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「Eh……? What was that? What did you say, Eris?」
「What? I didn’t say anything, you know?」

Eris shook her head, she looked just as puzzled.

「Eeh? But, I really heard something, though……?」

It seemed like Eris didn’t hear it.

(Please… withdraw the army and run away, please……or else, something really bad will happen…)

「……! I heard it again! It’s telling me to withdraw the army!」
「Eeh?! Who’s saying that… is it the voice of the Prisma? Why would it say something about the army?」
「I don’t think it is? If it’s the voice of the Prisma, Eris should be able to hear it too…」

Since they were both Hyrule Menaces, Eris should be able to hear the voice too, as that would have something to do with magic stone beasts. Neither of them had ever heard the voice of a Prisma before, to begin with, not even in her long life as a Hyrule Menace.

After all, a Prisma was a beast of destruction whom it was impossible to communicate with.

「Then, don’t tell me… you haven’t been healed from the oddity in your body?! Oh no! Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?」

Eris looked worried.

「Well, it’s true that the tricks they set up in me are still there, so technically I’m not healed from it, but…」

By the tricks, Ripple meant the mechanism of summoning magic stone beasts of the same species as Ripple. It was intended to cause the city and the country where Ripple was located to be attacked by the summoned magic stone beasts, causing great casualties to her surroundings.

It utilized the communication ability unique to beastkins, and due to that, only beastkins could be summoned. Since the beastkin as a race was already effectively extinct, once all of the magic stone beasts were defeated, there would be no more new beastkin magic stone beasts.

This was the most forceful and violent solution available, proposed by no one else but Inglis. As a result, Ripple herself didn’t undergo any changes, and the mechanism was practically disabled because there was no longer anything to summon.

According to Special Envoy Theodore, an envoy belonging to the Duke’s Party, this was allegedly a sanction from the Church Founder’s Union against the attitude of the Charalia Kingdom for actively siding with the Three Archdukes’ Party, which was beginning to bestow flygears and flygear carriers onto the midland.

Ripple was a Hyrule Menace created by the Church’s Union. Eris, on the other hand, was a Hyrule Menace created by the Duke’s Party. Which was why the oddity happened to Ripple’s body, while Eris suffered nothing.

Even if a similar mechanism were in place within Eris’ body, there was no reason on the part of the Duke’s Party to use it to sanction Charalia. Traditionally, the Charalia Kingdom had a policy of not being biased towards one side above the other.

This was evident from the fact that the kingdom received Eris from the Duke’s Party and Ripple from the Church’s Union. King Charleas’ mindset also followed this tradition.

However, his successor, Prince Wayne, had a different view from that of the current king and was actively seeking to strengthen the Charalian army by receiving more gifts in the form of Flygears and Flygear Carriers from the Duke’s Party.

It was thought that his goal beyond that was to bring the Highland and the Midland countries as close as possible on equal footing. Special Envoy Theodore, who was personally close to Prince Wayne, seemed to recognize and encourage his goal. Their movement, if it really came to fruition, would be wonderful as it was dangerous.

The oddity that occurred in Ripple’s body. And the ongoing invasion from Venefique. All of them were probably related to the movements of Prince Wayne and Special Envoy Theodore.

「I’m not feeling anything uncomfortable this time, and it doesn’t seem like there’s something wrong with my body. And the voice I hear doesn’t sound hostile too…」

Ripple responded to Eris and then called out to the shapeless voice.

「Who are you? Why are you telling me this? What will happen if we didn’t withdraw our army?」

(It’s because only you who can hear my voice…if you don’t, a sorrow that needs not to be born, will be born……so, please…)

「A sorrow that needs not to be born……? That doesn’t explain anything, and I’m quite the realist despite how I look, y’know? Yeah, the Prisma’s in a really bad situation, but we won’t be able to stop the Venefian army from invading if we withdraw too far, so tell me a more specific reason why…」

(Please… please……run away, fast…)

After that, the voice was no longer heard.

「Hello? Hello! What’s wrong? I can’t hear anything. Are you okay?!」
「……I haven’t heard anything the whole time.」
「H-, huh……? That was weird. Let’s get back. The Prisma takes precedence, we need to get Inglis here!」
「Got it. But, tell me right away if something happens to you, okay?」
「……I know I caused a lot of trouble for everyone at the Knight Academy, not to mention everyone of the Holy Knight Order, but… seems like there is one good thing that came out of it.」
「——?」
「Nfufu~ You becoming much kinder than usual, Eris ♪」

Ripple turned to Eris, smiling devilishly.

「……?! Y-, you little! This is no time for that. I’m just worried that you’ll lose your edge if you’re not well!!」
「Yes, yes, thank you. Welp, let’s hurry up!」
「Yes…」

The flygear returned to the flagship at top speed.