Chapter 47

Chapter 47 : Nonaggression Pact (4)

Ariti held her breath under the pressure that surged over her.

The thick stench of blood mingled in the air and brought back old memories she had forgotten.

That dark period, when they had killed one another, suspected one another, killed again, and grieved again.

Pressing down hard on the half-torn, bleeding base of the wing to staunch the blood, Ariti looked up at Riwin.

He was a fearless person.

Or perhaps he thought his own life was not important.

One moment, he looked endlessly bored, and the next, he was standing at the front, digging up curiosity.

She felt she understood why Pan took an interest in him. That was why, despite his being Underfolk, she had thought he was not bad.

Indulging in hopeful thinking that perhaps the negotiations would go well, she had meant to persuade them that living together might not be such a bad thing.

Etel had been skeptical, and Pan, as always, had gone along with her opinion, but still.

Ariti wanted the children of future generations to grow up without knowing anything as terrible as war.

“Keuk…… kuh-heuk.”

It was clear that the Underfolk had affected Riwin by unlocking his Frame.

Ariti was already struggling just to tend to those who had collapsed, and she had no room to take care of Riwin as he vomited blood.

The blue hair he had painstakingly dyed was fading under the swirling energies and beginning to recover its original color. If the Underfolk saw Riwin’s true appearance, there was no way he would not remember it.

Ariti hurriedly unlocked her Frame.

The moment three pairs of fairy wings burst out, the domination of the Frame the Underfolk had unlocked was pushed back.

The only person who could most effectively defend against the Underfolk Frame, which was centered on the mental type, was Ariti. She too possessed power of the same category: Absolute Mental Defense.

The problem was that Riwin was Underfolk as well.

He could not defend with his Frame, nor did his physical abilities seem particularly superior.

If the gathered onlookers fled first, she could use wide-area provocation afterward, so it was not as though there were no countermeasures.

Riwin, who had been fully kneeling and collapsed forward, rose again about ten seconds after Ariti unlocked her Frame.

Riwin wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and lightly reached out toward the Underfolk aide charging at him with a drawn blade.

It looked as though their hands were about to clasp.

Riwin’s hand slid in along the sharp blade. Very naturally, he snatched the knife away, then opened his eyes with a fierce look.

The red glow in his left eye carried the distinctive energy of the Underfolk, and just before he could bring down the knife he held in a reverse grip—

Before Ariti, who sensed something strange, could stop him, Pan came running against the fleeing crowd and kicked the Underfolk aide’s leg without hesitation.

The blade Riwin swung grazed right in front of his nose, and the Underfolk, his eyes wide with shock, took the impact fully and pitched to the floor.

Meanwhile, Riwin’s knife, having lost its target, was kicked away by Ariti and flew off before embedding itself at a distance.

“Why…… did you stop me?”

While Riwin stared at his empty palm and said something foolish, Pan easily subdued the Underfolk who had struck his head against the ground.

Pan’s face twisted deeply. He had noticed before arriving that Riwin’s condition was unusual, but it was still a difficult sight to adjust to.

Pan clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The fact that his state resembled the time he had lost his mind and bitten Timol meant that, this time too, he had let go of one of the threads he had been holding.

“Ariti, withdraw your Frame right now.”

“His Frame still has not closed.”

What a frustrating thing to say.

That leeway was possible only because Riwin had not yet found his next target. Without hesitation, Pan struck the bound Underfolk on the head and knocked him fully unconscious.

“Now it is done.”

Once Ariti withdrew her Frame, Riwin, who had been staring blankly around him, pressed a palm over the reddened corner of one eye and swallowed a groan.

Unlike Ariti, who was frustrated in reverse because she could not understand this situation, Pan understood exactly what he had to do.

Pan grabbed both of Riwin’s hands as Riwin clawed at his face with enough force to tear out his own eye, then slammed his own head straight into Riwin’s.

“Ugh!”

“That should clear your head.”

In reality, however, Riwin fainted before he could come to his senses, just like the Underfolk sprawled on the floor.

Pan slipped his arms under Riwin’s armpits to support him, then sighed again.

At this rate, it felt like living with a time bomb under his arm.

Meanwhile, Ariti, who had sprinkled Healing Spring over the member of the sky whose wing had been torn, approached Pan.

“An explanation. A justification. An excuse. You will have to give something.”

“Here?”

“……You knew everything, did you not?”

“Probably? Ah, Etel is here.”

Etel, who had gone to find the other aide, joined them belatedly.

Fortunately, the situation on that side had only been a minor quarrel, and once the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up, everyone returned. But here, just as Riwin had said, an incident had occurred.

The middle of the street had been turned into chaos, and after confirming that a member of the sky had nearly died, Etel held on to the final thread of her reason.

“You should be grateful Riwin told me not to kill him.”

A cold chill wrapped around the unconscious Underfolk aide. Even while unconscious, the Underfolk shuddered under that ominous energy and groaned.

“I will decide the Underfolk’s punishment. Pan, take care of Riwin. Reda, I leave the injured member to you.”

It was an incident involving a member of the sky.

Naturally, the authority to decide the punishment belonged to that ruler.

There could be no compromise for a criminal caught in the act at the scene.

---

On the day of the negotiations.

The attendees on both sides could not avoid an atmosphere so rigid it seemed they had inhaled tension whole.

Ariti and Etel attended from the Surface Folk side, while Karon and Quiro attended from the Underfolk side. For a long while, they examined the negotiation terms.

Ariti turned through the prepared documents and spoke first.

“Not long ago, there was a territorial incursion in the Black Forest involving a Phantasmal Species. We have secured an Underfolk item as evidence.”

Tap, tap. The gesture of her fingers striking the table sounded like pressure demanding an explanation.

But Karon kept his mouth shut and continued listening with a calm expression.

“A few days ago, my aide was harassed. Her wing was crushed whole, and she required recovery. Do you know about this as well?”

“Appropriate punishment was given for that matter.”

“Punishment? It was an act that naturally deserved to have guilt assigned. Ah, is that why another similar incident occurred again, because you handled it that way?”

Ariti glanced at Etel beside her.

Etel began speaking in a voice steeped in fatigue.

“Yesterday, an aide of the Underfolk delegation who attempted to murder a member of the sky was caught at the scene.”

“Ah…… We were looking for him because he did not return to the lodging. So that is where he was?”

Etel’s eyebrow twitched at Karon’s calm response. With a hollow laugh, she passed an object across the table.

It was a box with the distinctive decoration used to hold souvenirs from the sky, the sort of packaging mainly used for gifts.

Karon stared at it, then passed it to Quiro.

Quiro took the box with a doubtful expression and released the lock.

“Are you satisfied with the gift?”

“What is this…… urk.”

A foul smell spread through the negotiation room without restraint.

“I wondered whether collecting body parts was a hobby of yours.”

“What kind of nonsense is…….”

Quiro barely managed to close the box while covering their mouth, then tried to protest to Etel with a horrified expression.

But at Etel’s following words, Quiro had no choice but to shut their mouth again.

“He forcibly unlocked the Frame of a member of the sky who is not combat personnel and tried to tear off their wing. There was a medical opinion that the aftereffects would remain forever.”

Quiro knew perfectly well who had done that. Their head throbbed. Because it meant that, in the end, they were the one who had given that order, even if the contents had gone terribly wrong.

Quiro had thought the bastard had died because he had not returned to the lodging, but instead, he had not died and had even become a hostage.

“There seems to have been a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding nearly killed someone. Is it not shameless to keep insisting that it was a misunderstanding?”

Quiro closed their mouth.

Etel drove the wedge in by saying the box truly was a gift and they were welcome to keep it, then folded her arms.

Because the mere fact that Etel had not overturned the table immediately meant she was doing her part, Ariti cleared her throat and drew attention to herself.

“I was glad that you agreed to the negotiations.”

Ariti’s gaze turned toward Karon, who still sat without the slightest wavering. Because she could not predict what intention lay beneath that shell, he displeased her all the more.

“I will ask. Would the Underfolk prefer that war break out?”

Karon, who had been quietly lowering his gaze, paused for one beat before opening his mouth.

“If we wanted war, would we not invade the forest while its master is away at this time, rather than come to the negotiation room?”

“Do you call that an answer?”

“It is hypothetical.”

“It is laughable, the way you respond while wrapped head to toe in distrust toward each other when we are on the verge of concluding a Nonaggression Pact. Moreover, I see no will from the Underfolk, despite your side accepting the proposal. Did you ever intend to take part in these negotiations?”

Or did you actually want war? Did you perhaps have some scheme?

At Ariti’s added words, Karon merely wore a faint smile, avoiding an answer.

Instead, Quiro beside him kept looking back and forth between the two of them and repeatedly sighing.

As Ariti organized the contents and made her demands, she dimly realized something herself.

What she wanted the Nonaggression Pact for was peace, but because of the consecutive incidents, her trust in the Underfolk with whom she was supposed to conclude that pact had fallen to the ground.

The one who was not ready to take part in the negotiations was Ariti herself.

Etel tapped Ariti on the shoulder when she looked overwhelmed and shook her head.

Ariti’s condition was poor because of what had happened yesterday.

It was probably because she had faced the Underfolk Frame head-on, and her mind had been contaminated in order to defend against it.

Etel snatched the documents from Ariti, flipped to the middle section, and spread them open.

“I checked the negotiation materials. Is it correct that they made demands we cannot possibly accept?”

“You have seen them correctly.”

Karon smiled and laughed quietly.

“This is correct? A ruler is supposed to be dragged away, as though she were being sold into slavery?”

It was an obviously one-sided and unnecessary demand.

It was as though they had set excessive conditions so that no one would question the negotiations themselves, and time might instead be wasted solely on adjusting the terms.

Another intention.

Karon had one.

The greatest task of these negotiations for the Surface Folk might have to become uncovering Karon’s true objective.

Karon mussed the hair he had neatly swept back and shrugged.

“As you know, the negotiations regarding the Nonaggression Pact were requested by your side first. I merely responded.”

“Did you expect us to hand over gift bundles one after another like candies on a string just because you responded late?”

“If you gave them, I would accept them gratefully, but I will refuse this time. In truth…… things are unsettled now that the lord has changed.”

“You speak of yourself as though you were someone else.”

“I am viewing it objectively. I merely responded gladly because you sent such a request for negotiations, so I do not know why you are angry.”

The one angered by Karon’s calm and deliberate words was not Etel, but Ariti, who had been forcing everything down.

She sprang from her seat, seized Karon by the collar, and shouted.

“A member of the sky nearly died because their Frame was torn!”

“If you put it that way, I heard our aide nearly had his Frame torn away by some madman. Ah, why did that person not come? I naturally thought he would be one of the rulers.”

“When you show such malice, of course we cannot bring him out.”

“Do you have no intention of handing that person over? If not, then you may dispose of our aide as you see fit.”

“A criminal’s disposition is naturally for us to decide.”

Karon rubbed his chin with his index finger and thought for a moment, then burst into loud laughter as though he had discovered something interesting.

“Shall I make a proposal?”

“A proposal?”

“Since you cannot even trust the present situation enough to place faith in a paper-scrap treaty like this, how about wagering your life directly?”

Karon’s proposal felt deeply unpleasant, like insects crawling over her skin.

“If you come with me, I will regard even a treaty written on thin paper as having trust.”

Ariti tugged up the corner of her mouth as she glared at Karon, who had finally revealed his true colors.