“You bastard!” Adlet cried. The transforming fiend immediately fled. Adlet was about to run after it, but he abruptly stopped himself. Right now, I should prioritize checking the temple, he realized, and he turned back toward the building. That was when it happened.
“…Huh?” Terror ran through him. The air around him suddenly got colder, as if his entire body had been plunged into water. Mist slowly began rising from the ground—from his feet to his chest, from his chest to his head, and then, in a heartbeat, filling the whole area.
Adlet remembered what Private Loren had said. When the barrier is activated, the entire area within it will be enveloped in fog. His body began trembling. It sensed the crisis before his mind did. Once the barrier is activated, you can no longer get inside. Adlet entered the temple. He looked at the altar positioned in the central area of the tiny room. And those inside can’t escape, either. This affects both humans and fiends alike. The barrier was activated by putting a hand on the slate imbued with divine power and thrusting the decorative sword into the pedestal. That was what Private Loren had told him.
And now Adlet saw…the sword was already in the pedestal.
“I didn’t move it,” he murmured. “Who did it?! Who activated the barrier?!” Adlet yelled, running out of the temple to scan the area. He blew his flute, the one that attracted fiends, and did a sweep with his telescope.
“Adlet!” came a voice. It wasn’t long before Nashetania ran up to him, her face pale. Goldof and Fremy arrived soon after. “What happened?! Why has the barrier been activated?!” shouted Nashetania.
This was the first time Adlet had ever heard Nashetania lose her composure. Overcome by shock, Adlet replied, “No…it wasn’t me. Someone activated the barrier and then disappeared instantly afterward.”
“That can’t be,” she said.
“I’m not making it up,” he insisted. “They disappeared. It was only an instant, and then they were gone.”
Nashetania’s lips were trembling. Goldof’s eyes were wide. Even Fremy had lost the ability to speak. It couldn’t be… Were they trapped here?
“Let’s just go inside!” suggested Adlet. The four of them rushed into the temple.
As she gazed at the pedestal impaled with the decorative sword, the look on Nashetania’s face said she had no idea what was going on. She put her hand on the sword, checked the slate and the pedestal, and then squeezed out, “The barrier has been activated. I can’t believe this. Who did it?”
“I don’t know. Sorry, but I have no idea what happened.” Adlet shook his head.
“Well, let us deactivate it, then. Pardon,” said Goldof as he approached the altar. He pulled the sword from the pedestal—but they could see no changes in the fog blanketing the area. “Will that not work? Your Highness, do you know how we might nullify the barrier?”
“No, I don’t know, either,” she replied. “There must be a way…”
That was where Adlet cut in. “Give me that for a second.”
“Do you know something about this?” asked Nashetania.
“The previous generation of Braves made something like this before. Back then, I think they canceled out the barrier like this.” Adlet ran his hand along the blade of the sword. Blood dripped down it and wet the pedestal. “Barrier, nullify!” he declared, but still, nothing happened.
Next, Nashetania grabbed the sword and yelled random lines one after another. “Nullify the barrier! Cancel it, you! You stop now! Stop the fog! I will be this barrier’s master!” But still, the barrier did not lift. Finally, she became impatient and began bashing the pedestal and the slate with the hilt of the slim sword. The sword chipped, and the slate broke.
“Calm down, Nashetania. There’s no point in randomly whacking at it,” Fremy said coldly behind them. “Private Loren, who was at the fort, should be around here somewhere. Since there was that explosion earlier, he should be on the move.”
“You’re right. I—I’m sorry.” Nashetania seemed ashamed.
“Goldof, you protect the temple. You, too, Fremy,” ordered Adlet, and he and Nashetania left the temple to search for Private Loren.
They must have scouted for about thirty minutes. Adlet and Nashetania returned to the temple with nothing to show for their efforts. Had Private Loren and his men not come this way? Or had the fiends already killed them?
“What do we do?” asked Adlet. “Mora was ahead of us. At this rate, she’ll end up all on her own.”
“And more importantly, we cannot escape from here,” replied Nashetania.
The four looked at one another as they tried to think of a way to break out, but none came up with any good ideas.
“What’re you all fussing about?” That was when they heard a voice coming from outside the temple. A girl stood in front of the broken doors. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old and quite strange, wearing a frilly, check-patterned dress and a jester’s hat. In one hand, she held a green foxtail. A pouch and a water bottle hung diagonally across her chest. She looked like a child who’d gone on a picnic and gotten lost. “Oh, you’re that big guy from before,” she said when she saw Goldof. “Did you find that Brave-killer? And you, you’re the princess of Piena, aren’t you? So you were chosen as one of the six?” This time she was addressing Nashetania. Maybe she just didn’t understand the situation—there was absolutely zero anxiety in her tone.
“Who’re you?” Adlet asked.
The girl grinned. “Nice to meet you, weird belt guy. Chamo Rosso, Saint of Swamps. Chamo got chosen as one of the Braves of the Six Flowers.” The girl—Chamo Rosso—lifted the hem of her skirt. The Crest of the Six Flowers marked her skinny thigh.
“The Saint of Swamps is a kid?” Adlet muttered.
Chamo Rosso, the Saint of Swamps.
Anyone who lived in the world of warriors would know that name. Adlet had heard her power far surpassed Nashetania’s. She was said to be not only the
