The Gathering Oddballs (6)
The young man who seemed to be the leader among the assailants bound by ropes shouted.
“Klgh, we will not submit to a traitor! Kill us!”
“………….”
He had a real talent for drawing out murderous intent from people. Or rather, for a bearded grown man who looked like he’d desperately insist “I’m not an uncle, I’m your big brother!” if kids called him mister, what exactly was the point of yelling “Kill us!”? Who benefited from that?
I thought for a moment, then shouted with a grave expression.
“Stop, Ligret! Hold it in!”
“What?”
Ligret stared at me with a face that clearly said What nonsense is this idiot spouting? I paid it no mind and kept going.
“I know you want to bathe in the blood of these fools who attacked you without knowing their place! But we agreed to live clean with washed hands once we entered the academy! No dismemberment murders starting from the entrance exam!”
I felt the bound assailants flinch and tremble. Good. The effect was solid. Now for the follow-up line—
“That’s right, Miss Ligret! These people may have committed wrongs, but they still have families waiting for them and homes to return to! Please show mercy! If it’s truly too hard to endure, cut me instead!”
…You’re escalating it even further?
Fiore clung to Ligret’s arm as she cried out, tears actually glistening in her eyes.
“Th-that’s right! Lady Ligret! Please hold back!”
Wow. Even Loto was joining in now. Wait a second. Judging by his expression and gestures, he actually believes that, doesn’t he?
Ligret’s face was twisting into something truly rotten, faint spasms running across her whole body. But to the captured men, it must have looked like a murderer on the verge of exploding.
With pathetic “Hiiik!” sounds, the bound men struggled to put even an inch more distance between themselves and Ligret. I shouted at them.
“Hey! Spit something out, anything! Give me a reason to decide whether I’ll spare you or not!”
“It was a knight! A brown-haired knight told us the Midas bloodline would be coming through here!”
“Hey! Shut your mouth! Are you really selling your pride to these traitors to the empire?”
“Shut up! Then you can die by yourself!”
The young man who looked like their leader tried to restrain the others, but once mouths had opened, they couldn’t be closed again.
I pressed further.
“A brown-haired knight is a pretty vague description. What made you trust it enough to follow through? What if it was a lie meant to hinder competitors? You didn’t just blindly follow orders without verifying anything, right?”
“It was Betuart! The armor had the Betuart marquis family crest engraved on it, so we believed him!”
“Hmm. Still not convincing. A member of a proud marquis house resorting to such petty tricks?”
“It’s the truth! Please believe us!”
So it’s that Nicolaus bastard.
It felt a bit sloppy, but as an improvised scheme in the limited environment of a forest where outside help was impossible, it wasn’t bad. Above all, without any physical evidence, they could simply deny everything if it failed. It was a win if they took us out, and even if they didn’t, there was no trail leading back to them.
Whether it was Nicolaus acting alone or under Alphons’s orders, I didn’t particularly care. The important fact was that they had tried to cause us physical harm.
I spoke to the men.
“Hey, all of you who want to live. Shout ‘I forfeit’ at the top of your lungs right now.”
“Huh?”
“Shout that you forfeit. Or would you rather just die?”
“I-I forfeit! I forfeit!”
“We forfeit!”
“Please spare us!”
“You… you shameless bastards…!”
Whether one man tried to resist the flow alone or not, the assailants’ frantic shouts echoed wildly through the forest.
My companions, including Ligret, looked at me like I had lost my mind, but their eyes soon widened at the change happening around us.
Flutter, flutter.
As if drinking in the surrounding light, countless pitch-black butterflies suddenly appeared. And it wasn’t just one or two. Ten, a hundred, a thousand. Even as I tried to count them, the endlessly multiplying swarm continued to grow. An overwhelming mass that could only be described as a legion of butterflies descended upon the screaming, struggling men, covering their bodies before dragging them away somewhere.
In the face of that majestic yet terrifying sight, Fiore asked in a faintly trembling voice.
“Brother, what on earth is that…?”
“A safety measure. No matter how much the academy might scoff at minor casualties, they aren’t a bunch of murder-crazed lunatics who’d let examinees die for no reason. The ones who collapsed from exhaustion or couldn’t move due to injuries were probably carried off like that from other areas too. Instant death can’t be helped, though.”
I thought to myself, So the person behind it doesn’t step forward directly.
Since this was the academy, there were naturally professors whose role was to teach the students, and the owner of that butterfly swarm was one of them. Among the characters in Planetarium, she was famous for her beauty, so I had wanted to see her in person at least once. Well, there would probably be a chance later.
I turned to the young man who had been left behind because he alone refused to forfeit.
“So, what will you do? If you want to stay tied up in this forest without forfeiting until the end, feel free.”
He ground his teeth and growled.
“Even if you show mercy in this manner, do you really think you can atone for the sins you’ve committed?”
“You really do talk a lot of annoying crap. And you keep calling us traitors to the nation, but let’s be honest—who’s really in the wrong? The bastards who broke the law and schemed in secret, or the grandfather who reported it and received fair compensation for his work? You people are masters at shifting blame.”
Ah, of course, if the grudge was against my damned father, I could understand. That man probably deserved to suffer a bit.
Having no desire to speak with him any longer, I left the man where he was and started moving. He kept muttering resentfully to himself, but he’d probably get tired of it eventually.
Ligret asked, “No need to finish him?”
“We’re not cornered enough to bother. I need to manage my image too. If I killed every single one of these guys and got labeled a bloodless, tearless murderer, that would be unfair, wouldn’t it?”
Ligret suddenly fell silent. What? Had she detected another ambush?
“—Hoo. So you do understand that, yet you’re the one who completely trashed my image?”
Ah. Well. You see…
I glanced toward Fiore and Loto, but Fiore was already smiling brightly as she quietly increased the distance between us, and Loto had simply bolted.
“W-wait, let’s talk this out! Problems between civilized people can usually be solved through conversation!”
“There is no conversation with a murderer whose hobbies are bathing in blood and committing dismemberment.”
“Hey, wait, it’s not like I was the only one talking—ack! Ack! That hit bone! Ack!”
For several days we advanced while feeling our lives were in danger from an enraged Ligret—far more threatening than any wild beasts that attacked or other participants aiming for our supplies.
On the morning of the sixth day of the first test, we finally reached the target location.
A vast open plaza spread out in a circle around a gigantic central tower. Dozens of successful candidates had already taken up positions there.
—For example, a massive man whose bare upper body was covered in writhing muscles and countless scars.
—For example, a long-haired girl who lightly carried a greatsword so enormous it was closer to a blunt weapon than a blade.
—For example, a hunter quietly maintaining his arrows in one corner of the plaza without sparing a glance at his surroundings.
—For example, a frivolous-looking dual-wielding swordsman who laughed and chatted nonstop with the women who seemed to be his party.
—For example, a gray-haired young man who kept frowning as he stared intently at the book in his hands.
—For example, a dazzling beauty with flaming red hair and a dress that somehow balanced practicality and elegance.
Some wore extremely exhausted faces that suggested they wanted to rest immediately, while many others looked relaxed, as if this much was nothing.
With about two days left until the test ended and more successful candidates continuing to arrive, the final number would likely swell into the hundreds.
The impression is different from seeing them on a screen, but there are quite a few faces I recognize from Planetarium.
These were the owners of outrageous abilities who had been called monsters, first-string, or S-rank among players. They would be reassuring as allies, but as competitors fighting for the same passing spots, they were undeniably threatening. Among them might even be the one who triggered this test—the owner of a Template.
Still, I wasn’t afraid.
After suffering for two whole years, it would be unfair if I got pushed around now.
No matter who the opponent was, I had no intention of losing.
Ligret seemed to share similar thoughts; unlike her usual self, a faint smile played at the corners of her lips. An endless thirst for improvement was the very essence of the Nameless War Demon.
Perhaps sensing that fighting spirit in her eyes, several people in the plaza turned their gazes toward Ligret. It was our own little signal that we had broken through the first round of the main competition.