Peering into the past. The third match of the Sixways Exhibition was over, and Yuno the Distant Talon had no place to go.
More accurately put, she'd ended up voluntarily throwing away her place to go. She had secured a life for herself here in Aureatia as Twenty-Seventh General Haade's secretary, yet once again, she had given in to her violent emotions and chosen the path of destruction.
…I betrayed his trust. Betrayed General Haade… It wasn't like I hated him or that I wanted to cause trouble for him, either, yet…
Leaving her post due to nothing but her own personal feelings, she'd saved a young girl she happened to come across named Linore and accidentally learned Haade's camp's most important secret. If he found out that Yuno had deciphered what was written in the letter, there was no question he'd have her killed.
Thus, she had nowhere to return. Together with Linore, she wandered the forest on the outskirts of Aureatia.
"…Wh-where—?"
Her quivering voice called to Linore in front of her. Following after the girl had been her only option.
"Where are we going? That road we passed by could've gotten us out of Aureatia."
On both sides of the road, the thick forest was obstructing the way. Yuno checked behind her over and over. If they were being followed, they were extremely unlikely to get away.
"…You do not need to worry at all. There's no risk of being followed."
Linore had learned the same potentially life-threatening secret herself, yet unlike Yuno, she had remained perfectly calm. Not just calm, but her expression made it seem like she was continuing to think something over.
She had a face that almost unconsciously left Yuno spellbound, as beautiful as a nighttime dream.
"But if we really were being tailed, it'd be impossible for us to know…"
In the middle of her sentence, the sound of horse hooves approached, and
Yuno caught her breath. She might have actually let out a bit of a scream. Linore quietly lingered where they were and waited for the carriage to reach them.
The carriage came to a halt beside her. "My lady. I have come to receive you." "—Thank you."
The driver bowed to Linore. She appeared to be an elf woman, but both her eyes were covered with a bandage. Though, if she had truly been covering her eyes, how was it possible for her to drive the carriage?
"Huh? Um…what?" asked Yuno. "And who might she be?"
"She is…Miss Yuno the Distant Talon. She's…um…" Linore stuttered.
For some reason at that moment, Linore furrowed her willowy eyebrows, looking a bit at a loss.
"…my…friend."
"I see. Do you plan on inviting her into the manor?"
The driver leaned her upper body down from the driver's seat and met Yuno's gaze.
Yuno felt a mysterious chill run down her back.
She experienced a sensation similar to the moment right before Soujirou the Willow-Sword went into action.
"Well…"
"Hold up, I don't understand anything going on here… There's a manor up ahead of here? And 'my lady'…?"
"Please listen, Miss Yuno. If, perhaps, you do not have a home to return to, that is. I thought, um, I could give you shelter…in my manor for a time…"
"..."
"..."
Linore smiled bashfully and tilted her head to the side. "…How would that sound?"
"Ummm, o…kay… Sure…?"
Yuno nodded, shifting her eyes between the driver and Linore. In any case, right now, she didn't have anywhere else to go.
She threw her back onto the large, soft bed.
Holding her palm up before her eyes, Yuno sighed as she thought over the
terribly hectic day she'd had.
Too many unbelievable things had happened, both in Yuno's own heart and beyond it.
I will get revenge.
Inside her mind, she whispered the first thing she needed to do—Linore the Shadow Laden. Haade's plan. Soujirou the Willow-Sword's third match, which she hadn't been able to see through to the end. Finally, Yuno's own future.
Even if, at this very minute, she had a number of fears and apprehensions, she absolutely couldn't change what she needed to prioritize the most.
She would get revenge against the powerful and strong, who trampled over everything and everyone without any bit of self-reflection.
Among all the strong and powerful, she still prioritized one above all and would kill Kiyazuna the Axle.
Revenge. Revenge. Revenge. Revenge.
She had to feel the animosity. Up until now, Yuno hadn't been able to maintain such hatred in her heart.
The strength capable of killing Kiyazuna the Axle may have been eternally unattainable for a girl like Yuno. Nevertheless, if she were to ultimately lose the truth in her heart, then what else was she supposed to use as anchorage?
Yuno rolled over on her stomach and buried her face in the white pillow.
…So peace of mind. Satisfaction. Happiness. I can't let myself start to feel that way. As long as I don't forget this hatred, I can still continue to be my true self…
A reserved knock came from the door.
Still feeling dismal, Yuno roused her body and answered: "Come in."
"Pardon me."
It was Linore. She wore a pure-white nightgown. She seemed to have already finished her bath, as her evenly cut, shoulder-length black hair was still damp.
"Am I bothering you?" asked Linore. "I-it's fine."
Yuno immediately averted her eyes. Linore had an allure that made it impossible for her not to, even though they were both girls. Her golden pupils and nearly translucent ivory skin were part of it, but…
I didn't realize…
…the thin nightgown clearly displayed all the contours of her body.
…how big…how big her chest was…
"Miss Yuno. Please allow me to apologize again for today's events. I am also terribly sorry for making you feel nervous…when I invited you into my manor."
"Whatever… It's no big deal. We've both got our secrets to hide, right?" "No, I need to apologize. You gave your name to me; however, I have been
hiding my own. My true name is Linaris." "…Linaris."
She had infiltrated the Sixways Exhibition arena, stolen important documents, and done it all under a fake name.
It was evident that she wasn't someone with honest or respectable goals in mind. Even despite that, was Linore—rather, was Linaris—trying to show some measure of good faith toward Yuno, who had accidently run into her and become her accomplice?
"What is your group's objective, then? You're against Aureatia…right? General Haade has a lot of factions opposing him, so you might just be someone within Aureatia anyway, but…" Yuno trailed off.
"Allow me to explain that to you as well. We are Obsidian Eyes." "...!"
Yuno subconsciously looked at Linaris's face. The look in her eyes was serious, and she didn't seem to be lying.
Obsidian Eyes. The spy guild said to have been constantly maneuvering in the shadows of the Demon King War.
For the average person like Yuno, such rumors were the only things that reached her ears. It was also possible that these rumors themselves were groundless hearsay in order to deceive the movements of each country's own spy forces. On relatively rare occasions, there were mercenaries who said they were formerly a part of Obsidian Eyes, but she heard a majority were just dubiously claiming themselves as such.
"So then have you been hired by someone, like the Free City of Okafu…or the Old Kingdoms' loyalists, to try taking Aureatia down? Even if that's true, getting a young girl like yourself involved in the infiltration…," said Yuno.
"…I ask you to forgive me…for I cannot say anything beyond that. If you happened to learn more, then it could very well put your life in danger."
Yuno averted her eyes down to the floor.
"Well then, why… Why are you fighting in Obsidian Eyes, Linaris? Just earlier today, you might've been killed on the spot if things had gone a bit different."
"That's because…"
Stories had long been told, for example, about bandits or assassin organizations making kidnapped children do work for them.
Linaris was a well-raised young girl and close in age to Yuno, too. There had to be some sort of personal circumstance involved, at the very least. Maybe she was similar to Yuno, fighting to claim revenge against the life she had led.
"I wonder…why?" Pressing her hand up to her chest, Linaris murmured, as if the words were catching in her throat.
"I need to… I feel that I have to…or else, my own life can never begin… Perhaps, that is why I am trying to carry this through. Miss Yuno…why, then, did you do something like that?"
"…Your life can't begin…"
That was it. Her reply seemed to put words to Yuno's own heart, too. Yuno leaned her body forward and spoke.
"Listen, Linaris. I want to get revenge."
"…You mentioned so at the garden theater as well. Do you wish to get revenge on Master Soujirou the Willow-Sword?"
"Not just him…I think. I'm a survivor of the now-annihilated Nagan City, and…that terrible day, Soujirou cut down the Dungeon Golem. That's why I'm…I'm still alive right now."
Dying would be a waste. That was what Soujirou had told her. That life got fun after you lost everything.
"I didn't want my life to get crushed underfoot as if it had never mattered to begin with. I didn't want to feel expendable. That's why the thing I want revenge on isn't just Soujirou—or the one who made that Dungeon Golem, Kiyazuna the Axle, but something more, something bigger than that."
Sitting upright in the bed, Yuno hugged her pillow and sighed.
Yuno was weak. Not only in terms of strength or wits, but even her mental state was chaotic and unreliable, making it seem like she wouldn't be able to achieve a single thing she wished for. Even so—
"I want to beat the strong."
Her own way of phrasing it made her sound just like Soujirou. That's how it seemed to her.
"You have been through quite a bit of hardship, haven't you?" Linaris placed her hand over Yuno's.
"…Tee-hee. We are a bit alike, don't you think?" "I—I…"
The soft, delicate fingertips touched the back of Yuno's hand.
Simply looking at her beautiful face up close threatened to drive her mad. "…I wouldn't know either way. I mean, I don't even know what you've been
through, either."
"Would you like to know?"
"Doesn't matter to me… It's not like I want to ask enough to impose about that sorta stuff anyway…"
Yuno already had her hands full with her own problems to begin with. She didn't want to get involved in anything more complicated than she already had, even if it involved Linaris.
"Miss Yuno…have you grown to hate me?"
"…If you're talking about the thing with General Haade, I'm just as much to blame."
"Th-then in that case…"
Linaris awkwardly ran her hand through the hair on one side of her face. "…would we…be able to become friends?"
"…Yeah."
Friends. Back when she lived ignorantly in Nagan, Yuno had friends as well.
Now…even after she had begun living in Aureatia, she didn't have a single friend her age.
"We might be able to do that." "Oh, thank you so much."
Linaris smiled with a look of relief.
In this moment, Linaris…this pretty girl, as far removed from Yuno as the angels depicted in stories seemed just like any girl her age.
It's the same.
Just like Lucelles had once been.
Why—why does this girl?!
Yuno pulled Linaris's wrist. An angry urge that even she couldn't comprehend possessed her.
"Hngh!"
Linaris suddenly fell off-balance, the act bringing her flopping down on top of the bed with it.
Grabbing both of her wrists, Yuno placed one knee on top of her stomach. "Wh-what…?"
"Why're you relieved?" "M-Miss Yuno."
I need to always keep myself thinking solely about my revenge.
"I…! I'm Haade the Flashpoint's secretary, you know. My job might just be to sneak into your ranks like this and look for information. What, you hadn't imagined that?"
"Koff, th-that's not—"
The body Yuno pinned down was very slender.
It was difficult to claim Yuno had any physical strength to speak of, yet it was enough to hold Linaris down, and if she went any farther, she just might have snapped her neck.
"That goal of yours… If you truly have to see it realized, then you should've killed me immediately for knowing your secret! I would've done just that. I definitely…wouldn't be relieved or let down my guard, that's for sure…! I mean, I…"
"Unh…"
Eyes wet with tears were looking up at Yuno. "...!"
If this girl really was part of Obsidian Eyes, then there was no reason why she couldn't dispatch a single young girl like Yuno. Some type of concealed weapon could surely do it, but there was also poison or drugs, like Linaris had used to make that one security guard faint. There was no way she didn't possess any means of resistance.
If this girl, Linaris, really was fighting with the same resolve Yuno had, then she should've been able to, at any moment.
"I…I was…just happy…" "..."
"…that we…could become friends…" "...! Sorry."
Yuno let go of her hands. Yet another fit of madness.
It wasn't that she wanted to hurt Linaris. Far from it, she might have even wanted to become friends with her herself.
Was it possible that, with her own hands, Yuno would only continue to sabotage and destroy any and all peace and tranquility she found?
"I'm sorry. I never… I never wanted to do anything like this. After looking at a letter like that, there's no way I could ever go back to General Haade again… so even I get that's why you trusted me and were honest with me, and yet…I— I…keep doing things, things even I don't understand."
The area around Linaris's neck was disheveled, and her porcelain collarbones peeked through.
All Yuno felt was a terrible sense of guilt.
"…Koff. Please don't let it bother you… I understand. It makes sense you might be shaken up and confused. For tonight…please give yourself a nice long rest, and then…please carefully think over yourself and your situation."
Yuno tried to come up with something to say, but she couldn't.
Linaris turned back around once and smiled weakly as she walked away. "Good night."
A young minia man had been standing right next to the door to Yuno's bedroom.
The man didn't have any distinguishing features, but he held a drawn long sword in his hands. His name was Hyakrai the Tower, of Obsidian Eyes.
"M-my lady. Are you all right?" "Yes."
Exiting the bedroom, Linaris sheepishly dropped her eyes. "You caught quite an embarrassing moment of mine."
"Y-Yuno the Distant Talon…should be disposed of. How awful… She's mad. At that moment, i-if she had stretched her hand out to your neck, my lady…I—I would have c-cut off her head, whether you ordered me to or not. Y- you should've put a stop to such violence…yourself, my lady."
"...Perhaps, that is indeed…what I should've done. I apologize for making you worry, Master Hyakrai."
Yuno wasn't aware of it herself, but she, too, was already one of Linaris's corpses.
A mutant strain, capable of airborne infection, and the only example of such in all the vampires' history. Anyone who got close to Linaris the Obsidian, even once, would become a corpse, regardless of whether Linaris wanted them to or not. With a single order from Linaris, the parent unit, she could prevent a corpse from any and all movement or stop their natural respiration and cause them to die. That was what it entailed to be under the control of a vampire.
…Not yet.
Linaris touched the base of her neck.
…We may still be able to remain friends. Not yet—just for a little while.
Like Shirok the Sextant and Miluzi the Coffin Edict. Or like the possibility that once existed with Kuuro the Clairvoyant.
"M-my lady…is too kind. Those types of scum always turn traitor… E-even
if right now, she doesn't intend to do so, her true feelings will change at moment's whim. Because her mind is weak. I…I know those types well."
"You might be right. Still…until that time comes, and she truly turns on me…"
They were all Obsidian Eyes. Dwellers in darkness who would mercilessly run through anyone in order to save their comrades in arms.
That was exactly why discarding and abandoning comrades was something to be feared. Linaris believed so.
"…Miss Yuno is my friend."
Or was it nothing more than a selfish wish, contrary to her father's ambitions?