The White Wind Howls (18)
The White Wind Howls (18)
#105
"S-Sis—?!"
Estelle rushed over to where Rubel had collapsed.
"Get a hold of yourself—! What happened?"
"........."
The only response was ragged, gasping breath.
Our plans for the day were unavoidably put on hold.
***
***
With Rubel laid unconscious inside the tent, we began our discussion. A discussion about the most fundamental question of all.
"Is this expedition achievable or not?"
The opinions split quite clearly.
Lily, who only repeated, "I can do it even with just the two of us."
Estelle, who insisted, "We cannot."
Me, with "Let's table it for now."
And finally, Lucien, with "I'll follow whatever Do-yun decides~"
An endless debate raged on amidst the irreconcilable differences.
"That's exactly what I'm saying — our current forces simply can't make it. What enemies lie ahead that you're so confident about, anyway?"
"I never needed your help in the first place. I just need to go with Do-yun, just the two of us. Do-yun, when are you finally going to agree with me?"
"Lady Lily, you can say that, but I'm going to wait until we have a full grasp of the situation first. I'd like to value my life, you see."
"Haa... This is so suffocating — let's just leave them all behind and go, just the two of us, yeah?"
"Lu-Lucien is going wherever Do-yun goes... So if we go, it'll be three of us—!"
"No, you stay out of this. Estelle I might understand, but you can't even use stealth magic."
"Y-you're one to talk? Lucien is older than Lily, you know..."
"What does age matter at this point? And get away from Do-yun. Since when were you two so close that you're clinging to him?"
Lily shot a glare at Lucien, who was stuck firmly to my arm. Lucien wore a frightened expression but remained glued to my arm nonetheless.
I'd never understand women's catfights, no matter how many I witnessed. Listening to the same circular arguments over and over, I could feel my ears starting to bleed.
It looked like it was time to exercise a little of that Do-yun authority.
"Then let's sort this out. Miss Estelle, your position is that as long as Miss Rubel is in that state, the expedition is impossible, correct?"
Nod.
"Lady Lily's position is that she could go even without any helpers at all, from the very beginning."
"How many times do I have to say it."
"Then allow me to ask both of you a few questions. First, Miss Estelle — do you believe that Rubel, lying over there right now, will recover quickly and be able to help us as an ally?"
"No, I don't."
"The way I see it, it's not us who need help — it's Miss Rubel. We ought to wake her up, hear what her situation is, and then help her."
"In that case, first we take Rubel back to the Eurasia encampment and—"
"We don't even know whether the encampment is intact or not. If we assume it's already been breached, returning there would be the worst possible choice. And our allies sacrificed themselves to send us forward — what message would it send if we turned back now?"
"........."
Refutation complete.
Next, Lily.
"Lady Lily."
"What."
"I don't know the reason, but please dial down the anger a bit. Anyway, Lady Lily, you keep saying we can go just the two of us — but in truth, you know it's impossible, don't you?"
"No, I said it's possible?"
"And how exactly do you know that."
"........."
Yeah, that'll shut you up. Because what you've experienced is a story from a timeline the rest of us don't know. Go ahead and confess with your own mouth that you're a regressor.
Maybe it had been possible for the two of them to go in the previous timeline, but things wouldn't go their way this time. It was obvious we'd suffer like hell—why on earth would I do that?
"I refuse to go as just the two of us. If you want to go that badly, knock me unconscious and drag me there yourself."
"Tch—"
"And I also refuse to depart immediately with this current group. I'm not leaving until I at least see Rubel, who's been beaten to a pulp, wake up."
"All of a sudden? Why on earth?"
"I owe Lady Risie a small debt. I don't have a single fond memory with that woman either, but if her daughter dies a lonely death out here like this, Lady Risie would grieve. So I'll hear out the situation first, and then we'll depart."
Cold, icy blue eyes stared at me.
"Do-yun, you really haven't grasped a single thing about what's important since last night."
The refutation failed—but then again, there was no advantage for Lily either, since she was in no position to clearly explain why she wanted to go as a pair. It was a draw, at minimum.
Estelle spoke up.
"Then to summarize: Do-yun, you're saying that once Sister Rubel wakes up, you'll hear her situation and then decide."
"That's right."
"Then let me ask you something as well, Do-yun. If Sister Rubel can't get up... are you planning to stay in this forest forever?"
"..."
"As I said earlier, wouldn't it be better to take Rubel back to the encampment for treatment? Even if the defensive line has been breached, there's surely a rally point where our retreating allies have gathered. We could gather more personnel there and plan a second expedition — that would be fine too."
Hm.
She had a point.
But my opinion was firm.
Because — the fact that Rubel showed up here beaten to a bloody pulp made the situation blindingly obvious.
I was neither a regressor like Lily nor an Observer like Lucien. But look at the flow of events.
Lily simply has no interest in other people. Who dies, who doesn't. Her attitude is: as long as the objective is accomplished, that's all that matters.
Lucien, from what I could tell, didn't know everything. She clearly didn't have information about expeditions she hadn't been part of—meaning the timeline where Lily and I had gone on the expedition alone.
Earlier, when we approached the entrance of the perception-inhibition barrier, Lucien had clearly shown a flustered expression, as if it was a situation she was encountering for the first time.
If so, then in the previous timeline's version of events, someone — whether it was Rubel or someone else — must have come out to meet us. This was an irregular situation from Lucien's perspective.
In other words, I could infer that something had gone wrong with Risie's personal safety — the person Rubel was supposed to be protecting. Though I couldn't tell what specific situation it was, or who had attacked, if an attack had occurred.
That was why I would not move a single step until I heard the full story. More precisely, until I saw Risie's safety with my own eyes. That's what loyalty is.
However, this deduction had one enormous flaw.
Was it really possible that Estelle hadn't arrived at the same conclusion I had?
Even if Estelle might not know that Lily was a regressor, she had clearly grasped the Valenor forces' situation to some extent. She herself had told me that House Valenor's effective combat strength at present was Rubel.
So why wasn't she the least bit worried when Rubel showed up as a bloody mess? In the worst case, Risie might already be dead.
Was there some hidden background that I hadn't grasped — something proceeding beyond my awareness? Until I could properly figure that out, I couldn't make any decision lightly.
Information — I needed information.
"So, your answer? You're taking too long to think."
"Just tell me one thing, and I'll answer right away."
"What is it?"
"If I hear Miss Rubel's situation — and decide to help her with it — will you help me, Miss Estelle?"
"..................No. I won't help."
"Why?"
"Because it would be suicide."
"What exactly would be suicide?"
"Sister Rubel is strong. Very strong. And however far she may have fallen, Countess Risie Valenor was once the strongest in all of Arcanum. Yet there's a force that can beat Sister Rubel to a pulp and drive her out, against that kind of combat strength? I don't know who they are, but just challenging them would mean we can't guarantee our own lives."
So in the end, the reason she was giving up was that unidentified hostile force. If that truly was the only reason, then that would be fortunate—but—
"That's why I asked if you'd help. For reference, Lucien is coming with me."
"H-hieek? Lu-Lucien is scared, but... wherever Do-yun goes, I'll go too—"
Lily would have no choice but to come along as well. Because this little lady could never abandon me.
So the only one left is you, Estelle.
"So, are you coming with us or not?"
"...I'll follow Do-yun's opinion. Let's wait until Sister Rubel wakes up. If there's an enemy, I'll fight alongside you too."
"It doesn't look like we'll need to wait."
"?"
Following the sound of Lily's voice, we looked inside the tent. Rubel was rising, clutching her head.
#106
Rubel barely managed to squeeze out her voice and spoke.
"Please help me..."
"Sis, what exactly is the situation? Tell us everything you know, without leaving a single detail out."
"Ev-everything was fine until yesterday......"
"Were you attacked, Sis?"
"Y-yeah..."
Seeing Rubel trembling with her face deathly pale, pity welled up in me instinctively — and at the same time, a creeping horror crawled up my arms: just what kind of force had attacked her to reduce her to this state?
Was helping really the right move there...
"Who exactly are the enemies? Is it Hunters? How many in total, and what unique magics do they each use?"
"N-no... It's not Hunters... Not multiple people either..."
"Alone? Then a fallen former Countess? Lamerian? Etchellan?"
"Es-Estelle... I'm scared..."
"Sis, look me straight in the eye. You need to tell us properly if we're going to help."
"M-Mom went insane. Mom's power returned and — she killed everyone inside the tower."
Drip.
Silence.
"Let's depart."
"E-Estelle?"
"Lucien, I don't know the full details, but it seems Countess Valenor has either been subjected to mental domination or gone on a rampage. If her power has truly returned, we'll all die if we fight her."
"Let's just abandon this and head straight to the House of the Great Ones."
"To be honest, every time Lily kept repeating nothing but the expedition like a parrot, it genuinely made me angry. But this time, we have no choice."
Huh. Look at those two finally getting along.
"Everyone, listen carefully. From this moment on, we will continue the expedition. The probability of failure is extremely high, but we have no other options."
"N-no—! If we do this, our mother is—!!"
"Sis. I'm sorry, but that matter is completely beyond our capabilities."
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Hot tears began to stream from Rubel's red eyes.
"No, get up, Rubel. Tell me where we need to go."
Maman was my woman, after all.
Rubel was, on paper, my daughter.
Rubel was legally my daughter.
Daddy couldn't bear watching his daughter's tears any longer.