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Pinned beneath me, Coppelia spoke in her usual mocking tone—this time thick with pity and heartfelt lament. Come to think of it, we couldn’t stay in this position forever, so I decided to let her go, warning her not to cause trouble.

“Understood. Either way, that demon boy’s HP is already in the single digits, so we won’t make it in time anyway.” Freed, Coppelia stood up, smoothed the hem of her skirt, and added calmly.

“—!?” Dan faltered for just an instant when he heard that. But deciding it was a bluff, he steadied himself again and didn’t loosen his grip on the boy’s throat.

—There’s no time left.

I considered using “Shrink” to instantly close the distance, strike Dan on his vital spot, and twist his arm to free the boy… But no matter how I played it out in my head, the success rate was only fifty-fifty. And in that scenario, there was a high chance the other hostage, Cestlavie, would be sacrificed.

If it’s come to this, then I’ll have to throw Dan and the boy together into subspace. Subspace functions the same as the storage spell, though one-way only, so living beings aren’t meant to be placed in it. More precisely, anything inside dies instantly because there’s no water, oxygen, or light. Still, compared to the potential devastation of a Resonant Collapse with a 30-mertes radius, the loss would be smaller.

Yes, it’s simple arithmetic. To save more lives, a few must be sacrificed. To those sacrificed, it’s senseless and cruel—but it is the best choice available, and the only one here who can make that call… is me.

—But still… even now, I want to save everyone. Is that arrogance?

“……Kh… 「O Gate of Eternity, open. With arms of illusion, cast them into the void—」”
“What are you doing?! Stop it!!”
“「Ahimsa (Forbidden Gate)」”

And just before the spell could be completed, in that razor-thin moment—a streak of white shot toward Dan’s face, and in a flash, a red blossom of blood bloomed in the air.

“—Gwah!?”

Clutching his left eye by reflex and staggering backward, Dan reeled. And landing swiftly at his feet, fur bristling all over its body, was Sechs—the white winged cat, beloved companion of Luke.

Sechs must have been hiding in the shadows all along, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. It was a complete blind spot—an unexpected direction at the perfect time for an ambush.

That said, even with speed and claws, Sechs didn’t have the body weight to do real damage—his attack served more as a distraction.

“—Haaah!”

Taking full advantage of Dan’s broken posture, I lunged in and slammed my elbow, carrying all my weight, into his solar plexus. With a soundless gasp of pain, he crumpled to the floor.

His hand released the demon boy’s throat, and the boy collapsed, unconscious from lack of oxygen.

It seemed he was still barely breathing.

Before I even had time to sigh in relief, I hurriedly turned to check on the other hostage, Cestlavie—only to find Martha tossing her knife to the floor and raising both hands in a surrender pose.

“I give up, I give up. I mean, if I die, I can’t fall in love, and this just isn’t worth it anymore.”

She fluttered her hands nonchalantly as she spoke with her usual breezy tone.

“You shameless s̲l̲u̲t̲! And you, peasant! Letting yourself get taken hostage so easily—how disgraceful! If you can’t fight back, then at least show the guts to kill yourself rather than become a burden to Lady Clara!”

“…I was ready to fight back, for the record.”

Still seated with his left cheek resting on his palm, Cestlavie lazily slid a spell talisman card between his right index and middle fingers, like a magician revealing a trick.

Coppelia grumbled at him—something about being too slow and acting all high and mighty—and the two resumed their usual bickering in the background as I hurriedly cast Healing on the demon boy, who was barely clinging to life.

“—?”

The boy, now breathing again, looked up at me in wonder.

“Are you alright? Are you in pain? Can you breathe okay?”

I supported his back and helped him sit up. His eyes widened slightly, and he looked at me as if he were seeing me for the very first time.

“Still, what was this guy’s goal anyway? At first, I thought the entire Cervantes Trading Company was involved, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Standing up, Cestlavie picked up Martha’s knife from the floor, waving the talisman in his other hand for show as he approached Dan, who was hunched over on the ground.

“Was it money? Revenge? Or are you one of Maria Lou’s allies?”

Dan glared at him with hatred, clutching his solar plexus and gasping for breath. A gash ran from under his left eye down his cheek, clearly from Sechs, and blood was still dripping steadily from it.

“For little Angie—his daughter.” It was Martha who answered in Dan’s place, as he remained silent.

“Martha!” Dan tried to stop her with a sharp tone, but Martha only gave a small shrug and continued.

“He has a six-year-old daughter. She was born with a heart condition, and she’s been getting weaker with every attack. Even paying massive donations to the Church hasn’t helped—at best, it’s only short-term relief. They say she could die at any time.”

I see. It’s probably a congenital heart defect.

People often think healing magic is all-powerful, but it’s useless against congenital disorders, infectious diseases, or conditions with no clear source.

“At this point, the only way to save little Angie would be to reach the legendary Superempire—or maybe receive one of those cutting-edge medical treatments, like ‘surgery’ or whatever they call it, in Safiras Kingdom in the United Kingdom of Déra-Amítia. But they don’t have any connections to get there, and the cost is impossibly high. So—”

“So he decided to take the Shrine Maiden Princess hostage and try to negotiate with the upper ranks of the Church to get one of those in exchange… huh.”

Cestlavie sighed, understanding the rest. And Coppelia ended the moment with a thoroughly mocking tone.

“Like that was ever gonna work. What a half-baked plan—seriously, you’re an idiot.”

“Damn it… damn it all!” Dan suddenly slumped his shoulders, slammed both hands against the floor, and broke down sobbing with tears streaming down his face. “I know! I know it wouldn’t work! But if I didn’t do anything, Angie would die! I’d do anything for my daughter… anything…!”

His soul-wrenching cry echoed in our ears.

“…Princess, I know I’ve got no right to ask, but—is there any way you could help?”

“*Honestly…* If only you’d said that from the beginning, we could’ve avoided all this.”

To Martha’s almost hopeless plea, I could only respond with a sigh.

Martha blinked in surprise at my reply, Dan looked up as if struck by lightning, Cestlavie gave a knowing smirk like he’d expected this all along, Coppelia looked wholly indifferent, and the demon boy stared at me as if he were seeing something strange.

Amid all those conflicting gazes, I met Dan’s eyes and spoke from the heart without a shred of falsehood.

“First, let me meet your daughter. If there’s anything I can do to help her, I will do everything in my power.”

Confusion, doubt, anxiety, fear… all of it was reflected plainly in his eyes—but in the end, a glimmer of hope rose to surpass them all.

When Dan finally gave a small nod, shoulders slumped in defeat, I at last allowed the tension to leave my own and let out a long, deep sigh.