Imprint (3)
"...If you help me, I'll do anything within my power."
Trouble just loved lining up at my door. Not a single crisis on my plate had been resolved yet, so why did fresh disasters keep piling up? Complaining wouldn't change a damn thing, though. Time to put my brain to work.
Did I actually have any reason to help Melana? Frankly speaking, we weren't on friendly terms. And it wasn't as if she had anything to offer in return. She had been on the run, scraping by with nothing to her name—she was obviously dead broke. Why should I bother?
"Why don't we just kill her?" Yuna suggested.
"Come on, let's try talking it out first. We're civilized people, Yuna."
"If you say so." Shrugging, Yuna conceded without hesitation and took a step back. Say what you will about her, she was remarkably good at deferring to my judgment.
All right, back to the drawing board. What should I do with Melana? To review: she had tried to take my life, and I was the guy who had ripped her schemes up by the roots. Naturally, I was blameless. I wasn't someone who took pleasure in drawing strict lines between good and evil, but back then, Melana had been indisputably in the wrong.
"I get why you came to me," I said. "Given what you pulled, running to Her Highness Lobelia or Ariel was out of the question. Though showing up on my doorstep isn't exactly the sanest move either..."
She was someone who had kicked away the chance I'd offered her and tried to kill me anyway. Honestly, just as Yuna said, disposing of her might have been the smarter call than lending a hand. Still, there was no need to dirty my own hands. It would be one thing if she were still hostile, but she was bowing her head and begging me for help. Of course, that didn't mean I was forgiving her out of the goodness of my heart.
"I'll help you," I said.
Simply because I knew an easy way to resolve this mess.
"There are two options. I'll leave the choice to you."
A grand total of two. I was merely pointing the way; executing the plan and bearing the risks would be entirely up to her.
"Option one: ask for help from a lunatic who champions absolute good."
"And the other?"
"A lunatic pursuing absolute evil with good intentions."
"So both choices are lunatics, then."
"Who else besides a madman would readily help someone like you?"
One look at her told the whole story. An ominous, sinister aura practically dripped from her frame. It was likely a backlash of the 'chains,' but even a passing glance screamed danger. As far as I could recall, only two people would willingly assist such a profoundly suspicious individual without demanding compensation.
"To give you more detail: the first is a man often called the 'Hero.'"
"...That's the First Prince." Melana chewed her lip as she muttered the words. She wasn't in any position to be picky, but facing the First Prince was undeniably intimidating.
"Then that leaves the latter," I continued. "The one known to the world as the 'Judge.'"
"..."
Of course, the Head Librarian of Lemegeton, the Judge Tillis, was just as terrifying. But it also meant that unless someone was crazy to that exact degree, they wouldn't lift a finger for Melana.
"Which one will it be?"
Granted, I had never met the First Prince in person either. But being a madman who embodied absolute good, he wouldn't care whether you were a stranger. As for the Judge, Tillis... honestly, I would have preferred never meeting her in the first place, but here we were. Thus, the pool of candidates I could introduce to Melana was strictly limited to those two.
"What'll it be? If we leave right now, we'll barely make it to them by morning."
"Then..." Melana hesitated for a moment before making her decision. "Take me to the Judge."
An unexpected choice. I honestly thought she would pick the First Prince, not a figure universally reviled as an unhinged butcher.
"If I have to bear the risk either way," she explained, "I'd rather have the Judge, who will just slaughter all the enemies."
"Fair enough."
For the record, the First Prince practiced absolute non-violence. And not the Batm*n kind of 'as long as they don't die, crippling them is fine' pacifism—he genuinely avoided inflicting serious harm on anyone under almost any circumstance. The sheer fact that he could stick to that principle proved he was a transcendent monster. Little wonder he had once been the undisputed frontrunner for Crown Prince. If not for that peculiar creed of his, neither Lobelia nor the Second Prince would have ever stood a ghost of a chance.
"The Judge it is, then. Works out nicely, actually. I needed to see her anyway. I'll make the introduction in person."
The Judge, Ostilis Liberatio, happened to be someone I needed to meet as well. I had been putting it off simply because I dreaded seeing her, but since things had turned out like this, I might as well kill two birds with one stone.
"When do we leave?" Melana asked, her anxiety practically palpable.
Truthfully, we probably had plenty of time. Eden was a syndicate of religious fanatics; if they had abducted Jeff instead of executing him on the spot, their objective was glaringly obvious.
"We've got some breathing room, but moving fast couldn't hurt. Even if something dies, it'll be his mind, not his body."
"Did you really have to put it like that...?"
She shot me a look of utter disgust, but that didn't change reality. Jeff was a Paladin of the Dawn, personally baptized by Cult himself. Considering his symbolic weight, they were far more likely to brainwash and domesticate him than slaughter him outright. Besides, brainwashing was practically that cult's bread and butter.
"Let's head out right now," I said. "It's a fair distance, so we'll need to rent a carriage."
"At this hour?"
"Luckily, there's a place that rents carriages even at times like this."
"A place like that actually exists?"
"An ill-fated connection. Hasn't even been half a day, but the curse runs disgustingly deep."
I muttered under my breath while eyeing the sign of a nearby inn. Emblazoned at the bottom was the subtle insignia of Andvaranaut. By now, it went without saying... In this entire world, only Andvaranaut offered a twenty-four-hour carriage rental service.
Heading to the carriage depot run by the Andvaranaut Merchant Guild, we secured a vehicle at a cheap rate from an employee wrapped in finger bandages who exuded a strangely decadent allure. I felt like vomiting. Honestly, I wished every single one of these bastards would just vanish from my life.
"...Was there really a need for us to drive it ourselves?" Melana grumbled.
"You sure complain a lot for someone in your position."
"..."
Who did she think she was? A fugitive being picky about her accommodations? Talk about spoiled rotten. Jeff that bastard had clearly indulged her every whim until now.
"Use your head and consider where we're going," I pointed out. "You want an innocent coachman to get butchered?"
"...No."
"Then shut your mouth and drive the carriage."
"Me?"
"You expect us to? We're already doing you a favor; you want us to be your chauffeur too?"
"..."
Deciding there was nothing more to say, I climbed inside the carriage and laid down. True to the promised VIP service, the ride was remarkably plush.
"I'm going to sleep, so just follow the route I marked on the map."
"...Fine."
Exuding a shroud of gloom, Melana reluctantly took her place upon the coachman's seat.
"I'm exhausted..."
What had I even done today? Our group's practical field training was canceled, so I came back, unpacked, and immediately went with Yuna to meet Cattleya. After a brutal war of nerves with her, we headed over to the Robinhood estate to persuade Emily and keep her company. And just when it was finally time to head home, an uninvited guest barged in... Yeah, exhaustion was well-earned.
"Here, Yohan. I'll give you a lap pillow."
Without a word, I rested my head against Yuna's thighs. Moments later, a heavy drowsiness washed over me.
Sometime after the carriage began to roll, Melana, who had been hesitating awkwardly, cautiously broached a question.
"What's your relationship with him?"
"Huh? Me?"
The question was directed at Yuna. From Melana's perspective, reading the dynamic between Yuna and Yohan was baffling. On the surface, they looked like lovers. Yet, there was something distinctly different under the surface.
"Curious about me?" Yuna asked.
"Well... back at the Cradle, you were just an ordinary person with nothing to do with this sort of thing..."
"Ordinary? What kind of person was I at the Cradle, exactly?"
"That's... that is...?"
Melana did have an impression of her. She remembered someone with a genial, cheerful personality. But she couldn't actually define who Yuna was. Because she knew nothing at all. Until Yohan had called out Yuna's name earlier, Melana hadn't even known what she was called. Who was she? At the Cradle, Melana only had faint memories of catching her face in passing.
"Puhihihi!"
A sudden chill ran down Melana's spine. Back then, Yuna hadn't even truly belonged to the Cradle. She had merely blended into daily life like a piece of the background.
"Even if you knew, nothing would change," Yuna said.
"..."
"Shouldn't you just be grateful I'm letting you breathe instead of killing you? Personally, I can't stand you."
Yuna spoke while twirling the sleeping Yohan's hair between her fingers. Her voice dripped with sweet affection, making the venom laced in her words all the more jarring. Melana felt her breath catch in her throat. It wouldn't have felt out of place if a cold blade pressed against her throat this very second.
"I don't have the greatest history with Under Chain," Yuna continued lightly. "And you happen to be the exact type of person I despise most."
"...Did I ever do anything to you?"
"Nope. Not a thing."
Faced with such blatant hostility, Melana couldn't help but scowl.
"Just think of it like this," Yuna murmured.
Yuna loved Yohan. Naturally, she could never look kindly on Melana, who had tormented him. Yuna had chosen to accept Charybdis's death. She had carried that weight on her back and kept moving forward. And when Under Chain desecrated Charybdis by bringing them back, Yuna had been forced to put Charybdis down with her own hands. She believed that was the right thing to do.
That was why she and Melana were incompatible. Fundamentally, irreconcilably so.
Melana had tried to murder Yohan. She had clung desperately to a dead lover, tearing her present relationships to shreds. And all for the selfish obsession of dragging a dead soul back to life.
"We're just completely incompatible people."
Yuna despised her with every fiber of her being.
When I came to, morning light was filtering in. Waking up to find we had reached our destination, my eyes met Yuna's, who was beaming down at me with a silly grin.
"Yohan, my legs are completely numb."
"Ah, sorry."
Seeing that morning had broken, I must have been lying like that for hours. The fact that she hadn't dumped my head onto the floorboard all that time was worthy of immense gratitude. Thanks to her, I'd had a remarkably comfortable ride.
"Since I lent my thighs to my tired Yohan, surely Yohan will give me a piggyback ride now that my legs are asleep?"
"I'll carry you later. For now, you two wait in the carriage. I'll go ahead as the representative. Rolling up with an entourage would be a nuisance anyway."
"Huh?"
Well, they probably bonded while I was asleep. They wouldn't get bored. They were both girls, and Yuna was naturally sociable, so things were bound to be fine. Melana looked even gloomier than she had yesterday, but that was probably just fatigue from steering the carriage all night. She was bound to be exhausted.
Handling the negotiations on her behalf was practically an act of profound mercy, wasn't it? Stepping up to assist someone who had tried to murder me—look at me, a true philanthropist.
"Bleak as hell."
Leaving the two behind, I strolled through the desolate district where Tillis resided. Not a trace of human presence lingered in the air. Given that Tillis occupied a prime position to be targeted by enemies, she had deliberately sequestered herself in a remote area. Not that she was hiding. She had simply moved out here so as not to inconvenience anyone else. In fact, a minimal amount of digging would uncover her movements plain as day. She was practically wagging her tail in the open.
"Anyone ho—"
Creeeeak.
Before my knuckles could even touch the wood of her abode in the ruins, the door swung open on its own. Well, the eyes of the demons she commanded were probably crawling all over the perimeter. Still, an open door meant an invitation inside.
"..."
God, I really didn't want to go in. Yet I couldn't run away forever. Summoning my courage, I stepped through the threshold.
"Welcome, Student Yohan. It has been quite some time since I last saw your face."
Tillis sat by the window, tipping a teacup. The scene looked like a painted masterpiece brought to life.
"Yes, Lady Saintess. It has been a while."
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
"I'd gladly accept. It seems our conversation might take some time."
"Spending time conversing with an old acquaintance is a lovely diversion now and then."
"Ah, right..."
Was I really an 'old acquaintance'? Then again, maybe I should count my blessings that she hadn't called me a friend.
"The mechanical contraption you sent last time has been doing well. Would you like to see it?"
"That won't be necessary. I'm just glad the drone suited your tastes."
"Oh, very much so."
Tillis set a teacup before me, flashing a radiant smile. On appearances alone, the moniker of Saintess suited her impeccably. Beneath the surface, however, lurked a twist far more shocking than even Yuna's true nature.
"Shall we hear your story, then?" Tillis asked with a soft chuckle.
All right. Time to negotiate.
"I see. So that is what transpired..."
I gave Tillis a suitably sanitized version of the relationship and circumstances surrounding Melana and Jeff. While Tillis dreamed of absolute evil, that was strictly when donning the persona of the Judge. On the surface, she was a Saintess—closer to a devoted volunteer who labored for the virtuous. Therefore, she was highly likely to cooperate in rescuing Jeff, a man who had willingly thrown himself into the mire for the sake of a friend.
"I will gladly assist in rescuing Student Jeff," Tillis replied with a warm smile. "Moreover, since you are providing the location of Eden's branch, I have no reason to refuse."
So far, so expected.
"However," she added, "I am afraid I cannot grant Student Yohan's personal request."
Apart from Melana's plight, I had another reason for visiting Tillis. At present, she was the only person alive who could resolve it. I needed to cure Ariel's condition. To be precise, I had to synthesize a proper remedy for the Transcendence Sickness and guide her natural ascension into an Archmage. That was the promise I had made to the Great Warrior.
To accomplish this, I needed to synthesize the Firebird's Heart and the Frost Giant's Blood. Synthesizing two inherently opposing elements required the power of Maxwell's Demon—and that demon, once contracted to Koron Reckias, was currently under Tillis's command.
"Why is that?" I asked, feeling the color drain from my face.
Did she want something from me in return?
"To begin with, I don't know what the word 'synthesis' means."
Dear God...
"You're stuck at that part...?"
It was a terminal birdbrain issue.