The Barbarian Mountains
"Department Head Cindy? Come eat with us. This is genuinely delicious."
Yulia smiled at Cindy, her voice brighter than usual. The situation itself was so bewildering that Cindy had all but short-circuited, and in the beat she hesitated, the door standing open behind her slid softly shut.
"What? Indoor?"
The one who had closed it was Indoor Fuss, deputy head of Finance. He pressed an index finger to his lips as if he were about to impart some tremendous secret.
"Please just let it go this once."
"...Hey. When did you even get to the hall?"
"Just now, obviously."
"Then you can write a report while you're here."
"It's exam period, Department Head."
"And yet you've got time to eat?"
"People die if they don't eat."
The two of them were still bickering when Jane, finished with the cooking, caught Blow's eye. He called over in a generous voice.
"Why don't you both come eat? We packed plenty. The rest of you, please come take some as well."
Everyone hesitated. The first to approach Blow was Yulia, her eyes bright with anticipation.
"Young master, we can eat it now?"
"Yes. It should be a little softer than what you usually have. I put in plenty of sugar."
"There was still room for it to improve? I'll try it right away."
Yulia said it in a voice alight with excitement, and the moment she accepted both the corn cheese and the Ollede, the Public Relations staff who had been watching the mood came up one after another and filled their plates.
"Hey, Cindy. You come eat too."
"......."
"You came in to mooch, didn't you."
"Bullshit."
"Then just leave."
With that, Blow turned his head. Indoor passed in front of the hesitating Cindy at an unhurried pace.
"Department Head, please go on in first. I'll eat, and then the library..."
"Hey, Indoor! You little—!"
Cindy drifted toward the food while chewing him out on the side, as if it were only happening to occur in that direction. Before long a plate of Ollede and corn cheese was in her hands as well. Still embarrassed from having raised her voice, she muttered in a voice that tried to crawl back down her throat.
"Well... so I'm actually eating Blow Deblique's cooking."
"It'll be good."
"You didn't put anything weird in this, did you?"
"As if."
"Anyway, thanks. Is this... some kind of disaster relief?"
"I actually came because of Senior Yulia. But it is exam season, so you're not wrong."
"And since when did you sink your claws into the head of Public Relations?"
"Claws, what claws. Did your exam go all right today? I remember you being decent at this, in your own way."
The moment the word exam left his mouth, everyone in the Public Relations office wilted. Cindy glanced around, then broke into a snicker.
"Crossing the line again."
"I feel like that was always my character."
"And that's... something to brag about?"
"Still. It's been a really long time since I talked with you like this, Cindy. Feels new."
"Yes, and why did you cheat during the Spirit Summoning Ritual, Mr. Blow Deblique?"
"We barely saw each other before that anyway. You were so very busy with official business."
"That's not it. Things were just already a complete wreck."
"Cindy, how about we eat first and talk after? Cheese Corn Cheese is no good once it cools."
"You named it, didn't you."
"How'd you know?"
"It just seemed like something you'd do."
Only then did Cindy look from the Ollede on her plate to the corn cheese and back, and start with the Ollede. Bright tomato freshness flooded her mouth. Her eyes flew open, and she chewed in earnest—the sausage mild and clean as it gave under her teeth, the onion still alive with texture and savor.
The flavor blew so far past what she had expected that she looked around before she could stop herself. Not only Deputy Indoor, but every member of Public Relations, even Yulia herself, was putting food into their mouths without the slightest attempt to hide their pleasure. It came to her with perfect clarity.
"Well?"
"...It's good."
"Edible, right?"
"Yeah. Makes me want to destroy a beer for the first time in ages."
Having said so, Cindy took a heaping bite of the corn cheese beside it as well. Cheese wound around the mouthful with ridiculous skill, and the mayonnaise came on in a violent rush of richness. The shock left her staring at him, utterly dazed.
"You made this? Blow Deblique?"
"There's a head chef for that."
"Ha. Right... If you'd said you made it, I wouldn't have believed you on my deathbed."
"That sausage dish, Ollede—that's the pre-evolution form."
"What?"
"It evolves one more stage. If we're grading it, call it Intermediate Tier magic."
"And above that?"
"Available when you visit the shop."
Cindy let out a short laugh and began twirling corn cheese around her fork.
"Right. You opened a restaurant in the Dusk Block. I heard that much."
"And you couldn't come even once?"
"I can't leave campus. Because of you."
"Me? Why?"
"You'll get hurt if you know."
Indoor nodded as if he quite agreed. Yulia, who had been swallowing corn cheese and watching their exchange with close attention, slipped neatly into it.
"You two seem to know each other."
"For a little while, early in the first semester of our first year..."
"That part was fun, though. Watching this one run around causing disasters was hilarious."
"......"
Blow closed his mouth the moment the past came up. Cindy, by contrast, added on in high spirits.
"Hm? Always picking fights with the kids from the knight school. And every single time, Skadi was beside herself."
"Pardon? Lady Skadi?"
"She was, wasn't she? Back then Skadi even wore her hair tied back, like this."
Cindy gathered her twin tails once and mimed tying them behind her head. Hearing that, Yulia called up Skadi as she had been in those early days and nodded.
"Oh... I think she did. The young lady was oddly quiet back then."
"Was she?"
"She caught it from you! Blow Deblique!"
"How much did she and I even drink."
"Every Monday, at Egg Bam."
"Maybe we did. Your memory's frighteningly good."
"You're the bad one."
Blow, for his part, tried once to recall Cindy as a new student, the same Cindy now working so diligently at her sausage. Back then she had gone out to play every single day, to a degree that made you wonder whether a person could even live like that. He had taken her for his own kind and gone drinking with her. Even so, her grades had sat at the very top. Remembering how dumbfounded he had been, Blow shook his head.
In any case, she had displayed that ability without reserve, and then she had the misfortune of catching the prince's eye. After that she had ended up living as someone bound to the student council, and in the end she was the only fourth-year who had even claimed a department-head seat.
"I see... Department Head of Finance? Which of the two dishes do you like better?"
"Ah. I prefer this red sausage dish a little more."
"Oh, really? That's unexpected."
Yulia blinked as if she simply could not believe it, and the others nearby caught the mood like a contagion and began adding their own remarks about the food.
"Department Head! I also think this sausage is better."
"No? The corn's better."
"Hey, how is corn supposed to share a table with meat?"
"So you're saying a dish our department head counts on one hand is garbage, is that it?"
"...That's not what I said. They're in different weight classes."
What was certain was that both were delicious. Satisfied with that, Blow gave a single nod to Linne and Jane, who had come all this way and worked hard beside him. Yulia slipped in again.
"Every time I eat it, I think tomato is an incredibly appealing ingredient."
"I agree. The response is better than I expected."
"I think we could use it more aggressively. Young master, shall we talk about that as well at the next contract?"
"Yes, that works. I'll go to the supplier and ask how much volume we can actually take."
"Good. Young master."
Yulia looked at him and laughed behind her hand, and Cindy's head tipped to one side.
That quiet, kind Senior Yulia, and Blow—who, to put it kindly, used to be downright feral—getting along like that. Live long enough and you really do see everything.
She gave a short laugh and put the last sausage in her mouth.
As the mood settled toward a finish, Blow and Jane began to clean up. Yulia, who had been talking with Cindy about student-council matters in the meantime, let out a sigh deep enough to sink the ground. Seeing it, Blow held out a reasonably wiped frying pan to Jane and asked Yulia a question.
"Senior, I wouldn't know about Finance, but Public Relations... I don't remember it being this busy."
"It wasn't, was it?"
"It's because Redfrin's running wild. That bi— that infuriating friend of ours."
Blow saw Cindy working very hard to restrain herself in front of Yulia, and swallowed the laugh that tried to escape.
"Really? It's that bad?"
"I'm telling you. Look how rough our Public Relations head's skin has gotten."
"...Ha ha... Look over there, young master. Articles Redfrin has scattered in just the past few days."
Only then did he see them: the wall Yulia was pointing at, packed full of red articles. Blow, one of Redfrin's greatest victims, narrowed his eyes and ran them slowly over the lot.
"You must be busy, Senior."
"Not at all. I'm only doing my job. Though I had meant to practice all sorts of magic with Hervena, and that time has rather disappeared on me."
Blow nodded, recalling the two of them debating magic at the hotel. At those words Cindy's face hardened, and she asked Yulia in a trembling voice.
"Department Head, you're... practicing magic with Hervena?"
"Yes! Hervena's approach to magic is so—! Completely different from mine, you know? I've received an enormous amount of help."
"Then I am officially giving up on the Capall Academia."
Cindy shook her head at that. Blow spoke to her in a teasing voice.
"You were never going to beat Senior or Hervena anyway."
"Hmph. If I just hadn't joined Finance..."
"If you hadn't joined...?"
Competitive fire lit in an instant. Yulia's eyes went round as she looked at Cindy, and Cindy quietly avoided them as she answered.
"It's nothing, Department Head."
With that, Jane packed away the last of the ingredients, and the catering service—which had grown larger than expected—was able to end in triumph. Cindy draped the blanket she had brought over her shoulders and spoke to Blow.
"That was a good meal. Blow Deblique."
"The opening's soon. Come if you want."
"Hmph. If our Indoor over there finishes his work on time, I might."
Indoor, who had been talking with the Public Relations staff, drifted over to her side as if it were nothing. Cindy lifted a hand at him.
"You're going?"
"See you next time."
"Right. Department Head Yulia, I'll be heading back."
Cindy gave Yulia a short bow and went out. After receiving the farewell, Yulia watched Blow in silence for a moment, then asked, lightly.
"Young master, so you were close with the Finance head as well?"
"...We just drank a few times with Skadi in our first year."
"Hmm. I see."
Yulia's expression went subtle again. Blow remembered that look, and it sent a small chill through him, but he decided not to ask any further. He left Public Relations and headed for the inn.
The next day, Central Academy, where Kunsai attended, was buzzing with festival preparations. With the festival only a few days off, every afternoon class in this stretch had been replaced by setup, and the students had scattered to sweat over the events and booths they were running or helping with.
Central Academy was the largest school in Caipol. Its festival stood second in prestige only to the Capall Academia, in which every school belonging to the city took part. Because of that, not only their friends and parents but outsiders as well—citizens of the city among them—came through in great numbers. And the students were already locked in a quiet war of pride, each trying to draw even one more person to the event or booth they had prepared.
Delter, scion of a prestigious house of Parso, was no exception. What troubled him most at present was none other than Kunsai's booth. He had meant to rule the festival with the sweetness of sugar, but when he looked yesterday, the composition had seemed much the same as his own. So today Delter intended to go to Kunsai's booth, frighten him properly, and keep him from opening it at all.
"That slave bastard... getting in my sight..."
"You told him yesterday. Maybe he already took it down."
"If it's still there, I'll smash the whole booth."
"Ugh, then it just gets annoying."
"Still, what's that runt going to do about it?"
"True. He was too scared to even go find a teacher. Let's still settle it as peacefully as we can, yeah?"
Delter's crew, Rondo jeering among them at his side, soon arrived behind the Arts and Culture Hall. There, just as yesterday, Kunsai Cherohun was checking this and that at his own booth. The sight sent heat rushing up Delter's neck, and he bellowed at him.
"You little runt!"
"Delter..."
"Didn't I say it nicely yesterday?"
"......."
"Don't you understand words? Or do runts have a language of their own?"
At those words Kunsai faltered for an instant, and Delter's crew closed around him in a flash. Kunsai held his head high and simply looked at them. He was gazing upward, and yet the weight of his eyes was like someone looking down. Delter hated that look more than anything. Every time they faced each other, it grated on him and made him angry.
Kunsai's mouth was shut tight, as if he had no intention of answering. Delter seized him by the collar at once.
"You sugarcane slave. Not going to answer?"
"...Let go."
"What?"
"I said let go. There's someone I have to meet today."
"Bullshit. The only one who'd come looking for you is that shriveled old runt."
The words were aimed at Luta. The moment Kunsai heard them, his mood soured, and the fist he had clenched began to tremble. Delter's crew, seeing it, broke into scoffing laughs as if the sight were absurd. Then Delter lifted one corner of his mouth and asked,
"Look at that fist. What, you want to hit me? Go on. Try."
Delter clamped the collar harder, as if he meant to kill him, while his crew looked on and sneered. But Kunsai had no wish to create variables before the festival. He had no choice but to lower his eyes and quietly open his fist.
"Coward."
Kunsai heard it and was forcing the feeling rising in him back down when, from the far end of the booth grounds, voices that had grown familiar to his ears over the past few days came drifting in.
"This the place?"
"Yes. According to the map..."
"Talk about the middle of nowhere."
The voices of Young Master Blow and of Jane, his right hand. Kunsai did not want them to see him like this. He caught Delter's hand at once and spoke almost in appeal.
"Let go, now!"
"Shut up. Nobody gives a damn about a bastard like y—"
Delter said it and shook him—and right then a vast, long shadow covered every one of them. Delter flinched and turned. What met his eyes was a red-haired young man looking down at him with a razor-sharp gaze, and a white-haired girl pinching her brow, her face full of contempt.
And, mouths clamped shut, snorting like bulls, three barbarians standing planted like mountains.