The Drunkard Man (2)
"Ugh…"
Kallen stirred awake, his head splitting with a hangover.
"Damn it, what time is it…"
Outside, dawn had yet to break; the world beyond the window was still a dim, bluish gray.
When a vicious thirst came flooding in, he spat out a curse and forced himself upright.
"Water, where's the water bottle…"
"Here."
A slender arm appeared before him out of nowhere, offering a glass filled to the brim as he groped around beside the bed.
Kallen snatched it without a moment's thought and gulped the water down in great swallows.
"Haah… Now I finally feel halfway alive…?"
It was only after he had drained the glass to its last drop that he noticed something strange.
There was someone else's presence in the shabby little bedroom.
"…?"
Only then did Kallen turn his head — and his brow furrowed in an instant.
He had locked eyes with a strange woman sitting in the chair beside his bed, knees folded primly together, quietly watching him.
"You were sleeping awfully soundly."
Seeing him awake, she spoke with a faint smile.
"I was just about to wake you anyway. Waiting around was starting to grow tedious."
"Who…?"
Kallen asked back in a sleep-thickened voice, taken aback by the woman who had addressed him so familiarly out of nowhere.
Unruffled, she gave a small tilt of her head and continued calmly.
"Allow me to introduce myself properly once more. This one is Talisa, Headmistress of Elysion Academy."
"What…?"
Kallen frowned without meaning to.
Both words were familiar, but somehow the woman's name rang far clearer in his ears than Elysion did.
Her dark purple hair and feline features were fairly easy on the memory, too.
Still clutching his throbbing head, Kallen pieced his recollections together one by one, like fitting scattered puzzle pieces into place.
And when he finally recalled the events of the previous night, he let out a small groan.
"…Damn it all."
Then he stole a cautious glance to the side.
The woman called Talisa was simply watching him with a soft, unchanging smile.
"…And here I thought you were some worn-out old monster. No wonder my intimidation didn't send you running — you just stood your ground…"
Having muttered his small complaint under his breath, Kallen turned to Talisa and spoke flatly.
"I didn't do anything untoward last night, did I?"
"Fear not. At the very least, nothing happened 'here.'"
"That's some comfort, at least."
At Talisa's prompt answer, Kallen pressed a hand to his forehead and let out the breath he'd been holding.
"I half thought I'd end up roasted on a spit."
"Judging by that insolent tongue of yours, it seems you know who this one is."
"Is there a single citizen of the Empire who doesn't know the Vampire of Helkar?"
Her eyes glittered with interest at that, and Kallen edged back slightly as he answered.
"Though I'll admit, I never expected you to walk around looking so wildly out of keeping with your actual age."
"What a man who eats rudeness for breakfast. Well — you did recognize me from the start."
"Forget it. What do you want? If you're here to prattle on about nothing, I'd appreciate it if you left."
Even after seeing through her identity, Kallen showed little real interest in the woman.
All he wanted right now was to flop back into bed and reclaim his lost sleep.
"…Oh, I do have business."
Watching Kallen wave her off irritably, Talisa straightened her posture and finally came to the point.
"Kallen, was it? Have you any interest in giving up this pillar-sitting gig at the brothel and finding proper employment?"
"What? Employment?"
"That's right. Say… a professorship at Elysion?"
"What in the world…"
Kallen, who had been fumbling for his shirt with his bare torso fully exposed, stopped dead in place.
"The new semester begins shortly, you see, and a professor's seat has suddenly gone vacant. It's been giving me no end of headaches lately."
Talisa continued on, utterly unbothered by the frown he wore as if he'd heard pure nonsense.
"A first-year Basic Swordsmanship class. The way I see it, you'd be the perfect fit. What do you say? Hmm?"
"…"
The suspicious offer was far too abrupt — its intent and its context equally unreadable.
The words of a strange woman who'd come calling in the dead of pre-dawn were more than enough to worsen his hangover-throbbing head.
Worse, the word she'd mentioned — Elysion — stirred up old, festering memories for no good reason and soured Kallen's mood.
He stared straight into the woman's eyes, as though trying to fathom her hidden agenda.
Her reddish-brown eyes, faintly curved at the corners, remained so deep that nothing within them could be read.
"…To hell with this."
Spitting out a light curse, Kallen glared at Talisa, then smoothly extended his arm and held out the empty glass.
At this inexplicable gesture, Talisa simply blinked slowly.
"…?"
Kallen said nothing, merely bobbing the glass up and down a couple of times.
Only when her baffled expression finally registered his impatience did she burst out laughing.
"You're the first man ever to presume to ask this one to pour his water."
Despite her words, she was already holding the bottle in both hands, filling his glass to the brim.
Kallen drained it again in one go, then fixed Talisa with a gaze still brimming with suspicion.
After a long silent standoff between them, he finally spoke.
"What's the reason?"
"Hmm? The reason?"
"The headmistress of a prestigious academy — a grand mage of the era, no less — recruiting a lowly brothel pillar-sitter as a professor. Short of being out of your mind, I can't imagine…"
"You have a pleasant face."
"?"
At the absurd reply, Kallen's face twisted in outright exasperation.
Even under his demanding look, which begged for further explanation, Talisa simply met his gaze with calm indifference, as if that were the whole of it.
"…Even if the world were ending, this would be a remarkably thorough mess of it."
A full sneer curled his lips as he hurled the mockery out in a flippant voice.
"I have no interest in excessively old women. I'd ask you to refrain from advances of that sort?"
"Then excessively young women are more to your taste?"
"What?"
Kallen's face stiffened slightly.
Talisa spoke again, her composure undisturbed.
"I hear you've been paying the girls' fees at the brothel yourself. The young ones, in particular."
"…You've had me investigated?"
"But of course."
Even under his glare, Talisa simply poured herself some water and took a calm sip.
"And thanks to that, the girls remain wholly unacquainted with men, I'm told. The more I look, the less this seems like some peculiar fetish… A kind of want, perhaps? Or simple self-satisfaction?"
"…"
"Well, either way, it's strange. Out of money that isn't even yours, running yourself into debt paying other people's fees."
Talisa shot him a sidelong glance, then rose from her seat and drew close to him.
"And on top of that, far from paying it down, you add a fortune to your debt every month…"
"…"
Before he knew it, she was standing pressed close before him, his bare upper body fully at her eye level.
"I find myself rather curious. Is gambling a hobby of yours? That's hardly a debt a brothel pillar-sitter's income could ever clear… What exactly do you intend to do… hmm?"
With a sly smile, Talisa reached out an arm, utterly indifferent to the sour look Kallen gave her.
Then, buttoning his half-worn shirt from the top down, she continued in something close to a whisper.
"A professorship at Elysion comes with a handsome salary. Naturally, it would go a long way toward paying off your debts. It doesn't seem like a bad offer for you, I'd say."
"Well, sorry to say, I don't think that'll work out."
Kallen shook his head with a scoff of utter dismissal.
"My debts are all owed to Baron Todd, the owner of this establishment. A truly terrifying creditor. Unless every last coin is paid off, he'll never let me go. So don't waste your effort—"
"Ah, I nearly forgot to mention. As for Baron Todd — I've already met with him."
"…What?"
For the first time, a flicker of panic crossed Kallen's face.
"And your debts have all been transferred to me as well."
Talisa kept flicking at his buttons with her fingers, her voice as unhurried as ever.
"When I told him I'd be taking you with me, he wept tears of gratitude on the spot. It seems his headaches were no small matter either."
"…"
"Well, it would be. He bleeds a fortune out of you every month under the pretext of debt, with next to no way of ever making you pay it back. And you're hardly a man he could threaten with force…"
"W-wait… then…"
"As of today, I am your creditor. And the Vampire of Helkar has never once let prey slip through her fingers. Unlike that poor, fat, bald Baron Todd."
"…"
Kallen felt as though he'd been checkmated out of nowhere.
Seeing him dumbstruck, Talisa gave a soft "heh" of victory and continued in a silky voice.
"Serve as the Basic Swordsmanship professor for exactly one year. After that, your wishes will be respected in full — whether you renew the contract or walk away."
"…"
"In a year's time, your debt will be reduced by half. And quite apart from that, you'll be paid your wages in full and on time."
Talisa looked down at Kallen's shirt, now neatly buttoned to the collar, and nodded with satisfaction.
Then she took a single step back, looked up at him, and asked in a subtly coaxing voice.
"That's a truly fine arrangement, no? Hmm?"
"…"
By now, a faint glimmer of madness had crept into her eyes.
Everything that followed was one absurdity after another.
Kallen, stealing wary sidelong glances at Talisa as she sat down primly once more, stammered in bewilderment.
"Why on earth would you go this far…"
"Did I not already tell you? Because you have a pleasant face."
"…"
Talisa's words didn't even qualify as a vague answer.
Her conclusion had clearly long since been reached, yet Kallen still couldn't make head or tail of any of it.
After racking his brain desperately, he shook his head and spoke.
"…I have never once in my life taught a soul. Forget educating students properly — I'd count it a blessing if I didn't turn them into half-cripples…"
"It doesn't matter."
"What?"
And what Talisa said next made even less sense to him.
"Simply fill the seat. Everything else is yours to do as you please. Teach whomever you like — botch the classes, slack off, it's all the same."
"What kind of headmistress says…"
"Ah, but my time is running short as well. I'd like that answer of yours soon, if you please?"
Cutting off whatever Kallen had been about to say, she pressed him for his reply directly.
In the brightening morning light, Kallen caught himself entertaining the idle thought that Talisa looked somehow faintly translucent.
After a moment's thought, Kallen asked in a voice that had all but surrendered.
"…Do I even have a choice?"
"You do not."
"Ha."
At the sight of the purple-haired woman nodding without a beat of hesitation, Kallen could only swallow a small sigh of resignation.
"…The contract?"
"Have a look."
Talisa produced something from her coat, as if she'd been waiting for precisely that, and tossed it over.
Kallen caught the fluttering parchment and immediately checked its contents.
Nothing about the contract looked the least bit suspicious.
The term of employment, the debt reduction — every clause matched exactly what she had told him.
Though that was, of course, precisely what deepened his doubts.
"…"
Talisa was already wordlessly holding out a quill to him, smiling.
After glaring at her for a moment, Kallen let out a long, heavy sigh.
"…So that's why the drink tasted so bitter last night."
All he could think was that he'd bitten off far more than he could chew.
Whatever the truth behind it all was, there was no turning back now.
The moment he signed his name in the blank, the entire sheet of parchment suffused with a brilliant golden light.
Confirming it, Talisa tore the document precisely in half and handed one side to Kallen.
Then she nodded with a contented smile and said,
"Welcome to the post, Professor Kallen. I look forward to working with you."
"…Damn it, what in the world is even happening…"
"Everyone feels that way at first. Worry not — you'll learn the ropes as you go."
Talisa's comfort, which was hardly comfort at all, only grated on him further.
"Ah, and I didn't hire you as a professor on your face alone."
Tucking her half of the contract away like some precious treasure, she glanced sidelong at Kallen and spoke again.
"The man you faced two days ago was one of the finest blades in the Empire. Even if you passed on to the students but a tenth of the skill that turned aside his sword, it would be more than enough to earn your keep as a professor. Well — as I said before, that part is up to you."
"Then just make him the professor instead."
"Regrettably, there's some disqualifying history with him. Which, I suspect, is not a story for now…"
Only then, recalling recent events, did Kallen regard Talisa with an uncertain look.
"Who was he? He drew a sword on me out of nowhere, so I took him for trouble and drove him off."
"One of my subordinates. It seems there was some misunderstanding while he was tracking a demonic human. You have my sincerest apologies on that count."
"Demonic human…?"
"Since it's come up — do you happen to know where the one who fled might be? He was one of those targeting a student of ours. A wretch who absolutely must be brought to justice."
"…If you mean him, I chased him down and killed him."
"Hmm?"
"I tried to question him, but he started hurling lethal magic at me the moment he saw me."
Kallen gave a light shrug and turned his eyes back to her.
"Was I supposed to take him alive, or something?"
"No — that's fine."
Talisa simply shook her head with easy indifference.
"He was the lowliest of the low, after all. Even captured, there'd have been nothing worth extracting from him. You've spared me some trouble, if anything."
Talisa's eyes flicked downward. Her skin, already fading and beginning to evaporate into motes of light, told him plainly that her time here was truly running out.
What the hell even is this… everyone's awake and… of all the madwomen in the world to get tangled up with, I had to pick the worst…
Talisa, having tidied herself, looked once more at Kallen, who was muttering complaints as he searched for his coat.
Despite her earlier remark about his pleasant face, Kallen's features still wavered blur before her eyes, without clear outline.
Even she could not begin to fathom the sheer scale of the current — the flow of fate — that Kallen carried within him.
Her intuition had been right yet again — and, doubly certain of it, Talisa nodded in satisfaction and turned away.
"The academic term begins in a fortnight. I'll send a carriage for you personally, so ride it here."
"…I'm honored beyond all words."
"That will do. This much I can manage. And I've prepared a small gift to mark your employment. I do hope you'll like it."
"A gift? What on earth—"
And then, turning his head as he shrugged on his coat, Kallen stopped dead in his tracks.
Talisa, who had been standing in the bedroom mere moments before, had vanished without a whisper of sound.
For a heartbeat he wondered if he'd dreamed some long, strange dream — but the warmth lingering in the worn old chair and the empty water bottle on the floor told him, unmistakably, that someone had truly been there.
Staring blankly down at the half of the contract in his hand, Kallen let out a hollow, helpless laugh.
"…Ha."