【”Can you really do it?… That would probably be a foolish question to ask. But how in the world would you go about doing that?”】
【”This is the source of the miasma. You’ll be able to stop it if you disable it.”】
【”What kind of machine is this?”】
【”Do you know about what they call a dragon pulse?”】
【”I recall it’s like a passage through which the earth’s essence flows…”】
【”That’s right. And by installing this mechanism in the dragon rear, which is the exit of a dragon pulse, one can absorb the earth’s essence, its energy.”】
【”So what? I don’t really get it.”】
【”The earth’s essence is like a person’s blood. Liner, what would happen if, for instance, you were to tie a rope very tightly around your upper arm?”】
【”My blood would stop!”】
【”Yeah. Then, if your blood stopped circulating there, it would result in necrosis, and your arm would rot and fall down.”】
【”When the flowing essence gets interrupted at the dragon rear, a similar phenomenon happens to the earth. The miasma is like blood that’s gone bad; it’s the essence’s impurities.”】
【”The essence’s impurities…”】
【”When they enter someone’s body in large quantities, the impurities get mixed up with the person’s blood, causing an anomaly.”】
【”…Harold, is there a way to cure someone whose blood was mixed up with those impurities?”】
【”Yes, and it’s quite simple. If you disable the machine, then the earth’s held back essence will start overflowing. If that someone breaths that in, then his condition will probably improve.”】
【”Really?!”】
【”If you deactivate the device that’s installed at the dragon rear somewhere on the mountain, then the flow at the dragon pulse will return to normal and the miasma will disappear. The local population will be saved, as well. You hear me? Don’t destroy it, deactivate it.”】
【”We’ll do that for sure. But what happens if we break it?”】
【”The enormous flow of essence that’s been held back will go on a rampage and will blow up the whole area.”】
【”That’s one serious task to take on!!”】
【”Stop shouting. It’s going to be fine as long as the right procedure is used to deactivate it.”】
【”O-oh. Don’t scare us like that…”】
【”And Harold-sama knows that procedure for sure!”】
【”No, I don’t.”】
Liner, who had been feeling relieved, and Colette, whose eyes had been full of expectations, were both frozen stiff on the spot. The atmosphere instantly became heavy.
【”You don’t…? Then, what should we do? Should we ask the one who made the machine?”】
【”How dumb can you possibly be? We can’t exactly ask the one responsible for this situation to deactivate the device for us now, can we?”】
【”That, that makes sense…”】
【”Then we’ll have to look for a solution from scratch. First we’ll examine the structure of that device and…”】
【”That won’t be necessary.”】
【”…What do you mean?”】
Harold took the machine he had put on the desk and he lightly tossed it on his right, towards Lifa who caught it with both of her hands.
【”She’ll disable it.”】
【”Her?”】
【”Yeah, that’s right. You got a problem with that?”】
【”That’s how it is. As soon as Lifa is done getting prepared, we’ll go disable the device.”】
【”I’ll go with you!”】
【”M-me too…!”】
【”If you two are going, then I guess I’ll have to come along.”】
Liner, Colette and Hugo immediately showed their will to accompany Harold and Lifa; and Francis followed suit.
【”Well, now that I’ve heard so much, It’s impossible for me to withdraw.”】
【”Franck…”】
【”My royal blood would cry if I didn’t take action to pull my best friend out of his predicament.”】
【”…Thank you. Alright, then I’ll also――”】
【”No.”】【”You cannot.”】
【”No? But….”】
【”Think about your standpoint. “】
【”Shouldn’t you take shelter in case of an emergency, elder brother?”】
【”The people of the Sumeragi family can’t not involve themselves with this serious matter.”】
【”Then, I’ll go. You don’t mind, right? Harold-sama.”】
【”Don’t ask me. Decide that for yourself.”】
【”You heard him. Please restrain yourself, elder brother.”】
【”By the way, Harold. Where did you get that device and the method to solve the miasma problem?”】
【”Because I’m familiar with the one responsible for what this device did.”】
【”What?”】
【”Justus Freund. He was the one pulling the strings behind the miasma outbreak.”】
【”What?! Wasn’t Dr. Freund the one who protected you?!”】
【”On the surface, yeah. Fact is that he was just taking his chance to put me under his control and use me.”】
【”…Can you explain the situation?”】
【”Humph. If you want to know that badly, then I’ll tell you.”】
◇
【”First of all, do you recall the Beltis forest battle from five years ago?”】
Harold began talking disinterestedly. For Erica, that battle was where it all began; she could not possibly forget it.
【”That was a conflict where the imperial army launched an assault due to which both the knight order and the stellar tribe suffered many casualties. If I remember right, that was when you were suspected of being a spy of the Empire.”】
【”That’s not correct. Harold had gotten information about the Imperial army’s invasion before it happened, and he went to the Beltis forest to prevent that from happening.”】
【”That doesn’t matter.”】
【”Yes, it does. You got that serious injury because of that.”】
【”It was just a scratch.”】
【”An air hole was opened through your shoulder with a magic spell, the wound was so severe that you stayed unconscious for a week, so I wouldn’t call it a scratch.”】
【”I’m here right now so of course I was all right. I’ll continue my story now. “】
【”In that battle, I defeated a major general of the imperial army, and I put in some great efforts to capture him. As a result of that, I was arrested under suspicions of being a spy of the imperial army. Two weeks later, it had been decided that I would be executed.”】
【”The one who drove the Sarian Empire into launching an attack was a man named Harrison, but he was actually being manipulated by Justus.”】
【”…… In short, he’s the one who’s truly responsible for that battle….”】
【”Yeah, that’s right. In addition, Justus manipulated the people of the tribunal so that they would sentence me to execution, and once I was incarcerated in a dungeon, he judged that the time was ripe and appeared before me. Then he told me that sitting there waiting for my death was no good and he asked me to come with him.”】
【”Although it was annoying to work with him, it was a good opportunity to find out his real intentions. One of the things I learned in that process was the information I just gave you.”】
【”…But why is Dr.Freund doing such things?”】
【”It seems like he’s planning something that requires him to capture the upper echelons of the country. Both the Beltis forest’s battle and the energy he’s absorbing from the dragon pulse are probably related to that as well. I don’t want to try to guess the real intentions of a man who’s so mad that he captured people from the stellar tribe to practice human experimentation.”】
【”Human experimentation? Don’t tell me he caused that whole battle for that!?”】
【”The chaos gave him the perfect occasion to kidnap people.”】
【”Shit! Harold, are the people he kidnapped safe?!”】
【”…He only managed to take two people away. But I wouldn’t say they’re safe.”】
【”Damn it!”】
【”And then, there is you, Liner.”】
【”Y-yes”】
【”Harrison was the one who ordered the theft of that sword of yours. And, naturally, Justus was behind that, too.”】
【”What the hell…. Then, the reason you almost died, the reason mom and dad got hurt, the reason those innocent people were injured, the reason the Sumeragis’ people suffered, the reason for everything that happened were Justus’ actions?!”】
【”As far as I know, yes.”】
【”He’s gonna pay! I’m gonna beat the hell out of him!”】
【”If you think you can do it, go ahead and try. But that’s not gonna happen unless you fix the miasma problem first.”】
Anyway, I hope you’ll have an excellent day, and I’ll see you next week! ?
