“Adlet, if ya don’t start thinkin’ hard, yer gonna die,” said Hans. “How could the person who activated the barrier have gotten into an impenetrable temple? Meow?”
“I…”
“Once the door is opened, it won’t close again, and that door is the only way in. How could anyone get inside like that? Even if there was a fiend with special meowers, fiends can’t come close. Ya’d hafta get into it with human skill alone.”
“…”
“I’ll tell ya somethin’ else while I’m at it,” Hans continued. “We call this sorta situation, where no one can get in or out, a ‘locked-room meowstery.’”
A locked-room mystery. The unfamiliar term spun around in Adlet’s head. He couldn’t think of a single solution to this riddle. “Maybe they dug a hole,” he suggested. “Removed the flagstones and dug a hole into the temple, and then activated the barrier. And then when I blew up the door, they escaped and immediately refilled it.”
“Meow? In an instant? How?”
“There might be a Saint with powers that could do that. Like the Saint of Earth or something.” Adlet searched for any sign that there might have been a hole dug inside.
But then Chamo said, “That’s not right.”
“Why not?” asked Adlet.
“When you and Hans went off to the border of the barrier, Auntie Mora said someone might be hidden around here. So Chamo searched all over the ground and the forest with the power of the swamp. There wasn’t any trace of a hole. Chamo has the power to find things in the ground, too.”
The power of swamp and the ability to probe underground. What on earth is she? Adlet wondered.
“Adlet, I saw Chamo searching through the earth, too. They could not have dug a hole,” testified Goldof, and Nashetania nodded. Adlet had to believe them.
“There is one more thing I should add. The Saint of Earth has no such ability. Even with Chamo’s power, digging a hole and escaping in a single instant would be impossible,” Mora said.
Now that everyone had shot down his suggestion, Adlet was forced to discard the possibility that someone had tunneled their way out. “Then it doesn’t have to be a hole. They could have used some kind of Saint’s power,” he said, turning to Mora. “Mora, there must be someone. There must be a Saint with the power to open the door and get into the temple.”
“Sorry, but there is not,” Mora replied. “The Saint of Seals’s power is unbreakable. This door can be opened by force, but once opened, it’s most certainly impossible to close.”
“That couldn’t be. If there’s no Saint with the power, then…nobody could get inside.” Adlet thought about it. “Then there’s a Saint we don’t know about yet. A Saint raised by fiends, like Fremy.”
“No. My mother told me that I was the only child of a fiend and a human,” Fremy said dispassionately.
When Adlet looked over, he saw that Hans had quietly drawn his sword and Chamo was putting her foxtail to her lips.
“Stop it, Hans, Chamo. Let’s talk for a little while longer. It’s much too early to cast judgment.” Mora restrained the pair, but she, too, regarded Adlet suspiciously.
“Huh? Um…I don’t quite understand what you all mean.” Nashetania sounded confused. “Everyone…what are you talking about? Goldof? Hans? Mora? Adlet?” Nashetania was the only one in the dark as the tension among the Braves slowly mounted.
“Allow me to explain, Princess,” said Goldof. “Right now, Adlet is suspect.”
“That’s right. And these suspicions are soundin’ pretty decisive,” added Hans.
“Why? That’s not possible! Adlet could never be the one!” Nashetania cried angrily. As she did, her voice sounded distant.
“Well, ya know—nobody coulda gotten into the temple before Adlet opened the door. If he was the only one to go in, then who turned on the barrier?”
“It wasn’t Adlet. That’s a lie!” insisted Nashetania.
Hans’s shoulders shook in laughter. “Yer a wicked man, Adlet. Ya need to work hard to clear your name, ya know?”
“I’m shocked. Suddenly, our positions are reversed,” said Fremy.
Goldof, still restraining her, also glared at Adlet cautiously.
“Not so long ago he was coming to your defense, Fremy. You’re not going to offer similar support?” Mora attempted to incite her to action.
“I can’t save him,” Fremy replied coldly. “Nor do I have any intention to.”
“…The door,” Adlet squeezed out. “The culprit opened the door and then went inside. And then they removed the door by the hinges, since it could no longer close, made a new door, and sealed the temple, hiding inside. When I got here, they activated the barrier and then, when the doors opened, sneaked away without me noticing! That would make it possible!”
The explanation was a reach at best. When Hans heard it, he started laughing. It was a mocking chuckle, as if he were saying, That’s all you got? “This door was made by the old Saint of Seals,” he said. “The current Saint doesn’t have much experience. She wouldn’t be capable of makin’ such a fine door.”
“So what? So then, the previous Saint made it.” Adlet’s voice was shrill. He couldn’t hide his agitation.
“The old Saint of Seals died four years ago. No one else but her would’ve been able to install that door.” Hans rejected even his most desperate answer.
Without thinking, Adlet shrieked, “You’re the seventh, Hans!” That was the only possibility now. The story about the door and the Saint was all a lie. It couldn’t be anything else.
“Unfortunately, Adlet,” said Mora, “everything Hans says is true.”
Adlet couldn’t think of a response.
Trembling, Nashetania said, “It—it’s not true, right, Adlet? This is…this is just absurd.” She was the only one left who believed in his innocence.
Why is this happening to me? Adlet wondered. It was a trap. He’d fallen into a trap. The seventh hadn’t just imprisoned them all within the barrier. This was a setup to make the Braves kill one another.
“Now then, what should we do?” asked Mora. “For starters, everyone, tell us your thoughts.”
“Thoughts about what?!” Adlet wailed, but Mora offered no reply.
