The Night Watch
Aidan's warm gaze swept from Ingrid to Sebastian, then Ariane, and finally Osmond, one by one.
"So this communion thing — it's not just taming, right? Like right now, you and those guys can actually hold a two-way conversation?"
"Hard to believe, huh?"
"...Yeah."
Aidan wasn't the type to lie, but it was still hard to take in. When Eli admitted as much, Aidan nodded understandingly and explained.
"I don't know why I ended up with this ability. It's always just been a part of me, ever since I was little. It was when I got a bit older that I realized I was different from everyone else."
"Somehow that came out a little off."
"People treated me like a weird kid. Being 'not normal' — sometimes that cuts deeper than you'd think."
"Spare me the melodrama, will you? Talking to animals — I don't know much about it, but isn't that insanely useful? Seems like there'd be no end to what you could do with it."
Come to think of it, it really was no ordinary gift. Animals and humans lived side by side everywhere, and the ability to speak with them could be a powerful weapon for a boy who dreamed of becoming a knight.
"I was just a kid back then. Now, obviously, I'm grateful for it. Turns out being special isn't so bad."
"Way more upsides than downsides, right?"
"Yep. I was always first in riding class. Even my older brother couldn't beat me."
It was no coincidence that Aidan, spurred on by Jared's provocations, had managed to subdue Redmaine when tempers were flaring. His skill was one thing, but hidden behind it lay this other gift entirely.
"So that's why Professor Janette picked you out on the spot."
Only then did Bayul understand. Pointing to Aidan out of all those students and asking him to demonstrate meant she had already known about his ability. And Professor Rothius was surely the same.
"Professor Rothius knows too, right? That's why he gave us permission to catch the culprit."
"Quick on the uptake, aren't you, Bayul?"
"Now I get it, Aidan — how you plan to catch the culprit."
Eli and Quinn nodded at Bayul's words. They had all reached the same conclusion.
"It's night right now."
"The real culprit will be sweating bullets."
"Crow, owl, and even a cat. A perfect trio of night watchmen."
"Then shall we head out for the hunt?"
With Aidan's ability now known, there was no time to hesitate. The culprit could move at any moment. To catch them in the act, every hour of preparation counted.
"Guys — I'm counting on you."
No sooner had Aidan's plea left his lips than the others sprang into motion. With a light bound, Osmond vanished into the bushes first. Sebastian leapt skyward after him, and Ariane gave a low hoot and took wing.
Click.
In the dead of night, when everyone but the night's visitor had long since gone to sleep, one of the dormitory doors in Stone Lion Hall opened carefully. Through the gap slipped a figure in pajamas, tiptoeing out into the dark.
With the moon hidden behind clouds, the darkness was thicker than usual. The shadowy figure kept glancing nervously from side to side as it moved through that blackness, before hurrying off at a quickening pace.
Down the corridor, up a flight of stairs, along another corridor — until the figure stopped before one more staircase. It was nothing like the one just climbed. This passage led not up, but down, into the underground. And once he descended, there would be no turning back.
But there was no other way. However he turned it over in his mind, this was still the best option he had.
No more hesitating.
Once resolved, he had to act. It was far too late to make amends now. Pulling his foot out and pretending he knew nothing — that was the only choice left to him.
Patter, patter.
Nathan's footsteps quickened. In one corner of the entrance, two points of light flashed briefly, but he noticed nothing at all. Once Nathan had passed, the hidden figures leapt up onto the window frame.
"Meowr—!"
A long yowl tore through the night air, out through the open window.
Shff.
A black bird gliding through the sky nearby paused at the sound, then banked sharply and flew off in some unknown direction.
"Meow!"
The creature on the windowsill cried out once more, short and sharp. This time a white bird came swooping in on urgent wingbeats. The two locked eyes for a moment, then each took its own route, following the path Nathan had gone.
Nathan, sneaking about in his pajamas, stopped at the castle's underground waterway where it met the cliff face. Most of the herbs and medicines produced within the Academy were transported out through this passage — and in turn, the daily necessities the Academy required were carried in here as well.
Since vital goods passed through, the waterway was more strictly guarded than anywhere else on the grounds. But there is always a blind spot that escapes notice, and among the Academy students, its existence was an open secret.
Dodging the patrols, Nathan finally reached his destination. Just then the clouds shrouding the moon parted, and the surroundings brightened. Terrified of being spotted, he hunched his shoulders as small as he could make them.
Sssshaaa!
In the heavy silence, only the murmur of the waterway's current echoed softly.
"......"
Nathan stood motionless for a long while, lost in thought. At last, he stirred. Having come all this way, turning back now would be a fool's errand. Struggling to steady his trembling heart, he edged toward the railing at the waterway's edge.
Something was clutched in his hand. He raised his arm high, ready to hurl it with all his might. No — he was about to.
"Stop! That's far enough!"
"Hrk—!"
A human voice ringing out of nowhere startled him half to death. The moment he recognized its owner, he staggered backward, trembling like an aspen leaf.
"Hey there, Nathan. See you again."
Aidan waved in greeting.
"What's with your face? Jared's doing?"
The face that had been perfectly fine just that day was now mottled with bruises here and there, as if he'd traded complexions with Aidan — whose own wounds had healed up nicely after treatment.
"I had a feeling it'd be you, Nathan. Your acting was just too clumsy."
"H-how did you know this place...!"
"Let's just say we had capable watchmen on duty."
"Wa... watchmen?"
"You don't need to know anything about that. How about you hand over whatever it is you're holding?"
It was just as Eli took a step forward—
"D-don't come any closer!"
Nathan cried out, pressing himself against the railing.
"Take one more step and I'll throw it all in!"
"Throw it? Will that make your crime disappear?"
"I—I did nothing wrong! I only did what I was told!"
"Oh, I'm sure. You lackeys will do anything as long as Jared asks."
Nathan's eyes wavered at Eli's sneering remark, as if the words had struck a wound.
"But here's the thing. Humans are creatures of thought. We can will, judge, and decide for ourselves — freely. Which means when that bastard Jared told you to do something, following through was nobody's choice but yours. That makes you every bit as vile as he is."
"That's not true! I'm nothing like Jared!"
"Offended to be compared to him? Why so worked up about it, then?"
"What would any of you know? I didn't want to do any of it!"
That much, at least, was genuine. He'd been forced into Jared's orbit, but no one despised the man more than Nathan did.
"Then hand it over. It's time to set things right."
Bayul held out his hand. The thing Aidan claimed had been stolen — that was exactly what Nathan had slipped out in the dead of night to dispose of.
"I—I said don't come closer!"
"Thinking that all you have to do is destroy the evidence — that's exactly what makes you just like Jared. You know what you did, and so do we. You really think tossing it solves anything?"
Nathan's lazy, self-serving act stirred a deep anger in Eli.
"Nathan, calm down and come with us. It's not too late."
"Don't make me laugh! You think I'd believe that?"
Bayul tried to reason with him, but Nathan only lashed out harder. All the resentment he'd swallowed over the months came boiling up in a rush of bitter fury.
Why me? Why me? Why does it always have to be me?
I want out. All of it. I want it all to just stop.
"Aaargh!"
It happened in an instant. Nathan let out a shriek and flung the bundle from his hand. A brown cloth billowed through the air. The knot came loose, and the things wrapped inside dropped into the waterway one by one — plop, plop.
"So that was your choice, then."
The evidence had vanished before their eyes, yet not one of them panicked. They only watched Nathan — some with pity, some with contempt — making no move to rush forward.
Nathan looked relieved. With the troublesome objects that had kept him anxious and on edge gone at last, he felt unburdened. It would have been better never to be caught, but what was spilled water now? He could simply come up with a plan to deal with what came next.
"Hmm. What should we do?"
Aidan mused, staring down at the waterway.
"We'll have to fetch them back, won't we?"
"My diving skills are hopeless. What about you, Eli?"
"Should we call for Innocent?"
The current was fairly strong. Diving into a waterway of unknown depth in the middle of the night was far too dangerous. It was a moment when the power of Innocent, spirit of water, was needed once again.
"No need. It's not as if we're alone out here. And besides, we've got the perfect man for the job right here."
"The perfect man?"
Eli turned his head with great confidence and pointed at Quinn.
"This much is nothing for you, right?"
"...You're telling me to get in the water and fish those things out?"
"You understood perfectly. Yes."
"Why me?"
Quinn figured he'd more than done his duty just by tagging along this far. Being ordered to dive into the water was absurd beyond belief.
"Weren't you saying you can talk to animals? Why not just ask your fish friends?"
"I'd love to if I could, but I've never actually made friends with a fish..."
"Yikes, he's going to get swept off by the current and disappear at this rate. Quinn, hurry up and get them back!"
Perhaps to pay Quinn back for all the times he'd brushed him off, Eli was utterly implacable. And yet — strangely — Quinn, who'd sworn he'd absolutely refuse, finally gave up and raised the white flag.
"I'm turning back, you know."
He couldn't understand himself, why he couldn't refuse to the very end.
"Damn it."
With a short curse, Quinn dove into the waterway. Just before his body slipped fully beneath the surface, his legs caught the moonlight and gleamed. And everyone saw it — Quinn's long legs transforming into the tail of a fish.
It wasn't long before Quinn surfaced again. Walking out with water dripping from every inch of him, he looked strangely unfamiliar to the rest of the group.
Was it because he wasn't human, but a merman? The thought flickered through Bayul's mind unbidden — soaked as he was, nothing had ever suited Quinn better.
He somehow looked more alive, too, his eyes and movements brimming with confidence.
"Here."
Quinn tossed the bundle of cloth to Aidan. It landed with a heavy clatter, hinting at just how weighty its contents were.
Thud.
Nathan, who had gone pale the moment Quinn hit the water, collapsed where he stood, utterly crushed, as if the world itself had crumbled. This was a development he had never imagined. He'd thought that once he threw it all away, it would be over — but they'd dredged it back up, and with it, the chains that bound him. It felt like standing at the very gates of hell.