Chapter 03: An Extraordinary Existence (Patreon)

Having the straight-faced Marie’shelle identify her shortcomings like that cornered Koko to the point where she stood stock still for a while.

Still half-dazed, she was only able to come to her senses after getting a message through commkravte from her teammate, Sian.

“Hello, hello. Koko, can you hear me?”

Shang X'ei Ling’s carefree voice rung in her head.

“…Hm?”

For a moment, Koko didn’t realize that the voice was commkravte – she mumbled in puzzlement.

But only for a moment.

She quickly understood the situation and answered Shang X'ei Ling back.

“Yeah, Sian… Mm. I can hear you. What’s going on there? Are you done fighting?”

“I’m done with the commits ‘til the third floor!”

I’d expect no less from you.

So she thought, but kept that compliment to herself.

“Now no one can get into the castle – unless someone falls from the sky or something.”

Sian’s work left them nothing else to worry about,

All that was left was to make sure Plan B went off without a hitch, and to get ahold of Selphine, their main objective.

Koko cut her commkravte and began shifting to her next move.

“Hey, hey, listen to this! So like, the last two guys I killed? God they were so boring. Can you get any more anticlimactic? I could find more excitement in a siesta.” 

Shang X'ei Ling didn’t seem to know of the virtue of silence as she kept a one-sided conversation.

Koko responded half-heartedly with interjections here and there – “Yeah”, “Uh huh”, and then muttered:

"All this coming from someone who personally said she'd just keep guard...?"

“But like…”

Interrupting Sian, Koko continued:

"Can't really complain if you didn't volunteer to head up to the front lines instead."

After her rejoinder, Sian remained quiet for some time.

“Hey, Sian, can you hear me?”

Thinking that the commkravte had been cut, Koko tried to contact Sian again, but it seems like that wasn’t the case.

“…So? What’s going on over there?”

Shang X’ei Ling’s reply had no connection, entirely disjoint from their previous conversation.

“Just gonna ignore me then…?”

Koko grumbled in irritation.

However, she quickly realized that there was no point in voicing her dissatisfaction.

Though normally cool and quiet, Sian doesn’t try to hide that she is a slacker; she’s full of herself, and only speaks whatever she wants to, whenever she wants to.

Such was Sian’s personality – one that Koko was quite familiar with.

Trying to forget her irritation, Koko tried to change the topic.

“Oh right! This place is completely deserted. Are you sure that the princess is here on the Sky Terrace?”

The information that the princess was on the terrace was from Shang X’ei Ling.

However, the princess in question was nowhere to be found.

Koko expressed her doubts to Sian herself.

“Huh? No, I’m sure of it. If she isn’t near the balcony, then try scanning the whole top floor.”

Shang X’ei Ling flatly rejected her claim – she was absolutely sure of her information.

And Miss Marie’shelle told me that I could count on Sian’s information too…

She clicked her tongue in frustration and protested whatever she could of the situation.

“Scanning is such a pain… It tires me out so much…”

Without paying any heed to Koko’s complaints, Shang X’ei Ling replied.

“You’re so lazy, for someone so young.”

She smirked at Koko.

"I don't wanna hear that from someone who volunteered to shore up our defense instead!"

Koko shouted, having played completely into Shang X’ei Ling’s hand.

“Look, enough whining. We need to get back to work. We’re already at the home stretch.”

“Oh shut it…”

Shut down by Shang X’ei Ling, Koko could do nothing but groan.

Though Koko didn’t like how she was being made to dance to Sian’s tune, even she knew that there was no point in arguing with her here.

“Geez, what a letdown this has all been~”

Regardless of whether she was being conscious of Koko, or that she had just wanted to rant, Sian suddenly changed the tone of her voice.

“Rughzenhaide is like, the strongest country in the Alliance. Is it supposed to fall this easily?”

So Koko responded to her.

“We planned this for so long, of course it’s going to work out… And even Miss Melano is involved in this.”

The moment Shang X’ei Ling mentioned the name “Miss Melano”, the conversation ground to a halt.

She breathed a deep sigh—

And forced the conversation back on its feet.

“…Well y’know, frankly speaking, it’s probably mainly thanks to the second reason.”

"What, you mean we all could've gotten this far without the help of the shadow soldiers?"

“No, that’s not what I…”

Even though the exchange was through commkravte, a question mark practically floated above Koko’s head.

“Considering Miss Melano... I bet she could probably take down an entire country or two."

Though it was true, she didn’t want to actually say it out loud.

“……”

Those words silenced Koko.

“If I had to describe her with a single word, it'd be ‘cheater’.”

“You have a point there…”

Koko couldn’t help but agree.

To the two, this “Miss Melano” was just that great a figure to them.

“Aight, I’m gonna head back to the castle and work on the commits. Good luck with the search~!”

Changing her tone once again, Sian bid Koko farewell and immediately cut the commkravte.

“Miss Marie’Shell, and now Sian… I swear, does no one have any sense of tension here…? Even I’ve lost my drive.”

Ending their call, Koko cursed under her breath. Suddenly—

The situation takes a 180.

“—!”

When Koko realized, it was already too late.

“—!?”

Just as she heard the sharp slice of something cutting through the air—

“Wha—”

The tip of her staff fell to the floor with a loud thunk.

“—Eh?!”

Her staff was made of metal alloy – and yet its tip now rolled on the ground, felled by the clean slash of some blade.

With a focus on lightness, metal alloy formed the primary material of her staff.

Though it wasn’t forged to be a particular hardness, metal was metal.

It might dent when taking a direct hit from a sword, but it couldn’t possibly be cleaved in two so easily.

“Wh-What was that?! There’s… There’s something sticking out of the wall…?”

Just what was the blade that had cut through her staff? 

After slicing the staff, it had flown straight into the wall.

“A transparent knife…?”

An ice knife? Or perhaps an illusory one formed by manakravte?

Either way, this signaled the presence of an unknown threat.

“W-Who are you?! Show yourself!”

Surprise colored her voice, as she shouted. From the shadows slowly appeared a young girl.

“Hmm…”

Koko gave her would-be assailant a once-over.

Before her stood a girl wearing a purple cloak – the Royal Guardian, protector of Princess Selphine: Ritona Reighnvhasta.