Gift From the Princess Who Brought Sleep

Prologue

Chapter 1—The Flower of the Plateau Bloomed in a Red Town

Scene 1——Scene 2——Scene 3

Chapter A

Schuburg Newspaper, 58th Edition

Chapter 2—Is the Blue Haired Marquis Santa Claus?

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4

Chapter B

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Chapter 3—The Green Flower Seeds Fluttered to Toragay

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4—Scene 5

Chapter C

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Chapter 4—The Widow, the Medicine, and the Poison

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4

Chapter D

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Chapter 5—An Unusual Event Visits With Expressionless Justice

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4—Scene 5

Chapter E

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Chapter 6—The Eternal Sorceress

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4—Scene 5—Scene 6—Scene 7

Chapter F

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Chapter 7—Gift from the Princess Who Brought Sleep

Scene 1—Scene 2—Scene 3—Scene 4

Schuburg Newspaper 64th Edition

Epilogue

Afterword

Bonus Story

This novel marks the third installment of the “Deadly Sins of Evil” series. As something that depicts the story of the Evillious region, put together with the “Daughter of Evil” series that makes seven in total, and if you add it to the other series that I wrote under a different company that makes ten full-length novels that I have written in all.

Even just writing this much, there’s quite a lot that I’ve got to write here in the afterword. The theme of this work is “Sloth”, or in other words, “laziness”, and “listlessness”. How about if I just not write the afterword out of laziness, in keeping with the theme? I guess I can’t do that. Right, sorry.

This time the story progresses sort of like a mystery novel. Though it’s only sort of like one. After all is said and done, it’s already clear from the song who the culprit is, and making an orthodox mystery story in a world where gods and magic and demons exist is not without its trials and tribulations.

It’s atmospheric. This is a mystery in atmosphere alone. Even so, I wrote this book with the intention of shocking my readers. I don’t know if it actually surprised anyone or not. What’s important is that that was my intention. Yes, it must have been.

The story of the “Princess Who brought Sleep” is fully covered in this novel, but as was suggested in the song movies the full story will continue into “Fifth, Pierrot”, which will come next. All of the foreshadowing remaining this time will be resolved there, I’m sure of it.

And there a great turning point will come for the sorceresses that have been present through the “Daughter of Evil” series and the “Deadly Sins of Evil” series. That is, the “Duel of Merrigod Plateau”, which is recorded in the timeline for the guidebooks and such. Now, I wonder what on earth will happen to these women?

…I’ve gotten sleepy as I’ve been writing this. Would it be alright if I brought this to a close around now? When I wake up I have to make the continuation of the movies…

Well then, let’s meet again in the next book.

 .

AkunoP (mothy)

“It...doesn’t seem likely that you want to change your face.”

I let Gatt into the shop, and put some kindling in the extinguished fireplace.

There were a number of small white dots on his shoulders. They immediately melted away with the heat from the fireplace.

Apparently it was snowing outside. It was no wonder that tonight felt so cold.

“After all, there’s no need to change your beautiful features at this point, right?”

I wasn't just being flattering, he truly did have a beautiful face. It almost made it feel like a waste for him to be forced into the likes of a boorish commissioned officer.

“Then what’s your business here today? Though I was actually thinking of closing up the shop already.”

"Hmph, the matter I have come for…”

Gatt seemed to pause there in hesitation, and then said, appearing to have steadied his resolve:　  

"I have been dispatched to retrieve the Venom Sword."

I didn't ask who had sent him. There was no one else who knew that it was in my possession, and was able to entrust Gatt with its retrieval—no one but Santa Claus.

Moreover, her sending Gatt here to me…that meant that now that "Fifth, Pierrot" was dead, Gatt had alone been contracted to take on the responsibility of assassinating all important persons related to Pere Noel.

In other words--

“She’s finished with me……That’s what you’re saying.”

“…I do portend of activities picking up in the near future.”

“The presidential election, yeah? She wants to have her affairs in order before then. That’s the gist of it, right? Most importantly, she wants to cut off any loose ends that might cause her trouble later.”　         

"Who can say? It is beyond myself to know the workings of her mind.”

I had a premonition. Even a sham fortuneteller like me could make a guess on what was going to happen. I only ever had power due to a contract with a "Demon of Deadly Sin". And there was no real need for the person wielding it to be me.

If she was inclined to, she could find any number of replacements for me.

And so it was clear that today, that time had finally come.

“So why are you telling me about this? Why expressly tell the person you intend to kill later that—“

“…You can thus determine my intent.”

Surely--he was trying to tell me to escape.

He was a deeply sweet man. But that was what made him frightening. How could he stay so pure, having cruelly murdered people?

Naturally, he had obtained from Santa Claus some means to kill me with. When I looked him over I saw a golden dagger hanging exposed on Gatt's waist belt.

I see, that’s the one from before…She’s already obtained it, hm?

In that case I had no chance to win this. My opponent was a highly skilled swordsman, and here I was just a lowly fortuneteller.

I could use the power of the demon...But then, he could do the same.

He would probably--

“On the morrow, I shall once again come to this place. Until then...Decide on your answer,” he said, quickly leaving from the shop.

Without a word of goodbye.

Well then...

I didn’t need to wait for tomorrow morning. I’d already decided on my answer.

I took up the Venom Sword, which I had left further on in the shop, and nimbly finished getting dressed.

I didn’t have very many things I needed to take with me. I could just get them again when necessary.

That would be an easy matter, as long as I had the power of a demon.

Santa Claus would likely send people after me, but even then as long as I had the Venom Sword it wouldn't be that difficult to get away from them.

Because I “could change faces”.

.

Snow had started falling regularly outside.

At this rate it would be completely piled up tomorrow morning.

The nativity festival would be held at the end of the year, and Santa Claus would hand out presents to all the children--

But I wouldn't be seeing the fallen snow in the town of Rollam, nor would I witness the nativity festival in person.

.

“Happy New Year,” I murmured.

.

I was speaking to myself. I wasn’t directing it at anyone.

But at those words, I finally came to bid farewell to myself as “Seventh, Magician”.

.

-End-

Survivors found in Toragay—Sir Puerick Rogzé Announces Research into Cause

It’s been confirmed that on November 15th surviving citizens were found in the town of Toragay, where it was thought all residents had perished to plague.

There are seventy two survivors. They had allegedly fled to the basement of the former Blankenheim Manor and waited out the illness.

Presently, the survivors are all receiving treatment at a hospital in Aceid.

Lucifenian pharmaceutical specialist Sir Puerick Rogzé said recently that he is working on studying the cause and developing a cure for this illness.

According to him, “I already have a lead”.

Toragay’s illness once seized Elphegort with anxiety and terror.

We can only wait for the invention of the new medicine for curing it.

.

Lady Aai To Be New Commander of the Freezis Foundation

Lady Aai Freezis, who has long served as proxy leader to the foundation, has been selected as the inheritor to foundation commander Shaw Freezis, who passed recently.

Lady Aai is the granddaughter of the late Shaw’s little sister, and with her abilities has contributed to the expansion of the foundation such as in the development of the new continent.

Her vice commanders have been chosen to be Sirs Nob Nicole and Bruno Marlon.

.

Serial Killings in Lucifenia—Is “Fifth, Pierrot” Announcing Further Crimes?

A series of killings targeting prostitutes has emerged in the town of Rolled in the Republic of Lucifenia.

The victims are already five in number, and unease has spread even to the neighboring country of Elphegort.

A letter sent to the Saintes Fauraux Newspaper of Lucifenia has become a current focus point regarding this matter.

The letter is signed by a “Fifth, Pierrot”, claiming ownership for the killings and declaring that these killings will continue a ways further yet.

It still hasn’t been determined that this letter is from the genuine criminal, however the World Police—

[the rest is omitted]

Of the land of Elphegort, one fourth of it was taken up by forest. The largest of these forests was the “Millenium Tree Forest” to the southwest. As the name implied, there had once been an enormous tree there that was called the Millennium Tree. The people worshipped it as a god, and it was known as a pilgrimage site for the disciples of the Held sect of the Levin faith.

But a terrible event occurred eighty years ago.

The Millennium Tree that had been the forest’s symbol suddenly withered and died.

When the nearby residents realized this, there was a great uproar; however, at the same time they had discovered a new large tree growing right beside it. The people then decided make that great tree a new target of their faith as the reincarnation of the Millennium Tree.

Sister Clarith, the founder of the Sisters of Clarith, had published this sermon in her last years:

“We all must honor the Millennium Tree. All people must protect this sacred tree, not just the followers of Held. For to us she is a most respected god, our most precious friend, and our most cherished love.”

It wasn’t something set in law. But it had become taboo to thoughtlessly touch the new Millennium Tree or damage it. Particularly as Held followers were terrified of losing their subject of worship again, they came to very rigidly safeguard the forest. A new church was founded by the forest’s entrance, and people who tried to enter were strictly inspected and restricted. That was certainly effective in protecting the Millennium Tree, but it also amounted to an annoyance for residents of the nearby village and a large portion of travelers.

The Sisters of Clarith started issuing a travel pass. You could enter the forest even without being inspected by the church at the entrance as long as you had it, but you needed to undergo a different examination in order to receive that pass, which was also extremely bothersome.

Elluka and Gumillia had travel passes (they had been given to them special by Sister Clarith herself during her life), but they’d long since expired. Thanks to that they’d kept their distance from the Millennium Tree lately.

Using an animal path that Egmont had told them about, they were able to successfully enter the forest without going by way of the main entrance. Elluka knew many other methods and back roads for getting in, but it seemed this path was the closest.

Eventually they came out into a clearing. Nearby the enormous tree that was growing in the heart of it was a visitor who’d gotten there first.

Puerick Rogzé. Unlike Elluka and Gumillia, he had come here using an official travel pass.

“Oh, I was waiting for you.  Miss Hanne—I was investigating a little until you got here.”

“Make yourself at home, Doctor…So then, what’s your opinion?”

“I can’t be certain without inspecting it more thoroughly with my tools at home, but…It does seem that this tree’s sap has extremely strong poison-counteracting properties.”

“Then you can make an antidote that will have an effect on the sixth ‘gift’ poison?”

“I can’t say. I still don’t know all the details on the sixth ‘gift’ in the first place. I wasn’t able to detect anything like it in the corpses at Toragay. –Only, I did find some peculiar antibody-like components in the blood of the survivors, so I’ve been looking into it with that as a foothold. If all goes well, I might be able to develop an antidote without having to go to the trouble of taking tree sap from the Millennium Tree.”

“Let’s hope so. The people in the Held sect aren’t likely to keep quiet if we end up continually damaging the Millennium Tree for the antidote.”

It wasn’t just Freezis Fairytales that were being sold in the black market held in Toragay. That white energy tonic that Egmont had purchased was another one of its products.

What it used as a primary ingredient was sap taken from the bark of the Millenium Tree. Strictly speaking, damaging the tree wasn’t against the law. It was just something the Held sect forbid on their own.

Despite that, naturally you couldn’t publicly sell Millennium Tree sap. If someone was discovered doing so they would incur the animosity of all the Held devotees in Elphegort.

“It’s fortunate that Egmont heard the ingredients from the seller,” Elluka murmured while touching the Millennium Tree’s trunk.

It seemed that Egmont was little more than a customer, unaware that Pere Noel was running the black market. He may have been a target for being cracked down on by the World Police despite that, but Elluka had no inclination to hand him over to them when he was the hero who saved Toragay. She wasn’t a reporter anymore, and Gumillia was no longer an officer.

“So, I will head back home for now. I plan to analyze this sap as soon as possible. …What do you two intend to do?”

“We—will stay here for a while. This forest is my girl here’s home,” Elluka replied, putting her hand on Gumillia’s head.

“Oh, I see. …Well then, take it easy.”

“Take care, Doctor. Try not to get caught by the people at the church.”

Elluka pointed to the bottle with the tree sap that Puerick was carrying.

“Oh yes, I know. I won’t let them confiscate my precious research subject without resistance,” Puerick said, walking towards the entrance to the forest.

“…What blockheads, ‘Pere Noel’,” Gumillia muttered as she watched Puerick leave. “To think, that the poison they made, would be cured by the medicine they made.”

“—Or maybe that was their aim all along.”

“…? What do you mean, Elluka?”

“They set loose a mysterious pathogen. The people are in a panic. But after a short time, a medicine that cures the disease is discovered. –But the only one who knows how to make it…”

“…Is ‘Pere Noel’.”

“Yes. They would have a monopoly on the cure. Think of the killing they’d have made if they’d managed to pull it off.”

“So then, the energy tonic Egmont bought, was the prototype, you mean?”

“Perhaps so. Maybe that was something that Shadow or Kaspar as ‘Second, Dealer’ had Margarita make in advance.”

Now that all three were dead, the truth was lost to them.

“Anyway…” Elluka once more put a hand on the great tree’s trunk. “Long time no see—Michaela.”

She spoke up to the Millennium Tree. When she did, a change began to occur.

The multiple layers of the bark on the trunk shifted, and finally created a small gap. It looked like a human mouth.

“…Honestly, what was with that geezer! Mercilessly scratching at a person’s---ah, no wait. A spirit’s—not that either. A god’s body! It’s inexcusable!”

The voice could be heard coming from the gap in the trunk.

Elluka and Gumillia were the only ones who could hear it. It was the voice of the Millennium Tree—or rather, the inheritor of the great land god Held, Michaela.

Michaela was a former spirit, and had also been once reborn into a human by Elluka. She had been felled with an assassin’s dagger a hundred years ago, and lost her life. After that, she had been chosen as a successor by the Millennium Tree—the land god Held—after he’d carried out his life span, and then finally been reborn as the new Millennium Tree.

“It can’t be helped, Michaela. It’s to save, people’s lives,” Gumillia said, trying to pacify her best friend as a fellow former spirit.

“Oh ho. I guess, yeah, people’s lives huh? Even though you got so ticked off at me when I extended Shaw’s life. But using Millennium Tree sap to save people is alright, huh? Wow,” Michaela griped with a sulking tone.

Shaw Freezis had once been tormented by a fear of dying of old age. He had begged Elluka to tell him how to become immortal, but she had refused him.

Though, Elluka’s immortality was an incidental side-effect of the “Sin”, and so it wasn’t something she could cause in the first place.

And there, as a last entreaty to god, Shaw had prayed to the Millennium Tree—in other words, Michaela—for immortality.

When Michaela had been human, she had worked under Shaw’s father, Keel Freezis, and so knew Shaw when he was little.

She sympathized with Shaw. She had listened to Shaw’s wish, and using her powers as god tried to make Shaw perpetually youthful.

But as an inexperienced god Michaela wasn’t able to do such a thing, and so couldn’t make him ageless as per Shaw’s wish. Even so, Shaw had gained a much longer lifespan than the average person.

Later on, once Elluka found out what she’d done, she’d been enraged at Michaela.

This was because gods weren’t supposed to interfere in human society unless absolutely necessary—a rule that Held had obstinately upheld, and Michaela as his successor had completely broken.

That was one of the reasons why Elluka had stopped visiting the forest much.

Gods were forbidden from intervention with humans—and in that case, what did that mean for using her tree sap?

“Well…how about we just put that in the purview of human intelligence, hm?” was all Elluka could reply. “Counteracting a poison created using the power of a ‘demon’ with the power of a ‘god’—I don’t see a problem in that.”

“Hah… Still as big a burden as ever, those ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’.” A gentle breeze issued from Michaela’s mouth. “You stiiiill haven’t gotten all of them? Good grief, you’ve gotta step it up, Elluka.”

“Tch…You got real cheeky the moment you became a god. My incompetent former apprentice.”

Elluka prodded Michaela’s trunk with all her strength.

But Michaela calmly replied, “That doesn’t huuurt.”

“I would think not.”

“So then, what actually happened? From beginning to end.”

“…The ‘Red Cat Sorceress’. I told you about her before, yes?”

“Yeah, she’s the one who was manipulating the girl who killed me and her mother.”

“There’s that, yes. That sorceress has been active again recently. If she’s following her usual pattern then she’ll have several ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’.”

“She’s quite spectacular, unlike you, Ellukaaa. This ‘Red Cat Sorceress’ I mean.”

“Oh shut up…So, we were tracking down someone who seemed to be her…but unfortunately it was a fake. In the end we couldn’t find any vessels either.”

“A fake, huh? So then you’re saying you were completely deceived.”

Deceived…hm.

Elluka had taken on a different name and fooled the whole world herself, yet she had still been deceived by someone else.

“We…everyone…was deceived.”

That was what Marx had said at his moment of death.

--Who in the world had he been deceived by?

--Who did he mean when he said “we”?

“You’ve been completely fooled anyway.”

Shadow had said that.

That was what she’d replied when Elluka mentioned that Margarita had contracted with a demon.

“I haven’t made any contracts. I’m me. From the moment I was born, I’ve always been myself.”

Those were Margarita’s words.

Elluka had thought she was trying to obfuscate matters. Or maybe someone else had gotten her to contract without her intent. There had in the past been some contractors of that pattern.

But—supposing that wasn’t the case.

.

Marx’s words.

Shadow’s words.

Margarita’s words.

A human who didn’t sleep.

A doll they couldn’t find.

Kaspar’s face which had so resembled someone else’s.

Margarita Blankenheim’s face.

The Phantom Thief Platonic’s face.

Eve Zvesda’s face.

And—the doll’s face.

.

Various things suddenly raced through Elluka’s mind.

When they melted, swirling together into one--

Elluka finally arrived at a single answer.

Impossible...The Sleep Princess...The true meaning of that...Her real identity--

“—-Elluka. Hey,

Elluka!

” Michaela was calling Elluka’s name.

There was a bit of anxiety in her tone.

“I can sense someone. Someone’s come here—It’s…that’s…”

Michaela was astonished. And Gumillia’s eyes opened wide.

But Elluka wasn’t surprised.

She’d said that, hadn’t she? “I’ll go to the forest”.

And that had been this Millennium Tree Forest.

.

“—-It seems we have met again, hm, Miss Elluka?”

Standing there was the woman who had died, Margarita Blankenheim.

“...Such an awful sight.”

Elluka gazed at the now-ghost town of Toragay in stupefaction.

The town was dead silent.

But that wasn’t because it was currently nighttime.

If she were to pick any home and head inside, she would probably find the residents all scattered around in an eternal sleep.

Should she call this a tragedy?

Or should she be grateful that the damage didn’t extend to any other towns?

…No, I can’t be off my guard yet.

The sixth “gift”—it was possible that there were still people infected with it left remaining.

If even one of them had managed to survive, and were able to slip by the police and leave Toragay--

Then the number of victims would spread from that once more.

Until all of humanity was put to sleep.

“-Cough-“

Elluka held her flank, where some pain still lingered.

--“Sixth, Venom”. After she’d been stabbed by him, Elluka had been carried off to a hospital in Aceid by Gumillia. The wound had been so grave that if the coachman hadn’t been pushing the horses as fast as he possibly could, she likely wouldn’t have made it.

Should she be grateful that her life had been saved?

Or despair that they were unable to find a means to save Toragay thanks to all the time it took for her to recover from her injury?

.

“Sorry, to keep you waiting.” Gumillia drew closer to Elluka’s side.

“You’ve done well. So, how was it?”

Gumillia had been investigating in Elluka’s stead, as she still couldn’t move sufficiently yet.

“Well…I searched, Shadow’s mansion again, but it seems the ‘doll’, wasn’t inside, after all. I don’t know, if it’s been taken away, or if it wasn’t there in the first place…”

They still hadn’t found the proof that Margarita had made a contract with a “demon” —the “doll” that was a Vessel of Deadly Sin. She’d assumed it was hidden in Shadow’s mansion, but it seems she’d been off the mark.

“Furthermore—“

Gumillia continued her report.

“Margarita’s corpse, has also vanished.”

“…Maybe ‘Sixth, Venom’ took it away.”

They’d been beaten.

Elluka and her apprentice had lost.

Against Pere Noel.

Against its leader, “First, Santa Claus”—the red cat sorceress.

And against the Sleep Princess.

But she had no intention of letting it end here.

They might have lost all of their leads, but they had to search for their foes, no matter what.

--No, I suppose we haven’t lost all of our leads.

There was Bruno. He was connected to Pere Noel.

But in order to approach him directly they would need to go on the offensive against both the World Police and the Freezis Foundation itself.

We’ve a lot of preparations we’ll have to make--

But they absolutely had to.

They needed to cross this turning point in their lives and start heading towards the end.

Even so—no, because of that even—they couldn’t afford to just stand around.

“Thank you, Gumillia. Well then let’s get—“

“Wait. One more thing.”

“What is it?”

“’Julia Abelard’.”

“…That’s the name Shadow was using. What of it?”

“There is another woman, with the same, name. A noble, in Lucifenia.”

“—What?”

Shadow had said it.

That she wasn’t the “Red Cat Sorceress”, “First, Santa Claus”, or—“Julia Abelard”.

If a real “Julia Abelard” existed, then surely this woman had to be—

“I understand, Gumillia. In either case, we have to investigate more deeply into this…’Pere Noel’. So then our next destination has been decided.”

“…”

“Let’s go, to Lucifenia.”

“Yes, Elluka.”

.

“Hold up!”

There was someone who called out to Elluka and Gumillia, stopping them as they started to leave town.

It was the coachman from before. Though they’d stopped him many times, in the end he had forcefully accompanied the two of him here.

The moment they got inside Toragay he’d headed for his home. And now he had returned to them.

“…What’s wrong?”

She could guess the answer, though. The way things were, then surely his mother was like the others--

“It’s not…It’s not anywhere.”

“—Huh?”        

“It wasn’t in the house, and I searched around nearby, but—my ma’s corpse isn’t anywhere. No, not just Mom—other people’s corpses too. Feels like there are a whole lot less of them than I thought there’d be. There are several people I knew that I can’t find…”

…What did this mean?

Could it be that—

“Wait a moment…I hear, something.” Gumillia said, cupping a hand to her ear and listening.

Elluka strained to hear it too.

--There was something alright.

It was very faint, albeit.

But a voice from somewhere.

“That way.”

Gumillia pointed in a certain direction.

The building that stood there--

“Let’s head there…to the Blankenheim manor.”

.

The lock was broken.

When the three of them went inside, they could more clearly hear the voice that had been so quiet before.

“…It’s coming from the basement.”

Elluka, the coachman, and Gumillia quickly headed for the stairs and descended downwards.

The voice gradually grew louder yet. It wasn’t just one person. Many voices were echoing up from below.

And when she got all the way there and opened the door, what Elluka saw was—

“—Hey, someone’s shown up!”

“Huh, what!? Are they infected?”

“I dunno. It’s some woman in a weird robe.”

“Maybe the rescue party’s arrived?”

“I don’t think so. They don’t look like police. Oy, you lot, who the hell—“

From a rough glance, there might have been about fifty people there. These citizens had been living here in this basement, crowded together in such a narrow space.

Obviously, none of them had fallen to sleep.

--They were all alive.

“Hey, make way!”

She could see someone parting the crowd of people towards them.

“Oh, what’s this? It is you after all. Your hair color’s different so I didn’t get it right away, but…That you, Hanne?”

“--! Ms. Brigitt—“

“Maaaaaaaaaaa!”

The coachman was the one that cried out. He hugged Brigitta and then collapsed to his knees, bawling.

“Thank goodness…you’re still alive…I thought you were…gone for sure…”

“Good grief…a grown man crying like a baby. There’s nothing more pathetic,” Brigitta said, her eyes also glistening somewhat.

“Ms. Brigitta…Thank goodness. But how are you safe--?”

As Elluka asked her question, Brigitta’s expression became a little bit darker as she answered, “We’re not safe. Everyone’s been fairly on the verge of death.  The survivors who realized it was a plague all fled to the basement of the largest building in town, this mansion.”

That was likely a last ditch struggle to keep the infection from spreading further.

“But even here, several people have died. We had people who had already caught the disease with us. …For a while there, we were all preparing to die here.”

“But everyone here is still alive.”

“That’s thanks to him,” Brigitta said, and gestured farther into the basement.

Standing there was another figure that was familiar to both Elluka and Gumillia.

“Mr. Egmont…”

The owner of the La Bula pharmacy. When Elluka called to him, he seemed to realize who they were and leisurely moved closer.

“Hey hey, what’s with the creepy getup? –Including that officer over there.”

“Well, things happen…Are you the one who saved everyone here?”

“By chance. As a last struggle I started randomly testing all the medicine in my shop. And then—I discovered just one drug that seemed to have an effect.”

“And…what drug is that?”

“This, although there isn’t much left.”

Egmont took out a small bottle filled with a white, clouded liquid.

“…You’re kidding me, this is…”

“Indeed. The drug you bought from me that one time. Who’d have thought a mere energy tonic would have an effect on a pathogen. I was stunned.”

So was she. A medicine that could cure an illness brought about by the calamity of a “demon”—what in the world was in that stuff?

--Puerick Rogzé, who had developed the antidote that cured the Gula disease…he was a normal person too.

Maybe they didn’t need “sorceresses” to vanquish “demons” after all. Human ingenuity itself was what was most important for averting tragedy--

--Maybe it really is time for me to retire.

Bearing all that in mind.

As she felt relief that there were survivors, Elluka found herself growing quickly irate at something else.

What “Toragay in Ruins”!? The World Police and the Newspaper barely investigated…Honestly, I was right to quit after all.

At any rate, finding these people had lit a faint light in Elluka’s once depressed heart.

This white liquid…the drug that cured “gift”--

“Hey, this drug…What exactly is it made of?”

“…Ah, well, that’s a bit tricky.”

Egmont seemed to clam up at Elluka’s question.

“Tell me. The threat that ‘gift’—that the pathogen poses hasn’t completely gone away. We have to prepare for it and establish a manufacturing method—"

“…No, that’s, uh…it’s not really, uh, right to talk about here.”

“—Did you do something shady to get it?”

“N-n-n-no of course no—“

“Tell me! People’s lives are at stake!” Elluka threatened.

Egmont shrunk back from her. “Th-that’s enough! I’ll—I’ll tell you already!”

“Then what is it made of?”

“Hah…This medicine’s primary ingredient…that would be—“

The diva Rin Chan was neither locked inside a cell nor was she bound with rope.

It looked like she’d just been living there in the basement normally. The room wasn’t locked, so if she had the inclination to leave she could presumably have done so at any time. But she hadn’t.

Yet despite whatever circumstances she had, she showed no sign of animosity towards Elluka and Gumillia, and made no move to swoop on them. So apparently she wasn’t an ally of “Pere Noel”.

“Are you going to help me out of this? Thank you very much,” Rin Chan said, demurely expressing her gratitude.

What surprised Elluka was that her face greatly resembled another historical figure.

Riliane Lucifen d’Autriche…The Lucifenian princess who had become the cause of the Lucifenian Revolution one hundred years earlier…Rin Chan was the spitting image of her.

It seemed almost inevitable that whenever some incident involving the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” occurred, people who resembled figures from her past made an appearance. Margarita and Kaspar Blankenheim had also had identical faces to certain people who had lived long ago.

Kyle Marlon, Karchess Crim...Blue haired men who’d been involved with the Lucifenian Revolution and the Venomania Event, respectively. But starting with Kaspar they had all been related to the Marlon royal family, and so it was possible that it was just due to simple genetics. Even if they looked far too similar for just that.

--To tell the truth, Elluka had known one other man who resembled those figures. It was much, much farther back than either of them…A man who had lived in the Magic Kingdom. Elluka had never met him directly. She had only seen what he looked like on the television, a device that existed back in the Magic Kingdom.

Adam Moonlit. The man who had been the one in charge of the first project “Ma”, and also Eve Moonlit’s beloved. Perhaps she could investigate someday into his connection with the Marlon line.

Perhaps Rin Chan also had some blood relation to Riliane. …Well, that didn’t matter now. Gumillia knew about Riliane too. That must have been the reason that Gumillia had been following after this girl, who looked so much like her.

“Come, let’s go. We’ll send you, to Rolled,” Gumillia said, holding her hand out to Rin Chan.

But Rin Chan shook her head with some slight hesitation.

“Um…If it’s not too much trouble, could you perhaps take me somewhere else instead? For various reasons I don’t really want to go back to Rolled anymore. Or sing either, since...I’ve already been exposed as a lip-syncer…”

“What!?”

For the first time, Elluka saw a blatant expression of unrest on Gumillia’s face unlike she’d ever seen before.

“This can’t be…a lip-syncer…Rin Chan is…a lip-syncer…even though…I…believed in her.”

She didn’t know why it was such a big deal, but it seemed to be a pretty considerable shock.

It was too bad for Gumillia, but they really didn’t have time to get worked up over it.

“Well…Let’s drop her off near Aceid for now. We have to rush to Toragay, don’t we, Gumillia?”

“Y…yeah.”

That coachman would be waiting for them at the town entrance.

--How should they explain things to him?

Elluka was wrapped up with thoughts of what to do after this point.

Gumillia was still trying to regain her composure from the impact that Rin Chan was a lip-syncer.

…Because of that, neither of them were able to realize—

--There was one other person concealed in that room.

.

“…Huh?”

Elluka stood still. She wasn’t able to grasp immediately what had happened to her body.

…A long blade was sticking out of her stomach.

A sword.

Someone had stabbed her from behind.

“—You~ are wanting in caution~ Lady Elluka Clockworker.”

That wasn’t Rin Chan.

Naturally it wasn’t Gumillia either.

But she’d heard that voice and that manner of speaking before.

“Wh…y are…you…here…?”

Mustering up her strength, Elluka turned around. The owner of the sword had his face covered up with a cloth, and so she couldn’t see what he looked like.

The librarian of the former royal library—The man that had directed Elluka towards going to Toragay.

“Bastard!”

Gumillia fired her gun at him. But he rapidly pulled his sword from Elluka’s body and caught the flash of light with the side of the blade, sending it flying.

“The name I do wear is ‘Sixth, Venom’—And I have vanquished Elluka Clockworker here, in the residence of the mayor of Calgaround!”

Gumillia fired the gun several times. One of the flashes grazed Venom’s face, tearing away the cloth that had been covering it.

His long purple hair tumbled free from the cloth.

Venom then took a step back and put one foot on the stairs.

“Fare thee well!”

And with those parting words, he sprinted up the stairs.

Gumillia holstered her gun and rushed to Elluka’s side.

Deep red blood was oozing from her flank.

“Ghuh…”

Rin Chan was frozen in shock in the corner of the room.

I guess this Venom wasn’t just…an accomplice.

.

Elluka was immortal, but certainly not invincible.

She would burn if put to fire, and if she was stabbed—she could die.

Elluka fell face down on the spot, and then lay still.

“…Haah. Maybe I ought to retire soon, huh?”

Elluka was sulking. It was true that her apprentice had solved everything, but she was really feeling her limits at being unable to get in a solid hit against not even the “Red Cat Sorceress” but a mere underling.

“Look…it’s a full moon, tonight,” Gumillia said as though to smooth things over.

It was certainly true that a sorceress’ power could be used to its fullest when the moon was full, but Shadow and Elluka were in the same position. Gumillia’s true power was overwhelming, to where it seemed hardly related to the waxing and waning of the moon. It had been over a hundred years since she had become Elluka’s apprentice—it seemed she’d raised her well to this point, though she had hardly given her any training.

“Maybe you should do everything else after this, Gumillia. And let this old woman go home to take a nap, hmph!” Elluka said, deliberately looking the other way.

“Don’t say that…Margarita, is still, remaining. We must stop her…”

“—That’s right. Like you said, it’s a full moon tonight. The demon’s power will be at its strongest too. …I feel like it’ll be alright, with you here, the way you are now. At any rate, let’s brace ourselves!”

Her words were less to cheer up Gumillia than herself.

If they were to believe what Shadow told them, Margarita was on the second floor. But then, despite all the pandemonium they (chiefly Gumillia) caused on the first floor, there was no sign of her coming down to see what was happening. So it seemed they would have to go see her themselves.

Elluka and Gumillia carefully climbed the stairs to the second floor.

.

With no illumination or lighting, the second floor was pitch-black. Elluka and Gumillia moved along slowly to keep from stumbling.

Eventually, they saw a faint light. It was coming from the room farthest in. They fumbled for the doorknob and quietly opened it.

That room wasn’t furnished with lamps either. Only the flame of a candle on a desk further inside made the silhouette of the figure there pop out.

Green hair in pigtails—Without a doubt, it was Margarita. She seemed to be wrapped up in something, to the extent where she hadn’t noticed them entering the room. She looked to be making something, facing the desk.

There were deep gashes on her right wrist; blood was flowing from there and trickling down to the ground. From the looks of it, they were wounds she’d made herself. There was a blood-stained knife on the desk, and a clear bottle filled with a red liquid next to it. At long intervals she would pour the liquid inside the bottle into a flat dish before her eyes. She then next poured in a different liquid, and mixed them with a pestle rod.

It was no wonder that no matter how Elluka and the World Police had searched, they hadn’t been able to find the poison, from neither the victim’s bodies nor the Blankenheim mansion. She had always wondered where it had been hidden, but it was a trivial matter.

--It was always there. The blood flowing in Margarita’s body was the poisonous ingredient that they couldn’t detect.

She was hiding the poison in her own body. The third “gift” that Shadow had brought her—she didn’t know how exactly, but Margarita had taken that in and had changed it into her own blood. Or, perhaps that had been done by the power of the “demon” that she had contracted with.

Using her own blood as a basis, Margarita was periodically creating new “gift”s.

Why would she do such a thing? –No, she could imagine the gist of that now.

Elluka felt a little bit of sympathy for the circumstances she had been placed in, and her condition. But in spite of that, she couldn’t forgive her for trying to grant her wish by getting innocent people wrapped up in this.

“Margarita.”

Elluka called out her name. When she did, Margarita finally stopped working, noticing her intruders.

“Oh...Miss Hanne.”

When she turned around, Margarita smiled, no sign of unrest in her. She didn’t seem to pay any attention to the fact that Elluka’s hair and eye color was different, or that Gumillia was behind her.

“Stop this already,” Elluka said to Margarita.

“Stop what?”

“This ‘gift’ that you’re creating. You can’t just keep making it when it causes disaster for so many people. What you need to make is something else. Not a medicine to put people to sleep, but one to wake them up--the antidote to ‘gift’.”

Even if they killed her here, there was no guarantee it would fix the damage to Toragay. Their final hope was to get the woman who had created it to make them an antidote.

But Margarita shook her head, as though she didn’t understand what Elluka was saying.

“Why? I don’t need to make any antidote. Because everyone—everyone is happy. Inside sleep, everyone forgets the pains and troubles of living. Unpleasant reality, unrequited feelings. Inside a dream, everyone can forget them. That’s why I made it. The ‘gift’. This sleep medicine. I am—yes, I am the Sleep Princess. The one who will make everyone sleep. The woman who will become everyone’s hope. The woman who sought out h—”

“Be quiet!”

Elluka shouted at Margarita, cutting off her speech.

“What happiness!? What hope!? This is nothing more than your own ego. You just want to sleep yourself. Maybe the “Red Cat Sorceress” did this to you, but—with this medicine you made to finally make yourself sleep, you’re dragging other people into this. …Maybe you can’t realize this yourself, but you’ve gone completely insane. Your spirit has been eaten away by your contract with a demon.”

“A contract with a demon? …There you go talking about that again,” Margarita giggled. “I haven’t made any contracts. I am me. From the moment I was born, I’ve always been myself. There are things I’ve forgotten, but even those I’ve begun to remember, little by little. For example, when it comes to you—You are Hanne Lorre. But not just that. You bear other names as well. I remembered that. You’re ‘Elluka Clockworker’. And you’re ‘Lukana Octo’.”

“Wha!?”

Shadow had also realized Elluka’s true self. So it wasn’t strange that Margarita would know that, with the two of them being friends as they were.

--But, how did the name “Lukana Octo” come up? How did Margarita know about the woman who was the original owner of Elluka’s current body? Lukana had already died close to 450 years ago, so why--?

Margarita continued speaking, indifferent to Elluka’s confusion.

“You’ve been alive for several centuries now. Haven’t you ever thought it was painful? Haven’t you ever thought that you were tired of it all? –It’s alright. That’s just the way humans are. I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep today either. I want to become human. I want to be able to sleep like a normal human being. You want that too, don’t you? Then--let’s drink it together. Let’s drink this together.”

Margarita moved the liquid in the dish on the desk into a new glass bottle, and then tried holding it out to Elluka.

It was a green liquid, the same color as her hair.

“I’ve just finished it. This is the final product. The last ‘gift’. To me this is my last beloved child. And it will grant both you and I a most pleasant, wonderful sleep.”

“No way. I still have a mountain of work that I need to be awake for.”

“Pulling all-nighters isn’t good for the body, is it? You’re no spring chicken anymore—you need to know when to call it quits.”

“That’s none of your concern.”

“Well, that’s alright. If you’re not going to drink it, then I will—“

--There was no time to stop her.

Margarita tipped the liquid inside the small bottle she was holding in her hands directly into her mouth.

“Wh—Stop! Spit that out right now!”

Margarita collapsed on the spot. Elluka hurriedly picked her up in her arms.

She needed Margarita to make an antidote. There was no way to do that if she died here.

She hit Margarita’s back several times. But she didn’t spit up the drug.

“Ah, this is it...My child is so wonderful...This is a very efficacious medicine...To the point where I’ll be able to sleep forever...”

“No! You can’t...You can’t go yet!”

In defiance of Elluka’s wishes, Margarita’s eyes grew progressively emptier.

“With this…I too will finally…be able to sleep…Ah…I remember…I remember everything…He’s…waiting for me…I’ll go right now…to be by his side…I’ll go…to the fore…”

“Don’t go! Don’t sleep! –Don’t escape! Margarita!”

Elluka continued to beat on Margarita’s back.

And through it all, she closed her eyes and stopped moving completely.

.

“...Elluka. She’s already...”

Gumillia put a hand on Elluka’s shoulder.

At that, Elluka quietly laid Margarita’s corpse on the floor, chewing her lip.

Margarita breathed her last as though she was sleeping.

Like the other people that she had killed.

The sleep princess had become the sleeping princess.

“...”

Elluka stood up, and stood there there silently for a moment.

“Elluka...”

“…Let’s return to Toragay, Gumillia. There’s still some hope. Maybe with Margarita’s death, the pathogen—the sixth ‘gift’ will have lost its potency. ‘Gift’ isn’t necessarily like the Gula disease. Shadow might have been bluffing.”

“—And, if that’s not the case?”

“…We’ll just do what we can, we have no other choice. Come on, let’s go.”

“Okay…Ah—wait a second.”

Gumillia stopped Elluka as she moved to leave the room.

“What?”

“I have to, save Rin Chan too…”

“…Right, the other matter that you were pursuing—she’s in the basement, right? Alright, let’s go wrap that up first. Quickly.”

Elluka and Gumillia went down to the first floor, and from there headed for the stairs to the basement.

It had begun to rain.

It had been raining like this when she came here around two months ago too. Although the rain was more intense today than back then, with no sign of letting up.

If the sky had been clear, they might have been able to see the splendid full moon.

But there was no time to pay mind to that. They had to find Margarita as fast as they could.

“I hope she’s here…”

Elluka and Gumilia descended from the carriage, and looked up at the red building before their eyes.

If they should fail, there wasn’t anything they could do about it this time. For now they could do nothing but pray that their reasoning was on the mark.

There wasn’t a spare moment to go over Calgaround with a fine-tooth comb. The red clothing—relying on just that commonality, Elluka and Gumillia were standing before the mansion of Calgaround’s mayor, Julia Abelard.

“You should head back to the entrance of town for now,” Elluka said to the coachman, looking upon him with worry. “We—Yes, if over two hours go by and we haven’t come back, get out of town immediately.”

“I wish you well in your battle…although I don’t really understand what’s going on still.”

“You don’t need to. You should stay quiet on having brought us here too.”

“In any case…good luck.”

“Thank you.”

After watching the carriage leave, Elluka and Gumillia opened the door to the mansion.

It wasn’t locked.

“—Welcome, come right in.”

Julia Abelard was there to greet them. She didn’t look surprised. It seemed she had anticipated for a while that the two of them would be coming there.

“We don’t have time. Answer me honestly.” Elluka gazed directly at Julia’s face. “Miss Margarita Blankenheim. Is she in this house?”

“...Yes. Margarita’s on the second floor. She’s there to work on her last task.”

“—I thought so. You’re the sorceress who was conning everyone with that name...‘Elluka Clockworker’. If I’d known that at the beginning, I could have finished this without taking such a detour.”

“Life is a procession of detours, Miss Hanne Lorre...Or rather—Miss Elluka Clockworker.” Julia grinned broadly.

“--! ...You knew. You knew that I was the real Elluka.”

“Oh yes, of course. That’s why I directed you to go to Toragay.”

“...And that librarian was your accomplice as well, wasn’t he?”

“I wanted to see if you could figure out Margarita’s true identity. ...You’ve let me down, Miss Elluka. I thought you’d be able to arrive at the truth much faster than this.”

Julia let out a disappointed sigh. Seeing that, Elluka shot back, irritated, “You’re just being a sore loser. Even I noticed there was something fishy about Margarita. But I didn’t have proof. Without any clear evidence that she was someone who had contracted with a ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’, I couldn’t just make a move on her at random.”

“‘Contractor’? Margarita?”

“Isn’t that the case? She’s been putting the people of her town to sleep using the power of the demon in the vess—”

“Haaah...What a letdown. You...don’t know anything at all,” Julia sighed again.

“And just what is it you’re saying I don’t know!?”

“All of it, all of it. I didn’t do anything to lead you astray but you’ve been completely fooled anyway. …She had told me to let you into Pere Noel, but I won’t. There’s no way you have the required skill.”

“…So Pere Noel is wrapped up in this after all.”

“Yes…Yes. I am the leader of ‘Pere Noel’, ‘First, Santa Claus’. The late Kaspar was ‘Second, Dealer’. Margarita…I suppose I’d call her, ‘Third, Sleep Princess’. …Would you be satisfied with that answer?”

“Why was Kaspar killed? Was there some internal struggle in the organization?”

“Margarita did that on her own…But, well. He was breaking the organization’s rules, and tried to hog all the profits for the black market for himself. I certainly couldn’t let that slide. So I gave Margarita ‘gift’. She’d asked for it.”

“That…red liquid.”

The item that Julia had left in the inn. But judging from her tone, that wasn’t something that she’d forgotten by accident.

“Oh, so you properly noticed that, did you? I’m so glad you found my hint. That was the third ‘gift’, which I made—but that was just a dud, one that didn’t serve any purpose on its own. Margarita skillfully improved upon it, and with that made the fourth ‘gift’.”

“She killed Kaspar and Marx with that, right?”

“She only killed Kaspar with the fourth ‘gift’. For Marx she made the fifth ‘gift’. Although it seems that didn’t do the job as well. Her refinement of it actually weakened its effects, paradoxically.”

That was likely why Marx didn’t immediately die, then.

“Through that failure, Margarita pushed on and created the sixth ‘gift’. It’s a most marvelous thing. There’s no need to have the victim drink it. The contagion spreads through the air, and then one by one guides people to a sleep-like death--she’s magnificently created a pandemic that exceeds even the ‘Gula Disease’!”

The Gula Disease—that was a miraculous pathogen that once spread throughout Evillious, and drove many people to their deaths. It was an illness deemed incurable until recently when Puerick Rogzé invented a cure for it.

“…I’ll eradicate such a thing immediately.”

“You think so? Is that even something you can do? In the end you couldn’t even do anything about the Gula Disease—the illness released by the ‘Vessel of Gluttony’--right? You couldn’t protect Arth or Anne from it.”

"--Don't you dare speak their names."

Right then even Gumillia beside her could hear Elluka grinding her teeth. Arth and Anne…They were her old friends, who she’d been unable to save. It was a memory that left a deep shadow on her heart even now.

As though to ridicule Elluka’s irritation, Julia continued to speak.

"You've realized it now, haven't you? The sixth ‘gift’ won’t go away even if you kill Margarita. Just like the Gula Disease, it will remain as an infectious illness—and continue to kill people.”

"…Grr."

"And that's not all. Margarita is currently trying to create a seventh 'gift'. And by dawn, when she has it complete--What will happen then? Maybe it will destroy humanity, hahaha.”

"--I won't let her finish it."

Elluka prepared to unleash a spell.

--But Gumillia spoke up before she could.

"…Is 'Fifth, Pierrot', here?" she asked, looking calm.

"Ah…Yes, that's right, Gumillia. You were pursuing him, weren't you? –But unfortunately, 'Fifth, Pierrot' has already returned home. But if you're looking for the girl he was taking with him, she's in the basement. Feel free to let her go once you’ve defeated me.”

“I thought so a while back, but you have been, very talkative.”

“Heheh, it’s fine. This is the time of question-and-answer that I’ve been eagerly waiting for. Not to mention, you—"

"'You won't be able, to tell anyone. Because you'll, die here!'--That's what you mean, to say?"

“…Correct.”

After saying so, Julia also made the same gesture as Elluka.

But what rose up from her two hands was not wind.

It was the same color as her clothing. A crimson fire.

“Gumillia, step aside.”

Elluka pushed Gumillia out of the way and released a tornado from her hand.

The tornado grew in intensity, heading straight for Julia as it encompassed the wood on the floor and the furniture around them.

Gazing at the sight, Julia sent her own flames towards the tornado without making any sign of alarm.

If they were normal flames they would probably have been snuffed out by the tornado in an instant.

But the flames that Julia unleashed changed shape as though they had a will of their own, taking on the form of a large serpent. The fire snake wrapped around the tornado as though to capture it, and it was completely negated.

“…!”

Elluka certainly hadn’t seen that coming. If Julia was indeed the same “Red Cat Sorceress” from before, then she had fought her in the past. At the time Elluka had both been taken by surprise and under attack by her underlings, and so she’d been effectively defeated.

So this time she had created a tornado with her full magical power right from the start.

Frankly, she had intended to settle this with one blow.

“Hmph…A spell that controls wind—Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, a spell that turns nature into your own power by manipulating it. You could display that strength to the fullest in a forest or above an ocean. However…Seems it doesn’t work so well inside a house like this,” Julia analyzed Elluka’s magic with an air of calm. Next she turned to Gumillia. “The former spirit here has the same sort of power, yes?”

Gumillia made no reply. But Elluka knew. As a former forest spirit, Gumillia was much more dependent on their surrounding environment than Elluka. She may have been at her strongest if they were battling in a forest, but in a town like this her power dropped dramatically.

In that case—

Elluka suddenly started to sing.

A beautiful melody flowed from her lips.

A “spell song”—That was the strongest among all of the magical techniques that Elluka used, her so-called special technique.

By putting magical energy in a song, she was able to draw out the effect of her spells several times over. As it simultaneously increased their burden on the body it wasn’t something to be used lightly, but this wasn’t such a situation where that caution would apply.

Normally, the magical energy that the song carried would gradually well up inside her body.

However—

…That’s odd. My magic isn’t overflowing in the least.

With this she was just some weirdo singing in front of an enemy.

Elluka stopped singing.

Julia grinned widely watching her.

“Heheheh—If you’re a sorceress yourself, naturally you must know. Using high-grade magic requires some degree of preparation. This is my house, so you two have had no opportunity at all to do anything of the sort. But…That’s not so for me. I’ll say it again, this is my house!”

As Julia cried out, writing stood out against the walls of the mansion. They were carved symbols that gave off black light, closely packed against the red walls.

“Let me say up front that you can’t use ‘spell songs’. They’re sealed by these carvings. In here, no matter how much you sing it won’t grant you any power! –So, with these odds I might win even if it’s two against one, hahahahaha.”

So then, knowing what methods Elluka and Gumillia had on them, she had beaten them to the punch.

“Come then…Be burned to cinders.”

Julia once more shot fire from her hands. The flames were several times bigger than the ones before, and reached even to the ceiling.

Although there was no sign of the ceiling burning from those flames.

“Relax. These fires won’t burn down the mansion. I can’t afford to let Margarita get charred to a crisp. These are flames that only burn people. …In other words, these are flames that will only kill you two!”

This was bad. There was no way to ward off those flames inside like this.

They could run outside—no, Julia wouldn’t let that slide. The entrance must have been sealed with magic the moment Elluka and Gumillia walked in the door.

She had no option but to summon up a wind once more. But…Would she be able to overcome such enormous flames? What should she do, unable to use spell songs and only left with magical techniques that had declined from what they used to be--

Her foe was not kind enough to wait for Elluka to think things over.

Before she knew it, Julia’s flames were advancing before her eyes.

…Ah, I’m in deep trouble—I might die here.

Elluka might have had an immortal body (albeit that had come into doubt lately), but that certainly didn’t mean she was invincible. It would hurt her to be cut by a sword, and naturally if she got burned up by fire it would be farewell to this world.

How half-baked of the “Sin”. I wish that I could have been made invincible while it was making me immortal. If so then I could have been as reckless as I wanted, and might have looked for the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” faster—Oh enough. There’s no point in me making such unsightly excuses right before I die.

There was no time for her to struggle by raising a wind. The flames had already reached the tip of Elluka’s nose.

Elluka steadied her resolve and closed her eyes.

--The fire didn’t burn Elluka’s clothing or skin.

Literally, it had all been washed clean. There was a large hole in the wall, and the rain pouring in from it was gathering up into a turbid stream and extinguishing Julia’s fire.

“Ho…My flames can’t be put out by regular rain. Have you changed this rain into magical water? Impressive, Elluka,” Julia praised.

But that was wrong. Elluka wasn’t the one who used the rain.

Then that left one answer. The other sorceress present there—

“Gumillia!”

She had done it.

“Elluka…you’re too panicked.”

“I-I am not!”

“Yes, you are--Hey, woman." Gumillia waved her left hand, and the turbid stream returned back to rain. While doing so, she pointed her right hand at Julia and began to speak to her. "Where, have you left your red cat plushy?"

"…"

Julia didn't reply. The smile had vanished from her face.

That was true. If she was "Red Cat Sorceress", then her true body would be the plushy. Her human bodies were simply being manipulated by it. So the “Red Cat Sorceress” always either had the plushy riding her shoulders or at least somewhere nearby.

But she couldn’t see it anywhere in the mansion.

In other words, that meant--

"You…are not the 'Red Cat Sorceress'!" Elluka cried, also pointing at Julia.

Gumillia made a dissatisfied expression. “I had, wanted, to say that…”

Without a word, Julia glared at Elluka, and then turned that glare to Gumillia.

"…Hmph."

And then she made her third sigh that day.

“It seems of the ‘Eternal Sorceresses’, the apprentice is the superior one. …Yes. Congratulations. I am not the 'Red Cat Sorceress', and while I'm at it I'm not 'First, Santa Claus' either. … You could go as far as to say that I'm not even 'Julia Abelard'."

She pinched the edges of her skirt and lifted them in a quick curtsey,

“Let me introduce myself again. I am the most loyal apprentice of ‘First, Santa Claus’…the one you call the ‘Red Cat Sorceress’—I am called ‘Fourth, Shadow’. The ‘Four’ is simply because I like that number; in actuality I am the most senior member below my lady, heheheheheheh.”

“’Fourth, Shadow’—In other words, you’re her body double?” Elluka asked.

"Yes, that’s so.”

“Then the fake ‘Elluka’ who got close with Margarita—”

“Oh yes, that was not a lie. You weren’t mistaken on that. Though of course, that was something that I’d done under my lady’s orders.”

Come to think of it—Rita at the Charity Institute had said that the “messenger of the gods” who’d arrived when Margarita was born was a different woman from the fake Elluka.

She’d been right. The “messenger of the gods” was the genuine “Red Cat Sorceress”, and the fake Elluka who showed up in Toragay after that was the “Fourth, Shadow” standing before them…That must be it.

“Ah, that’s right. I’ll tell you everything, before you ask me—I am also the one who burned down Lioness twelve years ago. –My, how nostalgic. Now that I think about it, that was my first job. Though, I’d done it by own judgment. My lady has such an attachment to you. I got so burned up with jealousy. But in the end, I wasn’t able to kill you, my whole reason for doing it. …Little Shadow was but a novice back then you see, teehee♪”

“I see…I’m glad to hear that…In that case then I can kill you without hesitation.”

“My my, such bold talk, Miss Elluka. Alright, then if it’s like that how about I send you once more the fire spell that my lady taught m—”

“No need.”

The one to butt in between them was Gumillia. She had drawn her fireworks gun, and pointed the muzzle at Shadow.

“If you, are the ‘Red Cat Sorceress’ apprentice, then your opponent, can be me, an apprentice as well.”

“…Getting awfully cocky, aren’t we, Miss Ex-spirit? All you’re going to do is dodge my flames aga—"

Whether it was “Shhpah!”, “Crack!”, or “Ka-boom!”—at any rate, a bright flash shot from Gumillia’s gun along with a loud explosion.

--But Shadow nimbly dodged it.

“What an interesting thing you have there. Is that a gun with magic in it? I see, so then you’re able to use a degree of magical power without relying on the enviro—"

Another explosive noise rung out, and another flash headed for Shadow.

But she once again dodged it.

“You’re slow. Too slow. Something like that’s not going to work on m—”

“Then, what about this?”

Gumillia took out a knife from her pocket, and rapidly inscribed a symbol onto it.

She quickly brought up the gun again, and fired off a third time.

The flash that came out was much faster than before.

“—Oop.”

Shadow just barely managed to dodge with a bit of panic. The flash only grazed her skirt.

“An acceleration symbol, hm? How marvelous. But unfortunately, I’m still just a bit too fast for—”

“‘Clockwork Secret Art’.”

The moment those words came to Gumillia’s mouth, the rain coming in from the hole in the wall suddenly stopped all at once.

Not just that. The dusk outside brightened, and the scenery at once changed to the middle of the day.

“Wh…what is—”

A bizarre change began to occur in Shadow too. The movements of her body had changed to something quite openly sluggish.

“Wh…at…is…th…is…”

Gumillia leisurely walked up to Shadow.

“Ho…w…are…yo…u…so…fa…st…?”

From Shadow’s perspective, Gumillia’s movements probably looked like they’d gotten extremely rapid.

But they weren’t. In truth—the flow of time around Shadow had simply gotten slower.

The Clockwork Secret Art—ordinarily it was a spell that required elaborate preparation, and a source of great magical power to accompany it.

And yet Gumillia…had used it without any preparation or without even recitation of any spell words.

Gumillia put her gun’s muzzle on Shadow’s temple and immediately pulled the trigger.

“Ough!”

Shadow gave out a miserable scream, fell back, and then was blown away.

Even after she collided with the ground, Shadow didn’t lose consciousness. She staggered around on her feet. Apparently the effects of the Clockwork technique itself had cut out.

“Looks as though, right now, this is my limit, after all,” Gumillia muttered regretfully.

If the Clockwork Secret Art had been completely unleashed to its full effect, Shadow’s movements wouldn’t have just slowed, but time would have completely come to a full standstill. The span of time that it was in effect would have been much longer, too.

Gumillia might have declared herself to be at her limit in that sense, but even so it was more than enough. It was beyond what the average sorcerer would be able to even put into operation alone.

“Alright. One more try. Clockwork—”

“N…Hold on a moment! Stop,” Shadow anxiously screamed, running outside from the hole in the wall.

The outside of the mansion had once more turned to nighttime, and the rain had started pouring again.

“…You won’t escape,” Gumillia murmured. Immediately after, something snagged on Shadow’s body.

“Wh…!?”

It was the stems of Greeonio Plateau Roses. They had been growing in the garden, and had rapidly expanded, binding Shadow’s arms and legs. Not just one, but several had all attacked her at once.

“I c-can’t move—”

“And now…return to the earth.”

The Greeonio Plateau Roses’ vigor didn’t stop at arresting Shadow. The pointed stems pierced into her skin, and burrowed into her insides. The number of stems wrapped around her grew and grew, until finally Shadow’s body had been completely obscured by them.

Elluka could do nothing but gaze during the whole fight. She merely watched over these actions that far surpassed what she pictured of her favored pupil in complete admiration.

The Greeonio Plateau Roses stopped growing. The captured Shadow said nothing.

Eventually the countless stems fused together and changed to one large stem, and finally a massive flower bloomed from it.

.

And so, the battle came to an abrupt end—

And Fourth, Shadow literally became an enormous Flower of the Plateau.

Just has had been written in the newspaper, the road leading to Toragay from Aceid had been completely shut down by the World Police.

“…Looks like it’ll be tricky to slip through here after all,” Elluka muttered while gazing at the hastily made check station from afar. After all, they couldn’t just talk their way through now that they were wanted criminals. “Can’t be helped. We’ll go right to Calgaround as planned, Gumillia.”

They would head to Merrigod Plateau without passing through Toragay for now. It was a bother that they would have to go through the unmaintained mountain path rather than the main road, but they didn’t have any other course of action.

“…Oh?”

It sounded like some kind of quarrel was going on at the check station. Several officers were circling someone, and they were harshly arguing with them.

Elluka and Gumillia moved to get a little closer, and listen in to contents of the conversation.

“—But I’m a resident of Toragay! Why won’t you let me through?!”

“We told you. Toragay is plagued with an epidemic right now. We can’t allow anyone entry or exit.”

“All the more reason to let me go! My mother is still in there. If this keeps up, she’ll die! I have to get her out of there now—"

“You can’t. If you did, then the contagion might spread to outside of the town. It doesn’t matter who, no one can leave now.”

“…You’re bullshitting me! It’s just my mom…You’re telling me to just let her die?”

“…I’m sorry, we have no choice. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“…You son of a bitch…son of a bitch…”

It sounded like someone was trying to enter town, and being stopped.

She recognized that voice. –The coachman. The innkeeper’s son.

“…Arrgh!”

“--! The hell!? –Seize him!”

The coachman suddenly went wild, attacking the officers.

It was sad, but there was nothing they could do about it now.

“Let’s go, Gumillia—Gumillia!?”

When she turned around, Gumillia was no longer behind her.

A thunderous roar shot through the air. It was coming from where the coachman was. When Elluka looked back, she saw Gumillia knocking one of the officers unconscious with her fireworks gun.

“--!? Who…It’s her! Heidemarie!”

“Arrest her!”

The policemen all got out their matchlock pistols.

Sigh…Good grief.

She felt like lately Gumillia had gotten much more violent in temperament than she used to be. Over a hundred years had passed since she’d changed from spirit to human and started living in human society. Perhaps she’d been influenced by people in some way during that time.

Elluka spread her arms wide and summoned up a wind.

The manipulation of wind was her most favored “spell”.

The swirling wind headed for the officers.

“--!? Waaaugh!”

Among the six officers, three of them were blown away by the wind, slamming into the ground and fainting.

--In the old days, Elluka would have been able to rouse up a larger wind that could round up all of the officers.

It seemed her power level had dropped from what it used to be. She didn’t age…so she’d always thought, but apparently she was wrong. While it may have been much slower than that of the average person, it seemed that time did actually have an effect on Elluka.

Elluka’s current body was not her original one. It was a body she’d swapped for from a woman named Lukana Octo about five hundred years ago. This was something that Elluka could do, as she knew the “Swap Technique” herself, and as she understood it the body that she’d obtained had, like her soul, become something that didn’t deteriorate. –But, that wasn’t necessarily the case. The “Swap Technique” was not something she’d been taught, but a spell that she’d recalled at some point. So Elluka herself didn’t yet understand everything about it.

At some point she’d probably need to get a new body.

--Oop, I guess now isn’t the time to be thinking about something like that.

The remaining officers stood there in a state of unrest, unable to understand what had just happened. Taking advantage of that, Elluka quickly moved closer and spoke up to Gumillia.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Uh, but—”

“Just get over here! –Hey, you too.”

Elluka grabbed the coachman’s hand as he sat in place in amazement, and then left with him and Gumillia. She could hear shouting and gunshots from behind them, but paid them no mind.

When they’d gotten out of range of both the officers and the check station, Elluka stopped.

“…We should be safe now.”

The coachman, who had been staring at them in a state of utter bewilderment, finally gave a shout of “Aha!”, as though having realized something.

“You’re Miss Hanne! –Have you dyed your hair?”

“…Yeah, just for a change of pace.”

“Your eye color looks a little different too…”

She had periodically changed her eye color to green using magic, but it was about time for that spell to be broken.

“Well, yeah, whatever. Anyway, trying to get into Toragay right now would be absurd.”

“But my mother is in there…”

“There’s nothing you can do by going inside. Miss Brigitta may already be infected--But we might have a method for curing that. Leave it to us for now, okay?”

“…I don’t know, but if you say you can help my mother, then I’ll aid you. Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes…We need to get to Calgaround; can your carriage cross the mountain path?”

“…If we’re going by carriage, there’s a much closer road than the mountain path. A route that goes east around the mountain. There’s an animal trail that only veteran coachmen know about.”

“Outstanding. Then, we’ll have you take us.”

“Good—if we go now, we should make it by nightfall.”

Hanne and her little sister Heidemarie—Or rather, Elluka and her apprentice Gumillia—went to the hospital where Marx was. Naturally, this was to meet with Margarita.

However, she had already left. The doctor attending on Marx told them that she hadn’t returned to Toragay.

“She said that she was going to see her mother,” the doctor replied to them.

But Margarita’s mother was already dead. Rita had told them that she’d lost her life when Margarita was born.

Elluka thought maybe she’d gone to visit her grave, but her mother’s grave was at the church in Toragay. Now that the road was on lockdown she wouldn’t be able to go there.

“Did she say anything else about this ‘mother’?” Elluka asked the doctor.

“Well…Ah, now that you mention it, I do think she said a name. As I recall—Ellie or something.”

Elluka Clockworker…Naturally, that didn’t mean Elluka herself, who was there right then. It was the impostor, who’d used her name to get close to Margarita.

However, Margarita had said that she didn’t know the false Elluka’s whereabouts. Had she lied, or had she gotten some clue on it after they’d talked?

In either case, they had suddenly lost their means of determining Margarita’s whereabouts.

“What a mess…”

Seeing as how they had nothing else to do, all that was left was to force their way into Toragay. There was a high risk to it, and if Margarita wasn’t in there to begin with then this time for sure they would be completely out of leads.

As Elluka worried over this, Gumillia held something out beside her.

“—What’s that?”

It was a map of Elphegort. One point on the map had been marked with a red X.

“I borrowed, something Ayn had,” Gumillia explained regarding the map.

“Ayn told me, that he’d found, the new black market place. Maybe this X, is that place.”

“I see…”

If Kaspar had been the one to take responsibility for the Toragay black market, then who inherited it after his death? Perhaps the fake Elluka, his “business partner”. If the black market location was in operation—then that meant that chances were high she would be there.

And then Margarita would be with her—

What a coincidence, that place with the X mark. It was a land that Elluka had gone to two months before for her newspaper coverage.

“Calgaround on Merrigod Plateau…”

Rita had said that the fake Elluka had been wearing red clothing. Ah—so then the town enclosed by red walls, and the red outfit—

She couldn’t be certain from that alone, but if Elluka’s guess was accurate, then the fake Elluka’s real identity was—

“Thank you, Gumillia. I might be able to figure this all out with this. Let’s head there after we see how things are in Toragay, just to be safe.”

“You should, be thanking Ayn.”

“True…Maybe we’ll go see him again when this is all over.”

And then, when Elluka and Gumillia moved to leave the hospital and head off.

“Uugh…”

There was a faint, wavering voice coming from nearby. They could hear someone groaning from a room further in.

“—That’s the room with Dr. Felix in it. It can’t be…I’ll go check on him,” the doctor said, hurriedly rushing towards the room.

Elluka and Gumillia took interest and decided to follow after the doctor.

The moment they entered, they noticed a bizarre change had occurred.

Marx had roused himself from bed. Marx, who had been sleeping since he’d gotten sick in his home in Toragay.

“...What in the world...Ohhh...”

He was awake, although he seemed to be suffering a great deal.

“Mr. Felix! Thank goodness, you’ve recovered.”

The doctor ran over to Marx.

“You…you seem to have a very different air about you…” Marx said, directed not at the doctor but Elluka, who was behind him.

“Yeah, some stuff happened.”

“I see...I don’t get it, but...Ahh...That’s right...I remember...I—I...ugh...I remember everything...” Marx said, clutching his head.

“Are you alright? Perhaps you should rest a little bit m—”

“Yes...Ever since that day...Since that day my wife and Margarita died...the witch...and, that doll...”

“Doll?”

“Doll? –You say a doll!?”

“Agh...a doll...I, we...everyone...was deceived. That doll put…everyone to sleep...”

“What are you talking about? Explain a little bit more—”

“Aaaaggggghhhh!”

Marx suddenly screamed. Then he seized his head and tumbled from the bed, his body jumping several times.

“--!? What’s going on!?”

The doctor hurriedly went to grab Marx’s convulsing body and then tried to put him back on the bed.

--But before he could Marx suddenly stopped moving, and once more collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

After checking Marx’s condition, the doctor shook his head with a downcast expression.

“Good lord…”

Had Marx awakening been nothing more than a miracle right before his death?

“Elluka...”

Gumillia looked at Elluka from the side regretfully.

“…Guess that didn’t go too well. --But, at least that clears one thing up,” Elluka murmured.

“What?”

“—The doll. Gumilia, you’ve seen it too, haven’t you? That there was one of them among the Vessels of Deadly Sin.”

“...Yeah. The one with the pigtails, that looks like Michaela—Er, the ‘Original Sinner’.”

“Have you met Margarita in person?”

“No, not yet.”

“She also has an appearance that resembles the doll—or to be accurate, the ‘Original Sinner’ Eve Zvezda. Over the past 600 years I’ve met with several people with the same appearance. Mikulia Greeonio, the Phantom Thief Platonic, and Michaela—and all of them ended up having something to do with the Vessels of Deadly Sin, and the incidents caused by them. ...Although I suppose Michaela’s a bit of an exception.”

Michaela was a girl who had once been one of Elluka’s apprentices, a spirit who had been reborn by her into a human. Gumillia herself was a former spirit who had been reborn that way at the same time. In Michaela’s case, when she was reborn she had simply selected the appearance of Eve, who she had once seen herself, and so her circumstances were a little different from the others who looked like her.

“Anyway, I suspected Margarita from the beginning on the point of her appearance, but if she’s connected to the doll then I think we can say it’s certain. Without a doubt, Margarita must have made a contract with the demon inside the doll, and using that she’s causing this current tragedy.”

“Then, Margarita—”

“...We have no choice but to kill her, it seems. Just like it’s been up until now, anytime a contractor dies then the curses and spells brought about by their demon are lifted too.”

“Is that…so?”

“Yes. –Whatever the situation, we need to search for Margarita immediately. Before everyone in Toragay dies. …No, not just Toragay. She’s gone to Aceid too. Worst case, the damage might extend over to here as well.”

Everything was a race against time.

The “Eternal Sorceress”, Elluka Clockworker, who had lived for over six hundred years.

She had been born in the long-gone Magic Kingdom, and had once died there.

That Magic Kingdom falling to ruin had been no one’s fault but hers. To be accurate, the kingdom had been made into a ruin by the catastrophe caused by the white ark “Sin” going haywire as a result of the “Clockworker Secret Art” used by her fiancé, who’d been trying to resurrect her.

The secret art “Clockwork” could manipulate time and space.

The forbidden ark “Sin” could revive a dead person.

Elluka’s fiancé had tried to restore the broken “Sin” by winding back its time. Because, though the “Clockwork” alone was able to revive a dead person’s body, it wasn’t able to restore their soul.

And so, Elluka was brought back to life. But the “Sin” didn’t just bring Elluka back—it brought another being into the world.

A two-headed dragon that had been worshipped as one of the pillar gods appeared in the Magic Kingdom. It didn’t take much time at all for the dragon to reduce it to ruins. Fortunately, as it had been brought back incomplete, the dragon self-destructed and eventually disappeared; were it not for that, it might have burned to ashes not just the Magic Kingdom but the entire world.

However, with the last of its power, fragments of the dragon flew to the nearby forest, and abducted a pair of twins that lived there. Those twins themselves were imperfect copies of the dragon who had been created by humans.

And then—by the twins’ hands the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” were born.

It was little more than a last death throe by the dragon as it waited for its annihilation, after all. Demons dwelled in the “Vessels of Sin”, and while it was easy to conceive that they could bring calamity to the human race, it paled in comparison to the catastrophe brought about by the dragon itself.

Nonetheless, the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” were as a result no less than something born because of her. As she had also been requested as such by another pillar god, Held, Elluka decided to collect the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” out of a sense of responsibility and purpose, and to kill time.

She didn’t know clearly if it was because of the power of “Sin”, or if it was the influence of the “Clockwork”, but Elluka had also obtained an ageless body and soul.

On the other hand, one could say that it made her search for the vessels tedious. She had infinite time—and that idea had stolen her proactivity from her. As a result, even now that six hundred years had passed, she had yet to collect all seven of the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”.

Thanks to the passage of time, the once destroyed human culture had developed again. Consequently, it wasn’t as simple for the ageless Elluka to fit into society as it was before. Especially a hundred years ago, she wasn’t pleased with how famous she’d gotten as one of the “Three Heroes” in the Kingdom of Lucifenia. In order to make society forget her, Elluka had then decided to discard her name.

Shaw Freezis had aided her in that. He gave her and her apprentice Gumillia new identities. Shaw’s great-grandchildren—the real Hanne and Heidemarie—had both passed from illness when they were young, so Elluka and Gumillia settled into their place.

And so, “Elluka Clockworker” would disappear from the world for a time—or at least, that was the idea, but it was there that a new problem emerged.

Another person carrying the name of “Elluka Clockworker” appeared. She burned down the town of Lioness, and caused strife in other places. Thanks to that, Elluka as Hanne increasingly lost the chance to take back her old name.

When the Magic Kingdom fell to ruin, Elluka had thought that she was the only true sorceress left. But in truth, from time to time other magic users made themselves known, and got in Elluka’s way. Especially when events connected to the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” occurred, said magic users would get entangled with them.

“IR”, “AB-CIR”, and “Abyss IR”. The names and identities varied, but each one had spells that could manipulate fire, and each had a red cat with them.

At first, Elluka had thought that this of these magic users: Maybe, they had inherited their magic and ideology through the ages.

However, her line of thinking changed when she confronted “Abyss IR” a hundred years ago. Aside from her fire spells, Abyss IR knew a spell to let her hijack another person’s body. And using that, she had even tried to take over Elluka’s body.

The swap technique—that was an exceedingly difficult spell. Even in the old Magic Kingdom there were few people who could use it, and Elluka herself only knew of four.

The queen, Merry-Go-Round.

Her son, Adam Moonlit.

The original sinner, Eve Zvezda.

And the witch, Meta Salmhofer.

Even Elluka couldn’t use it before she’d been revived by the “Sin”…Could these mere magic users be able to manage it?--That question rose in Elluka’s mind.

The conclusion that she arrived at was that Abyss was not using the swap technique. She was not entering other people’s bodies, but simply controlling them.

The sorceress’ true body was the red cat that she was taking along with her.  She turned out to be correct, and thanks to having figured that out, the then-hero Germaine Avadonia had been able to fend off Abyss.

Speaking accurately, the red cat was just a plushy, and it was the spirit dwelling inside it that was the sorceress’ true self.

Those magic users from throughout the ages were all merely being controlled by the spirit that dwelled inside the plushy.

With that, only one question was left. A spell that would let a spirit dwell in an object wasn’t as high-grade as the “Body Swap Technique”, but it was forbidden to do, and there shouldn’t have been anyone who knew the specific methods for it even in the time of the Magic Kingdom.

As for who had conducted it, and who was the spirit in the first place—Now that the magic Kingdom was gone, there was no one aside from the spirit herself who knew the answer.

Elluka needed to search for her. She’d been told that the woman who had come to Margarita when she was born had a red cat plushy. The woman who had destroyed the town of Lioness was probably her as well.

The problem was the point where this woman revived Margarita, who was supposed to be dead. There was no spell that could revive a dead person. If there was, then Elluka’s fiancé wouldn’t have used the “Sin”. The Magic Kingdom wouldn’t have been destroyed. Even the “Clockwork Secret Art” could only do little more than change a corpse into a zombie.

Perhaps the baby Margarita hadn’t really been dead. Or maybe that woman—the spirit that had been controlling her—was a sorceress far and beyond above even Elluka’s level.

She needed to look for Margarita, and she needed to find that sorceress too. Margarita was first in her priorities, but considering the two of them had a connection she got the feeling she wouldn’t need to pick an entirely different path for it.

For the first time in a long while, she returned to her house.

She’d been anticipating that it wouldn’t be an easy trip to cross the ocean over to Aceid, but she’d made it here an unexpected lack of difficulty.

It seemed as though Bruno hadn’t seized control over the World Police as much as she had thought. Maybe if he had been the long-reigning chief minister it would be different, but the World Police wasn’t so simple an organization that that could be done so handily by a man who’d only just taken command. She was grateful for that point, but on the other hand she was also anxious at herself and her comrade being able to operate so readily despite the police supposedly searching for them. Their leadership and reach was still half-hearted. It was hard to say that they were perfect as a peacekeeping organization that protected the world. Perhaps they were at their limits, still being small after only thirty years since being founded.

Even so, Toragay’s lockdown was in hand at least. Perhaps that wasn’t because it was the World Police, but rather because people simply grew keener whenever their own lives were in peril. As she was now, such defensive instincts were little more than a hindrance to her. She could just blow the officers away and force her way into Toragay, but she was reluctant to recklessly harm innocent people. They had banged up Ayn and Hob, but that was for their own good. They hadn’t aided in their escape, but rather been knocked unconscious after being attacked by escapees--and as such, they wouldn’t end up losing their jobs. Furthermore, even if they’d managed to come here, there wasn’t anything they could do anymore. The battle from here on was beyond their level.

Although, in that case that left the problem of what could she and her partner do? Even if they got into Toragay, how should they deal with a contagion-turned-sleeping poison? If there were any antidote spells then she would prefer to use them, but unfortunately neither of them knew any. So then, there was only one method of resolving this she could think of: finding the source. Once they had should they suppress the source itself, or use the source to get information on curing the poison somehow? She didn’t know which would be the most suitable, but for now—finding Margarita was their best course of action.

Thanks to the shutdown of Toragay, Margarita herself had yet to return there. Right now she should be at the hospital where her father was sleeping. They would head there once they’d made their preparations. The hospital was right near the newspaper company. Should she send in her resignation while they were there? …Maybe not; she shrugged it off as being too much trouble.

Speaking of too much trouble, there was her hair. She’d been dying it green to masquerade as an Elphe. That was because it was the best way to operate in this country without revealing her true identity. Thanks to that she’d picked up the habit of not washing her hair. But there was no need for that now.

She left the house once and then headed for a nearby watering hole. Fortunately, as it was midnight there wasn’t anyone around. She took off all the clothing she had on and entered the pool. Then she started to wash her hair and body. And the water was gradually stained in green.

When she was done washing up, her hair was no longer green, but its normal pink color.

Nude, she headed back to the house. She left her clothing at the watering hole. Instead, she put on the outfit she’d had hanging up in her home, the one the same color as her hair, and a black robe. It was much more fitting than the constrained suit she’d been wearing up until then.

She’d had her apprentice’s clothes in her house too. That apprentice had already swapped into them, and her casually shucked off World Police uniform was laying on the floor.

Her apprentice spoke up.

“Are we going to leave soon, Hanne?”

Hanne. Hanne Lorre. Her temporary name.

“You don’t need to call me that name anymore, Heidemarie...Or rather, Gumillia.”

“That’s true. Well then, shall we go...Elluka?”

Elluka.

Elluka Clockworker.

It had been a long time since she’d been called by her real name.

Hanne and Heidemarie had been put in the prison in the World Police’s Marlon headquarters.

Hanne was thinking—what was going to happen to them later on?

Bruno had said that they would be “disposed of”. If they interpreted his words at face value, eventually Hanne and Heidemarie would undoubtedly be killed.

The fact that they hadn’t been killed right away was because they were at the Freezis Foundation’s main headquarters. If any murders were openly conducted on the premises then even Bruno wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of that. It was because she knew that that Hanne hadn’t put up any reckless resistance.

But inside a jail away from prying eyes, it was a different story. Even if people affiliated with Bruno killed the two of them there, he could come up with some sort of excuse for it later.

Sickness, suicide, accident—any reason would do.

Of course, Hanne had no inclination whatsoever to quietly accept that.

They had plenty of methods for escape.

--But, before that.

There was something Hanne wanted to ask Heidemarie.

They had been put into separate cells, but fortunately they were adjacent. It was easy for them to talk.

“Heidemarie, you awake?” Hanne said, speaking up to Heidemarie who was in the cell left of her.

“Mhm...”

That was the only reply that came back.

“I’ve got something I want to ask you. Regarding your charges for being arrested—the people at the Charity Institute dying.”

“…That thing happened, while you were in Lucifenia. When I ran there, everyone was asleep, unable to wake up, and then—”

“Everyone in the Charity Institute!?”

“Yeah. All of them, the adults and children.”

She couldn’t believe it. How could those children, the mood-swinging Rita, all be dead?

--She shouldn’t have left Toragay after all.

Hanne regretted her negligence in thinking that there would be no more deaths.

Heidemarie continued to speak.

“—But, it wasn’t me. I didn’t, do something like that.”

“I know. Your being the criminal is just a frame-up on Bruno’s end. And I have a hunch on who really did it. Not just for that case. Marquis Kaspar and Doctor Marx and everyone have been ‘put to sleep’ by one person.”

“And, who is that?”

“—The wife, Margarita, I think. Though I don’t have any definite proof.”

“...But, Margarita, wasn’t in Toragay, on that day.”

That’s right. She had supposedly been in Aceid around then. It was for that reason that Hanne had gone to Lucifenia without worry.

“What about her coming back without anyone knowing?”

“I don’t think so. Ayn said that, he’d seen Margarita in Aceid when he went up there later, to call on the doctor.”

Margarita would periodically make meals for the Charity Institute children. So Hanne had thought she’d put poison into their food. But if Margarita hadn’t been in Toragay that changed everything.

Maybe it was a slow-acting poison? But I don’t think that Margarita ever went to the institute while I was in Toragay at least. –So then how in the world did she do it?

She didn’t think they had time to loaf around in jail. They needed to return to Toragay immediately.

They would have to do something about Bruno too. The way things were now, even if Hanne and Heidemarie escaped from the jail, they would still be pursued as criminals.

But they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Heidemarie...Shall we leave soon, then?”

“Leave?”

“Of course, we’re going to leave from this cell.”

“But, my gun’s been taken away.”

“You don’t really need something like that—or rather, neither of us do.”

Hanne grinned. Of course, Heidemarie wasn’t able to see her face.

“…You sure?”

“Now that Shaw Freezis has died, it’ll be difficult for us to leverage any more influence with the foundation. And with the way things have turned out now…there’s no point in hiding who we are.”

“…”

“We don’t need to be ‘Shaw Freezis’ great-grandchildren’ anymore.”

“—I understand.”

“So then—“

In that moment. There was a ruckus from outside the cells.

“…It’s here! Heidemarie and Hanne must be in here!”

“…Good grief, why am I doing something like this for the likes of them…?”

Hanne could hear an exchange between a familiar voice and one she didn’t know. Both were male.

In no time at all the two of them appeared before the cells Hanne and Heidemarie were in.

“--! Ayn!”

“Thank god, you two seem to be alright. …Wait a minute, I’ll get this open.”

Using the key he held in his hand, Ayn opened the cells that they had been put inside.

“…Thank you, you’ve really saved us Ayn.”

Although well, we didn’t really need saving.

There was a man standing next to Ayn with a sour expression on his face. Hanne had no memory of him at all.

“And who is this?”

Heidemarie was the one who answered that question. “The chief of Justea, Hob Homer. …My superior.”

“Oh, is that so—Nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my sister,” Hanne said, holding out her hand for a handshake. Despite tentatively returning the gesture, Hob didn’t smile back.

“I wonder what’s gonna happen to me when this gets out…Hmph.”

Heidemarie was his subordinate, but she didn’t smile towards him at all; rather, she was glaring at him.

“Here. I’ve gotten this back for you.”

Hob handed over a gun to her. It was her gun, the one that had been seized from her. Even so, Heidemarie’s expression didn’t change.

“…I had thought, that you were, on Bruno’s side.”

“--It’s true that I followed his orders. But I had no idea it would turn out like this! Putting innocent people in jail…This is none other than an abuse of authority! …Despite appearances I am the proud leader of ‘Justea’. I can’t allow something that infringes on justice.”

“…I see.”

At that, Heidemarie smiled for the first time. –Although, it didn’t look like any kind of smile that someone other than Hanne would recognize.

Ayn cut in to the conversation.

“It’s like he said. Heidemarie can’t be the one who killed the people at the Charity Institute. I was with you at the time. And—“ Next, Ayn turned to Elluka, “You aren’t this ‘Elluka Clockworker’, either. …I know that. You’re reckless, and willful, and the kind of person to interfere in an investigation, but I know you’re not the sort of villain who would kill someone.”

“…Thank you. I’m so glad you believe in me, Ayn.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here. They’re short of guards at the moment. And—right now, Toragay’s in trouble. We have to do something!”

“Trouble?”

Hob handed Hanne a sheet of paper.

“…This is the Schuburg Newspaper slated to be published next week. I know the president there. I asked him to give me a copy. …Well, I figure there’s no problem showing it to you, you being a reporter yourself.”

Hanne took it and skimmed the contents.

Written first was the incident at the Charity Institute.

Twenty Four Dead at the Charity Institute—Cause Unknown

That headline jumped out at her.

And—when she saw the next headlines, Hanne’s face paled.

“What is this…’No End to Toragay’s Strange Epidemic in Sight’, ‘Travel Between Toragay and Aceid Prohibited’…”

It seemed the situation had grown dire far more quickly than she could have imagined.

“At this rate, Toragay is doomed. No, it might not just end there...Anyway, we have to leave now!” Ayn said, urging all of them to head out of the jail.

“Yes…We’ve got to. –But, Ayn. Before that, there’s something I ought to tell you,” Hanne said, exchanging a look with Heidemarie. She seemed to understand, wordlessly nodding.

“Something you want to say? What in the world—”

Before Ayn could finish talking, Hob fell to the ground right beside him with a loud bang.

“--!? Chief Homer!? What’s wrong? You just suddenly—"

As he tried to rouse Hob, Ayn finally realized something.

--That the one who had attacked Hob was Heidemarie nearby.

And that Heidemarie and Hanne’s body language was vastly different than it had been before.

“Ayn. You said that I’m not ‘Elluka Clockworker’.” Hanne slowly drew closer to Ayn. “But you’re mistaken.”

And then, Hanne held up a hand in front of Ayn’s chest.

“...St—stop it. ...What do you intend to do? ...Hanne Lorre?”

“’Hanne Lorre’—That’s wrong. That isn’t my true name.”

In the jail that had no windows, an impossible wind began to blow.

“In thanks for saving me, I’ll tell you. My true name—“

The wind gradually grew stronger.

So much so that Ayn was about to be blown away.

“Thi-this isn’t happening...”

“My name is—“

.

--Elluka Clockworker—

.

Ayn lost consciousness immediately after hearing those words.

The wind had slammed his body up against the prison wall.