I Seriously Doubt the Hero's Intelligence
"Strange."
Hero Kim Yu-seong muttering to himself was a common enough sight.
"Strange. Cecilia would never do that.... If I'd only... if I'd only stayed a little longer, she definitely would have... me... become mine... Cecilia... she would never."
He wore a grave face, as though locked in earnest thought, and yet one still shrank from actually speaking to him. Keeping beside a man who muttered incomprehensible nonsense at all hours was its own kind of trial. Had he not held the title of Hero, Rebecca would have lost her temper outright. As it was, she addressed him in a coaxing voice, as accustomed to the habit as if she had been born to it.
"Hero, I was just about to speak with you."
"Ah, Rebecca. Sorry. I was lost in thought. What is it? Something about Cecilia?"
"Yes. Only, even to my mind, this is... it's merely my guess, so I'm wary of speaking carelessly..."
"It's fine. What you say almost always turns out to be right. I trust you, Rebecca."
"Hero..."
This was why he was so easy to steer however she pleased. Rebecca worked the corners of her mouth and the muscles of her face into a subtly sulky look, and the instant she judged she had caught Kim Yu-seong's eye, she let her tone drag, skillfully drawing his pity out.
"Cecilia's started keeping her distance from me lately... It hurts so much."
"Distance, huh... So it wasn't only me."
"What? You as well, Hero?"
"Today I saw her eating in the shopping street in front of the school. Not with us—with professors from this academy. I didn't like it, so I tried to bring her back, and she avoided me instead."
"I was so upset I tried talking with her the other day, you know? And then she went and threatened me, throwing that professor's name around! I... I was so scared, so shocked...! Sob!"
"...Rebecca. ...Kh! This is all my fault, for failing to look after Cecilia when I should have."
"No! We did everything we could for Cecilia, Hero! You mustn't blame yourself...!"
"......Thank you."
"Sob! Th-that's why... I... I started to suspect that maybe Professor Neferna is controlling Cecilia by force. When I think of Cecilia under mind magic, unable to recognize us... the tears just come...!"
"Mind magic...?"
"Yes! A little while ago I carefully sounded Cecilia out! I don't know if she'd come back to herself for a moment, but Cecilia... with shame staining her face... she confessed to me that horrible things were being done to her, and begged me to please help her! Sob! Poor Cecilia."
"So that's it. That's why she dodged my hand and hid behind that professor! It was a message meant for me! Damn it! To think I didn't see it...! ...Cecilia... Of course...! Of course! That's what it was! Graaah!"
Teeth ground. Kim Yu-seong bit down hard and slammed his hand onto the chair.
The voice was so steeped in killing intent that the murderous will seemed to drip from every word. The Hero had swallowed it outright—a logic so crude and brainless that one had to doubt his intelligence. Now she had only to nudge the direction of that paper-thin rage, and everything would unfold according to plan.
Rebecca made her suggestion in a soft, insinuating voice.
"...Hero. Putting an end to Professor Neferna would be well and good, but I believe the more urgent matter is saving Cecilia, who must even now be being toyed with in the hands of that utterly vile man."
"Right. You're right. ...Cecilia. First we save poor Cecilia. Mind magic? The power of the Holy Sword might be able to break it."
At his question, Rebecca swallowed a deep smile before she answered.
"Our house can take care of that. The preparations are already finished. Hero... please just bring Cecilia to the place I tell you. Leave the rest to the family."
"Understood."
"Don't worry. Everything will work out. We'll save Cecilia, and we'll put Professor Neferna down."
"To trifle with a girl using mind magic... A professor of the Imperial Academy, and the man is as furtive and base as they come."
"...Judging by his deeds alone, he's no different from the Blood Kin."
"......!"
Kim Yu-seong's eyes flew wide. The wound of the last Great Expedition. They were the ones who had slain two heroes of the Holy Sword, shattered the 6th Holy Sword Party that had held the rear, and left them the humiliation of escaping with nothing but their lives. To Kim Yu-seong, the words Blood Kin were no different from a dragon's reverse scale.
It was a night of a bright moon.
I did not know the name that belonged to the shape of the moon hanging clear in the window, but I sat at the edge of the bed and found myself watching it for a long while. When my heart is in turmoil, I often look at the moon. If I think of the sky here and the sky of my homeland as joined, in the end, my heart grows a little easier. I, and Mother back home... and the teacher grown faint in my memory must, even now, be looking upon the same moon I am.
All at once the touch of the pendant pricked sharply between my breasts. The pendant Professor Neferna had given me. Its ornament rose to a sharp point, so it often broke the skin—the price of forcing inside my clothes a pendant meant to be worn outside them. Setting it upright and burying it between my breasts had been rather awkward, too. Drawing it back out would not have been difficult. Wearing a gift from Professor Neferna where everyone could see, though, made me strangely shy, and my face had grown hot.
The professor who had saved me in the dangerous Snowfield, throwing his own body into harm to do it. A professor who was a little odd, and yet astonishingly strong. A professor who carried a warmth that called to mind my teacher from when I was small.
Teacher... I think I've met a good professor at this school.
It had been truly, truly hard... but I felt I might be able to take heart, just a little. Kind people were here. Professor Freyja, beautiful enough to steal one's soul, always smiled at me, and a girl my own age named Undine had even helped me out of a predicament.
"Do you think so too, Teacher...?"
Knock, knock.
At the brief knock I went rigid. It was late. If someone had come looking for me, the reason was unlikely to be a happy one. Even as I smoothed the fur that had stood on end, my back drew itself straight. Hearing that turned endlessly keen once night fell let me guess who waited beyond the door.
Two.
Both breaths were familiar. First I drew a deep breath and brushed away the wild beating of my heart.
"Hello, Cecilia."
I opened the door, and sure enough, there were faces I knew. They were party members I had watched for a long time, so there was nothing unfamiliar in them—and yet I was seized by an anxiety and a fear I could not name, and I stepped back. It was a movement born of instinct.
"Lady Rebecca, and the He... Hero...? This is... the women's dormit— mm... mmph...!"
The one who burst into the room without a word was Rebecca. She clamped the handkerchief in her hand over my mouth and nose.
"Rebe— mmph...! I can't... breathe...!"
Rebecca's hands roughly pinned my body. I fought with everything I had, but her strength must already have been laced with magic. Under a weight and pressure like iron bars bearing down, I thought my wrists would break at any moment. I swallowed the scream. Tears gathered of their own accord from the pain.
The Hero who came up behind her showed no intention of stopping her. He only looked down at me with eyes empty of feeling. I reached out, begging for help, and still he gave me no answer.
This is what the Hero said.
"It's all right. We'll save you. It's all right. You don't have to worry anymore. I heard the sad truth—that you were defiled by that professor. You don't have to be in pain anymore. I'll be the one to save you. I'll undo the mind magic on you. So trust us."
"Mmph...! Mmph!!"
I shoved the tall stack of papers to one corner of the desk. They must have caught the inkwell; they spilled down in a rush. Ink overturned and made a ruin of the lot, but I only clicked my tongue, short and sharp. I had never meant to read them. They were things that had been rattling around the desktop in place of ornaments for half a year or so.
Tap, tap.
A knock came from the window, and I turned. The beak of an ink-black crow glinted bleakly. Meeting the eyes of the bird perched motionless on the rail, I let out a thin sigh and spoke low.
"Undine. Ignis."
"You called."
Empty air wavered, and Ignis was there; foam melted away, and Undine settled as if sinking into the ground. Lightly gathering her skirt, she addressed me in a tone that was, for her, rarely urgent.
"Master, the Sixth Holy Sword and Rebecca have moved."
"Yeah. I saw the signal Ignis sent."
"Then..."
"...What a pain. I wanted to end this with words, if I could."
"Those base wretches dared ignore the warning. The insects who spoiled Master's mood deserve to die. Let us put them down."
Undine's voice, gone cold as ice, seeped in with a desolate chill. I knew her hatred of the Empire's people well. Unwilling to stoke it, I turned to her older brother instead of answering.
"Ignis."
"Yes. By your order, I have kept constant watch on the Hero of the Sixth Holy Sword."
"A familiar, then. You couldn't have sent it far."
"...I did confirm they were headed for the Snowfield."
"Their aim? To take Cecilia back?"
"...The Hero's side seems to believe so. The second daughter of House Clorand, however, looks ready to use the chance to kill her."
Ignis bowed his head, yet his eyes kept flicking to the sister standing beside him. The moment I spoke Cecilia's name, Undine had darkened all at once. Unable to simply watch, he asked me with care.
"...You seem rather fond of that Fox Tribe girl."
"If you've got a complaint, I don't mind that either."
"I misspoke."
"Good."
"If that girl falls into danger, how far do you intend to allow it? ...Should House Clorand involve itself, purging whoever is on the scene, as needed, might be one way...."
"Even a moron nursing a warped delusion is a hero chosen by a Holy Sword, crossed over from another world. Make the wrong choice, and the Holy Sword won't look the other way. Well. I can say that all I like. I'm going to do it anyway."
I swallowed what came after and knit my brow.
"Ignis, comb the nearby Snowfield from end to end. If anything's off, tell me at once."
"Yes."
"And Undine. If there's even a trace of mana in Cecilia's room, try to track it back."
"Yes."
"If I need you, I'll call."
"I obey Master's command."
"I obey my lord's command."
The instant those brief replies ended, the siblings dissolved into empty air, vanishing with nothing left behind but a faint lingering scent. I pulled on the coat draped over the chair and turned the knob without a word. When the door opened, someone was already waiting in the corridor, a shoulder leaned against the wall.
"Freyja."
"You're going to the Chairman's office, aren't you? I'll come too."
"......Yeah."