The Southern Border Is Fine (5)

Kra-ck! Crrrunch!

With a rough grinding sound, the other attendants began prying up the floor of the wagon with their tools.

And out it came—

Thud.

A single rectangular box, long and heavy.

"Hm."

I looked down at it slowly.

"If I recall, the goods you declared amounted to exactly twelve barrels of fish. Nothing more."

Cargo that did not match the statement.

That was evidence, plain and simple.

"What is inside it?"

"..."

Craine said nothing.

He simply clamped his mouth shut and did his utmost to hide whatever his face might betray.

"Did you know this box was loaded onto the wagon?"

"..."

Invoking the right to silence, then.

Not a tactic used often, but a thoroughly annoying one. So that was the game.

"Very well. Even if you refuse to speak, there are ways to find out."

Then I turned to the attendant beside me.

"Request support from the Arcane Society. We require the safety inspection procedure for unauthorized goods."

"Yes, sir."

I had no idea what was inside.

But I couldn't just go poking at it blindly.

It could be a bomb. An unauthorized lifeform. A cursed relic. Who could say? It might even be a magical device rigged to activate at the barest touch.

Every possibility had to remain on the table.

Smugglers really did try to smuggle in the most outlandish things imaginable, after all.

Something like this had to be examined under protective magic with the Arcane Society's support.

Goods that violate the regulations always end up causing incidents.

Handle them carelessly, and not only I but everyone around me could be caught up in the blast. And these men had carried that danger right up to the border, out in the open, exactly like this.

They would have to pay the price for it.

I raised my voice so that everyone could hear.

"You are caught in the act of attempted smuggling. Any and all actions from this point forward may be regarded as a threat against the Crossline Kingdom, and everything you say may be used against you. Disarm yourself immediately."

"Khh...!"

Craine ground his teeth and glared at me.

I met his gaze head-on and said it once more.

"Disarm. I will not say this twice."

Clank.

Right behind them, a border guard deliberately made a show of resettling his sword.

Every card was face-up on the table now.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

There was nowhere left for them to run.

"D-damn it all..."

With a look of bitter defeat, Craine slowly began unbuckling his sword.

And the moment he bent to lay it on the ground—

"Fuck this! I told you we should've been careful!"

"Matthew?"

The man who had been standing behind Craine, his face twisted with anxiety, suddenly pulled something from inside his coat.

A metal sphere the size of a fist, shaped like a capsule.

Its surface was densely etched with geometric patterns, and it gave off a faint bluish glow.

As though mana were dwelling within it.

"...!!!"

I knew exactly what that was.

"An unlicensed artifact...!"

A magical device with illegal modifications.

The most dangerous class of contraband there was.

More powerful than any bomb, and utterly unreadable in its intent—the worst kind of object. And it was clenched in that man's hand.

Craine cried out in shock as well.

"You little shit—when did you smuggle that out!?"

"The problem is you were too damn confident, you doomed bastard!"

A voice teetering on the edge of panic.

The golem reacted to the faint flare of mana at once.

Without a moment's hesitation, I swung the greatsword toward Matthew.

For the sake of the border's safety, that threat had to be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Vmmm—!!

But I was too late.

Matthew's finger was already pressing the artifact's activation button—

And then.

Krr-ack!

Matthew's thumb snapped backward at a grotesque angle.

"Gyaaaaaagh!! My hand, my hand!!"

Unable to withstand the pain, Matthew crumpled to the ground.

"N-no... what... what was...?"

In the face of something so sudden, Craine's flustered voice spoke for everyone present.

It wasn't a border guard's sword. That enormous blade would have taken off his torso, not a finger.

It wasn't magic, either—there had been no trace of mana.

A side effect of the artifact, then?

No. If it were, every one of us standing here would already be dead.

His arm had snapped before the button was even pressed. As though struck by an invisible force.

Then what in the world...

In that instant, one ominous thought flashed through my mind.

An invisible force.

Only a single person could wield that.

I slowly turned my head back.

Please, let it not be her.

I prayed, and prayed again.

At the end of my gaze.

Some twenty paces away.

Elaine stood with her green eyes blazing, one arm outstretched.

As though clutching something unseen, her fist was clenched tight, her hand trembling. With her hood blown back by the wind of her telekinesis, her face laid bare, the princess was breaking Matthew's arm.

She forced the words out through clenched teeth, barely holding the rage down.

Oh. Oh no.

The trauma.

That cruel reality was rearing its head all over again.

"Elaine, stop—"

She squeezed again, harder.

Snap. Crrrunch!

"Gyaaaaaagh!! My arm, my arm!!!"

A scream. And the sound of bone breaking.

I turned away.

Rumble, rumble.

The last thing I heard was the artifact, finally freed from the grip that had lost its strength, clattering across the stone floor.

"..."

"..."

"..."

A silence settled over the entire open ground.

An eerily heavy, ominous stillness pressed down upon the crowd.

No one opened their mouth.

An accident had exploded in the middle of a moment when every eye was fixed on the front. All anyone could do was freeze in shock at this grotesque, unbearable scene of violence unfolding before their eyes.

The immigrants, the examiners, the mercenaries—even the golem itself had turned to stone.

In the suffocating quiet, someone finally spoke.

"T-terrorists...?"

Damn it.

I swept my gaze across the surroundings.

Little by little, the murmuring among the crowd was swelling. Terrified faces flickered past everywhere I looked.

If this goes on, this is going to spiral completely out of control.

Fear breeds confusion, and confusion breeds disorder.

And disorder at the border is the same thing as death.

That much, above all, I cannot allow.

Drawing in the deepest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠breath I could, I shouted at once.

"Did you all see that! This is the treatment that awaits anyone who defies and resists a lawful order!"

"...What?"

"The hammer of justice shall fall upon any who dare to sow chaos at this border! Let every one of you engrave it upon your memory!"

I had to seize control of the situation.

Before the people who witnessed this understood what had actually happened.

Before anyone identified Elaine.

Before the fact that the princess was here in the South was laid bare before all the world.

I had to move first.

And the method was this—

"Excellent work, Captain."

Draping a lie over the truth.

Telekinesis is an invisible force.

Which means there was no way to know who had used it, or from where.

Which, conversely, means anyone could insist that they had been the one to use it.

I would exploit that for all it was worth.

"I heard you'd recently installed a suppression spell in the golem's mana core. The results are truly outstanding. As expected of the border guard."

Straining to sound perfectly casual, I walked up to the golem and addressed it—and the golem tilted its head slightly to one side.

"Excellent work! You. Did. Well!"

Shut it.

Shut your mouth.

Just say yes.

Even a blockhead like you should be able to read the room.

Glaring at the Captain, I hurled a double stream of silent profanity at him with my lips alone.

The golem held its silence for a moment, staring at the muted string of curses.

Then it slowly raised one hand for the crowd to see and declared:

[...Golem magic is great. Suppression of troublemakers within border: complete.]

At that hollow declaration of victory, every gaze in the crowd shifted—not to Elaine, but entirely onto the golem.

The attendants, quick-witted as ever, slipped into the crowd and began to shout.

"Waaah!"

"The guards took down the villains!"

"The border is safe now!"

Clap clap clap clap clap.

The faint sound of the attendants' applause rising out of the silence.

"Oh... so that's what that was?"

"Golem magic, apparently."

"Taking down that many mercenaries in one go—the guards really do live up to their name."

Little by little, the cheers and the applause began to spread.

"You rock, guards!"

And soon enough, whistles joined in behind the attendants, and the crowd grew louder and rowdier by the moment.

The fear was dying down.

Good.

The situation was coming back under control.

All that remained now was to remove the mercenaries from everyone's sight and return things to normal life.

Letting out a long breath, I spoke.

"Captain. Take these smugglers into custody. I shall interrogate them personally in due course."

"You. Have. Worked. Hard!"

Ugh, fine. I'll explain later, alright?

Keeping my smile firmly in place, I gestured for him to hurry along, and the golem scratched ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at its head before trudging toward the mercenaries.

Leaving that scene behind, I turned to the Sense of Taste.

"Sense of Taste. Please see to the cleanup of this area."

She had been clapping blankly along with the crowd, her face a portrait of total incomprehension—and she jolted upright in alarm.

"Yes? Ah—yes! Leave it to me! Esteemed immigrants, please step back for a moment!"

She began carrying out the orders immediately.

One by one, the immigrants fell in line and moved as instructed.

The open ground gradually reverted to its everyday state—an ordinary inspection site.

Watching it, I too slowly regained my composure.

"Good."

All that remained now was—

"Elaine."

"..."

A single woman, frozen in shock at what her own hands had done.

I hurried over to her and took the hand she still held outstretched, gently guiding it down.

"It's alright. Everything is alright now."

[I—I... I was afraid you'd, that you'd get hurt... I—I had no choi...]

Her words stumbled so badly that even my ability struggled to decipher them. Her breathing came ragged and hard.

Within those eyes trembling without restraint, every emotion in the world churned at once.

And yet, seeing her like that, I felt relief.

She managed, barely, to hold her telekinesis down to the minimum—and broke only his arm. That alone is remarkable.

The princess's power was impulsive.

It was swept along by her emotions, and its force swelled in step with them.

If she had hurled that castle-shaking power at a human being the way she had before, that mercenary would likely have left not even a trace behind.

And yet she had summoned every ounce of focus she possessed and reduced the damage to the barest extreme.

An arm. Only an arm.

She's making progress.

Every cloud has its silver lining, as they say. One way or another, she had reined in her power.

In the gentlest voice I could manage, I said:

"I am quite alright. It's thanks to you that I'm safe. So..."

I drew her hood back up over her head, so that no one would notice the color of her eyes.

"Let's go back inside."

"..."

Elaine gave a quiet nod, her expression a tangle of feelings.

What she needed now, more than anything, was rest.

Guiding her through the crowd, I murmured softly.

"I'm sorry, Elaine."

Even so, this wasn't how I'd ever wanted to introduce you to the world.

And amid the thunderous roar of the cheering crowd, Elaine just barely managed to whisper:

[...I'm sorry too.]