Chapter 12: What are you doing? (Patreon)

"All right, Roche." Archi waved a hand at the girl in front of him. "There's no need anymore."

Just as I thought — Lady Fortuna truly is someone of courage and cunning, someone who thinks about things on a level I never even considered. Looks like... I still have a lot to learn!

He'd always thought himself mature enough, ready to take up the sacred duty of the next guardian.

But now, having pieced together (partly from what he'd heard, partly from his own guesswork) that one of Fortuna's reasons for letting Pandora stay was to guard against the soon-to-arrive Archbishop Regulus — a threat even Fortuna herself couldn't withstand — he had to admit: he still had growing up to do...

"Why?" Roche asked, puzzled by the unexpected words. "Is it Lady Fortuna...?"

Seeing Archi nod, Roche broke into a smile.

"Then I'll be off!" With that, Roche waved and left.

She wanted to hurry and tell Pandora the news — surely Pandora, beautiful as a goddess, would light up with a smile like the break of dawn!

But as it turned out, Roche wasn't going to get her wish — not right now, anyway, because...

"What a wonderfully healthy place." Pandora took a deep breath, gazing at the tall trees surrounding her. "So, when exactly is Archbishop Regulus going to show up..."

She'd already worked out how to handle Regulus and was just waiting for him to arrive — his expression, she imagined, would be quite something once he did.

Following her memory of the path, she walked back along the trail leading to the elf settlement, in the opposite direction.

If asked why she'd chosen this particular route, the only answer was: she understood Regulus's nature.

He liked relying on his Authority for head-on attacks, taking hits directly rather than resorting to sneak attacks. And he was stubborn as a rock — if he'd come this way yesterday, he'd come this way today too.

So she walked along the trail, letting her mind wander as she went.

Like what expression Roswaal might make upon discovering that things here didn't match what was written in "the book"; or what would happen when the mediator eventually found this place...

About half an hour later, with still no sign of Regulus, she leaned against a tree by the roadside to rest her feet (not that she ever actually got tired).

The reason she'd come out to wait for him herself was to put some distance between this confrontation and the settlement — Regulus's Authority was simply too destructive to risk it nearby.

And so she waited, nearly a full hour passing.

"Good morning, Archbishop Regulus." Pandora smiled at the figure rounding the bend not far off.

Finally, here he was... Any longer and she'd probably have dozed off.

"Morn—" Regulus, about to return the greeting, froze mid-word. "It's you, you filthy woman!"

It was because of her that he'd had to walk so damn far!

"I can't believe you'd actually dare show your face in front of me again." A mocking grin spread across his face. "Don't worry, I'll grind your bones to ash soon enough!"

Pandora only sighed at that.

"Archbishop Regulus, don't you know it's hard for people to accept such rude words shouted at such volume? It doesn't just lower your own standing — it drags down everyone else's taste along with it. Honestly, it's simply..."

"You're so damn annoying! Just die!"

Unable to stomach another word of Pandora's lecture, Regulus's face darkened.

He triggered his Authority outright, hurling stones from the ground straight at Pandora.

Splat!

Amid a rapid staccato of flesh tearing open, Pandora instantly dissolved into a mist of blood.

This time, though, Regulus made no further move — he simply stared intently at the thin layer of blood pooling on the ground.

He kept staring like that, for a full minute.

"Heh. The annoying woman finally paid the price for her own stupidity." Seeing the pool of blood show no sign of reforming into Pandora, Regulus shook his head and started walking again.

"Archbishop Regulus." Just then, Pandora's voice came from behind him. "And where do you think you're going?"

Regulus froze at the sound and stopped in his tracks.

"Die!"

Splat!

Staring at the mist of blood hanging in the air, Regulus frowned and triggered his Authority again.

But this time the stones simply passed straight through the mist, punching through several trees before vanishing into the distance.

But...

"Archbishop Regulus."

"Die!"

"Archbishop Regulus."

"Die!"

...

"You've interrupted me several times now. Should I take that as an insult to my character, a trampling of my dignity?" Pandora, appearing once again at his side, kept right on smiling as she watched Regulus bracing his hands against his knees.

"What did you... say?!" Hearing his own familiar phrasing echoed back at him — aimed at himself, no less — he flung his hand out again.

Splat!

"Please stop with these pointless gestures, Archbishop Regulus." Pandora reappeared beside him and spread her hands. "Please answer my question."

"..." Right now, Pandora's strangely beautiful face looked, to Regulus, more revolting than any demon's. "Why should I answer your question? What right do you have to force me to?"

And Regulus finally realized it — his Authority, which had never once failed him, seemed to have no effect on Pandora at all...

"I said 'please.' Where's the forcing in that?"

"The whole point of what you're saying is that you want me to answer — and I refuse!"

"Is that so? All right then. Please answer my question."

"You filthy woman, I already said I refuse to answer!"

"I understand what you mean. But just because you don't want to answer, does that mean I can't say it?"

With that, Pandora pressed the point again.

"Should I take it that you're trying to strip me of my right to speak?"

And with that...

"You—" Regulus was left speechless.

He, a grandmaster of talking utter nonsense in his own right, was actually being out-argued by some "helpless woman"!

"All right then, please answer me!"

"Don't come any closer..." Regulus raised his hand again as Pandora slowly approached.

"Archbishop Regulus, are you giving me an order?"

"Are you infringing on my freedom?"

"Are you looking down on my character?"

Finally...

"Or is it..." Pandora, now standing right beside him, patted his shoulder. "That you're going against the very direction this world spins?"