Brand Me
Only now, with my mind finally at ease, did I take a proper look around the Main Base. Calling it a "base" hardly did it justice—town, or even castle, would have fit the scale far better.
Like Res Limen, it was divided into an inner and outer ward, and with schools and guilds already established inside, it felt like looking at a miniature of Res Limen itself.
"Well then. Good luck."
Dustin of Kelsus, whose school was large enough to keep a foothold here at the Main Base, was headed in a different direction from us.
I returned his farewell in kind.
"Yeah. You too."
With a sly grin, Dustin swept a look past my shoulder, then clapped me on the arm.
"Don't waste it. Tell me how it goes after."
"Still talking nonsense, I see."
"I'm just looking out for you. As your senior."
Senior, my ass.
Everyone knows that guy's still a virgin.
Sorry, but Philon already spilled everything.
"Anyway. See you at the license exam."
Unaware that I knew his deepest secret, Dustin strode off with an easy wave.
After a brief exchange of goodbyes with the rest of the Kelsus contingent, our group started to split up as well.
"Like I said before, I'll sell the mana stones and send you half the proceeds. Along with the finished hides."
Teresia was talking about the byproducts from the Chromatic Fiend.
She had offered to give me everything; I had insisted we split it down the middle.
Unlike me, whose connections amounted to little more than a handful of classmates, Teresia could lean on a major school's infrastructure. Having her handle the disposal was simply the smarter move.
And things like that turn sour if you try to swallow them alone.
If I walked off with the whole haul, someone would inevitably come sniffing around, convinced they could snatch a piece for themselves.
Guaranteed.
But if word got out that Blostma School had claimed it, even the boldest opportunists would think twice about making a move.
In a way, it was the price of borrowing their name.
The reward for the rescue itself was a separate matter to settle later anyway.
"I'll talk it over with my senior, but they might still ask you to give a statement. Our school will be in touch about the compensation too."
"Figured as much."
Six people had died.
Blostma was a young school that had rocketed into the ranks of the six great schools, and hands were still scarce. There was no chance they would brush off an incident that had cost them six lives.
Teresia glanced around, then stepped in closer and lowered her voice to a murmur.
"I'll keep the relic quiet. Just let me know the appraisal results later."
Her voice, languid with the afternoon, tickled my ear.
I leaned back a little and nodded.
"Got it. Put in a good word with Fiona for me."
"Mm."
Reporting the incident to the security corps fell to Teresia's side.
They had been through more of it than we had, and they had a backer solid enough that outside pressure barely registered.
Mea and I planned to cross the gate as we were and return to Res Limen.
We still had to send the League our certification that the training was complete.
Dustin and Teresia had trained under their schools, so their people would handle the paperwork. Mea and I had gone as independents, which meant we had to certify it ourselves.
"We'll be going, then. If anything comes up, contact us through Thelema School."
"Okay."
After lining up those last details with Teresia, we were about to part ways when—
"Ah—um, e-excuse me… that is…"
Priscilla suddenly caught hold of my sleeve.
She had grabbed it, all right, but she seemed just as startled by her own boldness, fumbling and stumbling over her words.
Then she bit down hard on her lip, steeling herself—and the moment she opened her mouth to speak, Mea slid in from the side.
Stepping neatly between us, Mea's body brushed Priscilla's hand free of my clothes as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The motion was so smooth that even I almost accepted it as a matter of course.
Dark elves, after all.
A race born for stealth.
Standing guard in front of me, Mea spoke to Priscilla.
"Business only."
Maybe it was the full head of height between them.
The way Mea addressed her looked for all the world like a little sister scolding her older one.
"Y-yeah."
Priscilla fidgeted with her fingers, shrinking under Mea's words.
Was the Chromatic Fiend's mental assault still lingering?
But then Priscilla bent low at the waist in a deep bow and spoke in a clear, steady voice.
"Thank you. Truly…. I'll come find you later. You're welcome at our school anytime. And if you ever wish to join… I could put in a recommendation under my name."
A school sponsorship.
At Priscilla's rank—Senior—she would be treated as core combat strength even in a major school.
The tier above that, Expert, led expedition parties. Master was a decisive weapon even the great schools only fielded a handful of.
Senior carried enough weight to have a real say.
Still, for a recommendation, Senior usually felt just a touch short of enough.
Which meant Priscilla was offering to stake her own standing inside the school to put my name forward.
When I didn't answer right away, she added,
"We don't take many men as a rule, but it isn't a full ban."
"No."
The answer came from someone else's mouth, not mine.
"Interfering in another school's affairs doesn't look good, does it?"
"That's a hard thing to just let slide, Senior."
The people actually involved were standing there quietly while Mea and Teresia jumped in on their own.
"School business or not, this was a training exercise, wasn't it?"
"…For now."
"Then it shouldn't matter, right?"
They weren't children.
Mea looked like a kid, sure, but she was older than me—and so was Teresia.
What was with the two of them?
"Both of you, enough. Priscilla? You'll get your compensation through Blostma School, so don't take it too much to heart. We'll cross paths again if the chance comes. Teresia—you should go too. Fiona's probably been worried sick."
"…Yeah."
Once I stepped in and sorted things out, everyone backed off without a fuss.
That settled the parting.
After sending Priscilla and Teresia on their way, I looked down at the gaze fixed on me from below.
Mea's crown of hair sat level with my solar plexus, plain as day.
I had thought it from the first time I saw her: Mea looked like a cat.
Before, she had reminded me of a sleepy one. Now, as if she had finally gotten a proper rest, a faintly sharp cast had come into her eyes.
Those once-hazy irises were locked on me with perfect clarity.
"Shall we get going too?"
Mea nodded without a word.
Then she took the lead, walking briskly ahead—
tugging along the same sleeve Priscilla had just been holding.
The outer city of Res Limen.
In front of Thelema School.
It had been nearly two weeks since I last saw the building.
I had figured the training for a night or two—three at the outside. I never imagined it would stretch this long.
Well. Thanks to that, a single trip into the Abyss had covered every hour of required training.
In the end, you could call it a win.
And I came away with plenty.
I still didn't know exactly what half of it was.
According to Mea, Hekate had a real eye for appraisal, so I would find out soon enough.
Looking forward to it.
Carrying that restless anticipation, I stepped into Thelema School—
and instead of the mature woman with auburn hair I had expected, I was met by two thoroughly familiar girls, each a full handspan shorter than her.
"You're late!"
"Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting?"
Ray and Leaf, of course.
"Why are you two even—?"
"You're back!"
The door behind the counter banged open and Hekate came flying out.
"I waited forever~ You said you'd be back tomorrow… you said tomorrow…"
Voice thick as if she were about to cry, Hekate latched onto Mea and sagged against her.
Tomorrow?
That had been the plan at departure. Once we reached the Main Base the schedule had changed, and we had sent word that it would run long…
"Mea."
"……"
At my call, Mea quietly turned her head aside, dodging my eyes.
She forgot.
She had declared it was her job as the guide—and then blanked on it completely.
"And then these two barged in asking where Roman was, demanding I hand Roman over…. At first I thought they'd come to tell me we'd failed the official review. Nearly had a heart attack!"
Ah. So this was the sorrow of a small-business owner.
"I-it wasn't that bad!"
"Yeah. We just asked where Roman was. That's all."
"Liar! You asked if he'd been used as a test subject!"
Ray. Seriously.
I understood the impulse, but she really had no filter.
Hekate might look like a pushover, but she was still a school head.
If she ever put her mind to it, she could wipe out everyone in this room.
"Ahem. I'm sorry, Hekate. They're my teammates."
"Haa… fine. Mea, you and I are talking later."
"…Sorry."
This time even Mea couldn't get a word in edgewise under Hekate's pressure.
"So the two of you have been staying here?"
"Ah, no. This is still a school, you know. Not an inn."
"We came in the morning and waited till evening, then left."
"We booked a place nearby."
I see.
I would probably need to move into lodgings with them myself.
As Hekate said, this was not an inn.
However desperate things got, there were lines even she would not cross.
The weight of a school head who had inherited a long history—the pride of carrying forward the will of those who came before—was what held her upright.
"Seriously, the gouging around here is insane. One night's stay here would cover a whole week at an inn, easy."
"She's not kidding. A thousand rupe a night."
Ah…
"Eheheh. Well—catch up, you three. Mea and I have a few things to discuss…"
Avoiding my eyes, which had gone ice-cold, Hekate scooped Mea up in both arms and vanished behind the counter.
"So. Shall we talk?"
That night.
I walked Ray and Leaf back to their lodgings, then returned to Thelema School.
They had said I could stay until the training was fully wrapped up.
Every coin saved was a coin earned.
Even if I took a room at an inn, I wouldn't have been sharing it with Ray or Leaf anyway.
"Roman. You asleep?"
Mea?
What was she doing at this hour?
Cutting the link with the two demons I had just been speaking to, I answered,
"No. It's fine. Come in."
I hadn't locked the door, so Mea opened it and stepped straight inside.
Her clothes were the same ordinary outfit as always—not a scrap of anything suggestive—and the faint, half-formed suspicion that had been lurking in a corner of my mind dissolved. I felt a quiet flicker of relief.
"I have a favor to ask."
Ah. So that was it.
I could more or less guess.
She had probably come to talk about formally joining the school.
It might well have come up in her conversation with Hekate.
Coming in the school head's place—maybe because Mea had more of a bond with me than Hekate did.
But the favor Mea had come to ask was far heavier than the casual school enrollment I had been expecting.
"I want you to carve a brand on me."