Cartia (1)
“A subjugation...?”
“Yeah. The request went out to every adventurer operating in the Empire. Ordinary ones can ignore it if they want, but... I can’t.”
Charlotte gave a bitter smile.
“Then... do you know where Lady Sirin is?”
After a long, thoughtful hum, Rubia finally spoke.
“No idea. The ones who took the request—including the subjugation force I’m leading—make thirteen teams. About three hundred people total.”
“Three hundred...”
“We’re not all going together, of course. We’ll be scattering in different directions... and I got assigned south.”
“The opposite of Cartia, then.”
“Exactly.”
Rubia straightened her clothes, smoothed her tousled hair, and settled slowly onto the sofa, looking at me.
“Noah, what do you think?”
“I... think she must have had a reason...”
Sure, Sirin’s endlessly flippant and annoying, but I don’t believe she would have done something like that for no reason at all. After all, Sirin isn’t an ordinary being. There has to be a reason.
“I feel the same. We’re not especially close, but she doesn’t seem like the type to cause that kind of trouble without cause. And just yesterday there was that mage attack... it’s hard to say they’re connected, but it’s also hard to say they aren’t.”
“That so?”
“Yes. I’m not blindly taking Lady Sirin’s side, but... that’s where we stand.”
“Is that right...” Charlotte nodded, then pulled a small orb from her coat.
“Here. Take this.”
“What... is it?”
“A video-transmission artifact. I haven’t opened it, so I don’t know what’s on it either. But... they said it would help you two.”
“...Who did?”
“They said I ought to use my wish ticket, didn’t they?”
Wish ticket. It’s Sirin!
“Wish ticket... Did Lady Sirin come in person? No—then she should have come straight to us—”
“A spirit.”
Charlotte gave a hollow laugh and stuck a cigarette between her lips.
“A spirit delivered it. One that could talk, with a clear mind of its own.”
“A top-tier spirit...? A spirit of that level... No, more importantly, the only people who can command spirits are...”
A spirit? In this world, the only spirit mage I know of is...
“That’s right. It belongs to the Magic Tower Master, ‘Ser.’”
Ser. The one and only spirit mage in this world. And... she was the Magic Tower Master, huh. I don’t even know what the Magic Tower does. Why it exists. Where it is. But Ser knows. I don’t know her story, but... I can’t forget the way she looked in the final battle. Even someone like me, who hates mages, wanted to try a spirit mage at least once after seeing her. The reason... well, it was flashy, sure, but mostly because the spirits she commanded were ridiculously pretty... Total big-sister vibes, beautiful way of speaking, wonderful personality, and even her smile was gorgeous... H-honestly Rubia’s pretty too, but on Rubia’s level—
“Noah.”
“Y-yes?!”
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“Uh... n-nothing. Really.”
Rubia watched me in silence, then leaned back against the sofa and crossed her legs.
“Are you sure?”
That low voice... scary...
“I-I was just... thinking about the past a little.”
“The past?”
“...Yes.”
“We’ll talk about it later. Privately.”
“Uh... I-I’d rather not... I want to talk now...”
“This isn’t the time for small talk. Later. Just the two of us.”
“...Yes...”
Rubia let out a small sigh and turned back to Charlotte.
“So the Magic Tower Master wasn’t kidnapped.”
“Right. Haa... What the hell is even going on... Tch.”
Charlotte sparked a flame in her palm, burned the mana-herb clean, and stuck a fresh one between her lips.
“In the first place, why not send the spirit straight to you two? Why go through me? What, testing me?”
“That’s true... If they knew where Charlotte was, they should have known where we were too. Why go to the trouble...”
“That slippery bitch. Rubs me the wrong way in more ways than one. Haa...”
Slippery bitch...? Is she talking about Sirin, or... Ser?
“Anyway, I came to tell you that’s how it is. Yuria’ll come herself later, I guess. She said she’s heading to Roholan with Hepais.”
“Roholan...”
“Said she’s packing the stuff she left behind and has somewhere to go. You two are heading to Cartia, right?”
“...Yes. We are.”
“Noah...?”
Rubia hesitated, chewing her lip, so I answered for her.
“Yeah. Even if Rubia says she won’t go, drag her there by force if you have to.”
“G-got it.”
Charlotte nodded in satisfaction and burned her mana-herb down.
“Remember that good news I was supposed to tell you yesterday?”
Ah...? Was there something like that...?
While I tilted my head, trying to remember, Rubia spoke first.
“Ah, right. Well... it’s obvious enough, but go ahead.”
“You’re so confident it’s throwing me off a little.”
“Just tell us already. What is it?”
“Uh, yeah... First, all the clothes made from Tyrant hide are finished, and the fragment... that one’s been officially recognized as Noah’s property.”
Fragment? Tyrant’s Fragment??
“...What?! R-really...?”
“Yeah. Not that surprising, is it? You took it down alone. Anyone who tried to snatch it after that would be a complete bastard.”
After Carpeng’s Fragment, now Tyrant’s Fragment... I’ve used Tyrant’s Fragment enough times to remember it perfectly. The ability to absorb ambient mana from the atmosphere and make it your own. Honestly, neither Rubia nor I had any mana before, so I never cared much about Tyrant’s Fragment. But I have mana now! I can use mana!! Whoa! Infinite mana, here I come!!
“Whoa... Whoaaa! Whoa!”
“Pfft... That happy about it?”
“O-of course!”
And there’s a super-important setting: Tyrant’s Fragment doesn’t have to be socketed into a weapon. You can put it in armor and still use the ability! Armor? Hell, stick it in an earring, a necklace, any accessory, and you can use it all you want!! No idea if reality works the same way, but... it probably does, right? Then... then I’m carrying two epic-grade fragments! Holy... holy crap! Holy mother of—! But... in the game you couldn’t use two fragments at once, so reality’s probably the same. In that case... I almost never use Carpeng’s Fragment. Not feeling pain and being able to keep fighting is nice, but the penalties are brutal. Having to drink enemy blood just to maintain it is way too picky. And it messes with my head a little! When that thing activates I get all hyped up and start acting like I did in the game... That’s how those weird rumors started! From now on I’m only using Tyrant’s Fragment!
“Uh... yeah. Seeing you this happy makes all the effort worth it...”
“Th-thank you so much!”
“And you’re speaking up nice and loud... What, was the whole socially-awkward-geek thing just a bit?”
“N-no it wasn’t...?”
“See? The second you talk it comes right back. You putting on the geek act to trigger Rubia’s maternal instincts? Pretty clever.”
“What are you even— I-I’m telling you it’s not...!”
Hah, unbelievable. She thinks... she thinks I’m acting like a socially awkward geek on purpose?! I want to speak clearly too! Without stuttering! Loud and clear! But... damn it... this is already unfair enough...
“Well, anyway. That’s how it is. You’ll probably receive the fragment in Cartia. I asked them to send it to Urusphier, but the higher-ups cut that and ordered it sent to Cartia instead.”
“The higher-ups cut it? What does that mean?”
“They won’t tell me why. Some Central Guild executive or whatever just shut his mouth and said even a princess like me didn’t need to know.”
Charlotte’s and Rubia’s gazes locked onto me at the same time.
“Noah, what the hell are you, really?”
“Huh...?”
“You know someone in the Central Guild leadership or something?”
“N-no...?”
Charlotte set her shield down and perched on the edge of a chair.
“I don’t get it. Okay, fine... you really did take it down alone. You protected the village, protected the city—that’s all true. But... this situation just doesn’t make sense.”
“Mm... I thought the same thing, honestly.”
“R-Rubia too...?”
“Of course. Way too many resources are concentrated on one person. The Eastern Nightmare Carpeng, the White Disaster Tyrant. Not just their materials—the fragments that matter most. Even if I pushed hard for this Tyrant Fragment, with Carpeng the Central Guild decided on their own without any pressure from me... You’re not actually some ridiculously high-level adventurer pretending to be a beginner, are you?”
Charlotte’s relentless barrage left me so overwhelmed I stopped catching half of what she was saying midway through...
“The Central Guild is never that generous. But the second you’re involved, they go soft. Something’s... fishy.”
“Well... let’s just take it as a good thing. They’ve given us this much support and still haven’t made any strange moves. The order to send it to Cartia bothers me a little, but... Noah, don’t worry too much, okay?”
“Y-yes...”
Is it really that serious...? Even if they’re nice to me, it’s not like anything comes of it...
“Haa... Fine. Let’s keep it simple. Anyway, it worked out. If it’s going to you instead of some random bastard, I can rest easy.”
“Rest easy...?”
“Yeah. I don’t think you’ll go crooked. And you’ve got a lover right next to you to hold the reins.”
Charlotte smirked, glancing between me and Rubia.
Rubia smiled shyly, cheeks faintly pink.
And me?
I tilted my head.
“L-lover? I don’t have one...?”
At that exact moment—
Crunch—
One of Rubia’s teeth shattered and fell to the floor.