No, Never Mind. Pretend You Didn't Hear That.
No, Never Mind. Pretend You Didn't Hear That.
"They say you can earn an absolutely staggering number of points if you break that woman's pauldron."
A single remark was all it took to draw tension across the representatives' faces. I continued speaking.
"They've been chattering everywhere that no one has succeeded since Scarlet joined the subjugation tournament..."
By the time I got that far, my group's faces had gone completely pale. They stared at me with expressions full of dread, as if imagining something terrifying.
"Wait, wait, wait! Bef—before that!"
The first to break the silence was Becky. She raised a hand.
"What kind of plan are we going to move with starting now! Let's get that settled first...!"
Becky's eyes darted back and forth between the direction the knights had all charged off in and my face.
"Everyone else went to monopolize the shadow demon beasts... Plan, you must have a plan too. Right? Right?"
Becky couldn't stay still for a single second. She rubbed her thighs together, sweating profusely, and looked as if she was praying her own guess was wrong.
"Let me ask you instead."
I returned the question calmly.
"In order to achieve a complete victory in the subjugation tournament, what must we do from now on?"
"Uh... um, well, obviously..."
Twisting her hair around her finger, Becky's small red lips fluttered busily.
"We have to catch demon beasts and rack up points, right? And keep the other teams in check... ah, we'd need to detour around dangerous areas..."
"The way to score the most points. You all know what that is well enough."
"...!"
I gave a single nod toward the three of them, their eyes now wide.
"You..."
This time it was Trixie who cut in.
"Just in case, I'll ask—the reason you brought up the Knight of Embers just now..."
"It's exactly what you think."
Surprisingly, in the subjugation tournament, the highest points are not awarded for killing demon beasts but for "Breaking Scarlet's Pauldron."
But that wasn't the only reason I'd taken an interest in this objective. Points were a secondary concern.
The fact that no one had ever succeeded. That's what I'd focused on.
"It shouldn't be a difficult concept to grasp."
"...."
Trixie swallowed a shallow breath. Her lips moved a few more times but only stuttered, as if broken, unable to produce anything I could understand.
Silence flowed for a moment.
Trixie shook her head slowly.
"Ugh..."
She placed her hand on her waist.
"It does feel a little reckless. I want to know why."
"Are you actually asking that as a question right now?"
I didn't need a single moment's hesitation to answer.
"Don't forget that we are mages."
◈
Three hours after leaving the square, we were walking through the forests of Berkel.
A temporary shelter was needed. My companions were not summoned beasts who could function indefinitely as long as they had mana, so I planned to set up a place to rest before entering the danger zones.
Naturally, I had no intention of doing a half-job.
I intended to build it in the best possible location so it could be perfect down to the smallest details: optimal terrain, a river nearby, mountains enclosing the rear.
But intelligent demon beasts also covet such terrain. For instance, the demon beasts called "Mumyeong" that had just revealed themselves were exactly like that.
Becky clicked her tongue.
"...They really do look ominous. As expected, no team's touched this area yet."
Mumyeong.
True to the name, these demon beasts hold no name or identity of their own. They are infamous for copying the appearance of their enemy at the start of combat to cause unease.
I called a name quietly.
"Trixie."
"...?"
She looked at me once, then nodded.
"Nothing I can't handle."
Trixie wove a spear from flames, and the Mumyeong that had spotted us immediately assumed Becky's appearance.
Becky herself was naturally horrified.
"Eek... why my appearance, of all things...?"
Trixie extended her hand without hesitation. The flame spear shot out like a beam of light, tracing a straight line and piercing the Mumyeong's chest.
"Ke... euk..."
The Mumyeong disguised as Becky tried to resist, but the effort never came to fruition because Trixie drove three flame spears in succession through its head.
"How dare you."
With a "hmph," Trixie scoffed.
"Hey... Trixie?"
Becky swallowed dryly and opened her mouth.
"Well... how should I put it... it was wearing my face, but don't you think you killed it a little too readily...?"
"It's a demon beast."
"Right. It is. It is, but still..."
"Ah, of course."
Trixie glanced at Becky.
"The face was so ugly it made it easy to dispose of."
"Wh-what!"
While the two girls exchanged what barely qualified as conversation, we continued walking, clearing away a few more Mumyeong, until the terrain I'd wanted finally appeared.
First, I could see a river. In addition, there was a mountain behind it and a forest above—it was exactly what I'd been hoping for.
"Be careful. You'll get cut by the trees if you aren't."
I seized the surrounding trees with Telekinesis.
The mana inside my body, the blueprint drawn in my head. All of it manifested a beautiful miracle under the name of magic.
──!
With a sound of terrific power, the trees gathered and began being carved into shape for their purpose. They soon merged and constructed the form of a small house.
I improved the interior comfortably using the daily necessities purchased from the shop, and applied an aesthetic sense to certain parts, giving it a satisfying exterior appearance.
It was only natural that my companions' mouths fell open in admiration. I almost pointed out they should close their mouths, but decided against it. The solution to this was simply getting used to it.
"Whoaaa...!"
Becky's eyes went round. Unable to hold back, she flung open the door to the temporary shelter.
I used Telekinesis to snag her as she tried to go inside. Becky, abruptly caught, flailed her arms and legs.
"Huh? What? What's up, why...?"
"Don't get the wrong idea."
I tossed the distortion bag inside the temporary shelter. I stacked the documents that hadn't fit into the bag neatly and tidied them up.
After closing the open door, I told my group:
"Arrange your own shelter for yourself."
"...."
My companions' expressions went blank.
◈
Ten hours after leaving the square.
The sun, once so vigorous, had at last sunk into slumber, and a thick veil of darkness fell over Berkel.
"Hmm."
After elegantly stacking firewood and lighting it, I placed a chair in front and seated myself in perfect posture. I was currently reviewing various materials while feeling the cool night breeze.
Many teams were probably having an eventful first day procuring food, but thanks to the points earned early on, we still had no worries.
'About two more hours.'
I examined the large circle I'd drawn around the temporary shelter.
This Magic Circle contained the formula for short-range teleportation and would be ready to activate around the next morning.
The destination was, of course, the danger zone across the river.
I filed away the materials Maeve had handed over. It was while comparing the ancient rune map with the phantom map, searching for some kind of pattern.
Suddenly, the scent of roses tickled the tip of my nose.
"...."
I turned my head and looked to the right.
"Ah, Plan. Are you busy?"
The owner of the voice was Becky. Her hair had leaves stuck all over it, but she seemed not to notice at all.
"Did you arrange your shelter?"
"Ah, shelter? Yeah, yeah. I made a really splendid one."
The moment Becky answered, something collapsed with a crumpling sound over yonder. It had apparently been a pitiful structure that aspired to take the form of a house.
"...."
Becky's face fell with dismay.
"No, ahem. Anyway."
After clearing her throat, she squeaked and strained, dragging over a log. She placed it next to me and plopped down onto it.
Becky merely twisted her hair for a while. A little more time passed before she parted her lips.
"Plan, if you're not busy, do you want to talk for a bit?"
"I'm always busy."
"Aah..."
Becky's expression became slightly gloomy.
"But it's not difficult to talk with you."
I meant that literally. Conversations with Becky don't require high intelligence, so they aren't difficult. In other words, it meant I could sufficiently handle reviewing my materials at the same time.
"Oh, really? Then let's talk for just a moment."
Becky's wilted expression bloomed brightly again.
Becky suddenly began gathering mana in her palm. Soon, an ice flower blossomed there.
"Remember? It was exactly this. The first spell you ever taught me."
"I believe I taught you something of a much higher standard than that."
Becky's eyebrows twitched at that. The ice flower she held in her hand crumbled into powder and scattered.
"No, no! Anyway, the point is, this is what you taught me! I just made it sloppy because I was rushing just now!"
"Just tell me your business."
"Haaaah...."
Becky let out a deep sigh and looked upward.
Countless stars twinkled in Berkel's night sky. The girl who'd been staring blankly at them suddenly wore a subtle smile.
"Hey, so. My dad used to work at a construction site. And like, literally all he did was work. He couldn't even get angry once when he got treated unfairly... So whenever he got paid, he would always come home with one magic book."
I listened quietly to her story.
"But my dad didn't know a single thing about magic. He was supposed to buy Basics of Elements, but he bought Understanding of Elements. He thought the word 'understanding' made it sound like an easier book. Isn't that funny?"
"For a talented mage, skipping the foundational texts can actually be an effective strategy in its own way."
I answered quietly without looking away from my materials.
"Hmm... I only barely succeeded at one thing. Just one formula that was written on page one. But I remember Dad being so, so happy about that one thing."
"That's good. You learned magic and your family grew more harmonious."
"Harmonious... yeah. That's right."
Becky's star-filled eyes deepened a little more. She was probably using the night sky as a canvas to paint the past.
"You know just how happy my dad was? He suddenly got all this courage he'd never had before, and the next day he got into a huge fight with his boss. For the first time."
"Did he win?"
At my words, Becky burst into laughter. "Pffhaha."
"Uh... um... well, he didn't go back to work after that. Does that count as losing...? It's a little vague."
The girl slowly lowered her head. She looked down at her own small feet and carried on talking.
"Anyway~ I was just so grateful and amazed that he could be that happy over one tiny success of mine. That's how I always felt about Dad. So after he passed away, I always tried to rely solely on magic."
"Is that why you entered the academy?"
"Right? But the funny thing is, I almost gave up on magic. Once I actually got into the academy, I felt sooo many walls."
I understood what those walls were even without hearing them. Talent, status, connections, livelihood... every single factor must have been a hurdle for a commoner like Becky.
"So I squeezed my eyes shut and was about to give it all up, and that's exactly when I met you. You're the one who protected my dream, really."
After telling her story up to there, Becky stared at me blankly. At her toes, then at me. She repeated that countless times, nervously dragging things out by herself.
Her restless fidgeting got on my nerves, so I was the one who ended up breaking the silence first.
"You... why are you dragging things out so noisily?"
"Ah, huh? Oh... well..."
Becky's shoulders gave a little flinch.
"Hey, Plan. Um. Since the topic came up, I'll ask... so... it's not, like, a difficult question or anything."
She scratched her cheek a few times and then asked me with an extremely cautious air.
"By any chance... is your body kind of not doing so well? How is it?"
"It's a pretty pathetic body in various ways."
I answered only briefly.
It was a body born with a knight's bloodline, to begin with. From a mage's standpoint, it wasn't a particularly accommodating vessel.
Becky's eyes went round.
"Pa-pathetic? Why? What does that..."
"You should focus on your own growth."
I cut her off.
Becky's talent had only just started being refined. In other words, now was a time when she should be pouring attention into herself more than ever.
"Ah... yeah. Okay."
Becky scratched her head, seeming a little awkward.
Once again, silence flowed for a long while.
"Hey, Plan."
She suddenly called my name. She patted the spot next to her with her tiny palm.
"Even if it's just for one minute... do you want to sit side by side?"
"I believe we're already sitting side by side."
"No, I mean sitting right up close to each other."
Our eyes met in the empty air.
Becky's face reddened slightly, and as if making an excuse, she quickly changed her words.
"No, forget I said that."
"I have no intention of sitting on a log."
"Ah, yeah. I just blurted it out by accident, too."
◈
Feeling it would be awkward to get up and leave right away, Becky sat on the log in silence for a long while.
The night was deep.
Plan was concentrating, so it wouldn't be good to keep talking and bother him. Even if she did try to talk, she had nothing to say right now anyway.
"Hey, Plan. I'll head back to my shelter now, too."
"Are you referring to that wreckage heap?"
"...."
She had nothing to say to that. Since she was specialized in ice elements, building a shelter had been far too difficult.
Creak, creak.
"Huh? Wha—?"
At that moment, the log Becky was sitting on suddenly began to writhe around. It carved and bent itself, soon transforming into a quaint rocking chair.
What stood out most was the fact that Becky's rocking chair was now placed right next to Plan's chair, side by side.
"Just stay here instead."
The girl blinked and stared at Plan.
"...Can I really stay here?"
"As long as you don't make a fuss."
"Ahh."
His tone was colder than anything, but the consideration of making her a rocking chair was as warm and kind as could be.
What kind of condition his body was in, what he really thought of Becky... the questions were still many.
Becky leaned back against the rest.
The sound of paper materials turning over at a steady rhythm.
The warmth of the campfire crackling and blazing.
Becky felt her body growing comfortable.
She looked up quietly at the sky.
The stars, taking the role of an audience, looked down upon the girl.
The moment someone prayed for this night to grow longer.
The sound of grass insects crying was serene.