The Illusion Everyone Sees (3)
The Steel Hawks weren't particularly intelligent. As the group rode swiftly into the forest, the pursuing hawks became entangled in the trees just as expected and failed to maintain their chase. Even so, after dispatching the few that continued to follow, Yohan's team had successfully slipped from their pursuers' sight.
"Looks like we've escaped for now…."
They dismounted and hid, waiting for an opportunity. It was then that Cryan suddenly clutched his head, his expression suggesting he was listening to something.
"……?!"
Everyone worried. Was he hearing hallucinations? He wasn't the type to complain of mental illness, which only made the sight more unsettling.
"A-are you all right, Cryan…?"
"Wait. Don't worry, Eclipse. It's just a message from the Magic Tower."
The concern didn't last long once he explained the order had come from the Tower. Closing his eyes in concentration, he soon relayed what he'd heard.
"…Lady Gremory wants us to head to the training grounds. She says to gather everyone, defeat the Steel Hawks, and hold out until the situation is resolved."
A decision typical of Gremory, who could command the Tower's mages. Though a student, her background surpassed his. Jurchen, however, looked briefly furious and exhaled sharply.
"Where the hell are the professors and instructors? Why are the students forced to protect themselves like this?!"
Of course, his anger wasn't directed at Gremory. It was a lament for the incompetent professors who had created this mess.
"Y-you're surprisingly sensible, Jurchen," Eclipse said, her voice shrinking.
"Sensible or not, I don't care about myself, but other students' lives are on the line. It's only natural! This is unacceptable. Damn this half-baked academy. Sigmund's reputation has already hit rock bottom!"
"That's one of the few things you've said I can agree with."
"Thanks, Cryan. That concludes Jurchen's remarks."
"…Haa."
Even when praised, he managed to deduct points from himself. Cryan frowned, weary from the stress. He simply turned to Karalin, the decision-maker, with a sullen expression.
"What do you think, my lady?"
"You mean joining them."
She answered immediately with what she had been thinking.
"As we just felt, the biggest problem in dealing with this disaster is being outnumbered. So no matter what, if we want to survive, heading to Gremory seems like the priority…."
Yet Karalin seemed to have something else in mind. She quietly stroked her sword and murmured,
"I wonder if that's truly the best course."
"…What do you mean?"
Joining Gremory would obviously increase their survival chances. But the Steel Hawks were alien beings. Karalin had never even heard of such monsters before. If so, it was reasonable to assume someone malicious who wanted the students harmed had summoned them here.
‘…That's what bothers me.'
Given how serious the situation had become—so much so that the instructors and gamekeepers couldn't intervene—the person behind this must be extremely meticulous. Even if they followed Gremory's plan and gathered the students to resist the Steel Hawks, what guarantee was there that a powerful "second wave" capable of crushing everyone at the rendezvous wouldn't appear?
It almost seemed as if the one who summoned the Steel Hawks was deliberately herding the students together.
The more she thought about it, the more suspicious it felt. So Karalin shared her thoughts with the group.
"Y-you're right…. There's no record of anything like this in the monster compendium. It's not strange to think that way."
"So things have become rather ambiguous. Since the message has already spread, people will start gathering. If my suspicion is correct, something bigger will happen…."
"B-but what if your suspicion isn't true…?"
"That would be fortunate. Still, when we don't know what might happen, rushing to the rendezvous without looking back isn't necessarily the best choice."
"Th-that's true as well…."
After hearing the explanation, Eclipse immediately agreed—it was a highly rational suspicion. Only Jurchen glanced repeatedly at Cryan, as if he had nothing more to say. It seemed Cryan was the one who had to voice agreement or disagreement with the lady's opinion.
He asked her,
"Then what would you like to do, my lady?"
"…Hmm."
"From what you said, it sounded as though the mastermind behind all this is trying to lure the students into one place."
At those words, Karalin chewed her lip in thought.
‘…What would Yohan have done right now?'
If Yohan were here, she would simply ask for his thoughts and follow them at once. Strangely enough, his deductions were always correct. Even when she couldn't understand the motive behind his actions at the moment, time would reveal that he had judged the situation with a very clear purpose. And even while doing so, he always respected her will. As Yohan's liege, she never knew how reassuring it was to have such a brilliant strategist always on her side.
But he wasn't here now. The one who had to act was herself alone.
‘…Perhaps I've been relying on his broad back all this time, suppressing my own will. I must become someone who won't bring shame before him.'
So Karalin opened her mouth. As if possessed by Yohan, her childhood friend who had rotted away, she decided to do what he would have done. That way, when she met Yohan after death, she could say, "I tried my best," couldn't she?
"…I won't be joining them."
"J-just you, my lady…?"
Eclipse immediately questioned her. Karalin had declared that she alone wouldn't join.
"I'd like all of you to come with me if possible. But from now on, I'll be risking my life. I can't force that on you."
"Y-yes…?"
"So only I won't be joining Gremory."
Risking her life. At those chilling words, Jurchen's eyebrows twitched.
"…You're saying you'll risk your life, Grand Duke's daughter?"
"That's right. Any problem?"
"Kahaha, master and servant really are alike."
For some reason, he seemed to be overlaying someone's image over hers.
"Then would you kindly share that ‘best idea' with me?"
Karalin didn't know Jurchen was a dopamine addict who usually worshipped such people, so she was merely puzzled by his reaction. She simply stated what she had thought.
"I'll use myself as bait to lure the Steel Hawks."
"L-lure them, you say…?"
"That's right, Eclipse. Just as the message reached Cryan, it will have reached the other mages too. We can't stop people from gathering, but…."
She looked around at everyone standing before her.
"At the very least, I'll tie down most of the Steel Hawks so those heading to the rendezvous won't be burdened."
"How do you intend to do that?"
Cryan quickly asked, as if he'd been waiting. Karalin waved her hand dismissively, as if it were nothing, though everyone present knew that what she was about to say was anything but ordinary.
"The Steel Hawks tend to go after large, easy-to-chase targets. They don't seem very intelligent, nor are they particularly fast…."
With those words, she pointed beyond the forest ahead of them—toward a large pasture below a cliff.
"Then those should do."
There, alongside what looked to be at least several hundred wild horses… was a wide plain perfect for galloping. Indeed, what did she plan to do with them? Whatever her scheme, Cryan, who needed to sever his brother Vankite's head, felt at ease seeing her deliberately distance herself from the others and create a situation favorable for Vankite's approach. Whether the plan risked her life or not, having already boarded Yohan's scheme, Cryan had a duty to follow her to the end. So he fiddled with the final key he had carefully tucked into his pocket—the 「Rebirth」.
***
And the one watching favorably as Karalin struggled, thinking "What would Yohan have done?", was not only Cryan but Vankite as well. Perhaps because they were rotten brothers who shared the same blood. Of course, the context Vankite enjoyed was slightly different from Cryan's.
"Kahaha, look at her right now…. What the hell is she thinking, acting like that? She's trying so hard, so hard, so hard…."
Even after suffering the painful loss of Yohan, she wasn't breaking down—she was trying to overcome it by banding together with her comrades. If he saw her flirting with her companions like that, it seemed she'd come up with some good idea, though he didn't know what. But what if he thoroughly crushed that idea? What kind of expression would she make then? What kind of expression would she make if he killed all her comrades… along with that worthless, foolish Cryan who had no right to live?
Then her hard-won mental state would be thoroughly twisted, twisted, and twisted again.
‘Should I make it all seem like her own fault? Drown her in guilt—?'
He didn't know for sure, but the harvest of negligence seemed near, so Vankite couldn't help but feel excited. Right now, he felt as if he were watching a snake being released into a box full of lab rats. It was disgustingly entertaining.
But then, from behind, an impatient Yagnus spoke in a displeased tone.
"More importantly, Your Majesty. It seems we failed to deal with one insect. That gamekeeper flying around in the sky shooting celestial magic… is truly an obstruction. If you give the order, I'll go deal with him immediately."
"Ah, forget it, forget it. Let him waste his strength. That bastard's only catching iron beasts anyway, right?"
"…That is true, but."
"There's plenty more iron where that came from. No matter how many he catches, we can just make more. What I want to see right now is how Karalin will respond."
Yagnus disliked the look in Vankite's eyes—the way he seemed to lose something while fixating on his goal—but he didn't show it. Whether Vankite noticed this or simply didn't care, he continued in a calm voice.
"Still, it's a shame…. If she'd joined as per the message earlier, I was going to drop the Iron Giant right on the rendezvous point."
But at that moment, Vankite—who had maintained his composure—suddenly raised his voice in surprise and called for Yagnus. Yagnus's feathers trembled ominously.
"…Wait, Butler! Zoom in on the pasture Karalin just entered."
His subordinate hurriedly adjusted the absolute vision he had been sharing with Vankite. What appeared in the magnified view was…
BOOM—.
Four figures had broken through the gate, leading all the horses out of the pasture. They were all mounted on horseback. As Karalin, at the front, advanced ahead of the herd, the other three followed diligently behind her. Riderless horses also trailed after them. Then, when Karalin spurred her horse hard and struck the reins, the horses following them began to gallop furiously after the four speeding ahead. Perhaps using the horses' instinct to run alongside others, even just by running like that, a thick cloud of dust rose across the plain.
But she didn't stop there. Karalin led them all toward the wild horses left abandoned in the pasture and charged…
Neigh—!
The herd grew larger with each repetition. No, it became enormous. The sound of hooves shook the earth. And at that noise—
Shrieeeek—!!!
The Steel Hawks circling nearby reacted one by one and began chasing after the dust cloud.
"…It's a lure! She used her head."
If they kept circling like this, even if not the entire Karlandel, at least the Steel Hawks in this area would all be following her and wouldn't pay attention to the other students. At this, Vankite laughed. Finally, the timing had come to smash the Iron Giant right in front of her. And with Yohan, who would surely have interfered, nowhere to be seen, Vankite had nothing left to worry about. A feast already prepared, all he had to do was pick up the spoon. And the first to die should be none other than that idiot Cryan.