To the Academy (2)
Six characters I hadn't seen in a long time — and not a sentence I was remotely glad to see again.
Should I be grateful I won't die today, at least…?
As bleak as the status window's contents always were, it had never once lied to me. And this time, something had changed from when I'd been dragged off by that monster.
■ Lily — Death Scheduled
■ Aurelia von Sollein — Surviving
The moment I thought of the status window, the letters appeared in the empty air of their own accord. The word beside my name had flipped from Surviving to Death Scheduled.
…Still every bit as hopeless as ever.
"Number 103… here it is. Lily, this is our room."
"Oh — right. Let's go in."
While my mind was still tangled up in the status window that had suddenly appeared, I followed Elin's lead into the cabin. It was a little on the small side, but perfectly adequate for the two of us — two beds that doubled as seats, and a window. A room that looked exactly like what the words "train journey" ought to mean.
The problem is, this isn't going to be a fun trip…
We would have to spend three days in here. Once today was over, that left two — but knowing I was going to face a life-or-death crisis somewhere in that window, there was no way I could just settle in and sleep.
"Lily? What are you doing…?"
"Hm? Oh — just checking for bugs or anything."
"…You hate bugs."
"That's exactly why I'm checking."
Elin tilted her head at my answer, but I didn't have the luxury of elaborating. The knowledge that I was going to die tomorrow already had my brain spinning in complicated circles.
"Urgh…"
"…Aren't you uncomfortable?"
I was sprawled face-down in the narrow gap between the seats, peering underneath. I knew the pose must have looked a little strange from above, but it was necessary work, so I wasn't particularly embarrassed.
If I'm going to die on a train, the likely causes are derailment, terrorism, or assassination.
If the train derailed, there wasn't much I could do about it. Best-case scenario, I'd cushion the impact, pick a good landing spot, and pray. But if someone was involved — that was a different story entirely.
If I can just find a lead, I can stop it before it happens.
I'd survived the monster attack because I'd known in advance and packed a dagger. If I could prepare this time too, I'd find a way to live through it.
I spent eight years clawing my way through just to stay alive. I am not dying on some stupid train…!
I focused hard, sliding my hand into the dark space under the seats and searching every inch. Dust, a few coins, and stray hairs tickled my nose, but I was thorough — determined not to miss a single spot.
"…Paper?"
Under Elin's seat, my fingers found the slightly damp texture of paper. The unpleasant feel made me reluctant to pull it out… but what choice did I have? Out it came. The dampness, and the fact that it had been stuck to the floor — it peeled free with a sticky rrrip that made the whole experience even worse.
I can't just yank it out carelessly…! Ugh, this is disgusting…!!
I carefully extracted the paper I'd managed to free and pushed myself up from the floor. My body was covered in dust, but more than that, my lower back was killing me. Before checking the paper, I tried to work out the stiffness by arching my back —
"What is it, Elin?"
"…Hm? Nothing. Never mind."
"Okay… urrgh—— hah…"
I caught Elin staring at me intently, but she shook her head and looked away, so I finished stretching out my back. I was still young — why did my body feel this stiff? Even after arching backward, the tension wouldn't release, so I dropped to my knees and started a cat-cow stretch. It would have been a fairly mortifying pose if the door had been open, but it was shut, and only Elin was here.
That feeling of being watched is just my imagination, right?
There wasn't even glass in the door, so it had to be. Once I'd finished stretching, I stood and brushed off the dust. They must have cleaned the cabin, but clearly not deep under the seats — my body was caked in it. Fortunately Elin helped, and I was presentable again in no time.
"…What's that? Paper?"
"Hmm… I'm not sure either. Let's find out."
I wasn't expecting this scrap to be some incredible clue. It could just as easily be a diary page, or some forgotten document that had fallen crumpled from the bottom of a bag. I hoped not — I really, truly hoped not — but it could even be something indecent. Mentally filing away a plan to hide it from Elin and dispose of it if that turned out to be the case, I slowly turned the paper over.
"A scroll…? Why is this here?"
"Look at this, Lily. The ink hasn't even dried yet."
Just as Elin said, the ink along the edge still glistened, catching the light. So that was why it had been stuck to the floor… Minor detail, though. I focused on the important part — the contents.
"The type is explosive… the reaction is chain-linked… it activates the moment it's torn? And it can also be triggered by a remote signal?"
"…Isn't that dangerous?"
"It is."
Not just ordinary dangerous, either. If this one alone were going to explode, I could simply throw it out the train window and be done with it. But the Magic Circuits written on it made the real threat clear: the chain property. If one went off, every other scroll linked to that signal would detonate with it.
Which meant —
"There have to be more of these…"
So the reason I was going to die tomorrow was terrorism. At least it wasn't a derailment — small mercies — but that didn't make this easy to solve either. Multiple scrolls, each large enough that a single detonation would disrupt the train's operation. I didn't know their exact locations or how many there were, or who would set them off, or when.
Looks like sleep is off the table tonight…
Death Scheduled for Tomorrow. The moment tomorrow arrived, I could die at any time — right at the stroke of midnight, or not until the following midnight. Knowing that, there was no way I could rest easy now.
"Elin, I need to concentrate for a bit."
About three hours until midnight.
I'll find the culprit before then.
I left the exterior to Elin and began to move my mana.
Ugh… that weird feeling again…
When I opened my eyes, the world in front of me was filled with the scroll. More precisely, it felt like peering through a telescope locked onto a single magnified point. No sound, no touch — only vision, sharpened to absolute focus.
Don't worry. You've practiced this over and over.
If Elin had learned the sword from her father, I had learned magic from two people. One was my father, Rowen — a former adventurer and specialist in close-combat magic. The other was Silvia, also a former adventurer, a researcher and specialist in wide-area magic. In terms of pure knowledge, Silvia was far superior, so I'd learned most of what I knew from her.
The flow is forward-oriented… ah, so it's the kind that reverses direction and detonates on collision.
Studying under Silvia had revealed an unexpected talent of my own: reverse-engineering and application. The application part was really just me dusting off my old gamer instincts and offering ideas, so the real gift was reverse-engineering alone — but still.
If I tweaked this section, the firepower would jump — wait, now is not the time for that.
It felt like a strangely fitting talent, I sometimes thought. Knowing a future where I die, and preparing in advance to survive it — the two things were similar enough. …Had she taught me with that in mind, too?
Simple design, but the yield is excellent… A mage this skilled is the one staging a terrorist attack?
While my mind wandered through idle thoughts, I finished analyzing the circuits and arrived at two conclusions. First: this had been crafted by a more capable mage than expected. Second: the scroll was designed to detonate automatically if modified beyond a certain threshold. I could fully dismantle it if I had to…
But I don't have the time.
Stripping out the detection, the explosion, and the chain reaction entirely would probably take me right up to my scheduled death. Having confirmed that much, I released the mana I'd been concentrating into my eyes. My field of vision expanded all at once, sharply and suddenly.
"I swear this thing shaves years off my eyesight every time I use it…"
"…Keep your eyes closed for a bit."
I staggered from the dizziness, and Elin's hands — which had been steadying me from the side — covered both my eyes. Her voice was full of worry, but that only left me with a question of my own.
"I haven't explained a single thing. And you're just… trusting me?"
"Yeah."
The moment we'd boarded the train, I'd torn through the cabin and announced I'd found an explosive scroll. From Elin's perspective, that should have been more than enough to throw her into confusion — yet she hadn't voiced a single doubt or question. She'd simply helped me, worried about me, and given me a firm, unhesitating answer that she believed me.
"Sometimes I think you're too soft, Elin."
"…I'm a difficult woman, Lily."
"You're way too soft with family… I worry you'll get walked all over once you're married."
Someone who would treat Elin badly… Well, anyone like that would get shut down by her two fathers and Silvia long before they ever got near her. Still, just imagining it made my skin crawl.
"Ahh… maybe I should just keep her myself…"
It would never happen, of course — but better that than watching her marry some weirdo. Though knowing Elin, she'd end up with a good man anyway.
"I'd be fine with that, too—"
"All right, break's over. Time to find the culprit… What's wrong, Elin?"
My eyes had mostly recovered and time was short, so I moved to act — but when I pulled Elin's hands away, I found her staring at me with her cheeks puffed out in a full sulk, for reasons I couldn't begin to guess.
"Idiot."
"…?"
"You magic-obsessed moron."
That was the exact phrase a drunk Silvia used to call Rowen.
"I'm not Dad, you know."
"…And I'm not Aunt, either."
For some reason, that only made Elin pout harder.