Chapter 16: Attack (3)

Head straight west from the capital, Silester, and you reach a dense forest. Deep among its tightly packed conifers, a massive tower stands alone with a cliff at its back.

It is difficult to find unless you know its precise location. The trees and cliff provide a natural screen. Since nature itself conceals it, even mana detection cannot reveal it.

There was only one reason I could find it.

I simply knew where it was.

I had discovered it through countless playthroughs.

Getting there was more awkward than I had expected. We were following a narrow trail used only by Elysia. We pushed through the trees along a gap barely worthy of being called a path and emerged.

“... There really is a tower.”

We stood before Elysia’s residence: a massive, eight-story tower built of gray bricks.

It was quite a tall building, but still shorter than the trees. Trees in this world were generally far too large.

“What will you do now?”

“We’ll just walk in.”

“Wouldn’t she have defenses against intruders?”

“We’ll be fine with you here, Ms. Philly.”

Philly narrowed her eyes at my words. Needless to say, it was a look of suspicion.

“Would my daughter spare a thought for me at this point? She’d attack me along with you.”

“... I would prefer that, actually.”

“What?”

While we were talking, something surprising happened—or rather, something surprising to Philly alone.

CREAK

The tower’s front door opened, and Elysia stepped out.

As Philly’s expression stiffened at the sight, Elysia beamed at her.

“Mom!”

Her face displayed it all: surprise that Philly had discovered her hidden residence, delight that she had come all this way, and joy at this unexpected encounter with her mother.

“How did you find this place?”

Elysia approached us without hesitation. Even a cursory glance showed she was completely unarmed. Utterly defenseless, she came up to Philly, took both her hands, and shook them.

This was the situation I feared most.

Philly was someone who doubted everything. She would certainly eliminate an enemy, no matter who they were.

But what if she could not be sure they were her enemy? What if she had to decide, amid inconclusive evidence, that her own daughter was an enemy?

... Could she set aside her doubts even then?

“Here you go. Herbal tea.”

With astonishing confidence, Elysia had led Philly and me into her tower. After seating us at a table, she offered a cup to Philly, then to me, and sat across from us.

“...”

In a rare display, Philly glanced at me for guidance. But there was nothing more I could do to help. I had already said everything I had to say.

“So, what brings you here?” Elysia asked Philly.

“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what my daughter was doing, hiding out in a place like this and keeping it a secret from her mother.”

Philly answered with a smile. Her expression was flawless.

“I come out here sometimes when life at the Imperial Palace gets tiring. I thought you might scold me if you knew.”

“Hmm.”

Philly surveyed the interior. She was probably looking for anything suspicious under the guise of admiring the place, but she was unlikely to find anything. Otherwise, Elysia would never have invited us in.

‘Elysia is in a tight spot too.’

There was no way she could have anticipated the two of us coming. If she had, she would have fled to the Imperial Palace in the first place. Right now, she was simply improvising an act.

In other words, this was really a battle between Elysia and me.

Which of us would succeed in convincing Philly?

“It was Mr. Frondier, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Elysia addressed me.

“I am well acquainted with the Roach family’s reputation, but seeing one of Lord Ampere’s children accompanying my mother, rather than the lord himself, strikes me as rather odd.”

It was an obvious attempt to put me in my place. Did someone like me even know his place, meddling like this?

Except...

“I see.”

So what?

I felt no particular need to explain myself. However high an imperial princess’s station might be, could it compare to the empress’s?

Elysia’s eyes tightened at my brazen reply, though only for an instant. As expected of Philly’s daughter, she was skilled at controlling her expression. And as Philly’s daughter, she still fell short of Philly herself.

“Ms. Elysia.”

“...‘ Ms.’?”

She echoed the title as though she had never heard it in her life.

“May I take a look around the tower?”

“...”

Elysia glared at me. Was it my impudent manner, or did she find my desire to look around suspicious? I didn’t know, but either was fine.

There was no way she could refuse this request.

“... Very well. Look around as you please. Shall I show you around?”

“No. I’ll look around on my own.”

With that, I pretended to give the room a casual inspection.

Elysia was hiding something in this tower that absolutely could not be discovered. Despite that, she was so confident because it was nearly impossible for me to find it right now.

So there was only one thing I had to do.

Make Elysia bring it out herself.

“... May I go upstairs?”

“Do as you please.”

Having found nothing of note, I set foot on the stairs leading up.

Ah, somehow I could almost see it: the triumphant smile Elysia was wearing behind my back.

Though I wondered if she knew I was wearing a similar expression.

* * *

Constel was quiet. Morning classes were underway in most classrooms, with only the occasional teacher’s voice drifting out.

But in one of those classrooms...

“... Excuse me.”

A girl suddenly raised her hand.

“What is it, Elodie?”

“I’m sorry. My head really hurts...”

“What? Go to the infirmary at once.”

“Thank you...”

The teacher sent Elodie off with a worried expression. She was a model student, lacking nothing in either ability or character. The thought that she might be feigning illness never even occurred to the teacher.

Once in the corridor, however, Elodie walked with a stride far too steady for someone suffering from a headache.

In other words, Elodie had been the first to notice.

‘... It’s incredibly faint, but...’

Something had registered in her mana detection. From very far away, yet from every direction, faint malice bristled toward Constel—something so subtle it could almost be dismissed as her imagination.

‘Frondier was telling the truth.’

Frondier had told Elodie about the attack ahead of time. His story had hardly been credible. The old Elodie would never have believed it.

But now, Elodie knew that Frondier had changed.

She put her thoughts aside and climbed the stairs—in a direction that, of course, had nothing whatsoever to do with the infirmary.

CLICK

When she opened the metal door to the roof, the cold morning wind swept over her.

Elodie stood at the edge of the roof and narrowed her eyes. Even from this height, there was not so much as a shadow of a monster in sight.

In other words, she had sensed their malice from a distance too great to see.

‘If Frondier hadn’t told me...’

The monsters would have descended on Constel before she could mount an initial response. That would have halved her effectiveness.

[“It’s fine. I trust you.”]

“... Hmph. You weren’t wrong.”

Now that things had come to this, she really hadn’t needed to take Frondier’s word for it. By telling her the timing, he had prompted her to sharpen her senses at the right moment, allowing her to realize for herself that he was right.

Frondier had truly done nothing more than trust Elodie—trust her keen mana detection.

“Though I feel like I’ve been tricked.”

Elodie de Inies Rishae.

Fifth place in the midterms.

For a girl said to be beloved by five gods, the result was somewhat underwhelming. Many people had expected her to take first place as a matter of course.

But this result was not due to any lack of power.

“I’m glad I knew ahead of time.”

Elodie drew up her mana. It was merely a light warm-up in preparation for repelling the attack, yet the air around her began to tremble.

“Now I don’t have to hold back.”

She was poor at moderating her power. She had rarely tried. None of her teachers at Constel had taught her how to do it. Instead, they encouraged her to increase her output, worried that her talent might fade.

She could learn restraint later, but there was no telling when her maximum output would stop growing.

The midterms were conducted alongside other students. In short, there was a simple reason for her middling rank in the practical exam.

If she went all out, the other students would get caught in it.

Before long, a faint cloud of dust appeared in the far distance.

A vast army of monsters, too numerous to count.

Enhancing her vision to its utmost with mana, Elodie finally saw the scale of it. Faced with a horde so immense that an ordinary person’s legs would have given out, she smiled fearlessly.

The instant she spotted the monsters at the farthest limit of her vision, she deployed her spell formulas. Her uniform fluttered, and her eyes and hair flared alternately red and blue.

Divine Power Release

Agni, Rudra

Individual Spell Formula Deployment

Fire Magic: Four Formulas

Elemental Resistance, Impact, Diffusion, Mana Substitution ... Designation: “Hellfire”

Wind Magic: Four Formulas

Increased Range, Remote Activation, High-Speed Rotation, Updraft ... Designation: “Tempest”

Spell Formula Combination, Convergence

Elodie Original: “Vermilion Bird Ascension.”

“You told me to make it as spectacular as possible.”

Elodie brought both hands forward and aimed.

... Though, in truth, as long as she had the approximate distance right, aiming meant very little with this spell.

“I’m only doing what you asked.”

As though it were someone else’s business entirely, Elodie unleashed a tempest of flames upon the army of monsters approaching from afar.

* * *

After Frondier went upstairs, Elysia spoke to Philly in a confidential tone.

“I know what you’re thinking, Mom.”

“...”

“You suspect me.”

Philly took a sip of tea without a word.

“Is that what he told you? That I’m the culprit?”

Elysia asked again, but Philly remained silent. Elysia, however, had known she would react this way. Philly’s style was to use silence, expressions, and her gaze to make the other person slip up on their own.

But Elysia knew another of Philly’s weaknesses as well. As her daughter, she could hardly fail to know it.

“Have you never thought it was strange, Mom?”

Philly doubted everything. Even as she suspected Elysia was the culprit, she also entertained the doubt that perhaps she was not.

That was who Philly was.

Her true strength normally emerged when she had sufficient time. The choices she made after careful consideration and prolonged deliberation were always correct.

But if she had less time than anticipated, even Philly could make a mistake.

“Do we really have to fight?”

At Elysia’s words, Philly’s eyes wavered faintly.

“I’m your daughter, Mom. Why would I do something like that?”

Philly’s grip on her teacup tightened ever so slightly.

“I knew I’d come under suspicion. But think about it calmly.”

The corners of Philly’s mouth trembled almost imperceptibly—a movement so slight that even her daughter Elysia could barely notice it.

Elysia smiled triumphantly.

“... Mom, Sale is the culprit.”

“...!”

Philly’s eyes widened. This time, the change was obvious enough for anyone to see.

“That man is Sale’s henchman. He’s framing me to help her.”