The Club Fair That Calls a Storm #4
“Nike, aren’t you moving a bit too quickly?”
“But Victor, we need to hurry and grab those beakers!”
Nike plunged fearlessly through the dark campus of the old school building. Anyone else might have been overwhelmed by the damp, oppressive atmosphere, but not someone with a heart of steel like Victor. Nike showed no such hesitation. It made sense—she had once served as vice president of the Mokemoke Occult Club, after all.
“Victor, there’s a spiderweb here!”
“It’s an old abandoned building. Of course there are spiderwebs.”
“Do you think Keong-keong-i might have friends around?”
Nike seemed thrilled at the prospect of catching and taming another spider. Then she spotted something. “Victor, look at that!” she cried, her voice echoing sharply. While I scanned the darkness to see what she meant, Nike darted forward with a quick patter of footsteps.
In her hands was a lizard that gleamed pitch-black, like a salamander.
“A shadow gecko! They’re so hard to find, but there was one right here!”
Ge-ko.
It was certainly an unusual creature. I had never seen one before. Perhaps it was added in a DLC. Nike tilted her head.
“Don’t you think its sleek, glossy black scales resemble Miss Enio?”
“Now that you mention it, they do.”
Most of Enio’s shadow techniques involved things slithering across the ground like lizards, after all. The thought made me suddenly curious—what was Enio doing right now? She had been paired with Victorica; they were probably growling at each other like rival cats. I wondered what those two might talk about.
I asked, “So what exactly is a gecko of that sort useful for?”
“It doesn’t do much besides making strange noises! Even so, each one sells for fifty thousand Rene. Incredible, right?”
“Indeed.”
Fifty thousand Rene apiece. That was an excellent find. As Nike placed the lizard into her collection container, I told her, “Let us search for more.”
“Okay!”
Earning money while playing around—if this was not healing, then what could possibly qualify? With that pleasant thought, Nike and I wandered through every corner of the old school building, hunting for hidden creatures. Yet after the first gecko, we found nothing else of note. It made sense. If catching animals for easy money were simple, the place would already be swarming with students. The pupils of Ludens had an uncanny nose for anything that smelled of profit.
“Strange. There should be at least one more…. Geck-o. Geck, gecko—”
“What are you doing?” I asked Nike as she produced the bizarre calls.
She pressed a finger to her lips and hissed for silence. “I am summoning the lizards…! I pretend to be one of their own to lure them out and catch them…!”
As expected of a daughter raised in the forest, her strategy was utterly ruthless. If something my size called out “Victor, come out here!” and a monster dozens of times larger seized me, I would fall into utter despair.
“Ge-ko. Gecko—. Geck geck geck—. Gari geck geck—.”
…Still, it seemed unlikely any lizard actually cried out in such a manner. Of course, I offered no such observation. One never knew.
“Victor, look over there!”
Once again Nike pointed excitedly. I saw nothing, yet her hair stood on end as though she had discovered a lump of gold.
“What is that? I have never seen anything like it!”
She looked ready to spring forward like a released coil. I caught her hand just in time.
“Nike, be careful.”
“Ah…!”
Directly ahead of her lay a large pit. More precisely, it was a hole in the third-floor slab that opened straight down to the second floor. A low, hollow moan rose from within. The decayed, gaping floor resembled the maw of hell itself—black and endless.
“You must watch your step and the ground immediately ahead. The building is old; such holes and gaps are plentiful.”
“Th-thank you, Victor. When did a hole like this appear…?”
Nike gave an awkward little laugh. She seemed uncomfortable, so I asked, “Are you injured anywhere?”
She shook her head. “It is not that… my hand….”
“I see.”
I released the palm I had been holding. Nike’s hand felt as delicate as a spring bud; Victor’s large, calloused grip might well have caused her pain.
“Still, your palms are softer than I would expect from someone raised in the forest. It seems your time there was not as difficult as I imagined.”
At my question, Nike spread her palm like a star and studied it in the gloom.
“Really? Compared to Miss Victorica or Miss Enio, my hands are terribly rough….”
If Nike’s hands were rough, mine were indistinguishable from sandpaper. In truth, they were much the same. Nike continued, “But it is true I did not struggle much in the Reshguard Forest. I had many friends there, and my father was with me, so there was nothing uncomfortable.”
“I see.”
“In spring we picked flowers. In summer we fished in the nearby ditches and streams. In autumn we gathered the ripe fruit that fell from the trees.”
Even in the darkness, I could see longing sparkling like starlight in her emerald eyes. Nike had grown up in the forest with few hardships, yet she had endured cold winds and bitter days in this harsh, merciless Ludens—all for the sake of revenge.
“This revenge you speak of. Is it truly so important? Important enough to dwell on even after experiencing hunger and homelessness in Ludens?”
“That is….”
As a veteran of the game, I could sense that this vague notion of revenge formed the core theme of Nike’s main episode. Yet the Nike I had come to know over the past few days seemed far removed from anything that smelled of blood.
That was why I had asked, gently, whether she truly needed to walk such a painful road. Nike answered, “This is a debt upon my heart. A debt must be repaid.”
“That is correct.”
Debts must always be repaid. If you owe something, you settle it. But a debt of the heart… I had never repaid one of those.
Nike went on, “Of course, there were many difficult moments. …In my first year I was nearly ostracized. I had no money, and my grades kept falling….”
“You were bullied, Nike?”
“……”
Perhaps she did not wish to speak of it. I recalled the shabby, unkempt Nike I had met at the beginning. The current her was different, but the old version could easily have been a target. Maybe the bullying itself had left her looking so ragged.
“Was it because you came from the Reshguard Forest?”
I remembered what Enio had said. Rumors claimed terrifying monsters lived in that forest. And Nike’s father was… Ah. So that was the rumor.
Then Nike said, “But now everything is good! These days are filled with one unexpected event after another. I never imagined my life could shine like this!”
“That is fortunate.”
“Meeting you, Victor, was my greatest stroke of luck!”
It felt strangely awkward. Both I and Victor had always been far from receiving such pure, selfless praise. The compliment pierced my steel-like mental defenses and left me embarrassed. So I spoke as though it meant nothing.
“Between us we have merely increased our combined debt by two hundred million. Still, we have managed well enough so far. I ask you to continue looking after me, partner.”
I extended my hand. Nike took it firmly.
“Yes, partner!”
“Nike, gather every beaker in sight. They appear usable.”
“There are pots and ladles here too!”
We reached the laboratory on the fourth floor and began stuffing every piece of cookware we could find into our bags. Honestly I had felt indifferent toward this so-called courage test, but the utensil farming was genuinely exciting.
“Their condition is strangely excellent.”
The laboratory was clean and comfortable, hardly what one would expect from a spiderweb-infested ruin. The tools looked as though someone had wiped them only moments ago. I did not know why, but it was an absolute windfall.
While we crammed our sack full, Nike asked, “By the way, Victor, don’t you hear something?”
Her sensitive ears must have caught a noise. I stopped what I was doing and listened carefully. Nothing.
“I hear nothing.”
“Maybe it was my imagination… I thought I heard a scraping, dragging sound….”
Rats, perhaps? This old building was positively infested with them. Keong-keong-i was having the time of her life hunting the creatures, but for me—responsible for hygiene and worried the little pests might gnaw through our supplies—it was infuriating.
Come to think of it, the unique item Hameln’s Flute that had been confiscated from the herald Enrique—was it stored in the student council warehouse? If I could borrow it somehow, perhaps I could drive the rats away.
With such thoughts in mind, we returned to the entrance that served as our base camp. Arnoi, who had lit a bonfire, greeted us warmly.
“You have returned safely, it is…! Then the courage test is now over, it is…!”
“Is it not your turn next, Arnoi?”
“This Arnoi is an eighth-year student in her final days, one who must beware even falling leaves…! If I carelessly take the courage test I may fail to graduate again this year, it is…!”
You were the one who talked about the courage test the most. I would overlook it since I had obtained so many dishes.
At that moment Enio slid up beside me and slipped her arm through mine.
“Victor, won’t you explore with me as well? I am far too scared. Miss Victorica is not very reassuring.”
Victorica immediately seized Enio’s arm and pulled her away.
“Enio, you know students of the opposite sex are not allowed casual contact after ten o’clock, don’t you? Besides, someone who commands shadows has no reason to fear mere darkness!”
It appeared the pairing of Enio and Victorica for the courage test had not gone well. There was no need for me to re-enter the building with Enio, either. We had already collected everything useful.
With that in mind, I declared shortly, “Then the courage test ends here.”
We still needed to wash the newly acquired dishes and practice cooking.
Clatter, clatter. While I scrubbed the utensils at the old sink, Arnoi—who had been amusing herself by playing with soap bubbles—asked, “So this is what I am curious about…. Earlier, a tremendously loud scream came from the upper floors, it is…! What exactly did you see to shout so loudly…?”
“A scream?”
Nike and I exchanged glances. We could not recall anything that qualified as a scream. The loudest sound had been Nike’s small “Ah…!” when I caught her before she fell into the hole. That could hardly have reached the entrance.
“Arnoi, you must have misheard.”
“That cannot be, it is…! This Arnoi heard it clearly, it is…! Someone let out a great scream, it is…!”
Yet according to Victorica, Enio, and even Teacher Domina, no one else had heard any scream.
“Th-that cannot be, it is…! Why is everyone telling such lies…? There is no way only this Arnoi heard it, it is…!”
Arnoi trembled, sweat beading on her skin. Nike’s face suddenly lit up.
“Whoa! Nymph sweat!”
She caught a droplet rolling down Arnoi’s forehead with her fingertip. As I watched, Nike carefully deposited the bead of sweat into the graduated cylinder we had taken from the laboratory earlier.
When Enio asked, “What are you doing?” Nike smiled with deep satisfaction.
“My father taught me that a nymph’s sweat or tears become precious medicinal ingredients…! Their bones and hair are also vital materials for powerful magic tools…!”
“Really? Why is that?”
“They say nymphs are errand runners the gods created with great care. That is why nymphs are considered as valuable as the dungeons and rare treasures found throughout Ludens!”
Upon hearing those words, Arnoi began to shake even more violently than when she had protested about the scream.
“Y-you must not believe such nymph-hating ghost stories, it is…! Everyone, you must not believe such foolish tales, it is…! They are completely groundless, it is…!”
Nevertheless, the way everyone looked at Arnoi had begun to change.
“I have been needing a new weapon lately…. If I sliced here and there….”
Especially Enio. The gaze she fixed on Arnoi was exactly that of a cold hunter regarding prey. She might actually do it. I was interested in the so-called nymph materials myself, but I could not afford to lose my golden goose and part-timer.
“Then we shall return to the clubroom and practice cooking.”
Leaving the somewhat chaotic atmosphere behind, we departed the old school building and headed back to our clubroom. Even then, Arnoi kept glancing back, unable to hide her lingering attachment as she muttered, “I definitely heard it, it is….”