Chapter 6
Chapter 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: A Stage Without Actors (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
We raced down a dim forest path.
Judith, who had trained with her sword day and night like a true knight, effortlessly carried the 180cm man who could barely hold himself together as she navigated the rugged woodland trail.
“So? What’s next?”
Her hair, tied low and getting in the way, was now loose and flowing, but her voice remained astonishingly calm for someone on the run.
During the short time I’d been separated from Theodore, I’d hashed out a plan in my head and now laid it out simply.
“Sponsorship of the Thorn Crown Class.”
“Thorn Crown Class... The shortest route means crossing the sea.”
“Will it be tough?”
“Not at all.”
Judith flashed a grin that bared her fangs, then hoisted me onto her back.
We’d set out from the worship hall at the center of the island and had been fleeing blindly toward sparsely populated areas to evade the search party.
Turning direction now to head for the Thorn Crown Class sponsorship grounds would be tricky.
Returning to the worship hall—the scene of the crime—was even more absurd, so our options were limited anyway.
“They’ll think I’m the culprit. They won’t believe I could cross the sea alone, so we should be fine for now.”
“But once they realize you left the dorm, they’ll expand the investigation net all the way to the Thorn Crown Class.”
“Sorry... I wasn’t oblivious to that.”
“Don’t worry about it. A promise is a promise.”
“......”
The promise between Judith and me—to grant any request three times—held firm even in a case that could fatally damage her honor.
In my hazy state, I tried recalling last summer but snapped back to reality.
Judith, carrying both Theodore and me, had just leaped over the fence surrounding a cliff.
-Thud, patter patter, thud!
Three of us had jumped, but the footsteps hitting the ground sounded like one person’s.
Judith ran along the coastline where the cliff met the sea, then scaled back up by stepping on a rock barely big enough for her toes.
Even in my dire state, I mumbled hazily from the heart.
“Like a goat.”
“Want me to drop you?”
With me tucked under one arm and Theodore slung over her back, Judith brushed the dirt from her hands as she reached the sponsorship grounds, her face as serene as if out for a stroll.
We’d landed somewhere in the maze-like garden shrubbery of the grounds.
“So, what happened?”
“It’s... I met Theodore in a dream...? Or was it Shirley? Maybe even you, Judith.”
“Theodore, explain.”
The drug’s effects were kicking in late; the more I spoke, the less sense I made of my own words.
Theodore, who had readjusted his blindfold after arriving, gave a concise account of events.
“I received a letter from senior Arma Cruise and arrived at the worship hall, but there was a dark figure leaning against the ceremonial altar.”
“That was Arma?”
“Yes. I didn’t know who at first. I just assumed it was her since the letter was from Arma Cruise.”
“And?”
“I realized I’d been dragged into something ominous, but I couldn’t ignore someone collapsed there.”
“What was the scene like?”
“I remember the stained glass at the front and Arma Cruise senior lying beneath it. And a rusty iron smell when I entered the hall.”
Judith pieced together Theodore’s words like an interrogation.
Theodore responded to her sharp questions calmly, without so much as a twitch of his brow.
“Only when I got closer did I see Arma Cruise—senior—writhing, covered in red liquid. I suspected drug-induced frenzy, but the circumstances didn’t fit.”
As I listened quietly, I noticed Theodore occasionally dropping honorifics after my name or trailing off awkwardly.
He seemed to sense something off about it himself, tilting his head, but he didn’t stop under Judith’s prodding.
“What didn’t fit?”
“Most know Arma Cruise senior’s specialty is marksmanship—except maybe the newest freshmen. She’s the only one using the shooting range for major classes.”
With that, Theodore glanced at my holster.
It was true I had the range to myself, but had it become that much of a rumor?
He continued soon enough.
“But the apparent murder weapon wasn’t a gun. It was a blade. Killing someone with a blade so bloodily without magic is harder than you’d think.”
Theodore didn’t seem to believe that I—a non-mage, non-martial artist—could kill with a knife outside my specialty.
And rightly so; the crime scene was none other than the heart of Aegis Academy.
Every cadet at Aegis Academy, from wandering young noble brats to even the Silver Chalice Class humanities majors, had some degree of magical aptitude, great or small.
“Clearly caught in something bizarre, but the motive’s a mystery.”
Judith nodded at Theodore’s summary and steadied me as I swayed while sitting.
Even faced with getting tangled in an outrageous murder, that was her entire reaction.
“You’re not gonna ask more?”
I ended up probing Judith’s intentions first.
She gave me an incredulous smile.
“You couldn’t kill anyone.”
“......”
Her words overlapped with the dreams that had tormented me these past days—of murdering a friend.
Judith mistook my silence for my condition and cautiously checked my face.
Her beautiful sea-colored eyes, a mix of turquoise and blue, turned my way.
In the dream, I’d shot at someone with eyes like that.
“…By the way, last summer.”
Theodore broke the silence.
Dragged into an unwanted incident and hearing talk of “last summer’s events” while summoning help—naturally, he’d be curious.
As I hesitated, Judith spoke first.
“Arma once saved my life during the hunting festival long ago.”
“You’re reading too much into it, Judith...”
My help that day had been coincidence and luck, nothing grand.
Yet Judith had waited ever since for a chance to repay the favor.
I’d unwillingly gone back on my prior refusal, but she didn’t seem to care.
“Understood.”
That was the end of Theodore’s questions.
Judith charging out to keep a promise without knowing details was one thing; Theodore had a bold side too, in his own way.
In different circumstances, I’d want to chat leisurely—their chemistry seemed spot-on.
-Piiik...
Then, a whistle-like sound echoed from afar.
The investigators had surely expanded their net to our sector.
We’d succeeded in fleeing this far, but options from here were slim.
‘Send Judith back ASAP and secure Theodore’s alibi.’
Good thing I’d planned ahead when my head was clear.
The dizziness churning my mind had mostly subsided too—only mild nausea remained, no major issues.
“Judith, sorry, but head back—”
I was about to voice my plan when Judith crouched low and pinned my body to the ground.
“Come out.”
The soft atmosphere turned icy in an instant.
An oppressive pressure even I—a non-mage—could feel emanated from all sides.
Whether it was Judith’s fury or the hidden figure in the shadows, I couldn’t tell.
Moments later, someone who’d vanished into the maze garden revealed themselves.
“…Theo, what’s going on.”
Muscular and toned, heading into his prime, with black hair and gray eyes—Arthur Usher.
“Arthur.”
Theodore called his name in a slightly softer tone.
Glancing briefly at Judith and me, Arthur strode toward us—unlike moments ago when he’d hidden.
His bangs, wet as if freshly bathed, hung messily.
“Caught up in something annoying?”
If words had form, Arthur’s would be studded with dozens of razor blades.
I wanted to protest his barbed remark, but shook my head.
He wasn’t the one to prove my innocence.
Unlike the prickly me and Judith, Theodore rose and approached Arthur.
“Looks like someone died today.”
“…Someone? Who?”
“No idea.”
Dealing with Arthur, Theodore was more curt than with us.
Maybe he’d pushed himself to reassure me and Judith.
The Theodore I’d observed was ghost-like—expressionless and quiet—like now.
“Are you the culprit?”
“False accusation.”
“You sure?”
He asked me but confirmed with Theodore—the infuriating setup—but we were entangled in murder.
I was wronged, but not positioned to make a fuss.
Theodore nodded faintly and added, “False accusation.”
“—I’ll believe you, then.”
Arthur still scanned us with displeased eyes.
That cold glare provoked Judith, who hadn’t lowered her guard.
I grabbed Judith as she reached for her waistband—still smiling—and used her to stand.
“Didn’t intend to drag you in; I’m sorry for the trouble.”
I said it while avoiding Arthur’s persistent stare.
I wasn’t avoiding his eyes for any other reason—last night’s dream Arthur overlaid his current face.
Now his face showed cold emotion, but the dream one hadn’t.
Like despair sculpted into human form—my heart had dropped.
‘Something’s off...’
But the strangest was my own feeling of connection to these three.
Arthur’s wary, distrustful expression.
Judith blocking my front.
Even Theodore White’s habit of warily observing, unshown on his face...
Somehow, it all brought me strange relief.
But Arthur didn’t seem relieved.
“Just turn yourself in. Now.”