“Next, run straight from the barrier,” instructed Mora. “And stay on guard.”
“Roger,” said Adlet.
I can’t be careless, he thought as they ran. If he came too close to the answers, the seventh would act to protect Tgurneu. If the seventh was one of the three with him—Hans, Rolonia, and Goldof—then they would most certainly try to take Adlet’s life.
They came to the foot of the mountain, the massive, luminous shroud before them. The four exchanged a glance before they left the Saltpeak Barrier, racing off to the east.
Mora watched them go with her clairvoyant eye. Once they left the barrier, they were beyond the range of her powers. “They’ve left the mountain. They’re heading to the hill without issue.”
“So they pulled it off, huh? Though that much is sort of expected,” said Chamo. The hard part was the next step. All of this would be meaningless if Adlet’s party failed to get ahold of some clues and come back safe.
There was no sign of any fiends around, only silence. Fremy stood in the quiet, still looking in the direction Adlet had gone.
“What’s wrong, Fremy?” Mora asked. But she didn’t reply. She averted her eyes and moved to separate herself from the other two. Still gripping the stake, she tried again. “Fremy, are you that concerned about Adlet?”
Fremy’s silence continued for a bit, and then she muttered, “That idiot doesn’t understand anything.”
“How can you say that? He’s a reliable man.”
“Right now, the only person we know for sure is really a Brave is Adlet. It’s obvious which of us would be targeted by the seventh. So how can he act so careless and unguarded?”
“It may be that he wants to make himself a target. You haven’t considered that he’s deliberately inviting the seventh to attack him?”
“If that’s what he’s doing, then I’d like to punch his lights out.” Fremy did not conceal her anger.
But Mora found that charming. “Are you attracted to him?”
“…”
Fremy fell silent again. The Elder chose not to press for a reply.
Chamo yawned as if to say she didn’t care in the slightest.
“I hate him. He makes me so furious.”
“Why?” asked Mora.
Still staring at the ground, Fremy explained, “When I show concern, he snubs me. He doesn’t even try to understand my feelings.”
“I see.”
“Being with him is always unpleasant. When he gets hurt, I hurt. When we talk, I get angry. That redhead’s given me nothing but bitterness, sorrow, and misery. Not a single good thing has happened since we met.”
“It never does go well, at first.”
“I want to get rid of these feelings. I want to forget him. I’ve even considered wishing he was dead—at least that’d be easier.” Fremy looked up, eyes on the sky in the east, the direction Adlet had gone. “I’m sure Rolonia has never felt this way.” Surely not. Rolonia was up front with her feelings, unlike Fremy. “I wonder what love is? Tgurneu occasionally talked to me about love.”
“Really?”
“It said love is a very mysterious power that humans had, that it was the most important thing to them. It said in order to defeat the humans, first, you had to understand human love.”
“Tgurneu said that?” asked Mora.
“I didn’t know what it meant by that. I still don’t.” Fremy pressed her hand to her heart. “If this is what love is, then I’ll never be able to understand humans. I have no idea how they can value something that makes them feel like this.”
“You can never know the answer right away.”
“What should I do? And what do I want from Adlet?” After that, Fremy fell silent for a long time. Mora was unable to say anything. “…I’ve talked a little too much,” she said, and she went into the cave.
Mora was no longer using her clairvoyance at that point. She was tired. It would be a long battle, and she wanted to get what rest she could. That was why she didn’t notice, didn’t hear what Tgurneu said at the foot of the mountain.
“Hellooo! Good evening!” Tgurneu called quietly, cupping a hand around its mouth. “Mora! Good evening. Good evening!” The fiend repeated itself a few times and then tilted its head. “That’s odd. You aren’t sleeping, are you? I’ll be rather lonely if you don’t answer. I wanted to give you a hand killing one of the Braves.” It made one more attempt. “You have to hurry up and kill one of the Braves of the Six Flowers! At this rate, Willone of Salt will kill Shenira!”
There was no reply. Tgurneu contemplated for a moment, then stopped trying to call Mora.
“Are you okay with the footing?” Adlet asked the three behind him as they made their way through the nighttime Howling Vilelands. In his hand was the gem Fremy had given him, still glowing faintly.
“Of course I’m fine. Also, that way’s the cliff, so you watch out,” said Hans.
“Um, where are we going?” asked Rolonia as they walked. They didn’t make their way east directly. They went south, and then when they reached a spot with a decent view, Adlet lay down on the ground and looked back upon the mountain. He could faintly see the outlines of fiends illuminated by the light of the Saltpeak Barrier. The wind carried their chatter toward the Braves.
“What do you think, Hans?” asked Adlet.
“Doesn’t look like Mora was lyin’. I think we can trust her for neow.”
Mora had informed them of the fiends’ activities, but without seeing it for themselves, they hadn’t been able to trust her completely.
“What’re they doin’?”
“Probably trying to break the barrier,” said Adlet. The fiends were assaulting the wall of light, but whenever they touched it, sparks flew, and the screams as they died reached their ears. Most likely, quite a few were already gone.
“We can’t be dawdlin’. Let’s go,” said
