The Watchmen in the Dark
“Eaten?”
“What kind of potion is it?”
Dick and Camibarez leaned in with interest. The page Simon had opened described a potion that temporarily paralyzed tendon function and caused muscles to contract.
“Nervie. Or, I suppose that's what it's called.”
Meilin circled the potion's name, rubbing at it with her pen.
“Judging by the symptoms, it's a paralytic neurotoxin that weakens muscle strength—and it says it works on small and medium monsters alike, up through Grade 3. It won't be dramatically effective, but it should at least slow a Cyclops down.”
“How is it administered?”
“Make them drink it, or apply it to a wound. We could injure it first, then throw the glass bottle of potion at the wound. Something like that might work.”
Everyone nodded with serious faces. If it could help them take down the Cyclops, they wanted to have it ready no matter what.
“You can reserve a practice lab for the cauldron. The problem is the ingredients…….”
Meilin scanned the ingredient list in the textbook and bit her thumb lightly.
“The basic ingredients are easy to get at Kizen. The tricky ones are Rehark Mushrooms, Blood Slime, and Silk Vine.”
“Let's see.”
Dick ran his eyes down the list of ingredients.
“If we head down to Rochest and put our noses to the grindstone, we should be able to find them somehow.”
“Wait, really?”
Everyone's eyes widened. Dick nodded with confidence.
“Then let's just get it all done in one go. Once class lets out, I'll head down to Rochest and back.”
Simon, still reading over the ingredient list, pointed at one item with his finger.
“The Rehark Mushrooms—I've seen those at Kizen before.”
“Huh? Where?”
“The Forbidden Forest.”
He had seen these mushrooms when he'd gone into the forest looking for Pier. They'd been growing in abundance beneath the great oak trees near the forest's edge.
Meilin and Camibarez's expressions stiffened slightly.
“How would you even know that— no, wait, that's not the point! Are you planning to go into the Forbidden Forest right now?”
“It won't take long. Dick's risking disciplinary action to go to Rochest, so the least I can do is this much. I'll harvest them quickly before it gets dark.”
“Hmmm.”
Meilin's brow furrowed.
“Don't monsters come out there? Rochest is one thing, but the Forbidden Forest is way too dangerous.”
“Then I'll go with him!”
Camibarez thrust her hand into the air. Simon turned to her with a startled look.
“It's too dangerous. It'd be breaking school rules, too.”
“All the more reason you can't go alone! I'm not letting you walk into that forest by yourself, Simon!”
Camibarez was surprisingly firm about it.
Simon swallowed his hesitation and considered, but with a group member volunteering to come along on official group business, he couldn't come up with a single good excuse.
“……If it gets too dangerous, we pull out immediately.”
“Yes!”
“Okay, so in Rochest we only need to find the Blood Slime and the Silk Vine, right? The Rehark Mushrooms were the hardest part, and now I'm buying us some time too.”
“I'll grab the basic ingredients and wait for you at the practice lab.”
Just then, the bell rang to signal the end of class. Francesca, the Toxicology teaching assistant, made the announcement.
“That's all for today's lesson, everyone.”
“Thank you for teaching us!”
The students poured out of the lecture hall.
Group 7, now with a mission on their hands, sprang into motion. Dick to Rochest. Meilin to the practice lab. Simon and Camibarez to the Forbidden Forest.
And as everyone was filing out of the classroom, one student who had been quietly lying face-down on a desk, hiding her presence and holding her breath, slipped silently upright from her seat.
Then she walked toward someone.
“Hello, Hector.”
Hector, who had been quietly gathering his things, looked up.
“Some useful information just came in. Care to hear it?”
“Going out through the main gate is risky. Follow me.”
Dick led Simon and Camibarez to the stables on Kizen's outskirts.
“Kevin! You around?”
Dick knocked on the stable door. After a moment, it opened, and a sun-tanned middle-aged man stuck his head out.
“Oh, Dick! Heading out again today?”
“Yes, that's the plan. These friends are coming along this time, too.”
Dick flicked his fingers and sent a coin flying. Kevin broke into a wide grin and caught it with practiced ease.
“Right this way, honored customers!”
Simon had wondered what a stable was doing at Kizen in the first place—and it turned out they kept not just horses but enormous Skeleton Horses as well.
When one of the Skeleton Horses, snorting as it paced its pen, turned to stare in their direction, Camibarez yelped in fright and hid behind Simon.
“Right here it is. Enjoy your visit!”
The spot Kevin led them to was a corner of the stable—an ordinary hay-covered space, except that no horses were kept in this particular spot.
“I'll go first!”
Dick walked toward the wall. Suddenly the hay-covered floor dropped away, and Dick vanished from sight.
“Wha—what? Dick?”
A voice floated up from below. It's down here!
Simon and Camibarez exchanged a look, then walked to the same spot where Dick had gone.
Before long, the floor gave way beneath them as well, and the two of them dropped into the tunnel below.
Dick spread his arms wide and grinned.
“Welcome to the secret route out of school!”
Simon looked around.
“So this place existed.”
“Hehe, a route only the ones in the know get to use.”
They could see Kevin covering the hole in the ceiling with hay again.
“Right, let's hurry before the night gets any later.”
“Yes!”
“Mm.”
Dick, Camibarez, then Simon walked through the tunnel in that order. At the front, Dick pulled a lantern out of his subspace to light the darkness, guiding them with the ease of familiarity.
“Mind your head!”
At first, they could walk with just a slight stoop, but the passage grew narrower as they went, until they reached a section where they had to lie flat and crawl on their knees.
“……Kami.”
“Yes!”
“C-could we switch places?”
“Why?”
The girl ahead of him turned around, blinking her wide eyes.
The moment their eyes met, Simon hastily looked away and answered in a strangled, crawling voice.
“Never mind.”
"??"
Looking ahead meant facing a somewhat mortifying situation, so Simon silently kept his head down and crawled on.
Dick, who'd figured out what was going on, snickered to himself, while Camibarez never caught on at all, just tilting her head in confusion.
It wasn't long before they reached their destination.
When Dick rose and knocked on the ceiling, the ground above rattled like a loose lid and swung open.
He climbed out with practiced ease, then reached back to grab the hands of Camibarez and Simon, hauling them up after him.
“Wow, we actually made it outside.”
In the far distance, Kizen's castle walls were visible. Dick replaced the lid and covered the area with nearby dirt so it wouldn't stand out.
“Let's split up here, then. I'm heading off to Rochest.”
“Got it.”
“Be careful, Dick!”
Dick set off toward Rochest, and Simon and Camibarez turned their steps toward the Forbidden Forest.
Night fell swiftly upon the forest.
On this night of a full moon, darkness settled between the leaves while crickets chirped and owls hooted. The atmosphere was gloomy enough that Simon worried Camibarez might get scared, but—
‘……Why does she look delighted?’
Her eyes sparkled as she looked freely around at everything.
She crouched down to shake the flowers blooming in the field, and sniffed at the scent of the earth. She seemed brighter and livelier than she ever did at Kizen.
“Night walks are simply wonderful!”
It was only then that Simon remembered she was a vampire.
“You like the night, huh?”
“Yes!”
She turned around, hands clasped behind her back, and smiled brightly.
“The night is cozy, after all.”
‘……Is it, now?’
He couldn't exactly relate, but it might be a trait of her species, so he decided to respect it.
Camibarez, apparently in high spirits, started chattering away.
“I'm a little late saying this, but thank you for helping me in the Magic Combat class the other day.”
“Oh, when you had to get on the hippo?”
“Yes! I just couldn't climb up on my own, and when I looked around in despair…… everyone was pretending not to see and turning their heads away. I know it's a competitive class, so I can't really blame them, but you were the only one who held out your hand without hesitation, Simon.”
“I only did what anyone should.”
She looked at Simon, her eyes burning with conviction.
“Actually putting that ‘what anyone should’ into practice is what makes you remarkable!”
“……I-is that so?”
As they talked, they drew close to their destination before they knew it.
For Simon, who had spent his days sprinting through the treacherous mountains of Leshill over and over, a forest path like this was second nature. Once he'd walked a route, he could remember it for a long time.
“There they are.”
Simon pointed. Beneath an oak tree, a thick cluster of mushrooms was visible.
“Oh, it really is Rehark Mushrooms! There are so many!”
“We don't know how many we'll need, so let's take all of them.”
“Yes!”
Simon took out an empty box, and the two of them picked the mushrooms, stacking them neatly inside.
Within minutes of starting, the box was full. Simon closed the lid and tucked it safely into his subspace.
“That went faster than I expected.”
“Yeah.”
There was far too much time left to simply wait around for Dick. The two of them decided to head back to Kizen first and regroup with Meilin, and set off.
“Oh! Come to think of it, Simon—what made you come to Kizen in the first place?”
“Hmm.”
Simon thought for a moment before answering.
“Well, the initial reason was that my parents sent me here.”
“Ah, that's usually how it goes.”
“But as I kept attending the school, I slowly started developing my own sense of purpose and my own goals, I guess.”
He'd encountered Summoning at the academy and, for the first time, found himself wanting to become a necromancer.
Then he'd learned his father's secret, and contracted with the Legion, his father's undead. He'd made close friends, too.
“So what about you, Kami—”
Simon's words stopped short. His outstretched arm brought Camibarez, walking beside him, to a halt as well.
“What's wrong?”
“Hide!”
Simon grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a tree.
In the distance, the glow of lanterns was cutting through the darkness of the forest. At the same time came the sound of hurried footsteps—many of them.
“Ah……!”
Camibarez's face drained of color.
“The Kizen Watchmen……!”
“Watchmen?”
“Yes, the people in charge of se—security around Kizen! They manage the forest, and they also hunt monsters to keep their numbers down. If those people catch us……!”
She swallowed hard.
“Even during the Student Protection Period…… we won't get out of this unscathed.”
Woof! Woof!
There were even hunting dogs, noses pressed to the ground, sniffing at the earth. As the light drew steadily closer, the figures of people with bows slung across their backs came into view.
Simon's brow furrowed.
‘Something's off.’
The timing was far too perfect. Barely any time had passed since they entered the Forbidden Forest, and yet a full-scale search by the Watchmen was already underway.
On top of that, Dick had memorized the guards' entire schedule and swore he only used windows when the area was empty.
In other words, this wasn't a routine patrol. This was an unexpected movement.
‘Well, I'll worry about that later.’
Right now, what mattered was getting out of here.
Simon turned his head to find Camibarez, white-faced, trembling all over, muttering what do we do over and over in a panicked rush.
“Kami. Look at me.”
Simon took her firmly by both shoulders and turned her toward him. Her terrified eyes stared back at him.
“We can get out of here. Just trust me and follow. Keep your eyes on my back and run. Can you do that?”
She bit her lip and gave a small nod. Simon released her and tapped the skeleton-shaped badge hanging from his uniform.
‘Pier. Do you read me?’
Before long, a blue light kindled in the skeleton's eye sockets.
‘Things have gotten a little complicated, sir.’
Staring at the countless lantern lights closing in, Simon spoke to Pier with a resolute expression.
‘It seems the Legion will have to step in after all.’