The little Saint giggled. “That’s what everyone does. Trying to work together to get Chamo, huh? Nobody’s ever been able to do that.” There was no anxiety in her voice—she didn’t act as though she was in the middle of a fight.
“Can’t ya think of anythin’, Adlet?!” Hans yelled.
The world’s strongest man was unable to reply. A leech-fiend had come up from behind to spray acid at him. Adlet jumped sideways to evade it, but then a lizard-fiend pressed down on him from above. He cut open the lizard’s stomach with his sword and tossed the creature behind him.
Adlet was tired. He hadn’t yet recovered from his battle with Hans, and it was probably the same for Hans, too. The longer this dragged out, the greater their disadvantage. “Hans! Cover me!” Adlet cried.
As Hans sliced open a frog-fiend’s tongue, he replied, “I’ve got my hands full here! Don’t ya get lazy meow!”
“While you’re protecting me, I can think!” said Adlet.
Hans made a wide leap to stand beside Adlet, and then, as he’d been told, he fought off Adlet’s attackers. The way he moved seemed frantic and reckless. He wouldn’t last long.
“How long can you hold out?” Adlet asked him so as not to be overheard.
“Sixty seconds,” Hans replied.
“Once those sixty seconds are up, don’t think of anything else—just rush Chamo. I’ll back you up,” said Adlet, and then he fixed his eyes on their target as his thoughts raced.
First, he had to pick out an effective tool. Adlet threw a variety of poisoned needles and checked their effects. The sleeping needle and the paralysis needle didn’t work, but the needle that caused pain was effective. Next, he took the bottle of alcohol from its pouch and poured some into his mouth. He clacked the flint in his teeth and sprayed the fiends with flames. All the fiends Chamo controlled were aquatic—so flame worked, after all.
“Whoa, that’s surprising. Spitting fire isn’t something normal people can do,” Chamo said nonchalantly.
You’re the last one I wanna hear that from , thought Adlet. And then he pulled one more tool from another pouch—the one he’d used when he and Nashetania had been protecting the villagers, the flute that attracted fiends’ attention. Fire, poison needles, and the flute. Would those be enough to stop Chamo? Adlet doubted it. His plan needed one more thing.
But Hans couldn’t hold out much longer. They’d have to play it by ear from here. “Hans, go!” Adlet yelled, and he blew the flute. All the fiends twitched in response and turned toward Adlet. While they were distracted, Hans closed most of the distance between himself and Chamo. Adlet blew fire at the fiends that attacked him to keep them at bay. But the flute could serve as a distraction for only a moment. The fiends attacked Hans from both sides, but Hans made no move to evade them. He trusted Adlet, and Adlet did not betray that trust. He pierced the fiends with poison needles thrown so quickly his hands were a blur. The fiends shrieked, their bodies writhing in agony.
“Hope you’re ready for this, Chamo!” cried Hans.
Hans leaped. There was nothing between him and his target. But Adlet still didn’t think this would be enough. Fremy had been so terrified of Chamo. It would take more than a simple surprise attack.
Chamo smirked. “Dummies,” she said, opening her mouth wide.
As she did, Adlet yelled, “Don’t dodge! Block it!”
A large, armful-sized sea roach spewed from Chamo’s mouth. It charged Hans like a ball from a cannon. Hans crossed his swords to block the sea roach’s attack in midair. It hurled him away easily. But now Adlet moved—he made a beeline toward Hans and Chamo and then jumped, kicking Hans in the back with both feet. The kick offset Hans’s backward momentum to send him spinning in the air like a ball.
Adlet yelled, “Finish her, Hans!”
Hans soared toward Chamo. Chamo looked as though she didn’t understand what was going on as she stared at the man.
“Got ya meow!” Hans cried as he whirled through the air. He struck Chamo’s head with the flat of his blade. Chamo collapsed, and Hans landed with a roll.
Both feet back on the ground, Adlet ran toward Chamo. But there was no need to strike the final blow—she was unconscious. Instantly, her fiends lost form. They returned to their original mud-like state and, in only a few seconds, were sucked back into Chamo’s mouth.
“Adlet! Stopper her up!” Hans yelled.
Adlet pulled bandages from one of his pouches and shoved them into the unconscious girl’s mouth. “Mgnh! ” Chamo’s eyes opened, and she tried to spit them out.
“Meow! Don’t let her spit ’em out!”
Adlet grabbed both of Chamo’s arms with one hand, and with the other, he stuffed the bandages farther into her mouth. Hans got to his feet and ran toward them to help pin down the squirming Chamo. “Stop strugglin’!” ordered Hans.
“I’m tying her up!” said Adlet.
The two of them discarded their swords and wrestled Chamo. Adlet pulled out another bandage and forcibly tied it around her head as a gag. He then removed his belt, using it to bind her arms behind her back. Even then, Chamo continued struggling for a while, but eventually, she settled down.
Once the fight was over, Adlet was so exhausted he just didn’t say anything for a while. Hans was the same. They were tired—just incredibly tired.
“My back hurts,” Hans muttered.
The two of them lay collapsed on the ground beside Chamo for a long while.
“So what are we gonna do? What’re we gonna do?” they asked each other.
They both looked at Chamo where she lay on the ground. She was glaring at Adlet with the expression of a child who had gotten up to no good, been scolded for it, and was now sulking, as if saying, You don’t have to get so mad at me .
When she’s not fighting, she really is just a kid , thought Adlet. “I don’t think Chamo is the seventh,” he said.
“Me neither,” agreed Hans.
The seventh was most likely an exceedingly well-prepared and cautious person. The way Chamo acted, on the other hand, was incredibly shortsighted and careless. Of course, Adlet couldn’t say anything for sure.
“Meow. Since we’ve come to this temple, we’ve done nothin’ but fight our own allies.”
“You’re right. This seventh is a pain in the butt.” Adlet stood. There was no time to waste. The others who were out searching for Adlet would soon be returning to the temple.
“So what was yer question for Chamo?” asked Hans. “I don’t think she can reply all tied up, though.”
“It’s okay. It’s just a yes-or-no question.” Adlet stood beside Chamo. As she continued glaring at him, he asked, “Just answer this one thing. You can just shake or nod your head. Please.” Chamo didn’t look happy but seemed willing to reply. “Do you know how to activate the Phantasmal Barrier?” he asked.
Chamo gave him a blank stare. She looked as if she didn’t know why he was even asking her that question. She nodded.
“Did you know how to activate the barrier before you met us in this temple?”
Chamo quietly shook her head.
About fifteen minutes after their battle with Chamo had ended, Adlet dashed through the misty forest, attempting to keep his footsteps quiet. He was heading eastward from the temple. When he looked up at the sky, he saw the time was past noon. The sun had begun its descent.
“Ngh. ” With every jump from branch to branch, his back sent a jolt of pain through his body. He was unable to make sound landings or quiet ones. The sword wound from the previous day still hurt. He was out of painkillers, and his battles with Hans and Chamo had made the injury worse. He was wounded and tired, and the pain doubled his exhaustion.
“Keep holding on, Adlet,” he told himself.
Hans, his only comrade, wasn’t with him. Hans had stayed with Chamo in the temple to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t get out of control again—and also to protect her from the seventh. The wildly powerful Chamo bound and helpless on the floor was the pe
rfect chance for the seventh. Though it was discouraging not to be able to fight alongside Hans, they had no choice.
Adlet scanned the area, checking to make sure there was no one nearby, and then pulled the firecracker from one of his pouches. It was the firecracker that Fremy had handed him the previous night, the one that would alert her to his position. He deliberated for a moment, then struck the firecracker against the trunk of a tree, making it explode. After that, he concealed himself high in the tree and waited for Fremy.
Adlet had an idea—a clue as to how to break out of the seventh’s trap.
Fremy and Mora were on the northern side of the forest, running toward the temple. Fremy said, “I’m sure. That was the sound of Chamo fighting.”
Mora replied, “But we cannot hear it now. Either she let him escape, or the battle is over.”
“Chamo would never lose. Besides, Hans is there, too.”
“But I can hear no signal. What is the meaning of this?” wondered Mora.
The groups hunting Adlet had decided that if they were to discover him or anything else important, they would signal the others with a loud blast from one of Fremy’s bombs.
Suddenly, Fremy stopped. She looked around the area, thinking.
“What is it?” asked Mora.
“Mora, you go to the temple. I’m heading the other way.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Adlet most likely fought Chamo and ran. If he comes this way, you fight him. If he went in the other direction, I’ll find him.”
“…All right. You take care.” Mora seemed to be implying something in her words. Her eyes were sharp and attentive as they fixed on Fremy.
Once Mora was out of sight, Fremy sprinted straight through the forest.
Adlet was waiting in his tree for Fremy to show up. He had no guarantee that she would be on his side. On the contrary, she might just as readily bring Mora to murder him. His chances were fifty-fifty or slimmer. If he’d been able to contact Nashetania, he would have preferred to rely on her. But she had Goldof with her, and he probably wouldn’t leave her side, no matter what happened. At this point, Adlet had no choice but to count on Fremy.
As he waited, he recalled his discussion with Hans. Before they’d fought Chamo, while still searching the temple, Adlet had proposed summoning Fremy.
Hans’s reaction had been a troubled look. “Meow , I thought that was a li’l strange. So she did let you go deliberately, after all.”
“You could tell?”
“I just had a feelin’, like meowbe. Fremy wasn’t sayin’ nothin’, though.”
Adlet became somewhat uneasy. That meant any of the others might have caught on to Fremy and Adlet’s secret agreement. “Let’s call Fremy. She might have found something.”
“Forget it. In fact, don’t ever call her up, no way. That woman is dangerous.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, meow that I’m not suspectin’ you no more, she’s the one most likely to be the seventh.”
Adlet shook his head. “Fremy is a real Brave. I just know.”
“Then I’m gonna have to disagree.”
The two of them stared each other down for a while. It looked as though neither was going to change his mind.
“Let’s leave aside if she’s the real thing or not for meow and think about this,” said Hans. “I reckon that even if Fremy is a real Brave, we should steer clear of her.”
“Why?” asked Adlet. “She let me go.”
“Yeah, for now. I think she’s gunnin’ to ultimately kill ya.”
“Why do you think that?”
Hans’s eyes shone sharply. The flippant attitude he’d displayed thus far disappeared. What Adlet saw there now was a coldhearted and unfeeling assassin. “Fremy lives in darkness,” said Hans. “She don’t love no one, and she don’t trust no one. All she’s got in her life are enemies and people bound to become her enemies. That’s the world she lives in. Ya know?”
“…”
“I live in darkness, too. But where she is, the darkness is even deeper,” said Hans.
“Is that what you think?”
“Yep. She’s a totally different kinda critter—not like you. Yer thinkin’ about trust and friendship and comrades. Don’t assume you guys are just gonna understand each other.”
He didn’t think Hans’s warning was fake. Hans was telling him, in his own way, that he was concerned on Adlet’s behalf. But Adlet didn’t agree that it would be impossible to build trust between himself and Fremy.
“Adlet, Fremy hates you, even after ya tried so hard to stick up for her.”
“…”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. She’s not playin’ hard to get or nothin’ like that. She hates you sincerely with all her heart—naw, she loathes ya. At least, that’s what it sounded like from how she was talkin’ this mornin’.” Adlet had thought that had been an act.
“Well, forget about Fremy,” said Hans. “We’ve gotta talk about this locked-room meowstery.” On that note, they dropped the subject.
After Chamo’s defeat, Adlet had told Hans that he was going to find Fremy and left the temple. Hans had emphasized over and over that Adlet should be careful.
The boy thought about Fremy. The previous night, the two of them had talked about each other’s pasts. At the time, he’d felt that they’d made a connection, however small. He couldn’t imagine that feeling was just in his head. He didn’t think she trusted him, but there was no good reason for her to hate him, either. He didn’t know what she was thinking. He couldn’t read her mind. Was ignoring Hans’s warning the right decision? Adlet would know soon.
He spotted Fremy deep in the fog. He could see her blurry outline, and it seemed as though she was looking for him. He waited for a bit, just to get a grasp of the situation. There was no sign of anyone else around. He steeled himself and jumped down in front of her.
“I’m impressed you’re still alive.” That was the first thing Fremy said to him. Her hand was on her gun, finger on the trigger, but she didn’t point it at him.
“It was exhausting,” he said. “There were a bunch of times I thought I was gonna die. When I went back to the temple, Hans was there, and—”
“Just talk about things relevant to the deactivation of the barrier,” Fremy said coldly.
Adlet flinched a little, but on further consideration, her attitude wasn’t something to be concerned about. She had always been like this. “I have an idea,” he said. “I want your opinion on it and some information.”
“That depends on what you have to say,” she replied.
“I’ve figured out part of the seventh’s trap.”
“I’m listening.”
“First of all, we had it all wrong. Or rather, the seventh gave us the wrong idea. It wasn’t that someone activated the barrier immediately before I opened the door to the temple. When I opened the door and went inside, the barrier hadn’t been activated yet.”
“That story doesn’t sound very plausible,” said Fremy.
“Just listen. We know how the barrier is activated. You thrust the sword into the altar and order the slate to activate it, and it turns on the barrier. Who gave us that information? It was the soldier who was at the fort, Private Loren.” His eyes fixed on Fremy, Adlet continued. “But what if Private Loren was working with the seventh? Neither you nor I even knew that the barrier existed until Private Loren told us. And it was just yesterday that Nashetania and Goldof heard about it for the first time. Mora knew, but she said she didn’t know how to activate it, and she’s the one who told Hans. And just now, I checked with Chamo. She said she found out how to activate it yesterday from me. In other words, none of us would know if Private Loren was lying.”
“…Continue.”
“This is how the seventh’s plan was set up: First, they’d use Private Loren to tell us a fake way to activate the barrier. Then they’d use fiends to lure all of us inside the barrier. They estimated when I would ope
n the doors to the temple and then used some means to generate fog throughout the forest. That would trick us into thinking that someone had activated the barrier and then fled the scene, when in fact, the barrier wasn’t actually active at all. It was just regular mist. And the sword had been stuck in the altar from the beginning.”
“…”
He continued. “Then the seventh would approach the altar, looking totally innocent, and activate the barrier for real. Everyone was fiddling with the pedestal in an attempt to deactivate the barrier, right? The seventh used all that as cover to turn it on. After that, it was revealed that there had been no way in or out of the temple until I opened the door. So once they pinned the deed on me, the trap was complete.”
“Hans was the one who accused you of doing it,” said Fremy. “So does that mean he’s the seventh?”
“I don’t think so. The seventh most likely planned to make the accusation, but Hans happened to know a lot about the Saint’s doors, so they left the talking to him.”
“You don’t think Hans is the seventh? Why not?”
Adlet supplemented his explanation a bit, adding that he and Hans had mutually recognized that neither of them was the seventh and that they’d fought Chamo afterward. “The important part is that someone guessed when I would enter the temple and then activated the fog. If we can catch the person who caused the fog, then I can prove my innocence.”
“I see.” Fremy considered this for a while. “I think your idea is great. I’m impressed.”
Adlet made a fist and struck his other palm with it.
But then Fremy said, “But it’s wrong. Definitely wrong.”
“Huh?”
“Because it would be impossible. You couldn’t create fog without activating the barrier.”
“Couldn’t the Saint of Fog do something like that?” he asked.
“You have the wrong idea about the Saints. You think they can use the power of the Spirits to do anything. That’s not true. The power Saints wield is limited to certain abilities.”
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 1 Page 16