The image rising in his mind now was especially vivid: the villagers, his family until that day, executing his sister, then capturing and killing the friend who had run away together with him. That day, Adlet’s everything held dear shattered.
“Addy.” Rolonia gently brushed the back of his hand. Her touch helped him regain his composure. Though the creature before them was the enemy of those he loved, now was not the time to fight it. He had to save Chamo, and he had to determine the veracity of Tgurneu’s proposal.
“Are you all right, Adlet?” asked Tgurneu.
“Don’t worry about me. The strongest man in the world is always calm,” Adlet said, smiling. He looked at Fremy beside him. Her eyes were wide with anger, too, but she remained calm. I should take a page from her book, he thought.
“Is that so? Good. More importantly, let’s talk about Nashetania. Unfortunately, I don’t know where she is, either,” Tgurneu said with some displeasure. “Have you figured out anything—even the smallest clue? Do you have leads about her current location?”
“Hold on,” said Adlet. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. Explain what’s going on first. Why are you chasing Nashetania?”
Tgurneu drooped as if to say, What a pain. “Fremy, have you made sure to tell him about myself, Cargikk, and Dozzu?” it said. Fremy nodded. She had told them that the fiends were divided into three factions: Tgurneu’s, Cargikk’s, and Dozzu’s, and the groups were not on good terms with each other. Tgurneu and Cargikk had differing opinions on what the fiends ought to be. Dozzu was known as the traitor to its kind, and the other two wanted it dead.
“As I said before, Nashetania is Dozzu’s pawn,” Tgurneu began. “About two hundred years ago, Dozzu betrayed us. He took his pawns and left the Howling Vilelands, concealing himself among humans. Cargikk and I sent our followers into the human realms to hunt him down while we went on killing the remaining members of Dozzu’s faction in the Howling Vilelands. We believed that we had eliminated them all.”
“…But you thought wrong. Is that what you’re saying?” said Adlet.
“We were naive. They were still operating in places outside of my sphere of influence. He obtained a fake crest through different means from myself and infiltrated the royal palace of Piena to win over Nashetania. Then he gave Nashetania the fake crest and had her infiltrate your group.”
It was too sudden. Adlet couldn’t believe it.
“Meanwhile, I had also acquired a fake crest,” Tgurneu continued. “I gave it to a human pawn and had them infiltrate your group. Quite the coincidence. Dozzu and I had been plotting the exact same strategy, and neither of us knew it.”
Would a fluke like that really happen? Adlet wondered.
“I was astonished to hear of what happened within the Phantasmal Barrier. Because, you see, there was an impostor Brave I knew nothing of who was trying to kill you all of her own accord. I’m ashamed to say it was only after that battle that I realized Dozzu was behind it.” Tgurneu went on. “I had also sent pawns into the Kingdom of Piena, and they had informed me of Nashetania’s weaknesses, her habits, and her nature. I thought she would eventually be chosen as one of the Braves of the Six Flowers, and moreover, I thought if I did well, I might be able to use her like I did Mora. But I didn’t have the slightest clue that she and Dozzu were working together.”
“…I don’t believe you,” said Fremy.
Tgurneu set its white flag on the ground and crossed its arms. “Frankly, I can’t believe it, either. Two fiends plotting the same scheme? Is such a coincidence even possible? Nashetania becoming a fiend’s minion seems like nothing more than a joke to me. But there it is.”
“Do you believe this story, Adlet?” Fremy asked him.
Adlet didn’t reply. He just prompted Tgurneu to continue. This was hard to believe for him, too. But his desire to hear what the fiend had to say won over. “Go on, Tgurneu. We’ll decide afterward whether or not to work with you,” he said.
Tgurneu gave a bored shrug. “To be blunt, you and I are ultimately enemies. Frankly, I don’t want to cooperate.”
“Then we’re in agreement, for once. I feel the same way,” said Adlet.
“But I see Dozzu and Nashetania as far more powerful than your little troop. My priority is to kill him and his cohort, even if it ends up benefiting you, too.”
“What did you say?” Adlet bristled. The fiend’s remarks were humiliating.
“Is it so surprising? You Braves haven’t presented any plausible threat at all to me thus far,” Tgurneu said.
Anger flared in Fremy’s eyes.
It continued. “Dozzu’s reach extends further than I’d imagined. He’s hidden large numbers of followers among both my pawns and Cargikk’s. You’ve been seeing many fiend corpses, haven’t you?”
Adlet nodded. He couldn’t even count how many were in the pit with Chamo.
“While you and I were fighting over that matter with Mora and playing tag in the forest, Dozzu was steadily preparing to act. This morning, he began his operation. His faction came to attack us all at once. They destroyed nearly all the pawns I had in the Cut-Finger Forest, and there’s no sign reinforcements will arrive. Right now I don’t even know which among my followers belong to Dozzu’s faction.” Sadly, Tgurneu lamented, “I’ve ended up all alone.”
If so, this would be an ideal situation for killing Tgurneu. Adlet even considered taking it out right then. But he suspected that it was all a lie. Tgurneu might well just be pretending to be alone to lure them into a trap.
“So what’s your plan now?” asked Adlet.
What Tgurneu said next was very difficult to believe. “What else? Kill Nashetania and save Chamo.”
“Save Chamo?”
As Adlet’s party responded with confusion, Tgurneu explained. “I do have
