The Body in Room 303

"It's open."

"What's so primitive about that?"

"The fact that it's a rather illegal method. That's what makes it primitive."

"You've got to be kidding me."

When Lois said he would use a primitive approach, I had assumed he meant something violent — smashing a lock, breaking a frame. But thinking about it, Lois wasn't me. Of course he wouldn't reach for brute force.

Instead, he had slipped his spirit's power through to the inner face of the window, given it form on the other side, and simply unlocked the thing from within.

"That's incredible. I'd heard that Spiritists, commanding nature as they do, can use something akin to a piercing spell to pass through walls and the like, but…"

Velita's mouth hung open in wonder.

"To thin it that finely and then exert actual physical force from the inside… Spiritists are rare enough as it is, but a technique of this caliber must be vanishingly uncommon."

"If we're talking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠about the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Core alone, yours is superior to mine, Velita. You could do this too."

"I-I… hehe. Most of my Core is devoted to healing. As Lady Olivia knows, my offensive capabilities aren't exactly impressive."

"No, they're plenty impressive. You could take down most monsters just fine."

Granted, that kind of attack might not land against a master who had honed their weapon to the absolute limit — but Velita was a healer first and foremost. What was the point of demanding offensive power from someone whose calling was to mend?

Velita's worth shone not only in the thick of battle, but after it. Treating the wounded, restoring those whose bodies had been broken — that was what decided whether a fight was truly won. A victory that left countless dead in its wake could not truly be called a victory at all.

No matter how strong I was, people still got hurt. People still took grievous wounds. Velita's presence was essential. Countless lives that would have been lost were still breathing because of her.

I was good at cutting enemies down. I had no skill whatsoever for saving someone already dying.

"So which room is it?"

"Room 303."

"That's the one."

"The door's locked here too, though. Why don't we just open a window from inside the room while we're at it?"

"That side faces the street. What do you think people would make of us climbing through a window in full view of everyone?"

"Window washers?"

"I do occasionally find myself wondering what Livia would have done with her life if she hadn't been the Hero."

"Your wife?"

"Well, that wouldn't work now that she is the Hero, would it?"

"Hey! That's not what I—!"

"U-um… the staff might come through here. Could we please keep it down…?"

"Ah, I know, I know…! Lois, what about this door?"

This one looked like it would be a bit more difficult than the window. Lois approached it and spoke.

"It'll take longer than the window, so keep an eye on our surroundings… Hm?"

"What is it?"

"It's unlocked."

When Lois took the doorknob and turned it, it rotated without the slightest resistance.

It wasn't locked?

"Is no one inside?"

"If he'd gone out, wouldn't he have been even more careful to lock the door behind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him?"

"Is the head of the Courtney family the careless type, by any chance?"

Velita had said she knew the man, so I figured she would know what kind of person he was. She tilted her head.

"No. He's every bit as diligent as the position demands. When a crime occurs, the presiding judge is often someone from the Courtney family."

"Right — you mentioned they handle the law. So what's going on, then?"

"Shall we go in?"

"Sh-should we knock first?"

"We're already trespassing, and you're still this conscientious."

"Even if we have to break the law, we should still observe basic courtesy between people."

"That's a rather easily twisted philosophy. I'll open it."

With a long, low creak, Lois eased the door open.

A chill crawled across my skin, and I instinctively seized the Holy Sword.

A nauseating smell.

The stench that stabbed at my nostrils the instant the door cracked open was more than enough to put my instincts on high alert. A beat after I tensed, Lois's wariness spiked sharply as well.

Then the door swung fully wide, and the moment Velita saw what lay beyond, her eyes flew open and every drop of color drained from her face.

"L-Lord William!!"

William Courtney, head of the Courtney family, lay collapsed on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

"...What."

"...!"

Lois and I both went blank for a split second — then Lois slapped himself hard across the cheek, snapped back to himself, and rushed to check William's condition.

"I-I'll heal him! If it's me, I can treat— I can—"

"No. You're too late."

"What?"

"He's already…"

He wasn't breathing.

Lois reached out and closed the wretchedly staring eyes of the man who already lay dead upon the floor.

"Th-that can't be… Lord William is…"

Velita staggered.

"Velita, calm down!"

"Hah, ah… L-Lord William? No. That's not— I'll heal him. I'll heal him, so just—"

Velita's condition deteriorated in an instant. Her breathing turned ragged. Her already bloodless face went paler still, and her pupils trembled as if an earthquake were rolling through them.

And it wasn't only that. Mana was pouring off her body — the kind of runaway surge that seized someone who couldn't properly control their power when emotion took them.

Come to think of it, she had been forcibly awakened by a Spirit Core. There was no way she could handle that mana with any real stability. Even Lois had said that if he overused his, he lost control and it ran wild. This experiment was clearly anything but safe.

"Livia! Knock her out!"

"...Got it!"

I crossed behind Velita in a flash and drove a strike into the back of her neck. The blow landed with a dull, solid thud. Her consciousness snuffed out at once, and as she started to crumple I caught her with one hand and lifted her up.

"That was close. She nearly lost it…"

That mana just now. If it had fully run wild, this entire stretch of the building might have been blown apart.

People who couldn't control their mana usually received some degree of correction in childhood. I had never seen anyone possess power this immense while still being unable to handle it. No matter how gifted you were, mana had to be trained and cultivated over time. Even with talent, a child's reserves were never that large. That was simply the way of things.

For Velita, at fifteen, to hold this much mana was anything but normal. It was not unlike muscle, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in a way. A person's mana typically reached its prime around their thirties, then began to decline. Simply holding on to what you had at thirty was enough to earn a reputation for diligence.

"Lois, how's he look?"

"His throat was taken in a single stroke. It was an ambush."

"Figures. The room's still clean."

Killed with one slash to the neck, without even a chance to resist.

"Judging by how well-trained his body is, he was no amateur. And this cut… it looks like a blade formed from mana."

"A blade made of mana? A mage, then? Or an assassin?"

We humans generally found it difficult to give mana physical form. You could create a magical blade with a spell, but it was temporary, and you couldn't exactly walk around gripping one as a weapon. Or rather — you could, technically, but it was strictly for surprise attacks. It was useless once a real fight broke out.

The efficiency was abysmal. You were better off just carrying an actual weapon, which was why this was typically an assassin's trick. Assassins operated on the premise of never being discovered — once they were spotted, their odds of survival plummeted. A dagger briefly materialized from mana, used for a single ambush, suited them perfectly. You could form a weapon in an instant and erase the evidence just as fast. Assassins used the technique fairly often.

But as I said, once combat started, the mana efficiency was terrible and it burned through your concentration. It was not a preferred method of fighting. That said, the world was a wide place, and there were always a few lunatics who insisted on fighting this way — people who, for whatever reason, preferred the road less traveled.

"Hm?"

"Lois?"

"There's a high likelihood this was a monster."

"What are you talking about? This is Erkia… wait."

Alex was here.

Even if the city had a barrier, its purpose was to keep things from getting in. Once something was already inside, the barrier did nothing at all.

"If this was the work of a monster, then conversely, it would be evidence that William Courtney never betrayed humanity. Whether he was a good man from the start, or whether he took part in something ugly and tried to walk away when it went too far… I can't say."

"..."

The problem was Velita.

Her benefactor. Her second father — no. Perhaps he had simply been a father to her, in every way that mattered. And he had been assassinated, without her even knowing why.

We had managed to put her to sleep for now, but I had no idea what I was supposed to say when she woke.

I looked at Velita.

Footsteps…!

I heard them coming.

"Lois, someone's coming."

"It would be dangerous if we were found."

"We'd be fucked, is what we'd be."

"Let's use nicer language, shall we? Speech is a mirror of the heart."

"The situation isn't exactly nice. Anyway, let's go. We cannot get caught here."

"Right."

Lois closed his hand around something, stuffed it quickly into his pocket, and ran. I followed after him with Velita in my arms.