Tiona, however, kept her cool.
“…What are you gonna do?”
“You even have to ask?!”
Tione’s sharpened gaze met her sister’s honest one.
From far off, practically in a distant world, they could hear the commotion taking place on the pier.
“We’re going to settle this. Once and for all.”
To take responsibility for what they’d done and ensure this never happened again.
As Tione’s words swelled with unwavering conviction, Tiona remained silent. Finally, she looked away.
“Tione…”
“What is it?”
“Can’t we…ask for help? From Aiz and the others?”
“You—?! Just how thick can you possibly be?! It’s our fault that Lefiya and the others—”
“But we’re a familia, aren’t we?” Tiona raised her gaze, interrupting Tione’s tirade. “We’re different from how we used to be…aren’t we?”
Now it was Tione’s turn to squirm.
Brows furrowed, she bit down on her lip, masking her lack of response by chucking the item Argana had left behind at her sister.
“What’s this…?”
Tiona glanced down at the strip of cloth in her hand—the Loki Familia emblem.
The smiling face of their mascot, the Trickster, had four large gashes across it.
“It’s a warning. We’re to come alone. If we go to Aiz and the others…those guys will never leave us…and them…alone.”
“…”
One of the gashes was vertical while the rest were horizontal, laid out across it. It was a symbol of the rites they’d suffered day in and day out back in Telskyura, used to represent the monsters they’d faced over and over in battle during those competitions in the arena.
If they were to go to Aiz and the others for help and use their combined power to save Lefiya, Kali Familia would continue their attacks in that same way. They wouldn’t stop until they were once again able to reenact those rites—and have their showdown with Tione and her sister.
Tione understood all too well the warning they’d received.
“If we don’t go there and reenact the rite, they’re gonna keep on doing things like this. As many times as it takes. They won’t let anything get in the way of their little game.”
“…”
“We’re the only ones who can finish this. We can’t go to Aiz and the others…or the captain.”
Silence settled over the two sisters.
Tione knew she was being stubborn. Her aversion to involving the rest of the familia could very well be taken as a lack of faith in them.
But she wasn’t going to fold on this one.
This was something they had to do themselves, to sever their ties with Telskyura once and for all.
“…Okay.”
Had she gotten through to her?
Another moment, and then, ever so slowly, Tiona nodded.
“I don’t like hiding things from everyone, but…it really seems like we don’t have any other choice,” she agreed.
Tione turned her eyes downward at the sadness visible on Tiona’s face.
At length, the two of them began to walk, backs to the main street, away from the sounds of civilization.
Saying nothing to Loki, to Aiz and their companions, they simply vanished into the dark alley.
“It feels like before somehow…” Tiona murmured, staring upward at the shape of the sky formed between the rooftops above their heads. “Just the two of us.”
The words felt like a punch in her back.
Tione said nothing.
The sun had begun its descent toward the western horizon, disappearing from the sky overhead.
“Aiz, were you able to find them?”
“No…I looked everywhere…” Aiz replied, having just arrived back at the inn after a furtive search throughout the city. It was already growing late. She walked over toward Loki and Riveria and past the rest of her flustered companions restlessly pacing the first floor of the establishment. “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault…I was with Tiona…”
“Nonsense. If that was the case, I would be most at fault. I got so caught up in wanting to help Rakuta and the others that I forgot to keep my eyes on Tione…and, no doubt, she is the one who absconded with your Tiona, as well.” Riveria shook her head, eyes closed. She’d already accepted the blame for the entire situation, shame evident in the crooked arc of her brows. “However, pointing fingers will get us nowhere.”
Aiz agreed, imitating the high elf’s shift in focus and swallowing the rest of her apology.
“What about Rakuta and the others?”
“Leene and the other healers are looking after them. Certainly they won’t be up and moving again for a while, but it shouldn’t be long before their strength has returned.”
Aiz let out a sigh of relief before continuing. “And what about Kali Familia? Have there been any signs of them?”
Just as Tiona and Tione had disappeared right out from under them, the rest of Kali Familia, too, seemed to have vanished into thin air. Apparently not a single soul had caught sight of them after the attack on Lefiya, not even the residents of Meren.
“Aki and the other gals split up to go look for ’em…Speakin’ of, they should be comin’ back right about now.” Loki spoke up from her cross-legged spot atop the table, and, indeed, no sooner had the words left her mouth than the door opened to reveal Aki and Alicia back from their search.
“No good. The inn they were supposedly staying at until today was completely deserted. We snuck in but couldn’t find anything.”
“And even though the galleon they sailed in on is still there, it’s completely empty, as well…”
The two second-tier adventurers explained despondently. Loki hummed softly as she scratched at her chin.
“Considerin’ this is their first time here, you wouldn’t think they’d be able to hide themselves so well…They’ve gotta have someone helpin’ ’em.”
The goddess’s words triggered a jolt of fear in her followers.
Alicia clenched her fist. “But what is it they’re after…?”
“Well…I’m about ninety-nine point nine percent certain they’re gonna make Tione and Tiona reenact those rites they used to carry out in Telskyura. That bastard of a midget they call a goddess is nothin’ but a natural-born battle junkie. And I wouldn’t put it past Tione and her sister to be tempted, too,” Loki posed.
“Attacking Rakuta and the others, kidnapping Lefiya—it was all a ploy to spur them into action,” Riveria continued.
“Lefiya…” The name stung Aiz’s heart. As worried as she was about Tiona and Tione, she couldn’t help her concern for the spirited-away mage, too.
“Anyway, we continue our search…and if we find ’em, we blow ’em away. Aiz should be able to handle ’em by herself, but Riveria, feel free to blast ’em as much as ya want, too.”
“In the middle of the city. What a wonderful idea…” Riveria brought a hand to her temple.
“And what about Lefiya…?” Aki retorted, eyes narrowed in disbelief.
But Loki just discarded their concerns with a dismissive wave of her hand.
From what Aiz could tell, Loki’s anger hadn’t subsided even slightly. As much as her usual tomfoolery colored her words, her eyes themselves weren’t laughing at all.
“Look, I’m just gonna come out and say it—Lefiya’s nothin’ more than bait to lure in Tione and her sister. No one’s gonna be threatenin’ her life or anything. Then again, who knows what might happen if worse comes to worst.”
“Then what you’re saying is that our enemy desires nothing but combat in and of itself?” Riveria asked, though she already knew the answer.
Loki smiled. “Thaaaat’s it. A hostage is just a blip on the radar for someone who wants a full-on fight to the death. Most likely she’s just there to dissuade us from interferin’. That way, they can have their death match without worryin’ about us gettin’ i
n the way.”
Aiz could tell from the goddess’s smile—she knew Kali had no plans to kill Lefiya.
“So, Aizuu. You’re the only one who’s gone up against ’em. Aside from the sisters with the boobs, how tough d’ya think they are?”
“…Of the ones I fought, Level Threes or Level Fours,” Aiz guessed, thinking back to yesterday’s skirmish in the main street.
Their fighting style, however, would prove difficult, much like Tiona and Tione’s. They fought with a complete disregard for their lives, at an insanely close range, and with no hesitation at taking someone else’s life. They would always have the upper hand against someone lacking that same motivation to kill. Or at least that’s what Aiz thought.
Aki and Alicia found themselves grimacing as they listened to the Sword Princess’s prognosis.
“So even their mid-level warriors will prove a handful,” Riveria mused.
“Unfortunately, yes…”
“The fact that Aiz and I are both using temporary weapons doesn’t help matters any, either.”
Loki let out a sigh as she turned her gaze toward the ceiling.
All of a sudden, Aiz raised her head with an “Ah!”
In all the commotion, there’d been something she’d forgotten to add.
“Loki.”
“Hmm? What’s up, Aizuu?”
Aiz undid the small bag from beneath her loin guard, handing it over to the goddess. It was something she and Tiona had found during their earlier search of the Murdock estate.
As Aiz leaned forward to explain its contents, a smile began to form on Loki’s face.
“Good work, Aiz!” she exclaimed before sliding down from off the table. Grabbing a quill pen and parchment from one of the hotel staff, she quickly took to writing.
“Aki! Would ya mind playin’ messenger for me?”
“Well, no, but…you mean now?”
“Faster than now. This is an emergency! Everything you need to know should be written right here,” Loki asserted, handing her a small slip of paper.
Aki glanced down at it with a nod, then grabbed the two pieces of parchment and took off out of the inn at the speed of a cat.
Loki watched her with the rest of the group, then turned her eyes toward the window and the crimson sky painting the horizon.
“Now, then! All that’s left is Tione and her sister…”
Why did she have to remember now, of all times?
After she’d killed the person who’d meant the most to her, after a wild light had begun to appear in her eyes, a certain Amazon had arrived to hurl her life into an even deeper level of hell.
Argana Kalif. The top contender for the rank of Telskyura’s next captain.
And the warrior whose mentality was closest to Kali’s. Her training was nothing short of gruesome.
The day they’d met, Argana had broken her. For no specific reason, other than that the combat-obsessed warrior Argana did not distinguish the training in their dark stone room from the battles to the death in the arena.
As Tione was reduced to blood-soaked skin and bones, she came to hold the same fear toward Argana that Tiona held toward Bache—along with an even more powerful anger.
Through the scalding pain and her hazy consciousness, she came to see Argana as a symbol of Telskyura itself. The very custom that had forced her to kill Seldas.
“…You’re good.”
Argana immediately took a liking to the young girl who couldn’t be broken, who refused to relinquish her will to fight or her unbridled rage. She licked her lips hungrily, her long tongue twitching like a snake’s at the sight of all that blood and Tione’s murderous eyes as she lay battered and bruised on the ground below.
Argana’s fighting style and brutality were feared even throughout Telskyura. She would drink her opponents’ blood, digging her razor-sharp teeth into their skin and sucking their very life force from their body even as they wailed and cried in pain and despair. It intoxicated her; it was the highest grade of alcohol there was as she feasted on the flesh of the strong.
—Those who survived the rites were simply known as “True Warriors,” and the inhabitants of Telskyura weren’t given aliases as the adventurers of Orario were, save for Argana. She was referred to as Kalima, a cruel, villainous warrior recognized even by Kali herself.
She was a monster who’d go so far as to drink her own blood. And for Tione, there wasn’t a day where she didn’t loathe Argana with every fiber of her being. There wasn’t a single moment when she wasn’t overcome with rage at that Amazon and her tyrannical laugh. And ironically enough, it was during this very training that her second skill, one grounded in all that untapped fury, manifested itself.
It was when Argana rose to Level 5 that her antipathy toward the Amazon took its complete hold. Argana had been on her way out of the arena after one of her battles when Tione had finally asked the question.
“…You don’t feel anything…do you?”
She murdered her peers—those she’d shared the same room with, eaten out of the same pot with, just as Seldas and Tione had. She had drunk their blood, ignoring their moans as she mercilessly dug into their flesh.
Argana had stood there, her body suffering heavy injuries and dripping blood that could either have been hers or her opponent’s, with the strangest expression on her face.
“I consume them to become strong. That is all. What else am I supposed to feel?”
Telskyura had created that answer in her. The secret to power was so simple it was…disappointing.
In order to create Level-4 warriors, you had to kill Level-3s.
In order to create Level-5s, you had to kill Level-4s.
It was a sacrifice that had to be made.
It was like putting rats in a barrel to kill and cannibalize one another until only the strongest remained. That was just the type of country Telskyura was.
And yet even within that country of monsters, the one before her now was the deadliest, most despicable monster of all. That much, Tione was sure of.
“When are you going to let her go? There’s no point mourning someone who’s nothing more than an offering.”
That had made Tione see red, and she’d launched herself at Argana when the other woman was already wounded from battle.
For too long had she been forced to suffer and seethe in Argana’s training sessions, for too long had she been made to kill her sisters in those detestable rites—her eyes and heart were being worn down at an accelerating speed. Though she had sometimes longed for death, she knew that dying would be nothing more than giving in to those she abhorred the most, which was something her anger-fueled instincts would never allow.
And yet, somehow, almost in direct opposition to Tione, her sister, Tiona, had grown all the more cheerful.
She knew why. It was that epic.
The many volumes of that story had nurtured her idiot sister’s sense of idealism. But even as Tione turned its pages, her empty eyes scanning the hollow words, and even as Tiona tried to teach her their meaning, she just couldn’t understand where the enjoyment came from.
When Tiona looked at her with those eyes, so different from that of her peers, it made Tione’s stomach roil.
She didn’t like it.
Maybe even hated it.
“How can you act like that when I’m living in a never-ending hell—?”
The words had crossed her lips so many times at this point, she’d lost count.
There was no question that Tione and Tiona were two entirely different breeds of Amazon. Though they were born of the same generation and raised in the same kingdom of violence, for better or for worse, Tione had raged while Tiona had laughed.
Tione was antagonistic to a fault, even going so far as to curse her own goddess. Kali herself couldn’t get enough of the girl’s abuse, taking everything her beloved child could deal as her eyes twinkled in amusement.
Tiona, on the other hand, was as innocent as they came. Not only was she full of la
ughter, but she elicited laughs from her goddess, as well. In fact, it became commonplace for Kali to invite the girl to her chambers.
The two sisters were the only ones able to talk back to Kali, making them objects of jealousy among the other Amazons. And, of course, this led to widespread hope that one day, the two of them would be placed in front of each other in the arena.
It happened two years after they’d leveled up to Level 2. It was the day before their seventh birthday and the perfect opportunity for them to reach Level 3, given how their Statuses had grown by leaps and bounds thanks to Argana’s and Bache’s merciless training. Tione could practically feel it on her skin—all too soon she would have to fight her sister.
And no matter how much Tione fought back, no matter how much she rebelled—a single sentence from her sister was all it took to reduce her efforts to nothing.
“Kali, I don’t wanna fight Tione.”
Kali had invited the victors of the day’s rites to her hall to laud their efforts.
There had been no forewarning; her stupid sister had simply blurted it out.
“We wanna leave.”
Even Bache and Argana hadn’t been able to believe their ears, every eye in the room turning directly toward Tiona. Kali, however, had simply narrowed her eyes beneath her mask.
Tione couldn’t remember what she had thought as she stood among the other Amazons. And yet, the very wish she’d put on hold all this time…was about to come true only a few days later.
Was it a whim of their goddess, perhaps? Either way, Kali released them from that arena of stone, and soon they were sailing far, far away from the vast peninsula.
—Why?
Tiona clearly had Kali’s favor; she had given her those volumes of the epic and spoiled her like a child.
But then what had those days spent trapped there even meant? What had the suffering been for, if her dolt of a sister just had to laugh to break them free of this prison? Was this even what she truly wanted?
As Tiona had run about excitedly beside her, taking in the unfamiliar sights of the cerulean sea, the steep precipices of the mountains, the clean air, and the mesmerizingly gorgeous world outside, Tione had cried. And even at the tender age of seven, she’d known enough to understand the tears weren’t from the scenery before her eyes.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 6 Page 15
