The Returning Expedition (1)
The upper floor of the tower.
"Hmm… How interesting."
Legs crossed, chewing absently on the end of his pen, Heinz murmured the words.
Before him lay a report detailing everything that had occurred in the Black Forest.
"I've never seen a monster of this type before."
Heinz rose from his seat and turned. Directly in front of him sat a shriveled mass of flesh that had long since lost its light.
Even in life the thing had been repulsive, but drained of vitality and collapsed in on itself, the lump of flesh had become something almost unspeakably grotesque.
"It absorbs the life force of other living beings, then uses that energy to mutate into an entirely new form of life…"
The title of Vice-Chairman of the Royal Alchemical Society was clearly no empty honor. In moments Heinz had already distilled the monster's essential traits and set his notebook down upon the desk.
"What do you make of it?"
"Figuring that out is your job, isn't it?"
"Always so cold…"
Bernus cut him off without hesitation. Heinz clicked his tongue in mild displeasure.
Footsteps approached. Heinz lightly prodded the surface of the flesh, yet the shriveled mass showed not the slightest reaction.
"It would have been far better for research if it were still alive…"
Finding no response, Heinz turned his attention to the examination table where the corpse of the creature Milia and Schwarz had slain now lay.
His muttering might have sounded irritated, yet his eyes still glittered with the twin lights of scholarly curiosity and something close to madness.
"Strength and agility roughly equivalent to an ordinary mana-user… No sign of anything that could properly be called intelligence…"
Stroking his chin as he finished the report, Heinz set the papers on a nearby shelf and began examining the monster's body in meticulous detail.
If that were me lying up there instead of that thing…
The thought made Schwarz give a small, involuntary shiver.
A short while later—
"It bears no resemblance to any known creature. To learn more, we'll have to dissect it."
"D-dissect…!!"
The brutal word made Milia flinch and tremble.
"No need to look so shocked. Dissection is the simplest way to determine a living being's lineage."
"Heinz… spare my daughter the unnecessary details."
Heinz tilted his head as if wondering why she was making such a fuss. Bernus's hand drifted once more toward the hilt of his sword.
"All right, all right."
Heinz clicked his tongue again and returned his attention to the monster, drawing an assortment of instruments from the bag at his waist.
Scalpels, forceps, awls, drills…
The tools, polished to a mirror sheen from careful maintenance, were laid out upon the examination table. Heinz turned back to Bernus.
"There are a few things I'll need for the dissection. I'll leave those to you."
"Understood. I'll have the soldiers fetch them as quickly as possible."
"And the rest of you would do well to step outside. What follows may be rather… unpleasant for young eyes."
"Ah—yes…"
Heinz's smiling face sent a chill down Milia's spine. She turned and started for the lower floor.
"I will remain. My duty is to guard the investigator."
Amelia spoke firmly and held her post.
Schwarz inclined his head lightly toward her, then moved to follow Milia downstairs—only for hurried footsteps to echo from below.
"C-Count!!"
A soldier came pounding up the stairs, face slick with sweat despite the winter cold.
"What is it?"
"Th-that is…!!"
Bernus questioned him. The soldier approached and whispered urgently into the Count's ear. As he listened, Bernus's expression shifted into open astonishment.
"Is that true?"
"Yes, my lord."
The soldier nodded at Bernus's low, almost pained question.
"Very well. Bring him here at once."
"Yes, sir!"
The soldier saluted and raced back down the tower.
"What's going on?"
"Hmm…"
Milia asked. Bernus stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Even at a glance, something serious had clearly occurred.
"It seems there is someone we need to meet."
A moment later Bernus lifted his head, spoke those words, and started down toward the lower floor of the tower.
A short while later…
The tower door swung open. A man entered, supported by soldiers on either side.
His armor was battered beyond recognition. One arm, clearly broken, was bound in a splint and bandages. A long, ugly scar ran across his left eye; the pupil had turned a lifeless gray, mute testimony that the eye no longer saw.
At first glance he looked little better than a vagrant.
The sole proof of his identity hung around his neck: a pendant wrought in the shape of a sword, shield, and wings—the seal of House Valentine.
"C-Count… I present myself…"
Supported by the soldiers, the man stopped before Bernus and slowly sank to one knee.
"Name and affiliation?"
"Scout Hagner of the exploration team, my lord."
In a voice thick with exhaustion, the man who named himself Hagner answered.
"And the rest of the team?"
"All… all dead… I am the only survivor…"
"…"
Bernus lowered his head as he listened to the trembling report.
Hagner, too, bowed his head in silent regret at having to deliver such news.
But only for a moment.
Bernus exhaled a short sigh, knelt so that their eyes met, and gently patted the man's shoulder.
"You've done well. Rest for now. We will hear the full account later."
"Yes, my lord…"
Supported once more by the soldiers, Hagner was led out of the tower.
"Who was that?"
"A survivor of the survey team we sent beyond the Skyring Mountain Range—into the Twisted Land."
"The Twisted Land?"
"The Twisted Land…"
North of the Valentine territory rose the Skyring Mountain Range.
Beyond the White Corridor—the sole pass through those mountains—lay an endless white wilderness of snow, unnatural rock formations, and jagged ice thrusting up from the frozen ground.
Little known to the common folk, that place was called the Twisted Land.
"Milia, as you know, our territory once faced invasions by the northern barbarians every five years."
"I know. It's been quiet lately, though."
The last barbarian invasion of the Countship had come the year before Milia was born—roughly sixteen or seventeen years ago.
A barbarian king known as Malek of the Black Eye had united every tribe of the Twisted Land into a single vast host and launched an invasion of unprecedented scale against the kingdom.
The war that followed would later be remembered as the Holy War of the End.
The Valentine Countship was reduced to scorched earth; the blood of hundreds of thousands soaked the soil. The war ended only when Malek, king of the barbarians, was beheaded by Bernus's own hand.
Ask anyone who lived through those days what it had been like, and the answer was always the same.
Whenever they heard those stories, Milia and Schwarz could only feel grateful they had not been born in that era.
"I believed their power had been broken beyond recovery. And for a time, that was true."
"Then what's the problem? Why not just leave them to wither away on their own?"
The Twisted Land was nothing but rock, ice, and snow. Farming was impossible; rebuilding any real strength would be nearly unthinkable.
"…"
Bernus fell silent for a moment, then nodded with a grim expression.
He turned his gaze fully upon Milia and began to speak.
"Two months ago, a report arrived from Kelebor Fortress."
"A report?"
"It spoke of an unidentified violet flash observed beyond the Twisted Land."
"A violet flash…"
At her father's words, Milia's eyes flicked toward the motionless lump of flesh.
Bernus nodded.
"To learn the nature of that light, I assembled an expedition and sent them into the Twisted Land. If it was the prelude to another invasion of the Countship, it had to be stopped."
"And this is the result."
"Yes."
Bernus let out a short sigh and looked in the direction Hagner had been taken.
"What on earth happened out there…"
"That, it seems, is what we must now discover."
Answering Milia's quiet question, Bernus turned his gaze to the vast snow-covered peaks visible beyond the window.