The 300-Year-Old Magical Girl (4)
I would learn how all this had come about later.
After our last meal together, Casacos had apparently gone around asking everyone where I was. The various “busy affairs” that kept me from showing my face had made me something of a ghost.
‘Oh? Miss Eclipse?’
‘P-Professor Casacos!’
The person she happened to run into was Eclipse. As the only commoner among us, she had stayed completely clear of the chairman’s purge and therefore had far too much free time on her hands. If we excluded Jurchen, who was still locked in the tower, she was also the only true “outdoor” hunter in our otherwise indoor group. So it wasn’t strange at all that the two of them would cross paths.
They seemed to have chatted about recent events. Nothing too serious—just the usual “what have you been up to lately” and “what has Yohan been doing.” Eclipse, bless her, had apparently read between the lines and carefully omitted any details I would have preferred kept hidden. But when the conversation turned to Gorgo, Casacos flew into a state of extreme excitement at the thought of meeting a living legend from the past. She had practically clung to Eclipse, begging for an introduction.
‘Gorgo, ma’am. Someone said she really wanted to meet you. What do you think?’
‘Yohan’s mother?! Absolutely! I’ve been bored out of my mind these past few days anyway. A short chat would be perfect.’
Gorgo, who had been itching to get outside after being cooped up for so long due to her status and the need for secrecy, gladly agreed. Still, even though Casacos claimed the position of my mother, she was still a professor. They met not in the autonomous activity club room—an area of first-class confidentiality—but in a quiet suburban location a short distance from the academy.
‘I-I am honored to meet the Lady Gorgo…!!’
‘Ahaha… People of this era always react like this when they see me.’
‘But just a moment. According to the historical records you were a man. Why are you dressed as a woman…? Is that your preference?’
‘Sorry to disappoint, but the records are wrong. I was a woman from the beginning. When I attended Sigmund I simply never corrected anyone and kept my body wrapped up tight, so the misunderstanding spread.’
‘Good heavens.’
What began as simple starstruck awe—the same wonder everyone felt upon meeting a living hero—gradually turned into a deeper conversation. They spoke about how she had returned from within one of the Six Swords, and how she had managed to preserve her sense of self.
‘…So that child Yohan drove a special-grade Nail of Ecurisia into my skull, which is how I ended up here. Your parents are from the North, so you must know of it. The artifact created during the “Homeland War” when my brother and I stood against Karlangk.’
‘Wait, the Nail of Ecurisia?’
‘Yes. Is something wrong?’
‘That’s something our family’s progenitor created.’
‘…Huh?!’
‘My alchemy is essentially a family trade. Everything traces back to the great progenitor Ecurisia.’
Casacos’s eyes sparkled as she continued.
‘…In that case, I can’t possibly let this opportunity pass. Would you allow me to adjust it? Just to be safe.’
‘You can do that?! What an outstanding scholar you are.’
‘I know what kind of image I must have given you lately with all my outbursts, but please remember—my real profession is this.’
And so Casacos adjusted the nail on Gorgo’s head. She added a mechanism that would let them voluntarily control the dual-personality situation that could intermittently emerge whenever Asparug’s consciousness grew too strong. That was where the talk of “turning the nail” had come from.
‘Additionally, if the time ever comes when you must turn the nail and switch to Asparug’s personality…’
‘Then…?’
‘I have installed a wonderful device that will suppress aggression by a factor of ten! Don’t worry, it’s nothing major!’
‘Mm, excellent work!’
‘And as a woman, I simply had to bestow upon you the utmost beauty… Hehehe…’
Honestly, Casacos. The foreshadowing from when she first visited our house—the frilly, overly girlish room—had finally paid off.
In any case, that was the full context behind everything.
Or so I learned after the fact, when Eclipse recounted the whole story to me.
Returning to the present—my sparring match with Gorgo.
“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you. Kha ha ha—!”
The colorful frills sitting atop her short-cropped hair. The grotesquely cute and lovely outfit… Gorgo—no, Asparug—spat out bloodthirsty threats without the slightest awareness of the bizarre decorations clinging to her body.
It was like watching an office lady who had been forced into a magical-girl transformation for over twenty years and still couldn’t escape her corporate identity. The words coming out of her mouth sounded exactly like something a jaded corporate veteran would say.
Yes, that made sense. But the problem was that Gorgo’s actual age was a little over three hundred years. In the current world, the only beings older than her were the elder elves, the Demon King, and the Six Swords. When someone of such venerable dignity was dressed like this… it created a rather serious cognitive dissonance.
Setting all that aside, Gorgo already knew I had once controlled one of the Six Swords. Unlike when she had faced Eclipse earlier, she had warned me in advance that she would unleash her full power this time.
“H-Hiiik… Hiiiik—! Hiiik—!”
Perhaps that was why Eclipse, having witnessed Gorgo’s true strength, was standing beside me gasping for breath, unable to even steady her lungs. This was nothing less than the overwhelming realization of the difference in species. A being that had received the flesh of the Sun God was, in essence, a fragment of a goddess.
So I simply told her:
“Eclipse. Calm down.”
“S-So she was holding back earlier. What do I do…? How can I possibly…”
“I said calm down. I’m right here. You won’t die. I won’t let you die.”
“…Yohan. So when we were fighting the Steel Hawk, you really charged in alone against something like this.”
Eclipse’s eyes began to shine with a strange light. She seemed to have found some measure of relief, but hearing her say it left me with nothing to reply.
“It’s scary, I know. But accept it. The only thing required to face that thing is the resolve to never look back. The determination that it’s fine even if you lose your entire body.”
“Ah, my hero…!”
“I keep telling you I’m not.” I sighed. “Anyway, I’ll exchange a few blows first. Watch carefully.”
The moment I finished speaking, I drew my black sword and charged at Asparug.
“A mere sack of human flesh dares to wish for death? Then I’ll tear you apart with a storm of steel first. Become nourishment for the sun, you livestock—!”
Asparug immediately tried to carve me open with an iron storm, but that trick only worked on people it could actually affect.
“Huh. You didn’t hear it from Yagnus? That doesn’t work on me.”
When she realized her power wasn’t responding, Asparug could only growl in fury.
“Haa?! What the hell! Don’t cheat, you chicken-brain! Or wait—looking at that massive body, maybe you’re more of a turkey?”
“Think whatever you like. Let’s settle this with cold steel like civilized people.”
“Kaaak—! Fine! I’ll crush you…!”
Boom—!
The instant our blades met, a metallic screech that crushed iron itself echoed across the entire area.
“Oh ho, you’re not being pushed back?”
“There’s no way I would be. Strength is one thing I’m confident in.”
Even as I said that, I was honestly struggling. It felt like I was going to die. After all, the body Asparug had stolen belonged to Gorgo. As the progenitor of the Vitagarte bloodline, she naturally possessed monstrous physical power. But if I let myself be overpowered after acting so confident in front of Eclipse, it would be unbearably humiliating. So I poured every ounce of strength into parrying her strikes, returning blow for blow.
Clang—!Kang—!
Our attacks matched with eerie precision. Like twin stars colliding, each of us read the other’s thoughts perfectly. In a way, it was only natural. The swordsmanship she used was the origin of Lady Karalin’s style—the very essence of the North. Since I had learned the sword from Karalin, it wasn’t strange that our techniques would resemble each other.
That said, they weren’t completely identical. The Asparug who controlled Gorgo’s body displayed a more primal, untamed ferocity.
“You can receive the very blade that once killed me? To think there are still humans like you in this age— Good. It feels exactly like when I stole Gorgo’s body…! Once I kill you two, I’ll have to tell Vincent about this someday.”
“I doubt that. Since I’m standing right here, that might be a little difficult.”
“Is that so?”
And then—
“Lower your sword, child.”
Whisper—Poyoyong—!
The moment Asparug whispered to me, a pink radiance bloomed before my eyes.
“Damn it!”
My vision blurred. Before I knew it, I was obeying her command and lowering my blade.
“So you can eat iron shards but you can’t resist this! I see your level now. How interesting. I want to kill you.”
“…Ugh.”
It was the same as the petrification power of the Goddess’s Eye that Yagnus had shown me. This was the ability of the Goddess’s Mouth—mental domination. There was no proper way to avoid it, which made it incredibly troublesome.
I had barely managed to regain my senses in the nick of time. I avoided the follow-up slash she sent, but the aura still grazed my arm armor, shattering it and burning the flesh beneath.
“Asparug. You’re using every trick you have. Aren’t you ashamed to use such things against mere livestock like humans?”
“Nonsense. I go all-out even when catching a single rabbit…♬”
“Then I suppose that ‘outfit’ is also part of going all-out?”
When I said that with a laugh, Asparug froze for a moment.
“W-What are you talking about?”
I tilted my head as if the answer should have been obvious.
“I’m talking about those clothes. You’re a full-blown magical girl. Don’t tell me you only just noticed? You’ve never actually looked at yourself, have you?”
The words seemed to hit home. Asparug slowly lowered her head in a very uncharacteristic motion, then showed an entirely human reaction—her face flushing bright red. Her pupils trembled.
“D-Don’t look—!”
“Don’t look…?”
“T-This! What the fuck is this?! This is just a temporary physical transformation!”
“Multi-colored frills, sparkly decorations, shiny pink rainbow sparkles. And just now when you chanted, I definitely heard a weird ‘poyoyong’ sound effect.”
Asparug openly panicked. She clutched her head.
“Aaaaaaaaaah—!! Gorgo, you bitch! How dare you—! I am a man!”
In the gap that opened, I shouted.
“Now, Eclipse!”
“Yesss—!!”
Eclipse had been watching our fight in awe, but she had also been waiting for the perfect timing to strike. At my signal her body reacted instantly. With her signature graceful movement she leapt forward, swinging her sword down like a hawk snatching prey.
The strike looked perfect—until—
Thud—!
Just before the blade could sink into Asparug’s side, Clang! Even in her panic, Asparug reflexively reached out and deflected Eclipse’s sword.
Still, the attempt itself deserved full marks. Had Asparug not been one of the Six Swords, that blow would have carved out her organs. Considering the “Uuu, I can’t hit anyone” debuff she had carried when we first met, her growth was nothing short of remarkable.
Yet Eclipse looked slightly devastated.
“Kyaaaaak—! Seriously, why is everyone from the North not even human?! I worked so hard after the entrance ceremony, but I still got blocked by a Northerner!”
“Shut up. Focus!”
Eclipse’s legs nearly gave out, but I shoved her aside and took the brunt of Gorgo’s follow-up attack myself. Then I threw the second sword I carried at my waist toward the distant Eclipse.
The blade shaped like the sun—Solaris.
“Resupply. Try using that, Eclipse!”