“But there is a Saint who can create fog, isn’t there?”
“Yes, the Saint of Fog, one of the Saints who created the barrier. But it’s unthinkable that she could have created this mist.”
“Why?”
“First of all, when the Saint of Fog uses her power, it’s activated directly around her,” explained Fremy. “Her radius is about fifty meters. And the fog would take time to spread over the whole forest. I think it would take her at least fifteen minutes, considering the scale. But yesterday, the fog appeared over the whole area all at once.”
“Wait. When the barrier is activated, doesn’t the fog cover the forest instantly?” asked Adlet.
“It did. But that was because they spent a long time building it up. The Saint infused the power of the Spirit of Fog throughout this whole forest over the course of ten years. That’s why the barrier was able to generate it immediately.”
“So what if they made another barrier?”
Fremy shook her head. She pointed at Adlet’s feet and said, “Try digging there.”
Adlet used his sword to dig a little in the ground and found a stake there with text written on it in hieroglyphs.
“That stake is imbued with the power of the Phantasmal Barrier,” she said. “There are countless others like that buried all over the forest. Oh, and I forgot to tell you—you can erect only one kind of barrier at a time in any given location. If you were to try to erect two or more, one would be nullified.”
“B-but…”
“It wouldn’t be possible to create the fog without the power of a barrier, and you can’t create two barriers in this forest in order to generate that fog. In other words, your proposal is impossible.”
Adlet was speechless. He’d thought it was a brilliant solution, but she’d overturned it so easily. And he didn’t think there was any other way. There was no room for rebuttal.
“Do you have any questions?” Fremy emotionlessly asked the stricken Adlet.
“You fools!” Mora’s shriek echoed throughout the temple. She punched the floor with a gauntlet-clad fist, and the ground all around shook slightly.
“M-meow. Ya don’t have to get so hollerin’ mad.” Hans quickly explained to Mora what had happened.
As Mora listened to his story, her face grew redder, and when he finished, she laid bare her anger. “Chamo was out of line. But, Hans! I’d thought you an utter simpleton, but not to such an absurd degree!”
“Hey meow, that’s not a nice thing to say,” the assassin protested.
“Why did you allow Adlet to escape? That may have been our best chance—no, our only chance!”
Hans sounded fed up as he said, “Hey, hold yer horses, Mora. I think I can prove he’s innocent.”
“What are you talking about?” Mora demanded.
“He’s quite the guy. He saw through the seventh’s ploy.”
“I’m listening. Pray that my patience will hold until the end.”
Hans told Mora of Adlet’s deductions. Mora listened quietly, but once Hans was done talking, she heaved a large sigh. “You have no understanding of the power of the Saints. It would be impossible to create that fog.”
“It’s more possible than breakin’ into the temple.”
“No difference. Nobody could have broken into the temple, and generating such mist would be unworkable.” Mora explained why it would have been impossible to create the fog—that in order to generate it instantaneously, it would be necessary to create a barrier, and that two barriers could not exist simultaneously.
“Meow , you’re a stubborn woman. Even after hearin’ that, I still figure it could be done.”
“Chamo, can you think of anything? A way you could generate fog instantly?” asked Mora.
Hans was still restraining Chamo’s arms where she stood. The little Saint shook her head.
“You guys ain’t got it right. Just thinkin’ for a minute ain’t enough to figure it out. The seventh put this plan into motion ’cause they came up with somethin’ we totally wouldn’t expect.”
“Oh, I see. Well then, go ahead and think all you like. I will search for Adlet.” Mora was turning away from Hans when she found his knife stuck in the ground at her feet.
“You hold on. I know Adlet ain’t the seventh,” he said.
“Haven’t you been scolded enough?” Mora glared at him.
“If Adlet is the seventh, then why didn’t he kill me? Why was he protectin’ Fremy? Why didn’t he kill Chamo? Ya can’t explain that.”
As if to express her complete exasperation, Mora sighed. “You fail to grasp why? Allow me to explain in simple terms why Adlet did not kill you.”
“…”
“Why did he appear in our midst in the first place?” Mora posed. “If his goal was simply to shut us in, showing himself at this temple wouldn’t have been necessary. He could have secretly activated the barrier and then concentrated on evading us. But he deliberately created a fake crest for himself and blended among us. To what end?”
“Meow , well—”
“To sow confusion. He raises doubt to incite conflict. What if Adlet is a real Brave? What if the seventh is someone else? His trap is one that assaults our hearts. How can you fail to understand that?!” Hans was unable to reply. Chamo, her mouth still gagged, smirked. “And right now, his plan is succeeding,” said Mora. “He has wholly deceived you, and it seems the princess also believes that Adlet is not the impostor. Two of our six have already fallen for his tricks.”
“But Adlet—”
“Why did he attempt to protect Fremy? To lure her to his side. Why did he not kill you? To beguile you. You believe he could not be the seventh because he didn’t kill you? On the contrary, he would most certainly spare you. Have you anything to say to that?!”
“But I saw his face!” protested Hans.
“You believe a man incapable of deception at the moment of his death? That’s nothing more than your pet idea!” Hans faltered. Her voice resolute, Mora said quietly, “We can no longer be picky about our methods.”
Adlet asked Fremy question after question, trying to conceive of any possible means by which the barrier could have been activated or if perhaps a Saint could have done it. Adlet didn’t know much about Saints’ power. To find out more, he had no choice but to grill Fremy.
But Fremy wasn’t very responsive, merely repeating again and again that it would have been impossible. “Why don’t you just give up?” she suggested stonily, cutting off his string of questions. “It’s over. Your suppositions are most likely wrong, and you’ve run out of places to hide. Even if you were a real Brave, there’s no way you can survive now.”
Adlet hesitated. Maybe it would be impossible to convince Fremy to cooperate with him, after all. Maybe no matter how much he talked to her, it wasn’t going to work out. Maybe it would be better to turn to someone else for help. “I can’t. I can’t give up. If I die, then the seventh will go for you next. They’ll lay the blame on you, and you’ll get killed, just like me.”
Fremy lowered her gaze in thought. She also had to be keenly aware of how precarious her own situation was. They had been speaking for a long time, and Mora could have been heading their way. Remaining together any longer could prove dangerous. Just as Adlet thought about leaving, Fremy said, “Are you going to go look for Nashetania now?” There was an expression of disgust on her face. She had hit the nail on the head. Now that Fremy was done with him, Nashetania was the only one he could count on. “You rely on Hans, then me, and next, Nashetania,” she said. “Strongest man in the world, are you?”
“I’m used to being laughed at.”
“Do you have no pride?”
“I do,” Adlet said, smiling. The effect was powerful. “The strongest man in the world isn’t the one who looks strong. The one who looks like the biggest fool is the strongest of them all. I’ll keep on struggling as long as I’m capable of it.”
“…”
“Don’t you worry. Just leave it to
me. As long as I’m alive, they shouldn’t suspect you. Trust me, Fremy,” Adlet said. He turned away from her and began making his way into the forest.
“Wait,” she said. Surprised, Adlet turned.
“Trust you?” repeated Fremy. “I can’t do that. I can’t understand you.”
“…”
“How can you keep smiling? How is your spirit not broken? Why are you trying to protect me? I can’t understand a single thing going on in your mind.”
“Fremy…”
“I know the situation is dangerous. But stay here a little longer. I want to know you better,” she admitted quietly. “Maybe I can trust in you.”
Meanwhile, Nashetania and Goldof were still on the western edge of the barrier. A few wrapping papers from travel rations littered the ground nearby. Nashetania picked them up, inspected both sides, and tossed them away. Goldof searched the area, too, looking over one tree after another, investigating them for traces of anything unusual. It seemed that by losing his composure and disgracing himself, he had created a rift in his dynamic with his master. The air between them was heavy.
“Let’s give up,” said Nashetania. “We should find Adlet and protect him.” She began walking away. The two of them were far from the temple—too far to hear Adlet and Hans fighting or the two men battling Chamo after that.
“Princess, you still haven’t told me,” said Goldof. “Why do you suspect Hans?”
Nashetania turned back to him and stopped. “I suppose I’m not certain myself, either, am I? I haven’t told you the most important part.”
“Let’s run as we talk.”
The two of them jogged side by side. “There’s one thing that bothers me,” said Nashetania. “But I may just have been hearing things wrong. If it was a misunderstanding on my part, you’re allowed to make fun of me.”
“I will not. But please tell me.” Goldof nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“Do you remember when we all first introduced ourselves, Hans said, ‘Meow? She’s a bunny girl and a princess, too? ’”
“Of course.”
“But that’s odd,” said Nashetania. “When Hans and Mora came into the temple, Hans called me Princess , just once.”
“Are you sure?”
“You can’t remember. But that’s understandable. We weren’t talking about anything important at the time.” Goldof tilted his head. It seemed he couldn’t recall, either.
“At first, it just felt a bit off,” she said. “It was only long after that I realized how odd it was. And the more I thought back on it, the more it began bothering me.”
“So that means…”
“He knew all along that I’m a princess but then pretended not to. Why is that?”
As they ran, Goldof considered the situation. “When Hans and Mora came into the temple, I stayed by your side the whole time. It is possible observing that led him to conclude that you are a princess.”
“That’s true. But there was one more thing. It was when Hans stopped Fremy from getting tortured.”
“What was strange about that?”
“There was something. Something wasn’t right.” Nashetania smacked her face with her palms. “Why can’t I put my finger on it? I’m so close—just a little closer, and I feel like I could figure it out! Are you going to keep being completely useless this whole time, Nashetania?!”
“Anyway, let us hurry,” said Goldof. “There will be no more hesitation on my part. I will trust your judgment.”
“Thank you. Goldof, will you take a look and see if Adlet is still alive?” Nashetania opened up the breastplate of her armor and showed him the crest near her collarbone.
“Do not worry,” he said. “No one is dead yet. Adlet and the rest are all alive.”
“I see. Then Adlet is doing his best. I will not fail, either.”
The two of them continued running toward the temple.
Maybe I can trust in you. When Adlet heard Fremy say that, hope blossomed inside him. Hans was already on his side, and Nashetania most likely trusted him. If he could get Fremy to side with him, too, he wouldn’t have to flee anymore. In a way, that was his ulterior motive.
But then Fremy crushed that feeling of hope as she aimed the muzzle of her gun at him. “I’ve always been skeptical—why do you keep protecting me? Why haven’t you suspected me, even once?”
“Why are you pointing your gun at me?” he asked.
“If you try to dodge the question, I’ll shoot.”
Fremy’s behavior confounded him. Her abrupt question, her impatient desire for answers. Fremy had said she didn’t understand Adlet, but he didn’t understand her, either. Adlet reflected. He decided to be sincere, to abandon any sort of calculated plan to get her on his side or convince her to believe him. “It was just a feeling. I felt that you weren’t my enemy. I wanted to protect you. I don’t have any reason to give you.”
“Did you not hear me? Don’t evade the question,” she ordered him.
“Fremy…” Staring down the barrel, Adlet searched his heart. He had indeed been trying to protect her. A neutral observer would see the lengths to which he had gone as unnatural, and Fremy would, too. Why? Adlet asked himself. As she watched him, her gun trained on his heart, he searched for the reason.
“Answer me,” she demanded.
Adlet quietly began to speak. “A long time ago, I tried to turn myself into a weapon. I tried to rid myself of my human heart. I tried to become a creature that existed purely for the purpose of killing the fiends that had stolen everything from me.” Fremy didn’t ask what he was talking about. She kept silent and listened.
“Because, like you said, and like my master said, I’m just ordinary. I thought that was the only way I could become the strongest man in the world. But it didn’t work.”
“What didn’t work?”
“You can’t throw away your heart just because you want to. No matter how many times I thought I had, I found it was still there.”
“You’re wrong, Adlet,” Fremy said icily. “I did get rid of my heart—not my human heart, but my fiend heart. I did it to get revenge on my mother and revenge on the Evil God. I’m alive now because I rid myself of it.”
“No, Fremy,” he said. “You can’t throw away your heart. Even the desire to do so comes from your heart.”
She looked at him. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
“You want to cast it all aside to become stronger?” asked Adlet. “You can’t. You can’t stop yourself from loving someone, no matter what you do.”
“…”
“I care about you,” he said. “I always have—well, I guess it’s only since yesterday. But I’ve always cared about you.”
Fremy’s eyes opened wide, and she stared at Adlet. “Is that what you were thinking? Is that what you were thinking when you were with me?”
“I only just realized now how I feel, though. But I’ve felt this way since we first met.”
“And that’s why you tried to protect me?”
“I did worry over it when we met with Nashetania and Goldof and I learned that you were the Brave-killer. But when I saw Nashetania and Goldof suspect you, I thought, I can’t let this happen . If even your fellow Braves wouldn’t trust you, then I’d just have to trust you in their stead. I felt that if no one else in the world would protect you, then I would be the one to do it.”
“And after that?” she prompted.
“I felt the same way when we found out there was an impostor among us,” said Adlet. “I didn’t even consider suspecting you. I guess you obviously find that unnatural. But I couldn’t help myself. I’d fallen for you.”
“Just what do you find so attractive about me?”
“I don’t know. But when I see you suffer, it hurts me, too. I may be the strongest man in the world, but I can’t handle that.”
“And that’s why you decided to protect me,” she said. Adlet could see faint hesitation in Fremy’s cold expression. Sometimes, she looked like a
doll holding a gun, but he was convinced she wasn’t a heartless monster. She had a heart. And if that was true, that meant their hearts could connect. He believed they could.
“Sorry, but you can’t protect me,” said Fremy. “I’m going to die anyway, once I defeat the Evil God.”
“Why?!”
“Where should I live once the Evil God has been defeated? I can’t go back to the fiends. There’s no place for me in the human world. I will have no choice but to die. Dying and taking the Evil God with me is my ideal.”
“You can’t do that.” Adlet shook his head. “Revenge might be everything to you right now. But that’s only temporary. Once your vengeance is complete, you have to start over again.”
“I can’t start over. Humans will never accept me. They will never accept the daughter of a fiend, or the Brave-killer.”
“Don’t you worry,” said Adlet. “I’ll figure something out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s a big world out there. I’ll find a place that’ll accept you.”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Fremy. “There’s no way you could.”
“You’re the one being stupid. Just who do you think I am? I’m Adlet, the strongest man in the world. You’re telling me I couldn’t manage to come up with one measly place you can call home?” Adlet understood that what he was saying was stupid. Far from defeating the Evil God, his allies were on the verge of being exterminated themselves. But first, he had to believe. If you don’t believe you can do it, you’ll never get anywhere , Adlet thought. “Do you think I’m just messing with you here? Do you think I’m an idiot? I don’t. I’ll do it. You can bet on it.…And that’s it. That’s how I feel.”
Fremy looked down, apparently thinking, for a long time. Adlet remembered what Hans had said. Fremy lives in darkness. 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.
That’s not true , thought Adlet. She’s not like that.
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.
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers, Vol. 1 Page 17