The Commission (2)

A place reachable by carriage in about an hour from the Griffin Knight Academy.

They arrived at the broad expanse of Jefal Lake.

"Over there! I found the slimes!"

Bwoing-bwoing.

Blue slimes wandered about making adorable little noises. They stood about waist-high on Ron.

"Remember what I told you earlier? Cutting those things normally won't do a thing. You've got to load your attacks with mana, no exceptions."

"There is no need to explain twice, jerky—ah, comrade. Turak, warrior of the Blue Mane Tribe, is clever. Even among our tribe, Turak stood foremost in wisdom."

What exactly passed for wisdom among the barbarians of the Blue Mane Tribe? It was a subject Ron had no particular desire to investigate.

"Hazley… that thing…."

"What is it?"

"Ah, n-nothing."

Violet averted her eyes. It wasn't hard to guess what she'd been about to say.

It's because of the Magi, isn't it.

Given her circumstances, Violet couldn't exactly admit she could sense Magi. Not that it mattered much. If anything, it meant she'd fight that much more carefully—which was a good thing.

"Well, let's get started."

Shiiing.

Fwoosh.

Ron drew the sword at his hip and wrapped it in silver mana. It flowed like a heat haze—thin, low-grade mana.

First, let's see how well my attacks even land.

Those slimes were monsters steeped in Magi, stronger than ordinary blue slimes. Whether his strikes would even work was an open question, so he needed to test it.

"Turak, I'll attack first. Back me up right after."

"Understood."

Good. Insurance secured.

"Hoo."

Here goes.

He drew a breath, set his stance—

Fwaat!

—and charged the blue slime, driving a heavy slash home.

Slash!

"Bwoing?"

The sound of thin liquid parting rang out, followed by the slime's dazed little cry. Just a fairly deep wound, huh. Kind of a blow to the pride….

"Bwoiiiiing!"

Having grasped the situation, the blue slime flew into a terrifying rage and lunged at him.

Bwoing-bwoing!

Perhaps reacting to their companion's fierce roar, the rest of the blue slimes began hopping toward him as well. Fast little bastards for slimes. One of them was already at his back in a blink.

"Hrrrngh!!"

A massive gray-brown-haired man drove in from the side. The barbarian, Turak.

Turak's axe blade cleaved into the blue slime like a thunderbolt. A fierce crack split the air, and the wind whooshed past.

Slash!!

The blue slime was bisected clean through.

"Turak!"

"Regroup for now, comrade!"

This reliable bastard!

"I'm counting on you!"

Ron seized the opening Turak had carved and scrambled back.

"Hrrrngh!! Insignificant vermin! Receive the attack of Turak, valiant warrior of the Blue Mane Tribe!!"

Slash!!

Turak sent slash after slash flying with his twin-handed axe wreathed in mana. His mana was as superior and powerful as his physique. Even in the game, Turak's raw strength had been exceptional—enough to impress active magic knights.

That's it, Turak!

Now that was a warrior!

At that rate, he could probably win this alone, right?

"Bwoing!"

One cunning blue slime slammed into Turak's legs. True to a Magi-bearing monster, the tackle was fast and heavy. Turak staggered, and the other blue slimes swarmed him in a pack.

Wait—he'd lost his balance. He needed to dodge that!

But Turak only stoked his fighting spirit higher.

"You think a mere attack of this caliber can so much as scratch Turak's body!! Hrrrngh!!"

"Bwoing."

"Hrrrngh…!!"

"Bwoing…!!"

Enveloped by blue slimes, Turak tried to swing his axe with all the imposing force he could muster… but it didn't seem to be going well. Squirming and writhing, more blue slimes piled on until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they'd completely wrapped his entire frame. Bound and stripped of freedom, Turak resisted several times before finally turning toward Ron with a look of resignation.

"These ones are stronger foes than expected. Flee."

Weren't you winning…?

Why did you just attack like a meathead and get caught so pathetically…?

Still, the blue slimes couldn't easily crush or dissolve Turak's sturdy body. The toughness of a barbarian's physique, apparently. Well, that wasn't a problem.

"Violet!"

"Y-yeshet?"

"Help us out!"

This was exactly the kind of situation he'd brought reliable backup for.

Violet Blackgarden. In For Elise, she had been a figure of utterly insane overwhelming power—commanding mighty specters like a full legion. Most necromancers were limited in the strength and number of specters they could field based on their own capacity, but Violet operated as if those limits simply didn't apply to her. A transcendent genius of necromancy, plain and simple.

"Um…."

Suddenly Violet pinched his sleeve lightly between her thumb and forefinger and spoke with careful hesitation. She looked thoroughly troubled.

"I thought a lot about whether to say this, but… my necromancy is actually kind of… half-baked…."

"?"

Half-baked?

This girl is supposed to be a top-tier genius when it comes to necromancy alone.

Truthfully, Ron didn't know exactly how strong Violet was at this point in time. All he knew was that the Violet who'd appeared mid-story in For Elise had been absurdly powerful.

Eh, she's probably just being modest.

That common brand of genius humility. Something like that.

"I don't know why you'd say that, but… we just need to take out the slimes, right?"

"I-it's okay, then…! Ehehe, what a relief. I'll try…!"

Violet smiled awkwardly. Then her expression turned serious in an instant.

"Manifest."

A rather cool command word rang out, rich and resonant with mana.

Sssss!

A pink magic circle etched itself into the ground, and from it pink mana rose like flames. Above it, the corpse of a skeletal beast cloaked in mana pushed itself upright.

"Oh…!"

Even on all fours, it stood twice Ron's height. Seeing it in person rather than in a game, it looked tremendously strong. On top of that, the sheer volume of mana rolling off it was enough to send a chill down his spine. This was without a doubt an extremely powerful specter!

"……."

"……."

But this specter… why was it just standing there?

"Is it not going to attack?"

"Actually… it doesn't listen to my commands very well…."

"Huh?"

Violet hung her head, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and fidgeted by tapping her index fingers together over and over.

"I mean… there are almost no ones that actually listen to me…."

"…Ah."

So that was what she'd meant by half-baked necromancy…?

"B-but still…! If the slimes come at it directly, it'll fight on its own!"

The pack of blue slimes, however, paid the threatening specter no mind whatsoever and continued swarming Turak alone. Turak had closed his eyes and was murmuring "Nice and warm" with the expression of a man enjoying a hot bath. The specter watched the scene with perfect calm, scratching its head with a front paw the way a dog might, thoroughly at its leisure.

Whoosh. A fallen leaf slid past on the wind like it was riding a slide.

Violet lowered her eyes sideways with a sorrowful look and gave a hollow little smile.

"Sorry I couldn't be of any help…."

"……."

…No choice, then.

He'd have to rescue Turak himself.

"Hey, Turak! Hold on! I'm coming to get you!"

Fwoosh!

Slash!

"Bwoing?"

As expected, a single mana-charged slash wasn't enough. But the blue slimes, sensing the threat, began charging at him.

Right. You always go for the most immediately dangerous target first.

It was a habit he knew both from the game and from the fight just now. Having already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠neutralized Turak, they'd pin him down with the bare minimum of force while the rest came after Ron.

Perfect. I've got their aggro.

He'd already factored in the blue slimes' speed. He could break through somehow.

Bwoing!

Filthy fast!

He barely dodged the blue slimes hopping down on top of him, sprinted through, and at the end of his run poured every ounce of silver mana into a slash aimed at the slime holding Turak.

Slash!!

Only sticky fragments of blue slime went flying. Naturally, it didn't die. But that was enough. Ron raised his voice urgently.

"Turak! Wipe them all out!"

"Leave it to Turak, jerky!"

Through the gap Ron's slash had carved, Turak tore free of the slime's grip with his formidable physique. His muscles bulged; veins stood out in hard relief.

Fwoosh!!

Blue mana coiled around Turak's axe blade like fire.

What kind of firepower is that.

Mana output on a level that made Ron's meager power look like a joke. Turak regarded the blue slimes with a solemn face.

"Do you know this? A warrior does not fall for the same trick twice."

Slashhh!!

KRA-BOOM!!

Indiscriminate, dazzling axe-work crashed down upon the blue slime pack. The slimes shrewdly went for Turak's legs again, but he kicked lightly off the ground, dodged, and swung.

"Bwoing!?"

"Bwoing…!?"

The blue slimes were being butchered at terrifying speed. A relentless storm of slashes. Before long they made a sound like balloons deflating and turned a dull gray. Dead.

One of them tried to flee in the chaos—and happened to run straight toward where the specter was waiting.

KRAANG!!

The specter swatted its front paw as casually as swatting a mosquito, and a vicious explosion of mana erupted. The blue slime burst helplessly, scattering to pieces. At the same time, mana so overwhelming it made his skin crawl swept past Ron, flooding him with pure dread. His heart hammered on its own; goosebumps prickled up his arms.

Plop-plop! Slime fragments stuck to Violet. Far from looking disgusted, though, her face lit up all at once.

"W-waaah…!"

Violet looked at him with a face gone radiant, bouncing the staff in both hands up and down with shameless delight. She really was that happy her specter had done something useful.

Yeah. It sure did something….

Mm. Yeah….

That was really… something else….

Sssss.

Then a strange sense of fullness bloomed inside him.

So… they'd somehow pulled it off and even gotten results out of it, but—

"Hoo…."

Somehow he was exhausted….

Turak came up beside him and solemnly raised a thumbs-up.

"You saved Turak, comrade."

Violet also beamed and gave him a thumbs-up of her own.

Well… things had worked out, at least.

Thok.

Ron laughed weakly and raised a thumbs-up right back at them.

The sun sank low, painting the sky in the colors of dusk.

Ron, Turak, and Violet trudged back to the Griffin Knight Academy plastered head to toe in disgusting blue slime fragments. Even rinsing in the lake water hadn't done much good—slime residue had an impressive viscosity.

Turak wore his usual stolid expression. Violet looked as bright as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a sunflower in full bloom, still riding the high of her specter's moment of glory.

Guys… am I the only one who's tired here?

"Oh, you'r— wait? A-are you okay?"

"Yes, we're fine…."

The receptionist greeted them in a fluster. They handed over a bundle containing a dozen-odd blue slime cores and were told the reward would be settled on payday. After that, they left the commission office.

Ron looked up at the sunset sky.

Protagonist… I did my best.

Anyway, I helped with the next part of the story, right?

Cheers to that.

In the dormitory, Elise was tying up her magenta hair with a slender black ribbon. The moment the notification window appeared before her eyes, her hands froze.

Her emerald eyes checked the Scenario Note. Elise's gaze narrowed.

Again….

Another tragedy had been stopped before it was even announced. The tragedies the Scenario Note foresaw never changed unless she herself intervened—and yet.

If it says "friend," it has to be Lara.

At the knight academy, Elise had no shortage of friends in name only. But the one person she truly considered a friend was just one: her childhood companion, Lara Twislope. The Scenario Note, too, tended to write only Lara as "your friend."

Lara almost died…?

Lara was one of Elise's reverse scales—the only person she'd ever truly opened her heart to. And Lara was strong, in her own right. Not someone who would die easily. That was why Elise had never even imagined Lara's death. The moment she pictured it now, a sharp ache bloomed in her chest.

Was it the same person who helped last time?

Once again the incident had been resolved before any warning. The odds were high it was the same individual who'd slain the demon last time. Who on earth was this unknown presence? It bothered her. It bothered her far too much.

Elise wanted to find the person helping her from the shadows as soon as possible. There was so much she wanted to ask them.

"Haa."

She gathered her surging emotions with a deep breath. There wasn't enough information to dig into anything right now anyway. More importantly, confirming Lara's safety came first.

Today happened to be the day she was meeting Lara at the bakery. So she decided to set aside her questions about the mysterious benefactor for the time being.

Keep a bright smile, Elise. Don't make Lara worry. She scolded herself thus. And perhaps because of the fact that Lara had nearly died—a sudden wave of tender affection washed over her. Resolving to look after Lara especially well today, Elise headed to their meeting place.

Her small-statured friend Lara rested her chin on the table, sucking her drink through a straw, and asked with thoroughly suspicious eyes:

"Elise… are you interested in Ron Hazley?"

"Huh?"

That was the exact moment Elise's tender feelings transformed into what the hell kind of nonsense is this?