“No!!!”
“Your Majesty the Empress!!!!!!”
Confronted with the shocking scene for the first time, the knights stood stunned, staring up at the sky, and screams mixed with shouts erupted from all around. Even Lionel lost his wits and gazed blankly upward. Empress Adelaide had flown off into the endless sky.
But he regained his composure faster than anyone else. Lionel recalled the sensation of the magical force that had pushed him away. Though he could not hear her clearly over the sound of the wind, she had definitely told him not to interfere. Lionel made a swift decision.
“Prepare in case Her Majesty the Empress falls!”
At Lionel’s command, the knights all looked up at the sky at once, ready to catch the Empress should she fall.
The mage corps, who arrived belatedly, were also too busy staring blankly at the sky, dumbfounded by the absurd sight.
“You’re saying Her Majesty the Empress was swept up by an updraft?!”
Lennox Poitier furrowed his brow with a look of disbelief, then issued orders to the mages under his command.
“Form a circular formation around the tower!!! Keepers, spread your magic widely and catch everything that falls from the sky! If Her Majesty the Empress falls, catch her safely, do you hear me??!!!”
“Yes!!!”
At Lennox Poitier’s command, the Keepers in black robes gathered in perfect unison around the tower, standing in a circle.
It was then, as the knights and mages lifted their heads toward the sky with anxious eyes—
“?!”
At first, it looked as though heat haze were shimmering.
“!!!!”
But by the time they realized it was the flickering edge of flame, the fire was already spreading terrifyingly across the entire tower.
“T-the tower!!!!”
Scorching heat surged up to their faces. With heat like the sun itself descending upon them, the knights and mages unconsciously took step after step backward.
The tower now looked like a single colossal pillar of fire. It burned so fiercely that it shone white, blinding to the eyes.
“Your Majesty the Empress!!!!”
“Try to suppress the flames with magic, somehow!!”
The mages struggled desperately to contain the blaze, but it was all in vain. That fire would only go out after it had burned everything there was to burn.
“Commander, what should we do?!”
With the Empress having flown off and everyone thrown into panic by the dreadful pillar of fire, only Lionel remained calm. With a composed, steady expression, he examined the column of flame, repeatedly replaying the image of the Empress in his mind.
“Commander!”
“Wait.”
“…Yes?”
“Just wait.”
A training uniform that fit him perfectly, a sword secured behind his back with a belt, the powerful magic that had pushed him away.
Lionel’s eyes narrowed.
‘Is even a tower that produces flying-type magical beasts classified as Grade 4?’
The Empress had clearly asked that in the waiting room of the Council of Ministers.
Sir Lepart stood pale-faced, staring blankly at the pillar of fire. With even Lionel telling him to wait, there was nothing he could do.
Then, after a moment, the white flames that had seemed as though they would burn endlessly suddenly began to die down. All the knights and mages gathered in the rose garden stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
As the edge of the sky, once stained blood-red, began to turn a pale pink, Lionel—who had been staring intently at the white flames—spotted something. Until then he had stood firmly in place, but now he ran with all his strength toward the base of the tower. He threw his arms wide toward the Empress, who was falling rapidly.
＊ ＊ ＊
Adele was plummeting endlessly, her entire body completely relaxed.
She could see the sky gradually turning blue. As she destroyed the tower and fell, the sky rushing away in an instant was a spectacle only she would ever know.
To a subordinate who had asked, ‘What if you die like that? How do you know when the ground will be close?!’ Adele had replied, ‘Don’t pour cold water on my hobbies.’ Inside the tower, even a small exertion caused magic to amplify, so slowing her speed at the last moment and landing on the ground was an easy matter—though terrifying for anyone watching.
With the thought, ‘All right, shall I make a splendid landing now?’ Adele flipped her body and looked toward the ground, only to be startled. A man was looking up at her desperately, arms spread wide without a shred of fear.
A beautiful face filled with the resolve to catch her no matter what was drawing closer by the second. Adele hurriedly used magic to pull her entire body upward.
Lionel, who had been standing with his arms spread, slowly lowered them as the Empress’s falling speed noticeably decreased.
The flames that looked like clusters of light shattered into countless fragments, wavering as they vanished into the sky, and the blood-red heavens faded into pink. Against that pale rose-colored sky and the fading light, the Empress descended slowly to the ground, as if making a divine descent.
Lionel and Adele looked at each other. The Empress, her complexion cold and pale, lightly set her foot on the ground. At that same moment, the tower disappeared along with its final flames, and a blue hue began to seep into the far edge of the sky. With even the wind stilled, silence settled over the ruined rose garden.
Adele, who commanded everyone’s gaze, tilted her head toward Lionel. Her loosened hair spilled to one side like a black waterfall.
“Were you planning to catch me as I fell with both arms?”
“I was.”
“If you had, your arms wouldn’t have survived. For a knight who wields a sword, that is.”
Adele glanced briefly at the broad shoulders that had foolishly spread their arms toward her without a single thought for what might happen to them, then looked away. Until now, there had been people who scolded her as she fell, but never anyone who ran toward her, determined to catch her if need be. As she brushed past him, Adele whispered with a smile in her voice.
“Anyway, I gratefully accept the goodwill. And also… what happened yesterday.”
At those words, Lionel snapped back to his senses and stared at the Empress’s back as she was already walking some distance away.
Wasn’t she the one who had fled last night with her face in utter disarray? How could she smile like that after just one day? The feel of her slender shoulders was still vivid in his palms. Watching Adele’s retreating figure, Lionel clenched his hand, which burned as fiercely as it had the night before.
He was not the only one who could not take his eyes off the Empress. People stared blankly at her, unable even to think of chanting the name of the Empress who had destroyed the tower by a method none had ever heard of.
Striding forward, Adele cast a sideways glance at Lennox Poitier standing off to one side. He was staring at her with a rigid expression, and in one hand he held what looked like an amplifier sword. As she passed him, Adele tossed out a single remark.
“Put the sword away. It doesn’t seem necessary.”
Lennox blinked, then slowly turned his head to look at the Empress as she moved farther away.
And a moment later—
“Her Majesty the Empress… destroyed the tower by herself… right?”
Someone’s question echoed hollowly over the ruined rose garden.
＊ ＊ ＊
A red sky and crashing flashes of light. The black tower that tore through the heavens shattered into white fragments and burned. Everyone who witnessed the overwhelming calamity vanish in an instant was busy talking about it.
Since the appearance of the towers, people had been enthralled by the existence known as “mages,” who dramatically turned moments of despair around. They shouted their names, respected them, and even came to revere them. Some extremists went so far as to think of them as agents of the gods. Whenever a mage in robes appeared, people rushed forward to offer thanks and bow their heads. It was truly the age of mages. The presence of knights, who had once dominated an era, had grown very small after the advent of mages.
Meanwhile, nobles closer to power were having a somewhat different conversation.
“You’re saying Her Majesty the Empress destroyed the tower alone?”
“My goodness. Then does that mean Her Majesty was a mage? They say she flew into the sky and destroyed the tower herself—what in the world does that mean?”
“Indeed. Was it even possible to destroy a tower before it touched the ground? In any case, if she destroyed the tower, she’d be a Striker rather than a Keeper, wouldn’t she?”
“Hm. Duke Despone will likely try to recruit Her Majesty the Empress. To destroy a tower single-handedly! Might she be of a higher rank than Lennox Poitier?”
“That’s odd in its own way, isn’t it? If Her Majesty accepts Duke Despone’s offer, she’d belong to the same group as Lennox Poitier, the elder brother of Dian Poitier. How would that relationship even work?”
“What relationship? It’d just be a complete mess.”
“Watch your words. Someone might hear.”
The rebuked noble cleared his throat awkwardly, coughing lightly, then tilted his head.
“But still.”
“……”
“Why would Gotthorp send a princess—one who’s even a mage—to Ehmondt? And all alone, at that.”
At his question, the others nodded.
“Indeed. I hear she’s a legitimate princess.”
“They say the real power in Gotthorp lies with the Dowager Empress. Perhaps the mother and daughter were on bad terms. Maybe it was a case of ‘go and die over there,’ don’t you think? When it comes to power, how important is blood really?”
“I told you to be careful with such talk!”
“Ahem, ahem.”
