Chapter 02: The Silver-haired Marie’shelle (Patreon)

“Miss Marie'shelle…”

Koko turned around – she called the name of the silver-haired girl who stood before her.

The girl called Marie’shelle remained still, looking dazed. She raised her hand up, her palm facing Koko as if gesturing to her, “Yo.”

“Koko… Have fun? Sitting on chair?”

In broken phrases, Marie’shelle asked Koko, her partner.

“I-It’s… Not really, no…”

After Marie’shelle looked upon Koko with doubtful eyes, her words stammered off. 

Contrary to Marie’shelle’s lax disposition, she quickly got behind Koko without much effort, despite Koko’s considerable experience. 

Behind her lazy, vacant stare dwelt an unimaginable amount of power.

You’re as nonchalant as ever, Miss.

Though the thought flashed through her mind, Koko kept it to herself.

Marie’shelle.

Based on her appearance, she seemed to be around the same age as Koko.

Unlike Koko’s rough and tumble appearance, Marie’shelle’s charming, almost doll-like looks didn’t match the bloody battlefield. 

However, the juxtaposition of the countless splatters of blood on her dress against her seemingly innocent figure made for a strange effect.

“I can’t believe how laid-back you are coming here, all things considered.”

So Koko mentioned to Marie’shelle.

Rushing past the soldiers crawling about, Koko had run to the Sky Terrace in a straight line. 

On the other hand, Marie’shelle arrived at the Terrace leisurely, making sure to take each and every soldier out on the way.

As strong as Marie’shelle was, it exasperated Koko to see her being this complacent in the middle of enemy territory.

However, said girl in question was puzzled at the comment. She merely looked up – “Hmm?” – a question mark practically appearing above her.

“Why run…? I don’t know…”

“I mean, of course you’d run! Just walking around in this situation would be what’s weird!”

The castle smelled of smoke and blood.

Screams and explosions continued to ring throughout.

In such brutal circumstances, Marie’shelle simply stood still, paying absolutely no heed to what was going on.

“Already the end… Running… No point.”

“W-Well, I suppose that’s true…”

Koko lost all words, after hearing Marie’shelle’s simple response.

“…Not here?”

Not paying any attention to Koko, she jumped straight into looking for a certain someone—

Their target:

The Path-down successor of the Rughzenhaide Kingdom, Selphine Rughzenhaide.

However, Koko had already arrived at the Sky Terrace before her, and was unable to find anyone.

“Ah, yes, she isn’t here… Shang X'ei Ling – the information from her was accurate, right?”

As she detailed her progress, Koko doubted the veracity of the reports from her teammate, whom she more often referred to as “Sian”. 

“Sian… Can trust her.”

Marie’shelle immediately shot her down.

“But—”

Koko tried once more, but Marie’shelle continued:

“Even if can’t trust, we follow. Sister’s ordas.”

“Ordas?”

For a moment, Koko couldn’t pick up what Marie’shelle just said. She quickly understood however, and corrected her – “It’s orders.”

“Orders.”

Marie’shelle repeated the word and raised her hand in the “Yo” pose again, as if saying “Don’t mind it.” 

Such was one of her expressions in her very limited repertoire.

“Still, if they aren’t here in the Sky Terrace, then we’re in a bind… I’m pretty sure we didn’t let anyone slip…”

Having given up on verifying the information, she looked to Marie’shelle for instructions.

“Plan B.”

Marie’shelle gave her an immediate answer:

It was an order to execute Plan B, another course of action they had agreed upon prior to the Rughzenhaide Kingdom attack. 

"A manual search? Ugh, what a pain... The sheer size of this place makes my head spin."

Koko scowled at the thought.

Seeing her expression, Marie’shelle snickered.

“Funny face…”

So she told Koko straight.

"Oh, leave me alone... Fine, plan B then. Let's stick to the plan and take one wing each – I'll be on the east wing."

Understanding that arguing would be pointless, Koko quickly agreed to go with Plan B and decided on their direction. 

Marie’shelle said “Nod” as she nodded and stared fixedly back at Koko.

“What’s wrong?”

Said Koko.

“We search… Shadow soldiers, won’t dispel?”

“There’s just 150 of them, I’ll be fine. I’ve pretty much finished off the rear line defenses anyway, there won’t be anyone else hard to deal with.”

Koko smiled triumphantly. Marie’shelle once again looked back at her with doubt.

“…U-Um… What is it…?”

"Overconfidence... your biggest weakness..."

Though her voice was soft, her words carried weight.

“Everything so far went… Real good. Too good. Don’ forget.”

“I-I understand…!”

Unconsciously, Koko stood straight as a rod.

“Nothing bad from… being careful. Tha’s all.”

Leaving with just those words, Marie’shelle departed the same way she came.

“G-Geez, that was surprising… She can get all serious sometimes…”

The changes that Marie’shelle showed would not have been perceptible to others.

She was terrible at expressing herself in words.

That couldn’t be helped, of course.

She had only recently learned words, after all.

However, it’s just that her vocabulary was wanting. It’s not that she can’t read the mood, or lacked intelligence.

Koko, who had partnered with her for some time, understood that.