The Fox Drops Its Mask and Wags Its Tail (2)
That was way too close…!
If I hadn't dodged on pure instinct when the wall exploded, the chain would've been wrapped around my throat—and the moment Dorothy fell, my neck would have snapped clean off.
Thud. Dorothy hit the ground, and a few seconds later I came down after her. Unlike her, who absorbed the fall with a practiced landing, I took the full impact just as I was—bound and dragged like cargo.
"Hk—!?"
Blood welled up from my battered insides and spilled from my mouth and nose, but I had no time to hurt. I thrashed against my restraints until I finally worked the chain loose from my waist.
"Oh dear, what a shame. Dragging you along would've made things so much easier."
Freed from her bindings, Dorothy showed not a shred of panic or wariness—only an easy, languid composure she wore like a showcase.
Was she always like this?
Granted, I'd watched her a lot over the past week for work, but honestly we'd barely exchanged a private word, so I didn't know her personality at all. She'd always quietly handled her duties without being told, so I'd assumed she was the mature type—but looking at that mischievous grin, apparently that was just my one-sided delusion.
"That outfit of yours, swinging chains at people—I guess I was right about you, huh?"
"Oh my, so you knew and charged in anyway? You came at me so clumsily I figured even my dear master didn't have a clue."
"You shameless little—"
She'd been eavesdropping on Karma's office too?
"Haa, what a real waste. You probably won't believe me when I say this, but servant life here was actually pretty comfortable. No smell of blood, decent people, easy work."
As if to prove she wasn't just saying it, Dorothy let out a long, deliberately seductive sigh. From what I knew, she was older than me but still underage—yet something unsettlingly grown-up clung to her.
"Then why not just come out and say so?"
"The world doesn't work that way. Any organization will let you in whenever you like, but never out whenever you want. Especially Yata. They're particularly touchy about that sort of thing."
"Yata?"
"Oh my, oops. I've said too much."
Dorothy belatedly regretted the slip—or so she claimed, but judging by that face, the leak had been entirely deliberate.
Never heard of it… the name of the organization she belongs to, maybe?
Either way, I'd just cut off a limb or two first and then ask.
"Heh. Care to try?"
"Wouldn't you? Do you have any idea how much grief you put me through this past week?"
"Aw, you were pining after me that badly? How flattering~"
Dorothy let out a cute little squeal and covered her cheeks as if embarrassed. But knowing she'd spent the whole week watching me agonize and lose sleep, it felt like nothing but mockery.
"That does it—!"
She'd made a person's life hell right in front of me, and now she was being infuriating on top of it. I charged her head-on.
"So the sword you carry isn't just for show. But aren't you being a little too honest?"
Whoosh. She flicked the hand gripping her weapon in a short arc, and the linked chains rippled—the blade at the end traced an uncanny angle and came flying straight at my side as I closed in.
"Guh!?"
Clang. I wrenched my own sword into a reverse grip to guard my flank, steel meeting steel with a sharp jolt—and the deflected blow sent my body skidding past her, tumbling into a perfectly irrelevant tree.
"Dodged again, huh? Are you really eleven?"
"…Ah, damn it. I'm thoroughly screwed."
Apparently this opponent was no pushover.
"Hey, one question."
"Mm, ask away."
"Who's your target? Me, Perry, or Karma."
"Hmm… you made it all this way and that's what you're worried about? If you were confident in your skills, you could just capture me and interrogate at leisure. I take it you're not sure you can take me alive?"
"…"
"Damn wench…"
"Watch your mouth, you're scaring me. Have you always sworn like that?"
"You've already eavesdropped on everything anyway, so drop the innocent act. It's genuinely annoying."
Scrape. Rising to my feet, I slowly surveyed the terrain. The annex building stood just behind me, and a handful of trees dotted the garden.
"Fair warning—I'm not going easy on you just because you're a girl. Don't want your face sliced? Shield it with your own arms."
"I suppose I'll have to knock some of that spirit out of you first~"
Slam. I kicked off a tree as a springboard—but instead of lunging at Dorothy, I launched myself at a different tree, then off that one straight into her flank.
"So you can learn. But—!"
Scrape-scrape-scrape. Still smiling, Dorothy flung a chain into empty air and yanked it back; the links whipped around her arm like bandages.
With all that length coiled up, her right arm looked as thick as if she'd donned heavy plate armor. Dagger in her right fist at the end of the chain, she twisted her body and swung at me.
Clang. Our blades met again, but this time the impact came from arm against arm, and sparks scattered.
It became a contest of strength through our weapons. At first, Dorothy's body was shoved back hard as she tried to stop my charge—but soon the difference in stance and build told, and we settled into a push-and-shove with her on top and me below.
And the one who took the advantage in a test of strength between a bodyguard and an assassin was—
"Son of a—!"
"My dear little knight, you really should speak a bit more sweetly. I don't care for men with filthy mouths!"
Incredibly, I was the one being pushed back.
She's my age, more or less—and a girl—and I'm losing a contest of pure strength?
I'd never arm-wrestled a woman in my life, but this was shockingly humiliating all the same.
"What… what the hell even are you…!"
"Heh."
Instead of answering, Dorothy flashed a crisp smile—and drove a kick into my stomach while I was straining to hold my ground.
"Kgh!?"
I scrambled to pull free, but the instant I eased off even a fraction, the dagger barely holding her blade back would become a guillotine and take my head off. So even seeing the kick coming, I couldn't dodge it.
The one mercy was that I used the recoil of the hit to twist loose—unslashed, and with distance gained. Rolling backward, I was on my feet at once, settling into stance again.
"What, you're continuing? You just felt it yourself, didn't you? I'm stronger than you."
Dorothy's eyes went wide, as if she genuinely couldn't fathom why I hadn't given up.
"Win one shoving match and don't get cocky."
I flexed out of wounded pride, sure—but the gulf between us had already been proven, plain as day.
What the hell was this monster?
I'd never lost to anyone my age, and I'd never even had a real test of strength before. Call it talent all you want—what kind of life do you have to live to get this strong by that age?
"Look, do we really have to fight? Let's just talk. I might be able to help you, you know?"
"Hah?"
"Fine, fine, I'll stop dancing around it. Come with me to Yata, and I'll make everything you want come true. Your parents, for example?"
"…You—!"
The moment she invoked my parents, blood shot to my head and I nearly lunged—but Dorothy, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that, kept talking without a pause.
"Honestly, now. Do you trust your master—Karma, the boss of Serpe? You work like a dog for years, and you really think he'll free you and your parents?"
"…And you'd be any more trustworthy?"
"At least I won't dangle promises I can't keep. Take my hand instead. Then—hm, let's see—I'll go capture that Karma right now, find out where your parents are, and help you leave the Empire. Find you somewhere to live outside, too, of course."
"…"
"And you know it's not out of the goodness of my heart. You wouldn't be Karma's guard dog—you'd be my hound. Forget that irritating brat; you'd serve me. What do you think? Pretty good deal, right? Unlike that girl, I don't throw pointless tantrums at the dogs I value."
"Never noticed, but you really can't stand Perry, huh?"
"And you talk like you like her. You hate her too, don't you? That girl picks fights everyone can see coming, makes everyone else's life harder, and has no idea how lucky she is—just whining like a spoiled child. Who could stand someone like that?"
After watching her every day for two months, I'd have expected even a poor match to leave some grudging affection behind. But there wasn't a trace of warmth in Dorothy's badmouthing, so I gave her nothing in return.
"What is there even to think about, Gul? It's not like you owe Serpe anything. Your leash was in their hands, so you became their dog—so what does it matter whose hand holds it? Don't overthink it. Don't call it betrayal. You just made a wise choice. Think of it as growing up a little early."
"…Say, hypothetically. Purely hypothetically. If I said I'd go with you."
"Mm-hm, mm-hm, ask me anything."
Dorothy beamed at the first hint of my wavering and granted my question with cheerful generosity.
"What happens to Karma and Perry? And everyone else in this mansion?"
"Hmm. Well, you're on a false identity, and I've been showing my face around here for quite a while too—so we kill everyone in the mansion and set the place on fire. Let them all believe we died in it. Simple, no?"
"Ah. I see."
A perfectly reasonable proposal. I gave a small nod of genuine admiration—
"Negotiations failed."
—and hurled my sword straight at that vicious little witch.
"What the—!?"
Dorothy batted the thrown blade aside with practiced ease, of course. But the instant her blade came up to block it, her vision split for a heartbeat—and the fist I'd driven into that gap caught her square in the gut.
"Ugh!?"
"That one's for dropping the building on me."
Thud—
"What was that for!? It was a perfectly good offer!"
"It was a fine offer. But whatever way you slice it, in the end you're no different from that girl. Still—the part about saving my parents right away? Honestly, that was tempting."
"Then why—!?"
"Because you said you'd kill them. Everyone in this mansion, and Perry too. I can't stand Karma or Serpe, sure—but the people here aren't part of that."
"…You'd kick me around over that brat?"
"Say what, you little shit? And you've been calling me 'brat' this whole time—tell me, who picked the fight here? Me or you? You're the one who got sweet on all that honey thanks to me, so where do you get off whining about it?"
"Haha… right, fine, I suppose it can't be helped… But oh dear, what now? Seeing you buck so wildly just makes me want you more?"
"So what's the plan—chop off all my limbs and haul me off to Yata?"
"No, that's no fun at all. I'll just make you need me. That's all it takes."
"…?"
"Think about it. If, right now, I carve that irritating little miss into ribbons and hang her on the wall—what do you suppose that doting daddy's boy of a master would do?"
"You rotten—!"
The moment I grasped her intent I threw myself forward—but Dorothy flung a chain around a tree branch, swung up it, and was gone toward the main house before I could reach her.