With the general course of action decided, at least.
It was already late into the night, and there were no nearby towns, so Ermes and the others began preparing to camp right where they were.
Fortunately, Yurugen had managed to grab a full set of supplies when fleeing the Trackia household.
It was a peculiar twist of fate—having experienced this sort of thing before while on the run with Katia after her false accusation had apparently taught him to pack everything together in one go.
…That said, every person here except Ermes was nobility. None of them were particularly well-versed in this sort of thing, so naturally, Ermes ended up shouldering most of the preparations.
Of course, everyone did whatever they could with all their might, and above all—
"Master! I've finished gathering firewood!"
"Master, is there anything else I should do?"
"Just tell me anything, Master!"
Just like this, Liliana worked with a proactivity that exceeded all expectations.
All throughout the day, she showed not the slightest trace of exhaustion from the turmoil, moving her small body with tireless effort.
She had surely never done manual labor like wading through mud before, yet she didn't let a single complaint show on her face and simply gave it her all.
Thanks to her efforts, the campsite preparations—which involved many inexperienced people—were completed without incident.
They were able to prepare for an early bedtime, ready to set out again the next morning.
The night deepened, and all living things fell silent.
Only the gentle moonlight filtered softly through the gaps in the trees as Ermes sat beside the tent, keeping watch.
There were two tents. The men-to-women ratio was three to three, leaving no choice in the room assignments. Over in the other tent, Katia, Sara, and Liliana were presumably resting by now.
"…"
Gazing up at the beautiful full moon, Ermes turned his thoughts inward.
Assessing the current situation, reviewing the course of action, predicting what would come next. Contemplating in solitude was a habit ingrained in him through years of magical research.
And so, as he sank into the sea of thought in search of a way out of this dire predicament—
"…Ermes-san."
A voice came from beside him. He pulled himself from his reverie and turned to find a golden-haired girl who matched exactly what the voice and form of address had suggested.
"Sara-sama. What is it?"
Her expression was a bit too serious to simply be someone who couldn't sleep and wandered outside.
Something must have happened. True to his intuition, Sara spoke in a tone that was somewhat strained, yet still carried the warmth characteristic of her.
She pointed toward her own sleeping quarters and said:
"Would you mind going to that tent? …I'll take your place on watch."
The reason behind Sara's words became clear the instant he stepped inside the tent.
…Or rather, he had more or less already guessed.
"…! ……mm…!"
In the center of the tent, a red-haired young girl lay tucked in her bedding.
—From there came the muffled sound of suppressed sobs.
He could tell Katia on the left side was also awake from the way she was lying there. He had asked her permission before entering the tent, after all.
Ermes moved to the center of the room and knelt down.
Only then did Liliana seem to notice his presence, lifting her head with a start.
"…Master!?"
She apparently hadn't expected him to be the one here, and her voice came out strained and high-pitched.
Almost immediately, she realized the situation and turned her face away in the opposite direction, trying to compose herself.
"Wh-what are you doing? Even if you are my master, entering a lady's bedchamber without permission—"
"Lili-sama."
He cut her off, softly speaking her name.
He didn't need an explanation.
Even in the dim light, he could see her puffy, swollen eyes, and the stain on her pillow.
—She had been crying. Alone in her bedding, muffling her voice so no one would hear.
…He couldn't blame her.
No matter that she had finally steeled her resolve at the end. No matter that she had solidified her determination to stand up and move forward.
Something like *that* had happened.
Something far too cruel and sorrowful for an eleven-year-old girl to experience in a single day had occurred today.
It was impossible to simply ignore all of it.
No—precisely *because* she had decided not to ignore it, precisely because she had resolved to face it head-on, the full weight of that burden and grief was crashing down upon her now.
That was exactly why Ermes asked:
"I'm sorry for entering without your permission. …But I couldn't just leave you alone."
"!"
"…Is there anything I can do for you?"
He was about to say "of course there is" without a second thought—
But Liliana pressed her lips together, and spoke in a voice that wavered with hesitation.
"…P-please don't."
She told him.
"Please don't. Don't coddle me. …I've decided—I've decided that I'm done just being pampered, that I'll stand on my own. So…!"
"…"
…He had suspected as much.
When it came to preparing the campsite, Liliana had worked with fierce enthusiasm. Desperately, with all her might, without a single thought in her head, she had kept helping.
—Because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have been able to endure it.
If she hadn't buried herself in something, she wouldn't have been able to look away from what she was carrying on her shoulders.
That was why, when bedtime came around and there was nothing left to do, the instant she lay down alone—all of it had come rushing in at once.
Even so, she had tried to bear it by herself. She had tried to carry it on her own shoulders, to let her tears fall and push through.
Her strength of heart was truly admirable. However—
"You won't be able to keep it up, Lili-sama."
There was another girl who spoke before Ermes could.
Liliana turned toward her.
"…Katia?"
"That spirit is commendable. But…if you keep your heart locked tight like that, you'll eventually hit a wall. You've already sensed that yourself, haven't you?"
Her words carried a weight that could only come from someone who had lived through that very state of mind and that very dead end.
"She's right," Ermes added, backing her up.
"…Master."
"You've made the decision to move forward, and you've already shown results today. That's more than enough for one day."
"…!"
"And besides…if you suddenly stop relying on us, it'll be a little lonely on our end too."
He said this with a wry smile and gently placed a hand on her head.
…That, apparently, was the breaking point.
"…Ah…!!"
Liliana threw herself against him.
Soon after, he heard her muffled crying.
He drew her gently into his arms, enveloping her small, warm, soft frame.
Katia rose and came over, placing a hand on Liliana's back.
He heard the word "why" in a voice choked with tears.
She was grieving for the siblings who had changed. She was mourning the tremendous loss she had suffered in a single day.
She poured out every last bit of her frustration, her sorrow, her despair. He absorbed it all.
And then, once again—
She was performing the ritual she needed to move forward.
In this way, having finished her preparations for tomorrow, Liliana lay down again.
…For the record, Ermes stayed with her.
"…Just until I fall asleep. That's all I ask. So please, stay with me…"
She pleaded with those lovely, upturned eyes still glistening with the remnants of tears, and there was no refusing her.
He lay down on one side, Katia on the other, Liliana between them. At times, the two of them soothed her together; at times, they listened to her voice. At times, they touched her gently to convey warmth.
After a while, regular breathing from the exhausted Liliana finally indicated she had fallen asleep.
One last time, he stroked her lustrous red hair, gently and tenderly. The task was done.
"She was much stronger than I expected," Katia said from the other side, as if she had been waiting for this moment.
"Before you arrived, we talked about a great many things…yet she never once said 'I don't want to.' …I thought it wouldn't matter even if she did, but still."
Her tone carried a genuine respect mingled with tenderness.
…Honestly, up to now, the relationship between Katia and Liliana had not been what Ermes would call particularly harmonious.
Of course, there was a certain mutual respect born of awareness of each other's status, but within those bounds, Ermes remembered plenty of times the two had clashed.
When he mentioned this, Katia replied:
"…Well, I won't deny it. After all, it's not fair, is it? To put it bluntly, it felt like she was there just to be taught by El, and she clung to him with all the shamelessness of someone fully prepared to take advantage of that…"
She said this while averting her gaze slightly, her expression a mix of embarrassment and jealousy.
…It seemed like she'd rather he not dig any deeper, so Ermes decided to change the subject.
"…Quite a lot happened today."
"…Yes, indeed. Quite a lot."
The audience with the King, the meeting with Liliana's siblings, the reunion with Laplace.
Then the nighttime assault on the Royal Palace, the usurpation of the Royal Capital. And the escape from it all.
…Lining it all up again, it was hard to believe all of this had happened in a single day. If he told his morning self about his current situation, that person would scarcely believe it.
"…What will you do from here?" Katia asked quietly.
"Right. For now, I intend to follow the Duke's plan. No matter what we try to deduce, we simply don't have enough information at the moment. If only we could gather even a fraction of it through the Northern Rebellion…"
Then, if things went well, Ermes continued—
"We would amass troops, formulate as many predictions and countermeasures as possible, and march back to the Royal Capital. To confront Lord Laplace, and most likely, the leaders of organizations we haven't yet encountered."
Easier said than done… but it would surely be an exceedingly arduous path.
His voice carried a faint edge of hardness.
He was fine. He had weathered difficult roads many times before.
…But what about everyone else?
As Ermes wrestled with that concern, a soft palm came to rest over his hand.
He looked across to find himself gazing into those beautiful amethyst eyes.
"It'll be all right, El," she said, her voice elegant yet firm.
"Whatever you do, wherever you go… I'll be right beside you."
"…"
As if drawn by her voice, as if yielding to it—
He nodded with a calm expression.
A moment of silence passed.
—And then he realized.
Late at night, inside a narrow tent. At a distance where they could easily reach out and touch each other, they lay facing one another.
With a small child sleeping soundly between them, having just exchanged words like those just now.
…Wait—could this possibly be a rather embarrassing situation?
"…………"
Looking across, he saw that Katia had arrived at exactly the same realization.
Her flawless features had flushed crimson, and her lips were parted in a way that left her looking utterly at a loss for words.
"…I should be getting back. I can't keep Sara waiting too long."
"Ah—"
Ermes made an instant decision and stood up.
For some reason, Katia let out a small, almost involuntary sound tinged with loneliness.
When he glanced back, she seemed to regret the unconscious sound she had made, and composed herself.
"Y-yes. You have an early morning too. The princess is in my care, so you should get some rest as well."
"Y-yes…"
…He felt as though it had been quite a while since they'd had an exchange like this.
Mulling over that trivial thought, Ermes left the tent.
◆
Stepping outside, he found Sara and thanked her for keeping watch in his place.
He told her how Liliana was doing, and Sara smiled with visible relief, gave a small bow, and returned to the tent.
…However, halfway there—
Sara suddenly stopped and turned back to face him.
"…Um, Ermes-san."
"Hm?"
She asked hesitantly, and he met her gaze head-on.
"Er… I know now isn't the right time for this, and Katia-san probably feels the same way, but…"
As she spoke, the moonlight caught her blonde hair, making it shimmer, and her young yet beautiful pale face turned a striking shade of red.
"…Lately, you've been so busy looking after Lili-san. …So, um, if once in a while you could talk with me too… I'd be happy."
She murmured those words softly.
Then, as Ermes stood there with his breath caught in his throat for no particular reason, she bowed her head once more and hurried back to the tent in a fluster.
"…………"
Whether it was the content of her words, or the breathtaking, almost ethereal beauty of her figure bathed in moonlight—
He stood rooted to the spot for a long moment before finally turning to go back to his watch post.
And there—
"…Well, I've got nothing to say."
Albert, who had woken at some point, met his eyes one last time.
"…Er, right."
"Nothing at all. I've always been told I'm too rigid, and these sorts of things are entirely outside my wheelhouse."
His expression made it abundantly clear that he meant not "I have nothing to say" but rather "I don't want to say anything careless."
True to his word, he made no mention of it whatsoever and only conveyed his business.
"It's early for the watch rotation, but you should get some sleep too. You'll probably bear the heaviest burden going forward."
"…I appreciate your concern."
Even so, a certain sense of trust formed in Ermes toward the man who had observed everything around him with such thoroughness.
He offered a sincere word of gratitude and returned to the tent.
And finally—
The last moments of this tumultuous day quietly drew to a close.