By the time Charlotte returned to the Sauron residence, night had fallen. In her bedroom, her personal maid removed her tricorn hat, undid her cravat, took off her short hunting jacket, now worn in several places, and helped her change into a loose, soft house dress. Then Charlotte sent Lila away, saying she wanted some time alone, and pitched forward into the bed with its velvet quilt.
I don't want to move at all. I might as well skip dinner and sleep until tomorrow... She buried her face in the pillow, breathing in its faint lavender scent. The bad habits of her former life as an overworked office drone resurfaced, and she felt as though the day had stretched from an early-morning shift into late-night overtime.
Calling it overtime was hardly wrong. She should have been enjoying the hunt, but instead she had first fought a Beyonder who had lost control beside Earl Fulais's hunting grounds, nearly taking a dark green ray to the face. Then she had faced the arriving Purification-ers team and explained why she and Roselle had been beside the stream, and what Roselle had learned that he should not have known. After finally returning to camp, she had still had to face Raoul's expression, so dark it almost seemed to drip.
To conceal the Beyonder incident, she could only bite the bullet and say that she and Roselle had been talking in the grove, their conversation ranging from the Printing House to White Maple Palace, when they accidentally encountered a frightened deer. Roselle had fired to protect her, drawing the Earl's servants over and exposing several other couples hidden among the trees.
Naturally, she stressed that she and Roselle were different from those young nobles with their vulgar amusements: they had been discussing the noble pursuit of making money. But Raoul clearly had not believed her entirely. Suspicion flickered in his eyes, and who knew what he was imagining. He had only refrained from losing his temper on the spot because the Hunting Event was not yet over.
Talking with a young man in a grove for ages... getting frightened by a deer, and even firing a gun... If that were my daughter, I'd break her legs... Charlotte pondered with her eyes closed, then involuntarily shook her still-intact legs.
Worse still, after a whole day of hunting and exchanging pleasantries with young noblemen her age, Charlotte had not been able to rest immediately upon returning to Sushit. She had made another trip to Saint Roch Cathedral. In the room with the Sun Holy Emblem and stained-glass windows where she had met Viève, she submitted a report to the Purification-ers clerk on duty that day, detailing everything that had happened beside the stream, the abilities displayed by the Beyonder who had lost control, and Roselle's circumstances as someone now in the know.
The fact that she had held out until now before collapsing onto her bed was probably thanks to being a Sequence 9 Beyonder. The potion had considerably improved both her stamina and her ability to recover.
Fortunately, the matter was over for the time being. She had done everything required of her as a Peripheral Member of the official Beyonders, and Church personnel would handle the follow-up. Roselle would take some time to think before deciding whether he truly wanted to enter the world of mysticism.
He was a little luckier than Charlotte, since Baron Gustav worshipped the God of Artisan, and Roselle himself was a casual believer in that orthodox deity. This gave the Church of the Artisan's Machinery Hivemind room to intervene.
Under the agreement between the two Churches, Beyonder incidents within Suhit City were generally handled by the two Churches and the Military according to district. The Saint-Roc District, Bols District, and Old District mostly fell to the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun; the Lower Korus District and Harbor District belonged to the God of Artisan's Machinery Hivemind; and the suburban military district containing Anai Fort was under the Military's own jurisdiction. Problems in the countryside and villages farther out were usually handled by whichever official Beyonders were closest and received word first.
However, if an incident involved the faith or family background of those concerned, it would subsequently be transferred or handled jointly.
Roselle was caught in precisely this awkward situation. The battle had taken place at the hunting grounds east of Sushit, and the Purification-ers team stationed at Saint Roch Cathedral had arrived first. Yet he himself believed in the God of Artisan, and the Gustav Family had always maintained good relations with the Church of the Artisan. If he decided to venture deeper into the Beyonder world, he would most likely face two choices: become a Peripheral Member of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, or deepen his existing faith and let the Machinery Hivemind handle matters.
Of course, changing one's faith was not forbidden, but the vast majority of orthodox believers in this era would not do so lightly.
Charlotte suspected that if Roselle truly decided to enter the Beyonder world, he would most likely choose the Machinery Hivemind, and she could not help feeling a little disappointed. Naturally, she hoped this young man, who shared so many unusual ideas with her and had already faced danger alongside her, could become her colleague. Still, cooperation outweighed conflict among official Beyonders. Even if they belonged to different departments, they would have opportunities to work together.
Their common enemies were cultists, dangerous supernatural creatures, and... Beyonders who had lost control.
At that thought, the slight ease in her expression darkened again.
From the captain of the arriving Purification-ers team, she had learned that the six-eyed monster they encountered that day had originally been a wild Beyonder of the Mystery Pryer Pathway. He had registered with the Machinery Hivemind and undergone observation, making him something of an outside collaborator. For some unknown reason, however, this Mystery Pryer had suddenly lost control a week earlier, killed several people, and disappeared. The Machinery Hivemind was pursuing him too, but no one had expected him to flee near Earl Fulais's hunting grounds and attack a servant there in his hunger and madness.
Had they not happened upon that thing, and had Roselle not fired his gun and attracted the Purification-ers, who were patrolling nearby as they followed leads, it might have continued fleeing after eating the unfortunate servant, making its way to a remote village and causing even greater destruction.
Charlotte had read descriptions of Beyonders losing control in the booklet Viève had given her. Some underwent drastic personality changes, becoming cold and paranoid, though they might show no outward abnormalities. Others died on the spot in all manner of strange forms, leaving dangerous remains that had to be sealed away. More, however, went completely mad like today's monster, their bodies visibly mutating and their strength growing greater.
But reading a description and witnessing it firsthand delivered entirely different shocks.
According to the captain, among the wild Beyonders recorded by the Church, nearly a third ultimately lost control or died in abnormal incidents because they lacked guidance, abused their powers, or frequently came into contact with incorrect rituals and corrupted items. Even among official Beyonders, every region recorded cases of corruption, madness, bizarre deaths, and disappearances on missions each year. A considerable portion of these were caused not by external factors, but by the loss of control over their own powers.
The power of potions comes at a price... Charlotte rolled over and gazed at the intricate embroidered patterns overhead on the bed curtains, her feelings complicated.
For that reason, Charlotte could completely understand if Roselle ultimately chose to return to a normal life. Unlike her, he was not being targeted by cultists, nor did he urgently need power to find a way back to Earth. He could simply continue living as a carefree young nobleman, running the Printing House, starting a newspaper, and making a name for himself through his own efforts and his father's help.
But Charlotte could not. She had already drunk the potion, already become a Peripheral Member of the official Beyonders, and was still the "sacrifice" coveted by those cultists lurking in the shadows. She had no choice but to keep fighting.
Thinking of fighting, she could not help reviewing her performance that day.
After becoming an Arbiter, her strength, speed, reflexes, and control over her body had indeed improved noticeably. Her spirituality could also give her a vague warning when danger approached, allowing her to react before her rational mind made a decision. Moreover, since this Sequence specialized in close combat, those spiritual warnings were far stronger during battle than when she was relaxed.
But these powers also had clear limits. Facing that Beyonder who had lost control, she still had no real confidence in victory.
They said that thing was only a Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer, but if I'd faced it alone, I wouldn't have stood a chance. A ray that can wither a tree in one hit and send pebbles flying looks much more like a mid-Sequence Beyonder ability. Perhaps, just as the Purification-ers suspected, it suffered some other corruption while losing control, or came into contact with an even more dangerous being... Learning the limits of my abilities in a real fight without paying a terrible price was already lucky enough... Thoughts kept circling through Charlotte's mind. She let out a soft breath and rolled onto her stomach again.
She had intended to lie there in a daze until dinner, but suddenly remembered another detail from the battle:
Why had the dark green beam that should have struck her veered away at the last moment?
She had already lost her balance then, with no way to dodge, yet the monster's head had seemed to jerk under the pull of some invisible force. Immediately afterward, she had heard an extremely faint sound of shattering glass as the ray struck the opposite bank of the stream.
She had formed a guess at the time, but the Purification-ers had arrived right afterward, leaving her no chance to confirm it.
Now would be a good opportunity... Charlotte climbed out of bed and stood in the middle of the room, looking around.
The bedroom was very quiet. She had already sent Lila away, the fireplace was unlit, and the curtains were half open. The last light of dusk fell through the glass onto the carpet and dressing table.
She hesitated, lowered her voice, and ventured:
"Madam Henriette, are you here?"
There was no reply.
Charlotte held her breath and waited several seconds, but heard nothing except her own slightly nervous heartbeat.
Was I wrong? But of the Beyonders I know, she's the only one who can hide herself and likes following me... No, I don't actually know many Beyonders to begin with... A little disappointed, she lowered her eyes and was about to flop back onto the bed when her gaze happened to sweep across the mirror on the dressing table.
The mirror reflected her slightly tousled long hair, her loose house dress, and her face, looking rather dejected from exhaustion and disappointment.
Behind her, in the bedroom that had been empty a moment before, a hazy shadow was slowly emerging.
The shadow gradually grew distinct, outlining a familiar figure, posture, and face. It was Henriette, who had appeared once two weeks ago and had not been seen since.