Just Squander It All.
Just Squander It All.
The moon hung high in the night sky.
"So...."
Bastian, a knight cadet of the Celestial Axis, turned from his survey of the plaza and met Janet's eyes.
His face was a web of scars, but right now, it held far more questions than marks.
"You were the one who said it, Janet...."
"...."
"Mist Cliff isn't favorable terrain for a fight."
"It isn't."
"You said if it came to a battle, the risk of arriving late was too high, and detouring there would do more harm than good. Didn't you?"
"I did."
Bastian swept his gaze across the Berkel plaza again. After looking back and forth a few times, he opened his mouth, his expression utterly dumbfounded.
"Then what the hell is that?"
"Hm."
Janet's eyes moved. As she turned her gaze toward the plaza, her own eyes quickly grew dazed.
First, she saw the representatives of the Magic Department.
Plan. A man full of confidence down to his very marrow. Around him, three mages flanked his sides.
The problem was what came next.
'A crowd.' There was no other word for it.
The citizens of Berkel were flooding into the open square like a tide, filling it to the brim. Right now, at this very moment, they had only one concern.
'The Magic Department.'
Traffic was being controlled, so they couldn't get closer than a certain distance, but not a single one of them simply gave up and retreated.
Everyone was on tiptoe, craning their necks, hovering near the edges. All of it for one purpose: to catch a glimpse of the Magic Department's representatives with their own eyes.
Janet flicked a coin into the air and murmured.
"This was never in the projections."
Tik, tik. The coin, tossed up roughly and caught again, seemed to channel her current state of mind.
"Janet, they've racked up an insane number of points too. What now?"
"How many."
"Three hundred points. Excluding Plan, because that guy didn't do a damn thing. Means the other reps bagged about a hundred ghosts each."
A hundred ghosts.
Janet stopped flicking the coin.
"...A hundred per head. That's interesting."
"Janet. But just to start with, no matter how bad your luck is... is it even possible to run into three hundred ghosts?"
"That's not something you chalk up to simple luck."
Running into even ten ghosts was considered ill-fated. So three hundred—what that told her was simple and clear.
"Quite the opposite. It means they went out of their way to hunt them down."
Even as she spoke the words herself, Janet found the notion so absurd that she stared at the plaza, speechless.
Everyone around her always judged Janet to be calm and calculating. But now, in this moment, even she was thoroughly flustered.
She had recognized early on that Plan possessed an element of unpredictability. But she had utterly failed to gauge just how much unpredictability that was.
Bastian shrugged.
"I don't like it. A place packed with this many knights, and everyone's falling over themselves to catch a glimpse of a mage."
"Can't be helped. It's the nature of Berkel."
"What nature?"
"From the residents' standpoint... whether it's a knight or a mage, as long as they deal with the demon beasts, that's all that matters."
To the people of Berkel, who were plagued by demon beasts all year round, the Subjugation Festival was an absolutely indispensable event.
The moment a team that looked like it could handle the beasts appeared, expectations naturally rose, and the crowd had no choice but to be enthralled.
"Hm...."
Janet started flicking the coin again.
This was exactly what Janet had been most worried about.
From a narrow view, Berkel was simply the stage for the Subjugation Festival. But from a broader view, it was a place where every eye was watching. That was why it was critical to make sure the residents of Berkel focused their attention solely on the knights.
If images of the residents cheering for and expressing gratitude to the knights could circulate naturally, the knights' standing would be cemented beyond question.
The Knight of Embers' personal participation in the event all stemmed from the same reasoning....
'Did you calculate all of it? Plan.'
Janet felt she had a dim grasp of Plan's intent.
He hadn't acted with the simple goal of racking up points. He had engineered things so that everyone invested in the Subjugation Festival would fixate more sharply on the mages' movements.
Bastian shrugged as he spoke.
"Three hundred points... that gives them a massive head start."
"I won't deny it."
Janet nodded. And here, the term "head start" wasn't limited to just "points," thanks to the festival's rules.
Because the Subjugation Festival wasn't decided in a single day. During the process, any necessary food or supplies had to be obtained using points as currency.
"Clawing their way to three hundred points by the skin of their teeth... that means they're aiming to secure the phantom map first, right? What do you think, Janet?"
"The highest probability is that."
The coin still raced busily between the air and Janet's thumb. Bastian clasped his hands behind his head.
"I never thought someone would snatch the map from us... That phantom map really is something else. How does it mark every terrain change as it happens?"
"That's why they call it a divine object."
Berkel's terrain shifted every year under the demon beasts' influence, and the phantom map displayed all of those changes.
It was the most popular item in the Subjugation Festival shop, and simultaneously the most critical item. That much didn't even need to be said twice.
"Earning attention, earning the map, messing around with money at the auction house... Must be nice. Plan."
A subtle smile touched Janet's lips. She still hadn't forgotten the humiliation at the auction house.
She could acknowledge his drive to ride this momentum all the way to victory, but Janet wasn't the type to step aside willingly.
She raised her voice.
"The process veered off course once, but the outcome doesn't change. If anything, this just got more entertaining."
At the gravity in Janet's voice, the eyes of the Celestial Axis members gradually grew resolute.
"What makes it more entertaining? Look."
She pointed with her chin at the crowd in the plaza. They were still in a frenzy trying to catch sight of the Magic Department's representatives.
"The Magic Department has already monopolized the spotlight. They've got a whopping three hundred points, and they're starting the Subjugation Festival on very favorable terms."
"...."
"But don't forget. We are the Celestial Axis, and before we are anything else, we are knights. If we prove ourselves by winning, the public's attention will ultimately come back to us multiplied tenfold."
The Celestial Axis. Knights.
Those two words alone were enough to set a fire burning in the cadets' chests.
"The task hasn't gotten harder. It's just gotten more annoying."
After sweeping her gaze across each of them in turn, Janet continued in a cool voice.
"Whenever the coin lands heads, the Celestial Axis has never lost."
Ting─
Janet flicked the coin.
"Get some sleep. From tomorrow onward, everyone will once again be stunned by the name of the Celestial Axis."
Her red hair streaming behind her, she turned on her heel.
The coin that hit the ground had landed with its face pointing upward.
◈
The hour when some were starting to get ready for bed.
Braving the cool night breeze of Berkel, the Magic Department's representatives gathered once more.
Their meeting point was in front of the Berkel lodgings. Those who had arrived first, having barely managed to finish a bath, waited for the one man who had yet to appear.
"I think we've gotten pretty popular. Hm-hm."
Becky bobbed her head awkwardly, looking pleased. Beside her, Trixie let out a derisive snort.
"That's not your popularity."
"...."
Becky coughed dryly, looking embarrassed. That suddenly turned into a sneeze.
"Achoo! Ugh, it really is cold in Berkel at night...."
"Cover your mouth."
"I know, just let me borrow your handkerchief, Trixie...."
"What?"
Trixie's face crumpled instantly.
"Don't even joke about that."
"...Do you have to get that serious about it?"
"Borrow one from Plan. You like him so much. And he's coming now, perfect timing."
Trixie pointed with her chin into the distance. Becky stole a glance that way too. But soon enough, she turned her head outright. She couldn't help it.
"...Whoa."
The girl's mouth fell open before she knew it.
Eyes faintly shadowed with fatigue, hair still damp and not fully dried—the whole image was sculpted with a decadent beauty that set Becky on edge.
At last, Plan came to a stop in front of them.
"Plan, you made it?"
Louis greeted him with a smile.
"Yeah."
Plan gave a quiet nod.
But then, the very next moment.
"...You don't even carry a handkerchief around, do you."
Plan was the one who first extended a pure white handkerchief to Becky. Louis and Trixie's eyes went wide as they looked back and forth between the two of them.
While even Becky stood there dazed, some woman appeared, raising her hand high.
"Oh, everyone's here? Let's depart!"
The event staff pin attached near her chest.
She was the staff member assigned to guide us through the Subjugation Festival and Berkel.
◈
A dark, dingy city hemmed in by demon beasts. That was probably the sum total of what I'd expected from Berkel.
"...."
The Berkel scenery I confirmed with my own eyes was more than enough to pulverize those expectations. Because the landscape reminded me not of some back alley, but of a well-developed city of engineering.
The "unknown power" dwelling here was the source that had developed Berkel to this extent, and simultaneously, the cause that attracted the demon beasts.
I surmised it was the power of the ancient rune language, and it probably was exactly that in reality.
"The Subjugation Festival begins once the sun rises tomorrow. What I'll explain now is this, the 'Heart.'"
The staff member's explanation was simple.
The Heart of Berkel was where all sorts of convenience facilities were gathered. But it didn't stop there; its other defining feature was the rows upon rows of amusements and entertainments packed into it.
"W-Wow... Incredible. This is incredible."
Becky's eyes glittered without a moment's rest.
"Can we use all of it?"
"Only until 6 a.m. tomorrow. And it isn't free, I'm afraid. You must pay with points."
"Aah...."
Becky nodded, sounding disappointed.
"Then I shall take my leave. I hope you all have a wonderful time."
The staff member politely withdrew after that.
"She was really nice. Honestly, I thought people wouldn't be all that welcoming because we're mages...."
Becky wore an oddly moved expression.
"Stop making a fuss."
"Hmph. Man can't even say a word."
I shut down Becky's sentiment in short order. In time, these three would become many times more capable, and that meant they would grow accustomed to this kind of treatment too.
We spent a while exploring the plaza like that. Though I said "we," the reality was that the other reps were trailing behind me like a line of chicks.
"─"
"─?"
"─"
I only half-listened to the noisy chatter flying between them and concentrated entirely on observation.
Items that would aid progress in the Subjugation Festival, facilities for entertainment and pleasure—the Heart was laid out exactly as I'd heard.
"Plan, so what are you going to use the three hundred points on?"
That was when Louis asked me.
"Obviously, you're buying the phantom map first, right?"
"No."
"Right. So we grab the map, and then get to bed early to be ready for tomorrow morning... Huh?"
Louis couldn't finish the sentence. His head tilted sideways.
"...Ah, was there something with a higher priority? I might've missed it."
"It's not that. The phantom map is the most useful thing."
"Then I really don't get it. Is our team planning to move in a direction where we conserve points?"
"That, too, is absolutely not the case."
I shook my head and slowly looked around at the representatives.
"Starting now, you're going to use all of these points."
"...?"
"It shouldn't be difficult. Whether you buy goods, enjoy the amusements, indulge in some luxury... just spend them however fits your personal taste."
Ultimately, even Becky's and Trixie's heads tilted to the side.
"Umm, you mean just blow through them like that?"
"You. What exactly are you thinking."
"W-Wait, but we earned those points through insane effort...."
"I won't be taking questions."
SNAP—!
I snapped my fingers, manifesting Telekinesis.
"All of you are merely going to."
The representatives who had been staring at me were forcibly spun around—whisk—to face the entertainment facilities.
"Spend every last point."