The Poisoned Cup

"Aaaagh······."

I dropped the wooden sword to the floor and flopped down on my back. My right arm, still not fully healed, throbbed like it was on fire. The doctor had clearly told me to rest it for a week······ but that was impossible. The joint had made that grinding sound, then stopped. It probably wouldn't dislocate again, right?

"Haa······."

Today I'd used Selection and Concentration on my Agility stat. As the name suggested, the higher it was, the faster the body became. Of course, high Strength also increased speed, but Agility was fundamentally different. Strength simply amplified muscle power, whereas Agility slowed one's perception of time. If Agility reached extreme levels, even bullets in flight would appear to move slowly. The body moved faster too, but that speed alone couldn't match what Selection and Concentration on Strength could achieve in a direct clash. So it seemed best to use Strength for offense and Agility for evasion.

"Three stats left······."

Endurance. Mana. Stamina. Once these three exceeded 10, the shop would open. Assuming my hypothesis was correct······. Barring any unexpected events, the shop would open in three days. If possible, I wanted to open it before the semester started and check what items were available. Since that wasn't feasible time-wise, I'd have to handle the early-semester events with the abilities I currently possessed.

"Next, magic."

Dragging my exhausted body, I sat down in the corner piled with books. Yesterday I'd even succeeded in casting gravity magic. Considering most students mastered it in childhood, there was nothing to feel proud about. I was still far behind, so I had to at least pretend to keep up······. Relying on tricks alone wouldn't get me perfect scores on every exam, so I needed to steadily improve my actual skills as well.

The magic I would attempt this time was barrier magic. Along with gravity, it was one of the most fundamental spells. But unlike gravity magic, which was eventually replaced by its superior counterpart, telekinesis, barrier magic was used by everyone from beginners to archmages. Since I wasn't expecting any advanced functions, I decided to start by simply enclosing space with a mana veil.

*

"Aaargh······! I feel like I'm almost there!"

I'd thought this one would be quick. After all, there wasn't much to it. A barrier was just wrapping space in mana. I hadn't even considered adding functions like shock absorption or blocking sound and light. Yet it was still taking this long?

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I threw the book aside in frustration and closed my eyes again. Since it didn't actually block my vision, I deliberately shut it off.

"Haa······. Let's try again, slowly. Rely on sensation."

Until now, I'd focused too much on the incantation. More important than constructing the formula was maintaining and stabilizing it. I assembled a simple formula once more and channeled a faint amount of mana into it. I repeatedly steadied the formula whenever it threatened to collapse, shaping it carefully. A perfect cube with no gaps in my mind took form. At the same time, I restored my vision—

"Whoa······."

An opaque cube floated in midair. I'd finally succeeded. Even if the mana was so weak that anything could pass through it, rendering the barrier useless.

"No. It isn't useless."

Thinking about it, I realized there was something I could do even with this barrier. I immediately constructed another formula and deployed it. This time, right in front of the training room's entrance. Anyone stepping through would destroy it without resistance, but I'd added one simple function: the moment it broke, it would send a signal to me. It wouldn't help stop an intruder, but knowing one had entered would at least let me respond. It wasn't entirely meaningless. If someone focused on breaching a powerful external barrier, they might not even notice this flimsy one and walk right into it. In that sense, it might actually be the hardest barrier to detect.

"I think that's enough for today."

Between staying up all night yesterday and pushing my body for two days straight, exhaustion crashed over me like a wave. I needed to sleep early tonight. I extinguished the lights in the training room and opened the door.

"Hah······. Early, my ass."

Night had already deepened. The full moon sinking toward the west suggested it was around 3 a.m. Time really did lose all meaning inside the training room. Maybe I should bring a clock. Emilia was probably already asleep. I carefully opened and closed the door without making noise and stepped into the dark mansion. Just as I was tiptoeing up to the second floor—

"You're only coming in now."

"Whoa, shit! You scared me!"

The sudden voice made me jump. Turning around, I saw Emilia turning on the living room lights while rubbing her eyes.

"What are you doing? Still awake?"

"I was waiting to see you come in before going to sleep. Confirming the master's safe return is basic for a servant."

Ah······. I hadn't thought of that. If I came home late, Emilia couldn't sleep. If I slept in the next day, it was fine for me, but Emilia had to wake up early for work. For her sake, I should probably get used to an early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule. Though I probably couldn't do it every day······.

"From now on, don't wait past midnight. Just go to sleep."

"No. I'll go to sleep after confirming you return—"

"Don't stay up past midnight. If I see you yawning the next morning, you're fired on the spot."

"······Understood."

I forced the answer out of her. Sleep deprivation was the root of all illness, after all. During my military service, I'd seen plenty of soldiers who skipped night watch duty and ended up with cancer. If Emilia got sick because of me, I'd never get the protagonist's cooperation······. I had to be careful about even the smallest things. Besides, Emilia didn't have any "frail beautiful girl" setting, so there was no need for excessive worry.

"Good night, then."

"You too, Emilia. Sleep well."

"Yes. Ah, but······."

"Hm?"

Just as I was about to enter my room, Emilia's voice stopped me. Turning around, I saw her holding an oil lamp in one hand while fidgeting with her skirt in the other. It was an unusual sight for her character. Did she have something to say······. Or was she just acting?

"Ah, it's nothing······."

"Right. Sleep well."

"Yes. Understood."

Leaving the now-composed Emilia behind, I closed the door. What had she been about to say? Feeling slightly puzzled, I roughly undressed and collapsed onto the bed. Consciousness left me instantly.

***

"Haa······."

Back in her room, Emilia let out a deep sigh and stood before her desk. Only after confirming the door was properly shut and the perception-dampening barrier was active did she pull a letter from the drawer. It was the letter she'd received from an intelligence agency operative earlier, under the pretext of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠buying ingredients. Its contents detailed Schluss Heinkel's background. After reading it, Emilia couldn't suppress a sigh.

Summarizing Schluss's past: "Hardship, hardship, and more hardship." He had been born without a mother. Already ill, she died during childbirth. Though life with his father, a noble's guard, hadn't been particularly happy······ it had been peaceful enough. Until the war broke out.

The early stages of the war posed no problems. As a privately employed guard, Schluss's father wasn't subject to conscription. Their territory, Iceburg, bordered the frontier, but there had been little cause for concern. The Empire had been completely overwhelming the Kingdom, pushing the front lines back dozens of kilometers. After annihilating over 90% of the Kingdom's forces within two years of the war's start, everyone had let their guard down during winter. That was when the Kingdom's full-scale offensive began in the dead of that brutal winter. The Imperial forces, leisurely preparing for winter quarters, were forced into retreat, and the Kingdom's army pushed forward relentlessly. Some units even crossed the border. And that region happened to be where Schluss lived—Iceburg.

A fierce battle ensued. Iceburg's private soldiers had to face the Kingdom's army alone without Imperial support, and in the end, they held the territory. Countless people died, including Schluss's father. Left with no family, no relatives, no friends, young Schluss wandered between countryside and city, living day to day. Then an armistice was signed, and the following year—this year—Schluss suddenly came to the capital and passed the Imperial Academy entrance exam at the very top······.

'This is ridiculous.'

Emilia's expectation that he was the son of a wealthy bourgeois had been completely wrong. He had never been rich for even a moment in his life, nor had he received a proper education. Yet one day he suddenly liquidated everything he owned, came to the capital, and passed the Imperial Academy exam······? It didn't look like a simple, heartwarming success story. There had to be something suspicious in between. Otherwise······ if that wasn't the case······ then what about her brother, who had been in a similar situation but became a child soldier and turned into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠killing machine? What was he supposed to be? Someone in the same circumstances crawled up from the bottom and succeeded so brilliantly, while her brother lived only in the shadows without ever becoming famous—what was he? He had even taken in and raised his younger sister, who shared not a drop of blood, living a harder life than anyone. Why did one person receive reward while her brother received none?

'It's······ so unfair······.'

Emilia crumpled the letter and lowered her head. Tears rolled down her cheeks and fell to the floor. She now knew that Schluss had built everything from start to finish with his own strength alone. There had been no help from parents or anyone else. Yet the inexplicable hatred she felt toward him showed no sign of fading. If anything, it only burned hotter.

***

"Hmm······?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No."

Had I seen wrong? Let me check again.

Inquiry.

"······."

I hadn't seen wrong after all. Poisoned tea. This morning Emilia had brought tea she hadn't even been asked to make, so I'd checked just in case—and this was the result. I glanced at Emilia's expression. She stood with her usual blank face and impeccable posture, watching me. No emotion or intent could be read from that face. So this was what a professional spy was like.

'Did I do something wrong?'

I hadn't done anything that would harm the intelligence agency yet. That meant this wasn't an order from them—it was Emilia acting on her own. But why? For what reason? Killing me now wouldn't benefit her at all. It would only cause losses. If I died from poisoning, Emilia would have to flee before being named a suspect. Then the agency would lose its surveillance over the Imperial Academy.

'I don't get it, damn it.'

Finally giving up on understanding, I—

Crash

"Oh dear."

"Please stay still. I'll clean it up and bring a fresh one."

"No need. I'll just skip the black tea today."

"Understood."

I pretended it was an accident and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knocked the cup over. Logically, there was no reason for her to do this. I'd set her character to have basic common sense······. Had something happened?

"Then at least have some water."

"Mm. Thank······"

"No. I'll pass on that too."

"Is that so? Then how about milk······."

"That won't be necessary either."

What the hell was wrong with her today? She might as well just stab me openly. This was driving me insane.

"······Understood."

Emilia shrank back slightly and withdrew with the cup. That dejected look was an act too, wasn't it? Her acting was seriously impressive. Just as I thought that, Emilia raised the water cup to her lips.

"Emilia, wait!"

"Yes? Ah······."

I shot up from my chair and grabbed her wrist. Just before the cup touched her mouth, it flew away, spilling its contents. Emilia stared at me in disbelief, but I ignored it.

'It wasn't Emilia. Then who?'

The one who poisoned it wasn't Emilia. Then who the hell······?