The Paramere Subjugation Battle (2)
The Paramere Subjugation Battle (2)
"...Did you hear the news about the Paramer Search Operation?"
"Yes. I heard."
"What are you going to do?"
"I think the right question isn't what I'm going to do, but when I'm leaving, Estelle."
Estelle let out a sigh. She leaned against the wall and stared blankly at Isabella.
"There might be nothing there even if you go."
"I know."
"There's a high chance he's already a corpse."
"I know."
"Just leaving now is the same as raising your banner against the Serpent Church. Are you still okay with that?"
"...Yes."
"Why? Why go that far?"
"I don't know myself. There was a moment when he saved my life, but it isn't just that. I just..."
Isabella placed a hand over her chest. Her gaze dropped.
A tear fell onto her knee with a soft plink.
"I just... can't think of anything except that I have to go save him..."
"......"
Who could stop a girl in love?
Estelle let out a sigh. She picked up her sword.
"Alone, it's impossible."
"...I'll still go."
"But with two, it might be possible."
"...Pardon?"
"I made a promise with him. I said that in the name of an Apostle, I would grant him one request. If the person the promise was made to dies, the promise becomes meaningless, so I have no choice. And besides..."
Estelle opened the door.
"I can't drive this many paladins of the Serpent Church into a death trap."
A dark flame flickered. Isabella's eyes went wide.
"Huh...?"
They were lined up. Countless shadows. Isabella's paladin order.
Black scales filled the corridor to the brim.
"...Commander."
"You all... why..."
"We're going with you."
The paladins spoke.
"He's someone we owe our lives to."
"We may have been born in the slums and rarely received kindness from others, but we know everything we need to know."
"And above all..."
"We cannot send our commander alone."
"Even when we were branded as incompetents within the church, didn't you shield us?"
"Even if you cast us out, we will follow."
"In this dark Serpent Church, Commander, you were like a light to us."
Sentimental play. A moment's youthful recklessness.
But something beyond that.
Estelle glanced back at Isabella. This was rare within the Serpent Church. These were people who judged others by money rather than affection, by profit rather than promises.
But if they still followed Isabella, didn't that mean her way was right too? Her particular way of never turning away those who came to her had drawn people to her instead.
A way she had thought was wrong, but wasn't wrong.
"Isabella."
"...Yes."
"Hey."
Estelle murmured expressionlessly.
"Zahard. If we save him this time and scout him while we're at it, don't you think he'd come over?"
At the sudden remark, Isabella let out a small laugh. She wiped away the tears that had slipped out as if it were nothing.
"He'll definitely come over. Let's go, Estelle."
"Yeah. Isabella. Let's go."
Estelle reached out her hand. She gently wiped Isabella's reddened eyes.
"This time, I won't send you alone."
. . .
"It's a gamble."
Matier in the back alley concluded it that way. But every member of the Five Claws shook their heads.
"Even if it's a gamble, we have to go."
"Who do you think we're standing here because of?"
"...We repay our debts."
"Even the boss would've done the same, wouldn't he?"
"That's right. It's scary, but still...!"
Matier pressed a hand to his forehead. This was a critical moment. It could become the trigger for them to pull out completely from this city where they had finally established themselves.
"The opponent is Paramer. It's a force that brought down an entire city. What I'm saying is it's practically a war."
"A war, well, isn't that what we fight every day?"
"It's completely different from those back-alley brawls. Don't you know how we climbed up to this point, Hector? Do you intend to throw that effort away?"
"I know. I know it well, but..."
Hector lifted the corner of his mouth, resembling someone.
"Still, the boss comes first. Matier."
"Why, for someone who might already be dead...!"
"It's a life the boss changed. And the time to repay it has come now."
"If the boss comes striding back alive later, he'll chew us out for not coming."
"...The boss is that kind of person."
"I don't want to get scolded, so I'll go ahead and wait."
"It's only natural. Matier."
"No...!"
Matier poured out a heated argument.
"If you all pull out of here right now, it's the same as the organization's foundation collapsing!"
"We just finish it quickly and come back, right?"
"I'm saying this precisely because it's not that kind of scale?!"
"If it's the boss, he can take down even something on that scale."
Hector raised his hand. Strange darkness flowed down from his Sacred Mark.
"It's a power I'm using for the first time in my life... but it feels familiar. The sun has vanished, but the shadows still remain."
"What's the point if the faithful don't follow their priest."
"...Trying to stop us is useless."
"We're going. Matier."
"It's already decided. Matier. Do you know why?"
Natasha smiled brightly.
"Because we're the boss's faithful!"
Matier screamed internally.
That damn man...
Even trapped in a place he can't escape from, he's still causing trouble!!!
The Five Claws were practically the symbol of Black Steel. Black Steel without them was unimaginable.
Matier blocked their path.
"...I can't let you go."
"You should let us go, though?"
"I can't let you go like this."
"...Huh?"
Matier ran the numbers in his head. He calculated quickly.
Perhaps the gamble of a lifetime. It might be an act of throwing away everything after having climbed all the way up here.
But what would happen if the Five Claws pulled out? Could he still call himself Black Steel?
Zahard.
If you... somehow... can really return from that death trap...!
"...Tch."
Since it's come to this, you'll have to come back alive! Absolutely!
"...Romance can't solve everything."
If the pillars collapse, the organization collapses.
If the organization collapses, all the money they had invested becomes worthless paper.
The second-worst option to avoid the worst.
"I'll gather as many mercenaries as I can."
Let's go.
To make the gamble of a lifetime.
"The Five Claws won't go alone."
"That means...?"
"I'll open my wallet."
Matier's treasure vault, hoarded like a miser, opened.
"In this world, there's nothing money can't do."
. . .
"...How audacious."
Tiela of the Day Priestesses opened her eyes. She slowly turned around.
A woman covered in wounds was kneeling. Her face was a mess. There wasn't a single place on her that was intact.
Her arms were tattered. The broken bones were too many to count.
But she still held her head up. Her eyes were as unwaveringly proud as when she had first entered this place.
What in the world is that?
Wasn't she a 'monster' of talent, the likes of which she had never seen in her life?
Tiela stood up.
"Graduating from the Theological Academy in a week..."
"......"
"Defeating a reserve paladin in barely two weeks..."
"......"
"Catching the eye of Grimoire of the Day Priestesses and being chosen as a candidate..."
Tiela laughed.
"And now you're asking to borrow Ra's Sacred Relic, the 'Tarnhelm'? To search for an inquisitor who might not even be alive in Paramer?"
The woman didn't flinch. She simply looked up at her, straight-backed.
Those eyes. That unbroken will.
"What in the world made you so desperate?"
"...A bond."
The answer was heavy. And because of that, Tiela found it all the more ridiculous.
What kind of bond could be spoken of so calmly, after enduring all that pain?
It's only a fleeting emotion anyway. What a Day Priestess should gaze upon is only Ra's back.
Any private emotion beyond that is a luxury.
"Didn't you say with your own mouth that you wanted to become a Day Priestess?"
"I did."
"And yet, for the sake of a single boy... you're going to throw yourself into a death trap? A place even the Imperial Army can't handle?"
"Yes."
"Is that bond of yours so heavy? Is it worth risking your life? Is it precious enough to throw away your dream of becoming a Day Priestess?"
A droplet fell.
The wounded paladin, Irene, raised her head.
She opened her mouth. She spoke calmly. As if it were nothing, as if it were simply what had to be done.
"It is."
"Why?"
Irene's gaze stared blankly into the empty air.
Her voice was small.
But it did not break.
"I promised... that I would come get him."
...Come get him.
What a ridiculous answer.
"...Heh."
"U-uh, Tiela... going that far... I-I thought she'd have understood by now..."
"Shut up. Grimoire."
Grimoire of the Day Priestesses flinched. She crumpled into the corner.
Tiela stood in front of Irene. She pressed the tip of her sword firmly against the wounded body.
There was no groan. No scream either. Even as the broken places were pressed, Irene's expression didn't waver.
Resolve.
Will.
"...I don't know who that guy is, but he's a lucky bastard."
...Once.
Once, I was like that too.
Tiela withdrew her sword. She took off a ring and dropped it in front of Irene with a soft clink.
"Use it."
"...Thank you."
"T-Tiela?! Y-you're really giving it to her?!"
"If you wanted to break her of that habit, you should have handled it yourself, Grimoire. Didn't you bring her to me because you were holding out some faint hope?"
"B-but I didn't know you'd actually give it to her! Th-that's something among Ra's Sacred Relics that's only permitted to the Day Priestesses...!"
"Irene."
Irene lifted her gaze. Tiela bent down and met her eyes.
"You are not yet a Day Priestess."
"...Yes."
"Naturally, you cannot borrow the Tarnhelm either. It's also a Sacred Relic that's still too much for you to use."
"...I know."
"But if you still want to take it, then swear. Swear that if you lay down even your remaining attachments, you will return to this place."
Tiela smiled faintly.
"I like you. A blockhead like you is the type who does what they say. You'll surely become a fine Day Priestess. If a useful junior comes in, I'll be able to rest a bit too."
"T-Tiela! Even so, you can't just do whatever you want...!"
"Can you promise to come back?"
Irene picked up the ring. She grabbed her wounded arm and stood.
"...I will come back."
Her blue eyes shone coldly.
"I will return and stand in this place again, Tiela."
"Then get lost. Blockhead. Grimoire. Patch her up roughly and send her off."
"Wh-what?! Tiela?! Irene?! Wh-what in the world is...!"
Irene gripped the ring tightly. A Sacred Relic permitted only to the Day Priestesses.
The supreme armor, 'Tarnhelm'.
Irene lifted her gaze and looked outside. The sun was still beating down. Would he, inside the city of Paramer, be looking at this too?
...I said I'd come get you, so I'm going now.
Wherever you are, that place is where I belong.