Our Fair Is Operating Normally - 1
I stood still for a long while with the cookie pouch in my hand. It had already been two years, and it wasn't anything special. During a war, all sorts of things happened, and people died — that was simply how it was. Even when I tried to shake it off now, it refused to come free as easily as I wanted.
Still, someday the day would come when I could let it go. I looked down at the cookie pouch, tucked it into my coat, and headed back into the forest. I needed to finish this before dark if tomorrow's fair was going to run without trouble.
Picking up my pace a little, I arrived at the forest to find the First Section Chief and the Fourth Section Chief deep in conversation. Looks like the interrogation was already over. As expected — when that guy set his mind to something, there was nothing he couldn't do.
"Done?"
"Yes, sir. We made them spill everything they knew."
The First and Fourth Section Chiefs still looked tense and fidgety. This wasn't something that would be fixed just because I said it was fine, so I left them be. How many people would take a superior at his word when he said he wasn't angry?
I looked over the condition of the captured members of the Third Glory — none of them were in anything resembling a normal state. Missing limbs were the baseline, and several had been stripped of a fair amount of flesh. They'd even gone as far as outdoor lingchi? Then the information we'd secured ought to be reliable.
"Anything unusual?"
"They were carrying something strange."
"Something strange?"
At my question, it was the Fourth Section Chief, not the First, who held out a piece of paper. Ha. Look at these bastards.
"Explosive scrolls."
"Yes. They appear to be mining-grade."
Disposable scrolls with explosive magic stored inside them. Normally used for mining work, their destructive power meant they were produced only at the Magic Tower in the Imperial Capital, and only supplied to individuals or organizations with verified identities.
If one of these scrolls had gone off in the middle of the Academy, it would have been a catastrophe I didn't even want to imagine. Of course, what mattered now wasn't fretting over something that hadn't happened, but figuring out how these scrolls had ended up in the hands of a mere rebel group.
Explosive scrolls were supplied to provincial officials, lords, or mine supervisors. Whoever they were, they were people who ought to be loyal to the Empire. If people like that had let these scrolls slip to rebels, that was clear-cut treason.
"Suicide applicants, then?"
"Seems that way."
The scrolls were only supplied to verified individuals or groups, and records were kept of who received how many. So if we combed through those records thoroughly, we could find the culprit. Anyone whose supply records and usage records didn't match, or who had something off about them — that was our guy.
Did real traitors just lack intelligence as a baseline? I couldn't understand why they'd bet their lives on something that could be found out so quickly.
I stroked my chin for a moment, then nodded. The fact that the only unusual item they mentioned was the scrolls suggested we hadn't gotten much else of use, and now that the scroll leak had been confirmed, that was where we needed to focus.
"Our work here is done. Good job, everyone."
There was nothing left to handle on-site, so all that remained was to toss it up to central. The ones still breathing would be handed over to the Ministry of Special Affairs, who would put them to use as they saw fit, and they'd flip their lids hunting down whoever had leaked the scrolls.
If the Demon Duke found out that something made by the Magic Tower had nearly been used for a purpose like this, she would be furious. From the Ministry of Special Affairs' perspective, they'd want to find the culprit as fast as possible and offer them up as a sacrifice to absorb the Demon Duke's wrath. They were going to have a rough time of it.
Of course, once the Ministry of Special Affairs found the culprit, they'd just toss it back to the Audit Department. So in the end, we were the ones who'd be suffering.
With the entire Third Glory captured and their information secured, the First Section Chief and the Mukgwangdae's roles were finished. As soon as the Fourth Section Chief reported the captives to the Ministry of Special Affairs, mages popped out and transferred them to the Imperial Capital. Teleportation really was convenient.
Also, under orders from the Ministry of Special Affairs, the Mukgwangdae deployment was kept in place as a precaution against any unforeseen variables. Having them stick around until the end of the fair for the sake of the deployment was reassuring, at least. Still, if the First Section Chief and then the Fourth started walking around the Academy, the nobles would have a heart attack, so regrettably the Mukgwangdae would be stationed in this forest.
The Fourth Section Chief seemed a little disappointed, so I decided to drop by every evening. That much consideration for a subordinate I hadn't seen in a long time was only fair. I should bring some food with me when I came.
And unlike the Fourth Section Chief staying in the forest, the First Section Chief would work the booth with me the next day as well.
"Chief. I'll carry that — please give it to me."
What had changed was that he was a lot more obedient than yesterday.
"It's fine. I'll do it."
I could tell why he was acting like this, so I just smiled. It was truly rare for the Section Chief trio to be watching my mood like this. Still — so you do have a conscience left. That was touching.
Even after being refused, the First Section Chief rolled his eyes this way and that and hovered near me. Truthfully, you couldn't say the First Section Chief had no stake in yesterday's incident. If I kept leaving him like this, he might actually start crying.
I do kind of want to see that, though.
Still, becoming a boss who made his subordinates cry for no reason would be a problem. Given how carefully he was watching my mood, I could ease up for a bit without him causing trouble, and with the Third Glory handled, there was nothing urgent.
"You don't have anything to do right now?"
"No, sir! Nothing! I'll take over for you, so please rest, Chief!"
Watching him answer with the kind of energy that suggested a tail would be wagging furiously if he had one, I nodded and handed the load I was carrying to the First Section Chief. The moment he took it, his expression settled into peace, as if he'd just gotten over indigestion. This guy hadn't received a burden from me. He'd received peace of mind.
"Set that down in the corner over there, then go have some fun."
"Sir?"
At his head-tilting confusion, I undid his apron myself. I'd captured you with this, so I should be the one to let you go.
"There's nothing urgent now, so as long as you stay inside the Academy, you're fine. When else are you going to get to play?"
"Uh, uh... Are you sure that's okay?"
"The booth runs fine without you."
I waved him off to mean he should get going, and only then did the First Section Chief's eyes sparkle as he recovered his usual energy. The way he quickly set the load down and fled, as if afraid I'd grab him again, was quite something. I imagined that was what a Pokémon would look like if you released it into the wild.
I casually tossed aside the First Section Chief's apron that had served as a Poké Ball, and looked around the inside of the booth. The club members seemed to have gotten the hang of running it, and the workers from the Three Kingdoms were working hard too. The First Section Chief had been unplanned manpower to begin with, so him stepping out wasn't a problem.
On top of that, the nobles who used to come looking for me had dwindled sharply as time passed. Most of them had flocked over on the first or second day, so it seemed there was no one left who would come. Now I could truly just pass the time without a single worry. This was how a fair was supposed to be.
"Older brother."
As I sat down in a chair in the corner to rest, Luise came over, spoke to me, and sat in the seat beside mine.
"What is it? Something wrong?"
"No. I just wanted to sit for a bit."
Luise had been busy running around the booth, so she truly never had a chance to sit and rest. Except for quiet moments like this when there were no customers, she usually couldn't even get near a chair.
"You'll ruin your health like that. Take it easy."
I said it because even as the club president, she seemed to be pushing herself too hard, but Luise just looked into my eyes without a word. She stared so intently it was a little embarrassing.
"Do I have something on my face?"
Sometimes flour that had been flying around would stick to my face. Wondering if that was the case again, I patted my face, but Luise quietly shook her head.
"Did you finish the cookies I gave you yesterday?"
"Yeah, they were good."
At my answer, Luise smiled softly, but there was something bitter about it too.
"You can leave the booth to us."
This time it was my turn to answer with a smile. Yesterday it was that I looked tired; today it was asking if I'd eaten all the cookies. The way she was so actively urging me to rest made it seem that, in Luise's eyes, I didn't look all that well.
What with receiving tea leaves last time too, I was being worried over twice by a kid. If the minister found out, he'd laugh at me.
"It's fine. It's only natural for the faculty advisor to be here."
"Other clubs aren't like that, though? At Irina's club, the faculty advisor was somewhere else."
Caught.
It was true that a faculty advisor's role was only to supervise so that nothing went wrong. You only needed to drop by and check in occasionally — there was no need to haunt the booth like a resident spirit the way I did.
The problem was that I simply didn't have the courage to leave those hopeless club members unsupervised. And since supervising so that nothing went wrong was what an advisor did, I was simply fulfilling my duty more faithfully than anyone. My circumstances were different from those of the other clubs' advisors...
When I awkwardly lifted the corner of my mouth and said nothing, Luise stuck her lip out a little, then continued.
"I'm really grateful to you for so many things, older brother. From the moment you agreed to be our club advisor until now — all of it."
"I haven't done anything special enough to deserve thanks."
"Each and every little thing you thought was nothing was enormous to me, you know?"
When she put it like that, I didn't have much to say. Gather dust and you make a mountain — if you stacked up everything I'd done, it would add up to something reasonably large. Not sure that saying applied here, but still.
"It felt like you were shouldering everything alone, older brother, so I wanted to help you even a little."
"Don't sit there fretting by yourself, kid. If anything comes up, you can always tell this big sis!"
Damn it.
It had been like this since yesterday. Words I would normally have let slide kept connecting back to that memory. That bastard with the head — saying useless things and then dying.
I let out a sigh without meaning to. If the Third Glory's goal hadn't been to destroy the Academy but to wreck my mental state, they'd more or less succeeded. I hadn't had an enemy this goddamn awful in a long time.
"Th-that... Older brother...?"
Ah.
Belatedly remembering Luise was right in front of me, I hurriedly composed my expression, but Luise already had tears welling in her eyes and had shrunk her shoulders a little.
"It's embarrassing being worried over like this. How about I go rest for a bit, then?"
Sighing in front of a kid who was worrying about me was as good as saying, Stay out of my business. There was no greater rudeness. Leaving the booth bothered me, but for now it would be better to do as Luise said.
When I spoke with a carefully bright expression, Luise seemed to settle a little. Thankfully I'd avoided becoming a lunatic who made a kid his sister's age cry.
That son of a bitch.
This was all because of that vermin of a bastard. I should have smashed more than just his head.
Part two of the fair, with the Third Glory wiped out and the threat gone. What should have been a peaceful fair had started off strangely.