Chapter 613: The Season is Autumn (2)
Chapter 613: The Season is Autumn (2)
Ever since the Great Witch designated me as her primary disciple, I naturally began to accompany her.
"Honestly, that temper of hers... I gifted her a fine prosthetic body, so she should be grateful. Why get so angry?"
The soft rustle of fabric followed her words.
The Great Witch muttered under her breath as she walked. Despite her small stature, her pace was steady, if a bit slow.
I carefully adjusted my stride to match hers, making sure not to bruise my master’s pride, and asked, "You gave her a prosthetic body as a gift?"
"Ah, did I not mention it? That girl’s prosthetic. It seemed to suit that sword-crazy fool far too well, so I sent it as a gift not long ago. And then she shows up today, screaming at the top of her lungs...!"
As she complained, the Great Witch looked genuinely aggrieved.
Seeing her act as if she’d been treated poorly after giving a precious gift, I debated for a moment how to respond. There were only a few viable options.
"…The Sword Duke must lack an eye for aesthetics."
How could I possibly speak harsh truths to a master as high as the heavens?
At my hollow agreement, the Great Witch gave a delighted, triumphant huff.
"Exactly! She’s spent her whole life swinging a sword, so her brain must have gone soft… Hmph, well. Fine. At least she didn't return it. Let us focus on what we must do."
'What we must do.'
Those were the words I had been waiting for. I nodded silently, my eyes falling upon the magnificent building that had finally come into view.
I recalled being told it was once used as a temple long ago.
The Academy had always been full of the injured, both in the past and the present. Naturally, the temple dedicated to treatment had to be large, and this building, constructed hundreds of years ago, was no exception.
It looked capable of housing at least a hundred patients.
However, those lying inside were no ordinary patients.
A silence like death hung over the place.
If not for the occasional groan or the sound of sobbing, I would have mistaken this place for a graveyard rather than a temple.
"Let us go inside."
The Great Witch’s voice was flat. It was the composure of a woman who had already witnessed countless tragedies.
Yet, she couldn't quite erase a trace of bitterness, as she soon had her smoking pipe clenched between her teeth.
Addiction was a frightening thing. Even though she no longer needed to smoke, she kept the pipe with her all day simply because she was bored.
With such idle thoughts, I placed my hand on the old door handle.
Screeeeeak—
The unpleasant friction of rusted hinges pierced my eardrums, and the interior was finally revealed.
It was a field of corpses.
They were still breathing, but could these beings, who exhaled faint breaths without the slightest movement, truly be called alive? Only those presumed to be their kin occasionally shed tears before them.
I hesitated to step forward. As I lingered, the Great Witch added an explanation that sounded like a sigh.
"Victims bitten by the vampire's servants… To think they would end up like this the moment the vampire, the subject of the contract, was destroyed."
"Do you know the cause?"
"A vampire's blood doesn't only have downsides. It grants benefits like a strengthened physique and enhanced immortality. If a body modified in such a way loses its source of power…."
Her light-green eyes scanned the surroundings. The scene reflected in her retinas was the answer to her trailing sentence.
"They end up like that. We have a problem… it seems their brains have shut down."
"Is there nothing that can be done?"
"If there were, I would have stepped forward to solve it long ago."
My faint hope was crushed just like that.
Then again, she wasn't wrong.
Wasn't the vampire of the Great Witch’s own bloodline? Naturally, the Great Witch would feel a sense of responsibility for this series of events. If she knew a way to fix it, she would have acted already.
One could tell just by looking at her current expression—scowling as she gnawed on her smoking pipe.
The Great Witch wanted to save them, too. More than anyone.
Her voice, heavy with thought, continued.
"The 'contract' is the problem. When one signs a contract with the Dark Cult, not only the body but the soul is annexed. It’s not a problem that can be solved simply by fixing the physical form…."
"Is there truly no way?"
"There probably is. But we are absolutely lacking the time… How long can they even last in that state?"
The Great Witch pressed her hands firmly against her head.
Soon, a faint groan escaped the lips of the frowning woman.
"Ugh, if only I had enough of this damn time!"
Her voice was the source of noise in the otherwise quiet space.
Before I knew it, the eyes and ears of the people standing around were focused on the Great Witch and me. Though, it didn't seem like anyone there held a high enough status to recognize her.
But it wasn't a meaningless act. As our eyes met, the sorrow and despair they carried felt even more poignant.
My gaze inadvertently drifted elsewhere.
There lay a girl with lush blonde hair. She seemed to be alone for the moment, but traces remained of several relatives who had visited her side.
The red-haired woman must have come to visit as well.
I had promised to protect them. I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't let them shed any more tears.
Yet, how many people were actually left by my side?
Emma’s tears, Celine’s disappearance, Seria’s self-reproach.
Everything felt like my responsibility. This was the source of the lashings that kept driving me forward.
'Time,' 'Time,' 'Time.'
I blankly repeated the word in my mind, my brain working at full speed. I agonized over what I should do, and how I could solve the root of all these problems.
It was then.
A certain person suddenly flashed through my mind.
"……Oh."
A dumbfounded sound escaped my lips. It was inevitable that the Great Witch’s gaze would snap toward me.
"What is it, my first disciple?"
"Senior Elsie."
The Great Witch didn't possess enough information to understand why I had suddenly brought up that name.
So, she could only ask back with a slight furrow of her brow.
"The second one? Hmph, I told her to start saying her goodbyes to her family. Apparently, she has to take some 'graduation exam' or whatever, but I spoke to that Delemore fellow and arranged for her to substitute it with a dispatch to the Great Forest. If she grinds herself to the bone under me for a few months, she might actually become useful…."
"Not that Senior Elsie."
The doubt in the Great Witch’s eyes deepened.
Just before the obvious question of what I meant could burst out—
"I need to go see Senior Elsie."
My body immediately broke into a sprint.
I heard the Great Witch calling after me, but I didn't care. I ran like a gale, rifling through my memories.
Where would Senior Elsie be right now?
It had only been a few months since we met, but in that time, we had crossed numerous lines between life and death together. It wasn't hard to guess the heart of someone I was on the verge of being engaged to.
The Great Witch said Senior Elsie was preparing for a farewell.
Once she began her training in the Great Forest, she wouldn't be able to breathe outside air for at least several months. She would want to say her goodbyes, but the people Senior Elsie cherished were few and far between.
In fact, if you excluded me, well.
There was only one.
Once the person I needed to find was decided, the search became much easier. Unlike Senior Elsie, who had severed her previous relationships while traveling with me, that man still had friends all over the Academy.
It took only a few minutes.
That was all the time I needed to find Senior Elsie.
Couples were sitting on benches along the autumn-kissed promenade. Most of them exuded a sweet, youthful atmosphere, but there was one pair whose relationship felt uniquely out of place.
Senior Elsie and Lupin Lainella.
The two siblings were creating a bizarre scene. The man was blubbering, while the woman wore an expression of utter exasperation.
To an outsider, they might have looked like young lovers on the verge of a breakup.
Even though the reality was quite different.
As soon as I appeared, panting for breath, Senior Elsie’s face immediately brightened.
"Oh, Master? You’re just in time! I mean, honestly… this idiot Lupin is crying his eyes out, saying he absolutely can't let me go to the Great Forest……."
"W-When did I ever!"
Lupin, who had been in the middle of a crying fit, jumped up and shouted.
Naturally, he had zero credibility, but he didn't give up and continued his counterargument.
"I was just saying it wouldn't matter if you went after graduating from the Academy! D-Do you really think a Young Master of the Lainella family would cry over something like that?! You think so too, don't you, Ian… Hieeeek! Don't come any closer!"
Of course, I had no time to entertain Lupin’s nonsense.
I stepped forward without hesitation. One step, two steps. And soon, I was right in front of the Lainella siblings.
Lupin, imagining God knows what, let out a scream and curled into a ball. It seemed his old nightmares had resurfaced, but the one I had business with was someone else.
Thud.
My hand came down on the girl’s shoulder.
I couldn't see it myself, but my face was likely dead serious. I could tell just by looking at Senior Elsie, who was staring at me with a dazed expression.
To suddenly show up with such a grave look.
It was only natural for Senior Elsie to be bewildered. Nevertheless, this was a favor that only 'Senior Elsie' could grant, so I spoke in a voice that had dropped to a low, heavy tone.
"Senior Elsie… may I hit you just once?"
And then, silence.
My fiancée blinked, unable to process what she had just heard. It was the same for Lupin, who was watching from the side, and the others who had been paying attention to us due to the sudden appearance of a celebrity.
The eyes and ears of the crowd were fixed on me.
After a long moment.
"You… you crazy bastard!"
Lupin flipped his lid and lunged at me, but his frail fists couldn't inflict any meaningful damage on my body.
It was a sorrowful season.
* * *
At the main gate of the Academy.
A guard stood there with a look of intense tension. Normally, he would have been yawning and thinking of ways to kill time, but recently, the Academy had become a 'hot potato'—and even that was an understatement.
The emergence of a new hero.
The ensuing plots of the Dark Cult, and the visits from powerful figures to clean up the aftermath, were enough to restore his lost sense of duty.
Moreover, hadn't there been rumors that an important shipment would be arriving soon?
He believed he couldn't possibly be any more alert.
However, that belief was shattered into pieces not long after.
By a single woman who appeared with the sun at her back.
"Uh, that, I, ah……."
The guard’s thoughts froze.
It wasn't just him; any man would have reacted the same way. To face skin as pure white as snow, features that looked as if they had been painstakingly carved by a master craftsman, and silver hair that one could believe was woven from molten sterling silver.
A pale pink dot was marked upon this divine masterpiece. Even that color suited her perfectly, and for a moment, the guard felt like a spectator standing before a work of art.
Perhaps she had run here in a hurry.
The woman’s breathing was ragged, and her complexion wasn't entirely steady. Yet, her appearance remained flawless, without a single blemish to be found.
She was pretty. She was beautiful. All sorts of other praises drifted through his mind, but the moment the woman’s lips parted, his entire thought process was bleached white.
"Where is he?"
"……Pardon?"
The guard could only ask back in earnest.
He wanted to help her somehow. It wasn't just because of the woman’s beauty.
A small sun floated above the woman’s head.
A Halo.
The symbol that only those called the Agents of the Heavenly God, the Saints, could possess.
The woman’s lips parted once more.
"Ian Percus."
As she spoke the man’s name, the woman’s face naturally broke into a smile. It was an arc so beautiful it could stop a heart, but for some reason...
A chill ran down the guard's spine.
The guard’s forehead became drenched in cold sweat.
Then came the sound of a fist clenching tight enough to crush bone.
"……My husband."
Verily, it was the season when the runaway wife returns.
It was autumn.