Chapter 100
<...Her Majesty visited the Hunting Castle?>
<Yes. According to the soldiers, she visited, played a prank, and left.>
Jaquir frowned as she listened to the knight's report.
It was extremely common for the Queen of Hearts to play pranks on a whim. Something like that happened somewhere or other almost every day.
Even so, the reason she received a report every time was because she had to.
She was the captain of the knights. In place of a queen who preferred going out to play rather than taking an interest in the Garden's affairs, she had a duty to resolve and prevent all kinds of problems.
<...Phew. Submit it as a report. Write it in detail.>
<Yes. Understood.>
'...I thought Her Majesty had gone hunting outside the Garden. When did she return?'
As the Queen's closest aide, who had been with her the longest, she knew what kinds of things interested the Queen.
Pranks, fun. And the coordinates of a particular dimension.
The coordinates leading from the Abyss to an outside dimension constantly changed, so they were not something one could simply find.
Even if a knight or soldier managed to reach the dimension the Queen was looking for, that would only be the coordinates at which that target had entered at that particular time; if someone else entered through those coordinates, they would fall into an entirely different dimension.
That was an inherent limitation of the dimension known as the Abyss, something not even the mighty Queen could defy.
Moreover, because the Queen's power was so immense, crossing dimensions consumed an enormous number of roses. In practice, she could only attempt to find another dimension once every few weeks.
She would spend those dull stretches wandering around the Abyss.
Traveling to another dimension required energy, but playing in the Abyss required nothing more than her arms and legs.
It seemed that those outside the Garden believed the Queen of the Garden was actively engaged in conquests to expand her territory... but as the captain of the knights, she knew the truth. More than half of those conquests had been the result of the Queen's whims.
Of course, there were times when she took things seriously. The prime example was the Jabberwock that roamed the Garden every night. Before the Queen cut off its head, the dragon had been the ruler of a powerful faction that held sway in this area. It hadn't even had that name.
Now, it was reduced to the Queen's pet.
Even the Queen properly brought knights and soldiers when waging war against such a great power. But when that wasn't the case—when the Queen truly wandered the Abyss alone—it was quite literally a walk. Not a conquest, but simply a stroll to ease her boredom.
And the Queen of Hearts was currently, as far as she knew, outside the Garden.
Of course, with such a capricious queen, it was entirely possible that she had gone out for a stroll, returned to the Hunting Castle, played a prank, and left. In fact, it was rather likely.
Even so, the captain of the knights needed to confirm it.
[All right. I understand what you're saying. That's an interesting fact. The Abyss really is a fascinating place.]
[...Kill me. For a lord who has lost territory in the Abyss, only death awaits. I have handed over the information you wanted, so I have already done what a defeated party must. Now perform the victor's duty.]
[But I'm not an Abyssal One, you know?]
[What nonsense. Even if you truly only recently came to the Abyss, as you claim, how can someone who already handles the Abyss's energy better than I do say that they are not a being of the Abyss?]
[Hmm... Still, it would be a shame to kill you. Won't you help me? There's something I want to do, and there are still many things I don't know about the Abyss.]
Even if it had now fallen into someone else's hands, it was still her territory.
[All right. Call me the Queen of Hearts. You are... Jack... wouldn't suit a woman... Jaquir. We'll call you that. I look forward to working with you, Miss Jaquir.]
She could do nothing but silently guard the back of the 'Queen' searching for the 'King'.
* * *
'...Ow. My back.'
Given my circumstances, I couldn't press our bodies together completely, so I had no choice but to keep some distance between our lower bodies. My back had grown rather stiff from staying like that for so long.
The one thing I was grateful for was that Momo didn't ask why I was deliberately staying in such an uncomfortable position. I didn't know whether she was simply taking it in stride or hadn't noticed.
-Soft, steady breathing...
"...Still, it's a relief you transformed again."
[You did well, Alice. I saw it while maintaining the barrier... It seems that, in the Abyss, one really mustn't deactivate a transformation without taking measures like the ones just now.]
"...Was it that serious?"
[The air of the Abyss... seems to have the effect of transforming beings into Abyssal Ones.]
"I expected as much, but that's horrifying."
[Also, the mascots have been completely out of it since entering the Abyss... An ordinary magical girl probably wouldn't last long after entering the Abyss before mutating into an Abyssal One. Needless to say, it would be even worse for someone who wasn't a magical girl.]
...Considering the survival method of a dimension like the Abyss, there was nothing strange about it. I had merely confirmed it more thoroughly this time.
A dimensional predator that drains energy from other dimensions, then, after draining them dry, absorbs it to grow larger. And the mascots were the ones who opposed those predators.
Would such creatures really leave outsiders who entered their dimension alone?
Ever since the Abyssal Ones invading Earth had appeared in all sorts of forms, that much should have been obvious...
'...Wait.'
The mascots had definitely said that one would die.
If someone were sucked into an Abyss Hole, they would either die immediately, unable to withstand that dimension's energy, or, even if they somehow endured it, be killed by the Abyssal Ones.
But if that was true, things were a little different.
Mutation. Of course it was horrifying. It was a mutation into an Abyssal One, after all.
But strictly speaking, it wasn't death.
...Or was it? Should I consider it no different from dying? If I compared it to... a zombie...
No, but getting bitten by an Abyssal One doesn't turn you into one...
'...I don't know.'
-Crack
I set Black Rose down and straightened my stiff back.
Since we'd been pressed together for such a long time, we'd exchanged body heat, and my body had absorbed quite a bit of warmth.
"I'm going to get some air. Please take good care of Miss Black Rose."
[Go ahead. Since it's nighttime, there shouldn't be any patrols.]
"I don't plan to go that far."
I stepped out of the hideout, fanning my unavoidably flushed face with my hand.
I didn't know whether the Abyss had seasons, but air much cooler than during the day wrapped around my body.
If I hadn't been transformed, this air would have tried to turn me into an Abyssal One, but I was transformed. It couldn't break through the transformation of an S-rank magical girl, after all.
'...Ah. It's refreshing, but I feel stifled.'
Even for me, this was the first time I'd maintained my transformation for so long without deactivating it.
I didn't even like this appearance in the first place. Was there really any reason to maintain it for so long?
No matter how accustomed I became to it, there was absolutely no reason for me to like this appearance.
Long hair reaching down to my waist, a suffocating dress and gloves that covered every inch of skin, and a long skirt with stockings, too. Wasn't this the sort of fashion that made it hard to breathe just by looking at it?
'Ha. If there were even a pond around, I think I'd just jump right in.'
<Grrrk.>
-Freeze.
...A strange sound had rung out.
The sound of another living creature that shouldn't have been heard here...
<Grrrk?>
"Eek... No, what is that thing?!"
It was a strange-looking bird.
It had four wings and enormous eyes. I didn't know much about birds, but I'd never seen one like it on Earth.
'Ah, no. This isn't the time for that.'
-Wooooom!
Power began gathering in my staff.
This wasn't the time to focus on what that bird looked like.
The important thing was that an Abyssal One had spotted me.
If that bird turned out to be some kind of scout, I would be in trouble.
'I need to wipe it out silently with the strongest attack I can manage...'
And then, at that very moment.
<Krrk!>
-Whoosh!
It began charging at me at a speed impossible to believe for something so huge.
It was moving at a speed far beyond what its size had led me to expect, so my reaction was late; by then, it had already come within arm's reach.
'Th-this, then!'
It was just as I hurriedly redirected the flow of magic into Comet Smash and was about to swing my staff.
-Poof
<Nuzzle. Nuzzle.>
"...Huh?"
Contrary to my expectations, it began rubbing its head against my body.
Pressing its head—the part that had to be a creature's weakness—against someone else was an unmistakable expression of submission and affection.
"...What?"
It was already too late, and because I panicked, I couldn't complete the swing. I lowered my staff awkwardly as the magic fizzled out incompletely and stared into its eyes.
-Bright, shining eyes
"...What are you, seriously?"
Does it know me? Why is it doing this? An Abyssal One that likes humans? Could that even make sense?
-Nuzzle
"I-it tickles. Back off."
<Nuzzle!>
...It really did back off. It seemed to understand human speech. They say birds are intelligent, after all.
"...What are you?"
The Abyssal One I had naturally expected to attack me was instead showing affection. I put a little distance between us and looked it over, then noticed a clue.
"...What's this? A necklace?"
<Croak!>
The silver necklace bore the words [♡Jeopjeobi♡].
And only then did I understand.
'...You guys can't tell us apart either?'
Even the Abyssal Ones couldn't distinguish between the perfectly identical twins who had fooled even the mascots.