Faith

After the meeting, a light rain began to fall.

At Ghostfire's request, Orpheus came to Isolde's old quarters. She pushed open the door. Inside were only an iron bed, a uniform hanging by its headboard, and a wooden desk with a few shallow scratches on its surface.

Compared with other Defense Force officers, Isolde had lived simply—almost austerely.

Orphie held Ghostfire at the tip of her tail and asked softly, "Ghostfire, are you sure you want to stay here? It's so cold. It could damage your body!"

"I'll be fine. Put me on the desk and go outside. I want to be alone for a while."

"Okay!"

Orphie detached Ghostfire's gun body and placed her on the wooden desk. Then she said reassuringly, "Captain Ghostfire, I'll wait outside the door. Call me if you need anything."

With that, Orpheus gently shut the door. Her footsteps faded into the rain.

A letter lay at the corner of the desk. Isolde had left it for Ghostfire.

Ghostfire's red light flickered. The envelope had already been opened, and familiar handwriting came into view.

Ghostfire:

When you read this letter, I will tell you everything.

I'm writing this not only for my own sake, but for the sake of "justice." I hope you'll hear me out.

I did my best to gather evidence of Lorenz's and Lucro's crimes, but I still couldn't find enough to convict them.

Little by little, I lost faith in the New Eridu government.

So I began making contact with the Praise Society in pursuit of the truth. Through them, I learned what had happened: years ago, Lucro bribed Lorenz into deploying troops who should have been protecting civilians to recover a valuable stockpile of Radiant Porcelain. Those troops died at the hands of Ethereals.

Later, I inherited the