Wist Forest (1)
Finally, I succeeded. At last!
"Ughhh······."
I dragged my heavy body toward the training room door. I must have been immersed for at least twelve hours. That meant it was probably the middle of the night by now. Thinking that, I forced the door open with a creak.
"Heinkel."
The moment I opened the door, I came face to face with Emilia. And she looked rather angry.
What? Did I do something wrong?
"What on earth were you doing in there that you wouldn't come out?"
"Ah······ I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I was so focused that time just flew by, haha."
"I was worried······."
Huh? Emilia started sniffling. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she looked like she might burst into tears at the slightest touch. Of course, it was all an act. But I couldn't even understand why she was putting on such a performance.
"Worried? Why would you—"
"Why do you think! You went in after eating just a single piece of bread for breakfast, and you didn't come out until the next morning! That's almost twenty-four hours! No matter how much I knocked, there wasn't a single response from inside······ I was really worried something had happened to you······."
"Ah······. Come to think of it, after moving into the director's office, I forgot to install an alarm system in the underground training room's barrier. I didn't even realize you were calling for me from outside."
"I'm sorry for making you worry. I'll make sure to install a bell or something next time."
"You'd better! Please! I was so anxious thinking you might have collapsed in there!"
Emilia was scolding me now. She really ought to tone down the acting. If I died suddenly, the Intelligence Agency would be celebrating. News of someone as threatening as me dying would always be good news from their perspective, even if I could potentially be friendly toward them.
Wait a second. More importantly, how many hours did I spend inside?
"Hold on. What time is it right now?"
"Six in the morning."
"Ah······."
This was insane. An entire day had passed while I was inside. Today was the day of the two-night, three-day field training for Magic Combat Studies. The assembly time was definitely nine o'clock. That meant three hours from now. In other words······
"I won't have time to sleep."
"What?! Don't tell me you stayed up all night in there?"
I had to head straight to the field training in this groggy state. I looked into the mirror hanging on the wall and let out a wry laugh. The dark circles under my eyes were so heavy they looked ready to reach my cheeks.
"Wake me up at eight."
"You're going to sleep now?"
"I need at least two hours, haha······."
I staggered back toward the bedroom like a zombie. Emilia must have been worried just watching me, because she came over and supported me. I was tired, sure, but not so much that I needed help walking······? Still, I didn't push her away. Emilia's gentle touch wasn't unpleasant, and besides, I didn't even have the strength to refuse.
"I'll wake you at eight."
"Thank you, as always. Emilia······."
The moment I threw myself onto the bed, I couldn't fight off the drowsiness and slowly let my consciousness sink. I think I mumbled something pointless in the process, but I couldn't remember clearly.
*
"Thank you so much······. If it weren't for Emilia, I don't know what would have happened······."
"······?"
Emilia looked down at Schluss, who had collapsed face-first onto the bed and fallen into a deep sleep. She didn't know what to do. Schluss was sleep-talking, something he never did normally.
'Emilia······. So that's how he thinks of me in his heart.'
He always made sure to add "Miss" when addressing her out loud. Well, she was younger than him, so it made sense that he wouldn't use formal speech in his mind. Even so, just knowing that fact left Emilia feeling strangely unsettled.
'He must be incredibly tired······.'
This was someone who never even snored once, even when sleeping after staying up all night. Schluss Heinkel had seemed like the very embodiment of perfection when they first met. A commoner who never lost his manners or decorum, whether at home or outside, someone inflexible and who probably never smiled brightly in his entire life. That was how he had appeared.
But the Schluss of recent days was different. He seemed much gentler lately. Or rather, he was the same outside. But when they were alone together indoors, he would show such openings, as if he had completely let his guard down.
When had he changed like this······? Ah, yes. It was after Henderson's attack. After Schluss had risked his own life to save her······
'It must be my imagination.'
Emilia shook her head vigorously. At this point, it was no different from delusion. He was just in particularly poor condition today. There was no other special reason.
Emilia repeated this to herself like a self-hypnosis.
'What if······ right now?'
A small impulse rose in Emilia's mind. If she asked Schluss something now, wouldn't he answer honestly? The impulse came from that question.
Having confirmed that Schluss was definitely asleep, Emilia couldn't resist the urge. She brushed her hair behind her ears so it wouldn't tickle him, then slowly leaned her head toward his ear. This was her only chance.
"Heinkel. What kind of existence is Emilia to you?"
The moment she asked, Emilia startled herself and quickly pulled back. If she had been given this opportunity, she should have asked whether he knew she was with the Intelligence Agency. She should have asked if he had been pretending not to know while acting like he didn't. Why on earth had she asked such a pointless question······?
Just as she was regretting it, Schluss spoke.
"Someone I must······ absolutely protect······."
Yes. Of course. Emilia let out a deep sigh. She had heard those words before. Something about how he would definitely protect his people. It was probably similar to a knight's sense of responsibility to fight to save his subordinates' lives.
But the very next words made Emilia feel like her breath had been cut off.
"No matter what it takes······ even if I have to sacrifice my own life······ someone I must protect······. If Emilia weren't here······ nothing would have any meaning······."
"······!"
She wondered if she had misheard. What? Sacrifice his life? When he had pressed a knife to his own neck to save her from Henderson last time, had it not been because he was certain Henderson would let him go? Had he really been prepared to die? And more than that······ nothing would have meaning without her······. What did that even mean?
"Haa······ haa······."
By the time she came to her senses, Emilia had already fled out of the bedroom. Breathing heavily, she looked to the side and was quite startled. There stood a woman with a bright red face like a tomato, looking completely foolish.
***
"Hurry up and gather. We're leaving soon."
Sergei shouted while tapping his back with a tennis racket. Not long after, the students lined up neatly in front of him.
"There are two carriages. From now on, those whose names I call will board the left carriage······"
The students all tried to act composed, but they couldn't hide their slightly excited expressions. They were finally going to do practical training instead of learning combat magic only in a stuffy classroom. It would have been strange if they weren't excited.
'I haven't been able to spar lately. Maybe I should ask how his sword training is going on the way there.'
Trie glanced at Schluss, who looked tired, standing in the distance. She was thinking of an excuse to sit next to him.
'Schluss Heinkel's form has been unusual lately. As expected of the guy I acknowledged. Heh. If I use my eye for talent to build some rapport with Schluss······'
Meanwhile, Ainz was also making similar excuses while trying to figure out how to sit next to Schluss. If he had kept ignoring Schluss just because he was a commoner from the beginning, he would probably be regretting it now. But unlike the other nobles, he had recognized Schluss's potential early on, so he hadn't earned Schluss's animosity. As expected, the strong should associate with the strong.
Just like that, the two of them ended up competing for the seat next to Schluss without even knowing it—
"······."
"······."
Ten minutes later, they were sitting side by side. Schluss had been assigned to carriage one, while Trie and Ainz were assigned to carriage two. An awkward atmosphere hung between the two who had almost no connection to each other.
Unable to bear it any longer, Ainz opened his mouth—
"This is unbearably awkward. My name is Ainz. Ainz von Wittgenstein."
"I know."
"······."
At Trie's cold voice, he shut his mouth again. Trie hadn't meant to be particularly sharp, but that single curt reply was enough to make Ainz shrink back.
While the two of them awkwardly turned their heads away from each other—
"Hmm······."
Schluss sat in carriage one with his arms crossed, his head drooping as he dozed off. His appearance made it hard to believe he was actually asleep, and the students felt an unapproachable aura from him. Because of that, the seat next to Schluss remained empty.
About an hour after the two carriages departed, when they had completely left the city behind—
"Now I'll explain this field training! Carriage two! Can you hear me clearly?"
Sergei's booming voice echoed. It reached clearly even to carriage two, which was following about ten meters behind carriage one. It should have been drowned out by the sound of hooves and wheels······. The students couldn't help but laugh in disbelief at his tremendous lung capacity.
"Our destination is Wist Forest! Does everyone know what kind of place it is?"
The students shook their heads.
"Of course you don't! Until before the war, it wasn't even imperial territory—it belonged to the kingdom! You'd all better be careful! Wist Forest is no ordinary dangerous place! There are areas littered with landmines from the war! There's also toxic fog containing high concentrations of mana energy! And it's swarming with monsters!"
"······."
The students' faces turned pale. They had never heard that the field training would involve actual combat practice.
"What that means is! Wist Forest is the perfect place to accumulate combat data! A harsh environment! On top of that, all kinds of different enemies! I'll be evaluating your crisis response abilities over the next two nights and three days, so look forward to it! There's also going to be a surprise test, so don't let your guard down!"
"······."
At the string of words that only made them feel uneasy, the students had no choice but to resign themselves. It seemed Sergei was just stretching out the words "hell training" to make them sound longer.