The Encounter (1)
Amid all the commotion, time slipped by in the blink of an eye.
So many disasters had struck one after another, with numerous injuries to boot, that Elysion had granted its students several days of rest.
In the midst of this unexpected lull, the talk of the campus was, without question, Garnet's pardon and the reappearance of Princess Kaziah, who had been keeping herself hidden away.
And so, as the academic calendar resumed, Kallen and Garnet received a private summons from the Princess and were making their way there together.
"...Damn it. Just how long is that woman planning to laze around and live off everyone else..."
Kallen grumbled as he walked down the corridor, leaning far back as if his arm might fall off from the sheer weight of it all.
"Anyone watching would think you'd lost a limb. And they call me delicate-hearted..."
Professor Ziya was still on medical leave, citing psychological distress.
Thanks to that, Kallen had been forced, half against his will, to shoulder several of her duties.
"So, what could she be summoning us for...?"
Garnet asked, glancing up at him as they walked side by side.
Her cheeks, once gaunt and haggard, now brimmed with a vitality they had never held before.
Her characteristically sharp eyes remained the same, but her manner toward Kallen had somehow grown noticeably more careful, almost gentle.
"Not me, for once. What a pain in the neck, either way..."
The annoyance was written plainly across Kallen's face as he muttered curtly. Then, without warning, he turned his head and asked Garnet,
"How are things with you these days? Is being class president manageable?"
"S-sorry, what?"
Garnet stammered, visibly startled by such an ordinary question.
"...It's fine. A little busy, but... it's honestly kind of fun, in its own way..."
An embarrassed smile had settled on her lips before she knew it.
She couldn't quite explain why his voice, casually checking in on her, warmed her so much.
With a look of resolve, she lifted her head toward Kallen and spoke.
"I—I'll work hard. I swear I'll repay the faith you've placed in me..."
"Ah, yeah..."
Under the weight of her earnest gaze, Kallen found himself averting his eyes for no good reason.
There was hardly any need to confess that he had appointed her class president with the half-formed plan of dumping tedious chores onto her. His conscience pricked at him, besides—and truthfully, she was doing a far better job than he'd expected.
"Well... are you getting along with your classmates?"
"...We keep our distance."
At his attempt to change the subject, Garnet smiled awkwardly and shook her head.
Her father's honor had been restored and she herself had received a conditional pardon, but she couldn't simply wipe away everything that had happened as if it were nothing.
"...Though quite a few of them did come and apologize. And I've made a few friends, more or less..."
At her waist, a finely crafted magic sword—bearing the unmistakable touch of someone's careful handiwork—swayed pleasantly in time with her steps.
Needless to say, it was Carol's work.
"...Good. I'm glad."
Kallen answered absently, then added with a touch of sheepishness,
"...I mean, if anyone gives you grief for no reason, you tell me. I'll skewer them on the spot."
"!"
Garnet looked up at him, eyes going wide.
Then, as if to hide the sudden tightness rising in her chest, she ducked her head.
"...Thank you."
Behind the stammering Garnet, an invisible tail all but wagged.
"Ahem, anyway..."
Kallen stole a glance at her expression and asked,
"Do you remember... anything from that time?"
"That time...?"
"You know... during the practical exam..."
"...Ah."
Garnet studied him briefly, lost in thought, then shook her head firmly.
"I don't remember a thing. Maybe the sword swallowed my whole consciousness..."
Then she looked up at him and mumbled, shuffling her feet like someone confessing a wrongdoing.
"...I'm sorry."
"Ah—no, don't apologize. There's nothing to be sorry for."
Kallen waved his hands in exaggerated protest.
"Then... why did you ask...?"
"Just curious, that's all. Don't worry about it."
"Oh... okay."
Garnet tilted her head, bewildered.
Kallen, avoiding her gaze, let out a quiet sigh of relief and quickened his pace with undue urgency.
"Let's hurry. We'll be late at this rate."
"..."
Despite his urging, Garnet for some reason quietly stopped in her tracks.
She stared wordlessly at Kallen walking ahead of her, then closed her eyes tightly.
The sight of that day remained vivid in her mind, as fresh as if it had happened only last night.
A world drowned in jet-black darkness.
There, on the very brink of annihilation, stood a single man—rooted in place like a standard-bearer leading death itself, one with the ruined landscape around him.
Garnet remembered.
She was curious—no, she was desperately, achingly concerned.
Why did Kallen carry such fearsome, crushing darkness on his shoulders, all alone, without a word to anyone?
"..."
But Garnet simply shook her head again in silence.
As insufficient as she still was, the only thing she could do for now was pretend not to know and leave it be.
This time, it would be her turn to protect him.
Watching Kallen's retreating figure, she made a quiet promise to herself: that the day would come when she could stand proudly at his side—and when it did, she would gladly be his strength.
"Hm? What are you stopping for?"
Only then did Kallen seem to notice something was off, glancing back over his shoulder.
Garnet simply smiled sweetly, as if nothing had happened, and quickened her steps.
"Coming."
Caliburn.
The hall that had once been packed with people was now eerily deserted.
Garnet and Kallen knelt beneath the high stairway and offered their respects.
"Rise."
The owner of that clear, melodious voice—a voice they had both heard before—gestured for the two of them to stand.
Princess Kaziah's face remained faintly obscured behind her veil.
All they could make out was a cascade of lustrous pale-silver hair and the delicate, finely drawn outline of her features.
"Garnet of House Potts. Have you been well of late?"
"Y-yes... thanks to your concern... very much so..."
Garnet answered, stiff and fumbling with tension.
At that, the Princess's warm voice rang out, as if to put her at ease.
"I have summoned the two of you because there is a matter of some import to discuss."
With a light clearing of her throat, she came to the point.
"As I mentioned before, every charge of treason brought against your house has been fully dismissed. The name of Potts shall be inscribed once more in the imperial rolls of honor, and the return of your confiscated assets will soon be set in motion."
"Ah..."
Garnet bit down hard on her lip, fighting back tears.
It still felt like a half-remembered dream. Never in her wildest imaginings had she thought to taste an ending like this at the very bottom of despair.
Her glistening eyes drifted naturally toward Kallen beside her.
"I hear the children of House Potts have studied at the Imperial Academy for generations. If you so wish, I could see to it that you are readmitted there."
"S-sorry, what?"
At the Princess's sudden offer, Garnet's eyes went wide. She stole a glance at Kallen, who was wearing an oddly sullen expression.
"I—I am grateful for the kindness, but I am quite content with my life at Elysion. This is enough for me."
"I see. Very well."
Thankfully, the Princess nodded indifferently at Garnet's hasty reply.
"I merely asked. Think nothing of it."
"I—I am humbled by your grace."
Garnet let out a silent breath of relief.
"But bear this in mind. Separate from your father's pardon, your own crimes have not simply vanished. Should you err again, it could well mean the slaughter of Elysion's invaluable faculty and students. Never forget how heavy that truth is."
And then, as if flipping a switch, Kaziah's voice turned severe.
"You have been granted this exceptionally lenient treatment solely because I hold your talent in high regard—you, who overcame a demonic sword through your own will. Should such a thing happen again, I will be the first to take your head. Do you understand?"
"...I shall keep it in mind."
Garnet answered with a deep bow.
There was no room for resentment, nor anything of the kind. That she was even standing in this hall at all was, from the start, an outcome too absurd to believe.
With Kallen's help she had shaken off the demonic sword and even washed away her father's disgrace—but that didn't erase the things she had done while ensnared by it.
Only because the Princess had so transparently shielded her from her instructors' wrath had she received even a conditional reprieve.
Moreover, Kallen's life now hung in the Princess's hands as well.
Her words were less a threat than a stern piece of advice.
"And as for you..."
The Princess's gaze slid to Garnet's side.
Tap, tap—a needle-sharp stare rained down directly on Kallen.
"Kallen, was it? Professor Kallen."
"That's correct."
Kallen answered with a bow of his head.
Princess Kaziah—that is, the First Princess of the Empire.
She was the one whose name had once belonged to a fiancée Kallen never even knew he had.
Had he succeeded to Prominence, he and she might have continued in a very different relationship than this.
Though at this point, such daydreaming was utterly pointless.
"...Your contributions in bringing this affair to a close were considerable. I had taken you for an idle scoundrel, but it seems there is a diligent streak in you after all."
Where moments ago her voice had been nothing but gracious toward Garnet, an unmistakable note of disapproval now brimmed in it.
"To think you would stake your very life for a student—I never imagined it. This much of your service I will grant special recognition."
"...?"
At the Princess's oddly ambiguous words—praise that wasn't quite praise—Kallen found himself frowning and tilting his head.
"However, your everyday conduct is in sore need of correction. I hear you spend your lectures sleeping the day away, neglecting your duties entirely. You even drink openly in the middle of the workday..."
A terrifying information network—as if she had witnessed it all with her own eyes.
For a moment, Kallen seriously wondered just how many of the Princess's spies were embedded in Elysion.
"You would do well to develop some sense of responsibility as a professor of Elysion."
As though venting months of pent-up frustration, the Princess's lecture droned on without pause.
"There is a professor in your year named Jiya, I'm told. Impeccable in conduct, and utterly devoted to her students—a truly exemplary talent, I hear. You ought to model yourself after such a woman."
"?"
And at that, Kallen could bear it no longer, his brow knitting tight.
He could forgive the Princess's astonishing intelligence network—but praising Professor Ziya? His stomach turned at the very thought.
"Um... Your Highness seems to be gravely mistaken about something."
He cast a sidelong look upward and spoke, his voice dripping with open displeasure.
"What did you say?"
"Professor Ziya is hardly a woman worth emulating. She's foul-tempered, and she treats glaring at people as her life's greatest pleasure. Surely there's a reason she's reached that age without ever marrying, alone and—ow!"
A stinging pain bloomed across the back of his hand, and Kallen cut himself off mid-sentence.
Beside him, Garnet was pinching him for dear life, eyes blazing, silently begging him to stop.
"What was that for all of a sudden—"
Then, grumbling, Kallen belatedly grasped the situation and shut his mouth.
"..."
Princess Kaziah stood with her fists clenched tight, lips bitten white, her fury plainly on display.
...Why is she suddenly like this? Don't tell me she's furious just because I contradicted her?
The Princess was clearly far more imperious than she looked.
The higher one's station, the more one ought to heed honest counsel...
He had merely corrected some false information, and yet this tantrum was, without question, an overreaction.
But seeing Garnet fidgeting anxiously beside him, Kallen let out a long sigh and bowed his head once more.
"As Your Highness commands."
"Haaah..."
Only then did Garnet beside him breathe a sigh of relief.
"..."
The Princess rose abruptly from her seat and descended the stairway in silence.
The clicking of her heels rang out, unusually loud and irritable.
And just as she was about to pass the two of them—
A chilling voice drifted down from above Kallen's still-bowed head.
"I shall be watching."
BANG!
With the violent slam of the arched doors, the crushing pressure of killing intent vanished as well.
Only then did Kallen raise his head, turning to stare blankly behind him as he muttered,
"...How exactly is she planning to watch? Did she seriously plant a spy on us or something..."