Clash for the Family Head (2)
"Wow, what great weather!"
I marveled at the landscape spread out before us inside the Sanctuary of Lightning and Waves.
Dead center of an ocean swallowed by a raging storm.
Rain and lightning hammered down on a lone island so windswept it was hard just to keep your footing.
Streaks of falling water stretched and tangled in the fierce wind, merging into a single massive wall of water that blotted out the view.
Even a single step forward was a struggle.
White mist crept up to my very eyes, making it impossible to tell where I was actually standing.
"It's the worst weather imaginable. What exactly is 'good' about it?"
"Really? I'm of the school that every adventure needs hurdles like this."
"Well, I hate it. My underwear's soaked through and it feels gross."
Terre grumbled and opened an umbrella she'd sculpted out of ice.
Thanks to the Divine Relic Endless Waves and her specialty in crafting, the water never actually touched her body.
But the clothes underneath getting damp from the sheer humidity of it all was simply an unavoidable reality.
She looked utterly deflated by the gloomy weather.
"Solis. Order. Dry my body with your light. Right now."
"Why on earth would I do something that tedious?"
"I'll say it again. That's an order. If you don't follow it, you know what happens."
The tone was playful, but the coercion underneath was unmistakable, so I reluctantly soaked my hand in mana.
Light gathered with warmth wrapped into it, and when I brought it close to her, a gentle radiance enveloped her surroundings.
"Mmm, not bad. So this is the legendary top-of-the-line dryer?"
"Since it dries with light, I'd say 'furnace' fits better than 'dryer,' honestly."
"Fine, then I'll call you the top-of-the-line furnace, as you wish."
Being treated like a household appliance.
I handed her a Divine Relic, and this is the thanks I get.
Well, it was half in jest, so I let it slide.
Right now, our relationship leaned heavily toward me being the submissive party in the whole A-and-B dynamic.
'Follow me? Good. In exchange, you'll promise to actively comply with my wishes.'
When I'd declared I was taking Terre's side, she'd shown a flicker of bewilderment.
She never imagined someone she assumed would fight for Yupi would suddenly switch camps and declare himself an ally.
She quickly pulled herself together and attached the condition that I follow her words unconditionally, but she didn't turn me away.
Recently I'd saved Endless Waves for her, poured power into her, and proved my competence. That must have left an impression.
Under the assumption that I'd obey her well, I would become her ultimate asset.
'Good, it's a promise then? Then let's formalize it with a contract right here.'
She'd even written up a contract to guard against me double-crossing her.
Disappointing your employer after becoming her employee was not to be tolerated.
"Your top-of-the-line furnace, reporting for duty. If you need anything, just say the word."
"Oh? I expected you to be rebellious. How unexpected."
"You agreed in the contract to be obedient. Don't want to get fired? Then work hard."
I flattered her with hollow, service-industry platitudes.
For the sake of a reconciliation between sisters, this level of lip service was nothing.
"Anyway, we should find shelter from this rain first. Finding the Connector can wait until after."
"An order from the boss means I obey."
"Yuri, you come along too. Hurry."
"Understood."
Me, Terre, and Yuri.
The three of us combed the dungeon from corner to corner.
Beneath a night sky blackened with storm clouds, even walking was a trial. I lit the way with mana-forged flame, but all it did was widen our field of vision by a narrow margin.
"It's too dark. Can't you flare it up like you did last time?"
"If I did, every monster in the vicinity would come swarming. This level is just right."
Invisible to the eye, presences lurked all around us — alien energies, nothing like the settled aura of humans.
Because we moved in silence, circling wide to avoid them, they never detected us. But if we'd wanted to, we could have crossed paths with them at any moment.
"Couldn't we just wipe them all out like you did last time?"
"Let me be clear: back then I had a rough sense of the dungeon's layout and the monster species living in it, so I was deliberately baiting them. Not here."
"Oh? Is that really so? Because I'm getting the distinct feeling you're lying to me."
Paying my warning no mind, Terre pressed herself right up against my side.
She whispered softly into my ear, and it tickled.
"Stop trying to fool me. Ever since you got your Divine Relic, I have a decent feel for where your level actually sits."
"Why does my level matter?"
"You're stronger than Yupi, the one they call Royal. No matter how strong a monster shows up, you'd swat it aside with one fist. There's nothing to be wary of."
Boop.
Terre's finger pressed into my cheek.
Honey practically dripped from the eyes that looked up at me.
"You've already climbed that far? That's fast growth."
"I just trained hard. I may not look it, but I'm the daughter of House Citrine. Talent comes with the territory."
As if showing off, she put her specialty — mana crafting — on display, conjuring up one object after another, as easy as pulling things from a four-dimensional pocket.
Starting with the umbrella perched on her shoulder, then a sword, gloves, a cup — an entire parade of miscellaneous trinkets.
It was nothing short of wasteful squandering of mana, pure luxury.
Even I, back in the Armed Realm, had struggled the first time I crafted a weapon out of raw mana — that's how demanding the technique was — and yet she performed it effortlessly.
"My mana pool grew with the Relic too. As of now, apart from you, I have no rival at the Academy."
She wasn't exactly wrong.
Eva and Marin were exceptions in a class of their own, after all.
Terre, after all, was one of the pillars of the protagonist's party in Academy Yuri Princess.
In the final act, she'd held down the legs of the Great Monster alongside Chloe so that Eva could face Proto alone. She'd been the difference-maker.
Reaching the extreme limits of a Divine Relic like I did was already her predetermined future — and even accounting for that, her growth was terrifyingly faster than the original. Was this the ripple effect of handing her the Relic ahead of schedule?
"Anyway, you've got a reason for hiding it on purpose, right? Tell me honestly and maybe I'll play along."
"Hiding it on purpose, huh. Close enough."
I stole a sidelong glance at Yuri, who trailed behind Terre.
She walked in silence, her presence erased like a servant's.
She answered Terre's words in brief syllables and never once opened her mouth first.
Whatever her purpose was, she was without question the one we needed to watch most carefully here.
'Better to keep my true strength under wraps as much as possible around her.'
By now, the Celestial Clan faction would be carrying out their plan, unconcerned with whether Vital lived or died.
His death was a loss, certainly — but they never once entertained the possibility of defeat.
In their minds, there was no way they could lose to green children who hadn't even reached their own final destination.
If I needlessly revealed my true strength and put them on high alert, it would be a serious problem.
"More importantly, are you actually okay with this?"
"What are you getting at?"
"Me helping you. I'm asking if you have any complaints about it."
By now Terre knew that Yupi and I intended to raise her to the seat of Family Head.
Given her personality — no, given that anyone in her position would feel the same — no one would obediently fall in line with me in this situation.
She should have dug in her heels and sabotaged the plan.
And yet instead, she was carrying on with the Clash for the Family Head.
This wasn't some half-hearted going through the motions. She was genuinely, earnestly striving to find the Connector.
"Honestly? Part of me wants to smash the whole thing to pieces. But I hold back. If I go on a rampage, I gain nothing from it."
"So the conclusion is that you'll take the Family Head's seat after all?"
"Yes. I figured I could think it over after I actually reached that seat, and it wouldn't be too late. As for the truth of that day, I can hear it when I get there too."
When we'd talked in her room, she'd been drowning in confusion — but the Terre of right now was gazing at the road ahead with more cold, objective clarity than I'd ever seen from her.
Right. Throwing away what you could gain just because your feelings were hurt was the height of foolishness.
"So — I'm counting on you~. Go on, lead me to where the item is."
"And why exactly would I know where the Connector is?"
"Take a guess at the likely spot. You know where it is, honestly."
Watching Terre grin with that characteristic sly smile, I shrugged.
Unbelievable. So in the end, the whole thing gets dumped on me.
"Truthfully? I really don't know. But I do know how to find it."
In the original story, Eva had tracked the Connector alongside Terre, catching a strand of anomalous mana and following it.
And at the end of that thread, they'd succeeded in finding the artifact.
From the moment I arrived here too, I had caught sight of a presence discreetly flaunting its existence amid the torrential rain and the roar of the storm.
"This way. Follow me."
I took the lead and bore the rain, while Terre and Yuri followed in silence.
Tracing the thread of mana brought us to the end of a coastal cliff — where a cave gaped open toward us as if in welcome.
"Here it is. Let's get inside, quick."
The moment we stepped into the cave, the shriek of the storm, loud enough to split eardrums, faded into the distance.
In its place, a sickly heat and a stench that could rot the nose jabbed at my nostrils.
A creeping chill slid along my shoulders and my body flinched — but I ignored it and pressed on.
Knowing what waited ahead, I rolled up my sleeves instead of trembling in fear.
We walked, burrowing deep into the cave's darkness until our feet ached.
And when we finally reached the innermost chamber, a faint light greeted us.
"That's—?"
Terre's eyes went wide.
A small jewel wedged between rough-hewn stones, spilling out a brilliant radiance.
Pushing back the surrounding darkness and pulsing with rippling waves of mana, even one glance made clear it was no ordinary mineral.
"That's the Connector?"
Terre took a step forward before she even realized it.
Like a moth drawn to the flame, she responded as if entranced.
Screech—!
"Wha—?!"
In the next instant, an attack came screaming in — and she didn't even have the time to react.