“41 dead.”
“...”

Aoi sat back in her seat quietly as Conrad watched out the window. The rain was finally letting up as the morning sun peeked through the clouds, but they felt no relief, as this was an empty victory.

The students under their care remaining unharmed was the only silver lining, as the village they aimed to protect had been annihilated, with the entire populace massacred in a single night. There were two known survivors, and the state of the one unknown villager was being confirmed as they spoke, though they weren’t hopeful. For whatever reason the wraith seemed intent on targeting the villagers specifically, and even in the throes of battle, it sought out the pub landlady before its aggressors.

*Creeeaaak*

The two of them looked up as Gale returned, but her face told them everything they needed to know. She shook her head solemnly, and her eyes were empty as they sat on dark heavy bags earned from her long night.

42 villagers had died to the Marlbourne wraith. After all was said and done, Mrs Bailey had finally given them the location of Mr Henridge, who had lived secluded on the outskirts of town. In life, he was reclusive and apathetic to the others in the community, but he was still a human being.

Perhaps he had deserved some punishment for his sins, and perhaps the villagers had their reasons to hate him, but none of that mattered now - he was dead. The man who they had never seen and never heard lost his life alone in the dark, simply because those around him refused to help.

The three of them couldn’t turn to face the woman that sat in the corner of the room. It was impossible to know whether they could have saved him, saved everyone with her cooperation, but the fact was that the villagers had knowingly closed their doors, and both Phoenix and Henridge alike were left to rot for all they cared.

“...Has Mr Miller’s condition improved?”
“I’m afraid not. He’s warmed up now, but he still won’t respond to any questions. He only speaks about the event on repeat.”

Gale frowned at Aoi’s response. The bad news only continued, as the only person who survived the attack on the villagers wasn’t able to provide any concrete details on what happened that night.

If the demon truly was the ghost of Henrietta Miller, it would explain why she may have spared her father, but not why she sought out the other villagers who claimed they cared for her. Mrs Bailey was shocked by the incident as well, so there weren’t any signs of her lying about how they treated the girl when she was alive, but it seemed that they may never have an answer to the questions that would stay with them forever.

“...Then there’s nothing else that can be done now. I’ll request a crew to handle the remains appropriately as soon as possible.”
“Thank you. I’ll arrange a coach from the MOD for pickup shortly, but I’d appreciate it if you could corroborate the details, Gale.”
“Of course.”

The three of them would need to stay awake a while longer as they made efforts to arrange a ride back to the city. The students had mostly gone to sleep while they waited, but as they were all cramped into the pub it wasn’t very comfortable - though many still felt happier doing that rather than staying elsewhere.

The journey to a small village in the countryside was finally at an end.

******

“Hmm. I suppose it’s over then.”

The girl tilted her head as she watched the sunrise. She hadn’t slept during the entirety of her observation, but her eerie silver eyes still seemed focused and they quickly returned to scan the windows of the village pub.

A smile crept across her pale lips, and she rose to her feet before jumping off the roof of the building she had made her temporary lookout. Landing effortlessly from the great height, she nonchalantly removed a phone from a waterproof bag by her side and checked the connection. Seeing it was strong enough, she quickly dialled a number and began to hum a cheery tune to herself in the silence of the ghost town.

“Leader. It’s me. The experiment has finished.”

She frolicked among the quiet streets without a care in the world, dancing as if she just couldn’t contain her joy every time she passed a now abandoned building.

“It was a huge success! Unfortunately, Phoenix were able to hold one back and didn’t have any casualties, but you were right! The moment the village got riled up with the newcomers around, the wraith went berserk and started saving everyone! But…”

Her arm fell by her side, and the childlike grin on her porcelain face disappeared. She held an empty stare as her voice became monotone and robotic.

“Why did she not save her father? Did she want to save him last? Did Phoenix corrupt him somehow? I don’t understand.”
“...”

The moment she heard the voice from the other side again, her bright smile returned. She began to sway with joy once more, and it was as if her buoyant mood never left.

“What a strange man~! I hope he saves himself soon. That vicar should have worked harder, maybe next time I should help more?”
“...”
“Mmm~! I got it, Leader! If you change your mind, just let me know!”

She finished chatting on the phone and returned it to her bag. Turning one more time back in the direction of the pub her grin faded again, and she left her parting words.

“I won’t let you stop us. We will save every single lost soul, even yours.”

******

“Yo, Valeriya! What was with that awesome finishing move you did last night? Since when did you get an upgrade?”

Breaking the uncomfortable silence on the coach ride, Mitra rose from his seat and looked over at the silver-haired girl at the front. She seemed surprised at first from being called out so unexpectedly, but it only took a moment before she shook her head.

“I think the person you should be asking is over there.”

She turned to look at Gale, who returned a wry smile to the students who now watched her eagerly.

“Yes, she’s right. While the ice power was her own, I did add a strength imbuement to her weapon as we fought.”
“Imbuement!?”
“Woah!”

Now both twins had risen from their seats in excitement, as Hema and Mitra’s glimmering eyes shone while facing the girl.

“You’re really an imbuement user!?”
“What can you enchant? Was that crazy glowing sword you used not conjured!?”
“Oi, you two. Don’t bombard her with questions.”
“It’s quite alright. My powers are well known in this country, so it’s no secret.”

Conrad lamented his current lack of chalk projectiles, but reluctantly agreed to Gale’s concession. If she was fine telling everyone, there was no need for him to step in, especially when it would be good to get their mind off of recent events.

“I can imbue both offensive weapons and defensive gear, though my speciality is swords and plate armour. As you may imagine, my spirit comes from my knight’s pledge, and the will to use my strength to protect others.”

Her face softened as she reminisced. For her spirit to be so strong it was surely a deeply rooted belief that she held, and it suited her well.

“I still don’t understand where the sword came from?”
“That? Oh, it’s here.”

Reaching underneath her coach seat, she nonchalantly pulled out a large steel longsword, effortlessly turning it back and forth as she showed it off.

“Holy shit!”
“Mitra! Language!...But Gale. Please can you not wave that around in here?”
“Ah. My apologies.”

It wasn’t exactly a cramped space within the coach, but the students still had mixed feelings seeing a weapon swung down the aisle only a few feet away. Yuuji massaged his eyebrows as he watched Gale tuck the sword away as if it was never there.

“Have you… had that with you the whole time?”
“Of course. It’s always within arms reach, you never know when danger may strike.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Conrad facepalm and struggled to resist the urge to do the same. It was a little hypocritical of him to say as he could summon a weapon at a moment’s notice, but it was common knowledge that any dangerous armament should be kept safely stored until it was needed, and that didn’t mean under the seat of a coach.

Valeriya for example had her rapier stored with her battle gear in the cargo bay as she had changed back into her school uniform, and even though Gale wore her combat equipment at most times, her sword should have been at least within a lockbox and not simply out and about.

Watching the girl’s casual display made it quite clear that even though she could be very observant and quick on her feet, she was also somewhat oblivious to how to act outside of her regular assignments.

Considering she even went as far as to say she was ready at any time, he tried to avoid thinking about when the two of them were speaking privately in the vicarage, as he felt a headache coming on when picturing her stashing her sword away despite being so lightly dressed and seemingly at ease.

“It’s a knight’s duty to make those around them feel safe, so I have become a master at hiding my gear within plain sight. For example, my shield-”

Yuuji’s jaw dropped as he looked over once more to see the girl wielding a large heater shield with a fearsome dragon emblazoned across the centre. It wasn’t as dangerous as the sword by any means, but the fact that she had managed to disguise it somewhere even he hadn’t noticed was absolutely terrifying.

If anything, rather than making him feel safe, her ‘knight’s duty’ made her seem far scarier than she was before.

“Thank you, Gale. You can put it back now.”

Conrad had finally checked out and simply stared out the window listlessly, so it was Aoi who followed up. In just a blink, the giant hunk of metal was gone once more, in perhaps the most impressive magic trick Yuuji had ever witnessed - the Premiere Knight was more talented than she herself even realised.

“...”
“...”

The twins were also lost for words, and the coach sat in relative silence for the rest of their journey.