Fremy coldly interjected, “You announce you’re the strongest man in the world whenever you’re feeling anxious, don’t you?”
She’d hit the nail on the head. Suddenly, he didn’t know what to say.
“Meow-hee, so his incompetence is what made ya fall fer him, then?” asked Hans.
“No,” Fremy said flatly.
“Hrmeow-meow-meow. Then just what about him do ya find so attractive?”
“…You’re terribly obnoxious, aren’t you?”
Mora cut into their increasingly acerbic exchange. “We have no time. Let’s just go and find a way to deal with this ravine. Come, Hans,” she said, dragging the man northward.
Adlet was about to head south with Rolonia and Goldof when Fremy called out to a member of the trio. “Rolonia.”
“Y-yes? What is it?” She had been startled at the sudden mention.
Fremy leaned in close and whispered something into her ear. Rolonia nodded and ran up to Adlet.
“What did she say to you?” he asked as they set off at a run.
For some reason, Rolonia hesitated. “U-um…she told me to make sure to keep you safe.” When Adlet looked back, he saw Fremy watching him. Embarrassed, Adlet continued south.
“Fremy is a nice person, isn’t she?” said Rolonia.
She is, thought Adlet, and he nodded. A little while ago, he’d started getting the feeling that Fremy and Rolonia had become friends. Had Rolonia gotten attached to Fremy, or was it the other way around?
Meanwhile, about twenty kilometers south of Adlet’s party, fifty-odd fiends were gathered together. They had just emerged from the Cut-Finger Forest into a barren land covered with jagged rocks.
Steam rose from beneath the boulders, and geysers erupted up around them. The fiends called this region the lava zone. A magma-heated water vein ran dozens of meters underneath the surface of the area.
One of the fiends there was a massive amphibian with stone-plated skin and a large mouth. Occasionally, a strange-smelling vapor wafted from its body. A monkey-fiend was present, too, human-size but painfully thin. Its fur rustled incessantly, never coming to rest.
And in the center of them all sat a downright adorable creature. It was small and odd-looking, like a cross between a squirrel and a dog.
“The preparations are complete, Nashetania,” the cute fiend said quietly. Its name was Dozzu. This was the traitor who had rebelled against the Evil God and left the Howling Vilelands, and one of the three commanders governing the fiends. “We will determine our fate today, right here. Nashetania, no matter what comes, let us never give up and always keep on fighting.” Dozzu spoke very softly, so as to be heard only by the girl sitting beside him.
“Are you worried about me, Dozzu?” Nashetania asked, and then she smiled. “Relax. I’m not scared of anything. Our victory is clear.”
“…Nashetania.”
“Goldof is with us, so we have nothing to be afraid of.”
Dozzu nodded silently.
“Then let us fight for our ambitions.”
“For the sake of humanity and fiendkind’s future.”
“And for our fallen comrades,” Nashetania said, standing and patting the dust off her bottom. “All right, everyone. It’s time for us to kill Chamo Rosso.”
And with those words, the wheels began rapidly turning. Nashetania smiled as she watched the fiends around her.
“Hey, Addy…Goldof…” After about ten minutes, Rolonia called to the other two as the two men stared down the cliff.
“Did you find something?” asked Adlet. His voice held an edge of impatience. No matter how much they searched, no leads were turning up.
“No, I haven’t, but…don’t you think this is odd?” she asked.
“What’s odd?”
“Why are there no fiends around?”
Now that she mentioned it, Adlet scanned the area nearby. Tgurneu should have noticed by now that they were out of the forest. Even if Tgurneu hadn’t figured it out, it should have at least posted a scout to the ravine. It was quite odd they hadn’t encountered a single fiend so far.
Adlet took out the signal flare Fremy had given him. The plan was that if anything unusual happened, Fremy would blow it up from afar to summon Adlet, Rolonia, and Goldof. “I guess this means that Fremy’s and Hans’s groups haven’t run into any fights, either.”
“That’s weird, too…huh?” Rolonia pointed up at the distant sky. Above, a gigantic moth-fiend was flying toward them from deeper in the Howling Vilelands. Apparently unaware of them, it was streaking full-speed toward the southeast. “There was another fiend flying in that direction a little while ago, too.”
“Strange.” Adlet looked to the southeast, puzzled. He could guess that fiends were gathering, but he didn’t know why. Tgurneu must have predicted that the Six Braves would head to the ravine. Was there any reason to ignore their party and amass fiends in some unrelated location?
That was when it happened—Goldof started staggering off toward the southeast.
“What’s wrong, Goldof?” Rolonia called out to him. But the boy didn’t stop. Slow at first, gradually picking up speed, he distanced himself from the two of them.
Confused, Adlet followed. Something was peculiar about Goldof. Adlet chased him down—the young knight was running now—and grabbed his shoulder. “Hey, don’t just run off. We’re not doing anything over that way right now.”
The moment Adlet realized his wrist had been grabbed, he was flipping head over heels. Before he could grasp what had just happened, his back hit the ground, and he had an unobstructed view of the blue sky.
“Addy!”
It was only when Rolonia called his name that he realized he’d been thrown.
“What the hell are you doing, Goldof?” Adlet wrenched himself free and rolled to his feet.
“…Her Highness…is in danger…”
“What happened? Did something happen to the princess? Did something happen to Nashetania?” But Goldof didn’t reply to Adlet’s question. He just kept striding rapidly to the southeast. “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!” Adlet circled around to block his path. Goldof’s fist immediately plunged into Adlet’s gut, driving the breath from his lungs. Adlet’s legs buckled, and his knees hit the ground.
“Goldof! What are you doing?!” Rolonia cried, running up to Adlet.
The boy turned around and
