「BEFORE THE VILLAGE INTERVENTION」
The knights' cheers reached the canopy through G6's Wind spell. Below, the Five Angels' attacks had left the wolves motionless across the square, and the men who had struggled to keep them away from the houses were beginning to believe the danger had passed.
G6 remained against the tree, watching with a faint smile. Vice Captain Cortez had already ordered the perimeter secured, but several knights continued looking toward the bodies as though the strength of the spells should be enough to keep them dead.
"Is it truly finished?" Lord Zen asked.
"Listen."
G6 turned toward him and Edmund.
"Attack those wolves directly in their heart. The spell's core is centered there."
"What do you mean? Are they—"
"No. The longer they respawn, the stronger they become."
Lord Zen looked back at the square. He had watched the same bodies reform, yet while he had been considering the danger to the village, G6 had apparently been examining where to strike.
So… she was not just enjoying the spectacle.
She was studying the mechanism, he realized.
The discovery explained part of her patience. It did not make her indifference to the wounded any easier to understand.
"Ensure your faces are well hidden by your hoods."
G6's attention settled on Lord Zen.
"Do not use your magic, Zero."
"I understand."
He adjusted his hood and reached beneath his cloak for his sword. Whatever he did below, he would keep his Earth affinity out of sight.
"Three minutes," G6 continued. "You have only three minutes to dispatch the remainder."
"Then every attack must be precise," Edmund said. "A single strike to the heart."
"Yes."
Her gaze returned to the knights moving among the fallen beasts.
"We will wait for them to be utterly swallowed by confusion and primal fear, and finish the job before they can recover."
Both men nodded. G6 touched her vault earring and retrieved her twin daggers, keeping their dark blades close to her body beneath the shelter of the branches.
"If I give a signal, retreat immediately into the forest and stay high."
She examined the square once more, her smirk returning.
"Now, let us wait for the finale…"
Lord Zen leaned toward Edmund.
"Are you certain you are serving a person, and not an evil deity?"
"Either way, I am simply proud of my master."
The quiet answer prompted Lord Zen to shake his head. Edmund's expression gave him little reason to expect a more reassuring one.
Below, Captain Kepler remained beside the grievously wounded knight. The other officers watched the forest and the motionless wolves while G6 counted the bodies visible from her position.
"Twelve," she murmured. "Excluding the Alpha. That one is mine."
"The heart, correct?" Lord Zen confirmed.
"Yes. If anything unusual shows up, collect it. Do not leave a single trace behind."
The men settled into position, watching the square through the leaves.
By the time the lull reached ten minutes, one of the fallen wolves had begun to twitch. Dark tendrils curled around its limbs, then spread across the other bodies as the creatures started gathering themselves again.
"Goodness. Behold that ominous aura finally showing its true form," Edmund breathed.
"It is far stronger than before," Lord Zen agreed.
G6 said nothing. Her fingers tightened around the daggers as the wolves rose and the Five Angels moved to meet them.
Lieutenant Libert lifted a hand to cast. Before the gathered energy could leave him, one of the wolves surged out of the pack and charged toward his throat.
G6 pushed away from the trunk.
Reaper's Ascent.
Her first step carried her along the branch, and the next launched her into the open air above the square. Wind supported the descent while she angled toward the space between Lieutenant Libert and the charging wolf.
Her boot caught the animal beneath its jaw. As its head snapped upward, she landed beside it and drove a dagger into its heart.
Black smoke swallowed the body. A cracked crimson marble struck the ground beneath her withdrawing blade.
Edmund and Lord Zen had barely followed the movement before G6 raised her hand.
They left the canopy immediately.
Edmund landed near the fallen marble and collected it as he passed. Lord Zen came down farther to his right, allowing them to approach the remaining pack from separate angles without obstructing one another.
The first wolf lunged toward Lord Zen. He moved outside its jaws and struck directly into its chest. Its body dissolved around his sword, confirming what G6 had told them.
They continued without hesitation.
After watching the battle from above, the release of finally moving into it was almost intoxicating.
Both men felt their earlier tension change as each precise strike produced an immediate result.
Whether it was the pressure of G6's presence, the momentum of the attack, or simply relief at having a method that worked, neither had time to consider it.
G6 watched them with a faint smile.
It seems making them watch and wait paid off.
A voice reached her from the knights behind.
"They are the suspicious travelers we were discussing."
Her expression cooled.
Looks like some pest spotted our entry earlier.
She glanced toward the forest boundary and saw the Alpha withdrawing between the trees.
That stupid mutt.
"You dare run from me?"
A sharp whistle summoned her companions. Edmund and Lord Zen finished their last strikes, gathering the remaining marbles before turning toward her.
G6 accelerated across the square and disappeared beyond the lamplight. Behind her, Edmund's quiet invocation of "Speed" was followed by Lord Zen's.
They pursued her toward the trees, leaving the stunned knights and the empty places where the wolves had stood.
"AFTER THEM!"
Captain Kepler's command carried into the forest.
「BEYOND GREENHILL — PRESENT」
G6 reached the first trunk at speed, planted a foot against the bark, and drove herself toward a low branch.
From there, she climbed into the higher canopy and continued through the overlapping crowns, keeping her attention on the direction the Alpha had taken.
Edmund and Lord Zen followed shortly afterward. Their movements carried them above the trail while the sound of the pursuing knights remained below and behind.
"We are being pursued," Lord Zen whispered.
Whisper of the Gale brought his warning to G6 without requiring him to raise his voice.
"Those useless knights."
She crossed another gap and looked back through the foliage.
The men on the ground had entered the forest quickly enough to remain a problem, even after losing sight of the trio.
Continuing directly after the Alpha would lead the officers along the same route.
G6 changed position through the branches until the village lights had disappeared entirely, then stopped where the surrounding crowns offered dense cover.
"We will stop here for a while."
Edmund and Lord Zen halted on nearby limbs.
"It is fortunate we concealed our horses earlier," Edmund said, examining the ground below.
Through Perception, G6 picked out movement along the trail some distance away. Lieutenant Libert, Vice Captain Cortez, and Lieutenant Thonson were advancing cautiously now, checking the undergrowth and looking upward whenever the branches disturbed their view.
"Looks like the three Angels are trying to go home to heaven early."
The men beside her exchanged a glance.
"Captain—" Lord Zen began.
"Fret not."
G6 settled onto the branch, crossed her legs, and leaned against the trunk.
"I am indeed in a foul mood, as I lost my prey because of them. But I do not desire trouble with the Royal Knights tonight."
She closed her eyes.
"Wake me up if they are gone."
Lord Zen stared at her for a moment before turning toward Edmund.
"Is she serious right now?"
"Do not provoke her," Edmund advised quietly. "She might be sleeping to deliberately avoid the impulse to finish those three."
"Well. I concede to your understanding."
Lord Zen braced one hand against the trunk and returned his attention to the pursuit.
Below, Vice Captain Cortez stopped where the trail widened.
"Have you seen where they went?"
"Not since they reached the trees," Lieutenant Libert answered. "What in the blazes are they? They moved too fast."
Lieutenant Thonson lifted his hand.
"Whisper of the Gale."
Wind moved through the surrounding woodland. He listened as the spell carried sounds back toward him, waiting for a hurried step, disturbed foliage, or a voice that did not belong to the three officers.
The concealed travelers remained still.
"Well?" Vice Captain Cortez asked.
Lieutenant Thonson shook his head.
"Nothing I can identify. They are remarkably skilled at evasion."
"We should have pursued them earlier, when we first saw them entering the forest," Lieutenant Libert muttered.
"Perhaps they are adventurers," Lieutenant Thonson suggested. "Those wolves may simply have been their contracted task."
"Even so, their effort to avoid us is suspicious."
Lieutenant Libert looked back toward the route from the village.
"They left no remains of the beasts they killed, either. They collected every one of those strange marbles."
Vice Captain Cortez considered the observation before examining the darkness ahead.
"We must return. With these anomalous wolves, it is not prudent to keep wandering deeper into the woods."
"There are no footprints here," Lieutenant Libert said, scanning the soil. "Not from any of the three."
"They reached the trees before we did," Lieutenant Thonson replied, tilting his head toward the canopy. "What if they never came down?"
Lieutenant Libert followed his gaze. Branches spread over the trail and continued into neighboring crowns, concealing several possible routes.
"Then which direction did they take? At that height, they could have crossed beyond the trail before we reached it."
"Enough," Vice Captain Cortez decided. "We report to the Captain that we lost them."
The officers turned back toward Greenhill. Their footsteps gradually receded, leaving the forest quiet around the three figures still concealed above.
"Hmm. They are disappointingly mundane," Lord Zen remarked.
"Agreed. It feels as though we have been performing for an unappreciative audience," Edmund replied.
"Were those really the knights being sent to the border?"
G6 had opened her eyes. Nothing in her voice suggested she had missed the conversation below.
"The Silver and Golden Squads appear to have been deployed ahead," Lord Zen explained. "The ordinary knights staying in the village were likely Bronze-rank reserves."
"Then why were the 'Angels' there?"
"Perhaps to respond to unexpected incidents along the route. They are known for taking considerable care of the men under their command."
"Whatever. They're tedious."
G6 uncrossed her legs and stood.
"Now. Let's find the foolish mutt that dared run from me."
She stepped onto the next branch before either man answered.
"It seems rest is a foreign concept to our Captain," Lord Zen murmured.
Edmund followed her, and Lord Zen moved after him.
❈.❈.❈
Several minutes later, the oppressive presence returned strongly enough to give G6 a direction.
She followed it through the canopy until the trees opened around a small clearing. Beneath them, the Alpha stood before the mouth of a cave, its broad body angled across the entrance.
"A cave again?"
The Hobgoblin's den remained fresh in her memory. G6 watched the wolf's position while Edmund came to rest on a neighboring branch.
"It appears to be guarding something within."
"Stand back."
G6 dropped toward the mossy ground, bending her knees as she landed to the Alpha's side. The beast turned its heavy head toward the movement, but she had already stepped beyond its jaws.
Her blade swept across the exposed neck.
The head separated and rolled through the moss as the body collapsed beside the cave entrance. Above her, Lord Zen's gaze followed it, the memory of the head falling onto the cliff road returning with unpleasant clarity.
"She has a… distinctive methodology."
"The Captain makes her strikes count," Edmund answered.
G6 kicked the body onto its back and drove her dagger into its heart. It dissolved like the others, leaving a marble larger and darker than those collected in the village. The blood-red crystal settled against the moss while the last of the smoke dispersed.
Edmund and Lord Zen dropped from the trees to join her.
"What were those things?" Lord Zen asked.
G6 examined the empty ground where the Alpha's head had been.
"Hmm. I'd thought the head might make a fitting gift for that insolent receptionist."
Liam had apparently remained somewhere on her list of irritations.
Edmund retrieved the marble while G6 turned toward the cave. The wolf's stance had suggested it was protecting the entrance, but with the creature gone, the sensation that had led them there had vanished as well.
"Strange. The ominous aura is gone here."
She approached the opening.
"Let's go in."
"Wait."
Lord Zen reached into his Dimensional Vault and produced a magelight lantern. Its illumination spread across the stone as he moved ahead of her, revealing enough of the passage for them to enter without stumbling over the uneven ground.
They advanced cautiously. The entrance narrowed behind them while the lanternlight traveled along the walls, exposing turns and shallow recesses before they passed.
Deeper inside, another glow appeared beyond a bend.
Lord Zen slowed. G6 moved close enough to look past him as the passage opened into a wider chamber, where clusters of natural crystals cast a soft light over the stone.
A magnificent creature lay beneath them.
Its enormous body rose and fell with slow, strained breaths. Even in repose, there was something about its presence that held both men at the entrance.
G6 looked from it to her companions.
"Is that a fancy wolf?"
"N-no…"
Lord Zen's answer barely escaped him.
"I never thought to see one in this lifetime," Edmund murmured.
"So? What is it?"
"It is a Fenrir, Captain!"
Lord Zen stepped closer before catching himself.
"But what is it doing in a place like this?"
"It appears to be in a recuperative slumber," Edmund observed.
"Should we kill it?"
Both men turned sharply toward her.
"No!" Lord Zen hissed. "It is a divine beast, favored by the heavens themselves!"
"Whoa. Okay, nerd."
Whatever interest the creature's appearance had briefly stirred seemed to leave G6 at once.
"Let's leave, then."
"Agreed. We must not disturb it," Edmund said.
Lord Zen nodded and turned the lantern back toward the passage. They had barely begun withdrawing when a low groan resonated through the chamber.
"You… the chosen one."
All three stopped.
Lord Zen looked toward G6.
"Did you say something, Captain?"
"No."
Their attention shifted to Edmund.
"Not I."
They exchanged another glance and took one more step toward the passage.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
G6 remained facing the exit.
"I will end it if it speaks again."
"What did you just say?!"
They turned.
The Fenrir had risen into a seated position.
Pristine white fur, marked with grey, covered its imposing frame, and a gentle arch of spectral blue flame flickered around it.
The crystal light caught against its coat as it fixed G6 with an offended stare.
"I didn't know dogs could talk."
"How dare a mere human call me a dog!"
The roar trembled through the cave. Lord Zen looked up at the creature, apparently too absorbed by its speech to offer the apology it might have expected.
"It truly does speak…"
"Incredible," Edmund breathed.
The Fenrir's gaze moved between them.
"You three. Did you kill my underlings?"
"No, we didn't."
G6 answered without the slightest hesitation.
"Do not lie! I saw you dispatch them with ease."
"Then why ask a question you know the answer to?"
For a moment, the creature stared at her. Then a deep laugh rolled through the chamber.
"Haha! You are interesting, human. I am actually grateful. You see, I am weakened. I lost control, causing them to go berserk."
"If you are a mythical divine creature, why the hell are your underlings acting like they are from fucking hell?"
"It must be because… they were corpses already. They were my experiments."
"What a sick animal."
Edmund bowed before the creature could answer.
"We beg your forgiveness for disturbing your rest. We shall take our leave."
"No. I want that one."
The Fenrir's gaze had settled on G6 again.
"You want me to end your suffering?"
"How dare you! Will you cease with these murderous thoughts?"
It shifted irritably beneath the blue flames.
"I exhausted my divine mana while attempting to cleanse the forest farther north. When I tried to recover, the mana from nature had suddenly vanished. In desperation, I traveled until I ended up here a week ago. I am recovering slowly, but in the meantime, I lost control of those pups."
"You bore me."
G6's expression remained dismissive, though her attention had sharpened.
A corrupted forest and vanishing natural mana… Just like Oak Village.
She glanced toward Edmund. His nearly imperceptible nod told her he had noticed the same connection. The creature had given them no place name, but the similarity was difficult to ignore.
"You are disrespectful," the Fenrir said. "But I can tell—you are the chosen one."
"What are you, a fortune teller?"
"Ha! I sense a mythical power within you. You cannot hide it from me."
Its gaze remained fixed on her.
"Your soul… reeks of ancient blood."
G6's posture changed. The casual provocation left her expression, replaced by a stillness that drew Edmund's attention immediately.
My soul reeks of blood?
"What do you want?"
"Take me as your familiar."
The Fenrir looked thoroughly pleased with its proposal.
"Why would I?"
"Because I am the Great Fenrir. The one and only."
"He is remarkably full of himself," Lord Zen murmured.
"We're leaving."
G6 turned toward the passage.
"I can help you learn to master it!"
The sudden urgency stopped her. She looked back and studied the creature for several seconds.
"You are unusually desperate for a 'divine' being."
The Fenrir's gaze shifted away before returning to hers.
"I wish to aid the chosen one."
"What, precisely, do you want from me?"
"I feel a vast reservoir of mana within you. Not only that, you can draw and collect mana from nature at will."
G6 waited. She neither confirmed the assessment nor supplied the response he apparently expected.
"We would be of mutual benefit," the Fenrir continued. "I can wield all elemental magics. Once bound by contract, our souls would be linked for life."
"Captain, mythical creatures are solitary," Lord Zen advised quietly. "They generally regard humans as beneath them. For one to offer such a contract is no small matter."
"Precisely! You should be grateful, chosen one!"
Edmund leaned closer to G6.
"He may help resolve some of our unanswered questions."
The black paper remained among the most pressing. Someone with ancient knowledge might recognize more than the incomplete records they had found, though nothing the creature had said established that he could decipher it.
"Hmm."
G6 looked toward the Fenrir again.
"I am unconvinced. I can acquire what I need without assistance."
A cold smirk accompanied the answer.
The reply came without an echo in the cave.
"Even the obstacle you encounter whenever you push beyond this body's limits?"
The Fenrir's voice sounded directly inside her mind. G6 held its gaze as it continued privately.
"I am referring to your body, human. It keeps failing beneath the power you force through it."
Neither Edmund nor Lord Zen reacted to the words. G6's attention remained on the creature.
"How would it work?"
"Once our souls are bound by contract, we may draw upon one another's power," the Fenrir answered aloud. "In ours, I would share in your mana. You would gain access to mine and to the elemental magic I wield."
G6 folded her arms, tapping one finger slowly against her bicep.
The arrangement was useful enough to consider. It did not make the body she occupied any less underconditioned, and she knew by now that possessing power and enduring its use were different problems.
What interested her was the creature's recognition of that difficulty—and his offer to help her master what she could not yet safely handle.
"Do not worry, Captain," Lord Zen said. "If a familiar breaks the contract, the forfeit is its life."
G6 considered the Fenrir for another moment before lowering her arms.
"Explain the procedure."
The creature straightened, its earlier desperation disappearing beneath renewed satisfaction.
"Come closer, human."
She approached while Edmund and Lord Zen remained behind her.
"What is your name?"
"Reise. Reise Worthon."
"Say these words: 'I, Reise Worthon. Accept this Great Fenrir as my familiar.'"
G6 held his gaze and repeated the acceptance.
"I, Reise Worthon. Accept this Great Fenrir as my familiar."
The Fenrir lowered his great head until his forehead touched hers. Soft divine light gathered around them, illuminating the dark fabric of her cloak and the stone beneath their feet.
"I, Fenrir, blessed by the All-Seers, pledge my life to serve you until death parts us."
G6's eyes narrowed behind her sunglasses.
All-Seers.
The title beneath the book's impossible message returned with immediate clarity: Witherby, Messenger of All Seers. She had seen it written beneath the riddle about the roses. Now this creature had used the same name in an oath while binding himself to her.
Her attention sharpened upon him, but his shimmering form and satisfied voice interrupted the thought before she pursued it further.
"I knew it! I feel a little bit lighter. Now, give me a name, Reise."
G6 regarded him.
"Whitey?"
"Captain…"
Lord Zen sounded pained.
"Big Dog?"
"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!"
"You named Kira perfectly well, Captain," Edmund reminded her.
"Kira was my first pet."
"You imply I am a pet? Do not be absurd, human!"
G6 considered the creature's indignation for a moment, then smiled.
"Then, how about Daunt? It derives from 'dauntless,' meaning fearless. You have been rather informal with me, showing no fear for your life."
The smile made the explanation considerably less complimentary than the name itself.
"I cannot believe she is threatening a divine beast," Lord Zen murmured.
Edmund shook his head, having apparently decided that intervening would accomplish little.
The Fenrir's pride faltered beneath G6's stare. His attention briefly shifted toward the weapons she carried before he lifted his head again.
"W-well… the meaning is acceptable. Say, 'I, your master, name you Daunt.'"
"I, your master, name you Daunt."
A mark bloomed on his forehead.
Intricate black roses formed within a chain, their lines briefly distinct beneath the light. The symbol glowed fiercely once, then vanished.
G6 remained motionless.
It was a tattoo she knew very well.
It was the tattoo behind her right ear.
She had recognized the design before it disappeared—the same chained rose she had carried before ever awakening as Reise Worthon.
Seeing it form on the creature's forehead left her staring at the place where it had been, though she kept the rest of her expression still.
Edmund and Lord Zen had witnessed the mark appearing. Neither had any reason to understand what it meant to her.
"Shall we depart, Reise?" Daunt asked.
G6 looked away from his forehead.
"You see, we are not some random adventurers here. We reside at the Palace."
"What?! I sensed noble blood, but the palace?!"
"Regret it? Too late. I have too many questions to let you go now."
Her quiet delivery restored some of the unease beneath his pride.
"N-not at all… hehe."
Daunt recovered enough to raise his head.
"Do not fret about concealing me. I can reside within your mark."
My tattoo?
G6's hand remained at her side. She did not touch the place hidden beneath her hair or turn to see whether either man had noticed her reaction.
"Whatever. We'll discuss the details later. Move."
She turned toward the passage, and Daunt followed.
"Very well. Be thankful, for you are now bound to the one and only, the Great Fenrir, Daunt!"
"I must say, he is remarkably self-aggrandizing for a divine being," Lord Zen murmured as he lifted the lantern.
"It makes one wonder if they are all like this," Edmund replied.
Their voices accompanied G6 back through the narrowing passage.
The crystal light faded behind them while Lord Zen's lantern illuminated the route ahead, and the creature who had offered her power continued walking at her back.
She kept her hood drawn forward. His oath, the book's signature, and the chained rose remained clear in her memory, but none of the promises he had made explained why her own mark had appeared on his forehead.
For now, he was coming with her.
—To Be Continued…—