“That’s enough, Clément, you know it’s useless to resist!”
“No, that’s quite enough from you, little girl. You may have cornered me with your evidence, but it is obvious which of us truly has the advantage here and now.”
“… Krh!”
This wasn’t good. I thought that so long as I acquired certain evidence, presented it and made his crimes known, that would spell his end. However, that line of thought was too soft of me. Clément was willing to go so far as to go for King Rousseau’s head, and, as if that weren’t enough, deliver that head as a souvenir to wherever he intended to flee. If I had to think of who might be happy with such a present, that would have to be―
“Clément, you’re with the Empire, aren’t you!”
“Hmph, you think too little of me, little girl. The empire is but the same as the Barlier over there, nothing more than someone to do business with. To think that you thought that I was, ‘with’, them.”
“Claire-sama, step back!”
“Rei! Let go of me! His Majesty’s life is in danger, there’s no way that I can just sit here and watch!”
It wasn’t just His Majesty either. All of the prominent figures from our neighboring countries, including their diplomats, were all in danger. At this rate, there would be a much larger problem at hand than just capturing Clément.
“Your Majesty, please leave this to me and go.”
“Sein…”
“You are an existence that Bauer needs. You must not allow yourself to come into harm here, by a fiend like Clément.”
“… Sein, could it be you―”
“Please, go quickly.”
“… I’ll leave this to you.”
From the VIP gallery, Sein-sama was doing what he could to allow King Rousseau to escape. He sent most, if not all of their guards to escort the King, thus leaving Sein-sama to fend for himself.
“… Goodness, Sein-sama is so gallant!”
I used my fire magic to put down Clément’s soldiers as they approached. Without my wand, the potency of my magic was already stunted, but even then I held myself back. Even as I did so, I wore a bitter smile. In all likelihood, Sein-sama had heard the various rumors, and now held doubts about his origins. In other words, he might not even be sure whether or not King Rousseau is truly his father. And yet, Sein-sama’s choice was clear. His love and respect for the King ran much deeper, much thicker than blood alone.
“In comparison, just how wretched can this weasel be!”
Up on the stage, Clément had taken the musicians hostage, looking on at the situation here as a distant observer. The ones doing all of the work were his soldiers. And, in all likelihood, those soldiers were only doing this because Clément had dirt on them and was using that against them. It was only because I felt that way that I was holding back, otherwise I’d just reduce them to ashes.
“You girls are rather stubborn. However, it’s the end of the line. Prince Sein, that goes for you as well.”
Clément’s low voice echoed through the hall. When I looked up at the stage, I saw Clément holding a dagger to Loretta’s throat.
“If you take even another step, I’ll kill this girl.”
“Just try. When you do, I’ll be the one to burn you to the ground.”
“Can you really? Even through this human shield?”
“… You’re absolute filth.”
“I call it my sly wisdom.”
When Clément-sama laughed and his wrinkles contorted and deepened, he looked like the personification of wickedness. Under normal circumstances, someone as proficient in the martial arts such as Loretta would never allow themselves to so easily be taken hostage, but right now she was entirely unarmed. If only she could have taken her wand with her, to the very least… Clément should not have had a dagger with him either, but as the organizer he had his ways around that.
“Claire-sama, don’t worry about me and just do it!”
“Just what do you think you’re saying!?”
“If it’s for you, Claire-sama, I wouldn’t mind it even if I died.”
“Absolutely not! I’ll be sure to find a way to save you, so you just be quiet for now.”
“I won’t!”
“!?”
Her scream just then was so grief stricken that for a moment I was taken aback.
“In the end, the little girl is but a little girl. Milia’s daughter, don’t you understand what the Cugletto girl is trying to say? It appears you don’t.”
“… And you suggest that you do?”
“Hah, as if I wouldn’t. This one here seems to have taken quite the liking to you. How haven’t you noticed?”
“!? Loretta… You…”
“I’m sorry, Claire-sama… That someone like me fell in love with you. However, just thinking that something might happen to you here, I…”
Loretta faced downward as she spoke. Her face had gone dark and I couldn’t make out her expression, but I could see something sparkle as it trickled down her cheek before falling onto the carpet.
“Now, little girl, give it up. Think of it as a temporary draw, just for right now. Broadly speaking, I’ve already lost―to the very least here in this kingdom. However, I will make sure to settle the score with you sooner or later.”
“Do you really think we’d just let you go?”
“Hmph, commoner, there’s nothing that you can do here either.”
“Loretta means nothing to me. In fact, neither Sein-sama nor King Rousseau do either.”
“Rei!?”
My eyes opened wide in shock in response to Rei’s incredulous statement.
“That is precisely why. Your top priority is always the little miss François, isn’t it?”
“Even as decrepit and senile as you seem, you understand pretty well, don’t you.”
“That’s right. Even if you do manage to take me down here, if those important to the little girl were to die, there is no doubt that you’d be betraying her trust.”
“… Damned geezer…”
“Just like I’ve said, sly wisdom.”
Was even Rei simply in the palm of this old man’s hands? Something… Isn’t there something…!?
“Alright everyone, remain as you are. My soldiers, go after King Rousseau. I will―”
“And so, don’t you think we’ve waited long enough, Pipi?”
“Yeah, Loretta.”
In that moment as everyone wondered what was happening―
“Angelic Howl!”
A bass note so low that one could physically feel its weight echoed, causing I, and everyone else here to drop to their knees.
“What… This…!”
“Alright, so this time it really is checkmate… Right Loretta?”
“Yeah.”
Loretta approached Clément, who was still unable to stand―and more than that, still didn’t have a clue what was happening―and tied him up using the string of a nearby contrabass.
“Y-You, the Barlier girl… Just what did you…!”
“There’s something called the Hate Cry, are you aware of it, Clément-sama?”
“Huh?”
“Just now I reproduced that very Hate Cry with an instrument. Though I didn’t expect for it to affect such a wide area or be so effective.”
With a grin, Pipi revealed the ace up her sleeve. The Hate Cry she mentioned was a howl that monsters often used as a way of intimidation. If one is caught off guard by it, they will be rendered unable to move. It’s one and the same as the one that Relaire’s mother had used in the past. It would appear that Pipi replicated that as a spell.
“What… Then that instrument is…?”
“Why yes, it’s a magic artifact. I did dress it up a bit though.”
Pipi stuck her tongue out with a teehee, almost like a little kid who had successfully pranked someone.
“No… Because of something like this… I…”
“That’s right, it’s over.”
“Impossible…! My army, just what are you doing! Hurry and stand and do something!”
Clément, the poor sport he is, shouted with all his might, but no one responded. Now convinced that Clément had been caught, his private army surrendered one after another. It spelled a pitiful end for this old man, who had only ever taken advantage of others and threatened them to do his bidding.
“What an achievement, you two!”
After Pipi’s magic had worn off and I could stand back up, I rushed up onto the stage and hugged them both.
“Ow, ow! It hurts, Claire-sama!”
“Oh, you’ll have to put up with at least this. After that little act you did, you made me worry so much!”
“An act… You say?”
“Yeah, like when you said you had fallen for me and such.”
I thought that, of course, it had all just been an act.
“… Sigh…”
“What is it, why are you sighing?”
“You have my sympathies, Loretta-sama.”
“This really was a love never meant to be.”
“I mean, Loretta will be fine because she has me, right?”
“”””Eh?””””
Just as a new chaos was about to spread,
“Everyone, you’ve done very well.”
“Your Majesty!”
When King Rousseau stepped down from the VIP gallery and appeared before us, we all kneeled.
“Be at ease. You all handled this situation marvelously. Especially the girls from House Barlier and House Cugletto. I must see to it that you are both rewarded in kind.”
“Not at all!”
“Your kindness is wasted on us!”
Pipi and Loretta both shrunk back in response to His Majesty’s praise.
“Claire François, Rei Taylor, Lily Lillium.”
“Sire.”
“Yes.”
“Y-Yes!”
“In your report, you appealed for House Barlier to have its sentence for participating in human trafficking reduced, isn’t that right?”
“That is correct, Your Majesty.”
“I will certainly consider it. I ask that you all continue your work in your investigation.”
“Understood.”
His Majesty gave us one final nod before leaving with his imperial guards.
“But well, that really was quite the pinch wasn’t it.”
“It was quite the surprise. Rei, I never would have thought there were situations where even you’d be at a complete loss.”
“Well, that’s because he and I are the same kind of people.”
“T-The same?”
“If there’s something we really want, we’d do whatever it takes.”
“A-Ah…”
Lily-sama seemed to be satisfied with Rei’s explanation, but,
“You’re not at all the same.”
I flatly denied it.
“What’s different then?”
“In the first place, Rei, your goals aren’t malicious. You’re entirely different.”
“… Hey, see that, Loretta?”
“They really do understand each other, don’t they.”
“Just what do you mean!”
“Oh nothing!”
“Just that Claire-sama is an idiot!”
“Eehhh!?”
As we shared that exchange and had a moment of laughter, I saw someone just in the corner of my periphery. Wrapping up the conversation, I rushed after them.
“That’s enough, Clément, you know it’s useless to resist!”
“No, that’s quite enough from you, little girl. You may have cornered me with your evidence, but it is obvious which of us truly has the advantage here and now.”
“… Krh!”
This wasn’t good. I thought that so long as I acquired certain evidence, presented it and made his crimes known, that would spell his end. However, that line of thought was too soft of me. Clément was willing to go so far as to go for King Rousseau’s head, and, as if that weren’t enough, deliver that head as a souvenir to wherever he intended to flee. If I had to think of who might be happy with such a present, that would have to be―
“Clément, you’re with the Empire, aren’t you!”
“Hmph, you think too little of me, little girl. The empire is but the same as the Barlier over there, nothing more than someone to do business with. To think that you thought that I was, ‘with’, them.”
“Claire-sama, step back!”
“Rei! Let go of me! His Majesty’s life is in danger, there’s no way that I can just sit here and watch!”
It wasn’t just His Majesty either. All of the prominent figures from our neighboring countries, including their diplomats, were all in danger. At this rate, there would be a much larger problem at hand than just capturing Clément.
“Your Majesty, please leave this to me and go.”
“Sein…”
“You are an existence that Bauer needs. You must not allow yourself to come into harm here, by a fiend like Clément.”
“… Sein, could it be you―”
“Please, go quickly.”
“… I’ll leave this to you.”
From the VIP gallery, Sein-sama was doing what he could to allow King Rousseau to escape. He sent most, if not all of their guards to escort the King, thus leaving Sein-sama to fend for himself.
“… Goodness, Sein-sama is so gallant!”
I used my fire magic to put down Clément’s soldiers as they approached. Without my wand, the potency of my magic was already stunted, but even then I held myself back. Even as I did so, I wore a bitter smile. In all likelihood, Sein-sama had heard the various rumors, and now held doubts about his origins. In other words, he might not even be sure whether or not King Rousseau is truly his father. And yet, Sein-sama’s choice was clear. His love and respect for the King ran much deeper, much thicker than blood alone.
“In comparison, just how wretched can this weasel be!”
Up on the stage, Clément had taken the musicians hostage, looking on at the situation here as a distant observer. The ones doing all of the work were his soldiers. And, in all likelihood, those soldiers were only doing this because Clément had dirt on them and was using that against them. It was only because I felt that way that I was holding back, otherwise I’d just reduce them to ashes.
“You girls are rather stubborn. However, it’s the end of the line. Prince Sein, that goes for you as well.”
Clément’s low voice echoed through the hall. When I looked up at the stage, I saw Clément holding a dagger to Loretta’s throat.
“If you take even another step, I’ll kill this girl.”
“Just try. When you do, I’ll be the one to burn you to the ground.”
“Can you really? Even through this human shield?”
“… You’re absolute filth.”
“I call it my sly wisdom.”
When Clément-sama laughed and his wrinkles contorted and deepened, he looked like the personification of wickedness. Under normal circumstances, someone as proficient in the martial arts such as Loretta would never allow themselves to so easily be taken hostage, but right now she was entirely unarmed. If only she could have taken her wand with her, to the very least… Clément should not have had a dagger with him either, but as the organizer he had his ways around that.
“Claire-sama, don’t worry about me and just do it!”
“Just what do you think you’re saying!?”
“If it’s for you, Claire-sama, I wouldn’t mind it even if I died.”
“Absolutely not! I’ll be sure to find a way to save you, so you just be quiet for now.”
“I won’t!”
“!?”
Her scream just then was so grief stricken that for a moment I was taken aback.
“In the end, the little girl is but a little girl. Milia’s daughter, don’t you understand what the Cugletto girl is trying to say? It appears you don’t.”
“… And you suggest that you do?”
“Hah, as if I wouldn’t. This one here seems to have taken quite the liking to you. How haven’t you noticed?”
“!? Loretta… You…”
“I’m sorry, Claire-sama… That someone like me fell in love with you. However, just thinking that something might happen to you here, I…”
Loretta faced downward as she spoke. Her face had gone dark and I couldn’t make out her expression, but I could see something sparkle as it trickled down her cheek before falling onto the carpet.
“Now, little girl, give it up. Think of it as a temporary draw, just for right now. Broadly speaking, I’ve already lost―to the very least here in this kingdom. However, I will make sure to settle the score with you sooner or later.”
“Do you really think we’d just let you go?”
“Hmph, commoner, there’s nothing that you can do here either.”
“Loretta means nothing to me. In fact, neither Sein-sama nor King Rousseau do either.”
“Rei!?”
My eyes opened wide in shock in response to Rei’s incredulous statement.
“That is precisely why. Your top priority is always the little miss François, isn’t it?”
“Even as decrepit and senile as you seem, you understand pretty well, don’t you.”
“That’s right. Even if you do manage to take me down here, if those important to the little girl were to die, there is no doubt that you’d be betraying her trust.”
“… Damned geezer…”
“Just like I’ve said, sly wisdom.”
Was even Rei simply in the palm of this old man’s hands? Something… Isn’t there something…!?
“Alright everyone, remain as you are. My soldiers, go after King Rousseau. I will―”
“And so, don’t you think we’ve waited long enough, Pipi?”
“Yeah, Loretta.”
In that moment as everyone wondered what was happening―
“Angelic Howl!”
A bass note so low that one could physically feel its weight echoed, causing I, and everyone else here to drop to their knees.
“What… This…!”
“Alright, so this time it really is checkmate… Right Loretta?”
“Yeah.”
Loretta approached Clément, who was still unable to stand―and more than that, still didn’t have a clue what was happening―and tied him up using the string of a nearby contrabass.
“Y-You, the Barlier girl… Just what did you…!”
“There’s something called the Hate Cry, are you aware of it, Clément-sama?”
“Huh?”
“Just now I reproduced that very Hate Cry with an instrument. Though I didn’t expect for it to affect such a wide area or be so effective.”
With a grin, Pipi revealed the ace up her sleeve. The Hate Cry she mentioned was a howl that monsters often used as a way of intimidation. If one is caught off guard by it, they will be rendered unable to move. It’s one and the same as the one that Relaire’s mother had used in the past. It would appear that Pipi replicated that as a spell.
“What… Then that instrument is…?”
“Why yes, it’s a magic artifact. I did dress it up a bit though.”
Pipi stuck her tongue out with a teehee, almost like a little kid who had successfully pranked someone.
“No… Because of something like this… I…”
“That’s right, it’s over.”
“Impossible…! My army, just what are you doing! Hurry and stand and do something!”
Clément, the poor sport he is, shouted with all his might, but no one responded. Now convinced that Clément had been caught, his private army surrendered one after another. It spelled a pitiful end for this old man, who had only ever taken advantage of others and threatened them to do his bidding.
“What an achievement, you two!”
After Pipi’s magic had worn off and I could stand back up, I rushed up onto the stage and hugged them both.
“Ow, ow! It hurts, Claire-sama!”
“Oh, you’ll have to put up with at least this. After that little act you did, you made me worry so much!”
“An act… You say?”
“Yeah, like when you said you had fallen for me and such.”
I thought that, of course, it had all just been an act.
“… Sigh…”
“What is it, why are you sighing?”
“You have my sympathies, Loretta-sama.”
“This really was a love never meant to be.”
“I mean, Loretta will be fine because she has me, right?”
“”””Eh?””””
Just as a new chaos was about to spread,
“Everyone, you’ve done very well.”
“Your Majesty!”
When King Rousseau stepped down from the VIP gallery and appeared before us, we all kneeled.
“Be at ease. You all handled this situation marvelously. Especially the girls from House Barlier and House Cugletto. I must see to it that you are both rewarded in kind.”
“Not at all!”
“Your kindness is wasted on us!”
Pipi and Loretta both shrunk back in response to His Majesty’s praise.
“Claire François, Rei Taylor, Lily Lillium.”
“Sire.”
“Yes.”
“Y-Yes!”
“In your report, you appealed for House Barlier to have its sentence for participating in human trafficking reduced, isn’t that right?”
“That is correct, Your Majesty.”
“I will certainly consider it. I ask that you all continue your work in your investigation.”
“Understood.”
His Majesty gave us one final nod before leaving with his imperial guards.
“But well, that really was quite the pinch wasn’t it.”
“It was quite the surprise. Rei, I never would have thought there were situations where even you’d be at a complete loss.”
“Well, that’s because he and I are the same kind of people.”
“T-The same?”
“If there’s something we really want, we’d do whatever it takes.”
“A-Ah…”
Lily-sama seemed to be satisfied with Rei’s explanation, but,
“You’re not at all the same.”
I flatly denied it.
“What’s different then?”
“In the first place, Rei, your goals aren’t malicious. You’re entirely different.”
“… Hey, see that, Loretta?”
“They really do understand each other, don’t they.”
“Just what do you mean!”
“Oh nothing!”
“Just that Claire-sama is an idiot!”
“Eehhh!?”
As we shared that exchange and had a moment of laughter, I saw someone just in the corner of my periphery. Wrapping up the conversation, I rushed after them.
