A Brief Rest — 02
"Would you not rest, Titania?"
"The nation does not rest, so neither can I."
Titania spoke without looking up from the documents spread across her bed.
Her condition was so poor that the hours she could keep her eyes open were vanishingly few. Time would restore her eventually — but for now, this was all she had. And in the wake of the Demon King's Army's assault, the work had only multiplied. She could not move of her own accord, and the time she could spend working was strictly limited, which meant she had to wring every last moment from it.
Her eyelids were heavy.
No — not merely her eyelids. Her entire body had gone leaden. Still, Titania pretended at ease as she read, determined not to let her subordinates see her falter.
"The current damage assessment has been compiled."
"I see. Well done."
"As for the funeral of the elves who fell this time…"
"Hold it with full honors. Theirs was an honorable death. They staked their lives fighting for Elvenheim — prepare a funeral befitting that honor."
"Yes, ma'am."
Had her body recovered by then, Titania would have attended in person. Judging by her present state, that would be impossible.
The truth was, Titania had expected to die. The ambush had left her no chance to mount a proper defense, and she had already expended the Meteor Bow. She had been certain her body would not endure. But a subordinate's treatment had kept her clinging to life, and then the Protection of the World Tree had returned, pulling her back from a fate that should have been sealed. Without either one, she would surely have perished.
"Then…"
"What is it?"
"What shall we do about Lady Rayna?"
"…"
Even the soldier who asked it looked as though the question were tearing him apart. Whatever wrongs she had committed, Rayna had died for Elvenheim — and she had been Titania's daughter besides. He knew full well how cruel the question was to a woman as sentimental as Titania. He had asked it anyway. He had no choice.
Titania gazed blankly through the window at the landscape beyond.
Until this moment, she had answered every question while her hands kept moving, processing document after document. Now those hands had gone still. She simply sat there, staring at nothing.
Was that a mistake? Did I ask too soon?
The thought had barely formed when Titania spoke.
"Exclude her."
"…"
"Piecing together what Lois and the others have said, there is a real possibility that Rayna bears responsibility for this chain of events. Even if she does not, the assassination of a Hero is a grave crime. As members of humanity, we cannot look the other way."
Even if the guilty party was her own daughter.
"Burn the body, and bring the ashes to me."
"…Understood."
A criminal, without question. She had done terrible things. But to Titania, she had been a daughter. Her final act had been one of saving others — yet that praise could live only in private hearts. What she had done was too great, and in the end, she had died for it.
"Titania. The Hero, Lady Olivia Reinhardt, has come to call."
"…So she has opened her eyes. A swift awakening. Show her in."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Are you all right?"
"It would seem my lifespan is rather longer than I had imagined."
Titania looked wretched, but she received me as though nothing were amiss.
"And you? Is your body holding? You seemed to have pushed yourself quite far."
"Yes. Once the curse lifted, the tension in my body gave out — I ended up unconscious longer than I meant to."
"Hard to believe, coming from someone who opened her eyes a mere three days after wounds like those."
"Didn't you wake first, Titania?"
"I am an elf."
"Ah."
Meaning the Protection of the World Tree had let her wake sooner, I supposed.
"So — did you have some business with me?"
"I called you here to speak of Rayna, and of this attack."
"…"
"There is much about this assault that sits strangely. We are presently concerned — no. We suspect — that Rayna may have been involved."
"The possibility… I can't say it isn't there."
"You have your own reasons for thinking so, I take it?"
I sat in the chair Sylphy had brought over and laid it out. That a Demon King Army cadre named Garfield had wielded something called the Power of the Evil God. That he had known far too much about my physical condition and my curse. That this attack may well have been connected to Alex.
Titania's brow furrowed.
"Alex. Alex Reynolds… If the one who placed a Geas upon my child is that man, then the story is not so far-fetched after all."
"I doubt Rayna had any idea it would become something this large. Just my guess, but what she told Alex was probably no more than, 'The Hero is here.'"
"On that point, I agree. …Which would make the kingdom itself look rather suspicious. Casting aside the Hero once her usefulness was spent — and not only that, but the Power of the Evil God, and a Demon King Army cadre."
"So are you going to go demand answers?"
"It would be difficult."
"Wh— why?"
Titania looked at me.
"There is no evidence."
"Evidence? What we just discussed—"
"No physical evidence. Everything we have just said amounts to a story that could be interpreted that way, and nothing more. That is not enough to bring down the kingdom's high and mighty. Least of all the Reynolds family."
The Reynolds family had always been distinguished, but ever since the previous Hero had emerged from their house, their prestige had only climbed higher.
"Any trace of the Geas will already have been erased, and pinning responsibility for this attack on Alex Reynolds will be no easy thing."
"…I see."
"But the matter of your being cast aside is a different story."
"…"
"You are no longer in immediate danger of dying. Appear before the people in that state and tell them you were betrayed by Alex Reynolds, and they will listen."
"Hmm…"
I thought it over.
That had been the original plan. Lois had said as much himself — that setting aside the Curse of the God of Death, I was not going to die, so exposing Alex's crimes could take priority over finding an Elixir. He had added, of course, that it was my body and I should do as I pleased.
At any rate, I had intended to follow that plan. This attack had changed my mind. Things were more complicated — and far uglier — than I had thought.
"Something troubles you?"
"Until now, I believed Alex discarded me for the sake of the kingdom and of humanity. Inhumane, immoral — but I took it as a twisted sort of loyalty to the realm."
"I see. And now you think otherwise?"
"I don't know. If he truly joined hands with monsters and is wielding the Power of the Evil God, that is not something done for humanity by any stretch of the imagination."
I was not the type to divide good and evil by the nature of a power, so the mere use of the Power of the Evil God did not bother me. But the fact that he had allied with monsters, and that what he had done with that power was invade Elvenheim — I could not look kindly on that, no matter how I tried.
"We need a checkmate."
"…"
Titania was silent for a moment. Had I put it too obliquely, in a way unlike myself?
"I see. If you press him halfway, there is no telling what he might do."
"This is only my opinion, of course. I intend to ask Lois for his as well."
Press him halfway, and there was no knowing what he would try. Put bluntly — who was to say he wouldn't simply decide that since he'd already been found out and the people's hearts had turned, he might as well kill everyone? I would save as many as I could, but I was neither omnipotent nor a god. Saving every last person was impossible. Like it or not, there would be casualties.
"The reasoning is sound. If there were some situation in which one could meet Alex Reynolds alone, that would be ideal — but were I in his place, I would not set foot outside the kingdom."
"I think so too. He's come this far; he already knows I've been rescued, so he'll be protecting himself. There's a high chance he'll resort to a last measure — the worst possible measure — in case I decide to reveal everything."
"Indeed."
Titania smiled faintly.
"But are you certain? If you do not reveal the truth now, and only do so after dealing with Alex Reynolds, the timing may go awry. You may fail to recover your honor — or find yourself unable to reveal the truth at all."
"I'm only stopping Alex because what he's trying to do looks dangerous. Honestly, I don't care what happens to my honor."
"You are a woman without greed. Looking at all you have done, you ought to have honor."
"Ugh, that's uncomfortable. That's exactly why I didn't want to stay in the kingdom. Well — that's a problem for later. If we could just draw Alex out of the kingdom, that would be ideal…"
"Hmm."
Titania considered for a moment.
"Come to think of it, a conference of humanity is to be held in the City of Water three months from now."
"A conference of humanity?"
"The Demon King has been slain, so humanity gathers to foster goodwill and discuss what comes next. Key figures from every race will attend, so Alex… and Velita as well, perhaps, may come."
"I see. So that would be a chance to approach them unnoticed."
"Of course, Alex will know that too, so there is every possibility he will not come."
"We'd need a bit more certainty."
The City of Water. Would it be worth going? Even if Alex stayed away, Velita might still attend. Both of them showing up would be best of all.
"In any case, let's keep the fact that I — the Hero — am alive a secret. People's lives matter more than recovering my honor. Ideally, we'd take him by surprise and cut off his arms and legs, but that would be the wisest course."
"Rather more threatening than you were with Rayna."
"If it's Velita, I don't mind talking. I'd rather hear her side, actually. But Alex is almost certainly the ringleader. There's no telling what he'll do — and he may already be doing something as we speak."
While I was busy telling people the truth to recover my honor, Alex might be up to something unspeakable. For now, it was better to keep "Alex Reynolds of the kingdom" alive.
Rayna and Velita likely had no idea what the Power of the Evil God was, or how this attack had been arranged. But Alex, who had orchestrated it, could not possibly be ignorant even if he wanted to be. He was a traitor to humanity, and depending on the circumstances, he might even have ties to the Death God Cult.
In that case, there was no need for debate. Cut Alex down first, and think about the rest afterward. A man like him — press him carelessly, and there was no telling how it would explode.
"So for now, I'll leave Alex alone. As long as he at least keeps his seat as a kingdom noble, he won't do anything reckless. The time to reveal his truth is the moment we kill him."
"…"
"Part of me wants to warn him at least once. But if he truly is the ringleader, even the time spent on that warning could become a problem."
"So this is no longer a simple tale of you being discarded. If a Demon King Army cadre and the Death God Cult are involved, this is no ordinary matter."
"No."
What to do from here.
"…Olivia."
"Yes?"
"I intend to hold Rayna's funeral separately. Not alongside the honored heroes who died this time — privately, myself. And I will make the facts known among the elves."
"…I understand."
"I am sorry."
"She did terrible things. But she was still your daughter."
"Thank you."
However bad a person might be, I didn't think it was right to stop a parent from holding even a private funeral for her own child.
"Rayna… I never wanted her to become Titania. I thought the position did not suit her, for one thing — but more than that, this seat is not a pleasant one."
"Yes. It doesn't look like it."
"And yet that child wanted it… Precisely because I did not want her to have it, I taught her so little, and she grew up knowing nothing of the world. If I had told her more about the outside, if I had cautioned her — at the very least, she would never have fallen under a Geas."
"And around the neck, no less."
"A truly vile thing to do."
The neck, of all places. Even for a man of poor taste, that was going too far.
"…Hm?"
A presence I couldn't quite place.
I moved fast, leaning out through the window — and there he was, a man walking toward us.
"Lois!"
"…Livia? You've woken?"
I leapt from the window and ran to him.
"I'm up! I heard you even went to the World Tree— wait."
Did he have… a lot of wounds? Why was there so much blood?
"You've got way too many injuries. And they look like they just happened… What went on?"
Lois glanced toward the World Tree with a look of utter disbelief and muttered,
"Just… a few things came up…"
What?
He said he was going to the World Tree — did he end up fighting spirits for his life or something? No, that can't be it. Then what actually happened?