Time Flies Round and Round - 3
Ryutis appeared wearing a solemn expression. And the moment I heard the proposal that followed, my mind went blank.
He's a lunatic.
An utterly, thoroughly insane man stood right in front of me.
No—I had known he was crazy for a long time, but I never imagined it would go this far.
Is this a dream?
Cold sweat slid down my spine as I stared at him. I had already sensed something ominous the instant he opened his mouth with that grim face, yet this guy always shattered common sense in the worst possible direction.
"Are you serious?"
After a stretch of silence I carefully spoke, praying he would say it was a joke, praying I had simply misheard.
"Dead serious. The Magic Club pulled a move like that—there's no way the Swordsmanship Club can just take it lying down!"
Crazy.
Unfortunately I had not misheard, and he was not joking.
More than that—what did he mean, "can't take it"? Since when had the Swordsmanship Club and the Magic Club been locked in some contest? Of course I had been the one who brought my second sister-in-law over from the Magic Club, so I had expected the Swordsmanship Club to want a heavy hitter of its own… but I had never wanted this.
Recruit Big Brother?
Following last year, another proposal to invite Big Brother into the Four-Person Match. What kind of drugs did you have to take to arrive at that idea? Not that I had any right to talk—I was the one who invited him last year—but still.
…There's no one else but Big Brother, though.
If you had to name the absolute pinnacle of swordsmanship on this continent, it would be him. The only being who could stand on equal footing with the pinnacle of magic—my second sister-in-law—was the swordsman who cut the sky.
But this was not the way. Ever since he severed his own arm performing Sky Slash at the Academy, and especially after he went to war and fought in person, Big Brother had not touched a sword. There had been no reason to draw one in the first place, yet every time he did he came back wounded, and the glares from the sisters-in-law had been no joke.
Absolutely not.
Goosebumps prickled over my skin. If I let myself be swayed by Ryutis and invited Big Brother to the Four-Person Match, that day would be the last day of my life.
Any protest along the lines of "Second Sister-in-law joined the Four-Person Match, so why can't Big Brother?" would never fly. Second Sister-in-law had never been injured; Big Brother had. No clearer justification existed.
"I want to live a long life with my sisters-in-law."
So I shook my head with finality and refused. The words were a bit vague and airy, yet they worked; Ryutis faltered for a moment.
Good. If you still have a conscience, you won't push any further. Once you graduate and go home it's over for you, but I have to face those sisters-in-law for decades.
Getting on their bad side by saying something stupid is the last thing I need—especially since I have no intention of defecting to another country.
"There's no chance the advisor will get hurt in a Four-Person Match, is there? As long as he doesn't cut the sky, it should be fine, right?"
"You personally saw us off when he left for the war thinking he wouldn't get hurt."
Even Ryutis, still clinging to the idea, had nothing to say to that and closed his mouth.
Big Brother was the kind of man who got injured in situations he was certain would be safe. Who was to say that after the Four-Person Match he wouldn't come back claiming, "The students' passion was so fierce I left an arm behind"?
"Can't be helped, then."
Watching him mutter with a bitter look, I almost sighed in relief. Even that madman seemed to have accepted it, so thank—
"I'll make the sacrifice."
…
?
"Sacrifice?"
"Yeah. Like you said, it would be awkward for you to persuade the advisor yourself. But if I step forward, the fallout will be lighter."
My head spun. Well… as a royal who would vanish after graduation, he wasn't wrong.
"Persuasion from a little brother would probably work better than from a regular club member, but if the little brother can't do it, then I have to step up!"
I could only gape at him.
On the surface it looked like a beautiful scene of royalty personally taking on the dirty work. Knowing the full circumstances, however, it looked like he was volunteering for catastrophe.
Seriously, why? Why was he so desperate to invite Big Brother even if it meant enduring the sisters-in-law's death glares?
"You know as well as I do that the relationship between knights and mages has historically been… less than friendly."
Sensing the pure bewilderment in my stare, Ryutis gave a short laugh and continued.
"And Armein is a nation of knights, while Uben is a nation of mages."
Ah.
Only then did I stop seeing the lunatic Ryutis and start seeing the Prince of Armein.
Among this year's incoming students, a fair number of foreigners had enrolled specifically to support their own princes. That meant factions had formed inside the Academy—one following Armein's sword, one following Uben's magic.
The Uben faction—the mages—had succeeded in recruiting an absolute monster, the Magic Lord, for the Four-Person Match. Honestly, Later the Prince of Uben had done almost nothing in that process, yet it was still more than enough reason for Ryutis, Prince of Armein, to move.
Tough job.
In the end he had to live up to the expectations of his faction as a prince of a nation. That exhausting, almost pitiable duty stirred a flicker of sympathy for him.
Of course, sympathy and actually helping were two completely different things. I wanted to live.
Time flowed on until club hour arrived.
"No."
As expected.
Big Brother, upon receiving Ryutis's invitation to the Four-Person Match, refused on the spot.
"Last year was the anomaly. I'm here in the capacity of auditing the Academy. Even if outside personnel can be recruited, I should be excluded."
"Is that so?"
Only after the man himself had firmly refused did Ryutis show a look of resignation.
"Besides, a husband and wife fighting wouldn't look very good, would it?"
That was the finishing blow. At the suggestion that it might turn into a marital spat rather than a simple sword-versus-magic contest, Ryutis completely gave up.
Well, he had only been making a polite effort for the sake of the faction; he hadn't truly wanted Big Brother's participation. There was no reason to force the issue after hearing the words "marital spat."
"I'm sorry for the unreasonable request. You're about to become a minister—getting tangled in troublesome affairs would only be a headache."
He laughed and apologized. The sisters-in-law who had been subtly glaring at him softened their expressions a little. The man who made the absurd proposal had apologized, Big Brother had refused; there was no longer any reason to make an issue of—
"Instead."
Big Brother's voice cut cleanly through Ryutis's laughter.
He gazed at the ceiling for a moment as if turning something over in his mind, then roughly raked his fingers through his hair and continued.
"Joining the Four-Person Match is impossible… but I can take part in another way."
"Pardon?"
The atmosphere inside the club room shifted in an instant. Ryutis because he had just been handed an unexpected chance; the sisters-in-law because they suddenly feared Big Brother was about to pull some eccentric stunt.
My own feeling was much closer to the latter.
What now.
What exactly was he planning this time?
When Ryutis first requested participation in the Four-Person Match, what I felt before anger was a hollow sense of futility.
So this is how it's going to go.
The bleak realization that the very thing I had prayed would not happen was unfolding exactly as feared. Forcing that despair down, I let out a quiet sigh.
"Minister of the Inspectorate Ministry. I hear the Magic Lord is participating in an Academy event. Is that true?"
"Yes, Your Highness. It is."
Yesterday, the moment he learned Beatrix would take part in the Four-Person Match, the Crown Prince had contacted me directly.
Being addressed as Minister of the Inspectorate Ministry rather than Audit Department Chief still grated, but his expression was unusually serious, so I let it pass. At least he did not seem to be teasing me.
"If the Magic Lord steps forward, the mages will be ecstatic. But the swordsmen will be equally stimulated."
Just hearing it was already exhausting and dreadful. Dealing with the mages alone was headache enough; now the swordsmen would kick up a storm as well?
Yet I could not simply ignore an unpleasant prediction. Negative forecasts always came true. In life, the happiness circuit might short out, but the despair circuit never missed.
"That said, blocking the Magic Lord's participation is difficult—there is already precedent of a minister taking part in an Academy event."
"…I am deeply sorry."
I had no defense against the unspoken rebuke: If you hadn't caused an incident last year, none of this would be happening. I was the one who had provided the pretext.
More precisely, Erich had been the one who provided it, but I was still the root cause. I should have knocked him out cold if that was what it took to keep him from participating.
"Therefore the swordsmen will naturally desire the Minister's reappearance to counter the Magic Lord."
"Even now, if this humble servant were to persuade the Magic Lord to withdraw—"
"No. Reversing course at this stage would only swell the mages' discontent."
Having said that, the Crown Prince delivered his quiet verdict.
"This year is the year Heaven's Mandate over the Empire has been proven firm. After long ages of conflict, the nomads have at last entered the Empire's embrace—a truly joyous year."
"Yes, Your Highness. All the continent has seen that Heaven's Mandate rests with the Empire."
"Therefore we shall commemorate that great achievement and raise the Empire's prestige even higher."
Something felt off. We had been talking about the Four-Person Match—why suddenly all this talk of Heaven's Mandate, great achievements, and prestige?
"The Empire possesses a mage whom every mage respects and reveres; the entire continent knows that great archmage is a pillar of the Empire."
"Yes. Truly a blessing upon the Empire."
"And now one whom every swordsman respects and reveres has appeared. Henceforth the entire continent shall know that this swordsman, too, is a pillar of the Empire."
Bewilderment steadily turned into unease. From the context he was clearly talking about me—but what did he mean, "shall know"? As if they did not already know. Anyone who watched me work myself to the bone like a dog could hardly be unaware.
"The Minister will not participate in the event. Instead, you will celebrate it. Before all eyes display your majesty; before the swordsmen reveal the supreme realm they so desperately crave."
Only then did I understand.
The Crown Prince wanted a performance out of me. If Beatrix's participation could not be walked back, then we might as well make a spectacular show of it. If she and I both entered the Four-Person Match and someone got hurt it would be a disaster, so I was simply to cut the sky open during the opening or closing ceremony.
It was insanity. Yet when the eyes of the continent were already fixed on the Rivalry Match because of the Magic Lord's appearance, if an Imperial swordsman cleaved the heavens, the Empire's prestige and authority would soar even higher. We could flaunt that the Empire possessed not only a great archmage but also the continent's greatest swordsman.
You bastard.
I resented him. I had never wanted anything more to do with the Rivalry Match, yet here I was being dragged back in.
At least I was not joining the Four-Person Match itself… but I still hated it.
Please…
Watching Ryutis burst into delighted laughter, I offered a solitary prayer.
Please, may the Crown Prince live a long and healthy life.