Lena Youngstern (2)
Haley, a cadet from the Department of Administrative Studies, was born in Veniche, a canal city in the southern part of the empire. In Veniche, everything was water. The marketplace, the streets, and sometimes even inside the houses. To Haley, that was a tragedy. Because Haley was terrified of water.
A noble from Veniche's prestigious family, afraid of water! That was the reason Haley had rejected the marriage proposal from the southern admiral's son and come up to the capital. Though she occasionally ran into that young master at the academy and things got awkward, who cared? It was still better than living every day dodging water.
And so, Haley had drifted off into a peaceful sleep once again today.
Clunk.
The bed shook. Was it an earthquake? She'd heard the capital got occasional quakes. Having only just arrived from the south, everything about the capital still felt unfamiliar to Haley. Probably nothing serious. She tried to fall back asleep.
But then.
The floor shook violently once more.
"Kyaaaack—!"
Only after nearly falling off the bed did Haley realize the situation was anything but normal.
Grrrrrrrrrind.
Somewhere in the building let out a screaming groan. The ink bottle on the desk rattled and shook. The uniform hanging on the coat rack swayed wildly.
Haley sat up with a dazed expression.
"What the…?"
The moment her bare feet touched the floor, a cold sensation seeped between her toes. It was water—the very thing Haley hated most. And it wasn't just a shallow puddle. It had already risen past her ankles.
"Fire—no, it's waaaaater!"
Haley's scream rang out.
A pitch-black sky. Murky, muddy water. Even as her pure white saintess robes were being stained black, Arina Saint ran like a madwoman. Her ankle scraped against something and burned with pain. Only after reaching the vicinity of the girls' dormitory did Arina realize she had lost one of her shoes.
"…Ugh."
After a brief moment of hesitation, Arina took off her remaining shoe and threw it away. The stone floor was freezing, but seeing her shoe floating away on the water made her so dumbfounded that she couldn't even feel the cold anymore.
Splash, splash.
The closer she got to the girls' dormitory, the worse the situation looked. The water she thought was only falling from the sky was now rising from below as well. Beneath the stairs, through the gaps in the drainage channels, and between the cracks in the stone floor, dark blue water surged as if breathing.
I have to go even faster!
Arina picked up her pace. The girls' dormitory was built lower than the other buildings. In a situation where the water was rising this insanely, it would inevitably be the first place to flood. Besides, most of the cadets would still be asleep at this hour. She had to warn them as quickly as possible.
"Haa, haa…!"
Bang!
Finally reaching the dormitory, Arina violently flung open the front door. The moment it opened, the water that had pooled inside poured out in a rush. It was ice-cold. In an instant, it submerged her up to her calves. The hem of her saintess robes clung wetly to her legs, but Arina didn't stop.
"Everyone wake up! Hurry! We need to go upstairs right now!"
She ran down the hallway, pounding on doors. Not once or twice—she practically hammered on them.
"It's water! The water is rising! Come out quickly!"
"Saintess…?"
"What's… going on…?"
Cadets in their pajamas staggered out, still half-asleep. Their faces were blank. Arina grabbed their wrists and pushed them forward.
"Explanations later! To the stairs, hurry!"
How many minutes had passed since she'd frantically evacuated people like that?
Grrrrrrrrrind!
An ominous sound rang out. Arina instinctively turned her head. At the end of the hallway, water was surging toward them. The moment one cadet saw the sight, her face turned deathly pale.
"W-what is that…?"
An unbelievable wall of water completely filling the indoor hallway. It wasn't like any human-made spell—it looked more like an entire river had changed course and slammed straight into the building.
"Run!"
Arina shoved the two closest cadets toward the stairs and threw herself at a room whose door was still closed. She'd heard crying coming from inside.
◆
Haley held her breath and ran for the door. Creak. The door opened just a crack, and through that gap, the water pooled in the hallway began pouring in with a roar. The corridor was already flooded up to knee height.
"Hiiik—!"
Startled, Haley jumped back, then used every ounce of strength she had to push the door shut with a grunt. Goosebumps erupted all over her body. The door slammed shut with a bang and rattled violently.
"What is this, what is this, what is this…"
Her hands were shaking. Her mind had gone completely blank. Why was the dormitory flooding? Was the capital always like this? She had so many questions, but no one to answer them.
Splash, splash.
The water inside the room was starting to rise faster. Was there a gap under the door? It almost felt like the water was gushing up from the floor itself.
"W-what do I do?"
First her ankles. Then her calves. After taking a few more panicked breaths, the water reached her knees.
"Save me…"
She almost opened the door, but the image of the flooded hallway flashed through her mind. Haley immediately ran to the window. This was the first floor, so it should be safer this way. With that thought, she unlatched the window and pushed. But it wouldn't open. Even when she grabbed it with both hands and shook it like crazy, it didn't budge.
Why won't it—?
The moment she finally lifted her head to look outside the window, Haley couldn't even scream. Because the area beyond the glass was completely filled with water. Right against the pane, pitch-black water clung like a wall. A powerful current slammed against the window frame, and what she'd thought was sunlight was actually light rippling through the water. If she opened the window now, the room would be instantly flooded. She was trapped.
Water began swirling and crashing against the legs of the bed. The books on the desk floated up. A chair tipped over. The drawer, pushed by the water, rattled open, and the underwear and writing tools inside drifted across the pale waves.
"No… no…"
Haley ran back to the door. By now the pressure difference made it completely immovable. She pounded on it with both hands.
"Please help me! Is anyone there?! Please help me!"
Please, please, please. Haley's face became drenched in tears. She didn't want to die like this. She'd deliberately come to a place as far from water as possible. So why, of all places, was there water here?
"S-save me. Hic! Please, is anyone there?"
That was when someone outside began knocking on the door too.
"Is someone inside?! Are you okay?!"
It was the Saintess's voice! Tears instantly flooded Haley's eyes.
"Saintess! Here, over here! The door won't open!"
"Step back!"
The doorknob rattled violently. Once, twice. But the door wouldn't open. The water pressure in the hallway was clearly pressing against the entire door.
"What about the window?!"
"It won't open! There's water outside too!"
"……!"
A brief, breathless silence came from beyond the door. Then came hurried footsteps, followed by a bang! as someone burst into the room. It was the Saintess, who had forced her way through the ventilation window near the top of the wall. Her wet silver hair clung to her shoulders, and she was breathing hard. Yet the first thing the Saintess did was grab Haley.
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm here now."
Those words were so gentle that Haley nearly burst into tears on the spot.
"M-may the blessing of Goddess Aria be with y-you. I-if it weren't for the Saintess, I w-would've fainted right here… Waaaaah!"
When her polite greeting dissolved into sobbing, Arina gave her a soft smile and patted Haley comfortingly. Then, with a troubled expression, she asked,
"May the blessing of Aria be with you. But… how do we get out of here?"
"...?"
Huh? The Saintess didn't know either?
"W-weren't you here to save me?"
"I was, but it looks like I've gotten trapped too."
Arina smiled sheepishly and added,
"Outside, I was able to use a floating desk as a stepping stone to get over here."
But there was nothing to use as a stepping stone in here. Therefore, she was trapped too. That was what she meant.
"......."
Haley stayed silent for a moment. Is the Saintess… kind of an airhead? But on the other hand, it also meant she'd rushed in to save people even though she looked that clueless. It was admirable, but…
"P-please save us……"
Bang bang. Haley had no choice but to start pounding on the door again. After all, the number of trapped people in this room had just doubled!
◆
"Glub…"
To get straight to the point, the Saintess was completely useless.
"H-holy… glub glub. Holy power has almost no physical influence… Glub."
At some point, the water had risen sharply. The floating desk drawer was now bumping into their sides. They'd climbed onto the bed, but the water kept rising anyway. Stomach. Chest. Neck. Every time they took a breath, the fishy smell of water and the damp scent of wood flooded deep into their throats. Everything in the room was now floating. The mirror had fallen off the wall and sunk, and a candlestick brushed past the Saintess's calf.
"Huk… Haa…"
In the end, both of them had floated up near the ceiling. The Saintess and Haley were standing on tiptoe on the bed, barely keeping just their faces above the surface. The tiny gap between the ceiling and the water was just enough for one person to press their face against it and breathe. Haley trembled as she looked up. Her lips were practically touching the ceiling. Her wet hair floated up and clung to her cheeks. The Saintess was also swallowing hard, holding the cadet with one arm.
"Saintess… I-I can't… breathe…"
"Just a little longer, hold on just a little longer…!"
Despite her words, the Saintess's own breathing was growing increasingly labored. The water lapped at her chin.
"Cough! Kk, kk—!"
The cold water carried a strange metallic smell, not quite salty.
"Glub glub… Like I said earlier, once the room is completely full, we'll open the door and swim to the second floor. If Lady Haley really can't swim, then… glub. Just hold your breath. And hold onto me. Got it?"
"Underst…"
Is that even going to work? Could she really trust this clueless Saintess? Honestly, with this much water, they might both lose their sense of direction and drown.
The moment that anxiety wrapped around her entire body—
KWAAAAAANG—!!
With an enormous crash, the ceiling split open. Through the gap, bright light poured down as if a god were descending. Haley muttered without thinking.
"S-Saintess. I think we've reached heaven."
"N-no, that can't be. I'm not old enough to go to heaven yet…"
But then why could she see such a beautiful savior's face right in front of her?
While the Saintess and Haley tilted their heads in confusion, the person who had broken through the ceiling looked down at the two girls spouting nonsense and let out a small sigh.
"What the hell twisted the world line this badly?! Why did it suddenly get so hardcore, seriously!"
Orange hair, completely soaked. It was Kano Ameri.