The Grave of the Dead (8)
Stripped of his robe, Oscar wrapped it snugly around the pile of bones the Lich had left behind.
After all, bones infused with all manner of magic were an extraordinary material in their own right.
"A tiger leaves its skin behind when it dies, they say..."
A Lich, naturally, left its bones. Truly the way of nature.
...No, wait. Since a Lich was technically already dead, perhaps "dissolved" would be the more fitting word?
The moment this pointless thought crossed his mind, hurried footsteps came racing down the staircase behind him.
"Haah... haah..."
Kiri Gloria. She had run here in quite a rush, and now she stood gasping for breath, jaw hanging open at the sight of the ruined chamber.
"...Where did that guy go?"
As Kiri scanned her surroundings, her eyes locked onto the bundle wrapped in his hands.
Oscar hugged the bundle tightly and warily stepped back.
"Sorry, but you can stare all you want—I'm not giving it to you."
"That's not why I was staring!"
Shrill with embarrassment, she let out a long, deflated sigh.
"Whew. Anyway, thank goodness."
"That I'm not dead?"
"...Hmph."
She scoffed, crossing her arms, and said coldly, "Don't get any ideas. All I meant was that it's a relief we won't end up owing the White Tower some awkward debt of gratitude. That's all."
Oscar mulled over her words for a moment before replying. "Haven't we already incurred the debt, though? I did save your friends' lives, after all."
"Th-that's..."
Caught off guard by the blunt logic, she stammered out an excuse. "I had a trump card of my own, you know. I could have gotten us out of that situation one way or another. But... I can't deny that you stepping in made their rescue a lot easier than I expected. So, if I had to put a label on it... I'd say you did pretty well."
"You have a real talent for making 'thank you' take as long as possible."
She fell silent for a moment, then grumbled under her breath, "...I'm just not used to saying things like that. This is the first time I've ever been helped by someone else, either."
"That's a pretty sad reason."
"It's just how things are for us."
A wave of bitterness swept across her face.
"It's the biggest difference between the Black Tower and the White Tower. No matter what you people do, you're loved. We get the exact opposite. Say 'Black Tower' and people hate you and cast you out without reason—even when we do something good."
"..."
The mood turned as heavy as a downpour.
Wanting to ease her sorrow, Oscar spoke up. "Maybe people don't actually hate you. Maybe they're jealous."
"?"
At the odd remark, Kiri tilted her head. "Where did that come from?"
"People, you see, will spend their whole lives pretending not to notice their own mistakes. Turning a blind eye, playing dumb—anything to avoid facing them."
Because the moment you squarely confront a mistake—really confront it—and try to fix it, life becomes exhausting beyond measure. He knew that all too well.
"But your people openly acknowledge the wrongs your predecessors committed, and you're working to set them right. That takes real courage. And maybe that's exactly why you're hated all the more. Every time people look at you, their own hypocrisy shows—the ugly, pathetic sight of themselves scrambling to hide their sins."
"...Hmph. What a pretty little speech."
She scoffed as if to say that was nonsense, but her ears were twitching like a puppy that had just been handed a treat.
Taking in the sight, Oscar suppressed a smile. "Let's head back to the village."
There were people waiting for this news more eagerly than anyone.
"Thank you so much!"
"Ah, at last I can stretch out both my legs and sleep in peace."
When word spread that the source of the village's terror had been destroyed, the villagers were overjoyed enough to dance on the spot.
They had returned in the dead of night, but a modest festival had already sprung up in the village square.
Whoosh.
Having set a campfire ablaze in the center of the square, the village chief called out, "Tonight we slaughter a pig!"
"Hearing that, I can't just stand by idle. I'll bring a chicken from my house!"
"Then I'll fetch potatoes and mushrooms. It's cold out, so a hot soup would do us all good."
For a festival thrown together on such short notice, it was far from lavish—but the warmth behind it came through, plain and true.
Oscar turned to Kilian and Veronica. "You actually managed to find the vessel? That's what saved us, you know."
"Mm. I put my head to work and found the place it was likely to be."
"...You put your head to work? What did you do—headbutt a tombstone or something?"
"No. I genuinely used my head, and cleverly at that. We have a witness right here."
When Kilian looked to Veronica, she shook her head a couple of times with a dubious expression. "Well, it's not wrong, exactly."
"...Really?"
"He's not as thick as I thought he was."
"Veronica Frix. And you're not quite as disloyal as I took you for."
"Hey, that's it? That's the whole assessment? If it weren't for me, you'd be dead right now."
"A proud and sturdy warrior of the forest doesn't die from an attack of that caliber."
"Ha, is that so? Maybe I should've just let that skeleton skull smack you, then."
Watching the two of them bicker back and forth, Oscar blinked in surprise. "What's this about, you two? I'm honestly surprised. You've gotten this close in just a few hours?"
"We're not close."
"Not even a little!"
Really? You could've fooled me.
Oscar let out a silent chuckle, quietly relieved.
'At least the trip home won't feel so suffocating.'
The journey here had been so stiff he could barely breathe, but compared to that, the two of them were practically best friends now.
Just then, the village chief and several villagers, all looking thoroughly delighted, came over to them.
"Mages, thank you once again."
"If you ever fancy a good long rest somewhere with fresh air, do come visit anytime!"
"Ah, of course! Our mages are welcome here whenever they like!"
"Next time you come, I'll show you the beautiful mountains and fields around these parts."
As Oscar answered their smiles with a gentle one of his own, something caught his eye.
There, standing far enough from the firelight that the campfire's glow couldn't quite reach them, were the Black Tower mages.
"..."
The sight kept nagging at him, so Oscar spoke up. "It's good that the matter's resolved, but I feel rather bad toward the Black Tower mages—it seems as though we've stolen their credit."
"I'm sorry? What do you mean?"
"Well, we joined an operation they'd been running on their own, uninvited. It's thanks to all the preliminary groundwork they'd done that we were able to resolve the problem so easily."
At those words, dozens of eyes swung toward the Black Tower mages.
"Wait—so the reason those people were going around the village all this time was..."
"All of it, for our sake? And I went and misunderstood them for no reason."
With sudden attention thrust upon them, and apologies pouring in from every direction, a flustered Kiri tried to respond. "N-no, we were actually—"
Tug.
Just then, Kiri felt something pull at her sleeve and looked down.
A little girl holding a ball beamed up at her with a smile as bright as spring flowers. "Thank you, big sister!"
"Ah... big sister? Ah, um. Yes."
The moment Kiri answered that pure, guileless voice, the villagers swept in and guided them all toward the fire.
"Why on earth are you all standing out here in the dark?"
"Mages or not, it's freezing. Come closer to the fire!"
"This meat is one I grilled myself—the taste is incredible. Won't you try a piece?"
"Have some soup, too."
Dragged along in a daze, the Black Tower mages looked bewildered, but hardly any of them seemed to actually mind.
It was only much later that Kiri finally managed to slip free. She came over to Oscar and asked, her face suddenly grave, "Was that pity?"
"No. I simply stated the facts as they were. Not a word of it was false, was it?"
"But..."
She frowned, as though she couldn't understand it at all. "You could have kept your mouth shut and taken all the credit for yourself."
"Hm."
Oscar answered with an amused expression. "Like I said before—I've seen you all differently after this. No, I suppose it'd be more accurate to say I finally saw you properly for the first time."
"What are you on about now?"
"What about you?"
"...What?"
"Are you seeing our White Tower as it truly is?"
"..."
Kiri Gloria's lips parted and closed, searching for words, before she sank into a long silence.
That was what he was really asking.
Do the White Tower mages you've seen with your own eyes truly look like such worthless fools?
Is the White Tower you've experienced really the imaginary villain you must strike down?
"...The fact that we must surpass you—that will never change, no matter what happens."
"Is that so."
Rising to her feet, Kiri murmured, "But... yes, I'll admit it. You're not the band of incompetents we imagined."
"I suppose our next meeting will be at the Night of the Magicians, then."
"We'll break you with our full strength, and drag you down from your seat among the Four Great Magic Towers."
At that sudden declaration of war, Oscar smirked. "Wake up from your dream and go court one of the other towers. We have no intention of stepping down."
"...Let's go."
Wheeling around, Kiri gathered Gale and Volg and left the village just like that.
Oscar stole a glance at Veronica, who was seated beside him. "Are you sure you don't want to go after her?"
"...Well, there'll be another chance someday."
She watched the retreating back of her old friend with a complicated look in her eyes.
Having left the village behind, Kiri walked for a long while before suddenly turning around.
Then she asked quietly, "What do you think?"
Gale and Volg answered in turn.
"Hard to say, but they're definitely a different breed from the White Tower we'd only heard about in rumors."
"Even though he's only 3rd Level... he gives off an aura reminiscent of the men of the Four Great Magic Towers in their prime."
"...So you two feel it too."
Kiri bit her lower lip lightly.
It had been a long time. A long time since anyone her own age had loomed before her like a mountain so tall.
'Barely 3rd Level, yet he commands the raw power to stand against a Lich. Even in a crisis, he has the composure to sort through the situation—and the selflessness to shoulder the risk himself. Judging by how he speaks, he's a deep thinker, too.'
On top of that, there was his strange gift for drawing people to his side, both in word and in bearing.
From everything she had observed so far, she could hardly find a single flaw.
According to the intelligence the Black Tower had gathered, he was supposedly an arrogant troublemaker notorious for doing nothing but burn through money. But the man she'd seen with her own eyes was someone else entirely.
"Rum really can't be trusted, after all."
To think Oscar Crucian had been like this.
And those two companions of his as well. Fallen or not, a Tower was still one of the Four Great Magic Towers, it seemed.
The wall they had to climb over looked far higher than she'd imagined.
Hearing her sigh, Gale and Volg spoke up carefully. "Kiri, what about borrowing their help to deal with our tower's problems?"
"They seem reliable enough, from what we saw. If we're going to join hands with someone anyway, I'd say they'd be a better bet than any of the other Great Towers..."
"No."
Her refusal was firm, and her expression conflicted. "That matter... we have to see it through internally, by ourselves, for as long as we possibly can. If, in the end, we truly fail..."
Then, perhaps, they really would be desperate enough to need someone's help.
She turned away.
"I'll think about that when the time comes."
For now, there was only one thing to do: prepare for the Night of the Magicians.
It was all she could do to keep her focus on that alone.