Wave (3)
Clink.
Olga Hermod set down her teacup the moment she finished her tale. It had been quite a lengthy story, and the cup had long run dry.
"I do hope this was of some help to you, Cadet Yohan."
"..."
Half of what she had told me was conjecture at best—pieced together from stray rumors, documented events, and her own impression of the man's character. It was merely her best guess at the life Charybdis had lived.
Yet even that fragmentary picture made one thing painfully clear.
"Hah..."
I knew absolutely nothing about Yuna.
A hollow ache settling in my chest, I pushed myself slowly to my feet. There was plenty to do. First, I needed to feel out what was going on in Yuna's head. And after that... after that...
"..."
Right at the threshold of the Headmaster's Office, my feet froze. I felt as though I were letting something vital slip through my fingers.
"...Just how powerful of a mage was Charybdis Salos?"
"On the battlefield, he was more capable than I was. And in terms of sheer raw talent, he was my equal."
I had to gauge the enemy's strength first. Just imagining a monster gifted enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Olga Hermod sent a shiver down my spine. It was downright despair-inducing.
I decided to ask one final question.
"Do you still have the letter Charybdis Salos sent you? Would it be possible for me to take a look at it?"
Olga's eyes widened in slight surprise, but a gentle smile quickly graced her lips as she reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a worn piece of parchment. It was the very letter Charybdis had sent her all those years ago.
The answers had to be in here.
Charybdis Salos was a villain. A villain forged by this world. At his core, he had been a decent man, wrestling with the most human of dilemmas more deeply than anyone else. His fundamental nature probably hadn't been all that different from mine. If there was any divergence between us, it was merely the magnitude of power we wielded.
Why had Yuna approached me in the first place? I felt as though another piece of the puzzle had just clicked into place.
"Welcome back, Yohan! What'd you talk about with the chairwoman?"
When Yuna killed Charybdis, she had claimed she didn't hate him. A man drowned in that depth of madness had mustered his courage time and again, choosing to change solely for her sake. It would have been difficult to hate someone like that. It was hard to imagine anyone genuinely detesting a person who struggled through agony just to become better for them.
"I went to talk about you."
"Huh?"
"She was asking if you were adjusting well. I told her you were doing great."
"Ah! Well, that makes sense!"
When Charybdis's name first surfaced, I had treated the matter far too lightly. I knew he was someone Yuna had killed in the past. I even guessed there might be a complicated history between them. When Olga first began her explanation, I assumed he was simply the target of Yuna's bitter hatred.
Yet now that I had heard the entire story—now that I knew why she had taken his life—how could I possibly leave it at that?
"Hey, Yuna."
"Yeah?"
"Wanna go on a date?"
"H-huh...? W-why so suddenly?"
"Just because."
What had I said in front of her back then? Hadn't I casually brushed it off, saying she must have killed him because he had it coming? I didn't know a damn thing about her. Not even after spending more time by her side than anyone else.
"Can I... say no?"
"...Quit complaining and come on."
"Whoa! Look at Mr. Bad Boy!"
Taking Yuna along, I headed straight for a nearby cafe.
"Aw, you called it a date, so I thought we were heading outside the Cradle."
"I don't have that kind of death wish. Besides, even if we went out, Under Chain's goons have been running wild lately. Most of the shops are closed and the civilians have evacuated anyway."
"Guess that's true."
"On the bright side, I've got plenty of cash. Order whatever you want—don't hold back."
"It's just a cafe, how much could there—wait, they sell this too? Buy me this!"
"Sure, sure."
Only now realizing cafes served more than just black coffee, Yuna proceeded to order an ungodly mountain of desserts—practically everything her stomach could hold. Fine, eat your heart out.
I watched her happily dig into the spread before leaning in to cut straight to the point.
"Yuna. I heard you were Charybdis Salos's adoptive daughter."
"Hmm..."
I thought I had caught her off guard, but she seemed to have anticipated the question all along. Mumbling around the fork clamped between her lips, she replied:
"I knew it. This isn't a date at all, is it?"
"Honestly, it's not that different from our usual routine."
"You deceived me!"
She puffed out her lower lip, putting on a show of mock indignation.
"What, you actually wanted a real date?"
"Nah, I'll pass. Mmm... so the chairwoman spilled all that to you?"
"Yeah. I heard your reason for killing him was revenge, too."
"Then what you're really curious about is how I felt about Charybdis, right? Am I warm?"
A bewitching smile curved her lips. The sight of her—so jarringly different from her usual playful demeanor—made my breath catch in my throat.
Get a grip. If I slip up, I'll just get swept along by her pace like always.
I took a sip of hot coffee to steady my nerves before regaining my rhythm.
"Yeah. You're right."
"You're worried about me, aren't you? That's touching, Yohan. Truly. But like I told you before, my revenge ended in the past. I don't dwell on it anymore. So you really don't need to stress yourself over nothing."
"Yuna."
Watching her casually spear another bite of cake with her fork, I pressed again.
"I asked what you thought of him. Not what you plan to do."
"..."
"If you don't want to answer, just say so. Don't dance around the subject."
"Harsh..."
Yuna leaned back against her chair, twirling her fork between her lips. She appeared to be deliberating over how to respond. Would she confide in me? Or would she shut me down? Perhaps neither answer would change much in the grand scheme of things. Even so, I felt it was better to hear it from her. We were friends, after all.
"Yohan."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"Meaning you won't tell me?"
"Yeah. I don't think this is something I should throw around to other people. You keep secrets from me too, don't you? So you understand, right?"
"..."
Other people, huh... Talk about a dose of my own medicine.
"Fine. If that's how you feel, I won't pry any further."
Hearing my own go-to excuse turned right back on me was thoroughly irritating.
From the very beginning, Yuna had plotted Charybdis's assassination. His habits, his patrol routes, the things that made him wary, and the things that stirred his sympathy. Scouting all of that took two grueling years. Through meticulous design, she succeeded in getting Charybdis to take her in.
She did not lower her guard immediately; instead, she persistently pushed him away. Because an unmistakable hostility was the very thing that put Charybdis at ease. A fragile stranger displaying open enmity was infinitely easier to read than someone approaching with sweet, counterfeit goodwill.
Mom, Dad, just wait a little longer.
She had no intention of ever opening her heart. It was all a calculated performance. She would slowly draw closer to him until he finally let down his guard. That was the only gambit available to the weak. And just as expected, Charybdis bent over backward trying to open her closed heart. A man so acutely aware of his own brokenness could never simply ignore a young girl trapped in the very same state.
"Ahem! Hrm, cough..."
Yet far beyond her expectations, the man exerted himself to an absurd degree.
"Ta-da! Ahem...! Well, what do you think of this, then? Ta-da! ...Hrk, ahem."
One day, Charybdis appeared before her decked out in ridiculous makeup and a garish clown costume. It was an outfit inconceivable for the terrifying figure he was known to be. He was utterly clumsy at everything.
He had not the faintest clue how to reach a young girl's heart. Clinging to scraps of advice he had scavenged from all over, he threw himself into making her smile. That preposterous clown getup and those pitiful magic tricks were proof enough. Feats he could have achieved effortlessly with a flick of his finger using magic, he clumsily fumbled through with his bare hands.
Predictably, his card tricks fell apart, his juggling went awry, and when he attempted to balance on a giant rubber ball, he crashed straight onto the floor.
"Pwahaha!"
Yuna burst into laughter.
She had believed she would never laugh from the heart again after her parents were slaughtered before her eyes, yet the laughter escaped her with shocking ease.
Look at the man before her. A living calamity rumored to rival an Archmage was humiliating himself with bizarre theatrics just to coax a smile out of her. How could she not laugh? How could she look upon someone casting aside every ounce of dignity solely for her sake and call him pathetic?
Slowly, Yuna's heart began to thaw. Sincerity seeped into the acts that were supposed to be pure deception. And the more she opened up to Charybdis, the more she came to understand the man behind the myth. The war that had ravaged the Empire for years had spawned countless victims. Charybdis was simply one of them.
He wasn't an evil man. He had never been wicked.
Dad. Mom.
Faced with Charybdis's self-loathing and desperate devotion, Yuna thought:
I don't think I can hate this person with all my heart.
Yet even so, she had to kill him. She believed it was the only right course, and her parents' horrific deaths remained etched into her soul with razor-sharp clarity. Yuna had studied Charybdis so she could murder him. And in doing so, she discovered just how pitiable he truly was. Pity took root within her.
Yet her agonizing conflict could not last. She had overlooked something crucial: just how much karmic blood Charybdis Salos had accumulated over a lifetime of war.
"Yuna!"
An assault struck the manor—something no one had ever dared attempt before. The target was Yuna. And she saw the bitter, agonizing expression on Charybdis's face as he butchered the assailants to protect her. She felt the tremor in the arms that embraced her as though she were the most precious thing in the world. She heard the terror threading his voice.
It required no genius to understand: she had become Charybdis's glaring weakness. And she was not the only one capable of driving a blade into that vulnerability.
This man will keep killing more and more people.
She wasn't the only soul nursing a vendetta against him. The blood on Charybdis's hands demanded that heavy of a toll. Countless assassins would hound Yuna now that she was his Achilles' heel, and Charybdis would slaughter every last one of them to keep her safe. There was no turning back.
She had started this. Therefore, it was only right that her hands brought it to a close. At the very least, it was her responsibility to release this old man from his torment before it worsened.
And so, Yuna killed Charybdis. He had exposed a glaring opening to her without a shred of suspicion, and without hesitation, she drove a fruit knife deep into his flesh.
Yuna still remembered.
"What did you think of me?"
The sheer shock stamped across Charybdis's face when she struck. The dying moments of that old man, his lips parting and trembling as he choked on his own blood, unable to force out a single word before breath fled him forever.
"Did you hate me?"
She would never know his final thought. Even though he died right before her eyes, he had left her nothing.
"...He must have."
That was what terrified her. And now, that terror was crashing over her like a tidal wave.
My course of action was decided. Nothing grand. Just taking precautions for a worst-case scenario. To make it work, I needed to secure an essential prerequisite.
"Stan Robinhood."
"..."
"Got a minute to talk?"
"Didn't we agree not to pay each other any mind?"
"Come on, agreements change with the situation. Besides, it's not like I'm dragging your little sister into this. I just want to chat."
"You intend to threaten me again like that, don't you?"
"When did I ever?"
"Did you not claim you command a highly skilled assassin?"
"I did."
I had only revealed that as my personal vulnerability! How the hell did that translate into a threat? Did he honestly think I'd order Yuna to assassinate the key figures of his house? Sure, I suppose a paranoid mind could jump to that conclusion, but that was strictly due to Stan's narrow, suspicious brain.
"Are you doubting my integrity right now?"
Me, of all honest and innocent men?
"...Forget it. Just state your business."
"I just have something to discuss regarding recent events. You're one of the few people around here I actually know."
"Since when were we on familiar terms...?"
"Ever since we came to understand each other's private grievances?"
"You have lost your damn mind."
Shrugging casually, I extended an object toward Stan.
"You know what this is, right?"
"..."
"Yep, the high-performance transceiver Emily made. You get what I mean, don't you? You're her big brother, after all. See? Her initials are even engraved right here."
"...Why are you handing this to me?"
"As you already know, these come in pairs. You speak into one, and the other receives the sound."
I shoved the earpiece of my transceiver into my ear and locked eyes with him.
"You're going to intervene in the Under Chain mess, aren't you?"
"Yes, of course..."
"I won't ask for much. You've got sharp eyes, so you can spot things I can't. Just find one thing for me and let me know."
"Ha! And why on earth should I do that?"
"Because you're Emily's brother."
A thoroughly kind and upstanding guy. So I had faith he'd gladly do me a small favor like this. We're practically best buds, right?
"Threatening me in that manner again..."
Wait, was that not the right thing to say?
I had no clue what bizarre mental gymnastics led him to that conclusion. Still, there was no time to explain.
"Since we understand each other, I'm counting on you, okay?"
"Krk...!"
Hey, if it gets results, I'll take it. I could always clear up the misunderstanding later.
