Among the Names of the Victims
After arranging a sparring session with Iris, I ran through the drills I'd just finished one more time.
When I finally looked around, I realized about half the people who'd been training were already gone. Allen and his hangers-on were nowhere to be seen either. Figuring it was about time I headed back myself, I left the training grounds.
On my way past the front of the academy toward the dorms, I spotted someone I knew.
A girl with black hair tied into two tails that hung down low. Phelis Valtreia.
I was fairly sure she'd been at the training grounds with Allen only a little while ago, but now she was somehow alone. She glanced around with an anxious look, then took off running toward the academy's main gate.
What's that about?
That was the right direction if she was heading back to Cupr Hall, where she lived — but the restlessness coming off her bothered me a little. Still, if it wasn't something that would cause us any trouble, it wasn't really my concern.
With that, I headed back to the dorms.
Cupr Hall, the women's dormitory.
It was where the academy's commoner girls lived. Compared to Aurum Hall, reserved for high-ranking nobles, or Argen Hall for the lower nobility, it was a step down — but it was still a considerably more luxurious place to live than an ordinary commoner's home.
Phelis Valtreia lived here as well, of course.
"I'm back."
"Welcome home, Phelis."
The voice that greeted her belonged to her roommate — currently serving a suspension — Aria Owen. Her severed hair had been recut and restyled into a short bob, and she looked up as Phelis came in.
"Aria, how are you feeling?"
"Mm... I think I'm a lot better."
The day before, Aria had spent the entire day in bed with a headache, and Phelis had stayed by her side nursing her the whole time. Phelis had originally meant to go see Allen again, but she couldn't leave a sick friend behind.
"By the way, Aria."
"What's wrong? You look upset."
Phelis swallowed hard and opened her mouth.
"Miss Liliana... she dropped out of the academy."
"...I see."
Liliana Edwin hadn't been close with Aria and Phelis for all that long. Even if she was lower nobility, she was a hereditary noble through and through, and when they'd first enrolled she'd felt like someone from an entirely different world. But at some point they'd started spending more time together. At some point they'd grown close, and at some point they'd started going around with her — or rather, with Allen...
"Allen thinks she dropped out because of Kyou Ventus."
"Well... he's not exactly wrong."
It was already public knowledge that Liliana Edwin wouldn't be able to keep attending the academy unless she received Kyou Ventus's forgiveness. And after being away from the academy for so long, she'd suddenly withdrawn? Plenty of people would assume the Ventus family had refused to forgive her, leaving her with no choice.
Aria Owen, however, thought otherwise.
"...Of course, I think Miss Liliana probably left of her own accord."
"What...?"
Phelis, who had privately assumed — just as the rumors said — that Liliana had dropped out because Kyou Ventus's family wouldn't forgive her, stared at Aria in surprise.
"I wrote a letter to my father after I got suspended."
"To your father?"
Aria's father, Albert Owen, was a commoner — but he ran a commercial enterprise large enough to sway an entire city some distance from here. A wealthy merchant, he had money to spare, and unlike his eldest son, whom he was grooming as his successor, his daughter had a talent for magic. So he'd sent her to Gransen Academy.
"Father hates it when things aren't accurate... so I just wrote everything honestly. What I did, what punishment I received — all of it."
"......"
Phelis's face went pale. Albert Owen was a successful merchant — capable and bold — but when he got angry, he was a veritable volcano. The thought of telling a man like that that she'd attacked a noble from behind... she didn't even want to imagine what came after.
"Father... he just showed up here. Then he slapped me across the face and was furious."
While Phelis had been at the academy, Albert Owen had barged all the way into the dormitory where his daughter lived. He'd raced to the royal capital, and the moment he saw her face he exploded with rage and struck her cheek hard — a daughter he had never once hit before.
"What in the world possessed you to do something like that?! And of all houses — House Ventus?!"
According to Albert, House Ventus also dealt in the various rare minerals of the north, as well as precious monster materials from that harsh northern environment. In other words, they were clients no merchant could afford to lose. Albert Owen himself did business with the family, and he worried and worried over just how catastrophic his daughter's actions could prove.
In the end, after meeting his daughter that day and hearing the story in full once more, Albert Owen went all the way to Ventus County himself.
He endured the bitter cold of the northern territory and somehow made it there. Laden with goods prepared as an apology, he was received by the Count, who spoke with a faintly grave expression.
"That boy of mine... he didn't mention any of this in his letter..."
"I... my daughter committed a truly grave discourtesy... I don't even know what to say..."
"...So. Was he badly hurt?"
"Ah... no, my lord! He actually blocked the magic and even counterattacked... You have a truly excellent son..."
Albert Owen's words were drowned out by Count Ventus's booming laughter.
"Hahahahaha!! That's my son, all right! All that training paid off!"
"...Pardon?"
"So, did your daughter receive punishment?"
"Ah... yes! She turned herself in and received a one-month suspension..."
"I see."
Well, if the academy's already handed down a punishment, I've got nothing more to say.
Muttering that to himself, Count Ventus looked at Albert. Then he opened his mouth.
"Well now. The girl's own father came all this way with gifts in hand. Wouldn't it be a bit ridiculous of me to throw a fit and refuse to forgive her?"
"I... is that so...?"
"The Owen Merchant Guild is an important trading partner for our county as well, and if my son wasn't seriously injured, there's no need for our relationship to sour."
With that, Count Ventus readily forgave Aria's actions. A bit dazed, but with a considerably lighter heart, Albert Owen returned and told his daughter the entire story.
"They're a family that generously forgave even someone like me — a girl who ambushed their son from behind."
"Th-they did...?"
It was honestly unexpected, as far as Phelis was concerned. Her own family ran a clothing shop that mainly did business with nobles, so she encountered them often — and most of the nobles she knew had a strong tendency to fly into a rage over even the slightest harm to themselves.
"So you think they wouldn't forgive her just for keeping on at the academy?"
"Th-that's... a fair point."
"Whether it was Miss Liliana's own will or her family's circumstances, I think it's right to see it as her leaving on her own."
Hearing Aria's story, Phelis found herself thinking that might well be the case.
But even if Aria and Phelis thought so, there was someone who wouldn't.
"But Allen seemed firmly convinced that Kyou Ventus was the cause."
"...Even if he thinks that, there's nothing he can do about it. Just leave him be."
"Yes. That's why he's training so hard — he says he'll take him down at the Martial God Festival."
"The Martial God Festival? Ah... come to think of it, that's next week."
The Martial God Festival was a grand three-day celebration centered on the day the Martial God was born. Visitors to the royal capital swelled in number, and for merchants it was a major chance to turn a profit — on par with Kingdom Founding Day or the First Emperor's birthday. Aria, a merchant's daughter herself, had been to the Martial God Festival more times than she could count.
"Do you think you'll be able to go to the Martial God Festival, Aria?"
"If it's just as a spectator, that's fine. It's not an academy-sponsored festival."
"Then want to walk around together? It's been a while, and we could see Allen too..."
"...Ah, I'll pass on that."
Aria's expression darkened a little.
"...For some reason, I just have this feeling I shouldn't see Allen anymore..."
The next morning, as I was having breakfast, Phyllis approached me.
"Young Master."
"Phyllis, what is it?"
She held out an envelope.
"A letter, sir. The sender is Lady Eve."
"From Eve?"
Come to think of it, she had said she'd let me know how things were going once she reached the Ignis Duchy. Still... wasn't this a bit too fast?
I opened the letter and read it.
Kyou,
As promised, I am writing to inform you of the situation at the ducal estate.
What I found here is far more serious than I had imagined.
Of all the servants and soldiers of the ducal mansion, every last one — with the exception of six — has fallen into an unresponsive, comatose state.
Among those affected are a number of key figures in the household, including the Head Maid, the Butler, and Albert Ludwig.
I will write again once I know more.
— Eve Ignis
"......"
As I read, I could feel my own face going stiff. The contents of the letter were that serious.
"Young Master?"
"...Hah. This is..."
I handed the letter to Phyllis. She looked at me. I nodded to indicate she could read it, and she turned her eyes to the page. Her expression grew grave as well.
"Young Master, this is... what on earth..."
"I don't know either. Hah, this is driving me insane..."
Of all the servants and soldiers of the ducal mansion, every last one except six had fallen into an unresponsive state. That alone was shocking enough. On top of that, the names of key figures among the unconscious were listed as well. Names I didn't know — the head maid, the butler, and so on.
And...
Honestly, even though I'd figured Allen was the culprit, I hadn't thought he'd done those things of his own will. He'd never shown that kind of behavior, and looking at how he carried himself, I'd taken him for the type who just did whatever he felt like without thinking.
So after hearing what Riel, Eve, and Phyllis had to say, I'd settled on one person as the most suspicious. The one who'd introduced Allen to the ducal household, who'd been working in the shadows to drive Phyllis out... or so I'd believed.
But that name...
That name was among the names of the important figures of the ducal mansion who had fallen unconscious.