Chapter 187: Tournament 3
Chapter 187: Tournament 3
Everyone at the Academy knew Han Ye-ji was my first Incarnation.
And in a world that revered Constellations as divine beings, being someone's first Incarnation meant more than people realized.
A first Incarnation could freely wield the legal proxy authority of a godlike entity.
And mine, no less — the one who'd cured thousands of psychiatric patients at this very Academy.
If Han Ye-ji walked out stark naked and started begging,
soldiers' families from all four continents would sprint barefoot into the streets to serve her.
And how much care had I, her Constellation, poured into her?
Lee Ha-rin and Kim Ha-eun mostly got office dates,
but Han Ye-ji, who had nothing to do, wandered the Academy with me constantly — how many eyes saw us together?
The first Incarnation of the benevolent Constellation who descended upon the Academy.
The Incarnation I favored so openly that we walked hand in hand four or five times a week,
and I'd even join in her streaming antics to play silly games with her.
And now some guards — not even another Incarnation — Academy guards,
practically her own direct subordinates, had arrested her?
What was this — county cops getting tossed into a city jail?
Something this irrational and abnormal could only mean one thing.
Whoever was tangled up on the other side belonged to the irrational realm too.
"Who's the other party?"
"Huh?"
"You said it was a sex crime. There's gotta be an alleged victim, right?"
The sheer absurdity made my voice climb before I realized it.
Startled by the sharp edge in my tone, the fox Beastman folded her ears back slightly
and frantically tapped the radio on her chest, turning her head away.
She whispered into it, her voice urgent, pressing whoever was on the other end.
And the woman on the radio, hesitating but relaying exactly what she'd been told.
Bad feelings had a way of proving themselves right.
"The, uh, other party is said to be Flower Atop the Tower, here to watch the tournament in person."
What kind of name was Flower Atop the Tower — some kind of pet name—
No, of course not. Naturally, another Constellation was involved.
"Can you give me the exact— never mind. Just show me to the Guard Corps."
"Understood."
Why would I, a Constellation, ever have business at the Punishment Building where they locked up rule-breakers?
I'd heard it was somewhere past the Magic Building and the Healing Building, but the exact way? No clue.
The Academy occupied an entire island in the center of the continent,
and its actual built structures alone rivaled a sizable apartment complex.
The place was too vast for me to stumble upon it alone.
Maybe she'd noticed I wasn't as furious as I'd seemed,
because the fox Beastman's tail started swaying gently as she led the way.
I'd been wondering about the tail — then I noticed my own was moving too.
"This is the building. Right this way, please."
Poker face or not, my fur bristled upright when I was annoyed
and my tail swished lazily whenever my mood lightened. I'd been mulling that over
when we arrived at an oppressive-looking building painted an absolute, unbroken black.
The exterior was blurred, hazy-dark — some kind of specialty magic on the outer walls, probably.
When I squinted and couldn't find the entrance, which should've been glass,
the fox Beastman sniffed the air and guided me by scent instead of sight.
Was the whole security staff for detaining people made up of Beastkin for this exact reason?
At least the inside wasn't blurred the same way.
Outside, the walls had warped my depth perception like an unfocused camera lens,
but the interior was plain white and gray — standard government-office design.
"Ah, Constellation, you've arrived."
"Yeah. Take me straight there."
I'd barely taken a few steps before a winged Beastkin woman approached.
Her voice matched the one I'd heard over the radio — she'd been the one relaying news about Han Ye-ji.
Her enormous wings, each nearly the size of a small child, gave one great flutter
before she turned and headed straight for the stairs she'd come down.
※
The Academy's detention center was eerily quiet —
no raving lunatics shrieking at the walls.
The people behind bars, serving their detention sentences, sat perfectly docile.
Most were here for minor disturbances, not serious crimes.
Incarnations might be arrogant by nature, but none were stupid enough to pick a fight with the Academy.
Drunken brawls between them still happened, but here, everyone behaved.
Among them, one woman sat rolling her eyes around in awkward bewilderment.
She couldn't even seem sure she was innocent — just gave me a clumsy heh-heh and a wave.
"Oh, you came?"
"—What's going on?"
The environment beyond Han Ye-ji's bars wasn't exactly harsh.
It wasn't much different from a cadet's dorm room — they'd considered the dignity of Incarnations and their Constellations.
If I had to compare, I'd call it a small private room, just missing a desk and wardrobe.
That didn't improve my mood, though.
No flexibility at all. Fucking bitches.
Who was Han Ye-ji? Better question — who was I, her Constellation?
The sole soul healer capable of countering alien monsters' mental attacks.
The only descended Constellation freely treating soldiers and Incarnations without demanding anything in return.
I had no intention of lording any of this over people,
but I was selfish enough to think I'd earned certain intangible benefits.
Luxury lodging, housekeepers and guards, a free smartphone and internet —
I considered it entirely fair to receive various non-monetary accommodations.
And didn't that fairness extend to consideration for my Incarnation?
"Get her out."
"Excuse me?"
"Open the cell. Get my girl out."
What possible reason was there to stick her in a cage over a detention sentence?
Couldn't they have sent her to my quarters and asked that she exercise restraint?
Other Incarnations couldn't be sent to a cadet's room, so locking them up made sense,
but Han Ye-ji's identity as an Incarnation was ironclad — there was no reason to hold her.
Irritation lodged itself in the back of my mind and spread fast.
If they'd locked Han Ye-ji up before asking for my understanding in a matter involving two Constellations,
it meant they thought I was nicer or more of a pushover — that they'd taken the other side's word first.
So I reached into my memory and pulled out the Nightmare that best suited the occasion.
"Why is my Incarnation confined in there?"
"The other Constellation requested—"
"Does it look to you like I'm an Incarnation instead of a Constellation?"
"That is not the case."
"Knowing it's not the case, you still chose to ignore my authority like this?"
Military corruption, bosses who got off on throwing their weight around, the malicious consumers who'd coined new terms for their harassment campaigns —
the terrifying types who could drain a person of all life with nothing but word-twisting nitpicking.
"I apologize. We didn't mean to ignore—"
"So you're saying you didn't grant my request but you also didn't ignore it?"
"No, that isn't—"
"Wasn't Han Ye-ji a team leader in the Academy Guard Corps?"
"That's correct. So—"
"Then shouldn't contacting me or the Academy Board of Directors have come first? From what I can see, the confinement happened before any contact."
"Yes, so we were sending notice simultaneously with the detention—"
"I'm asking why you handled it simultaneously. Am I not a Constellation?"
"Y-you are. But...."
"Has the Academy Guard Corps taken to wagging its tail at whichever Constellation ranks higher nowadays? When friction breaks out between Constellations, you maintain neutrality and deliver the facts first — I'm not off somewhere far away, I'm manifest right here inside the Academy, and you're standing in front of me explaining that you locked my Incarnation up. With what face, exactly? You just assumed I'd understand if you took action first and reported it later? Is that how your internal regulations tell you to do things?"
Maybe it was because my public image was all benevolence and compassion.
I seized on every word, hammered them without letting up, and watched both guards in front of the cell turn sheet-white.
She'd been confined for barely a dozen minutes, not even an hour.
The cell wasn't awful, no handcuffs involved —
so they'd probably figured they'd explain the situation and I'd nod and move on.
Or maybe that Constellation who'd been throwing a tantrum right in front of them hadn't given them a choice.
"Are you Lethargic Nightmare — this Incarnation's contractor?"
A voice sharp enough to leave no doubt about its owner's foul temperament.
I didn't even need to turn my head to feel the ugly emotion wafting off it.
When I did turn, I found a pretty-faced boy with wavy blond hair.
Curling golden locks, snow-white skin, a slender, delicate frame —
he looked like he'd stepped straight out of a nineties shoujo romance, white horse and all.
The boy placed a hand over his chest and gave a slight bow. The guards' emotions lurched the moment he appeared.
And not toward relief — this bastard must've chewed them out pretty thoroughly himself.
Seeing the petite woman with the bob cut trembling did make me feel a little sorry, but....
"Isn't it obvious? Would I be standing here otherwise?"
Still, some things just rubbed me the wrong way.
I'd handed them solid gold bars and gemstones besides,
and they'd pocketed every last piece and couldn't even extend me a basic courtesy?
"Why hasn't anyone brought the key yet? I'm pretty sure I've told you to open this door several times now."
Some people needed a thorough schooling in bureaucratic hell before they came to their senses.
The blond pretty boy stood there blank-faced. The two guards turned ashen again.
And Han Ye-ji, mouth hanging open, staring at me along with everyone else.
Under all those eyes, I opened my mouth one more time.
"If that key isn't here right now, I'm going inside that cell myself."
Think you can detain a Constellation too?