Chapter 257 : Chapter 257
Chapter 257: Stroll
The Sun belongs to a woman.
That prophecy had been delivered by a Moon of long ago.
A prophecy at least centuries old.
But not unrelated to the Moon of the current era. The same would have been true for every Moon that had existed since the prophecy was made.
When a new Moon is enthroned as King of the Tower.
That Moon recites the prophecy anew. Not a rereading of the record. The prophecy is a magic.
A new Moon realizes the magic afresh.
Thus grasping the same thing and uttering the same words.
Manoa, once the Moon's pillar, had known the Moon's prophecy. And she said she had personally seen a new Moon enthroned and wielding the prophecy.
'The Sun belongs to a woman.'
Meaning that the current Moon too had personally uttered that prophecy.
And that Moon had killed the Tower Master of Earthquakes.
A mage who conformed to the very prophecy she had uttered.
'...... A 6th Rank.'
In the past life, the Otherworld had seven 6th Ranks.
Of a force vast enough to swallow the continent, a mere seven.
That precious, precious strength the Moon had killed without hesitation.
It meant Harad mattered more to the Moon than a 6th Rank mage.
Not Harein the King of Prophecy, but Harad.
The chill writhed monstrously beneath the double doors. Different in form, but the same chill that had shattered the Sun at the Village of Embers.
The owner of the magic was dead, yet the double doors still stood wide open. Proof that the head belonged to a 6th Rank mage.
This vast virtual tree—which contained those doors and passages and this district—would not vanish even if the mage died.
Such was the 6th Rank.
Their magic became a part of the world.
"You mustn't die. You're mine."
The chill spoke.
Harein furrowed her brow.
'Mustn't die?'
The Tower Master of Earthquakes conformed to the prophecy.
Had he arrived safely, he would have escorted Harein to the Otherworld. Not killed her.
'The bell sends a resonance. A signal.'
It did not convey words.
A problem has arisen in Laash. That was what the ringing of the bell meant.
'The Tower Master of Earthquakes didn't come knowing I was here. He'd have recognized me once he arrived.'
The Moon knew Harad was here.
That was why she had taken this measure.
"Old hag."
Harein opened her mouth to the chill.
"Old hag."
"Truly vexing."
The chill answered.
No—it spoke.
Try to bewitch her, or fall briefly silent.
When called "old hag," the Moon used to throw fits.
Just now it was neither. The chill muttered indifferently. Not a reply—just exquisite timing.
"She can't hear me."
Nor could she see, surely.
As with the Tower Master of Earthquakes.
'If she could see, she wouldn't have recognized me right away.'
The Moon was great, but not absolute.
She could not leap the distance between the Otherworld and the continent.
Come to think of it, the same had held with Serzila.
The Moon had limits.
'The Moon does not know Harein.'
She knows Harad is here.
That was why the Tower Master of Earthquakes was dead.
Because Harad was not the King of Prophecy.
Because a Tower Master of Earthquakes who conformed to the prophecy would have tried to kill Harad.
'The Moon would be in a bind if I die. Grand Duke Aratus said I am the King. Does the Moon know? Meaningless.'
Either way, it was a deception of the Otherworld.
The Moon had to revise the prophecy, or kill Harad.
"Really must be tremendously old. Calling this face a good child."
The frozen head was that of an old man. Deeply wrinkled, at that. To the Moon, Harad mattered more than that "good child."
"A Sun hard to keep safe."
The chill conveyed the Moon's words.
Harad was more precious, but the Otherworld's strength too was a loss.
"Good news."
Harein wanted to tour the Otherworld's Towers as she was. Would the Moon kill them in turn?
If the Otherworld was troublesome, the Empire or the Church would also do.
The heads of Enverque and the Church needed a purging. The Moon might do it. If there were only a way to lead her.
'A safety net, then.'
Even if caught by the Empire or the Church, Harad could survive once or twice. Such certainty was taking shape. So long as word reached the Otherworld, the Moon would somehow extract him.
"You really like me that much?"
Only half good news.
The Moon wanted Harad.
Which meant there was a reason she had to keep him alive.
'Compared to that purpose, a 6th Rank's death must be trivial.'
The Tower Master of Earthquakes's death indirectly revealed the weight of the Moon's purpose.
'The Moon needs me. Therefore she must keep me alive. The stronger I grow, the better. But she has no intention of currying favor.'
The Moon had tried to feed Harad Embers.
The process had been nothing if not violent. She'd used Kandenkel as a discard card.
If she had truly wanted to win him over, there were surely countless better methods.
'She needs me. She doesn't need my consent, is that it?'
Or she had a way to crush consent.
There is no goodwill without reason.
The Moon's goodwill was terribly vast, and it reeked. The reason would reek still more.
"Take it. A gift."
Harein's eyes briefly glinted, then didn't.
The saliva flowing now was because of Galuer Berrick.
The hearts of Laash's mages had been spent on burning the street. That was one reason Harein was now in good shape.
"Pettier than expected."
What had fallen through the double doors was not a 6th Rank's heart, but his head.
The Moon's "gift" was the chill that had all this while served as her messenger.
Splosh. On the left, a shadow puddled against a collapsed wall. Harein put her hand into the shadow. When she withdrew it, the Moon's Orb was in her palm.
The chill reacted then.
What had lurked monstrously suddenly spiraled and was sucked into the Moon's Orb. Like water swirling down a drain.
The empty Moon's Orb filled.
Harein unconsciously gripped the orb tight. Plainly a harvest.
That the harvest had come from the Moon was decidedly unpleasant, but at the moment she was in no position to refuse. Someday, a time would come when she would return it with interest.
The chill had been forcing the double doors open. Screeee. With the chill gone, the doors closed of their own accord.
That magic, its owner lost, would persist hereafter but would no longer function.
For it was the Tower Master of Earthquakes's particular passage linking the Otherworld to the continent.
But Laash would continue to function hereafter.
So long as there were passages to come and go by, and Keys to open them.
"I found an exit."
A shadow standing as if leaning against a wall spoke.
Harein smiled. Jis was indeed a splendid mage.
"But what's with that look?"
"......"
"Is it actually your taste?"
The shadow stared hard at Harein's smile and said.
Not her taste.
She could give any number of reasons. But Harein didn't want to speak of this form.
Then the shadow climbed up her whole body. As it vanished, clothes appeared. The white garment the test subjects wore.
"Thank you."
An excellent measure.
Having realized the Sun, Harein had been close to naked.
"How did you do that look?"
"A Magical Item. Jis, want to try it?"
"No. Don't want to. Hate it."
"......"
***
Cassion was rubbing his body against the double doors.
His sword with him.
"Shit. That was my chance."
Cassion, who had fallen to the ground when the double doors vanished, clicked his tongue.
Apparently he had meant to offer the Moon's head to Grand Duke Aratus.
Then Harein was certain.
Cassion had never encountered a 6th Rank.
'That's why he hadn't thought of running.'
When the Tower Master of Earthquakes was about to cross over, Cassion had naturally prepared to fight.
She had thought it was comradely refusal to leave Harein behind, but now saw it was ignorance.
"Still, you're unhurt."
A touch of comradeship seemed present too.
"Savage bastard."
Then Cassion disparaged Harein.
It meant not Harein herself but her Origin was savage. Cassion's skin was dotted with burns. Thus the Manifested Sun could not distinguish friend from foe.
"Was it that hard?"
"What......! I was just briefly exposed when I had no choice but to sever the tree's tongue."
"Let's go with that."
"And that manner of speech...... how long are you going to keep it up?"
Cassion scanned Harein from top to bottom.
"There must be survivors."
Harein pointed at the ruined Laash.
It looked like a street ravaged by disaster. The fire had gone out and the magma had hardened, but the cooled stuff blanketed the streets. Still, survivors must surely exist.
"For now, let's go back. Jis has found an exit."
"You said there are survivors."
And not kill them?
Cassion's eyes said so.
"The Moon will kill them anyway."
The Moon believed Harad was in Laash.
She would dispose of all of Laash's survivors. Because Harad must not be known.
"If she fails to kill them all, that's fine too."
Should the Moon fail to finish them off, rumor that the King of Prophecy had appeared would reach the Otherworld.
For Harein, the latter was more to her liking.
She'd been curious about the Otherworld's reaction to the King of Prophecy.
'Harein will exist no more anyway.'
Even with survivors, only rumor would abound.
Because Harein would never appear again.
Whatever became of the survivors, it would not be a problem for Harad.
"Master!"
"......?"
Abruptly, a loud cry rang out.
Harein tilted her head, then stiffened. Parus was searching for her.
"Harein!"
Parus was not alone.
He was leading some band—his secretary and the kidnapped mages. Norbu people, and those who were not Norbu.
It seemed he meant to take every test subject back to Norbu.
"Madman."
Parus was a capable madman.
The bastard had secured not only his goal but other mages besides, had survived beneath the Sun, and was still hale enough to come seeking Harein.
"Who is that?"
"A Norbu."
"What's between you two? He called you master—could it be......"
Cassion's eyes went half-lidded.
"Shut up and come."
Norbu.
In dealing with the Otherworld, that desert would certainly be of help.
But it was Harein's connection.
Meaning, meaningless to Harad.
A different point of contact with the desert had to be found.
Harein was a figure who would vanish after today.
"Harein!"
Parus could not meet Harein.
"My woman!"
Absolutely not.
***
The exit Jis had found was in the shape of a door.
Unlike those they'd encountered so far, it was plainly visible, and stood wide open. Proof that there were survivors, and that they had escaped.
'Every mage of Laash must know this exit.'
The door was on Laash's outskirts, fixed to the enormous tree's trunk. The door Dihake had shown her was to the west; this door was to the east.
There might be ones to the north and south as well.
Being openly visible, it would be the known exit.
"Fascinating. The mage is dead, yet the magic remains."
Beside her, Mage Cassion said something ignorant.
Harein didn't bother explaining.
The 6th Rank was a species that made one's head ache even to contemplate.
'I was lucky.'
That summed up this affair.
Had the Moon not intervened, Harein would by now have arrived at the Otherworld.
Through the door, a corridor appeared. Pressing her body against the wall at the end of the corridor, she emerged into some alley. A back alley of Akuldag.
"Haah!"
Cassion drew in a great breath of outside air and let it out.
"Where we first arrived. North of there is a shabby inn. Ellen and Kubel are using it as their base. Go there."
Harein told Cassion and Jis.
Kubel, who must be out of his mind, had to be told his daughter had returned.
"And you?"
"I shall take a stroll."
Laash was finished, but survivors had escaped.
And it wouldn't be strange if the Liberation Tower's Rebellion Faction, which pursued the Otherworld, were somewhere in Akuldag.
She could not yet remove the Magical Item.
There was still work to do.
"What? Why?"
"That way I can see a more naked reaction."
Harein needed to walk openly about and flaunt her good health to the survivors hiding somewhere.
The more she did, the greater the rumor that would reach the Otherworld.
"Go on, quickly. There's no time."
The stroll had to be brief.
Before Parus returned to Akuldag.
"Naked...... you...... no, you wench. Y-you really, really have that t-taste?"
Cassion stammered and jabbed a finger at Harein.