The Last Leaf
When Cael heard Levia's words, he looked at her and wept.
"Levia. Honestly, I knew from the start that you didn't like me. Of course I did. Anyone could see that liking someone like me would be strange. I knew you were only helping me out of pity, and I know what you're saying right now is pity too. But still… whenever I'm with you, my heart won't stop racing. I end up clinging to useless hope. So you don't have to help me anymore. I'll get through this on my own…"
For the first time, Cael found the courage to free himself from Levia's pity.
And he went home and searched through countless methods.
It seemed he focused mainly on ways to learn magic. Because swordsmanship alone would never be enough to crush Tecas. Cael knew that too. He had wanted recognition through the sword, but he also knew that the sword alone would never let him escape this situation.
You could call it luck, of a kind.
During the period when he had taken a leave of absence and was going around looking for someone to teach him magic, a notice arrived out of nowhere bearing the news of his parents' deaths. Both of them. An accident, they said.
At the funeral of the parents who had abandoned him as an infant, Cael foolishly shed tears. From the beginning, trying man had possessed infant Cael — they were not truly his parents. And yet the tears kept falling. Because he felt that now he was truly alone.
If there was any mercy in it, Cael's parents had never had another child after running away, and they had cut all ties with their relatives. Their only blood relation was Cael.
A vast inheritance fell into his hands. Looking at the sum, he thought: so they lived rather lavishly after abandoning me — and even with that much ease, they never came looking. Only then did the tears stop.
"Really… if I take this, I'll truly be able to learn magic, right?"
"Stating the obvious. We don't sell our goods to just any riffraff. We're only making a special exception because you said you'd pay a fortune. Don't buy it if you don't want it. Plenty of others will."
"W-wait, I'll take all of it. All of it. Does… does taking a lot at once make it work better?"
"Of course. You only get one shot, so think carefully and buy as much as you want."
With the inheritance he had received, Cael bought the elixir said to let you learn magic. A famous drug in the underworld, they claimed.
He burned through the entire fortune. But he was happy. At last he would be able to learn magic.
Finally… I'm going to escape this life.
Cael swallowed the so-called elixir — poison — in one massive dose.
And after that, as everyone knows, he became a lingering spirit who could not leave this world: a wraith.
McDeras sat in silence for a moment after reading trying man's comment. Then he began to type, slowly, doing his best to imagine what the boy must be feeling.
trying man answered as if he understood exactly what McDeras meant by that.
Levia's brother had been bullied by Tebeston; trying man, by Tecas. And the ones doing the bullying were brothers. What twisted joke of fate was that?
trying man confirmed it. Then he went on.
McDeras did not think him pathetic. One look at trying man's body made that clear. Those tattered, ruined palms told exactly how hard he had thrown himself into sword training. What he had lacked was not will — it was power, and beyond that, talent.
No matter how hard he tried, he could never surpass the limit of being unable to use magic. He could never escape the station of an orphan abandoned by his father and mother. Like someone who runs harder and only sinks deeper into a swamp, Cael must have been the same.
Even the drug he had clawed for in his final thrashing had been a scam.
McDeras suddenly remembered the moment he first possessed the body. They had said the men belonged to a plunderer guild called Akir. He had killed both of them, and surprisingly the guild had shown no real reaction. By now, a response should have come.
Even if they do move, it doesn't matter. If they come looking for me, I'll just kill them all.
trying man spoke as if it were nothing. But McDeras knew the words were a lie. Because the body of Cael that he possessed would not stop trembling. The emotion was fear, or grief. Perhaps what people called attachment.
Just as McDeras was about to offer something like comfort to trying man—
BEEEEEEEEP!
A piercing sound began to blare through the house.
"What is that?"
As McDeras looked around, trying man typed in a frantic rush.
McDeras moved quickly to the communicator and checked the message.
What waited there was not Levia's voice, but a man's.
"Ahh… if I press this, does it actually go through? Can you hear me? Why are you ignoring me? If you use the emergency function it gets fucking loud, so you'd have no choice but to look."
The man's voice carried through the communicator.
"Who are you?"
When McDeras spoke, the man on the other end answered.
"Who do you think — you're Cael, right? Ring a bell if I say Akir Guild? Why the fuck aren't you at the academy, wandering around somewhere else and getting your innocent little friend into trouble?"
"What did you do to Levia? No — let me rephrase. Why did you go after her?"
"Go after her? Please. We sat around all day and the only kid who had your contact was this one. A few other brats got wrecked because of you, so feel some guilt about that. Ah… so that stash of drugs you've got hidden away. Bring that shit to the place I tell you."
"Drugs?"
"The magic elixir you bought in bulk, dumbass. We looked into it — the two supply guys we sent you seem to be dead? Hard to believe a mere swordsman could pull that off… but the drugs are definitely with you, and we've got a hostage here, so no real problem. Don't try anything stupid. Get your ass to the place I say. I'll hear straight from you what happened to those two. Ah… and you know what happens if you report this, right? If I find out you brought anyone with you, I'll kill this girl one way or another."
McDeras's hands began to shake violently. It had to be Cael's will. A fear and frustration and despair as if the world itself were collapsing. Just as McDeras was about to answer—
"I'll kill them… Levia… if you touch her, I'll kill every last one of you. So don't you dare lay a finger on her."
Words McDeras had not intended began to spill from Cael's body.
At the same time, a system message rang out.
Player trying man's soul power has risen beyond the normal threshold. McDeras may temporarily cede control of the body. Simultaneously, this user's soul is rapidly extinguishing.
Looking at the system text, McDeras thought:
Perhaps this was the last chance granted to trying man.
"Cael! Don't come! Don't come here! It's dangerous—! Kyaaaaah!"
In a pitch-dark room, a girl screamed as a man drove a blow into her stomach.
But her voice never reached anyone.
The man who had kidnapped Levia looked her over and smiled in a way that made the skin crawl.
"Don't wear yourself out already. Save it so I can make it fun for you in front of your friend. Got it? You'll enjoy that more too, won't you?"
The girl curled in on herself against the pain, trembling with quiet, wretched sobs.
I don't want to die… save me… I'm so scared… please…
She had screamed for him not to come, that it was dangerous — and yet, in that hopeless place, the girl still longed for it.
A savior who would pull her out of this despair.