The Last Clue from Room 303
"It's good we made it back, but now what?"
Olivia laid Velita back down on the bed. How many times had the girl fainted today already—and in such rapid succession, no less?
I raised a silence barrier around the room once more and drew from my pocket the object I had taken from William.
"What's this?"
"It's something Lord William was clutching in his fist when we found him."
"It's incredibly thin. I feel like I've seen something like it before."
"It's probably a Dragonkin scale."
"I see... Wait. Dragonkin?"
The moment the attack came and the blade pierced his throat, William must have known he was going to die. Perhaps he had already known that death might come for him.
"Don't tell me the assassin was a Dragonkin? And he tore a scale off them...?!"
"If that were the case, the assassin would have noticed, no matter how chaotic the moment."
"Yeah, you're right. Then how did he get it?"
"Lord William likely knew he was going to die. And if someone was going to kill him, he already knew who that someone would be."
"..."
"In fact, he had several other items prepared in his inner pocket."
What I had confirmed were the crest of the Reynolds family, the crest of the Bright family, and a small ornament in the shape of a crown—the symbol of the king.
The moment the blade pierced his throat, William had been certain of his death—and he had identified his killer. Then, from among the things he had prepared in advance, he closed his fist around the one that fit, and died.
He hadn't torn it from his attacker. He had prepared himself to die. That was something even an assassin would never have anticipated—and so, with his own life, William left the evidence behind.
"Leaving evidence like that... does that mean this William was a good man? He made sure that someone who understood the situation would see this and reach the truth."
"I couldn't say. He may have been a traitor himself—someone who prepared this out of fury, knowing he was about to be discarded the moment he'd outlived his usefulness."
"That's possible too."
"But... William Courtney was famous for his fairness in the courtroom. We can only hope he was the man those rumors described."
"Sounds like he knew the law and nothing else. The way the world actually works... he never understood it."
"So it would seem."
If he had prepared more thoroughly, he might have survived. But for William, this may well have been the best he could do. Perhaps a kind of resignation had already taken root in him—the knowledge that if the other side truly meant to kill him, no amount of preparation would save his life.
Had we arrived a little sooner, he might have become a steadfast ally. But he had already stepped down from the stage of a life whose final curtain no one can predict, and he would never walk it again.
"And if you follow the items he left behind—the Reynolds family, the Bright family, and the crown—every last one of them points to people we already believe are connected to that experiment."
"...The Dragonkin are involved in the experiment too?"
"I don't know. There's no proof, but treating it as a working theory does make a certain amount of sense."
The Human Alliance was composed of humans, elves, beastkin, dwarves, and Dragonkin. Among them, the Dragonkin had once been so violent they were called monsters that merely happened to possess a society. But a Dragonkin known as the Sage King had suppressed those instincts as far as they would go and taken humanity's hand.
That was how the Dragonkin had entered the Human Alliance. Of course, once that Sage King died, conflicts large and small had continued without end. To put it more extremely, it would be no exaggeration to say that whenever the Human Alliance was shaken, the Dragonkin were at the root of it.
"Haa... So what do we do now?"
"Personally, I think it would be best to wait for Titania to return and report this to her."
"I agree. Finding out the Dragonkin are involved is good news, at least—but it feels like we've lost more than we've gained."
"..."
"If we'd just gotten there a little sooner..."
"Olivia."
"I know. There's no point dwelling on what's already too late. The real problem isn't that, it's..."
Olivia's gaze drifted, almost of its own accord, to Velita lying unconscious on the bed.
"What are we actually supposed to do with her?"
"..."
"Her parents were never parents. The one person who actually played that role was assassinated. Her entire life has been one experiment after another, and everyone around her only thinks about how to use her. And she knows—she knows the end of being used is being thrown away and left to die—and she's still like this."
She had even come to wish for that end to arrive.
The final moment. Death. She had been waiting for it to close around her throat. For a girl who could choose nothing for herself, there was nothing left to do but wait for rest to come.
"Damn. What a shitty life."
"..."
She wasn't wrong. There wasn't much we could do for her. This wasn't something that could be fixed in a day or two. To undo some fifteen years of suffering, it might take twice that long.
Even the smallest wound, left untreated, will linger. A wound of the heart, if you never face it and never treat it, settles into a crease—and even when death comes, that scar is still there.
"Anyway..."
Olivia stopped mid-sentence, her eyes flying wide, and her hand shot out.
Crash!!
The window shattered, and in the same instant a dagger came flying toward Velita. Olivia caught it out of the air.
"An ambush...!"
Had they been followed all the way from William's?
Olivia clenched her teeth and seized a sword.
"Lois, I'm leaving Velita to you!"
"Don't draw too much attention!"
"I know!"
That they had followed us was plausible enough. If they had caught a glimpse of us by chance, there was nothing strange about them tailing us. But Lois and Olivia were both here—so why target Velita?
Ordinarily, going after one of us would have been the obvious choice.
And yet they had gone out of their way to aim at her.
"Ah—ngh."
"Velita?"
Mana was rippling off her in waves.
She's leaking mana without even realizing it?
I drew a breath.
"You really were a gem, even more than I thought."
If I didn't calm that down, the entire area would be blown apart—and Velita's life would be in danger as well. I had to stabilize her, no matter what.
No other choice.
Spirit Integration
Harmonize mana with the spirit cores — Control · Amplify · Stabilize
The mana in my body swelled in a great surge. I searched for the core of the girl collapsed on the bed.
"These lunatics... they even split the core in three?"
They had divided the core into three pieces and embedded them in both arms and the heart. That way, even if one core failed, the remaining two would automatically repair it. It wasn't a joke—at this point, I had to wonder whether even having her head blown off would actually kill her.
But planting them all in places that activated mana meant Velita's power was being overdrawn without rest, twenty-four hours a day—and that burden fell entirely on her. She had likely suffered bouts of excruciating pain at regular intervals, and it was safe to assume her lifespan had already been compromised.
"What do you people even think a human life is? ...Alex. How far do you have to go before you're satisfied?"
How many people had they killed to refine it to this degree?
"..."
No. Clear your mind. Save her first. That was all that mattered.
I ran.
I had already pinpointed their location from the direction the dagger had come. I tore across the rooftops at full speed, leaping from roof to roof. There were ordinary people about, but at my current pace they would have a hard time even seeing me.
A few seconds later, three masked figures came into view, fleeing. They were remarkably far away for people who had just thrown a dagger. Whether they had bolted at high speed or sniped from long range with some technique, I couldn't tell—but they were clearly skilled.
I swung my sword as I closed in. One of the masked figures caught the blow.
BOOM!!
A tremendous crash rang out. Two of the three scrambled backward in alarm, while the one who had blocked me poured every ounce of strength into both hands, teeth gritted against the force of the strike.
"Three of you."
"..."
"I can kill two, then."
"Y-you bastard!"
It was a bluff, of course. I had no intention of killing them here and now—but this ought to rattle them a little. Sorry, though. I had no intention of letting a single one of them get away.
"You're the ones who killed William Courtney, aren't you? You. The one in the middle. The one who blocked me. Not bad. And you waste that talent on assassination work? How impressive."
"..."
"Not a fan of conversation? Good. Neither am I."
I smiled.
"If you put your hands up and surrender right now, we'll save each other a lot of trouble. That's the last kindness I'll offer, so I'd suggest you—"
Thunk!
Another dagger came flying, aimed with perfect precision at my head.
"You talk too much, one-armed swordswoman. That's why you die."
"...That's why, huh."
"Wha—"
I caught the thrown dagger in my teeth.
Did they think that missing an arm—and holding a sword in the one I had left—meant I couldn't defend myself? By ordinary logic, they weren't wrong. But anyone who lived by ordinary logic wouldn't be the Hero.
No. They couldn't be.
"Ptooey. Ugh, the iron taste is awful."
"She caught a blade with her teeth?"
"Wh-what the hell is this woman?!"
I was wearing the perception-blocking cloak Lois had given me, and my hair had been dyed black, so they didn't seem to recognize me. Plenty of people wouldn't know my face even if they knew my name. Unless I drew the Holy Sword here and now, they might well have no idea who I was.
"Hey. You in the middle."
"...What?"
"You're actually pretty good. I'll just take the legs. Got it?"
"What?"
Slash!!
He never even had time to react. I smashed the two on either side into unconsciousness, then drove my blade through the middle one's leg. A wet crunch sounded as the assassin pitched forward; the other two collapsed without managing a thing.
"Gaaah...!"
Crunch!!
I brought my heel down on his head.
"Ghkk..."
"Shh. There are still people around. ...If a child hears someone screaming in agony, it's bad for their mental health, you know? So shut up."
If he didn't want to end up in a state where he couldn't make a sound at all, he would lie still and behave.
"..."
"Don't resist. Don't try to run. Do as I say, quietly. Then I can at least treat the wound."
"..."
"You just thought I was being soft, didn't you?"
"N-no. I wasn't thinking that."
Why did assassins always have such trouble with basic communication? Not that I had any right to talk.
"If you don't do what I just said, your fingers and toes will start disappearing one by one."
"..."
"I'm genuinely soft when it comes to the people I have to protect. For example, if the family of someone I failed to save is angry at me, I can accept that calmly."
Some might say their anger was pointed at the wrong target, but you couldn't expect that kind of cold rationality from people who had lost their family. And the truth was, as the Hero, I really hadn't saved them.
"But you and those two lying next to you aren't inside the range of people I protect. Not right now."
"...I understand. I'll comply."
"Good. That's the right answer. I don't particularly want blood on my sword either, so behave. ...Now, let's have a look at that face."
I sheathed my sword and tore the assassin's mask off.
His face began to change shape.
This wasn't just for hiding a face—it was a magic item? The perception-blocking cloak I was wearing was the same kind of thing.
I looked down at the assassin's face and frowned.
"Dragonkin..."
"..."
"Well, I'll be damned."
A hollow laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it.
"The evidence just came rolling in on its own, didn't it?"