“…Fremy.” Adlet looked at his companion one more time. It has to be a lie , he thought.
But Fremy replied as if she had expected all of this. “It’s true.”
“Wh-what?” stuttered Adlet.
“I told you—I told you that if I explained why, we’d end up trying to kill each other.” Fremy swiveled her gun from Nashetania toward Adlet.
“It can’t be true,” he said.
“It is. Matra Wichita, Houdelka Holly, Athlay Aran. I killed a number of others as well…those who seemed like they might be chosen as one of the six. Goldof and Nashetania over there were on my list of potential targets, too. I hadn’t even considered you, though.”
Adlet remembered what Nashetania had told him before. “What about Leura? Did you kill the Saint of Sun, too?”
Fremy looked vaguely confused. “The Saint of Sun, Leura? I don’t know anything about that. Though she was on my list.”
“That doesn’t matter,” said Nashetania. “Adlet, she’s dangerous. Come over here, please.”
But Adlet didn’t take his eyes off Fremy. “What for? Why did you kill these potential Braves?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Fremy asked. “For the sake of the Evil God’s resurrection. If I succeeded in slaying all the strongest warriors, then the chosen Braves would be nothing but weaklings.”
Adlet was speechless.
His voice swollen with rage, Goldof broke the silence. “Now you know. This woman—Fremy is our enemy.” Nashetania and Goldof split off in opposite directions, converging on Fremy from either side.
Adlet was frozen in place. Fremy was a murderer who had killed potential Braves while being at the same time a Brave who bore the Crest of the Six Flowers herself. If both were true, then which identity should he trust? That was when what Fremy had said popped into Adlet’s head.
“No!” Adlet stood, shielding his companion.
“Adlet, why?” Nashetania pleaded.
Is this the best idea? Adlet worried. But Fremy had said that she couldn’t afford to die until she killed the Evil God. He believed she’d been telling the truth. “Nashetania, Goldof, listen up,” he said. “The Braves of the Six Flowers are not chosen purely on the basis of fighting ability. Will is also part of it—their desire to defeat the Evil God. Someone who wants to side with the enemy couldn’t have been chosen as one of the Braves of the Six Flowers, no matter how powerful they were.”
“But she—” began Nashetania.
“Fremy,” said Adlet. “You’re not trying to resurrect the Evil God right now , correct?” Fremy nodded, and he continued. “You have a reason now— a reason to fight the Evil God that you were trying to resurrect.”
“Yes,” Fremy admitted.
Adlet turned to Nashetania and spread his hands. “Do you get it, Nashetania? She is the one who has been killing potential Braves. But now the situation’s changed.”
“And you believe that?” asked Nashetania warily.
“I trust her. I can tell her desire to defeat the Evil God is real. Even if she was once the enemy of the Braves, right now, I know she’s our ally.”
“But—”
“If you’re going to keep fighting, I’m siding with Fremy,” he said.
Nashetania considered this for a moment, and then Goldof spoke. “Pardon me, but I must say this—Princess, is Adlet really someone we can rely on?”
“You’ve had it out for me this whole time. Just what is your deal?”
“I am here to protect the princess. Anyone who would expose the princess to danger is my enemy.”
“Fine. Right now, though, just ask Nashetania to put away her sword.”
“Adlet. Don’t refer to the princess so informally.” Goldof was clearly angry, but Nashetania restrained him.
“You two quarreling isn’t going to get us anywhere. I understand, Adlet. If you’re going to be so insistent about it, then I have no choice. Goldof, we will do as he says for now.” Nashetania sheathed her sword, and Goldof also reluctantly lowered his weapon. Adlet breathed a sigh of relief. “But…please take care,” she added. “You’re the type who’s easily deceived.”
“It’s okay,” replied Adlet. “I’m the strongest man in the world. Nobody’s gonna trick me.”
“I’m quite uneasy about this,” said Nashetania.
Adlet looked at Fremy. “You put away your gun now, too. You don’t have to worry about getting killed anymore.”
“For the time being.” Fremy lowered her gun and then holstered it at her waist.
“Fremy,” said Nashetania. “Just so you know, I do not trust you. I trust Adlet.”
“You sure are naive for trusting a guy like that,” Fremy replied.
Even after both Nashetania and Fremy had lowered their weapons, there was still an explosive atmosphere between them. And then there was Goldof, his eyes filled with animosity and fixed on Adlet.
Adlet felt intensely anxious. Would the Braves of the Six Flowers actually be capable of facing the Evil God in battle?
The four decided to start by heading together to the point where Mora awaited them. Since Fremy had agreed to go with them, Adlet returned the pack that he had stolen from her. They began making their way along the forest path. Nashetania and Goldof walked close together, and Adlet was a little farther away. Fremy maintained an even larger distance between herself and the others. Their positions indicated their relative affinities for one another.
“Hey, Fremy,” Adlet prompted.
“What?”
“I saved your butt, so maybe you could give me a thank-you?”
“There’s no reason for me to do that,” Fremy said coldly. Adlet shrugged.
Then Nashetania whispered to him so as not to be overheard. “Adlet.”
“What is it?” he asked, but the only reply she gave him was a cold look. “I’m sorry for abandoning you,” he said. “But I had no choice. It’s her fault for running away.” Nashetania’s eyes grew even colder as she glared at him. Adlet cringed.
“It seems you’ve gotten quite close to her in just a day,” she commented.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nashetania put a hand to her mouth and smiled at him mischievously. What made it different this time was the genuine spite lurking in her eyes. “I was wondering why you would defend her. But now I see. So that’s how things are, hmm? Indeed, she is quite a beautiful woman, after all. I really am envious.”
“Hey…”
“Yes, yes, I understand very well indeed. Men are so very fond of women of that ilk, the type to inspire their protective instincts .”
“Listen, Nashetania…”
“Yes, yes, I hope you two get along quite splendidly. Hmph. ” After heaping sarcasm on Adlet, Nashetania moved away from him.
“…Are you seriously a princess?” he wondered.
“I am often asked that, but yes, I am,” said Nashetania, and then she turned the other way.
What the hell? Adlet couldn’t help but silently wonder.
A heavy silence hung over the four of them. Fremy continued to completely ignore the rest. Goldof was eyeing Adlet as if quite grumpy about the other man talking to Nashetania. Just thinking about the atmosphere being like this the whole way until they met Mora put a cloud over Adlet’s head. And for that matter, why was this Goldof guy scowling at him? He decided to try initiating a conversation.
“Hey. With all that kerfuffle, I wasn’t able to introduce myself properly, but it was good to meet you. I’m the strongest man in the world, Adlet Mayer.”
“Okay.” There was clear disgust in Goldof’s tone.
“I hear you were chasing after the Brave-killer…after Fremy.”
“That’s right.”
“I get that you’re not really happy about this, but just bear with it for now. At the very least, until we know more about what’s going on,” said Adlet.
“What are you talking about?” scoffed Goldof. “All I do is follow the princess’s orders.”
“It’s not really something you need to apologize for.”
It sounds like that’s not the reason, either. So then, why? As Adlet mused, Goldof spoke to him—at a whisper, so as not to let Nashetania hear.
“Adlet…how did you butter up the princess?” he asked.
With that one line, it all made sense. Adlet looked at Nashetania and back at Goldof. Well, then. “What? You’re worried about me being close to the princess?”
“I—I’m not worried about that…,” he stammered.
“Relax, it’s not what you think. If you worry yourself over stupid stuff like that, she’s just gonna make fun of you.”
Goldof choked. “What are you talking about? Don’t be stupid.”
Now this was an easy guy to understand. Goldof apparently just didn’t like that Adlet was friends with Nashetania. He didn’t look like it, but he was still just around sixteen and merely a kid on the inside. “Do your best and protect the princess,” said Adlet. “I talked about a lot of stuff with her on the road. She really seems to rely on you. You’re the only one who can protect her.”
“Of course. Just me.”
Spouting such blatant flattery set Adlet’s teeth on edge, but Goldof’s bad mood had apparently abated somewhat. His predictability would save Adlet trouble. Goldof was nothing like Fremy and Nashetania.
“There’re no enemies coming to us, though, huh?” Goldof muttered.
Yeah, he’s right , thought Adlet. It was too peaceful. Why were they able to continue this silly conversation even as they were coming upon the Howling Vilelands, where the demons lurked? Adlet was finding the peace more and more ominous.
That was when Fremy, who’d been silent the whole time, spoke. “This is strange.” When the three of them turned, Fremy was facing back, looking up at the sky. “There have been flying fiends circling in the sky behind us for a while now.”
Adlet pulled a spyglass from his chest pocket and looked in the direction Fremy had indicated. She was right—a few birdlike creatures were circling in the air.
“There aren’t many of them. It can’t be anything much,” said Nashetania.
“Isn’t that direction…?” Adlet eyeballed the distance of the demons and compared his visual measurements to his mental map. “This is bad. That’s where the temple of the Phantasmal Barrier is.”
Tension simmered among them. According to what Private Loren had said, the barrier was made so that fiends couldn’t come near it, but even so, the situation was cause for concern. Adlet turned to Fremy. “Can you hit them from here?”
“It would be difficult. We have to get closer,” she replied.
“They just dropped something,” Goldof muttered. When Adlet looked, it seemed as if the fiends were spitting something from their mouths. Moments later, there was a thunderous roar and rising smoke.
“Adlet, what on earth was that?” asked Nashetania.
“Bombs. The fiends are dropping bombs on the temple,” he said.
“Bombs? That’s ridiculous!”
Adlet was surprised, too. Some fiends possessed intelligence, but he couldn’t imagine they had the skill or raw materials necessary to make explosives.
Nashetania looked at Fremy and said, “You’re the Saint of Gunpowder, aren’t you? This isn’t your doing, is it?”
“I don’t know anything about it,” Fremy insisted.
“Let’s just go!” said Adlet.
The four of them ran back the way they’d come. If they ran as fast as they could, it would take about fifteen minutes to get there. But after about five minutes at a sprint, they encountered a line of fiends standing across the path, blocking their way. They’d seen no sign of any fiends when passing through the area earlier. These were clearly there for the express purpose of holding them up.
Nashetania yelled, “Let’s break right through! Goldof!”
In response, Goldof crouched and then rushed at one of the fiends like a giant bullet. He thrust his spear out in a twisting motion, his entire body weight behind it. His target was a fiend that looked like a bear with the head of an insect. Even though his foe was nearly ten times his body mass, Goldof blasted the creature backward. He then tried to break through the opening he’d created, but a tiger-fiend that had been standing beside the bear-fiend screamed. It was difficult to make out what it said, but the creature was definitely speaking human language.
“They…come. Sur…round…them!”
The row of fiends attacked their closest target, Goldof, all at once.
He’s too impatient , thought Adlet. It’s like he’s begging them to overwhelm him. These monsters were a cut above those they had destroyed earlier. They understood human speech and had the intellect necessary for a certain degree of strategy. They were mature fiends, those that had lived a number of years.
Goldof scattered the demons attacking him from either side. Nashetania defended his back and finished off the ones that fell. Adlet and Fremy were also surrounded. Adlet tossed the iron box off his back and engaged. The battle turned chaotic. At this rate, it would be impossible to break through the ring of enemies and escape toward their goal.
“Adlet, please head for the temple. We’ll take over here!” Nashetania shouted as she blocked a wolf-fiend’s attacks.
“Yeah, I got you,” said Adlet. “Breaking through this kind of tough situation is just the job for me! Hey, Fremy, Goldof—watch this. I’m the strongest man in the world!”
“Stop bragging and just go!” ordered Nashetania.
He hadn’t been merely fooling around, though—during his speech, he’d come up with a way to break through the line. “Nashetania, Goldof, Fremy!” he yelled. “Attack the fiends on the temple side as hard as you can!”
Nashetania and Goldof nodded. Fremy was expressionless, but she did seem to basically agree. Goldof sent one fiend flying with a thrust of his spear. Nashetania stabbed the one behind it with one of her blades, and Fremy’s bullet tore through another that had been in front of Adlet.
“Perfect!” Adlet ran over the flat of Nashetania’s summoned blade. When one final fiend attacked him, he used a poison blow dart to force it to withdraw. Adlet broke through the circle and pushed forward toward the temple.
“We’re counting on you!” cried Nashetania.
“I’m on it!” Adlet called back. Without being told, Nashetania blocked any creatures that attempted pursuit. None were chasing him. It seemed as though his path was clear of ambush as well.
He ran at full speed for about ten minutes. The sounds of battle grew distant, and finally, the forest opened up so Adlet could see the temple. “This is it,” he said, stopping to get a good look. The fiends that had been bombing it were already gone, but the smell of gunpowder remained thick in the air.
The temple was smaller than he had expected—about the size of an average house. But its stone walls were surprisingly sturdy. The entire building was surrounded by about twenty white pillars—probably the Saint of Salt’s barricade to keep out fiends. Outside the ring of pillars, he could see footprints left by a great variety of demons, but not a single one within the ring. Apparently, the fiends were unable to pass between them.
Portions of the salt pillars were missing due to the bombing, and there were scorch marks on the temple, too. The building, though, was still firmly intact. So no damage, huh? thought Adlet. That was when he saw a woman lying on the ground beside one of the salt pillars.
“Hey, what’s wrong?!” Adlet ran up to her. The woman was dressed in the garb of a priestess. Part of her back was terribly burned. “Hold on, I’ll treat your wounds!” he said, and he lifted the woman into a sitting position. “Don’t worry, they aren’t deep!” He searched through the pouches at his waist for medicine.
“Hur…ry… ,” the woman said, pointing to the temple.
“Never mind that now! Don’t move.”
“Hurry…now…you won’t make it…please…it’s all…”
Adlet ground his teeth. As much as he might have wanted to treat her, he didn’t have the medicine. I should have brought my iron box , he thought. Then he would have bandages and medicated gauze for burns.
“I’ll be okay…I am…a Saint, after all… ,” she said.
“Don’t you die on me!” he replied as he gently laid the woman on the ground, then passed through the pillars of salt to stand in front of the temple.
The doors were sealed with a sturdy lock. Adlet thrust his sword into the keyhole and twisted it forcefully, but the lock didn’t budge. “Damn it, I didn’t hear anything about the doors being locked! Do you have the key?!” he yelled to the woman, but she shook her head.
Adlet pulled some explosives from a pouch, affixed them to the lock with adhesive, and lit it. The lock blew off the door with a powerful bang, and two soldiers emerged from within. The soldiers both wore full body armor with spikes protruding. They charged Adlet.
“The hell are you guys doing?!” he wailed.
The soldiers went straight for him, but they weren’t that fast. Adlet didn’t even have to use his secret tools—he just whacked them on their heads with the hilt of his sword to take them down. But when their helmets fell off, he saw that the armor was empty.
“What the hell?” Adlet was about to ask the woman in priestess attire what was going on when she erupted into shrill laughter.
“Hee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee-kee! ” Prostrate on the earth, she contorted and cackled. Her body bent limply, a single horn grew from her forehead, and she transformed into a creature resembling a skinny, ugly monkey. Adlet knew—this was a transforming fiend. Adlet’s master had told him that although very few fiends could disguise themselves as humans and animals, they did exist.
“You bastard!” Adlet cried. The transforming fiend immediately fled. Adlet was about to run after it, but he abruptly stopped himself. Right now, I should prioritize checking the temple , he realized, and he turned back toward the building. That was when it happened.
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 1 Page 7