“Have you gone insane?” Gen asked, nearly shouting.

Niu had to stop herself from smiling at the thought that in recent times it was something like Gen’s catchphrase. She didn’t think she’d really made that many crazy suggestions, but he was always like this. Although he seemed brash and direct, he still was rather down-to-earth.

She also wondered what his soldier admirers would think if they saw him treating their Queen like that.

In the end, Niu simply sighed and sent her thoughts to small NiU curling on her lap. “Will you stop, saying that? I believe what I, suggested is the most, pragmatic solution.”

“It sounds more suitable to your way of doing things, if anything,” noted Roah.

Gen shot him a brief glare before he turned to face Niu again. “Yes, it looks like fighting with the Stroba is going to be inevitable, but… a full-on raid? That’s a bit too much.”

It was a mere hour ago that Niu had reached the conclusion that simple was best—if they wanted to get the captive human to their side and kick the Stroba down a notch, then they would simply go and do it. There was no sense agonizing over it too much.

“Negotiation’s going nowhere,” Niu replied. “Unless you can suggest, a better course of action, you will follow the plan.”

Niu knew fully well that if he had a better idea, he would have said it long ago. And it wasn’t for lack of trying; every time she saw him, he was extremely worried about the situation and he always complained. However, he never was much of a thinker. Even more ironically, while he was undoubtedly the strongest of them, he never wanted to really fight unless there was no other choice.

Everything lay on her shoulders. She would not postpone the proper plan just because Gen was opposed to it.

As much as it hurt her.

“If I may, Queen,” said Aisbroom. Starting from the moment of the gathering and until now, they said nothing, merely nodding at times. Unlike Gen, they were never much in conflict with Niu, so perhaps they now sought some peacemaking.

“Yes?” Niu asked.

“Ashwok—my progenitor and past Ruler—once said that we were perhaps overestimating the Stroba.”

“Overestimating them?” Roah immediately interjected with a raised brow.

“Perhaps I have used the wrong word, judging from your expressions. What I mean is… Ashwok once said that we view the Stroba as evil and beyond reproach, but it might not be so. They, too, think they are in the right. Each side acts for their own good. I too only act because I belong to one side. If I were on their side, I would have done the same. I believe that is true of all wars, but still…”

“What is all that, sophistry, all of a sudden? What are you, trying to say?” said NiU, although it couldn’t quite replicate Niu’s annoyance in its voice.

“That perhaps there is still room to do something before going to war.”

That seemed to be even more surprising than Niu’s declaration for everyone there. Aisbroom had always been very belligerent toward the Stroba.

“They ask for too much in the negotiations,” noted Roah.

“And we ask for much as well,” Aisbroom replied calmly. “Whatever they’re doing to your fellow faerie, they too believe them to be their savior. And we haven’t been seriously trying to barter for information, either. It was always all or nothing. In a sense, Acrus was even a bigger enemy to us than them.”

Fair enough, thought Niu to herself. Though they haven’t given us reason to keep negotiating, either.

Vocally through NiU she said, “That is wasting, precious time. We can’t just hope for, them to start being, fair with us… and we need to rescue, our fellow, Plainlander.”

“Then,” said Gen, sounding desperate, “why don’t we… organize some sort of operation to rescue that person? We don’t need to start a full war. We can hit the Stroba with their own medicine, like they tried doing to us.”

“Snatching them from right under the Stroba’s noses?” Roah snorted. “We do have a few spies, but none of them are fit for that sort of drastic action. I mean, the only reason the Stroba were able to do the reverse was mostly because Acrus had let them.”

Gen looked both confused and shock. Don’t tell me that he hadn’t realized we have spies there? Niu thought with amusement. That was kind of funny. Had he really not considered this? But she simply kept talking.

“Right, I am not going to go, easy on them like, Acrus. That will only cause further, troubles down the line.”

“But… if we attack the Stroba, isn’t there a chance that they’ll, err, kill their hostage or something?”

“Unlikely.” Roah shook his head. “They need them—otherwise they wouldn’t have kept them like this—and it’s not like getting that person would be such a major advantage for us. They will more likely try to smuggle them away, if anything.”

“You dare speak about him as if he’s some sort of object that we’re trying to trade for? And besides—“

Enough, Niu directly spoke to his mind on an impulse. Gen widened his eyes and she continued through NiU. “I have made my decision. I was not asking for your, opinion but stating what, was about to happen. You have a couple of days. If you can’t think of, anything better in, that time, the plan will commence. Is that clear?”

Hearing that, Gen not only frowned but directed her a look the likes of which she only saw him giving to Roah. Perhaps even stronger than that. There was fury, and sadness, and helplessness all combined in it.

It made her heart ache so much that she almost immediately broke down and apologized. However, she knew she couldn’t show such weakness. Nor the tears that were about to well up in her eyes. Instead, she very subtly clenched her fists.

“Understood, Queen,” he spat the last word bitterly, as if it was a dirty swear word, turned tail and stormed out of the room without giving anyone time to say anything.

Niu closed her eyes and took a deep sigh, feeling her hands shaking. NiU rubbed its head against that hand. She started absently stroking it; at least someone there was on her side.

Well, there was also Roah. He was smiling victoriously, probably pleased at Gen’s reaction to all of this, if she knew him well enough. Aisbroom, on the other hand, looked as calm as ever.

“Anyway,” Niu finally said with an effort, “we’re not discussing, it any further. Start the, preparations, for a full-on assault.”

“Report,” Levia ordered lazily.

The day after the funeral, she and Salom gathered at the usual meeting room. Judging by the feelings he was radiating, though, there hadn’t been any significant progress. Still, she wanted to be as up-to-date as possible.

“I am going through several leads,” Salom started speaking, “but I have already reached some dead ends. I will start with the conclusion. As of yet, it is unknown how the poison had been brought into Shammings’ household.”

“Unknown? Surely there was some trail. Things do not appear from thin air.”

“The man loved collecting that sort of stuff, you see. Tea leaves, medicinal herbs, spices… there was practically an entire pantry full of those. Somewhat similar to how you eat fish and seafood all the time. Anyway, unless we wish to inspect each and every shop or vendor in the city—and beyond it, since Shammings imported from all around Rumdon, sometimes even from Lastia—tracing it back will be very difficult indeed.”

She could see the conundrum. Yes, the poisoner had obviously been very, very careful. They had to be, if they did something as outrageous as poisoning a noble.

“Wait,” said Levia, suddenly thinking. “Have you not told me that this was some sort of rare herb from Sacrona? Then wouldn’t that narrow the options quite considerably?”

“Already thought of it, of course. As well as some other methods. However, it doesn’t appear that anyone has the sort of connection to allow for importing from our enemy… at least, not publicly. It could also have been by proxy through Lastia, but that’s once again too wide of a net. This sort of intricate investigation could take months or years.”

Levia drummed her fingers on the table while thinking. There had to be a way to sniff out the culprit, no matter how careful and deliberate they were… however, she currently couldn’t think of one. She would leave that to Salom. There were still some specific suspects to discuss, though.

“What about Qumisson, then?” she asked.

“Which Qumisson?” he asked back with the hint of a smile.

“Both. Or all, for that matter.”

“Lord Qumisson does not seem to be doing much nowadays. In fact, I hear that he might be leaving town, soon,” Salom said. “And as for his youngest son… I have my own man on the case.”

“You say your own man, but you mean Molton’s, right?” Levia smiled. Or did Salom refer to the young soldier like that because he was his student’s brother? How adorable and unlike the cunning bastard that he was.

“Semantics. I was the one who asked young Revol to keep an eye om Callun.” Salom sighed. “He seems to be aiming to incite people against you, Levia. Are you sure it’s fine to let him do as he pleases? Even if he couldn’t possibly be the mastermind behind the poisoning.”

“Don’t let his appearance fool you. Since he’s Qumisson’s son, I’m sure he is at least as cunning as him, albeit perhaps immature… and, well, even if he’s not the culprit, keeping an eye on him is wise.”

“Yes, but… what he’s doing is bordering on treason. Surely it would be better to have him arrested, or at least warn him of the possibility?” asked Salom.

“And have dear old Qumisson raise a storm about it? No,” said Levia as she shook her head. “Whether or not he’s related to the incident, we can use him to draw some fire.”

“…As you wish.” Salom looked and felt resigned. “While we’re on the subject of a report, might I ask you a question of my own?” Levia nodded, and Salom’s eyes seemed to sharpen as he continued. “What is going on in Fairland right now?”

It took Kalden’s new Queen a while, but she had informed them of the new developments. It had been miraculous enough for Niu and the three others to have been safely transported there, but now there was apparently yet another human—and in enemy hands, to boot.

Even if they didn’t care all that much about one extra citizen, it was still possible that the man possessed some clues. Also, and perhaps more importantly, it would mean that Rumdon’s distant ally would be heading into some sort of conflict.

“Is this really the time to think about them?” mumbled Levia, but relented, “according to the Queen, they are preparing for an operation in enemy lands. Why the sudden question, though? Surely you don’t think it has anything to do with our current predicament.”

“Well, it might have an indirect connection. Err, what I mean by that,” he added when he saw Levia’s brow rising, “is that we are both facing various problems from within and without. And in times of need, shouldn’t we seek some new sources of knowledge?”

“…Get to the point.”

“All I’m saying is that I would like to talk to them. Which I haven’t done in a long time, you know. Don’t give me that fake look. You know fully well I’m not sentimental enough to deceive you for something like that. I am simply stuck, so I decided to look for new sources of inspiration.”

“I suppose so,” muttered Levia. One could never know with him, but at least his feelings seemed to indicate the truth. “Very well. You may use the Heavenly Board at your discretion. However, if you don’t achieve any results, I will be very disappointed.”

And possibly dead, she added dully in her heart. No, I have to stop thinking about that all of the time, it doesn’t fit me, she chided herself.

Mallew still felt quite dazed.

In the end, while the two guys faced each other menacingly, she ended up being so anxious that she simply ran away with the opening given to her. Perhaps being a popular lady was less romantic and much scarier than she had expected.

She thought of telling the Professor or the General about what happened, but eventually was too embarrassed to do either. She felt pathetic that she would need their help, anyway. And well, surely both of them had better things to do rather than cover for her.

Feeling gloomy the next day, she sat in her room—a comfy apartment that her parents had rented for her so that she wouldn’t need to stay at the army’s lodgings, which were full of men—and started preparing for the day ahead. Especially with the weird thoughts swirling around in her head, she knew that it wasn’t going to be a productive day.

Her depressive thoughts were interrupted by the sound of knocking coming from her door.

Who could it be so early in the morning? Mallew wondered as the tottered over to the entrance, peeking through the peephole. And gasped in surprise.

There was another knock that made Mallew’s heart leap, and she finally turned the lock and opened it, slightly nervous.

“Err, hello, good morning,” she greeted the young man standing there, with an awkward smile.

“Good morning, Miss Mallew,” Revol greeted her back. Sure, it was better than having Callun come to her house, but… why was this man here? “I just…” he mumbled, scratching his head, “I just wanted to see if you were alright, after yesterday. You know.”

Mallew’s smile eased a bit. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one that found this whole business awkward, and that helped her feel a lot better.

“Oh, I am perfectly fine, thank you,” she said.

“So he didn’t come to harass you later, or anything like that? Good. We nearly had a fight back there.” Revol smiled. “If he gives you any more trouble, you can call me. You see, I’ve been told to keep wat—ah.”

“Uh…”

“Forget what I’ve just said,” he said, biting his lips and glancing away momentarily. “I am sorry for bothering you, so I will be on my way. Have a good day.” He bowed slightly and turned.

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“Wait,” said Mallew.

“…Yes?”

“Err… Sergeant Revol Hydeen, was it?” she asked, upon which he nodded stiffly. She tilted her head. “Why does that name sound so familiar to me…?”

His face stiffened even further. “You’re Professor Saburn’s disciple, right?” he asked.

“Yes?” she replied, although confused as to how that was relevant.

“My brother… was his disciple, too.”

“Your brother? Wait, you mean the boy who—“

Now she remembered. Yes, Saburn once mentioned to her something of the sort… and she recalled that one of the Plainlanders transported to Fairland was a Hydeen as well. She didn’t know the boy, obviously, but she knew of him, being part of the secret communication project. He was currently acting as a soldier just like his brother, if she remembered correctly.

She clamped a hand over her mouth. She had already said too much. Even if Revol was part of the army and even if he was Genro’s brother, he probably wasn’t yet aware of the truth.

Revol’s smile hardened and his eyes slightly dropped. “…Yes, he was killed during the first wave,” he said solemnly.

That was most definitely not what she was about to blurt. She felt bad, but also felt lucky he didn’t suspect anything about her reaction. “I’m so sorry,” she said meekly.

“No, it’s fine,” he replied, although he stopped wearing any sort of smile by now. “It’s been two years already… I just need to work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

From awkwardness to somberness to determination—having seen this range of emotions from the young man, Mallew couldn’t help but nod at him. She, too, needed to work hard in her own part. Both would help protect their world in different ways.

“Let’s both do our best. Don’t hesitate to come to me if anything happens, alright? Have a good day,” he said and the two parted.

Mallew closed the door. Maybe she should have invited him inside for a drink? Well, it was too late anyway. Leaning against the door, she found herself thinking, not even noticing that she was starting to run late.

Four of her countrymen—no, it was actually five, as it turned out—were stranded in a foreign, distant land. Since they reached that place, there also had to be a way to get them back, with or without the mysterious dark tentacles. And if there was, it was very likely that Mallew would have to be the one to discover or invent it.

Gen was supposed to be preparing for the so-called operation, but he currently just sat in his room and held his head in his hands. He obviously couldn’t show himself like that to anyone. Not to Aisbroom, obviously not to Roah, definitely not to the many soldiers that trained together with him, and most of all, not to Niu.

Niu… there was no doubt that she no longer was the girl he knew. She used to be simple and meek yet filled with a quiet determination and infinite potential. At least that was how seemed. Had he been wrong, then?

No, he hadn’t. He knew how devastated she’d been after the incident. He knew what efforts she had made, what trials and tribulations she had gone through—so that was why he was so surprised at how different she was now.

Was it Roah’s fault? Perhaps. Thinking back, their course of action by itself hadn’t been wrong; if not for their plan, no one could tell what Acrus would have done with them in the end. However, new problems started once Niu became Queen. That might have been the first mistake.

Gen shook his head. He couldn’t afford to dwell on that right now. Even if he didn’t want to go to an all-out war against the Stroba, at least their cause itself was just—he did want to rescue the other human that was being imprisoned and drugged.

So he had to take hold of himself. Solving other problems had to wait for later. He needed to gather himself and show a face proper for his position. He couldn’t stay as this broken, self-hating boy.

But what if there was someone else he could allow seeing him like that?

There was a sudden knock on the door. “Gen?” He startled out of his depressing line of thought, glancing toward the door as he recognized the voice.

“Shaya…? Err, you may enter,” he said, although he immediately regretted it. He composed his expression as much as he could while the door opened and she appeared.

In contrast to Gen’s practical wear, Shaya wore a long, elegant skirt and her hair was tied to a ponytail. Thinking about it, he hadn’t seen her all day… although it felt much longer than that.

“Are you alright?” Her brows were wrought in worry. “I’ve heard about the… operation. I guessed you wouldn’t like it,” she said.

“Yeah,” he replied, then found something strange. “Wait, how’d you hear this so quickly?” The meeting was less than an hour ago. Did news of it spread so far in such short a time? Or was Shaya eavesdropping them, perhaps? No, but then she would’ve come straight to him, right?

“Oh, Rinda told me,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Rinda…?” Gen mumbled in response. It was an unfamiliar name.

“You don’t know them? They trained with you a couple of times. They’re a sergeant, I think. We speak from time to time, and they asked me if I’m going to participate, too.”

Gen frowned. The name still told him nothing; he still had a hard time differentiating between most fairies, let alone remembering their names. What he found more surprising, however, was the fact that Shaya had a friend he didn’t know about.

What was this strange feeling, anyway? Yes, back in Plainland she didn’t have many friends, but since then she changed plenty. He shouldn’t feel bothered by that, but he was…

“Err.” He realized his thoughts had been drifting away while Shaya was waiting for a reply. “I don’t think they shoulda told you, it wasn’t really their place to… no, never mind. I guess you’d better know.”

“Yes, because I…” she stopped for a second. He raised a brow before she took a deep breath and continued, “I’m coming with you.”

“…What?”

She wet her lips. “I’m coming with you,” she repeated, more resolutely this time.

“You’re coming with… with me? With us? To the assault?” Gen could barely register what she was telling him in the current state of his mind. It took him way too many moments to realize her intention. “No you don’t!”

“I am,” she repeated for the third time.

“It’s too dangerous,” he said.

“Gen. Do you remember our last talk about this?” she asked, arms folded and her eyes slightly sparkling. “I already told you. I don’t want you to shoulder all this danger by yourselves—no, let me speak,” she added with a raised finger when she saw him open his mouth to retort. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And even some training, too. Rinda helped me. Please, Gen. I want to share the burden. I need to.”

Gen was speechless. He didn’t know what to do. His first instinct was of course to reject her. To say that she needed to stay behind where she would be safe.

On the other hand, he knew that she found it annoying. Maybe even insulting. Two different emotions were in conflict inside him. He gripped the sheets of his bed tightly as he grimaced in thought.

“…Why do you want to do it?” he finally managed to blurt out.

Shaya frowned. “Because I want to do something. I want to be useful, and I want to use my s-skills for some good cause. Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “I was… born with these powers. For better or worse.” Her expression looked pained.

“It doesn’t mean you have to fight, though.”

“But I can,” she stressed.

He found himself smiling. “You’re really serious about this, huh?”

“Yes!”

Gen had never seen her be so adamant about something. That was good, perhaps, but it was also scary. He would never forgive himself if something happened to her only because he agreed to her determination.

On the other hand, she would never forgive him if something happened to him because he didn’t. Finally, he took a deep, long sigh.

“I guess there’s no stopping you,” he said. “However, there’s one condition.”

“A condition…?” Shaya was puzzled.

Something cut through the air, followed by a dull clap. It all ended within a moment.

Without giving any preliminary signs in the least, Gen used his “other arm” to form a fist and launched it at Shaya’s side. Not as fast as he could have, but still quite fast. The moment she noticed this, she instantly channeled at the direction of the attack. Perhaps even instinctively.

Invisible force clashed with invisible force.

Both boy and girl seemed equally surprised—Shaya at being attacked like that, and Gen at her perfectly she’d repelled that. Of course, he hadn’t intended to hurt her; he wanted to stop his blow right before hitting her just so he could see her reaction. Something quite Aisbroom-ish, perhaps.

Even so, Shaya still shrieked and flinched back, so Gen felt bad.

“I-I’m sorry!” he blurted. He felt like a total jerk, but after recovering from the initial shock, Shaya actually smiled.

“I guess I should have expected something like that.” She sighed and approached the bed again, this time sitting next to Gen. “Does that satisfy you?”

Why was it that having Shaya sit next to him like that caused his heart to race? After everything they’ve gone through together, it shouldn’t have felt so embarrassing anymore.

“If you’re both determined and strong enough… then I have no right to stop you.”

She breathed a half-giggle. “Thank you.”

However, he turned a very serious expression toward her. “You know why we’re doing this, right?” he suddenly asked.

“Y-you mean the operation?” she slightly stammered. “It’s to save the captive, right?”

Gen nodded, satisfied. As long as she understood that, everything was fine. “Exactly. It’s not to fight or conquer the Stroba or anything like that. We need to always… remember that.” Otherwise, this battle wouldn’t have any meaning. Otherwise, he’d be dancing on smug Roah’s palms. Gen jerked up, rising from the bed. “Now come with me.”

Shaya tilted her head in surprise. “Where to?”

“To the training grounds, of course,” he told her with a smile. “We need to work on our teamwork. We’re doing this together, right?”

“Ah! Yes!”

For Linza, night was the only time she ever felt truly free. Of course, she was trained to move in darkness, silently and stealthily, to accomplish her missions—but that wasn’t why. It was much more than that. Under the moonlight and starlight, she somehow felt lighter. Everything somehow worked smoother for her, like that.

She was surprised, therefore, to find out that the nights in Copius felt especially liberating.

Spinning a small ball made of cloth attached to a string, she focused on the faint icons formed in the air by the rapid movements of the pattern on the ball. She had to be patient to get it just right, especially in the dark. But it was made for this purpose.

Finally the moment came. She channeled weight and let go of the string.

Linza’s petite body was thrown through the night air noiselessly. It was pulled along by the launched ball, the end of its string attached to her waist, allowing her to clear a huge distance with a single leap. She climbed up the mountain yet again.

The principle was not too hard in theory, but it took some years to put into practice until her usage of the weight channel reached its current mastery. While throwing the ball, she embedded her body mass inside it so that she became as light as a feather, basically throwing herself over large distances.

Of course, if she activated this ability too early or too late it could end in disaster. The shift in mass did not hold for long and it could easily ruin the ball’s planned trajectory, but Linza already did it almost instinctually, not even worrying about all those delicate calculations.

Anyway, after a few nights of trying this, she finally managed to find the optimal route to reach the castle. Guards weren’t an issue because it would be too hard both for them and for any potential intruders to scale the area around, so they never patrolled there. Civilians weren’t looking there, either.

Walking carefully alongside the wall—it was a rather craggy and unstable area—she finally reached a position from where she could see a certain window. This part didn’t even require usage of her ability; she simply climbed a few errant bricks and chips in the wall, reaching the windowsill easily.

She silently hung there for a while, listening carefully. After confirming there was no presence nearby, she slowly clambered up the window and inside.

Linza’s scouting and other information gathering now allowed her to know more or less the schedule and route of the patrolling guards. She was also wearing very light clothes and shoes that, aside from aiding in the usage of her abilities, also allowed her to move silently.

Even while sneaking in this dangerous environment where she’d likely be killed on the spot if discovered, Linza couldn’t help but feel as comfortable and easy as if she was taking a nice stroll. The castle was very nicely built. She would have liked to live there, if she could.

Nights weren’t too cold despite the city being located on a mountain. And they were silent there… perhaps it was due to it being tense times, but back home they were always rowdy and active even after dark. Yes, Rumdon was very different from Lastia indeed.

Drifting through the corridors like some dark ghost, she finally reached her destination. Just like how the soldiers wouldn’t patrol the outside wall, they also had almost no presence near the kitchen and pantry. Linza already knew that most forces were concentrated around the gates, the entrance to the castle and the royal bedchambers.

Linza opened the door carefully. It was well-oiled, so there were no issues of sound. It was finally time to do her job as an assassin.

“It has been a long time, Professor,” Roah greeted.

He stood at the top floor of Armonia, inside the top-secret room containing the Tablet of Light that allowed long-distance communication. During the last talks, Niu had been requested to allow for this particular conversation, and she relented.

“It really has. I will not ask you how things are over there, because I am sure your circumstances are at least as complicated as ours,” Salom responded through the Tablet, his voice sounding tired but focused. “Instead, I will broach the main topic. How would you have gone about killing the Queen?”

“…Excuse me?” Roah couldn’t help but be perplexed and astonished at Salom’s sudden question.

Roah almost felt like he could hear a sigh from the other side, although it hadn’t been transmitted. “We fear a plot. I will explain it to you in brief,” said Salom. He told Roah all about the assassinated lord and the tensions at the border, as well as the current findings of his investigation. A lot more information than Roah had expected, actually.

“Are you sure you should be telling me about all this? And what do you want me to do, exactly?” Roah broadcasted back.

“I want your thinking. That’s all.”

My thinking, huh? Roah thought. Did Salom realize what kind of twisted thinking he was asking him for? He probably did. He already knew all about Roah’s plan two years ago that got Niu on the throne.

That was a bloodless revolution, though. Given how haughty and lenient Acrus had been, killing them would have been easier, but that would not apply to Queen Levia-O if Salom was on her side.

“Killing the Lord is probably a diversion,” Roah finally concluded. “They might be trying to gauge your response or confuse you.”

“We have considered this already. What would be the next step, though?”

Roah kept turning it in his mind. “An attack from an unexpected angle, then. If you’re expecting them to come from the back door, they would strut in from the front gate. Something bold and dangerous. For example, sending an assassin to launch a suicidal attack during an important meeting… no, but guards could probably put a stop to that. Then how about making someone close to the Queen kill her? For example—blackmailing you into action.”

Roah never thought of himself as smart—in fact, he knew he was reckless and had mostly crazy ideas. He was both like and unlike the scientifically-oriented Salom. This meant that most of his plans would never realistically work, but it didn’t mean that none of them would work. Of course, he doubted that the mind planning the Queen’s demise was as deranged as his, but he merely did what Salom asked him to.

There was a short silence as Salom seemed to process this information.

“…No, that would not work,” said Salom in a tone of voice that sounded as if he’d been considering many things that he wasn’t going to share.

Roah shrugged, and then smiled at realizing it was a stupid gesture when talking like this. He wasn’t use to this. “Well, I’ll have to keep thinking about it. Not really something that I can scheme in a moment… but keep what I’ve said in mind.”

“Very well,” said Salom’s tired voice. “One final thing, then.”

“Yes, Professor?”

Salom paused for just a moment. “Whatever it is you are trying to do over there, don’t drag Niu down with you. Have a good evening.”

Roah narrowed his eyes. There were a few guards in the room, but all of them were laborers. Not that it really mattered; perhaps Seele and Niu were the only people to not regard him with some suspicion. Still, he wondered what Salom was trying to insinuate with that claim. It was quite rude of him, to be honest.

In the end he simply sighed. There was nothing to worry about right now. Rather than that, he had to go handle the preparations for the attack. He wouldn’t be personally participating in it, obviously, but was still one of the people in charge of the plan.

And, of course, remaining behind would lend him an opportunity to do something that people like Aisbroom shouldn’t know about. It was finally time for Acrus to meet their child.

Swen was determined to keep the Queen safe, no matter what it took.

As shocked as he was after Lord Shammings’ death, he knew fully well that something was wrong. Queen Levia-O didn’t even have to ask him to keep watch. He was in charge of protecting her life in a slightly different way than the many armored guards patrolling the castle at all times.

In a sense, the Lord Chamberlain could be said to control the Queen’s life. Not that he would ever think of it that way.

Even so, he felt so powerless. He knew that the Queen asked Saburn to investigate things for her, and yet the wretched man didn’t seem to make any progress whatsoever. Wasn’t he supposed to be smart? How dare he come back after all these years he played at school without producing any result?

If he couldn’t trust Saburn to protect Her Majesty, then perhaps Swen himself needed to take action as well. For now, however, he decided to focus on protecting her. Danger could be lurking anywhere.

Since Shammings had been poisoned, Swen obviously took special notice of the kitchen. Each and every material brought into the castle was inspected and an inventory was held every day. It was a tiring but necessary work. Herbs, especially, were not allowed at all; luckily the Queen was not too much of a tea person.

Sometimes he would even personally stand guard over the food making process itself, hopeful that his watchful eyes would deter or detect any wrongdoing. He could tell his presence there pressured the staff, who were not used to it, but drastic times called for drastic measures. He decided in his heart that he would somehow make it up to them later.

Finally, the food was obviously not carried directly to the Queen, but first went through several food tasters. This arduous process meant that Levia would have to wait for a quite a while every time she wanted to eat, but she dully accepted it when Swen had explained it to her.

He was proud to be doing his duty—and keeping his promise from all those years ago.

Things were going smoothly and he expected no change this morning, either, but he was wrong. He was currently watching today’s food tasters sampling the Queen’s breakfast in a small room—they obviously wouldn’t be dining anywhere near Levia herself—when there was an incident.

It happened just as one of them finished eating a rather light salad.

“Hmm, there’s something a bit odd… this taste is,” the taster man mumbled, putting a hand on his throat. Watching the man’s face grow pale, Swen furrowed his brows.

“Ugh…” groaned another taster, nearly falling from his chair, foaming at the mouth.

Swen’s mouth hung open at this development and he felt the blood draining from his face. It seemed impossible, but what he feared did happen. It took a few moments for his mouth to catch up with his mind.

“S-someone call a doctor! They’ve been poisoned!!!”

While the distant Fairland prepared for a grand battle, the capital of Copius was getting ready for a small battle of its own: facing off against an assassin aiming at the Queen’s life.

I do not know a lot.

Most of the words that come out of my mouth are difficult for me. Some are completely unknown, even.

However, I have the feeling that I know something else: emotions.

They are somewhat like colors. Well, I do not actually see color, but I can see hues. In the world made of “black” and “white”, everything around me is firmly “grey”.

So I call tell. I can tell all the difficulties they are going through. I can tell when they are happy and when they are hurting. I feel that along with them.

I cannot do much. However, if I support them even if only a little… then perhaps I will feel the grey hue they call “happiness”.