The Empress's Star, Part 3
The brutally slaughtered corpse of a rebel soldier caught my eye.
Thick, dark blood pooled on the floor, spilling from the corpse that had been sliced clean through its armor.
The crimson pool shimmered under the reflecting sunlight.
Only three people remained standing.
Aria stood frozen, her wide eyes unblinking as she stared at the scene.
"Shh... You cannot stop trembling, can you?"
A red-haired woman held Aria close, gently soothing her.
"...The Prophet."
The Prophet, whom we had searched so desperately for, turned her glowing golden eyes toward me.
"Do you know who I am?"
In that moment, Rosia's words about the Prophet flashed through my mind.
She did not wear particularly lavish clothes.
Nor did she possess an overwhelmingly peerless beauty.
Yet her hair was red, as if painted with midsummer flames,
and her eyes resembled the full moon deep within a forest.
The extraordinary aura radiating from her made her feel infinitely out of reach, even though she stood only a few paces away.
Of course, that didn't mean my body froze or my mind went blank.
I gave my head a light shake to clear the lingering impression.
"Gyal is searching for you."
"I see."
She gently pulled Aria from her embrace, held her hand, and stepped toward me, saying:
"So, you are that boy."
Her smile was so flawlessly bright that I couldn't tear my eyes away, even for a second.
The pouring midday sun began to tilt, casting deep, dark shadows that crept down the walls of the buildings.
The corpses no longer shimmered.
The architect of this grotesque scene—the one who had sliced the soldiers in half—stepped out from behind the Prophet.
The full plate armor covering his entire body moved without a sound.
Though his face was hidden in the shadows of his visor, I knew for certain.
The knight was staring at me.
...And with a piercing, intense wariness.
"What happened here?"
I looked at the massive halberd the knight held.
Thick blood dripped slowly from the axe blade and the spear tip.
That alone told me the general gist of the situation, but that wasn't my only question.
How on earth had Aria and the Prophet met?
It was highly unlikely they had prearranged a time and place.
Aria had been locked away in the tower.
If she hadn't crossed paths with us, she would still be bound in that tower, waiting for her execution.
"It seems she was spotted by those men while trying to find me. So, I saved her."
"She was lucky."
"You could say that. Though I did place a spell on her so she could find her way to me without getting lost."
With those words, she showed me the ring on Aria's hand.
The blue crystal was cracked like a spiderweb, no longer emitting any light.
"Did you two know each other?"
"What does that matter? It was merely a small gesture of consideration to guide a young child who wishes to walk the same path."
The Prophet wiped Aria's face with her sleeve.
The blood splatter beneath her eye smeared, leaving a faint red streak.
"...Do you know me?"
I didn't know why I asked that.
Was it because of the Prophet's warm, familiar attitude toward me despite this being our first meeting?
Since she had sent Gyal to find me, it was only natural that she knew who I was.
Yet, I felt compelled to ask anyway.
I simply wanted to resolve the strange, lingering unease in my chest through her answer.
"Of course. Why else do you think I traveled all the way to a foreign land?"
As she spoke, the Prophet reached out and gently stroked my hair.
Her long, pale fingers moved softly, but there seemed to be no hidden motive behind the gesture.
She didn't suddenly force her energy into me the way Gyal had when we first met.
"Good. This is perfect timing."
Saying so, she placed Aria's hand in mine.
"Go to the royal castle together. Tell Gyal that I will join him shortly."
"Why aren't you coming with us? There are many people waiting for you, my lady."
"Is that so? And why is that?"
Unsure of how much she already knew, I decided to lay out all the information I had gathered.
Our arrival in Arselion, the civil war that erupted immediately after, and the breakdown of negotiations due to the appearance of the beasts.
And finally, Gyal's current stance, waiting for both sides to exhaust themselves.
"Clever, but not a wise choice."
Even after hearing everything, the Prophet's expression didn't waver in the slightest.
"In that case, could you do me a favor?"
"A favor?"
"I still have matters to attend to here, but since they seem to desperately need my help over there, I would like you to take care of what needs to be done here in my stead."
Aria retreated back into the Prophet's embrace.
Having calmed down slightly, she kept her eyes tightly shut.
"Follow this knight underground. Bear witness to everything you find down there. It won't be too dangerous. After all, it's not much different from what you've been doing all along."
As the Prophet pointed to the knight, the figure, who had been as still as a statue, began to move once more.
"And make sure to take the one hiding over there with you. The more witnesses, the better."
At her words, I sensed a presence behind us.
Bran, who had been holding his breath and watching the situation unfold from his hiding spot, stepped forward.
"Well? Can you do it?"
"...Yes."
"Good. Then I shall see you at the castle."
With a bright smile, the Prophet and Aria departed.
Now, only three of us remained: the armored knight, Bran, and me.
I didn't know exactly what this was about, but I had no reason to refuse.
What I've been doing all along... What on earth does she mean by that?
Various possibilities crossed my mind, but there was no way to know without seeing it for myself.
I glanced at the knight walking ahead and spoke up.
"I'm Kamil. May I ask what we're going to do now?"
The knight didn't even look back, silently continuing forward.
It was incredibly awkward.
Just then, Bran, who had been following with a tense expression, spoke up hesitantly.
"Um, Lord Kamil."
"Ah. If you don't want to come, you can go back. Commander Kalian only assigned you to me to find the Prophet anyway."
"Yes. But I actually wanted to ask what happened to Squad Leader Luke."
Ah.
Come to think of it, Luke had gone off on his own to find the runaway Aria.
Had he still not found her?
Considering Aria and the Prophet had been walking right down the main street, it was strange that we hadn't heard from him yet.
"Was he captured by the rebels?"
"I doubt it. I can't imagine him letting himself be captured quietly."
That was true.
With the royal army and the rebels locked in a full-scale war, there was no way he'd get caught by stray soldiers lingering in the rear.
Especially since he only had to worry about himself.
He would have had plenty of opportunities to contact us.
"This is troubling..."
It seemed I had grown quite attached to him in less than a single day.
Just then, the knight walking ahead came to a halt.
He dragged his massive halberd across the ground, carving letters into the dirt.
As I stared down at it blankly, he added a few more strokes.
"Are you talking about... Luke?"
It seemed he had overheard our conversation and was filling us in on Luke's status.
The knight resumed his march.
Something must have happened between Luke and the Prophet's group earlier.
I wanted to ask how he knew about Luke, but I doubted I'd get an answer.
...Is he mute?
I hadn't heard him utter a single word.
Even the messages he carved were incredibly brief.
Since he said Luke had returned safely, it seemed faster to just finish this task quickly and ask Luke directly.
Before long, the knight came to a stop.
It was a dead end.
The knight pulled a vial filled with a crimson reagent from his belt and threw it onto the ground without hesitation.
Shatter!
The thin glass broke with a sharp crack, and the liquid burst forth.
The ground began to sizzle and boil where the liquid touched it, rapidly dissolving to reveal a staircase leading downward.
This was...
"What on earth is this?"
The knight opened a small box at his waist, and a tiny light floated into the air, illuminating the surroundings.
As I followed him down the stairs, Bran hesitated for a moment before trailing behind us.
Once we had descended a certain distance, the entrance sealed shut behind us with the sound of squirming insects.
The reception room of Arselion Castle.
Gyal looked back and forth between the two figures seated at the head of the table.
One had vibrant red hair that seemed to come alive under the sunset streaming through the large window.
In stark contrast, the other possessed silver hair that glowed faintly in the shadows.
The Prophet of Tyrancia, and the Chancellor of Velastia.
The Prophet was leisurely sipping tea while enjoying the view outside, and the Chancellor was waiting for her patiently.
"How does your country's king view this situation?"
"We are reinforcing our defenses while weeding out the traitors. Since this is a scenario we had already anticipated, we do not expect significant damage."
"The rebels' morale must be sky-high. If this drags into a war of attrition, things will get difficult."
The Prophet set down her empty cup and snapped her fingers.
With a clear, ringing chime, the empty cup began to fill itself once more.
"We have completely cut off the enemy's supply lines. It is the rebels who will find themselves in a difficult position."
The Chancellor's expression remained unchanged.
There was no hesitation in her demeanor, as if the royal army's victory was a foregone conclusion.
"What were you doing in the pleasure quarter?"
"I was looking at what you cannot see."
"There is nowhere in this kingdom beyond His Majesty's gaze."
"Oh, is that so?"
The Prophet's eyes curved into crescent moons.
With a dismissive flick of her wrist, the teacup floated over and landed gently in Gyal's hand.
Gyal frowned slightly and pushed the warm teacup aside.
"Then you must also know what I have done."
"Of course. You brought that dancer back."
"A good girl, isn't she? And besides that?"
The Chancellor picked up her teacup.
The moderately cooled tea was slowly losing its aroma.
"Where does that space lead?"
"You really do have eyes everywhere, don't you? How unendearing."
The Chancellor moistened her lips.
Since she had no taste for tea, she merely wished for a glass of cold water.
The Chancellor's gaze locked onto the Prophet.
It was a look that said, I know exactly what you've done.
The Prophet let out a lazy laugh and answered her question.
"It is an underground space. Shouldn't you know it better than anyone?"
"I asked the wrong question. Let me rephrase. I want to know what is happening down there."
"Ah, so that is where your knowledge ends."
The Prophet rose from her seat.
Not a single sound of a scraping chair or rustling fabric could be heard.
The Chancellor followed her to the window, tracing the Prophet's gaze as she looked out into the distance.
Black and white smoke billowed along the coastline.
Screams and battle cries echoed.
Viewed from such a height, the scene was grand, but it was far from a pleasant sight.
"Aren't you curious? As to why the royal army is currently being pushed back?"
The Chancellor nodded unconsciously.