Chapter 89
...I had already expected this to some extent.
I had already unconsciously assumed that the woman was still alive—and that, if she was alive, the place would be the Abyss. It wasn't as if I thought she had died; I'd often thought of her simply as no longer being in this world.
...Because I couldn't believe that crazy bitch would die so easily...
'...But I hadn't wanted evidence this conclusive.'
-Vrrrr...
Even if I took the wand charging normally as a given, once we crossed into the Abyss, its recharge rate suddenly increased to an abnormal degree. It was the first time anything like this had happened in my eight years of activity.
No matter how much I tried to fool myself, how could I deny this situation?
Even if I bent over backward and assumed that magical power usable by magical girls happened to overflow in the Abyss, causing the wand to suddenly recharge, or that crossing the dimension had taken a long time even though it had only felt like a brief moment... I could think of possibilities like that, but...
'...The garden, cards, knight, hearts, judgment, neck... Fuck.'
No matter how positively I tried to think about it, wasn't it all too obvious?
Alice. That crazy bitch is here.
And she even built her own castle here.
"...Senior?"
"Ah, no. I just had something to think about."
I wanted to grab the sleeping Bunny by the collar, shake them awake, and have an honest talk with them, but their condition wasn't good right now.
Black Rose was beside me, and so was Momo, Aia's wand.
'...Wait a second. Then how am I supposed to explain this to them?'
The best way was not to encounter her.
Simply finding some way to escape and return to Earth. That was the best option.
'But it had better be as easy as it sounds.'
-Whooosh...
"Wow... So this is S-rank..."
For now, I passed magical power to Black Rose while falling back into thought.
If that woman really was in the Abyss, and the queen presumed to be the owner of this garden was Alice... not me, but the real Alice, Han Serin...
...I couldn't predict where she might go at all.
We were twins, but I couldn't predict her behavior.
She might realize that I had crossed into the Abyss and rush over immediately, or she might simply leave me alone. She might send card soldiers or beings like that knight instead of coming herself, or she might not have noticed at all.
There was even a possibility that the queen was some other being and Han Serin had merely provided the idea. For all I knew, my entire speculation was completely wrong, and these were simply Abyssal Ones that happened to look like this, with no connection to Han Serin whatsoever.
Abyssal Ones were born in all kinds of forms. Even if their existence had originated from fairy tales on Earth, who could object? The mascots didn't even know the origins of Abyssal Ones in the first place.
'...Ah. My head hurts.'
"S-Senior. Are you okay? D-Did I take too much?"
"No... I was thinking about how to gather information."
[If you want a safe method, gathering information solely by spying like this is also an option, but it may be dangerous. As I mentioned earlier, this is a place where a monster might leap out once certain conditions are met.]
"...All right. Let's... interrogate it."
Either interrogation or spying was dangerous. No, simply being here was dangerous.
We were trying to find a way to survive in a place where everything was dangerous. It would be better to just go ahead and do it.
"...From earlier, it looked like the higher the number, the higher the rank. Finding a low-numbered one would be safest, but if the number is too low, it might not know much. Based on the soldiers we saw earlier, a 2 was about D-rank, while a 5 was about B-rank... Let's subdue one somewhere in between. Even a 5 seemed to have a respectable rank, so if we choose something moderately low, no one should suspect anything even if it disappears."
"Wouldn't 3 be about right?"
"We can't decide until one of those Abyssal Ones actually shows up..."
<Aaaah... Sorry I'm late! Huh? Where did they go?>
-Shh.
'...Looks like they have a set route.'
This time, a soldier numbered 3 came hurrying along the exact same path the soldiers numbered 2 and 5 had taken earlier.
Even its bewilderment at finding no one there was exactly the same.
I waited for a moment in case it hadn't come alone, but unlike the ones who had immediately turned back after saying, 'This isn't the place!', it just stood there blankly.
There really did seem to be a difference in rank. Its equipment looked better than the No. 2's, but far worse than the No. 5's.
'I'm going. Get ready.'
'W-what am I supposed to do...?'
'Just keep watch.'
-Flash!
.
.
.
<Mmph! Mmmph!>
"...Phew. Ms. Momo, you did put up a proper barrier, right?"
[Momo is equipped with most of the functions of Aia's machine. Momo does not know the vocalization principle of Abyssal Ones, but as long as it is sound, it will not leak outside.]
...Well, I hadn't subdued the 5 because I didn't know what might happen, but something as much weaker as a 3 could be subdued with one hand in Alice form.
The part that required care was doing it as quickly as possible without leaving any traces. It wasn't particularly difficult.
Black Rose was constantly exclaiming in admiration beside me, but in any case, it was time to begin the interrogation.
The creature was currently tied up in a starlight lasso I had created and had been dragged into a hole hastily dug in the nearby brush. With Momo's help, we had camouflaged it properly, so the chance of it being rescued right away was low.
"Now, Mr. Card. From this point on, Al... I mean, I'm going to ask you some questions. Nod if you intend to answer, shake your head from side to side if you don't, and spin in circles if you don't know."
...I decided not to use that name for now. Just in case.
-Nod nod nod nod
"...Hmph. What an obvious ploy. You're planning to have us release the lasso covering your mouth, then scream or do something to call for help, aren't you? We've already blocked all such methods. Even if you scream with all your might from here, not a single sound will leak outside."
The card Abyssal Ones had no humanlike heads to begin with, and therefore no mouths either, but this was a lasso made of magic. As long as its purpose was to 'block vocalization,' the rest could be handwaved.
-Shake shake shake shake
"...You do intend to answer, don't you?"
-Nod nod nod...
"Just do it once. Just once. You're making me dizzy."
-Nod
'...What the hell is with this guy?'
I couldn't tell whether this was a sophisticated ploy or whether it really intended to blurt everything out. Honestly, judging by its appearance, it looked genuinely frightened and ready to spill everything.
If it had a face, I could at least try to read its mental state from its expression, but it had no head and therefore no expression. And if I had the ability to read its thoughts from the way a card trembled, I would be in a psychiatric hospital rather than here.
"...Ms. Momo, what should I do?"
[When a captive cooperates readily from the outset, there are several possibilities. The two most common are that it is plotting something, or that it is so frightened that it will confess everything regardless of loyalty. In Momo's estimation, the latter seems more likely.]
"...It looks that way to me, too."
"I-I think so... too."
"...Miss Black Rose, go sit over there and rest. I'll handle this."
"Ah, I can... Ah, no. Thank you..."
-Flop
...Black Rose looked fairly tired by then, too.
A rookie magical girl normally couldn't maintain her transformation indefinitely. Under normal circumstances, it was generally accepted that one had to be at least around A-rank to maintain a transformation all day, but Black Rose was at best C-rank right now. Even if magical power was supplied, maintaining a transformation wasn't completely without strain.
'...Am I running out of time?'
I had to find a way to return as soon as possible. I had no idea what would happen if my transformation wore off in the Abyss and I returned to an ordinary human body.
As the mascots had said, it wasn't impossible that I would be crushed by negative energy and die.
"All right. I don't exactly trust you, Mr. Card, but since you're so eager to provide information, I'll give you the opportunity. First, could you tell us what this place called the 'garden' is for?"
-Whoosh
As I spoke, I released the seal on its vocalization. Of course, I kept a close watch on the words that came out, ready to reactivate the seal immediately.
And the answer it gave was...
<It is the garden of the great Queen of Hearts, who rules the eastern part of the Abyss. We are soldiers assigned to manage that garden.>
"..."
It really was speaking willingly. What was this? Was it simply timid? Or did its low number mean it had little loyalty?
"...What does 'the eastern part of the Abyss' mean?"
<It means exactly what it says. The Abyss has countless monarchs and rulers who possess lands of their own, but Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts brought most of the rulers in the eastern region to their knees and took their lands into her garden. It would be safe to say that the garden is one of the greatest powers in the Abyss. And at its center stands the Queen of Hearts.>
...I learned two things.
The Abyss had countless monarchs and rulers with lands of their own. The S-rank Abyssal Ones that had crossed over to Earth probably included some of them.
And the ruler called the Queen of Hearts possessed exceptional abilities even among them. She had brought countless S-rank Abyssal Ones to their knees.
'...Whether that's exaggeration or not, I won't know until later...'
I had to consider the possibility that the soldier was exaggerating, but the story was credible enough.
The S-rank Abyssal One that had appeared on Earth was a knight. I didn't know how many more beings like him existed, but having even one such being under her command was an imposing achievement.
"Then... do you know the name of the Queen of Hearts?"
...Strictly speaking, compared to the many pieces of information we needed, this was low priority.
But I couldn't help asking.
The answer that came from the creature was...
<...? Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts is the Queen of Hearts.>
"...No. I mean her name. Her name can't actually be Queen of Hearts."
<...Do you need another name?>
"...Haa. Never mind."
Thinking about it, it was a foolish question.
There was no way a soldier who seemed to be several ranks below her could know the queen's real name.