Chapter 164 – Please Calm Yourself

Beneath a night sky wrapped in silence, a sky from which a full canopy of stars poured down.

Letaria stood alone in a vast meadow swaying in the wind. A cool night breeze gently stirred her dark-purple hair.

"That is..."

Before Letaria's eyes, a single figure stood. Beautiful light-purple hair, shining in the moonlight. It was somehow brighter than Letaria's own hair color, and gave off a fantastical hue full of translucence.

"Rutiel..."

Letaria whispered her sister's name, softly.

But the figure's back would not turn around. She only gazed up at the night sky, so deep it seemed to draw you in. From that back, Letaria could read no emotion, no expression at all.

Letaria could not bear to stand still, and ran to her sister's side.

"Rutiel...! I... to you...!"

She reached out and tried to lay her hand on that slender shoulder.

In that instant, the figure turned slowly toward her -- and in the shadow of the moonlight it warped, changing into the form of a small girl with ash-gray hair.

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"Ah...?!"

Letaria's eyes snapped open as she sprang up.

What greeted her was a clean ceiling she ought to have known well.

"Where is this..."

Steadying her ragged breathing, Letaria slowly raised her upper body.

When she looked around, it was a familiar room she had visited countless times. In the corner of the room, a potted plant stood quietly.

"...Seldia..."

It was the medical room of the Syn-Fibra laboratory, located inside Seldia, and she was on its bed.

Letaria confirmed that the IV tube had been removed, and slid her body along to lower her feet from the bed.

Just as she was about to begin walking quietly, the automatic door of the medical room slid open with force.

"Letaria...!"

Standing there was Milea, shoulders heaving as she gasped for breath.

The instant she saw Letaria standing there unharmed, Milea ran to her side.

"Are you all right?! Is anything hurting anywhere in your body?! How do you feel?!"

Milea gripped both of Letaria's shoulders tightly, in obvious distress.

"Y-yes... I am all right. I am not hurt, either. More importantly..."

Letaria smiled gently and softly took Milea's warm hands, resting on her shoulders, in her own.

"Please calm yourself, Milea."

Touched by Letaria's easygoing voice, Milea let the tension out of her shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief. "Phew..."

◆◆◆

"Well, looks like you're awake, Princess."

Waiting to greet Letaria, who had moved from the medical room to Milea's private lab, was Grain, seated on a chair against the wall. He too was one of those who had rushed over at the news.

"I am not a princess."

At Letaria's light reply, a gentle air drifted through the room.

"Your brainwaves showed an extremely severe load and heavy fatigue... but are you truly all right, with nothing abnormal?"

Milea asked again, her eye on the data on her terminal.

"Yes, nothing at all! As you can see, I am perfectly well!"

Letaria puffed out her chest with a smile. A faint trace of worry remained in Milea's eyes, but she nodded, seemingly relieved first of all that Letaria had woken safely.

"You had passed out inside the cockpit of that Makina -- Caducus. ...Do you remember anything about the very end?"

At Grain's serious question, Letaria tilted her head slightly.

"Let me think... I was trying to flee from that big green Makina... and Adelina came to my aid, did she not? That much I remember, but..."

Beyond that, her memory was white haze and she could not recall. Letaria frowned and fell to thinking.

"Yes. After that, while Sergeant Adelina held the enemy off, we managed to make it back here safely. Miss Priscilla and her people are still hiding out in the space near Coroshe, scouting the situation."

Grain conveyed the present situation briefly.

"The Caducus you were riding is being housed and isolated under strict containment in this block. ...I have run the analysis, and it seems that machine had a special system built in that is reminiscent of the Arden System."

Milea lowered her gaze slightly and wore a bitter expression.

"...It reminds me of that Escado machine..."

Hearing Milea's murmur, Letaria said, as if she had suddenly remembered something:

"That is right, I remember now! That machine, partway through, stopped accepting my controls and began moving on its own! Was that the doing of this 'system' as well?"

"Most likely. A machine that puts a heavy load on its pilot... naturally, we cannot let anyone ride it."

Milea declared it firmly, then quietly added:

"-- Even if what comes next is 'this emergency.'"

"An emergency...?"

Letaria tilted her head and asked back at the unfamiliar, urgent ring of the words.

It was Grain who responded, heavily.

"Yes. Before long... a clash will begin -- us, Seldia, against Argria -- no, against Coroshe itself."

Grain's voice echoed heavily through the quiet lab.