Chapter 1. [Interlude 5]
“Miriam”
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Late at night, Liz was in the military archives.
She is feeling better and staring at a stack of documents.
The document titled “List of Disappeared Persons” lists the sex, age, and background of the elves’ disappearances, as far as can be ascertained.
She had visited this room several times before and had been going through the materials for a long time.
Ludio had told her not to get involved, but she couldn’t do that. This was because a small number of the missing persons were acquaintances of Liz’s.
And the matter of the last drop that Theodore told her about goes through her mind. No doubt there have been disappearances of elves similar to this one long ago.
It was only a hunch, but she knew that if she left it at that, there would be big trouble.
Liz then notes the name of the person written at the end of the document.
Name: “Miriam Stasis”
Gender： Female
Age: 18 years old
Biography: Born in the east of the Elberian Empire. She entered the Military Academy of Mildiana three years ago. Her class attitude and grades are average, with nothing outstanding. After graduation, she was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Army.
Remarks: She was bright and active, but is said to have shown mild mental disabilities since childhood. She was also sickly from a physical point of view. Even before her enrollment, it was noted that she occasionally coughed and became unable to move. However, this was not considered a problem because she recovered quickly with the use of medication.
Report of disappearance: It is reported that she disappeared while in the company of her military school alumnus and military colleague, 2nd Lieutenant Lattice Maildia. Second Lieutenant Maildia is wounded and suffering from severe psychological shock and will be investigated as soon as she recovers.
Second Lieutenant Lattice is the elf woman who bowed her head many times with tears in her eyes after Ludio. She had met Ensign Lattice before, but they were not particularly close.
And she knows Ensign Miriam. She used to see her and Ensign Lattice walking side by side through the streets of Mildiana.
They had dinner together a few times and she seemed like a normal woman with nothing unusual about her.
She felt an indescribable pang of pain at the fact that someone she knew had disappeared again.
Looking at it any longer would only make it harder. With that in mind, she was about to close the material and put it back on the shelf.
“She’s an elf, but also a noble from the empire. Ryu-kun is similar, but maybe a bit more unusual.”
Before she knew it, Liz was searching through the archives for a document containing detailed biographies of lieutenants and above.
Something was stuck her my head.
“There was an Ensign Miriam’s inventory”
As she was about to open the page, the door to the reference room suddenly opened with a loud bang, and Liz screamed.
She was so focused on her work that she was completely unaware of anyone’s approach because even her excellent hearing had abandoned its role.
[Woah! …… Ensign Lattice? What’s up?]
[……]
There was an elf woman wearing glasses. She couldn’t tell where she was looking because she didn’t have a clear line of sight.
[At least knock on the door. You startled me.]
[…… I’m sorry.]
[Hmm, well, okay. Uh, well, can I talk to you for a minute now?]
[Talk?]
[Yeah. Um, I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but it’s about Ensign Miriam.]
She expected some kind of reaction from her, but she didn’t even twitch. It was as if she was out of her mind.
She was about to continue the conversation when suddenly Lattice opens her mouth.
[Miriam. Miriam. What do you want to know about Miriam?]
[What? Uh, oh, I was wondering where she spent her time before entering military school.]
[It’s the Eastern Territories. There. The only daughter. Of the Stasis family. It was always a fun and lively family with a father, mother, younger brother, and she.]
[Yeah. So, this is kind of hard to ask, but it says here …… that she had a mental disorder from a very young age, do you know anything about that?]
Lattice stares at Liz as she leans against the wall of the room.
After waiting patiently, Lattice said slowly.
[No, she was good. Mentally. She is a normal woman. Nothing.]
[Is that so? But I found it in the military files.]
Thud!
It was so sudden that Liz could not react in any way.
Lattice slammed her head against the wall as hard as she could.
[What’s going on? Are you okay?]
[It was stated? In the documents?]
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She slams her head against the wall in rapid succession and rubs her head against the wall soaked in her blood.
Liz had no choice but to stand there and watch an act that was beyond her comprehension.
[It was heartbreaking.]
[What is it, ……?]
Lattice continues.
[It is unclean. This land. It is not right. It is unworthy of a goddess.]
[…… goddess?]
[It’s a goddess. Don’t you know? She is precious. Merciful, extending her hand of love to those below and warmly embracing them, she is a beautiful light.]
[Well, are you talking about the Goddess of Creation, the ‘Lady Orphelia,’ who is the chief deity of the Elberian Empire?]
[No. Orphelia is. No, she is not. Goddess of Creation. It is lamentable.]
Liz continues to ask careful questions in front of Lattice, who no longer seems to be in her right mind.
[Ensign Miriam believed in other gods, I guess.]
[The other? The Goddess is only Her Supreme. There can be no other god. It is only a trick. It is folly.]
Thud!
Liz is about to cry because she doesn’t understand why, but she looks at the being in front of her with those special eyes.
……It’s just an elf. There is nothing unnatural about it. She can only assume that she is the same Ensign Lattice that Liz herself knows so well.
That’s why this situation was unusual. Why would she continue to self-mutilate while saying this? She couldn’t make sense of it.
[Not enough drops.]
Lattice’s voice had somehow become an unpleasant mixture of male and female voices.
[…… what?]
[The drop that calls the white wings of purification. It is not enough.]
Saying this, Lattice approached slowly. Liz backed away when she saw her walk up to her with dazed steps.
She was cornered up against the wall behind her. Lattice does not stop walking.
When her hand reached out to her…
Thud!
With a dull thud, Lattice’s entire body slammed into the wall. Her glasses fall off with the impact, and at the same time, her body slumps to the floor like a puppet with broken strings.
Liz approached Lattice, her face pale, and looked at her.
She is alive. As soon as Liz confirmed as much, she quickly left the room and called out loudly for help.
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