The Approaching Horror
I figured it would just be another ordinary day.
I was spending a decently pleasant stretch of time with my big sister Dyna when static crackled through the radio I always kept tucked against my chest—exactly the kind of noise I had been half-dreading the whole time.
“What’s that?”
My sister, mid-lick of her ice cream, shot a sidelong glance at my chest. I handed her the cone for a moment, then pulled the radio free.
—What the hell is this thing?
I had opened my mouth to demand what was going on, but the unfamiliar man’s voice made me shut it again. I slowly brought the radio to my ear. Dyna sensed the shift in atmosphere and pressed silently against my side without a sound.
On the other end, the radio rattled as if someone was shaking it, the mechanical clatter mixing with the rush of wind.
—Is this thing talking? Some kind of recorder?
Guessing it was a recorder just from the perforated microphone was actually a pretty sharp call. The guy leaned in closer and started rambling.
—Aah, this is Den. This is Den… What the hell? Why was Sen carrying this thing around?
Sen’s name came up, but I kept quiet and waited. Making noise on our end would only risk giving away what the radio was for.
—Hey, what are you doing? Job’s done, let’s move.
Another man’s voice drifted in from farther away.
—Boss, you know what this is? Sen had it on him and wouldn’t let go till the end. Looks expensive.
—Huh? What is it?
Den must have handed the radio over; there was a shuffle of noise. Unfortunately, the man who took it wasn’t so clueless that he failed to recognize the device.
—What the—? This is a royal inspectorate-grade radio. Why would Sen have one of these?
—Sir? A radio?
—Wait—the light’s on!
After that came a sharp crunch of something being crushed, and the radio went dead silent.
A thick, stifling weight settled on my shoulders like the air itself had turned solid. Something had clearly gone wrong, and the single-syllable name of the man made it extremely likely we were dealing with the Execution Squad.
“I think we need to get to Vatian.”
My sister looked at me as if she had expected those exact words, then slowly turned her gaze toward the academy.
“Let’s at least tell the Headmaster first. Something’s clearly happening over there—ask them to check on things.”
“…Yeah.”
Every instinct screamed at me to leave this second, but her suggestion was sensible. I swallowed the urgency and headed for the academy at a fast clip.
“Here. Cool yourself down.”
She held out the melting ice cream. My insides felt scorched rather than merely hot, so I crunched through the cold sweetness, but it barely helped.
Why is the Execution Squad even in Vatian?
Dwelling on it was completely unproductive. They were a purely reactive outfit that only moved when hired.
They were almost certainly in Vatian on some commission, and my gut told me it was tightly bound up with the Saintess election.
When we shoved open the door to the Headmaster’s office, her expression was already halfway to resigned.
The way she grumbled “another McLane” felt beneath her age, but there was no time for small talk.
“What? You think some kind of incident has broken out in Vatian?”
I gave her the short version. Her face crumpled; the weary air vanished, replaced by the sharp eyes of Aeos Academy’s supreme authority. She reached for the crystal orb.
Vatian was far enough that the mana cost made my skin prickle, yet the Headmaster’s expression never changed.
She was a classic desk mage—short on real combat experience. That same fact meant her desk work was exceptional enough to put her in this chair without ever needing to fight.
She ordered the professors in Vatian to gather the students immediately for a headcount and protection detail.
“It’ll be all right.”
My sister gently took my hand and gave it a calming squeeze. I had tried to hide how rattled I was, yet she saw right through me.
“Thanks.”
I clasped her hand in return and took a slow breath.
Getting worked up here would accomplish nothing.
Sen went to Vatian because of me.
Tana, Eve, and Hayun had all suggested heading to Taeman Plateau together, but because I couldn’t join the school trip I had asked Sen to keep an eye on Rin instead. She had gone to Vatian for that reason.
I couldn’t shake the knowledge that she had crossed paths with the Execution Squad because of me.
Meanwhile the Headmaster finished her calls, let out a long breath, and wiped a bead of sweat from her wrinkled brow with a handkerchief.
Her face stayed composed, but maintaining multi-party contact across that distance clearly drained serious mana.
“I’ve already put the word out. Evening roll call was coming up anyway. Full guided tours start tomorrow under the professors, so the students should be fine, but…”
“The problem is Sen, who’s already been hit. We can’t rule out the possibility that something’s happened to other students as well.”
No one could say what might have befallen anyone else who got tangled up with the Execution Squad.
I hadn’t even said I was leaving immediately, yet the Headmaster pre-emptively explained why we couldn’t simply race off to Vatian.
“The distance is too great. The carriages we used last time were enchanted, and we’d already arranged cooperation with Vatian, so we made it in half a day. A regular carriage would take at least two full days.”
“….”
Just like when we went to the Dragon’s Border, a warp would have been ideal—but mages who could actually handle warps were vanishingly rare.
It was pure talent, a realm beyond mere hard work.
And unfortunately, the Headmaster had never been born with that particular gift.
Maybe I should dig up that freak…
The mercenary mage whose warps were top-tier even if nothing else was. Fat chance of finding him now.
Catching a carriage already bound for Vatian would still be faster.
I was about to sigh and declare we were leaving at once when a confident little cough sounded beside me.
“I’ve got a way.”
“Huh?”
I asked again because I didn’t understand. Dyna only smiled and took my hand once more.
“Come on. I’ll get you to Vatian.”
From her back, a pair of enormous wings unfurled as if to enfold me.
“….”
With so many students needing lodging during the school trip, they had been stuck in a cheap hotel room.
The wind hammering against the window was loud enough to slap the ears, and the creaking bed was uncomfortable enough to sabotage sleep as well as peace and quiet.
Yet no one complained much; the excitement of a school trip made even the rough edges look charming.
Travel has a way of turning flaws into fond memories.
Later you could laugh about it with friends—“Remember that place?”—so the room wasn’t all that bad.
But only if you had friends to share it with.
Bedtime was approaching. Rin, in pajamas and with her long hair simply tied back, stared at the opposite bed with worried eyes.
Sen’s bed.
She had happily agreed when Sen asked to room together, and now she waited anxiously for the other girl’s return.
She had already reported it to the supervising professors.
Apparently Sen wasn’t the only one still missing, which only multiplied the worry.
“It’s already the second day… Where did you go?”
She sighed and smoothed Sen’s already neat bedding again, every movement full of genuine concern.
Knock-knock.
Urgent rapping sounded at the door.
Hoping it was news of Sen, Rin yanked it open—only to find her golden-haired childhood friend, Ares Heliace.
“Ares?”
She wondered what brought him, but his expression was terrible. He glanced around, then spoke almost apologetically.
“If it’s okay… can I come in and talk?”
In the past she would have refused for propriety’s sake, but after firmly rejecting his confession once already, the emotional line was clean. She simply nodded and stepped aside.
She assumed he had given up on her, yet more than that, his face looked awful.
Sweat poured down as though he had been caught in the rain, his complexion deathly pale, lips faintly trembling. Something had clearly happened to him.
Still wearing his outdoor clothes, he must have been on the list of students who hadn’t returned yet.
“Are you okay? You look terrible.”
Rin offered him her towel. He wiped himself roughly, then took a deep breath, forcing down the fear.
“Rin, look at this first.”
He peeled off the brown leather fingerless gloves. On the backs of both hands, the Mark of Helios glowed with a soft yellow light like fireflies.
Rin already knew he carried a mark just as she did.
“Two of them?”
She had never heard that both hands were marked. Her startled expression prompted him to explain.
“After that Dogfight mage cut my hands off, they came back like this. It felt wrong, so I came to Vatian on this trip. I heard Helios’s nun is one of the Saintess candidates.”
“Ah.”
Chosen by the God of Death, Rin had never dared ask anyone about her own mark. Ares, however, belonged to Helios—a god with countless worshippers.
She half expected the Grand Cathedral to simply claim him.
“But what I overheard there was… shocking. I was eavesdropping, so don’t go repeating this anywhere.”
Even though they were alone in the room, Ares kept scanning the surroundings as if terrified of something.
“Helios’s nun murdered Demeter’s nun and is on the run.”
“…What?”
Completely unexpected, utterly staggering news. Rin felt as if a blunt weapon had struck her skull, yet her mouth still asked the next question.
“Are you certain?”
“Yeah. I heard it clearly. From the atmosphere, they won’t bury it—they’ll announce it as early as tomorrow.”
“….”
At this point Rin wondered whether they ought to cut the school trip short and return to Aeos Academy at once.
But Ares wasn’t finished.
“The important part is next. Of all people, I got spotted by a woman there. Black parasol, black dress. Just looking at her made me forget how to breathe.”
“….”
“She saw me, put a finger to her lips with a smile, and let me go. But I couldn’t just leave it at that, so I came here.”
He finished and dropped his gaze to the floor. Rin sorted through the information and still had one question.
“But why me?”
Why bring all of this to her? The question was natural; Ares looked a little flustered.
Telling the professors would only make things explode rather than solve them. He couldn’t imagine the faculty stopping that woman anyway.
Yet—
“I thought… maybe you still had some way to contact Daniel.”
Ares had reasoned it out.
Daniel McLane.
The childhood friend who had single-handedly crushed the once-mighty Dogfight and returned in silence.
Even if their relationship was already broken, that same friend might still be able to protect him.
He felt as though he had met a ghost.
A black-clad lady whose mere smile made him feel as if that ghost could seize his throat at any moment.
“Unfortunately…”
Rin had been about to say she wished she had a way to reach Daniel herself when—
Knock.
Knock.
A new knocking sounded.
Unlike Ares’s earlier urgent raps, these were heavy yet soft, rolling through the room and planting a strange unease in both students.
A knock was supposed to be the simplest courtesy: may I come in for a moment?
This one felt inverted—warning the people inside that they must not open the door.
“The door’s locked,” Rin managed.
Ares nodded, a little relieved.
Creeeeak.
The doorknob turned with cheerful ease, and the door itself swung open as smoothly as if carried on a gentle breeze, welcoming its guest.
And there she stood—the Lady, using her folded black parasol like a cane as she stepped across the wooden floor into the room.