Festival (5)
When my senses returned, the first thing that took shape was the hem of Sirin’s sleeve resting by my pillow.
So I really did win.
Heheh…
“What… how do you faint twice over a single spar…?”
“Hwahahaha! Still, was it not splendid? Your swordsmanship may not be exceptional, yet in another sense it was truly outstanding.”
“Mm… yes. You’re right. I don’t know much about swords, but even I could tell that last move was incredible.”
Rubia’s rough yet gentle hand stroked my hair.
Was I really that amazing? For real?
“Ugh, is that funny to you? Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“Uuu… b-but I still… won the spar… so… praise me…”
“…Fine. You did well. You did very, very well. You even looked cool… and more than anything, I’m just glad you weren’t badly hurt.”
With a faintly regretful voice, Rubia began pinching my cheek.
“Indeed. You most certainly defeated me. Hwahahaha… I truly never imagined it.”
Sirin beamed and stretched a hand toward me.
I hesitated over whether to take it… but worried her hand might feel awkward if I left it hanging, I grasped it and rose to my feet.
“Do you remember that sensation from earlier?”
“Uuum…”
The image floated up in my mind…
My body and the sword had felt identical… as if I weren’t swinging a blade at all, but swinging my own body…
No—not my body. Something more fundamental… swinging my very existence itself…? What kind of nonsense is that?
“I-I don’t know…”
I really didn’t.
It was like freely shaping the form of drifting smoke however I pleased.
A one-time success… and not even because I was skilled, but because I’d gotten ridiculously lucky…
“As expected. Better that you do not know. That is a realm you must not yet reach. Had you been an ordinary human, you would have died the instant you swung.”
“D-d-die…? Me…? Why…?”
“What… you die just from swinging a sword?”
Hearing our questions, Sirin smiled faintly and turned her back.
Then, just like that, she lifted her greatsword and swung it once.
Clearly—behind her—once.
The sleeve of the robe beside her floated into the air.
It split in half.
Then half again.
Half.
Half.
Half.
“Because it twists the very foundation of the world. Without the proper qualifications, one may well die.”
With those words, the endlessly dividing sleeve scattered into the empty air, mingling with Rubia’s soft gasp.
“The foundation… twisted…? Noah did that?”
“Rubia, it seems you understand what this means.”
“…Yes.”
Foundation? Qualifications…?
“R-Rubia… what does that mean?”
“Noah, your sword ignored all else and left behind only the ‘result’ of the sleeve being cut.”
“…Result?”
“Without any trial. Without any granted qualification.”
A bitter smile touched Sirin’s face.
“You performed a Reversal.”
She raised her hand just so.
“Yet you must not.”
She flicked her fingers.
“You must become the same sky.”
The world inverted.
“So then, what shall we eat for dinner?”
Rubia let out a sigh as she looked at Sirin, who held a chicken skewer in one hand and tanghulu in the other.
“Last time you left right away, but today you seem to have plenty of time.”
Right before we left the Room of Spirit and Time, Sirin had said something about us not being qualified to hear it, so she refused to explain… and we never properly learned what she meant.
The moment we stepped out, while Rubia and I stood there dazed, Sirin had already bounced back to her usual energy and started darting all over the place.
Time slipped by, and evening arrived.
“Hmph! This body is exceedingly free today!”
Snorting proudly, Sirin shoved both the tanghulu and the chicken skewer into her mouth at once and began chewing with gusto.
What… what on earth is she doing?
“I-I see… yes. For dinner… well. Is there anything special you’d like? Noah, is there something you want to eat?”
“This body desires meat!”
“Uum… as long as it’s not s-seafood, I don’t mind.”
“Then shall we get takeout and eat at the inn? Eating at the inn is quieter and nicer than a restaurant, don’t you think? And if we buy dessert too, we can eat it right away.”
“Ooh! Then might you purchase more of those sugar-coated fruits for this body?”
“I-I… what should I get… we already have so many jellies… c-candy… uum… can I take a little longer to decide…?”
“The two of you the moment you put down your swords… haah…”
Rubia glanced between Sirin and me and sighed again.
“Alright… first let’s walk around a bit and look at everything.”
“Excellent!”
Leaving Sirin striding ahead, Rubia held her hand out to me.
The memory of the cotton candy from earlier flashed unbidden through my mind; I flinched, then carefully took her hand.
“Noah, are sugar-coated fruits fine for you too?”
“Uum… I’m torn. We already have a mountain of jellies… so between sugar-coated fruit and regular candy…”
“You don’t like cotton candy?”
“C-co… cotton candy is… y-yes… w-we already ate some earlier, right…?”
Her soft laugh and whispered words sent another jolt through my body.
“We already ate sugar-coated fruit and candy earlier too, you know.”
“N-no… cotton candy is… th-that… something you only eat once a day…”
“Then I’ll just eat it myself.”
Cotton candy… I want some too.
Earlier I was so flustered I barely even tasted it before it was gone…
But if Rubia asks me to feed her again… then… then my fingers will… hnn…
Ah! Wait! I can just steal little bites of Rubia’s!
Wow, I’m actually a genius.
“R-Rubia’s… j-just one bite, please.”
“Didn’t you say you only eat it once a day?”
“E-earlier… you took a bite too, so… o-one bite isn’t enough.”
“Is that how it works?”
“O-of course.”
Rubia looked down at me with an unreadable expression, then smiled softly and nodded.
“Alright. But we’ll save the cotton candy for right before bed.”
“Y-yes…? W-why? Brushing my teeth right before sleep is such a hassle…”
“Tonight, there’s something we need to do on the bed. Something very, very important.”
The hand holding mine squeezed tighter.
“On the bed…? Something important…?”
“Yes. I’m sure… it’ll feel good. For you and for me. It’s my first time too, so I’m not completely sure how it’ll go… but I know what that feeling is like, so it’ll probably be fine. At first the sensation of something stirring deep inside might be a little scary, but it’s alright. Just listen carefully to what I say.”
She licked her lips and wore a wickedly alluring smile.
What on earth are we doing that would be scary?
What could stir deep inside…?
I’m curious.
Insanely curious.
Yet some instinct screamed that asking would be disastrous, and it clamped my mouth shut.
“…B-but if we eat cotton candy on the bed and it… s-spills, what then…?”
Instead… I asked something else.
“Then we just eat it carefully. Cleanly.”
“Uh, um…”
“We have spare sheets, so it’s fine.”
Why leave spare sheets?
Couldn’t she just clean everything with her Divine Power?
Hmm… maybe even after cleaning with Divine Power it still feels unclean?
Well, Rubia always takes an extra shower even after purifying herself that way.
“I-I see… okay.”
“Yes. Noah, just trust me and give me everyth—”
“Hear me! Tonight’s dinner shall be this!”
“…Tsk.”
“Eh…?”
Sirin’s shout from afar cut Rubia’s words short.
But… but just now, didn’t she click her tongue like she was really annoyed?
“Mm, cube steak. Not bad. Noah, is that alright with you?”
Ah, maybe I imagined it…?
“Y-yes. I… don’t mind.”
“This body has already chosen the sauce and doneness. What of you two?”
“I’ll take the regular with medium. Noah?”
I… wonder what flavors there are.
Maybe I should just copy Rubia…?
“Uuum… I’ll also take regular… well-done.”
“Hm?”
Sirin, who had been grinning brightly, suddenly crossed her arms with a serious face.
“W-why…?”
“Who eats steak well-done?”
“…I-I don’t like the blood dripping.”
Of course I can’t see it, so I wouldn’t know.
But still… still, eating it like that is hard.
It’s gross.
Sirin’s head tilted as if she couldn’t comprehend my words.
“You… were you not a blood-drinking demon?”
“Ugh… th-that… that’s all just baseless rumors…!”
Beside her, Rubia’s head tilted as well.
Why is Rubia…?
“Baseless rumors…?”
“A-ah… R-Rubia too…?”
“Pfft— I’m joking.”
“Really just a joke…?”
“…C-come on, let’s go order already?”
“Huh? Rubia…! That wasn’t a joke, was it!”
Wearing an incredibly smug smile, Rubia let go of my hand and sauntered off to place the order.
The instant she moved away from me—
“Ah, ghk…”
A pain like my skull splitting open hit me, and all strength left my body.
The rough texture of the ground swallowed me.
The scenery drawn by Qi Sensing twisted into chaos.
Sensation in my limbs faded, and even the sounds in my ears grew muffled and distant.
Just as every sense was about to shut off completely—
[Are you alright?]
Sirin’s voice rang inside my head.
Feeling returned to my limbs.
The pain began to ease.
“Hnn… eugh… ukh…”
I tried to answer, but blood surged up my throat and no sound came out.
“Noah!”
Rubia rushed over and poured Divine Power into my body.
My ragged breathing steadied, and the churning in my stomach calmed.
“Noah, are you okay? What in the world—”
“What the fuck is this… who the hell are you?”
Rubia’s words were cut off by a woman’s stream of curses.
“Looks like your side is getting desperate too.”
Sirin’s voice had gone completely cold.
“Dispelling without even a chant… just what are you?”
“Rubia, it would be best if you took Noah back to the inn.”
“What…?”
“Hey, you fucking— can you not hear me? Who the hell are y—”
KRA-CRACK—
“…Huh?”
Rubia’s voice, thick with horror, echoed through the quiet alley.
Quiet alley?
That couldn’t be right.
It had been so noisy just a moment ago.
I focused every scrap of my still-hazy Qi Sensing and forced the surrounding scenery into shape.
“W-what… is this…”
Everyone who had been enjoying the festival.
Everyone who had been laughing happily—lay collapsed on the ground.
Convulsing, bleeding from every orifice.
And the woman who had been cursing—
her jaw shattered, was crawling across the dirt.
“We had planned to dine together, yet what a pity. We shall eat when next we meet.”
Sirin wore a gentle smile that clashed utterly with the savage edge in her voice.
“Noah, you as well would do well to take care of your body from now on. Still… enjoy this festival. Until it ends, there shall be no further trouble. This body shall take responsibility.”
A crushing wave of mana pressed down on the entire area.
Mana pouring from the body of the woman whose jaw was broken, still dragging herself across the ground.
At the same time—
Sirin’s voice resounded through the world.
KRRRRRRK—
The woman’s body twisted, folded, and crumpled in on itself.
Organs spilled from her mouth.
Filth of every kind burst out.
Yet she was still alive.
“S-Sirin…?”
Rubia clutched me tightly against her.
“Mm, I have done something rather unsightly. I shall clean up the townsfolk here myself, so the two of you may leave.”
Sirin raised her arm.
“I shall visit again before long.”
She flicked her fingers.
“If you wish to become my disciple, continue your training diligently until then.”
The scenery flipped.
“You must never rely solely on your ‘stats.’”
Inside the quiet room of the inn, only Rubia’s trembling breaths filled the air.