Penelope
What met their eyes was nothing like an ordinary prison.
A normal dungeon divided its cells with iron bars. Here, coffin-shaped incubators stood tilted at an angle, each one holding a single body sealed inside.
The captives were not limited to humans. Orcs, elves, goblins, and even rarer races lay motionless, drained of all color, as if the life had been gently siphoned out of them.
One of the knights studying the scene made a discovery.
“These people are all alive. Every last one of them is still breathing.”
“Then we must free them at once!”
Jed stepped in front of the knight who was already reaching for an incubator door.
“Free them? The only thing we’re here to free is one demon.”
“Are we supposed to stand by and watch innocents die? That goes against every code of knighthood!”
“And you still call yourself a knight, Sir Jed?”
Jed looked at them with pure exasperation.
“They either freeze to death slowly in this blizzard, or they explode with a nice little pop. The second option is cleaner. I’m going to find the demon brat.”
He added one last thing as he turned to leave the room.
“And those are parachutes.”
Spare the useless pity.
They had no choice but to admit Jed was right. Each of them carried a fresh weight of guilt as they left, but Jed felt none of those private sentiments at all.
They searched the incubator rooms one by one. Yet for all their careful observation, identifying their target took almost no time at all.
Thump-thump-thump!
“Waaaaaah! Let me out! I said let me out! What did I even do to get locked up in a place like this?!”
Thump-thump-thump!
A woman’s shrill voice echoed thunderously down the corridor as she thrashed about.
“Somehow I get the feeling that’s her.”
“I’m praying it isn’t.”
They followed the noise to its source and found one incubator rocking violently from side to side.
“Open this thing!! Open it right nowww! Do you even know who I am? I’m Penelope, daughter of the Great Demon Sitri!”
“Shit. That’s her.”
Even after accomplishing their goal, none of them looked pleased. The three knights opened the incubator door with sour expressions.
The demon who had been pounding on the door froze in panic.
“Wait, you actually opened it? Time out! Time out! Hyaaaa! Don’t hit me! I’ll be quiet this time, I swear, I really mean it this ti— huh? Wait a second. You’re not the guards?”
Penelope cracked her eyes open and studied the men surrounding her.
“You’re—”
“Where are the real guards? Who even are you people? Are you here to kill me?”
“You’re Penel—”
“Hold on a second! I didn’t do anything! I have nothing to do with those bastards! Please spare me, ghk—!”
Jed clamped a hand over Penelope’s mouth. The racket that had filled the incubation chamber died instantly.
“From now on you answer only yes or no. Nod if yes, shake if no. Got it?”
“Mmph-mmph.”
“I said shut up, you little brat.”
“……”
The moment the blade came near her face, Penelope went very still. She nodded.
“Your name is Penelope. Correct?”
Nod-nod.
“You’re certain?”
Nod-nod.
“We made a deal with your mother, the Great Demon Sitri. We infiltrated this facility on the condition that we pull you out of here. So behave and come along.”
“Mmph-mmph?!”
“Ah-ah. Yes or no only.”
“Uuurrrgh! Mmph-mmph!”
“She’s resisting pretty hard.”
“Maybe she actually has something to say?”
“That so? Hey, pink hair. I’ll let you talk for three seconds. Keep it short.”
Jed peeled his hand away with that warning.
“WaitaminutejustlistentomeokaysoactuallythewayIendeduphereis— mmph-mmph-mmph!!”
“That was a waste of time. Gag her and haul her out.”
“Right.”
The woman who had been machine-gunning words never got another syllable out. She was bound and lifted just like that. In the middle of thrashing so hard she earned herself a solid punch from a knight, she went limp and fainted.
While they pushed through the blizzard, Ferda sensed a strange current of air above his head.
It was not mere imagination.
Count Consiler, who had been breaking trail at the front, glanced back over his shoulder.
“Did you feel that just now?”
“I did.”
“Feel what, exactly?”
Marco, who could barely keep walking, had no spare attention for anything around him.
“Wind that isn’t wind.”
“Wind that isn’t wind?”
“Silver Dragon Spawns. They’re searching this mountain for intruders.”
Marco’s already pale face turned a deeper shade of blue.
“Then aren’t we in serious trouble?”
“Not necessarily. The fact that they passed over our heads means they haven’t found us yet.”
Still, the thought was troubling. If two knights’ worth of combat power came screaming down from the sky like meteors, they would have no chance.
“We’ll pick up the pace.”
Ferda followed the path Count Consiler carved through the snow. A short while later a single black shape grew closer in the white void.
They had returned to the cave they had used earlier. Six people, including Jed, were waiting for them.
“You’ve arrived.”
“The target?”
“We brought her.”
Jed gave the unconscious pink-haired girl a couple of light kicks. Pink hair, white skin—she shone with an almost porcelain luster unfitting for a demon. Yet the twin horns, the solid black eyes, the bat wings, and the long spade-tipped tail declared her nature beyond any doubt.
“That was quick.”
“The research wing was completely empty. Not a soul in sight. I could have handled it alone. What about the residential wing?”
“No major difficulties. Seems neither side ran into anything unusual. Let’s head back.”
Once they confirmed both teams had completed their missions, they began climbing onto the gate.
Ferda considered the situation.
It ended far too easily.
Roughly three minutes remained. Exactly enough time to finish and return. Not rushed, yet not leisurely either—an almost calculated interval.
As if every detail had already been accounted for.
It went too smoothly.
The balance of the deal had settled with perfect precision. That was strange. Demons only ever struck bargains that favored themselves.
“We need to move faster,” the mage guarding the gate said.
“What’s wrong?”
“The Silver Dragon Spawn that was circling overhead is heading this way.”
“Toward us?”
“Yes. It seems they’ve noticed.”
“Erase every trace, now! Wipe the evidence and get out of here immediately!”
No one from the Grand Duchy of Baldrova could be discovered here. They scrambled with the tools they had brought, scrubbing away every footprint and residual signature.
Only two minutes left. Ferda thought he needed to resolve the unease gnawing at him before that time ran out.
“Uungh… uuuuuh?”
Penelope stirred, looking around blearily. The moment her eyes landed on Jed’s face they flew wide open.
“Mmph! Mmmph-mmph!”
“Stay still. I’ll make you more comfortable.”
“Mmph! Mmmph-mmmph!!”
When Jed lifted his dagger, Penelope shook her head frantically. Tears and snot streamed down her face—pure, unmistakable terror.
Ferda found the reaction odd.
“Wait.”
Jed’s blade halted.
“What is it, my lord?”
“Remove the gag. I want to hear what she has to say.”
“I doubt there’s anything worth hearing…”
Even as he spoke, Jed pulled the gag free.
“Ugh, pwah! Thank you. No, more importantly, I need to add something about what you said earlier! I—”
“Shut up. I decide what you talk about. Otherwise I cut your throat.”
“Eek! Don’t! Please don’t kill me! I’ll answer anything! Yes!”
“That’s better.”
Ferda tilted his chin toward her.
“Why are you so afraid of dying?”
“I-is there any being that isn’t afraid of dying?”
“A demon who dies in Serdes is simply reverse-summoned back to Hell, is it not? It hurts for a moment, but for your kind it’s nothing more than going home. Isn’t that right?”
“Th-that’s true, but my situation is different! If I go back, I really die!”
Penelope shrieked as though she were having a fit.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean Mother would rather see me dead than rescued! I can’t go back to Hell!”
She sobbed and begged for her life with every ounce of strength she had left.
“Then tell me why she wants you dead.”
“Because I… well…”
Penelope chose her words carefully.
“Don’t try to scheme. Tell me the truth.”
“I can’t just tell the truth! Telling the truth is exactly what I’m not allowed to do! Waaaaah! This is so frustrating I’m going crazy! Why is my brain so stupid?!”
Something she knew but could never speak of. And the Great Demon Sitri wanted her dead for it. What single fact pointed to every piece of that puzzle?
Ferda thought. This was a problem with an answer. Something he had heard once, long ago—a scrap of idle chatter he had dismissed at the time. Looking back, it had been critically important.
Never make a deal with a demon.
“Ah.”
The realization struck like lightning. Ferda looked down at her and murmured,
“So it was you.”
“My lord!”
Jed’s voice cracked as he shouted. He was already straddling the last foothold of the gate.
“You have to come now! There’s almost no time left! How many minutes? Thirty seconds!”
He had watched the entire exchange and was now desperately urging Ferda forward. Ferda finished every calculation, then rose to his feet.
“Sir Jed.”
“Yes?”
“I’ll leave these burdens in your care.”
“What? What do you mean by—”
Ferda tossed his own bag to Jed.
“Whoa?”
Jed caught the sudden throw with excellent reflexes. But another object came flying immediately after.
A bundle of pink hair.
“Wh-whoaaa?!”
“Ghk!”
Jed and the body collided and tumbled straight into the gate. The thing that had shoved him through was Penelope herself. The moment he caught her, Jed’s eyes went wide.
This Bending Bridge could only extract eight people.
“Regent—!”
The dimensional door sealed shut. Jed’s cry cut off mid-word.
Left alone in the freezing mountain was Ferda—and only Ferda.
If he had truly been left alone, that would not have been a serious problem. He would simply wait for rescue. But events would not unfold the way he expected.
It was coming.
That one.
At that very moment, remarkably, the howling of the blizzard began to recede into the distance. In its place came the soft crunch of footsteps on snow.
A figure stepped through the pure white storm. Even on a night without a single ray of moonlight, his form stood out with perfect clarity.
“Huh? Now this is a situation I truly didn’t see coming.”
Silver hair, pointed horns, and silver eyes. An unmistakable Silver Dragon Spawn. The same one that had been circling overhead.
“I was told there’d only be one little rat… but looks like a different kind of rat showed up instead.”
He smiled a thin, amused smile, like a cat that had just found a mouse sealed inside a jar.
“A pleasure to meet you, Regent of Baldrova.”
The moment Ruri returned to Baldrova Castle she began cleaning. The place had been left unattended for a full twenty days. She had entrusted the basic work to the spirits, but without supervision they never put their full effort into it. So she cleaned deep into the late night.
“Have you finished?”
—Kyuuung.
“Well done. You may return.”
—Kyuuung!
The spirits brightened at the word “off-duty.” Those who had been helping Ruri were reverse-summoned one after another. Soon she stood alone in the room.
Ruri surveyed the chamber she had just cleaned. It was a bedroom—specifically the bedroom Baldrova and Ferda would share after their wedding night. For a pair who were still only betrothed, that future felt distant. Yet Ruri never allowed herself to grow careless.
She was a maid. A maid’s duty was to shape and maintain the environment that surrounded her master. Creating that environment normally required more than fifty servants living on site. True perfection demanded a hundred. This castle, however, had no servants except Ruri herself.
Even so, it was enough. Unlike frail human maids, she was a Dragon Spawn—one of the strongest among the Silver Dragon Spawns. Her power alone could keep this castle in perfect condition. Even after decades, no major repairs would be needed to preserve its flawless state.
That is what I can do.
Maintaining perfection. Perfection meant everything stayed within expectations. Staying within expectations meant everything remained under control. In this castle there was nothing she could not control. Her life formed a perfect circle.
Ferda…
At least until he appeared.
Ferda Rosnova.
When she first met him he had been a frail human. Outwardly just a green noble a little older than herself—one of those third-rate humans from whom nothing could be expected.
But he wasn’t.
Ferda defied every prediction. He was not even the opposite of what she expected. He was simply impossible to read even one step ahead. He acted with arrogance yet always took responsibility. He seemed like an emotionless psychopath until he stood before Baldrova, at which point he looked like a clueless boy. He was both too old for his age and exactly the right age. Something that could not be defined no matter how hard one tried.
An incomplete being.
A variable…
Yes. The reason the once-calm current was now breaking was that variable. Ruri hated variables. Anything she could not control made her feel powerless, and she despised powerlessness. Therefore it had to be excluded.
Yet Ferda could not be excluded. He was Baldrova’s fiancé.
And so everything began to change, sliding toward situations she could no longer control.
It wasn’t bad.
It meant good change. The stagnant territory had started to develop; Ferda was steadily building recognition and renown. He was rewriting everything by boldly doing things Ruri would never have attempted. The emotions those astonishing achievements stirred in her were complicated. She already knew what that emotion was.
Jealousy.
That she—who had lived hundreds of years longer, who had served hundreds of years longer—might have everything stolen by a brat who had lived only eighteen years. That he might change everything in less than a single year.
That was why she had sought out Silverwind. In the midst of all this change, had they changed as well? And even if they had not, was there anything she herself could still do?
There was nothing I could do.
She had been powerless—against the situation, against strength, against everything that lay outside her expectations.
And then… I…
The tightly stretched fuse had finally caught fire. By making unnecessary contact with Silverwind, by unnecessarily forcing Ferda into a confrontation with Goz. Of course, the situation might have been resolved more gently. If Ferda had not spoken so harshly, if he had not shown open hostility, things might have ended amicably.
Yes. The one who had escalated everything was Ferda. Blaming him would have been easy and comforting. Ruri could not do it.
If I had never stepped forward in the first place… none of this would have happened.
The origin of everything was Ruri herself. And the words she had spat out were:
“Who… ever asked for your help?”
Her fists clenched tight.
Things were already awkward between them; that awkwardness would only stretch longer. How was she supposed to look at him now? How was she supposed to face him? Ruri had no idea what she ought to do.
An uncontrollable variable. It had even wormed its way into her own emotions and thrown them into chaos.
While she stood there blankly, the air stirred. A wind spirit materialized in a flustered rush and landed at her side.
—Kyuuung! Kyuuung!
The spirit was in a complete panic. Ruri recognized it at once as the one she had sent to monitor Count Consiler’s castle.
“Speak.”
The wind spirit delivered its report in a panicked voice. Ruri tried to listen with composure, but composure was impossible.
“Is… that true?”
The variable was still moving.