It’s the same thing, thought Goldof. If this fiend had never showed up, then she’d… He clenched his spear. He aimed the spear at its heart, ready to end its life in one stab.
“Goldof, though it shames me, I must ask something of you. Please, save my partner Nashetania.”
“?!” Goldof’s spear stopped.
“Tgurneu has captured her. She should still be alive, but she could be killed at any moment. I cannot hope to face Tgurneu’s entire force alone. Please, Goldof.” Dozzu groveled, pressing its cute face to the ground.
Goldof watched the fiend, lowering his spearpoint. Then he approached Dozzu. “Later…we’ll talk,” he said, snatching Dozzu by the scruff of the neck. Lifting the tiny creature, he ran off with the fiend dangling from his grip.
“Wh-what are you—” Dozzu was bewildered.
But Goldof paid him no heed. Nashetania had said that Dozzu was her one and only comrade, that she would not betray it, and neither would it betray her. It would be hard to rescue Nashetania by himself. He’d need an ally. “I will…save…her. You don’t…have to…tell me.”
“Goldof…are you serious?”
“If I weren’t…I wouldn’t have come alone.”
Dozzu’s eyes widened. “You came here by yourself? Unbelievable. I worried over how I should request this of you. I didn’t imagine you would simply come yourself.”
“Where…is she?” Goldof asked.
“We were in the lava region when she was captured. It’s around an hour’s run from here. I believe she’ll be around there.”
That meant Goldof had been heading in the right direction. He glared at the suspended fiend and said, “You’re going to…talk. About what was…going on with you two.”
“Yes, I understand. Fortunately, it seems we have enough time for a chat,” Dozzu agreed, and the fiend quietly divulged its story. “I have an objective: to end the conflict between humankind and fiendkind. To build a world where both can live together. Two hundred years ago, with this ambition in my heart, I left the Howling Vilelands and ensconced myself in the human realms.”
“It…just sounds like…a fantasy to me.”
“Anyone would think so, the first time they heard it. But I’m certain it’s an achievable goal, and so is Nashetania.”
“…Her, too…huh…”
“I cannot tell you as of yet how we will realize this goal. This is a strict secret from those who aren’t our comrades. Please understand.”
“…Keep talking.”
Dozzu continued. “I needed allies in order to realize my goal. There were very few fiends that would fight with me, and I was the only one with real combat abilities. I had to make a human my comrade—and not just any human, but a gifted warrior who would be chosen as a Brave of the Six Flowers. In order to find such a partner, I established a secret society and nurtured its growth slowly over the course of two hundred years.”
What had the fiend done to create that society, and by what means had it cultivated it? Dozzu didn’t say. There were other questions that Goldof would rather ask, anyway.
“My society’s influence extended almost to the core of the Kingdom of Piena. Nashetania’s late mother, Latortania, and her elder brother, Chrizetoma, who passed away young, were my allies. They brought Nashetania to me, and she became our accomplice as well.”
“…”
“I had comrades among nobles, merchants, neighboring nations, and even your Black Horns knights.”
Goldof recalled the King of Piena, Nalphtoma, who was currently semi-confined. Six years ago, his claims about a world-destroying cult running rampant through the land had sparked a civil war. So that had been no delusion at all.
“I’d believed Nalphtoma to be a simple fool, but his instincts were sharper than I’d expected. That civil war he caused six years ago was a disaster for us.”
This was enough to make Goldof shudder. The homeland to which he had sworn loyalty was already long under the control of a fiend. “…Why are you…fighting us? If world peace is your goal…then you should just do that.”
“I’ll explain that as well. No matter what, we had to kill three of your group in order to force Tgurneu and Cargikk to bow to us.”
“What do you mean?” Goldof asked without thinking. That didn’t seem connected to Dozzu’s argument.
“Before I left the Howling Vilelands, Cargikk, Tgurneu, and I made a contract through the Saint of Words. Whichever of us killed three of the Braves of the Six Flowers first would become the sole commander to rule all fiends, and the other two would submit to their new leader. Any who broke the contract would die. That was the agreement.”
“…”
“If I had killed three of your group, then Tgurneu and Cargikk would have been forced to submit to me. Then there would no longer be any obstacles to our goal. We bet it all on that fight four days ago in the Phantasmal Barrier.”
“But…”
“You know what came of that. With Adlet’s ingenuity and resourcefulness and Hans’s insight, Nashetania was defeated, and she fled. Were it not for those two, the world would have had a different fate!” Dozzu ground its teeth.
“I don’t understand,” said Goldof. “Why would…Tgurneu and Cargikk…agree to that contract?”
“That goes without saying. Because I tricked them,” Dozzu said readily.
Five fiends appeared before them. Dozzu still dangling from his grasp, Goldof slaughtered them with his spear, then cut open their stomachs to check inside.
“This is a waste of time, Mister Goldof. Nashetania is not going to be there,” said Dozzu.
Goldof knew that. But he couldn’t help but search for her. After he had killed the fiends, he hastened onward. It wasn’t much farther to the volcanic area. “…I get your situation,” he said. “But what I care about…is Her Highness. What’s happening with her?”
“Yes, allow me to explain. After Nashetania’s defeat, she spent a day swimming through the sea to join up with me. Then Tgurneu’s forces appeared. All we could do was flee.”
“…And then?”
“We gathered our remaining comrades in the lava zone, lured Tgurneu in, and began our final showdown. I thought that if we took him down, the way would open for us. But he has gotten much stronger over the past
