Ragnis Lien da Levien
Ragnis Lien da Levien
My head ached.
Amidst a faint dizziness and a violently lashing gale I couldn't fathom the cause of, all I felt was chaos.
Clearly... I remembered Eldmia leaving, saying he'd finish things. I remembered waiting for Jin to bring the guard force while Auntie and I wondered what to do about the bloodstains in front of the inn.
I even remembered glancing toward Auntie as she went inside, saying she should make Eldmia some warm tea for when he came back.
And then my memory cut off.
"You've come to, I see. Young Lady Lien."
My body was trussed up like baggage. I belatedly realized I was wearing a hood. It was probably a measure taken in case I got cold during the flight. Thanks to that, though the wind seemed to be blasting ferociously, I wasn't cold.
Thus, held in the arms of a man whose voice alone gave me no clue to his identity, I gazed down at the dizzying panorama unfolding below and organized my thoughts.
"It was a wyvern after all."
"Did you and that mysterious friend of yours work it out together? That's an impressively sharp deduction."
The owner of the voice was a young man, but not one I remembered. Perhaps it was so long ago that I'd forgotten, but the fact that nothing came to mind immediately meant it didn't matter anyway.
His utterly tranquil voice felt like proof that he had anticipated every action Eldmia and I had taken, and I found myself biting my lip without realizing it.
"Was it a diversion?"
"Correct. Actually, it was meant to account for the Royal Faction's interference rather than having that friend in mind. Securing two wyverns and having to use the wyvern pilot I had on hand as a sacrificial piece was a painful expenditure... but seeing as we succeeded like this, I believe it was worthwhile."
"A wyvern knight stooping to this kind of filthy kidnapping and feeling it was worthwhile—the Noble Faction's honor must be rolling around in the gutter. Isn't this the time to be digging through the sewers of every city, not flying around like this? If you're trying to recover what little honor you have left from a pile of shit, even one or two years wouldn't be enough, you know."
"Hmm. What a fresh and cutting turn of phrase. Surviving those three years in such harsh conditions must've been hard enough, yet you still kept up your education? The Margrave would've been proud. He had an exceptionally sharp tongue himself."
For a moment, I thought it was an insult invoking my parents, but Ragnis could tell there was sincerity in the man's attitude. In truth, the three-inch tongue my father Engrim Rien da Levien wielded against his political enemies was like a spear and blade.
Judging by his proper knowledge of that, he must have seen it at least once... but I truly had no idea.
"And I am not a wyvern knight. While I feel relief that you don't remember me well, it is also true that I find it regrettable."
"That's treason! You're not even a wyvern knight, yet you ride a wyvern and learned swordsmanship!"
"Well, it's fine as long as you don't get caught."
At that response, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Ragnis felt a chill run down her spine. How could he commit an act tantamount to treason so nonchalantly?
"It's probably because the young lady doesn't yet know the dark side of the nobility, but surprisingly, once you get a little away from the capital, there are quite a few people secretly practicing the Dragon Riding Art. Most are doing advanced study, dreaming of becoming wyvern knights someday rather than harboring impure intentions, but there are always those not included in that majority."
"...What happened to Eldmia?"
When I abruptly cut off the story and changed the subject, the man fell silent for a moment.
"I see. I was watching from afar and couldn't quite hear what was being said. Eldmia. Eldmia Ega, was it. He's probably dead."
It felt like my heart plummeted, but paying no heed to my feelings, the man continued speaking in a calm, natural, and utterly indifferent tone.
"When I use bait, I can't stand leaving it half-finished. I only feel satisfied when the bait is perfect. I've stationed four men with the wyvern pilot who were already good enough that all they had left was to pass the knight exam. However well your friend could fight, it was still just untrained street fighting. Against those four, he probably wouldn't have lasted more than a few exchanges."
The sob that had risen to the back of my throat sank back down. At the same time, my heart began to pound for a different reason.
'Untrained street fighting?'
Eldmia, who had been using aura since he was at least 11 years old, and was learning techniques from a 120-year-old elf?
He was a man I had thought had read all our moves, but he had completely misjudged Eldmia's skill.
'Then his guard must have shot right up.'
On the rooftop of some unidentifiable building, Eldmia's words flashed through my mind, bringing goosebumps.
"Hm? Are you crying?"
Perceiving the trembling Ragnis, the man made a low humming sound as if troubled.
"I've heard young noble ladies say they like men with a wild streak... but that friend of yours was closer to a thug than a rugged charmer. And that's before we even get to him being a commoner. Don't dwell on him too much."
I couldn't answer. Once I realized his misconception was my last chance to turn the entire situation around, I chose to stay silent.
Ragnis was laughing.
◈
"So that guy named Delt decided to ride the wyvern himself?"
It had already been dozens of minutes since I'd gotten over my surprise at how comfortable the wyvern was to ride.
I was sitting on the fiercely flying wyvern, holding onto the wyvern pilot's waist.
"Th-that's right. If those adventurers had succeeded in taking down E-Eldmia, I was supposed to escort the young lady. And even if they failed, the false information would bring Eldmia to us and he'd di—no, he'd be delayed, so..."
"So you thought I'd die? Against those four from earlier?"
"......."
"It's not even something you did, so why are you scared? In fact, if you don't answer, I'll cut off a finger. So that when you go home and see the traces of your missing finger, you'll come find me?"
"S-sorry! What you said is correct! Delt was certain Eldmia would die to them!"
"Were they that strong?"
They couldn't even use aura. While I was wondering about that, the wyvern pilot, who had introduced himself as Gies, searched his memory and spoke.
"Well... I don't know the specifics myself, but I remember Delt telling them that once this job was done, they could take it easy until their knight exams."
"So you're saying they had the skill to pass the regular knight exam without difficulty?"
"That's accurate."
What an unfair world. It's ridiculous how huge the gap was between having something like aura and having nothing at all.
The kingdom's regular knight exam wasn't some test of marbles or a children's territory game. If the gap was really this enormous, I couldn't even begin to guess how warped this world's power balance was.
Still, it was certain that the bastard named Delt, who might just be a wyvern knight, had completely misjudged my skill. That alone opened a possibility.
"But why the hell were you dragged into this? Aren't wyvern pilots highly trained specialists? If you get tangled up in a plot like this, isn't your career over?"
"M-my parents' debt, because of..."
Fuck me. Gies, the wyvern pilot I'd assumed was just another detestable bastard, turned out to be a rare devoted son in this shitty world.
From what he told me, he'd worked his way up from almost nothing to become a wyvern pilot. The problem was that his parents went wild with spending once their son's pay shot up, and before he knew it he'd been buried in debt. The private lender that had financed them belonged to a Noble Faction aristocrat, and Gies had been forced to help with this operation in exchange for having the debt forgiven. It was a miserable story.
"I can't shake the feeling you were set up."
"Huh? Set up?"
Gies asked what I meant in a tone that made it clear he had no idea. So I kindly laid out my theory: someone may have spent a long time maneuvering him into debt specifically so they'd have leverage over a wyvern pilot they could exploit. By the time I finished, Gies was horrified.
"Good heavens, is that even a plausible story?! How can a person conceive such evil thoughts?!"
"Swindlers are everywhere. If you were the kind of bastard who didn't give a damn about his parents, that would be one thing. But for someone like you, wouldn't it be incredibly effective?"
At first, everything was so irritating that I honestly wanted to cut off at least a knuckle whenever I got the chance, but the thought that he too might be a victim made that feeling vanish without a trace.
"...I honestly don't know what to think. It might not be true... but looking back, there are more than a few things that seem suspicious."
"...Hey! Fuck, don't worry about that right now! Who do you think I'm going to rescue? Ragnis Lien da Levien, the Margrave. Once she meets up with the Royal Faction, she'll inherit all of her property and rights in full. If you hadn't cooperated—if you'd just bitten your tongue and died—I wouldn't even have been able to pursue them. I'll make damn sure Ragnis knows how much you helped."
"I-is that true?"
"I lost my parents young, so I have no mercy for bastards who treat their parents like shit, but I've got a soft spot for devoted sons. I'll put my head to work and see if I can even get the crimes already on your record cleared. Just make sure our stories line up later. If you've been jerked around by shitty nobles, you deserve at least one good thing out of this."
"...Sniff. Th-thank you."
I hated every damn thing about the Noble Faction. As if everything else weren't enough, now they were exploiting commoners through loan sharks. It had led to an unexpected connection for me, but that didn't make them any less despicable.
Yet, for now, Ragnis was the priority.
"Anyway, are we definitely going to catch them? If we lose them, I'm fucked, and even if your immediate debt disappears, you could just end up getting manipulated the exact same way again."
"Y-you don't need to worry. Lord— no, Eldmia, you moved much faster than Delt expected. If we keep flying like this, catching up is only a matter of time. We won't see them immediately, though. We'll have to fly for a few hours first."
"As long as we can catch up, that's all that matters."
"But... even if we catch them, isn't there anything we can actually do?"
"I'm going to risk my life and do some crazy-ass shit."
"Cra-crazy-ass shit?"
He's possibly a wyvern knight anyway. The reason I considered his misjudgment of my skill fortunate was because it bought a shitload of time, not because I believed I could beat him with it. No matter how I racked my brain, there was exactly one way to beat him in the air.
"Yeah. I'm going to jump from higher than him and split the wyvern's head open."
Even I thought it was insane, but there was honestly no other answer.