CH 42

It wasn’t just His Highness who reacted to Lancelot’s killing intent. Nii-sama and Olivier also grit their teeth and stood up, but it was too late. Only His Highness managed to make it in time.

Nii-sama was just one step away from me. Watching His Highness being pierced by an arrow in front of my eyes, Nii-sama peeled his eyes and ran towards Lancelot.

Lancelot, who was just standing there dazed, seemed to have accepted Nii-sama’s fist. He flew off into the sky, drawing an arc and losing consciousness.

Nii-sama, who turned around, raised his voice.

“Why! The magic jacking won’t deactivate…!

“It’s a timed system, it won’t be deactivated until a certain amount of time has passed.”

Kyaran, who was almost out of breath, answered.

“What is this, what’s going on…!”

“This is a lie… isn’t that His Highness Llewayne.”

“We were deceived.”

The enemy soldiers began to make noise.

I heard all of that from a distance. Now, the only people in my world were me and His Highness covered in blood.

“…Your, Highness? Y-Your Highness?…Ah.”

I touched the body of the person I loved. Why is it that just by touching them, my hands get covered in blood. Why is this person in such a state.

Because I touched him, His Highness’ body slowly tilted and looked like it was about to collapse to the ground. I desperately held him and embraced him.

Someone’s hand touched my shoulder like that.

“Stop the bleeding. Rebecca-chan, we have to stop the bleeding.”

Olivier, with a pale face, was suddenly next to me, and was putting a cloth on the chest of the person who had collapsed.

I looked at the figure of the person and tears flowed out.

“Emi, Lia, Emilia…”

The only person who could save my beloved, I called out my friend’s name. I couldn’t bear it for even a second, and roughly took out the crystal from my chest.

“Emilia, Emilia, respond to me…”

“Rebecca-sama, it’s magic jacking. The crystal cannot be used.”

What should I do then? I frantically begged for salvation, and searched for it somewhere.

Emilia had left in the mountains. The Phantom Beasts, who were energy with magic power, were all lying down with magic jacking. I couldn’t use transfer magic.

Ah, it’s no good.

All possibilities were crushed. The possibility of the person being saved. The possibility of the person who protected me, calling my name again and saying he loves me.

Tears flowed endlessly. I clung to the person and called out to him in a voice that couldn’t become a voice.

Tears gathered and became droplets. The droplets wetted the person’s cheek, gathered, and flowed down and broke on the ground. At that moment,

“If you are a Loyalist, or…”

The voice of salvation came down.

Nii-sama’s calm voice somehow resonated well.

I’ve heard of something called the [Loyalist’s Rite]. It’s something that connects us deeply. A long time ago, in [winter], a Loyalist appeared through a crystal, responding to the call of the master. It’s considered a type of transfer, but I don’t know the details. It just consumes a lot of magic. Even in this situation, I can still summon my partner’s magic.

I looked up as if hit by his voice.

“But, even if you call them Loyalists…” Everyone around me said that. Even if you call out Ray, even if you call out Fried, nothing will change.

But…

“Thank you, Nii-sama…!”

That was enough for me to understand.

I grasped the crystal in my chest and shouted with all my voice.

“Please, please come now, my Loyalist——.”

Hear this voice. Help His Highness.

“Emilia!”

A sound like thunder fell. The area was wrapped in strong light, and in the center, a person appeared. The silver-haired girl had a surprised expression for a moment, then saw His Highness, who was covered in blood, and her blood-covered fiance, and immediately understood what she had to do.

***

Someone knocked on the door of my room on a certain night in November. Today was the day that the [Winter] General was announced.

Even though it was night, I couldn’t calm down from the excitement of being chosen, and I couldn’t sleep, so I flipped through my mother’s strategy book. On sleepless nights, this is my habit. I look at my mother’s writing and the night passes.

Such a midnight visit. Christina, who was sleeping soundly on my pillow, opened one eye but soon fell asleep again.

I had thought that she might come.

“Don’t break the doorknob today.”

“So that the repair cost won’t be too much.”

When I opened the door, Emilia was waiting politely. I had invited her, but I had clearly told her.

“I don’t make Loyalists.”

“I thought that might be the case. Still, I came.”

Emilia speaks as if she understands.

“I know that Rebecca-sama doesn’t make Loyalists. Rebecca-sama knows that I know that. And one more thing.”

“…”

“You know that I will never give up, and that in the end, you will be the one to yield, right?”

After a long, long silence, I let out a sigh.

I’m no match for her. To put it simply, Emilia laughs like a small child who has successfully played a prank.

“You could become one of the top three.”

While muttering, I found myself looking at the strategy book on the desk. I can see a round pattern on the cover.

What was its name?

“————Rebecca-sama,why,that character.”

“Eh?”

I turned around because Emilia made a trembling voice. She has a face as if she’s seeing something unbelievable and is standing still. I wondered what happened all of a sudden.

“…What’s that book?”

“Ah…well, you see, it’s something my mother gave me. It’s about my mother’s hometown.”

It’s something that I haven’t even told His Highness, but I didn’t want to lie to Emilia.

“Can I look inside…?”

“I’m sorry. That’s not allowed.”

“Can I just look for a bit?”

“I’m sorry. Really.”

“Why can’t I look?”

“Well, um, that…it says that me and Emilia can’t be friends, or something like that!”

I didn’t want to lie, but I couldn’t tell the truth either, so it turned into an explanation that I don’t understand. “What am I saying?” I thought to myself. Emilia must not understand either.

“…Fufu…I see. That’s not good, is it?”

However, the smile that Emilia directed towards me was genuine. I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion, wondering how she could have gone from looking so serious just a moment ago.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to impose.”

“No, that’s fine… Emilia, are you okay?”

“Yes. It’s none of my business anymore.”

Emilia smiled. The lovely girl was as always, the Emilia I knew.

“Because, I also love this world.”

“What?”

“No, it’s nothing. Now then, Rebecca-sama! The Loyalist ritual!”

Emilia (physically) rushed me, and we performed the magic while holding hands. When we finished, I could definitely feel something warm in my heart. Emilia had become my Loyalist.

From now on, things will get busy. The number of strategies that can be taken just by having a Loyalist will increase. For example, sharing magical power with my [fall], the Phantom Beast. With a Loyalist, maybe even with Kyuubi.

I was lost in thought, but Emilia’s incessant fidgeting in my room made me stop thinking.

In the end, I decided to let Emilia stay in my room and even had to call Melinda. By then, I realized that I was always the one folding. She was my Loyalist after all, and with a brazen Emilia watching with pleasure, I decided to reduce rewards and increase punishment in my heart.

***

Light overflows from Emilia’s palm. That brilliance illuminated me, who was in the depths of despair.

I just watched the scene in front of me, clinging to the hand of His Highness. Not just me, but everyone there was doing the same.

It was a treatment for critically ill human beings made possible by Emilia’s healing magic research.

In the dazzling light, broken cells came back to life. Tissues were reconstructed, blood flowed, and skin covered. The holes were gradually filling, and what was spun was certainly alive.

What else can we call this but a miracle?

Ah, her research really did save [someone’s important person].

She is the strongest healer of all time. Emilia, who poured in all her magic power without reservation, suddenly closed her light and faced me.

I understood that everything was complete when I saw the face of my friend who wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled. Still, I was afraid to check it. If there was no sign of blood in his face. If that blue(eyes) color never reflected me again. I, I.

“It’s okay.”

I can hear a warm voice. My loyalist, my beloved friend, is saying that to me.

Slowly, very slowly, he raised his eyes. His chest rising and falling in a regular rhythm. The redness in his face is familiar. His eyelashes are trembling, and when I saw the deep blue(eyes) I had always wanted to see under them, I thanked the entire world.

“Ah, Ahh, Ahh…!”

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

“Thank, you…!”

I desperately convey it with a tight throat. All kinds of emotions change into sobs and tears and leave me.

His Highness weakly opens his eyes and strokes my head, which continues to cry on his chest. Emilia gently embraces me like that. Both of them kept doing that until I stopped crying.