“At mischief?”
“To lift the barrier and find the seventh.”
The seven of them walked out of the temple. While they stood in front of the door, Adlet told them everything he could remember. First, there was the transforming fiend that had been lying outside the pillars of salt that encircled the temple. It had disguised itself as a woman and urged him to go into the temple, and then it had revealed its true form and run away.
“That fiend must know something. If we can catch it and get it to talk…,” mused Goldof.
Chamo scratched her head, looking embarrassed. “Sorry. It’s dead. It just happened to run in Chamo’s direction.”
“Why did you have to do that?” Goldof sounded exasperated.
Mora came to Chamo’s rescue. “Even if we had caught it, it would have been impossible to wrest information from it. Fiends are loyal creatures. If ordered not to speak, they never will, even on threat of death.”
Adlet continued. He told them how the door had been locked and how he’d blown the lock with explosives.
“That’s weird. It was locked? Wouldn’t they normally give you the key?” Chamo cocked her head.
Mora pulled the key from her chest pocket. “I have it. I’d wager Private Loren never conceived a scenario such as this.”
Adlet continued. He recounted the pair of armored soldiers who’d attacked after he’d blasted the doors. This was the most baffling part. They had attacked Adlet, but he didn’t think they had been pawns of the fiends.
“You mean this armor? I’ve been curious about it…” Nashetania picked up the fallen armor and peered inside. There was no body within—it was empty. “The inner face of this armor is packed with hieroglyphs. It’s so difficult, I can’t read it,” she admitted.
“These are sentries built by the Saint of Seals. They indiscriminately attack anyone who opens the door via illegitimate means,” explained Mora.
“This place was pretty heavily protected, huh?” Adlet commented.
“The one who created this barrier, the king of the Land of Iron Mountains, was highly secretive. He forbade not only fiends, but also humans from entering this place. It must have been to prevent it from being used for evil,” she replied.
“It’s sure being used for evil right now, though,” Adlet remarked. Though made with good intentions, had this barrier never been constructed, they wouldn’t be trapped within it like this. It made Adlet want to track down the one responsible. He was about to continue when he noticed something odd. Hans was peering into the armor and then scrupulously examining the broken door. His expression was serious. But before Adlet could ask him what was up, Mora prodded him to go on.
“And after that?” she asked.
“Yeah. When I opened the door, the barrier was already activated. I think the fog was generated immediately after the doors were destroyed. When I went inside, the sword was already in the pedestal.”
“So the barrier activated the moment before you opened the doors?” asked Mora.
“Yeah, and there was absolutely no sign of anyone inside. Frankly, I was pretty shocked,” Adlet finished.
Mora folded her arms and considered the situation. “It does not appear that this was the work of a normal human. Undoubtedly, a Saint is involved.”
“A Saint…,” repeated Nashetania. “Why would a Saint cooperate with the Evil God?”
“They were probably threatened. Fiends do that sort of thing a lot.” Adlet looked at Mora. “You’d know, wouldn’t you? You’d know which Saints would be capable of something like this.”
“Illusion, perhaps?” she suggested. “No, impossible. To conceal their presence from you entirely and then escape… I cannot think of any so easily.”
“Meow. Adlet.” Suddenly, Hans called out to him loudly. “Are ya sure yer not rememberin’ somethin’ wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” Adlet asked. “I don’t think so.”
“I see. I’ll ask one more time. Are ya sure yer not rememberin’ somethin’ wrong?”
Adlet was confused.
“If yer gonna make any corrections, do it now,” Hans continued. “If ya try to take it back afterward, things ain’t gonna go easy.”
“All right. What’s your point?” Adlet demanded.
“When ya went in there, the sword was ‘already in the pedestal.’ You sure o’ that?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll ask ya one last time. Yer absolutely sure?”
“You just don’t let go. I’m sure! Why won’t you believe me?”
Then Hans quietly put a hand to the sword at his waist. Adlet thought he might draw it, but he only rested his hand there. “I’m an assassin. Sneakin’ in and runnin’ out is somethin’ of a specialty of mine.”
“Oh? It seems you’ll be quite useful,” said Mora.
“In my line o’ work, there’s no one we fear more than the great Saint of Seals,” Hans continued. “Ya see, the Saint of Seals has made these meowsterious doors all over the place. She’s made doors with locks that won’t open, doors that won’t close once opened, and doors that drop down iron bars once ya open ’em. How many times have those things given me trouble? Anyways, I know quite a bit about her doors.”
“…And?” Adlet demanded again.
“This door’s pretty well-made.” Hans elaborated. “Instead of bein’ extra sturdy, it’s made so that once ya open it, it can never be closed again.”
“Wait, what does that mean?”
“I’m the one askin’ questions, Adlet. It sounds funny, don’t it? The door was closed when ya came, and the barrier activated the moment ya broke the door. So then, how did the one who turned on the barrier get inside?”
“What do you mean?” Adlet was confused. There should have been any number of ways to get inside.
“Listen, Adlet. There’s no way someone coulda entered the temple before ya broke that door. Nobody coulda done it!”
“Wait! That couldn’t be!” Adlet went into the temple. He looked for a ventilation window, but there was none. The windows letting in light were iron barred and covered in thick glass. He searched the stone walls, but there was no trace anywhere that they had been broken and then repaired. Dumbfounded, he looked around the temple. He’d considered how the culprit might have escaped after activating the barrier—but he
