“What does it do?”
“I would enclose this whole mountain within a barrier, instantly, to trap Tgurneu here. It would both cut off reinforcements and prevent Tgurneu’s escape. I can only use this technique once, but I believe it’s worth an attempt.”
When Rolonia heard the plan, her eyes went wide. “Hold on, please, Lady Mora! That barrier is dangerous.”
“I’m fully aware of that. But you heard what Adlet said.” Unable to counter her, the Saint of Spilled Blood fell silent.
“Will the barrier last very long?” inquired their leader.
“No. Six hours, at most. But that should be enough time to kill Tgurneu.”
“I understand. Then do it,” he said without hesitation.
“When Tgurneu next appears, I’ll let you know immediately,” said Mora. “You decide whether or not I should activate the barrier, Adlet.”
The boy nodded. “All right. Then we’ve decided our course of action. I’ll work out what’s happening with Tgurneu, starting with why the Saint’s Spike didn’t work, and figure out a way to kill it. You help me out with that, Fremy.”
“…Fine,” she acquiesed.
“Hans and Goldof, you clean up the fiends on the mountain. Get their numbers down, at least somewhat. Can you do that?”
“Of course. I could meownage that by myself.” Hans smiled. Goldof didn’t reply, but he seemed to accept the order at least.
“Mora, you use your powers to keep watch over the mountain. If anything odd happens, tell me right away. And give Hans and Goldof backup, too.”
“Understood.”
“Chamo, you figure out how to deal with that silver powder. If I can’t solve the mystery, you’ll be our main force. Don’t blow this.”
“Duh. Worry about yourself. You do your best, too.”
“Um…what about me?” Rolonia raised her hand. Adlet hesitated for a moment.
“Rolonia is the Saint of Spilled Blood and an expert on the subject. I believe she’ll be of use to you,” said Mora. He nodded.
Thinking Adlet had concluded his instructions, the group was just about to move out when he stopped them. “I want to say one last thing—to the seventh among us.” He scanned his allies and said, “If you wanna win, you’d better figure out how to kill me first. If you don’t do it soon, you’ll be too late.”
No one said a word. Silence fell around them.
“Was that supposed to sound dramatic or something? ’Cause it was pretty lame,” said Chamo.
She was quite right. Mora and Hans couldn’t restrain their laughter. Rolonia lowered her eyes, covering her mouth, and Fremy had averted her gaze, too. Even Goldof had something resembling a faint smirk on his face. This is the first time we’ve all smiled together, thought Mora. Perhaps there was some solidarity growing in the group, if only very gradually. Adlet was quite the man, willing to play the clown to calm his allies.
Each of them went off to their separate tasks. Adlet returned to the cave, sitting with his back to the wall. His face was red. Chamo had humiliated him. Damn it, I’m the strongest man in the world! he cursed in his head.
Fremy and Rolonia came into the cave and sat down a little ways away. They didn’t look at each other. The former was still expressionless, and the latter appeared extremely uncomfortable.
“I can’t fault you for being wary, but try to get along. We can’t solve the mystery of Tgurneu if we don’t cooperate,” said Adlet.
“Y-you’re right,” said Rolonia. “Let’s work together, Fremy.”
“Yeah, might as well.” There was no sign that either of them would shift closer to the other. “I’m putting on some lights.” Fremy placed a tiny gem on the ground in the dark cave. She recited an incantation, and it began to glow.
“What’s this?” asked Adlet. “Is this your power, Fremy?”
“No. This is something Mora brought. She said Pipi, Saint of Light, made it. And she brought lots more, so I’ll give you a few.” Adlet accepted the gems, and Fremy told him the incantation. The three of them sat in a circle around the little jewel.
“I’m sorry, Adlet, but…” began Fremy, “…I frankly doubt you can solve this. We know too little about Tgurneu. We only fought for half an hour.”
“What makes you say that? You should know Tgurneu better, Fremy,” he said.
“Sorry, but you shouldn’t count on me.” She shook her head. “I don’t know any of Tgurneu’s weaknesses, and I have no idea why the Saint’s Spike didn’t work, either. Tgurneu planned to have me killed all along—obviously I wasn’t going to be trusted with any important information.”
She doesn’t get it, he thought. “Did you feel that Tgurneu was hiding something?”
“…No.”
“That’s critical. Tgurneu planned to kill you, and so it didn’t allow you to learn anything important. That’s the key.”
“What do you mean?” asked Fremy.
“It’s pretty hard to hide something from someone who’s familiar with you—and even harder to keep them from realizing that you’re hiding something. You have to lie, keep them away from the truth, and act natural about all of it. That always leaves some kind of trace behind.” Adlet looked Fremy in the eye and continued. “If we can figure out what Tgurneu lied about, it should be easy to figure out the truth.”
“We still don’t have enough information, though,” she insisted.
Then, Rolonia hesitantly joined the conversation. “Um, Addy…can you lend me your sword?” Adlet didn’t know what she wanted it for, but he handed it over, sheath and all. She drew it out and looked at the blade. “Oh, so you’ve already cleaned it. Do you have the cloth you wiped it with?” Adlet went to the trash pile by the cave entrance to pull out the rag he’d discarded there. She took it from him and put it in her mouth.
“Hey!” Adlet cried.
“That’s disgusting,” said Fremy.
The two of them grimaced. Though clearly embarrassed, Rolonia kept on sucking on the blood-soaked rag. “You cut six fiends with this blade.” She removed the rag from her mouth and pulled out her
