The kingdom of Permanent is broke. It survives only by borrowing money from the wealthy merchant house Cordias. The knightly house Hazard has lost its power, and Queen Elzard is desperate. The Cordias family is rising fast, and they plan to save Permanent's finances through a marriage between Prince Telius and Ellilite.
But Ellilite Cordias, 18, carries a secret. Her late mother left her a 'return-from-death' potion. It has brought her back 100 times. Now it is the last dose — the 101st run.
O
The 101st Witch Trial - A Farewell Dancing Over the Moat — Survival at the Bottom of the Water, the Empire Protects Its Adopted Daughter —
The great plaza spread out before the royal castle. The white marble paving glittered brilliantly in the morning light.
But that light did not illuminate the hearts of the gathered crowd.
In the center of the plaza, at the edge facing the moat, a single girl stood.
Her pale blonde hair, nearly silver, was disheveled with sweat and dust, her ponytail clinging to the nape of her neck. Her body, clad in only a thin chemise, trembled in the cold morning wind. Slender limbs. So thin they looked as though they might snap at any moment.
Yet only her deep emerald eyes stared straight ahead.
A quiet intensity that had overcome a hundred deaths.
Elritte Cordeas had heavy iron shackles bound around both arms.
The binding curse-seal of the Inquisition. Cold magical shackles that restrained a criminal's movements. The sensation of iron biting into her wrists drove reality home.
"We shall now carry out the water execution of the witch Elritte Cordeas."
Günther's voice echoed across the plaza.
Clad in black judicial robes, the chief inquisitor of the Inquisition. Fifty years old. A bureaucrat with cold eyes who catered to the will of those in power. He raised the parchment in his hand and declared to the crowd.
"If she floats when submerged in water, she is a witch. If she sinks, she is innocent. This is the sacred trial prescribed by the Witch Trial Law."
The crowd stirred.
Nobles, merchants, soldiers, and onlookers. Hundreds watched with bated breath.
Among them was Elritte's father, Volkruss Cordeas.
His arms pinned by guards, chained, his father. The marks of torture from the underground prison remained raw and vivid on his face and body. Even so, her father shouted desperately.
"El! El, run! You're not a witch! Someone, someone please save my daughter!"
His voice was nearly drowned out by the murmur of the crowd.
Elritte heard her father's voice.
But she did not turn around.
(Father)
(I'm sorry)
(I can't turn around now)
She apologized only in her heart.
If she clung to her father here, everything would end. A hundred rounds of despair had taught her that.
"……Elritte."
A cold voice reached Elritte's ears.
She didn't need to turn to know. Queen Elzard Permanent. Her dark reddish-brown hair piled high, her cold blue eyes narrowed as she looked down at her. On the ring finger of her left hand, the heirloom ring of the Hazard family. A woman with a habit of hiding her mouth behind a fan when she spoke.
"You too are finished now. The Cordeas family's wealth, their lands—all of it will be mine. ……Ah, rest assured. After your death, I shall have your father follow you shortly."
Elzard lowered her voice, speaking so only Elritte could hear.
A mocking smile, certain of victory.
Elritte said nothing.
She merely stared back at Elzard with her deep emerald eyes.
(This woman understands nothing)
(I have experienced this moment a hundred times)
She slowly turned her body toward the moat.
The deep moat. The water wall surrounding Luminous Royal Castle, about eight meters deep and fifteen meters wide. The surface reflected the morning light, gleaming ominously.
The place where she had been submerged countless times over a hundred lives.
The coldness of the water, the agony of it flooding her lungs, the sensation of consciousness fading—she remembered it all.
(But this time is different)
Elritte tapped her right arm three times.
Tap, tap, tap.
A prearranged signal.
(Diver)
(You should be in that place)
She called out in her heart.
"Then, we shall proceed. Remove the chains."
At Günther's command, one of the inquisitors removed the shackles from Elritte's arms.
Clank—the sound of iron echoed.
Red marks remained on her wrists.
Elritte slowly brought her hands before her chest.
And she stepped forward.
She sensed the crowd gasp.
She stood at the edge of the moat.
The distance to the water's surface was about eight meters.
(I'm scared)
(But it's all right)
(I still have moves left. The me of a hundred lives says so)
Elritte drew a deep breath.
The cold morning air filled her lungs.
And she shouted.
"I will not die!"
In that instant.
Elritte leapt into the moat of her own volition.
Her small body danced through the air.
Her silver hair sparkled in the morning sun.
Splash!
A great spray of water rose, and the surface shook violently.
"Wha……!"
The smile vanished from Elzard's face.
She had never expected the girl to jump in herself.
"……What are you doing? Pull the chains at once! If she floats, she's a witch! That woman is certainly a witch!"
She gripped her fan and shouted at the inquisitors.
But the inquisitors and the crowd alike merely stared at the water's surface.
The ripples slowly subsided.
Eventually, the surface became a quiet mirror once more.
She sank.
Elritte did not float up.
Seconds.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
Unease began to spread among the crowd.
"……She's not floating up."
"If she sinks in water, she's innocent……is that it?"
"But it's already been thirty seconds. Normally, she'd be struggling and floating up by now."
The murmuring grew louder.
Elzard's face went pale.
"……What are you doing?! Pull her up at once! That woman is merely sinking on purpose! She's hiding underwater with a witch's power!"
Her voice no longer reached the crowd.
The people's eyes were riveted to the quiet water's surface.
———
Cold.
Dark.
Silent.
Elritte remained still at the bottom of the moat.
The cold of the water seeped into the core of her body.
(This is the place of my hundredth death)
She closed her eyes.
Her hundredth life.
Even then, she had been submerged in this moat.
Her bound body. The agony of water rushing in. The helplessness of being unable even to struggle. And the sensation of consciousness slowly dissolving into darkness.
(That time, I died)
(But this time is different)
She opened her eyes.
The dark water's depths.
There, a figure was present.
A man clad in black garments.
The spy Diver.
A special intelligence operative directly under the Mercurius Empire. An imperial shadow specializing in underwater operations.
He approached Elritte and pressed a strange device to her mouth.
An aqualung.
An underwater breathing apparatus developed by the Mercurius Empire. A military secret combining alchemy and steam technology.
Cold air flowed into her lungs.
(Thank you)
Elritte thanked Diver in her heart.
Diver silently supported her body.
And the two of them moved to the darkness at the bottom of the moat, where no light reached.
Above the surface, time passed.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
The crowd held their breath, continuing to stare at the water's surface.
"……Something's wrong. It's been ten minutes already. It's strange that she hasn't floated up."
"Did she die? Don't tell me she really sank?"
"She's innocent! That girl is innocent! She sank in the water! She's not a witch!"
When one person shouted, the voice spread in an instant.
"She's innocent!"
"She's not a witch!"
"The Cordeas family's daughter is innocent!"
The crowd's voices grew louder.
Elzard's face was now utterly ashen.
"Silence! What are you all saying?! That woman is still alive! She's hiding underwater with a witch's power! Given time, she will surely float up! Until then, the trial continues!"
She shouted, swinging her fan about.
But the crowd's voices drowned out her screaming.
"Your Majesty, please stop! The water trial is meant to produce a result in minutes! What else but innocent can someone who has been submerged for two hours be?!"
"Exactly! This is an abuse of the Witch Trial Law! That girl was set up from the very beginning!"
The people's anger began to turn toward Elzard.
Telius Permanent simply stood frozen at the rear of the crowd.
A prince with soft brown hair slicked back, with drooping eyes. His face, which usually never lacked a smile, now bore no expression at all.
(El……sank?)
(She's not floating up?)
His mind was in chaos.
(I denounced her as a witch)
(On Mother's orders, I presented false evidence)
(But to think she would actually die……)
He fidgeted his fingers.
A habit of always fidgeting his fingers behind his smile.
Those fingers were now trembling violently.
"……El."
A hoarse voice escaped his lips.
———
Two hours.
Elritte endured two hours in the dark water's depths.
Slowly inhaling and slowly exhaling the air sent from the aqualung.
The cold water robbed her of body heat, and her body was on the verge of losing all sensation.
(It's cold)
(But it's all right)
(It's not over yet)
To maintain consciousness, she recalled her hundred lives one by one.
The night she was poisoned.
The morning she was strangled.
The afternoon she was burned.
The evening she was submerged.
Over and over, she died.
(But this time, I won't die)
(I will not die)
She swore strongly in her heart.
At that moment, Diver lightly tapped her arm.
The signal.
It was time to surface.
Elritte gave a small nod.
———
"She's floating up!"
Someone shouted.
The water's surface began to ripple slowly.
And from the center, small bubbles rose, pop, pop, pop.
"Pull the chains! Quickly!"
The inquisitors hurriedly began pulling up the chains tied to Elritte's body.
The chains clanked.
Eventually, a small figure appeared from the water's surface.
Silver hair.
White skin.
And deep emerald eyes.
Elritte Cordeas was alive.
Supported by several soldiers, her soaked body rose to the edge of the moat.
"She's alive! That girl is alive!"
"Two hours! She was submerged for two hours and came back alive! This is the blessing of the goddess Eterna! She's no witch!"
"Innocent! Her innocence has been proven!"
A stir and cheers rose from the crowd.
It was a wave so great it swallowed Elzard's voice, Günther's orders, everything.
Elritte knelt on the stone paving.
Her body trembled. From the cold, her teeth chattered.
But she raised her face.
With her deep emerald eyes, she surveyed the crowd.
And she smiled faintly.
(I came back alive)
(My victory)
Her heart was filled with a quiet sense of accomplishment.
But then.
"Burning at the stake! Sentence her to the stake!"
Elzard's shriek cut through the cheers.
She had forgotten even to hide her mouth behind her fan, screaming with a demonic expression.
"That woman is a witch! She sank in water and lived? That itself is proof of a witch's power! If she won't die by water, then burn her with fire! Bring the stake at once! I shall personally burn that woman to death!"
Her voice trembled with rage and hatred.
Inquisitor Günther, watching Elzard's complexion, floundered.
"B-But, Your Majesty. To sentence someone proven innocent by water trial to burning at the stake would violate the Witch Trial Law……"
"Silence! In this country, I am the one who decides the law! Now, the stake, quickly! I will reduce that woman to ashes right here!"
Elzard continued screaming hysterically.
The crowd began to feel confusion and fear at her maddened appearance.
No one could stop her.
No one could defy her.
That was when.
"……Oh? What an interesting thing to say."
A low voice that resonated from the depths of the belly echoed across the plaza.
The crowd all turned at once toward the source of the voice.
The entrance to the plaza.
There stood a man.
His black hair, mixed with white, was cropped short.
Sharp golden eyes. A strong gaze that seemed to pierce through whoever he looked upon.
On his left cheek, an old battle scar. When he smiled, the scar twisted.
His height: one hundred ninety centimeters.
In his right hand, a wine glass.
Emperor of the Mercurius Empire, Gaius Mercurius.
Behind him stood a company of imperial guards, bearing military banners emblazoned with the imperial crest—a golden eagle grasping the sun.
Armor adorned with obsidian and gold. Naked blades in their hands.
Their number: roughly one hundred.
Only one hundred.
Yet the pressure they exuded silenced the hundreds in the plaza in an ins
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