The Hunter's Trap
The Hunter's Trap
#9
"U-um... hello?"
"..."
"Might I be so bold as to ask your name?"
"..."
Blue eyes glinting in the moonlight... and her hair was extraordinarily unusual. Pink hair? I'd imagined a woman with hair like that in real life would look awkward, but now that I was actually looking at her, that notion turned out to be nothing more than my own delusion.
The woman before me, perched on the windowsill, slowly parted her small lips.
"You. You're strange."
"What do you mean, 'strange'? I was ordered by Lady Elysia Florentia to wait in this room. If I have in any way committed some discourtesy toward you, mage, please allow me to pay the appropriate price."
"No, none of that matters to me at all. I'm simply curious about you. You see, you're a being who isn't recorded in the Book of Fate. Are you a ghost, by any chance?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you know what the Book of Fate is, by any chance?"
Ah... was she talking about that book Elysia had mentioned earlier? To be honest, would it be better to answer with what I knew?
"I don't know much, I'm afraid. However, I did hear from Lady Elysia—who used me as experimental Teaching Aid earlier—that it is a kind of prophetic book belonging to mages."
"To be precise, it's not just a story about mages. It's a book in which every story of this world is recorded. Every single tale that has occurred in the past, and every single tale that will occur in the future."
Was something like that even possible? It sounded a bit like some kind of fatalism... to be honest, what did any of that have to do with me?
"Tell me. Do you believe in fate?"
"Not particularly. But by your account, isn't fate something that's already decided? In that Book of Fate."
"Originally, it wasn't. Not until all fates were observed, that is."
What on earth was she talking about?
"Roughly a thousand years ago now, the one called Star Mage Astravia—one of the greatest mages of all—attempted to observe the end of this world."
The end of the world, she said.
"I think she was simply curious about whether our world was eternal, and if not, what form its end might take."
Bathed in the moonlight pouring through the window, the girl wore an expression that seemed almost as though she were yearning for someone.
"No fate can be known before it is observed. That's what I believe, at least. But was she truly that curious about it?"
With eyes that looked somehow sorrowful,
"I don't know what it was she saw, but the moment the Star Mage observed every future, our fates became fixed."
She spoke in a low murmur.
"A story of a timeline that can never be changed. That is the essence of the tale recorded in the Book of Fate."
"But what do you mean when you say I'm not recorded in the Book of Fate?"
"I am Luna, the mage who manages all the texts in the Academy. Naturally, I hold the authority to peruse the original Book of Fate, which other mages are not permitted to view freely."
"You are an existence whose name and story are not written in the Book of Fate. Unless you truly are some kind of ghost, I believe there is only one conclusion."
"And what is that?"
"There is only one category of beings who possess the power and will to deny fate and twist it."
The existences Elysia had described...
"Hunters... is that it?"
"Yes. Those who kill other mages and plunder their power in order to deny their own finite fates—the Hunters. You, right now, are a puppet being used by a Hunter."
Those piercingly blue eyes felt as though they were boring straight through my own black ones. Was I about to be killed on the spot?
"So then... are you saying you intend to eliminate me here?"
"Why would I?"
"You just said I was a Hunter's puppet. Aren't mages on bad terms with the Hunters?"
"That has nothing to do with me. I simply wanted to know what kind of existence you were. I have no great desire to deny someone's will to carve out their own fate."
"..."
"However, if things continue as they are, you will die. More precisely, it won't end with just your death—the stories of every mage entangled with you will be torn out of the Book of Fate. The girl who conducted that ridiculous experiment on you, the moment she became entangled with you, was as good as caught in a Hunter's trap."
Elysia. I didn't hold any strong feelings for that silver-haired girl. Still, if she were to die because of me, I did feel it would weigh on my mind a little. After all, wasn't she the first woman in my life to become entangled with me?
"And what about you, Lady Luna? At this very moment, as you sit here with me like this, haven't you also become entangled in the trap of the Hunter who seeks to use me?"
"I won't deny it, but a Hunter only stalks prey they can handle from the darkness. I don't believe they would mount a reckless challenge against me."
She didn't look like it. Was she an incredibly powerful mage, then? Well, hadn't I learned just this afternoon in the infirmary that judging a mage's strength by their appearance was an arrogant thing to do?
"Then what is your reason for telling me all of this?"
"I'm simply curious whether you truly are a being capable of twisting fate. I don't quite understand the principle behind how you've deviated from the narrative of the Book of Fate, but if you manage to survive and slip free from the Hunter's grasp, it might just be possible to find a new way to change our fates—without killing other mages."
"But I still don't even properly understand what sort of situation I'm in. In the first place, is it even possible to escape the clutches of such remarkable mages? I don't even know the identity of the Hunter trying to use me, and to make matters worse, I'm nothing more than a powerless, common slave."
"There is only one way for prey to confirm the Hunter's face. You know as well, don't you?"
She was saying I had to walk directly into the trap.
With those final words, I looked back toward the window to find that the pink-haired mage had vanished without a trace. Did she even know how to use teleportation magic? It seemed her abilities were a far cry from those of some incompetent apprentice mage scraping by somewhere.
To summarize my thoughts, the conclusion I reached was that, whatever the case, I absolutely had to survive in order to attempt anything else.
Survive somehow, and land a blow on the Hunter lurking in the unseen darkness, trying to use me as a chess piece. To do that, first, I'd have to survive this accursed human experimentation. I'd start with what I could do. Thinking thus, I climbed onto the empty desk and sought out a deep sleep as sweet as honey.
#10
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The sound of someone knocking at the door reached my ears. Was it Elysia? I must have been more tired than I'd realized; looking out the window, the sun was already far higher in the sky than it usually was when I woke.
"Yes, just a moment—"
As I rose and walked to the door, a voice like a whisper came from outside.
"You are inside, aren't you, Mister Do-yun?"
"Yes, I'm opening it now."
When I opened the door made of reddish-brown wood, the silver-haired girl stood there smiling bashfully as she looked at me.
"Everything was fine through the night, wasn't it? Ah! It's not too noticeable, actually. Waiting until morning really was the right answer, after all!"
Ah, right—come to think of it, yesterday I'd awakened as the bearer of the Holy Sword.
I lowered my head and looked down at my lower half, and sure enough, hidden by the bright sunlight, the fact that my junior was glowing wasn't really all that noticeable unless you looked very closely. Much like how a flashlight's beam is hard to see when you turn it on in broad daylight.
"Still, it'll be obvious once the sun sets or in dark places, so I made you underwear last night out of Vantablack material to cover the glow! I made five pairs, in fact, believe it or not. You're welcome."
Elysia beamed brightly and pulled a piece of black fabric from her brown leather bag, handing it over to me.
But these were briefs.
"Um... Lady Elysia."
"Yes?"
"While I am grateful you made me underwear..."
"Right? I applied the lessons from our... practical experience yesterday to specially craft a size that Mister Do-yun would find comfortable to wear."
Elysia replied, her face reddening in a peculiar way.
Fine. At least they weren't a thong. But briefs? What was I, an elementary schooler? As Ha Do-yun, a man with an aversion to men's briefs, this hurdle was far too high—did this woman have no basic knowledge of men's underwear whatsoever? Well, this was the Academy under the Absolute Ban on Men, after all.
I heard the sound of something inside my heart shattering, but I had no wish to shatter that girl's radiant smile, so I simply resolved to wear the briefs for the time being.
#11
Following behind Elysia, I arrived at the infirmary.
When we went to the first-floor information desk, a gold-haired, gold-eyed apprentice mage different from the rosy-cheeked one I'd seen yesterday appeared to be on duty.
"This is Elysia—I rented the practical Teaching Aid yesterday."
"Yes, Lady Elysia. How may I assist you?"
"I was so absorbed in my experiment that I briefly—very briefly—forgot to return the Teaching Aid."
"..."
"So I'm here to return it now!"
"Lady Elysia Florentia. As stipulated in the Academy's regulations, overdue returns of Teaching Aids will result in a suspension of subsequent rentals proportional to the overdue period."
"Uh... then how long will I be unable to rent?"
"In your case, Lady Elysia, as you have incurred one day of lateness, you will receive a one-week rental suspension."
"Oh. But that won't do. You see, I'm conducting a drug administration experiment. A day or two I might manage, but a week is rather..."
"If you are conducting such an important experiment, then even more so, you ought to have strictly observed the rental period."
"Uuuuuuuuh—"
"??"
Elysia launched a staring contest against the gold-eyed apprentice mage.
Oh. Was this my first time witnessing a mage duel in person?