The Weight of a Falling Life
If only I had stepped in. Former Dean Bierson was withering away, dying a little more each day.
"My dear, please… the holy water. Try to drink it."
"……"
This plague. For a human struck by cholera, the most essential thing was, in the end, water. But Bierson and his family, who drank only from the contaminated well, were effectively consuming poison every single day.
"H-huff… huff… huff……"
He had already purchased over sixty vials of holy water from the assassination group, the Silver Teeth. He had long since exhausted his cash, and was now buying the salt water by taking out loans and putting his very mansion up as collateral. But even that salt water was limited to three vials a day. For those on the brink of death, it was, naturally, of little help.
"Ugh… why, why… it kept getting better when I drank it, so why……"
He had tried to manage it himself, being a mage capable of using purification magic, but if he had spent that time simply boiling the water, he might have at least prolonged their lives a little longer. After his wife had passed and his second son—who was meant to be married—had died, a few more days had crawled by. Bierson himself had fallen ill, and he began to die alongside his last remaining eldest son.
"There is nothing left to strip away."
"The mansion has been fully transferred over."
"Right. Good work. Since you both worked hard, go get your pouches from Leng outside. I’ve set aside your bonuses."
"Thank you."
"Then, we shall take our leave."
The Silver Teeth, who had been disguised as nuns and priests, offered their farewells in front of the visibly dying Bierson and departed. Carix approached the Dean, who was staring at him from the bed with dead, fish-like eyes.
"How is it? It was fun when you were playing games with those kids, wasn't it? I’ve just let you and your family enjoy that same fun for a while."
"…H-huff… huff…"
Bierson, unable to drink water for so long, could only produce hoarse, rasping sounds. Watching him, Carix chuckled and poured salt water into his mouth.
"Y-you… w-who… are you…"
"Carix Valentia. The younger brother of the Young Duke Valentia, whom you and the three professors murdered. If I say I’m a first-year at the Academy, do you recognize the name now?"
"Y-you… h-how dare you…"
"'How dare I'? Did you really think a Viscount could stab the heir of a Ducal house and live to see another day?"
Carix spoke, looking down with a smile that seemed as if it had been crafted and pasted onto his face.
"You should have at least pretended to be a good person, like your wife. Since your husband lived off the money he made grinding children into dust, I suppose even God found it disgusting and took her first."
"YOU━!!"
Mocking his wife, who had died first, made the professor’s eyes bulge as if they might pop out. The bloodshot whites of his eyes, tangled with despair, rage, and hatred, welled up with the moisture of resentment. But his diseased body seemed to have no strength left to squeeze out anything, not even tears.
Carix watched him, clicking his tongue briefly as if dealing with a hot-blooded child, and shook his index finger.
"Calm down, old man. You’ll drop dead at this rate. Your eldest son is still alive; don't you want to save him?"
"…What… what is it that you want…!"
Having lost his wife and second son so miserably, with only his eldest left, the old man was still clinging to his enemy, desperate to save at least his own family. It was a laughable sight.
"Who ordered it? And which of the three professors killed my brother? Don't think, just answer. Your eldest son’s condition is looking quite poor."
"……The one who ordered it i-is… *cough*!! *Cough! Cough!*"
"Tsk."
Perhaps the effect of the salt water had already worn off; Bierson coughed as if he were dying. Carix, annoyed, made more salt water on the spot and shoved it into his mouth again.
"……Blue… eyes… I don't… know who…"
"You only saw blue eyes and don't know who it was? Fine. Then who was the one who actually killed him?"
"They… no…"
"……What? It wasn't those three?"
For a moment, my thoughts stalled. I thought it was impossible. On the day my brother died, there was only one professor who knew how to use Polymorph magic. I had already confirmed that the guy had no alibi. This place was supposed to be just the final confirmation step.
For the first time, Carix felt his thoughts grind to a halt because of someone other than Leng.
"That doesn't make sense. Professor Tersen, second year of Magic Studies. He was the most likely culprit. But you're saying it wasn't him? …Do you have the luxury to lie right now?"
"……Tersen… was on… another… mission……"
"Ha. You’re insane… another mission? I had intentionally mixed in a professor who could use Polymorph magic to complicate the investigation if it ever started. Was that it?"
"Th-that's… r-right… now… I’ve… told… you… everyth—"
Damn it. Then the 'blue eyes' who gave these guys the mission—that person was the new suspect, and these guys were merely collaborators. What on earth was my brother involved in to end up dead? I had planned to just find them all and kill them, but how could I kill over twenty nobles and still not find the culprit or the motive?
"Ah. This is slightly annoying. I thought I had caught the executors, but it turns out like this."
"M-my… m-medicine… my… s-son…"
"Ah. You want me to give him the medicine. Sure, sure."
The medicine flowed down the eldest son’s lips and spilled to the side.
"Oh dear. I can cure the disease, but it seems I can't revive a corpse."
"!!"
Since I had spread the disease using knowledge from my past life, I had naturally prepared a way to suppress it, and I had already finished clinical trials using the servants who had worked for this family. But as for the eldest son, well, he had passed before he could take it, so that was just unfortunate.
"Y-you… wretch! *Cough*!! *Gack*…!"
"Don't be so angry. It’s the same thing you did to other students and their bereaved families for your idiotic research, so why are you blowing up like that?"
I had heard all the information I wanted; now, only the cleanup remained.
"Originally, I was going to sell the whole mansion and use it as pocket money. But since we’ve crossed paths and I’m seeing you off on your final journey, I’ll give you one favor as a memento. Use this house as a coffin for you and your son."
"Stay right there…!"
"Try and catch me."
Business was finished. With a smirk, I closed the door to the room where he lay and struck a match. Bierson was already branded as a complete criminal in the outside world. The public opinion that his entire family was suffering from a plague sent as divine retribution was already set in stone. If the house burned down here and vanished along with the plague, it would be the first good deed he had ever done in his life—even if it was by force.
—*Whoosh.*
"Blue eyes. ……There are too many of them."
I thought to myself as I walked leisurely out of the burning building. When I searched my memories for high-ranking noble families with blue eyes, there were truly more than one or two. Even my mother had blue eyes.
After burning Bierson’s coffin, my worries deepened. How was I supposed to catch the next one?
"Leng."
"Yes."
"Go and clean up the remaining three."
"Shall I burn them all?"
"Yeah. Bury the well, too. I prepared the medicine, but it doesn't seem to be a 100 percent recovery, and if the plague spreads unnecessarily and the Academy shuts down, that’ll be a headache."
"Yes."
Thanks to stripping them of all their money, my pockets were very heavy. It was double the amount I had spent previously. At this rate, it might even be possible to run the Silver Teeth as my own private organization.
"Tsk. For now…… let’s take it one step at a time."
It seemed there were still plenty of people left to shove into burning coffins.
A few days after Bierson’s house burned to ash. On the terrace of a mansion somewhere.
"This is strange."
"What are you referring to, sir?"
Under the clear sky, a man with blue eyes sat at a table, drinking tea poured by a maid.
"Berzen, well, he moved on his own and got countered and killed, so I suppose that couldn't be helped. Hubel, I had intended to dispose of him anyway, but he died while doing something useless, so I'll let that slide. But the Margrave Gillian and the border nobles. And even the Academy Dean, Professor Bierson, and the regular professors. How is it that all the chess pieces I was using have died all at once?"
"Weren't you planning to clear them all out anyway? Perhaps someone else finished the job."
"I did intend to clear them out, but I didn't intend to consume them in such a boring way. The others aren't the type to work this hard, either."
Contrary to his words that it was boring, the man wore a gentle smile. Seeing this, the bob-haired maid tilted her head and asked.
"Shall I look into it? Whether there was someone else's intervention."
"Hmm… Yes. I should look into it. It seems something very interesting is happening."
"Whenever you say that, sir, something not very interesting usually happens."
"Hey, but even you, Linnet, are smiling as you say that, aren't you?"
Linnet, the maid, tilted her head at her master's words and began to knead her cheeks.
"When did you change my expression to a smile?"
And somehow, her face had become expressionless.
"Cook. Last night, while you were asleep."
"……You were the one who fell asleep first, yet you couldn't resist getting up to change it again."
As the maid sighed, the man pulled her waist and sat her on his lap.
"Because your reactions are always so interesting. I couldn't help myself."
"Yes. I suppose you couldn't."
After chatting happily for a while, the maid stood up first.
"I will look into it. If it is someone else's intervention, shall I kill them?"
"……No. Just gather the information. It seems like it would be fun, but I also get a dangerous feeling."
"Your anxieties have always been correct, Master."
"Yes. Especially this time, the feeling seems absolutely right. So, if you find something, don't judge it on your own—report it to me."
The man, having finished his tea, stood up and gently stroked the top of the maid's head. The maid closed her eyes tightly, remaining still as if savoring the touch.
"Linnet. Be careful, alright?"
"Yes, Master."
The blue-eyed subordinates that the vengeful ghost was looking for began to head toward the Academy.
Since I had been busy sending the Dean and the regular professors to the afterlife, my attendance record had reached a slightly dangerous level. In the end, I was forced into a situation where I had to attend almost all of my classes today.
"Leng."
"Yes."
"Any word from the Silver Teeth?"
"Well… the broker said he would talk to the higher-ups, but there hasn't been a word since."
We were currently climbing the stairs, heading to a joint course on Political Science.
"That's strange. If it's a house like the Valentia Duchy, they should want to take a job at least once, so why is it taking so long?"
"This is just my own thought… may I speak?"
"Go ahead."
"…Well. I heard quite a few people died during the first and second missions, so perhaps they don't like that?"
"I paid the life-price properly, didn't I?"
"It's probably because of the 'vibe' you give off, young master, that they won't take it."
"That shouldn't be it; those guys care more about money than their lives…"
I didn't know every setting of the game, but when their content appeared in the main story, there was a non-skippable scene. The 'me' from my past life was an idiot who would go to the bathroom or drink water during non-skippable scenes, so I only saw the content roughly. Still, I could grasp why those guys lived and died for money. So, if they found a boss who paid the life-price well, they would definitely be the type to join hands…?
"Oh."
"!!"
Just before reaching the third floor after climbing the stairs, a shadow fell past the window. The Academy building was four stories high. In other words, someone had fallen from above.
—*Thud!!*
"……"
Leng, who was inherently of the 'justice' attribute, had his body move reflexively, sprinting toward the window. In contrast, I began running calculations. Since the tips of the person's feet had already passed the edge of the window, there was no reason I could catch them by running now. However, if I decided to save them, there was no reason I couldn't.
The problem was:
'This isn't even the main story, so was there a suicide story in the game?'
Since the 'me' from my past life was the type to skip all the sub-quests, honestly, I didn't know if this was a situation I should be interfering in. If it were just Leng, he would never be able to save them, and if I helped, I could save them, but…
'Someone might see me.'
The only ones who knew I was hiding my talent were Leng and the Princess and her knight. I intended to reveal everything eventually, but while I was in the middle of my brother's revenge, I wanted to keep it hidden a bit longer. There was no need to reveal it unnecessarily, as the people who needed to die would just hide. I was confident I could find them even if they hid, but there was no reason to go out of my way to create troublesome work…
'Ha. Damn it…'
That was 0.3 seconds. In the end, my body ignored my reason and began to move, chasing instinct. No. To be precise, because of the brand most strongly imprinted on my reason, I was using 'instinct' as an excuse.
—'Of all things, a fall.'
The image of my brother, who had supposedly fallen from a stone bridge and died. I hadn't seen it myself, but the situation—falling from a high place, a situation that was similar yet not at all similar—was forcibly commanding my body.
—'The one I couldn't save…'
"Draw."
"!!"
I whispered to Leng, who was foolishly trying to jump out even though he could never reach her, and then I threw my body out the window. Leng, who had been trained through repeated beatings, drew his sword and thrust it exactly where I had predicted, even without a long explanation.
—'The world is at fault.'
Pulling my legs and waist in as much as possible, I stepped onto the underside of the sword Leng had drawn and looked down at the ground.
—'If only I had stepped in.'
After pulling every muscle in my body to its limit, I unleashed the explosive elasticity like a pistol. I flew like a bullet, and while catching the falling woman, I even had the luxury of checking my surroundings. Many people on the first floor. No one saw this way from the second-floor windows.
—'I would have definitely saved them.'
I extended my left arm forward, and the moment my fingertips touched the ground, I snapped my wrist to roll my whole body forward. I reduced the impact as elastically as possible, but a grotesque sound came from my middle finger, wrist, and shoulder. Muscle rupture, shoulder dislocation. While maintaining the speed of the fall by converting it into rotation at the cost of my left arm, the moment my feet touched the ground, I sprang up explosively again. It had been 1.2 seconds since I passed the second floor and reached the window of the third floor. I looked at Leng, who was still stupidly holding his sword out, with pity, snatched the sword with my unbroken arm, threw the woman into Leng's arms to take over, and then, holding the sword with my unbroken arm, I stabbed it into the wall of the rooftop above the fourth floor, using the recoil to enter inside.
No one… saw my movements accurately.
"Does this… count as attendance if I take sick leave?"
—'Even so, I wanted to save my brother.'
Because I didn't have the 1.8 seconds I had today back then, the regret of not being able to save my brother only grows.
"D-d-did you see that just now!?"
"……I would like to pretend I didn't see it."
"No! He just! Stood upside down and kicked the sword! *Whoosh!* And went! *Thump!* And flew back into the sky! To the rooftop…!!"
Princess Lilit, who had been stalking him openly, seemed excited by the incredible situation that had occurred in less than two seconds, her eyes sparkling as she spoke passionately to Jena. However, Jena's insides were a bit different.
'I didn't want to know. That there is a human who can move like that without using mana. He even moved later than Sir Dust. It was as if… he was debating whether to save her or not.'
If a monster like that were to awaken mana someday? No, he would definitely awaken it. Then, what on earth would be born?
"……*Sigh*. Sir Dust. Please pay attention to me."
"Huh? Jena? What did you say just now?"
"I said nothing."
Jena was simply envious of the female student who had been rescued while being held by Leng(?).