The Devil

Pascal's words caused Monty to bite his lip.

"What I wanted to test was its fighting ability. I don't know how skilled Frondier is, but he said they fought hand-to-hand, and I wanted to see what the basis of its movements was. But after hearing that, I can't confirm it."

"Whatever you try, it will learn it."

"Let's retreat for now. I don't want to give that monster any more learning material."

Following Pascal's words, the three retreated from the prison, moving out of the monster's sight.

"A-Are you leaving?"

The remaining guard asked in a frightened voice.

Indeed, it was impossible to remain calm after witnessing continuous changes in appearance and learning abilities.

Monty reassured him.

"It's alright. It won't be able to escape the prison with what it has learned so far."

"We'll go back and report the situation to the other Zodiacs. Pascal, was it? What will you do?"

Daisy asked, and Pascal replied after a moment of thought.

"I should contact the students first. They might come to the Imperial Palace without knowing the situation here."

"Students...? Ah, I see."

Daisy nodded, recalling that Pascal was both an Imperial Knight and a Constel instructor.

"Is Frondier the only Constel student here at the moment?"

"No. Princess Aten is also a Constel student."

"Then just those two?"

Monty asked again.

"Yes, that's right, but...?"

What is it? Monty shook his head at Pascal's words, which omitted the following question.

"No, it's nothing."

Despite saying so, Monty's suspicious gaze still lingered.

"It's just a strange coincidence, that's all."

***

Daisy and Monty returned to the Emperor's bedroom and informed the Zodiacs and Frondier of the situation.

A monster with learning abilities that exceeded expectations. The Zodiacs' faces hardened upon hearing this.

"...Hey, Frondier."

Ludovic spoke up.

"Yes."

"The reason we're guarding this place is to prepare for a second attack from the enemy who sent that monster, right?"

"That's correct."

"Are there really more of those ridiculous monsters?"

Frondier answered Ludovic's question.

"I don't know. However, from my perspective in dealing with that monster, it had too many weaknesses to be considered the sole method of assassinating His Majesty."

Only Frondier had detected and blocked the monster just before it attacked the Emperor.

However, even if he hadn't stopped it, the monster's attack was clumsy in many ways.

"At the time, it was awkward even controlling its own body. It had barely learned anything, and creating claws from its hands was its only means of attack. Even if I hadn't stopped it, it would have been difficult to harm His Majesty."

Of course, the initial claw attack might have reached the Emperor, but there was no guarantee it would have been fatal.

They wouldn't take such a gamble on an attack that revealed all their cards.

"In other words, the enemy still has more cards to play. One possibility is that there might be another monster like that."

Whether or not there was a second jelly monster was unknown.

However, the enemy would have known the possibility of the jelly monster being a "discard." Therefore, it was highly likely that they had other cards of equal or greater effectiveness.

"But you know..."

At that moment, someone raised their hand.

Ria Lis, Lily, spoke in a gentle tone.

"Even if they expected the attack to fail, wouldn't they have not expected it to be captured?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look. Only Frondier can detect that monster, right? So if Frondier wasn't here, even if the operation failed, escape would have been almost certain, right?"

Lily spoke as if she held Frondier in high regard. The tone made Frondier slightly uncomfortable, but her words weren't wrong, so he remained silent.

"Nobody knew that Frondier had such detection abilities, but the enemy did? That's strange."

"...They expected failure, but being captured wasn't their intention?"

"That's what I think."

Lily said it all and then took a step back at the end. Whether good or bad, making decisions wasn't her style.

"What do you think? Frondier? That's a pretty good insight, isn't it?"

Instead, Lily looked at Frondier and asked in a sweet voice. It was almost as if she was spoon-feeding him the right to speak

Frondier smiled wryly and said,

"Indeed. I hadn't thought of that."

"Right, right?"

Of course, Frondier had considered that point, but he said that for now.

As Frondier wished, Lily nodded with a satisfied smile.

Frondier's gaze lowered.

"I'm concerned that the monster was 'incomplete.'"

"Incomplete?"

"As you two reported, if the creature is capable of 'high-speed learning,' I wouldn't have used it this way if I were the enemy."

"...Ah, I see!"

Ludwig, who had been listening, exclaimed.

"Right, they would have made it learn first before sending it on a surprise attack!"

"Exactly. They wouldn't have sent it in a state where it could barely control its own body."

"But the enemy sent that monster in an incomplete state. That means,"

Ludwig, excited, continued speaking, then tilted his head, muttering, "That means...?" It seemed he couldn't organize his thoughts any further.

"There must have been a reason why they had to do that. Either the monster has a fatal weakness, or it doesn't obey orders."

"...Or,"

Frondier said,

"Just like us, the enemy might be in a very difficult situation right now."