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「?! Wh-what was that?!」
「That was Pullum’s voice, wasn’t it?!」
「What happened?! Let’s go, Glis!」
「Yeah!」

Inglis and Rafinha stopped eating snow and headed in the direction of the voice. Following the voice they came upon a church built of stone in one of the silent town’s corners. There was nobody inside, only the sound of Pullum’s sobbing echoing within the walls.

「Pullum?! Where are you?!」
「There’s a basement! Deeper in the room at your right after you enter!」

It was Liselotte who answered Rafinha’s shout. It seemed that she had rushed inside before them.

They went as directed and found a hidden entrance to a staircase left open. As they ran down the dimly lit stairs, they found that Leone, Lahti, Ian, and Liselotte were already there. However, they were not alone in the darkness…

「Ugh!」
「Aah…how awful!」

There were a number of children lying on the floor, huddled together. They were all inhumanly skinny, and it was obvious with a single glance how malnourished they had been. There were no obvious external injuries, so it was easy to imagine the reason for their death was starvation.

「Perhaps, the townspeople hid these children down here from the assaults of the Highlanders. While that might have been a good idea at the time, nobody came for them ever since……that’s why, they ended up…」

They were all children, no older than ten. The adults of the town must have hid them here in desperation. However, their endeavor… bore no fruit.

「We didn’t see any adults at all……where are they?」
「Maybe they were all brought to Lekrea. Even if there were any remains of them outside, with all the snow, by now they’d be……」

Inglis answered Ian’s question. Perhaps, if they dug through the snow, they might find some bodies buried under it.

「The closer we get to Lekrea, the worse the damages of the towns and villages we see. If this continues, all the towns we have passed will soon suffer the same fate!」
「……We need to hurry! We can’t let this situation continue, absolutely!」

Rafinha’s eyes were lit with strong resolution.

「B-, brother… Brother Hallim did all these… Wha-what should……I say to……I-I’m sorry… I’m sorry!」

The impact of this scenery on Pullum, being Hallim’s sister, wasn’t shallow. She collapsed on the spot, unable to get back up. Her voice tremblings, tears spilling in large drops from her eyes.

「Pullum!」

Rafinha wanted to say something to her, but someone held her back, stopping her. It was, of course, not Inglis, but Leone. Her eyes told her to leave the girl to her. After doing so, Leone knelt down right beside Pullum.

「Pullum! I know how hard it is, how heart wrenching it can be…… Since it’s your own family! Your own brother who did it! You feel the responsibility falls on you, don’t you? You feel like you should have been able to change the outcome somehow, but now, now there’s nothing you can do, you can only feel how powerless you are…」
「Uuuuuuu……!! Y-, yes……I-, I……What can I even do! Now that such a thing happened, what can I even……!」

In between her sobs, Pullum squeezed her voice out.

「……I know how you feel, I do. It also occured to me when my brother abandoned his status as a Holy Knight and deserted his own country to join the Ironblood Chain Brigade! Everyone around me started to call me the sibling of the traitor…… But, I was just so sad, feeling so sorry about myself, I couldn’t stop crying that the next thing I knew, I had lost everything, I was all by myself……And it really frustrated me! That’s why, ever since then, I tried to see myself as my own person. I take it upon myself to capture him and clear my family’s name, all for my own sake! And so must you. Regardless of your brother, you are your own person!」

Leone looked at Pullum, whose eyes were feverish, grabbed both of the latter’s trembling shoulders and supported her up firmly.

「Hics……hics… L-, Leone……」
「Just crying won’t change anything, neither will it change you. This is the last day you’ll be crying. Tomorrow, you’ll do everything you can, okay? You’ll stop this atrocity even a second faster and you’ll prevent your brother from committing any more sins than he already did. After all, you still have someone by your side.」

Saying so, Leone turned her gaze to someone in the room, Lahti.

「Uh……? Eh……?」
「What are you dawdling on about? Someone you cherish so much is grieving, why can’t you go to her side and hug her already?」
「No, hold up, I’m not exactly……」
「It’s no time to wuss about! Do it now!」

She yelled at Lahti. It was quite unusual for the girl to raise her voice like that.

「Y-, yes……!」

Lahti waddled over and wrapped his arms around Pullum.

「I-, it’ll be okay. Y-, you have me……」
「UWAAAAAHHHH!!! LAHTIIII……!! I……!! WHAT SHOULD I——!! UWAAAAHHHH!!」

Relieved, Pullum cried out loudly and clung to her childhood friend.

「Why don’t we leave her to Lahti and find somewhere else to rest? We’re staying in this town tonight, right?」

Leone walked up the stairs as she spoke. Her back was always firm and straight, but today it looked even more dignified than usual. Her gait was also a little bit faster.

As they followed after her, Rafinha whispered to the others.

「Leone is strong, isn’t she……Her words are powerful and sound.」
「……You’re right.」

Liselotte agreed with her.

「I wouldn’t have been able to do it just as well……I’ve always had it easy, not to mention, my brother is big brother Rafa. Nothing that I say would be convincing!」

Indeed, Rafinha’s older brother, Raphael, was a Holy Knight respected by all in Charalia. It wouldn’t be wrong to call him someone who stood at the zenith of all Knights.

He was kind-hearted, high-moraled, and impeccable, and he was nothing if not a brother Rafinha could take pride of. And if he was to be compared to that Hallim, they couldn’t be any more different. Rafinha could never come to understand the feeling of a little sister whose fate was ruined by her brother’s misdeeds. After all, Raphael had never done anything that could jeopardize Rafinha.

In Inglis’ eyes, Leone’s brother, Leon, was by no means an evil person either. However, it is also the fact that he had ruined the fate of his family and his own little sister, Leone. In the end, it was Leone who understood Pullum the most.

「Compared to Leone, I’m still nothing but a kid, aren’t I……」

Inglis patted Rafinha on the head.

「It’s okay. If you understand that, it means you’ve grown mature enough.」

There’s still no telling for now, but… In a sense, it might be Rafinha who will suffer the most out of the three…

Although, as long as I’m here, I will crush anything that would make Rafinha cry.

「And why are you acting like you’re my big sister? You’re the one who’s been doing whatever you like the most without any burden, Glis.」

Rafinha said a bit peevishly, but with a smile on her lips.

「Fufu. I guess that’s true.」

Inglis walked faster, pretending to run away from Rafinha as she caught up to Leone. Then, as she reached where the latter was, she took out a handkerchief and offered it to Leone.

「……Thanks. Inglis, you really are thoughtful at the weirdest times.」

Inglis didn’t see her expression, but Leone’s voice was a bit shaky. Rafinha admitted that Leone was more mature than her, but Leone was still a fifteen years old girl.
Mentioning her painful memories of the past to the others meant she would relive those memories in her head, re-experiencing her emotions at the time. She deeply empathized with the current Pullum. Still, even though what she did was to encourage her, she revealed a wound that she herself didn’t want to touch. She must have been desperately trying to hold back her own tears, as she was the one who was encouraging others now.

「You’re welcome. Come on, Rani. We’re going to search around the area. Let’s go」
「Ah, wait for me, Glis~!」

As Leone suggested, they all spent the night in an empty house in the town.