Big Heads and Bath Time
“Pfft!”
Schubik snickered as Aidan sputtered, caught completely off guard by the answer.
“D-don't laugh!”
His cheeks were burning over absolutely nothing, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he felt so embarrassed. Logan's refusal of the duel — and this answer just now — neither of them had been anywhere in Aidan's calculations.
“…What, are you scared you'll lose to me?”
“What?”
“I said, are you scared you'll lose if you duel me!”
“Hey, Aidan! It's not that. What's Logan got to be scared of? If that guy put his mind to it, there's nothing he couldn't do.”
Schubik obliviously barged in yet again.
“Then why won't you do it? If you're that confident, you've got no reason to refuse!”
Aidan bellowed, glaring daggers at Schubik.
“…It would cut down my chances.”
“Chances of what?”
“If I'm dodging you all the time, it gets a lot harder to see Bayul.”
“So in other words, that means you think you'd lose. That's what you're saying, isn't it?”
“I don't think I would.”
“Then you are confident you can beat me?”
“Of course I am! What kind of question is that?”
A spokesman, ladies and gentlemen. Schubik laughed in disbelief and then poured oil on the fire for good measure.
“He's just a man of few words, that's all. But looks, height — Logan's got the edge on you and then some, no?”
“What's so great about being tall?! I'll grow too!”
Height was, without question, the most sensitive subject in Aidan's entire existence. He was a year younger, sure, but he'd also been the runt of every crowd since he was little.
Truth be told, there was a demon living at his own house with roughly the same physical specifications as Logan. Call it one of the main culprits behind why Aidan loathed the guy so much.
“Logan, you're just tall — what's actually so great about you? So you've been friends with Bayul since you were kids, big deal! I'm super close with him now too. Right, Bayul?”
“…Uh, yeah. Close.”
Bayul nodded along in a hurry. Something told him that even a moment's delay would earn him a serious earful.
“You heard him? So do yourself a favor and accept my duel like a man.”
“I already told you. No.”
“If you're scared, just say you're scared!”
“Also……”
“Also what?!”
“Your head is big.”
“…What?”
Logan's out-of-nowhere remark stunned everyone for a beat. Nobody could work out what he'd meant by it. It didn't seem like an insult, but it didn't feel like a compliment either — just vaguely, unpleasantly ambiguous.
Perhaps that was why Aidan's face went through every shade of red and blue in the spectrum. His hatred of Logan had clearly steered his interpretation straight toward the worst possible one.
“What did you ever contribute to the size of my head?! It's big because I'm blessed, that's why! You don't know a single thing about it, so quit running your mouth! Huh?!”
“Aidan, that's not what Logan mea—”
“Bayul.”
Eli hauled Bayul back just as he stepped in to defend Logan.
“Times like this, it's better to just stay quiet.”
Even in Eli's judgment, Logan hadn't been trying to put Aidan down. But Aidan was the wronged party here and thoroughly furious, and any outsider who butted in risked catching stray sparks. With a bigger disaster in the offing, keeping their mouths shut was clearly the wiser course.
“Let's just get back to this.”
Tomorrow's herbalism exam mattered more to Eli than to anyone — he was a Magic Department student, after all. He spread his notes open again and squared his posture.
Meanwhile Quinn kept studying in exactly the same position she'd started in, utterly indifferent to whether her friends bickered or not, and Lanasa went about her own business without so much as glancing at the circus, as if the lot of them simply didn't exist.
The only one making noise was Aidan. He couldn't seem to run out of things to bark at Logan, who wasn't even answering him, and kept erupting at regular intervals.
“Seriously though, Aidan — why do you hate Logan so much? Give me the actual reason. I'm dying of curiosity over here!”
Schubik's shouts occasionally leaked through the gaps in Aidan's yelling, but once again, the reason never surfaced.
Chapter 4 — The Night Market, Part 1
At long last, the first round of exams was over, and the weekend had arrived. With each subject that had come to a close, the students had cried or cheered in equal measure, wearing a hundred different faces — but today, for once, every expression on every face was the same: easy, light, unburdened.
Bayul was among them. Riding in the carriage back to the estate with Black at his side, he wore a look of relief that had never once appeared on his face before.
“Young Master!”
The moment the carriage pulled up to the manor, Rita came bounding out as she always did. Just how long had she been waiting for Saturday to come? She'd barely slept a wink the night before, too restless with anticipation.
“How was it? How did your exam go?”
“Rita, what's the rush? Your apron's about to fall off.”
When Bayul pointed out the apron dangling precariously from its half-tied strings, Rita hastily cinched it back up.
“Is that what matters right now? I asked how your exam went! Was it hard?”
“Hard? It was hard, all right.”
“Oh no! Really?!”
“But I think I did pretty well anyway. I filled in every single blank.”
“Whew, thank goodness! Do you know how worried I've been? Good job, Young Master!”
Only then did Rita's face bloom into a full, bright smile. She'd been hiding it, but she'd been beside herself with worry that Bayul might bomb the exam and take it hard.
“I knew you'd do great, Young Master!”
“Eli helped me a lot.”
“That incredibly handsome gentleman? The one with the red hair?”
“Yeah. Eli lent me his summary notes, and almost all the questions came straight out of them. I got lucky.”
“Aww! What a wonderful man! Next time I see him, I really have to do something nice for him!”
“Arf! Arf!”
It was at that exact moment — Rita resolving solemnly to repay Eli — that Black, who had been circling her feet in impatient loops, shoved his face into her field of view and barked, as if to say hey, look at me too.
“That's right, Black, I missed you too. Why'd you go so long without visiting? Have you eaten?”
“Arf! Arf arf!”
“Did you know I made you a snack?”
“Arf! Arf!”
“If you hadn't shown up this time, I was going to eat the whole thing myself. I was this close to letting it go— Ack! What is this?!”
She had sunk down onto her knees to meet Black's eyes, arms wrapped around him in a full-body hug — and felt something damp and clammy against her hands instead of soft, clean fur.
“What's wrong, Rita?”
“Waaah, Young Master! Look at my hands!”
Rita stood up, her face on the verge of tears. Not just her hands — her clothes and her apron were smeared with some unidentifiable black substance.
“What's on you? Is that mud?”
“No, I don't think it's mud. Ugh, and this is the outfit I just put on today!”
Rita shot Black a look of pure betrayal.
“Black! What do you think you're doing, showing up covered in this stuff?! You're so black I couldn't even tell! Do you have any idea how expensive these clothes are?!”
“You know, I hate to say it, but she's right. You'd never guess he's even dirty.”
Black was black beyond all doubt, yet there wasn't a single matted clump of fur anywhere on him. For a stray that drifted from place to place with no home to call his own, he felt almost suspiciously pristine.
“Oh no — Young Master, it's on your uniform trousers too.”
Rita pointed below Bayul's knee. He hadn't rubbed up against Black the way she had, so thankfully the smudge was nothing like as bad.
“You should go inside and change right away, Young Master. What if it won't come out of the uniform?”
“It'll wash out.”
Frankly, Bayul couldn't have cared less — but for Rita, with her meticulous streak, he had to want it gone.
“Right. It's decided!”
Rita, looking down at Black, suddenly declared.
“Decided? What's decided?”
Her bewilderment lasted all of two seconds before she proclaimed it:
“Black! Bath time!”
“Bath?!”
“Oh no you don't, you rascal!”
The word bath had barely left her lips. The very beast who'd been trotting circles around her, tail wagging, abruptly reversed course. It was behavior that telegraphed his intent to flee with total, shameless clarity.
But unfortunately for him, Rita moved faster. Call it the moment all those years of agility training — honed while raising Jasper from a pup — finally paid off.
“No bath, no snack! That's the deal!”
“Whiiine!”
“I'm not letting you into the house looking like that! Do you know how hard I scrubbed this place clean?!”
“Whiiiiine!”
“Cry all you want, it won't help. I can put up with messy, but dirty? Never!”
“Rita… isn't that the same thing?”
“No, it is not. It's subtly different. I'll explain later.”
There was really no need to explain at all, but Rita made a point of promising to anyway, and hauled Black off by the collar. The beast shot Bayul one last pleading, pitiful look — help me — but all Bayul could offer in return was a small, apologetic wave.
“Young Master.”
“Sir Ian.”
At some point, Ian had drawn up beside him. Behind the knight stood Rizai and Rivai, the escort brothers dispatched by his uncle. Bayul returned their nodding bows with an awkward salute of his own.
“Word reached us on our way here. They say your exams went quite well.”
“For a first time, anyway.”
“His Grace the Duke will be delighted to hear it. Well done, Young Master.”
“Everyone takes exams, Sir Ian. It's nothing.”
The first round had nerves tightening his stomach, true — but exams were simply what students did. He'd have to get used to it soon enough.
“By the way — are you heading out somewhere?”
Ian was dressed for an outing, which was unusual for him.
“I was thinking of stopping by the harbor. There are a few supplies we need, and I hear a large merchant vessel docked yesterday.”
“Oh, I heard about that! A huge ship came in, and they say there'll be sights like never before. They say they even hold a night market on days like that.”
“Yes, the harbor will be bustling for several days.”
“So I've decided to go see it myself!”
“…Pardon?”
“With my friends. We're meeting this evening. I've never once been to a night market, so I'm really looking forward to it.”
Bayul's face radiated pure, undisguised anticipation.
It was the last thing Ian wanted to crush. But he was the man responsible for Bayul's safety, and his eyes turned grave.
“Forgive me for saying so, but that will not be possible.”
“……?”
“On nights when the market is held, the crowds swell — and with them, the danger grows far worse than usual. When a large vessel is in port, all the more so. I cannot send you into a place like that, Young Master. Please understand.”
Ian had been born and raised in Carrington. The city's peacekeeping was better than most, but there was always an exception — and a large ship at anchor was exactly when it came.
Rare treasures, hardly ever seen in ordinary times, spilled out into the open, and rough sailors starved for drink and women came ashore with heavy purses. It was, in a word, the hour when half the city got busy.
The restaurants, inns, and taverns nearby counted that day as their harvest. The merchant houses and pleasure quarters needed no mention. Then there were the pickpockets hunting sailors' coin, the back-alley toughs, even organized crews out to make one big score — in short, the perfect prelude to pandemonium.
Nothing guaranteed that trouble wouldn't find him in the middle of it all. The wisest course was simply never to go near such a place in the first place.