The SDF was dispatched to the Special Region.
In Japan, the prime minister is forced to decide whether or not to rescue
the Japanese citizens and pro-peace senators trapped in the Jade Palace by Zolzal's army.
The 300 Rose Knights face about 1000 Imperial soldiers.
Meanwhile, Itami and the girls are being chased by the Pied Piper,
a mysterious assassin who can manipulate hearts at will.
They're just girls in armor playing at knighthood!
Episode 22 The Empress in Slave's Clothing
They're no match for veteran Imperial soldiers.
Slaughter them!
There's no need to fear them, no matter who they are!
We are fighting to uphold the Emperor's orders!
Be ready!
Yes, ma'am!
Why do we have to fight our own allies?
Shut up!
If the Oprichnina hears you, they'll kill your family, too!
It's a reign of terror!
Draw swords!
Charge!
Hey, you.
You the boys from the Sea of Books?
She's here.
You're the only one whose face they won't recognize.
So I want you to do recon.
Listen.
I'm going to pretend to be under the Pied Piper's influence.
I'll attack Lelei on the day of her presentation.
You warn Lelei about this,
and have her wear armor under her clothes.
What happens then?
We'll have her pretend to be dead.
And then the Pied Piper will come himself to see if she's really dead.
I see! And then we catch him!
You remember his face, right?
Of course!
We'd never forget it!
Well? This is your chance to restore your honor.
You in?
Of course we are!
They were tricked again.
Okay, follow the plan!
Bye-bye!
You ready?
Yes.
A new Master outfit, huh?
Apparently the stains Arpeggio caused wouldn't wash off.
I see.
But this looks good, too.
Excuse me.
Shandy's only been missing for four days.
I think it's too early to give up, personally.
I'd like to go search the area again.
I'm sorry I'm late!
Shandy?
W-Water...
Sorry.
I was chasing a girl named Nonra,
and I was late.
Couldn't you have at least sent a message, then?
There wasn't time!
So did the boys come to talk to you?
Yeah.
They told Lelei to wear armor.
I'm sure you noticed, but this Nonra is a puppet of the Pied Piper.
I knew it.
Armor won't help.
She's probably going to aim for her neck.
If she shows up, our only hope is to catch her before she approaches Lelei-san.
You're right.
So, Shandy, did you reach the Pied Piper?
Yes.
Just like the servant boys said, it was a man dressed like a bounty hunter.
I tailed him to the town of Pairan,
but I lost him when I took my eyes off him for a second.
It's a two-day journey there, and she was tracking him all by herself.
I can't blame her.
To be honest, all we needed you to do is see who was making contact with the servant boys.
You mean to say I just wasted four days?!
That's not true.
It's a big help that you were able to confirm his appearance.
Thank you.
You haven't eaten, right? Go eat downstairs.
Okay!
Shall we tell the boys?
No, let's just let them be tricked.
They'll work harder.
Then we follow the plan.
We find the Pied Piper when he appears at the presentation.
Good luck.
I'm getting nervous.
Look at all these people.
There may be others here who've been tricked by the Pied Piper.
We'll need to be careful.
Yeah.
There they are!
Over here!
You're late, Lelei!
I'm not late.
They should still be accepting entrants.
You're such a brat.
Oh, so the outfit made it in time.
My, my, my. Arpeggio!
What is it, Grand Master?
Oh, my.
You stayed up all night adjusting your robe so she could have it if she needed it.
But I guess she didn't!
Grand Master!
I told you to keep that a secret!
Oh, my! I'm sorry!
Anyone taking the Master's Examination, gather here.
Arpeggio-san,
is there a limit to how many applicants can succeed?
No. Sometimes everyone passes,
and sometimes no one does.
Why?
I was thinking the Pied Piper might've put one of them up to getting rid of someone who was in their way.
That's impossible.
They're all sages trying to become doctors or masters.
Every one of them is an upstanding person.
What if someone stole the research you'd spent years and years on?
And that someone was about to announce it as their own?
And if that person was right in front of you, acting as if nothing were wrong?
Well, if it were me, that thief would be...
Don't move.
It's not my fault!
It's this girl's fault for stealing my research!
How could a little girl like this be trying for Master status, anyway?
Of course she stole research!
You can talk about that somewhere else.
He's probably been tricked, like the others.
So explain things to him.
Understood.
What are you doing?
Please come this way.
You saved me.
Thank you.
Yeah, you can rest assured we'll keep you safe.
Good luck with your presentation.
Er, um, and thus,
by following the path on this diagram,
y-you can explain the retrograde motion of the planets.
Fool!
What backwater hole did you crawl out of?
That theory's been around forever!
Mokuri's heliocentric theory makes much more sense!
That's right! You stupid child!
Get lost!
Failure! Failure!
Mommy!
I see.
So that's why you wear white clothes for the exam.
I'll be fine.
Yeah. That'll make security easier.
If we can understand the cause of these world distortions,
it may bring us closer to the secrets of this world's creation.
That is what I believe.
Not bad.
It's finally your turn.
I wish she would've waited until after the presentation.
"She's on our side."
Which means that's Nonra?
I won't make it!
Why did all that magic go off at once?
Oh, the whole town was talking about how there might be an assassin after Lelei.
Everyone was just waiting for this chance.
I wish the SDF had magic, too.
But, well, now you're safe.
Good luck with the rest.
Lelei!
Princess Pina?
You again?
What is it?
Unfortunate news.
We'll have to ask you to change into this.
And so, the Self Defense Force fought
General, is the order here yet?!
At this rate, the Jade Palace will fall!
I know.
For now, hang in there.
The order will come.
There's only 300 of them.
And they're all girls and old men.
How many days are you going to spend destroying them,
Vice-Praetor Luflus?
I'm sorry.
But the morale of the soldiers we mobilized is unexpectedly low...
I'm not here to listen to excuses.
Prince Zolzal's waiting for a report of victory.
Yes...
Bring more troops if you need them.
If you let these enemies of the Empire stay loose any longer,
you'll be deemed incompetent.
Understood?
Even we're starting to show signs of fatigue.
How are our provisions?
We weren't expecting to be under siege here,
so we probably didn't bring much.
That's right.
We've got the well in the Jade Palace, so there's water.
But we're almost out of food.
Bozes, what do we do now?
If we can get the OK from the Japanese side,
I'm planning on taking everyone and breaking through.
Where will we go if we break through the cordon?
Italica.
I see!
Half the Yellow Roses and our infantry are there.
If we can meet up with them, we can restore the knights.
Yes.
But I'm worried about Princess Pina. She's still at the Imperial Palace.
Even they wouldn't hurt a member of the royal family.
No, we can't be sure of that.
We need her with us when we leave the capital.
But it won't be easy to sneak into the palace.
And do we even know where she is?
No.
We'll have to wait for word from Hamilton.
Enemy attack! Enemy attack!
To your positions!
So they won't even let us take a break, huh?
It should be hard for them, too.
No matter what, we need to defend this place until we hear from Pina-sama.
Yeah, you're right.
Stop it!
Stop it, please!
Hey, are you listening?
Wait!
You ignored multiple warnings from Zolzal-sama,
and interfered with our actions.
Thus, you will be judged in accordance with the Oprichnina's special law.
Know your place, warrior bunny!
Say what you like.
That room is the one where I was locked away forever.
It's a wonderful room.
Perfect for you!
Oh, right.
Zolzal-sama has a message he wanted me to give you.
You lose, Pina.
Lelei, are you okay?
How?
Wh-Why are you wearing armor?
How'd it go?
They were impressed by her paper,
but she can't become a Master until this trouble's resolved.
That's a shame.
Was there any sign of the Pied Piper at the scene?
None.
Of course, there's no guarantee that the man Shandy met was really him.
He might've been there unbeknownst to us.
It's not fair!
If you were going to wear armor under your clothes, you should've told me!
Uh, you were the first one who heard that it would be better to wear armor.
You warn Lelei about this,
and have her wear armor under her clothes.
That's right!
I'm glad that it was an idiot who got tricked.
Of course we're going to take precautions when her life's in danger.
They say better safe than sorry, right?
You just messed up by not going for her neck.
No...
So? Why did you do that?
To save Princess Pina, obviously!
Pina?
How does attacking Lelei save her?
It's Prince Zolzal who's after Lelei-san's life.
So I tried to show Princess Pina's loyalty
by bringing him Lelei's head.
I see.
So he used your loyalty to Pina!
No! I wasn't tricked!
The princess is in big trouble right now!
Crown Prince Zolzal's dictatorship...
...has put even her life in danger.
I can't believe a battle's started at the Jade Palace.
At this rate, the princess herself will be punished under the Oprichnina law!
Knight Vice Commander Grey,
if you have any loyalty to the princess,
kill Lelei-san!
I don't know about that...
It's too much of a task for me.
Besides, doesn't it seem far more realistic
to raid the palace if we want to save the princess?
What are you saying?
There are tens of thousands of soldiers and royal guards protecting it!
But to stop the Pied Piper and the other assassins,
we need to cut it off at the source.
You intend to kill the crown prince?
This is the most effective way
to save Princess Pina, I believe.
Come to think of it, Itami-dono.
Have you made contact with the SDF?
If I go outside Rondel, there are places where I can connect,
but honestly, it's not going well.
I thought that might be the case,
so I've used the newly-repaired bridge to summon a messenger.
Excuse me!
I've been waiting!
Trouble!
Princess Pina is—
Understood.
It's a go!
Spin 'er up!
Secondary parachute check, okay. Primary parachute check, okay.
Tie bands check, okay.
Hooks check, okay.
Automatic grommets!
Automatic grommets, okay!
All okay! Good to go!
Boarding now.
All units in the Special Region, this is Staff HQ.
At 0630 tomorrow, Special Region forces will execute a parachute drop
into the southwest of the imperial capital, as well as a helicopter operation.
The mission is to rescue the ambassadors and asylum seekers in the Jade Palace
and protect the possibility of peace with the Empire.
Repeat...
Hurry...
To the capital!
Episode 23 Paradrop
Next time on Gate: "Paradrop."