The Script, Part 6
Tension choked the air.
In the end, Loki raised both hands, releasing the young girl from her agony.
The girl, who had been writhing in torment and vomiting black blood without cease, settled into steady, even breaths, her expression swiftly easing into peace.
“Let us do this,” Loki said, offering a new proposal. “You simply feed the antidote to the girl.”
Feed her the antidote. It seemed entirely contradictory to everything he had displayed up to this moment.
Yet I knew exactly what Loki was aiming for.
“Very well. Would that be acceptable to you as well, Lord Theseus?”
Leaving the true nature of the antidote an eternal mystery—that was Loki’s gambit.
The poison ravaging the girl’s body had already subsided, so administering the antidote now would hardly prove its efficacy. The antidote would simply disappear. On the surface, at least.
“...Yes. That will suffice for me as well.”
Whether the antidote was genuine was now a secret only Loki would ever know. If he reactivated the poison dormant within her after she took it, only the one triggering it could tell whether it worked. If it were real, triggering the poison wouldn’t kill her. But if it were a fake, she would die the instant he activated it. And by simply choosing not to trigger it, he could keep his options open.
Gaining three distinct possibilities through a single maneuver—this wasn’t a bad deal for Loki either.
Of course...
“I shall ensure you pay for this in full. My dear clowns.”
Compared to the grand prize he should have claimed, it was wretchedly meager.
“Then it is settled. Everyone walks away with a little piece of what they wanted. Isn’t this what they call harmonious living?”
A minor triumph, a minor defeat.
Having manufactured a scenario where both sides walked away simultaneously victors and losers, I clapped my hands to conclude the affair.
You bastards put me through absolute hell for this. Who the hell conducts family squabbles on a municipal scale...?
We ran for our lives immediately.
Though Loki glared as if ready to slaughter us on the spot, slipping out of the city was simple enough thanks to Theseus running interference. We needed to pick up the pace if we wanted to avoid being tracked, but...
Even after crossing the city boundary, I could still feel Loki’s gaze burning into our backs.
These damn imperial bastards—every last one of them falls well outside the realm of normal human beings! Just how far do we have to run to shake off that stare?
“Yohan, should we pick up the pace a bit?”
Evidently, I wasn’t the only one who felt it. Jeff, jogging beside me, muttered quietly. I decided to enlighten him on why that was impossible.
“This is my top speed.”
“...What have you been doing with your life?”
“Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
I put in the work, alright?! Besides, I’m the normal one here, you monstrous freaks!
“You guys really don’t underst—”
KRA-BOOOM!
In that instant, an ear-splitting roar echoed as a blinding crimson light engulfed everything in front of us.
Tinnitus rang through the muffled ringing in my ears. Soon, as the world that had lost all color to the flash regained its form...
“You suspicious lot over there. You wouldn’t mind if I conducted a brief stop-and-search, would you?”
A painfully familiar face came into view.
Ah. Right.
This was the entire reason I rushed straight back after visiting my hometown, wasn’t it?
It had all started when Loki sent his “regards” to Lobelia while she was peacefully resting. Between being jerked around by Emily’s stalking contraptions and the Playwright’s grandiose script, I had completely forgotten.
“Wait... Your voice sounds familiar. Care to take off that mask for a moment?”
Despite her flamboyant entrance, Lobelia spoke with a relatively mild tone. Given the circumstances, nobody would have blinked if she had attacked us on sight, but she clearly had suspicions about my identity. Furthermore, the fact that she was making a polite request meant she had already half-guessed who I was.
“Yuna.”
“Yeah?”
This was bad.
The biggest problem was that we hadn’t escaped Loki’s sight yet. If Loki grew suspicious of any connection between me and Lobelia, things would spiral out of control. Just knowing we were acquainted with Lobelia would be enough for Loki to narrow down his list of suspects. Even if he couldn’t deduce our exact identities, knowing his personality, he would undoubtedly respond by slaughtering everyone in Lobelia’s orbit just to be safe.
We could not let him realize we were connected to Lobelia.
In a split second, countless calculations flashed through my mind, and a clear method to navigate this crisis took shape.
“Attack.”
“Sure, why not.”
We had to push past Lobelia. And not through polite requests, but by suppressing her with force.
Of course, winning an open clash against Lobelia’s party was impossible. No matter how incredible Yuna was, our side was ultimately just the Motley Crew. Against Lobelia alone might be one thing, but dealing with Ariel, who moved like her shadow, made it practically impossible—especially while saddled with dead weight like me.
“Jeff, Melana. You guys too.”
“What kind of crazy nonsense is this...?”
“Well, we’re criminals anyway, so it’s no skin off our backs, but still.”
Jeff scratched his head while Melana let out a weary sigh.
Yet for some reason, Yuna, who was the first to bolt forward, charged not at Lobelia, but at Ariel standing behind her.
Was she trying to pin down the strongest enemy? Or was personal spite involved?
Whatever the reason, since Yuna tied up Ariel, the target for Jeff and Melana naturally narrowed down to Lobelia.
“...”
Ah, shit. This is bad.
Can those two really beat Lobelia? Honestly, all we need to do is break through their perimeter, but the problem is that even that looks like an uphill struggle. On top of that, Lobelia and Ariel weren’t the only ones there. Even if they had kept their numbers to an absolute minimum to disrupt Loki’s schemes, Lobelia’s party was fundamentally a four-person team. With Dietrich having set off on a journey of self-discovery, that left...
“Hup!”
Whsssh!
I immediately threw myself into a roll. Something sliced through the wind right where I had just been standing. An arrow. I couldn’t even tell where it had been fired from.
Right. There was only one marksman in the Cradle with this kind of trick.
“Wait, I have to deal with Stan?! Me?! How the hell am I supposed to handle that?!”
Stan might act like an idiot on normal days, but he was still an official member of the protagonist’s party. Forget sniper fire—even if Jeff tossed his weapons aside and fought bare-handed, I’d still lose. Conscientiously speaking, shouldn’t either Jeff or Melana stick by my side?!
“F-First, cover!”
I scrambled pathetically across the dirt, ducking behind a boulder. Should I just stay hidden like this?
“...”
The problem was that I could still feel Loki’s gaze watching from inside the city. If I showed absolutely nothing here, what would Loki do? With Theseus present, he couldn’t make a move on us right this second, but...
“...Should I do something?”
A gnawing anxiety chewed at me. No, really, we were technically safe from Loki right now, but the thought of feeding him any kind of intel made me sickeningly uneasy. Not that I had any confidence in surviving against Stan, mind you...
“Alright, for now...”
I pulled a few of Emily’s mechanical devices from my tunic and began fiddling with them. Loki wouldn’t know what they were anyway. I just wanted to make it look like I was doing something. If I dodged arrows while pretending to assemble something, and then slipped away with everyone the moment an opening appeared—
“Huh?”
Crack!
An arrow plummeted vertically from the sky, piercing straight through one of the contraptions I had laid out and obliterating it. Stan’s arrow.
“Tch!”
I scrambled away from the spot instantly. Forget putting on a show—I was about to die!
“Phew...”
Having cleared the rock, I took in the battlefield once more.
First off, Yuna was surprisingly pressing Ariel hard. This was an unexpected turn of events. I had expected them to be evenly matched, or for Yuna to be at a disadvantage... After all, hadn’t she been captured by Olga Hermod without even putting up a fight? Since Yuna was an assassin, frontal confrontations were inherently unfavorable for her, and with Ariel verging on the threshold of an Archmage, I thought the outcome would reflect that.
I really had no clue!
Just how deep did Yuna’s true power run? I knew the name Safe Clown wasn’t an empty boast, but trapped in the preconception of her being an “assassin,” I had assumed she was far weaker in open combat. Alright, I’ll recalibrate that perception later. Because right now, there was something else that made even less sense.
“Why on earth are you two winning...?!”
The most incomprehensible sight was Jeff and Melana holding the upper hand against Lobelia. Their synergy was vastly better than I’d anticipated. Both originally hailed from the Cradle. On top of that, Melana wielded chains so immensely powerful that her own capabilities couldn’t normally control them. Her body had been crumbling under the strain of that power, but Jeff’s Holy Power was covering the toll, keeping her upright.
Who in the world could have ever imagined a dark mage and a holy paladin forming flawless synergy?
Why the hell did this bastard get captured back then, anyway?
I recalled Jeff’s past humiliation of being taken captive by Viscount Alec. Seriously, what were you doing to get caught? Did you doze off mid-fight?
Anyway, between Yuna’s side and the Melana & Jeff duo, the situation itself wasn’t bad.
“Gaaah!”
The only bad situation was mine. Another arrow narrowly avoided. I was genuinely lucky this time. Whether Stan was rating me far higher than I deserved, his arrows kept landing a step farther along my trajectory. You thought I’d accelerate, didn't you? Sorry to disappoint, but this is my absolute limit!
Still, this wouldn’t last long.
“Somebody, anybody, please! If you’ve got a second to spare, help me out!”
I’m gonna die at this rate!
Did my desperate prayer reach someone? Yuna, who had been darting in all directions locked in combat with Ariel, landed lightly near me. Even dressed in clown garb, right now she looked like an absolute angel.
“Haha! Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got? Is that really it? How terribly disappointing. Lady Ariel, did you bristle your thorns at me all this time with only that much skill? How audacious.”
“...Even if I were to kill you right here, I doubt anyone would blame me.”
I was about to plead with Yuna for help, but instantly clamped my mouth shut. I had zero confidence I could step between those two. No, more to the point, if you both already recognized each other, shouldn’t you take it easy?! Why are you working yourselves up and fighting for real?!
Stop it and make up, damn it!
“Hup... Yohan, how long are we supposed to keep this up?”
Just then, pushed toward me under Lobelia’s suppressing attacks, Jeff asked.
KABOOM!
Jeff deflected an incoming arrow aimed at me with a divine barrier. Look at this bastard acting all relaxed! Ugh, what an eyesore.
“Who told you to fight to the death?! We need to break through and run! Why are you taking this so seriously?!”
“Hey, you’re the one who told us to attack!”
“You should’ve picked up on the hint!”
“How are we supposed to know what you didn’t say? Yohan, hate to break it to you, but are you even that close to us?”
“...”
Come to think of it, we’re really not! My bad!
“Fine, I get the plan now. We can probably break through on our end, but what do we do about that?”
“...Leave them be.”
I shook my head, glancing at Yuna and Ariel, who were still radiating pure murderous intent at each other. Nothing could be done there. Even if I tried to stop them, neither would listen.
“Shall we get moving, then? Honestly, I was getting nervous because Her Highness seems to be growing accustomed to our abilities by the second.”
“Yeah. The sooner, the better.”
Immediately, Jeff scooped me up over his shoulder and rocketed toward the front line. This jerk’s speed didn’t drop in the slightest even while lugging a whole person.
“Melana, let’s make a run for it!”
“...I doubt it’ll be as easy as you make it sound. But I’ll give it a shot.”
Clicking her tongue at Jeff’s shout, Melana gripped her scythe. A sinister aura trailed along the weapon’s trajectory. A chilling spectacle just to witness.
Yet, just as Jeff said, whether Lobelia had adapted in this brief span or grown stronger mid-combat, she looked far more composed than when I’d caught a glimpse earlier.
“In that case, let me lend a hand.”
“You? If it’s a stunt worse than doing nothing, why don’t you just stay out of it?”
“You’ll only know once you see it.”
I declared firmly to Melana, who wasn’t even bothering to hide her skeptical glare. At this rate, we really might get pinned down by Lobelia. As for Yuna, well, she’d manage to slip away on her own. Barring monsters on the level of Olga Hermod or Tillis, she was more than capable of extracting herself. We just needed to do our part. More precisely, I needed to do my part.
“Fine, do your worst then.”
Slash!
The moment Melana swung her scythe in a wide arc, I hurled several of Emily’s mechanical contraptions—the ones I had been fiddling with purely for show. Honestly, there had been far too little time to modify anything. Not that having ample time would have enabled me to harness the genius behind Emily’s engineering anyway. However, there was one thing I could do.
“Blow up!”
KABOOOOM!!
Simply break them. It operated on the exact same principle as the battery bomb I had used against Charybdis before. A Magic Engineering Battery, which stores mana imprinted with an individual’s personal nature, is a surprisingly delicate instrument. Bottling up mana imbued with someone else’s intrinsic attributes is inherently difficult. Thus, merely breaking it slightly was enough to trigger a violent detonation.
“Nice, that’s one flashy diversion, Yohan! Guess you can pull your weight when it counts!”
“You think I survived at the Cradle for nothing? I’ve got trump cards of my own.”
“...Would you two shut up and just run? We’re going to get caught at this rate.”
Melana grumbled. I noticed her complexion had grown exceptionally pale and haggard. No matter how much support Jeff provided, bearing the full brunt of the chain’s power was taking its toll. Deciding to run right now truly might have been the best choice.
Just then...
“Indeed, not a single word of that is wrong. Shouting like that...”
CRASH-BOOOM!!
With a thunderous crash, the billowing smoke tore apart as crimson lightning surged from within. Melana’s attack and my explosive diversion—she had casually nullified both and matched our momentum in an instant.
“...is practically advertising your location.”
Right, that’s our protagonist for you. Which meant...
“Would you believe me if I told you that was all part of the calculation?”
“What...?”
High-Tier Illusion Magic: [Sensory Disruption]
For this single moment, I hadn’t used a shred of magic. Not even when Loki’s gaze scrutinized me, nor when Stan’s arrows grazed past me. Caught entirely off guard—that was the level of painstaking care required to pull the rug out from under someone like her.
High-tier illusion magic: Sensory Disruption.
I had once tested this on Yuna as an experiment. Back then, Yuna had stumbled for just a fraction of a second when I cast the spell, only to regain her balance almost instantly and knock me flat. From that, I realized something. This magic had to be unleashed only once—at the absolute critical juncture. That was the only way to land a meaningful blow against monsters on Lobelia’s level.
“Ugh?!”
In an instant, warped senses threw Lobelia’s movements into chaos. The hand outstretched to seize us tore empty air, and her body, rocketing forward with terrifying velocity, veered off in an entirely skewed trajectory.
“RUN!!”
And just like that, we slipped from Lobelia’s grasp.