The dazzling light faded, and my body lifted into the air. It felt as if I were submerged in water, or perhaps soaring through the sky, before quickly falling into the darkness.
The rough sensation of the dirt floor beneath my back plunged me into despair. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but Franz persistently pulled me away from Valerie and brought me to another place. Tears welled up.
“You… I won’t forgive you.”
How could he leave that little girl behind? In that desolate place, with no one to protect her. My body shook with anger, yet I couldn’t push Franz off me as he weighed me down.
“Yeah. That glare is much better, Celly.”
Despite my fury, Franz seemed unaffected, grinning as usual.
“Get off!”
I wanted nothing more than to be away from him. But no matter how hard I tried to push him off with my arms, I couldn’t shake his massive frame.
As I struggled against him, my strength quickly waned, and my arms fell limply.
“Is that all the resistance you can muster?”
I didn’t even want to respond. I had no idea where we were or when it was—this place was nothing but darkness.
Boom.
A faint vibration rumbled beneath the ground. Bang, boom. Just when I thought I might have misheard, the deafening sound came again. This sound…
“An explosion?”
Franz and I locked eyes. I didn’t know where we were, but it was clear that an explosion was happening here.
The noise, the faint smell of gunpowder brushing my nose, and the vibrations felt through the ground—all pointed unmistakably to an explosion.
Boom! Crash!
Before I could tell Franz that we needed to avoid the explosion, a massive blast went off that was far greater than before.
The impact was as significant as the sound. Debris and dust flew from the direction of the noise, obscuring my vision.
Instinctively, I raised my hands to shield my face and finally managed to break free from the staggering Franz.
I quickly ran to a spot far away from the source of the explosion, covering my head with my hands and crouching down. I curled my body as much as possible to minimize my exposure to danger.
“Where are you running, Celly!”
“I’m not running. I’m moving to avoid the explosion!”
In the middle of it all, Franz lunged at me and grabbed me by the scruff of the neck because he thought I was trying to get away from him.
I wondered if he wanted to do this. My irritation flared, but my first priority was to get to safety from the explosion.
“Get down if you don’t want to die. Is this a time for arguing?”
“Don’t be a brat, Celeste. You think you can get away with this.”
“Can’t you hear me? Can’t you smell the gunpowder? I’m not running away from you, I’m running away from the explosion!”
It was a pointless argument, and all the while, the explosions continued. It wasn’t an illusion. The sound was definitely coming this way, and I didn’t know if crouching down would save my life or not.
Boom, boom, boom!
Finally, my worst fears were realized: my eardrums were blown out with the explosion. I felt a tremendous pain in both ears, as if an awl had been driven into them, and then my whole body was engulfed in searing heat.
I could feel the shrapnel from the explosion flying around me, and I could feel my cheeks, shoulders, arms, and back being slashed. I’m going to die. The terror was overwhelming.
All sorts of thoughts raced through my head: Was this what I had come to do with Franz, to fly to Urentum in such a frenzy, to be blown up in an explosion in this unknown place, at this unknown time of day, at this unknown time of night?
Then I realized that maybe it was a good thing I’d left Valerie in Urentum a year ago. If she had flown here with me, we would have been crushed by explosives.
A cloud of dust rose. I felt like I’d been swept up in a storm. Sight and hearing had become useless. Closing my eyes tightly, I held my breath against the dense dust that made it impossible to breathe.
I felt something heavy resting on top of my prone body, and then there was a thud that sent a tremendous shock through my body.
And then my world went completely black.
***
“Breakthrough! The tunnel has been breached!”
After twenty consecutive explosions. In that last round, Karl heard the sound he had been waiting for. The entrance to the blocked tunnel had finally opened.
Once a gap was made, widening it was no challenge.
Following Clovis’s orders, the knights of the Imperial Investigation Unit Beta Team moved in perfect unison, starting to clear the stones that had blocked the entrance.
Lined up, they passed the stones swiftly and accurately, without any wasted movement.
The hole, initially palm-sized, had now grown large enough for a person to enter, and after more work, it became big enough for anyone to fit through.
“The tunnel is completely breached, Your Majesty.”
“I will go in myself.”
“That is too dangerous, Your Majesty. It would be wise to send in a preliminary team…”
“No, if it’s dangerous inside, that means Celeste is in the most danger, and I must go in. Conversely, if it’s not dangerous inside, there’s no reason I shouldn’t enter.”
Clovis could not insist any further due to Karl’s resolute attitude. As Karl stepped forward, the Beta Team knights halted their tasks and stood upright in salute.
“We greet His Imperial Majesty!”
“Those knights who still have work to do, stay behind. The rest, follow me.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Karl immediately squeezed himself through the opening. Inside the tunnel, it was completely dark. The dust was so thick that it made breathing difficult.
Karl pulled his sleeve to cover his nose. Breathing was tough, and the dust made it hard to see even a step ahead.
“Clovis.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Contigesto, Lucido.”
As Clovis chanted the spell, the dust that had covered their eyes and noses settled down. The previously dark surroundings brightened almost instantly. Only then could Karl and Clovis properly survey the inside.
“We’re going deeper.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Besides the rocks scattered by the explosions, there was nothing particularly unusual. However, Karl felt a strong conviction that he needed to explore further inside the tunnel.
He almost started running deeper into the tunnel, with Clovis chasing right behind him. Ten knights from the Beta Team also followed them into the tunnel.
***
I can’t wait any longer. Hanks felt he had reached his limit.
“There’s still an hour left, but…”
An hour remained until the half-day the client had mentioned passed. But he could no longer endure it. Realizing this was his limit, Hanks set out with the child in his arms.
The child, who had been crying continuously, stopped at the sight of a single candy. However, the effect of the candy lasted only about fifteen minutes at most.
As the candy melted away, the child burst into tears again, and Hanks felt an impulse as if his eardrums and head might explode.
During his struggle, his closest sister arrived at the office to take care of Valerie instead, asking, “Why the child?” But that only lasted two hours.
He had done everything possible. He gave the crying child bread because of hunger and awkwardly changed the diaper of the child who cried after soiling it.
He coaxed the whiny child again, and the child slowly drifted off to sleep, lulled by his soothing voice. It was nap time, that’s why the child had been crying.
With that sigh of relief, the child woke up exactly one hour later after a sound sleep. The child’s belly was full, they had slept well, and the diaper was changed.
In a better mood, the child had regained energy and began to pester Hanks to play. Hanks realized for the first time that entertaining a child was even more exhausting than working in the fields outside.
“I really can’t take it anymore!”
It had truly become impossible. Hanks opened the office door. The child in his arms seemed to think they were going for a walk, giggling and kicking their legs.
“Can you sit still? I’m exhausted.”
But the child was full of excitement. As Hanks looked around, he spotted a basket given by a client who had entrusted work to his brother, thanking him and saying it contained gifts.
He recalled them saying they had prepared the best gifts possible and that it was a high-quality basket not to be discarded. With the child in one arm and the basket in the other, Hanks set out.
The destination was, of course, the cabin at the edge of the eastern forest, the one belonging to the Countess Louisette, the summer house and all.
