Chapter 23:

Pandora's Box

Flowers Bloomed by a Poisonous Rose


“…Alice.”

“Yes, John?”

“Be honest with me. How powerful is Rose?”

She swallowed hard. “Honestly, even if everyone here went all out, we’d be lucky to scratch her.”

Arc chuckled bitterly. “I know I’m not one of the protagonists of this world, but this is a level I never dreamt could exist.”

For Arc, who had been bitterly reminded time and time again of his own limits, seeing Rose, in her perfect form, taunting them, no doubt smirking at them beneath her mask, it infuriated him to no end.

This was the pinnacle of power.

She herself had all but confirmed it.

Tartarus.

The Silent Sect.

She could appear and disappear at will, and she hadn’t even taken out her weapon.

Regardless, we can’t back down now.

She’ll kill us if we run and we’re probably dead if we stay.

“I’d rather die swinging than with my back turned.”

“A good answer, Arc. I agree.” Reiss, his hands shaking, took his katana in both hands. “I’m so scared and I really want to go home, and also wish that I had passed a certain event to get my mech, but I can’t turn away. Wounds on the back are a swordsman’s greatest insult.

“That’s…not the line, but whatever.” Arc started conjuring more magical arrows of different elements behind him. “Let’s see if we can get that mask off her face.”

“Let’s try.”

“Arc, stay at the rear with Charlotte,” Alice ordered. “Charlotte, keep casting every single protective buff and healing spell you know. Don’t even think about trying to fight. Arc, keep her safe and help us out when you can. Detective, what can you do?”

“Well, I’m quite good with my fists, but I think this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small penknife. “Might be the best choice.”

He removed it from its sheath and flicked it twice, extending the knife into a blade nearly five times its original length.

“For what it’s worth, it has runes and silver running through it, but…” He chuckled bitterly. “I’m highly doubtful if they’ll make a damn difference.”

Alice, who had duelled and lost against Rose countless times, took the vanguard position.

“Emilia, just…try not to charge in by yourself, please.”

“I got it, Eagold.” Emilia readied her scythe again and scowled at Rose. “Did you really order Samantha to turn me into her kin?”

“It wasn’t you specifically, just someone who she took an interest in,” Rose answered.

“…Dammit…”

“Emilia…”

Alice shifted her focus. We have the numbers and could outflank her, maybe, but she has her speed.

She’s gotten even faster since then - no, it’s probably more accurate to say that she was always holding back and this is the first time she’s shown me a glimpse of her full strength.

On one hand, I’m furious.

On the other, I’m terrified.

“Remember what the Chairman said. Don’t die.”

And so, they charged.

Alice ran in first, keeping her blade steady, watching Rose for any slight moves or changes in stance or expression.

She remained calm, so Alice knew her attack, whatever it was, would fail.

So, she resorted to a normal slash.

As expected, Rose parried it to the side, just as Arc fired three fire arrows at Rose. Rose danced between them, and then met Reiss’s blade, bashing it to one side and throwing a spinning kick at him. Reiss narrowly dodged it but fell onto his back and dropped his sword.

John and Emilia charged in on either side of Rose, hoping to catch her off-guard.

Rose simply flipped backwards over their attacks, jumped off the ceiling and dove headfirst into John, sending him flying across the rooftop.

He nearly fell off but dug his sword into the floor to keep himself onboard.

Emilia recovered and sliced many times at Rose, but her opponent kept lazily blocking or parrying them.

Alice joined in and started thrusting her rapier at Rose’s stomach, but Rose kept bending her body at strange angles to make the attacks all near misses.

Reiss got back onto his feet as Arc launched dozens of magical arrows at Rose.

Rather than dodge, Rose sliced them all out of the air and then threw her sword at Arc’s neck.

Reiss’s body reacted faster than his brain, and he knocked the sword out of the air.

“Kick it off!” He yelled, just as Rose appeared behind him, grabbed his head and slammed him, face first, into the ground, cracking the floor wide open.

“…That was steel…” Charlotte whispered to herself, casting even more healing magic on Reiss. “She…Oh, God.”

“Keep it up!” Arc cried, changing his spells so that they were much smaller, bullet-like projectiles. “We can’t give in now!”

A hail of bullets flew at Rose and despite them all hitting, she didn’t once falter or stop slowly walking back to her weapon.

She kicked it back up into her hand, just in time to block Emilia’s scythe with her blade and grabbed Alice’s wrist. Rose pushed Emilia hard and far away from her, then pulled Alice towards her body as if they were dancing and giggled.

“Does this bring back fond memories?”

“Y-you!”

Alice broke free and sliced at Rose’s neck, but Rose easily dodged it by dropping to the floor and rolling away, then jumping back onto her feet.

John had recovered and rejoined Alice and Emilia at the front, as Arc casted levitation magic to bring Reiss back onto the rooftop.

Rose twirled her sword in her palm a few times, then planted it back in her sheath.

“Like I thought, you guys aren’t strong enough yet. Well, that’s sort of what I expected at this stage of the story.”

“…You were testing us?”

“Among other things, John Moriarty. No.” Rose laughed. “Luke Yamamoto.”

John Moriarty went ghost white. “…What?”

Rose laughed. “Oh, I see. That’s a name you haven’t heard in many, many years, isn’t it? I imagine you’re wondering how I know that name, but it’s not just yours.” She turned to Arc. “Tetsuko Haruki.” Then to Reiss. “Would you like me to reveal yours too?”

The three men were all terrified.

She knows who we are.

How?!

…Interesting. Did she deduce who we were because she knew who we were, or is there…?

“Can I ask you about something you mentioned earlier?” John asked.

“You may.”

“You said Pandora’s Box would help you achieve whatever goal it is you’re looking for. What is Pandora’s Box. That wasn’t in…the world before, was it?”

Rose looked at him for a few seconds, then started to laugh evilly. “Ah, right, of course, of course, they wiped it all away, didn’t they? If I hadn’t have stopped her that day, the story would have played out exactly as it should have. What a waste. I’m so glad it still existed.”

“…What is Pandora’s Box?”

“I believe I can explain that.”

“Queen Elisebeth?!”

All eyes turned around and there she was, the queen of the kingdom with her husband, Prince Consort Oliver, and Chairman Kingsley who, despite seeing much intense fighting, looked the same as always.

“So, you’re the leader of the Pentagram?”

“I am, Chairman.” Rose curtsied to him. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, after how much he loved you.”

“That strange language again.”

“Well, let’s deal with that later, Chairman,” Queen Elisebeth said. “It’s been many years, hasn’t it, Madam Rose?”

“What?!”

“You know each other?!”

“Eh?! Onee-sama knows the Queen?!”

“…What do you mean, your highness?”

Queen Elisebeth sighed at John’s question. “It means, my dear detective, that I am the reason that Rose was sent to Tartarus, and it’s no doubt the reason you’ve been able to gain as many allies and resources as you have without using it.

“If you will permit me, allow me to tell you the truth about Madam Rose, Pandora’s Box and…of a time in my life I’d all but like to forget. However, before that, could you cease your attack, Madam Rose? I imagine that you’ve achieved your goals by now and I will not allow for more of my good countrymen to die whilst we chatter.”

“Of course.” Rose snapped her fingers and the cannons on the Black Griffin halted.

The remaining Automatons stopped their assault and flew back outside of the ship, maintaining a perimeter around the vessels.

“There you are.”

“Thank you.” Queen Elisebeth turned to the group. “As I’m sure some of you may be aware, in my youth, I was the target for many plots and assassinations. In fact, the reason I was so dedicated during my earlier years to weaning out all corruption and plots within our fair kingdom was because of the pain I’d endured in my youth.

“Olivert is familiar with quite a many of my near-death experiences, but there was none quite like the assassination attempt a group of brigands tried to make during a journey through the woodlands.

“When I was fifteen, I had been caught up in a provincial war between two minor nobles. These nobles had very small armies and it was likely they’d tired themselves out in skirmishes rather than a singular, large battle. Of course, I knew that, but I still didn’t want to see lives lost for no reason. Thus, I, in secret, dispatched with my royal guards to gather support to end the war peacefully and diplomatically.

“The plan took the best part of two weeks to fully execute, but the conflict was resolved peacefully. Sadly, my journey home was not.

“I and my thirty guards were ambushed and all, but I slain. No assassin escaped, but the horses were dead, I was wounded, and I could only carry so much in my packs.

“Who betrayed me? To this day, I still don’t know, but I did imagine it might have been the work of Madam Rose or the Silent Sect, particularly the former after how this tale ends.

“I walked all day and night, foolishly perhaps, but I had to keep pressing on. No one would know where I was, so search parties would struggle to find me. Even if they did find me, if they were aligned with the traitors who had conspired to bring about my death, then how could I rely on them?

“The only person I could trust was myself, and that was what I did.

“I kept on going and, one night, I stumbled and fell down what I believed would kill me. It was a deep hole with rocks and bones, so I believed that my time had come. Still, I would not stop fighting until the very end.

“I was Princess Elisebeth, future ruler of our great nation! How could I possibly stumble, fall and not get back up?

“I am the country and the country is I!” She cleared her throat as one hand subconsciously reached for her waist. “The wound on my side was getting worse, and climbing out of the hole seemed impossible, so I persisted to keep on marching deeper into what I later learnt to be a ravine.

“It was full of life and water, so I could at least stay there for a time, maybe enough time to heal my wounds and gain my strength back.

“Fate, however, would allow me to gain that strength back much, much faster.

“Deep within that ravine, there was an item, something that gave off a dark, evil aura despite its simplistic design. I didn’t know what it was called at the time, but Madam Rose named it Pandora’s Box.”

“…What does it do?” John asked, anxious about what the answer would be.

The queen sighed. “It, by itself, isn’t all that impress I would argue for it’s a Magic Reliquary. It stores up raw, unused magical energy.”

“How much energy?”

“…As I understand it, it has no limit beyond what the user can provide.”

“What?!” Arc and Reiss both shouted.

“…That’s…then, that would mean…” Alice was trying to piece the pieces together, but she wasn’t sure what it all meant. Until she looked back to Rose and remembered all the things she taught her.

How to fight with a sword, etiquette and-

“Magic…if Rose was pouring some of her magic into that every day, then-”

“It’s exactly as you’re thinking, Alice Eagold,” Queen Elisebeth said. “When I found the reliquary, it was already full of magic which I used to heal my wounds and regain my strength. Of course, I also made sure to set up barriers and detection spells to see if I had been followed. Thankfully, I had not.

“But I would use the box every day to test its abilities, to see how much of a benefit it would bring me and, of course, to protect myself. But the box…it scared me, for I saw the potential it could have in the hands of someone like Madam Rose, someone with so much energy that even if they poured into the box every day they would never tire.

“Still, I didn’t have the luxury of choice at the time. It was necessary for my survival.

“Once my strength was restored two days later, I ventured forth from the cave with the box to use it in case of emergencies, to defeat enemies, heal myself, that sort of thing. I slew monsters of all shapes and sizes, including a wyvern pack, and a small part of my mind got drunk on the box’s power.

“I thought to myself - Imagine, if we had this power. No one would dare threaten us ever again. No one could defy us. This could bring about true peace, order and justice through an absolute authority. But those thoughts terrified me more and more the more they surfaced.

“So, once I was safely out of the forest and civilisation was in sight, I readied myself to destroy the box.

“Naturally, I had no idea if the box could be destroyed given its potential, but I thought it might be doable if the box was empty of all its magic. So, I kept casting basic, harmless spells until I could no more, set the box on the ground and readied my sword to skewer it in two.

“…That was when Madam Rose appeared.”

***

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she warned.

I was petrified.

I had left all of my barrier and detection spells active and yet Madam Rose snuck through them all and appeared right beside me, crouched next to the box.

I shrieked and nearly tried to take her head off, but I caught myself.

After all, I didn’t know who she was.

Friend? Foe? Someone who had been seeking the box?

I didn’t know, but I still believed in settling everything peacefully through diplomatic means.

“Who are you?”

Madam Rose just laughed and introduced herself with that title - Madam Rose.

Who exactly was that, I thought, but I was too on edge to linger on such a minor point.

“You know the value of that box. You know you may one day need it. You also know that there is very likely not anything else like it in this world.” She then said something in a strange language to me which, to this day, I didn’t understand the meaning of. “Send it to Tartarus.”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll just take the box right here and now from under your nose.”

It was a strange threat that deeply worried me.

Send the box to one of the most secure places in the world or I’ll just take it?

What sort of a choice was that?

But I didn’t doubt her words for a second.

Her ability to materialise seemingly from thin air was evidence enough that she was capable of far more than I.

“Why should I send it there?”

“For insurance.”

I, in my weakness, listened.

I was terrified of what someone such as she would do with the box.

If the choice was letting her have it or storing it somewhere safe, there was only one choice.

So, I agreed to her terms and she vanished without a trace.

Once I became Queen, I secretly dispatched the box to Tartarus and only told the Warden what the item was and just how dangerous it was.

Not long after that, Madam Rose was captured for the horrific terrorist attack at one of our fortresses.

After that, well, you can guess the rest.

***

“…Did that ever happen in the game?” Reiss asked Arc.

Arc shook his head. “Not in the games, not in the manga or books, not the artbooks or wikis, not anywhere. That’s what actually happened in that event?”

In the game, the event is never described in depth and people theorised that it was too brutal to keep in the game and deeply traumatised the queen.

…Is it possible that this is cut content from the game?

…Actually, thinking about it, all of the people in this world, whether they’re main characters, side characters, protagonists or NPCs have full names and will have lived out their lives to bring them to the point we see them in game. We just don’t see their whole life story, because that would mean watching a thousand versions of The Truman Show.

Arc bit his lip. If this is what that is, then there might be even more we don’t know about the MoH franchise. His eyes widened a little. But if that’s the case, how did Rose know about this?

“Yes, thanks to Queen Elisebeth, the last piece for the early game was put on the board,” Rose said. “With the future members of the Pentagram and Pandora’s Box inside, all I had to do was let myself get captured and I knew I’d be immediately transferred to the maximum-security wing of Tartarus.

“Then, it was just a waiting game until the time was right to act.”

“…That airship, it’s being powered by Pandora’s Box, isn’t it?”

“What?!”

Everyone was horrified by the detective’s question.

Rose, however, applauded. “Correct.”

“I thought as much.”

“How did you-?”

“Look at the airships,” Alice cut Emilia off. “Despite all the fighting, the Black Griffin hasn’t even taken a small dent. Not from shrapnel, cannon fire or the escort ships. That box must be providing a magical barrier that’s far too strong for projectile weapons to penetrate.”

“Correct again,” Rose said. “You’re both very astute. Right now, the ship is on auto pilot and construction mode, meaning it’s moving, producing and fighting on its own initiative, although I can still take manual control even from a distance.”

“How are you able to do that?” Chairman Kingsley asked.

“Pandora’s Box isn’t limited just by the magical power it stores; it’s limited only by your imagination. Whatever you can imagine can become reality using the box. If Queen Elisebeth had kept the box and powered it for ten years every single day, she could probably have created a weapon strong enough to wipe out an enemy nation.

“If Arc over there had done it, he’d have been able to manipulate the very molecules that make up his being to turn himself into the world’s strongest entity.

“In my hands, Pandora’s Box has given me the ability to right the wrongs of this world.”

“Back with that nonsense, are we?” John mocked, albeit weakly. “You keep talking about this ‘righting wrongs’ but I’m pretty sure that started and stopped with wiping out the Silent Sect.”

“Ah, so she’s the one who did it,” Chairman Kingsley mumbled.

“Well, that was just a small part of it. Ah! Perhaps this might help some of you deduce the truth.” Rose slowly lifted off her mask, but only just enough to reveal her mouth. Then, with a wide smile, she said, “Why did I pick the name Rose?

Why?” Reiss repeated.

“Yes, why did I choose my name? After all, Rose didn’t exist until I arrived.” She put her mask back on properly. “Well, I think we’ve drawn this out long enough. Samantha, Risa, Lucien, let’s go back.”

“…Normally, I’d say ‘Do you really think you can leave?’, but I don’t think we can play that card,” Chairman Kingsley grumbled.

“Not today.” Rose turned and bowed to them all. “Thank you all very much for your time today. Don’t worry, we’ll be seeing each other again soon.”

With that, Rose, the Pentagram, her automatons and the Black Griffin disappeared, leaving a devastated HMS Virgina littered with bodies.

***

The airship landed in the open field below and Chairman Kingsley led search parties to the crashed escort ships in search of survivors.

Charlotte took charge of the medical support unit attending to the wounded and dying, whilst Queen Elisebeth and the Prince Consort began contacting the relevant authorities for reinforcements and aid.

Alice and Emilia did their best to help look for any injured personnel onboard the Virgina, but there was a lot of wreckage in their way.

Still, everyone persisted on with their missions, whilst Arc, Reiss and John hunted for salvageable supplies and discussed what had happened.

This is no longer the MoH we know,” Arc warned.

Yeah, she’s made that apparent.

What should we do-?

“Finish our jobs here first, then we can discuss the rest later,” John ordered. “People have died today and many more will too if we can’t help them.”

…Who are you really, Rose?

Ramen-sensei
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