When the entrance to Fheren Village came into view, Seto Yui felt the urge to stop in her tracks. At the village's outer edge—around the boundary between farmland and road—the scars of the Blight were already creeping closer. Part of the soil had turned black, and the grass was withering unnaturally. Even the air felt wrong. Mixed with the damp smell of the forest was a sensation of something being "missing." She couldn't quite put it into words, but it was as if the foundational syntax layer of this world was thinning and peeling away at this spot alone. (If we don't act soon, it'll spread again.) As she turned her gaze forward with that thought, Yui stopped. People were lined up at the village entrance. About a dozen militia members stood in a single row, spears at the ready. Their armor wasn't particularly professional—they looked like they'd hastily armed themselves with farming tools—but their expressions were serious. Most tellingly, not a single face showed any sign of "welcome." Standing in the center of that line was an old man. Short hair with streaks of white. Light blue eyes that gazed slowly toward them. Deep wrinkles were etched across his face, and his mouth held a constant hint of bitterness. He stood about 175 centimeters tall—not particularly large—yet his posture carried an odd weight. The wrinkles on the back of his left hand were especially deep. They were the kind of wrinkles that seemed to show the accumulated years of someone who had lived long in this land, written directly into his skin. The village chief of Fheren—Dietrich Hofer. Yui had heard the name beforehand from Ratharis, nothing more. Sixty-three years old, he had long governed this village whose main industries were agriculture and timber harvesting. And now, those light blue eyes were looking not at Ratharis, but straight at Yui. "We have been awaiting Your Highness's arrival with great anticipation." **Dietrich Hofer** Dietrich bowed. His voice was calm and cautious. Polite, but not warm. After completing the ceremonial bow, he raised his face and turned his gaze back to Yui. "Have you brought that person with you?" **Dietrich Hofer** "A companion. They're assisting with the Blight investigation," Ratharis answered curtly. **Ratharis Ordina** Dietrich nodded slowly. It was a quiet nod, as if to say "exactly as I expected." "Do you not think, Your Highness, that the Blight has spread since this person appeared?" **Dietrich Hofer** Yui couldn't help but interject. "I was trying to stop the Blight. It's the opposite. If you had seen the emergency treatment in the forest yesterday—" **Seto Yui** "I did not see it." **Dietrich Hofer** Cut off by just three words, Yui found herself at a loss for words. Dietrich continued. His tone was gentle, but that gentleness itself became a form of pressure. It was the way someone spoke when they had anticipated all counterarguments from the start and prepared to deflect every one. "What I know is that before this person appeared, the Blight had not crept this close to the village. That alone is fact, as far as I am concerned. An unregistered vagrant sorcerer executing syntax magic—this is a clear violation of the Ordina Kingdom's syntax registration system." **Dietrich Hofer** The syntax registration system—in the Ordina Kingdom, anyone who used syntax magic was required to register with the Royal Syntax Institute. Those who used syntax without registration were called "vagrant sorcerers" and could face execution depending on circumstances. Yui knew the system existed. But knowing about it and recognizing that she herself fell under it were two different things. Until now, it had felt like someone else's problem. Now, in this moment, it was no longer someone else's problem. Villagers were gathering. From behind houses, from the edges of fields, mothers holding children, elderly people, men. Every eye was turned toward Yui. No stones were being thrown. But the stares hurt. Exclusion wielded through law and authority was far quieter and far more certain than being pelted with stones. (It's the same again.) Her stomach tightened. The faces of the villagers who had thrown stones from the window of the abandoned cottage before she came to Fheren Village flashed through her mind for an instant. The only difference this time was that the exclusion had a name: law. Ratharis stepped forward. "I understand the application of kingdom law. However, Fheren Village currently faces an emergency situation with the Blight's expansion. Article Seven of the legal code contains emergency exception provisions—" **Ratharis Ordina** Dietrich withdrew a piece of parchment from his sleeve. It was small and carefully folded. "Then, how do you read this, Your Highness?" **Dietrich Hofer** Ratharis took it. His eyes moved across the parchment. Seconds of silence. Yui tried to peer over from the side, but the letters were too small to read clearly. "...An emergency proclamation from the capital," Ratharis said quietly. **Ratharis Ordina** "Yes. It was issued three days ago. The content states that unregistered syntax practitioners are to be detained immediately, even in emergency situations." **Dietrich Hofer** The moment Yui heard the proclamation's contents, she performed a calculation in her head. "Wait a moment. If the proclamation was issued three days ago—" **Seto Yui** Yui raised her voice. "I arrived here the day before yesterday. That means this proclamation was issued before I came. A law targeting me was created during a time when I didn't even exist. Isn't that backwards logically?" **Seto Yui** Dietrich didn't flinch at all. "That is precisely why we knew it was dangerous. The capital had already anticipated the appearance of such individuals." **Dietrich Hofer** "That's—" **Seto Yui** Ratharis spoke quietly from beside her. "...Lower your voice." **Ratharis Ordina** His eyes alone commanded her to stop. The words were few, but their meaning was clear. Getting emotional here would only make things worse. Yui pressed her lips shut. Something churned in the pit of her stomach. Certainly, what Dietrich was saying was logically sound in terms of legal form. If the proclamation existed first, the clause about "detention priority even in emergencies" would function validly. Ratharis, as a member of the royal family, didn't have the authority to overturn that interpretation as "incorrect" on the spot. It was a systemic checkmate, Yui understood. The air grew heavy. The militia members angled their spears slightly forward. The villagers' gazes hardened. Dietrich didn't move. Ratharis didn't move. No one moved. Then—the sound of hoofbeats came from deeper in the village. Two horses. Regular, neither fast nor slow, approaching quietly as if saying "I arrive where I was always meant to be." The horses stopped. Two syntax practitioners in gray robes dismounted. The syntax practitioners Yui had seen so far—honestly, Ratharis was about her only point of comparison. But these two were clearly a different breed of person. Unlike the tense pressure that surrounded Ratharis, they carried a quieter, colder atmosphere—the feeling of people who had come to work. Their eyes were completely devoid of emotion, as if they'd left all feelings outside the job. The two bowed before Ratharis. One of them held out a piece of parchment. It bore a red wax seal. Ratharis took it. He broke the seal. No one spoke. Not Yui, not Dietrich, not the militia. There were several seconds where even the birds seemed silent. Ratharis read. His golden eyes moved across the parchment. The complete absence of change in his expression was, conversely, frightening. "...A command from the Queen Consort." **Ratharis Ordina** The words were small but clearly audible. Yui looked at Ratharis's profile. She could read nothing. His expression was completely closed off. But the way it was closed seemed slightly different from usual. Not the silence of someone processing something, but the silence of someone suppressing something—or so it seemed, though it might have been her imagination. "What's the Gray Archive?" Yui asked Ratharis in a low voice. **Seto Yui** Ratharis didn't answer. Not answering was itself an answer. There was something he didn't want to answer. Something that would become complicated if he did. Or perhaps—answering itself wasn't appropriate in this situation. That's what kind of silence it was, Yui intuited. One of the robed syntax practitioners began reading the command's contents in a flat tone. "The Gray Archive—an institution attached to the Royal Records Preservation Bureau under direct command of the Queen Consort—is hereby ordered to take custody of an unregistered individual suspected of executing forbidden syntax. By command of Queen Consort Elvine." **Gray Archive Syntax Practitioner** Gray Archive. Queen Consort's direct command. Forbidden syntax. The words tumbled separately through Yui's mind. She understood their individual meanings. But not the whole picture. Suspected of executing forbidden syntax—did that refer to debugging? Her interference with the Blight was judged as forbidden? Or did they know something else entirely, and had they come for that purpose? Ratharis still hadn't moved, the command letter still in his hand. One of the Gray Archive syntax practitioners reached for Yui's arm. It was reflex. Before conscious thought, the shape of a syntax formed at Yui's fingertips. The debugging syntax—it began to deploy. "Stop." Ratharis's voice cut through. Low, quiet, but brooking no argument. **Ratharis Ordina** "Resistance gives them grounds for immediate execution. Comply silently." **Ratharis Ordina** It wasn't a word spoken to protect her, Yui understood. It was a word spoken to stop her. There was no emotional warmth in it. It was a command, spoken as a prince. But its meaning was correct. If she resisted now, it really would be over. Yui gently folded away the syntax she'd begun to deploy. The Gray Archive syntax practitioner wrapped something around both of Yui's wrists. A thin band of light. Syntax restraint—she understood this because the moment it touched her wrists, she felt something "tighten." The circuit for deploying syntax was being compressed from the outside. She was made to walk. From the village entrance, deeper in. As she walked, Yui looked back. She could see Ratharis. He stood motionless, the command letter still in his hand. He wasn't looking at her. His gaze was—averted to the side. The man who had said he didn't want his tools to break. She had traveled alongside him for the span of three episodes. They had read the map fragment together in the basement of the abandoned cottage. He had lent her his shoulder in the forest. He had said "let's go" and walked ahead, and she had watched that back many times. That back was now only averting its gaze. (Ah, so that's the kind of person he is.) She thought anger would come. But what came instead was something quieter and stranger, something that came before anger. A realization, almost like surprise, that she had believed in him, just a little. —— The assembly hall of Fheren Village had been hastily converted into a temporary detention facility. Long wooden benches had been pushed to the sides, leaving the center of the floor empty. The windows were half-boarded up. One of the Gray Archive syntax practitioners seated Yui against the wall in the corner of the room. "We will begin examinations at dawn. Cooperation will minimize suffering." **Gray Archive Syntax Practitioner** The tone was businesslike. Neither angry nor enjoying itself. Simply informing her as a matter of work. The door closed. Yui was alone. The band of light around her wrists—the syntax restraint—flickered weakly. When she tried to deploy the debugging syntax as a test, a dull pain shot through the back of her head. It felt like being c