"-That concludes the report on the damage caused by the flying dragon attack."
Otto finished speaking and tapped the papers in his hands. After listening to his explanation, Emilia lowered her brows sorrowfully.
The "flying dragon disaster" that had struck the fortified city of Guaral-it had taken several days to finish repairing the town and tending to the wounded, and those results had just been compiled.
In Emilia's eyes, the city was in terrible shape.
The towering walls surrounding the city had been destroyed, and great rocks dropped from above lay everywhere inside. The buildings had suffered extensive damage too, with fewer than half left unscathed. There had also been many deaths. The house Emilia's group was staying in had lost its second floor, and its residents were no longer there.
"If only..."
If only they had arrived a little sooner, even though they had already quickened their pace after seeing what was on the canopy.
Regret pricked Emilia's chest like a sharp needle-
"There's no point in imagining what might have happened if we'd arrived sooner. Let's not dwell on it."
Seeing through Emilia's thoughts, Otto stated it firmly. Surprised, Emilia watched him gesture toward the window with his chin.
"The reason I let you and Garfiel go ahead then, Lady Emilia, was because the flock of flying dragons passed overhead. Without that, hurrying wouldn't even have been an option. In other words..."
"In other words?"
"We had no way of preventing it. It's a matter of cause and effect. If we could have been over there, we wouldn't have been over here. So there's no reason to torment yourself over it."
Otto slowly shook his head as he spoke, and Emilia gave a wry smile.
It was a very realistic perspective, and very much like him. It was surely his way of comforting Emilia too. She was happy for his consideration, but-
"But you could have put it another way. I really didn't like how you said that."
Petra turned her face away, looking angry.
Seated on a chair in front of Emilia, she was having her light brown hair brushed, polishing her usual cuteness into something even lovelier. Although this had been Emilia's assigned task lately, Petra's refusal to neglect her appearance even while traveling was admirable.
She had worked hard on the town's reconstruction just yesterday, yet every new day she made herself presentable anew. That came from Petra's awareness and sense of responsibility.
Perhaps that was only natural. After all, she-
"-When my employer, Lady Petra, puts it that way, I feel rather bad."
Just as Otto said, among the group currently infiltrating the Vollachian Empire, Petra's role was that of "the young lady employing them."
-Searching for the missing Subaru and Rem had eventually brought them into the Vollachian Empire.
Successfully sneaking across the border had been a difficult, convoluted process, but they could not relax after entering the Empire either. Emilia and Roswaal in particular could very well spark a war if their identities were exposed.
To avoid that development, the group had fabricated identities and a purpose for their visit. Emilia, too, called herself "Emilia" and accompanied everyone as a guard.
"And the people I have to protect are Lady Petra and Lady Beatrice."
Since Emilia found Roswaal's intelligence very dependable, having two particularly clever members of their camp putting their heads together made her feel very reassured.
Glancing at Otto, whose mind was constantly working away in thought, Emilia turned her attention to the damage he had mentioned earlier. The ruined cityscape beyond the window was still painful to see, but-
"Thanks to Garfiel, there are a lot fewer injured people in the city now."
"That's beyond question. I think Lady Petra and Miss Frederica deserve considerable credit too, as do you, of course, Emilia."
Otto nodded in reply, and only then did Emilia's stiff expression relax.
Garfiel's efforts and Frederica and Petra's help were all things Emilia took pride in. They were the hard work of her precious companions.
"And you too, Otto. You worked veeery hard when you were talking with Mr. Medium and the others."
"Fortunately, Mr. Medium is a reasonable man, so the hardship was kept to a minimum. We have Miss Mizelda to thank for happening upon us and agreeing to hear me out."
"Miss Mizelda really likes your face, Mr. Otto."
"I've never been complimented so frankly before, so I was quite at a loss."
Petra smiled as she said this, raising a small fist, and Otto smiled wryly.
Mizelda, whom Emilia had also spoken with, was an extremely strong and approachable woman. She had been friendly toward the group from their very first meeting and had been very considerate of them.
For some reason, however, she treated Otto and Garfiel very differently, which was rather puzzling.
"I know she likes Otto's face, but Garfiel is very cute too..."
"Maybe it's because Garf is always scrunching up his brow and nose. And he's seemed irritated ever since we parted with Big Sis Ram."
"...Should I just keep my mouth shut?"
Petra lightly touched a finger to her pert nose as she offered that assessment of Garfiel.
Emilia thought Garfiel's ever-changing expressions were cute too, so she hoped Mizelda would take a good look at him.
Setting their idle chatter aside-
"But now that we've finished putting the city in order..."
"Yes."
Otto nodded in agreement with Emilia and looked out the window again.
At the end of his gaze stood the city's public face, still upright despite the damage-the city hall.
The people gathered there were all influential figures in the fortified city of Guaral.
In other words-
"We can finally begin the next round of discussions, regarding the canopy and our subsequent search for the missing."
Just as Otto said, the talks that would move matters forward were about to begin.
"Come to think of it, you still haven't thanked me, old man."
Climbing onto the half-ruined city wall, Garfiel addressed the back of the man who had arrived before him.
Honestly, he did not want to speak to the man at all, but turning right around and leaving at the sight of his back felt like losing, and his hatred of losing outweighed his disgust.
For that matter, why should he be the one to turn back? The one who ought to flee, unable to bear the awkwardness, was the other man, not him.
That line of thought had led to his opening words, which sounded like something a petty thug would say-
"-Tch!"
The man's answer was a loud click of his tongue, making Garfiel regret his choice almost immediately.
His pointless stubbornness had only earned him an even more unpleasant experience. He could feel the Otto in his head reacting with a weary, "Well, naturally."
Even without that, the man was unpleasant.
Garfiel had not been present when the man had previously behaved rudely toward his family, but simply hearing about it afterward had been enough to disgust him.
That was Garfiel's impression of Heinkel Astrea, and it had not changed in the slightest.
"-"
With a fine sword at his waist and clad in light leather armor, Heinkel stood on the lookout platform.
Garfiel judged, however, that rather than watching over the city's peace, he was striking a pose to distract from his idleness and lack of anywhere to go.
The evidence was the smell of alcohol drifting from his back and the empty liquor bottle lying nearby.
During the flying dragon disaster, Heinkel had reportedly fought bravely against the swarming flying dragons, only to suffer a crushing defeat against one of the "Nine Divine Generals."
Although that little kid Schult had defended Heinkel with every word he could muster, it was probably true that he had been "helpless."
The proof was that, while Garfiel had been applying healing magic to the wounded in the city, Heinkel had been among the seriously injured patients who needed particular care. He seemed to have taken a brutal beating, and without Garfiel's healing magic, he probably would still have been confined to bed.
"Was that tongue click supposed to be a thank-you? That's a long way from the manners I know, hey!"
He hurled insults while sizing up the other man.
Garfiel had experienced defeat himself. Precisely because he understood that bitter frustration, he would not maliciously go out of his way to emphasize someone else's defeat.
Still, when someone showed no courtesy, it made him want to take a jab at them. All the more so when Garfiel had no good impression of Heinkel whatsoever.
"Guess this is the Empire. Maybe there's some custom I don't know about... but aren't you from the Kingdom? And you're that 'Sword Saint's' father."
"--"
"Like I said before, that guy's incredible. With someone that strong, you'd figure his parents would be something too, but you don't even have basic manners-"
"-Just because the parents are impressive doesn't mean the child will be too."
Garfiel, who had kept needling the back that would not turn toward him, was surprised.
He had expected the man to keep ignoring him, not to answer back. As Garfiel stood surprised, Heinkel continued without so much as looking at him.
"The reverse is true too. There's no rule saying a monster's parents have to be monsters."
"You..."
"Your attempts at needling people are pathetic, kid. If you want to provoke someone, learn from Lady Priscilla. You're nowhere near a passing grade."
"Urgh!"
His attempt to gain the upper hand through mockery had been seen through, and the tables had been turned on him spectacularly.
This was how you really provoked someone. Faced with that retort, Garfiel was at a loss for words. If he let the conversation end there and walked away, he really would have lost completely.
In the end, Garfiel stubbornly persisted. He sat down some distance from Heinkel and gazed toward the southern horizon, where there was no wall, taking up guard over the defenseless city.
The attacks by countless flying dragons had dealt a tremendous blow to the walls of the renowned fortified city.
The stones dropped from high above had caused enormous damage. Although emergency repairs had been made to the collapsed and ruined walls, the city's defenses remained significantly weakened.
The southern wall had suffered the greatest damage of all.
The western wall, which had been attacked first, was also a dreadful sight, but it could not compare to this. Here, not just the wall but the entire district had been flattened.
"Lady Emilia... no, Emilia and that Princess Priscilla did this fighting one of the 'Nine Divine Generals.'"
The devastation before his eyes made the ferocity of that battle clear.
Most of the buildings no longer resembled their original forms, and a powerful shock wave had swept everything away.
The battle with the dragonkin of the "Nine Divine Generals" had ended in white light-Garfiel, too, had been battered by that shock wave inside the city, and Emilia had explained afterward what it was.
"-Dragon's Roar."
Although they belonged to the same dragon species as earth dragons, water dragons, and flying dragons, "dragons" stood a level above them.
The power of every dragon could be said to transcend the laws of physics; even a mere breath could overturn everything.
Had Emilia and Priscilla not joined forces to resist it, the damage would probably have been even worse.
"...I've got rotten luck wherever I go."
He admired Emilia's achievements and praised Priscilla along with her, but bitterness filled his chest.
Because he had not gone with everyone to the Pleiades Watchtower, he had missed the opportunity to meet the "Divine Dragon" Volcanica face-to-face. Not only that, this time he had been in the very same city, yet had failed to encounter another "dragon."
To put it in Subaru's words, he had terrible luck of the draw.
"-"
He was not sulking because he had missed seeing a "dragon," a being passed down in stories since ancient times.
It was because fighting powerful foes and defeating them was precisely Garfiel's job. Only by defeating those who sought to thwart the camp's goals could he be said to have fulfilled his duties as its military officer.
Going around healing the wounded was not his job.
"I already haven't been much help since we entered the Empire."
Since sneaking into the Vollachian Empire, Garfiel had not accomplished much for the group.
They had needed someone to arrange their passage across the border, and for that they had relied on Otto's family business, the Suwa Company. When disputes arose with those intermediaries along the way, Petra had stepped forward to negotiate.
Then, as soon as they entered the Empire, trouble had arisen again, and Frederica had used her bloodline to find a way through. All Garfiel had done was defeat the opponents blocking their path and force them to change their minds.
But at least the name of the black-haired battle maiden "Natsumi Schwarz," which was on everyone's lips in the fortified city, had given the group hope. They had thought that coming here would let them reunite with Subaru-
"After missing the boss... it's been nothing but rotten luck. I'm starting to feel like it's all my fault..."
Of course, Garfiel knew that was needless paranoia.
Just as the group had gone through a great adventure to reach the Empire, Subaru, who had been sent flying here, must have had a great adventure of his own.
Getting caught up in major events even after being flung here was entirely consistent with the Subaru Garfiel knew.
"-A showdown at the top of the Empire. You're really making a splash, boss."
An omen of a great war that would engulf the fortified city-no, the entire Empire.
What exactly did someone have to do to get dragged into the very center of a historic catastrophe like this? Yet Garfiel thought this, too, was the result of Subaru making his way in his own fashion.
He desperately wanted to return to the Kingdom where his companions were, had opened his heart to the people he met along the way, and could not turn a blind eye to them. That was how he had reached this point.
Apparently, he had now gone to a major city to the southeast to negotiate with someone in power.
Whether he succeeded or not, all that mattered was that he returned safely-
"The boss already had it bad enough on that canopy... If it's really like Otto said, and what he's got isn't some power of prophecy but rolling back the whole world's timeline, that's way too cool... 'Course, only if the price wasn't the boss having to die-"
"But what the hell happened to the boss? So many battles only worked out thanks to him, and he saved everyone in the end... If he dies that easily, doesn't that mean he's already..."
"-Hey, brat."
"Hah?"
"You've been making that clacking noise for ages. It's damn annoying. Can't you just behave and keep your mouth shut?"
As Garfiel was thinking, Heinkel suddenly rebuked him.
The red-haired man glared over irritably, baring his teeth and pointing at his canines. Clicking his teeth was a habit of Garfiel's, and that was what he was complaining about.
"Hmph! Why should I do what you say? If it grates on your ears, you oughta get lost."
"A mouthy brat just has to make himself obnoxious, huh? I was here first. Get that straight."
"-! Quit acting so high and mighty when you got scared by the 'Nine Divine Generals'!"
Not wanting a repeat of their earlier exchange, Garfiel snapped back angrily.
Once the words were out, Garfiel realized he had said something cruel. But the man had brought it on himself. There was no reason to feel guilty over a retort of that level-
"...Yeah, that's right. I got scared. That's why things turned out like this."
"Old man...?"
"That knight of yours isn't even afraid of dying, though. That damned thing on the canopy was some protagonist's heroic exploits, wasn't it!"
"Just like that kid Reinhard, he's born to be a hero! A hero! A hero who saves the world! How great! How noble!"
"Hey! Are you mocking the boss?! Just because you've made such a mess of yourself doesn't mean you can..."
"A stinking sewer rat like me just wants to live his own life. The 'Sword Saint's' father? I'm not worth shit!"
"..."
"I displeased Lady Priscilla, so now I'm drinking myself stupid. Ah, there's really no saving me."
Heinkel's response, however, was so feeble that it left Garfiel bewildered.
Sipping from the bottle in his hand, Heinkel quietly cursed the world-no, it was as though he were cursing himself. His attitude was that of someone who had given up after being abandoned by the world itself.
"...Your opponent was one of the 'Nine Divine Generals,' the Empire's strongest. It's only natural you couldn't win, old man."
Unable to bear that pitiful sight, he offered words of comfort.
He had been the one to start the insults, so what right did he have to say that now? A moment ago, he had mocked the man for losing to one of the "Nine Divine Generals," and now he was comforting him by saying losing was only natural.
He was contradicting himself; it was no comfort at all. If he were Heinkel and someone said the same thing to him, he would probably fly into a rage.
But Heinkel responded to this consolation with a self-abasing laugh.
"Even if I won't win, I've got a job to do. Especially when I'm tagging along with Lady Priscilla, hoping for a few scraps... Heh heh, what a masterpiece."
"What d'you mean, masterpiece?"
"Something I chased for over a decade slipped through my fingers. Wherever I go, I'm still a bed-wetter at heart."
Once Heinkel started mocking himself, he could not stop, and Garfiel's view of him changed.
At first, because of his appalling behavior in the Water Gate City, Garfiel had felt nothing but disgust and shared animosity toward him. Now, however, this brief conversation and its curses had changed that considerably.
The man here was a weak, exhausted, pitiful man.
The vicious words he spat were blades aimed at himself and others, so sharp that they hurt to hear. Had they been directed only at others, Garfiel could have simply despised him and been done with it.
But knowing they were aimed at Heinkel himself as well left him troubled.
"What're you talkin' about? You're the one who let yourself sink this low. You're still alive, ain't you? Then..."
"...Why am I still alive?!"
"-! How can you say that in front of the guy who saved you?!"
Those persistently self-destructive words finally provoked Garfiel's anger.
Heinkel merely glanced at his reaction, then muttered to himself with a look of realization.
"Oh, so you're the one who healed me. Be more careful next time."
"Huh?!"
"Don't miss another chance to leave someone you hate to die and spare yourself trouble down the road."
At those words, Garfiel's vision turned red. By the time he came to his senses, he had already seized the other man's collar and was glaring into his alcohol-reeking face at close range.
Crash. The bottle fell below the city wall and shattered. Hauled to his feet, Heinkel followed the bottle's fall with his eyes after it left his hand, then sighed.
"What a waste."
"You bastard, is that all you've got to say?"
Offering no resistance, Heinkel looked back at Garfiel with listless eyes.
Those blue eyes, devoid of any force, should have shared their origins with those of Reinhard, who had once spoken with Garfiel, and Wilhelm, with whom he had passed through the jaws of death.
Yet Garfiel could not see them as the same.
What would it take for a human's eyes to grow this clouded?
How many years of belittlement had gone into the emotions buried deep within those eyes?
"What the hell happened to make your eyes look like that?"
He had lost against the Nine Divine Generals and displeased Priscilla. That was what Heinkel had said.
Garfiel did not know what had actually happened, but condemning Heinkel for his lack of strength because he could not handle the Nine Divine Generals seemed far too heartless.
At least, that was how Garfiel saw it, when he had not even had the chance to fight.
And at Garfiel's gaze and words, Heinkel's eyes wavered slightly.
Then-
"-My wife."
Despite having been drinking, Heinkel's lips were still terribly dry as he spoke in a hoarse voice.
But at last, he had said something meaningful. Garfiel waited for what came next, but that expectation went unfulfilled.
"A carriage."
"Huh?"
Still held by the collar, Heinkel looked past Garfiel, straight behind him. The moment those words took on meaning, Garfiel had no choice but to turn and look as well.
He had turned his back to the south side of the city to grab Heinkel-far away on the horizon in that direction, something was traveling along the main road, visibly approaching them.
It was still too far away to tell whether it was a horse-drawn carriage or a dragon carriage, but it was what Garfiel had been waiting for.
"Hey, let go, brat!"
As his eyes shone with anticipation and excitement, a breath reeking of alcohol hit him square in the face. Garfiel grimaced, and Heinkel twisted his neck free of his grasp.
"Your hoped-for hero's here, right? Why don't you hurry over and welcome him?"
Heinkel stepped back and glared at Garfiel. The man before him was no longer the man who had nearly revealed what was in his heart, only a hateful middle-aged man spewing ugly words and flinging disgust about.
Both physically and mentally, Garfiel felt something slip through his fingers.
"...You bastard..."
"If you're on lookout duty, reporting anything you see is part of the job, right? Even a little drunk, I can manage that much... Not that it'll earn me any points."
Heinkel waved a hand and turned his back on Garfiel, his steps unsteady.
For a moment, Garfiel hesitated over whether to call him back, but he did not know what to say. Heinkel was right; Garfiel's entire heart was already out beyond the horizon.
"Missing your chance can be miserable, you know? You'll keep clinging to those last words."
Leaving those words behind, Heinkel jumped down from the city wall first. Surprisingly, he landed safely on the city's ground, then staggered toward its center.
Those last words, and the genuine feeling in his voice, lodged like a thorn in Garfiel's heart, making their presence felt.
"But right now-"
Setting that thorn aside, he leaped in the opposite direction from Heinkel.
Landing outside the city, he used the momentum of his bending knees to break into a sprint. His soles blasted against the ground as he ran straight toward the approaching silhouette, faster than the wind.
"Boss...!"
An irrepressible rush of feeling escaped between his sharp teeth.
Thinking of how Emilia, Beatrice, and Petra felt gave him some hesitation, but he, too, had been eagerly awaiting his reunion with Subaru.
So he turned his impatience into strength in his legs and charged toward the carriage.
Just a little longer, just a few dozen more seconds of running, and he would be reunited with Subaru-
"-Huh?"
But his almost overflowing anticipation turned to confusion at a sudden sensation.
The speed that had left the wind behind slowed, and the wind soon overtook him. Not only that, he slowed until everything besides the wind overtook him as well, and finally stood still.
Garfiel's emerald eyes stared at the carriage racing toward him from beyond the horizon-no, multiple carriages and ox carts were rushing toward him.
"Th-this guy..."
Garfiel blinked, having been certain he would see Subaru face-to-face.
Considering why Subaru and the others had originally left the fortified city, the sight before him suggested one possibility, but his thoughts did not reach that far at the time.
In any case, as he stopped in astonishment at this, the carriage leading the group bound for the city, drawn by a handsome swiftwind horse, pulled up beside him.
Then-
"-What are you spacing out for? If you're the city's messenger, you have a job to do."
Indeed, the man in the oni mask who leaned out of the carriage made Garfiel catch his breath.