At the instant when they heard the ominous singing voice,
The music of the Golden Harp being strummed reverberated throughout [Underwood].
Part 3[แก้ไข]
As Leticia was heading towards the dormitories, a grumpy looking teenage maid, Percher, had come out to welcome her.
"……You are……"
"Good night there, pure blood Vampire-san…… I never thought that there would come a day that I would be wearing the same maid outfit as you."
Percher sighed gloomily. Leticia who initially couldn't understand why she could have run into Percher in this place was suddenly reminded of the Gift game contents that sprang to mind. And she started to infer though not after being boggled.
"…..Is that so? It's the meeting of all the winning conditions of [The PIED PIPER of HAMELIN] that successfully made you a subordinate?"
Leticia murmured, seeming to be in sudden realization.
---If one wanted to make a Demon lord submit to being a subordinate, one must obtain a complete victory in the Game that is forcefully hosted with the Demon Lord's [Authority of Host Master].
According to the original rules of [The PIED PIPER of HAMELIN], the game would have been cleared as long as one of the two winning conditions were met.
However due to changes to the rule during the [Trial Jurisdiction], it increased the difficulty of the clearing criteria to that of meeting both the winning conditions.
In the end, to carry out the contract of subordination, Percher was summoned to Little Garden once more.
"……that's how it is. But honestly speaking, I've never thought that the rules governing Little Garden and its Demon Lords were that strong to this sort of level. If it were just the physical body, I could still understand. But it was a case where the soul was supposed to be shattered and it turns out that the original look can still be restored. That, is something that hadn't cross my mind before."
That's right. Percher was summoned back into Little Garden even though the game was finally cleared by the shattering of her soul.
The person in question, Percher, was speechless as she too realized how absurd the power that resurrected her was.
But Leticia was still smiling as she squeezed Percher's shoulders.
"There's no need to look so down. Didn't a proverb say [With a lush green mountain remaining, there's no need to worry about finding firewood]? Although we might still have some misgivings at this point in time, but I will still welcome you gladly. And it's been a while since I started hoping for a new maid to join me---From now on, we're comrades fighting together under the same flag, so please take care of me, [Descendent of the God of Black Death]."
"……Hmph! Look at what you're saying, when you don't even have a flag in the first place!"
Leticia still held that warm smile of hers on her face.
In contrast, Percher just shrugged her shoulders disapprovingly.
"After placing your baggages, head over to Jin's room. It seems like you will have to go greet the [Host] later tonight as well."
Percher said all that she needed to say and flounced her maid skirt as she entered the dormitory. Although Leticia was smiling wryly, she just walked over to her own room without a word.
She had already entrusted Kuro Usagi with the task to find Izayoi and in that case, Kuro Usagi shouldn't be returning anytime soon.
……If she wanted to have a private conversation with Jin, now would be the only chance.
[I can only take this chance to tell Jin about Canaria being thrown into the outside world. It's precisely due to the fact that their Community was starting to grow in strength……that a discussion about its future had to be held now.]
Even though she had already set her heart to the task, Leticia was still quite unsure.
Opening her own room windows, she looked up to the starry skies through the gaps in the web like patterned tree roots.
Cherishing the memory of her companions in the past---Leticia murmured to herself mournfully:
"Canaria………… Was it you who sent Izayoi to the world of Little Garden?"
Leticia's monologue disappeared like a bubble as it didn't even get a chance to be heard by others.
In the past, they had once been under the same flag, carrying the same [Name], fighting in battles hand in hand with their comrades.
But now, she guessed that there wouldn't be a chance for her to fight alongside her in battle in the future anymore. For that person hadn't been able to make it back to her homeland and had already……quietly stopped her breath in another world outside of Little Garden.
"……"
Regarding that, Leticia was saddened of course. During the time when she was caught by the Demon Lord, hadn't she felt the same homesickness? For the sake of returning to her Community, she hadn't cared a bit about having to reveal the ugly side of herself, as many times as it may have required her to. Needless to say, Canaria who had been thrown to another world should also have felt the same.
Just that, she felt a sense of guilt for being the only one who made it back successfully. In addition, she had also learnt of her comrade's death in an unknown land…… It was no wonder that she was suffering from such a deep mental anguish.
Even so, the confusion that was born in her heart was similar to grief or of a higher intensity than that. Staring at the skies that seemed to be brimming with stars that blinked from time to time, Leticia was unable to contain it anymore as she vented out her thoughts into the night:
"For Canaria to be actually thrown to wander outside of the world of Little Garden……then…… what other types of misfortune may have befallen upon the rest of my comrades?!"
---That's right. And that was the true reason that tormented Leticia's heart.
Take Lily's mother for example, there was totally no news of her ever since the day that they were forcefully taken away by the Demon Lord.
If Lily's mother were to be thrown outside of the Cities within Little Garden, there might still be hope of finding her. But in the case where she were to be thrown to wander outside of this world of Little Garden, where all time frames and worlds will surely intersect at one point or another, then---
"It would be more difficult to find a person than to find a grain of sand from the sea of stars……"
Leticia muttered to herself……, her voice was so weak and soft that it could just dissipate into the wind. While her hands were subconsciously exerting force on the window frame that it seemed almost at the point of breaking under her hold.
Leticia who had already lived for many a hundred years[11] knew it clearer than anyone else how impossible a task that would be.
However, it shouldn't be kept as a secret for that wasn't much of a plan either. She had to tell the truth to Jin and have a careful discussion on the Community's direction in the future. For the current determination that had pushed all of them to work harder had all stemmed from the desire to save their comrades.
However, speaking realistically, that shouldn't be possible anymore. The Community had to change its direction. Even if her comrades might be angry and talk behind her back, Leticia was determined to carry out her act of persuasion even if her blood had to be spilt for the thought of suggesting such a thing.
She had even thought of ……If possible, the Community should be disbanded and rebuilt for that would allow it to have a new [Name] and [Flag].
[……But Kuro Usagi and Lily would surely cry upon hearing those words right……?]
On one hand, it was her foster mother.
On the other, it was her own parents.
Thinking about their reactions upon learning how they have worked hard over three years while clenching their teeth to bear with the pain of bereavement to be met with the reality that the reward they had worked for ceasing to exist, Leticia couldn't help but feel very miserable.
[However, this should have been done long ago. But in the end, I had been blinded by the dreams that Izayoi and the others seemed to inspire within me……and even led to giving them unnecessary pressure.]
Now was the time to restart the Community on the right path.
Leticia carried her determined heart as she turned away from the window.