Red Magic Tower (4)
Clara's bold actions left Albrecht thoroughly flustered. With her intentions still a complete mystery, she kept doing things that invited every possible misunderstanding, and he simply couldn't help himself.
Everything that had happened so far was already enough to spark wild assumptions. But feeding him like this, so openly… wrapping it all up as pure innocence felt like a stretch. There had to be some other motive behind it.
Of course, Agresia—watching the whole spectacle from the side—felt exactly the same way.
R-right in front of me…
Clara hadn't been present for that particular incident, but as a party member she would certainly know what had gone down. And yet here she was, acting like this.
It was practically the same as mocking Agresia outright. Normally she would never have endured it; she would have exploded on the spot. But right now she forced her patience to hold, crushing the anger down.
If I lose my temper here… everything goes up in smoke.
She had finally managed to drag him all the way to the Red Magic Tower. She could not afford to ruin it now.
If she snapped, Albrecht's personality being what it was, he might simply walk out of the banquet. He might even reject her proposal altogether.
Naturally, the offer Agresia had made him was laced with ulterior motives. She was curious about the power of the mana that had appeared inside him, yes—but more than that, with no Hero around to interfere this time, she fully intended to push their relationship forward properly.
Especially since, for reasons she didn't understand, Albrecht had developed a rather endearing side that only made him more attractive. And given that the Hero was nowhere in sight, it seemed things hadn't worked out between them after all…
Except, of course, the moment the Hero vanished, a little stray cat had shown up instead. Albrecht might not have noticed, but Agresia saw it clearly.
That emotion that couldn't quite hide behind the pure-looking smile. The pure affection only a girl could carry.
"Ahem! Miss Clara?"
At Agresia's call, Clara flicked her gaze sideways.
"It's lovely to see comrades getting along so well, of course… but doing that in a public setting is a little lacking in manners, don't you think?"
Agresia delivered the rebuke with perfectly reasonable words and tone. Clara's eyes went round as she finally looked around, then her face flushed bright red.
She had been so focused on Albrecht that she hadn't paid the slightest attention to their surroundings.
"…Sorry."
With that brief apology, Clara quickly brought the fork to her own mouth. Agresia relaxed at the sight, and Albrecht—though he couldn't show it openly—found the situation considerably more comfortable.
Clara's little performance had drawn every eye in the room toward them, after all. Once that pressure vanished, of course he felt better.
That just now…
With his mind freer, he could finally revisit Clara's earlier actions. No matter how he looked at it, the whole sequence was too much to dismiss as simple innocence.
Albrecht wasn't the scoundrel Allen had been, but he was still a man. Clara was an unmistakably attractive woman. Watching a pretty girl keep making moves that looked an awful lot like affection… there was no way he could feel nothing.
He speared a piece of food with his fork and ate. Sitting here, those thoughts wouldn't help him one bit.
Yet contrary to his rational mind, Albrecht was so dazed he could barely tell whether he was swallowing the food through his mouth or his nose.
And through every bit of this…
"Mmm, this is delicious!"
…only Caesius was enjoying the banquet in perfect comfort.
With a jolt, the carriage came to a stop. At the sound, Erinn blearily opened her eyes.
"…Are we there?"
"Yeah, we've arrived."
Ser-Aria opened the carriage door as she spoke.
"Wake the others up for me, Erinn. I'll go haggle over the price."
"…You sure that's okay?"
"It'll be fine!"
Ser-Aria hopped out and strode into an extremely shabby house. Erinn watched her go, then turned her head.
Beside her, Freya and Letisia were still fast asleep, heads resting on each other's shoulders. Erinn let out a soft snort of laughter and shook them awake.
"Freya, Letisia. We're here."
"Mmh…"
"Already…?"
The place Erinn's party had reached was not the Red Magic Tower. Given the Tower's location, traveling by carriage from the Dern Empire would take several weeks at least.
There was no chance Albrecht would still be lingering at the Red Magic Tower after that long, so of course Erinn's group had needed another method.
And the method they had chosen was this place. Namely…
"Ow! Don't hit me!"
"You cheeky little brat—you deserve worse."
Ser-Aria came scrambling back out, getting her head whacked with a wooden stick for her trouble after going in to negotiate. Seeing it, Erinn let out a sigh mixed with a laugh, left the still half-asleep Letisia and Freya behind, and climbed down from the carriage.
"Trying to fleece a poor old man, are you? A High Elf princess ought to have plenty of money."
"Ow! Ack!"
"Master."
At Erinn's call, the old man who had been thumping Ser-Aria's head looked up. Watching him do something so pointless always made her wonder why he bothered—and left her a little sad.
There was a reason she called the act of looking around meaningless just because someone was there. The old man Erinn addressed as Master kept both eyes firmly shut.
Proof that he had lost his sight. That was why lifting his head to "look" meant nothing.
Hearing Erinn's voice, the old man asked again, as if confirming.
"…Erinn, is that you?"
"Yes, Master."
In her first life, after she became the Hero.
From her second life onward, even before she became the Hero, the master who had taught her the Hegemon Sword Art. The sole successor of the Conquering Sword in his generation.
Sword Saint Elk MacDowell. To Erinn, now living her third life, he was a benefactor in every single one of them.
Recognizing Erinn, Elk heaved a deep sigh.
"…And here I thought this tomboy princess had come to use me for some personal errand again."
"I-I already told you it wasn't me!"
"Quiet, you."
"Ow!"
Ser-Aria, who had talked back only to get hit again, stared at the ground with a dejected look. Erinn spoke to Elk.
"Please stop hitting her, Master. It's not that Aria doesn't know propriety—it's because you always try to gouge the price so hard."
"Gouge the price? Looking at the house I live in, you still say that?"
"We're not the ones who made it like this."
Erinn continued.
"If you hadn't gotten so deep into gambling, there wouldn't have been any problem. A man who can't even see insisting on playing poker…"
"Ahem! Enough!"
The moment the conversation turned against him, he tried to change the subject. Erinn laughed inwardly but pretended to obey and closed her mouth.
"So what brings you here?"
"We came for teleportation magic. Didn't Aria tell you?"
"That's not what I asked. Why do you need teleportation magic?"
Elk tapped the ground lightly with his wooden stick.
"You girls shouldn't have any missions yet."
"…Your ears are surprisingly sharp."
"When your eyes don't work, your ears had better."
She had wondered where all that money went; apparently simple gambling addiction wasn't the only cause.
Erinn decided she couldn't deceive Elk. He already knew everything—what was the point of lying? She was about to state their destination honestly when Elk suddenly struck first.
"Don't tell me it's because of that man."
"…"
Elk was Erinn's master. Of course he knew she had a childhood friend she had grown up with. Yet as far as he could tell, that man was not at her side right now.
And one more person was missing.
"Come to think of it, that half-elf isn't around either."
"The Sword Saint can't see anyone to begin with."
Thwack!
"Aaagh!"
Leaving Ser-Aria, who had earned herself another hit for the unnecessary remark, Elk asked Erinn,
"Did the two of them hit it off and run away together?"
At Elk's question, Erinn's entire atmosphere flipped in an instant. Elk felt goosebumps rise and let out a dry chuckle.
"…Master, the joke has gone too far."
"That's no way to speak to your master."
"You crossed the line first, Master."
Even as she said it, Erinn herself found it strange that she was getting this angry. She fully understood that he was not Allen but someone else named Albrecht—so why was she reacting like this?
She couldn't make sense of it, yet she felt she had to get angry. Only then could her heart hold on.
Perhaps it was because Elk's words were an insult to her comrade. That was how Erinn chose to explain it to herself.
Seeing her fierce reaction, Elk lightly stroked his chin and tossed out, completely unbothered,
"Getting that angry only makes it look more real, you know."
"…Master!"
"Of course that boy who was head-over-heels for you would never do such a thing. I'll admit it was a mean joke. I apologize."
Elk's apology settled the atmosphere for the moment. Yet the single remark had already planted a seed of unease in Erinn's heart, and that did not change.
"So what happened that the two of them aren't with you?"
At Elk's question, Erinn calmed her surging emotions. Then she let out a long breath and spoke.
"…It's hard to explain."
"Hard to tell even this master of yours?"
Erinn said,
"Even if I explained, you wouldn't believe it. Anyway, the reason we came is to find those two."
"…Hmm."
"We heard they're at the Red Magic Tower right now, so we're heading there. That's why we came looking for you, Master."
Hearing Erinn's explanation, Elk muttered,
"The Red Magic Tower? Didn't something unpleasant happen between that brat and the Tower Lord?"
"That's exactly why we need to go."
"…"
Elk was silent for a moment, as if weighing something. Watching him, Erinn said simply,
"Please don't go looking for reasons, Master."
"How am I supposed to help being curious?"
"Have you forgotten that that curiosity of yours is what dragged you into the world of gambling?"
"…You always know exactly where to stab."
In the meantime Freya and Letisia had come to their senses and climbed clumsily out of the carriage. Spotting Elk standing outside the house, both of them snapped fully awake and greeted him.
"Ah! It's been a while. Sword Saint Elk MacDowell."
"I-I'm glad you still look healthy."
"…Yes, you two are the same as ever."
After the brief greetings, Elk turned to Letisia.
"Still clumsy at handling the king, are you?"
"…Yes. Embarrassingly so."
"Nothing to be embarrassed about. Handling a king is never easy."
While encouraging her, Elk added one more thing.
"But once you can properly handle her, you'll be a great help to the party."
"…Yes. I'll keep that in mind."
When Letisia answered with a slight bow of her head, Erinn looked at Elk and said,
"Letisia isn't your disciple, Master. Don't go crushing her spirit for no reason."
"I was only offering advice as an adult… but my disciple is so prickly I can hardly say a word."
Elk clicked his tongue.
"So you want to go to the Red Magic Tower?"
"Yes."
"It's far, so it's expensive."
"I'll pay whatever you gouge, within reason."
"Hoping I won't put killing intent on display after you just did the same to me earlier? You've got no conscience."
"That still doesn't make price-gouging justified."
Watching his disciple who never lost a single verbal exchange, Elk clicked his tongue again and opened the door.
"Come in."
The reason Erinn's party couldn't use teleportation magic themselves was simple: they had no mage.
So if they wanted to travel long distances, they had no choice but to pay someone who offered teleportation services. Then why seek out the Sword Saint?
"Stand over there."
"Yes."
As befitting a successor of the Hegemon Sword Art, Elk MacDowell possessed outstanding mana as well. And because he found it wasteful to use that mana only for the sword, he was an eccentric who had studied magic even after reaching the pinnacle as a swordsman.
Magic swordsmen weren't that rare, but someone who had already reached the peak with the sword alone rarely bothered to learn magic. Elk MacDowell was different.
Even setting aside his status as Sword Saint, he was a pure mage who had reached the eighth circle. That was enough to walk into a Magic Tower and claim an executive post.
Naturally, he could use teleportation magic. Elk MacDowell made a living filling the holes left by his gambling losses with a teleportation business.
"Pay first."
"You haven't even told us how much."
"Ten gold coins."
"…Aren't you gouging a little too hard?"
"Exactly! With that much you could buy a whole house in most cities!"
When Ser-Aria chimed in, Elk pulled his hand back and said,
"Then don't use it. I don't care."
"…"
"…Wow, that's petty."
Erinn had no choice but to pull ten gold coins from her pouch. Hearing the clink, Elk said,
"Don't even think about slipping silver or copper in there. I'll know."
"I'm not. Do you take me for you, Master?"
"When you put it like that, it sounds like I'm the one who scams people."
She couldn't exactly say he didn't. In the past, after losing a fortune at poker, Elk had tried to make it back by using magic at the gambling tables—and gotten caught and thrown out.
When Erinn looked at him with a faintly knowing expression, Elk raised his wooden stick.
"Ow!!"
And hit Ser-Aria, who happened to be standing next to him. She stared at him with eyes that clearly asked why, but Elk ignored the look and accepted the gold coins Erinn held out.
"Ten. Confirmed."
"Would I really have given you something else?"
"Looks like you've got money these days. Handing over this much without hesitation."
"…"
Of course she did. They had sold the Dragon Jade and received payment for clearing the Obelisk. Remembering that every one of those events had happened together with him, Erinn bit down hard on her lip.
If he says he doesn't want to stay with us…
She pushed the negative thought aside for now. She simply felt grateful that she would soon be able to see him.
"Everyone stick close together. If you drift even a little, you'll end up somewhere weird."
"…Yes."
As Erinn's party clustered tightly, Elk flicked his wooden stick and raised his mana.
"Erinn."
And as he activated the spell, he left his disciple one piece of advice.
"When something happens, it's usually better to suppress your emotions and think rationally—but sometimes being honest is the better path."
"…What?"
The moment Erinn asked back, light from the mana flared brilliantly. Because of it, she never heard Elk's answer; she could only watch as the scenery around them changed at once.