Mind the Night Road
Any child born into the Rosenberg family had one virtue they were required to master above all others.
That virtue was the importance of discipline.
“Why?”
As a little girl, Elyse had boldly voiced her doubt.
It was simply because, one day, she suddenly wanted two of the cookies she was allowed only one of each day.
“You little rascal. Asking something so obvious?”
“One just isn’t enough. I’m still hungry.”
Even so, young Elyse had been a good child.
Where most foolish children would simply stuff food into their mouths the moment appetite struck…
She had chosen instead to ask a question.
“That’s a very fine attitude, Elyse.”
Her father, Dietrich di Rosenberg, spoke in a gentle voice.
“For a girl like you, I’ll tell a fun little story.”
So saying, Dietrich scooped Elyse into his arms.
He carried her to the window, gazed out at the horses frolicking near the manor, and posed a single question.
“Elyse. When you look at those horses, what do you think?”
“They’re so cool.”
“Exactly. Now look at us.”
Looking down, all she saw were her own small hands.
She opened and closed them, then tilted her head.
“If a lion appeared and chased after you… do you think you could run away?”
“No.”
“That’s right. But those horses could. With their strong legs, wide field of vision, and keen hearing.”
“Ooooh.”
She had only wanted a cookie. Why was he talking about horses?
Still too young to grasp the reason, Elyse could only stare blankly up at her father…
Until Dietrich suddenly said:
“Humans are weak by nature.”
With those words began the founding myth of the kingdom.
People living on a plain where sweet fruit grew were hunted by lions day after day…
Until one day a brave man appeared, slew the lion, and draped himself in its hide—
and around that man the people gathered into a tribe and lived happily ever after.
In other words, it was the tale of the Lion King.
“That’s the gist of it.”
Every house interpreted the story differently, but Dietrich’s reading was this:
A single human is weak.
Even many humans together remain weak, because they refuse to cooperate.
No—cooperation was the least of it; they were lucky if they simply didn’t fight.
The things people could obtain while living together were limited…
so over the fruit and grain of the plain they constantly harmed one another, each trying to seize just a little more.
“Everyone wanted more cookies, just like you.”
And even if they fought and won something—
the moment a lion appeared and ate them, it all became meaningless.
That was why they needed discipline.
Only after a discipline that bound them together was born did they become a society…
and at last the Pendragon Kingdom.
“If you eat the cookie, your younger siblings cannot. Are you still all right with that?”
“I… don’t want that.”
“Good answer. Because our work is catching those empire bastards who try to monopolize all the cookies.”
Dietrich, who spoke those words, was a royal inspector who specialized in arresting officials corrupted by collusion with the empire.
Of late the Ignas Empire had begun territorial disputes along the kingdom’s borders and was steadily expanding its influence.
No citizen of the kingdom could simply watch it happen, and Dietrich was one of them.
As head of House Rosenberg, he was simply more deeply involved than most.
“So you see, a great deal of meaning is packed into this single cookie.”
Of course, little Elyse had no idea what an inspector even was, and she understood less than half of what her father said…
yet a father who spoke of things she could not understand somehow looked magnificent—
and she never forgot that childhood day.
Especially after she entered the academy, she remembered it all the more.
Back then I at least got to eat cookies.
Ironically, the longer time passed, the more the anecdote reduced itself in her memory to the cookie alone.
Now, having passed her second year and become a third-year,
she could not even enjoy the vacation that would have taken her home; she was trapped at the academy.
Of course, St. Celestia Academy was a fine place.
Excellent professors, studious classmates, facilities of the highest caliber on the continent.
In that perfect academy the sole deficiency was, without question, the food culture…
for the students who lived frugally according to the goddess’s will found precious little enjoyment on their plates.
Perhaps that was why the occasional dormitory squabbles over cookies reminded her so strongly of her childhood.
Students driven desperate by a single snack, fighting over a scrap of biscuit—it was exactly the old story her father had told.
Back then she had been on the student council and had no choice but to break up the fights…
yet lately she felt she could finally understand the psychology behind them.
By third year, one knew full well the value of a single cookie crumb discovered on these grounds.
These days she found herself longing for the cookie and milk she had once enjoyed while recalling her father’s lesson—
and that was when she appeared.
“Carmilla de Valin… truly a dangerous woman.”
From the first meeting the impression had been overwhelming.
Encountering her in the old building’s kitchen, cooking with a complete stranger…
exactly how many school rules had she been breaking at once?
Just the ones I can think of offhand make three… how bold can one person be?
And then, as casually as anything, she had offered a proposal that essentially made Elyse an accomplice—an offer impossible to refuse.
A thick slice of pork, perfectly cooked, juices running.
That single plate had been more luxurious than any food she had seen in the past year, and she had agonized endlessly over it.
Without the teachings of House Rosenberg and superhuman self-control, she would have surrendered to the woman then and there.
Moreover, according to words she had recently overheard by chance outside the infirmary…
Carmilla had already made a similar proposal to the empire’s crown prince.
“Heh heh… in that case I could always throw a little defeat-celebration party for you.”
That was what she had heard while going to confirm with Adrian that the duel with Glen had been mutually agreed upon.
Suspicious.
A daughter of the kingdom’s great house de Valin…
and yet she was approaching not merely imperial subjects but the imperial family itself!
Yes—Carmilla de Valin was dangerous.
Thinking so, Elyse was first and foremost a Rosenberg, not merely the student council president.
She had to uncover the woman’s true intentions.
That was why she had set out to tail her.
There was absolutely no other purpose.
“Still… just how far is she going?”
The farther she followed, the farther they drew from the academy.
Past the market district she had not set foot in since her first year…
through several alleys, she tracked the figure melting into the dim night streets.
Just as she began to weigh a slight worry about the local security against her sense of duty, an old building came into view.
“Setting up shop in a place this secluded… what is she plotting?”
Watching Carmilla open the door as naturally as if entering her own home, Elyse carefully advanced.
While circling the building in search of anything unusual, her eyes lit on a small warehouse.
Glancing about to make sure she would not be discovered, she quietly opened the door—
and beyond it lurked an unfamiliar smell.
“…Little light.”
Softly murmuring the spell, Elyse floated a mote of magical light above her head and began to search the warehouse.
Most of it was dried ingredients and odds and ends…
yet her gaze was drawn to a sack tucked away in a shadowy corner.
Only after carefully untying it and checking the contents did she understand.
The smell filling the room belonged to these fine red powders.
This is… Flame Grass?
An alchemical ingredient, and a raw material used to make explosives.
The instant the thought struck, instinct screamed danger.
She said she was going to serve a banquet…
No matter how she looked at it, something that could never be considered edible was sitting right there in plain sight.
“Just what is she planning to do here…?”
With that question, pieces of information began slotting together in Elyse’s mind.
The empire, Flame Grass, and that boldness of action…
When such frightening words combined, the feeling that rose was pure alarm.
Perhaps I’ve gotten myself involved in something far bigger than I thought…?
Then instinct whispered.
Run.
Withdraw for now; there would be no harm in investigating properly later.
So it urged, and she tried to move her feet…
but things did not go as planned.
“Ah… aaah!?”
Thud—!
Stumbling backward, Elyse landed hard on her backside and hastily righted herself.
“Ugh, that hurt… it’s dark… did the magic go out?”
The fall had broken her concentration and snuffed the light spell.
Groping her way through the dark warehouse toward the exit, Elyse suddenly saw an unfamiliar silhouette.
“Huh…?”
It was a shape that could not possibly be human.
Spiky fur and a tilting head.
In the gloom of the warehouse, that was all she could make out.
“Who there?”
And then it spoke to her in clumsy speech.
Unable to comprehend the situation, all Elyse felt was terror.
“D-don’t come any closer.”
“Carmilla~ There’s a weird person here!”
At those words Elyse’s breath came in short gasps.
With the entrance blocked like this, there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Worse, the being before her might not even understand language.
While she frantically tried to decide how to handle the situation, what finally appeared were a pair of crimson eyes.
In one hand a razor-sharp knife—
and framed against the moonlit night, a golden-haired girl stared down at her.
Looking up at that figure, Elyse thought:
“And what might you be doing in there~?”
Carmilla de Valin.
Yes—she was dangerous after all.