Heretic (1)
In the heavy silence that hung over them—
Clink. The soft sound of Ser lifting her coffee cup to her lips mingled with Rubia’s trembling exhale.
“Then…”
“Of course, even the Order wouldn’t simply storm into a city the size of Urusphier or Cartia without a plan,” Sirin said, giving the stack of documents she had brought a casual tap.
“So they’ll use another method.”
Clack. Ser set her cup down, peered at the papers, and smiled faintly.
“My, Lady Sirin—what on earth possessed you to prepare something like this?”
“This body can be thorough when it chooses to be.”
“Then why didn’t you plan carefully when you brought down the Magic Tower? Why charge in and cause such a ruckus? You made my position rather awkward, you know.”
“Those vile magic-sacks deserved nothing less. That is why I did it.”
Whoa… she just called them magic-sacks.
And right in front of the Tower Master… wow…
Total badass…
“Vile…? Well. How could a flock of sparrows ever grasp the will of a phoenix? It is only natural that humans who crawl upon the earth, thrashing their bodies about in ignorance, cannot comprehend the will of a great mage who brings miracles into being.”
What…? Crawl on the ground? Ignorant?
“Ha! You call it a miracle to hide behind valiant warriors and spit out magic like cowards? And do you even know how much blood those warriors spill while you foolish mages prepare your so-called great miracles?”
Th-that’s right!
Of course… I’ve never actually fought alongside a mage.
But… yeah, Sirin’s probably spot-on.
Wait, come to think of it, is Rubia mage-type too?
Hmm… well…
R-Rubia’s casting is a little… slow, isn’t it?
“Yes. I am aware. But even the bravery of those warriors becomes mere recklessness without the support of great magic. Is it bravery to rush to the front lines without backup and die with a pathetic little pop? That is simply stupidity. Therefore, warriors ought to revere and exalt us mages.”
What? Recklessness? Stupidity?
Ha, this is ridiculous.
I’m seriously, seriously getting… insanely pissed off.
Th-there are all these comebacks floating around in my head.
I just don’t know how to say them. Ugh…
“A warrior is one who faces the fight even knowing defeat awaits, and overcomes it. That is romance. Calculating endlessly and only joining battles you are certain to win—that is the work of cowards, like you lot.”
Yes! That’s it. That’s exactly what I wanted to say! That… that’s romance!
“Truly foolish. Why charge in knowing you will die? Have warriors been struck on the head so often at the front that all their brain cells have died? Or does breathing dust make one stupid? Even a ten-year-old mage of underdeveloped intellect would not commit such idiotic acts.”
…Idiot? Hey, hey! Ser! You’re going way too far with that, aren’t you?! Huh?!
Sirin! Hurry up and get revenge! You know what I want, right?!
“The end of the arcane path—those who die chasing nothing but such empty dreams, what could they possibly understand? Living a life means meeting many people, clashing, fighting, resolving, and growing. Spending every day locked in a dusty room staring at moldy books, as some do, is not living—it is rotting away.”
Wow. That’s… so cool.
I want to clap like crazy right now.
But, um… I’ll wait until Sirin definitely wins, then sneak over and tell her she was awesome.
Right now… well… they’re in the middle of a fierce debate. Yeah.
I’m definitely not scared or anything.
I… I’m not scared of those vile magic-sa— ahem.
I’m not scared of mages.
“Why bother with something as stressful as interacting with humans? Humans are stupid. Foolish and pathetic. They only know how to fill their own stomachs, never others’, and instead plunder. Selfish, wicked beasts. You know that well, don’t you? Everything those beasts have done to me, everything they have wrought in this world—”
“That is why I killed them. All of them.”
Sirin’s sudden, darkened expression cut Ser’s heated words short.
“…Pardon?”
A crack appeared in Ser’s usually unshakable composure.
“Ser, I could not stand watching you suffer. My thoughts grew short.”
What? What’s going on? Huh?
Why did the atmosphere suddenly get… so soft?
“I-is… that so?”
Stammering, Ser lowered her head deeply and summoned a water spirit, kneading it between both hands.
“I-I actually knew all along. Because I am a genius. A genius… knows everything.”
Then she wriggled the corners of her mouth upward and stole glances at Sirin.
Receiving that look, Sirin cleared her throat awkwardly and drained her coffee.
And Cartia, who had been listening with keen interest from the side—
What a bunch of fucking bitches… no, bitches and bastards running their mouths. Did I stay alive all this time just to watch this shit? Huh? Not a single normal bastard among the young ones these days. Wait. Sirin’s not exactly young, so why the hell is she acting like that? Sigh, this worn-out old hag should just hurry up and die already. What’s the point of living? Tch.
—she poured out a stream of bitter complaints and vanished from sight.
“Ahem. I have no idea how the conversation wandered here, but Rubia—read through these as well. I have gathered and organized the sorts of things they are most likely to attempt.”
“Ah… yes.”
Rubia, who had been staring blankly at the entire exchange, startled and gently lifted me, settling me onto the chair beside her.
“Mm… I’ll explain everything to you later, Noah. For now… I’m sorry.”
“Huh? Ah… o-okay. I understand. Y-you don’t have to worry about me.”
“Thank you.”
Smiling brightly, she gave my head a soft stroke, then began reading through the contents at speed.
“Here, this part… is this the method with the highest probability?”
“Most likely.”
“Even putting myself in their place, that method seems the easiest, most convenient, and fastest. The only question is how they clean it up afterward. Ideally they would summon a few Masters belonging to the Order to handle it. That would raise the Order’s prestige, and the powerless residents, feeling their own helplessness, would come to desire strength—perhaps even take that drug of their own free will. No, it would certainly turn out that way.”
Ser, already back to her usual self, nodded as she spoke.
Hearing that, Rubia let out a deep sigh and looked at me.
“It says they will summon a Beast of the End right in the middle of a city.”
“Huh…? H-how?”
“Among the Beasts of the End, there is one sealed in a dimensional rift.”
Rubia’s hand clenched tight.
“The Death Knight, Valoran.”
“…Ah.”
“They believe they have enough materials to open the dimensional rift—human lives and my divine power—so it should be possible. But Valoran’s combat strength has never been confirmed… that is what worries me.”
“…I see.”
Death Knight, Valoran.
The third raid-tier boss you meet in the game.
Valoran’s trademark is that he rides a horse.
And not just any horse—an insanely fast one.
The kind that makes the entire fight a headache, flashing east then west, that annoying bastard of a mount.
Valoran sits on top of it and swings a massive greatsword like a maniac.
Next is that he has five phases.
Normally a boss introduces a new area attack with each phase change.
Valoran uses those area attacks a total of five times, starting from the entrance cutscene.
Really annoying. Infuriating.
And finally, in phase five… what was the name again.
Anyway, there’s an instant-death curse that lasts twenty-five seconds.
Any player hit by that curse dies in one hit the moment Valoran’s attack so much as grazes them.
An absurd instant-kill mechanic.
I don’t know how it’ll work here.
But I figure it’ll be similar.
Besides, phase five probably won’t even matter.
Against a monster like that, one hit is instant death anyway.
But if they summon a boss like that right in the middle of a city…
“Th-this is a huge problem, isn’t it?!”
“It is. And the fact that it will be either Urusphier or Cartia makes it worse. We can’t concentrate our forces, and we can’t easily evacuate people either.”
“Uh, uhh…”
There was something this serious going on, and they were arguing about warriors this and mages that?
“Lady Sirin, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“Do you believe the three of us can subjugate a Beast of the End?”
Ser, who for once had returned her spirit to the spirit realm instead of killing it, looked at Sirin.
But three? There are four of us here…
“This body does not know Valoran’s exact strength either… but if we face him at full power, six-tenths.”
Sirin’s gaze flicked between me and Rubia.
“If you two have not undergone the trial, two-tenths. And since there is not enough time to take the trial right now, we must regard it as two-tenths.”
The hand holding mine turned ice-cold in an instant, cold sweat beading on Rubia’s skin.
“Two-tenths… it will be a hard fight.”
What, is Sirin sitting out the subjugation?
Why…? Does she have another secret she can’t talk about?
No, but Rubia and Ser are treating Sirin’s absence like it’s obvious.
Did they talk about something while I was unconscious…?
“It would be good if we could gather another subjugation force, but then Noah would not be able to participate. Erden has officially branded her a heretic.”
“…Huh?”
Me? Huh? Heretic? Whaaat?
“I-I’m a heretic…? I’m not a heretic…?”
“That is why those wearing Erden’s armor came to kill you.”
“W-why all of a sudden?”
“Because Rubia is at your side.”
“She is?”
“That is the reason.”
“Uhh…?”
What… is that supposed to mean…?