Loose Ends and Fresh Wounds

At the mention of one name from Radiel's lips, the Status Window flooded with endless strings of text, and at last the episode was cleared.

After that, I didn't bother with any of it. I simply left the water station behind.

Unless there was some lunatic out there who still expected me to keep training in the middle of an incident this size, no one was going to hold me here.

And with that, Karsein's enemies on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the training grounds dwindled considerably.

Theo Ramstair and his little gang of lackeys, in their frantic rush to drive me out, had instead landed themselves behind bars. The knights who had always looked at me with quiet distaste now shifted their gazes, realizing some kind of arrangement had been struck through the business Mark and Radiel had handled on my behalf. And Flora — Emma's powerful backer — had collapsed on the spot, drained of all color.

Three breeds of dangerous enemies, all swept away by the episode clear. I could finally breathe easy.

Still, I ought to tie up the loose ends cleanly.

When I completed Episode V in the game, there had always been a lingering sense of unease about it. The episode began and ended with Flora, but persuading a single girl could hardly settle a web of incidents this tangled — even when the clear message popped up, it never actually felt finished.

And in truth, it wasn't.

First, Karsein's name may have been cleared on the training grounds, but Theo would not sit quietly once he was thrown in prison. Was he really the sort to meekly accept a cell in the empire's most infamous penal facility while the whole world watched? No — before long, he would demand a trial.

Second, Emma, locked away in solitary confinement, would soon find her way out. Timed to coincide with Theo's trial, she would slip free and lend her weight to his testimony.

Which meant that, just as I'd seen in Karsein's Memorial, everything would inevitably spiral toward a trial.

So I had to move ahead of time.

So that's where the other two were hiding. Right under my nose all along?

This side of things was every bit as blind as a lamp beneath its own shade. In the game it had simply looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like the maid handed them over willingly — but there had been one more piece tucked away on the far side of the floorboard I'd pried up.

Having gathered the documents, I sheathed the sword I'd been holding to the maid's throat and spoke.

"Go give this to Emma."

"Wh-what...?"

"You were threatened and dragged here against your will, weren't you? Hand these over and you won't have any trouble."

"Th-thank you! Thank you, my lord!"

The maid, her face a mess of tears, bowed to me again and again before hurrying away.

"...Why on earth did that raise the reputation over there too?"

In any case, this secured the single most crucial piece of evidence for Episode VI: The Chapelle Forest Retrial.

A trial that would force two cornered enemies into a retrial of the Chapelle Forest incident with nowhere left to run — all I had to do was comb through this evidence alongside the other materials and build out the choices available to me.

"Let's suffer a few more days."

Rest could wait until the trial was over. It wouldn't be too late then.

To close out Chapter 1 properly. And to punish those bastards beyond any hope of reprieve, so they could never rest easy again.

Now was the time to keep moving.

"...Ugh?"

Flora let out a low groan as she lifted her eyelids.

"Where... am I?"

It wasn't the ceiling she knew. But she was lying in a bed, and there was a blanket over her — and the moment she pieced together why, her body bolted upright of its own accord.

"Wait... I collapsed, didn't I?"

Gripping the blanket tightly, Flora turned her head and glanced around. It was not her own room, the one crammed full of her little trinkets. This one held only the bare essentials, its furniture chosen for practicality over ornament. Only when she saw the sandy training yard visible between the window panes did it finally register that she had collapsed at the training grounds.

And then.

Far too naturally.

Her memory traced back to the moments before she fell.

"..."

The blanket bunched tightly in her frail, trembling hands.

What on earth... had she done?

The lie spun out of shallow, petty emotions bore down on her with unbearable weight. A single false testimony had planted a prejudice in someone's heart, and once that prejudice took root it spread without pause, sweeping everyone along with it. It bent a life off its course. It snapped wings that might have spread wide. And only too late had she realized she had been shielding the true criminal all along.

"What am I... supposed to do at a time like this...?"

There had always been someone to advise her whenever she came to moments like these. Someone who could soothe the anxiety in her heart the instant it arose.

Not anymore.

The kind knight who had always steadied her restless heart. The wet nurse who had cared for her since she was small, telling her to trust her and her alone. Both of them were now people she must never, ever trust.

And so there was no one left to tell her what she ought to say to Karsein now.

She curled herself up. Pulled the blanket over her head. She wanted to flee somewhere — anywhere.

But there was no escaping it. No matter how tightly she shut her eyes and covered her ears, her own past — the self who had tormented Karsein — came chasing after her, and chased, and chased.

It was in the middle of that spiral that a maid opened the door and stepped inside.

Flora reacted with raw irritation.

"Who—! Get out, right n—...?"

"My apologies. I didn't realize you had come to, Lady Flora."

Half-convinced this was another maid sent by Emma, Flora shoved the blanket aside — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but the blue eyes that met hers did not belong to Emma's servant.

"You're...?"

"Until Lady Flora's own maids arrive, I was to bring your clothing and your meals, so I had no choice but to attend you myself."

The maid bowed politely and took a step back.

That girl. Camilla. Karsein's maid.

"I beg your pardon for disturbing your rest. Your maids will arrive shortly, so I will withdraw now."

At Camilla's words, Flora cried out at once.

"N-no! Don't go!"

Her own maids were all close with Emma as well. She must not — absolutely must not — call for them.

"Lady Flora?"

Camilla tilted her head.

"There's... something I want to ask you."

"Ask me anything."

Camilla answered with perfect courtesy, as though she would receive any inquiry gladly. Unlike the other maids, there was no smile plastered across her face — and that, oddly enough, was exactly what let Flora relax enough to ask.

"How long... have I been here?"

"From what the knights said, you collapsed roughly three hours ago. I only just returned from my leave myself, so I'm afraid I don't know the details."

"I see...? Then, you were about to call my maids...?"

"Since you were asleep, I judged it improper to wake you. I was only now on my way to fetch them."

"Oh. So you haven't called them yet... then please, just don't."

"Understood."

It seemed word of all this had not yet reached the ducal house. That bought her time.

And besides.

...Camilla. Yes — maybe it's all right to ask her.

She could hardly ask him — the true culprit whose kindness was nothing but a mask over snapped wings — nor the knights of the training grounds who had taken money to weave the scheme. But this maid?

Someone like her might give an honest answer to a girl who had no idea what to say to Karsein. She was exactly the sort of person who could.

Her hesitation didn't last long. The lips she had pressed tightly together soon parted.

"How... how did you manage to get released? What did you say to Karsein?"

Theo Ramstair.

Every last one of the people who had stirred up trouble with him at the water station had already been thrown into prison.

And that was where Karsein had made one mistake: the punishment was simply too harsh.

That public opinion had turned against them was one thing, but setting aside the affair with his betrothed's handkerchief, by the standards of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠training grounds and the equality of the Induction Period, a day or so in a cell would have been the proper measure. Instead, they argued this point — pointing out that expulsion and a sentence to the Tulea Mine were grossly excessive — and even went so far as to claim malice was hidden behind the verdict.

And yet.

Damn it...! What the hell is going on?!

No matter how much time passed, there wasn't the slightest sign of a reduced sentence. No — wait. Unless they'd let his words go in one ear and out the other, any knight worth his salt could plainly see the punishment was excessive. Had they actually ignored him?

What should have ended in a single day was already bleeding into its second night, and the full knights who had never once spared Karsein a glance since the incident were not lifting a finger to shorten the sentence — they were the ones laying hands on the imprisoned men.

Then, suddenly, word came from the maid Emma had sent.

"The knights are drafting a petition, my lady... to send Sir Theo to the Tulea Mine..."

They had been caught red-handed, openly working to brand Theo a criminal for good.

"Damn it, are these bastards out of their minds?!"

Did that even make sense? They were the same knight order, weren't they? Until a few weeks ago he'd been their junior — only two more months and he'd have stood beside them as a full knight, a comrade. And now they wanted to stand up and declare that their own order had produced a criminal, dragging its honor through the mud? What kind of sense did that make?!

Theo vented his fury on the innocent prison wall, fists hammering away. The savage blows made the knights held nearby shrink back all the further.

"Why all the racket?"

Vice-Captain Mark, walking in at just that moment. If it were Radiel, the captain, who knew — but with this man, words could still reach him.

Sensing his chance, Theo opened his mouth at once.

"I demand a trial regarding this excessive sentence, in the name of Lord Karsein's retainer!!"

Left as things were, the punishment would be carried out. If it had come to this, then he had to go all in.

"I will accept punishment for my wrongdoing — but setting aside my expulsion, I cannot accept hard labor in the Tulea Mine! I formally request a trial before the ducal residence!"

That expression was still vivid in his memory — the look Theo had worn back then, resisting with a drawn blade after the trial, before his sword was finally wrenched from his grip. Provoke him a few more times after that, and he'd been barred from even setting foot on the training grounds.

Same play, then. Take his sword, and provoke him.

He'd lost a few men, true, but public opinion hadn't fully turned yet. Stamp the brand of a liar on Karsein one more time, and things would look little different from before. And this chance might even drive Karsein not merely off the training grounds, but out of the ducal house entirely.

And when that happens, you'd best be ready, Karsein.

Theo's teeth ground together, his gums split and aching.

Daring to wound this body was bad enough — and now he'd made him suffer this humiliation? He would never let him off easy.

"Hm. Very well. I'll pass the word along."

Mark, after a moment's apparent deliberation, agreed and walked out.

The path to a trial would proceed without a hitch. And in the courtroom, arguments about the past would surely work in his favor.

But the moment he thought it through, a new obstacle loomed.

Why the hell is that bitch Flora taking Karsein's side?

No matter how he turned it over in his head, he couldn't make sense of it. The young lady who had followed him so faithfully — the naive little daughter of the ducal house, ripe for the plucking — why would she suddenly stand in his way? How she could loathe Karsein that much and yet stop him, go so far as to summon the other full knights? It made no sense at all.

"H-hey... Theo. We're... we're going to be fine, right?"

This little bastard.

We'll be fine, he says?

His temper already hanging by a thread, and now the fool was spouting jinxed nonsense.

Theo didn't stop until he had beaten the subordinate who'd soured his mood to the very edge of unconsciousness.

Three days passed.

Episode V's ultimatum period came to an end, and the Induction Period wore on without incident — had none of this ever happened, it would already be time for me to rise to apprentice knight.

There was no crisis left to brew on the training grounds.

Even so, I kept busy — preparing for the coming Episode VI. Ever since I'd caught the maid Emma sent and swapped out her covert documents, I'd had to keep gathering evidence, steadily locking down every additional option I could claim. And so today, too, I found myself stepping out of the squadron quarters as usual...

"We apologize, Lord Karsein!"

The moment I stepped out, the knights in the corridor thundered the words in unison.

...Every last one of them with their foreheads pressed to the floor and their hands folded behind their backs.

"Punish us for ever doubting that you were the culprit, my lord!"

"Punish us!"

With Mark at their head, the entire company roared out the final line together.

Seriously. What the hell was this?

At first I assumed it was some collective disciplinary ritual, but looking closer, not a single one of them was missing — every man here was a full knight. The sheer absurdity of the scene made my head spin for a moment.

And as if that weren't dizzying enough, someone else troublesome appeared.

"My lord. We've been waiting for you."

Heron the butler, loaded down with what looked like an entire bundle of documents, and Shayden carrying a medical case. Both of them, too, were bowing their heads to me.

And then—

Tap. Tap.

The sound of heeled shoes rang out, crisp and clear. With each dignified stride, a wave of violet silk swayed like water in the sunlight — until at last, the violet threads that had rippled like waves came to a stop.

"I hear someone dared to doubt what stands between you and me, darling?"

Harnie said it with a bright, easy smile.

Why on earth was this woman here again?

More and more, the game was producing developments that had never existed in it at all.