Chapter 56
Once the game was over and we finished celebrating, the sun had begun to descend. We would still have a few more hours of daylight, but if we wanted to make it back to the IMA before classes resumed, we would need to leave soon.
To that end, Rose, Felicia, and I left the others to enjoy the party while we packed our things.
“Rex, come up here for a minute.”
Rose called down to me from upstairs. I finished up folding away the clothes I arrived in and went to see what she wanted.
“I found this while going through my things. I had nearly forgotten about it after so long.”
She held out a leather-wrapped rectangular object.
“Father Bernhard wanted me to give this to you after you left the chapel that night. Take a look.”
I had totally forgotten about it. It was intended as a thank-you gift for the theoretical work we had done together, but I never had a chance to confirm what it was.
I did have a good idea, though. There was something I constantly pestered him for, but he was never able to get his hands on.
Eagerly, yet carefully, I unwrapped the gift.
“Haha…”
. It was a book written by a notable adventurer who rose to the highest-ranked class of S+ while only focusing on exploration and monster subjugation missions. Adventurers were politically neutral on paper, but often ended up sticking their noses into national matters one way or another. The author of this book, however, was one of the exceptions. As such, his renown and reliability allowed him to go practically anywhere.
And this book was one of the many products he had released to the world as a result of his worldliness.
“I’ll have to thank him if I ever see him again. Thanks for holding onto it, Rose.”
“No problem… There’s one more thing. It’s about Clara.”
“What about her?”
Rose shifted uncomfortably.
“Have you considered her request seriously? Maybe it be best for you to leverage your status as a noble to help her out. Y'know, keep her close by.”
I sighed and shook my head.
“And then what? I can’t bring her on missions, so that would leave her in a military academy teeming with loud, anxious minds. She would continue to treat me like a safety blanket and run from her own power.”
“Rex, I don’t think you understand how hard it is for her. The Clara you’ve seen is nothing like the one we’ve been living with until now. Did you know that I haven’t seen her smile once in seven years? Can’t we keep her safe until we find a permanent solution?”
I took a seat on Rose’s bed and rubbed my thumb against my temple.
“The only permanent solutions would be total isolation or removing her Gift. And unless you want to ship our baby sister to some deserted island, that first choice is not a practical option. As for removing Gifts…”
Gifts were sewn to the soul by the gods themselves. Poggy had been researching ways of nullifying Gifts for a number of years, and if anyone could find a way, he could. But telling Rose and Clara about that would only offer false hope.
“...It’s not possible.”
“Maybe if we understand why her mind-reading gets suppressed around you, we could find a way to—I don’t know, replicate it!”
She started to get agitated on behalf of our sister.
“We can’t drag her along based on what-ifs. The best thing for her to do is to learn control. As much as I would like to stay and help her do that, I have my own life to live. I’ve given her the tools she needs to start walking on her own, we just have to trust in her desire to improve.”
Rose was an intelligent girl, but she was letting her emotions do the thinking on this matter.
“Fine… I get it… at least do me a favour.”
“If it’s reasonable, sure.”
“Let me tell her. Right now, you’re the only person she truly feels safe with. If you’re the one who shoots down her request, she might go back to feeling alone.”
“...Hm.”
I nodded in silent agreement. Logically speaking, Rose was right, though that didn’t make me feel any better about using her as a scapegoat.
***
Everything was packed, and the family had come to see us off. Clara was clearly sulking, and she hugged me goodbye with tears in her eyes without acknowledging Rose at all.
“Good luck out there, son! We’ll be expecting regular letters from you, too, from now on!”
Roland lifted me off my feet and pulled me into a bear hug. I could hear my bones popping under the pressure.
“Ack! Yeah, yeah, I’ll think about it.”
I pushed him off and stretched my back, making sure everything was in its right place after that unexpected assault.
“Be careful out there, Rex.”
Maria placed a hand on my face, her thumb gently stroking my cheek.
“Remember, no matter what happens, you can always return home. We’ll be here for you.”
“I know. Thanks for everything…”
Tia hopped up onto my shoulder, ready to fuse and begin the journey back to the academy, but before that, another person was waiting to see us off.
“We’ll be leaving tomorrow, so I guess I’ll see you back at the dorm?”
Lloyd was without his entourage for once. I simply nodded in response and turned to leave.
“W-wait a second!”
He ran up and grabbed my arm to stop me from leaving.
“...What?”
“I just… ah… d-did I do something wrong?”
What was this about?
“You’re acting weird. What do you really want to know?”
Honestly, I couldn’t understand this strange behaviour from him at all. His eyes were filled with a deep sorrow, as if looking at me brought up terrible memories. But as far as I could remember, we never had a relationship that warranted this kind of reaction.
“I… I don’t know what came over me, haha…”
He smiled sadly while avoiding my quizzical gaze. Seeing that he wasn’t going to elaborate, I gave a final wave to the others and fused with Tiara.
Once we were out of earshot, Rose—who had grown used to riding on my back—spoke up.
“That was… odd.”
“Mya.”
I responded with an affirmative meow.
“It’s like you guys are long-lost brothers or something.”
My fur bristled, and I bucked my shoulders to upset her balance.
“Ah! Stop, stop! I take it back!”
We covered a good amount of ground before nightfall came, but there were no particularly good spots to set up camp, so we had to make do sleeping on uneven ground.
At least, the others did.
Not long after they had settled down, I was visited by a white fox with azure patterns and a tail that flickered like ghostly fire. Under normal circumstances, such a fascinating creature would have my heart fluttering, and I would stop at nothing to at least pet it.
However, I already knew the identity of this animal.
I stood up, gently moving Rose’s snoring head from my lap to the rolled-up jacket I had been using as my own pillow.
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As I approached the creature, it suddenly leapt at me. I did not attempt to catch it. Why would I? It was just an illusion after all, left behind by Ada with the direction to deliver information to me personally.
As the fox hit my chest, it burst into multiple flickering blue flames, hovering around me in silence. One flame hovered before me and fizzled away into an intangible smoke, not affected even by the breeze.
And as the flame vanished, a whispering voice spoke to me.
“
The smoke took the shape of a love heart, then a winking face.
I rolled my eyes and waited as the next flame floated over. The next message began.
“fiery
The smoke took the shape of a frowning face this time.
I was curious about what she gave the Blood Thunderers, but it was hardly a priority at the moment. The next message began.
“something
A shrugging fox image formed at the end of this message, and the next arrived almost immediately.
“I’ll let Poggy know about this, too. Maybe he has seen this in one of the other planes.
The smoky image that formed showed the exact spot I would find this note. There was only one flame left now, containing the final part of Ada’s message.
“
The final image was that of two crossed swords.
The ethereal whispering ended, and the faint blue light that had lit up my surroundings was replaced with empty, contemplative silence.
“...Sword-Lord tournament?”
I had never heard of it, but certainly, if the Emperor himself were attending, maybe I should get involved and make a good impression on him.
***
We arrived back at Borderton, and it was immediately evident that some kind of event was being prepared. Banners were being hung up on every street, and even at the gate we entered from, they mostly had the same mesage:
WHO WILL BE CROWNED THE LORD OF SWORDS?
FIND OUT AT THE END OF THIS MONTH!
Apparently, this tournament was a big deal.
“Hehehe… we got here just in time…”
Rose muttered as she rubbed her hands together. She didn’t explain herself, but the sudden reinvigoration that came over her tired body could only have come from one place when it came to her.
She scurried off with such speed and purpose that it caught both Felicia and me off guard. With that, I was certain of her motivation.
“The Sword-Lord tourney… I don’t get why we should care about it. It’s just a silly Solean tradition.”
Felicia also began muttering to herself. It sounded like she was the right person to ask about this event.
“I’ve never heard of this thing. What is it?”
Felicia scoffed and rolled her eyes, looking at me with her paws on her hips.
“It’s stupid. They call it a tournament, but there’s, like, a billion rules and conditions, it’s more like a performance. Plus, only swordsman can enter, and all they do is show off their skills without really fighting.”
So the name was a bit of a misnomer. It still didn’t sound so bad, it was just a theatre show to entertain the crowd by the sound of it. But then Felicia continued talking.
“The craziest thing is, they treat the winner like a real warrior! They get a title and have their names placed on a priority list for master swordsman to train them in the future. Imagine prancing around on a stage for a day and being more valued than a veteran soldier.”
“Hm… that does sound pretty stupid.”
I had to agree with her initial assessment, assuming, of course, she hadn’t left out some key details in her explanation. To that end, it may be better to ask a Solean.
“Well, I had fun, thanks for bringing me along, Rex. Wanna come hang out in my room? There’s a board game Daddy bought for me but it needs at least two people.”
Her tail curved upwards, and her pupils dilated ever so slightly. People often complain about cats and feline therians, saying they’re too hard to read, but to someone who bothers to pay attention to their body language, they’re actually quite transparent. However, even knowing she was eager to continue spending time with me, there were other things I wanted to do.
“I’ll have to take a rain check on that. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”
Her tail swished a couple of times, and she shifted her weight between each foot.
“Okay. Bye.”
Her tone remained friendly, but I knew she was irritated.
She disappeared into the main campus building, and I broke off towards the dorms.
My first order of business was to find the letter Poggy left me. I could take off Soot’s bags and leave him there while I was at it.
The spot I was looking for wasn’t visible from the ground; I would have to reach over the inside of the frame, and the letter should be balanced somewhere along the wooden section.
“Up you go, Tia.”
Instead of blindly feeling for it, I lifted Tiara, and she immediately found what I was looking for and brought it over.
“Let’s see what master has for me, shall we?”
I opened the rolled-up parchment and read the goblin letters written on it.
APPRENTICE. I KNOW YOU CAN CAST SPELLS NOW. TIME FOR NEXT LESSON. LEARN THIS.
Poggy wrote just like he spoke. Abrupt and to the point. That being said, the rest of the parchment was filled with in-depth instructions and advanced terminology that complemented the incredibly well-drawn diagrams.
Despite how much of the scroll was covered, it only contained a single spell.
The ridiculous amount of detail he went into would seem pointless to anyone else. But I understood his intentions. He broke down the mana requirements of the spell itself, the attribute and meaning of every individual rune, and how the spell should be used to best benefit me personally.
It also ignored things such as the chant to empower the spell, hand movements, and the order in which the circles and runes should be drawn. Poggy must already know precisely how I employed the monster method of spellcasting, so disregarded anything I wouldn’t need.
Ada also left her own spell list for me to learn, but her notes were more in line with a typical spellcraft tutor, making Poggy’s much easier to wrap my head around.
I rolled the scroll back up and tucked it into my jacket before heading inside the dorm.
“Ah!”
“Oh.”
As I opened the back door, I was greeted by Axel standing in the kitchen.
“Yo. Heard you had a hard time.”
He waved lazily, but looked pleased to see me nonetheless.
“Mm. It wasn’t so bad.”
“You lost three guys, how is that not bad?”
He chuckled and handed me a kitchen knife, apparently assuming I would help him prepare whatever it was he was making.
“Well, the other guys lost way more. Including an ogre and—”
“And The Black Dael Banshee. I already got all the details from Tilly. Cut the carrots for me, dice ‘em up real small.”
He pushed a cutting board towards me. I did as I was told, and Axel kept the conversation flowing.
“You really beat an ogre, huh? Can’t believe you got to have all the fun…”
He pouted and began kneading his knuckles into the steak in front of him.
“I take it your mission wasn’t as exciting?”
“Nah, man. That Vogel guy is a total prick. I can’t believe a pompous loser like that is an imperial noble. I saw plenty of idiots like that in Soleo, but that’s to be expected with how things are done there.”
“You got to subjugate a bunch of people, though, wasn’t that at least fun?”
Axel paused a moment, looking up and sweeping the room with his eyes cautiously. Once he was satisfied we were alone, he continued, though his voice dropped to a whisper.
“It was fun at first, but there was something not right about the whole thing. They were meant to be invaders from a foreign group, but they spoke our language and their gear wasn’t uniform at all.”
“You think they weren’t who you were told they were?”
I similarly kept my voice quiet, passing him the diced carrot and moving on to the potato, which he had already moved onto my board.
“No way that was an organised force. I reckon they were mercenaries personally.”
“What did the others say about it?”
“Ah… it was just me, Olly, and Guy who figured it out. We were separated from Vogel’s men and continued the subjugation alone for a little while. It was then that we started to realise something was amiss. Guy—the idiot—went off and confronted Vogel in front of everyone, but without any proof, he just came across as a nutjob and had to spend the last couple of days in a jail cell.”
“He’s lucky Vogel didn’t execute him.”
I responded.
“Right? He’s probably correct, but what kind of moron goes questioning a Duke in his own domain and implying he’s killing innocents under false pretences?”
I stopped cutting and turned to face Axel with an incredulous look.
“Innocents?”
“In his opinion, yeah. I doubt they were innocent people or anything, but they definitely weren’t what Vogel claimed them to be.”
“Interesting… what’s your theory?”
Axel shook his head.
“I couldn’t do much digging. At best, all I can say is Vogel wanted some people to stay quiet, and he used us to do it. For all I know, they were escaped criminals, and Vogel just lied to preserve his dignity after losing so many convicts.”
I considered bringing up my own reservations about my mission in Farrowgate, but Meztili’s arrival through the front door forced us both to bring the conversation to a close.
“Tilly! You’re looking better.”
I smiled and waved at her. She was back to her usual self, wrapped up from head to toe. Even so, no more mana crystals were sticking out from her body, and she seemed to be walking perfectly fine, so I thought she was fully recovered.
“Rex…”
She came over to join us.
“...”
She did not say anything. I could feel the stare was directed at me, and the faint sound of her lips parting indicated she wanted to say something, yet no noise came from her.
“Something up?”
I asked, finishing up with the potatoes and leaving the rest to Axel as I gave her my full attention.
“...Your axe… may I see it?”
“My axe? Why?”
I drew it, but held back from handing it over, knowing the effect an ego-armament could have on people who they didn’t acknowledge.
“I heard it before I blacked out. The voice of something in there…”
She reached for my axe slowly, but I stepped back silently.
“Please. There is something I must know.”
She didn’t accept my silent rejection and reached out once again, this time with a sense of desperation about her.
“Just ask, I’ll tell you if I can.”
I hid the axe behind my back and firmly denied her, but a sudden force ripped it away.
“...Cool.”
Axel had snatched it with one hand while the other was busy frying up the steak in a pan, the fire crystal that produced the flame was visibly glowing in the centre of the stove.
Axel handed it back casually after giving it one final look.
“Didn’t know that thing had an ego. Guess that explains why I never see you sharpening it. Anyway, Tilly, do as Rex says, you can’t handle that thing.”
“...it spoke to me. It observed my pain and taunted me. ‘Remember this, for it will be a pleasant reminder of life when Nekrotica abandons you as she does all others.’... That’s what it said.”
Meztilli reached out again, her body and voice trembling.
I did not hear the voice of the soul as clearly as Meztili claimed she had, but I knew it was filled with bloodlust, fury, and hatred. Perhaps it had absorbed the same knowledge I had about the gods and wanted to mock her faith in a moment of extreme pain. Honestly, I had no idea, but Meztili wasn’t going to back down.
Without a word, I held the handle out to her.
But she couldn’t do anything more than brush her fingertips against the wood before leaping back, her chest rising and falling as her breathing grew out of control.
“Well? What did you hear?”
I asked, curious to see if this produced anything of worth.
“...That thing is evil, Rex. You should dispose of it immediately.”
She spat her words out like they were burning her insides and hurried upstairs.
“Told her she wasn’t ready.”
Axel only shook his head as he finished preparing his meal.
“Did you hear anything?”
I asked him.
“Mmm… not a voice or anything like that. More like a feeling. If I had to describe it, I’d say your axe approves of me. Also, it wants to cut something up.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much all I get too. What do you think she heard?”
“How the hell would I know? I never got to touch any other ego-armaments before.”
I scratched my head with the blade of the axe as I pondered what to do about Meztili’s strange behaviour.
