22. Two Regressors
22. Two Regressors
Far from the grand conference hall filled with professors' sighs, pity, and abrupt fainting fits—in the massive building that housed the headquarters of every student club—Rus Spero was making her way to the top floor. With one uninvited guest in tow.
"You can't even get into the student council room. Go back."
"Why are you being like this? You're literally the vice president, and you can't accommodate one guest?"
"I really can't see you as a guest."
"I said let's join hands, didn't I? Annoying as it is, you, the student council vice president, have access to way more information than I do. Especially anything related to the Chairwoman and the Finance Director."
"...Chairwoman?"
"Enough. Just lead the way."
"If it were someone I could trust, maybe. But a woman as fickle as a reed who backed my early graduation and then flipped the instant it suited her? Hard pass."
"Should I out you as a woman?"
"Cheap threat."
"Effective, though?"
Rus and Chloe. The two most famous faces of Grandis Academy's martial arts and magic divisions glared at each other. This was an established fact, but the two of them were still at odds.
It had all started at Count Beryl's estate.
After witnessing that damn menopausal hag brute-force her way into stealing a kiss from Adam, Chloe had—metaphorically weeping blood—agreed to cooperate with Rus. The cross-dressing regressor was shady as hell, sure, but Chloe's judgment was that she was still better than the menopause case.
—And you trust someone who was pro-early-graduation until five minutes ago?
—Funny. You think we're in a position to trust each other? Our relationship is... well, obviously not colleagues, definitely not friends, not even acquaintances.
—...The enemy of my enemy.
—Exactly. So we're joining hands for now. Unless you'd rather just watch the Finance Director get taken by force by that fossilized crone?
—...
—Hey.
—I can't... let that happen.
They hadn't needed to explicitly confirm that they were rivals in love. Setting all that aside, the kiss between the Finance Director and the Chairwoman was, in itself, a serious matter. A faculty member they only ever respected and followed—being kissed by a woman seven times his age? With an enormous rank gap? Who was, on top of everything, his direct superior?
Ethically, it made sense to interpret it as her using Rank and social standing to coerce him. And that interpretation wasn't exactly... wrong.
Chloe, of course, had reasons to stop that relationship. And so did Rus.
'Knowing the Chairwoman's personality, once she's in a romantic relationship, she won't tolerate any other woman getting close. That's a given.'
She was the 8th Rank martial artist known as the Mad Dragon. It would be stranger if she didn't have a fierce possessive or sexual appetite.
But because of what had happened in the rock salt mine, Rus was in a situation where she had to stay as close to Adam as possible.
'It's not just about neutralizing the Dark Sword's side effects. This is the first time the Dark Sword and the scabbard have gathered together. I have to observe it as closely as I can.'
The fact that Rus was a cross-dressing woman had long since been discovered by the Chairwoman and Adam. The Chairwoman, in particular, disliked Rus living with Adam or even being near him, on the grounds that Rus was a female student. Hadn't she, with an immaturity unbecoming of her age, openly badmouthed and checked Rus just the other day? An 8th Rank talking trash at a speed even a 6th Rank couldn't hear was behavior one could only call downright pathetic.
Adam couldn't be left to such a small-minded woman. And above all else.
'If Adam and the Chairwoman don't end up in that kind of relationship, then even if the Chairwoman dies... Adam might not fall into corruption.'
He would grieve, of course. Adam was that kind of person. He might even seek revenge. Adam was that kind of person. But if it wasn't the death of a lover—if it was only the death of a respected superior—then couldn't Rus stay by his side, comfort him, care for him, and keep him from falling?
Couldn't she at least prevent the future where he burned the world and dragged it into hell?
'I'd gladly sacrifice myself for that.'
A sword and its scabbard were one body from the start, were they not? Rus was confident she could look after Adam far better than the Chairwoman or this mage woman in front of her ever could. She had lived with him before and taken care of him, and even now, she had improved the dormitory for Adam—who had been living in a state barely fit for human habitation—and made it far, far better.
Thus, their interests had aligned, and they had dramatically joined hands. But even so, they were apparently destined to split apart, each still holding a blade in their free hand.
"You were the one who proposed we each hold one of the other's secrets to create a bare minimum of trust, Spero."
"The fact that you know a secret I never wanted to tell makes you malicious."
"Think of it as your cross-dressing being sloppy. Sloppy enough that I caught on. In exchange, I told you a secret of mine too, didn't I?"
'As if you'd have never noticed without me. Shameless too.'
'Quiet, me.'
She truly hadn't noticed at all and would have remained ignorant without Adult Chloe's help. Rus's male disguise had become even more flawless since she'd reached 7th Rank. But the very fact that she'd gone to the trouble of enrolling at the academy in male disguise meant she had good reason for it. At minimum, for the duration of her time at the academy, the cross-dressing could serve as a weakness for Rus.
Under their agreement, Chloe had subsequently told Rus one of her own secrets as well.
"In what world is not being able to eat carrots a secret on par with cross-dressing?"
"A secret is a secret, isn't it? You were planning to give up something of that caliber too."
"So you're trying to hold the upper hand?"
"If you're pissed off about it, go ahead and spill my secret. I'll spill yours too."
"...Tch."
'Don't worry. Your eating habits get fixed within two days of staying with Adam.'
'Please stop saying useless things. More importantly—two days?'
'The food crate we managed to grab while fleeing coincidentally only had carrots. He cooked all sorts of things to get me to eat them, and so I ended up eating them.'
'...'
It wasn't the eating habits or the carrots that had caught Chloe's attention.
It was the tiny sliver of the future Adult Chloe had let slip.
'Fleeing?'
'...'
'Fleeing from what, exactly? To where? When?'
'You know I'm not going to tell you any more than that. Want to get absorbed by me?'
'Fine. But at least one thing is clear. Adam is with you in that flight.'
She was with Adult Chloe, but Chloe herself didn't really know what would happen in the future. If she learned too much about the future, the 'current Chloe's' existence would grow too similar to 'Adult Chloe,' and the present Chloe—far weaker in Rank and mana—could be swallowed up.
So Adult Chloe disclosed almost nothing about the future. But every so often, there were clues you could piece together. Adult Chloe's fixation and attention toward Adam. Her intense hostility for the Chairwoman. Scoffing at Rus Spero, refusing to call her master the Archmage by that title, and feeling no jealousy toward Beatrice.
That alone made it clear that unimaginable things would happen in the future. But fleeing somewhere with Adam? Just the two of them?
...The mere act of imagining that scene made her heart pound. That had to be fear of the flight itself, surely. Chloe decided to believe that.
At any rate, she glared at Rus again and came to a decision.
'First, I need to figure out this regressor.'
'I agree. I've seen her plenty, but her true intentions are hard to read. And she's actually gone and hit 7th Rank.'
'She wasn't 7th Rank before the regression?'
'6th Rank was her max. I don't know what happened inside the mine, but becoming 7th Rank... well, it probably means she remembered the last words.'
'...You said the future Rus Spero killed you.'
'I did mock her for being 6th Rank at the time. Never thought she'd reach 7th. Does regression change a person that much?'
Her future self getting killed by Rus Spero.
It would be a lie to say that fact didn't bother her. Enough to want to kill Rus right now and stop that future, if possible. But there was no way Chloe—a mere 5th Rank—could defeat Rus Spero, now a 7th Rank. And above all, her future self merely scoffed at her own death without a single thought of revenge.
What on earth would happen in the future?
Chloe swallowed the curiosity that always welled up and followed after Rus.
'I've got the upper hand with the cross-dressing info for now, so while we're blocking the Chairwoman, I can dig deeper into Rus Spero's secrets.'
'Don't let your guard down too much. She's not an easy opponent.'
'I know. I mean, you—a peak 7th Rank—died to a 6th Rank. Just knowing that is warning enough. You just focus on playing the goddess role well.'
'...'
'You're me, but your acting is really... something.'
Right now, Chloe was handling Rus Spero, and Adult Chloe was playing the Self-proclaimed Goddess (hah). Since they were the only ones who existed in a state of two selves coexisting, they could divide the labor of information-gathering between them. Teasing Adult Chloe, whose improvisational skills were formidable in many ways, was a bonus. Normally, the current Chloe was the one on the receiving end.
Adult Chloe fell silent, and at last, the moment Rus and Chloe reached the top floor, a male student standing in front of an unnecessarily grandiose door waved at them.
"Hey there, the vice president's here?"
"...Senior Allen."
"Come looking for the president again today? Sorry to say, but..."
"She's not inside, I take it?"
"Right. She's been bolting out of here a few minutes before you arrive—every time since last time. I tried to block her once, but she was too much for me. Sorry."
"It's fine. More importantly, may we enter the archive room for a moment?"
"Of course, no problem. The key is here... Huh? Chloe Pisti?"
"Hello."
Allen, the student council secretary, paused halfway through handing over the key and looked at Chloe. He was an administration major, his Rank a mere 2nd Rank. Yet his gaze was very firm.
"I'm sorry, but students who aren't part of the student council can't enter. The archive room especially."
"I'm well aware. But this time, I've come as the vice president's guest."
"Guest? Vice President, is that true?"
"..."
"Hey, don't make this complicated."
"...I don't like it, but it's true. By the authority of the vice president, I wish to bring Chloe Pisti inside."
"Well, if it checks out, then fine. But you're headed to the archive room, right? Guest or not, the high-clearance information won't open if an outsider's present. That okay?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Alright. Just sign your names here and you can go in. And I have one request."
"Yes?"
"If possible... please don't destroy it. Otherwise, our senior will be back here weeping blood again."
There wasn't a soul who didn't know who the 'senior' Allen was awkwardly referring to. Both Rus and Chloe already knew well that Adam Caines, the Finance Director, had been an administration major at the academy and had multiple ties to the student council.
In other words, if they caused a ruckus, it would be a direct nuisance to Adam. The two of them, having pointlessly checked their old swords and mana, took the key and passed through the door.
The interior beyond that door was—
"...What is this?"
"You're a mage too. Kassandra made it."
"No—no... what?"
"Usually it looks different, but whenever I come, she does this and runs away. This must be the space's original appearance."
It was a space. Literally. A pure, blank, stark-white space. Above, below, left, right—where you were stepping, what lay up there, whether you might fall into the depths below. Nothing but an indistinguishable sweep of white.
Rus moved as if she were used to it, but as a mage, Chloe was the one who couldn't wrap her head around it.
'How is something like this even possible?'
'...What do you mean.'
'Kassandra is a 6th Rank mage. A 6th Rank made this?'
'It's extremely high-level magic. If it's directly intervening in space itself, could it be...?'
'Could it be what?'
'The Archmage...?'
"What?"
"Why are you suddenly talking to yourself?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Just lead the way."
"...If you're going to, then follow closely."
Rus Spero, not being a mage, likely didn't realize, but the spells installed and maintained to construct this space surpassed even the imagination of both Chloe and Adult Chloe. A 5th Rank mage like Chloe aside—if even Adult Chloe, who had reached the peak of 7th Rank, judged it to be high-level magic, then only two possibilities remained. Either this space hadn't actually been made by Kassandra, or—
'She's lying about her Rank.'
'Kassandra's famously known for entering at 4th Rank and reaching 6th Rank in just three years. But what if she was actually higher than that?'
'...That's impossible, though. The growth rate alone, and there's no way the Menopausal Hag wouldn't notice. Especially considering Adam and Kassandra have ties.'
'Then what is it?'
'We need a proper analysis first. It'd be nice if I could sneak in here again later.'
'What for?'
'Huh?'
If it required spending time on analysis, there was no reason to postpone it. Besides, according to Rus Spero, the space only looked like this when she came; at other times, Kassandra herself was presumably controlling it. Right now was the perfect chance.
"Wait a moment. Let's hit the archive later."
"...What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"I've gotten curious about this space. To my knowledge, not even a 6th Rank mage should be able to construct something like this. Are you certain Kassandra made it herself?"
"That's what she said when I asked before."
"Then I need to look into it more. I'll analyze the space here, so wait a moment. Or..."
"Ultimately, you want to investigate Kassandra, right?"
"Well, yes?"
"Then fine. I don't know anything about magic, so I'll stay still. Take your time analyzing it."
"...?"
Why was she suddenly being so cooperative? Rus Spero was clearly here to see Kassandra, and the fact that Kassandra was avoiding her clearly meant there was business between them. Maybe Rus Spero was also suspicious of Kassandra. In that case, she might have figured this had to be done now, while traveling with a mage like Chloe.
'So we do it right now. If Kassandra's avoiding her, won't she stay away as long as this one's here?'
'...You're right. Let's begin at once.'
'Right, Adam said it once, didn't he? What was that saying Adam knows...'
Ah, yes. That's it. "Strike while the iron is hot."
"...What?"
"You don't know it? See, the meaning is actually... huh?"
Right as Chloe was about to explain it kindly, with a tinge of superiority—Rus, who had seemed to fold her arms in quiet patience, was already standing directly in front of her. With the old sword in her hand, leveled at Chloe's throat.
"W-Wait a second?"
"You, just now."
"Why are you suddenly—"
"What did you just say?"
In that instant, Chloe couldn't help but shudder with recognition. The masked attacker she'd once encountered in the magic division's forest, the forest Adam couldn't enter... had been Rus Spero in disguise. And now, Rus Spero—who hadn't donned such a disguise since—was right here.
"Answer me. Right now."
Holding the old sword on the verge of becoming the Dark Sword. With eyes gleaming with murderous intent.
...As if she'd heard something she was never supposed to hear.