The air felt thick and viscous as Shalltear moved through it at incredible speeds, heading toward the place the man would land. As she descended, she observed his posture as he leapt down with glacial slowness. Although she could not harm him directly while the spell was in effect, she could still set up an ambush and make other preparations.
Just as well. I'll open my arms to receive him as he falls. Surely a human like him will be overjoyed to be embraced by a beauty like myself.
The corner of Shalltear's mouth quirked up as she thought of the expression that she could see on his face. As she landed on the ground, just before the spell ended, she sensed another presence close by.
—What's this?
It was a young man in a suit of pure white plate armor with a roguish-looking companion.
Brain landed in the alley and looked back up, but Shalltear was no longer there.
She didn't pursue me? No, that's not right, what if she wants me to lead her to the others, like last time?
He had not planned to flee at first. His thoughts had been that it would be easier to buy time for Climb and the rest by escaping to lower ground.
Brain's every action had been to let Climb escape. It was because of that that he had put on this entire show of running away.
But as he ran, he discovered something that should not have been. That something was Climb and the thief, who were waving to him.
How could this—
Brain's mind filled with emotion— intense anger and frustration.
His face distorted by wrath, he charged toward the two of them, grabbed them by the collar and kept running. This was obviously slower than just running by himself, but Brain was not calm enough to have considered that.
After they had run for some distance, and after checking repeatedly behind him to make sure that Shalltear had not caught up with them, he slammed Climb against a nearby wall. Because Brain had not thought to control his strength, Climb practically bounced off it.
"Why? Why didn't you run?!"
Although his emotions were on the verge of overflowing, Brain still had enough presence of mind to keep himself from shouting out loud.
"That... that was..."
Brain grabbed hold of Climb again.
"That was what?! Were you worried about me?! I clearly told you two to escape!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, I don't know what happened, but back then, you just said some stuff and ran off. The fault isn't Climb-kun's alone!"
After hearing the thief's words, Brain began to calm down. It was true that he hadn't explained anything at all. He forced himself to take deep breaths.
"...forgive me, Climb-kun. I seem to have gone a little mad."
"Ah, no, you must forgive me too, for not heeding your words."
"No, I was the one at fault, and I am truly sorry. Things just... happened."
"Hey, Unglaus-san, what happened? We may not have known each other very long, but just now, you seemed like a completely different person, like a novice who just picked up the sword."
"Stopping here is very dangerous. I'll tell you once we move. Let's just say I met a monster who could give Sebas-san a run for his money."
The three of them moved on warily. It might have been sheer luck that they had not met Jaldabaoth's underlings while they were fleeing, but counting on that luck to continue would only end badly.
"Then... you're unhurt, so it must have been a complete victory, right? Or… no, you settled it with words?"
"Not so. It was with the sword... I cut her fingernail off."
Brain was filled with glee as he said it. There was no mistake about it— he, Brain Unglaus, had clipped the nail of the monster Shalltear Bloodfallen.
"I cut her fingernail off," Brain repeated. He was trying his best to control the overflowing joy that welled up from the depths of his heart, but even so, he was practically trembling with emotion.
"I... I see. Cutting a fingernail off... I guess doing it with a sword is pretty impressive..."
The thief shook his head and trembled slightly.
"...that nail belonged to someone who could rival Sebas-sama. Don't you think she must have been very strong?"
"Is that so? As expected of Brain Unglaus..."
Brain struggled to contain his girlish excitement as he was showered in praise. He shook his head to clear these foolish ideas from it.
"Climb-kun, no, Climb. After seeing Sebas-sama you should know, right? There are people stronger than me everywhere. Even someone like Momon the Black has probably reached Sebas-sama's level too. So keep this in mind, when I tell you to run, run. Even if you try and help, you'll just get in the way. Please promise me, next time, don't question what I say and just do it."
"I... I understand."
"Then that's good. You're serving the Princess, right? Because of that, you could endure Sebas-sama's killing intent, right? Then make sure you keep your priorities straight."
Brain patted Climb on the shoulder, and looked back at the direction from which they had fled.
Why? Why hasn't she pursued me yet? Is there some reason? I totally didn't expect her to show up here. Could it be, it was because of the warehouse district?
Brain recalled Renner's words.
Could it be that she was looking for the same item as Jaldabaoth? If that's the case, wouldn't that make her one of Jaldabaoth's agents?
Since a monster like Shalltear had shown up, the only sensible thing to do would be to abandon the mission and flee right away, but would Climb be able to do that? Since he had already heard Brain's lecture, he would probably listen to Brain and escape.
Would that really be a good thing?
It was obviously good to be concerned for Climb's safety, but people sometimes chose to put their lives in danger for the sake of something else, and being ordered by Renner on this suicide mission was such an occasion.
Brain did not know what kind of life Climb had lived before he earned his name, or how he had served the Golden Princess afterward. Even so, Brain did not think it would be wise to unnecessarily interfere with Climb's determination to carry out Renner's orders.