Master of the Demonic Sword (2)
"Ahem, hmm~"
Carol hummed a little tune as she dumped herbs and spices into the iron pot sitting atop the campfire. Darkness had already settled completely around them.
Before long, her gaze drifted to the corpse of the Wolpertinger, its skull thoroughly pulped.
"Hehe."
Carol let out a rather sinister chuckle, then drew a small knife from inside her jacket. With practiced hands, she skinned the rabbit beast and promptly chopped the meat into bite-sized pieces.
Yulian sat quietly beside her, flinching every time he heard the crack of snapping bone. Without a pot, without herbs, without even knowing which plants were which, he was practically blind in this forest.
It was only now that Yulian truly understood why Alchemy Department students—who were useless in a fight—had been so popular during party formation.
The pot of fat and meat soon came to a bubbling boil, filling the air with a wonderful smell.
"Mm, perfect!"
Carol tasted the stew and nodded with exaggerated delight. Then she produced a ladle, filled a wooden bowl, and handed it to Yulian.
"...?"
"You know better than to complain that it's too little, right?"
As Yulian stared at it blankly, Carol's voice rang out.
"The pot's mine. The herbs and spices—found them. The fire I lit. The Wolpertinger I caught. The prep I did. The cooking I did."
She rattled off her list of merits like a triumphant general.
"The only thing you helped with was keeping watch, so you're getting a share on that account. Satisfied with that? Hmm?"
He hadn't held out any real expectations to begin with. Besides, despite her words, the wooden bowl held a fairly generous portion of meat and vegetables.
"Th-thank you."
Yulian absently raised his spoon to his mouth—and his eyes shot wide open. At the flicker of genuine gratitude in his gaze, Carol stuck her tongue out and grinned.
"Good, right? It's my family's special rabbit stew. I grew up eating it all the time. Ah, now I miss home..."
And at Carol's murmured words, Yulian's face darkened once more.
The Wolpertinger was a beast that this squirrel-like girl could catch with a single kick. Meanwhile, he had stood frozen before it, trembling like a leaf.
"So what was that about, anyway?"
"W-whatever do you mean?"
"Earlier. I mean, it's not like a Swordsman's Department student to freeze up over a bunny."
Carol went on breezily, blowing on her soup. "Leg cramp, maybe?"
"Ah..."
Yulian hesitated, avoiding her eyes. Yes, what had just happened had been utterly mortifying—but the true source of his fear lay somewhere else entirely.
'Should that fact ever come to light, you will cease to be a member of House Phebiel from that moment on.'
It was his father's decree, absolute as law—the man who had thrown him into Elysion in the first place. The word of the Grand Duke who guarded the Northern Wall carried that much weight.
"Well, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine—"
"...I'm afraid of sharp things."
But somehow, impulsively, Yulian found himself speaking.
"...Sorry?"
"Swords, axes, scissors, pointed horns... I'm terrified of all of them. Just looking at them makes my head spin... my stomach turns..."
Crouched down, Yulian spilled the words out as if throwing caution to the wind. It was something he'd blurted out, unable to bear the stifling pressure and resentment that had been building and building.
Besides, a forest at midnight, with just the two of them alone, was a place perfectly suited to provoke such an impulse. Though even he had never imagined he'd confess such a secret to a girl he'd only met today.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Yulian nodded again at Carol's question, her eyes round with disbelief.
"..."
Carol tilted her head suspiciously, then slyly produced the small knife she'd used on the Wolpertinger earlier. Stepping up in front of Yulian, she swayed her upper body this way and that, feigning light jabs.
"Shoo, shoo-shoo."
"U-uugh..."
Yulian's face went instantly white as a sheet. Seeing this, Carol awkwardly put the knife away and muttered under her breath.
"...It was real. Sorry."
"Well, I don't blame you for not believing me..."
Yulian murmured with a bitter expression.
"Who would believe that the heir of Phebiel is such a pathetic coward? People calling me worthless—it's only natural..."
"No, actually? I don't think you're much of a coward at all."
"...Sorry?"
At her incomprehensible words, Yulian's eyes went round. Carol just responded with a shrug, as if to say, what does that even matter?
"You went and told someone you met today your deepest secret, didn't you? Most people couldn't even bring themselves to try."
"But still..."
"Well, what can you do?"
Waving a dismissive hand, she leaned back with a carefree air.
"You just live with what you've got, that's all."
"...Sorry?"
"Some people are one way, some are another. Does being the Northern Grand Duke's son mean your blood is different? You're allowed to be scared of pointy things."
"..."
Yulian looked at Carol in silence, a strange expression on his face.
The reactions of those who learned of his condition had always fallen into one of two camps. The first was pointless comfort—oh, you'll get better if you just try. The second was disgust, as if beholding a piece of trash that had no place anywhere in the world.
Neither response had ever sat well with him. But being told to simply live with what he had—that was a first.
Yulian was overcome by an indescribable, peculiar feeling.
"So how did it end up that way, anyway? An illness?"
"That... when I was young, my father once tied me to a chair he'd made by melting down blades, and left me there overnight."
Yulian said, awkwardly averting his gaze.
"It's a discipline method passed down through the Phebiel line for generations. The armrests and backrest were made entirely of blades, so the slightest wrong movement would get you cut. And ever since that day, I've been like this..."
"Oh no..."
Carol clucked her tongue perfunctorily, then seemed to remember something and asked, "Oh, wait—how did you manage to butt in back then, though?"
"When?"
"When that terrifying professor was dueling Miss Potts. The place was absolutely covered in sharp things. Broken blades on the ground, and right in front of the professor, too..."
"A duel...? Oh—now that you mention it..."
Yulian's eyes finally went wide as he realized the identity of the girl who had brought Professor Ziya to that duel. He'd thought she looked oddly familiar despite being a total stranger—so they hadn't actually met for the first time after all.
After a moment's thought, he spoke, more to himself than anyone, his voice lacking confidence.
"...I suppose it was because the situation was so desperate back then? It really seemed like Miss Potts would die if he kept hitting her..."
"Hey, what! Then you're all set!"
And Carol thumped Yulian heartily on the back.
While he sat there dumbfounded, she giggled and went on.
"If anything desperate comes up during the practical, just call on me, okay?"
"...Were we even in the same group?"
"We're sticking together until we find Miss Potts, aren't we?"
He had no memory of agreeing to any such thing. But neither did it particularly displease him. Listening to Carol's shameless chatter, Yulian somehow found himself nodding with a smile.
"...Yes."
"Hah, hah..."
Garnet was pressing onward alone. Everything that could have been divided among squad members, she had to do by herself, and the strain on her stamina was brutal. Worse, having chosen the highest-difficulty route, she had been plagued by beast attacks the entire way.
Her clothes had long since been stained a mottled mess with the creatures' fluids and blood. Even so, her half-unfocused eyes kept blindly fixed ahead.
"Th-thirsty... why am I so thirsty..."
She looked at the bottle that had run dry ages ago and muttered irritably. No matter how much she drank, the thirst showed no sign of fading. As if what she craved wasn't water at all, but something else entirely.
Then Garnet came to an abrupt halt. She glanced back over her shoulder and murmured quietly.
"Hiding long enough? Come on out."
"..."
And from the shadows of the seemingly empty forest, a group of students appeared all at once.
Garnet recognized them instantly. The most pathetic breed—leeches who latched onto whoever led the way like remoras, letting others blaze the trail for them. One male student wedged among them looked strangely familiar.
Pas, who had picked a fight with her at the training grounds days ago and been driven off without even recouping his losses, was chuckling away once again.
"How did you know?"
"You were making it so obvious. How could I not?"
By now the students had formed a ring around her, cutting off every direction of escape. Garnet only let out a faint, derisive snort.
"I saw you kill that beast."
One of them sneered.
"You're a crueler woman than you look. Who knew you had a hobby of mutilating corpses like that?"
"Better than skulking around behind people like sewer rats."
"Well, we were planning to wrap this up around now anyway. We were just waiting for the moment you ran yourself dry."
-Screeech...
Suddenly a mound of earth rose from the ground, hardened solid, and bound Garnet's ankles. Sly smiles played across the faces of the gang, who had been secretly chanting spells.
"I hear Pas suffered quite the humiliation at your hands."
One male student stepped forward and spoke with leisurely ease.
"Pas is a friend of mine, you see. So I'm here to repay that old debt, Potts."
"..."
"The professors can't save you this time. This is a blind spot beyond the Orb's reach. As long as we don't kill you, the punishment won't amount to much."
Garnet simply stared at the sneering student in silence.
"We'll break your arms and legs, then dump you in some cave nobody ever visits. You'll get the lowest score in the entire year, you traitor's daughter."
"And we'll make good use of the trail you cleared for us. Much obliged."
Mocking laughter echoed from all sides.
Garnet's head had sunk low toward the ground. And from her battered old sword, a crimson aura flickered faintly, like heat haze.
"Giving up already? How boring."
The student read her posture as surrender and let out a short, contemptuous laugh.
"Don't hold back, boys. Get her."
At the dropped signal, Magic Missiles and sword-wielding students came rushing in from every direction.
And Garnet's eyes—motionless all this while—flashed for an instant.
-KWAAAAANG!!
"Ugh!"
"Gah...!"
A violent shockwave erupted around Garnet all at once. The spells, robbed of their flight paths, collided with one another and detonated. Students flung through the air smashed into trees and rocks and crumpled, unconscious.
"What the—! It was an enchanted blade? Damn it all...!!"
Garnet immediately lunged at Pas, the only one left standing and spitting curses.
"G-get away! Ugh...!"
Pas's sword lasted a single exchange before shattering and clattering across the ground. Garnet gave him no room even to breathe, pressing in again and again.
Even she had no intention of going so far as to kill him. She simply meant to carve terror deep into his bones so that he'd never dream of troubling her again.
"S-stay back!"
And so she raised her sword in threat—
-Finish him.
Without warning, a whisper brushed against her ear. A voice thick and seductive, as if rising from the very depths of her consciousness.
The focus of her azure eyes blurred for a moment.
And the blade that had been aimed at the ground beside the fallen student's head suddenly changed course and swung down.
"H-huaaagh...!"
-SHLICK!!
Along with the sensation of skin splitting, scarlet droplets of blood spattered across Garnet's face.
"...Huh?"
"Hah, hah...!"
Judith was a complete wreck, breathing ragged and hard. Yet her eyes, glaring ahead, still brimmed with fighting spirit.
What stood before her was a Demonic Human, radiating a murderous aura from every pore.
"..."
An animal skull atop his head, and rags for clothes hung all over with sinister talismans and cursed implements. How such a vicious creature had infiltrated the examination grounds was beyond knowing.
At a student's level, even standing against him was impossible. Already several students lay collapsed unconscious around them.
"What tear-jerking effort this is."
Then a gravelly voice, warped so far beyond recognition that its owner was unidentifiable, echoed from behind the skull.
"One final offer: surrender. Receive the baptism of the true gods and savor an immortal life for all eternity. Do so, and I swear your life will be spared."
"Shut up."
Judith cut him off instantly, as if the offer weren't worth a moment's thought.
"Don't you dare make light of the name Vitelles, you filth. A filthy Demonic Human, presuming to—"
"Ah. So that's how it is."
The Demonic Human stopped and nodded.
"...Then nothing can be done."
"What are you—hngh...!"
And then an aura of carnage erupted from him, beyond all comparison to what had come before. Enduring it with one's sanity intact was next to impossible. Even Judith, steeling herself as she was, felt her legs give out, and she stumbled down to the ground.
Gritting her teeth, she barely dragged herself upright and shouted to the students trembling behind her.
"I'll hold this line. Get to the professors and tell them what's happening—now!"
"B-but... alone, you can't..."
"No arguments—GO! Every student in this forest could die!"
She cried out, glaring back with frustrated urgency. There was no chance of victory here. The creature was toying with the students without even drawing the sword in its sheath.
The only person with even the slightest hope of delaying it was Judith herself.
Turning her head back toward the enemy, she clenched her teeth hard and readied herself to ignite searing flame across her palm—
"...?"
The murderous aura that had filled the entire space vanished in an instant, like a lie.
The Demonic Human, who had seemed ready to pounce at any moment, was now slumping completely loose, leaving himself wide open.
Suspecting some manner of deception, Judith gathered her resolve all the more.
"What are you trying to—"
"That's enough out of you."
"...Eh?"
And at the breezy voice drifting from beyond the skull, Judith's eyes flew wide open.
It was a voice she knew intimately well.
Then he flung the skull aside, revealing his face—and Judith shrieked aloud.
"Y-you...!"
Kallen, revealed at last, gave a wry smile and a nod.
"You held up better than I expected."