Super Senses (1)
Colton's mind went white.
He struggled to make sense of a situation that refused to make any. Beside him, Lyca lay prostrate on the floor, forehead pressed to the stone, not so much as a twitch of movement. What had the man just said?
...Lord?
Who? That man?
He wanted to believe he'd misheard. The scene unfolding before his eyes made that impossible.
The 7th Lord sat in the chair with one leg crossed over the other, lazily sweeping his gaze across everyone in the hall. Even the knights who had marched him in so confidently now stood frozen solid, not daring to draw a breath. The color drained from Colton's face by degrees. In that suffocating silence, it did not take long to grasp exactly what he had done.
The new master of the 7th Lord's seat — the name that had been stirring up all of Calderic of late. That 7th Lord was the man sitting right in front of him.
Varos glanced cautiously at his Lord's expression, then spoke.
"However, might I inquire why the Administrator is present here alongside the Mayor of Bilpeck?"
The words were steeped in pressure, as if demanding Lyca prove his own innocence on the spot. Fail, and it would not have been strange for his head to leave his shoulders then and there. Terror coiled around Lyca's entire body. He swallowed hard and fumbled for his voice.
"I was touring the cities of the 5th Lord's territory in sequence, on related administrative business. I was with the Mayor because of a personal acquaintance with him... He said he would summon those who had insulted his daughter to the manor, and I followed out of curiosity, wishing to observe the situation. I never imagined for a moment that Your Lordship would be in this city. I beg your pardon."
Lyca was, in truth, genuinely aggrieved. He was every bit as bewildered as anyone else. For a man who had been enjoying a brief rest in Bilpeck, this was not a bolt from the blue — it was a catastrophe. The only reason he had moved so quickly was that he knew the 7th Lord's face, and survival instinct had taken over the instant he saw it. How could he possibly have imagined that the 7th Lord had left his castle to be in this city — or that the man who had crossed the young lady of the Keynes household was him?
Of course, he could not pose that question to the 7th Lord. All Lyca could do was press himself flatter to the floor and pray the sparks did not catch him.
Varos's brow furrowed.
"Be that as it may, you intended to simply watch the situation unfold and amuse yourself with it, did you not?"
"Th-that is..."
Cold sweat ran down Lyca's back.
"No... this is... what...?"
Denbri, still wearing that slack, vacant expression, muttered under her breath and turned to look at Colton. Varos's gaze shifted to the two of them. His Lord had, in His mercy, let the matter pass, and so Varos had been forced to stand by even through Denbri's earlier outburst. But to think that after being shown such clemency once already, they had dared to send knights and drag His Lordship all the way here?
"Mayor. Do you intend to remain standing?"
Colton snapped back to himself, seized Denbri by the shoulder, and dropped to his knees. After more than twenty uneventful years as mayor, the greatest crisis of his life had arrived. Forced down beside him, Denbri instinctively scowled — she had never once in her life bent a knee to anyone. Then she saw the look on her father's face, the soul gone clean out of it, and shut her mouth.
"I am... sorry, 7th Lord."
The 7th Lord tilted his head to one side.
"I told you to say what you had to say. What's the kneeling for?"
"I am sorry. I committed a grave offense in failing to recognize one so great."
"Mayor."
The 7th Lord's voice grew a shade colder.
"I told you to state your business. Are you going to keep parroting the same thing?"
Colton bit down hard on his lip. How was he supposed to say it? That he had intended to make some insolent wretch pay for humiliating his daughter? The 7th Lord already knew. He was only asking so that Colton would have to spit it out himself.
I'm going to die.
He was actually going to die. His entire house could be wiped from existence right here, right now. If the 7th Lord decided on it, there was not a soul who could stop him. And afterward, when the 5th Lord heard the news — would he fly into a rage that someone had run amok in his territory and killed his mayor?
No. Once he heard the circumstances, he would simply nod and think nothing of it.
That was what a Lord was, in Calderic. Save for another Lord, no one could dare meet their eyes. Climb too high, and it did not matter what office you held — you would be crushed like an insect.
Instead of answering, Colton slammed his forehead into the floor. Not once. Again and again.
"I have committed a crime worthy of death! It is all my fault for raising my daughter so poorly! So please, let the punishment fall on me alone—!"
He drove his head into the stone like a madman, even as his brow split and blood ran. Denbri, watching from beside him, began to tremble. Only now, seeing the father who had been as good as an emperor in Bilpeck reduced to this, did the true gravity of the situation sink in. Reckless as she had lived, even she was not ignorant of what a Lord's stature meant in Calderic.
"Mayor, that is enough. To dare do such a thing before His Lordship—"
Varos, brow drawn tight, cut himself off and stepped back. The 7th Lord had gestured for him to be still.
"Mayor."
"..."
"This is the third time. Explain why you summoned me here."
The 7th Lord's voice was indifferent and terrifying in equal measure, as if this were the last chance he would offer. Only then did Colton understand. Nothing he did would move this monster in the slightest. The best he could hope for was to do as he was told, and pray for a relatively easy death.
"...I heard there was someone who had insulted my daughter. I intended to bring him here and make him pay."
The 7th Lord spoke.
"Were you properly informed of the details?"
"...Yes."
"Then tell me."
"A waiter spilled a drink on my daughter's dress, and so she was in the process of disciplining the waiter..."
"Disciplining. So beating someone without mercy over a stain on a dress — that's what you call discipline."
"..."
"She even tried to cut the wrist of the person who stopped her. If that's discipline, then what do you suppose would be the appropriate discipline for the present situation? A border-city mayor sending knights to drag a Lord here by force."
Colton's body gave a violent shudder. The 7th Lord's gaze shifted to Denbri.
"You said you'd make it so I couldn't walk on two legs unless I crawled between yours. First time I'd ever heard that one. I'll give you this — it was entertaining."
The faces of Colton and Lyca, still pressed to the floor, went a shade more ashen. She had actually said that? Denbri could no longer hold back her terror. Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"I-I'm sorry. My Lord. Please spare me. Please spare me..."
The 7th Lord shook his head.
"I let it go because I didn't want to cause a scene in another Lord's territory. And you've done a fine job of inflating it all the way to this."
"I have truly, truly committed a crime worthy of—"
"My mind hasn't changed. I can't be bothered to make a fuss over something this ridiculous."
The words were impossible to parse — until the ones that followed, and Colton's face went deathly pale.
"It happened in his own territory, so the 5th Lord can deal with it however he likes."
...That, too, was as good as a death sentence.
What would happen once this news reached the 5th Lord's ears? It did not matter what kind of relationship the 7th Lord had with the 5th. That a mere mayor had offered even the slightest insult to a Lord was itself unforgivable. Even if the 7th Lord never lifted a finger, the 5th Lord would come to collect the price himself. That future was already written.
The 7th Lord rose from his seat. He turned toward the hall's entrance as if he had said everything he intended to say. Varos swept a glance around the room, and the knights who had been standing there in a daze dropped to their knees one after another in a panicked rush. The 7th Lord paused in his stride and looked back.
There was nothing Colton could say in reply.
The figures of the 7th Lord and his two companions receded slowly from the hall, toward the exit.
The moment I stepped out of the manor, I put the mayor entirely out of my mind.
I had never intended to punish them myself. It wasn't mercy. Getting blood on my hands over something this petty just felt unpleasant. And I didn't need to do a thing — once word of tonight reached the 5th Lord, the mayor and Denbri would... well, it wouldn't end well for them, whatever form it took. I wouldn't even have to tell her myself. If spending that time shaking in fear counted as retribution, then so be it.
"Hmm..."
Night had already drawn in deep by the time I returned to the inn. I spread out the map Teir had given me and studied it again, matching it against a chart of the 5th Lord's territory to pin down the location more precisely, with Varos's help.
"There's a forest along the northwestern border between the 5th and 4th Lords' territories. That appears to be what this is pointing to."
It would mean a slight detour from our route, but if it meant obtaining a Mystery, that was hardly a concern. I stroked my chin and turned my eyes back to Teir's map.
But what are these characters?
Strange, indecipherable script scrawled along one edge of the map. A cipher, perhaps? It seemed related to the destination somehow, but I had no idea what it meant. Ah — Teir might have known. I should have asked him. I'd been so absorbed in the map itself that it hadn't even occurred to me.
I was still staring at the characters when Varos spoke again.
The forest. The greatest tree.
When even twilight has fully settled,
lifeless branches shall guide the adventurers.
"...?"
I turned to him, startled.
"You can read this?"
"Yes. It is one of the cipher scripts used in antiquity."
I looked at him as if to ask how he knew such a thing, and the answer came readily.
"In my former days as an adventurer, I took an interest in the exploration of ruins, and so I know a little of the ancient scripts. A meager talent, I am afraid."
"...I see."
Was there anything this man couldn't do? So that was why he knew Calderic's geography so well — that kind of past.
The greatest tree, though...
I sank into thought, turning the sentence over. The greatest tree would mean the largest tree in the forest. And when twilight had fully settled — that would be night, wouldn't it? But the last part. Lifeless branches.
"Any idea what 'lifeless branches' is supposed to mean?"
"I regret to say that much is beyond me..."
I asked Varos again, but he seemed to have no more sense of it than I did. I glanced toward Ashel. She had been standing there a little blankly; she hurriedly put on a thinking face, then shook her head.
...I suppose we'll only know once we get there.
That settled the immediate goal, then. Make for the forest marked on the map, and find the greatest tree.