Then Fremy spoke. “I planned to kill the seventh if I found out who they were, even if it meant my life.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been ready for it this whole time, and I’ve been trying to sound out who it is. Maybe the seventh knew that. Maybe it’s not that they aren’t doing anything, but that they’re afraid of me and can’t do anything.”
“But I still think it’s fishy they didn’t do nothin’ durin’ that fight. If they’d played their cards right, all of us’d be dead,” said Hans. Mora agreed.
“There’s one more possibility,” said Fremy. “Tgurneu may have ordered them not to act.”
“Why?” asked Adlet.
“To mess with us.”
“Huh?”
“Tgurneu often toys with people. It always says things that don’t make sense and has no problem doing things that would put itself at a disadvantage. I don’t know what Tgurneu is thinking—perhaps nothing at all.”
She was right. Between that over-familiar tone, clownish attitude and inconsistent way of fighting, the only conclusion was that Tgurneu was merely fooling around.
“So in other words, Tgurneu is just having a few laughs, here?” said Adlet. “You’re saying it’s not seriously trying to kill us?”
“I don’t know. It might be pretending to fool around while it’s planning something, or it could be fooling around for real.”
So that meant even trying to surmise what was on Tgurneu’s mind was pointless. Quite the bothersome opponent, mused Mora. “On that hill, we were ambushed. What if the seventh led us there?” she suggested. Adlet folded his arms and considered.
“Yer the one who found it, though, Mora,” said Hans.
“And I’m the one who suggested having a discussion there,” said Fremy.
Then Rolonia timidly raised her hand. “Um…I-I’m sorry. May I say something?” When Adlet prompted her, she finally spoke. “Maybe…the seventh doesn’t want to be found out.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, the seventh doesn’t want their identity revealed, right? So if they don’t do anything, then we’ll never find out. I’m sure they don’t want to be suspected.”
“But then why even be here? If they’re just sitting here to avoid being discovered, then there’s no point infiltrating the Braves in the first place,” Fremy said, shooting down the suggestion.
“No, Rolonia might be on to something,” said Adlet. All eyes gathered on him. “This is ultimately just my own deduction, but…I doubt the seventh has done anything. They didn’t lead us to that hill, and they didn’t tell Tgurneu we were going there.”
“What makes you think that?”
“If the Braves planned to follow the safest route in an attempt to avoid a surprise attack, we’d be sure to pass over that hill, and Tgurneu predicted that. The fact that we took a break on that hill was simply coincidence. We wouldn’t need to stop there to get caught. Tgurneu would just wait for the moment we passed through and attack us from behind.”
“So why isn’t the seventh doing anything?”
“That was the plan all along,” Adlet explained. “They’d just stay with us and keep pretending to be one of us. That’s the only reason they’re here.”
“What do you mean?”
“The traitor is waiting for the moment they’re sure they can kill all of us. They could’ve attacked us during that last fight, but a few of us probably would’ve gotten away. I bet just killing one or two Braves isn’t enough.” The group was silent. “The seventh probably won’t make their move until the perfect opportunity arises, because as long as they don’t do anything, they won’t be discovered. Well, that’s just a hypothesis, though.”
“If that’s the case, then how can we expose the impostor?” said Mora. “As long as they do nothing, we’ll have no clues as to their identity. But when the seventh does act, it will be when our situation is most desperate. What on earth can we do?”
Hans clapped his hands like he was amused by all of this. “Ma-meow! What a catastrophe! Is this checkmate?”
“It’s not just Tgurneu. There’s a buffoon among us, too,” commented Mora grumpily.
The assassin answered with an expression of deepest offense. “I’m serious! A game’s no fun if ya don’t play for keeps, right?”
Good grief.
Adlet continued. “From what Fremy’s told us, I don’t think it’s possible to know what Tgurneu might do, because it doesn’t follow logic in order to win. And, like with Tgurneu, we can’t predict what the mole will do, either.”
“But yer the strongest man in the world, ain’t ya? Ya givin’ up that easy?”
“We’re completely surrounded, Adlet. How do we get out of here?” Mora inquired.
“Even if we do get away, it would just make our situation worse. We need a plan to solve the root problem,” Fremy insisted.
As his allies pressed him for answers, Adlet concluded quietly, “There’s only one way to get out of this situation.”
“What?” Hans asked.
“We have to solve the mystery of Tgurneu.”
The entire party went silent. Mora had no idea what he meant by the mystery of Tgurneu.
“Guys, look at this,” Adlet said, pulling a twenty-centimeter-long spike out from under his jacket. It was identical to the one he had used in the previous battle.
“What is that thing?” Hans appeared quizzical.
Adlet explained to them the weapon he called the Saint’s Spike, how it was poisoned with a crystal made from Saints’ blood fitted at the tip, and how if a fiend was impaled with it, the poison would instantly circulate through its whole body.
As Mora listened to his explanation, she thought about Atreau Spiker. She had only been aware that he was a warrior knowledgeable about fiends, but it seemed she had incredibly underestimated him. She’d never considered using Saints’ blood as a weapon at all, much less extracting the poison from that blood.
“And…you impaled Tgurneu with that? Are you sure?” Mora asked.
Adlet nodded vigorously. “I know I stabbed Tgurneu with that spike, and I even saw the toxin affect it—but it’s still alive.”
This is difficult to believe, thought Mora. Rolonia and Fremy had gone pale.
“Why didn’t it
