Kanisia Lora (3)

"How long was I out?"

"Two minutes. You came to pretty damn fast."

"Is that so?"

I clicked my tongue, a bitter look crossing my face.

The match had been decided in the two minutes I'd spent unconscious. The spar was our loss, of course. I'd already expected that — no, I'd been certain of it — so losing itself didn't bother me. What stung was that I'd thought we could at least land a single hit. We hadn't even managed that.

"Master, perhaps you should remain lying down a little longer..."

"No, I'm fine."

I took Aquaril's hand and pushed myself to my feet. Time to hear the verdict from Kanisia Lora — pass or fail.

"Did I fail?"

"Huh? No. You passed."

"I... what?"

The word passed caught me completely off guard.

Honestly, I'd been bracing for a fail. We hadn't landed a single blow. On top of that, we'd used skills and she hadn't used a single one. She'd faced us with nothing but raw physical strength.

And she'd still said I passed...

"You're one lucky Master."

"...?"

"You've got a Fairy with some serious potential."

"Ah..."

Kanisia Lora held out her forearm. The fabric of her sleeve had been slashed open, baring a strip of pale skin.

"The second she knocked you out, that one came at me like a complete psycho. Honestly? She was kinda scary."

She shrugged as she said it, a playful glint in her eye. I glanced over at Aquaril.

"....."

Yeah. That's a murder stare if I've ever seen one.

Aquaril was glaring at Kanisia Lora like she was one breath away from tearing her apart. Clearly still not over it.

So we did land a hit after all.

The fact that Aquaril had even nicked her arm was genuinely impressive. She hadn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drawn blood — she'd barely managed to split the cloth — but that alone was a hell of an achievement.

And Aquaril was my Fairy. Which meant that achievement was mine.

"Raise her right and she'll be one hell of a Fairy. Plus, you've got grit."

"Grit...?"

"Yeah. Masters these days don't have any damn grit. The rest of them don't get in there and fight like you did — they just dump everything on their Fairy. Those fuckers. I'm the one giving the test and they send their Fairy up instead?"

From there she launched into a colorful rant about every Master who'd taken the test before me — calling them worthless, spineless, gritless pieces of shit, and worse.

"Ah, sorry. Just thinking about those bastards makes my blood boil."

"It's quite all right."

"Anyway, you passed. Honestly, the second you stepped onto that sparring ground yourself, you were already in."

"....."

It was possibly the most subjective, most absurd passing condition I had ever heard.

"Master."

Abraham, Kanisia Lora's Fairy, returned carrying several sheets of paper. So that was where he'd disappeared to — I'd been wondering.

"Here they are."

"Thanks, Abraham. Here. Take this and sign it."

"Pardon? This is..."

"....."

I stared at the words on the page and nearly lost it. An employment contract? In this day and age?

"Sign that and you become one of the Blood Axe King's people."

"Ah... give me a moment, please."

At her words, I started going through the contract line by line. Documents like this, no matter how tedious, had to be read with a fine-toothed comb. A contract was a magic document — a handful of words could turn an employee into a slave.

"Huh. You're more thorough than I expected. If I'd known, I would've had you come inside and fill it out instead of bringing it out here."

Kanisia Lora shrugged as she watched me scrutinize every clause.

No poison pills, at least. That's a relief.

There were no word games buried in the fine print.

The one unusual thing was that working for the Blood Axe King came with no salary. Instead, you got free access to every facility in Chinnimoni.

When I first hit the no-salary clause, my honest reaction had been are these people insane? Then I read the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠line underneath — complimentary use of all city facilities — and nodded to myself.

Raiding a dungeon burned through an absurd amount of gold. And that was just the start. The hotel I was staying in charged a million gold a night.

So the lack of a paycheck wasn't anything to get angry about. Played right, this could be an enormous windfall.

I was planning to join the Blood Axe King for the dungeons anyway.

I'd clear the dungeons, stack every last bit of power I could squeeze out of Chinnimoni, and then leave this place without a shred of attachment. After causing a little mischief first, of course.

For the record, if you signed the contract and then just walked away, your personal information got forwarded to every other city. Nobody was going to hire a Master who'd already broken a trust. You never knew when they'd turn on you again.

Trust was a virtue that mattered everywhere.

"Here you are. I look forward to working with you, Princess Lora."

I signed the employment contract, handed it back to Abraham, and bowed my head to Kanisia Lora. Aquaril, who had still been staring a hole through her, followed my lead and bowed as well.

"Uugggh... drop the princess thing. Just call me Kanisia. Oh, and talk normally."

"Pardon? But..."

"I said it's fine, so just do it. Being called princess feels insanely awkward and weird."

"Uh... right. I mean — got it, Kanisia."

"Whew. That sounds way better."

If she was fine with first names and casual speech, that made my life easier. I dropped the formalities on the spot.

"....."

The moment I did, Abraham — standing behind Kanisia — narrowed his eyes and glared at me like he was about to put a fist through my face. The hell is your problem, you cueball bastard? Your own Master told me to talk casual.

"So we're comrades now, huh? Come on. Let's go grab a drink."

"What?"

I looked up at the sky. Sunset was still a long way off. No — it wasn't a long way off. It was morning. I stared at Kanisia with the most incredulous look I could muster as she proposed drinking at this hour.

She shrugged again, the corner of her mouth curling up.

"What? Don't tell me a grown man can't hold his liquor. Fine, whatever. I'll go drink by myself."

"...Let's go drink."

"Really? You sure? You're not gonna get wasted and start stumbling around, are you?"

"Ha!"

I let out a hollow laugh at the bait. It was the most obvious provocation in the world, but there was no way I could just let it slide.

"Wanna bet? First one to get wasted loses."

"Oho~? Someone's feeling confident. A bet? Hell yeah! You're on!"

Kanisia burst out laughing, loud and unrestrained, and led us toward a nearby tavern. Hold on — wasn't this work hours? Were we seriously allowed to go drinking on the job?

"Ahahahahaha!"

"....."

Fuck.

Kanisia had been roaring with laughter at the top of her lungs for a while now, and my skull was ringing so hard I thought it might split.

For the record, she got drunk first. She was gone from the very first glass.

So I'd written her off as a total lightweight... and then this lunatic just kept drinking. She put it away like a whale wearing a human face, glass after glass without a single pause.

The empty bottles piled up, and eventually I was drunk too. I tried to take a breather, but—

"Huh? Not drinking? You chicken? Huh? You scared? Awwww~? Are you scaaared~? Drink any more and you'll puke and piss yourself so you'd better stooop~?"

She sat there across from me, needling me like that, and I simply could not take it. Kanisia should have been a tank, not a lancer. Her taunts were a work of art.

Aquaril and Abraham weren't drinking — each of them had a Master to look after. Which meant Kanisia and I were the only ones who had to keep going.

"Are we even allowed to be doing this? Isn't this work hours?"

"It's fine, it's fine! It's not like this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠is the first time. The Blood Axe King isn't gonna say a damn thing over a little drinking! That bastard's chill!"

Oh-ho? So this wasn't the first time she'd gone drinking on the clock. And the Blood Axe King was chill? Was she serious?

"Fine, whatever. So when do I actually get to meet the Blood Axe King?"

"Him? You don't."

"...I don't? What's that supposed to mean?"

"That bastard washed his hands of administration a long time ago. Masters under him — people like me — run Chinnimoni in his place."

"Then what's the Blood ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Axe King doing?"

"What's he doing? What do you think. Probably balls-deep in his Fairy, that's what."

"....."

Kanisia's mouth wasn't just foul. It had gone full filthy rag.

The funnier part was that Abraham, sitting right beside her, made no move to cover it. If anything, he kept feeding her side dishes between rants, murmuring that drinking on an empty stomach would upset her.

Was this actually okay?

"Haaah... Glaust, you fucking bastard... He couldn't even keep a promise to me... Grrrh! Glaust, you son of a bitch! You fucking asshole! You piece of shit!"

"....."

Kanisia kept bellowing some guy's name like a slur, and I clutched my head. The ringing was turning into genuine pain. But who the hell was Glaust? What was that even supposed to mean, you damn drunk?

I lifted my head and looked at Abraham. I at least needed to know who Glaust was before I could decide whether to join in on the trash-talking.

He caught the meaning in my stare and opened his mouth.

"That is the Blood Axe King's name. His full name is Glaust Tiger."

"....."

Yeah. Maybe I shouldn't pile on.

But what's the story here?

I watched Kanisia, who was still cursing the Blood Axe King with everything she had. What kind of relationship did these two have that she could toss his name around this freely and swear at him like this?

"My Master and the Blood Axe King hail from the same village. The two of them are friends."

"Ahh."

Abraham solved that mystery for me. This cueball bastard... he was actually pretty helpful.

"Friends, my ass! That bastard isn't a friend! Glaust, you piece of shit!"

I shook my head as Kanisia slurred her way through another round of abuse. Still, she was pretty enough that even a drunken rant looked good on her.

So it wasn't just loyalty that made her bet her life.

In Fairy Masters, Kanisia had died trying to save the Blood Axe King from a trap. Their backstory never came up in the game, so I'd assumed she'd done it out of loyalty. Apparently not.

Hmm. Maybe I should dig a little deeper.

Right now, she'd answer just about anything I asked.

She was a sloppy, falling-down drunk at the moment, but Kanisia was a serious talent. Great growth potential, plenty of combat experience. Judging by what I remembered from my previous life, she was a damn useful character.

The more I knew about her, the better my odds of recruiting her to my side.

"So what kind of promise did the two of you even make?"

"Promise...?"

Kanisia tilted her head, her face flushed red. Then she clapped her hands like it had just come back to her.

"...What? Become what?"

"The strongest in the world! Glaust and I were gonna be the strongest people in all of Gaiarium! That's why we left the village... and that son of a bitch broke his promise!"

"Hmm..."

I could use a little more detail here. A little help, Abraemon?

I looked at Abraham, and he opened his mouth as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"The two of them left their village, traveled many cities, and conquered dungeons. In time they came as far as Chinnimoni, and the Blood Axe King settled here. There was a king ruling Chinnimoni in those days, but he was no great warrior. Before long, the Blood Axe King slew him and took the throne."

And two years had already passed since he became king.

Abraham gave me a concise account of what had passed between the Blood Axe King and his Master. A helpful cueball, this one.

So that's how it is.

Thanks to him, I had a rough sense of how to win Kanisia over. The alcohol was keeping my head from working properly, so the finer points could wait until I was sober.

Either way, the key to pulling Kanisia onto my side was the Blood Axe King — a man I still hadn't even met.

He has to die. No question.

If the Blood Axe King died and I took his place, the feelings Kanisia held for him would turn toward me instead.

Die for me, Blood Axe King.

For my survival — and for the future beyond it — the Blood Axe King had to die.