Winds of the Plague (9)
"Ha... seriously."
It was suffocating. I scratched my head raw trying to think of a way out, but there simply wasn't one. Even playing my final hand to persuade the Siren Elder had achieved nothing.
'The Penarive barony! They sheltered and defended your kind, didn't they?!'
'...So you know of them. Aye. They alone spoke in defense of us Sirens. Yet every last one of them has been cast into prison. There is no one left to stand beside us and bear witness.'
'There's one person! There is someone who can testify for you!'
Yet he had remained unyielding, refusing to speak of it further.
'I will not be swayed by your words any longer. Even if what you say is true, if we are to survive this day, we have no choice but to keep you confined.'
The Elder insisted that the moment any of their human captives set foot in the Principality, it would be the end of them all. If even one slipped away, their sanctuary's location would be exposed, followed swiftly by a subjugation force wiping them out without resistance.
I couldn't refute his fear. Even after the entire House of Penarive stepped forward in their defense, and all the Sirens pleaded their innocence against the false charges, their former chieftain had still been executed. Faced with that, what could I possibly say?
I couldn't be certain either. Even if I extracted an oath of silence regarding the Sirens, would everyone truly keep their mouths shut to the end? The second their boots touched Principality soil, someone might turn around and betray them—especially someone chasing a bounty. And having lived through a similar betrayal myself, the words died in my throat.
So how was I supposed to untangle this mess? I kept dragging my fingers through my hair in frustration. The path ahead was pitch black.
I snatched up a stray pebble and skipped it across the lake. The ripples spread outward, but given time, the water smoothed back into a mirror-like clarity.
"The lake clears up just fine. Why is my future the only thing stuck in the dark?"
As I muttered my complaints to the empty air, a familiar lizard scuttled up to find me once again.
"Hold it right there. I don't feel like getting covered in drool again."
Chir—!
"I'll set you down, but no licking my face. Got it?"
Chir!
"Hmm... did you actually understand that? Alright, down you go."
If there was one thing that had changed, it was that I had been granted permission to move freely on my own within the barrier. Supposedly an apology for subjecting Nella's savior to an insulting test. Thanks to that courtesy, here I was, killing time by staring at a lake.
"I wondered where you vanished to! Chir! You're over here!"
People said pets took after their owners, but this creature seemed entirely beyond control. Just like before, whenever this little rascal darted off on its own, Nella inevitably came chasing after it.
"Ah, again... I'll take him right away!"
Chir-rr.
For some reason, the creature refused to budge. Seeing that Chir wasn't listening, Nella tried to gather him up in both arms. Yet the creature proved remarkably nimble. It scrambled up my chest and darted across my shoulders, dodging her grasp with relentless agility until I felt less like a person and more like a climbing tree. Nella was the first to run out of breath.
"Eeek, Chir, you...!"
Chir~.
Seeing your owner bristling with anger ought to be a warning, yet you're provoking her even more and begging for punishment? Unbelievable.
Chir? Chir!
"Cut it out, you little pest. You'll only get scolded worse."
Catching the lizard off guard while it was busy teasing its owner, I scooped Chir up securely and handed him back to Nella.
"Ah, thank you! He usually isn't like this... You little troublemaker! Say you're sorry right now!"
Chir-rr...! Chir!
Come to think of it, this lizard called Chir was rather peculiar. It looked like a lizard on the surface, but it wasn't a demonic beast. Yet calling it an ordinary animal felt equally wrong. Besides, when I first encountered Nella, this little fellow had popped out first, hadn't it?
"What has gotten into him today? Why do you keep trying to go to that older brother?"
Chir. Chir-rr chir.
Chir continued to squirm, desperately trying to crawl back toward me.
"Why does he do that?"
"Well... Chir tends to pounce whenever he feels instinctively drawn to someone's mana."
"Without any particular reason?"
Beasts had instincts and humans had desires; surely this lizard had some sort of motive. Why did it launch itself at me every single time it saw me?
"He likes to eat their mana. If there's a reason, that's probably all it is..."
"Mmm... eats mana, you say? Are you completely sure this lizard isn't a demonic beast?"
"Yes! If he were a demonic beast, he would've attacked me first, wouldn't he?"
"Fair point."
There was no reason for a monster to ignore easy prey right in front of it just to charge at me. At the very least, it wasn't a demonic beast. Even while Nella strained to hold onto him, Chir wriggled free with stubborn tenacity. And without fail, he charged straight at me.
Chir! Chir-rr!
Having finally broken free of Nella's embrace, he rubbed his snout vigorously against my hand just like before. It was quite the enthusiastic greeting—his entire body radiated sheer delight.
"Just leave him be for now. Seems like he's taken a liking to me. Once he gets bored, he'll head back to his owner. Want me to offer him some mana while we're at it?"
"Haa. I'm so sorry. But I fed him until he was full earlier... That's strange."
"Here. Snack time."
I coaxed a wisp of mana to my fingertips and offered it... but the little creature didn't even lick his lips. Instead, he shook his head from side to side, clambered up onto my shoulder, and rubbed his cheek against mine like an affectionate kitten. What on earth was this lizard?
"Haaa..."
The Elder exhaled a heavy sigh as he turned away. It wasn't solely because of Junon's proposal; there were far too many worries weighing on his mind. He had learned much about the youth, but the sentiment among the clan remained overwhelmingly hostile toward maintaining any rapport with humans.
The rift ran too deep. Each of them had cherished bonds, and humans had torn every single one away. Under such circumstances, it was only natural that the other Sirens reacted with bitter resistance.
"Is your conversation finished?"
"Aye."
The only individual capable of bridging both sides in this tangled web: Senia. She hadn't changed clothes or stepped away, evidently having waited here the entire time.
"I have kept you waiting long."
"Not at all. I had something to discuss with you as well."
"Mmm... speak, then."
"Before that, may I ask how the discussion went?"
It was clear she hadn't eavesdropped, though even if she had, the Elder wouldn't have minded.
"He asked if we might release them, offering his aid in return. He was certain that our Siren strength alone cannot stand against the Devourers."
"...And your answer, Elder?"
"You know it well enough. We have no choice in the matter."
Junon as an individual might be trustworthy, but humans as a whole remained unpredictable monsters capable of anything. What was worse, if even a single person slipped away, the Principality wouldn't hesitate to frame them once more and issue another subjugation order. Even barring outright slaughter, the Sirens would at best be condemned to slavery, branded as criminals, and auctioned off as black-market trophies and noble ornaments.
"Hah. I had a feeling."
Senia had anticipated as much. Still, she had harbored a faint hope that Junon might inspire a different outcome. Leaving these Sirens—who shuddered at the mere mention of humanity—with too much idle time was dangerous. Soon, the main force from the Principality would descend upon them. That was why she had prepared a scheme of her own.
"The Principality will dispatch its main force shortly. Our unit was isolated, after all."
"The boy Junon informed me of that much. And so?"
"If they discover that we've been holding humans captive, everything will blow up. That would be the worst possible outcome."
The nobles would claim once again that the Sirens sought to harm humans, escalating from hostility to total extermination. Their numbers were few to begin with, and fabricating false charges was the aristocratic faction's wicked specialty.
"What do you intend to do, then?"
"We can no longer simply argue that we were framed. We must prove our innocence through action. As things stand, we appear guilty as charged."
"Innocence, you say..."
The reason Senia had sought to study alchemy was precisely to clear the Sirens' name. But now, the immediate objective had shifted.
"To claim innocence, we need tangible proof. And we can create undeniable proof that we aided the humans."
"How?"
Senia laid out the connection between the humans of the Principality, the Devourers, and the Lemterte Plague. The Elder listened intently, nodding in agreement with her flawless reasoning.
"I understand well enough that a multitude of humans have been infected. But what do you propose to do with that knowledge?"
"We need only craft a cure for the Lemterte Plague. What if we prove that a human was saved through the power of the Sirens?"
"Formulating medicine is no simple task. Furthermore, we possess no research facilities here."
"Not necessarily. After all, not a single one of us has contracted the infection, have we?"
The Elder wondered what preposterous logic she was pursuing, but the realization struck him a heartbeat later.
"Could it be..."
The Lemterte Plague ravaging the Principality.
The total absence of symptoms among the Sirens.
The barrier erected to repel Devourers.
All the pieces converged into a single point.
"Hyplisia. That will serve as the primary ingredient for the cure."
Compounding a cure for the sinister epidemic that would soon engulf the subjugation force. If they could pull it off, it would be the finest resolution imaginable. Not only would it shatter the deep-seated prejudices held by humanity, but it would also wash away every shred of false stigma pinned to their kind. Yet a critical problem remained.
"However... who among the humans shall we treat?"
Treating an infected soldier from this subjugation unit would be meaningless; none of them had manifested overt symptoms yet. To demonstrate the cure's efficacy beyond question, they needed someone already deep in the throes of the illness. And a candidate meeting that exact condition already existed.
"Lumia Penarive. We will bring her here."
"Lumia...?"
"To make this possible, Elder, you must release one more person."
The only person who knew Lumia's hidden location was Cain. Unless Cain was freed from the Sirens' custody, the cure could never even be attempted.
Traversing Mount Utulum in the pouring rain had consumed a substantial amount of time. Thanks to that delay, the subjugation force had only just set foot in Schytz Province.
"It's the subjugation force! The subjugation force has returned!!"
"Wait... huh? Aren't they resting?"
"No kidding. We prepared drinks and snacks and everything..."
Despite the cheers of the villagers and locals, the soldiers showed no inclination to savor their homecoming. Instead, they were already reorganizing their gear, as if preparing to march right back out to battle. Muniherr stepped forward through the bewildered crowd.
"Where is Dahlia?"
"Ah, I'm right here, darling. It just so happens I have something to tell—"
"This is urgent. I've brought the rodents responsible for spreading the Lemterte Plague. Begin your research on them immediately."
"What? Wait, darling!!"
Watching her husband's retreating back, Dahlia let out a weary sigh. She, too, had received momentous news, leaving her weighed down by no small amount of worry.
Come back swiftly, my love... We don't have much time...
To avoid repeating the agonizing past that had claimed Reynesia and Jack, Muniherr needed to know this as well.