Kagura didn’t tell them.

“Rather than that, we’re having a strategy meeting. First is the formation───”

### Part 6

A desert ─── one of the harshest fields aboveground.

The shining assassin-like direct sunlight coming from overhead was burning his eyelids and the fine sand mixed with metallic materials underfoot was reflecting the sunlight back. There were no shadows or oases in those hot rays.

It was normally forty degrees Centigrade, and depending on the day it had been recorded to reach fifty degrees.

It was a plot of land that faithfully replicated the deserts that lay far from the floating continent. It was the stage designated for the second screening.

“Ahh──……It’s such a pain with this heat, what the Hell was the guy who made it thinking?”

Vaiel had his formal clothes’ sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

On his two hands were Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors . They extended all the way from his fists to his elbows and had numerous designs on the front that showed the formal carved seal of Shinryoku.

“That’s quite an uncommon weapon.”

“Ahh? This is?”

Nodding wordlessly, Sheltis also readied his dual swords in both hands.

“Since I haven’t really seen anybody who uses them.”

Knuckle Dusters Iron fist protectors were a weapon that specialized in [ hitting ].

They aimed to raise striking power and also protect the fists from the impact.

Depending on how they were used, they were stronger than edged weapons because of their ease-of-use but───

“You’re not going to say it’s dangerous?”

“……Hmph.”

A Yuugenshu’s entire body was a lump of curses. For that reason, using hand-to-hand combat which required close proximity was extremely dangerous. Even though there were Shinryoku carved seals upon those Knuckle Duster iron fist protectors , it was the same as saying that taking an attack with anything other than those fists would result in being showered with Mateki.

For example, the Sennenshi, Ran ─── she was the sole guard who fought Yuugenshu empty-handed, but that was because her skin was directly engraved with the formal carved seals. It was because she had endured the harsh pain and rejection reactions of the carved seals that she was permitted to do that. If it wasn’t like that, fighting up-close with a Yuugenshu was a suicidal action.

Yes, unless they were extremely reckless or were unparalleled in skill.

“I haven’t used any other weapons before.”

“Ah, i-is that so?”

……So it was because he’s reckless.

He scratched his cheek in response to the answer he had somewhat expected.

“I’m just gonna say this, but I’m only here to make up for the count. I’ll just be loafing off in the rear guard.”

“……That’s what we promised.”

It seemed like he really intended to make up for the count. His behavior didn’t beget any will to participate in the unit battle……but if he had no intention of becoming a Regular Guard, why had he entered the tower in the first place?

“Can I ask one thing? Do you have some kind of goal, Vaiel? Like aiming to become a Sennenshi or something.”

“None. To begin with, even though I had no interest in becoming a Regular Guard, that Instructor Yumelda half-forced me to enlist. The instructor’s a scout or something like that.”

“A scout? That’s definitely strange.”

There was no end to the hopefuls who enlisted as a guard. At any rate, out of those who were skilled in martial arts, an instructor singling one of them out was exceedingly rare.

“It’s a real nuisance for me though.”

“But───”

Something had caught the instructor’s eye. There were also the hopes of the instructor and it should be fine for them to aim to become Regular Guards together.

“It’s time. You two, get into your positions.”

Suddenly interrupting their conversation, the Monica unit leader raised her voice from behind.

“Sheltis, I’m sorry but I’ll be relying on you.”

“ Rather, we’re welcoming that. Work him as hard you want. “

“Is what she says.”

Flicking Ilis machine crystal to silence her, he lined up to the right of Monica.

……That’s right, I have to focus on this first.

The battle with four people unified as a unit.

On the opposing sand hill about twenty metres away. Beside that should be their starting position.

“Well then, we’ll start. First unit, limit of four people.

The format is [ Open Flag ], time limit is three hours.”

The instructor’s reverberating announcement.

Open Flag ─── one of the main methods for unit battles. One person from the team would be the general and defeating that person would constitute victory. Who was the captain would be openly known to both sides and that person would come under concentrated attacks.

“Kagura, I leave it to you.”

“My specialty is escaping, after all.”

She sat down on the floating Machina machine crystal with a pwoof.

“Ohh, you can ride that?”

“It also serves as an emergency pod that accommodates one person. Rather than that, Sheltis, you need to attack the enemy general or we won’t win. You know that.”

“───Suicide attacker, right.”

The general holding out at the back would be Kagura and the central interceptors were Monica and Vaiel. And the duty assigned to him was front line enemy lines penetration.

“Start!”

At the same time that the instructor’s order came, four shadows flew out from the sand hill.

Two of them were approaching without hesitation while the other two were keeping their distance and circling around.

“ The general is positioned in the back. It’s a standard formation with two up front and two in the back. “

“That’s convenient.”

Against their vanguard that consisted of two people, they also had two interceptors. Without significant difference in their battle strength, Kagura’s defense line wouldn’t fall. The only thing left was for him to engage the two in the rear guard in a solo suicide attack.

“……Let’s go.”

He broke into a run and accelerated.

He kicked off the sand and jumped, closing the distance between him and the opponent’s vanguard.

───Two people in the vangaurd.

───One used a rod and the other and the other wielded a metal cane.

Either of their weapons had long reach and were well-suited to high-speed movement during use.

Whooooosh.

The rods whipped up the sand and the metal cane came crashing down from above. It was a pincer strike. He blocked the rod and used the resultant impact to dodge the metal cane.

It was a momentary passing.

Passing by each other, they only exchanged glances as they ran.

……So they won’t pursue me.

There was no meaning in a showdown between vanguards in Open Flag. If they wasted time on a match between the vanguards it would only serve to heighten the chances of a draw. Both sides were only aiming for the general.

The rest was a battle against time.

Dashing up the hill, he chased after the two who were trying to widen the gap with him.

“ One is a heavy spear guard and the other one is…… “

Before the Ilis machine crystal could finish speaking, something silver flew over.

The thing shining with the sunlight showering it was a circular blade. On that large flat circular blade was a donut-like hole in the center. One, two, three of those drew arcs───

“ Chakram Throwing steel , huh.”

A throwing weapon that resembles the full moon. They didn’t have much power on their own, but each circular blade was razor sharp so grasping their movements in midair was exceedingly difficult.

“Tch!”

He crossed his dual blades and matched them to the path of the Chakram throwing steel ────── and out came a dull grinding sound. He intercepted the incoming circular blades and smacked them to the sand.

……The sun is a nuisance.

The direct sunlight was beating down from above and reflecting off the ground. The enemy was aiming for the point where the two multiplied each other’s effects so the already hard to see blades of the Chakrams throwing steel were made even harder to see.

“ The enemy’s general is a heavy spear guard. Taking out the defender first and then attacking the general is the safest course of action; the other means is a little riskier and involves just going straight for the general. “

“Which one do you recommend?”

“If you weren’t my master, it would be the safe method. But if you’re aiming to be a Sennenshi, then it’s the latter, and please do it with no injury in a swift breakthrough.”

“……How nice of you to make it sound so easy!”

Replying with a fearless smile, Sheltis faced his feet in the direction of the heavy spear guard.

Directly to the side, the Chakram throwing steel user sent out the circular blades in one motion. Five Chakram throwing steel danced through the air and approached, each on a different path.

───There was no need to go out of his way to track the circular blades that were hard to see.

It would be fine if he just dodged according to the predicted paths. Of the five, three were just threatening shots that weren’t actually meant to hit. He stared only at the two that were sure to hit and then.

Scraaaaaaape……!!

Each of his dual swords deflected one of the two Chakrams throwing steel back.

“!”

His two opponents’ expressions trembled and their movements slightly stiffened up. He dashed, aiming for that moment. He passed and left behind the defending Chakram throwing steel user.

───What’s left is the finisher.

“!”

The heavy spear guard readied a very long spear in both hands.

Even amongst metal spears, the heavy spear boasts an especially great range. If the opponent were of the same calibre, dual swords wouldn’t be able to break through and he would get speared. It was that much of a bad match-up.

His opponent’s skill was unknown. It would be fine if it was just simple Cadet Guard-level skill but if by chance it was Regular Guard-level, carelessly jumping in would entail the danger of being one-sidedly speared.

……If so.

He took a rough estimate of the heavy spear’s length and came to abrupt stop just short of it.

A distance that was uncrossable with dual swords. Ignoring the doubt that crept onto his opponent’s face, Sheltis swung down his sword at the sand below with all his strength.

Zaaaaaaaaaaaaa…………countless sand particles flew up into the air and completely shrouded the vision of Sheltis, the heavy spear guard and the Chakram throwing steel user who were in that area.

“Wha!?”

A confused voice was raised.

In the world veiled by a cloud of sand, Sheltis faced the heavy spear user, drew an arc and kicked off the sandy ground. Immediately after, with a whistle of the wind, he passed through the enemy’s spear’s right flank.

───As I thought.

The heavy spear guard thrust their spear out impatiently as a result of being blinded. If Sheltis kept going straight here, it would be a direct hit but he dared to take a roundabout route and the spear went in the wrong direction.

“Haa!”

Holding back his breath, he sliced up with his right-hand sword from directly below.

The sound of metal colliding echoed.

The uplifted cloud of sand silently lowered to the ground and in his vision that had cleared up───

The boy thrust his dual swords at the heavy spear and its user that had been blown back.

“Fumu, let’s stop there.”

Then came the reverberating order from the instructor that sounded like she hadn’t found the battle enjoyable.

“The second unit will break up for today. Think up counter-measures for the second match tomorrow.”

……Finally a single victory.

The first day of the second day of the screenings was finally over. He didn’t think that the competition between units before the merit system mission would be this harsh.

“Good work.”

“Ah, yeah. You too, Monica.”

The girl with sakura-colored hair descended the sand dune towards him. There was sand clinging to where sweat had flowed on her cheek and there were sand-colored patches on her formal clothes here and there……

“Was it also hard being the interception?”

“We won so it’s good result-wise but that was dangerous.”

She nodded with a halfhearted expression. She pointed to the other end of the sand dune with her Rosario crossed rods , indicating someone who was nonchalantly chasing someone else───

“Hold on, Vaiel, why didn’t you protect me even though you were in the interceptor role?”

“Ha? You’re the one who said something like escaping was your specialty.”

Kagura sat atop her Machina machine pearl as she protested about something with Vaiel who had his face turned away.

“There’s a limit to everything. You can’t just keep running away! If Monica hadn’t been covered for in time, right about now───”

“Idiot, for I who is a man amongst men, I can’t get serious in this kind of unrefined match.”

“A man amongst men? Then you shouldn’t be ditching and should come to help. Protecting a frail lady is the beauty of that.”

“Hah! A brat with no sex appeal shouldn’t run her mouth off in some knowing tone. Protecting someone in this kind of safe match guided by regulations can’t decide a man’s worth. A man will only get involved and protect a woman in a large battle of life and death. That’s my belief.”

“A man who can’t protect in a match saying that isn’t trustworthy.”

“So when was there ever a need for you to trust me? Ah── it’s so hot, what an unbelievable pain in the ass that there’s another unit battle tomorrow.”

“Ah, wait a second!”

The girl followed after the young man who was getting more distant as if trying to run away.

……Umm, so what basically happened?

Judging from the conversation just now, he could somewhat imagine what had transpired just now.

“So it would be correct to say that Vaiel who was on interception duty didn’t do anything and so you had to do your best to defend her?”

“That’s a good guess. ……It looks like it’ll be the same tomorrow, so it’s giving me a headache.”

Fuu. Monica sighed deeply.

“Let’s make a plan in preparation for tomorrow. I had intended to divide up but if Vaiel is going to do nothing like that that then it would be for the best to think of a formation for the three of us.”

“Yeah. ……It’s best if you don’t push yourself too hard. I’ll make up for the slack.”

“I’ll take you up on that.”

Leaving behind a momentary smile, she left as well. It truly seemed to have been a harsh battle. That back didn’t have its usual energy.

……I see, for Monica.

……This was her first unit battle as unit leader.

“ It’s obvious that she’d also be mentally exhausted. “

“……That’s right.”

The responsibility of a unit leader. Monica’s worries would continue for a while longer. Depending on the situation, he might also have to think up a way to alleviate her burdens.

“Hey, Sheltis.”

Instructor Yumelda’s voice came from behind him.

“Do you have any external wounds? Still have energy? Okay then, we’ll start today’s training.”

“Tell me, how did it lead to that!?”

He hurriedly jumped aside to dodge the hand coming for the scruff of his neck.

“Ah, but I’m glad. I had something to ask you, instructor. About our fourth person.”

“Are you interested about Vaiel?”

“Well, yeah. ……He’s actually hiding some ridiculous ability, and I was just wondering why.”

“Fool, you’d understand from his actions. He’s only at the top of the lower half of the Cadets at best.”

It was conclusive and without any hidden meaning.

“If so ─── why did you scout him?”

“…………”

She lit her cigarette than was as thin as a needle and gazed at the flame.

“There are two qualities in a guard. There’s a need for at least one guy like that around.”

“……Eh?”

“There’s no loss in remembering this. Rather than the Priestesses atop the tower, there is also a man that is influenced by ‘ something ‘ completely different.”

I wonder what that means.

“I said you’d come to understand naturally, right. Rather than that, now’s training so let’s go so I can try the hellish training I thought up yesterday that I’ve been itching to test out.”

“……No, that’s why I said I”

“If you get careless, you’ll die. Now come along.”

“Like ─── I ─── said ────────────!”

His arguments had no effect as he was caught by the scruff of the neck and dragged along the desert.

### Part 7

Floor 11 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the Cadet Guard lodging.

“Even though I was tired from the unit battles, why does the instructor always prepare something to add on top!?”

“ The instructor was quite lively! “

“……She had the greatest smile on her face.”

Carelessly replying, Sheltis dropped down onto his room’s bed. After he ate dinner on the 25th floor, took a shower and returned, it was already the dead of night.

“Look, Sheltis, the stars are beautiful.”

In the window ─── the night sky that was shining like a tipped-over jewel box. Their respective radiances were meagre by themselves, which is exactly why they did not drown out each other and seemed to support each other as they shone.

“Ilis really likes stars.”

“ Is it not romantic? I think they are the sole thing that goes on without changing. “

Ilis shined at the base of the pillow almost like a star.

“ But you seem sleepy. “

“……I haven’t slept since yesterday. The main culprit is Kagura.”

Because of her lust for knowledge, he had been questioned by her since last night until the early morning, went through the first and second screenings and then taken the usual training from the instructor.

“Ilis, wake me up when it’s time to get up tomorrow.”

With that said, good night.

Lying face-down with his pillow hugged up to his eyes───

“Sheltis, come to my room now.”

“……Somebody, save me. A demon with a machine helmet is obstructing my sleep.”

“Who’s a demon?”

The one he could hear from the speaker at a corner of the ceiling was Kagura whom he’d just spoken of.

“Could it be another questioning session?”

“Of course not. Worry not, this time it won’t take more than thirty minutes. There is something regarding tomorrow unit battle that I would like to consult you about. It’s something I’d like to keep secret from Monica.”

It was odd that Kagura wanted to consult him about the unit battles and even wanted to keep it secret from Monica.

“Is there a reason?”

“We’ll talk at room 085 on floor 14, so could you come quickly?”

“Yeah, probably in a few minutes.”

His usual shirt and black top were in the closet. He was currently in his room-use attire. They could also be used during training, so there would be no problem going out just like this.

“Then I shall be waiting. Ah yes, just one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve called you out and it will be just us two. ……If you assault me, I will immediately press the emergency report button.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh when you’ve called me out!?”

Floor 14 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“ Sheltis, why are you acting this nervous? “

“It’s because this is a girls-only floor.”

Disregarding in the middle of the day, he had no idea what somebody would think if he were found in the middle of the night like this. They might overlook it if he explained his circumstances but it would be best to have no misunderstandings.

“ By the way, it seems Leon almost met the same problem before. His was due to night patrolling but he was surrounded by female Cadet Guards who knew that. “

“A molester uproar?”

“ The opposite. The girls on the floor all came and gave him a hearty welcoming. ‘How about tea in my room?’, ‘Rather, please stay over!’; with that popularity, it’s an anecdote of how he was chased around and escaped. “

“……That’s unreasonable.”

“ He’s good-looking and tall with the superior first-class swords skills of a Sennenshi, and to top it off he has a serious personality. Of course he’d be popular. Why don’t you learn from him? “

“I’m not frustrated or anything!?……well, forget that. We’re here.”

Number 085 had a door that was just the exact same as every other room. The machine lock was also standard. That’s how it was even though her room at the Tower Control Bureau was different right from the door.

“……Unexpectedly, her room for sleeping is normal.”

“This room is regulated by the Defense Institution so even if I wanted to remodel it, the procedures are a pain.”

The voice from beyond the door.

“I’ll be opening it now, please come inside.”

───Authorized───

The door unlocked with an mechanical and electronic sound. The mechanical door slid to the side.

“You were pretty fast. Please come this way.”

“……I’ll be intruding.”

Just a few steps from the front door was the living room. Further in was a kitchen and path. It’s structuring was completely the same as the room allotted to men.

It was the same for the interior design.

On the floor was a warm-colored carpet. In the living room was a table, chair and bed, as well as a closet.

“This is also more normal than I expected.”

“Did you think that I would have bundles of documents and machine cords covering the floor?”

Kagura who answered with a serious face was also in a thin dressing gown. Perhaps it was also for sleeping as the faint yellow clothing was sewn with soft-looking fabric and there were frills attached at the collar and on the sleeves.

And there was one more thing that caught his eye more than anything else───

“You’re not wearing your mechanical helmet?”

“Yes. There’s no reason to hide it in my own room. And I just took a shower, so it would be too wet until my hair dries.”

Facing outward from her dark green hair were two long ears.

Wrapped in warm fur like a fox, they were the distinguishing characteristic of Nell folk like her. She didn’t like having other people see them so she would normally hide them.

……Ahh, I see.

She’d removed her mechanical helmet so she didn’t want to go outside, so she’d invited him to her room.

“Well, it’s already late for you, right? Let’s proceed straight to the main topic.”

There were two chairs at the circular table. Being invited over, Sheltis sat down in the seat opposite her.

“I’m going to say it plainly. Did you go easy in today’s unit battle?”

Even though it should have been simple.

It took him a little while to comprehend those words.

“……You mean me? No, I didn’t do something so obvious.”

Different from the actual combat that he did when he exchanged blows with Leon, he put in as much strength as he did in the morning training. If he didn’t do that, his skills would rust.

“But when you fought with Maha, your movements weren’t like this.”

The gaze of her clear black eyes seemed to pierce through him.

“ Fue? Who’s this Maha? “

“I’ll show you the recording, so please stay put for a little.”

She connected the Machine machine pearl with Ilis machine crystal and left them on the floor. In any case, with this she should stay quiet on things to say for a little bit.

“……That fight with Maha wasn’t a situation to hold back in.”

Even within his numerous experiences with actual combat, ‘ Maha ‘ was in a different class. Boasting inhuman strength on those grasslands, and with just a puppet; being such, just how strong the real one was……he couldn’t even imagine.

“And that was a real battle, so it was done with spirit.”

“It’s not a problem of spirit or conscience. I wanted to voice a different cause. There is a more frank and concrete reason.”

Putting both her elbows on the table, the Nell girl held each hand in the other.

“This is what I think. I think you were unconsciously tense.”

“……Which means?”

“You’re not used to it, right? Rather than battles where you guard other people, you’re not used to battles with other people supporting you ─── how about it?”

Things that pertained to that meaning arose in his mind.

“…………”

Without himself realizing it, Sheltis stared at the ceiling.

……That might be true.

It was already something from however many years ago. The time he had just enlisted.

He had been paired with Leon until he became a Regular Guard, so they had been able to act as they liked.

When he became an Elite Guard as well, he was surrounded by people of superior ability. There was no need for support; rather, it felt embarrassing to have to request support.

───I have no experience in battles where I’m receiving support.

It was exactly as Kagura had said.

“……I understand but”

The past and now are different. Because Leon wasn’t in his unit.

Monica’s true worth was in combining her Rosario crossed rods with her Shinryoku arts and Kagura was completely a support type. There would be no hope for the unit’s growth if they were not making the best of their specialties.

“That’s right, you understand in theory as well. But that backfired today.”

That was about today’s unit battle.

“You moved while being conscious of Monica who was in the center and I who was in the very back, right? We can assume your thoughts of ‘I have to cover the both of them’ were too strong so they hindered your movements.”

Small hindrances would pile up to become great strain. The strain only from sensing Kagura at a location away from him. That was surely something greater than he had thought.

[Crossed his dual blades and matched them to the path of the Chakram throwing steel ───]

Kagura quickly wrote an “x” sign on the white paper above the table.

“Even though there was only one Chakram throwing steel that time, you receive it with both swords. But you shouldn’t have needed to. With the skill you showed me in the battle with Maha, even if you ignored it you would have been able to deflect it with one sword.”

But why didn’t he do that?

“The answer is simple. You didn’t see the Chakram throwing steel at that time. Instead of deflecting it with one hand, you were watching both of us who were behind you, right?”

“……That was just once.”

“That’s right. But I think that’s enough. It is normal for the attacks to concentrate on the general in the Open Flag format. ───And the precedent for the real issue ends here.”

She stayed from for a moment and her gaze became icy.

“In tomorrow’s unit battle, I would like you to help Monica.”

“Help……you don’t mean just covering for her, right?”

“As you suspect, I mean my instructions in the midst of battle. Those with the leeway to observe their surroundings during battle probably consists of only you. ……It’s a shameless thing to ask but I’d like you to decide the commands for everyone to respond well. I would like you to give orders.”

While touching her extended out ears, Kagura continued.

“The unit’s leader is Monica, but in actual combat, you are the one who can best control the unit’s flow. I think Monica can also do it if she becomes used to it but it’s too much to expect from her when just became a unit leader.”

The first unit battle with first-time members and a first-time unit leader. Monica was dealing with all these first times. There was an unknown amount of pressure on that back.

“There are other things only Monica can do, after all.”

“That’s right. Applying for the creation of a new unit entails creating the name registry and contact list as well as the application to the Defense Institution, and other things.”

But the most important is……of course, the gathering of unit members like us. I am, as expected of my personality, not meticulous. Since you also want to hide your past from others, it’s hard to lead a unit, right?”

Nobody else could command the unit except Monica. There was no other choice but to depend on her.

───That’s why I will support her.

───Each of the unit members would, in things other than that, in areas they specialized in.

“So you’re saying the unit battle is my task.”

“Yes. If we expand it, that includes all of our battles as a unit. I will support in the area of information gathering for all things I can’t help with in that area.”

Kagura nodded.

“You are not used to battles where you receive support. You are confused so it’s an obvious result that your movements become constrained. But I would like you to adapt to it. We require your support and you will make the best of our support ─── that kind of battle style.”

“……I’ll do my best.”

He had intended to recognize that requirement but he had felt it for real in today’s unit battle. It would take time to get used to this kind of battle.

……It’s quite harsh with only me at the front lines right now.

While fighting at the far front lines as an attacker, he had to keep Monica who was at the middle and Kagura who was at the very back in mind. As Kagura had pointed out, his movements were being hindered by that right now.

If only there was at least one more attacker.

“……Vaiel is”

“We can’t expect much of him. Just having him participate in the unit battle is a big step forward.”

The Nell folk girl just shook her head.

“Hey.”

“Are you wondering why I value him that much?”

He wordlessly assented. Doing so,

“That’s right.”

The expression of the girl suddenly broke down after she turned her head to the side. Her eyes that seemed to be nostalgic about and regretting something, mixed with holding back tears about something important───

“……It’s because I thought he was a good person. Is that bad?”

It was a strange and sad voice that sounded like a laugh.

“But……we fought after today’s unit battle. Why didn’t you protect me, I said.”

“Ahh, that was just simple communication.”

“That was?”

“Yes. He answered you properly, right? He said he’d also come for tomorrow’s unit battle.”

[So when was there ever a need for you to trust me? Ah── it's so hot, what an unbelievable pain in the ass that there's another unit battle tomorrow. ]

“……That had that kind of meaning?”

“He didn’t say anything about how to interpret it. It’s just me interpreting it as I like.”

Kagura chuckled and smiled with a cheerful look.

“Even saying that, that’s not enough proof. ……Then I shall tell one story from a long time ago.”

The girl told him.

That was a story from almost two years ago. An episode about a certain Cadet Guard.

“It’s well-known, but there is training that consists of running across the entirety of the desert field.”

“Yeah, that’s……”

The first day when Sheltis had just enlisted, that was the task the instructor had assigned to him. It was harsh training where a great deal of the newcomer Cadet Guards had retired partway.

“It wasn’t on the day of the enlisting ceremony, but there was a day when that was part of the regular training menu. ……A girl participated in that. For the girl who was normally a computer systems researcher, it had been a long time since she’d undergone training.”

That was none other than Kagura.

There was nobody else who was a researcher and a Cadet Guard at the same time.

“The girl who wasn’t used to training collapsed after running half of the hot sand area. It wasn’t heatstroke or anything, she just didn’t have the vitality……and normally it would end there with an instructor or relief squad helping her but it was different that day. The Cadet Guard who came from behind her piggybacked her and ran across the hot sand, carrying her all the way to the medical office.”

“…………”

“And the Cadet Guard who had carried the girl to the medical office also reached his limit and collapsed the instant they arrived. Say, he’s an interesting person, right?”

Those eyes that communicated that were smiling just a little sadly.

“The image of that time is probably strong. Even though he was saying that it’s such a pain, it’s such a pain, he would help someone when they were truly troubled. ……She came to think that.”

Being gazed at by those unblinking eyes, his words wouldn’t come out.

───Was that Vaiel?

He who kept saying everything was a pain and didn’t do anything during the afternoon’s unit battle?

“That there was such an old story, it would suffice if you just remember it for now.”

Narrowing her eyes in nostalgia, Kagura stood up.

“……I’m counting on you to keep this story a secret from Monica, okay?”

The girl said that in a calm voice.

### Part 8

The edges of the sky were being dyed red.

In the blink of an eye, the stars were also hidden somewhere. As if a black canvas had been painted over with red, this was the time the heavens slowly changed to the color of dawn.

“Today is the crucial part of the unit battles.”

Taking a break from flexibility exercises that stretched the elbow, Monica muttered that to herself.

“It seems there were twenty-two units that applied for mission 16. It was narrowed down to 14 in the first screening and from there, two units with high scores from the second screening will advance to the final screening, huh.”

There were a total of four battles planned for the second screening.

A win was three points and a draw was one. It was set up so the two teams with the highest scores after four battles would proceed to the final screening.

……We won yesterday, so we’re at three points.

“Monica, what happens if three or more teams end up with the same amount of points?”

He had been curious about the other units, but Sheltis didn’t have that kind of time yesterday.

“……That’s possible. They’d probably add another unit battle in. We have to leave excess strength in the odd chance that does happen.”

“ By the way, it seems to have become even simpler than that. “

The Ilis machine crystal swaying at his chest deliberately made a sudden interjection.

“ If you win the first match today, you’ll pass the second screening. There are only four units with all wins, so these four teams will fight each other in the first match and the winner will advance. “

“……That’s strange. I asked Instructor Yumelda about the number of applications yesterday. There should be at least fourteen units in the second screening.”

Stopping her flexibility exercises, Monica tilted her head.

“ About that─── “

“The teams who lost and tied yesterday all withdrew their applications. The ones left are only us and the teams who won yesterday.”

Wordlessly continuing her flexibility exercises, Kagura lifted her head.

“Fourteen unit battles were conducted with five of them reaching conclusions and two ending in a draw. At this point in time, everybody except the five units that won seem to have given up on this mission.”

“Ah, I see.”

Putting together Kagura and Ilis’ words, Sheltis also came to see the current situation.

The second screening used a system where the collective results of four unit battles would decide the outcome.

However, with a loss in yesterday’s single battle, it would be difficult to come out on top. Then they would give up on this mission and apply for another ─── it was an experienced decision.

“ There were five teams that won yesterday but one of the main members in one of those teams was injured. As a result, four teams are left. If we win once more, we can proceed to the final screening. “

“……We can’t lose, huh.”

“ The opposing unit should also be thinking the same thing. They will absolutely not be off-guard. “

“Of course.”

Monica re-tied her vivid and long hair.

“Can we do it with the same setup as yesterday?”

“I’m good. Kagura?”

Yes ─── with a nod, the girl with the mechanical helmet got onto the Machina machine pearl .

“Kagura’s also fine. And the last one is Vaiel.”

Vaiel still hadn’t shown up. Monica had told him it would be early in the morning at the training grounds but doing something so troublesome ─── it seemed like he would flat-out refuse it.

“Sheltis, rather than about him, this is about you.”

Getting Monica’s attention, Kagura whispered into her ear.

“Our deal with him is only that he enters the unit battles to meet the person count requirement. It’s that kind of promise. Whether we win this unit battle depends on you.”

“……I understand.”

Different from three years ago, it was combat as a member of a unit who would receive support. While affirming the battle situation, he would also be expected to issue orders in place of the unit leader.

───For the sake of Monica who is a first-time unit leader.

───The battle that is a first for me as well is waiting.

“ Are you nervous? “

In response to the question posed by Ilis machine crystal , he unconsciously made a wry smile.

“A little.”

It was different from when he was a Cadet Guard or a Regular Guard and his competitive battles with Leon.

It was also different from his solo battling as an Elite Guard.

The first time he would fight like this. To add to that, he hadn’t thought about how it would be during an important step in slipping into the Governmental Sector.

“ If you focus too much on how you’re not used to it, the unit will fall into a predicament, so just avoid that. “

“……I know, I have to put winning as the first priority.”

Sheltis looked at his hand that was slightly sweaty for a little while.

### Part 9

“Ymy-sama, excuse me.”

The girl saluted courteously.

With a sharp gaze and countenance, her deep blue suit suited her tall and slender body.

“He-hello, Instructor Yumelda!”

Stopping her hand that was shoving clothes into a travel bag, Ymy looked back in hurry.

A certain Priestess’ private room on the 287th floor of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It was unusual that the instructor who usually drilled Cadet Guards outside the tower would take the trouble to come here.

“Sorry for coming during your precious relaxation time. Is this a good time?”

“O-of course. Ah, go ahead and sit.”

“Don’t mind it. This will only take a few minutes.”

At the spot immediately after entering the room, the instructor corrected her posture. Behind her was one more person, a girl with dazzling blonde hair that was bound into two locks was on standby. Her age was……probably one above or two below her own. Her upper garment was the formal clothes of the guards and the bottom was a pleated skirt.

“Our business is regarding the matter with the Governmental Sector that will be coming up before long. The matter for which you will be traveling.”

“……That matter?”

She unconsciously fixed her posture.

“First of all, your escort has been officially decided. The Cadres Guard will be in charge of that. Her abilities as a guard are assured so please be at ease for the journey.”

“───I understand.”

It was rare for Instructor Yumelda to praise someone. The Cadres Guard was a person whose skills were such that even the instructor recognized them.

“……Perhaps”

The one standing behind the instructor on standby, that Elite Guard───

“Ahh, no, it’s misleading, but she’s not her. The introduction is late, but this is the Regular Guard I’sa. The blood-related younger sister of the Elite Guard that will be traveling with you. “

“My name is I’sa. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

She grabbed the ends of her skirt and respectfully curtsied.

“Y-yes. I’m also glad to meet you! I’m also counting on your for the Governmental Sector……h-huh?……But just now, you said younger sister. I’sa-san is……the younger sister?”

Not the Cadres Guard herself, the instructor had specifically brought a relative of hers with her for the greetings?

“There’s a reason for that.”

The instructor took out a cigarette from her pocket. While putting that in her mouth,

“We’re currently in the middle of choosing the Cadet Guards who will be traveling with you. We’ve whittled it down to the last two units but the last test will be proctored by I’sa here. That’s what it is.”

And the Regular Guard that saw that frowned slightly.

“That’s no good, instructor, you can’t smoke in front of a Priestess.”

“I haven’t lit it. I can’t settle down if I don’t have something in my mouth.”

She was a heavy smoker so she obstinately kept her smoking habits.

Of course Ymy was also aware of that. She saw that she wasn’t going to light it so she hadn’t pointed it out.

“Nash, and Monica ─── there’s no need to memorize the unit leaders’ names but the plan is to have one of the teams they lead accompany you on the journey.”

“……Monica?”

“Oh, is there something”

“Ah, n-no, no, no, no! I-it’s nothing. It’s fine!”

Being looked at by the instructor who had her head tilted, Ymy frantically waved her hands.

……Monica……Monica is a girl’s name, right.

……Is that my……the name of the person who was my senpai?

[We might meet in an unexpected place, you know?]

[See you, Ymy, I’ll be cheering you on to becoming an outstanding Priestess.]

Is it a coincidence?

Is there such a coincidence?

“Then I shall make a quick report. We will have the final screening in two days, so the introduction of the unit’s members will wait until the day after.”

“U-um, Instructor Yumelda? Could I ask you something strange?”

“What is it?”

“Umm, what kind of teams do you see the two teams as?”

……I wanted to know more about the person called Monica.

It couldn’t be helped that her heart was pounding since the moment she heard that name.

“Fumu. Let’s see, Monica’s unit was just formed. It’s a team that still needs looking after……I’m a little worried about their teamwork and cooperation but it’s a unit that’s achieved complete victory for the unit battles.”

She took out the scoring sheet from her chest pocket. Confirming the results which were written in elegant strokes, Instructor Yumelda gave an unusual wry smile.

“Ah, umm……so this Monica person is truly that strong?”

“Monica is an older sister character who’s good at looking after people. Her accomplishments as a guard aren’t outstanding or bad. In essence, the one pulling up the unit’s level is a single dual sword user. That boy has trained for a long time……if it’s just in his battle ability, he could blow away the entire opposing team all by himself.”

“I-is that so?”

……A dual sword wielding boy……ahh, I’m glad.

……Sheltis is also there as promised. Just one more until we can go together.

She pat her chest as she put the good news she’d heard to heart.

Leon had also said that the competition for the expeditionary mission to the Governmental Sector was harsh so she’d been worried that Sheltis might have lost in random happening.

……Hmm? But, but, wait a second?

……That basically means that Monica-senpai and Sheltis are in the same unit?

“And so saying,”

The sharpness of the instructor’s eyes multiplied.

They seemed to see into the deepest parts of her heart.

“We cannot decide the superiority of a unit based on their strength in battle. The unit that excels in control and discipline of the entire unit is Nash’s and their balance is good. Opposite that, the members of Monica’s team are too strong individually. Their cooperation is also superficial.”

“Yes. To tell the truth, I am uneasy letting them travel together with Ymy-sama.”

This was the person that she knew was like a lump of cooperation.

……So like she thought, it was a different Monica-san?

“Fumu. Then would you like to meet them?”

“Eh?”

“If you would like to, I will introduce you to the two units. Don’t worry, this is also prior inspection. We can’t choose a unit that’s rude to the Priestess, after all.”

### Part 10

The steep and hard slope of bedrock and the precipitous cliff just below it.

What made up their footing were countless rocks of varying size. From those the size of a palm to gigantic ones that surpassed an adult’s height, they were placed without consideration, forming an area that one could barely walk on.

“……The theme is a mountain, huh.”

He took a deep breath as he looked over the tall mountain field. Sitting down on a jutting out rock, Sheltis put away his dual swords into their holders.

───Unit battles, complete.

The time taken was twenty four minutes and seven seconds. It was victory by surrender of the enemy general. The battle’s conclusion wasn’t dangerous, but getting to it couldn’t be said to have been easy.

“Ah~ jeez, that’s why I’m asking you why you didn’t protect me! Where can you find a comrade who ditches the general! This time was really, really dangerous!?”

“You mean I’d shield you and take attacks? Don’t be stupid, I’d get hurt doing that.”

From a cliff a ways away came Kagura’s angry voice and opposite to that was Vaiel who was about to descend with an expression that showed that he thought it was a pain.

“I’m tired so I’m gonna sleep.”

“Eh, no, wait. This is where we go over the battle or have a meeting.”

“Do that between you fellow guards that get along well. See ya.”

The blond young man immediately descended the slope. Even if they went out of their way to invite him, it would just make it worse ─── having come to that conclusion, Sheltis sighed and watched him go.

“ It was a great effort. “

“Is that sarcasm?”

“ Oh, how cruel. I meant it as positive encouragement. “

Ilis Machine crystal said nonchalantly.

“ You said it yourself, that there are a mountain of problems. ”

“……I guess.”

He put his elbows on his knees and propped his head up.

Sheltis was the solo suicide attacker at the far front lines. Monica who was at the center was stalled by one person and Kagura who was the general was chased around by the enemy’s pursuit from beginning to end.”

“Somehow……it felt like a dispersed battle.”

“ Victory had the highest priority this time so I don’t think you need to worry that much about it. Kagura also said it, that it would be fine even if you didn’t adapt immediately. “

Unusually, Ilis machine crystal also had a considerate tone.

───Which means it was that far away from ideal.

Result-wise, it was a victory by crushing the enemy unit’s general. However, that was a victory gained through solo conduct, it was not a victory made by combining the unit’s strength.

“What needs to be done is regarding the orders that will allow Monica and Kagura to best utilize their abilities. I understand what I need to do but it’s not working.”

He looked for a flat rock and lay down face-up. He reached up a hand towards the azure sky that was showing through a crack.

……Yeah, it’s really difficult.

While he was moving around in order to give them orders, he was also taking orders from them. That was the ideal and it was his duty to facilitate it in practice.

“ But in reality, the only one with the leeway to look around at his ally’s movements is you. For Monica who’s burdened with the duties of a unit leader, you have to support her burden in combat. “

“Yeah. I tried just now and……yeah.”

If he paid too much attention to Monica and Kagura’s movements, he’d be distracted from his own and his movements would become dull. Making the unit’s cooperation and his personal strength coexist. He didn’t think it would be this difficult.

……This will be my assignment for a while, huh.

A cloud like cotton torn to pieces. He absentmindedly chased with his eyes it as it rode on the wind.

“Were you injured anywhere?”

A shadow cut across the middle of his vision.

“No, I’m thinking. The answer isn’t coming out at all.”

“……The instructor is calling. If you’re fine, please get up.”

Monica lightly brushed aside her sakura-colored bangs. He took her outstretched hand and she pointed down the slope.

“It seems we’re to gather at floor 269 of the tower……what about Vaiel?”

“He said he was tired and went back.”

“I thought so. Then let’s go by ourselves; Kagura also said she was going to organize her Machina machine pearl ’s recorded data and will catch up later.”

The slope formed from countless giant rocks. Sheltis followed after her as she jumped from boulder to boulder descending the slope.

……Floor 269 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?

The highest floor an ordinary guard could enter. It was an important floor for important meetings that included the Priestesses and Sennenshi. It was not a floor Cadet Guards like them used.

“That the instructor called us to that floor……did something happen?”

He muttered to answer himself and stared down the steep slope.

### Part 11

Floor 269 of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the floor for meetings.

The path that returned to silence was without a single person and had the atmosphere of an empty husk.

“Is this place always this quiet?”

Behind him, Monica looked around as if it had just struck her.

“It's a room for important meetings so with the door it’s completely airtight. No matter how loud the meetings get, it won’t be heard out in the passage.”

“You know quite a bit, huh?”

“Ah……y-yeah. Ilis told me before.”

I used this floor a lot back when I was an Elite Guard three years ago ─── not saying that, Sheltis came up with some reason for it.

“Rather than that, look. Probably after rounding this corner……”

They progressed just as was written on the electronic map. After turning however many corners, the recognized figure of a female instructor in a deep blue suit was standing there.

“The other two?”

With one glance over here, Instructor Yumelda raised an eyebrow.

“Kagura is servicing her Machina machine pearl and Vaiel is……getting treatment for his wounds.”

“There’s no need for worry. He’s skipping anyway, right? It’s as I expected.”

The instructor looked sullen as she chewed up the end of her cigarette.

“Well, whatever. At any rate, I’ve formally received notice of your passing the second screening. If you pass the final screening, you’ll be cleared to take on mission 16 and journey to the Governmental Sector.”

“ Yes, ye──s, one question! When is the final screening? “

Ilis Machine crystal asked in a carefree tone. The instructor also didn’t mind that and,

“It will be from the day after tomorrow over a period of three days. Meet up at the training grounds at nine in the morning and I’ll introduce you to the proctor and the opposing unit.”

A selection test that took place over three days and even had a proctor. It was difficult to think of a unit battle taking that long. It was also unlikely that they’d have a written or interview at this point. What he could think of was───

“Patrol defense of the nature district or a practical of VIP escorting, one of these?”

“Sheltis, look forward to tomorrow’s announcement.”

The instructor played dumb with a happy smile. From the expression, it wasn’t a problem of which was correct but what would happen within them.

“We’ll disperse here for today. Do independent training ─── or so I’d like to say.”

She took out a communicator from her breast pocket,

“……It’s me. ……Yes, that’s right. They’re gathering right now, please come at your convenience.”

Their superior was reporting something in an unusually polite way to someone.

Who could it be? Someone that this instructor would be that polite to……a bureau chief? No, there’s no reason for her to contact a bureau chief. Then someone from the guards. Considering that for many of the Elite Guards she was originally their instructor narrowed it down to those above that.

In other words, a Sennenshi, or possibly───

“A Priestess?”

Monica who kept silent nodded and gulped.

Yes. If one considered that Instructor Yumelda had specifically told them to assemble within the tower, he or she would eventually reach this conclusion.

“You guys are aware that you’ll be traveling with a Priestess for mission number 16.”

She put the communication device away in her breast pocket and looked over with a remarkably sharp look.

“Well, then. Whether a Cadet Guard will do something rude in front of a Priestess, we had the intention of having a surprise inspection now. Before the important journey to the Governmental Sector.”

“……Huh? But you’re not supposed to say that be”

There was no meaning in it being a surprise.

“I said we had the intention of inspecting. I was worried about Vaiel, you see. If that problem child isn’t here, there’s no point in holding the inspection, right? Well, in exchange it’d be good if you received one or two encouragements from the Priestess ────── there, speak of the devil.”

Ring came a sound like a bell.

The high-speed elevator before them came to a halt and slowly opened left and right.

“Ymy-sama, I’ll introduce them to you. Here is the unit leader,”

“Monica-senpai!”

“That’s right, Monica-senpai……senpai?”

In front of the instructor who dropped her cigarette, the girl who came out of the elevator ran in small steps to Monica.

“I knew I was right! Senpai……Monica-senpai, right!?”

Letting her off-gold hair fly, it was the vestment-clad Ymy.

Running to the girl wearing formal attire with a bounce in her step, and still with that vigor ─── the Priestess took the hand of the Cadet Guard.

“H-hya!?”

The surprised voice came from Monica who had her hand grabbed.

“Senpai, when did you become a guard? Why, why didn’t you tell me!”

“Eh……ah,……um……ah……u……?……th-this is…………you’re wro”

Ymy’s voice was lively with happiness. But the one whose hand was being held wasn’t moving and her face color was switching back and forth between pale and bright red.

“……Ilis, what does this mean?”

“ Please don’t ask me. “

He watched over those two for a little while and───

“Hey, Sheltis.”

The instructor whispered into his ear.

“Is Monica an acquaintance of Ymy-sama?”

“……Well, that’s what I what to know.”

He didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t know too much about Monica from her days as an apprentice Priestess. Even Kagura probably wasn’t too clear on it.

“Fumu. Then it’s best to leave them alone. I’ll be returning so I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Eh, wa-wait? That’s just shoving the bothersome stuff on───”

“I won’t hear excuses. Report how it goes afterwards later.”

“Are all adults this unfair!?”

By the time he raised a shout, the instructor had already rounded the bend at the crossroads.

“……Why me.”

“ Isn’t it fine. Come, rather than that, look in front, in front. Pay attention. “

Following Ilis machine crystal ’ words, he turned to the front and.

“Monica-senpai!? Hey, why haven’t you said anything since a while ago!?”

“Ah……um……err……that is”

Over there was a really ─── oppressive expression worn on the face of the Priestess who was pushing back the girl with sakura-colored hair, and had been cornered her right up to the wall.

“I’ve been lonely ever since senpai left! Even so, why!”

“………………Th-that is……em……emba……rra, ssing.”

“Eh? Em?”

The excited Ymy hadn’t heard that. She closed in to the person in question until their faces were almost touching.

“Senpai? Um, your face is totally red?”

“…………Hauu!?”

Monica seemed to be enduring something as she kept silent and hung her head. And then,

“She-Sheltis! I’m going to check up on Kagura. I’ll also inform Vaiel about tomorrow……I won’t be back for a while!”

She turned her head to the side and shook off Ymy’s hand and ran away with intense vigor.

“Eh? Ah, wa……wait, Monica-senpai!”

“…………!”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment and turned around but immediately after, she ran off again.

This time she didn’t stop. She was even too impatient to wait for the elevator doors to open, so she descended the emergency stairs at the edge of the floor as if tumbling down them.

The floor once again became silent.

The ones left were himself and Ymy who was watching the back of Monica who had left.

“…………”

That girl contracted her shoulders and stood there looking extremely lonely.

“Sorry, Sheltis. I showed you a bad side of me……”

After a little while, his childhood friend turned to him with a calm feeling about her.”

“……I wonder why. Even though she was that kind of a senpai before.”

“You mean Monica, right?”

Ymy affirmed it with a nod.

“ Excuse me. I’d like to confirm but Monica-senpai ─── would mean your senpai as an apprentice Priestess, am I correct in assuming? “

“Yeah……she was a very kind senpai and my aspiration.”

A long time ago, it was something he had heard as foolish gossip. The relationships of apprentice Priestesses were not actually that good. They were fellow competitors in aiming to be a Priestess until the bitter end.

That’s why having a companion as an apprentice Priestess held great meaning.

“Monica-senpai took the final test for a Priestess three years ago. But she failed right at the very end and quit as an apprentice Priestess……and about what happened after that, she didn’t tell me no matter how much I asked.”

“───Because she wanted to become a guard.”

He told it to the downcast Ymy just as he’d heard from the person herself.

There was no reason for her to hide that she’d become a guard. After all, Ymy would probably have recognized that when she saw her in her formal clothes.

“Even if she couldn’t become a Priestess, she said she wanted to be in a position to defend the Priestesses. That’s what I heard.”

“Yeah……it sounds like something senpai would say.”

To his childhood friend who was being bashful with a nostalgic expression,

“Say, this is just my thinking but”

Sheltis told her the impression he’d felt just as-is.

“Wasn’t Monica embarrassed?”

“……Embarrassed?”

“Monica has been a Cadet Guard for three whole years. That she just couldn’t become a Regular Guard, she herself is very mindful of that. That’s why probably ─── she wanted to keep it a secret and clearly tell you when she became a Regular Guard.”

Her expression when she had been approached by Ymy. Her face went bright red and trembled, and although her words had gotten stuck, it was definitely not an expression of dislike.

“She just wasn’t mentally prepared and was surprised to meet you.”

She wanted to meet her but the time wasn’t right. She had decided that in her heart but hadn’t thought that Ymy would be the one to approach her.

“…………That’s, right.”

Ymy strained her voice so she could hear herself say it.

“Yeah, that’s definitely it. Because Monica-senpai is a kind person. Not just me, she was someone who always looked after all the other apprentice Priestesses.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I think you don’t have to worry, Monica hasn’t changed.”

Sheltis didn’t know the Monica of three years ago. But he somehow understood, Monica’s base hadn’t changed at all from her time as an apprentice Priestess.

“ She’s quite unfortunate. She was Ymy’s senpai as an apprentice Priestess and is the leader of Sheltis’ unit as a guard. “

“Ah, as I expected? The one who invited Sheltis into a unit was Monica-senpai. No, that’s not it, as I expected, Monica-senpai has a discerning eye!”

Folding her arms in a satisfied manner, Ymy had an expression of coming to some conclusion about something on her own. Or so he thought, but she ─── opened her eyes as if having just realized something.

“Sheltis?”

“Mm, what is it? Changing like that.”

“……Monica-senpai is kind, right?”

“It’s as you just said. I wonder, maybe it’s possible to call it seeing into someone.”

For Kagura and him, either one was a Cadet Guard isolated from other units. The one who involved them who were like that was her.

“…………Th-that’s right!…………”

“Is there something wrong?”

“U-um……Monica-senpai is a beautiful person. ……Her skin is really white and beautiful and her hair is also a wonderful color, and her style is also smart, right?”

“I don’t understand anything about skin though───”

Maybe it was the result of her efforts in training, her entire body gave off the impression of being without excess. Her well-arranged sharp looks let one feel the intensity of her will and her momentary smiles in embarrassing times were also lovely.

“Yeah, it’s probably just as you said.”

“……That’s right──. Even I see senpai as wonderful.”

Haa, sighed Ymy.

“? What’s wrong?”

“Sheltis!”

Slowly balling her hands, Ymy took one step forward.

“……Wh-what is it suddenly?”

“Y-you can’t! No matter how cute senpai is…………th-that is……you can’t just look at only senpai!”

“Come again?”

Ymy whose face was as red as a cherry didn’t stop.

“……E-even if she asks you to, you can’t! A lap pillow……like L-Leon isn’t allowed! Do-don’t misunderstand. This isn’t me having a guilty conscience……umm, this is a problem of the mental health of the character of a guard───”

……A lap pillow? Like Leon? The mental health of one’s character?

“Err, Ymy? Sorry, I don’t understand what you’ve been saying since just now.”

“Th-that’s all! Th-then I’ll be going now!”

Just saying everything by herself, she quickly waved her vestment.

“Eh……ehh! That one-sidedly!? That’s why I’m asking what you meant!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know anything─────────!”

For some reason, his childhood friend dashed off with a expression that seemed like she was going to cry.

Sheltis chased after her.

“ People’s thoughts are complicated. “

Only Ilis machine crystal who had seen the entire thing from start to finish was worrying endlessly in a circle.

### 045. Chapter 3: Illusionary Paradise —Heavenly Melody—

### Part 1

“ ……I see, a man like you might also be necessary for the tower. “

Instructor Yumelda in regular clothes whom he’d come across by coincidence at a corner of the Living Districts. That was the beginning of his entrance into Sophia Tenketsu Palace and him becoming a Cadet Guard.

Early in the morning, Vaiel walked far away from the training grounds.

“Ah──, damn it, why did it become like this.”

It was Kagura, if he recalled correctly. The perpetrator responsible for disturbing people’s afternoon naps and even using coercion that was half a threat to rope him into a unit.

“What is with ‘It’s a unit battle so please protect me’? ……You can’t rely on somebody like me. Thinking somebody will help you when you’re in trouble is just you seeing a pipe dream.”

Sticking his hands in his pockets and curling his back, he loosed criticisms as they came to mind. He knew there was no point in letting them out. Half of it was just something he liked saying.

“……Pointless, so pointless.”

Clicking his tongue slightly, Vaiel hurried to his afternoon nap spot.

───Guess I’ll go back to sleep until the unit battle.

The bench on the outskirts of the training grounds was for that purpose. It was part of the training grounds but was so far back that the instructors didn’t patrol there. Thanks to that, it was his favorite comfortable spot.

Continuing down the small path in the lawn, he finally saw the large tree that marked the location.

It was as unpopular and deserted a space as ever. The bench underneath the tree as well, although finally in use, only had one person sitting on it……

“Ahh? What’s this?”

Seeing something uncommon, he stopped without thinking and rubbed his eyes.

The bench that was usually deserted. Somebody’s head was bobbing in and out of view behind it.

The small head’s black hair was tied into two in the back. The head was just barely visible, so judging from the sitting height, it was likely not an adult.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, spare me the jokes……a kid?”

He sighed while staring up at the sky. The girl called Kagura or something had also been there a few days ago, but it seemed like he was fated to have kids attached to him.

“Sheesh, just who is this. This kid that’s occupying my designated seat so early in the morning.”

These were the training grounds so it was probably a Guard. There was no way a Regular Guard or Instructor would be resting in such a deserted place so it was most likely a young Cadet Guard who had run away from training.

“Sheesh, that’s my spot.”

Scratching the back of his head with his right hand, he walked up with his left hand still stuck in his pocket.

Ten metres to the bench……five metres……three metres, and then.

“Hey, you. Person I don’t know.”

Coming around to the front, he looked at the one occupying the seat.

“This has been my seat for a hundred million years. If you don’t want your front teeth shattered, move now. Got it? If you do, then get………………”

Moving right now. Vaiel wasn’t able to say those last few words that came to mind.

The one sitting on the bench wasn’t a guard,

“? Yuto doesn’t really know what you mean?”

Tilting her head, the young girl looked at him with her clear black eyes.

Her jet black hair was fastened into two locks behind her head. She was wearing a lovely white one-piece dress. A sky blue muffler was wrapped around her neck in a flowing fashion. No matter how you looked at her, she was a civilian.

“…………This is my unlucky day.”

“Unlucky day?”

The young girl looked up at him with adorable movements.

Ignoring that, Vaiel put a hand on the bench’s backboard while pressing a hand to his head.

……I’m getting a headache. That Kagura or whatever girl was also like this, but why have I been running into these kinds of brats over the last few days.”

“Or rather, what the heck are you doing here?”

“Is it not okay for Yuto to be here?”

“That’s not the point. This is a training ground, so some civilian brat like you shouldn’t be able to get in.”

“? But Yuto is here?”

“…………Damn it all. Okay then, I’ll change the question so even a brat can understand.”

Spurred by how annoying it was and sleepiness, with an expression that was practically glaring, Vaiel moved his face closer. It was a face that would scare kids and make them cry. ……Or it should have.

“Ahaha, onii-chan, your face is scary.”

“Hah? I’m sleepy so it can’t be helped!”

“Yuto’s full of energy, you know──? I slept enough!”

Somehow he had made her happy.

“……Damn it, whatever. How did you get in here?”

Saying that, the girl called Yuto looked up at the sky in thought.

“Yuto’s searching for Eyri-nee.”

“Eyri-nee? Who’s that?”

“Eyri-nee is Eyri-nee? Yuto is always with Eyri-nee.”

“……I see, so that person’s your guardian.”

He’d come to understand the basic situation.

There were a lot of civilians that came to sightsee at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . ……But there were those few. Kids who ran off the instant their parents took their eyes off them for a moment and became lost. This young girl was probably one of them.

“Sheesh, if you’re going to act as a guardian, then take proper care of your nuisances.”

He sighed as he looked at the young girl called Yuto occupying the center of the bench.

“……You won’t listen even if I say to move, huh.”

“? Okay. Let’s do a half-and-half!”

With a smile, she happily moved to one end of the bench while swinging her legs noisily.

“Hoh. You actually do get it. That’s well-done for a brat.”

Sitting down on the empty spot, he leaned back on the bench.

……It was annoying that he couldn’t sleep lying down though.

He couldn’t ask for that luxury in this case. At any rate, the first one to occupy the bench had been the young girl and that young girl had explicitly freed up half for him.

Crossing his arms and legs, he closed his eyes───

……I can……not sleep like this.

Normally, he’d drop right into a dream immediately but it wouldn’t go so easily this time.

There was no need to say that the cause was the young girl beside him. While swinging her legs noisily, she kept stealing glances at him. It couldn’t be helped that he was conscious of that gaze from a while ago.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“You, how long have you been doing that?”

“Mm. I don’t know. But since yesterday……I wonder where Eyri-nee went.”

The young girl’s shoulders drooped with sadness. She looked like she would smile not too long ago and now she looked like she was about to cry. It would’ve been best not to ask. Even with that thought, it was already in the past.

“Hey, since yesterday means……you’ve been here the entire night?”

“……Yuto doesn’t know how to go back home when it gets dark.”

There were few people who passed by here and no lighting that actually seemed like lighting. So she had been crouching here at this bench the entire night ────── was that it?

“Hey, hey, do you know Eyri-nee?”

She tugged on the left sleeve of his formal attire.

“Haa? There’s no way I’d know her.”

“…………Sorry.”

The young girl cast her head down in loneliness and sadness. Being looked at with sidelong expectant glances, Vaiel turned away without thinking.

…………

……Damn it. Why are the Guards always like this.

Those Guards that shoulder the great duty of protecting the Priestesses from the Yuugenshu can’t even realize that there’s a troubled young girl this close to them.

……It’s always like that. The Guards around him were only creating strong units for the sake of promotion.

Nobody realized that this young girl was at a loss. Those who swore to protect the Priestesses were always staring up at the tower, forgetting to extend a hand to the people right before them.

“……That’s wrong, all wrong.”

Rather than becoming a hero as a Guard, a regular person was still a ‘person’.

Was that not the backbone of being a Guard?

“Nobody understands.”

He bit back the bitterness within his mouth.

“Hey, do you know Eyri-nee?”

“Ahhhhhhh, you’re noisy! Don’t look at me with those eyes!”

The sudden loud voice surprised Yuto and her shoulders drew back. Taking a glance at the young girl, Vaiel sighed deeply and stood up.

“Come on, you stand up too.”

“Fue?”

“I’ll take you to the first floor’s lobby. They’ll understand if you make a tower-wide announcement.”

“I’ll find Eyri-nee?”

A complete turnabout from the sullen expression just before, the young girl’s eyes were sparkling.

“At any rate, let’s go.”

“Yeah!”

Nodding, she held out her right hand with a smile.

…………Hey.

…………Don’t tell me, she wants to hold my hand?

“Damn it, nobody’s looking, right.”

Just in case, he looked around and finally grabbed that hand ────── the second he did grab it, the young girl’s body lifted gently into the air.

“Waa, wawawaa!”

The young girl clung to his leg. It seemed that their heights were too different so holding hands would mean Yuto couldn’t reach the ground.

“Ah──, guess this is the consolation prize.”

This was convenient for him. But it seemed like she didn’t share the same opinion. She folded her arms in thought and then her face lit up.

“Piggyback!”

“Hah?”

“Piggyback! Yuto wants a piggyback!”

“……Hey, hey, hey, don’t get all worked up, brat. What kind of joke are you trying to pull on this Vaiel-sama.”

“Vaa-nii? Vaa-nii?”

“Don’t just shorten people’s names like that; listen up, in the world, naive thinking like yours───”

“……I can’t get a piggyback?…………okay. Yuto will walk.”

The young girl trudged on ahead.

That back let off a feeling of loneliness even without words.

“………………Damn it, hey, wait a second!”

Grabbing her under both arms, he lifted her above his head like that in one motion.

“Waa, wawawa!”

Yuto flapped her arms as if trying to swim in the air. Ignoring her struggling in surprise, Vaiel placed her on his shoulders, completing the piggyback.

“There, now you have no complaints.”

“Waa! Thanks, Vaa-nii!”

“……I told you not to shorten people’s names so relaxedly.”

“Vaa-nii! Vaa-nii! Amazing──, it’s higher than Shel-nii!”

“…………Whatever already. Do as you like.”

Sighing for the umpteenth time in response to the high-spirited young girl on his shoulders, Vaiel walked towards the tower.

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , 1st floor, the information lobby.

From guides for tourists to interview appointments, to taking care of lost children, dozens of people were usually present to fulfill these. Within the tower especially, it was a gigantic lobby packed with civilians.

“Hey, hey, I asked yesterday as well, but do you have any information?”

“Yuto-san, wasn’t it. Black hair with a white one-piece. Age is……”

The receptionist tapped on the search terminal.

Eyriey gazed at that screen as if to eat into it as she leaned against the window.

───Where did you go, Yuto?

Since noon yesterday, and as late into the night as possible, she had searched the tower to no avail.

Ever since she’d lost sight of her on the upper floors of the tower, a whole day had already passed. During that time, it was hard to imagine that she had wandered around inside the tower without anybody seeing her. She hoped that she was under somebody’s care though.

“It’s a pity, but no information has arrived.”

“I see, ……thanks.”

She closed her eyes while biting on her lower lip.

……Just where did she go this time?

Truthfully, this was not the first time Yuto had gone missing. She would periodically just not be there and no matter how much Sheltis and she searched for her, they wouldn’t find her.

But a few days later, she’d return all of a sudden with an energetic smile.

She wanted to believe that was the case this time as well but she couldn’t discard the possibility that she’d really become lost.

“Sheltis as well……I wonder if he won’t come soon.”

Having decided it would be difficult on her own, she had requested help from him not too long ago. She’d told him they’d meet up at the 1st floor’s information lobby, so he should be coming soon.

“Same as yesterday, if I find something out, I’ll contact Eyriey-san.”

“I’m counting on you. She’s a cute girl so I think you’ll know immediately. She has beautiful black hair that’s tied into two like twintails. Her clothes are also a pretty color so they should be readily recognizable.”

“Ah, it’s Eyri-nee──. Over there, there!”

“Yep, yep. It’s this feeling of ‘Eyri-nee〰’ that…………that”

She turned around and there was ─── the young girl with the features she’d just described to the receptionist, waving at her with a smile that covered her face.

“Yuto!?”

“Eyri-nee! Waa, I’m glad. It’s Eyri-nee! Look, look, Vaa-nii.”

“……Mm, yeah. Here.”

The man that had been piggybacking Yuto until now let her down and and she ran towards Eyriey at full speed. Eyriey firmly hugged back the young girl that jumped at her chest with both arms spread.

“Yuto! I’m glad……where did you go?”

“Ehehe, Yuto doesn’t really know.”

“……Jeez. Though I expected that. Mm? Yuto, what are you holding?”

Yuto was holding something in her tiny hand.

One was candy wrapped in a vinyl bag and the other was a glass rendition of the tower’s mascot character ‘The Arma Dusk Dragon ’. Either one was a souvenir sold at the entrance to the tower’s 1st floor.

“You know, you know, Vaa-nii bought them for me!”

Yuto pointed at the young man that had been piggybacking Yuto until not too long ago.

“You brought back Yuto? Really──, thanks. I was worried about where she got lost and was just in the middle of searching.”

“……She was wandering around the training grounds.”

The young man sighed with a tired expression. He was a tall young man with darkened golden hair that was cut short and his face was moderately tidy, but his expression of displeasure made all of it count for nil.

“The training grounds? Ah──, of course I couldn’t find her.”

“Well……I was searching for Shel-nii.”

“For Sheltis? Ah── I see, it would have been nice if you told me.”

And she knocked her own forehead against Yuto’s.

“Ehehe, sorry, Eyri-nee.”

“It’s fine if you understand. So, thank you as well. For guiding her, as well as for the candy and souvenir.”

“……That brat was whining about being hungry. It was just right for shutting her up.”

He scratched the back of his head, or so she thought. Fed up with doing that, he turned his back.

“Ah, wait! I didn’t get your name. As thanks───”

“I don’t need thanks, and it was nothing so major that I should name myself for it.”

Turning his face away, he was about to leave just like that.

“……Vaiel?”

That was when somebody else called the young man’s name.

Reddish brown frizzy hair and amiable eyes, a boy who wore an impressive black jacket ─── Sheltis stared over in their direction vacantly.

### Part 3

……Why was Vaiel with Eyriey and Yuto?

“Umm, say.”

He turned his gaze to the smiling young girl.

He didn’t know the circumstances, but at any rate, he had found Yuto, right? ─── Before Sheltis could voice that Eyriey pointed at the young man beside her.

“And so, a kind person found Yuto.”

“……Vaiel did?”

“That’s right, he went so far as to piggyback her and guide her. And even more than that, he bought candy for Yuto who was hungry and also a souvenir! Right?”

“……I didn’t do anything major.”

He turned his back towards them and headed towards the exit with quick steps as if running.

“Ah, wa-wait, Vaiel?”

Despite calling out to that back, there was no reply.

In contrast with he who had melded into the crowd of tourists and disappeared, they were left isolated in the lobby.

“Eyriey……I’m checking once again but Vaiel brought Yuto over?”

“That’s right. Wha──t, he’s an acquaintance of yours?”

“Well, if I had to say it, he is. It’s a complicated relationship.”

Perplexed, he was unable to answer, and Yuto poked his leg.

“Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii!”

### Part 4

The path leading to the training grounds.

Running down the winding trail, he finally caught sight of Vaiel’s back.

“There he is. H-hey, wait a second. I have something I want to ask.”

“Ah? What is it, something where the punchline is that you’ve become a lost child now?”

His usual displeased face that looked over his shoulder and his voice didn’t have their usual force.

“……Are you possibly tired?”

“Taking care of that brat since morning, of course I’d get tired.”

……Then he really did look after Yuto.

“Thanks.”

“Ahh!? There’s no reason for you to thank me.”

“The two from just now are acquaintances of mine.”

Vaiel went silent with a scowl. His heart hurt slightly upon seeing that gesture.

───I thought he was just a lazy Cadet that found everything to be bothersome.

Same as the thoughts of those around him, I thought he was a ruffian with looks to fit the part.

But Kagura and Yuto.

……It’s because I think he’s a good person. Is that bad?

Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii!

……Maybe I’ve overlooked the most important part of him?

“Say, Vaiel, you don’t usually participate in training, right?”

“Participate in training? That kind of thing is up to the person.”

“Not that, I was just wondering what you do when you’re not training.”

“Sleeping at noon.”

“And when you’re not sleeping at noon?”

“…………”

Continuing wordlessly along the trail for a while, they stopped at a fork in the road. And then.

“Nobody understands.”

He muttered in an unusually quiet voice.

“Competing senselessly to become a Regular Guard or training more than anyone else to be stronger than everyone. Being enraptured in that all the time makes them miss the important things.”

“……Important things?”

“When you guys are training, who’s gonna look over a brat like just before?”

He stuck a hand in his formal attire’s pocket and continued on in a brusque manner.

“Train and form teams however much you want. But don’t push that stuff on me. If I’m not there, who will inspect the weapons’ storehouse? Who do you think will help a brat like the one just now?”

“That’s……”

No words came out. It’s not that he was overwhelmed, his words just had that much meaning in them.

That meant basically───

While other Guards were training, he was inspecting the weapons’ storehouse?

While other Guards were forming units to get promoted, he was going around by himself and extending a helping hand to those in trouble like Yuto just now?

“You’ve……been doing those every day?”

“There’s nobody else who will do it other than me; that’s all it is.”

Being replied to so bluntly, Sheltis gasped.

……All alone……without anyone knowing, he’s been doing his best.

The usual training and missions which made up unit activities. He wouldn’t participate in the so-called activities of a guard as he let his sweat flow helping others in a place nobody else could see.

Rather than the Priestesses atop the tower, there is also a man that is influenced by ‘ something ‘ completely different.

……What Instructor Yumelda had spoken about was this.

It was different from himself who was aiming to fulfill the promise with a Ymy Priestess .

The feelings of he who earnestly strived for the image of a Guard that he had described ─── they had certainly been conveyed.

Their respective goals were different but their fervent resolve……he felt that they resembled each other.

“……Well, I guess I should say sorry. I completely didn’t realize that you were working so hard.”

“Ahhh!? Don’t just flatter people when you feel like it; it feels bad.”

Vaiel threatened him with the usual sour look.

“Nope. I’m not flattering you, I’m serious.”

“So what are you saying?”

Sheltis cut in front of him and,

“I’ll also help next time. Not just in practice……Monica and Kagura will also help of their own accord if they learn what you’re doing.”

“Haa, you’re an idiot. I’ll pass on that even if I die.”

“Why?”

“You just don’t get it.”

And Vaiel turned his face to the day after tomorrow.

“You’re not a man if you get women involved in troublesome things. That’s why I said I’ll do it alone.”

### Part 5

“Sheltis, ……and Vaiel. Isn’t this rare seeing you two together?”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , public road.

Monica raised her hand at the fork leading to the outdoor training grounds.

“And, well……about yesterday, sorry for showing you an embarrassing side of myself.”

He looked at her for a little while after she finished saying that to start with───

“The thing about ‘Monica-senpai’?”

“Yeah……I didn’t think I’d meet her at a place like that.”

She nodded with her head downcast.

───I knew Monica would also be concerned about it.

It was only yesterday that she had been pressured by Ymy and ran away without saying anything but jumbled words.

He’d heard from Ymy that she was her senpai during her time as an apprentice Priestess but Sheltis was interested in what the key person, Monica, thought.

“Running out so suddenly like that, Ymy……did I offend the Priestess-sama?”

“Nope, on the contrary, it looked like she wanted to talk with you more.”

“……I see.”

Monica’s expression gradually shifted to a lonely smile.

“Monica doesn’t dislike that Priestess-sama either, right?”

“Of course. She’s an important Priestess-sama, ……and my former kouhai.”

Little by little, with a tone that seemed like she was grasping the core of her memories, she recounted it for him.

“Three years ago when I quit as an apprentice Priestess, I didn’t tell her that I became a Cadet Guard. ……Somehow I had a feeling like I had betrayed her when we’d worked so hard together for so long……and it became hard to say. I wanted to inform her when I became at least a Regular Guard.”

“And like that, time passed by.”

“It’s a shameful story. ……My former kouhai is now a marvelous Priestess-sama.”

The fear within those grey eyes was clear. Envy from being surpassed by a kouhai ─── rather than that, Monica looked off somewhere far into the distance with a deeply complex gaze.

……I’m glad. She doesn’t hate Ymy.

“It would be great if you could talk even a little on the trip to the Governmental Sector.”

“Yeah. For that reason, we must win the final selection.”

She balled both of her hands into fists.

She stared straight at the location enclosed by wire mesh ──── the door that led to the outdoor training grounds.

“Good morning.”

From beside the door, Kagura greeted them, accompanied by her floating Machina machine pearl .

“Good morning. You’re here early, Kagura.”

“You’re just barely on time. Look, it’s really soon.”

Holding the Machina machine pearl , she turned around and what she pointed to was───

The figures of five people approaching from the direction of the training grounds. The female instructor and behind her were four Cadet Guards.

“Fumu, Monica’s unit is here as well. Then as planned, we’ll go over the details of the final selection and do the introduction of the examiner ─── and finally, we’ll do the member introductions as well.”

The instructor pointed the cigarette she was holding in her mouth at them.

Facing them at the head of his unit was a black-haired, young, male Cadet Guard.

His age could be around twenty. His was tall and lean, with a nice face of delicate features. Upon that was an ever-present benevolent smile. But his scornful and hostile eyes seemed like they would swallow someone up.

“Heeh? Are introductions necessary?”

With that haughty attitude, he laughed exaggeratedly in a surprised manner.

“Introductions or whatever, shouldn’t each side have already investigated the other team?”

“I’ve decided it’s necessary.”

“……Well, if the instructor says so.”

With one hand in the pocket of his formal wear, he looked over with a condescending gaze.

“I’m Nash. Nash G. Endolfin. It’s a pleasure. Do the other three also have to introduce themselves? Starting from the left, the one with the great sword is Kimberly, the heavy spear knight at the center is Lasdax and the shinryoku practitioner is the sole female of the group, Myun-fa.”

Nash shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated motion.

“And you?”

“……I am”

“Though there’s no need to ask.”

Kukuu, came a slightly suppressed laugh.

“You’re the unit leader, Monica, right? That girl is Kagura, and he’s Sheltis. Behind that is Vaiel. The results of the first selection were publicly announced but being hit twice is an admirable number. You also wiped out your opponent in the second selection safely. The first battle was six minutes, fifteen seconds. The second was……what was it, Myun-fa?”

“Ten minutes, seven seconds.”

“That’s it. Those are also impressive numbers. Even though I thought you were just a mish-mash team to begin with. Passing the first selection and winning even the unit battle, and you even crushed Shandy’s team yesterday. Ah, Shandy’s the opponent you fought with in the unit battles yesterday. If it went as expected, I thought we’d be battling them in the final selection.”

……They’d done some detailed research.

Without it showing up on his face, Sheltis was applauding them in his heart.

Their speech was superficial and arrogant. But opposite that, one could see that they were a team that was serious, meticulous and didn’t slack on gathering information about their opponent’s unit.

“Nash, are you done talking?”

The instructor’s expression remained unchanged.

“The participants in the final screening are these two units. That’s all. After this is the explanation from the examiner.”

The instructor waved her suit and a single Regular Guard came in to replace her.

Her dazzling blonde hair was tied into two locks behind her head. The girl with two reddish brown eyes adorning her lovely face was wearing the normal formal clothes, but the lower half was a skirt.

“……I’sa?”

Seeing the figure he recognized, Sheltis reflexively called that name.

“Good day, Cadet Guards, I am this time’s examiner, I’sa.”

But she only cast a glance in his direction and continued on as if she didn’t know him.

“It’s eight people as planned. Well, it would be out of the question to be late here.”

She said that with a glance and deeply meaningful smile.

“Well then, let’s get to the details of the final selection ─── the final selection isn’t like the tests of battle strength until just now, it will measure the strength of your coordination as a unit. The theme will be patrolling of the nature district mission. I’ll be going along with you to check you all out in detail.”

……So it’s a patrol mission as I thought.

The last selection being a test of coordinated strength was a standard of sorts. Even within the types available, a Regular Guard would go out on a patrol mission periodically so it was easy to make it into a test for measuring the aptitude of Cadet Guards.

“The duration is three days. After completing your preparations, assemble at noon. The finer instructions will be passed on aboard the transport. Any questions?”

Out of the eight people there, no hands were raised. Having decided there were no questions, I’sa narrowed her eyes slightly.

“If there are no questions, then I’ll just give you one warning. ……Unit leader, Nash G. Endolfin. That haughty attitude is not befitting of a Cadet Guard. I advise you to rework it.”

“Oh my, and here I had the intention of listening seriously.”

The young male unit leader shrugged his shoulders with a scoffing expression.

“Even though while I was explaining, you had your eyes closed and were frivolously smiling? Then I’d like you to understand your position better.”

“Position……position, is it.”

Being glared at by a Regular Guard who was his superior, Nash’s slight smile still didn’t vanish.

“That’s about you, isn’t it. The failure of a younger sister whose older sister is much too exemplary , right?”

“It has nothing to do with onee-sama. I am the examiner here and I have no intention of borrowing from my sister’s prestige. I’ll continue the test fairly and impartially.”

“Then that’s fine. Well then, there are preparations to be made for tomorrow, so we’ll excuse ourselves here.”

Nash’s group made their exit from the gathering of guards. After confirming he couldn’t see his back, Sheltis made eye contact with I’sa who was still there.

“Is now okay?”

“For what, I wonder?”

“Umm……see, ……various things.”

About the wound she sustained from the battle with Maha. About her partner, the dual gun wielding Jin. About her position as the examiner this time. There were too many things he wanted to ask about so he didn’t know which to begin from.

“Fool, get things straight in your head before you start speaking.”

I’sa sighed after folding her arms. It was not the attitude she took on as an examiner but the confident and high-handed one that Sheltis knew.

“Umm……well then, starting from that one case.”

“The Maha case? I was only injured slightly to begin with and Jin’s recovery is going well. If it’s about how I’m the examiner this time, I made the request myself. Jin’s in rehabilitation at any rate.”

“Heeh, that’s rare. You yourself said that you wanted to be the examiner?”

Even though the job of an examiner required time and effort.

“Well, the Cadet Guards that pass this exam are the ones that will be traveling together with onee-sama to the Governmental Sector, right? I don’t want to let some unknown person travel together with onee-sama, so I thought I should choose who it would be myself.”

“Your onee-sama will be traveling together……traveling together?”

He repeated I’sa’s words several times with a cocked head. The ones going on the trip to the Governmental Sector were Ymy, the clerk of the General Affairs Bureau and the Cadres Guard. That would mean that I’sa’s onee-san would be one of those people.

Then who would it be……

“Heeh. I’sa’s onee-san is a clerk in the tower?”

“What kind of stupid things are you saying. She’s the Cadres Guard, the Cadres Guard. The Guard closest to the Sennenshi.”

Suddenly, Leon’s warning came back to him.

“ Be careful. They’re someone who’ll figure out your true identity if you act carelessly. “

“ You also know the person who’s at the summit of the elite guards right now. You’ll understand if I say it’s ‘Jelshuvessa’ whom you’ve competed with countless times. “

“No way!?”

“What’s not possible?”

“No, well……you can’t possibly be that Ishtar ‘s……little sister?”

“Oh, so you know. Well, onee-sama is famous so that much is assured.”

I’sa puffed her chest with satisfaction.

“……I’ve somehow come to an understanding.”

There were many females Guards but there were only a handful amongst the Elite Guards which were in the upper echelons. However, within that handful, there were periodically female Guards that were hiding power enough to crush a male Elite Guard.

───The one at the top of all that was Ishtar Is Ismael.

I’sa had also affirmed her with the lofty title of “onee-sama”. That was just how powerful her older sister was, standing far above even amongst the Guards.”

“Well, let’s put that aside. I’m glad, with I’sa as the examiner, I can be at ease. If it was a Regular Guard I didn’t know watching, I’d feel awkward.”

“……As naive as always. But it was true that I will be judging fairly.”

I’sa thrust her extended finger out at him.

“It’s a test to travel together with onee-sama. I have no intention of favoring you just because I know you. I will be evaluating you Cadet Guards as the examiner. Remember that.”

He stared down that finger and look straight on. Exchanging glances with Monica and Kagura, Sheltis was representing the unit in their stead.

“I know, we also have the intention of doing our best fair and square.”

“Fun, then that’s fine. Try your best.”

I’sa snorted and turned around. She then headed off.

“And with that, the gathering has come to an end. I’m heading back first.”

“H-hey, wait, Vaiel. We’re going to discuss the strategy going into the final selection now.”

Monica held back Vaiel who was about to leave.

“I’m sleepy. I’ll just listen to the results of the meeting afterwards.”

“That’s kind of selfish───”

Just before Monica raised her voice, Sheltis cut in between them.

“Wa……wait, wait, Monica! Sorry, just forgive him today!”

“Eh?”

She blinked with a puzzled and lovely dumbfounded expression.

“I’ll pass on the details of the meeting to Vaiel later. Okay?”

“……If Sheltis is going to go that far, fine.”

Monica assented with an unsatisfied look.

“But what happened? If there’s a reason, I’d like to know.”

“Eh……well, if you insist and Vaiel runs away here, it’d also be a problem.”

Without mentioning the thing about Yuto in the early morning, he pulled through with a deceptive smile.

……Absolutely do not talk about it, huh.

……Even though he’s doing such great things all alone, he won’t tell anyone.

### Part 6

Dead silence.

An almost painful silence and a chill that seemed to even freeze the air currents.

The holy room in the tower which bound heaven ─── floor 281, the Cathedral.

The room’s ritual equipment shone with a brass color and stars and the moon adorned the stained glass. The ceiling’s deep blue mural mimicked the azure sky.

“…………”

Ymy stood there completely alone with her eyes closed.

Immersing herself in the silence, she felt the passage of time with her entire body as she faced the heavens.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Her lips chanted the release preface that indicated the activation of power. In an instant, overflowing crimson particles shrouded Ymy’s body that was clothed in pure whites vestments.

Crimson, that was the shine for Shinryoku of those that were specialized in baptism.

The power to purify mateki.

“ You don’t need complicated prayers for the purification types. The release of shinryoku. That is everything, the pinnacle. “

Those were the words of her senior Priestess, Meimel.

Releasing the shinryoku within herself and purifying mateki. Just that. What determined its effectiveness was neither the shinryoku wavelength nor technique. The reason she who excelled in potential was reputed as the Baptism Priestess even amongst Priestesses was for this reason.

───I thought I would do my best.

Syun-rei was of the territory type and Meimel was proficient in barrier rituals.

───I thought even I had done my best to not bring shame to the name of the Baptism Priestess.

───But only the mateki residing within Sheltis is…………

The mateki that had taken root within the body of her childhood friend was the only one she couldn’t do anything about.

Elbert Resonance ─── a phenomenon where sufficiently strong mateki and shinryoku of roughly the same strength would repel each other and, distorting the laws of physics, would give off powerful light and flames.

“ Ymy, awaken the possibility that is only available to you. ”

There is a method to overcome Elbert Resonance. And it’s closely related to the “form” of my shinryoku. Queen Salah taught me that.

……But what is it.

……I wonder why there’s a connection between the “form” of my shinryoku and Elbert Resonance. Syun-rei taught me that my “shape” is a “flower bud”.

The crimson amaryllis flower, she said.

……Hmm, but speaking of crimson.

“The same color as the light of baptism……? Is that just a coincidence……?”

The color of shinryoku that indicated baptism and the color of her “form” was the same.

Crimson, it might become a clue.

“…………”

It was no good, thinking about things with a possible relation, nothing was coming to mind. Even if she turned everything she had learned as an apprentice Priestess upside-down, the word “amaryllis” had never come out in her studies of shinryoku.

“Really? You really don’t remember anything?”

A voice she didn’t recognize suddenly came from right behind her.

“Wh-who!?”

She turned around as if having been repelled───

Over there was a gigantic dark purple brilliance that filled her vision. Wrapped in a dark purple mist, it was a strange beast whose crimson eyes were shining.

“Yuugenshu!? N-no way……how is it in this sanctuary?”

Yuugenshu had infiltrated this Cathedral once one month ago during the great infiltration where the Yuugenshu had penetrated Hyouketsu Kyoukai. ……It couldn’t be that it had hidden here at that time?

“Kuu!”

There was no leeway to think about why the Yuugenshu was here. At any rate, activate a spell to protect herself───

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■■■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

The smoke covering the Yuugenshu’s body gave off an amethyst-like glow. The glow gave off became light and the light formed bands of light that were thinner than hair.

The activation of mateki.

───Not good……the spell won’t make it in time!?

The light spread out in concentric circles with the beast at the center and the floor that came into contact with the light was progressively decaying ─── without completing a defense spell or baptism spell for attack, Ymy was swallowed up by the mateki’s light.

She resolved herself for death.

…………

………………Huh?

There was no pain. From her experiences with being bathed in mateki, there were a dreadful nausea and pain inflicted. But there was none of that just now. ……Why?

She timidly opened her eyes.

Before her was the glow of the Cathedral that hadn’t changed until just a little while ago. The floor and walls that should have been invaded by the mateki and decayed hadn’t changed a bit and the ceiling’s ornament was also being bathed in light.

More than that, the figure of the Yuugenshu was nowhere to be seen. Exactly where did───

“Did the illusion just now appear real?”

“!”

She now turned to the voice that came from directly to her side.

“……Who are you?”

Shiny deep black ─── a girl with jet black long hair was there.

She wore form-fitting black vestments with a silver jacket. Her age appeared to be twenty three or twenty four. She didn’t seem much older but that profound smile on her face……it was like sharp and beautiful like a drawn blade that had been completed over a great deal of time.

“Me? I am───”

She combed her ruffling hair with her hand and turned her amber eyes towards Ymy.

Even now, her voluptuous twin mounds that seemed like they would spill out, tightly bound waist, and expanding out once again, her waist, formed a bewitching figure which was visible even with her vestments. Her devilish silhouette was to the point where she, who was of the same sex, also gasped.

“Tsali, that is my name. I also do not mind ‘Master of Heaven’.”

Chuckle, chuckle. Her lips that wore black lipstick were laughing a little.

……Tsali?

It was a name she’d never heard before. No, to begin with, was she really someone from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? She was wearing something that resembled the tower’s vestments but Ymy had never seen vestments with such a personalized design like that.

“The Yuugenshu just now was an illusion, is what you said, right?”

“An illusion of paradise. Everything is a portion of the [Forbidden Crystal]‘s memories and I merely gave it form.”

Her heart thumped strongly for an instant.

……Wh-what? What was that feeling?

An illusion of paradise, as well as that Forbidden Crystal. ……I don’t really get it. But the instant I heard those two terms, something suddenly grew restless within me.

“J-just now……you did something, didn’t you!”

Pressing down on her pulsating chest, Ymy glared at her, but she just laughed while feigning ignorance.

“Nope, I’ve done nothing. I’ve simply hummed the key to this world. You just reacted to it on your own ────── your shinryoku resonated with those names.”

Holding out her left fist, Tsali turned to the ceiling and opened her palm.

A lovely glass ware fell down. Carved from the dark purple crystal was a small winged dragon. She recognized it; it was the souvenir sold at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s lobby.

It was the tower’s mascot, [ Ama Dusk Dragon ]. Why did she bring out that kind of silly thing?

“This is really interesting. While I wasn’t looking, they sold this kind of thing at the tower.”

The small glass dragon sat upon the palm of her hand. It was nothing but a souvenir that anybody could get but she was gazing at it lovingly with half-closed eyes.

“Is there……somebody about that?”

“I bought it. Together with a bag full of candy.”

“Eh?”

“Well, that’s fine. What I was saying was interesting was how this dragon became Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s mascot, even though nobody remembers its origin ────── is what it means, Priestess-sama. Rather, Ymy. Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

“……What do you mean?”

“I mean that you’re the only one who hasn’t changed a bit from three years ago.”

“!”

Her chest experienced a squeezing pain. Different from the heartbeat just now, it was like the sharp pain from having a blade thrust in there. She clenched her fists but that wasn’t enough so she bit together her molars.

“……I am……truly not up to par but”

“You’re doing your utmost as a Priestess? Doing your best has caused growth? That’s also an illusion; the training your devote your body to is a meaningless virtual image. It’s a virtual image that has no reflection in a mirror.”

“Th……that’s not true!”

But Tsali seemed to have been waiting for those words as her smile grew wider and,

“Have you noticed that the world around you is undergoing a rapid change?”

“……Eh?”

“The boy that fell to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song has returned to the floating continent. Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated, even if only for a moment, resulting in a large-scale invasion. Also, the cultivation tank found at the Lagoon floating archipelago . These have all occurred within roughly the same time frame. What if they’re all connected?”

……I really wonder who she is.

Incidents that should only by privy to the Priestesses of the tower were known to her to this extent.

“The world is in flux. Even though you are at the center of that vortex, you haven’t realized it. That’s why I’m here. ……That’s right, it’s a good occasion for the frozen time to begin moving .”

Tsali slowly opened her right fist.

“Change. The stimulus for your shinryoku to bloom will definitely not be strong enough. That’s why I shall impart it to you. In place of that restless Queen, I will teach you the melody you do not know.”

What was laying within her hand was a scarlet crystal fashioned to look like a flower petal.

─── [ Red Song Keinez ] ───

She hummed something.

In that instant, light was created. The scarlet crystal shattered into pieces and melded into the air, then each fragment spurned out torrents of richly colored light.

The lights illuminating the Cathedral converged and drew a single figure.

……Wha……what is this.

Before her eyes, the lights had converged to form a door.

“The beginning is a thousand years ago at the illusionary paradise. Now, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── when you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected , what will be your impressions?”

From the door of light came forth strong luminance akin to dawn───

Then Ymy lost consciousness.

The sky was burning bright red.

### Part 7

“……Where……is this?”

Pressing down on her dizzy head, Ymy shakily got to her feet.

She had fallen onto a field she had never seen before……looking around, she could see water fountains and a benches, and numerous slides were erected over sand hills.

“A nature park?”

Tall trees had been planted that encircled the park and were probably a replacement for a barricade. Even deeper than that, about a hundred metres ahead of where she stood were a line of large structures.

If it was a park within the city, then there were numerous ones around Sophia Tenketsu Palace . ……There were, but she had never seen this one. And what she was curious about was,

“……The sky is kind of scary.”

Looking up at the sky, she unconsciously grimaced. The clouds were large and black, with the sky a blood-like red. It was like the end of this world ─── the sky carried that kind of atmosphere.

……Where is this?

She had been talking with the woman called Tsali and then the world a thousand years ago……she had said she would show her the world before Hyouketsu Kyoukai had been erected. When she came to, she had fallen here.

A dream? A hallucination? No, that wasn’t it. The solidity of the ground, the smell of the air, the feel of the clouds. It was unthinkable for them to be a hallucination. It was unmistakably the real world. But no matter what power was used, this kind of───

“……No.”

Thinking about that would come later. She had to search for a way to return from here for now.

.

“ Emergency notice, emergency notice. “

.

At the same time she put out one foot, a warning suddenly came.

“Wh-what?……What’s happening?”

.

“ Yuugenshu battalion approaching from the northern skies.

Those living in the Living Sector, please evacuate to the shelters. “

.

……Yuugenshu, it can’t be!

.

An instinctual commotion pressured her chest. Reflexively, Ymy looked up at the sky.

The bright red sky and the sparse black clouds. One portion of those clouds was being torn to pieces unnaturally……it was strange. In these windless conditions, there was no way a cloud would move like that.

.

“ I repeat, a Yuugenshu battalion is approaching.

Those living in the Living Sector, please evacuate to the shelters. “

.

The change was sudden. The second she thought the torn black clouds had ceased moving ────── it fell in a straight line to the ground.

As I thought!

That was not a cloud mist, and that thing which was shrouded in a dark purple mist was.

“……A Yuugenshu!?”

The attacker from the skies fell to the park’s field.

Juu……uu……uuuuuu……

The corruption of mateki. The ground where the Yuugenshu landed boiled and decayed.

“……That time’s commander!”

Biting her lips together and waving her vestments, she glared at the Yuugenshu that had descended.

A pair of wings and four massive limbs as well as the lizard head which protruded out of the dark purple mist.

She recalled that appearance that resembled a dragon’s. There was no way she could forget. It was the Yuugenshu commander of the great invasion.

.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

.

Out from the Yuugenshu’s mouth came a curse-like sound.

Dark purple light swirled like a vortex and gathered towards the Yuugenshu, then suddenly expanded several hundred metres.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Lifting her spirit, she offered a prayer of baptism that resisted mateki. Following the release chant, scarlet particles wrapped around her───

A chill.

“! Ky, aa!”

Being pushed back by the surge of mateki, she was blown backwards. Blown back around ten metres, she slammed hard into the large trees lining the park.

She’d lost in a simple comparison of strength between shinryoku and mateki? That……shouldn’t be……until now, that had never happened once.

“……Ka……aa……?”

She couldn’t breathe because of the intense pain on her back.

───This is bad……the next mate……ki……I need to……focus my consciousness.

Calm Mind.

She forcefully separated her mind from the harsh pain of her body and focused only on the shinryoku spell.

It was a posture with both knees and both hands on the ground. In addition, her face was raised. Her vision was blurry but she still forced them open and glared at the Yuugenshu.

……I……can’t, lose.

……I am……a Priestess, ……so there’s no way I can lose.

She prepared a spell to defend against the next mateki───

But the [next] didn’t come no matter how long she waited.

“Eh?”

Paying no attention to her, the Yuugenshu spread its wings and flew off. ……Why did it leave even though I’m still fine? The Yuugenshu should have known that much as well.

───Tosaa.

From directly to her side came a light sound of something falling to the ground. Another Yuugenshu? She spun towards the injured body. Over there was not the comrades of the strange beast.

“……A kid?”

The one who had fallen face up on the field was a single person……a boy of about ten years old. The fiber of his clothes was tattered and his skin that went in and out of view was being corrupted by an ominous dark purple speck.

───It wasn’t mateki aimed at me.

She had been surprised leading to her realizing it too late: the Yuugenshu had been aiming at this kid from the start. That’s why, having accomplished its goal, it had flown away.

……At any rate, I should purify him.

Changing the target of the spell that had been aimed at the Yuugenshu, she chanted a spell that would bless the target she was in contact with.

.

O seven colors of the interweaving dream

Yu/ ubinis ole = C kis tih Ies.

.

“……You’ll be fine.”

Holding the fallen boy, she embraced him.

.

The slumbering spring’s rest is at an end, wishing, the augite that awakens with the path.

mios huda yum xeph fel hypne shel sephat, xephnis wision.

.

Now in this place, the accumulated songs of praise, the quivering pulsations, arrive at the heavenly sound.

mehnes nelar, Ee toga-s-sia vea clar = C nelves zahl tis kyel Sophit.

.

“I will……heal you.”

The touching skin, the body heat she could feel and her own.

The scarlet light that was blessing her was passed through her arms to the boy.

.

The pouring drops, lovingly fill and run towards the fated time.

kei yum lisy r-blow-s-miel xins clue Is-Ye-fio missin.

.

O wishes, become the path of thousands of hopes.

Ris sia sophia, shel evoia steras tis lef ilis.

.

The dark purple light that was eating away at the boy. The scarlet light that was purifying that curse.

The two lights swirled together like a vortex.

.

───For the time the world is filled with prayers, I sing.

Yu/ Se = C clar fears valen r-miel noi I.

.

And then the scarlet light───

The scarlet light was reflected by the dark purple light and unilaterally destroyed.

.

“…………Eh?”

Not understanding what had happened, she seriously doubted her eyes.

“……No way……you’re kidding, right?……”

My baptism spell had no effect? There’s no way it was rejected like with Sheltis. The shinryoku was certainly penetrating the mateki’s barrier. But for it to be deflected……

She had seen a phenomenon like this many times.

Those who just became an apprentice Priestess had been repelled just like this when they tried to purify mateki.

The reason was just that their specs were too low. Even if a film were taken in high quality, if the television was of low quality, the picture quality would become low quality ─── even if the amount of shinryoku was sufficient, there was no meaning if the spell could not match up with it.

……I made the same mistake as an apprentice Priestess?

It was the same just before. Her defense spell had lost to the mateki. And if she considered the phenomenon with the baptism spell just now, one idea came to mind. It was an idea simpler than anything.

.

The Yuugenshu’s mateki is surpassing my shinryoku as a Priestess?

.

Her defense spells were of no help and her baptism spells were being treated completely like a child.

……That, that kind of thing.

……Until now……even though I’ve done my best in training……while shedding tears…………

While holding the child that had lost consciousness, she lost her strength and fell to her knees.

The penetration of the mateki eating away at the boy wasn’t stopping. His body turning completely dark purple was proof that his body’s cells were in necrosis from the mateki infection. Even so, all she could do was watch.

This is, this is──────

.

“ When you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, what will be your impressions? “

.

This was the world a thousand years ago.

Before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, it was a matter of course that Yuugenshu as fearsome as this were running rampant.

“………………I don’t like this.”

Biting her lips together enough to spurt blood, she wiped away the tears in her eyes.

……I don’t like it.

She definitely did not want to give up.

Because the world was like this, someone was necessary. Because the world was like this, Priestesses were necessary. If the Priestesses gave up, everything would end. ……That’s why I won’t give up.

She gathered power once again in the hand holding the boy.

She was about to start the baptism chant again but Ymy’s mouth froze in an open position.

……Zuu……zuzuu……zunn……n……

A rumble shook the ground and a gigantic [something] roared.

“!”

A slight pain could be felt on her skin as the ground swayed. It wasn’t because of the shaking, it was because of the overwhelming pressure given off by that which was closing in. Even though she still couldn’t see it.

It’s there and ─── it’s coming!

The moment she felt that, that appeared from the space between the structures in the park.

.

Reaching even the buildings that were about ten floors tall, it was an unheard-of enormous Yuugenshu.

.

Her eyes met with its crimson eyes that were as large as people.

“……Ah……h……”

Her body wouldn’t move. The moment their eyes met, she had been went stiff like she’d been paralyzed.

───I can’t win.

───I can’t……no, humanity cannot win against this monster.

Time did not move until her body, her heart, and her instincts told her such. Even the Yuugenshu just before had a size and pressure that was out of the question. More than anything, the shine of that mateki that covered it was like a solar eclipse that blotted out the sun. It was enough to cover the sky.

……I’m sorry.

……It looks like……I won’t be able to help you.

Holding onto the boy whom the mateki was eating away at, she couldn’t do anything but look up at the Yuugenshu.

.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■■■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

.

The roar of the Yuugenshu. That mateki shook the sky and released a brilliant and mysterious shine.

The ring of light enveloped Ymy and the boy in the park───

……I’m sorry.

Holding the boy tightly, she shut her eyes. No, the instant she was about to close them, somebody flew out in front of her.

.

Come now, let us offer up all the promised children.

Elma sia Risis ele Selahphenoria

.

The girl whose mysteriously colored hair was flapping in the wind chanted.

Like silk thread of seven colors, the ruffling hair changed its beautiful color.

Crystal colored ─── with a transparent silvery white like ice as its base, the parts touched by light shone with a mix of pearl and gold.

Azure light.

The brilliant and gentle shinryoku light activated before the mateki arrived.

A barrier type shinryoku spell?

The mateki’s shine that shrouded the world was rejected by the light barrier. That instant.

.

───Dchidchi……dchii!……───

.

Blue-white sparks that made one think of a lightning flash surged from the barrier’s border.

“Elbert Resonance!?”

……It’s the same as with Sheltis and I.

Even forgetting the situation, her eyes were drawn in by the shining sparks before her eyes.

Elbert Resonance, a miracle phenomenon that only occurred when sufficiently strong mateki and shinryoku collided. That’s happening between that unheard-of Yuugenshu and that girl?

The mateki and barrier were mutually annihilated.

The Yuugenshu that understood its attack had been blocked was visibly disturbed. In that momentary instant, the girl once again spun shinryoku release chants.

.

[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable......]

[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]

.

It was an azure light barrier that continued out to the horizon.

The light ring bound the Yuugenshu’s movements and next a spear of light that shone golden pierced it, fastening it to the ground. Lastly, the azure barrier shifted from that color to scarlet ─── it changed to the color of baptism which was most effective of the Yuugenshu.

“……Amazing.”

She couldn’t say anything other than that.

Azure was the color of barriers. Golden brilliance indicated an advent spell, and last was a large-scale blast of baptism.

A combination spell of three different types of systems. With that much of a range, that powerfully. And it was activated with only one phrase of a release chant.

“That child appears to be contaminated by mateki. Shall I purify him?”

Letting her transparent crystal hair flow, the girl turned back towards her.

She was wearing a modest and plain shirt and skirt. Her shoulders and body were slim to the point that they looked like they’d break, and her height was roughly the same as Syun-rei. She wasn’t even in her later tens. As best, she was thirteen or fourteen.

“Ah……ah……umm”

There were two reasons she was mumbling. Her unfulfilled promise with her baptism having no effect. Also ─── her gaze was stolen by the girl’s gem-like cuteness.

Her moist eyes which were tinged with sorrow were a vivid lapis lazuli color.

Her skin was a transparent white like white porcelain, smooth and slim without a single blemish. Her looks were lovely and ephemeral, her figure enough to allow one to see a fairy.

……Just who is this girl?

“The spell, I’ll do it.”

Looking over at Ymy who was holding tight the boy, the girl said that in a moderate tone.

“The necrosis has started so he may act up. Hold down that child like that.”

“Y-yes!”

The girl kneeled down on the field and sung the same release chant.

[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable......]

[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]

This is her release chant?

Is it a coincidence?……it feels like it greatly resembles my release chant. And this voice, it feels like I’ve heard it somewhere. And not just once or twice, it feels like I’ve been hearing it all the time as of late.

“It seems fine already.”

“Eh, al-already?”

She looked back at the boy. The venomous dark purple speck had disappeared and his skin had returned to its original color. There was a slight spot with necrosis but he would be saved with a surgical procedure.

“You are a kind person, aren’t you.”

Having that said all of a sudden, Ymy blinked in surprise.

“Eh?”

“This child didn’t act up at all to the end. He’s calmed down a lot. I think your feelings have definitely been transmitted.”

“……Ah, i-is……that so. I was focusing so hard……”

But she was happy. She had almost become depressed by herself who couldn’t do anything and she felt that that would be mitigated by a single phrase.

“U-um……what’s your name?”

Please let me hear your name. She was about to say that but realizing the presence behind the girl, she felt a chill throughout her whole body. ───This pressure.

The Yuugenshu with the unheard-of gigantic body lifted its body that had been broken down and stood once again. It had become a more brutal wounded beast. The dark purple shine overflowed from its entire body.

“Be-behind you! It’s not over”

“───No.”

Perceiving the beast with a sidelong glance, the girl told her this quietly.

“It’s already over.”

.

A light from the heavens cleaved the Yuugenshu into two clean halves.

.

A sound like glass shattering. The Yuugenshu’s massive body fragmented into light particles and proceeded to annihilation like the dispersal of the leftover shinryoku.

……What happened?

This girl had done nothing. It shouldn’t be that the Yuugenshu had suicided. If so.

.

“ Shasa, are you okay? ”

.

A silver-haired girl wearing a light-emitting mechanical outfit.

She seemed to be slightly taller than Ymy with about the same age. Her dignified voice and expressionless face that couldn’t be read were strangely suited to each other. That kind of girl was standing there.

“Of course. Rather than that, how about that side? Is the evacuation of civilians complete?”

Shasa ─── the girl with crystal hair smiled.

“ Comparing the digital map with the residents’ register, 98% evacuation was confirmed. The remaining civilians have been left up to the guidance members. We’ll now be moving from raids to full annihilation. “

The silver-haired girl held up her right hand. Unbefitting of a girl in her teens, she was holding a massive great sword that far surpassed her in height.

……Don’t tell me the one who cleaved the Yuugenshu in half just now was this girl?

……Furthermore, with that great sword?

“ Is a battle status report necessary? “

Shasa nodded and the silver-haired girl continued onto the second part.

“ That mid-size Yuugenshu just now was the last one in the city. However, we’re picking up readings of 1700 Yuugenshu in the northern airspace. About this, I have judged that I alone am enough to clean them up. The expected time for annihilation is 17,200 seconds later at 4:30 PM. “

“You do that and I’ll purify the parts of the city that are corrupted.”

“ Yes. However, due to the distortion in the airspace, large types are expected to appear in eight hours. From the response, there will be two. They are expected to both possess the code melody [Black Song]. “

“……Two of them is troublesome. Will we be splitting them between us two?”

Shasa’s expression increased in severity.

This was the girl that had dealt with a Yuugenshu of that calibre carelessly.

“ Yes. It’s redundant, but a Yuugenshu in possession of the “Black Song” will render barrier type, advent type, territory type and worship type shinryoku completely ineffective. Please counter it with only baptism type spells. “

“I know. We can’t lose……let’s show those invaders what it looks like when humans get serious. ───And speaking of which.”

Shasa casually tilted her head with an adorable face.

“How about Yuto? What happened with her?”

“ She is engaged in battle with the pack of invaders at the western airspace. There are also those possessing the “Black Song” over there but she said to help the fourteen year old child rather than her. “

Shasa turned her face away with a pout that was a youthful action befitting of her age.

“……Unfortunately, I have no idea who that could be about.”

“ Is there a need to answer? “

“I don’t need it. ───Then let’s meet up eight hours later; I’ll designate the location shortly. I’m counting on you, [Machine God Mikuva]-san.”

Shasa smiled teasingly.

On the other end, the silver-haired girl whose expression could not be read shifted her scarlet eyes and,

“ I believe I have introduced myself as Ilis before? “

……Ilis? She said Ilis.

……Also, just now……Machine God Mikuva……what exactly does that……

“Well then, we’ll be going now.”

“Eh? U-umm.”

Being glanced at by Shasa, Ymy hurriedly fixed her posture.

“I’m sorry, I still have things to do. The Yuugenshu in the city have been wiped out by Ilis, so it’s safe. It is safe to return to your house so”

“Wa-wait! Umm, you all are──────”

She reached out towards the two who were leaving.

She reached out.

.

There, Ymy’s consciousness paused once again.

“……Uu.”

A cool feeling against her cheek. When Ymy came to, she was lying face down on the floor.

“This is……the Cathedral?”

She absent-mindedly rubbed her closed eyes. The brass-colored ritual implements, azure sky ceiling, the chill that wrapped the entire room. Without a doubt, it was the Cathedral she was very familiar with.

…………What was that……just now?

…………A dream?……

No, her memories were too vivid for a dream and there was this sense of fatigue. It felt like she had just traveled the boundary between a dream and the present.

“That’s right, that person───”

The woman whose background was unknown and went by the name of Tsali. The person responsible for showing her this thing that she distinguish as a dream or reality. It was best to ask her. However.

“……She’s not here?”

Ymy sprung up and looked around but there was no trace of her.

It was like a mirage or heat haze. In that case, maybe everything including her existence was a dream? She took a deep breath with her hand on her chest.

At that moment, she looked at her own vestments by chance and her breath stopped.

“───! This is……”

A part of the flank of the vestments was slightly torn.

When did it tear? Yesterday? No, the maintenance was left to a seamstress specialized in vestments. She wouldn’t have ignored damage this large and Ymy herself would have noticed if she tore a hole this large.

In that case, it was torn today and furthermore───

.

“ Being pushed back by the surge of mateki, she was blown backwards. Blown back around ten metres, she slammed hard into the large trees lining the park. “

.

“No way……that can’t”

She stared down at her feet while shocked stiff. There was mud clinging to the tips. If this was also something that stuck on when she collapsed during the battle with the Yuugenshu, then it made sense.

“It wasn’t a dream……?”

Ymy fell to her knees and placed her hand on the ground in blank amazement.

It was all real. That world and what she saw?

“……That was the world a thousand years ago.”

The world without Hyouketsu Kyoukai. A world threatened by Yuugenshu that held a power which couldn’t be imagined in present times. It was harsher, more ruthless, laden with despair ────── but those two.

The girls named Shasa and Ilis had fought.

.

“ Let’s show those invaders what it looks like when humans get serious. “

.

Even in that harsh of a world, they were still fighting with all they had.

“…………”

Filled with fervent passion and serenity, they were both heated and cool.

……That was probably all true.

She didn’t know who the woman called Tsali was nor her true purpose for showing her the scene just now.

But what she had seen in that world ─── the two girls, Shasa and Ilis, fighting Yuugenshu to save someone, had not been a lie. She felt that.

“…………”

She breathed in the frozen air and exhaled.

“I am…………an idiot.”

At the base of her heart, she still had naive views about how fearsome Yuugenshu were.

She had thought that they were safe so long as the priestesses prayed to maintain Hyouketsu Kyoukai. But that was wrong: at the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song that lay beneath the barrier, Yuugenshu that were beyond the imagination of the current world lurked. There was no doubt that they were biding time until the day the barrier was destroyed.

Protecting the world from those monsters was the duty of the Priestesses.

……I am still lacking that power.

……I have to become strong. In mind and body, and in shinryoku.

If she didn’t, she couldn’t help Sheltis either. As long as she couldn’t purify the mateki, she couldn’t help him who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

“……Sheltis,”

Her voice echoed. While listening to her voice that resounded within the cool silence───

“It feels……like I’ve understood something.”

Ymy drew her two hands near her gently pulsing chest and closed her eyes slowly.

### 046. Chapter 4: At the Deep Green Lands

### Part 1

The far-off cry of wild birds could be heard.

An area of scattered large trees that towered towards the sky. Within that world of deep green, advancing would bring an equal amount of green and serenity.

A vivid orange transport vehicle continued on ahead within that silence.

A detour made to the giant trees to avoid the swamplands. Finally ─── the dense pack of trees thinned out and the transport vehicle stopped at a point that had good visibility of the area.

“ Oh──, what an amazing sea of trees. It reminds me of the forests of the Lagoon floating archipelago we went to last time. “

“You’re being too loud, Ilis. The time we went to the Lagoon floating archipelago is a secret from everybody.”

Calming the high-spirited Ilis down, Sheltis placed his luggage on his shoulder.

“So we’ve arrived. It’s the final selection so don’t get careless.”

“……Since we’ve come this far.”

Kagura and Monica stood up with their luggage in their hands. He moved to follow the two who exited through the back doors on either side of the vehicle but suddenly stopped to face the teammate behind him.

“We’re here, it seems.”

“I got it. Sheesh, what a pain this was. An overnight transport, and on top of that, the road was bumpy so I only managed to get an hour of sleep?”

Vaiel, who had been reclining at the seat furthest in, got up.

“Let’s get going; it seems like we’ll lose points if we keep the examiner waiting.”

Sighing at the weight of the luggage biting into his shoulder, Sheltis descended from the transport vehicle.

“Hurry and line up, you guys; Nash’s unit has already lined up ─── now then, mission number 16, [Governmental Sector Deployment]‘s final selection shall commence.”

The examiner, I’sa, pointed around at her surroundings.

“As you can see, this is deep within the Nature District. It’s closer to a biotope than the Living Districts. There are no first-class dangerous species like dragons but there isn’t a lack of large species that will attack people. We’re out in this place so there’s no guarantee that it’s safe……more than anything, there is a chance of encountering Yuugenshu.”

The Regular Guard surveyed the expressions of the eight Cadets.

“I think you understand but the protection of the Queen and the Priestesses at the tower is the mission of the Guards. What you guys will do is one part of that, a patrol for the purpose of investigating the Yuugenshu.”

Of course, Sophia Tenketsu Palace had instruments for detecting Yuugenshu.

However, they measured the wavelength of a Yuugenshu’s mateki so they could not track those that appeared and disappeared. For that reason, the last measure was to confirm by eye ─── patrols were carried out in a human-wave tactical effort.

“You’re likely well-aware of this as well but the first and third rank Priestesses are also patrolling the perimeter of the floating continent. Well, that just means this is that important of a job for the Guards as well. Act without forgetting that……here, Sheltis, distribute these.”

“Eh? Ah, ahh. Understood.”

He handed everyone theirs from the stack of paper I’sa passed him. The first sheet showed the three-day schedule. Then the second was a map of this area’s surroundings.

“Everyone’s got one now, I see. You can understand the first one by looking at it, so I’ll explain the second sheet. We’re currently at the white circle and the area bordered in red is the patrol area. The eastern side is Nash’s and the western one is Monica’s.”

The area indicated in red likely stretched out several kilometres in all four directions. With the three day period in mind, it was a safe amount of land.

“Then the all-important schedule and……hey, hey, what’s this immediate departure upon arrival about?”

Vaiel sighed after looking at the schedule.

“Then will you sleep outdoors? I forgot to mention this, but the blue circle is the cottage you will be using. There’s no food or water until you reach it.”

“……God damn it.”

I’sa smiled loosely in response to Vaiel who was in a bad mood.

“You understand, right? By the way, I’ll be patrolling alongside you guys as the examiner. I intend to do the first day will be with Nash’s unit, the second with Monica’s.”

### Part 2

The ground was strewn with tree leaves.

They entered the path which was, with its muddiness despite the lack of rainfall or other precipitation over several days coupled with the large trees that were gathered here and there which made it even more complex, a path which couldn’t be called such.

“Hey, hey, hey, what’s with this place. Is this really a path? This is just the inside of a forest.”

“……Don’t split off, Vaiel, you’ll become a lost child.”

Monica’s tone was completely serious. Gripping her Rosario Crossed Rods in her right hand, she parted the branches with her free left hand and continued in that manner.

“Kagura, we’re going in the right direction, right?”

The third member following after Monica and Vaiel was Kagura.

“Yes. Please continue like this for another five minutes. We’ll be going off the shortest path to the cottage but this path is safe.”

“Safe? This kind of spiderweb-like route is?”

“The shortest route is the habitat of cry birds and home to many of them. They’re harmless but their cries are very loud and will cover up the footsteps of dangerous wild beasts. Dangerous, right?”

“……Shut up.”

Leaking out a grumbling complaints that showed he consented, Vaiel went silent.

“Sheltis as well, I think you understand already, but please be wary of the rear.”

“Understood, the rear is secure.”

He glanced behind again before replying to Monica. The tail of the group is the most dangerous spot and could become a blind spot so the responsibility attached to it was great.

“It doesn’t look like anything in particular is there; I’sa’s also not here.”

“I’sa……that examiner? If it’s about her, she said she’d be moving together with Nash’s group.”

“It’s an examiner’s trick.”

Having them let down their guard by saying she would go with the other unit, but in actuality, she would be following them secretly.

“Whether the unit is slacking off or not, or skipping out or not. You’d get a large demerit from not realizing the examiner was tailing you.”

“……I see. I didn’t think that far.”

Monica smiled wryly while sidestepping a protruding rock. Then the third in the line, Kagura, who was operating her Machina machine pearl , raised her face suddenly.

“By the way, Monica, what do you plan to do?”

“About what?”

“This patrol is basically for the purpose of finding the Yuugenshu that came up to the floating continent. Most of them would be found in their biotope but the chance of individuals penetrating as far as the Nature District isn’t zero. That it’s not zero means it wouldn’t be strange to come across one right now around here.”

If they just found traces of a Yuugenshu, it would be settled with reporting to the examiner. The question was what to do if they stumbled upon not the traces but the actual Yuugenshu.

To run away or to engage in battle.

“Haa? It’s obvious that we should run away from that kind of thing. Cadet Guards like us can’t win against that. Run away and report to that examiner brat! That’d settle it.”

Vaiel turned around to face Kagura who was behind him.

“Fumu, you’re being quite realistic.”

“‘Course I am.”

“……So he says. Well?”

Kagura’s words seemed to be testing her. On the other side, the unit leader that stood at the head of the group hadn’t opened her mouth yet and continued to remain silent.

“We’ll decide based on the situation.”

Monica swung the Rosario crossed rods in her hand. Breaking the branch that was obstructing her path, she kept on looking ahead the entire time.

“It will depend on the Yuugenshu’s strength……as long as it’s not a special case, I have a feeling that fighting would go well for this team.”

“Hah? Hey, hey, hey, captain-san, what kind of joke is this?”

The ever-unapologetic Vaiel shrugged his shoulders.

“Cadet Guards like us can’t win against Yuugenshu. Before that, we haven’t even seen a real───”

“We have.”

She suppressed Vaiel’s words with a nod.

“We have seen and fought one. Since I was……an apprentice Priestess until three years ago.”

This time, it was Vaiel’s turn to be coerced into silence.

An apprentice Priestess’ rank was the same as a Regular Guard. As part of their training to become a Priestess, they would form a unit with Regular Guards and fight with Yuugenshu on patrols.

“……First time I’ve heard you were an apprentice Priestess.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I don’t get it.”

It was expected that Vaiel would spit that out. Because an apprentice Priestess who held the same rank as a Regular Guard had purposefully lowered their own rank to that of a Cadet Guard.

“Ahem, well that would be a long story, so let’s just leave that aside.”

Privy to the circumstances, Kagura cleared her throat.

“The words our unit leader spoke are true. If you doubt them, please consult the tower’s digital information. Her name is also upon the apprentice Priestess list of three years ago.”

“……Moron, like I’d do something that annoying.”

He seemed to feel a certain amount of credibility in Kagura’s information. Putting both hands in his pockets, he only groaned in annoyance.

“Then at that hypothetical time, you plan on a hard struggle?”

“Of course I intend to fight at the head but it’ll be rough with just me alone. Half……more than half of it will be Sheltis.”

“Eh. ……Ah, r-right. I’ll do my best.”

He straightened up reflexively when his name came up suddenly. ……He had thought it would be coming but didn’t expect it to be so frankly stated.

“Heeh, you, huh.”

Vaiel turned to him with a dubious look.

“Well, do as you like. I’ll say this ahead of time, but if it comes to that, I’m bolting by myself.”

“I see.”

“……Indifferent, aren’t you, captain-san.”

Vaiel, with a sour expression, drew near Monica who had been speaking calmly to the end.

“I’m saying I’ll ditch my comrades and run. You’d normally be angry.”

“ If you really planned to ditch your comrades, you wouldn’t say so beforehand. “

The one who answered was Kagura.

“……! Don’t just decide that by yourself; I’m seriously gonna run by myself! Got it! Don’t cry about it later!”

Vaiel thrust out a finger and Kagura calmly gazed at him.

“ Umm, umm~, say, say, could I say one thing? “

Ilis Machine crystal interjected with a nonchalant tone.

“Ilis, we’re busy right now───”

“ You said we should proceed straight ahead for five minutes, but hasn’t it already been long past that? “

“Ah……”

Four peoples’ voices overlapped at that spot.

### Part 3

Seven hours later.

“Th-that’s it. It’s our cottage.”

Comparing the digital map on the Machina machine pearl many times with what was before them, Kagura let out a small cheer.

“……It took a long time.”

“……It took over three times the original estimate of two hours after all.”

“ The cute Ilis was bored and bored and about to die. “

“……I’m too tired to say anything.”

“Sh-shut up! I just made a little mistake on the route and we took the long way around!”

With her cheeks dyed bright red, Kagura swung both her arms around.

“It’s not just Kagura’s fault. ……At any rate, let’s check it out. We need to confirm the cottage’s interior as well.”

It was a two-floor cottage built with light metals. Against the deep green backdrop of the surrounding forest, the bright white paint of the walls made it obvious even at a glance from far away.

───Confirmed───

The card reader that scanned Monica’s emblem blinked. They could hear the sound of electronic locks being released behind the door and the mechanical door slid to the side.

“I’m surprised, it’s the same door as the dorms of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s lodgings.”

Holding her luggage over her shoulder, Monica passed through the open door.

“……The interior is impressive as expected.”

In the lit living room, Monica left her luggage on a chair and took a deep breath.

The residential kitchen had a refrigerator and sofa. With a table and whiteboard for meetings and a wireless computer, it certainly was a facility used for patrolling.

“Kagura and Vaiel, go ahead and check out the second floor. I’ll look outside. Sheltis, you have the communicator. Inform the examiner.”

“Understood. I’ll tell her we arrived at the cottage.”

He put down the luggage on his shoulder, took out and set up the large communicator on the ground.

If it was a simple transmission, then the emblems had such a function, but for reporting unit activities like this, it was customary to use a reliable communicator like this.

“I’m pretty sure it was this button───”

He pushed the red power supply within the blackened body and placed the wireless receiver in his ear.

“Ah-……testing, testing. ……It’s strange how I can really hear with just this alone.”

“ Don’t say stupid things and just get on with the report. “

He ended up being flat-out interrupted by I’sa.

“Umm, then I’ll make the report. Monica’s unit has arrived at the cottage.”

“ Just that? “

“Eh, just that……meaning”

“ Meaning you finally arrived at the cottage. “

The other end of the receiver sounded not angry so much as astonished.

“ Nash’s unit also just arrived at the cottage but they’ve already patrolled half of the assigned area today. “

“Geh……that’s fast.”

“ And on your end─── “

“No, no, no, have no worries! Umm……l-look, we’ll just save today. We’ll get our bearings for today and wrap it all out in one go tomorrow!”

“ I’ll be looking forward to that. I’ll meet up with your unit at your cottage tomorrow, so for today until 23:00, work on a schedule for tomorrow and present it. “

“……Understood, examiner. With this, tomorrow’s gonna be rough.”

Sheltis cut off the receiver with a clack and collapsed onto the sofa.

### Part 4

“……We have to do our best tomorrow.”

Monica looked the comrades of her unit after they gathered in the living room once again.

Drawing a map on the giant graph paper laid out atop the table, she wrote down the patrol route in red pen.

“Nash’s unit will probably finish patrolling their assigned area tomorrow. At the very least, I’d like for us to follow suit. We have to go around the assigned area all in one day.”

“We will depart at four in the morning and return late into the night. ……We’ll walk way too much and have muscle pains the next day.”

Propping herself up on her hands against the table, Kagura muttered in a soliloquy.

The route drawn on the map was basically a net. There was no telling how far it would take to walk the entirety.

“Tomorrow will be a day of endurance. We’ll be departing at four in the morning, so keep that in mind. We’ll finish off here for today, so each of us should rest up.”

“The first and second floors both have three rooms each so there was an excess in rooms. The first floor will be for the men with the second floor for women. Here, these are the rooms’ card keys.”

Kagura indicated the card keys upon the table.

“I’ll just say this ahead of time, but if you come up to the second floor in the middle of the night, I’ll shoot with you with a stun gun, no questions asked.”

“Fool, like I’d have any interest in brats with no sex appeal like you guys.”

Vaiel took the card key and snorted.

“Fu, you don’t understand; true, my body is still not fully developed, but a slender body that seems like it would snap with only a touch has its own merits. Especially that one time Monica helped───”

“Why are you throwing my name out right there!?”

Monica covered up Kagura’s mouth that was speaking.

“A-at any rate……save the stamina for engaging in entertaining conversation for tomorrow.”

Monica took a card and folded her arms.

“Now are there any questions? If not, we’ll end off here.”

“Ah, just one thing……it’s not really that big of a thing.”

The three gazes fell in this direction as Sheltis timidly raised his hand.

“……What are we doing about dinner?”

The unit once again felt nervousness run at this instant.

“This is a problem.”

“Yes, this is a grave issue.”

Looking into the refrigerator stationed in the kitchen, the female pair of Monica and Kagura grimaced.

Within the freezer were vacuum-sealed bread, vegetables and smoked meat that was salted to preserve it. On the shelf beside it was a full assortment of spices. The variety and amount were both bountiful so it was well enough for three days or even a week, but the problem was───

“ Fumu, fumu. The things that can be eaten without cooking are really just the packaged bread and bottled water. Well, if they were cooked they couldn’t be preserved so it really can’t be helped. “

At Ilis machine crystal ’ calm words, the two female representatives exchanged looks again.

“……Kagura, can you cook?”

“……Monica as well, this is your time to shine as the unit captain.”

“……You know that I was an apprentice Priestess. I put all I had into my training and had no time for something like cooking.”

“……I also am working as a researcher for the Tower Control Bureau alongside being a Guard.”

It would appear that both of them were weak at cooking.

“……Kagura, what’s this flat iron tool?”

“……According to what I’ve read, it seems to be known as a frying pan. You use it like……this as a weapon to hit your opponent, I think.”

“……It seems like you could use it as a shield too. But why is there a weapon in the kitchen?”

Correction. Weak wasn’t how it would be described. Staring fixedly at the frying pan, the two ladies were discussing some frightening things with serious expressions.

“U-um, you two……a frying pan is for frying things……”

“Sheltis!”

“Y-yes!?”

In an instant, the two of them overlapped their voices and turned towards him.

“How good are you at cooking!?”

“No……I’m sorry if you were expecting something but there’s not really a big difference between us.”

His position was different from them; rather than using it for cooking or such, he spent every spare hour training with his twin swords.

“This is bad, really bad. As I thought, somebody’s going to have to take the plunge and try cooking.”

“However, Monica, taking a risk here is not a good idea. Rather than everybody here retiring tomorrow from stomach pains, it would be best to go with the packaged bread”

“But that won’t be enough for us───”

The two who had started discussing again didn’t notice. There was a fragrant smell filling up the kitchen they were in.

“Hmm, there’s a good smell.”

Sizzle……the first one who realized that there was the sound of something being fried was Sheltis. Turning around, he found a young man with smoked meat and vegetables atop a frying pan on the fire.

“Eh, don’t tell me, Vaiel can cook?”

“‘Course. As a man, what would one do if he couldn’t prepare the meals he ate.”

While heating the ingredients on the frying pan, he quickly cut the remaining meat and vegetables into bite-sized pieces and spread them over the nabe. Solid soup and salt and pepper, with just the peel of dried fruits that had been sliced thrown in for the scent. Amongst that, a toaster that had been set up who-knows-when had browned bread peeping out.

To do this much in such a short time ─── this man, he’s capable!

In response to the spectacle unfolding before their eyes, the three exchanged looks with their eyes shining.

“……It’s a complete loss; who would have thought that we’d find the unit’s final weapon here.”

“Yeah, I thought Vaiel was a capable man. As I thought, the men of my unit are different.”

“It came, it’s here! With this, our victory tomorrow is unshaken!”

The three sent a grand applause from behind him but───

“Ahh? Ain’t you guys misunderstanding something?”

“Eh……”

The three’s expressions froze.

“Who said I’d make your portions? Like I’d do something that much of a pain in the ass.”

“…………”

“You guys are naive. You’re not kids, so nobody’s going to help you if you’re in trouble.”

Vaiel didn’t notice as he immersed himself in his lecture, arms crossed.

That Monica, Kagura and Sheltis had each grabbed the weapon nearest them and were edging closer.

“Got it? If you do, then make your portion yourself……mm? What’s with you guys, standing there wordlessly with a frying pan, pepper grinder and chopping board───”

“Hand over dinneeeeeerrrrr!”

The three that had gone wild attacked.

“Guhaaa!……Y-you guys! Three against one is cowardlyyyyy────────────!”

Pushed down in the blink of an eye, Vaiel caved in to the force of numbers.

At the same time, in a cottage far away.

“…………”

In the other cottage, I’sa the examiner, could hear the sequence of events coming from the wiretap as she sighed in exhaustion.

“A unit that has internal strife from stealing food……this is terrible.”

### Part 5

The smell of earth was carried upon the wind. Inside the forest that was visible behind the steam that had humidity mixed in, the figures of five people walked on the desolated animal trail that couldn’t even be called a path.

“Ahh, damn it. I’m sleepy and sluggish……and because of the humidity, the ground is sticky and annoying.”

The one who was grumbling endlessly by himself was the third in the line, a young man with blond hair who was the tallest of the group.

“Vaiel, don’t be so noisy and look around you. This isn’t just a stroll.”

“I go──t it. I tell you if I find the mist of mateki, the traces of mateki or I feel a presence hiding. Right?”

Monica who stood at the forefront of the line assented without turning around. Just like yesterday, her left hand was empty and the blackened Rosario crossed rods in her right hand glinted with a dull shine.

Looking at that───

“Fuun. That girl, she’s overly serious, but she might fit the role of a captain. There’s one noisy problem child, but she’s keeping him down somehow……”

At the very back of the line, I’sa the examiner smiled like something was interesting.

The second day was the day that their unit would be traveling with the examiner. Their every movement being scrutinized and this feeling of being unable to settle down had both already continued on from when they’d awoken at four in the morning until now several hours later.

“That kind of thing is also graded?”

“Of course. So that nothing is left up to arbitrary decision by the examiner, it’s a given that the basics of the grading are extremely picky.”

She probably won’t say. Thinking that, Sheltis turned around and she had told him honestly with an affable smile.

“By the way, if just by grading, Nash’s group is perfect. The unit’s discipline, capacity in patrolling and in their reports to the examiner, there’s nothing to mention.

“……That’s a story to add pressure.”

“That’s what I’m doing. Because in grades, you’re completely losing.”

I’sa combed her blonde hair that shone even in the dark forest. It was in a small voice so it probably didn’t reach Monica, but Kagura might have caught wind of it.

“……Well, in the first place, there was nothing good to say about that group’s attitude towards the examiner. If there was a demerit to be given, that’s where it would be. Even then, their total is outstanding.”

“Their attitude wasn’t good?”

“That would be him in your group, right? Nash’s group is rebellious. It seems they’ve been a unit for a long time so they have enough merit points. Amongst them, they believe that they’re already Regular Guards. That’s why they have a tendency to take the words of a Regular Guard examiner lightly.”

“Yes, I told Nash in accordance with those grades. However”

Do you understand what I want to say? ─── I’sa smiled with that kind of challenging look in her eyes.

“Nash’s group is here with the intention to win with only that demerit. Do you get it? For them, this kind of demerit is like a handicap.”

“You mean they’re looking down on us that much?”

“That’s right. For me, well……I more or less know about you and Monica but you haven’t been a unit for very long and there are points about subordination I’d like to groan about. Nash’s group understands their superior position very well.”

……Kagura also said something similar.

That it was his job to give orders in the unit battles. He would look at how the battle was progressing and put Monica and Kagura’s specialties to use by controlling his surroundings. She said he would have to adapt to that kind of new way of battling.

“But it’s strange.”

“Why Nash’s group is rebelling against me that much?”

Yes, even moreso since Nash’s unit had been completing missions for a long time. When they became Regular Guards, they would also have to think about forming up with I’sa as fellow Regular Guards depending on the situation.

Having discord over a trivial thing like this would only do harm.

“They’re the same as me.”

“……The same?”

“Not too long ago, in the western area of the Nature District, a case where a unit of Cadet Guards ceased contact occurred. An instructor from headquarters was also in the group so they gathered the best of the best and dispatched a rescue unit to the location they thought the unit was lost at.”

“……That wouldn’t be”

“Yes. The case from that time. The case of ‘Golden’ Maha’s attack. At that time, the first rescue unit chosen was Nash’s. And then same as me, they lost.”

Snap.

I’sa toes snapped a small branch.

“Do you get it? A man who was outstanding until becoming a Regular Guard was all of a sudden mixed up in a case he didn’t understand and injured; it’s his chagrin from having the position of a Regular Guard distanced from him. The Instructor had expectations for him which is why he was recommended to the rescue unit but it became the feeling of having betrayed those expectations.”

“…………”

He shouldn’t not understand it. Having ascended to an Elite Guard, the despair of losing the entirety of his position after falling into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ─── Sheltis had also tasted that.

“I don’t know if it’s right to call it impatience but I think he hasn’t come to terms with it even now. That’s why he’s leading a unit despite not having fully recovered.”

That rebelliousness had become a distortion, and manifested as a rebellious spirit against Regular Guards.

“……That’s frustrating.”

“Well, but that’s that. There are those who should sympathize with him but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t strike back as the examiner. The exam will proceed fairly.”

I’sa brushed a leaf off her skirt.

Like that, they both kept their silence───

“By the way, this is a personal question, but you said you knew my onee-sama?”

He certainly remembered saying that in front of the door to the training grounds.

“Because the name of Ishtar is famous even amongst the Elite Guards.”

“……Could it be”

Her small voice he could feel from behind resonated with his slight shaking.

“You’ve fought with onee-sama?”

“……Can’t be. I’m a Cadet Guard and she’s the Cadres Guard. Our positions are completely different.”

“That’s right. If that’s so, then that’s fine. I was just a little interested.”

It looked like she had something left to say. Leaving behind that lingering feeling, I’sa fell silent.

“We should take a break soon.”

The light murmuring of a river carried over.

Monica stopped as they approached an open rocky area.

“Ah── so hot. How many hours more is this gonna continue?”

Vaiel fluently dipped his hands in the flowing water. Just like that, he scooped up water and washed his face and Kagura who was drinking the water downstream knitted her brows.

“H-hey, do that kind of thing downstream! I nearly drank the water you washed your face in!”

“Ah? It’s your fault for being downstream.”

“No, it is your fault for being upstream.”

Putting aside the two who were glaring at each other───

“Monica, how much have we walked now?”

“Embellishing it a bit, about thirty percent. We might return to the cottage in the dead of night, or it’ll go right through into the morning.”

“……That’s right.”

Sitting down on the rocky area that was jutting out, Sheltis looked up at the brilliantly shining morning sun. They’d walked for five or six hours. The sun that had been at the horizon when they left now neared the zenith.

……In the future, this will be something we have to experience even if we don’t like it.

……It would be for the best if we suffered a little right now.

The center of the floating continent was the Living District, beyond that lay the Nature District and either further out was the Biotope. This one would end with the Nature District but they’d be entrusted with patrolling the Biotope as well when they became Regular Guards.

It was the turf of first-class dangerous creatures starting with dragon types.

Regardless of noon or night, the patrol missions were always fraught with danger. It would last for about a week, but during that time, he had no memories of sleeping enough.

……That’s right, I wonder if I’sa has been to the Biotope before.

“Say, I’sa. Have you been to the Biotope───”

There was no response.

“I see……I got it. After going around the indicated area once, there were only traces at that one place. Yes, there were also traces of an escape, right?”

The female Regular Guard who was more upstream than anybody in the unit was currently in a conversation on the small communicator in her hand. Without blinking even once, her expression as she held the communicator to her ear had slight traces of tension.

“Pursuit? That’s a job for Regular Guards. Yes, please contact the Guard Institute of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . I will be returning in the middle of the night.”

She cut off the conversation and returned the communicator to her belt holder.

A breath that wasn’t a sigh or deep breath leaked out from between I’sa lips.

“It doesn’t seem like that was a regular contact.”

Listening to the conversations of your superiors is a demerit ─── or so I’d like to say, but I’ll let you off this time.”

Getting off the rock she was sitting on, she looked down at the unit members lined up downstream. Normally, this should be where she gave a high-pitched laugh.

“Listen up, okay, I have a notice. Sorry for doing this in the middle of a break but I have something to say.”

That expression contained the same tension as when she was on the communicator.

“There was a report from Nash’s unit. ───It seems they found traces of a Yuugenshu.”

Monica gripped her Rosario crossed rods , Kagura held her Machina machine pearl and Vaiel, who sat away from the group, knit his brows slightly.

“The location is the northern area of the Nature District, ward 8, on the western side of section 68. It extends several metres in all directions and the large trees and ground, whatever it may be, have been corrupted by mateki and corroded. An image of the scene was also transmitted, ……eight or nine times out of ten, there’s no mistake.”

“Our current location is ward 8, section 4′s north side. It would take time to get there. What shall we do?”

Kagura’s Machine machine pearl displayed a digital map.

“The assignment shall continue; that’s also written in the Guard Institute’s manual, right?”

I’sa response was quick.

“It’s not odd to find traces of a Yuugenshu in the middle of an assignment. If the assignment was stopped partway because of that, it wouldn’t work. That’s why, well, we’ll just respond as usual.”

The assignment would continue so long as the Cadet Guards had no qualms.

The fastest in terms of dealing with the Yuugenshu would be the Regular Guard unit closest to the scene, so they would be in pursuit.

“What’s the Yuugenshu’s direction of movement?”

“Nash’s unit reported that they would remain on standby at their cottage so the details are still unknown. At any rate, a Regular Guard unit is in pursuit so I think this will be confirmed soon.”

“……It’s quite tense.”

Kagura murmured with the same expressionless face as always.

“If the Yuugenshu’s escape route overlaps with our patrol route by a one in ten thousand chance”

“Observing the response at that time is the assignment, so be prepared.”

Four metal spheres floated around I’sa’s proximity.

They were the puppeteer I’sa’s puppets, endowed with shinryoku as her weapon. She had increased that to five previously but it seems she returned to using four as she was used to it.

“I’ll give the orders in an encounter. Everyone, keep that in mind.”

Saa……kasasaa……

An instant. Directly behind the rocky area Kagura was sitting at, the thicket shook unnaturally.

───No way.

“Kagura, get away from there!”

Materializing the translucent purple blades, he carried the twin swords in his hand and moved into position to defend her. In replacement of Kagura who hurriedly lept to the rear, he held his twin swords at the ready at the frontlines closest to that spot.

The time that wouldn’t forgive even a blink. From there, three seconds……five seconds……ten seconds passed.

Kasaa……sasaa……

The thicket swayed once again and something flew out from within.

“───A rock fox?”

Looking at the fox that jumped along and was getting further, Vaiel murmured.

It had blackish gray fur, large ears and a small tail. It was a herbivorous species of fox that lived in the Nature District. Its numbers were small so it was rare to come across one.

“……Jeez, don’t surprise me, damned fox popping out.”

“It’s better than a Yuugenshu. Rather than that, we should end our break. There’s still a lot to go.”

Gripping her Rosario crossed rods with both hands, Monica flapped her formal wear.

Following that were Kagura then Vaiel.

“ It’s rare that a rock fox would come out in front of people. “

The only one left behind of the unit, Sheltis continued to leer at the interior of the thicket.

“Ilis, what’s the possibility that the rock fox just now was being chased by something?”

“ It’s not zero. And it was something scary enough that it didn’t mind being seen by people. I think that possibility exists. “

“……Ilis, go into standby as well, so you can produce the blades at a moment’s notice.”

Sheathing the twin swords that had lost their blades into their holders, he went off after Monica.

The deep green forest of trees, the reddish-brown earth and the perfectly clear azure sky.

Sunset ─── the time when everything was died in a color that was a mix of yellow and scarlet. The cottage that was one shade of white as well, its walls were dyed in a vivid shade of scarlet.

“I’m saved. I’m already exhausted.”

“Sheesh, in the end, after that, not a single animal came out. Such a fuss.”

Kagura and Vaiel continued to sigh. They were normally talkative, but because of the fatigue from the second half of the patrol, they had become silent.

“……In the end, we completed the seventy percent we planned to do in the morning.”

Monica folded her arms with a complicated expression. At first, they had had the intention of patrolling the entire area but she had suggested a sudden change. They would give up on the late-night patrolling and return at sunset.

“I think it was a decisive judgment.”

Exchanging looks with Monica who was talking to herself, Sheltis pointed at the setting sun.

The sea of trees in which they couldn’t tell if a Yuugenshu was hiding. For Cadet Guards like them, searching in the forest at night after the sun had sunk was fraught with peril.

Should they persevere to match up with Nash’s unit or pull back to ensure the safety of the unit.

At the end of troubling over that, Monica had chosen the latter.

“The assignment is to patrol the assigned area over three days. It’s obviously better to get it done faster but we’ll just be thorough to make up for what we’re missing.”

“……That’s right. The test lasts until noon tomorrow, after all.”

Maybe she had wanted support from somebody else as Monica’s expression relaxed.

“Anyway, let’s end today’s patrol. We need to make an official report to the examiner……or so I thought, but she’s in the middle of a conversation with Nash’s unit.”

I’sa had the communicator up to her ear. But what let on that something was strange was her voice being too quiet.

……She’s not talking?

I’sa was wordlessly holding the communicator to her ear.

Normally, like this afternoon, she would give affirmations or give orders as the examiner.

And then.

“……No response. It looks like they got done in.”

I’sa muttered while putting force into her hand that was holding the communicator.

“Everyone, I’ll have you perform a single job now.”

“Mm? Hey, hey, what’s this, you’re not gonna say you’re tacking on an exam, right.”

In response to Vaiel who was conspicuously scowling,

“I won’t say that. It’s not an exam, it’s a real battle.”

I’sa cut him off with a calm tone.

“All members, listen well. Communications from Nash’s end have ceased. I think it’s likely that they engaged the Yuugenshu in combat and were wiped out. ……You understand, right? As members of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , what you must do in times of receiving a direct injury from a Yuugenshu.”

Placing the communicator in its holder, the Regular Guard girl held up her left hand.

─── [Deploy] ───

Responding to the puppeteer’s directions, four metal spheres rose into the air.

“The time is seventeen hundred hours and twenty-three minutes. In accordance with article nine of the Guard Institute’s regulations, the assignment is temporarily on hold. Starting now, the Cadet Guard unit’s rescue and Yuugenshu pursuit shall commence. ───Come with me.”

### Part 6

The time was about one hour ago.

Jyuuuuu……

Even now, the scars upon the earth continued to give up smoke. Grass and earth had fused, and the trees had withered and died standing without a single leaf. The smoldering deep purple groaned just like a living creature and that cursed area was spreading even more.

───The corruption of mateki.

Glancing at the wounds from the Yuugenshu’s escape route, Nash leaked a slight smile.

“There’s barely been any time since the corruption; it’s been driven into a corner.”

It was easily several hours since they’d made their report to the examiner. It had taken a considerable amount of distance but that would come to an end shortly.

“Kimberly, Lasdax, just like always. It’s a single Yuugenshu.”

The great sword user and heavy spear knight each moved up wordlessly.

“Myun-fa, at the same time the Yuugenshu flies out, play one shot .”

“Leave it to me, I’ll play it flashily.”

The shinryoku practitioner woman prepared a koto with grace.

───It will happen before we go on a mission. With the merit points from defeating this Yuugenshu, everyone will become a Regular Guard.

There was the merit system which granted merit points for completing a mission, but there were also ways to gain merit points dubbed the “back rules”.

That was when one resolved a case that went beyond expectations. Rescue operations during a calamity and discovering a Yuugenshu while on patrol were also included, and defeating it alone could be used to request additional merit points.

……That’s right, that’s how it should be.

……Like I can always be dallying around in this place.

It wouldn’t end with becoming a Regular Guard. In the future, he would become an Elite Guard and then a Sennenshi.

Though that was so, he was being ordered around by that examiner as she liked and in the end, even received orders that engaging the Yuugenshu was not permitted and he was to stay on standby? This was no joke, since they had enrolled to fight Yuugenshu.

……Who knew that he would hit a standstill at that time.

“ There are no enemies before my [Golden Hexahedral]. “

The rescue unit pulled together by the Instructor’s command. Being chosen for the unit that selected only the best of the best even amongst the Cadet Guards, while heading to the scene with enthusiasm.

“ Now beginning intervention. Commencing elimination of the witnesses. “

In the face of the monster they met with on the meadow, Nash had been unable to do anything. When he came to, he was lying in the medical wing. That was his first and last humiliation as a Cadet Guard.

……I have no more intention of being content with the status of a Cadet Guard.

“A person who will become a Regular Guard……can’t be afraid of a single Yuugenshu.”

Leading the unit, they moved to the backside of a large tree.

At the base of the large tree ─── not hiding or planning a surprise attack, a beast swathed in a dark purple mist stood there boldly.

……You won’t attack?

It was just prepared without even twitching.

“Haa, there are also pleasant Yuugenshu. It’s just revealing itself boldly even though it’s alone……Myun-fa, cease your ritual. Observe its condition.”

A transparent blue bullet.

Loaded with bullets that utilized the Hyouketsu crystals from Hyouketsu Kyoukai, a large revolving pistol was readied.

“I wonder where that fearless confidence is coming from.”

Nash looked down the sight and pulled the trigger.

The blasting sound of gunpowder. But───

The bullet simply passed through the body of the beast wrapped in dark purple mist.

“…………Wha!?”

What’s going on, this is a bullet made from the Hyouketsu crystals formed with shinryoku. It should be a fatal wound with just one shot against a Yuugenshu but there’s not a scratch?

“Nash, behind!”

He felt a shiver at Myun-fa’s scream and turned around while ignoring the Yuugenshu before him.

North, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest.

In all eight directions with them at the center ─── a Yuugenshu just like the one ahead of them was standing there; they were encircled.

“……There are eight Yuugenshu.”

What is the meaning of this. No matter how you look at them, the traces of corruption left behind by the escaping Yuugenshu were only caused by one. Though that’s so, there are eight. And when did they appear? They completely had no presence.

……Why did the shinryoku bullet have no effect?

……How did eight of them hide in this forest?

He didn’t understand at all.

“……No way.”

We had the intention of pursuing, but instead we were guided?

Fifteen minutes after that, communication with Nash’s unit was lost.

### 047. Final Chapter: The Fourth Person

### Part 1

“Instructor? It’s me, ……yes, the circumstances are as I communicated earlier.”

The sea of trees returned to silence.

Only the examiner girl’s tense voice echoed.

“I’d also like to request the location of Nash G. Endolfin’s emblem’s signal. ───Ward 7, section 3……ward 7?……independent action, as I thought. Yes, we will proceed to rescue efforts at once.”

I’sa who lifted her hidden face shook her head.

“It seems my bad feeling was right on.”

Her self-derisive smile that turned to them.

“You remember that the Yuugenshu discovery report was from ward 8, section 68? I gave orders to return to the cottage in that same ward 8 and go on standby. The signal from Nash’s emblem is coming from ward 7.”

Rather than the cottage, contact with Nash’s unit was lost in ward 7. What could be inferred from that───

“……That moron. He went after the Yuugenshu himself.”

Vaiel spat out with a loathsome look.

“Leave the blame for later. For now, we pray that the unit is safe and only think about rescuing them even a moment sooner.”

Leaving behind words with a trailing note, I’sa waved her formal clothes.

“I’ll be temporarily assuming command. Follow me.”

.

### Part 2

The sea of trees was dyed in the singular color of scarlet.

Upon the animal trail shrouded in an eerie silence, the puppeteer girl’s figure ran along as if flying. The solid and pointy bedrock and marsh were ignored by sprinting through the large trees, leaping from branch to branch.

It was a form of movement that rendered the complicated landscape inconsequential as well as circumvented wild beasts. It was a simple spring, but the amount of continuous running needed to cover the harsh territory like this in one hour was truly as expected of a Regular Guard.

───How about this side?

Monica and Vaiel were lined up chasing I’sa who was at the front, with Kagura lagging slightly behind.

It wasn’t by file but simply the order of speed and physical strength. Vaiel had physical strength from his outstanding physique amongst men but the unit captain Monica was also keeping up well.

……It looks like she’s having trouble, but Kagura is also doing her best.

The last of the five people, Sheltis surveyed the backs of the members ahead of him.

───If it’s like this, we can perform the rescue faster than I thought.

“I wonder if we’ll make it.”

“ That’s what we’re here for, right? “

Ilis’ reply that could even be called a challenge was correct.

Rescuing the lives of those attacked by Yuugenshu was a race against time. If it formal wear that had carved shinryoku seals applied, then there was more or less a resistance against even a Yuugenshu’s mateki. At any rate, if they arrived before it developed into a serious incident, there was the possibility that Monica’s purification spells would be enough to heal them.

Because they understood this, Kagura was trying her hardest to keep up and Vaiel, wearing his signature displeased expression, didn’t seem like he was going to voice any complaints.

Finally.

“…………”

I’sa who was at the front wordlessly held her hand parellel to the horizon. Lower your speed ─── reading that sign, Monica and Vaiel, followed by Kagura, halted.

The destination was close. At a crawling pace, they silenced their footfalls and pushed through the tree branches. What awaited them after they circled a gigantic tree was───

.

Four Cadet Guards were lying face-down on the ground.

.

“Monica, come with me! Sheltis, Kagura and Vaiel, keep watch on the surroundings!”

I’sa ran towards Nash while quickly sending orders out.

Holding up the black-haired young man, I’sa immediately pressed her finger against the artery in his neck ─── after a little while, she breathed out a long sigh with an expression of slight relief.

“It looks like the three over here are also breathing……I’m glad.”

Monica sighed, having confirmed the other three’s breathing in the same manner. But having been an apprentice Priestess, she soon tightened up her expression and bit on her lip.

“Examiner I’sa, I shall take over the rescue of Nash.”

She softly laid down the three people being held up. Monica, with a severe expression, stared at the dark purple mist coming off Nash’s formal wear.

───The corruption of mateki.

Yeah, said I’sa with her eyes slightly widened.

“I heard from Instructor Yumelda that you used to be an apprentice Priestess.”

“……I wasn’t very good at the baptism-type spells right to the end though.”

With a shadow falling within her eyes, Monica smiled wryly.

.

[Sia Sec elis arc......Is io miel]

[That day's dream, once more......for the sake of that.]

.

The girl’s aria that wasn’t enough to be a short tune.

Her sakura-colored hair was, by a very deep red ─── it became shrouded in particles that shone with a crimson light. The light gathered to form a line which expanded and blew away the dark purple of the mateki.

The mateki eating into Nash’s formal wear was purified, then the ground underneath, and then it spread to wash away even the mateki that had infected the large tree to the rear.

“……The corruption of mateki has been repressed for the time being. How’s that side?”

“Not doing so well.”

Myun-fa ─── Kagura scowled as she held up the female shinryoku practitioner. The hand stopping the blood flowing from her shoulder and back wounds was soaked red with the bleeding.

“There’s no corruption of mateki but her injuries are more severe. ……She may have taken a surprise attack from behind so there’s a really deep wound on her back which might have pierced an artery. The other three also seem to be in the same state.”

───A surprise attack from behind.

Remembering their unease with that single phrase from Kagura, the other members turned around.

“Then it’s decided. There’s no use loitering here.”

Shouldering one of the Cadet Guards, Vaiel stood up.

“Come on, let’s start heading back. The Yuugenshu that attacked these guys might be hiding close by.”

“They’re not. There are traces of fleeing.”

Staring him head-on, I’sa didn’t quiver at all. The scars on the ground that were giving up smoke formed a direct line away from the large tree they were standing at.

“Hey, hey, don’t tell me you intend to pursue it……you sane?”

“In just a little under an hour, it’ll be night.”

I’sa didn’t turn around. In the sea of trees that were dyed crimson, the sun that was setting towards the horizon shimmered in the gap between the tree leaves overhead.

“The Yuugenshu at night are dangerous. The dark purple mist that covers their body blends into the night and they’re practically invisible……even if we return to the cottage, it’ll be dangerous if we receive a surprise attack.”

Then they should pursue now and strike.

I’sa’s words were filled with a force that wouldn’t accept any dissent.

“We’ll be dividing the unit into two groups, the pursuit squad and the rescue squad. Firstly, for the rescue squad that will stay here and look after Nash’s unit……Kagura and Vaiel, can I leave it to you?”

“Understood.”

“Ah? Me?……it’s a lot easier than fighting Yuugenshu so it’s just what I wanted.”

Kagura nodded and Vaiel didn’t seem to have any objections.

“Then it’s settled. Monica who can use shinryoku to resist mateki, ……and that dual swords user over there.”

Not his name but dual swords user. The puppeteer girl presumed to call him that.

“I’m asking just in case but do you have any experience fighting Yuugenshu?”

“I won’t be any trouble.”

He drew out the hilts of the dual swords from the holder on his belt.

“I see. Then come along; don’t betray my expectations, okay?”

After I’sa who rustled her formal wear, Sheltis ran through the sea of trees wordlessly.

Seeing off the three who were following the Yuugenshu’s escape tracks───

“It’s just the two of us.”

“Ahh?”

Vaiel turned around with a sour look and Kagura smiled wryly at his unchanging aggressive tone.

Just the two of them. She had wanted to ask for a long, long time and had searched for a time and place to no avail. She hadn’t thought the chance would come with this timing.

“……Could I ask one thing?”

“What’s this, don’t get all strangely formal.”

She chose to remain wordless in the face of that displeased tone.

“──────”

She silently took off her machine helmet. Deep green hair and ash grey eyes. The girl’s face was young and transient. The signature pointed ears of the Nell folk were exposed.

“…………”

For an instant, for just an instant, his expression had certainly changed. She felt that.

“Have I met you before?”

Do you remember me? About me who had collapsed while crossing the desert in the middle of training……and how you piggybacked me all the way to the medical office.

“It’s already been two years.”

“No idea.”

Turning his face to the side, his response was quick.

“……Is that so.”

I knew. I should have known but……as I had expected, he has forgotten me. When I invited him to the unit and trying to drag him in by even proposing a threatening deal, I had hoped that perhaps it would cause him to remember.

“How pointless. Don’t expect too much of people.”

Within the sea of trees dominated by silence, his click of the tongue echoed dully.

“……Is it bad to have expectations?”

“Think about that yourself. It’s because you don’t understand that that you’re a brat.”

.

### Part 3

The land corrupted by mateki gave off smoke as it decayed. That smoke became a path, showing where the Yuugenshu had escaped to.

“Monica, this is about Yuugenshu.”

He ran alongside Monica who leaped over a rock that was sticking out of the ground. Sheltis informed her while confirming her facial expression from the side.

“Keep careful watch on your surroundings while fighting. There might not be just one Yuugenshu.”

“……What did you say?”

Her grey eyes narrowed like a crescent moon.

“But there are only tracks for one Yuugenshu?”

“I know. But that area was very unnatural .”

Monica had been focused on Nash’s recovery and I’sa was checking out the Yuugenshu’s pursuit trail. Kagura and Vaiel had been focusing their attention on keeping vigilance of the surroundings.

On the other hand, he had been concerned with the blade marks and bullet traces gouged in the large trees and ground.

“Did you realize? The surrounding trees and ground where Nash’s unit collapsed had indiscriminate blade marks and bullet holes. If the opponent was a single Yuugenshu, they wouldn’t leave such large traces behind.”

The swords that had failed to strike the target and bullets that had missed the mark were too numerous.

“It was too unnaturally scattered. As far as I know, those kinds of battle traces are only left during times of a Yuugenshu’s mental control with mateki.”

Mental destruction ─── by breaking down reason, it would drive people to one form of rampage. It was like having an ally turn into an enemy. It was the most troublesome thing outside of immediate death.

“Those under mental control will rage without distinction of their enemies and allies so it’s easy for there to be blade marks and bullet traces like that.”

“You’re saying Nash’s group was subjected to that?”

“───No.”

Keeping his vision on I’sa to the front and staying vigilant of the sides and behind, he shook his head.

“The only one who received mateki this time was Nash. Then the one who was under mental control should also be Nash. Thinking along that line, I looked at the tools of the other three but amongst those three’s wounds, there were none inflicted by Nash’s weapon. If he had fallen into a panic after being mentally controlled, it wouldn’t be strange for at least one of them to have a wound from Nash’s weapon.”

There were none. That is to say, he hadn’t been mentally controlled.

“Then what are you saying?”

“I don’t know either. But we need to be prepared. ……I’sa.”

“───You meddler. If you talk in such a loud voice, I’ll hear it whether I want to or not.”

The Regular Guard who lightly jumped from branch to branch turned towards him.

“That’s for the best.”

“Hmph, I had no intention of letting my guard down from the beginning. Rather than that ─── we’re close.”

Letting out a small breath, I’sa came to an emergency halt.

“……I’ll praise you for not running or hiding.”

A fearless smile rose up on her face.

About ten metres ahead in the gap between two especially large evergreen trees.

Just like a king sitting in his throne, the Yuugenshu glared at them boldly. It was as large as a lion. Within its body formed of dark purple mist, its crimson eyes shined fierily.

─── [Deploy • Emission] ───

In the direction I’sa indicated, the super heavy steel ball drew in on the Yuugenshu. It was a “puppet” granted her shinryoku so if it directly hit, it would crush the Yuugenshu’s crystal.

But.

The steel ball passed through the Yuugenshu and simply formed a depression in the ground on the other side.

“Ehh……!?”

I’sa and Monica let out voices of shock at the same time.

.

■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■, ■ …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■ ■, …… ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U elfa clar, deus mille phes thes, deus mille hypn noa thes.

.

Little by little, the Yuugenshu’s body began to tremble. The mist shrouding that body let off an eerie light and gradually spread to the surroundings. ───No, it was expanding.

“The Yuugenshu’s mist is increasing……it’s getting larger!?”

“That's wrong. This is”

Staring at the strange beast from the front, Sheltis muttered softly.

The dark purple mist shimmered like a heat haze and formed an image like a mirage. Another mist was born from within the mist, forming another body.

“It’s multiplication .”

Seven monsters’ crimson eyes shined. No,

“I’sa, there’s another one to the rear!”

Crish. The sound of the Yuugenshu’s claw ripping something to shreds echoed vividly.

“……Don’t underestimate me, you monster!”

Bearing a wound on her back, I’sa manipulated her puppets. Two shining steel balls closed in from directly to the side and crushed the Yuugenshu that had just injured her into little pieces from the left and right.

The annihilated Yuugenshu became a dark purple mist. ───There was no effect on the remaining seven.

“Illusions that also have physical properties……you sure can do it.”

The puppeteer girl stood up while grimacing from the wound on her back. Rather than being from the wound on her back, it was more an expression of irritation that a single attack from her puppet didn’t work.

“ It is a Yuugenshu that I have little data on as well. Be careful. “

“───It doesn’t change what we do.”

The twin blades reverse-gripped in his hands let off light in the forest that was dyed deep red. The mysterious purple of the blades was formed by having mateki permeate the azure Hyouketsu crystals, resulting in a wondrous color.

Bathed in Monica’s shinryoku, her Rosario crossed rods were wrapped in a silvery white layer of crystal.

I’sa steel balls once again flew high.

.

Then the three people and eight beasts collided head-on.

.

“───Haa!”

Ahead of anyone, Sheltis took aim at and ran towards the eight Yuugenshu.

Two from the flanks and two from the center, a total of four of them were approaching him. From within the dark purple mist, eerie limbs and claws extended───

From the front, directly to the side, underneath, above, behind; many claws were aimed and launched at every blind spot. He dodged, parried and blocked every one of them.

Djidii. He dodged the Yuugenshu’s claw that grazed his bangs by jumping.

A sword flash.

Not letting the opportunity to strike slip, the dual swords mowed down the surrounding two Yuugenshu.

“───Two down.”

“ Not yet. “

Not even allowing time to breath, Ilis machine crystal shone.

───Shinggg!

In the next instant, Sheltis stopped three Yuugenshu coming from the sides with his sword. At a separate location, I’sa was engaging two of them and Monica was taking on two at the same time……seven? There were nine Yuugenshu if he counted the two he’d just defeated. They had increased from before.

“ At the same time Sheltis defeated them, two new illusions appeared. If you put together the main body with the illusions, it seems the max is eight bodies but I think the illusions can spawn indefinitely. ”

“No way but to defeat the main body, huh.”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……

Decaying the ground and flowers, the misty beasts pushed on towards him at a crawling pace. Two of them were circling around to his sides and the two that had just formed jumped into the air.

───Which one is real?

The four bodies were just like reflections in a mirror. Moreover, the movements of the four were different from each other so it was troublesome. It would be easy to single one out if it was the only one taking separate action but there was no other way but crushing them one by one if all of them were irregular.

However, it was pointless to destroy an illusion because it would just come back.

“……There’s no end to this.”

“It means there’s no point in beating the small fry.”

Monica yelled from the rocks at the far back and I’sa yelled while leaping up to a large tree’s branch. It seemed the two of them had also realized it. He could sense nervousness and impatience that wasn’t there before.

“Monica, I’sa, ignore the illusions and go for the real one!”

Shouting to the two, he leaped backwards. Kicking off a large tree’s trunk, he lept towards another large tree then kicked off that, staying afloat. In the blink of an eye, he had ascended to a height of roughly ten metres.

A bird’s-eye view.

He looked down on them from a location where he could see all eight Yuugenshu.

“……As I thought.”

He confirmed it once again after comparing the eight bodies. No matter how much their units were unmatched, the eight of them were attacking as if in competition.

───Strange.

If the real one was amongst the eight, then it would be over if they defeated that. If Sheltis was in the Yuugenshu’s position, then he would station the real body at the innermost of the formation in order to avoid the one in ten thousand chance that it would take a hit. But there was completely no semblance of that amongst these monsters.

It was almost as if they were saying it didn’t matter even if it the real one was taken out.

“Ilis, what’s the possibility that the real one isn’t amongst them?”

“ Zero. The real one is certainly amongst these eight. “

Ilis Machine crystal flat out denied it.

“My calculation area is certainly sensing the Yuugenshu’s mateki. I can’t confirm the exact location because of the illusions but the real one isn’t a separate body.”

“Then───”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

Two Yuugenshu were climbing their way up the large tree. There was no time to collect his thoughts. Feeling the quickly approaching killing intent, Sheltis jumped down to the ground.

“You’re in my way!”

Deflecting the awaiting two’s claws with his sword, he sprinted to open up distance with the Yuugenshu again.

───There are seven illusions. There’s one real body.

───But none of them are moving like the real body. As if they’re all the real body.

“That’s possible, huh.”

One. A completely outrageous hypothesis came to mind.

“Ilis, what if the Yuugenshu’s core crystal is transferring!?”

“ ……That’s a bold hypothesis. All eight are real but the core crystal controlling them is just one. “

The theory was just like I’sa’s “puppetry”.

Manipulating the illusions created from its own mateki. If it was a human, this would be settled by attacking the real one but the Yuugenshu were mist-form creatures to begin with. If they were destroyed without breaking the core crystal within, they would just dissolve in light. It might not affect the concept of the real body.

In other words, the box containing the core crystal was the real body and it didn’t matter which box that was.

“ If it looks like the core crystal is going to be destroyed, then that core crystal will transfer to another illusion. After that, that one will act as the real spawn and spawn illusions─── “

“What’s the probability?”

“ There’s enough value to be worth confirming. But it’s a hassle. “

That’s right, if his conjecture was correct, then the only way to defeat this Yuugenshu would be before the core crystal transferred ─── all escape routes would have to be sealed.

In other words, the destruction of all eight bodies at the same time.

“……It won’t be easy.”

He naturally put power into his hands that gripped the dual swords. The range of his weapon was this at most this short. Three……no, he had the confidence to take out four at the same time. More than that was a bet. That’s why he abandoned the notion of protecting himself and went for a suicidal attack for six.

“───Kuu!”

Monica was being pressed into a defensive battle by two bodies.

Due to the blessing of the shinryoku silvery white crystals on her Rosario crossed rods , her weapon held great offensive power against Yuugenshu. But the problem was her technical ability to handle that as a Guard. Even if she could handle apprentice Priestess’ spells, even Monica was still a Cadet Guard.

“There’s no end to this……”

Passing through the space between large trees, I’sa skillfully widened the gap with the Yuugenshu by flitting through the branches.

It was possible to control up to four steel balls at once with her puppetry, but the weakness was that their movements would become monotonous. In her previous two-man cell, that was the reason Sheltis could cleave the steel balls regardless of it being the first time he’d seen them. By the same token, the Yuugenshu were gradually getting used to the steel balls’ movements.

“……It’s no good.”

He gave up on the idea of taking out eight bodies with three people. Right now, the communication required to match up their timings would be difficult. The two who were in a defensive battle didn’t have that leeway.

……Think; isn’t this something you decided yourself.

……What I can do for the unit.

.

“ Those with the leeway to observe their surroundings during battle probably consists of only you. ……It’s a shameless thing to ask but I’d like you to decide the commands for everyone to respond well. I would like you to give orders. “

.

The thing he had thought up with Kagura and resolved himself to.

He would support Monica, who was embracing her responsibility as unit leader, on the battlefield.

“Ilis, how many ways can you think of to dispatch the illusions?”

“ ……Only one conventional method. As you know, a shinryoku barrier’s territory is confining. “

Barrier spells, in other words, the widespread release of shinryoku. Like Hyouketsu Kyoukai ─── it could weaken the mateki of the Yuugenshu within.

“ However, Sheltis, for that, you ─── “

Ilis Machine crystal said something but held back.

“I won’t do that.”

Raising a laugh with traces of self-mockery, Sheltis directed his gaze at the other two.

There were numerous cuts carved into their formal wear. Being continually pushed by the Yuugenshu’s fierce offensive, these were the wounds from that harsh battle. Amongst those were some considerably deep lacerations.

Both of them were also tired.

I can’t let them push themselves. ……That’s why it’s best if I’m decisive.

.

“ You are not used to battles where you receive support. “

“ But I would like you to adapt to it. We require your support and you will make the best of our support ─── that kind of battle style. “

.

……Kagura also spoke trivially of it.

……But if that is my role.

“I’sa, Monica! Enclose the Yuugenshu in a barrier after forty seconds!”

Erasing his slight self-deprecating smile, Sheltis looked at his two comrades and shouted. The two girls and even the Yuugenshu paused for a moment at the sudden loud voice. Using that opening.

“Monica, how wide can you open a barrier spell!?”

“Eh, ah……? W-what do you───”

“Never mind that, just hurry!”

“I-if it’s a circular shape, up to a radius of twenty-two with a height of seven metres! I can reliably expand it to twenty metres with a height of nine metres!”

Monica yelled with a slightly red face. Beating only the approximation of twenty metres into his head, Sheltis continued to yell.

“First, Monica, erect a shinryoku barrier with me as the center. It’s enough if it’s twenty metres!”

And to the puppeteer girl.

“I’sa, deploy all four of your puppets at the same time! Set them up at the four corners of the barrier and obstruct the Yuugenshu that try to escape.”

“Wha!?”

The two shinryoku practitioner girls widened their eyes in tandem.

“Wh-what are you saying! Sending away all of my puppets……it’s the same as being naked to a puppeteer! It’d be the same as being defenseless!”

“The same for me. I’d have my hands full just erecting a large-scale barrier……”

Deploying a shinryoku barrier and even setting out a net to prevent escape. However, for the girls, focusing on only that was a thought close to being defenseless.

But he once again conveyed his idea with renewed conviction.

“I want to limit the Yuugenshu’s illusions. Within the shinryoku barrier, even those illusions can be obliterated and its movements restricted. That’s something only you two can do.”

“……Wait, we can’t defeat the Yuugenshu by just enclosing it in a barrier.”

Taking on I’sa’s piercing identification head-on, he slowly nodded.

“I’ll take over after that.”

The ones who would wipe out the illusions after restricting them in the barrier would be Monica and I’sa.

Sheltis would have a direct showdown with the Yuugenshu within that barrier.

“……Okay. It doesn’t look like there’s any other way.”

The first assent came from the direction of the girl who was allowing her sakura-colored hair to flutter.

“……Being ordered by a Cadet Guard……but it’s fine.”

Seeing Monica returning her Rosario crossed rods to their holders, I’sa also once again let a smile rise onto her face.

“I’ll return the debt from Maha. I’ll owe you nothing with this.”

Then the three moved without a word.

─── [Deploy • Emission] ───

I’sa who deployed her puppets in four directions and Monica who was forming the spell jumped back. This was because they would otherwise be drawn into the battle that would be limited to within the barrier after its deployment.

Then───

.

[Sia Sec elis arc......Is io miel]

[That day's dream, once more......for the sake of that.]

.

Within the sea of trees dyed crimson, an azure shinryoku barrier was soundlessly erected.

The glittering particles of light danced in the air.

The azure shinryoku barrier. The light fragments that resembled Hyouketsu Kyoukai’s crystals each had the power to oppose the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ’s curse.

───Those two are already outside of the barrier.

Zaa……zaa……

Without hiding the sound of his footfalls, he prepared the swords in his hands and drew in.

“ ────────────! “

The mist beast howled in a strange voice. The seven illusions were negated by the shinryoku barrier and its body gave off sputters of black mist.

“……Are you taking damage from the shinryoku barrier?”

The beast did not answer.

But the strength within its eyes that had been there until now was gone and its movements were clearly lacking.

“……I see.”

Looking at that, Sheltis weakly shook his head.

.

“Me too.”

.

The dark purple smoke was also coming off the boy’s body.

That body which housed mateki from falling into the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song . In exchange for nullifying the mateki of Yuugenshu, this body would take damage from the shinryoku that people were supposed to possess.

……I knew that I would take damage within a shinryoku barrier.

But he had had Monica and I’sa erect the barrier while prepared for that. That was his role. Without that resolution, he would not be able to be a member of the unit.

“Perhaps there’s not a single difference between you and me. ……I might not have the qualifications to speak on what people are. However”

On his back and neck and his entire body, every spot was inflicted with burn wounds. As if to show that, the boy drew near the beast step by step.

“……Even so, I wish to return to the place of those waiting for me.”

He raised the shining blades that were facing each other.

Then───

The boy’s dual swords shattered the Yuugenshu’s core crystal this time.

“…………”

From outside the barrier shining with azure light, Monica was staring fixedly at its interior.

……What’s going on right now?

With the barrier shining and the sea of trees and thickets added in, she completely couldn’t tell what was happening inside. She wondered if Sheltis who was left there was alright.

She knew his skills but his opponent was still a Yuugenshu.

Immediately after, the vague shadow of a person wavered from within the barrier.

“Sheltis!?”

She ran with her breathing in a mess to the boy who walked out of the barrier.

“! Those burns……were you bathed in mateki!?”

“Ah, no, I’m fine.”

The boy acted bashfully.

“These burns are……from yesterday’s dinner when I messed up the strength of the gas burner.”

She wondered if something like that happened during yesterday’s dinner. Putting that aside, his expression as he slightly averted his face seemed somehow very……lonesome.

───I don’t want to see Sheltis with that kind of expression.

The moment she thought that, her chest tightened painfully.

“Idiot.”

Monica placed her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see that bitter expression. If he was safe, then she wanted him to be lively.

“Don’t make……that face.”

“Eh?”

“……Don’t make the captain……worry so much, you scoundrel.”

Was it because she was relieved Sheltis was safe?

What was this. The heat within her chest was irrepressible. As long as she couldn’t put it into words, she entrusted herself to his shoulder───

“Unit captain Monica? Indiscreet relations within the unit is the largest demerit.”

Having I’sa whisper into her ear, Monica sharply returned to her senses.

“Y-you’re wrong! You’re wrong, examiner, th-this isn’t”

“Hr──m?”

Even if she was the examiner, she was just gazing over with a deeply meaningful look.

“Well, whatever, at present we’ve defeated the Yuugenshu. Next, we’ll go to Nash”

“ No, please wait. “

The gem attached to a pendant at Sheltis’ chest ─── Ilis machine crystal twinkled.

“ It’s strange. Even though we should have defeated the Yuugenshu, the mateki response hasn’t disappeared. “

“……What did you say?”

“ I’m currently in the middle of observation but……this is……dangerous. It is approaching the two from our unit and those of the injured unit at a high speed. “

He doubted his ears at Ilis machine crystal ’ words. That couldn’t be since Sheltis had defeated the real body and as proof, the illusions had disappeared.

“ There were two Yuugenshu from the beginning……we’ve been had; the Yuugenshu was possessed by another Yuugenshu. You could even call it parasitism. “

───If that was so, then another part also became understandable.

Those seven illusions were not simply the result of the Yuugenshu’s battle-use mateki. It had been a disguise to hide that there were multiple mateki responses. ……But in that case.

“The Yuugenshu is heading towards Kagura and Vaiel!?”

.

### Part 4

Without forewarning, that appeared before them.

.

“……Oi, this ain’t no joke.”

Feeling the pressure of that from up close, Vaiel felt shivers run through his whole body.

Yuugenshu.

Carrying the ability to decay whatever they touched, the invaders from the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

“Don’t screw with me; I didn’t hear nothin’ about this! The examiner or the unit captain, what happened to those guys that were crazy worked up!? You telling me they all got done in!?”

“───No, I can’t imagine the group of three including Sheltis was done in.”

The one who answered was Kagura. But the lips that were peeking up from under her machine helmet were pale and that tone that seemed calm at first glance was shaking with fear everywhere.

“It probably ran away to here.”

“Isn’t that the same thing!……damn it, what do we do about this guy!”

It was the first time the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors he wore on both arms felt so unhelpful. It was a fear of death that he hadn’t felt from any gathering of valiant men in the unit battles. That was just how “real” the beast before his eyes was.

A real Yuugenshu.

It was a strange existence that would be rare for a Cadet Guard to fight, let alone even encounter.

……On this side are me and this Kagura. And behind are the four injured members of a unit?

……Like hell there’s a way to win.

“Oi.”

Even while backing away quickly, he whispered to Kagura who was standing directly beside him.

“We’re grabbing those four and running; fighting with those absurd bastards isn’t sane.”

“ ………… ”

The girl didn’t reply. It was like she didn’t even hear him.

“Oi, you listening? Oi!”

“It’s futile. Running away with these four by ourselves? While we do that blockheaded act, we’ll get wiped out in one shot by mateki.”

“Then what the heck are you saying we do!”

But the girl once again fell into silence and didn’t answer.

“Damn brat, are you only powerful in times of peace!? You───”

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

Without the time to speak more, the Yuugenshu moved, leaving traces of decay along the ground. Their eerily shining crimson eyes were locked onto them without a doubt.

───This is bad.

The mist beast jumped at Vaiel whose reaction was slow, lunging at him as if leaning.

.

Light filled his vision.

.

Being hit from a very powerful light from the front, the Yuugenshu stiffened.

What made him realize that it was a flash bullet from Kagura was the resounding noise of a small machine having fallen after being tossed high into the air.

“…………“

Wrapped in wrath that seemed to freeze the atmosphere, the Yuugenshu turned around.

“I didn’t think my machine helmet’s eye shield would become useful in a place like this.”

Once again, the small clattering sound of something light hitting the ground.

The machine helmet the girl had removed was rolling around on the ground.

“Now, this way!”

And then she added a shot, she now took out the medium range-use stun gun and shot it after turning towards the Yuugenshu. There was no way it would work but if that single shot made the Yuugenshu feel like it “received an attack”, then that was enough.

“…………Oi, what are you”

His eyes not working because he’d been bathed in the flash grenade at close range, Vaiel was staggering.

……I don’t get the meaning of this.

……This brat, challenging Yuugenshu like this……does she have a death wish?

“Stop, you idiot! Playing around like that”

“I’ll be targeted? It would be troubling if that didn’t happen .“

“───!?”

For a moment, he truly doubted her sanity.

“I will lead the Yuugenshu away to the best of my ability. If I buy enough time, Monica and the others will make it in time.”

Replying indifferently like that, the girl rode atop the Machina machine pearl .

…………Oi, don’t tell me this brat.

…………In order to let me and the four behind me escape, she’s becoming……the bait……?

“Wait up, damn you! Such an arbitrary”

“The one who invited you to the unit was me. My responsibility……it is my duty to ensure that you are safe.”

The floating Machina machine pearl let off a noticeably brighter shine. Halting its functions as a computer, it was concentrating all its output on propulsion as an escape pod.

“……Kuu……wha……what arbitrary”

His eyes couldn’t see well because of the flash bullet so he could barely stand up. While he couldn’t do anything, and while he couldn’t stop her.

“───If I come back alive, let’s do our best in the unit again, okay?”

Even though he shouldn’t be able to see anything.

Her smiling visage was vividly burned into his vision.

.

And once again, the forest returned to silence.

.

There was nothing in his vision that had finally cleared up.

Not the Yuugenshu nor the figure of the girl who fled far away to lead that Yuugenshu.

“………………”

He wordlessly tightened his fists, then.

“Ddddoo……ooon’t screw with meeeee!”

Vaiel roared.

The Yuugenshu and Kagura actions, whichever one didn’t sit well with him. ……As he thought, it was just as he thought. Nobody and nothing understood. About everything, everything───

“A dream……you’re dreaming too much……what’s this about Monica coming to save you or Sheltis coming to save you.”

There weren’t just those convenient events.

A Guard is a Guard. They weren’t like those heroes that came up in stories that would come running to someone’s predicament.

“……You’re wrong…………that’s wrong.”

There was nobody like that in reality. There wasn’t so somebody, somebody there would have to defend them in place of a hero. Even a man with no redeeming features had times where he would have to rise up.

Wasn’t that so as a human and as a Guard?

For example, that day when he piggybacked a girl that had collapsed in the desert .

“ Have I met you before? “

“ No idea. “

At that time, Vaiel had acted as if he didn’t remember. He didn’t like gaining debts of gratitude or having words of repayment spoken.

“……Damn it, that brat……causing people nothing but trouble…………I’ll hit that joking face of yours and make you remember.”

He bit down on his trembling lips and gripped his quivering fist tightly.

His feet ───────── forward ───────── forward.

Forward.

“That’s why……until I come to hit you……………………don’t die.”

.

### Part 5

“Kagura! Hey, Vaiel! Kuu……”

Yelling into the communication device, Monica’s face was unpleasantly strained.

───There was no response from the two.

“…………”

Looking at the side profile of Monica whose face was unpleasantly distorted, Sheltis wordlessly tightened his fists.

They had ran and ran and ran with all their strength through the sea of trees.

Even then, the anxiety within their bosoms would not be quelled. Disregarding people like Monica who had a special background, it was exceedingly difficult for a Cadet Guard to win against a Yuugenshu.

Then did they run? No, Nash’s injured were still there. He didn’t think they could escape a Yuugenshu while carrying them.

Other than somebody sticking himself or herself out and holding back the Yuugenshu, there was no way to save everyone.

But just who could do such a dangerous act?

Kagura? Or perhaps───

“ He would help someone when they were truly troubled. ……She came to think that. “

“ Shel-nii, you know. Yuto was treated really gently by Vaa-nii! “

“ There are two qualities in a Guard. There’s a need for at least one guy like that around. “

Why.

Why am I remembering only these kinds of conversations now?

.

“ There’s nobody else who will do it other than me; that’s all it is. “

.

……Vaiel.

A ruffian and a sloth. That kind of loathsome Cadet Guard. He had also thought that to begin with.

But that was wrong. Yuto, Kagura and the Instructor had told him.

……This might just be my wishful thinking.

……But Vaiel, please help Kagura.

.

### Part 6

───Tosaa.

The sound of something touching the ground. What Kagura heard was the sound of her body hitting the ground.

“…………Ah.”

She could taste earth upon her lips. It probably got in when she fell face-down.

Even though she wanted to wipe away the dirt in her mouth, her hands and feet couldn’t move at all from the intense pain.

Her hands and feet that had been bathed in mateki ─── she was too scared to look to see what was happening to them. Even though she couldn’t feel anything with her fingertips, only the pain was resounding noisily like a roar. Whether it was necrosis or burns, their seriousness appeared to have a paralyzing effect.

……Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

The sound of the Yuugenshu’s footsteps that creeped along the ground was growing closer. Even if she couldn’t see it while face-down, it should be arriving soon.

───As I expected, it was limited to several minutes at the highest output.

The Machina machine pearl that had expended its remaining energy fell to the ground and she’d tried to escape on her own feet, but without passing even ten metres, she’d been bathed in mateki and ended up in this state.

“……Ah……haha……ahaha.”

Even so, Kagura laughed.

With her entire body corrupted by mateki, her consciousness fading and the Yuugenshu soon to be upon that location.

───As I thought, I can’t be like Sheltis.

I’m a support-type that could only devote myself to the rear even in the unit battles. That is an existence that differs from the goals of a Guard that places themselves at the front to protect the Priestesses.

.

“ Don’t you ever think of harming my companions again! “

.

For she who was like that, it was her first time meeting the real thing.

While looking at Sheltis who challenged “Golden” Maha who was blocking his way, her eyes were stolen away despite being a Guard just like him. She made her resolve in response to that ability and spirit.

Just once was fine. She admired that which was not a supporting role.

Just like he protected me, I want to protect somebody. That was why she had tried to protect Vaiel and the injured unit of four.

───I’d be laughed at if they knew the reason……was this kind of thing.

Zuu……zuzuu……zuzuzu……!

The sound of the monster’s footsteps which reached her ears arrived at her feet───

───It’s over.

The instant she closed her eyes in fear.

“!”

That suddenly jumped far back . A violent sound. It was the sound of the Machina machine pearl sticking halfway into the ground.

───Somebody threw the Machina machine pearl at the Yuugenshu?

The Machina machine pearl also had a thin armor of shinryoku applied to it. The Yuugenshu had taken evasive measures because it loathed that……she understood that much. But who did it?

“……She……lti……?”

No, that dual sword user wouldn’t do something like this. To begin with, an acquaintance who brought to mind the savage image of throwing the Machina machine pearl ……that acquaintance……no way──────

A single person, just one, was there.

But……but…………that shouldn’t be……that man is……

“Don’t underestimate humans, you black fur ball.”

The Nell folk ─── Kagura’s ears which were much more perceptive than a human’s certainly heard that voice.

“……This……voice is……?”

With her body unable to move, she forced herself to the limit to bend her neck and what she saw there was───

Not the puppeteer Regular Guard that was traveling with them as the examiner,

nor the girl with the sakura-colored hair who carried the Rosario crossed rods ,

nor the dual sword-wielding boy who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupsed Song ,

.

“The one who’s gonna hit and train that brat is me; a beast isn’t welcome.”

.

it was the young man with short golden hair and a sullen face.

“…………Va……ie……l?”

Why are you here…………why…………didn’t you run away, why, why did you come here alone? Why did you come alone without calling Sheltis or Monica───

“That’s why you’re a brat.”

That was what he said first.

“……Eh?”

“Stupid, how stupid! What’s this about Sheltis or Monica. Are either of them here? Did you really think they’d come to save you? What are you pointlessly trusting in; don’t over-expect things of people.”

Don’t expect things.

Again, once again those words. The words he had said not too long ago with the two of them.

“Why……are you that cold?”

She thought he had come to help her, but why was he saying these words that thrust her away?

“I’m not cold.”

“Then wh───”

“Don’t have expectations of people; the ones people have expectations of are Guards!”

All of the words that were at the tip of her lips were blown away by that one speech.

“To begin with, you’re pointlessly pretentious! What’s this “ It’s my responsibility “……while acting like a good kid and saying “ Let’s do our best with everyone “, when it comes down to it, you go on a suicide attack by yourself! Can you just not trust in your comrades, huh!”

“…………Y-you……”

She didn’t understand what he was getting angry at in front of her. Saying not to expect things of people, now he was getting angry about whether or not she could trust her comrades.

She just could not comprehend what he was trying to tell with him being like that.

“…………Damn it……you still don’t get it, you moron?”

He clicked his tongue loudly.

“Listen up, I’ll only say this once!”

In order to gloss over something ─── in order to hide his red face, he shouted.

.

“ I’m here! You added me to your unit, so why can’t you depend on me, you damn brat! “

.

……That was to say.

That he really thought of himself as a member of our unit?

That he came running to save me?

“Bu……but……why”

Why so suddenly.

Because if he was that strong-willed, then he should have done so during the unit battles───

“For sure, you can’t call me outstanding as a Guard. Ever since I was scouted by the Instructor for some reason, it’s been a given that I’d skip training and I’d definitely avoid a battle with a Yuugenshu. …………But you know!”

He kicked off the ground.

Running away by myself while making somebody else, what’s more, a woman, the bait? That’s wrong, all wrong! There’s somebody collapsed in front of me. At times like that, even before being a Guard, there are things you just don’t compromise on as a person !”

Kagura remembered.

What he had said several days ago after the unit battles when he hadn’t protected her.

.

“ Hold on, Vaiel, why didn’t you protect me even though you were in the interceptor role? “

“ Protecting someone in this kind of safe match guided by regulations can’t decide a man’s worth. A man will only get involved and protect a woman in a large battle of life and death. That’s my belief. “

.

That’s right. He certainly said that.

Even though he said that, I didn’t believe in it.

……Even though I didn’t believe in it.

Even then, he came running. Just like he said.

“B-but……you can’t win……a Cadet Guard can’t”

“You’re noisy; who else is here? Is there a Regular Guard or Sennenshi here? Guards aren’t some kind of knight that appears when the princess is in a pinch. There’s no other way but for those there to stand their ground. That’s what you do as a Guard, as a person!”

“…………”

He was vulgar, lawless, boisterous, pointlessly loud and thought everything was a pain.

Even then, he came alone, running until his breath was ragged to save me.

He told me to trust in my comrades.

……It’s frustrating.

……In the end……rather than me, he’s definitely closer to Sheltis.

Tears welled up in her eyes and traveled along her cheeks but she didn’t understand the reason for them.

But my heart can tell. I……wasn’t wrong.

……As I thought, this person……is someone who can’t leave others alone when they’re truly in trouble.

“What are you crying for?”

“I’m not c-cc……crying……I’m not crying!”

“Jeez. Whatever. Anyway, the brat at an age with no sex appeal should just shut up and watch. I’ll shatter its front teeth!”

“……How stupid; do Yuugenshu even have front teeth?”

Unable to even hide the tears in her eyes, Kagura suddenly smiled.

“……How noisy. ……That’s why I hate kids.”

Vaiel spat that out. His sour face tensed up.

And then he ran.

“Ohh, ohhhhhhhhhhh!”

Roaring to wipe away fear, he brandished his fists. If the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors which were shining azure from the shinryoku carved seal ceremony were to directly impact the Yuugenshu’s core crystal, it would be able to shatter it.

An instant.

In front of his raised right fist, the shine of mateki spread in a fan shape to protect the Yuugenshu.

The shinryoku-infused Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors and the defensive wall that shone with mateki clashed.

“Whaaaa!?”

Having his fist repelled head-on, Vaiel’s large body floated into the air. It was the repulsion from having the two directly opposite forces of shinryoku and mateki collide.

“Vaiel!”

“……I-it’s nothing; I told you to shut up and watch.”

While using abusive language, he shakily stood up. He’d been blown back through the air several metres and fallen on his back but it seems his body really was sturdy. However───

The Yuugenshu rushed in before Vaiel corrected his stance.

Jyuuu……when the mateki that decayed all it touched and the formal wear infused with shinryoku met, it scattered a large flash of light.

“Guu……that hurts!”

Confused by the Yuugenshu’s approach, Vaiel jumped away.

His right shoulder ─── the formal wear’s fibre had been decomposed leaving a large hole, and the surrounding area was dyed red. There was also a limit to the formal wear’s carved seals. The Yuugenshu had eaten away where the shinryoku armor had been destroyed by mateki.

“……You!”

Defending his wounded right arm, this time he threw his left out.

But the result was the same as before. Repelled by the Yuugenshu’s defensive wall, he was attacked before falling and a part of his formal wear was corrupted by mateki.

“……This……bastard.”

His left leg’s knee dyed with blood, Vaiel used his left hand as a support and stood up.

“That’s…………just perfect…………”

His leg injured, he moved at a speed closer to walking than running.

This time ─── the Yuugenshu didn’t really have a sense of caution. It just awaited the man approaching it and deployed the defensive wall to meet the swung fist.

.

That repeated itself many times.

.

Vaiel was blown away by the defensive wall and smacked into the ground. She didn’t know how many times it had been. And this time, he didn’t quiver as he laid face-up.

“……Vaiel? I-it can’t be. Vaiel, Vaie──────”

“You’re noi……sy; I can……hear you.”

The voice was hoarse as if spewing blood and if it wasn’t Kagura who came from the Nell tribe, one might have missed it.

“……Just shut up……and watch. Damn brat.”

With his entire body shaking a bit, he stood up. His bleeding right shoulder showed no signs of letting up and the bleeding on his left leg had dyed up to his shoes in the color of fresh blood.

Lastly, his face was pale from losing blood.

“……St……stop……it……”

“Ahh?”

“Stop already! Please, I’m fine, so run already!”

Kagura shouted in a hoarse voice. She told him that it was enough. She was really happy that his spirit had not been a lie and his feelings to protect her. But……that was enough. She didn’t want to see anymore.

“Please……you can’t die. ……I’m happy you became a comrade but that’s exactly why I don’t want my comrade……to die.”

However ─── he didn’t stop even then.

With tottering steps that a kid would laugh at and eyes that didn’t see anything other than their focus, he swung his fist.

“Vaiel!”

……Why, why are you being so stubborn?

Even though it’s fine if you choose to “run” instead of “fight” just once. Why won’t you choose it? Why are you so set on saving me?

“……Have your eyes gone bad?”

“Eh?”

He indicated the Yuugenshu’s defensive wall. But……she couldn’t see. Because of the tears welled up in her eyes, her vision had already been severely obscured from a long time ago.

“There’s a crack in his defensive wall.”

Supporting himself against the large tree beside him, Vaiel stood up. Even though his injuries were heavy enough that he shouldn’t be able to stand, there was strength in his voice.

“After one or two more……I’ll punch out that damn fur ball.”

“You’re lying……that’s a lie!”

“It’s not a lie, there’s really just a little left.”

“Isn’t that one shot painful!……With that beat-up body……you can’t even walk anymore, right? Your arms and legs……they have necrosis, don’t they!”

His burns were inflamed and his arms and legs were swelled to purple.

His formal wear’s shinryoku armor was already unstuck and falling off. That was the result of someone who went to punch a Yuugenshu without protection by shinryoku.

He shouldn’t be able to move; he shouldn’t be able to stand. Kagura’s body was currently decaying from being bathed in just one attack. Even now, she would immediately faint if she wasn’t gritting her teeth and fall into a state where she wouldn’t wake up.

“That why, please, ……please stop already. The one who invited you to the unit was me and the one who got you wrapped up in this exam was also me…………I’ll apologize for doing it at my convenience. Please, I don’t want to see you hurt…………for my sake anymore.”

It was at that time.

He who had been looking only at the Yuugenshu turned his gaze to her.

It was a perfectly clear gaze. It was his true face that he hadn’t shown her once until now.

“It’s not your fault; I was the first one to start this.”

“……Eh?”

“I carried a brat that had collapsed in the desert to the medical office. ……That’s why you invited me to the unit, right? Then the cause is me, not you.”

…………

…………No way……

He remembered me. That means he knew everything from the beginning and came along knowing that.

“…………Liar. You lied about not remembering me.”

“Like there’s any way I could forget a brat who made me do something so annoying.”

“……You’re the worst; even at a time like this, your mouth is foul.”

Not caring about her face getting dirty from the earth, Kagura pushed herself to wipe her tears away on the grass. All so she could watch over him from behind.

Vaiel advanced while dragging his feet.

With the hole-ridden formal wear that had lost its shinryoku armor, he dragged his necrosis-laden body that had received the mateki’s curse and advanced. He moved his legs that shouldn’t be able to move and tightened his fist that shouldn’t be able to close.

“────────────!”

The vigor that wouldn’t become a voice shook the sea of trees.

Tightening his necrotic right fist to the point of breaking, he held it above him and brought it down on the beast before him.

Shinryoku and mateki. The two overlapped head-on───

The Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors and the defensive wall let off a clear sound and shattered.

“ ────── “

The Yuugenshu immediately made to repair the destroyed defensive wall and its mateki gave of brilliance.

But somebody made a move before that.

“Yo, black fur ball, I’ve got one warning for you.”

Vaiel, who had completely lost his Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors , clenched his right fist.

And then.

.

“ Don’t underestimate humans when they’re serious ?”

.

The young man who was just a human punched the Yuugenshu with that right fist.

Even though just touching the Yuugenshu’s body would curse him and his right fist became inflamed all at once, it didn’t stop. Passing the outer layer of mist, it reached the core crystal located at the center of the real body……and the sound of the Yuugenshu’s core shattering certainly echoed.

“What’s this……oi.”

While hearing the death throes of the Yuugenshu that was disintegrating in light.

“That was an easy win, Yuugenshu.”

An unusual smile appearing on his face, Vaiel collapsed right there.

Inside his fading consciousness.

“……I’ve been saved by you again.”

The cheeky voice of a girl resounded strangely vividly.

### 048. Epilogue: Together

### Part 1

───He awoke in the medical ward of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“You’re awake?”

Closing the book she was reading, the female Instructor wearing a suit placed her knees together at the chair beside the bed.

“Rushing to gain achivements, this result isn’t like you.”

Nash remembered all he’d forgotten when Instructor Yumelda spoke those words.

“……Ending up in this condition from pursuing the Yuugenshu is laughable, isn’t it.”

While suppressing a low laugh, the intense pain of his injuries returned.

“How about the other three?”

“They’re in the middle of treatment at a different office. They’re at the regular office and you’re in the purification ward. You were the only one who was bathed in mateki so you’ll be hospitalized until the mateki response completely disappears.”

That was the reason he was wrapped in a shinryoku carved seal spell cloth from his neck to the tips of his toes.

“What are your impressions from your first fight with a Yuugenshu?”

“……The positions were the reverse of what I thought; if I said that, would you be satisfied?”

He had piled on Yuugenshu simulation training and never had a rough battle even against the mock puppets. But the opposite was true; that strange monster hadn’t broken a sweat against them.

“You need knack and experience to fight against a Yuugenshu. There isn’t an Instructor who thinks that Nash the Cadet Guard is weak but those who think it was rash are not few.”

“……I’sa the examiner as well?”

Saying so, his face tightened with a self-derisive feeling.

“What happens from now on is dependent on you guys.”

The Instructor continued to just chew her cigarette without lighting it. She placed the magazine under her arm and stood up, then walked towards the door───

“……I have no intention of it ending like this.”

Nash proclaimed while still lying down.

“……I……we absolutely won’t give up. Next time, we will magnificently claim indisputable victory ────── tell that examiner.”

“That attitude towards the examiner as well?”

“Add that too.”

“Then I’ll tell her; don’t disappoint us next time.”

Lifting the corners of her mouth fearlessly, the Instructor known for her demonic training showed a rare smile.

.

### Part 2

At the medical office next to that───

“You stayed alive well; a person’s life force is amazing.”

“……You, don’t you have anything else to say?”

Vaiel glared up at the girl who had came under the pretense of visiting. This was the point where he’d like to grant her his fist if he could move but unfortunately his body had been wrapped in a spell cloth and lain down.

“I see, then ─── thank you very much.”

“…………”

“Ahh, look, you just averted your eyes. I thought this would happen so I tried starting from something casual.”

Kagura sighed. Her arms and legs were also wrapped in spell cloth but it seemed that the mateki curse was slight so there was no problem in walking around.

“Say, Monica?”

“Honestly, if somebody hadn’t performed emergency purification, what would have happened?”

“……I’m telling you that was just pointless interference.”

“If you have that much willpower, then you’re fine.”

Monica folded her arms and smiled wryly.

“Well then, Kagura, I have a report to make to the Instructor.”

“Yes, see you later.”

Seeing off the unit captain from the room, fuu ─── Kagura softly exhaled.

“The removal of mateki has finished so I should be able to be discharged after a second check-up.”

“……Hmph, a troublesome mission awaits after that.”

Their competitor, Nash’s unit, had defaulted, making the expedition to the Governmental Sector their mission. To start with, it was just another troublesome thing added to the mix for Vaiel though.

“Jeez. In the end, I have to take care of you brats.”

“Ah, that’s right. That made me remember. It’s about the trade conditions from when I invited you before.”

.

“ I take it you are fine with me leaking your secret throughout Sophia Tenketsu Palace ? “

“ For example, yesterday at the storehouse next to the outdoor training grounds────── “

.

“……You haven’t leaked it to anyone, right.”

“Yes, I won’t say that you’re secretly keeping a pet kitten behind the storehouse .”

“! Y-you! The doctors passing by in the hall can hear!”

“It’s okay, I made sure the door was closed. ……If someone as tough as you were to be known for keeping something as soft as a kitten, it would destroy your image, would it not?”

Vaiel decided to keep silent in response to Kagura who was nonchalantly talking.

“Do you like kittens?”

“……I don’t like them; it’s just because nobody realized it was weakening under the rain.”

“Well, then let’s leave it as that. At any rate, this is the extent of what I know of your secrets. I don’t have anymore things to negotiate with. That’s why”

The girl slowly drew near.

“This time is a request without trade conditions. Would you enter our unit? Not just for the Governmental Sector mission……the next one as well and the one after that too.”

“…………”

“I don’t mind if you answer later. Well then, it will soon be my check-up time so I’ll excuse myself here.”

Towards her who was turned and ready to leave for her own hospital room.

“It’s a three person unit riddled with brats. ……It’d be troubling if you ran off solo like this time so……that is, well……if I feel like it, I’ll look after that.”

Vaiel muttered with his face turned to the side.

“Really?”

“Men don’t repeat themselves.”

“I understand. I will inform Monica immediately. ───Yes, this is Kagura calling to inform you that the chef has just become a comrade. With this, we can also be relieved about the issue of the unit’s culinary lifestyle.”

Chef? He called for the girl who was speaking quickly to stop upon hearing a word he wasn’t used to.

“……Hey, wait. What’s that chef thing?”

“It’s your role in the unit since you’re the only one who can cook. Does it displease you?”

“Of course it does. Damn it, I look like an idiot for having actual expectations. Oi, it’s null, null; I’ll be taking back what I said earlier. I’m nulling what I said about looking after your troubles.”

“Unfortunately, I actually finished registering your name under the unit yesterday.”

“Th-that’s dirty! You guys submitted the application while I was asleep!? Oi, wait, I’ll cancel it, I……I won’t accept this, damn you!”

.

### Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 287.

Sheltis continually checked the time displayed on the elevator door.

“……I wonder if I’ve kept Ymy waiting.”

The promise with her was for XX PM. However, there was the report to the Instructor and the writing of the report on the specifics of the Yuugenshu they’d defeated. With the creation of that report, the promised time had passed by before he knew it.

The elevator stopped with the ring of a bell.

The space was filled with only silence. It was already lights-out for the Priestess-use floor and only the fluorescent emergency lighting faintly illuminated intermittently.

Tap……p……tapp……

Listening to his own footsteps, he headed to the promised intersection.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Rather than that, I heard from Instructor Yumelda just before.”

Underneath the dum emergency lighting, her off-gold hair shone.

“We can go to the Governmental Sector together. ……I’m glad.”

Her face that had the purity of a baby smiled gently.

It was kind of embarrassing for Ymy to be so happy like it had happened to herself that Sheltis nodded with his face slightly averted.

“By the way, what’s up, was there something you were worried about?”

Today at noon. While he was in the middle of writing the report, Ymy had suddenly called him through an emergency line and said, “I want to see you.” She added on that today would be good because there was something she wanted to discuss.

“…………Ah, ……umm.”

His childhood pressed down on the bosom of her vestment. Letting her gaze wander through thin air, she looked for words to describe what was within her heart ─── it was that kind of trailing note.

“……Nope, as I thought, never mind.”

“Eh?”

“Originally, there was something I wanted to consult you about. Like about me……and about Priestesses. Also about the barrier and the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .”

The words mixed into her speech were all things that were serious points of discussion.

“It’s okay, Ymy, don’t hold back. I can listen to what you have to say all night.”

“Thanks. But it’s fine, really. Somehow……I felt relieved seeing Sheltis’ face so I’ll think about it more on my own. If I’m still anxious, I’ll consult you. Also”

She began twirling a tuft of her off-gold hair around her index finger. Unchanged from their childhood, it was Ymy’s way of hiding her embarrassment.

“Well, how to say this. It’s been a while……since we went somewhere together.”

“To the Governmental Sector? Ymy’s going for negotiations and I’m going as a mission though.”

“But it’s a big step, right?”

“……Yeah.”

Ymy was this happy that they would be traveling together to the Governmental Sector. It had been a screening battle that even turned into a fight against a Yuugenshu but it was worth it to see this smile.

“That’s right. About Monica,”

“Ah, that’s right! I’ll also be able to go with Monica-senpai. ……How was senpai?”

Monica had just walked out on Ymy without saying anything before.

“Be at ease. It looks like she really was just embarrassed and had wanted to report to you after becoming a Regular Guard, but she was flustered because she’d been seen before that. It’s just like Monica.”

“……I see. That’s great……I was wondering what I’d do if Monica-senpai hated me.”

His childhood friend sighed in a grand expression of relief.

Seeing her shoulder relax after having been bunched up with tension, she had probably been pretty mindful of it.

“Is she that important of a senpai to you?”

“Of course! She’s really kind and good and looking after others and her reliability is…………is…………”

Saying so, Ymy’s expression froze over.

“Th-that’s no good! As I thought, I can’t say anymore! I’ll become disadvantaged!”

“……Disadvantaged?”

What did she mean?

Even though he tilted his head, Ymy’s face went bright red.

“She-Sheltis shouldn’t pay it any mind! Rather, you can’t, you’re not allowed to!”

“Ehh, again!? Ah, wait, Ymy, why are you running!?”

“Sheltis, you idiot─────────!”

## 05. Volume 5 - Absolute Sanctuary ( Full Text )

### 001. Afterword

She continues to protect her absolute sanctuary for the sake of a single family member……

Thank you for picking up this book, I’m Sazane Kei.

I wonder how you liked the fifth volume of ‘ Eden ‘?

It has already been published that the boy who fell to paradise has returned to the tower and formed a unit together with new allies. With that in mind, this time will be an important mission that challenges that unit. This is the first mission with full members so it would be fortunate if it were to come together as a story. Unexpectedly, this is also the heaviest book so far in ‘Eden ‘.

Also, this fifth book marks a full year for the series. The story is just starting to get going so I’d really like to do my best for next year.

◆ Changing the subject: my new computer

As the title says, I’ve made a complete one-eighty from my previous laptop and moved on to a desktop computer. The screen’s suddenly become so large that it’s actually a little hindering and I was a little bewildered at the difference in how typing felt with the new keyboard, but having the boot-up and software launch speeds faster is really pleasant.

It was the fastest laptop at the time just there’s such a difference with just a few years. The development of technology is to be feared.

With this, my manuscripts will be done faster……or they should be, but that’s not true for some reason. What a mysteryyy.

◆ About the drama CD

Now then, an announcement about it last volume but this is about ‘ Eden ’s‘ drama CD.

The first announcement was in August and it’s been four months since then. In that period of time, a book was completed and the seiyuu-sans were decided. Also, as a peculiar nitpick for ‘ Eden ‘, we’re being particular about the “music” playing in the background.

I envisioned ‘ Eden ‘ as a story with a high affinity to music and arias from the onset. The studio, Marine Entertainment-sama, are also matching with that and sending sample BGM to the author (that would be Sazane in this case) and deciding the music to be used in the drama CD based off his feedback.

※ It’s extremely rare for a novel author to be involved as far as the BGM.

I will use this space to thank all those from the studio that’s being particular and creating this enthusiastically, Marine Entertainment, the one who was in charge of volume for the drama CD, Tsuyama Touka-sama, the seiyuu-samas that blew “sound” into this story, as well as all those involved in the making of this drama CD.

──Seiyuu Introductions

Sheltis Abe Atsushi-sama Ymy Asumi Kana-sama Leon Nakamura Yuuichi-sama Syun-rei Tatsumi Yuiko-sama Ran Ise Mariya-sama Meimel Endou Aya-sama Salah Queen Oohara Sayaka-sama Tsali Sawashiro Miyuki-sama Eyriey Hikasa Youka-sama Yuto Kanemoto Hisako-sama Ilis Shindou Kei-sama

Other than that, assistance was received from many seiyuu.

With that, the drama CD will be unveiled on December 29, 2010.

It will be on sale on Marine Entertainment’s homepage (limited edition and regular edition) and net shop, can be ordered at all Animate stores and will also be available in CD shops. For details, please visit Marine Entertainment’s special homepage: .

It’s a rare chance to mix media so Sazane is also participating excitedly. Please try out the world of ‘ Eden ’s‘ music as well.

◆ Thanks

To my editor K-san who I’ve really been under the care of for this volume, Kasukabe Akira-san who produced beautiful illustrations as always even with his super busy schedule, thank you very much!

Above all, to you who have taken this book into your hands, I thank you from my heart!

Thanks to you all, I have been able to do my best for a year now. I hope for you support for the coming year as well.

◆ Next Volume Preview

……This is an isolated world…………filled with the Forbidden Crystal……my world.

The girl who stands opposite of the boy who fell to paradise. If you can hear my voice……then I will teach you the true Sophia Code Seventh Heaven Rhythm .

The third Priestess and third Sennenshi return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

The Sennenshi who won’t take orders from anyone, Horn Nova, pursues a single Yuugenshu. In that battle, Sheltis and Ymy, as a Priestess, bet their everything.

On the other hand, a strange rumor spreads throughout Tenketsu Palace’s tower──

Well then, let’s meet once again in March in ‘ Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden 6, Crystal World ‘.

Last third of October 2010 Sazane Kei

### 002. Interlude – Empty World

Governmental Sector, Central Area, Sector Three, the hangar.

It was a central point where there were usually no checks because of the security equipment and where a great number of guards stood at the gate that served as the only entrance.

There was a single figure that walked through the interior of that hangar without any attempt at hiding himself.

“Yes……there was a hindrance in partway through but it was dealt with using emergency measures. Even if they check the ‘Crimson Eye’s‘ records about the research area in question, they won’t arrive at any information about us.”

The young man had a black communicator at his ear.

He wore a black hat low over his eyes; his attire also consisted of a pitch black suit and pitch black boots. It wasn’t the appearance of blending into the shadows but one of becoming a shadow.

“But it was a hard blow to have the underground facility at the research area destroyed. The ‘Sleeping Child‘ that I captured was also defeated and individuals that suitable for the twins’ ‘experiment‘ are rare……eh? Then catch another one? Don’t say that so easily, it’s pretty hard to catch a Yuugenshu.”

The corners of his lips rose up beneath the rimmed hat.

“I was the same as always. Maha-san? He dominated from start to finish. It looks like his opponent was strong this time so it seems that puppets are no good after all. It might be a good time for the real him to emerge from the ‘Dark Room‘ but he’s pretty shy after all.”

The young man didn’t try to hide his smile from the other party.

“The twins are continuing the experiment? As harsh as always, haven’t they been in the middle of that experiment for around a hundred eighty hours now? Though we wouldn’t be able to make a barrier that surpasses Hyouketsu Kyoukai without that. ……Right then, maybe I’ll bake a chiffon cake as a reward for their hard work. Eh? You’ll help with just the taste testing? Don’t say that and help me for real.”

“ Ara, then you want me to help you bake? Baking things is my specialty, a really big specialty. “

A bewitching laugh came from the other side of the conversation.

“It feels like it’ll become ashes, so I’ll pass on that.”

“ Is that so. What a pity. “

“Then everybody else’s schedules are…………ara, one of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ is moving? I see, so some people in the Governmental Sector really have noticed us as well. If so, then our location might have already been discovered using the ‘Crimson Eye‘. It would be troublesome if that information is supplied to Tenketsu Palace . ……If they sneak up to our base, we’ll grandly welcome them? I see, so it’s finally time to come out into the open.”

He disconnected the communication.

Putting the device into his suit, he took a single deep breath.

“…………I’m happy. I finally got to meet you. Now it can finally start.”

It was a whisper like a sigh.

“The frozen time begins to move. The fragments of memory that all have forgotten. The dreams of all the forgotten children. That which sleeps at the bottom of the Garden of Cursed Song ───”

The wonder-filled monologue permeated the dim hangar. It didn’t resound or echo; that voice truly penetrated.

His age, true face, place of origin, strength, goal and real name were all still unknown. All was unknown ── the only hint was that he identified himself as ‘ Igun-I (Blank World) ‘.”

“Now, Sheltis, let’s sing our story.”

In the dark and gloomy area, Igun-I smiled like the Virgin Mary.

### 003. Part 1

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis, are you done yet──? “

A nonchalant voice echoed in the room that had become littered with clothes and small articles.

“Just a little longer.”

“ Stiiiill? “

“That’s why I said, just a little longer.”

“ Then I’ll count to ten……get set, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0, and done. “

“So fast!?”

Stopping his hands that were busy packing things in his travel bag, Sheltis turned around without thinking.

He had reddish brown hair and affable eyes. He was seventeen, his limbs gave off a somewhat slender feeling as he breathed out and he still had a slight feeling of leftover innocence.

“One second didn’t even pass by just now, right!?”

“ I said I’d count to ten〰, nothing about ten seconds〰 “

Ilis Machine crystal lay beside the pillow on the bed, looking small. The vivid yellow blinking of its crystal portion was a sign indicating, “ be concerned about it, be concerned about it “.

“……What is that child-like twisting of words?”

“ I just have that much leisure. Sheltis, haven’t you been ignoring me while you were packing your bag since a while ago? Ilis has become so lonely, she might cry. “

“Nah, this isn’t in the realm of ignoring.”

He gazed at the clock at a corner of the table.

The time displayed on its digital screen was exactly nine in the morning.

“Oh crap……it’s already the gathering time. I’m not done packing yet!?”

“ Come on, Sheltis, the airship bound for the Governmental Sector departs at nine and a half. Weren’t you told to gather at the airport on the tower’s sixty-fifth floor at nine? ”

“If you know that, then won’t you stoooooop!?”

“ The one who made a schedule which looked like it would end in being late was Sheltis. “

“……The one at fault is the Instructor.”

He had been caught yesterday evening by Instructor Yumelda who was known for her demonic training. For ages after that, he had been subjected to grueling training under the name of coaching until this morning.

“If you’re going to go on an expedition to the Governmental Sector, then I’ll hammer that portion’s worth into you ahead of time……isn’t that strange?”

“ The Instructor was quite lively though──, so it seemed fun. “

“……It was definitely the height of tension. She was smiling so widely.”

He had truly felt scared when she started swinging around her trademark black whip and laughing, “Ahahahahahahahaa!” deep into the night.

“ So is this okay? You’ll be late at this rate. “

“That’s right, that’s what I said!”

He started shoving whatever he grabbed into his travel bag. There were the machinery and equipment used for guarding VIPs, his change of clothes for the trip and other simple things like emergency rations.

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis? What about that book I said I wanted to read if we had time? “

“I want to bring it, but no! I don’t have the time to pack something like that!”

“ Eh──. No, no, then let’s bring something else. Ilis thinks it’d be great to bring a giant rocket launcher and machine gun. I also can’t give up on a flamethrower. “

“I think those would be confiscated at the Governmental Sector’s airport though……rather, stop bothering me!”

Just when he was about to silence Ilis machine crystal who was atop the bed───

The small sound of knocking came from the door.

“Sheltis, are you still here?”

“……Monica? Ah, wait, wait, I’ll open it now!”

She stood at the mechanical door that had opened.

A girl with a slender body whose long sakura-colored hair was bound into one lock behind her. Her grey eyes which showed the strength of her willpower looked really attractive on her graceful face.

Monica Esperanto.

Her age was one above his at eighteen and was the unit captain that governed their unit. On her waist holder were two blackened Rosario crossed rods and her clothes consisted of the usual formal wear.

“……How rare.”

Staying standing in the door, that was the first thing that she murmured.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you wear the formal wear.”

“Yeah, well. It’s one thing inside the tower, but I don’t want to be suspicious over there.”

He tugged a little on the cuff of his pure-white formal wear that didn’t have a single wrinkle. He had always been wearing the black retired formal wear as a jacket habitually, but it really wouldn’t do to go to the Governmental Sector like that. Yesterday, he had hurriedly taken out the new product that he had shoved in his locker.

“Does it suit me?”

“……That’s a difficult question.”

Relaxing her lips a little, Monica smiled.

“I’m used to seeing you in black so I thought it was a different person for a second.”

“My usual clothes are also in my luggage. I’m used to wearing them……honestly, it’s to the point that I’d also like to wear them in the Governmental Sector.”

The mateki of Yuugenshu gave off a dark purple brilliance.

It was easy to determine whether a Yuugenshu’s mateki had come in contact with the white formal wear. In other words, if he received mateki while in this formal wear, there was no way he could fool them by saying he hadn’t.

……It’d be bad if I was bathed in mateki and came out fine.

……It’s really difficult. The closer I get to Ymy, the more I’ll have to wear this white formal wear.

“ It’s finally time to go to the Governmental Sector, isn’t it, Monica; the escorting is a big responsibility. Do your best. “

“Please stop that; I feel like my stomach’s going to burst.”

The unit captain grimaced in response to Ilis machine crystal ’ words of encouragement.

“……How about you, Sheltis?”

“Everyone’s the same; I’ve been completely anxious since about three days ago.”

The mission ─── an escort from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the distant Governmental Sector.

The origin of the matter was the Queen’s edict. The case on the Lagoon floating archipelago that they had gone to together with Leon was the start.

What they had seen underground at a research facility upon the Lagoon floating archipelago that wasn’t recorded on any maps was ─── that which menaced the floating continent, a Yuugenshu, being cultivated.

“……If we let this assembly go by, there won’t be a second chance to investigate that Yuugenshu.”

At any rate, it was an experiment where they were cultivating the threat to the populace themselves so they couldn’t be forgiven regardless of the reason. Since Sophia Tenketsu Palace had decided to send one of the guardians of the floating continent, a Priestess, it was plainly obvious just how seriously they were viewing this assembly.

“Those of us going along as escorts also have a heavy responsibility.”

“Don’t say it; I actually took stomach medicine before coming. If you say anymore, it feels like it’ll develop into gastritis.”

Pressing down on the area near her stomach, Monica smiled faintly.

“Come on, Sheltis, rather than that, how are your preparations?”

“Y-yeah……I’m really rushing here.”

“I thought so.”

Monica sighed with her travel bag slung over her shoulder.

Anyhow, his room was in complete disorder and his bag on the bed was overflowing. It was a situation where him not being ready was obvious at a glance.

“It’s already gathering time so I had Kagura and Vaiel wait ahead of us at the sixty-fifth floor.”

“I-it’ll be fine. Just five more minutes!”

“It’d be good if that’s all it takes……will you make it in time?”

Looking down at his bag, Monica slowly crouched down. Just when he wondered what she was doing, she began packing things into his bag───

“Ah, ……sorry, getting you to help.”

“It’d be bad if you panicked and forgot something. It takes several hours to get to the Lagoon floating archipelago in the Governmental Sector, so we can’t turn back partway, you know?”

While still in a crouched over position, Monica lifted her face and smiled.

Collecting the crumpled luggage, his bag was packed with experienced movements.

“Are you used to this?”

“Packing luggage is a fundamental action for units, after all.”

“ So she says, Sheltis. “

“…………”

After he froze for a short moment.

“……Sorry, Monica, I should do the packing by myself at least. It’s fundamental, after all.”

“Eh, ahh, no! I-I didn’t say it with that kind of intention in mind! Th-this is……I answered because I was asked or well……u-umm…………”

“ It’s fine, Monica. It looks like his spirit’s been roused, so leave him alone. “

“……I’ll do my best.”

Sheltis began packing once again with all his heart and soul.

.

### 004. Part 1

The runway that stretched on endlessly.

Sliding into the runway that was gleaming silver in the sunlight, the airship gradually slowed down.

The airport that had been nothing but a speck slowly increased in detail and the control tower directing the airship became visible to even the naked eye───

A tremor.

Because of the shake from landing and the sudden braking, his body that was secured by the seatbelt jittered slightly.

“ Oh─. It looks like we’ve arrived safely. “

“It’s about time.”

Confirming that the airship had come to a complete stop, Sheltis stood up from his seat.

“Okay, now the─n, Ymy-sama, this way─; make sure to follow me, okay?”

“Y-yes!”

First was Ishtar leading Ymy.

Behind them were the General Affairs Bureau Chief, his female private secretary and the two clerks.

“ Come on, Sheltis, your protégés went on ahead. “

“I’m in charge of the one furthest to the back so it’s fine. It’s easier to work if I’m a little further away.”

His protégés were the old man, the General Affairs Bureau Chief, the female private secretary and the two clerks.

Standing ahead of the four walking together was Monica, Kagura and Vaiel were flanking the left and right and Sheltis was behind all of them.

“ Oh, it’s quieter than I thought it would be. “

Advancing down the pedway connected to the airship led them to the departures gate on the second floor of the airport.

The information counter and observation seat and everything else in the giant hall were completely empty. The garbage collector and guidance staff that should be working in the hall were nowhere to be seen.

It was a given that Ilis machine crystal would question it; there were far too little people around.

“It looks like they reserved the airport.”

“ So it’s that an airport with nobody in it provides complete assurance of safety. It’s kind of lonely though. “

They proceeded down the path from the departures gate towards the airport’s main hall. It was a strange feeling that they wouldn’t meet anyone regardless of how much they went ahead.

“Okay, o─kay, everyone, stop. This is the arranged meeting place─”

With that, Ishtar who was ahead came to a stop with a smile.

“A meeting place?”

“That’s right, Ymy-sama, it seems the person acting as a secretary for the Governmental Sector will guide us. ……Oh, maybe it’s that person? That’s them, that’s them. O─i!”

Look around at the surroundings, Ishtar suddenly raised a hand.

A woman of small build in a white suit slowly made her way over. She had slightly drooping eyes with black-rimmed glasses. Her light green hair was cut short.

“Everyone, I’m terribly sorry for having made you wait. I am the Governmental Sector, sector 1, administration department, general affairs division ── diplomatic secretary, Yuragi. Let us have a favorable relationship by all means.”

The woman lowered her head in an exaggerated action.

“Especially towards the Priestess-sama, I would like to extend my gratitude as a representative of the Governmental Sector to you for coming all this way from the distant Sophia Tenketsu Palace . As you can see, I am the only one that has come to greet you but please forgive it in the name of complete security.”

The Governmental Sector’s guide's lines were said in a practiced tone.

“Heh─, so you’re known as Yuragi-san. I’m Ishtar, let’s get along─”

“Yes, let us be amiable.”

Yuragi replied to Ishtar with a business smile.

“Well then, Ymy-sama, I will first guide you to the hotel you will be using this time. The luggage you entrusted to us at the airport has also been carried to Ymy-sama’s room.”

“I-is that so? Thank you very much.”

“That is also our job.”

The secretary pushed on the bridge of her black-rimmed glasses with a smile.

“Today is the day we should commemorate the first time a Priestess has stepped foot upon these grounds……or so I’d like to say, but we of the Governmental Sector do not know how we should react to this situation.”

“……Is that so?”

“We also had thoughts of a grand welcome but there was also the chance we wouldn’t make it in time. Today we have prepared the public hotel on the highest floor of the airport but even that was only reserved yesterday.”

“A hotel reservation!?”

Ymy gulped without thinking in response to the secretary’s words.

“I……I’ve never received such treatment even at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“There are many specialized guards at Sophia Tenketsu Palace but I don’t believe there is a necessity to bring such excess defenses here. Ishtar-sama’s prowess has also reached the Governmental Sector.”

“Heeh─. But being complimented here makes it scary afterwaaards. Are you planning something?”

“Who knows? That’s not something I of the general affairs division would be privy to.”

She brushed off Ishtar’s doubts with a smile.

“……Somehow, she gives off a very Governmental Sector feel.”

“ It’s impossible to know her character? “

“Yeah, well, it can’t be helped if there’s doubt.”

The island with no map. The underground room at the ingeniously hidden facility. And the water tank breeding a Yuugenshu. Whether that would be cleared up would be following the meeting tomorrow but they couldn’t let their guard down at other times either.

“Sheltis.”

Monica who was staying at the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s side approached without a sound. In a suppressed voice low enough that it would be erased by footsteps and wouldn’t be heard at all by anyone.

“I’ll tell you one thing about this female secretary.”

“Yeah?”

“The first sector……that is to say, she’s a spy for Sophia Tenketsu Palace that’s in the central division of the Governmental Sector. She’s part of an important function of the Governmental Sector with the aim of gathering information.”

“Eh……ehh!?”

“Shh, you’re too loud. It’s secret information, so be careful.”

“I get it but……is that for real?”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace was dispatching spies to the Governmental Sector. Sheltis had also heard those rumors when he was an Elite Guard but he didn’t think they actually existed.

What’s more, that secretary was one?

Her manner of speaking was good, as well as her manners, and there was no doubt she was a person from the Governmental Sector.

“Since when have you known, Monica?”

“Ymy-sama told me aboard the airship. It’s information nobody other than Cadres Guard Ishtar and the General Affairs Bureau Chief should know so be careful.”

“……What an amazing person.”

Getting into the central division of the Governmental Sector was already of excessive difficulty.

One wouldn’t be employed by the Governmental Sector’s central division unless they were outstanding and being ordinary wouldn’t cut it when spying and sending information to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“Now then, Ymy-sama, if we go down the elevator over there, we will soon arrive at the hotel on the highest floor of the airport.”

Whether knowing or unknowing.

The bespectacled secretary at the head of their group wore an unmoving smile.

.

### 005. Part 1

The Governmental Sector.

It was the single large agency that presided over the largest of the islands in the Lagoon floating archipelago which could be lived on by people. It was an organization whose members were chosen by poll and it had the authority to oversee the administration of justice and the legislation.

“……But it’s pointlessly large.”

With one step into the Governmental Sector’s sector, Vaiel turned around with an disgusted expression.

It was a four floor structure with three aboveground and one below.

Its first floor’s height off the ground of two hundred ninety metres gave off a feeling of being low compared to Sophia Tenketsu Palace , but in return, that it was wider by that much was the Governmental Sector’s characteristic. Even just in the lobby, the far end was blurry.

“The building’s interior is also strange. It’s like an ant’s nest.”

Kagura was looking at the electronic screen posted at the lobby.

What she was displaying was the first floor’s floor map but just like a labyrinth, the paths converged and diverged in a complicated manner and then proceeded to converge again. Also, in the middle of a path were rooms of varying sizes randomly placed, making it difficult to even find one’s destination.

“……Hey, hey, who’s the guy who decided to make this into a maze?”

“It’s the Governmental Sector’s construction division. To lay out those paths took four years. However, I can’t deny it if you call it a maze.”

Beside Vaiel who let out a sigh, Yuragi answered with a wry smile.

“With a floor this complicated, the Yuugenshu would also get lost, right? Because of this floor layout, even if the Yuugenshu invade, we can safely evacuate.”

“……Yuugenshu also appear on this Lagoon floating archipelago ?”

Ymy turned around with eyes of sadness.

She couldn’t make it so she didn’t hear that. Having allowed the Yuugenshu’s invasion ── for the Priestesses that governed over the barrier, that was a truth equivalent to failure.

“No, it’s a suppositional matter. This Lagoon floating archipelago is separated from the Orbie Clar floating continent so it’s hard for even a single Yuugenshu to find it.”

“I-is that so……I’m glad.”

Ymy cast her eyes down with an expression that showed she was truly glad from the bottom of her heart.

“Please do not concern yourself. We are also not slacking in countermeasures against the Yuugenshu everyday. ……Rather, that is exactly why we have today’s topic of discussion.”

Clack.

Yuragi narrowed her eyes to a state like a pin and stopped at the crossroads ahead.

“Ahead of here is the assembly room. Ymy-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief-sama who will be participating in the meeting, please head on forward. Ishtar-sama and I will both head to the waiting room on the right and Monica-sama’s group, please go to the resting area to the left.”

“O─kay, well then, Ymy-sama. The basics of negotiating is to relax─, relax.”

Ishtar’s sunny voice echoed in the hall.

“Y-yes. I’ll do my best!”

She put her hand on her chest and took a deep breath. After that, she gulped and Ymy nodded to herself. Not as his childhood friend, but as a Priestess supporting the Orbie Clar floating continent , she surrounded herself with dignity.

──Do your best.

Making a small agreement, Sheltis stared on at that back.

.

### 006. Part 1

What lay before her when she opened her eyes was a wall of star light.

“…………”

In the room whose night-colored curtain had been lowered, Ymy slowly opened her eyes.

Tiny, tiny star lights were mixed into the translucent midnight.

They twinkled like grains of sand in the atmosphere of the celestial globe and just when it looked like disappeared, they shined again.

The roof made with transparent glass displayed this scene.

The starry night view.

……People in the past would use this kind of fortune telling with the stars to divine their destinies.

……Though I can’t do it.

“───”

Remaining face up, she turned only her head to the side and looked at the watch at her pillow’s side.

Three in the morning.

It could be called the dead of night. It was the deepest time of night when everything was asleep. Within the atmosphere of her room that seemed to also have halted, she started to get up──

“……Huh?”

With her upper body in an upright position, she finally realized that there was a blanket over her shoulders.

She had……went to sleep face down so……the energy to wear this blanket aside, she shouldn’t have been sleeping face-up so neatly like this.

──Somebody laid me down properly in bed and put on this blanket?

“Oh, have you woken up?”

That voice came from another bed directly to the side of hers.

“Falling asleep in a fallen position only to wake up in the middle of the night, Ymy-sama is just like a child. It’s just like when Isa-chan was young.”

Her golden hair was faintly lit up by the starlight.

The tall woman wasn’t lying down but instead sat upon the bed hugging her knees.

“……About this blanket”

“It would be a huge issue if you caught a cold. I thought about changing you into your sleepwear from your vestments but that would really wake you up so I refrained.”

The Cadres Guard smiled in a carefree manner.

“Thank you……but that appearance is”

“Ishtar is Ymy-sama’s guard so she can’t just go to sleep without hesitation.”

Saying so, she drew the clothed spear closer to herself.

Her clothes were the same formal wear as at noon.

“……That’s……that’s right.”

Syun-rei had also said the same thing before.

When she and Leon left the tower, he would not sleep no matter what she said.

Sennenshi ── like a lion that would not sleep for a thousand years, it was the title associated with the Priestesses of a thousand years ago and their guards. Syun-rei had said that he had said it was that kind of title.

“…………”

“What’s wrong? If you’re hungry, shall Ishtar make something?”

“Then I’d like a dessert that is warm, sweet, delicious, filling and which I can eat for all three meals without gaining weight.”

“……That’s a difficult problem─. Ishtar’s a guard and not a pro chef, after all.”

Seeing Ishtar frown with her arms folded, Ymy’s expression relaxed a little.

With an expression that was half wry smile and half self-derisive.

“What I must think about now has that feeling to it.”

A difficult problem ─── she had thought Priestesses were a lot simpler.

She had thought they only resided on the top floor of the tower and devoted their lives to praying to maintain the barrier with the Queen.

I……didn’t become a Priestess with the intention of immersing myself in things like conferences or difficult bargaining.

“That’s definitely because Ymy-sama has no Sennenshi, you know?”

Those words echoed through the dark room as if piercing through it.

“According to Ishtar’s experience, the Priestess-samas are weak in politics and negotiations. In the current Priestesses, it’s Meimel-sama’s specialty but she’s a bit of a special case. The Priestesses are essentially like Syun-rei-sama. Staying shut in and becoming distanced from the ways of the world, they’re also unversed in how to connect with other people. Those who sustain that are the Sennenshi.”

“……”

“Included in the tranquility training for Priestesses, there are those for separating the body and mind, right?”

“……Is there something about that?”

Tranquility. In order to continue to pray for the barrier regardless of how severe the circumstances ── so to speak, it was abandoning the flesh to become the barrier.

But she didn’t know what that had to do with the current conversation.

“The exact opposite of that are the Sennenshi. Previously, the number one Priestess said that.”

The number one Priestess.

“ A Sennenshi is the final wedge that binds together a Priestess’ heart and body to prevent them from separating. For example, if Leon-kun wasn’t around, Syun-rei-sama would continue to pray for the barrier just like a doll─”

The mind was influenced by the flesh.

As well, the flesh was influenced by the mind.

“The Sennenshi support the Priestesses at various times and in varying circumstances. If Ymy-sama had a Sennenshi she could trust by her side right now, she would be able to confide these worries with that person.”

“…………”

Her current guard was Ishtar. That was reality.

However, she was the Cadres Guard and not a Sennenshi. She was not the partner that served a Priestess and could not give advice.

……She had to decide everything on her own.

“Now then, shall I make that thing that Ymy-sama requested not too long ago?”

“……Can you?”

“I can─. I achieved pro level from making desserts to fix I’sa-chan’s mood whenever she sulked. Well then, without delay.”

“Ah, wait.”

Stopping Ishtar who was rolling up her sleeves, Ymy got off the bed.

“……Sorry, the order just now was……half just an outburst.”

“Fumu. So?”

She wasn’t angry. She probably understood right from the start. Just like a parent consoling a child throwing a tantrum, she prompted her with a gentle tone.

“Is it okay if I take a stroll through the hotel alone?……I’d like to calm myself.”

“Yes. Ishtar will be awaiting you so if there’s anything, notify her through telepathy, okay?”

Nodding, she gave her vestments a simple look-over in the full-body mirror. She flattened out the wrinkles that she saw and stretched out her hand to the bedroom’s doorknob──

“……I……”

Stopping there, Ymy spoke without turning around.

“I’m not without a Sennenshi……”

“Then what is it?”

“……I’m waiting……I promised that I’d be waiting at the top floor of the tower.”

And so.

Without waiting for a reply, Ymy left the bedroom.

### 007. Part 1

“Yuragi-chan, sorry─”

With those first words from Ishtar, Yuragi widened her eyes in surprise.

……Sorry? For what?

Today was the second day of the conference. They were currently in the Governmental Sector’s waiting room and the assembly in the morning was also on time. The Priestess and General Affairs Bureau Chief were already on standby in the meeting room and the Cadet Guards serving as escorts were also ready in another room.

Everything was going perfectly according to schedule so there shouldn’t be anything to apologize for──

“You’re getting eye bags, you know?”

“Eh……”

Ishtar smiled teasingly with a finger against her cheek.

“It seems like Ishtar made you stay up all night searching for something.”

“……Yeah, I thought I’d hidden it well.”

She had fairly heavy foundation around her eyes and the rims of her glasses were perfectly lined up with the darkened parts so it should’ve been hard to notice.

“Putting aside the bags and glasses, it’s really hard on you, Yuragi-chan. You said that your eyes were a little strange last night as well. That they were bloodshot.“

“Yes. So I looked for how to get to the hospital……it took some time to find a doctor that was open late into the night. That’s why it’s not Ishtar-san’s fault.”

“Fu─n, it’d be great if you get better quickly. You already know the way to the hospital?”

“Yes. I was thinking about going tomorrow when there’s no congestion. As planned.”

She put a fingertip to the powdered part of her face and nodded.

……It’s fine if I don’t stress when I talk with this person.

If you just took away the wheedling tone, it gave off the feeling of talking with a competent female secretary.

──It looks like I had you up all night investigating ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘?

──Yes, it takes a while to find the exact location.

──Do you already know the way?

──We can infiltrate late tomorrow night. As planned.

For ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘, she inquired about what she diagnosed as bloodshot eyes.

Furthermore, to remove any unnatural aspects, she initially made the corners of her eyes the subject and deftly dropped the keyword ‘red eyes‘ naturally.

……Quite the tactician.

……It’s becoming more and more clear that her innocent speech pattern is to give others a sense of childishness.

“Did Ymy-sama sleep well yesterday?”

“She woke up once─. She took a walk in the hallway to fix her mood but came back in about thirty minutes. She also got up on her own before Ishtar went to wake her so I think it’s fine?”

Resting her head on one hand propped up on the table, the Cadres Guard was gazing somewhere far into the distance.

“It was a pleasant miscalculation. To have regained your footing that much on your own, I’ve changed my opinion of you.”

“Eh?”

“Ahh, nothing, it’s nothing, okay─? It’s just Ishtar talking to herself.”

Waving her hands, she didn’t say anything else.

### 008. Part 1

The edges of the sky were dyed red.

The starlight that had been tinkling in the ceiling was hidden by the sunlight and along with that, the color of the sky shifted from red to white and from white to blue.

──Finally, the sky turned azure without a cloud in it.

“It’s finally sunny─. It’s a day befitting the last day of the conference.”

The one who said that cheerfully in the living room was a little tired of seeing that scenery.

“I think the host-san for the conference will be making a speech. That it’s been a fruitful conference.”

“……I see.”

“Yes. Ymy-sama, you shouldn’t put on that kind of uneasy face and just do your best. We’ll be able to return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace tomorrow.”

Ishtar was carrying her long spear on her right shoulder. In response to her almost stunningly proactive words, Ymy smiled bittersweetly and nodded timidly.

“That’s good but……what should I do?”

“About yesterday’s report, you mean?”

This time, she silently nodded.

“ In terms of results, we have two things to report. “

Ever since she’d heard the report from her childhood friend, it hadn’t left her mind.

“ First. To start with, we didn’t come into contact with ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye’. “

“ Second. However, we fought with a guardian that belonged to a secret military organization of the Governmental Sector’s……and achieved our objective. The chances that a third organization other than Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector is secretly maneuvering around and is behind the Yuugenshu breeding case is high. “

At first, she’d doubted her ears.

At any rate, the conversation was making great leaps. Of course, if they were to assume the existence of a third organization, then everything would make sense but sufficient evidence would be required to back that hypothesis up. However──

“ I have the records of the conversation from then, you know? “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ sentence broke the silence.

“ The Governmental Sector’s secret military organization consists of only the ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘ comprised of the three of us. Moreover, we command an absolute place of pride so we are entrusted with centers of importance such as this Holy Hall. “

With the testimony from the secret operative’s words, the authenticity shot way up.

“Yes, that also surprised Ishtar. To think that Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector’s conference would conclude with this.”

The Cadres Guard smiled wryly while combing through her hair with a hand.

“It’s the evidence that the secretaries whose specialty is negotiation couldn’t get─. I wonder if the guardian was the pure military type? Our side went in head-on like an idiot so it has to be someone who would respond to that spirit─”

“Yes……but that’s a different matter.”

The round table in the middle of the living room.

A partially-filled glass of water and a single letter to the side of it.

“Meimel wrote to be careful on the last day.”

“That’s a given─. After finishing this, those in charge of the Governmental Sector and the security detail will also be thinking that the first step is complete. Our General Affairs Bureau Chief also pretty much said it yesterday. If Ishtar was planning anything, today would be the day to do it.”

“Eh?”

“That’s hypothetical. Rather than that, you should hurry up and eat breakfast. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if your stomach growled in the meeting room?”

“R-right!”

She trotted to the dining room where breakfast was set.

Behind her──

“Today’s the last……now then, come quickly. There’s no meaning to this if you don’t come.”

She felt like she heard a really quiet voice.

### 009. Part 1

Right in the middle of the very long Holy Hall.

What broke the excruciating silence was the hushed voice of a woman.

“What are you doing here, ‘ Number One ‘?”

“A moment of silence.”

Keeping his eyes closed and arms crossed, Zeadoll provided an instant response to his ally’s question.

“……You’re reflecting?”

“Indeed. For this is the first time I have allowed an intrusion of the Holy Hall.”

That’s why he was having a moment of silence. It was good that the heavily armored mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu had been defeated, but it was a fact that it had taken too long. He had permitted the mastermind, Igun-I, to escape.

“I’ve heard the story. It sounds like you let the intruder come in contact with the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and escape after that. Even the senate is viewing it as a problem. By the way, ‘ Number Nine ‘ was roaring with laughter.”

“Fumu, I am prepared for punishment. ……I’ll hit ‘ Number Nine ‘ later.”

“He’s out at the moment.”

“‘ Number Nine ‘ is out on a trip?”

“He said he had something to look into. He took along his subordinates and just disappeared.”

“So he just left the Governmental Sector without permission. ……Come to think of it, he investigated something with ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ’ a little while ago. When he comes back, I’ll ask him. With that out of the way──”

He slightly opened one eye.

He didn’t look at the ‘ Number Seven ‘ standing to his side but the Holy Hall ahead of him.

“I have an idea about that punishment. So ‘ Number Seven ‘, how about we try trading charges? You guard the Holy Hall and I’ll watch over yours……”

“Don’t mess around.”

An angry……more like an astonished tone. He didn’t know what face she had on but her expression was likely the same as the ambiance of her voice.

“Like I’d remain in this damp and humid place for even a day. You stay here for your lifetime.”

“I don’t mind that. But breathing the air outside is also a good thing once in a while. There are warriors like that at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“You mean Ishtar?”

The Cadres Guard that had been dispatched from Sophia Tenketsu Palace as the Priestess’ escort. It wouldn’t be weird for her to become a Sennenshi at any time. There were even people at the Governmental Sector that were wary because it was more unnatural that she hadn’t.

“Wrong.”

“……I’m wrong?”

“Umu. But he was skilled. More than that, his eyes showed determination. There are warriors like that in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

He let out a breath.

“In my personal opinion, there may be a path to reconciliation with Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“That’s a different matter.”

The ‘ Number Seven’s ‘ voice cut him off decisively.

“Come to think of it, why are you here, ‘ Number Seven ‘?”

“I just came to see the vestiges of battle. I came thinking that I might be able to gauge the enemy’s skill but……”

Roughly half of the pillars supporting the ceiling were completely damaged and it was harder to find something that was undamaged. Cracks of various sizes ran across the ceiling and there were large depressions in the ground here and there.

“……It looks to me like all of these traces are yours, you know?”

“I’m bad at holding back.”

“…………”

This damn destructive demon ── he felt like he heard the ‘ Number Seven ‘ mutter that, but he ignored it.

“Even if you’re worthless, you’re still of ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘. I’ll lend you the necessary people to repair this place.”

“How foolish. I won’t accept other people’s help to clear my own responsibility.”

“I won’t know anything if you cry and regret those words, okay?”

“……I guess I’ll depend on you.”

### 010. Part 10

“ Sheltis! “

At the same time the elevator arrived at the Holy Hall.

Sheltis hurriedly jumped aside of the light that filled his vision.

“……They’re also in combat here.”

A four-legged medium-sized dragon staggered after receiving a single blow to the head. It received a follow-up attack before it could get up and returned to the gigantic boulder that comprised it.

──Zeadoll.

The guardian of the Holy Hall who swung a mace. He had no idea how long the battle had been going on for but it didn’t seem to have been short. Nevertheless, he had zero injuries. He felt that maybe it was par for the course to say that it was expected that he didn’t even show exhaustion.

However, the enemy force made up of Maha’s creations wasn’t stopping.

Poisonous snakes came from blind spots below, monstrous birds created thunderous noises above and on top of all that, Maha’s clones were attacking from every which direction.

……Zeadoll hasn’t noticed me.

He could easily break through to the Holy Hall’s interior right now. But──

“ ……Sheltis? “

“We’re taking a detour.”

Holding his swords, Sheltis sprinted towards Zeadoll.

“Mu, you are……!”

The guardian sensed his presence and turned around. He didn’t answer him and swung his swords ── he cut down the poisonous snakes closing in from behind Zeadoll and smacked a single poisonous snake up towards a monstrous bird circling around overhead.

The bomb in the shape of a bird reacted to the impact and caused a huge explosion.

The flames and force of that explosion caused another bird to explode. The enemy’s forces were wrapped up in the chain explosions. Maha’s clones returned to gold dust and the poisonous white snakes returned to dirty mud.

The explosions stopped.

The ones standing there were only Sheltis and the guardian.

“……What are you doing?”

The man narrowed his eyes and looked over.

“Should I not have helped?”

“Wrong. I was asking why an intruder like yourself provided assistance.”

“I’m not an enemy.”

He returned the overpowering gaze head-on.

“I said this yesterday but we probably have a common enemy who’s been tricking us. They should be aiming for ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘. If you use the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘, you can discover their identity, right? They should be afraid of that.”

“…………”

“……I’ll fight you later if you want. At any rate, we have to protect the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.”

Finally.

With an expression of resignation, Zeadoll slowly lowered his mace.

“I will consider your punishment later. Protecting the ‘ Eye ‘ is my foremost priority right now as well.”

Come along.

His massive back seemed to be saying that as he ran off without an answer.

“Some time ago, a completely black man took those along and came here. ……No. The only one who came down the elevator was that man and those enemy forces suddenly appeared around him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand how. But while I was dealing with those forces, that man leisurely infiltrated the Holy Room. It is the greatest failure in my life.”

The guardian’s voice shook with indignation.

They ran at full speed to the north of the gigantic Holy Hall. After countless stone pillars flashed by to the side, they arrived at a mechanical door.

“It’s inside here.”

Giiii……with a strange creaking sound, the door parted to the sides.

It was a room filled with every radiance.

Red, blue, green, yellow, white. The grand room arrangement was blessed with fight vivid colors of light. In the middle was an egg-shaped giant crimson crystal. The width was several metres. Its height was close to ten metres. Even if Sheltis looked up, he couldn’t see the top.

“This is ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘?……It’s almost like it’s alive.”

The interior of the crystal was repeatedly flashing like the beating of a heart. It was like the precursor to something being born.

“I’ve waited a long……long time.”

A black shadow appeared at the summit of the crystal.

“Sheltis, I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

A pitch black boot and pitch black shoes with a pitch black rimmed hat.

Amidst all the black, the pale blond hair swaying beneath the hat stood out as odd.

……This man is Igun-I?

……What is……this feeling……

The one looking up and the one looking down. Even with this much distance between them, he was suddenly assaulted by a bizarre intoxicated sense that he was locking eyes with them as though they were right in front of him. It was almost like he was meeting with a longtime friend after a long time.

“……I’m happy.”

Igun-I didn’t even try to hide his smile.

“You know me. Ahh, that’s great. I’m really happy.”

“I……don’t know you.”

He suppressed the throbbing of his chest and glared at the opponent above.

That’s right, I shouldn’t know him.

But what is this ─── my chest is stirring ─── it’s feels like deja vu.

“That’s fine. It’s fine if you don’t know. It’s fine if you feel it even if you don’t know. Hey, Sheltis, ‘ Nice to meet you. ‘ and ‘ It’s been a while. ‘. I’ve been eagerly waiting the time we would meet in this world.”

……What does that mean?

It’s a certainty that this man is an ally of Maha. But even if he heard about me from Maha, his words are too deep. And why is he so friendly?

“Ahh, I can’t. I was so happy, I almost forgot my job.”

With the words Igun-I spilled, Sheltis finally reconfirmed the current situation.

That’s right, this man’s objective is──

“You……! I don’t know who you are but that’s the Governmental Sector’s treasure. Entering this Holy Hall without permission is one thing, but who are you to step on the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘!”

With a thunderous sound, he struck the ground beneath him with the mace.

“If so, then immediately──”

“You’re wrong.”

“What?”

Zeadoll’s expression changed with the unexpected response.

“This isn’t the Governmental Sector’s property. A single person……this is something an engineer created a thousand years ago. The Governmental Sector just happened to scavenge it. Though saying that to you will probably have no effect. Right, Sheltis?”

With his hand firmly on the rimmed hat, Igun-I was constantly looking over at him.

“Do you want to know; you do, right? What this crystal is.”

“You……would tell an enemy that?”

“If you so wish.”

It was an eerie smile completely devoid of hostility.

“So I’ll tell you. This crystal is the product of humanity’s failed attempt at artificially creating ‘ a certain existence ‘, a shadow of its former self, so to speak. ……You should know the original. It’s the existence known as the ‘ Forbidden Crystal ‘.”

The Lagoon floating archipelago that he’d accompanied Leon to.

At the hidden research facility, the girl that had been displayed on the screen set up in front of the Yuugenshu.

……Shel……tis.

……Is that you……looking at me?

……The one looking…………at the frozen dream of the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ……at the Forbidden Crystal.

Why would that name appear here?

“……What do you mean?”

“I’m glad that I’ve aroused your interest. It had the intended effect. But──”

Igun-I smiled.

“It doesn’t look like you’re trying to get the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ through force. ……Well, I tampered with the contents a bit so I’ll just leave it alone and run away.”

“……Run away?”

“If you want to know, chase after me. Now, Sheltis, chase after me. That is the beginning of everything. ……However, that’s for until after you’ve played with these.”

Igun-I raised both hands to the ceiling.

Like a music conductor.

Awaken now, all you forgotten children

Li Xea = F shela, elmei/ x-delis tis, Selah pheno sia-s Orbie Eden

Beneath Igun-I, the crimson crystal began changing color.

From crimson to red, red to blue, blue to green. After that, gold and white. Then at the end ── the crystal became half-transparent like frosted glass.

……What is that?

Something was squirming inside the half-transparent crystal. There were two of them. One was black and inorganic. The other was deep purple and had a hazy outline──

“ This is from a thousand years ago……!? “

As if in response to the shout from Ilis machine crystal , the front of the crystal distorted like a heat haze and the two gigantic monsters alighted from it.

A massive mechanical weapon equipped with pitch black armor.

The other one was a four-legged beast whose entire body emitted a deep purple cursed mist.

“A mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu?”

“ No, this is…… “

Ilis Machine crystal responded to Zeadoll’s mutter.

“ A heavy-arms mechanical weapon from a thousand years ago and……a Yuugenshu. They look the same as they do currently but they’re from before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected! “

“A thousand year beast. I tried using the memories of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and calling it out. I could probably have found something stronger if I searched more but this should be good enough for me to run away.”

Tap. Igun-I kicked off the crystal and jumped into the air.

“I won’t let you run……muu!”

Zeadoll tried to get to where the pitch black man would land but the Yuugenshu stood in his way.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

Mateki.

Before Zeadoll reacted, a torrent of deep purple light radiated from the mist beast.

The particles of light formed a string and the string gathered even more to become a pattern of light. The instant Zeadoll’s foot touched that ring of light ── the deep purple light blew up .

“……Guu!?”

Assaulted with strong heat and a strong impact and bathed in a curse, the guardian’s large body was blown towards the wall.

“Zeadoll!”

“……How rude of him to launch an attack without declaring his name.”

The shadow of the man stood up sluggishly within the dense cloud of mateki. Maybe his Sanctuary Arts had kept the damage to a minimum but there were nothing like wounds on his body.

“They’re simple phantoms that should disappear in half an hour’s time so do your best until then.”

Igun-I headed out the door with a light smile.

──Half an hour.

This was no time to say such easygoing words. Ymy and Monica were still in Building Two.

“Just fine, I’ll defeat this swiftly and chase after you!”

Sheltis sprinted to close the distance with the mechanical weapon that was drawing nearer to him. It walked on two legs and had a large body close to three metres across with its entire body made of heavy steel.

……As I thought, its movements are dull.

Before the enemy’s aim lined up, he jumped to the side by kicking off the ground with one foot.

The mechanical weapon’s response was a moment too slow and he used that lull to close the gap in one go. The aim is the joint ── his opponent was a mechanical weapon armored in heavy metal so he’d aim to destroy it starting from the places where that armor was thin.

“ Go up. “

He jumped off the mechanical weapon’s elbow and then off its shoulder. He flew over ten metres high and towards the mechanical weapon’s head.

……I see it.

The blue internal parts were peeking out from a gap in its head’s armor. Even if it was from a thousand years ago, a mechanical weapon was still a mechanical weapon, and its basic construction was the same. If he destroyed the engine, it would become powerless.

“Sink in!”

He swung his right sword down at the gap. The sword’s blade stabbed into the internal parts……

──Clang!

His sword hit something hard.

The sword won’t reach any further than this. Was it stopped by the internal parts shining blue?……no way. Let alone the armor, the internal components which are the weak point shouldn’t have this strength.

“ It’s a shinryoku carved seal. Just like with the Sanctuary Arts, it’s repelling your mateki! “

“……So that’s it!”

The enemy’s gun locked on.

“ Pull out your sword! “

“At a time like this……what a troublesome bastard!”

A heavily armored mechanical weapon specialized for fighting against Yuugenshu. It was originally for mitigating the Yuugenshu’s mateki but because his swords were filled with mateki, it was dulling their penetration.

It wasn’t at the level of the Sanctuary Arts, but there was no changing that it was troublesome.

“What’s a good move?”

“ There is a limit to the shinryoku carved seal. You can erase the shinryoku carved seal by piling on enough consecutive damage. Other than that, I’m reluctant to suggest it but it’s the use of mateki. You should be able to nullify the shinryoku carved seal if you use your Eden Code Seventh True Rhythm . “

“……Then we’ll go with the first idea.”

Somebody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace aside, he couldn’t use mateki in front of somebody from the Governmental Sector.

“Zeadoll?”

Explosive noises continued behind him. The explosive impact and thunderous sound of him being smacked into the pillars, as well as the guardians anguished voice came to him.

“Gu, this…………crafty thing!”

Zeadoll stood up using the mace as a support.

He didn’t look like he had any wounds but his expression was grim. Being smacked into the wall enough that it left cracks, he probably was suffering a light concussion.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

Crack.

The floor beneath the Yuugenshu shook and a ring of purple spread like a ripple on water’s surface.

“ It’s mateki fixation. It’s the type that ruptures upon contact and spreads curses. “

“So it’s like a mine. Zeadoll, don’t touch that──”

“There’s no use in talking about it!”

Holding out the extremely heavy mace, he stepped on the mateki mine.

An explosive sound. Zeadoll’s large body was lifted into the air.

“Nuuu!?”

He received the curse shockwave and collided with the wall again.

……It’s strange. It’s completely different from the masterful fighting he showed yesterday. He looks just like a bewildered Cadet Guard who’s fighting against a Yuugenshu for the first time.

“It’s the first time I’m fighting a Yuugenshu!”

His stern face became even more like a stone and he rose up.

“……I see.”

There was no way Yuugenshu would infiltrate the Holy Hall. It was a given that he wouldn’t have an opportunity to fight a Yuugenshu.

“Can you move?”

“You should worry about yourself rather than others!”

A rumble came from directly to the side.

The extremely heavy mechanical weapon causing depressions in the ground was approaching vigorously with the intent to strike him down.

He held out his left arm. He pulled it in as close as possible and spun to dodge. He circled around the exterior and hid around the left flank.

──A flash.

But it only caused a small scrape on the flank’s heavy armor. His sword wouldn’t reach as far as the crucial parts.

“Tch!”

Running from the gunfire that was sweeping across in a line, he went around and hid in ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye’s‘ shadow.

“ Neither one of us is in a good situation. I don’t want to chock it up to affinity though. “

“…………”

Calming his breathing for the moment, Sheltis bit on his lower lip.

……Ymy and everyone else.

……I’m sorry, bear with it for a little longer.

### 011. Part 11

A cloud of dust hung over the area.

In the world of dust from rubble, flashes that made one think of lightning drew arcs.

“───”

Landing on the rubble piled in the passage and once again jumping off there without a moment’s delay.

From the floor to the wall, from the wall to the ceiling, from the ceiling to the floor and then again to the wall. She was closing in using that method which would cause dizziness just by looking at it for a person with a normal sense of balance.

That was the lean spear user who clearly stood out even amidst the dust.

“Heaven Piercing Mother Earth.”

The one waiting was the shinryoku practitioner donning an ocher robe.

“Fire a hundred spears.”

From underfoot, overhead and to the sides. The bare rock walls that had their paint removed pulsed, and stone spears with a sharp outline flew out all at once. Even if it was wide, it was still a corridor. She couldn’t dodge spears approaching from every single direction. But──

Seeing that in front of her, Ishtar didn’t stop running or have any hesitation.

“Is just a hundred okay?”

The spear’s tip blurred from an instant.

Immediately after, the stone spears all broke apart with a dry sound. Iai. And it was with a sequence of movements at a speed where none of it could be seen.

“A hundred isn’t enough.”

Four metres until Maha. If she put strength into her step, it was well within her spear’s reach. Just before that, the wall directly to the side of Ishtar collapsed.

“!”

A giant forelimb stretched out from the large black hole created by the cave-in. The slimy claw with a brown sheen ripped the shoulder portion of her formal wear ── before her brain registered that, Ishtar jumped in the opposite direction.

A flash while she was flying.

She severed the claw that was sticking to the cut on her formal wear down the middle.

“I see, so you expected that I’d break through the stone spears and set a trap.”

She looked at her right arm which was exposed up to near the elbow and smiled. Only the formal wear was torn; there was not a single wound on her smooth flesh. Despite having taken such a perfect surprise attack.

“I haven’t had my clothes torn in anything other than a spar with Sennenshi recently. ……You’ve brought out something quite large.”

A giant shadow appeared and broke through the wall to the side without leaving a trace.

An earth dragon. Its mouth could open as much as a person is tall and it had the body size to match. It’s black scales were hard enough to deflect steel swords and even a machine gun couldn’t do any effective damage. It was a large carnivore that served as the symbol for dangerous species in the Biotope.

“Well, however,”

Standing in front of the beast which let out a roar, Ishtar just shook her head carelessly.

“This isn’t all, right? It’s not enough, you’re not thinking that you can satisfy with just this, right?”

“…………”

The two transcendentals glared at each other in that spot where the dragon was raging.

The one who disrupted that unnatural silence was the silent Golden spell caster.

“……It’s about time he returned.”

“For Sheltis?”

“……Igun-I……it was a whim but……it isn’t going to be a hindrance.”

Maha said that with absolute confidence.

“I will……not lose. All creation, in other words……no unforeseen incidents…………the balance will be kept in this place and be resolved at the other locations.”

The other locations.

In other words, the Holy Hall that she’d sent Sheltis to.

Then there was Monica’s unit whom she’d entrusted the Priestess’ guarding to.

“Therefore, I will just buy time──”

“Shall we make a bet?”

Ishtar’s fearless smile cut him off.

“Whether or not the results for the other locations will be as you’ve exaggeratedly predicted. I’ll bet that you’re ‘ wrong ‘. If I get it wrong, then I’ll become your subordinate?”

“…………”

“The tower is a gathering of weaklings. But they have strong fighting spirits. The Priestesses and Guards alike.”

“……So?”

The Cadres Guard silently raised her spear at that question.

“What creates a reform in the world has always been peoples’ resolve.”

### 012. Part 12

Yuumei Space.

Overhead was the shattered chandelier. The paintings that should have adorned the walls all bore traces of claws or fangs and the carpet underfoot was torn here and there, exposing the underlying stone floor.

What filled the large vacant space from which a large number of people had evacuated was the continuous ringing of clashes.

“Kagura, above!”

Monica’s shout echoed in the meeting room.

“G-got it……!”

She pulled the trigger on her high voltage electric gun.

With an intense sound and light, the electricity stretched in a line and coiled around the white poisonous snake falling from the ceiling. It’s movements stiffened in midair……but it didn’t stop with just one shot. Aiming for Kagura below, it extended its fangs and opened its mouth──

“So……persistent!”

Vaiel backhanded its head. Its rope-like thin body was blown away next to the wall and it began changing back to dirt upon hitting the floor.

“Come on, don’t space out.”

“I-I know that. …………But,”

Kagura tried her hardest to calm her ragged breathing by putting a hand on her mouth.

──It’s hard……with three people.

It would be fine if it was somebody other than Sheltis; right now, the important point was having a fourth person.

If they had four people, they could group up with two in the front and two in the back and cover for each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

They couldn’t do that with the three people they had now, and all three had to be in the frontline to protect the Priestess and General Affairs Bureau Chief’s entourage. Because even she who was inexperienced was in the frontline, Monica couldn’t concentrate on giving orders.

“Three more left.”

Three of Maha’s clones were slowly descending from the floor above. There were several poisonous snakes at their feet and red manticores waiting behind them.

“It’s the final part……we’ll……end it.”

But even as she said that, sweat was dropping from Monica’s brow like a waterfall. It wasn’t just from fatigue, Maha’s clone had likely landed a grazing blow on her torso. ……Her face is deathly pale. From her pained hand movements, it’s likely that her sternum or a rib cracked in that blow.

“……Monica.”

“You don’t have time to worry about others.”

Vaiel’s words pierced her painfully.

……I know that.

……The one most unsuited for direct combat here is me.

That was why Vaiel was sticking close and backing her up and Monica was protecting the opposite direction by herself. The strain on their stamina and mentality was completely different.

Maha’s clones floated from the landing above.

Monica prepared her Rosario crossed rods to respond to that ── but her body suddenly swayed.

“Monica!?”

Kagura reached out her hand but it was too far to her location.

Clack. The Rosario crossed rods fell to the ground. But she didn’t react to that. Could she be unconscious……? Dizziness. No, did she faint? No matter the case, at this rate……

“Damn it!”

Vaiel clicked his tongue and ran to support her but he was much too slow. The unit leader’s body crumpled and Maha’s clones were attacking──

“ You…… “

“ You have angered the one person in this world that must not be angered. “

Yuumei Space was filled with light.

The red warning lamps were dyed anew with the even stronger crimson.

“……Wha!?”

Even Kagura who wasn’t a shinryoku warrior knew. The brilliance of shinryoku swirled violently and couldn’t be contained within this room.

“────”

The enemies were pressured into pausing by the incomparable shinryoku.

Within that light, the Priestess held up the female unit captain.

“……This is from my senior Priestess, Meimel.”

Wrapping her left arm around the fainted girl’s shoulder, she supported her delicate body.

“She said that if a Priestess resolves to head towards the frontline of her own will, then she should say so. That’s why……I’ll say it.”

In front of my eyes, everybody is protecting me and getting hurt.

……I don’t want that.

……I don’t want to become a Priestess who would just watch that.

Lending her senpai her left shoulder, she pointed at Maha’s clones with her remaining right hand.

Then Ymy made a declaration.

“I will be your opponent now.”

“……Ymy?”

“Senpai, I’m happy you came to. You suddenly fell over.”

She smiled and brought her open right hand to Monica’s right cheek ── and pulled it as hard as she could.

“Fu, fuat ahh hu huing!?”

“It’s encouragement. That’s a lie, it’s punishment to senpai who’s a unit leader from me as a Priestess. My earlier words included you, senpai, you know?”

You have angered the one person in this world that must not be angered.

……That’s right. There’s someone I really want to get angry at.

“Senpai, I’m at my limit for holding back. Senpai……you really treat me like your kouhai at the crucial times. Do you not see me as a Priestess?”

“Wha-what are you──”

“If the one here were Meimel or Syun-rei, Monica-senpai, you would have probably asked them for assistance. You should know at least how outstanding the defense of a Priestess’ barrier is.”

She stared intently at Monica who frantically pulled away.

“…………”

“Even so, senpai just keeps protecting me. You just say to hide behind you.”

Monica was silent as she held a hand to her reddened cheek.

“……You’re wrong.”

With her head downcast.

“Yes, maybe I would have asked Meimel-sama or Syun-rei-sama for support. But not wanting you to come to the front is…………really…………”

With her words coming in short bursts, the female unit leader put together her words earnestly.

“My prided kouhai who exerted and worked hard to become a Priestess…………in the slim chance that something were to happen……I don’t want that.”

“ Yes . I know .”

She smiled and picked up the fallen Rosario crossed rods .

“But a Priestess can’t overlook such a kind Guard being hurt.”

To Monica who was looking at her with a blank expression.

Ymy handed over the Rosario crossed rods without a word.

“Let me support my Guard senpai. I have no Sennenshi so it’s my first battle and I don’t know what I should do. That’s why.”

“……That’s why?”

“In place of the fourth Guard who isn’t here, I shall become the fourth member of senpai’s unit. Please command me.”

“Hah!? Wha……th-that’s really……!”

“It’s an emergency measure. A Priestess is saying it’s fine, so it’s fine.”

She stepped in front of Monica looking to defend her.

──I’m going to do it.

The gap created by Sheltis’ absence. I don’t know just how well I can fill it but I’ll do my best.

“Amazing, it’s amazing, Vaiel. Did you hear that? A Priestess being a part of our unit, that’s completely extraordinary!? It’s thanks to Monica collapsing!”

“Really, your worthlessness actually turned out helpful.”

“Those two are kind of annoying……saying that somebody who collapsed is worthless.”

Monica looked half-shocked as she smiled bitterly.

She took a Rosario crossed rod in one hand and raised the other Rosario crossed rod with her other hand.

“……Just this time, Ymy.”

“Yes.”

“Support us with barrier-style spells. It’ll be fine if you can alleviate or obstruct their attacks. The scope is this entire room and the targets are limited to the four of us. Can you do it?”

“It would be troubling if you were to underestimate a Priestess.”

……Though I’m actually a little weak in barrier-style spells.

Even as she added that in at the bottom of her heart, Ymy replied with a smile.

……It’s a spell I’m weak at.

……But I can’t fail here.

She would do her utmost to the limit of those feelings.

No matter how difficult and no matter how large-scale, she didn’t feel like she could fail.

### 013. Part 13

In the Holy Hall filled with light.

The armored mechanical weapon’s right arm shined black as it approached.

“ Incoming simultaneous fire from the enemy’s large machine gun. Please deflect it as much as possible using your swords. “

“Eh……wa-wait.”

“ It’ll hit ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ behind you if you dodge. “

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!?”

Staring at the gun barrel in the enemy’s right arm, he ascertained the angle that the bullets coming from it would travel at. The revolving ring on the side of the gun slowly began turning──

“ Incoming. “

“……I know!”

He reverse-gripped his dual swords and lowered his stance.

Then a single sound of gunfire. Sheltis mowed aside the dozens of bullets that came out with that one sound. It wasn’t to ‘cut’ but to ‘brush’. It was a technique that used the back of the sword to alter the bullets’ trajectories. Modifications made within the realm of tenths ── he would be shot if he read it wrong.

The gunfire ceased.

Sheltis clashed his sword against the mouth of the gun which was letting off white smoke.

……Looks like it went well.

He could feel dull pain from various places from his shoulder to his arm to his flank. They were wounds from the deflected bullets that had torn his clothes and the surface of the skin beneath.

“ Even though I said to deflect as many as possible, you deflected all of them. “

“The creator of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and Ilis are the same, right? Then you’re like sisters. I thought you might not want it to get broken.”

“ ………… “

After a not-so-short period of silence.

“ I didn’t say it with that meaning, just that the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ would be useful as evidence………………idiot……it’s not something you have to put your body on the line for. “

“No matter what, it’s great that it went well.”

He switched back to reverse grip on his swords and sprinted once again.

──Now the only problem is how to defeat this.

His swords couldn’t reach the mechanical parts because of the heavy armor and the shinryoku carved seal was rejecting his mateki on top of that. He could defeat it if he took the time but he didn’t know how long that would be.

……The method.

“Guuoo!?”

Before he collected his thoughts, Zeadoll’s large body was blasted over like a rubber ball. He hit the ground while still holding his mace and a large fissure spread out from there.

“Zeadoll!?”

“You, Sheltis!”

The guardian sprung to his feet with vigor.

“I was wondering what you were doing since a while ago. You didn’t defeat that mechanical weapon so it’s even getting me involved!”

“That’s a coincidence. You just happened to be at the place I led it to so it wouldn’t break the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.”

Zeadoll had been at the location he led the mechanical weapon to and it had recognized him as a target too, then hit and sent him flying from behind. If it had been a regular person, their spine and flesh would have been blown to pieces but this man didn’t seem to have taken any damage.

“That’s not it. I was asking how long you were going to spend in a hard fight with that small fry. That amount of armor is like wet paper to me.”

“That’s because your mace has power. Me as well, I have the confidence that I can beat that Yuugenshu. If it’s a battle against a Yuugenshu……”

He said that much ─── and both of them widened their eyes.

……There is one.

The mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu. A way to clean up for certain these two thousand year beasts that Igun-I had summoned.

“Ah─, that’s right……it’s an emergency situation so……right?”

“……Mu. Truly, chasing after Igun-I is a priority for both of us. Normally, I’d never conspire with an intruder but……at any rate, it is necessary to hurry.”

“ Then it’s decided. “

In response to Ilis machine crystal ’ words, they both turned around.

“I leave that mechanical weapon to you.”

“You too, you said it so show me that you can eliminate that Yuugenshu quickly.”

Zeadoll of the Governmental Sector would deal with the heavily armored mechanical weapon.

Sheltis of Tenketsu Palace would deal with the Yuugenshu letting out sinister mateki.

──I trust my back to you.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector had a long-standing history of opposition and this was their first cooperative battle.

“We’ll beat them in thirty seconds and chase after him.”

“Twenty seconds is more than enough.”

The two ran.

At the same time and in both directions around ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

……Pwoof.

The mateki seething out from the Yuugenshu’s entire body created a cloud that reached up to the ceiling.

Rain poured from the mysterious cloud. The mateki condensed into water droplet form fell to the ground and created countless ripples.

Mateki mines. If they were touched, they would spread curses and shockwaves. But──

“Let’s go.”

“ Right. “

Sheltis stepped into the middle of those ripples without hesitation.

He threw off the formal wear he’d been wearing.

……Pwoof.

The swaying surface of mateki. The thin film of mateki created a slight splash when he stepped on it……but that was all. The ripples were undisturbed and neither the explosion nor curses were released.

The mateki mines wouldn’t react to someone with mateki residing within them.

“ ! “

The Yuugenshu bent its body with a strange roar. It became more cautious of the human that had slipped past its mateki with mateki of its own and jumped far up to avoid his approach.

“───”

Sheltis jumped to follow that shadow.

The crimson crystal was spectator to the beginning and end of that part. Claws and his right swords, fangs and his left sword met……

The high-pitched sound of the Yuugenshu’s crystal core shattering rang out.

At the exact same time.

Directly below, the guardian’s swung mace pierced through the armored mechanical weapon.

### 014. Part 14

“……It’s the mistake of my life.”

Touching her bed hair with her hand, Yuragi let out a long, long sigh.

“To have been knocked out by the rumbling and been sleeping in the waiting room all this time until things were settled.”

“It looks like you slept well.”

“Yes. I already slept twenty four days’ worth……is it okay if I cry?”

“Ahaha, now─ now─. Ymy-sama was also uninjured, so it’s fine.”

Ishtar spoke up with a smile.

But her face was covered with dust and her sleeve was torn starting from the shoulder……

“Ishtar-san……that”

“Mm? Ahh, this got a little torn─. It’s just clothing so it’ll be fixed with a little sewing, you know?”

The slow way she said things was the same as always.

“Was it from battle?”

“Yup, yup. They ran away halfway through but Ishtar didn’t have enough to finish it in one go anyway. On the contrary, it was convenient?”

“……That’s hardcore.”

Just barely managing to say that, Yuragi once again pulled out her memo book.

“By the way, about the plans after this, we were originally supposed to have a banquet on the fourth and final day of the conference──”

“……I think Yuragi-chan’s the one who’s hardcore though?”

The Cadres Guard showed a rare bitter smile.

“We’ll put aside eating. For now, at least.”

“For now?”

Behind them ── Ishtar pointed at the large sofa next to the wall.

“Let them sleep; it looks like they had a lot to deal with too.”

“……You’re right.”

The Priestess Ymy and Guard Monica were sleeping together on the sofa in a friendly manner.

They might be seeing pleasant dreams. They were smiling broadly like one does in happy times.

### 015. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 287.

There were only fours rooms arranged on this floor that lay two thousand metres above the surface. All of them were the private rooms of the Priestesses that protected the Orbie Clar floating continent ’s barrier.

In one of those Priestess’ room.

“Ahh, this is bad, I might not make it, might not make it……I might not make it in time!?”

A girl in pure white vestments yelled out while holding a luggage bag with both hands.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── with off-gold hair and jade green eyes, her countenance had a lovely charm to it.

At seventeen years old, she was one of only five Priestesses in the world.

“Aauuu……there’s no time!”

“Come ooon, Ymy? Don’t yell out like that and panic. A Priestess must always keep herself under control no matter when, okay──?”

With a teacup in one hand steaming slightly, Meimel was standing there looking elegant by herself.

Her senior Priestess who was rank two out of the five Priestesses. Her long, slender and well-proportioned body and her beautiful mature looks created a splendid harmony with her dress-style vestments.

“Honestly, what a rushed child. It would’ve fine if you’d done your preparations yesterday.”

Meimel sighed.

“……Who was the one that popped in when I was preparing and made a big fuss all night long?”

“That’s becauuuse, the cute Ymy is going away to the Governmental Sector. It’s a farewell party, a farewell party, I say. Oh my, this cookie is delicious.”

“Are you listening to me!?”

“Come now, that’s why I’m telling you to calm down.”

Mu──. Even though Ymy glared at Meimel, she didn’t move.

While remaining sitting on the seat, she stretched out her long legs and repositioned herself so her knees were touching. Her outer appearance made her seem like a mature woman of refinement, but her interior was a tease, so she was trouble.

“Umm, I’m sure it was five nights and six days……with the assembly taking up four of those days? It’s sad that we won’t be able to meet for almost a week. ……Ahh, it’s saddening to think of this as a parting with Ymy.”

The senior Priestess wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

“Could you not say things that sound so profound!?”

“Don’t tell me……within the food served at the Governmental Sector……”

“Poison? Don’t tell me there’s poison?”

“The food served at the Governmental Sector is too delicious……and an image of Ymy eating too much resulting in stomach pains ends with her being transported to the hospital while crying comes to mind.”

“What are those terrible circumstances!?”

“Eh? But that’s how it’s always been when I left the tower?”

“……No, that’s far enough.”

……Let’s just ignore Meimel and prepare instead.

Looking at the time, it was already nine on the dot. Her guard partner would come to meet her at a quarter past nine and they’d go to the airport within the tower together; such was the plan.

And so.

“…………Ymy, is this fine?”

The black-haired Priestess who had been working by herself in silence turned around.

Syun-rei ─── a slender girl of small build whose face still contained childish properties. In contrast with her reserved manner of speech and atmosphere, she was talented and had become a Priestess at the youngest age in history.

“…………I’m finished folding the clothes.”

Folded clothes laid stacked in rows upon the sofa Syun-rei pointed at. Changes of vestments and personal-use casual clothes as well as nightclothes were present.

“Wah, Syun-rei, thank you. You really saved me! Totally different from a certain someone who’s only been a bother!”

“Oh my, I’m sorry about that. Even I’m thinking over various things.”

Meimel shrugged in what seemed like a purposeful action. Or so she thought, but Meimel then reached down to pick up the paper bag at her feet.

“Fuufuufu, Ymy. Have a look at this; I’ve also prepared a proper farewell gift.”

Rustle. She was in the middle of pulling something out of the paper bag.

“Eh. R-really? There’s……no need to make such a fuss.”

“No, no, this is for the cute Ymy. Look, this is it!”

She took out a one-piece nightgown.

“Now, take this and go. It’s a special order made to fit your figure!”

“Waaa, what a splendidly pink negligee! The chest area is open and it’s completely bare past the thighs, and to add onto that, it’s completely see-through, which makes it really mature!”

With a glance at the surprising lack of cloth on that thing, Ymy cheered without thinking.

“Right? For a Priestess to wear such a thing would be heart-pounding!”

“Yes! Heart-pound……wait, don’t joke arouuuuuuund!”

She threw the luggage bag she was carrying at her senior Priestess with all her might.

“Ouch! Jeez, what is it?”

“That’s my line!”

“Was it not to your liking?”

“Before talking about my likes, what is that……that indecent design!”

“There’s no need to worry on that point──. With your voluptuous body, it will definitely suit you. I guarantee it.”

“Whether it suits me or not isn’t the point…………”

Saying so, Ymy suddenly clammed up at that point.

After she contemplated while staring up at space for a little while.

“That’s right. Meimel went to the trouble of preparing it, so I’ll take it with me.”

“Waaa! Ymy has finally joined the fellowship of adults!”

Eyes sparkling, Meimel set it aside with a cheer.

“…………Is that fine?”

“I’m just bringing it; I’ll wear my regular nightclothes over there so it’s fine.”

Ymy closed one eye in response to Syun-rei’s whisper. Rather than pointlessly making a fuss here and wasting energy, it was simpler to store away one’s weapon like this.

“Ah, that’s right. Hey, hey, Ymy, about that negligee just now〰”

And maybe she knew that, but Meimel put her hand on Ymy’s shoulder.

“Eh. Ah, yes. What is it?”

“That negligee just now’s fabric is thin, but it’s made with synthetic fibers so it’s strong. Something like a small knife won’t pass through it.”

“……Eh?”

“Fireproof, waterproof, heat-resistant, cold-resistant, wind-resistant, UV-resistant, and I also applied a shinryoku seal, so it will also more or less defend against a Yuugenshu’s mateki. It’s fine if you think of it as a scaled-down version of a Priestess’ vestments. It’ll help you be more at ease than your regular nightclothes, right?”

“…………This is?”

Lowering her gaze silently, Ymy opened her bag and peeked inside.

Shoved into the bag forcibly ─── the negligee that wasn’t folded and had become crumpled.

“I said it was a special order. I hurried to put in an order the day it was decided you’d go to the Governmental Sector and it just barely made it in time this morning.”

The senior Priestess informed her with a happy smile on her face, like a child who was reporting a test with full marks to his or her parents.

“……For my sake.”

“Of course, it’s for the sake of my cute junior.”

Even though Meimel had said it was a shinryoku seal, this wasn’t a simple job.

The spell to apply shinryoku to an object was extremely time-consuming. Even for Meimel, she still had her training as a Priestess so she must have stayed up late into the night when everyone else was asleep for many days.

“…………”

Gazing fixedly at the negligee upon her hand───

“……That’s unfair. If you say such things, there’s no way I can reject it.”

“Yes, that’s the cute thing I love about you.”

“That’s really playing dirty.”

In front of Meimel who was looking on while nodding, she neatly folded the now-crumpled negligee and put it back in her bag.

“Ymy, try to keep this at heart? We have no idea if the place you’re about to go is dangerous or not.”

“……The Governmental Sector?”

The unmanned research facility discovered at at the Lagoon floating archipelago under the Governmental Sector’s jurisdiction, as well as the cultivation facility underneath that. At any rate, the goal involved was uncanny, a complete mystery. It was unknown what she would see heading off to the dominion of the Governmental Sector who were the apparent ringleader.

……No.

……Bringing that goal to light is the Priestess’ job this time.

She was going to a land she hadn’t seen before with the general resolve to face danger.

“No, not that . A separate danger from the Governmental Sector .”

“Eh?”

“……At any rate, just think about keeping yourself safe, okay? A Priestess must realize the importance of her life more than anyone else.”

Filled with dignity and pride, Meimel’s voice resounded deeply.

───Ring───

From the door came the bell indicating the presence of a visitor.

“Oh my, it seems they’ve come just now to meet you. Ishtar ─── the Cadres Guard who’s famous even within the tower.”

“Is she that famous?”

Luckily or unluckily, she still hadn’t experienced a mission involving Elite Guards.

“She’s famous──. My partner invites her to train a lot.”

“…………Leon said it as well. That’s she’s strong.”

Meimel and Syun-rei spoke and nodded unanimously.

The Cadres Guard was, so to speak, the Guard closest to the Sennenshi. If her skill was enough to mention the current Sennenshi, just how extraordinary was her strength?

“……I wonder what kind of person she is.”

“You’ll know as soon as you open that door.”

Meimel gracefully smiled as usual.

“I’ll be going.”

Putting strength into her shoulders, she hefted up the bag which made a weighted sound.

……Monica-senpai will be going along.

……Also……Sheltis will protect me.

Her senior from her days as an apprentice Priestess and her childhood friend whom she’d been separated from for so long. She could be with those two once again. They had been separated for a few years……and she could meet them once again.

The heavy pressure from heading to an unknown land was eased a little just from thinking about that.

“Have a safe trip. I’ll be looking forward to souvenirs.”

“…………Take care.”

Waving at her two fellow Priestesses with a smile, Ymy passed through the room’s door.

### 016. Part 2

Public integrated hotel, [Asterhythm].

The first class lodgings monitored by the Governmental Sector. It was a hotel containing various facilities such as an exercise gym in the vast ceremonies hall, a pool as a matter of course and a movie theater and drama stage.

In the lobby. Ymy, who had been led by Yuragi, had just parted with the vigorous handshakes and voices of adoration that greeted her from the managers, chefs, the receptionists at the counter, the garbage collectors and the girls that were part-timing. It didn’t stop at the hall either as workers were lined up all the way to the next path.

“……Oh, my, my?”

Stopping at the gate, Ymy surveyed the gathering of people before her.

……This many people are greeting me?

……But Yuragi-san just said that they barely reserved the hotel.

“All of the hotel staff here have been awaiting Ymy-sama’s arrival. For the purpose of safety, the airport was unstaffed but, of course, we can’t have a hotel without its managers or chefs and other staff.”

“Ah, I see. That’s right!”

“Yes. My apologies, did it surprise you?”

Yuragi was smiling as usual.

“Ymy-sama and Ishtar-sama are this way and the others shall be escorted by the respective person in charge of them.”

“O─kay, well then, Ymy-sama, let’s go this way!”

“Eh……y-yeah.”

Being pushed on by Ishtar, Ymy followed after the back of Yuragi who had went ahead.

.

### 017. Part 2

“Umm, the Governmental Sector’s first floor……this is the second building. That’s split narrowly again so this is section 60′s resting area?”

“ It’s section 61. It’s registered as a free room according to the digital map so I think the furnishings have been changed to serve as a resting area for this assembly. “

“Ah, right, right. It was section 61……but this really is a maze.”

Circling the current location with red pen on the map, Sheltis stared fixedly at the map as he approached the sofa.

“ I’ll supply the parts you don’t remember, okay? “

“……I only remember the meeting room’s location so I’ll rely on you for anything else.”

If he went to the crossroad after exiting this room and headed left, it would not be long to the meeting room. If something unnatural were to occur, he would be able to run to Ymy’s location in thirty seconds.

“But this room is a little troubling.”

Kagura let her body sink into the flexible sofa.

Putting the cup with ice floating in it to her mouth, she pointed at the room’s four corners.

“Look, this is a free room but it has soundproofing. We can’t hear anything from outside so don’t you think it’d be hard to tell if something happens outside? It doesn’t look like there’s any video surveillance equipment to watch the meeting room’s status either. Are we stuck in a spot and relying on the unit captain?”

“……Please don’t put pressure on me. It’s been a while so I’m nervous.”

In a corner of the room, Monica was sitting upon a hard wooden chair as she nodded with a wry smile.

She closed her eyes and put her hands together, bearing with it without moving at all. If one looked at her, even a child would noticethe faint green light hazily shrouding her body.

“Ah─ I see. Clairvoyance and telepathy.”

Both of them were territories of techniques that afforded super perception.

‘Clairvoyance’ would burn the situation of a distant location into one’s mind and ‘telepathy’ allowed one to communicate with a distance practitioner. Monica was able to handle these techniques because she had been an apprentice Priestess.

“You’re peeking in at the meeting room with clairvoyance and speaking telepathically with the Priestess-sama that’s in the meeting?”

“If I could do that, I wouldn’t be weary. ……It’s protected by the same arrangement as Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

A reflective barrier.

By erecting a barrier in a special place, it was a technique that obstructed other shinryoku other than that.

In order to protect important secrets from the Big Three through clairvoyance and telepathy, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s aboveground floors to its summit were covered with a large-scale barrier that the Priestess Meimel had applied.

“……It looks like clairvoyance is impossible. I tried sending a message through telepathy from my end as well but it was reflected by the barrier.”

Moving only her lips, Monica continued.

“Well then, there was no meaning?”

“No, just a little while ago, Ymy broke through the barrier……you could say it was done with pure force using her shinryoku quantity; that child hasn’t fixed the roughness of her techniques.”

The unit captain shook her head in reply to Vaiel’s mutter.

“In other words, even though I can’t reply from my end, I can hear Ymy’s reports.”

“ That’s interesting. Is there any important information? “

“There’s been no progress. ‘……The conversation is stuck and doesn’t seem to be progressing.’ is what she said.”

“I bet.”

Matching up with Monica’s sigh, Sheltis stood up from the sofa.

……So the Governmental Sector won’t show a fault so easily.

The Lagoon floating archipelago that wasn’t on the territory map and the Yuugenshu being bred there. There was no way they could simply ask and get an answer.

“……It’s probably hard on Ymy who’s just staying still though.”

The monologue he said with a wry smile quietly dissolved into thin air. Choosing this time when a curtain of silence fell, Sheltis turned his foot towards the door.

“Monica, I’m going to go outside for some air.”

“Don’t go too far.”

“I’ll return quickly.”

Waving his hand lightly in reply, he set foot into the corridor.

“Oh, see. As I thought, it’s cooler here.”

He looked up at the giant circular pillar that extended above his height.

……He felt his flushed body’s heat dispersing into the cool rock pillar.

“On top of that──”

“ On top of that? “

“ It’s easier to understand this way. “

His eyes were focused on the crossroad straight ahead as he entrusted himself to the circular pillar behind him. ──No. Beyond the many diverging paths that lay past the crossroad. Deeper within this building.

── It’s here.

The gaze he’d felt since entering this building. No, it would be better to call it a sense of discomfort.

It wasn’t the presence of a dangerous animal or a Yuugenshu but ‘something’.

“It’s here. Probably……nope, definitely.”

He had experienced a feeling like this very long ago.

That was already close to ten years ago ── a little after Ymy and he had entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace , when he had coincidentally passed by a Sennenshi of that time.

A pressure that conveyed that they were ‘there’. An overbearing presence that prickled the skin almost to a painful point.

It resembled the feeling from that time.

“It doesn’t look like it’s nearby though.”

Somewhere within this large structure, there was somebody that was causing him to feel this.

“Was there some story about the Governmental Sector training a strong battle unit or something?”

“Mm〜 I wonder, shall we ask the receptionist onee-san?”

“……Answer me seriously.”

Flicking Ilis machine crystal who had answered nonchalantly, Sheltis stood still there for a short while.

.

### 018. Part 2

A gait with no strength. Sometimes staggering and sometimes tripping.

She continued down the hallway lightly illuminated by emergency lighting in search of light like a butterfly.

“…………”

……I want to meet him.

……Even though it was this late, she couldn’t help wanting to meet with and speak to him.

“ If Ymy-sama has the intention of continuing on as a Priestess from now, she should make the order─ “

A slight taste of iron was mixed in where she was biting on her cheek.

I was frustrated……

She felt like what she should consider the most important as a Priestess was being directly denied but she hadn’t been able to counter it which inevitably frustrated her.

“ That’s definitely because Ymy-sama has no Sennenshi, you know? “

She put her hand against the wall she staggered to and tightened that hand into a fist.

Not minding something like her nails digging into the palm of her hand, she tightened it to the limit.

“……I have……one.”

She had decided it a long time ago.

He had said they would be together since a long time ago.

“…………”

And then she arrived at a single door.

──Knock, kno……knock.

In her vision blurred by tears, she saw her quivering fist knock on the door.

I won’t use the doorbell. Even though it’s this late and this slight of a knock, I trust that he will respond. To my voice────

Leaning against the wall directly to her side, Ymy waited for that time.

Two seconds, three seconds.

Five seconds, ten seconds……fifteen seconds.

……Even if it didn’t reach now.

……Even if I can’t touch him……for now……it’s fine if he’s just by my side.

She continued that for who knows how long.

The firmly shut door opened without a sound.

My most important person────is here────

“──Ymy?”

“……Please, Sheltis,”

Staring fixedly at the boy with reddish brown hair’s face, Ymy wiped the tears at her eyes.

“A little while is fine……just a little……please stay with me.”

### 019. Part 2

In front of the meeting room, in the break room for escorts.

“Sheltis, I’ve been wondering for a while but……are those circles under your eyes?”

“Eh. Ah, that’s right.”

Having it gently pointed out by Kagura, Sheltis honestly nodded.

“Did something happen?”

“Well……I couldn’t sleep yesterday and pretty much ended up just doing practice swings with my swords? It’s not really anything major. My body’s not burnt out either.”

It was true that he had done practice swings.

──There’s no way I can sleep after seeing Ymy’s crying face.

She wouldn’t leave his mind even after she returned to her room so since he couldn’t sleep, he decided to just practice until morning.

“But it looks like there’s someone sound asleep over there.“

“Huh?”

Sitting in a chair, arms crossed with a complicated expression and eyes closed ── at first glance it might have been someone thinking hard about something but it was just a man sleeping soundly.

“……It’s a big-shot, there’s a big-shot here.”

“Yes. Sheltis should learn from his example.“

“……Va……Va……”

Her usual calm expression completely red, the unit leader’s fist was shaking.

Then.

“Vaiellllllll, clench your teeth!”

“Ahhn? What’s thi……guhaaa!?”

Monica’s iron fist of anger plunged into Vaiel’s flank without deviation.

“You! Isn’t it unfair if you say to clench my teeth and go for my stomach!?”

“M-my hand just slipped! And you──”

In the break room whose rowdiness had just shot up.

“……I’ll go wash my face. The circles will disappear if I warm my eyes with warm water, right?”

“Take your time. It will be noisy here for a while anyway.”

Leaving a few words to Kagura who was tinkering with the Machina machine pearl , Sheltis left the room.

……Tonight, they would secretly assemble in Ymy’s room. It would be a business meeting with Yuragi.

Only a vague and lifeless sense of tension swirled within his heart.

### 020. Part 2

Governmental Sector, Building Four, Area 63′s break room.

“Our escorting ends today as well. It feels like it was long but short.”

“……Fun, well, that’s how it is.”

“You didn’t do anything other than sleep. I won’t let you sleep today.”

Kagura took up position on Vaiel’s sofa and, with his seat taken, Vaiel reluctantly sat down on a chair.

And. Monica who was standing still to the side of the room’s entrance lifted her head.

“It may be the last day but don’t let your guard down.”

“I ge─t it. This is the dangerous time, right?”

“There’s that too but……”

The female unit leader was being unusually bashful with a meek face.

“It’s our first mission. Rather than that nothing happened, I want to return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace and proudly report that ‘we accomplished it’.”

“Roger that. These kinds of things are what’s cute about you, Monica.”

“Wha……Ka-Kagura! I’m saying this seriously, you know?”

She folded her arms in embarrassment then pulled up a chair somewhat roughly. Looking sidelong at those three, Sheltis let out a sigh that they wouldn’t notice.

──I’m glad.

Infiltrating the Governmental Sector’s central division and fighting the Holy Hall’s guardian.

He had been prepared for the inevitable ruckus today but the Governmental Sector’s office building was calm. It didn’t look like they were going to put an emergency halt to the conference to search for an intruder either.

“ Zeadoll, huh. There was a danger that he would come aboveground. “

If he was seen together with Monica and the others, it would be obvious at a glance that he was also a Guard of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . He’d also prepared for that worst-case scenario but……

“ It’s like he said yesterday. He only focuses on guarding the Holy Hall. “

It didn’t matter who the intruder was. If he appears again, this time for sure ── he was undoubtedly waiting with that kind of vigor.

“ Now then, will you be able to let loose for today? “

“No way, there’s a mountain of things to think about.”

The third organization.

He couldn’t imagine how many people there were or what they were like. At any rate, they were secretly operating in the shadows of Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector so they must be a really troublesome opponent.

“I wonder if there’s a way. A way to settle this all cleanly.”

“Mm?”

“Ahh, it’s nothing, just talking to myself.”

Having heard it with his sharp ears, Vaiel asked him to repeat himself and Sheltis frantically shook his head.

Governmental Sector, Building Two, Area 61′s waiting room.

“Yuragi-chan, you have circles again〰”

“Ah……you noticed?”

Having it pointed out by Ishtar, Yuragi pushed up her glasses with the bridge.

“Noticing or whatever, you didn’t try to hide it. You have the same amount of make-up on as usual. Does this mean you didn’t have enough time to hide it with make-up?”

“Yes.”

She nodded while curling her bangs around a finger.

“I took care of things after what happened last night. Lots of things happened on that end.”

“Fuun. But nothing conclusive was left behind, right?”

At that question, Yuragi wordlessly held up her card key.

She had lent it to Sheltis last night but the problem was that this card key had released the hidden elevator that led to the Holy Hall. If they checked the access logs for the elevator, it would be readily apparent whose card key had infiltrated the Holy Hall. Suspicion would fall upon her first and foremost.

……Though I was prepared for that from the beginning.

“I was taking care of this.”

“Ah, I see. ‘Entering‘ wasn’t a problem but it was bad for Yuragi-chan.”

It looked like she’d understood with just that as Ishtar smacked fist on her open palm.

“Please keep it a secret from Sheltis-sama.”

“Why?”

“His job is as an escort and taking care of the complicated matters is my role.”

“……Yuragi-chan’s really passionate about her job.”

With her eyes widened, Ishtar sighed a breath of admiration.

“Ara, Ishtar-sama is the same, no? I heard about it from Ymy-sama. You haven’t taken a real break these four days and have been getting by with simple preserved foods for meals.”

“No, no, that’s different. What Ishtar’s doing isn’t a job. It’s specially for this time.”

“Specially……is it?”

“It’s a personal grudge. I came here because I wanted a very personal distraction .”

With a full smile.

The Cadres Guard declared that looking like she was so happy she couldn’t stand it.

Govermental Sector, Building Two, Area 63′s ‘ Yuumei Space ‘.

A chandelier with different colored gems hung from the ceiling. The carpet underfoot was a deep crimson that almost looked as if it was smoldering. Within the extremely spacious room were two very long desks with chairs lined up along them. Both of them were very dignified antiques. She’d also received an explanation saying that the large hall could be used for plays.

……Yuumei. Does that mean light and dark?

……Is holding the conference in this room also to clearly convey that?

“────”

Remembering the name of the large hall, Ymy’s eyes that were hidden from view lowered.

She had been terrified of when the topic of Sheltis intruding upon the Holy Hall was going to come up, but there didn’t seem to be any of that kind of harsh atmosphere.

……That’s a relief.

……But the essential conference hasn’t gotten anywhere.

Still, even Ymy didn’t think today’s conference would solve anything.

If the Yuugenshu breeding at the Lagoon floating archipelago wasn’t connected to the Governmental Sector, then it’d be fine to make a compromise from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s side. It might become necessary to cooperate with the Governmental Sector to combat the third organization in Sheltis’ information. Then she just had to pray for a safe ending to the conference for the time being. Rather than a development, she hoped that there would be no new dispute.

“────”

The topic of the third organization could not be outed yet.

Because it was the testimony of Sheltis, Ymy wanted to believe in it, but it was still too flimsy from her position as a Priestess. Just the testimony of a single Cadet Guard and the vocal recording from Ilis machine crystal was not enough. For Sophia Tenketsu Palace to release information officially, they would have to perform a proper investigation.

……Ahh, how irritating.

……Even though I want to make the information public and get the Governmental Sector’s assistance in investigating the third organization.

In the middle of her seat in the large hall, Ymy sighed unbeknownst to the others.

Then.

### 021. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 65.

The terminal late at night. Glancing at the few night shift workers in the airship control room, it was the time that even the airships, guidance lighting and electronic bulletin board were put to rest──

“Onee-sama!”

In the terminal that was virtually deserted, a single girl ran over with her golden hair fluttering.

“Ah, I’sa-chan!”

Ishtar’s face lit up after she descended from the airship. She forcibly hugged to her chest the Regular Guard girl who’d run over.

“Waa, there, there. Has I’sa-chan been a good girl? Onee-chan was so, so worried that bad men would hang around you while she wasn’t here!”

“O-Onee-sama……I-I can’t breathe. L-Let go!”

“No─pe. I’ll hug you a whole week’s worth.”

The older sister held fast and would let go of her struggling little sister.

“W-wait a second, please, onee-sama. I have to greet the Priestess-sama first. And……I heard that Maha Golden attacked the Governmental Sector.”

“Ah, that’s right. There might be something like that.”

“Priestess Meimel-sama and boss……I mean, Captain Ran and the Instructor with a few others. They were eager to hear about the circumstances upon onee-sama’s return. They’re already waiting in the meeting room.”

“Ehhhh!? I thought I could finally take a break……”

Ishtar’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“Then I’ll go on ahead. Onee-sama, please come afterward.”

“‘Kay─…………we’ll do this again later, I’sa-chan.”

The older sister weakly waved her hand as she watched her little sister leave. Or so it seemed, but her little sister turned around and bowed spiritedly.

“Now, Ymy-sama, thank you for your hard work!”

“Ah……y-yes! Thank you for your hard work; I’m really thankful.”

“No, no, Ishtar should be the one thanking you.”

“Heh?”

“Ah, just talking to myself─. Rather than that, you should thank them too.”

……Monica-senpai, Kagura-san and Vaiel-san.

In a place a little ways off, the exhausted General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group and the Cadet Guards defending them. The three’s expressions seemed to be saying, “Finally”, as they carried the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group’s luggage without saying much.

“Ymy-sama…………well then……we’ll part ways here……”

“For I as well……guarding the……General Affairs Bureau Chief’s……group until the end is……my job……”

Their parting words were just like an incantation.

“……Everyone’s tired so I don’t think it’s a good time to thank them.”

“Right─. Monica-san’s unit had that as their first mission and it’s the first time the General Affairs Bureau Chief has experienced an attack of that magnitude first-hand, right? Well, everything’s an experience.”

Ishtar’s laughing voice resounded throughout the floor.

……I’m no match for her.

She hadn’t slept a good amount for several days and even had a harsh fight with Maha Golden at the end, but she still had leftover energy.

“Well then, Ishtar will also head to the meeting room. They’re waiting without getting sleep.”

“Th-that’s right. It sounds like there are some great people at the meeting room.”

“I meant I’sa-chan!”

“…………”

“It would be terrible if the cute I’sa-chan were to lack sleep so I’ll end this meeting or whatever in five minutes! Ahh, jeez, to have a little sister that waits for her onee-chan until this late at night, Ishtar is the happiest person in the world. This excess happiness might make me lack sleep tomorrow too───”

She spoke heatedly with a clenched fist.

“……Haa.”

“Mm, what’s the matter, Ymy-sama?”

“No, ……what should I say. I feel like I also understand I’sa-san’s feelings. Even though you looked cool when you protected me from Maha Golden .”

The light in her eyes seemed like it would cut you with just a touch and her voice was low.

It was a little scary but when she stood between them and Maha Golden , she had unapproachable majesty and pride.

“……Even so.”

This change.

It was the same since she’d met her at the terminal several days ago. What was this slack state of hers?

“I feel like I’d like to see the cool Ishtar normally too.”

“Ahaha, I’sa-chan also says that oftenn. She says that no matter how much it’s to make people let down their guard, onee-sama is playing innocent too much. Ymy-sama, you also think that?”

The Cadres Guard smiled embarrassedly with her tongue poking out.

In response to that childish way of feigning ignorance.

“Yes, if you had asked me up until yesterday, I would have thought so but──”

Ymy shook her head with a smile.

“When you’re fighting is the exception and this right now is your true self, right ? It’s not you playing innocent.”

A moment.

“…………”

Her eyes suddenly sharpened.

“I remember our conversation back at the hotel quite well.”

“ I’sa, you meaaan? Yes, she’s Ishtar’s only family in any case. “

“ I’sa-chan used to have a weak constitution long ago and would immediately get a fever, you know? On top of that, she was very spoiled and would cry while saying, ‘ It’s lonely when onee-chan isn’t here! ‘ when Ishtar went out to get her medicine. “

She took one step towards Ishtar who was staying silent.

The tall woman stared down at her and she stared up at her expression.

“It might have been really hard to look after the previously sickly I’sa-chan that well. ……That’s what I thought. It’s not something that can be done easily with a simple reason like her being your precious little sister. Your happy face as you talk about I’sa-san can’t be you playing innocent.”

In place of a mother, a heartwarming smile was needed to comfort her little sister who was sickly as a child.

In place of a father, dignified strength to protect her frail sister was required.

Both sides could be said to be her. However, if it came down to a question of which one was her true self──

“There are probably a lot of people that are mistaken.”

“ ……That’s why I don’t like you; just when you’re playing innocent, you suddenly reveal your true colors. “

Those words that Sheltis said.

A large amount of the Guards thought the same.

“ The Guards probably have great respect for the position of Cadres Guard. They can naturally imagine that you’d ‘ be like this ‘. That might be why they feel a sense that your usual carefree attitude is out of place. They think that it doesn’t suit the image of a Cadres Guard, it’s to have the enemies let down their guard. ”

“………………”

“But that’s wrong. When you’re fighting is the exception and I think that the motherly and kind Ishtar-san when with I’sa-san is closer to your true self.”

……I somehow have a feeling that I understand.

She was good at looking after kids and also at making meals and snacks.

Even if the given reason was to look after I’sa-chan, the truth is……isn’t the truth just that she likes those things?

“I just want you to answer me one thing. This is……a really personal question but, Ishtar-san, you didn’t really want to become a Guard, did you? For example, maybe you would have rather been a kindergarten teacher, a housekeeper, cake store owner or something similar?”

But she had chosen the path of a spear user.

Because there had been something more important than the road she wanted to take.

“I want to confirm that more than anything else.”

“…………”

She said nothing, her lips remaining a line.

And──

“Who knoows? Ishtar’s an idiot so she’s already forgotten things from so long agoo.”

She slowly turned her back towards her with a half-spin.

“Ah, w-wait! Wait──”

“See ya, Priestess-sama! Here’s one more thing from me. I understood over the four day period we were together but he really does suit Ymy-sama like I thought.”

“……Who’s he?”

Who is that?

“That’s right, I wonder how many years it’s been. I’ve heard Ymy-sama’s name before, you know?”

The Cadres Guard looked over with a sharp gaze and the corners of her mouth tilted up.

“‘ She’s an apprentice Priestess right now, but Ymy will definitely become a Priestess. That’s why── ’“

“Y-yeah. That’s why……?”

“‘ It’d be the biggest issue for the tower if there were a mischievous, scatterbrained Priestess, so I have to be a Sennenshi to look after her. ’“

“…………Sc-scatterbrained!?”

“E-he-he. It’s a secret as to who said it〰. Well then, Ymy-sama, see ya─”

The Cadres Guard started to leave. She watched her go without being able to say anything.

It was then that the airship door behind her opened.

“Ah─……jeez! Monica and Kagura and Vaiel! How unfair of them to leave their luggage behind because they’re tired! Does this mean I have to carry this all myself!?”

“ It’s your last job. “

Four peoples’ worth including his own and his three comrade’s. The boy she knew ran down the steps with nothing but travel bags loaded on his shoulders.

“Oh, Ymy?”

She looked at him blankly and blinked.

“Just standing there like that, did you forget something?”

“…………”

“……Ymy?”

“I found him.”

In front of her childhood friend who was looking at her face, she clenched her fist.

Then.

“Sheltissss!”

Ymy shouted with her face bright red.

“You’re the one who said it! J-just……who’s a scatterbrain────!?”

### 022. Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 65, the airport within the tower.

It was the terminal for the airship controlled by the Mechanical Bureau and the floor which encompassed the greatest amount of space.

There were ten-odd platforms solely for when the tower’s Guards or Bureau Chief-rank staff went on a mission and the runway extended far into the distance.

With one step onto the floor───

“Come to think of it, Captain Leon was with us that time.”

Monica who was walking beside him suddenly stopped and turned to him.

“……The Lagoon floating archipelago case?”

“Last night, I was thinking that this was our first mission and couldn’t sleep……so I just stared up at the ceiling the entire time and happened to remember it……”

Monica stared fixedly at the black floor underneath her.

The black tiles covering the floor were cushioning for withstanding the airship’s arrival and departure. She stared without blinking at those tiles which would reflect one’s face should they look hard enough.

“Monica, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, it’s nothing! I was just being a little sentimental!”

Monica hurriedly averted her face away.

“……Being unable to sleep last night……was also partially because of Ymy-sama.”

With a frail smile, the former apprentice Priestess shook her head.

Monica had been Ymy’s senpai three years ago. That Ymy had become one of only five Priestesses in the world.

“Is it hard to talk to her?”

“……It’s pathetic but I don’t know how I should talk to her.”

Monica chewed her lip with a pained expression. Because of their reversed positions, Ymy and Monica were troubled as to how to connect with each other.

“I think she wants to talk with you like before.”

“……Yeah.”

No, Monica definitely knows that already.

She knows but the other party is a Priestess, a protector of the world. Treating Ymy as a kouhai probably makes her feel something akin to guilt.

“ It’s impossible to do it immediately, but wouldn’t it be best if the approach came from this side? “

“……How should I call out to her?”

“Isn’t it fine if you say, I’m the unit’s captain, Monica?”

Sheltis carried on Ilis machine crystal ’ advice without changing anything.

“I’ve been granted the pleasure of traveling together with you and hope we get along ─── that much is fine. It should be hard for her to call out to you as well considering her position.”

“……I see, that’s right.”

“ Don’t forget to smile as you do it〰, a smile is important. “

“……Yeah.”

Nodding, Monica finally started moving.

And.

“You’ve finally come; you’re seven minutes late.”

“You’re slow.”

The small-statured girl wore a machine helmet low over her eyes and standing beside her was a blond young man of large build with short hair. Each of the two clothed in their white formal wear turned to face the arrivals.

“Good morning, Kagura, and Vaiel was also on time?”

“That’s because she came and woke me up one hour before.”

The blond young man stifled a sleepy yawn ─── Vaiel turned a displeased look at the girl beside him.

“If I hadn’t, you would be late. Well, let’s put that aside.”

Replying in an aloof manner, Kagura exchanged looks with Monica.

“Monica, look over there. It’s the important ‘ customer ‘ of ours.”

“Customer?”

“Come now, the four on the other end.”

An airship lay where Kagura indicated.

Directly beneath its silvery wings, a group of four men and women could be seen receiving an explanation from a pilot.

One was an elderly man accompanied by a lean woman with a calm air about her who stood to his side. The other two were one step away, frequently taking memos with nervous expressions.

“The General Affairs Bureau chief and his head secretary, and those two are clerk and private secretary. Monica, you went to greet them the night before last, right?”

“Yeah, since only meeting them on the day of would be too sudden.”

Monica noted each of them one by one with her gaze.

“The furthest one, the person who’s putting on years is the General Affairs Bureau chief. The woman in a suit to his side is his head secretary and it looks like the negotiations with the Governmental Sector will be centered around her. The two a little bit further away are clerks; they said it was their first time going to the Governmental sector so they’re nervous.”

“I see, so then they also know about us?”

“Yeah. I also did a basic introduction of our unit. They’re gentle-mannered people so they politely listened to what I had to say.”

Following Monica’s line of sight, Sheltis also stared sidelong at the four further in.

……Those people.

They were the four people directly in charge of the negotiations with the Governmental Sector and the targets for escort of their unit.

“Well then, let’s get moving.”

“Yes, that’s right, get the introductions over with already. The General Affairs Bureau chief is also waiting.”

The one who assented to Monica wasn’t one of the four within the unit───

“Ohhh, it’s I’sa?”

Sheltis tilted his head at the unexpected appearance of the girl.

“What’s up, have some business here at the airport?”

“There’s nothing going on; isn’t it expected that as her little sister, I would be here to see onee-sama off on her expedition?”

She combed her lustrously shining hair with her hand. She had a small build but with mature grey eyes, and the badge representative of a Regular Guard was attached to the shoulder of her completely wrinkle-free formal wear.

Regular Guard I’sa Is Ismael.

She was the Regular Guard who had been the examiner for this time’s mission and is the little sister of the Cadres Guard, Ishtar, who would be traveling with them.

“That onee-sama of yours……is Ishtar-san still not here?”

“It looks like she’ll be coming with the Priestess-sama. Consider it an honor, to have a mission together with onee-sama and the Priestess-sama. It’s enough that I also want to go along.”

In response to Kagura who was looking around, I’sa answered with folded arms.

“……Onee-sama, huh.”

“What? Did you say something, dual sword user?”

“Ah, n-nothing! Just talking to myself.”

Turning away his face, he somehow averted I’sa’s question.

……Ishtar.

……Our last match was how many years ago.

It’s been quite some time and I’ve grown a fair bit……so I’d like to think my identity won’t be discovered at a glance. As long as she doesn’t have any proof, it should be the same as with Kagura and remain at the ‘ suspicious ‘ level.

……But if I’m discovered and my real identity is outed right there.

……This time, I won’t be able to stay at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

A person who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and was supposed to be dead was alive. Even though that was a serious affair in itself, if it was known that the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ’s mateki lay within him, it would cause a panic throughout the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“──────”

He stole a glance at the girl with her sakura-colored hair tied in a bundle.

……Monica would also find out.

Having admired him three years ago, she had gone so far as to throw away her position as an apprentice Priestess and become a Guard. If she came to know everything……Monica would probably be angry. Or else.

“Hey, dual blade user, are you listening?”

His flank was being poked by I’sa.

“Eh? Ahh, yeah. The introductions, right?”

“If you know, then get on it with it. The Cadet Guards are the side being allowed to escort so approaching the escort target from your side is the logical move.”

I’sa sighed, looking worn out.

“Well, that’s fine. That being the case, I’ll introduce you. Come along.”

“Eh?”

Saying so, she headed forward as the vanguard and walked towards the four at the other side.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Matching up with when the old man turned to her, I’sa clutched both ends of her skirt and curtsied.

“A pleasure, General Affairs Bureau chief, Maxwell. I was really in your care the other day.”

“Ohh, it really is I’sa-kun. I kept relying on you throughout the escort last week. Your partner as well, even though he was convalescing, I had him push himself.”

“Absolutely nothing of the sort; it is our duty.”

Alongside the old man who was smiling, I’sa was also nodding with an adorable smile.

Now then ─── I’sa turned back towards them with a small mutter.

“Let me introduce you: this is the captain of the unit entrusted with the escort, Monica, and three of its members. From the right, it’s Vaiel, Kagura and one other.”

“Just my introduction, so mean!? No……I’d like to say something.”

Then.

Just as he was about to object, Monica and Kagura each placed a hand on his shoulders.

Both of them nodded their heads……eh, does that mean to give up?

“Yes, yes, I’ve had the pleasure of a previous meeting with Monica-kun. To be this considerate even down to the finer details of escorting, it gives one relief.”

“They are my subordinates, so there are no oversights in their training.”

The Bureau chief nodded in satisfaction and I’sa had a business smile on.

“Hooh, truly, the subordinates commanded by I’sa-kun are of a different caliber.”

“Of course; we can’t be causing trouble for the General Affairs Bureau chief.”

Hah hah ha, laughed the two.

“……Since when did I become her subordinate?”

“Leave it. There’s no medicine for idiocy.”

In accordance with Monica’s sigh, Vaiel spat out with his usual abusive language, but that didn’t seem to reach the two who were having a pleasant chat either.

“Now then, it’s exactly nine thirty. The Priestess-sama should also be here soon.”

Kagura confirmed the time displayed on her Machina machine pearl . Receiving that, Ilis machine crystal who had been silent until now blinked with vigor and,

“ That’s right, it should be soon…………ah, she’s come! Ymy has come! “

A faint tension ran throughout all those there.

The General Affairs Bureau chief and the four clerks straightened up simultaneously. Monica turned around with a complex expression and Vaiel, being poked by Kagura, also fixed his posture.

“Good morning, Ymy-sama, we have been awaiting your arrival.”

Representing they who were there, I’sa grasped the ends of her skirt and curtsied.

“I shall carry your luggage.”

“Ah……y-you don’t need to. It’s fine!……umm, yeah, I’ll deal with it somehow!”

Pressing down on her off-gold hair that had become disheveled from running with one hand, the girl held her bag with the other.

Her vestments had a base of white with azure accents. It was specially prepared for just one person within the tower ─── for those living on the Orbie Clar floating continent , just that would be enough to identify who she was.

“Umm……good morning, everyone, I’ll be counting on you for this journey!”

Ymy lowered her head in a bow.

She looked wordlessly at the people around her.

He knew that smile that she turned to him for an instant. It wasn’t a smile as a Priestess but one made as his childhood friend.

───Good morning───

Sheltis also nodded wordlessly at that and next, he pushed on the unit captain that seemed lost even now with a small voice.

“Come now, Monica.”

“Y……yeah, I know……”

Monica cleared her throat once and took a step out front.

Even while showing signs of embarrassment, she still did it with a dignified and composed smile that that suited her.

“Good morning, Ymy-sama. I’m the captain of the unit that has the pleasure of travelling together with you for this mission, Monica, and here are three members of the unit. I hope we get along.”

“Ah……y-yes!”

Ymy’s expression brightened up.

Senpai finally talked to me ── it was a smile that conveyed her happiness from the bottom of her heart.

“By the way, Ymy-sama,”

Amidst that, I’sa asked while looking about.

“My sister…………I mean, where is the Cadres Guard?”

“U-um. We were supposed to come together, but the one who came was a subordinate of Ishtar-san. I was informed that she’d come to the airport ahead of me.”

It seemed that Ymy also didn’t know.

“Oi, oi, oi, the essential Regular Guard-sama is late?”

“If she said she was going on ahead, then that shouldn’t be the case.”

“Then what’s up?”

“Please don’t ask me. We can also rule out her being lost in the airport.”

Directly to the side of Vaiel who was sighing, Kagura snapped her fingers.

“It can’t be helped. Machina Machine pearl ── begin search.”

In an instant, the Machina machine pearl that had been floating in front of her split into over a hundred parts.

The small Machina machine pearl disassembled into puzzle piece-like shapes in midair. Each of those pieces was equipped with a high-power camera.

“First of all, let’s search within the airport.”

Answering Kagura’s instructions, the pieces of the Machine machine pearl flew off in all directions. Meanwhile, I’sa also took a good look at the surroundings and tilted her head.

“……That’s strange, I wonder where onee-sama went.”

“You mean she’s not skipping out?”

“Be careful in opening your mouth, Cadet Guard; this is onee-sama we’re talking about so I’m sure she has a noble reason for──”

Just before Vaiel and I’sa were about to have a stare-down.

“Ah, there’s a response that resembles her. A humanoid heat signature.”

Kagura said while staring at the machine helmet’s screen.

“From this reaction, she’s to our…………oh, that’s strange.”

Doubtful, her lips turned into the へ character.

“The position is directly above?”

“Ah.”

With that one sentence, Sheltis put his hands together in realization.

If Ishtar’s unexpected actions haven’t changed from before, then if I imagine what’s coming based on the words “directly above”, she is……no way.

“Say. I think it’d be best if everybody moved away from this spot, it might be dangerous.”

“Mm? What’s that, what’s this about directly above───”

At around the same time Vaiel looked up with a sour face, the happy cheer of a female voice came from directly above.

.

“Iiiiiyaahoooooooo!”

.

Whoooooosh ── the sound of something descending at high speeds and cutting through the air.

Then.

“Aahn? What’s thi…………vuee!?”

Smush. With aim that was true, the heel of the woman that came from the ceiling crushed Vaiel underneath itself.

“……Hey, Monica, Vaiel can’t move while he’s being crushed.”

“……Don’t look at me for that.”

While all those there including Ymy, and of course, Sheltis and Monica, were frozen.

“Jya─n, sorry to keep you waaaiting!”

The woman with a spear that was taller than her strapped to her back winked adorably at the same time as a bow.

Pure white pants and tight formal wear. She was a tall woman with black belts made with hide wrapped around her shoulder, elbow, knee and thigh on top of her formal wear.

Contrary to a mature face, her countenance was so cheery it was almost young. Her long hair was a blindingly brilliant golden color like I’sa’s and the blueness of her eyes was fairly strong.

“Cadres Guard Ishtar, by the Queen’s imperial command, has hastened to joooin! Yippee!”

“…………Y……you are……my escort-san?”

“That’s riight. It’s nice to meet you, Priestess-sama, and I’m looking forward to working with you from now o─n! Hrm? Everyone’s really quiet, did something happeeen?”

She looked around at her surroundings that had fallen silent and tilted her head.

“Daamn yooouuu, what are you doing outta nowhere, you damn woman!”

“Wawahh, what happened!?”

Being glared at by Vaiel who stood up with a look of rage, she hurriedly jumped off him.

“Damn woman just suddenly steps on my head outta nowhere.”

“Ahaha, did it feel good?……wait, don’t just wordlessly ball your fist! It was just a joke. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Just barely holding down his fist that was about to fly, Vaiel turned to the younger sister’s direction with a look of anger.

“……Oi, little sister, what’s with your older sister. The inside of her head’s already a field of flowers.”

“Ahh, jeez! Onee-sama, why are you lowering your dignity on your own like this!?”

I’sa yelled while clutching her head.

“Onee-sama!”

“Oh my, I’sa-chan. Go─od, go─od, you’re so great for managing to come to the airport by yourself without getting lost. Your onee-chan is touched.”

She petted the head of her sister who was a head shorter than her.

“Mumuu, you’ve let your bangs grow out quite a bit, I’sa-chan. You haven’t cut it lately? Ah, a split end. That’s no good; you’re a girl so you have to take proper care of yourself.”

“O……onee-sama, look around you, around! That’s embarrassing!”

“Is that so? I don’t mi─nd. I’sa-chan’s hair is soft like a cat’s─”

“Please mind it! D-disregarding me……this will affect onee-sama’s reputation!”

In response to the older sister who suddenly started combing her little sister’s hair, the I'sa little sister ’s face turned red and she raised her voice.

“P-putting that aside! Onee-sama is the Cadres Guard and you’re escorting a Priestess-sama this time, so conduct yourself as a model for these Cadet Guards!”

“Ahaha, I was scolded by I’sa-chan.”

“Onee-sama!”

“Yes, yes, it’s fine, I’sa-chan. Your onee-chan will do her best.”

“Th……that’s right. Onee-sama is my ambition after all! You’re strong to the point that nobody can beat you when you’re serious so please act with that in mind!”

I’sa shouted with blood rushing to her cheeks.

That was……her gaze while staring at her sister that was also her superior was……an unbelievably adorable and modest change from her usual domineering attitude.

“──Now then, we’ve caused a commotion, everyone.”

I’sa cleared her throat.

“As you can see, onee-sama has a slight side to her but I assure you that her ability as an escort is the best in the tower. Aside from that……please don’t mind it.”

“Ahaha, I’sa-chan introduced me in my place. Thanks, I’sa-chan, onee-chan’s bad at things like that.”

In the midst of the confusion, she once again reached her hand out to stroke her little sister’s head──

“……Onee-sama.”

“……Go─t it.”

With a glare from I’sa, that hand froze its motion.

Even though looking at their height and appearance, Ishtar was by far the more mature, the mood was such that just looking at their words and actions would make one question who was the older sister.

“……Then because I was glared at by my cute little sister, we’ll have a serious conversation about wo─rk.”

Ishtar turned back to them with her shoulders sagging in disappointment.

“This time’s escort will have everyone going to the Governmental Sector over a time period of six days starting today. Until we return safely to Sophia Tenketsu Palace ─── is fine, right?”

“……Umu. We’re counting on you.”

The General Affairs Bureau Chief nodded with a subdued voice that sounded undecided.

“O─kay. But Ishtar is to escort the Priestess-sama here, so the Bureau Chief’s group’s escort will be these Cadet Guards. Right? Monica-san?”

“Eh? Ah……y-yes.”

Her eyes opened in surprise, Monica quickly assented. It wasn’t because the conversation had suddenly turned to her but most likely because she knew her name.

“You know my name?”

“Ehehe, Ishtar’s been a Guard for a lo─ng time. You’re the person who quit being an apprentice Priestess and became a Cadet Guard, right? Well? Am I amazing?”

“I-I’m honored……I have also always heard of the renowned Cadres Guard Ishtar. I have the pleasure of going on a real mission with you, so I ask for your instruction in anything that happens.”

“Yeah, yeah, Ishtar also likes people with proper manners. Let’s get along〜”

Monica winked with a sidelong glance ── that was the signal for everyone to begin their individual introductions.

“I am Kagura; I look forward to working with you.”

“……Vaiel.”

“Arara, looks like quite the displeased person─. Did something haaappen?”

Ishtar peeked at Vaiel who was keeping a scowl on his face.

“Hey, hey, did something haaappen?”

“You fell outta the sky and kicked in my head!”

“Ah─……ahaha, so─rry. But see, the first part is always crucial no matter what, so I was wondering how to get everybody’s attention.”

“Getting everyone’s attention in a bad way.”

“And so when I was wondering about who to fall on, you looked the most sturdy.”

“You’re saying you chose me as the target to fall on to begin with! This damn woman, I’ll smash your front teeth next time ─── h-hey you, whose side are you……mugyu.”

His mouth that was about to say something was covered up by Monica and Kagura, and sadly, Vaiel fell silent.

“……My apologies, Cadres Guard Ishtar. My unit member was rude.”

“Nah, it’s fi─ne, it’s fi─ne. I don’t usually get those kinds of words directed at me so it’s kinda fresh and fun.”

Rather, the Cadres Guard’s eyes were shining with enjoyment.

“Hey, I’sa-chan, is that ‘ interesting guy ‘ you mentioned before this person?”

“Th-that’s wrong! The one I talked about was……that one……”

The one I’sa peeked over at and looked at with upturned eyes and a red face was.

…………

…………Me?

They noticed.

Following I’sa line of sight, Ymy and Monica and everybody present turned in his direction with a meaningful look in their eyes. Seeing that, Ishtar also turned this way.

“Ah, the one I’sa-chan was talking about is over here? Let’s see──”

Without the rising and falling that signified breathing nor a blink, only those two eyes stared in his direction as if eating into him.

“…………”

“Umm, onee-sama?”

She remained silent even though I’sa spoke with doubt.

Then.

“………… I get it .“

A low, suppressed laugh spilled out from those lips.

That was truly a very slight murmur ─── at the same time, with a faint smile that only Sheltis who was directly in front of Ishtar could barely make out.

“Onee-sa──”

“Are, areree?”

With a complete change, Ishtar’s smile became large enough that anybody could see it.

.

“ I’ve seen you somewhere before, haven’t I? “

.

“Eh?”

I’sa and Monica looked over at the same time.

“Hey, hey, have you and I met somewhere?”

“…………”

“I think we’ve met somewhere before, but Ishtar’s an idiot so she can’t remember. How about you? Do you know me?”

Gradually, Ishtar closed in with a very drawn out pace. Opposite those joyous words, his two eyes were widened an uncanny amount.

……Ishtar.

……I can’t tell, which one is it?

With her drawing closer, Sheltis reflexively gulped.

……Are you saying that whilst having completely remembered me?

……Or are you provoking me like this because you lack assurance and are seeking some response?

“Hey, I won’t know if you stay silent, you know? Hey? Or is it that there’s some reason that you have to stay quiet? ”

“……No.”

The time spent unnaturally silent ── Sheltis shook his head with timing just barely safe.

“I believe this is our first meeting. I only entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace two months ago.”

……It’s fine; she shouldn’t be able to confirm it based only on outer appearance.

Ishtar should remember me when I was thirteen or fourteen years old and I’m seventeen now. My height has also grown to match hers, and my voice and looks have also changed a little. Even if she relies on her memories, it should stay at the same “Doesn’t he resemble a dual swords user I saw a long time ago?” level as Monica.

“You just entered the tower?”

“Yes.”

“Is that so, then it might be Ishtar’s misunderstanding.”

“……Eh?”

She’s just giving up that easily? Without even pursuing his thoughtless question, the Cadres Guard turned her back on him as if to say she’d already lost interest.

“Okay, o─kay, I’ve kept you waiting, Ymy-sama! It’s time so let’s get going to the Governmental Sector─. Do you get airsiiick?”

“Y-yes……probably.”

“That’s greaaat. Then let’s go. Ah, I’ll carry your bag for you─. Special service!”

Snatching Ymy’s heavy-looking bag that she was holding, she held it lightly with only her left hand. With the metallic spear wrapped in cloth held in her right hand, her face was totally calm.

“Well then, well then, I’sa-chan, I’ll entrust you with taking caring of things while I’m gone for a bit─. Onee-chan’s worried that you’ll be lonely alone and won’t be able to sleep though.”

“Pl-please don’t treat me like a child! Wh……who can’t sleep alone at night?”

“Nah, it’s onee-chan who can’t.”

“Onee-sama!?”

“Ahaha, see ya─”

Just like that, she pushed Ymy from behind and the two walked towards the airship.

“Co─me ooon. The General Affairs Bureau Chief-san’s group and their escorts should also come.”

“……How annoying.”

While putting his dissatisfaction into words, Vaiel went first, then next, Kagura and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group followed suit and started walking.

“ Sheltis, us too. “

“……Yeah.”

Staring at each of the backs heading towards the airship, Sheltis once again walked.

### 023. Part 3

Room number 700, [Asterhythm].

The instant she opened the room door that was decorated with the hotel’s name, a gentle breeze with the sweet and sour scent of citrus fruits wafted over her hair.

“……It’s strange.”

Standing in the center of the living room large enough to play tag in, Ymy once again looked over the room she had been gestured to.

……Even though she was in the room.

……There was a gentle breeze blowing and she could hear the chirps of the island. It was just like──

“Ama─zing! It’s like being in the middle of a huge plain!”

Ishtar who tossed aside the luggage she was holding had her eyes sparkling.

“Say, say, what’s going on, Yuragi-chan!?”

“The gentle breeze is being mimicked through cutting-edge air conditioning settings. The sound of the island is genuine and comes from a parabolic reflector device set up on the Lagoon floating archipelago . Also, the ceiling can be made to open and close, becoming a glass dome when open. I believe it is the best room to appreciate a full view of the starry sky.”

The secretary pointed at the ceiling with a shining chandelier.

“Oh─! That’s why it’s on the top floor of the airport?”

“Yes. That’s the selling point of this hotel. Does it meet your fancy as well, Ymy-sama?”

“……It’s amazing.”

The Priestesses’ private rooms at Sophia Tenketsu Palace were also made with comfort in mind but she felt that this room was also wonderful from the bottom of her heart.

……When it becomes night, the sky becomes really beautiful.

“Oh my, oh my, Ymy-sama? Your face is so─mehow grinning broadly─?”

“Heh?……Th-that’s not true!”

“Ahaha, it was a joke, a joke. Now then, Yuragi-chan, it’s about time for a serious chat, isn’t it?”

Holding the spear wrapped in cloth under her arm, Ishtar walked to the wall.

“……A serious chat?”

“That’s right. I should tell you soon. First of all, Ymy-sama, concerning my introduction earlier.”

Yuragi pulled out a white card from the breast pocket of her suit. It was a business card that used ink which would only react to reveal color under special lighting.

“Governmental Sector, first sector, administration department, general affairs division as well as Sophia Tenketsu Palace [Independent] special duties agency, Yuragi A Sohma. For six days starting today, I will be providing support on Ymy-sama’s special mission.”

“…………”

“Is there something?”

“N-no!……It’s the first time I’ve spoken with someone from the special duties agency so I was a little surprised.”

Ymy waved her hands in a panic at Yuragi’s extremely deep bow.

The special duties agency was not affiliated with any bureau of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . Starting with the Governmental Sector, she’d heard that they gathered information in various places. Meimel had told her that her senior Priestesses knew but it was her first time meeting them.

“If I were to say, it’s far more nerve-wracking for a person to talk to the Priestess-sama like this.”

“……Is that so?”

“Yes, but I’m glad. If I compare Ymy-sama with the other Priestesses, it somehow……feels like you’re not above us but a lot closer.”

Yuragi smiled with her hand to her lips.

“Well then, let’s move on to the main topic──”

“Ah……wa-wait! Umm……well……having that conversation here”

Sitting down on the living room sofa, Ymy looked around her.

This was already the Lagoon floating archipelago that the Governmental Sector monitored. What’s more, this hotel was directly linked to the Governmental Sector. It was the same for Yuragi herself; wouldn’t having a conversation related to Sophia Tenketsu Palace here be bad?

“Umm, well, see……someone could be listening in or something.”

“I checked this morning for the presence of listening devices in this room. Additionally, I brought along jamming equipment, so please be at ease. ……Well, that took a while so I ended up being late in greeting you today.”

Yuragi stood in the center of the living room with her hands spread.

“From today onwards for six days, think of this room as the our Tenketsu Palace side's command center. Bear in mind that the business meetings for the assembly that starts tomorrow as well as conversations about secrets regarding the tower should not be conducted outside of this room. Of course, secrets about the Governmental Sector as well.”

“……Yes.”

Faced with that sharp gaze behind those glasses, she nodded greatly.

“Thank you very much. So I say but I believe there won’t be many opportunities to have those discussions so Ymy-sama shouldn’t worry about it either.”

Yuragi who’d sat in a chair softened her tone with a smile.

“……Is that so?”

“There are all kinds of expectations mixed into this assembly but the bargains on that end are for the General Affairs Bureau Chief to handle. Ymy-sama’s job is not negotiations but to flaunt your status as a guardian of the Orbie Clar floating continent . That will become a heavy pressure on the Governmental Sector more than anything else.”

“Fl-flaunt……?”

She held back the impulse to draw away.

“Ymy-sama〜?”

The feeling of her cheek being poked with a finger. Ishtar who was supposed to have moved to the wall had sat beside her at some point in time.

“Ymy-sama, you’re bad at being ‘Priestess-like’, aren’t you〜?”

“……Eh……ah, umm, a little.”

While casting her gaze down at the carpet underfoot, she replied normally. A novice Priestess like her conducted training from morning to night every day. The dazzling image she was given was out of the question.

“First of all, for the good will meeting tonight, this hotel’s hall has been reserved for a dinner party. You will also meet the Governmental Sector’s important officers there for the first time.”

“……Being absent from my stomach hurting because of nervousness……isn’t allowed, is it?”

“It’s not.”

She was refused with a smile.

“Say─ say─, Yuragi-chan? That good will meeting is still hours away, isn’t it. What will Ymy-sama do until then? What are the plans─?”

“Touring.”

The secretary pulled out an electronic notebook in response to Ishtar’s interjection.

“I shall guide you through the central part of the island. It is the best way to learn about the Governmental Sector’s rule.”

“……An inspection?”

“There is also that meaning to it, but it’s fine if you just go with the intention to sightsee. I will guide you through a place with many carts and food stalls, so I believe it will be enjoyable.”

“Ah……I see! Meimel said to go because it would be fun.”

“Meimel-sama has come to the Governmental Sector secretly. During that time as well, she was mostly under my care.”

Meimel did?……I didn’t know.

I’d heard that this was the first time a Priestess was publicly visiting the Governmental Sector though.

“Then shall we head out?”

“Ah, please wait a little. Ymy-sama?”

While looking at the electronic notebook, Yuragi pointed at her travel bag.

“Before that, may I have you change your clothes?”

.

### 024. Part 3

Kachii, kachiri……

The seconds hand on the clock on the digital screen slowly ticked down the time.

……It’s been three hours since the meeting started.

……It might be a good time to think of it as the first half of the battle for the first day being over.

The waiting room returned to dead silence. Remembering how tired she was from looking at closely packed notebook memos, Yuragi exhaled.

……I was resolved but having the time pass this slowly is painful.

……How many weeks has it been since I properly slept?

My lack of sleep is horrible to point of whiting out the inside of my mind.

Her intelligence activities as a member of the central division ── from early in the morning to late at night, she would be working as an executive secretary so to leak information to Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there was no other way than to diminish her own sleeping hours.

Above all, a Priestess came this time so for several days she was being worked to death with scheduling and business meetings.

“───”

She took out a few caffeine pills hidden in her pocket and carelessly threw them into her mouth before gnashing them.

Because she’d taken such a large quantity over a long period of time, their effects had diminished but this was also a kind of mental stabilizer medicine.

……But it’s unexpected.

……I thought that she would start talking since we’re free right now.

The companion sitting across the table from her. She was sitting there looking down at the ground without moving.

The Elite Guard, Ishtar.

She was the Priestess’ escort and she had been in this character that Yuragi didn’t know the entire time.

In contrast to her mature appearance was her young speech pattern. If it was just that, she could be interpreted as a childish adult but her fighting skills were said to be the same as a Sennenshi so it was troubling to judge.

“Umm, Ishtar-san?”

“…………”

“……Ishtar-san?”

“Fua? Ahh, yes, yes. Sorry, I was doing a little thinking.”

She scratched her face looking embarrassed.

“Is it about the assembly?”

“Ehehe. Well, putting that aside─, this is perfect. Ishtar also had something to ask.”

“Ask away.”

“Umm, I have two things to ask.”

On the hand that she held up, her index and middle fingers were extended.

.

“One. Does a fighter with strength rivaling the Sennenshi exist in the Governmental Sector?”

“Two. About the Lagoon floating archipelago case that’s including amongst the meeting’s topics, if someone were to forcefully obtain evidence regarding it, where would they need to infiltrate in the Governmental Sector?”

.

“…………”

She unconsciously gulped.

“Say, say, how about iiit?”

“……Before that, I’d like to ask one more thing.”

She stared upfront at the Elite Guard that was using a light tone to the end.

“Putting aside the first one, what do you mean with the second one?”

“It’s as it sounds, you knooow? There’s no deep meaning.”

Ishtar had a smile on just like a child’s.

“So how about it?”

“……Unfortunately, one doesn’t exist. Even if I did know, it’s not something I could answer as a member of the Governmental Sector’s agency .”

She somewhat lowered her face and shook her head.

──She couldn’t answer as a secretary of the Governmental Sector.

──But as a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s intelligence, there was an answer she could provide.

She didn’t know whether there was some kind of surveillance camera somewhere in this room. As an answer in this location, that was the limit to what she could provide. Now was the moment of whether this hidden meaning had been conveyed or not.

“…………”

Time passed and a few breaths weren’t taken either in this silence. Then.

“……That’s right. Then tell me if you change your mind.”

“I can’t have that either.”

Kusuu. For an instant, the Elite Guard cracked a wide smile and Yuragi also returned a business smile.

With that, they both sat wordlessly on their separated seats.

They didn’t look at each other and just left their bodies to the passage of time.

──The continuation would be after the meeting.

Ishtar who had caught onto Yuragi’s signal made a suggestion and she had assented to it.

“Now then……”

She opened her notebook to confirm the schedule. However, Yuragi’s thoughts started to turn to a completely different direction, the ‘confidential talk’ that Ishtar wanted to have.

──How serious was Ishtar-sama with the question just now?

She felt cold sweat on her cheek.

……Was she seriously thinking about doing it?

A solo invasion into the center of the Governmental Sector, even more, into ‘that place’ where the most important secrets sleep.

Also breaking through the defense system that awaits there.

……It can’t be that what she was thinking just now was that.

……Was she only thinking of that this whole time today?

“Now then, how will this turn out.”

She had certainly heard Ishtar whisper that while sitting in the chair.

.

### 025. Part 3

Governmental Sector Central Area, Third Sector aircraft hanger.

“Say, Maha-san, do you believe in astrology?”

The jet black night road looked like paint was smeared over it.

A clear tenor male voice unsuited to the night echoed through the giant container filled with mountains of documents.

“……”

“Fumu, are you not interested? Then please listen so that you become interested.”

A tall, lean shadow stood up within the darkness.

A jet black suit with golden buttons, jet black shoes and a jet black rimmed hat. That was an outfit meant to blend into black.

Within the silence of night, only his voice penetrated endlessly.

“The people of old viewed the stars as mysterious. The custom of “star gazing” in the middle of the night was born and from there, various constellations and asterisms were drawn. Furthermore, meaning was added to those actions and it became ritualistic in “star chants”, and this was the origin of astrology.”

Pale blonde hair waving in the night wind and a shapely nose and mouth.

The brimmed hat worn low over her eyes hid them from view but her silhouette was more than enough to convey her beauty.

“Many people are charmed by this. Sometimes it might be prominent with women. But I think I’d like to deny any ties to this astrology. ……I can’t permit it.”

With a hand upon the hat’s brim, that person turned towards the sky and spread both hands.

“Why must people look about this beautiful sky with such precepts? Even though it would be fine if they just innocently appreciate that moment and brilliance without corrupting it with the human construct of fortune telling. ……Because the stars are this beautiful just by being there.”

Thinking about it with a heart as pure as a child’s……

Even though only looking, praising, stringing together words and singing would be good enough.

“We, the adults, are forgetting something important. Don’t you think so?”

“……Igun-I.”

For the first time, the other man that had been standing there spoke.

A man of large build wrapped in a faded ocher robe.

The hooded robe covered all the way from his head to his feet and above that in various places ── the parts associated with the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist and knees were bound with a ring apparatus.

“Yes, what is it, Maha-san?”

“……It’s time.”

Not particularly addressing the pitch black young man’s question, Maha simply conveyed that one sentence.

“The ritual’s……preparations will take some time.”

“Ahh, that’s right. It has to be prepared now.”

Without a hint of being upset, Igun-I ruffled his suit.

“……Really.”

“Does it really exist? Yes, the shinryoku crystal, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘, which records all events in this world. It is incomplete in the end but it is troublesome to allow the Governmental Sector to continue using it. If a qualified individual is found, my and even Maha-san’s private life will be completely bared, you know?”

Heh. He instead smiled deeper with happiness.

“And see, the problem right now is the conference that’s being held. Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector are not idiots so they should notice that something’s out of place pretty soon. If they use the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ to investigate the truth, a great deal about us will come to light too……it’s too early, it is not yet that time.”

“…………”

“Eh? Of course, as always. Maha-san will break through the front. Please draw out the Holy Hall’s guardians. I will secretly change the ‘Crimson Eye’s‘ system using that opening. It’ll be more convenient later if we change it to benefit us instead of destroying it.”

Igun-I walked straight north along the public road.

Maha who was trailing behind by a few steps leisurely walked up beside him.

“…………”

“You wish to know if it’s possible to change it? Ahh, I told you it was inviolable before but that’s just what the Governmental Sector’s researchers think. They have no suitable individuals so they have no way of confirming it. Of course, it’s impossible to change it but it is possible to change the circumstances under which events are recorded. ……In other words, we’ll just make it so only our information isn’t recorded.”

Finally, a large shadow came into view.

In the hushed world of the stars and night, a structure cast a shadow even darker than the night.

“Well, even that is something only a perfectly suitable person is able to accomplish.”

Looking up at the Governmental Sector from far in the distance, Igun-I softly smiled.

### 026. Part 3

Room 700, ‘Asterhythm‘.

“Departure is late tomorrow night. ……I’d like to pick a time at the latest possible moment so I’ll send you the exact time tomorrow at noon.

Yuragi’s voice echoed in the living room.

There were no wiretaps installed. She had denied that herself and was also keeping her voice down for the off-chance there were.

“The ones carrying it out are you and I.”

“──Yeah.”

Feeling her gaze through the glasses, Sheltis expressed agreement.

“Ymy-sama as well, do we have your consent?”

“……I chose him. Since I heard there was a skilled Cadet Guard from the Cadet Guard Instructor, Yumelda.”

Ymy indifferently spun together the absolute minimum of words required.

“Monica has the role of an older sister that looks after everyone. In truth, the one pulling up the unit’s level is a single dual swords user. It’s a boy with a long history of training……if it’s just about battle ability, he alone could defeat the opposing unit in the final selections.“

The final selections for mission 16, ‘Expedition to the Governmental Sector‘.

Monica’s unit and Nash’s unit ── this was something from when Yumelda had brought the examiner, I’sa, along to make an advance report before the two units battled. Without the exchange at this time, it would still be unnatural for a priestess like Ymy to recommend a mere newcomer Cadet Guard like Sheltis.

……Usually she just orders me alone to do harsh training.

……All of this is thanks to Instructor Yumelda, huh.

He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

“He received a high appraisal from the Instructor, so I’m recommending him for the mission this time.”

“Understood. ──Then let’s continue. First, about the defense allotted to the meeting at noon, I’d like to continue it. It would be unnatural if the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s guard were to decrease in number and above all, we would lose everything if an emergency situation were to occur at that time. ……This next part is important.”

Yuragi’s fingers went into her breast pocket.

Without skipping a beat, she drew out a silver card key.

“When you entered the Governmental Sector’s governmental office building, I believe each of you received an authentication card.”

“……The one we were lent when we entered and had to return when we left yesterday and today, right?”

“Yes. These electronic card keys show when you ‘enter‘ and ‘leave‘ the lobby.”

Guards’ badges were also used as an electromagnetic card and those Guards could be traced to wherever they went as long as they were carrying it. It was basically a surveillance system like that.

“After the meeting, the three members of Monica-sama’s unit will take their card keys and pass the lobby to ‘leave‘ but Sheltis-sama will stay within the Governmental Sector’s office building.”

“……Huh, but wait. Won’t my card key be left like that?”

Only three of the escorts’ card keys would be returned. It would become suspicious if the one in charge of recovering them were to notice.

“Yes. That’s why, Sheltis-sama, please secretly hand me your card key when the meeting ends. I’ll pass through the gate with Sheltis-sama’s and my own card key. Like that, ‘you left the Governmental Sector according to the electronic surveillance system but are actually still in the Governmental Sector’ will become the situation.”

“Oh─, I get it. It’s something we can do because we have an insider like Yuragi-san. The procedure is simple but I don’t think the electronic surveillance system will discover it.“

“To tell the truth, this is something that Governmental Sector staff do. If it seems like one will be late to work or one wants to go back at a certain time no matter what, that person will entrust it to a friend.”

“After that is……a place to hide?”

Even if he stayed around in the Governmental Sector, there was a lapse of ten hours to the time of the operation. If he didn’t hide somewhere, it would be a pain if somebody found him.

“That’s right, I’ve concluded that you should be fine hiding in the men’s restroom. Hang up an ‘Out of Order‘ sign and hide inside, please.”

“……I have a bad feeling.”

In so saying, Yuragi made a mature smile and,

“This is also information. From my point of view, it would be easier if you were to hide in the women’s restroom.”

“Sheltis? The women’s restroom is the holy grounds of women. No matter the reason──“

“That’s no good, you know?”

“……I haven’t even said anything.”

Being glared at by Ilis machine crystal and Ymy, Sheltis sighed reluctantly.

“……I’ll wait patiently in the men’s restroom.”

“Then the plan is decided. After that is clothing. Until you reach your destination, you should be able to pass yourself off as ‘a colleague of Yuragi‘ so please choose something other than Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s formal wear. Do you have anything?”

When she asked that, he immediately thought of his usual black jacket.

“Umm, if it’s something that won’t be thought of as formal wear, then somewhat.”

“That will be fine. Please get changed while in the men’s restroom. I’ll hold onto your formal wear after you change.”

In other words, there were no preparations to be made beforehand.

It would be fine if he just waited until the end of tomorrow’s meeting.

“That’s all I have to say. Any questions?”

“Ah, just one. It’s not related to the mission but I felt like I had to ask.”

While looking around the living room.

“The Cadres Guard isn’t here but has this conversation already been relayed to her?”

“I will inform Ishtar-sama afterwards. She knows the contents of the mission but she has not been told that you are the one that shall be carrying it out. ……She should be waiting for me at the intersection outside this room.”

Audibility was not limited to this room. Her role was to divert anybody about to come close to the room.

“I see, then that’s all I had to ask.”

“Then I’ll be counting on you for tomorrow. That will be all for today.”

The female secretary closed her memo book.

With that as a signal, the Priestess in her vestments was the first to stand up.

“Umm……I don’t think I’ll get a chance other than now to say it, so I will.”

Her jade green eyes wavered with unease.

She gulped and then.

“Make sure you come back. Nobody will blame you even if you fail……so come back safely.”

“──Roger that.”

Replying with his outstretched right hand, Sheltis left the Priestess’ room.

He passed the door and entered the hallway. Walking straight down the hallway with a thin carpet, he finally came upon the intersection that led to other guest rooms.

“Ah, are you fiiinished?”

In the middle of the intersection, a female Guard stood still with a metal spear in hand.

Her strangely colored clothing that was bound with belts in various places made her silhouette that stood out against the light seem even thinner ── no, it looked sharpened.

“Yes, it’s fine if you return to the room now. The Priestess-sama is also waiting.”

“Is that sooo? Ah─ that’s great! It feels meritless to be standing guard in a hallway with thi─s few people. Ishtar was so unoccupied, she felt like she’d fall asleep.”

Faa, she yawned loudly.

……It looks like I can safely avoid making unnecessary conversation.

With just a small greeting, he tried to pass by her.

“The only one I had to send back was Monica-san.“

He should have just ignored her and continued on.

He should’ve known that in his head but his feet had stopped and he’d turned around before he even realized.

“I think that was about thirty minutes ago? Monica-san looked pretty serious asking, have you seen a member of my unit, Sheltis? Well, thanks to that, Ishtar also realized ‘Ah─, so that’s who Ymy-sama chose‘.”

“……So then,”

“I just told her the necessary part. There’s a special mission being given to him so he’s in the middle of a conversation in the Priestess’ room, is what I told her. Really, it was just the part that wouldn’t be a hindrance.”

A large smile.

There was just a tiny bit of thorniness to that expression.

“You covered for Monica and took on the job yourself. I didn’t say a〰ny such thing so don’t worry, okay? Monica-san wouldn’t be able to remain calm if I said that.”

“…………”

What she just smoothly told him was something that couldn’t be conceived without knowing that he was better than Monica at stealthy activities.

……As I thought, has she realized my identity?

“Shall I reveal the source of the trick? I’sa-chan said it.”

Ishtar moved one step closer.

“A dual swords user who’s as cheeky as he is strong. That there’s a guy who’s not so strong he makes you want to run away, he’s so strong that he makes you not want to lose. If I’sa-chan goes that far in saying it, you have enough ability to cover for Monica-san and take her place. It’s natural to think like that, isn’t it?”

……What I’sa said to her as the basis.

……So does that mean she hasn’t discovered my identity yet?

“But you’re really silent. Are you nervous? Or are you thinking about something?”

She smiled with a finger against her lips.

“Well, it’s fine whichever it is. Ishtar doesn’t mind after all─. Ishtar doesn’t have any interest in it. Not in any of the other Guards or the Priestess-sama.”

“────”

“See ya─, I’ll leave Monica-san up to you.”

Waving her hand with a cheery expression, she left in a manner that looked full of openings at first glance.

……Not a single thing has changed since four years ago.

“Well then, boy, why don’t you try asking by force?“

Not a single thing had changed since that time.

She still hadn’t become a Sennenshi and she still had no interest in the Priestesses. She didn’t hold any interest in whether the Elite Guards around her became Sennenshi or even if they were to retire.

“Are you thinking about something?“

“……No, let’s go.”

It happened at the same time Ilis machine crystal agreed. As Sheltis was about to take the first step, the silhouette of a person appeared from a corner of the intersection.

“……Sheltis.”

It was a girl with her eyes wide-open, her sakura-colored hair fluttering.

“Ah, hey, Monica──”

“Don’t speak.”

“……Eh.”

“It’s fine if you don’t say it. Just listen……I’ll even want to stop thinking about hitting you.”

Her slender shoulders shook a little at a time.

She bit down on the edge of her lip and also breathed deeply to remain calm ── that painfully conveyed it to him directly.

“I heard about your mission from Cadres Guard Ishtar. I don’t have the right to ask what kind of mission it is but…………truthfully, I’m against it. I think it’s a given that you’d be chosen based on ability. But you’re my……important……important……”

Gulp.

He clearly heard her gulp.

“Member of……my unit, and I won’t let you go on a mission I don’t even know the reason for, even if it’s an order from the Cadres Guard. ……Because that’s how it is, right? If I can’t even be informed of what the mission entails, it’s the same as saying that it’s dangerous.”

Her intuition was correct. That’s why Ishtar didn’t beat around with half-baked lies and had no choice but to tell the truth.

“No, it’s not like my opposition means anything. Anything a Cadet Guard like me says would just be overruled……”

A lifeless smile appeared on the unit leader’s face.

“So come back safely, regardless of whether the mission succeeds or fails. That’s all I wanted to say as the unit’s leader. The scolding will come after that.”

“……Don’t worry. I’ll return in the early morning.”

I don’t have any intention of being beaten by a mission or two like this.

To begin with, ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ is just a means to an end. The goal is still to find the objective behind the Yuugenshu breeding water tank and to stop the person behind it, which is why we came as far as the Governmental Sector.

“Well then, let’s go back. Our paths are the same for a while anyway.”

“……Yeah.”

Pushing on Monica who had an awkward expression, Sheltis started to walk again.

### 027. Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 291, ‘ Paradise ‘.

While it was a floor of the tower, there was no ceiling nor walls. The unobstructed white night sky spread overhead and the azure ice walls spread out to the distance below.

Even breathing.

Even the body’s warmth.

Even memories, consciousness and anything else, all would freeze in this world.

All manners of protection from the cold were meaningless. All creatures, all substances and Yuugenshu. It was a world of ice which could freeze everything without exception.

“The fifth Priestess has just returned from the Governmental Sector.”

She was at the center of this world.

“Ymy Ele Soufflenictole. Even though I took the time, she still can’t hear the Forbidden Crystal’s voice. She couldn’t handle the plan I blessed her with……what a worrisome girl.”

She combed her glossy black hair with her hand.

Clinging tightly to her long and slender arm was a pitch black vestment which faithfully mirrored her curvaceous body.

Wrapped in the vestment tailored specifically for her, the woman smiled faintly.

“Right? It’s just like a certain somebody from the distant past.”

“ ……Tsali. “

In the middle of that area surrounded by the ice walls that spread out.

That voice came from the interior of a particularly large Hyouketsu crystal.

“ Unfortunately I have no recollection of who that could be, so I wonder who it could be? “

Mature ── compared to that, it was the voice of an extremely young girl.

“Oh, so you were awake.”

“ You were too loud so the shinryoku wavelength is getting disrupted. ……What are you going to do if a Yuugenshu manages to penetrate the barrier? “

“The supervisor of this tower, Queen Salah, would have her shinryoku disrupted with just this?”

Those words could be said to be cool-headed, but her tone remained intimate to the end.

“Even if the Yuugenshu rise to the surface, there is a suitable person to subjugate them.”

“ ……Sheltis Magna Yehle. “

“And there’s also Ilis for that purpose. It looks like that stubborn machine’s calculation abilities haven’t declined. There’s no problem with practical use.”

“ Ilis is energetic. She seems to have devoted herself to support to make up for losing her body as a machine god. It’s praiseworthy. Even though when she was supporting you, she didn’t really support and kept complaining, but she’s now……sometimes dedicated to the point of causing me unease. “

Tsali’s lips stiffened for the first time with those words that reverberated from within the ice. She silently clenched her right hand that had languidly lowered.

“That’s not something I can comment on. ……Well, to begin with, that stubborn machine was more of a meddler than a machine god. It’s a little boring for me though.”

“ She was a good quarreling opponent for you, after all. ──Mikuva the machine god who stood against a few million Yuugenshu alone. The strongest and final incomplete god-class machine to which the last hope of humanity was entrusted. “

“The problem is the two right now, right? What do you think about the essential part from your point of view?”

“ ………… “

A curtain of silence descended upon the world of ice.

Invisible airflow. With a surge that couldn’t be called the wind or a blizzard, Tsali’s hair fluttered and after the time for that flowed forever.

“ It still won’t reach. The deepest part of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song still won’t answer. “

That was the answer the Queen gave.

“Sheltis Magna Yehle and Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ── the one chosen by the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s mateki and the one who inherited the Baptism of Amaryllis. I wonder if they will live up to expectations.”

“ That is dependent on them. “

“It’ll take some time until things start up.”

“ Yes, I’m counting on you for continued surveillance. I will contact you if there is a change with the Forbidden Crystal. “

“Contact, huh……ahh, that’s right. Speaking of contacting, I have one other thing to convey.”

Tsali’s foot that had spun on its heel came to a halt. With a fearless smile that could be seen as provocative spread broadly on her face,

“The third organization attacked the Governmental Sector’s ‘ Crimson Eye ‘. Those big-shots ── the Lords of Unusual Books are also moving, so Sophia Tenketsu Palace should be prepared for hindrances if they get near the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . I’ve confirmed five people from the Lords of Unusual Books and they’ve gathered a really interesting bunch of members. As far as I could intercept from their telepathy, pillaging Priestesses is also within their plans.”

“ So you mention such an important plan as an afterthought. “

The voice that answered was shocked.

“I’ll leave the troublesome things to you. This tower is like your child, right? You deal with it.”

“ I will overcome the obstacles. I will absolutely reach the deepest part of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . “

“──It’s time; I have plans so I’ll be going.”

And she turned around once again.

Her black hair that covered her back spread like wings and, with her pitch black vestments, hid her body from view.

“ Business? How unusual. What kind of business? “

“What, you ask, well that’s──”

Finally.

After her black hair that resembled black wings had tapered to a point.

“I have a promise to play with Eyri-nee ♪”

Her innocent young voice echoed throughout the floor called Paradise.

### 028. Part 4

Gigantic clouds passed by as if flowing.

On the other side of the pressure-resistant glass, a scene of fluffy clouds spread out in his lower vision. Since he became unable to see the figure of the two thousand metre-tall Sophia Tenketsu Palace , it had already been one hour.

“……Ohh. It’s amazing, Ilis, we passed the Lagoon floating archipelago in an instant.”

Droplets of water clung to the glass.

Watching that out of the corner of his eye, Sheltis spoke to Ilis machine crystal who hung at his chest.

“ We’re moving at the speed of sound, so we’re advancing at roughly four hundred metres a second. “

“……Even if you say per second, it feels surreal.”

“ The distance from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the Governmental Sector’s Lagoon floating archipelago is just under roughly two thousand kilometres. Amazing, isn’t it─, that we would arrive in about two hours. Figuratively speaking, doesn’t it feel less like ‘byu〰n!’ and more like ‘───hyunn’? “

“……No, you don’t have to force the sound comparisons.”

Tap. He heard the sound of someone’s footfall.

“Ah, see, Sheltis is here.”

“This is the far end; what are you sitting here for?”

The girl wearing the machine helmet low over her eyes was in front with the girl whose sakura-colored hair was tied into one behind her.

“You don’t have to sit here at the far end; it’s all reserved so why don’t you sit more towards the center?”

“……Nah, well, it’s just such an impressive airship that I was kinda nervous.”

The midsection of the airship ── with Monica pointing back at where she came from, Sheltis shook his head slightly more than necessary.

The airship specifically for the use of the Priestesses.

Even though it was an airship of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there were various kinds ranging from the transportation ships that were for rent to those for the exclusive use of noble visitors, and the ship they were riding was of the largest of the passenger ships. The performance of the vehicle was a given and the interior furnishings were also of a luxurious design that would make one recall a room from a very high-class hotel. It was the first time he’d seen an airship with a chandelier shining in it.

“We’re already here so what’s the problem with looking around?”

Sitting in the chair opposite his, Monica wore a wry smile.

“But look, it seems like the seating locations have already been plainly laid out. The ship’s foremost seat is for the Priestess, the midsection is for the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his entourage while we’re at the far end.”

“……It might do some good if you were to learn a little from Vaiel’s strong-willed attitude.”

The one who told him that in an aloof manner and sat in the seat next to him was Kagura.

“Ah, come to think of it, what about Vaiel?”

“He’s been fast asleep since thirty minutes ago, and what’s more, he’s in the seat directly behind the Priestess-sama’s.”

“……You’re kiddiiing.”

Rather than saying he has no fear, it’s more like not being afraid of anything even on a mission like this is a kind of skill in itself.

“Kagura and I tried to rouse him but Cadres Guard Ishtar went ‘This person’s interesting〰’ and seemed quite pleased.”

“She exploded with laughter, didn’t she.”

Monica and Kagura nodded in agreement with their shoulders drooped.

“……It’s because you two don’t know Ishtar’s true character.”

“Eh?”

“Ah, no, just a little something. Rather, I was just talking to myself.”

He had intended to have it as a monologue but it seemed that Kagura had heard it with her excellent hearing.

“However, I wonder what we should do? Is that Cadres Guard that amazing of a person?”

“That person is……let’s see, well, I only heard the rumors when I was an apprentice Priestess but I never actually saw her fight in person.”

“Fumu. But her little sister, I’sa-san, holds such adoration for her──”

Kagura clicked her tongue and folded her arms at the argument presented. Her sight that was on the machine helmet’s eyeshield turned in his direction.

“Do you know, Sheltis?”

“No, I said I’d only met that person for the first time.”

“ Didn’t you say that you’d heard it from the Sennenshi, Captain Leon? “

“…………”

Kagura replied nonchalantly.

……It’s fine if you only say what you heard from Leon, huh.

Mixing in the unspoken signal by Kagura, Sheltis’ inner self had a wry smile on.

“Is that so?”

“Just a little. ……Umm, let’s see. This is as much as I heard.”

Monica asked with a serious expression and he kept his calm as he replied.

“She was carrying a spear so I think you know already but she’s a spear user. I think it was an old style of martial arts. And that she’d advanced to the highest point of mastery in that art?”

“‘Pinnacle of the Gillshuvesher Exorcising Lance ’, isn’t it.”

Kagura’s Machina machine pearl gave off a faint radiance.

“Her data is also more or less within Machina machine pearl ’s memory. Within Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s registry, her name was updated, it seems. It’s ‘Gillshuvesher’ on the surface but there’s appended history to the name.”

“Ah……that, that. Well, she stood out in strength when she was a Regular Guard so she was investigated by the Priestesses and Sennenshi of that time at her unauthorized match.”

“That much?”

It was a given that Monica would lean forward. It was unthinkable that Priestesses and Sennenshi would appear at a Regular Guard’s unofficial, not to mention official, match.

“Yeah. To begin with, her spear skills aren’t lacking. She struck down three bullets from a machine gun’s high-speed fire with a spear and cut how many dozens of leaves that were falling into human shapes before they reached the ground. There are many stories like that.”

“That is……exaggerated, right?”

“No.”

He denied Monica’s mutter that she made with a half-dumbfounded face by shaking his head sideways.

“I think she can do those and even more. That’s why she is the Cadres Guard.”

“……What an absurd individual. If so”

Tap.

Monica reflexively swallowed what she was about to say at the sound of footsteps from the rear seats.

“U……umm, is it fine……if I interrupt?”

A circular tray and tea set with cups to match the amount of people.

The one holding that preciously was a girl in pure white vestments.

“Priestess-sama……?”

“ Oh my, Ymy, welcome. Come now, at your leisure. “

Kagura had her mouth hanging half-open and Ilis machine crystal was the same as always.

“R-really? Then I’ll pour tea immediately. I brought a variety with me.”

Setting down the tray on the central table, Ymy proceeded to line up a pot of hot water and numerous glass containers of tea leaves.

“Kagura-san, do you have a type of black tea that you prefer?”

“Heh?”

Kagura with her mouth half-open stiffened up.

“Umm, could I have you choose the tea you like?”

“We……well then……one without a strong scent.”

“Yes, then I’ll use this blend over here. Sheltis will have lemon grass with a spoonful of honey instead of sugar.”

Ymy who was making the preparations with experienced movements turned around with an unopened jar of jam in her hands.

“Say, Monica-senpai, you like the marmalade with the peel left in, right?”

“…………”

“Ah, jeez, senpai. I’ll make the decision if you don’t answer, you know? Senpai’s been fond of marmalade tea since before, I’ll decide on──”

“Wa-waaaaiiiit!”

Monica who had been patiently keeping her mouth shut and shaking on the side exploded.

“Eh? What’s wrong, senpai?”

“I-it’s not what’s wrong!”

She pointed at Ymy who was blinking in surprise with the jam container in her hand.

“Wh, wh-wh, what are you doing……what would you be doing here!”

“We’re on the same airship?”

“N-not that! Where is Cadres Guard Ishtar!?”

“She’s still looking at Vaiel-san’s sleeping face and laughing while holding her stomach.”

“…………”

“Monica-senpai,”

Ymy closed in with an exceptionally serious gaze.

“Please, I’d like you to say the truth. Senpai, do you hate me?”

“Wha……th-that……”

“But senpai, you’re always avoiding me──”

“You’re wrong!”

Ymy’s words were blown away by her ex-senpai’s shout.

“……I as well…………truly…………however……our positions are different now.”

Monica tightened her fist.

As if to draw blood, she continued while biting her lip.

“Ymy is now……a Priestess, a protector of the Orbie Clar floating continent . I am…………a subordinate. A Cadet Guard like me talking in a such a friendly manner with a Priestess……is not permitted.”

“But”

Ymy’s face that had drooped slightly rose up again.

“Monica-senpai is my most important benefactor. Who will not permit me to speak with that benefactor?”

“…………That is”

Monica was speechless with her head still downcast.

A strained atmosphere permeated that area and silence stood between those two like a wall──

“I think it’s fine though.”

“……Sheltis?”

The two girls that were standing still languorously raised their faces at the same time.

“Monica also said she’d like to get along, right.”

“B-but……a mere Cadet Guard acquainting with a Priestess-sama is a brazen act”

“That Priestess-sama is saying it’s fine, so there’s no problem.”

Kagura said as she held the Machina machine pearl .

“I also agree with Sheltis. The side that approached first was the Priestess-sama, you know? That is unmistakably the popularity that you have cultivated until now. It’s fine if you bask in it.”

“…………”

Ymy advanced step by step towards the unit captain who was listening keenly.

“Senpai……I’m truly happy to be able to be together with senpai like this again……that’s why I ask you, let’s get along like long ago.”

“……Really”

“Eh?”

Before Ymy replied with a question, Monica’s hand reached out to Ymy’s bangs.

“……Really, what a troublesome kouhai.”

She strongly rubbed her kouhai’s hair.

“You became a Priestess and I thought you’d become outstanding, so don’t trouble me so much.”

Fuu ── she sighed deeply while lowering her shoulders.

“Th-then, senpai!”

“Marmalade is fine but I’ve been having milk tea lately.”

“Ah……y-yes! I can also prepare milk tea quickly!”

Monica smiled wryly as Ymy made her preparations in great haste.

He looked on at those two from behind.

“We should change seats. They probably have things they’d like to discuss alone.”

“I would say.”

Sheltis and Kagura looked at each other and exchanged nods.

“ They’ve made up. But really, peoples’ emotions are complicated and a pain. “

“That just now was a little special.”

He smiled wryly in response to Ilis machine crystal whose tone was meek.

“But with this, we’ve also gained the strongest personal connection called the Priestess-sama. As reliable as it is.”

“……I can’t guarantee the reliability though.”

“Fumu. By the way, Sheltis, may I ask one thing?”

Sitting in a seat further away, Kagura pointed at Monica and Ymy behind her.

“What about them again?”

“That time when the Priestess-sama was preparing our black tea. Why did Ymy-sama know your preference in black tea?”

“…………”

“How about it?”

“……She definitely heard it from Leon.”

“ ……I also have a feeling it may or may not be that. “

At any rate, he brought up his old friend’s name here and Sheltis averted his face quite openly.

### 029. Part 4

Room number 301, [Lily].

It was a room that was separated from the Priestess’ room 700 by two corridors and a large hall. Different from the [Asterhythm] that was meant for guests, regular patrons could lodge here.

“Fumu, fumu, it looks like the layout for the 300 and 400 rooms is roughly the same. Our room as well as the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s room are of the same structure. This is convenient since we know our protégé’s room structure and can react to even the one in ten thousand occurrences.”

Gazing at the hotel’s pamphlet, Kagura folded her arms in satisfaction.

“Was this Monica’s idea?”

“I asked them to to accommodate it. I said I’d like for them to be in a room aligned with ours but it’s great that that was granted……Sheltis and Vaiel, come over here as well.”

Monica spread a rough sketch of the hotel atop the table. Using red and blue ink pens, eight room sections were cleanly divided by color.

“First, this 300 room is the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s room and this neighboring one to the left is our room 301. Following that is the private secretary’s room, Sheltis’ room, the clerks’ room and after that──”

“Rather the important part is that the escort and protégé’s rooms are mutually aligned, right?”

Vaiel was glaring at the rough sketch with a look like it was a pain.

“If there’s even a slight distrust on the side of either the escort or the protégé, there won’t be any contact between the two……well, I don’t think there’s anything.”

“Being careless is forbidden. By the way, Kagura, I’d like to confirm once again.”

Monica slowly took something out from her pocket.

“Yes. There were no listening devices. It’s fine to speak normally.”

“Understood.”

The thing that Monica was holding slipped from her hand.

Clack ── a transparent shard hit the top of the table. It looked like a crystal but the shape of its cracks suggested a different object.

“ Reinforced glass, I see. If I were to name something like it that’s familiar, it would be the Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s windows which are made of the same glass. It has a high value but it is also used in experimental apparatuses like water tanks or flasks. “

Water tanks.

Sheltis looked at Monica’s face reflexively upon hearing the term that Ilis machine crystal used.

“Monica, is this”

“It’s a fragment of the water tank we found on that island; an answer finally came from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s analysis team last week.”

The group of three consisting of himself, Leon and Monica had gone to the Lagoon floating archipelago . It was a fragment from the time they had found the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.

“And this is from the case where Sheltis and Kagura were attacked by the caster Maha.”

Monica pulled out another glass crystal. This was a fragment collected from the Yuugenshu water tank that [Golden] Maha had been protecting.

The two shards fell onto the center of the table. It was reflective almost like a mirror.

“According to the analysis team, the composition of these two is completely the same.”

“……I see.”

Sheltis exhaled while slightly biting together his molars.

The Yuugenshu water tank that was suspected to belong to the Governmental Sector and the Yuugenshu water tank that [Golden] Maha was protecting were the same. In the case that the Governmental Sector had set up the Yuugenshu water tank, there was also the possibility that Maha was an assassin of the Governmental Sector.

“……We should also be prepared to receive an attack on this island.”

“It’s fine, Kagura, because you figured out Maha’s techniques that time.”

Sheltis gave a slight nod to the girl with a machine helmet who looked up at him with unease.

“We’ll get through this time too. I’ll also do my best. Okay?”

“Th-that’s right!……I’ll also support you. With that, you understand, right, Vaiel; do the escort properly!”

“Haah? Why are you turning to me?”

“You are the most worrisome. Ah, hey, don’t look the other way and pay attention here!”

“……Ow, owowow! Damn you, don’t just twist people’s necks by force!”

Kagura and Vaiel started to quarrel.

Looking on with an astonished face, Monica sighed.

“……Jeez, there’s no tension at all. Even though we were in the middle of a discussion.”

She combed her forelocks with her hand. While doing that, she let her vision wander in space as though in thought……in the end, the one who spoke first was Ilis machine crystal .

“ Right, right. Speaking of which, how did it go? The relationship repairing you did with Ymy onboard the airship. “

“W-wait, wait. We weren’t fighting or anything to begin with!?”

She smacked the top of the table in her assertion.

Though with that said, her face from her cheeks to her ears was a brilliant red color.

“A-anyway……we decided that we’d act as before in non-public places.”

“Is that so. I’m glad.”

Before coming here, he had talked with Ymy in advance. That she should treasure the time with Monica on this mission.

“But a mission is a mission and Ymy understands that as well so we’ll hold back──”

Just as she was about to stand from the chair.

The door that should have been locked opened and someone ran in.

“O〜kay. Everyone gather in the lobby, we’re going on a tour with everyone!”

“Come ooon, Monica-san, come quick! We’ll leave you behind if you’re slow?”

Ishtar stood in front of the door and beckoned.

“Yuragi-chan said she’d guide us. There are carts and food stalls and you can eat as much as you want? It’s fine, we can draw out money from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s finances!”

“……My……Our unit’s first mission is……an all-your-can-eat tour……”

“C-come now. The Elite Guard’s saying that, after all.”

For the time being, Sheltis comforted the unit captain that had been moved to tears.

.

### 030. Part 4

Hotel, room 303, [Aster].

In the living room slightly lit up by sunlight, the high-pitched sound of a flute cut through the air without dying out and reverberated around.

“──Hah!”

He reverse gripped the dual swords shining in deep purple.

Standing upright in the center of the carpet, Sheltis drew out the blades.

From the shoulder to the elbow.

From the elbow to the wrist.

From the wrist to the fingertips.

His arm was using the least amount of strength required and his upper body bent like a whip, using the recoil to lash out with the swords. The blades severed the air creating a vacuum in empty space.

Lash out, sweep, thrust, turn……lash out once again.

He repeated the same process. At first, it was slow enough that a butterfly could sit at the tip of the blade and then the speed had risen little by little until the ‘ dance ‘ was sharpened to the point that it was invisible to human eyes───

“ Okay, stop. “

The blade that was moving came to a complete halt. That was also at the same time as Ilis machine crystal voice or perhaps even an instant sooner.

“……Who is it?”

He could feel a presence outside the room.

From there, a little while was passed ── ring, came the door bell’s ringer.

“Sheltis, could I have a moment?”

The girl with the sakura-colored hair’s face peeked out from the door.

“Monica? I don’t mind but……huh.”

Sheathing his dual swords in his belt holders, he stared intently at the side of the girl who was getting closer’s face.

“Wh-what is it?”

“I might be asking something weird but, umm, did you already take a bath?”

The assembly with the Governmental Sector had just ended not too long ago. Continuing on from yesterday, today she had also made an appointment to meet Ymy and Kagura at the large baths ── he had heard such a thing.

“You just entered the bath not too long ago. I think it’d be fine if you take your time.”

She had returned too fast for having gone to the bath. Looking at her, there were no traces of Monica’s hair having been wet and it didn’t feel like she’d taken in any heat from the water either.

“Yeah, truthfully, I’m also talking about that matter.”

“Mm?”

“The matter about the appointment at the large baths is as you said but no matter how long Kagura and I wait, Ymy wasn’t coming so……when I went to her room……it felt like she was talking with Cadres Guard Ishtar about something. It was hard to call out to her, so I was just on my way back.”

The Priestess and her partner private escort , the Cadres Guard.

If it was like usual, it’d be obvious to at least talk but what caught his interest was──

“Did it feel serious?”

“Cadres Guard Ishtar was the same as usual. It’s just that that child’s expression was a little……it felt like she was brooding over something. Also, the secretary, I think she was serious too.”

……Ishtar was the same.

……But the secretary was serious and Ymy had a brooding expression?

“ Excuse me. It may seem like I’m rushing the conversation, but why did you come to Sheltis for this? “

“It’s because Cadres Guard Ishtar said something that caught my interest. She stopped Kagura and I when we were heading back and said, ‘Ishtar might suddenly command you tomorrow night so be prepared, okay.’”

“……Tomorrow? There shouldn’t be anything special tomorrow though.”

He hadn’t heard anything about a special event tomorrow from Yuragi either. If anything, the second day of the four day assembly was all that came to mind.

───Be prepared, that line also interests me.

“I also tried thinking about it but came up with nothing. I don’t think it’s a joke either so I came to tell you what she said just like that. I think Kagura should also be telling Vaiel at this point.”

“……I see. Yeah, understood.”

In front of Monica who had a half-hearted expression, he nodded more largely than necessary.

“I was told to be prepared so I’ll be prepared. It’ll be fine if there’s nothing but I’ll also be able to prepare myself in case we get saddled with an impossible-level order.”

“Yeah, sorry but please do that. Well then, I’ll return to my room.”

She turned around and started to head out.

“…………”

Without even advancing three steps, she came to a stop.

“What’s up?”

“Ah……n-no……well, it’s nothing major but……yesterday when I went to the large baths with Ymy and Kagura……there was something that caught my interest──”

While rubbing her hands together, she whispered with a cherry red face.

“U-um. From a man’s point of view, being a skinny girl like me……does it diminish their appeal?”

“……Heh?”

“N-no! It’s about the common opinion! I wanted to know as general common knowledge……for example, Cadres Guard Ishtar or Priestess Meimel-sama are both slim but I think they’re both womanly enough……so I wondered how I was as an example for my type, and so you don’t take this the wrong way──”

He idly stared at her as she spoke quickly in a rush.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t thought about Monica like that?”

“H-haven’t thought about me like that……you mean!?”

“That I don’t think your appeal is diminished or that you’re not womanly enough. That’s what I mean. I haven’t really looked at anyone that way though so I don’t have confidence in my opinion.”

“I-is that so?……Is it fine to consider that your own thoughts rather than common opinion?”

“Yeah. Sorry I couldn’t give you much to think about.”

“N-no! Rather, I was more interested in that so it’s favorable──”

Monica froze over in a posture with her hands balled into fists.

“Favorable?”

“──Ahem.”

The unit captain cleared her throat with a strangely transparent serious expression.

“Sorry for disturbing you; we’ll be getting up early tomorrow as well so go to sleep early for that. See you.”

“Eh……ah, r-right.”

She hurriedly opened the door and disappeared into the corridor.

A little while after, from the hallway that was separated by the door, he felt like he heard a monologue like ‘……Y-yeah, yeah! I’m glad!’

“ Sheltis, that just now was the shout of a maiden’s heart. Please pretend that you didn’t hear it. “

“What just now?”

“ Yes, yes, this conversation is over already! Come on now, we’re resuming training so grab your swords! “

“……Y-yeah.”

Being admonished by Ilis machine crystal with a harsh tone for some reason, Sheltis once again gripped his swords.

.

### 031. Part 4

“……I see, so that’s it.”

Sitting on the left side of a two-seater sofa, Sheltis lightly sighed.

“I’m sorry. About this. I’d only get confused on my own. My mind……is filled with a lot of things.”

“ It is not your fault. The circumstances are just entwined complexly. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked upon her lap while she hung her head.

“……Thank you too, Ilis. Listening to my complaints like this.”

“ However, Ymy, if you only look at the urgent situation right now, I can understand what that Cadres Guard wants to say as well. People are powerless against Yuugenshu after all. “

“Yeah……”

Off-gold.

As the girl sitting quietly on the arm rest of the sofa nodded, her silky long hair shined.

“But……I’m a Priestess. A Priestess has a lot of Guards protecting her, right? Not just the Sennenshi and Regular Guards……it’s the same for the Cadet Guards as well. Even so……I’d be posing this towards those protectors? An order much like asking them to become a sacrifice to infiltrate the Governmental Sector……”

“ You came here because you don’t want to make that sacrifice, right? “

Ilis Machine crystal flashed with a soft blue light as she spoke in a guiding tone.

“ This is my intuition but the one who was selected first was Monica, right? Clairvoyance and telepathy are suited skills for infiltration depending on their usage. Looking at it from the surface, she is the most suited to the secret orders this time. “

The Priestess remained silent.

She didn’t answer and simply hung her head powerlessly.

“ I expect that hearing that made you uneasy? Even if you ignore her position as your senpai, you don’t know what treatment she would receive if she were to fail the infiltration. As a problem of responsibility, the truth is it would become impossible for her to remain as a Guard. ──That is why you came here. “

“…………”

“ I believe that your choice is not wrong. If I were in the same position, I would undoubtedly do the same. Right, Sheltis? “

At Ilis machine crystal ’ words, the downcast Ymy lifted her head.

Her jade eyes that shone like gems gazed ahead──

“Jeez……everything I wanted to say was taken by Ilis machine crystal .”

Suddenly loosening his expression, Sheltis let out a deep sigh.

“So the point is we just have to go to that Holy Hall place and access that ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ thing, right? Yuragi-san should know the way there.”

“Sheltis!”

His childhood friend sitting next to him shook a little.

“Tha……that’s not……it. I-I didn’t have that intention……I-I mean……”

Her lips were trembling.

“Because, you know? Sheltis, you didn’t have that intention at first either, right? Infiltrating Governmental Sector’s central division……you didn’t know about it……you haven’t prepared yourself either.”

“ I heard about it. “

To convey it to Ymy who was rapidly speaking, he slowly shook his head.

“Sorry, the truth is Leon told me. But if I asked you, then you’d be surprised so I decided to keep that a secret. That’s why it’s fine, I’m already prepared──”

“ Stop. “

That was the instant the voice of the girl beside him turned to a sob.

“Idiot……Sheltis, you idiot. There’s no way a Priestess wouldn’t be informed of something so important……to say Leon did that……don’t……use that kind of impossible lie……”

She tightly hugged the pillow at the corner of the sofa.

──Plop.

A small droplet wet the pillow that she was holding to her chest.

“Sorry……sorry, really……I’m really sorry. I can’t do anything on my own……and in the end, I have to rely on you, Sheltis……”

“That’s not the case at all. If we’re talking about that, to begin with, I can’t possibly maintain the barrier that protects the Orbie Clar floating continent . It’s just that this time, something that I can do has coincidentally shown up.”

“No……”

She hugged the pillow tightly, more tightly, to the point that its shape changed.

“Not something that I can do as a Priestess. It’s that I can’t do anything for you as a childhood friend……it’s frustrating.”

Covering her mouth with the pillow, she shook her head to hide her eyes which had grown red.

And.

Ilis Machine crystal which had been silent on her lap once again flashed blue.

“ Aren’t you glad, Ymy? “

“……Eh?”

“ If you feel frustrated by that, then you still have room to grow. As a Priestess and as a woman. From the point of view of a machine crystal, that ‘frustration’ of yours is sorrowful but also something that I dearly envy. Right, Sheltis? “

“That’s right, so it’s fine.”

……Besides.

……I’ve received more than enough from Ymy.

In this desperate setting, where failure was not an option even more so because of that desperation, Ymy had come this far by relying on herself. That was more gladdening than anything.

“……Sheltis.”

His childhood friend that had her face buried in the pillow suddenly looked up.

Her eyes wet with tears immediately drew close ── truly, to the point that their eyes were about to overlap, where their lips and hair could just about touch, she drew near.

“Thank you……I…………”

……Ymy?

With her cheeks flushed red as if feverish, her face drew even closer.

……We can’t.

……If we get any closer than this, Elbert Resonance will occur.

If his mateki and her shinryoku came into contact, a rejection reaction would occur and injure both of them. Even though he understood that, for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to stop her.

“I──────”

“ Eh─, ahem. “

The stopped time finally began moving again with Ilis machine crystal ’ hem.

“ I’ll be jumping in while ignoring the mood but please save that for after the infiltration succeeds. “

“Th-that, meaning what!? What do you mean!?”

Ymy’s eyes shot open with a gasp.

“I-I just wanted to say thank you is all!? B-because Sheltis and I have Elbert Resonance──”

“ ……Yes, yes, I get it so calm down. “

A strained laugh was mixed into Ilis machine crystal ’ voice.

“Now then, since the job of infiltrating the Governmental Sector has been decided, what will you do, Sheltis? You’re probably forgetting something important.”

“Something important?”

“ If the Governmental Sector’s giant crystal is a system that uses shinryoku, then its operation will most likely require the usage of shinryoku. But Sheltis’ body is carrying mateki and has lost its affinity to shinryoku. That means he cannot access the large crystal. “

“Ah……”

Damn it. Because I was only focused on the risk of infiltrating the Governmental Sector’s central division, it completely slipped my mind about what to do after the infiltration succeeded.

“Huh? But Ymy entrusted it to me so that means”

“Ah……aha……haha. …………Sorry, I also forgot.”

Having calmed down, Ymy laughed.

“ ……As expected of childhood friends, you’re identical down to the way you think. Well, putting that aside, that problem can be cleared. Well, to put it simply, I am the suited individual for ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘. “

“Huh?”

“ Fufun, how’s that, Sheltis? Have you once again come to realize how outstanding I am? “

“No, rather why?”

“ Our maker is the same. “

Ilis Machine crystal cleared away the question smoothly.

“ That giant crystal and I were made by just one person. The ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ is also an observation system that was put in place a thousand years ago. It is the results of people trying to artificially create a ‘ certain existence ‘. No, perhaps I should say it is a shadow of that. “

“……One thousand years ago.”

“ What’s wrong, Ymy? “

“Eh? Ahh, no, it’s nothing! Keep going!”

“ Then I’ll continue. Or so I say, but that’s about all I had to tell you. The maker is the same so I also have the program specific to the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘. All this world’s events ── I can extract high quality scenes from the measuring of this year’s Priestesses not limited to just the images but even the conversations. “

“……Ilis, I’d be really happy if you could read the serious atmosphere?”

Creak.

An unpleasant creaking sound came from the crystal portion of Ilis machine crystal that Ymy was holding.

“ ……Putting aside the jokes, even as a reproduction, that is a dangerous item. I thought it was lost during the war with the Yuugenshu but……I see, even if it wasn’t left on the floating continent, it was moved to the Lagoon floating archipelago . If the Governmental Sector covered that up, it wouldn’t be found. “

“Hey, Ilis, what’s this about a suitable individual for the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘?”

“ Think of it as an individual entrusted with a key. It’s a key that can open a door that holds lots of accumulated information. A fully suitable person can freely obtain that information and a partially suitable person……to say it in an easy to understand manner, they would obtain a mosaicked version of the information. By design, it should only open for a person with a special shinryoku so I don’t think any others with a mechanical body other than me could open it. “

“Other than you……then isn’t that quite amazing?”

“It is amazing!”

Ymy’s excited voice shook the room’s air.

“Think about it, Sheltis. That kind of amazing system and the person who can operate it is also specific. In reality, the Governmental Sector hasn’t found a perfectly suitable person yet either. But this close by……above all, that the suitable individual is a machine crystal like Ilis.”

With flushed cheeks, Ymy peered at Ilis machine crystal .

“Hey, Ilis, is that true? ……I don’t want to request something unreasonable but is it really fine to rely on you?”

“ There is no need for concern, Ymy. “

Ilis Machine crystal flashed blue.

“ You’ve already seen that appearance of mine, right? Then just leave it to me. “

“──!”

Ymy’s gasp was perfectly conveyed.

……That appearance?

……I wonder what it is. I don’t understand what shocked Ymy.

“Mm, what is that, Ilis?”

“ We’ll talk about it eventually, Sheltis, but it’s not something to speak of here. Right now we need to discuss how we’re going to sneak into the Governmenetal Sector’s central division. ──Right, Ymy? “

“Y-yes!”

Ymy nodded many times while flustered.

“ In that case, it would be best if we were to rest for today. Tomorrow’s conference will also take a long time and a lack of sleep is a girl’s worst enemy. “

“…………”

“ Ymy? “

“……Sheltis.”

Ymy fidgeted and held onto the corners of the pillow.

The tears upon her face had disappeared at some point and she was looking downward out of shyness for some reason.

“……Stay like this for just five minutes more.”

### 032. Part 4

The third day of the conference.

“Jeez, now Monica has circles under her eyes?”

Same as yesterday, Kagura’s sigh pierced through the break room’s silence.

“……I tried to hide it though.”

“Just the area around your eyes is caked in foundation. It’s easy to understand that you’re hiding something around your eyes. Please practice using cosmetics a little……ah─ah, this is so thickly coated. Come on, stay still.”

Kagura took out powder from a travel-use cosmetics kit. While she was applying that to the area around Monica’s eyes, her hand stopped.

“Yesterday was Sheltis and today Monica has circles under her eyes? Surely you two aren’t having clandestine meetings every night, are you?”

“I was just thinking about escorting matters and couldn’t sleep.”

Monica closed her eyes with a glum face.

“Rather than that……I’m happy that you’re fixing my make-up, but I’d rather it be at a different place.”

“Nobody will come.”

“No, I mean here is……”

Her cheeks went red with embarrassment.

“……It really is kinda of embarrassing in front of guys.”

“It’s fine. Showing these kinds of openings every little while is also a technique.”

“It doesn’t matter what a woman with no appeal does.”

With that sentence from Vaiel who was reclining in a chair, both of the ladies’ eyebrows rose.

“Ah─ you said it! Then please look. Come on, Monica, stay still and we’ll show that blockhead my high-class techniques──”

“Y-you idiot, Kagura! Stop, don’t use my face as an experiment!”

The unit leader fratically stopped Kagura who pulled out strange small tools.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it.“

“She has strength.”

“Monica probably spent the entire night thinking about you. She’s a kind person; I understand why Ymy calls her senpai and is emotionally attached to her.“

“……I’ll do my best not to worry her.”

Looking up vacantly at the ceiling, Sheltis’ unfocused eyes wandered.

──It’s almost noon.

The meeting is scheduled to end at five in the evening. At the same time, I start with meeting up with Yuragi and handing her my card key. Then I slip away and hide myself.

……After five hours.

He had polished and replayed the same image in his head countless times. Even though what he had to do itself was simple, he couldn’t settle himself no matter how many times he repeated it.

### 033. Part 4

“Do you like that poem collection?”

“That’s not it, I just brought it to kill time.”

Vaiel averted his face.

……It looks like his taste in books contrasts with his appearance.

Stealing glances at him reading the thick poetry collection, Kagura smiled wryly without him noticing.

“I’ll step out for a bit. I want to drink some coffee to keep myself awake.”

“Kagura, you still haven’t fixed your nocturnal lifestyle?”

“It’s been a routine for some years now after all. Before noon like this is the peak of my sleepiness. I’ll somehow make it to night if I manage to pull through this.”

She lightly shook her head and held fast to her consciousness.

“Are you three okay with coffee?”

“Ah, Kagura for me──”

“Remember the milk, right? I know Monica’s usual.”

She went towards the far side door while holding Machina machine pearl . Ahead of the vast hall lay the intersection that split into a labyrinth.

“……If I remember, there should be a vending machine in the lobby.”

With Machina machine pearl ahead of her, she left the room. She at times made a turn at an intersection and sometimes went straight down a passage, taking the shortest route to the lobby. Just before she turned the last corner.

Clatter.

With a mechanical sound, all the ceiling lights went bright red.

“ Warning: The Administrative Department is declaring a state of emergency in Building Two.

I repeat. The Administrative Department has declared a state of emergency in Building Two. “

“!?”

She stopped and turned around without thinking.

A building-wide warning? That and these red lights are anything but normal. It’s on the level of emergency training or having a great number of Yuugenshu attacking this Lagoon floating archipelago .

“No way, could it really be Yuugenshu!?”

The Governmental Sector workers around her as well didn’t know the situation and had stopped. The meeting room’s door in the distance opened and the staff that had been conducting the meeting also stepped out into the passage.

“ Intrusion from the front gate. The intruder has passed the gate’s security and is currently closing in on Building Two. “

……An intruder?

……They passed through the Governmental Sector’s front gate with force?

The security personnel, guards and automated mechanical weapons should have been deployed there. Special units for combating Yuugenshu shouldn’t have been lacking in numbers either.

“Jeez, what’s happening!”

Machina Machine pearl started moving again and she ran after it. She sprinted at full speed down the straight path and ran into the lobby packed with people.

At the end of this hall, Kagura saw something dreadful.

The glass door at the other end of the hall.

The two intruders approaching from the other side of the glass.

Black and Gold.

A man wearing a suit and pitch black hat which was pulled low over his eyes.

And the ominous spell caster in an ocher robe who was even larger than that man.

“…………Ah…………”

Her throat went dry and not even a scream came out.

……No……You’re kidding……It can’t be.

She didn’t know the Black one. However, she had seen the other spell caster before. She hadn’t forgotten, couldn’t forget. The spell caster that had wiped out consecutive units from Sophia Tenketsu Palace by himself.

“ My Golden Hexehedral is invincible. “

The spell caster swung up his right hand.

The ground ── the brown asphalt swelled up and created an avalanche of rocks pretty much like a tsunami. The armored vehicles and specially armored weapons surrounding the intruders as well as the guards were all swept away by the avalanche to a distant location.

In just dozens of seconds, the entire defense force outside Building Two went silent.

……It’s the real one……these overpowering spells.

……There’s no way it’s a fake……

‘ Golden ‘ Maha.

The opponent that she and Sheltis had once repelled in a life or death battle. But why was he attacking the Governmental Sector? It was believed without a doubt that he was an assassin of the Governmental Sector’s that time he had wiped out Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s units.

……Then Maha isn’t a part of Sophia Tenketsu Palace or the Governmental Sector?

He’s part of a completely different group?

“……Igun-I.”

“Yes, yes.”

The pitch black man answered Maha’s mutter with a smile.

……Igun-I? That’s the other one’s name?

Kagura’s ears which were longer than a human’s ears picked up a little of that conversation.

The enemy was outside and she was in the lobby. They shouldn’t be aware of her existence so they wouldn’t consider being overheard.

“Well then, Maha-san, we’ll meet at the arranged location.”

Pulling the hat far enough to hide his eyes, Igun-I bowed. Like that, he turned his back on his companion, Maha, and headed off in the direction of Building Four.

Is it a two-pronged attack? No, right now, there’s something more important than that.

“…………”

She could feel cold sweat upon her cheek under the machine helmet.

I can’t stop it myself. No, all the guards in the Governmental Sector can’t stop these monsters. Only one person can do it.

……I have to tell him.

……I have to tell Sheltis.

Kagura ran to the break room that the dual sword-wielding boy was waiting.

### 034. Part 5

Governmental Sector, central area, Triumphal Arch.

It had been about half an hour since getting on a large transport vehicle when they came to see a large pure white gate shining in the sunlight.

Guessing by sight, the height was four or five metres. The width was well over twice that. Of course, it was a scale that would allow this large transport vehicle and even a large armored vehicle to pass through easily.

“It looks like we’ve arrived, so everyone please exit the vehicle.”

Yuragi descended from the passenger seat at the front and pointed at the large gate.

“The central area is from this gate onwards. If we compare it with the Orbie Clar floating continent , this area would be synonymous with the Living Districts and at it’s center is the agency known as the ‘ Governmental Sector ‘. Around this area is as you know.”

“……That’s a large gate. It’s white and large like Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

Ymy looked up at the pure white gate in front and sighed in admiration.

Maybe it was to avoid standing out in a crowd. Her current clothes were a common sky blue blouse with frills and a white mermaid skirt.

“It is known as the Triumphal Arch. At the time the Governmental Sector moved from the Orbie Clar floating continent to this Lagoon floating archipelago , it was a gift conferred by Sophia Tenketsu Palace as a proof of friendship. The pure white color is as Ymy-sama stated, it was done in the image of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Is that so? S-sorry……I’m bad at history like that.”

“It’s fine; that is why the explanation has its worth.”

Yuragi pulled out something that looked like a tourism pamphlet. When he wondered what she was doing, she rolled up that pamphlet ── and pointed towards the path that led on past the Triumphal Arch.

“Let’s begin touring the city immediately. Or so I’d like to say, but we only have to walk straight down this road.”

It was a public road that was wide enough to have a footrace on.

The surface was a glossy black. The materials used to coat the ground also seemed special and the ground’s hardness couldn’t be felt when they walked on it. It was a feeling like walking atop a cushion.

“Such strange materials. Yuragi-san, what does this pavement use?”

“It’s asphalt with chemical fibres woven in. I’ve heard that the Governmental Sector’s development division is gathering data on it as an experimental material. It absorbs the impacts from walking and if a child falls, it’ll only end with a light injury.”

“……That’s quite intriguing. I’ll take a little data.”

Kagura squatted down and poked at the pavement’s surface.

“Kagura-san, it’s fine if you’re staring at the ground but pay attention to the front properly as well.”

Maybe that action was strange. In a rare moment, Yuragi smiled broadly in a natural fashion unlike her usual business smile.

“In front?”

“Yes, to both sides of this road.”

The large public road stretched out into the distance so far that it seemed like a mirage. The countless carts and food stalls that lined both sides of that street were the highlight of the scene.

Of course, there were carts and food stalls selling food and drinks that weren’t seen on the Orbie Clar floating continent , as well as flower shops, astrology shops, clothing and accessory shops, and even massage booths. Each of those was decorated with their own unique ornaments, calling out to the tourists that were walking through that public road.

“……Such amazing fervor; you can’t see a crowd of booths like this on the Orbie Clar floating continent .”

“Yes. The difference between this Lagoon floating archipelago and the Orbie Clar floating continent is in that ‘ density ‘. Ah, you over there, could I get mixed juice for all of us? Include straws.”

Turning to the boy vendor, Yuragi flicked out a pure metal coin.

“This island is only an eighth of the size of the Orbie Clar floating continent . Within that small area, the residents, travelers and merchants are gathered so the density naturally became high. ──Yes, thank you. It’s fine if you keep the change as pocket money.”

The secretary took the paper cup with drink the boy was holding.

“Go ahead, Ymy-sama and everyone else. The moon viewing apple and blue lemon juice……because of the climate, neither of them are cultivated on the Orbie Clar floating continent .

Let’s see, let’s see ── the instant Sheltis drank the sample half, the pleasant aroma of fresh sourness and faint sweetness spread within his mouth.

……Ah, this is delicious.

This cool and gentle refreshing feeling is something that other drinks fall just short of.

“This tastes good. It’s not too sweet nor too strong.”

“……Hmph, it’s not bad.”

Kagura and Vaiel who had cautiously confirmed the smell had also drank a mouthful and it seemed it had fit their fancy, so they drank a second.

“That’s a relief. There are many other delicious cuisines so please enjoy it so long as it doesn’t affect tonight’s dinner party. ……What I wanted Ymy-sama to know was in fact this.”

“This……was it?”

Ymy stopped the hand she had the juice in and asked back blankly.

“This scenery isn’t bad, right?”

Yuragi who was walking at the forefront spread her hands in a slight gesture.

The road ahead was overflowing with the fervor of the tourists and vendors and would have anyone’s eyes shining. That scene was not different at all from something that could be seen at the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“The Governmental Sector has two sides. The side that acts as a political opponent to Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the other is this. The side that acts to regulate and eagerly strives to preserve this lively townscape. Both of them are real and not a ruse.”

“……Truly, it’s different from what I imagined.”

Ymy who was looking around at the public road nodded with a subdued expression.

“Of course, marking the Governmental Sector as a ‘ good thing ‘ is premature. But on the other hand, I think that knowing about this side is important.”

“Y-yes. It’s become a really good reference!”

“That’s great. ……You also drank all the juice; the child from before is also delighted.”

Ymy nodded many times. Yuragi took the empty paper cup that she had been holding with a smile and quietly threw it into the collection bin on the side of the public street.

“By the way, about Ymy-sama’s escort”

“Ishtar-san, is it. ……H-huh? Come to think of it, she’s been quiet since a while ago.”

Ymy looked around for the escort that should have been beside her.

“ Ah, over there, Ymy, at that child vendor. She’s in the middle of discussing with that kid that sold us juice. “

In the direction that Ilis machine crystal had talked about ── the figure of the spear user could be seen handing a coin to the boy Yuragi had bought juice from, receiving juice that was bottled in clear glass in return.

“Okay, onee-chan, two one-litre bottles of the juice from before!”

“Thanks. With this, the souvenir for I’sa-chan is settled, yep. Buying Jin’s portion as well and that’s two bottles. Perfect! Ah, the dry flowers over there are also really beautiful!? That might also be a good souvenir for I’sa-chan!”

Putting the two glass bottles under her arm, she went further and further away.

“……Somehow it feels like she’s really enjoying herself.”

“Yes, but it also feels like that’s fine. Ymy-sama is also in disguise so it would be more unnatural for Ishtar-sama to stick right next to her as an escort, right?”

The Priestess sighed and Yuragi had her arms folded with a wry smile.

“Shall we go find a good bargain like Ishtar-sama?”

“Th……that’s right.”

She tightened her fists and turned towards her senpai, the ex-apprentice Priestess.

“Monica-senpai, let’s also go with the intention of not losing!”

“Ehh! W-with me!?”

“Didn’t you take me out for shopping together in the past?”

“Th……that’s right but……umm.”

The unit captain let her gaze wander in embarrassment.

“…………Well, it can’t be helped. If that’s also included in escorting.”

The wind blew into the public street. Her sakura-colored hair flowing, Monica took her kouhai’s hand and walked on.

“However, don’t separate from me. It looks like Ishtar-sama is also doing whatever she wants so I have to protect you.”

“Y-yes!”

The two held each other’s hands and walked.

They should be close to them but not at too close a distance and keep watch──

“Ah. Hey, hey, Sheltis, are you by any chance jealous?“

“Not at all.”

“ Eh─, but the position by Ymy’s side has been taken. Really? Really? “

……Idiot.

Bearing it with a wry smile, he shook his head sideways.

“The one beside her is Monica, a girl. What’s more, she’s Ymy’s senpai, and looking at that great relationship makes me also feel happy.”

“ ……Well, that laid-back attitude is very like you. “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ sigh resembled an amazed laugh.

And in a spot a little further away, Vaiel with a tired out face,

“But you know, it’s such a pain to walk on and on. How far are we going?”

“A little more. Somebody with good vision should be able to see it soon.”

Yuragi prompted in the direction the large public road extended.

Above the horizon that her gaze led to, a towering black shadow stood with a grand sea of clouds as its backdrop.

……That is.

“That is the Governmental Sector. It is the agency that oversees this world’s politics including legislation and the administration of justice and it is the place that everybody will be visiting tomorrow.”

Yuragi narrowed her eyes behind her glasses.

“I believe this is something you’re already aware of but the Governmental Sector was formerly a member of the Orbie Clar floating continent . About half a century ago, they contested their respective authorities and it ended up in a separation from the Orbie Clar floating continent ……it has existed since then as the agency focused on legislation and the administration of justice.”

“However, by splitting up, they also removed the reason for discord. As a result, it repaired their amiable relationship to the current state. ……It’s nostalgic, that was back when I was still a bad kid.”

An elderly person that was standing behind the group looked up. Taking that gaze on directly, the woman who was part of the Governmental Sector smiled.

“It is as the General Affairs Bureau Chief stated. The assembly tomorrow is also for the purpose of promoting deeper friendship. At the very least, that’s what I believe personally.”

Personally. She emphasized that unnatural part. Basically, that was to say that even if she thought that way, above that ── there were those who didn’t think that in the center of the Governmental Sector.

“Umm, Yuragi-san, is it okay if I ask something really fundamental?”

“Yes. It’s just that in actuality, my senses as someone working at the administration department tell me that the consul is a figurehead in the end. In actuality, the ones administrating the law are the former old parliamentary members. ……The three administrators are the three oldest parliamentary members; you could say they act the part of elders.”

The three administrators and the parliament known as the former old parliament with its members.

Those were the top executives that ran the Governmental Sector.

“The ones that will be in charge of the assembly tomorrow are the former old parliament members but the administrator elders should also be present at tonight’s dinner party. It will likely be suffocating for Ymy-sama.”

“ Fumu, fumu. Well, putting dinner aside, isn’t it fine if we’re enjoying right now? “

Ilis Machine crystal threw in some appropriate response in a nonchalant tone.

At a place away from the group ── two girls were in the middle of walking around the carts.

“Ah, Monica-senpai! I found a rare accessory shop on the other side!”

“Well, wait, Ymy, I’m interested in these fabrics here.”

“But, but, it seems like the accessories over here are special products?”

“Even this plant fibre isn’t available outside of this island──”

Even though they were pointing at completely opposite directions, neither of their hands would let go of the other.

It was like a scene of two sisters with a great relationship.

“……Their relationship was really good, wasn’t it, Monica and the Priestess-sama.”

“Both sides are brats, they’re brats.”

Rather than feeling touched, Kagura and Vaiel were now taken aback.

“ Hey, Sheltis, I’m gonna ask again but you’re really not jealous? “

“……That’s why I’m asking, why do you think that?”

Without even bothering to hide his bitter sigh, Sheltis once again looked on over the two from behind.

.

### 035. Part 5

Room 700, [Asterhythm].

Under the artificial sunlight’s shine was a table surrounded by three women. None of them made to speak and each of their expressions was almost like a contrast to the other two.

The Cadres Guard smiled with her head propped up in her hands.

The bespectacled secretary was looking down at the notebook in her hands basically expressionless.

The Priestess in the center of those two ── Ymy was biting her lip and staring at Ishtar.

“……Could I get you to explain it once more from the start?”

“That’s fine─, Ishtar went a little too fast earlier as well.”

The Elite Guard deepened her smile.

“As Ymy-sama said earlier, there is a clear discrepancy in what each side is saying. First, what Sophia Tenketsu Palace demanded an explanation for was ‘ We’d like to have an explanation as to what a research facility of unknown purpose was doing on an uncharted part of the Lagoon floating archipelago . ‘, right?”

“……It’s as I said earlier.”

The Governmental Sector did not deny the existence of the research facility either.

However, their assertion was that it was a research facility for the purpose of testing the soil quality of the Lagoon floating archipelago . They said that it had been abandoned long ago and fallen out of use. They stated there was no obligation to map an abandoned research facility so it had been removed from the record.

──They kept to the point of not knowing about the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.

“That’s right─. And what was the Governmental Sector seeking……umm.”

“It was about Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s emergency landing on that Lagoon floating archipelago . As well as an explanation for the recent unauthorized landings by a Sophia Tenketsu Palace airship here.”

Yuragi said as she eyed through the record of the proceedings.

“Ahh, right, right. And well, we’ve honestly apologized about the unauthorized landing on the island that started this all. But the other half can’t be agreed upon. Our airships haven’t had an unauthorized landing in several years besides this incident. Right, Ymy-sama?”

“……Yeah.”

Even if they had intruded on Governmental Sector airspace with some objective in mind, if it was at a level that would sow discord with the Governmental Sector, then it would definitely be reported to a Priestess.

“That’s right. The Priestess-sama doesn’t know and Ishtar hasn’t heard anything like that as well. I think this is a fabrication. It’s just that the Governmental Sector doesn’t care if it stays at that.”

“The facility that was on the Lagoon floating archipelago ……they’re able to make it vague?”

“That’s right, it would be bad if they keep that topic consistent over the four day period of this assembly.”

Ishtar smiled while still leaning on her hands over the table.

“Ymy-sama has absolute authority concerning Yuugenshu as a Priestess. However, unless the talks advance to the crucial Yuugenshu, no matter how much you sit at the meetings, you won’t become a threat to the Governmental Sector. That’s why at the very least, ‘The Governmental Sector created the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.’ ── the talks must proceed at least this far or Ymy-sama won’t have a chance to make a move.”

“I……have the intention of that but”

But it can’t be helped, can it. Even if Sophia Tenketsu Palace wants to advance the talks from that direction, the Governmental Sector is obstinately denying it.

“That’s right. Then here’s the real issue that leads into. Okay? The plan Ishtar’s thinking of is as I said before. There’s only one aim, in other words,”

.

──An infiltration into the Governmental Sector’s central division.

.

“If we receive Yuragi-chan’s help, an infiltration is possible. We’ll obtain the observation records for the Lagoon floating archipelago that has become a problem. The point is that we’ll thrust evidence at the Governmental Sector. Irrefutable evidence, that is.”

“That’s no good!”

She put power into the hands atop her lap.

“That kind of dangerous action……I won’t allow it! There’s no way you can make it to the deepest part division of the Governmental Sector with that kind of improvised”

“We will proceed.”

Yuragi stared at one point on the notebook.

“Putting aside whether I agree with Ishtar’s plan or not, I can search for digital information with my authority. However, that data has a limit to how much we can trust it. There isn’t a reason for the Governmental Sector to leave correct records so a falsification like ‘Concerning the Lagoon floating archipelago , there is no history of a Yuugenshu breeding tank experiment’ is highly possible.”

“In that case……even more so. There will be no reckless invading!”

If the information she had tired herself out for were the truth, it would pay off. But if the information obtained after braving such risks were fake, it would be terrible.

“Now, now, Ymy-sama. Yuragi-chan only said that the digital records were fake, you know─? What if there were records left about the floating archipelago other than the digital information ─”

Other than the digital information.

Paper……? Or a sound recording?

No, regardless of which, there was a possibility that the contents were fake. It wouldn’t be strange if all the documents concerning that Lagoon floating archipelago were rewritten.

“As Ishtar-sama said, what we are seeking is eternal information. Absolutely unmodifiable and undestroyable, an objective and absolute truth……if you’re thrusting it at the Governmental Sector, nothing else will work.”

“That kind of thing──”

.

“……’ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘.”

.

Yuragi’s words were made with an unusually strong tone that shook the air.

“I also haven’t seen the actual thing but it is the Governmental Sector’s secret treasure. With a gigantic crystal manufactured ages ago, within the time period of hundreds of years, it has recorded every event that happened on the ̣̪ Orbie Clar floating continent and the Lagoon floating archipelago . It seems it’s a system application of territory-type shinryoku techniques or something.”

“Mikuva’s Crimson Eye……you’re kidding. Does that really exist?”

A crystal with a shinryoku technique applied.

When Ymy was still an apprentice Priestess, there was a rumor that she heard.

It seemed like there was a treasure known as the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ that the Governmental Sector was hiding which recorded everything that happened on the Orbie Clar floating continent and the Lagoon floating archipelago . It was information that the spy who had infiltrated the Governmental Sector even before Ymy and Sheltis had even knocked on Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s gate obtained. However, ten years had passed already without her obtaining definite proof.

……I didn’t believe it at all at the time.

……But if that really exists.

“It is information I received very recently from the secretary for the former old parliament’s members.”

“Say, say, Yuragi-chan, Ishtar asked before too but she’ll confirm it once more. Can we really trust in that thing that sounds like a lie? Is it a trustworthy source?”

Yuragi wordlessly nodded to Ishtar who was propped on her hands.

“Yes. I don’t know if its function is as the rumors conveyed to Sophia Tenketsu Palace but that a treasure of that name exists can be more or less confirmed. Other than that, there’s nothing else but to conjecture about the truth of the Governmental Sector hiding the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Ah! But if you try saying it”

Ymy continued from Yuragi’s words as if flowing from them.

──If you think that that exists, then you can also understand the Governmental Sector’s anecdote.

“Does Ishtar-san not know? That the Governmental Sector’s technology is three months behind Tenketsu Palace’s is a pretty famous story amongst the Priestesses and apprentice Priestesses.”

“Heeh, that might be my first time hearing that─. What do you mean?”

“Umm……this isn’t about the Governmental Sector’s system being slow but it’s an anecdote to the contrary.”

No matter how ground-breaking of a discovery Sophia Tenketsu Palace makes in shinryoku research, the Governmental Sector would follow that several months later.

“Like the Priestess’ training methods or the report contents of research results for shinryoku……of course, it’s not everything but included in that are even things treated as secrets; the Governmental Sector would end up at the same discovery……and that happens with a frequency that I can’t imagine to be a coincidence.”

There were also rumors that the shinryoku practitioners in the Governmental Sector were always watching twenty four hours a day. Because of this danger of being seen, truly important experiments and information had a shinryoku barrier erected beforehand.

“Fumu, fumu, if that information were also being gathered via the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘, then it would be understandable. Well, Sophia Tenketsu Palace is also like that so it’s not strange if the Governmental Sector possesses something like that.”

Ishtar was nonchalant to the end.

“By the way, recorded every event means……umm, basically, that if we ask that crystal what I’sa-chan is doing right now, we’ll find out?”

“I think so.”

“Oh─!? Ishtar’s also interested in that. Like whether I’sa-chan is properly eating alone, onee-chan is very, very worried───”

“But if you’re not chosen by that crystal, it’s no use.”

“Eh?”

The Cadres Guard blinked.

“That is”

“‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ has a condition……to operate it, right?”

Before Yuragi said that, Ymy focused on her.

“……You surprised me. You knew about the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘?”

“Nope. But if it’s a system with shinryoku applied, then I would guess there’s a limitation.”

There are three techniques representative of territory-type shinryoku techniques.

Clairvoyance and far sight as well as telepathy. Each of these had the possibility to capture scenes or sound from a distance.

“For example, in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there is system that uses shinryoku as a key. The tower’s top floor and the door to the room in which Priestesses pray for Hyouketsu Kyoukai won’t allow anybody except for those with a special shinryoku wavelength to pass. I just thought that that giant crystal would require a similar key.”

“I see……then it certainly seems like there’s hope. That giant crystal might also show Ymy-sama the truth.”

Yuragi took off her glasses and sighed with a faint wry smile.

“As Ymy-sama said, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ will select suitable individuals itself and won’t show anything to anyone else. If we were to go from that──”

“The Governmental Sector also hasn’t found someone perfectly qualified either, you mean?”

That phrase.

Yuragi swallowed and Ishtar raised one eyebrow.

“Say, say, Ymy-sama, why do you know that much?”

“Umm……if I said it simply, it’s because wide area observation with shinryoku is really arduous. No matter how much it uses shinryoku, it’s not like everything is solved.”

Let’s say for example that we’re observing the entirety of the floating continent and detected each and every conversation. Just how extraordinary is that ── Ymy didn’t have the confidence to succeed in that either. If you wanted one hundred percent accuracy then even amongst the Priestesses, there’s probably only Syun-rei.

“For such an amazing crystal, there must also be suitably amazing people or it won’t work.”

“That’s exactly right. The condition for the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ is still unknown……it is said that something about shinryoku is the key but whether it’s the quantity of shinryoku or wavelength is unknown. There are incompletely suitable individuals but the Governmental Sector hasn’t found a perfectly qualified person yet.”

──Qualified person?

What……what is this feeling that seems like dizziness?

Due to the feeling that also resembled nervousness, her heart’s throbbing wouldn’t settle down.

……Mikuva’s Crimson Eye.

……Records all events……an observation system?

……Mikuva……I feel like I’ve heard that term somewhere else before.

It really was just recently. Is so, then where? From who? It wasn’t someone amongst the Priestesses nor was it Sheltis and she shouldn’t have heard it from one of the tower’s clerks. If so───

.

“ The beginning is a thousand years ago at the illusionary paradise. Now, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── when you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, what will be your impressions? “

.

……It was that time.

The scene from a thousand years in the past that was shown to her by the woman who identified herself as Tsali.

When I realized it, I was already collapsed in a park I didn’t know the location of. When I fought the Yuugenshu, two girls appeared.

Shasa and Ilis, within the conversation of the girls who called each other these names.

.

“ I’m counting on you, [Machine God Mikuva]-san. “

“ I believe I have introduced myself as Ilis before? “

.

……That’s right, the term Mikuva came up at that time.

An instant.

“He─y, Ymy-sama, is something wrooong?”

“Fue? U-umm……i-it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

Having her finger grabbed by Ishtar, Ymy finally returned to herself.

“P-please, Yuragi-san, continue!”

“Yes. Or so I’d like to say, but I’ve already everything that I should. What’s left is Ymy-sama’s decision.”

If they could access the crystal treasure, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘, that the Governmental Sector was hiding, the case on the Lagoon floating archipelago would also become clear. She’d heard rumors about that since her time as an apprentice Priestess and Yuragi was also asserting that it existed to that extent so maybe it would be fine to believe it does.

……But the risk is too large.

“That’s illegal infiltration after all, right.”

“Yes. I only have knowledge of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘……it’s said to be in a place known as the Holy Corridor and the defense system is also a secret. If you’re caught there, you won’t be able to talk your way out of it and you should also be prepared for the relationship between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector to collapse.”

“One more thing, this is the question I received from Ishtar-sama at noon. ‘Does a fighter with strength rivaling the Sennenshi exist in the Governmental Sector?’ ──I’ll tell you starting from the results, it’s at the level of ‘There are rumors that there are.’ Sophia Tenketsu Palace is also has rumors about important things such as whether there’s a sixth Priestess or whether the Queen also has a partner of overwhelming strength like the Sennenshi.”

“Fu─n, then we can say they’re there as rumors?”

“Ishtar-sama……are your a believer of such stories?”

“Rather than believing, Ishtar thinks it’s normal for her.”

Quite easily, the Cadres Guard nodded aloofly.

“Eh? Wh-why do you think that?”

“The basis is……mm─ it’s kinda hard to explain. Well, anyway, she is. This is the truth. Ishtar was thinking it would be a pain if that were at that Holy Corridor place. ……And so at the conclusion of all of that is the thing that Ymy-sama said just now.”

Releasing the bridge formed with both her arms, she pointed her lovely index finger at the ceiling.

“Shall we review it one more time? First we have to try coming into contact with the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ that the Governmental Sector is hiding. If that succeeds, then it solves everything. The problem is that in the case it fails, it will be bad for Ishtar and Ymy who are amongst the leadership of the tower and possibly even Yuragi-chan. Then what should we do? We just have to have an underling that we can use to shirk responsibility go .”

“…………”

Beneath the table, Ymy suppressed her shaking fists desperately.

……That’s right, that was it.

……The thing that I can’t permit no matter what.

This person had the intentions of ‘ using ‘ someone from the Cadet Guards as a throwaway pawn.

“And just as well, there are four Cadet Guards traveling with us this time─. As long as we explain the circumstances without difficulty, couldn’t they infiltrate solo? If it succeeds then that’s great and if they’re caught and it becomes a problem, we can say ‘The executives knew nothing and this was our subordinates’ independent action’ to shirk responsibility.”

She bit her lip hard enough to spurt blood.

If not……she would get excited and be unable to keep her calm and would surely lose something dear to her heart. It was because she felt that.

“Would the Priestess-sama order that……?”

She’s asking whether I would tell the Guards who protect me at the tower ‘Go.’ simply because it’s convenient for me.

“ If Ymy-sama has the intention of continuing on as a Priestess from now, she should make the order ──”

Ishtar’s verdict was cruel.

“What is the reason in this world for why Ymy-sama forms the barrier with pained feelings?”

There was no need to have it said to her.

It was because the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and the Yuugenshu that lived there were a threat to the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“But you know, Ymy-sama? Not everyone in this world is strong enough to oppose the Yuugenshu like Ishtar and Ymy. Everyone is weak ……if you were to ask Ishtar, I’sa-chan who became a Regular Guard is also too weak. There’s no guarantee that child can win against the Yuugenshu. Even more so for the citizens that live in the Living Districts.”

Gently, gently. With a voice just like a lullaby.

The expression on her face was once again gentle to a point she had never seen before.

“However there is somebody planning something by breeding a Yuugenshu. That absolutely cannot be allowed. After confirming their objective ─── we crush them. There’s no chance but this one, you know?”

With the assembly in motion, Guards had been able to come to the island freely.

Even more so now that the attention was focused on the Priestess, the alertness of the Governmental Sector was rooted to the assembly. If they were going to invade the Governmental Sector’s central division, there would be no second time where such conditions lined up.

……I understand that.

……However.

“My, my, don’t make that brooding face, Ymy-sama. It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t think about what happens after failure; it’ll be fine if we just select those with the skill to infiltrate the Governmental Sector .”

The Elite Guard waved her hand in a frivolous manner.

“Well then, Ishtar-sama, you would select the most skilled person from Monica-sama’s group……is the normal line of thought, but more concretely who?”

“Nope, I don’t know. That’s why I think it’d be fine if we choose Monica-san──”

“W-wait!”

Ymy interrupted Yuragi and Ishtar’s conversation with a shout. With enough vigor to kick the table in front of her, she stood from her seat.

“Monica-senpa……I don’t want to tell Monica-san that.”

“Whyyyy?”

“……Because”

She bit on the edge of her lower lip.

“If I said that to that person……she would decide to say she would go by herself. She’s the kind of person who will definitely reject something that invites danger to the unit.”

It would be decided that rather than having her comrades do it, she would do it herself. But that was too much. In the one in ten thousand chance she was caught, it was possible she would be detained in the Governmental Sector and unable to return.

“Well, that’s true. Ishtar also feels like she’s that kind of person. But if it’s not her, then who?”

“……That is……”

…………Is there no one else except Monica-senpai?

Someone in that unit with more experience than Monica-senpai and moreover a person I can trust. The person I can definitely trust to make this succeed───

“……Wai……t……please.”

Frantically holding back her shrill voice, Ymy muttered as if coming unbound.

……There is one.

There is an amazing Cadet Guard in that unit. Amongst the Cadet Guards……no, an amazing Guard that wouldn’t lost even to the Sennenshi is there. Even while he was exiled from Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the childhood friend that single-handedly ran all the way to the Grand Santuary when Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated by the Great Yuugenshu Invasion──

……Sheltis.

……But can I ask something so dangerous of Sheltis?

Can I ‘order’ my childhood friend as a Priestess?

“…………”

Her dizziness, headache and feverishness all melded into each other within her chest. The room should be air conditioned but her body couldn’t stop trembling.

“……Give me……some time.”

“That’s fine─, but the time limit is tomorrow night.”

Ishtar combed her golden hair behind her with her fingers.

“The target is the final day of the assembly; we will present the ‘ truth ‘ about the Lagoon floating archipelago on the fourth day of the assembly. In that case, it is necessary to access ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ on the day after tomorrow the third day of the assembly and preparations the day before are also needed. If so, then we need to talk about the infiltration job by tomorrow night or it’ll be poor, you know?”

“I……understand.”

……Tomorrow was the limit.

……I have to decide by tomorrow night.

“…………”

“Sorry……could I get some rest?”

Without waiting for answers from the other two, she walked towards the bedroom──

.

While feeling her consciousness growing hazy, Ymy collapsed on the bed.

### 036. Part 5

Ten at night.

The Governmental Sector’s surveillance system obtained the number of people remaining in the office building by doing a simultaneous scan for all electronic card keys. Buildings with nobody left in them had their lights turned off. At the same time, areas with nobody in them had passages set in them so that non-staff members could not pass through.

……With this, the first issue is cleared.

Masking his breathing in a stall in the men’s bathroom, he had been doing deep breathing for several hours.

The area he was hiding had its lights turned off all at once. In other words, it served as proof that an outsider like Sheltis had been recognized by the surveillance system to have ‘left the building‘.

“It looks like Yuragi-san did her part.“

“……Now we just have to wait.”

He was biding time.

Whether one or many areas had their lights turned off, until infiltration became easy.

“……Ilis, I think it’s fine if we talk a little now.”

“In a low voice, sure. If we’re too loud and get found, all our hard work up until now will come to nothing.“

Restraining his voice to the limit, Sheltis continued on in what was pretty much talking to himself.

“……There was something I changed my mind about yesterday.”

“Are you nervous about the infiltration that’ll be happening right now or something?“

No ── Sheltis wordlessly shook his head at Ilis machine crystal who was shaking at his chest.

“See, I was glad that Ymy and I could come here together for this mission but……maybe I shouldn’t be happy with that kind of thing.”

“……Because your goal lies further ahead of that. Being together on a mission is a nice point of contact but it would be bad to be satisfied with that?“

“That’s what I think.”

The impetus was last night. When Ymy came to him with a request. He was happy that she’d come to consult him. Certainly, he had thought that the day before yesterday, but that was wrong.

“It really was wrong of me to make Ymy cry back then.”

Maybe if he wasn’t a Cadet Guard, but a Sennenshi.

Maybe if he was……not cursed with a mateki-ridden body, he should have been closer to her than anyone and comforted her before she had come to worry that much.

“You’re starting anew to become Ymy’s Sennenshi. Don’t forget your initial resolution.“

“Right……sorry, that’s all I wanted to say.”

“Okay.“

The curtain of silence once again descended──

How much time has passed since then?

It’s easily close to ten hours since the meeting.

When the feeling of waiting ceased to be a feeling and his sense of time froze.

──Clack.

In the unlit men’s restroom, the sound of high heels that shouldn’t have been present rang out.

“It’s Yuragi. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“……I’m a little tired; it’s the first time I’ve ever holed up at a toilet so long.”

He saw a woman he recognized through the open door.

“Everything’s an experience.”

Wearing a business smile, the secretary turned around.

“Our destination is building four, section 31, where we’ll sneak into the underground with an elevator on the eastern end. By the way, our current location is building two, section 61. It’s a long way from building two to building four……let’s get walking?”

“It’s fine even if it takes time, so please use a safe route.”

“Of course. I also wish to avoid the surveillance cameras to the best of my ability so please follow me exactly as if tracing my footsteps.”

Oozing resolve from behind her glasses, Yuragi started walking. Sheltis followed after her with his breathing suppressed.

### 037. Part 5

“Wha……what……is……this!?”

In response to the sudden announcement and red lamp lighting.

There had been nothing like this since she’d snuck into the Governmental Sector. Nothing had happened when she’d escorted Sheltis and intruded on the Holy Hall either.

……And what’s this rumbling?

“The building……just the building is shaking?”

Holding herself flat against the wall, Yuragi somehow managed to stay upright.

The tremors that seemed like they’d turn the ground inside out appeared to be getting larger and growing closer. This wasn’t an earthquake. It was a tremor like some giant lifeforms had banded together and were coming to them.

A giant lifeform, so possibly Yuugenshu?”

“No……this isn’t a joke……this is the interior of the building, you know!?”

They shouldn’t be able to advance without getting lost with the labyrinthine structure. It would be impossible for them to advance without being artificially guided.

“……What’s……going on……here?”

With a hand to the wall, she stepped her way to the door. She timidly reached out a hand to the doorknob. Something might be waiting on the other side. Resolving herself, she swung open the door with all her strength.

At the same time──

A giant lion’s claws and fangs tore through everything in sight.

…………Eh?

A lion. But I’ve never seen a bright red lion like this before. ……No way. Dangerous animals infiltrated this building and are attacking. That’s ludicrous.

Impossi────

“O〰kay, just stay still like that!”

Before her brain could process the voice that came from directly behind her, a white blade cut through the gap between her and the lion.

……All she managed to see was a momentary flash.

“Ah〰, it’s fine now. I cleaned it up.”

Ishtar rested the spear’s handle on her shoulder.

Just like she said, the lion had come to a sudden stop without a twitch. Without understanding what had been done ── the beast’s body crumbled into a lump of earth. With that, she finally understood that the flash from before had been a slash.

“Heeh, a red manticore, and it looks just like the real thing. Though it’d be the same even if it were real.”

She whistled with an expression of admiration.

“Yuragi-chan, hide here. Ishtar will meet with the enemy and come back.”

“E-enemy!?”

The Governmental Sector’s assailant. Then the broadcast from before was also real?

“Lock the door. Also, don’t make a sound. Isn’t it nice that you can nap now and nobody will find out? You were lacking sleep, right?”

“…………”

“Mm? What’s wrong?”

“……Pardon me, but you seem somehow happy.”

“I am happy.”

With a smile.

The Cadres Guard nodded with a smile like she was about to meet with family.

“Yup, I’m happy. The happiest. Ishtar’s waited for this for a long time .”

### 038. Part 6

[Asterhythm].

Returning to her own room, Ymy staggered to and collapsed on the sofa.

“……I-I made it back.”

“Good work today. How was the dinner party? I heard that all the head chefs in this hotel made a full course meal with everything from the menu without discretion for this day.”

Yuragi was looking over a large amount of documents on the table.

After the noon touring ended, it was finally time for the evening dinner party. A good three hours had passed and she had been keeping watch over the room during that time.

“……I was nervous and couldn’t taste anything. It would’ve been great if I could have had Ishtar-san eat in my place.”

“Ishtar ate many things from the carts while walking at noon after all.”

The person in question shook her head with a smile.

Her seat was also prepared in the dinner party but she had just sat there smiling from beginning to end and hadn’t laid a hand on any food.

“Also, it would’ve been problematic if something had been mixed into the food at the dinner party. Even if the hotel’s cook-san has no such intentions, I have to at least consider the possibility of poison in the food.”

“Ehhh!? Say that earlier!”

“Ymy-sama is a guest so you can’t very well refuse the food that you’re offered, right? Ishtar is an extra so it’s fine if she doesn’t eat.”

“……W-well.”

That’s true but wouldn’t it make somebody suspicious if they’re told that twice?

“That’s why Ishtar didn’t eat. She also considered poison testing by eating ahead of you but that would serve no purpose if the poison was of delayed effect. Rather than having both of you eat and both of you going down, if Ishtar at least is still fine, then she can look over Ymy-sama. Forcing you to expel the poison and such treatments are her specialty.”

“……I understand.”

“Right? Though I thought it would be fine nine times out of ten.”

She continued on with an indifferent tone.

……I wonder if that was the reason when she was eating while walking at the carts at noon.

Maybe she never had the intention of eating at the dinner party from the start.

“Ishtar-san is quite the outstanding individual.”

Yuragi shut her notebook and smiled.

“Ymy-sama has returned so it’s about time I also return to the Governmental Sector. I’ll be here at nine tomorrow morning to greet you.”

“……The assembly starts at ten, right.”

Forming a fist with her fingers that seemed like they would start shaking, Ymy let out a deep breath.

The former old parliament would be attending from the Governmental Sector’s central division. From Sophia Tenketsu Palace would be the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his private secretary. At this place that was specifically for politics and negotiations, she wondered whether she could really fulfill her role.

The Governmental Sector-owned ‘ island with no map ‘. The mysterious experiment facility and Yuugenshu breeding water tank that Sheltis’ group had discovered there ─── even though they had to cross-examine them about the goal for that.

“It’ll be fine if it’s Ymy-sama. Well then, I’m off.”

Yuragi replied with a calm tone and bowed. She saw off Yuragi who walked out the door with a leisurely pace.

“Ymy-sama, you don’t seem like you’re going to be able to sleep tonight, huh─? Is your heart racing?”

Ishtar removed the cloth wrapping her spear with a swoosh.

“……I was also told that by Meimel.”

“Ahaha, if this was I’sa-chan, then I’d hug her tight and say, ‘ It’ll be fine─ ‘. I wonder if the Priestess-sama wants to do that.”

Beneath the ceiling’s lighting, the spear sparkled by reflecting the light. Pearl-colored metal ── it was a strange material that was rarely used for Guards’ weapons.

“Umm……Ishtar-san.”

“What is iiit? What could the Priestess-sama be interested in─?”

While sitting down in the chair, the Cadres Guard leveled her spear horizontally. There was something about her that had been bothering Ymy since she’d met her.

“Ah, well, you really like your little sister-san.”

“I’sa, you meaaan? Yes, she’s Ishtar’s only family in any case.”

“What about your other family?”

“There are none─. Ishtar and I’sa have been alone since a long time ago.”

A family of just the two of them with no parents or relatives.

“I-I’m sorry……”

“It’s not something Ymy-sama has to apologize for, you know? And look, I’m carrying pictures.”

She rustled her breast pocket and pulled out a single picture.

Faded away by a large amount of time ── it was a picture showing the two blonde sisters.

The older sister was around over ten years old with a bright and cheerful air about her. The younger sister was still four or five. Compared with her older sister, she was more feeble and her expression was darker, leaving a timid impression.

“It’s a picture from almost ten years ago─, and this little girl is I’sa-chan.”

“……Are you possibly carrying that all the time?”

“Of course! I never let it off me!”

She gazed at the crumpled photograph dearly.

“I’sa-chan used to have a weak constitution long ago and would immediately get a fever, you know? On top of that, she was very spoiled and would cry while saying, ‘ It’s lonely when onee-chan isn’t here! ‘ when Ishtar went out to get her medicine.”

“……It’s somehow a little unexpected.”

.

“ My name is I’sa. Pleased to make your acquaintance. “

.

Ymy’s impression of the Regular Guard I’sa was completely the opposite.

A shinryoku practitioner that had become a Regular Guard in their teens and had a promising future. Her manners were good and she was calm with an understanding of the duties of a Guard.

“But she’s become really outstanding now so you should also be reassured as her onee-chan, right?”

“Mm─ that’s……well……I wonder.”

That was really unexpected. Just when she thought that a flat-out agreement would come immediately, she went silent with her spear held against her chest.

“Well, that’s that. Okay then, once more to fix the mood!”

She once again leveled the spear horizontally while seated on the chair.

She thought she would do something but she just stared into thin air with her spear readied. For Ymy who was unlearned in martial arts, it was an unknown action that couldn’t be identified as training.

“U-um. That is”

“This? I’m just maintaining my feel for the spear─; see here. I asked Meimel-sama to add a new shinryoku seal here so the spear’s weight changed.”

The figure of an azure spiral was carved into the spear’s handle.

It was a formal seal that would defend against a Yuugenshu’s mateki as well as destroy the crystal at the center of their bodies.

“……Would that change much?”

“Mm─ well, about forty seven hundredths of a gram, I guess ?”

Ymy completely didn’t understand the meaning of Ishtar’s words for a moment.

……0.47 grams?

A change in weight that didn’t even amount to more than half a gram. A weight that wouldn’t even amount to a slight amount of dust stuck together. Rather, it would be okay to write it off as a measurement error rather than calling it a change in weight……no, to begin with, is it possible to even notice such an exceedingly small difference?

.

“With great reverence and dignity do I carve my name. That’s the path I’ve chosen, Priestess-sama?”

.

A moment.

Her red lips whispered something…………or so she felt.

“Huh? Is so─mething up, Ymy-sama?”

“Eh……ah, umm.”

Putting her hand on her chest, she blinked many times and then Ymy looked at Ishtar.

“Y-you said something just now, didn’t you? Sorry, saying it that quietly and so fast……”

“Nope─, Ishtar didn’t say anything─”

H-huh. She didn’t say anything?

That shouldn’t……I certainly thought she said something. Also, she seemed like a completely different person for an instant but……that was also a misapprehension?

“Rather than that, Ymy-sama, is this fiiine?”

“Eh?”

“See, didn’t you make a promise with Monica-san and Kagura-san that you’d go to the baths together? You said you’d contact them after you returned from the dinner party.”

“Ah……ahhhhhhh, I-I forgooooot!?”

The hotel being reserved also meant that the large bath was reserved.

Without concern for status as a Priestess or Guard, they were going to chat while leisurely warming up with just the women ── that promise as well had flown out of her head due to the relief of having finished the dinner party.

“I-I wonder if it’s still fine. I wonder if everybody’s waiting for me……”

“If you’ve got time to worry, run, run!”

“R-riiiight!”

Holding a full change of clothes, Ymy flew out of the room.

“Oh my, oh my, how rushed.”

Looking on at the Priestess that had burst out of the room like a bullet, Ishtar softly loosened the edges of her mouth.

“……Now then, the assembly starts tomorrow─. It’ll be great if it goes well, I won’t say anything. But if not───”

With her pearl-colored spear held out horizontally, she quietly got up from the chair.

“I wonder if there will be a show of force?”

.

### 039. Part 6

Click──clack──

Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Sometimes they would pass through large meeting halls and sometimes they would use the emergency stairs.

……It’s more complicated than a real labyrinth.

……Rather than the security system or security workers, this is the best defense system.

I should memorize the route as much as possible. Realizing just how naive that notion was, Sheltis inwardly clicked his tongue.

“────”

Yuragi, who was continuing on ahead wordlessly, came to a stop just before reaching the intersection.

“You’ve been peeking backwards since a little while, so are you wary of being followed?”

“No. You’re the one catching my interest.”

The woman turned around with a rare bitter smile.

“Your footsteps are so quiet that it makes me uneasy……even though I came here with boots that have low sound output, I’ve only been able to hear my own footsteps for a while.”

“This is also part of an escort’s job. It would bother the protege if the escort’s footsteps were too loud, right?“

“Ah, that’s my line.”

“Because─, if Ilis doesn’t talk about something, it feels like she might die of boredom.“

“I’ll remember that. But please try to refrain from talking.”

She cleared away the wry smile on her face. Just when he thought she was going to start walking, she pulled out the card key in her breast pocket.

“There is a door just ahead of this intersection that serves as the connection to building four. It is a combination of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Mechanical Bureau and Shinryoku Theory Bureau which analyzes the Priestesses’ shinryoku information……you could say this building itself is a research organization. The other buildings take precedence over it publicly but it likely trumps the other three buildings combined in terms of classified information.”

A steel mechanical door was illuminated by a green emergency light. It was massive and solemn. Without Yuragi’s explanation, it would give off the overwhelming pressure of the entrance to a jail.

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

In response to the card key that Yuragi held out, the door’s central portion lit up. Just like the sea splitting apart, the tightly shut mechanical door began opening to the sides.

“This is section 1 and section 31 is further in.”

“Can I ask you one thing? I don’t think section 31 was on the map we received in the lobby.“

“It is as you surmised. I’ll explain as we walk.”

Just as her words indicated, she walked not too slowly and not too quickly.

“It’s a ‘stray section‘ that shouldn’t exist. There are many areas in this building called that by the staff that work here. On the map, it looks like there was simply a planning error resulting in a blank space or it’s just a garbage collection area……amongst them is a room that contains secrets of the highest confidentiality which regular staff can never come to know of.”

“And that’s section 31 in this building?”

“Yes. As for how many of them are in each building, probably only the elder of the senate knows everything. I don’t know anything except the count.”

They walked straight north and more north.

They mindlessly continued down the empty corridor devoid of sounds and people.

“It’s a little late but I must confess that it was unexpected.”

He thought about the implied meaning in her words a little and──

“That I came along and not Monica?”

“Yes. I thought it would be Monica-sama and bet a lunch on it……but it’s a pity. I lost to Ishtar-sama.”

“……Does that mean”

“Yes. Ishtar-sama bet that it would fall to you yesterday. She also added that Ymy-sama would select you herself. Pardon me, but are you an acquaintance of Ishtar-sama’s?”

“……I shouldn’t be.”

“Is that so……it’s nothing, I was just a little curious.”

A little childishness showed through in her smile.

However, that smile was also wiped away in an instant and she suddenly came to a stop ahead of him.

What stopped her was ── a giant door lit with emergency lights.

“It’s an emergency exit.”

“Would this kind of suspicious reader authentication device be on a normal emergency exit?”

Poking out on the side of the door was a box-shaped device.

“Please imagine a revolving door. Without a password, it’s just an ordinary emergency exit but only when authenticated with a special staff member’s authority, it will connect to the elevator within.”

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

From behind the door came the sound of a large motor. With a little rumbling underfoot, The sound of two things joining together roared out.

“Fuu. Now then, Sheltis-sama.”

Looking fixedly at her card key, she pushed it against his chest.

“Please take this.”

“……But this is Yuragi-san’s card key.”

“The elevator ahead of here is for a single person only. Furthermore, you must have a staff member’s authority to move it ── that is to say, you require the authority that my card key possesses.”

She bowed with a smile.

That lonesome gesture conveyed everything. She would only come this far.

“This is as far as I can guide you. Please make sure to return my card key, okay?”

“……Thank you.”

He held fast to the card key given to him.

Turning his back on Yuragi who still had her head bowed deeply, Sheltis walked on.

### 040. Part 6

The endlessly sounding warning.

The evacuation guidance broadcast played loudly however many times and the bright red lights on the ceiling were shining brilliantly. There was also a thunderous sound like the ground was rumbling.

“Oi, oi, what’s this?”

“……An intruder?”

Vaiel’s angry voice and Monica’s mutter.

“ Keep the pondering for later. Sheltis, your swords. “

Ilis Machine crystal lit up in dazzling crimson. The dual swords in his hands had vivid deep purple blades constructed upon their hilts.

“Monica, hurry!”

“Y-yeah. Okay ── I’m opening it.”

The unit leader had her Rosario crossed rods in hand as she kicked open the door with vigor.

The bright red lighting fell upon those of the Governmental Sector running about trying to escape. That even included the parliamentary members that had been at the conference.

“Even the conference participants!? Then what about the conference……what about Ymy!?”

Monica raised her voice with a pale face.

“ Sheltis, hurry to the meeting room! “

Got it ── with a nod, Sheltis turned towards the intersection. There were the sounds of the footsteps of a great many people.

“……This way. Hurry!”

Off-gold hair shone brightly.

With the girl in pure white vestments in the lead, the General Affairs Bureau Chief came next followed by his secretaries.

“Ymy!”

“Sheltis?……That’s great, there was a broadcast telling everybody to escape.”

Her shoulders moving with her breaths, the Priestess’ expression softened.

“General Affairs Bureau Chief, are any of you injured?”

“We have no impediments. But what’s the meaning of this uproar───”

“Sheltis!”

A shout cut off the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s words.

From the right-hand side of the intersection, the opposite of where Ymy’s group appeared, a small shadow was running towards them.

“Kagura!? I’m glad. I wondered what happened to you.”

“Mo……Monica……it’s……dangerous here. ……We need to……a wider place.”

With intermittent breaths and gasping, Kagura forced the words out.

“It’s him……Sheltis…………that monster───”

“ Zazakazada…………da……zakarakara……zadadadazakakakazadazakazada…………rada……rakazazakakadada……za……zaza……karakara……zadadadada………… ”

A noise-like aria that resembled the sound of a bug’s wings.

Sheltis understood everything the instant he heard that. Having understood everything ─── he understood just exactly how dangerous this situation was.

“Monica, I leave Ymy to you!”

He sprinted to the intersection without waiting for an answer.

He brandished his sword at the Golden spell caster that calmly appeared there. The spell caster shifted over the instant before the edge of his sword made contact.

“!?”

Spinning his body like a screw, he crossed his blades and the right arm that was shining gold came thrusting up. He took that with his left sword and ── he couldn’t mitigate it and was blasted up high into the air.

……This guy.

……It’s not the real Maha but just his automated puppet, huh!

Maha’s clone that was created in his image using gold. The last they’d met, it was the final spell that Maha had shown. Now it’s the opening move?

“ Sheltis, there’s another one to the rear! “

“──Kuu!”

At Ilis machine crystal ’ warning, he thrust out his blade before spinning around.

He repelled the fist of the second clone that seemed to have calculated where he’d land and kicked off its shoulder to open up some distance.

……Not just one but two. No.

Countless footsteps approached from further down the passage. There’s no way all these footsteps could be……

“My Golden Hexehedral is invincible.”

Then.

At least ten spell casters, dressed in golden robes and shining gold themselves, appeared. ……So he prepared a large number of clones beforehand for this attack.

The Governmental Sector’s security was wiped out cleanly by this.

……This is a sudden predicament.

It would take all his strength just to fight the real Maha. With this number of clones, not to mention if they made something, it would be unmanageable.

“Be crushed.”

Under Maha’s orders, the clones pushed nearer.

“Monica, take everyone and head to the meeting room!”

“I-idiot! What kind of──”

Before her answer, he lunged at the clones that were closing in from both directions.

The clones that were giving off a golden shine. They swung their fists at a speed invisible to the eye and he read their paths from the shoulder alone and dodged. He didn’t retreat backwards or jump to the side and passed through the countless clones’ fists ─── drawing nearer to Maha’s real body.

“Define.”

A crack opened up at Maha’s feet. The material coating the floor fragmented and the earth underneath that jetted out. That formed into the image of wriggling snakes.

“Extracting poisonous materials within the ground and performing pseudo-creation. The color is ‘ white ‘, nature is ‘ cowardly ‘, form is ‘ snake ‘. Ten shall appear, fangs laden in deadly poison. Defined to seal the enemy before me with poison.”

White snakes with deadly poison appeared as Maha’s advance guard.

……But I already saw this in our last battle.

Those defined with the ‘ cowardly ‘ nature would only attack an unmoving opponent.

“ ──Forcefully dispelling the previous definition. ”

The stiffened white snakes at Maha’s feet raised their heads at his voice.

“It’s a trap; Sheltis, dodge!”

Kagura shouted. At the same time, poisonous beasts filled his vision.

To dodge the enemies coming from above and below in every which direction, he jumped up to just beneath the ceiling. Kicking off the ceiling, he moved to a wall and then he kicked off that to land on the ground further to the rear.

At that instant.

His vision blurred momentarily from an intense impact and a violent pain ran through his left shoulder.

“……Kaa…………?”

His diaphragm convulsed from the shock transmitted through his left shoulder and his breathing stopped.

……Maha’s…………clone!

A single clone had circled around behind him when he landed. It had aimed for the point when he was completely defenseless. He clenched his molars at that failure as and Maha’s clones approached from all directions.

“Sheltis!”

The scream of his childhood friend echoed from behind.

……What to do.

With one arm numbed, the enemy’s fists were approaching from all directions. He couldn’t react to them all. With that in mind, he still poured power into the grip on his right sword──

Carve my name which is synonymous with great reverence and majesty

Otoga Wem millmo, HIr shoul da ora peg ilmeri giris ende zorm

All of Maha’s clones that were drawing near were blown away.

“……Eh.”

“ This is── “

Underneath the red lighting, a single pearl-colored precious spear was shining.

It was a super speed slash tranquil enough to not even stir up a single grain of dust but fast enough to leave behind a whirlwind.

Resisting or reacting were not permitted. Maha’s clones which were disappearing into the walls were cut perfectly in two in succession and returned to gold dust.

Everyone who was watching couldn’t move and even Maha stopped for a moment.

In the middle of that──

“O─kay! Sorry to keep you waiting, Ymy-sama, it’s Ishtar〰!”

Placing the handle of her spear against her right shoulder, only the Cadres Guard was standing there smiling.

“Gosh, jeez. When I went to the meeting room, nobody was there. It’s troubling for me if you just evacuate on your own, Ymy-sama; you have to wait until I come to you, you know?”

“Ah……s-sorry.”

“It’s fine─, it looks like I made it in time so everything’s fine! Now then──”

Giggle.

With a challenging look on her face, Ishtar turned to Maha who was standing still after having his clones thoroughly crushed.

“Ishtar will face this guy. Monica-san, your unit should evacuate with Ymy-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group to the meeting room.”

“Un……Understood!”

“Good answer. Now, let’s quickly──”

“W-wait, please!”

Kagura’s shout stopped the Cadres Guard who was about to move.

“This is a diversion! Using the opening caused by Maha rampaging here, another man named Igun-I is aiming for something in Building Four!”

“……Heeh.”

Hyuu, the Cadres Guard instead whistled happily.

“Hey, is that true?”

“……You’re slow.”

Beneath the shadow cast by his hood, Maha’s lips opened slightly.

“Igun-I has……already headed there. Everything in existence is under our control.”

The spell caster’s left hand was raised very high.

“Be purged by heavy pressure, tremble and sink, ground──”

“Who’s the slow one?”

Ishtar’s spear danced and Maha’s words as well as the ceiling were cut off.

Crish ── the ceiling was cracked into what resembled a spiderweb. That became countless fragments of varying size and that great mass of rubble and dust swallowed Maha and his clones. This wasn’t an opponent that would be silenced with just that but it would probably take him some time to get out of it.

“Now then, isn’t it your turn?”

Ishtar’s gaze fell onto Sheltis who was still pressing on his left shoulder.

“You know what these guys are aiming for.”

“……The eye?”

Now that they knew about the third organization, using ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ to investigate them was also possible. That meant that the people in question would absolutely want to get rid of that treasure, the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.

“That’s right. Unfortunately, you’re the only one who knows where that’s located. So go. This guy’s Ishtar’s prey anyway. I’ll also protect the Priestess-sama for you.”

“……But”

Her opponent was Golden Maha. To fight this monster alone and guard a Priestess at the same time, he knew best just how harsh that was. Rather than the Governmental Sector’s treasure or anything else, right now he should completely assure Ymy’s safety──

“ That’s why, boy, why don’t you try asking through force? ”

…………

………… That line is ……

“Don’t tell me you forgot?”

It was a quiet and heavy tone that seemed to pierce into his heart like a blade. Even so, her face was filled with a provocative smile like one shown to a long-time old friend.

“If you’re chasing after Leon the Sennenshi who’s gone on ahead, boy, then you can’t remain here. The one who will remain here is me . I wonder if you remember me saying it that day?”

“ I told you, the goals that you and I pursue are different. They’re completely different. “

“ I’ve achieved mine! It’s enough if I have the position of an Elite Guard. “

──There’s no way I could forget.

──It was the last conversation she and I exchanged before I fell to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , after all.

She continued to make her spear let out a shrill sound like a whistle.

“I’m saying to go. Or are you uneasy if it’s me?”

“…………”

“You’re the one who said you’d become a Sennenshi. If your resolve that day was not a lie, then go.”

Being hit with that stabbing smile, Sheltis slowly let out a breath.

……How stupid.

……Then I really was found out right when we met.

“That’s why I don’t like you; just when you’re playing innocent, you suddenly reveal your true colors.”

“Playing innocent is unthinkable. Right, Priestess-sama?”

Ishtar turned around with a coercive smile. But there wasn’t a single person who could reply to that.

Ymy, the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his fellow Cadet Guards couldn’t say anything about the Cadres Guard’s true nature.

Filled with fighting spirit and confidence, she stood in a way that only showed some kind of sublimity.

……Ymy.

Sheltis lightly nodded at his childhood friend who was peeking out from behind Monica.

“……I leave the Priestess in your care.”

“Leave her to me.”

The rocks that swallowed up Maha swelled.

“Go!”

“ I’ll guide you through the shortest route to Building Four, Area 31. “

Being pushed on by Ishtar’s bellow, Sheltis stepped forward.

### 041. Part 7

Hotel room 303, [Aster].

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis─, take me along with you too to the large baths, okay─? Even though Ymy and Monica and Kagura are going, it’s lonely if I’m the only girl being left out. “

“…………”

He closed the pamphlet he was reading.

He stared down at Ilis machine crystal who was rolling around on the desk.

“Isn’t Ilis the one always saying that she’ll break down from being exposed to moisture?”

“ It’s fine; I won’t be in the bathtub but in the sauna. “

“But it’s a pity. We’re on lookout while Monica’s not here.”

Ishtar was on standby outside the large baths entrance.

During that time, Vaiel was keeping watch in front of the empty [Asterhythm] room and he who was left in the room was taking on the escorting of the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group of four.

“Ah─ah, right about now, Ymy’s group is playing around and having fun. ‘A-amazing, Monica-senpai, your waist has tightened even more than three years ago. Can I feel it a little?’, ‘St-stop that, it tickles! Ymy as well, more than before──’. See, it seems fun even just by imagining it.”

“……That’s hard to comment on.”

He couldn’t imagine what girls would talk about, especially in the bath.

“Do they really have those kinds of conversations?”

“ Of course, there’s no mistaking it. My previous possessor constantly said it. She had confidence to boast herself as humanity’s strongest in battle and style and when she entered the baths with her friends, they would compare and tease each other as an everyday activity. “

“……What is that unlikeable person you described.”

Just who ─── when he had voiced that much, he tilted his head at the question that he thought of.

“Your previous body?”

“ Ah, come to think of it, I forgot. There was a girl I supported before you. “

It was the first he’d heard of this. That Ilis machine crystal had a previous possessor before him……no, if he thought about it, there was nothing strange about that. But he had never been told that by Ilis machine crystal so now it drew his interest.

“ That person hated speaking about herself with others. ‘Don’t talk about me.’ was how I was forbidden to speak. It was about ten years ago so I guess it’s hit the time limit? “

“Would that happen to have been the Queen? When I received Ilis machine crystal at the time I became an Elite Guard, it was from the Queen.”

“ No, the Queen was just entrusted with me by my previous possessor. My previous possessor was a different person but well, the Queen knows her. It’ll be a long story but would you like to hear it now? “

“……Mm, then I’ll ask later.”

Picking up the pamphlet he’d closed once again, he proceeded to read each line intensively. He was also interested in Ilis machine crystal ’ story but there were things he should memorize before that.

“ Is that the floor map for the Governmental Sector? “

“Yeah, things like the emergency exit paths or barrier locations or the shelters. After that, I have to get as much of the layout of large rooms and whether there are one or two floors or such into my head.”

Of course, he had finished inputting the data into Ilis machine crystal before this. However, in real rushes, there wouldn’t be the leniency to ask someone so he’d have to know the location himself or he wouldn’t be able to react.

“ How passionate. Is it about the case you talked about at noon? “

Noon at the large public road.

During the time they were being guided by Yuragi and touring, he had had a bad feeling that just wouldn’t go away. It was just like something was lingering over and continuing to observe them ─── a gaze.

It was from a distant location so nobody would know but it wasn’t friendly.

……As I thought, there’s something here.

As proof of that, Ishtar also showed no signs of slackening her vigilance. It was also like that at noon; while she showed off that she was going around the food stands, she kept a set distance from Ymy.

“ It looks like stuck in the middle of the enemy’s camp〜. There are enemies in every direction? “

“……I wonder.”

.

### 042. Part 7

──She was staring up at the night sky.

The night celestial sphere could be seen through the dome made of glass. She wasn’t looking at the stars or the moon and was just in the mood to aimlessly stare at the sky to put everything out of her mind.

……It should be right around now.

……Sheltis should be infiltrating the Governmental Sector around now.

“Ymy-sama is romanticist, huh─. Have you come to like this room?”

A voice that was casual and sweet no matter the place.

Coaxing? No, it’s like the kind a mother uses to placate a child……it’s that kind of voice.

“Ishtar-san, do you not like the starry sky?”

“Mm〰, I don’t hate it but I don’t think about wanting to look at it forever. I’d rather see I’sa-chan than stars and if I can’t have that, then I’d choose to train.”

Ishtar was holding a towel that was a little wet. Ymy thought she had gone to the bathroom but not even a few minutes had passed before she returned. Her clothes were the same formal wear as well.

……Come to think of it, it’s been the same for three days.

“You’re fast at taking a bath.”

“I always take a quick bath─. Ah, but I haven’t really taken a bath in a few days? I’ve just been wiping myself with a wet towel.”

That was the first she’d heard of that. She had thought she was at least taking a quick shower.

“……Are you also holding back on taking a bath?”

“Until we get back to Sophia Tenketsu Palace . We don’t know when an enemy might attack.”

“You haven’t been sleeping enough since we came here either.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m looking forward to going back home─. I want to roll around in bed.”

……She’ll go that far to guard me?

……Even though she’s not a Sennenshi, and even though she only came along specially for this regardless of her will.

“Is it strange? Well, if I had to say the truth, it can’t be helped that guarding’s a pain. Umm, that’s not specifically directed at Ymy-sama or anything, okay? I don’t want to act out the role of a Sennenshi. That’s why I remain as an Elite Guard.”

“……That’s unexpected.”

Rather than shocked, she was more surprised.

“In that case, you didn’t have to accept being my escort……”

If it was a mission on the level of guarding a Priestess, not even an Elite Guard could refuse. But they could be exempted if they had prior business and there was even more assuredness if they were to claim to be in bad condition. A Guard of Ishtar’s level should also know that.

“This time is special. Ishtar also has an ulterior motive.”

She rested a tuft of her hair in her palm.

“I have a goal. If I didn’t escort Ymy-sama like this, I wouldn’t have a chance to come to the Governmental Sector. Well, in reality, even if Ishtar comes to the Governmental Sector, the chances of her goal being conveniently accomplished are low.”

“That is──”

“It’s, a, secret. This is something Ishtar’s even keeping secret from I’sa-chan, so it’s also a secret to Ymy-sama. ……Ah, but there’s another reason that Ishtar’s doing a relatively firm job of guarding Ymy-sama.”

“I’m understanding this less and less.”

The inside of her head seemed to have become mixed up so Ymy made no efforts to hide a frown.

“Umm……so the truth is you didn’t want to guard a Priestess but Ishtar-san, you had an ulterior motive that motivated you to come here to the Governmental Sector? But the reason that you’re looking after me so well is……for a different reason?’

“That’s it─. If Ymy-sama goes to sleep obediently, then I guess I’ll talk about it?”

Shiver. With it pointed out so accurately, she took a step backwards without thinking.

She was busy thinking about Sheltis who had headed to the Governmental Sector and couldn’t sleep. That took no small amount of mind reading. Really, this Elite Guard is discerning in everything.

“……I get it. I’ll do my best to sleep.”

That’s why I want to know. Why is someone who so openly states that guarding a Priestess is a pain guarding me so attentively like this?

“It’s for distinction.”

Unexpected words leaked out from the Cadres Guard’s lips.

“Are the Priestess-samas satisfied with the Guards in the tower right now?”

“……Eh?”

“Ishtar isn’t satisfied at all. I’sa-chan who just became a Regular Guard is out of the question. Everyone else is weak, too weak. I’ve thought the same thing for many years……but just a little, there were also kids amongst them that stood out. Like Horn-chan or Leon-kun.”

The third Sennenshi, Ex Machina Mechanically Armored Soldier Horn Nova.

The fifth Sennenshi, Great Sword User Leon Nestrius Ohva.

The names she had just given had both already become Sennenshi.

“Ishtar knew one more that was better than or at least on par with those two. There was a disparity between his strength and emotions but it was a child that would have become a Sennenshi within a few years.”

Who would that be? Who is the Guard that could rival those two that she’s talking about?

“The reason Ishtar is properly guarding Ymy-sama is in deference to that child with a little bit of a feeling of atonement. Because I pushed something troublesome onto him.”

“…………”

The person that she had pushed something troublesome onto. Is her guarding me sincerely connected with atonement to that person?

……That would mean.

……With that manner of speaking, the one that comes to mind is───

“Ishtar-san, what are you thinking?”

“You’ll come to understand. You’ll also come to know Ishtar’s goal when the time comes.”

She turned around.

Her side profile was coldly sharpened to the point that Ymy’s spine froze up.

### 043. Part 7

“……There’s a gap between your strength and your growth. Such terrible growth.”

The boy who had disappeared further into the passage. Looking at him go, Ishtar let out a rare bitter sigh.

“Unit Leader Monica.”

“Y-yes!”

“It’s as you heard. I’ll face this guy. You take the Priestess-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s entourage to the meeting room. I’ll leave the details after that up to you. ……Now then.”

Maha stood up unwounded despite the gigantic rubble.

“This guy’s spells are numerous and annoying. I’ll ignore a moderate amount so take care of the puppets that went that way. Can you do it?”

“U-Understood!”

The Cadet Guards behind her escorted the Priestess. Feeling them walking away behind her, Ishtar once again leered at the practitioner in front of her.

“Now we can finally talk, just the two of us. I’ve been waiting for this. ───At any rate, it looks like you took care of my younger sister.”

“…………”

“That’s right……I’ve waited a long time. Taking on this annoying mission and everything is because I bet on the chance that you might appear. Be a little thankful?”

The Golden spell caster stayed silent. Perhaps in his place, the poisonous snakes crawling around his feet slowly raised their heads.

……That’s right, that was what started this.

“ Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

It started with I’sa who used to cry for reasons Ishtar couldn’t understand no matter how many times she asked.

She had a weak bodily constitution and couldn’t even go to school much. The one who looked after her troubles in that household which consisted of only the sisters and no parents was always Ishtar.

In place of a mother, she nursed her, made meals and attended to I’sa without sleep.

In place of a father, she taught her studies, taught her how to exercise and protected I’sa from the surrounding dangers.

At those times, her sister always cried.

She cried and apologized.

“ Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

In reality, her older sister could be more accomplished in studies and fitness than anybody and wouldn’t lose to any of her peers. It couldn’t be helped that she felt frustrated that her older sister was sacrificing her talents on her.

“ I’sa-chan is an idiot. Onee-chan’s fine like this. “

“ But…………but, but……! “

Then she cried again.

She thought of her as a really kind little sister. That was also why she wanted to be by her little sister’s side.

──Until my sister becomes able to fly by her own strength, I will protect her.

She learned spear techniques to protect her little sister and became a Guard at Sophia Tenketsu Palace in order to become even faster and stronger. It wasn’t to protect the Priestesses at the top but to protect her little sister who slept at their house.

──Because isn’t it a given?

──The Priestesses have many people protecting them but I’m the only one protecting my sister.

When she came to notice it, Ishtar had become a spear warrior that wouldn’t lose to anyone around her. It wouldn’t be strange if she became a Sennenshi at any time. It was to the point that it was an open rumor.

“ Onee-sama, you won’t be a Sennenshi? “

“ Yu〰p. Onee-chan’s bad at that kind of thing. “

She hadn’t even honestly told I’sa that reason.

If she became a Sennenshi, her time would be taken up guarding the Priestess. Her training time would decrease and most importantly, she would have to live apart from her younger sister who was the one she wished to protect the most.

“ Hey, Sheltis-kun, do you want to become a Sennenshi? “

“ I’m fine with being an Elite Guard. I have no interest in being a Sennenshi. “

That was why she always gave up the position of Sennenshi.

On the other hand, ironically, I’sa whom she should have been protecting was now completely healthy and, taking after her, even started saying that she wanted to be a Guard.

……Well, fine, if that’s what I’sa-chan wants to do.

It was a little complicated as her older sister but Ishtar permitted it.

It looked like she had talent as a shinryoku user and she’d found a reliable dual guns user so Ishtar had had the intention of watching over her as her older sister.

That continued for several years and just when she thought it would keep going well like that.

Information that a Regular Guard unit was wiped out by an unknown person arrived.

“I’sa-chan, are you okay!?”

“Onee-sama……”

What Ishtar saw in the medical ward was her little sister with her eyes swollen bright red.

In the hospital.

Her little sister cried while looking at her.

Ishtar was reminded of how long it had been since she’d seen that. The weakened form of her sister that she thought she wouldn’t see anymore. The true nature of her little sister.

“ ……Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

“ You don’t have to say it. You don’t need to worry. “

“ ……Onee-sama? “

Ishtar held her sobbing little sister tight to her chest.

That was also something that hadn’t happened in years.

“I’sa-chan is fine. ……If you’re unharmed, it means you were able to return here . Leave the rest to onee-chan.”

That’s right, that was the start.

The one who had attacked her I’sa had already been defeated once but that was a puppet created by the spell caster. Then this time, she would──

### 044. Part 8

At around the same time.

The stage moves to the open air cafe, ‘Albireo’, in the Orbie Clar floating continent ’s Living Districts.

.

At the small bathroom located at the interior of the shop.

“Hachi, hachoo!”

A young girl sneezed with an adorable voice.

“Ah─, did the water get cold? Come on, Yuuto, wash the bubbles off your head and get in quickly.”

“……Yuto feels like someone’s spreading rumors about her.”

With shampoo bubbles left on the tips of her black hair, Yuto rubbed her nose.

Secretly smiling wryly at that adorable appearance, the orange-haired girl ── Eyriey slightly shook her shoulders in the bathtub.

“Mm? Ahh, you sneezed because somebody’s spreading rumors about you? That’s been said since a long time ago, hasn’t it. Why is that, I wonder……well, whatever. Anyway, get in. The water really will get cold.”

Splash.

She raised her shoulders out of the milky white surface of the water and beckoned with her finger.

“O─kay!”

Hobbling over, Yuto faced the bathtub and jumped in. Normally, it was an action that would cause one to slip but this young girl was sensitive in strange areas.

“Oyo, you still have shampoo bubbles left.”

“Awa?”

“Well─ that’s fine, don’t mind it, don’t mind it; it’s better than catching a cold because the water went cold.”

Scooping water from the bathtub with both hands, she poured that on Yuto’s head to remove the bubbles.

“……Still though, Sheltis is at the Governmental Sector, huh. How nice; I’ve never been there either so I’d have liked to go.”

“Governmental Sector?”

“Right, right. I’d like to make an airship one day and try going. Me and Yuto and Sheltis, and I also have to invite Shasa-chan……ah─ but it’s so peaceful.”

She scooped up water with both hands and slapped it onto her face to keep herself awake.

……Sheltis just went to the Governmental Sector recently so he won’t be back for a while.

……It looks like Shasa-chan is also busy with her job at the tower.

.

“ My name is Shasa Endens Lin Kale. “

.

The girl with the old-fashioned name she’d come to know at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She had met Ymy and Monica with Sheltis as an intermediary but Shasa was the only one that Eyriey had found and befriended herself.

“It’d be great if Yuto could also meet her next time─. Hey, Yuto?……Yuto?”

What’s this, no response?

So thinking, she tried looking in front of her chest and what answered her was a sound of sleeping breaths. Hugging her own chest, the figure of a young girl who’d dozed off was there.

“Aha, it can’t be helped since it’s already late at night.”

Patting her head softly, she looked up absentmindedly at the steam-filled ceiling.

……Come to think of it.

……The place I first met Shasa was also at a bath.

That was about two weeks ago.

The time when Ilis machine crystal entrusted her with its own maintenance.

It was around that time when, at Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the case where a practitioner that named himself as ‘Golden’ Maha wiped out a unit of Cadet Guards occurred. After that, she’d heard that just Sheltis and Kagura had wrapped up the entire case themselves.

“Ymy and Monica and Kagura are all at the Governmental Sector. If they don’t hurry up and come back, I’ve got nothing to do!”

She sunk her mouth below the water surface and blew bubbles.

Looking at the air bubbles that disappeared upon rising, Eyriey remembered the faces of her friends that were at the Governmental Sector and sighed.

### 045. Part 8

The Holy Hall.

It was a giant room and corridor.

If you looked, the stone floor to the point that you could see each individual strand of hair reflected in it. There were numerous large lights on the ceiling that filled the room with a blinding amount of light.

“……Now then, what’s gonna come out?”

“What would you do if it was a cute girl?“

“No way. On the contrary, if someone like that came out here, it would actually be weird……ah, but maybe.”

“So a girl really would be good?“

“If it’s one that I can talk to.”

Biting his lips shut, he leered at the light-filled passage ahead.

──There’s nobody.

Examining the surroundings for presences, he continued on step by step.

“Hey, Sheltis, what do you mean by talk to? With somebody from the Governmental Sector? Having come this far?“

“……There’s what we talked about Yuragi-san just before. About Ymy.”

That Ymy relied on herself and entrusted the ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ to him.

“When we reach Mikuva’s Crimson Eye, the mystery from that time we went with Leon to the Lagoon floating archipelago will be solved too, right?”

“Most likely. The outline of the Governmental Sector’s plans as well.“

“Can we investigate things outside of the Governmental Sector too?”

“What do you mean?“

“……No, sorry. I just wanted to try asking.”

Within his swirl of thoughts, there was one suspicion that was continued to be lodged and wouldn’t flow.

“Last night, I thought about something while talking with Ymy. How to put it……is this really the work of the Governmental Sector?”

With him assuming the position of Ymy’s consultant, he felt a calm that wasn’t there until then and was able to sort out the information related to this case.

The Lagoon floating archipelago that lay on the boundary of the areas under the Governmental Sector’s surveillance. The research facility and Yuugenshu that were there.

“I also understand that it’s clear that the Governmental Sector is suspicious. I think the chances of that are still over ninety percent.”

“What about the remaining ten percent?“

“……I don’t know. But I wonder what it is. Maybe it’s the Governmental Sector’s attitude. For the meeting, why did they have the confidence to call us all the way here to their territory?”

The Governmental Sector had confidence. That might be the confidence that even with the conference, they could manage to hide it or maybe there was some other plan.

……It’s just that if that’s true.

The identity of that golden spellcaster, Maha, might become more of a mystery.

“…………”

“In response to your earlier question, if you specify the time and place, it is possible to search the ‘Crimson Eye‘. I think the chances of it displaying nothing are high though.“

“I got it, thanks.”

At any rate, just continue on. If he didn’t find the all-important item, then all the hard work to arrive here would come to nothing. ……Above all else, he would have failed Ymy.

“Straight ahead?”

“Since there are no other paths to take. Whether it’s a trap or anything else, we have to keep going.“

The ten metre-wide hall stretched on endlessly.

Along the sides of the corridor were countless stone pillars with arches at the top that supported the ceiling. The design was highly reminiscent of a temple or something similar.

……This large size is curious.

There might be several hundred metres in a straight line. He had snuck in quite deep since separating from Yuragi at the elevator but it was just like having a giant underground cave.

“Ilis, it’s a little late to ask but are there any security devices?”

“Not as far as I saw. It’s an area known only to a handful of Governmental Sector insiders so there might not be any so as to not leave behind visual data.“

“I see, well that makes sense.”

It was a place called the Holy Hall. To protect their secrets, they couldn’t set any security devices precisely because this place was so important. It was difficult to get here but after reaching the Holy Hall, all they had to do was proceed.

“……A door.”

It had been several minutes of walking while surveying the surroundings.

Before his eyes, a solemn and shiny door crafted with brass and silver could be seen.

“It doesn’t seem to require anything like a key.“

“Roger. It looks like a regular door that opens to the sides so I can open it…………”

His breathing caught before he decided that in his mind.

──Somebody’s here.

A heavy pressure that overwhelmed others just by being there. It was somebody with an absolute existence that he’d felt only a few times even in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……It’s the same one as that time.

On the first day of the conference, the presence that had enveloped the entire of the Governmental Sector’s office building.

“Ilis, construct the swords.”

He ordered Ilis machine crystal to construct the dual swords and did nothing but stare ahead. Towards the direction that he could most feel the crushing pressure from.

“An intruder……hasn’t it been a long time?”

The large figure of a person appeared from the stone pillar ahead and to the right without a sound.

No, that wasn’t the figure of a person ── it was a fully metallic mace longer than an adult. The cylindrical handle was thicker than a grown man’s arm and the cylindrical pommel atop it was such that it was debatable whether Sheltis could wrap his arms around it. He couldn’t imagine how much it weighed altogether.

“Surely there’s no way you don’t know of the treasure that lies ahead of here? If so……”

A defective product way too large for a person to use.

He was carrying that easily with one hand.

“From here on is the inviolable, absolute Holy Hall. As the ‘number one‘ of the secret military force ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ tasked with guarding the Holy Hall, Zeadoll, I shall eliminate you ── overcome me with your magnificent skills.”

He was a large man that towered over Sheltis.

The gray longcoat worn over a thin black overshirt could not hide the man’s muscles which could be seen swelling within.

His scorched-earth-colored hair was cut short and bristled up and his grey eyes forcefully conveyed his gallantry.

……He’s the Holy Hall’s guardian.

He could feel the cold sweat traveling down his cheek.

The secret military force ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘, an executive unit of the Governmental Sector’s. ……I knew they’d have a secret military unit like this. It was something I had a vague image of. In Maha case Golden was part of the Governmental Sector, I made the resolution to fight with whatever unit he would belong to.

……Maybe I should be happy that Maha’s not here?

It was easy to imagine his battle form. Without technique, schemes or traps, he would just use the premieval method of pulverizing his opponent with his own power. Moreover, Sheltis was also bad at planning.

Now then, what to do.

First, he would ascertain Zeadoll’s movements and then move to counterattack──

“…………”

But the guardian made no indications of attacking whatsoever. On the contrary, he was casting a questioning look over with expectant eyes.

“…………It’s your move.”

“What?”

“State your name.”

He swung his extremely heavy mace around and lined it up with Sheltis’ line of sight.

“Although I have named myself, it would be lacking in manners. Name yourself.”

“……Sheltis.”

“You idiot, why did you say your real name?“

“……Ah, cra──”

His voice came out without thinking in response to Ilis’ reprimand. If that man knew the names of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Guards, then he would know his goal and his background. However──

“I see, so Sheltis. For having the ability to infiltrate up to this Holy Hall, first allow me to praise you admirably.”

……Eh, perhaps.

……Did he ask for my name just to say that?

“Furthermore, you have seen through my strength and naturally readied your swords. That is also praiseworthy.”

“……Haa, why thanks.”

“However!”

Zeadoll’s bellow shook the atmosphere throughout the entirety of the Holy Hall.

“This Holy Hall is absolute holy territory with me here. Not a single intruder has permitted to date. That’s why, Sheltis ── overcome me with your magnificent skills. If you take even one step past this border, I will stay silent and overlook you.”

“……Is that okay?”

“I swear on my honor. I have never deceived an enemy within my lifetime.”

“…………”

Looking at his eyes, it was clear that he was not lying.

This man had the full intention of allowing him to go to ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ if he acknowledged his loss. That was because he knew that the adversity of not being allowed to lose would cause further growth for himself.

……Sheesh, his calculations are completely messed up.

……It’s the type I’m worst with.

Feeling the man’s intimidating air, Sheltis let out an honest wry smile.

“This is troubling……it would’ve been a lot easier with some crafty type. It’s unexpected that someone like you would be in the Governmental Sector.”

“Fumu. But your eyes don’t seem to be saying that?”

“────”

“There is no deceit within those eyes. Judging from your dignity and conviction, you came to the Holy Hall prepared for a confrontation with me, did you not? The way you act says so.”

They were words that shook the air.

Wordlessly taking them on ── the corners of Sheltis’ lips raised. It wasn’t the wry smile from before but the childlike smile that he showed to those he knew in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……Of course.

……Despite saying how hard it is.

“I’m not good with those kinds of stances.”

“Is that so?”

“Jeez……like this, Maha would’ve been better. Enough that I wish he’d switch with you.”

But there was no reaction to Maha’s name.

……Is it a principal of not speaking to allies? It would be a given with this man’s personality.

“Fumu. Then let’s start.”

The instant he prepared his swords again.

A storm and rumble in the ground shook the sanctuary at the same time.

A heavy pressure seemed to be weighing on the back of his head. A chill down his spine stiffened him up to his fingertips.

──So fast!?

He crouched low enough to skim the ground. An instant after that. With the force of a cannonball, the silver mace stormed through the area directly above his head. That force passed by Sheltis and went towards the stone pillar behind him without stopping.

Crush.

The towering stone pillar had been reduced to countless fragments by a single hit from the mace. And it was done as easily as putting a spoon into pudding.

“An admirable reaction.”

The treasure guardian pulled out the mace planted into the stone pillar. Just a moment ago, he should’ve been ten metres ahead but now he was standing leisurely ten metres to the rear.

Looking at the rubble of the stone pillar, the destructive power made him gulp.

……So this is why there are no surveillance cameras.

He already had the unrestrained large-scale destruction force and bizarre mobility to be called a weapon. Even if someone tried to take a picture of him obliterating the enemy, the dust that would show up on the camera would make it completely meaningless.

“Let’s go.”

By the time that voice reached him, the guardian wasn’t at that place anymore.

Stomp ── a gale stirred up at his feet and Zeadoll’s giant body had already moved to right in front of him. A normal person would have undoubtedly gotten the mistaken impression that he had warped.

“Sheltis!“

Ilis Machine crystal let out a warning.

……I can’t stop it with the dual swords.

It was like stopping a cannonball with a knife. It wouldn’t even deflect.

“──Tch!”

The mace was swung down with a roar. He calculated the path it would take and shifted over by half a step, moving in towards Zeadoll.

“Hoh.”

The guardian’s eyes widened slightly.

The center of the swirling gust that the mace had stirred up ── it could even be called the eye of the hurricane, the place closest to Zeadoll was a safe zone. Only the dual blades made unilateral sense.

Phew. Breathing out, he gathered strength into the grip on his two swords without a break.

The target is the tip of the chin.

It would deliver a shock to the spine if struck horizontally with the tip of the sword and paralyze the brain’s nervous system control. It was a strike that would cause a person to faint no matter what.

……It’s decided.

Matching with the mace’s downswing, he swung his sword up to counter. Perfect timing, it can’t be dodged. With that assuredness, he would strike the tip of the chin with the back of his sword. At the same time──

Scraaaape!

With a dull sound, the dual swords forged with Hyouketsu crystals was deflected.

“……Wha!?”

It wasn’t the sensation of a human body. The chin’s bone? No, that’s not it; it was heavier and more solid, a tough metal. Like a giant lump of steel or an even greater impact.

“There are no openings in my Sanctuary Arts.”

With spear-like vigor, Zeadoll swung down his left elbow.

The strike that should’ve defeated him had been meaningless. The momentary opening that surprise caused wasn’t overlooked and he felt the guardian’s counterattack sink into his flank.

“Guu……!”

He barely defended with his left elbow.

Crunch. His face distorting from the impact he felt from his bones, he still looked up. The guardian closed the gap with flowing movements and swung the mace sideways in succession.

Smack.

Pressing on his numb left elbow with his right hand, he jumped up.

Watching the cylinder at the end of the mace, Sheltis stepped on the back of the cylinder. Landing sideways on the curved cylinder, he then flew up tracing a triangle until just about grazing the ceiling.

……Did he say Sanctuary Arts?

……As long as I don’t know how he did that defense earlier, I’ll have to start with getting rid of his attack options.

He would cut that mace with his swords.

When Zeadoll stopped moving after a miss, he would focus on the thinnest part of that mace. Accelerating through free fall, he swung the sword in his right hand with all his might──

“I’ll take it.”

Seeing that, Zeadoll’s smile deepened.

Would he pull back the mace or swing it up? It wasn’t either of those two options that Sheltis expected ── the treasure guardian swung up his own bare hand.

“His own arm!?”

His sword’s momentum wouldn’t stop. The blade of Hyouketsu crystals would cleave that trained right arm. That bloody image flitted through the back of his mind.

Screeeeeeeee……eeee……chh…………hh…………!

A sound without literary equivalent echoed through the Holy Hall.

Just like a crystal handbell would make, it was a cold and high-pitched sound.

“……No way.”

He descended silently with his dual blades in hand and this time Sheltis was truly without words. There was no issue with the swords’ blades. Not a single……not one drop of the blood that should have been clinging to it was there.

The swords that he’d swung down with all his strength had been completely stopped by the point of the man’s elbow.

“Mu.”

Staring at the torn part of his coat near his elbow, Zeadoll put a finger to it. His brown arm was showing from the gap in the coat’s fibres. It was just slightly but something red was oozing.

“You broke through my defense with a small sword like that……?”

“……Broke through?”

He furrowed his brows at the unexpected words.

This was the second time. The feeling transmitted through his swords was solid and it was not a defense that could be pulled off using the hardness of muscle or bone. Something more firm……diamond? No, stronger than that. Something close to the solidity of Hyouketsu crystals.

And then there were the words he used to describe his arts.

“Manifesting the properties of shinryoku in a tangible form is of the Worship line of spells.“

“……The same style as Monica, huh.”

Monica applied a coating of silvery-white crystals infused with shinryoku to her Rosario crossed rods and used that to fight.

This man was likely of that type. The difference was ── as opposed to Monica who manifested it as silvery-white, he hadn’t manifested the shinryoku as a special material.

“Then is it a conceptual materialization?”

“Hoh, so you know of my Sanctuary Arts.”

With an affirmation made with admiration, Zeadoll narrowed his eyes to needles.

Conceptual materialization.

Imagining and manifesting the shinryoku was the same as with Monica. The difference was in how it was done. Instead of imagining something concrete, this man was likely manifesting shinryoku with a vague concept like ‘something hard and firm that’s also colorless and transparent‘.

“……It’s the first time I’ve seen something like it aside from the Hyouketsu Kyoukai; so it really exists.”

“I would think so. It’s an extremely high-level technique.“

The primary example of conceptual materialization was actually the Hyouketsu Kyoukai created by the five Priestesses.

Whatever the concrete image used was a private matter of the Priestesses’ but the manifestation of ‘Hyouketsu crystals‘ into the world was also an application of conceptual materialization.

“Casters that apply this to battle are exceedingly rare so I’ve only seen two others in the past myself. To begin with, it’s not a spell that can be used by just anybody.“

In Sophia Tenketsu Palace , only somebody on the level of the Priestesses could use it and none of the Guards could. So to speak, while it was a technique that was forgotten, it was still being passed down here in the Governmental Sector.

“A secret art passed down to the protector of the sanctuary.”

“Indeed. However, the successive generations of guardians were too dependent on this ability and neglected to train. ……You understand what that means, do you not?”

He held the mace that exceeded his own body weight with one hand. Holding its tip in his direction, the current generation’s guardian declared as if in song.

“That technique’s just an extra?”

Jumping lightly from that spot, he flew over the rubble underfoot.

“I would say so. No matter how much you factor in the conceptual materialization, it’s still an unusual amount of endurance. It can’t be explained away with just the spell so there’s no other way but for his body to have been forged to the limit to begin with.“

This man’s strength was not in the Sanctuary Arts.

He was a seeker of strength.

He was not haughty about his exceptional body, had no shred of self-conceit, instead spending each day training to conceive this result. Even if the Sanctuary Arts had not been passed onto this man, he would have discovered a substitute for it on his own.

“Let’s go.”

“He’s coming.“

Before Ilis machine crystal ’ warning, Sheltis had already jumped directly to the side. Instantaneously reacting, Zeadoll read his route and kicked up rubble.

“Hah!”

He blew back the countless fragments of rubble with his swords. A single fragment became ten and ten became twenty. He launched an attack on Zeadoll with the might of a machine gun. In front of the barrage of boulders, the guardian calmly picked up speed and came charging.

In the face of this man’s defense, pebbles wouldn’t even cause him to stop.

……Now then, this is bad.

There was something he’d understood during this small confrontation.

“Receive my strike with brilliance.”

“I refuse!”

With the mace roaring before him, he withdrew his swords and went into dodging. Even if he were to weave his way directly underneath the mace and draw close to Zeadoll, a half-baked counterattack wouldn’t cause any damage.

……It’s just like fire and water.

……The compatibility between this guy and me is just too bad.

“The Yuugenshu’s natural enemy is you and your natural enemy is this type. The dual blades style’s merits can’t show through and only its demerits are exposed.“

……I know that.

The merits of dual blades were its attack speed and flowing consecutive strikes. However, its range and power were inferior to great swords, axes and spears. Mounting an attack that would surpass this man’s defense was difficult.

“On top of that……your mateki is repelling against the shinryoku of his Sanctuary Arts. Because the swords are infused with mateki, their cutting edge is a little dulled against a shinryoku barrier.”

“It’s just the worst in every possible way.”

For example, the Sennenshi Leon would be able to oppose it with the great sword’s destructive force.

If it was Ran who had physical strength and reflexes far above the average person, she could dive into a full-out pure martial arts battle with this man.

Or I’sa and Jin with their puppetry and dual guns, respectively, could launch a unilateral assault on this kind of enemy from afar. Of course, in that case, that was with the prerequisite difficult condition of having the destructive force to overcome the Sanctuary Arts’ defense.

“I see, such great skill.”

“You sure can speak!”

The mace struck from above downwards, from the right to the left and diagonally. Those all pierced through Sheltis’ afterimages and smashed the stone pillars behind them.

……There’s no meaning in repeated slashes.

……A stamina battle isn’t a good idea either and I don’t have the time to leisurely battle in the first place.

He was keeping Yuragi waiting aboveground.

It was better if he just ignored the fight and did as Zeadoll suggested. It would be his win if he just slipped past this man’s mace and broke into the Holy Hall to make it to ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘.

Should I keep dodging and wait for this man to become impatient?

“You’re waiting for a chance. That’s what your expression says.”

The protector with a brusque expression raised the corners of his mouth.

“I told you that my Sanctuary Arts have no openings.”

The mace he swung up stopped while facing the ceiling. Coming into contact with the light raining down from above, the mace’s outline shined dark grey ── that brilliance slowly grew stronger.

“My name is the ‘number one‘ Zeadoll, or in other words, the one who has been entrusted with the weapon which surpasses a thousand bows. The secret brought about now is, in other words”

……What?

He could see the space around the mace distorting like a mirage.

Light and air were swirling around like a whirlwind.

“Strengthening the mace with the Sanctuary Arts? Sheltis, dodge it!“

Everything happened at the same time.

Zeadoll shot out the mace at the same time Sheltis turned around.

“It becomes the sole peerless holy bullet.”

There was no wind or sound, only the overpowering waves of mechanical energy.

It pierced through several of the stone pillars standing in a row behind Sheltis and also destroyed the wall behind them. The grand destruction that shook the Holy Hall birthed gales and an explosion of noise and it seemed like just those two shockwaves would blow him away.

“……What ridiculous power.”

Looking peripherally at the giant hole in the Holy Hall’s wall, Sheltis muttered that, dumbfounded.

“How rude of you to dodge it; you should stop it head-on.”

“That’s impossible.”

He decisively shook his head.

……But what’s this feeling?

He couldn’t really find the words to describe it but there was something chilling or uncomfortable, some eerie thing that was hard to say ── that thing that he had felt during the fight with Maha couldn’t be felt even after fighting this much.

This man was undoubtedly strong. But this couldn’t be compared to Maha. In other words, he couldn’t imagine this man as an ally of Maha’s.

……Then there are Zeadoll’s words from just before. It almost sounded like something.

“Fumu, well then.”

“Wait.”

It was a voice to stop the guardian who was pulling out the mace lodged in the rubble.

“There’s something I want to ask you. You’ve been calling yourself the ‘number one‘ for a while now.”

“Exactly.”

The guardian puffed out his chest as if to say, how good of you to ask.

“We of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ are a secret military organization stationed at the various centers of the Governmental Sector. We are permitted to use military force regardless of the place and we are named after the weapons entrusted to us.”

“By the weapons entrusted to you……so you mean that you’re the ‘number one‘ not because you defend this place alone but because you use a single mace?”

“Yes. The ‘number seven‘ and ‘number nine‘ also have a fitting amount of weapons to complement their names──……”

His words paused there.

It looks like he finally realized that he’d been lured into revealing secret information.

“I said too much; any further words are useless.”

“……Well, that’s fine. What I wanted to ask was something different.”

He only wanted to know one thing.

The Governmental Sector had bestowed those nicknames based on numbers. But Maha who had attacked Sophia Tenketsu Palace was ‘Golden‘. His nickname was a color. That meant──

“So there wouldn’t happen to be anybody called ‘Golden‘ amongst your allies……right?”

“There are none.”

That reply was filled with complete confidence.

“The Governmental Sector’s secret military organization consists of only the ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ comprised of the three of us. Moreover, we command an absolute place of pride so we are entrusted with centers of importance such as this Holy Hall.”

“Which means you aren’t deployed outside of the Governmental Sector either.”

“Impossible. Our mission is “absolute holy territory”, or in other words, only the elimination of intruders.”

…………

……So that’s how it is.

Finally, finally the tangled mess had come undone. A light had pierced into the darkness-steeped confusion and he’d come to see yet another truth hidden behind it.

“See, I didn’t deny that it was a place of research. That was a geological research location that became unusable so it was removed from the territorial airspace map after it was abandoned.“

“On the contrary, you’ve come here with a demand……recently, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s airships have been freely entering the Lagoon floating archipelago under the jurisdiction of the Governmental Sector without permission. We would like to hear an explanation for this.“

Ymy said that last night while crying when she visited him.

The Governmental Sector had acknowledged the existence of the research area hidden on the Lagoon flying archipelago but on the other hand, they were raising suspicions of territorial intrusion by Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

Sophia Tenketsu Palace was the same. They hadn’t directly written any formal documents regarding it but they were currently in the midst of searching for the Governmental Sector organization that ‘Golden Maha‘ belonged to.

──Each of the organizations is accusing each other and asserting without knowing about each other.

One of them or both of them might be lying.

……But I can’t understand it no matter what.

……I can’t get the impression that this man is lying.

If so──

If so, then maybe, what if both Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector’s assertions were right……?

“……That’s right.”

“Mm?”

It was a doubt that had stuck in his mind ever since he’d set foot in this Holy Hall.

“Zeadoll, I was wrong.”

“You mean about your decision to infiltrate this Holy Hall?”

“No, this was planned. We were set up. We of Tenketsu Palace and you guys of the Governmental Sector.”

He shook his head decisively.

“It’s not Sophia Tenketsu Palace or the Governmental Sector, there’s a third organization that we don’t know of here.”

With that hypothesis, everything could be solved.

“……What are you saying?”

“There are guys that secretly used the research area you abandoned for a different purpose. They even cleverly prepared an airship that resembles Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s.”

Neither he nor Ymy believed or doubted the words of the Governmental Sector. What if the airship that had been coming and going from the Lagoon floating archipelago was only an airship disguised as one of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s?

The Governmental Sector doubted Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

Sophia Tenketsu Palace as well held suspicions about the Governmental Sector as the owners of the Lagoon floating archipelago .

That’s right, everything was going as somebody had planned.

“This conference is the same. At this rate, it would end with a breakdown of negotiations and the suspicions of each side having multiplied. If it goes as they planned.”

“But that’s wrong. Their one miscalculation was that we would meet here.”

A person from each organization came into contact outside of the conference.

They didn’t manage to foresee that they would talk like this at the height of battle either.

“If I didn’t meet with someone like you from a secret military unit, I wouldn’t have gotten information like this. I wouldn’t have known about ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ or that Maha isn’t here in the Governmental Sector.”

“……However, what about it?”

There was no wavering in Zeadoll’s expression.

“It is the same regardless of my opponent. I simply eliminate those who infiltrate this Holy Hall. Nothing changes for you in that respect, does it?”

“That’s true.”

He suppressed the wry smile within him. Even if it was for learning the truth, the one who had arbitrarily intruded had been him. For Zeadoll, there was no other opponent to deal with.

“In that case,”

“That’s why I’ll run away.”

“……What?”

Confusion settled on that steel expression for the first time. Seeing that momentary wavering, Sheltis swung his left sword close to the ground.

A squall.

The grit on the ground was stirred up and became a thick mist hanging over the Holy Hall.

“A diversion!?”

Silence answered the angry voice behind him.

Within zero visibility, Sheltis ran soundlessly towards the elevator.

### 046. Part 8

Governmental Sector, Building Four, Area 19.

“ Turn left at the next corner. “

He focused on nothing but running down the corridor illuminated by the bright red lights.

There was nobody in the corridor and he’d seen the meeting room’s door wide open so a warning must have been issued here in Building Four as well.

The walls and ceiling had crumbled.

The floor was cracked and earth was scattered about.

“ There is evidence that a few of Maha’s clones also infiltrated this building. Don’t let down your guard. “

He didn’t reply to that.

“……Ilis, how long will it take you to undo the lock on that elevator?”

They didn’t have Yuragi’s card key which they’d used to get on the elevator that led to the Holy Hall last night. He could only rely on Ilis machine crystal using Yuragi’s card key’s information to forcefully dispel the lock.

“ Five, no, four minutes. “

“Two minutes.”

“ ……Make sure to praise me if I succeed, okay? “

Her crystal portion blinked as if she were smiling wryly.

“ Make a left there. ”

Pushing forward through a passage he remembered, the steel door illuminated by an emergency light came into view.

“Ilis, start with unlocking this.”

“ No……wait, this is……? “

“ Sheltis, try opening the door as it is. It might already be unlocked. “

The door released with an aged sound. Ahead of that, illuminated by the emergency lighting, was the exact same thing as last night.

“ The elevator should also be working. There are signs that somebody other than me has already forcefully unlocked the door. “

“……So it’s the guy that Maha called Igun-I.”

It was possible that there was somebody else in charge of the hacking but they had no way of knowing that. At any rate, it was a stroke of luck amongst the bad.

“Let’s go, Ilis.”

……Ishtar.

……I can’t be like you.

He hadn’t noticed that twilight.

A four year period. The difficulty of continuing to stand in that place all by herself without advancing or retreating even as those around her were promoted or when she left the tower. The harshness.

He was different from Ishtar. He couldn’t copy how she lived.

……That’s why I need to continue on.

### 047. Part 9

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 288.

Starlight shone into the dim hall. On the completely silent Priestess’ private floor, a small girl was walking nonchalantly.

“He─y, Meimel, get up─. It’s some urgent document.”

She pressed the doorbell many times with that request. But there was no response.

……It’s three in the morning so she’s probably still sleeping snugly.

She half-resolved herself. Ran clenched her fist to try knocking this time──

“Whaat’s uup, Ran, there’s still thirty minutes until the early morning training, you knoow?”

The door opened slightly and a Priestess that was rubbing her sleepy-looking eyes slowly showed her face.

Her hair was disheveled and her voice was slower than usual and lacking in majesty.

Her clothes had frills and lace and underneath that was a somewhat see-through negligee which made for a radical appearance.

“……Never show that appearance to anyone other than me. The Priestesses’ dignity will be spoiled.”

“It’s fi─ne, it’s fi─ne. So whaat is iit? An emergency contact for me?”

She looked over the document with her sleepy eyes.

With her half-downcast gaze, she read the documents without a word──

“……Heeh.”

Her jade green eyes suddenly widened and her glossy lips cursed up into a crescent.

“So what was it?”

“It’s from Ymy. It’s long and encrypted so I’ll relay it for you……umm, ‘Help, Meimel! The conference with the Governmental Sector is going nowhere and I’m completely stressed out! At this rate, it doesn’t look like Yuugenshu is going to become a topic at all either! Also, I had my childhood friend, Sheltis, sneak into the central division of the Governmental Sector. I just received his report upon his return……and it looks like there was an unexpected outcome which is causing a great panic!?‘. It’s should be roughly like that.”

“……There’s a problem with how the encryption was decrypted.”

She should be thankful that it had been relayed so smoothly but there was another reason for why it was hard to accept.

“It’s a superlative translation, you know? So here’s the rest of it……’My childhood friend says that there’s a high chance that the Governmental Sector who we thought was our enemy isn’t actually our enemy. There’s another organization other than the Governmental Sector and we need to consider that they’re maneuvering in secret, he says. I didn’t believe it at first but Ilis is saying the same thing……but then, what should I do here!?‘. Okay, that’s the end.”

What are your thoughts on this?

Meimel looked over with those kinds of eyes, causing Ran to frown and scratch her head.

“So……as far as we’ve heard, they even snuck into the dangerous places in the Governmental Sector?”

“It appears so. Our spy should be with them so the possibility does exist.”

“But isn’t that kind of bold either way? Ymy also resolved herself well. I didn’t think she had the personality.”

“There’s no way she would.”

“……What do you mean?”

She asked without thinking.

“That’s, why. There’s no way she would issue such a reckless order. It was a suggestion I gave to the Cadres Guard. ‘If the conference comes to a halt, use your judgment to give Ymy a push. Even if it’s a little forceful, as long as the flow changes.‘”

“Ahh, so it was Ishtar who went. That innocence faker is skilled─”

The Priestess who was boring a hole in the letter with her gaze smiled.

“Ran, please send a digital document to Ymy under my name. An official document.”

An official document?

That would mean the contents would be completely transparent. Even a terminal at the Governmental Sector would be able to examine it.

“It’s fine, it’s fine like that. The goal is to clearly convey it to the Governmental Sector under the pretense of sending it to Ymy.”

Having seen through that, Meimel whispered at a lower volume.

“……Well, I thought that kind of stuff had a chance of being possible.”

It was during the conversation that morning when Ymy departed for the Governmental Sector.

“Ymy, try to keep this at heart? We have no idea if the place you’re about to go is dangerous or not.“

“……The Governmental Sector?“

“No, not that.“

“…………”

“Mm, what’s up, Meimel? You just went silent. Thinking about what to write??”

“Yes. Now what should I do about it, I wonder?”

Brushing her messy hair with her hand, Meimel suddenly wiped the smile from her lips.

“The contents will be one sentence. ‘Today ── take care for the last day of the conference.‘ Well then, I’ll be entrusting it to you?”

## Final Chapter – Thousand Year Beast

### 048. Part 9

Governmental Sector, Building Two, Area 63′s ‘Yuumei Space‘.

In the large hall with the warning still blaring, the sound of metal scraping upon metal continued to echo.

“──Guu!”

She intercepted the descending golden arm with her Rosario crossed rods .

The impact ran through her arm’s bone and echoed in her shoulder. But she didn’t lower the strength put into her Rosario crossed rods . She trapped the wrist between her two Rosario crossed rods and sealed its movements.

“Vaiel!”

“I…..got it, this damn crafted thing!”

His fists equipped with the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors stabbed into the enemy’s now-defenseless back. Maha’s clone fell over with a violent shake. Aiming for the moment when it staggered, Monica threw aside the Rosario crossed rods and ran up to it.

A golden light wrapped her bare hand. Shinryoku of the same color as Maha’s advent style arts enveloped her body.

“Crumble.”

She touched the clone with her fingertip.

In that instant, Maha’s clone stopped moving ── and returned to gold dust with a crumbling sound.

“What trick is that?”

“I just distorted the shinryoku wavelength. It’s the same kind as jamming somebody’s clairvoyance……the explanation’s pretty long so the short version is that it can beat a clone like that.”

Picking up the Rosario crossed rods that were on the ground, Vaiel threw them over to her. Catching them with both hands, Monica once again looked up at the higher floor.

“But it looks like I already don’t have the leisure of using it.”

The door on the highest floor creaked and opened. Maha’s clones stood in a row. Behind them were red manticores and beyond those were small dragon-types.

“I didn’t want to say it but is that Cadres Guard really fighting? Are you sure she didn’t lose or something?”

“No.”

Accompanied by the luminescence of the Machina machine pearl , Kagura took a step forward.

“That spell caster’s strength isn’t of this level. This is probably ten or twenty percent with the greater portion being forced to remain with the real Maha.”

“……Both are inhuman, huh.”

Holding back a wry smile from leaking out, Monica started walking forward again.

The members who can fight in this large hall are just these three. Ishtar dispatched Sheltis to the Governmental Sector so it’ll come down to a life or death struggle without our two strongest fighting forces.

“Monica-senpai!”

That voice came from behind her.

“I……I can help too!”

“You can’t, stay there.”

She stopped the Priestess who was running over.

“Our mission is to protect you. What will we do if the Priestess who we should be protecting comes to the frontlines?”

……Ymy.

“B-but! If I provide support, then fighting──”

“I know……but no. I can’t put you in danger.”

### 049. Prologue – Just the Two in the Slowly Darkening Tower

A red world.

The brown of the earth was outdone by the even stronger red of dusk.

The thin and long shadows of a grove of trees stretched endlessly. The ground was fanned up by the wind and the small pebbles underfoot rolled around with a dull clacking noise.

That was, that kind of image of a wasteland───

.

The boy wordlessly held his twin swords.

“……”

His ragged breathing slowly returned to normal.

He had reddish brown messy hair and eyes which gave an affable impression. His age was thirteen or fourteen. As fitting of a teenage boy, his limbs gave off a somewhat slender feeling as he breathed out.

Upon the black formal wear draped upon him, there were little cuts all over the place. Beneath the formal wear, his T-shirt was also torn and something red was flowing from the bare skin peeking out from there.

Feeling fatigue and his wounds, even then his vision was focused straight ahead───

On his opponent who confronted him with a pearl grey metallic lance readied.

“──────”

His opponent maintained a position with the spear larger than her own height held over her head, not moving a muscle.

Breathing or blinking, not even a slight twitching of the body.

One minute passed……two minutes……three minutes passed and there was still no movement.

Perfect stillness. There was not a single breath, blink or twitch.

“──────”

The golden hair of the girl who had her spear readied fluttered in the wind.

Her clothes were black just like the boy’s. But hers was a single thin shirt that exposed up to her shoulders. Her age was about sixteen or seventeen, some years above that of the pre-teen boy. Her slender body was about a fist taller than the boy’s as well.

The girl with the blue eyes stared fixedly at the boy without moving.

The boy facing her also wasn’t moving.

An instant.

A small pebble in the space between the two rolled away after being struck by a sudden gust.

The two separated from silence at the same time in an instant.

With vigor that raised gusts at his feet, the boy swung his twin swords. The spear-wielding girl received that and put power into both hands───

.

“I quit〰”

The girl lowered her spear and relaxed her body.

The boy who saw that ceased his movement reflexively.

“…………Eh?”

His mouth hung open in a childish expression that suited his age.

“……You’re……quitting?”

“Today, Sheltis-kun doesn’t have enough vigor so it’s bo〰ring.”

“……Uh, ……umm.”

The girl who swung her spear with just a flick of the wrist announced that without even turning around. On the other hand, the boy who was the recipient ─── Sheltis meekly bowed his head.

“Sorry……”

“Did you have a fight with Leon-kun or something?”

“Ah, th-that’s wrong. I always fight with Leon.”

“Then what iiis it?”

“……Err……well……a childhood friend got mad at me, Ymy’s her name……”

“You idiot. That’s the un-Guard-like point about you.”

The phrase spoken by the girl who only turned halfway.

Raising the corners of her mouth while looking down ─── it was a very, very challenging smile.

“There’s too much of an inconsistency in your strength and emotions, you know?”

“That’s the same for you, Ishtar. Doing that kind of feigned innocence .”

Even though he replied with a pout, her challenging smile only deepened.

“Ishtar is di──fferent”

“How so?”

He didn’t think a reply would come. The reason for that was that countless people had asked her the same thing and it had ended with just a smile.

But just this time was different.

“The summit I’m aiming for is different.”

“……?”

Sheltis blinked in surprise when she suddenly muttered that sentence.

“Say, Sheltis-kun, do you want to be a Sennenshi?”

He couldn’t immediately answer in response to her sudden question.

“Do you want to be a Sennenshi?”

“Wh-what are you───”

“I’m asking if you want to be a Sennenshi.”

“……I will become one.”

Not want to, will.

That was the boy’s resolve.

“Fuun, then what if you do your best? I’ll be stopping here anyway.”

The girl once again turned her back.

She left behind a slight, truly slight smile.

“I’m fine with being an right now Elite Guard . I have no interest in being a Sennenshi.”

“……Why?”

The boy stood still with a dumbfounded expression.

Within the tower called Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the Sennenshi who were known as the Priestesses’ partners. If it were her ─── if it were Ishtar, then she was undoubtedly capable of reaching that honored position.

Even so, she was discarding that opportunity and honor herself?

“It’s fine if you become a Sennenshi. That or Leon-kun……either way isn’t bad.”

“Ishtar, what are you planning?”

He narrowed his eyes and gazed at her.

……I don’t understand why.

It had been that way ever since they’d met; he had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. He had no idea how much of what she said was serious and he still didn’t know exactly how strong she was as a spear user.

No, rather than that, those frivolous words just now───

“Plotting? What a way you’re putting it──”

Maybe she laughed since her shoulders shook a little.

“I said so, didn’t I, that the summits we’re aiming for are different. They’re completely different.”

“The summits are different……”

“I’ve already obtained it. The Elite Guard position is enough.”

Elite Guard ─── those whose abilities stood out even within the tower and, at the same time, those from whom the Priestesses would choose their Sennenshi. She had advanced that far but was forsaking the crucial Sennenshi position.

“Then, bye-bye──! See you next time!”

She left with a lovely wink.

Sheltis tried posing a question just once more to that slender back.

“Ishtar……what is your goal?”

There was no answer.

The girl ignored the question like she’d felt a gentle breeze ─── the moment he thought that. For only an instant, her footsteps stopped.

.

“ Well then, boy, will you ask forcefully? ”

.

───Crish.

When he noticed it, Sheltis had already taken one step back.

“Oh my, what’s wro──ng?”

Her smiling face half-turned towards him.

Facing that head-on, he openly grimaced.

“……I don’t like you; you feign innocence and then suddenly show your true colors.”

“What are you talking about? Ishtar has no ide──a.”

Swinging her arms in an adorable manner, this time she left.

“……Fight and win if you want to know, huh.”

Staring at her back, Sheltis softly whispered.

“I got it. I’ll do my best next time.”

.

But the promised second battle didn’t come to pass.

After a month. The boy fell from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the far below Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

And Ishtar───

### 050. Prologue: Just the Two in the Slowly Darkening Tower

## Prologue – Just the Two in the Slowly Darkening Tower

A red world.

The brown of the earth was outdone by the even stronger red of dusk.

The thin and long shadows of a grove of trees stretched endlessly. The ground was fanned up by the wind and the small pebbles underfoot rolled around with a dull clacking noise.

That was, that kind of image of a wasteland───

.

The boy wordlessly held his twin swords.

“……”

His ragged breathing slowly returned to normal.

He had reddish brown messy hair and eyes which gave an affable impression. His age was thirteen or fourteen. As fitting of a teenage boy, his limbs gave off a somewhat slender feeling as he breathed out.

Upon the black formal wear draped upon him, there were little cuts all over the place. Beneath the formal wear, his T-shirt was also torn and something red was flowing from the bare skin peeking out from there.

Feeling fatigue and his wounds, even then his vision was focused straight ahead───

On his opponent who confronted him with a pearl grey metallic lance readied.

“──────”

His opponent maintained a position with the spear larger than her own height held over her head, not moving a muscle.

Breathing or blinking, not even a slight twitching of the body.

One minute passed……two minutes……three minutes passed and there was still no movement.

Perfect stillness. There was not a single breath, blink or twitch.

“──────”

The golden hair of the girl who had her spear readied fluttered in the wind.

Her clothes were black just like the boy’s. But hers was a single thin shirt that exposed up to her shoulders. Her age was about sixteen or seventeen, some years above that of the pre-teen boy. Her slender body was about a fist taller than the boy’s as well.

The girl with the blue eyes stared fixedly at the boy without moving.

The boy facing her also wasn’t moving.

An instant.

A small pebble in the space between the two rolled away after being struck by a sudden gust.

The two separated from silence at the same time in an instant.

With vigor that raised gusts at his feet, the boy swung his twin swords. The spear-wielding girl received that and put power into both hands───

.

“I quit〰”

The girl lowered her spear and relaxed her body.

The boy who saw that ceased his movement reflexively.

“…………Eh?”

His mouth hung open in a childish expression that suited his age.

“……You’re……quitting?”

“Today, Sheltis-kun doesn’t have enough vigor so it’s bo〰ring.”

“……Uh, ……umm.”

The girl who swung her spear with just a flick of the wrist announced that without even turning around. On the other hand, the boy who was the recipient ─── Sheltis meekly bowed his head.

“Sorry……”

“Did you have a fight with Leon-kun or something?”

“Ah, th-that’s wrong. I always fight with Leon.”

“Then what iiis it?”

“……Err……well……a childhood friend got mad at me, Ymy’s her name……”

“You idiot. That’s the un-Guard-like point about you.”

The phrase spoken by the girl who only turned halfway.

Raising the corners of her mouth while looking down ─── it was a very, very challenging smile.

“There’s too much of an inconsistency in your strength and emotions, you know?”

“That’s the same for you, Ishtar. Doing that kind of feigned innocence .”

Even though he replied with a pout, her challenging smile only deepened.

“Ishtar is di──fferent”

“How so?”

He didn’t think a reply would come. The reason for that was that countless people had asked her the same thing and it had ended with just a smile.

But just this time was different.

“The summit I’m aiming for is different.”

“……?”

Sheltis blinked in surprise when she suddenly muttered that sentence.

“Say, Sheltis-kun, do you want to be a Sennenshi?”

He couldn’t immediately answer in response to her sudden question.

“Do you want to be a Sennenshi?”

“Wh-what are you───”

“I’m asking if you want to be a Sennenshi.”

“……I will become one.”

Not want to, will.

That was the boy’s resolve.

“Fuun, then what if you do your best? I’ll be stopping here anyway.”

The girl once again turned her back.

She left behind a slight, truly slight smile.

“I’m fine with being an right now Elite Guard . I have no interest in being a Sennenshi.”

“……Why?”

The boy stood still with a dumbfounded expression.

Within the tower called Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the Sennenshi who were known as the Priestesses’ partners. If it were her ─── if it were Ishtar, then she was undoubtedly capable of reaching that honored position.

Even so, she was discarding that opportunity and honor herself?

“It’s fine if you become a Sennenshi. That or Leon-kun……either way isn’t bad.”

“Ishtar, what are you planning?”

He narrowed his eyes and gazed at her.

……I don’t understand why.

It had been that way ever since they’d met; he had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. He had no idea how much of what she said was serious and he still didn’t know exactly how strong she was as a spear user.

No, rather than that, those frivolous words just now───

“Plotting? What a way you’re putting it──”

Maybe she laughed since her shoulders shook a little.

“I said so, didn’t I, that the summits we’re aiming for are different. They’re completely different.”

“The summits are different……”

“I’ve already obtained it. The Elite Guard position is enough.”

Elite Guard ─── those whose abilities stood out even within the tower and, at the same time, those from whom the Priestesses would choose their Sennenshi. She had advanced that far but was forsaking the crucial Sennenshi position.

“Then, bye-bye──! See you next time!”

She left with a lovely wink.

Sheltis tried posing a question just once more to that slender back.

“Ishtar……what is your goal?”

There was no answer.

The girl ignored the question like she’d felt a gentle breeze ─── the moment he thought that. For only an instant, her footsteps stopped.

.

“ Well then, boy, will you ask forcefully? ”

.

───Crish.

When he noticed it, Sheltis had already taken one step back.

“Oh my, what’s wro──ng?”

Her smiling face half-turned towards him.

Facing that head-on, he openly grimaced.

“……I don’t like you; you feign innocence and then suddenly show your true colors.”

“What are you talking about? Ishtar has no ide──a.”

Swinging her arms in an adorable manner, this time she left.

“……Fight and win if you want to know, huh.”

Staring at her back, Sheltis softly whispered.

“I got it. I’ll do my best next time.”

.

But the promised second battle didn’t come to pass.

After a month. The boy fell from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the far below Garden of Eden Corrupted Song .

And Ishtar───

### 051. Chapter 1: Expedition

### Part 1

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis, are you done yet──? “

A nonchalant voice echoed in the room that had become littered with clothes and small articles.

“Just a little longer.”

“ Stiiiill? “

“That’s why I said, just a little longer.”

“ Then I’ll count to ten……get set, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0, and done. “

“So fast!?”

Stopping his hands that were busy packing things in his travel bag, Sheltis turned around without thinking.

He had reddish brown hair and affable eyes. He was seventeen, his limbs gave off a somewhat slender feeling as he breathed out and he still had a slight feeling of leftover innocence.

“One second didn’t even pass by just now, right!?”

“ I said I’d count to ten〰, nothing about ten seconds〰 “

Ilis Machine crystal lay beside the pillow on the bed, looking small. The vivid yellow blinking of its crystal portion was a sign indicating, “ be concerned about it, be concerned about it “.

“……What is that child-like twisting of words?”

“ I just have that much leisure. Sheltis, haven’t you been ignoring me while you were packing your bag since a while ago? Ilis has become so lonely, she might cry. “

“Nah, this isn’t in the realm of ignoring.”

He gazed at the clock at a corner of the table.

The time displayed on its digital screen was exactly nine in the morning.

“Oh crap……it’s already the gathering time. I’m not done packing yet!?”

“ Come on, Sheltis, the airship bound for the Governmental Sector departs at nine and a half. Weren’t you told to gather at the airport on the tower’s sixty-fifth floor at nine? ”

“If you know that, then won’t you stoooooop!?”

“ The one who made a schedule which looked like it would end in being late was Sheltis. “

“……The one at fault is the Instructor.”

He had been caught yesterday evening by Instructor Yumelda who was known for her demonic training. For ages after that, he had been subjected to grueling training under the name of coaching until this morning.

“If you’re going to go on an expedition to the Governmental Sector, then I’ll hammer that portion’s worth into you ahead of time……isn’t that strange?”

“ The Instructor was quite lively though──, so it seemed fun. “

“……It was definitely the height of tension. She was smiling so widely.”

He had truly felt scared when she started swinging around her trademark black whip and laughing, “Ahahahahahahahaa!” deep into the night.

“ So is this okay? You’ll be late at this rate. “

“That’s right, that’s what I said!”

He started shoving whatever he grabbed into his travel bag. There were the machinery and equipment used for guarding VIPs, his change of clothes for the trip and other simple things like emergency rations.

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis? What about that book I said I wanted to read if we had time? “

“I want to bring it, but no! I don’t have the time to pack something like that!”

“ Eh──. No, no, then let’s bring something else. Ilis thinks it’d be great to bring a giant rocket launcher and machine gun. I also can’t give up on a flamethrower. “

“I think those would be confiscated at the Governmental Sector’s airport though……rather, stop bothering me!”

Just when he was about to silence Ilis machine crystal who was atop the bed───

The small sound of knocking came from the door.

“Sheltis, are you still here?”

“……Monica? Ah, wait, wait, I’ll open it now!”

She stood at the mechanical door that had opened.

A girl with a slender body whose long sakura-colored hair was bound into one lock behind her. Her grey eyes which showed the strength of her willpower looked really attractive on her graceful face.

Monica Esperanto.

Her age was one above his at eighteen and was the unit captain that governed their unit. On her waist holder were two blackened Rosario crossed rods and her clothes consisted of the usual formal wear.

“……How rare.”

Staying standing in the door, that was the first thing that she murmured.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you wear the formal wear.”

“Yeah, well. It’s one thing inside the tower, but I don’t want to be suspicious over there.”

He tugged a little on the cuff of his pure-white formal wear that didn’t have a single wrinkle. He had always been wearing the black retired formal wear as a jacket habitually, but it really wouldn’t do to go to the Governmental Sector like that. Yesterday, he had hurriedly taken out the new product that he had shoved in his locker.

“Does it suit me?”

“……That’s a difficult question.”

Relaxing her lips a little, Monica smiled.

“I’m used to seeing you in black so I thought it was a different person for a second.”

“My usual clothes are also in my luggage. I’m used to wearing them……honestly, it’s to the point that I’d also like to wear them in the Governmental Sector.”

The mateki of Yuugenshu gave off a dark purple brilliance.

It was easy to determine whether a Yuugenshu’s mateki had come in contact with the white formal wear. In other words, if he received mateki while in this formal wear, there was no way he could fool them by saying he hadn’t.

……It’d be bad if I was bathed in mateki and came out fine.

……It’s really difficult. The closer I get to Ymy, the more I’ll have to wear this white formal wear.

“ It’s finally time to go to the Governmental Sector, isn’t it, Monica; the escorting is a big responsibility. Do your best. “

“Please stop that; I feel like my stomach’s going to burst.”

The unit captain grimaced in response to Ilis machine crystal ’ words of encouragement.

“……How about you, Sheltis?”

“Everyone’s the same; I’ve been completely anxious since about three days ago.”

The mission ─── an escort from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the distant Governmental Sector.

The origin of the matter was the Queen’s edict. The case on the Lagoon floating archipelago that they had gone to together with Leon was the start.

What they had seen underground at a research facility upon the Lagoon floating archipelago that wasn’t recorded on any maps was ─── that which menaced the floating continent, a Yuugenshu, being cultivated.

“……If we let this assembly go by, there won’t be a second chance to investigate that Yuugenshu.”

At any rate, it was an experiment where they were cultivating the threat to the populace themselves so they couldn’t be forgiven regardless of the reason. Since Sophia Tenketsu Palace had decided to send one of the guardians of the floating continent, a Priestess, it was plainly obvious just how seriously they were viewing this assembly.

“Those of us going along as escorts also have a heavy responsibility.”

“Don’t say it; I actually took stomach medicine before coming. If you say anymore, it feels like it’ll develop into gastritis.”

Pressing down on the area near her stomach, Monica smiled faintly.

“Come on, Sheltis, rather than that, how are your preparations?”

“Y-yeah……I’m really rushing here.”

“I thought so.”

Monica sighed with her travel bag slung over her shoulder.

Anyhow, his room was in complete disorder and his bag on the bed was overflowing. It was a situation where him not being ready was obvious at a glance.

“It’s already gathering time so I had Kagura and Vaiel wait ahead of us at the sixty-fifth floor.”

“I-it’ll be fine. Just five more minutes!”

“It’d be good if that’s all it takes……will you make it in time?”

Looking down at his bag, Monica slowly crouched down. Just when he wondered what she was doing, she began packing things into his bag───

“Ah, ……sorry, getting you to help.”

“It’d be bad if you panicked and forgot something. It takes several hours to get to the Lagoon floating archipelago in the Governmental Sector, so we can’t turn back partway, you know?”

While still in a crouched over position, Monica lifted her face and smiled.

Collecting the crumpled luggage, his bag was packed with experienced movements.

“Are you used to this?”

“Packing luggage is a fundamental action for units, after all.”

“ So she says, Sheltis. “

“…………”

After he froze for a short moment.

“……Sorry, Monica, I should do the packing by myself at least. It’s fundamental, after all.”

“Eh, ahh, no! I-I didn’t say it with that kind of intention in mind! Th-this is……I answered because I was asked or well……u-umm…………”

“ It’s fine, Monica. It looks like his spirit’s been roused, so leave him alone. “

“……I’ll do my best.”

Sheltis began packing once again with all his heart and soul.

.

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 287.

There were only fours rooms arranged on this floor that lay two thousand metres above the surface. All of them were the private rooms of the Priestesses that protected the Orbie Clar floating continent ’s barrier.

In one of those Priestess’ room.

“Ahh, this is bad, I might not make it, might not make it……I might not make it in time!?”

A girl in pure white vestments yelled out while holding a luggage bag with both hands.

Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── with off-gold hair and jade green eyes, her countenance had a lovely charm to it.

At seventeen years old, she was one of only five Priestesses in the world.

“Aauuu……there’s no time!”

“Come ooon, Ymy? Don’t yell out like that and panic. A Priestess must always keep herself under control no matter when, okay──?”

With a teacup in one hand steaming slightly, Meimel was standing there looking elegant by herself.

Her senior Priestess who was rank two out of the five Priestesses. Her long, slender and well-proportioned body and her beautiful mature looks created a splendid harmony with her dress-style vestments.

“Honestly, what a rushed child. It would’ve fine if you’d done your preparations yesterday.”

Meimel sighed.

“……Who was the one that popped in when I was preparing and made a big fuss all night long?”

“That’s becauuuse, the cute Ymy is going away to the Governmental Sector. It’s a farewell party, a farewell party, I say. Oh my, this cookie is delicious.”

“Are you listening to me!?”

“Come now, that’s why I’m telling you to calm down.”

Mu──. Even though Ymy glared at Meimel, she didn’t move.

While remaining sitting on the seat, she stretched out her long legs and repositioned herself so her knees were touching. Her outer appearance made her seem like a mature woman of refinement, but her interior was a tease, so she was trouble.

“Umm, I’m sure it was five nights and six days……with the assembly taking up four of those days? It’s sad that we won’t be able to meet for almost a week. ……Ahh, it’s saddening to think of this as a parting with Ymy.”

The senior Priestess wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

“Could you not say things that sound so profound!?”

“Don’t tell me……within the food served at the Governmental Sector……”

“Poison? Don’t tell me there’s poison?”

“The food served at the Governmental Sector is too delicious……and an image of Ymy eating too much resulting in stomach pains ends with her being transported to the hospital while crying comes to mind.”

“What are those terrible circumstances!?”

“Eh? But that’s how it’s always been when I left the tower?”

“……No, that’s far enough.”

……Let’s just ignore Meimel and prepare instead.

Looking at the time, it was already nine on the dot. Her guard partner would come to meet her at a quarter past nine and they’d go to the airport within the tower together; such was the plan.

And so.

“…………Ymy, is this fine?”

The black-haired Priestess who had been working by herself in silence turned around.

Syun-rei ─── a slender girl of small build whose face still contained childish properties. In contrast with her reserved manner of speech and atmosphere, she was talented and had become a Priestess at the youngest age in history.

“…………I’m finished folding the clothes.”

Folded clothes laid stacked in rows upon the sofa Syun-rei pointed at. Changes of vestments and personal-use casual clothes as well as nightclothes were present.

“Wah, Syun-rei, thank you. You really saved me! Totally different from a certain someone who’s only been a bother!”

“Oh my, I’m sorry about that. Even I’m thinking over various things.”

Meimel shrugged in what seemed like a purposeful action. Or so she thought, but Meimel then reached down to pick up the paper bag at her feet.

“Fuufuufu, Ymy. Have a look at this; I’ve also prepared a proper farewell gift.”

Rustle. She was in the middle of pulling something out of the paper bag.

“Eh. R-really? There’s……no need to make such a fuss.”

“No, no, this is for the cute Ymy. Look, this is it!”

She took out a one-piece nightgown.

“Now, take this and go. It’s a special order made to fit your figure!”

“Waaa, what a splendidly pink negligee! The chest area is open and it’s completely bare past the thighs, and to add onto that, it’s completely see-through, which makes it really mature!”

With a glance at the surprising lack of cloth on that thing, Ymy cheered without thinking.

“Right? For a Priestess to wear such a thing would be heart-pounding!”

“Yes! Heart-pound……wait, don’t joke arouuuuuuund!”

She threw the luggage bag she was carrying at her senior Priestess with all her might.

“Ouch! Jeez, what is it?”

“That’s my line!”

“Was it not to your liking?”

“Before talking about my likes, what is that……that indecent design!”

“There’s no need to worry on that point──. With your voluptuous body, it will definitely suit you. I guarantee it.”

“Whether it suits me or not isn’t the point…………”

Saying so, Ymy suddenly clammed up at that point.

After she contemplated while staring up at space for a little while.

“That’s right. Meimel went to the trouble of preparing it, so I’ll take it with me.”

“Waaa! Ymy has finally joined the fellowship of adults!”

Eyes sparkling, Meimel set it aside with a cheer.

“…………Is that fine?”

“I’m just bringing it; I’ll wear my regular nightclothes over there so it’s fine.”

Ymy closed one eye in response to Syun-rei’s whisper. Rather than pointlessly making a fuss here and wasting energy, it was simpler to store away one’s weapon like this.

“Ah, that’s right. Hey, hey, Ymy, about that negligee just now〰”

And maybe she knew that, but Meimel put her hand on Ymy’s shoulder.

“Eh. Ah, yes. What is it?”

“That negligee just now’s fabric is thin, but it’s made with synthetic fibers so it’s strong. Something like a small knife won’t pass through it.”

“……Eh?”

“Fireproof, waterproof, heat-resistant, cold-resistant, wind-resistant, UV-resistant, and I also applied a shinryoku seal, so it will also more or less defend against a Yuugenshu’s mateki. It’s fine if you think of it as a scaled-down version of a Priestess’ vestments. It’ll help you be more at ease than your regular nightclothes, right?”

“…………This is?”

Lowering her gaze silently, Ymy opened her bag and peeked inside.

Shoved into the bag forcibly ─── the negligee that wasn’t folded and had become crumpled.

“I said it was a special order. I hurried to put in an order the day it was decided you’d go to the Governmental Sector and it just barely made it in time this morning.”

The senior Priestess informed her with a happy smile on her face, like a child who was reporting a test with full marks to his or her parents.

“……For my sake.”

“Of course, it’s for the sake of my cute junior.”

Even though Meimel had said it was a shinryoku seal, this wasn’t a simple job.

The spell to apply shinryoku to an object was extremely time-consuming. Even for Meimel, she still had her training as a Priestess so she must have stayed up late into the night when everyone else was asleep for many days.

“…………”

Gazing fixedly at the negligee upon her hand───

“……That’s unfair. If you say such things, there’s no way I can reject it.”

“Yes, that’s the cute thing I love about you.”

“That’s really playing dirty.”

In front of Meimel who was looking on while nodding, she neatly folded the now-crumpled negligee and put it back in her bag.

“Ymy, try to keep this at heart? We have no idea if the place you’re about to go is dangerous or not.”

“……The Governmental Sector?”

The unmanned research facility discovered at at the Lagoon floating archipelago under the Governmental Sector’s jurisdiction, as well as the cultivation facility underneath that. At any rate, the goal involved was uncanny, a complete mystery. It was unknown what she would see heading off to the dominion of the Governmental Sector who were the apparent ringleader.

……No.

……Bringing that goal to light is the Priestess’ job this time.

She was going to a land she hadn’t seen before with the general resolve to face danger.

“No, not that . A separate danger from the Governmental Sector .”

“Eh?”

“……At any rate, just think about keeping yourself safe, okay? A Priestess must realize the importance of her life more than anyone else.”

Filled with dignity and pride, Meimel’s voice resounded deeply.

───Ring───

From the door came the bell indicating the presence of a visitor.

“Oh my, it seems they’ve come just now to meet you. Ishtar ─── the Cadres Guard who’s famous even within the tower.”

“Is she that famous?”

Luckily or unluckily, she still hadn’t experienced a mission involving Elite Guards.

“She’s famous──. My partner invites her to train a lot.”

“…………Leon said it as well. That’s she’s strong.”

Meimel and Syun-rei spoke and nodded unanimously.

The Cadres Guard was, so to speak, the Guard closest to the Sennenshi. If her skill was enough to mention the current Sennenshi, just how extraordinary was her strength?

“……I wonder what kind of person she is.”

“You’ll know as soon as you open that door.”

Meimel gracefully smiled as usual.

“I’ll be going.”

Putting strength into her shoulders, she hefted up the bag which made a weighted sound.

……Monica-senpai will be going along.

……Also……Sheltis will protect me.

Her senior from her days as an apprentice Priestess and her childhood friend whom she’d been separated from for so long. She could be with those two once again. They had been separated for a few years……and she could meet them once again.

The heavy pressure from heading to an unknown land was eased a little just from thinking about that.

“Have a safe trip. I’ll be looking forward to souvenirs.”

“…………Take care.”

Waving at her two fellow Priestesses with a smile, Ymy passed through the room’s door.

### Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 65, the airport within the tower.

It was the terminal for the airship controlled by the Mechanical Bureau and the floor which encompassed the greatest amount of space.

There were ten-odd platforms solely for when the tower’s Guards or Bureau Chief-rank staff went on a mission and the runway extended far into the distance.

With one step onto the floor───

“Come to think of it, Captain Leon was with us that time.”

Monica who was walking beside him suddenly stopped and turned to him.

“……The Lagoon floating archipelago case?”

“Last night, I was thinking that this was our first mission and couldn’t sleep……so I just stared up at the ceiling the entire time and happened to remember it……”

Monica stared fixedly at the black floor underneath her.

The black tiles covering the floor were cushioning for withstanding the airship’s arrival and departure. She stared without blinking at those tiles which would reflect one’s face should they look hard enough.

“Monica, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, it’s nothing! I was just being a little sentimental!”

Monica hurriedly averted her face away.

“……Being unable to sleep last night……was also partially because of Ymy-sama.”

With a frail smile, the former apprentice Priestess shook her head.

Monica had been Ymy’s senpai three years ago. That Ymy had become one of only five Priestesses in the world.

“Is it hard to talk to her?”

“……It’s pathetic but I don’t know how I should talk to her.”

Monica chewed her lip with a pained expression. Because of their reversed positions, Ymy and Monica were troubled as to how to connect with each other.

“I think she wants to talk with you like before.”

“……Yeah.”

No, Monica definitely knows that already.

She knows but the other party is a Priestess, a protector of the world. Treating Ymy as a kouhai probably makes her feel something akin to guilt.

“ It’s impossible to do it immediately, but wouldn’t it be best if the approach came from this side? “

“……How should I call out to her?”

“Isn’t it fine if you say, I’m the unit’s captain, Monica?”

Sheltis carried on Ilis machine crystal ’ advice without changing anything.

“I’ve been granted the pleasure of traveling together with you and hope we get along ─── that much is fine. It should be hard for her to call out to you as well considering her position.”

“……I see, that’s right.”

“ Don’t forget to smile as you do it〰, a smile is important. “

“……Yeah.”

Nodding, Monica finally started moving.

And.

“You’ve finally come; you’re seven minutes late.”

“You’re slow.”

The small-statured girl wore a machine helmet low over her eyes and standing beside her was a blond young man of large build with short hair. Each of the two clothed in their white formal wear turned to face the arrivals.

“Good morning, Kagura, and Vaiel was also on time?”

“That’s because she came and woke me up one hour before.”

The blond young man stifled a sleepy yawn ─── Vaiel turned a displeased look at the girl beside him.

“If I hadn’t, you would be late. Well, let’s put that aside.”

Replying in an aloof manner, Kagura exchanged looks with Monica.

“Monica, look over there. It’s the important ‘ customer ‘ of ours.”

“Customer?”

“Come now, the four on the other end.”

An airship lay where Kagura indicated.

Directly beneath its silvery wings, a group of four men and women could be seen receiving an explanation from a pilot.

One was an elderly man accompanied by a lean woman with a calm air about her who stood to his side. The other two were one step away, frequently taking memos with nervous expressions.

“The General Affairs Bureau chief and his head secretary, and those two are clerk and private secretary. Monica, you went to greet them the night before last, right?”

“Yeah, since only meeting them on the day of would be too sudden.”

Monica noted each of them one by one with her gaze.

“The furthest one, the person who’s putting on years is the General Affairs Bureau chief. The woman in a suit to his side is his head secretary and it looks like the negotiations with the Governmental Sector will be centered around her. The two a little bit further away are clerks; they said it was their first time going to the Governmental sector so they’re nervous.”

“I see, so then they also know about us?”

“Yeah. I also did a basic introduction of our unit. They’re gentle-mannered people so they politely listened to what I had to say.”

Following Monica’s line of sight, Sheltis also stared sidelong at the four further in.

……Those people.

They were the four people directly in charge of the negotiations with the Governmental Sector and the targets for escort of their unit.

“Well then, let’s get moving.”

“Yes, that’s right, get the introductions over with already. The General Affairs Bureau chief is also waiting.”

The one who assented to Monica wasn’t one of the four within the unit───

“Ohhh, it’s I’sa?”

Sheltis tilted his head at the unexpected appearance of the girl.

“What’s up, have some business here at the airport?”

“There’s nothing going on; isn’t it expected that as her little sister, I would be here to see onee-sama off on her expedition?”

She combed her lustrously shining hair with her hand. She had a small build but with mature grey eyes, and the badge representative of a Regular Guard was attached to the shoulder of her completely wrinkle-free formal wear.

Regular Guard I’sa Is Ismael.

She was the Regular Guard who had been the examiner for this time’s mission and is the little sister of the Cadres Guard, Ishtar, who would be traveling with them.

“That onee-sama of yours……is Ishtar-san still not here?”

“It looks like she’ll be coming with the Priestess-sama. Consider it an honor, to have a mission together with onee-sama and the Priestess-sama. It’s enough that I also want to go along.”

In response to Kagura who was looking around, I’sa answered with folded arms.

“……Onee-sama, huh.”

“What? Did you say something, dual sword user?”

“Ah, n-nothing! Just talking to myself.”

Turning away his face, he somehow averted I’sa’s question.

……Ishtar.

……Our last match was how many years ago.

It’s been quite some time and I’ve grown a fair bit……so I’d like to think my identity won’t be discovered at a glance. As long as she doesn’t have any proof, it should be the same as with Kagura and remain at the ‘ suspicious ‘ level.

……But if I’m discovered and my real identity is outed right there.

……This time, I won’t be able to stay at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

A person who had fallen to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and was supposed to be dead was alive. Even though that was a serious affair in itself, if it was known that the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ’s mateki lay within him, it would cause a panic throughout the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“──────”

He stole a glance at the girl with her sakura-colored hair tied in a bundle.

……Monica would also find out.

Having admired him three years ago, she had gone so far as to throw away her position as an apprentice Priestess and become a Guard. If she came to know everything……Monica would probably be angry. Or else.

“Hey, dual blade user, are you listening?”

His flank was being poked by I’sa.

“Eh? Ahh, yeah. The introductions, right?”

“If you know, then get on it with it. The Cadet Guards are the side being allowed to escort so approaching the escort target from your side is the logical move.”

I’sa sighed, looking worn out.

“Well, that’s fine. That being the case, I’ll introduce you. Come along.”

“Eh?”

Saying so, she headed forward as the vanguard and walked towards the four at the other side.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Matching up with when the old man turned to her, I’sa clutched both ends of her skirt and curtsied.

“A pleasure, General Affairs Bureau chief, Maxwell. I was really in your care the other day.”

“Ohh, it really is I’sa-kun. I kept relying on you throughout the escort last week. Your partner as well, even though he was convalescing, I had him push himself.”

“Absolutely nothing of the sort; it is our duty.”

Alongside the old man who was smiling, I’sa was also nodding with an adorable smile.

Now then ─── I’sa turned back towards them with a small mutter.

“Let me introduce you: this is the captain of the unit entrusted with the escort, Monica, and three of its members. From the right, it’s Vaiel, Kagura and one other.”

“Just my introduction, so mean!? No……I’d like to say something.”

Then.

Just as he was about to object, Monica and Kagura each placed a hand on his shoulders.

Both of them nodded their heads……eh, does that mean to give up?

“Yes, yes, I’ve had the pleasure of a previous meeting with Monica-kun. To be this considerate even down to the finer details of escorting, it gives one relief.”

“They are my subordinates, so there are no oversights in their training.”

The Bureau chief nodded in satisfaction and I’sa had a business smile on.

“Hooh, truly, the subordinates commanded by I’sa-kun are of a different caliber.”

“Of course; we can’t be causing trouble for the General Affairs Bureau chief.”

Hah hah ha, laughed the two.

“……Since when did I become her subordinate?”

“Leave it. There’s no medicine for idiocy.”

In accordance with Monica’s sigh, Vaiel spat out with his usual abusive language, but that didn’t seem to reach the two who were having a pleasant chat either.

“Now then, it’s exactly nine thirty. The Priestess-sama should also be here soon.”

Kagura confirmed the time displayed on her Machina machine pearl . Receiving that, Ilis machine crystal who had been silent until now blinked with vigor and,

“ That’s right, it should be soon…………ah, she’s come! Ymy has come! “

A faint tension ran throughout all those there.

The General Affairs Bureau chief and the four clerks straightened up simultaneously. Monica turned around with a complex expression and Vaiel, being poked by Kagura, also fixed his posture.

“Good morning, Ymy-sama, we have been awaiting your arrival.”

Representing they who were there, I’sa grasped the ends of her skirt and curtsied.

“I shall carry your luggage.”

“Ah……y-you don’t need to. It’s fine!……umm, yeah, I’ll deal with it somehow!”

Pressing down on her off-gold hair that had become disheveled from running with one hand, the girl held her bag with the other.

Her vestments had a base of white with azure accents. It was specially prepared for just one person within the tower ─── for those living on the Orbie Clar floating continent , just that would be enough to identify who she was.

“Umm……good morning, everyone, I’ll be counting on you for this journey!”

Ymy lowered her head in a bow.

She looked wordlessly at the people around her.

He knew that smile that she turned to him for an instant. It wasn’t a smile as a Priestess but one made as his childhood friend.

───Good morning───

Sheltis also nodded wordlessly at that and next, he pushed on the unit captain that seemed lost even now with a small voice.

“Come now, Monica.”

“Y……yeah, I know……”

Monica cleared her throat once and took a step out front.

Even while showing signs of embarrassment, she still did it with a dignified and composed smile that that suited her.

“Good morning, Ymy-sama. I’m the captain of the unit that has the pleasure of travelling together with you for this mission, Monica, and here are three members of the unit. I hope we get along.”

“Ah……y-yes!”

Ymy’s expression brightened up.

Senpai finally talked to me ── it was a smile that conveyed her happiness from the bottom of her heart.

“By the way, Ymy-sama,”

Amidst that, I’sa asked while looking about.

“My sister…………I mean, where is the Cadres Guard?”

“U-um. We were supposed to come together, but the one who came was a subordinate of Ishtar-san. I was informed that she’d come to the airport ahead of me.”

It seemed that Ymy also didn’t know.

“Oi, oi, oi, the essential Regular Guard-sama is late?”

“If she said she was going on ahead, then that shouldn’t be the case.”

“Then what’s up?”

“Please don’t ask me. We can also rule out her being lost in the airport.”

Directly to the side of Vaiel who was sighing, Kagura snapped her fingers.

“It can’t be helped. Machina Machine pearl ── begin search.”

In an instant, the Machina machine pearl that had been floating in front of her split into over a hundred parts.

The small Machina machine pearl disassembled into puzzle piece-like shapes in midair. Each of those pieces was equipped with a high-power camera.

“First of all, let’s search within the airport.”

Answering Kagura’s instructions, the pieces of the Machine machine pearl flew off in all directions. Meanwhile, I’sa also took a good look at the surroundings and tilted her head.

“……That’s strange, I wonder where onee-sama went.”

“You mean she’s not skipping out?”

“Be careful in opening your mouth, Cadet Guard; this is onee-sama we’re talking about so I’m sure she has a noble reason for──”

Just before Vaiel and I’sa were about to have a stare-down.

“Ah, there’s a response that resembles her. A humanoid heat signature.”

Kagura said while staring at the machine helmet’s screen.

“From this reaction, she’s to our…………oh, that’s strange.”

Doubtful, her lips turned into the へ character.

“The position is directly above?”

“Ah.”

With that one sentence, Sheltis put his hands together in realization.

If Ishtar’s unexpected actions haven’t changed from before, then if I imagine what’s coming based on the words “directly above”, she is……no way.

“Say. I think it’d be best if everybody moved away from this spot, it might be dangerous.”

“Mm? What’s that, what’s this about directly above───”

At around the same time Vaiel looked up with a sour face, the happy cheer of a female voice came from directly above.

.

“Iiiiiyaahoooooooo!”

.

Whoooooosh ── the sound of something descending at high speeds and cutting through the air.

Then.

“Aahn? What’s thi…………vuee!?”

Smush. With aim that was true, the heel of the woman that came from the ceiling crushed Vaiel underneath itself.

“……Hey, Monica, Vaiel can’t move while he’s being crushed.”

“……Don’t look at me for that.”

While all those there including Ymy, and of course, Sheltis and Monica, were frozen.

“Jya─n, sorry to keep you waaaiting!”

The woman with a spear that was taller than her strapped to her back winked adorably at the same time as a bow.

Pure white pants and tight formal wear. She was a tall woman with black belts made with hide wrapped around her shoulder, elbow, knee and thigh on top of her formal wear.

Contrary to a mature face, her countenance was so cheery it was almost young. Her long hair was a blindingly brilliant golden color like I’sa’s and the blueness of her eyes was fairly strong.

“Cadres Guard Ishtar, by the Queen’s imperial command, has hastened to joooin! Yippee!”

“…………Y……you are……my escort-san?”

“That’s riight. It’s nice to meet you, Priestess-sama, and I’m looking forward to working with you from now o─n! Hrm? Everyone’s really quiet, did something happeeen?”

She looked around at her surroundings that had fallen silent and tilted her head.

“Daamn yooouuu, what are you doing outta nowhere, you damn woman!”

“Wawahh, what happened!?”

Being glared at by Vaiel who stood up with a look of rage, she hurriedly jumped off him.

“Damn woman just suddenly steps on my head outta nowhere.”

“Ahaha, did it feel good?……wait, don’t just wordlessly ball your fist! It was just a joke. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Just barely holding down his fist that was about to fly, Vaiel turned to the younger sister’s direction with a look of anger.

“……Oi, little sister, what’s with your older sister. The inside of her head’s already a field of flowers.”

“Ahh, jeez! Onee-sama, why are you lowering your dignity on your own like this!?”

I’sa yelled while clutching her head.

“Onee-sama!”

“Oh my, I’sa-chan. Go─od, go─od, you’re so great for managing to come to the airport by yourself without getting lost. Your onee-chan is touched.”

She petted the head of her sister who was a head shorter than her.

“Mumuu, you’ve let your bangs grow out quite a bit, I’sa-chan. You haven’t cut it lately? Ah, a split end. That’s no good; you’re a girl so you have to take proper care of yourself.”

“O……onee-sama, look around you, around! That’s embarrassing!”

“Is that so? I don’t mi─nd. I’sa-chan’s hair is soft like a cat’s─”

“Please mind it! D-disregarding me……this will affect onee-sama’s reputation!”

In response to the older sister who suddenly started combing her little sister’s hair, the I'sa little sister ’s face turned red and she raised her voice.

“P-putting that aside! Onee-sama is the Cadres Guard and you’re escorting a Priestess-sama this time, so conduct yourself as a model for these Cadet Guards!”

“Ahaha, I was scolded by I’sa-chan.”

“Onee-sama!”

“Yes, yes, it’s fine, I’sa-chan. Your onee-chan will do her best.”

“Th……that’s right. Onee-sama is my ambition after all! You’re strong to the point that nobody can beat you when you’re serious so please act with that in mind!”

I’sa shouted with blood rushing to her cheeks.

That was……her gaze while staring at her sister that was also her superior was……an unbelievably adorable and modest change from her usual domineering attitude.

“──Now then, we’ve caused a commotion, everyone.”

I’sa cleared her throat.

“As you can see, onee-sama has a slight side to her but I assure you that her ability as an escort is the best in the tower. Aside from that……please don’t mind it.”

“Ahaha, I’sa-chan introduced me in my place. Thanks, I’sa-chan, onee-chan’s bad at things like that.”

In the midst of the confusion, she once again reached her hand out to stroke her little sister’s head──

“……Onee-sama.”

“……Go─t it.”

With a glare from I’sa, that hand froze its motion.

Even though looking at their height and appearance, Ishtar was by far the more mature, the mood was such that just looking at their words and actions would make one question who was the older sister.

“……Then because I was glared at by my cute little sister, we’ll have a serious conversation about wo─rk.”

Ishtar turned back to them with her shoulders sagging in disappointment.

“This time’s escort will have everyone going to the Governmental Sector over a time period of six days starting today. Until we return safely to Sophia Tenketsu Palace ─── is fine, right?”

“……Umu. We’re counting on you.”

The General Affairs Bureau Chief nodded with a subdued voice that sounded undecided.

“O─kay. But Ishtar is to escort the Priestess-sama here, so the Bureau Chief’s group’s escort will be these Cadet Guards. Right? Monica-san?”

“Eh? Ah……y-yes.”

Her eyes opened in surprise, Monica quickly assented. It wasn’t because the conversation had suddenly turned to her but most likely because she knew her name.

“You know my name?”

“Ehehe, Ishtar’s been a Guard for a lo─ng time. You’re the person who quit being an apprentice Priestess and became a Cadet Guard, right? Well? Am I amazing?”

“I-I’m honored……I have also always heard of the renowned Cadres Guard Ishtar. I have the pleasure of going on a real mission with you, so I ask for your instruction in anything that happens.”

“Yeah, yeah, Ishtar also likes people with proper manners. Let’s get along〜”

Monica winked with a sidelong glance ── that was the signal for everyone to begin their individual introductions.

“I am Kagura; I look forward to working with you.”

“……Vaiel.”

“Arara, looks like quite the displeased person─. Did something haaappen?”

Ishtar peeked at Vaiel who was keeping a scowl on his face.

“Hey, hey, did something haaappen?”

“You fell outta the sky and kicked in my head!”

“Ah─……ahaha, so─rry. But see, the first part is always crucial no matter what, so I was wondering how to get everybody’s attention.”

“Getting everyone’s attention in a bad way.”

“And so when I was wondering about who to fall on, you looked the most sturdy.”

“You’re saying you chose me as the target to fall on to begin with! This damn woman, I’ll smash your front teeth next time ─── h-hey you, whose side are you……mugyu.”

His mouth that was about to say something was covered up by Monica and Kagura, and sadly, Vaiel fell silent.

“……My apologies, Cadres Guard Ishtar. My unit member was rude.”

“Nah, it’s fi─ne, it’s fi─ne. I don’t usually get those kinds of words directed at me so it’s kinda fresh and fun.”

Rather, the Cadres Guard’s eyes were shining with enjoyment.

“Hey, I’sa-chan, is that ‘ interesting guy ‘ you mentioned before this person?”

“Th-that’s wrong! The one I talked about was……that one……”

The one I’sa peeked over at and looked at with upturned eyes and a red face was.

…………

…………Me?

They noticed.

Following I’sa line of sight, Ymy and Monica and everybody present turned in his direction with a meaningful look in their eyes. Seeing that, Ishtar also turned this way.

“Ah, the one I’sa-chan was talking about is over here? Let’s see──”

Without the rising and falling that signified breathing nor a blink, only those two eyes stared in his direction as if eating into him.

“…………”

“Umm, onee-sama?”

She remained silent even though I’sa spoke with doubt.

Then.

“………… I get it .“

A low, suppressed laugh spilled out from those lips.

That was truly a very slight murmur ─── at the same time, with a faint smile that only Sheltis who was directly in front of Ishtar could barely make out.

“Onee-sa──”

“Are, areree?”

With a complete change, Ishtar’s smile became large enough that anybody could see it.

.

“ I’ve seen you somewhere before, haven’t I? “

.

“Eh?”

I’sa and Monica looked over at the same time.

“Hey, hey, have you and I met somewhere?”

“…………”

“I think we’ve met somewhere before, but Ishtar’s an idiot so she can’t remember. How about you? Do you know me?”

Gradually, Ishtar closed in with a very drawn out pace. Opposite those joyous words, his two eyes were widened an uncanny amount.

……Ishtar.

……I can’t tell, which one is it?

With her drawing closer, Sheltis reflexively gulped.

……Are you saying that whilst having completely remembered me?

……Or are you provoking me like this because you lack assurance and are seeking some response?

“Hey, I won’t know if you stay silent, you know? Hey? Or is it that there’s some reason that you have to stay quiet? ”

“……No.”

The time spent unnaturally silent ── Sheltis shook his head with timing just barely safe.

“I believe this is our first meeting. I only entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace two months ago.”

……It’s fine; she shouldn’t be able to confirm it based only on outer appearance.

Ishtar should remember me when I was thirteen or fourteen years old and I’m seventeen now. My height has also grown to match hers, and my voice and looks have also changed a little. Even if she relies on her memories, it should stay at the same “Doesn’t he resemble a dual swords user I saw a long time ago?” level as Monica.

“You just entered the tower?”

“Yes.”

“Is that so, then it might be Ishtar’s misunderstanding.”

“……Eh?”

She’s just giving up that easily? Without even pursuing his thoughtless question, the Cadres Guard turned her back on him as if to say she’d already lost interest.

“Okay, o─kay, I’ve kept you waiting, Ymy-sama! It’s time so let’s get going to the Governmental Sector─. Do you get airsiiick?”

“Y-yes……probably.”

“That’s greaaat. Then let’s go. Ah, I’ll carry your bag for you─. Special service!”

Snatching Ymy’s heavy-looking bag that she was holding, she held it lightly with only her left hand. With the metallic spear wrapped in cloth held in her right hand, her face was totally calm.

“Well then, well then, I’sa-chan, I’ll entrust you with taking caring of things while I’m gone for a bit─. Onee-chan’s worried that you’ll be lonely alone and won’t be able to sleep though.”

“Pl-please don’t treat me like a child! Wh……who can’t sleep alone at night?”

“Nah, it’s onee-chan who can’t.”

“Onee-sama!?”

“Ahaha, see ya─”

Just like that, she pushed Ymy from behind and the two walked towards the airship.

“Co─me ooon. The General Affairs Bureau Chief-san’s group and their escorts should also come.”

“……How annoying.”

While putting his dissatisfaction into words, Vaiel went first, then next, Kagura and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group followed suit and started walking.

“ Sheltis, us too. “

“……Yeah.”

Staring at each of the backs heading towards the airship, Sheltis once again walked.

### Part 4

Gigantic clouds passed by as if flowing.

On the other side of the pressure-resistant glass, a scene of fluffy clouds spread out in his lower vision. Since he became unable to see the figure of the two thousand metre-tall Sophia Tenketsu Palace , it had already been one hour.

“……Ohh. It’s amazing, Ilis, we passed the Lagoon floating archipelago in an instant.”

Droplets of water clung to the glass.

Watching that out of the corner of his eye, Sheltis spoke to Ilis machine crystal who hung at his chest.

“ We’re moving at the speed of sound, so we’re advancing at roughly four hundred metres a second. “

“……Even if you say per second, it feels surreal.”

“ The distance from the Orbie Clar floating continent to the Governmental Sector’s Lagoon floating archipelago is just under roughly two thousand kilometres. Amazing, isn’t it─, that we would arrive in about two hours. Figuratively speaking, doesn’t it feel less like ‘byu〰n!’ and more like ‘───hyunn’? “

“……No, you don’t have to force the sound comparisons.”

Tap. He heard the sound of someone’s footfall.

“Ah, see, Sheltis is here.”

“This is the far end; what are you sitting here for?”

The girl wearing the machine helmet low over her eyes was in front with the girl whose sakura-colored hair was tied into one behind her.

“You don’t have to sit here at the far end; it’s all reserved so why don’t you sit more towards the center?”

“……Nah, well, it’s just such an impressive airship that I was kinda nervous.”

The midsection of the airship ── with Monica pointing back at where she came from, Sheltis shook his head slightly more than necessary.

The airship specifically for the use of the Priestesses.

Even though it was an airship of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there were various kinds ranging from the transportation ships that were for rent to those for the exclusive use of noble visitors, and the ship they were riding was of the largest of the passenger ships. The performance of the vehicle was a given and the interior furnishings were also of a luxurious design that would make one recall a room from a very high-class hotel. It was the first time he’d seen an airship with a chandelier shining in it.

“We’re already here so what’s the problem with looking around?”

Sitting in the chair opposite his, Monica wore a wry smile.

“But look, it seems like the seating locations have already been plainly laid out. The ship’s foremost seat is for the Priestess, the midsection is for the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his entourage while we’re at the far end.”

“……It might do some good if you were to learn a little from Vaiel’s strong-willed attitude.”

The one who told him that in an aloof manner and sat in the seat next to him was Kagura.

“Ah, come to think of it, what about Vaiel?”

“He’s been fast asleep since thirty minutes ago, and what’s more, he’s in the seat directly behind the Priestess-sama’s.”

“……You’re kiddiiing.”

Rather than saying he has no fear, it’s more like not being afraid of anything even on a mission like this is a kind of skill in itself.

“Kagura and I tried to rouse him but Cadres Guard Ishtar went ‘This person’s interesting〰’ and seemed quite pleased.”

“She exploded with laughter, didn’t she.”

Monica and Kagura nodded in agreement with their shoulders drooped.

“……It’s because you two don’t know Ishtar’s true character.”

“Eh?”

“Ah, no, just a little something. Rather, I was just talking to myself.”

He had intended to have it as a monologue but it seemed that Kagura had heard it with her excellent hearing.

“However, I wonder what we should do? Is that Cadres Guard that amazing of a person?”

“That person is……let’s see, well, I only heard the rumors when I was an apprentice Priestess but I never actually saw her fight in person.”

“Fumu. But her little sister, I’sa-san, holds such adoration for her──”

Kagura clicked her tongue and folded her arms at the argument presented. Her sight that was on the machine helmet’s eyeshield turned in his direction.

“Do you know, Sheltis?”

“No, I said I’d only met that person for the first time.”

“ Didn’t you say that you’d heard it from the Sennenshi, Captain Leon? “

“…………”

Kagura replied nonchalantly.

……It’s fine if you only say what you heard from Leon, huh.

Mixing in the unspoken signal by Kagura, Sheltis’ inner self had a wry smile on.

“Is that so?”

“Just a little. ……Umm, let’s see. This is as much as I heard.”

Monica asked with a serious expression and he kept his calm as he replied.

“She was carrying a spear so I think you know already but she’s a spear user. I think it was an old style of martial arts. And that she’d advanced to the highest point of mastery in that art?”

“‘Pinnacle of the Gillshuvesher Exorcising Lance ’, isn’t it.”

Kagura’s Machina machine pearl gave off a faint radiance.

“Her data is also more or less within Machina machine pearl ’s memory. Within Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s registry, her name was updated, it seems. It’s ‘Gillshuvesher’ on the surface but there’s appended history to the name.”

“Ah……that, that. Well, she stood out in strength when she was a Regular Guard so she was investigated by the Priestesses and Sennenshi of that time at her unauthorized match.”

“That much?”

It was a given that Monica would lean forward. It was unthinkable that Priestesses and Sennenshi would appear at a Regular Guard’s unofficial, not to mention official, match.

“Yeah. To begin with, her spear skills aren’t lacking. She struck down three bullets from a machine gun’s high-speed fire with a spear and cut how many dozens of leaves that were falling into human shapes before they reached the ground. There are many stories like that.”

“That is……exaggerated, right?”

“No.”

He denied Monica’s mutter that she made with a half-dumbfounded face by shaking his head sideways.

“I think she can do those and even more. That’s why she is the Cadres Guard.”

“……What an absurd individual. If so”

Tap.

Monica reflexively swallowed what she was about to say at the sound of footsteps from the rear seats.

“U……umm, is it fine……if I interrupt?”

A circular tray and tea set with cups to match the amount of people.

The one holding that preciously was a girl in pure white vestments.

“Priestess-sama……?”

“ Oh my, Ymy, welcome. Come now, at your leisure. “

Kagura had her mouth hanging half-open and Ilis machine crystal was the same as always.

“R-really? Then I’ll pour tea immediately. I brought a variety with me.”

Setting down the tray on the central table, Ymy proceeded to line up a pot of hot water and numerous glass containers of tea leaves.

“Kagura-san, do you have a type of black tea that you prefer?”

“Heh?”

Kagura with her mouth half-open stiffened up.

“Umm, could I have you choose the tea you like?”

“We……well then……one without a strong scent.”

“Yes, then I’ll use this blend over here. Sheltis will have lemon grass with a spoonful of honey instead of sugar.”

Ymy who was making the preparations with experienced movements turned around with an unopened jar of jam in her hands.

“Say, Monica-senpai, you like the marmalade with the peel left in, right?”

“…………”

“Ah, jeez, senpai. I’ll make the decision if you don’t answer, you know? Senpai’s been fond of marmalade tea since before, I’ll decide on──”

“Wa-waaaaiiiit!”

Monica who had been patiently keeping her mouth shut and shaking on the side exploded.

“Eh? What’s wrong, senpai?”

“I-it’s not what’s wrong!”

She pointed at Ymy who was blinking in surprise with the jam container in her hand.

“Wh, wh-wh, what are you doing……what would you be doing here!”

“We’re on the same airship?”

“N-not that! Where is Cadres Guard Ishtar!?”

“She’s still looking at Vaiel-san’s sleeping face and laughing while holding her stomach.”

“…………”

“Monica-senpai,”

Ymy closed in with an exceptionally serious gaze.

“Please, I’d like you to say the truth. Senpai, do you hate me?”

“Wha……th-that……”

“But senpai, you’re always avoiding me──”

“You’re wrong!”

Ymy’s words were blown away by her ex-senpai’s shout.

“……I as well…………truly…………however……our positions are different now.”

Monica tightened her fist.

As if to draw blood, she continued while biting her lip.

“Ymy is now……a Priestess, a protector of the Orbie Clar floating continent . I am…………a subordinate. A Cadet Guard like me talking in a such a friendly manner with a Priestess……is not permitted.”

“But”

Ymy’s face that had drooped slightly rose up again.

“Monica-senpai is my most important benefactor. Who will not permit me to speak with that benefactor?”

“…………That is”

Monica was speechless with her head still downcast.

A strained atmosphere permeated that area and silence stood between those two like a wall──

“I think it’s fine though.”

“……Sheltis?”

The two girls that were standing still languorously raised their faces at the same time.

“Monica also said she’d like to get along, right.”

“B-but……a mere Cadet Guard acquainting with a Priestess-sama is a brazen act”

“That Priestess-sama is saying it’s fine, so there’s no problem.”

Kagura said as she held the Machina machine pearl .

“I also agree with Sheltis. The side that approached first was the Priestess-sama, you know? That is unmistakably the popularity that you have cultivated until now. It’s fine if you bask in it.”

“…………”

Ymy advanced step by step towards the unit captain who was listening keenly.

“Senpai……I’m truly happy to be able to be together with senpai like this again……that’s why I ask you, let’s get along like long ago.”

“……Really”

“Eh?”

Before Ymy replied with a question, Monica’s hand reached out to Ymy’s bangs.

“……Really, what a troublesome kouhai.”

She strongly rubbed her kouhai’s hair.

“You became a Priestess and I thought you’d become outstanding, so don’t trouble me so much.”

Fuu ── she sighed deeply while lowering her shoulders.

“Th-then, senpai!”

“Marmalade is fine but I’ve been having milk tea lately.”

“Ah……y-yes! I can also prepare milk tea quickly!”

Monica smiled wryly as Ymy made her preparations in great haste.

He looked on at those two from behind.

“We should change seats. They probably have things they’d like to discuss alone.”

“I would say.”

Sheltis and Kagura looked at each other and exchanged nods.

“ They’ve made up. But really, peoples’ emotions are complicated and a pain. “

“That just now was a little special.”

He smiled wryly in response to Ilis machine crystal whose tone was meek.

“But with this, we’ve also gained the strongest personal connection called the Priestess-sama. As reliable as it is.”

“……I can’t guarantee the reliability though.”

“Fumu. By the way, Sheltis, may I ask one thing?”

Sitting in a seat further away, Kagura pointed at Monica and Ymy behind her.

“What about them again?”

“That time when the Priestess-sama was preparing our black tea. Why did Ymy-sama know your preference in black tea?”

“…………”

“How about it?”

“……She definitely heard it from Leon.”

“ ……I also have a feeling it may or may not be that. “

At any rate, he brought up his old friend’s name here and Sheltis averted his face quite openly.

### 052. Chapter 2: The Governmental Sector

### Part 1

The runway that stretched on endlessly.

Sliding into the runway that was gleaming silver in the sunlight, the airship gradually slowed down.

The airport that had been nothing but a speck slowly increased in detail and the control tower directing the airship became visible to even the naked eye───

A tremor.

Because of the shake from landing and the sudden braking, his body that was secured by the seatbelt jittered slightly.

“ Oh─. It looks like we’ve arrived safely. “

“It’s about time.”

Confirming that the airship had come to a complete stop, Sheltis stood up from his seat.

“Okay, now the─n, Ymy-sama, this way─; make sure to follow me, okay?”

“Y-yes!”

First was Ishtar leading Ymy.

Behind them were the General Affairs Bureau Chief, his female private secretary and the two clerks.

“ Come on, Sheltis, your protégés went on ahead. “

“I’m in charge of the one furthest to the back so it’s fine. It’s easier to work if I’m a little further away.”

His protégés were the old man, the General Affairs Bureau Chief, the female private secretary and the two clerks.

Standing ahead of the four walking together was Monica, Kagura and Vaiel were flanking the left and right and Sheltis was behind all of them.

“ Oh, it’s quieter than I thought it would be. “

Advancing down the pedway connected to the airship led them to the departures gate on the second floor of the airport.

The information counter and observation seat and everything else in the giant hall were completely empty. The garbage collector and guidance staff that should be working in the hall were nowhere to be seen.

It was a given that Ilis machine crystal would question it; there were far too little people around.

“It looks like they reserved the airport.”

“ So it’s that an airport with nobody in it provides complete assurance of safety. It’s kind of lonely though. “

They proceeded down the path from the departures gate towards the airport’s main hall. It was a strange feeling that they wouldn’t meet anyone regardless of how much they went ahead.

“Okay, o─kay, everyone, stop. This is the arranged meeting place─”

With that, Ishtar who was ahead came to a stop with a smile.

“A meeting place?”

“That’s right, Ymy-sama, it seems the person acting as a secretary for the Governmental Sector will guide us. ……Oh, maybe it’s that person? That’s them, that’s them. O─i!”

Look around at the surroundings, Ishtar suddenly raised a hand.

A woman of small build in a white suit slowly made her way over. She had slightly drooping eyes with black-rimmed glasses. Her light green hair was cut short.

“Everyone, I’m terribly sorry for having made you wait. I am the Governmental Sector, sector 1, administration department, general affairs division ── diplomatic secretary, Yuragi. Let us have a favorable relationship by all means.”

The woman lowered her head in an exaggerated action.

“Especially towards the Priestess-sama, I would like to extend my gratitude as a representative of the Governmental Sector to you for coming all this way from the distant Sophia Tenketsu Palace . As you can see, I am the only one that has come to greet you but please forgive it in the name of complete security.”

The Governmental Sector’s guide's lines were said in a practiced tone.

“Heh─, so you’re known as Yuragi-san. I’m Ishtar, let’s get along─”

“Yes, let us be amiable.”

Yuragi replied to Ishtar with a business smile.

“Well then, Ymy-sama, I will first guide you to the hotel you will be using this time. The luggage you entrusted to us at the airport has also been carried to Ymy-sama’s room.”

“I-is that so? Thank you very much.”

“That is also our job.”

The secretary pushed on the bridge of her black-rimmed glasses with a smile.

“Today is the day we should commemorate the first time a Priestess has stepped foot upon these grounds……or so I’d like to say, but we of the Governmental Sector do not know how we should react to this situation.”

“……Is that so?”

“We also had thoughts of a grand welcome but there was also the chance we wouldn’t make it in time. Today we have prepared the public hotel on the highest floor of the airport but even that was only reserved yesterday.”

“A hotel reservation!?”

Ymy gulped without thinking in response to the secretary’s words.

“I……I’ve never received such treatment even at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“There are many specialized guards at Sophia Tenketsu Palace but I don’t believe there is a necessity to bring such excess defenses here. Ishtar-sama’s prowess has also reached the Governmental Sector.”

“Heeh─. But being complimented here makes it scary afterwaaards. Are you planning something?”

“Who knows? That’s not something I of the general affairs division would be privy to.”

She brushed off Ishtar’s doubts with a smile.

“……Somehow, she gives off a very Governmental Sector feel.”

“ It’s impossible to know her character? “

“Yeah, well, it can’t be helped if there’s doubt.”

The island with no map. The underground room at the ingeniously hidden facility. And the water tank breeding a Yuugenshu. Whether that would be cleared up would be following the meeting tomorrow but they couldn’t let their guard down at other times either.

“Sheltis.”

Monica who was staying at the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s side approached without a sound. In a suppressed voice low enough that it would be erased by footsteps and wouldn’t be heard at all by anyone.

“I’ll tell you one thing about this female secretary.”

“Yeah?”

“The first sector……that is to say, she’s a spy for Sophia Tenketsu Palace that’s in the central division of the Governmental Sector. She’s part of an important function of the Governmental Sector with the aim of gathering information.”

“Eh……ehh!?”

“Shh, you’re too loud. It’s secret information, so be careful.”

“I get it but……is that for real?”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace was dispatching spies to the Governmental Sector. Sheltis had also heard those rumors when he was an Elite Guard but he didn’t think they actually existed.

What’s more, that secretary was one?

Her manner of speaking was good, as well as her manners, and there was no doubt she was a person from the Governmental Sector.

“Since when have you known, Monica?”

“Ymy-sama told me aboard the airship. It’s information nobody other than Cadres Guard Ishtar and the General Affairs Bureau Chief should know so be careful.”

“……What an amazing person.”

Getting into the central division of the Governmental Sector was already of excessive difficulty.

One wouldn’t be employed by the Governmental Sector’s central division unless they were outstanding and being ordinary wouldn’t cut it when spying and sending information to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“Now then, Ymy-sama, if we go down the elevator over there, we will soon arrive at the hotel on the highest floor of the airport.”

Whether knowing or unknowing.

The bespectacled secretary at the head of their group wore an unmoving smile.

.

### Part 2

Public integrated hotel, [Asterhythm].

The first class lodgings monitored by the Governmental Sector. It was a hotel containing various facilities such as an exercise gym in the vast ceremonies hall, a pool as a matter of course and a movie theater and drama stage.

In the lobby. Ymy, who had been led by Yuragi, had just parted with the vigorous handshakes and voices of adoration that greeted her from the managers, chefs, the receptionists at the counter, the garbage collectors and the girls that were part-timing. It didn’t stop at the hall either as workers were lined up all the way to the next path.

“……Oh, my, my?”

Stopping at the gate, Ymy surveyed the gathering of people before her.

……This many people are greeting me?

……But Yuragi-san just said that they barely reserved the hotel.

“All of the hotel staff here have been awaiting Ymy-sama’s arrival. For the purpose of safety, the airport was unstaffed but, of course, we can’t have a hotel without its managers or chefs and other staff.”

“Ah, I see. That’s right!”

“Yes. My apologies, did it surprise you?”

Yuragi was smiling as usual.

“Ymy-sama and Ishtar-sama are this way and the others shall be escorted by the respective person in charge of them.”

“O─kay, well then, Ymy-sama, let’s go this way!”

“Eh……y-yeah.”

Being pushed on by Ishtar, Ymy followed after the back of Yuragi who had went ahead.

.

### Part 3

Room number 700, [Asterhythm].

The instant she opened the room door that was decorated with the hotel’s name, a gentle breeze with the sweet and sour scent of citrus fruits wafted over her hair.

“……It’s strange.”

Standing in the center of the living room large enough to play tag in, Ymy once again looked over the room she had been gestured to.

……Even though she was in the room.

……There was a gentle breeze blowing and she could hear the chirps of the island. It was just like──

“Ama─zing! It’s like being in the middle of a huge plain!”

Ishtar who tossed aside the luggage she was holding had her eyes sparkling.

“Say, say, what’s going on, Yuragi-chan!?”

“The gentle breeze is being mimicked through cutting-edge air conditioning settings. The sound of the island is genuine and comes from a parabolic reflector device set up on the Lagoon floating archipelago . Also, the ceiling can be made to open and close, becoming a glass dome when open. I believe it is the best room to appreciate a full view of the starry sky.”

The secretary pointed at the ceiling with a shining chandelier.

“Oh─! That’s why it’s on the top floor of the airport?”

“Yes. That’s the selling point of this hotel. Does it meet your fancy as well, Ymy-sama?”

“……It’s amazing.”

The Priestesses’ private rooms at Sophia Tenketsu Palace were also made with comfort in mind but she felt that this room was also wonderful from the bottom of her heart.

……When it becomes night, the sky becomes really beautiful.

“Oh my, oh my, Ymy-sama? Your face is so─mehow grinning broadly─?”

“Heh?……Th-that’s not true!”

“Ahaha, it was a joke, a joke. Now then, Yuragi-chan, it’s about time for a serious chat, isn’t it?”

Holding the spear wrapped in cloth under her arm, Ishtar walked to the wall.

“……A serious chat?”

“That’s right. I should tell you soon. First of all, Ymy-sama, concerning my introduction earlier.”

Yuragi pulled out a white card from the breast pocket of her suit. It was a business card that used ink which would only react to reveal color under special lighting.

“Governmental Sector, first sector, administration department, general affairs division as well as Sophia Tenketsu Palace [Independent] special duties agency, Yuragi A Sohma. For six days starting today, I will be providing support on Ymy-sama’s special mission.”

“…………”

“Is there something?”

“N-no!……It’s the first time I’ve spoken with someone from the special duties agency so I was a little surprised.”

Ymy waved her hands in a panic at Yuragi’s extremely deep bow.

The special duties agency was not affiliated with any bureau of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . Starting with the Governmental Sector, she’d heard that they gathered information in various places. Meimel had told her that her senior Priestesses knew but it was her first time meeting them.

“If I were to say, it’s far more nerve-wracking for a person to talk to the Priestess-sama like this.”

“……Is that so?”

“Yes, but I’m glad. If I compare Ymy-sama with the other Priestesses, it somehow……feels like you’re not above us but a lot closer.”

Yuragi smiled with her hand to her lips.

“Well then, let’s move on to the main topic──”

“Ah……wa-wait! Umm……well……having that conversation here”

Sitting down on the living room sofa, Ymy looked around her.

This was already the Lagoon floating archipelago that the Governmental Sector monitored. What’s more, this hotel was directly linked to the Governmental Sector. It was the same for Yuragi herself; wouldn’t having a conversation related to Sophia Tenketsu Palace here be bad?

“Umm, well, see……someone could be listening in or something.”

“I checked this morning for the presence of listening devices in this room. Additionally, I brought along jamming equipment, so please be at ease. ……Well, that took a while so I ended up being late in greeting you today.”

Yuragi stood in the center of the living room with her hands spread.

“From today onwards for six days, think of this room as the our Tenketsu Palace side's command center. Bear in mind that the business meetings for the assembly that starts tomorrow as well as conversations about secrets regarding the tower should not be conducted outside of this room. Of course, secrets about the Governmental Sector as well.”

“……Yes.”

Faced with that sharp gaze behind those glasses, she nodded greatly.

“Thank you very much. So I say but I believe there won’t be many opportunities to have those discussions so Ymy-sama shouldn’t worry about it either.”

Yuragi who’d sat in a chair softened her tone with a smile.

“……Is that so?”

“There are all kinds of expectations mixed into this assembly but the bargains on that end are for the General Affairs Bureau Chief to handle. Ymy-sama’s job is not negotiations but to flaunt your status as a guardian of the Orbie Clar floating continent . That will become a heavy pressure on the Governmental Sector more than anything else.”

“Fl-flaunt……?”

She held back the impulse to draw away.

“Ymy-sama〜?”

The feeling of her cheek being poked with a finger. Ishtar who was supposed to have moved to the wall had sat beside her at some point in time.

“Ymy-sama, you’re bad at being ‘Priestess-like’, aren’t you〜?”

“……Eh……ah, umm, a little.”

While casting her gaze down at the carpet underfoot, she replied normally. A novice Priestess like her conducted training from morning to night every day. The dazzling image she was given was out of the question.

“First of all, for the good will meeting tonight, this hotel’s hall has been reserved for a dinner party. You will also meet the Governmental Sector’s important officers there for the first time.”

“……Being absent from my stomach hurting because of nervousness……isn’t allowed, is it?”

“It’s not.”

She was refused with a smile.

“Say─ say─, Yuragi-chan? That good will meeting is still hours away, isn’t it. What will Ymy-sama do until then? What are the plans─?”

“Touring.”

The secretary pulled out an electronic notebook in response to Ishtar’s interjection.

“I shall guide you through the central part of the island. It is the best way to learn about the Governmental Sector’s rule.”

“……An inspection?”

“There is also that meaning to it, but it’s fine if you just go with the intention to sightsee. I will guide you through a place with many carts and food stalls, so I believe it will be enjoyable.”

“Ah……I see! Meimel said to go because it would be fun.”

“Meimel-sama has come to the Governmental Sector secretly. During that time as well, she was mostly under my care.”

Meimel did?……I didn’t know.

I’d heard that this was the first time a Priestess was publicly visiting the Governmental Sector though.

“Then shall we head out?”

“Ah, please wait a little. Ymy-sama?”

While looking at the electronic notebook, Yuragi pointed at her travel bag.

“Before that, may I have you change your clothes?”

.

### Part 4

Room number 301, [Lily].

It was a room that was separated from the Priestess’ room 700 by two corridors and a large hall. Different from the [Asterhythm] that was meant for guests, regular patrons could lodge here.

“Fumu, fumu, it looks like the layout for the 300 and 400 rooms is roughly the same. Our room as well as the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s room are of the same structure. This is convenient since we know our protégé’s room structure and can react to even the one in ten thousand occurrences.”

Gazing at the hotel’s pamphlet, Kagura folded her arms in satisfaction.

“Was this Monica’s idea?”

“I asked them to to accommodate it. I said I’d like for them to be in a room aligned with ours but it’s great that that was granted……Sheltis and Vaiel, come over here as well.”

Monica spread a rough sketch of the hotel atop the table. Using red and blue ink pens, eight room sections were cleanly divided by color.

“First, this 300 room is the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s room and this neighboring one to the left is our room 301. Following that is the private secretary’s room, Sheltis’ room, the clerks’ room and after that──”

“Rather the important part is that the escort and protégé’s rooms are mutually aligned, right?”

Vaiel was glaring at the rough sketch with a look like it was a pain.

“If there’s even a slight distrust on the side of either the escort or the protégé, there won’t be any contact between the two……well, I don’t think there’s anything.”

“Being careless is forbidden. By the way, Kagura, I’d like to confirm once again.”

Monica slowly took something out from her pocket.

“Yes. There were no listening devices. It’s fine to speak normally.”

“Understood.”

The thing that Monica was holding slipped from her hand.

Clack ── a transparent shard hit the top of the table. It looked like a crystal but the shape of its cracks suggested a different object.

“ Reinforced glass, I see. If I were to name something like it that’s familiar, it would be the Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s windows which are made of the same glass. It has a high value but it is also used in experimental apparatuses like water tanks or flasks. “

Water tanks.

Sheltis looked at Monica’s face reflexively upon hearing the term that Ilis machine crystal used.

“Monica, is this”

“It’s a fragment of the water tank we found on that island; an answer finally came from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s analysis team last week.”

The group of three consisting of himself, Leon and Monica had gone to the Lagoon floating archipelago . It was a fragment from the time they had found the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.

“And this is from the case where Sheltis and Kagura were attacked by the caster Maha.”

Monica pulled out another glass crystal. This was a fragment collected from the Yuugenshu water tank that [Golden] Maha had been protecting.

The two shards fell onto the center of the table. It was reflective almost like a mirror.

“According to the analysis team, the composition of these two is completely the same.”

“……I see.”

Sheltis exhaled while slightly biting together his molars.

The Yuugenshu water tank that was suspected to belong to the Governmental Sector and the Yuugenshu water tank that [Golden] Maha was protecting were the same. In the case that the Governmental Sector had set up the Yuugenshu water tank, there was also the possibility that Maha was an assassin of the Governmental Sector.

“……We should also be prepared to receive an attack on this island.”

“It’s fine, Kagura, because you figured out Maha’s techniques that time.”

Sheltis gave a slight nod to the girl with a machine helmet who looked up at him with unease.

“We’ll get through this time too. I’ll also do my best. Okay?”

“Th-that’s right!……I’ll also support you. With that, you understand, right, Vaiel; do the escort properly!”

“Haah? Why are you turning to me?”

“You are the most worrisome. Ah, hey, don’t look the other way and pay attention here!”

“……Ow, owowow! Damn you, don’t just twist people’s necks by force!”

Kagura and Vaiel started to quarrel.

Looking on with an astonished face, Monica sighed.

“……Jeez, there’s no tension at all. Even though we were in the middle of a discussion.”

She combed her forelocks with her hand. While doing that, she let her vision wander in space as though in thought……in the end, the one who spoke first was Ilis machine crystal .

“ Right, right. Speaking of which, how did it go? The relationship repairing you did with Ymy onboard the airship. “

“W-wait, wait. We weren’t fighting or anything to begin with!?”

She smacked the top of the table in her assertion.

Though with that said, her face from her cheeks to her ears was a brilliant red color.

“A-anyway……we decided that we’d act as before in non-public places.”

“Is that so. I’m glad.”

Before coming here, he had talked with Ymy in advance. That she should treasure the time with Monica on this mission.

“But a mission is a mission and Ymy understands that as well so we’ll hold back──”

Just as she was about to stand from the chair.

The door that should have been locked opened and someone ran in.

“O〜kay. Everyone gather in the lobby, we’re going on a tour with everyone!”

“Come ooon, Monica-san, come quick! We’ll leave you behind if you’re slow?”

Ishtar stood in front of the door and beckoned.

“Yuragi-chan said she’d guide us. There are carts and food stalls and you can eat as much as you want? It’s fine, we can draw out money from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s finances!”

“……My……Our unit’s first mission is……an all-your-can-eat tour……”

“C-come now. The Elite Guard’s saying that, after all.”

For the time being, Sheltis comforted the unit captain that had been moved to tears.

.

### Part 5

Governmental Sector, central area, Triumphal Arch.

It had been about half an hour since getting on a large transport vehicle when they came to see a large pure white gate shining in the sunlight.

Guessing by sight, the height was four or five metres. The width was well over twice that. Of course, it was a scale that would allow this large transport vehicle and even a large armored vehicle to pass through easily.

“It looks like we’ve arrived, so everyone please exit the vehicle.”

Yuragi descended from the passenger seat at the front and pointed at the large gate.

“The central area is from this gate onwards. If we compare it with the Orbie Clar floating continent , this area would be synonymous with the Living Districts and at it’s center is the agency known as the ‘ Governmental Sector ‘. Around this area is as you know.”

“……That’s a large gate. It’s white and large like Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

Ymy looked up at the pure white gate in front and sighed in admiration.

Maybe it was to avoid standing out in a crowd. Her current clothes were a common sky blue blouse with frills and a white mermaid skirt.

“It is known as the Triumphal Arch. At the time the Governmental Sector moved from the Orbie Clar floating continent to this Lagoon floating archipelago , it was a gift conferred by Sophia Tenketsu Palace as a proof of friendship. The pure white color is as Ymy-sama stated, it was done in the image of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Is that so? S-sorry……I’m bad at history like that.”

“It’s fine; that is why the explanation has its worth.”

Yuragi pulled out something that looked like a tourism pamphlet. When he wondered what she was doing, she rolled up that pamphlet ── and pointed towards the path that led on past the Triumphal Arch.

“Let’s begin touring the city immediately. Or so I’d like to say, but we only have to walk straight down this road.”

It was a public road that was wide enough to have a footrace on.

The surface was a glossy black. The materials used to coat the ground also seemed special and the ground’s hardness couldn’t be felt when they walked on it. It was a feeling like walking atop a cushion.

“Such strange materials. Yuragi-san, what does this pavement use?”

“It’s asphalt with chemical fibres woven in. I’ve heard that the Governmental Sector’s development division is gathering data on it as an experimental material. It absorbs the impacts from walking and if a child falls, it’ll only end with a light injury.”

“……That’s quite intriguing. I’ll take a little data.”

Kagura squatted down and poked at the pavement’s surface.

“Kagura-san, it’s fine if you’re staring at the ground but pay attention to the front properly as well.”

Maybe that action was strange. In a rare moment, Yuragi smiled broadly in a natural fashion unlike her usual business smile.

“In front?”

“Yes, to both sides of this road.”

The large public road stretched out into the distance so far that it seemed like a mirage. The countless carts and food stalls that lined both sides of that street were the highlight of the scene.

Of course, there were carts and food stalls selling food and drinks that weren’t seen on the Orbie Clar floating continent , as well as flower shops, astrology shops, clothing and accessory shops, and even massage booths. Each of those was decorated with their own unique ornaments, calling out to the tourists that were walking through that public road.

“……Such amazing fervor; you can’t see a crowd of booths like this on the Orbie Clar floating continent .”

“Yes. The difference between this Lagoon floating archipelago and the Orbie Clar floating continent is in that ‘ density ‘. Ah, you over there, could I get mixed juice for all of us? Include straws.”

Turning to the boy vendor, Yuragi flicked out a pure metal coin.

“This island is only an eighth of the size of the Orbie Clar floating continent . Within that small area, the residents, travelers and merchants are gathered so the density naturally became high. ──Yes, thank you. It’s fine if you keep the change as pocket money.”

The secretary took the paper cup with drink the boy was holding.

“Go ahead, Ymy-sama and everyone else. The moon viewing apple and blue lemon juice……because of the climate, neither of them are cultivated on the Orbie Clar floating continent .

Let’s see, let’s see ── the instant Sheltis drank the sample half, the pleasant aroma of fresh sourness and faint sweetness spread within his mouth.

……Ah, this is delicious.

This cool and gentle refreshing feeling is something that other drinks fall just short of.

“This tastes good. It’s not too sweet nor too strong.”

“……Hmph, it’s not bad.”

Kagura and Vaiel who had cautiously confirmed the smell had also drank a mouthful and it seemed it had fit their fancy, so they drank a second.

“That’s a relief. There are many other delicious cuisines so please enjoy it so long as it doesn’t affect tonight’s dinner party. ……What I wanted Ymy-sama to know was in fact this.”

“This……was it?”

Ymy stopped the hand she had the juice in and asked back blankly.

“This scenery isn’t bad, right?”

Yuragi who was walking at the forefront spread her hands in a slight gesture.

The road ahead was overflowing with the fervor of the tourists and vendors and would have anyone’s eyes shining. That scene was not different at all from something that could be seen at the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“The Governmental Sector has two sides. The side that acts as a political opponent to Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the other is this. The side that acts to regulate and eagerly strives to preserve this lively townscape. Both of them are real and not a ruse.”

“……Truly, it’s different from what I imagined.”

Ymy who was looking around at the public road nodded with a subdued expression.

“Of course, marking the Governmental Sector as a ‘ good thing ‘ is premature. But on the other hand, I think that knowing about this side is important.”

“Y-yes. It’s become a really good reference!”

“That’s great. ……You also drank all the juice; the child from before is also delighted.”

Ymy nodded many times. Yuragi took the empty paper cup that she had been holding with a smile and quietly threw it into the collection bin on the side of the public street.

“By the way, about Ymy-sama’s escort”

“Ishtar-san, is it. ……H-huh? Come to think of it, she’s been quiet since a while ago.”

Ymy looked around for the escort that should have been beside her.

“ Ah, over there, Ymy, at that child vendor. She’s in the middle of discussing with that kid that sold us juice. “

In the direction that Ilis machine crystal had talked about ── the figure of the spear user could be seen handing a coin to the boy Yuragi had bought juice from, receiving juice that was bottled in clear glass in return.

“Okay, onee-chan, two one-litre bottles of the juice from before!”

“Thanks. With this, the souvenir for I’sa-chan is settled, yep. Buying Jin’s portion as well and that’s two bottles. Perfect! Ah, the dry flowers over there are also really beautiful!? That might also be a good souvenir for I’sa-chan!”

Putting the two glass bottles under her arm, she went further and further away.

“……Somehow it feels like she’s really enjoying herself.”

“Yes, but it also feels like that’s fine. Ymy-sama is also in disguise so it would be more unnatural for Ishtar-sama to stick right next to her as an escort, right?”

The Priestess sighed and Yuragi had her arms folded with a wry smile.

“Shall we go find a good bargain like Ishtar-sama?”

“Th……that’s right.”

She tightened her fists and turned towards her senpai, the ex-apprentice Priestess.

“Monica-senpai, let’s also go with the intention of not losing!”

“Ehh! W-with me!?”

“Didn’t you take me out for shopping together in the past?”

“Th……that’s right but……umm.”

The unit captain let her gaze wander in embarrassment.

“…………Well, it can’t be helped. If that’s also included in escorting.”

The wind blew into the public street. Her sakura-colored hair flowing, Monica took her kouhai’s hand and walked on.

“However, don’t separate from me. It looks like Ishtar-sama is also doing whatever she wants so I have to protect you.”

“Y-yes!”

The two held each other’s hands and walked.

They should be close to them but not at too close a distance and keep watch──

“Ah. Hey, hey, Sheltis, are you by any chance jealous?“

“Not at all.”

“ Eh─, but the position by Ymy’s side has been taken. Really? Really? “

……Idiot.

Bearing it with a wry smile, he shook his head sideways.

“The one beside her is Monica, a girl. What’s more, she’s Ymy’s senpai, and looking at that great relationship makes me also feel happy.”

“ ……Well, that laid-back attitude is very like you. “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ sigh resembled an amazed laugh.

And in a spot a little further away, Vaiel with a tired out face,

“But you know, it’s such a pain to walk on and on. How far are we going?”

“A little more. Somebody with good vision should be able to see it soon.”

Yuragi prompted in the direction the large public road extended.

Above the horizon that her gaze led to, a towering black shadow stood with a grand sea of clouds as its backdrop.

……That is.

“That is the Governmental Sector. It is the agency that oversees this world’s politics including legislation and the administration of justice and it is the place that everybody will be visiting tomorrow.”

Yuragi narrowed her eyes behind her glasses.

“I believe this is something you’re already aware of but the Governmental Sector was formerly a member of the Orbie Clar floating continent . About half a century ago, they contested their respective authorities and it ended up in a separation from the Orbie Clar floating continent ……it has existed since then as the agency focused on legislation and the administration of justice.”

“However, by splitting up, they also removed the reason for discord. As a result, it repaired their amiable relationship to the current state. ……It’s nostalgic, that was back when I was still a bad kid.”

An elderly person that was standing behind the group looked up. Taking that gaze on directly, the woman who was part of the Governmental Sector smiled.

“It is as the General Affairs Bureau Chief stated. The assembly tomorrow is also for the purpose of promoting deeper friendship. At the very least, that’s what I believe personally.”

Personally. She emphasized that unnatural part. Basically, that was to say that even if she thought that way, above that ── there were those who didn’t think that in the center of the Governmental Sector.

“Umm, Yuragi-san, is it okay if I ask something really fundamental?”

“Yes. It’s just that in actuality, my senses as someone working at the administration department tell me that the consul is a figurehead in the end. In actuality, the ones administrating the law are the former old parliamentary members. ……The three administrators are the three oldest parliamentary members; you could say they act the part of elders.”

The three administrators and the parliament known as the former old parliament with its members.

Those were the top executives that ran the Governmental Sector.

“The ones that will be in charge of the assembly tomorrow are the former old parliament members but the administrator elders should also be present at tonight’s dinner party. It will likely be suffocating for Ymy-sama.”

“ Fumu, fumu. Well, putting dinner aside, isn’t it fine if we’re enjoying right now? “

Ilis Machine crystal threw in some appropriate response in a nonchalant tone.

At a place away from the group ── two girls were in the middle of walking around the carts.

“Ah, Monica-senpai! I found a rare accessory shop on the other side!”

“Well, wait, Ymy, I’m interested in these fabrics here.”

“But, but, it seems like the accessories over here are special products?”

“Even this plant fibre isn’t available outside of this island──”

Even though they were pointing at completely opposite directions, neither of their hands would let go of the other.

It was like a scene of two sisters with a great relationship.

“……Their relationship was really good, wasn’t it, Monica and the Priestess-sama.”

“Both sides are brats, they’re brats.”

Rather than feeling touched, Kagura and Vaiel were now taken aback.

“ Hey, Sheltis, I’m gonna ask again but you’re really not jealous? “

“……That’s why I’m asking, why do you think that?”

Without even bothering to hide his bitter sigh, Sheltis once again looked on over the two from behind.

.

### Part 6

[Asterhythm].

Returning to her own room, Ymy staggered to and collapsed on the sofa.

“……I-I made it back.”

“Good work today. How was the dinner party? I heard that all the head chefs in this hotel made a full course meal with everything from the menu without discretion for this day.”

Yuragi was looking over a large amount of documents on the table.

After the noon touring ended, it was finally time for the evening dinner party. A good three hours had passed and she had been keeping watch over the room during that time.

“……I was nervous and couldn’t taste anything. It would’ve been great if I could have had Ishtar-san eat in my place.”

“Ishtar ate many things from the carts while walking at noon after all.”

The person in question shook her head with a smile.

Her seat was also prepared in the dinner party but she had just sat there smiling from beginning to end and hadn’t laid a hand on any food.

“Also, it would’ve been problematic if something had been mixed into the food at the dinner party. Even if the hotel’s cook-san has no such intentions, I have to at least consider the possibility of poison in the food.”

“Ehhh!? Say that earlier!”

“Ymy-sama is a guest so you can’t very well refuse the food that you’re offered, right? Ishtar is an extra so it’s fine if she doesn’t eat.”

“……W-well.”

That’s true but wouldn’t it make somebody suspicious if they’re told that twice?

“That’s why Ishtar didn’t eat. She also considered poison testing by eating ahead of you but that would serve no purpose if the poison was of delayed effect. Rather than having both of you eat and both of you going down, if Ishtar at least is still fine, then she can look over Ymy-sama. Forcing you to expel the poison and such treatments are her specialty.”

“……I understand.”

“Right? Though I thought it would be fine nine times out of ten.”

She continued on with an indifferent tone.

……I wonder if that was the reason when she was eating while walking at the carts at noon.

Maybe she never had the intention of eating at the dinner party from the start.

“Ishtar-san is quite the outstanding individual.”

Yuragi shut her notebook and smiled.

“Ymy-sama has returned so it’s about time I also return to the Governmental Sector. I’ll be here at nine tomorrow morning to greet you.”

“……The assembly starts at ten, right.”

Forming a fist with her fingers that seemed like they would start shaking, Ymy let out a deep breath.

The former old parliament would be attending from the Governmental Sector’s central division. From Sophia Tenketsu Palace would be the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his private secretary. At this place that was specifically for politics and negotiations, she wondered whether she could really fulfill her role.

The Governmental Sector-owned ‘ island with no map ‘. The mysterious experiment facility and Yuugenshu breeding water tank that Sheltis’ group had discovered there ─── even though they had to cross-examine them about the goal for that.

“It’ll be fine if it’s Ymy-sama. Well then, I’m off.”

Yuragi replied with a calm tone and bowed. She saw off Yuragi who walked out the door with a leisurely pace.

“Ymy-sama, you don’t seem like you’re going to be able to sleep tonight, huh─? Is your heart racing?”

Ishtar removed the cloth wrapping her spear with a swoosh.

“……I was also told that by Meimel.”

“Ahaha, if this was I’sa-chan, then I’d hug her tight and say, ‘ It’ll be fine─ ‘. I wonder if the Priestess-sama wants to do that.”

Beneath the ceiling’s lighting, the spear sparkled by reflecting the light. Pearl-colored metal ── it was a strange material that was rarely used for Guards’ weapons.

“Umm……Ishtar-san.”

“What is iiit? What could the Priestess-sama be interested in─?”

While sitting down in the chair, the Cadres Guard leveled her spear horizontally. There was something about her that had been bothering Ymy since she’d met her.

“Ah, well, you really like your little sister-san.”

“I’sa, you meaaan? Yes, she’s Ishtar’s only family in any case.”

“What about your other family?”

“There are none─. Ishtar and I’sa have been alone since a long time ago.”

A family of just the two of them with no parents or relatives.

“I-I’m sorry……”

“It’s not something Ymy-sama has to apologize for, you know? And look, I’m carrying pictures.”

She rustled her breast pocket and pulled out a single picture.

Faded away by a large amount of time ── it was a picture showing the two blonde sisters.

The older sister was around over ten years old with a bright and cheerful air about her. The younger sister was still four or five. Compared with her older sister, she was more feeble and her expression was darker, leaving a timid impression.

“It’s a picture from almost ten years ago─, and this little girl is I’sa-chan.”

“……Are you possibly carrying that all the time?”

“Of course! I never let it off me!”

She gazed at the crumpled photograph dearly.

“I’sa-chan used to have a weak constitution long ago and would immediately get a fever, you know? On top of that, she was very spoiled and would cry while saying, ‘ It’s lonely when onee-chan isn’t here! ‘ when Ishtar went out to get her medicine.”

“……It’s somehow a little unexpected.”

.

“ My name is I’sa. Pleased to make your acquaintance. “

.

Ymy’s impression of the Regular Guard I’sa was completely the opposite.

A shinryoku practitioner that had become a Regular Guard in their teens and had a promising future. Her manners were good and she was calm with an understanding of the duties of a Guard.

“But she’s become really outstanding now so you should also be reassured as her onee-chan, right?”

“Mm─ that’s……well……I wonder.”

That was really unexpected. Just when she thought that a flat-out agreement would come immediately, she went silent with her spear held against her chest.

“Well, that’s that. Okay then, once more to fix the mood!”

She once again leveled the spear horizontally while seated on the chair.

She thought she would do something but she just stared into thin air with her spear readied. For Ymy who was unlearned in martial arts, it was an unknown action that couldn’t be identified as training.

“U-um. That is”

“This? I’m just maintaining my feel for the spear─; see here. I asked Meimel-sama to add a new shinryoku seal here so the spear’s weight changed.”

The figure of an azure spiral was carved into the spear’s handle.

It was a formal seal that would defend against a Yuugenshu’s mateki as well as destroy the crystal at the center of their bodies.

“……Would that change much?”

“Mm─ well, about forty seven hundredths of a gram, I guess ?”

Ymy completely didn’t understand the meaning of Ishtar’s words for a moment.

……0.47 grams?

A change in weight that didn’t even amount to more than half a gram. A weight that wouldn’t even amount to a slight amount of dust stuck together. Rather, it would be okay to write it off as a measurement error rather than calling it a change in weight……no, to begin with, is it possible to even notice such an exceedingly small difference?

.

“With great reverence and dignity do I carve my name. That’s the path I’ve chosen, Priestess-sama?”

.

A moment.

Her red lips whispered something…………or so she felt.

“Huh? Is so─mething up, Ymy-sama?”

“Eh……ah, umm.”

Putting her hand on her chest, she blinked many times and then Ymy looked at Ishtar.

“Y-you said something just now, didn’t you? Sorry, saying it that quietly and so fast……”

“Nope─, Ishtar didn’t say anything─”

H-huh. She didn’t say anything?

That shouldn’t……I certainly thought she said something. Also, she seemed like a completely different person for an instant but……that was also a misapprehension?

“Rather than that, Ymy-sama, is this fiiine?”

“Eh?”

“See, didn’t you make a promise with Monica-san and Kagura-san that you’d go to the baths together? You said you’d contact them after you returned from the dinner party.”

“Ah……ahhhhhhh, I-I forgooooot!?”

The hotel being reserved also meant that the large bath was reserved.

Without concern for status as a Priestess or Guard, they were going to chat while leisurely warming up with just the women ── that promise as well had flown out of her head due to the relief of having finished the dinner party.

“I-I wonder if it’s still fine. I wonder if everybody’s waiting for me……”

“If you’ve got time to worry, run, run!”

“R-riiiight!”

Holding a full change of clothes, Ymy flew out of the room.

“Oh my, oh my, how rushed.”

Looking on at the Priestess that had burst out of the room like a bullet, Ishtar softly loosened the edges of her mouth.

“……Now then, the assembly starts tomorrow─. It’ll be great if it goes well, I won’t say anything. But if not───”

With her pearl-colored spear held out horizontally, she quietly got up from the chair.

“I wonder if there will be a show of force?”

.

### Part 7

Hotel room 303, [Aster].

“ Hey, hey, Sheltis─, take me along with you too to the large baths, okay─? Even though Ymy and Monica and Kagura are going, it’s lonely if I’m the only girl being left out. “

“…………”

He closed the pamphlet he was reading.

He stared down at Ilis machine crystal who was rolling around on the desk.

“Isn’t Ilis the one always saying that she’ll break down from being exposed to moisture?”

“ It’s fine; I won’t be in the bathtub but in the sauna. “

“But it’s a pity. We’re on lookout while Monica’s not here.”

Ishtar was on standby outside the large baths entrance.

During that time, Vaiel was keeping watch in front of the empty [Asterhythm] room and he who was left in the room was taking on the escorting of the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group of four.

“Ah─ah, right about now, Ymy’s group is playing around and having fun. ‘A-amazing, Monica-senpai, your waist has tightened even more than three years ago. Can I feel it a little?’, ‘St-stop that, it tickles! Ymy as well, more than before──’. See, it seems fun even just by imagining it.”

“……That’s hard to comment on.”

He couldn’t imagine what girls would talk about, especially in the bath.

“Do they really have those kinds of conversations?”

“ Of course, there’s no mistaking it. My previous possessor constantly said it. She had confidence to boast herself as humanity’s strongest in battle and style and when she entered the baths with her friends, they would compare and tease each other as an everyday activity. “

“……What is that unlikeable person you described.”

Just who ─── when he had voiced that much, he tilted his head at the question that he thought of.

“Your previous body?”

“ Ah, come to think of it, I forgot. There was a girl I supported before you. “

It was the first he’d heard of this. That Ilis machine crystal had a previous possessor before him……no, if he thought about it, there was nothing strange about that. But he had never been told that by Ilis machine crystal so now it drew his interest.

“ That person hated speaking about herself with others. ‘Don’t talk about me.’ was how I was forbidden to speak. It was about ten years ago so I guess it’s hit the time limit? “

“Would that happen to have been the Queen? When I received Ilis machine crystal at the time I became an Elite Guard, it was from the Queen.”

“ No, the Queen was just entrusted with me by my previous possessor. My previous possessor was a different person but well, the Queen knows her. It’ll be a long story but would you like to hear it now? “

“……Mm, then I’ll ask later.”

Picking up the pamphlet he’d closed once again, he proceeded to read each line intensively. He was also interested in Ilis machine crystal ’ story but there were things he should memorize before that.

“ Is that the floor map for the Governmental Sector? “

“Yeah, things like the emergency exit paths or barrier locations or the shelters. After that, I have to get as much of the layout of large rooms and whether there are one or two floors or such into my head.”

Of course, he had finished inputting the data into Ilis machine crystal before this. However, in real rushes, there wouldn’t be the leniency to ask someone so he’d have to know the location himself or he wouldn’t be able to react.

“ How passionate. Is it about the case you talked about at noon? “

Noon at the large public road.

During the time they were being guided by Yuragi and touring, he had had a bad feeling that just wouldn’t go away. It was just like something was lingering over and continuing to observe them ─── a gaze.

It was from a distant location so nobody would know but it wasn’t friendly.

……As I thought, there’s something here.

As proof of that, Ishtar also showed no signs of slackening her vigilance. It was also like that at noon; while she showed off that she was going around the food stands, she kept a set distance from Ymy.

“ It looks like stuck in the middle of the enemy’s camp〜. There are enemies in every direction? “

“……I wonder.”

.

### Part 8

At around the same time.

The stage moves to the open air cafe, ‘Albireo’, in the Orbie Clar floating continent ’s Living Districts.

.

At the small bathroom located at the interior of the shop.

“Hachi, hachoo!”

A young girl sneezed with an adorable voice.

“Ah─, did the water get cold? Come on, Yuuto, wash the bubbles off your head and get in quickly.”

“……Yuto feels like someone’s spreading rumors about her.”

With shampoo bubbles left on the tips of her black hair, Yuto rubbed her nose.

Secretly smiling wryly at that adorable appearance, the orange-haired girl ── Eyriey slightly shook her shoulders in the bathtub.

“Mm? Ahh, you sneezed because somebody’s spreading rumors about you? That’s been said since a long time ago, hasn’t it. Why is that, I wonder……well, whatever. Anyway, get in. The water really will get cold.”

Splash.

She raised her shoulders out of the milky white surface of the water and beckoned with her finger.

“O─kay!”

Hobbling over, Yuto faced the bathtub and jumped in. Normally, it was an action that would cause one to slip but this young girl was sensitive in strange areas.

“Oyo, you still have shampoo bubbles left.”

“Awa?”

“Well─ that’s fine, don’t mind it, don’t mind it; it’s better than catching a cold because the water went cold.”

Scooping water from the bathtub with both hands, she poured that on Yuto’s head to remove the bubbles.

“……Still though, Sheltis is at the Governmental Sector, huh. How nice; I’ve never been there either so I’d have liked to go.”

“Governmental Sector?”

“Right, right. I’d like to make an airship one day and try going. Me and Yuto and Sheltis, and I also have to invite Shasa-chan……ah─ but it’s so peaceful.”

She scooped up water with both hands and slapped it onto her face to keep herself awake.

……Sheltis just went to the Governmental Sector recently so he won’t be back for a while.

……It looks like Shasa-chan is also busy with her job at the tower.

.

“ My name is Shasa Endens Lin Kale. “

.

The girl with the old-fashioned name she’d come to know at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She had met Ymy and Monica with Sheltis as an intermediary but Shasa was the only one that Eyriey had found and befriended herself.

“It’d be great if Yuto could also meet her next time─. Hey, Yuto?……Yuto?”

What’s this, no response?

So thinking, she tried looking in front of her chest and what answered her was a sound of sleeping breaths. Hugging her own chest, the figure of a young girl who’d dozed off was there.

“Aha, it can’t be helped since it’s already late at night.”

Patting her head softly, she looked up absentmindedly at the steam-filled ceiling.

……Come to think of it.

……The place I first met Shasa was also at a bath.

That was about two weeks ago.

The time when Ilis machine crystal entrusted her with its own maintenance.

It was around that time when, at Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the case where a practitioner that named himself as ‘Golden’ Maha wiped out a unit of Cadet Guards occurred. After that, she’d heard that just Sheltis and Kagura had wrapped up the entire case themselves.

“Ymy and Monica and Kagura are all at the Governmental Sector. If they don’t hurry up and come back, I’ve got nothing to do!”

She sunk her mouth below the water surface and blew bubbles.

Looking at the air bubbles that disappeared upon rising, Eyriey remembered the faces of her friends that were at the Governmental Sector and sighed.

### 053. Chapter 3: Relationship Time

### Part 1

The Governmental Sector.

It was the single large agency that presided over the largest of the islands in the Lagoon floating archipelago which could be lived on by people. It was an organization whose members were chosen by poll and it had the authority to oversee the administration of justice and the legislation.

“……But it’s pointlessly large.”

With one step into the Governmental Sector’s sector, Vaiel turned around with an disgusted expression.

It was a four floor structure with three aboveground and one below.

Its first floor’s height off the ground of two hundred ninety metres gave off a feeling of being low compared to Sophia Tenketsu Palace , but in return, that it was wider by that much was the Governmental Sector’s characteristic. Even just in the lobby, the far end was blurry.

“The building’s interior is also strange. It’s like an ant’s nest.”

Kagura was looking at the electronic screen posted at the lobby.

What she was displaying was the first floor’s floor map but just like a labyrinth, the paths converged and diverged in a complicated manner and then proceeded to converge again. Also, in the middle of a path were rooms of varying sizes randomly placed, making it difficult to even find one’s destination.

“……Hey, hey, who’s the guy who decided to make this into a maze?”

“It’s the Governmental Sector’s construction division. To lay out those paths took four years. However, I can’t deny it if you call it a maze.”

Beside Vaiel who let out a sigh, Yuragi answered with a wry smile.

“With a floor this complicated, the Yuugenshu would also get lost, right? Because of this floor layout, even if the Yuugenshu invade, we can safely evacuate.”

“……Yuugenshu also appear on this Lagoon floating archipelago ?”

Ymy turned around with eyes of sadness.

She couldn’t make it so she didn’t hear that. Having allowed the Yuugenshu’s invasion ── for the Priestesses that governed over the barrier, that was a truth equivalent to failure.

“No, it’s a suppositional matter. This Lagoon floating archipelago is separated from the Orbie Clar floating continent so it’s hard for even a single Yuugenshu to find it.”

“I-is that so……I’m glad.”

Ymy cast her eyes down with an expression that showed she was truly glad from the bottom of her heart.

“Please do not concern yourself. We are also not slacking in countermeasures against the Yuugenshu everyday. ……Rather, that is exactly why we have today’s topic of discussion.”

Clack.

Yuragi narrowed her eyes to a state like a pin and stopped at the crossroads ahead.

“Ahead of here is the assembly room. Ymy-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief-sama who will be participating in the meeting, please head on forward. Ishtar-sama and I will both head to the waiting room on the right and Monica-sama’s group, please go to the resting area to the left.”

“O─kay, well then, Ymy-sama. The basics of negotiating is to relax─, relax.”

Ishtar’s sunny voice echoed in the hall.

“Y-yes. I’ll do my best!”

She put her hand on her chest and took a deep breath. After that, she gulped and Ymy nodded to herself. Not as his childhood friend, but as a Priestess supporting the Orbie Clar floating continent , she surrounded herself with dignity.

──Do your best.

Making a small agreement, Sheltis stared on at that back.

.

### Part 2

“Umm, the Governmental Sector’s first floor……this is the second building. That’s split narrowly again so this is section 60′s resting area?”

“ It’s section 61. It’s registered as a free room according to the digital map so I think the furnishings have been changed to serve as a resting area for this assembly. “

“Ah, right, right. It was section 61……but this really is a maze.”

Circling the current location with red pen on the map, Sheltis stared fixedly at the map as he approached the sofa.

“ I’ll supply the parts you don’t remember, okay? “

“……I only remember the meeting room’s location so I’ll rely on you for anything else.”

If he went to the crossroad after exiting this room and headed left, it would not be long to the meeting room. If something unnatural were to occur, he would be able to run to Ymy’s location in thirty seconds.

“But this room is a little troubling.”

Kagura let her body sink into the flexible sofa.

Putting the cup with ice floating in it to her mouth, she pointed at the room’s four corners.

“Look, this is a free room but it has soundproofing. We can’t hear anything from outside so don’t you think it’d be hard to tell if something happens outside? It doesn’t look like there’s any video surveillance equipment to watch the meeting room’s status either. Are we stuck in a spot and relying on the unit captain?”

“……Please don’t put pressure on me. It’s been a while so I’m nervous.”

In a corner of the room, Monica was sitting upon a hard wooden chair as she nodded with a wry smile.

She closed her eyes and put her hands together, bearing with it without moving at all. If one looked at her, even a child would noticethe faint green light hazily shrouding her body.

“Ah─ I see. Clairvoyance and telepathy.”

Both of them were territories of techniques that afforded super perception.

‘Clairvoyance’ would burn the situation of a distant location into one’s mind and ‘telepathy’ allowed one to communicate with a distance practitioner. Monica was able to handle these techniques because she had been an apprentice Priestess.

“You’re peeking in at the meeting room with clairvoyance and speaking telepathically with the Priestess-sama that’s in the meeting?”

“If I could do that, I wouldn’t be weary. ……It’s protected by the same arrangement as Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

A reflective barrier.

By erecting a barrier in a special place, it was a technique that obstructed other shinryoku other than that.

In order to protect important secrets from the Big Three through clairvoyance and telepathy, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s aboveground floors to its summit were covered with a large-scale barrier that the Priestess Meimel had applied.

“……It looks like clairvoyance is impossible. I tried sending a message through telepathy from my end as well but it was reflected by the barrier.”

Moving only her lips, Monica continued.

“Well then, there was no meaning?”

“No, just a little while ago, Ymy broke through the barrier……you could say it was done with pure force using her shinryoku quantity; that child hasn’t fixed the roughness of her techniques.”

The unit captain shook her head in reply to Vaiel’s mutter.

“In other words, even though I can’t reply from my end, I can hear Ymy’s reports.”

“ That’s interesting. Is there any important information? “

“There’s been no progress. ‘……The conversation is stuck and doesn’t seem to be progressing.’ is what she said.”

“I bet.”

Matching up with Monica’s sigh, Sheltis stood up from the sofa.

……So the Governmental Sector won’t show a fault so easily.

The Lagoon floating archipelago that wasn’t on the territory map and the Yuugenshu being bred there. There was no way they could simply ask and get an answer.

“……It’s probably hard on Ymy who’s just staying still though.”

The monologue he said with a wry smile quietly dissolved into thin air. Choosing this time when a curtain of silence fell, Sheltis turned his foot towards the door.

“Monica, I’m going to go outside for some air.”

“Don’t go too far.”

“I’ll return quickly.”

Waving his hand lightly in reply, he set foot into the corridor.

“Oh, see. As I thought, it’s cooler here.”

He looked up at the giant circular pillar that extended above his height.

……He felt his flushed body’s heat dispersing into the cool rock pillar.

“On top of that──”

“ On top of that? “

“ It’s easier to understand this way. “

His eyes were focused on the crossroad straight ahead as he entrusted himself to the circular pillar behind him. ──No. Beyond the many diverging paths that lay past the crossroad. Deeper within this building.

── It’s here.

The gaze he’d felt since entering this building. No, it would be better to call it a sense of discomfort.

It wasn’t the presence of a dangerous animal or a Yuugenshu but ‘something’.

“It’s here. Probably……nope, definitely.”

He had experienced a feeling like this very long ago.

That was already close to ten years ago ── a little after Ymy and he had entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace , when he had coincidentally passed by a Sennenshi of that time.

A pressure that conveyed that they were ‘there’. An overbearing presence that prickled the skin almost to a painful point.

It resembled the feeling from that time.

“It doesn’t look like it’s nearby though.”

Somewhere within this large structure, there was somebody that was causing him to feel this.

“Was there some story about the Governmental Sector training a strong battle unit or something?”

“Mm〜 I wonder, shall we ask the receptionist onee-san?”

“……Answer me seriously.”

Flicking Ilis machine crystal who had answered nonchalantly, Sheltis stood still there for a short while.

.

### Part 3

Kachii, kachiri……

The seconds hand on the clock on the digital screen slowly ticked down the time.

……It’s been three hours since the meeting started.

……It might be a good time to think of it as the first half of the battle for the first day being over.

The waiting room returned to dead silence. Remembering how tired she was from looking at closely packed notebook memos, Yuragi exhaled.

……I was resolved but having the time pass this slowly is painful.

……How many weeks has it been since I properly slept?

My lack of sleep is horrible to point of whiting out the inside of my mind.

Her intelligence activities as a member of the central division ── from early in the morning to late at night, she would be working as an executive secretary so to leak information to Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there was no other way than to diminish her own sleeping hours.

Above all, a Priestess came this time so for several days she was being worked to death with scheduling and business meetings.

“───”

She took out a few caffeine pills hidden in her pocket and carelessly threw them into her mouth before gnashing them.

Because she’d taken such a large quantity over a long period of time, their effects had diminished but this was also a kind of mental stabilizer medicine.

……But it’s unexpected.

……I thought that she would start talking since we’re free right now.

The companion sitting across the table from her. She was sitting there looking down at the ground without moving.

The Elite Guard, Ishtar.

She was the Priestess’ escort and she had been in this character that Yuragi didn’t know the entire time.

In contrast to her mature appearance was her young speech pattern. If it was just that, she could be interpreted as a childish adult but her fighting skills were said to be the same as a Sennenshi so it was troubling to judge.

“Umm, Ishtar-san?”

“…………”

“……Ishtar-san?”

“Fua? Ahh, yes, yes. Sorry, I was doing a little thinking.”

She scratched her face looking embarrassed.

“Is it about the assembly?”

“Ehehe. Well, putting that aside─, this is perfect. Ishtar also had something to ask.”

“Ask away.”

“Umm, I have two things to ask.”

On the hand that she held up, her index and middle fingers were extended.

.

“One. Does a fighter with strength rivaling the Sennenshi exist in the Governmental Sector?”

“Two. About the Lagoon floating archipelago case that’s including amongst the meeting’s topics, if someone were to forcefully obtain evidence regarding it, where would they need to infiltrate in the Governmental Sector?”

.

“…………”

She unconsciously gulped.

“Say, say, how about iiit?”

“……Before that, I’d like to ask one more thing.”

She stared upfront at the Elite Guard that was using a light tone to the end.

“Putting aside the first one, what do you mean with the second one?”

“It’s as it sounds, you knooow? There’s no deep meaning.”

Ishtar had a smile on just like a child’s.

“So how about it?”

“……Unfortunately, one doesn’t exist. Even if I did know, it’s not something I could answer as a member of the Governmental Sector’s agency .”

She somewhat lowered her face and shook her head.

──She couldn’t answer as a secretary of the Governmental Sector.

──But as a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s intelligence, there was an answer she could provide.

She didn’t know whether there was some kind of surveillance camera somewhere in this room. As an answer in this location, that was the limit to what she could provide. Now was the moment of whether this hidden meaning had been conveyed or not.

“…………”

Time passed and a few breaths weren’t taken either in this silence. Then.

“……That’s right. Then tell me if you change your mind.”

“I can’t have that either.”

Kusuu. For an instant, the Elite Guard cracked a wide smile and Yuragi also returned a business smile.

With that, they both sat wordlessly on their separated seats.

They didn’t look at each other and just left their bodies to the passage of time.

──The continuation would be after the meeting.

Ishtar who had caught onto Yuragi’s signal made a suggestion and she had assented to it.

“Now then……”

She opened her notebook to confirm the schedule. However, Yuragi’s thoughts started to turn to a completely different direction, the ‘confidential talk’ that Ishtar wanted to have.

──How serious was Ishtar-sama with the question just now?

She felt cold sweat on her cheek.

……Was she seriously thinking about doing it?

A solo invasion into the center of the Governmental Sector, even more, into ‘that place’ where the most important secrets sleep.

Also breaking through the defense system that awaits there.

……It can’t be that what she was thinking just now was that.

……Was she only thinking of that this whole time today?

“Now then, how will this turn out.”

She had certainly heard Ishtar whisper that while sitting in the chair.

.

### Part 4

Hotel, room 303, [Aster].

In the living room slightly lit up by sunlight, the high-pitched sound of a flute cut through the air without dying out and reverberated around.

“──Hah!”

He reverse gripped the dual swords shining in deep purple.

Standing upright in the center of the carpet, Sheltis drew out the blades.

From the shoulder to the elbow.

From the elbow to the wrist.

From the wrist to the fingertips.

His arm was using the least amount of strength required and his upper body bent like a whip, using the recoil to lash out with the swords. The blades severed the air creating a vacuum in empty space.

Lash out, sweep, thrust, turn……lash out once again.

He repeated the same process. At first, it was slow enough that a butterfly could sit at the tip of the blade and then the speed had risen little by little until the ‘ dance ‘ was sharpened to the point that it was invisible to human eyes───

“ Okay, stop. “

The blade that was moving came to a complete halt. That was also at the same time as Ilis machine crystal voice or perhaps even an instant sooner.

“……Who is it?”

He could feel a presence outside the room.

From there, a little while was passed ── ring, came the door bell’s ringer.

“Sheltis, could I have a moment?”

The girl with the sakura-colored hair’s face peeked out from the door.

“Monica? I don’t mind but……huh.”

Sheathing his dual swords in his belt holders, he stared intently at the side of the girl who was getting closer’s face.

“Wh-what is it?”

“I might be asking something weird but, umm, did you already take a bath?”

The assembly with the Governmental Sector had just ended not too long ago. Continuing on from yesterday, today she had also made an appointment to meet Ymy and Kagura at the large baths ── he had heard such a thing.

“You just entered the bath not too long ago. I think it’d be fine if you take your time.”

She had returned too fast for having gone to the bath. Looking at her, there were no traces of Monica’s hair having been wet and it didn’t feel like she’d taken in any heat from the water either.

“Yeah, truthfully, I’m also talking about that matter.”

“Mm?”

“The matter about the appointment at the large baths is as you said but no matter how long Kagura and I wait, Ymy wasn’t coming so……when I went to her room……it felt like she was talking with Cadres Guard Ishtar about something. It was hard to call out to her, so I was just on my way back.”

The Priestess and her partner private escort , the Cadres Guard.

If it was like usual, it’d be obvious to at least talk but what caught his interest was──

“Did it feel serious?”

“Cadres Guard Ishtar was the same as usual. It’s just that that child’s expression was a little……it felt like she was brooding over something. Also, the secretary, I think she was serious too.”

……Ishtar was the same.

……But the secretary was serious and Ymy had a brooding expression?

“ Excuse me. It may seem like I’m rushing the conversation, but why did you come to Sheltis for this? “

“It’s because Cadres Guard Ishtar said something that caught my interest. She stopped Kagura and I when we were heading back and said, ‘Ishtar might suddenly command you tomorrow night so be prepared, okay.’”

“……Tomorrow? There shouldn’t be anything special tomorrow though.”

He hadn’t heard anything about a special event tomorrow from Yuragi either. If anything, the second day of the four day assembly was all that came to mind.

───Be prepared, that line also interests me.

“I also tried thinking about it but came up with nothing. I don’t think it’s a joke either so I came to tell you what she said just like that. I think Kagura should also be telling Vaiel at this point.”

“……I see. Yeah, understood.”

In front of Monica who had a half-hearted expression, he nodded more largely than necessary.

“I was told to be prepared so I’ll be prepared. It’ll be fine if there’s nothing but I’ll also be able to prepare myself in case we get saddled with an impossible-level order.”

“Yeah, sorry but please do that. Well then, I’ll return to my room.”

She turned around and started to head out.

“…………”

Without even advancing three steps, she came to a stop.

“What’s up?”

“Ah……n-no……well, it’s nothing major but……yesterday when I went to the large baths with Ymy and Kagura……there was something that caught my interest──”

While rubbing her hands together, she whispered with a cherry red face.

“U-um. From a man’s point of view, being a skinny girl like me……does it diminish their appeal?”

“……Heh?”

“N-no! It’s about the common opinion! I wanted to know as general common knowledge……for example, Cadres Guard Ishtar or Priestess Meimel-sama are both slim but I think they’re both womanly enough……so I wondered how I was as an example for my type, and so you don’t take this the wrong way──”

He idly stared at her as she spoke quickly in a rush.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t thought about Monica like that?”

“H-haven’t thought about me like that……you mean!?”

“That I don’t think your appeal is diminished or that you’re not womanly enough. That’s what I mean. I haven’t really looked at anyone that way though so I don’t have confidence in my opinion.”

“I-is that so?……Is it fine to consider that your own thoughts rather than common opinion?”

“Yeah. Sorry I couldn’t give you much to think about.”

“N-no! Rather, I was more interested in that so it’s favorable──”

Monica froze over in a posture with her hands balled into fists.

“Favorable?”

“──Ahem.”

The unit captain cleared her throat with a strangely transparent serious expression.

“Sorry for disturbing you; we’ll be getting up early tomorrow as well so go to sleep early for that. See you.”

“Eh……ah, r-right.”

She hurriedly opened the door and disappeared into the corridor.

A little while after, from the hallway that was separated by the door, he felt like he heard a monologue like ‘……Y-yeah, yeah! I’m glad!’

“ Sheltis, that just now was the shout of a maiden’s heart. Please pretend that you didn’t hear it. “

“What just now?”

“ Yes, yes, this conversation is over already! Come on now, we’re resuming training so grab your swords! “

“……Y-yeah.”

Being admonished by Ilis machine crystal with a harsh tone for some reason, Sheltis once again gripped his swords.

.

### Part 5

Room 700, [Asterhythm].

Under the artificial sunlight’s shine was a table surrounded by three women. None of them made to speak and each of their expressions was almost like a contrast to the other two.

The Cadres Guard smiled with her head propped up in her hands.

The bespectacled secretary was looking down at the notebook in her hands basically expressionless.

The Priestess in the center of those two ── Ymy was biting her lip and staring at Ishtar.

“……Could I get you to explain it once more from the start?”

“That’s fine─, Ishtar went a little too fast earlier as well.”

The Elite Guard deepened her smile.

“As Ymy-sama said earlier, there is a clear discrepancy in what each side is saying. First, what Sophia Tenketsu Palace demanded an explanation for was ‘ We’d like to have an explanation as to what a research facility of unknown purpose was doing on an uncharted part of the Lagoon floating archipelago . ‘, right?”

“……It’s as I said earlier.”

The Governmental Sector did not deny the existence of the research facility either.

However, their assertion was that it was a research facility for the purpose of testing the soil quality of the Lagoon floating archipelago . They said that it had been abandoned long ago and fallen out of use. They stated there was no obligation to map an abandoned research facility so it had been removed from the record.

──They kept to the point of not knowing about the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.

“That’s right─. And what was the Governmental Sector seeking……umm.”

“It was about Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s emergency landing on that Lagoon floating archipelago . As well as an explanation for the recent unauthorized landings by a Sophia Tenketsu Palace airship here.”

Yuragi said as she eyed through the record of the proceedings.

“Ahh, right, right. And well, we’ve honestly apologized about the unauthorized landing on the island that started this all. But the other half can’t be agreed upon. Our airships haven’t had an unauthorized landing in several years besides this incident. Right, Ymy-sama?”

“……Yeah.”

Even if they had intruded on Governmental Sector airspace with some objective in mind, if it was at a level that would sow discord with the Governmental Sector, then it would definitely be reported to a Priestess.

“That’s right. The Priestess-sama doesn’t know and Ishtar hasn’t heard anything like that as well. I think this is a fabrication. It’s just that the Governmental Sector doesn’t care if it stays at that.”

“The facility that was on the Lagoon floating archipelago ……they’re able to make it vague?”

“That’s right, it would be bad if they keep that topic consistent over the four day period of this assembly.”

Ishtar smiled while still leaning on her hands over the table.

“Ymy-sama has absolute authority concerning Yuugenshu as a Priestess. However, unless the talks advance to the crucial Yuugenshu, no matter how much you sit at the meetings, you won’t become a threat to the Governmental Sector. That’s why at the very least, ‘The Governmental Sector created the Yuugenshu breeding water tank.’ ── the talks must proceed at least this far or Ymy-sama won’t have a chance to make a move.”

“I……have the intention of that but”

But it can’t be helped, can it. Even if Sophia Tenketsu Palace wants to advance the talks from that direction, the Governmental Sector is obstinately denying it.

“That’s right. Then here’s the real issue that leads into. Okay? The plan Ishtar’s thinking of is as I said before. There’s only one aim, in other words,”

.

──An infiltration into the Governmental Sector’s central division.

.

“If we receive Yuragi-chan’s help, an infiltration is possible. We’ll obtain the observation records for the Lagoon floating archipelago that has become a problem. The point is that we’ll thrust evidence at the Governmental Sector. Irrefutable evidence, that is.”

“That’s no good!”

She put power into the hands atop her lap.

“That kind of dangerous action……I won’t allow it! There’s no way you can make it to the deepest part division of the Governmental Sector with that kind of improvised”

“We will proceed.”

Yuragi stared at one point on the notebook.

“Putting aside whether I agree with Ishtar’s plan or not, I can search for digital information with my authority. However, that data has a limit to how much we can trust it. There isn’t a reason for the Governmental Sector to leave correct records so a falsification like ‘Concerning the Lagoon floating archipelago , there is no history of a Yuugenshu breeding tank experiment’ is highly possible.”

“In that case……even more so. There will be no reckless invading!”

If the information she had tired herself out for were the truth, it would pay off. But if the information obtained after braving such risks were fake, it would be terrible.

“Now, now, Ymy-sama. Yuragi-chan only said that the digital records were fake, you know─? What if there were records left about the floating archipelago other than the digital information ─”

Other than the digital information.

Paper……? Or a sound recording?

No, regardless of which, there was a possibility that the contents were fake. It wouldn’t be strange if all the documents concerning that Lagoon floating archipelago were rewritten.

“As Ishtar-sama said, what we are seeking is eternal information. Absolutely unmodifiable and undestroyable, an objective and absolute truth……if you’re thrusting it at the Governmental Sector, nothing else will work.”

“That kind of thing──”

.

“……’ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘.”

.

Yuragi’s words were made with an unusually strong tone that shook the air.

“I also haven’t seen the actual thing but it is the Governmental Sector’s secret treasure. With a gigantic crystal manufactured ages ago, within the time period of hundreds of years, it has recorded every event that happened on the ̣̪ Orbie Clar floating continent and the Lagoon floating archipelago . It seems it’s a system application of territory-type shinryoku techniques or something.”

“Mikuva’s Crimson Eye……you’re kidding. Does that really exist?”

A crystal with a shinryoku technique applied.

When Ymy was still an apprentice Priestess, there was a rumor that she heard.

It seemed like there was a treasure known as the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ that the Governmental Sector was hiding which recorded everything that happened on the Orbie Clar floating continent and the Lagoon floating archipelago . It was information that the spy who had infiltrated the Governmental Sector even before Ymy and Sheltis had even knocked on Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s gate obtained. However, ten years had passed already without her obtaining definite proof.

……I didn’t believe it at all at the time.

……But if that really exists.

“It is information I received very recently from the secretary for the former old parliament’s members.”

“Say, say, Yuragi-chan, Ishtar asked before too but she’ll confirm it once more. Can we really trust in that thing that sounds like a lie? Is it a trustworthy source?”

Yuragi wordlessly nodded to Ishtar who was propped on her hands.

“Yes. I don’t know if its function is as the rumors conveyed to Sophia Tenketsu Palace but that a treasure of that name exists can be more or less confirmed. Other than that, there’s nothing else but to conjecture about the truth of the Governmental Sector hiding the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Ah! But if you try saying it”

Ymy continued from Yuragi’s words as if flowing from them.

──If you think that that exists, then you can also understand the Governmental Sector’s anecdote.

“Does Ishtar-san not know? That the Governmental Sector’s technology is three months behind Tenketsu Palace’s is a pretty famous story amongst the Priestesses and apprentice Priestesses.”

“Heeh, that might be my first time hearing that─. What do you mean?”

“Umm……this isn’t about the Governmental Sector’s system being slow but it’s an anecdote to the contrary.”

No matter how ground-breaking of a discovery Sophia Tenketsu Palace makes in shinryoku research, the Governmental Sector would follow that several months later.

“Like the Priestess’ training methods or the report contents of research results for shinryoku……of course, it’s not everything but included in that are even things treated as secrets; the Governmental Sector would end up at the same discovery……and that happens with a frequency that I can’t imagine to be a coincidence.”

There were also rumors that the shinryoku practitioners in the Governmental Sector were always watching twenty four hours a day. Because of this danger of being seen, truly important experiments and information had a shinryoku barrier erected beforehand.

“Fumu, fumu, if that information were also being gathered via the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘, then it would be understandable. Well, Sophia Tenketsu Palace is also like that so it’s not strange if the Governmental Sector possesses something like that.”

Ishtar was nonchalant to the end.

“By the way, recorded every event means……umm, basically, that if we ask that crystal what I’sa-chan is doing right now, we’ll find out?”

“I think so.”

“Oh─!? Ishtar’s also interested in that. Like whether I’sa-chan is properly eating alone, onee-chan is very, very worried───”

“But if you’re not chosen by that crystal, it’s no use.”

“Eh?”

The Cadres Guard blinked.

“That is”

“‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ has a condition……to operate it, right?”

Before Yuragi said that, Ymy focused on her.

“……You surprised me. You knew about the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘?”

“Nope. But if it’s a system with shinryoku applied, then I would guess there’s a limitation.”

There are three techniques representative of territory-type shinryoku techniques.

Clairvoyance and far sight as well as telepathy. Each of these had the possibility to capture scenes or sound from a distance.

“For example, in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there is system that uses shinryoku as a key. The tower’s top floor and the door to the room in which Priestesses pray for Hyouketsu Kyoukai won’t allow anybody except for those with a special shinryoku wavelength to pass. I just thought that that giant crystal would require a similar key.”

“I see……then it certainly seems like there’s hope. That giant crystal might also show Ymy-sama the truth.”

Yuragi took off her glasses and sighed with a faint wry smile.

“As Ymy-sama said, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ will select suitable individuals itself and won’t show anything to anyone else. If we were to go from that──”

“The Governmental Sector also hasn’t found someone perfectly qualified either, you mean?”

That phrase.

Yuragi swallowed and Ishtar raised one eyebrow.

“Say, say, Ymy-sama, why do you know that much?”

“Umm……if I said it simply, it’s because wide area observation with shinryoku is really arduous. No matter how much it uses shinryoku, it’s not like everything is solved.”

Let’s say for example that we’re observing the entirety of the floating continent and detected each and every conversation. Just how extraordinary is that ── Ymy didn’t have the confidence to succeed in that either. If you wanted one hundred percent accuracy then even amongst the Priestesses, there’s probably only Syun-rei.

“For such an amazing crystal, there must also be suitably amazing people or it won’t work.”

“That’s exactly right. The condition for the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ is still unknown……it is said that something about shinryoku is the key but whether it’s the quantity of shinryoku or wavelength is unknown. There are incompletely suitable individuals but the Governmental Sector hasn’t found a perfectly qualified person yet.”

──Qualified person?

What……what is this feeling that seems like dizziness?

Due to the feeling that also resembled nervousness, her heart’s throbbing wouldn’t settle down.

……Mikuva’s Crimson Eye.

……Records all events……an observation system?

……Mikuva……I feel like I’ve heard that term somewhere else before.

It really was just recently. Is so, then where? From who? It wasn’t someone amongst the Priestesses nor was it Sheltis and she shouldn’t have heard it from one of the tower’s clerks. If so───

.

“ The beginning is a thousand years ago at the illusionary paradise. Now, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ─── when you have seen the world as it was before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected, what will be your impressions? “

.

……It was that time.

The scene from a thousand years in the past that was shown to her by the woman who identified herself as Tsali.

When I realized it, I was already collapsed in a park I didn’t know the location of. When I fought the Yuugenshu, two girls appeared.

Shasa and Ilis, within the conversation of the girls who called each other these names.

.

“ I’m counting on you, [Machine God Mikuva]-san. “

“ I believe I have introduced myself as Ilis before? “

.

……That’s right, the term Mikuva came up at that time.

An instant.

“He─y, Ymy-sama, is something wrooong?”

“Fue? U-umm……i-it’s nothing. I was just thinking about something.”

Having her finger grabbed by Ishtar, Ymy finally returned to herself.

“P-please, Yuragi-san, continue!”

“Yes. Or so I’d like to say, but I’ve already everything that I should. What’s left is Ymy-sama’s decision.”

If they could access the crystal treasure, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘, that the Governmental Sector was hiding, the case on the Lagoon floating archipelago would also become clear. She’d heard rumors about that since her time as an apprentice Priestess and Yuragi was also asserting that it existed to that extent so maybe it would be fine to believe it does.

……But the risk is too large.

“That’s illegal infiltration after all, right.”

“Yes. I only have knowledge of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘……it’s said to be in a place known as the Holy Corridor and the defense system is also a secret. If you’re caught there, you won’t be able to talk your way out of it and you should also be prepared for the relationship between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector to collapse.”

“One more thing, this is the question I received from Ishtar-sama at noon. ‘Does a fighter with strength rivaling the Sennenshi exist in the Governmental Sector?’ ──I’ll tell you starting from the results, it’s at the level of ‘There are rumors that there are.’ Sophia Tenketsu Palace is also has rumors about important things such as whether there’s a sixth Priestess or whether the Queen also has a partner of overwhelming strength like the Sennenshi.”

“Fu─n, then we can say they’re there as rumors?”

“Ishtar-sama……are your a believer of such stories?”

“Rather than believing, Ishtar thinks it’s normal for her.”

Quite easily, the Cadres Guard nodded aloofly.

“Eh? Wh-why do you think that?”

“The basis is……mm─ it’s kinda hard to explain. Well, anyway, she is. This is the truth. Ishtar was thinking it would be a pain if that were at that Holy Corridor place. ……And so at the conclusion of all of that is the thing that Ymy-sama said just now.”

Releasing the bridge formed with both her arms, she pointed her lovely index finger at the ceiling.

“Shall we review it one more time? First we have to try coming into contact with the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ that the Governmental Sector is hiding. If that succeeds, then it solves everything. The problem is that in the case it fails, it will be bad for Ishtar and Ymy who are amongst the leadership of the tower and possibly even Yuragi-chan. Then what should we do? We just have to have an underling that we can use to shirk responsibility go .”

“…………”

Beneath the table, Ymy suppressed her shaking fists desperately.

……That’s right, that was it.

……The thing that I can’t permit no matter what.

This person had the intentions of ‘ using ‘ someone from the Cadet Guards as a throwaway pawn.

“And just as well, there are four Cadet Guards traveling with us this time─. As long as we explain the circumstances without difficulty, couldn’t they infiltrate solo? If it succeeds then that’s great and if they’re caught and it becomes a problem, we can say ‘The executives knew nothing and this was our subordinates’ independent action’ to shirk responsibility.”

She bit her lip hard enough to spurt blood.

If not……she would get excited and be unable to keep her calm and would surely lose something dear to her heart. It was because she felt that.

“Would the Priestess-sama order that……?”

She’s asking whether I would tell the Guards who protect me at the tower ‘Go.’ simply because it’s convenient for me.

“ If Ymy-sama has the intention of continuing on as a Priestess from now, she should make the order ──”

Ishtar’s verdict was cruel.

“What is the reason in this world for why Ymy-sama forms the barrier with pained feelings?”

There was no need to have it said to her.

It was because the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song and the Yuugenshu that lived there were a threat to the Orbie Clar floating continent .

“But you know, Ymy-sama? Not everyone in this world is strong enough to oppose the Yuugenshu like Ishtar and Ymy. Everyone is weak ……if you were to ask Ishtar, I’sa-chan who became a Regular Guard is also too weak. There’s no guarantee that child can win against the Yuugenshu. Even more so for the citizens that live in the Living Districts.”

Gently, gently. With a voice just like a lullaby.

The expression on her face was once again gentle to a point she had never seen before.

“However there is somebody planning something by breeding a Yuugenshu. That absolutely cannot be allowed. After confirming their objective ─── we crush them. There’s no chance but this one, you know?”

With the assembly in motion, Guards had been able to come to the island freely.

Even more so now that the attention was focused on the Priestess, the alertness of the Governmental Sector was rooted to the assembly. If they were going to invade the Governmental Sector’s central division, there would be no second time where such conditions lined up.

……I understand that.

……However.

“My, my, don’t make that brooding face, Ymy-sama. It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t think about what happens after failure; it’ll be fine if we just select those with the skill to infiltrate the Governmental Sector .”

The Elite Guard waved her hand in a frivolous manner.

“Well then, Ishtar-sama, you would select the most skilled person from Monica-sama’s group……is the normal line of thought, but more concretely who?”

“Nope, I don’t know. That’s why I think it’d be fine if we choose Monica-san──”

“W-wait!”

Ymy interrupted Yuragi and Ishtar’s conversation with a shout. With enough vigor to kick the table in front of her, she stood from her seat.

“Monica-senpa……I don’t want to tell Monica-san that.”

“Whyyyy?”

“……Because”

She bit on the edge of her lower lip.

“If I said that to that person……she would decide to say she would go by herself. She’s the kind of person who will definitely reject something that invites danger to the unit.”

It would be decided that rather than having her comrades do it, she would do it herself. But that was too much. In the one in ten thousand chance she was caught, it was possible she would be detained in the Governmental Sector and unable to return.

“Well, that’s true. Ishtar also feels like she’s that kind of person. But if it’s not her, then who?”

“……That is……”

…………Is there no one else except Monica-senpai?

Someone in that unit with more experience than Monica-senpai and moreover a person I can trust. The person I can definitely trust to make this succeed───

“……Wai……t……please.”

Frantically holding back her shrill voice, Ymy muttered as if coming unbound.

……There is one.

There is an amazing Cadet Guard in that unit. Amongst the Cadet Guards……no, an amazing Guard that wouldn’t lost even to the Sennenshi is there. Even while he was exiled from Sophia Tenketsu Palace , the childhood friend that single-handedly ran all the way to the Grand Santuary when Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated by the Great Yuugenshu Invasion──

……Sheltis.

……But can I ask something so dangerous of Sheltis?

Can I ‘order’ my childhood friend as a Priestess?

“…………”

Her dizziness, headache and feverishness all melded into each other within her chest. The room should be air conditioned but her body couldn’t stop trembling.

“……Give me……some time.”

“That’s fine─, but the time limit is tomorrow night.”

Ishtar combed her golden hair behind her with her fingers.

“The target is the final day of the assembly; we will present the ‘ truth ‘ about the Lagoon floating archipelago on the fourth day of the assembly. In that case, it is necessary to access ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ on the day after tomorrow the third day of the assembly and preparations the day before are also needed. If so, then we need to talk about the infiltration job by tomorrow night or it’ll be poor, you know?”

“I……understand.”

……Tomorrow was the limit.

……I have to decide by tomorrow night.

“…………”

“Sorry……could I get some rest?”

Without waiting for answers from the other two, she walked towards the bedroom──

.

While feeling her consciousness growing hazy, Ymy collapsed on the bed.

### 054. Interlude: Stargazing ──Star Song──

### Part 1

What lay before her when she opened her eyes was a wall of star light.

“…………”

In the room whose night-colored curtain had been lowered, Ymy slowly opened her eyes.

Tiny, tiny star lights were mixed into the translucent midnight.

They twinkled like grains of sand in the atmosphere of the celestial globe and just when it looked like disappeared, they shined again.

The roof made with transparent glass displayed this scene.

The starry night view.

……People in the past would use this kind of fortune telling with the stars to divine their destinies.

……Though I can’t do it.

“───”

Remaining face up, she turned only her head to the side and looked at the watch at her pillow’s side.

Three in the morning.

It could be called the dead of night. It was the deepest time of night when everything was asleep. Within the atmosphere of her room that seemed to also have halted, she started to get up──

“……Huh?”

With her upper body in an upright position, she finally realized that there was a blanket over her shoulders.

She had……went to sleep face down so……the energy to wear this blanket aside, she shouldn’t have been sleeping face-up so neatly like this.

──Somebody laid me down properly in bed and put on this blanket?

“Oh, have you woken up?”

That voice came from another bed directly to the side of hers.

“Falling asleep in a fallen position only to wake up in the middle of the night, Ymy-sama is just like a child. It’s just like when Isa-chan was young.”

Her golden hair was faintly lit up by the starlight.

The tall woman wasn’t lying down but instead sat upon the bed hugging her knees.

“……About this blanket”

“It would be a huge issue if you caught a cold. I thought about changing you into your sleepwear from your vestments but that would really wake you up so I refrained.”

The Cadres Guard smiled in a carefree manner.

“Thank you……but that appearance is”

“Ishtar is Ymy-sama’s guard so she can’t just go to sleep without hesitation.”

Saying so, she drew the clothed spear closer to herself.

Her clothes were the same formal wear as at noon.

“……That’s……that’s right.”

Syun-rei had also said the same thing before.

When she and Leon left the tower, he would not sleep no matter what she said.

Sennenshi ── like a lion that would not sleep for a thousand years, it was the title associated with the Priestesses of a thousand years ago and their guards. Syun-rei had said that he had said it was that kind of title.

“…………”

“What’s wrong? If you’re hungry, shall Ishtar make something?”

“Then I’d like a dessert that is warm, sweet, delicious, filling and which I can eat for all three meals without gaining weight.”

“……That’s a difficult problem─. Ishtar’s a guard and not a pro chef, after all.”

Seeing Ishtar frown with her arms folded, Ymy’s expression relaxed a little.

With an expression that was half wry smile and half self-derisive.

“What I must think about now has that feeling to it.”

A difficult problem ─── she had thought Priestesses were a lot simpler.

She had thought they only resided on the top floor of the tower and devoted their lives to praying to maintain the barrier with the Queen.

I……didn’t become a Priestess with the intention of immersing myself in things like conferences or difficult bargaining.

“That’s definitely because Ymy-sama has no Sennenshi, you know?”

Those words echoed through the dark room as if piercing through it.

“According to Ishtar’s experience, the Priestess-samas are weak in politics and negotiations. In the current Priestesses, it’s Meimel-sama’s specialty but she’s a bit of a special case. The Priestesses are essentially like Syun-rei-sama. Staying shut in and becoming distanced from the ways of the world, they’re also unversed in how to connect with other people. Those who sustain that are the Sennenshi.”

“……”

“Included in the tranquility training for Priestesses, there are those for separating the body and mind, right?”

“……Is there something about that?”

Tranquility. In order to continue to pray for the barrier regardless of how severe the circumstances ── so to speak, it was abandoning the flesh to become the barrier.

But she didn’t know what that had to do with the current conversation.

“The exact opposite of that are the Sennenshi. Previously, the number one Priestess said that.”

The number one Priestess.

“ A Sennenshi is the final wedge that binds together a Priestess’ heart and body to prevent them from separating. For example, if Leon-kun wasn’t around, Syun-rei-sama would continue to pray for the barrier just like a doll─”

The mind was influenced by the flesh.

As well, the flesh was influenced by the mind.

“The Sennenshi support the Priestesses at various times and in varying circumstances. If Ymy-sama had a Sennenshi she could trust by her side right now, she would be able to confide these worries with that person.”

“…………”

Her current guard was Ishtar. That was reality.

However, she was the Cadres Guard and not a Sennenshi. She was not the partner that served a Priestess and could not give advice.

……She had to decide everything on her own.

“Now then, shall I make that thing that Ymy-sama requested not too long ago?”

“……Can you?”

“I can─. I achieved pro level from making desserts to fix I’sa-chan’s mood whenever she sulked. Well then, without delay.”

“Ah, wait.”

Stopping Ishtar who was rolling up her sleeves, Ymy got off the bed.

“……Sorry, the order just now was……half just an outburst.”

“Fumu. So?”

She wasn’t angry. She probably understood right from the start. Just like a parent consoling a child throwing a tantrum, she prompted her with a gentle tone.

“Is it okay if I take a stroll through the hotel alone?……I’d like to calm myself.”

“Yes. Ishtar will be awaiting you so if there’s anything, notify her through telepathy, okay?”

Nodding, she gave her vestments a simple look-over in the full-body mirror. She flattened out the wrinkles that she saw and stretched out her hand to the bedroom’s doorknob──

“……I……”

Stopping there, Ymy spoke without turning around.

“I’m not without a Sennenshi……”

“Then what is it?”

“……I’m waiting……I promised that I’d be waiting at the top floor of the tower.”

And so.

Without waiting for a reply, Ymy left the bedroom.

### Part 2

A gait with no strength. Sometimes staggering and sometimes tripping.

She continued down the hallway lightly illuminated by emergency lighting in search of light like a butterfly.

“…………”

……I want to meet him.

……Even though it was this late, she couldn’t help wanting to meet with and speak to him.

“ If Ymy-sama has the intention of continuing on as a Priestess from now, she should make the order─ “

A slight taste of iron was mixed in where she was biting on her cheek.

I was frustrated……

She felt like what she should consider the most important as a Priestess was being directly denied but she hadn’t been able to counter it which inevitably frustrated her.

“ That’s definitely because Ymy-sama has no Sennenshi, you know? “

She put her hand against the wall she staggered to and tightened that hand into a fist.

Not minding something like her nails digging into the palm of her hand, she tightened it to the limit.

“……I have……one.”

She had decided it a long time ago.

He had said they would be together since a long time ago.

“…………”

And then she arrived at a single door.

──Knock, kno……knock.

In her vision blurred by tears, she saw her quivering fist knock on the door.

I won’t use the doorbell. Even though it’s this late and this slight of a knock, I trust that he will respond. To my voice────

Leaning against the wall directly to her side, Ymy waited for that time.

Two seconds, three seconds.

Five seconds, ten seconds……fifteen seconds.

……Even if it didn’t reach now.

……Even if I can’t touch him……for now……it’s fine if he’s just by my side.

She continued that for who knows how long.

The firmly shut door opened without a sound.

My most important person────is here────

“──Ymy?”

“……Please, Sheltis,”

Staring fixedly at the boy with reddish brown hair’s face, Ymy wiped the tears at her eyes.

“A little while is fine……just a little……please stay with me.”

### Part 3

Governmental Sector Central Area, Third Sector aircraft hanger.

“Say, Maha-san, do you believe in astrology?”

The jet black night road looked like paint was smeared over it.

A clear tenor male voice unsuited to the night echoed through the giant container filled with mountains of documents.

“……”

“Fumu, are you not interested? Then please listen so that you become interested.”

A tall, lean shadow stood up within the darkness.

A jet black suit with golden buttons, jet black shoes and a jet black rimmed hat. That was an outfit meant to blend into black.

Within the silence of night, only his voice penetrated endlessly.

“The people of old viewed the stars as mysterious. The custom of “star gazing” in the middle of the night was born and from there, various constellations and asterisms were drawn. Furthermore, meaning was added to those actions and it became ritualistic in “star chants”, and this was the origin of astrology.”

Pale blonde hair waving in the night wind and a shapely nose and mouth.

The brimmed hat worn low over her eyes hid them from view but her silhouette was more than enough to convey her beauty.

“Many people are charmed by this. Sometimes it might be prominent with women. But I think I’d like to deny any ties to this astrology. ……I can’t permit it.”

With a hand upon the hat’s brim, that person turned towards the sky and spread both hands.

“Why must people look about this beautiful sky with such precepts? Even though it would be fine if they just innocently appreciate that moment and brilliance without corrupting it with the human construct of fortune telling. ……Because the stars are this beautiful just by being there.”

Thinking about it with a heart as pure as a child’s……

Even though only looking, praising, stringing together words and singing would be good enough.

“We, the adults, are forgetting something important. Don’t you think so?”

“……Igun-I.”

For the first time, the other man that had been standing there spoke.

A man of large build wrapped in a faded ocher robe.

The hooded robe covered all the way from his head to his feet and above that in various places ── the parts associated with the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist and knees were bound with a ring apparatus.

“Yes, what is it, Maha-san?”

“……It’s time.”

Not particularly addressing the pitch black young man’s question, Maha simply conveyed that one sentence.

“The ritual’s……preparations will take some time.”

“Ahh, that’s right. It has to be prepared now.”

Without a hint of being upset, Igun-I ruffled his suit.

“……Really.”

“Does it really exist? Yes, the shinryoku crystal, ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘, which records all events in this world. It is incomplete in the end but it is troublesome to allow the Governmental Sector to continue using it. If a qualified individual is found, my and even Maha-san’s private life will be completely bared, you know?”

Heh. He instead smiled deeper with happiness.

“And see, the problem right now is the conference that’s being held. Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector are not idiots so they should notice that something’s out of place pretty soon. If they use the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ to investigate the truth, a great deal about us will come to light too……it’s too early, it is not yet that time.”

“…………”

“Eh? Of course, as always. Maha-san will break through the front. Please draw out the Holy Hall’s guardians. I will secretly change the ‘Crimson Eye’s‘ system using that opening. It’ll be more convenient later if we change it to benefit us instead of destroying it.”

Igun-I walked straight north along the public road.

Maha who was trailing behind by a few steps leisurely walked up beside him.

“…………”

“You wish to know if it’s possible to change it? Ahh, I told you it was inviolable before but that’s just what the Governmental Sector’s researchers think. They have no suitable individuals so they have no way of confirming it. Of course, it’s impossible to change it but it is possible to change the circumstances under which events are recorded. ……In other words, we’ll just make it so only our information isn’t recorded.”

Finally, a large shadow came into view.

In the hushed world of the stars and night, a structure cast a shadow even darker than the night.

“Well, even that is something only a perfectly suitable person is able to accomplish.”

Looking up at the Governmental Sector from far in the distance, Igun-I softly smiled.

### Part 4

“……I see, so that’s it.”

Sitting on the left side of a two-seater sofa, Sheltis lightly sighed.

“I’m sorry. About this. I’d only get confused on my own. My mind……is filled with a lot of things.”

“ It is not your fault. The circumstances are just entwined complexly. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked upon her lap while she hung her head.

“……Thank you too, Ilis. Listening to my complaints like this.”

“ However, Ymy, if you only look at the urgent situation right now, I can understand what that Cadres Guard wants to say as well. People are powerless against Yuugenshu after all. “

“Yeah……”

Off-gold.

As the girl sitting quietly on the arm rest of the sofa nodded, her silky long hair shined.

“But……I’m a Priestess. A Priestess has a lot of Guards protecting her, right? Not just the Sennenshi and Regular Guards……it’s the same for the Cadet Guards as well. Even so……I’d be posing this towards those protectors? An order much like asking them to become a sacrifice to infiltrate the Governmental Sector……”

“ You came here because you don’t want to make that sacrifice, right? “

Ilis Machine crystal flashed with a soft blue light as she spoke in a guiding tone.

“ This is my intuition but the one who was selected first was Monica, right? Clairvoyance and telepathy are suited skills for infiltration depending on their usage. Looking at it from the surface, she is the most suited to the secret orders this time. “

The Priestess remained silent.

She didn’t answer and simply hung her head powerlessly.

“ I expect that hearing that made you uneasy? Even if you ignore her position as your senpai, you don’t know what treatment she would receive if she were to fail the infiltration. As a problem of responsibility, the truth is it would become impossible for her to remain as a Guard. ──That is why you came here. “

“…………”

“ I believe that your choice is not wrong. If I were in the same position, I would undoubtedly do the same. Right, Sheltis? “

At Ilis machine crystal ’ words, the downcast Ymy lifted her head.

Her jade eyes that shone like gems gazed ahead──

“Jeez……everything I wanted to say was taken by Ilis machine crystal .”

Suddenly loosening his expression, Sheltis let out a deep sigh.

“So the point is we just have to go to that Holy Hall place and access that ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ thing, right? Yuragi-san should know the way there.”

“Sheltis!”

His childhood friend sitting next to him shook a little.

“Tha……that’s not……it. I-I didn’t have that intention……I-I mean……”

Her lips were trembling.

“Because, you know? Sheltis, you didn’t have that intention at first either, right? Infiltrating Governmental Sector’s central division……you didn’t know about it……you haven’t prepared yourself either.”

“ I heard about it. “

To convey it to Ymy who was rapidly speaking, he slowly shook his head.

“Sorry, the truth is Leon told me. But if I asked you, then you’d be surprised so I decided to keep that a secret. That’s why it’s fine, I’m already prepared──”

“ Stop. “

That was the instant the voice of the girl beside him turned to a sob.

“Idiot……Sheltis, you idiot. There’s no way a Priestess wouldn’t be informed of something so important……to say Leon did that……don’t……use that kind of impossible lie……”

She tightly hugged the pillow at the corner of the sofa.

──Plop.

A small droplet wet the pillow that she was holding to her chest.

“Sorry……sorry, really……I’m really sorry. I can’t do anything on my own……and in the end, I have to rely on you, Sheltis……”

“That’s not the case at all. If we’re talking about that, to begin with, I can’t possibly maintain the barrier that protects the Orbie Clar floating continent . It’s just that this time, something that I can do has coincidentally shown up.”

“No……”

She hugged the pillow tightly, more tightly, to the point that its shape changed.

“Not something that I can do as a Priestess. It’s that I can’t do anything for you as a childhood friend……it’s frustrating.”

Covering her mouth with the pillow, she shook her head to hide her eyes which had grown red.

And.

Ilis Machine crystal which had been silent on her lap once again flashed blue.

“ Aren’t you glad, Ymy? “

“……Eh?”

“ If you feel frustrated by that, then you still have room to grow. As a Priestess and as a woman. From the point of view of a machine crystal, that ‘frustration’ of yours is sorrowful but also something that I dearly envy. Right, Sheltis? “

“That’s right, so it’s fine.”

……Besides.

……I’ve received more than enough from Ymy.

In this desperate setting, where failure was not an option even more so because of that desperation, Ymy had come this far by relying on herself. That was more gladdening than anything.

“……Sheltis.”

His childhood friend that had her face buried in the pillow suddenly looked up.

Her eyes wet with tears immediately drew close ── truly, to the point that their eyes were about to overlap, where their lips and hair could just about touch, she drew near.

“Thank you……I…………”

……Ymy?

With her cheeks flushed red as if feverish, her face drew even closer.

……We can’t.

……If we get any closer than this, Elbert Resonance will occur.

If his mateki and her shinryoku came into contact, a rejection reaction would occur and injure both of them. Even though he understood that, for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to stop her.

“I──────”

“ Eh─, ahem. “

The stopped time finally began moving again with Ilis machine crystal ’ hem.

“ I’ll be jumping in while ignoring the mood but please save that for after the infiltration succeeds. “

“Th-that, meaning what!? What do you mean!?”

Ymy’s eyes shot open with a gasp.

“I-I just wanted to say thank you is all!? B-because Sheltis and I have Elbert Resonance──”

“ ……Yes, yes, I get it so calm down. “

A strained laugh was mixed into Ilis machine crystal ’ voice.

“Now then, since the job of infiltrating the Governmental Sector has been decided, what will you do, Sheltis? You’re probably forgetting something important.”

“Something important?”

“ If the Governmental Sector’s giant crystal is a system that uses shinryoku, then its operation will most likely require the usage of shinryoku. But Sheltis’ body is carrying mateki and has lost its affinity to shinryoku. That means he cannot access the large crystal. “

“Ah……”

Damn it. Because I was only focused on the risk of infiltrating the Governmental Sector’s central division, it completely slipped my mind about what to do after the infiltration succeeded.

“Huh? But Ymy entrusted it to me so that means”

“Ah……aha……haha. …………Sorry, I also forgot.”

Having calmed down, Ymy laughed.

“ ……As expected of childhood friends, you’re identical down to the way you think. Well, putting that aside, that problem can be cleared. Well, to put it simply, I am the suited individual for ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘. “

“Huh?”

“ Fufun, how’s that, Sheltis? Have you once again come to realize how outstanding I am? “

“No, rather why?”

“ Our maker is the same. “

Ilis Machine crystal cleared away the question smoothly.

“ That giant crystal and I were made by just one person. The ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ is also an observation system that was put in place a thousand years ago. It is the results of people trying to artificially create a ‘ certain existence ‘. No, perhaps I should say it is a shadow of that. “

“……One thousand years ago.”

“ What’s wrong, Ymy? “

“Eh? Ahh, no, it’s nothing! Keep going!”

“ Then I’ll continue. Or so I say, but that’s about all I had to tell you. The maker is the same so I also have the program specific to the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘. All this world’s events ── I can extract high quality scenes from the measuring of this year’s Priestesses not limited to just the images but even the conversations. “

“……Ilis, I’d be really happy if you could read the serious atmosphere?”

Creak.

An unpleasant creaking sound came from the crystal portion of Ilis machine crystal that Ymy was holding.

“ ……Putting aside the jokes, even as a reproduction, that is a dangerous item. I thought it was lost during the war with the Yuugenshu but……I see, even if it wasn’t left on the floating continent, it was moved to the Lagoon floating archipelago . If the Governmental Sector covered that up, it wouldn’t be found. “

“Hey, Ilis, what’s this about a suitable individual for the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘?”

“ Think of it as an individual entrusted with a key. It’s a key that can open a door that holds lots of accumulated information. A fully suitable person can freely obtain that information and a partially suitable person……to say it in an easy to understand manner, they would obtain a mosaicked version of the information. By design, it should only open for a person with a special shinryoku so I don’t think any others with a mechanical body other than me could open it. “

“Other than you……then isn’t that quite amazing?”

“It is amazing!”

Ymy’s excited voice shook the room’s air.

“Think about it, Sheltis. That kind of amazing system and the person who can operate it is also specific. In reality, the Governmental Sector hasn’t found a perfectly suitable person yet either. But this close by……above all, that the suitable individual is a machine crystal like Ilis.”

With flushed cheeks, Ymy peered at Ilis machine crystal .

“Hey, Ilis, is that true? ……I don’t want to request something unreasonable but is it really fine to rely on you?”

“ There is no need for concern, Ymy. “

Ilis Machine crystal flashed blue.

“ You’ve already seen that appearance of mine, right? Then just leave it to me. “

“──!”

Ymy’s gasp was perfectly conveyed.

……That appearance?

……I wonder what it is. I don’t understand what shocked Ymy.

“Mm, what is that, Ilis?”

“ We’ll talk about it eventually, Sheltis, but it’s not something to speak of here. Right now we need to discuss how we’re going to sneak into the Governmenetal Sector’s central division. ──Right, Ymy? “

“Y-yes!”

Ymy nodded many times while flustered.

“ In that case, it would be best if we were to rest for today. Tomorrow’s conference will also take a long time and a lack of sleep is a girl’s worst enemy. “

“…………”

“ Ymy? “

“……Sheltis.”

Ymy fidgeted and held onto the corners of the pillow.

The tears upon her face had disappeared at some point and she was looking downward out of shyness for some reason.

“……Stay like this for just five minutes more.”

### 055. Chapter 4: Wheels of Heaven ──Absolute Sanctuary──

## Chapter 4 – Wheels of Heaven ──Absolute Sanctuary──

### Part 1

“Yuragi-chan, sorry─”

With those first words from Ishtar, Yuragi widened her eyes in surprise.

……Sorry? For what?

Today was the second day of the conference. They were currently in the Governmental Sector’s waiting room and the assembly in the morning was also on time. The Priestess and General Affairs Bureau Chief were already on standby in the meeting room and the Cadet Guards serving as escorts were also ready in another room.

Everything was going perfectly according to schedule so there shouldn’t be anything to apologize for──

“You’re getting eye bags, you know?”

“Eh……”

Ishtar smiled teasingly with a finger against her cheek.

“It seems like Ishtar made you stay up all night searching for something.”

“……Yeah, I thought I’d hidden it well.”

She had fairly heavy foundation around her eyes and the rims of her glasses were perfectly lined up with the darkened parts so it should’ve been hard to notice.

“Putting aside the bags and glasses, it’s really hard on you, Yuragi-chan. You said that your eyes were a little strange last night as well. That they were bloodshot.“

“Yes. So I looked for how to get to the hospital……it took some time to find a doctor that was open late into the night. That’s why it’s not Ishtar-san’s fault.”

“Fu─n, it’d be great if you get better quickly. You already know the way to the hospital?”

“Yes. I was thinking about going tomorrow when there’s no congestion. As planned.”

She put a fingertip to the powdered part of her face and nodded.

……It’s fine if I don’t stress when I talk with this person.

If you just took away the wheedling tone, it gave off the feeling of talking with a competent female secretary.

──It looks like I had you up all night investigating ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘?

──Yes, it takes a while to find the exact location.

──Do you already know the way?

──We can infiltrate late tomorrow night. As planned.

For ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘, she inquired about what she diagnosed as bloodshot eyes.

Furthermore, to remove any unnatural aspects, she initially made the corners of her eyes the subject and deftly dropped the keyword ‘red eyes‘ naturally.

……Quite the tactician.

……It’s becoming more and more clear that her innocent speech pattern is to give others a sense of childishness.

“Did Ymy-sama sleep well yesterday?”

“She woke up once─. She took a walk in the hallway to fix her mood but came back in about thirty minutes. She also got up on her own before Ishtar went to wake her so I think it’s fine?”

Resting her head on one hand propped up on the table, the Cadres Guard was gazing somewhere far into the distance.

“It was a pleasant miscalculation. To have regained your footing that much on your own, I’ve changed my opinion of you.”

“Eh?”

“Ahh, nothing, it’s nothing, okay─? It’s just Ishtar talking to herself.”

Waving her hands, she didn’t say anything else.

### Part 2

In front of the meeting room, in the break room for escorts.

“Sheltis, I’ve been wondering for a while but……are those circles under your eyes?”

“Eh. Ah, that’s right.”

Having it gently pointed out by Kagura, Sheltis honestly nodded.

“Did something happen?”

“Well……I couldn’t sleep yesterday and pretty much ended up just doing practice swings with my swords? It’s not really anything major. My body’s not burnt out either.”

It was true that he had done practice swings.

──There’s no way I can sleep after seeing Ymy’s crying face.

She wouldn’t leave his mind even after she returned to her room so since he couldn’t sleep, he decided to just practice until morning.

“But it looks like there’s someone sound asleep over there.“

“Huh?”

Sitting in a chair, arms crossed with a complicated expression and eyes closed ── at first glance it might have been someone thinking hard about something but it was just a man sleeping soundly.

“……It’s a big-shot, there’s a big-shot here.”

“Yes. Sheltis should learn from his example.“

“……Va……Va……”

Her usual calm expression completely red, the unit leader’s fist was shaking.

Then.

“Vaiellllllll, clench your teeth!”

“Ahhn? What’s thi……guhaaa!?”

Monica’s iron fist of anger plunged into Vaiel’s flank without deviation.

“You! Isn’t it unfair if you say to clench my teeth and go for my stomach!?”

“M-my hand just slipped! And you──”

In the break room whose rowdiness had just shot up.

“……I’ll go wash my face. The circles will disappear if I warm my eyes with warm water, right?”

“Take your time. It will be noisy here for a while anyway.”

Leaving a few words to Kagura who was tinkering with the Machina machine pearl , Sheltis left the room.

……Tonight, they would secretly assemble in Ymy’s room. It would be a business meeting with Yuragi.

Only a vague and lifeless sense of tension swirled within his heart.

### Part 3

Room 700, ‘Asterhythm‘.

“Departure is late tomorrow night. ……I’d like to pick a time at the latest possible moment so I’ll send you the exact time tomorrow at noon.

Yuragi’s voice echoed in the living room.

There were no wiretaps installed. She had denied that herself and was also keeping her voice down for the off-chance there were.

“The ones carrying it out are you and I.”

“──Yeah.”

Feeling her gaze through the glasses, Sheltis expressed agreement.

“Ymy-sama as well, do we have your consent?”

“……I chose him. Since I heard there was a skilled Cadet Guard from the Cadet Guard Instructor, Yumelda.”

Ymy indifferently spun together the absolute minimum of words required.

“Monica has the role of an older sister that looks after everyone. In truth, the one pulling up the unit’s level is a single dual swords user. It’s a boy with a long history of training……if it’s just about battle ability, he alone could defeat the opposing unit in the final selections.“

The final selections for mission 16, ‘Expedition to the Governmental Sector‘.

Monica’s unit and Nash’s unit ── this was something from when Yumelda had brought the examiner, I’sa, along to make an advance report before the two units battled. Without the exchange at this time, it would still be unnatural for a priestess like Ymy to recommend a mere newcomer Cadet Guard like Sheltis.

……Usually she just orders me alone to do harsh training.

……All of this is thanks to Instructor Yumelda, huh.

He inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

“He received a high appraisal from the Instructor, so I’m recommending him for the mission this time.”

“Understood. ──Then let’s continue. First, about the defense allotted to the meeting at noon, I’d like to continue it. It would be unnatural if the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s guard were to decrease in number and above all, we would lose everything if an emergency situation were to occur at that time. ……This next part is important.”

Yuragi’s fingers went into her breast pocket.

Without skipping a beat, she drew out a silver card key.

“When you entered the Governmental Sector’s governmental office building, I believe each of you received an authentication card.”

“……The one we were lent when we entered and had to return when we left yesterday and today, right?”

“Yes. These electronic card keys show when you ‘enter‘ and ‘leave‘ the lobby.”

Guards’ badges were also used as an electromagnetic card and those Guards could be traced to wherever they went as long as they were carrying it. It was basically a surveillance system like that.

“After the meeting, the three members of Monica-sama’s unit will take their card keys and pass the lobby to ‘leave‘ but Sheltis-sama will stay within the Governmental Sector’s office building.”

“……Huh, but wait. Won’t my card key be left like that?”

Only three of the escorts’ card keys would be returned. It would become suspicious if the one in charge of recovering them were to notice.

“Yes. That’s why, Sheltis-sama, please secretly hand me your card key when the meeting ends. I’ll pass through the gate with Sheltis-sama’s and my own card key. Like that, ‘you left the Governmental Sector according to the electronic surveillance system but are actually still in the Governmental Sector’ will become the situation.”

“Oh─, I get it. It’s something we can do because we have an insider like Yuragi-san. The procedure is simple but I don’t think the electronic surveillance system will discover it.“

“To tell the truth, this is something that Governmental Sector staff do. If it seems like one will be late to work or one wants to go back at a certain time no matter what, that person will entrust it to a friend.”

“After that is……a place to hide?”

Even if he stayed around in the Governmental Sector, there was a lapse of ten hours to the time of the operation. If he didn’t hide somewhere, it would be a pain if somebody found him.

“That’s right, I’ve concluded that you should be fine hiding in the men’s restroom. Hang up an ‘Out of Order‘ sign and hide inside, please.”

“……I have a bad feeling.”

In so saying, Yuragi made a mature smile and,

“This is also information. From my point of view, it would be easier if you were to hide in the women’s restroom.”

“Sheltis? The women’s restroom is the holy grounds of women. No matter the reason──“

“That’s no good, you know?”

“……I haven’t even said anything.”

Being glared at by Ilis machine crystal and Ymy, Sheltis sighed reluctantly.

“……I’ll wait patiently in the men’s restroom.”

“Then the plan is decided. After that is clothing. Until you reach your destination, you should be able to pass yourself off as ‘a colleague of Yuragi‘ so please choose something other than Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s formal wear. Do you have anything?”

When she asked that, he immediately thought of his usual black jacket.

“Umm, if it’s something that won’t be thought of as formal wear, then somewhat.”

“That will be fine. Please get changed while in the men’s restroom. I’ll hold onto your formal wear after you change.”

In other words, there were no preparations to be made beforehand.

It would be fine if he just waited until the end of tomorrow’s meeting.

“That’s all I have to say. Any questions?”

“Ah, just one. It’s not related to the mission but I felt like I had to ask.”

While looking around the living room.

“The Cadres Guard isn’t here but has this conversation already been relayed to her?”

“I will inform Ishtar-sama afterwards. She knows the contents of the mission but she has not been told that you are the one that shall be carrying it out. ……She should be waiting for me at the intersection outside this room.”

Audibility was not limited to this room. Her role was to divert anybody about to come close to the room.

“I see, then that’s all I had to ask.”

“Then I’ll be counting on you for tomorrow. That will be all for today.”

The female secretary closed her memo book.

With that as a signal, the Priestess in her vestments was the first to stand up.

“Umm……I don’t think I’ll get a chance other than now to say it, so I will.”

Her jade green eyes wavered with unease.

She gulped and then.

“Make sure you come back. Nobody will blame you even if you fail……so come back safely.”

“──Roger that.”

Replying with his outstretched right hand, Sheltis left the Priestess’ room.

He passed the door and entered the hallway. Walking straight down the hallway with a thin carpet, he finally came upon the intersection that led to other guest rooms.

“Ah, are you fiiinished?”

In the middle of the intersection, a female Guard stood still with a metal spear in hand.

Her strangely colored clothing that was bound with belts in various places made her silhouette that stood out against the light seem even thinner ── no, it looked sharpened.

“Yes, it’s fine if you return to the room now. The Priestess-sama is also waiting.”

“Is that sooo? Ah─ that’s great! It feels meritless to be standing guard in a hallway with thi─s few people. Ishtar was so unoccupied, she felt like she’d fall asleep.”

Faa, she yawned loudly.

……It looks like I can safely avoid making unnecessary conversation.

With just a small greeting, he tried to pass by her.

“The only one I had to send back was Monica-san.“

He should have just ignored her and continued on.

He should’ve known that in his head but his feet had stopped and he’d turned around before he even realized.

“I think that was about thirty minutes ago? Monica-san looked pretty serious asking, have you seen a member of my unit, Sheltis? Well, thanks to that, Ishtar also realized ‘Ah─, so that’s who Ymy-sama chose‘.”

“……So then,”

“I just told her the necessary part. There’s a special mission being given to him so he’s in the middle of a conversation in the Priestess’ room, is what I told her. Really, it was just the part that wouldn’t be a hindrance.”

A large smile.

There was just a tiny bit of thorniness to that expression.

“You covered for Monica and took on the job yourself. I didn’t say a〰ny such thing so don’t worry, okay? Monica-san wouldn’t be able to remain calm if I said that.”

“…………”

What she just smoothly told him was something that couldn’t be conceived without knowing that he was better than Monica at stealthy activities.

……As I thought, has she realized my identity?

“Shall I reveal the source of the trick? I’sa-chan said it.”

Ishtar moved one step closer.

“A dual swords user who’s as cheeky as he is strong. That there’s a guy who’s not so strong he makes you want to run away, he’s so strong that he makes you not want to lose. If I’sa-chan goes that far in saying it, you have enough ability to cover for Monica-san and take her place. It’s natural to think like that, isn’t it?”

……What I’sa said to her as the basis.

……So does that mean she hasn’t discovered my identity yet?

“But you’re really silent. Are you nervous? Or are you thinking about something?”

She smiled with a finger against her lips.

“Well, it’s fine whichever it is. Ishtar doesn’t mind after all─. Ishtar doesn’t have any interest in it. Not in any of the other Guards or the Priestess-sama.”

“────”

“See ya─, I’ll leave Monica-san up to you.”

Waving her hand with a cheery expression, she left in a manner that looked full of openings at first glance.

……Not a single thing has changed since four years ago.

“Well then, boy, why don’t you try asking by force?“

Not a single thing had changed since that time.

She still hadn’t become a Sennenshi and she still had no interest in the Priestesses. She didn’t hold any interest in whether the Elite Guards around her became Sennenshi or even if they were to retire.

“Are you thinking about something?“

“……No, let’s go.”

It happened at the same time Ilis machine crystal agreed. As Sheltis was about to take the first step, the silhouette of a person appeared from a corner of the intersection.

“……Sheltis.”

It was a girl with her eyes wide-open, her sakura-colored hair fluttering.

“Ah, hey, Monica──”

“Don’t speak.”

“……Eh.”

“It’s fine if you don’t say it. Just listen……I’ll even want to stop thinking about hitting you.”

Her slender shoulders shook a little at a time.

She bit down on the edge of her lip and also breathed deeply to remain calm ── that painfully conveyed it to him directly.

“I heard about your mission from Cadres Guard Ishtar. I don’t have the right to ask what kind of mission it is but…………truthfully, I’m against it. I think it’s a given that you’d be chosen based on ability. But you’re my……important……important……”

Gulp.

He clearly heard her gulp.

“Member of……my unit, and I won’t let you go on a mission I don’t even know the reason for, even if it’s an order from the Cadres Guard. ……Because that’s how it is, right? If I can’t even be informed of what the mission entails, it’s the same as saying that it’s dangerous.”

Her intuition was correct. That’s why Ishtar didn’t beat around with half-baked lies and had no choice but to tell the truth.

“No, it’s not like my opposition means anything. Anything a Cadet Guard like me says would just be overruled……”

A lifeless smile appeared on the unit leader’s face.

“So come back safely, regardless of whether the mission succeeds or fails. That’s all I wanted to say as the unit’s leader. The scolding will come after that.”

“……Don’t worry. I’ll return in the early morning.”

I don’t have any intention of being beaten by a mission or two like this.

To begin with, ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ is just a means to an end. The goal is still to find the objective behind the Yuugenshu breeding water tank and to stop the person behind it, which is why we came as far as the Governmental Sector.

“Well then, let’s go back. Our paths are the same for a while anyway.”

“……Yeah.”

Pushing on Monica who had an awkward expression, Sheltis started to walk again.

### Part 4

The third day of the conference.

“Jeez, now Monica has circles under her eyes?”

Same as yesterday, Kagura’s sigh pierced through the break room’s silence.

“……I tried to hide it though.”

“Just the area around your eyes is caked in foundation. It’s easy to understand that you’re hiding something around your eyes. Please practice using cosmetics a little……ah─ah, this is so thickly coated. Come on, stay still.”

Kagura took out powder from a travel-use cosmetics kit. While she was applying that to the area around Monica’s eyes, her hand stopped.

“Yesterday was Sheltis and today Monica has circles under her eyes? Surely you two aren’t having clandestine meetings every night, are you?”

“I was just thinking about escorting matters and couldn’t sleep.”

Monica closed her eyes with a glum face.

“Rather than that……I’m happy that you’re fixing my make-up, but I’d rather it be at a different place.”

“Nobody will come.”

“No, I mean here is……”

Her cheeks went red with embarrassment.

“……It really is kinda of embarrassing in front of guys.”

“It’s fine. Showing these kinds of openings every little while is also a technique.”

“It doesn’t matter what a woman with no appeal does.”

With that sentence from Vaiel who was reclining in a chair, both of the ladies’ eyebrows rose.

“Ah─ you said it! Then please look. Come on, Monica, stay still and we’ll show that blockhead my high-class techniques──”

“Y-you idiot, Kagura! Stop, don’t use my face as an experiment!”

The unit leader fratically stopped Kagura who pulled out strange small tools.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it.“

“She has strength.”

“Monica probably spent the entire night thinking about you. She’s a kind person; I understand why Ymy calls her senpai and is emotionally attached to her.“

“……I’ll do my best not to worry her.”

Looking up vacantly at the ceiling, Sheltis’ unfocused eyes wandered.

──It’s almost noon.

The meeting is scheduled to end at five in the evening. At the same time, I start with meeting up with Yuragi and handing her my card key. Then I slip away and hide myself.

……After five hours.

He had polished and replayed the same image in his head countless times. Even though what he had to do itself was simple, he couldn’t settle himself no matter how many times he repeated it.

### Part 5

Ten at night.

The Governmental Sector’s surveillance system obtained the number of people remaining in the office building by doing a simultaneous scan for all electronic card keys. Buildings with nobody left in them had their lights turned off. At the same time, areas with nobody in them had passages set in them so that non-staff members could not pass through.

……With this, the first issue is cleared.

Masking his breathing in a stall in the men’s bathroom, he had been doing deep breathing for several hours.

The area he was hiding had its lights turned off all at once. In other words, it served as proof that an outsider like Sheltis had been recognized by the surveillance system to have ‘left the building‘.

“It looks like Yuragi-san did her part.“

“……Now we just have to wait.”

He was biding time.

Whether one or many areas had their lights turned off, until infiltration became easy.

“……Ilis, I think it’s fine if we talk a little now.”

“In a low voice, sure. If we’re too loud and get found, all our hard work up until now will come to nothing.“

Restraining his voice to the limit, Sheltis continued on in what was pretty much talking to himself.

“……There was something I changed my mind about yesterday.”

“Are you nervous about the infiltration that’ll be happening right now or something?“

No ── Sheltis wordlessly shook his head at Ilis machine crystal who was shaking at his chest.

“See, I was glad that Ymy and I could come here together for this mission but……maybe I shouldn’t be happy with that kind of thing.”

“……Because your goal lies further ahead of that. Being together on a mission is a nice point of contact but it would be bad to be satisfied with that?“

“That’s what I think.”

The impetus was last night. When Ymy came to him with a request. He was happy that she’d come to consult him. Certainly, he had thought that the day before yesterday, but that was wrong.

“It really was wrong of me to make Ymy cry back then.”

Maybe if he wasn’t a Cadet Guard, but a Sennenshi.

Maybe if he was……not cursed with a mateki-ridden body, he should have been closer to her than anyone and comforted her before she had come to worry that much.

“You’re starting anew to become Ymy’s Sennenshi. Don’t forget your initial resolution.“

“Right……sorry, that’s all I wanted to say.”

“Okay.“

The curtain of silence once again descended──

How much time has passed since then?

It’s easily close to ten hours since the meeting.

When the feeling of waiting ceased to be a feeling and his sense of time froze.

──Clack.

In the unlit men’s restroom, the sound of high heels that shouldn’t have been present rang out.

“It’s Yuragi. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“……I’m a little tired; it’s the first time I’ve ever holed up at a toilet so long.”

He saw a woman he recognized through the open door.

“Everything’s an experience.”

Wearing a business smile, the secretary turned around.

“Our destination is building four, section 31, where we’ll sneak into the underground with an elevator on the eastern end. By the way, our current location is building two, section 61. It’s a long way from building two to building four……let’s get walking?”

“It’s fine even if it takes time, so please use a safe route.”

“Of course. I also wish to avoid the surveillance cameras to the best of my ability so please follow me exactly as if tracing my footsteps.”

Oozing resolve from behind her glasses, Yuragi started walking. Sheltis followed after her with his breathing suppressed.

### Part 6

Click──clack──

Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Sometimes they would pass through large meeting halls and sometimes they would use the emergency stairs.

……It’s more complicated than a real labyrinth.

……Rather than the security system or security workers, this is the best defense system.

I should memorize the route as much as possible. Realizing just how naive that notion was, Sheltis inwardly clicked his tongue.

“────”

Yuragi, who was continuing on ahead wordlessly, came to a stop just before reaching the intersection.

“You’ve been peeking backwards since a little while, so are you wary of being followed?”

“No. You’re the one catching my interest.”

The woman turned around with a rare bitter smile.

“Your footsteps are so quiet that it makes me uneasy……even though I came here with boots that have low sound output, I’ve only been able to hear my own footsteps for a while.”

“This is also part of an escort’s job. It would bother the protege if the escort’s footsteps were too loud, right?“

“Ah, that’s my line.”

“Because─, if Ilis doesn’t talk about something, it feels like she might die of boredom.“

“I’ll remember that. But please try to refrain from talking.”

She cleared away the wry smile on her face. Just when he thought she was going to start walking, she pulled out the card key in her breast pocket.

“There is a door just ahead of this intersection that serves as the connection to building four. It is a combination of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Mechanical Bureau and Shinryoku Theory Bureau which analyzes the Priestesses’ shinryoku information……you could say this building itself is a research organization. The other buildings take precedence over it publicly but it likely trumps the other three buildings combined in terms of classified information.”

A steel mechanical door was illuminated by a green emergency light. It was massive and solemn. Without Yuragi’s explanation, it would give off the overwhelming pressure of the entrance to a jail.

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

In response to the card key that Yuragi held out, the door’s central portion lit up. Just like the sea splitting apart, the tightly shut mechanical door began opening to the sides.

“This is section 1 and section 31 is further in.”

“Can I ask you one thing? I don’t think section 31 was on the map we received in the lobby.“

“It is as you surmised. I’ll explain as we walk.”

Just as her words indicated, she walked not too slowly and not too quickly.

“It’s a ‘stray section‘ that shouldn’t exist. There are many areas in this building called that by the staff that work here. On the map, it looks like there was simply a planning error resulting in a blank space or it’s just a garbage collection area……amongst them is a room that contains secrets of the highest confidentiality which regular staff can never come to know of.”

“And that’s section 31 in this building?”

“Yes. As for how many of them are in each building, probably only the elder of the senate knows everything. I don’t know anything except the count.”

They walked straight north and more north.

They mindlessly continued down the empty corridor devoid of sounds and people.

“It’s a little late but I must confess that it was unexpected.”

He thought about the implied meaning in her words a little and──

“That I came along and not Monica?”

“Yes. I thought it would be Monica-sama and bet a lunch on it……but it’s a pity. I lost to Ishtar-sama.”

“……Does that mean”

“Yes. Ishtar-sama bet that it would fall to you yesterday. She also added that Ymy-sama would select you herself. Pardon me, but are you an acquaintance of Ishtar-sama’s?”

“……I shouldn’t be.”

“Is that so……it’s nothing, I was just a little curious.”

A little childishness showed through in her smile.

However, that smile was also wiped away in an instant and she suddenly came to a stop ahead of him.

What stopped her was ── a giant door lit with emergency lights.

“It’s an emergency exit.”

“Would this kind of suspicious reader authentication device be on a normal emergency exit?”

Poking out on the side of the door was a box-shaped device.

“Please imagine a revolving door. Without a password, it’s just an ordinary emergency exit but only when authenticated with a special staff member’s authority, it will connect to the elevator within.”

──Counterfeit check……’Normal‘──

──IC level check……’Second class‘──

──Unlocking the gate. Please enter within twenty seconds.──

From behind the door came the sound of a large motor. With a little rumbling underfoot, The sound of two things joining together roared out.

“Fuu. Now then, Sheltis-sama.”

Looking fixedly at her card key, she pushed it against his chest.

“Please take this.”

“……But this is Yuragi-san’s card key.”

“The elevator ahead of here is for a single person only. Furthermore, you must have a staff member’s authority to move it ── that is to say, you require the authority that my card key possesses.”

She bowed with a smile.

That lonesome gesture conveyed everything. She would only come this far.

“This is as far as I can guide you. Please make sure to return my card key, okay?”

“……Thank you.”

He held fast to the card key given to him.

Turning his back on Yuragi who still had her head bowed deeply, Sheltis walked on.

### Part 7

──She was staring up at the night sky.

The night celestial sphere could be seen through the dome made of glass. She wasn’t looking at the stars or the moon and was just in the mood to aimlessly stare at the sky to put everything out of her mind.

……It should be right around now.

……Sheltis should be infiltrating the Governmental Sector around now.

“Ymy-sama is romanticist, huh─. Have you come to like this room?”

A voice that was casual and sweet no matter the place.

Coaxing? No, it’s like the kind a mother uses to placate a child……it’s that kind of voice.

“Ishtar-san, do you not like the starry sky?”

“Mm〰, I don’t hate it but I don’t think about wanting to look at it forever. I’d rather see I’sa-chan than stars and if I can’t have that, then I’d choose to train.”

Ishtar was holding a towel that was a little wet. Ymy thought she had gone to the bathroom but not even a few minutes had passed before she returned. Her clothes were the same formal wear as well.

……Come to think of it, it’s been the same for three days.

“You’re fast at taking a bath.”

“I always take a quick bath─. Ah, but I haven’t really taken a bath in a few days? I’ve just been wiping myself with a wet towel.”

That was the first she’d heard of that. She had thought she was at least taking a quick shower.

“……Are you also holding back on taking a bath?”

“Until we get back to Sophia Tenketsu Palace . We don’t know when an enemy might attack.”

“You haven’t been sleeping enough since we came here either.”

“Yes, that’s why I’m looking forward to going back home─. I want to roll around in bed.”

……She’ll go that far to guard me?

……Even though she’s not a Sennenshi, and even though she only came along specially for this regardless of her will.

“Is it strange? Well, if I had to say the truth, it can’t be helped that guarding’s a pain. Umm, that’s not specifically directed at Ymy-sama or anything, okay? I don’t want to act out the role of a Sennenshi. That’s why I remain as an Elite Guard.”

“……That’s unexpected.”

Rather than shocked, she was more surprised.

“In that case, you didn’t have to accept being my escort……”

If it was a mission on the level of guarding a Priestess, not even an Elite Guard could refuse. But they could be exempted if they had prior business and there was even more assuredness if they were to claim to be in bad condition. A Guard of Ishtar’s level should also know that.

“This time is special. Ishtar also has an ulterior motive.”

She rested a tuft of her hair in her palm.

“I have a goal. If I didn’t escort Ymy-sama like this, I wouldn’t have a chance to come to the Governmental Sector. Well, in reality, even if Ishtar comes to the Governmental Sector, the chances of her goal being conveniently accomplished are low.”

“That is──”

“It’s, a, secret. This is something Ishtar’s even keeping secret from I’sa-chan, so it’s also a secret to Ymy-sama. ……Ah, but there’s another reason that Ishtar’s doing a relatively firm job of guarding Ymy-sama.”

“I’m understanding this less and less.”

The inside of her head seemed to have become mixed up so Ymy made no efforts to hide a frown.

“Umm……so the truth is you didn’t want to guard a Priestess but Ishtar-san, you had an ulterior motive that motivated you to come here to the Governmental Sector? But the reason that you’re looking after me so well is……for a different reason?’

“That’s it─. If Ymy-sama goes to sleep obediently, then I guess I’ll talk about it?”

Shiver. With it pointed out so accurately, she took a step backwards without thinking.

She was busy thinking about Sheltis who had headed to the Governmental Sector and couldn’t sleep. That took no small amount of mind reading. Really, this Elite Guard is discerning in everything.

“……I get it. I’ll do my best to sleep.”

That’s why I want to know. Why is someone who so openly states that guarding a Priestess is a pain guarding me so attentively like this?

“It’s for distinction.”

Unexpected words leaked out from the Cadres Guard’s lips.

“Are the Priestess-samas satisfied with the Guards in the tower right now?”

“……Eh?”

“Ishtar isn’t satisfied at all. I’sa-chan who just became a Regular Guard is out of the question. Everyone else is weak, too weak. I’ve thought the same thing for many years……but just a little, there were also kids amongst them that stood out. Like Horn-chan or Leon-kun.”

The third Sennenshi, Ex Machina Mechanically Armored Soldier Horn Nova.

The fifth Sennenshi, Great Sword User Leon Nestrius Ohva.

The names she had just given had both already become Sennenshi.

“Ishtar knew one more that was better than or at least on par with those two. There was a disparity between his strength and emotions but it was a child that would have become a Sennenshi within a few years.”

Who would that be? Who is the Guard that could rival those two that she’s talking about?

“The reason Ishtar is properly guarding Ymy-sama is in deference to that child with a little bit of a feeling of atonement. Because I pushed something troublesome onto him.”

“…………”

The person that she had pushed something troublesome onto. Is her guarding me sincerely connected with atonement to that person?

……That would mean.

……With that manner of speaking, the one that comes to mind is───

“Ishtar-san, what are you thinking?”

“You’ll come to understand. You’ll also come to know Ishtar’s goal when the time comes.”

She turned around.

Her side profile was coldly sharpened to the point that Ymy’s spine froze up.

### Part 8

The Holy Hall.

It was a giant room and corridor.

If you looked, the stone floor to the point that you could see each individual strand of hair reflected in it. There were numerous large lights on the ceiling that filled the room with a blinding amount of light.

“……Now then, what’s gonna come out?”

“What would you do if it was a cute girl?“

“No way. On the contrary, if someone like that came out here, it would actually be weird……ah, but maybe.”

“So a girl really would be good?“

“If it’s one that I can talk to.”

Biting his lips shut, he leered at the light-filled passage ahead.

──There’s nobody.

Examining the surroundings for presences, he continued on step by step.

“Hey, Sheltis, what do you mean by talk to? With somebody from the Governmental Sector? Having come this far?“

“……There’s what we talked about Yuragi-san just before. About Ymy.”

That Ymy relied on herself and entrusted the ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ to him.

“When we reach Mikuva’s Crimson Eye, the mystery from that time we went with Leon to the Lagoon floating archipelago will be solved too, right?”

“Most likely. The outline of the Governmental Sector’s plans as well.“

“Can we investigate things outside of the Governmental Sector too?”

“What do you mean?“

“……No, sorry. I just wanted to try asking.”

Within his swirl of thoughts, there was one suspicion that was continued to be lodged and wouldn’t flow.

“Last night, I thought about something while talking with Ymy. How to put it……is this really the work of the Governmental Sector?”

With him assuming the position of Ymy’s consultant, he felt a calm that wasn’t there until then and was able to sort out the information related to this case.

The Lagoon floating archipelago that lay on the boundary of the areas under the Governmental Sector’s surveillance. The research facility and Yuugenshu that were there.

“I also understand that it’s clear that the Governmental Sector is suspicious. I think the chances of that are still over ninety percent.”

“What about the remaining ten percent?“

“……I don’t know. But I wonder what it is. Maybe it’s the Governmental Sector’s attitude. For the meeting, why did they have the confidence to call us all the way here to their territory?”

The Governmental Sector had confidence. That might be the confidence that even with the conference, they could manage to hide it or maybe there was some other plan.

……It’s just that if that’s true.

The identity of that golden spellcaster, Maha, might become more of a mystery.

“…………”

“In response to your earlier question, if you specify the time and place, it is possible to search the ‘Crimson Eye‘. I think the chances of it displaying nothing are high though.“

“I got it, thanks.”

At any rate, just continue on. If he didn’t find the all-important item, then all the hard work to arrive here would come to nothing. ……Above all else, he would have failed Ymy.

“Straight ahead?”

“Since there are no other paths to take. Whether it’s a trap or anything else, we have to keep going.“

The ten metre-wide hall stretched on endlessly.

Along the sides of the corridor were countless stone pillars with arches at the top that supported the ceiling. The design was highly reminiscent of a temple or something similar.

……This large size is curious.

There might be several hundred metres in a straight line. He had snuck in quite deep since separating from Yuragi at the elevator but it was just like having a giant underground cave.

“Ilis, it’s a little late to ask but are there any security devices?”

“Not as far as I saw. It’s an area known only to a handful of Governmental Sector insiders so there might not be any so as to not leave behind visual data.“

“I see, well that makes sense.”

It was a place called the Holy Hall. To protect their secrets, they couldn’t set any security devices precisely because this place was so important. It was difficult to get here but after reaching the Holy Hall, all they had to do was proceed.

“……A door.”

It had been several minutes of walking while surveying the surroundings.

Before his eyes, a solemn and shiny door crafted with brass and silver could be seen.

“It doesn’t seem to require anything like a key.“

“Roger. It looks like a regular door that opens to the sides so I can open it…………”

His breathing caught before he decided that in his mind.

──Somebody’s here.

A heavy pressure that overwhelmed others just by being there. It was somebody with an absolute existence that he’d felt only a few times even in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……It’s the same one as that time.

On the first day of the conference, the presence that had enveloped the entire of the Governmental Sector’s office building.

“Ilis, construct the swords.”

He ordered Ilis machine crystal to construct the dual swords and did nothing but stare ahead. Towards the direction that he could most feel the crushing pressure from.

“An intruder……hasn’t it been a long time?”

The large figure of a person appeared from the stone pillar ahead and to the right without a sound.

No, that wasn’t the figure of a person ── it was a fully metallic mace longer than an adult. The cylindrical handle was thicker than a grown man’s arm and the cylindrical pommel atop it was such that it was debatable whether Sheltis could wrap his arms around it. He couldn’t imagine how much it weighed altogether.

“Surely there’s no way you don’t know of the treasure that lies ahead of here? If so……”

A defective product way too large for a person to use.

He was carrying that easily with one hand.

“From here on is the inviolable, absolute Holy Hall. As the ‘number one‘ of the secret military force ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ tasked with guarding the Holy Hall, Zeadoll, I shall eliminate you ── overcome me with your magnificent skills.”

He was a large man that towered over Sheltis.

The gray longcoat worn over a thin black overshirt could not hide the man’s muscles which could be seen swelling within.

His scorched-earth-colored hair was cut short and bristled up and his grey eyes forcefully conveyed his gallantry.

……He’s the Holy Hall’s guardian.

He could feel the cold sweat traveling down his cheek.

The secret military force ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘, an executive unit of the Governmental Sector’s. ……I knew they’d have a secret military unit like this. It was something I had a vague image of. In Maha case Golden was part of the Governmental Sector, I made the resolution to fight with whatever unit he would belong to.

……Maybe I should be happy that Maha’s not here?

It was easy to imagine his battle form. Without technique, schemes or traps, he would just use the premieval method of pulverizing his opponent with his own power. Moreover, Sheltis was also bad at planning.

Now then, what to do.

First, he would ascertain Zeadoll’s movements and then move to counterattack──

“…………”

But the guardian made no indications of attacking whatsoever. On the contrary, he was casting a questioning look over with expectant eyes.

“…………It’s your move.”

“What?”

“State your name.”

He swung his extremely heavy mace around and lined it up with Sheltis’ line of sight.

“Although I have named myself, it would be lacking in manners. Name yourself.”

“……Sheltis.”

“You idiot, why did you say your real name?“

“……Ah, cra──”

His voice came out without thinking in response to Ilis’ reprimand. If that man knew the names of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Guards, then he would know his goal and his background. However──

“I see, so Sheltis. For having the ability to infiltrate up to this Holy Hall, first allow me to praise you admirably.”

……Eh, perhaps.

……Did he ask for my name just to say that?

“Furthermore, you have seen through my strength and naturally readied your swords. That is also praiseworthy.”

“……Haa, why thanks.”

“However!”

Zeadoll’s bellow shook the atmosphere throughout the entirety of the Holy Hall.

“This Holy Hall is absolute holy territory with me here. Not a single intruder has permitted to date. That’s why, Sheltis ── overcome me with your magnificent skills. If you take even one step past this border, I will stay silent and overlook you.”

“……Is that okay?”

“I swear on my honor. I have never deceived an enemy within my lifetime.”

“…………”

Looking at his eyes, it was clear that he was not lying.

This man had the full intention of allowing him to go to ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘ if he acknowledged his loss. That was because he knew that the adversity of not being allowed to lose would cause further growth for himself.

……Sheesh, his calculations are completely messed up.

……It’s the type I’m worst with.

Feeling the man’s intimidating air, Sheltis let out an honest wry smile.

“This is troubling……it would’ve been a lot easier with some crafty type. It’s unexpected that someone like you would be in the Governmental Sector.”

“Fumu. But your eyes don’t seem to be saying that?”

“────”

“There is no deceit within those eyes. Judging from your dignity and conviction, you came to the Holy Hall prepared for a confrontation with me, did you not? The way you act says so.”

They were words that shook the air.

Wordlessly taking them on ── the corners of Sheltis’ lips raised. It wasn’t the wry smile from before but the childlike smile that he showed to those he knew in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……Of course.

……Despite saying how hard it is.

“I’m not good with those kinds of stances.”

“Is that so?”

“Jeez……like this, Maha would’ve been better. Enough that I wish he’d switch with you.”

But there was no reaction to Maha’s name.

……Is it a principal of not speaking to allies? It would be a given with this man’s personality.

“Fumu. Then let’s start.”

The instant he prepared his swords again.

A storm and rumble in the ground shook the sanctuary at the same time.

A heavy pressure seemed to be weighing on the back of his head. A chill down his spine stiffened him up to his fingertips.

──So fast!?

He crouched low enough to skim the ground. An instant after that. With the force of a cannonball, the silver mace stormed through the area directly above his head. That force passed by Sheltis and went towards the stone pillar behind him without stopping.

Crush.

The towering stone pillar had been reduced to countless fragments by a single hit from the mace. And it was done as easily as putting a spoon into pudding.

“An admirable reaction.”

The treasure guardian pulled out the mace planted into the stone pillar. Just a moment ago, he should’ve been ten metres ahead but now he was standing leisurely ten metres to the rear.

Looking at the rubble of the stone pillar, the destructive power made him gulp.

……So this is why there are no surveillance cameras.

He already had the unrestrained large-scale destruction force and bizarre mobility to be called a weapon. Even if someone tried to take a picture of him obliterating the enemy, the dust that would show up on the camera would make it completely meaningless.

“Let’s go.”

By the time that voice reached him, the guardian wasn’t at that place anymore.

Stomp ── a gale stirred up at his feet and Zeadoll’s giant body had already moved to right in front of him. A normal person would have undoubtedly gotten the mistaken impression that he had warped.

“Sheltis!“

Ilis Machine crystal let out a warning.

……I can’t stop it with the dual swords.

It was like stopping a cannonball with a knife. It wouldn’t even deflect.

“──Tch!”

The mace was swung down with a roar. He calculated the path it would take and shifted over by half a step, moving in towards Zeadoll.

“Hoh.”

The guardian’s eyes widened slightly.

The center of the swirling gust that the mace had stirred up ── it could even be called the eye of the hurricane, the place closest to Zeadoll was a safe zone. Only the dual blades made unilateral sense.

Phew. Breathing out, he gathered strength into the grip on his two swords without a break.

The target is the tip of the chin.

It would deliver a shock to the spine if struck horizontally with the tip of the sword and paralyze the brain’s nervous system control. It was a strike that would cause a person to faint no matter what.

……It’s decided.

Matching with the mace’s downswing, he swung his sword up to counter. Perfect timing, it can’t be dodged. With that assuredness, he would strike the tip of the chin with the back of his sword. At the same time──

Scraaaape!

With a dull sound, the dual swords forged with Hyouketsu crystals was deflected.

“……Wha!?”

It wasn’t the sensation of a human body. The chin’s bone? No, that’s not it; it was heavier and more solid, a tough metal. Like a giant lump of steel or an even greater impact.

“There are no openings in my Sanctuary Arts.”

With spear-like vigor, Zeadoll swung down his left elbow.

The strike that should’ve defeated him had been meaningless. The momentary opening that surprise caused wasn’t overlooked and he felt the guardian’s counterattack sink into his flank.

“Guu……!”

He barely defended with his left elbow.

Crunch. His face distorting from the impact he felt from his bones, he still looked up. The guardian closed the gap with flowing movements and swung the mace sideways in succession.

Smack.

Pressing on his numb left elbow with his right hand, he jumped up.

Watching the cylinder at the end of the mace, Sheltis stepped on the back of the cylinder. Landing sideways on the curved cylinder, he then flew up tracing a triangle until just about grazing the ceiling.

……Did he say Sanctuary Arts?

……As long as I don’t know how he did that defense earlier, I’ll have to start with getting rid of his attack options.

He would cut that mace with his swords.

When Zeadoll stopped moving after a miss, he would focus on the thinnest part of that mace. Accelerating through free fall, he swung the sword in his right hand with all his might──

“I’ll take it.”

Seeing that, Zeadoll’s smile deepened.

Would he pull back the mace or swing it up? It wasn’t either of those two options that Sheltis expected ── the treasure guardian swung up his own bare hand.

“His own arm!?”

His sword’s momentum wouldn’t stop. The blade of Hyouketsu crystals would cleave that trained right arm. That bloody image flitted through the back of his mind.

Screeeeeeeee……eeee……chh…………hh…………!

A sound without literary equivalent echoed through the Holy Hall.

Just like a crystal handbell would make, it was a cold and high-pitched sound.

“……No way.”

He descended silently with his dual blades in hand and this time Sheltis was truly without words. There was no issue with the swords’ blades. Not a single……not one drop of the blood that should have been clinging to it was there.

The swords that he’d swung down with all his strength had been completely stopped by the point of the man’s elbow.

“Mu.”

Staring at the torn part of his coat near his elbow, Zeadoll put a finger to it. His brown arm was showing from the gap in the coat’s fibres. It was just slightly but something red was oozing.

“You broke through my defense with a small sword like that……?”

“……Broke through?”

He furrowed his brows at the unexpected words.

This was the second time. The feeling transmitted through his swords was solid and it was not a defense that could be pulled off using the hardness of muscle or bone. Something more firm……diamond? No, stronger than that. Something close to the solidity of Hyouketsu crystals.

And then there were the words he used to describe his arts.

“Manifesting the properties of shinryoku in a tangible form is of the Worship line of spells.“

“……The same style as Monica, huh.”

Monica applied a coating of silvery-white crystals infused with shinryoku to her Rosario crossed rods and used that to fight.

This man was likely of that type. The difference was ── as opposed to Monica who manifested it as silvery-white, he hadn’t manifested the shinryoku as a special material.

“Then is it a conceptual materialization?”

“Hoh, so you know of my Sanctuary Arts.”

With an affirmation made with admiration, Zeadoll narrowed his eyes to needles.

Conceptual materialization.

Imagining and manifesting the shinryoku was the same as with Monica. The difference was in how it was done. Instead of imagining something concrete, this man was likely manifesting shinryoku with a vague concept like ‘something hard and firm that’s also colorless and transparent‘.

“……It’s the first time I’ve seen something like it aside from the Hyouketsu Kyoukai; so it really exists.”

“I would think so. It’s an extremely high-level technique.“

The primary example of conceptual materialization was actually the Hyouketsu Kyoukai created by the five Priestesses.

Whatever the concrete image used was a private matter of the Priestesses’ but the manifestation of ‘Hyouketsu crystals‘ into the world was also an application of conceptual materialization.

“Casters that apply this to battle are exceedingly rare so I’ve only seen two others in the past myself. To begin with, it’s not a spell that can be used by just anybody.“

In Sophia Tenketsu Palace , only somebody on the level of the Priestesses could use it and none of the Guards could. So to speak, while it was a technique that was forgotten, it was still being passed down here in the Governmental Sector.

“A secret art passed down to the protector of the sanctuary.”

“Indeed. However, the successive generations of guardians were too dependent on this ability and neglected to train. ……You understand what that means, do you not?”

He held the mace that exceeded his own body weight with one hand. Holding its tip in his direction, the current generation’s guardian declared as if in song.

“That technique’s just an extra?”

Jumping lightly from that spot, he flew over the rubble underfoot.

“I would say so. No matter how much you factor in the conceptual materialization, it’s still an unusual amount of endurance. It can’t be explained away with just the spell so there’s no other way but for his body to have been forged to the limit to begin with.“

This man’s strength was not in the Sanctuary Arts.

He was a seeker of strength.

He was not haughty about his exceptional body, had no shred of self-conceit, instead spending each day training to conceive this result. Even if the Sanctuary Arts had not been passed onto this man, he would have discovered a substitute for it on his own.

“Let’s go.”

“He’s coming.“

Before Ilis machine crystal ’ warning, Sheltis had already jumped directly to the side. Instantaneously reacting, Zeadoll read his route and kicked up rubble.

“Hah!”

He blew back the countless fragments of rubble with his swords. A single fragment became ten and ten became twenty. He launched an attack on Zeadoll with the might of a machine gun. In front of the barrage of boulders, the guardian calmly picked up speed and came charging.

In the face of this man’s defense, pebbles wouldn’t even cause him to stop.

……Now then, this is bad.

There was something he’d understood during this small confrontation.

“Receive my strike with brilliance.”

“I refuse!”

With the mace roaring before him, he withdrew his swords and went into dodging. Even if he were to weave his way directly underneath the mace and draw close to Zeadoll, a half-baked counterattack wouldn’t cause any damage.

……It’s just like fire and water.

……The compatibility between this guy and me is just too bad.

“The Yuugenshu’s natural enemy is you and your natural enemy is this type. The dual blades style’s merits can’t show through and only its demerits are exposed.“

……I know that.

The merits of dual blades were its attack speed and flowing consecutive strikes. However, its range and power were inferior to great swords, axes and spears. Mounting an attack that would surpass this man’s defense was difficult.

“On top of that……your mateki is repelling against the shinryoku of his Sanctuary Arts. Because the swords are infused with mateki, their cutting edge is a little dulled against a shinryoku barrier.”

“It’s just the worst in every possible way.”

For example, the Sennenshi Leon would be able to oppose it with the great sword’s destructive force.

If it was Ran who had physical strength and reflexes far above the average person, she could dive into a full-out pure martial arts battle with this man.

Or I’sa and Jin with their puppetry and dual guns, respectively, could launch a unilateral assault on this kind of enemy from afar. Of course, in that case, that was with the prerequisite difficult condition of having the destructive force to overcome the Sanctuary Arts’ defense.

“I see, such great skill.”

“You sure can speak!”

The mace struck from above downwards, from the right to the left and diagonally. Those all pierced through Sheltis’ afterimages and smashed the stone pillars behind them.

……There’s no meaning in repeated slashes.

……A stamina battle isn’t a good idea either and I don’t have the time to leisurely battle in the first place.

He was keeping Yuragi waiting aboveground.

It was better if he just ignored the fight and did as Zeadoll suggested. It would be his win if he just slipped past this man’s mace and broke into the Holy Hall to make it to ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘.

Should I keep dodging and wait for this man to become impatient?

“You’re waiting for a chance. That’s what your expression says.”

The protector with a brusque expression raised the corners of his mouth.

“I told you that my Sanctuary Arts have no openings.”

The mace he swung up stopped while facing the ceiling. Coming into contact with the light raining down from above, the mace’s outline shined dark grey ── that brilliance slowly grew stronger.

“My name is the ‘number one‘ Zeadoll, or in other words, the one who has been entrusted with the weapon which surpasses a thousand bows. The secret brought about now is, in other words”

……What?

He could see the space around the mace distorting like a mirage.

Light and air were swirling around like a whirlwind.

“Strengthening the mace with the Sanctuary Arts? Sheltis, dodge it!“

Everything happened at the same time.

Zeadoll shot out the mace at the same time Sheltis turned around.

“It becomes the sole peerless holy bullet.”

There was no wind or sound, only the overpowering waves of mechanical energy.

It pierced through several of the stone pillars standing in a row behind Sheltis and also destroyed the wall behind them. The grand destruction that shook the Holy Hall birthed gales and an explosion of noise and it seemed like just those two shockwaves would blow him away.

“……What ridiculous power.”

Looking peripherally at the giant hole in the Holy Hall’s wall, Sheltis muttered that, dumbfounded.

“How rude of you to dodge it; you should stop it head-on.”

“That’s impossible.”

He decisively shook his head.

……But what’s this feeling?

He couldn’t really find the words to describe it but there was something chilling or uncomfortable, some eerie thing that was hard to say ── that thing that he had felt during the fight with Maha couldn’t be felt even after fighting this much.

This man was undoubtedly strong. But this couldn’t be compared to Maha. In other words, he couldn’t imagine this man as an ally of Maha’s.

……Then there are Zeadoll’s words from just before. It almost sounded like something.

“Fumu, well then.”

“Wait.”

It was a voice to stop the guardian who was pulling out the mace lodged in the rubble.

“There’s something I want to ask you. You’ve been calling yourself the ‘number one‘ for a while now.”

“Exactly.”

The guardian puffed out his chest as if to say, how good of you to ask.

“We of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ are a secret military organization stationed at the various centers of the Governmental Sector. We are permitted to use military force regardless of the place and we are named after the weapons entrusted to us.”

“By the weapons entrusted to you……so you mean that you’re the ‘number one‘ not because you defend this place alone but because you use a single mace?”

“Yes. The ‘number seven‘ and ‘number nine‘ also have a fitting amount of weapons to complement their names──……”

His words paused there.

It looks like he finally realized that he’d been lured into revealing secret information.

“I said too much; any further words are useless.”

“……Well, that’s fine. What I wanted to ask was something different.”

He only wanted to know one thing.

The Governmental Sector had bestowed those nicknames based on numbers. But Maha who had attacked Sophia Tenketsu Palace was ‘Golden‘. His nickname was a color. That meant──

“So there wouldn’t happen to be anybody called ‘Golden‘ amongst your allies……right?”

“There are none.”

That reply was filled with complete confidence.

“The Governmental Sector’s secret military organization consists of only the ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ comprised of the three of us. Moreover, we command an absolute place of pride so we are entrusted with centers of importance such as this Holy Hall.”

“Which means you aren’t deployed outside of the Governmental Sector either.”

“Impossible. Our mission is “absolute holy territory”, or in other words, only the elimination of intruders.”

…………

……So that’s how it is.

Finally, finally the tangled mess had come undone. A light had pierced into the darkness-steeped confusion and he’d come to see yet another truth hidden behind it.

“See, I didn’t deny that it was a place of research. That was a geological research location that became unusable so it was removed from the territorial airspace map after it was abandoned.“

“On the contrary, you’ve come here with a demand……recently, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s airships have been freely entering the Lagoon floating archipelago under the jurisdiction of the Governmental Sector without permission. We would like to hear an explanation for this.“

Ymy said that last night while crying when she visited him.

The Governmental Sector had acknowledged the existence of the research area hidden on the Lagoon flying archipelago but on the other hand, they were raising suspicions of territorial intrusion by Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

Sophia Tenketsu Palace was the same. They hadn’t directly written any formal documents regarding it but they were currently in the midst of searching for the Governmental Sector organization that ‘Golden Maha‘ belonged to.

──Each of the organizations is accusing each other and asserting without knowing about each other.

One of them or both of them might be lying.

……But I can’t understand it no matter what.

……I can’t get the impression that this man is lying.

If so──

If so, then maybe, what if both Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector’s assertions were right……?

“……That’s right.”

“Mm?”

It was a doubt that had stuck in his mind ever since he’d set foot in this Holy Hall.

“Zeadoll, I was wrong.”

“You mean about your decision to infiltrate this Holy Hall?”

“No, this was planned. We were set up. We of Tenketsu Palace and you guys of the Governmental Sector.”

He shook his head decisively.

“It’s not Sophia Tenketsu Palace or the Governmental Sector, there’s a third organization that we don’t know of here.”

With that hypothesis, everything could be solved.

“……What are you saying?”

“There are guys that secretly used the research area you abandoned for a different purpose. They even cleverly prepared an airship that resembles Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s.”

Neither he nor Ymy believed or doubted the words of the Governmental Sector. What if the airship that had been coming and going from the Lagoon floating archipelago was only an airship disguised as one of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s?

The Governmental Sector doubted Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

Sophia Tenketsu Palace as well held suspicions about the Governmental Sector as the owners of the Lagoon floating archipelago .

That’s right, everything was going as somebody had planned.

“This conference is the same. At this rate, it would end with a breakdown of negotiations and the suspicions of each side having multiplied. If it goes as they planned.”

“But that’s wrong. Their one miscalculation was that we would meet here.”

A person from each organization came into contact outside of the conference.

They didn’t manage to foresee that they would talk like this at the height of battle either.

“If I didn’t meet with someone like you from a secret military unit, I wouldn’t have gotten information like this. I wouldn’t have known about ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ or that Maha isn’t here in the Governmental Sector.”

“……However, what about it?”

There was no wavering in Zeadoll’s expression.

“It is the same regardless of my opponent. I simply eliminate those who infiltrate this Holy Hall. Nothing changes for you in that respect, does it?”

“That’s true.”

He suppressed the wry smile within him. Even if it was for learning the truth, the one who had arbitrarily intruded had been him. For Zeadoll, there was no other opponent to deal with.

“In that case,”

“That’s why I’ll run away.”

“……What?”

Confusion settled on that steel expression for the first time. Seeing that momentary wavering, Sheltis swung his left sword close to the ground.

A squall.

The grit on the ground was stirred up and became a thick mist hanging over the Holy Hall.

“A diversion!?”

Silence answered the angry voice behind him.

Within zero visibility, Sheltis ran soundlessly towards the elevator.

### Part 9

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 288.

Starlight shone into the dim hall. On the completely silent Priestess’ private floor, a small girl was walking nonchalantly.

“He─y, Meimel, get up─. It’s some urgent document.”

She pressed the doorbell many times with that request. But there was no response.

……It’s three in the morning so she’s probably still sleeping snugly.

She half-resolved herself. Ran clenched her fist to try knocking this time──

“Whaat’s uup, Ran, there’s still thirty minutes until the early morning training, you knoow?”

The door opened slightly and a Priestess that was rubbing her sleepy-looking eyes slowly showed her face.

Her hair was disheveled and her voice was slower than usual and lacking in majesty.

Her clothes had frills and lace and underneath that was a somewhat see-through negligee which made for a radical appearance.

“……Never show that appearance to anyone other than me. The Priestesses’ dignity will be spoiled.”

“It’s fi─ne, it’s fi─ne. So whaat is iit? An emergency contact for me?”

She looked over the document with her sleepy eyes.

With her half-downcast gaze, she read the documents without a word──

“……Heeh.”

Her jade green eyes suddenly widened and her glossy lips cursed up into a crescent.

“So what was it?”

“It’s from Ymy. It’s long and encrypted so I’ll relay it for you……umm, ‘Help, Meimel! The conference with the Governmental Sector is going nowhere and I’m completely stressed out! At this rate, it doesn’t look like Yuugenshu is going to become a topic at all either! Also, I had my childhood friend, Sheltis, sneak into the central division of the Governmental Sector. I just received his report upon his return……and it looks like there was an unexpected outcome which is causing a great panic!?‘. It’s should be roughly like that.”

“……There’s a problem with how the encryption was decrypted.”

She should be thankful that it had been relayed so smoothly but there was another reason for why it was hard to accept.

“It’s a superlative translation, you know? So here’s the rest of it……’My childhood friend says that there’s a high chance that the Governmental Sector who we thought was our enemy isn’t actually our enemy. There’s another organization other than the Governmental Sector and we need to consider that they’re maneuvering in secret, he says. I didn’t believe it at first but Ilis is saying the same thing……but then, what should I do here!?‘. Okay, that’s the end.”

What are your thoughts on this?

Meimel looked over with those kinds of eyes, causing Ran to frown and scratch her head.

“So……as far as we’ve heard, they even snuck into the dangerous places in the Governmental Sector?”

“It appears so. Our spy should be with them so the possibility does exist.”

“But isn’t that kind of bold either way? Ymy also resolved herself well. I didn’t think she had the personality.”

“There’s no way she would.”

“……What do you mean?”

She asked without thinking.

“That’s, why. There’s no way she would issue such a reckless order. It was a suggestion I gave to the Cadres Guard. ‘If the conference comes to a halt, use your judgment to give Ymy a push. Even if it’s a little forceful, as long as the flow changes.‘”

“Ahh, so it was Ishtar who went. That innocence faker is skilled─”

The Priestess who was boring a hole in the letter with her gaze smiled.

“Ran, please send a digital document to Ymy under my name. An official document.”

An official document?

That would mean the contents would be completely transparent. Even a terminal at the Governmental Sector would be able to examine it.

“It’s fine, it’s fine like that. The goal is to clearly convey it to the Governmental Sector under the pretense of sending it to Ymy.”

Having seen through that, Meimel whispered at a lower volume.

“……Well, I thought that kind of stuff had a chance of being possible.”

It was during the conversation that morning when Ymy departed for the Governmental Sector.

“Ymy, try to keep this at heart? We have no idea if the place you’re about to go is dangerous or not.“

“……The Governmental Sector?“

“No, not that.“

“…………”

“Mm, what’s up, Meimel? You just went silent. Thinking about what to write??”

“Yes. Now what should I do about it, I wonder?”

Brushing her messy hair with her hand, Meimel suddenly wiped the smile from her lips.

“The contents will be one sentence. ‘Today ── take care for the last day of the conference.‘ Well then, I’ll be entrusting it to you?”

### 056. Final Chapter: Thousand Year Beast

## Final Chapter – Thousand Year Beast

### Part 1

The edges of the sky were dyed red.

The starlight that had been tinkling in the ceiling was hidden by the sunlight and along with that, the color of the sky shifted from red to white and from white to blue.

──Finally, the sky turned azure without a cloud in it.

“It’s finally sunny─. It’s a day befitting the last day of the conference.”

The one who said that cheerfully in the living room was a little tired of seeing that scenery.

“I think the host-san for the conference will be making a speech. That it’s been a fruitful conference.”

“……I see.”

“Yes. Ymy-sama, you shouldn’t put on that kind of uneasy face and just do your best. We’ll be able to return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace tomorrow.”

Ishtar was carrying her long spear on her right shoulder. In response to her almost stunningly proactive words, Ymy smiled bittersweetly and nodded timidly.

“That’s good but……what should I do?”

“About yesterday’s report, you mean?”

This time, she silently nodded.

“ In terms of results, we have two things to report. “

Ever since she’d heard the report from her childhood friend, it hadn’t left her mind.

“ First. To start with, we didn’t come into contact with ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye’. “

“ Second. However, we fought with a guardian that belonged to a secret military organization of the Governmental Sector’s……and achieved our objective. The chances that a third organization other than Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector is secretly maneuvering around and is behind the Yuugenshu breeding case is high. “

At first, she’d doubted her ears.

At any rate, the conversation was making great leaps. Of course, if they were to assume the existence of a third organization, then everything would make sense but sufficient evidence would be required to back that hypothesis up. However──

“ I have the records of the conversation from then, you know? “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ sentence broke the silence.

“ The Governmental Sector’s secret military organization consists of only the ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘ comprised of the three of us. Moreover, we command an absolute place of pride so we are entrusted with centers of importance such as this Holy Hall. “

With the testimony from the secret operative’s words, the authenticity shot way up.

“Yes, that also surprised Ishtar. To think that Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector’s conference would conclude with this.”

The Cadres Guard smiled wryly while combing through her hair with a hand.

“It’s the evidence that the secretaries whose specialty is negotiation couldn’t get─. I wonder if the guardian was the pure military type? Our side went in head-on like an idiot so it has to be someone who would respond to that spirit─”

“Yes……but that’s a different matter.”

The round table in the middle of the living room.

A partially-filled glass of water and a single letter to the side of it.

“Meimel wrote to be careful on the last day.”

“That’s a given─. After finishing this, those in charge of the Governmental Sector and the security detail will also be thinking that the first step is complete. Our General Affairs Bureau Chief also pretty much said it yesterday. If Ishtar was planning anything, today would be the day to do it.”

“Eh?”

“That’s hypothetical. Rather than that, you should hurry up and eat breakfast. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if your stomach growled in the meeting room?”

“R-right!”

She trotted to the dining room where breakfast was set.

Behind her──

“Today’s the last……now then, come quickly. There’s no meaning to this if you don’t come.”

She felt like she heard a really quiet voice.

### Part 2

Governmental Sector, Building Four, Area 63′s break room.

“Our escorting ends today as well. It feels like it was long but short.”

“……Fun, well, that’s how it is.”

“You didn’t do anything other than sleep. I won’t let you sleep today.”

Kagura took up position on Vaiel’s sofa and, with his seat taken, Vaiel reluctantly sat down on a chair.

And. Monica who was standing still to the side of the room’s entrance lifted her head.

“It may be the last day but don’t let your guard down.”

“I ge─t it. This is the dangerous time, right?”

“There’s that too but……”

The female unit leader was being unusually bashful with a meek face.

“It’s our first mission. Rather than that nothing happened, I want to return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace and proudly report that ‘we accomplished it’.”

“Roger that. These kinds of things are what’s cute about you, Monica.”

“Wha……Ka-Kagura! I’m saying this seriously, you know?”

She folded her arms in embarrassment then pulled up a chair somewhat roughly. Looking sidelong at those three, Sheltis let out a sigh that they wouldn’t notice.

──I’m glad.

Infiltrating the Governmental Sector’s central division and fighting the Holy Hall’s guardian.

He had been prepared for the inevitable ruckus today but the Governmental Sector’s office building was calm. It didn’t look like they were going to put an emergency halt to the conference to search for an intruder either.

“ Zeadoll, huh. There was a danger that he would come aboveground. “

If he was seen together with Monica and the others, it would be obvious at a glance that he was also a Guard of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . He’d also prepared for that worst-case scenario but……

“ It’s like he said yesterday. He only focuses on guarding the Holy Hall. “

It didn’t matter who the intruder was. If he appears again, this time for sure ── he was undoubtedly waiting with that kind of vigor.

“ Now then, will you be able to let loose for today? “

“No way, there’s a mountain of things to think about.”

The third organization.

He couldn’t imagine how many people there were or what they were like. At any rate, they were secretly operating in the shadows of Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector so they must be a really troublesome opponent.

“I wonder if there’s a way. A way to settle this all cleanly.”

“Mm?”

“Ahh, it’s nothing, just talking to myself.”

Having heard it with his sharp ears, Vaiel asked him to repeat himself and Sheltis frantically shook his head.

Governmental Sector, Building Two, Area 61′s waiting room.

“Yuragi-chan, you have circles again〰”

“Ah……you noticed?”

Having it pointed out by Ishtar, Yuragi pushed up her glasses with the bridge.

“Noticing or whatever, you didn’t try to hide it. You have the same amount of make-up on as usual. Does this mean you didn’t have enough time to hide it with make-up?”

“Yes.”

She nodded while curling her bangs around a finger.

“I took care of things after what happened last night. Lots of things happened on that end.”

“Fuun. But nothing conclusive was left behind, right?”

At that question, Yuragi wordlessly held up her card key.

She had lent it to Sheltis last night but the problem was that this card key had released the hidden elevator that led to the Holy Hall. If they checked the access logs for the elevator, it would be readily apparent whose card key had infiltrated the Holy Hall. Suspicion would fall upon her first and foremost.

……Though I was prepared for that from the beginning.

“I was taking care of this.”

“Ah, I see. ‘Entering‘ wasn’t a problem but it was bad for Yuragi-chan.”

It looked like she’d understood with just that as Ishtar smacked fist on her open palm.

“Please keep it a secret from Sheltis-sama.”

“Why?”

“His job is as an escort and taking care of the complicated matters is my role.”

“……Yuragi-chan’s really passionate about her job.”

With her eyes widened, Ishtar sighed a breath of admiration.

“Ara, Ishtar-sama is the same, no? I heard about it from Ymy-sama. You haven’t taken a real break these four days and have been getting by with simple preserved foods for meals.”

“No, no, that’s different. What Ishtar’s doing isn’t a job. It’s specially for this time.”

“Specially……is it?”

“It’s a personal grudge. I came here because I wanted a very personal distraction .”

With a full smile.

The Cadres Guard declared that looking like she was so happy she couldn’t stand it.

Govermental Sector, Building Two, Area 63′s ‘ Yuumei Space ‘.

A chandelier with different colored gems hung from the ceiling. The carpet underfoot was a deep crimson that almost looked as if it was smoldering. Within the extremely spacious room were two very long desks with chairs lined up along them. Both of them were very dignified antiques. She’d also received an explanation saying that the large hall could be used for plays.

……Yuumei. Does that mean light and dark?

……Is holding the conference in this room also to clearly convey that?

“────”

Remembering the name of the large hall, Ymy’s eyes that were hidden from view lowered.

She had been terrified of when the topic of Sheltis intruding upon the Holy Hall was going to come up, but there didn’t seem to be any of that kind of harsh atmosphere.

……That’s a relief.

……But the essential conference hasn’t gotten anywhere.

Still, even Ymy didn’t think today’s conference would solve anything.

If the Yuugenshu breeding at the Lagoon floating archipelago wasn’t connected to the Governmental Sector, then it’d be fine to make a compromise from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s side. It might become necessary to cooperate with the Governmental Sector to combat the third organization in Sheltis’ information. Then she just had to pray for a safe ending to the conference for the time being. Rather than a development, she hoped that there would be no new dispute.

“────”

The topic of the third organization could not be outed yet.

Because it was the testimony of Sheltis, Ymy wanted to believe in it, but it was still too flimsy from her position as a Priestess. Just the testimony of a single Cadet Guard and the vocal recording from Ilis machine crystal was not enough. For Sophia Tenketsu Palace to release information officially, they would have to perform a proper investigation.

……Ahh, how irritating.

……Even though I want to make the information public and get the Governmental Sector’s assistance in investigating the third organization.

In the middle of her seat in the large hall, Ymy sighed unbeknownst to the others.

Then.

### Part 3

At around the same time.

“ Everything’s as planned. Maha-san will attack the conference in Building Two. In the meantime, I will target ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ in the hidden passage in Building Four. “

“ ………… “

“ The method of attack? Well, I don’t mind if you disregard the details and just crash in through the front. “

“I see. Then I’ll start.”

Somewhere within the Governmental Sector, an unusual event abruptly began.

### Part 4

“Do you like that poem collection?”

“That’s not it, I just brought it to kill time.”

Vaiel averted his face.

……It looks like his taste in books contrasts with his appearance.

Stealing glances at him reading the thick poetry collection, Kagura smiled wryly without him noticing.

“I’ll step out for a bit. I want to drink some coffee to keep myself awake.”

“Kagura, you still haven’t fixed your nocturnal lifestyle?”

“It’s been a routine for some years now after all. Before noon like this is the peak of my sleepiness. I’ll somehow make it to night if I manage to pull through this.”

She lightly shook her head and held fast to her consciousness.

“Are you three okay with coffee?”

“Ah, Kagura for me──”

“Remember the milk, right? I know Monica’s usual.”

She went towards the far side door while holding Machina machine pearl . Ahead of the vast hall lay the intersection that split into a labyrinth.

“……If I remember, there should be a vending machine in the lobby.”

With Machina machine pearl ahead of her, she left the room. She at times made a turn at an intersection and sometimes went straight down a passage, taking the shortest route to the lobby. Just before she turned the last corner.

Clatter.

With a mechanical sound, all the ceiling lights went bright red.

“ Warning: The Administrative Department is declaring a state of emergency in Building Two.

I repeat. The Administrative Department has declared a state of emergency in Building Two. “

“!?”

She stopped and turned around without thinking.

A building-wide warning? That and these red lights are anything but normal. It’s on the level of emergency training or having a great number of Yuugenshu attacking this Lagoon floating archipelago .

“No way, could it really be Yuugenshu!?”

The Governmental Sector workers around her as well didn’t know the situation and had stopped. The meeting room’s door in the distance opened and the staff that had been conducting the meeting also stepped out into the passage.

“ Intrusion from the front gate. The intruder has passed the gate’s security and is currently closing in on Building Two. “

……An intruder?

……They passed through the Governmental Sector’s front gate with force?

The security personnel, guards and automated mechanical weapons should have been deployed there. Special units for combating Yuugenshu shouldn’t have been lacking in numbers either.

“Jeez, what’s happening!”

Machina Machine pearl started moving again and she ran after it. She sprinted at full speed down the straight path and ran into the lobby packed with people.

At the end of this hall, Kagura saw something dreadful.

The glass door at the other end of the hall.

The two intruders approaching from the other side of the glass.

Black and Gold.

A man wearing a suit and pitch black hat which was pulled low over his eyes.

And the ominous spell caster in an ocher robe who was even larger than that man.

“…………Ah…………”

Her throat went dry and not even a scream came out.

……No……You’re kidding……It can’t be.

She didn’t know the Black one. However, she had seen the other spell caster before. She hadn’t forgotten, couldn’t forget. The spell caster that had wiped out consecutive units from Sophia Tenketsu Palace by himself.

“ My Golden Hexehedral is invincible. “

The spell caster swung up his right hand.

The ground ── the brown asphalt swelled up and created an avalanche of rocks pretty much like a tsunami. The armored vehicles and specially armored weapons surrounding the intruders as well as the guards were all swept away by the avalanche to a distant location.

In just dozens of seconds, the entire defense force outside Building Two went silent.

……It’s the real one……these overpowering spells.

……There’s no way it’s a fake……

‘ Golden ‘ Maha.

The opponent that she and Sheltis had once repelled in a life or death battle. But why was he attacking the Governmental Sector? It was believed without a doubt that he was an assassin of the Governmental Sector’s that time he had wiped out Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s units.

……Then Maha isn’t a part of Sophia Tenketsu Palace or the Governmental Sector?

He’s part of a completely different group?

“……Igun-I.”

“Yes, yes.”

The pitch black man answered Maha’s mutter with a smile.

……Igun-I? That’s the other one’s name?

Kagura’s ears which were longer than a human’s ears picked up a little of that conversation.

The enemy was outside and she was in the lobby. They shouldn’t be aware of her existence so they wouldn’t consider being overheard.

“Well then, Maha-san, we’ll meet at the arranged location.”

Pulling the hat far enough to hide his eyes, Igun-I bowed. Like that, he turned his back on his companion, Maha, and headed off in the direction of Building Four.

Is it a two-pronged attack? No, right now, there’s something more important than that.

“…………”

She could feel cold sweat upon her cheek under the machine helmet.

I can’t stop it myself. No, all the guards in the Governmental Sector can’t stop these monsters. Only one person can do it.

……I have to tell him.

……I have to tell Sheltis.

Kagura ran to the break room that the dual sword-wielding boy was waiting.

### Part 5

“Wha……what……is……this!?”

In response to the sudden announcement and red lamp lighting.

There had been nothing like this since she’d snuck into the Governmental Sector. Nothing had happened when she’d escorted Sheltis and intruded on the Holy Hall either.

……And what’s this rumbling?

“The building……just the building is shaking?”

Holding herself flat against the wall, Yuragi somehow managed to stay upright.

The tremors that seemed like they’d turn the ground inside out appeared to be getting larger and growing closer. This wasn’t an earthquake. It was a tremor like some giant lifeforms had banded together and were coming to them.

A giant lifeform, so possibly Yuugenshu?”

“No……this isn’t a joke……this is the interior of the building, you know!?”

They shouldn’t be able to advance without getting lost with the labyrinthine structure. It would be impossible for them to advance without being artificially guided.

“……What’s……going on……here?”

With a hand to the wall, she stepped her way to the door. She timidly reached out a hand to the doorknob. Something might be waiting on the other side. Resolving herself, she swung open the door with all her strength.

At the same time──

A giant lion’s claws and fangs tore through everything in sight.

…………Eh?

A lion. But I’ve never seen a bright red lion like this before. ……No way. Dangerous animals infiltrated this building and are attacking. That’s ludicrous.

Impossi────

“O〰kay, just stay still like that!”

Before her brain could process the voice that came from directly behind her, a white blade cut through the gap between her and the lion.

……All she managed to see was a momentary flash.

“Ah〰, it’s fine now. I cleaned it up.”

Ishtar rested the spear’s handle on her shoulder.

Just like she said, the lion had come to a sudden stop without a twitch. Without understanding what had been done ── the beast’s body crumbled into a lump of earth. With that, she finally understood that the flash from before had been a slash.

“Heeh, a red manticore, and it looks just like the real thing. Though it’d be the same even if it were real.”

She whistled with an expression of admiration.

“Yuragi-chan, hide here. Ishtar will meet with the enemy and come back.”

“E-enemy!?”

The Governmental Sector’s assailant. Then the broadcast from before was also real?

“Lock the door. Also, don’t make a sound. Isn’t it nice that you can nap now and nobody will find out? You were lacking sleep, right?”

“…………”

“Mm? What’s wrong?”

“……Pardon me, but you seem somehow happy.”

“I am happy.”

With a smile.

The Cadres Guard nodded with a smile like she was about to meet with family.

“Yup, I’m happy. The happiest. Ishtar’s waited for this for a long time .”

### Part 6

The endlessly sounding warning.

The evacuation guidance broadcast played loudly however many times and the bright red lights on the ceiling were shining brilliantly. There was also a thunderous sound like the ground was rumbling.

“Oi, oi, what’s this?”

“……An intruder?”

Vaiel’s angry voice and Monica’s mutter.

“ Keep the pondering for later. Sheltis, your swords. “

Ilis Machine crystal lit up in dazzling crimson. The dual swords in his hands had vivid deep purple blades constructed upon their hilts.

“Monica, hurry!”

“Y-yeah. Okay ── I’m opening it.”

The unit leader had her Rosario crossed rods in hand as she kicked open the door with vigor.

The bright red lighting fell upon those of the Governmental Sector running about trying to escape. That even included the parliamentary members that had been at the conference.

“Even the conference participants!? Then what about the conference……what about Ymy!?”

Monica raised her voice with a pale face.

“ Sheltis, hurry to the meeting room! “

Got it ── with a nod, Sheltis turned towards the intersection. There were the sounds of the footsteps of a great many people.

“……This way. Hurry!”

Off-gold hair shone brightly.

With the girl in pure white vestments in the lead, the General Affairs Bureau Chief came next followed by his secretaries.

“Ymy!”

“Sheltis?……That’s great, there was a broadcast telling everybody to escape.”

Her shoulders moving with her breaths, the Priestess’ expression softened.

“General Affairs Bureau Chief, are any of you injured?”

“We have no impediments. But what’s the meaning of this uproar───”

“Sheltis!”

A shout cut off the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s words.

From the right-hand side of the intersection, the opposite of where Ymy’s group appeared, a small shadow was running towards them.

“Kagura!? I’m glad. I wondered what happened to you.”

“Mo……Monica……it’s……dangerous here. ……We need to……a wider place.”

With intermittent breaths and gasping, Kagura forced the words out.

“It’s him……Sheltis…………that monster───”

“ Zazakazada…………da……zakarakara……zadadadazakakakazadazakazada…………rada……rakazazakakadada……za……zaza……karakara……zadadadada………… ”

A noise-like aria that resembled the sound of a bug’s wings.

Sheltis understood everything the instant he heard that. Having understood everything ─── he understood just exactly how dangerous this situation was.

“Monica, I leave Ymy to you!”

He sprinted to the intersection without waiting for an answer.

He brandished his sword at the Golden spell caster that calmly appeared there. The spell caster shifted over the instant before the edge of his sword made contact.

“!?”

Spinning his body like a screw, he crossed his blades and the right arm that was shining gold came thrusting up. He took that with his left sword and ── he couldn’t mitigate it and was blasted up high into the air.

……This guy.

……It’s not the real Maha but just his automated puppet, huh!

Maha’s clone that was created in his image using gold. The last they’d met, it was the final spell that Maha had shown. Now it’s the opening move?

“ Sheltis, there’s another one to the rear! “

“──Kuu!”

At Ilis machine crystal ’ warning, he thrust out his blade before spinning around.

He repelled the fist of the second clone that seemed to have calculated where he’d land and kicked off its shoulder to open up some distance.

……Not just one but two. No.

Countless footsteps approached from further down the passage. There’s no way all these footsteps could be……

“My Golden Hexehedral is invincible.”

Then.

At least ten spell casters, dressed in golden robes and shining gold themselves, appeared. ……So he prepared a large number of clones beforehand for this attack.

The Governmental Sector’s security was wiped out cleanly by this.

……This is a sudden predicament.

It would take all his strength just to fight the real Maha. With this number of clones, not to mention if they made something, it would be unmanageable.

“Be crushed.”

Under Maha’s orders, the clones pushed nearer.

“Monica, take everyone and head to the meeting room!”

“I-idiot! What kind of──”

Before her answer, he lunged at the clones that were closing in from both directions.

The clones that were giving off a golden shine. They swung their fists at a speed invisible to the eye and he read their paths from the shoulder alone and dodged. He didn’t retreat backwards or jump to the side and passed through the countless clones’ fists ─── drawing nearer to Maha’s real body.

“Define.”

A crack opened up at Maha’s feet. The material coating the floor fragmented and the earth underneath that jetted out. That formed into the image of wriggling snakes.

“Extracting poisonous materials within the ground and performing pseudo-creation. The color is ‘ white ‘, nature is ‘ cowardly ‘, form is ‘ snake ‘. Ten shall appear, fangs laden in deadly poison. Defined to seal the enemy before me with poison.”

White snakes with deadly poison appeared as Maha’s advance guard.

……But I already saw this in our last battle.

Those defined with the ‘ cowardly ‘ nature would only attack an unmoving opponent.

“ ──Forcefully dispelling the previous definition. ”

The stiffened white snakes at Maha’s feet raised their heads at his voice.

“It’s a trap; Sheltis, dodge!”

Kagura shouted. At the same time, poisonous beasts filled his vision.

To dodge the enemies coming from above and below in every which direction, he jumped up to just beneath the ceiling. Kicking off the ceiling, he moved to a wall and then he kicked off that to land on the ground further to the rear.

At that instant.

His vision blurred momentarily from an intense impact and a violent pain ran through his left shoulder.

“……Kaa…………?”

His diaphragm convulsed from the shock transmitted through his left shoulder and his breathing stopped.

……Maha’s…………clone!

A single clone had circled around behind him when he landed. It had aimed for the point when he was completely defenseless. He clenched his molars at that failure as and Maha’s clones approached from all directions.

“Sheltis!”

The scream of his childhood friend echoed from behind.

……What to do.

With one arm numbed, the enemy’s fists were approaching from all directions. He couldn’t react to them all. With that in mind, he still poured power into the grip on his right sword──

Carve my name which is synonymous with great reverence and majesty

Otoga Wem millmo, HIr shoul da ora peg ilmeri giris ende zorm

All of Maha’s clones that were drawing near were blown away.

“……Eh.”

“ This is── “

Underneath the red lighting, a single pearl-colored precious spear was shining.

It was a super speed slash tranquil enough to not even stir up a single grain of dust but fast enough to leave behind a whirlwind.

Resisting or reacting were not permitted. Maha’s clones which were disappearing into the walls were cut perfectly in two in succession and returned to gold dust.

Everyone who was watching couldn’t move and even Maha stopped for a moment.

In the middle of that──

“O─kay! Sorry to keep you waiting, Ymy-sama, it’s Ishtar〰!”

Placing the handle of her spear against her right shoulder, only the Cadres Guard was standing there smiling.

“Gosh, jeez. When I went to the meeting room, nobody was there. It’s troubling for me if you just evacuate on your own, Ymy-sama; you have to wait until I come to you, you know?”

“Ah……s-sorry.”

“It’s fine─, it looks like I made it in time so everything’s fine! Now then──”

Giggle.

With a challenging look on her face, Ishtar turned to Maha who was standing still after having his clones thoroughly crushed.

“Ishtar will face this guy. Monica-san, your unit should evacuate with Ymy-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group to the meeting room.”

“Un……Understood!”

“Good answer. Now, let’s quickly──”

“W-wait, please!”

Kagura’s shout stopped the Cadres Guard who was about to move.

“This is a diversion! Using the opening caused by Maha rampaging here, another man named Igun-I is aiming for something in Building Four!”

“……Heeh.”

Hyuu, the Cadres Guard instead whistled happily.

“Hey, is that true?”

“……You’re slow.”

Beneath the shadow cast by his hood, Maha’s lips opened slightly.

“Igun-I has……already headed there. Everything in existence is under our control.”

The spell caster’s left hand was raised very high.

“Be purged by heavy pressure, tremble and sink, ground──”

“Who’s the slow one?”

Ishtar’s spear danced and Maha’s words as well as the ceiling were cut off.

Crish ── the ceiling was cracked into what resembled a spiderweb. That became countless fragments of varying size and that great mass of rubble and dust swallowed Maha and his clones. This wasn’t an opponent that would be silenced with just that but it would probably take him some time to get out of it.

“Now then, isn’t it your turn?”

Ishtar’s gaze fell onto Sheltis who was still pressing on his left shoulder.

“You know what these guys are aiming for.”

“……The eye?”

Now that they knew about the third organization, using ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ to investigate them was also possible. That meant that the people in question would absolutely want to get rid of that treasure, the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.

“That’s right. Unfortunately, you’re the only one who knows where that’s located. So go. This guy’s Ishtar’s prey anyway. I’ll also protect the Priestess-sama for you.”

“……But”

Her opponent was Golden Maha. To fight this monster alone and guard a Priestess at the same time, he knew best just how harsh that was. Rather than the Governmental Sector’s treasure or anything else, right now he should completely assure Ymy’s safety──

“ That’s why, boy, why don’t you try asking through force? ”

…………

………… That line is ……

“Don’t tell me you forgot?”

It was a quiet and heavy tone that seemed to pierce into his heart like a blade. Even so, her face was filled with a provocative smile like one shown to a long-time old friend.

“If you’re chasing after Leon the Sennenshi who’s gone on ahead, boy, then you can’t remain here. The one who will remain here is me . I wonder if you remember me saying it that day?”

“ I told you, the goals that you and I pursue are different. They’re completely different. “

“ I’ve achieved mine! It’s enough if I have the position of an Elite Guard. “

──There’s no way I could forget.

──It was the last conversation she and I exchanged before I fell to the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song , after all.

She continued to make her spear let out a shrill sound like a whistle.

“I’m saying to go. Or are you uneasy if it’s me?”

“…………”

“You’re the one who said you’d become a Sennenshi. If your resolve that day was not a lie, then go.”

Being hit with that stabbing smile, Sheltis slowly let out a breath.

……How stupid.

……Then I really was found out right when we met.

“That’s why I don’t like you; just when you’re playing innocent, you suddenly reveal your true colors.”

“Playing innocent is unthinkable. Right, Priestess-sama?”

Ishtar turned around with a coercive smile. But there wasn’t a single person who could reply to that.

Ymy, the General Affairs Bureau Chief and his fellow Cadet Guards couldn’t say anything about the Cadres Guard’s true nature.

Filled with fighting spirit and confidence, she stood in a way that only showed some kind of sublimity.

……Ymy.

Sheltis lightly nodded at his childhood friend who was peeking out from behind Monica.

“……I leave the Priestess in your care.”

“Leave her to me.”

The rocks that swallowed up Maha swelled.

“Go!”

“ I’ll guide you through the shortest route to Building Four, Area 31. “

Being pushed on by Ishtar’s bellow, Sheltis stepped forward.

### Part 7

“……There’s a gap between your strength and your growth. Such terrible growth.”

The boy who had disappeared further into the passage. Looking at him go, Ishtar let out a rare bitter sigh.

“Unit Leader Monica.”

“Y-yes!”

“It’s as you heard. I’ll face this guy. You take the Priestess-sama and the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s entourage to the meeting room. I’ll leave the details after that up to you. ……Now then.”

Maha stood up unwounded despite the gigantic rubble.

“This guy’s spells are numerous and annoying. I’ll ignore a moderate amount so take care of the puppets that went that way. Can you do it?”

“U-Understood!”

The Cadet Guards behind her escorted the Priestess. Feeling them walking away behind her, Ishtar once again leered at the practitioner in front of her.

“Now we can finally talk, just the two of us. I’ve been waiting for this. ───At any rate, it looks like you took care of my younger sister.”

“…………”

“That’s right……I’ve waited a long time. Taking on this annoying mission and everything is because I bet on the chance that you might appear. Be a little thankful?”

The Golden spell caster stayed silent. Perhaps in his place, the poisonous snakes crawling around his feet slowly raised their heads.

……That’s right, that was what started this.

“ Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

It started with I’sa who used to cry for reasons Ishtar couldn’t understand no matter how many times she asked.

She had a weak bodily constitution and couldn’t even go to school much. The one who looked after her troubles in that household which consisted of only the sisters and no parents was always Ishtar.

In place of a mother, she nursed her, made meals and attended to I’sa without sleep.

In place of a father, she taught her studies, taught her how to exercise and protected I’sa from the surrounding dangers.

At those times, her sister always cried.

She cried and apologized.

“ Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

In reality, her older sister could be more accomplished in studies and fitness than anybody and wouldn’t lose to any of her peers. It couldn’t be helped that she felt frustrated that her older sister was sacrificing her talents on her.

“ I’sa-chan is an idiot. Onee-chan’s fine like this. “

“ But…………but, but……! “

Then she cried again.

She thought of her as a really kind little sister. That was also why she wanted to be by her little sister’s side.

──Until my sister becomes able to fly by her own strength, I will protect her.

She learned spear techniques to protect her little sister and became a Guard at Sophia Tenketsu Palace in order to become even faster and stronger. It wasn’t to protect the Priestesses at the top but to protect her little sister who slept at their house.

──Because isn’t it a given?

──The Priestesses have many people protecting them but I’m the only one protecting my sister.

When she came to notice it, Ishtar had become a spear warrior that wouldn’t lose to anyone around her. It wouldn’t be strange if she became a Sennenshi at any time. It was to the point that it was an open rumor.

“ Onee-sama, you won’t be a Sennenshi? “

“ Yu〰p. Onee-chan’s bad at that kind of thing. “

She hadn’t even honestly told I’sa that reason.

If she became a Sennenshi, her time would be taken up guarding the Priestess. Her training time would decrease and most importantly, she would have to live apart from her younger sister who was the one she wished to protect the most.

“ Hey, Sheltis-kun, do you want to become a Sennenshi? “

“ I’m fine with being an Elite Guard. I have no interest in being a Sennenshi. “

That was why she always gave up the position of Sennenshi.

On the other hand, ironically, I’sa whom she should have been protecting was now completely healthy and, taking after her, even started saying that she wanted to be a Guard.

……Well, fine, if that’s what I’sa-chan wants to do.

It was a little complicated as her older sister but Ishtar permitted it.

It looked like she had talent as a shinryoku user and she’d found a reliable dual guns user so Ishtar had had the intention of watching over her as her older sister.

That continued for several years and just when she thought it would keep going well like that.

Information that a Regular Guard unit was wiped out by an unknown person arrived.

“I’sa-chan, are you okay!?”

“Onee-sama……”

What Ishtar saw in the medical ward was her little sister with her eyes swollen bright red.

In the hospital.

Her little sister cried while looking at her.

Ishtar was reminded of how long it had been since she’d seen that. The weakened form of her sister that she thought she wouldn’t see anymore. The true nature of her little sister.

“ ……Onee-sama…………onee-sama, I’m sorry……I………… “

“ You don’t have to say it. You don’t need to worry. “

“ ……Onee-sama? “

Ishtar held her sobbing little sister tight to her chest.

That was also something that hadn’t happened in years.

“I’sa-chan is fine. ……If you’re unharmed, it means you were able to return here . Leave the rest to onee-chan.”

That’s right, that was the start.

The one who had attacked her I’sa had already been defeated once but that was a puppet created by the spell caster. Then this time, she would──

### Part 8

Governmental Sector, Building Four, Area 19.

“ Turn left at the next corner. “

He focused on nothing but running down the corridor illuminated by the bright red lights.

There was nobody in the corridor and he’d seen the meeting room’s door wide open so a warning must have been issued here in Building Four as well.

The walls and ceiling had crumbled.

The floor was cracked and earth was scattered about.

“ There is evidence that a few of Maha’s clones also infiltrated this building. Don’t let down your guard. “

He didn’t reply to that.

“……Ilis, how long will it take you to undo the lock on that elevator?”

They didn’t have Yuragi’s card key which they’d used to get on the elevator that led to the Holy Hall last night. He could only rely on Ilis machine crystal using Yuragi’s card key’s information to forcefully dispel the lock.

“ Five, no, four minutes. “

“Two minutes.”

“ ……Make sure to praise me if I succeed, okay? “

Her crystal portion blinked as if she were smiling wryly.

“ Make a left there. ”

Pushing forward through a passage he remembered, the steel door illuminated by an emergency light came into view.

“Ilis, start with unlocking this.”

“ No……wait, this is……? “

“ Sheltis, try opening the door as it is. It might already be unlocked. “

The door released with an aged sound. Ahead of that, illuminated by the emergency lighting, was the exact same thing as last night.

“ The elevator should also be working. There are signs that somebody other than me has already forcefully unlocked the door. “

“……So it’s the guy that Maha called Igun-I.”

It was possible that there was somebody else in charge of the hacking but they had no way of knowing that. At any rate, it was a stroke of luck amongst the bad.

“Let’s go, Ilis.”

……Ishtar.

……I can’t be like you.

He hadn’t noticed that twilight.

A four year period. The difficulty of continuing to stand in that place all by herself without advancing or retreating even as those around her were promoted or when she left the tower. The harshness.

He was different from Ishtar. He couldn’t copy how she lived.

……That’s why I need to continue on.

### Part 9

Governmental Sector, Building Two, Area 63′s ‘Yuumei Space‘.

In the large hall with the warning still blaring, the sound of metal scraping upon metal continued to echo.

“──Guu!”

She intercepted the descending golden arm with her Rosario crossed rods .

The impact ran through her arm’s bone and echoed in her shoulder. But she didn’t lower the strength put into her Rosario crossed rods . She trapped the wrist between her two Rosario crossed rods and sealed its movements.

“Vaiel!”

“I…..got it, this damn crafted thing!”

His fists equipped with the Knuckle Dusters iron fist protectors stabbed into the enemy’s now-defenseless back. Maha’s clone fell over with a violent shake. Aiming for the moment when it staggered, Monica threw aside the Rosario crossed rods and ran up to it.

A golden light wrapped her bare hand. Shinryoku of the same color as Maha’s advent style arts enveloped her body.

“Crumble.”

She touched the clone with her fingertip.

In that instant, Maha’s clone stopped moving ── and returned to gold dust with a crumbling sound.

“What trick is that?”

“I just distorted the shinryoku wavelength. It’s the same kind as jamming somebody’s clairvoyance……the explanation’s pretty long so the short version is that it can beat a clone like that.”

Picking up the Rosario crossed rods that were on the ground, Vaiel threw them over to her. Catching them with both hands, Monica once again looked up at the higher floor.

“But it looks like I already don’t have the leisure of using it.”

The door on the highest floor creaked and opened. Maha’s clones stood in a row. Behind them were red manticores and beyond those were small dragon-types.

“I didn’t want to say it but is that Cadres Guard really fighting? Are you sure she didn’t lose or something?”

“No.”

Accompanied by the luminescence of the Machina machine pearl , Kagura took a step forward.

“That spell caster’s strength isn’t of this level. This is probably ten or twenty percent with the greater portion being forced to remain with the real Maha.”

“……Both are inhuman, huh.”

Holding back a wry smile from leaking out, Monica started walking forward again.

The members who can fight in this large hall are just these three. Ishtar dispatched Sheltis to the Governmental Sector so it’ll come down to a life or death struggle without our two strongest fighting forces.

“Monica-senpai!”

That voice came from behind her.

“I……I can help too!”

“You can’t, stay there.”

She stopped the Priestess who was running over.

“Our mission is to protect you. What will we do if the Priestess who we should be protecting comes to the frontlines?”

……Ymy.

“B-but! If I provide support, then fighting──”

“I know……but no. I can’t put you in danger.”

### Part 10

“ Sheltis! “

At the same time the elevator arrived at the Holy Hall.

Sheltis hurriedly jumped aside of the light that filled his vision.

“……They’re also in combat here.”

A four-legged medium-sized dragon staggered after receiving a single blow to the head. It received a follow-up attack before it could get up and returned to the gigantic boulder that comprised it.

──Zeadoll.

The guardian of the Holy Hall who swung a mace. He had no idea how long the battle had been going on for but it didn’t seem to have been short. Nevertheless, he had zero injuries. He felt that maybe it was par for the course to say that it was expected that he didn’t even show exhaustion.

However, the enemy force made up of Maha’s creations wasn’t stopping.

Poisonous snakes came from blind spots below, monstrous birds created thunderous noises above and on top of all that, Maha’s clones were attacking from every which direction.

……Zeadoll hasn’t noticed me.

He could easily break through to the Holy Hall’s interior right now. But──

“ ……Sheltis? “

“We’re taking a detour.”

Holding his swords, Sheltis sprinted towards Zeadoll.

“Mu, you are……!”

The guardian sensed his presence and turned around. He didn’t answer him and swung his swords ── he cut down the poisonous snakes closing in from behind Zeadoll and smacked a single poisonous snake up towards a monstrous bird circling around overhead.

The bomb in the shape of a bird reacted to the impact and caused a huge explosion.

The flames and force of that explosion caused another bird to explode. The enemy’s forces were wrapped up in the chain explosions. Maha’s clones returned to gold dust and the poisonous white snakes returned to dirty mud.

The explosions stopped.

The ones standing there were only Sheltis and the guardian.

“……What are you doing?”

The man narrowed his eyes and looked over.

“Should I not have helped?”

“Wrong. I was asking why an intruder like yourself provided assistance.”

“I’m not an enemy.”

He returned the overpowering gaze head-on.

“I said this yesterday but we probably have a common enemy who’s been tricking us. They should be aiming for ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘. If you use the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘, you can discover their identity, right? They should be afraid of that.”

“…………”

“……I’ll fight you later if you want. At any rate, we have to protect the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.”

Finally.

With an expression of resignation, Zeadoll slowly lowered his mace.

“I will consider your punishment later. Protecting the ‘ Eye ‘ is my foremost priority right now as well.”

Come along.

His massive back seemed to be saying that as he ran off without an answer.

“Some time ago, a completely black man took those along and came here. ……No. The only one who came down the elevator was that man and those enemy forces suddenly appeared around him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand how. But while I was dealing with those forces, that man leisurely infiltrated the Holy Room. It is the greatest failure in my life.”

The guardian’s voice shook with indignation.

They ran at full speed to the north of the gigantic Holy Hall. After countless stone pillars flashed by to the side, they arrived at a mechanical door.

“It’s inside here.”

Giiii……with a strange creaking sound, the door parted to the sides.

It was a room filled with every radiance.

Red, blue, green, yellow, white. The grand room arrangement was blessed with fight vivid colors of light. In the middle was an egg-shaped giant crimson crystal. The width was several metres. Its height was close to ten metres. Even if Sheltis looked up, he couldn’t see the top.

“This is ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘?……It’s almost like it’s alive.”

The interior of the crystal was repeatedly flashing like the beating of a heart. It was like the precursor to something being born.

“I’ve waited a long……long time.”

A black shadow appeared at the summit of the crystal.

“Sheltis, I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

A pitch black boot and pitch black shoes with a pitch black rimmed hat.

Amidst all the black, the pale blond hair swaying beneath the hat stood out as odd.

……This man is Igun-I?

……What is……this feeling……

The one looking up and the one looking down. Even with this much distance between them, he was suddenly assaulted by a bizarre intoxicated sense that he was locking eyes with them as though they were right in front of him. It was almost like he was meeting with a longtime friend after a long time.

“……I’m happy.”

Igun-I didn’t even try to hide his smile.

“You know me. Ahh, that’s great. I’m really happy.”

“I……don’t know you.”

He suppressed the throbbing of his chest and glared at the opponent above.

That’s right, I shouldn’t know him.

But what is this ─── my chest is stirring ─── it’s feels like deja vu.

“That’s fine. It’s fine if you don’t know. It’s fine if you feel it even if you don’t know. Hey, Sheltis, ‘ Nice to meet you. ‘ and ‘ It’s been a while. ‘. I’ve been eagerly waiting the time we would meet in this world.”

……What does that mean?

It’s a certainty that this man is an ally of Maha. But even if he heard about me from Maha, his words are too deep. And why is he so friendly?

“Ahh, I can’t. I was so happy, I almost forgot my job.”

With the words Igun-I spilled, Sheltis finally reconfirmed the current situation.

That’s right, this man’s objective is──

“You……! I don’t know who you are but that’s the Governmental Sector’s treasure. Entering this Holy Hall without permission is one thing, but who are you to step on the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘!”

With a thunderous sound, he struck the ground beneath him with the mace.

“If so, then immediately──”

“You’re wrong.”

“What?”

Zeadoll’s expression changed with the unexpected response.

“This isn’t the Governmental Sector’s property. A single person……this is something an engineer created a thousand years ago. The Governmental Sector just happened to scavenge it. Though saying that to you will probably have no effect. Right, Sheltis?”

With his hand firmly on the rimmed hat, Igun-I was constantly looking over at him.

“Do you want to know; you do, right? What this crystal is.”

“You……would tell an enemy that?”

“If you so wish.”

It was an eerie smile completely devoid of hostility.

“So I’ll tell you. This crystal is the product of humanity’s failed attempt at artificially creating ‘ a certain existence ‘, a shadow of its former self, so to speak. ……You should know the original. It’s the existence known as the ‘ Forbidden Crystal ‘.”

The Lagoon floating archipelago that he’d accompanied Leon to.

At the hidden research facility, the girl that had been displayed on the screen set up in front of the Yuugenshu.

……Shel……tis.

……Is that you……looking at me?

……The one looking…………at the frozen dream of the Garden of Eden Corrupted Song ……at the Forbidden Crystal.

Why would that name appear here?

“……What do you mean?”

“I’m glad that I’ve aroused your interest. It had the intended effect. But──”

Igun-I smiled.

“It doesn’t look like you’re trying to get the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ through force. ……Well, I tampered with the contents a bit so I’ll just leave it alone and run away.”

“……Run away?”

“If you want to know, chase after me. Now, Sheltis, chase after me. That is the beginning of everything. ……However, that’s for until after you’ve played with these.”

Igun-I raised both hands to the ceiling.

Like a music conductor.

Awaken now, all you forgotten children

Li Xea = F shela, elmei/ x-delis tis, Selah pheno sia-s Orbie Eden

Beneath Igun-I, the crimson crystal began changing color.

From crimson to red, red to blue, blue to green. After that, gold and white. Then at the end ── the crystal became half-transparent like frosted glass.

……What is that?

Something was squirming inside the half-transparent crystal. There were two of them. One was black and inorganic. The other was deep purple and had a hazy outline──

“ This is from a thousand years ago……!? “

As if in response to the shout from Ilis machine crystal , the front of the crystal distorted like a heat haze and the two gigantic monsters alighted from it.

A massive mechanical weapon equipped with pitch black armor.

The other one was a four-legged beast whose entire body emitted a deep purple cursed mist.

“A mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu?”

“ No, this is…… “

Ilis Machine crystal responded to Zeadoll’s mutter.

“ A heavy-arms mechanical weapon from a thousand years ago and……a Yuugenshu. They look the same as they do currently but they’re from before Hyouketsu Kyoukai was erected! “

“A thousand year beast. I tried using the memories of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and calling it out. I could probably have found something stronger if I searched more but this should be good enough for me to run away.”

Tap. Igun-I kicked off the crystal and jumped into the air.

“I won’t let you run……muu!”

Zeadoll tried to get to where the pitch black man would land but the Yuugenshu stood in his way.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

Mateki.

Before Zeadoll reacted, a torrent of deep purple light radiated from the mist beast.

The particles of light formed a string and the string gathered even more to become a pattern of light. The instant Zeadoll’s foot touched that ring of light ── the deep purple light blew up .

“……Guu!?”

Assaulted with strong heat and a strong impact and bathed in a curse, the guardian’s large body was blown towards the wall.

“Zeadoll!”

“……How rude of him to launch an attack without declaring his name.”

The shadow of the man stood up sluggishly within the dense cloud of mateki. Maybe his Sanctuary Arts had kept the damage to a minimum but there were nothing like wounds on his body.

“They’re simple phantoms that should disappear in half an hour’s time so do your best until then.”

Igun-I headed out the door with a light smile.

──Half an hour.

This was no time to say such easygoing words. Ymy and Monica were still in Building Two.

“Just fine, I’ll defeat this swiftly and chase after you!”

Sheltis sprinted to close the distance with the mechanical weapon that was drawing nearer to him. It walked on two legs and had a large body close to three metres across with its entire body made of heavy steel.

……As I thought, its movements are dull.

Before the enemy’s aim lined up, he jumped to the side by kicking off the ground with one foot.

The mechanical weapon’s response was a moment too slow and he used that lull to close the gap in one go. The aim is the joint ── his opponent was a mechanical weapon armored in heavy metal so he’d aim to destroy it starting from the places where that armor was thin.

“ Go up. “

He jumped off the mechanical weapon’s elbow and then off its shoulder. He flew over ten metres high and towards the mechanical weapon’s head.

……I see it.

The blue internal parts were peeking out from a gap in its head’s armor. Even if it was from a thousand years ago, a mechanical weapon was still a mechanical weapon, and its basic construction was the same. If he destroyed the engine, it would become powerless.

“Sink in!”

He swung his right sword down at the gap. The sword’s blade stabbed into the internal parts……

──Clang!

His sword hit something hard.

The sword won’t reach any further than this. Was it stopped by the internal parts shining blue?……no way. Let alone the armor, the internal components which are the weak point shouldn’t have this strength.

“ It’s a shinryoku carved seal. Just like with the Sanctuary Arts, it’s repelling your mateki! “

“……So that’s it!”

The enemy’s gun locked on.

“ Pull out your sword! “

“At a time like this……what a troublesome bastard!”

A heavily armored mechanical weapon specialized for fighting against Yuugenshu. It was originally for mitigating the Yuugenshu’s mateki but because his swords were filled with mateki, it was dulling their penetration.

It wasn’t at the level of the Sanctuary Arts, but there was no changing that it was troublesome.

“What’s a good move?”

“ There is a limit to the shinryoku carved seal. You can erase the shinryoku carved seal by piling on enough consecutive damage. Other than that, I’m reluctant to suggest it but it’s the use of mateki. You should be able to nullify the shinryoku carved seal if you use your Eden Code Seventh True Rhythm . “

“……Then we’ll go with the first idea.”

Somebody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace aside, he couldn’t use mateki in front of somebody from the Governmental Sector.

“Zeadoll?”

Explosive noises continued behind him. The explosive impact and thunderous sound of him being smacked into the pillars, as well as the guardians anguished voice came to him.

“Gu, this…………crafty thing!”

Zeadoll stood up using the mace as a support.

He didn’t look like he had any wounds but his expression was grim. Being smacked into the wall enough that it left cracks, he probably was suffering a light concussion.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

Crack.

The floor beneath the Yuugenshu shook and a ring of purple spread like a ripple on water’s surface.

“ It’s mateki fixation. It’s the type that ruptures upon contact and spreads curses. “

“So it’s like a mine. Zeadoll, don’t touch that──”

“There’s no use in talking about it!”

Holding out the extremely heavy mace, he stepped on the mateki mine.

An explosive sound. Zeadoll’s large body was lifted into the air.

“Nuuu!?”

He received the curse shockwave and collided with the wall again.

……It’s strange. It’s completely different from the masterful fighting he showed yesterday. He looks just like a bewildered Cadet Guard who’s fighting against a Yuugenshu for the first time.

“It’s the first time I’m fighting a Yuugenshu!”

His stern face became even more like a stone and he rose up.

“……I see.”

There was no way Yuugenshu would infiltrate the Holy Hall. It was a given that he wouldn’t have an opportunity to fight a Yuugenshu.

“Can you move?”

“You should worry about yourself rather than others!”

A rumble came from directly to the side.

The extremely heavy mechanical weapon causing depressions in the ground was approaching vigorously with the intent to strike him down.

He held out his left arm. He pulled it in as close as possible and spun to dodge. He circled around the exterior and hid around the left flank.

──A flash.

But it only caused a small scrape on the flank’s heavy armor. His sword wouldn’t reach as far as the crucial parts.

“Tch!”

Running from the gunfire that was sweeping across in a line, he went around and hid in ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye’s‘ shadow.

“ Neither one of us is in a good situation. I don’t want to chock it up to affinity though. “

“…………”

Calming his breathing for the moment, Sheltis bit on his lower lip.

……Ymy and everyone else.

……I’m sorry, bear with it for a little longer.

### Part 11

A cloud of dust hung over the area.

In the world of dust from rubble, flashes that made one think of lightning drew arcs.

“───”

Landing on the rubble piled in the passage and once again jumping off there without a moment’s delay.

From the floor to the wall, from the wall to the ceiling, from the ceiling to the floor and then again to the wall. She was closing in using that method which would cause dizziness just by looking at it for a person with a normal sense of balance.

That was the lean spear user who clearly stood out even amidst the dust.

“Heaven Piercing Mother Earth.”

The one waiting was the shinryoku practitioner donning an ocher robe.

“Fire a hundred spears.”

From underfoot, overhead and to the sides. The bare rock walls that had their paint removed pulsed, and stone spears with a sharp outline flew out all at once. Even if it was wide, it was still a corridor. She couldn’t dodge spears approaching from every single direction. But──

Seeing that in front of her, Ishtar didn’t stop running or have any hesitation.

“Is just a hundred okay?”

The spear’s tip blurred from an instant.

Immediately after, the stone spears all broke apart with a dry sound. Iai. And it was with a sequence of movements at a speed where none of it could be seen.

“A hundred isn’t enough.”

Four metres until Maha. If she put strength into her step, it was well within her spear’s reach. Just before that, the wall directly to the side of Ishtar collapsed.

“!”

A giant forelimb stretched out from the large black hole created by the cave-in. The slimy claw with a brown sheen ripped the shoulder portion of her formal wear ── before her brain registered that, Ishtar jumped in the opposite direction.

A flash while she was flying.

She severed the claw that was sticking to the cut on her formal wear down the middle.

“I see, so you expected that I’d break through the stone spears and set a trap.”

She looked at her right arm which was exposed up to near the elbow and smiled. Only the formal wear was torn; there was not a single wound on her smooth flesh. Despite having taken such a perfect surprise attack.

“I haven’t had my clothes torn in anything other than a spar with Sennenshi recently. ……You’ve brought out something quite large.”

A giant shadow appeared and broke through the wall to the side without leaving a trace.

An earth dragon. Its mouth could open as much as a person is tall and it had the body size to match. It’s black scales were hard enough to deflect steel swords and even a machine gun couldn’t do any effective damage. It was a large carnivore that served as the symbol for dangerous species in the Biotope.

“Well, however,”

Standing in front of the beast which let out a roar, Ishtar just shook her head carelessly.

“This isn’t all, right? It’s not enough, you’re not thinking that you can satisfy with just this, right?”

“…………”

The two transcendentals glared at each other in that spot where the dragon was raging.

The one who disrupted that unnatural silence was the silent Golden spell caster.

“……It’s about time he returned.”

“For Sheltis?”

“……Igun-I……it was a whim but……it isn’t going to be a hindrance.”

Maha said that with absolute confidence.

“I will……not lose. All creation, in other words……no unforeseen incidents…………the balance will be kept in this place and be resolved at the other locations.”

The other locations.

In other words, the Holy Hall that she’d sent Sheltis to.

Then there was Monica’s unit whom she’d entrusted the Priestess’ guarding to.

“Therefore, I will just buy time──”

“Shall we make a bet?”

Ishtar’s fearless smile cut him off.

“Whether or not the results for the other locations will be as you’ve exaggeratedly predicted. I’ll bet that you’re ‘ wrong ‘. If I get it wrong, then I’ll become your subordinate?”

“…………”

“The tower is a gathering of weaklings. But they have strong fighting spirits. The Priestesses and Guards alike.”

“……So?”

The Cadres Guard silently raised her spear at that question.

“What creates a reform in the world has always been peoples’ resolve.”

### Part 12

Yuumei Space.

Overhead was the shattered chandelier. The paintings that should have adorned the walls all bore traces of claws or fangs and the carpet underfoot was torn here and there, exposing the underlying stone floor.

What filled the large vacant space from which a large number of people had evacuated was the continuous ringing of clashes.

“Kagura, above!”

Monica’s shout echoed in the meeting room.

“G-got it……!”

She pulled the trigger on her high voltage electric gun.

With an intense sound and light, the electricity stretched in a line and coiled around the white poisonous snake falling from the ceiling. It’s movements stiffened in midair……but it didn’t stop with just one shot. Aiming for Kagura below, it extended its fangs and opened its mouth──

“So……persistent!”

Vaiel backhanded its head. Its rope-like thin body was blown away next to the wall and it began changing back to dirt upon hitting the floor.

“Come on, don’t space out.”

“I-I know that. …………But,”

Kagura tried her hardest to calm her ragged breathing by putting a hand on her mouth.

──It’s hard……with three people.

It would be fine if it was somebody other than Sheltis; right now, the important point was having a fourth person.

If they had four people, they could group up with two in the front and two in the back and cover for each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

They couldn’t do that with the three people they had now, and all three had to be in the frontline to protect the Priestess and General Affairs Bureau Chief’s entourage. Because even she who was inexperienced was in the frontline, Monica couldn’t concentrate on giving orders.

“Three more left.”

Three of Maha’s clones were slowly descending from the floor above. There were several poisonous snakes at their feet and red manticores waiting behind them.

“It’s the final part……we’ll……end it.”

But even as she said that, sweat was dropping from Monica’s brow like a waterfall. It wasn’t just from fatigue, Maha’s clone had likely landed a grazing blow on her torso. ……Her face is deathly pale. From her pained hand movements, it’s likely that her sternum or a rib cracked in that blow.

“……Monica.”

“You don’t have time to worry about others.”

Vaiel’s words pierced her painfully.

……I know that.

……The one most unsuited for direct combat here is me.

That was why Vaiel was sticking close and backing her up and Monica was protecting the opposite direction by herself. The strain on their stamina and mentality was completely different.

Maha’s clones floated from the landing above.

Monica prepared her Rosario crossed rods to respond to that ── but her body suddenly swayed.

“Monica!?”

Kagura reached out her hand but it was too far to her location.

Clack. The Rosario crossed rods fell to the ground. But she didn’t react to that. Could she be unconscious……? Dizziness. No, did she faint? No matter the case, at this rate……

“Damn it!”

Vaiel clicked his tongue and ran to support her but he was much too slow. The unit leader’s body crumpled and Maha’s clones were attacking──

“ You…… “

“ You have angered the one person in this world that must not be angered. “

Yuumei Space was filled with light.

The red warning lamps were dyed anew with the even stronger crimson.

“……Wha!?”

Even Kagura who wasn’t a shinryoku warrior knew. The brilliance of shinryoku swirled violently and couldn’t be contained within this room.

“────”

The enemies were pressured into pausing by the incomparable shinryoku.

Within that light, the Priestess held up the female unit captain.

“……This is from my senior Priestess, Meimel.”

Wrapping her left arm around the fainted girl’s shoulder, she supported her delicate body.

“She said that if a Priestess resolves to head towards the frontline of her own will, then she should say so. That’s why……I’ll say it.”

In front of my eyes, everybody is protecting me and getting hurt.

……I don’t want that.

……I don’t want to become a Priestess who would just watch that.

Lending her senpai her left shoulder, she pointed at Maha’s clones with her remaining right hand.

Then Ymy made a declaration.

“I will be your opponent now.”

“……Ymy?”

“Senpai, I’m happy you came to. You suddenly fell over.”

She smiled and brought her open right hand to Monica’s right cheek ── and pulled it as hard as she could.

“Fu, fuat ahh hu huing!?”

“It’s encouragement. That’s a lie, it’s punishment to senpai who’s a unit leader from me as a Priestess. My earlier words included you, senpai, you know?”

You have angered the one person in this world that must not be angered.

……That’s right. There’s someone I really want to get angry at.

“Senpai, I’m at my limit for holding back. Senpai……you really treat me like your kouhai at the crucial times. Do you not see me as a Priestess?”

“Wha-what are you──”

“If the one here were Meimel or Syun-rei, Monica-senpai, you would have probably asked them for assistance. You should know at least how outstanding the defense of a Priestess’ barrier is.”

She stared intently at Monica who frantically pulled away.

“…………”

“Even so, senpai just keeps protecting me. You just say to hide behind you.”

Monica was silent as she held a hand to her reddened cheek.

“……You’re wrong.”

With her head downcast.

“Yes, maybe I would have asked Meimel-sama or Syun-rei-sama for support. But not wanting you to come to the front is…………really…………”

With her words coming in short bursts, the female unit leader put together her words earnestly.

“My prided kouhai who exerted and worked hard to become a Priestess…………in the slim chance that something were to happen……I don’t want that.”

“ Yes . I know .”

She smiled and picked up the fallen Rosario crossed rods .

“But a Priestess can’t overlook such a kind Guard being hurt.”

To Monica who was looking at her with a blank expression.

Ymy handed over the Rosario crossed rods without a word.

“Let me support my Guard senpai. I have no Sennenshi so it’s my first battle and I don’t know what I should do. That’s why.”

“……That’s why?”

“In place of the fourth Guard who isn’t here, I shall become the fourth member of senpai’s unit. Please command me.”

“Hah!? Wha……th-that’s really……!”

“It’s an emergency measure. A Priestess is saying it’s fine, so it’s fine.”

She stepped in front of Monica looking to defend her.

──I’m going to do it.

The gap created by Sheltis’ absence. I don’t know just how well I can fill it but I’ll do my best.

“Amazing, it’s amazing, Vaiel. Did you hear that? A Priestess being a part of our unit, that’s completely extraordinary!? It’s thanks to Monica collapsing!”

“Really, your worthlessness actually turned out helpful.”

“Those two are kind of annoying……saying that somebody who collapsed is worthless.”

Monica looked half-shocked as she smiled bitterly.

She took a Rosario crossed rod in one hand and raised the other Rosario crossed rod with her other hand.

“……Just this time, Ymy.”

“Yes.”

“Support us with barrier-style spells. It’ll be fine if you can alleviate or obstruct their attacks. The scope is this entire room and the targets are limited to the four of us. Can you do it?”

“It would be troubling if you were to underestimate a Priestess.”

……Though I’m actually a little weak in barrier-style spells.

Even as she added that in at the bottom of her heart, Ymy replied with a smile.

……It’s a spell I’m weak at.

……But I can’t fail here.

She would do her utmost to the limit of those feelings.

No matter how difficult and no matter how large-scale, she didn’t feel like she could fail.

### Part 13

In the Holy Hall filled with light.

The armored mechanical weapon’s right arm shined black as it approached.

“ Incoming simultaneous fire from the enemy’s large machine gun. Please deflect it as much as possible using your swords. “

“Eh……wa-wait.”

“ It’ll hit ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ behind you if you dodge. “

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!?”

Staring at the gun barrel in the enemy’s right arm, he ascertained the angle that the bullets coming from it would travel at. The revolving ring on the side of the gun slowly began turning──

“ Incoming. “

“……I know!”

He reverse-gripped his dual swords and lowered his stance.

Then a single sound of gunfire. Sheltis mowed aside the dozens of bullets that came out with that one sound. It wasn’t to ‘cut’ but to ‘brush’. It was a technique that used the back of the sword to alter the bullets’ trajectories. Modifications made within the realm of tenths ── he would be shot if he read it wrong.

The gunfire ceased.

Sheltis clashed his sword against the mouth of the gun which was letting off white smoke.

……Looks like it went well.

He could feel dull pain from various places from his shoulder to his arm to his flank. They were wounds from the deflected bullets that had torn his clothes and the surface of the skin beneath.

“ Even though I said to deflect as many as possible, you deflected all of them. “

“The creator of the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and Ilis are the same, right? Then you’re like sisters. I thought you might not want it to get broken.”

“ ………… “

After a not-so-short period of silence.

“ I didn’t say it with that meaning, just that the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ would be useful as evidence………………idiot……it’s not something you have to put your body on the line for. “

“No matter what, it’s great that it went well.”

He switched back to reverse grip on his swords and sprinted once again.

──Now the only problem is how to defeat this.

His swords couldn’t reach the mechanical parts because of the heavy armor and the shinryoku carved seal was rejecting his mateki on top of that. He could defeat it if he took the time but he didn’t know how long that would be.

……The method.

“Guuoo!?”

Before he collected his thoughts, Zeadoll’s large body was blasted over like a rubber ball. He hit the ground while still holding his mace and a large fissure spread out from there.

“Zeadoll!?”

“You, Sheltis!”

The guardian sprung to his feet with vigor.

“I was wondering what you were doing since a while ago. You didn’t defeat that mechanical weapon so it’s even getting me involved!”

“That’s a coincidence. You just happened to be at the place I led it to so it wouldn’t break the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘.”

Zeadoll had been at the location he led the mechanical weapon to and it had recognized him as a target too, then hit and sent him flying from behind. If it had been a regular person, their spine and flesh would have been blown to pieces but this man didn’t seem to have taken any damage.

“That’s not it. I was asking how long you were going to spend in a hard fight with that small fry. That amount of armor is like wet paper to me.”

“That’s because your mace has power. Me as well, I have the confidence that I can beat that Yuugenshu. If it’s a battle against a Yuugenshu……”

He said that much ─── and both of them widened their eyes.

……There is one.

The mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu. A way to clean up for certain these two thousand year beasts that Igun-I had summoned.

“Ah─, that’s right……it’s an emergency situation so……right?”

“……Mu. Truly, chasing after Igun-I is a priority for both of us. Normally, I’d never conspire with an intruder but……at any rate, it is necessary to hurry.”

“ Then it’s decided. “

In response to Ilis machine crystal ’ words, they both turned around.

“I leave that mechanical weapon to you.”

“You too, you said it so show me that you can eliminate that Yuugenshu quickly.”

Zeadoll of the Governmental Sector would deal with the heavily armored mechanical weapon.

Sheltis of Tenketsu Palace would deal with the Yuugenshu letting out sinister mateki.

──I trust my back to you.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector had a long-standing history of opposition and this was their first cooperative battle.

“We’ll beat them in thirty seconds and chase after him.”

“Twenty seconds is more than enough.”

The two ran.

At the same time and in both directions around ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘.

■ ■, …… ■, ■ ■ ■, ■ …… ■ …… ■ ■ ■, ■, ■ …… ■

Oe/ Dia = U hiz gazzinis sis wei sighn. Quo zess wiz xes kyele.

……Pwoof.

The mateki seething out from the Yuugenshu’s entire body created a cloud that reached up to the ceiling.

Rain poured from the mysterious cloud. The mateki condensed into water droplet form fell to the ground and created countless ripples.

Mateki mines. If they were touched, they would spread curses and shockwaves. But──

“Let’s go.”

“ Right. “

Sheltis stepped into the middle of those ripples without hesitation.

He threw off the formal wear he’d been wearing.

……Pwoof.

The swaying surface of mateki. The thin film of mateki created a slight splash when he stepped on it……but that was all. The ripples were undisturbed and neither the explosion nor curses were released.

The mateki mines wouldn’t react to someone with mateki residing within them.

“ ! “

The Yuugenshu bent its body with a strange roar. It became more cautious of the human that had slipped past its mateki with mateki of its own and jumped far up to avoid his approach.

“───”

Sheltis jumped to follow that shadow.

The crimson crystal was spectator to the beginning and end of that part. Claws and his right swords, fangs and his left sword met……

The high-pitched sound of the Yuugenshu’s crystal core shattering rang out.

At the exact same time.

Directly below, the guardian’s swung mace pierced through the armored mechanical weapon.

### Part 14

“……It’s the mistake of my life.”

Touching her bed hair with her hand, Yuragi let out a long, long sigh.

“To have been knocked out by the rumbling and been sleeping in the waiting room all this time until things were settled.”

“It looks like you slept well.”

“Yes. I already slept twenty four days’ worth……is it okay if I cry?”

“Ahaha, now─ now─. Ymy-sama was also uninjured, so it’s fine.”

Ishtar spoke up with a smile.

But her face was covered with dust and her sleeve was torn starting from the shoulder……

“Ishtar-san……that”

“Mm? Ahh, this got a little torn─. It’s just clothing so it’ll be fixed with a little sewing, you know?”

The slow way she said things was the same as always.

“Was it from battle?”

“Yup, yup. They ran away halfway through but Ishtar didn’t have enough to finish it in one go anyway. On the contrary, it was convenient?”

“……That’s hardcore.”

Just barely managing to say that, Yuragi once again pulled out her memo book.

“By the way, about the plans after this, we were originally supposed to have a banquet on the fourth and final day of the conference──”

“……I think Yuragi-chan’s the one who’s hardcore though?”

The Cadres Guard showed a rare bitter smile.

“We’ll put aside eating. For now, at least.”

“For now?”

Behind them ── Ishtar pointed at the large sofa next to the wall.

“Let them sleep; it looks like they had a lot to deal with too.”

“……You’re right.”

The Priestess Ymy and Guard Monica were sleeping together on the sofa in a friendly manner.

They might be seeing pleasant dreams. They were smiling broadly like one does in happy times.

### 057. Intermission: Empty World

## Interlude – Empty World

Governmental Sector, Central Area, Sector Three, the hangar.

It was a central point where there were usually no checks because of the security equipment and where a great number of guards stood at the gate that served as the only entrance.

There was a single figure that walked through the interior of that hangar without any attempt at hiding himself.

“Yes……there was a hindrance in partway through but it was dealt with using emergency measures. Even if they check the ‘Crimson Eye’s‘ records about the research area in question, they won’t arrive at any information about us.”

The young man had a black communicator at his ear.

He wore a black hat low over his eyes; his attire also consisted of a pitch black suit and pitch black boots. It wasn’t the appearance of blending into the shadows but one of becoming a shadow.

“But it was a hard blow to have the underground facility at the research area destroyed. The ‘Sleeping Child‘ that I captured was also defeated and individuals that suitable for the twins’ ‘experiment‘ are rare……eh? Then catch another one? Don’t say that so easily, it’s pretty hard to catch a Yuugenshu.”

The corners of his lips rose up beneath the rimmed hat.

“I was the same as always. Maha-san? He dominated from start to finish. It looks like his opponent was strong this time so it seems that puppets are no good after all. It might be a good time for the real him to emerge from the ‘Dark Room‘ but he’s pretty shy after all.”

The young man didn’t try to hide his smile from the other party.

“The twins are continuing the experiment? As harsh as always, haven’t they been in the middle of that experiment for around a hundred eighty hours now? Though we wouldn’t be able to make a barrier that surpasses Hyouketsu Kyoukai without that. ……Right then, maybe I’ll bake a chiffon cake as a reward for their hard work. Eh? You’ll help with just the taste testing? Don’t say that and help me for real.”

“ Ara, then you want me to help you bake? Baking things is my specialty, a really big specialty. “

A bewitching laugh came from the other side of the conversation.

“It feels like it’ll become ashes, so I’ll pass on that.”

“ Is that so. What a pity. “

“Then everybody else’s schedules are…………ara, one of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ is moving? I see, so some people in the Governmental Sector really have noticed us as well. If so, then our location might have already been discovered using the ‘Crimson Eye‘. It would be troublesome if that information is supplied to Tenketsu Palace . ……If they sneak up to our base, we’ll grandly welcome them? I see, so it’s finally time to come out into the open.”

He disconnected the communication.

Putting the device into his suit, he took a single deep breath.

“…………I’m happy. I finally got to meet you. Now it can finally start.”

It was a whisper like a sigh.

“The frozen time begins to move. The fragments of memory that all have forgotten. The dreams of all the forgotten children. That which sleeps at the bottom of the Garden of Cursed Song ───”

The wonder-filled monologue permeated the dim hangar. It didn’t resound or echo; that voice truly penetrated.

His age, true face, place of origin, strength, goal and real name were all still unknown. All was unknown ── the only hint was that he identified himself as ‘ Igun-I (Blank World) ‘.”

“Now, Sheltis, let’s sing our story.”

In the dark and gloomy area, Igun-I smiled like the Virgin Mary.

### 058. Epilogue: Just the Two in the Tower at Midnight

## Epilogue – Just the Two in the Tower at Midnight

### Part 1

Right in the middle of the very long Holy Hall.

What broke the excruciating silence was the hushed voice of a woman.

“What are you doing here, ‘ Number One ‘?”

“A moment of silence.”

Keeping his eyes closed and arms crossed, Zeadoll provided an instant response to his ally’s question.

“……You’re reflecting?”

“Indeed. For this is the first time I have allowed an intrusion of the Holy Hall.”

That’s why he was having a moment of silence. It was good that the heavily armored mechanical weapon and Yuugenshu had been defeated, but it was a fact that it had taken too long. He had permitted the mastermind, Igun-I, to escape.

“I’ve heard the story. It sounds like you let the intruder come in contact with the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and escape after that. Even the senate is viewing it as a problem. By the way, ‘ Number Nine ‘ was roaring with laughter.”

“Fumu, I am prepared for punishment. ……I’ll hit ‘ Number Nine ‘ later.”

“He’s out at the moment.”

“‘ Number Nine ‘ is out on a trip?”

“He said he had something to look into. He took along his subordinates and just disappeared.”

“So he just left the Governmental Sector without permission. ……Come to think of it, he investigated something with ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ’ a little while ago. When he comes back, I’ll ask him. With that out of the way──”

He slightly opened one eye.

He didn’t look at the ‘ Number Seven ‘ standing to his side but the Holy Hall ahead of him.

“I have an idea about that punishment. So ‘ Number Seven ‘, how about we try trading charges? You guard the Holy Hall and I’ll watch over yours……”

“Don’t mess around.”

An angry……more like an astonished tone. He didn’t know what face she had on but her expression was likely the same as the ambiance of her voice.

“Like I’d remain in this damp and humid place for even a day. You stay here for your lifetime.”

“I don’t mind that. But breathing the air outside is also a good thing once in a while. There are warriors like that at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“You mean Ishtar?”

The Cadres Guard that had been dispatched from Sophia Tenketsu Palace as the Priestess’ escort. It wouldn’t be weird for her to become a Sennenshi at any time. There were even people at the Governmental Sector that were wary because it was more unnatural that she hadn’t.

“Wrong.”

“……I’m wrong?”

“Umu. But he was skilled. More than that, his eyes showed determination. There are warriors like that in Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

He let out a breath.

“In my personal opinion, there may be a path to reconciliation with Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“That’s a different matter.”

The ‘ Number Seven’s ‘ voice cut him off decisively.

“Come to think of it, why are you here, ‘ Number Seven ‘?”

“I just came to see the vestiges of battle. I came thinking that I might be able to gauge the enemy’s skill but……”

Roughly half of the pillars supporting the ceiling were completely damaged and it was harder to find something that was undamaged. Cracks of various sizes ran across the ceiling and there were large depressions in the ground here and there.

“……It looks to me like all of these traces are yours, you know?”

“I’m bad at holding back.”

“…………”

This damn destructive demon ── he felt like he heard the ‘ Number Seven ‘ mutter that, but he ignored it.

“Even if you’re worthless, you’re still of ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘. I’ll lend you the necessary people to repair this place.”

“How foolish. I won’t accept other people’s help to clear my own responsibility.”

“I won’t know anything if you cry and regret those words, okay?”

“……I guess I’ll depend on you.”

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 65.

The terminal late at night. Glancing at the few night shift workers in the airship control room, it was the time that even the airships, guidance lighting and electronic bulletin board were put to rest──

“Onee-sama!”

In the terminal that was virtually deserted, a single girl ran over with her golden hair fluttering.

“Ah, I’sa-chan!”

Ishtar’s face lit up after she descended from the airship. She forcibly hugged to her chest the Regular Guard girl who’d run over.

“Waa, there, there. Has I’sa-chan been a good girl? Onee-chan was so, so worried that bad men would hang around you while she wasn’t here!”

“O-Onee-sama……I-I can’t breathe. L-Let go!”

“No─pe. I’ll hug you a whole week’s worth.”

The older sister held fast and would let go of her struggling little sister.

“W-wait a second, please, onee-sama. I have to greet the Priestess-sama first. And……I heard that Maha Golden attacked the Governmental Sector.”

“Ah, that’s right. There might be something like that.”

“Priestess Meimel-sama and boss……I mean, Captain Ran and the Instructor with a few others. They were eager to hear about the circumstances upon onee-sama’s return. They’re already waiting in the meeting room.”

“Ehhhh!? I thought I could finally take a break……”

Ishtar’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

“Then I’ll go on ahead. Onee-sama, please come afterward.”

“‘Kay─…………we’ll do this again later, I’sa-chan.”

The older sister weakly waved her hand as she watched her little sister leave. Or so it seemed, but her little sister turned around and bowed spiritedly.

“Now, Ymy-sama, thank you for your hard work!”

“Ah……y-yes! Thank you for your hard work; I’m really thankful.”

“No, no, Ishtar should be the one thanking you.”

“Heh?”

“Ah, just talking to myself─. Rather than that, you should thank them too.”

……Monica-senpai, Kagura-san and Vaiel-san.

In a place a little ways off, the exhausted General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group and the Cadet Guards defending them. The three’s expressions seemed to be saying, “Finally”, as they carried the General Affairs Bureau Chief’s group’s luggage without saying much.

“Ymy-sama…………well then……we’ll part ways here……”

“For I as well……guarding the……General Affairs Bureau Chief’s……group until the end is……my job……”

Their parting words were just like an incantation.

“……Everyone’s tired so I don’t think it’s a good time to thank them.”

“Right─. Monica-san’s unit had that as their first mission and it’s the first time the General Affairs Bureau Chief has experienced an attack of that magnitude first-hand, right? Well, everything’s an experience.”

Ishtar’s laughing voice resounded throughout the floor.

……I’m no match for her.

She hadn’t slept a good amount for several days and even had a harsh fight with Maha Golden at the end, but she still had leftover energy.

“Well then, Ishtar will also head to the meeting room. They’re waiting without getting sleep.”

“Th-that’s right. It sounds like there are some great people at the meeting room.”

“I meant I’sa-chan!”

“…………”

“It would be terrible if the cute I’sa-chan were to lack sleep so I’ll end this meeting or whatever in five minutes! Ahh, jeez, to have a little sister that waits for her onee-chan until this late at night, Ishtar is the happiest person in the world. This excess happiness might make me lack sleep tomorrow too───”

She spoke heatedly with a clenched fist.

“……Haa.”

“Mm, what’s the matter, Ymy-sama?”

“No, ……what should I say. I feel like I also understand I’sa-san’s feelings. Even though you looked cool when you protected me from Maha Golden .”

The light in her eyes seemed like it would cut you with just a touch and her voice was low.

It was a little scary but when she stood between them and Maha Golden , she had unapproachable majesty and pride.

“……Even so.”

This change.

It was the same since she’d met her at the terminal several days ago. What was this slack state of hers?

“I feel like I’d like to see the cool Ishtar normally too.”

“Ahaha, I’sa-chan also says that oftenn. She says that no matter how much it’s to make people let down their guard, onee-sama is playing innocent too much. Ymy-sama, you also think that?”

The Cadres Guard smiled embarrassedly with her tongue poking out.

In response to that childish way of feigning ignorance.

“Yes, if you had asked me up until yesterday, I would have thought so but──”

Ymy shook her head with a smile.

“When you’re fighting is the exception and this right now is your true self, right ? It’s not you playing innocent.”

A moment.

“…………”

Her eyes suddenly sharpened.

“I remember our conversation back at the hotel quite well.”

“ I’sa, you meaaan? Yes, she’s Ishtar’s only family in any case. “

“ I’sa-chan used to have a weak constitution long ago and would immediately get a fever, you know? On top of that, she was very spoiled and would cry while saying, ‘ It’s lonely when onee-chan isn’t here! ‘ when Ishtar went out to get her medicine. “

She took one step towards Ishtar who was staying silent.

The tall woman stared down at her and she stared up at her expression.

“It might have been really hard to look after the previously sickly I’sa-chan that well. ……That’s what I thought. It’s not something that can be done easily with a simple reason like her being your precious little sister. Your happy face as you talk about I’sa-san can’t be you playing innocent.”

In place of a mother, a heartwarming smile was needed to comfort her little sister who was sickly as a child.

In place of a father, dignified strength to protect her frail sister was required.

Both sides could be said to be her. However, if it came down to a question of which one was her true self──

“There are probably a lot of people that are mistaken.”

“ ……That’s why I don’t like you; just when you’re playing innocent, you suddenly reveal your true colors. “

Those words that Sheltis said.

A large amount of the Guards thought the same.

“ The Guards probably have great respect for the position of Cadres Guard. They can naturally imagine that you’d ‘ be like this ‘. That might be why they feel a sense that your usual carefree attitude is out of place. They think that it doesn’t suit the image of a Cadres Guard, it’s to have the enemies let down their guard. ”

“………………”

“But that’s wrong. When you’re fighting is the exception and I think that the motherly and kind Ishtar-san when with I’sa-san is closer to your true self.”

……I somehow have a feeling that I understand.

She was good at looking after kids and also at making meals and snacks.

Even if the given reason was to look after I’sa-chan, the truth is……isn’t the truth just that she likes those things?

“I just want you to answer me one thing. This is……a really personal question but, Ishtar-san, you didn’t really want to become a Guard, did you? For example, maybe you would have rather been a kindergarten teacher, a housekeeper, cake store owner or something similar?”

But she had chosen the path of a spear user.

Because there had been something more important than the road she wanted to take.

“I want to confirm that more than anything else.”

“…………”

She said nothing, her lips remaining a line.

And──

“Who knoows? Ishtar’s an idiot so she’s already forgotten things from so long agoo.”

She slowly turned her back towards her with a half-spin.

“Ah, w-wait! Wait──”

“See ya, Priestess-sama! Here’s one more thing from me. I understood over the four day period we were together but he really does suit Ymy-sama like I thought.”

“……Who’s he?”

Who is that?

“That’s right, I wonder how many years it’s been. I’ve heard Ymy-sama’s name before, you know?”

The Cadres Guard looked over with a sharp gaze and the corners of her mouth tilted up.

“‘ She’s an apprentice Priestess right now, but Ymy will definitely become a Priestess. That’s why── ’“

“Y-yeah. That’s why……?”

“‘ It’d be the biggest issue for the tower if there were a mischievous, scatterbrained Priestess, so I have to be a Sennenshi to look after her. ’“

“…………Sc-scatterbrained!?”

“E-he-he. It’s a secret as to who said it〰. Well then, Ymy-sama, see ya─”

The Cadres Guard started to leave. She watched her go without being able to say anything.

It was then that the airship door behind her opened.

“Ah─……jeez! Monica and Kagura and Vaiel! How unfair of them to leave their luggage behind because they’re tired! Does this mean I have to carry this all myself!?”

“ It’s your last job. “

Four peoples’ worth including his own and his three comrade’s. The boy she knew ran down the steps with nothing but travel bags loaded on his shoulders.

“Oh, Ymy?”

She looked at him blankly and blinked.

“Just standing there like that, did you forget something?”

“…………”

“……Ymy?”

“I found him.”

In front of her childhood friend who was looking at her face, she clenched her fist.

Then.

“Sheltissss!”

Ymy shouted with her face bright red.

“You’re the one who said it! J-just……who’s a scatterbrain────!?”

### Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 291, ‘ Paradise ‘.

While it was a floor of the tower, there was no ceiling nor walls. The unobstructed white night sky spread overhead and the azure ice walls spread out to the distance below.

Even breathing.

Even the body’s warmth.

Even memories, consciousness and anything else, all would freeze in this world.

All manners of protection from the cold were meaningless. All creatures, all substances and Yuugenshu. It was a world of ice which could freeze everything without exception.

“The fifth Priestess has just returned from the Governmental Sector.”

She was at the center of this world.

“Ymy Ele Soufflenictole. Even though I took the time, she still can’t hear the Forbidden Crystal’s voice. She couldn’t handle the plan I blessed her with……what a worrisome girl.”

She combed her glossy black hair with her hand.

Clinging tightly to her long and slender arm was a pitch black vestment which faithfully mirrored her curvaceous body.

Wrapped in the vestment tailored specifically for her, the woman smiled faintly.

“Right? It’s just like a certain somebody from the distant past.”

“ ……Tsali. “

In the middle of that area surrounded by the ice walls that spread out.

That voice came from the interior of a particularly large Hyouketsu crystal.

“ Unfortunately I have no recollection of who that could be, so I wonder who it could be? “

Mature ── compared to that, it was the voice of an extremely young girl.

“Oh, so you were awake.”

“ You were too loud so the shinryoku wavelength is getting disrupted. ……What are you going to do if a Yuugenshu manages to penetrate the barrier? “

“The supervisor of this tower, Queen Salah, would have her shinryoku disrupted with just this?”

Those words could be said to be cool-headed, but her tone remained intimate to the end.

“Even if the Yuugenshu rise to the surface, there is a suitable person to subjugate them.”

“ ……Sheltis Magna Yehle. “

“And there’s also Ilis for that purpose. It looks like that stubborn machine’s calculation abilities haven’t declined. There’s no problem with practical use.”

“ Ilis is energetic. She seems to have devoted herself to support to make up for losing her body as a machine god. It’s praiseworthy. Even though when she was supporting you, she didn’t really support and kept complaining, but she’s now……sometimes dedicated to the point of causing me unease. “

Tsali’s lips stiffened for the first time with those words that reverberated from within the ice. She silently clenched her right hand that had languidly lowered.

“That’s not something I can comment on. ……Well, to begin with, that stubborn machine was more of a meddler than a machine god. It’s a little boring for me though.”

“ She was a good quarreling opponent for you, after all. ──Mikuva the machine god who stood against a few million Yuugenshu alone. The strongest and final incomplete god-class machine to which the last hope of humanity was entrusted. “

“The problem is the two right now, right? What do you think about the essential part from your point of view?”

“ ………… “

A curtain of silence descended upon the world of ice.

Invisible airflow. With a surge that couldn’t be called the wind or a blizzard, Tsali’s hair fluttered and after the time for that flowed forever.

“ It still won’t reach. The deepest part of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song still won’t answer. “

That was the answer the Queen gave.

“Sheltis Magna Yehle and Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ── the one chosen by the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s mateki and the one who inherited the Baptism of Amaryllis. I wonder if they will live up to expectations.”

“ That is dependent on them. “

“It’ll take some time until things start up.”

“ Yes, I’m counting on you for continued surveillance. I will contact you if there is a change with the Forbidden Crystal. “

“Contact, huh……ahh, that’s right. Speaking of contacting, I have one other thing to convey.”

Tsali’s foot that had spun on its heel came to a halt. With a fearless smile that could be seen as provocative spread broadly on her face,

“The third organization attacked the Governmental Sector’s ‘ Crimson Eye ‘. Those big-shots ── the Lords of Unusual Books are also moving, so Sophia Tenketsu Palace should be prepared for hindrances if they get near the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . I’ve confirmed five people from the Lords of Unusual Books and they’ve gathered a really interesting bunch of members. As far as I could intercept from their telepathy, pillaging Priestesses is also within their plans.”

“ So you mention such an important plan as an afterthought. “

The voice that answered was shocked.

“I’ll leave the troublesome things to you. This tower is like your child, right? You deal with it.”

“ I will overcome the obstacles. I will absolutely reach the deepest part of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . “

“──It’s time; I have plans so I’ll be going.”

And she turned around once again.

Her black hair that covered her back spread like wings and, with her pitch black vestments, hid her body from view.

“ Business? How unusual. What kind of business? “

“What, you ask, well that’s──”

Finally.

After her black hair that resembled black wings had tapered to a point.

“I have a promise to play with Eyri-nee ♪”

Her innocent young voice echoed throughout the floor called Paradise.

### 059. Afterword

She continues to protect her absolute sanctuary for the sake of a single family member……

Thank you for picking up this book, I’m Sazane Kei.

I wonder how you liked the fifth volume of ‘ Eden ‘?

It has already been published that the boy who fell to paradise has returned to the tower and formed a unit together with new allies. With that in mind, this time will be an important mission that challenges that unit. This is the first mission with full members so it would be fortunate if it were to come together as a story. Unexpectedly, this is also the heaviest book so far in ‘Eden ‘.

Also, this fifth book marks a full year for the series. The story is just starting to get going so I’d really like to do my best for next year.

◆ Changing the subject: my new computer

As the title says, I’ve made a complete one-eighty from my previous laptop and moved on to a desktop computer. The screen’s suddenly become so large that it’s actually a little hindering and I was a little bewildered at the difference in how typing felt with the new keyboard, but having the boot-up and software launch speeds faster is really pleasant.

It was the fastest laptop at the time just there’s such a difference with just a few years. The development of technology is to be feared.

With this, my manuscripts will be done faster……or they should be, but that’s not true for some reason. What a mysteryyy.

◆ About the drama CD

Now then, an announcement about it last volume but this is about ‘ Eden ’s‘ drama CD.

The first announcement was in August and it’s been four months since then. In that period of time, a book was completed and the seiyuu-sans were decided. Also, as a peculiar nitpick for ‘ Eden ‘, we’re being particular about the “music” playing in the background.

I envisioned ‘ Eden ‘ as a story with a high affinity to music and arias from the onset. The studio, Marine Entertainment-sama, are also matching with that and sending sample BGM to the author (that would be Sazane in this case) and deciding the music to be used in the drama CD based off his feedback.

※ It’s extremely rare for a novel author to be involved as far as the BGM.

I will use this space to thank all those from the studio that’s being particular and creating this enthusiastically, Marine Entertainment, the one who was in charge of volume for the drama CD, Tsuyama Touka-sama, the seiyuu-samas that blew “sound” into this story, as well as all those involved in the making of this drama CD.

──Seiyuu Introductions

Sheltis Abe Atsushi-sama Ymy Asumi Kana-sama Leon Nakamura Yuuichi-sama Syun-rei Tatsumi Yuiko-sama Ran Ise Mariya-sama Meimel Endou Aya-sama Salah Queen Oohara Sayaka-sama Tsali Sawashiro Miyuki-sama Eyriey Hikasa Youka-sama Yuto Kanemoto Hisako-sama Ilis Shindou Kei-sama

Other than that, assistance was received from many seiyuu.

With that, the drama CD will be unveiled on December 29, 2010.

It will be on sale on Marine Entertainment’s homepage (limited edition and regular edition) and net shop, can be ordered at all Animate stores and will also be available in CD shops. For details, please visit Marine Entertainment’s special homepage: .

It’s a rare chance to mix media so Sazane is also participating excitedly. Please try out the world of ‘ Eden ’s‘ music as well.

◆ Thanks

To my editor K-san who I’ve really been under the care of for this volume, Kasukabe Akira-san who produced beautiful illustrations as always even with his super busy schedule, thank you very much!

Above all, to you who have taken this book into your hands, I thank you from my heart!

Thanks to you all, I have been able to do my best for a year now. I hope for you support for the coming year as well.

◆ Next Volume Preview

……This is an isolated world…………filled with the Forbidden Crystal……my world.

The girl who stands opposite of the boy who fell to paradise. If you can hear my voice……then I will teach you the true Sophia Code Seventh Heaven Rhythm .

The third Priestess and third Sennenshi return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

The Sennenshi who won’t take orders from anyone, Horn Nova, pursues a single Yuugenshu. In that battle, Sheltis and Ymy, as a Priestess, bet their everything.

On the other hand, a strange rumor spreads throughout Tenketsu Palace’s tower──

Well then, let’s meet once again in March in ‘ Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden 6, Crystal World ‘.

Last third of October 2010 Sazane Kei

- ↑ [T/N: He really wrote that Sheltis fell to "paradise". I didn't make a mistake here.]

## 06. Volume 6 - Crystal World ( Full Text )

### 001. Afterword

Thank you for taking this book into your hands, I’m Sazane Kei.

It’s sudden but the afterword this time is three pages. While I was writing the afterword, I thought to myself that this much of an afterword will basically be suitable for Sazane.

It’s a problem if there are too many pages and it’s difficult to summarize the contents if there are too few pages. With three pages, while talking about recent happenings, I can end off with “Is it just a bit short?” This “Is it just a bit short?” barrier is a point like when eating or playing where you would go “Just a little more!” and stop to enjoy the next time, which I believe is a good time.

──Let’s put that aside. Now onto a little about the volume.

About the contents of the all-important ‘Eden 6‘, the first thing is to read it. Pretty much all allies are present and Ymy also begins to get involved in the main crux of the story; I would be happy if you came to see and feel the full picture of the world little by little.

Next volume, finally we’ll be charging into the enemy camp(?) or maybe it should be said that all the allies up to now will get wrapped up in a climax of the story. Please look forward to it.

◆ A Few Present Happenings ~Accelerating Sleeping Time~

My usual super early lifestyle continues.

From my ‘three in the morning‘ daily start which began half a year ago, it has slowly moved to ‘half past two in the morning‘ and as I’ve gotten used to that, I’m planning to challenge waking up at ‘two in the morning‘. If I keep getting earlier like this, around next year, I may or may not end up waking up at ‘late at night, midnight‘.

Eh? What do I do when waking up so early?

That would be my manuscr……which also gets done occasionally, and I read books or search for materials online. I’d also like to introduce things that are like “I’m going to do this!” but this is pretty difficult, organizing afterword pages……

◆ Thanks

To my editor, K-san, who always gives me precise advice and my illustrator, Kasukabe Akira, who draws beautiful illustrations, thank you very much!

And all those supporting ‘Eden‘, I’m counting on you from now on as well!

◆ Next Volume Preview

I shall tell you everything. All you wish to know and all you wish not to know, all of it together.

……That is why I am here after all.

Meimel’s selected unit from Tenketsu Palace .

Along with the Number Nine ’s group, they await their infiltration into the third organization’s base and those who are waiting to receive them also quietly await that time. Those selected for the unit and those who wish for their return on the floating continent . A great many expectations intertwine complexly, then.

Everything distorts with Igun’I’s baptism───

Well then, let us meet again in ‘Hyouketsu Kyoukai no Eden 7 Blank Baptism‘.

Last third of January, 2011 Sazane Kei

### 002. Intermission – The Lords of Unusual Books

……

…………Heh heh.

……Haha, ahaha…………fufuu.

The overlapping laughter of children.

“ Hey, hey, Igun-I, is this okay? Mission complete. ”

“ Yeah, mission complete. ”

The small room had a sweet fragrance floating within it.

In the small room devoid of light bulbs, the only thing that could be called illumination was the moonlight coming through the window.

“Neue and Neosis, good work. I’m bad with machines so you really helped me out.”

“ It’s simple, you just have to memorize it. ”

“ Yup, just memorize it. ”

Two child’s voices echoed in the room. But the owners of those voices were nowhere to be seen in the room. Only the voices were resounding as if emerging.

“Unfortunately, people have things they’re good at and things they’re not, you know?”

A tall, lean young man with a brimmed hat worn as far as his eyes answered with a smile.

He wore a black hat, black suit and black shoes. Amidst the clothes which were a uniform jet black, pale blond which peeked through black hair was fluttering in the wind.

“ Igun-I is terrible with machines to a surprising degree. ”

“ Yeah, he even does the laundry by hand instead of using a machine. ”

“But you know, you two, it’s kinder on your laundry to do it by hand.”

The laughter resounded once again.

“ You should share that kindness with the person from Tenketsu Palace. ”

“ Yeah, you should share it. ”

“ Yeah, it’s pitiful being teased by Igun-I. Around now, he should be fearful. ”

“It’s precisely because I like him very much.”

Grabbing a very bright red strawberry, the man known as Igun-I deepened his smile.

“I’d be happy if he realized who it was. I can’t help enjoying wondering if he’ll come to meet me quickly.”

“ Fu─n. That’s right, you’re kind to us. ”

“ Yeah, you’re kind. Because you’re kind, the promised── ”

“Worry not. It’ll be done once I decorate it with strawberries like this. ……There’s just one thing. The truth is there were many times more strawberries than this but they were eaten by Natraja-san.”

The Lord of Unusual Books drooped his shoulders as if there was no greater disappointment than this.

“ Eh─, agaaain? ”

“ You know, Noesis, that’s called ‘ food snitching ‘. It’s the natural enemy of girls so if you do it too much, you become fat. ”

“Oh my, who will grow fat?”

In an instant, the dim room was dyed bright red.

It was a ‘ brilliant red ‘ more red than the ripened strawberries. The lights that painted everything red lit up in the air one after the other with a fwoom sound.

“If it isn’t Natraja-san, have you finished your job at the Governmental Sector?”

“Being a secretary is a monotonous job. Communications investigations and communications investigations. And today was the day I accompany a member of the parliament for sake……which I ignored and came back here instead. When I was asked for a reason, it felt like I would say ‘ It’s because I’m a spy so sorry ♪ ‘.”

A woman appeared in the room without a sound.

“But Natraja-san, don’t you like sake? I think you would have been fine accompanying that person for sake.”

“Drinking sake is highly situational. I like drinking with just two in a quiet place. I hate looking at groups that just drink sloppily.”

The woman called Natraja raised an empty glass with her snow-white fingers.

“Hey, Igun-I, is the cake still not done? I want to eat it as well.”

“Then Natraja-san, would you also help with the decorating?”

“Oh my, didn’t I help with baking it? Though I got the heat a little wrong and scorched it a bit.”

The woman smiled with her glossy lips touching the empty glass. Still in that posture, she reached one hand out to Igun-I’s black hat──

“Goodness. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have had to redo this.”

Just before that hand touched the hat, Igun-I pressed down firmly on it.

“By the way, about what you were talking about, did you ask the twins to do something?”

“ He did, he did; we sent a message to the floating continent‘s Tenketsu Palace .”

“ Yeah, he requested it. We sent a message. ”

Right─, agreed the two voices in sync.

“It was a minor matter. I wanted to trouble my beloved person. But if it wasn’t done well, the message would have a record left, right? That’s why I asked the twins. It would be nice if he were to realize it was me.”

“You have quite the hobby there. While I was working seriously, you were playing innocent.”

The woman returned the glass to the table and sighed.

“This place has been discovered by the Governmental Sector.”

“Oh dear.”

There was not a hint of wavering from Igun-I who continued to decorate the cake with strawberries.

“The Ninth of the aforementioned ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘──”

“So it seems. It looks like this place was located with that ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ before you and Maha gained control of Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. As expected, there are people that can use their heads well.”

“Fumu, and what is our response? What did the First say?”

“Nothing.”

Her response was simple.

“He was in the middle of training as always so he didn’t say anything. From the air about him, I would guess ‘ How about you face them appropriately and turn the tables on them? ‘”

“I haven’t seen the First -san do anything other than train.”

“Right─……even though it’d be okay to accompany me for sake sometimes.”

She gazed seemingly reproachfully at the transparent glass.

“Come now, how about you invite the Third sometimes?”

“No. What would I talk about with just the two of us? It’s the same as having an ornament for my partner. ──Well, the organization is on their way so I’ll have fun with them. I’d be happy if a wonderful gentleman were to come.”

She carefully picked out a strawberry decorating the cake and popped it into her mouth.

“A wonderful gentleman like who?”

“Look, isn’t there a Sennenshi that wields a great sword? Umm……I think it was Leon. He’s supposed to look exactly like that person. Igun-I, you saw him at the floating archipelago , right?”

“Yes. They really are spitting images of each other. It’s an exact resemblance. They both wield great swords and the way he holds the great sword is also the exact same as the First -san.”

“I’m looking forward to it even more. Ahh, I’m looking forward to it; I’ll need to service him magnificently.”

Her bewitching lips curved up and she sighed charmingly.

“Fifth , Sixth , stop your training and group up as well.”

“O─kay. Isn’t that great, Noel, that we get to skip training?”

“Yeah, that’s great, Noesis.”

“I’m looking forward to it…………I wonder if Sheltis will come.”

“Mm? Did you say something?”

In response to the woman with good hearing.

“No. No─t a thing.”

Answering with a pure smile, Igun-I once again closed his mouth.

## Final Chapter – That Which is Worth Betting Everything on ──Crystal World──

### 003. Part 1

“…………”

Mushrooms were piled up in a mountain on the cutting board.

From pure white mushrooms as thin as string, to bright red mushrooms that looked as solid as stone, spotted poisonous mushrooms that were uncannily moving and mushrooms that were currently in a balloon state and spouting spores.

“…………Muu.”

Sheltis glared down at that ominous mountain of mushrooms.

He had reddish brown frizzy hair, looks with some cherubic and impish qualities still present and a slimness that couldn’t quite be called slender.

“Which ones are poisonous and which ones are edible……”

He had taken off his favorite black jacket, and was wearing a striped apron over his shirt.

As for why he was sporting such an appearance, it was because he was currently in the kitchen. But even if he was in the kitchen, it didn’t mean that he’d be left with cooking duties and what he’d been handed was a guidebook instead of a knife.

“……I can’t see anything except poisonous mushrooms though.”

With the book labeled ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘ on its spine in one hand, he compared the images on the pages to the mushrooms on the cutting board.

For example, this spotted poisonous mushroom. The uncanny movement was a feature but this was written for it in the ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘.

‘ Compound color spotted poisonous shimeji

The red and yellow flecks are its trait. It moves about once every three seconds and you can see that this is a reaction to releasing spores. Do you understand?

Anyway, don’t eat this unless you’re reckless; actually, don’t even touch it. It’s a potent poisonous mushroom that will keep you from leaving the toilet for a week with bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. If you’re unlucky, your kidneys and liver will fail and you’ll die. ‘

“……For the time being, that means this one can’t be eaten.”

It was written not to touch it so the poison might be transferred from the skin too. He timidly tried to move it off the cutting board with the edge of the knife──

“ Ah, wait, Sheltis. I think it’s this one. The one on the left page. “

Ilis Machine crystal which was at the end of the pendant hanging at his chest was blinking.

“This?”

“ Yes, if it’s that one, then it’s edible. Why not consider it? “

“ Compound color spotted pseudo-shimeji

The red and yellow flecks are its trait. For movements, it moves about once every four seconds and doesn’t have spores. (It’s a pain so look at the right page.)

Unlike the mushroom on the right page, this one is edible, so you can boil or fry it or whatever you like. The difference with the poisonous mushroom to the right is in the movements. That one moves once every three seconds and this one moves once every four seconds. Distinguish that. ……Well, sometimes that one takes four seconds and this one takes three seconds, so just think of it as having bad luck and give up if that happens. You’ll be fine if you’re normally a good person. Pray. I also ingested poison because of this once. “

“How am I supposed to tell!?”

“ No, look, it says if you’re normally a good person then you’ll be fine even if you eat it── “

“No, no, no! Isn’t this guidebook completely worthless!? Rather, isn’t this sentence here non-explanatory? ‘ Pray, I also ingested poison because of this once ‘, isn’t this irresponsible!? Who’s the author…………Va……iel?”

He had to be seeing things. The name of the author on the guidebook was the same as the name of a man who belonged to the same unit.

……Come to think of it, Vaiel did seem to specialize in cooking.

Putting aside the two women of marriageable age, Monica and Kagura, he was the only one who could actually cook in their unit.

“Nah, it couldn’t be.”

Author introduction.

He became a best seller when he published an explanatory book on “Men’s Cooking” borne of living alone most of the time. Though sharp-tongued, his thorough and heated explanations are supported by an wide variety of readers. ……Lately, he was scouted by a unit of three kids in his main occupation as a Guard. What a paiiin.

“It’s Vaiel!?”

“ Isn’t that great; if it’s someone you know then we can trust what’s written. As expected of the unit’s head chef. “

“I wonder about that……”

As I thought, let’s avoid dangerous things. From the pile of mushrooms, he took the thin white mushroom and looked at the guidebook again. And──

“Hey, Sheltis, did you call me just now?”

The woman chopping rhythmically in the center of the kitchen looked over.

It was the store owner of the open-air cafe, ‘ Albireo ‘, located in the Second Living District. She was still young……most likely, she was in her early twenties yet managing this shop, and she was normal for her to be known as head chef in the store.

“Nope, not you, head chef. A different person.”

“Oh my, is that so? By the way, are you done with the preparations for the mushroom nabe I left you with?”

“Mm─, I’m still selecting the mushrooms.”

“My, my, it can’t be helped. Then I’ll handle this. You look after the nabe over there. Add some water if it looks like it’s about to boil over.”

“Okay, okay. ……This is how it’s like when I come back after a while.”

It’s almost been a full two months.

Just when he thought he’d returned to the place he’d lived and worked at until he re-entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace , she hadn’t said “welcome back” or “it’s been a while” and instead bluntly went “help with the cooking preparations”.

“It’s exactly because it’s been a while.”

She smiled spinning her knife skillfully.

“But it was great timing. I went hunting for mushrooms on the last holiday but because I took anything I could find, it’s hard to tell which ones are poisonous. If you hadn’t come, it would’ve been too much work so I would’ve just boiled it all and served it to the customers.”

“You’re brimming with the intent to kill with poison!?”

“It’s fine. I’d hire somebody to taste test for poison before that……about ten healthy ones.”

“It’s not fine at all: it’d be terrible for those people!”

……Ahh, I’m glad it was stopped before victims appeared.

……Actually, I don’t think this is something that would normally be considered at an open-air cafe.

“But there’s a ton. Did you gather these all by yourself?”

“Of course I went with Eyriey. We rode on her three-wheeled vehicle to the Biotope.”

“The Biotope? Eh, but that place”

The Orbie Clar floating continent could be largely split into three areas.

First, in the middle were the Living Districts that people inhabited.

On the outside of that was the Nature District. This area had nature preserved and was comparatively safe.

Further beyond that lay the Biotope ── it was a savage land with vast nature that hadn’t been touched by humans and which extended to the edges of the Orbie Clar floating continent . The chances of encountering wild dragons and large carnivores and, above all, Yuugenshu was high in this area.

“There are swarms of wild carnivores……”

“Yes, it’s been a long time since I enjoyed such a full-out thrill. An earth dragon, a fire-breathing bird and a ten metre-long super poisonous centipede. I recalled the past without trying to.”

“Head chef, who are you?”

“You sure say some strange things; aren’t I just the owner of an open-air cafe?”

Chop, chop chop chop chop chop. She precisely sliced the vegetables thinly with the knife in a reversed grip.

……It’s strange when she holds the knife in reverse. It’s exactly like when I hold my dual blades.

“Ah, and Sheltis. Was Meimel doing well?”

“Meimel?”

“Yes, there should be a Priestess in Sophia Tenketsu Palace by that name. You’re a Guard of Sophia Tenketsu Palace so I was wondering if you already met her. Come now, it’s that Priestess that loves to tease. No matter how busy she is, she’ll drink a day’s worth of vegetable juice and won’t go without an hour of calisthenics.”

“I’ve met her but……wait, wh-what’s with that suggestive information! Hey, why does an open-air cafe shopkeeper know about a Priestess’ private life!?”

“Eh? This is obvious──”

The head chef said up to there and then shut her mouth and crossed her arms in thought.

“……Let’s talk about this some other day.”

“Uwaa, suddenly acting like it’s none of my business!”

The second Priestess, Meimel, and the head chef.

……I’m curious but also kind of scared to find out.

He wanted to know but would avoid getting in deep. Somehow feeling something cold down his back, Sheltis gave up on pursuing the matter further.

“By the way, where’s Eyriey who went to the Biotope with you?”

“She’s shopping at a market on the outskirts. But she’s late. It’s been an hour since I asked her so it wouldn’t be strange for her to return any minute now.”

The head chef frowned with a puzzled expression.

“Maybe she’s loitering around again.”

“No─pe, I wasn’t. There was just an unusual arrest so I went to take a look.”

The shop’s back door opened slowly revealing a girl holding paper bags with both arms.

“I’m back! Oh, Sheltis, you should’ve said you were coming back ahead of time. You were in the Governmental Sector until the day before yesterday, right?”

Eyriey put the paper bags down on the kitchen counter.

She had unkempt orange hair and not a shred of make-up. Her favorite clothes were oil-stained overalls which had none of the showiness of a sixteen year old.

“Yeah, we put together the report after returning yesterday and finally got to take a break this morning. That’s why I wondered if I could go outside during that time. There’s another meeting in the evening though.”

“Heh─, a meeting? Then maybe Yuto and I will come play too.”

“……I wonder how the topic just now made you think of coming to play.”

“We’ll wait patiently in your room while you’re at the meeting. Let’s play after the meeting ends? Okay? Yuto also said she wanted to visit Shel-nii.”

“If I get the time then.”

“‘Kay─! Then let’s finish today’s job in a flash. It’s just inspecting the errand bike’s engine so it should take just a few minutes──”

“Would you wait, Eyriey?”

The head chef quickly caught by the neck the girl who was about to run out the back door again.

“It’s fine if you’re going to do your job but isn’t there something to report before that? It looks like your shopping took a while. What’s this you were saying about looking at something?”

“Ah, I was interested in that too.”

An unusual arrest she’d said, but what did that mean?

“Right, right, I thought you’d say that.”

Eyriey tapped her fist to her palm while still being held by the neck.

“At the plaza a little while ago, I saw a purse snatching. The thief aimed for an elderly’s purse and ran away after snatching it.”

“Oh my, that’s unusual. A thievery.”

While looking sideways over at how the boiling nabe was doing, the head chef rolled her eyes in surprise.

Although a light crime, it was rare for thievery like that to happen in the Living Districts where public order was good. There were reporting devices installed in places and everyone knew that the criminal’s face would show up plain as day on the observation cameras.

“Since it was an arrest, of course it was a security officer who caught him.”

“I saw a stranger scene than that, head chef!”

Eyriey clenched her fist with an excited tone of voice.

“The criminal who stole a purse at the plaza and ran away! Ahh, what is the fate of the obaa-san’s purse!? ── or so I thought, then an onee-san came from the intersection on the other side with a huge rifle and when I was wondering what she’d do, she pointed the gun at the criminal and ‘ bang! ‘.”

“She shot?”

“It was a rubber bullet for suppression though. Yeahhh, it was surprising. Since the security officers in town carry stun guns, right? She had such a heavy rifle! Her outfit wasn’t the blue one security officers wear either, but some kind of dark camouflage suit.”

“ Eyriey, I have a feeling that wasn’t a security officer. According to my information, rifles aren’t on the list of large guns carried by security officers. “

“Ah, so it really isn’t? But it was amazing! That onee-san held that rifle in one hand and shot the criminal from within the midday crowd in the plaza. Even though she’d hit a civilian if she missed…………she really nailed him.”

“Of course she would. I think she’d hit him even if she shot a hundred times.”

“ She’d hit him. “

“Yeah? Sheltis and Ilis, what’s up, you know her?”

“Eyriey, that was probably a Guard and not a security officer. And a ridiculously famous one.”

Exceptional physical strength that made it possible to one-hand a two-handed rifle. That and the courage to shoot within a crowd without hesitation were the makings of a sniper.

Above all else──

“ Say, Eyriey, was that woman wearing a strange blindfold? “

“She was, she was! Shooting a rifle with both eyes covered, that’s so amazing!……so who is that person?”

……The sniper with a blinder.

……So she has returned to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“I think even you’ve heard at least her name. Come on, think of who would be the most famous sisters on the Orbie Clar floating continent ”

“ Horn Nova ── she is the little sister of the third Priestess, Viola Nova, and holds the position of the third Sennenshi, Ex Machina. She is the representative master shooter of the Orbie Clar floating continent and the user of the ‘ Magic Bullet ‘. “

### 004. Part 1

Sunlight that made one think of the height of summer shined down brilliantly upon the outdoor training grounds.

In a corner of the grounds which had a desert that spread as far as the horizon, rocky terrain, a marsh and large roaring waterfall──

“Ohh……ohhh! Ohhhhhhh!”

Gripping her shining silver badge, Kagura held it high up.

“A-Amazing! L-look, look. On the display in the corner, in the ‘ merit points ‘ field, there are 75 points. The points from the Governmental Sector expedition have been added!”

“So noisy. Everybody got them so they know without you ranting about it.”

He glanced at his own badge and tucked it away at his chest with disinterest.

“You brat.”

“I-It’s fine, isn’t it! One should be honestly happy in times like this. Come on, don’t put yours away and show it to me!”

She held out her hands.

“Haa? It’s not interesting looking at other people’s badges.”

“It’s fine. Come on, quickly……mm? H-huh? Why are your points higher than mine? What’s the meaning of these 102 points? Did you go out on a mission without us knowing?”

“Like I’d do such annoying stuff.”

Vaiel snatched his badge from Kagura who was repeatedly tilting her head.

“Ah, wait!”

“Before we went to the Governmental Sector, the theme for final selection of the unit was patrolling the Nature District. Somebody got exhausted by a Yuugenshu and caused me great pains, or did you forget?”

“Ah……”

The redness of Kagura’s cheeks shot up under the machine helmet.

It had been Vaiel who saved her at the last moment when she’d been attacked by a Yuugenshu and he had repelled it while covered completely in wounds. It was necessary to earn ‘ merit points ‘ to be promoted in Sophia Tenketsu Palace and other than missions, there were other ways to gain points like defeating Yuugenshu.

“ Ahh, now that you mention it, the points for defeating a Yuugenshu are also included. The difference in your merit points is 27, so it’s being classified as a small Yuugenshu. You would’ve earned twice as much if it were a little larger. “

“Like I can fight something that big.”

Vaiel folded his arms in response to the murmuring from Ilis machine crystal .

“……Come to think of it, how many points are necessary for the all-important promotion to Regular Guard?”

“Think of it as being around 300.”

Monica, who was cooling off in a tree’s shade, replied immediately.

“You can register for the Regular Guard exam when you save up 300 points. Even if you don’t pass within a year, you can continue to take on missions and you should be exempted from the written exam at 450 points.”

“If you think of it like that……I have pretty much half.”

Sitting on the bench in the tree’s shade, Sheltis also took out his badge.

179 merit points. This was the sum of the Governmental Sector mission as well as the investigation mission to the Lagoon floating archipelago with Leon. He’d also repelled Yuugenshu at that time so that was added as well.

Two missions and two cases of repelling Yuugenshu. With that, his merit points had passed over the halfway point.

“How about Monica?”

“I have 231 points……since I was part of different units to fill the number requirements before creating this one. I have a little from that time.”

“ Ohh. But that’s impressive; you’ll have 300 points with just a little more like that. “

“Th-that is……I’ve been a Cadet Guard for some years now. It normally takes just over a year to accumulate them……I’m more of a failure of a Cadet Guard.”

Monica looked down with her face a little red.

“Well, that’s true, it should take around a year if you seriously gather them at a steady pace. If you think of it like that, you could say the expedition to the Governmental Sector this time is receiving special treatment. For other missions, the usual is 10 or 20 points.”

It looked like it really was hot standing out in direct sunlight as Kagura took off her machine helmet and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Also, by standard, even if you complete a mission unharmed, you can’t apply consecutively. You’re free to take on missions but it seems you won’t receive merit points.”

“Was there such a rule?”

“It’s just that you don’t know, Vaiel. This is something from when there was no merit points system but it seems like there was a two-person group of absurdly strong Cadet Guards.”

It looked like she was still hot because Kagura started fanning herself with her hand.

“It was even said that there was no mission those two couldn’t complete together and they would complete a mission every week systematically, advancing to Regular Guards just like that. It should have repainted the fastest recorded promotion at the time. This became a problem further in the future.”

“Mm, hey, wait. What’s the problem with that? It’s not bad, is it?”

“There were no issues with those two themselves. The problem was the flood of Cadet Guards that took their success as an example and continuously submitted applications for missions.”

The girl indicated the training grounds with her eyes.

Amongst those several instructors were watching over were those repeating mock battles, Cadet Guards running through the hot sand with weights all over and those silently focused on muscle training.

“There are many Cadet Guards with superficial experience and who are unskilled, right? Those Cadet Guards can’t succeed if they challenge a mission without minding the difficulty……as a result, there were successive cases where they failed or were wounded and hospitalized.”

“So it’s about knowing your limits. Sheesh, there are morons no matter the age.”

Vaiel returned to reclining on the bench.

“Well, the moronic group is at fault, but the audacious group of two shares the same fault. Because of them, now it’s become a pain in the ass to take on a mission.”

“……Could I say it’s the fault of youth?”

“Mm?”

“Ahh, n-no, no, nothing at all!?”

With the quick-eared young man’s question, Sheltis frantically waved his hands.

……I can’t say it.

……That it was Leon and I.

They would take two missions in a day, return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace just after an all-nighter and then leave on another mission an hour later. Now that he thought of it, even he thought it was reckless.

“It’s true that there are some inconveniences, but I think the current system is good.”

Putting down the machine helmet at her feet, Kagura did some flexibility stretches before training.

“Leaving aside that I’m busy with research work, I think that going out on a mission every week is dangerous. Fatigue would build up without your notice and it would be the worst if you became too used to missions and went lax resulting in an incident. Rather than that, it’s better to properly undergo moderate training──”

“Hohoh, that’s admirable, Kagura.”

“Wh-wha!?”

Kagura’s pointed ears stood up at the sudden appearance of somebody behind her. She turned towards the owner of the voice with trepidation and a pale expression…………

“I-Instructor Yumelda?”

“It’s truly admirable, Kagura; I didn’t expect you to be so admirably dedicated.”

A tall woman wearing a dark blue suit that had not a wrinkle upon it. She held her preferred black whip with both hands and she was smoking a cigarette as thin as string.

“You’ve been skipping my training lately with being busy with research as the stated reason. Just when I thought your research had finally calmed down, you were absent from my training because of the expedition to the Governmental Sector. For this last month, I think you’ve been absent from training more than you’ve attended. Now then, is my memory mistaken?”

“Ah……n-no……that’s, well……”

Her pointed ears drooped and sweat ran from her brow like a waterfall.

Opposite that, the instructor looked down at her with an intrepid smile.

“With all that, I didn’t think you would have such ambition to train. I’m not a demon: I’ll accept absences with valid reasons and I also very rarely hold back on the training. ──But if you want to train that badly, then it can’t be helped. It’s also hard on me to train Cadet Guards until they’re ragged but it’s different if they desire that themselves.”

“Even though you look so ridiculously happyyyyy──────!?”

“You talk too much; let’s go.”

“N-Nooooooo!”

Kagura was grabbed by the nape and started to get dragged away. She screamed like prey that had been caught by a carnivorous predator.

“H-Help me! M-Monica? A member of your unit is in fatal danger! Sheltis and Vaiel too──”

With that scene before them, the decisions of the remaining members were swift and correct.

“……Come to think of it, I made an appointment to check up on the wound I received from Maha Golden at the Governmental Sector.”

“Ah, I-I also feel like I did that. If you’re going to the one on floor 22, let’s go together.”

“……The deadline for the manuscript of my ‘ Wild Grasses Encyclopedia ‘ is coming up soon too.”

Turning their backs, Sheltis and the others all sprinted away simultaneously at full speed.

It felt like Kagura shouted out something behind them but the fault lay with she who had summoned the demon instructor.

“Well then, Kagura, take your time with the instructor.”

“So heartless──────!?”

### 005. Part 1

“Eh-he-heh─, now then, Sheltis-kun, which one is it? Isn’t it time for a decision?”

Eyriey held out two cards with a smile full across her face.

“ Sheltis, Sheltis, the left one is definitely ‘ Wrong The Demon Instructor ‘. I recommend that you pick the right card. “

“But you know, Ilis? The left card has been Wrong The Demon Instructor eleven times in a row so I think this time the right one is Wrong The Demon Instructor . Having Wrong The Demon Instructor on the left twelve times in a row is……”

“ You’ve said almost the same thing ever since ‘ Having the Wrong The Demon Instructor on the left two times in a row is…… ‘. “

“Shel-nii, do your best!”

While Yuto and Ilis machine crystal were holding their breaths.

“The left side is definitely correct this time. This one!”

He pulled the left side card of the two Eyriey was holding out with all the fighting spirit in his body. He timidly turned over the card and……

“……Geh. Instructor Yumelda.”

“ See, see, that’s why I said so. “

It was a card game that had secretly spread amongst the Cadet Guards. Throwing out the Wrong The Demon Instructor card which had the whip-wielding Instructor Yumelda on it, Sheltis sighed for the twelfth time.

“……I lost again.”

“Yippie─. This is Sheltis’ twelfth time being last. Okay, just gotta update the records!”

Eyriey wrote the records of battle in a massive memo book.

“Shel-nii, you lost again?”

“That’s right─. On the other hand, Yuto’s strong─; you’ve been in first twelve times in a row now.”

“Ehehe, Yuto’s strong? Strong?”

Yuto rubbed her eyes from drowsiness with a smile across her face.

“ Ah, it’s almost dawn. “

“……Oh crap.”

Narrowing his eyes at the clock’s digital display, Sheltis let out a little exclamation.

They had started this card game with the three of them at dusk. It was already around ten hours ago that the game had started with Eyriey adding the condition of “We’ll end it if you manage to win?”. He’d lost twelve times in a row already since that……so when he realized it, it was already the next morning.

“Eyri-nee, Yuto’s tired.”

“Right─. Then I guess it’s about time we head back since I have to work at the shop in the morning too.”

Eyriey packed away the cards they’d used for the game, half-eaten candy, and some strange invention-like thing into her bag.

“Well then, that’s that.”

“Ah, Eyriey, hold on. Are you okay returning with just the two of you? If needed, I’ll take you there.”

He had asked Eyriey who was shouldering her bag to wait. Public order around Sophia Tenketsu Palace was guaranteed but there were hardly any people in the early morning so caution was required.

“See, there might be somebody like that purse snatcher you saw before.”

“It’s fine─ it’s fine─. I’ve already made defense goods so if anything happens, we’ll fight them off with the powerful flamethrower or one hundred million volts stun gun meant for repelling perverts, okay?”

“……Try not to get caught red-handed for possession of dangerous articles.”

“Got it, got it. Well then, we’ll come tomorrow or some other time to play again. Shasa-chan said to come play after all.”

“Tomorrow? To the tower?”

“Yeah, that’s right, is there something about that?”

“Well look, today is……”

He pointed at the calendar on the table when Eyriey tilted her head.

“ It’s the day of the barrier transfer ceremony. The day when the Queen relinquishes control over Hyouketsu Kyoukai to a Priestess. I think it’s Syun-rei’s turn this time. “

“At the previous barrier transfer……you remember, the barrier was broken. Ever since then, even within the tower, security is strengthened during the barrier transfer. It seems that the Regular Guards take shifts patrolling the tower so even entering is difficult.”

“Hohoh, is that so?”

But Eyriey still looked unconcerned and seemed to take something from his doubts.

“But Shasa-chan said it’d be fine if I showed them this card.”

“Card? Ahh, this is a badge. It’s the same as mine…………”

The plate was shining silver. While looking at the contents carved on its surface, Sheltis stood stock still, even forgetting to breathe.

“……Eyriey.”

“Mm?”

“Where did you get this?”

“Ehehe, it’s amazing, right? Shasa-chan secretly gave me it.”

“……Amazing……this is beyond that level.”

The floor access carved into the badge was ‘ 290 ‘.

Of the 291 aboveground floors that Sophia Tenketsu Palace had, every floor except the highest one, ‘ Paradise ‘ ── the display meant that she could freely come and go to even floor 290 which belonged to the Queen.

……Even Elite Guards shouldn’t be able to enter the Queen’s floor.

……This card is above that?

To access the Queen’s floor, the sole method should be the elevator inoperable to anyone other than those with the authority of a Priestess or Sennenshi. Even Cadres Guard Ishtar can’t enter the Queen’s floor alone. Yet why does Eyriey, a civilian, have such an authoritative badge?

“Eyriey, have you used this?”

“Not yet, why?”

“Nah……I’d like you to tell me if you can use this card. I’m a little interested in that Shasa person.”

A clerk of the tower?

Could a simple clerk prepare this badge so easily?

“Ah─ it’s fine, it’s fine! I wanted to introduce you to Shasa-chan anyway. She’s really cute and nice so look forward to it! Then, see ya!”

“Ahh, wait, Eyriey ──……sheesh, she’s really fast at these times.”

He had no opportunity to call out to her. Looking at Eyriey who had grabbed Yuto’s hand and was running like the wind, Sheltis relaxed his shoulders and folded his arms.

“……Shasa, huh. Was there somebody by that name amongst the tower’s clerks?”

### 006. Part 1

All individuals ── make preparations and be on standby for an urgent mission from the executives.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11.

The Cadet Guard residences were filled with nervousness because of the proclamation from the Guard Regulation Institute.

“An urgent mission announcement, huuuh. Ain’t there some more suitable unit other than us for that kind of exaggerated thing? We’re a newbie unit that’s only completed one mission since we formed.”

“That’s for the Instructor to decide. The opponent is a Yuugenshu so the main force will be Regular Guards and the Cadet Guards shall act as support. Depending on the details, we might be recommended by the Instructor.”

Vaiel advanced down the hallway quickly and just behind him was Kagura.

A recommendation from the Instructor ── in the case of a large mission for units of Regular Guards or above, Cadet Guards were chosen as support for them.

“Support, huuuh. I’ll pass on participating in that kind of pain-in-the-ass cooperation.”

“This is my opinion, but I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

Kagura said that while confirming something on the floating Machina Machine pearl ’s screen.

“If we are recommended by the Instructor, it will not be for communications coordination or as a medical squad but as a direct addition to the Regular Guards’ unit. In other words, a Yuugenshu battle mission.”

“Wha……like hell there’s support like that! Ain’t that why it’s a Regular Guard job?”

“It’s rare but there have been cases of orders like that being handed down. On the other hand, there is no chance of us being called out for any missions other than that.”

Units each had their own specialties. Taking that into consideration and recommending the unit most suited to a necessary support mission was the duty of the Instructor.

“Other units cover coordination and medical issues and there was a deciding battle for determining which unit would participate in the expedition to the Governmental Sector, right? In that decisive battle, Nash’s unit should have been exceedingly above us. Because they have a wealth of experience.”

“……What a hapless recommendation.”

Holding onto his blue steel Iron Fist Protectors, Vaiel looked tired to the core.

“In exchange for that, the merit points are high. Though there’s still hope as long as you’re alive.”

“And where’s the all-important captain?”

“Already on standby. It’s just that they said they’d be taking a detour, so I assume they’ll arrive after that’s done with.”

“A detour? They’re damned relaxed for being on standby. Just where did they take this detour?”

Kagura pointed at the ceiling in response to Vaiel’s stunned expression.

“Floor 288, the floor of the second and third Priestesses.”

### 007. Part 1

Sunlight poured through the colorful stained glass. The sunlight reflected the glass’ color and like that, decorated the pure white hallway with innumerable colors.

“Oh……ohhh.”

It was just like a hallway of light. The quiet holy grounds stretched out endlessly.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 290.

This was the floor directly under ‘Paradise‘, the summit of this super tall tower with 291 floors.

Starting with the Priestesses, only a portion of a handful of ranks could operate the elevator leading to this floor.

“It……It’s too amazing. Such gaudy……ah, no, that’s wrong, huuuh. Magnificent?”

Calling it gaudy would be heard as meaning extravagant. She had said it with exactly the opposite meaning. There was naught but natural light and sounds on this floor.

“It’s an amazing place, right, Yuto?”

“Right─. Eyri-nee.”

Holding the skipping Yuto’s hand, Eyriey walked down the soundless corridor.

“……Were we really meeting in this kind of place?”

She felt like they had come to a ridiculously out-of-place spot.

“At around ten in the morning tomorrow, come to floor 290 of the tower.“

……The person called Tsali said this was it.

“But I’m pretty sure this was where the Queen lives──”

“Eyriey-san.”

A girl with hair the color of reflective water was standing before a door large to the point of being able to look up at it.

“……I showed you an embarrassing thing yesterday.”

“Ohh, it’s Shasa! Are you doing good, or rather, are you alright? Are you really okay?”

“Y-Yes. I was sleeping up until not too long ago today.”

“Ah, that’s true. You’ve got bed hair here.”

“Ehhh? B-Bed hair? Where, where is it?”

Shasa frantically combed her back hair.

“Ahaha, it’s fine if you don’t worry about it. More importantly, that’s a really big door.”

“This? This is──”

Shasa turned around and narrowed her eyes in front of the towering door.

The giant metal door which was large enough to look up at. Upon the silver which glistened like water’s surface, each important point was decorated with gold and sky-blue. This much of a grand of a display of colors would be imprinted upon the viewer like an attack but for some strange reason, this door did not give that impression.

“The door which continues on to Queen Salah’s personal room, ‘Curtain of Dreams‘.”

“This is……”

Even Eyriey who lived in the Living Districts had heard of it.

The relaxation room for the Queen who held absolute authority within Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It was the quietest holy grounds in the world for the sake of the Queen’s three days of rest after a month of praying for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“Ah, that’s right─. ……I guess inside the tower really is fine. Since Shasa-chan’s so informed. Is there any place to have fun?”

She was still worried about Shasa’s condition so it would be best to play inside rather than outside as much as possible.

“It’s hard to think of a place that’s made to have fun. It is after all a building made solely for practicality. Even though it’s this grand, there’s no space for what you spoke of.”

“That makes sense. Then……okay, got it! Leave it up to me. My friend’s a Cadet Guard so let’s get him to let us use his room!”

“Eyri-nee? Are you talking about Shel-nii’s room?”

“Yup, yup, I also got a duplicate key fu─lly prepared.”

“In truth, that duplicate key is illegal but it’ll be fine in this case……Eyriey-san, you’re such a bad person.”

Shasa’s expression lightened with a giggle.

“Then it’s decided! Well, let’s go.”

“If it’s okay, could we take a little detour before that?”

“Oyo? What? Do you have somewhere you want to go?”

“Yes. Follow me please. The elevator on this floor is connected to all floors in the tower.”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 269.

It was a floor which was entirely divided into clean-cut square rooms.

“Hey, hey, Shasa-chan, where is this?”

“It’s the meeting floor. It’s used by the Elite Guards but this floor is reserved at the moment. ……It seems that a rare customer has come.”

“Eh? You just said it’s reserved.”

Wasn’t it bad for them to have entered?

“It’s fine; I just want to take a peek secretly. I can hear what they’re talking about with telepathy and understand the situation with clairvoyance.”

“Ohh……amazing. Come to think of it, you can use shinryoku. Yeahhh─, that was surprising back then. We first met at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s large baths and you suddenly──”

“Y-You already promised not to talk about that!”

The girl’s face flushed and she shook her head.

“Rather than that, look. Over there.”

“Eh? Where?”

Eyriey eyes bored in the direction that Shasa’s finger pointed at.

“Please don’t say anything. Look, that inner meeting room that Priestess Meimel is entering right now.”

### 008. Part 10

“I’m sorry, my power was not enough.”

Even now, Horn remembered those words spoken by the Priestess who came out of the purification room on that day.

“No matter how hard I tried……when there was just a little bit left before the purification was done, the mateki would multiply and regenerate itself. ……I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

It was mateki which would multiply and regenerate itself before being completely eliminated no matter how much it was purified.

“I see, so the Priestesses have silently yielded.”

Mateki that even the Priestesses gave up on purifying.

Horn was seeing how fearsome that was in reality.

“Nyaao……”

She couldn’t hear that adorable cry as anything more than a strange sneer.

The mist which should have been hazily spread solidified in the air and supported the main body to its feet. At the same time its body which had been half-erased by shinryoku bullets was fully regenerated, it stood up as if nothing had happened. Rather than being a mist beast, it was more of a beast that was mist.

“……So this happens even if its head is completely destroyed.”

There was absolutely no meaning to having shot the entirety of its head and more than half of its torso. Even if a single leg were to remain, it would immediately regenerate.

“Captain Horn!”

“Don’t move; just focus on your spells.”

She pierced Monica, who was about to run over, with her gaze.

“It’s the same as before. Keep the barrier spell up at all times and if you have excess strength, time baptism spells to align with my shots and hammer them into it.”

……Its regeneration is being somewhat hindered by this barrier but even then it still has this speed.

……It’s shocking.

On top of that, it was troublesome that the opponent was gradually learning. It was memorizing the gun’s piercing strength and speed while deploying the most appropriate barrier. It was showing that it wouldn’t dodge the unavoidable magic bullets and instead was focusing on defense. And if there was an opening──

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

“Tch!”

She jumped away to avoid the mateki which formed a giant circle. Placing a foot against the wall of gigantic crystals, she jumped to crystals which were even higher.

The eerily shining mateki wrapped everything up to the nearby crystals ── however, no changes occurred with the crystals. They didn’t decay or crumble; they didn’t even melt under super-high temperatures.

……That’s the cause of Tessha’s coma.

……Only that mateki requires caution.

“Now then, what to do.”

There was no impatience. It was her bitter enemy whom she’d been chasing for many years so this level of strength was to be expected.

“Monica, can you still maintain the barrier?”

“Y-Yes. ……At this rate, I could hold it for a few days.”

“Then we’re changing strategies. Don’t use Baptism spells and restrict yourself to Barrier spells; try to save stamina. It’ll be a protracted battle.”

There were two shots from her right-hand machine pistol and three from her left. A total of five shots pierced through the enemy’s limbs without fail. Rushing to the side of the enemy which couldn’t move, she fired another three shots at its head.

“You hide behind a crystal or something. If you don’t directly provoke it, it will come for me first. ……There’s no rush. After my reinforcements arrive, we’ll settle this.”

Other than her machine pistols, she had a rifle on her back, but these were not enough to finish this.

Then it was a simple matter: something with more power ── cannon-class power would be good enough. In the airship they had arrived on, there were also super powerful firearms for use against dragons. If the reinforcements were to carry those here, they would be able to wipe out Yuugenshu without a trace.

Ding!

“So you deflected the bullet.”

It meant that the enemy’s barrier had been adapted that far.

“Nyaao.”

With its barrier still up, it used its body’s springs and shot forward with explosive force. It was a form of combat it hadn’t shown until now.

“You’re trying to tell me you changed your fighting style too?”

She kicked off the crystal underfoot and flew into the air. She twisted her body and kicked once off a ceiling crystal, flew through the air from the reaction force and landed far away from the Yuugenshu.

The Yuugenshu which cut through the air continued on like that and crashed into a crystal. Immediately afterwards, an ear-splitting noise sounded and the crystal blew into countless fragments.

“……Just like your regenerative ability, that stupid strength is also appalling.”

Bathed in the shower of falling fragments, the monster appeared without a wound.

…………No.

……It is no problem. If my weapons arrive, it is an opponent I can certainly defeat.

“Nyaao.”

“I’d like this to be a short battle but I don’t have any intention of that.”

She continued to dodge the charging monster.

……Tessha, wait just a little longer. I will save you.

……I will be the one to save you where no Priestess could.

“You’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

She remembered those words.

That Priestess……if Ymy Ele Soufflenictole who was acknowledged as the Priestess of Baptism was able to purify this, then nobody would have these harsh feelings.

“……Such flippant words.”

Clenching her molars, Horn muttered that with loathing.

“How can a Priestess who can’t even save a single child say that……!”

Look at reality.

She had chased down this Yuugenshu to where she could defeat it. Year after year, she had bowed her head to her older sister, Viola, caused her suffering and patrolled the harsh Biotope of her own will to continue seeking out the Yuugenshu. One’s best and tenacity are that kind of thing.

“……I am a weakling? A coward? Not relying on anybody in Sophia Tenketsu Palace isn’t acting strong!”

The Priestesses of which not a single one could purify mateki.

There was no need to trust in Sophia Tenketsu Palace which revered those Priestesses nor the subordinates of that Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She merely had to make use of them as subordinates and there was no need to expect anymore from them.

Rather than the people of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there was nothing wrong with special treatment for her friends at the orphanage which had raised her sister and herself.

……I am not mistaken.

…………I should not be mistaken. Even so.

“Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is.”

“I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain──”

……Why am I remembering Catria now?

But what of him? In the tower, he isn’t a Priestess, apprentice Priestess or a Guard. Was there really a need to treat a maintenance boy harshly?

“……But she’s cool.”

“…………Yeah. ……Also, she always leaves the gun maintenance to me.”

Within the tower, he was the only boy that adored her.

He just innocently said that he wished to become her maintenance worker. Yes, he was attached to her just like the children from the orphanage.

On the day he was first assigned──

His eyes were shining like this underground crystal world.

“The Priestess named Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is……very strong. Stronger than you or me, I believe that she carries stronger feelings than anyone.”

“She was persuaded that she is the last hope and that cornered her into extending the Priestess training which should normally not be lengthened.”

……That Cadet’s words were the same.

Her older sister Viola would always come back weakened to the limit after training.

I hate night time ── it feels like I’ll see a dream about training. Seeing her elder sister squatting on the bed while saying that, it was apparent just how harsh the Priestesses’ training was even if she didn’t want to know.

……I knew it all from the beginning.

Just how seriously that Priestess considers Tessha and I.

“Kuu!”

Why of all times would only excess random thoughts emerge now?

Even thought she should have severed herself from all connections to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……But.

……It’s the truth that Catria the maintenance worker and Ymy the Priestess and every person in the tower is putting forth their best to aid me.

……Since I can’t even acknowledge those two, I really am just like Ymy said──

“Captain!”

“!”

──When Horn came back to reality, the area ahead of her was filled with mateki.

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

“Cra──”

……For me to lose focus in the middle of a battle.

Inwardly regretting it, she jumped back with all her might. Her back was on the point of freezing up at the sight of the spot she was just standing at being completely wrapped in mateki.

Crack.

The gigantic crystal which was bathed in mateki let off a sound at its base and crumbled.

“It’s different?”

This effect was simple physical destruction. It’s not the coma effect it was using until just now!?

The crystal which had become giant rubble descended from overhead. It was of such weight that she would suffocate under it without being able to move a bit.

“……I’m being mocked!”

Twisting her body, she dodged the continuous rain of falling rubble. She shot the smaller fragments with bullets to deflect them while jumping directly sideways──

“Nyaao.”

That voice came from right next to her ear.

No way……breaking the crystal with mateki was to direct me?

“!”

Without even time to turn around, she felt a large presence to her side.

In her peripheral vision, the eight-legged monster filled her view and pressed closer──

“Captain!?”

Nothing would make it in time.

The distance was too close for her to deflect it with simultaneous gunfire. Even with her firing speed, one or two shots would be the limit. But the Yuugenshu’s shield was already at the point where that wouldn’t break it.

…………Think. ……A plan to break through this crisis.

……The response is…………

There was no response.

Even with all her knowledge and techniques, she could not defeat the Yuugenshu charging at her. She intuitionally understood that.

“……It makes me hate myself from the bottom of my heart.”

Failing so stupidly right at the end. If there was a subordinate that failed like this, she would normally start with chasing them out of the unit.

“……I can’t laugh at that bunch at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

Struggle in vain?

Or──

With not even a second left before the Yuugenshu reached her, she had time for one shot. In that brief instant, Horn’s right hand had cast aside her favored gun while she wasn’t thinking.

She couldn’t think of anything. No, she didn’t have time to think.

While in that lost state, her right hand gripped a single gun.

And pulled its trigger.

A crimson flash.

“………………Eh?”

Horn’s excellent vision witnessed the phenomenon that occurred in that moment without fail. A single bullet had been wrapped in a crimson light and shot through the Yuugenshu’s barrier and upper body.

A powerful mateki barrier and it went through easily.

“This, is?”

A definite weight was felt in her right hand.

It was a weight she hadn’t felt until now but the large silver gun felt familiar as if it were made specifically for her. That was.

“…………Catria?”

“Catria.”

“Ye-Yeeeess!?”

“This was in my cargo, but what is it?”

“Uh……umm, it’s a new creation. Production code, ‘Silver King ‘……the gun’s slide and rifling are designed to be larger and it also uses special bullets.”

The gun christened Silver King .

She remembered having it pushed onto her by Catria at the airship.

“I wanted to make the bullets themselves in a new metallic structure. After making a request to a Priestess many times, I finally got a carved seal with a Priestess’ baptism spell applied to it. It hasn’t been tested, but it shouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a bullet specialized to Yuugenshu!”

“A Priestess’ baptism spell meaning ane-ue’s?”

“Ah, n-no. Viola-sama was always out of the tower so the best at baptism type spells──”

Specialized anti-Yuugenshu bullets.

It was not like like those until present which were only carved with shinryoku. Most likely, a Priestess had spent a great deal of time offering prayers and applying Baptism spells. She would have done it between regular training and forgone her own sleeping time to fill it with prayers.

Then the Priestess which granted this bullet this much power was?

“…………”

She knew.

There was nobody else who could be referred to as the forerunner in Baptism.

“…………That idiot.”

She should have known. She should have also known that the one who would use this gun was me. Even so, that Priestess……not considering how much I’ve rejected her, she did this for my sake.

…………

……That idiot sacrificed her own time for this.

“That’s why……I don’t like you, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

Catria as well.

Ymy as well.

Despite being treated that coldly by me, for my sake ── they have gone ahead themselves and become my strength.

……And this is.

……What that cheeky Priestess wanted of me for so long, huh.

The final chance she gave to me.

“…………”

She took deep, deep breaths repeatedly.

“U-Umm! Not many bullets have been made so there are only three loaded…..”

“I was wondering if I would just barely make it in time for the subjugation mission this time.”

“Ten minutes.”

She had two shots left.

She would get through ten minutes with those two shots.

“……And I’m sorry.”

Biting down on her lip and facing forward, Horn pulled the trigger.

Silver King ’s bullet ── the bullet which had a Baptism spell bestowed straight upon it split into twelve smaller pellets immediately after firing. Each of those little pellets pierced through the barrier and body of the Yuugenshu which had regenerated, gouging out large holes.

“!?”

The wavering beast let out a confused scream.

“Now, I offer my thanks to you.”

The last bullet.

Facing her bitter enemy which whose body was already half annihilated, she calmly pulled the trigger.

The bullet shone silver and crimson. It pierced the Yuugenshu as if being swallowed up and completely destroyed it save one leg.

……So two shots weren’t enough.

……Meaning my skills still have room to grow.

If even a single leg were left behind, it would regenerate. And Silver King ’s bullet count was zero. If it were to regenerate, she would have nothing to shoot it with.

“───”

Horn smiled and threw Silver King up high.

[Sia Sec elis arc……Is io miel]

[That day’s dream, once more……for the sake of that.]

The leftover leg of the Yuugenshu was wrapped in even more crimson light.

Then.

The sound of a hard crystal shattering.

It was transmitted coldly, sharply and somehow sadly throughout the crystal world.

“I apologize, I disobeyed your orders.”

Appearing from behind a crystal’s shadow was the girl with sakura-colored hair. The final spell which had completely eliminated the Yuugenshu was hers.

“You said to limit myself to barrier spells but……”

“……No, this is fine.”

She faced the troubled Cadet and shook her head, then looked up at the towering crystals.

……The thing I understood from the beginning but couldn’t do.

The crystal world. A natural mirror which shined because of the sunlight flowing in. A very, very small smile appeared on her face which was reflected in that.

“I finally have the courage to face myself.” [T/N: The kanji for “myself” is 弱虫 meaning “weakling/coward”.]

### 009. Part 11

Gun and crossed rods . In a place away from where two people put away their respective weapons──

“Hey, Sheltis, come on, Sheltis.”

“Shh. Quiet, Ilis, they’ll hear us.”

Covering Ilis who was blinking with liveliness, Sheltis once again hid himself in the shadow of the crystals.

“Mu─, I said it’d be fine if you went out. The one who subjugated the remaining Yuugenshu in this underground cave was you so it isn’t it fine if you just grandly appear?”

“……Well, there’s a mountain of stuff I want to do.”

He held his dual swords in his hands.

Wiping the sweat flowing from his forehead, Sheltis slowly sat down.

“Ah─, that was tiring.”

“Good work. That was fourteen aboveground and twenty five underground for a total of thirty nine. The average time taken was 12 minutes, 5 seconds and you also did well in keeping your injuries down to two light wounds. These are results enough to make a Priestess or Sennenshi go pale.”

“……It seems like the underground was the Yuugenshu’s home grounds.”

He had a bad feeling when the Yuugenshu had split the surface of the great salt lake and appeared.

That S vector, eighth class did not invite them to that crevice to split their unit in two. It was to surround them with the Yuugenshu waiting underground.

“It was a silver lining that Monica was there.”

“Truly.”

If Monica had not quickly erected a shinryoku barrier, they would have been attacked by the Yuugenshu troops following the ‘S vector, eighth class‘.

──In reality, dozens of Yuugenshu had been waiting just outside Monica’s barrier.

And the one who wiped them out was Sheltis.

“But you know, you should also thank me. Since I found the path through this underground cavern.”

“……Wasn’t that just a pitfall?”

He had Kagura and Vaiel stay aboveground to communicate with the reinforcements.

That left him to follow Ilis’ guidance and charge into the Yuugenshu den alone. And just like that, he had entered a rough battle of which nobody knew.

He alone had wiped out the dozens of Yuugenshu in the crystal cavern.

For those who didn’t know the circumstances, it was a number which would even cause Instructors to doubt their ears.

“But I’m glad.”

“……Mm?”

“I just had a little feeling that something might change.”

From the shadow of the crystals, he stealthily peeked in the direction the two were standing at.

──Horn was staring at her reflection in a crystal.

“Like I thought, Priestesses and Sennenshi have to get along.”

A deep gap had separated Ymy and Horn.

The only ones who could repair that were the people in question. That was why all he could do was support them from the shadows at the conclusion.

“Helping repair Ymy’s relations from behind the scenes, hmm. But you know, sometimes I want to have the chance to do showy things in the open.”

“……That’s all up to chance.”

Ilis Machine crystal sighed and Sheltis answered that with a sigh of his own.

### 010. Part 12

“Everyone, I’m glad you’re all safe.”

Those were the words first spoken by Monica after she was rescued from the giant hole.

“I was worried. After we fell down, there was no support or response for a while, so I thought that perhaps you were also about to be attacked by Yuugenshu.”

“……It wasn’t just about to be.”

“That’s right. It was a hassle.”

Kagura and Vaiel answered with dead tired expressions.

“Don’t say that. It was hard on our end too. At any rate, it was a really troublesome one which no matter how many times we defeated it──”

“Right, that. Ilis and I were also worried but……it looks like everything went alright.”

He didn’t have time to check while fighting the Yuugenshu underground, but she didn’t seem to have any injuries on her when he looked. He had more scratches on him.

“Captain Horn was the one who struggled so I was more of an extra.”

She dug her nails into her unharmed formal wear in shame.

“That’s wrong. The one who completely annihilated that was her.”

The blinder-wearing woman lightly rested her hand on Monica’s shoulder.

“My thanks; I was saved by your barrier.”

“Eh? Ehh, eh…… wa-wait, Captain Horn!?”

“I merely spoke the truth.”

The Sennenshi declared that plainly and turned around.

…………Should I say it?

He was lost for a moment on whether he should speak.

“Wait.”

Sheltis called out to Horn who was about to walk away.

“What is it?”

“Thank you very much.”

“Mm?”

She had a dubious expression on her face as he bowed his head to her.

“Isn’t Monica unharmed because you put yourself at the front?”

The fully depleted Silver King . The machine pistol magazines all around her waist were also used up by a great deal. It had been that much of a rough battle.

“All according to plan. There’s no idiot who would place a shinryoku spellcaster before the enemy. Also”

The tall woman slowly turned to him.

“I was indebted to you.”

“Heh?”

“I’m interested in your background but I’ll let it slide for now.”

She turned away and walked away briskly.

……I see, so she really did notice.

“What’s wrong, Sheltis?”

“Eh? No, I don’t really understand it well.”

He folded his arms and thought. By the way, he had already asked Kagura and Vaiel to keep it a secret from Monica that he had headed underground by himself.

And──

“That”

Horn, who was walking at the head of the group, suddenly came to a stop.

“Wa, wawaa……Captain Horn, I’m glad to see you’re safe!”

The boy with heavy firearms in both hands ran up to the blinder-wearing Sennenshi. He should have been in overalls but now he was wearing camouflaged battle clothes.

“Catria, what is that outfit for?”

“B-Because, because. ‘Bring a stronger weapon‘. It was a Yuugenshu even Silver King couldn’t defeat, right? For that kind of opponent, I-I thought I would also need to fight!”

“……Ahh. About that, your new gun was helpful.”

Horn replied with a strangely awkward expression.

“Eh, i-is that right!”

“But that doesn’t mean a maintenance worker should join the reinforcements unit. Somebody who doesn’t even know how to fire a gun shouldn’t come out onto the battlefield.”

“…………My apologies.”

The boy stared at the heavy firearms in his hands with a downcast expression.

“……I won’t say it again.”

“If you have a break from work, tell me ahead of time.”

“Eh?”

In front of the boy who had his mouth hanging open absentmindedly, the Sennenshi averted her face for some reason and mumbled.

“……I’ll at least teach you how to handle a gun.”

“Ehh, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

“What is it?”

“B-Because, Captain Horn is……saying such kind words to me. Th-This is bad. You must have been hit with mateki and gone strange in the head──”

“Quiet.”

A fist sunk into Catria’s face with an unpleasant sound. Monica and the others who shuddered at the full-strength hit and the person who clenched that fist grabbed the boy by his collar.

“Come to think of it, Catria, how about the report to the executives?”

“A-All done! Everyone was relieved that the subjugation is complete.”

“I see……”

She muttered that as if talking to herself, then the female Sennenshi looked up at the sky.

“……The only thing left now is Tessha.”

There was no mistake that the one she defeated was the S vector, eighth class she had been chasing for many years. There was one concern left ── whether or not defeating the main body had managed to also erase the mateki eating away at the boy.

“Let’s have faith. Also, that it’s not the delayed sin-type mateki.“

“……Yeah.”

That was mateki which became a stronger curse after its defeat. If mateki which the Priestesses couldn’t cure were to become even stronger, nothing could be done about it.

The only thing they could do was have faith.

In what they had come to do. As well as the meaning in what Horn Nova had spent years continuing.

“I’ll confirm it with the doctor in charge of the hospital. Sorry, but please wait a bit.”

Placing the communicator to her ear, Horn was silent. However.

“…………Why……is no one answering?”

Her whisper said everything with utmost cruelty.

“Is this Horn-sama?“

A nurse working at the hospital was heard from the communicator.

“What is it? Where is Tessha’s doctor──”

“Th-The doctor……he just ran to D ward and hasn’t come back yet! U-Um, he said that a patient’s condition had suddenly worsened.“

“…………Don’t tell me, is it D09?”

“I-I don’t know but it was the patient in the innermost room. ……Ah, h-hello, Horn-sama!?“

Clatter……

The communicator slipped from Horn’s hand which had lost its strength and fell.

“───Why?”

Both her knees touched the ground followed by both hands. A sob leaked from the lips which the Sennenshi was biting down on hard enough to draw blood.

Delayed sin-type mateki. There was no way to stop the curse strength which had lost its control. It was of a strength which Priestesses couldn’t cure even before running out of control. There was no way they could deal with it.

“Why……nothing has paid off……I……what I’ve done so far, not a single thing has”

“It will pay off, definitely.“

That voice.

From the communicator which had fallen to the ground, it was carried along the silver wind flowing to the great salt lake.

“I’ve heard the report. You defeated that Yuugenshu. ……That’s why, after that, you must believe. In what you have done. And in me.“

“……Ymy?”

Whispering that with a sob mixed in, Horn Nova slightly lifted her face.

“Tessha-kun’s mateki was of the delayed sin type as I suspected. Because the main body was annihilated, his mateki has undergone a change. ……We don’t even have an hour to spare. I will be heading to D09 to perform a purification now. The supervising doctor is making preparations.“

“…………”

“Are you uneasy? That I’m performing the purification.“

Horn didn’t answer.

“……Please have faith and wait. Well then──“

“Wait.”

Horn’s hand once again gripped the communicator.

Such that everyone there could hear, she stood up and then.

“──I’m sorry.”

The third Sennenshi lowered her head towards the communicator.

“……I am thankful that you are at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Horn-san?“

“I entrust Tessha to you.”

### 011. Part 13

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , internal hospital.

“Yes. I will save him for sure.”

With one eye closed while facing the communicator, Ymy quietly breathed in.

“…………”

In front of her when she turned around was an enormous steel door which was shut firmly. This was already D ward. It was the floor for patients contaminated with powerful mateki who absolutely could not be helped with regular treatments.

It was one of the quietest places in the tower.

Everything from the ceiling to the corridor was covered in formal carved seals letting off bluish-white light. A single person was in the hall which was filled with the radiance of shinryoku, heading absolutely straight to the furthest depths.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Room D09. The attending doctor stood in front of its door.

“As you directed, the evacuation of attending doctors and apprentice Priestesses from around this room has been completed.”

“……Okay. I’ll tell you when I’m done so please don’t let anyone enter until then.”

The attending doctor saw Ymy off as she walked up to the door.

……This is.

The instant she entered, her breath caught at the unnatural airflow.

The room was filled with deep purple mist.

The ceiling, walls and floor: every single thing was supposed to be one color by they were now dyed purple.

“This entire room is dyed with mateki.”

The sweat flowing down her cheek was cold enough to make her shiver.

……Such thick mateki.

It was almost as if this area had become a miniature Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . A regular person would be cursed by the mateki just by breathing. It was an outrageous density.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able……]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Release precedent.

Particles shining with crimson light floated in the air and hazily wrapped her body.

……I must do what I could not do yesterday.

“───”

A single boy continued to slumber while attached to an artificial respirator. He was wearing a patient’s gown for children and continued seeing a dream without waking from his coma.

O seven colors of the interweaving dream

Yu/ ubinis ole = C kis tih Ies.

The slumbering spring’s rest is at an end, wishing, the augite that awakens with the path.

mios huda yum xeph fel hypne shel sephat, xephnis wision.

──Strange purple patterns emerged from his entire body.

It formed a complete contrast with the formal wear with shinryoku carved seals, nevi that looked as if a curse were carved straight onto the body had clearly emerged from his entire body.

“……I will save you this time.”

She gripped the hand of the boy whose eyes were shut and hugged that delicate body strongly.

Now in this place, the accumulated songs of praise, the quivering pulsations, arrive at the heavenly sound.

mehnes nelar, Ee toga-s-sia vea clar = C nelves zahl tis kyel Sophit.

The pouring drops, lovingly fill and run towards the fated time.

kei yum lisy r-blow-s-miel xins clue Is-Ye-fio missin.

O wishes, become the path of thousands of hopes.

Ris sia sophia, shel evoia steras tis lef ilis.

The Priestess’ prayer. Failure was not permitted.

Not for my sake, nor for Horn’s, but for this child’s sake.

……What I have trained so far. For a long, long time.

……Everything was for the sake of today.

───For the time the world is filled with prayers, I sing.

Yu/ Se = C clar fears valen r-miel noi I.

The crimson lights purifying the mateki become tens of times brighter in one instant.

The band of light was reminiscent of an aurora. The instant the deep purple mist wrapping the entirety of the room touched that, it disappeared with a twinkle like snow in the sunlight.

…………

……It’s being purified?

The room was regaining its pure whiteness. What was left was the boy who served as the source of the mateki. The ominous nevi were also disappearing quickly starting from the extremities, his arms and legs.

……Just a little more, just a little more.

The nevi at his stomach disappeared, and then the nevi from his chest to his neck, and even those at his shoulders were disappearing. Now if only the nevi with the mateki whose curse was strongest on his face and head were to disappear, the purification would be complete.

The shinryoku light climbed up from the base of his neck and the nevi disappeared in tandem. Just when she thought the crimson light was moving from his chin to his head.

Riii, i……iiiiii……nnnn……n…………

The shinryoku lights became smaller particles and were deflected.

“………………Eh?”

What happened? The purification isn’t over yet; the most essential part of this child’s purification is still left. The mateki which serves as the origin of his coma isn’t gone yet.

“I-It’s some kind……of mistake, right?”

Once more, one more try.

She strongly hugged the boy and once again spun the words of prayer. She wrapped her body in shinryoku to her limits and──

That light was once again rejected by the mateki eating away at the boy.

Mateki propagation. While she was doing that, the mateki nevi gradually returned from his neck to his shoulders and from his shoulders to his chest. The contamination had started again.

“…………It can’t……be.”

It escaped the limits of her power. The mateki had clashed head-on with her shinryoku which should be the greatest in quantity of all the Priestesses and she didn’t even counterbalance it.

……It’s the same phenomenon as when I challenged the Yuugenshu from a thousand years ago.

……Then the Yuugenshu that attacked this child was a strong type of the same strength?

No way, there are remnants of those powerful ones from a thousand years ago left on Orbie Clar the floating continent ? And defeating one would only cause the mateki to turn malignant.

……That kind of thing……how do we counter it……

“Don’t……lose hearttt!”

She opened her eyes and bit on her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Even if I try to think of a countermeasure, there’s no point. There’s no other way except for me to exhaust myself to the point of collapse time after time, however many dozens of times.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able……]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

The second release precedent.

“After all……I am a Priestess.”

It wasn’t responsibility or duty. She became a Priestess because she decided that was what she wanted to do. Being taught by Meimel, trying her best along with Syun-rei, having her previous senpai return and, above all, her important childhood friend had returned to the tower──

……Because I like it!

That’s why I want to do my best.

On this Orbie Clar the floating continent , in this tower, I like doing my best together with everyone!

“So pleaseeeee!”

She concentrated on the spell hard enough to faint and held the boy as hard as she could…………

That shinryoku shattered with a noise.

The overflowing deep purple mateki became even darker and only multiplied.

“…………”

Sorry. She didn’t even have the strength to think of that word.

Her vision grew dim and something hot overflowed from the tip of her eyelids……it felt like something very important within her had come to a halt.

The boy who continued to sleep was pushed over and Ymy collapsed at that spot.

───

─────

Within her consciousness which had been lost.

She heard a song.

In a far-off, distant place.

A nostalgic song in a nostalgic place.

……Somebody……a girl is……singing?

………………Who is it?

“Me.“

…………Who is……me?

“I am myself. The form which your shinryoku shall arrive at and the existence which lies ahead of your possibilities.“

Giggle, giggle.

Only the girl’s smile echoed like a song.

[I am crimson A great mother and a girl]

[En Ze lu la clue. Zeul la ilmei Zelah -di- mis.]

[Made into a complete will, a single fragment of the great Selah]

[Zewl la elmei-l-phenoris Ema -di- lement lef Selah.]

[Governing the records of times of strife, forming knowledge with love. Its symbol]

[Sera, Zewl la clue-l-sophie neckt. tes Arma Risis.]

……What is……she saying?

…………I don’t understand.

“But you can hear my words, right?“

I can hear them.

But where am I hearing them from? It’s not through my ears; it’s a strange throb almost like I’m talking to myself.

“Congratulations.”

That voice became somewhat lively.

“You who can hear my voice. You can finally awaken. Within this frozen, sleeping world, you will be able to walk with your own feet.“

Frozen, sleeping world……walk? Where have I heard those words?

“O sleeping children Your legs are still weak This frozen land is still pained“

“=C hypn phenoria, Eec wat nes ei getie bis kills cley kis ei mihas“

……That’s right, come to think of it.

There should have been a line like that in the Priestesses’ Seventh Heaven Rhythm ──

“Now, O children who have been born“

After the girl sung loudly.

“If the world desires you, then I shall teach you a grand chant.“

──Ymy’s consciousness sunk somewhere very, very deep.

A world filled with something that seemed like black water of pure darkness.

It was like the night sky.

What twinkled there were not stars but large and small frozen crystals. They were an azure which reminded her of Hyouketsu Kyoukai’s crystals.

……Why……is that in this world?

“…………Where is this?”

Ymy absentmindedly drifted in this space whose atmosphere had a strange density to it like water.

“This is a solitary world. My world.“

A red light shined before her eyes and a conspicuously large crystal appeared.

“A world filled with frozen crystals. Nice to meet you, Ymy. Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, I have awaited you for a long time.“

A shadow of small stature could be faintly seen within the frozen crystal.

……It’s a girl.

……A girl with crimson hair.

The radiance of crimson which was the symbol of Baptism. The girl who was producing as well as endowed with that color.

“……You know me?”

“I am the records of everything in this world. For I am the original of that which you know as ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘.“

“!”

Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. That should have been the treasure that the Governmental Sector secretly had.

It was a shinryoku system which would monitor everything about Orbie Clar the floating continent and record it. But……no way. The girl before my eyes is……the original of that treasure?

“The harsh and pure truth. That is why I am the Forbidden Crystal of this world.“

“Forbidden Crystal……”

She strangely had heard those words before. She didn’t know who had said it or where. But sometime, somewhere, she had heard them. That was what she felt.

“…………“

Within the frozen ice, the girl spread both hands.

“This world is a mirror. Two opposing sides filled by a single component.

Orbie Clar the floating continent and the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

Shinryoku and mateki.

And slumber and awakening.“

Slumber. With that word, Ymy finally remembered her mission.

“U-Um……sorry. I have a child I must save. So please, tell me……where is this? Send me back!”

“Were you to return, the current you cannot save that child.“

“……Then……what should I do!”

“I told you. You will awaken here. If you awaken, then you should also be able to awaken a sleeping child.“

What does that mean?

I am not…..yet awoken?

“You form the contrast with the boy who fell to paradise. If perchance you hear my voice……I shall teach you the true Seventh Heaven Rhythm .”

The girl who named herself as the Forbidden Crystal loosened her expression.

“The Seventh Heaven Rhythm which invites the world into slumber. The Seventh True Rhythm which reawakens that world. Two lives which would normally never intersect. However, if by chance you reach the deepest parts of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , at that time──“

“……At that time”

“You must ascertain that for yourself. I will be naught but the opportunity.“

The Forbidden Crystal proclaimed those words.

She remembered hearing those exact words previously in the Grand Sanctuary.

“Change. There is an absolute lack of opportunities for your shinryoku to bloom.“

“……Ah.”

She felt that she had finally come to an understanding.

About the meaning of those words back then. The reason she caught a glimpse of the world a thousand years ago.

“Congratulations. You have reached it. The cries of your heart summoned me so I shall also impart a gift to you. A valuable gift.“

The Forbidden Crystal encased in a block of ice extended a hand.

That hand slipped through the water’s surface……

“Ah……”

Her fingers stroked my off-gold hair gently. It was gentle like a mother combing her child’s hair.

“I’ve waited always. Always……always…………for the chance that I would be released.“

Flutter. A warm light gradually illuminated the night-colored world.

A crimson light.

……It’s blinding.

Wrapped in the current of light which wouldn’t let her open her eyes, Ymy reflexively closed her eyes.

“I entrust you with my power and the door to ‘The Promised Land ‘.“

“W-Wait───! You are, you are───”

The world was filled with light.

Chasing after the disappearing visage of the Forbidden Crystal, Ymy desperately reached out her hand.

The instant that hand touched the girl’s fingertips.

Ymy lost consciousness once more.

### 012. Part 14

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 22, internal hospital.

Horn ran through the hallway of D ward which was isolated by a giant door.

“Further ahead?”

“Th-That’s right! But……there still hasn’t been a report about Ymy-sama’s treatment ending.”

Running alongside Horn was a nurse.

……It’s been about two hours since we returned to the tower from the great salt lake.

……It’s normally unthinkable for a purification spell to last two hours.

“Ymy……is safe, right?”

“Monica, Kagura and Vaiel are undergoing post-battle diagnosis by a doctor. After that’s over, they’ll immediately head to D ward. So──“

“We’ll go there without telling them we’re going on ahead.”

A tinge of unease pressed down within his chest as Sheltis followed after the two before him.

“Purifying that mateki which has undergone a change because of the main body’s elimination……poses a risk of calling danger to the spell caster, Ymy.“

“……So the worst case scenario is a possibility.”

The effectiveness of a Baptism spell would change greatly depending on the shinryoku output. There were examples of using too much strength to purify mateki placing too heavy a strain on the spell caster’s mind and body, leaving them beyond recovery.

“If it were an apprentice Priestess’ purification, there would be a several people watching.“

Ymy was a Priestess. There was nobody who could stop her. Even if that were not the case, especially for this time, she would sacrifice anything to save the patient.

……Please be safe.

……The patient, and Ymy as well.

“───”

Clenching his fist solidly as he prayed, Sheltis followed after Horn.

“! Horn-sama……”

A voice of surprise came from the attending doctor standing in front of the door.

“How’s Ymy!? How is Tessha’s healing!?”

“Th-There’s still been no report. She should be able to come out when it’s finished……”

“──I understand the situation. I’m using my authority to open this door. Okay?”

Allowing the attending doctor to step aside, Horn pushed open the door.

Then.

Sheltis stepped into the room after Horn and doubted his eyes.

The room was pure white and the white curtains swayed with the wind from the window. The boy clothed in a white patients gown. And the figure of the girl holding that boy as seen from behind.

The girl’s crimson hair flowed in the wind.

……It’s not Ymy?

Even though his childhood friend with off-gold hair should be here, it was a different girl standing there.

“……You are?”

Horn wordlessly approached the lone girl.

The girl also turned to them.

“───Yesh?”

A befuddled voice unsuited to the location.

“Is that……you, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole?”

“Eh? Ah, y-yes. ……Wait, eh? Is something wrong?”

Ymy tilted her head while still holding onto the boy.

“No, but your hair──”

In front of Horn’s outstretched finger, the crimson from Ymy’s hair fluttered off into the sunlight. Those were particles of crimson that had adhered to her hair.

“……So that’s it. It was just Baptism shinryoku dyeing her hair. Ahh, that surprised me. You really resembled that.“

Ilis Machine crystal at his chest sighed in relief.

“! That’s right, how’s Tessha! Is the purification over!”

“…………”

The Priestess did not answer the Sennenshi who said several things at once.

Instead of an answer, she silently handed over the boy she was clutching.

“……Tessha.”

The boy’s artificial respirator had been removed. It was slight, but his chest was moving up and down. He was breathing with his own strength of his own will. After that.

“……………………”

Weak and fickle though it may have been, his eyes surely opened.

“……Nee……ch……a”

“────”

Horn went to her knees while holding the boy.

“……I’m glad. Truly……”

Droplets passed through the blinder.

“It has been a long time……I wondered if it was hopeless how many times……I’d almost given up.”

That was definitely the first time she had shown that at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ── those were the ‘complaints‘ that she had endured all this time.

“──Phew.”

Beside Horn who was hugging the boy, Ymy firmly puffed out her chest and turned to him.

“Well? Isn’t that amazing? It’s surprising, isn’t it, the purification of the mateki was done in one go!”

With a full-face smile that blew away the damp atmosphere, his childhood friend balled her fist.

“Now, now? Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“……Well, isn’t that amazing.”

“No, no! More like, like, you kno

“Then, umm──”

Being looked at with eyes of expectation, Sheltis suddenly leaked out a wry smile.

“You did well; good work.”

“……Ehehe, thank you.”

The Priestess smiled with embarrassment and happiness.

“You’re simple, aren’t youuu.“

“I-Isn’t that fine! Anybody would be happy to receive praise. I-It’s not like……that’s why I’m a Priestess……”

Ymy’s face went red at Ilis Machine crystal ’ prodding.

“A-Anyway, this solves one problem. I need to report to Meimel and the others──”

“Hoo. Well then. Then it’ll be fine for you to tell our story too, Priestess?”

That voice that he didn’t know came from directly behind in the direction of the door.

“Ahh, sorry, it looks like I’ve interrupted a fun mood. Since that’s how it is, let us in on it too. Right, Kuro?”

“……Huick-sama, even though I told you so much to read the atmosphere.”

A tall man was leaning casually up against the door frame.

And waiting behind him was one more person, a woman in a suit.

……Their presences.

……They got this close without me realizing it?

No matter how much his attention was drawn by talking with Ymy, even if a Regular Guard were to pay attention to masking their footsteps, he was confident he would notice. Even so.

“Who are you?”

Still holding Tessha, Horn drew out an automatic pistol.

“State your affiliation, name and purpose in coming here within fifteen seconds. If not──”

“Yes, yes. Not like I had any intention of hiding them.”

But the man who had a gun shoved up against his nose didn’t falter from his calm expression.

“First, my intention ── ahh, this isn’t really anything major. I came from quite a ways away so I thought I might as well observe. You guys are also observing us quite harshly, aren’t you?”

“A question. Who is us?”

“The Governmental Sector. Didn’t that Priestess over there and that Guard nii-chan over there come? That time, it seems like a muscle-headed idiot of ours was really in your care.”

“…………”

The suited woman wordlessly bowed.

“Next question. Who is this muscle-headed idiot?”

“Right, that nii-chan over there actually fought him so he should remember. About our ‘Number One‘.”

He said that with a cackle, enjoyment and resignation.

──The Governmental Sector. And the man who was known as the ‘Number One‘.

“Zeadoll of the Sanctuary Arts……?”

“Yeah, that guy, that guy. Nah, it’s because that muscle-headed idiot praised someone which is rare so we’d also very much like to meticulously adore them.”

The man drew near and straightened up.

Standing right beside the woman in a suit, the man pointed at himself and made a proclamation.

“‘Number Nine‘ Huick of the Governmental Sector secret military organization, ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘. I took all the time to come out here, so try being grateful?”

### 013. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace aboveground, the gate restricted to personnel.

“It’s rare for somebody to go outside.”

In the seat for security that would check badges should be sitting, a person he knew was sitting there for some reason.

“……Kagura as well, what are you doing?”

“Receptionist parttime work. Come on, show me your badge.”

The girl with the machine helmet worn low over her eyes replied nonchalantly. She was a Cadet Guard in the same unit as Sheltis and computer specialist at the same time.

“This parttime job fits my preferences; to be able to do my hobby and make money at the same time is a dream job.”

“Umm, you mean observing people?”

“That’s almost correct. I’m taking a sample of when people enter or exit the tower. It’s interesting obtaining the movement patterns of unexpected people.”

Kagura was of the demi-human race, the ‘ Nell people ‘. Their special trait was the ears that poked out on the sides, they were inherently strong in the fields of mathematics and statistics and were also very wary. Kagura’s hobby of observing people was probably also derived from that.

“By the way, did you go out to the Albireo Two Swans ?”

“You know it?”

“It’s where my rival works so it’s obviously within the realm of expectation.”

She nodded smoothly.

“But you came at a good time; the unit captain was looking for you. Even though there’s a meeting in the evening, you were nowhere to be found. Vaiel’s cooped up in his room so we were wondering just what the men in our group were doing──”

“Vaiel’s in his room? That’s rare.”

It was his daily routine to be hard at work having a nap on the bench at the training grounds.

“Yes, he said he was busy writing something. ‘ After mushrooms……maybe wild grasses? ‘ he said, though I don’t know what it means.”

“……It’s coming, the continuation of the ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘.”

“Do you know something about it?”

“Nope. Rather than that, the meeting’s pretty soon so aren’t you going to have a problem doing your parttime job here──”

“No need to worry. ……4…………3…………2……1…………okay, now my parttime job is done.”

Kagura jumped off the security chair.

Looking sidelong at her standing beside him, Sheltis turned towards the tower gates.

“I wonder if today’s meeting will take long.”

“……The topic being what it is, I wonder.”

Still facing straight forward, she shrugged a little.

The Governmental Sector which was based in the Lagoon floating archipelago which lay far from the floating continent, Orbie Clar.

Having gone on an expeditionary mission there as an escort, they’d only returned to the Orbie Clar floating continent the day before yesterday. They’d taken the entirety of yesterday to put together the report for that and today was the meeting about that report.

“Apparently our personal reports will go first and Cadres Guard Ishtar will make a final summary report. That’s what today’s hearing is for. After that, they’ll confirm our information on ‘ them ‘ whom we confronted. It looks like Priestess Ymy will also be attending.”

Maha Golden .

Igun-I Blank .

The third organization that those two they’d met with belonged to.

“It’s just that important of a matter.”

It definitely wouldn’t be a short meeting.

The meeting would……no, the response for beyond that would take long.

“The meeting room is on floor 268. I think Cadres Guard Ishtar is waiting, so let’s go.”

Whispering that like a monologue, the machine helmet-wearing girl tightened her lips.

### 014. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 21.

“Uu……it was cruel.”

Covered in sand and dust, her formal wear was completely worn out. Kagura returned like that with tottering steps late in the evening.

“If it’s something like being trained ragged by the instructor, then going on a mission and not receiving merit points is better. Monica, please find our next mission as soon as possible.”

“G-Got it.”

She looked pretty tired. Slumped over the Machina machine pearl , Kagura made no move to descend to the ground.

“By the way……what is this meeting room?”

Despite being dead tired, it seemed that only her curiosity was full of vigor as she looked around restlessly.

It was an all-around white room.

There was no table and thus no meeting-use whiteboard. There were just barely enough folding chairs for them piled up in a corner of the room.

“It’s our unit’s private base. I received a message that our unit has finally received official approval and the administrative officer’s electronic registration is complete.”

Monica pointed at the folding chairs.

“This is our private meeting area from today onwards. The use differs from unit to unit so these are the only furnishings. They said that if we require a table or whiteboard, then we can apply for them and they will allocate them to us.”

“So we’ve got a private space; it’s starting to get more like a unit.”

“Vaiel, I’ll just put this out there, but don’t use this place for your naps. It looks like if it’s used for reasons outside of our goals, it’ll get confiscated.”

“……Damn it.”

She seemed to have hit the bullseye since Vaiel crossed his legs with the same sour face.

“But you know, wouldn’t it be hard for them to find out? If it’s our private space, doesn’t that mean that only our badges’ identification numbers can unlock it?”

There was no way for other people to suspect him of sleeping in this room. Only the four here could unlock the room.

“That’s right, or so I’d like to say.”

“ Ah, I can open this room. Rather, the only ones who can’t open this room are other Cadet Guards and Regular Guards; Elite Guards that hold the rank of Captain or higher can unlock it just like that. “

Ilis Machine crystal smoothly continued Monica’s words.

But upon hearing that, Vaiel’s smile became even more relaxed.

“Then there’s no problem. Is some great and mighty Elite Guard or above gonna even come to this lower floor? If there’s any chance, it’ll be the instructor but the instructor usually instructs Cadet Guards at the training grounds.”

“ ……That’s true. “

“Now that you mention it, that might be the case.”

Ilis Machine crystal blinked and Sheltis ended up agreeing without thinking.

“But you know, Vaiel. If by chance a superior──”

“Ahh? Just where would you find great and mighty people with such idle curiosity──”

It came before Vaiel finished speaking.

──’ Unlocked ‘──

With an electronic sound, the electronic doors slid to the sides slowly.

“Hah?”

Vaiel fell silent with his mouth half-open.

There was no way someone above Elite Guard level would come to this low a floor and there was no way they would visit them. Why is it opening even though the meeting room’s door shouldn’t open?

“Ah, umm……I heard that you’d be here when I asked Instructor Yumelda.”

In front of the fully opened doors, a girl in pure white vestments bowed her head.

“Ymy…………?”

“……Why is a Priestess here?”

Monica’s and Kagura’s eyes were spinning.

“ Oh my, Ymy, welcome. We don’t have anything other than folding chairs but will you take a seat? “

“No, I just came to apologize.”

Remaining diffidently near the wall, Ymy once again bowed her head deeply.

“Well, I’m sorry! I didn’t participate in the meeting today and caused you problems……I heard the major points from Ishtar-san!”

……Mm?

Looking closely at the expression of his childhood friend whose off-gold hair was fluttering ── Sheltis raised his brows at some thoughts that didn’t appear on his face.

……Ymy’s eyes are swollen.

The area around her eyelids was slightly red and looked like she’d cried her eyes out. It was pretty much fully concealed behind her bangs so it was almost a coincidence that Sheltis had noticed. The other three hadn’t noticed.

“Ymy……sama, we were told that you were in training until just prior.”

“Y-yes. That’s right, and a little…………well……I was a little willful.”

“Willful? With training?”

Monica’s gaze narrowed. For she who had been Ymy’s senpai when she was an apprentice Priestess, she was still concerned with her kouhai’s condition even now.

“N-No, it’s just a minor……thing.”

Averting her eyes from Monica’s line of sight, Ymy turned around as if running away.

“Well then, I’m sorry. I’ll be going now!”

“Ah, wait a second! Ymy!”

Monica’s outstretched hand stopped just before touching the Priestess’ vestment.

“……It can’t be helped; it must be major if she’s unwilling to talk about it.”

Monica shook her head weakly.

“So what do we do, unit leader? I’d really like to head back and sleep right now.”

“I know. We’ll disperse for today and take a day off for tomorrow. We’ll continue as usual from early morning training the day after. ……Since we haven’t had sufficient rest since returning from the Governmental Sector.”

She took a deep breath while rubbing her eyes that were heavy with fatigue.

“ Waa, it’s an entire day off, Sheltis! I want to go on a picnic in the Nature District tomorrow. The weather’s supposed to be good and it’s the best time to see the mountain cherries. ”

“That’s a pity since I was gonna leisurely relax tomorrow too.”

“ Ehhhhh!? No, no, no, let’s go somewheeere? “

Putting aside Ilis machine crystal who was blinking in protest.

……I’m also interested in Ymy.

……It would be nice if I could secretly check on how she is tomorrow.

“Then we’ll separate here. Don’t forget that we’re meeting up in front of the training grounds’ gate at four in the morning the day after tomorrow!”

Monica clapped her hands.

“Fi─nally over. I’m gonna go back and sleep; see ya.”

“Then so will I……”

Vaiel left the meeting room quickly. Just before Sheltis followed after him, Ilis machine crystal flashed as if remembering something.

“ Come to think of it, Sheltis, there was something this morning. “

“Mm?”

“ Come on, didn’t you make a promise with Eyriey? Eyriey said she wanted to come play and you said you’d be able to meet with her after the meeting ended, didn’t you? “

“Ah, ahhhhh! Crap!”

The meeting with Ishtar present had ended and he’d completely forgotten about it until now.

“ She might still be waiting in your room. “

“Uu……for the time being, let’s rush back. W-Well then, Monica, I’ll also be going now!”

Spinning around in a big rush, he left the meeting room and flew out into the floor’s corridor.

Beyond the windows on one side of the corridor was a surface of black. The setting sun was already hidden behind the horizon and it was too late of a time to play.

“……I wonder if I’ve been keeping Eyriey waiting.”

He jogged down the hallway straight towards the elevator. He pushed the panel for “Floor 11″ which contained the Cadet Guard residences and sighed a little.

### 015. Part 2

The cold passageway returned to silence.

Ymy walked alone on the dim floor which was lit only by a faint night-light within the frozen air.

Floor 22 of the tower.

She did nothing but continue deeper into that floor which was a gigantic general medical facility.

Past the giant lobby was A ward which was for emergency outpatients.

Continuing further past that was B ward which was for treating heavily injured patients that had to be admitted.

Further past that was C ward was for treating those with serious, life-threatening conditions.

“…………Okay.”

In front of the steel doors that filled her vision, Ymy nodded largely with the intention of spurring herself on.

There was something carved on the door which shined dark grey ── a formal carved seal that gave off bluish white light. The last ward, D ward, which was isolated by shinryoku-infused doors lay beyond here.

“…………”

She placed her hand to the sensor at the side of the door.

It happened soon after the faint shinryoku wavelength from her fingertips was read by a specialized device.

“ Confirmation……regular link with the Shinryoku Theory Bureau……comparing……shinryoku waveform match…………confirming……identified as the fifth Priestess, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole. “

The doors opened in both directions with a stately sound.

…………

…………This is that kind of place.

Ceiling, floor, corridor.

There were formal carved seals applied to all of those. In the past, all the apprentice Priestesses had finished these by carving their shinryoku into the surfaces.

If not for that, it would be impossible to shelter patients contaminated with mateki. At any rate, if a normal person were to touch a patient contaminated with mateki, they would be infected with the same mateki at that moment.

“……Umm.”

She had last come here over half a year ago. Ever since she’d tasted her first setback as the Baptism Priestess, it had become a place she did not wish to visit on her own accord.

“D09, this is it.”

She confirmed the room’s name many times and timidly opened the door.

A pure white room ── the room’s ceiling, floor and walls were painted completely in white. A single boy continued to sleep there while attached to an artificial breathing apparatus. It was a small boy who was not even ten yet.

“Good……morning.”

There was no way a response would come. This boy had not opened his eyes even once since he was trapped in an eternal coma due to powerful mateki.

“……Sorry……the truth is, I wanted to come earlier.”

She might have been able to visit during the breaks between Priestess training. But she couldn’t. It would be miserable……she knew that her heart would only sink if she were to visit when she couldn’t cure him of his mateki.

“? Huh, the vase……”

A vase of azure glass sat by the window side which had its white curtains fluttering. In it was a single flower.

……There was nothing like this the last time I visited.

Civilians were strictly forbidden from entering D ward. Even family were rarely allowed to meet the patient face-to-face. Then who exactly put this flower──

“Does it not suit me?”

“!”

She turned around in a panic at the voice of the person who dropped by without a hint that she was there.

“……Horn-san.”

“I was wondering who would visit other than me.”

The blinder-wearing Sennenshi leaned against the wall with her arms folded.

“What is this? Are you trying to atone?”

“…………”

“If you have no business, then leave. You probably haven’t come to say anything to Tessha.”

…………

…………That’s right, that might be true right now.

Holding her breath, she forced her words of rebuttal back down.

“You look like you want to say something.”

“I won’t speak it.”

Turning her back on Horn, she faced the door.

There’s no meaning in telling her that I know that. That wouldn’t be enough to regain her lost confidence in me, nor would it cause this child to awaken.

“I will convey it to this child with my shinryoku……it will definitely be conveyed.”

In that room after the fifth Priestess left.

“…………What a joke.”

Biting down on the corner of her lip, Horn muttered that with disdain.

“……A dream……hope is not something you should put into words so lightly.”

As great as the sadness when hope is crushed and as deep as the despair when a dream is lost. In truth, not a single Priestess had been able to purify the mateki of this boy who continued to sleep.

……That’s right: they can’t.

It was mateki that had beaten her sister Viola and even the first Priestess, Elmeetia.

“──Tessha.”

She placed a hand to the forehead of the boy who continued to have his eyelids shut. She would not be able to touch him either if not for her Guard formal wear.

“Wait for me, I will definitely save you.”

She would find the Yuugenshu that commanded this mateki and subjugate it. She would find it even if it took months or years, and even if she had to traverse from one end of Orbie Clar the floating continent to the other.

“…………It’s time.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall near the ceiling.

“Well then, Tessha, I’ll be going to the orphanage. I’ll make sure to greet everyone on your behalf as well.”

Horn gently held the boy’s hand then left the room.

### 016. Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace floor 287, emergency stairs.

“Sheltis!? You said to follow you but you’ve just been running along the emergency stairs this whole time.”

“Sorry, Monica, just hurry! We’ll talk later!”

The space was dimly lit by only the emergency lighting. The pair’s footsteps continued to echo in the emergency stairwell which was filled with cold air.

“You said floor 288, so Meimel-sama and Viola-sama’s floor?”

“That’s right, but those two aren’t who we’re aiming for.”

“Eh?”

“……Horn Nova.”

The blinder-wearing Ex Machina. She was versed in using every gun and a shooter who was overshadowed by nobody in sniping long distance targets.

“I don’t understand where you’re going with this!?”

“I’ll explain later so just follow me for now!”

A badge’s ID was necessary to activate the elevator specifically for the Priestess floors. If they used the elevator now, it would become apparent that they were ignoring the standby order from the Guard Regulations Institute.

──Echoing footsteps.

Running up the winding stairs, he jumped over the last step. He pried open the door before his eyes……

“Just how much will you get in my way……Ymy Ele Soufflenictole!”

Floor 288 lay beyond the door.

When he took one step in, what Sheltis saw was ── Horn who was facing the elevator which led to the surface floor and Ymy who stood before her.

“Get out of the way and disappear from my sight.”

“……No. I cannot allow you to go alone. You should know just how fearsome the Yuugenshu you are pursuing now is.”

“Are you saying that while knowing that I’m a Sennenshi? Are you saying that a Sennenshi is inferior to a single Yuugenshu?”

“This is not a discussion about being inferior or not. It is because you are a Sennenshi that you should uphold the rules more than anyone else.”

The Priestess held both hands out and obstructed the Sennenshi.

Even while being pierced by Horn’s gaze as she approached menacingly, Ymy resolutely remained in that spot.

“A Sennenshi is a Priestess’ partner. While Viola is within the tower, it is your duty to accompany her.”

“A Yuugenshu has appeared and it is also a Sennenshi’s duty to defeat it.”

“Then please take along your unit. ……When Hyouketsu Kyoukai was broken, you, Ran, Leon and the others did that when holding them back. You absolutely did not fight alone.”

“The situation is different. The opponent is only a single Yuugenshu. Rather than waiting for my subordinates to gather, I will handle it myself. It is my decision as the captain so there are no problems with tower regulations.”

“I’m saying that I’m afraid of how you think of it as ‘only a single Yuugenshu‘.”

Ymy continued while staring at Horn without blinking.

“……I have experienced it first-hand, so I can say this. There are really Yuugenshu that cannot be opposed with the strength of a person. It is too dangerous to underestimate the Yuugenshu.”

“Then are you underestimating the Sennenshi?”

The Sennenshi went past anger and sighed.

“For a Priestess who should be the one that most trusts the Sennenshi to make light of them like this.”

“You’re wrong. I──”

He looked on at that scene while pressed up near the emergency door.

“Sheltis.”

“……I know.”

Clenching his right hand to the point of whiteness, Sheltis nodded with his breathing ragged.

……I know. This isn’t an argument that a Cadet Guard like me can go out and stop.

He and Monica were no more than ten metres away from Ymy and Horn. Even with her back turned, Horn should have noticed them and Ymy was facing them so she must have seen them.

……But from their points of view, we’re not related to this.

A Priestess and Sennenshi were seriously clashing opinions. This was not something that would be resolved by a third party like himself or Monica interjecting.

But. Just before that.

“……That’s enough, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

Horn’s air of intimidation expanded explosively. The feelings mixed into each word had surpassed anger and were close to hatred.

“Don’t go? Don’t chase it? Don’t underestimate Yuugenshu? Who are you to say these things?”

“!”

Horn reached out to Ymy’s collar and tugged her face closer like that.

“To begin with, you and Tessha……”

“That’s right.”

Even with her vestments being grabbed, Ymy’s words didn’t stop.

“It would not have come to this if I could have purified that child’s mateki. That my words would not reach you because of that……I was prepared.”

……Normally……no, really, Monica and I.

……We might have jumped out when Ymy was grabbed.

The reason Sheltis and Monica had not done so and continued to stand there was because Ymy was nothing but resolved.

Even while being held by the collar and showered with harsh words, the Priestess was not wavering.

“I’ve also been doing my best this whole time. You may have said that I went to the Governmental Sector on a sightseeing trip but I went there with the intention of gaining many things. There are things I would not have gained without going to the Governmental Sector and things I could not do without having gone.”

“Aren’t you talking big.”

Horn put strength into the hand holding the Priestess’ vestments.

“And what exactly did you manage to gain?”

“……I will once again try to purify that child’s mateki. If that fails, then I will accept any insults or act.”

“Then quit being a Priestess.”

That sentence.

Was the limit for Sheltis and Monica who were watching so as to not disturb the equilibrium of that place──

……However.

“…………”

He had been about to wordlessly run out but he stopped.

……Why. Why……are you looking at us with those kinds of eyes?

Monica and even Ilis Machine crystal were at a loss for words. “You mustn’t come here.” was the message conveyed by Ymy’s eyes.

“……You mean to make me leave the tower.”

“You’re the one who said you would accept any act, aren’t you?”

The Sennenshi looked down at the Priestess with her blinder-covered eyes.

“A Priestess who can’t even save a single child is unnecessary. I’ll pass on being satisfied with just having a Priestess who’s there to fill in the numbers and fails big time at the crucial times. In that case, it would be best not to have her from the start.”

“Understood. I will bet everything I have as a Priestess.”

“───Are you insane?”

“However, I also have a condition.”

“” [T/N: The heck am I supposed to put for only a っ…that thing makes absolutely no sound on its own.]

For the first time, Horn stirred even if ever so slightly. That was because the girl who had only been held by the collar was now holding her wrist with all her strength.

──She’s looking at…………Monica and I?

“A condition?”

Figuring out the meaning of that gaze, Horn turned towards them.

“What about them?”

“You……you will travel together with the unit of senpai whom you called useless. Monica-senpai is absolutely not useless.”

“……! W-Wait, Ymy.”

Before Monica herself could speak up, Horn rebuked,

“Don’t screw around. Travelling with somebody I know is baggage──”

“I’m not screwing arouuuuuund!“

Ymy’s angry roar turned into a sound wave and shook that floor.

“I won’t lose to mateki and Monica-senpai is not baggage!”

Holding fast to the arm grabbing her collar, the Priestess girl returned a glare.

“Even though I’m saying I will bet everything I have as a Priestess but I’ll reject it if you don’t accept my one condition. ……When I went to your treasured orphanage, all the children there said that they really loved you. That you are strong and kind and they really love you. But that’s wrong: you’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

“────”

That instant.

A crack developed in the iron expression the Sennenshi had been keeping until now.

“……And if so?”

Horn distorted her mouth unpleasantly and she spat out.

“I’m a weakling? Even if that’s true, are you trying to say you’re not putting on airs!?”

“……Uu, uu!”

The hand before Ymy’s neck tightened even more and,

“Okay, okay, that’s no gooood─, any more and the Priestess’ vestments will tear. Horn-chan, did you have an interest in such things?”

Surarii ── as quickly as if that onomatopeia could be heard, Ymy’s vestments slipped through Horn’s fingers.

“Ehh, ah. Huh?”

Ymy who was suddenly free again stared in wonder with a confused expression.

“……Ishtar.”

“Hey there, it’s been a while, Horn-chan. Been wellll?”

The person who had released Ymy’s constraints was smiling aloofly.

The Sennenshi she was facing also showed a rare obvious grimace. It seemed to be saying that somebody annoying had shown up.

“Oh─, there, there. It’s been rough on you, Ymy-sama─. Did it hurt─?”

“Eh, u-umm……”

“Ah. So─rry, I just treated you like I’sa-chan. ……Ahaha, well, pay it no mind.”

“──What are you doing, Cadres Guard?”

Horn revealed her displeasure at the sudden intrusion and drew closer. Both of them were as tall as grown men and their eyes were at about the same height.

“No, no, Horn-chan, you’re being scaaary.”

“Don’t play dumb. Even if it’s you, I have the higher standing──”

“Eh─? Unfortunately for you, this was a request from your onee-san? When the blood rushes to her head and she won’t listen to anybody, it might work if it’s you, Ishtar-san, is what she told me.”

“……Ane-ue, huh.”

“Oh? As expected, you falter when Viola-sama’s name comes up─? Fumu, fumu, heeeh, heeeh.”

“Cadres Guard, I would prefer it if you were to simply state your business?”

“Mm─. My business was just to cool Horn-chan’s head so I think I’ll call that okay. Rather, don’t you not have much time? That Yuugenshu you’re searching for might conceal itself at any time.”

Fwoosh. Ishtar’s left arm which had a little bit of bare skin peeking out rose up and came to a stop pointing in their direction.

“It’s a waste of time arguing here. You two, how about you go along with her like Ymy-sama said?”

“…………”

“If Horn-chan defeats the Yuugenshu then there’s a chance that that child’s mateki will also disappear. If so, then the first thing should be for you two to go with her and defeat it. If the mateki happens to disappear, then all the better. Ymy-sama betting her position as Priestess on purifying will come after that. How about it?”

“……I have my misgivings. Taking along unnecessary Cadet Guards for exterminating Yuugenshu is against the tower’s regulations as well─”

“They are useful.“

Completely opposite Horn who was talking on and on quickly, Ishtar had a pleasant and calm tone.

“……What?”

“I said they are useful. It wouldn’t be a problem bringing them along. They’re perfect subordinates for Horn-chan who only likes outstanding subordinates.”

The Cadres Guard showed a daring smile. The Sennenshi stared at that expression enough to burn a hole in it. Time passed with both of them maintaining their silence──

“Excuse me, Captain Horn.”

Monica who had been silent until now interposed between the two who were staring at each other. She took out her silver plate-shaped badge and put the LCD screen on its back before Horn’s eyes.

Emergency request.

She thrust out the LCD screen with that displayed.

“A recommendation from counter-measures HQ? You can’t mean that you”

“Just now, we received a request to deploy from headquarters. In accordance with the recommendation from the Instructor, myself and three others shall be rightfully participating as the supporting unit for this case. With this, there should be no issue.”

“…………”

The Sennenshi closed her mouth and was silent.

“Truthfully, I cannot understand what is ‘useful‘ about you.”

“I have directly received such great trust from Ymy-sama so I will do my best. Also──”

She exchanged looks with Ymy who was restraining herself.

“If we defeat the Yuugenshu and that child’s mateki disappears, then the talk of Ymy quitting being a Priestess also ends. To that end, I intend on accompanying you no matter what.”

“……So you’re of the same opinion as Ishtar.”

Horn muttered with a voice that let no hint of her feelings in.

“So, how about it, Horn-chan?”

“Time is precious.”

Twisting the corner of mouth unpleasantly, she took out her communications device from the holder at her waist.

“It’s me, put Catria on the line. …………Catria. It’s me, is the gun maintenance I asked for complete? I’ll be heading over within four hundred seconds from now so place those two and the other gun I handed to you on my transport. The crew members will be me──”

Horn turned her head halfway to them.

She looked appraisingly at Ishtar, Ymy and finally Sheltis, then gave a long, long sigh.

“……And a single Cadet Guard unit. No, you’re not mistaken and I didn’t say the wrong thing; I will be acting together with a single Cadet Guard unit. Got it? If you get it, then hurry up and prepare with the remaining three hundred eighty seconds.”

### 017. Part 2

Meeting room 269-F.

The room which was right at the center of the floor was already filled with many personnel.

“O─i, is Meimel still not hereee. I’m about to die from boredom.”

“Ishtar as well, she’s really lonely without I’sa-chan……”

Hey, Leon, what does that have to do with calling me? There’s plainly a big rank difference between me and everyone else.”

“Shut up. To begin with, the start of this is your acquaintance ‘Number One‘ Zeadoll or whatever it was. This is also to hear your circumstances.”

“……No, it’s not like it’s at the point where you would call him my acquaintance.”

“I see, so because of that, we got wrapped up in something troublesome again.”

“You can’t get bored being in this room.”

“…………The tension is making my stomach hurt.”

“A-Are you okay? Monica-senpai, stay strong. Would you like some digestives?”

“Hey, hey, Sheltisss. The cute Ilis feels like having a paid yearly vacation soon.“

“Oka─y, thanks for waiting everyone; look this way.”

Meimel clapped her hands and everyone in the meeting room turned at once.

“Uh─mm……one, two……there are a lot of you. I wonder if everyone’s here. Shall we do a little attendance checking? Everyone, when your name is called, respond in a spirited voice──”

“Everyone’s here. Rather, Meimel, you’re the only one late.”

Ran was seated on a folding chair.

“It’s fiiine─. Within three minutes isn’t called late.”

With a refreshing smile, the tall Priestess turned around. A smiling expression. ──With a gaze that didn’t give a shred of a feeling of hostility or doubt.

“Well then, shall we start by giving our respective introductions?”

“Ahh, don’t worry about that.”

At the center of the meeting room.

A man bound to a chair shook his head.

“There are two Priestesses. Their names are Meimel and Ymy. Behind them are the Sennenshi, Ran and Leon. Both are the best on the Orbie Clar floating continent in their respectives fields of barehanded and great sword combat. And the one over there staring at a picture of her little sister is the Cadres Guard, Ishtar. The nii-chan behind her is Sheltis and the one beside him who looks like her stomach is in pain is the unit captain, Monica, right? The one in the back who looks like he detests this from the bottom of his heart is Vaiel and the one with a huuuge hat is Kagura. All of them are Cadet Guards. If I got anything wrong, please point it out.”

“Oh my, that’s amazing. Not just the Priestesses and Sennenshi─. You even remembered the Cadet Guards’ names.”

Meimel spoke with a look of praise.

“I should at least endeavor to remember the faces of those who came to our place. Riiight, Kuro?” [T/N: “our place” written as “Governmental Sector”.]

“Right. Though I’m the one who did all the investigating.”

“……That was unnecessary, Kuro.”

A long, long sigh.

Or so they thought, but that man looked straight up at Meimel who was looking down at him.

“So tell me one thing. Why am I bound to this uncool folding chair? I’ve been like this since yesterday for a whole night so my backside’s starting to hurt a little.”

“Well, that would be because we can’t just let an unknown intruder just freely do what they want. Yesterday, you even entered D ward which has restricted access.”

“But you know. I’m wrapped up like this and Kuro ── my subordinate had a proper seat prepared for her. She even has black tea and snacks.”

In his bound state, he pointed towards the woman seated beside him with his chin. She was seated elegantly and quietly had the teacup against her lips.

“Isn’t this gender inequality?”

“Huick-sama, this is a distinction wrought by the difference in first impressions. So to speak, character, dignity, personal appearance, refinement and other various things that show habitually during everyday activities.”

“……Whose side are you on?”

The man sighed with a weary expression.

“Well, whatever. Come on, ask me anything; I’ll just say this ahead of time, but I didn’t come here for a fight or anything. Even so, what’s with this extravagant gathering? It’s close to half of those at the top of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Everybody likes festivals.”

“Hoo……”

“Well, let’s put jokes aside. After all, you’re from the Governmental Sector’s secret military organization. That’s a special unit belonging to Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s rival, so I would be too scared to face you alone. First, let’s start with whether your named affiliation is true.”

“‘Number Nine‘ Huick of the Governmental Sector secret military organization.“

“The one who’d know the most about that is the Cadet Guard nii-chan over there.”

Huick’s gaze went past Meimel’s flank and──

“You.”

“……Me?”

Leon elbowed him and Sheltis blinked.

“That’s right. We’re talking about that muscle-headed idiot so he probably went off about me or the ‘Number Seven‘ as much as he wanted during battle.”

“Ah, that he did, that he did. I have records of the conversation. I’ll play them.“

Ilis Machine crystal responded with a carefree voice.

“We of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ are a secret military organization stationed at the various centers of the Governmental Sector. We are permitted to use military force regardless of the place and we are named after the weapons entrusted to us.“

“By the weapons entrusted to you……so you mean that you’re the ‘number one‘ not because you defend this place alone but because you use a single mace?“

“Yes. The ‘number seven‘ and ‘number nine‘ also have a fitting amount of weapons to complement their names──……“

“By the way, the second one was Sheltis speaking.“

“……That idiot, he really said whatever he wanted.”

The Number Nine sighed gloomily because of Ilis Machine crystal ’ playback. Kuro who was idling beside him also seemed to be at a loss for words.

“Pheeew. For the time being, let’s just trust that there’s a member called ‘Number Nine‘ in the organization ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘. ……Can we continue this conversation?”

“It’s a counterattack.”

“A counterattack?”

“Right. But you know, I came with the intention of having a conversation of equals between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector. So can I cut these restraints already?”

Flop……the ropes which were fastened firmly all along from his shoulders to his ankles displayed sharp cuts and fell to the ground.

“Oh!”

Ran, who had been reclining in her chair, had her eyes shining. ……How did he cut them? There wasn’t even a slight noise or indication nor a presence.

“Amazing, amazing! How’d you do that? One more time!”

“Fufun. Well, isn’t that amazing? This is my──buhaa!?”

Huick fainted in agony after having an elbow slammed into his lower flank.

“Huick-sama, please take a short rest. The conversation won’t proceed so I shall speak.”

Standing courteously, Kuro bowed politely.

“Previously, at the conference that we had Priestess Ymy-sama attend, there was an incident involving Maha and Igneed of the Lords of Unusual Books. At that time, we caused a great deal of trouble for you.”

“Ah, n-no……that’s not true.”

Ymy frantically waved her hand and Kuro bowed deeply once more.

“And for Sophia Tenketsu Palace , exactly one month ago. A Guard unit was wiped out by Maha of the Lords of Unusual Books. That case itself was resolved by Sheltis-sama and Kagura-sama over there but…………is that so? A true conclusion has yet to be reached. The reason being that not a single thing about the Lords of Unusual Books’ identity or goal has been understood.”

──Isn’t that so?

Kuro gazed at Meimel with a smile and challenging look.

Right beside here, Huick shrugged while still seated in the chair.

“The Governmental Sector will be counterattacking from now on. We’ll be entering the one base that Kuro and I found.”

“I seeee. You want Sophia Tenketsu Palace to join in on that.”

“The Governmental Sector was attacked and you guys also had subordinates crushed by them. With that, wouldn’t it be good to cooperate?”

“……That’s riiight. Before that, anybody who wants to pose a question should do so.”

Is there anyone? Meimel looked around her and nobody there raised a voice in response.

……No, there should be questions.

……Everybody should have at least one doubt at the very least.

“Everyone’s so reserved, huuuh. Well then──”

“Just one thing.”

Amongst those who were keeping silent, Sheltis timidly opened his mouth.

“Is anything fine?”

“That’s right, good on you, nii-chan. It’s important to be curious.”

The look in Huick’s eyes changed as he propped his elbows up on the table. Kuro who was sitting still beside him also stared with her blue eyes narrowed to slits.

……This is.

……As I thought. They came with the intention of letting us ask questions from the beginning.

‘Questioning‘ was, so to speak, a measure of the asker’s ability to gather information and their ability to process information.

Depending on what question the Priestesses, Sennenshi or Guards here were to pose, they would gain a rough idea of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s analytic ability.

……You could call these two examiners.

……They’ve come to determine whether Sophia Tenketsu Palace can become a reliable ally or not.

That was why they showed up boldly while prepared for the dangers.

If they were to ask a question which ran counter to the Governmental Sector’s expectations, they would be regarded as having no information gathering ability and would be provided no beneficial information to oppose the Lords of Unusual Books.

“That’s good, nii-chan, that look isn’t bad at all. You understand.”

“──Huick-sama. You’re saying a little too much.”

“Kuro, these guys understand. There’s no point in tediously hiding our objective from people who understand.”

Now, what question will you ask me? You’ve already ascertained there’s no reason to hide anything, the ‘Number Nine’s‘ daring gaze clearly conveyed that.

“What I want to know is your information source.”

“Hou?”

“───”

Huick and Kuro widened their eyes slightly.

“First. The fact that Kagura and I fought ‘Golden Maha‘ has not been announced outside of the tower. ……The second is the Lords of Unusual Books’ base. How did you find a base that even Sophia Tenketsu Palace hasn’t found yet? We haven’t received an explanation for either yet.”

“………………How unpleasant, you noticed that.”

After a very long silence, that was what the secret operative muttered.

“You’re pretty good even though you’re young. Ah, I’m still in my twenties myself. Well, if we’re talking age, Kuro over here──”

“Huick-sama.”

“……Right, let’s continue the conversation. I’ll start off by saying the question’s not bad.”

Resting his chin on his hands, the man from ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ pointed at his own eyelid.

“It’s the eye. You should understand if I say Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. As for your question, we can figure out either one of those by using it.”

“Oya, but you shouldn’t be able to use that without a compatible individual?“

“Correct. That’s why this person’s here.”

Huick pointed with his chin at the suited woman directly behind him.

“There are currently a total of three people compatible with Mikuva’s Crimson Eye in the Governmental Sector. Kuro is one of them. Though I say compatible, that doesn’t mean fully compatible, so there is a limit on the information able to be drawn out but……well, she can at least get information of that level. I think that’s good enough of an answer.”

“Is that enough?“

“……Yeah.”

This man who named himself as Huick was a trickster. Complete opposite the ‘Number One‘, he would plan with one or two layers of his opponent’s thoughts in mind.

“And your response is?”

“Let’s seeee. You said it was a counterattack but it sounds more like an infiltration, so it’ll be a select few elite, right? The opponents being who they are, Regular Guards aren’t going to cut it……and there are few amongst the Elite Guards who are privy to the circumstances. Ahh, what are we to do; with things being the way they are, we have no choice but to send someone from those gathered heeere.”

Meimel crossed her arms underneath her chest and pressed a finger against her own cheek. That expression was like an expert enjoying themselves in an intellectual game.

“One or two people?”

“No way. We don’t know the enemy organization’s scale, so it’s logical to have more allies. ……Well, there are only two from the Governmental Sector so we can’t ask for dozens of people. If you’re looking to cooperate, we’d like around two. In reality, the limit for those who will be able to infiltrate in one go is four including Kuro and I. More than that would be a separate unit.”

“By the way, what’s the maximum?”

“If you don’t trust us, you can prepare as many as you want.”

Meimel asked with a smile and the Number Nine spread his hands.

“But I’ll pass on a big family; at most, it will be five people. That is to say, you pick five and that’ll be seven when Kuro and I are added. In that case, two from your five would come with us as the main unit and the remaining three will infiltrate using a separate route.”

“Fumu, fumu. So two will be travelling with you and more than that is a different unit. ──This is a difficult problem, hmmmm.”

Contrary to her words, the Priestess’ tone was that of enjoyment when she answered.

“Ran.”

“Where are Viola Nova and Horn Nova?”

“They’re on standby on the floor above.”

“Thanks. That means that with the nine here and the Nova sisters, we have eleven. Syun-rei is really busy with the barrier in place of Salah-sama so she’s excluded. Up to five of us can go……oh dear, how troublinggg, who shall we choose from amongst these wonderful members?”

Meimel gazed into thin air with a teasing smile.

……The infiltration of the third organization. The most that can go is five.

“───”

Looking around at those gathered again, Sheltis gulped.

First, there were three Priestesses. Meimel, Ymy and Viola who was waiting on another floor.

Likewise, there were three Sennenshi. Ran, Leon and Horn on another floor. In addition was the Cadres Guard, Ishtar. All of them were able individuals included in the superior part of the tower’s strongest.

……Adding in the four from our unit makes eleven people.

……Five will be chosen from here to head for the Lords of Unusual Books’ base.

“If you want to know, chase after me. Now, Sheltis, chase after me. That is the beginning of everything.“

……I want to be chosen to go.

Igun’I’s true intention. In the first place, why the Lords of Unusual Books had an abnormal knowledge of Mikuva’s Crimson Eye and the Forbidden Crystal was still a mystery.

……And above all, they know that I have mateki.

A single premonition weighed on his chest.

They freely operated Mikuva’s Crimson Eye which can’t be used without a compatible individual and……they knew that I fell into the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

If it’s Igun’I, does he also know how to purify the mateki residing in this body?

“───”

There was what happened in the Governmental Sector but he had thought so ever since he thought the information of the Governmental Sector’s cultured Yuugenshu was related to him and Ymy. Now that he knew all of that was the secret maneuvering of the third organization, he wasn’t going to let this suggestion from the Governmental Sector slip past.

……Ymy, I thought your purification of that mateki which no Priestess could purify was truly amazing.

……You really are doing your best. For all those of the tower.

Then me too.

No matter how dangerous this infiltration mission may be, if it’s connected to Ymy and my sakes──

“Now then, has everyone decided on how they feel?”

Meimel pulled out a large notebook from who-knows-where.

“Of course, I will be making the final decision but first I’ll hear you out if you have a request. Those who wish to participate in the joint plan with the Governmental Sector, name yourself and step forward.”

While spinning the pen skillfully around her finger, she looked over the assembled members.

“……Oh my, nobody?”

Nobody reacted.

Meimel stared in wonder at the silent Sophia Tenketsu Palace members.

“That’s unexpected, hmmmm, or are you just holding back? Then I’ll just decide it myself, and I suppose that’ll be fine. Well then──”

“…………If I”

From his throat which was parched from nervousness, he squeezed out his voice.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s members. And the two secret organization members focused their sights ── Sheltis gulped deeply.

“If I would do, please let me participate.”

### 018. Part 3

“Ummm, then I’ll continue Kagura-san’s report. I wonder if Kagura-san’s report is really basic? You might have written too much plain fact and lack your own considerations. The complete opposite of Vaiel-kun’s report─”

At the seat of honor for the table in the meeting room, the golden-haired woman with a report in one hand shifted her knees.

Cadres Guard Ishtar. She was a spear user who had went on the expedition to the Governmental Sector as the Priestess’ escort.

“Now then, Monica-san’s is……yup, well written! It’s really fitting for the unit leader!”

“I-I’m honored!”

Sitting in the seat opposite Ishtar, Monica bowed many times in embarrassment.

She was dazzling with her light sakura-colored long hair and looks. She had once studied shinryoku spells as an apprentice Priestess but she was now the wielder of the Rosario crossed rods who led Sheltis’ unit.

“Okay, then that’s the end of the mandatory hearing. Ah─ so tireeed. I wanna see I’sa-chan’s faceee. I haven’t seen her for five hours now.”

Ishtar sighed after closing the file with the reports.

“……Then shall we enter the topic that everybody’s been waiting for? That pair of two.”

The meeting room became silent again.

Monica and Kagura’s shoulders stiffened at the same time and even Vaiel who’d been resting his head on his hands looked up with a tiresome expression.

“There was a pair of two that attacked the Governmental Sector’s office building head-on during the last day of the conference. It’s pretty much exactly how it was written in everybody’s reports. It actually became a big fight so that’s a given though.”

That’s right.

This was a report meeting in name but this was today’s true topic ── the summarizing of information related to the mysterious two who had attacked the Governmental Sector.

“Just Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank ? The organization those two belong to is still unknown. It looks like the chances of there being a third organization unrelated to the Governmental Sector really is high……and what Ishtar wants to ask is this next part. Ishtar fought Maha Golden and Monica-san’s group fought Maha Golden ’s clones. After that……”

“Is it about me?”

Being pierced with Ishtar’s deeply meaningful gaze, Sheltis corrected his posture.

“Yup, yup. You chased after Igun-I Blank . It’s fine no matter how small the detail. Could you tell us any hint, conversation or some kind of proof that you saw or heard without leaving anything out?”

“Ah, but…………”

You first ── being looked at by Ishtar’s smiling face, Sheltis lowered his voice and muddled his words.

“Mm? What’s up?”

Head propped up on her hands, the Cadres Guard instead urged him for his response with an expression that said she was enjoying this.

“An important person hasn’t come to the meeting room.”

“Ymy-sama, you mean?”

He wordlessly nodded at Ishtar’s reply.

They would have the Priestess also join them and listen in on the matter concerning Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank that would unfold starting now. Time-wise, it wouldn’t be strange for Ymy to have shown up, but she hadn’t yet.

“Shall we wait?”

“Mm─. No, we’ll receive contact from her when she’s coming. Ymy-sama had training until just before this meeting so once she’s done with that, she’ll meet up with us. Isn’t it just that her training’s running late?”

The Cadres Guard had a carefree tone.

But.

“……That’s odd.”

Monica, who’d been silent until then, spoke seriously.

“I’m sure that Ishtar-sama is also aware but Priestess training is extremely harsh. Because it’s harsh, strict adherence to the time is basic.”

If the training went longer, there was the possibility of causing grave damage to the Priestess’ mind and body. That was why there was always an exclusive doctor monitoring the Priestess’ condition.

“Ohhh, is that so? Ishtar doesn’t really know about those things.”

Ishtar raised a brow while still leaning on her hands.

“But you know, Monica-san, if her training isn’t running late, then do you have any idea of what else is keeping her?”

“……If you say that, I don’t really have any.”

“Then it’s fine. It’s a waste of time so we’ll just continue on like this. Ishtar will inform Ymy-sama. It’s fine if she makes it before the meeting ends. Are you okay with that too?”

Being looked at head-on, Sheltis was at a loss for words for a moment.

……I have no reason to refuse.

The fifth Priestess, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ── in reality, Sheltis and she were childhood friends before entering Sophia Tenketsu Palace . However, that was a private secret so he obviously had no intent of asserting it at a public meeting like this.

“It’s fine.”

“Good decision. Then the continuation ── wait, where’d we stop? I forgot so I’ll ask you again.”

“Eh?”

“I mean, while Ishtar was fighting Maha Golden , you chased after Igun-I Blank . Did you see or hear anything that would serve as a clue during that time?”

“……Though you said that, that’s exactly where the conversation was.”

Immediately after Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank retreated, everybody including Ymy was diagnosed by a doctor starting with the heavily injured Monica. During that time, he’d talked with Ishtar for around an hour and covered all the major points.

The joint struggle with Zeadoll of the Governmental Sector’s secret military unit ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘.

About how the man named Igun-I Blank had a completely black appearance, and how he’d activated some kind of power of ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ and summoned a Yuugenshu and mechanical weapon.

And the most uncanny thing above all…………

“Ahh, that’s right, was Igun-I Blank somebody you know?”

With Ishtar’s words.

He felt all the stares in the room pierce him.

“Umm……I don’t know him; he just said that on his own. I feel like I said the same thing when I first reported this though.”

“Is that so? Sorry─, Ishtar’s memory is bad.”

Of course, she probably knew and did that on purpose. With a mocking smile upon her lips, the person herself had no sense of shyness, still propped up on her hands.

“……Sheltis, about what the Cadres Guard said.”

“That’s the truth. I’ll repeat myself: I don’t know Igun-I Blank ; he just said that stuff on his own.”

With Monica double-checking, he shook his head from side to side slowly to convey his answer.

……That’s right. I shouldn’t know him.

I haven’t met him. That should be it but──

“ You know me. Ahh, that’s great. I’m really happy. “

“ That’s fine. It’s fine if you don’t know. It’s fine if you feel it even if you don’t know. Hey, Sheltis, ‘ Nice to meet you. ‘ and ‘ It’s been a while. ‘. I’ve been eagerly waiting the time we would meet in this world. “

The throb I felt at that time……

That ── which made the inside of my chest run wild ── what was that strange unease?

“We can think of it as a diversion.”

Kagura said that while holding the Machina machine pearl .

“In reality……that thing called the Governmental Sector’s treasure, I believe it was, after coming into contact with that, they escaped from the Governmental Sector’s territory, right? They might be experienced with those kinds of tactics.”

“Moron.”

The one who answered faster than anyone else was Vaiel who was suppressing a yawn.

“At that time, that Zea-whatshisface hardened mercenary guy from the Governmental Sector was also there. In that case, there’s no point in just causing one side to waver. This is why you’re a brat.”

“Wha, y-you don’t know that!? What made you think that ── hey, are you listening! Hey, listen!?”

Kagura was talking on and on quickly and Vaiel was treating it as bothersome. ……Unexpectedly, Ishtar turned to him with a sigh while looking at those two from the corners of her eyes.

“Well, whatever. Then that means you have no new information?”

“……I’ll tell you if there’s anything.”

“You do that. Then next is Monica-san beside you──”

Ten minutes after that.

With nobody producing any worthwhile information, the meeting came to an end.

“Mm─……no worthwhile information. Well, it can’t be helped so let’s stop here.”

Slipping the folder with the reports under her arm, Ishtar stood up first. Next was Vaiel, Kagura and Monica.

“ Come on, Sheltis. “

“Ah, yeah.”

Being urged by Ilis machine crystal , Sheltis also timidly left the room.

“Ah, that’s right.”

──Tap.

Ishtar tapped the handle of the long spear she was carrying against the floor while standing in front of the automated door.

“The Lords of Unusual Books.”

“……Eh?”

“Ishtar will share one more piece of information with you. When she was fighting at the Governmental Sector, Maha Golden declared that name. He said he was the third of the Lords of Unusual Books. That’s probably what they call themselves but what Ishtar wants to tell you is something different from that common name. Have any questions or do you understand?”

If he was the third, then there were at least a second and first.

And they had no idea how many more there were from fourth onwards.

“We don’t know how many members there are to the Lords of Unusual Books and we don’t know where they’re hiding. The chance that they’re hiding somebody equal to or stronger than Maha Golden here in Sophia Tenketsu Palace isn’t zero either. Taking a stroll around the tower in the middle of the night alone is like asking to be attacked.”

Shiver.

Maybe it was the heavy pressure of fear but something unseen filled the room.

“You four have become involved with the Lords of Unusual Books and it’s a given to think that they’ve seen your faces. If they’re planning to eliminate the witnesses──”

If somebody were being targeted ahead of anybody else in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , then the target of the attack would naturally become one of them.

“……Well, I think that possibility’s low though.”

Ishtar smiled faintly after discerning his nervousness.

“If they were the types to eliminate witnesses, they wouldn’t attack the Governmental Sector at high noon. There are like a hundred witnesses in the Governmental Sector too.”

……That’s true.

At Ishtar’s warning, that was the foremost feeling that Sheltis had. But he didn’t go as far as to voice it. In any case, the goal and everything else of the Lords of Unusual Books was unknown. They should be more cautious just to be cautious.

“It’s better to keep it in mind. You’ll become stronger if you don’t like being afraid. That’s what Ishtar wants to say. See ya〰”

The Cadres Guard left with a wink.

“Jeez, that’s not appealing at all.”

“Agreed.”

Vaiel let out a gloomy sigh and strangely, Monica was of the same opinion.

“ It makes you wonder. “

“About Maha Golden ?”

“ There’s that too but it’s something else. Something closer to you. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked and continued on in a suggestive tone.

“ Ymy never did come in the end. “

### 019. Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11.

Just as he took one step into his room that was pretty much right at the back of the Cadet Guard residences,

“So slo─w! Where were you loitering around, Sheltis!”

“Shel-nii, you’re late.”

Eyriey glared at him with raised eyes and Yuto was sitting properly on the bed.

…………

…………Well, that’s what I expected.

“ Oh, this is unexpected: nobody’s here. “

“……It looks like they were waiting here before though.”

The bed was ruffled and there were candy wrappers in the garbage can.

Eyriey had eaten the candy she brought along and Yuto had played around on the bed. He could easily imagine those two.

“It looks like they got tired of waiting and went home.”

“ But it looks like they left a message. “

What Ilis machine crystal was talking about was an audio recording device left casually atop the desk. The small pencil-shaped device had a sound collection apparatus attached to the end. He hadn’t seen a device like it anywhere else in the tower so it was most likely an invention of Eyriey’s.

“ That flashing part is probably the replay button. “

“This?”

There was a replay button on one end of the pencil-shaped device. He timidly pushed it,

“ Eyri-nee, this button? “

“ Yup, yup. It’ll record if you talk while pressing that. Yuto, try saying something. “

It was those two’s voices as expected.

“ Mm〰……What should Yuto say? “

“ Sheltis, you’re so slo─w. We’ll come back tomorrow so make sure to keep some time open! ──I said it. So, Yuto, just say what you want to. “

“ O─kay! Um, umm, Shel-nii, I’ll come again tomorrow─ “

“──So they say.”

“ Isn’t that fine since you’re already on break tomorrow anyway? Rather than that…… “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ voice that had a suppressed laugh mixed into it quieted down a notch.

“ It looks like there’s one other message from someone. “

Occupying about half of the work desk was a giant monitor and computer.

The terminal which was normally in power saving mode had its electric lamp flashing blue, showing that a message had arrived.

“……So this time’s by mail though I haven’t really used this terminal at all.”

“ They don’t really come to this terminal; that’s rare. “

If it was for sending and receiving simple messages, their card-shaped badges had that function. It was the norm for Monica, the instructor, Leon and others to use the badge to contact him.

“I wonder who it is.”

“ I think it should be an administrative officer since they mailed you on this terminal. A Guard would probably use the badge to mail you. “

“Well, yeah.”

Starting up the monitor, the message inbox was shown.

“……Huh? The sender’s information isn’t showing up. It can’t be viewed.”

“It’s not that it’s not being shown; it has an upper authority’s secret encryption applied. If it was a regular mail, then it could be inspected by the one in charge of computer processing at the General Affairs Bureau but this can’t be viewed by anybody except the recipient.”

It used an uncommon frequency. Putting aside administrative staff and Elite Guard-level Guards, it was something that a Cadet Guard would rarely ever have the chance to use.

“ Ohh, that’s interesting. Come on, open it quickly─ “

“I got it, okay, so wait a second.”

Calming down Ilis machine crystal who was hurrying him on, he inserted his ID into the encrypted document.

“ To Sheltis,

Good work today. Sorry I couldn’t attend the meeting. I also said a little about it when I interrupted your meeting earlier…………I’ve been thinking about Priestess training. “

“……Ymy?”

“ She’s forgotten to put her name at either end of the mail but that’s who it would appear to be from the contents. “

“ O-On top of that!

It’s about that which is residing in your body but……since then, I wonder if I’ve done my best in piling on training. If you have time tomorrow, could you come to floor 276 past noon?

Sorry for being so sudden.

I wanted to tell you in person but it looks like you were together with Monica-senpai for the entire day today.

……I want to try purifying that.

U-Um, just so you know. It’s okay if you can’t come!

It’s not like it absolutely has to be tomorrow……it’s just, the truth is……I can’t say that I have great confidence. It’s fine if you have something else to do and prioritize that.

But.

If you don’t have anything tomorrow………… “

The mail ended there.

There was no name for the sender……but there was no need to think about who it was now.

“She said floor 276.”

“ It’s Ymy’s private training floor. There are almost ten rooms matched to Ymy’s spells and a number of those can be used to purify mateki. “

“……I see.”

The mail referring to mateki as ‘ that ‘ may have been for the one in ten thousand chance that somebody saw the contents.

……The mateki that came to reside in my body when I fell to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

……If this mateki is purified, I wonder if my shinryoku will return.

“ Aren’t you making quite the complicated expression? Aren’t you happy about getting your mateki purified? “

“I shouldn’t be unhappy.”

Whispering that as if talking to himself, Sheltis sat down on a corner of the bed. He laid down, stared up at the illuminated ceiling and took a deep breath.

“But if my mateki is purified and my shinryoku returns just like that, it feels like it’ll end with a ‘ That’s great, that’s great ‘.”

It was miraculous that he had returned from the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song alive and even had mateki reside within him.

He had a feeling the passion for investigating the cause for that had finally died down and changed into “Well, you made it out so it’s all good”.

……But was that really okay?

If the mateki residing within him was the key to approaching the secret of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , wouldn’t the chance to come close to that secret be lost along with the disappearance of his mateki?

“……When we went to the Governmental Sector, that’s the feeling I had.”

The Yuugenshu being bred within a water tank. They had thought it was the work of the Governmental Sector, but it was then determined to be the work of a third organization that Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank belonged to.

……Moreover, there’s the Forbidden Crystal.

……The Governmental Sector’s treasure, Mikuva’s Crimson Eye, was also like that.

The Yuugenshu, the third organization and the Forbidden Crystal as well. ……And me. Everything is connected. Everything should have the ‘ Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ‘ as a common point.

“I feel like I’ve caught onto something. What is it……I can’t say it well but it feels like I’ve touched something extremely important. In regards to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret.”

More than any Guard and more than any Priestess.

He was closing in on the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret: that’s what he felt.

“If I can investigate the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret like this, we might find a more effective method of combatting the Yuugenshu and mateki.”

It might also lessen the burden on Ymy as a Priestess. He might be able to become a source of strength for her in other areas as he aimed to become her guard.

“ ………… “

“Is it strange?”

“ ……I just thought about how you can think like that. “

There was a ten minute pause between her words ── Ilis machine crystal continued speaking with a tone like she was gazing into the distance.

“Aiming to become a Sennenshi is something you have a promise with Ymy for but there’s no difference in the goal between you and other Guards in the end……but what you just said might truly be something that only you can achieve.”

Being her guard was a given, but he’d found another way to become Ymy’s strength. But that was because he had mateki residing within him. If that was purified, he’d likely lose the opportunity to near the secret of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

“ It’s a new complication. But you’ll accept Ymy’s invitation for tomorrow, right? “

“Yeah……I want to hear Ymy’s opinion as well.”

He couldn’t become a Sennenshi with mateki residing within his body. That was also part of the reason Ymy was so concerned about him.

……But she’s gonna attempt to purify it so suddenly tomorrow.

He was also thankful that it was early. However, he felt that the summons were rushed and suddenly having it tomorrow was also out of the blue.

“I wonder if something happened with Ymy.”

The hope that the mateki within his body could be purified had faded and become a form of worry for Ymy at some point.

### 020. Part 3

“ Sheltis, are you awake? Will you answer me, Sheltis? “

His comrade’s voice suddenly came from the communications device attached to the ceiling.

“……Fue? Kagura?”

He poked just his head out of the sheets from atop his bed. He shook his sleepy brain and looked at the clock even while rubbing his vacant eyes.

“Please at least let me sleep until it’s time for training. ……Eyriey and Yuto were here not too long ago.”

“ Don’t talk in your sleep and get up. I’ll be coming to your room in five minutes so wash your face and get changed before then please. “

“Eh, wai……wait, Kagura, at least fifteen minutes ── h-huh? Kagura? Kagura?”

“ ………… “

The communications device clicked and went silent.

“……What was that?”

Raising his upper body off the body, Sheltis supported his head.

“Good morning, and what a nice morning it is.”

“Morning. ……Though it’s still really early.”

3:27. Not even ten minutes had passed since Eyriey and Yuto had left. Thanks to that, even his plan of sleeping right up until it was time to train at four was coming to nothing.

“At any rate, it’s something requiring immediate attention.”

Kagura with the machine helmet worn low over her eyes was as usual, without a hint of sleepiness.

“……Kagura, weren’t you not a morning person?”

“That’s right. But I became wide awake after seeing that.”

“That?”

“Yes, and I’ll be borrowing your work desk for a bit.”

Without waiting for an answer, she took up a position at his desk. Just when he wondered what she was doing, she reached out to the monitor and computer and started typing something quickly.

“That?”

“Yes, the famous agency terminal that’s useless to us Guards.”

Kagura typed in her own login ID and opened window after window. Even as he looked on from behind, he had no idea what was coming because he didn’t recognize any of the windows.

“Sheltis, what I’m about to show you is an anonymous message left on the General Affairs Bureau and Tower Management Bureau’s digital bulletin boards.

“What about it?”

Her fingers that were typing at a high speed stopped for an instant.

“I’ll say this ahead of time……please be prepared.”

Clack.

The instant she pushed the last key, all of the windows on the monitor vanished. In it’s place appeared a single article upon a blue background.

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ── “

“……It’s addressed to everybody in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?”

He looked down lower with disinterest.

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ──

I shall teach you a valuable secret.

A Yuugenshu has changed its form to that of a person and disguised itself as one of your Guards. In order to draw it out, I recommend exposing all the tower’s Guards to the Priestesses’ baptism spells. “

An absurd amount of time was required for him to process what the message meant.

……It can’t be that the Guard this message is indicating.

He could tell that his fingertips were shaking.

“…………What……this kind of tasteless message.”

Straining his voice, that was all he could say.

……Is this about me?

……Just who did this……who’s trying to agitate the tower’s unease?

“That’s why I told you to prepare yourself.”

Kagura nodded while lounging back on the chair.

“It was sent simultaneously to every one of these agency terminals. Right about now, the executives of the tower should be thinking it’s a prank but they might change their minds.”

“ Hmm, can I ask something? I should have realized it as well if they sent it to the agency terminals. Especially if it’s related to the Guards, I regularly perform keyword checks. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked while not able to understand that one thing.

That was a given as Ilis machine crystal ’ sensors spread out to cover the entire electrical system. It would be strange for Ilis machine crystal not to notice something that Kagura did.

“By the way, it seems the Guard Regulations Institute……in other words, the Guard Control Bureau received this message late. If we consider that the Environmental Bureau and the Mechanical Bureau and the others received it at the same time, the chance that sending it to the Guard Control Bureau was delayed is high.”

“ ……I get it. My searches prioritize the Guard Regulations Institute first of all so I was late in discovering it because of that. ”

“Yes. In my case, I also hold the title of a computer researcher of the Tower Management Bureau. Thanks to logging in with my ID from there, I managed to be one of the first to read this message.”

Kagura sighed after removing her machine helmet.

“I don’t think there’s any need to explain who this is talking about.”

“…………Yeah.”

He didn’t know who was behind it, but it was a sly tactic.

While asserting that it had changed forms to that of a Guard, it agitated their unease without revealing the Guard’s name. Saying that they should expose everybody to the Priestesses’ baptism spells was also of the same type of method. This was basically saying to expose who this was in front of the surrounding Guards and Instructors.

“I’d just like to ask but what will happen if this actually gets implemented?”

“……It’s not something I’d like to think much about.”

Shinryoku was like deadly poison to his body which was afflicted with mateki.

If it was a Priestess-level baptism spell, even if Elbert Resonance did not occur, light wounds similar to burns would be received.

“As a silver lining, the tower’s executives are also pretty much disregarding this message. There have been numerous messages received in the past that aimed to fan up the unease of the tower.”

“……Is it okay if I have faith in that?”

“The basis for that is in who this message was addressed to.”

Kagura nodded. She temporarily removed the window being displayed and continued on to open several windows at the same time.

“See, even if I search for it, it’s only spits out red errors. Nobody within the tower or the Living Districts sent this.”

“ It came from outside Orbie Clar the floating continent ; in other words, it’s was sent remotely from somewhere in the Lagoon floating archipelago . “

“That’s what it means. It would still carry credibility if it were from someone within the tower. However, how would somebody from outside Orbie Clar the floating continent know information like there being a Yuugenshu who changed forms into a Guard when nobody within the tower knows? ── The executives are also thinking that; well, it is the appropriate conclusion.”

“……From outside Orbie Clar the floating continent , huh.”

That would have to be how it is. There should be no way somebody from the Lagoon floating archipelago which lay outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent would know that secret which only a handful of people knew. Anybody would think that way.

……Then that’s even more reason.

……Who is it that knows my secret despite not being on Orbie Clar the floating continent ?

“Kagura and Ilis, do either of you know where in the Lagoon floating archipelago this was sent from?”

“ ……I’m trying my best but narrowing the scope to a certain extent is the utmost I can manage. “

“Same here. It looks like it will be a harsh challenge. Of course the sender’s name was also blank; basically, they’re anonymous.”

If that was what these two said, then he wouldn’t receive a favorable response no matter who he asked.

“……Thank you, Kagura, it really helped me that you told me about this.”

“Yes. But what will you do from now on? We have early morning training scheduled for today but will you fabricate some excuse and investigate?”

“No.”

He shook his head at Kagura’s idea and stood from his chair.

“It would be like asking people to doubt me if I took a break immediately after this. I’ll train normally and think about this after that’s over.”

“ That would be the most natural. I will be keeping track of all the executives’ movements so I’ll inform you if something happens. “

“I see. Understood……however, one thing.”

He could feel Kagura’s gaze through the eyeshade of her machine helmet.

“What is it?”

“You can ignore this case. I have a feeling that Monica will come to suspect your mateki someday. I believe it would be best if you think about what you will say to her at that time.”

“…………”

He averted his eyes from the steady gaze of the Nell girl.

“……I’ll think about that at a different time. I have to focus on training and this case for now.”

It took his utmost to say just that.

### 021. Part 3

At the open-air cafe, ‘The Twins Swans ‘.

“Yuto-cha─n, take this cake set here to table five─. Eyriey, you take table seven’s order. After that, clean up table nine and prep table ten.”

“O─kay!”

“O-Okayyyyyy! A-Aren’t we too busy, Head Chef!? I’m hopeless at this kind of physical laborrrrr!”

The adorable answer from Yuto was contrasted by Eyriey’s shout that bordered on becoming a scream and echoed across the kitchen.

The time was right at noon.

It was the time that they became busy with customers lured in by the smell of the cooking from the kitchen.

“I-It’s already noon! I made a promise to play with friends after noon, you know!?”

“You’re meeting them here, right? Then work hard until your friends get here. Come now, I’ll even pay you double time. Yuto-chan, watch and learn.”

With Sheltis gone, Yuto had now completely become the main helper in the store.

At first, she had just been helping as far as wiping down tables but now she was an all-purpose helper than even took customers’ orders and delivered food.

“Hey, hey, Eyri-nee! Yuto was praised by the customers as amazing!”

On each arm was two plates of a cake set and coffee. On top of that, she had a large tray on her head and she had another table’s lunch set consisting of three plates on there, so it was surprising.

“Eyriey, take a lesson from her as well.”

“……That’s insane.”

She headed out into the shop from the kitchen while holding a large tray.

“Ugeh, what a big line……”

The line that couldn’t fit into the store was lined up outside the store in a coil.

And.

With the refreshing chime of the front door bell, the door of The Two Swans opened. Another customer? Everyone thought that and turned their eyes in that direction──

The store interior seemed to have become separated from the flow of time as it turned silent.

“Excuse me.”

A single girl entered.

Wearing a simple and plain shirt and skirt, she was petite and had slender limbs. She had a face that still had youth left in it and she was just a little under Eyriey in height. She was not any older than her late teens. At best, she was thirteen or fourteen.

──Everybody forgot words and gulped.

──Her gem-like beauty could even be called a fantasy.

“……Umm, is Eyriey-san here?”

Her moist eyes that seemed sorrowful were a vivid azure.

Her skin was white like porcelain and there was not a blemish upon its smooth surface. And the most eye-catching thing about her was her long hair which extended to below her knees.

Just like seven-colored silk thread, it changed colors beautifully as it fluttered.

The color of reflective water ── with a translucent silvery white like ice as its base, the parts that light passed through shined with a compound color made with pearl and gold.

“Ohh, Shasa-chan. Been a while!”

At Eyriey’s voice, the majority of the customers finally came back to their senses.

“It has been a while. ……I’m sorry, it has been a long time since I came to the Living Districts so I was a little lost. Am I late?”

“No─pe, actually you’re right on time. Wait a sec, I can get off work so I’ll just go tell the Head Chef! Ah, you can sit there at that reserved seat!”

“Okay.”

The girl sat in the chair with a wide smile. Just that small action gave the impression of an impressive painting by a first-class painter.

“He─y, Head Chef, my friend’s here so can I go─?”

“Oh my, it can’t be helped. By the way, your friend wouldn’t happen to be Sheltis, would it?”

“Nope. I met her while walking around observing at Sophia Tenketsu Palace and we got along. She’s amazing; she has the entirety of the tower memorized.”

“Ohh. If it’s a secretary from the tower, then I might have met her once before.”

“Eh?”

What does that mean? While Eyriey’s mouth was hanging open, the apron-clad Head Chef trotted from the kitchen to the store interior──

“Let’s see……ah.”

“Ah.”

From the direction of the store came the dumbfounded voices of the two.

“Oh my. What’s thiiis, it’s been a whiiile! I was wondering who it was but it’s Salah──”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Shasa.”

“……the Quee”

“I’m Shasa.”

“…………Sa”

“Please refer to me as Shasa.”

“…………Okay, okay.”

After a little while, an uncommon wry smile appeared on the Head Chef’s face and she returned.

“Oh, hey, hey, Head Chef, do you maybe know Shasa? It sure sounded like it!”

“……………………No. I don’t know her at all.”

“What was that unnatural pause!? Hey, wait, don’t turn away!”

“Well, never mind, never mind. So, Eyriey, you’ll be eating with her and then going to play, right? I have two peoples’ portions prepared.”

Sandwiches with plenty of seasonal vegetables used and onion soup in a mug. For after the meal was bite-sized cakes and milk tea.

“Ohh! So with that, sorry for the wait, Shasa!”

“R-Right……”

She stared at the lunch set upon the table as if it were novel.

“What’s up?”

“Ah……nothing. I always only have meals from Sophia Tenketsu Palace so it’s a little different.”

“Hohoh, now that you say it, there is a dining hall at the tower.”

“There is a dining hall but I have my meal carried to my room. And it’s been a while since I had something solid like this. I’ve at most had black tea with honey added.”

“Geh. That’s no good, Shasa, that’s why you’re so thin!”

“Thin……that’s right, isn’t it, like I thought. I’ve always had a lack of appetite though.”

The girl patted her chest through her clothes. The thickness from her back to her chest, as well as her arms and thighs, were thin to the point it seemed they would snap if she were to miss a step on the stairs.

“It’s not like you hate to eat though, right?”

“That’s right. Not having many chances to eat because of work and continuing a lifestyle of not eating affects your body like this.”

“Haa, you sound busy with work. Since you only get to enjoy yourself like this once a month.”

“It’s my job but it’s like my life. ……It is my duty, and a promise.”

Placing her hand to the edge of the steaming mug, the girl’s face reddened slightly.

“But it’s nice to ‘enjoy myself‘ like this as well. It’s somehow nostalgic.”

“That’s right─. Enjoying yourself is important, so eat well, enjoy yourself a lot and sleep well! Look, the soup’s gonna get cold. Eat the sandwich too!”

“R-Right!”

Shasa gripped the mug with an expression of utmost seriousness.

“W-Well then! I, Shasa Endens Lin Kale, shall now partake of this lunch!”

“You don’t have to be so serious about it.”

“At any rate, it’s been a long time. ……I-I’ll do my best. Eii!”

She timidly lifted up the mug and drank the soup.

“…………”

“How is it?”

“…………It’s delicious.”

She couldn’t believe it herself. She blinked numerous times and brought the mug towards and away from her mouth.

“B-But I still don’t understand! Once more………………ah…………it’s delicious……”

The girl hid her mouth with her hand and her face went bright red.

“……It’s, delicious.”

“Right─. Our Head Chef is amazing. Try the sandwich too!”

“R-Right!”

She nodded with a some more vigor than just prior and reached her hand out to a sandwich on the plate──

“………………”

Her hand suddenly stopped.

“Shasa?”

“…………My body……is…………after all…………right after the barrier…………transfer, if…………I get careless………………not good…………………………”

Her shoulders slumped and she collapsed off the chair in that manner.

“Shasa!?”

──She’ll hit the floor at this rate.

Her hand that she reached out reflexively wouldn’t make it in time and the girl who had fallen out of the chair had her face make a beeline for the hard floor ── just before Eyriey who pictured that scene was about to scream, somebody’s hand caught steady hold of Shasa’s body.

“U-Uwawawawaa, E-Eyri-nee, help meeee!”

“Yuto!? A-Amazing, Yuto, good job!”

In place of Yuto who was holding up a body larger than her with all her strength, she held Shasa from behind. She sat the girl who seemed to have lost consciousness on the chair once again and steadied her against the back of the chair.

“Pheeew……that was dangerous. I wonder what’s wrong; we should call a doctor.”

“Hey, hey, Eyri-nee, I think Shasa-nee is probably just tired.”

Yuto tugged on the edge of her sleeve and nodded.

“She did say her work was tasking. I wonder if I should let her rest in my room until she gets better……daaarn, I don’t know where Shasa lives.”

It would be best to take Shasa back to her house but she only knew that she worked at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She didn’t know which post she worked either so she didn’t know who to contact.

“Shasa-nee said she had a room at the tower.”

“Oh, really? Yuto, do you perhaps know where Shasa’s room is?”

“Yeah, yeah! Shasa-nee told me last time!”

“Ohhh, good going. You did well!”

It was the first time she thought of Yuto who energetically shook her head as this reliable.

“Should I go get an acquaintance of Shasa-nee?”

“Yeah, please!”

“O─kay!”

Yuto ran out of the shop door.

……Really, that’s great.

She hadn’t known what to do when she collapsed but it would be one thing off her mind if they could send her back home. The cause was exhaustion so she needed her to rest.

……She purposefully came even though she was this tired.

“Head Chef, I’ll be taking Shasa-chan for a bit───”

“That is a pleasing suggestion but it is not that much of a major matter. I alone will be enough.”

The bell rang again.

“I heard there was someone I knew causing difficulties here.”

It was a woman who was leaning up against the door frame.

Their eyes met and the woman smiled boldly.

……This is an acquaintance of Shasa’s?

……Uwaa, amazing. She’s really beautiful.

She was tall and slender with a sharp face to match.

Her glossy jet black hair was completely straight and definitely without a strand out of place. The beauty of her voluptuous body was also highlighted clearly through her pitch black vestments. Her twin mounds were full to the point that they seemed to be ready to spill out at any moment, her tight waist was curvaceous and it rose up once again at her hips. It was charm that even made Eyriey who was of the same gender gasp.

“It seems that you’ve taken care of Shasa.”

She walked up to the table they were at and indicated the sleeping Shasa with her eyes.

“Ah, are you the person Yuto spoke of? Shasa’s acquaintance.”

“Tsali. To this child……let’s see, I am a friend, quarreling opponent and guardian. We’re not family bound by blood.”

“Ah, like I thought! Ah─ that surprised me. Since your hair and eye colors are completely different. I haven’t heard of sisters that are this different.”

“──As usual, you’re unabashed regardless of the person, Eyri-nee.”

“Fue?”

……As usual?

……Actually, did she just call me Eyri-nee?

“Ahh, I forgot to say that that’s what I heard Yuto refer to you as.”

Giggle. Upon Tsali’s lips which had only a bold smile upon them thus far, her smile changed just a little to one more friendly.

“That’s right! Right, right, Tsali-san, do you know where Yuto went off to? Rather, how did that kid manage to call you so quickly? A communicator? No, even if that were true, you wouldn’t have gotten here so promptly.”

“I thought that things would turn out like this again so I was secretly following her. As usual, she’s quite the handful.”

She carried Shasa’s body.

“Yuto will return soon. As for Shasa……let’s see, please play with her again any time from tomorrow on.”

“Ehh. That’s……I’m fine with it, but will Shasa be okay by tomorrow?”

“It seems that one day of rest really wasn’t enough but this always happens. She should be fine if she rests for the entirety of today. It would be fine if you came to floor 290 of the tower tomorrow at ten in the morning.”

“That’s fine with me……”

“Then it’s decided. I’ll also relay that to Shasa.”

She turned her back on Eyriey and walked towards the door──

“Oh, right.”

“Mm?”

Suddenly coming to a stop, Tsali turned just the side of her face to her.

A friendly and curious smile. Though her face was graceful and sharp to begin with, that smile was somehow really…………really……like an innocent child’s.

…………Huh, this person?

……This person’s smile……who is it……doesn’t it kind of resemble somebody’s smile?

“I’ll say my thanks.”

“Eh?”

“This person here, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, is self-sacrificing and has a habit of reflecting so somebody has to forcefully take her out to relax. Originally, it was supposed to be my job, but it seems that you are better for it.”

Giii……

The door the woman in jet black vestments pushed on opened easily. The path that was not a path became a path of its own accord and seemed to bless her steps.

“It has been a long time since Shasa made an expression of such enjoyment.”

That was the difference between her and Eyriey.

The words that were heard from Tsali that day were for the girl known as Eyriey and……in the distant future, what bestowed a ‘third possibility‘ upon Orbie Clar the floating continent , though nobody knew this yet.

Only Tsali.

And Shasa who continued to sleep within her arms, had yet…………

### 022. Part 3

“Those who wish to participate, please name yourself and step forward.“

Easily over ten metres away from the meeting room, in the shadow of an intersection, Eyriey had her eyes firmly closed and was listening to the conversation.

……Amaaazing.

……So this is telepathy.

The conversation happening within the locked meeting room was directly echoing in her head. Given that she was a common civilian, she obviously couldn’t use shinryoku spells. The one using spells to listen to other peoples’ conversations with telepathy and even allowing a third party like herself to listen in was──

“…………”

The girl with hair the color of reflective water was only staring fixedly in the direction of the meeting room.

“Eyriey, did you hear the conversation?”

“Perfectly. That’s Shasa for you, amazing! Wouldn’t you prefer being an apprentice Priestess?”

“……That would also be nice.”

The girl nodded with a smile which didn’t let on as to whether she was serious or joking.

“Rather than that, Eyriey, aren’t you interested in that infiltration talk from just now?”

“Yeah, yeah! I heard Sheltis’ voice so I wonder if he’s going somewhere a─gain. Even though that means we won’t get to play.”

It would be fine if it was an expedition to the Nature District or the Biotope. But if it was like the times with the Governmental Sector or the Lagoon floating archipelago , then Yuto and Eyriey herself would be lonely.

“Then let’s go.”

“Eh?”

“Eyriey, please participate in what that Huick person was talking about as well. No matter the case, it concerns Sophia Tenketsu Palace so I’m also interested.”

“…………Eh-ehhhhhhhh! Wh-What does that mean!? You’re telling a civilian like me to name myself in there!?”

“As an airship maintenance worker or something else, there are any number of ways to sneak yourself in.”

“Eh. W-Well……I like those kinds of things but it didn’t seem like their positions or the atmosphere would permit something like that? It was a ridiculously serious talk.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do something about that. Also”

In a rare act, the girl balled a fist tightly and winked.

“You need not worry about your physical wellbeing. I will have a reassuring partner travel together with you.”

“Ohhh, a partner!?”

To warrant being called reassuring, he or she must be quite reliable. Who would that be? A Sennenshi? Or Sheltis? No, no, there’s also the possibility it’s somebody strong who hasn’t been recognized yet.

While she was occupied with that.

“I’m counting on you, Yuto.”

“O─kay! I’ll be going with Eyri-nee!”

“So there you have it, Eyriey, please take Yuto along with you.”

“Yuto will do her best─”

“…………”

In comparison with the merry young girl and Shasa who was smiling as well. Eyriey muttered with a sigh.

“……It’s not like me, but I’m worried.”

### 023. Part 4

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 287.

Continuing down the deserted corridor wrapped in gentle light, just as she was about to reach the intersection.

“Oh my, how rare for you to come to the Priestess’ floor.”

“Hello, Meimel-sama. I’m just looking for someone─”

Being called to by a calm woman’s voice, Ishtar turned around.

Meimel in Carnation ── the second Priestess who specialized in barrier spells. Amongst the women, Ishtar herself ranked in the tall category but the woman before her was also indomitably tall. She had beautiful eyes, dazzling, long jade hair and an impressive vestment like a dress.

“Meimel-sama as well, isn’t your room one floor up?”

“Yes, I had something to talk with Ymy about but, unfortunately, she hasn’t returned so I was just heading back.”

……Fuun.

……She hasn’t returned.

“Why are you here? Or it looks like you were actually looking for Ymy too.”

“That’s iiit. Ishtar actually had a date planned with Ymy but she was stood up at the last moment. She came to check if she was busy with something else.”

“Oh my.”

The Priestess folded her arms below her chest and a sigh leaked from her glossy lips.

“What a troubling child. To have immersed herself in training to the point of forgetting the meeting.”

“Fumu, fumu, so it really was training. It also became a topic at the meeting but are the Priestesses strict with time when training?”

“Yes. But Ymy’s a little problematic. I was consulted by the medical specialist not too long ago. ‘Ymy-sama wishes to extend the training but I wonder if it’s alright.’”

……Ymy-sama does?

……Now then, I wonder what the circumstances are.

“Has there been anything like this until now?”

“Periodically. Truly a troubling child……even though raising the difficulty of the training will just burden her mind and body. It’s worrisome.”

“Shall I go stop her training? You have a report for her as well.”

“Thanks. But it’s fine because I already asked somebody else suited for the job. You’ll understand if I say it’s the third Priestess.”

“Viola-sama, huh. I heard she returned with her little sister, Horn-chan. I think it’s been several months since those sisters have come back?”

“Right. But that’s──”

The third Priestess.

The Priestess, who could be compared to the first who was on an expedition and the Queen who continued to pray for the barrier, had a rare shadow cloud her expression.

“That really makes Ymy suffer, especially the existence of the Sennenshi, Horn Nova.”

### 024. Part 4

Floors 276 to 280 were the five Priestesses’ respective personal training floors and floors 271 to 275 beneath that were the Sennenshis’ respective training floors.

And floor 273.

One step off the elevator and there was a dense forest which faithfully modeled the Biotope.

Underfoot were very moist mud and puddles as well as fallen leaves. Overhead, countless vines hanging from the trees crisscrossed like a spiderweb.

In this forest where a real bird was flying around chirping──

A gunshot.

The repeated ear-splitting gunfire noise shook the large trees.

“──Rejected. Next?”

“Y-Yes. From the Shinryoku Theory Bureau Chief, this is about the deployment of apprentice Priestesses. There are fifty apprentice Priestesses this year that passed the first training period. How many people would the third unit like……”

The small boy holding a report read it aloud.

“That’s based on skill; apprentice Priestesses that can’t be used are unnecessary.”

The woman with a pitch black blinder spat out her answer.

Her body which was as tall as an adult man was covered in a camouflaged suit and she wore a longcoat that reached to below her knees.

She had a machine pistol in each hand.

It was a gun that had its firepower and consecutive firing speed raised to the limits to compensate for its low accuracy. She held those casually in both hands and casually pulled the triggers.

“Only choose the outstanding apprentice Priestesses.”

“B-But the struggle with other units is harsh.”

“It’s your job to deal with that.”

With the resounding of gunfire, small target machines fell down one after another.

She was shooting down the small target machines that were flying at super-high speeds in the gaps between the trees whose leaves crowded those spaces, and she was doing it without a single miss.

“…………”

“Is that all?”

“……Ah, n-no! S-Sorry!”

With the woman’s disinterested question, the boy frantically shook his head.

“Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is.”

“How so?”

She asked again in a tone that had not a shred of sociability.

Horn Nova ── the younger sister of the third Priestess, Viola Nova; she was also the third Sennenshi who was tasked with guarding her.

“Eh?”

“I was asking what you thought was amazing.”

“E-Everything……is what……”

Physical strength that was trained to the point that she could handle those massive machine pistols with one hand easily. Then there were her elbows and shoulders which were pliable to handle the strong recoil from repetitive firings of those guns.

Above all, there was her supernatural firing accuracy which never let her miss her target even with both eyes covered.

A blinder over her eyes. In other words, Horn didn’t see the target. Without regard for that, the bullets she fired seemed to be sucked towards the center of the target machines. It was a scene that would cause normal people to doubt their eyes.

“I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain──”

“Discard pointless thoughts.”

The odd jobs boy spoke some words and Horn fired off words of rejection.

“Whether it’s talent, environment, effort, time, personality or body, nothing fits. The Ex Machina mechanically armored soldiers that you’re talking about are generalists that can handle any heavy firepower gun to suit the circumstances. What can you do when you don’t have any of the required factors?”

“…………Ah……ahh……”

Horn’s gunfire didn’t stop even as the boy was at a loss for words and downcast.

“Is that all?”

“───Yes.”

The boy turned his back to her while still downcast after putting the report under his arm. He walked towards the elevator wordlessly like that.

“Catria.”

Without having walked several steps, Horn’s voice called the boy’s name.

Silence.

The two machine pistols that were still letting off white smoke from their barrels were thrown high up into the air.

“Take these with you.”

“Waa, wawa!”

“Do the regular maintenance. I’ll come to collect it thirty eight hours later.”

The boy threw aside the report and caught the machine pistols. With her back still turned to him, Horn drew out a revolving pistol from the holder at her waist.

“I don’t need unskilled people in my unit. If you’re going to subject yourself to techniques unsuited for your height, leave my unit before the end of today.”

“…………”

──Bang!

The gunfire in front of the silent boy shot down two target machines.

They were randomly flying targets. One aside, aiming for two at the same time wasn’t possible. That’s right, it was a technique impossible unless one could see the future.

“But I acknowledge your skill in maintenance.”

“……I see.”

“I’ll say it again: thirty eight hours later. Finish the maintenance within that time.”

The boy nodded wordlessly.

This time he headed to the elevator without turning around and went straight down to the ground floor.

──Ding.

Passing by the elevator headed for the ground floor, another elevator stopped at this floor.

“Yoo─, Horn, you here─”

A boyish girl with her skin tanned brown. With light formal wear consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and short pants, shinryoku formal carved seals could be seen on her exposed limbs.

“Ran.”

“Ohh, you’re here. If you’re coming back, say so─. By the way”

“I refuse.”

“……I haven’t said anything yet.”

“I can see the future.”

“Liar.”

Ran raised one eyebrow meaningfully.

“ You can only see future images but can’t hear future sounds; you said that yourself.”

Celestial map drawing.

It was a territorial type shinryoku spell that Horn Nova carried from birth like her older sister, Priestess Viola Nova. With this power that allowed one to view the future an instant prior, it was possible to tell where a target would move to and pull the trigger.

“Then I’ll just ask for your business. What is it?”

Storing the gun in her holder, Horn sighed.

“All right, then let’s have a match now. It’s been a whi──”

“I refuse.”

“…………Eh─, what’s with that. Did Leon make a reservation first? If so, I’m fine with going after Leon.”

She pulled on the edges of her coat with a childish expression.

“Time is precious and I have some business after this.”

“Is that soo? But sparring with me will definitely be fun and come in handy? It’s a complete loss if the Sennenshi skip out on training. Right?”

“Unfortunately, business that takes precedence over everything else is awaiting me.”

Glancing at Ran who was puffing her cheeks with a mu─, Horn turned towards the elevator used for the upper floors.

### 025. Part 4

A rocky area with boulders large enough that one had to look up at them obstructed the way.

It was a high-difficult field that necessitated Running between the rocks on a path that wasn’t a path and occasionally jumping from boulder to boulder.

“─is, ─ltis.”

Sweat trickled down his brow as he jumped from a large boulder to the next.

It had been dark when their early morning training started but now the sunlight coming from overhead was steadily raising the temperature.

“Sheltis, are you listening!?”

“……! Wawaa, wh-what? What is it?”

Sheltis finally came back to his senses after having his name called right next to his ear.

“It looks like you didn’t hear me.”

“……Sorry.”

Sheesh ── Monica had a wry smile on as she ran beside him.

“It was about our next mission. I was asking if there was anything you wanted.”

“……Then,”

While jumping down to the slanted boulder ahead.

“I’ve said it before but I’d like for us to gain experience in policing the Nature District and escorting VIPs. Since there are many missions like that after becoming Regular Guards.”

“That’s what I thought as well so I looked into it but both of those kinds of missions are out of stock.”

“Darn, really?”

“I meant to talk about that earlier but I guess you weren’t listening then either.”

Monica went from having a bitter smile on her face to slightly narrowing her eyes.

“It’s strange for you to be inattentive during training; did something happen?”

“Ah, no……I think I’m fine.”

He couldn’t say that he was helplessly interested in the anonymous message the tower had received.

……I don’t like the feeling of it.

……This might be the first time I’ve been unable to concentrate on training this badly.

“About the missions, if those are the circumstances, then I’m fine with other missions. Those two are the important ones but it would be imbalanced if we didn’t take any other missions at all……the Governmental Sector one was a little stressing so maybe we should take a more comfortable one next.”

“ Ah, then maybe you should go for the night patrol shift? “

The mission of taking shifts to patrol Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s grounds ── when Cadet Guards were about to take on an important mission, that was one of the types of missions used to warm up. Even if it was night, it was within Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s territory so there was hardly any danger and even if there was, Instructors and Regular Guards could rush over immediately.

“Yeah, it seems like we could start patrolling the tower even starting today.”

“That’s right but I’ve been hearing that there have been a lot of troublesome things even in patrolling the tower lately, you know? Criminals looking for a reaction……there’s a troublesome bunch looking to slip past the security and infiltrate the grounds. Did you see that tasteless message this morning?”

“When you say message……”

“The one about there being a Yuugenshu mixed in amongst the Guards, or did you not see it?”

“Ah, well…………”

Having the question asked so forthrightly, he unintentionally was strained for words.

“……I saw it. Yeah.”

“Right? Jeez, trying to make the Guards waver with that, there’s a limit to how much they can try to make a fool of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

While jumping from rock to rock, the indignant Monica raised a brow.

“……Monica, would you find it unpleasant if there really was someone like that?”

“Hm?”

“Um, well, how to say this, it’s a little different from a Yuugenshu but…………if there was someone amongst the Guards carrying mateki.”

“? I don’t really get it but nothing other than the Yuugenshu carry mateki, right? That shouldn’t happen, but wouldn’t it be dangerous if there was one in the tower?”

She had a confused expression.

Only Yuugenshu carried mateki. If the former apprentice Priestess were to say, her definition of a Yuugenshu would probably be “whether it possesses mateki or not”.

In other words, he would also count as a Yuugenshu by her definition because he was endowed with mateki.

……That’s right.

……Monica’s reaction is definitely normal.

“Sheltis, were you perhaps seriously thinking about that message?”

“N-Nothing of the sort? But you know, I kinda wonder where that message was sent from.”

“It seems like an investigation would happen should it pass a certain threshold, but I doubt it will happen for this. It’s obvious to anyone at first glance that it’s a nasty joke, after all. It’s best to ignore those.”

“……Yeah.”

He relaxed his fist that he’d unconsciously clenched and took a deep breath. Renewing the stagnated air within his lungs, Sheltis jumped down from the final boulder.

“Whew, we’re finally done.”

Monica wiped off the large beads of sweat flowing endlessly off her and looked up at the sky.

“It will be noon soon so we’ll end the morning part here. From 3 PM, we have a lecture at the meeting room so we’ll gather there.”

“Hmm? What about Kagura and Vaiel?”

“Over there.”

The direction Monica pointed to ── the two of them were being chased around by the whip-wielding Instructor Yumelda.

“It looks like the Instructor is personally coaching them because they’re normally absent from training. They said they’d be doing it until just before the unit battles so I don’t think it will end for a little while yet.”

“……I see.”

“I was planning on heading to the cafeteria so would you like to join me for lunch?”

“Umm.”

He nodded reflexively but swallowed his words in a hurry.

“Sorry……I have something to do. I apologize but I need to head back to my room once.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, but I’ll make sure to be at the meeting room. ──See you!”

Making a small wave with his hand, Sheltis ran straight along the paved road to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

### 026. Part 4

Scraps of clouds came from one end of her vision and disappeared out the other. The sky was a deep blue all across and continued on forever.

“……With the expedition to the Governmental Sector, this makes the second time we’re using an airship.”

Kagura followed the droplets of glass clinging to the pressure-resistant windows with her eyes.

“Our destination is the Biotope so there’s not much time to fully enjoying traveling through the air.”

“Fully enjoy, huuuh. The Governmental Sector mission was important so our treatment wasn’t bad but……unfortunately, this time it’s a transport ship so the inside is cramped and the cushions on the seats are worn out.”

Vaiel who answered like that didn’t stop looking out the window or crossing his arms.

“So, Leader. It’s about time you told us about the mission this time.”

“It’s as I said when we left. We were recommended as support for the subjugation of the Yuugenshu discovered in the Biotope──”

“Not that, I mean that over there.”

“Behind the general seating area ── the waiting room established for executive unit members. He indicated with his chin the heavy metallic door that was locked from the inside.

“Even if the support unit was chosen by the Instructor’s whim, why the heck are we riding with the O great Sennenshi?”

“Ah……you could call that her idea.”

Monica hesitated to speak with an uncomfortable expression.

“……Captain’s order: I leave it to you, Sheltis.”

“Geh!?”

Being elbowed in the side, Sheltis jumped up in his seat. ……I can’t let my guard down. Just when I thought I could just stay silent and listen, this happens.

“……Let me ask this beforehand: should I say the truth or the pretense?”

“Let’s start with the pretense.”

“It’s obviously most enjoyable to keep the speculation fun for last.”

That was the response from the two who turned around in a flash.

“U─m. The pretense is as Monica said just before. We’ll also be participating in the Yuugenshu subjugation so don’t we have to group up with the advance party on-site? And so the fastest way there just happened to be travelling with a Sennenshi.”

“Okay, next.”

“Next is the real reason.”

“……You know, no matter how much of a public attitude you’re taking, it’d be nice if you were to show more of a reaction.”

He had expected this but it was kind of lonely garnering such a lacking response.

“As for the real reason, you could say a few coincidences overlapped or we got wrapped up in it……there was a little trouble between the fifth Priestess and the Sennenshi behind the door over there──”

“Ah─……that’s enough. I have an idea of what happened.”

“Eh, already?”

“Sheesh, sticking your head into troublesome things of your own accord.”

Vaiel shook his hand, showing how much of a pain he thought it was.

“You probably just got mixed up in it as a mediator, right?”

“I-I’ll just say this beforehand but I simply had business with Ymy! It was Captain Horn who suddenly stuck a gun to me──”

“Umm, if you say it so loudly, the person herself will hear you.”

“……My bad.”

Monica nodded with her head downcast and was silent.

“……I’ll treat you to lunch next time. How about the special lunch set at the large dining hall on floor 248?”

“I’m even willing to add on after-meal coffee?”

“I’ll have milk tea.”

Monica nodded reluctantly and the negotiations were completed.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, I have one thing I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“That pilot kid has been glancing over at us since a little while ago so I wonder if he wants to join in. Ah, it’s the one that just drew his head back.”

Pilot? Come to think of it ── he had noticed someone watching them but it didn’t seem like it would be an issue so he hadn’t paid it much mind.

“Hey, the one at the pilot seat over there, did you need us for something?”

“…………N-Noooo. D-Don’t mind meeee.”

The one peeking out from the pilot seat was a boy still in his mid-teens.

He had greenish-brown hair and brown eyes. He had a thin face, his response was weak, he still had an expression like he’d burst into tears at any moment and his ears which jutted out on either side were also shivering slightly.

……Are those Nell Folk ears?

“What, I was wondering who it was, but isn’t that Catria?”

“……That voice, Kagura?”

The boy who was hiding in the shadow of the seat widened his eyes.

“Seriously. It’s me; didn’t you realize it with this on me?”

Kagura removed the machine helmet which was completely covering her head. Her ears also reached far out to the sides and were covered in warm-seeming fur.

“Mm? Acquaintances between brats?”

“Since the Nell Folk working at Sophia Tenketsu Palace have constructed their own independent network. This child is……well, it’s as you can see, he’s more cautious than I am. Though it was unexpected for him to become the third unit’s pilot.”

“N-No. You’re wrong…………I’m Captain Horn’s maintenance worker. Piloting is……an e-extra.”

The boy set it to auto-pilot and stood up from the seat.

“I see. So, what is it? Looking over here would suggest that you have an interest but that’s unusual for you.”

“…………”

He stayed silent for a moment but the sound of him breathing in could be heard.

“……U-Um……I just thought, you were a really close-knit unit…………”

“Is that so? Isn’t this normal?”

“Probably……I think it’s really rare.”

Having that said directly ── Sheltis exchanged looks with Monica beside him.

“Monica, is that so?”

“I think it depends on the unit. ……Though we’re not on the bad end.”

“That’s because everyone gathered here is a meddler.”

Vaiel crossed his legs and sighed to indicate them.

“…………N-No. ……I-It’s just……well, ……I thought it was nice. …………Captain Horn doesn’t have that feeling to her much.”

“You don’t get it. Then why don’t you switch units?”

And.

The Nell Folk boy narrowed his eyes and looked downwards in embarrassment.

“……But she’s cool.”

“Your Captain, you mean?”

“…………Yeah. ……Also, she always leaves the gun maintenance to me.”

His hands were worn out ── from touching the gun’s rust and oil and they had burns and scratches from injuries during maintenance.

He looked dearly at his hand which was painful to look at.

“Catria.”

“Ye-Yeeeess!?”

The boy hopped up in place when Horn, who had come from the rear, spoke.

“This was in my cargo, but what is it?”

It was an automatic handgun painted silver. It was easily two times larger than the guns used by gunners with twin pistols in Tenketsu Palace and a shinryoku carved seal was etched into its grip.

“Uh……umm, it’s a new creation. Production code, ‘Silver King ‘……the gun’s slide and rifling are designed to be larger and it also uses special bullets.”

“Special bullets?”

“Y-Yes! I wanted to make the bullets themselves in a new metallic structure. After making a request to a Priestess many times, I finally got a carved seal with a Priestess’ baptism spell applied to it. It hasn’t been tested, but it shouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a bullet specialized to Yuugenshu!”

“A Priestess’ baptism spell meaning ane-ue’s?”

“Ah, n-no. Viola-sama was always out of the tower so the best at baptism type spells──”

“……That’s enough. I have a good idea of who it was.”

Horn put the giant one-handed gun into her shoulder holster and sighed.

“U-Umm! Not many bullets have been made so there are only three loaded……”

“I don’t mind. Either way, I won’t immediately use it in real combat. I don’t have a habit of using a gun I’m not used to and increasing the risks.”

“……I see.”

The boy visibly drooped his shoulders visibly and was downcast.

“……I was wondering if I would just barely make it in time for the subjugation mission this time.”

“I believe I told you I didn’t require any useless consideration. Rather than that, return to the pilot seat; aren’t we arriving at the great salt lake soon?”

Speaking back with an indifferent voice, the Sennenshi turned towards them.

“I’ll say this ahead of time. You should just stay quiet and follow. Don’t think about providing support or fighting the Yuugenshu; you should just bear in mind not to get in the way of my battle.”

“……But then there’s no reason behind us coming as a support unit.”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

The words which permitted no rebuttal brought silence to the airship.

“I took you along because of the Cadres Guard’s suggestion. I will decide everything beyond that. The support unit will abide by the commander’s orders at once upon reaching the site ─── that is what is detailed by the Guard Regulations Institute, but is there a problem with that?”

“…………”

“It looks like you want to say something?”

“……No.”

Monica gnashed her molars and shook her head sideways. Horn seemed to snort at that gesture and quickly turned her back to the pilot’s seat.

“Relax. It’s not like I won’t entrust you with anything. Manpower will be required to track the S vector, eighth class. I will have you aid in the tracking and discovery whether you want to or not. ……Catria.”

“Y-Yeessss!?”

“How many more minutes until we arrive?”

“Th-The great salt lake is already visible below! We will land now!”

“──It’s finally time.”

As she squeezed out that in a hoarse voice from within her throat, both her hands were lightly shaking.

“You bunch, get ready as well. Once we land, we will set out in the direction of the S vector, eighth class’ escape route.”

### 027. Part 4

Meeting room 269-F.

“Houhou, I seeee.”

A lone Governmental Sector secret organization executive shook their shoulders in pleasure.

“What’s this, if one person speaks out……was everyone just checking how those around them would act? However, this is too many people. Now then, let’s have the promised selection.”

“───”

His subordinate who corrected her posture was standing still silently. With her mouth drawn to a line, the silent woman was looking sidelong at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Priestess.

“Fumu, fumu, we’re a little over five people. What to dooo, there are those I want to have go within those who haven’t named themselves as well……well, let’s separate this and that. Okay, this will dooo!”

Meimel shut her notepad and nodded in satisfaction.

“Already done?”

“Yes, I’ve already decided. We can’t have our Governmental Sector guests waiting either.”

Answering Ran’s question with a wink, the Priestess who managed the tower brushed aside her own bangs. With flowing movements, she pointed to the door directly behind her.

“Well then, I’ll announce those chosen to participate in the joint plan with the Governmental Sector.”

Then.

“Only those whose names are called, please remain in this room.”

In tandem with Meimel’s proclamation──

The meeting room was wrapped in a quiet tension.

### 028. Part 5

……Drip.

A very tiny splash plopped.

The deep blue block of ice that spread as far as the eye could see.

Bluer than the emerald green of the sea at a shoal, more vivid and translucent than the ultramarine of the deep sea. The faint white mixed in was countless bubbles that had been sealed in the ice as they were.

……Drip.

The room of ice that even stagnated the flow of time. Within the room that was so large that its far walls were blurry, the sound of ice water droplets hitting the icy surface echoed.

A world of ice.

Several dozens of degrees below zero, a temperature that would halt an organism’s time. No special devices were necessary as the temperature was supported solely by the azure ice filling this room.

“ Four hours have elapsed since the establishment of the barrier. Owing to this, the training will now end.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, thank you for your hard work. “

The operator’s voice came from the broadcasting device attached to the ceiling. The clerk had the qualifications of a doctor and was also well-versed in the operation of the special device used in Priestess training.

……Crish……Pish…………Fsh……

The azure ice filling the room cracked.

What began as a crack line gradually grew and went from the surface of the ice to the center ── in an instant, the gigantic azure ice, which was how many thousands of metres across and had incomparable weight, broke apart and scattered.

──Drip.

The puddle on the ground reflected the outline of the girl who was without a stitch of cloth.

“…………Fuu.”

She spread her hands and took a deep breath. No matter what, she’d just spent forty hours frozen in a state of apparent death. Because even her breathing was stopped while frozen, she had to consciously breathe at a fixed rhythm like this or she would end up asphyxiated or possibly breathe too much and hyperventilate.

“So…………so………………so cooooooooooooold!!”

Hugging her dripping wet shoulders, Ymy yelled out.

“C-cold……actually, this hurts!……My body’s gonna burst!?”

The barrier of ice constructed with shinryoku. It was fine because her senses were paralyzed while in her state of apparent death but when they returned, the cold would pass the point of being “cold” and attack her as intense pain.

“Haa………………ouch!?……”

She bit down on her purple lips over and over and over again.

Her hands that were wrapped around her shoulders had their nails digging into the skin enough to draw blood. She was in a state where she had to do that to bear the agony and spend a little while just breathing.

“ Ymy-sama. “

“…………I’m fine.”

Crouched in the puddle of water on the floor, Ymy just barely managed to lift her head.

“ Good work. The changing room out the door has been heated and there is hot water prepared in the pot on the table so please take it easy. “

“…………”

“ ……Ymy-sama? “

Trepidation entered the operator’s voice from the girl’s silence.

“It’s already been eight hours.”

“ Eh? “

“It’s already been eight hours……let me continue on like this.”

The sound of the operator gasping was transmitted through the broadcast device.

“ Th-that’s……are you insane! “

The operator’s reaction was correct. It wasn’t ‘ Are you serious? ‘. What Ymy wanted was something that would elicit doubt for her sanity from somebody who knew the harshness of Priestess training.

“ You have already extended your training four hours past the regulation thirty six hours. It’s already been forty hours total. And you……want to add another eight hours to that!? “

“It’s not enough yet.”

“ Not……not enough──!? “

Ymy stared at the ceiling and nodded in response to the shrill voice of the female operator.

……Yes, it’s not enough.

……More and more until my limit. I want to reach more and more into the beyond of the beyond.

“ But if you go any further than this, your life or at least your mental health will be in danger. “

“That’s fine; I want to do the next one right up to the limit.”

This time──

Ymy’s answer rendered the operator speechless.

“Please let me continue just a little longer.”

……It’s no good at the current pace.

Nothing will change from what that person said if I keep going through the same training.

“ Only you haven’t changed one bit since three years ago. “

Those words had been stabbed into her at the Grand Holy Hall by the woman who named herself as Tsali.

Three years ago ── since the time Sheltis had fallen to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , no matter how hard she thought she had worked, she’d been told that nothing had changed about her.

“ You’re doing your best as a Priestess? You’ve worked hard and grown? Those are illusions and that training that you throw your body into is also a phantom. A phantom with no corporeal body. “

“ Change. There is absolutely no opportunity to make your shinryoku bloom. “

……An opportunity.

She didn’t know whether pushing herself to the limit in the Priestesses’ harsh training would become that opportunity. But she couldn’t do nothing. As long as she held the title of Priestess, she couldn’t allow herself to be overpowered by Yuugenshu.

……The world a thousand years ago and the Yuugenshu a thousand years ago.

……I was overpowered by the Yuugenshu’s mateki at that time.

But my shinryoku shouldn’t lose. When I grasped shinryoku as a ‘ wavelength ‘, Meimel said that I wouldn’t lose to anyone with just the size of that wavelength.

“ Go─t it, Ymy? If you fail to purify mateki, keep in mind that it’s not that your power isn’t up to the task; it’s the opposite. Your shinryoku is too strong so you can’t fine control it, so you should be wary that you can’t release all your stored-up shinryoku. “

──If so.

──The reason I was oppressed by the Yuugenshu’s mateki is precisely because of that output efficiency.

Suppose that the Yuugenshu she fought in the world of a thousand years ago possessed 10 mateki and she had 20 shinryoku within her. However, compared to the Yuugenshu who could manifest 100% of its mateki, she probably hadn’t even manifested half of hers.

10 mateki x an output efficiency of 100% = 10.

20 shinryoku x an output efficiency of 40% = 8.

In other words, even if her shinryoku was above, it would lose out when put in the form of a spell.

“ That’s why you’re not suited for fine control-type spells like those of the Territory type or Barrier type. It’s your natural disposition and not because you lack training. Can’t you just focus on improving your shinryoku output by even one percent in the Baptism type that best shows your strength? “

“Please, just a little more……at least just four hours──”

Still hugging her shoulders that were shivering from the cold, Ymy looked up steadily at the broadcast device. My problem is my shinryoku output efficiency. In order to look for an opportunity to compensate for that, I need to devote my body to training even more dangerous than before.

“ ……But “

“Then two──”

Two hours only then please; the moment she said these words.

“ Ah……well, there’s a guest for you, Ymy-sama……they’re waiting in front of the floor’s elevator. “

“A guest? Who?”

A Priestess’ training time is not to be infringed upon. It’s normal for the time to be changed no matter who it is so long as I’m secluded in training. It’s rare for somebody to boldly put that aside and visit. If there was anybody, it would have to be my Sennenshi……I don’t have one, so maybe it’s a fellow Priestess?

“Is it Meimel or Syun-rei?”

“ N-no……but you’re right that it’s a Priestess. “

“ It’s Viola Nova-sama. She says she wants to see Ymy-sama. “

She was standing in front of the elevator doors with a smile upon her lips.

“It’s been a while, Ymy-san; you look well.”

A woman dressed in a robe-like vestment made of a single cloth with just a hole for the head. Her slender body was not much different from Syun-rei in height and she looked like she might be mistaken for a child from afar.

“W-we’ve really had no contact at all! It’s truly been a while……”

Running right up to her, Ymy bowed deeply with ragged breaths.

Viola Nova ── her senior Priestess who held the position of third Priestess. She had spent more than half a year patrolling the Biotope with her Sennenshi partner and competent Elite Guards.

“Sorry……u-umm, I think it was four days ago. I knew you had returned to the tower but I was busy and couldn’t come greet you.”

“It’s fine. I was also busy having just returned and you just returned from the Governmental Sector the day before last yourself, right?”

She had a gentle gaze that would relax those who saw it.

She was also petite like Syun-rei but the calm tone and gentleness of the Priestess in front of her was contrary to her physique and gave one a mature impression.

“That’s right, I’ll give you your souvenir before I forget. Here you go.”

“……What’s this?”

She grabbed Ymy’s wrist and held it to chest-height, then wrapped her fingers around something.

It was a polished black stone. The surface was smooth like it had been polished with something and the entire thing had a roundness to it.

“It’s obsidian I picked up in the Biotope; isn’t it curious how it’s been polished so beautifully by nature?”

“……Viola, I see you still have your hobby of collecting small stones.”

Ymy smiled ironically in front of her senior Priestess. Her hobby of collecting small stones and adding “-san” when addressing other people irrespective of whether they were her kouhai hadn’t changed.

“How was it outside the tower? You patrolled the Biotope the whole time this time too.”

“It’s the same great bundle of nature as always. The large dangerous beasts are and even the climate is all jumbled. Just when you think it’s shining like in a desert, there’s a blizzard the next day and the day after that is a downpour. Having your tent blown away by a gale is also a commonplace event.”

“……You sure made it through that all right.”

“I got used to that bustle so it feels like something’s missing here with the tower being so calm.”

She smiled as her flaxen hair fluttered.

“By the way, Ymy-san, I’m sorry for being so sudden. I know you were in the middle of training.”

“N-Not at all! The regulation time was over already!”

That she had wanted to do a little more and been in the middle of negotiating it was a secret, of course.

“That’s actually a lie.”

“Eh?”

“I didn’t come knowing you were in the middle of training; I came because you were in the middle of training. I wanted to disrupt your training.”

Viola looked fixedly up at her with her light brown eyes.

“Ymy-san, don’t you know that excessive training will just burden your body?”

“…………”

……I see, I thought it was strange.

This was a woman who was overflowing with consideration. She wasn’t the type who would interrupt her training just to hand over a souvenir or because she wanted to see her.

……She’d intended to stop my excessive training from the start.

“I heard about it from Meimel-san. That it’s been like this the whole time lately. But it looks like several days……from just before you left for the Governmental Sector and after returning have been especially terrible. I was a little worried after hearing that. As for why──”

Viola spoke with a tone like she was scolding her own child.

That’s definitely how it is. This person is……this ‘ older sister figure ‘ is always worrying about her junior Priestesses, Syun-rei and I, as if we were her children.

“I was thinking one of the reasons you’re overdoing your training is related to my younger sister, Horn.”

“…………”

“So it really is?”

“……I don’t know.”

Viola looked directly up at her. She couldn’t avert her eyes and it took her utmost just to muddle her words.

……But it’s probably just as Viola says.

Wanting to purify the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s mateki that resided within her childhood friend, Sheltis, was her thought as a childhood friend.

On top of that ── as the Priestess of Baptism, she thought it wouldn’t do to remain this way, and that was probably because she was indebted to the Sennenshi, Horn Nova.

“Your younger sister is……”

“You’ll understand if I say she’s in Ward D of the hospital on floor 22, right?”

The clinic within the tower was divided into four wards based on patient condition.

Ward A handled emergency outpatients and the lightly wounded.

Ward B handled inpatients with grave wounds requiring surgery.

Ward C handled patients that were in serious life-threatening conditions.

And then, separated from even those three wards by a large door was Ward D. All patients taken to this ward were those showered in mateki. The response team was not of doctors but of apprentice Priestesses and those that the apprentice Priestsses could not treat were directly purified by a Priestess.

“……I see. That’s right.”

Sennenshi Horn had returned to the tower for only one reason. It wasn’t to give a report but to visit a child who continued to sleep in one of the Ward D rooms.

“……I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you need to apologize for. Meimel-san and I……even the first Priestess, Elmeetia-san, couldn’t purify that mateki so it’s not solely your responsibility.”

“But!”

Her words blamed herself. Exactly because she understood that, Ymy could not pretend to not have heard it.”

“……But everybody else has different specialties in spells!……I can’t use anything other than Baptism-type spells well. I can’t become anything other than the Priestess of Baptism.”

“You think it’s natural that you’d be the one to heal that child?”

“…………Yes.”

In reality, it was something Horn Nova had said to her.

“ Ymy Ele Soufflenictole……you couldn’t save Tessha! “

“ Who cares about being a Priestess. This……even though you can’t purify the mateki of a single child……even though you can’t save a single child, what about you makes you a Priestess of Baptism! “

In a hospital ward with a cold wind blowing through it.

Those words spoken in front of that child whose eyes would not open were directed at me alone.

“……I thought you’d say that.”

Viola slumped her delicate shoulders and sighed.

“The truth is I didn’t really want to return. Because, Ymy-san, it’s a given that you’d go overboard in your training and ruin your body when Horn returned to the tower.”

“……But I must.”

“I understand that you feel responsible for not being able to purify mateki while known under the honorary title of Priestess of Baptism, but please don’t overdo it. The Priestesses’ primary duty isn’t to purify mateki. It’s to maintain the barrier that seals the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .”

It was something she’d been admonished for countless times since her time as an apprentice Priestess.

A Priestess had to be ruthless. No matter who had to be sacrificed and even if she wanted to save someone near her, she had to focus her power solely on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

“That’s why it’s Horn’s fault for having excessive expectations of Priestesses.”

“…………”

“Please tell me if my little sister says anything to you. I’ll scold her as her older sister.”

“……Okay.”

Well then ── conveying that softly, the third Priestess turned around. She watched her as she used the elevator to head to her own floor.

“…………”

Letting out a truly deep sigh towards the ceiling, Ymy loosely stumbled to the wall. ……I can’t put any power into my limbs. When she noticed that, the strength left her knees and she collapsed.

“Having excessive expectations of me……that just means she had that much expectation for me. ……She probably believed in and relied on me.”

She couldn’t fulfill Horn’s expectations that day. Even though she was probably her last hope, as the one known as the Priestess of Baptism.

“……Ah……ah……haha, it’s cold.”

Maybe it was because of the training. It couldn’t be helped that her body was freezing so she curled up and crouched there.

…………

…………It’s been a while since I’ve been frustrated to the point of wanting to cry.

“Why……is it……so cold, I wonder.”

The girl’s hoarse laughter echoed.

Before long, that laughter had changed to a faint sob at some point.

### 029. Part 5

The floor was filled to the brim with noon sunlight.

In this place that was close to two thousand metres off the ground, the sunlight passing through the window’s glass could be seen without obstruction.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 276. It was a floor made to allow a Priestess to devote herself to training.

“……The floor is shining blue?”

Standing in the floor Ymy was waiting at, Sheltis stared down at the view under him.

A pattern spread far out on the floor’s surface. The blue pattern’s contrast with the white floor was beautiful but it was also a little eerie because he didn’t know what it was for.

“ All of this is a formal carved seal. “

“……That’s amazing.”

He had heard it was a facility that could also purify people corrupted with mateki. It meant that a person suffering from mateki would also directly enter and exit so measures to prevent the spread of mateki within the tower were necessary.

“ Sheltis, are you okay? “

“I have my boots in-between.”

The rejection between the mateki residing within him and the shinryoku-affixed floor. There was a numbing feeling at his toes but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Come to think of it, she didn’t specify as far as the place.”

“ That’s right. I wonder which room it is. “

The far end of the passage was blurry. At any rate, it had the expansiveness of an entire floor of the tower so even if Ymy had arrived, he had no idea where she was.

“Over here.”

To his right, a room’s mechanical door slowly opened.

“……I’m glad. You came.”

Her off-gold hair swayed with relief. Her expression looked more relieved than happy.

“I thought it wouldn’t be possible because it was such a sudden request. ……Did you skip training to come here?”

“Nope, today’s a full day of rest. Training starts tomorrow.”

Ah, so that’s it. My plans for today start in the evening so now that you mention it, that should be how it is. The Governmental Sector mission exhausted everyone ── well, let’s put that aside. Come over here and enter the room.”

……This is a Priestess’ training room?

……Well, this is.

It was covered from the floor to the ceiling in pure white tiles and a formal carved seal was carved in atop that as expected. It was just the floor for the corridor but this room was covered on the walls and ceiling thoroughly, in every nook and cranny.

“It’s a room specially for me. But this isn’t a training room, you know?”

Ymy turned towards him at the center of the room and pointed at the formal carved seal overhead.

A shadow fell over her eyes.

She had remembered a painful past event ── it was that kind of expression.

“It’s not for training but for actual use. ……It’s a place for Priestesses to heal those with heavy corruption that apprentice Priestesses can’t purify.”

“……Ymy, do you not like this place?”

“I like it.”

Just that answer was clear and without doubt.

“In the little under a year since I became a Priestess, there have been four. Four times that a person has been carried to this room. Those people who had a request made because there were none amongst the apprentice Priestesses who could handle it. It’s a room to save those suffering from mateki…………so I couldn’t hate it.”

She bit down on her lip.

The Priestess, his childhood friend, continued staring up at the ceiling.

“But……it was harsh. We would forcefully lie the person afflicted with mateki mind control over on that bed and purify them. It was a procedure we would perform while watching them writhe in agony despite that. That dark red stain is from a person whose body underwent necrosis and tore from the decaying effect of mateki……the green stain on the other side is also someone’s blood. The iron within their body was morphed and their blood turned green.”

“…………So what happened to those people?”

“They were cured. All of those I mentioned were cured and are rehabilitating. There are also those that have been discharged so I’m really happy. ……But healing them isn’t ideal. To begin with, it’d be better if there was nobody who needed to be healed. It’d be the best if we could live in a world where we didn’t have to fear the Yuugenshu……”

The mere fact that somebody would be carried to this room is something that shouldn’t happen.

If the Priestesses’ Hyouketsu Kyoukai completely froze the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , Yuugenshu wouldn’t be able to come up to Orbie Clar floating continent . People afflicted with the Yuugenshu’s mateki would also cease to exist.

A perfect barrier.

A perfect Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

It was the ideal that the Priestesses had as their goal.

“So! That’s not good, that’s not good. I went off on a tangent again.”

Ymy slapped her cheeks with an adorable sound. She shook her head two, three times side to side and took a deep breath.

“All right! Then I’ll do my best, so I look forward to working with you!”

“E-Err……?”

“I said it yesterday, didn’t I? You also came because you heard, right?”

His childhood friend beckoned him over from the center of the room.

“……About my mateki?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any confidence yet that it can be cured but I want to try it. ──Come on, come over to this bed.”

A large bed was situated just in front of where Ymy was standing.

The bed with white sheets spread over it was not a rectangular shape, but the shape of the 十 character. The patient would lie with their arms spread out and there were black belts for restraining a rampaging patient.

“ Hey, hey, Ymy, let’s bind Sheltis〰? “

“It’s a pity but I won’t rampage.”

He took off the pendant that Ilis machine crystal was attached to and placed it on the tray beside the bed. He looked down at the bed once more.

“…………”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. ……I’m kinda nervous. I feel like I really shouldn’t be lying on this bed.”

It was also his first time receiving the mateki purification technique and it was a request to his childhood friend, which made him even more nervous. Lying down on the bed was like getting an examination at a hospital so he couldn’t settle down.

“ Sheltis has been bad with hospitals since a long time ago after all. Ymy, what will you do? “

“Eh……h-hr─m, what to do. After all, those carried to this room couldn’t stand on their own. I was never asked a question like that.”

Ymy let her gaze wander through the air while silently thinking.

“……I think it’ll be fine if you just sit on the bed.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. That should be pretty easy.”

He sat down lightly on the bed.

“Then please.”

“R-Right! I’ll do my best!”

Ymy nodded, then──

The air shook.

A complete one-eighty from the gentleness that even seemed to exude a smile, it changed to a tension that seemed like it even stung the skin.

…………This.

……might be…………the first time I’ve seen this.

The childhood friend before his eyes ── no, with the form of the “Priestess” before him, Sheltis gulped.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.

Her jade green eyes stared unblinking at him. Crimson particles of light suddenly rose up from her entire body.

…………Three years ago……the time when I returned to the Orbie Clar floating continent ……Ymy wasn’t a Priestess yet.

Ymy who had been an apprentice Priestess at the time had tried time after time to purify his mateki……and had cried herself dry when it ended in failure.

And now.

This was the first time Ymy was facing the purification of his mateki as a Priestess.

“──I’m starting.”

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

A release precedent meaning the invocation of power was sung from the Priestess’ lips. Immediately afterwards, the overflowing crimson particles wrapped around her body.

……My throat’s dry.

His lips, tongue and throat had dried up from nervousness and he couldn’t speak.

“Don’t move.”

Ymy’s fingertip that was held straight out neared the center of his chest.

……Can she actually purify it?

……Maybe it’s possible for even my mateki if it’s Ymy’s spell.

The mateki of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . Would the cursed power that no Priestess could purify three years ago become undone?

The fingertip neared his chest.

The tip of the nail touched the center of his chest and touched his skin through the clothes──

──Bzz……zzt!……──

“……!”

“Ow…………uu!”

Sparks like lightning instantly expanded into something like an aurora and seemed to be rejecting the touch of Ymy’s fingertips.

Elbert Resonance.

……No……way!

It used to be just sparks. That grew into this aurora-like barrier!?

“ The Elbert Resonance is manifesting even more strongly than before!? Ymy, this isn’t good, you must stop the ritual── “

“Kuu……uuu……!”

But Ymy didn’t stop the ritual. The shockwaves given off by the Elbert Resonance barrier stopped her breathes but she stood her ground and reached her fingers out even further──

Deja vu.

In that instant, the future image of Ymy collapsing with bright red blood spurting from her entire right arm surfaced clearly within the back of his mind.

“Get back!”

“!?”

Her shoulders contracted at the sudden shout and Ymy pulled back reflexively. At the same time, the mist cleared up and the Elbert Resonance sparks also disappeared.

“……Ah………………haa……a……”

Ymy shoulders moved up and down and she couldn’t hide her ragged breathing. Her fingertips were dyed with a crimson different from that of the baptism type arts.

“Ymy──”

He jumped off the bed.

He tried to run over to his childhood friend who was crouching and hugging her legs.

“Don’t!”

It was at the same time.

When Sheltis took one step, Ymy’s shout echoed throughout the room.

……Don’t?

What am I not supposed to do in this situation?

“……Shel, ti…………s……you……sit there!”

The girl spoke with her head still down, in a voice like a sob.

“……Once……mo……re……”

Once more.

Sheltis doubted his ears when he heard what was conveyed to him from Ymy’s lips.

……Once more?

……It can’t be that having seen that Elbert Resonance just now, she wants to try once more?

“Ha, ah……hahaa. …………Sorry, I failed. Next…………”

The Preistess of Baptism stood up unsteadily.

She was trying hard to hide the intense pain with a pale face.

“For the next one……I’ll do my best……”

“Ymy!”

In order to stop the girl who was wobbly drawing nearer, he stood before her with arms held out to the sides.

“I’m really……happy that you feel that way. But let’s stop here for today.”

“…………”

“Anybody would understand that you’re doing your absolute best from seeing what happened just now. Even I understood at a glance. That’s why I have faith that you will be able to purify my mateki in the near future.”

……Really?

His own words sounded like exactly like somebody else’s sophistry.

……If Ymy trains beyond this, will she really be able to purify my mateki?

Ymy’s maturing shinryoku spells.

But as those spells grew in strength, Elbert Resonance would also grow stronger. To get rid of that repulsion, Ymy would try even harder but the Elbert Resonance barrier will get even stronger?

An endless vicious cycle. It would undoubtedly turn into that prediction.

“Th-That’s why……for today…………”

It was clear when he saw Ymy’s eyes just before. She hadn’t been holding back and used all her power. With the result being the Elbert Resonance just now, it would be difficult for her to purify his mateki in her current state.

“……………………”

Ymy didn’t speak as she drew deep breaths.

“……You’re right.”

A dry smile.

Different from the long silence just now, she spoke intermittently.

“So it wasn’t possible again. ……How bad it is, even though I’m supposed to be the Baptism Priestess. I’ll be scolded by Horn-san like this too.”

“Horn?”

There was only one Guard in Sophia Tenketsu Palace who identified with that name.

The third Sennenshi, Horn Nova. Born with a unique shinryoku spell, she was the Ex Machina who was versed in every kind of gun.

“That Sennenshi? Did something happen?”

“……Just a little something.”

Ymy rubbed her eyes to dispel her faintly self-deprecating smile and moved her hand away from the bed.

“Hey, Sheltis, I want to get some outside air so shall we go to the floor above?”

Come with me.

With her delicate back telling him that, Ymy’s vestments fluttered.

“……I’ll remember more than necessary if we talk in this room, after all.”

### 030. Part 5

The impressive stained glass colorfully refracted the sun’s rays shining down brilliantly.

The light and sound and, needless to say, the air of that place were serene ── a single female Guard trudged along in that floor serene with holiness.

“……Hr─m, this might be a probleeem.”

The second and third Priestesses. This floor was prepared for them as well as the Sennenshi guarding them and was revered as holy ground by all the Guards and apprentice Priestesses.

To one day become the owner of this floor ── it was a place aspired towards for those aiming to become a Priestess or Sennenshi.

“Hr─m, hr─m, I wonder what was wrooong.”

Nevertheless, there was not a trace of nervousness about the woman shouldering a large metal spear.

She spoke to herself with her arms folded and a frown on her face.

On this floor where other Guards would become unable to walk straight due to nerves, she continued as if she’d just been invited over to a dear friend’s house.

“So the cause really is a dislike of vegetables? No, no, it might be the arrangement. ……Hr─m.”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Ishtar-san.”

A voice called out and stopped her.

She had flaxen hair and light brown eyes and wore a vestment crafted from a single cloth.

“Ah─, it’s Viola-sama; we haven’t contacted each other at allll.”

“It has been a while. You seem as energetic as ever. I was wondering if you would be a Sennenshi the next time I returned to the tower.”

“Ehehe, Ishtar is still inexperienced.”

“Is that so? See, I heard that Ymy is still undecided on a Sennenshi.”

“……Ahh, that’s right.”

A small laugh leaked out from the Guard’s lips.

“Well, that’s Ymy-sama’s decision─. Her destiny, so to speak.”

“That’s true. By the way, are you dealing with a difficult issue? It’s rare for you to make a troubled face so I ended up calling out to you.”

“……Uu. That’s actually riiight. I’m troubled about my little sister, I’sa-chan. Would you care to listen?”

The Cadres Guard drooped her shoulders with a heavy and dark expression.

“Yes. As a fellow older sister.”

“Well then! I made omurice for my super precious I’sa-chan a little while ago for her lunch, okaaay.”

“How wonderful. Ishtar-san, you truly care for your little sister.”

“That’s right─. But listen to this: I’sa-chan was happy up until I said I’d make her omurice……but she was suddenly in a bad mood when the time to eat came around and finally ended up bursting into tears.”

“Oh my, my. Pardon my asking but how did it taste?”

Faced with Viola who was tilting her head, Ishtar shook her head largely from side to side.

“It was perfect─. At any rate, we’ve been together for over ten years. I have a clear understanding of what I’sa-chan prefers for taste and presentation.”

“Oh dear, then it really is a difficult problem. I wonder if anything happened to worsen your little sister’s mood.”

“……Hr─m, I don’t have any ideaaa.”

Ishtar looked troubled to the core.

“Rather, to make her happy, I tried to feed her while saying, ‘ Here you go─, I’sa-chan. It’s luuunch, it’s deliciousss. ‘ Then I’sa-chan suddenly stood up and yelled ‘ Onee-sama, you idiooot── ‘ and ran away crying while still holding her spoon.”

“…………Well, that.”

“Right? It’s strange, right?”

“…………I think it’s because your sister is at the age of independence. You could say she’s really sensitive.”

“Is that sooo?”

“Yes, I as well……it’s not something unrelated to me.”

A shadow clouded the Priestess’ eyes and she smiled a little bitterly.

“That’s riiight, we’re both troubled by our little sisters. But Horn-chan is strong, so I think she’ll be fine no matter what happens, you knooow? I’sa-chan still can’t fight a Yuugenshu alooone.”

“Strength isn’t limited to excellence.”

“Yes, Ishtar is also of that opinion.”

Her expression suddenly brightened and then.

“─Well then, shall we switch topics to that ? About Horn-chan .”

“…………”

With those few words.

That wide floor returned to silence as if frozen.

“I knew it.”

Her lips shaking with a giggle, the third Priestess didn’t attempt to hide her smile.

“Ishtar-san really is Ishtar-san. There’s no way you as the Cadres Guard came here for no reason. You had business with me from the start, didn’t you?”

“Of course─. If not, I wouldn’t be on this flooor; I’d be chasing I’sa-chan who ran off.”

“……Ah, so the omurice story was true.”

“……Though it’s regrettable, it’s true.”

Bursting into laughter once when she saw the Cadres Guard sighing once more, Viola pointed in the direction of her room.

“Shall we speak in my room?”

“No, no, don’t worry. I’m fine if we continue to stand while talking. The story about I’sa-chan was the longer one.”

“It’s scary if it’s too short as well. Well then, let’s continue.”

“Yes. Come to think of it, a long time ago, Horn-chan wanted to search for some Yuugenshu. What was the individual name for that?”

“‘ S vector, eight class ‘. The only witnesses were……children from the orphanage that went on a picnic. I’m told that it looked like a small black kitten when they first found it and enlarged when the children neared it, then attacked them. We’ve also received information that when the Regular Guards that went to combat it thought they had defeated it, it would immediately regenerate.”

“Hohhh hohhh, so if that was found, Horn-chan would fly out of the tower, ignoring orders from anybody.”

“…………”

“At that time, will Viola-sama be able to stop Horn-chan’s rampage?”

### 031. Part 5

A pure white glimmer extended as far as the eye could see on the downhill of a gentle slope.

It was a scene reminiscent of a large snowy valley with many large mountains stretching out. It was not actually snow but countless salt piled up over the course of many years.

“Look, Sheltis, it’s an amazing place.”

Accompanied by Machina Machine pearl , Kagura gave a sigh of admiration.

“Water with a little salt content flows here into the basin from the river and evaporates, accumulates and creates this beautiful scenery. I’ve seen it in documents but it’s my first time seeing it in person.”

“Really, it’s like snow.”

Crunch……crunch…………

Salt grains crunched underfoot. It felt like he was stepping on a lump of snow.

Shantia Great Salt Lake.

It was one of only two salt lakes that had been confirmed in the vast Biotope and was terrain that bore the prefix of ‘Glittering ‘.

“It really is amazing; this is all salt?”

“……It’s not very appealing.”

It was somewhat unusual but Monica and Vaiel who were walking ahead frequently surveyed the surroundings.

“Captain Horn, sorry for the wait.”

Finally.

Two Regular Guards were bearing a machine gun and jogged over when they noticed them.

“What’s the situation?”

“No changes. With the two units patrolling the vicinity and the two support units, there are four units in total surrounding the great salt lake. To now, there have been no reports of it slipping through the encirclement.”

“Good work. Don’t slacken your caution; I’ll be tracking the ‘S vector, eighth class‘. I ordered Scheele to be on standby but has she arrived?”

A girl in vestments walked up after the two Guards.

“I’m here.”

“I have only one order for you. Erase the Yuugenshu’s mateki with a barrier type spell when we find it. I won’t say you need to restrain it, but at least keep it in one spot. You can do it, can’t you.”

“I will do my utmost.”

“That’s good; then follow along.”

“Ye…………”

Yes. The apprentice Priestess who spoke suddenly stopped moving and stood still. She wasn’t even quivering but only her shoulders shook lightly──

“What’s wrong?”

“Monica……senpai?”

Without answering Horn’s question, the girl removed her hood.

“Monica-senpai!? Monica-senpai! I-It’s me! Pia!”

“Pia……Pianalis Scheele?”

With a glance at the girl’s face exposed to the sunlight, the girl who served as unit captain greatly widened her eyes.

“Wawaa, it really is Monica-senpaiii! No way, no way, why are we meeting here!? Actually, what’s with your appearance? You look just like a Guard!”

“Not just look like, I actually am a Guard. Since moving past being an apprentice Priestess, about three years ago…………h-hey, wait! I get it, so let me go a bit!”

Monica earnestly pried herself loose from the apprentice Priestess clinging to her and sighed.

“……I told you many times to refrain from just hugging people.”

“I’m just that happyyy! Since I managed to reunite with a senpai I thought had retired in this kind of place. It’s not like I’m trying to act the part of a mature apprentice Priestess either───……ah……”

Falling silent and taking care of her surroundings, the apprentice Priestess slipped her hood back on.

“A-Ahem……my apologies, Captain, I lost myself there. As it was a reuniting with a revered senpai, please overlook this.”

“Just give me a brief explanation.”

“Y-Yes! This Cadet Guard here is my senpai as an apprentice Priestess. This is from two years ago, but she advanced as far as the final trial for a Priestess.”

“……Is that so.”

Horn raised an eyebrow at Scheele’s words.

“Yes. Pardon me, but did you not allow her to travel with you because you knew this?”

“…………”

Without answering the apprentice Priestess’ question, Horn casually folded her arms.

“I see, an apprentice Priestess who made it to the final trial. So that is what the Priestess and the Cadres Guard appraised you on.”

“──No.”

Monica directly faced the Sennenshi who spoke with an implicative tone.

“That appraisal was not mine but my entire unit’s.”

“You sure can talk.”

Horn smiled boldly.

“──Change of plans. Scheele.”

“Yes.”

“You will remain on defense of this camp. In this large of an area, we don’t know where the S vector, eighth class will appear.”

“Understood.”

Watching the apprentice Priestess slowly back off, Horn’s next focus was the girl holding the crossed rods in both hands.

“Your said your name was Monica.”

“……What is it?”

“I’ll have you take responsibility for what you said.”

Massive, black machine pistols. The Sennenshi who held one in each hand of these heavy firearms that a normal person would require two arms to hold.

“I will also order you into combat based on the enemy’s strength so be prepared.”

### 032. Part 6

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 22, the hospital in the tower.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

“Thank you very much.”

──Fuu.

Taking a quiet deep breath, Monica let down the edge of her shirt that she’d been holding up.

“The swelling from the internal bleeding is also receding.”

“It looks like the hot compress I received from you worked out well.”

In front of the doctor who was scribbling away at her chart, she held her flank.

The battle at the Governmental Sector.

The wound she had sustained when fighting the clones that Maha Golden had summoned. When she received the blow, it had been enough to stop her breathing and even knock her unconscious, but it looked like the first-aid she’d received at the Governmental Sector had been good.

“……At first, I was wondering how many ribs had broken.”

“That’s because the muscle density around the ribs is thin. There’s nothing to protect the bone so there are times when the pain is intense despite nothing having broken.”

The old bespectacled doctor shrugged.

“So, how is it? Do you still feel pain?”

“……We took a break for the entirety of last evening so it’s pretty much gone.”

“That is great news. Then you wish to participate in training immediately starting from tomorrow?”

That’s right. It had been three days since returning from the Governmental Sector. Commuting to the hospital like this every day was all for the sake of returning to training tomorrow.

“Hr─m, I recommend that you only do something like light running for the first day.”

“What about practicing with a weapon?”

“I’ll permit it if there’s no opponent. It gets much harsher when facing somebody else. Well, I can tell that you will exercise discretion.”

The old doctor smiled wryly with a steaming cup in hand.

“I’ll say this again, but only practice swings, okay?”

“……Understood.”

She was relieved. Practice swings and running……she originally wanted to move more for the sake of rehabilitation as well but having resolved first that training was out of the question, she couldn’t voice such luxuries.

“Thank you very much.”

Leaving that place, she continued down the hallway towards the elevator.

“……What should I do?”

Waiting for the elevator to arrive, Monica gazed absentmindedly at the corridor’s window.

The weather was good so she’d finished off the laundry before coming. Cleaning her room……to begin with, her room was exceedingly empty so there was no need to clean it.

Like this, there was nothing to do when she returned to the residences.

It seemed that new Cadet Guards would often go on strolls in the tower. However, for she who had been living here since her time as an apprentice Priestess, going on a walk now was……

“……No, isn’t that an excuse?”

Walking through every floor of the tower. Let’s start from the bottom and go up in order. The goal will be the Priestesses’ floors. Entry is restricted from regular visitors but Guards who are affiliated with the tower can access the elevator leading to the Priestesses’ floors so there’s no problem.

“I just thought of this while walking but that child also has faith.”

It couldn’t be helped that she’d be interested in Ymy’s situation since yesterday. She hadn’t appeared when the time came to have the meeting with Cadres Guard Ishtar, and she didn’t appear when the meeting ended either.

……The reason for that is that her training ran late?

……Would she fail in training after going as far as becoming a Priestess?

“Though really……it’s not something I should speak about.”

I wonder if I can advise her? She’s my precious kouhai from when I was an apprentice Priestess. Ymy also cherishes me as her senpai even now.

“That’s decided then.”

Monica nodded persuasively and walked to the elevator.

### 033. Part 6

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11, Cadet Guard residences.

“……It’s scary seeing this.”

Returning to his room, Sheltis booted up the agency terminal at his work desk.

He entered in his member ID that was carved into his badge and windows popped up rapidly on the monitor. Finally, his fingers that were operating the keys came to a stop at the screen showing the mail.

Received mail ‘ 1 ‘

Sender ‘ ‘

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ──

I shall teach you a valuable secret.

A Yuugenshu has changed its form to that of a person and disguised itself as one of your Guards. In order to draw it out, I recommend exposing all the tower’s Guards to the Priestesses’ baptism spells. “

“One message received and the sender is unknown……this is it.”

“ Yes, it’s the same as the message Kagura showed you. It really did arrive later than hers. Though the motive for that is unknown. “

“……No developments; that’s a relief.”

He breathed a sigh of relief as he relaxed.

If a second message had been sent while he was training and the name of the corresponding Guard were written ── he had only avoided that worst-case scenario.

“ Even putting the Priestesses’ baptism spells aside, starting with Ymy, Meimel and Syun-rei are also aware of you. If it comes to it, you should be able to deceive the others with their assistance. “

“……But we can’t solve the root of the problem like that.”

The sender was somebody outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent , meaning they were somewhere on the distant Lagoon floating archipelago . But that sender’s name was blank. It was the same as having nary a clue.

……Somebody outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent who knows of me?

……The Governmental Sector? No, even within the Governmental Sector, there shouldn’t be anybody this well-informed.

“I wonder if my weakness has been grasped.”

“ As long as your opponent’s identity remains unspecified, this will be a one-sided defensive battle. “

With his weakness in hand, the other party might come to him with negotiations. It was like grabbing at clouds but he also required information on the opponent.

“ I’ll do my best and it seems like Kagura will also render assistance. “

“Thanks. I’d also like to think of somebody likely but the message is written like this and the name is also a blank space………………blank, ……blank……space?”

…………Blank?

What is this……nagging feeling?

Something……maybe I……am overlooking something really important?

“ What’s wro── “

“Wait!……I need to concentrate.”

He even stopped breathing as he focused on thinking.

There was no name attached to the mail. It was a blank field without a single character written in it. But what if the fact that there is no name is the most important part of this message?

……Blank……blank……empty…………that basically means bla…………bla……nk.”

………… There is someone .

“ Hey, Sheltis, I’ve been awaiting the time we would meet in this world. “

There was just one person. A person who identified themselves as ‘ Igun-I Blank ‘.

The assassin from the unnamed third organization that attacked the Governmental Sector together with Maha Golden . He had confronted him at the floor where Mikuva’s Crimson Eye shone, that pitch black──

“……Igun-I.”

“ Eh? “

“Ilis, you should remember as well, about that creepy guy we met at the Governmental Sector. He was looking down at us from atop the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and, in the end, said he had been waiting for me and wanted to meet me.”

“ He called himself Igun-I Blank ……ahh, I get it. It’s the type of joke that I’m not good with. ……But I wonder if it’s really that person. Is there some kind of proof to confirm this? “

“There’s no proof; it’s really just intuition.”

But he could feel it.

This commotion within him like shivers was telling him that his intuition was correct.

“ Chase me if you want to know the truth. Now, Sheltis, please chase after me. That will be the beginning of everything. “

……The beginning of everything.

……What awaits me after I chase him?

“Is this to lure me out?”

“ It’s a problem that we can’t say you’re over-thinking things. Truthfully, I also have my doubts about that person. I’m curious as to who he is. “

“You’re also interested?”

“ Yes. The truth is, that person, that was my── “

Immediately after.

The crystal portion that was shining brilliantly in blue lost its light and changed to a dark grey.

“Mm?”

“……No, I won’t say. It’s too much to say for a guess. At any rate, pinning down the enemy’s objective is a silver lining. We may be able to figure out a countermeasure so it’s most important.”

He clenched his fist atop his lap.

And──

“Oh?”

Ilis Machine crystal who had lowered the intensity of her light flashed once again.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, an urgent mission is being announced by the Guard Regulations Institute. The location is the Biotope’s S vector section……on the bank of a large salt lake. The nearest patrolling unit of Regular Guards is performing an emergency response so they wish for the Cadet Guards to also participate as a supporting unit.”

“It’s by the Instructor’s recommendation so there’s a chance we might be called.”

It was the same as the time the Regular Guard unit was wiped out by Golden Maha. The primary force would be Elite Guards and Regular Guards and Cadet Guards recommended by the Instructor would act as support for them.

“What are the mission details?”

“ It’s the subjugation of a Yuugenshu. It broke through the encirclement……no……but this is…………? “

Separating from her momentary silence, Ilis machine crystal continued.

“ There was a previous report about this Yuugenshu being sighted. Please wait a moment, I will retrieve the information from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Yuugenshu list. “

“……It’s a strong one.”

It was no coincidence that it had escaped once in the past and broken through the encirclement this time.

There was a high chance that it possessed a special type of mateki or exceedingly powerful mateki. To kill it for certain, two or three Regular Guard units would be required for a medium-sized one and three for a large-sized one.

“──”

He held fast to his card-shaped badge that shined silver. An order to gather from the Instructor might be sent to this badge at any time.

……If it’s a strong Yuugenshu, two or three Cadet Guard units might be necessary.

……Maybe Monica’s badge has already been contacted at this time?

“Ilis, how is the retrieval?”

“ I just finished the comparison of the entire list, or in other words, the verification checks. The result of a comparison with Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s list yielded one full match. ……But this is troublesome. “

“The Yuugenshu?”

“ Yes. You remember the area I said that the Yuugenshu was found in? “

“A large salt lake. You said it was in the Biotope’s S vector section──”

“ We Priestesses call that ‘ delayed sin type ‘ mateki. ‘ S vector, eighth class ‘……that’s the common name of the Yuugenshu that Horn-san is chasing after. “

……The Yuugenshu Ymy had told him about that time.

“It can’t be.”

The reason Ilis machine crystal said it was troublesome.

……The one Sophia Tenketsu Palace is chasing after now is the one Horn is chasing after?

……In that case, this is bad.

“If somebody is afflicted with that one’s mateki──”

“ Yes. It is mateki that cannot be purified even with the power of the Priestesses. Before victims appear amongst the Guards, swift subjugation of the Yuugenshu is necessary. In the worst case scenario, we will need to tell Ymy. “

The problem was Horn Nova.

She should have also received this information. She should be desiring a one-on-one conclusive battle with that Yuugenshu. But even for a Sennenshi like her, fighting a Yuugenshu whose mateki even a Priestess couldn’t purify while not in a calm state was too dangerous.

“……Ilis. Tell Monica to get ready to head out at once.”

He stood up without turning off the terminal.

He once again put on the jacket he had taken off and fastened the holders at his belt.

……I’ll leave the thing with Igun-I until later.

……This takes priority.

“ Are you heading out? “

“I’ll head to floor 288 first; we need to stop Horn if she’s planning on running off ahead alone.”

### 034. Part 6

In a hallway filled with light.

“……I’m really sorry. Ymy-san and Ishtar-san.”

Fluttering her tunic-styled vestment, the petite Priestess hung her head.

“If only I had kept Horn in check more.”

“It’s fine─. Viola-sama, you don’t have to lower your head like that.”

With the same aloof smile as ever, Ishtar patted her delicate shoulders.

“I think the location was the great salt lake. Then they should be arriving around now. That’s a nice place─, and the view is also good so it’s easy to spot a Yuugenshu. Horn-chan is outstanding and the Cadet unit travelling with her is also a gathering of individuals with more than meets the eye. Right, Ymy-sama?”

“Ye……Y-Yes.”

Being urged with a suspicious smile, Ymy’s face unconsciously twitched.

……I wonder what she means.

Monica-senpai as an apprentice Priestess? Or……Sheltis? When I talk with this Cadres Guard, it feels like the inner reaches of my mind are being seen through.

“You can also relax, Viola-sama─. From Ishtar’s point of view, well, they won’t ‘lose‘. If there’s anything to worry about, I guess it’s the enemy escaping? And one more thing ─── Ymy-sama?”

The second question was much heavier and sharper in her look and tone.

“Are you serious about that promise you made with Horn-chan?”

“……I will once again try to purify that child’s mateki. If that fails, then I will accept any insults or act.”

“Then quit being a Priestess.”

“Understood. I will bet everything I have as a Priestess.”

If Horn defeated the S vector, eighth class and the mateki disappeared with that, then that was fine. However, in the off-chance that the mateki remained despite the main body’s defeat, she would once again attempt to purify it.

……If she were to fail.

“Wait.”

Viola’s voice which was mixed with anger did not permit Ymy’s words.

“I would also like to speak on that matter. I’ve heard that that was basically something Horn decided on her own. It is clear the fault lies with my little sister. ……Ymy-san, you cannot allow yourself to be swept up in the heat of the moment and accept such a thing. If you have awareness as a Priestess, then reconsider this.”

“…………”

“Ishtar is in agreement─. A Priestess isn’t somebody that can just be replaced with a person if one is gone. I think Horn-chan would also understand if she cooled her head?”

“…………Yeah.”

She understood that. She tried to understand it.

She knew better than anybody else that a vacancy in the Priestesses could not be permitted and that Horn’s words at that time were impulsive.

However──

“Thank you, Viola, Ishtar-san. But it’s fine? I don’t have any intention of quitting being a Priestess from this. I don’t feel like failing at purifying the mateki either.”

“That’s sufficient. But then wasn’t there no need to accept what Horn-chan said?”

“……No.”

Ymy shook her head with a smile in response to Ishtar who spoke inquisitively.

“It’s true that I think I need to do it with that much of a resolve.”

A Priestess who can’t save a single child infected with mateki is no good.

My goal is much, much higher.

That’s right. If I compare myself to that child I met in the world of a thousand years ago───

“[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable……]”

“[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]”

The child known as Shasa.

The more she remembered it, that child’s shinryoku spells were of a different level. Compared to the current Priestesses of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ……no, it might even rival that of the Queen’s.

She had a goal.

Not just the personal goal of curing Sheltis’ mateki but a goal as a Priestess. That child awaited on the path to accomplishing both. That was what she felt. [T/N: “That child” refers to Shasa.]

“I mean that you’re the only one who hasn’t changed a bit from three years ago.”

“Change. There will definitely not be enough stimulus for your shinryoku to bloom.”

The words spoken to her at the Grand Sanctuary by the woman named Tsali.

……I might need the resolution to change myself on my own. If I can’t do that, then that’s all the more reason to have the resolve to quit being a Priestess.

“Well, Ymy-sama is a specialist in baptism spells. It’s not Ishtar’s place to stick her opinion in─”

The Cadres Guard shrugged with an expression that was no quite a smile and not quite a bitter smile.

“It’s dependent on you. You too, Viola-sama.”

“……Yes. Ymy-san, please pay no mind to Horn’s words from just before.”

Being prompted by Ishtar, Viola also turned around. The Priestess headed towards her own room and the Cadres Guard moved towards the elevator. Ymy watched both of them go──

“Good change.”

“Say, Ymy. I wonder if you’ll hear my voice soon enough?”

In a far off and distant place.

She heard a nostalgic voice from someone. She felt so.

### 035. Part 7

Floor 287 of the tower. Having followed Ymy, what awaited Sheltis outside the elevator was the Priestess floor belonging to Ymy.

“Sheltis……since I became a Priestess, there were four people that required purification and were carried over. Do you remember that?”

“Since I just heard it not too long ago.”

It was something pertaining to others like him who were afflicted with mateki so there was no way he could forget.

“Then do you also remember their symptoms?”

“Eh? Ahh, umm, they were people that were under mind control and unconscious, and”

There was a patient that had necrosis occur due to the decaying effect of mateki. There was also a patient who had his or her blood color change because of the deadly poisonous effects of mateki. Both had left behind a bloodstain in the purification room.

“Ah, but……that doesn’t match the number.”

There were four altogether that had been brought before Ymy. One of them had mind control, one had necrosis and one had deadly poison. That was a total of three people. Then what about the last one?

“There’s still one more person……there’s a child whose mateki I couldn’t purify.”

At the windowsill of the giant stained glass.

Placing her delicate hand upon the silver window frame, the Priestess turned towards him.

“He is in a coma. There is no pain or bleeding. That child who won’t wake no matter what anybody does is sleeping in the hospital within this tower. My shinryoku is probably……no, it should definitely be strong. However, that mateki’s propagation speed is fast……for example, even if an entire division is purified, the remaining parts will replace it in that time.”

“ Think of it as an extremely hardy weed. Even if you cut the leafy part, as long as the roots remain underground, it’ll grow again, right? It’s the same as that. “

“……That kind of mateki.”

He had faced countless Yuugenshu during his time as an Elite Guard but he had never seen mateki like that.

“Then that’s even more reason. Even if you say you failed the purification, it’s the first time I’ve heard of mateki like that too so even for Priestesses, there’s no way they would be able to immediately respond to it.”

“But Sheltis, it’s because they understand that that there are people who can’t forgive Ymy. For example, friends of the one in a coma because of that mateki.”

“Friends?”

“……Priestess Viola and her younger sister, Horn, were raised together with many children in an orphanage in the Third Living District.”

Ymy was looking at something from beside the window.

That was the direction of the Third Living District which was the furthest from the tower.

“They left the orphanage and became a Priestess and Sennenshi and I’ve heard from Viola that they’d like to return the favor to the orphanage that raised them. They keep the bare minimum to live and give the entirety of their wages to the orphanage.”

“……That Horn is?”

When he was an Elite Guard and before that, Sheltis had never been in a unit with Horn.

However he had heard about her outstanding ability and ruthless disposition that forsook others. To think, she could do that for somebody she didn’t know?

“It seems that for Viola and Horn who were raised in an orphanage, those that receive the same treatment are the same as family to them. There’s no way they could stay calm when their family is afflicted by the Yuugenshu’s mateki……and the direction of that anger turned towards Ymy who couldn’t purify that mateki.”

“Horn-san is already disgusted that it’s impossible for me though.”

Ymy showed a dry self-deprecating smile.

“‘ That’s enough, I’ll do it. I’ll find that Yuugenshu and defeat it. When it’s defeated, Tessha’s mateki should be dispelled and this will all be resolved. ‘ That’s why Horn-san goes out to patrol of her own accord……even though policing the Biotope is a job nobody really wants to do.”

───Ahh, I see.

He finally understood why Ymy had wanted to try purifying his mateki.

“It sounds like Horn has returned. Eyriey said she saw her at the Living Districts.”

“……Yeah.”

The child named Tessha who was stuck in an endless coma.

She had been reminded of something because Horn, who was equivalent to family for that child, had returned to the tower. She had been reminded of the mateki of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song which resided within her childhood friend’s body and could not be purified by the Priestesses, just like that child.

……That child and I are overlapping within Ymy.

……So that’s why she couldn’t do nothing.

There were people whose mateki hadn’t been purified. She felt only guilt because of that and thought that she must at least try purifying Sheltis’ mateki.

“So the reason you were running late for the meeting yesterday really was Priestess training?”

“I just had them extend it as long as possible. Yours is also dangerous, but that child’s mateki is really dangerous. Horn-san says……she’ll defeat the Yuugenshu that caused this but that’s worrisome. I think it’s for the best that a Priestess purify it.”

“Mm? It’s not good to defeat it?”

The child named Tessha had fallen into a comatose state after being afflicted with mateki. If the Priestesses couldn’t purify it, wouldn’t it be fine if the main body of the mateki was defeated?

“ If the Yuugenshu is defeated, the mateki will disappear ── that is true in the majority of cases. But the death agony of a powerful Yuugenshu’s mateki is strong. There are types where if the main body is defeated, their mateki will run out of control. “

“We Priestesses call that ‘ delayed sin type ‘ mateki. ‘ S vector, eighth class ‘……that’s the common name of the Yuugenshu that Horn-san is chasing after but if it’s a delayed sin type, then far from being cured, she’ll get worse……we also have to consider the effects it’ll have on her life.”

Delayed sin type mateki.

It was a rare mateki that Sheltis had only heard once or twice. If he hadn’t heard the explanation from Ymy just now, he would’ve even forgotten it existed.

“……So there is that. But shouldn’t Horn know about that?”

“Yeah. But she thinks that’s the only option left.”

Betting on the chance that it wasn’t a delayed sin type, she would search for the S vector, eighth class hiding somewhere on this gigantic Orbie Clar floating continent . It was an outrageous mortification like trying to find grains of salt in a desert.

“But if time passes, Ymy──”

You should continue to grow as you accumulate more experience and training: just before he said that.

Clack, ck……cla……

Footsteps resounded from the elevator and the emergency stairs at the same time. The owners of the footsteps came across each other at the passage’s intersection and came to a stop.

“A Cadet Guard?”

“Ahh……g-good morning, Captain Horn!”

In contrast to the stifled voice was a voice shaking with nervousness.

……This voice is Monica?

……And somebody else; could it be the person Monica’s talking to is her?

“What business does a Cadet Guard have on a Priestess’ floor?”

“R-Right. I have a report regarding the expedition to the Governmental Sector we traveled together on.”

“……The Governmental Sector?”

With those few words.

Something sharp was mixed into her voice.

“You just spoke of the Governmental Sector. The one who accompanied Ymy Ele Soufflenictole to the Governmental Sector was you?”

“That ri…………!”

Monica’s voice paused. At the same time, it felt like she gulped. At the same time came the sound of a horribly shaky breath taken with anguish.

──What happened?

“Monica-senpai!?”

She who probably had the same thoughts as Ymy, clothed in her vestments, ran towards the intersection.

“ Sheltis. “

“I know.”

He ran down the corridor after Ymy and the two turned to the passage that continued on towards the intersection.

What laid before them there was ── in the center of the intersection, Monica had the barrel of a revolving handgun pressed up against her brow.

“You can’t even react to something of this level. To think that a Cadet Guard of this caliber would be chosen as an escort to the Governmental Sector.”

“M-My apologies. It was……so sudden.”

“Sudden? So you would say ‘ because it was sudden ‘ when attacked by a Yuugenshu.”

“…………No.”

“This is a level that can’t even be discussed. In the end, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Guards are just a gathering of riffraff.”

Monica was downcast as she stayed silent. In contrast, Horn returned the handgun to the holder at her waist and sighed with disgust.

“Horn-san!?……What……are you doing!”

At the same time Ymy’s footsteps rang out as she approached, the blinder-wearing Sennenshi turned to her.

“Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

“You’re comrades of this tower, aren’t you!? Even so, you stuck a handgun up to her……what are you trying to do!”

“Comrade?”

The Sennenshi’s voice became even more of a sneer with Ymy closing in on her with an angry look.

“It would fine if she was at least helpful in odd jobs, but this kind of hindrance isn’t fit to be called a comrade. The Sennenshi, a portion of the Elite Guards and about a third of the apprentice Priestesses are passable. They have their uses. It’s fine if the rest just maintain weapons in the corner at best.”

“……Are you seriously saying that?”

“Seriously? You want me to say that I’d entrust my back to useless Guards? Then first, shall we try having a Priestess pick a Cadet Guard that’s not her Sennenshi as a partner?”

Facing Ymy who was standing there dumbfounded, the tall gunner drew one step closer.

“Good timing; there’s something I wanted to say to you.”

“……What is it?”

The two were basically glaring at each other.

“It looks like you went to the Governmental Sector.”

“……Is there something about that?”

“Hah! Aren’t you being easygoing, going on a sightseeing trip without doing your Priestess training?”

“We had a goal. It was not a trip.”

“Then you have some definite achievements.”

“That……was not what the meeting this time was about, it was about the aforementioned──”

“The case with the attack by some third organization or something? I heard you let the ringleader boldly run away just before catching him.”

Ymy bit her bottom lip.

“In the first place, you──”

“Hold it.”

Interrupting Horn’s words, Sheltis stood between her and Ymy.

“It’s not good for there to be discord between Priestesses and Sennenshi. I’ve been listening until now but only you have a provocative tone.”

Their lines of sight were at about the same height.

Looking on at her directly, the blinder-wearing woman wrinkled her brow.

“I was wondering who it was, but another Cadet Guard? Small fry, who are you mouthing──”

“Do you always speak like that?”

“……Always?”

“I can’t understand how you deal with the Priestesses who are your colleagues and that Cadet Guard you placed a gun to with that hostility when you’re all comrades of the same tower. Do you approach somebody dear to you with that tone too?”

“──”

With the same brazenly expressionless face, Horn’s mouth tightened into a line for just an instant.

“What an audacious Cadet Guard. Protecting a Priestess, it’s almost like you’re under the delusion that you’re a Sennenshi?”

“I simply stated what I thought. I wouldn’t like there to be discord between a Priestess and Sennenshi.”

“……Discord? Who would be friendly with a Priestess that can’t even save a single child──”

“Horn? You should stop right around there.”

The elevator’s bell dinged at the same time a woman’s voice was heard.

There stood a petite woman wearing a simple vestment consisting of a single piece of cloth.

“……Elder sister.”

The Sennenshi turned around nervously.

“Horn, I heard that Ymy-san is tired from continuous training. I don’t know what you want to say but put an end to it already.”

“……But elder sister!”

“The barrier transfer ceremony is approaching. The Queen will be able to complete her mission with the barrier and take three days of rest while the Priestesses support the barrier in her stead, you know?”

──Everything was contrasting.

Viola was not shaken no matter how much her younger sister strengthened her tone. Oh so quietly, her words permeated like waves upon water’s surface.

“This time Syun-rei is in charge of it but even the Priestesses need to make preparations to make up for being shorthanded. Horn, do you intend to prevent Ymy-san from making those preparations?”

“…………”

“Now, go back. We will not stay within the tower for long. We will be dropping by the orphanage as always tomorrow, right?”

“…………Understood.”

With a momentary sigh, Horn’s heel struck the floor. Without a word, she started to turn to leave──

“Horn, what do you do when turning your back on someone?”

“……I’ll be excusing myself.”

The Sennenshi spat that out like a curse and left. Viola watched her disappear towards the elevator with a stern expression and then exhaled in an adorable manner.

“Fuu. I’m sorry, Ymy-san. You two there as well, did Horn perhaps say something rude?”

“Eh……n-no! I-I-I-I’m fine!”

Monica denied it in a great fluster when the conversation suddenly turned to her.

“Is that so? If she did, tell me and I’ll have a word with her. ……Well then, I’ll be excusing myself because I have training in the tower to undergo for the first time in a long while.”

The third Priestess bowed deeply.

Watching her as she left with small steps befitting her short stature, Sheltis muttered with a sigh.

“They really are a contrasting pair of sisters.”

The older sister would fix whatever was complicated by the younger sister who didn’t trust people. The younger sister understood that as well so her older sister was the only one that she couldn’t oppose.

“……It’s been like that since long ago. Viola’s so wonderful and mature.”

Maybe she’d been really nervous. Ymy drooped her stiffened shoulders, placed a hand to her chest and took repeated deep breaths.

“Monica-senpai as well, are you okay? Suddenly having a gun pressed up to you.”

“Ahh……that really did surprise me but it’s not like I was actually shot.”

Rubbing her brow that had the gun pressed against it, Monica smiled wryly.

“By the way, Sheltis, why are you on the Priestess’ floor?”

“Ah……“

“ Oh boy. ”

Ilis Machine crystal and Ymy both exclaimed at the same time.

“Did something happen?”

“N-No, see. U-U─mm……see, you said it as well. There was something to report about the Governmental Sector mission.”

……There’s no way I could talk about the real matter.

He couldn’t say that he’d come to have his mateki purified. That he and Ymy were childhood friends……was a truth only known to a handful of people so it wasn’t something to be loose-lipped about.

“You too, Monica, what’s up?”

“Me? I……well, it’s about the same as yours.”

Oh, that’s unexpected. Just when I thought she’d answer concisely, her answer’s lacking the usual clarity.

“R-Rather than that, Ymy.”

“Yes?”

Ymy stared in wonder and inquired in response. Looking at her from the corner of her eyes, she who had been Ymy’s senpai when she was an apprentice Priestess cleared her throat for some reason.

“W-Well……during the meeting, I heard from Cadres Guard Ishtar that your training was taking an unusually long time. Y-You know? I used to be an apprentice Priestess as well so it caught my interest.”

“ Haha─n, I’ve figured it out. “

Ilis Machine crystal sparkled.

“ So the senpai who’s prone to worrying was worried about whether her cute kouhai was doing well and came to take a look. “

“Ohh, so that’s what it is, Monica. You’re good at looking after people as always.”

“Wha……! Y-You’re wrong, Sheltis! What I had to say was just an extra in the end.”

“ Again with that. Ah, your heart rate just shot up all at once? “

“Kuu!? But I──”

“Monica-senpai!”

Monica was trying to take a step backwards when she was caught by Ymy whose eyes were shining.

“Senpai, is that true? You were worried about me?”

“N-No……well……you know, it’s a given that a Guard worries about a Priestess.”

The unit leader was mumbling her words.

……Well, it looks like this will end without me needing to think up a reason for why Ymy and I are together.

Secretly relieved, Sheltis walked towards the elevator.

“ Sheltis, Eyriey and Yuto might be coming to play around now. “

“Ah, that’s right, we have to hurry. Well then, Monica, see you tomorrow.”

“Ah, h-hey, Sheltis, wait! I’m not done talking───!”

### 036. Part 7

The third Living District.

On Orbie Clar the floating continent , it was the section that boasted the largest area of those which were inhabitable. The first Living District had Sophia Tenketsu Palace at its center so the primary residents were Guards of the tower or clerks that worked there. The second Living District was a commercial area with many varieties of shops lined up. Compared with those, this was more of a quiet area with houses.

“It’s been a while since I walked down this road.”

The intersection was dyed with the brilliant yellow colors of autumn.

Laying here and there along the road were flower beds made with brick and even now, kindergarten children were enthusiastically tending to them.

“……Time flows differently here compared to the tower.”

The fragrance of the flowers made her want to stop without thinking. In that place.

Pressing down on her chest at the nostalgic scene that hadn’t changed one bit since she had been raised here, Horn smiled without realizing it.

“……I wonder if everyone’s doing well.”

In the third Living District, there was an orphanage near Minamitoori Park.

Children without relatives, children who had been entrusted to them by busy parents, children who could not open their hearts to the those around them in kindergarten or elementary school ── they were everywhere but this was a facility that gathered up those children who needed a helping hand. It was a place akin to her family’s residence.

“…………”

In response to her high spirits, her steps quickened.

Advancing straight through the intersection filled with summer breezes and immediately after cutting left at the corner with conspicuous giant fir trees lined up, a building whose special trait was its fully white triangular roof leapt into her line of sight.

“──That’s right. They’ll be frightened if I wear this.”

She put her hands behind her head and unfastened the tightly bound knot.

The blinder fell with a swishing sound.

“……On the other hand, it’s hard on me without this.”

She looked down at the blindfold that had fallen onto her palm and smiled wryly.

A blurred world.

The blinder, her palm, the surrounding trees, the building; everything had two images.

The territorial type shinryoku spell that the sisters, Horn and Viola, possessed inherently ── it was a side effect of the power called ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘.

That was the power to see just slightly into the future.

It made shooting after reading where the opponent would dodge to possible and could be called a Heavenly blessing for a gunner. However, at the same time, the fact that she couldn’t control it herself was a weakness. Because the world of the present she saw with her own eyes and the world of the future shown by ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘ would overlap and blur, if she continued to view both, her brain would be unable to keep up and she would experience dizziness.

……Since I was born.

……Because I’m different from nee-san.

Her older sister Viola had acquired the technique for controlling ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘ as she piled on training as an apprentice Priestess. For she who could not do that, she was still using this blinder. By blocking off the world seen by her eyes and viewing only the world of the future from ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘, she was somehow able to keep her brain’s fatigue to a minimum.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

She could feel some dizziness from just removing the blinder but she was meeting with the children again for the first time in a while.

Still holding onto the blindfold, she walked closer to the orphanage’s gate──

“Ah, nee-chan!”

“Ain’t this Horn-nee-chan, hasn’t it been so long!?”

The kids who were in front of the orphanage’s fence opened the gate in high spirits and ran over.

“Hey, hey, where did you go this time? Did you fight with a dragon again?”

“The same place as always. I didn’t fight with an earth dragon but I did find a wyvern nest. See, I came here with pictures of it.”

“Hey, hey, Horn-nee-chan! I baked cookies yesterday. I’ll share some with you.”

“Thank you, Nachez, but you worked hard to make these cookies so you should share them with everyone.”

Even in the time she was petting the girl’s head, kids appeared one after the other.

Children that tugged on her clothes and children that hopped up on her back. There were likely more than thirty of them altogether and each of them was running over with a full smile.

“Oh my, I was wondering who it was with all these joyful shouts.”

Following the multitude of children, an elderly woman walked over slowly from inside the building.

“It has been a while since we last talked, Matron. You seem well.”

Standing up, she bowed.

──If somebody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace saw this, they’d doubt their eyes.

A Sennenshi who held a top position in the tower and moreover, that Horn Nova, taking such a low profile and even coming into contact with somebody with a smile was a scene that not a single one had seen.

“To be honest, I was worried. I heard that the Yuugenshu invasion had also reached here. Was there any damage done?”

The day all those living upon Orbie Clar the floating continent feared.

The day Hyouketsu Kyoukai was broken and an unprecedented large-scale invasion was carried out by the Yuugenshu. She had heard that this orphanage had also been attacked and corroded by mateki.

“Of course we are all fine; we all evacuated to the shelters.”

“What about the mateki? Was the decaying okay?”

“……The decaying was horrible. The gate was broken and the interior was corroded by mateki to tatters. ……Just for that moment, I wondered if it was the end for this place.”

Perhaps she was remembering that time because the Matron’s expression turned rigid.

“……My apologies. Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s power was not enough.”

“It’s not your fault. And besides, now it’s back to as it was before. Hasn’t even the mateki been cleanly purified?”

The Matron of the orphanage’s reaction was slackened as she pointed with a cheerful gaze.

“Yes. It has been wonderfully purified.”

There would be traces leftover even after purification when corrosion occurred through powerful mateki. But no such traces were here in this park. The fence, gate and ground’s curses had been completely purified. The one who had performed the purification had done a good job.

“A good apprentice Priestess came here.”

“It was a Priestess.”

“A Priestess spent the entire night going around this area and purifying it. Even though she was so young, she passed the night without taking a break. She even talked to each of the children.”

“……Who was this?”

“It was Ymy-sama. I hear that she’s known as the Baptism Priestess and she certainly lived up to it.”

“…………Is that so.”

A bitter taste was mixed into her mouth.

“Oh my, what’s wrong?”

“…………It’s nothing; I was just thinking that I’m glad you’re all safe.”

“Of course, and that’s all thanks to you sisters as well.”

The Matron hugged the children clinging to her.

“This orphanage……we might not have been able to rebuild it without your assistance. I truly am thankful.”

“I am glad if we could repay even a single portion of our gratitude for your raising us. Nee-san and I are both pupils of this orphanage, after all.”

“Amazing─! Horn-nee-chan’s like a man!? Nee-chan, aren’t you actually a guy!?”

“……Do you want to get dropped from there, Ragna-kun?”

“Uwaa, i-it was just a little joke, nee-chan. Hey, hey, if I enter ‘ Sophia ‘ like nee-chan and work hard, can I become strong?”

“Yeah, definitely───”

“ Do you corner somebody dear to you with that tone too? “

An instant.

The words of the Cadet Guard that had criticized her at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ran through the back of her mind.

…………

……What was that? Why would I remember that at this time?

Even though normally she wouldn’t remember the words of a riffraff Cadet Guard like that, much less react to it.

“ Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is. “

“ I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain── “

……I see, that time.

It may have been because she had a similar conversation before that Cadet Guard said that to her. The conversation she had exchanged with the maintenance officer boy when she had entrusted him with the guns’ maintenance.

……What was my reply to Catria at that time?

“ Discard pointless thoughts. “

“ I don’t need unskilled people in my unit. If you’re going to subject yourself to techniques unsuited for your height, leave my unit before the end of today. “

“───”

“? Nee-chan, what’s wrong?”

“……No, I’m fine. Rather than that, you shouldn’t join Sophia Tenketsu Palace like me──”

“Ohh, that’s it! I also want to enter that biiig tower. Think I can do it? Can I also beat dragons and Yuugenshu going bang bang?”

“…………”

She couldn’t find words for the boy whose eyes were filled with hope as he asked.

“ Do you corner somebody dear to you with that tone too? “

……That’s different; this is……something like a child’s simplistic dream.

It’s different from awakening somebody who was already a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace to the truth. This and yesterday are completely different matters.

“Nee-chan?”

“……You can. If it’s you, then definitely, Ragna.”

The words she spoke were quiet and clumsy to the point of being hoarse.

…………How annoying, really annoying.

…………Why am I being disturbed by that Cadet Guard's few words like this?

Was it because it hit the mark? No, like I……can accept that. Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s bunch are all useless. They always can’t do anything without grouping up with somebody.

I am……nee-san and I are different.

Her family and comrades were only the children born and raised in this orphanage. Believing that, she had lived without relying on anybody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“……Horn?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing, Matron. ──That’s right, I brought souvenirs. In the second Living District, a former colleague is running an open-air cafe. It seems like the cakes there are somewhat famous. Over there.”

She pointed towards a large box sitting on the bench behind her.

“Oh my, I’m happy; we’ll eat it during snack time.”

“Okay. By the way……”

Just before she spoke, the transmissions device hidden at her chest vibrated. Mail? If it was a call, it’s set to vibrate more. If it’s this faint, then it’s probably mail.

“Excuse me, I think it’s probably from nee-sama.”

On the screen of the transmissions device was the brief label ‘ Tower ‘.

──A simultaneous transmission from the Guard Regulation Institute?……It can’t be an emergency response at this time.

“ Subjugation list match, in combat with the individual ‘ S Vector, Eighth Class ‘. “

When she first saw that name written there, she didn’t believe it.

Her sworn enemy she had spent many years searching for. It was the name of the one who had sent a child of the orphanage to the hospital. That it would appear with this timing of all times.

“……The Biotope’s S Vector?”

It couldn’t be called anything but ironic.

That was where that Yuugenshu had first been witnessed.

……It appeared just after I returned to the tower.

……Does it intend to ridicule me?

“Matron, my apologies but urgent business has come up so I will be excusing myself.”

“Is that so? It must be hard on you; you always patrol a troublesome place, don’t you?”

“For next time, let’s see. I’ll come to play when I find enough time to leisurely eat candy with everyone.”

Then Horn turned her back on her large family. She once again covered her vision with the blinder that had been hidden and looked only at the future world bestowed by ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘.

“──Together with Tessha.”

Towards the tower that stood out high in the sky.

Without turning back, the Sennenshi walked off in the direction of the tower.

### 037. Part 7

A mirror world.

A thin layer of water stuck to the surface of salt which spread out endlessly, making the great salt lake into a gigantic mirror of the world.

“……Amazing. Everyone’s faces are reflected on the ground.”

Kagura sighed while staring directly down. It must have been fairly curious as she had removed the machine helmet she had been wearing and looked around at the surroundings.

“It’s like the ground is a mirror. A mirror with enough clarity to see every strand of hair.”

“Even if it is a great salt lake, it seems it’s limited to after rainfall.”

Splash.

With the sound of a puddle of water splashing underfoot, Sheltis turned towards Kagura who was beside him.

“……The problem is that it’s just a little too bright.”

The ground underfoot was a mirror. Because the sunlight was reflected as-is, the reflected light was also strong. If they stayed in that place for a long time, it might hurt their eyes.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, I have a good idea. Sunglasses!”

“No. It doesn’t seem like they’d suit me.”

He responded bluntly to Ilis Machine crystal who was swaying at his chest and looked at the members walking ahead of him again.

Walking at the front was Horn with machine pistols in both hands. On her back was a long-range sniping rifle and reserve revolving machine pistols could be seen at her waist holsters.

A little bit away from her was Monica gripping her crossed rods and Vaiel with his iron fist protectors equipped. Kagura followed behind them with Sheltis walking more-or-less beside her.

“……It’s a little bit of an odd order in a certain way.”

A gunner coming up to the front went against the basics of formations but as this was concerning the Sennenshi, Horn Nova, this didn’t apply. She was a generalist that excelled in anything from long-range sniping to hand-to-hand combat. Her combat skills were high enough that she had been attributed as such.

And just before that.

“You are a curious individual.”

“Eh?”

She said it with a sigh.

Horn, who had been silent to this point, suddenly murmured with her gaze still fixed ahead.

“You seem to have been quite close with Scheele.”

“……Yeah. We were both apprentice Priestesses so she’s two years my junior.”

Monica nodded, knowing the line was directed at her.

“I had heard from ane-ue that apprentice Priestesses did not form friendships amongst themselves.”

“It is as Viola-sama said. It is well-known. In comparison with the handful of Priestess positions, there are ten times to a hundred times that number in apprentice Priestesses. The fact of the matter is that they are all competing against each other.”

Monica faced the back of the Sennenshi walking ahead and continued.

“Scheele and I are the same. I’m a busybody so I would look after my juniors’ troubles but that was an even more detested act. For Scheele as well, putting aside what it looked like on the surface, there would have been times she would be troubled by being in my care. Looking from her viewpoint, it would be like being pitied by an enemy.” [T/N: The original literally means “being sent salt by an enemy”. It’s when you assist your enemy when they’re suffering.]

“And in the middle of that, Scheele grew attached to you?”

“That’s……because I quit as an apprentice Priestess, I think.”

She spun together words plainly and without any personal feelings.

“Not being opponents has removed the fence in our hearts. We couldn’t do it as apprentice Priestesses but with the pros and cons relationship gone, Scheele can connect with me honestly.”

“That’s a pleasant irony.”

Horn who was walking ahead laughed.

“There’s no difference between Guards and apprentice Priestesses. The Elite Guards are also like that. They’re under the command of the Sennenshi but every single one of them is an ambitious person looking to get you while you’re not looking. ……Though they would be unreliable as subordinates if they weren’t at least that ambitious. It’s quite a dilemma.” [T/N: “get you while you’re not looking” is literally written as “cut your head off while you sleep”. That old assassination one.]

“……But competition like that is everywhere. If not for that, the quality of the Priestesses and Sennenshi could not be assured, so it is necessary.”

“Then those in your unit are also opponents for you.”

“…………”

Monica went silent at the Sennenshi’s words.

After a little while.

“……It is my goal to become a Sennenshi with all of my teammates.”

“So you’re putting up a front.”

The resolute girl’s voice and Horn’s half-surprised mutter were transmitted in that place.

“Cooperation, teamwork, collaboration. I’ve heard it put many ways but all the way until I became a Sennenshi, I have never experienced the meaning of those words. Apprentice Priestesses and Guards are cut from the same cloth. The bunch at Sophia Tenketsu Palace are all dead set on defeating their rivals.”

“Pardon me, but what of Viola-sama? She also has a history as a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Ane-ue is not in the category of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She is a family member of the orphanage, the same as me.”

Saying that, Horn kicked rock salt under her.

“Children without parents and children without friends. ……The children at the orphanage gathered from that and continue to cooperate and live on. Those children are much better than the bunch at the tower. ……Though for thinking like that, that Priestess branded me a ‘weakling‘.”

Crunch.

While watching the rock salt split under her feet, she continued on.

“I don’t place faith in the bunch at the tower and only treat the orphanage family specially. That Priestess doesn’t seem to be able to tolerate that. If that makes me a weakling, then that should make her a weakling Priestess for asserting she can purify mateki when she can’t.”

“…………”

……Wrong.

Whispering that within his heart, Sheltis clenched his fists without anyone’s notice───

“It looks like you want to say something?”

Immediately afterwards, Horn turned to him with a tone mixed with cynicism.

“It was the same a few days ago but I’ll at least praise your courage in not showing cowardice while facing me.”

The piercing gaze that was felt even if one did not wish to was turned towards the end of the formation.

“……You’re referring to me?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you glaring at me so openly? You look like you want to say something, so if you have a rebuttal then say it.”

A smile with provocation and inquisitiveness mixed in spread on her face seen from the side.

“What I……want to say most is”

Coming to a stop there, Sheltis forced out the voice he’d kept within his throat.

“that she is not a weakling.” [T/N: With this, it’s decided that I won’t be separating any sentences that are split like this into two. I might still do it for less obvious ones though.]

The land of shining salt.

The quiet and coldly transmitted sound waves.

“The Priestess named Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is……very strong. Stronger than you or me, I believe that she carries stronger feelings than anyone.”

“Your basis for that is?”

“The Priestesses’ purification room.”

It should have been conveyed to Horn the Sennenshi with those words.

“There’s no way you don’t know of the Priestesses’ purification room. As you requested the purification of a child named Tessha, you must have also entered Ymy’s purification room once.”

The fastening belts meant to restrain a patient who was thrashing out of control.

The blood stains left behind by Guards who had set into necrosis after being infected with a great deal of mateki were still vivid. Surely they had been unable to wipe it off no matter how hard they tried. In that ghastly place where blood had been spilled to that extent, Ymy fought with mateki alone.

She resisted the unease and loneliness to her utmost, alone.

“How much of a heavy pressure do you think it is for a girl of not even seventeen years to be called the ‘Priestess of Baptism‘ and have expectations of her from those of Orbie Clar the floating continent ? The Priestesses are relied on by the Guards and those in the Living Districts to be able to purify any mateki……she was persuaded that she is the last hope and that cornered her into extending the Priestess training which should normally not be lengthened.”

“──────”

“That’s not just for the child named Tessha. It’s not related to the Guards or the civilians in the Living Districts either; the Priestesses work hard for all those living upon Orbie Clar the floating continent . They absolutely will not slight others for reasons like they can’t trust them or that they’re useless.”

“……Let’s suppose that’s true.”

Slowly, Horn looked ahead and started walking again.

“Are you not denying that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses of the tower do not view the others as their comrades?”

“On that point as well, my view is different from yours.”

“How is it different?”

“It might be like Monica said earlier, that people cannot open their hearts to each other because of competition. But do you think they do that because they want to?”

It’s not just Ymy and Monica. The apprentice Priestess, Scheele, from just now was also a good example. They didn’t actually like that thorny relationship.

“If they don’t like it, it’s fine if they quit. It’s a simple matter.”

“──They can’t quit!”

Before he himself realized it, he had put strength into those words.

“……Despite undergoing harsh training and being unable to form friendships with those around, apprentice Priestesses still aim for something they want to achieve beyond those painful memories. I can’t understand what it is that you can’t accept about those from the tower who do their best.”

“──”

“You patrol the dangerous Biotope by your own will and continue to search for the Yuugenshu……honestly, you’re amazing. But Ymy is the same. While almost being crushed by the surrounding pressure, she does her best for the sake of those suffering from mateki. ……Even so…………why is someone like you who is doing her best to save a treasured child unable to acknowledge a Priestess who wishes to protect those important to her in the same way!”

Silence.

A nervous silence filled the land of salt which shined silver.

“That was quite the outstanding speech.”

With slow footsteps, the blinder-wearing Sennenshi turned to him again.

“And you’re a Cadet Guard? What are you preaching to me? Do you want to call me a weakling as well?”

“…………”

Horn’s tone was plainly provocative. Her gaze was sharp enough that it was clearly conveyed even through the blinder.

“──A waste of time.”

But.

Contrary to expectations, the one who looked away first was her.

…………That’s unexpected.

……So she won’t deny it.

Looking at her back from the end of the line, Sheltis narrowed his eyes slightly. Despite her biting response, she had the same reaction as the time with Ymy.

“But that’s wrong: you’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

“……And if so?”

Judging from Horn’s personality, there was no way that Ymy’s words would not have wounded her pride. At that time, Sheltis had been prepared for Horn to be enraged. However, Horn’s response had been sharp but she had not denied Ymy’s words in the end.

……It’s not that she didn’t deny them but that she couldn’t?

……Maybe Horn actually acknowledges Ymy at the bottom of her heart?

She knew of Ymy’s efforts as a Priestess and that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses serving as her subordinates were helping her.

However, Horn did not acknowledge those yet.

──Because she wants to save the child named Tessha.

Not a single Priestess could save the child who was part of the orphanage family. She couldn’t acknowledge Sophia Tenketsu Palace which placed those Priestesses at the top and there was no way she could acknowledge the subordinates of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……Even though, in actuality, they are two people who should be able to understand each other the most.

……Even though Ymy and Horn should be the two who most wish to save those afflicted with mateki.

“──”

However. No matter how much Sheltis stared at her, Horn’s wordless back was firm and her mind isolated from the outside.

“Yoo, by the way, how long are we gonna keep walking?”

Vaiel who had kept his mouth shut suddenly turned to Kagura.

“Wasn’t it said just a little while ago? Until we reach the center of the great salt lake.”

The girl pointed at the digital map displayed on the Machina Machine pearl .

“If we corner it up to there, the Yuugenshu won’t have a place to escape to. From the center for a radius of two kilometers, the Regular Guard unit has formed an enclosure.”

“They’re being really strict on the preparations.”

Vaiel kicked the rock salt at his feet and sent it flying. Looking at that from behind, Kagura turned to him and called out.

“By the way, I would like to ask you something. A little while ago, you said the great salt lake was ‘not very appealing‘.”

“Ah? Did I say something like that?”

“You can’t play dumb because the recording has been saved on this Machina Machine pearl .”

“……Damn it. So what do you want to ask?”

Being told that it was no use trying to fool her, Vaiel shrugged.

“This place is beautiful and unusual. However, the first thing you said was that it’s ‘not appealing‘; what do you mean? I remember something out of place.”

“Ah, I would also like to ask. Though I thought I’d ask afterwards.”

“……I can’t hear anything.”

The person in question turned his face away while keeping his arms crossed.

“Did I say that too fast? Then I’ll repeat it.”

“Not that, you idiot, I meant that it’s bothering me how quiet it is.”

Plop……He forcefully lifted his shoe which was submerged in water to the ankle.

“Look, there’s this much water. It’s enough to call it a salt lake so it must be a lake to begin with. Even so, there’s nothing here. Not a single fish is swimming in the water and there’s not a single bird flying in the sky if you look up. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“There’s just this much salt, you knooow. It would be hard for a living creature to survive.”

“I get that but somehow, I’m not used to it. It’s too quiet.”

Vaiel had his brows knitted as he tried to start walking again, but just before that, Kagura suddenly pulled on his sleeve.

“Whoa, what?”

“……Ah. No, you said it was ‘too quiet‘……but wasn’t there the cry of a cat just now?”

“A cat?”

“Yes. It was a cute cry that went ‘nya─o‘.”

She touched the sides of her ears that were poking out. Because the Nell folk lived in a snowy region of the Lagoon floating archipelago , they developed the hearing necessary to hear others in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Did you hear it, Sheltis?”

“No, but what about you Ilis?”

“I am the same. I’m not good at perceiving sounds. I’m this small crystal so my sound collection devices have a limit.”

……If Kagura said so, then I’d like to believe that it’s true.

……In that case, is the sky suspicious?

Without relaxing his wariness of the ground, Sheltis tilted his neck a little and looked overhead.

“There shouldn’t be any cats around this place so isn’t it just a bird like a seagull? That bird that goes nya─ nya─ for its cry. I’m pretty sure they lived around river mouths or tideland.”

“I wonder. ……I’m not sure because time has passed but, at any rate, it was a cat-like voice.”

Following him, Kagura and then Vaiel looked up at the sky.

“……Is it that?”

Monica suddenly pointed at a spot on the salt land.

A small black shadow. It wasn’t a shadow but a black body. Four thin legs and a roundish tail. Long and narrow pupils that shined golden.

“Nyaao……”

Its cute mew was like that of any black cat in the Living Districts.

“It appears to still be a kitten. Its gait is also premature.”

“It got lost all the way out here? Sheesh, the parents are probably looking for it.”

Monica and Kagura naturally leaked their feelings out at that appearance.

However.

Sheltis widened his eyes and glared at the black cat which had come right before their eyes.

……I was on guard.

……Just when and how did it manage to get this close?

The entire surface of the great salt lake shined silver. If there was something like a black cat in this world of just white, then he definitely should have noticed. Not just him, Horn Nova should have perceived it, of course.

“Nyaao……”

“Poor thing. I wonder if walking around has made it weak?”

The kitten tried to draw closer to Monica’s legs──

“Monica, get away from that!”

Everything was simultaneous.

Sheltis jumping out in front of Monica and.

“That’s supposed to be camouflage?”

Horn’s bullet piercing the kitten’s body.

“……!”

“Silence.”

The Sennenshi interrupted Monica who raised her voice reflexively.

“Take a good look. If you look at it, does it still appear to be a kitten?”

Fshhh ── though it was supposed to have received a fatal wound, ‘something‘ stood up without injury.

The eyes that should have been golden had turned into a reddish crimson at some point. Its body which should have been the size of a kitten was also expanding at an unpleasant rate.

“Unfortunately, my eyes are special; isn’t it unfortunate that you didn’t get in a surprise attack?”

Tap. Touching the side of her blinder with the gun barrel, Horn’s lips drew out a dangerous smile.

“……Viola-sama’s ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘?”

“As expected, a former apprentice Priestess would know. My eyes are the same as my older sister’s, with shinryoku to see the future ── I clearly saw the future in which that attacked you. What a cheap act.”

Confirming the world of the future a few seconds ahead, foreseeing the opponent’s movements and firing. One of the reasons that Horn Nova reigned at the summit of the gunners on the floating continent was this.

“Hereditary territory type shinryoku art. Syun-rei who’s also a Priestess possesses the power to ‘see the shape of others’ shinryoku‘ but my sister and I……well, ours is like a degraded version.”

Muttering almost to herself, Horn once again pointed her guns forwards.

“Now then, we’ve finally met. You’re the S vector, eighth class, right?”

What the Sennenshi declared that to could no longer possibly be called a kitten.

──Yuugenshu.

Its crimson eyes were filled with a clear hostility and its large body which was wrapped in a dark purple mist continued to swell. Its legs were originally four but they each split at the tip and became eight. Its roundish tail also distorted into an oval and wriggled almost like a snake.

“Sheltis, it’s that time’s……”

“I thought the same thing.”

It resembled the Yuugenshu they had found in the underground room when they accompanied Leon to the Lagoon floating archipelago . It had been sleeping within a water tank at first but that Yuugenshu had also become gigantic the instant it left the water tank.

……It’s really like it just came out of slumber and grew up.

In actuality, the Yuugenshu from that time was called the ‘Sleeping Child‘. And this ‘S vector, eighth class‘ also used mateki to assault its opponent and put them into a coma.

“Does it not resemble it?”

“…………”

Sheltis chose to remain silent in response to Monica’s question.

The image that formed a common point between the two Yuugenshu ── ‘sleep‘ and ‘awakening‘. Was that a secret connected to the truth of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song >?

“That’s enough talk.”

Horn’s voice flatly interrupted.

“Except for Monica, move away from me and spread out. This guy’s mateki is troublesome.”

A Yuugenshu which commanded mateki which even a Priestess could not heal.

……Other than me, if someone is bathed in it, they should sustain great damage regardless of the presence of formal wear.

A pincer attack with him moving in for close-range combat and Horn sniping would be more definite. But that was because of his secret that he could nullify mateki. It was not a plan he could use in front of Monica, Horn and Vaiel who did not know this.

“Do it.”

“──Roger.”

Gently, light wrapped around Monica’s surroundings as if jumping. The azure light indicative of the activation of a barrier type arts sparkled as they weaved layers.

Crunch……

In a moment, something broke underneath the Yuugenshu’s legs.

With the sound of something hard breaking, a black crack appeared in the pure white ground.

That crack spread in all directions from beneath the Yuugenshu in the blink of an eye.

“Wha……!?”

“It’s a gigantic crevice! Something like this was below the rock salt layer……everyone, retreat!”

“Following Ilis’ warning, they jumped back. Kagura and Vaiel who were at the end of the line also turned around and moved away from the crevice.

It can’t be.

“It didn’t run away but instead lured us to this crevice──”

“A trap!?”

Horn and Monica who had been the closest to the Yuugenshu would not make it in time with their flustered reactions. The ground below was breaking so they couldn’t jump or move back.

“Monica!”

“Shelt…………!”

With the voice that became a echo and was disappearing, the two fell along with the Yuugenshu into the crevice.

“……Tch!”

“Sheltis, you mustn’t!”

He was halted by Ilis Machine crystal before jumping into the crevice to follow the two.

……The hole is too deep.

He had no idea how it went underneath so it was too dangerous to jump in to follow those two right now.

“! Sheltis, a mateki reading detected to the front and right. Incoming!”

“A new one, huh!”

Cr……crunch……

Cracks sprung up one after another like a spider’s web in the vast rock salt. Those gradually expanded and from within the gaps overflowed deep purple mist.

“The leaders, Monica and Captain Horn, are underground and its allies are going to fight us here……we’ve been splendidly divided in strength. At any rate, it seems like we’ll have a basis for verifying the Yuugenshu’s intelligence after this. Even though in the past, it was said the Yuugenshu had no intelligence.”

Kagura smiled wryly, accompanied by the floating Machina Machine pearl .

“Though that’s if we return safely.”

Sheltis drew his dual swords from their holders and stared fixedly at the deep purple mist.

Crimson eyes rose up within the mist. One, two……three, four…………there might be many more still hiding underground.

“Connection successful. I have requested support from the unit who has set up camp at the coast.”

“Thanks.”

All directions. The mist beasts creeped up from the crevices around them to surround them. Each of them was a small one which took the form of a lion but it was troublesome because a Yuugenshu’s strength could not be judged from its appearance.

……Which ones are strong and which ones are weak?

……I don’t have time to think about that.

“Let’s go.”

Telling that to the two behind him, Sheltis ran along the silver ground.

### 038. Part 8

“……What’s this, it’s awfully noisy outside.”

Leon closed the book he was reading and stood up when he heard several voices coming from the hall.

This was floor 287 belonging to the Priestesses. A civilian wouldn’t be able to enter and it was unthinkable for a Guard to cause such a commotion on a Priestess’ floor.

So is the one causing this commotion Meimel? Or maybe it’s Ran?

After he contemplated for a little while at that spot.

“……I’ll leave it alone.”

Leon opened the book he was reading again and sat back down.

It was a usual thing for Ran to shriek because of Meimel’s pranks so he wouldn’t want to add himself to the mix. And above all, there was somebody who would be anxious if he were to move from this spot right now.

“───”

He looked down wordlessly at the table and there was a silent black-haired girl with her eyes shut in front of it.

……It’s about time for the barrier transfer ceremony for Syun-rei.

……She’s sure to be uneasy so I have to be by her side until then.

Normally, this would be the time when he would have a spar with somebody like Ran. Horn Nova had also returned to the tower after a long absence so he had wanted to spar with her but he had to hold back for a little while.

“…………Leon.”

“Mm?”

Silently gazing at her, the girl whose escort he worked as opened her eyes.

“…………I’ll make some tea. What do you want?”

In that case, I’ll do it ─── he had reflexively gone to say that but pushed it back down when he got to his throat.

“Something a little more fragrant.”

“…………Okay.”

She quietly headed to the kitchen.

……That’s right.

……She’ll be anxious if she’s not doing anything. There would be no meaning to it if I did it in her stead.

With a smile on his face that had hints of wryness in it, Leon watched the girl’s small back as she left.

### 039. Part 8

……Plop.

The droplet of water that dropped off the edge of a crystal made a small splash.

“Are you dead?”

“Please don’t just kill off people like that.”

Replying like that to the Sennenshi’s disinterested murmur, Monica slowly raised her body. Despite everywhere on her body hurting from the shock of the fall, it was fortunate that her injuries were only to that extent.

……Wheeew.

Mental fortitude. Isolating the pain signals running throughout her, she concentrated on her shinryoku spell.

[Sia Sec elis arc……Is io miel]

[That day’s dream, once more……for the sake of that.]

The release precedent.

The azure light indicative of barrier type arts spread out in a sphere around her with a radius of 10 metres. It lit everything within its area up equally.

“A crystal cavern?”

Crystals stuck out from the ground underfoot and the walls to the sides. Those reflected the shinryoku’s light and glittered in seven colors.

……To think that an underground world like this was below the great salt lake.

The crystals which far exceeded her height were sticking up all over; it felt like she had been thrown into a labyrinth made of crystal.

“It’s a long-awaited invitation but I don’t have any intention of keeping it company for long.”

Placing a hand to the blinder over her eyes, Horn forcefully tore it off. Her sharp, almond eyes were revealed. [T/N: Almond here referring to shape.]

“Your blindfold?”

“I will perceive the present world with my own eyes and the future world with ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘. It puts a burden on my mind and causes dizziness so I don’t like it but……this also raises my accuracy. There’s something more important than that.”

She lightly pressed the black gun tip against a crystal.

“Don’t get too close to the crystals; we don’t know which ones a Yuugenshu is hiding behind.”

“……Wouldn’t that be within the predictions of your ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘?”

“I can’t see that far ahead into the future. If I could, I would have been able to avoid that crevice from before too. ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘ is a power specifically for sniping.”

Her eyes were tinged emerald. Emerald was the color of shinryoku arts of the territory type so that had gathered and could be seen as her real eye color.

“Protect your own life.”

“Roger.”

……Where will they come from?

The handles of the crossed rods she held became sweaty. It was a trap conceived by the Yuugenshu to begin with, so it should know their location and be concealing itself nearby.

Silence.

The crystal world which spread out was filled with silence to the point that it hurt the ears.

……It’s been a while since I’ve felt this silent tension.

She couldn’t even wipe the sweat that went from her brow to the tip of her nose and to her lips. If she crumbled her stance for even an instant, she would be attacked from behind. It was that kind of deja vu feeling.

“You’re too roused up.”

“……My apologies. It’s nerves.”

“I’m praising you.”

Those were unexpected words of compliment unsuited to this Sennenshi called Horn.

“A Guard who does not know the strength of the Yuugenshu can’t be that cautious. It looks like you’ve piled on battle experience with Yuugenshu, including when you were an apprentice Priestess.”

“…………”

“I jumped to a hasty conclusion. I’ll take back the words I said to you at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It looks like you’ll be moderately useful.”

She put her two machine pistols back in their holders and walked towards the large crystal ahead of her.

“!? Captain Horn!”

No way, she sheathed her guns?

That defenselessly. And this from the person who said not to approach the crystals unprepared!? That’s like asking to be attacked.”

“I’m telling you to attack me already.”

The instant Horn’s monologue echoed throughout the underground.

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

A mysterious and heavy sound echoed through the crystal cavern.

Within the barrier of azure light, deep purple strands of light wove together into a strange pattern in the air.

“Mateki!?”

Crossing her crossed rods , she put together an opposing protective spell in her head.

However, the curse over her head did not fall regardless of how long she waited; it seemed to be getting sucked into the higher parts of the cave just like that.

Crick……

A dull sound came from the crystals jutting out of the ceiling. It wasn’t one, but two and three. Each of them was far taller than they were and extremely heavy.

“Jump backwards!”

Horn shouted.

At the same time, the giant crystals lined up overhead caved in. The landslide with crystals mixed in closed in from above with a violent, thunderous noise.

──It decayed the ceiling with mateki’s corrosion, huh!

“Gu……”

Dodging the dirt and sand, she deflected the crystal fragments with her crossed rods . Jumping to dodge the avalanche of earth and rocks that reached up to her knees, Monica jumped onto the nearby crystal──

“Nyaao……”

Shiver.

The cat-like cry came from directly behind her.

“Behind me!?”

What was before her when she turned around in a panic was a large black shadow. The mysterious beast with eight limbs upon its body which resembled a black leopard swooped down at her.

Its crimson eyes were filled with hostility.

“You’re in plain view.”

Those eyes were easily shot through with a silver bullet.

“!”

Even more silver bullets pierced the back of the beast which was turned. Continuing on, its eight legs which were planted on the ground were knocked out as a matter of course. With its balance destroyed, she aimed at its head and shot even more.

“The bullets with trajectories made with ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘ were, so to speak, unavoidable magic bullets.”

Horn’s gunfire didn’t cease.

The silver monad surface of the bullets had shinryoku carved into it and pierced the Yuugenshu’s mateki bullet by bullet, wearing it away.

“You cannot dodge my bullets no matter where you might run.”

A barrage filled its escape route and bullets broke its legs when it stopped. When it staggered, bouncing bullets pierced it from below. Even falling was not permitted. As if anticipating where it would fall ── no, it really was shooting done while seeing the future.

“……Amazing.”

Catching a glimpse of a battle which could be called one-sided, Monica even forgot to breathe in her surprise.

……I thought I knew but to think it was to this extent.

The Yuugenshu was not allowed to counterattack, much less run or even expand all its energy and fall. What made this possible was Horn’s sniping ability with her future sight granted by ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘.

……She’s holding one of those machine pistols which should require two hands in each hand and being that accurate while firing so quickly.

The physical strength required to handle those hefty guns and the lithe shoulder muscles to distribute the recoil from firing. And above all, the fearsome concentration and force of will which made it possible to do that super precise shooting.

Is there anybody with more skill than this Sennenshi in long-range combat? When she asked that question, Monica had no confidence she could reply.

……I’ll assist her. Like I can say that.

For example, Sheltis. His fighting style which challenged Yuugenshu to super close-range combat was filled with severity which dazzled onlookers’ eyes. But what about her? Being only one-sided, it could not even be called a battle and would end with that one-sidedness.

“This is the end.”

The Yuugenshu had its entire body pierced by bullets bestowed with shinryoku. The core crystal at its center was pierced by the final bullet. The mist beast fell over while crying its death agonies, having exhausted all its energy, and didn’t even twitch. Its body also grew faint and was dispersing.

“The S vector, eighth class was of this caliber, huh. This thing did that to Tessha……”

“Tessha?”

“……It’s nothing; let’s go. We’ll find and exit and escape.”

Putting back on her blinder, Horn turned around.

……

…………What?

It was then that Monica felt discomfort.

The Yuugenshu had certainly fallen and the crystal core within it had been pierced by Captain Horn’s bullet.

……But……I didn’t hear the sound of the crystal core shattering?

“No way.”

What lay before her as she hurriedly turned around was──

“Captain Horn!”

“Wha…………”

Horn turned her head only halfway over and gasped, stiffening her whole body.

“……I see. So its true body is just like mateki. If the entire body isn’t eliminated, it’ll immediately multiply and regenerate.”

The mist which should have been dispersing once again multiplied and solidified into the original beast shape.

“Nyaao……”

A cute cry ── she understood that wasn’t to have them let down their guards. That was truly a ‘coaxing voice‘. The monster which boasted overwhelming strength was sneering at the weak.

“Fine.”

The third Sennenshi once again tore off her blinder.

“I’ll keep you company until you lose the will to regenerate.”

### 040. Part 9

The silver smoke drifted up in a dense cloud.

It was not a darkish cloud of sand but sparkling particles of sand flying in the great salt lake air.

“Two approaching from behind.”

“Tch……”

He spun around, raising water splashes. Bringing his twin swords directly across, he blew away the two Yuugenshu attacking him from behind.

■ ■, ■ …… ■ ■, ■ ■ ■, …… ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

The swelling dark purple light swooped down.

Fshhh……immediately after, the spot he had just been standing at ── on the ground touched by mateki, the water had turned to mist and the rock salt had melted.

“Super high heat, huh; you two, be careful!”

“Roger.”

“……Gimme a break.”

The two’s voices came from where they were fighting a ways away.

“They seem to still be energetic; that’s a relief.”

“It would be troubling otherwise.”

Their responses were proof that the two were safe. Then in the time Kagura and Vaiel were devoted to defense, he would eliminate at least one of the many Yuugenshu. It would be best to wear down the enemy’s combat strength even a little before the reinforcement unit arrived.

……The best option would be to wipe them out but can we do that much?

“A new reading of three units has been detected to the north.”

“There’s an unusual amount of them.”

He had already defeated five of them but rather than their numbers decreasing, they were rather increasing. It was difficult to imagine this many breaking through the barrier at once.

“They most likely came in with that time Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated. You can think of them like the leftovers.”

“The ones that didn’t die and ran away, huh.”

He stabbed his right-hand sword into the salt and swung it up from that position. Giant rock salt pieces floated high in midair and fell towards the Yuugenshu directly below. Not wanting to be crushed by giant weights, the monster evaded.

There, it was cut down with a single flash.

“Increasing response from a unit to the right. Please crush it before the mateki activates.”

“You’re such a slave driver. Kagura, there’s a unit over there as well!”

He left the Yuugenshu that passed by him to the two and those two sprinted at the Yuugenshu they set their eyes on. Swinging down his sword before the mateki activated, it was interrupted.

“Hey, youuu, are you done yet!”

“Operating at depth five virtual territory . Charge completion before micro shinryoku overflow……setting Machina Machine pearl ’s internal carved seal to a thirty second limit ─── Release.”

Kagura threw Machina Machine pearl which she was holding into the air.

Machina Machine pearl which was wrapped in a faint green light split into innumerable pieces. Each of the parts which exceeded a hundred in number shined with the colors of crimson, emerald, gold, azure and pure white, accompanied by their own unique sounds.

“……What’s that?”

“Baptism, territory, barrier, worship. It’s all five of the shinryoku types ── ahh, I see. I gave her some advice before and this is her response.”

The five colors were mixed equally and bore a rainbow-colored radiance.

At the same time this blinding light which even surpassed the sun’s rays fell upon the Yuugenshu, Vaiel who was upon the ground moved.

“Now, hit them!”

“You only have to say it once.”

Closing the distance with a Yuugenshu who was drawing near, he sent it flying with by swinging his fist against the tip of its nose.

Piercing ── the fist which would normally be counterbalanced by a mateki barrier easily blew through the barrier and the body shrouded in mist.

“!?”

The mist beast let out a dying cry as it disappeared.

“……Hoo, I didn’t think it would actually pierce the barrier.”

“Fufun. How about it; isn’t it amazing?”

Kagura rubbed Machina Machine pearl which descended.

“I was informed that it is easier to pierce the Yuugenshu’s barrier not with a single high-powered shinryoku attack, but with multiple small ones. This was an application of that. It fires truly minute amounts of shinryoku out at a rate of several thousand per second over a wide range and erases the enemy’s barrier.”

“It’s simple for machines, huh?”

“Yes. However, even within Sophia Tenketsu Palace , this is still in a trial stage. I am the first one to be personally equipped with it. As for why it’s difficult, it is necessary to attach a large amount of shinryoku to a machine which is inorganic so an advanced carved seal is……mugyuu.”

“Ah─ that’s enough, it’s annoying to listen to. Let’s finish them off first.”

Pushing down roughly on the girl’s head, Vaiel forcefully stopped her from talking.

“A good decision and good support. Sheltis, please defeat them as quickly as possible. We should aim to clean up here even a moment quicker……and then confirm Monica’s safety.”

“Got it; you mean that crevice.”

The underground lake which had become the den of large carnivorous beasts. It could possibly be as hot as magma. Bottomless quicksand. At the bottom of such a crevice, he had no idea what the environment was like so it was ominous.

“On top of that is that Yuugenshu. That……has a high chance of being one of the old types from a thousand years ago. I also believe its intelligence level to be extremely high.”

“A thousand years ago?”

“Yes. They are far more powerful monsters than the current ones. You could say they are the perfect symbol of what Hyouketsu Kyoukai is meant to seal. It was most likely hiding here from before the barrier was erected.”

Ilis Machine crystal ’ words were permeated with an unusual nervousness.

“Let’s hurry. This is that serious of an opponent.”

### 041. Prologue – Return

Without even a name, deep within the sea of trees──

Large trees stood as if to prevent one’s path.

Their moss-covered trunks were solid like boulders and their tops were hidden by the leaves so they couldn’t be seen no matter how much one looked up.

……Plop.

A droplet fell off the edge of the bluish leaves. The drop of water that fell from far overhead──

“Cold!”

It fell on the brow of the woman walking directly below with a splash.

“Are you okay, ane-ue?”

“Yes……I was just a little surprised.”

The woman of small build took out a handkerchief and wiped her wet brow. She was wearing a cloak-like vestment but that was also hit by droplets and becoming moist.

“……Haa. It’s such a problem walking through the forest after it rains. My shoes are also mud-stained.”

“That’s because it was a squall. It was fortuitous that we could avoid the rain in the shadow of a large tree.”

The Guard that called the petite woman “ane-ue” accompanied her to the side. She was a woman but was tall enough for a man with a massive rifle shining dark grey on her back.

And most eye-catching ── she wore a blinder over both eyes.

“Shall we rest?”

“We mustn’t, Horn. Patrolling the Orbie Clar floating continent is also a Priestess’ job……well, even with that said,”

The petite woman in a cloak slackened her expression with a giggle.

“It can’t be helped even if I put up a front. The truth is I’m a little tired. Let’s patrol for another thirty minutes and then head back to the campgrounds.”

“──Roger.”

There was no appearance of weariness on the Guard named Horn. She was shouldering the rifle which should have been considerably heavy and she also had heavy pistols at each shoulder.

And the blinder covering both eyes.

Her vision should have been perfectly reduced to zero but that Guard was walking on the rain-dampened ground carelessly. She avoided the roots sticking out of the ground and the branches sticking out above.

──A bizarre scene.

For a person who knew where this sea of trees was, it would be clearer than seeing a fire just how reckless it was to walk through it with a blinder covering one’s eyes.

The Biotope.

It was an savage land that made up the edges of the floating continent, Orbie Clar. Undiscovered lifeforms and ecosystems were a given and there were large carnivores starting with dragons.

……A mysterious lifeform’s call came from somewhere.

It was unknown whether it was a bug, a bird or some beast. A multitude of calls from lifeforms were coming from within the great sea of trees and from outside it.

“Ane-ue, we’ve walked a considerable distance so shouldn’t you rehydrate?”

“It’s just a little more so I’ll bear it. Rather than drinking our canister’s water here, it’d taste better to have tea at the campgrounds.”

“Understood.”

──However, fear of the Biotope could not be seen from the two.

It was like they were walking through their own garden.

Excessive fear would cramp the body while excessive caution would invite doubt. That excessive fear and caution was the cause of fatal danger in the Biotope. It was precisely because they knew that.

“……”

“Ane-ue?”

The petite Priestess twitched for a moment and stopped moving. The Guard who noticed that instantly also came to a stop.

“Clairvoyance? Did you see something?”

“……No, it was telepathy. It was from the second Priestess, Meimel-san. She asked, ‘ Can you come back? ‘”

The Priestess smiled and shook her head.

“It’s a matter of ‘ We’d like you to help out with the business in the tower for the Priestess that we’re sending as a special envoy to the Governmental Sector. ‘”

“……If it’s from the patrolling groups, I think it would be better to speak with the first Priestess.”

“That’s true. But it’s Meimel-san we’re talking about here so there’s probably some deep thought behind it. At any rate, it’s an important matter so we can’t refuse.”

Right? ── the Priestess winked, to which the Guard made no response.

“…………”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about which Priestess was going to the Governmental Sector.”

The tall woman responded after a short while.

“It seems to be Ymy-san. Meimel-san is in charge of managing the tower in place of the Queen-sama and Syun-rei-san is……bashful so it would be difficult to negotiate with the Governmental Sector. It’s Ymy-san by process of elimination.”

“…………That sounds right.”

The Guard mixed a deep, deep sigh with her muddled words.

“Then let’s hurry back to the campgrounds. We’re going, Horn.”

“……Roger.”

The Priestess she was guarding turned around.

While staring at her back──

“Ymy……Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is going to the Governmental Sector?”

The blinder-wearing gun user.

The third Sennenshi faced the empty sky and whispered in an extremely tiny voice.

“You……a Priestess who can’t even save a single child is representing Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?”

### 042. Prologue: Return

## Prologue – Return

Without even a name, deep within the sea of trees──

Large trees stood as if to prevent one’s path.

Their moss-covered trunks were solid like boulders and their tops were hidden by the leaves so they couldn’t be seen no matter how much one looked up.

……Plop.

A droplet fell off the edge of the bluish leaves. The drop of water that fell from far overhead──

“Cold!”

It fell on the brow of the woman walking directly below with a splash.

“Are you okay, ane-ue?”

“Yes……I was just a little surprised.”

The woman of small build took out a handkerchief and wiped her wet brow. She was wearing a cloak-like vestment but that was also hit by droplets and becoming moist.

“……Haa. It’s such a problem walking through the forest after it rains. My shoes are also mud-stained.”

“That’s because it was a squall. It was fortuitous that we could avoid the rain in the shadow of a large tree.”

The Guard that called the petite woman “ane-ue” accompanied her to the side. She was a woman but was tall enough for a man with a massive rifle shining dark grey on her back.

And most eye-catching ── she wore a blinder over both eyes.

“Shall we rest?”

“We mustn’t, Horn. Patrolling the Orbie Clar floating continent is also a Priestess’ job……well, even with that said,”

The petite woman in a cloak slackened her expression with a giggle.

“It can’t be helped even if I put up a front. The truth is I’m a little tired. Let’s patrol for another thirty minutes and then head back to the campgrounds.”

“──Roger.”

There was no appearance of weariness on the Guard named Horn. She was shouldering the rifle which should have been considerably heavy and she also had heavy pistols at each shoulder.

And the blinder covering both eyes.

Her vision should have been perfectly reduced to zero but that Guard was walking on the rain-dampened ground carelessly. She avoided the roots sticking out of the ground and the branches sticking out above.

──A bizarre scene.

For a person who knew where this sea of trees was, it would be clearer than seeing a fire just how reckless it was to walk through it with a blinder covering one’s eyes.

The Biotope.

It was an savage land that made up the edges of the floating continent, Orbie Clar. Undiscovered lifeforms and ecosystems were a given and there were large carnivores starting with dragons.

……A mysterious lifeform’s call came from somewhere.

It was unknown whether it was a bug, a bird or some beast. A multitude of calls from lifeforms were coming from within the great sea of trees and from outside it.

“Ane-ue, we’ve walked a considerable distance so shouldn’t you rehydrate?”

“It’s just a little more so I’ll bear it. Rather than drinking our canister’s water here, it’d taste better to have tea at the campgrounds.”

“Understood.”

──However, fear of the Biotope could not be seen from the two.

It was like they were walking through their own garden.

Excessive fear would cramp the body while excessive caution would invite doubt. That excessive fear and caution was the cause of fatal danger in the Biotope. It was precisely because they knew that.

“……”

“Ane-ue?”

The petite Priestess twitched for a moment and stopped moving. The Guard who noticed that instantly also came to a stop.

“Clairvoyance? Did you see something?”

“……No, it was telepathy. It was from the second Priestess, Meimel-san. She asked, ‘ Can you come back? ‘”

The Priestess smiled and shook her head.

“It’s a matter of ‘ We’d like you to help out with the business in the tower for the Priestess that we’re sending as a special envoy to the Governmental Sector. ‘”

“……If it’s from the patrolling groups, I think it would be better to speak with the first Priestess.”

“That’s true. But it’s Meimel-san we’re talking about here so there’s probably some deep thought behind it. At any rate, it’s an important matter so we can’t refuse.”

Right? ── the Priestess winked, to which the Guard made no response.

“…………”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about which Priestess was going to the Governmental Sector.”

The tall woman responded after a short while.

“It seems to be Ymy-san. Meimel-san is in charge of managing the tower in place of the Queen-sama and Syun-rei-san is……bashful so it would be difficult to negotiate with the Governmental Sector. It’s Ymy-san by process of elimination.”

“…………That sounds right.”

The Guard mixed a deep, deep sigh with her muddled words.

“Then let’s hurry back to the campgrounds. We’re going, Horn.”

“……Roger.”

The Priestess she was guarding turned around.

While staring at her back──

“Ymy……Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is going to the Governmental Sector?”

The blinder-wearing gun user.

The third Sennenshi faced the empty sky and whispered in an extremely tiny voice.

“You……a Priestess who can’t even save a single child is representing Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?”

### 043. Chapter 1: Horn Brass Musical Instrument and Viola Stringed Instrument

### Part 1

“…………”

Mushrooms were piled up in a mountain on the cutting board.

From pure white mushrooms as thin as string, to bright red mushrooms that looked as solid as stone, spotted poisonous mushrooms that were uncannily moving and mushrooms that were currently in a balloon state and spouting spores.

“…………Muu.”

Sheltis glared down at that ominous mountain of mushrooms.

He had reddish brown frizzy hair, looks with some cherubic and impish qualities still present and a slimness that couldn’t quite be called slender.

“Which ones are poisonous and which ones are edible……”

He had taken off his favorite black jacket, and was wearing a striped apron over his shirt.

As for why he was sporting such an appearance, it was because he was currently in the kitchen. But even if he was in the kitchen, it didn’t mean that he’d be left with cooking duties and what he’d been handed was a guidebook instead of a knife.

“……I can’t see anything except poisonous mushrooms though.”

With the book labeled ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘ on its spine in one hand, he compared the images on the pages to the mushrooms on the cutting board.

For example, this spotted poisonous mushroom. The uncanny movement was a feature but this was written for it in the ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘.

‘ Compound color spotted poisonous shimeji

The red and yellow flecks are its trait. It moves about once every three seconds and you can see that this is a reaction to releasing spores. Do you understand?

Anyway, don’t eat this unless you’re reckless; actually, don’t even touch it. It’s a potent poisonous mushroom that will keep you from leaving the toilet for a week with bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. If you’re unlucky, your kidneys and liver will fail and you’ll die. ‘

“……For the time being, that means this one can’t be eaten.”

It was written not to touch it so the poison might be transferred from the skin too. He timidly tried to move it off the cutting board with the edge of the knife──

“ Ah, wait, Sheltis. I think it’s this one. The one on the left page. “

Ilis Machine crystal which was at the end of the pendant hanging at his chest was blinking.

“This?”

“ Yes, if it’s that one, then it’s edible. Why not consider it? “

“ Compound color spotted pseudo-shimeji

The red and yellow flecks are its trait. For movements, it moves about once every four seconds and doesn’t have spores. (It’s a pain so look at the right page.)

Unlike the mushroom on the right page, this one is edible, so you can boil or fry it or whatever you like. The difference with the poisonous mushroom to the right is in the movements. That one moves once every three seconds and this one moves once every four seconds. Distinguish that. ……Well, sometimes that one takes four seconds and this one takes three seconds, so just think of it as having bad luck and give up if that happens. You’ll be fine if you’re normally a good person. Pray. I also ingested poison because of this once. “

“How am I supposed to tell!?”

“ No, look, it says if you’re normally a good person then you’ll be fine even if you eat it── “

“No, no, no! Isn’t this guidebook completely worthless!? Rather, isn’t this sentence here non-explanatory? ‘ Pray, I also ingested poison because of this once ‘, isn’t this irresponsible!? Who’s the author…………Va……iel?”

He had to be seeing things. The name of the author on the guidebook was the same as the name of a man who belonged to the same unit.

……Come to think of it, Vaiel did seem to specialize in cooking.

Putting aside the two women of marriageable age, Monica and Kagura, he was the only one who could actually cook in their unit.

“Nah, it couldn’t be.”

Author introduction.

He became a best seller when he published an explanatory book on “Men’s Cooking” borne of living alone most of the time. Though sharp-tongued, his thorough and heated explanations are supported by an wide variety of readers. ……Lately, he was scouted by a unit of three kids in his main occupation as a Guard. What a paiiin.

“It’s Vaiel!?”

“ Isn’t that great; if it’s someone you know then we can trust what’s written. As expected of the unit’s head chef. “

“I wonder about that……”

As I thought, let’s avoid dangerous things. From the pile of mushrooms, he took the thin white mushroom and looked at the guidebook again. And──

“Hey, Sheltis, did you call me just now?”

The woman chopping rhythmically in the center of the kitchen looked over.

It was the store owner of the open-air cafe, ‘ Albireo ‘, located in the Second Living District. She was still young……most likely, she was in her early twenties yet managing this shop, and she was normal for her to be known as head chef in the store.

“Nope, not you, head chef. A different person.”

“Oh my, is that so? By the way, are you done with the preparations for the mushroom nabe I left you with?”

“Mm─, I’m still selecting the mushrooms.”

“My, my, it can’t be helped. Then I’ll handle this. You look after the nabe over there. Add some water if it looks like it’s about to boil over.”

“Okay, okay. ……This is how it’s like when I come back after a while.”

It’s almost been a full two months.

Just when he thought he’d returned to the place he’d lived and worked at until he re-entered Sophia Tenketsu Palace , she hadn’t said “welcome back” or “it’s been a while” and instead bluntly went “help with the cooking preparations”.

“It’s exactly because it’s been a while.”

She smiled spinning her knife skillfully.

“But it was great timing. I went hunting for mushrooms on the last holiday but because I took anything I could find, it’s hard to tell which ones are poisonous. If you hadn’t come, it would’ve been too much work so I would’ve just boiled it all and served it to the customers.”

“You’re brimming with the intent to kill with poison!?”

“It’s fine. I’d hire somebody to taste test for poison before that……about ten healthy ones.”

“It’s not fine at all: it’d be terrible for those people!”

……Ahh, I’m glad it was stopped before victims appeared.

……Actually, I don’t think this is something that would normally be considered at an open-air cafe.

“But there’s a ton. Did you gather these all by yourself?”

“Of course I went with Eyriey. We rode on her three-wheeled vehicle to the Biotope.”

“The Biotope? Eh, but that place”

The Orbie Clar floating continent could be largely split into three areas.

First, in the middle were the Living Districts that people inhabited.

On the outside of that was the Nature District. This area had nature preserved and was comparatively safe.

Further beyond that lay the Biotope ── it was a savage land with vast nature that hadn’t been touched by humans and which extended to the edges of the Orbie Clar floating continent . The chances of encountering wild dragons and large carnivores and, above all, Yuugenshu was high in this area.

“There are swarms of wild carnivores……”

“Yes, it’s been a long time since I enjoyed such a full-out thrill. An earth dragon, a fire-breathing bird and a ten metre-long super poisonous centipede. I recalled the past without trying to.”

“Head chef, who are you?”

“You sure say some strange things; aren’t I just the owner of an open-air cafe?”

Chop, chop chop chop chop chop. She precisely sliced the vegetables thinly with the knife in a reversed grip.

……It’s strange when she holds the knife in reverse. It’s exactly like when I hold my dual blades.

“Ah, and Sheltis. Was Meimel doing well?”

“Meimel?”

“Yes, there should be a Priestess in Sophia Tenketsu Palace by that name. You’re a Guard of Sophia Tenketsu Palace so I was wondering if you already met her. Come now, it’s that Priestess that loves to tease. No matter how busy she is, she’ll drink a day’s worth of vegetable juice and won’t go without an hour of calisthenics.”

“I’ve met her but……wait, wh-what’s with that suggestive information! Hey, why does an open-air cafe shopkeeper know about a Priestess’ private life!?”

“Eh? This is obvious──”

The head chef said up to there and then shut her mouth and crossed her arms in thought.

“……Let’s talk about this some other day.”

“Uwaa, suddenly acting like it’s none of my business!”

The second Priestess, Meimel, and the head chef.

……I’m curious but also kind of scared to find out.

He wanted to know but would avoid getting in deep. Somehow feeling something cold down his back, Sheltis gave up on pursuing the matter further.

“By the way, where’s Eyriey who went to the Biotope with you?”

“She’s shopping at a market on the outskirts. But she’s late. It’s been an hour since I asked her so it wouldn’t be strange for her to return any minute now.”

The head chef frowned with a puzzled expression.

“Maybe she’s loitering around again.”

“No─pe, I wasn’t. There was just an unusual arrest so I went to take a look.”

The shop’s back door opened slowly revealing a girl holding paper bags with both arms.

“I’m back! Oh, Sheltis, you should’ve said you were coming back ahead of time. You were in the Governmental Sector until the day before yesterday, right?”

Eyriey put the paper bags down on the kitchen counter.

She had unkempt orange hair and not a shred of make-up. Her favorite clothes were oil-stained overalls which had none of the showiness of a sixteen year old.

“Yeah, we put together the report after returning yesterday and finally got to take a break this morning. That’s why I wondered if I could go outside during that time. There’s another meeting in the evening though.”

“Heh─, a meeting? Then maybe Yuto and I will come play too.”

“……I wonder how the topic just now made you think of coming to play.”

“We’ll wait patiently in your room while you’re at the meeting. Let’s play after the meeting ends? Okay? Yuto also said she wanted to visit Shel-nii.”

“If I get the time then.”

“‘Kay─! Then let’s finish today’s job in a flash. It’s just inspecting the errand bike’s engine so it should take just a few minutes──”

“Would you wait, Eyriey?”

The head chef quickly caught by the neck the girl who was about to run out the back door again.

“It’s fine if you’re going to do your job but isn’t there something to report before that? It looks like your shopping took a while. What’s this you were saying about looking at something?”

“Ah, I was interested in that too.”

An unusual arrest she’d said, but what did that mean?

“Right, right, I thought you’d say that.”

Eyriey tapped her fist to her palm while still being held by the neck.

“At the plaza a little while ago, I saw a purse snatching. The thief aimed for an elderly’s purse and ran away after snatching it.”

“Oh my, that’s unusual. A thievery.”

While looking sideways over at how the boiling nabe was doing, the head chef rolled her eyes in surprise.

Although a light crime, it was rare for thievery like that to happen in the Living Districts where public order was good. There were reporting devices installed in places and everyone knew that the criminal’s face would show up plain as day on the observation cameras.

“Since it was an arrest, of course it was a security officer who caught him.”

“I saw a stranger scene than that, head chef!”

Eyriey clenched her fist with an excited tone of voice.

“The criminal who stole a purse at the plaza and ran away! Ahh, what is the fate of the obaa-san’s purse!? ── or so I thought, then an onee-san came from the intersection on the other side with a huge rifle and when I was wondering what she’d do, she pointed the gun at the criminal and ‘ bang! ‘.”

“She shot?”

“It was a rubber bullet for suppression though. Yeahhh, it was surprising. Since the security officers in town carry stun guns, right? She had such a heavy rifle! Her outfit wasn’t the blue one security officers wear either, but some kind of dark camouflage suit.”

“ Eyriey, I have a feeling that wasn’t a security officer. According to my information, rifles aren’t on the list of large guns carried by security officers. “

“Ah, so it really isn’t? But it was amazing! That onee-san held that rifle in one hand and shot the criminal from within the midday crowd in the plaza. Even though she’d hit a civilian if she missed…………she really nailed him.”

“Of course she would. I think she’d hit him even if she shot a hundred times.”

“ She’d hit him. “

“Yeah? Sheltis and Ilis, what’s up, you know her?”

“Eyriey, that was probably a Guard and not a security officer. And a ridiculously famous one.”

Exceptional physical strength that made it possible to one-hand a two-handed rifle. That and the courage to shoot within a crowd without hesitation were the makings of a sniper.

Above all else──

“ Say, Eyriey, was that woman wearing a strange blindfold? “

“She was, she was! Shooting a rifle with both eyes covered, that’s so amazing!……so who is that person?”

……The sniper with a blinder.

……So she has returned to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“I think even you’ve heard at least her name. Come on, think of who would be the most famous sisters on the Orbie Clar floating continent ”

“ Horn Nova ── she is the little sister of the third Priestess, Viola Nova, and holds the position of the third Sennenshi, Ex Machina. She is the representative master shooter of the Orbie Clar floating continent and the user of the ‘ Magic Bullet ‘. “

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace aboveground, the gate restricted to personnel.

“It’s rare for somebody to go outside.”

In the seat for security that would check badges should be sitting, a person he knew was sitting there for some reason.

“……Kagura as well, what are you doing?”

“Receptionist parttime work. Come on, show me your badge.”

The girl with the machine helmet worn low over her eyes replied nonchalantly. She was a Cadet Guard in the same unit as Sheltis and computer specialist at the same time.

“This parttime job fits my preferences; to be able to do my hobby and make money at the same time is a dream job.”

“Umm, you mean observing people?”

“That’s almost correct. I’m taking a sample of when people enter or exit the tower. It’s interesting obtaining the movement patterns of unexpected people.”

Kagura was of the demi-human race, the ‘ Nell people ‘. Their special trait was the ears that poked out on the sides, they were inherently strong in the fields of mathematics and statistics and were also very wary. Kagura’s hobby of observing people was probably also derived from that.

“By the way, did you go out to the Albireo Two Swans ?”

“You know it?”

“It’s where my rival works so it’s obviously within the realm of expectation.”

She nodded smoothly.

“But you came at a good time; the unit captain was looking for you. Even though there’s a meeting in the evening, you were nowhere to be found. Vaiel’s cooped up in his room so we were wondering just what the men in our group were doing──”

“Vaiel’s in his room? That’s rare.”

It was his daily routine to be hard at work having a nap on the bench at the training grounds.

“Yes, he said he was busy writing something. ‘ After mushrooms……maybe wild grasses? ‘ he said, though I don’t know what it means.”

“……It’s coming, the continuation of the ‘ Mushroom Encyclopedia ‘.”

“Do you know something about it?”

“Nope. Rather than that, the meeting’s pretty soon so aren’t you going to have a problem doing your parttime job here──”

“No need to worry. ……4…………3…………2……1…………okay, now my parttime job is done.”

Kagura jumped off the security chair.

Looking sidelong at her standing beside him, Sheltis turned towards the tower gates.

“I wonder if today’s meeting will take long.”

“……The topic being what it is, I wonder.”

Still facing straight forward, she shrugged a little.

The Governmental Sector which was based in the Lagoon floating archipelago which lay far from the floating continent, Orbie Clar.

Having gone on an expeditionary mission there as an escort, they’d only returned to the Orbie Clar floating continent the day before yesterday. They’d taken the entirety of yesterday to put together the report for that and today was the meeting about that report.

“Apparently our personal reports will go first and Cadres Guard Ishtar will make a final summary report. That’s what today’s hearing is for. After that, they’ll confirm our information on ‘ them ‘ whom we confronted. It looks like Priestess Ymy will also be attending.”

Maha Golden .

Igun-I Blank .

The third organization that those two they’d met with belonged to.

“It’s just that important of a matter.”

It definitely wouldn’t be a short meeting.

The meeting would……no, the response for beyond that would take long.

“The meeting room is on floor 268. I think Cadres Guard Ishtar is waiting, so let’s go.”

Whispering that like a monologue, the machine helmet-wearing girl tightened her lips.

### Part 3

“Ummm, then I’ll continue Kagura-san’s report. I wonder if Kagura-san’s report is really basic? You might have written too much plain fact and lack your own considerations. The complete opposite of Vaiel-kun’s report─”

At the seat of honor for the table in the meeting room, the golden-haired woman with a report in one hand shifted her knees.

Cadres Guard Ishtar. She was a spear user who had went on the expedition to the Governmental Sector as the Priestess’ escort.

“Now then, Monica-san’s is……yup, well written! It’s really fitting for the unit leader!”

“I-I’m honored!”

Sitting in the seat opposite Ishtar, Monica bowed many times in embarrassment.

She was dazzling with her light sakura-colored long hair and looks. She had once studied shinryoku spells as an apprentice Priestess but she was now the wielder of the Rosario crossed rods who led Sheltis’ unit.

“Okay, then that’s the end of the mandatory hearing. Ah─ so tireeed. I wanna see I’sa-chan’s faceee. I haven’t seen her for five hours now.”

Ishtar sighed after closing the file with the reports.

“……Then shall we enter the topic that everybody’s been waiting for? That pair of two.”

The meeting room became silent again.

Monica and Kagura’s shoulders stiffened at the same time and even Vaiel who’d been resting his head on his hands looked up with a tiresome expression.

“There was a pair of two that attacked the Governmental Sector’s office building head-on during the last day of the conference. It’s pretty much exactly how it was written in everybody’s reports. It actually became a big fight so that’s a given though.”

That’s right.

This was a report meeting in name but this was today’s true topic ── the summarizing of information related to the mysterious two who had attacked the Governmental Sector.

“Just Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank ? The organization those two belong to is still unknown. It looks like the chances of there being a third organization unrelated to the Governmental Sector really is high……and what Ishtar wants to ask is this next part. Ishtar fought Maha Golden and Monica-san’s group fought Maha Golden ’s clones. After that……”

“Is it about me?”

Being pierced with Ishtar’s deeply meaningful gaze, Sheltis corrected his posture.

“Yup, yup. You chased after Igun-I Blank . It’s fine no matter how small the detail. Could you tell us any hint, conversation or some kind of proof that you saw or heard without leaving anything out?”

“Ah, but…………”

You first ── being looked at by Ishtar’s smiling face, Sheltis lowered his voice and muddled his words.

“Mm? What’s up?”

Head propped up on her hands, the Cadres Guard instead urged him for his response with an expression that said she was enjoying this.

“An important person hasn’t come to the meeting room.”

“Ymy-sama, you mean?”

He wordlessly nodded at Ishtar’s reply.

They would have the Priestess also join them and listen in on the matter concerning Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank that would unfold starting now. Time-wise, it wouldn’t be strange for Ymy to have shown up, but she hadn’t yet.

“Shall we wait?”

“Mm─. No, we’ll receive contact from her when she’s coming. Ymy-sama had training until just before this meeting so once she’s done with that, she’ll meet up with us. Isn’t it just that her training’s running late?”

The Cadres Guard had a carefree tone.

But.

“……That’s odd.”

Monica, who’d been silent until then, spoke seriously.

“I’m sure that Ishtar-sama is also aware but Priestess training is extremely harsh. Because it’s harsh, strict adherence to the time is basic.”

If the training went longer, there was the possibility of causing grave damage to the Priestess’ mind and body. That was why there was always an exclusive doctor monitoring the Priestess’ condition.

“Ohhh, is that so? Ishtar doesn’t really know about those things.”

Ishtar raised a brow while still leaning on her hands.

“But you know, Monica-san, if her training isn’t running late, then do you have any idea of what else is keeping her?”

“……If you say that, I don’t really have any.”

“Then it’s fine. It’s a waste of time so we’ll just continue on like this. Ishtar will inform Ymy-sama. It’s fine if she makes it before the meeting ends. Are you okay with that too?”

Being looked at head-on, Sheltis was at a loss for words for a moment.

……I have no reason to refuse.

The fifth Priestess, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole ── in reality, Sheltis and she were childhood friends before entering Sophia Tenketsu Palace . However, that was a private secret so he obviously had no intent of asserting it at a public meeting like this.

“It’s fine.”

“Good decision. Then the continuation ── wait, where’d we stop? I forgot so I’ll ask you again.”

“Eh?”

“I mean, while Ishtar was fighting Maha Golden , you chased after Igun-I Blank . Did you see or hear anything that would serve as a clue during that time?”

“……Though you said that, that’s exactly where the conversation was.”

Immediately after Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank retreated, everybody including Ymy was diagnosed by a doctor starting with the heavily injured Monica. During that time, he’d talked with Ishtar for around an hour and covered all the major points.

The joint struggle with Zeadoll of the Governmental Sector’s secret military unit ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘.

About how the man named Igun-I Blank had a completely black appearance, and how he’d activated some kind of power of ‘ Mikuva’s Crimson Eye ‘ and summoned a Yuugenshu and mechanical weapon.

And the most uncanny thing above all…………

“Ahh, that’s right, was Igun-I Blank somebody you know?”

With Ishtar’s words.

He felt all the stares in the room pierce him.

“Umm……I don’t know him; he just said that on his own. I feel like I said the same thing when I first reported this though.”

“Is that so? Sorry─, Ishtar’s memory is bad.”

Of course, she probably knew and did that on purpose. With a mocking smile upon her lips, the person herself had no sense of shyness, still propped up on her hands.

“……Sheltis, about what the Cadres Guard said.”

“That’s the truth. I’ll repeat myself: I don’t know Igun-I Blank ; he just said that stuff on his own.”

With Monica double-checking, he shook his head from side to side slowly to convey his answer.

……That’s right. I shouldn’t know him.

I haven’t met him. That should be it but──

“ You know me. Ahh, that’s great. I’m really happy. “

“ That’s fine. It’s fine if you don’t know. It’s fine if you feel it even if you don’t know. Hey, Sheltis, ‘ Nice to meet you. ‘ and ‘ It’s been a while. ‘. I’ve been eagerly waiting the time we would meet in this world. “

The throb I felt at that time……

That ── which made the inside of my chest run wild ── what was that strange unease?

“We can think of it as a diversion.”

Kagura said that while holding the Machina machine pearl .

“In reality……that thing called the Governmental Sector’s treasure, I believe it was, after coming into contact with that, they escaped from the Governmental Sector’s territory, right? They might be experienced with those kinds of tactics.”

“Moron.”

The one who answered faster than anyone else was Vaiel who was suppressing a yawn.

“At that time, that Zea-whatshisface hardened mercenary guy from the Governmental Sector was also there. In that case, there’s no point in just causing one side to waver. This is why you’re a brat.”

“Wha, y-you don’t know that!? What made you think that ── hey, are you listening! Hey, listen!?”

Kagura was talking on and on quickly and Vaiel was treating it as bothersome. ……Unexpectedly, Ishtar turned to him with a sigh while looking at those two from the corners of her eyes.

“Well, whatever. Then that means you have no new information?”

“……I’ll tell you if there’s anything.”

“You do that. Then next is Monica-san beside you──”

Ten minutes after that.

With nobody producing any worthwhile information, the meeting came to an end.

“Mm─……no worthwhile information. Well, it can’t be helped so let’s stop here.”

Slipping the folder with the reports under her arm, Ishtar stood up first. Next was Vaiel, Kagura and Monica.

“ Come on, Sheltis. “

“Ah, yeah.”

Being urged by Ilis machine crystal , Sheltis also timidly left the room.

“Ah, that’s right.”

──Tap.

Ishtar tapped the handle of the long spear she was carrying against the floor while standing in front of the automated door.

“The Lords of Unusual Books.”

“……Eh?”

“Ishtar will share one more piece of information with you. When she was fighting at the Governmental Sector, Maha Golden declared that name. He said he was the third of the Lords of Unusual Books. That’s probably what they call themselves but what Ishtar wants to tell you is something different from that common name. Have any questions or do you understand?”

If he was the third, then there were at least a second and first.

And they had no idea how many more there were from fourth onwards.

“We don’t know how many members there are to the Lords of Unusual Books and we don’t know where they’re hiding. The chance that they’re hiding somebody equal to or stronger than Maha Golden here in Sophia Tenketsu Palace isn’t zero either. Taking a stroll around the tower in the middle of the night alone is like asking to be attacked.”

Shiver.

Maybe it was the heavy pressure of fear but something unseen filled the room.

“You four have become involved with the Lords of Unusual Books and it’s a given to think that they’ve seen your faces. If they’re planning to eliminate the witnesses──”

If somebody were being targeted ahead of anybody else in Sophia Tenketsu Palace , then the target of the attack would naturally become one of them.

“……Well, I think that possibility’s low though.”

Ishtar smiled faintly after discerning his nervousness.

“If they were the types to eliminate witnesses, they wouldn’t attack the Governmental Sector at high noon. There are like a hundred witnesses in the Governmental Sector too.”

……That’s true.

At Ishtar’s warning, that was the foremost feeling that Sheltis had. But he didn’t go as far as to voice it. In any case, the goal and everything else of the Lords of Unusual Books was unknown. They should be more cautious just to be cautious.

“It’s better to keep it in mind. You’ll become stronger if you don’t like being afraid. That’s what Ishtar wants to say. See ya〰”

The Cadres Guard left with a wink.

“Jeez, that’s not appealing at all.”

“Agreed.”

Vaiel let out a gloomy sigh and strangely, Monica was of the same opinion.

“ It makes you wonder. “

“About Maha Golden ?”

“ There’s that too but it’s something else. Something closer to you. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked and continued on in a suggestive tone.

“ Ymy never did come in the end. “

### Part 4

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , Floor 287.

Continuing down the deserted corridor wrapped in gentle light, just as she was about to reach the intersection.

“Oh my, how rare for you to come to the Priestess’ floor.”

“Hello, Meimel-sama. I’m just looking for someone─”

Being called to by a calm woman’s voice, Ishtar turned around.

Meimel in Carnation ── the second Priestess who specialized in barrier spells. Amongst the women, Ishtar herself ranked in the tall category but the woman before her was also indomitably tall. She had beautiful eyes, dazzling, long jade hair and an impressive vestment like a dress.

“Meimel-sama as well, isn’t your room one floor up?”

“Yes, I had something to talk with Ymy about but, unfortunately, she hasn’t returned so I was just heading back.”

……Fuun.

……She hasn’t returned.

“Why are you here? Or it looks like you were actually looking for Ymy too.”

“That’s iiit. Ishtar actually had a date planned with Ymy but she was stood up at the last moment. She came to check if she was busy with something else.”

“Oh my.”

The Priestess folded her arms below her chest and a sigh leaked from her glossy lips.

“What a troubling child. To have immersed herself in training to the point of forgetting the meeting.”

“Fumu, fumu, so it really was training. It also became a topic at the meeting but are the Priestesses strict with time when training?”

“Yes. But Ymy’s a little problematic. I was consulted by the medical specialist not too long ago. ‘Ymy-sama wishes to extend the training but I wonder if it’s alright.’”

……Ymy-sama does?

……Now then, I wonder what the circumstances are.

“Has there been anything like this until now?”

“Periodically. Truly a troubling child……even though raising the difficulty of the training will just burden her mind and body. It’s worrisome.”

“Shall I go stop her training? You have a report for her as well.”

“Thanks. But it’s fine because I already asked somebody else suited for the job. You’ll understand if I say it’s the third Priestess.”

“Viola-sama, huh. I heard she returned with her little sister, Horn-chan. I think it’s been several months since those sisters have come back?”

“Right. But that’s──”

The third Priestess.

The Priestess, who could be compared to the first who was on an expedition and the Queen who continued to pray for the barrier, had a rare shadow cloud her expression.

“That really makes Ymy suffer, especially the existence of the Sennenshi, Horn Nova.”

### Part 5

……Drip.

A very tiny splash plopped.

The deep blue block of ice that spread as far as the eye could see.

Bluer than the emerald green of the sea at a shoal, more vivid and translucent than the ultramarine of the deep sea. The faint white mixed in was countless bubbles that had been sealed in the ice as they were.

……Drip.

The room of ice that even stagnated the flow of time. Within the room that was so large that its far walls were blurry, the sound of ice water droplets hitting the icy surface echoed.

A world of ice.

Several dozens of degrees below zero, a temperature that would halt an organism’s time. No special devices were necessary as the temperature was supported solely by the azure ice filling this room.

“ Four hours have elapsed since the establishment of the barrier. Owing to this, the training will now end.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, thank you for your hard work. “

The operator’s voice came from the broadcasting device attached to the ceiling. The clerk had the qualifications of a doctor and was also well-versed in the operation of the special device used in Priestess training.

……Crish……Pish…………Fsh……

The azure ice filling the room cracked.

What began as a crack line gradually grew and went from the surface of the ice to the center ── in an instant, the gigantic azure ice, which was how many thousands of metres across and had incomparable weight, broke apart and scattered.

──Drip.

The puddle on the ground reflected the outline of the girl who was without a stitch of cloth.

“…………Fuu.”

She spread her hands and took a deep breath. No matter what, she’d just spent forty hours frozen in a state of apparent death. Because even her breathing was stopped while frozen, she had to consciously breathe at a fixed rhythm like this or she would end up asphyxiated or possibly breathe too much and hyperventilate.

“So…………so………………so cooooooooooooold!!”

Hugging her dripping wet shoulders, Ymy yelled out.

“C-cold……actually, this hurts!……My body’s gonna burst!?”

The barrier of ice constructed with shinryoku. It was fine because her senses were paralyzed while in her state of apparent death but when they returned, the cold would pass the point of being “cold” and attack her as intense pain.

“Haa………………ouch!?……”

She bit down on her purple lips over and over and over again.

Her hands that were wrapped around her shoulders had their nails digging into the skin enough to draw blood. She was in a state where she had to do that to bear the agony and spend a little while just breathing.

“ Ymy-sama. “

“…………I’m fine.”

Crouched in the puddle of water on the floor, Ymy just barely managed to lift her head.

“ Good work. The changing room out the door has been heated and there is hot water prepared in the pot on the table so please take it easy. “

“…………”

“ ……Ymy-sama? “

Trepidation entered the operator’s voice from the girl’s silence.

“It’s already been eight hours.”

“ Eh? “

“It’s already been eight hours……let me continue on like this.”

The sound of the operator gasping was transmitted through the broadcast device.

“ Th-that’s……are you insane! “

The operator’s reaction was correct. It wasn’t ‘ Are you serious? ‘. What Ymy wanted was something that would elicit doubt for her sanity from somebody who knew the harshness of Priestess training.

“ You have already extended your training four hours past the regulation thirty six hours. It’s already been forty hours total. And you……want to add another eight hours to that!? “

“It’s not enough yet.”

“ Not……not enough──!? “

Ymy stared at the ceiling and nodded in response to the shrill voice of the female operator.

……Yes, it’s not enough.

……More and more until my limit. I want to reach more and more into the beyond of the beyond.

“ But if you go any further than this, your life or at least your mental health will be in danger. “

“That’s fine; I want to do the next one right up to the limit.”

This time──

Ymy’s answer rendered the operator speechless.

“Please let me continue just a little longer.”

……It’s no good at the current pace.

Nothing will change from what that person said if I keep going through the same training.

“ Only you haven’t changed one bit since three years ago. “

Those words had been stabbed into her at the Grand Holy Hall by the woman who named herself as Tsali.

Three years ago ── since the time Sheltis had fallen to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , no matter how hard she thought she had worked, she’d been told that nothing had changed about her.

“ You’re doing your best as a Priestess? You’ve worked hard and grown? Those are illusions and that training that you throw your body into is also a phantom. A phantom with no corporeal body. “

“ Change. There is absolutely no opportunity to make your shinryoku bloom. “

……An opportunity.

She didn’t know whether pushing herself to the limit in the Priestesses’ harsh training would become that opportunity. But she couldn’t do nothing. As long as she held the title of Priestess, she couldn’t allow herself to be overpowered by Yuugenshu.

……The world a thousand years ago and the Yuugenshu a thousand years ago.

……I was overpowered by the Yuugenshu’s mateki at that time.

But my shinryoku shouldn’t lose. When I grasped shinryoku as a ‘ wavelength ‘, Meimel said that I wouldn’t lose to anyone with just the size of that wavelength.

“ Go─t it, Ymy? If you fail to purify mateki, keep in mind that it’s not that your power isn’t up to the task; it’s the opposite. Your shinryoku is too strong so you can’t fine control it, so you should be wary that you can’t release all your stored-up shinryoku. “

──If so.

──The reason I was oppressed by the Yuugenshu’s mateki is precisely because of that output efficiency.

Suppose that the Yuugenshu she fought in the world of a thousand years ago possessed 10 mateki and she had 20 shinryoku within her. However, compared to the Yuugenshu who could manifest 100% of its mateki, she probably hadn’t even manifested half of hers.

10 mateki x an output efficiency of 100% = 10.

20 shinryoku x an output efficiency of 40% = 8.

In other words, even if her shinryoku was above, it would lose out when put in the form of a spell.

“ That’s why you’re not suited for fine control-type spells like those of the Territory type or Barrier type. It’s your natural disposition and not because you lack training. Can’t you just focus on improving your shinryoku output by even one percent in the Baptism type that best shows your strength? “

“Please, just a little more……at least just four hours──”

Still hugging her shoulders that were shivering from the cold, Ymy looked up steadily at the broadcast device. My problem is my shinryoku output efficiency. In order to look for an opportunity to compensate for that, I need to devote my body to training even more dangerous than before.

“ ……But “

“Then two──”

Two hours only then please; the moment she said these words.

“ Ah……well, there’s a guest for you, Ymy-sama……they’re waiting in front of the floor’s elevator. “

“A guest? Who?”

A Priestess’ training time is not to be infringed upon. It’s normal for the time to be changed no matter who it is so long as I’m secluded in training. It’s rare for somebody to boldly put that aside and visit. If there was anybody, it would have to be my Sennenshi……I don’t have one, so maybe it’s a fellow Priestess?

“Is it Meimel or Syun-rei?”

“ N-no……but you’re right that it’s a Priestess. “

“ It’s Viola Nova-sama. She says she wants to see Ymy-sama. “

She was standing in front of the elevator doors with a smile upon her lips.

“It’s been a while, Ymy-san; you look well.”

A woman dressed in a robe-like vestment made of a single cloth with just a hole for the head. Her slender body was not much different from Syun-rei in height and she looked like she might be mistaken for a child from afar.

“W-we’ve really had no contact at all! It’s truly been a while……”

Running right up to her, Ymy bowed deeply with ragged breaths.

Viola Nova ── her senior Priestess who held the position of third Priestess. She had spent more than half a year patrolling the Biotope with her Sennenshi partner and competent Elite Guards.

“Sorry……u-umm, I think it was four days ago. I knew you had returned to the tower but I was busy and couldn’t come greet you.”

“It’s fine. I was also busy having just returned and you just returned from the Governmental Sector the day before last yourself, right?”

She had a gentle gaze that would relax those who saw it.

She was also petite like Syun-rei but the calm tone and gentleness of the Priestess in front of her was contrary to her physique and gave one a mature impression.

“That’s right, I’ll give you your souvenir before I forget. Here you go.”

“……What’s this?”

She grabbed Ymy’s wrist and held it to chest-height, then wrapped her fingers around something.

It was a polished black stone. The surface was smooth like it had been polished with something and the entire thing had a roundness to it.

“It’s obsidian I picked up in the Biotope; isn’t it curious how it’s been polished so beautifully by nature?”

“……Viola, I see you still have your hobby of collecting small stones.”

Ymy smiled ironically in front of her senior Priestess. Her hobby of collecting small stones and adding “-san” when addressing other people irrespective of whether they were her kouhai hadn’t changed.

“How was it outside the tower? You patrolled the Biotope the whole time this time too.”

“It’s the same great bundle of nature as always. The large dangerous beasts are and even the climate is all jumbled. Just when you think it’s shining like in a desert, there’s a blizzard the next day and the day after that is a downpour. Having your tent blown away by a gale is also a commonplace event.”

“……You sure made it through that all right.”

“I got used to that bustle so it feels like something’s missing here with the tower being so calm.”

She smiled as her flaxen hair fluttered.

“By the way, Ymy-san, I’m sorry for being so sudden. I know you were in the middle of training.”

“N-Not at all! The regulation time was over already!”

That she had wanted to do a little more and been in the middle of negotiating it was a secret, of course.

“That’s actually a lie.”

“Eh?”

“I didn’t come knowing you were in the middle of training; I came because you were in the middle of training. I wanted to disrupt your training.”

Viola looked fixedly up at her with her light brown eyes.

“Ymy-san, don’t you know that excessive training will just burden your body?”

“…………”

……I see, I thought it was strange.

This was a woman who was overflowing with consideration. She wasn’t the type who would interrupt her training just to hand over a souvenir or because she wanted to see her.

……She’d intended to stop my excessive training from the start.

“I heard about it from Meimel-san. That it’s been like this the whole time lately. But it looks like several days……from just before you left for the Governmental Sector and after returning have been especially terrible. I was a little worried after hearing that. As for why──”

Viola spoke with a tone like she was scolding her own child.

That’s definitely how it is. This person is……this ‘ older sister figure ‘ is always worrying about her junior Priestesses, Syun-rei and I, as if we were her children.

“I was thinking one of the reasons you’re overdoing your training is related to my younger sister, Horn.”

“…………”

“So it really is?”

“……I don’t know.”

Viola looked directly up at her. She couldn’t avert her eyes and it took her utmost just to muddle her words.

……But it’s probably just as Viola says.

Wanting to purify the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s mateki that resided within her childhood friend, Sheltis, was her thought as a childhood friend.

On top of that ── as the Priestess of Baptism, she thought it wouldn’t do to remain this way, and that was probably because she was indebted to the Sennenshi, Horn Nova.

“Your younger sister is……”

“You’ll understand if I say she’s in Ward D of the hospital on floor 22, right?”

The clinic within the tower was divided into four wards based on patient condition.

Ward A handled emergency outpatients and the lightly wounded.

Ward B handled inpatients with grave wounds requiring surgery.

Ward C handled patients that were in serious life-threatening conditions.

And then, separated from even those three wards by a large door was Ward D. All patients taken to this ward were those showered in mateki. The response team was not of doctors but of apprentice Priestesses and those that the apprentice Priestsses could not treat were directly purified by a Priestess.

“……I see. That’s right.”

Sennenshi Horn had returned to the tower for only one reason. It wasn’t to give a report but to visit a child who continued to sleep in one of the Ward D rooms.

“……I’m sorry.”

“It’s not something you need to apologize for. Meimel-san and I……even the first Priestess, Elmeetia-san, couldn’t purify that mateki so it’s not solely your responsibility.”

“But!”

Her words blamed herself. Exactly because she understood that, Ymy could not pretend to not have heard it.”

“……But everybody else has different specialties in spells!……I can’t use anything other than Baptism-type spells well. I can’t become anything other than the Priestess of Baptism.”

“You think it’s natural that you’d be the one to heal that child?”

“…………Yes.”

In reality, it was something Horn Nova had said to her.

“ Ymy Ele Soufflenictole……you couldn’t save Tessha! “

“ Who cares about being a Priestess. This……even though you can’t purify the mateki of a single child……even though you can’t save a single child, what about you makes you a Priestess of Baptism! “

In a hospital ward with a cold wind blowing through it.

Those words spoken in front of that child whose eyes would not open were directed at me alone.

“……I thought you’d say that.”

Viola slumped her delicate shoulders and sighed.

“The truth is I didn’t really want to return. Because, Ymy-san, it’s a given that you’d go overboard in your training and ruin your body when Horn returned to the tower.”

“……But I must.”

“I understand that you feel responsible for not being able to purify mateki while known under the honorary title of Priestess of Baptism, but please don’t overdo it. The Priestesses’ primary duty isn’t to purify mateki. It’s to maintain the barrier that seals the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .”

It was something she’d been admonished for countless times since her time as an apprentice Priestess.

A Priestess had to be ruthless. No matter who had to be sacrificed and even if she wanted to save someone near her, she had to focus her power solely on maintaining Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

“That’s why it’s Horn’s fault for having excessive expectations of Priestesses.”

“…………”

“Please tell me if my little sister says anything to you. I’ll scold her as her older sister.”

“……Okay.”

Well then ── conveying that softly, the third Priestess turned around. She watched her as she used the elevator to head to her own floor.

“…………”

Letting out a truly deep sigh towards the ceiling, Ymy loosely stumbled to the wall. ……I can’t put any power into my limbs. When she noticed that, the strength left her knees and she collapsed.

“Having excessive expectations of me……that just means she had that much expectation for me. ……She probably believed in and relied on me.”

She couldn’t fulfill Horn’s expectations that day. Even though she was probably her last hope, as the one known as the Priestess of Baptism.

“……Ah……ah……haha, it’s cold.”

Maybe it was because of the training. It couldn’t be helped that her body was freezing so she curled up and crouched there.

…………

…………It’s been a while since I’ve been frustrated to the point of wanting to cry.

“Why……is it……so cold, I wonder.”

The girl’s hoarse laughter echoed.

Before long, that laughter had changed to a faint sob at some point.

### 044. Chapter 2: The Resounding Horn’s Dissonance

## Chapter 2 – The Resounding Horn’s Dissonance

### Part 1

Sunlight that made one think of the height of summer shined down brilliantly upon the outdoor training grounds.

In a corner of the grounds which had a desert that spread as far as the horizon, rocky terrain, a marsh and large roaring waterfall──

“Ohh……ohhh! Ohhhhhhh!”

Gripping her shining silver badge, Kagura held it high up.

“A-Amazing! L-look, look. On the display in the corner, in the ‘ merit points ‘ field, there are 75 points. The points from the Governmental Sector expedition have been added!”

“So noisy. Everybody got them so they know without you ranting about it.”

He glanced at his own badge and tucked it away at his chest with disinterest.

“You brat.”

“I-It’s fine, isn’t it! One should be honestly happy in times like this. Come on, don’t put yours away and show it to me!”

She held out her hands.

“Haa? It’s not interesting looking at other people’s badges.”

“It’s fine. Come on, quickly……mm? H-huh? Why are your points higher than mine? What’s the meaning of these 102 points? Did you go out on a mission without us knowing?”

“Like I’d do such annoying stuff.”

Vaiel snatched his badge from Kagura who was repeatedly tilting her head.

“Ah, wait!”

“Before we went to the Governmental Sector, the theme for final selection of the unit was patrolling the Nature District. Somebody got exhausted by a Yuugenshu and caused me great pains, or did you forget?”

“Ah……”

The redness of Kagura’s cheeks shot up under the machine helmet.

It had been Vaiel who saved her at the last moment when she’d been attacked by a Yuugenshu and he had repelled it while covered completely in wounds. It was necessary to earn ‘ merit points ‘ to be promoted in Sophia Tenketsu Palace and other than missions, there were other ways to gain points like defeating Yuugenshu.

“ Ahh, now that you mention it, the points for defeating a Yuugenshu are also included. The difference in your merit points is 27, so it’s being classified as a small Yuugenshu. You would’ve earned twice as much if it were a little larger. “

“Like I can fight something that big.”

Vaiel folded his arms in response to the murmuring from Ilis machine crystal .

“……Come to think of it, how many points are necessary for the all-important promotion to Regular Guard?”

“Think of it as being around 300.”

Monica, who was cooling off in a tree’s shade, replied immediately.

“You can register for the Regular Guard exam when you save up 300 points. Even if you don’t pass within a year, you can continue to take on missions and you should be exempted from the written exam at 450 points.”

“If you think of it like that……I have pretty much half.”

Sitting on the bench in the tree’s shade, Sheltis also took out his badge.

179 merit points. This was the sum of the Governmental Sector mission as well as the investigation mission to the Lagoon floating archipelago with Leon. He’d also repelled Yuugenshu at that time so that was added as well.

Two missions and two cases of repelling Yuugenshu. With that, his merit points had passed over the halfway point.

“How about Monica?”

“I have 231 points……since I was part of different units to fill the number requirements before creating this one. I have a little from that time.”

“ Ohh. But that’s impressive; you’ll have 300 points with just a little more like that. “

“Th-that is……I’ve been a Cadet Guard for some years now. It normally takes just over a year to accumulate them……I’m more of a failure of a Cadet Guard.”

Monica looked down with her face a little red.

“Well, that’s true, it should take around a year if you seriously gather them at a steady pace. If you think of it like that, you could say the expedition to the Governmental Sector this time is receiving special treatment. For other missions, the usual is 10 or 20 points.”

It looked like it really was hot standing out in direct sunlight as Kagura took off her machine helmet and wiped the sweat from her brow.

“Also, by standard, even if you complete a mission unharmed, you can’t apply consecutively. You’re free to take on missions but it seems you won’t receive merit points.”

“Was there such a rule?”

“It’s just that you don’t know, Vaiel. This is something from when there was no merit points system but it seems like there was a two-person group of absurdly strong Cadet Guards.”

It looked like she was still hot because Kagura started fanning herself with her hand.

“It was even said that there was no mission those two couldn’t complete together and they would complete a mission every week systematically, advancing to Regular Guards just like that. It should have repainted the fastest recorded promotion at the time. This became a problem further in the future.”

“Mm, hey, wait. What’s the problem with that? It’s not bad, is it?”

“There were no issues with those two themselves. The problem was the flood of Cadet Guards that took their success as an example and continuously submitted applications for missions.”

The girl indicated the training grounds with her eyes.

Amongst those several instructors were watching over were those repeating mock battles, Cadet Guards running through the hot sand with weights all over and those silently focused on muscle training.

“There are many Cadet Guards with superficial experience and who are unskilled, right? Those Cadet Guards can’t succeed if they challenge a mission without minding the difficulty……as a result, there were successive cases where they failed or were wounded and hospitalized.”

“So it’s about knowing your limits. Sheesh, there are morons no matter the age.”

Vaiel returned to reclining on the bench.

“Well, the moronic group is at fault, but the audacious group of two shares the same fault. Because of them, now it’s become a pain in the ass to take on a mission.”

“……Could I say it’s the fault of youth?”

“Mm?”

“Ahh, n-no, no, nothing at all!?”

With the quick-eared young man’s question, Sheltis frantically waved his hands.

……I can’t say it.

……That it was Leon and I.

They would take two missions in a day, return to Sophia Tenketsu Palace just after an all-nighter and then leave on another mission an hour later. Now that he thought of it, even he thought it was reckless.

“It’s true that there are some inconveniences, but I think the current system is good.”

Putting down the machine helmet at her feet, Kagura did some flexibility stretches before training.

“Leaving aside that I’m busy with research work, I think that going out on a mission every week is dangerous. Fatigue would build up without your notice and it would be the worst if you became too used to missions and went lax resulting in an incident. Rather than that, it’s better to properly undergo moderate training──”

“Hohoh, that’s admirable, Kagura.”

“Wh-wha!?”

Kagura’s pointed ears stood up at the sudden appearance of somebody behind her. She turned towards the owner of the voice with trepidation and a pale expression…………

“I-Instructor Yumelda?”

“It’s truly admirable, Kagura; I didn’t expect you to be so admirably dedicated.”

A tall woman wearing a dark blue suit that had not a wrinkle upon it. She held her preferred black whip with both hands and she was smoking a cigarette as thin as string.

“You’ve been skipping my training lately with being busy with research as the stated reason. Just when I thought your research had finally calmed down, you were absent from my training because of the expedition to the Governmental Sector. For this last month, I think you’ve been absent from training more than you’ve attended. Now then, is my memory mistaken?”

“Ah……n-no……that’s, well……”

Her pointed ears drooped and sweat ran from her brow like a waterfall.

Opposite that, the instructor looked down at her with an intrepid smile.

“With all that, I didn’t think you would have such ambition to train. I’m not a demon: I’ll accept absences with valid reasons and I also very rarely hold back on the training. ──But if you want to train that badly, then it can’t be helped. It’s also hard on me to train Cadet Guards until they’re ragged but it’s different if they desire that themselves.”

“Even though you look so ridiculously happyyyyy──────!?”

“You talk too much; let’s go.”

“N-Nooooooo!”

Kagura was grabbed by the nape and started to get dragged away. She screamed like prey that had been caught by a carnivorous predator.

“H-Help me! M-Monica? A member of your unit is in fatal danger! Sheltis and Vaiel too──”

With that scene before them, the decisions of the remaining members were swift and correct.

“……Come to think of it, I made an appointment to check up on the wound I received from Maha Golden at the Governmental Sector.”

“Ah, I-I also feel like I did that. If you’re going to the one on floor 22, let’s go together.”

“……The deadline for the manuscript of my ‘ Wild Grasses Encyclopedia ‘ is coming up soon too.”

Turning their backs, Sheltis and the others all sprinted away simultaneously at full speed.

It felt like Kagura shouted out something behind them but the fault lay with she who had summoned the demon instructor.

“Well then, Kagura, take your time with the instructor.”

“So heartless──────!?”

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 21.

“Uu……it was cruel.”

Covered in sand and dust, her formal wear was completely worn out. Kagura returned like that with tottering steps late in the evening.

“If it’s something like being trained ragged by the instructor, then going on a mission and not receiving merit points is better. Monica, please find our next mission as soon as possible.”

“G-Got it.”

She looked pretty tired. Slumped over the Machina machine pearl , Kagura made no move to descend to the ground.

“By the way……what is this meeting room?”

Despite being dead tired, it seemed that only her curiosity was full of vigor as she looked around restlessly.

It was an all-around white room.

There was no table and thus no meeting-use whiteboard. There were just barely enough folding chairs for them piled up in a corner of the room.

“It’s our unit’s private base. I received a message that our unit has finally received official approval and the administrative officer’s electronic registration is complete.”

Monica pointed at the folding chairs.

“This is our private meeting area from today onwards. The use differs from unit to unit so these are the only furnishings. They said that if we require a table or whiteboard, then we can apply for them and they will allocate them to us.”

“So we’ve got a private space; it’s starting to get more like a unit.”

“Vaiel, I’ll just put this out there, but don’t use this place for your naps. It looks like if it’s used for reasons outside of our goals, it’ll get confiscated.”

“……Damn it.”

She seemed to have hit the bullseye since Vaiel crossed his legs with the same sour face.

“But you know, wouldn’t it be hard for them to find out? If it’s our private space, doesn’t that mean that only our badges’ identification numbers can unlock it?”

There was no way for other people to suspect him of sleeping in this room. Only the four here could unlock the room.

“That’s right, or so I’d like to say.”

“ Ah, I can open this room. Rather, the only ones who can’t open this room are other Cadet Guards and Regular Guards; Elite Guards that hold the rank of Captain or higher can unlock it just like that. “

Ilis Machine crystal smoothly continued Monica’s words.

But upon hearing that, Vaiel’s smile became even more relaxed.

“Then there’s no problem. Is some great and mighty Elite Guard or above gonna even come to this lower floor? If there’s any chance, it’ll be the instructor but the instructor usually instructs Cadet Guards at the training grounds.”

“ ……That’s true. “

“Now that you mention it, that might be the case.”

Ilis Machine crystal blinked and Sheltis ended up agreeing without thinking.

“But you know, Vaiel. If by chance a superior──”

“Ahh? Just where would you find great and mighty people with such idle curiosity──”

It came before Vaiel finished speaking.

──’ Unlocked ‘──

With an electronic sound, the electronic doors slid to the sides slowly.

“Hah?”

Vaiel fell silent with his mouth half-open.

There was no way someone above Elite Guard level would come to this low a floor and there was no way they would visit them. Why is it opening even though the meeting room’s door shouldn’t open?

“Ah, umm……I heard that you’d be here when I asked Instructor Yumelda.”

In front of the fully opened doors, a girl in pure white vestments bowed her head.

“Ymy…………?”

“……Why is a Priestess here?”

Monica’s and Kagura’s eyes were spinning.

“ Oh my, Ymy, welcome. We don’t have anything other than folding chairs but will you take a seat? “

“No, I just came to apologize.”

Remaining diffidently near the wall, Ymy once again bowed her head deeply.

“Well, I’m sorry! I didn’t participate in the meeting today and caused you problems……I heard the major points from Ishtar-san!”

……Mm?

Looking closely at the expression of his childhood friend whose off-gold hair was fluttering ── Sheltis raised his brows at some thoughts that didn’t appear on his face.

……Ymy’s eyes are swollen.

The area around her eyelids was slightly red and looked like she’d cried her eyes out. It was pretty much fully concealed behind her bangs so it was almost a coincidence that Sheltis had noticed. The other three hadn’t noticed.

“Ymy……sama, we were told that you were in training until just prior.”

“Y-yes. That’s right, and a little…………well……I was a little willful.”

“Willful? With training?”

Monica’s gaze narrowed. For she who had been Ymy’s senpai when she was an apprentice Priestess, she was still concerned with her kouhai’s condition even now.

“N-No, it’s just a minor……thing.”

Averting her eyes from Monica’s line of sight, Ymy turned around as if running away.

“Well then, I’m sorry. I’ll be going now!”

“Ah, wait a second! Ymy!”

Monica’s outstretched hand stopped just before touching the Priestess’ vestment.

“……It can’t be helped; it must be major if she’s unwilling to talk about it.”

Monica shook her head weakly.

“So what do we do, unit leader? I’d really like to head back and sleep right now.”

“I know. We’ll disperse for today and take a day off for tomorrow. We’ll continue as usual from early morning training the day after. ……Since we haven’t had sufficient rest since returning from the Governmental Sector.”

She took a deep breath while rubbing her eyes that were heavy with fatigue.

“ Waa, it’s an entire day off, Sheltis! I want to go on a picnic in the Nature District tomorrow. The weather’s supposed to be good and it’s the best time to see the mountain cherries. ”

“That’s a pity since I was gonna leisurely relax tomorrow too.”

“ Ehhhhh!? No, no, no, let’s go somewheeere? “

Putting aside Ilis machine crystal who was blinking in protest.

……I’m also interested in Ymy.

……It would be nice if I could secretly check on how she is tomorrow.

“Then we’ll separate here. Don’t forget that we’re meeting up in front of the training grounds’ gate at four in the morning the day after tomorrow!”

Monica clapped her hands.

“Fi─nally over. I’m gonna go back and sleep; see ya.”

“Then so will I……”

Vaiel left the meeting room quickly. Just before Sheltis followed after him, Ilis machine crystal flashed as if remembering something.

“ Come to think of it, Sheltis, there was something this morning. “

“Mm?”

“ Come on, didn’t you make a promise with Eyriey? Eyriey said she wanted to come play and you said you’d be able to meet with her after the meeting ended, didn’t you? “

“Ah, ahhhhh! Crap!”

The meeting with Ishtar present had ended and he’d completely forgotten about it until now.

“ She might still be waiting in your room. “

“Uu……for the time being, let’s rush back. W-Well then, Monica, I’ll also be going now!”

Spinning around in a big rush, he left the meeting room and flew out into the floor’s corridor.

Beyond the windows on one side of the corridor was a surface of black. The setting sun was already hidden behind the horizon and it was too late of a time to play.

“……I wonder if I’ve been keeping Eyriey waiting.”

He jogged down the hallway straight towards the elevator. He pushed the panel for “Floor 11″ which contained the Cadet Guard residences and sighed a little.

### Part 3

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11.

Just as he took one step into his room that was pretty much right at the back of the Cadet Guard residences,

“So slo─w! Where were you loitering around, Sheltis!”

“Shel-nii, you’re late.”

Eyriey glared at him with raised eyes and Yuto was sitting properly on the bed.

…………

…………Well, that’s what I expected.

“ Oh, this is unexpected: nobody’s here. “

“……It looks like they were waiting here before though.”

The bed was ruffled and there were candy wrappers in the garbage can.

Eyriey had eaten the candy she brought along and Yuto had played around on the bed. He could easily imagine those two.

“It looks like they got tired of waiting and went home.”

“ But it looks like they left a message. “

What Ilis machine crystal was talking about was an audio recording device left casually atop the desk. The small pencil-shaped device had a sound collection apparatus attached to the end. He hadn’t seen a device like it anywhere else in the tower so it was most likely an invention of Eyriey’s.

“ That flashing part is probably the replay button. “

“This?”

There was a replay button on one end of the pencil-shaped device. He timidly pushed it,

“ Eyri-nee, this button? “

“ Yup, yup. It’ll record if you talk while pressing that. Yuto, try saying something. “

It was those two’s voices as expected.

“ Mm〰……What should Yuto say? “

“ Sheltis, you’re so slo─w. We’ll come back tomorrow so make sure to keep some time open! ──I said it. So, Yuto, just say what you want to. “

“ O─kay! Um, umm, Shel-nii, I’ll come again tomorrow─ “

“──So they say.”

“ Isn’t that fine since you’re already on break tomorrow anyway? Rather than that…… “

Ilis Machine crystal ’ voice that had a suppressed laugh mixed into it quieted down a notch.

“ It looks like there’s one other message from someone. “

Occupying about half of the work desk was a giant monitor and computer.

The terminal which was normally in power saving mode had its electric lamp flashing blue, showing that a message had arrived.

“……So this time’s by mail though I haven’t really used this terminal at all.”

“ They don’t really come to this terminal; that’s rare. “

If it was for sending and receiving simple messages, their card-shaped badges had that function. It was the norm for Monica, the instructor, Leon and others to use the badge to contact him.

“I wonder who it is.”

“ I think it should be an administrative officer since they mailed you on this terminal. A Guard would probably use the badge to mail you. “

“Well, yeah.”

Starting up the monitor, the message inbox was shown.

“……Huh? The sender’s information isn’t showing up. It can’t be viewed.”

“It’s not that it’s not being shown; it has an upper authority’s secret encryption applied. If it was a regular mail, then it could be inspected by the one in charge of computer processing at the General Affairs Bureau but this can’t be viewed by anybody except the recipient.”

It used an uncommon frequency. Putting aside administrative staff and Elite Guard-level Guards, it was something that a Cadet Guard would rarely ever have the chance to use.

“ Ohh, that’s interesting. Come on, open it quickly─ “

“I got it, okay, so wait a second.”

Calming down Ilis machine crystal who was hurrying him on, he inserted his ID into the encrypted document.

“ To Sheltis,

Good work today. Sorry I couldn’t attend the meeting. I also said a little about it when I interrupted your meeting earlier…………I’ve been thinking about Priestess training. “

“……Ymy?”

“ She’s forgotten to put her name at either end of the mail but that’s who it would appear to be from the contents. “

“ O-On top of that!

It’s about that which is residing in your body but……since then, I wonder if I’ve done my best in piling on training. If you have time tomorrow, could you come to floor 276 past noon?

Sorry for being so sudden.

I wanted to tell you in person but it looks like you were together with Monica-senpai for the entire day today.

……I want to try purifying that.

U-Um, just so you know. It’s okay if you can’t come!

It’s not like it absolutely has to be tomorrow……it’s just, the truth is……I can’t say that I have great confidence. It’s fine if you have something else to do and prioritize that.

But.

If you don’t have anything tomorrow………… “

The mail ended there.

There was no name for the sender……but there was no need to think about who it was now.

“She said floor 276.”

“ It’s Ymy’s private training floor. There are almost ten rooms matched to Ymy’s spells and a number of those can be used to purify mateki. “

“……I see.”

The mail referring to mateki as ‘ that ‘ may have been for the one in ten thousand chance that somebody saw the contents.

……The mateki that came to reside in my body when I fell to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

……If this mateki is purified, I wonder if my shinryoku will return.

“ Aren’t you making quite the complicated expression? Aren’t you happy about getting your mateki purified? “

“I shouldn’t be unhappy.”

Whispering that as if talking to himself, Sheltis sat down on a corner of the bed. He laid down, stared up at the illuminated ceiling and took a deep breath.

“But if my mateki is purified and my shinryoku returns just like that, it feels like it’ll end with a ‘ That’s great, that’s great ‘.”

It was miraculous that he had returned from the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song alive and even had mateki reside within him.

He had a feeling the passion for investigating the cause for that had finally died down and changed into “Well, you made it out so it’s all good”.

……But was that really okay?

If the mateki residing within him was the key to approaching the secret of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , wouldn’t the chance to come close to that secret be lost along with the disappearance of his mateki?

“……When we went to the Governmental Sector, that’s the feeling I had.”

The Yuugenshu being bred within a water tank. They had thought it was the work of the Governmental Sector, but it was then determined to be the work of a third organization that Maha Golden and Igun-I Blank belonged to.

……Moreover, there’s the Forbidden Crystal.

……The Governmental Sector’s treasure, Mikuva’s Crimson Eye, was also like that.

The Yuugenshu, the third organization and the Forbidden Crystal as well. ……And me. Everything is connected. Everything should have the ‘ Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ‘ as a common point.

“I feel like I’ve caught onto something. What is it……I can’t say it well but it feels like I’ve touched something extremely important. In regards to the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret.”

More than any Guard and more than any Priestess.

He was closing in on the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret: that’s what he felt.

“If I can investigate the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song ’s secret like this, we might find a more effective method of combatting the Yuugenshu and mateki.”

It might also lessen the burden on Ymy as a Priestess. He might be able to become a source of strength for her in other areas as he aimed to become her guard.

“ ………… “

“Is it strange?”

“ ……I just thought about how you can think like that. “

There was a ten minute pause between her words ── Ilis machine crystal continued speaking with a tone like she was gazing into the distance.

“Aiming to become a Sennenshi is something you have a promise with Ymy for but there’s no difference in the goal between you and other Guards in the end……but what you just said might truly be something that only you can achieve.”

Being her guard was a given, but he’d found another way to become Ymy’s strength. But that was because he had mateki residing within him. If that was purified, he’d likely lose the opportunity to near the secret of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

“ It’s a new complication. But you’ll accept Ymy’s invitation for tomorrow, right? “

“Yeah……I want to hear Ymy’s opinion as well.”

He couldn’t become a Sennenshi with mateki residing within his body. That was also part of the reason Ymy was so concerned about him.

……But she’s gonna attempt to purify it so suddenly tomorrow.

He was also thankful that it was early. However, he felt that the summons were rushed and suddenly having it tomorrow was also out of the blue.

“I wonder if something happened with Ymy.”

The hope that the mateki within his body could be purified had faded and become a form of worry for Ymy at some point.

### Part 4

Floors 276 to 280 were the five Priestesses’ respective personal training floors and floors 271 to 275 beneath that were the Sennenshis’ respective training floors.

And floor 273.

One step off the elevator and there was a dense forest which faithfully modeled the Biotope.

Underfoot were very moist mud and puddles as well as fallen leaves. Overhead, countless vines hanging from the trees crisscrossed like a spiderweb.

In this forest where a real bird was flying around chirping──

A gunshot.

The repeated ear-splitting gunfire noise shook the large trees.

“──Rejected. Next?”

“Y-Yes. From the Shinryoku Theory Bureau Chief, this is about the deployment of apprentice Priestesses. There are fifty apprentice Priestesses this year that passed the first training period. How many people would the third unit like……”

The small boy holding a report read it aloud.

“That’s based on skill; apprentice Priestesses that can’t be used are unnecessary.”

The woman with a pitch black blinder spat out her answer.

Her body which was as tall as an adult man was covered in a camouflaged suit and she wore a longcoat that reached to below her knees.

She had a machine pistol in each hand.

It was a gun that had its firepower and consecutive firing speed raised to the limits to compensate for its low accuracy. She held those casually in both hands and casually pulled the triggers.

“Only choose the outstanding apprentice Priestesses.”

“B-But the struggle with other units is harsh.”

“It’s your job to deal with that.”

With the resounding of gunfire, small target machines fell down one after another.

She was shooting down the small target machines that were flying at super-high speeds in the gaps between the trees whose leaves crowded those spaces, and she was doing it without a single miss.

“…………”

“Is that all?”

“……Ah, n-no! S-Sorry!”

With the woman’s disinterested question, the boy frantically shook his head.

“Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is.”

“How so?”

She asked again in a tone that had not a shred of sociability.

Horn Nova ── the younger sister of the third Priestess, Viola Nova; she was also the third Sennenshi who was tasked with guarding her.

“Eh?”

“I was asking what you thought was amazing.”

“E-Everything……is what……”

Physical strength that was trained to the point that she could handle those massive machine pistols with one hand easily. Then there were her elbows and shoulders which were pliable to handle the strong recoil from repetitive firings of those guns.

Above all, there was her supernatural firing accuracy which never let her miss her target even with both eyes covered.

A blinder over her eyes. In other words, Horn didn’t see the target. Without regard for that, the bullets she fired seemed to be sucked towards the center of the target machines. It was a scene that would cause normal people to doubt their eyes.

“I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain──”

“Discard pointless thoughts.”

The odd jobs boy spoke some words and Horn fired off words of rejection.

“Whether it’s talent, environment, effort, time, personality or body, nothing fits. The Ex Machina mechanically armored soldiers that you’re talking about are generalists that can handle any heavy firepower gun to suit the circumstances. What can you do when you don’t have any of the required factors?”

“…………Ah……ahh……”

Horn’s gunfire didn’t stop even as the boy was at a loss for words and downcast.

“Is that all?”

“───Yes.”

The boy turned his back to her while still downcast after putting the report under his arm. He walked towards the elevator wordlessly like that.

“Catria.”

Without having walked several steps, Horn’s voice called the boy’s name.

Silence.

The two machine pistols that were still letting off white smoke from their barrels were thrown high up into the air.

“Take these with you.”

“Waa, wawa!”

“Do the regular maintenance. I’ll come to collect it thirty eight hours later.”

The boy threw aside the report and caught the machine pistols. With her back still turned to him, Horn drew out a revolving pistol from the holder at her waist.

“I don’t need unskilled people in my unit. If you’re going to subject yourself to techniques unsuited for your height, leave my unit before the end of today.”

“…………”

──Bang!

The gunfire in front of the silent boy shot down two target machines.

They were randomly flying targets. One aside, aiming for two at the same time wasn’t possible. That’s right, it was a technique impossible unless one could see the future.

“But I acknowledge your skill in maintenance.”

“……I see.”

“I’ll say it again: thirty eight hours later. Finish the maintenance within that time.”

The boy nodded wordlessly.

This time he headed to the elevator without turning around and went straight down to the ground floor.

──Ding.

Passing by the elevator headed for the ground floor, another elevator stopped at this floor.

“Yoo─, Horn, you here─”

A boyish girl with her skin tanned brown. With light formal wear consisting of a short-sleeved shirt and short pants, shinryoku formal carved seals could be seen on her exposed limbs.

“Ran.”

“Ohh, you’re here. If you’re coming back, say so─. By the way”

“I refuse.”

“……I haven’t said anything yet.”

“I can see the future.”

“Liar.”

Ran raised one eyebrow meaningfully.

“ You can only see future images but can’t hear future sounds; you said that yourself.”

Celestial map drawing.

It was a territorial type shinryoku spell that Horn Nova carried from birth like her older sister, Priestess Viola Nova. With this power that allowed one to view the future an instant prior, it was possible to tell where a target would move to and pull the trigger.

“Then I’ll just ask for your business. What is it?”

Storing the gun in her holder, Horn sighed.

“All right, then let’s have a match now. It’s been a whi──”

“I refuse.”

“…………Eh─, what’s with that. Did Leon make a reservation first? If so, I’m fine with going after Leon.”

She pulled on the edges of her coat with a childish expression.

“Time is precious and I have some business after this.”

“Is that soo? But sparring with me will definitely be fun and come in handy? It’s a complete loss if the Sennenshi skip out on training. Right?”

“Unfortunately, business that takes precedence over everything else is awaiting me.”

Glancing at Ran who was puffing her cheeks with a mu─, Horn turned towards the elevator used for the upper floors.

### Part 5

The floor was filled to the brim with noon sunlight.

In this place that was close to two thousand metres off the ground, the sunlight passing through the window’s glass could be seen without obstruction.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 276. It was a floor made to allow a Priestess to devote herself to training.

“……The floor is shining blue?”

Standing in the floor Ymy was waiting at, Sheltis stared down at the view under him.

A pattern spread far out on the floor’s surface. The blue pattern’s contrast with the white floor was beautiful but it was also a little eerie because he didn’t know what it was for.

“ All of this is a formal carved seal. “

“……That’s amazing.”

He had heard it was a facility that could also purify people corrupted with mateki. It meant that a person suffering from mateki would also directly enter and exit so measures to prevent the spread of mateki within the tower were necessary.

“ Sheltis, are you okay? “

“I have my boots in-between.”

The rejection between the mateki residing within him and the shinryoku-affixed floor. There was a numbing feeling at his toes but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Come to think of it, she didn’t specify as far as the place.”

“ That’s right. I wonder which room it is. “

The far end of the passage was blurry. At any rate, it had the expansiveness of an entire floor of the tower so even if Ymy had arrived, he had no idea where she was.

“Over here.”

To his right, a room’s mechanical door slowly opened.

“……I’m glad. You came.”

Her off-gold hair swayed with relief. Her expression looked more relieved than happy.

“I thought it wouldn’t be possible because it was such a sudden request. ……Did you skip training to come here?”

“Nope, today’s a full day of rest. Training starts tomorrow.”

Ah, so that’s it. My plans for today start in the evening so now that you mention it, that should be how it is. The Governmental Sector mission exhausted everyone ── well, let’s put that aside. Come over here and enter the room.”

……This is a Priestess’ training room?

……Well, this is.

It was covered from the floor to the ceiling in pure white tiles and a formal carved seal was carved in atop that as expected. It was just the floor for the corridor but this room was covered on the walls and ceiling thoroughly, in every nook and cranny.

“It’s a room specially for me. But this isn’t a training room, you know?”

Ymy turned towards him at the center of the room and pointed at the formal carved seal overhead.

A shadow fell over her eyes.

She had remembered a painful past event ── it was that kind of expression.

“It’s not for training but for actual use. ……It’s a place for Priestesses to heal those with heavy corruption that apprentice Priestesses can’t purify.”

“……Ymy, do you not like this place?”

“I like it.”

Just that answer was clear and without doubt.

“In the little under a year since I became a Priestess, there have been four. Four times that a person has been carried to this room. Those people who had a request made because there were none amongst the apprentice Priestesses who could handle it. It’s a room to save those suffering from mateki…………so I couldn’t hate it.”

She bit down on her lip.

The Priestess, his childhood friend, continued staring up at the ceiling.

“But……it was harsh. We would forcefully lie the person afflicted with mateki mind control over on that bed and purify them. It was a procedure we would perform while watching them writhe in agony despite that. That dark red stain is from a person whose body underwent necrosis and tore from the decaying effect of mateki……the green stain on the other side is also someone’s blood. The iron within their body was morphed and their blood turned green.”

“…………So what happened to those people?”

“They were cured. All of those I mentioned were cured and are rehabilitating. There are also those that have been discharged so I’m really happy. ……But healing them isn’t ideal. To begin with, it’d be better if there was nobody who needed to be healed. It’d be the best if we could live in a world where we didn’t have to fear the Yuugenshu……”

The mere fact that somebody would be carried to this room is something that shouldn’t happen.

If the Priestesses’ Hyouketsu Kyoukai completely froze the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , Yuugenshu wouldn’t be able to come up to Orbie Clar floating continent . People afflicted with the Yuugenshu’s mateki would also cease to exist.

A perfect barrier.

A perfect Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

It was the ideal that the Priestesses had as their goal.

“So! That’s not good, that’s not good. I went off on a tangent again.”

Ymy slapped her cheeks with an adorable sound. She shook her head two, three times side to side and took a deep breath.

“All right! Then I’ll do my best, so I look forward to working with you!”

“E-Err……?”

“I said it yesterday, didn’t I? You also came because you heard, right?”

His childhood friend beckoned him over from the center of the room.

“……About my mateki?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any confidence yet that it can be cured but I want to try it. ──Come on, come over to this bed.”

A large bed was situated just in front of where Ymy was standing.

The bed with white sheets spread over it was not a rectangular shape, but the shape of the 十 character. The patient would lie with their arms spread out and there were black belts for restraining a rampaging patient.

“ Hey, hey, Ymy, let’s bind Sheltis〰? “

“It’s a pity but I won’t rampage.”

He took off the pendant that Ilis machine crystal was attached to and placed it on the tray beside the bed. He looked down at the bed once more.

“…………”

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. ……I’m kinda nervous. I feel like I really shouldn’t be lying on this bed.”

It was also his first time receiving the mateki purification technique and it was a request to his childhood friend, which made him even more nervous. Lying down on the bed was like getting an examination at a hospital so he couldn’t settle down.

“ Sheltis has been bad with hospitals since a long time ago after all. Ymy, what will you do? “

“Eh……h-hr─m, what to do. After all, those carried to this room couldn’t stand on their own. I was never asked a question like that.”

Ymy let her gaze wander through the air while silently thinking.

“……I think it’ll be fine if you just sit on the bed.”

“Ah, that’s a relief. That should be pretty easy.”

He sat down lightly on the bed.

“Then please.”

“R-Right! I’ll do my best!”

Ymy nodded, then──

The air shook.

A complete one-eighty from the gentleness that even seemed to exude a smile, it changed to a tension that seemed like it even stung the skin.

…………This.

……might be…………the first time I’ve seen this.

The childhood friend before his eyes ── no, with the form of the “Priestess” before him, Sheltis gulped.

Priestess Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.

Her jade green eyes stared unblinking at him. Crimson particles of light suddenly rose up from her entire body.

…………Three years ago……the time when I returned to the Orbie Clar floating continent ……Ymy wasn’t a Priestess yet.

Ymy who had been an apprentice Priestess at the time had tried time after time to purify his mateki……and had cried herself dry when it ended in failure.

And now.

This was the first time Ymy was facing the purification of his mateki as a Priestess.

“──I’m starting.”

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able......]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

A release precedent meaning the invocation of power was sung from the Priestess’ lips. Immediately afterwards, the overflowing crimson particles wrapped around her body.

……My throat’s dry.

His lips, tongue and throat had dried up from nervousness and he couldn’t speak.

“Don’t move.”

Ymy’s fingertip that was held straight out neared the center of his chest.

……Can she actually purify it?

……Maybe it’s possible for even my mateki if it’s Ymy’s spell.

The mateki of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . Would the cursed power that no Priestess could purify three years ago become undone?

The fingertip neared his chest.

The tip of the nail touched the center of his chest and touched his skin through the clothes──

──Bzz……zzt!……──

“……!”

“Ow…………uu!”

Sparks like lightning instantly expanded into something like an aurora and seemed to be rejecting the touch of Ymy’s fingertips.

Elbert Resonance.

……No……way!

It used to be just sparks. That grew into this aurora-like barrier!?

“ The Elbert Resonance is manifesting even more strongly than before!? Ymy, this isn’t good, you must stop the ritual── “

“Kuu……uuu……!”

But Ymy didn’t stop the ritual. The shockwaves given off by the Elbert Resonance barrier stopped her breathes but she stood her ground and reached her fingers out even further──

Deja vu.

In that instant, the future image of Ymy collapsing with bright red blood spurting from her entire right arm surfaced clearly within the back of his mind.

“Get back!”

“!?”

Her shoulders contracted at the sudden shout and Ymy pulled back reflexively. At the same time, the mist cleared up and the Elbert Resonance sparks also disappeared.

“……Ah………………haa……a……”

Ymy shoulders moved up and down and she couldn’t hide her ragged breathing. Her fingertips were dyed with a crimson different from that of the baptism type arts.

“Ymy──”

He jumped off the bed.

He tried to run over to his childhood friend who was crouching and hugging her legs.

“Don’t!”

It was at the same time.

When Sheltis took one step, Ymy’s shout echoed throughout the room.

……Don’t?

What am I not supposed to do in this situation?

“……Shel, ti…………s……you……sit there!”

The girl spoke with her head still down, in a voice like a sob.

“……Once……mo……re……”

Once more.

Sheltis doubted his ears when he heard what was conveyed to him from Ymy’s lips.

……Once more?

……It can’t be that having seen that Elbert Resonance just now, she wants to try once more?

“Ha, ah……hahaa. …………Sorry, I failed. Next…………”

The Preistess of Baptism stood up unsteadily.

She was trying hard to hide the intense pain with a pale face.

“For the next one……I’ll do my best……”

“Ymy!”

In order to stop the girl who was wobbly drawing nearer, he stood before her with arms held out to the sides.

“I’m really……happy that you feel that way. But let’s stop here for today.”

“…………”

“Anybody would understand that you’re doing your absolute best from seeing what happened just now. Even I understood at a glance. That’s why I have faith that you will be able to purify my mateki in the near future.”

……Really?

His own words sounded like exactly like somebody else’s sophistry.

……If Ymy trains beyond this, will she really be able to purify my mateki?

Ymy’s maturing shinryoku spells.

But as those spells grew in strength, Elbert Resonance would also grow stronger. To get rid of that repulsion, Ymy would try even harder but the Elbert Resonance barrier will get even stronger?

An endless vicious cycle. It would undoubtedly turn into that prediction.

“Th-That’s why……for today…………”

It was clear when he saw Ymy’s eyes just before. She hadn’t been holding back and used all her power. With the result being the Elbert Resonance just now, it would be difficult for her to purify his mateki in her current state.

“……………………”

Ymy didn’t speak as she drew deep breaths.

“……You’re right.”

A dry smile.

Different from the long silence just now, she spoke intermittently.

“So it wasn’t possible again. ……How bad it is, even though I’m supposed to be the Baptism Priestess. I’ll be scolded by Horn-san like this too.”

“Horn?”

There was only one Guard in Sophia Tenketsu Palace who identified with that name.

The third Sennenshi, Horn Nova. Born with a unique shinryoku spell, she was the Ex Machina who was versed in every kind of gun.

“That Sennenshi? Did something happen?”

“……Just a little something.”

Ymy rubbed her eyes to dispel her faintly self-deprecating smile and moved her hand away from the bed.

“Hey, Sheltis, I want to get some outside air so shall we go to the floor above?”

Come with me.

With her delicate back telling him that, Ymy’s vestments fluttered.

“……I’ll remember more than necessary if we talk in this room, after all.”

### Part 6

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 22, the hospital in the tower.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

“Thank you very much.”

──Fuu.

Taking a quiet deep breath, Monica let down the edge of her shirt that she’d been holding up.

“The swelling from the internal bleeding is also receding.”

“It looks like the hot compress I received from you worked out well.”

In front of the doctor who was scribbling away at her chart, she held her flank.

The battle at the Governmental Sector.

The wound she had sustained when fighting the clones that Maha Golden had summoned. When she received the blow, it had been enough to stop her breathing and even knock her unconscious, but it looked like the first-aid she’d received at the Governmental Sector had been good.

“……At first, I was wondering how many ribs had broken.”

“That’s because the muscle density around the ribs is thin. There’s nothing to protect the bone so there are times when the pain is intense despite nothing having broken.”

The old bespectacled doctor shrugged.

“So, how is it? Do you still feel pain?”

“……We took a break for the entirety of last evening so it’s pretty much gone.”

“That is great news. Then you wish to participate in training immediately starting from tomorrow?”

That’s right. It had been three days since returning from the Governmental Sector. Commuting to the hospital like this every day was all for the sake of returning to training tomorrow.

“Hr─m, I recommend that you only do something like light running for the first day.”

“What about practicing with a weapon?”

“I’ll permit it if there’s no opponent. It gets much harsher when facing somebody else. Well, I can tell that you will exercise discretion.”

The old doctor smiled wryly with a steaming cup in hand.

“I’ll say this again, but only practice swings, okay?”

“……Understood.”

She was relieved. Practice swings and running……she originally wanted to move more for the sake of rehabilitation as well but having resolved first that training was out of the question, she couldn’t voice such luxuries.

“Thank you very much.”

Leaving that place, she continued down the hallway towards the elevator.

“……What should I do?”

Waiting for the elevator to arrive, Monica gazed absentmindedly at the corridor’s window.

The weather was good so she’d finished off the laundry before coming. Cleaning her room……to begin with, her room was exceedingly empty so there was no need to clean it.

Like this, there was nothing to do when she returned to the residences.

It seemed that new Cadet Guards would often go on strolls in the tower. However, for she who had been living here since her time as an apprentice Priestess, going on a walk now was……

“……No, isn’t that an excuse?”

Walking through every floor of the tower. Let’s start from the bottom and go up in order. The goal will be the Priestesses’ floors. Entry is restricted from regular visitors but Guards who are affiliated with the tower can access the elevator leading to the Priestesses’ floors so there’s no problem.

“I just thought of this while walking but that child also has faith.”

It couldn’t be helped that she’d be interested in Ymy’s situation since yesterday. She hadn’t appeared when the time came to have the meeting with Cadres Guard Ishtar, and she didn’t appear when the meeting ended either.

……The reason for that is that her training ran late?

……Would she fail in training after going as far as becoming a Priestess?

“Though really……it’s not something I should speak about.”

I wonder if I can advise her? She’s my precious kouhai from when I was an apprentice Priestess. Ymy also cherishes me as her senpai even now.

“That’s decided then.”

Monica nodded persuasively and walked to the elevator.

### Part 7

Floor 287 of the tower. Having followed Ymy, what awaited Sheltis outside the elevator was the Priestess floor belonging to Ymy.

“Sheltis……since I became a Priestess, there were four people that required purification and were carried over. Do you remember that?”

“Since I just heard it not too long ago.”

It was something pertaining to others like him who were afflicted with mateki so there was no way he could forget.

“Then do you also remember their symptoms?”

“Eh? Ahh, umm, they were people that were under mind control and unconscious, and”

There was a patient that had necrosis occur due to the decaying effect of mateki. There was also a patient who had his or her blood color change because of the deadly poisonous effects of mateki. Both had left behind a bloodstain in the purification room.

“Ah, but……that doesn’t match the number.”

There were four altogether that had been brought before Ymy. One of them had mind control, one had necrosis and one had deadly poison. That was a total of three people. Then what about the last one?

“There’s still one more person……there’s a child whose mateki I couldn’t purify.”

At the windowsill of the giant stained glass.

Placing her delicate hand upon the silver window frame, the Priestess turned towards him.

“He is in a coma. There is no pain or bleeding. That child who won’t wake no matter what anybody does is sleeping in the hospital within this tower. My shinryoku is probably……no, it should definitely be strong. However, that mateki’s propagation speed is fast……for example, even if an entire division is purified, the remaining parts will replace it in that time.”

“ Think of it as an extremely hardy weed. Even if you cut the leafy part, as long as the roots remain underground, it’ll grow again, right? It’s the same as that. “

“……That kind of mateki.”

He had faced countless Yuugenshu during his time as an Elite Guard but he had never seen mateki like that.

“Then that’s even more reason. Even if you say you failed the purification, it’s the first time I’ve heard of mateki like that too so even for Priestesses, there’s no way they would be able to immediately respond to it.”

“But Sheltis, it’s because they understand that that there are people who can’t forgive Ymy. For example, friends of the one in a coma because of that mateki.”

“Friends?”

“……Priestess Viola and her younger sister, Horn, were raised together with many children in an orphanage in the Third Living District.”

Ymy was looking at something from beside the window.

That was the direction of the Third Living District which was the furthest from the tower.

“They left the orphanage and became a Priestess and Sennenshi and I’ve heard from Viola that they’d like to return the favor to the orphanage that raised them. They keep the bare minimum to live and give the entirety of their wages to the orphanage.”

“……That Horn is?”

When he was an Elite Guard and before that, Sheltis had never been in a unit with Horn.

However he had heard about her outstanding ability and ruthless disposition that forsook others. To think, she could do that for somebody she didn’t know?

“It seems that for Viola and Horn who were raised in an orphanage, those that receive the same treatment are the same as family to them. There’s no way they could stay calm when their family is afflicted by the Yuugenshu’s mateki……and the direction of that anger turned towards Ymy who couldn’t purify that mateki.”

“Horn-san is already disgusted that it’s impossible for me though.”

Ymy showed a dry self-deprecating smile.

“‘ That’s enough, I’ll do it. I’ll find that Yuugenshu and defeat it. When it’s defeated, Tessha’s mateki should be dispelled and this will all be resolved. ‘ That’s why Horn-san goes out to patrol of her own accord……even though policing the Biotope is a job nobody really wants to do.”

───Ahh, I see.

He finally understood why Ymy had wanted to try purifying his mateki.

“It sounds like Horn has returned. Eyriey said she saw her at the Living Districts.”

“……Yeah.”

The child named Tessha who was stuck in an endless coma.

She had been reminded of something because Horn, who was equivalent to family for that child, had returned to the tower. She had been reminded of the mateki of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song which resided within her childhood friend’s body and could not be purified by the Priestesses, just like that child.

……That child and I are overlapping within Ymy.

……So that’s why she couldn’t do nothing.

There were people whose mateki hadn’t been purified. She felt only guilt because of that and thought that she must at least try purifying Sheltis’ mateki.

“So the reason you were running late for the meeting yesterday really was Priestess training?”

“I just had them extend it as long as possible. Yours is also dangerous, but that child’s mateki is really dangerous. Horn-san says……she’ll defeat the Yuugenshu that caused this but that’s worrisome. I think it’s for the best that a Priestess purify it.”

“Mm? It’s not good to defeat it?”

The child named Tessha had fallen into a comatose state after being afflicted with mateki. If the Priestesses couldn’t purify it, wouldn’t it be fine if the main body of the mateki was defeated?

“ If the Yuugenshu is defeated, the mateki will disappear ── that is true in the majority of cases. But the death agony of a powerful Yuugenshu’s mateki is strong. There are types where if the main body is defeated, their mateki will run out of control. “

“We Priestesses call that ‘ delayed sin type ‘ mateki. ‘ S vector, eighth class ‘……that’s the common name of the Yuugenshu that Horn-san is chasing after but if it’s a delayed sin type, then far from being cured, she’ll get worse……we also have to consider the effects it’ll have on her life.”

Delayed sin type mateki.

It was a rare mateki that Sheltis had only heard once or twice. If he hadn’t heard the explanation from Ymy just now, he would’ve even forgotten it existed.

“……So there is that. But shouldn’t Horn know about that?”

“Yeah. But she thinks that’s the only option left.”

Betting on the chance that it wasn’t a delayed sin type, she would search for the S vector, eighth class hiding somewhere on this gigantic Orbie Clar floating continent . It was an outrageous mortification like trying to find grains of salt in a desert.

“But if time passes, Ymy──”

You should continue to grow as you accumulate more experience and training: just before he said that.

Clack, ck……cla……

Footsteps resounded from the elevator and the emergency stairs at the same time. The owners of the footsteps came across each other at the passage’s intersection and came to a stop.

“A Cadet Guard?”

“Ahh……g-good morning, Captain Horn!”

In contrast to the stifled voice was a voice shaking with nervousness.

……This voice is Monica?

……And somebody else; could it be the person Monica’s talking to is her?

“What business does a Cadet Guard have on a Priestess’ floor?”

“R-Right. I have a report regarding the expedition to the Governmental Sector we traveled together on.”

“……The Governmental Sector?”

With those few words.

Something sharp was mixed into her voice.

“You just spoke of the Governmental Sector. The one who accompanied Ymy Ele Soufflenictole to the Governmental Sector was you?”

“That ri…………!”

Monica’s voice paused. At the same time, it felt like she gulped. At the same time came the sound of a horribly shaky breath taken with anguish.

──What happened?

“Monica-senpai!?”

She who probably had the same thoughts as Ymy, clothed in her vestments, ran towards the intersection.

“ Sheltis. “

“I know.”

He ran down the corridor after Ymy and the two turned to the passage that continued on towards the intersection.

What laid before them there was ── in the center of the intersection, Monica had the barrel of a revolving handgun pressed up against her brow.

“You can’t even react to something of this level. To think that a Cadet Guard of this caliber would be chosen as an escort to the Governmental Sector.”

“M-My apologies. It was……so sudden.”

“Sudden? So you would say ‘ because it was sudden ‘ when attacked by a Yuugenshu.”

“…………No.”

“This is a level that can’t even be discussed. In the end, Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Guards are just a gathering of riffraff.”

Monica was downcast as she stayed silent. In contrast, Horn returned the handgun to the holder at her waist and sighed with disgust.

“Horn-san!?……What……are you doing!”

At the same time Ymy’s footsteps rang out as she approached, the blinder-wearing Sennenshi turned to her.

“Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

“You’re comrades of this tower, aren’t you!? Even so, you stuck a handgun up to her……what are you trying to do!”

“Comrade?”

The Sennenshi’s voice became even more of a sneer with Ymy closing in on her with an angry look.

“It would fine if she was at least helpful in odd jobs, but this kind of hindrance isn’t fit to be called a comrade. The Sennenshi, a portion of the Elite Guards and about a third of the apprentice Priestesses are passable. They have their uses. It’s fine if the rest just maintain weapons in the corner at best.”

“……Are you seriously saying that?”

“Seriously? You want me to say that I’d entrust my back to useless Guards? Then first, shall we try having a Priestess pick a Cadet Guard that’s not her Sennenshi as a partner?”

Facing Ymy who was standing there dumbfounded, the tall gunner drew one step closer.

“Good timing; there’s something I wanted to say to you.”

“……What is it?”

The two were basically glaring at each other.

“It looks like you went to the Governmental Sector.”

“……Is there something about that?”

“Hah! Aren’t you being easygoing, going on a sightseeing trip without doing your Priestess training?”

“We had a goal. It was not a trip.”

“Then you have some definite achievements.”

“That……was not what the meeting this time was about, it was about the aforementioned──”

“The case with the attack by some third organization or something? I heard you let the ringleader boldly run away just before catching him.”

Ymy bit her bottom lip.

“In the first place, you──”

“Hold it.”

Interrupting Horn’s words, Sheltis stood between her and Ymy.

“It’s not good for there to be discord between Priestesses and Sennenshi. I’ve been listening until now but only you have a provocative tone.”

Their lines of sight were at about the same height.

Looking on at her directly, the blinder-wearing woman wrinkled her brow.

“I was wondering who it was, but another Cadet Guard? Small fry, who are you mouthing──”

“Do you always speak like that?”

“……Always?”

“I can’t understand how you deal with the Priestesses who are your colleagues and that Cadet Guard you placed a gun to with that hostility when you’re all comrades of the same tower. Do you approach somebody dear to you with that tone too?”

“──”

With the same brazenly expressionless face, Horn’s mouth tightened into a line for just an instant.

“What an audacious Cadet Guard. Protecting a Priestess, it’s almost like you’re under the delusion that you’re a Sennenshi?”

“I simply stated what I thought. I wouldn’t like there to be discord between a Priestess and Sennenshi.”

“……Discord? Who would be friendly with a Priestess that can’t even save a single child──”

“Horn? You should stop right around there.”

The elevator’s bell dinged at the same time a woman’s voice was heard.

There stood a petite woman wearing a simple vestment consisting of a single piece of cloth.

“……Elder sister.”

The Sennenshi turned around nervously.

“Horn, I heard that Ymy-san is tired from continuous training. I don’t know what you want to say but put an end to it already.”

“……But elder sister!”

“The barrier transfer ceremony is approaching. The Queen will be able to complete her mission with the barrier and take three days of rest while the Priestesses support the barrier in her stead, you know?”

──Everything was contrasting.

Viola was not shaken no matter how much her younger sister strengthened her tone. Oh so quietly, her words permeated like waves upon water’s surface.

“This time Syun-rei is in charge of it but even the Priestesses need to make preparations to make up for being shorthanded. Horn, do you intend to prevent Ymy-san from making those preparations?”

“…………”

“Now, go back. We will not stay within the tower for long. We will be dropping by the orphanage as always tomorrow, right?”

“…………Understood.”

With a momentary sigh, Horn’s heel struck the floor. Without a word, she started to turn to leave──

“Horn, what do you do when turning your back on someone?”

“……I’ll be excusing myself.”

The Sennenshi spat that out like a curse and left. Viola watched her disappear towards the elevator with a stern expression and then exhaled in an adorable manner.

“Fuu. I’m sorry, Ymy-san. You two there as well, did Horn perhaps say something rude?”

“Eh……n-no! I-I-I-I’m fine!”

Monica denied it in a great fluster when the conversation suddenly turned to her.

“Is that so? If she did, tell me and I’ll have a word with her. ……Well then, I’ll be excusing myself because I have training in the tower to undergo for the first time in a long while.”

The third Priestess bowed deeply.

Watching her as she left with small steps befitting her short stature, Sheltis muttered with a sigh.

“They really are a contrasting pair of sisters.”

The older sister would fix whatever was complicated by the younger sister who didn’t trust people. The younger sister understood that as well so her older sister was the only one that she couldn’t oppose.

“……It’s been like that since long ago. Viola’s so wonderful and mature.”

Maybe she’d been really nervous. Ymy drooped her stiffened shoulders, placed a hand to her chest and took repeated deep breaths.

“Monica-senpai as well, are you okay? Suddenly having a gun pressed up to you.”

“Ahh……that really did surprise me but it’s not like I was actually shot.”

Rubbing her brow that had the gun pressed against it, Monica smiled wryly.

“By the way, Sheltis, why are you on the Priestess’ floor?”

“Ah……“

“ Oh boy. ”

Ilis Machine crystal and Ymy both exclaimed at the same time.

“Did something happen?”

“N-No, see. U-U─mm……see, you said it as well. There was something to report about the Governmental Sector mission.”

……There’s no way I could talk about the real matter.

He couldn’t say that he’d come to have his mateki purified. That he and Ymy were childhood friends……was a truth only known to a handful of people so it wasn’t something to be loose-lipped about.

“You too, Monica, what’s up?”

“Me? I……well, it’s about the same as yours.”

Oh, that’s unexpected. Just when I thought she’d answer concisely, her answer’s lacking the usual clarity.

“R-Rather than that, Ymy.”

“Yes?”

Ymy stared in wonder and inquired in response. Looking at her from the corner of her eyes, she who had been Ymy’s senpai when she was an apprentice Priestess cleared her throat for some reason.

“W-Well……during the meeting, I heard from Cadres Guard Ishtar that your training was taking an unusually long time. Y-You know? I used to be an apprentice Priestess as well so it caught my interest.”

“ Haha─n, I’ve figured it out. “

Ilis Machine crystal sparkled.

“ So the senpai who’s prone to worrying was worried about whether her cute kouhai was doing well and came to take a look. “

“Ohh, so that’s what it is, Monica. You’re good at looking after people as always.”

“Wha……! Y-You’re wrong, Sheltis! What I had to say was just an extra in the end.”

“ Again with that. Ah, your heart rate just shot up all at once? “

“Kuu!? But I──”

“Monica-senpai!”

Monica was trying to take a step backwards when she was caught by Ymy whose eyes were shining.

“Senpai, is that true? You were worried about me?”

“N-No……well……you know, it’s a given that a Guard worries about a Priestess.”

The unit leader was mumbling her words.

……Well, it looks like this will end without me needing to think up a reason for why Ymy and I are together.

Secretly relieved, Sheltis walked towards the elevator.

“ Sheltis, Eyriey and Yuto might be coming to play around now. “

“Ah, that’s right, we have to hurry. Well then, Monica, see you tomorrow.”

“Ah, h-hey, Sheltis, wait! I’m not done talking───!”

### Part 8

“……What’s this, it’s awfully noisy outside.”

Leon closed the book he was reading and stood up when he heard several voices coming from the hall.

This was floor 287 belonging to the Priestesses. A civilian wouldn’t be able to enter and it was unthinkable for a Guard to cause such a commotion on a Priestess’ floor.

So is the one causing this commotion Meimel? Or maybe it’s Ran?

After he contemplated for a little while at that spot.

“……I’ll leave it alone.”

Leon opened the book he was reading again and sat back down.

It was a usual thing for Ran to shriek because of Meimel’s pranks so he wouldn’t want to add himself to the mix. And above all, there was somebody who would be anxious if he were to move from this spot right now.

“───”

He looked down wordlessly at the table and there was a silent black-haired girl with her eyes shut in front of it.

……It’s about time for the barrier transfer ceremony for Syun-rei.

……She’s sure to be uneasy so I have to be by her side until then.

Normally, this would be the time when he would have a spar with somebody like Ran. Horn Nova had also returned to the tower after a long absence so he had wanted to spar with her but he had to hold back for a little while.

“…………Leon.”

“Mm?”

Silently gazing at her, the girl whose escort he worked as opened her eyes.

“…………I’ll make some tea. What do you want?”

In that case, I’ll do it ─── he had reflexively gone to say that but pushed it back down when he got to his throat.

“Something a little more fragrant.”

“…………Okay.”

She quietly headed to the kitchen.

……That’s right.

……She’ll be anxious if she’s not doing anything. There would be no meaning to it if I did it in her stead.

With a smile on his face that had hints of wryness in it, Leon watched the girl’s small back as she left.

### 045. Chapter 3: Hard to Control

## Chapter 3 – Hard to Control

### Part 1

“Eh-he-heh─, now then, Sheltis-kun, which one is it? Isn’t it time for a decision?”

Eyriey held out two cards with a smile full across her face.

“ Sheltis, Sheltis, the left one is definitely ‘ Wrong The Demon Instructor ‘. I recommend that you pick the right card. “

“But you know, Ilis? The left card has been Wrong The Demon Instructor eleven times in a row so I think this time the right one is Wrong The Demon Instructor . Having Wrong The Demon Instructor on the left twelve times in a row is……”

“ You’ve said almost the same thing ever since ‘ Having the Wrong The Demon Instructor on the left two times in a row is…… ‘. “

“Shel-nii, do your best!”

While Yuto and Ilis machine crystal were holding their breaths.

“The left side is definitely correct this time. This one!”

He pulled the left side card of the two Eyriey was holding out with all the fighting spirit in his body. He timidly turned over the card and……

“……Geh. Instructor Yumelda.”

“ See, see, that’s why I said so. “

It was a card game that had secretly spread amongst the Cadet Guards. Throwing out the Wrong The Demon Instructor card which had the whip-wielding Instructor Yumelda on it, Sheltis sighed for the twelfth time.

“……I lost again.”

“Yippie─. This is Sheltis’ twelfth time being last. Okay, just gotta update the records!”

Eyriey wrote the records of battle in a massive memo book.

“Shel-nii, you lost again?”

“That’s right─. On the other hand, Yuto’s strong─; you’ve been in first twelve times in a row now.”

“Ehehe, Yuto’s strong? Strong?”

Yuto rubbed her eyes from drowsiness with a smile across her face.

“ Ah, it’s almost dawn. “

“……Oh crap.”

Narrowing his eyes at the clock’s digital display, Sheltis let out a little exclamation.

They had started this card game with the three of them at dusk. It was already around ten hours ago that the game had started with Eyriey adding the condition of “We’ll end it if you manage to win?”. He’d lost twelve times in a row already since that……so when he realized it, it was already the next morning.

“Eyri-nee, Yuto’s tired.”

“Right─. Then I guess it’s about time we head back since I have to work at the shop in the morning too.”

Eyriey packed away the cards they’d used for the game, half-eaten candy, and some strange invention-like thing into her bag.

“Well then, that’s that.”

“Ah, Eyriey, hold on. Are you okay returning with just the two of you? If needed, I’ll take you there.”

He had asked Eyriey who was shouldering her bag to wait. Public order around Sophia Tenketsu Palace was guaranteed but there were hardly any people in the early morning so caution was required.

“See, there might be somebody like that purse snatcher you saw before.”

“It’s fine─ it’s fine─. I’ve already made defense goods so if anything happens, we’ll fight them off with the powerful flamethrower or one hundred million volts stun gun meant for repelling perverts, okay?”

“……Try not to get caught red-handed for possession of dangerous articles.”

“Got it, got it. Well then, we’ll come tomorrow or some other time to play again. Shasa-chan said to come play after all.”

“Tomorrow? To the tower?”

“Yeah, that’s right, is there something about that?”

“Well look, today is……”

He pointed at the calendar on the table when Eyriey tilted her head.

“ It’s the day of the barrier transfer ceremony. The day when the Queen relinquishes control over Hyouketsu Kyoukai to a Priestess. I think it’s Syun-rei’s turn this time. “

“At the previous barrier transfer……you remember, the barrier was broken. Ever since then, even within the tower, security is strengthened during the barrier transfer. It seems that the Regular Guards take shifts patrolling the tower so even entering is difficult.”

“Hohoh, is that so?”

But Eyriey still looked unconcerned and seemed to take something from his doubts.

“But Shasa-chan said it’d be fine if I showed them this card.”

“Card? Ahh, this is a badge. It’s the same as mine…………”

The plate was shining silver. While looking at the contents carved on its surface, Sheltis stood stock still, even forgetting to breathe.

“……Eyriey.”

“Mm?”

“Where did you get this?”

“Ehehe, it’s amazing, right? Shasa-chan secretly gave me it.”

“……Amazing……this is beyond that level.”

The floor access carved into the badge was ‘ 290 ‘.

Of the 291 aboveground floors that Sophia Tenketsu Palace had, every floor except the highest one, ‘ Paradise ‘ ── the display meant that she could freely come and go to even floor 290 which belonged to the Queen.

……Even Elite Guards shouldn’t be able to enter the Queen’s floor.

……This card is above that?

To access the Queen’s floor, the sole method should be the elevator inoperable to anyone other than those with the authority of a Priestess or Sennenshi. Even Cadres Guard Ishtar can’t enter the Queen’s floor alone. Yet why does Eyriey, a civilian, have such an authoritative badge?

“Eyriey, have you used this?”

“Not yet, why?”

“Nah……I’d like you to tell me if you can use this card. I’m a little interested in that Shasa person.”

A clerk of the tower?

Could a simple clerk prepare this badge so easily?

“Ah─ it’s fine, it’s fine! I wanted to introduce you to Shasa-chan anyway. She’s really cute and nice so look forward to it! Then, see ya!”

“Ahh, wait, Eyriey ──……sheesh, she’s really fast at these times.”

He had no opportunity to call out to her. Looking at Eyriey who had grabbed Yuto’s hand and was running like the wind, Sheltis relaxed his shoulders and folded his arms.

“……Shasa, huh. Was there somebody by that name amongst the tower’s clerks?”

### Part 2

The cold passageway returned to silence.

Ymy walked alone on the dim floor which was lit only by a faint night-light within the frozen air.

Floor 22 of the tower.

She did nothing but continue deeper into that floor which was a gigantic general medical facility.

Past the giant lobby was A ward which was for emergency outpatients.

Continuing further past that was B ward which was for treating heavily injured patients that had to be admitted.

Further past that was C ward was for treating those with serious, life-threatening conditions.

“…………Okay.”

In front of the steel doors that filled her vision, Ymy nodded largely with the intention of spurring herself on.

There was something carved on the door which shined dark grey ── a formal carved seal that gave off bluish white light. The last ward, D ward, which was isolated by shinryoku-infused doors lay beyond here.

“…………”

She placed her hand to the sensor at the side of the door.

It happened soon after the faint shinryoku wavelength from her fingertips was read by a specialized device.

“ Confirmation……regular link with the Shinryoku Theory Bureau……comparing……shinryoku waveform match…………confirming……identified as the fifth Priestess, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole. “

The doors opened in both directions with a stately sound.

…………

…………This is that kind of place.

Ceiling, floor, corridor.

There were formal carved seals applied to all of those. In the past, all the apprentice Priestesses had finished these by carving their shinryoku into the surfaces.

If not for that, it would be impossible to shelter patients contaminated with mateki. At any rate, if a normal person were to touch a patient contaminated with mateki, they would be infected with the same mateki at that moment.

“……Umm.”

She had last come here over half a year ago. Ever since she’d tasted her first setback as the Baptism Priestess, it had become a place she did not wish to visit on her own accord.

“D09, this is it.”

She confirmed the room’s name many times and timidly opened the door.

A pure white room ── the room’s ceiling, floor and walls were painted completely in white. A single boy continued to sleep there while attached to an artificial breathing apparatus. It was a small boy who was not even ten yet.

“Good……morning.”

There was no way a response would come. This boy had not opened his eyes even once since he was trapped in an eternal coma due to powerful mateki.

“……Sorry……the truth is, I wanted to come earlier.”

She might have been able to visit during the breaks between Priestess training. But she couldn’t. It would be miserable……she knew that her heart would only sink if she were to visit when she couldn’t cure him of his mateki.

“? Huh, the vase……”

A vase of azure glass sat by the window side which had its white curtains fluttering. In it was a single flower.

……There was nothing like this the last time I visited.

Civilians were strictly forbidden from entering D ward. Even family were rarely allowed to meet the patient face-to-face. Then who exactly put this flower──

“Does it not suit me?”

“!”

She turned around in a panic at the voice of the person who dropped by without a hint that she was there.

“……Horn-san.”

“I was wondering who would visit other than me.”

The blinder-wearing Sennenshi leaned against the wall with her arms folded.

“What is this? Are you trying to atone?”

“…………”

“If you have no business, then leave. You probably haven’t come to say anything to Tessha.”

…………

…………That’s right, that might be true right now.

Holding her breath, she forced her words of rebuttal back down.

“You look like you want to say something.”

“I won’t speak it.”

Turning her back on Horn, she faced the door.

There’s no meaning in telling her that I know that. That wouldn’t be enough to regain her lost confidence in me, nor would it cause this child to awaken.

“I will convey it to this child with my shinryoku……it will definitely be conveyed.”

In that room after the fifth Priestess left.

“…………What a joke.”

Biting down on the corner of her lip, Horn muttered that with disdain.

“……A dream……hope is not something you should put into words so lightly.”

As great as the sadness when hope is crushed and as deep as the despair when a dream is lost. In truth, not a single Priestess had been able to purify the mateki of this boy who continued to sleep.

……That’s right: they can’t.

It was mateki that had beaten her sister Viola and even the first Priestess, Elmeetia.

“──Tessha.”

She placed a hand to the forehead of the boy who continued to have his eyelids shut. She would not be able to touch him either if not for her Guard formal wear.

“Wait for me, I will definitely save you.”

She would find the Yuugenshu that commanded this mateki and subjugate it. She would find it even if it took months or years, and even if she had to traverse from one end of Orbie Clar the floating continent to the other.

“…………It’s time.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall near the ceiling.

“Well then, Tessha, I’ll be going to the orphanage. I’ll make sure to greet everyone on your behalf as well.”

Horn gently held the boy’s hand then left the room.

### Part 3

“ Sheltis, are you awake? Will you answer me, Sheltis? “

His comrade’s voice suddenly came from the communications device attached to the ceiling.

“……Fue? Kagura?”

He poked just his head out of the sheets from atop his bed. He shook his sleepy brain and looked at the clock even while rubbing his vacant eyes.

“Please at least let me sleep until it’s time for training. ……Eyriey and Yuto were here not too long ago.”

“ Don’t talk in your sleep and get up. I’ll be coming to your room in five minutes so wash your face and get changed before then please. “

“Eh, wai……wait, Kagura, at least fifteen minutes ── h-huh? Kagura? Kagura?”

“ ………… “

The communications device clicked and went silent.

“……What was that?”

Raising his upper body off the body, Sheltis supported his head.

“Good morning, and what a nice morning it is.”

“Morning. ……Though it’s still really early.”

3:27. Not even ten minutes had passed since Eyriey and Yuto had left. Thanks to that, even his plan of sleeping right up until it was time to train at four was coming to nothing.

“At any rate, it’s something requiring immediate attention.”

Kagura with the machine helmet worn low over her eyes was as usual, without a hint of sleepiness.

“……Kagura, weren’t you not a morning person?”

“That’s right. But I became wide awake after seeing that.”

“That?”

“Yes, and I’ll be borrowing your work desk for a bit.”

Without waiting for an answer, she took up a position at his desk. Just when he wondered what she was doing, she reached out to the monitor and computer and started typing something quickly.

“That?”

“Yes, the famous agency terminal that’s useless to us Guards.”

Kagura typed in her own login ID and opened window after window. Even as he looked on from behind, he had no idea what was coming because he didn’t recognize any of the windows.

“Sheltis, what I’m about to show you is an anonymous message left on the General Affairs Bureau and Tower Management Bureau’s digital bulletin boards.

“What about it?”

Her fingers that were typing at a high speed stopped for an instant.

“I’ll say this ahead of time……please be prepared.”

Clack.

The instant she pushed the last key, all of the windows on the monitor vanished. In it’s place appeared a single article upon a blue background.

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ── “

“……It’s addressed to everybody in Sophia Tenketsu Palace ?”

He looked down lower with disinterest.

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ──

I shall teach you a valuable secret.

A Yuugenshu has changed its form to that of a person and disguised itself as one of your Guards. In order to draw it out, I recommend exposing all the tower’s Guards to the Priestesses’ baptism spells. “

An absurd amount of time was required for him to process what the message meant.

……It can’t be that the Guard this message is indicating.

He could tell that his fingertips were shaking.

“…………What……this kind of tasteless message.”

Straining his voice, that was all he could say.

……Is this about me?

……Just who did this……who’s trying to agitate the tower’s unease?

“That’s why I told you to prepare yourself.”

Kagura nodded while lounging back on the chair.

“It was sent simultaneously to every one of these agency terminals. Right about now, the executives of the tower should be thinking it’s a prank but they might change their minds.”

“ Hmm, can I ask something? I should have realized it as well if they sent it to the agency terminals. Especially if it’s related to the Guards, I regularly perform keyword checks. “

Ilis Machine crystal blinked while not able to understand that one thing.

That was a given as Ilis machine crystal ’ sensors spread out to cover the entire electrical system. It would be strange for Ilis machine crystal not to notice something that Kagura did.

“By the way, it seems the Guard Regulations Institute……in other words, the Guard Control Bureau received this message late. If we consider that the Environmental Bureau and the Mechanical Bureau and the others received it at the same time, the chance that sending it to the Guard Control Bureau was delayed is high.”

“ ……I get it. My searches prioritize the Guard Regulations Institute first of all so I was late in discovering it because of that. ”

“Yes. In my case, I also hold the title of a computer researcher of the Tower Management Bureau. Thanks to logging in with my ID from there, I managed to be one of the first to read this message.”

Kagura sighed after removing her machine helmet.

“I don’t think there’s any need to explain who this is talking about.”

“…………Yeah.”

He didn’t know who was behind it, but it was a sly tactic.

While asserting that it had changed forms to that of a Guard, it agitated their unease without revealing the Guard’s name. Saying that they should expose everybody to the Priestesses’ baptism spells was also of the same type of method. This was basically saying to expose who this was in front of the surrounding Guards and Instructors.

“I’d just like to ask but what will happen if this actually gets implemented?”

“……It’s not something I’d like to think much about.”

Shinryoku was like deadly poison to his body which was afflicted with mateki.

If it was a Priestess-level baptism spell, even if Elbert Resonance did not occur, light wounds similar to burns would be received.

“As a silver lining, the tower’s executives are also pretty much disregarding this message. There have been numerous messages received in the past that aimed to fan up the unease of the tower.”

“……Is it okay if I have faith in that?”

“The basis for that is in who this message was addressed to.”

Kagura nodded. She temporarily removed the window being displayed and continued on to open several windows at the same time.

“See, even if I search for it, it’s only spits out red errors. Nobody within the tower or the Living Districts sent this.”

“ It came from outside Orbie Clar the floating continent ; in other words, it’s was sent remotely from somewhere in the Lagoon floating archipelago . “

“That’s what it means. It would still carry credibility if it were from someone within the tower. However, how would somebody from outside Orbie Clar the floating continent know information like there being a Yuugenshu who changed forms into a Guard when nobody within the tower knows? ── The executives are also thinking that; well, it is the appropriate conclusion.”

“……From outside Orbie Clar the floating continent , huh.”

That would have to be how it is. There should be no way somebody from the Lagoon floating archipelago which lay outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent would know that secret which only a handful of people knew. Anybody would think that way.

……Then that’s even more reason.

……Who is it that knows my secret despite not being on Orbie Clar the floating continent ?

“Kagura and Ilis, do either of you know where in the Lagoon floating archipelago this was sent from?”

“ ……I’m trying my best but narrowing the scope to a certain extent is the utmost I can manage. “

“Same here. It looks like it will be a harsh challenge. Of course the sender’s name was also blank; basically, they’re anonymous.”

If that was what these two said, then he wouldn’t receive a favorable response no matter who he asked.

“……Thank you, Kagura, it really helped me that you told me about this.”

“Yes. But what will you do from now on? We have early morning training scheduled for today but will you fabricate some excuse and investigate?”

“No.”

He shook his head at Kagura’s idea and stood from his chair.

“It would be like asking people to doubt me if I took a break immediately after this. I’ll train normally and think about this after that’s over.”

“ That would be the most natural. I will be keeping track of all the executives’ movements so I’ll inform you if something happens. “

“I see. Understood……however, one thing.”

He could feel Kagura’s gaze through the eyeshade of her machine helmet.

“What is it?”

“You can ignore this case. I have a feeling that Monica will come to suspect your mateki someday. I believe it would be best if you think about what you will say to her at that time.”

“…………”

He averted his eyes from the steady gaze of the Nell girl.

“……I’ll think about that at a different time. I have to focus on training and this case for now.”

It took his utmost to say just that.

### Part 4

A rocky area with boulders large enough that one had to look up at them obstructed the way.

It was a high-difficult field that necessitated Running between the rocks on a path that wasn’t a path and occasionally jumping from boulder to boulder.

“─is, ─ltis.”

Sweat trickled down his brow as he jumped from a large boulder to the next.

It had been dark when their early morning training started but now the sunlight coming from overhead was steadily raising the temperature.

“Sheltis, are you listening!?”

“……! Wawaa, wh-what? What is it?”

Sheltis finally came back to his senses after having his name called right next to his ear.

“It looks like you didn’t hear me.”

“……Sorry.”

Sheesh ── Monica had a wry smile on as she ran beside him.

“It was about our next mission. I was asking if there was anything you wanted.”

“……Then,”

While jumping down to the slanted boulder ahead.

“I’ve said it before but I’d like for us to gain experience in policing the Nature District and escorting VIPs. Since there are many missions like that after becoming Regular Guards.”

“That’s what I thought as well so I looked into it but both of those kinds of missions are out of stock.”

“Darn, really?”

“I meant to talk about that earlier but I guess you weren’t listening then either.”

Monica went from having a bitter smile on her face to slightly narrowing her eyes.

“It’s strange for you to be inattentive during training; did something happen?”

“Ah, no……I think I’m fine.”

He couldn’t say that he was helplessly interested in the anonymous message the tower had received.

……I don’t like the feeling of it.

……This might be the first time I’ve been unable to concentrate on training this badly.

“About the missions, if those are the circumstances, then I’m fine with other missions. Those two are the important ones but it would be imbalanced if we didn’t take any other missions at all……the Governmental Sector one was a little stressing so maybe we should take a more comfortable one next.”

“ Ah, then maybe you should go for the night patrol shift? “

The mission of taking shifts to patrol Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s grounds ── when Cadet Guards were about to take on an important mission, that was one of the types of missions used to warm up. Even if it was night, it was within Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s territory so there was hardly any danger and even if there was, Instructors and Regular Guards could rush over immediately.

“Yeah, it seems like we could start patrolling the tower even starting today.”

“That’s right but I’ve been hearing that there have been a lot of troublesome things even in patrolling the tower lately, you know? Criminals looking for a reaction……there’s a troublesome bunch looking to slip past the security and infiltrate the grounds. Did you see that tasteless message this morning?”

“When you say message……”

“The one about there being a Yuugenshu mixed in amongst the Guards, or did you not see it?”

“Ah, well…………”

Having the question asked so forthrightly, he unintentionally was strained for words.

“……I saw it. Yeah.”

“Right? Jeez, trying to make the Guards waver with that, there’s a limit to how much they can try to make a fool of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

While jumping from rock to rock, the indignant Monica raised a brow.

“……Monica, would you find it unpleasant if there really was someone like that?”

“Hm?”

“Um, well, how to say this, it’s a little different from a Yuugenshu but…………if there was someone amongst the Guards carrying mateki.”

“? I don’t really get it but nothing other than the Yuugenshu carry mateki, right? That shouldn’t happen, but wouldn’t it be dangerous if there was one in the tower?”

She had a confused expression.

Only Yuugenshu carried mateki. If the former apprentice Priestess were to say, her definition of a Yuugenshu would probably be “whether it possesses mateki or not”.

In other words, he would also count as a Yuugenshu by her definition because he was endowed with mateki.

……That’s right.

……Monica’s reaction is definitely normal.

“Sheltis, were you perhaps seriously thinking about that message?”

“N-Nothing of the sort? But you know, I kinda wonder where that message was sent from.”

“It seems like an investigation would happen should it pass a certain threshold, but I doubt it will happen for this. It’s obvious to anyone at first glance that it’s a nasty joke, after all. It’s best to ignore those.”

“……Yeah.”

He relaxed his fist that he’d unconsciously clenched and took a deep breath. Renewing the stagnated air within his lungs, Sheltis jumped down from the final boulder.

“Whew, we’re finally done.”

Monica wiped off the large beads of sweat flowing endlessly off her and looked up at the sky.

“It will be noon soon so we’ll end the morning part here. From 3 PM, we have a lecture at the meeting room so we’ll gather there.”

“Hmm? What about Kagura and Vaiel?”

“Over there.”

The direction Monica pointed to ── the two of them were being chased around by the whip-wielding Instructor Yumelda.

“It looks like the Instructor is personally coaching them because they’re normally absent from training. They said they’d be doing it until just before the unit battles so I don’t think it will end for a little while yet.”

“……I see.”

“I was planning on heading to the cafeteria so would you like to join me for lunch?”

“Umm.”

He nodded reflexively but swallowed his words in a hurry.

“Sorry……I have something to do. I apologize but I need to head back to my room once.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, but I’ll make sure to be at the meeting room. ──See you!”

Making a small wave with his hand, Sheltis ran straight along the paved road to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

### Part 5

The impressive stained glass colorfully refracted the sun’s rays shining down brilliantly.

The light and sound and, needless to say, the air of that place were serene ── a single female Guard trudged along in that floor serene with holiness.

“……Hr─m, this might be a probleeem.”

The second and third Priestesses. This floor was prepared for them as well as the Sennenshi guarding them and was revered as holy ground by all the Guards and apprentice Priestesses.

To one day become the owner of this floor ── it was a place aspired towards for those aiming to become a Priestess or Sennenshi.

“Hr─m, hr─m, I wonder what was wrooong.”

Nevertheless, there was not a trace of nervousness about the woman shouldering a large metal spear.

She spoke to herself with her arms folded and a frown on her face.

On this floor where other Guards would become unable to walk straight due to nerves, she continued as if she’d just been invited over to a dear friend’s house.

“So the cause really is a dislike of vegetables? No, no, it might be the arrangement. ……Hr─m.”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Ishtar-san.”

A voice called out and stopped her.

She had flaxen hair and light brown eyes and wore a vestment crafted from a single cloth.

“Ah─, it’s Viola-sama; we haven’t contacted each other at allll.”

“It has been a while. You seem as energetic as ever. I was wondering if you would be a Sennenshi the next time I returned to the tower.”

“Ehehe, Ishtar is still inexperienced.”

“Is that so? See, I heard that Ymy is still undecided on a Sennenshi.”

“……Ahh, that’s right.”

A small laugh leaked out from the Guard’s lips.

“Well, that’s Ymy-sama’s decision─. Her destiny, so to speak.”

“That’s true. By the way, are you dealing with a difficult issue? It’s rare for you to make a troubled face so I ended up calling out to you.”

“……Uu. That’s actually riiight. I’m troubled about my little sister, I’sa-chan. Would you care to listen?”

The Cadres Guard drooped her shoulders with a heavy and dark expression.

“Yes. As a fellow older sister.”

“Well then! I made omurice for my super precious I’sa-chan a little while ago for her lunch, okaaay.”

“How wonderful. Ishtar-san, you truly care for your little sister.”

“That’s right─. But listen to this: I’sa-chan was happy up until I said I’d make her omurice……but she was suddenly in a bad mood when the time to eat came around and finally ended up bursting into tears.”

“Oh my, my. Pardon my asking but how did it taste?”

Faced with Viola who was tilting her head, Ishtar shook her head largely from side to side.

“It was perfect─. At any rate, we’ve been together for over ten years. I have a clear understanding of what I’sa-chan prefers for taste and presentation.”

“Oh dear, then it really is a difficult problem. I wonder if anything happened to worsen your little sister’s mood.”

“……Hr─m, I don’t have any ideaaa.”

Ishtar looked troubled to the core.

“Rather, to make her happy, I tried to feed her while saying, ‘ Here you go─, I’sa-chan. It’s luuunch, it’s deliciousss. ‘ Then I’sa-chan suddenly stood up and yelled ‘ Onee-sama, you idiooot── ‘ and ran away crying while still holding her spoon.”

“…………Well, that.”

“Right? It’s strange, right?”

“…………I think it’s because your sister is at the age of independence. You could say she’s really sensitive.”

“Is that sooo?”

“Yes, I as well……it’s not something unrelated to me.”

A shadow clouded the Priestess’ eyes and she smiled a little bitterly.

“That’s riiight, we’re both troubled by our little sisters. But Horn-chan is strong, so I think she’ll be fine no matter what happens, you knooow? I’sa-chan still can’t fight a Yuugenshu alooone.”

“Strength isn’t limited to excellence.”

“Yes, Ishtar is also of that opinion.”

Her expression suddenly brightened and then.

“─Well then, shall we switch topics to that ? About Horn-chan .”

“…………”

With those few words.

That wide floor returned to silence as if frozen.

“I knew it.”

Her lips shaking with a giggle, the third Priestess didn’t attempt to hide her smile.

“Ishtar-san really is Ishtar-san. There’s no way you as the Cadres Guard came here for no reason. You had business with me from the start, didn’t you?”

“Of course─. If not, I wouldn’t be on this flooor; I’d be chasing I’sa-chan who ran off.”

“……Ah, so the omurice story was true.”

“……Though it’s regrettable, it’s true.”

Bursting into laughter once when she saw the Cadres Guard sighing once more, Viola pointed in the direction of her room.

“Shall we speak in my room?”

“No, no, don’t worry. I’m fine if we continue to stand while talking. The story about I’sa-chan was the longer one.”

“It’s scary if it’s too short as well. Well then, let’s continue.”

“Yes. Come to think of it, a long time ago, Horn-chan wanted to search for some Yuugenshu. What was the individual name for that?”

“‘ S vector, eight class ‘. The only witnesses were……children from the orphanage that went on a picnic. I’m told that it looked like a small black kitten when they first found it and enlarged when the children neared it, then attacked them. We’ve also received information that when the Regular Guards that went to combat it thought they had defeated it, it would immediately regenerate.”

“Hohhh hohhh, so if that was found, Horn-chan would fly out of the tower, ignoring orders from anybody.”

“…………”

“At that time, will Viola-sama be able to stop Horn-chan’s rampage?”

### Part 6

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11, Cadet Guard residences.

“……It’s scary seeing this.”

Returning to his room, Sheltis booted up the agency terminal at his work desk.

He entered in his member ID that was carved into his badge and windows popped up rapidly on the monitor. Finally, his fingers that were operating the keys came to a stop at the screen showing the mail.

Received mail ‘ 1 ‘

Sender ‘ ‘

“ To all of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ──

I shall teach you a valuable secret.

A Yuugenshu has changed its form to that of a person and disguised itself as one of your Guards. In order to draw it out, I recommend exposing all the tower’s Guards to the Priestesses’ baptism spells. “

“One message received and the sender is unknown……this is it.”

“ Yes, it’s the same as the message Kagura showed you. It really did arrive later than hers. Though the motive for that is unknown. “

“……No developments; that’s a relief.”

He breathed a sigh of relief as he relaxed.

If a second message had been sent while he was training and the name of the corresponding Guard were written ── he had only avoided that worst-case scenario.

“ Even putting the Priestesses’ baptism spells aside, starting with Ymy, Meimel and Syun-rei are also aware of you. If it comes to it, you should be able to deceive the others with their assistance. “

“……But we can’t solve the root of the problem like that.”

The sender was somebody outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent , meaning they were somewhere on the distant Lagoon floating archipelago . But that sender’s name was blank. It was the same as having nary a clue.

……Somebody outside of Orbie Clar the floating continent who knows of me?

……The Governmental Sector? No, even within the Governmental Sector, there shouldn’t be anybody this well-informed.

“I wonder if my weakness has been grasped.”

“ As long as your opponent’s identity remains unspecified, this will be a one-sided defensive battle. “

With his weakness in hand, the other party might come to him with negotiations. It was like grabbing at clouds but he also required information on the opponent.

“ I’ll do my best and it seems like Kagura will also render assistance. “

“Thanks. I’d also like to think of somebody likely but the message is written like this and the name is also a blank space………………blank, ……blank……space?”

…………Blank?

What is this……nagging feeling?

Something……maybe I……am overlooking something really important?

“ What’s wro── “

“Wait!……I need to concentrate.”

He even stopped breathing as he focused on thinking.

There was no name attached to the mail. It was a blank field without a single character written in it. But what if the fact that there is no name is the most important part of this message?

……Blank……blank……empty…………that basically means bla…………bla……nk.”

………… There is someone .

“ Hey, Sheltis, I’ve been awaiting the time we would meet in this world. “

There was just one person. A person who identified themselves as ‘ Igun-I Blank ‘.

The assassin from the unnamed third organization that attacked the Governmental Sector together with Maha Golden . He had confronted him at the floor where Mikuva’s Crimson Eye shone, that pitch black──

“……Igun-I.”

“ Eh? “

“Ilis, you should remember as well, about that creepy guy we met at the Governmental Sector. He was looking down at us from atop the ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ and, in the end, said he had been waiting for me and wanted to meet me.”

“ He called himself Igun-I Blank ……ahh, I get it. It’s the type of joke that I’m not good with. ……But I wonder if it’s really that person. Is there some kind of proof to confirm this? “

“There’s no proof; it’s really just intuition.”

But he could feel it.

This commotion within him like shivers was telling him that his intuition was correct.

“ Chase me if you want to know the truth. Now, Sheltis, please chase after me. That will be the beginning of everything. “

……The beginning of everything.

……What awaits me after I chase him?

“Is this to lure me out?”

“ It’s a problem that we can’t say you’re over-thinking things. Truthfully, I also have my doubts about that person. I’m curious as to who he is. “

“You’re also interested?”

“ Yes. The truth is, that person, that was my── “

Immediately after.

The crystal portion that was shining brilliantly in blue lost its light and changed to a dark grey.

“Mm?”

“……No, I won’t say. It’s too much to say for a guess. At any rate, pinning down the enemy’s objective is a silver lining. We may be able to figure out a countermeasure so it’s most important.”

He clenched his fist atop his lap.

And──

“Oh?”

Ilis Machine crystal who had lowered the intensity of her light flashed once again.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, an urgent mission is being announced by the Guard Regulations Institute. The location is the Biotope’s S vector section……on the bank of a large salt lake. The nearest patrolling unit of Regular Guards is performing an emergency response so they wish for the Cadet Guards to also participate as a supporting unit.”

“It’s by the Instructor’s recommendation so there’s a chance we might be called.”

It was the same as the time the Regular Guard unit was wiped out by Golden Maha. The primary force would be Elite Guards and Regular Guards and Cadet Guards recommended by the Instructor would act as support for them.

“What are the mission details?”

“ It’s the subjugation of a Yuugenshu. It broke through the encirclement……no……but this is…………? “

Separating from her momentary silence, Ilis machine crystal continued.

“ There was a previous report about this Yuugenshu being sighted. Please wait a moment, I will retrieve the information from Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Yuugenshu list. “

“……It’s a strong one.”

It was no coincidence that it had escaped once in the past and broken through the encirclement this time.

There was a high chance that it possessed a special type of mateki or exceedingly powerful mateki. To kill it for certain, two or three Regular Guard units would be required for a medium-sized one and three for a large-sized one.

“──”

He held fast to his card-shaped badge that shined silver. An order to gather from the Instructor might be sent to this badge at any time.

……If it’s a strong Yuugenshu, two or three Cadet Guard units might be necessary.

……Maybe Monica’s badge has already been contacted at this time?

“Ilis, how is the retrieval?”

“ I just finished the comparison of the entire list, or in other words, the verification checks. The result of a comparison with Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s list yielded one full match. ……But this is troublesome. “

“The Yuugenshu?”

“ Yes. You remember the area I said that the Yuugenshu was found in? “

“A large salt lake. You said it was in the Biotope’s S vector section──”

“ We Priestesses call that ‘ delayed sin type ‘ mateki. ‘ S vector, eighth class ‘……that’s the common name of the Yuugenshu that Horn-san is chasing after. “

……The Yuugenshu Ymy had told him about that time.

“It can’t be.”

The reason Ilis machine crystal said it was troublesome.

……The one Sophia Tenketsu Palace is chasing after now is the one Horn is chasing after?

……In that case, this is bad.

“If somebody is afflicted with that one’s mateki──”

“ Yes. It is mateki that cannot be purified even with the power of the Priestesses. Before victims appear amongst the Guards, swift subjugation of the Yuugenshu is necessary. In the worst case scenario, we will need to tell Ymy. “

The problem was Horn Nova.

She should have also received this information. She should be desiring a one-on-one conclusive battle with that Yuugenshu. But even for a Sennenshi like her, fighting a Yuugenshu whose mateki even a Priestess couldn’t purify while not in a calm state was too dangerous.

“……Ilis. Tell Monica to get ready to head out at once.”

He stood up without turning off the terminal.

He once again put on the jacket he had taken off and fastened the holders at his belt.

……I’ll leave the thing with Igun-I until later.

……This takes priority.

“ Are you heading out? “

“I’ll head to floor 288 first; we need to stop Horn if she’s planning on running off ahead alone.”

### Part 7

The third Living District.

On Orbie Clar the floating continent , it was the section that boasted the largest area of those which were inhabitable. The first Living District had Sophia Tenketsu Palace at its center so the primary residents were Guards of the tower or clerks that worked there. The second Living District was a commercial area with many varieties of shops lined up. Compared with those, this was more of a quiet area with houses.

“It’s been a while since I walked down this road.”

The intersection was dyed with the brilliant yellow colors of autumn.

Laying here and there along the road were flower beds made with brick and even now, kindergarten children were enthusiastically tending to them.

“……Time flows differently here compared to the tower.”

The fragrance of the flowers made her want to stop without thinking. In that place.

Pressing down on her chest at the nostalgic scene that hadn’t changed one bit since she had been raised here, Horn smiled without realizing it.

“……I wonder if everyone’s doing well.”

In the third Living District, there was an orphanage near Minamitoori Park.

Children without relatives, children who had been entrusted to them by busy parents, children who could not open their hearts to the those around them in kindergarten or elementary school ── they were everywhere but this was a facility that gathered up those children who needed a helping hand. It was a place akin to her family’s residence.

“…………”

In response to her high spirits, her steps quickened.

Advancing straight through the intersection filled with summer breezes and immediately after cutting left at the corner with conspicuous giant fir trees lined up, a building whose special trait was its fully white triangular roof leapt into her line of sight.

“──That’s right. They’ll be frightened if I wear this.”

She put her hands behind her head and unfastened the tightly bound knot.

The blinder fell with a swishing sound.

“……On the other hand, it’s hard on me without this.”

She looked down at the blindfold that had fallen onto her palm and smiled wryly.

A blurred world.

The blinder, her palm, the surrounding trees, the building; everything had two images.

The territorial type shinryoku spell that the sisters, Horn and Viola, possessed inherently ── it was a side effect of the power called ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘.

That was the power to see just slightly into the future.

It made shooting after reading where the opponent would dodge to possible and could be called a Heavenly blessing for a gunner. However, at the same time, the fact that she couldn’t control it herself was a weakness. Because the world of the present she saw with her own eyes and the world of the future shown by ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘ would overlap and blur, if she continued to view both, her brain would be unable to keep up and she would experience dizziness.

……Since I was born.

……Because I’m different from nee-san.

Her older sister Viola had acquired the technique for controlling ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘ as she piled on training as an apprentice Priestess. For she who could not do that, she was still using this blinder. By blocking off the world seen by her eyes and viewing only the world of the future from ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘, she was somehow able to keep her brain’s fatigue to a minimum.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

She could feel some dizziness from just removing the blinder but she was meeting with the children again for the first time in a while.

Still holding onto the blindfold, she walked closer to the orphanage’s gate──

“Ah, nee-chan!”

“Ain’t this Horn-nee-chan, hasn’t it been so long!?”

The kids who were in front of the orphanage’s fence opened the gate in high spirits and ran over.

“Hey, hey, where did you go this time? Did you fight with a dragon again?”

“The same place as always. I didn’t fight with an earth dragon but I did find a wyvern nest. See, I came here with pictures of it.”

“Hey, hey, Horn-nee-chan! I baked cookies yesterday. I’ll share some with you.”

“Thank you, Nachez, but you worked hard to make these cookies so you should share them with everyone.”

Even in the time she was petting the girl’s head, kids appeared one after the other.

Children that tugged on her clothes and children that hopped up on her back. There were likely more than thirty of them altogether and each of them was running over with a full smile.

“Oh my, I was wondering who it was with all these joyful shouts.”

Following the multitude of children, an elderly woman walked over slowly from inside the building.

“It has been a while since we last talked, Matron. You seem well.”

Standing up, she bowed.

──If somebody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace saw this, they’d doubt their eyes.

A Sennenshi who held a top position in the tower and moreover, that Horn Nova, taking such a low profile and even coming into contact with somebody with a smile was a scene that not a single one had seen.

“To be honest, I was worried. I heard that the Yuugenshu invasion had also reached here. Was there any damage done?”

The day all those living upon Orbie Clar the floating continent feared.

The day Hyouketsu Kyoukai was broken and an unprecedented large-scale invasion was carried out by the Yuugenshu. She had heard that this orphanage had also been attacked and corroded by mateki.

“Of course we are all fine; we all evacuated to the shelters.”

“What about the mateki? Was the decaying okay?”

“……The decaying was horrible. The gate was broken and the interior was corroded by mateki to tatters. ……Just for that moment, I wondered if it was the end for this place.”

Perhaps she was remembering that time because the Matron’s expression turned rigid.

“……My apologies. Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s power was not enough.”

“It’s not your fault. And besides, now it’s back to as it was before. Hasn’t even the mateki been cleanly purified?”

The Matron of the orphanage’s reaction was slackened as she pointed with a cheerful gaze.

“Yes. It has been wonderfully purified.”

There would be traces leftover even after purification when corrosion occurred through powerful mateki. But no such traces were here in this park. The fence, gate and ground’s curses had been completely purified. The one who had performed the purification had done a good job.

“A good apprentice Priestess came here.”

“It was a Priestess.”

“A Priestess spent the entire night going around this area and purifying it. Even though she was so young, she passed the night without taking a break. She even talked to each of the children.”

“……Who was this?”

“It was Ymy-sama. I hear that she’s known as the Baptism Priestess and she certainly lived up to it.”

“…………Is that so.”

A bitter taste was mixed into her mouth.

“Oh my, what’s wrong?”

“…………It’s nothing; I was just thinking that I’m glad you’re all safe.”

“Of course, and that’s all thanks to you sisters as well.”

The Matron hugged the children clinging to her.

“This orphanage……we might not have been able to rebuild it without your assistance. I truly am thankful.”

“I am glad if we could repay even a single portion of our gratitude for your raising us. Nee-san and I are both pupils of this orphanage, after all.”

“Amazing─! Horn-nee-chan’s like a man!? Nee-chan, aren’t you actually a guy!?”

“……Do you want to get dropped from there, Ragna-kun?”

“Uwaa, i-it was just a little joke, nee-chan. Hey, hey, if I enter ‘ Sophia ‘ like nee-chan and work hard, can I become strong?”

“Yeah, definitely───”

“ Do you corner somebody dear to you with that tone too? “

An instant.

The words of the Cadet Guard that had criticized her at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ran through the back of her mind.

…………

……What was that? Why would I remember that at this time?

Even though normally she wouldn’t remember the words of a riffraff Cadet Guard like that, much less react to it.

“ Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is. “

“ I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain── “

……I see, that time.

It may have been because she had a similar conversation before that Cadet Guard said that to her. The conversation she had exchanged with the maintenance officer boy when she had entrusted him with the guns’ maintenance.

……What was my reply to Catria at that time?

“ Discard pointless thoughts. “

“ I don’t need unskilled people in my unit. If you’re going to subject yourself to techniques unsuited for your height, leave my unit before the end of today. “

“───”

“? Nee-chan, what’s wrong?”

“……No, I’m fine. Rather than that, you shouldn’t join Sophia Tenketsu Palace like me──”

“Ohh, that’s it! I also want to enter that biiig tower. Think I can do it? Can I also beat dragons and Yuugenshu going bang bang?”

“…………”

She couldn’t find words for the boy whose eyes were filled with hope as he asked.

“ Do you corner somebody dear to you with that tone too? “

……That’s different; this is……something like a child’s simplistic dream.

It’s different from awakening somebody who was already a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace to the truth. This and yesterday are completely different matters.

“Nee-chan?”

“……You can. If it’s you, then definitely, Ragna.”

The words she spoke were quiet and clumsy to the point of being hoarse.

…………How annoying, really annoying.

…………Why am I being disturbed by that Cadet Guard's few words like this?

Was it because it hit the mark? No, like I……can accept that. Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s bunch are all useless. They always can’t do anything without grouping up with somebody.

I am……nee-san and I are different.

Her family and comrades were only the children born and raised in this orphanage. Believing that, she had lived without relying on anybody from Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

“……Horn?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing, Matron. ──That’s right, I brought souvenirs. In the second Living District, a former colleague is running an open-air cafe. It seems like the cakes there are somewhat famous. Over there.”

She pointed towards a large box sitting on the bench behind her.

“Oh my, I’m happy; we’ll eat it during snack time.”

“Okay. By the way……”

Just before she spoke, the transmissions device hidden at her chest vibrated. Mail? If it was a call, it’s set to vibrate more. If it’s this faint, then it’s probably mail.

“Excuse me, I think it’s probably from nee-sama.”

On the screen of the transmissions device was the brief label ‘ Tower ‘.

──A simultaneous transmission from the Guard Regulation Institute?……It can’t be an emergency response at this time.

“ Subjugation list match, in combat with the individual ‘ S Vector, Eighth Class ‘. “

When she first saw that name written there, she didn’t believe it.

Her sworn enemy she had spent many years searching for. It was the name of the one who had sent a child of the orphanage to the hospital. That it would appear with this timing of all times.

“……The Biotope’s S Vector?”

It couldn’t be called anything but ironic.

That was where that Yuugenshu had first been witnessed.

……It appeared just after I returned to the tower.

……Does it intend to ridicule me?

“Matron, my apologies but urgent business has come up so I will be excusing myself.”

“Is that so? It must be hard on you; you always patrol a troublesome place, don’t you?”

“For next time, let’s see. I’ll come to play when I find enough time to leisurely eat candy with everyone.”

Then Horn turned her back on her large family. She once again covered her vision with the blinder that had been hidden and looked only at the future world bestowed by ‘ Celestial Map Drawing ‘.

“──Together with Tessha.”

Towards the tower that stood out high in the sky.

Without turning back, the Sennenshi walked off in the direction of the tower.

### 046. Intermission: The Lords of Unusual Books

## Intermission – The Lords of Unusual Books

……

…………Heh heh.

……Haha, ahaha…………fufuu.

The overlapping laughter of children.

“ Hey, hey, Igun-I, is this okay? Mission complete. ”

“ Yeah, mission complete. ”

The small room had a sweet fragrance floating within it.

In the small room devoid of light bulbs, the only thing that could be called illumination was the moonlight coming through the window.

“Neue and Neosis, good work. I’m bad with machines so you really helped me out.”

“ It’s simple, you just have to memorize it. ”

“ Yup, just memorize it. ”

Two child’s voices echoed in the room. But the owners of those voices were nowhere to be seen in the room. Only the voices were resounding as if emerging.

“Unfortunately, people have things they’re good at and things they’re not, you know?”

A tall, lean young man with a brimmed hat worn as far as his eyes answered with a smile.

He wore a black hat, black suit and black shoes. Amidst the clothes which were a uniform jet black, pale blond which peeked through black hair was fluttering in the wind.

“ Igun-I is terrible with machines to a surprising degree. ”

“ Yeah, he even does the laundry by hand instead of using a machine. ”

“But you know, you two, it’s kinder on your laundry to do it by hand.”

The laughter resounded once again.

“ You should share that kindness with the person from Tenketsu Palace. ”

“ Yeah, you should share it. ”

“ Yeah, it’s pitiful being teased by Igun-I. Around now, he should be fearful. ”

“It’s precisely because I like him very much.”

Grabbing a very bright red strawberry, the man known as Igun-I deepened his smile.

“I’d be happy if he realized who it was. I can’t help enjoying wondering if he’ll come to meet me quickly.”

“ Fu─n. That’s right, you’re kind to us. ”

“ Yeah, you’re kind. Because you’re kind, the promised── ”

“Worry not. It’ll be done once I decorate it with strawberries like this. ……There’s just one thing. The truth is there were many times more strawberries than this but they were eaten by Natraja-san.”

The Lord of Unusual Books drooped his shoulders as if there was no greater disappointment than this.

“ Eh─, agaaain? ”

“ You know, Noesis, that’s called ‘ food snitching ‘. It’s the natural enemy of girls so if you do it too much, you become fat. ”

“Oh my, who will grow fat?”

In an instant, the dim room was dyed bright red.

It was a ‘ brilliant red ‘ more red than the ripened strawberries. The lights that painted everything red lit up in the air one after the other with a fwoom sound.

“If it isn’t Natraja-san, have you finished your job at the Governmental Sector?”

“Being a secretary is a monotonous job. Communications investigations and communications investigations. And today was the day I accompany a member of the parliament for sake……which I ignored and came back here instead. When I was asked for a reason, it felt like I would say ‘ It’s because I’m a spy so sorry ♪ ‘.”

A woman appeared in the room without a sound.

“But Natraja-san, don’t you like sake? I think you would have been fine accompanying that person for sake.”

“Drinking sake is highly situational. I like drinking with just two in a quiet place. I hate looking at groups that just drink sloppily.”

The woman called Natraja raised an empty glass with her snow-white fingers.

“Hey, Igun-I, is the cake still not done? I want to eat it as well.”

“Then Natraja-san, would you also help with the decorating?”

“Oh my, didn’t I help with baking it? Though I got the heat a little wrong and scorched it a bit.”

The woman smiled with her glossy lips touching the empty glass. Still in that posture, she reached one hand out to Igun-I’s black hat──

“Goodness. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have had to redo this.”

Just before that hand touched the hat, Igun-I pressed down firmly on it.

“By the way, about what you were talking about, did you ask the twins to do something?”

“ He did, he did; we sent a message to the floating continent‘s Tenketsu Palace .”

“ Yeah, he requested it. We sent a message. ”

Right─, agreed the two voices in sync.

“It was a minor matter. I wanted to trouble my beloved person. But if it wasn’t done well, the message would have a record left, right? That’s why I asked the twins. It would be nice if he were to realize it was me.”

“You have quite the hobby there. While I was working seriously, you were playing innocent.”

The woman returned the glass to the table and sighed.

“This place has been discovered by the Governmental Sector.”

“Oh dear.”

There was not a hint of wavering from Igun-I who continued to decorate the cake with strawberries.

“The Ninth of the aforementioned ‘ Heaven’s Wheel ‘──”

“So it seems. It looks like this place was located with that ‘ Crimson Eye ‘ before you and Maha gained control of Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. As expected, there are people that can use their heads well.”

“Fumu, and what is our response? What did the First say?”

“Nothing.”

Her response was simple.

“He was in the middle of training as always so he didn’t say anything. From the air about him, I would guess ‘ How about you face them appropriately and turn the tables on them? ‘”

“I haven’t seen the First -san do anything other than train.”

“Right─……even though it’d be okay to accompany me for sake sometimes.”

She gazed seemingly reproachfully at the transparent glass.

“Come now, how about you invite the Third sometimes?”

“No. What would I talk about with just the two of us? It’s the same as having an ornament for my partner. ──Well, the organization is on their way so I’ll have fun with them. I’d be happy if a wonderful gentleman were to come.”

She carefully picked out a strawberry decorating the cake and popped it into her mouth.

“A wonderful gentleman like who?”

“Look, isn’t there a Sennenshi that wields a great sword? Umm……I think it was Leon. He’s supposed to look exactly like that person. Igun-I, you saw him at the floating archipelago , right?”

“Yes. They really are spitting images of each other. It’s an exact resemblance. They both wield great swords and the way he holds the great sword is also the exact same as the First -san.”

“I’m looking forward to it even more. Ahh, I’m looking forward to it; I’ll need to service him magnificently.”

Her bewitching lips curved up and she sighed charmingly.

“Fifth , Sixth , stop your training and group up as well.”

“O─kay. Isn’t that great, Noel, that we get to skip training?”

“Yeah, that’s great, Noesis.”

“I’m looking forward to it…………I wonder if Sheltis will come.”

“Mm? Did you say something?”

In response to the woman with good hearing.

“No. No─t a thing.”

Answering with a pure smile, Igun-I once again closed his mouth.

### 047. Final Chapter: That Which is Worth Betting Everything on ──Crystal World──

## Final Chapter – That Which is Worth Betting Everything on ──Crystal World──

### Part 1

All individuals ── make preparations and be on standby for an urgent mission from the executives.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 11.

The Cadet Guard residences were filled with nervousness because of the proclamation from the Guard Regulation Institute.

“An urgent mission announcement, huuuh. Ain’t there some more suitable unit other than us for that kind of exaggerated thing? We’re a newbie unit that’s only completed one mission since we formed.”

“That’s for the Instructor to decide. The opponent is a Yuugenshu so the main force will be Regular Guards and the Cadet Guards shall act as support. Depending on the details, we might be recommended by the Instructor.”

Vaiel advanced down the hallway quickly and just behind him was Kagura.

A recommendation from the Instructor ── in the case of a large mission for units of Regular Guards or above, Cadet Guards were chosen as support for them.

“Support, huuuh. I’ll pass on participating in that kind of pain-in-the-ass cooperation.”

“This is my opinion, but I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

Kagura said that while confirming something on the floating Machina Machine pearl ’s screen.

“If we are recommended by the Instructor, it will not be for communications coordination or as a medical squad but as a direct addition to the Regular Guards’ unit. In other words, a Yuugenshu battle mission.”

“Wha……like hell there’s support like that! Ain’t that why it’s a Regular Guard job?”

“It’s rare but there have been cases of orders like that being handed down. On the other hand, there is no chance of us being called out for any missions other than that.”

Units each had their own specialties. Taking that into consideration and recommending the unit most suited to a necessary support mission was the duty of the Instructor.

“Other units cover coordination and medical issues and there was a deciding battle for determining which unit would participate in the expedition to the Governmental Sector, right? In that decisive battle, Nash’s unit should have been exceedingly above us. Because they have a wealth of experience.”

“……What a hapless recommendation.”

Holding onto his blue steel Iron Fist Protectors, Vaiel looked tired to the core.

“In exchange for that, the merit points are high. Though there’s still hope as long as you’re alive.”

“And where’s the all-important captain?”

“Already on standby. It’s just that they said they’d be taking a detour, so I assume they’ll arrive after that’s done with.”

“A detour? They’re damned relaxed for being on standby. Just where did they take this detour?”

Kagura pointed at the ceiling in response to Vaiel’s stunned expression.

“Floor 288, the floor of the second and third Priestesses.”

### Part 2

Sophia Tenketsu Palace floor 287, emergency stairs.

“Sheltis!? You said to follow you but you’ve just been running along the emergency stairs this whole time.”

“Sorry, Monica, just hurry! We’ll talk later!”

The space was dimly lit by only the emergency lighting. The pair’s footsteps continued to echo in the emergency stairwell which was filled with cold air.

“You said floor 288, so Meimel-sama and Viola-sama’s floor?”

“That’s right, but those two aren’t who we’re aiming for.”

“Eh?”

“……Horn Nova.”

The blinder-wearing Ex Machina. She was versed in using every gun and a shooter who was overshadowed by nobody in sniping long distance targets.

“I don’t understand where you’re going with this!?”

“I’ll explain later so just follow me for now!”

A badge’s ID was necessary to activate the elevator specifically for the Priestess floors. If they used the elevator now, it would become apparent that they were ignoring the standby order from the Guard Regulations Institute.

──Echoing footsteps.

Running up the winding stairs, he jumped over the last step. He pried open the door before his eyes……

“Just how much will you get in my way……Ymy Ele Soufflenictole!”

Floor 288 lay beyond the door.

When he took one step in, what Sheltis saw was ── Horn who was facing the elevator which led to the surface floor and Ymy who stood before her.

“Get out of the way and disappear from my sight.”

“……No. I cannot allow you to go alone. You should know just how fearsome the Yuugenshu you are pursuing now is.”

“Are you saying that while knowing that I’m a Sennenshi? Are you saying that a Sennenshi is inferior to a single Yuugenshu?”

“This is not a discussion about being inferior or not. It is because you are a Sennenshi that you should uphold the rules more than anyone else.”

The Priestess held both hands out and obstructed the Sennenshi.

Even while being pierced by Horn’s gaze as she approached menacingly, Ymy resolutely remained in that spot.

“A Sennenshi is a Priestess’ partner. While Viola is within the tower, it is your duty to accompany her.”

“A Yuugenshu has appeared and it is also a Sennenshi’s duty to defeat it.”

“Then please take along your unit. ……When Hyouketsu Kyoukai was broken, you, Ran, Leon and the others did that when holding them back. You absolutely did not fight alone.”

“The situation is different. The opponent is only a single Yuugenshu. Rather than waiting for my subordinates to gather, I will handle it myself. It is my decision as the captain so there are no problems with tower regulations.”

“I’m saying that I’m afraid of how you think of it as ‘only a single Yuugenshu‘.”

Ymy continued while staring at Horn without blinking.

“……I have experienced it first-hand, so I can say this. There are really Yuugenshu that cannot be opposed with the strength of a person. It is too dangerous to underestimate the Yuugenshu.”

“Then are you underestimating the Sennenshi?”

The Sennenshi went past anger and sighed.

“For a Priestess who should be the one that most trusts the Sennenshi to make light of them like this.”

“You’re wrong. I──”

He looked on at that scene while pressed up near the emergency door.

“Sheltis.”

“……I know.”

Clenching his right hand to the point of whiteness, Sheltis nodded with his breathing ragged.

……I know. This isn’t an argument that a Cadet Guard like me can go out and stop.

He and Monica were no more than ten metres away from Ymy and Horn. Even with her back turned, Horn should have noticed them and Ymy was facing them so she must have seen them.

……But from their points of view, we’re not related to this.

A Priestess and Sennenshi were seriously clashing opinions. This was not something that would be resolved by a third party like himself or Monica interjecting.

But. Just before that.

“……That’s enough, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

Horn’s air of intimidation expanded explosively. The feelings mixed into each word had surpassed anger and were close to hatred.

“Don’t go? Don’t chase it? Don’t underestimate Yuugenshu? Who are you to say these things?”

“!”

Horn reached out to Ymy’s collar and tugged her face closer like that.

“To begin with, you and Tessha……”

“That’s right.”

Even with her vestments being grabbed, Ymy’s words didn’t stop.

“It would not have come to this if I could have purified that child’s mateki. That my words would not reach you because of that……I was prepared.”

……Normally……no, really, Monica and I.

……We might have jumped out when Ymy was grabbed.

The reason Sheltis and Monica had not done so and continued to stand there was because Ymy was nothing but resolved.

Even while being held by the collar and showered with harsh words, the Priestess was not wavering.

“I’ve also been doing my best this whole time. You may have said that I went to the Governmental Sector on a sightseeing trip but I went there with the intention of gaining many things. There are things I would not have gained without going to the Governmental Sector and things I could not do without having gone.”

“Aren’t you talking big.”

Horn put strength into the hand holding the Priestess’ vestments.

“And what exactly did you manage to gain?”

“……I will once again try to purify that child’s mateki. If that fails, then I will accept any insults or act.”

“Then quit being a Priestess.”

That sentence.

Was the limit for Sheltis and Monica who were watching so as to not disturb the equilibrium of that place──

……However.

“…………”

He had been about to wordlessly run out but he stopped.

……Why. Why……are you looking at us with those kinds of eyes?

Monica and even Ilis Machine crystal were at a loss for words. “You mustn’t come here.” was the message conveyed by Ymy’s eyes.

“……You mean to make me leave the tower.”

“You’re the one who said you would accept any act, aren’t you?”

The Sennenshi looked down at the Priestess with her blinder-covered eyes.

“A Priestess who can’t even save a single child is unnecessary. I’ll pass on being satisfied with just having a Priestess who’s there to fill in the numbers and fails big time at the crucial times. In that case, it would be best not to have her from the start.”

“Understood. I will bet everything I have as a Priestess.”

“───Are you insane?”

“However, I also have a condition.”

“” [T/N: The heck am I supposed to put for only a っ…that thing makes absolutely no sound on its own.]

For the first time, Horn stirred even if ever so slightly. That was because the girl who had only been held by the collar was now holding her wrist with all her strength.

──She’s looking at…………Monica and I?

“A condition?”

Figuring out the meaning of that gaze, Horn turned towards them.

“What about them?”

“You……you will travel together with the unit of senpai whom you called useless. Monica-senpai is absolutely not useless.”

“……! W-Wait, Ymy.”

Before Monica herself could speak up, Horn rebuked,

“Don’t screw around. Travelling with somebody I know is baggage──”

“I’m not screwing arouuuuuund!“

Ymy’s angry roar turned into a sound wave and shook that floor.

“I won’t lose to mateki and Monica-senpai is not baggage!”

Holding fast to the arm grabbing her collar, the Priestess girl returned a glare.

“Even though I’m saying I will bet everything I have as a Priestess but I’ll reject it if you don’t accept my one condition. ……When I went to your treasured orphanage, all the children there said that they really loved you. That you are strong and kind and they really love you. But that’s wrong: you’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

“────”

That instant.

A crack developed in the iron expression the Sennenshi had been keeping until now.

“……And if so?”

Horn distorted her mouth unpleasantly and she spat out.

“I’m a weakling? Even if that’s true, are you trying to say you’re not putting on airs!?”

“……Uu, uu!”

The hand before Ymy’s neck tightened even more and,

“Okay, okay, that’s no gooood─, any more and the Priestess’ vestments will tear. Horn-chan, did you have an interest in such things?”

Surarii ── as quickly as if that onomatopeia could be heard, Ymy’s vestments slipped through Horn’s fingers.

“Ehh, ah. Huh?”

Ymy who was suddenly free again stared in wonder with a confused expression.

“……Ishtar.”

“Hey there, it’s been a while, Horn-chan. Been wellll?”

The person who had released Ymy’s constraints was smiling aloofly.

The Sennenshi she was facing also showed a rare obvious grimace. It seemed to be saying that somebody annoying had shown up.

“Oh─, there, there. It’s been rough on you, Ymy-sama─. Did it hurt─?”

“Eh, u-umm……”

“Ah. So─rry, I just treated you like I’sa-chan. ……Ahaha, well, pay it no mind.”

“──What are you doing, Cadres Guard?”

Horn revealed her displeasure at the sudden intrusion and drew closer. Both of them were as tall as grown men and their eyes were at about the same height.

“No, no, Horn-chan, you’re being scaaary.”

“Don’t play dumb. Even if it’s you, I have the higher standing──”

“Eh─? Unfortunately for you, this was a request from your onee-san? When the blood rushes to her head and she won’t listen to anybody, it might work if it’s you, Ishtar-san, is what she told me.”

“……Ane-ue, huh.”

“Oh? As expected, you falter when Viola-sama’s name comes up─? Fumu, fumu, heeeh, heeeh.”

“Cadres Guard, I would prefer it if you were to simply state your business?”

“Mm─. My business was just to cool Horn-chan’s head so I think I’ll call that okay. Rather, don’t you not have much time? That Yuugenshu you’re searching for might conceal itself at any time.”

Fwoosh. Ishtar’s left arm which had a little bit of bare skin peeking out rose up and came to a stop pointing in their direction.

“It’s a waste of time arguing here. You two, how about you go along with her like Ymy-sama said?”

“…………”

“If Horn-chan defeats the Yuugenshu then there’s a chance that that child’s mateki will also disappear. If so, then the first thing should be for you two to go with her and defeat it. If the mateki happens to disappear, then all the better. Ymy-sama betting her position as Priestess on purifying will come after that. How about it?”

“……I have my misgivings. Taking along unnecessary Cadet Guards for exterminating Yuugenshu is against the tower’s regulations as well─”

“They are useful.“

Completely opposite Horn who was talking on and on quickly, Ishtar had a pleasant and calm tone.

“……What?”

“I said they are useful. It wouldn’t be a problem bringing them along. They’re perfect subordinates for Horn-chan who only likes outstanding subordinates.”

The Cadres Guard showed a daring smile. The Sennenshi stared at that expression enough to burn a hole in it. Time passed with both of them maintaining their silence──

“Excuse me, Captain Horn.”

Monica who had been silent until now interposed between the two who were staring at each other. She took out her silver plate-shaped badge and put the LCD screen on its back before Horn’s eyes.

Emergency request.

She thrust out the LCD screen with that displayed.

“A recommendation from counter-measures HQ? You can’t mean that you”

“Just now, we received a request to deploy from headquarters. In accordance with the recommendation from the Instructor, myself and three others shall be rightfully participating as the supporting unit for this case. With this, there should be no issue.”

“…………”

The Sennenshi closed her mouth and was silent.

“Truthfully, I cannot understand what is ‘useful‘ about you.”

“I have directly received such great trust from Ymy-sama so I will do my best. Also──”

She exchanged looks with Ymy who was restraining herself.

“If we defeat the Yuugenshu and that child’s mateki disappears, then the talk of Ymy quitting being a Priestess also ends. To that end, I intend on accompanying you no matter what.”

“……So you’re of the same opinion as Ishtar.”

Horn muttered with a voice that let no hint of her feelings in.

“So, how about it, Horn-chan?”

“Time is precious.”

Twisting the corner of mouth unpleasantly, she took out her communications device from the holder at her waist.

“It’s me, put Catria on the line. …………Catria. It’s me, is the gun maintenance I asked for complete? I’ll be heading over within four hundred seconds from now so place those two and the other gun I handed to you on my transport. The crew members will be me──”

Horn turned her head halfway to them.

She looked appraisingly at Ishtar, Ymy and finally Sheltis, then gave a long, long sigh.

“……And a single Cadet Guard unit. No, you’re not mistaken and I didn’t say the wrong thing; I will be acting together with a single Cadet Guard unit. Got it? If you get it, then hurry up and prepare with the remaining three hundred eighty seconds.”

### Part 3

At the open-air cafe, ‘The Twins Swans ‘.

“Yuto-cha─n, take this cake set here to table five─. Eyriey, you take table seven’s order. After that, clean up table nine and prep table ten.”

“O─kay!”

“O-Okayyyyyy! A-Aren’t we too busy, Head Chef!? I’m hopeless at this kind of physical laborrrrr!”

The adorable answer from Yuto was contrasted by Eyriey’s shout that bordered on becoming a scream and echoed across the kitchen.

The time was right at noon.

It was the time that they became busy with customers lured in by the smell of the cooking from the kitchen.

“I-It’s already noon! I made a promise to play with friends after noon, you know!?”

“You’re meeting them here, right? Then work hard until your friends get here. Come now, I’ll even pay you double time. Yuto-chan, watch and learn.”

With Sheltis gone, Yuto had now completely become the main helper in the store.

At first, she had just been helping as far as wiping down tables but now she was an all-purpose helper than even took customers’ orders and delivered food.

“Hey, hey, Eyri-nee! Yuto was praised by the customers as amazing!”

On each arm was two plates of a cake set and coffee. On top of that, she had a large tray on her head and she had another table’s lunch set consisting of three plates on there, so it was surprising.

“Eyriey, take a lesson from her as well.”

“……That’s insane.”

She headed out into the shop from the kitchen while holding a large tray.

“Ugeh, what a big line……”

The line that couldn’t fit into the store was lined up outside the store in a coil.

And.

With the refreshing chime of the front door bell, the door of The Two Swans opened. Another customer? Everyone thought that and turned their eyes in that direction──

The store interior seemed to have become separated from the flow of time as it turned silent.

“Excuse me.”

A single girl entered.

Wearing a simple and plain shirt and skirt, she was petite and had slender limbs. She had a face that still had youth left in it and she was just a little under Eyriey in height. She was not any older than her late teens. At best, she was thirteen or fourteen.

──Everybody forgot words and gulped.

──Her gem-like beauty could even be called a fantasy.

“……Umm, is Eyriey-san here?”

Her moist eyes that seemed sorrowful were a vivid azure.

Her skin was white like porcelain and there was not a blemish upon its smooth surface. And the most eye-catching thing about her was her long hair which extended to below her knees.

Just like seven-colored silk thread, it changed colors beautifully as it fluttered.

The color of reflective water ── with a translucent silvery white like ice as its base, the parts that light passed through shined with a compound color made with pearl and gold.

“Ohh, Shasa-chan. Been a while!”

At Eyriey’s voice, the majority of the customers finally came back to their senses.

“It has been a while. ……I’m sorry, it has been a long time since I came to the Living Districts so I was a little lost. Am I late?”

“No─pe, actually you’re right on time. Wait a sec, I can get off work so I’ll just go tell the Head Chef! Ah, you can sit there at that reserved seat!”

“Okay.”

The girl sat in the chair with a wide smile. Just that small action gave the impression of an impressive painting by a first-class painter.

“He─y, Head Chef, my friend’s here so can I go─?”

“Oh my, it can’t be helped. By the way, your friend wouldn’t happen to be Sheltis, would it?”

“Nope. I met her while walking around observing at Sophia Tenketsu Palace and we got along. She’s amazing; she has the entirety of the tower memorized.”

“Ohh. If it’s a secretary from the tower, then I might have met her once before.”

“Eh?”

What does that mean? While Eyriey’s mouth was hanging open, the apron-clad Head Chef trotted from the kitchen to the store interior──

“Let’s see……ah.”

“Ah.”

From the direction of the store came the dumbfounded voices of the two.

“Oh my. What’s thiiis, it’s been a whiiile! I was wondering who it was but it’s Salah──”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Shasa.”

“……the Quee”

“I’m Shasa.”

“…………Sa”

“Please refer to me as Shasa.”

“…………Okay, okay.”

After a little while, an uncommon wry smile appeared on the Head Chef’s face and she returned.

“Oh, hey, hey, Head Chef, do you maybe know Shasa? It sure sounded like it!”

“……………………No. I don’t know her at all.”

“What was that unnatural pause!? Hey, wait, don’t turn away!”

“Well, never mind, never mind. So, Eyriey, you’ll be eating with her and then going to play, right? I have two peoples’ portions prepared.”

Sandwiches with plenty of seasonal vegetables used and onion soup in a mug. For after the meal was bite-sized cakes and milk tea.

“Ohh! So with that, sorry for the wait, Shasa!”

“R-Right……”

She stared at the lunch set upon the table as if it were novel.

“What’s up?”

“Ah……nothing. I always only have meals from Sophia Tenketsu Palace so it’s a little different.”

“Hohoh, now that you say it, there is a dining hall at the tower.”

“There is a dining hall but I have my meal carried to my room. And it’s been a while since I had something solid like this. I’ve at most had black tea with honey added.”

“Geh. That’s no good, Shasa, that’s why you’re so thin!”

“Thin……that’s right, isn’t it, like I thought. I’ve always had a lack of appetite though.”

The girl patted her chest through her clothes. The thickness from her back to her chest, as well as her arms and thighs, were thin to the point it seemed they would snap if she were to miss a step on the stairs.

“It’s not like you hate to eat though, right?”

“That’s right. Not having many chances to eat because of work and continuing a lifestyle of not eating affects your body like this.”

“Haa, you sound busy with work. Since you only get to enjoy yourself like this once a month.”

“It’s my job but it’s like my life. ……It is my duty, and a promise.”

Placing her hand to the edge of the steaming mug, the girl’s face reddened slightly.

“But it’s nice to ‘enjoy myself‘ like this as well. It’s somehow nostalgic.”

“That’s right─. Enjoying yourself is important, so eat well, enjoy yourself a lot and sleep well! Look, the soup’s gonna get cold. Eat the sandwich too!”

“R-Right!”

Shasa gripped the mug with an expression of utmost seriousness.

“W-Well then! I, Shasa Endens Lin Kale, shall now partake of this lunch!”

“You don’t have to be so serious about it.”

“At any rate, it’s been a long time. ……I-I’ll do my best. Eii!”

She timidly lifted up the mug and drank the soup.

“…………”

“How is it?”

“…………It’s delicious.”

She couldn’t believe it herself. She blinked numerous times and brought the mug towards and away from her mouth.

“B-But I still don’t understand! Once more………………ah…………it’s delicious……”

The girl hid her mouth with her hand and her face went bright red.

“……It’s, delicious.”

“Right─. Our Head Chef is amazing. Try the sandwich too!”

“R-Right!”

She nodded with a some more vigor than just prior and reached her hand out to a sandwich on the plate──

“………………”

Her hand suddenly stopped.

“Shasa?”

“…………My body……is…………after all…………right after the barrier…………transfer, if…………I get careless………………not good…………………………”

Her shoulders slumped and she collapsed off the chair in that manner.

“Shasa!?”

──She’ll hit the floor at this rate.

Her hand that she reached out reflexively wouldn’t make it in time and the girl who had fallen out of the chair had her face make a beeline for the hard floor ── just before Eyriey who pictured that scene was about to scream, somebody’s hand caught steady hold of Shasa’s body.

“U-Uwawawawaa, E-Eyri-nee, help meeee!”

“Yuto!? A-Amazing, Yuto, good job!”

In place of Yuto who was holding up a body larger than her with all her strength, she held Shasa from behind. She sat the girl who seemed to have lost consciousness on the chair once again and steadied her against the back of the chair.

“Pheeew……that was dangerous. I wonder what’s wrong; we should call a doctor.”

“Hey, hey, Eyri-nee, I think Shasa-nee is probably just tired.”

Yuto tugged on the edge of her sleeve and nodded.

“She did say her work was tasking. I wonder if I should let her rest in my room until she gets better……daaarn, I don’t know where Shasa lives.”

It would be best to take Shasa back to her house but she only knew that she worked at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She didn’t know which post she worked either so she didn’t know who to contact.

“Shasa-nee said she had a room at the tower.”

“Oh, really? Yuto, do you perhaps know where Shasa’s room is?”

“Yeah, yeah! Shasa-nee told me last time!”

“Ohhh, good going. You did well!”

It was the first time she thought of Yuto who energetically shook her head as this reliable.

“Should I go get an acquaintance of Shasa-nee?”

“Yeah, please!”

“O─kay!”

Yuto ran out of the shop door.

……Really, that’s great.

She hadn’t known what to do when she collapsed but it would be one thing off her mind if they could send her back home. The cause was exhaustion so she needed her to rest.

……She purposefully came even though she was this tired.

“Head Chef, I’ll be taking Shasa-chan for a bit───”

“That is a pleasing suggestion but it is not that much of a major matter. I alone will be enough.”

The bell rang again.

“I heard there was someone I knew causing difficulties here.”

It was a woman who was leaning up against the door frame.

Their eyes met and the woman smiled boldly.

……This is an acquaintance of Shasa’s?

……Uwaa, amazing. She’s really beautiful.

She was tall and slender with a sharp face to match.

Her glossy jet black hair was completely straight and definitely without a strand out of place. The beauty of her voluptuous body was also highlighted clearly through her pitch black vestments. Her twin mounds were full to the point that they seemed to be ready to spill out at any moment, her tight waist was curvaceous and it rose up once again at her hips. It was charm that even made Eyriey who was of the same gender gasp.

“It seems that you’ve taken care of Shasa.”

She walked up to the table they were at and indicated the sleeping Shasa with her eyes.

“Ah, are you the person Yuto spoke of? Shasa’s acquaintance.”

“Tsali. To this child……let’s see, I am a friend, quarreling opponent and guardian. We’re not family bound by blood.”

“Ah, like I thought! Ah─ that surprised me. Since your hair and eye colors are completely different. I haven’t heard of sisters that are this different.”

“──As usual, you’re unabashed regardless of the person, Eyri-nee.”

“Fue?”

……As usual?

……Actually, did she just call me Eyri-nee?

“Ahh, I forgot to say that that’s what I heard Yuto refer to you as.”

Giggle. Upon Tsali’s lips which had only a bold smile upon them thus far, her smile changed just a little to one more friendly.

“That’s right! Right, right, Tsali-san, do you know where Yuto went off to? Rather, how did that kid manage to call you so quickly? A communicator? No, even if that were true, you wouldn’t have gotten here so promptly.”

“I thought that things would turn out like this again so I was secretly following her. As usual, she’s quite the handful.”

She carried Shasa’s body.

“Yuto will return soon. As for Shasa……let’s see, please play with her again any time from tomorrow on.”

“Ehh. That’s……I’m fine with it, but will Shasa be okay by tomorrow?”

“It seems that one day of rest really wasn’t enough but this always happens. She should be fine if she rests for the entirety of today. It would be fine if you came to floor 290 of the tower tomorrow at ten in the morning.”

“That’s fine with me……”

“Then it’s decided. I’ll also relay that to Shasa.”

She turned her back on Eyriey and walked towards the door──

“Oh, right.”

“Mm?”

Suddenly coming to a stop, Tsali turned just the side of her face to her.

A friendly and curious smile. Though her face was graceful and sharp to begin with, that smile was somehow really…………really……like an innocent child’s.

…………Huh, this person?

……This person’s smile……who is it……doesn’t it kind of resemble somebody’s smile?

“I’ll say my thanks.”

“Eh?”

“This person here, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, is self-sacrificing and has a habit of reflecting so somebody has to forcefully take her out to relax. Originally, it was supposed to be my job, but it seems that you are better for it.”

Giii……

The door the woman in jet black vestments pushed on opened easily. The path that was not a path became a path of its own accord and seemed to bless her steps.

“It has been a long time since Shasa made an expression of such enjoyment.”

That was the difference between her and Eyriey.

The words that were heard from Tsali that day were for the girl known as Eyriey and……in the distant future, what bestowed a ‘third possibility‘ upon Orbie Clar the floating continent , though nobody knew this yet.

Only Tsali.

And Shasa who continued to sleep within her arms, had yet…………

### Part 4

Scraps of clouds came from one end of her vision and disappeared out the other. The sky was a deep blue all across and continued on forever.

“……With the expedition to the Governmental Sector, this makes the second time we’re using an airship.”

Kagura followed the droplets of glass clinging to the pressure-resistant windows with her eyes.

“Our destination is the Biotope so there’s not much time to fully enjoying traveling through the air.”

“Fully enjoy, huuuh. The Governmental Sector mission was important so our treatment wasn’t bad but……unfortunately, this time it’s a transport ship so the inside is cramped and the cushions on the seats are worn out.”

Vaiel who answered like that didn’t stop looking out the window or crossing his arms.

“So, Leader. It’s about time you told us about the mission this time.”

“It’s as I said when we left. We were recommended as support for the subjugation of the Yuugenshu discovered in the Biotope──”

“Not that, I mean that over there.”

“Behind the general seating area ── the waiting room established for executive unit members. He indicated with his chin the heavy metallic door that was locked from the inside.

“Even if the support unit was chosen by the Instructor’s whim, why the heck are we riding with the O great Sennenshi?”

“Ah……you could call that her idea.”

Monica hesitated to speak with an uncomfortable expression.

“……Captain’s order: I leave it to you, Sheltis.”

“Geh!?”

Being elbowed in the side, Sheltis jumped up in his seat. ……I can’t let my guard down. Just when I thought I could just stay silent and listen, this happens.

“……Let me ask this beforehand: should I say the truth or the pretense?”

“Let’s start with the pretense.”

“It’s obviously most enjoyable to keep the speculation fun for last.”

That was the response from the two who turned around in a flash.

“U─m. The pretense is as Monica said just before. We’ll also be participating in the Yuugenshu subjugation so don’t we have to group up with the advance party on-site? And so the fastest way there just happened to be travelling with a Sennenshi.”

“Okay, next.”

“Next is the real reason.”

“……You know, no matter how much of a public attitude you’re taking, it’d be nice if you were to show more of a reaction.”

He had expected this but it was kind of lonely garnering such a lacking response.

“As for the real reason, you could say a few coincidences overlapped or we got wrapped up in it……there was a little trouble between the fifth Priestess and the Sennenshi behind the door over there──”

“Ah─……that’s enough. I have an idea of what happened.”

“Eh, already?”

“Sheesh, sticking your head into troublesome things of your own accord.”

Vaiel shook his hand, showing how much of a pain he thought it was.

“You probably just got mixed up in it as a mediator, right?”

“I-I’ll just say this beforehand but I simply had business with Ymy! It was Captain Horn who suddenly stuck a gun to me──”

“Umm, if you say it so loudly, the person herself will hear you.”

“……My bad.”

Monica nodded with her head downcast and was silent.

“……I’ll treat you to lunch next time. How about the special lunch set at the large dining hall on floor 248?”

“I’m even willing to add on after-meal coffee?”

“I’ll have milk tea.”

Monica nodded reluctantly and the negotiations were completed.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, I have one thing I’m curious about.”

“What is it?”

“That pilot kid has been glancing over at us since a little while ago so I wonder if he wants to join in. Ah, it’s the one that just drew his head back.”

Pilot? Come to think of it ── he had noticed someone watching them but it didn’t seem like it would be an issue so he hadn’t paid it much mind.

“Hey, the one at the pilot seat over there, did you need us for something?”

“…………N-Noooo. D-Don’t mind meeee.”

The one peeking out from the pilot seat was a boy still in his mid-teens.

He had greenish-brown hair and brown eyes. He had a thin face, his response was weak, he still had an expression like he’d burst into tears at any moment and his ears which jutted out on either side were also shivering slightly.

……Are those Nell Folk ears?

“What, I was wondering who it was, but isn’t that Catria?”

“……That voice, Kagura?”

The boy who was hiding in the shadow of the seat widened his eyes.

“Seriously. It’s me; didn’t you realize it with this on me?”

Kagura removed the machine helmet which was completely covering her head. Her ears also reached far out to the sides and were covered in warm-seeming fur.

“Mm? Acquaintances between brats?”

“Since the Nell Folk working at Sophia Tenketsu Palace have constructed their own independent network. This child is……well, it’s as you can see, he’s more cautious than I am. Though it was unexpected for him to become the third unit’s pilot.”

“N-No. You’re wrong…………I’m Captain Horn’s maintenance worker. Piloting is……an e-extra.”

The boy set it to auto-pilot and stood up from the seat.

“I see. So, what is it? Looking over here would suggest that you have an interest but that’s unusual for you.”

“…………”

He stayed silent for a moment but the sound of him breathing in could be heard.

“……U-Um……I just thought, you were a really close-knit unit…………”

“Is that so? Isn’t this normal?”

“Probably……I think it’s really rare.”

Having that said directly ── Sheltis exchanged looks with Monica beside him.

“Monica, is that so?”

“I think it depends on the unit. ……Though we’re not on the bad end.”

“That’s because everyone gathered here is a meddler.”

Vaiel crossed his legs and sighed to indicate them.

“…………N-No. ……I-It’s just……well, ……I thought it was nice. …………Captain Horn doesn’t have that feeling to her much.”

“You don’t get it. Then why don’t you switch units?”

And.

The Nell Folk boy narrowed his eyes and looked downwards in embarrassment.

“……But she’s cool.”

“Your Captain, you mean?”

“…………Yeah. ……Also, she always leaves the gun maintenance to me.”

His hands were worn out ── from touching the gun’s rust and oil and they had burns and scratches from injuries during maintenance.

He looked dearly at his hand which was painful to look at.

“Catria.”

“Ye-Yeeeess!?”

The boy hopped up in place when Horn, who had come from the rear, spoke.

“This was in my cargo, but what is it?”

It was an automatic handgun painted silver. It was easily two times larger than the guns used by gunners with twin pistols in Tenketsu Palace and a shinryoku carved seal was etched into its grip.

“Uh……umm, it’s a new creation. Production code, ‘Silver King ‘……the gun’s slide and rifling are designed to be larger and it also uses special bullets.”

“Special bullets?”

“Y-Yes! I wanted to make the bullets themselves in a new metallic structure. After making a request to a Priestess many times, I finally got a carved seal with a Priestess’ baptism spell applied to it. It hasn’t been tested, but it shouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a bullet specialized to Yuugenshu!”

“A Priestess’ baptism spell meaning ane-ue’s?”

“Ah, n-no. Viola-sama was always out of the tower so the best at baptism type spells──”

“……That’s enough. I have a good idea of who it was.”

Horn put the giant one-handed gun into her shoulder holster and sighed.

“U-Umm! Not many bullets have been made so there are only three loaded……”

“I don’t mind. Either way, I won’t immediately use it in real combat. I don’t have a habit of using a gun I’m not used to and increasing the risks.”

“……I see.”

The boy visibly drooped his shoulders visibly and was downcast.

“……I was wondering if I would just barely make it in time for the subjugation mission this time.”

“I believe I told you I didn’t require any useless consideration. Rather than that, return to the pilot seat; aren’t we arriving at the great salt lake soon?”

Speaking back with an indifferent voice, the Sennenshi turned towards them.

“I’ll say this ahead of time. You should just stay quiet and follow. Don’t think about providing support or fighting the Yuugenshu; you should just bear in mind not to get in the way of my battle.”

“……But then there’s no reason behind us coming as a support unit.”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

The words which permitted no rebuttal brought silence to the airship.

“I took you along because of the Cadres Guard’s suggestion. I will decide everything beyond that. The support unit will abide by the commander’s orders at once upon reaching the site ─── that is what is detailed by the Guard Regulations Institute, but is there a problem with that?”

“…………”

“It looks like you want to say something?”

“……No.”

Monica gnashed her molars and shook her head sideways. Horn seemed to snort at that gesture and quickly turned her back to the pilot’s seat.

“Relax. It’s not like I won’t entrust you with anything. Manpower will be required to track the S vector, eighth class. I will have you aid in the tracking and discovery whether you want to or not. ……Catria.”

“Y-Yeessss!?”

“How many more minutes until we arrive?”

“Th-The great salt lake is already visible below! We will land now!”

“──It’s finally time.”

As she squeezed out that in a hoarse voice from within her throat, both her hands were lightly shaking.

“You bunch, get ready as well. Once we land, we will set out in the direction of the S vector, eighth class’ escape route.”

### Part 5

A pure white glimmer extended as far as the eye could see on the downhill of a gentle slope.

It was a scene reminiscent of a large snowy valley with many large mountains stretching out. It was not actually snow but countless salt piled up over the course of many years.

“Look, Sheltis, it’s an amazing place.”

Accompanied by Machina Machine pearl , Kagura gave a sigh of admiration.

“Water with a little salt content flows here into the basin from the river and evaporates, accumulates and creates this beautiful scenery. I’ve seen it in documents but it’s my first time seeing it in person.”

“Really, it’s like snow.”

Crunch……crunch…………

Salt grains crunched underfoot. It felt like he was stepping on a lump of snow.

Shantia Great Salt Lake.

It was one of only two salt lakes that had been confirmed in the vast Biotope and was terrain that bore the prefix of ‘Glittering ‘.

“It really is amazing; this is all salt?”

“……It’s not very appealing.”

It was somewhat unusual but Monica and Vaiel who were walking ahead frequently surveyed the surroundings.

“Captain Horn, sorry for the wait.”

Finally.

Two Regular Guards were bearing a machine gun and jogged over when they noticed them.

“What’s the situation?”

“No changes. With the two units patrolling the vicinity and the two support units, there are four units in total surrounding the great salt lake. To now, there have been no reports of it slipping through the encirclement.”

“Good work. Don’t slacken your caution; I’ll be tracking the ‘S vector, eighth class‘. I ordered Scheele to be on standby but has she arrived?”

A girl in vestments walked up after the two Guards.

“I’m here.”

“I have only one order for you. Erase the Yuugenshu’s mateki with a barrier type spell when we find it. I won’t say you need to restrain it, but at least keep it in one spot. You can do it, can’t you.”

“I will do my utmost.”

“That’s good; then follow along.”

“Ye…………”

Yes. The apprentice Priestess who spoke suddenly stopped moving and stood still. She wasn’t even quivering but only her shoulders shook lightly──

“What’s wrong?”

“Monica……senpai?”

Without answering Horn’s question, the girl removed her hood.

“Monica-senpai!? Monica-senpai! I-It’s me! Pia!”

“Pia……Pianalis Scheele?”

With a glance at the girl’s face exposed to the sunlight, the girl who served as unit captain greatly widened her eyes.

“Wawaa, it really is Monica-senpaiii! No way, no way, why are we meeting here!? Actually, what’s with your appearance? You look just like a Guard!”

“Not just look like, I actually am a Guard. Since moving past being an apprentice Priestess, about three years ago…………h-hey, wait! I get it, so let me go a bit!”

Monica earnestly pried herself loose from the apprentice Priestess clinging to her and sighed.

“……I told you many times to refrain from just hugging people.”

“I’m just that happyyy! Since I managed to reunite with a senpai I thought had retired in this kind of place. It’s not like I’m trying to act the part of a mature apprentice Priestess either───……ah……”

Falling silent and taking care of her surroundings, the apprentice Priestess slipped her hood back on.

“A-Ahem……my apologies, Captain, I lost myself there. As it was a reuniting with a revered senpai, please overlook this.”

“Just give me a brief explanation.”

“Y-Yes! This Cadet Guard here is my senpai as an apprentice Priestess. This is from two years ago, but she advanced as far as the final trial for a Priestess.”

“……Is that so.”

Horn raised an eyebrow at Scheele’s words.

“Yes. Pardon me, but did you not allow her to travel with you because you knew this?”

“…………”

Without answering the apprentice Priestess’ question, Horn casually folded her arms.

“I see, an apprentice Priestess who made it to the final trial. So that is what the Priestess and the Cadres Guard appraised you on.”

“──No.”

Monica directly faced the Sennenshi who spoke with an implicative tone.

“That appraisal was not mine but my entire unit’s.”

“You sure can talk.”

Horn smiled boldly.

“──Change of plans. Scheele.”

“Yes.”

“You will remain on defense of this camp. In this large of an area, we don’t know where the S vector, eighth class will appear.”

“Understood.”

Watching the apprentice Priestess slowly back off, Horn’s next focus was the girl holding the crossed rods in both hands.

“Your said your name was Monica.”

“……What is it?”

“I’ll have you take responsibility for what you said.”

Massive, black machine pistols. The Sennenshi who held one in each hand of these heavy firearms that a normal person would require two arms to hold.

“I will also order you into combat based on the enemy’s strength so be prepared.”

### Part 6

In a hallway filled with light.

“……I’m really sorry. Ymy-san and Ishtar-san.”

Fluttering her tunic-styled vestment, the petite Priestess hung her head.

“If only I had kept Horn in check more.”

“It’s fine─. Viola-sama, you don’t have to lower your head like that.”

With the same aloof smile as ever, Ishtar patted her delicate shoulders.

“I think the location was the great salt lake. Then they should be arriving around now. That’s a nice place─, and the view is also good so it’s easy to spot a Yuugenshu. Horn-chan is outstanding and the Cadet unit travelling with her is also a gathering of individuals with more than meets the eye. Right, Ymy-sama?”

“Ye……Y-Yes.”

Being urged with a suspicious smile, Ymy’s face unconsciously twitched.

……I wonder what she means.

Monica-senpai as an apprentice Priestess? Or……Sheltis? When I talk with this Cadres Guard, it feels like the inner reaches of my mind are being seen through.

“You can also relax, Viola-sama─. From Ishtar’s point of view, well, they won’t ‘lose‘. If there’s anything to worry about, I guess it’s the enemy escaping? And one more thing ─── Ymy-sama?”

The second question was much heavier and sharper in her look and tone.

“Are you serious about that promise you made with Horn-chan?”

“……I will once again try to purify that child’s mateki. If that fails, then I will accept any insults or act.”

“Then quit being a Priestess.”

“Understood. I will bet everything I have as a Priestess.”

If Horn defeated the S vector, eighth class and the mateki disappeared with that, then that was fine. However, in the off-chance that the mateki remained despite the main body’s defeat, she would once again attempt to purify it.

……If she were to fail.

“Wait.”

Viola’s voice which was mixed with anger did not permit Ymy’s words.

“I would also like to speak on that matter. I’ve heard that that was basically something Horn decided on her own. It is clear the fault lies with my little sister. ……Ymy-san, you cannot allow yourself to be swept up in the heat of the moment and accept such a thing. If you have awareness as a Priestess, then reconsider this.”

“…………”

“Ishtar is in agreement─. A Priestess isn’t somebody that can just be replaced with a person if one is gone. I think Horn-chan would also understand if she cooled her head?”

“…………Yeah.”

She understood that. She tried to understand it.

She knew better than anybody else that a vacancy in the Priestesses could not be permitted and that Horn’s words at that time were impulsive.

However──

“Thank you, Viola, Ishtar-san. But it’s fine? I don’t have any intention of quitting being a Priestess from this. I don’t feel like failing at purifying the mateki either.”

“That’s sufficient. But then wasn’t there no need to accept what Horn-chan said?”

“……No.”

Ymy shook her head with a smile in response to Ishtar who spoke inquisitively.

“It’s true that I think I need to do it with that much of a resolve.”

A Priestess who can’t save a single child infected with mateki is no good.

My goal is much, much higher.

That’s right. If I compare myself to that child I met in the world of a thousand years ago───

“[Unto me, the only wish of which I am capable……]”

“[Yu/ ris-ia Sophie, Arma-Selah]”

The child known as Shasa.

The more she remembered it, that child’s shinryoku spells were of a different level. Compared to the current Priestesses of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ……no, it might even rival that of the Queen’s.

She had a goal.

Not just the personal goal of curing Sheltis’ mateki but a goal as a Priestess. That child awaited on the path to accomplishing both. That was what she felt. [T/N: “That child” refers to Shasa.]

“I mean that you’re the only one who hasn’t changed a bit from three years ago.”

“Change. There will definitely not be enough stimulus for your shinryoku to bloom.”

The words spoken to her at the Grand Sanctuary by the woman named Tsali.

……I might need the resolution to change myself on my own. If I can’t do that, then that’s all the more reason to have the resolve to quit being a Priestess.

“Well, Ymy-sama is a specialist in baptism spells. It’s not Ishtar’s place to stick her opinion in─”

The Cadres Guard shrugged with an expression that was no quite a smile and not quite a bitter smile.

“It’s dependent on you. You too, Viola-sama.”

“……Yes. Ymy-san, please pay no mind to Horn’s words from just before.”

Being prompted by Ishtar, Viola also turned around. The Priestess headed towards her own room and the Cadres Guard moved towards the elevator. Ymy watched both of them go──

“Good change.”

“Say, Ymy. I wonder if you’ll hear my voice soon enough?”

In a far off and distant place.

She heard a nostalgic voice from someone. She felt so.

### Part 7

A mirror world.

A thin layer of water stuck to the surface of salt which spread out endlessly, making the great salt lake into a gigantic mirror of the world.

“……Amazing. Everyone’s faces are reflected on the ground.”

Kagura sighed while staring directly down. It must have been fairly curious as she had removed the machine helmet she had been wearing and looked around at the surroundings.

“It’s like the ground is a mirror. A mirror with enough clarity to see every strand of hair.”

“Even if it is a great salt lake, it seems it’s limited to after rainfall.”

Splash.

With the sound of a puddle of water splashing underfoot, Sheltis turned towards Kagura who was beside him.

“……The problem is that it’s just a little too bright.”

The ground underfoot was a mirror. Because the sunlight was reflected as-is, the reflected light was also strong. If they stayed in that place for a long time, it might hurt their eyes.

“Hey, hey, Sheltis, I have a good idea. Sunglasses!”

“No. It doesn’t seem like they’d suit me.”

He responded bluntly to Ilis Machine crystal who was swaying at his chest and looked at the members walking ahead of him again.

Walking at the front was Horn with machine pistols in both hands. On her back was a long-range sniping rifle and reserve revolving machine pistols could be seen at her waist holsters.

A little bit away from her was Monica gripping her crossed rods and Vaiel with his iron fist protectors equipped. Kagura followed behind them with Sheltis walking more-or-less beside her.

“……It’s a little bit of an odd order in a certain way.”

A gunner coming up to the front went against the basics of formations but as this was concerning the Sennenshi, Horn Nova, this didn’t apply. She was a generalist that excelled in anything from long-range sniping to hand-to-hand combat. Her combat skills were high enough that she had been attributed as such.

And just before that.

“You are a curious individual.”

“Eh?”

She said it with a sigh.

Horn, who had been silent to this point, suddenly murmured with her gaze still fixed ahead.

“You seem to have been quite close with Scheele.”

“……Yeah. We were both apprentice Priestesses so she’s two years my junior.”

Monica nodded, knowing the line was directed at her.

“I had heard from ane-ue that apprentice Priestesses did not form friendships amongst themselves.”

“It is as Viola-sama said. It is well-known. In comparison with the handful of Priestess positions, there are ten times to a hundred times that number in apprentice Priestesses. The fact of the matter is that they are all competing against each other.”

Monica faced the back of the Sennenshi walking ahead and continued.

“Scheele and I are the same. I’m a busybody so I would look after my juniors’ troubles but that was an even more detested act. For Scheele as well, putting aside what it looked like on the surface, there would have been times she would be troubled by being in my care. Looking from her viewpoint, it would be like being pitied by an enemy.” [T/N: The original literally means “being sent salt by an enemy”. It’s when you assist your enemy when they’re suffering.]

“And in the middle of that, Scheele grew attached to you?”

“That’s……because I quit as an apprentice Priestess, I think.”

She spun together words plainly and without any personal feelings.

“Not being opponents has removed the fence in our hearts. We couldn’t do it as apprentice Priestesses but with the pros and cons relationship gone, Scheele can connect with me honestly.”

“That’s a pleasant irony.”

Horn who was walking ahead laughed.

“There’s no difference between Guards and apprentice Priestesses. The Elite Guards are also like that. They’re under the command of the Sennenshi but every single one of them is an ambitious person looking to get you while you’re not looking. ……Though they would be unreliable as subordinates if they weren’t at least that ambitious. It’s quite a dilemma.” [T/N: “get you while you’re not looking” is literally written as “cut your head off while you sleep”. That old assassination one.]

“……But competition like that is everywhere. If not for that, the quality of the Priestesses and Sennenshi could not be assured, so it is necessary.”

“Then those in your unit are also opponents for you.”

“…………”

Monica went silent at the Sennenshi’s words.

After a little while.

“……It is my goal to become a Sennenshi with all of my teammates.”

“So you’re putting up a front.”

The resolute girl’s voice and Horn’s half-surprised mutter were transmitted in that place.

“Cooperation, teamwork, collaboration. I’ve heard it put many ways but all the way until I became a Sennenshi, I have never experienced the meaning of those words. Apprentice Priestesses and Guards are cut from the same cloth. The bunch at Sophia Tenketsu Palace are all dead set on defeating their rivals.”

“Pardon me, but what of Viola-sama? She also has a history as a member of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Ane-ue is not in the category of Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She is a family member of the orphanage, the same as me.”

Saying that, Horn kicked rock salt under her.

“Children without parents and children without friends. ……The children at the orphanage gathered from that and continue to cooperate and live on. Those children are much better than the bunch at the tower. ……Though for thinking like that, that Priestess branded me a ‘weakling‘.”

Crunch.

While watching the rock salt split under her feet, she continued on.

“I don’t place faith in the bunch at the tower and only treat the orphanage family specially. That Priestess doesn’t seem to be able to tolerate that. If that makes me a weakling, then that should make her a weakling Priestess for asserting she can purify mateki when she can’t.”

“…………”

……Wrong.

Whispering that within his heart, Sheltis clenched his fists without anyone’s notice───

“It looks like you want to say something?”

Immediately afterwards, Horn turned to him with a tone mixed with cynicism.

“It was the same a few days ago but I’ll at least praise your courage in not showing cowardice while facing me.”

The piercing gaze that was felt even if one did not wish to was turned towards the end of the formation.

“……You’re referring to me?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you glaring at me so openly? You look like you want to say something, so if you have a rebuttal then say it.”

A smile with provocation and inquisitiveness mixed in spread on her face seen from the side.

“What I……want to say most is”

Coming to a stop there, Sheltis forced out the voice he’d kept within his throat.

“that she is not a weakling.” [T/N: With this, it’s decided that I won’t be separating any sentences that are split like this into two. I might still do it for less obvious ones though.]

The land of shining salt.

The quiet and coldly transmitted sound waves.

“The Priestess named Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is……very strong. Stronger than you or me, I believe that she carries stronger feelings than anyone.”

“Your basis for that is?”

“The Priestesses’ purification room.”

It should have been conveyed to Horn the Sennenshi with those words.

“There’s no way you don’t know of the Priestesses’ purification room. As you requested the purification of a child named Tessha, you must have also entered Ymy’s purification room once.”

The fastening belts meant to restrain a patient who was thrashing out of control.

The blood stains left behind by Guards who had set into necrosis after being infected with a great deal of mateki were still vivid. Surely they had been unable to wipe it off no matter how hard they tried. In that ghastly place where blood had been spilled to that extent, Ymy fought with mateki alone.

She resisted the unease and loneliness to her utmost, alone.

“How much of a heavy pressure do you think it is for a girl of not even seventeen years to be called the ‘Priestess of Baptism‘ and have expectations of her from those of Orbie Clar the floating continent ? The Priestesses are relied on by the Guards and those in the Living Districts to be able to purify any mateki……she was persuaded that she is the last hope and that cornered her into extending the Priestess training which should normally not be lengthened.”

“──────”

“That’s not just for the child named Tessha. It’s not related to the Guards or the civilians in the Living Districts either; the Priestesses work hard for all those living upon Orbie Clar the floating continent . They absolutely will not slight others for reasons like they can’t trust them or that they’re useless.”

“……Let’s suppose that’s true.”

Slowly, Horn looked ahead and started walking again.

“Are you not denying that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses of the tower do not view the others as their comrades?”

“On that point as well, my view is different from yours.”

“How is it different?”

“It might be like Monica said earlier, that people cannot open their hearts to each other because of competition. But do you think they do that because they want to?”

It’s not just Ymy and Monica. The apprentice Priestess, Scheele, from just now was also a good example. They didn’t actually like that thorny relationship.

“If they don’t like it, it’s fine if they quit. It’s a simple matter.”

“──They can’t quit!”

Before he himself realized it, he had put strength into those words.

“……Despite undergoing harsh training and being unable to form friendships with those around, apprentice Priestesses still aim for something they want to achieve beyond those painful memories. I can’t understand what it is that you can’t accept about those from the tower who do their best.”

“──”

“You patrol the dangerous Biotope by your own will and continue to search for the Yuugenshu……honestly, you’re amazing. But Ymy is the same. While almost being crushed by the surrounding pressure, she does her best for the sake of those suffering from mateki. ……Even so…………why is someone like you who is doing her best to save a treasured child unable to acknowledge a Priestess who wishes to protect those important to her in the same way!”

Silence.

A nervous silence filled the land of salt which shined silver.

“That was quite the outstanding speech.”

With slow footsteps, the blinder-wearing Sennenshi turned to him again.

“And you’re a Cadet Guard? What are you preaching to me? Do you want to call me a weakling as well?”

“…………”

Horn’s tone was plainly provocative. Her gaze was sharp enough that it was clearly conveyed even through the blinder.

“──A waste of time.”

But.

Contrary to expectations, the one who looked away first was her.

…………That’s unexpected.

……So she won’t deny it.

Looking at her back from the end of the line, Sheltis narrowed his eyes slightly. Despite her biting response, she had the same reaction as the time with Ymy.

“But that’s wrong: you’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

“……And if so?”

Judging from Horn’s personality, there was no way that Ymy’s words would not have wounded her pride. At that time, Sheltis had been prepared for Horn to be enraged. However, Horn’s response had been sharp but she had not denied Ymy’s words in the end.

……It’s not that she didn’t deny them but that she couldn’t?

……Maybe Horn actually acknowledges Ymy at the bottom of her heart?

She knew of Ymy’s efforts as a Priestess and that the Guards and apprentice Priestesses serving as her subordinates were helping her.

However, Horn did not acknowledge those yet.

──Because she wants to save the child named Tessha.

Not a single Priestess could save the child who was part of the orphanage family. She couldn’t acknowledge Sophia Tenketsu Palace which placed those Priestesses at the top and there was no way she could acknowledge the subordinates of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……Even though, in actuality, they are two people who should be able to understand each other the most.

……Even though Ymy and Horn should be the two who most wish to save those afflicted with mateki.

“──”

However. No matter how much Sheltis stared at her, Horn’s wordless back was firm and her mind isolated from the outside.

“Yoo, by the way, how long are we gonna keep walking?”

Vaiel who had kept his mouth shut suddenly turned to Kagura.

“Wasn’t it said just a little while ago? Until we reach the center of the great salt lake.”

The girl pointed at the digital map displayed on the Machina Machine pearl .

“If we corner it up to there, the Yuugenshu won’t have a place to escape to. From the center for a radius of two kilometers, the Regular Guard unit has formed an enclosure.”

“They’re being really strict on the preparations.”

Vaiel kicked the rock salt at his feet and sent it flying. Looking at that from behind, Kagura turned to him and called out.

“By the way, I would like to ask you something. A little while ago, you said the great salt lake was ‘not very appealing‘.”

“Ah? Did I say something like that?”

“You can’t play dumb because the recording has been saved on this Machina Machine pearl .”

“……Damn it. So what do you want to ask?”

Being told that it was no use trying to fool her, Vaiel shrugged.

“This place is beautiful and unusual. However, the first thing you said was that it’s ‘not appealing‘; what do you mean? I remember something out of place.”

“Ah, I would also like to ask. Though I thought I’d ask afterwards.”

“……I can’t hear anything.”

The person in question turned his face away while keeping his arms crossed.

“Did I say that too fast? Then I’ll repeat it.”

“Not that, you idiot, I meant that it’s bothering me how quiet it is.”

Plop……He forcefully lifted his shoe which was submerged in water to the ankle.

“Look, there’s this much water. It’s enough to call it a salt lake so it must be a lake to begin with. Even so, there’s nothing here. Not a single fish is swimming in the water and there’s not a single bird flying in the sky if you look up. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“There’s just this much salt, you knooow. It would be hard for a living creature to survive.”

“I get that but somehow, I’m not used to it. It’s too quiet.”

Vaiel had his brows knitted as he tried to start walking again, but just before that, Kagura suddenly pulled on his sleeve.

“Whoa, what?”

“……Ah. No, you said it was ‘too quiet‘……but wasn’t there the cry of a cat just now?”

“A cat?”

“Yes. It was a cute cry that went ‘nya─o‘.”

She touched the sides of her ears that were poking out. Because the Nell folk lived in a snowy region of the Lagoon floating archipelago , they developed the hearing necessary to hear others in the middle of a snowstorm.

“Did you hear it, Sheltis?”

“No, but what about you Ilis?”

“I am the same. I’m not good at perceiving sounds. I’m this small crystal so my sound collection devices have a limit.”

……If Kagura said so, then I’d like to believe that it’s true.

……In that case, is the sky suspicious?

Without relaxing his wariness of the ground, Sheltis tilted his neck a little and looked overhead.

“There shouldn’t be any cats around this place so isn’t it just a bird like a seagull? That bird that goes nya─ nya─ for its cry. I’m pretty sure they lived around river mouths or tideland.”

“I wonder. ……I’m not sure because time has passed but, at any rate, it was a cat-like voice.”

Following him, Kagura and then Vaiel looked up at the sky.

“……Is it that?”

Monica suddenly pointed at a spot on the salt land.

A small black shadow. It wasn’t a shadow but a black body. Four thin legs and a roundish tail. Long and narrow pupils that shined golden.

“Nyaao……”

Its cute mew was like that of any black cat in the Living Districts.

“It appears to still be a kitten. Its gait is also premature.”

“It got lost all the way out here? Sheesh, the parents are probably looking for it.”

Monica and Kagura naturally leaked their feelings out at that appearance.

However.

Sheltis widened his eyes and glared at the black cat which had come right before their eyes.

……I was on guard.

……Just when and how did it manage to get this close?

The entire surface of the great salt lake shined silver. If there was something like a black cat in this world of just white, then he definitely should have noticed. Not just him, Horn Nova should have perceived it, of course.

“Nyaao……”

“Poor thing. I wonder if walking around has made it weak?”

The kitten tried to draw closer to Monica’s legs──

“Monica, get away from that!”

Everything was simultaneous.

Sheltis jumping out in front of Monica and.

“That’s supposed to be camouflage?”

Horn’s bullet piercing the kitten’s body.

“……!”

“Silence.”

The Sennenshi interrupted Monica who raised her voice reflexively.

“Take a good look. If you look at it, does it still appear to be a kitten?”

Fshhh ── though it was supposed to have received a fatal wound, ‘something‘ stood up without injury.

The eyes that should have been golden had turned into a reddish crimson at some point. Its body which should have been the size of a kitten was also expanding at an unpleasant rate.

“Unfortunately, my eyes are special; isn’t it unfortunate that you didn’t get in a surprise attack?”

Tap. Touching the side of her blinder with the gun barrel, Horn’s lips drew out a dangerous smile.

“……Viola-sama’s ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘?”

“As expected, a former apprentice Priestess would know. My eyes are the same as my older sister’s, with shinryoku to see the future ── I clearly saw the future in which that attacked you. What a cheap act.”

Confirming the world of the future a few seconds ahead, foreseeing the opponent’s movements and firing. One of the reasons that Horn Nova reigned at the summit of the gunners on the floating continent was this.

“Hereditary territory type shinryoku art. Syun-rei who’s also a Priestess possesses the power to ‘see the shape of others’ shinryoku‘ but my sister and I……well, ours is like a degraded version.”

Muttering almost to herself, Horn once again pointed her guns forwards.

“Now then, we’ve finally met. You’re the S vector, eighth class, right?”

What the Sennenshi declared that to could no longer possibly be called a kitten.

──Yuugenshu.

Its crimson eyes were filled with a clear hostility and its large body which was wrapped in a dark purple mist continued to swell. Its legs were originally four but they each split at the tip and became eight. Its roundish tail also distorted into an oval and wriggled almost like a snake.

“Sheltis, it’s that time’s……”

“I thought the same thing.”

It resembled the Yuugenshu they had found in the underground room when they accompanied Leon to the Lagoon floating archipelago . It had been sleeping within a water tank at first but that Yuugenshu had also become gigantic the instant it left the water tank.

……It’s really like it just came out of slumber and grew up.

In actuality, the Yuugenshu from that time was called the ‘Sleeping Child‘. And this ‘S vector, eighth class‘ also used mateki to assault its opponent and put them into a coma.

“Does it not resemble it?”

“…………”

Sheltis chose to remain silent in response to Monica’s question.

The image that formed a common point between the two Yuugenshu ── ‘sleep‘ and ‘awakening‘. Was that a secret connected to the truth of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song >?

“That’s enough talk.”

Horn’s voice flatly interrupted.

“Except for Monica, move away from me and spread out. This guy’s mateki is troublesome.”

A Yuugenshu which commanded mateki which even a Priestess could not heal.

……Other than me, if someone is bathed in it, they should sustain great damage regardless of the presence of formal wear.

A pincer attack with him moving in for close-range combat and Horn sniping would be more definite. But that was because of his secret that he could nullify mateki. It was not a plan he could use in front of Monica, Horn and Vaiel who did not know this.

“Do it.”

“──Roger.”

Gently, light wrapped around Monica’s surroundings as if jumping. The azure light indicative of the activation of a barrier type arts sparkled as they weaved layers.

Crunch……

In a moment, something broke underneath the Yuugenshu’s legs.

With the sound of something hard breaking, a black crack appeared in the pure white ground.

That crack spread in all directions from beneath the Yuugenshu in the blink of an eye.

“Wha……!?”

“It’s a gigantic crevice! Something like this was below the rock salt layer……everyone, retreat!”

“Following Ilis’ warning, they jumped back. Kagura and Vaiel who were at the end of the line also turned around and moved away from the crevice.

It can’t be.

“It didn’t run away but instead lured us to this crevice──”

“A trap!?”

Horn and Monica who had been the closest to the Yuugenshu would not make it in time with their flustered reactions. The ground below was breaking so they couldn’t jump or move back.

“Monica!”

“Shelt…………!”

With the voice that became a echo and was disappearing, the two fell along with the Yuugenshu into the crevice.

“……Tch!”

“Sheltis, you mustn’t!”

He was halted by Ilis Machine crystal before jumping into the crevice to follow the two.

……The hole is too deep.

He had no idea how it went underneath so it was too dangerous to jump in to follow those two right now.

“! Sheltis, a mateki reading detected to the front and right. Incoming!”

“A new one, huh!”

Cr……crunch……

Cracks sprung up one after another like a spider’s web in the vast rock salt. Those gradually expanded and from within the gaps overflowed deep purple mist.

“The leaders, Monica and Captain Horn, are underground and its allies are going to fight us here……we’ve been splendidly divided in strength. At any rate, it seems like we’ll have a basis for verifying the Yuugenshu’s intelligence after this. Even though in the past, it was said the Yuugenshu had no intelligence.”

Kagura smiled wryly, accompanied by the floating Machina Machine pearl .

“Though that’s if we return safely.”

Sheltis drew his dual swords from their holders and stared fixedly at the deep purple mist.

Crimson eyes rose up within the mist. One, two……three, four…………there might be many more still hiding underground.

“Connection successful. I have requested support from the unit who has set up camp at the coast.”

“Thanks.”

All directions. The mist beasts creeped up from the crevices around them to surround them. Each of them was a small one which took the form of a lion but it was troublesome because a Yuugenshu’s strength could not be judged from its appearance.

……Which ones are strong and which ones are weak?

……I don’t have time to think about that.

“Let’s go.”

Telling that to the two behind him, Sheltis ran along the silver ground.

### Part 8

……Plop.

The droplet of water that dropped off the edge of a crystal made a small splash.

“Are you dead?”

“Please don’t just kill off people like that.”

Replying like that to the Sennenshi’s disinterested murmur, Monica slowly raised her body. Despite everywhere on her body hurting from the shock of the fall, it was fortunate that her injuries were only to that extent.

……Wheeew.

Mental fortitude. Isolating the pain signals running throughout her, she concentrated on her shinryoku spell.

[Sia Sec elis arc……Is io miel]

[That day’s dream, once more……for the sake of that.]

The release precedent.

The azure light indicative of barrier type arts spread out in a sphere around her with a radius of 10 metres. It lit everything within its area up equally.

“A crystal cavern?”

Crystals stuck out from the ground underfoot and the walls to the sides. Those reflected the shinryoku’s light and glittered in seven colors.

……To think that an underground world like this was below the great salt lake.

The crystals which far exceeded her height were sticking up all over; it felt like she had been thrown into a labyrinth made of crystal.

“It’s a long-awaited invitation but I don’t have any intention of keeping it company for long.”

Placing a hand to the blinder over her eyes, Horn forcefully tore it off. Her sharp, almond eyes were revealed. [T/N: Almond here referring to shape.]

“Your blindfold?”

“I will perceive the present world with my own eyes and the future world with ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘. It puts a burden on my mind and causes dizziness so I don’t like it but……this also raises my accuracy. There’s something more important than that.”

She lightly pressed the black gun tip against a crystal.

“Don’t get too close to the crystals; we don’t know which ones a Yuugenshu is hiding behind.”

“……Wouldn’t that be within the predictions of your ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘?”

“I can’t see that far ahead into the future. If I could, I would have been able to avoid that crevice from before too. ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘ is a power specifically for sniping.”

Her eyes were tinged emerald. Emerald was the color of shinryoku arts of the territory type so that had gathered and could be seen as her real eye color.

“Protect your own life.”

“Roger.”

……Where will they come from?

The handles of the crossed rods she held became sweaty. It was a trap conceived by the Yuugenshu to begin with, so it should know their location and be concealing itself nearby.

Silence.

The crystal world which spread out was filled with silence to the point that it hurt the ears.

……It’s been a while since I’ve felt this silent tension.

She couldn’t even wipe the sweat that went from her brow to the tip of her nose and to her lips. If she crumbled her stance for even an instant, she would be attacked from behind. It was that kind of deja vu feeling.

“You’re too roused up.”

“……My apologies. It’s nerves.”

“I’m praising you.”

Those were unexpected words of compliment unsuited to this Sennenshi called Horn.

“A Guard who does not know the strength of the Yuugenshu can’t be that cautious. It looks like you’ve piled on battle experience with Yuugenshu, including when you were an apprentice Priestess.”

“…………”

“I jumped to a hasty conclusion. I’ll take back the words I said to you at Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It looks like you’ll be moderately useful.”

She put her two machine pistols back in their holders and walked towards the large crystal ahead of her.

“!? Captain Horn!”

No way, she sheathed her guns?

That defenselessly. And this from the person who said not to approach the crystals unprepared!? That’s like asking to be attacked.”

“I’m telling you to attack me already.”

The instant Horn’s monologue echoed throughout the underground.

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

A mysterious and heavy sound echoed through the crystal cavern.

Within the barrier of azure light, deep purple strands of light wove together into a strange pattern in the air.

“Mateki!?”

Crossing her crossed rods , she put together an opposing protective spell in her head.

However, the curse over her head did not fall regardless of how long she waited; it seemed to be getting sucked into the higher parts of the cave just like that.

Crick……

A dull sound came from the crystals jutting out of the ceiling. It wasn’t one, but two and three. Each of them was far taller than they were and extremely heavy.

“Jump backwards!”

Horn shouted.

At the same time, the giant crystals lined up overhead caved in. The landslide with crystals mixed in closed in from above with a violent, thunderous noise.

──It decayed the ceiling with mateki’s corrosion, huh!

“Gu……”

Dodging the dirt and sand, she deflected the crystal fragments with her crossed rods . Jumping to dodge the avalanche of earth and rocks that reached up to her knees, Monica jumped onto the nearby crystal──

“Nyaao……”

Shiver.

The cat-like cry came from directly behind her.

“Behind me!?”

What was before her when she turned around in a panic was a large black shadow. The mysterious beast with eight limbs upon its body which resembled a black leopard swooped down at her.

Its crimson eyes were filled with hostility.

“You’re in plain view.”

Those eyes were easily shot through with a silver bullet.

“!”

Even more silver bullets pierced the back of the beast which was turned. Continuing on, its eight legs which were planted on the ground were knocked out as a matter of course. With its balance destroyed, she aimed at its head and shot even more.

“The bullets with trajectories made with ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘ were, so to speak, unavoidable magic bullets.”

Horn’s gunfire didn’t cease.

The silver monad surface of the bullets had shinryoku carved into it and pierced the Yuugenshu’s mateki bullet by bullet, wearing it away.

“You cannot dodge my bullets no matter where you might run.”

A barrage filled its escape route and bullets broke its legs when it stopped. When it staggered, bouncing bullets pierced it from below. Even falling was not permitted. As if anticipating where it would fall ── no, it really was shooting done while seeing the future.

“……Amazing.”

Catching a glimpse of a battle which could be called one-sided, Monica even forgot to breathe in her surprise.

……I thought I knew but to think it was to this extent.

The Yuugenshu was not allowed to counterattack, much less run or even expand all its energy and fall. What made this possible was Horn’s sniping ability with her future sight granted by ‘Celestial Map Drawing‘.

……She’s holding one of those machine pistols which should require two hands in each hand and being that accurate while firing so quickly.

The physical strength required to handle those hefty guns and the lithe shoulder muscles to distribute the recoil from firing. And above all, the fearsome concentration and force of will which made it possible to do that super precise shooting.

Is there anybody with more skill than this Sennenshi in long-range combat? When she asked that question, Monica had no confidence she could reply.

……I’ll assist her. Like I can say that.

For example, Sheltis. His fighting style which challenged Yuugenshu to super close-range combat was filled with severity which dazzled onlookers’ eyes. But what about her? Being only one-sided, it could not even be called a battle and would end with that one-sidedness.

“This is the end.”

The Yuugenshu had its entire body pierced by bullets bestowed with shinryoku. The core crystal at its center was pierced by the final bullet. The mist beast fell over while crying its death agonies, having exhausted all its energy, and didn’t even twitch. Its body also grew faint and was dispersing.

“The S vector, eighth class was of this caliber, huh. This thing did that to Tessha……”

“Tessha?”

“……It’s nothing; let’s go. We’ll find and exit and escape.”

Putting back on her blinder, Horn turned around.

……

…………What?

It was then that Monica felt discomfort.

The Yuugenshu had certainly fallen and the crystal core within it had been pierced by Captain Horn’s bullet.

……But……I didn’t hear the sound of the crystal core shattering?

“No way.”

What lay before her as she hurriedly turned around was──

“Captain Horn!”

“Wha…………”

Horn turned her head only halfway over and gasped, stiffening her whole body.

“……I see. So its true body is just like mateki. If the entire body isn’t eliminated, it’ll immediately multiply and regenerate.”

The mist which should have been dispersing once again multiplied and solidified into the original beast shape.

“Nyaao……”

A cute cry ── she understood that wasn’t to have them let down their guards. That was truly a ‘coaxing voice‘. The monster which boasted overwhelming strength was sneering at the weak.

“Fine.”

The third Sennenshi once again tore off her blinder.

“I’ll keep you company until you lose the will to regenerate.”

### Part 9

The silver smoke drifted up in a dense cloud.

It was not a darkish cloud of sand but sparkling particles of sand flying in the great salt lake air.

“Two approaching from behind.”

“Tch……”

He spun around, raising water splashes. Bringing his twin swords directly across, he blew away the two Yuugenshu attacking him from behind.

■ ■, ■ …… ■ ■, ■ ■ ■, …… ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U xeph cley, Di shela teo phes kaon

The swelling dark purple light swooped down.

Fshhh……immediately after, the spot he had just been standing at ── on the ground touched by mateki, the water had turned to mist and the rock salt had melted.

“Super high heat, huh; you two, be careful!”

“Roger.”

“……Gimme a break.”

The two’s voices came from where they were fighting a ways away.

“They seem to still be energetic; that’s a relief.”

“It would be troubling otherwise.”

Their responses were proof that the two were safe. Then in the time Kagura and Vaiel were devoted to defense, he would eliminate at least one of the many Yuugenshu. It would be best to wear down the enemy’s combat strength even a little before the reinforcement unit arrived.

……The best option would be to wipe them out but can we do that much?

“A new reading of three units has been detected to the north.”

“There’s an unusual amount of them.”

He had already defeated five of them but rather than their numbers decreasing, they were rather increasing. It was difficult to imagine this many breaking through the barrier at once.

“They most likely came in with that time Hyouketsu Kyoukai was penetrated. You can think of them like the leftovers.”

“The ones that didn’t die and ran away, huh.”

He stabbed his right-hand sword into the salt and swung it up from that position. Giant rock salt pieces floated high in midair and fell towards the Yuugenshu directly below. Not wanting to be crushed by giant weights, the monster evaded.

There, it was cut down with a single flash.

“Increasing response from a unit to the right. Please crush it before the mateki activates.”

“You’re such a slave driver. Kagura, there’s a unit over there as well!”

He left the Yuugenshu that passed by him to the two and those two sprinted at the Yuugenshu they set their eyes on. Swinging down his sword before the mateki activated, it was interrupted.

“Hey, youuu, are you done yet!”

“Operating at depth five virtual territory . Charge completion before micro shinryoku overflow……setting Machina Machine pearl ’s internal carved seal to a thirty second limit ─── Release.”

Kagura threw Machina Machine pearl which she was holding into the air.

Machina Machine pearl which was wrapped in a faint green light split into innumerable pieces. Each of the parts which exceeded a hundred in number shined with the colors of crimson, emerald, gold, azure and pure white, accompanied by their own unique sounds.

“……What’s that?”

“Baptism, territory, barrier, worship. It’s all five of the shinryoku types ── ahh, I see. I gave her some advice before and this is her response.”

The five colors were mixed equally and bore a rainbow-colored radiance.

At the same time this blinding light which even surpassed the sun’s rays fell upon the Yuugenshu, Vaiel who was upon the ground moved.

“Now, hit them!”

“You only have to say it once.”

Closing the distance with a Yuugenshu who was drawing near, he sent it flying with by swinging his fist against the tip of its nose.

Piercing ── the fist which would normally be counterbalanced by a mateki barrier easily blew through the barrier and the body shrouded in mist.

“!?”

The mist beast let out a dying cry as it disappeared.

“……Hoo, I didn’t think it would actually pierce the barrier.”

“Fufun. How about it; isn’t it amazing?”

Kagura rubbed Machina Machine pearl which descended.

“I was informed that it is easier to pierce the Yuugenshu’s barrier not with a single high-powered shinryoku attack, but with multiple small ones. This was an application of that. It fires truly minute amounts of shinryoku out at a rate of several thousand per second over a wide range and erases the enemy’s barrier.”

“It’s simple for machines, huh?”

“Yes. However, even within Sophia Tenketsu Palace , this is still in a trial stage. I am the first one to be personally equipped with it. As for why it’s difficult, it is necessary to attach a large amount of shinryoku to a machine which is inorganic so an advanced carved seal is……mugyuu.”

“Ah─ that’s enough, it’s annoying to listen to. Let’s finish them off first.”

Pushing down roughly on the girl’s head, Vaiel forcefully stopped her from talking.

“A good decision and good support. Sheltis, please defeat them as quickly as possible. We should aim to clean up here even a moment quicker……and then confirm Monica’s safety.”

“Got it; you mean that crevice.”

The underground lake which had become the den of large carnivorous beasts. It could possibly be as hot as magma. Bottomless quicksand. At the bottom of such a crevice, he had no idea what the environment was like so it was ominous.

“On top of that is that Yuugenshu. That……has a high chance of being one of the old types from a thousand years ago. I also believe its intelligence level to be extremely high.”

“A thousand years ago?”

“Yes. They are far more powerful monsters than the current ones. You could say they are the perfect symbol of what Hyouketsu Kyoukai is meant to seal. It was most likely hiding here from before the barrier was erected.”

Ilis Machine crystal ’ words were permeated with an unusual nervousness.

“Let’s hurry. This is that serious of an opponent.”

### Part 10

“I’m sorry, my power was not enough.”

Even now, Horn remembered those words spoken by the Priestess who came out of the purification room on that day.

“No matter how hard I tried……when there was just a little bit left before the purification was done, the mateki would multiply and regenerate itself. ……I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

It was mateki which would multiply and regenerate itself before being completely eliminated no matter how much it was purified.

“I see, so the Priestesses have silently yielded.”

Mateki that even the Priestesses gave up on purifying.

Horn was seeing how fearsome that was in reality.

“Nyaao……”

She couldn’t hear that adorable cry as anything more than a strange sneer.

The mist which should have been hazily spread solidified in the air and supported the main body to its feet. At the same time its body which had been half-erased by shinryoku bullets was fully regenerated, it stood up as if nothing had happened. Rather than being a mist beast, it was more of a beast that was mist.

“……So this happens even if its head is completely destroyed.”

There was absolutely no meaning to having shot the entirety of its head and more than half of its torso. Even if a single leg were to remain, it would immediately regenerate.

“Captain Horn!”

“Don’t move; just focus on your spells.”

She pierced Monica, who was about to run over, with her gaze.

“It’s the same as before. Keep the barrier spell up at all times and if you have excess strength, time baptism spells to align with my shots and hammer them into it.”

……Its regeneration is being somewhat hindered by this barrier but even then it still has this speed.

……It’s shocking.

On top of that, it was troublesome that the opponent was gradually learning. It was memorizing the gun’s piercing strength and speed while deploying the most appropriate barrier. It was showing that it wouldn’t dodge the unavoidable magic bullets and instead was focusing on defense. And if there was an opening──

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

“Tch!”

She jumped away to avoid the mateki which formed a giant circle. Placing a foot against the wall of gigantic crystals, she jumped to crystals which were even higher.

The eerily shining mateki wrapped everything up to the nearby crystals ── however, no changes occurred with the crystals. They didn’t decay or crumble; they didn’t even melt under super-high temperatures.

……That’s the cause of Tessha’s coma.

……Only that mateki requires caution.

“Now then, what to do.”

There was no impatience. It was her bitter enemy whom she’d been chasing for many years so this level of strength was to be expected.

“Monica, can you still maintain the barrier?”

“Y-Yes. ……At this rate, I could hold it for a few days.”

“Then we’re changing strategies. Don’t use Baptism spells and restrict yourself to Barrier spells; try to save stamina. It’ll be a protracted battle.”

There were two shots from her right-hand machine pistol and three from her left. A total of five shots pierced through the enemy’s limbs without fail. Rushing to the side of the enemy which couldn’t move, she fired another three shots at its head.

“You hide behind a crystal or something. If you don’t directly provoke it, it will come for me first. ……There’s no rush. After my reinforcements arrive, we’ll settle this.”

Other than her machine pistols, she had a rifle on her back, but these were not enough to finish this.

Then it was a simple matter: something with more power ── cannon-class power would be good enough. In the airship they had arrived on, there were also super powerful firearms for use against dragons. If the reinforcements were to carry those here, they would be able to wipe out Yuugenshu without a trace.

Ding!

“So you deflected the bullet.”

It meant that the enemy’s barrier had been adapted that far.

“Nyaao.”

With its barrier still up, it used its body’s springs and shot forward with explosive force. It was a form of combat it hadn’t shown until now.

“You’re trying to tell me you changed your fighting style too?”

She kicked off the crystal underfoot and flew into the air. She twisted her body and kicked once off a ceiling crystal, flew through the air from the reaction force and landed far away from the Yuugenshu.

The Yuugenshu which cut through the air continued on like that and crashed into a crystal. Immediately afterwards, an ear-splitting noise sounded and the crystal blew into countless fragments.

“……Just like your regenerative ability, that stupid strength is also appalling.”

Bathed in the shower of falling fragments, the monster appeared without a wound.

…………No.

……It is no problem. If my weapons arrive, it is an opponent I can certainly defeat.

“Nyaao.”

“I’d like this to be a short battle but I don’t have any intention of that.”

She continued to dodge the charging monster.

……Tessha, wait just a little longer. I will save you.

……I will be the one to save you where no Priestess could.

“You’re just a weakling who can’t love anybody except for the children from the orphanage!”

She remembered those words.

That Priestess……if Ymy Ele Soufflenictole who was acknowledged as the Priestess of Baptism was able to purify this, then nobody would have these harsh feelings.

“……Such flippant words.”

Clenching her molars, Horn muttered that with loathing.

“How can a Priestess who can’t even save a single child say that……!”

Look at reality.

She had chased down this Yuugenshu to where she could defeat it. Year after year, she had bowed her head to her older sister, Viola, caused her suffering and patrolled the harsh Biotope of her own will to continue seeking out the Yuugenshu. One’s best and tenacity are that kind of thing.

“……I am a weakling? A coward? Not relying on anybody in Sophia Tenketsu Palace isn’t acting strong!”

The Priestesses of which not a single one could purify mateki.

There was no need to trust in Sophia Tenketsu Palace which revered those Priestesses nor the subordinates of that Sophia Tenketsu Palace . She merely had to make use of them as subordinates and there was no need to expect anymore from them.

Rather than the people of Sophia Tenketsu Palace , there was nothing wrong with special treatment for her friends at the orphanage which had raised her sister and herself.

……I am not mistaken.

…………I should not be mistaken. Even so.

“Err……umm, I was fascinated by how amazing Captain Horn is.”

“I……If I practice, will I be able to become like the Captain──”

……Why am I remembering Catria now?

But what of him? In the tower, he isn’t a Priestess, apprentice Priestess or a Guard. Was there really a need to treat a maintenance boy harshly?

“……But she’s cool.”

“…………Yeah. ……Also, she always leaves the gun maintenance to me.”

Within the tower, he was the only boy that adored her.

He just innocently said that he wished to become her maintenance worker. Yes, he was attached to her just like the children from the orphanage.

On the day he was first assigned──

His eyes were shining like this underground crystal world.

“The Priestess named Ymy Ele Soufflenictole is……very strong. Stronger than you or me, I believe that she carries stronger feelings than anyone.”

“She was persuaded that she is the last hope and that cornered her into extending the Priestess training which should normally not be lengthened.”

……That Cadet’s words were the same.

Her older sister Viola would always come back weakened to the limit after training.

I hate night time ── it feels like I’ll see a dream about training. Seeing her elder sister squatting on the bed while saying that, it was apparent just how harsh the Priestesses’ training was even if she didn’t want to know.

……I knew it all from the beginning.

Just how seriously that Priestess considers Tessha and I.

“Kuu!”

Why of all times would only excess random thoughts emerge now?

Even thought she should have severed herself from all connections to Sophia Tenketsu Palace .

……But.

……It’s the truth that Catria the maintenance worker and Ymy the Priestess and every person in the tower is putting forth their best to aid me.

……Since I can’t even acknowledge those two, I really am just like Ymy said──

“Captain!”

“!”

──When Horn came back to reality, the area ahead of her was filled with mateki.

■ ■ ■, ■ ■ …… ■, ■ ■, …… ■, ■, ■ ■ ■ …… ■ ■

Oe/ Dia = U milve / x-recrey mihas I, xay xephnis xin sis.

“Cra──”

……For me to lose focus in the middle of a battle.

Inwardly regretting it, she jumped back with all her might. Her back was on the point of freezing up at the sight of the spot she was just standing at being completely wrapped in mateki.

Crack.

The gigantic crystal which was bathed in mateki let off a sound at its base and crumbled.

“It’s different?”

This effect was simple physical destruction. It’s not the coma effect it was using until just now!?

The crystal which had become giant rubble descended from overhead. It was of such weight that she would suffocate under it without being able to move a bit.

“……I’m being mocked!”

Twisting her body, she dodged the continuous rain of falling rubble. She shot the smaller fragments with bullets to deflect them while jumping directly sideways──

“Nyaao.”

That voice came from right next to her ear.

No way……breaking the crystal with mateki was to direct me?

“!”

Without even time to turn around, she felt a large presence to her side.

In her peripheral vision, the eight-legged monster filled her view and pressed closer──

“Captain!?”

Nothing would make it in time.

The distance was too close for her to deflect it with simultaneous gunfire. Even with her firing speed, one or two shots would be the limit. But the Yuugenshu’s shield was already at the point where that wouldn’t break it.

…………Think. ……A plan to break through this crisis.

……The response is…………

There was no response.

Even with all her knowledge and techniques, she could not defeat the Yuugenshu charging at her. She intuitionally understood that.

“……It makes me hate myself from the bottom of my heart.”

Failing so stupidly right at the end. If there was a subordinate that failed like this, she would normally start with chasing them out of the unit.

“……I can’t laugh at that bunch at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

Struggle in vain?

Or──

With not even a second left before the Yuugenshu reached her, she had time for one shot. In that brief instant, Horn’s right hand had cast aside her favored gun while she wasn’t thinking.

She couldn’t think of anything. No, she didn’t have time to think.

While in that lost state, her right hand gripped a single gun.

And pulled its trigger.

A crimson flash.

“………………Eh?”

Horn’s excellent vision witnessed the phenomenon that occurred in that moment without fail. A single bullet had been wrapped in a crimson light and shot through the Yuugenshu’s barrier and upper body.

A powerful mateki barrier and it went through easily.

“This, is?”

A definite weight was felt in her right hand.

It was a weight she hadn’t felt until now but the large silver gun felt familiar as if it were made specifically for her. That was.

“…………Catria?”

“Catria.”

“Ye-Yeeeess!?”

“This was in my cargo, but what is it?”

“Uh……umm, it’s a new creation. Production code, ‘Silver King ‘……the gun’s slide and rifling are designed to be larger and it also uses special bullets.”

The gun christened Silver King .

She remembered having it pushed onto her by Catria at the airship.

“I wanted to make the bullets themselves in a new metallic structure. After making a request to a Priestess many times, I finally got a carved seal with a Priestess’ baptism spell applied to it. It hasn’t been tested, but it shouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a bullet specialized to Yuugenshu!”

“A Priestess’ baptism spell meaning ane-ue’s?”

“Ah, n-no. Viola-sama was always out of the tower so the best at baptism type spells──”

Specialized anti-Yuugenshu bullets.

It was not like like those until present which were only carved with shinryoku. Most likely, a Priestess had spent a great deal of time offering prayers and applying Baptism spells. She would have done it between regular training and forgone her own sleeping time to fill it with prayers.

Then the Priestess which granted this bullet this much power was?

“…………”

She knew.

There was nobody else who could be referred to as the forerunner in Baptism.

“…………That idiot.”

She should have known. She should have also known that the one who would use this gun was me. Even so, that Priestess……not considering how much I’ve rejected her, she did this for my sake.

…………

……That idiot sacrificed her own time for this.

“That’s why……I don’t like you, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole.”

Catria as well.

Ymy as well.

Despite being treated that coldly by me, for my sake ── they have gone ahead themselves and become my strength.

……And this is.

……What that cheeky Priestess wanted of me for so long, huh.

The final chance she gave to me.

“…………”

She took deep, deep breaths repeatedly.

“U-Umm! Not many bullets have been made so there are only three loaded…..”

“I was wondering if I would just barely make it in time for the subjugation mission this time.”

“Ten minutes.”

She had two shots left.

She would get through ten minutes with those two shots.

“……And I’m sorry.”

Biting down on her lip and facing forward, Horn pulled the trigger.

Silver King ’s bullet ── the bullet which had a Baptism spell bestowed straight upon it split into twelve smaller pellets immediately after firing. Each of those little pellets pierced through the barrier and body of the Yuugenshu which had regenerated, gouging out large holes.

“!?”

The wavering beast let out a confused scream.

“Now, I offer my thanks to you.”

The last bullet.

Facing her bitter enemy which whose body was already half annihilated, she calmly pulled the trigger.

The bullet shone silver and crimson. It pierced the Yuugenshu as if being swallowed up and completely destroyed it save one leg.

……So two shots weren’t enough.

……Meaning my skills still have room to grow.

If even a single leg were left behind, it would regenerate. And Silver King ’s bullet count was zero. If it were to regenerate, she would have nothing to shoot it with.

“───”

Horn smiled and threw Silver King up high.

[Sia Sec elis arc……Is io miel]

[That day’s dream, once more……for the sake of that.]

The leftover leg of the Yuugenshu was wrapped in even more crimson light.

Then.

The sound of a hard crystal shattering.

It was transmitted coldly, sharply and somehow sadly throughout the crystal world.

“I apologize, I disobeyed your orders.”

Appearing from behind a crystal’s shadow was the girl with sakura-colored hair. The final spell which had completely eliminated the Yuugenshu was hers.

“You said to limit myself to barrier spells but……”

“……No, this is fine.”

She faced the troubled Cadet and shook her head, then looked up at the towering crystals.

……The thing I understood from the beginning but couldn’t do.

The crystal world. A natural mirror which shined because of the sunlight flowing in. A very, very small smile appeared on her face which was reflected in that.

“I finally have the courage to face myself.” [T/N: The kanji for “myself” is 弱虫 meaning “weakling/coward”.]

### Part 11

Gun and crossed rods . In a place away from where two people put away their respective weapons──

“Hey, Sheltis, come on, Sheltis.”

“Shh. Quiet, Ilis, they’ll hear us.”

Covering Ilis who was blinking with liveliness, Sheltis once again hid himself in the shadow of the crystals.

“Mu─, I said it’d be fine if you went out. The one who subjugated the remaining Yuugenshu in this underground cave was you so it isn’t it fine if you just grandly appear?”

“……Well, there’s a mountain of stuff I want to do.”

He held his dual swords in his hands.

Wiping the sweat flowing from his forehead, Sheltis slowly sat down.

“Ah─, that was tiring.”

“Good work. That was fourteen aboveground and twenty five underground for a total of thirty nine. The average time taken was 12 minutes, 5 seconds and you also did well in keeping your injuries down to two light wounds. These are results enough to make a Priestess or Sennenshi go pale.”

“……It seems like the underground was the Yuugenshu’s home grounds.”

He had a bad feeling when the Yuugenshu had split the surface of the great salt lake and appeared.

That S vector, eighth class did not invite them to that crevice to split their unit in two. It was to surround them with the Yuugenshu waiting underground.

“It was a silver lining that Monica was there.”

“Truly.”

If Monica had not quickly erected a shinryoku barrier, they would have been attacked by the Yuugenshu troops following the ‘S vector, eighth class‘.

──In reality, dozens of Yuugenshu had been waiting just outside Monica’s barrier.

And the one who wiped them out was Sheltis.

“But you know, you should also thank me. Since I found the path through this underground cavern.”

“……Wasn’t that just a pitfall?”

He had Kagura and Vaiel stay aboveground to communicate with the reinforcements.

That left him to follow Ilis’ guidance and charge into the Yuugenshu den alone. And just like that, he had entered a rough battle of which nobody knew.

He alone had wiped out the dozens of Yuugenshu in the crystal cavern.

For those who didn’t know the circumstances, it was a number which would even cause Instructors to doubt their ears.

“But I’m glad.”

“……Mm?”

“I just had a little feeling that something might change.”

From the shadow of the crystals, he stealthily peeked in the direction the two were standing at.

──Horn was staring at her reflection in a crystal.

“Like I thought, Priestesses and Sennenshi have to get along.”

A deep gap had separated Ymy and Horn.

The only ones who could repair that were the people in question. That was why all he could do was support them from the shadows at the conclusion.

“Helping repair Ymy’s relations from behind the scenes, hmm. But you know, sometimes I want to have the chance to do showy things in the open.”

“……That’s all up to chance.”

Ilis Machine crystal sighed and Sheltis answered that with a sigh of his own.

### Part 12

“Everyone, I’m glad you’re all safe.”

Those were the words first spoken by Monica after she was rescued from the giant hole.

“I was worried. After we fell down, there was no support or response for a while, so I thought that perhaps you were also about to be attacked by Yuugenshu.”

“……It wasn’t just about to be.”

“That’s right. It was a hassle.”

Kagura and Vaiel answered with dead tired expressions.

“Don’t say that. It was hard on our end too. At any rate, it was a really troublesome one which no matter how many times we defeated it──”

“Right, that. Ilis and I were also worried but……it looks like everything went alright.”

He didn’t have time to check while fighting the Yuugenshu underground, but she didn’t seem to have any injuries on her when he looked. He had more scratches on him.

“Captain Horn was the one who struggled so I was more of an extra.”

She dug her nails into her unharmed formal wear in shame.

“That’s wrong. The one who completely annihilated that was her.”

The blinder-wearing woman lightly rested her hand on Monica’s shoulder.

“My thanks; I was saved by your barrier.”

“Eh? Ehh, eh…… wa-wait, Captain Horn!?”

“I merely spoke the truth.”

The Sennenshi declared that plainly and turned around.

…………Should I say it?

He was lost for a moment on whether he should speak.

“Wait.”

Sheltis called out to Horn who was about to walk away.

“What is it?”

“Thank you very much.”

“Mm?”

She had a dubious expression on her face as he bowed his head to her.

“Isn’t Monica unharmed because you put yourself at the front?”

The fully depleted Silver King . The machine pistol magazines all around her waist were also used up by a great deal. It had been that much of a rough battle.

“All according to plan. There’s no idiot who would place a shinryoku spellcaster before the enemy. Also”

The tall woman slowly turned to him.

“I was indebted to you.”

“Heh?”

“I’m interested in your background but I’ll let it slide for now.”

She turned away and walked away briskly.

……I see, so she really did notice.

“What’s wrong, Sheltis?”

“Eh? No, I don’t really understand it well.”

He folded his arms and thought. By the way, he had already asked Kagura and Vaiel to keep it a secret from Monica that he had headed underground by himself.

And──

“That”

Horn, who was walking at the head of the group, suddenly came to a stop.

“Wa, wawaa……Captain Horn, I’m glad to see you’re safe!”

The boy with heavy firearms in both hands ran up to the blinder-wearing Sennenshi. He should have been in overalls but now he was wearing camouflaged battle clothes.

“Catria, what is that outfit for?”

“B-Because, because. ‘Bring a stronger weapon‘. It was a Yuugenshu even Silver King couldn’t defeat, right? For that kind of opponent, I-I thought I would also need to fight!”

“……Ahh. About that, your new gun was helpful.”

Horn replied with a strangely awkward expression.

“Eh, i-is that right!”

“But that doesn’t mean a maintenance worker should join the reinforcements unit. Somebody who doesn’t even know how to fire a gun shouldn’t come out onto the battlefield.”

“…………My apologies.”

The boy stared at the heavy firearms in his hands with a downcast expression.

“……I won’t say it again.”

“If you have a break from work, tell me ahead of time.”

“Eh?”

In front of the boy who had his mouth hanging open absentmindedly, the Sennenshi averted her face for some reason and mumbled.

“……I’ll at least teach you how to handle a gun.”

“Ehh, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

“What is it?”

“B-Because, Captain Horn is……saying such kind words to me. Th-This is bad. You must have been hit with mateki and gone strange in the head──”

“Quiet.”

A fist sunk into Catria’s face with an unpleasant sound. Monica and the others who shuddered at the full-strength hit and the person who clenched that fist grabbed the boy by his collar.

“Come to think of it, Catria, how about the report to the executives?”

“A-All done! Everyone was relieved that the subjugation is complete.”

“I see……”

She muttered that as if talking to herself, then the female Sennenshi looked up at the sky.

“……The only thing left now is Tessha.”

There was no mistake that the one she defeated was the S vector, eighth class she had been chasing for many years. There was one concern left ── whether or not defeating the main body had managed to also erase the mateki eating away at the boy.

“Let’s have faith. Also, that it’s not the delayed sin-type mateki.“

“……Yeah.”

That was mateki which became a stronger curse after its defeat. If mateki which the Priestesses couldn’t cure were to become even stronger, nothing could be done about it.

The only thing they could do was have faith.

In what they had come to do. As well as the meaning in what Horn Nova had spent years continuing.

“I’ll confirm it with the doctor in charge of the hospital. Sorry, but please wait a bit.”

Placing the communicator to her ear, Horn was silent. However.

“…………Why……is no one answering?”

Her whisper said everything with utmost cruelty.

“Is this Horn-sama?“

A nurse working at the hospital was heard from the communicator.

“What is it? Where is Tessha’s doctor──”

“Th-The doctor……he just ran to D ward and hasn’t come back yet! U-Um, he said that a patient’s condition had suddenly worsened.“

“…………Don’t tell me, is it D09?”

“I-I don’t know but it was the patient in the innermost room. ……Ah, h-hello, Horn-sama!?“

Clatter……

The communicator slipped from Horn’s hand which had lost its strength and fell.

“───Why?”

Both her knees touched the ground followed by both hands. A sob leaked from the lips which the Sennenshi was biting down on hard enough to draw blood.

Delayed sin-type mateki. There was no way to stop the curse strength which had lost its control. It was of a strength which Priestesses couldn’t cure even before running out of control. There was no way they could deal with it.

“Why……nothing has paid off……I……what I’ve done so far, not a single thing has”

“It will pay off, definitely.“

That voice.

From the communicator which had fallen to the ground, it was carried along the silver wind flowing to the great salt lake.

“I’ve heard the report. You defeated that Yuugenshu. ……That’s why, after that, you must believe. In what you have done. And in me.“

“……Ymy?”

Whispering that with a sob mixed in, Horn Nova slightly lifted her face.

“Tessha-kun’s mateki was of the delayed sin type as I suspected. Because the main body was annihilated, his mateki has undergone a change. ……We don’t even have an hour to spare. I will be heading to D09 to perform a purification now. The supervising doctor is making preparations.“

“…………”

“Are you uneasy? That I’m performing the purification.“

Horn didn’t answer.

“……Please have faith and wait. Well then──“

“Wait.”

Horn’s hand once again gripped the communicator.

Such that everyone there could hear, she stood up and then.

“──I’m sorry.”

The third Sennenshi lowered her head towards the communicator.

“……I am thankful that you are at Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Horn-san?“

“I entrust Tessha to you.”

### Part 13

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , internal hospital.

“Yes. I will save him for sure.”

With one eye closed while facing the communicator, Ymy quietly breathed in.

“…………”

In front of her when she turned around was an enormous steel door which was shut firmly. This was already D ward. It was the floor for patients contaminated with powerful mateki who absolutely could not be helped with regular treatments.

It was one of the quietest places in the tower.

Everything from the ceiling to the corridor was covered in formal carved seals letting off bluish-white light. A single person was in the hall which was filled with the radiance of shinryoku, heading absolutely straight to the furthest depths.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Room D09. The attending doctor stood in front of its door.

“As you directed, the evacuation of attending doctors and apprentice Priestesses from around this room has been completed.”

“……Okay. I’ll tell you when I’m done so please don’t let anyone enter until then.”

The attending doctor saw Ymy off as she walked up to the door.

……This is.

The instant she entered, her breath caught at the unnatural airflow.

The room was filled with deep purple mist.

The ceiling, walls and floor: every single thing was supposed to be one color by they were now dyed purple.

“This entire room is dyed with mateki.”

The sweat flowing down her cheek was cold enough to make her shiver.

……Such thick mateki.

It was almost as if this area had become a miniature Eden Garden of Corrupted Song . A regular person would be cursed by the mateki just by breathing. It was an outrageous density.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able……]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

Release precedent.

Particles shining with crimson light floated in the air and hazily wrapped her body.

……I must do what I could not do yesterday.

“───”

A single boy continued to slumber while attached to an artificial respirator. He was wearing a patient’s gown for children and continued seeing a dream without waking from his coma.

O seven colors of the interweaving dream

Yu/ ubinis ole = C kis tih Ies.

The slumbering spring’s rest is at an end, wishing, the augite that awakens with the path.

mios huda yum xeph fel hypne shel sephat, xephnis wision.

──Strange purple patterns emerged from his entire body.

It formed a complete contrast with the formal wear with shinryoku carved seals, nevi that looked as if a curse were carved straight onto the body had clearly emerged from his entire body.

“……I will save you this time.”

She gripped the hand of the boy whose eyes were shut and hugged that delicate body strongly.

Now in this place, the accumulated songs of praise, the quivering pulsations, arrive at the heavenly sound.

mehnes nelar, Ee toga-s-sia vea clar = C nelves zahl tis kyel Sophit.

The pouring drops, lovingly fill and run towards the fated time.

kei yum lisy r-blow-s-miel xins clue Is-Ye-fio missin.

O wishes, become the path of thousands of hopes.

Ris sia sophia, shel evoia steras tis lef ilis.

The Priestess’ prayer. Failure was not permitted.

Not for my sake, nor for Horn’s, but for this child’s sake.

……What I have trained so far. For a long, long time.

……Everything was for the sake of today.

───For the time the world is filled with prayers, I sing.

Yu/ Se = C clar fears valen r-miel noi I.

The crimson lights purifying the mateki become tens of times brighter in one instant.

The band of light was reminiscent of an aurora. The instant the deep purple mist wrapping the entirety of the room touched that, it disappeared with a twinkle like snow in the sunlight.

…………

……It’s being purified?

The room was regaining its pure whiteness. What was left was the boy who served as the source of the mateki. The ominous nevi were also disappearing quickly starting from the extremities, his arms and legs.

……Just a little more, just a little more.

The nevi at his stomach disappeared, and then the nevi from his chest to his neck, and even those at his shoulders were disappearing. Now if only the nevi with the mateki whose curse was strongest on his face and head were to disappear, the purification would be complete.

The shinryoku light climbed up from the base of his neck and the nevi disappeared in tandem. Just when she thought the crimson light was moving from his chin to his head.

Riii, i……iiiiii……nnnn……n…………

The shinryoku lights became smaller particles and were deflected.

“………………Eh?”

What happened? The purification isn’t over yet; the most essential part of this child’s purification is still left. The mateki which serves as the origin of his coma isn’t gone yet.

“I-It’s some kind……of mistake, right?”

Once more, one more try.

She strongly hugged the boy and once again spun the words of prayer. She wrapped her body in shinryoku to her limits and──

That light was once again rejected by the mateki eating away at the boy.

Mateki propagation. While she was doing that, the mateki nevi gradually returned from his neck to his shoulders and from his shoulders to his chest. The contamination had started again.

“…………It can’t……be.”

It escaped the limits of her power. The mateki had clashed head-on with her shinryoku which should be the greatest in quantity of all the Priestesses and she didn’t even counterbalance it.

……It’s the same phenomenon as when I challenged the Yuugenshu from a thousand years ago.

……Then the Yuugenshu that attacked this child was a strong type of the same strength?

No way, there are remnants of those powerful ones from a thousand years ago left on Orbie Clar the floating continent ? And defeating one would only cause the mateki to turn malignant.

……That kind of thing……how do we counter it……

“Don’t……lose hearttt!”

She opened her eyes and bit on her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Even if I try to think of a countermeasure, there’s no point. There’s no other way except for me to exhaust myself to the point of collapse time after time, however many dozens of times.

[Unto me, all the wishes that of which I am able……]

[ele So Phi-a-s Arma-Riris]

The second release precedent.

“After all……I am a Priestess.”

It wasn’t responsibility or duty. She became a Priestess because she decided that was what she wanted to do. Being taught by Meimel, trying her best along with Syun-rei, having her previous senpai return and, above all, her important childhood friend had returned to the tower──

……Because I like it!

That’s why I want to do my best.

On this Orbie Clar the floating continent , in this tower, I like doing my best together with everyone!

“So pleaseeeee!”

She concentrated on the spell hard enough to faint and held the boy as hard as she could…………

That shinryoku shattered with a noise.

The overflowing deep purple mateki became even darker and only multiplied.

“…………”

Sorry. She didn’t even have the strength to think of that word.

Her vision grew dim and something hot overflowed from the tip of her eyelids……it felt like something very important within her had come to a halt.

The boy who continued to sleep was pushed over and Ymy collapsed at that spot.

───

─────

Within her consciousness which had been lost.

She heard a song.

In a far-off, distant place.

A nostalgic song in a nostalgic place.

……Somebody……a girl is……singing?

………………Who is it?

“Me.“

…………Who is……me?

“I am myself. The form which your shinryoku shall arrive at and the existence which lies ahead of your possibilities.“

Giggle, giggle.

Only the girl’s smile echoed like a song.

[I am crimson A great mother and a girl]

[En Ze lu la clue. Zeul la ilmei Zelah -di- mis.]

[Made into a complete will, a single fragment of the great Selah]

[Zewl la elmei-l-phenoris Ema -di- lement lef Selah.]

[Governing the records of times of strife, forming knowledge with love. Its symbol]

[Sera, Zewl la clue-l-sophie neckt. tes Arma Risis.]

……What is……she saying?

…………I don’t understand.

“But you can hear my words, right?“

I can hear them.

But where am I hearing them from? It’s not through my ears; it’s a strange throb almost like I’m talking to myself.

“Congratulations.”

That voice became somewhat lively.

“You who can hear my voice. You can finally awaken. Within this frozen, sleeping world, you will be able to walk with your own feet.“

Frozen, sleeping world……walk? Where have I heard those words?

“O sleeping children Your legs are still weak This frozen land is still pained“

“=C hypn phenoria, Eec wat nes ei getie bis kills cley kis ei mihas“

……That’s right, come to think of it.

There should have been a line like that in the Priestesses’ Seventh Heaven Rhythm ──

“Now, O children who have been born“

After the girl sung loudly.

“If the world desires you, then I shall teach you a grand chant.“

──Ymy’s consciousness sunk somewhere very, very deep.

A world filled with something that seemed like black water of pure darkness.

It was like the night sky.

What twinkled there were not stars but large and small frozen crystals. They were an azure which reminded her of Hyouketsu Kyoukai’s crystals.

……Why……is that in this world?

“…………Where is this?”

Ymy absentmindedly drifted in this space whose atmosphere had a strange density to it like water.

“This is a solitary world. My world.“

A red light shined before her eyes and a conspicuously large crystal appeared.

“A world filled with frozen crystals. Nice to meet you, Ymy. Ymy Ele Soufflenictole, I have awaited you for a long time.“

A shadow of small stature could be faintly seen within the frozen crystal.

……It’s a girl.

……A girl with crimson hair.

The radiance of crimson which was the symbol of Baptism. The girl who was producing as well as endowed with that color.

“……You know me?”

“I am the records of everything in this world. For I am the original of that which you know as ‘Mikuva’s Crimson Eye‘.“

“!”

Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. That should have been the treasure that the Governmental Sector secretly had.

It was a shinryoku system which would monitor everything about Orbie Clar the floating continent and record it. But……no way. The girl before my eyes is……the original of that treasure?

“The harsh and pure truth. That is why I am the Forbidden Crystal of this world.“

“Forbidden Crystal……”

She strangely had heard those words before. She didn’t know who had said it or where. But sometime, somewhere, she had heard them. That was what she felt.

“…………“

Within the frozen ice, the girl spread both hands.

“This world is a mirror. Two opposing sides filled by a single component.

Orbie Clar the floating continent and the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

Shinryoku and mateki.

And slumber and awakening.“

Slumber. With that word, Ymy finally remembered her mission.

“U-Um……sorry. I have a child I must save. So please, tell me……where is this? Send me back!”

“Were you to return, the current you cannot save that child.“

“……Then……what should I do!”

“I told you. You will awaken here. If you awaken, then you should also be able to awaken a sleeping child.“

What does that mean?

I am not…..yet awoken?

“You form the contrast with the boy who fell to paradise. If perchance you hear my voice……I shall teach you the true Seventh Heaven Rhythm .”

The girl who named herself as the Forbidden Crystal loosened her expression.

“The Seventh Heaven Rhythm which invites the world into slumber. The Seventh True Rhythm which reawakens that world. Two lives which would normally never intersect. However, if by chance you reach the deepest parts of the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song , at that time──“

“……At that time”

“You must ascertain that for yourself. I will be naught but the opportunity.“

The Forbidden Crystal proclaimed those words.

She remembered hearing those exact words previously in the Grand Sanctuary.

“Change. There is an absolute lack of opportunities for your shinryoku to bloom.“

“……Ah.”

She felt that she had finally come to an understanding.

About the meaning of those words back then. The reason she caught a glimpse of the world a thousand years ago.

“Congratulations. You have reached it. The cries of your heart summoned me so I shall also impart a gift to you. A valuable gift.“

The Forbidden Crystal encased in a block of ice extended a hand.

That hand slipped through the water’s surface……

“Ah……”

Her fingers stroked my off-gold hair gently. It was gentle like a mother combing her child’s hair.

“I’ve waited always. Always……always…………for the chance that I would be released.“

Flutter. A warm light gradually illuminated the night-colored world.

A crimson light.

……It’s blinding.

Wrapped in the current of light which wouldn’t let her open her eyes, Ymy reflexively closed her eyes.

“I entrust you with my power and the door to ‘The Promised Land ‘.“

“W-Wait───! You are, you are───”

The world was filled with light.

Chasing after the disappearing visage of the Forbidden Crystal, Ymy desperately reached out her hand.

The instant that hand touched the girl’s fingertips.

Ymy lost consciousness once more.

### Part 14

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 22, internal hospital.

Horn ran through the hallway of D ward which was isolated by a giant door.

“Further ahead?”

“Th-That’s right! But……there still hasn’t been a report about Ymy-sama’s treatment ending.”

Running alongside Horn was a nurse.

……It’s been about two hours since we returned to the tower from the great salt lake.

……It’s normally unthinkable for a purification spell to last two hours.

“Ymy……is safe, right?”

“Monica, Kagura and Vaiel are undergoing post-battle diagnosis by a doctor. After that’s over, they’ll immediately head to D ward. So──“

“We’ll go there without telling them we’re going on ahead.”

A tinge of unease pressed down within his chest as Sheltis followed after the two before him.

“Purifying that mateki which has undergone a change because of the main body’s elimination……poses a risk of calling danger to the spell caster, Ymy.“

“……So the worst case scenario is a possibility.”

The effectiveness of a Baptism spell would change greatly depending on the shinryoku output. There were examples of using too much strength to purify mateki placing too heavy a strain on the spell caster’s mind and body, leaving them beyond recovery.

“If it were an apprentice Priestess’ purification, there would be a several people watching.“

Ymy was a Priestess. There was nobody who could stop her. Even if that were not the case, especially for this time, she would sacrifice anything to save the patient.

……Please be safe.

……The patient, and Ymy as well.

“───”

Clenching his fist solidly as he prayed, Sheltis followed after Horn.

“! Horn-sama……”

A voice of surprise came from the attending doctor standing in front of the door.

“How’s Ymy!? How is Tessha’s healing!?”

“Th-There’s still been no report. She should be able to come out when it’s finished……”

“──I understand the situation. I’m using my authority to open this door. Okay?”

Allowing the attending doctor to step aside, Horn pushed open the door.

Then.

Sheltis stepped into the room after Horn and doubted his eyes.

The room was pure white and the white curtains swayed with the wind from the window. The boy clothed in a white patients gown. And the figure of the girl holding that boy as seen from behind.

The girl’s crimson hair flowed in the wind.

……It’s not Ymy?

Even though his childhood friend with off-gold hair should be here, it was a different girl standing there.

“……You are?”

Horn wordlessly approached the lone girl.

The girl also turned to them.

“───Yesh?”

A befuddled voice unsuited to the location.

“Is that……you, Ymy Ele Soufflenictole?”

“Eh? Ah, y-yes. ……Wait, eh? Is something wrong?”

Ymy tilted her head while still holding onto the boy.

“No, but your hair──”

In front of Horn’s outstretched finger, the crimson from Ymy’s hair fluttered off into the sunlight. Those were particles of crimson that had adhered to her hair.

“……So that’s it. It was just Baptism shinryoku dyeing her hair. Ahh, that surprised me. You really resembled that.“

Ilis Machine crystal at his chest sighed in relief.

“! That’s right, how’s Tessha! Is the purification over!”

“…………”

The Priestess did not answer the Sennenshi who said several things at once.

Instead of an answer, she silently handed over the boy she was clutching.

“……Tessha.”

The boy’s artificial respirator had been removed. It was slight, but his chest was moving up and down. He was breathing with his own strength of his own will. After that.

“……………………”

Weak and fickle though it may have been, his eyes surely opened.

“……Nee……ch……a”

“────”

Horn went to her knees while holding the boy.

“……I’m glad. Truly……”

Droplets passed through the blinder.

“It has been a long time……I wondered if it was hopeless how many times……I’d almost given up.”

That was definitely the first time she had shown that at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ── those were the ‘complaints‘ that she had endured all this time.

“──Phew.”

Beside Horn who was hugging the boy, Ymy firmly puffed out her chest and turned to him.

“Well? Isn’t that amazing? It’s surprising, isn’t it, the purification of the mateki was done in one go!”

With a full-face smile that blew away the damp atmosphere, his childhood friend balled her fist.

“Now, now? Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“……Well, isn’t that amazing.”

“No, no! More like, like, you kno

“Then, umm──”

Being looked at with eyes of expectation, Sheltis suddenly leaked out a wry smile.

“You did well; good work.”

“……Ehehe, thank you.”

The Priestess smiled with embarrassment and happiness.

“You’re simple, aren’t youuu.“

“I-Isn’t that fine! Anybody would be happy to receive praise. I-It’s not like……that’s why I’m a Priestess……”

Ymy’s face went red at Ilis Machine crystal ’ prodding.

“A-Anyway, this solves one problem. I need to report to Meimel and the others──”

“Hoo. Well then. Then it’ll be fine for you to tell our story too, Priestess?”

That voice that he didn’t know came from directly behind in the direction of the door.

“Ahh, sorry, it looks like I’ve interrupted a fun mood. Since that’s how it is, let us in on it too. Right, Kuro?”

“……Huick-sama, even though I told you so much to read the atmosphere.”

A tall man was leaning casually up against the door frame.

And waiting behind him was one more person, a woman in a suit.

……Their presences.

……They got this close without me realizing it?

No matter how much his attention was drawn by talking with Ymy, even if a Regular Guard were to pay attention to masking their footsteps, he was confident he would notice. Even so.

“Who are you?”

Still holding Tessha, Horn drew out an automatic pistol.

“State your affiliation, name and purpose in coming here within fifteen seconds. If not──”

“Yes, yes. Not like I had any intention of hiding them.”

But the man who had a gun shoved up against his nose didn’t falter from his calm expression.

“First, my intention ── ahh, this isn’t really anything major. I came from quite a ways away so I thought I might as well observe. You guys are also observing us quite harshly, aren’t you?”

“A question. Who is us?”

“The Governmental Sector. Didn’t that Priestess over there and that Guard nii-chan over there come? That time, it seems like a muscle-headed idiot of ours was really in your care.”

“…………”

The suited woman wordlessly bowed.

“Next question. Who is this muscle-headed idiot?”

“Right, that nii-chan over there actually fought him so he should remember. About our ‘Number One‘.”

He said that with a cackle, enjoyment and resignation.

──The Governmental Sector. And the man who was known as the ‘Number One‘.

“Zeadoll of the Sanctuary Arts……?”

“Yeah, that guy, that guy. Nah, it’s because that muscle-headed idiot praised someone which is rare so we’d also very much like to meticulously adore them.”

The man drew near and straightened up.

Standing right beside the woman in a suit, the man pointed at himself and made a proclamation.

“‘Number Nine‘ Huick of the Governmental Sector secret military organization, ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘. I took all the time to come out here, so try being grateful?”

### 048. Epilogue: Those Who Have Gathered

## Epilogue – Those Who Have Gathered

### Part 1

Sunlight poured through the colorful stained glass. The sunlight reflected the glass’ color and like that, decorated the pure white hallway with innumerable colors.

“Oh……ohhh.”

It was just like a hallway of light. The quiet holy grounds stretched out endlessly.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 290.

This was the floor directly under ‘Paradise‘, the summit of this super tall tower with 291 floors.

Starting with the Priestesses, only a portion of a handful of ranks could operate the elevator leading to this floor.

“It……It’s too amazing. Such gaudy……ah, no, that’s wrong, huuuh. Magnificent?”

Calling it gaudy would be heard as meaning extravagant. She had said it with exactly the opposite meaning. There was naught but natural light and sounds on this floor.

“It’s an amazing place, right, Yuto?”

“Right─. Eyri-nee.”

Holding the skipping Yuto’s hand, Eyriey walked down the soundless corridor.

“……Were we really meeting in this kind of place?”

She felt like they had come to a ridiculously out-of-place spot.

“At around ten in the morning tomorrow, come to floor 290 of the tower.“

……The person called Tsali said this was it.

“But I’m pretty sure this was where the Queen lives──”

“Eyriey-san.”

A girl with hair the color of reflective water was standing before a door large to the point of being able to look up at it.

“……I showed you an embarrassing thing yesterday.”

“Ohh, it’s Shasa! Are you doing good, or rather, are you alright? Are you really okay?”

“Y-Yes. I was sleeping up until not too long ago today.”

“Ah, that’s true. You’ve got bed hair here.”

“Ehhh? B-Bed hair? Where, where is it?”

Shasa frantically combed her back hair.

“Ahaha, it’s fine if you don’t worry about it. More importantly, that’s a really big door.”

“This? This is──”

Shasa turned around and narrowed her eyes in front of the towering door.

The giant metal door which was large enough to look up at. Upon the silver which glistened like water’s surface, each important point was decorated with gold and sky-blue. This much of a grand of a display of colors would be imprinted upon the viewer like an attack but for some strange reason, this door did not give that impression.

“The door which continues on to Queen Salah’s personal room, ‘Curtain of Dreams‘.”

“This is……”

Even Eyriey who lived in the Living Districts had heard of it.

The relaxation room for the Queen who held absolute authority within Sophia Tenketsu Palace . It was the quietest holy grounds in the world for the sake of the Queen’s three days of rest after a month of praying for Hyouketsu Kyoukai.

“By the way, where are we going?”

“Ah, that’s right─. ……I guess inside the tower really is fine. Since Shasa-chan’s so informed. Is there any place to have fun?”

She was still worried about Shasa’s condition so it would be best to play inside rather than outside as much as possible.

“It’s hard to think of a place that’s made to have fun. It is after all a building made solely for practicality. Even though it’s this grand, there’s no space for what you spoke of.”

“That makes sense. Then……okay, got it! Leave it up to me. My friend’s a Cadet Guard so let’s get him to let us use his room!”

“Eyri-nee? Are you talking about Shel-nii’s room?”

“Yup, yup, I also got a duplicate key fu─lly prepared.”

“In truth, that duplicate key is illegal but it’ll be fine in this case……Eyriey-san, you’re such a bad person.”

Shasa’s expression lightened with a giggle.

“Then it’s decided! Well, let’s go.”

“If it’s okay, could we take a little detour before that?”

“Oyo? What? Do you have somewhere you want to go?”

“Yes. Follow me please. The elevator on this floor is connected to all floors in the tower.”

Sophia Tenketsu Palace , floor 269.

It was a floor which was entirely divided into clean-cut square rooms.

“Hey, hey, Shasa-chan, where is this?”

“It’s the meeting floor. It’s used by the Elite Guards but this floor is reserved at the moment. ……It seems that a rare customer has come.”

“Eh? You just said it’s reserved.”

Wasn’t it bad for them to have entered?

“It’s fine; I just want to take a peek secretly. I can hear what they’re talking about with telepathy and understand the situation with clairvoyance.”

“Ohh……amazing. Come to think of it, you can use shinryoku. Yeahhh─, that was surprising back then. We first met at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s large baths and you suddenly──”

“Y-You already promised not to talk about that!”

The girl’s face flushed and she shook her head.

“Rather than that, look. Over there.”

“Eh? Where?”

Eyriey eyes bored in the direction that Shasa’s finger pointed at.

“Please don’t say anything. Look, that inner meeting room that Priestess Meimel is entering right now.”

### Part 2

Meeting room 269-F.

The room which was right at the center of the floor was already filled with many personnel.

“O─i, is Meimel still not hereee. I’m about to die from boredom.”

“Ishtar as well, she’s really lonely without I’sa-chan……”

Hey, Leon, what does that have to do with calling me? There’s plainly a big rank difference between me and everyone else.”

“Shut up. To begin with, the start of this is your acquaintance ‘Number One‘ Zeadoll or whatever it was. This is also to hear your circumstances.”

“……No, it’s not like it’s at the point where you would call him my acquaintance.”

“I see, so because of that, we got wrapped up in something troublesome again.”

“You can’t get bored being in this room.”

“…………The tension is making my stomach hurt.”

“A-Are you okay? Monica-senpai, stay strong. Would you like some digestives?”

“Hey, hey, Sheltisss. The cute Ilis feels like having a paid yearly vacation soon.“

“Oka─y, thanks for waiting everyone; look this way.”

Meimel clapped her hands and everyone in the meeting room turned at once.

“Uh─mm……one, two……there are a lot of you. I wonder if everyone’s here. Shall we do a little attendance checking? Everyone, when your name is called, respond in a spirited voice──”

“Everyone’s here. Rather, Meimel, you’re the only one late.”

Ran was seated on a folding chair.

“It’s fiiine─. Within three minutes isn’t called late.”

With a refreshing smile, the tall Priestess turned around. A smiling expression. ──With a gaze that didn’t give a shred of a feeling of hostility or doubt.

“Well then, shall we start by giving our respective introductions?”

“Ahh, don’t worry about that.”

At the center of the meeting room.

A man bound to a chair shook his head.

“There are two Priestesses. Their names are Meimel and Ymy. Behind them are the Sennenshi, Ran and Leon. Both are the best on the Orbie Clar floating continent in their respectives fields of barehanded and great sword combat. And the one over there staring at a picture of her little sister is the Cadres Guard, Ishtar. The nii-chan behind her is Sheltis and the one beside him who looks like her stomach is in pain is the unit captain, Monica, right? The one in the back who looks like he detests this from the bottom of his heart is Vaiel and the one with a huuuge hat is Kagura. All of them are Cadet Guards. If I got anything wrong, please point it out.”

“Oh my, that’s amazing. Not just the Priestesses and Sennenshi─. You even remembered the Cadet Guards’ names.”

Meimel spoke with a look of praise.

“I should at least endeavor to remember the faces of those who came to our place. Riiight, Kuro?” [T/N: “our place” written as “Governmental Sector”.]

“Right. Though I’m the one who did all the investigating.”

“……That was unnecessary, Kuro.”

A long, long sigh.

Or so they thought, but that man looked straight up at Meimel who was looking down at him.

“So tell me one thing. Why am I bound to this uncool folding chair? I’ve been like this since yesterday for a whole night so my backside’s starting to hurt a little.”

“Well, that would be because we can’t just let an unknown intruder just freely do what they want. Yesterday, you even entered D ward which has restricted access.”

“But you know. I’m wrapped up like this and Kuro ── my subordinate had a proper seat prepared for her. She even has black tea and snacks.”

In his bound state, he pointed towards the woman seated beside him with his chin. She was seated elegantly and quietly had the teacup against her lips.

“Isn’t this gender inequality?”

“Huick-sama, this is a distinction wrought by the difference in first impressions. So to speak, character, dignity, personal appearance, refinement and other various things that show habitually during everyday activities.”

“……Whose side are you on?”

The man sighed with a weary expression.

“Well, whatever. Come on, ask me anything; I’ll just say this ahead of time, but I didn’t come here for a fight or anything. Even so, what’s with this extravagant gathering? It’s close to half of those at the top of Sophia Tenketsu Palace .”

“Everybody likes festivals.”

“Hoo……”

“Well, let’s put jokes aside. After all, you’re from the Governmental Sector’s secret military organization. That’s a special unit belonging to Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s rival, so I would be too scared to face you alone. First, let’s start with whether your named affiliation is true.”

“‘Number Nine‘ Huick of the Governmental Sector secret military organization.“

“The one who’d know the most about that is the Cadet Guard nii-chan over there.”

Huick’s gaze went past Meimel’s flank and──

“You.”

“……Me?”

Leon elbowed him and Sheltis blinked.

“That’s right. We’re talking about that muscle-headed idiot so he probably went off about me or the ‘Number Seven‘ as much as he wanted during battle.”

“Ah, that he did, that he did. I have records of the conversation. I’ll play them.“

Ilis Machine crystal responded with a carefree voice.

“We of ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ are a secret military organization stationed at the various centers of the Governmental Sector. We are permitted to use military force regardless of the place and we are named after the weapons entrusted to us.“

“By the weapons entrusted to you……so you mean that you’re the ‘number one‘ not because you defend this place alone but because you use a single mace?“

“Yes. The ‘number seven‘ and ‘number nine‘ also have a fitting amount of weapons to complement their names──……“

“By the way, the second one was Sheltis speaking.“

“……That idiot, he really said whatever he wanted.”

The Number Nine sighed gloomily because of Ilis Machine crystal ’ playback. Kuro who was idling beside him also seemed to be at a loss for words.

“Pheeew. For the time being, let’s just trust that there’s a member called ‘Number Nine‘ in the organization ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘. ……Can we continue this conversation?”

“It’s a counterattack.”

“A counterattack?”

“Right. But you know, I came with the intention of having a conversation of equals between Sophia Tenketsu Palace and the Governmental Sector. So can I cut these restraints already?”

Flop……the ropes which were fastened firmly all along from his shoulders to his ankles displayed sharp cuts and fell to the ground.

“Oh!”

Ran, who had been reclining in her chair, had her eyes shining. ……How did he cut them? There wasn’t even a slight noise or indication nor a presence.

“Amazing, amazing! How’d you do that? One more time!”

“Fufun. Well, isn’t that amazing? This is my──buhaa!?”

Huick fainted in agony after having an elbow slammed into his lower flank.

“Huick-sama, please take a short rest. The conversation won’t proceed so I shall speak.”

Standing courteously, Kuro bowed politely.

“Previously, at the conference that we had Priestess Ymy-sama attend, there was an incident involving Maha and Igneed of the Lords of Unusual Books. At that time, we caused a great deal of trouble for you.”

“Ah, n-no……that’s not true.”

Ymy frantically waved her hand and Kuro bowed deeply once more.

“And for Sophia Tenketsu Palace , exactly one month ago. A Guard unit was wiped out by Maha of the Lords of Unusual Books. That case itself was resolved by Sheltis-sama and Kagura-sama over there but…………is that so? A true conclusion has yet to be reached. The reason being that not a single thing about the Lords of Unusual Books’ identity or goal has been understood.”

──Isn’t that so?

Kuro gazed at Meimel with a smile and challenging look.

Right beside here, Huick shrugged while still seated in the chair.

“The Governmental Sector will be counterattacking from now on. We’ll be entering the one base that Kuro and I found.”

“I seeee. You want Sophia Tenketsu Palace to join in on that.”

“The Governmental Sector was attacked and you guys also had subordinates crushed by them. With that, wouldn’t it be good to cooperate?”

“……That’s riiight. Before that, anybody who wants to pose a question should do so.”

Is there anyone? Meimel looked around her and nobody there raised a voice in response.

……No, there should be questions.

……Everybody should have at least one doubt at the very least.

“Everyone’s so reserved, huuuh. Well then──”

“Just one thing.”

Amongst those who were keeping silent, Sheltis timidly opened his mouth.

“Is anything fine?”

“That’s right, good on you, nii-chan. It’s important to be curious.”

The look in Huick’s eyes changed as he propped his elbows up on the table. Kuro who was sitting still beside him also stared with her blue eyes narrowed to slits.

……This is.

……As I thought. They came with the intention of letting us ask questions from the beginning.

‘Questioning‘ was, so to speak, a measure of the asker’s ability to gather information and their ability to process information.

Depending on what question the Priestesses, Sennenshi or Guards here were to pose, they would gain a rough idea of Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s analytic ability.

……You could call these two examiners.

……They’ve come to determine whether Sophia Tenketsu Palace can become a reliable ally or not.

That was why they showed up boldly while prepared for the dangers.

If they were to ask a question which ran counter to the Governmental Sector’s expectations, they would be regarded as having no information gathering ability and would be provided no beneficial information to oppose the Lords of Unusual Books.

“That’s good, nii-chan, that look isn’t bad at all. You understand.”

“──Huick-sama. You’re saying a little too much.”

“Kuro, these guys understand. There’s no point in tediously hiding our objective from people who understand.”

Now, what question will you ask me? You’ve already ascertained there’s no reason to hide anything, the ‘Number Nine’s‘ daring gaze clearly conveyed that.

“What I want to know is your information source.”

“Hou?”

“───”

Huick and Kuro widened their eyes slightly.

“First. The fact that Kagura and I fought ‘Golden Maha‘ has not been announced outside of the tower. ……The second is the Lords of Unusual Books’ base. How did you find a base that even Sophia Tenketsu Palace hasn’t found yet? We haven’t received an explanation for either yet.”

“………………How unpleasant, you noticed that.”

After a very long silence, that was what the secret operative muttered.

“You’re pretty good even though you’re young. Ah, I’m still in my twenties myself. Well, if we’re talking age, Kuro over here──”

“Huick-sama.”

“……Right, let’s continue the conversation. I’ll start off by saying the question’s not bad.”

Resting his chin on his hands, the man from ‘Heaven’s Wheel‘ pointed at his own eyelid.

“It’s the eye. You should understand if I say Mikuva’s Crimson Eye. As for your question, we can figure out either one of those by using it.”

“Oya, but you shouldn’t be able to use that without a compatible individual?“

“Correct. That’s why this person’s here.”

Huick pointed with his chin at the suited woman directly behind him.

“There are currently a total of three people compatible with Mikuva’s Crimson Eye in the Governmental Sector. Kuro is one of them. Though I say compatible, that doesn’t mean fully compatible, so there is a limit on the information able to be drawn out but……well, she can at least get information of that level. I think that’s good enough of an answer.”

“Is that enough?“

“……Yeah.”

This man who named himself as Huick was a trickster. Complete opposite the ‘Number One‘, he would plan with one or two layers of his opponent’s thoughts in mind.

“And your response is?”

“Let’s seeee. You said it was a counterattack but it sounds more like an infiltration, so it’ll be a select few elite, right? The opponents being who they are, Regular Guards aren’t going to cut it……and there are few amongst the Elite Guards who are privy to the circumstances. Ahh, what are we to do; with things being the way they are, we have no choice but to send someone from those gathered heeere.”

Meimel crossed her arms underneath her chest and pressed a finger against her own cheek. That expression was like an expert enjoying themselves in an intellectual game.

“One or two people?”

“No way. We don’t know the enemy organization’s scale, so it’s logical to have more allies. ……Well, there are only two from the Governmental Sector so we can’t ask for dozens of people. If you’re looking to cooperate, we’d like around two. In reality, the limit for those who will be able to infiltrate in one go is four including Kuro and I. More than that would be a separate unit.”

“By the way, what’s the maximum?”

“If you don’t trust us, you can prepare as many as you want.”

Meimel asked with a smile and the Number Nine spread his hands.

“But I’ll pass on a big family; at most, it will be five people. That is to say, you pick five and that’ll be seven when Kuro and I are added. In that case, two from your five would come with us as the main unit and the remaining three will infiltrate using a separate route.”

“Fumu, fumu. So two will be travelling with you and more than that is a different unit. ──This is a difficult problem, hmmmm.”

Contrary to her words, the Priestess’ tone was that of enjoyment when she answered.

“Ran.”

“Where are Viola Nova and Horn Nova?”

“They’re on standby on the floor above.”

“Thanks. That means that with the nine here and the Nova sisters, we have eleven. Syun-rei is really busy with the barrier in place of Salah-sama so she’s excluded. Up to five of us can go……oh dear, how troublinggg, who shall we choose from amongst these wonderful members?”

Meimel gazed into thin air with a teasing smile.

……The infiltration of the third organization. The most that can go is five.

“───”

Looking around at those gathered again, Sheltis gulped.

First, there were three Priestesses. Meimel, Ymy and Viola who was waiting on another floor.

Likewise, there were three Sennenshi. Ran, Leon and Horn on another floor. In addition was the Cadres Guard, Ishtar. All of them were able individuals included in the superior part of the tower’s strongest.

……Adding in the four from our unit makes eleven people.

……Five will be chosen from here to head for the Lords of Unusual Books’ base.

“If you want to know, chase after me. Now, Sheltis, chase after me. That is the beginning of everything.“

……I want to be chosen to go.

Igun’I’s true intention. In the first place, why the Lords of Unusual Books had an abnormal knowledge of Mikuva’s Crimson Eye and the Forbidden Crystal was still a mystery.

……And above all, they know that I have mateki.

A single premonition weighed on his chest.

They freely operated Mikuva’s Crimson Eye which can’t be used without a compatible individual and……they knew that I fell into the Eden Garden of Corrupted Song .

If it’s Igun’I, does he also know how to purify the mateki residing in this body?

“───”

There was what happened in the Governmental Sector but he had thought so ever since he thought the information of the Governmental Sector’s cultured Yuugenshu was related to him and Ymy. Now that he knew all of that was the secret maneuvering of the third organization, he wasn’t going to let this suggestion from the Governmental Sector slip past.

……Ymy, I thought your purification of that mateki which no Priestess could purify was truly amazing.

……You really are doing your best. For all those of the tower.

Then me too.

No matter how dangerous this infiltration mission may be, if it’s connected to Ymy and my sakes──

“Now then, has everyone decided on how they feel?”

Meimel pulled out a large notebook from who-knows-where.

“Of course, I will be making the final decision but first I’ll hear you out if you have a request. Those who wish to participate in the joint plan with the Governmental Sector, name yourself and step forward.”

While spinning the pen skillfully around her finger, she looked over the assembled members.

“……Oh my, nobody?”

Nobody reacted.

Meimel stared in wonder at the silent Sophia Tenketsu Palace members.

“That’s unexpected, hmmmm, or are you just holding back? Then I’ll just decide it myself, and I suppose that’ll be fine. Well then──”

“…………If I”

From his throat which was parched from nervousness, he squeezed out his voice.

Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s members. And the two secret organization members focused their sights ── Sheltis gulped deeply.

“If I would do, please let me participate.”

### Part 3

“Those who wish to participate, please name yourself and step forward.“

Easily over ten metres away from the meeting room, in the shadow of an intersection, Eyriey had her eyes firmly closed and was listening to the conversation.

……Amaaazing.

……So this is telepathy.

The conversation happening within the locked meeting room was directly echoing in her head. Given that she was a common civilian, she obviously couldn’t use shinryoku spells. The one using spells to listen to other peoples’ conversations with telepathy and even allowing a third party like herself to listen in was──

“…………”

The girl with hair the color of reflective water was only staring fixedly in the direction of the meeting room.

“Eyriey, did you hear the conversation?”

“Perfectly. That’s Shasa for you, amazing! Wouldn’t you prefer being an apprentice Priestess?”

“……That would also be nice.”

The girl nodded with a smile which didn’t let on as to whether she was serious or joking.

“Rather than that, Eyriey, aren’t you interested in that infiltration talk from just now?”

“Yeah, yeah! I heard Sheltis’ voice so I wonder if he’s going somewhere a─gain. Even though that means we won’t get to play.”

It would be fine if it was an expedition to the Nature District or the Biotope. But if it was like the times with the Governmental Sector or the Lagoon floating archipelago , then Yuto and Eyriey herself would be lonely.

“Then let’s go.”

“Eh?”

“Eyriey, please participate in what that Huick person was talking about as well. No matter the case, it concerns Sophia Tenketsu Palace so I’m also interested.”

“…………Eh-ehhhhhhhh! Wh-What does that mean!? You’re telling a civilian like me to name myself in there!?”

“As an airship maintenance worker or something else, there are any number of ways to sneak yourself in.”

“Eh. W-Well……I like those kinds of things but it didn’t seem like their positions or the atmosphere would permit something like that? It was a ridiculously serious talk.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do something about that. Also”

In a rare act, the girl balled a fist tightly and winked.

“You need not worry about your physical wellbeing. I will have a reassuring partner travel together with you.”

“Ohhh, a partner!?”

To warrant being called reassuring, he or she must be quite reliable. Who would that be? A Sennenshi? Or Sheltis? No, no, there’s also the possibility it’s somebody strong who hasn’t been recognized yet.

While she was occupied with that.

“I’m counting on you, Yuto.”

“O─kay! I’ll be going with Eyri-nee!”

“So there you have it, Eyriey, please take Yuto along with you.”

“Yuto will do her best─”

“…………”

In comparison with the merry young girl and Shasa who was smiling as well. Eyriey muttered with a sigh.

“……It’s not like me, but I’m worried.”

### Part 4

Meeting room 269-F.

“Houhou, I seeee.”

A lone Governmental Sector secret organization executive shook their shoulders in pleasure.

“What’s this, if one person speaks out……was everyone just checking how those around them would act? However, this is too many people. Now then, let’s have the promised selection.”

“───”

His subordinate who corrected her posture was standing still silently. With her mouth drawn to a line, the silent woman was looking sidelong at Sophia Tenketsu Palace ’s Priestess.

“Fumu, fumu, we’re a little over five people. What to dooo, there are those I want to have go within those who haven’t named themselves as well……well, let’s separate this and that. Okay, this will dooo!”

Meimel shut her notepad and nodded in satisfaction.

“Already done?”

“Yes, I’ve already decided. We can’t have our Governmental Sector guests waiting either.”

Answering Ran’s question with a wink, the Priestess who managed the tower brushed aside her own bangs. With flowing movements, she pointed to the door directly behind her.

“Well then, I’ll announce those chosen to participate in the joint plan with the Governmental Sector.”

Then.

“Only those whose names are called, please remain in this room.”

In tandem with Meimel’s proclamation──

The meeting room was wrapped in a quiet tension.