Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 3

by Ishio Yamagata

  A hieroform was a tool that contained a Spirit’s power. Mora would know something about that.

  “Do you have any proof?” asked Adlet.

  “No. But I can’t think of any other possibilities.” Tgurneu suddenly began striding away. “We can’t waste time standing here talking. Let’s search for Nashetania.” Adlet followed Tgurneu, and Rolonia trailed after him.

  “So what’s your plan?” asked Adlet.

  “First, we’ll head to the place where my pawns last sighted Nashetania. We’ll look for clues there.”

  Sounding upset, Rolonia protested. “Are you serious? Addy, are you actually going to work together with Tgurneu?”

  “Don’t worry. Just be quiet and follow me,” Adlet said over his shoulder.

  The meaning in Rolonia’s expression was clear. I can’t believe this!

  But Fremy kept her composure. I’d expect nothing less, thought Adlet. She understood what he was thinking, even if he didn’t say a word.

  “If there are no clues there, then we’ll look for Goldof. He has to know something about Nashetania’s location. And then—” Right in the middle of Tgurneu’s sentence, something rolled to its feet. Fremy’s bomb. The instant before it exploded, Adlet leaped and drew his sword.

  The attack took Tgurneu by surprise, and it couldn’t defend itself. All it could do was protect its face with its hands and jump away. As the blast hurled the fiend backward, Adlet swung his sword at it. “Now that you’ve told us everything, our business with you is done,” he said.

  “You maggots!” Tgurneu blocked Adlet’s sword with one arm. The blade sliced halfway into the limb and then stopped; the fiend’s muscle was frighteningly hard and elastic. Tgurneu threw a punch at the boy’s stomach. Adlet whipped around to circle behind his enemy, wrapping both hands around its neck and squeezing.

  Without missing a beat, Fremy shot Tgurneu in the chest. It fell to the ground, taking Adlet with it as he restrained the fiend. Adlet was certain now—this Tgurneu was far weaker than the one they had fought in the Ravine of Spitten Blood. “Rolonia! Go right! Circle it!”

  “O-okay!”

  Fremy and Rolonia ran to either side of Tgurneu. Tgurneu tried to shake Adlet off, yelling, “Don’t be stupid, Adlet! Don’t you get that I’m telling the truth?!”

  Adlet smirked. “Even if I did suppose all of that was true, that’s still no reason for us to let you live.”

  “…You’ll regret this.”

  Fremy shot its knee, shattering it, while Rolonia whipped blood from its body. The moment Tgurneu stopped moving, Adlet revealed the ace up his sleeve, his weapon that could kill any fiend in one stab: the Saint’s Spike. He found the fig that was Tgurneu’s true form and prepared to pierce it when—

  The fiend’s body did something peculiar. Suddenly, its neck stretched and tore off with a loud rip.

  “!”

  The decapitated yeti tumbled weakly to the ground, while the crow’s head grew wings. The head rose into the air with unbelievable speed.

  “Fremy! Shoot it down!” Adlet yelled. Holding the Saint’s Spike in his left hand, he threw poison needles with his right. Fremy fired a shot. The crow’s head dodged the bullet, but a few of Adlet’s needles hit the target. Still, even as the crow’s head lost its balance in the air, it flapped on desperately to escape.

  “The head is its main body!” Adlet yelled, hurling the Saint’s Spike. Tgurneu just barely managed to avoid the deadly missile whizzing past its wing.

  “S-someone, come to me! Stop the Braves!” Tgurneu yelled. But no one was there to reply. “Damn it, no one’s coming?! You incompetents!”

  It was now too far away for Adlet’s needles to reach. Fremy kept up the attack, and a number of her shots grazed their mark, but none were good enough to bring it down. Tgurneu continued on, disappearing into the distant sky.

  “…Damn it!” Eyes still on the sky, Adlet punched the ground. Steam rose from his fist thanks to the heat of the earth. They had missed their best chance to kill Tgurneu.

  Now that it was over, he went to go pick up the Saint’s Spike he’d thrown. These were his strongest weapons, and he had only three left. He had to take care of them.

  “I’m relieved. I thought you really would join forces with Tgurneu,” Rolonia said once Adlet had returned with the Saint’s Spike in hand. She seemed reassured.

  “Of course I wouldn’t. The enemy of my enemy isn’t my friend.”

  “Somehow, though, it seems more pathetic than I imagined.” Rolonia gazed off in the direction Tgurneu had gone.

  “That’s an act. It’ll casually do that sort of thing to make us let our guard down,” said Fremy. “So what do you think about what Tgurneu said, Adlet?”

  “I don’t know. It felt like a pack of lies, but I also get the impression that some of it was true. At the very least, though, it was not actually going to cooperate with us. It was looking for an opportunity to kill us.”

  “Yeah…I picked up on that, too,” Rolonia agreed with a nod.

  “It’s not even worth considering,” said Fremy. “Everything that comes out of Tgurneu’s mouth is lies. The impostors are Nashetania and Goldof, and the mastermind behind it is Tgurneu. It came to us with an offer to work together to make us let down our guard. Dozzu doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “That would be the natural assumption, wouldn’t it?” said Rolonia.

  “There’s no way that two different fiends would separately come up with the exact same plan,” said Fremy.

  “No,” said Adlet. “If Tgurneu were just coming to kill us, it wouldn’t have had to approach us all alone. It’d just have to send its whole army here. At the very least, there was some reason that Tgurneu couldn’t order its minions to do it. Much of what it said just might be true.”

  “But how much?” Rolonia asked. Adlet was silent.

  It was clear a complex situation was forming within the fiends’ ranks. But who was against who, and why? Was Nashetania really Dozzu’s assassin, or was she working for Tgurneu after all? Who was Goldof? Was he Tgurneu’s follower or Dozzu’s? Or was he actually a real Brave? Their plight was nothing but unknowns.

  But they weren’t going to win this through hesitation. Adlet had to figure out what to prioritize and what to leave until later and then act. “We’ll kill Nashetania and save Chamo. That should help us figure out what’s true.”

  Fremy and Rolonia nodded. The trio climbed up the rock hill and started running once more.

  Adlet, Fremy, and Rolonia resumed searching for Nashetania. First, they went to the spot where Nashetania had disappeared, according to Tgurneu. It was the same place Adlet and Fremy had checked out once already. There were two fiends’ corpses, burned up by lightning, along with evidence that Nashetania had summoned her blades. But nothing else. The three of them carefully searched the ground and surveyed the area but didn’t discover anything that seemed like it might be a clue. Rolonia licked the earth but couldn’t detect anything from the blood of the scorched fiends.

  “There’s nothing here. It’s just these fiends’ bodies,” Fremy said grumpily.

  “Tgurneu was just trying to trick us, after all,” said Rolonia. “It has to be that.”

  What the fiend had said rose in the back of Adlet’s head. Not a fiend’s power. Tgurneu had suggested that what hid Nashetania was the power of a hieroform belonging to Goldof. Should he believe that?

  “Let’s split into two groups,” he said. “I’ll try asking Mora about hieroforms and what kinds have been passed down in the royal family of Piena. If they did have any, I’ll ask what methods we could use to break them. You two, search any places she might be hiding.”

  “But there’s nowhere…” said Rolonia.

  “Underground, I suppose,” said Fremy. “There isn’t anything else.”

  “How can we search underground? If we could use Chamo’s power…”

  “It’s okay, Rolonia. I’ll find her,” said Fremy, and she created a bomb in her
palm. The object was oddly shaped, like a thin spike. She tossed it, and it landed upright in a crack in the rock. After a loud boom, the explosive had gouged out a section of the hill. “If she’s hidden underground, that’s convenient for me. I’ll scour the area with my bombs. I’ll bury her alive and then torture her to death.”

  “Hold on,” said Adlet. “There aren’t any other possibilities?”

  “Well…” said Fremy, “Rolonia said that there were fiends lurking near Chamo, didn’t she? She could be in one of their stomachs.”

  Nashetania had used the technique of hiding inside a fiend’s belly back in the Phantasmal Barrier—though it hadn’t been herself but Leura, Saint of Sun.

  “Let’s kill all the fiends within the gem’s area of effect and tear open their stomachs,” Fremy suggested. “Is there anywhere else she could have hidden?”

  The three of them kept thinking. Nashetania’s modus operandi was to do the unthinkable. Adlet doubted it’d be that easy to figure out what her plan was. So they suggested various ideas. She could have grabbed a flying fiend to hover a kilometer high or used the power of a transforming-type fiend to turn into rock. Maybe she was underground, maybe inside a fiend’s stomach, or maybe she’d used a hieroform’s power. They couldn’t think of anything else.

  “Enough thinking,” said Fremy. “It’s time for action. If anything occurs to anyone, they can bring it up then.”

  Adlet agreed. “Yeah. First, search everything underground, and while you’re at it, kill every nearby fiend and rip open its stomach. I leave that to you.”

  “Yes, I’ll handle that part. One hour is enough to cover this area.” Fremy summoned bombs into her hands again and lobbed them at the rock hill before them. With a roar, the hill crumbled, clouds of dust rising in the air. Steam spurted out, enveloping the area in hot air.

  “Rolonia,” said Fremy, “use your whip to probe the earth. If you find anything, tell me right away.”

  “O-okay!”

  With the two of them on the job, things should go fine. If Nashetania was hidden underground, they’d surely be able to find her. Adlet decided to look into the hieroform that Goldof might possess.

  There was only a little over two hours until Chamo would die. They had to hurry.

  The lava zone suddenly erupted with booms. Adlet arrived at the pit, incessant explosive roars accompanying him.

  Twenty-odd fiends lurked around in groups of about five. They didn’t fight or run; they just watched what was happening with Chamo and the others. Hans was in the pit, fighting some of them. Mora’s arms were wrapped around Chamo, protecting her from attacks. Adlet joined Hans, and together they drove away the onslaught. When the fiends had scattered like so many baby spiders, Adlet gave a simple explanation of the current situation.

  “You’re saying…Tgurneu would be our ally?”

  “Against Dozzu, he says. This is gettin’ meowr and meowr confusin’. But is all that true?”

  Mora’s head dropped into her hands as Hans puzzled it over.

  “More importantly, about that hieroform. Do you know anything about it, Mora?” asked Adlet.

  “The power to conceal someone could be none other than the power of illusion. But…” Mora shook her head, her expression somber. “When a hieroform is created, we are required to keep records of it at All Heavens Temple, and we always do. Hieroforms have been given to the King of Piena in the past, but none with the power to conceal. One that could hide anyone might be used for a plethora of evil deeds—assassinations or espionage.”

  “So was Tgurneu lying, after all?” asked Adlet.

  “Neow. Not necessarily,” said Hans. “Holy Saints are humans, too. They can be lured by coin or bend to political authority. Meowbe even love could be a motivation. I wouldn’t be surprised if somethin’ like that was kept secret from All Heavens Temple.” Mora didn’t deny it.

  This again? thought Adlet. All the information they had accumulated suggested potential answers, but there was no hard evidence. “So if Nashetania or Goldof has a hieroform, is there a way to break through the spell?”

  “…There is.” Mora was holding Chamo against her chest, stroking her back. She lay the girl on the ground and stood before Adlet. “When a hieroform is used, the dregs of its power remain. It is possible to sense these. This technique has been passed down through successive generations of temple elders. I can grant the ability to you, though only for a short time.” Mora glanced at Chamo. “It will take time. Chamo, hold on until it’s done.”

  Curled up on her side, the young Saint lifted her head just slightly and nodded. I’m okay.

  Mora closed her eyes and began intoning the sacred tongue. After about ten minutes, she put her hands on Adlet’s face, still chanting. When she touched her thumbs to his eyes, it felt like something hot was pouring into him.

  “…Did it work?”

  Mora staggered, but then immediately returned to Chamo and held her again, putting a hand to her back to send energy into her.

  “So meow?” Hans asked.

  Adlet could now see things he hadn’t been able to before. He could see a light in Chamo’s stomach—that had to be the power of the blade hieroform that Nashetania had put there. He saw the same thing on the back of his hand and on Mora’s back where her Crest of the Six Flowers was. That was the power of the Saint of the Single Flower.

  “In places where you see a shining light, there is a hieroform being used. If you see a faint haze, that means one was activated there not long ago. The effect only lasts for about three hours, though…” Halfway through Mora’s explanation, she grimaced, putting a hand to her forehead. She was wearing herself out. “…And it’s merely a borrowed power. You won’t be able to detect everything perfectly. Most likely, you won’t be able to see any remnants of weaker power.”

  “That’s not encouragin’, meow,” Hans remarked.

  “However,” she continued, “you are sure to see any hieroform powerful enough to make someone disappear. Go, Adlet. We have no time.”

  “Hold on. You never looked at Goldof with that meower of yours?”

  “I have, but I couldn’t see anything. Ultimately, this power is only effective when a hieroform is in use.”

  Hans drooped.

  “I’m gonna go back to searching for Nashetania,” said Adlet. “You guys handle things here. If you see any fiends, be sure to kill them and rip open their stomachs. She might be hiding inside.”

  “Understood. Now go, Adlet. Hurry,” Mora urged.

  But before Adlet left, he went to Chamo. Complexion pale, she was curled up against Mora’s chest. Her entire demeanor had turned utterly haggard in only a few hours. It was heartbreaking. “I’ll catch Nashetania,” he said. “Don’t you worry.”

  “Eh-he-he… That’s…right…yeah…Chamo is just fine.”

  “…”

  “Why’re you…looking so…worried? Chamo’s strong. So…it’ll be fine.”

  Adlet silently stroked her head and then rushed out of the pit.

  Adlet kept on running through the lava zone. The rock beneath him was trembling from Fremy’s cannonade. He climbed to a high point to scan the area with the power Mora had given him, but he didn’t find anything. Despairing, Adlet continued to run. He ascended and descended the rock hills, going up and down and up and down again. During his search, he encountered Fremy and Rolonia, who were still bombarding the ground.

  “Addy! How are things going with you?” Rolonia called to him.

  “Mora gave me the power to search for hieroforms! You can leave that part to me!” Adlet shouted back.

  “You’re in the way, Adlet!” Fremy was about to throw a bomb near his feet. Flustered, Adlet scooted away.

  He proceeded through the parts of the region that Fremy had already demolished. Now that the lines of rock hills had crumbled, the field of view was much more open. With each step, shattered rock crumbled under his feet, making the footing especially difficult to run on.

  They had re
arranged the terrain so dramatically, anyone attempting to hole up underground would not stand a chance. Even if Nashetania had been able to withstand the explosion, it was highly unlikely that she could stay hidden. And even if she was lucky enough to stay hidden, there should still be some kind of sign of her presence. Nashetania wouldn’t have been able to dig dozens of meters deep to take cover, either. She’d hit magma or the underground water vein.

  Adlet kept his pace, and then finally, he found his goal. When he concentrated on his eyes, within the drifting steam and smoke, he could pick out a faint haze of light. This light was far less distinct than what he’d seen in Chamo’s stomach. Someone had used a hieroform here in the past.

  He approached the shining vapor. This was where they had found the fiends that had died by lightning strike. Tgurneu had told them that Goldof, Nashetania, and Dozzu had disappeared on this spot.

  Adlet looked around, but he couldn’t find a place where the light shone any brighter. There was no hieroform currently in use nearby, nor were there any other signs of a previous activation. Adlet dug up the ground and closely inspected the whole area, but he didn’t find Nashetania or any clues. But he knew one thing for sure now. Either Goldof or Nashetania had some kind of hieroform, and they had set it off.

  He left the area to search further for Nashetania. There was no way they’d fail to find her. He was certain. If Nashetania had set up a hiding spot where she would never be discovered, she would have gone there immediately after activating the blade gem. But she had fought them briefly and then disappeared. In other words, in the middle of their fight, she had given up on running, which had forced her to conceal herself. So Adlet figured there must be a way to find her.

  But he’d already searched more than two-thirds of the gem’s area of effect, and Fremy and Rolonia had already blown two-thirds of the circle to pieces. Whether Nashetania was lurking underground or using the power of a hieroform to hide, they had to uncover her soon.