"—And so, that’s how we finally managed to drag them back."
As she listened to Fyuji’s testimony, Frixell ruminated on everything that had led them to this day.
After they had successfully captured her former party members—though she wasn't entirely sure if "captured" was the right word for it—Frixell had been handed over to the Chrys Knights. She had remained in their detention facility under constant watch until today. That said, she hadn't been treated poorly. She was given a decent room and edible meals; for a witness, her time had merely been a bit cramped. She had no idea what it had been like for Rex and the others, who were likely rotting in proper cells.
In the Tribunal spreading beneath the Cathedral, the judgment proceeded with solemn efficiency.
Contrary to Frixell’s expectations, Alphana was remarkably quiet. Frixell had fully expected her to scream about her innocence and lack of involvement. Instead, Alphana left nearly all the statements regarding the accident to Rex and Dino, offering only the most minimal responses with a demure, downcast attitude. Frixell wondered if she was terrified of the Saint of Star Eyes, or if she was simply trying to play the part of a pitiful, wrongly accused woman being protected by the two men.
How crafty. Even now, with nowhere left to run or hide, she was still thinking of nothing but her own self-preservation.
"I see. I have a general understanding of the circumstances surrounding each of you up until today."
From the dais at the highest point of the Tribunal, Yulirius’s words fell like stardust.
"The capture of Flamberge was a significant undertaking. You did well, Fyuji."
"You’re too kind. It was all thanks to the princess over there. I just did the legwork."
After bowing, Fyuji looked up at the dais. Frixell couldn't tell which of the four Saintesses he was looking at. However, the girl reclining in the floating crescent-moon cradle—Arcasiel, the Saint of Fortune and Woe—let out a long, lethargic yawn.
"Please, wait!"
At that moment, Alphana finally leaned forward from the witness stand and shouted. Despite being the one who deserved condemnation, she pointed an accusing finger at Fyuji and snapped at him in a shrill voice.
"We were subjected to a strange magic tool by that man! It made our heads go fuzzy... it made us act strange!"
On the surface, it was a reasonable protest.
To be honest, Frixell wasn’t entirely satisfied with that part either. When Rex and the others had drawn their weapons to resist, Fyuji had shown them the Chryscles Holy Church pendant. Immediately, the three of them had become quiet, as if their personalities had been swapped, and they had readily agreed to return to the Holy City.
As far as Frixell could guess, there was only one possibility.
Coincidentally, it aligned with Alphana’s claim—though it was infuriating to share an opinion with such a vixen.
"I’m certain he used some kind of illegal magic tool to manipulate our minds—"
"—Yawn."
Alphana’s tirade was cut short by Arcasiel’s heavy breath, which was somewhere between a yawn and a sigh.
The Saint, who until now had shown zero interest in the proceedings, looked down at Alphana for the first time with pale blue eyes.
"Sigh... You’re really the one saying that?"
"What? What are you talking about?"
Arcasiel sounded utterly bored, as if the entire situation was beneath her.
Why things had turned out this way, why Rex and Dino had acted so strangely—Arcasiel exposed the truth to the questions Frixell had asked herself a thousand times, and she did it with disappointing ease.
"You’re the one who manipulated those two men, turning them into your own personal dolls. Isn't that right?"
A heavy silence fell over the Tribunal.
Frixell thought she could hear the sound of Alphana gritting her teeth. Nearly ten seconds passed before Rex finally reacted.
"Wait... please. I don't know what you mean. We would never... Alphana would never use magic on us."
"It wouldn't be very effective if you were aware of it, would it? It’s only natural."
Arcasiel rested her cheek on her hand.
"Slowly, over time, like poison seeping into the skin. By repeating the same words over and over, you paralyzed their thoughts and turned them into obedient puppets. It’s a classic charm spell."
"..."
"Think back. It’ll come to you eventually."
Frixell hadn't entirely ruled out the possibility. It was one thing for the men to shower Alphana with money and gifts. However, their willingness to help her flee the country and even take the entire blame for the accident defied all logic. It could only be explained by something like magic. Frixell had considered it in the back of her mind.
On the other hand, it was hard to believe Alphana truly possessed such power.
Magic that interfered with the human mind was a strictly regulated "ultimate secret." Because of the ethical implications, no public formulas existed; it was only used for specific purposes by those with rare qualifications. If such magic were common, the social order would collapse in a day. There were no reports of such items being found in dungeons, either. To Frixell, mind-interference magic was a fairy tale from a different world.
But now, it was the only answer that made sense.
"Wait! No! That’s not true!"
The mask of the demure woman began to crack. Slamming her hands against the witness stand, Alphana cried out in a desperate, flustered panic.
"That’s nonsense! On what grounds can you say that?!"
"The grounds are standing right there. Look at them."
Arcasiel flicked her gaze toward Rex and Dino. The two men, who had previously been giving resolute testimony that Alphana was blameless, were now shells of their former selves.
"That’s... right. Why did we... why were we acting like that?"
"No way... then, we were just... all this time..."
"Rex! Dino! Listen to me!"
Rex and Dino stood there aghast, their expressions mirroring men who had suddenly been shoved off a cliff.
"This kind of charm breaks the moment the victim realizes what’s happening. Your sweet little game of playing princess is over."
"Tch...!"
"Besides, you were the one toying with people's hearts as you pleased. Even if a 'strange magic tool' was used... why do you care?"
Alphana’s nails clawed into the railing of the witness stand. She looked like a cornered animal, as if she might leap across the floor and tear out Arcasiel’s throat at any second.
Yulirius reclaimed the floor.
"Mind interference via speech cannot begin unless the target is willing to listen to you. In that regard, since Rex and Dino were fond of her from the start, she likely didn't have much trouble casting the spell."
Alphana had probably spent her time after joining Flamberge visiting their rooms under the guise of "bonding," slowly planting her suggestions during their private chats while Frixell wasn't looking. Frixell’s decision to stay out of their private business had backfired spectacularly.
Exactly when had Rex and Dino lost their minds? How much of their behavior was genuine and where did the magic begin? They were certainly puppets by the time they fled the Holy City. But what about when they lived like kings on the investigation rewards? Or when they started dipping into the party's savings? Or even when they accepted the request in the first place?
"Now then, since the testimonies are complete, let us proceed with the judgment."
Yulirius raised a small hand, and the Old Butler appeared soundlessly from the shadows of the dais.
"Please wait a moment. My legs aren't what they used to be."
The butler respectfully gathered Yulirius into his arms. With the elegant click of his shoes, he carried her down the stairs to the main floor. A knight quickly placed a small chair in front of Frixell and the others.
With movements so fluid they were mesmerizing, the butler seated Yulirius. She wasn't directly in their faces, but she was close enough that Frixell could see the fine detail of the star crest on her tiara.
Why is she coming so close? Frixell wondered.
Then, she caught her breath. Yulirius reached for the back of her head and untied her eyepatch with startling ease.
Closing her eyes gently, a modest smile played on Yulirius’s lips. Frixell had guessed she was about ten years old based on her height, and her face confirmed it; she was a young, lovely girl. She might even be the same size as Liesel, the small mage from Silvery Grey.
However, the fact that Yulirius was a mere child did nothing to soften the atmosphere. If anything, the air grew so sharp and pure that Frixell felt uncomfortable. It was a sense of prostration, as if moving a finger would be a sin against this sacred sanctuary.
"Now—from this point on, you no longer need to speak."
Yulirius opened her Star Eyes.
An inexplicable sensation swallowed Frixell. "Star Eyes" was the perfect name—within the girl’s small pupils, an infinite cosmos of brilliant, twinkling stars spread out.
As a child, Frixell used to look up at the night sky and feel a terrifying sense of vertigo, as if she might fall into the infinite black. She felt that same sensation now, intensified a hundredfold. They were in the basement of a cathedral, yet Frixell felt the crushing weight of the entire heavens looking down into the deepest recesses of her heart.
Rex and the others were likely feeling the same thing. They stood frozen, forgetting even to breathe, trapped in the gaze of the Star Eyes.
"These eyes perceive your 'soul,' not your body. No matter how you try to hide your sins, the radiance of the soul cannot be faked."
Yulirius’s lapis-lazuli hair began to shimmer with starlight, swaying in a nonexistent wind.
It was a beautiful, ethereal sight.
"Alphana, Rex, Dino. I ask the three of you."
And yet, Frixell’s heart was hammering against her ribs. She was being seen. Her soul was being weighed.
"—Did you truly conduct the approval investigation?"
It took several seconds for Frixell to process the question.
When she did, a cold dread raced up from her feet.
"No... you can’t be serious. You guys didn't..."
"We did! Of course we did!" Alphana screamed.
Yulirius’s smile deepened.
"Ah... as I thought. You gave up and went home halfway through. That’s why you didn't find the teleportation trap. You never even stepped into the area where it was located."
"Th-that’s not—"
"Was there some unavoidable reason that forced you to abandon the quest?"
"Yes! Exactly! We—"
"Hmm. My mistake. It wasn't an unavoidable reason. You abandoned it intentionally."
"Wait—"
"Fufu. It’s good to be honest. Your soul is so ugly and blackened... I see. You were tired. You were bored. You were disgusted with the work, so you just went home."
Frixell felt like the world was spinning. They were tired? Bored? They had abandoned a high-stakes approval investigation because they were bored?
For a reason that pathetic.
For a reason so utterly beneath contempt, the members of Silvery Grey had been—
"Rex and Dino, being charmed, agreed to the abandonment. There were so few monsters in the dungeon that you assumed Silvery Grey had already cleared it out. You all shared the same thought... that it was a waste of time to finish the job."
Frixell wasn't given time to process her dizziness. It was an interrogation that allowed no defense.
"Another hit. And when the accident happened, you initially planned to play dumb during the Guild inquiry. However, the situation changed when the Church summoned you to this Tribunal. You panicked because you knew that if you came before me, your lies would be exposed."
Yulirius tilted her head.
"So, Alphana, you decided to let Rex and Dino take the fall. You would flee the country, and they would stay behind to plead your innocence. That’s why you fled toward the border, whispering the same words to them over and over: 'Alphana is innocent. It’s all our fault.'"
She continued, her voice light and melodic.
"I imagine you didn't take a ship because leaving the country requires an application to the Guild, and they would have flagged you immediately as fugitives. Even if you got on a boat, the records would lead us straight to you. Besides, you needed the time on the road to finish the brainwashing. ...Fufu. Another hit? I’m in top form today."
Yulirius looked at the three of them—excluding Frixell—with a delicate, elegant smile.
"So, you charmed them—no, brainwashed them—until they believed the lie was the truth. You thought that if they believed it, even my eyes wouldn't be able to find the lie. If you were cleared of guilt, you could cross the border without being hunted. ...A clever little plan, though ultimately futile since I saw through the brainwashing immediately."
"Wh-what are you? What kind of monster are you...?" Alphana’s face was pale with terror.
Yulirius clapped her hands together, looking delighted.
"I love this part of the job. Seeing if my deductions are correct by watching your souls... it’s like those riddle games people play, isn't it? Asking yes or no questions to get closer to the truth..."
"Are you saying..." Alphana ground her teeth. "Are you saying you’re judging us for a game?!"
"Is there something wrong with that?" Yulirius tilted her head curiously. "Whenever I use this power, people act like I’m some sort of freak. But I’m not the one who did something wrong, am I? You are."
Frixell felt a profound sense of gratitude for the Tribunal, even if she didn't know if she deserved to feel it. If the Saintesses hadn't been here, Alphana’s charm might never have been broken. Rex and Dino would have spent the rest of their lives carrying the guilt of a crime they didn't commit while Alphana laughed in the shadows.
Yulirius was right. The criminals were the ones at fault. The Saintesses were just performing their duty to maintain order in the Holy City.
And yet, despite knowing that...
"I don't understand it. Why do humans waste their one life committing sins and staining their souls? If you hate having your sins exposed, you should have just lived a decent life from the start."
The Saintesses were demigods. Agents of the divine.
Which meant they were no longer entirely human.
A Saint who judged human sin as if it were a game—Frixell couldn't suppress the chill running down her spine.
"You’ve done this before, haven't you? Moving from country to country, bleeding adventurer parties dry. ...Oh, that wasn't my power. The Church’s investigators are very thorough."
Yulirius looked at Alphana with pity.
"Using men and then discarding them. Your soul is blackened by a thousand lies. There is almost nothing left of you that is real. Not even that name, 'Alphana.'"
"You little...!"
A mask of pure loathing settled on Alphana’s face. She spat the words out.
"You monster...!"
"Fufu... I haven't been called that in a while." Yulirius’s smile was tinged with self-deprecation. "But I think you have me beat. You’re so greedy and arrogant that you can’t stand it if the world doesn't revolve around you."
Then, without any warning, Yulirius changed the subject.
"Alphana. You aren't purely human, are you?"
"What?" Frixell blurted out. For a moment, she thought it was just a metaphor for her personality.
But Yulirius was perfectly serious.
"She has Vampire blood in her veins."
Vampires—a powerful branch of the Demon Race from the western dungeons, ranked alongside Dragons and Spiria. Frixell had never seen one, but they were legendary. Even a child of their race was said to be equivalent to a high A-rank adventurer.
"It’s only a trace, of course. She is mostly human. The blood likely entered her lineage many generations ago."
Rex and Dino stared at Alphana in shock. They clearly hadn't known.
Alphana said nothing, her lips pressed into a thin line.
"But the blood is there. And your charm magic comes from it. It isn't a learned skill, but an innate trait. In the Royal Capital, they call it 'Bloodline Magic.'"
It would have been easy to blame everything on magic. But there was one problem: how did Alphana know how to use mind interference magic in the first place? It was a heavily guarded secret.
The answer was simple: she didn't learn it. She was born with it.
"Vampires use this power to charm those they fancy, turning them into puppets who willingly offer up their blood. It’s exactly what you were doing... though you preferred money over blood."
"..."
Frixell struggled to process it all. Her comrades had been charmed. They had abandoned the investigation because they were "bored." And Alphana was part monster.
She didn't know if magic was the only thing to blame. Even without magic, there were plenty of swindlers who could manipulate people with words alone. Perhaps Flamberge was doomed the moment they let Alphana in, magic or no magic.
But if the charm hadn't existed... if Frixell had been able to knock some sense into Rex and Dino...
Maybe the accident would never have happened. Maybe the kids from Silvery Grey would still be whole.
"Alphana!"
Rex looked at her with a mix of rage and agony.
"Why?! We thought you were our friend! We were comrades!"
"..."
Alphana’s eyes were like ice. She looked at him as if he were a broken toy she had no further use for. Suddenly, she began to scratch her head violently with her left hand.
"Fufu... fufufu..."
She let out a high-pitched, convulsive laugh.
"Why? It’s obvious. Because adventurers are all idiots."
The refined, charming Alphana was gone.
"You play the part of a sweet girl, and they fall for it like morons. Merchants and nobles are always looking for a double-cross, so they’re harder to trick. But you lot..."
Everything had been exposed. There was no way out. Realizing she was finished, she descended into a state of self-destructive madness. The words poured out of her like a flood.
"I had a good run. I would have been fine if you two had just taken the blame like you were supposed to. I didn't think you'd be this useless. I’m honestly disappointed."
She glared directly at Yulirius.
"And besides, so what?! Every party cuts corners on investigations! We were just the unlucky ones who got caught. And now I’m being treated like a criminal? Some 'fair' judgment this is!"
She was walking toward a cliff, and she knew it. But she couldn't stop. She had been stripped bare by a "cheating" ability, and the Saintess was treating her life like a parlor game. She was beyond reason.
"I don't care if some kid lost an eye or a leg. It’s a huge pain for me that they didn't have the decency to just die."
Driven by spite and a desperate need to strike back, she spat out the fatal words.
"Silvery Grey, was it? It would have been better if every last one of them had just died!"
A chair crashed to the floor on the dais. For a split second, a surge of power—too holy to be called bloodlust, yet just as terrifying—filled the room. If it hadn't happened, Frixell might have lunged at Alphana herself.
Frixell looked up to see that the Saint of Hakua and the Saint of the Heavenly Sword were gone. From behind the dais, she could hear them arguing.
"Let me go, Lady Dia! That woman! That woman needs to—!"
"Calm down! You can't draw that in here! Old man, Rosche, help me hold her!"
The Saint of the Heavenly Sword sounded like she was on the verge of tears, while the Saint of Hakua tried to restrain her. Eventually, their voices faded away. They had likely left the room to keep the "Heavenly Sword" from being used on a human.
"Sigh..."
Arcasiel, left alone on the dais, scowled from her cradle.
"Ugh, so noisy. I’ve heard enough."
She floated down to the floor, stopping beside Yulirius. She looked down at Alphana with eyes as cold as the moon.
"Yuli. I’m shutting her up."
"I suppose we’ve heard all we need to. What do you have in mind?"
"It’s simple."
Arcasiel sat up in her cradle.
"I’ll give her the first punishment. The most primitive form of karmic retribution. This piece of trash should find out exactly what the victims felt."
What the victims—Silvery Grey—felt.
That meant...
"What?" Alphana laughed, putting on a front of bravado. "What, are you going to make me fight that Reaper? How? It’s a dungeon boss. You can't just—"
"I’m going to give you a dream. A dream so terrible you’ll wish you were dead."
"What? What are you talking about? You’re joking!"
Alphana panicked. Frixell watched as Arcasiel’s long, flowing hair began to glow with a strange, phosphorescent light—a mix of pale blue and pure white. It was breathtakingly beautiful, like a goddess descending from the heavens.
But this goddess had not come to bring a blessing.
"Don't worry, you won't actually die. But every bit of pain you feel will be real."
Frixell realized it then. This was the power Fyuji had used to silence Rex and Dino. This was Arcasiel’s "Divine Authority."
Alphana’s charm was a children's trick compared to this.
"You’re going to find out exactly how much those kids you laughed at suffered. You’re going to feel it until you die."
The absolute right to control consciousness.
—Seresquella.
"What...? Where am I?"
Alphana blinked, finding herself standing alone in a dark, cold space.
The Tribunal was gone. Rex, Dino, Frixell, and the Saintesses were nowhere to be found. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realized she was in a vast stone chamber.
The floor felt like ice.
"Hey! Where am I?! You shitty Saintess, what did you do?!"
As her voice echoed, flames flickered to life on rows of pillars stretching into the darkness.
Except they weren't normal torches. They were giant skulls mounted on the pillars, erupting with eerie blue fire. The light pushed back the shadows, revealing a heavy, suffocating miasma.
"Ugh...!"
Alphana scrambled away from the miasma, her eyes darting around in a panic.
What was this? It looked like a boss room in a high-level dungeon.
I’m going to give you a dream. A dream so terrible you’ll wish you were dead.
Arcasiel’s voice echoed in her mind, sending a shiver down her spine.
"No way... you’re kidding, right?! Get me out of here! I know you’re watching! Let me out!"
Sweat poured down Alphana’s face. She knew what was coming. Arcasiel had said she would feel what Silvery Grey felt.
Which meant he was here. The reaper every adventurer feared.
"Ah..."
Behind her, she felt the weight of "Death."
Her sense of self began to vanish. Her breathing hitched, her body temperature plummeted, and her blood felt like it was turning to slush. She couldn't move. She couldn't even feel her own heart. A heavy, absolute silence filled the air.
Against her will, her head turned.
"Hi..."
The Life Reaper.
A towering figure of tattered robes and swirling spirits. It was a mass of darkness that could swallow a person whole, wielding a massive, wicked scythe.
The reaper of lives.
Alphana looked up into the hood, but there was nothing there. It wasn't just hidden by shadows. She realized with a jolt of terror that the thing simply had no face at all.
"Agh—!"
A flash of steel. Her right eye was gone.
"AGH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Alphana collapsed, clutching her face as blood gushed through her fingers. The paralysis broke, replaced by a white-hot, agonizing pain. It felt real. Her right hand was slick with warm, sticky blood.
"Gah... hya...!"
Every instinct told her to run, but she could only writhe on the floor. The pain in her head was so intense it felt like her skull was being split with a wedge.
"No... it’s a dream... it’s just a dream..."
She whispered it like a prayer. It had to be a dream. Even a Saintess couldn't teleport her into a dungeon and summon a Life Reaper. Arcasiel had said it was a dream. It wasn't real. It couldn't be—
Really?
The pain in her eye was real. The warmth of the blood was real. The freezing air was real. The terrifying, soul-crushing presence of the Reaper was real.
If the pain was real and the fear was real... then what happened if the Reaper killed her?
"Ahaha... ha... HAHAHAHA!"
Alphana crawled across the floor, laughing hysterically. Her mind had snapped. There was no fighting this. There was no resisting.
"Lies... it’s all lies... there’s no way... no way a human could..."
The Life Reaper did not kill quickly. It was an existence designed to harvest despair. It would not grant her the mercy of a swift end.
It would withhold its killing blow, showing off its immortal, terrifying power.
And then, slowly, it would begin to reap.