The Chaotic Eva Rescue Operation (2)
We pooled our opinions together and reached a consensus: we would gather in front of Eva's manor the following day.
Chloe looked ready to storm the place right then and there, but she reluctantly relented to my argument that barging in unprepared would only get us killed.
And so, thoroughly prepared and at full strength, we stood before Eva's manor.
“Something's off about this place.”
“No kidding. It wasn't anywhere near this bad when I visited before.”
The building radiated a mana so hostile it felt bristling with thorns. It was like standing before some indescribable thing — even letting my gaze rest on it felt wrong.
“What's the matter? Scared? To think the next head of House Opal is such a coward.”
“Ha! Who's scared? You're the one who should leave right now if you're so frightened.”
“You two, quit the bickering and let's get inside already.”
“Is this the right entrance?”
Yet not a single person gathered here had any intention of backing out. Everyone had steeled themselves for at least this much before coming to rescue Eva.
“Everyone, take one.”
Chloe handed each of us an aged-looking leather pouch.
“Is this a bag?”
“It's an item made from the face leather of a monster — the Great Pouch Rat. I've packed it with useful supplies, so take a look.”
A lesser imitation of a dimensional pouch — a bag that let you store an unlimited number of items regardless of their weight or size. Not quite on that level, but it made carrying things convenient and offered solid value for money, so plenty of people swore by them.
“Bottled water, canned food, first aid supplies, even a survival kit. It's got everything.”
“I brought them in case of emergencies. If we're unlucky, we could easily get lost and end up wandering like lost children — and then we'd have to hold out in there until a rescue team arrives.”
A space conjured by magic. That place was, for all intents and purposes, its own little world — like a dungeon from another realm. The size of the space supposedly expanded without limit, in proportion to the mage's own talent and mana reserves. With the blood of a Grand Archmage running through her veins and two Divine Artifacts at her command, there was no telling how vast Eva's world might grow. One wrong step, and you could end up drifting there forever, never finding the exit.
“I've already given House Amethyst and Headmaster Pallad a heads-up. They said they'd dispatch a rescue team immediately if we don't come out within a week.”
“And they just agreed to that? Surprising.”
“From what I could tell, they judged that us going in gave us the highest chance of success.”
No matter how skilled a fighter you were, you couldn't simply force your way through that maze. What mattered was whether you could open Eva's firmly shut heart. Within the academy, we were the only ones who had spoken with her and built any rapport, so we stood the best chance of persuading her — that was presumably why Pallad had given his blessing.
If worst comes to worst, we'll just have to drag her out by force using the Divine Artifacts.
At any rate, the preparations were complete. All that remained was to open the door and step inside.
“Chloe, let me ask you one thing.”
“Out of nowhere? We don't have time, so make it quick.”
“Did anything happen to Eva — any change of heart — before she shut herself up in the manor?”
I understood that Eva had restructured the manor's space with magic so that she neither came out of her room nor let anyone in. But why she had closed off her heart in the first place — that, I had no way of knowing. There was something I suspected, but I wasn't certain, so I figured I'd try to glean a hint from her past.
“A change of heart, huh. She was a little off ever since we took down that terrorist, I'll admit.”
“You were right beside her the whole time. Was there anything? Anything at all where she seemed uncharacteristic?”
“Oh, you mean at the awards ceremony. Well, in that case—”
Instead of explaining, Chloe pulled out her phone and played a video, holding the screen out for us to see.
“Lady Eva Amethyst, over here, please!”
“A word about this incident—!”
“What's this?”
“Footage from the press conference after the medal ceremony in the Max Republic. Watch it carefully.”
The moment I laid eyes on that video, I understood why Chloe had shown it to us instead of answering.
Eva hated standing in front of crowds. In that kind of chaotic atmosphere — a space no different from an interrogation room where a single wrong word sent you plummeting into the abyss — the fact that she didn't foam at the mouth and collapse was admirable in itself.
“...Ask your questions. I'll answer as far as my knowledge allows.”
“Is that really true?”
The Eva in the video responded to the reporters in a flat, ordinary question-and-answer format. Even when they hurled their sharpest questions at her, she laid out answers of chilling perfection — like an emotionless machine, utterly composed. With dead eyes that sent shivers down the spine of anyone watching.
Even Marin wasn't quite that bad.
“Did she... overcome her fear of people?”
“Could be? This is...”
“I'd say it's less that she overcame it and more that something else has her in its grip so completely that her social anxiety doesn't even register anymore.”
Dilated pupils. A expression frozen in shock. And yet, an oddly, impossibly placid demeanor on top of it all.
“So? Did you figure anything out?”
“...Sorry. I've got nothing.”
Truthfully, in a corner of my mind, the word could it be had surfaced alongside a single possibility — but I kept it to myself.
We'll know once we're inside. If my hunch is right, the space Eva created will spill the clues on its own.
“Thanks for showing me the video. Let's go.”
We steeled our resolve, opened the door, and stood before the front entrance.
“The objective is simple. We find Eva and bring her out of the manor!”
“Let's do this!”
“Everyone, good luck!”
Each of us reaffirming our determination, we grasped the manor's door handle, turned it, and pulled it open. The moment we stepped into the entrance hall and blinked, our vision flickered — and another dimension revealed itself.
Everywhere my eyes landed, staircases tangled and branched off into one another, stretching on without end. Walls, floors, and doors of every shape floating through the air crowded the space — and I stood there alone.
“So everyone got scattered.”
As expected, Chloe and the rest of the party were nowhere to be seen. Pallad's Divine Artifact had projected Eva's mental landscape into physical form, and since the space was structured like a dungeon, getting separated the instant we entered had been a foregone conclusion. The others were probably panicking right about now, bewildered, wondering where everyone had gone.
Going by the layout, I just need to pick one of these doors and go through it.
Since there was no telling which path led to Eva's room, caution was forced upon me. Being careful was the wiser choice for my own well-being, sure.
“Let's try this one.”
After brief deliberation, I chose the door absolutely covered in fluffy, soft-looking fur. It resembled Mongle, Eva's familiar. Probably not the right answer, but even if I got tangled up in it, nothing terrible would happen — it looked harmless enough that the worst case was getting pinned under a big dog.
I turned the handle and opened the door.
Creeeeak!
The sound of something dragging across the floor, and light came flooding out. Dazzled as if hit by a flashbang, I squeezed my eyes shut — then quickly forced them open and rubbed them clear.
Whoosh!
Where am I?
Spread out before me was a lush meadow carpeted in fresh green grass. Across the neatly tended field, flocks of sheep and cattle grazed peacefully. And leading the herd, a man dressed as a shepherd walked hand in hand with a young girl.
“Daddy, come on, let's go over there!”
“Haha, my little cutie. You're full of energy today, aren't you?”
Calmly parted white hair and lively violet eyes. A darling smile showing gapped, still-growing teeth. The atmosphere was quite different from the Eva I knew now — but there was no mistaking her. Eva Amethyst, in her childhood.
Then the man beside her must be...
A man with a kindly smile, using a staff of white wood in place of a shepherd's crook. He had shaggy hair and a scruffy, disheveled appearance, but the wave of mana that held the entire meadow in its grasp inspired sheer awe in anyone who witnessed it.
Grand Archmage Kairos. After marrying Petra Amethyst, he had renamed himself Tylone — Eva's father.
A family that looked happier than anyone else in the world. That leisurely stroll as they herded their livestock was Eva's faded memory. A dream that could never come true again.
Yipeee!
“Daddy, look over there! A puppy! It's a puppy! Look, look!”
“That's a wild dog's pup. Looks like it's hurt.”
“The poor thing! Daddy, help it!”
“Haha, well, I can hardly say no to my little girl.”
As Tylone drew out the mana from his heart, a gear pattern etched itself across the back of his hand in response. With a click, the teeth interlocked, and silver mana steeped in faint moonlight enveloped the wild dog. The wound slashed across the pup's shoulder closed so rapidly it was visible to the naked eye. His authority over rewinding time had turned the wild dog's clock back to before it was ever injured.
Woof! Woof!
“There, it doesn't hurt anymore.”
The dog licked Tylone's hand as if in gratitude. Eva scooped the pup up into her arms. Gazing at the puppy with wide, sparkling eyes, she looked up at Tylone and declared:
“Daddy, I'm keeping him!”
“Now, that's a problem. Wild dogs aren't trained, and...”
“Waaah! I'm keeping him! We've got plenty of laaaand!”
“W-well, animals are a responsibility, you see...”
“I'll be responsible! I will! I'll clean up his poop and everything!”
Eva wailed as if the world had ended, and Tylone, the hopeless daddy's-girl fool, could only wipe away bead after bead of cold sweat. He clearly couldn't bring himself to refuse his daughter's plea.
“Fine. But in return, promise me you'll never stop cherishing this puppy.”
“Okay! I promise! I'll raise him with all my heart!”
Permission granted, and Eva — who had been streaming tears and snot — recovered her darling smile in an instant. She held out her pinky in a solemn pinky-promise, and the two exchanged a small, simple vow in the midst of their happiness.
And then.
ZZZZT!
Static crackled across the scene. Darkness fell over the bright morning, and the spot where Tylone had stood was left empty. Only Eva, grown tall, stood alone in that place.
Thud.
With the puppy cradled in her arms — its head burst open, convulsing, its brains spilling out.