——Two hundred eighty-nine.
The downtime after overcoming the main event was cut short by an ambush that proved far more merciless than expected.
While Garfiel had gone off to protect the girls, how the ambusher who hadn't been with them had evaded that massive flood remained a mystery. But the ambushers who had managed it on their own had wrung his neck more times than he could count as he stumbled downstairs, worn to the bone.
No questions. No hesitation. Their actions, ruthlessly streamlined toward a single objective—eliminating obstacles—were the work of someone who recognized they were the last line of defense keeping anyone in the tower.
"You've got some real skill, little lady."
To have honed that level of power at such a young age—just imagining the blood-soaked training she must have endured was enough to fill him with genuine respect.
He'd heard she was one of a pair of twins. Would her sister or her brother be just as strong? He probably wouldn't need to ask here; the opportunity to find out firsthand would surely come.
After all, from this point forward, Aldebaran was going to make an enemy of the entire world.
"—"
A faint intake of breath, and the ambusher's slender hands failed to snap Aldebaran's neck.
At the last possible moment before the girl's hands could reach him from behind, Aldebaran had encased his neck in a stone cast, evverting the strike meant to shatter his cervical vertebrae.
But he was not the kind of opponent to let his guard down after that. The moment the ambush failed, the girl immediately slipped to his left side—into the blind spot created by his missing arm—and launched a knife-hand strike aimed at his ribs.
It was a terrifying blow wrapped in a 'Flow Method' that, despite those cute little hands, would have pierced through his flank, slipped between his ribs, and torn straight through his heart.
A killing blow that was virtually instant death—except "virtually instant death" was still not instant death.
Even if brief, he would be wracked with unbearable pain. So— "Guh, aagh!"
He extended his clay prosthetic hand into the space the ambushing girl was sliding into, then grabbed the twin-braided hair she wore and forcibly slammed her against the wall. There, the earthen arm transformed into a broad band of mud, pinning the girl to the wall like a crucifixion.
With all four limbs restrained and only her head free, the ambusher—Flam—and Aldebaran locked eyes.
"I'm weaker than you, little lady. I'm missing an arm. My helmet limits my vision. I'm exhausted from fighting nonstop. I have neither skill nor talent. —That's why I win."
"Al-sa—"
"Shut up for me."
He snapped the fingers of his right hand in front of Flam's face and sealed her mouth with a stone gag. If she could use her hands and feet, it would be easy enough to remove, but with those restrained, she was helpless.
And with that, he could finally say the bonus track had been cleared.
"————"
A long, deep sigh escaped him.
There was not a shred of relief in it—in truth, it had nothing to do with any sense of accomplishment. It was a thoroughly sour, dejected exhalation.
To put it in terms of mountain climbing, this was the first rest station. Even the most optimistic of optimists wouldn't lose their minds with joy at reaching the first rest station.
And besides, this was hardly something to boast about to anyone.
"I can't even make a single excuse when you look at me like that, you little ladies."
As Aldebaran spoke those words and turned around, his vision fell on two girls standing in the fourth-floor corridor, staring quietly at him.
—one with narrow, sharp eyes bearing cold hostility, the other with round eyes filled with desperate emotion.
"This girl is angry, so could you please not come any closer?"
The girl with the braids—Meili—stepped forward protectively as Aldebaran half-turned to face them fully. Perched atop her head, with her blue hair serving as a foothold and her tail standing upright, was the noisy little spirit beast that had made its presence known several times on the journey and in the tower.
That tail, with its faintly gleaming tip, was also a surprisingly dangerous attack organ. At least, it would be if it landed unprotected on a vital point.
"Well, I'll agree not to come closer. I never intended to harm you girls in the first place."
"You come strutting down here looking for us, and now you say that? What a joke."
"I admit I came looking for you, but the reason I came looking is what's wrong."
Faced with Meili's completely uncooperative attitude, Aldebaran chose his words carefully while fiddling with the seam of his helmet. Meanwhile, the girl who had been silently watching their exchange murmured "the reason..."—and then: "Then what reason did you come down for, Al-san?"
Petra met his gaze without flinching and posed the question firmly.
"————"
He understood that Meili, a former assassin hardened by life-and-death situations, had nerves of steel. But Petra, who had originally been nothing more than a village girl and was simply progressing through her maid training, being this tough—that commanded genuine respect.
Aldebaran had made his move at the moment when everyone's vigilance was at its lowest, without letting anyone sense his intentions. Which meant Petra and the others should have had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Her small head must have been swirling with every conceivable question, with anxiety and confusion she wanted to cry and scream about. —And yet she had not let a single hint of it show.
"I've accomplished my purpose. I have no further business in this tower. This is me saying goodbye."
"Even if you say goodbye like that...!"
"Garfiel and
"—Ah."
For a moment, Petra had tensed up at Aldebaran's selfish declaration, bracing for a fight. Meili beside her had started to widen her stance, ready to back Petra's resolve—but the girl's fighting spirit was scattered by Aldebaran's words pointing to the first floor above.
And unfortunately, even when dealing with girls, Aldebaran had no room for mercy.
"So what'll it be? Do you fancy a heroic battle with me here? If you try hard, you might even win... but if you lose, the two upstairs go down with you, and it's a total wipeout."
"You... coward!"
"I know. I despise myself from the bottom of my heart."
Insulted by Petra's fierce glare, Aldebaran mentally admonished himself for what a rotten adult he'd become.
But reality was such that this despicable, cowardly adult's assessment held the most weight. Because the smart and courageous Petra could properly calculate the risks of losing.
She couldn't afford to risk a battle with low odds of victory and the possibility of getting Garfiel and the others killed.
"What about Brother and
In place of Petra, Meili asked after Subaru and the others' well-being, and Aldebaran answered her.
"Those two are napping together. They were always so lovey-dovey and close. Separating them would be too cruel—it'd make my chest hurt just thinking about it."
Unfortunately, he had no intention of giving the two of them any further information here.
Once they got Garfiel and the others out, they'd hear the same story from their lips anyway. He didn't want to do something careless and unnecessarily provoke Petra and the others, who had just made a rational decision.
Even deploying his territory—having others shoulder the burden for him—was still exhausting at the end of the day.
"You told me not to come closer, but the exit is that way. You'll have to let me through."
He raised his hand as he said this and began slowly advancing toward the girls. To show he meant no harm, his raised hand stayed up, open and unclenched.
"————"
As Aldebaran approached, Petra and Meili silently stepped aside. Passing between the girls who had spread to either side, the only sound echoing through the quiet corridor was the hollow click-click-click of the small red scorpion's claws.
That threatening sound from the scorpion seemed to perfectly express the girls' lingering dissatisfaction— "I truly intended to help you properly these past three days, Al-san."
"————"
"I hate you."
The tearful words wrung from the girl's throat became, without question, the deepest wound Aldebaran had received during his time in the
△▼△▼△▼△ When Aldebaran descended to the tower's entrance, he found a battle every bit as soul-scraping as his confrontation with Petra and Meili on the fourth floor already underway.
One combatant was
And facing Patrasche head-on was— 『Hey, me. Did you clean up everything you needed to?』
The enormous creature spoke in a heavy, imposing voice, though with none of the dignity to match.
At the tower's entrance, a massive front gate pushed casually open with one hand, and there—locked in a staring contest with Patrasche—stood a 'dragon' with gleaming blue scales:
Facing this 'Aldebaran,' Patrasche stood its ground without retreating a single step, snarling.
Honestly, all of Subaru's female companions were mentally unhinged in one way or another. —No, now that he thought about it, the women Aldebaran himself had met were all pretty much the same.
He could only think of maybe one truly weak woman.
In any case— "Hey, dragon-me, cut it out with the whole bullying-the-weak thing. You already look terrifying enough without making yourself look even more dangerous."
『Don't go calling me terrifying. If I'm terrifying, then you're just as crazy. A normal person would think about it and never actually do it. —Hijacking the『Divine Dragon.』』
Speaking in that unfamiliar voice from that unfamiliar appearance, 'Aldebaran' flapped his wings as he talked. At those words, Aldebaran shrugged.
Being called crazy and unhinged by himself didn't really sting—this was a desperate gambit he'd pulled off precisely because he could.
Besides, 'Aldebaran' over there was also Aldebaran, so if put in the same situation, he'd undoubtedly do the same thing. Being chewed out for it was simply unfair.
『Sorry about that, little earth dragon. But not moving was the right call. If you'd gone down, nobody would be able to pull their kin out of this sea of sand.』
"————"
『What?』
"No, I was just thinking—classic me, really. The threats are exactly the same."
Aldebaran looked down at Patrasche. The fact that 'Aldebaran's' logic for avoiding the fight was identical to the way Aldebaran himself had threatened Petra and the others was complicated beyond words.
In any case— "How do we fly?"
『I think it'll work... Take it easy at first, build up gradually.』
"That's a really reassuring way to phrase it..."
Despite his reservations about that less-than-inspiring answer, Aldebaran climbed onto 'Aldebaran's' back, using the tail as a foothold. Gripping several of the dragon's protruding scales, he gave the word: "Let's go."
『—Liftoff!』
The next instant, with a shout, 'Aldebaran' spread his wings and soared into the sky.
Kicking up clouds of sand with the roaring wind, the 'dragon' climbed rapidly in altitude, approaching the upper reaches of the tall, towering Pleiades Watchtower before pulling away from it.
As the tower receded further and further behind them, Aldebaran looked back at what he had left there— 『Having second thoughts?』
"I did. But if we're talking second thoughts, that was four hundred years ago."
Being mocked by someone who knew all the facts, Aldebaran clicked his tongue in irritation.
What 'Aldebaran' meant was that he had no luxury to look backward. And that was right. As he'd compared it to mountain climbing earlier, this was still only the first rest station.
From here on, Aldebaran could not afford to misstep even once as he aimed for the starlight of Nayuta's star, the destination he had sworn to reach no matter what.
『Well, don't push yourself too hard alone. I'm here from now on too. Makes it a bit better, right?』
'Cruising through the night sky of the sand sea, slicing through it with powerful wingbeats, 'Aldebaran' spoke with casual ease.
Even though the 'memories' from the 'Books of the Dead' were installed in both of them, that optimistic outlook probably came down to the difference in the vessels containing them. Still, being excessively negative wasn't good either.
In truth, he had obtained an incredibly powerful backup—one he couldn't have hoped for more.
All that remained was— "That's far enough."
△▼△▼△▼△ —It was in the very instant he was about to lay out his next course of action that light pierced through.
"————"
He crashed violently into the cold, nighttime sand sea, and the 'dragon' slowly righted itself. Aldebaran, who had been wrapped in the dragon's wings, shook the sand from his head and stepped down.
And there, in the separate fields of vision of man and beast, it approached with unhurried grace.
"————"
Hair like blazing flame, blue eyes that held the depth of a perfectly clear sky, and a spotless white outfit that reflected its wearer's convictions and the chivalric code by which he walked—this was a being chosen by the world— "The Flam I left in the tower is a bearer of the 'Divine Protection of Telepathy.' She can convey words to her sister Glacis once per day, regardless of distance or time."
This was an explanation for why he had come rushing here—an exceedingly courteous gesture that showed consideration for the confusion of someone thrust into an unreasonable situation.
"...Thanks for the explanation. You're used to dealing with complaints, maybe?"
"I wanted to clear up any questions from my side first. —There's a lot I want to ask you."
"————"
"I would advise you to surrender. I do not want to cut you down."
With those words, the young man touched the 'Dragon Sword' at his hip—
That commanding presence, that valiant stance, that dazzling existence that shone even in the darkness of night—this was a man who had become a hero by the most natural course of destiny, and as a carrier of that rusted-out fantasy of heroism, Aldebaran had one thing to say to him.
He'd certainly gotten to say everything he wanted, but— "Enough dramatics, Hero. I'm going to win no matter what. —The stars just weren't on your side."
On the vast sea of sand gazed down upon by countless stars, Aldebaran faced Reinhard.
—It was a confrontation that would never intersect: between the most loved thing in the world, and the least loved.