“Addy!” Rolonia cried out. But Goldof couldn’t hear her anymore.
“What the hell are you doing, Goldof?” Adlet stood in his path.
Don’t get in my way. That one thought occupied his whole mind. “…Her Highness…is in danger…” His fists nearly knocked Adlet down of their own accord. He held himself back with what little reason he had left.
“What happened?” asked Adlet. “Did something happen to the princess? Did something happen to Nashetania?”
Goldof wasn’t thinking about the Braves of the Six Flowers, the Evil God, or even about himself. The only thing that occupied his mind was saving the princess.
“Wait, Goldof. Explain to me! What’s going on with Nashetania?”
“Her Highness is in danger…I’m going…to save her…”
“What are you thinking? Nashetania is the enemy!”
The moment Adlet said that, Goldof reached a conclusion. So he’s my enemy, then. Instantly, his sense of reasoning vanished. He drove his fist into Adlet’s stomach, and the winded boy dropped to his knees. Rolonia screamed and ran up to them.
“Adlet…Rolonia…I’m…going…to save…her.”
“W-why now, all of a sudden?!” Rolonia implored.
Goldof explained himself plainly. “Listen…up. Just…listen. Don’t…get in my way. I’m going to…save…her.” He had no misgivings in his decision to go save Nashetania alone. Adlet and the others were her enemies. If he stayed with them, they’d be sure to try to stop him. Just leave me alone, he thought. They have their fight, and I have mine. “I’m…going…alone. Don’t…follow me.” He turned from the two of them and began striding away.
“Wait, please, Goldof!” Rolonia called after him. “What happened?!”
“The situation…has changed. If you get in my way…I can’t let you live.”
“C-can’t let us…live?” Her face stiffened in fear.
Goldof was serious. The flames raging in his heart were now beyond anyone’s control. In his current state, he would probably kill anyone who hurt Nashetania. But he didn’t want to fight his allies, and so he wished for them to let him be. He left Adlet and Rolonia and their confusion behind him, breaking into a run. That was when he realized he was crying. “…Your Highness…I’m going…to save you now…”
Some vestige of discretion remained in his head. His reason was whispering to him, This could be a trap. Nashetania could be trying to trick him and kill him, or maybe she wanted to use him to eliminate the others. But even knowing that, Goldof had to do this.
I’m sorry, he silently apologized as his feet thudded against the earth.
Goldof maintained his rapid pace out of the valley and into the plains. Three fiends appeared from beyond a hill to rush toward him. Immediately, he knew what to do with his spear to kill them all. He attacked, handling his weapon as his instincts commanded. Mere seconds later, the fiends had all been impaled, spewing blood from their mouths as they fell.
His senses felt sharper. His eyes and ears were keener than any moment in memory, and he understood everything around himself so clearly. In that moment, he was probably stronger than he’d ever been.
Suddenly, he remembered what Nashetania had said. In a fiend’s stomach, she’d told him. Goldof dissected each fiend’s belly in a single incision with the point of his spear. No one was inside. He ran off again.
“Can you speak, Your Highness? Where are you? What kind of enemies are around you?” Goldof put a hand to his helmet and called out to Nashetania. He could just faintly hear suffocated rasping, but no words. Her throat must have been destroyed, after all. She wouldn’t be able to communicate through the Helm of Allegiance if she couldn’t talk. Nashetania had said that it was Tgurneu who had captured her. Dozzu had betrayed the fiends, so the Six Braves would not be the only ones after their lives.
Thirty minutes later, Goldof was past the plains and heading into the forest. Every fiend in his way fell to his spear in less than ten seconds before he sliced its stomach open in search of Nashetania.
When he reached the lava zone, Tgurneu would be there. Three days ago, the Braves had failed to take down the fiend commander, even four-on-one. But Goldof wasn’t afraid at all. When he was fighting for Nashetania, any traces of trepidation vanished from his mind. The Helm of Allegiance clamored incessantly in his head. Nashetania was still alive, and she was still in danger.
As he raced on, he began having doubts—why had Tgurneu captured Nashetania? Now that it had her, what did it plan to do with her? But there was no point in considering those things now.
Another creature appeared before Goldof, and the sight of it left him stunned. He understood immediately that it was a fiend—the horn on its forehead was proof. It was small enough to be cradled in his arms, with an odd form like something between a dog and a squirrel. But it also looked familiar to him. Aside from that horn, it was the spitting image of a pet of Nashetania’s. She had been particularly fond of that strange dog called Porta. “…It couldn’t be…” Goldof pointed his spear at the fiend. It was wounded with cuts, burns, and bruises all over its body.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve last had the pleasure of seeing you, Goldof.” The fiend folded its hind legs and sat to bow politely to him.
“It can’t be. You’re…”
“Yes, indeed.” Anticipating what Goldof was about to say, the fiend continued. “I am Dozzu, one of the three commanders of the fiends, and Nashetania’s comrade. For a time I was also her pet.” Goldof recalled that this fiend had been with Nashetania even before he had met her. She had told him that she’d happened to see him in the forest, and she’d adopted him because of his funny appearance.
“So you…lured her…to your side?” Goldof said.
“No.” Dozzu shook its head. “Nashetania endorses my ideas. She became my ally, and she fights together with me for the sake of our ambitions. I did not in the least lure
