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Episode 3 – The False, Truth
Part 1
「Geez, where did you go last night Nii-san? Furthermore this time you even enjoyed nightlife. Today it will be a scolding for you.」
「Sorry. I drank too much and got a headache, so please don’t be too hard on me.」
「No. Lux-san. I heard that when a male caused a problem related to a female, the wound will be shallower if you honestly confess you know?」
「…………」
The second day of the third parade.
Lux was greatly troubled from receiving a barrage of questions first thing in the morning from Airi and Noct who had their reproachful gazes on when the sun had only come out.
From Lux’s point of view, he had investigated the building where Sieg Kreutzer was staying and splendidly obtained a clue to approach the truth, but from the perspective of Airi and Noct who didn’t know anything, it could be said to be only natural for them to be like this.
Last night he slipped out in the middle of the party with Philuffy, furthermore he returned at different time from Philuffy, so it further invited misunderstanding.
But, there was no way he could tell the truth to Airi and Noct.
At present it was only Philuffy who was liberated from the perception curse by Endless.
He couldn’t drag these two too into the deep affairs of the New Kingdom.
「That’s why, I’m telling you two that’s not it. While I was strolling by myself, I got sleepy──」
「……Noct, what do you think?」
「Yes, I think it sounds like a lie. I can imagine three other possible cases.」
Noct raised three of her fingers with her usual composed expression.
(Why are they this motivated……)
「First possibility, Lux-san got into a dating relationship with Philuffy-san. Like that they went to flirt together, but they will get jeered if they go back together, so they pretended to go back at different times.」
「Is that correct Nii-san!?」
「No, that’s why I said that’s not it……」
Lux pacified his little sister who was pressing the question on him with her face getting closer while avoiding the first attack.
「From Lux-san’s personality, this isn’t the reaction when we hit the bull’s eye. Then, the second possibility.」
「You are still continuing ……this?」
Lux retorted to Noct who was dispassionately mumbling while her hand was supporting her chin.
「Lux-san got into a nice atmosphere with Philuffy-san, but a hindrance appeared before they could progress further. Perhaps it might be something like a chance encounter with Krulcifer-san for example.」
*Twitch*, Lux felt his innards went cold inside.
After all it was a definite fact that he borrowed Krulcifer-san’s cooperation to investigate Prime Minister Nulph.
Furthermore last night he also encountered her again and he also became lovers with her──
「Somehow, it feels like this one is half right.」
「No, well.」
「Next, let’s see. The third possibility, is a bit unclear for me. It doesn’t seem like Lux-san was flirting with Celis-senpai who we expected to meet at the party today.」
「Say, you don’t need to force yourself to think up the third possibility.」
More than ten minutes later, Lux somehow evaded the hounding of the two and departed outside the inn after telling them that he had business.
In reality, the third possibility that Noct raised about was incidentally correct about today.
The clue that he obtained last night, the Sword Device of the Drake that Sieg Kreutzer’s soldier carried. It couldn’t be summoned by Lux who didn’t have a certified contract with it.
Therefore, as soon as possible──
Before the party in the evening that invited the noble visitors from every country started, he had to search for the location of the Drake, perform the contract recertification, and recover the image recording.
The recording contained a fact that might shake the present order of the New Kingdom.
If he could confirm the contents of the recording, he would be able to greatly draw near towards the true identity of the mastermind.
Throughout the morning he planned to look around each of the territories of Prime Minister Nulph that he owned within the Royal Capital.
By the time last night, he had already asked to negotiate with three people for their cooperation.
First──it was the older girl who he loved and respected, Celistia.
Part 2
8 o’clock in the morning.
Lux who got out of the inn visited the government building where one of the Four Great Nobles, the Ralgrus family, were staying.
On the surface, his reason to be here was to give a greeting before they met at the party.
Then, Celis who was also staying in the building welcomed him in surprise.
「Lu, Lux!? What’s the matter? The party today should be starting in the evening. Do you have any business with──?」
「No, I wish to talk with Lord Dist for a bit.」
「I, is that so……」
Celis’s expression that broke into a smile as soon as she saw Lux’s figure turned strangely dejected.
He felt pain in his heart when he recalled that they had become lovers once.
But, right now wasn’t the time for romance.
Somehow, he had to obtain the proof of the mastermind──by searching the Drag-Ride hangar where the Drake of this Sword Device was stored, and confirm the recording there.
「Please, come in.」
Regardless of his impolite visit in the early morning, Lord Dist welcomed him into the reception room pleasantly.
His stern expression looked like he had already guessed something.
「Has something happened in a place that is outside my supervision?」
With Celis also being in the same building, it was possible to also have her to attend in this talk, but Lux intentionally refrained from that.
Depending on what would happen after this, it might become a battle.
It would only cause chaos even if right now he involved Celis who was unable to perceive the loop of this parade.
「Yes. There is something that I wish Lord Dist to teach me within the extent of your knowledge.」
Lux wanted to ask him about the villa or other related places in this Royal Capital that were owned by Sieg Kreutzer who was his fellow Four Great Noble. Because the possibility was high that this Drake was sleeping in one of those places.
──But, Dist’s reply wasn’t refusal, but a question.
「This isn’t like you. Why is someone who has foresight like you this hurried?」
「………….」
Lord Dist made a dubious face after receiving Lux’s request.
It couldn’t be helped that he was reluctant to talk.
Lux decided to immediately cut to the heart of the matter.
「This Drake’s Sword Device is something that I picked up last night from a certain place. The owner seemed to be a Drag-Knight who was a private soldier of Sieg Kreutzer.」
「In that case, you can just ask the person himself when he shows himself in today or tomorrow’s party. ──That doesn’t seem possible from from how you are intentionally coming to meet me like this.」
「There is no time. If I let go of this chance, I might lose the chance to arrive at the truth forever. A danger to the New Kingdom might be approaching.」
The memory of the third day period of the looping parade.
Lux desperately pleaded without touching that fact.
Lux himself understood that he was asking for something unreasonable.
After all what he was doing was like asking Dist to lend him a hand in investigating Sieg with a suspicion towards Prime Minister Nulph while he wasn’t showing any definite proof.
In the first place in the perception of the people from the world revision, Sieg Kreutzer was still alive.
「…………」
Naturally Dist who was a fellow Four Great Nobles wouldn’t consent to his request.
If he leaked this request of Lux to the opponent, there was even the risk of war breaking out.
「──Just between you and me, we the Four Great Nobles were called for a meeting by her majesty the queen. Right after the parade ends, before the negotiation regarding Avalon begins for real, her majesty wishes to finish the contract.」
「……Eh?」
Lux was bewildered that the talk was shifted to an unexpected direction.
It was a contract for the Four Great Nobles to lend their top class Drag-Knights under the direct control of the queen for several years.
Inevitably the Drag-Knights that were the retainers of the Four Great Nobles would also be included in that. It seemed the queen wished to supplement the kingdom’s military power that was weakened.
Naturally this was the first time Lux heard about it because this was a vital political matter.
If it was Lisha then perhaps she knew about it, but──
(This is something that I didn’t hear before. Was such talk advancing since before the parade started?)
「But, as a great feudal lord, we can’t agree to something like a contract that halved our force for free. We have to ask for a suitable compensation.」
「Compensation from the New Kingdom……Avalon’s technology and legacy. Mainly things like Drag-Rides, is that right?」
Dist nodded silently.
「The original proposer was Prime Minister Nulph. Lord Bugriser, Lord Zagha, and then the Kreutzer family too are showing accepting stances for this proposal. It will be only if in the negotiation with other the countries ten days from now we can obtain advantageous terms though──」
「…………」
The seven Automatas were already secretly maneuvering behind the scenes of the looping parade.
If Prime Minister Nulph was the mastermind and he already obtained Avalon, rather than obtaining advantageous results from negotiation, he could possibly make a deal by drawing out resources secretly without problem.
「The consuls of the Old Empire faction who doesn’t wish for the New Kingdom’s administration by Queen Raffi to continue for long are wishing for the negotiation’s failure. With that they would be able to claim that her majesty isn’t suited to lead the New Kingdom as expected and use every method to take her down from the throne.」
If Prime Minister Nulph was supporting Queen Raffi, surely he would try to crush that movement of the opposing faction.
In other words, at the present preliminary step before the parade was over and people left the Royal Capital, and the negotiation with other countries to distribute Avalon’s resources and technology started──
「Why are you telling me this?」
「You were a prince, but you didn’t have the experience of becoming a ruler. Typically a ruler will try to nip the enemy force in the bud. That is the inevitable in every era and situation.」
「────」
‘However’, Dist added while reaching out to a nearby drawer.
「That doesn’t necessarily mean that I think doing that is always the right thing to do. Especially the way of doing things that doesn’t care of the method, eventually it will lean to a dictatorial system.」
Just like how the Old Empire was like that in the past.
Lux felt like he was told such thing.
Dist took out a small box from the locked drawer and put it on the table, then he stood up from the reception room’s sofa.
Lux was about to stand up following him, but he gestured with his hand to stop him while entering into a reference room deeper inside.
「You are resolved right? The resolve to step into the realm of politics even if you have to brave danger. Then just go. I cannot cooperate with you.」
「Lord Dist……」
When Dist entered into the reference room, the door closed with a bang.
Lux was left alone inside the reception room.
「…………」
He intentionally put a small box in front of him and then left his seat. The current Lux wasn’t so slow that he didn’t understand Dist’s intention.
Personally, as one of the Four Great Nobles and in order to fulfill his duty to Nulph, he was unable to sell him out.
But, as someone who was worried about the direction the New Kingdom itself was going, he left behind a clue for Lux.
In other words, from here on if he got involved it would be at his own risk.
No matter what would happen, it would be an action that Lux caused by his own decision.
Lux asked for a meeting with Lord Dist to consult him, and while he was letting his guard down Lux secretly took a pick at the information that he had.
This was Dist telling him that was how he was going to act.
「──Thank you, very much.」
He erased the indecision that was born in his chest and opened the box.
If he was going to stop here, then from the beginning he wouldn’t sneak into the building where Sieg was staying.
Inside the small box, there was the document regarding the territory the Four Great Nobles possessed.
After Lux found the location of Sieg’s villa, he wrote it in a memo and got out of the government building.
It was only past 8 o’clock in the morning, but he didn’t have much time considering that he had to welcome the noble visitors of other countries in the castle in the afternoon.
Besides unlike late at night, if he piloted a Drag-Ride in the middle of the day someone would witness it.
In that case, rather than Philuffy, it might be better to borrow her strength here.
「──Yoruka. Is it alright right now?」
「Yes. At present there is no strange presence in the surrounding.」
After taking some distance from the building where Dist was staying, Lux called Yoruka’s name. At the same time her voice came from her hiding place.
Kirihime Yoruka.
She herself was still under the curse of the world revision, but he asked her to follow him until this far.
If it was with the special equipment type Divine Drag-Ride Yato no Kami that Yoruka possessed, it was possible to act even in the middle of the day without standing out by using the camouflage function.
He asked her to stand on guard against the surroundings while heading towards the private property of Sieg in the capital.
Lux’s aim was the private warehouse near a forest that was managed by Sieg’s subordinate.
Originally it wasn’t a Drag-Ride hangar, but there was case when Drag-Rides were placed there in few numbers.
Therefore Lux thought that it was ideal to hide his private soldier’s Drag-Rides.
Yoruka distracted the guards and leaped to enter inside while still carrying Lux under Yato no Kami’s camouflage.
He easily found the target a few minutes after searching inside the empty warehouse.
「──!」
As he thought.
Inside where countless containers were placed, he found several Drakes.
「There is no mistake. The Drake of that Sword Device is this one, Aruji-sama.」
「……Yes.」
Lux nodded at the words of Yoruka who muttered while being on guard to the surrounding area using radar.
In a state where the Drag-Ride existed in a certain distance, the contract would be dissolved when it confirmed that its owner died.
Thus, Lux tried to contract with it and restarted it.
He immediately wore the armor and replayed the image recording function of the special equipment type.
「As I thought, this is──」
Lux gasped seeing the played scene.
The details of the incident that was grasped by the Old Empire faction.
「There is, no other way, than to ask directly……」
Lux formed a plan in order to expose the full picture of this fictive world.
Part 3
「Fuu……」
Lux finished his task in the royal castle and sighed in a stone corridor.
At noon of the parade’s second day. Lux headed to the royal castle just like the two previous loops and greeted the noble visitors from various countries at the castle gate, including the Seven Dragon Paladins.
As expected, Aeril, Magialca, and Singlen weren’t present.
The other people acted like they were there, but Lux’s eyes couldn’t perceive their existence.
In other words, they were dead or have been captured somewhere.
There were such possibilities, but most likely it was the former.
Just, he was thinking that perhaps Aeril was still alive, although that conjecture also included his wishful thinking.
(……Right now I’m getting near to the truth.)
The mastermind controlled Avalon and eliminated all the opponents who were inconvenient for themselves. He would thrust the proof before them and question them to stop this incident.
Depending on the situation, he might have to face Fugil.
(Can I win? With my current fatigued body, against that Fugil──)
The strongest Drag-Knight who faced the all the members of the Seven Dragon Paladins except Lux and won.
Did a way to defeat that man exist?
「Oi Lux. What are you doing being absentminded there?」
At the corridor in the first floor of the castle, while he was sitting on a sofa there, a familiar blonde side tail fluttered.
The princess who employed Lux as a knight, Lizsharte was in front of him when he noticed.
「Ahaha. I’m sorry Lisha-sama. I’m a bit tired from the greetings.」
「You troubling guy, getting tired from just this much. Do you realize now the routine hardship of a princess like me?」
‘Fufun’ Lisha’s figure that was folding her arms boastfully and puffing up her chest was charming.
Lux was also lured by that and smiled wryly, but in actuality he was beaten up because there were too many things that he had to consider.
The looping parade and the false reality.
How much was true and who was alive.
What if the mastermind who seemed to be the main cause was an important person just as Lux predicted?
If he was forced to fight such an existence, what would happen to the New Kingdom after this?
Fugil and Sacred Eclipse──in the end what kind of shape and involvement did they have in this world?
His feeling was complicated like five years ago when he challenged the Old Empire. It was worrying Lux’s mind.
And then, if he exposed the evil deed of the mastermind and blamed them, in the end Lux might be treated as a traitor and even Airi and everyone in Syvalles might also get implicated.
(Is it okay for a knight of the New Kingdom like me to make such a decision……)
「……Lux. Oi Lux!」
「Tsu……!? Yes!」
Lux returned to his senses from Lisha’s voice and he replied in a hurry.
Lisha was entangling the fingers of both her hands with each other looking somewhat fretful while making a suggestion to him.
「There is still a bit more time until the party starts……. Do you want to stroll inside the castle with me for a bit? There is something, I want to talk with you……for a bit.」
「──I understand. Please allow me to accompany you.」
「Nn.」
In his plan, the negotiation with the mastermind would be after the party ended, so he had some leeway with the time right now.
Lisha’s expression turned bright when he replied like that after hesitating slightly.
The short time before the battle that wouldn’t be known by anyone. Lux decided to spend it with the princess Lisha.
Part 4
First floor inside the castle── the great dining hall.
Lisha first guided Lux to that place where countless long tables were lined up.
「Oi cook. Prepare some extraordinary snack. It’s going to be a portion for me the princess and her knight after all.」
「Yes yes. I get it, Lisha-sama.」
The castle’s head chef was a past middle-aged woman with big build. She gave a really gentle impression.
Lisha’s tone with her was really casual, Lux wondered if she had gotten along well with the people inside the castle without him noticing.
「The skill of the head chef here is amazing. In the era of the Old Empire, just because she is a woman she was only allowed to do the servant work, but five years ago she was hired here because of her cooking skill.」
「Is that so?」
Lux only heard the explanation from Lisha casually and a confection was placed in front of him.
Inside the freshly baked tart that was giving off the aroma of butter, it was filled with custard cream and candied apple slices inside.
Beside it there was whipped cream and apple tea using the extract from apple’s skin accompanying the dish.
「How is it Lux, the taste?」
「……!? It’s delicious! Very much so!」
The dough crumbled with crispy texture inside his mouth each time he chewed, the sweet taste of the cream became a feeling of happiness that filled the heart.
Lux too was someone with a refined palate, but this confection was an equal match with those that Philuffy made.
「The princess was really noisy in these two weeks. Because Lux-dono was really a great help for her in Cross Field, she high-spiritedly said that this time she wanted to give you a tour inside the castle. This dish too is something that she had consulted with me since quite some time ago.」
Lisha’s cheeks burned red the instant the female cook said that.
「DAaAAH! I told you not to tell him that already before right!? This is an abuse of confidentiality!」
「Oops, is that so. Really sorry, princess.」
The face of the woman who said that with a laugh was cheerful.
「Thank you very much, Lisha-sama.」
Surely the middle-aged woman said that intentionally.
Thanks to that he realized Lisha’s consideration for him and felt happy.
「That’s, it because I forgot my wallet on our first date. Even I want to at least show you my dignity as a princess by treating you, that’s all.」
Lisha felt happy at Lux’s thanks while pretending that it wasn’t a big deal. Lux smiled wryly at that.
After finishing the supreme snack, the tension of his tensed nerves relaxed.
「The, then, we are going to walk around inside the castle to help with digesting the food too. There is still two more hours until the party!」
「……Yes. Please take care of me.」
After thinking for a bit, Lux decided to still go along with Lisha’s tour.
Because he wanted to look at the situation inside the castle──especially the situation of Prime Minister Nulph and Queen Raffi while this loop was going on.
「Yosh, next is the banquet hall, let’s go!」
Next, Lisha showed him around the first floor further.
The banquet hall with its luxurious decorations.
The barn and chapel inside the castle grounds.
Places like the beautiful courtyard that was well tended, even Lux knew them from the era of the Old Empire.
At that time he didn’t have many chances entering the castle, but he was relatively familiar with the area around here.
「Oo, princess. You are in a good mood with the knight-dono accompanying you.」
「You were magnificent in the parade. Please support her majesty the queen from here on too.」
While moving to here and there, the servants and guards working inside the castle were greeting Lux and Lisha with a smile.
Lux casually compared his perception with Lisha, but it seemed that the number of people inside the castle wasn’t particularly decreasing.
Currently there was no human that Lux couldn’t see but could be seen by Lisha who was under the perception curse from the world revision.
In other words, the user of Avalon wasn’t indiscriminate. As expected they only targeted existences that had the possibility of threatening themselves and dealt with them without anyone knowing. It wouldn’t be wrong to consider it like that.
And also how Fugil and Avalon’s Automata Arshalia participated and were lending their assistance to the mastermind.
──But, with that in mind, a single question surfaced.
(Even though Aeril isn’t here, she was enrolling into the Academy since before the parade, what does that mean?)
It wasn’t like he couldn’t understand it as a setting that the mastermind wished for.
Because in order to smoke out the New Kingdom’s enemy at the parade, it was necessary that on the surface they did their best to decrease any complications with other countries and made the domestic political situation one where it was easy to move.
In that case, it might be possible that they were simply not here right now while they were alive somewhere.
It was a slight hope.
Or rather it was on a level that was nothing more than a delusion, but it might be possible.
──When such thinking was crossing his mind, Lux’s back was lightly tapped.
「Oi Lux. Are you that bored? Then how about I brought you to the nap room of the soldiers?」
The pondering Lux was stared fixedly by Lisha who was puffing up her cheeks.
「N, no, that’s not it……. For some reason I’m remembering about the Old Empire.」
「I see……. Various things also happened in your past huh.」
Lisha’s expression changed into a deeply emotional one.
In contrast with the usual Lisha who was lively and full of confidence, now she looked transient with a trace of gloominess──
「Recently I’m also seeing a dream……. The dream of before and after the revolution five years ago happened.」
「The time, of the revolution?」
For a moment Lux was surprised thinking whether Lisha too had noticed the world revision.
But, that wasn’t it.
「In the past, do you remember when I talked about my little sister? For some reason, that girl’s figure comes to my mind right now.」
Like that for a little while Lisha told Lux about her little sister reminiscently.
Her name was Almatea, she was a quiet girl but possessed a strong heart.
She was really attached both to her father Count Atismata and also to Lisha. She was a bright girl who possessed awareness and pride as a noble strongly.
「…………」
This was the second time Lux heard Lisha talking about that little sister.
But, Lux also still remembered when she talked about it for the first time.
If he remembered correctly, it seemed her whereabouts became unknown during the confusion of the revolution.
In reality she was thought to be dead.
When Count Atismata was killed with even his residence and hideout attacked, the soldiers of the Old Empire──
「Surely that girl won’t forgive me if she saw me right now. I betrayed father to keep my own life, on top of that I ascended to the seat of the princess of the New Kingdom, the likes of me is just──」
Lisha’s eyes shook with regret, sadness, and anxiety. Her body was trembling in shivers.
Seeing that Lux reflexively embraced Lisha’s body.
「Lu, x……?」
Her face that had a trace of childishness remaining in it was shocked.
Her crimson eyes opened wide in surprise and blush colored her cheeks.
「It’s fine. I swear I’ll protect you Lisha-sama.」
「Ah, uh……」
The lovable princess shyly averted her gaze, however, she put her strength into her arms that hugged him back.
Some kind of emotion welled up from the bottom of his body, but the next moment, *bump* a sound echoed from the corridor.
「──!?」
Lux and Lisha who returned to their senses in surprise separated from each other while watching the surroundings.
That was dangerous.
Unthinkingly they were almost going to do something impulsively if they stayed like that.
But, it seemed the sound was just their imagination in the end.
(No but, a faint presence was──)
Even though Lux tilted his head in puzzlement, in the end he didn’t notice anything.
「Cheh……. The, then, let’s go to the next place already.」
Seeing Lisha puffing up her cheeks in dissatisfaction, Lux also smiled wryly while nodding.
.
They headed towards the Drag-Ride hangar as the last place Lisha showed him around.
「Oo, isn’t this the princess. Welcome!」
「The Drag-Rides’ maintenance is perfect. Do you want to give it a test run? Or perhaps adjustment?」
As soon as Lisha entered into the hangar’s workshop, from the elderly until the young apprentice, a great number of engineers called out to her.
From there it could be guessed where Lisha was focusing her activity in these two weeks.
In respond Lisha waved her hand looking somewhat proud while taking Lux to look around.
「It’s better to not use that weapon with Drake. The output will drop and the precious abilities of a special equipment type will be hard to use. Ah, it’s the reverse with that one. Thickening the armor will be──」
It wasn’t like Lux wasn’t feeling that Lisha seemed to be mistaken somehow in how to act as the princess of a country, but his face broke into a smile seeing the scene that was really like Lisha.
「Wha, what are you grinning at!? Is it that strange seeing me giving guidance like this? It can’t be helped……. These guys asked me to teach them.」
Lisha made an awkward face. Perhaps Lisha herself also had the thought that this wasn’t really normal as a princess.
But, Lux shook his head slightly and smiled softly at Lisha.
「No, I’m happy seeing Lisha-sama is recognized by the people of the castle.」
「──!?」
In that instant her face blushed red as though she was boiling up.
「……That’s, it’s. It’s because I showed my face here and there.」
After paralyzed for a while, Lisha started speaking with a small voice.
「These two weeks, I showed my face at various places and tried helping out. What is everyone thinking about the New Kingdom, what do they want to do after this. I thought that first I have to try listening from the nearby people.」
Lisha spoke brusquely like that, but Lux was deeply moved in his heart.
Lisha who harbored dissatisfaction to her own status was trying to come into contact with the people inside the castle as a princess. It left a deep impression on him.
「That’s splendid Lisha-sama. You were going that far while being away from me.」
「……What are you saying, in the first place it was because of your fault.」
「Yes?」
Lisha muttered while averting her gaze with a troubled look. Lux tilted his head in puzzlement.
「Since the day of revolution five years ago, even with your status as a criminal and while you were getting disparaged as the Chore Prince, you faced everyone and became their strength. And then in practice you even got close with anyone anywhere isn’t it?」
「…………」
Lux was taken aback by those words and held his breath.
It wasn’t because of Lisha’s act, Lux noticed the reason why she was starting to do something like this.
「That’s right. I followed your example and tried calling out from my own initiative. No matter what my personal feeling is, I cannot keep averting my eyes from myself forever. The battle has also calmed down at present, so I’ve to get along with the people in the castle and learn to get involved with the national politics.」
「────」
Mysteriously Lux couldn’t make any word.
He even forgot the ghastly incident of world revision that was in his mind until now.
Something touched his heartstrings and he looked stupefied in a daze.
Lux was unable to immediately notice that it was what people called being deeply emotional.
「Oi. Don’t stay quiet, say something. Even though it look like this, even I am at my limit here. It’s troubling if you ignored me here!?」
Lisha flapped around her hands looking quite flustered.
Lux immediately took those hands and grasped tightly.
「Wai-!? Wha, what’s wrong Lux!?」
「No──I’m a bit deeply moved, that I cannot really find the right words.」
That was Lux’s true feeling.
Lisha who was unable to accustom herself with her position as the New Kingdom’s princess was groping for the way to live as a princess in her own way.
She was making Lux’s way of life as a model to be her clue in her effort.
In other words, she was watching Lux’s way of life in this one year and respected it more than anyone.
In the era of the Old Empire, other than Fugil no one else recognized his way of life.
He was the seventh prince who was the farthest from the imperial succession right. Just because he was the grandson of the educator who remonstrated the emperor, no matter what he proclaimed it wouldn’t have any effect.
But, this lovable and proud girl in front of him didn’t only treasure her own subordinate, she was also trying to learn from them.
The figure of the ideal king that Lux wished for but was unable to become in the end was in front of him.
Right now it was nothing more than an immature bud, but if it kept growing like this then it would surely bloom into a beautiful flower.
「Thank you so much, Lisha-sama.」
「Wha, what’s with you so suddenly. It’s just something that I did for my own sake, well but, if you are praising me──」
Lisha’s vividly crimson eyes reflected Lux’s smiling face.
A warm feeling that couldn’t be turned into words filled her chest, it was then──
「Hyuu hyuu! You two there, how passionate!」
「Oh ho, isn’t it still too early for the marriage parade?」
「Wai-!? Shut up you guys! It’s finally the good scene you know!? I’m going to drive out you all!」
Lisha said something that didn’t suit a splendid princess in reaction to the engineers’ jeering.
Lured by that Lux smiled wryly and left the hangar together with her.
「Haa……. Those guys are really troublesome. They don’t know how to treat a girl my age. Or rather, I’m the princess you know!?」
「That’s just how close they have become with you, Lisha-sama.」
Something like the hangar’s engineers casually exchanging words with royalty would be impossible in the era of the Old Empire.
In short that was just how close Lisha was with them.
But, regardless of the praise, this small princess looked dissatisfied.
「Even though it finally became a good atmosphere…… well fine. It will be the time for the party soon.」
「You’re right. In the end I was unable to meet with her majesty queen Raffi, but is that alright? Recently it looks like she is really tired──」
Lux who knew about Queen Raffi’s safety intentionally said that because Lisha didn’t notice the loop due to the world revision, so he matched his story with that premise.
Actually, on the last day of the first loop Raffi looked bright, but he was concerned.
However very unexpectedly the expression of Lisha who heard his question turned bright.
「No worry Lux. Her majesty──Haha-ue is alright. She is already energetic now, after all we will support her from now on too.」
Lisha clenched her small fist and spoke confidently.
「That, can you keep this quiet? It’s about Haha-ue, you see──」
They headed to the end of an empty corridor, and the Lisha checked their surrounding.
It seemed it was a talk that she didn’t want other people to hear.
「During these two weeks, I asked Haha-ue to tell me. About the chauvinism tendency during the Old Empire era──. Because of that, Haha-ue went through very hard experiences since her childhood……」
「…………」
A dark shadow suddenly loomed on the expression of Lisha who was saying that.
In contrast to her father, the great man Count Atismata, Queen Raffi had a hard time in her childhood.
Unlike her capable and noble elder brother, because she was a woman others didn’t think that she was worth anything. She was made light of within the estate.
And then, one day she contracted a serious disease that caused her to receive the verdict that her body was unable to bear a child already in her young age.
「Such──thing」
Lux’s expression became clouded from that tragic story.
Lux who knew in detail about the tendency of the nobles at that era understood the even harsher hell that was waiting for Raffi in addition to her pain from losing a part of her function as a woman.
It went without saying that woman were basically treated with contempt in the era of the Old Empire, but as a noble lady, they only had one recognized value, which was as a tool of political marriage.
Salvation would finally come to them by accomplishing the task of giving birth to the eldest son who would become the house’s successor.
At that time, even being unable to give birth to a boy was already enough for the label of useless to be branded on a woman. And yet, Queen Raffi at that time became unable to even give birth to a child. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what kind of treatment she was given then.
She surely became a target of scorn who was continuously being rebuked from her family and her surroundings, that even alive her existence had no worth.
The parents of the distinguished family who was close with her family at that time naturally heard about her condition. They one-sidedly annulled her engagement.
Since then, Queen Raffi lost all hope and spent a life like a half-dead person.
After that, she met a new lover who accepted such her and she devoted her everything to him, but that person actually had a different objective and only tricked her.
「────」
Lux who heard that couldn’t make any sound.
Queen Raffi was respected as the little sister of the great man Count Atismata who accomplished the revolution, but he didn’t know that she had such a harsh life.
The era and the ideology.
By birth she was dropped into an environment that she couldn’t overturn by her own will. She lived in a misfortune where not a single good opportunity came to her. In a sense her suffering might be greater than Lux and Lisha.
「I felt embarrassed of myself. I shrunk back from being a princess just from getting taken hostage by the enemy for a few months.」
Lisha suddenly made a serious expression and lowered her eyebrows sorrowfully.
「Compared to the life that Haha-ue went through……. She pushed down her own suffering, even so she thought of the New Kingdom and endured for the sake of the people. It’s the same like our deathly battle against the Abyss and the Lords. ……That’s why!」
Saying that Lisha strongly clenched her fist and lifted it in front of Lux.
「Let’s help her together Lux. Let us both become Haha-ue’s strength. That person too is happy with the current me. She told me that if she has a body that can give birth to a child, she would want a child like me.」
Lisha muttered that with a quite embarrassed look.
「…………」
Lisha who lost her mother when she was little and got abandoned by her father, and Queen Raffi who was unable to give birth to a child in the first place.
Surely the two of them formed a bond that surpassed that of a relative by sharing the pain of their pasts with each other.
Believing that was exactly what was necessary to prop up the New Kingdom from here on──
「Yes! I too will become your strength without fail, Lisha-sama.」
Lux grasped her hand and tightened his hold.
Zeal and spirit that was unthinkable from her smallness was transmitted to him through her hand’s temperature.
「Ah, come to think of it Prime Minister Nulph is──」
After some time, Lux let go of her hand and suddenly recalled something. He casually spoke it out.
「Hm? Do you have a business with that man? He should be participating in the party just as planned though──」
「……No, nothing particular.」
Lux smoothly warded off Lisha’s question.
Actually, throughout Lisha’s tour of the castle, when they passed Prime Minister Nulph by, both Lux and Lisha were able to see him normally.
Therefore at present it appeared that he didn’t notice his trap── Sania and Ignid who were manipulated by the parasite type Abyss had been crushed by Lux.
And then, he also didn’t see any Automata inside the castle.
(As I thought, perhaps I shouldn’t investigate until the party is over……)
In case that the mastermind’s identity was just as Lux thought, he didn’t know how they would move. So he could only do that.
「Lux. What are you doing? The party is starting already.」
「……Yes, Lisha-sama.」
Lux nodded at Lisha’s urging and slowly headed towards the reception hall.
On the other hand, two people were silently conversing in the darkness of a hidden path inside the castle.
Part 5
Inside the castle of the New Kingdom.
There was a hidden room inside this castle that even the people working there didn’t know about.
It was created at the era of the Old Empire. It was a space that had a history of being used as an escape route, a place for secret talk, and also for other things like imprisonment or torture.
This place where even people to maintain it didn’t exist anymore was discovered by that person by accident.
「Then, someone who noticed the world revision appeared as expected?」
One of the two people there.
A man wearing a black luxurious mantle with an eye glint that was like a beast, Fugil responded to the question of his master.
「About that, even I am unable to grasp their existence. At the present time, it’s simply that the right of counterattack arrived to you who was chosen by Sacred Eclipse. Avalon’s power of creation──it’s your freedom to decide how you will use it.」
「…………」
「Till the end I will give only a little help for that. By no means I’m giving you my full cooperation. I will not be responsible for your deed and everything that resulted from that.」
Fugil told that towards his master in front of him with a firm tone.
In response, the silhouette hesitated only for a bit before they made a clear decision.
「I see, then I will arrange it as planned. Everything is by your will.」
Fugil told that towards his new master and bowed courteously.
And then the hands of the clock started moving.
Part 6
「At this occasion all of you have done admirably delivering victory in this great war for our side. If any single one from all the countries here was missing, surely we wouldn’t be able to grasp the future. Let’s begin the meager banquet of victory now!」
After the greeting of Queen Raffi, Prime Minister Nulph concluded like that and the party began.
The representatives and Seven Dragon Paladins from each country should be completely present in this place, but at present Aeril, Magialka, and Singlen weren’t here.
Also, even Lux at his present state was able to perceive Prime Minister Nulph.
That meant that he was alive at the present without a doubt.
And then the other people except Lux and Philuffy seemed to perceive that everyone was present without anyone missing just as he expected. There Lux tried forming a certain hypothesis.
(This situation──the curse of perception by Ouroboros, how will it work from here on?)
Aeril once similarly made use of a portion of Ruin’s power to manipulate perception so she could become Coral.
However, Aeril was able to do that because she was connected to Ruin due to Baptism and she continued to use that power.
Furthermore even with that power Aeril had to be personally present in place to act her part. From there it could be assumed that it was a weak power of perception manipulation.
In contrast Ouroboros had powerful perception manipulation on a wide range.
Right now the curse was limited to while the parade was going on so it wasn’t that complicated, but the more time passed and the more people got involved with each other, it should create a lot of uncertain points.
And then when someone noticed those inconsistencies, their brain would create another lie to complement it.
It was a terrific power that came from the resonance of Avalon and the Ruins──was how it looked like, but there should be some kind of weak point.
「…………」
Lux sent a glance at a corner of the party venue. There he could see the figure of Philuffy and Relie.
The key to break the puzzle existed in the past memory of Lux himself.
Five years ago, Philuffy who he thought died from the human experiment was resurrected later by Sacred Eclipse’s power, that was how she was alive even now.
But, if she really died at that time, wouldn’t she not exist in this place right now?
Because, if the perception manipulation right now would continue for eternity, Count Atismata who accomplished the revolution at that time would surely be alive even now.
Even if he didn’t exist on the throne, it would be fine if he was simply kept alive in everyone’s perception.
(In other words, this large scale perception manipulation──the revision of the world cannot continue for that long.)
If lies were painted over with lies, although it would become a temporary patch up, in the end many inconsistencies would occur and it would crumble.
For the owner of Avalon, this was a period of course correction to remove several fatal problems and put themselves in an advantageous position.
In that case, after this loop was cancelled, would the existences of Magialca, Singlen, and Aeril who were here right now get corrected into the fact that they died?
But, when Lux hypothesized that, a single question was born.
(No wait. Why was Aeril wearing the Academy’s uniform before the parade in the first place? Even though she should be treated as dead after all, in the end, using perception revision, for what was it──)
The instant Lux thought that, he gasped.
Because he noticed the intention of the mastermind who caused this loop.
Sania and Ignid were modified while still alive by the Automatas and they were turned into disposable tools.
Because there was no need to keep them alive.
If by any chance the mastermind planned to make use of Aeril from here on too by manipulating her using the power of Avalon, it was better for her to go around various countries in rotation.
(I see, so that’s it……!)
In other words, the possibility that Aeril hadn’t died yet was high.
She was being captured with the brainwashing of deep perception manipulation applied on her. They could just release her later after she was remodeled as a convenient pawn for the New Kingdom.
But, if that was the case there was no time.
Thinking that two weeks had passed since the battle at the abandoned capital Guernica, Aeril wasn’t here might meant that she was in the middle of brainwashing.
「Phi-chan. I have a request, is it okay?」
「……Nn.」
Lux went around the room as the center of the talking topic while whispering into Philuffy’s ear.
Seen from the side her expression was blank like usual, but she should be listening properly.
「Oi, prince-sama. What are you doing looking dazed like that huh? Aeril is lonely here.」
「Ahaha, sorry Greifer.」
Lux couldn’t see Aeril’s figure anymore, but he was skillfully pretending to match his talk with his comrades who didn’t notice the reality.
If the mastermind was among the people here, Lux couldn’t let them know that he had noticed the loop at this point in time.
The party with the representatives of each country passed.
And then Lux didn’t overlook Prime Minister Nulph quietly disappearing in the middle of it.
Part 7
「……What’s going on? Why aren’t they coming? The arranged time has passed a long time ago──」
Prime Minister Nulph who left his seat passed through the underground hidden corridor inside the castle and stamped his feet in irritation inside a dreary box shaped warehouse.
This place was a hidden Drag-Ride hangar facility inside the New Kingdom.
The hidden passage for escaping and evacuation which was created in the era of the Old Empire was restructured into a hangar.
Right now it wasn’t used anymore. Prime Minister Nulph was in that forgotten place.
He was biting his nail in irritation while being accompanied by two Drag-Knights who seemed to be his guards.
「──My apologies but, they won’t be coming.」
「What?」
Inside the musty hangar that was illuminated by several torches in iron baskets, Lux in his uniform slipped out of the darkness and called out to him.
「Sania and Ignid. I removed the trap that you laid out.」
「-……!? Lux Arcadia!? You──why are you here!?」
The complexion of Prime Minister Nulph changed hearing the words that Lux said.
The intellectual impression he gave to other people vanished. Now he was emitting a sharp killing intent.
「……You murdered Waybra and Sieg Kreutzer. I have confirmed the image recording of the stolen Drake.」
What was recorded there was Prime Minister Nulph’s transaction with Dragon Marauder. He sold the information of the New Kingdom in order to fatten his own purse.
Because that dodgy dealing was grasped by Waybra of the Old Empire faction, Prime Minister Nulph was targeted as a part of the plan to bring down the queen from the throne.
Like that not only Nulph would lose his position as prime minister, he would be executed too.
Therefore he used the power of Avalon to manipulate the situation.
「Can you speak to me honestly? About Avalon──」
「Wro, wrong! That kind of recording is a fake! There I no way I would do anything like that! I don’t know anything about them! Someone is trying to frame me──」
「Then, why is it you never met the gaze of the people who aren’t here in this parade?」
「────」
In reaction to Lux’s question, a slight forbidding look surfaced on Prime Minister Nulph’s face and he fell silent.
Lux exposed that he wasn’t affected by Avalon’s perception manipulation.
By telling that, Nulph noticed that he was unable to deceive him anymore.
「I see, if you know about that then we can make this brief. But, Lux Arcadia. Can’t you keep this matter a secret?」
Nulph suddenly let go of his tension and spoke with a calm tone.
「This is a necessary step in order to rally up the New Kingdom. The burden to Queen Raffi is already too heavy. The phase where it’s possible for her to simply cling on the prestige of Count Atismata has passed.」
Nulph talked gracefully as though in a performance.
His voice was clear and resounded well.
On the other hand, that voice was hoarse as though it was oozing resignation.
In this chance he was trying to reel in the authority over the New Kingdom that was shaken and crumbling in its foundation towards himself.
「Why is her majesty not good? If all of us support her, then no matter what happened──」
「Do you really think that’s the case?」
Nulph snickered at the question that Lux asked him with a straightforward gaze and he averted his eyes.
And then he began to walk with clicking footsteps on the floor of the Drag-Ride hangar that was illuminated by the flame of the torches.
「It’s impossible, Lux Arcadia. At the beginning I didn’t intend to bring down her majesty. But it’s impossible for her. Her very nature is decisively not suited for conflict.」
That was the opinion of the man who had actually watched the thinking of Queen Raffi from the side throughout this one year of conflict.
「Drawing out advantageous terms in negotiation and obtaining benefits. Hiding your own failure and then acting as though you are advancing on the right path. Those are necessary traits for the people of authority, and she cannot do that. In that case, what would happen? She is full of openings to be attacked by the surroundings. By other statesmen, rebels, the selfish people and groups of the country. She was toyed around by such fellows, and as a result it caused the nation’s power to be exhausted.」
「Such thing is──」
‘Not true.’
Lux couldn’t assert that definitively.
Right now the whole country was in high spirit from the victory against the Lords, but before that the New Kingdom was left behind when dealing with various things, there were also a lot of dissatisfaction and the voices that were criticizing the queen were great in number.
But that was also the fault of unexpected situations that was unluckily occurring continuously.
By no mean it was because Queen Raffi was unsuited or lacking in effort.
「There are even those who start to say that perhaps the ways of the Old Empire is the right one if it’s like this. Her majesty the queen is unfortunate, but people’s impressions are hard to be changed.」
「That’s why, you are saying to abandon her?」
「I’m going to inherit her majesty’s will. That’s what I want to say.」
「That’s a lie.」
The reasoning spoken by Prime Minister Nulph indeed sounded convincing, but Lux immediately cut it down.
「If you are going to inherit her majesty’s will, then it’s fine to borrow Count Atismata’s prestige just like until now. If you have calculated like what you are just saying, then thats what you should have done. In short──you should have another different objective. Am I wrong?」
「…………」
Nulph’s expression didn’t change.
But, looking at how he pressed his young and virile lips together, Lux judged that his assumption was correct.
「The blood of the imperial family cannot be contested, is it. As expected.」
Prime Minister Nulph suddenly leaked out a small sigh and showed a smile.
「I was lost whether to say this or not but, her majesty the queen has a fatal weakness. The New Kingdom will be faced with a predicament if it’s not dealt with right now. Therefore──……u, goh!」
Nulph groaned the moment he was about to say something.
His clear eyes clouded like mud, while his body color changed.
The skin of his whole body was dyed jet black and his body tissue transformed as though his body was turned inside out.
「This is! This symptom──」
He had recollection of it.
Last night, it was the symptom that happened to Sania and Ignid.
No, in addition to that there was something more. Nocturnal transformation due to injection of Elixir was also starting at the same time.
The body surface was covered with pitch black color, while both his eyes were tinged with crimson light.
「Prime Minister Nulph. Let’s kill him!」
「He is the hero who saved the New Kingdom, but we can only make him vanish now that this truth has become known!」
The two girl guards standing beside Nulph pulled out their Sword Device at the same time.
The two didn’t look perturbed as though they understood Nulph’s condition──
(What is this out of place feeling……?)
A slight doubt was born inside Lux.
The situation moved without even any time to think deeply of it.
「──Come, the winged dragon of crest that symbolized power. Obey my sword and soar, Wyvern!」
「──Come, the dragon that symbolized immortality. Turn into the chaining fang of earth, Wyrm!」
「Kuh……!」
Lux who saw that also reacted quickly and pulled out his own Sword Device.
「──Connect – On!」
The two guards summoned two Drag-Rides along with the pass code and quickly wore them.
In response Lux summoned Wyvern using mind control operation without chanting the pass code.
The deployment of his armored arm barely made it in time and he blocked the two’s attack using his Blade.
Why didn’t Lux summon the Divine Drag-Ride Bahamut?
The reason was because of the fatigue of his body that he felt at the previous fight.
The cause was unknown, but the current Lux wasn’t in a state that could endure the energy consumption of a Divine Drag-Ride.
Therefore he selected the general purpose type Wyvern instead of Bahamut that put a large burden on him.
「Now! Nulph-sama!」
「Please use the power of Avalon while we are buying time!」
(……!? This feeling, don’t tell me)
The two guards of Prime Minister Nulph used their respective weapon powerfully to fight back.
But, because their skill was only at the level of average Drag-Knights, they weren’t a match against Lux and their armors were crushed in the blink of an eye.
「Guh……!?」
「Nulph-sama! Please run!」
The two guards who were now only in their pilot suits tumbled down on the floor while squeezing out their voices.
Lux turned his gaze towards the hangar’s exit to not let Nulph get away. It was then a strange shape appeared before him.
「──There is no need for that, both of you.」
*DOGUN-!*
A terrific shockwave from a roar echoed inside the hidden Drag-Ride hangar.
At the same time the torches inside the room were blown off and the room was enveloped in darkness.
「Wha……!」
Right after that, an unexpectedly powerful shockwave attacked. Lux endured it with his barrier while focusing his sight.
But, a terribly powerful blow attacked from the empty darkness where his eyes couldn’t see anything.
「Gu, a……-!?」
Lux reflexively used his Blade as a shield and avoided the attack from hitting him directly.
But, the attack with brutal weight behind it that was like a battering ram became an impact that pierced through his armor and shook his brain vertically.
(Calm down……! Not yet, until my eyes……get used to this!)
The instant he intersected with the opponent, he could slightly see the silhouette of Nulph wearing an EX Drake.
He was turned into a Nocturnal due to Elixir and his skin surface turned pitch black.
──But, that wasn’t all.
His flesh assimilated with the Drag-Ride itself.
「What, this appearance……!?」
「You have, reached the truth. There is no way, you can be allowed to leave this place alive!」
A thick killing intent was released toward Lux along with a distorted and cloudy inhuman voice.
「Kuh, there! ……-!?」
Lux evaded the barrage of Breath Gun that Nulph fired while trying to counterattack, but his hand stopped.
Ahead of where he was going to glide, there was a Drag-Ride that was placed in the hangar beforehand. He couldn’t see it and it got on his way.
(So, that’s how it is……)
When his eyes got slightly used to the darkness, he noticed the trap of this disposable hangar.
Because countless decayed and disposable Drag-Rides were linen up, they became obstacles that hindered his flying.
In other words, EX Drake that could use radar and night vision was overwhelmingly superior here.
「Gugi! GAAaAAAAAAAA……!」
Prime Minister Nulph who had become one with the machine roared and swung his iron hammer with all his might.
The camouflage possessed by the special equipment type would greatly drop in performance when its energy was split for attacking, but it displayed enough effectiveness when it was used in darkness like this.
「Die! Die! DIEEEEEEE! Those who get in the way of my supremacy, diee-!」
Nulph came swinging his iron hammer while shrieking with a broken voice that was accompanied with killing intent.
「……Kuh!?」
The power of the terrific blow that rivaled even a Ragnarok reached Lux even when it was blocked by his sword and barrier.
Furthermore the mysterious fatigue and his body’s bad shape made him unable to counterattack properly.
──But, even while Lux was being cornered into a disadvantage, he still dodged all the attacks from landing directly.
A few minutes after that.
Nulph was unable to overcome Lux regardless of the overwhelming disadvantage. He finally started to notice that something was strange.
「Why……! How are you, blocking the attacks that are using camouflage in this darkness!?」
There was no doubt that Prime Minister Nulph used the power of Avalon to obtain great power.
But, he was inferior in skill even compared to a third class Drag-Knight. His level was different from Lux.
First if Lux moved until near the corner of the hangar and put the wall behind him, the angle from where the opponent’s attack was coming could be limited.
And then after Nulph’s EX Drake swung the iron hammer it wielded, it wouldn’t be able to attack from the same angle consecutively.
In addition the nature of that weapon made it unsuited for repeated attack with rapid movement.
And above all else, while Lux was doing his chore livelihood, at the same time he also piled up experience of continuously polishing his defensive skills in the tournament.
The opponent’s breathing and habit.
Something like brute force attacks that wasn’t accompanied by training to eliminate those signs could be seen through even inside this darkness.
A total of five minutes passed since the battle started.
Lux finished forming the scenario towards victory in that short time.
「──Haah!」
Lux who finally saw through the attack timing perfectly matched his movement with the opponent’s downswing and swung his Scale Blade.
He intercepted the starting point of the opponent’s attack a moment ahead which resulted in a counter that wholly returned the attack’s power back to the enemy.
It was Lux’s special move that was using the special weapon Lisha made for him, a weapon that circulated the Drag-Ride’s barrier towards the Blade. The attack crushed Prime Minister Nulph’s iron hammer.
「NUua……!?」
The impact further penetrated the EX Drake’s armor and made him stagger.
When the faltering Nulph leaped backwards, it also gave Lux the leeway to confirm something.
(……It’s there!)
He couldn’t exactly confirm it by sight in the darkness, but Lux clearly sensed it when Prime Minister Nulph’s distance was less than ten-odd ml from him.
Even though he couldn’t see it, he could clearly perceive the opponent’s breathing and conduct.
For some reason he felt like he could even perceive what Nulph was going to do after this.
(Is it because the Baptism I received in Avalon? These senses──)
It was surely still far below Yoruka’s magic eye that could sense the presence’s wavelength, even so he was able to detect the opponent’s movement in a different level than before.
「──There-!」
Lux glided in the air without hesitation and slashed the darkness with the tip of his Blade. He felt a definite response and the opponent’s armor was crushed.
「……GU, GAaAAaAAAAH!」
It wasn’t the right shoulder where the Force Core was installed, but it was the armored arm right under that was severed.
Lux held back because Prime Minister Nulph who transformed into a Nocturnal would die if his body was damaged too much.
Crackling sparks scattered from the destroyed armor. The EX Drake’s center of gravity crumbled and it staggered.
「Haa, haa……!」
No matter how well Lux saw through the opponent’s attacks, the opponent was undoubtedly powerful.
Because Lux intentionally didn’t destroy the Force Core or the flesh body directly, the damage to the flesh body should be relatively light but──
「Gu, ah……. Lux Arcadia, you’re, wrong……. I’m……!」
But, Lux’s consideration ended in vain.
When Lux took a torch that lied on the floor and moved it to the iron basket to make lighting, Prime Minister Nulph who returned to normal had already expired.
When he looked around further, the two girls who seemed to be his guards had already collapsed and stopped breathing when he didn’t notice.
It looked like they got hit by the stray attack from the rampaging Nulph but…….
「So it’s no good……. But, is it over? With this──」
If Prime Minister Nulph who borrowed Fugil’s help died, the power of Avalon wouldn’t be used further than this.
The perception that was currently being manipulated would be removed and the loop wouldn’t happen further than this.
With this a danger had ended.
Next if he defeated Fugil and Sacred Eclipse that seemed to grant power to Prime Minister Nulph, everything would return to normal.
「Prime Minister, Nulph……」
He couldn’t solve the puzzle of what kind of negotiation happened between him and Fugil’s camp, but he couldn’t ask it anymore from someone who was dead.
「…………」
With this the second day of the parade was over and the last day, if nothing happened the third day would pass──a new day without the influence of world revision should begin.
There was no reaction from the guards inside the castle regardless of the intense battle just now. As expected, the perception curse was still remaining.
Lux let out a sigh and returned to the party venue.
He participated in the continuation of the party and the night grew late.
Part 8
「──It seems the events are progressing well. Thank you very much.」
Behind the scenes of the victory party that was attended by the noble visitors from various countries.
There were two people, man and woman inside a hidden room in the castle.
One of them was a man with similar silver hair and grey eyes like Lux──Fugil Arcadia.
The other one possessed beautiful golden colored hair, Queen Raffi.
「If the loop is activated once more, Avalon’s effect will cut off temporarily. A long time will be needed to stock up power again. Do you have the resolve to endure the wait until then?」
「Yes. Besides, you will support me right, Fugil Arcadia?」
Raffi muttered with a cynical expression that looked somehow powerless.
「I never told anyone about you since the revolution five years ago. I have also never showed any sign of recognizing you. That time five years ago when you saved me, that also wasn’t a coincidence wasn’t it?」
「…………」
Fugil didn’t answer Raffi’s question.
Raffi lied down face up on the old sofa inside the room and stared to a spot on the ceiling.
She stared at the full moon that was visible from the small glass window on the ceiling.
As though to ascertain the passing of time using the shape of the moon that was changing during the repeated three day period.
Five years ago. No one else knew it but, Raffi was also saved by Fugil.
Raffi temporarily evacuated after Count Atismata died from the trap that resulted from a betrayer’s information. But the army of the Old Empire also marched on her location at that time.
Her kin and other family were massacred and she was about to be killed, but Fugil appeared then and saved her from the crisis.
Fugil took away Raffi right after that. After the revolution, he entrusted her to Prime Minister Nulph who was the close aide of Count Atismata.
「There was……nothing in me. I was treated as a failed product since I was little, clinging on in that chauvinism society──. The moment I realized that my body cannot give birth to a child due to a disease’s after-effect, I lost any place to belong.」
Similarly because her body wasn’t strong due to sickness too, the path to become a Drag-Knight was naturally also closed to her.
Although from the beginning it was impossible for the Old Empire to grant a Drag-Ride to a woman anyway.
「…………」
Raffi formed her words piece by piece looking back at her past.
Fugil simply listened quietly to her muttering.
「It was a living hell. I realized that there was no future ahead of me even if I endured. My life was over at that time when I wasn’t even twenty years old.」
「Why didn’t you die if you knew that?」
「Fufu, even like this I have tried to die several times you know? Though if it’s you who have touched many deaths in the battlefield heard about my attempts, surely you will laugh it as mere playing.」
Actually Raffi had tried hanging herself, cutting her wrist, and threw herself into a swamp.
But, in the end she couldn’t reach the end.
Even while she was trying to die, she chose to live and drew back.
「Why? Even though not a single good thing had happened to me until now. It was scary, painful, agonizing, bitter, sad, vexing──. In the end I couldn’t die.」
「…………」
Raffi’s monologue was vaguely oozing resignation rather than sorrow.
Fugil was listening to that without a single change in his expression.
「Surely I didn’t even have the courage to die. If I die here, if it ends here. It feels like there really will be not a single meaning at all of me being born.」
That was something like the obstinacy of the weak.
Unable to fight.
Unable to resist.
Continuing to escape without other people seeing any worth in her existence, even so she wished to obtain happiness someday.
「I respected my big brother, but on the other hand I also hated him. He was a man, capable, and at the same time possessed a sense of justice. He showed the will to oppose the Old Empire──but in the end he foisted everything to me. I wasn’t strong like my big brother. That was why I was oppressed by the surroundings.」
Count Atismata was a noble man. He was undoubtedly a great man.
But, Raffi herself was never saved by him.
「Like that, you met Waybra Hemt.」
「……Yes, that person who was a distant relative of the emperor said that he was in a similar environment like me and loved me even when I am like this. I was happy, truly──. He was the only one being kind to me among my cold parents, relatives, family, and aristocrat acquaintances. It was like light shined on me.」
「You mean──you were looking for a hero? But in reality the hand of salvation won’t come to the weak. Only predators trying to devour the weak will approach.」
「Yes. In reality it’s exactly as you say.」
Waybra Hemt stayed in their territory at that time as an inspector. But his true identity was a spy to monitor Count Atismata. Waybra called out to Raffi for the sake of that investigation.
Their time as intimate lovers continued. They made a promise to leave the territory with only the two of them and quietly marry in a remote village, and then──
The day the revolution was approaching, Raffi leaked her big brother’s plan to Waybra in order to let him escape.
She noticed his betrayal was when after that the soldiers arrived and slaughtered the relatives of Count Atismata who were in hiding.
「I am──a sinner. Unable to save anyone, unable to do anything, I can only be toyed by fate and sent my brother and family to death. Everyone was cold to me, but ……they didn’t abandon me or kill me, they kept me alive, and yet」
A self-depreciating smile suddenly floated on Raffi’s lips.
After that, Raffi escaped.
Betrayed by Waybra, with her big brother and whole family killed, she was in the bottom of despair and hopelessness, crawling inside the cauldron of hell.
Even when she understood that it was just a game of the hunters, even when she realized that she would be unable to escape.
She dragged her wounded weak body that was prone to sickness and ran into the forest.
She met Fugil, and Sacred Eclipse in the form of a silver haired girl.
Sacred Eclipse slaughtered all her pursuers, then she applied a slight amount of Baptism to Raffi. The revolution was over when she woke up.
After that she headed to the capital with Fugil’s guidance.
Nulph recommended her to take the throne, and then──Raffi became the New Kingdom’s queen.
Raffi who didn’t have any strength whatsoever and only brought destruction to all around her did everything in her power, as slight as it was, for the sake of the New Kingdom.
Until Waybra who recorded everything at that time appeared──
And then now, she who was partly fused with Sacred Eclipse and obtained the forbidden power to loop these three days of the parade and erased the hostile forces.
Prime Minister Nulph yielded against the threat of Waybra and Sieg Kreutzer and chose the path of abandoning Raffi and ingratiating himself to them.
Therefore, she captured Nulph and remodeled him. To make use of him as a tool to deceive Lux who noticed the truth of this world revision.
「Are you alright? With someone like me?」
「What could you mean by that?」
Fugil asked back in response to Raffi’s question.
「Becoming the ally of me who is this foolish, weak, and small. I believe there are a lot of other people that you should choose. People with the qualification to stand above others──」
「……Fuh」
Fugil who listened to her talk expressionlessly until now smiled for the first time here.
「──Sacred Eclipse doesn’t chose the person. Strong feelings. Relentless lamentation, it’s a system that is led by that to bring salvation. What is called fate is opened up by one’s own strength. But in reality, most of the time everything is decided completely in a place where one’s own strength cannot reach.」
Fugil looked up to the moon that was starting to be covered by clouds once more with a distant gaze.
「You have lived through a dark world where there wasn’t even a single hope, not even a gleam of light. Therefore you possess an extremely strong wish compared to people with capability. Even for this me, you are a human who has to be saved.」
Saying that, the man moved away from the wall where he was leaning and started walking to exit the hidden room.
「After all the Sacred Eclipse originally was made for that. She tried to reach out her hand to the weakest people in the world.」
「She was……a kind person wasn’t she, that person called Arshalia.」
「…………」
Raffi’s words slipped out along with a powerless smile.
Fugil didn’t react at all to that and turned his face towards her.
「When the strength residing inside you becomes complete, the last stage of this world revision will begin. In case that is completed, what are you going to wish for?」
「Let’s see──」
Raffi hesitated slightly at Fugil’s question.
But, she immediately straightened her back and took a deep breath before answering.
「I wish to obtain various things. Everything that I have to give up until now because of this fate──」
「Specifically?」
「Everything. Friends and comrades who I can trust, people who recognize me, making memories with them──. But, there is just one thing, that I have obtained.」
「The power that Sacred Eclipse gave you?」
「No, it’s something unrelated with this power.」
Raffi suddenly smiled within the gloominess.
At that time, the moon that was hiding behind the cloud showed its face and its light illuminated her.
If there was anyone else other than Fugil in this place──someone who knew the queen from before, surely they would shudder.
Queen Raffi whose appearance was that of a thirty year old woman had transformed into an appearance that had traces of childishness in it, she looked the same age like Lisha.
There was a part of silver hair within her vividly golden hair.
That appearance that was wearing a crimson dress resembled Raffi more than ten years ago.
「It’s Lisha……. My step daughter. She loved me who is empty like this and called me mother. She is facing forward optimistically without shrinking from her bitter past. A country where her and I can live in brazenly──and anything necessary to maintain it, I wish to obtain those from here on.」
「I see……」
「Yes, please treat me well, Fugil. From here on too──forever.」
Raffi walked through the passage of the hidden room with an elegant smile.
Before long Fugil also vanished from there.
Part 9
「Haa, haa……──haah……!」
A few hours after defeating Prime Minister Nulph.
Lux’s body was shuddering inside an abandoned building in the district of the capital that was trampled by Gigas.
There were only the presences of two people inside.
They secretly slipped into darkness and reached this place.
「Is it alright with this Aruji-sama? I cannot see anything, and also cannot hear anything but──」
Yoruka who was clad in the Divine Drag-Ride Yato no Kami tilted her head while watching the recording──that was recorded a few hours ago using the special equipment type’s ability.
When her violet magic eye that was applied with Baptism shined, she blinked in wonder.
Yoruka who was receiving the curse of perception manipulation couldn’t see the contents of the image recording.
More accurately speaking her brain wasn’t perceiving a particular reality, even so it seemed there was something that she sensed.
「……? Something, it’s faint but I can see it. A girl in dress who I’m not familiar with is──」
「I see. So Yoruka too can perceive it if only slightly.」
Yoruka too might become able to perceive the normal world after Philuffy.
He found a fragment of hope there, however──
「What, the……!」
Lux who grasped the truth could only feel shocked.
Right before Lux was going to question Prime Minister Nulph, he told Yoruka to record an area inside the castle using Yato no Kami.
More accurately, he asked Philuffy to give a letter with the instruction he wrote to Yoruka, so that while Lux was meeting with Nulph, she could record a certain situation inside the castle.
Queen Raffi already used the Automata to remodel Prime Minister Nulph, forcing him to act as the mastermind.
Lux first felt something was out of place due to the words of Sania and Ignid when they died.
How could they leak out Prime Minister Nulph’s name when they were already turned into flesh puppets?
It was just too crude if their brainwashing was dispelled when they were dying.
If Prime Minister Nulph was the mastermind, he should take action so that the link to him absolutely wouldn’t be discovered.
What happened with Sania was inconsistent with the policy of thoroughly sealing the mouth of anyone involved, as could be seen at the first and second loop when Waybra and Sieg were assassinated using Automata.
Therefore, the smoothness of how Lux found the clue in order to know the truth and even obtained the proof after that changed into doubt instead.
The true mastermind was leading him to the mistaken interpretation.
And then, Lux became convinced in the middle of his fight with the transformed Nulph.
Those two girls who guarded Nulph were Automata who controlled Nulph following the orders of the mastermind.
By the way the Drake’s recording that Lux obtained──the recording of Prime Minister Nulph and Dragon Marauder was surely a fake created using dummies of Sacred Eclipse’s transformation.
Lux was faintly suspecting that he was being deceived while entering the battle pretending to not know anything.
At the side he asked Yoruka and Philuffy to do a certain matter.
He wanted them to search for anyone in the castle or around it who was observing the battle of Lux and Nulph.
Yoruka had received Baptism, but she still hadn’t escaped the curse of world revision.
Therefore, if there was a living thing’s reaction that was caught by Yato no Kami’s radar that Yoruka couldn’t perceive but could be sensed by Philuffy──
The location of the true mastermind who wasn’t Nulph hiding inside the castle could be found.
Yato no Kami’s radar reacted, then that place that caused difference in perception between Yoruka and Philuffy was pinned down. Yoruka who was hiding using camouflage then recorded the area just like she was asked.
And then, the truth was determined.
The trump card of Waybra and Sieg Kreutzer to usurp the ruling of the New Kingdom, was the sin of Queen Raffi.
During the revolution five years ago, she handed the information of Count Atismata to Waybra. That fact got recorded.
The biological sister of the great man who defeated the evil government of the Old Empire was actually a perpetrator who was connected to the Old Empire behind the scenes and killed her brother. If the proof of such fact was brought to light, the current government would definitely end.
Queen Raffi would be executed with almost definite certainty.
No matter how much amnesty she was given, at best it would still be a lifetime of imprisonment for her.
「No, wrong……. As expected, it’s impossible.」
This was incomparable with Lux and Airi who received criminal status through amnesty after the revolution. At that time both of them were treated coldly even among the imperial family of the Old Empire and got banished from the castle.
As for Raffi, she was the actual perpetrator of the crime, so there would be no way to vindicate her.
That was all the more so when she had used the name of her big brother, the great man Count Atismata, as the unifying force of the country until now.
「Just, why……」
Why did Queen Raffi get cornered into this kind of situation?
From here it would be just Lux’s imagination but, after that great battle in Avalon, there was a negotiation during these two weeks when he was resting.
.
The old people who were the senior consuls raised in the old custom──
The Old Empire faction that possessed the chauvinism tendency and the principle of aristocrat’s supremacy.
They who became active to usurp the government using the information that Waybra sold to them along with Sieg Kreutzer demanded to Prime Minister Nulph for Queen Raffi’s retirement.
The reward for that was most likely the uplifting of Sieg to become the candidate of the next general of the New Kingdom’s military, as well as the bestowal of fortune and authority to the consuls of the Old Empire faction.
In order to take back their authority like the era of the Old Empire in the past──
And then, they planned to take down the queen and made a contract with Prime Minister Nulph to their convenience in this timing when they could obtain a lot due to the negotiation for Avalon’s technology and legacy.
Prime Minister Nulph abandoned Queen Raffi who possessed such weakness from her past. In exchange he attempted to be the one ruling the kingdom by granting authority to them.
If it was announced that Raffi who was the symbol of the new order couldn’t maintain the country and Nulph ascended to the throne as her replacement, it would become easy for the intervention of the Old Empire faction to happen.
「What, the……!」
Lux’s shoulders dropped and he spat out those words once more.
In any case the Old Empire faction including Prime Minister Nulph would make the isolated Queen Raffi fall from the throne.
If she resisted, in the worst case her past sin might get published using the image recording.
The honor she had built until now as the little sister of the great man Count Atismata would be degraded and she wouldn’t be able to escape from execution.
By the time Nulph yielded against the fact that was thrust before him and leaned towards the Old Empire faction, Queen Raffi’s fate was decided.
The fate of destruction that couldn’t be overturned.
A trampling down by the powerful people who possessed authority.
Raffi’s lamentation that was heavier and deeper than anyone called Sacred Eclipse and Fugil to her.
In order to rebel against fate, Raffi used Avalon’s power and slaughtered them through the course of the parade.
She destroyed all the image recordings, and in the slightest chance someone noticed the loop and pursued the truth, she used Prime Minister Nulph as a fake mastermind to mislead the pursuer while erasing him at the same time.
──That was the truth of all the events that led to here.
.
「What’s the matter, Aruji-sama?」
It would be no use even if he talked about the circumstances of the matter to Yoruka who couldn’t perceive this recording.
No, even if he told her, what would he do then?
Was he going to tell Lisha to kill Raffi who she dearly loved so much and who was going to maintain the peace after this?
Such, such thing was──
「……No. It’s nothing. Yoruka, can you return to the inn first?」
「I understand. Please be careful, Aruji-sama.」
After hesitating slightly, Yoruka left the abandoned building.
「…………」
Silence filled the empty room.
After a while, Lux leaned on the wall and looked up to the sky in a daze.
Now that the Old Empire had lost the image recording that was the trump card to bring down the queen, as well as their leaders Waybra and Sieg, they wouldn’t be able to do anything anymore.
If Lux kept silent, perhaps the New Kingdom would head to a nice direction like this.
But, that would mean overlooking the world revision Fugil carried out as well as the murder occurring in the middle of the parade.
「Just……what in the world should I do?」
The smile of Lisha who dearly loved her mother Queen Raffi was burned on Lux’s eyelid.
Part 10
Two gazes saw Lux return to the inn before moving away from the inn.
Late at night on the parade’s second day. Two Automatas were walking in the street.
「……In the end, he doesn’t notice that he is tricked to think of Nulph as the mastermind dearimasu?」
「Based from Lux Arcadia’s state, I think there is no problem nanodesu.」
The Gear Leader of Hall with mechanical dog ears growing from her head──Ney Louches asked. In response, her fellow Automata La Krusche nodded.
The Divine Raiment of the Artifact Ouroboros, Endless was something with two types.
First when it was used with only a single Drag-Ride, it would change the rules within the radius of a few kl with the Drag-Ride as the center.
And then, the second type of Endless was when it was used in conjunction with Avalon’s functions of perception manipulation that resonated with all the Ruins, the world scale perception modification.
Because either type consumed vast amounts of energy, when it was used consecutively the time necessary to charge the energy store would become long.
Employing them the Automatas was also the same.
Thus Raffi too couldn’t just focus her effort to only monitoring Lux.
Because there was someone else other than Lux who was acting suspiciously.
「I thought he would tell the truth to the Key’s Supervisor Krulcifer, it’s unexpected dearimasu.」
Ney Louches tilted her head while muttering.
Actually at the second loop the Automatas already finished dealing with all the recovered Drakes.
But, they had already received reports that people like Lux and Airi obtained Baptism in Avalon, so there was a need to be wary of them.
There they injected parasite Abyss into the prisoners Sania and Ignid and laid a trap.
In case Lux came sniffing, they were ordered to not kill him but to mislead him to think that Prime Minister Nulph was the mastermind.
Raffi didn’t have the intention to kill Lux and Syvalles’s members and did her utmost to avoid that.
After this, the users of Divine Drag-Rides would become an important fighting force for the New Kingdom.
Among them were the members of Syvalles who raised deeds of arms at the previous great battle, and Lux who was Lisha’s knight and a member of the Seven Dragon Paladins who became a hero within the country. Losing them wouldn’t be a good plan.
Therefore the two weren’t killed but guided into the false truth.
The scenario of Prime Minister Nulph colluding with the Old Empire faction and planned to take down the queen in reality was just like Lux imagined.
Thus Raffi modified Nulph’s perception and put the blame as the mastermind of this case on him.
The possibility of breaking through the perception manipulation of Endless would increase depending on the degree of Baptism or Elixir they received. But it wasn’t enough with just that, they also had to notice that something was out of place in the world, on top of that they had to deny the world and tried to break out of it.
If they thought that the present situation was correct, or that it was desirable for them, they would get caught in the net of perception manipulation that was put on them again.
In other words, if Lux killed Prime Minister Nulph thinking of him as the mastermind just as Raffi planned, and then he became convinced with everything──he wouldn’t notice anything anymore in the next world revision.
Seeing that right now he didn’t look he was telling anything to Krulcifer or the other girls, the thought that Lux was deceived became conviction.
「It looks like Lux Arcadia got safely tricked dearimasu. With this it’s hip hip hurray for us dearimasu.」
「Then let’s go back to master for now. The last big job is remaining after this so──」
The two Automata pulled out their Sword Devices from the sheath and wore their respective Divine Drag-Rides.
They were summoning Drag-Rides in the middle of the city although it was late at night, and yet there wasn’t anyone noticing it. Except one person.
The night of the second day of the third loop was growing late.
The night passed with each person keeping their respective feelings in their chest.