Mora was baffled. “What are they doing in there?”
“How’d it go?” Adlet greeted Rolonia when she returned to the cave.
“There wasn’t much, but there was some of Tgurneu’s blood on Lady Mora’s gauntlet, too.”
“Did you learn anything?” he asked her.
“There was a Saint’s Blood in it. Enough that I could tell from just one lick.”
“I see.” So the poison had permeated Tgurneu’s body, after all. That eliminated the possibility that the Saint’s Spike had failed to hit its target. “Rolonia, can you determine the composition of Tgurneu’s body from its blood, too?”
“Yes, generally.”
“Is there a core inside its body?”
“There is. I could tell that quite clearly from the taste.”
“How many?”
“Just one,” she replied. Adlet made a sour look. “Unfortunately, I don’t know why the Saint’s blood didn’t work. I’m sorry, Addy. I want to do a better job, but…” Rolonia’s shoulders drooped.
“What the hell’re you talking about? We’re so close to solving the puzzle. How could the strongest man in the world get this much information and then not solve it?” Of course, this was all hot air. Adlet was worried. He was glad to have Rolonia’s analysis—but it had only deepened the mystery.
Adlet had posited a few possible solutions to the riddle of Tgurneu. For example, there was a kind of fiend known as division-type, which could split its own body into pieces to make subsidiary units. It could be that Tgurneu was a division-type fiend that had split its body into two or more parts. It would hide the main unit—the one that contained the core—somewhere else, and then use the other part, which contained no core, to attack them. That hypothesis would explain why the Saint’s poison hadn’t worked. If there was no core inside the body, then the Saint’s poison would have no effect.
But Rolonia’s examination forced him to reject that possibility. There was a core within Tgurneu’s body, so it was not a division-type fiend. The theory had been shaky to begin with, anyhow. The subsidiary units that division-type fiends could create were only lower-level animals or parasites. An auxiliary could not possibly be as powerful as Tgurneu.
Adlet had had one other hypothesis: Tgurneu could be a number of fiends merged into one that pretended to be a single being. The head, torso, arms, and legs were all different, independent fiends. Only one had been killed by the Saint’s Spike, while the head and other parts had survived. But this, too, didn’t hold water in light of Rolonia’s analysis. Tgurneu was a single, mixed-type fiend, with only one core inside its body. Adlet was forced to discard this idea, as well.
So that left one final possibility—that Rolonia was mistaken. But she was such a timid and cautious person, he found it highly unlikely that she would bring forth anything if she wasn’t sure about it. He could trust her analysis.
“So that disproves both your division-type theory and your fused fiends theory. Can you think of anything else, Adlet?” asked Fremy. Apparently she had been thinking the same thing he had. Adlet shook his head. “Now we understand the situation even less. If Rolonia’s analysis is correct, that means Tgurneu has no hidden powers.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
No need for her to apologize, he thought.
“Rolonia, leave us alone for a minute,” Fremy requested.
“Huh?” The sudden demand confused the other two.
“Now.”
“O-okay. I’ll go right now. Sorry,” Rolonia said, rushing out of the cave. Fremy glanced outside, checking to see that there was no one listening.
“What’s this about all of a sudden, Fremy?”
“Do you believe what she said?” She glared at him.
“Of course. She’s got our only clue to figuring out what happened with Tgurneu.”
“You’re the one who deduced the seventh would try to protect Tgurneu, aren’t you? Rolonia may be trying to lead you in the wrong direction.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m saying it’s a possibility.”
“And I’ve taken that into account. But until we know for sure that she’s the enemy, I’m gonna trust her.”
“You’re not being careful enough!” Her voice rose to a yell. Rolonia peered into the cave from the outside, and Fremy ordered her away with a gesture. “You need to be more cautious. Be on your guard with the others. At this rate, you’re going to be deceived and end up dead.”
“If the seventh comes for me, they’re just playing into my hands. I’m the strongest man in the world.”
Fremy’s expression betrayed anger and the slightest hint of sadness, and Adlet couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “You’re not the strongest in the world.”
“What did you say?”
“You’re weaker than me. In fact, you’re the weakest of all seven of us. Drop the ego and know your limits.”
Adlet believed he was the strongest man in the world. He had conviction. If he were to stop believing in himself, then he wouldn’t be Adlet anymore. “I’m the strongest man in the world. I will kill the Evil God. I’m not scared of the seventh. I’ll protect you and the rest of us. Everyone.” Fremy didn’t say anything. She just shook her head sadly. “I’ve got something to say to you, too. You need to trust your allies more. It’s like you see everyone but me as your enemy.”
“Because I do. As far as I’m concerned, they are. As long as we don’t know who the impostor is, what else should I think?”
“You’re going about this wrong. If we don’t trust our own allies and cooperate with one another, then we can’t beat the Evil God. The one who’ll really benefit from that loss of solidarity is the seventh.”
Fremy didn’t move. She just stared at Adlet. “No. I’ve had enough of trying to trust these people.”
“You’re so—”
“If you would let me, I’d kill all of them but you. Then I wouldn’t have to think about the seventh anymore.”
“Fremy!” At the conclusion of their battle with Nashetania, Adlet had thought they had come to an understanding. But maybe that had all been in his head. He felt a gigantic rift between the two of them.
