Fireworks on a Midsummer Night (1)
I bolted upright from the bed and burst out of the room.
Goddamn it... I'm screwed!
This was bad. Really bad. If things kept going like this, the opportunity would be completely stolen from me.
Beyond the Wist Forest lay a rocky mountain. Hidden there was an opportunity called Bappe. It was a weapon that transformed into the optimal form for its user. In the original story, for Hurtlocker, it became a longsword made entirely of Black Steel from blade to hilt, which he called his "viper." Thanks to the simple structure unique to Black Steel, he could instantly decompose it with mana to hide it and summon it during battle.
I wondered what form it would take for Schlus...
Get a grip. This isn't the time for that.
There was no time to be thinking about such things. The important part was that the map recording the location of Bappe was hidden somewhere in this inn. Hurtlocker had stumbled upon it by chance and sneaked out at dawn to retrieve it. Which meant that right now, with Hurtlocker absent, I couldn't rule out the possibility that someone else might find that map.
Where was it again?
I searched my memories. Where had I written that it was?
Ah.
It finally came back to me. I had never actually described where the box containing the map was hidden. Instead, I'd only written that it had been washed down by rainwater. So the very act of trying to find it was already an error in itself.
BOOM...!
"Ha."
When I looked outside, thunder and lightning were already cracking across the sky as rain began to fall in scattered drops. In that case, there was no way I'd find it inside the inn.
I grabbed a raincoat and tucked it into my waistband before sprinting down the hallway.
"Schlus."
"......"
Just as I was about to pass through the corridor, a low voice called out to stop me. At first, I didn't even recognize who it was.
"Ainz?"
I never imagined Ainz's tension could drop this low. He was sitting on a chair in the hallway, popping open a can and drinking with his head hung low. Anyone who saw him might think he was drinking canned beer. It was just chocolate milk.
"Did I... Did I do something wrong?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The flame magic earlier. Maybe I shouldn't have fired it."
"......"
It seemed Ainz was blaming himself for what happened earlier. That was a little unexpected. Given his personality, I had expected him to sulk in his room and grumble, "I did everything right! Why am I the only one getting blamed!" I didn't think he was capable of actual reflection... Could this be another butterfly effect caused by my arrival? If changes were heading in this direction, I welcomed them.
"Ainz."
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember what I said earlier?"
"With great power comes great responsibility... That?"
"That's right. By nature, great power should be that much harder to wield. If you swing it around without thinking about the consequences, you're no different from a mad dog."
"A mad dog..."
"Still, as Professor Sergei said, it turned out well in the end. Even though it caused a forest fire and forced us to walk all the way here, it's far better than having casualties. But there's only one thing I want to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Feel the weight of your power, Ainz. Power doesn't define you. You are the one who possesses power. If you become more composed, you won't be swept away by your own strength."
In Ainz's case, he was overly dependent on power to prove himself. He mistakenly believed that displaying overwhelming strength was the way to show his genius as a Wigenstein prodigy. But the order was wrong. It wasn't that he was strong because he had great power; rather, because he was strong, he could wield great power. If someone mediocre were given such power, they would collapse just like Ainz had in the original story.
"Huh...?"
I thought I had conveyed it quite intuitively, but Ainz tilted his head in confusion. What an idiot... It seemed expecting him to awaken during this Wist Forest training was asking too much. I just hoped he would awaken before the final battle. His vast mana would be incredibly useful.
"Then I'll be going."
"Where are you going?"
"For a walk."
"In this weather...?"
Leaving the puzzled Ainz behind, I stepped outside. The rain wasn't particularly heavy, but muddy water was already flowing across the ground, suggesting that soil was being washed down from the mountain. So the box had been buried somewhere in the mountains and carried down by the water.
Fortunately, when I looked around, there was almost no one outside. Good. At this rate, I should be able to recover the box first.
"Ah."
The moment I thought that, I spotted the box. The instant I saw that red, jewel-box-like container, my intuition told me it was the one holding the map. It matched the description from the original story perfectly.
However, the problem was—
"I'm screwed."
It was empty inside. Someone had already taken the map. Who the hell was it? Since it was probably one of the people staying at this inn, the chances were high that it was one of the students. Should I go back inside and interrogate them one by one?
"Heh. Found it."
The moment I turned my head, I discovered the culprit. Or rather, the culprit's tracks. Footprints were clearly visible in the muddy ground created by the rain. They led from the inn all the way down to the forest below. There was no way anyone would enter the forest in this rain, especially with the sun about to set. They were almost certainly following the map.
"This isn't good."
I clicked my tongue. That area ahead was a minefield. There was a path up to the forest entrance, so they would probably keep walking without suspicion, but the trail would disappear midway. If they mistook the animal paths through the woods for a trail and kept going... boom. They'd step into the minefield and be blown to horrific pieces.
"Haa... Damn it. What a pain in the ass."
I had no intention of letting any casualties occur during this training. Especially not if it was a named character like Professor Sergei or Trie. Sighing, I followed the footprints in the mud and entered the forest.
"This direction... should be right, right?"
Trie pulled the map from her pocket and looked at it. She hurriedly tried to put it away before it got wet, but no raindrops were falling on the map.
"Huh?"
At some point, the rain had stopped. Trie pushed back the hood of her raincoat and looked around. Dense forest this way. Dense forest that way. To be honest...
"Did I... get lost?"
She no longer had any idea where she was. Still, since she had followed the path all the way here, she should be able to return to the inn by going back the way she came. Just as Trie confidently took another step—
"Huh? Whoa?!"
She realized the path on the ground had vanished. What? There had definitely been a narrow trail just moments ago. When she turned around to retrace her steps, Trie felt a wave of confusion. Now she couldn't even tell which direction she had come from. Well, she could just start moving and try to find the path again. As she lifted her foot to take a step, she finally noticed the large trees around her that had been snapped and toppled over. Judging by their dirty cross-sections, it looked like they had been destroyed by an explosion...
It was a landmine. Only a landmine could have blown apart trees like that.
"Th-this is the minefield...?"
Trie fell into a panic.
"Ugh! I don't know anymore! I'll just run—"
"Stop right there, Trie."
"...?!"
The low, resonant voice made Trie freeze in place. The moment she recognized the voice, her face lit up with relief, only to cloud over with a hint of gloom. It was good that she had encountered someone after getting lost, but of all people, it had to be Schlus. Her dignity as his master was in danger of collapsing.
"Schlus! I was heading toward—"
"Don't move a single step. You might trigger a mine."
"Hic?!"
At Schlus's warning, Trie stiffened once again. Come to think of it, she had heard that the areas of Wist Forest without paths were littered with mines. Mines buried in the surrounding mana and thoroughly concealed, making them nearly impossible to detect by ordinary means. She had heard that the moment you touched one, it would explode and turn a person into nothing but rags.
By now, Trie's face had gone deathly pale.
"Wh-wh-what should I do?"
"Just stay still for now. I'll figure out a way."
From beyond the bushes, far away, Schlus's voice continued to reach her. But neither the direction the sound was coming from nor its volume had changed from before. That meant Schlus was also standing motionless in one spot.
"Schlus. Did you end up coming in here too? Into the minefield..."
"...That's right."
"Aha."
Now it made sense. Schlus had also become someone who couldn't move an inch. Once she realized that, a small chuckle escaped her.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Ah. You heard that? Your ears are really sharp."
"It's not exactly that my ears are sharp, but... well, let's go with that."
"Hmm?"
Schlus said something she couldn't quite understand.
"So how are we supposed to get out of here?"
"Don't rush me. This is all because of someone, you know."
"More importantly, how did you know I was here?"
"I saw the footprints. You went into the forest, so I got worried and followed you."
"Aha..."
It was so like Schlus, she thought. He was the kind of guy who would throw himself into danger to save others. As a result, though, he had trapped himself with no way out.
"Ah. The sun's starting to set."
"......"
The sun began to disappear between the tall blue trees. At the same time, the orange light shining through the trunks scattered across the water droplets clinging to the bushes. It would get truly dark soon. If they spent the night here, they would catch a cold for sure. No, catching a cold would be lucky. Schlus, whose body wasn't particularly robust, could even suffer from hypothermia. The thought made Trie gradually feel a growing sense of crisis. Not that any solution to escape this situation had come to mind.
"Schlus."
"What is it?"
"Are you always like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you always recklessly run off to save people like this?"
"......"
The reply came a little late. The answer she actually wanted to hear was different. That he had come to save her because he knew it was her who was trapped... She wanted to hear that he had come because it was her.
"Yes. I'm always like this."
"I figured..."
But not everything went the way one wanted. Trie stretched her stiff back from standing so long and gave a bitter smile.
"But there are exceptions."
"Like what?"
"Especially important people. When saving people like that, I tend to overdo it."
"For example?"
"Trie. People like you."
"...?!"
Completely caught off guard by the answer, Trie nearly fell forward. In a situation where she didn't know where the mines were, changing her posture was something she had to avoid at all costs.
"Trie."
"Yeah..."
"If we get out of here safely..."
"Yeah..."
Trie answered, feeling her heart pounding wildly. The atmosphere had become strangely heavy. At this rate, surely...
"Will you become my comrade?"
"Haa..."
Just as she thought. Realizing how foolish she had been for getting her hopes up, Trie let out a deep sigh.
"Comrade? Aren't we already comrades?"
"I'm not talking about just at school. Whether during vacation or after graduation, I want to be with you, Trie. I need your sword."
"My sword..."
"Your sword is unparalleled, Trie. No one can even hope to catch up to your swordsmanship. If you take up the sword again and devote yourself to training, I believe it's entirely possible for you to reach even greater heights."
"Ha. How would you know that?"
"That's..."
Sensing the sudden chill in the air, Schlus closed his mouth. The smile that had been on Trie's face until just moments ago had been replaced by a hard, expressionless mask.
"You're the one learning the sword from me, yet you claim I can reach a higher realm? How would you know?"
"......"
"I can't reach it. That's a realm on a completely different level. I've decided to give up. I won't hold a sword anymore. Except when necessary."
"I need you, Trie."
"Enough!"
"Trie. Even if you set down your sword and devote yourself to magic, you won't be able to find your father."
"...!"
Trie jerked her head up sharply. She had just heard something she could not overlook. Her face flushed bright red with rage.
"You...! What did you just say?!"
"I said that you cannot find your father through magic."
"That's why I'm asking how you would know! Have you reached the end of magic? Have you attained the realm of a grand mage?! How dare you declare the limits of magic!"
"I don't know the limits of magic, but I know the truths of this world. The dead cannot be brought back to life."
"What are you even—"
"Trie. Your father is dead."
"...!"
Trie's expression twisted into something hideous.