Of All Days
Chris read the room before he answered.
"Alex."
"Why?"
He couldn't find an answer. Only when the knights all fixed him with sharp, pressing stares did he drop his voice until it was nearly a whisper.
"His character is the worst of them."
"The criminal type, you mean?"
"I wouldn't know about that. His relationship with the prince was the worst there was. The other squad members liked His Highness."
"You're not framing him just because he tried to kill you?"
Carl started in surprise.
"Alex tried to kill Chris?"
Bianca mimed the slash of a dagger.
"He even drew a weapon to do it."
"Then Chris's claim will be difficult to trust."
Chris protested, aggrieved.
"I never said Alex was the culprit."
"You said he was suspicious."
"I only said it because you knights kept forcing an answer out of me. I don't actually believe he's the one who did it."
A brief silence fell, broken by the sound of Carl shifting.
"If there's nothing more to ask, I'll take my leave."
"Thank you for your cooperation," Bianca said.
Carl departed, and Chris raised a hand.
"Might I leave as well?"
"Stay with us until we've questioned Alex."
"Why?"
"You're the only one here who knows him. If it looks like he's lying, give us a signal."
Michael slipped quietly outside. He meant to summon Alex, though Chris doubted the man would come — not after having felt a knight's blade at his throat.
"I'm hungry. Let's eat."
They moved to the dining room. They were partway through the steak sandwiches they had ordered for lunch when Michael returned.
"Alex will be here in an hour."
"Good. You eat too. The steak sandwiches here are excellent."
Between the meal, the tea, and the talk, the hour passed. Alex appeared with a face as pale as the snow heaped along the road.
"A pleasure to see you, Commander."
Sometime in the last few days, it seemed, he had learned the man's rank.
"Greeted by a Spirit Awakener!" Yan said. "The first such honor of my entire life."
Anyone could hear the sarcasm in it. The finest knight in the kingdom had no reason to speak of honor before someone who had only just awakened to mana. You had to reach the realm of Thought Formulation before you could expect even a measure of respect.
"Please don't say such things, not even as a joke."
"It isn't a joke."
"Speak comfortably, then. This is burdensome."
Yan's brow twitched.
"And this is the wretch who spoke down to His Highness and mocked him!"
Color rose in Alex's face.
"Inside the magic tower, rank from the outside doesn't function. Only ability matters. Even that slave over there ate at the same table as the rest of us and meditated in the same place."
Chris cut in.
"I never once used casual speech with the nobles. When we meditated I always yielded my place, and when we had to share a space I stayed on the floor at their feet. I never so much as trespassed on their shadows. The first time I spoke casually was when Sir Alex tried to kill me..."
Alex glared at him as if he meant to kill him on the spot.
"That one bears me malice. Don't believe him."
Bianca had shown Catherine and Frank a respectful manner. The tone she turned on Alex was nothing of the kind.
"What malice?"
"He seems jealous."
"Jealous of what?"
"High birth, mana already sensed, a handsome face, plenty of money, powerful friends... there's no shortage of things to envy."
"And being so superior, you tormented the prince?"
Yan was commander of the knight order, so Alex had bowed his head to him. He owed no such courtesy to a young woman. He glared at her.
"Who are you?"
"Bianca, of the Royal Knight Order."
"Your post?"
"An ordinary knight."
"An ordinary knight dares speak freely to a Spirit Awakener of the magic tower."
Bianca laughed in his face.
"And what's so great about a Spirit Awakener?"
"Mages look down on the kingdom's nobles."
"You're not a mage. You're only a Spirit Awakener."
Alex glared at her, furious. Watching him huff and pant, Bianca let out a short laugh.
"You're laughing?"
She laughed again, making certain he saw it. Alex clenched his fists and trembled, but with the commander present he couldn't have his fit.
"Why did you try to kill Chris?" Yan asked.
"He framed me."
"From where I stood, it wasn't a frame."
"There's no way I killed the prince."
"You have no alibi."
"Noble blood runs in these veins. Do you imagine that I, who know a noble's pride, would have killed Mark in secret? If I'd meant to kill him, I would have challenged him to a duel in the open."
Chris tossed the words out lightly.
"Weren't you dead last?"
Alex's eyes went sharp as axe blades.
"What did you say?"
"You came in last every time, so you took your stress out on His Highness. And then, on impulse — stab!"
"Still framing me! You must be dying to get yourself killed."
Chris lifted his chin and bared his throat.
"Kill me, if you can."
"Bold, with the knight commander at your back. You think they'll stay in the magic tower forever? We'll see about this later."
That last part was a little frightening. Chris lowered his chin at once.
"Quite the airs on him," John said.
Michael took it up.
"If a Spirit Awakener is already like this, give him a mage's qualification and he'll be raising rebellions."
At the word rebellion, the heat that had flushed Alex's face cooled fast. He clenched his teeth. An uneasy air drifted through the room.
"Tell us everything that happened the day His Highness died," Yan ordered. "Leave nothing out."
Alex exhaled roughly, brimming with resentment, but he couldn't refuse the command. His statement took a long time. They picked over every trivial detail, and by the time the account had advanced as far as the Lion Pavilion, the world outside had gone dark.
By then there was no way he could fail to understand that he was under suspicion. Alex exploded.
"How many times are you going to ask the same question? I told you — I was lying in bed, exhausted, when the message came!"
"Why did you go looking for His Highness that day?"
"This must be the tenth time for this one, too. I told you. I meant to help him."
"You usually mocked him, despised him, tormented him — and suddenly you meant to help? That doesn't hold together."
"I was reflecting on the past. I meant to become a new man."
Chris muttered, as if to himself.
"Of all days."
The senses sharpened once one reached the realm of Spirit Awakening. The knights' senses were keen as well, and every one of them heard him.
"You shut your mouth!"
Alex flared like fire.
"Oh, you heard that? Sharp ears."
"Chris made a fair point," Yan said. "Why turn over a new leaf on the very day the prince died?"
"I'd been publicly reprimanded the day before."
"The stress must have piled up. So you went looking for the prince to let it out."
"No."
"And in the end, you met him..."
"No. I didn't meet him that day."
Alex shouted, his voice cracking.
"I said I didn't meet him!"
"Something's pricking you. That's why you're shouting."
"It's because I've been wronged. Wronged."
The statement reached the Lion Pavilion, passed through the questioning of his alibi, and moved on to the part where he was folded into the group of suspects.
"Because of that bastard!"
Alex turned his resentment on Chris again.
"I did nothing wrong, and I nearly burned to death."
"If — truly — we assume, at odds of one in a thousand, that you didn't kill him, who do you think did?"
Alex answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Smith is the culprit."
"On what grounds?"
"He's a slave."
As if that settled the matter, Alex offered nothing more.
"Isn't it rather too easy, naming him the culprit simply because he's a slave?"
"Look at Chris and you'll see. The slaves of the Lion Pavilion are poor stock. That bitch Alice is arrogant beyond belief. Ugly as she is."
Chris smiled, bright and easy.
Yan had been watching him all the while. He asked,
"Why the smile?"
"Alice made Spirit Awakening on the very last day, like catching the final train. Hearing Alex badmouth her, I'd say her training is going well."
"Is she pretty?"
"No. She's ugly."
"How ugly?"
"Very."
"If she's that ugly, he was stating a fact. Hardly badmouthing, then."
"He called her arrogant. Alice is kind, and thoughtful. She hid that she'd sensed mana until the very last day, because she was afraid it would hurt me."
"You saw her wrong," Alex said. "She is arrogant."
"You're angry because Alice started behind you and still overtook you."
Alex was spent. He no longer even had the strength to be angry.
"Think whatever you like."
John turned to him.
"Aside from his being a slave, is there anything suspicious about Smith?"
"He was surprisingly strong. Sharp-edged, too. Smith refused to acknowledge the difference in station. Chris over there has no manners, but at least he acknowledged station. Until Mark died, anyway."
Yan looked to Chris.
"Why was that?"
"Leave out Alex, that complete waste of a man, and... those people never threw their rank around at me just for being nobles. A small bow of the head was enough. I didn't see any need to stir up trouble. Besides, they were valuable customers of mine."
The statement settled into a lull, then heated again at the point where the suspects burned.
"Why didn't you die?"
Veins stood out on Alex's neck.
"What is that supposed to mean? You'd have preferred I died?"
No one answered. Their silence carried the distinct feeling that yes, that would have been better.
"Wow. Seriously."
Alex was dumbfounded.
"I feel as if I've said this a hundred times today, but I'll say it again. I am innocent."
"You were off to the side of the flames."
"I was lucky."
"And you thought it was simply luck?"
Alex sank into thought, a long crease drawn between his brows. At last his mouth opened.
"I was standing a little apart from those three. I'm a winner, and they were losers, so there was bound to be a wall between us. Mage Randal seems to have decided to clear away the larger mass first."
"The larger mass?"
"Killing the three who were clustered together first is more efficient, isn't it?"
"Who was the mage who saved you?"
"I don't know."
"He spared your life, and you claim not to know him. Does that make sense?"
"I truly don't know."
Alex tore at his hair.
"The other mages keep digging at it too. I'm going out of my mind."
They had asked everything there was to ask. Dig any further, and nothing more seemed likely to come of it.
"The day after tomorrow, come here at this hour," Yan ordered.
"I've already given my statement. Why do I have to come again?"
"We have to verify whether what you said is true."
"Hah."
Alex sighed.
"Do as you like."
After he had gone, those who remained ate a late supper. When the meal was finished Chris made to leave. Yan stopped him once again, and a slow, ominous feeling began to creep over him. His instincts were not good.
The next day, Alice came to the VIP Guest Pavilion. It was the first time Chris had seen her since their last lesson. He was terribly glad, but with the knights around them he couldn't greet her with any familiarity. A look, and a light bow, were all he allowed himself.
"Have you eaten breakfast?"
Bianca asked it with a warm smile.
"Yes. I have."
Alice returned the greeting politely.
"Thank you."
"Since you've already eaten, let's talk over tea."
Unlike the hour with Alex, the mood was warm and easy.
They drank tea in the sitting room and made light conversation about life in the magic tower. When the cups were about half empty, Yan came to the point.
"Would you tell us what happened, starting from that morning?"
"Yes."
Alice drank off the rest of her tea in a single swallow and began. Things proceeded quietly enough, right up through the part about heading into the village with Chris. They demanded no detailed explanations and asked no follow-up questions. No one cut her off.
The statement flowed like water. Then, all at once, disaster arrived.
"His Highness put on that ridiculous helmet..."
Yan broke in.
"What helmet?"
"A helmet that's supposed to let you sense mana."
"Then Chris must have seen the helmet as well?"
At that, Chris's breath went short. On the day the prince died, Alice had been questioned by the mages, and she had left the Mana Helmet out of her account. She had hidden it even before the mages she feared, so Chris had been certain she wouldn't mention it today either. But Alice did not keep it hidden.