Crimson Lament (5)
On the second day after Erinn entered the imperial palace, she sat with her direct superior, Left General Salisius. She had not sought him out; the summons had come from him.
“Hero Erinn.”
“…What is it?”
Watching Erinn, whose expression remained as heavy as ever, Salisius felt certain of one thing: the reason she had sent away none other than Allen was that something had gone seriously wrong.
As the man who had opposed Allen’s accompaniment from the very beginning, Salisius could not understand why she had suddenly expelled him from the party. Yet the very person who had cast him out now looked so visibly strained that anyone could see it.
“Report what happened. Precisely.”
As the officer directly responsible for her and her party, he needed to know exactly what had taken place.
“…I already gave my report, Mister.”
“I said a precise report, Hero Erinn.”
At Salisius’s repeated demand, Erinn narrowed her eyes. She let out a long breath and spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but nothing happened.”
“And the person to whom nothing happened walks around with a face like that? Unable even to hide it?”
“….”
Erinn shot him a faintly resentful look, as if to say that if he could tell, he might at least pretend not to notice. Salisius, however, had no intention of yielding.
“Report every detail of the situation and how things came to this. How am I supposed to prepare any countermeasures or offer any advice if I don’t know the full truth?”
“Haa… so…”
Erinn strode forward, lightly slammed her palm down on Salisius’s desk with a dull thud, and said,
“I already told you you don’t need to know.”
“…Hero Erinn, you seem to be under a serious misunderstanding.”
Salisius spoke evenly.
“You are the Hero. Every single action you take is directly tied to the lives of the people. A shift in your emotions can decide whether countless lives are saved or lost. And yet that Hero is emotionally shaken right now—am I, as your direct superior, supposed to know nothing and simply stand by watching?”
“….”
“You know this is unreasonable. You may throw minor tantrums in ordinary times, but you never used to force something like this. Seeing you do so now tells me there must be a reason.”
Salisius knew full well that if Erinn decided to throw everything away and storm out, there would be no stopping her. Even so, he refused to back down.
Right now Erinn was not truly trying to abandon everything; the rough attitude was simply her way of venting the emotions she was feeling. Years of military life and encounters with every type of person had taught Salisius to recognize that.
“Tell me that reason. Not merely because I want to know, but because if there is any help I can give, I will give it.”
“…I’m not telling you because it’s something you can’t help with, Mister.”
“I can’t help?”
Even though Erinn always called him “Mister,” Salisius’s position was one that could provide assistance in most situations. The rank of Left General was extremely high. In the Dern Empire’s military, he held command authority second only to the Emperor, the Minister of Military Affairs, and the Grand General.
There were few matters such a man could not help with—unless they involved outright overreach of authority.
Erinn spoke simply to that Salisius.
“…When we swapped Allen’s soul, someone else’s soul came in.”
“…What?”
Salisius already knew of that incident, of course. The uproar that day had nearly torn the Hero’s party apart.
He also knew that soul-swapping had been the solution proposed by the mage the Emperor had dispatched. It had been at Salisius’s own earnest request—because the situation had to be resolved—that the Emperor had authorized the measure in the first place.
“So he wasn’t Allen. It wasn’t that Allen had changed. Someone else had become him.”
Erinn spoke flatly, yet her eyes alone looked ready to shatter at any moment.
Salisius could not dare claim he understood that emotion. He knew all too well how deeply Erinn had cherished Allen.
And so he sensed it at once. This was a wound only time could heal. Just as Erinn had said, there was nothing Salisius himself could do.
“…That is… regrettable.”
Those were the only words he could offer.
“Then… why did you tell His Majesty the Emperor that he would soon return?”
“…It’s not that I think he might. The parting was simply too sudden. To those who don’t know the circumstances, it would look completely different… I just didn’t want to cause confusion.”
Erinn said it that way, yet Salisius could tell it was not her true heart. Even so, there was no need for him to step forward and crush the faint hope she herself might not even realize she was still holding.
“…I see.”
He accepted her explanation as it stood. Looking at her, Salisius exhaled a quiet sigh and opened his mouth again.
“If you need help, speak to me at any time.”
“…Understood.”
“I know this is something I cannot solve… but there may still be something I can assist with.”
Salisius said,
“Finding people, for instance.”
“….”
Until now Erinn had shown only a dry, lifeless reaction. Her eyes suddenly went round. Seeing that expression…
So her true wish is for those she sent away to come back.
Salisius quietly waited for her answer. Soon Erinn seemed to regain her composure; she spoke in a flat, indifferent voice.
“…If I need it.”
With that she left. Watching her departing back, Salisius prayed inwardly.
Whatever ending might come, he hoped only that her heart would not break.
If anyone other than the Hero became permanently incapacitated, it would become a national security crisis. In particular, the recent reports arriving from every region were far from ordinary.
Movements of the Demon King’s army were being detected across the land. They had not yet reached the Dern Empire, but once they began to move in earnest, no one could say what would happen.
They might even have to march out before Erinn’s condition fully recovered.
Salisius knew all too well how dangerous it was to throw oneself into a life-or-death battlefield with unresolved emotions. He let out a deep sigh and wished with all his heart.
“…She needs to be all right as soon as possible.”
Thwack!
Today, once again, I was swinging a club at the martial arts academy. Unlike usual, however, the day included not only blunt-weapon class but also Sabokgeom instruction.
The thought of learning the uniquely stylish whip-sword had my spirits lifting a little. Honestly, the blunt-weapon lessons no longer felt particularly new, so they had grown rather dull.
“Albrecht, coming along well, are we?”
“Ah, yes.”
Of course, the people around me had helped chase away that boredom. Ever since the day I had smashed the wooden training dummy, the others in the class had come over first to introduce themselves, and now I knew quite a few faces at the academy.
The older man speaking to me so familiarly was one of them. His name was Krishna; he said he had enrolled three months earlier than I had.
“Haha, still forbidden from using mana, I take it.”
“Can’t be helped.”
“So how are you supposed to train properly?”
“I’m content just getting used to handling the weapon.”
Besides, what I really intended to learn was the Sabokgeom side of things. With a club, simply knowing how to swing it properly was enough. And in the process my strength and stamina were gradually increasing as well.
“Glad to hear you’re satisfied.”
“Yes.”
After that short exchange I was about to focus on club practice again when Krishna, apparently still bored, struck up conversation once more.
“How’s life here treating you?”
“Well… I’d say it’s decent enough.”
“Mm, Parvata is a good place to live, true enough.”
Thwack!
He brought his massive iron mace down on the wooden dummy beside me. The fact that the dummy remained intact even after a blow like that proved once again that the Red Magic Tower’s magical engravings were outstanding without question.
And I went and broke one of those…
No wonder I had drawn so much attention.
“But what I was really asking is whether you’re satisfied with your current situation.”
“Pardon?”
…What did he mean by that?
I turned to look at him in puzzlement. Krishna chuckled and continued.
“Albrecht, no need to hide it. You’ve got two beautiful girlfriends living with you, don’t you? I saw them when you registered here.”
“…Pardon?”
“Come now, I already know. So what’s it like living with beauties of that caliber?”
“Ah…”
So that was what he was getting at. He had simply misunderstood. I had thought he was talking about something more serious when he said “current situation”…
He meant those two…
I had almost taken it the wrong way. I gave a light laugh and answered.
“You’ve got the wrong idea. It’s not that kind of relationship.”
“Hm? It’s not?”
“One is just a friend and comrade. The other is purely a business arrangement.”
“So neither of them has any special relationship with you?”
“That’s right.”
His expression shifted slightly. It seemed the misunderstanding had been cleared up. Satisfied, I swung the Geumswaebong again.
Thud!
“…Albrecht.”
“Yes?”
“I feel rather bad asking this, but…”
What kind of buildup was this for a question?
“Is there… perhaps a problem with your… function…?”
“What!? …Cough!”
I choked and started coughing. The question was that absurd.
“What on earth are you talking about!?”
“Well, a man living with beauties like that and claiming there’s no relationship at all—doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
“What’s odd about it? I’m saying it because we’re genuinely not dating.”
“Then why live under the same roof?”
…Honestly, I had little to say to that. Being misunderstood because we lived together was inevitable.
“…We’ve been comrades for a long time, so she says she finds it more comfortable staying with me. That’s really all there is to it.”
“For a long time?”
“Yes. Quite a while.”
I myself had only recently entered this body, but if one counted the time Allen had spent with Clara, it was indeed a long while.
“I see.”
Krishna nodded as though the misunderstanding had fully cleared. Fortunately he accepted the explanation easily.
“By the way, I heard something interesting happened recently. What’s that about?”
“Pardon?”
“A friend of mine who’s an adventurer told me that when you went to the Adventurers’ Guild, someone from the Red Magic Tower showed up.”
“Ah, that.”
He meant the day I first visited the guild and ran into Reyness of the Red Magic Tower. Word had already spread.
“It was nothing major. She just came because of the wooden dummy I broke.”
“To make you pay for it?”
“No, nothing like that… She asked how I managed to break it.”
“An investigation of the circumstances, then. But I also heard a rather intriguing side story.”
“Pardon?”
Krishna wore a mischievous smile as he spoke.
“They say you kicked the Red Magic Tower Master clear across the room.”
“….”
…So that story hadn’t died either.
“That’s why, when I heard you’d kicked even the Red Magic Tower Master and yet claimed no relationship with the women you live with… I wondered if there might be a problem in that department.”
“There isn’t.”
In truth I had no idea exactly what had happened with the Red Magic Tower Master. It hadn’t been me, after all. From the circumstances I only knew that I—or rather Allen—had rejected her advances…
“I heard the Red Magic Tower Master is quite the beauty herself. To reject even a woman like that…”
…She had been pretty, certainly. But the party members around me at the time had been so beautiful that I hadn’t felt much of a stir.
“Wait—don’t tell me you prefer men?”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Hahaha, just a joke. You don’t live up to that face of yours. If I had looks like that I’d be juggling several women already.”
“…Heh.”
It was a somewhat crude joke, but there was no need to take it seriously as a malicious one.
After all, the Shah Zar Kingdom was fundamentally a polygamous nation; men enjoying multiple women was considered perfectly natural here.
Reacting earnestly to a cultural difference would do no good. Better to just let it slide.
With that conversation finished, we returned our focus to training. I was diligently swinging the club when Krishna suddenly broke concentration and turned his head to the side.
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
“That person over there—isn’t that the one who came from the Red Magic Tower last time?”
Following his words, I looked. Sure enough, Manager Reyness was standing there. Before I could even wonder why she had returned, she spotted me and called out.
“Ah, Mister Albrecht! There you are!”
“She’s looking for you?”
“…Seems so.”
Why was she looking for me again?
Surely not…
“Did something go wrong over that previous matter?”
“No, that was all settled at the time…”
It wouldn’t be about the damaged wooden dummy. One possibility came to mind. A matter I hadn’t explained in detail to the older man… Perhaps she had come about that.
Reyness approached with her secretary in tow. She offered a bright smile and said,
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“Even if you say ‘a while,’ it’s only been about two days…”
“Ahaha, you’re right. I was so looking forward to seeing you again that I didn’t even realize only two days had passed.”
“…?”
What was with this woman? Unlike before, her attitude was excessively soft and accommodating. Seeing that demeanor, I suspected she was about to bring up exactly the topic I expected.
“…If you’ve come to talk about what you mentioned last time, I’ll refuse in advance.”
“My, without even hearing me out?”
“Pardon?”
Hear her out for what? It would just be the same pitch again…
“This time it isn’t a scouting offer.”
“It isn’t?”
Then why had she come?
I looked at her with puzzled eyes. Reyness smiled gently and continued.
“You registered as an adventurer, didn’t you?”
“Yes…”
Why ask something so obvious? Had she forgotten we had met at the Adventurers’ Guild?
“So I’ve come to give you a commission.”
“…A commission?”
“That’s right. A commission.”
I was a little taken aback. Reyness’s words were something I had never anticipated. For her to offer me a commission was essentially the same as the Red Magic Tower itself commissioning me.
Reyness held out the request form and said,
“I’ve already had it verified by the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“….”
It was real. The Adventurers’ Guild seal was stamped on it, and though I couldn’t yet make out the detailed contents beside it, one thing leapt out at me first.
In the reward column…
“…A thousand gold coins?”
“Well? Feeling more inclined to hear me out now?”
Reyness said to me as my eyes went wide.
“If you accept the commission, half as an advance, and the remaining half upon completion.”