Horn (2)
There was only one way I could help.
Magic.
I'd already figured out how to control it to some degree, and I was certain I could make a real difference on the battlefield.
I wanted to help Redrago — I did — but when it came down to it, I hesitated. I'd fought and killed plenty of people for the sake of magic before, but killing people in a war was different. So I kept searching for reasons that would make helping okay.
How did wars even work in this world?
It wouldn't hurt to go just to see how things unfold, would it?
Would killing people in this war even benefit my magic?
If I use a lot of magic, I'll get better at controlling this power of mine.
Was it right to practice my magic on people?
It wasn't like I'd only killed people once or twice.
Having a pure, simple wish to help Redrago was still far too hard for me.
"T-Tiable, should we head home for now?"
Hwia stammered, still reeling from the news that a war was about to break out — and that her older brother would be fighting in it.
Home… I'd think a little more on the way. About why it would be okay for me to help Redrago.
The noise of the bustling street gradually faded away.
I had seen Tiable's power in Orun.
Not only that black sphere — I had seen her use a fireball as well. A fireball that casually incinerated a considerable stretch of space. Honestly, I thought she was stronger than any mage in our forces. Even if she used nothing but that fireball, she could inflict enormous damage. The enemy had no mages. They had no way to defend against it.
No matter how I turned it over in my mind, if we simply added Tiable to our ranks, I could say without exaggeration that victory was assured.
I just needed to talk to her. Just talk.
"Tell Hugo to bring Tiable as well."
Hoping against hope, I sent for her.
"Ah… Hugo has the day off today, sir."
"This is an emergency. Fetch him at once."
"Y-yes, sir! Right away!"
Not long after the soldier left, Hugo strode in already armed.
"You're quick."
"But where is Tiable?"
"I was with her until a moment ago. We parted ways at the castle gate."
"You didn't hear that you were to bring Tiable?"
"No, sir. I didn't."
"May I ask why Tiable needs to be brought here?"
Hugo's voice was firm.
"Hugo. Defying your superior's orders again?"
"I've spent more time with Tiable than even you have, Lord Redrago."
"You won't tell me even this much?"
Whenever Tiable came up, Hugo always found his tongue remarkably well.
"…"
I would have to tell him the reason eventually. No — he would learn it during the war itself. Tiable's magic was bound to draw every eye.
"I intend to put Tiable to use in the war."
"She's a child, Lord Redrago. However strong her magic may have been."
Hugo answered the instant the words left my mouth, as if he had been expecting them.
"Hugo, you're not exactly old yourself."
"And there's something you don't know."
"Tiable… is not human. She's a demon."
"A demon…? You mean the kind of demon I know?"
"Just because someone uses powerful magic doesn't make them a demon."
"The demons I know have horns. Tiable doesn't have anything like that."
"Many people believe every demon has horns, but that isn't true of all of them."
"Tiable… used demon magic. You've seen it yourself."
Redrago pointed up at the ceiling — long since repaired.
"How do you know that was demon magic?"
"The one who gave Tiable her bracelet told me she was a demon. A highly capable mage. There's almost no chance they were wrong."
"…"
Hugo fell silent.
"Go on. Bring her, Hugo. I've thought this through a great deal myself."
"… …Yes, sir."
Even if he brought Tiable, would she even help us?
Tiable… a demon?
I'd always felt she was hiding something, but a demon? And after living with her all this time, I never even noticed. Now that I knew, did it even matter?
We could just go on the way we always had. Knowing she was a demon didn't mean I had any reason to treat her differently.
Once his thoughts had settled, Hugo spotted Hwia and Tiable heading toward home.
"Hwia— Tiable!"
Hugo's voice reached me.
I turned and saw him sprinting toward us at full speed, already in full gear. What was going on?
Hugo caught his breath for a moment before speaking. Running in that armor couldn't have been easy.
"Hwia — Lord Redrago wants me to bring Tiable."
"Tiable?"
Hwia looked puzzled. So was I. Why was he looking for me?
Could it be…?
"I-I-I can't tell you why right now, but I h-have to take her."
Hugo really was terrible at lying.
"Ugh— he always carts her off without explaining a thing. That Redrago guy."
Since it was always Redrago who sent for me, Hwia directed her grumbling straight at him.
"I get scared when I'm left alone, too…"
She muttered, a little sulky.
"You have to tell me the reason later, okay?"
"Yeah. Sorry it's so sudden!"
Leaving Hwia behind, Hugo and I ran through the streets.
The guard post was in an uproar. People hurried this way and that in every direction.
"Hugo, wait outside for a moment."
Hugo left the room without a word.
"Tiable."
"I have a favor to ask."
"Sepia is about to go to war with Horn."
"We'll win, no doubt. But I want to keep our losses as low as possible."
"Tiable, if you help us, those losses will certainly drop."
"Judging by the time you launched that black sphere, I imagine you don't like hurting people."
"If you refuse, that's fine. We'll win this war either way."
Redrago was asking me for help.
I hadn't needed to hunt for reasons to help him after all.
Redrago wanted my help, so I would help. The truth was, from the moment I realized he was looking for me, my answer had already been decided no matter what he said.
"I'll help. It's fine."
Redrago had helped me before, too.
We set out for war.
Maybe they had made some allowances for my sake — I was allowed to ride with Hugo and Redrago.
"I… can I really do this?"
Was I truly allowed to cast magic?
From what I had heard, the enemy numbered roughly thirty thousand. An enormous force. I had fought for fragments before, but never against more than a dozen or so. Thirty thousand was a number I couldn't even picture.
"This is war. You may do as you please. No one will say a word if you kill people. Everything is for the sake of protecting Sepia."
Redrago was utterly cold-blooded when it came to defending Sepia.
"Okay."
For a moment the thought crossed my mind that I might simply be being used — but one glance at Redrago's profile, and that feeling vanished. Our first meeting had been a little rough, but now he helped me, and we had comforted each other. Even if the side I was helping turned out to be the villains, I didn't care. Right now, helping Redrago and Hugo made me glad.
I would trust them.
The sun sank closer and closer to the horizon. The sky, once blue, was bleeding into orange.
"Tiable, are you tired?"
"A little."
"The valley is just ahead. We're almost there."
It wasn't a little. The carriage made me terribly motion-sick. When I asked if I could just fly ahead with magic, they forbade it — said the others would be terrified if they saw. As if casting attack magic wouldn't terrify them anyway.
"Tiable, you went to le— I mean, you went to study magic last time, right?"
So that was the story they'd gone with. For Redrago, it was a surprisingly decent lie. I played along.
"Yeah."
"I heard you're… really strong…"
"Y-yeah."
Hugo seemed tense before the battle; the conversation didn't flow the way it usually did. An awkward silence filled the carriage. I didn't want to keep sitting in it.
"Hugo, is this your first war?"
He jumped.
"O-of course it is. This is the first time a war has even broken out. First time going out to fight one myself, too."
Redrago cut in abruptly.
"War has always been with us, Hugo. Ordinary citizens are kept in the dark so they can live happily, knowing nothing. They simply never learn that a war took place."
"I-is that so…?"
"Those days when the guard post was in an uproar like today — were they all days like this?"
"Not all of them, but quite a few."
"…"
Hugo fell quiet, lost in thought. What was he thinking about?
But why did Sepia hide from its people that it was fighting wars at all? Simply because it wanted them to be happy? The streets I had seen were always bright and lively. The only darkness I knew of in Sepia was the bandit-extermination requests I had seen at the guild.
"Hiades Valley. We've arrived."
"We'll wait for Horn here."
The place called Hiades Valley looked as though it were the only path through — mountains of white rock rose on either side. Even in that barren terrain, trees forced their way up between the stones. The white rock caught the sunset and glowed orange. If the sun had been high overhead, those mountains could have been mistaken for snow-capped peaks. The trees that had clawed their way into the rock crevices wore leaves of a vivid, defiant green, as if to prove that nothing weaker could survive here.
"Tiable, the enemy has no mages. That means there's no one who can stop our magical attacks. Every spell we cast will land as a direct hit."
"I'm counting on you. And… I'm sorry."
"Lord Redrago — something's visible in the distance."
A soldier on watch called out to him.