Between the Mission and the Heart

Sector Three of the Imperial capital.

"Uhhhhhgh…"

They were on the second floor of the military base in the strategy room for platoons.

In the completely enclosed, soundproofed room, a petite captain with blue hair

groaned in front of the mountain of documents piled up on a table.

As Iska took a seat next to her, he handed her a bottle. "Captain Mismis, look! I bought

you your favorite soda."

"Yay, you got me ginger ale!" Mismis's face lit up, and she snatched the dewy bottle as

though she were a predator leaping on her prey.

"Nene and Jhin, I got some for you guys, too. Let's take a short break."

"That's unusual."

"What?"

"That it's bottled instead of in a can." In the seat across from Iska, Jhin folded his arms,

looking somewhat dubious. "Did they sell out of the ones in cans?"

"No. I guess I wasn't really thinking about it. I kind of just… went for these."

Iska hadn't noticed it until Jhin had pointed out that he'd brought them bottles

glistening with droplets of moisture.

"To thank you for showing me the way. You must be thirsty after talking so much."

"…Come to think of it, it could be 'cause I got a bottle from her."

"Got? From whom?"

"Oh, no, no, no! Nope, nope. I meant that the person at the store handed them to me

when I bought one. You know, when I went to the neutral city." Iska shook his head in

a fluster as Jhin scowled and pressed him for details.

He couldn't say that he'd gotten a bottle of juice from the Ice Calamity Witch. Even if

he did tell them, it would be sure to confuse them even more.

…Oh yeah, how did I get home?

…At some point, I wound up in a taxi, and before I knew it, I was back at the capital.

The driver had already been paid, too.

He hadn't immediately understood the situation when the driver told him. Even if he'd

half-consciously stumbled into a taxi on his own, there was no way for him to have

paid for the fare, since he'd forgotten his wallet, after all.

In that case, the one who'd covered it up front must have been…

"I can't do this anymore!" Mismis's chair clattered as she shot up from her seat. "Too

many things to memorize! What is this? I mean, we have to wait until next week to

know more about Risya's mission for us! And we're gonna start training next month,

right? Why do we have to study all this material beforehand…?"

There were documents piled nearly a yard high on the table.

And it wasn't just one stack. Behind that mound of papers, there were other piles of

the same height, forming an entire mountain range.

"Arg. I can't believe I need to hammer this info into my head to guarantee our survival.

It's just too much to handle."

"Oh, they totally said that there's no guarantee we'll make it out alive even if you

memorize all of it."

"Nene, I really didn't need to hear that!" Mismis hunkered down in her seat once again.

But this time, she slumped forward and slammed her face onto her desk.

"When we get tired from hitting the books, we have to do strength training. When we

get tired from training, we go back to studying the documents. If we get tired from

studying, then we go train again… No one will tell us more about the mission, meaning

there's no way to keep my anxiety in check."

"We can expect that the mission must be some seriously shady crap." Jhin was

continuing to speed through the documents. "Come to think of it, Iska—"

"Yes, hellooo. Mismis, where are you?"

A broadcast cut Jhin off. They heard Risya's voice, likely originating from her strategy

room in the central base.

"How's everything going? You haven't gotten on Jhin-Jhin's nerves by grumbling about

how much material you need to memorize, right?"

"Eep…"

"And you definitely haven't asked Isk to go out and buy drinks for you, right? Bad girl. A

superior can't boss around their subordinates outside of our missions. That's against

regulations. Oh, but if you've got an extra ginger ale, I'll take one, too."

"You're watching us! You're watching us, aren't you?! Hey, come out here!" The

captain's eyes swept across the room, which shouldn't have had a surveillance camera.

"Anyhow, let's put that aside. Isk, could I ask you to go somewhere?"

"To over where you are?"

"Nooope. Try the Imperial Senate." The fifth seat of the Saint Disciples didn't even try

to hide her sarcastic chuckle. "I think you've forgotten by now, but you used to be a

fugitive, ya know. Who do you think got you released?"

"…I remember."

The Eight Great Apostles were the ones who commanded the greatest authority in the

nation, standing at the top of the Imperial Senate and holding sway over the whole

capital in place of the Lord.

"They've finished reading your report about heading to the Nelka forest. So yeah, that's

why they've summoned you."

"…They couldn't be imprisoning Iska again now that they're done with him, right?"

"Well, don't get riled up, Nens. This is the first I've heard about this, too."

Nene looked at Iska anxiously.

In contrast, Risya's voice over the broadcast seemed carefree, mixed with a big old

yawn. "Anyway, head over. Be there by four in the afternoon at the usual place."

"It must be some more seedy business." Jhin leaned back in his chair. "Those Eight

Great Apostles never mean good news. Our master thought they were the biggest

phonies. I wouldn't be surprised at whatever they've come up with this time."

"…Yeah."

The Black Steel Gladiator Crossweil had loathed them far more than he did the Nebulis

Sovereignty or any astral mages.

Never trust the Eight Great Apostles.

They were said to be the most influential people in the Empire, tasked with the duty

of protecting the Lord.

"Anyway, I'm heading out."

"Iska! I-if something happens, I'll come running right over as your captain!" Mismis's

tone was more serious than ever.

He nodded in response to her protective, maternal expression and left the room

behind.

The Imperial Senate, otherwise known as the "Unseen Will."

That nickname was based on the fact that the assembly hall was nowhere to be found

on maps. Soldiers who needed to know the location were always verbally informed by

their superiors. It was never communicated in written form.

Iska had learned where it was for the first time back when he'd been promoted to

Saint Disciple.

"It's over three miles underneath the capital…"

This far down, the ambient temperature exceeded three hundred degrees.

The facility was located in the depths of the planet, where microbes could barely

survive. The only way into the Unseen Will was through an industrial elevator at the

central base.

…All this just to hide it from the Nebulis Sovereignty.

…They're so thorough.

Even if the astral mage corps decided to burn the whole Empire to the ground, the

Eight Great Apostles wouldn't feel so much as an itch. As soon as he stepped into the

Senate hall, he felt like he could already hear the mocking laughter of the Eight Great

Apostles.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Iska looked to the front of the room to the monitor set on the wall. It flickered with

light, and eight figures indistinctly floated into view. They were the Eight Great

Apostles, those with the Empire under their thumbs. Iska could see only the outlines

of their forms on the monitor.

"Now then, Iska, the Successor of the Black Steel. We have read your report."

"You fought the Ice Calamity Witch, and she withdrew. Outstanding, as expected."

The Eight Great Apostles spoke in an exuberant tone. Iska was secretly relieved that

they were in a good mood. He was already nervous about the fact that he had been

summoned by his betters, but because he could never tell what these Apostles were

thinking, the whole ordeal was even eerier.

"But I wasn't able to protect the power generator."

"Your mission was to stop the Ice Calamity Witch. It wasn't to protect the reactor."

"Now we know that the Empire has the power to face the Ice Calamity Witch. We

praise you for confirming that for us. That was more than enough. We'll take that

into consideration when we deliberate on possibly re-promoting you to Saint

Disciple."

Saint Disciple—Iska's head snapped up when he heard that phrase come from one of

the Eight Great Apostle's mouths.

That would be way too fast.

In the Empire, might was right. It was a meritocracy. He could think of some cases

where a rank-and-file soldier with outstanding abilities would suddenly be promoted

to captain… But even with that in mind, he'd been imprisoned for committing treason.

How could he be allowed to become a Saint Disciple again so quickly?

"We understand that you wish for peace. If you become a Saint Disciple, you may

be granted an audience with the great Lord. But in order for you to be promoted,

we need to pull the wool over the other Saint Disciple candidates' eyes. This is

especially the case since you're an infamous convict within the Empire."

Iska heard a low chuckle come from the monitor—from a man in his prime—and he

could also make out the voices of an elderly man and a young woman.

"We will offer you the conditions for your promotion. That is—"

"To capture the Ice Calamity Witch."

"Urg! But Alic—" He narrowly kept himself from spitting out her name.

Even he didn't know why he'd tried to hide it. But there was a part of him that didn't

want to thoughtlessly hand over the name Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX to the Eight Great

Apostles.

Iska understood that he and she were enemies.

But could he really do it?

…To capture Alice with my own hands.

…And hand her over to military headquarters… That would be…

"How old are you?"

"…Oh? Then that means I'm a year older than you."

He recalled her faint, joking smile.

She'd let him see her heart thaw for the briefest of moments, even though she was an

enemy. That memory surfaced unexpectedly in his mind, animating the scene with

stunning vividness.

"There is no time limit for this mission. But make haste if there's anything in the

Empire that you hold dear."

"Make haste? What do you mean?"

The Eight Great Apostles had spoken as though they foresaw a disturbing future and

too momentously for it to be a threat to Iska alone.

"Have you heard the legend that the Grand Witch Nebulis lives on?"

"I heard it a few times as a kid."

It was like a spooky story, shared among many in the Empire. But the tale wasn't

something to take seriously. People treated it the same way they would if someone

spread an apocalyptic rumor that the world would end in a year.

"But what about that…?"

"Hmm, it seems you really have no idea."

He heard an amused laugh.

"The one who spread that legend in the Empire was none other than your master."

"My master?!"

"We seek the truth."

"The Black Steel Gladiator Crossweil hid that from us. We thought there was no

logical reason that you wouldn't know as his successor, but we were off the

mark… In that case, we are done here."

"Put this out of your mind."

They appeared to lose interest in this soldier. The Eight Great Apostles' tone started

to frost over—to become cut-and-dried.

"You worry about capturing the Ice Calamity Witch. Succeed, and we'll promote

you to Saint Disciple. Of course, if you make a mistake, we will have to imprison

you, as per our previous agreement."

"We expect great things of you."

"Begone. We will inform you about the next operation through Risya In Empire.

All you need to do is follow through."

"…"

Iska wordlessly gave them a slight bow.

Unable to say anything, he turned his back on the Eight Great Apostles.

He was half-asleep and half-awake until nightfall.

His vision and thoughts blurred as though he'd been caught in a trance. He went back

to the base where Captain Mismis, Jhin, and Nene were waiting; then the four of them

fell into silence as they read through the documents outlining the mission. But he

didn't manage to process a single piece of information.

In fact, he couldn't even remember returning to the barracks. When he came back to

his senses, he found himself in his own room in a fetal position, lights still off. Iska was

deep in thought as the night wore on.

"Why do you like this painter?"

Alice was an enemy—the daughter of the current Nebulis queen and the purebred

descendant of the Grand Witch Nebulis, the one who'd led the revolt against the

Empire. She was a menace to the Empire and was known as the Ice Calamity Witch.

Had he ever encountered any other enemy as powerful as her?

And had he ever seen a more fitting target for his attacks?

If he managed to capture her, the balance would tip in the favor of one country: With

Alice as their shield, the Empire could negotiate peace with the Sovereignty, and

Nebulis wouldn't be able to reject them. The Eight Great Apostles were targeting Alice

for that reason without a doubt.

But there was something on his mind.

"…Maybe they're not," Iska whispered as he looked out the window at the starlight

cutting its way into his room. "Can't we get along without some peace conference or

holding each other hostage?"

But if he didn't capture her, they wouldn't be able to hold peace talks at all. That had

been his line of thinking up until that point. It was the reason he'd battled against the

astral mage corps and sprinted around the battlefield trying to capture a purebred.

…But I was wrong.

…Alice was smiling, even without some peace conference.

Iska and Alice.

They couldn't exactly be called friends, but they'd passed the time together in the

neutral city without conflict. Didn't that mean the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty

could do the same?

Couldn't they get off their path of conflict without forcing a negotiation for peace?

"…"

Iska stretched one leg out and raised the other to his chest, cradling his knee with one

hand as he used the other to pick up his communications device. Its light blinked. He

waited patiently for the other end to pick up.

"H-hewwo…? I-Iska… It's the middle of the night… Mmmgh… What's up?"

"I'm sorry for contacting you this late, Captain."

Mismis sounded incredibly sleepy. He waited for her to become fully conscious.

"Okay, okay, Iska. I'm up now."

"Sorry for the sudden request, but please let me take the day off from training

tomorrow."

"Huh? Wh-what's wrong?!" On the other line, the captain's voice ricocheted up an

octave. "Take a break? Are you feeling under the weather? Or are you feeling unsatisfied

with my command?… I-I'm sorry, Iska. I'm nothing but a failure as a captain..."

"No, no, that's not it."

"Oh! It can't be… Is it because I sneaked out to get some barbecue for dinner tonight

without telling you? Sorry, Iska, I didn't think you were craving it, too."

"Geez, no! That's not it!"

Ahem. He coughed. Even as Iska felt his hand tighten around the communicator, he

squeezed out his request.

"I have something I need to do. In the nearby neutral city."

"The neutral city? What? But you were there just the other day to see paintings. Risya

gave you that ticket, right? And you went before that with my opera ticket."

"I'm not going there to see anything. There's someone I want to see and talk to."

"And?"

"Well, I'm going to talk about something kinda complicated, so it might end up taking

a while… Or we'll end up fighting and going our separate ways right after."

With that, he tried to let out a wry chuckle, but the only thing that spilled from his lips

was a raspy voice, filled with self-derision.

"I plan on pushing off early in the morning. The place is far from the capital, so I think

just the round trip will take about ten hours. I don't know when I'll get back."

"Which is why you need the day off."

"Yes."

The four of them were planning to train together on that day. Without him, they would

need to reschedule. He had no doubt that he was causing trouble for Captain Mismis,

and for Jhin and Nene, too.

"Is it important?"

"…Yes. Please let me do this."

The captain was silent on the other end. After ten excruciating seconds, he heard a

long sigh come from the other side.

"Oh, well. If you're that insistent, I suppose."

"Thank you so much."

"But on one condition: I'm going with you tomorrow."

"What?"

Why do you want to come? Iska faltered for a second, hesitating over whether he

should ask her to clarify her intentions. A few beats of silence passed between them.

The first to speak again was Mismis.

"Look at yourself in the mirror."

"In the mirror?"

"Iska, you've got a tense look on your face right now, don't you?"

"…Uh." Iska half-unconsciously opened his eyes wide.

"See! I knew it. I heard you gulp just now." Mismis let out a giggle. "I mean, your voice

sounded strained from the start. And you called me this late at night. You were pretty

caught up in your thoughts, weren't you?"

"…I don't even know how to respond." He put his hand to his forehead and breathed

deeply.

Most of the time, he couldn't say that his captain was quick on her feet by any stretch

of the imagination or that she had a good memory. But she was scarily perceptive and

could sense when her subordinates' moods had changed.

"You've got me. I shouldn't have expected any less from you, Captain."

"Heh-heh-heh. Yup, well, anyway. Like I said, I'm against you going by yourself. Even your

tone of voice didn't sound normal or even remotely okay. I can't have a subordinate go

somewhere alone in that kind of state."

"…I understand." He nodded.

He would need to file a report of the incident anyway, regardless of how it turned out.

Besides, it would be easier to show her what his position was if Mismis was there with

him as his superior.

"Captain Mismis, I'm counting on you."

"Whoo-hoo! All right! By the way, what should I wear? If we're going in civilian clothes,

I'll need to be fast to pick out an outfit in time!"

"Your normal combat uniform will work just fine."

They were fighters from the Empire. That was how he planned to attend the meeting.

"Well, I'll see you at six in the morning tomorrow in front of the carport." Iska hung up

the call.

As he continued to look at the night sky through the window, he realized he was feeling

frighteningly sober.

"Lady Alice?"

In a passage overflowing with light, someone had called Alice's name as she was going

back to her room from the community bath at the royal palace.

She turned around. "Rin, where were you? I wanted to take a bath with you."

"..."

"Rin?"

Her attendant was tight-lipped, silent. Her amber eyes pierced through Alice in an

expression that wasn't easily decipherable, like anger or anxiety might be. A different

emotion colored her face—one of deep concern.

"I have something I need to speak with you about."

"What could that be?"

The attendant spoke in a stifled tone. "We have finished looking into that Imperial

swordsman."

"You mean Iska?" She'd been wondering about his background for so long.

…I've run into him twice in the neutral city.

…But it's not as though I could ask him directly.

He would have been a match for the strongest of the Empire—the Saint Disciples.

But he was a private, not even a captain. On top of that, his ferocity melted away

whenever he stepped off the battlefield. To Alice, he seemed gentle and like the type

to let down his guard. He was a normal boy.

"Tell me."

"Yes. But, well, not in the hall."

"Of course—we'll do it in my room. Let's go."

They couldn't know who would cross their path in the palace halls. And in this case in

particular, Alice and Rin had been keeping the fact that they'd seen Iska in the neutral

city Ain a secret from the queen. If anyone overheard them, it would be an

inconvenience to say the least.

"The investigation sure did take a while."

They were in Alice's room—Sion, the Jewelry Box of Bells. Alice made sure to close the

door with her own hand.

"It's been a while since I asked you to do this for me. I thought a few days would be

more than enough for you and our agents to look into a mere foot soldier. I mean, it

would be a different story if he were a Saint Disciple."

She hadn't thought she'd bump into him twice between then and now. By this point,

she knew his favorite dish was pasta and that he appreciated opera and the arts.

Her agents would never be able to sniff out this intel, and she couldn't believe that

she'd been able to gather so much information about him without much effort.

…Oh, and he has a cute face when he's asleep.

…Wait, what am I thinking?! I need to be taking this seriously right now!

"Let me hear it." Alice kept her internal discord at bay as she nodded to Rin. "…Who is

he?"

"A Saint Disciple." The attendant did not mince her words. "It seems he was the

youngest boy to ever be promoted. It's no doubt that he's distinguished even among

the generations of Imperial swordsmen."

"A Saint Disciple?! Wait, Rin, that can't be right."

There was a total of eleven Saint Disciples in the Empire. Each and every one of them

had the potential to deal catastrophic damage to the astral mages, which meant the

Sovereignty had been pouring resources into gathering information about them for

decades. Even Alice had hammered the eleven Saint Disciples into her head.

"How could I not know that Iska was a Saint Disciple…?"

"It's because we don't have any logs of him in our war records. After his promotion, he

was immediately imprisoned and stripped of his rank, and he never stepped foot on a

battlefield."

"Imprisoned?" Alice's eyebrows knit together.

Why would someone with enough talent to be a Saint Disciple go to jail?

"And the circumstances?"

"…I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what to say." Rin thrust a faded copy of an Imperial tabloid

magazine at Alice with an uncharacteristically shaky expression.

"Iska, the Youngest Saint Disciple in History.

"Imprisoned for treason against the nation and aiding the escape of a witch. Given a life

sentence."

…Life sentence.

…But wait, what is this thing about aiding the escape of a witch?

The magazine was dated a year ago.

"There was a 'witch'—meaning, astral mage—captured in Imperial territory, and he

let her out of prison, which lead to him losing his status as a Saint Disciple. I tried

consulting other sources to confirm its authenticity and came to the conclusion that

the contents in the magazine aren't wrong."

"Which means he was immediately demoted afterward. That's why I didn't know

about him."

"It's not just you, Lady Alice. The agents were just as surprised. However—"

Rin touched her hair parted in the middle of her head, tied on either side. It was a

nervous habit of hers. Whenever she was deep in thought, she would end up

unconsciously running her fingers through her hair.

"As you're aware, Lady Alice, he was acquitted."

"I know that well."

"He was released eleven days ago, a day before you fought that swordsman in the

Nelka forest."

Iska had been released in order to fight the Ice Calamity Witch. It made sense: He was

strong enough for the Empire to come to the realization that he could challenge a

purebred by himself.

"But the more I think about it, the less I understand it." Alice looked down at the page

from the tabloid magazine in her hand. "Aside from our time together in the neutral

city, I know Iska was seeking me out when I met him in that forest. If I remember

correctly, Rin, he even asked you if you were the Ice Calamity Witch."

"Yes. Though I'd rather not recall my blunder…" Rin's tone turned gruff, as though

she'd remembered the moment the tables had been turned on her offensive. "Anyway,

you're right. That swordsman certainly had the intention of fighting against the

Nebulis Sovereignty. It may be more accurate to say he had the goal of fighting the Ice

Calamity Witch—of fighting you."

"In that case, why would he release one of our allies a year ago?" She couldn't help

pointing out this inconsistency.

On the one hand, he'd let a witch escape imprisonment; on the other hand, he'd

challenged Alice and Rin in order to capture them.

…But to the Empire, aren't we all just witches?

…What's the difference between the witch he helped and me?

"The prison break might be a trap in order to fool us."

"Rin, please look into the mage who received his assistance."

"I've already made the arrangements. It will take a few more days."

"You're quick. I expect nothing less." Alice nodded in satisfaction and perched on the

corner of her bed.

That's it for today. I'm going to sleep now. Alice wordlessly gave her cue to Rin. It was a

sign that they'd developed over the course of ten years—with Alice as the master and

Rin as the servant. This was one of the many signals between them.

Another was when Alice shot a glance at the teacups in the cupboard. That meant

"teatime." And when Rin hiked up her apron, it meant "I must attend to other business

and take my leave." They had an unspoken understanding of each other.

With that, Rin left the room. After Alice confirmed that the sound of her footsteps

receded down the hallway into the distance, she reached under her pillow.

"No one's noticed, right…?"

The handkerchief. It was the one she'd borrowed from him in the neutral city of Ain.

Alice had told Rin that she'd burned it a while back, when Rin had insisted that she

would dispose of the enemy's possessions herself. In actuality, it had been hidden

under her pillow the entire time.

"…I can get rid of it at any time." Alice knew it sounded like an excuse, but she couldn't

go through with it just yet.

She still hadn't been able to ask Iska about his real intentions.

"You're the one who said there are no borders to art, Alice."

…I don't know.

She didn't know why he'd given her his handkerchief to wipe away her tears. She didn't

know why he'd shown her the way to the museum or devoted himself to telling her

about the paintings.

Maybe it was in order to deceive the enemy. Maybe Rin was right, and it was a trap.

Maybe these innocent moments with him in the neutral city were all just an act.

She could wait until after that was confirmed before disposing of the handkerchief. It

wasn't as though postponing it would make a difference.

"It seems you've become quite interested in an enemy soldier."

"Mother?"

The door had been opened without a knock, and her mother was there in her daytime

gown, even though it was late into the night. Alice guessed that she'd finished her

official duties, and she was about to retire to her own room.

"Wh-what has brought you all this way?" Alice quickly hid Iska's handkerchief behind

her back.

"I heard that you ordered Rin to look into that soldier. But I've already put my

intelligence department in charge of handling it. Alice, you don't need to worry about

it."

"…"

"Or is there a reason why this piqued your interest?"

"No, I merely overstepped my boundaries."

It seemed no one had seen her running into Iska at the neutral city. Alice finally came

to this realization based on her mother's demeanor and secretly breathed a sigh of

relief.

"It was a part of tracking the enemy's movements…"

"I can understand why you were trying to take this into your own hands. But extend

them too far, and your sisters, Elletear and Sisbell, will glare at you with envy."

Elletear was Alice's older sister, and Sisbell was the third and youngest sister.

Both of them were first-rate astral mages, purebreds. In the Sovereignty, they were

renowned as important and talented women involved in government affairs.

They were also her rivals to succeed the throne…

Elletear and Sisbell had eyes all over the royal palace. As the middle child, Alice could

feel at home only when she was in her own room with Rin.

"And one more thing. It seems you're collecting paintings by Imperial artists again."

The queen was referring to the bookshelf along the wall in her room.

With a look of exasperation, her mother glanced at the photo books lined up on the

very top of the shelf. They'd been painstakingly collected by Alice, since they weren't

in general circulation in the Nebulis Sovereignty.

"The Empire is the enemy." Alice had heard her mother say this countless times before.

"It's the den of those who detest and persecute us, the ones who call us witches and

sorcerers. Don't forget that in the past, the Empire conducted witch hunts without

mercy, and countless mages fell victim to their depravities. As a mage, it should be

your lifelong desire to destroy the Empire and bring it to its knees."

"…"

"It's the same with the Imperial arts. You're aware of the Empire's paintings depicting

'witch hunts' and 'trials'. The artists are simply more Imperial minions. Collecting

these photo books is completely absurd."

"…Yes, Mother."

"That is all I have to say. I've kept you up late enough."

Her mother left the room.

Alone once again, Alice stood still for a while.

…Is it really like my mother says?

…Are all the people in the Imperial territories unforgivable monsters, without exception?

"What are you?"

"You infiltrated our Imperial base alone and broke through our defenses. And you took

out our power generator. You can't be a normal astral mage."

Iska was different.

Even when she had met him in the Nelka forest, he had never used the derogatory

term witch. He'd carefully selected the words astral mage, she remembered. On the

flip side, her mother was asserting that the people of the Empire were indiscriminate

savages who knew them only as witches and sorcerers.

Who is the one discriminating against whom…?

Alice brought the handkerchief from its hiding spot onto her lap, staring hard enough

to bore a hole straight through it.

"Okay, I've decided!" With a long exhale, Alice flew out of her room, striding through

the silent hallway.

"Rin! Hey, Rin! Are you awake?!" Alice burst into the room next door. "I need you to

make preparations to go out."

"Wh-what's going on?!"

Rin spun around in her pajamas, gripping her nightcap in her hands. Her hair was

straight down, and her pigtails were undone, making her look more mature than

usual.

"We're leaving the royal palace first thing tomorrow. We're going to the neutral city.

Make sure to prepare by then."

"Again?!" Rin's voice was close to a shriek. "But if we run into that swordsman Iska…!"

"We're going there to see him."

"…Pardon?"

"I want to check for myself. I want to know his true intentions." Alice bit her lower lip

and turned her back on her attendant. "I'm sure this will be the last time."

The street was blazing hot with the sun at its peak, tracing a line overhead from its

place on the horizon during the wee morning hours.

The coppery earth was parched, covered in cracks and fissures that stretched out in

the shape of a spiderweb. Tufts of weeds dotted the wasteland, which didn't have a

drop of water to spare.

"The neutral city of Ain, huh. It's been a while since I've gone by car."

They were in an ATV zooming through the plains. Mismis was at the wheel, and she

narrowed her eyes to counteract the blinding rays of sun.

"I told Jhin and Nene about this situation. They're gonna focus on personal training for

today."

"Thank you."

"Yeah. Anyway, it's such a nice day out. Not a single cloud in the sky."

The wind rushed through the roofless vehicle, tousling the captain's hair as she

stomped on the gas pedal in good spirits.

"So, Iska, I'd be so happy if you'd tell me who we're planning on meeting today."

"Who do you think it is, Captain?"

"An important person in the Empire. My guess is a Saint Disciple other than Risya.

'Cause, Iska, you were just summoned by the Eight Great Apostles, right? Are you

planning on holding a secret meeting someplace outside the Empire?"

"I'm not that amazing."

They began to see glimpses of the neutral city of Ain across the horizon. Iska started

to recall the streets of the city, famous for its opera and paintings, as he smiled wryly

at the captain.

"I didn't know any of the Saint Disciples. Plus, I was demoted immediately."

"Rumor has it that those eleven are really competitive anyway… Hmm. But if that's the

case, I don't know who in the world we're meeting up with."

"We're not meeting up."

"What does that mean?"

"I just had a feeling they would come. I've never believed in fate or destiny until now,

but… but… I think I'll see her again."

"Meaning?"

"I won't know until I get there." Iska shrugged at Mismis, who looked ready to bury

her head in her hands.

From the front window of the car, he stared off at the city.

"By the way, Captain, is there something in the sky?"

A soaring black shadow blotted out the clear blue sky. From their perspective, it

looked like it was coming from the northeast—approaching the neutral city of Ain by

following the path of the sun.

"…It's a bird. Captain, it's a huge bird."

It was a monstrous bird straight from the world of myths. With a body in the shape of

a Steller's sea eagle, it had a tail that was long and waved in the wind like a snake. The

white plumage had hints of blue, giving it a marbled effect.

It looked like a white cloud trailing through the blue sky, as though the colors of the

backdrop had come to life.

And it was massive. They could clearly make it out with their naked eyes from the

ground, meaning it would be far larger than a human if it landed.

"Oh, how rare! It's an albatross! It's a kind of living fossil!" Mismis let out a happy hoot

from the driver's seat. "It's an ancestor to modern birds. They don't really nest in

Imperial territory anymore. You know how we use a ton of guns in training exercises,

right? They don't like the sound of gunfire, so they've all run far away."

"To outside the Empire?"

"Yup, yup. But albatrosses are sharp; they'll become your watchdog if you feed them.

Train them enough and they'll let you fly on their backs. There are a few villages far

from the Empire that raise them. For example…" Mismis followed the path of the

gigantic bird with her eyes. "…They say the Nebulis Sovereignty keeps several. I've

seen reports about that."

"…Nebulis?" He kept his eyes peeled as he stared at the albatross, not wasting a second

to blink.

The bird had flown in from the northeast. That was the direction where the Nebulis

territories were sprawled out, just as Mismis had said.

It might have been an illusion, but he thought he could see something on the back of

the albatross.

"…No way."

"Iska?"

"Captain, please drive up to the entrance. Stop the car there."

The albatross flew above the wall and descended toward the city. They followed it,

heading to the outskirts of Ain in the ATV.

"Hey, hey, Iska! How are we gonna find the person you're looking for?"

"I think they just arrived, too." Iska looked to the sky, at the albatross, rising as though

sucked in by the blinding sunlight.

It had finished its task of ferrying its master to the neutral city, which meant it was

getting ready to return to its nest in the Nebulis Sovereignty.

"Over here."

"Uh, okay?"

Iska swept his eyes through the streets of Ain and signaled to the captain with his eyes

as they entered the city blooming with the fine arts.

On the roads, the musicians didn't seem to mind the heat and lined the streets with

their performances, just as Iska had seen before the opera show. Artists spread their

canvases, and the tourists happily watched.

It was a peaceful moment. The concept of time could be forgotten altogether.

Outside this city, a war raged between the Empire and the Nebulis Sovereignty. But it

was as if this scene was an attempt to demonstrate that people could live without

conflict and war.

"—" Iska stopped in front of the square.

"It seems we're completely in sync. I wonder which stars we could have been born

under," mused a beautiful girl holding a parasol aloft.

She wasn't in her civilian clothes, which she'd used to sneak out in private. At the

moment, she was wearing the same brilliant royal gown as their first encounter.

"About that albatross from just now."

"We're raising it at home. When it was a chick, it was small enough to hop around on

the palm of my hand, but it's grown so much in four short years. It can fly much faster

than any Imperial car."

"Oh, Lady Alice. How can you say that? Just earlier, you were saying, 'Rin, faster, faster!

It's a race! We have to get there faster than that car—no matter what!' You made such

a big deal of it."

"Rin."

"…My tongue slipped." Rin retreated behind her.

After giving her attendant some side-eye, Alice closed her parasol in one graceful

movement.

"Right. About the taxi from the other day—" Iska started.

"What could you possibly be talking about?" For the briefest of moments, an amused

smile played over the princess's mouth.

But she immediately pursed her lips, and her eyes faintly narrowed, though she wasn't

looking at Iska—but at the captain with blue hair next to him.

"By the way, who's that little girl?"

"She's my superior, Captain Mismis."

"…I see. That's how it is, huh?" Alice muttered and handed her parasol to Rin.

"Um, Iska? Who is this pretty girl?"

"She's—"

"It's fine. I'll introduce myself." Alice cut off Iska and placed her hand to her chest as

she lowered her voice to prevent passersby from overhearing them. "Pleasure to meet

you, Imperial Captain. I am Alice—Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX."

"Miss Alice? Uh, but… N-Nebulis?"

"Oh, I wonder if I can clear things up by saying I'm the Ice Calamity Witch. That's what

they call me in the Empire."

"—Erk?!" Mismis had a full-body spasm. "Uh, um? It's a joke… Right, Iska?"

"It's true."

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-what's going on?!"

"We have something to discuss." Alice's gaze was fixed on him until the very end. "Let's

go outside. Come with me."

"Got it. Captain, let's go."

"…What's going on here?"

Iska dragged the dumbfounded captain along with him as they followed the pair ahead

of them. Alice faced the front the whole time. Rin attended her, keeping pace beside

her while occasionally turning to check on Iska and Mismis.

"We won't try to run. And there isn't anyone else from the Empire except the two of

us."

"S-silence! I'm the attendant of Lady Alice. It isn't strange for me to be cautious around

enemies. I mean, don't talk to me!" Rin faced forward again.

He watched as she reached a hand under her skirt reflexively. He knew there had to

be an arsenal of weapons hidden there for self-defense.

"How curious," murmured Alice.

As Alice led the way, her eye was drawn to the far right corner of the street, where an

artist was facing a canvas and painting a family portrait.

"Why do we choose to hate each other when we could be living in this kind of blessed

city?"

Alice wasn't talking to Iska or Mismis. Her murmur might have been directed at

herself.

They took a step out of the city walls, facing heat from the sunlight and the burned

hills spread out in front of them into the distance.

"It's hot."

"Lady Alice, your parasol."

"—But this is all I need." The Ice Calamity Witch snapped her fingers. "I can just freeze

as much as I want."

A chilled wind erupted from the ground by her feet. In the blink of an eye, she'd cooled

the scorching sand for several hundred yards ahead of them.

It was a carpet of ice.

"Wh-what is this…? Even our latest weapons wouldn't be able to change the

temperature this much." Mismis took her next steps cautiously. "Y-you must really be

the Ice Calamity Witch…"

"I think she's doing it on purpose," Iska commented.

She was making sure the captain knew who she was. Out of all possible courses of

action, this performance was more than enough to persuade them.

"I guess this is far enough. No one will be able to hear us here. It seems that neither of

us has anyone tailing behind." The princess stopped dead in her tracks.

They'd carefully made their way along the ice carpet for ten minutes, walking until the

neutral city had become a vague outline in the distance. When they climbed a hill, Alice

finally turned around.

"I know you know why we're here. You're the Imperial soldier who was caught for

treason a little over a year ago. You're the weird Saint Disciple known for breaking a

mage out of an Imperial prison."

"..."

"I looked into your background. You know about me, so it's only fair, right?" Alice

looked down at him.

"I guess."

"Plus, there's no way you could only be a private. You're too strong of a swordsman.

That is, unless that captain is stronger than you, in which case the story would be

completely different."

"What? Th-th-there's no way that would be true!" Mismis hopped up in alarm as the

Ice Calamity Witch glared at her. "More importantly… wh-what business do you have

with us?! Why would one of the biggest VIPs be waiting for Iska? I don't get it!"

"There's something I want to ask him." Alice gave Rin a look.

The attendant took out a faded tabloid magazine. Iska had seen it before, a report

shown to him countless times while he'd been behind bars.

"First, is this true?"

"There's no denying it."

"Were you imprisoned for a year for letting a mage get away?"

He nodded without a word.

"Why?" Alice demanded.

"…It was a young girl—twelve or thirteen. Her astral power was weak. But the Empire

doesn't take that into account when it captures mages. And I couldn't stand it."

"There are some inconsistencies between your actions and words." The Ice Calamity

Witch's voice was thorny. "You were waiting for me at the Nelka forest so you could

attack and capture me. Here you are trying to catch one mage, but you would have me

believe you let one go in pity just over a year ago?"

"..."

"So you have nothing to say. What's wrong, Imperial soldier?" Rin barked. "Cat got your

tongue now that Lady Alice has found your weak spot? But I remember you asked me

whether I was the Ice Calamity Witch. You must have involved the imprisoned witch

in some sick scheme—"

"I'm not contradicting myself." Iska cut her off.

Rin went silent in the middle of her sentence, as if she could feel the intensity of his

emotions.

"My goals haven't changed. They're the same now as they were a year ago."

"What does that have to do with the article from the magazine?"

"Peace negotiations." That was all Iska said in front of Alice.

It was the first time.

It was the first time he'd revealed his vow to a Nebulis mage.

"I want to stop the war. But it's not as though the Lord will listen, and I don't think the

Nebulis queen would, either."

"Obviously." Alice nodded and spoke with a cold tone. "Are you trying to say that you

desire peace? That's impossible. How deep do you think our hate for each other is?

Until one side surrenders, the war will never end."

"That's right. That's why I thought about catching a direct descendant from Nebulis's

bloodline. I was going to capture one of the strong mages who are called purebreds in

the Empire."

"Someone from the royal family?"

"I thought even the Nebulis royal family would waver if one of their relatives was in

danger. And the people of the Sovereignty would be concerned as well. That way, I

could make them come to the negotiation table even if they don't want to."

"…Are you telling me you're trying to forcibly start peace talks all by yourself?" Alice

knit her eyebrows together and crossed her arms before pressing her fingertips to her

glossy lips.

"By your logic, having me as a hostage would force my mother to come to the table to

negotiate. But the girl you assisted was a weak mage. She wouldn't have been useful

for your cause. That's why you decided you might as well set her free."

Then Alice was silent for a few moments.

"…Fine, that's not inconsistent. If anything, it's persistent." An exasperated smile had

formed on her lips. "You're probably not lying, since it's so like you to have this idea…

But it won't work. Nothing will change."

"Why?"

"Say you really did take me as a prisoner of war. My mother wouldn't move a finger.

That's why there's no room for peace. It's nothing more than a dream. I'm guessing

you've never been to the Sovereignty. Of course you wouldn't know how much we

despise you there."

The roots of the century-long war ran deep.

Peace negotiations would never be held over one little hostage, purebred or not. The

people of the Sovereignty wouldn't allow that.

"…But…" Alice unfolded her arms. "…I didn't know someone like you was in the Empire.

I couldn't believe that someone wanted to fight to 'end the battle,' among the

terrifyingly barbaric Imperial soldiers. Plus… I've got a good grip on your personality

since we spent time together in the neutral city."

The Ice Calamity Witch pointed her finger at him from above the hill.

With that, Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX made a grand proposition: "You. Become my

subordinate."

"Excuse me?" Rin was the one who cried out. "Wait, Lady Alice! Wh-wh-wh-what do

you think you're doing?! This isn't what we discussed. We didn't go over this in our

meeting last night!"

"I just thought of the idea."

"Outlandish! I mean, to begin, the queen and Elletear and Sisbell would never allow

you to have an Imperial soldier working for you! Never!"

"We can go over the details later."

Quiet. Alice put up a level hand in order to subdue Rin.

"I will secure you a position. You'll become a refugee of the Empire," continued the

princess with surprising ease. "The Sovereignty will accept anyone who isn't

discriminatory toward mages. Especially since you have the strength of a Saint

Disciple and know the secrets of the Empire. If you sincerely want to create a world

without strife, they will accept you all the more."

She looked right at him. She'd given him an order, but there was a lingering sincerity,

eagerness, and hope in her gaze, too.

"I-Iska…?"

He felt the soft touch of fingertips at his back. When he looked slightly to the side, he

found the petite captain looking at him. Tears welled in her eyes, and her shoulders

shrank from worry.

"Uh, um… so…"

"It's okay." Iska stopped her from saying any more.

"I can't," he answered the princess atop the icy hill. "It's not an issue of remuneration.

I can't stand on the Sovereignty's side."

"…And why would that be?" The eyelids of the girl with flaxen hair fluttered.

It wasn't a manifestation of anger but worry.

Ah, of course. I knew you'd react this way. Her voice carried some of her residual fears.

"Tell me why."

"There are two reasons: One, I have family and friends in the Empire. I have friends in

my unit and superiors who have treated me kindly. Think about how you have family

in the Sovereignty, Alice."

"And the other?"

"There's no possibility that the Sovereignty can negotiate peace with the Empire.

"Say the situation were reversed and you took one of the Eight Great Apostles as a

prisoner of war, Alice. If you demanded a peaceful resolution, the Empire wouldn't

listen. If anything, the Eight would be happy you got rid of their competition. Unlike

your side, Alice, they're all just strangers to one another—not linked by royal blood."

Peace was the only way to stop a century-long war without the complete annihilation

of one side. And they could do that only by having the Nebulis Sovereignty accede to

their negotiations.

"Yes. That sounds more like the Empire I know. They'll mercilessly toss aside anyone

once they are done with them. A collection of humans who don't recognize other

humans…" Alice bit her bottom lip.

The magazine in her hands frosted up. Ice started to crawl over its pages.

"You realize what that means, don't you?"

"…I do."

Get back. Iska kept Mismis in check with his left hand and his right swung around to

his back. He felt something firm: His fingertips met the handle of his astral blade.

"I can't walk alongside you, Alice."

"...Is that so? In that case, I guess we really are enemies!"

The magazine crumbled to pieces, disappearing into thousands of shards of ice,

records of the past shattering into countless fragments.

This might have marked the moment they decided they were on different sides.

"Capture me—if you can."

But Alice stopped Rin from making a move and covered her face with the headdress

from their first meeting in the Nelka forest.

"There's a one-in-a-million chance you'll get me and a one-in-a-billion chance my

mother would want to negotiate with the Empire. Who knows? Your dream might just

come true."

"You can also eliminate me as you please. You would achieve a step forward in unifying

the world, Alice."

"..."

"..."

The witch hid her face and emotions beneath her headdress.

The Imperial soldier gripped his astral swords in either hand.

Rin and Mismis forgot to breathe as they watched from behind as they were told to

stand back.

""You stubborn idiot!"" the boy and girl bellowed together.

It was as though their agony had been brought to the surface and carried through the

wilderness.

This was an unavoidable future. They should have known the maelstrom that was to

become their fate. Their screams strained from their anger and grief, the howls

reaching into the distance.

They moved at the same time.

Alice's astral power and Iska's astral swords shrieked in tandem, rumbling with the

intensity of a small earthquake.

Their rage shook the entire planet.

"Wha—?!"

They skidded to a stop, just as they were about to charge toward each other.

A gust of cold air emerged from the tip of Iska's sword and shot through his body like

a surge of electricity.

…What's happening?

…What was that… insane chill?!

He'd never experienced anything like it before. He'd stood on many battlefields and

had brushes with death before, but he'd never sensed such bloodlust.

Iska could feel it filling the air on his skin.

"Rin, what was that just now?"

"…I'm not sure, but my astral power was disturbed by it as well. I can't control it!"

"Wait, I think I can hear something," said the strongest mage of the Sovereignty, stifling

her voice and pulling off her headdress. "There's something above— Riiiiiiiiin, get out

of the way!"

"Captain Mismis, get back!"

Psht! A fissure opened in the blue skies.

For a moment, it looked as though a black thread had sliced through the air. But then

the sky parted to make way for a stormy cyclone.

"Ahhh…!" The captain tumbled over, unable to withstand the wind.

Iska was sure he'd seen something appear in the sky above.

"…The astral sword. The blade that betrayed the planet…"

It was a girl with pearlescent hair, flowing in the wild tempest.

Her lean figure peeked out from a billowing, mottled overcoat. She was tanned brown

and looked young. Based on her outer appearance, she couldn't be older than twelve

or thirteen.

That was exactly why he was shocked when he heard her.

"Revered Founder?" Alice let slip.

Iska doubted his ears.

"Why is the Revered Founder here when she should be slumbering underground…?

No. Why did she awaken…?"

Alice was a direct descendant of Nebulis, and she'd just called this girl the "Revered

Founder."

"The Empire… gnaws away at this planet where the astral power resides… like a

plague."

From her small, childish lips, she issued a curse, the manifestation of a profound hatred.

"…Ngh."

"You should all simply vanish." The Grand Witch raised a dainty hand.

As soon as they realized what she was doing, Iska and Alice protected their companions

and retreated.

There was an invisible explosion.

As though the unseen hand of God had come down, the atmosphere condensed, and

an intense shock wave rippled out.

"Wh-what?! What just happened?!"

"I'm not sure. It's just…"

Amid the thick cloud of dust, Iska let go of Mismis. He noticed the cold sweat on his

back.

"Captain, take cover behind me. I'm not confident I can beat her."

A dark silhouette stood out in the cloudless sky.

It was the Grand Witch Nebulis. The oldest mage in existence, the one who'd turned

the capital into a sea of flames, had just manifested above their heads.