Return (Part 3)
A lot had happened.
Frankly, far too much had happened to ever put into words. Yuna rambled on, casually stoking the flames of suspicion, while Ariel stared blankly at Lobelia with chillingly vacant eyes. The two launched their offensive against us from completely opposite extremes of temperature.
This was entirely Lobelia's fault. If she had simply kept her mouth shut, we would have been halfway safe. Instead, she kept trying to drag me into her mess, blabbering about how remarkably similar we supposedly were. And so, to cut a chaotic story short, the whole ordeal ended with Ariel bursting into tears.
"Waaah!"
Seeing her sob as though the entire world had wronged her—the very same girl who had remained utterly serene even when facing a terminal prognosis—even Yuna lost the nerve to tease her any further. And so, through the gracious "consideration" of Lobelia and Yuna, I found myself left entirely alone with Ariel.
...And what about some consideration for me?
"Hic..."
Two people, abandoned right in the middle of a forest currently crawling with attacking terrorists. The atmosphere was stiff, awkward, and thoroughly suffocating. I had no earthly idea how to comfort someone. How could I, when I had never done it before in my life?
"Uh, well..."
Was I supposed to pat her on the back? Surely that wouldn't set off an even greater cascade of tears, right? Steeling myself, I reached out with the utmost caution and gave Ariel's shoulder a gentle pat.
"Sir Yohan, you're awful!"
"Ah, yes... I'm sorry."
The floodgates burst. Damn it, I knew this would happen. Then again, I couldn't exactly leave her alone either, so it seemed I had simply been fated for inevitable ruin from the start.
"First of all, it's a complete misunderstanding. Yuna is just a friend. She's naturally mischievous, so she was only teasing you."
"Just a friend?"
"Yes, strictly a friend."
"When you and I were friends, you never reacted like that with me!"
"..."
She wasn't wrong. I had maintained a strict, unyielding boundary between myself and Ariel. But there was an exceedingly good reason for that.
"Lady Ariel, danger practically trails behind you wherever you go."
She was the Third Princess's best friend, the proud daughter of Duke Ether, and a walking, breathing taunt totem who slaughtered terrorists by the dozen. Be close friends with someone like that? I was sorry, but frankly, I had no choice but to keep my distance. To be brutally honest, we hadn't even been friends back then. We were mere acquaintances; she was the only one who considered us friends.
"So are you saying that's my fault?"
"No..."
I already felt like a henpecked husband getting nagged within an inch of his life. Still, my conscience was far too burdened to let me talk back.
"You're mean."
"..."
"You don't even wear the hat I bought for you... It was expensive, too..."
"I'll make sure to carry it with me from now on."
"Don't just carry it, please wear it. I want to see you wearing it."
"Understood."
Well, this was almost endearing. Objectively speaking, considering my track record, it wouldn't have been out of place if high-tier magic came flying at my skull right about now. Still, a hat... I was fairly certain I had shoved it into some dusty corner. I'd have to dig it out once we returned.
"Come to think of it, what about Her Highness? From what I saw earlier, the two of you..."
"...That's also a misunderstanding. The truth is, we were ambushed. Her Highness collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and I was merely supporting her."
"Exhausted enough to collapse? Just who on earth could have...?"
"It was the Oracle. Apparently, she took issue with us and attacked. Can you see this? I took a hit, too."
"Ah!"
Only then did Ariel notice the cut across my cheek, her hands fluttering in frantic agitation.
"D-Did it hurt badly?"
"No, well... I'm fine."
Ariel lifted her sleeve and began gently dabbing away the blood on my cheek. The atmosphere took on a strangely delicate, intimate cast. Deny it all I wanted, she was still my fiancée. Trying not to be conscious of that fact was harder than admitting it. This had to be why Lobelia had left the two of us alone. Feeling unaccountably self-conscious, I babbled an unprompted excuse.
"Ahem! And what Her Highness said was just her usual trick to rope me in as an ally."
"A trick... But if you fall for Her Highness's trick, wouldn't that make you my ally, too?"
"Let me make this clear beforehand: absolutely not."
Look, shouldn't preserving my own skin come first?
"Still, I want to see your face more often."
"Well, I have given that matter some thought..."
"Oh, really?"
Ariel's eyes sparkled. It wasn't actually that difficult of a problem. All we had to do was designate a place where we could run into each other naturally. A library, for instance... or in my case, the Alchemy Workshop. I would be conducting research there regularly anyway, and Ariel could always use the excuse of dropping by to purchase potions needed for training. Wouldn't that suffice? Just as I opened my mouth to explain—
A band of intruders stepped out from the dense woods.
"Thought we'd rot in this damn forest forever, but looks like we found someone after all. You brats are the first to go."
The men looked like seasoned mercenaries, and every single one held a machine gun. Firearms—and not simple revolvers or flintlock muskets either, but cutting-edge automatic weapons. Unmistakably the handiwork of Ex Machina. Yet there wasn't a shred of intellect behind these thugs' eyes. That meant they weren't Ex Machina researchers, but hired guns. The real question was: who went through the trouble of hiring mercenaries to raid the Cradle?
"We were in the middle of an important conversation."
Despite the sudden menacing aura, Ariel merely pouted from where she sat. She must have judged the ragged look of our opponents and failed to grasp the lethal danger they posed.
"Ariel, watch out—!"
Before my warning could leave my throat, the mercenaries swung the rotating barrels of their miniguns directly toward us.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!
The barrels spun into a blur, vomiting a relentless torrent of lead. With the attack bursting forth without warning, I threw myself forward, wrapping an arm around Ariel to force her down.
Except...
"..."
She didn't budge.
It was like slamming into a solid stone wall. There was a shocking, immovable sturdiness to her that completely defied her slender frame. At this point, all I had managed to do was clumsily hug her.
"It's all right, Sir Yohan. Though I truly appreciate the sentiment."
What was more, despite the ferocious hail of gunfire, not a single bullet struck us. Peering cautiously over her shoulder, I saw that every projectile vomited by the mercenaries hung suspended dead in midair.
Ah! Psychokinesis! Honestly, who was I even worrying about? Ariel was a seasoned archmage who had survived countless battlefields; of course she had it covered.
With me practically draped over her in a protective embrace, Ariel casually looped her arms around my neck and pulled me closer, using her free hand to scoop up the staff she had rested against the ground.
"The mood was nice just now. Don't ruin it."
Then, a pulse of immense magical power radiated behind my back. Since Ariel had her arms locked tight around my neck, I couldn't turn to look, but I could clearly feel her weaving a devastating spell. Her casting time, however, was somewhat lengthy. Normally, no enemy would stand around politely waiting to take a hit like that...
"M-My feet?!"
"Damn it! I can't move!"
"Could this be—?!"
Except Ariel's psychokinesis was an exceptionally versatile ability. By pinning her foes in place with sheer telekinetic force before raining down spells, she had evolved into a combat mage who needed no frontline vanguard to protect her.
BOOOOOM!!
A colossal detonation roared through the clearing. In the very next instant, the noisy, shouting voices vanished completely. The sudden stillness was almost chilling. Experiencing Ariel's terrifying might anew, I couldn't help but worry about my future married life.
I really, really need to be on my best behavior.
"Now that the situation is resolved, would you mind letting go?"
"It's not a very pleasant sight back there, so please stay like this for a little longer."
Would it magically become pleasant to look at after a few minutes? For someone who said that, she didn't seem to be cleaning up the aftermath at all... Maybe she just enjoyed holding me like this.
"Yohan, please continue. How can we see each other more often?"
"Uh, well..."
Adopting the most polite and respectful tone I could muster, I laid out the plan I had in mind. After a back-and-forth discussion, we arrived at a mutual compromise: we promised to meet every Wednesday at the Alchemy Workshop.
Even as we settled on that, Ariel still hadn't unclasped her arms from around my neck.
Yuna was in a foul mood. She had intended to close the distance step-by-step at her own pace, but an overwhelmingly powerful rival had materialized right beside her.
I thought she was just an innocent little lady, but she's not so easy after all.
Then again, this was the girl who had bulldozed her way into an arranged engagement right off the bat. Her tenacity and boldness were already thoroughly proven. To be honest, Yuna had felt confident. Ariel had the barrier of her ducal status, whereas Yuna herself had always been far more aggressive with Yohan. But she never imagined Ariel would use that very status barrier to crush Yohan underfoot and claim him.
An abrupt, sealed engagement. Before she could even react, Ariel and Yohan were officially fiancés. He hadn't belonged to Yuna in the first place, yet she couldn't shake the bitter feeling that something had been stolen from her.
"Sigh."
Perched on a high tree branch, Yuna scanned the terrorists wandering the forest below. She had been disposing of them with uncharacteristic irritation.
"So annoying."
These men were closer to mercenaries, equipped with all sorts of unfamiliar weaponry. She had no idea what kind of weapons they were. Nor did she care to learn. She was an assassin; taking down a target before they even realized she was there was second nature to her.
"Is that thirty now? What's the Cradle even done to make them go this far...?"
Disposing of thugs lost within Olga Hermod's illusions was as effortless as flicking a wrist. Yuna was diligently venting her frustration on the hapless invaders.
Then, suddenly, something caught her eye.
"What's this?"
A group exuded an atmosphere distinctly different from the other terrorist factions in the woods. Rather than terrorists, they gave Yuna the impression of uninvolved outsiders who had been swept into the chaos. Yet there was no trace of panic or anxiety about them. The small retinue neither advanced nor retreated, merely lingering in place as if waiting.
That sight triggered a realization about the terrorists she had culled so far.
"A sponsor?"
Every mercenary had been armed with bizarre, novel weapons. If they were truly hired guns, there had to be a client who had funded and commissioned the job. And if this raid doubled as a field test to evaluate the weapons' performance, it wouldn't be strange in the least for the sponsor to observe nearby.
"Andvaranaut?"
Yuna had heard about Andvaranaut from Yohan beforehand. The sponsors of terrorists. Yohan seemed completely intent on avoiding any entanglement with Andvaranaut, but if they were the masterminds behind this incident, she couldn't simply leave them alone. Fortunately, trapped within Olga Hermod's illusion magic, they were unable to take a single step and could only watch the situation unfold.
Yuna lightly hopped down from the tree branch and landed right in front of them.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ah..."
Wearing a cheerful, beaming smile, Yuna trotted over with light, pattering steps. Soldiers guarded a carriage, and at the center stood a woman in her late twenties dressed as a merchant.
Impressive. Did they load the carriage with wild fruits that can only be harvested in this forest? Anyone unaware would truly believe they just got caught in the crossfire.
Even their tense, heightened vigilance appeared to be nothing more than escorts fiercely protecting their wagon. And inside the carriage they guarded was nothing more than harvested fruit and a modest purse of coin. Who on earth would look at them and suspect they were cut from the same cloth as the invading terrorists? Even if guards conducted an impromptu inspection, they would undoubtedly conclude this group was merely an unlucky merchant party caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.
"It's rather embarrassing to admit, but we've lost our way... On top of that, it seems a band of bandits has appeared nearby..."
"Oh my, you must be so worried!"
As Yuna drew within range, the woman seated on the coachman's bench pulled back her hood and spoke.
"Excuse me, could you please not come any closer?"
Hair as black as ink and eyes glowing like burnished gold. A faint air of exhaustion, paired with a frightened countenance that suited it perfectly—a woman acting the part of a helpless, fragile civilian. It was a splendid mask. In a forest like this, it would have been far more unnatural to look relieved at the sight of a stranger approaching. The woman flawlessly embodied the role of a lost merchant.
Yuna felt a sudden sense of kinship.
This woman is one of my kind.
"Ah! How thoughtless of me. I'm a student at the Cradle. If you're lost, would you like me to help you?"
"...Why would a Cradle student be in a place like this?"
"We're out on field training! There are plenty of other students nearby besides me."
"Field training...?"
Her acting made it seem as though even the concept of the Cradle conducting field training here was complete news to her. Anyone other than Yuna would have failed to see through the performance. But kindred spirits recognize their own kind. Combined with an information asymmetry, it created an exquisite setup.
"It's probably because of our Chancellor's magic. Even if you took the usual road, you would have ended up somewhere completely different. That's likely why you lost your way!"
"Ah..."
The woman nodded slightly, as if the mystery had finally been unraveled. Yuna stepped forward again, cautious and light-footed.
"I can guide you out."
"Would that really be all right?"
Perhaps deciding that prolonging a standoff would only draw suspicion, the woman made no further attempt to stop Yuna from approaching. From her perspective, she had no visible dirt on her, and she believed she had completely duped the girl.
And that very confidence soon became...
"If I bring her back, Yohan will be pleased, won't he?"
"...Pardon?"
...a fatal blind spot.
Thwack!
And just like that, Yuna knocked the woman unconscious and abducted her.