The Rally (2)
“Hmm….”
When I said that I needed to meet the Hero, Ethan's face stiffened, his expression broadcasting unmistakable displeasure to anyone who cared to look.
He really does despise the guy that much, huh.
To be fair, the Hero had never actually done Ethan any direct harm up to this point. In fact, there was a good chance that the soul riding around in the Hero's body was just as confused as anyone about whether Ethan was a villain or a hero, judging purely by how he behaved. If Gehmajoshigi-gwat had become convinced that Ethan was the villain and acted on it, then by all rights he should have already issued at least one warning — telling him to hand Lilith over.
And if we'd followed the original story, Ethan, having received that warning, would have fled to the Blackwood Estate with Lilith and gone into hiding. Chasing the two of them down and storming the Blackwood Estate — that was the plot of the latter half of Luminor Academy's second act, after all.
Of course, if that had actually happened in reality, Ethan wouldn't have run anywhere. He'd have drawn his sword and crossed blades with the Hero instead, and we might well have had an outright bloodbath inside the Academy.
At any rate, I'd never once heard of Ethan receiving a warning or an attack from Gehmajoshigi-gwat. If anything, after the recent kraken subjugation, the man had actually gone out of his way to teach him CPR and save my life.
The Hero had pestered Ethan with conversation on several occasions despite being told to keep his distance, and had indirectly caused trouble — like using Princess Seraphine to force a meeting that set off Nathalie's drunken rampage — but nothing that could honestly be called a grudge-worthy offense.
That said, it was equally understandable that Ethan would keep his guard up around a Hero who seemed to string women along in an endless line. If I'd been in Ethan's position, he wouldn't have been someone I'd want to get close to either.
Ethan's wariness — rooted in his fear that the Hero might still steal me away — was not going to soften easily.
And honestly, that suspicion wasn't entirely baseless, given that Lilith had been one of the main heroines of Luminor Academy in the original game.
“Of course, I'm well aware that you don't think much of the Hero, Master Ethan.”
“…Yeah, can't argue with that.”
“But as you are now, Master Ethan, you cannot defeat a demon or anyone empowered by demonic force. And that isn't a slight against you alone — even the Hero, I suspect, has yet to reach that level.”
“…Is that so? Then tell me — why do you think we need to talk to this Hero at all?”
“Because the Hero is the one person who can strike down demons without bending to rank or political power.”
“…….”
The Hero currently held no noble title of any kind. He was known only by the epithets 'Hero of Another World' and 'Hero of Prophecy.'
Which, viewed from the other side, meant he was free of the burdens and obligations that came with station — and that was precisely why no one could easily restrain him, no matter how much chaos he stirred up inside and outside the Academy, all year round.
These were dangerous times to try lecturing a Hero summoned from another world about minding his behavior; you'd only hand ammunition to anyone eager to paint you as a demon sympathizer.
Granted, that atmosphere existed in part because Gehmajoshigi-gwat had earned his freedom through verifiable results — steadily and demonstrably thinning the demons' numbers.
Either way, he had his own clear objective: to clear the game. And he knew full well that McHart was a named antagonist in the fourth act, so he would hardly pass up an opportunity to eliminate him in advance.
Quite the opposite — if he grasped the true intent behind my proposal, he would likely move to help us willingly.
Coming from my position, asking people for help and gathering them myself would look suspicious. But nobody bats an eye at the Hero assembling people to go hunt demons.
Suppose I or Ethan had asked some other powerful figure for aid — say, suggesting we pool our strength to eliminate someone because a major figure of the state appeared to be connected to demons.
First, we'd be met with blank stares and told we'd clearly lost our minds, and rejected outright. And even if things somehow went smoothly, given who the target was, we'd more likely than not find ourselves branded traitors to the empire.
But what if it was Gehmajoshigi-gwat the Hero, and Serista the Saintess, doing the gathering?
People who had already fought demons alongside the two of them would trust them to a reasonable degree. And with the Hero and the Saintess on board, exposing McHart's connection to the demons wouldn't be so difficult in the first place.
Granted, that was assuming a true Saintess with genuine holy power — not a fake one like Serista.
…This really is a tangled mess, isn't it.
With an opponent like this, killing him would be only half the battle; the aftermath would demand plenty of its own. That was exactly why I needed Gehmajoshigi-gwat and Serista — people who would cooperate if I simply laid out the facts. And so, no matter how much Ethan hated it, this once there was no avoiding a meeting.
“All right. If Lilith puts it that way, I suppose I have no choice but to meet with him.”
“Are you certain, Master Ethan?”
“I can't stand that debauched attitude of his — the way he seems determined to wedge women in front of him and behind him, as if flanking him on both sides weren't enough. But it does seem we need his help, at least for now.”
“Thank you for your courageous decision, Master Ethan.”
“So — how do you plan to arrange this meeting, Lilith? Going through Princess Seraphine seems out of the question. Things aren't what they used to be between us.”
“I intend to ask Miss Agnes for her assistance. She's my friend, and she works alongside the Hero.”
“Fine, understood. Then I'll leave arranging the meeting to you, Lilith.”
Finally, I cautioned Ethan that the meeting would likely need to be kept secret and asked him to say nothing of it — and with that, our emergency conference came to a close.
It had taken several attempts, but at last we had secured a chance to meet Gehmajoshigi-gwat face to face.
The day after I talked Ethan around, Agnes's arrangements let us settle on a time and place, after a fashion.
One week later — the theology department building of Luminor Academy.
The gathering point was a room on the fifth floor of the great church complex, a single massive structure that served simultaneously as the Aurelia Church Academy Branch, the theology department's teaching wing, and its dormitory.
There were two main reasons I'd chosen the church among all the possible venues.
The first was that with hundreds of patients and worshippers of the Aurelia faith passing through its doors every single day, a visit from students of another department would hardly turn a head.
The second was that since it was the church where Serista herself resided, we wouldn't need to hunt down a separate place to meet.
Gehmajoshigi-gwat, Serista, Ethan, myself — and Agnes, who had made this gathering possible in the first place.
Five people in total converged on Serista's dormitory room on the fifth floor of the theology building. As the one who had called the meeting, I was the first to speak and lay out the situation.
“First, allow me to thank the Hero and the Saintess for agreeing to attend on such sudden notice.”
“Oh, no, not at all… I-if Lady Lilith requests it, then of course I must come….”
“It's nothing. I didn't have any plans before the evaluation match anyway. Don't worry about it, Lilith.”
“…You, on the other hand, might stand to worry a little more. I'd hate to think you're getting overly familiar with my personal maid….”
“Master Ethan, these people are here today at my request. I must ask you to restrain yourself.”
“…Sorry, Lilith.”
After reining Ethan in once — he'd been one breath away from poisoning the mood before the meeting even began — I turned straight back to Gehmajoshigi-gwat and Serista and told them the rest.
About the ambush I'd suffered at Prince McHart's hands not long ago, and about how he had turned the power of demons against me.
Since I had to convince not only the Hero but Serista as well, I recounted everything that had happened that day, down to the smallest detail I could manage. And as my story stretched on, shadows began to creep across both their faces.
“Is… is that really true, Lady Lilith…?”
“…Saintess Serista, I'm sorry, but the way you address me is… rather far too elevated, isn't it….”
“Hold on — McHart was after you? Is this about that incident at Prince Antonio's birthday banquet, where you cursed him out?”
“Yes. It seems I made quite the impression, and not the favorable kind. I was fortunate enough to escape unscathed in the end, but if it happens again, I doubt I'll be able to slip away so easily.”
“Lately Blackwood and I have been taking turns keeping watch over her. Who knows what a demon-empowered bastard might try — but two of us watching should be surer than one.”
“So the story's changed again, huh? What the hell am I supposed to do about a development like this…?”
“…Story?”
“N-nothing! Nothing at all. Just talking to myself.”
The Hero murmured to himself, head bowed, after hearing Agnes's supplementary account.
Only Ethan reacted to the muttering, echoing it back with a puzzled look; Serista and Agnes seemed so used to it by now that neither showed a flicker of suspicion.
Besides, of the two of them, Serista had been trembling like a guilty criminal and dodging my gaze every time our eyes met, and somewhere along the way her title for me had shifted to 'Lady Lilith' — she was acting strange in more ways than one. But I had no spare attention to spare for any of that right now. The first order of business was figuring out how to deal with McHart.
Gehmajoshigi-gwat — who, judging from what I'd told him, had apparently managed to piece together a plausible scenario of his own — spoke up carefully.
“Honestly, I'd had my suspicions for a while. That I could feel a demonic aura coming off Prince McHart.”
“…Really?”
“Funny, though — your reaction just now made that hard to believe. Are you sure you're not just playing along now that you've heard Lilith's story?”
“No, it's not that. It's just that the man's a prince, so I've been watching my mouth as much as I could. If I'd acted on a mere suspicion, mistaken him for a demon, and killed a real prince, not even the Hero could escape punishment for it.”
“…….”
“Besides, I wasn't the one who noticed first — Serista was. I only started suspecting after I heard about it from her later. …Isn't that right, Serista?”
“Ah — y-yes, that's right! I-I thought something was off about Prince McHart from the very first time I saw him! Th-the atmosphere around him, for a prince, and his, his whole feeling was just a little… strange….”
…From the look of things, they were going with the 'we suspected him all along' gambit.
Serista's reaction was a dead giveaway, and I knew perfectly well that she had no means of actually detecting demonic power yet — but for the sake of keeping things moving, I chose not to call it out.
“I see, Hero Gehmajoshigi-gwat. Then may I take those words to mean that you believe my account?”
“If demons are involved, helping you isn't even a question. A demon spy inside the imperial palace is a danger above all others. Seraphina could be endangered if we're careless — and if we leave a demon agent in the palace, the rest of them will spread across the entire empire before we know it.”
“Thank you, Hero.”
“…But before I agree to cooperate, there's one last thing I need to confirm.”
“Yes?”
At Gehmajoshigi-gwat's next words — delivered with his gaze fixed squarely on me — every person in the room turned their attention to the two of us.
“Miss Lilith, would you step outside with me for a moment?”
“I'm sorry?”
“There's something I want to discuss with you. Alone — just the two of us.”
…This is a jealousy check, isn't it.