How a Wizard Survives (19)
How a Wizard Survives (19)
Truth be told, lately, every day I walked into the Inquisition Branch felt like walking on a knife's edge.
I passed through the temple's main gate trembling with the fear that any moment I might be climbing the gallows.
Then the guards stationed at the Inquisition Branch inside abruptly blocked my path.
Thinking the moment had finally come, I went rigid, but they quickly cleared up the misunderstanding.
"Squire Jaeger. There is a guest inside today."
"A guest? Who?"
"Someone from the Wizardvein Family came personally to escort Death Mage Dresden."
"Ah..."
Now that I roughly understood, I squared my chest again.
Death Mage Dresden, whom we had captured back in the Einhold Duchy, was a Permanent Sealing Target designated by the Inquisition.
Keeping mages like him sealed for long periods isn't possible with the facilities here.
So he's to be transferred to a special facility built for permanent sealing.
It was probably handled the same way when I caught Fire Mage Loren last time.
Except back then I was lying in the infirmary and didn't get to watch.
The reason the guards made a point of cautioning me was obvious.
Because I'm Katrina's squire.
'I take it Lady Katrina's relationships with her own kin aren't the best, then.'
Fair enough. From the Wizardvein Family's perspective, her insistence on fighting might seem improper.
Even Reinhardt was like that not long ago, wasn't he.
Stories about Katrina's parents, especially, were practically taboo.
I never even dared to work up the nerve to ask about them.
'Listening to Lord Reinhardt, Lady Katrina's mother seems to be in a state of permanent sealing...'
Permanent sealing isn't a punishment reserved only for heretics, so there's no guarantee she was one.
Wasn't it standard practice for the Wizardvein Family to apply permanent sealing so souls wouldn't be handed over to demons, anyway?
Either way, drawing their attention didn't seem like a good idea.
I crept into the Inquisition Office as quietly as I could, trying to stay out of sight.
But as if to make a mockery of my efforts.
The guests from the Reshutal Inquisition Branch were meeting Reinhardt right in front of the stables.
A spot so conspicuous you simply can't pretend you didn't notice.
A woman with bright silver hair, unmistakably a relative of Katrina's, was giving Reinhardt a meticulously polite greeting.
Behind her stood the escort wagon carrying Death Mage Dresden.
"Thank you, Your Excellency. We have properly received the Permanent Sealing Target, Death Mage Dresden."
"Good. Transport him safely to the facility."
Had they already wrapped up their business?
Just as I was feeling a little relieved, the Wizardvein woman added, brimming with excitement.
"You are truly remarkable, Uncle. In less than two months since your appointment to Reshutal you've erased five names from the Wall of Shame..."
"One."
"...Pardon?"
Reinhardt's correction left her visibly dumbfounded.
The Lion of the North replied in a voice devoid of humor.
"The only name I erased is Plague Mage Morel. The Einhold Family erased two, and Katrina erased the remaining two with her squire."
"K-Katrina? How could that simpleton..."
Simpleton?
I wasn't sure of the word, but the ring of it was far from pleasant.
Reinhardt looked down at her with a stern gaze.
"You truly do seem to find your cousin unreliable."
"F-Forgive me, Uncle. It's just that I don't understand how... Katrina must have been very lucky."
"Once might be luck. A second time is not luck—it's skill. You may go now."
A clear dismissal, as if he'd heard more than enough.
The woman hastily asked him.
"Is there anything you wish to request from the main house?"
"A request. Now that you mention it, I do need a new Adamantite sword. Minimum purity of fifty percent or higher."
"Wh—what? What about the one you originally carried?"
"Lost it. Do convey that well to my brother."
Reinhardt lied without batting an eye.
Thanks to that, the Wizardvein woman trudged out of the Inquisition Office with a face like she'd swallowed bitter herbs.
I laughed inwardly as I greeted Reinhardt.
So that was the kind of relative she had.
No wonder Katrina's arrival at work was oddly late.
"Good day, Commander."
"Right. You've seen an unsightly scene. Go fetch Katrina. If she's any later, everyone's going to assume she's dead."
"Ha-ha. I'll bring her at once."
Katrina wasn't normally anything but diligent, so Reinhardt's joke had a point.
I hurried toward her quarters.
"Lady Katrina! I'm coming in."
She'd surely be waiting inside fully armored already... but shouting the whole thing felt a bit off, so I knocked and entered.
Only, the neatly tidied sitting room held no sign of her.
Figuring she still hadn't finished getting ready, I was about to wait when a sudden crash came from the bedroom, the sound of something collapsing.
"L-Lady Katrina?"
Reflexively, I drew my sword and rushed in. There was Katrina, collapsed in her nightclothes.
Thankfully there was no blood, but she still hadn't managed to rise.
The moment I quickly supported her, I felt rough breathing and scorching body heat.
'Damn, some kind of illness?'
"Just hold on a little. I'll take you to the infirmary right now!"
I swiftly hoisted her onto my back and dashed to the infirmary.
As luck amid misfortune would have it, because the Reshutal Inquisition Branch was an institution attached to the temple, its medical and pharmaceutical talent pool was splendidly lavish.
Even nobles from the capital came to the temple when they fell ill.
I even applied a touch of Gravity Magic here and there to increase my speed, and a sigh escaped from my back.
The voice sounded forced out, squeezed tight, and it made my heart ache just as hard.
"Jaeger... using magic... how..."
"Do you really think that matters right now?"
I practically kicked down the infirmary door, bursting through, and presented Katrina before the healer.
The healer began to protest angrily, then realized who the patient was and immediately began the examination.
To support his work, I stood beside him with my eyes blazing.
I barely managed to stop myself from repeatedly reaching for my sword's hilt.
"What's wrong with her?! Lady Katrina—she will survive, won't she?"
"Calm down! As far as I can tell, it's simply fatigue fever."
"What? Fatigue fever?"
"Yes. If we're truly unlucky it could be influenza, but..."
"Influenza!"
"Please, calm yourself. You're interfering with the exam."
Practically in a panic, I barely managed to shut my mouth and watched over Katrina.
I'm an Awakened One, a genius among geniuses, so couldn't I perhaps heal her with magic?
But my teacher's voice reined me in inside my head.
'Jaeger. Never attempt to heal a person with magic.'
'Huh? Why is that?'
'Magic is fundamentally a technique of the demons, so spells with that sort of effect are extremely rare. Even if they do exist, a human body can barely endure them. Even less so someone already weakened by illness!'
Unable to do this or that, I was stuck there when Reinhardt strode in after hearing the news.
He practically tossed me out into the hallway, then opened the door a moment later.
"Simple fatigue fever. Seems training while still carrying fatigue from the field assignment didn't agree with her."
"Th-then she'll be all right?"
"She might not be, if you keep making a scene next to her."
Reinhardt, having finally shut me up, issued a special order.
He looked slightly dubious about me, for once... but there was no one else suitable.
"Fetch a change of clothes from Katrina's quarters, and assist with nursing her."
"Understood! I will absolutely see Lady Katrina..."
"Shh. Stop doing things that interfere with her rest."
Reinhardt shut his eyes tightly and reluctantly returned to his duties.
I hurried to help with her admission.
Luckily I'd been hospitalized before myself, so I didn't stumble around much.
Katrina had fallen asleep in the meantime.
I took my armor off entirely and stayed by her side.
Thanks to her position as Holy Knight Captain, Katrina had been assigned a private room, but...
I still couldn't relax.
The fact that a mage like me could sneak in at all meant the Reshutal Inquisition Branch's security was already a lost cause!
Having kept vigil without even eating, once the end of the workday came I decided without hesitation to stay overnight.
My teacher was away anyway, so proper training was impossible.
Ash would worry, but this wasn't my first unannounced overnight absence, so she'd be fine.
How long had I been at Katrina's side, checking her temperature every hour and wiping sweat from her brow whenever I could?
Just as I was finally starting to nod off, a faint voice came from beside me.
I quickly helped her drink some water.
"Jae... ger."
"One moment. You must be thirsty?"
Outside, it had already gone completely dark.
Katrina noticed that without difficulty, and the instant she'd finished the water, she murmured as if in disbelief.
"Didn't even go home... what are you, doing?"
"You told me to stay by your side."
"That was before the workday ended. And I heard earlier it's no fatal illness..."
"Just because it isn't fatal, does that mean you aren't suffering? And what if some other bastard tried something foul against you?"
"If we're weighing that, you're the most dangerous one here, you know."
She gave me a small scolding, then dropped her head back onto the pillow.
Some fever still lingered, but her condition had improved a great deal compared to earlier.
When I offered to read aloud from a book I'd brought just in case, Katrina weakly waved her hand.
Without ever tiring of it, she turned back to the subject of work.
"Death Mage Dresden's transport... proceeded as scheduled, I take it?"
"Yes. The escort left this morning—I went to find you after watching them depart."
"Good. That's good."
"Um... Lady Katrina. Why are the Wizardvein people so discourteous to you?"
Recalling the conversation from earlier in the day, I sounded indignant, and Katrina gave a sad smile.
Thankfully, she didn't reject my question.
"Right, so Charlotte came..."
"Charlotte?"
"The family head's eldest daughter. That is to say, my cousin."
Katrina sighed quietly, then, using her cold as an excuse, opened up candidly.
"It really is my fault. The family head showed me consideration, but I refused that goodwill and threw a fit, begging to be allowed to become a Holy Knight."
"Wh-why would you..."
"...You will have heard some of it, but my mother is under permanent sealing. She did not commit heresy. She was simply gravely injured after fighting harder than anyone else."
'As I thought.'
Just as that passed through my mind, Katrina's confession continued.
Even her voice, tinged with the sound of illness, made me want to keep on listening.
"At the time, the probability that my mother could have been saved was at most fifty percent. During the brief moment the sealing process was applied, her condition worsened, and now it's not even thirty percent. But the family head refused to permit treatment to the very end."
"!"
The reason wasn't hard to guess.
If, while the seal was released and treatment ongoing, Katrina's mother had died, her soul would have gone to the demon.
The head of the Wizardvein Family couldn't bear the consequences of such an outcome.
But by implementing permanent sealing, her soul could be safeguarded with certainty.
Her condition couldn't improve, but in exchange, it couldn't worsen either!
A decision to prevent disgrace to the family.
Yet Katrina, as her daughter, could only be indignant.
"That's truly too much. It's only natural you defied them."
"...Unless all demons die and mages vanish, my mother cannot be freed. She'll be trapped in agony forever, neither dead nor alive."
So that was why Katrina deliberately chose the path of a Holy Knight.
Confronted with a story far bleaker than I'd imagined, I lost words for a long while.
A long silence followed, and then...
After another sip of water, she murmured in a drowsy voice.
"Anyway, earlier I truly thought you'd gone mad. You've hidden it remarkably well until now."
"I'm not like that with anyone else."
"Why in the world... do you go this far for me? How could you even say such a thing in front of my uncle?"
Katrina, who'd fallen silent a moment, posed a question she would never have asked under normal circumstances.
Probably the fever had made her feel strange.
Still, she really had overheard the conversation in the office, hadn't she.
I, on the other hand, was completely sober, and I found myself pointlessly embarrassed.
'After all, she was the one who saved my life first.'
Katrina tugged at the hem of my clothing as though pressing for an answer.
At this rate, she looked ready to sit up in her sickbed.
I frantically racked my brain for a suitable reply.
Even so, there was no way I could answer too honestly.
"Well, because if anything were to go wrong for you, Lady Katrina, I would die too."
The moment I parroted the words Ulysses had once spat out...
Katrina's face flushed deeper than ever.
It was an answer that certainly carried some room for misunderstanding.
If one took it the wrong way, it could sound as if I meant I would follow her in death.
Katrina shut her eyes and buried her ears in the pillow.
A gesture that said she'd hear no excuses now.
My face burning just like hers, I swiftly pretended to doze off myself.
That night, awkward yet strangely blissful, stretched on for a long while.