Chapter 65: A Star's Flight (2)

“Please empower the ‘Dandelion’.”

That wasn't the only request I made of Khamsin when I asked him to show me the way to the ‘Tower’.

“Is this, Mr. Mistral's…?”

“Yes. I borrowed it for a moment.”

I took the Dandelion off my clothes and handed it to Khamsin, saying.

“Ethesia will use the Dandelion to declare martial law.”

Whether the citizens can hear it properly or not, she will need to leave behind evidence that she declared it through a proper legal process.

“When that happens, please increase the output of this Dandelion so that it can completely drown out Ethesia's voice.”

“It's not a difficult task, but… are you aiming for something?”

“As long as Ethesia's agents have already been deployed in the square, the riot itself will be unavoidable.”

But, it can be stopped.

“Stopping the citizens…?”

“Yes.”

“H-How?”

“I'm a bard, aren't I?”

I showed him the lute on my back and raised the corners of my mouth in a grin.

“With a song, of course.”

The ‘Fighting is lame! Listen to my song!’ operation.

In short, the ‘Yubin Attack’.

The moment I began to sing in earnest, the crowd in the square stirred like the surface of rippling water.

Thus, having regained its original light, no, shining even more brilliantly than before, my [Performance] which began from the top of the tower naturally drew the attention of everyone gathered in the square.

Citizens and soldiers alike.

As if by a lie, they stopped fighting and all began to listen to my beautiful song.

Love and peace.

Isn't this the essence of music?

─ Wh-Who is that bard…?!

─ You don't know? ……I don't know either!

Everyone was looking up at me, the brightest star on this spectacular stage, in a daze.

It was natural.

Even for those who had seen many bards, a [Performance] this spectacular must have been a first in their lives.

However, the real [Performance] was about to begin.

I pressed the button and spread the ‘Wings’ on my back wide open.

Fwoosh!

The wings, unfurling under the brilliant lights, must have looked like an angel descending.

Well, in terms of bringing love and peace, I might actually be an angel.

『Sparkle』

“W-Woooah──!!”

For a moment, at my wink that sparkled like a star, a cheer erupted from the audience all at once.

Then, citizens, soldiers, without anyone having to go first, dropped the weapons they were holding to the ground.

And I too, fell from the top of the tower.

Like a shooting star crossing the sky.

I plummeted towards the cheering audience, and then rode the blowing wind to soar high into the sky again.

“Woooah──!”

Then I plucked the ‘string’ of my lute and shot an ‘arrow’ into the hearts of the audience.

『Du duruduru du yeah』

It wasn't just the square.

My beautiful voice, like the seeds of a ‘Dandelion’, spread throughout the city on the wind, delivering love and peace.

There is a bard who sings while flying among the stars that adorn the night sky.

As if having heard these unbelievable words, citizens began to rush out into the streets one after another and look up at the sky.

When you see a [Performance], you follow the performer.

I had said that this behavior was an instinct of the people here.

It was no different this time.

The audience in the square who had been brandishing their weapons at each other until just a moment ago, and the citizens who had just rushed out into the streets, would all follow me.

Therefore.

『──Wind!』

I did a 「Wingbeat」.

Towards the heart of the city, the council.

* * *

“……What?”

As soon as she heard her subordinate's report, Ethesia shot up from her seat.

Her expression was one of not being able to properly comprehend what she had just heard.

How could she not?

“So…”

Suddenly, the wind that hadn't been blowing started to blow, and the ‘Tower’ in the square was reactivated.

“And a single bard started singing on top of it… and the riot stopped……?”

“Y-Yes, sir……”

Even the subordinate who had made the report was nodding his head, but he still had a look of disbelief on his face.

“The guards stationed in the square… and even our agents have stopped the suppression……?”

“I-It seems so….”

“What in the world…”

Does that mean?

Ethesia ended up swallowing the rest of her words.

Because it was so absurd, she realized that it couldn't possibly be a lie.

Therefore, Ethesia let out a long breath and tried to regain her composure.

Then, with both hands on the desk, she was lost in thought for a moment.

She had been flustered by the absurd content that followed, but in the end, it was all made possible because the wind suddenly started blowing again.

That meant.

“That old man…”

It meant that he had realized the problem was in fact the ‘core’ of the holy land, and had purified that core again.

There was no other way for the natural wind to start blowing again.

In other words, it meant that the holy land, the area under their jurisdiction, had been occupied by the priests.

“Should we send reinforcements to the holy land?”

“…No. The operation will continue as planned.”

If they seized the council as planned, he would have to come out on his own anyway.

“I was going to let him purify it anyway, so the order has just been reversed.”

There was a physical distance to the holy land, and more importantly, he must have used a lot of energy to purify the core, so she didn't have to worry about Mistral for now.

So the problem now was.

“The bard….”

The unidentified bard who was said to be flying through the sky and singing.

Although he was reported as unidentified, in fact, Ethesia already knew his identity.

The bard who was the leader of the group of adventurers she had thought of as mere pawns to create a pretext for seizing the shrine, and further, for a future conflict with Stout.

Yubin.

It could only be him.

Even so, she had thought that five people could not stop the rioting citizens, the wildfire.

“To think, it would be to this extent…”

Not five, but a single person had stopped it.

Not with power, but with just a song.

“…This is why I hate bards.”

“What should we do about him?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? Shoot him down.”

“Th-That… for some reason, the archers are unable to intercept him.”

“What?”

“I deployed the archers and attempted an interception as soon as I heard the story… but when he came within range, they just stared at him, entranced. As if… they were ‘charmed’….”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”

Ethesia asked back with a voice mixed with annoyance, even though she was puzzled.

It was then.

“S-Sorry!”

An officer, with a very flustered look on his face, rushed into the room again.

“There's an urgent matter to report…!”

The officer, forgetting even to salute, approached Ethesia and the other subordinate who was already in the middle of a report and began to relay what he had heard.

After hearing the full content, Ethesia.

“……What?!”

Was shocked, once again.

* * *

Having landed on the ground (without any accidents this time), I immediately folded my wings.

Then I hurriedly put back on the mask I had taken off.

Unlike in the air where I was hard to see, I had to avoid exposing my face at a distance where I could be directly reached as much as possible.

Sure enough, people soon began to gather from all directions.

They were all citizens and soldiers who had been mesmerized by my [Performance] and followed me.

They seemed quite flustered that I, who had come down to the ground, was no longer singing or playing the lute.

The way they looked around seemed to be partly to find the performer who had suddenly disappeared from their sight, but.

“Why…”

It seemed closer to a reaction of wondering why they were here, and when they had come here.

Of course, the reason they had followed my [Performance] as if entranced was because they were truly entranced.

“H-Here is… the council?”

The place I had brought them to was the front of the council.

And the crowd that had gathered.

“Are those… soldiers…?”

“Why are they here…”

Naturally became a human barricade, blocking the soldiers who had come to storm the council.

“The citizens, are gathered here…?”

So it seemed that the soldiers who had belatedly arrived at the square were just as flustered as the citizens.

“Wh-What should we do, Captain……?”

But I couldn't hold them forever through a [Performance].

In the first place, the effect of drawing attention with a [Performance] itself would gradually weaken after a certain amount of time, and.

“The warm-up act is over.”

More importantly, I now had other things to do.

So.

“Now it's your turn, philanderer.”

It was time to pass the baton.

『──Citizens.』

Now that I had somehow brought the citizens here, it was time for the guy who was originally in charge of leading them to step up.

『This is Councilman Khamsin.』

As if in response to my call, Khamsin's voice rang out through the ‘Dandelion’ just in time.

『I wish to confess the mistake I have made and appeal to you all to correct it.』

At the sudden speech from Khamsin, the citizens and soldiers began to look around as if to find him.

『The Great General Ethesia, who was once the hero who protected this city, has now become a traitor and is pointing her sword at this city.』

At this one sentence, murmurs arose from here and there.

“Wh-What is he talking about?”

“The Great General… a traitor…?”

『That person has framed the priests to cause a disturbance, and induced a riot to throw this city into chaos. And I, foolishly, have aided in her treason.』

It wasn't just the citizens who began to be swayed by Khamsin's resolute voice.

『Just now, the Great General Ethesia has declared martial law. She is now trying to send her army to seize the council.』

Even the soldiers, blocked by the citizens, began to stir.

『The moment the control of the council, the heart of this city, is taken away, she will have the entire city in her hands. She will control the wind, the magic, and the power of this Daian.』

Citizens.

Please lend me your strength.

Khamsin appealed.

『I alone may not be enough, but if you lend me your strength, we can stop her together.』

At that moment, a commotion arose in the crowd once again.

『And, to the soldiers who held their swords not for power, but to protect this city!』

Because the voice that had been spreading through the wind was, at some point, heard very ‘closely’.

“The Ethesia who gave you your orders is no longer the hero who protected this city!”

Khamsin had revealed himself in front of the crowd.

“Do not follow her orders!”

As if not hiding from his own mistake, he slowly descended the stairs.

Then, passing through the crowd who had begun to part for him, staring at him blankly, he soon stood at the front line.

Thus, at the very front, he appealed again to the soldiers who had formed a battle line.

“Please do not point your swords at the citizens!”

──Bang!

Ethesia slammed her fist on the desk with enough force to break it.

“How can that man be there!”

Seeing the officers flinch, Ethesia shouted again.

“How!”

Although she shouted in fury, there was no way Ethesia didn't know the ‘how’.

There was only one way.

Someone had secretly entered this very command headquarters where she was, and had smuggled out the man who was locked in the basement.

And while that was happening, everyone here, including herself, had not noticed it at all.

“Shit! Shit──!”

Knowing this better than anyone, Ethesia, who had finally become so enraged that she was spitting out curses, no longer had her usual gentleness.

“Prepare the ‘chariot’!”

“What?! A ch-chariot… that's…!”

“Tell the commanders! I'm going up myself!”

“B-But, Great General…”

“Hurry up, you son of a bitch!”

“A-As you command!”

Ethesia finally overturned the desk she had been slamming, and the officers, who had shrunk back in even more fear, hurriedly tried to leave the room as if fleeing.

“──Where do you think you're going?”

If the door hadn't been suddenly kicked in with a bang!

Through the door that had been flung open, four people appeared.

“You bastards…!”

The adventurers she had sent to the shrine.

It was obvious, if you thought about it.

The fact that only one person had stopped the situation in the square meant that the other four were somewhere else.

“Even though most of what that guy says is bullshit, sometimes he's right.”

Ibi, seeing Ethesia belatedly realize this obvious fact and grind her teeth, raised the corner of her mouth in a mocking smile.

“As he said, ‘we’ are ‘five people’.”