Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

Chapter 7.16

As the red sunset began to fade into the shadows of the forest, people were hurrying home after a day's work in the commercial district of Arcazam.

In the crowd of people, there were Lisa and Camilla.

The two continued to walk through the chaotic streets, aiming for their own destination.

Eventually, they stopped in front of a store.

The stall was crammed with all sorts of goods, both old and new, from the East and West. It was a fortune teller's shop run by an old man who called himself Zonne.

The commercial district was supposed to be a crowded place. However, for some reason, the area in front of the stall was deserted, not a single cat was to be seen.

"So, are you sure you want to go in?"

“…………”

Lisa swallows her spit due to Camilla's question who was asking to confirm her suspicions.

Since Nozomu woke up, Lisa had not been able to talk to him at all. Partly because Nozomu was extremely busy, but also because Lisa was reluctant with the idea of meeting him.

On the day Nozomu woke up, Lisa clearly sensed the depth of the bond between Nozomu and Irisdina and the others.

Clenching her lips tightly to suppress her squirming heart, Lisa looked up at Zonne's stall.

According to Camilla, the old man was not only ridiculously powerful, but he also seemed to know quite a lot about Nozomu.

"I understand your desire to know more about Nozomu's power, but wouldn't it be better if we could talk to him first? Looks like we still have a chance, and we just need to be patient for a week, okay?"

As Camilla said, according to Norn-sensei, they will get a chance to talk to Nozomu if they wait.

Frankly, there was no need for them to meet with that old man.

But Lisa remained silent and continued to walk forward. Part of it was her own impatience, but most of all, Lisa wanted to be sure of something.

"That's not an answer!"

At that moment, Lisa and Camilla's ears heard a loud yell.

Lisa and Camilla were involuntarily shocked due to the yells that suddenly echoed through the stall.

When they peeked behind the stall to see what was going on, they saw an old man with white hair sitting on a chair with a silver-haired girl rushing towards him.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you telling me not to touch it?!"

The white-haired old man, Zonne, did not respond to the girl's questioning at all but instead meditated with his arms crossed and smoked a cigarette.

The girl's face grew even fiercer at Zonne's complete refusal to answer.

Faced with such an atmosphere, Lisa and Camilla involuntarily hide behind the curtains.

"W-, what happened?"

"Looks like they had a fight..."

They didn't know who the girl was or what was going on, but they could sense the strange atmosphere.

Lisa and Camilla quietly held their breath. Zonne, who was silent, slowly raised his face.

"I told you, Azel. I told you to leave it alone ..."

His voice was so dignified and heavy that it was hard to believe that he was the same pervy old man who sexually harassed Lisa. His voice was so quiet that it could have been missed, but it had such a powerful tone that even Lisa and Camilla who were peeking from the side could not help but gasp.

"There is no way we can just leave it there! If we are not careful, this whole land will be burned to ashes!"

Zonne's words could be called a warning. However, the silver-haired girl called Azel raised her voice in a rough tone as if to deny Zonne's words outright.

"That's not all! If it were resurrected, there is no doubt that it will once again turn its fangs against its own people!"

If it were resurrected, turn its fangs against its own people. Words that Lisa and Camilla could not understand at all.

But in Lisa's mind, she had a vague feeling that they were referring to Nozomu.

"But there are signs. Signs that it can dispel all the darkness in the land. We can't seal the boy up without knowing what he's going to do. Besides, you know that we are not yet prepared enough to get involved in this matter..."

"What are you talking about! That guy is an enemy! And now that she's out of the seal, the dragon veins have become unstable! The effect is..."

The word "boy" was uttered by Zonne. That was the word that Zonne had used to refer to Nozomu when he first came into contact with Lisa.

However, more than that, Azel's words stuck in Lisa's mind.

The existence that had escaped from the seal. That was their enemy, and Nozomu was deeply involved. Lisa intuitively understood this.

"What in the world is Nozomu involved in?"

Lisa unintentionally leaned forward. At that moment, her elbow pushed a bronze statue near the curtain that she wasn't sure what it was there for.

"Ah!"

With a clanking sound, the bronze statue rolled on the ground.

Hearing this sound, Azel, who had been standing close to Zonne, turned around in an instant.

"Human!? How did you get here despite the barrier..."

"U-, umm ... pardon me. It looks like you are in the middle of something..."

"~ !?"

Azel, who had frozen with a look of surprise, unexpectedly raised her right hand.

A light bullet appeared in her right hand. Seeing the magic bullet that contained clear hostility, Lisa and Camilla involuntarily braced themselves.

"Azel, will you stop?"

However, the light bullet created by Azel was never released. Zonne snapped his fingers, and Azel's light bullets quickly dissipated like mist.

"Grandfather!"

"The conclusion remains the same. You stay out of this. That is an order."

Turning to Zonne, Azel raised her voice as if to denounce him. Zonne, however, cut off Azel's protests in a matter-of-fact tone.

Azel's face contorted and she clenched her teeth in frustration before turning on her heel and running out of the store.

Zonne watched her back as he exhaled a sigh and turned to Lisa and the Camilla.

"I'm sorry, ladies, for making a scene. I'll make sure she gets an earful later.

“…………”

Lisa and Camilla remained silent, staring at Zonne. The look in their eyes carried various colors of suspicion.

"It's all right. I know exactly where she is and what she is doing. Well, sit down."

Prompted by Zonne, Lisa slowly took her seat facing Zonne.

Camilla, perhaps wary of Zonne, stood behind Lisa and gave Zonne a stern look.

"So, if you ladies are here, does that mean you want to ask me about the boy?"

"......"

"Lisa ..."

Camilla was looking at Lisa's back with some implied look.

She was probably saying, "Is it really okay to hear about Nozomu's secret here?".

Camilla thought that Nozomu's secret would be something they couldn't even imagine.

That was why she also thought that if they were to truly confront Nozomu, they should hear it from Nozomu himself.

Despite noticing Camilla's gaze, Lisa didn't look back but continued to face Zonne straight on.

Then Lisa opened her mouth.

"Oldman, you know about Nozomu, don't you?"

"...I certainly know him quite well. Without a doubt, I know about the source of his power and his own power more than he does."

Lisa's question was to confirm her answer. Zonne also answered in a light tone, as if making small talk, while playing with a cigarette in his hand.

However, there was tension between the two. It was as if no one could interrupt them. So much so that Camilla, who was about to interject Lisa, involuntarily went silent.

"Are you Nozomu's enemy?"

"I can be an enemy or an ally. It depends on the boy."

Lisa's eyes gradually became more serious as she continued to ask questions, and she began to feel tense and intimidated as if her skin was being pricked.

The tension that had been building up in the room grew even stronger, and before Camilla could do anything but watch from the sidelines, a large bead of sweat had formed on her forehead.

They couldn't judge the old man whether he was friend or foe. His strength was probably so great that even Lisa and Camilla could not win against him.

Even in the face of such an unknown and powerful man, Lisa showed no signs of hesitation and continued the conversation.

"Jihad-sensei as well?"

"As for him, he is on the boy's side for now. But that also depends on the situation. Whichever path the boy takes, it won't be a picnic anymore. It's still all right now, but that boy has already made himself too conspicuous in many ways."

Although it was still calm now, he would eventually be caught up in the chaos of this continent.

Zonne didn't even lie about that, but straightly stated the position that Nozomu had been placed in.

"……Is that so."

“………”

Both were silent. The atmosphere was quiet and still in the stall, and only the smoke from the smoldering cigarette flowed silently through the space.

Eventually, Lisa took a deep breath, as if to calm herself.

Zonne and Camilla both braced themselves due to her gesture. It was as if the time to ask about Nozomu's secret had finally come.

"Come to think of it, you're a fortune-teller, right?"

However, what came out of Lisa's mouth was something the two did not expect.

Both Zonne and Camilla froze as if they had been hit by a peashooter.

"Ha? Well, yes I am, but ......"

Zonne, who had been preparing himself for it, was so taken aback that he let slip a few words that sounded like a pause.

"Then, can you tell me one thing?"

"... Haa?"

"Wha, Lisa! Eeh !?"

Camilla and Zonne were puzzled by her sudden words and actions.

Leaving the two perplexed, Lisa began to talk about her fortune-telling.

While the slightly lukewarm air filled the room, for some reason, Lisa was the only one with serious eyes waiting for the result of her fortune-telling.

===================================

Zonne let out a small sigh as he watched Lisa and Camilla's backs disappear into the darkness of the night.

"In the end, that young lady didn't ask me anything ......."

In the end, Lisa never asked Zonne about Nozomu's secret.

She just did her own brief fortune-telling and made a little small talk, and that was the end of it.

As for Zonne, who had been thinking about this and that, he remained distracted from beginning to end.

Was it really unnecessary to ask about the boy's secret? Zonne had asked her such a question, but Lisa answered clearly with a self-mocking smile on her lips.

(I am not even qualified to ask about Nozomu's secret right now. I will get to know it if I can get him to tell me his secret when I face him myself.)

She muttered, "I still can't catch up with Irisdina and the others", with a sad expression on her face.

She couldn't bring herself to ask about Nozomu's secret now. She just wanted to get a glimpse of what was going on around him.

That was Lisa's answer.

Perhaps she wanted to see where she stood one more time before confronting Nozomu.

Zonne once again watched Lisa's back as she walked away.

When he first saw her, she was so weak that she could have fallen if pushed. Now, however, her back was surprisingly beautiful.

"I'm really surprised at how much the young lady has changed just because the boy is safe. It's all thanks to that boy ..."

Perhaps ...... no, definitely.

People can walk in the dark with the help of a little light.

"I am a little jealous, even though I am an old man."

While feeling slight jealousy toward the boy who could be such a little light, a gentle smile appeared on Zonne's mouth.

"We are not qualified to be involved, but it's time for us to make up our minds ......."

It's about time. The boy's abilities were beginning to awaken and Tiamat was getting impatient.

The recent incident had dispelled one of his concerns. Only one thing left.

If it could be solved, at that time, surely ......

"For now, let's try to persuade my grumpy granddaughter."

After reaffirming what he needed to do, Zonne turned on his heel and began walking in the opposite direction of Lisa and Camilla.

The smile on his face was still there.

====================================

A silver-haired girl stood alone on the outer edge of Arcazam, where the starry sky glittered.

The cold night air combined with the light from the stars made for a fantastic sight, but the girl gave off a dark atmosphere that made her difficult to approach even from the side.

Azel's palms were clenched tightly and she bit her lip so hard it looked like it was going to bleed.

As she gazed at Arcazam illuminated by the starlight, she remembered the exchange she had just had with her grandfather.

"~!"

Azel glared at the cityscape spread out before her while distorting her un-human-like appearance in frustration.

"I can't let that abomination of a dragon go unchecked..."

What came to her mind was a dragon that once engulfed this continent in flames. The existence that said to have slaughtered all of its own kind and went to great lengths to destroy them.

That person had told her to stay out of it, but there was no way she could leave such an existence untouched.

"If that person won't move, then I will just finish it off by myself."

With this renewed determination, she took something out of her pocket.

She pulled out a crystal the size of her fist. Azel looked at the crystal and smiled gently.

The cloudy crystal emitted a warm glow, and upon closer inspection, one could see that there was a shiny ornament embedded within it.

The moment she saw the crystal, Azel's cheeks suddenly relaxed.

Her face was calm and peaceful, unlike the one she had been wearing a moment before. She clutched the crystal tightly as if in prayer.

"Father, please don't worry. I will end this for sure."

Azel put it away in her pocket. She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving her own claw marks in the palm of her hand.

===============================

A room in a mansion built in a corner of the administrative district. The light from the candle and fireplace in the dimly lit room illuminated two figures.

One was a bewitching woman wearing a mourning dress. The other one was a hooded figure kneeling at her feet.

"So what were the results of your investigation?"

The bewitching woman, Mekria, prompted her only remaining subordinate, who fearfully took a sheaf of papers from his pocket and presented them to Mekria.

"H-, here it is ..."

Quickly scanning the documents handed to her, Mekria immediately put the report together, lit it with a candle, and tossed it into the fireplace.

"...... This is the extent of it? You can find out this stuff with a little research around him. Do not disappoint me."

Mekria looked down at her subordinate with a disappointed gaze and let out a sigh as if to say she was dismayed.

What was written in the handed-out documents were the details of the combat training at the martial arts garden and Nozomu's past, such as his hometown or how he came to be in Arcazam. None of the information was of any importance.

Indeed, the only subordinate left in the city was the man who lowered his head in front of her. It may be true that they were short-handed, but they still could have done a little more research.

Under Mekria's piercing gaze, her subordinate took another bundle of documents from his pocket with a panicked look on his face.

"I-, I'm sorry! But there are still other documents ......."

Mekria's eyes narrowed as she looked over the document handed to her again.

What was written there was an incident that occurred a few months ago at the Francilt Mansion, in which a magical tool had gone out of control.

The entire mansion was surrounded by barriers, and the servants and others in the house were found unconscious.

There were no deaths and only a few of them injured, but the student in question was involved with someone who was inside the mansion.

As a result of his investigation, he came across information that the Francilt Household had been in contact with strange foreign powers in recent days.

And that their contacts were related to the Dizzard Empire, with which diplomatic relations had not yet been established.

"I see, this may indeed be good information. However, it might be difficult to just use this information to drag down Victor and the others."

"W-, what do you mean?"

It was information that could be used to disrupt the Francilt Hosehold's position, depending on how it was used.

However, Mekria's reaction was not as positive as her subordinate thought.

When her subordinate asked her what she meant, Mekria quietly got up from her seat, took out a palm-sized piece of paper from a cupboard, and handed it over to her subordinate.

"The other day, I received this document from our home country."

A small piece of paper, probably delivered by carrier pigeon.

However, the contents of the paper were not something that her subordinate would have believed.

"S-, such a thing ..."

"The content is surprising, but considering the future and the great invasion, it is not hard to understand that the intention is to secure as much strength as possible. Besides, since His Majesty has given his approval, if we denounce Victor for this matter, there is a possibility that the blame will rather be pointed at us."

The subordinate was silenced by Mekria's words.

The letter was about the establishment of limited diplomatic relations between Forsina and the Dizzard Empire. The letter stated that the Francilt Household was negotiating in secret for this purpose.

There was no mention of the content of the negotiations, but if the contents of this letter were true, it would mean that His Majesty approved of the actions of the Francylt Household. To refute that decision would be to go against His Majesty's will.

"You should continue your investigation. Don't be distracted ..."

"Yes, I understand."

Mekria urged her subordinate and looked out the window.

The presence of her subordinate disappeared.

"That's about as far as it goes .... Anyway, what should I do with this information?"

Currently, the Dizzard Empire did not interact with other countries. The reason for the country's founding and its overwhelming military might had caused other countries to have a kind of contradictory feeling of admiration and threat.

Once again, Mekria looked at the letter that was sent to her.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between the Francilt Household and the Dizzard Empire, which His Majesty was trying to do in secret.

It was unclear what form of diplomacy would be conducted, but considering the reason for the founding of the empire, a hasty establishment of diplomatic relations will only cause unease among the people.

That was why the negotiations this time around would really only be small-scale exchanges. It will take several years, maybe even decades, to establish full diplomatic relations.

However, it would not be a bad thing if this negotiation could lead to even slight progress in the relationship between the two countries.

"It's not a bad thing, but as far as the Fabran Household is concerned, it's probably not an interesting one."

The Francilt and Fabran.

Both had major positions in the country of Forsina, but the two families often clashed in political circles, perhaps because the heads of the two families shared opposing views.

Egrod Fabran, head of the Fabran Household, would be against this matter. He was very conservative and would not approve of diplomatic relations with the Dizzard Empire, which was made up of races that have been branded as heretics.

However, as long as His Majesty was involved, he simply couldn't voice his condemnation loudly enough.

In fact, Egrod's context in the letter conveying this fact was one of dissatisfaction regarding these negotiations.

"There is no reason to waste it. Let us take advantage of this opportunity."

As for Mekria, she had no intention of backing down here.

She had done a great deal for the Fabran. And some of her actions were tacitly approved by the head of the family.

"From what we've gathered, the details of the negotiations aren't easy to figure out. If we can't use Fabran's pawns, we'll have to ask the Corpse Raven for help..."

While muttering so, Mekria reached into her pocket.

The one that came out was a red-eyed raven.

The inorganic red eyes gleamed, and the jet-black raven opened its beak as if begging for food.

"Can you hear me?"

Mekria spoke to a raven with its mouth wide open, as if she were talking to someone beyond it.