Who's Helping Who?
Who's Helping Who?
The helicopter settled onto the garden below.
As I approached, the rear door slid open. I stepped onto the footplate, climbed inside, and the open door sealed shut behind me.
The roar of the propellers finally faded.
"Good day to you!!"
The vacant noise was instantly replaced by a female priest's voice, soaked in excessive fighting spirit.
"I'm Na Yeon-ju, and I have the honor of escorting you today!!"
"Let's go."
"Ah, yes, sir!!"
Na Yeon-ju's appearance was as lively as her voice.
She stole glances at my reflection in the glass as she lifted the helicopter back into the air.
"Where shall I take you?"
"...To the Academy."
"Understood! It'll be about an hour!"
Of course she'd be a priestess of the God of Amusement. Where did she even pick up an accent with such a total lack of foundation?
"Professor!!"
"...I can hear you even if you speak quietly."
"Ah, sorry, sir."
She scratched her head and started watching me warily again.
"If you have something to say, say it."
"Hehe, is it really true that you're in a relationship with our Executor?"
Her eyes sparkled with an intensity that bordered on excessive. They held nothing but pure, undiluted curiosity.
"Yes."
"Waaah!!"
Na Yeon-ju brought both hands to her cheeks and jumped in place. The helicopter wobbled with her.
"Ack! I-I'm sorry!!"
Na Yeon-ju grabbed the controls again. The helicopter stopped swaying and steadied.
I turned my head and studied the face of the 'child' reflected in the window.
"Your age."
"Pardon? Oh, I'm nineteen this year!!"
One year younger than Baek Ha-na. An unusual way of speaking.
【A rift stained dark crimson.】
【The entire Clergy Alliance stared at the rift, their eyes fraught with anxiety — the rift where everyone had fallen to the heretics.】
【Then the rift, which had been radiating an ominous light, surged violently.】
【A supply vehicle burst out of the rift with a deafening clamor.】
【Shattered windows, a bodywork overwritten with blood, door panels hanging by threads.】
【A sliver of wind brushed past the holy knights clutching their arms.】
【Radiant golden hair, sleek and flowing, scattered on the wind.】
【Priestly robes dyed red, as if fresh from a brutal battle.】
【Cold, sunken blue eyes took in the figure of the youngest priest — both eyes gouged out, heart pierced through.】
The information stored in my head replayed itself around Ha-na.
The youngest priest. The ability to freely pilot anything that qualified as a vehicle.
The youngest priest gathers the Clergy Alliance members who fell into a trap and escapes the rift. Many were critically wounded — limbs severed or bodies pierced — but the one death was the young priest at the wheel.
In other branches as well, only the details change: the young priest always dies in the process of rescuing the trapped clergy.
Afterward, Claire returns from containing the rampaging 14th Stage Rift and deals with the heretics — both eyes gouged out, hearts ripped from their still-living bodies.
'Na Yeon-ju.'
This was the same as when I first met Claire. I was certain: the youngest priest was the child sitting in the cockpit right now.
"Have you ever considered enrolling in the Academy?"
"The Academy, you mean?"
"Yes."
She laughed easily and scratched her head.
"Hehe, it's a bit embarrassing to say, but I'm really terrible at studying."
"There shouldn't be any need to take an exam."
"Ah!! That's a misunderstanding!! What I meant was that studies just don't interest me......"
"Is that so?"
"Hehe...... Saying this in front of you is super embarrassing, sir. I just really enjoy operating things like this!!"
"I understand."
I had no intention of forcing a reluctant child into the Academy. If she changed her mind on her own, that would be a different story.
"Is there anything else you wanted to ask?"
"...Is it okay if I do?"
"As long as it's not about Claire."
"Ah!!"
Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
She was a striking contrast to Maria, who resembled Lee Ye-sol in hiding her emotions well.
"...Then I have nothing."
Her voice was thoroughly deflated. That didn't make me change my answer.
"I'm going to rest my eyes for a moment. Wake me when we arrive."
"Yes, sir."
I closed my eyes.
Via Biche, I had already heard that Baek Ha-na woke up yesterday. And that her condition was not seriously bad.
Right now, my depleted mana had temporarily severed my connection to Biche, so additional information was unavailable.
For that reason, I called up the memories accumulated in the ring.
'Pretending to be fine' is one of her specialties, so I can't relax until I see her in person.
Fragments of memory trickled in slowly. They fell into place one by one inside my head, reassembling their original shape.
―...I love that person.
Those were the first words Baek Ha-na spoke after waking from her nightmare.
'That person' would be referring to me. A faint ripple stirred emotions that had barely settled.
-I see.
Claire answered calmly.
Baek Ha-na tried to apologize, but Claire cut her off. And what followed from Claire was a statement that managed to unsettle even me.
-I will help you.
The headache I thought had disappeared returned.
**
"Professor!! We've arrived!!"
At Na Yeon-ju's voice, which had recovered its energy without my noticing, I opened my eyes.
'She landed in the parking area assigned to the temple.'
I thought she would land at the branch office closest to the Academy, but she had taken me exactly to my destination.
'So now I've openly advertised that I went out and came back.'
I'd flown noisily all the way to the villa that served as their base. Unless they were idiots, they could easily guess who had raided the branch office.
It wasn't the picture I wanted, but I'd chosen not to refuse, so I decided not to dwell on this incident.
"What does your schedule look like after this?"
"I go straight back!! I've got to eat dinner and then do the vacation homework I've been putting off......"
She was beaming a moment ago, but the mention of homework made her wilt — a sight that was rather amusing.
"Step out."
"......Huh?"
I left her wearing a slightly dumbfounded expression and exited the helicopter.
"Ah, P-Professor?!"
A flustered voice followed, along with the sound of the helicopter door opening.
"D-did I do something wrong, by any chance?"
She hurried to my side, gazing up at me with an anxious face, fidgeting her fingers.
The very picture of a child.
"Take the day off and rest. I'll take care of your homework."
"Ah!! Really?!"
"Yes."
"Waaah!!"
She flung her arms wide and bounced. Then she suddenly rushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around my waist.
"I'm going to be your fan starting today!!"
"Unnecessary. Let go. You're in the way."
"Hehe~"
I pressed lightly at her forehead and she detached herself.
'If coincidence could ever be fate, then perhaps this is fate.'
Thanks to the variable that is me, her fate might have changed as well. Still, if I'd never known, that would be one thing.
"Mmm, no homework for me...!!"
But now that we've met like this, it would be fine to look after her a little. Besides, her ability is highly useful to me in more ways than one.
With the child humming to herself at my side, I went not to the mansion but first to the Temple of the God of Amusement on the Street of Light.
"You have returned."
Lee Ye-sol greeted me, glancing sidelong at Na Yeon-ju standing next to me.
"Have you eaten dinner yet?"
"I was just about to start preparing."
"Good timing."
The child who had been humming moments before had frozen stiff. I gave her a push on the back.
"Come to the mansion in thirty minutes and bring this child with you."
"I shall."
Having heard Lee Ye-sol's answer, I left Na Yeon-ju there and exited the temple.
'Two of them are active, then.'
They probably think they're being discreet. It's just laughable.
I'd only observed them briefly, and before I knew it I'd arrived at the mansion.
The mansion after three days showed no conspicuous difference from before I left. The corridors were still unlit, dim, and the usual ruckus was absent.
The one thing that was unmistakably different: the children who had been swallowed by nightmares and confined to their beds were now gathered in Baek Ha-na's room.
I walked quietly down the hallway and opened the door to her room.
The gazes that had been watching over Baek Ha-na lying in bed all turned toward me.
-Peep, peep-peep!!
Just like when I had left, the fairy perched at Baek Ha-na's bedside flew toward me with a tearful expression.
Ever since she realized she was a queen, her insolence had soared to the heavens — but deep down, she still hadn't grown past being an overly softhearted child.
I caught her mid-flight with mana and spoke.
"Everyone, wait outside."
The children hesitated, then bowed toward me and filed out of the room.
"...Professor."
"You wait in the study."
I handed the fairy to her and pushed at her back as if shooing her out.
The door closed. The small space now held only two people: Baek Ha-na and me.
I approached her. She lay still, as if asleep.
Swoosh.
I brushed back the hair that had turned a little dry and neatened the bangs covering her eyes. A faint warmth reached my fingertips from her skin.
"......."
"......."
After a brief hesitation, I bent down and brought my lips close to her ear, hidden among her hair.
**
Click.
Claire, who had left the fairy with the children and been waiting alone in the study, turned around.
She started toward Baek Woo-jin as he pushed open the study door and stepped inside.
"Profess— mmph......?"
The distance between them vanished.
A warm, soft sensation pressed against her lips.
Everything happened so fast that Claire blinked blankly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
At exactly the third blink, her eyes began to grow round. That was when she understood what had just occurred.
Swoosh.
"......!!"
When a hand gently pulled her waist closer, Claire flinched, a tremor running through her.
Her body heated of its own accord, breath growing short, consciousness hazing over — and just then.
"Pu-haah......!!"
Their lips parted. A trace of regret, but Claire drew in a deep breath and steadied herself.
"P-professor... Woo-jin......?"
With her breathing barely stabilized, she called his name, suppressing the heat that felt ready to burst from her face.
But the man she loved gave no answer—only leaned his face close once more.
Claire squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her chin up slightly.
Yet.
Thwack──!!
"Nh......?"
What came back was not sweet affection but a stinging punishment.
At the burning pain on her forehead, Claire's eyes flew open in surprise. She found Baek Woo-jin already a step away, staring at her, and blinked in a daze.
Baek Woo-jin watched her quietly for a moment, then turned and left the study without a word.
"......."
She had so many things she wanted to say, so many questions about what had just happened.
However.
Thump—!! Thump—!!
A heart pounding as if it would burst. A face blazing with heat.
It was a long while before Claire could leave the study.