Even as a plate shattered, Ina stood completely still, as though time was frozen.
Azure Skies. Liebe. Hearing those two things froze her slender body like a large file.
“Request explanation. Ina, there is a disturbance in your behavior.”
“Eh, ah, I-I’m sorry!!”
Once she heard Qualia’s voice, Ina finally understood her situation.
Lobelia quickly brought a towel, and Ina grabbed it and started wiping the floor and picking up the broken pieces.
But Kernel was quicker to pick up the pieces.
“Whoa. We don’t want you to get hurt.”
“H-hum, I’m sorry!”
“Don’t worry darling. You seemed surprised by something.”
As Kernel said this, he continued to pick up the pieces, and yelled at the Clearance knights.
“Hey you two! How about helping!? What, you want a girl to do all the housework!? Don’t I always tell you to be kind to girls!?”
“Ah, I’m sorry!”
Clearance also started cleaning after being yelled at.
The two knights took away the pieces and the towel after everything was cleaned, and Kernel glanced at Ina, whose face was still pale.
His eyes were sharp like a hawk’s, and he did not miss it.
“…So? What about Azure Skies? Do you know Liebe?”
Ina’s face stiffened again, and Qualia stood in front of her.
Kernel was much taller, and Qualia looked up at him without reserve and with tranquil eyes.
“The possibility that you are a threat to Ina has been detected.”
“Oh dear, I’m not about to gobble her up. I just want to listen.”
Kernel avoided Qualia, and turned to Ina’s pale face to ask a question.
“Let’s say for the sake of argument that you were a part of Azure Skies, and that you had a brother named Liebe…”
Ina quickly looked up at Kernel, and everyone present was sure he was right on the mark.
“I’ve always been a good guesser. With signs of love and the other side of the enemy.”
“So, Ina?”
Lobelia also pushed, and as if a dam broke, Ina started talking about her past.
“…I was in a place called Azure Skies when I was a child. And I had a brother called Liebe.”
“Eh…”
“But the Azure Skies I know wasn’t something big enough to cause a riot like that. And most importantly… My brother is dead… So…”
Color faded from Ina’s trembling eyes, and Qualia grabbed her hand.
“Ina, it is possible that saying any more would not be to your advantage.”
“…His head… Was cut… In front of me…”
“You have my condolences.”
Ina fell to her knees, as if being swallowed by a flood of emotions.
Tears streamed down her face, as she remembered her brother’s miserable death.
Hearing both the name of the community she was once a part of and the name of the older brother who met an untimely death in front of her eyes, put her trembling eyes in a whirlpool of confusion.
“So? How come something like this happened to you two? And how did you survive?”
Despite noticing those subtleties, Kernel pressed on with his questions.
It was clear that Ina was unable to respond properly, and Lobelia intervened.
“That’s enough, uncle Kernel. Let’s stop for today!”
“But this is important. We should hear more about Azure Skies and this brother…”
“Type SWORD.”
Qualia produced a fake sword in his right hand, but Kernel simply looked at the dull sword, and did not move.
“That action is wrong. Any further questioning will be treated as hostility, and you will be designated a threat and neutralized.”
“W-what…!”
The knights from Clearance returned to the room, and found their master in a precarious situation.
There were sounds of swords being drawn, and Lobelia was about to raise her voice at this unexpected situation.
“Put away your swords, Clearance!!”
Kernel roared not at the one pointing a sword at him, but at the knights attempting to save him.
“We are in the middle of something. Don’t spoil it.”
“But…”
“…Understanding the truth might help us prevent the black holes from being activated. I will gladly be neutralized, or even retired… But you are smart, so you understand, don’t you? This isn’t a simple matter. The whole country could be ruined.”
Kernel was not afraid of the sword, and got closer to it rather than shrinking back.
And then he got very close to Qualia.
“Little Ina here could very well be holding a hint. Think. A beast person named Liebe from Azure Skies. Is it really just someone with the same name? Don’t you have a hard time brushing it off as mere coincidence?
Ina says Liebe died. Aren’t you curious about this contradiction?”
But Qualia did not back down. He did not register fear of the power and influence towering behind Kernel.
“Negative. It is strongly encouraged to find a different method to achieve your goal of negating the activation of the black holes.”
“Unfortunately, this is no time to be choosing methods in that way. I told you, ethics can’t protect a country.”
“Qualia will save ‘tasty’.”
They glared at each other for a moment, and it was Kernel who backed down.
“That said, it wouldn’t be smart to force an answer out. You win, I concede this time.”
“Error. The word ‘win’ does not apply in this context. This was not a match.”
“Yes. The battle to decide the fate of this country is just beginning. And we learned some things at this point in time.”
What Kernel learned, was a contradiction. Ina’s brother Liebe was unmistakably killed in front of her, but a young man named Liebe was leading Azure Skies.
“…Let me change the question. Ina, have you heard the name Anonymous?”
“…No.”
“I see. It seems you really don’t know this one.
It was the name of the person who leaked the fact that Azure Skies had gotten their hands on ancient magic stones. But just before Lobelia got to say that…
“Beast person detected. Beast person who attacked humans yesterday detected.”
Qualia saw a beast person through the window.
“Eh?”
This person looked exactly like one whose arm Qualia shot the previous day. And for some reason, the handcuffs that were supposed to be binding both hands hung from one of them.
This beast person covered their left arm while running towards Qualia and the others.
“Is that a beast person? And one of the captives no less?”
“Did they break out?”
Everyone present associated said person to what Lobelia just said.
Qualia went outside, followed by everyone else.
The beast person got close to the wagon, with heavy breaths. And more importantly, this beast person was heading towards a place where Clearance knights wearing armor were clearly present.
There was no will to fight, only a desperate expression. Running towards a chivalric order seemed like a big contradiction, and as everyone looked on with doubt, the beast person screamed.
“Please, I won’t try to run away again, just spare my life!”
Qualia detected it.
“Reverse.”
Behind the beast person, a magic doll activated a skill with the right hand up in the air.
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