Before Death Comes (4)
A thought had crossed my mind while I was agonizing over the elixir.
"Hey, Reinhardt."
"Speak."
"What happens if I don't drink this?"
The Sword Saint gave a slight nod.
"I will not particularly care. The Hero, however, will likely force it down your throat."
There was no real need to agonize over it. The Hero's bloodshot glare made it abundantly clear she would cram that elixir into my mouth by any means necessary.
...Knowing it would come to this, the Sword Saint was probably only pretending to give me a choice.
The options — put up a pointless struggle and suffer the humiliation of having the elixir shoved down my throat, or simply drink it — were, in a different sense, genuinely difficult to choose between.
What else was I supposed to do?
I had to drink it.
It was so precious I could have wept tears of blood, but if I didn't, the Hero would force it on me anyway. Even without her, there was Franc. There was Raeli. Would they sit quietly with a life-saving elixir sitting right there?
I opened the lid. A crystal-clear fragrance drifted out.
Thinking about it again, this was a miracle tonic so valuable that a single drop could buy an entire mansion. The Sword Saint, handing over a treasure like this as if it were nothing, was impressive in his own right.
I agonized over whether to drink it dozens of times.
...This was a different case from the Origin of the Star hanging around my neck.
The elixir was single-use. I'd rather save it than drink it.
But I had to drink it.
I swallowed.
I'd considered hoarding the elixir while claiming I was immortal, but it wouldn't have meant anything. Not a single person had ever believed that claim. There was no chance the Hero and the Sword Saint would. They'd just tell me to shut up and stop talking nonsense.
Well, the Sword Saint might be different — his way of thinking was peculiar enough as it was.
Still, I felt much better. The instant I drank it, vitality flooded back through my entire body, and I could move easily again.
I tried to get up from the bed, but the Hero stopped me.
"You have not fully recovered. Please rest until the medicine has taken full effect."
"...Understood."
The more I looked at the Hero, the more uneasy I felt.
Don't tell me... you too?
If the Hero harbored the same excessive emotions toward me that Franc and Besia did, that would be hard to handle. On top of that, I had a goal of reducing the Hero's combat power as much as possible, so a clash with her was inevitable. If she harbored strange feelings for me in that situation, I had no idea what might happen. There was a high chance of variables I couldn't control.
Still, it wasn't as extreme as with the other girls, so it should be fine for now.
...For now, at least.
I set the worry aside and decided to gather everyone.
"To discuss what comes next, bring Franc and Raeli. And Hero — can you get Besia out?"
"It is something I must do, and it is possible."
"Then I'll leave it to you."
The Hero had told me to stay lying down, but now that my body felt better, I saw no reason to remain in bed. She didn't try to stop me a second time.
I opened the door, intending to step out and get some air.
A barrier blocked me cold.
Ah, right. I was locked in. I'd completely forgotten that Franc had imprisoned me.
"...Hero, could you let me out?"
"Please remain there for the time being."
Apparently she had no intention of doing so. She left me trapped behind the barrier and walked off.
...Even you, Hero.
I turned to look at the Sword Saint.
"Reinhardt, perhaps..."
"Just because you drank an elixir does not mean a dying man recovers instantly."
The Sword Saint pressed me with rather more logic.
"Stay still so the elixir I gave you is not wasted. I believe I am entitled to ask at least that much, am I not?"
"...You're not wrong."
It was somehow even more irritating. I couldn't argue with it at all. Besides, the Sword Saint was the one who'd brought the elixir. He'd fed me something that expensive and wasn't even asking for anything in return — just telling me to stay put. I couldn't very well disobey.
The conclusion: I had to sit quietly on the bed and behave.
...I told you, I can't die.
Nobody believes me. Not a single person. It was almost enough to make me feel sorry for myself, but there was nothing I could do. Even the Bishop didn't see me as an Immortal. Everyone else would be the same.
"...I don't die."
I muttered it under my breath. Saying it while locked in this room left me with a strangely hollow feeling.
Until everyone gathered, I had no choice but to wait.
"You asked me to release Besia?"
The Cardinal wiped the cold sweat from his brow, looking thoroughly flustered. The Hero was utterly unyielding.
"That is correct. Please release Besia from her cell."
"W-well, I should explain this to you, Hero, but that priestess stands accused of conspiring with demons. We cannot simply release her..."
"You said you would do whatever I asked of you."
She held herself back. There was much she wanted to interrogate the Church about, many things she wanted to say — but they still had Besia locked up, and the Bishop had collapsed under a curse. It would be difficult to strike at a Church that was, at least outwardly, pretending to cooperate. She decided to leave them be until the Black Tower Master was dealt with.
Cardinal Joas had his own words to answer for, and he fell into thought over how to respond. No — more than anything, the real crisis was that the Hero had come to distrust the Church. That, above all, had to be prevented.
Until just a moment ago, he had been determined not to release Besia. But he chose to concede the small thing in order to gain the greater. He would let Priestess Besia go.
"...Very well. We shall do so."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. When have we ever refused a request from you, Hero? However, the charges against Priestess Besia have not been fully dropped, so you need only return her to us within the appointed time."
"That will suffice."
When the Hero accepted, the Cardinal let out a deep sigh of relief and added a caution.
"But Hero, you must have faith in the Church. Would we ever betray you? We merely dirtied our hands in your place because of the walls of reality."
"...I will keep your counsel in mind."
The Hero turned and left his chambers, as if there was nothing more to discuss.
Alone, the Cardinal let out a heavy sigh.
"Things have gone sideways."
He slowly traced the cause of the tangle. The Black Magic Tower, the Royal Family, and the entrance exam. The exam had already been a heavy burden, and then the Royal Family had gone and cultivated a black mage organization on top of that. Of course the Church, which had been defending the Royal Family, would come under suspicion.
"Why did the Black Magic Tower fall?"
The Cardinal found it strange. The practical exam disaster was going to happen anyway — that much they had been prepared to handle. But the Black Magic Tower had pushed things beyond their planned capacity. If so, the starting point of everything going wrong was the collapse of the Black Magic Tower.
The Cardinal summoned his personal priest.
"Yes, Your Eminence."
"Deliver a few words to the Royal Family, and release Priestess Besia."
"Understood."
They had agreed to cover up the fall of the Black Magic Tower at the Black Tower Master's request. The one who had destroyed the tower was already dead, so there was no need to dig into it. Priestess Besia, who was connected to the incident, was going to be dealt with alongside the Bishop, so there shouldn't have been any problem.
But variables kept appearing from somewhere. Starting with the Black Magic Tower, then the entrance exam, and now this.
"Someone has been sabotaging our work."
That insect had to be caught. Only then would everything proceed according to His will.
He decided to investigate the matter of the Black Magic Tower, which he had originally taken no interest in.
One of the Cardinal's eyes briefly turned black.
But it lasted only a moment — his body was filled with Holy Power. Holy Power was a force opposed to Magi. And Holy Power was a force that could only be possessed by the truly faithful. Thus, possessing Holy Power was a kind of identity guarantee.
Because he held the authority that made such a contradiction possible, a perfect spy — undetectable by anyone — sat in this very seat.
"Argal, are you okay now?!"
"You drank the elixir, right? So you're not going to die?"
The first to come running was Franc. Raeli followed right behind her. I was taking the full force of their worry.
Thinking about it, my condition had been steadily deteriorating the entire time I was down, so it made sense that Franc and Raeli would be this shaken. If it hadn't been for the Sword Saint's elixir, dying once wouldn't have been surprising.
"I — huh? I even went around looking for a shaman who could break the curse!"
"Me too! I went looking for a black mage so I could transfer your curse onto myself!"
Both of them were furious. One had gone searching for a shaman who might be able to lift the curse, and Raeli had gone so far as to hunt down a black mage just to take the curse onto herself.
...They didn't need to worry that much.
"Well, my body's fine now, so how about letting me out, Franc?"
Thanks to the elixir, I wasn't in a state that warranted that kind of worry anymore. That was my pitch. The others weren't particularly eager to let me go, so I tried persuading Franc, the mage who'd locked me in.
Franc's expression went completely serious.
"Are you being serious right now, Argal?"
"...Well."
"You almost died this time, and you want to walk around freely?"
Well, yeah. That was the idea. How else was I supposed to catch the Black Tower Master or do anything else...?
Franc shot me a look so vicious it was like she was about to devour me on the spot. The moment I asked to be let out, I felt a very real threat that I'd be locked up until the Academy's closure was over. Following my instincts, I quietly backed down.
For some reason, I seemed even more helpless against Franc than against the Demon King.
When I stayed quiet, Franc seemed to ease up a little and let out a deep sigh.
"I'm just glad you're okay, Argal."
"Yeah. As long as he lived, that's what matters."
Raeli nodded, relieved at my survival.
The next to appear was the Sword Saint. He leaned against the wall without a word, arms crossed, waiting for everyone to gather.
And sure enough, a girl opened the door and came in after him. Covered in dirty soil from being locked up for so long, and already in poor health to begin with, Besia looked rather frail.
...It brought that time back. The girl who had been tortured by a black mage, waiting only to die.
"Argal."
Besia looked at me and couldn't say a word. The resentment she wanted to hurl at me for throwing my life away again to save someone else, and the gratitude she felt because I had helped the Bishop, who was as good as a parent to her — both coexisted in her heart, tormenting her.
"You... idiot."
So her conclusion was to start by insulting me. Her trembling steps as she approached were pitiful to watch, and yet I could feel a will that would never let go.
But perhaps it was the aftermath of being imprisoned in a weakened state. One of her legs gave out, and she nearly fell.
The one who caught her was the Hero, arriving right behind her.
"Are you all right?"
"...I'm fine."
Everyone had truly gathered. For the first time since the practical exam. I'd thought there would be a brief rest, but the situation that crashed down immediately after had brought us all together.
And so I spoke.
We were the rescuers who had helped the examinees. And those who carried — or were destined to carry — the salvation of humanity. In other words, excluding myself, these were the members of the Hero's party.
"We have one goal."
The Hero's party's goal was only one.
To slay the Demon King.
Of course, there was one member who had never joined. The Saintess. But Besia already possessed Saintess-level ability, so it didn't matter much. And Franc was already filling the role of the Hero party's archmage.
So I thought everyone was here.
Then the one I'd forgotten walked in of her own accord.
"...You're all gathered here?"
Still unwell, wearing a mask over her mouth, the Spear Saint entered the room, coughing repeatedly. She seemed to have received some treatment at the Church — her condition looked a bit better.
...Come to think of it, I don't remember looking after her separately since we arrived in the Capital. She must have been staying at the Church. Franc or Raeli probably took care of her...
"Oh, Asel? You've been staying at the Church?"
"When did you get here? I thought we left you in the carriage."
Ah. No.
The moment she walked in, the Spear Saint's face filled with every injustice in the world.
"Y-you left me there and forgot about me this whole time?"
That... might actually have been the case?
As the atmosphere grew strangely awkward, the Sword Saint let out a short laugh. As if this whole situation had been staged, he asked:
"What is this, Argal? Is this another etiquette lesson?"
"...No."
Who conducts etiquette training this pitifully.
The Spear Saint's eyes welled up with far too many tears.