The world seemed to wrap itself in a rose-colored peace. Everyone was smiling. Everyone cheered. It was wonderful. Everyone was happy, like it was a dream or something.
Nobody cried. Nobody hurt. It was a complete and perfect world.
Yes. It was so perfect that it would crumble with a touch.
But everyone was smiling. Everyone important to her was smiling.
Luke, Lear, Lach, Moe. Even Major Miller. Mmrgh. Not just them, either. Her strict adoptive father and her adoptive mother who hated her guts, her sisters who were incredibly kind to her - Lady Amy, Lady Nallua…
Everyone important to her was smiling.
It was okay. The world was going to keep getting better. It wouldn’t go back to the old Roland. Their king, Sion Astal, perfected the country.
“But then… then why?”
She looked around.
“Why… is it so dark here then?”
Her voice was sucked into the darkness, where it disappeared.
She was shivering. From loneliness. From fear. From despair… yes. Yes, this darkness was despair itself. It was a sudden realization. Of course that was what this was. But whose despair was it? It wasn’t hers. She knew that. She had a family, after all - Luke, Lear, Lach, Moe… they were her family who always smiled for her.
She wasn’t lonely or anything. And she wasn’t scared. So the despair that enveloped her…
“……”
Right then, she heard someone else through the darkness.
“…Augh, uu…”
Someone was whimpering.
“That voice…”
Who was it? It was terribly familiar. A voice that she felt was deeply precious to her.
And then she recalled.
Right. That voice was the reason she was alive now.
She lived for him, who was shivering in his isolation. She lived to stand by his side. Him, who was always cursed as a monster.
And then she realized something.
The darkness surrounding her now was the despair that haunted his heart.
And she was…
“W-wait! I’m coming to be with you right now, Ryner!” She said and ran. But it didn’t matter how much she ran. The distance between them stayed the same. “Why!?”
She was running and running, but he just kept getting farther and farther away.
“W, wait, Ryner! Don’t… don’t leave me here!”
She wanted to cry. Why was Ryner running away from her? Even though she lived to see him… she could never reach him. Why?
“…Why?”
She balled her hands into fists so tight that her nails dug into her palms. But…
“…Huh…?”
She realized something strange when she did: her nails didn’t hurt as they dug into her skin. Weird. She looked at her palms. But… she couldn’t see them.
“…This is…”
She crossed her arms in thought. Well, she couldn’t see her body so she couldn’t be sure of it, but she was pretty sure that she did.
Where was she and what was happening?
She had… a hunch. She looked around at the darkness.
“Is this… a dream?”
She tried to open her eyes. Because normally she woke up as soon as she realized she was dreaming.
“Um… I’m going to wake up now!” She yelled.
But the darkness around her didn’t waver.
“Come on, self, get up!”
That didn’t work either.
“We’re having curry for breakfast today!”
No dice.
“If we’re late, then Major Miller is going to get reeeallly mad at us, and his face’ll be super scary!” She imagined his face, stern and scary as could be. “Augh…”
She ended up scaring herself.
Anyway, it looked like she couldn’t wake up.
It didn’t matter how tired she was, or even if she’d just pulled an all nighter. If she thought about waking up, she should wake up. She’d been trained to do that as a child. So what was going on?
“…Maybe this is magic? Magic to make me sleep? Or maybe I’ve been bound…”
That was likely the case.
The darkness was encasing her. She couldn’t even see herself through it. It was characteristic of a spell that forced sleep known as Eve of White. It’d mean that her real-world self would be sleeping… no, in a comatose state. Suspended animation. Even her heart would have stopped. It was typically used to confine prisoners and human experiment subjects within their own minds so they couldn’t struggle… It was a spell that could preserve their semi-living bodies for whatever purpose their captors had.
There was a problem with that spell, though. Thirty percent of people who it was casted on died. Three in ten, to put it another way. But the old Roland hadn’t cared about that.
“Even if three in ten die, that’s still seven living hostages. It’s enough.”
That’s what Milk’s magic instructor had told her. Naturally, it was already a part of their country’s magic system before Sion had become king…
“…And now it’s been cast on me.”
But why?
An image rose up in her mind. It was the evening sky, moving towards night. Right. She’d heard that Ryner was coming back to Roland, so she and her team came back, too. They returned to the Taboo Hunters headquarters and reported to Major Miller. But she’d zoned all that out. Because she was thinking of Ryner. Thinking of her country. How she’d finally realized something that she had so stupidly never known until then.
“…….”
And then she made a mistake.
She was on her way back home in the dark. She remembered thinking about how terribly dark it was. How terribly dark the future of their country was. She just kept thinking about it as the darkness swelled around her.
No one could do anything about it, though. The sun had already gone down. So the darkness swelled. Into the shape of beasts. They were accompanied by a man with long, pitch black hair and cold, devil-like eyes.
“Now, then,” he said. “I’ve come to get you, Lieutenant Milk Callaud. Would you mind accompanying me? Everything will begin here.”
She ran away. But it didn’t do much good. The beasts just chased her. She could hardly fight against them…
“Uugh… I can’t remember anything after that…”
She’d probably been knocked unconscious, then forced to sleep with Eve of White.
“Hmhmhm…”
She crossed her arms and thought. This was serious. Apparently that strange, devil-like man had captured her, then casted magic to make her sleep and was keeping her hostage.
“…A hostage to get to who?”
Who would it get to if she was kidnapped? She realized the second she wondered. Luke and the others would worry so, so much. She had to get back soon…
But the spell binding her was powerful. It required three people and an exceptionally complex magic circle to make. She couldn’t break it all by herself… No, if anyone could do it alone… it had to be someone like him. Ryner Lute, the boy their orphanage had called a genius. He could use his Alpha Stigma to see through the spell and break through the prison she was in all on his own.
“…But it’s impossible for me…”
She looked around the darkness and sighed.
“Ryner sure is amazing…”
Still… she could do more than whimper like that. She could still think.
Why had she been kept inside a suspended state rather than killed? If she couldn’t even figure out why this was happening, then of course she wouldn’t know what to do if she woke up.
“Why was I captured?”
The most likely possibility was as a hostage to get to someone else. Who, though?
The possibilities were Luke, Major Miller, or…
“……”
Or… Ryner, maybe?
She shook her head vigorously.
“…No… there’s no way that I could be a hostage for Ryner… We haven’t seen each other in too long now…”
She thought of something she didn’t like. The fact that that blonde beauty was always by Ryner’s side. She was so, so beautiful, and had so much that Milk didn’t. And Ryner… had smiled so many times for her.
“……”
Countless times. He’d smiled at her countless times. She’d never seen him make that face… at the very least, she never managed to get him to make it back in the orphanage.
“…I wonder… if he likes her…?”
Her heart suddenly hurt. She pressed a hand to it to calm it. Dug her nails into it. But that didn’t hurt. If she couldn’t feel physical pain, then why could she still feel that…? She’d rather not…
“Uuh… It’s so frustrating…”
She was on the verge of tears. But it was alright, really. Because she was fine as long as Ryner smiled. She was happy as long as he was alive.
“Uuugh… when’d I get so greedy…? I’m gonna ruin my team’s image of me at this rate…”
She thought of Luke’s smile. Of Lear, Lach, and Moe’s faces…
‘That’s not true!’ was what they’d kindly reassure her with at times like this.
“You’re a good kid, Chief Milk.”
“…Mm.”
“It’s okay. We’ll always be with you. You’re a member of our family, after all.”
“Mm… I… I think so, too.”
It was true. She’d die for them. She’d finally found a family who worried about her and a place she could truly go home to.
Everyone in the orphanage had lived screaming and crying until they eventually died. She too had given up on living once. But Ryner had given her a reason to live. Then her team gave her a place to live. So even though her life was supposed to end back in that orphanage, she was able to live here and now.
It was sad, in a way.
People who desperately wanted to live died. But she’d given up on living once and was still given a second chance.
And she was so happy. What more could she possibly want?
Ryner.
She had always loved, admired, and searched for him. She wanted him to look at her and smile…
“…Don’t get greedy…”
Her voice was shaking.
She was glad that this was a dream. Because she could cry without anyone seeing her. Everyone worried if she wasn’t smiling. She was their chief, after all. She couldn’t lead the others astray. She had to have it together. She inhaled sharply to give herself the motivation speech she needed.
“…Yeah. I need to get it together. My team’s waiting for me. I have a place to go home to now… so I need to make my way there.”
Even if Ryner didn’t smile for her… she still had a home.
“I have to work hard,” Milk told herself.
She thought back to the man with long, pitch black hair and cold, devil-like eyes.
“Now, then. I’ve come to get you, Lieutenant Milk Callaud. Would you mind accompanying me? Everything will begin here.”
“Everything will begin here?” Milk repeated and tilted her head. “What does that mean?”
What was starting?
To be frank, she didn’t think that holding her captive as a hostage for Luke or Major Miller would work. Those two were geniuses, unlike her. They’d calmly and smartly figure out how to get her out of this. They were great at seeing the whole picture of things, and they were willing to die for her. And if somehow saving her would put the rest of the Taboo Hunters in danger, then they’d do her a favor and give up on her for their sakes instead.
If she was being held hostage to get to them, then she could relax. So what merit was there in her captor doing this? Who would it get to? Who would…
“…Uuhh… ahh…”
The whining on the other side of the darkness. She called his name.
“…Ryner.”
But her hands couldn’t reach him. She knew that she couldn’t reach him from within this dream. Even in the real world… he was so far away…
“…I could never… ahahah…”
Her laugh was dry and forced. She couldn’t help but think that she was weak… no, she didn’t have the time for sitting around and feeling sorry. She had to think.
“…Yeah. Let’s do it,” Milk said and flicked her head. She couldn’t feel it, of course. But she didn’t mind.
She’d been captured just as she realized the reason she existed.
Why had she been granted the rank of lieutenant and given a position as chief of a Taboo Hunter team so suddenly? Why was she given a mission that led her to Ryner, who she’d always been searching for? Was it all just a coincidence?
No. There was no way.
So what was it, then?
The answer was waiting for her since before she even thought to ask that question.
“I was… used by Sion Astal, to keep Ryner tied to this country… as hostage…”
That was why Ryner pretended to not know her even when they reunited. He hadn’t wanted to get her involved in it all.
“…Why would His Majesty do that? Why would he want to keep Ryner around to the point of making him a hostage?”
Milk recalled Sion Astal’s figure. She’d met him a number of times now, and he’d been perfect every single one. He always had a kind smile and noble gaze. He was the perfect image of their hero king, savior of all Roland. Everyone expected good things of him. Everyone believed that he could change their country. Everyone, everyone believed that he’d create a perfect world without tears or pain.
He was free of faults. He was an absolutely flawless king.
“…But… that shouldn’t be possible.”
Because perfection didn’t really exist. Everyone had a few flaws. Everyone had parts of them that they didn’t want others to see. Everyone had cracks that’d make them break with a simple touch.
Everyone had deep wounds that they didn’t want anyone else to see. Even so, they desperately wanted someone to brush their fingers against them… they weren’t capable of living in this world alone… and that went for everyone.
Those wounds were ugly, mangled things. But if someone would just touch them, caress them… then they’d become very dear. They’d want to say that they loved them for it. Everyone was like that.
They always seemed so perfect. That’s why she’d never realized it.
The boy who everyone called a genius, a perfect killing machine.
The boy who everyone wished for, their beloved hero king.
They had wounds deeper than anyone else, but they still smiled like they didn’t mind. Just like that, they tried to make a country where everyone could smile.
But if someone touched it. If they just reached a finger out to brush it… then the whole country would crumble to dust.
Sion Astal had kept her hostage to force Ryner Lute to keep his ties to their country. And that was very…
“…That’s sick…”
What was Sion feeling under that kind smile? What thoughts lied behind those willful golden eyes? He had a mask of perfection that never broke. But there was certainly darkness within their absolutely flawless king… and what was inside of that darkness?
In… the depths of his darkness—
“…Uuhh… aahh…. hgh…”
Muffled noises leaked through the darkness. Ryner was crying again. She had to save him.
She had to… save him from Sion Astal.
“Wait for me, Ryner.”
Milk broke out in a run. She’d make it through the darkness this time. She’d reach him this time.
“Wait for me. I’m coming for you now. Wait for me!”
She ran as fast as she could. The distance between them slowly, slowly faded, giving way to his back.
“I-I’m here,” Milk said. “I… I’m here by your side, Ryner… Y, you won’t be alone anymore. So you don’t have to cr—”
He turned around. But he wasn’t… he wasn’t Ryner.
It was a kid. A crying child with unkempt silver hair and tear-stained golden eyes.
Sion.
Sion Astal…
She couldn’t move.
He looked at her… and spoke with a fragile voice completely lacking in confidence. “I… I just want to die…”
And she—
---
She lost consciousness.
When she next came to…
Her whole body was tense, and she didn’t really know what was going on, but she was truly conscious… so she’d been freed from that spell.
Now if only her head would work…
“I… I just want to die…”
Milk groaned as Sion’s voice echoed in her head. No. What she saw in her dream wouldn’t make her turn back now.
She had to see what was happening in the real world now. Was she in enemy territory?
Someone who had been released from the spell Eve of White would remain sleeping for another few hours before waking. It was possible that her surveillance was weak at the moment. So this might be her chance. She hadn’t been able to do anything against that devil-like man with the shadow beasts, but… if he’d left a simple soldier to wait for her to wake up, she should be able to manage.
That was pretty optimistic, though…
Honestly, it was so optimistic that it was probably impossible. That devil-like man had called her Lieutenant Milk Callaud. He knew her name and rank. So he also knew how strong she was.
She had soft flaxen hair and big, cute eyes. She was sixteen but often mistaken for a twelve or thirteen year old. Because of that, enemies often underestimated her and accidentally let her win pretty easily.
But this last time was different. She’d been taken out before she could say a thing. He knocked her out and cast that spell to force her into a coma so she wouldn’t wake up. He wasn’t the type of opponent who was overconfident in his ability to win or the type who went feral at the sight of a woman. Instead, he was the type to calmly carry out his plan. The hard-to-deal-with type who didn’t leave any gaps. Would someone like that really look down on her and leave her unguarded?
Nope. No way.
But it was all over if she gave up here…
She had to struggle until the last possible second. Luke and the others were surely worried about her even now.
The problem… was how long she might’ve been sleeping.
That spell was meant to keep hostages asleep for as long as necessary. They stayed alive - or at least, able to wake up - but their muscles weakened with disuse. If she’d been asleep for years, she wouldn’t be able to move anymore. And if she couldn’t move, she couldn’t run.
She should be okay if it was a few months, though…
She couldn’t move now to check. Because she was almost certainly being watched. She couldn’t even open her eyes. The best she could do was look through the very smallest of gaps in her eyelids.
All she could see was the ceiling… and some plain white walls. It really didn’t look like a jail cell. It was just a room. And it didn’t look like a very big one.
As for if there were any others here…
“……”
There were.
She couldn’t look at them from her current place, but she could tell that there was someone right by here. They were enthusiastically reading something… though she didn’t know what.
Anyway, she had a guard. One whose presence she didn’t notice until looking directly over, no less. That was all it took to know that they were strong. Or was it that her senses had dulled as she slept?
That didn’t really matter.
All that mattered was that she was in a bad place right now. She whimpered inside her heart.
It’d be really difficult for her to defeat her guard. She might be able to run away, though… well, that was if this was the only guard here. She couldn’t be sure, and it was over for her if there were others. So what should she do? Pretend to be asleep and wait for a better opportunity to present itself?
“……”
Milk’s chest clenched up. No, she didn’t want that.
She couldn’t stay here forever. Her captor had chosen to wake her for a reason… and she’d burden someone by staying here to be a hostage. Though she still didn’t know who specifically.
She had to escape before she could be tortured to force someone to do something. That or find a way to die here.
“……”
Milk steeled her resolve and tensed herself… then urged her body to move.
Her reflexes were dull. But her body was still responding to her.
Move!
She felt her body wake up. Her nerves fired impulses to her muscles.
She’d be okay. She was moving alright.
Her best estimate was that she’d been asleep for a few months. Of course she wouldn’t be able to get the same strength from before back in moments, but… she still had to escape.
The guard on her left still hadn’t noticed that she’d woken up.
If she was gonna do it, now was the time.
Milk ran through the steps in her mind. She’d open her eyes, then use her left hand to cover their mouth. After that, she’d use her right hand to incapacitate them, hit them, break their neck… whatever it took, depending on how strong they were and what it took to make them lose consciousness. If they were too strong for her to knock out, then she’d figure out how to deal with them just long enough to escape.
Milk inhaled as quietly as she could to make sure her muscles had the oxygen to move. Then—
“Haugh!”
She exhaled loudly and jumped up, then threw her left hand to cover the mouth of her guard, who had been reading…
“……”
Despair.
That’s what she felt.
Because she didn’t just have one guard. There were four total here. She raised her fist up to fight, but they were faster than she was.
The first to react was a man who was behind her… no, more like a teenager than a man? He was just a little older than Milk, and definitely still had a boyish look to him. For some reason, his face filled with tears when he saw her.
“Ch-chief M-M-M-Miilllkk!!!”
“Wha, no way… Moe!?” Milk yelled as he threw himself at her for a hug.
A willful teen the same age as Moe kicked him out of the way. “The chief’s sick, idiot! Don’t jump her!”
“Lach!?” Milk said, shocked.
For some reason, he was crying, too. “Ah… augh, shit! I really… I’m really glad you’re alive, Chief… I… I’d already given up hope… Chieef Miilllkk!!”
This time Lach jumped at her for a hug.
“Hey!” The man to her back said. He had a shapely face and spoke calmly. “You yourself are the one who said not to make a fuss while she’s sick, weren’t you? The chief’s tired. Do her a favor and be quiet, okay?”
Milk was familiar with him, too. “Lear…”
“…Do you hurt at all?” Lear asked.
Milk shook her head.
“I’m glad,” Lear said, relieved. He smiled.
Milk then looked over at the man she’d originally thought was her guard. He was reading a book titled Kids’ Early Rising Makes a Kid Energetic, but he’d looked up from the commotion. Milk knew him too, of course. Luke. Luke Stokkart. He was only twenty-five years old but his hair was all white, and he was tall, and he always watched over everyone kindly, just like he was doing now.
Luke spoke with the same gentle voice as always - the kind of voice that made him sound like he was pampering a kid. “Geez… You’ve overslept, Princess.”
“…Ah….”
His voice was so calm and comforting. The tension instantly drained from her body. The hole in her stomach closed. She’d been prepared to die just now, but all it took was his smile to make her feel the true warmth of the atmosphere surrounding her.
“I-I… But I was a hostage, and…”
“It’s alright now,” Luke said. He pet her head and smiled with the full kindness of someone comforting a small child. Just looking at how relaxed he was was enough to calm her and feel like things really were okay. Because she was home. She didn’t have to worry anymore.
“B, but… um, um, I…”
“It’s alright now,” Luke repeated. “You don’t have to worry about anything now.”
“Uh… mm. Yeah. But—”
“Now, now, this is our long-awaited reunion. I’ll make anything you’d like today! What do you want to eat for dinner?”
“No, I—”
Moe raised his hand up high. “Oh, me! Pick me! I really want to have some curry!”
“He didn’t ask what you wanted!” Lach said.
“What!? Does that mean you don’t want any curry!?”
“…No, I mean, I do want some, but…”
“Come on, you know what I mean, right?” Moe asked. “We’re having a party, and when you think of parties you think of curry, right? So let’s have a curry party!”
Luke smiled bitterly. “Geez, you two can’t help yourselves… alright, I’ll make you guys some curry. Chief Milk, what would you like t—”
Lear interrupted, troubled. “You’re the one who can’t help yourself, Luke… You aren’t going to make our sick chief eat curry of all things, are you? We aren’t having a party, either. She should have porridge and stay inside and rest for today.”
“What!?” Moe and Lach yelled in unison.
“Ahh… you guys never change, huh?” Milk said.
Luke was apologetic. “I wasn’t thinking… I guess curry would taste awful to you since you’re sick in bed…”
“Pull it together, Luke,” Lear said.
Moe and Lach cackled as they exchanged a look. “Yeah, pull it together!”
“I don’t want to hear that from you guys!” Luke said, angry.
Everyone laughed. Milk ended up laughing, too.
Right. Everything was just like normal. She was home now. She knew that for a fact when she looked at Luke and the others. She was truly, truly blessed.
She didn’t have to worry about anything anymore. It was okay now. Nothing had changed. Everyone was still smiling kindly and laughing.
“……”
She’d wanted to ask what had happened before she was interrupted and redirected to something more fun that they could laugh about. Even though something had definitely happened. Something was happening right now! Here in Roland!
Milk looked at Luke.
“…Hey,” she said.
Luke shook his head. “It’s alright now. Everything’s already said and done. So let’s take it easy, just for today… okay?”
“……”
Milk was quiet.
Just for today, huh? Did that mean he’d tell her tomorrow?
“……”
No. She was certain that he wouldn’t tell her if it was something that would put her in danger, even if he knew exactly what was happening. How much did he really know? Did he know what was happening in Roland now? Did he know… about Milk’s place between Ryner and Sion…?
“Hmm…”
Milk crossed her arms in thought. But Luke soon distracted her by tapping. “Alright! Today I’ll make porriage good enough to knock your socks off!”
“Ughhh,” Lach said. “I hate porrigeee.”
“Whaat!?” Moe said, shocked. “Why?”
“The texture is just so gross! All like, gooey, you know?”
“Why don’t you try putting curry in it?” Moe asked.
“Whoa! Moe, you’re seriously on the ball today!”
“Give up on the curry already,” Lear said and grabbed both of them by the collar. “And don’t be so loud while the chief’s recovering. Leave the room if you’re going to yell.” With that, he dragged them out of the room.
Luke stood. “I suppose I ought to start that porridge. Why don’t you try to rest a bit, Chief? The sleep that Eve of White gives you is fake, so one wakes up awfully tired.”
Now that he mentioned it, her head did feel pretty heavy. She hadn’t realized it from the adrenaline of thinking she was still captured and then the excitement of seeing everyone again. But now that she realized… she was being attacked by an overwhelming exhaustion. She yawned real big.
Luke smiled and gently pushed her shoulders back down to her bed. “Try to get some sleep, okay? Everything’s all taken care of, and there will be some delicious porridge waiting for you when you wake up again.”
“…Okay,” Milk said and nodded.
“And then we can have a curry party tomorrow!” Moe said from by the door. “So have a good dream about it, okay!?”
“Yeah,” Milk said and nodded real big again.
“Good night,” everyone said and left.
“……”
But Milk didn’t sleep. She couldn’t, knowing that she didn’t know anything, and had needed to be protected. What had she gotten herself into? What was Luke doing that she didn’t know about?
Milk strained her ears to hear what they were talking about outside of her room. They were speaking quietly and it was hard to make much out. But she could catch a little bit of it.
First she heard Lear. “I’ll tell Kaiwel…”
She couldn’t make out the rest of what Lear said. But she could hear Luke’s response. “Please do. He must have been worried, too.”
“…By the way, Fro—”
“Don’t worry. The Major will soon—”
“…I see.”
“Mm.”
“…Then…”
“……”
They moved farther away. She couldn’t make out anything else. But…
Milk looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. No matter how tired she might be, she just didn’t feel like sleeping. She was too uneasy. She thought of Luke and the others, who had silenced her worries many times and smiled instead.
“…Seriously, what’s going on?”
Why had she been promoted to a lieutenant so suddenly? Why had she been given the duty of leading a team of Taboo Hunters? Who had kidnapped her and why? How had Luke and the others saved her? What were they hiding from her? What problem lay at the center of this all?
“…That dream,” Milk whispered.
The dream she saw inside Eve of White…
“…Whose despair was that…?”
She’d thought that it was Ryner’s at first. Ryner, who had always been called a genius, called a monster, who had sunken deep into the darkness of isolation. But that wasn’t right.
“…I’ve been kept hostage to keep Ryner tied down…”
And the one who had tied him there was the king of their country. But…
“…Why would His Majesty want Ryner that badly?”
She could think of countless possibilities. But did he need to take a hostage for any of them?
Maybe her theory was what was wrong…? If that was the case, then it meant that His Majesty wasn’t involved in anything that had just happened… and that just didn’t seem to be true. After all, Luke and Lear had mentioned Kaiwel in their conversation just outside of her door. She recognized that name.
Major General Calne Kaiwel was well-known in Roland. He was one of Sion Astal’s right hand men at about the same level as Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom.
Why did Lear mention him?
“I’ll tell Kaiwel…”
He’d said it casually. Familiarly.
Lear was a corporal. The difference in status between him and Major General Kaiwel was far too significant for him to talk about him so familiarly. He could have given the death penalty for his disrespect if this was the old Roland.
She thought of Luke’s response next.
“Please do. He must have been worried, too.”
“What did he mean? Worried about my abduction? Why would His Excellency Major General Kaiwel worry about me…? If anyone should be worried, wasn’t it His Majesty himself, who needed me as a hostage for Ryner…?”
Sion Astal needed her as a hostage. Maybe she could see something new if she started from that. She felt like she could, but…
“Uuh… I can’t see a thing!”
What in the world was happening in Roland? She had to start investigating from there.
“Hrmm… and I know that Luke and the others won’t tell me a thing…”
Milk crossed her arms and groaned.
In any case, she knew that she was being excluded. She was sure that they were just doing it to protect her, but it couldn’t go on forever.
“…I’ve gotta look into it myself. I’ll just need everyone to protect me all the time if I don’t wise up, after all, and I hate that. But… where do I even start? Don’t I know anyone in the military upper rungs… ?”
She thought for a moment, then opened her eyes wide.
“…Wait! I do have connections!”
She’d reached that thought through a short train of thought.
1. Didn’t she know anyone important? Like, in the military’s upper rungs?
2. She thought of the king when she thought of ‘important people.’
3. The next on the list of important people had to be the nobility.
4. The Callaud family was nobility.
5. W-wait, her father was a noble!?
No, wait, this wasn’t the time to be surprised about that.
Still, she felt like she’d won the second she thought it.
“Awawah… b, but I wonder if my father wouldn’t be angry if I came back home after making such a big mistake…?”
She pictured her father’s strict expression in her mind. He’d raise the club he always used to punish her and hit her…
“Uuughh… Scaryyy…”
Milk shivered. He’d definitely be mad, and not just about her failure. He’d also be mad about how she never came home to visit. A-and he’d be mad about her eating cake even though he’d forbidden her from it, and there were all sorts of other things he’d be mad about, too.
“But I have to go home…”
This wasn’t the time to be scared.
“Yeah. I have to go home and properly greet him… a, and then ask him a little about what’s happening in this country. Okay! With that out of the way…”
Milk stood on the bed and looked out the window. The sky was dyed a deep red outside it. Apparently the sun was setting. It’d soon turn to night. And Luke was right. She was absolutely exhausted. But she couldn’t just lay around and sleep, and she couldn’t let Luke protect her forever, either. So she jumped up from the bed, settling her feet on the windowsill as quietly as possible. Then she opened it.
“…I really don’t want to go home… but I’ll do my best and do it anyway!” Then she turned back towards the room. “Sorry, everyone, I’m going out for a bit. But I promise to be back by dinner… so, um… see you later!”
She jumped out of the window. She had been on the fourth floor of a five storey building. But that meant nothing to her.
---
That was her first step into the puzzle of malice that surrounded their country. The points and lines had long since tangled together, and now it was nigh on impossible to solve. She couldn’t touch it. It couldn’t be touched. But if she did… if she did take a step into it—
---
The sun had long since fallen past the horizon by the time she arrived. Of course it was dark. But it was a familiar place. Her old home. So she didn’t get lost even without a light. Because the Callaud property was very familiar to her.
“……”
An unusual sense of foreboding hung around the property.
“…Why?” Milk whispered, confused. She whispered that many, many times as she raced through the garden that seperated the front gate and the estate. She felt her heartbeat speed up. Because it was strange. This was the Callaud estate. The lights were never out in the evening, much less the dead of night. And they had over one hundred guardsmen, and kept dozens of guard dogs. But there was no one around now.
“But that’s…”
She ran as fast as she could towards the estate. But she didn’t see anyone, no matter how deep into the garden she got. Even though it was supposed to be crawling with people… There was her swordplay instructor, too, and her magic instructor, and her academic instructor… the employees and her parents were always here when she came to visit…
“A, Amy!” Milk screamed. “Nallua!!”
No one lit the lights when they heard her coming. The estate remained surrounded in darkness.
“…Th, this can’t be…”
Had they all moved away while she was on duty? No… that was impossible. The front door, which had just come into view, proved it.
because the Callaud estate’s entryway had always been huge, imposing, and above all impeccably well-kept. But when she came today, it was completely destroyed and left in little pieces, and the wall had been pierced, gouged, and burnt black.
Milk’s fingers shook as she pointed at it.
“…Was this… magic? Did magic do this…?”
She looked up at the darkness past the door.
“……”
She was speechless. She walked inside slowly. It was even worse than the outside. A fight had obviously taken place, and… she saw the one thing she hadn’t wanted to see.
Everything inside was a dark, murky color. It was one that she had become intimately familiar with during her time at the orphanage.
“…The color of blood,” Milk choked out.
She understood what had happened here. People had died.
Her father. Mother. Amy. Nallua.
“…But that’s…”
She shivered.
“…That’s…”
She recalled his father’s face. He was a very strict person, and he always hit Milk the second she messed up. But he wasn’t a bad person. He was strict, but… he had still raised her. Her mom always insulted her, but it wasn’t like she ever tried to kill Milk. Amy and Nallua had always been kind to her. There were even times where they’d called out to her… She’d always felt that they’d empathised with how hard her training was.
They were her family, too. A different family from the one she had with her team, but still her family.
“……”
Milk looked at the blood smeared across the wall. She didn’t know if it was the blood of her family or if it was someone else’s. It was possible that her family had managed to escape to a safe place. But she could still see what had happened here. Someone strong enough to deal extensive damage to a house protected by hundreds of guards had attacked.
And that was… it was…
“……”
Milk’s mind went blank.
“What’s happening here in Roland?” Milk asked the dark, empty manor.
The world seemed to wrap itself in a rose-colored peace. Everyone was smiling. Everyone cheered. It was wonderful. Everyone was happy, like it was a dream or something.
Nobody cried. Nobody hurt. It was a complete and perfect world.
Yes. It was so perfect that it would crumble with a touch.
But everyone was smiling. Everyone important to her was smiling.
Luke, Lear, Lach, Moe. Even Major Miller. Mmrgh. Not just them, either. Her strict adoptive father and her adoptive mother who hated her guts, her sisters who were incredibly kind to her - Lady Amy, Lady Nallua…
Everyone important to her was smiling.
It was okay. The world was going to keep getting better. It wouldn’t go back to the old Roland. Their king, Sion Astal, perfected the country.
“But then… then why?”
She looked around.
“Why… is it so dark here then?”
Her voice was sucked into the darkness, where it disappeared.
She was shivering. From loneliness. From fear. From despair… yes. Yes, this darkness was despair itself. It was a sudden realization. Of course that was what this was. But whose despair was it? It wasn’t hers. She knew that. She had a family, after all - Luke, Lear, Lach, Moe… they were her family who always smiled for her.
She wasn’t lonely or anything. And she wasn’t scared. So the despair that enveloped her…
“……”
Right then, she heard someone else through the darkness.
“…Augh, uu…”
Someone was whimpering.
“That voice…”
Who was it? It was terribly familiar. A voice that she felt was deeply precious to her.
And then she recalled.
Right. That voice was the reason she was alive now.
She lived for him, who was shivering in his isolation. She lived to stand by his side. Him, who was always cursed as a monster.
And then she realized something.
The darkness surrounding her now was the despair that haunted his heart.
And she was…
“W-wait! I’m coming to be with you right now, Ryner!” She said and ran. But it didn’t matter how much she ran. The distance between them stayed the same. “Why!?”
She was running and running, but he just kept getting farther and farther away.
“W, wait, Ryner! Don’t… don’t leave me here!”
She wanted to cry. Why was Ryner running away from her? Even though she lived to see him… she could never reach him. Why?
“…Why?”
She balled her hands into fists so tight that her nails dug into her palms. But…
“…Huh…?”
She realized something strange when she did: her nails didn’t hurt as they dug into her skin. Weird. She looked at her palms. But… she couldn’t see them.
“…This is…”
She crossed her arms in thought. Well, she couldn’t see her body so she couldn’t be sure of it, but she was pretty sure that she did.
Where was she and what was happening?
She had… a hunch. She looked around at the darkness.
“Is this… a dream?”
She tried to open her eyes. Because normally she woke up as soon as she realized she was dreaming.
“Um… I’m going to wake up now!” She yelled.
But the darkness around her didn’t waver.
“Come on, self, get up!”
That didn’t work either.
“We’re having curry for breakfast today!”
No dice.
“If we’re late, then Major Miller is going to get reeeallly mad at us, and his face’ll be super scary!” She imagined his face, stern and scary as could be. “Augh…”
She ended up scaring herself.
Anyway, it looked like she couldn’t wake up.
It didn’t matter how tired she was, or even if she’d just pulled an all nighter. If she thought about waking up, she should wake up. She’d been trained to do that as a child. So what was going on?
“…Maybe this is magic? Magic to make me sleep? Or maybe I’ve been bound…”
That was likely the case.
The darkness was encasing her. She couldn’t even see herself through it. It was characteristic of a spell that forced sleep known as Eve of White. It’d mean that her real-world self would be sleeping… no, in a comatose state. Suspended animation. Even her heart would have stopped. It was typically used to confine prisoners and human experiment subjects within their own minds so they couldn’t struggle… It was a spell that could preserve their semi-living bodies for whatever purpose their captors had.
There was a problem with that spell, though. Thirty percent of people who it was casted on died. Three in ten, to put it another way. But the old Roland hadn’t cared about that.
“Even if three in ten die, that’s still seven living hostages. It’s enough.”
That’s what Milk’s magic instructor had told her. Naturally, it was already a part of their country’s magic system before Sion had become king…
“…And now it’s been cast on me.”
But why?
An image rose up in her mind. It was the evening sky, moving towards night. Right. She’d heard that Ryner was coming back to Roland, so she and her team came back, too. They returned to the Taboo Hunters headquarters and reported to Major Miller. But she’d zoned all that out. Because she was thinking of Ryner. Thinking of her country. How she’d finally realized something that she had so stupidly never known until then.
“…….”
And then she made a mistake.
She was on her way back home in the dark. She remembered thinking about how terribly dark it was. How terribly dark the future of their country was. She just kept thinking about it as the darkness swelled around her.
No one could do anything about it, though. The sun had already gone down. So the darkness swelled. Into the shape of beasts. They were accompanied by a man with long, pitch black hair and cold, devil-like eyes.
“Now, then,” he said. “I’ve come to get you, Lieutenant Milk Callaud. Would you mind accompanying me? Everything will begin here.”
She ran away. But it didn’t do much good. The beasts just chased her. She could hardly fight against them…
“Uugh… I can’t remember anything after that…”
She’d probably been knocked unconscious, then forced to sleep with Eve of White.
“Hmhmhm…”
She crossed her arms and thought. This was serious. Apparently that strange, devil-like man had captured her, then casted magic to make her sleep and was keeping her hostage.
“…A hostage to get to who?”
Who would it get to if she was kidnapped? She realized the second she wondered. Luke and the others would worry so, so much. She had to get back soon…
But the spell binding her was powerful. It required three people and an exceptionally complex magic circle to make. She couldn’t break it all by herself… No, if anyone could do it alone… it had to be someone like him. Ryner Lute, the boy their orphanage had called a genius. He could use his Alpha Stigma to see through the spell and break through the prison she was in all on his own.
“…But it’s impossible for me…”
She looked around the darkness and sighed.
“Ryner sure is amazing…”
Still… she could do more than whimper like that. She could still think.
Why had she been kept inside a suspended state rather than killed? If she couldn’t even figure out why this was happening, then of course she wouldn’t know what to do if she woke up.
“Why was I captured?”
The most likely possibility was as a hostage to get to someone else. Who, though?
The possibilities were Luke, Major Miller, or…
“……”
Or… Ryner, maybe?
She shook her head vigorously.
“…No… there’s no way that I could be a hostage for Ryner… We haven’t seen each other in too long now…”
She thought of something she didn’t like. The fact that that blonde beauty was always by Ryner’s side. She was so, so beautiful, and had so much that Milk didn’t. And Ryner… had smiled so many times for her.
“……”
Countless times. He’d smiled at her countless times. She’d never seen him make that face… at the very least, she never managed to get him to make it back in the orphanage.
“…I wonder… if he likes her…?”
Her heart suddenly hurt. She pressed a hand to it to calm it. Dug her nails into it. But that didn’t hurt. If she couldn’t feel physical pain, then why could she still feel that…? She’d rather not…
“Uuh… It’s so frustrating…”
She was on the verge of tears. But it was alright, really. Because she was fine as long as Ryner smiled. She was happy as long as he was alive.
“Uuugh… when’d I get so greedy…? I’m gonna ruin my team’s image of me at this rate…”
She thought of Luke’s smile. Of Lear, Lach, and Moe’s faces…
‘That’s not true!’ was what they’d kindly reassure her with at times like this.
“You’re a good kid, Chief Milk.”
“…Mm.”
“It’s okay. We’ll always be with you. You’re a member of our family, after all.”
“Mm… I… I think so, too.”
It was true. She’d die for them. She’d finally found a family who worried about her and a place she could truly go home to.
Everyone in the orphanage had lived screaming and crying until they eventually died. She too had given up on living once. But Ryner had given her a reason to live. Then her team gave her a place to live. So even though her life was supposed to end back in that orphanage, she was able to live here and now.
It was sad, in a way.
People who desperately wanted to live died. But she’d given up on living once and was still given a second chance.
And she was so happy. What more could she possibly want?
Ryner.
She had always loved, admired, and searched for him. She wanted him to look at her and smile…
“…Don’t get greedy…”
Her voice was shaking.
She was glad that this was a dream. Because she could cry without anyone seeing her. Everyone worried if she wasn’t smiling. She was their chief, after all. She couldn’t lead the others astray. She had to have it together. She inhaled sharply to give herself the motivation speech she needed.
“…Yeah. I need to get it together. My team’s waiting for me. I have a place to go home to now… so I need to make my way there.”
Even if Ryner didn’t smile for her… she still had a home.
“I have to work hard,” Milk told herself.
She thought back to the man with long, pitch black hair and cold, devil-like eyes.
“Now, then. I’ve come to get you, Lieutenant Milk Callaud. Would you mind accompanying me? Everything will begin here.”
“Everything will begin here?” Milk repeated and tilted her head. “What does that mean?”
What was starting?
To be frank, she didn’t think that holding her captive as a hostage for Luke or Major Miller would work. Those two were geniuses, unlike her. They’d calmly and smartly figure out how to get her out of this. They were great at seeing the whole picture of things, and they were willing to die for her. And if somehow saving her would put the rest of the Taboo Hunters in danger, then they’d do her a favor and give up on her for their sakes instead.
If she was being held hostage to get to them, then she could relax. So what merit was there in her captor doing this? Who would it get to? Who would…
“…Uuhh… ahh…”
The whining on the other side of the darkness. She called his name.
“…Ryner.”
But her hands couldn’t reach him. She knew that she couldn’t reach him from within this dream. Even in the real world… he was so far away…
“…I could never… ahahah…”
Her laugh was dry and forced. She couldn’t help but think that she was weak… no, she didn’t have the time for sitting around and feeling sorry. She had to think.
“…Yeah. Let’s do it,” Milk said and flicked her head. She couldn’t feel it, of course. But she didn’t mind.
She’d been captured just as she realized the reason she existed.
Why had she been granted the rank of lieutenant and given a position as chief of a Taboo Hunter team so suddenly? Why was she given a mission that led her to Ryner, who she’d always been searching for? Was it all just a coincidence?
No. There was no way.
So what was it, then?
The answer was waiting for her since before she even thought to ask that question.
“I was… used by Sion Astal, to keep Ryner tied to this country… as hostage…”
That was why Ryner pretended to not know her even when they reunited. He hadn’t wanted to get her involved in it all.
“…Why would His Majesty do that? Why would he want to keep Ryner around to the point of making him a hostage?”
Milk recalled Sion Astal’s figure. She’d met him a number of times now, and he’d been perfect every single one. He always had a kind smile and noble gaze. He was the perfect image of their hero king, savior of all Roland. Everyone expected good things of him. Everyone believed that he could change their country. Everyone, everyone believed that he’d create a perfect world without tears or pain.
He was free of faults. He was an absolutely flawless king.
“…But… that shouldn’t be possible.”
Because perfection didn’t really exist. Everyone had a few flaws. Everyone had parts of them that they didn’t want others to see. Everyone had cracks that’d make them break with a simple touch.
Everyone had deep wounds that they didn’t want anyone else to see. Even so, they desperately wanted someone to brush their fingers against them… they weren’t capable of living in this world alone… and that went for everyone.
Those wounds were ugly, mangled things. But if someone would just touch them, caress them… then they’d become very dear. They’d want to say that they loved them for it. Everyone was like that.
They always seemed so perfect. That’s why she’d never realized it.
The boy who everyone called a genius, a perfect killing machine.
The boy who everyone wished for, their beloved hero king.
They had wounds deeper than anyone else, but they still smiled like they didn’t mind. Just like that, they tried to make a country where everyone could smile.
But if someone touched it. If they just reached a finger out to brush it… then the whole country would crumble to dust.
Sion Astal had kept her hostage to force Ryner Lute to keep his ties to their country. And that was very…
“…That’s sick…”
What was Sion feeling under that kind smile? What thoughts lied behind those willful golden eyes? He had a mask of perfection that never broke. But there was certainly darkness within their absolutely flawless king… and what was inside of that darkness?
In… the depths of his darkness—
“…Uuhh… aahh…. hgh…”
Muffled noises leaked through the darkness. Ryner was crying again. She had to save him.
She had to… save him from Sion Astal.
“Wait for me, Ryner.”
Milk broke out in a run. She’d make it through the darkness this time. She’d reach him this time.
“Wait for me. I’m coming for you now. Wait for me!”
She ran as fast as she could. The distance between them slowly, slowly faded, giving way to his back.
“I-I’m here,” Milk said. “I… I’m here by your side, Ryner… Y, you won’t be alone anymore. So you don’t have to cr—”
He turned around. But he wasn’t… he wasn’t Ryner.
It was a kid. A crying child with unkempt silver hair and tear-stained golden eyes.
Sion.
Sion Astal…
She couldn’t move.
He looked at her… and spoke with a fragile voice completely lacking in confidence. “I… I just want to die…”
And she—
---
She lost consciousness.
When she next came to…
Her whole body was tense, and she didn’t really know what was going on, but she was truly conscious… so she’d been freed from that spell.
Now if only her head would work…
“I… I just want to die…”
Milk groaned as Sion’s voice echoed in her head. No. What she saw in her dream wouldn’t make her turn back now.
She had to see what was happening in the real world now. Was she in enemy territory?
Someone who had been released from the spell Eve of White would remain sleeping for another few hours before waking. It was possible that her surveillance was weak at the moment. So this might be her chance. She hadn’t been able to do anything against that devil-like man with the shadow beasts, but… if he’d left a simple soldier to wait for her to wake up, she should be able to manage.
That was pretty optimistic, though…
Honestly, it was so optimistic that it was probably impossible. That devil-like man had called her Lieutenant Milk Callaud. He knew her name and rank. So he also knew how strong she was.
She had soft flaxen hair and big, cute eyes. She was sixteen but often mistaken for a twelve or thirteen year old. Because of that, enemies often underestimated her and accidentally let her win pretty easily.
But this last time was different. She’d been taken out before she could say a thing. He knocked her out and cast that spell to force her into a coma so she wouldn’t wake up. He wasn’t the type of opponent who was overconfident in his ability to win or the type who went feral at the sight of a woman. Instead, he was the type to calmly carry out his plan. The hard-to-deal-with type who didn’t leave any gaps. Would someone like that really look down on her and leave her unguarded?
Nope. No way.
But it was all over if she gave up here…
She had to struggle until the last possible second. Luke and the others were surely worried about her even now.
The problem… was how long she might’ve been sleeping.
That spell was meant to keep hostages asleep for as long as necessary. They stayed alive - or at least, able to wake up - but their muscles weakened with disuse. If she’d been asleep for years, she wouldn’t be able to move anymore. And if she couldn’t move, she couldn’t run.
She should be okay if it was a few months, though…
She couldn’t move now to check. Because she was almost certainly being watched. She couldn’t even open her eyes. The best she could do was look through the very smallest of gaps in her eyelids.
All she could see was the ceiling… and some plain white walls. It really didn’t look like a jail cell. It was just a room. And it didn’t look like a very big one.
As for if there were any others here…
“……”
There were.
She couldn’t look at them from her current place, but she could tell that there was someone right by here. They were enthusiastically reading something… though she didn’t know what.
Anyway, she had a guard. One whose presence she didn’t notice until looking directly over, no less. That was all it took to know that they were strong. Or was it that her senses had dulled as she slept?
That didn’t really matter.
All that mattered was that she was in a bad place right now. She whimpered inside her heart.
It’d be really difficult for her to defeat her guard. She might be able to run away, though… well, that was if this was the only guard here. She couldn’t be sure, and it was over for her if there were others. So what should she do? Pretend to be asleep and wait for a better opportunity to present itself?
“……”
Milk’s chest clenched up. No, she didn’t want that.
She couldn’t stay here forever. Her captor had chosen to wake her for a reason… and she’d burden someone by staying here to be a hostage. Though she still didn’t know who specifically.
She had to escape before she could be tortured to force someone to do something. That or find a way to die here.
“……”
Milk steeled her resolve and tensed herself… then urged her body to move.
Her reflexes were dull. But her body was still responding to her.
Move!
She felt her body wake up. Her nerves fired impulses to her muscles.
She’d be okay. She was moving alright.
Her best estimate was that she’d been asleep for a few months. Of course she wouldn’t be able to get the same strength from before back in moments, but… she still had to escape.
The guard on her left still hadn’t noticed that she’d woken up.
If she was gonna do it, now was the time.
Milk ran through the steps in her mind. She’d open her eyes, then use her left hand to cover their mouth. After that, she’d use her right hand to incapacitate them, hit them, break their neck… whatever it took, depending on how strong they were and what it took to make them lose consciousness. If they were too strong for her to knock out, then she’d figure out how to deal with them just long enough to escape.
Milk inhaled as quietly as she could to make sure her muscles had the oxygen to move. Then—
“Haugh!”
She exhaled loudly and jumped up, then threw her left hand to cover the mouth of her guard, who had been reading…
“……”
Despair.
That’s what she felt.
Because she didn’t just have one guard. There were four total here. She raised her fist up to fight, but they were faster than she was.
The first to react was a man who was behind her… no, more like a teenager than a man? He was just a little older than Milk, and definitely still had a boyish look to him. For some reason, his face filled with tears when he saw her.
“Ch-chief M-M-M-Miilllkk!!!”
“Wha, no way… Moe!?” Milk yelled as he threw himself at her for a hug.
A willful teen the same age as Moe kicked him out of the way. “The chief’s sick, idiot! Don’t jump her!”
“Lach!?” Milk said, shocked.
For some reason, he was crying, too. “Ah… augh, shit! I really… I’m really glad you’re alive, Chief… I… I’d already given up hope… Chieef Miilllkk!!”
This time Lach jumped at her for a hug.
“Hey!” The man to her back said. He had a shapely face and spoke calmly. “You yourself are the one who said not to make a fuss while she’s sick, weren’t you? The chief’s tired. Do her a favor and be quiet, okay?”
Milk was familiar with him, too. “Lear…”
“…Do you hurt at all?” Lear asked.
Milk shook her head.
“I’m glad,” Lear said, relieved. He smiled.
Milk then looked over at the man she’d originally thought was her guard. He was reading a book titled Kids’ Early Rising Makes a Kid Energetic, but he’d looked up from the commotion. Milk knew him too, of course. Luke. Luke Stokkart. He was only twenty-five years old but his hair was all white, and he was tall, and he always watched over everyone kindly, just like he was doing now.
Luke spoke with the same gentle voice as always - the kind of voice that made him sound like he was pampering a kid. “Geez… You’ve overslept, Princess.”
“…Ah….”
His voice was so calm and comforting. The tension instantly drained from her body. The hole in her stomach closed. She’d been prepared to die just now, but all it took was his smile to make her feel the true warmth of the atmosphere surrounding her.
“I-I… But I was a hostage, and…”
“It’s alright now,” Luke said. He pet her head and smiled with the full kindness of someone comforting a small child. Just looking at how relaxed he was was enough to calm her and feel like things really were okay. Because she was home. She didn’t have to worry anymore.
“B, but… um, um, I…”
“It’s alright now,” Luke repeated. “You don’t have to worry about anything now.”
“Uh… mm. Yeah. But—”
“Now, now, this is our long-awaited reunion. I’ll make anything you’d like today! What do you want to eat for dinner?”
“No, I—”
Moe raised his hand up high. “Oh, me! Pick me! I really want to have some curry!”
“He didn’t ask what you wanted!” Lach said.
“What!? Does that mean you don’t want any curry!?”
“…No, I mean, I do want some, but…”
“Come on, you know what I mean, right?” Moe asked. “We’re having a party, and when you think of parties you think of curry, right? So let’s have a curry party!”
Luke smiled bitterly. “Geez, you two can’t help yourselves… alright, I’ll make you guys some curry. Chief Milk, what would you like t—”
Lear interrupted, troubled. “You’re the one who can’t help yourself, Luke… You aren’t going to make our sick chief eat curry of all things, are you? We aren’t having a party, either. She should have porridge and stay inside and rest for today.”
“What!?” Moe and Lach yelled in unison.
“Ahh… you guys never change, huh?” Milk said.
Luke was apologetic. “I wasn’t thinking… I guess curry would taste awful to you since you’re sick in bed…”
“Pull it together, Luke,” Lear said.
Moe and Lach cackled as they exchanged a look. “Yeah, pull it together!”
“I don’t want to hear that from you guys!” Luke said, angry.
Everyone laughed. Milk ended up laughing, too.
Right. Everything was just like normal. She was home now. She knew that for a fact when she looked at Luke and the others. She was truly, truly blessed.
She didn’t have to worry about anything anymore. It was okay now. Nothing had changed. Everyone was still smiling kindly and laughing.
“……”
She’d wanted to ask what had happened before she was interrupted and redirected to something more fun that they could laugh about. Even though something had definitely happened. Something was happening right now! Here in Roland!
Milk looked at Luke.
“…Hey,” she said.
Luke shook his head. “It’s alright now. Everything’s already said and done. So let’s take it easy, just for today… okay?”
“……”
Milk was quiet.
Just for today, huh? Did that mean he’d tell her tomorrow?
“……”
No. She was certain that he wouldn’t tell her if it was something that would put her in danger, even if he knew exactly what was happening. How much did he really know? Did he know what was happening in Roland now? Did he know… about Milk’s place between Ryner and Sion…?
“Hmm…”
Milk crossed her arms in thought. But Luke soon distracted her by tapping. “Alright! Today I’ll make porriage good enough to knock your socks off!”
“Ughhh,” Lach said. “I hate porrigeee.”
“Whaat!?” Moe said, shocked. “Why?”
“The texture is just so gross! All like, gooey, you know?”
“Why don’t you try putting curry in it?” Moe asked.
“Whoa! Moe, you’re seriously on the ball today!”
“Give up on the curry already,” Lear said and grabbed both of them by the collar. “And don’t be so loud while the chief’s recovering. Leave the room if you’re going to yell.” With that, he dragged them out of the room.
Luke stood. “I suppose I ought to start that porridge. Why don’t you try to rest a bit, Chief? The sleep that Eve of White gives you is fake, so one wakes up awfully tired.”
Now that he mentioned it, her head did feel pretty heavy. She hadn’t realized it from the adrenaline of thinking she was still captured and then the excitement of seeing everyone again. But now that she realized… she was being attacked by an overwhelming exhaustion. She yawned real big.
Luke smiled and gently pushed her shoulders back down to her bed. “Try to get some sleep, okay? Everything’s all taken care of, and there will be some delicious porridge waiting for you when you wake up again.”
“…Okay,” Milk said and nodded.
“And then we can have a curry party tomorrow!” Moe said from by the door. “So have a good dream about it, okay!?”
“Yeah,” Milk said and nodded real big again.
“Good night,” everyone said and left.
“……”
But Milk didn’t sleep. She couldn’t, knowing that she didn’t know anything, and had needed to be protected. What had she gotten herself into? What was Luke doing that she didn’t know about?
Milk strained her ears to hear what they were talking about outside of her room. They were speaking quietly and it was hard to make much out. But she could catch a little bit of it.
First she heard Lear. “I’ll tell Kaiwel…”
She couldn’t make out the rest of what Lear said. But she could hear Luke’s response. “Please do. He must have been worried, too.”
“…By the way, Fro—”
“Don’t worry. The Major will soon—”
“…I see.”
“Mm.”
“…Then…”
“……”
They moved farther away. She couldn’t make out anything else. But…
Milk looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. No matter how tired she might be, she just didn’t feel like sleeping. She was too uneasy. She thought of Luke and the others, who had silenced her worries many times and smiled instead.
“…Seriously, what’s going on?”
Why had she been promoted to a lieutenant so suddenly? Why had she been given the duty of leading a team of Taboo Hunters? Who had kidnapped her and why? How had Luke and the others saved her? What were they hiding from her? What problem lay at the center of this all?
“…That dream,” Milk whispered.
The dream she saw inside Eve of White…
“…Whose despair was that…?”
She’d thought that it was Ryner’s at first. Ryner, who had always been called a genius, called a monster, who had sunken deep into the darkness of isolation. But that wasn’t right.
“…I’ve been kept hostage to keep Ryner tied down…”
And the one who had tied him there was the king of their country. But…
“…Why would His Majesty want Ryner that badly?”
She could think of countless possibilities. But did he need to take a hostage for any of them?
Maybe her theory was what was wrong…? If that was the case, then it meant that His Majesty wasn’t involved in anything that had just happened… and that just didn’t seem to be true. After all, Luke and Lear had mentioned Kaiwel in their conversation just outside of her door. She recognized that name.
Major General Calne Kaiwel was well-known in Roland. He was one of Sion Astal’s right hand men at about the same level as Crimson-Fingered Claugh Klom.
Why did Lear mention him?
“I’ll tell Kaiwel…”
He’d said it casually. Familiarly.
Lear was a corporal. The difference in status between him and Major General Kaiwel was far too significant for him to talk about him so familiarly. He could have given the death penalty for his disrespect if this was the old Roland.
She thought of Luke’s response next.
“Please do. He must have been worried, too.”
“What did he mean? Worried about my abduction? Why would His Excellency Major General Kaiwel worry about me…? If anyone should be worried, wasn’t it His Majesty himself, who needed me as a hostage for Ryner…?”
Sion Astal needed her as a hostage. Maybe she could see something new if she started from that. She felt like she could, but…
“Uuh… I can’t see a thing!”
What in the world was happening in Roland? She had to start investigating from there.
“Hrmm… and I know that Luke and the others won’t tell me a thing…”
Milk crossed her arms and groaned.
In any case, she knew that she was being excluded. She was sure that they were just doing it to protect her, but it couldn’t go on forever.
“…I’ve gotta look into it myself. I’ll just need everyone to protect me all the time if I don’t wise up, after all, and I hate that. But… where do I even start? Don’t I know anyone in the military upper rungs… ?”
She thought for a moment, then opened her eyes wide.
“…Wait! I do have connections!”
She’d reached that thought through a short train of thought.
1. Didn’t she know anyone important? Like, in the military’s upper rungs?
2. She thought of the king when she thought of ‘important people.’
3. The next on the list of important people had to be the nobility.
4. The Callaud family was nobility.
5. W-wait, her father was a noble!?
No, wait, this wasn’t the time to be surprised about that.
Still, she felt like she’d won the second she thought it.
“Awawah… b, but I wonder if my father wouldn’t be angry if I came back home after making such a big mistake…?”
She pictured her father’s strict expression in her mind. He’d raise the club he always used to punish her and hit her…
“Uuughh… Scaryyy…”
Milk shivered. He’d definitely be mad, and not just about her failure. He’d also be mad about how she never came home to visit. A-and he’d be mad about her eating cake even though he’d forbidden her from it, and there were all sorts of other things he’d be mad about, too.
“But I have to go home…”
This wasn’t the time to be scared.
“Yeah. I have to go home and properly greet him… a, and then ask him a little about what’s happening in this country. Okay! With that out of the way…”
Milk stood on the bed and looked out the window. The sky was dyed a deep red outside it. Apparently the sun was setting. It’d soon turn to night. And Luke was right. She was absolutely exhausted. But she couldn’t just lay around and sleep, and she couldn’t let Luke protect her forever, either. So she jumped up from the bed, settling her feet on the windowsill as quietly as possible. Then she opened it.
“…I really don’t want to go home… but I’ll do my best and do it anyway!” Then she turned back towards the room. “Sorry, everyone, I’m going out for a bit. But I promise to be back by dinner… so, um… see you later!”
She jumped out of the window. She had been on the fourth floor of a five storey building. But that meant nothing to her.
---
That was her first step into the puzzle of malice that surrounded their country. The points and lines had long since tangled together, and now it was nigh on impossible to solve. She couldn’t touch it. It couldn’t be touched. But if she did… if she did take a step into it—
---
The sun had long since fallen past the horizon by the time she arrived. Of course it was dark. But it was a familiar place. Her old home. So she didn’t get lost even without a light. Because the Callaud property was very familiar to her.
“……”
An unusual sense of foreboding hung around the property.
“…Why?” Milk whispered, confused. She whispered that many, many times as she raced through the garden that seperated the front gate and the estate. She felt her heartbeat speed up. Because it was strange. This was the Callaud estate. The lights were never out in the evening, much less the dead of night. And they had over one hundred guardsmen, and kept dozens of guard dogs. But there was no one around now.
“But that’s…”
She ran as fast as she could towards the estate. But she didn’t see anyone, no matter how deep into the garden she got. Even though it was supposed to be crawling with people… There was her swordplay instructor, too, and her magic instructor, and her academic instructor… the employees and her parents were always here when she came to visit…
“A, Amy!” Milk screamed. “Nallua!!”
No one lit the lights when they heard her coming. The estate remained surrounded in darkness.
“…Th, this can’t be…”
Had they all moved away while she was on duty? No… that was impossible. The front door, which had just come into view, proved it.
because the Callaud estate’s entryway had always been huge, imposing, and above all impeccably well-kept. But when she came today, it was completely destroyed and left in little pieces, and the wall had been pierced, gouged, and burnt black.
Milk’s fingers shook as she pointed at it.
“…Was this… magic? Did magic do this…?”
She looked up at the darkness past the door.
“……”
She was speechless. She walked inside slowly. It was even worse than the outside. A fight had obviously taken place, and… she saw the one thing she hadn’t wanted to see.
Everything inside was a dark, murky color. It was one that she had become intimately familiar with during her time at the orphanage.
“…The color of blood,” Milk choked out.
She understood what had happened here. People had died.
Her father. Mother. Amy. Nallua.
“…But that’s…”
She shivered.
“…That’s…”
She recalled his father’s face. He was a very strict person, and he always hit Milk the second she messed up. But he wasn’t a bad person. He was strict, but… he had still raised her. Her mom always insulted her, but it wasn’t like she ever tried to kill Milk. Amy and Nallua had always been kind to her. There were even times where they’d called out to her… She’d always felt that they’d empathised with how hard her training was.
They were her family, too. A different family from the one she had with her team, but still her family.
“……”
Milk looked at the blood smeared across the wall. She didn’t know if it was the blood of her family or if it was someone else’s. It was possible that her family had managed to escape to a safe place. But she could still see what had happened here. Someone strong enough to deal extensive damage to a house protected by hundreds of guards had attacked.
And that was… it was…
“……”
Milk’s mind went blank.
“What’s happening here in Roland?” Milk asked the dark, empty manor.
