Chapter 203 - Ureas

The woman's form slowly melted into shadow. That shadow swelled into darkness, as though shaping an enormous beast.

"Yubel."

Angrem, who had been standing with her hands behind her back, threw herself into the shadow. Screams poured ceaselessly from Yubel's mouth.

"Aaaaah!!!"

"Look outside. Quickly."

Angrem moved her hand calmly and gently. Yubel's head obediently followed its motion until she was facing the window. A great moon hung beyond it.

A full moon.

"You mustn't let the mad moon devour you. We're different from them."

"Ahh..."

The dense darkness faded, and the night regained its usual color. At the same time, the murderous pressure crushing their surroundings vanished. The red glow in the eyes of the woman called Yubel disappeared, turning blue once more.

Those eyes glared at Zed again. Her once-expressionless face was now twisted with bestial rage. The other woman, who had done everything she could to stop her, sighed with relief.

"That was careless of me. Who would have thought you were from the Red-Eye Clan? Had I known one of you was here, I would have simply ended this quickly..."

Then the smiling woman held something up. It looked exactly like the journal Garnet had been holding.

"Believe it or not, I'm quite gifted at stealing."

"!!"

Garnet checked her chest. The journal had vanished without a trace. The theft had been so deft that she had no idea when it had happened.

"Yubel, let's go."

"New! New! New!"

Yubel radiated killing intent, most intensely toward Zed.

"It's a full moon."

"... Full."

But knowing she could not kill them, she quieted down. She picked Angrem up and leaped through the window. Angrem gave them one last wave before disappearing.

The two who had arrived like a storm vanished into the shadows. Silence settled over the wreckage they left behind.

"Wow... With two utterly insane bitches here, I couldn't even breathe..."

Penelope made a fuss. All she had managed to do was cast Haste on Zed.

'The Saintesses of Sierra...'

Unlike the Order of Altes, which worshipped the sun and light, the Order of Sierra worshipped the moon and darkness. Naturally, in the Arken Empire, the seat of the Order of Altes, even holding a gathering was illegal. Anyone possessing Sierra's symbols or objects was treated much like a devil worshipper and burned at the stake.

No, they suffered even worse treatment than devil worshippers before they died.

The most vicious terrorists in the Empire belonged to the Order of Sierra, and its saintesses were infamous for murdering nobles. To have survived an encounter with two of them was extraordinarily lucky.

'... Still, I feel as though I've seen that woman's face somewhere.'

The woman in the ragged robe. Garnet hadn't been able to make out her features clearly in the moonlight. She had caught just one glimpse of her, when Zed's blade clashed with hers. She seized that fragment of memory, trying to force more details out of it.

'This isn't the time for that.'

Something far more important had fallen into enemy hands. All she could do was report it and respond quickly.

"... We need to tell the Regent about this. What a headache."

"..."

"Zed?"

When Zed failed to answer, she turned to him. He stood motionless, staring out the window through which the two saintesses had escaped. It was strange to see him so transfixed when he would normally be cracking jokes after something like this.

"Zed?"

"... What?"

"Are you all right? Why aren't you answering me?"

"... Oh, I'm fine."

Even his reply was unconvincing. Zed's mind was in turmoil, as though a giant waterspout were forming inside it, with the woman called Yubel at its center.

The way she had looked in her frenzy after he broke the protective barrier around her head. The color her eyes had shone then.

'Red eyes.'

He tried not to fixate on it. There were plenty of reasons for eyes to glow red besides belonging to the Red-Eye Clan. Those who underwent the berserker ritual had red eyes, as did vampires. Even if she wasn't a vampire, she might have undergone the berserker ritual.

Yes, that had to be it.

Yet however hard he tried to think that way, the image of that woman, Yubel, kept lingering in his mind.

'Emilia...'

He kept seeing his lost younger sister in her.

* * *

Yubel and Angrem escaped Hestia village safely. Each stride carried them forward as though they were flying, at a speed no one but Luri could have kept up with.

Yubel moved like a wolf. Dark shadows had swelled around her, giving her that shape, and she moved to suit it with practiced ease.

"That's far enough."

At Angrem's words, Yubel stopped. Hestia village was now a distant speck. The darkness gradually dispersed, and Yubel regained her own form.

"We meant to run wild, but taking a hit was an unexpected development."

"... New."

"It couldn't be helped. So many people don't know how we were made. They don't realize it's protecting them, not you."

"Full."

Yubel nodded quietly, then looked up at the moon. Below it stood Valdrova Castle.

"Ferda..."

"Not yet," Angrem said firmly. "He deserves to be happier. If we're to make a better world, he mustn't meet us yet."

"... Full."

With a gesture of reluctant acceptance, Yubel turned to follow Angrem.

"Let's do our part."

Angrem opened the journal. What she wanted was the list of humans the Dopplers were impersonating.

"Let's show them what happens when trash leaves the dump."

"Full."

Darkness wrapped around Yubel again. Just as she was about to become a wolf once more, Angrem casually asked a question.

"By the way, what do you think?"

"?"

"About the man you crossed blades with?"

"..."

Yubel tilted her head, her face suggesting she had no idea what the question meant. Angrem smiled.

"It's nothing."

"New."

"Hehe, it really is nothing."

Angrem clasped her hands behind her back and spun around. Seemingly used to such behavior, Yubel lost interest.

"He's incredibly handsome, just as you said, Yubel."

Angrem murmured so softly that Yubel couldn't hear.

* * *

The next morning, Garnet came to Ferda's office to report as soon as the sun rose.

"The journal was stolen last night?"

"Yes, sir."

Ferda couldn't hide his surprise. Garnet wouldn't have been careless, and neither would Zed. Which meant...

"Was it her fault?"

He pointed at Penelope.

"W-what!? I didn't do anything!"

"She did arrive late, but it wouldn't have changed anything. They already knew my identity and what we had."

Garnet had to be telling the truth. There was nothing to gain from covering for Penelope, so why would she?

"Was there anything unusual?"

"Something unusual..."

Garnet mentioned the one thing that had been troubling her.

"One of the women who attacked us was the woman you told us to let go alive, Regent Ferda."

"I did?"

"Yes. After seeing her face, I thought over and over about who she might be. The only possibility that came to mind was the woman we found in Debelung's mansion."

That woman, who had seemed to be waiting for nothing but death, was a Saintess of Sierra?

"Then I sowed the seeds of this myself."

Ferda wondered whether killing her then would have been the right choice. But he did not regret what was past. What he needed to do now mattered more.

"What can they do with that journal?"

"The greatest concern is the information on the serum that can create Dopplers or Demons, but that isn't the saintesses' main objective. The Saintesses of Sierra are her agents—in other words, executioners, not researchers."

Sierra was the goddess of the moon and vengeance.

"Then they want to learn where the Dopplers are."

"That's right."

Though the information had been stolen, they had a copy and could restore it at any time, so the loss wasn't crippling. Besides, if that was the saintesses' objective, it would actually make eliminating the scattered Demon Followers easier.

"But the biggest problem is that they now share our information. If anyone learns that we were the source of the leak, they'll tear into us over it. If they take a hard line, they'll claim we're in league with the Order of Sierra."

"They would."

The Empire deeply resented Hestia's growth. Its nobles were, in fact, repeatedly looking for faults they could use to keep it in check. If they learned of an incident involving Sierra's saintesses, they would leap at the chance to attack.

"I'll discuss that with someone."

"With whom?"

"Who knows this subject better than the Princess?"

Olivia Arken. She had ousted Alexander and was now manipulating Ureas. Thanks to her, issues that Ureas might have blundered into were being resolved.

"I may be worrying needlessly, but..."

Knowing Olivia's true intentions, Garnet had to speak, even at the risk of displeasing Ferda.

"It would be best not to trust the Princess too much."

"Don't worry."

Ferda might not be the sort to fall under Olivia's spell, but he was a man, after all. And Olivia was a woman who could devour any man. Garnet merely bowed before turning away.

Ferda contacted Olivia through the crystal ball.

"It's been a while, Regent."

"Have you been well?"

"Well? I've been terribly busy, day and night."

"That must be difficult."

"Very. Perhaps that's why I'm so happy to hear from you like this."

"The reason I'm contacting you is..."

Ferda told her about the Doppler list and the Order of Sierra.

"A list of Dopplers... The timing seems right. You know how much of an uproar the Empire is in these days, don't you?"

He did. Archbishop Joseph Faust, who had led the Order of Altes, and Marquis Akkad Debelung, Waldemar Gold's trusted aide, had turned out to be Dopplers. Imperial mages were examining Akkad's corpse, while Erdes was examining Joseph Faust, but neither investigation had produced clear results yet.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the nobility was fostering distrust in the current regime in an attempt to shift the balance of power. Countless people were suspected of being Dopplers, but Waldemar Gold was always exempt.

No, people had voiced suspicions about him time and again, only to be beaten to death by the others, proving just how untouchable he was.

"You need to prove you have no contact with the Order of Sierra, and I need that Doppler list. I believe we can reach an agreement on that basis. What do you say?"

"That can be arranged."

"Then let's discuss it in person. You'll hear about it soon enough, but I was planning to visit the far east anyway."

"What brings you here?"

She replied,

"The war with the Heinkel Kingdom. Ureas Arken, the 2nd Prince, will be stopping by."

* * *

A month passed.

An ornate carriage was making its way through Hestia village. It was an imperial carriage from Arken, rolling along a red carpet. Its size and splendor were on an entirely different scale from the carriage Olivia used when visiting alone. It was a ceremonial vehicle reserved for those whose power rivaled the emperor's.

Inside sat Ureas and Olivia. After a modest arrival ceremony that prioritized their safety, offering adventurers and citizens only brief glimpses of their faces, they rode up to the entrance of Valdrova Castle.

Ferda and Luri stood waiting where the carriage stopped to welcome them. As the man, Ureas stepped out first. It was Ferda's first time seeing him.

His first impression of Ureas was decidedly different from Alexander. Unlike the plump Alexander, Ureas had an angular face and well-defined muscles. Yet while Alexander possessed a certain devious intelligence, Ureas showed no such depth.

"Greetings to Your Highness and the acting emperor."

Ferda greeted him courteously. Ureas accepted the greeting with dignity.

"A pleasure to meet you, Regent Valdrova."

"Please call me Regent Ferda."

"Ah, my apologies. I shouldn't treat that name lightly."

Neither Ferda nor Luri looked kindly on him. How could two brothers be polar opposites yet equally unlikable? Still, Ferda would only lose out by letting his feelings get the better of him, so he welcomed his guest.

"Thank you for honoring this place with a visit as acting emperor."

"Not at all. I hear you sent me a letter, but my aide only discovered it belatedly. You have my sincere apologies for that."

It was a plausible excuse, but Ferda knew he had deliberately ignored it. The only difference was that Alexander had done so out of political calculation, while this man simply couldn't be bothered.

"I've never seen one in the Empire, but you seem to have an abundance of these magical engineering rifles here. Every guard on the walls appears to have one."

"With land infested by demonic creatures right before us, it's only natural to be well armed."

"Is that so? I was so curious I wanted to snatch one up and examine it on the spot."

"Brother."

"But I shouldn't take a sentry's weapon, should I?"

Ureas laughed, glossing over the true feelings he had just revealed.

"Since you're interested, I'll speak to the castle's researchers and arrange for you to test the items under development."

"I'd be most grateful! Unlike my elder brother, I think very highly of magical engineering! I intend to spare no support!"

He reacted like a child being given a toy. Ferda did appreciate his simplicity, at least.

"Then allow me to show you in. This way, please..."

Ferda took the lead, and Ureas and Olivia moved to follow him. Just then, Luri discreetly stepped into Olivia's path.

"My apologies, Your Highness, but there is someone you must meet first."

"... Me?"

"Yes," Luri said. "My mistress, the Crimson Dragon, Lady Valdrova, wishes to see you, Lady Olivia."