Chapter 28 - Portents (2)

... Contrary to his expectations, Dame Stella agreed readily enough. Apparently, since he was Dame Noel's husband, even if only by contract, assisting him was also part of her duties.

Of course, she only agreed after hearing exactly what the job entailed. After all, no matter how bizarre someone's tastes, nobody hoping for a romantic evening would go leaping between rooftops laden with supplies.

"... Please stop giving people heart attacks," Dame Stella said, looking shaken. "You need to learn to phrase things so people won't misunderstand. You gave me quite a fright."

"..."

Aiden, who was flying over rooftops with her gripping his collar, was actually far more frightened. Carrying a grown man in one hand like a piece of luggage while clearing several buildings with every leap was the very picture of superhuman strength.

'Their physical abilities are just...!'

He had only just fought knights himself, which made him all the more acutely aware of the clear differences in their caliber. Of course, she would be weaker than Noel using all her pure-white energy, but Stella was doing this without using any particular supernatural power. He was getting a very vivid demonstration of why she held the position of the Lionhearted's aide.

Thanks to her, they were breezing through a job he couldn't have finished alone even if he'd stayed up for days.

"Yes, over there too, please."

Pursing her lips, Stella drove a stake deep into the spot Aiden indicated. So far, their work had consisted of her leaping unaided between the buildings he designated and hammering in these mysterious stakes.

"Mr. Aiden," Stella asked, tilting her head. "What exactly is the point of all this? It didn't take long, admittedly."

"There is a point."

For one thing, those weren't ordinary stakes.

-System Log

▶ Imbuing target 'Wooden Stake' with 'Divinity'.

Even while learning to fight by being hacked to pieces by Meyer every night, he had somehow kept making these during his waking hours. They weren't structurally complex like firearms, so putting a single supernatural power into them wasn't particularly difficult. The sheer number, however, was staggering.

Noel had been so alarmed by the sight that she'd asked if he was off to hunt an army of vampires.

-System Log

▶ Using 'Weaver of Fate' on target 'Katya'.

▶ Copying skill 'Divinity Manipulation: Delayed Release'.

And he had the skill that would be key to using them: an ability that would make the supernatural power within them activate when he wanted it to.

Combining it with the divinity he'd already placed inside through Supernatural Imbuement would allow for some rather... 'interesting' applications.

Of course, that alone wouldn't see him through all of Chapter 1. The key would be his three remaining skill copies from Noel and his one copy from the prince, which would let him use Imitation, albeit with weaker effects than the original.

How he used them would determine whether he survived this incident.

As he continued down that train of thought, Dame Stella folded her arms and asked another disgruntled question.

"... I don't know what you're planning, but surely Her Highness Katya or someone else could have helped with this. Why me specifically?"

"Because I can't ask them."

"Ask them what?"

"What exactly happened between Dame Noel and the Lord Protector."

Dame Stella went still.

"... That's someone else's personal history. I don't think asking me about it is appropriate."

"The prince is trying to use it to pressure Dame Noel. It felt like he has a serious personal grudge against her."

"..."

As Stella stubbornly pressed her lips together, Aiden calmly continued.

"Please trust me, Dame Stella. I'm asking because I want to help Dame Noel too."

"... You're remarkably enthusiastic for someone who was merely tricked into a contractual marriage."

"Isn't working hard a good thing?"

"Nothing is more suspicious than kindness with no discernible purpose or motive."

Fortunately, he had a very clear motive.

"I don't like the prince."

Mostly since he'd gone after Katya for the sole purpose of making trouble for Aiden. All the more so because Aiden tended to hold a grudge over that sort of thing for a very long time.

"I won't be satisfied until I've ruined everything he's up to. So first, I need to know what he's threatening her with."

"..."

"And I hate it even more when a bastard I dislike goes after Dame Noel."

"..."

"I can't stand watching that pretty-faced bastard skulking around scheming."

At that last remark, he saw Dame Stella cover her mouth, unable to suppress her laughter.

"... You could hang for that if anyone found out, Mr. Aiden."

"Uh, are you going to report me?"

"No. I don't like anyone who treats Dame Noel that way either."

After briefly sharing the mischievous grins of two people united by a secret understanding, Stella spoke again in a level voice.

"Near the end of the Coalition War... there was a battle in which the odds against the Empire were catastrophic. Have you heard of it?"

"Vaguely?"

He had heard rumors, at least. The country that had fought the Empire longest and hardest during the war was Grivus, the Magic Kingdom, and apparently that held true for the final battle near the imperial border.

He'd heard they had dispatched a strike force to sweep through the entire Empire and reverse the course of a war that was going against them. It was a perfect checkmate, and the Empire reportedly had only a meager defending force.

Had it succeeded, the two of them couldn't have been standing here talking now. The entire Empire would have been engulfed in the flames of war.

It was around that incident that Noel, the Lionhearted, had become famous: the hero who had saved the Empire from a single decisive blow that nearly shattered it. She was said to have gathered a pitiful handful of defenders and crushed, head-on, the strike force the Magic Kingdom had poured every ounce of its strength into assembling.

"... This isn't widely known, but two particularly notable people deployed alongside Dame Noel that day. One was His Highness the prince, and the other was—"

Dame Teresa Adelaite. Commonly known as the Lord Protector. A senior figure in the knight corps, and the very person who had first brought Noel into the Imperial Army.

They had led the charge in that battle. Two of them returned, but one did not.

"That's all I know."

"..."

"Only Dame Noel and the prince know exactly what happened that day. But what people have heard is..."

After a long pause to choose her words, Dame Stella continued reluctantly.

"... There is a rumor that Dame Teresa sacrificed herself to save Dame Noel after she made a mistake during the battle."

"..."

"I've heard some of the people who fought there saying that, but no one knows whether it's true."

"... I see," Aiden replied with a slight frown.

Even if the details remained unknown, that outline alone answered quite a few questions.

He'd heard that the Lord Protector had been precious to both the prince and Noel. Even the original game's backstory described her as practically a mother to them. If the rumor was true, he could begin to understand why the prince hated Noel so much.

But one thing was strange.

'... Why propose to someone you hate that much?'

Asking someone you hated to marry you made absolutely no sense. He had even asked Aiden to break off the engagement so he could take his place.

It didn't add up. It was as though he had some entirely different aim, rather than personal revenge.

'... I'll have to dig a little deeper into that.'

With that thought, Aiden tapped Stella on the shoulder.

"Shall we head back, then?"

Tomorrow was an important day. He needed a good night's sleep to conserve his strength and prepare for things to kick off.

Preferably, he would also find a good position, so he could react even a little faster.

'It's going to happen wherever I am, anyway.'

As the title of Act 1 suggested, Rift in the Capital would unfold on a scale that no one in the city could possibly miss. Although it wouldn't be all that severe, there was no chance he wouldn't notice it happening, wherever he was.

As he was thinking that, something suddenly appeared before his eyes.

-System Message

▶ Quest information has been updated!

-Quest Info

◈ Act 1, < Rift in the Capital >

▶ Chapter 1 will begin soon!

▶ A related event will begin soon. (D-Day!)

◈ Sham Marriage

▶ You have been chosen as Dame Noel's spouse. Maintain your contract with her until the end!

▶ A related event will occur soon. (D-Day!)

... Updated?

Wondering why that had suddenly appeared, he realized it was nearly time for the date to roll over. Well, an update made sense, then. He was still thinking little of it when...

-...

-...!

-...!!

Suddenly, without any warning, a horribly sinister aura began sweeping through their surroundings.

Aiden apparently wasn't the only one who felt it. Dame Stella, who had been preparing to jump with him tucked under one arm like luggage, flinched and looked up at the sky.

"... What is that...?"

Sinister death energy, visibly black, churned around them before swirling together and surging into the sky. There, plainly visible even from where they stood, was a 'gap.'

Like a tear in a sheet of drawing paper, a hairline crack appeared as the scenery crumpled, distorting the space around it.

Then the distortion, initially no wider than a hairline, spread into an enormous rift, splitting open with a series of cracks.

'Ah.'

Aiden groaned inwardly. The sight was quite memorable to him.

This was the event that signaled the beginning of Act 1's Ghost Knight Disturbance.

'You heartless bastards...!'

A curse promptly burst through his mind, though he couldn't have said whom it was aimed at.

Couldn't they at least give him some time to rest...!

"... You should hold on tight to me, Mr. Aiden."

Her face hardening at the sight, Stella wrapped both arms tightly around him. Aiden felt as though he had been promoted from luggage tucked under an arm to a precious valuable.

"I'll get you somewhere safe as fast as I can. Then we need to call for backup—"

But there seemed to be no need to finish that sentence.

"Mr. Aiden!"

There was someone who would worry even more than Stella about his safety in an emergency like this. Barely any time had passed since that vortex appeared, yet Dame Noel's voice rang out from a short distance away. How she'd found them here was anyone's guess.

A moment later, she came hurtling out of the sky like a meteor, as usual, and landed before them.

"Are you all right? Something strange suddenly appeared—"

Noel's mouth snapped shut before she could finish. Presumably because she'd seen Aiden clinging to Stella like a baby bird nestled against its mother.

"..."

"..."

"..."

The three of them shared a truly awkward silence.

One that lasted a truly long time...

"... Mr. Aiden."

Noel finally managed to speak, breaking the silence. Her usual smile appeared along with the words. She seemed to be trying not to make the atmosphere hostile.

"... The two of you do look rather odd, but I don't think this is the time to concern ourselves with that."

"... Right?"

"So I'll keep my questions brief."

... Asking later wasn't an option, then. No matter how urgent the situation, she had to get this settled first...

Looking closer, he noticed that although she was smiling at him, her eyes somehow weren't smiling at all.

"What were you doing with Stella?"

"... Taking a walk."

"At this hour?"

"..."

"Just the two of you?"

"..."

"How curious."

"... We haven't done anything I couldn't tell you about with a clear conscience, Dame Noel."

"Is that so?"

Her voice was as gentle as ever, but Aiden somehow felt he could read between the lines.

Something like: Oh, really?

"Even if you had, I suppose it wouldn't be my place to object. Our marriage is... a 'contract,' after all."

"... Dame Noel?"

"Yes, that's how it is. We aren't in a relationship where we share truly deep feelings. That's right..."

Aiden's eyes drifted to Noel as she continued speaking and stroked her scabbard. It was probably little more than a habit, but somehow it was making him sweat blood...

"... But you said you liked me."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

When he asked about her mumbling, Noel shut down his question with ruthless precision. Then, her brows setting into a flat line, she abruptly turned to look straight ahead.

Somehow, that chilly smile still lingered on her lips...

"... Shall we deal with that first?"

As she spoke, Noel's gaze rested on the rift, now large enough for everyone in the capital to see.

"..."

Somehow, she looked as though she intended to go vent her anger on it.