Deal with a Heretic
Deal with a Heretic
'Empire Commemoration Day.'
The banquet the academy put on was just a pretext for nonsense.
Even at this moment, on the Western Front beyond the barrier, nameless soldiers are having their entrails eaten by monsters and dying as meat shields in demon swamps.
But inside this safe greenhouse built with their blood and flesh, aristocratic brats wear flashy formal attire, pop champagne, and enjoy their own disgusting formalities.
Looking at the brilliantly shining banquet hall lights through the dormitory window, I swallowed my disgust.
"Come here."
Ines, who had been sitting in the corner of the bed, raised her head at my voice.
The academy's regular banquet was mandatory for all students. The problem was Ines.
Leaving her alone in the empty room without me?
In the meantime, if she had a seizure and harmed herself, or if vengeful noble vermin pulled some trick, it would be irreversible.
I covered Ines's head with a black veil I bought at the market.
Through the mesh, her dazzling platinum blonde hair and her unfocused, hollow eyes were hidden.
A cheap piece of cloth couldn't completely conceal Ines's unique, desolate yet brilliant beauty.
But at least, I didn't want to show her miserably broken state and that beauty raw to those pig-like nobles.
"......"
Ines, wearing the veil, tilted her head as if uncomfortable.
I lightly stroked her cheek over the veil. The warmth that only I could touch, only I could feel.
That exclusive feeling of possession made my mood sink slightly.
I led her, who was tightly gripping my clothes, toward the banquet hall.
The grand ballroom was flooded with the light of a splendid chandelier and the lively waltz melody.
Kieeek-.
As soon as we opened the door and entered, the cheerful music abruptly stopped.
The gazes of hundreds of noble students and faculty all focused on the entrance.
"Th-that mad son of a bitch..."
"How dare he bring that unclean maidservant even to the banquet...!"
The nobles, unable to openly rage yet unable to ignore it, parted the path before us like the Red Sea.
Because the memory of the mad dog who had crushed the face of the Bordeaux Count's son and mercilessly severed the limbs of his escort knights a few days ago in the lecture hall was still vivid in their minds.
I completely ignored the gazes of those vermin, mixed with disgust and fear.
The table in the most secluded corner of the banquet hall.
I sat Ines there, and from the finest ingredients laid out at the banquet, I only picked out tender meat and soup and brought them on a plate.
And carefully fed her, like feeding, at the mouth of Ines, who was nervously clutching only my clothes.
Omnomnom.
Ines, who had been frozen by the music and people's gazes, finally took the food obediently when I pressed my chest close to hers.
As I wiped her mouth with a napkin, my gaze turned to the opposite corner of the banquet hall.
'Found it.'
A space completely cut off from the flashy dancing crowd.
There, a third-year student was constantly scribbling bizarre magic formulas in the air with his finger, wearing an old robe.
The outcast thoroughly ostracized within the academy. A low-level mage, 'Erden'.
To resolve the chronic power shortage, the Empire issued a decree five years ago officially recognizing mages as regular forces and fostering them.
In this place where holy power was the mainstay, mages who imitated God's miracles and twisted principles had been treated as ominous heretics for hundreds of years.
Five years was not enough to erase that deep-rooted disgust.
Despite having a genius intellect, Erden was thoroughly isolated.
Due to the nature of magic, to unleash destructive power, absolute time for incantation in the rear was necessary.
But none of the proud noble scions wanted to offer their backs to stand in the vanguard for a suspicious heretic.
In class, he was excluded from practical training on the excuse that his magic was too destructive and harmed others. If he used magic within the city, he'd be dragged off by the guards.
Moreover, without a knight, a mage alone couldn't go outside the barrier where starving monsters swarmed.
As a result, that bastard Erden's practical combat data was a perfect zero.
A turret with overwhelming firepower but unable to fire a single shot because there was no wall to block the front.
Just then, a group of noble scions pushed to the corner while dancing the waltz passed by Erden.
One of them deliberately bumped Erden's shoulder and pinched his nose.
"Ugh, damn. I wondered why the banquet hall stank of trash. It's because a heretic bastard is breathing."
"Leave him. He's a half-wit cripple who can't even catch a single mouse without a meat shield."
Despite the insulting taunts, Erden couldn't even retort, only gripping the fingers holding his pen until they turned white.
Thorough isolation and contempt. I could clearly see what that bastard needed most.
After confirming that Ines was eating quietly, I slowly approached Erden.
"......."
As I approached, Erden, who had been scribbling formulas in the air, raised his head nervously.
Between his shaggy hair, his eyes flashed, mixed with madness and neurosis.
"Get lost, commoner swordsman. You're blocking the light."
He issued a dismissive order, feigning arrogance.
He couldn't be unaware of my infamy that had recently stained the academy with blood, but his attitude was sharp, like a madman obsessed with learning.
Instead of getting angry at his provocation, I casually stared at the trajectory of the magic circle he had drawn in the air.
"How many seconds does it take to complete and fire that magic?"
At my sudden question, Erden frowned.
"What? An ignorant sword-wielding bastard who doesn't know the first thing about magic dares to question my calculations..."
"I don't know even one of the formulas you're scribbling. And I don't care. But."
I looked down at his two hands sticking out from his old robe sleeves.
White and clean hands that had only wielded a pen, with not a single trace of holding a weapon or being in a rough battlefield.
"But you know that the time it takes for a starving goblin to burst out of the bushes and bite your throat is shorter than your incantation, right?"
"......."
"You're practically writing your own epitaph in the air. If you don't have a meat shield to block your front."
Struck in the core, Erden's eyes rolled back and he jumped up from his seat.
"This bastard really...!"
Just as Erden raised his voice nervously.
Flinch.
Behind my back, Ines, who had been hiding and gripping my clothes, trembled violently.
Startled by the unfamiliar shouting, she gasped and hugged my waist so tightly it felt like it might break.
Without letting my cold gaze toward Erden waver even a bit, I reached one hand back and patted her trembling back with a detached, steady rhythm.
With just one heavy touch, Ines's anxious breathing subsided like a lie.
Soothing her with one hand, I drove the wedge in toward Erden again.
"For a mage, having no vanguard means death. That's why you've been stuck in the corner of the academy's training grounds, isn't it? With zero practical data."
"...!"
Erden's lips trembled. It was an undeniable perfect reality.
After laying out the facts that had been tightening his windpipe, I immediately threw out the sweetest lifeline.
"I'll become that perfect meat shield."
Erden's cloudy eyes shook violently.
The word 'vanguard'—which he had craved for years but never obtained—struck his reason hard.
"Cr-crazy talk. A mere first-year commoner dares to say he'll block my front and withstand my firepower?"
"You must have heard the rumors about me. That I'm a much sturdier and more perfect wall than those noble knight bastards."
I completely hid my true purpose of fixing my woman, instead putting on the face of a greedy mercenary obsessed with money.
"My weak body has limits to how much I can earn by slaughtering monsters. I need overwhelming firepower. I'll take you monster hunting every night. You can pour out that great firepower of yours to your heart's content from behind my back."
A devil's deal.
The sound of Erden swallowing dryly was clearly audible through the noisy waltz melody.
"You get practical data, and I monopolize the byproducts. How about it."
To a mad mage starving for real combat, there was no way he could refuse a mad dog of the academy volunteering to be his shield.
"...You crazy bastard. Fine. Take all the petty byproducts."
Erden grinned with bloodshot eyes and eagerly bit the bait.
But being a genius, even in his excitement, he didn't let go of his nagging suspicion.
"But really, is it just for money? A guy like you wouldn't come looking for a heretic the nobles despise just to earn some pocket change. What do you really want from me?"
An accurate point.
But as if I had even anticipated his suspicion, I replied dryly without changing my expression.
"Efficient money-making. And a useful tool."
"...Tool?"
"I'll tell you the details after you prove your usefulness behind my back."
I subtly turned my body, completely hiding Ines's figure, who was sitting at a corner table far away, behind my back.
I had no intention of immediately thrusting Ines's blank state in front of that bastard and demanding he 'fix her brain'.
I am cautious and persistent.
I cannot rashly entrust my only world to a mad heretic who hasn't even been tested yet.
I had to check his limits.
Whether he was a mage truly useful in combat. Whether he had the guts not to run away from a monster's claws.
Above all, whether he wouldn't betray me and become the eyes and ears of the cult in a moment of crisis.
"As soon as the banquet ends, slip out to the north back gate."
Leaving those words, I turned away from him.
Crossing the crowd of nobles dancing the waltz intoxicated by formalities, I returned to the table where Ines was huddled.
"Let's go."
At my voice, Ines jumped up and hugged my waist.
Feeling her warmth rubbing her cheek softly through the black veil, I walked out of the banquet hall doors.