Chapter 28: The City That Doesn't Close Its Eyes (4)
A metallic sound was heard.
Kukwang──!
The escort guards leaped towards Abel. Their speed was formidable, despite being clad in plate armor. While the heavy shadows descended upon Abel's head,
Tuk, and. The tip of Abel's foot brushed against the stone floor. Though he had only scraped the stone with the front toe of his shoe,
──Hududuk!
The fragments of the flooring, leaping up with dust. The escort guards were swept away by the strong wind that carried them.
<Iris, I will now begin the engagement.>
Abel communicated in a dry tone.
The margin-white Aura that had formed on the tip of Abel's foot scattered.
<The traces of them being annihilated must not be left behind. Do you understand what that means, Abel?>
<……I will grind them to powder.>
Amidst the pouring stone fragments, Abel gripped the hilt of his beloved sword. Aura wrapped around the tattered blade.
The escort guards, raising their bodies with ominous glints in their eyes.
If he were to step on the wrong part of the flooring here, the alarm would ring. Seeing as it did not react to the escort guards' steps, the disadvantage of the route was entirely Abel's.
‘Of course, that is…….’
Abel kicked off the ground.
‘Not a problem.’
While the escort guards were getting into formation, Abel's shadow shot up. Abel's foot, lightly stepping on a stone pillar. As he was, he leaped up and landed beside an escort guard standing upright in front.
In a moment that seemed to have been stretched to its fullest,
- Identifying the target's risk level.
The escort guard's voice, recited without emotion.
A blade that pierced his neck before the words could be finished. The escort guard's eyes turned to Abel's face. The blood that gushed from the torn carotid artery soaked Abel.
“Sir Alberge Hildeberg.”
Abel pronounced the escort guard's name.
Amidst his blood-soaked face, Abel's blackish-blue eyes flashed.
“……Rest in peace.”
──Pababat!
The escort guard's body, beginning to be ground up mercilessly.
To be precise, it was cut. The Aura on Abel's beloved sword had been released as an Aura Blade inside the escort guard's body, and had mercilessly cut his arms and legs, the bone fragments replaced with iron, the internal organs that were animated through spells, and all of that.
- Target's risk level, escalated.
- Entering red alert status.
- Draw swords.
The escort guards' gazes focused on Abel.
Abel swung his beloved sword. The fine fragments on the blade fluttered. They were none other than the remnants of the escort guard.
‘It doesn't seem like black magic was used.’
Abel thought, facing the reddish-black eyes.
‘A dead life form cannot be moved with ordinary spells. If so, Marquis Saint-Pierre must have…….’
He had heard of Marquis Saint-Pierre before. The House of Saint-Pierre, known to the public, was a cradle of inventors. The previous marquis had been involved in the development of vehicles that operated on magic stones as fuel, and Fleur de Saint-Pierre's father, Deserick de Saint-Pierre, was also renowned as an inventor.
‘……Did he use a forbidden spell.’
A forbidden spell meant a spell whose use was restricted by the five magic tower masters. Spells intended for mass killing, spells that violated ethical consciousness, and spells that caused environmental destruction were collectively called forbidden spells.
To use a forbidden spell, the approval of the Imperial Mage Association was needed. But it was nothing more than a futile rule. Forbidden spells had also been overused during the Mirror War, and steady research was being carried out with the permission of the nobles.
- Enter.
- Enter.
- Enter.
The escort guards' blades, cutting through Abel's thoughts.
Abel shook the magic staff held in his left hand. The ‘Polychrome Orb’ was dismantled. Subsequently, ‘Sturdy Grip’ was activated. While a circular protective barrier surrounded Abel's body,
──Chaeng, and.
The escort guards' blades were blocked by the protective barrier. But they did not mind. Paseok, paseok, paseok! The escort guards, mechanically repeating their strikes on the protective barrier. While a crack formed in the protective barrier, the escort guards' eyes were fixed on Abel without a single blink.
‘To think they would create something like this and call it an invention.’
Abel let out a sigh.
‘Every world is the same.’
Jjaenggang──!
The protective barrier, collapsing.
Abel swung his magic staff horizontally.
The barrier of the Celestials was restricting magic. Therefore, the limit of usable magic here was the 2nd rank. In the first place, the spells stored in Leon Baibars's magic staff were not of a high level.
──Hwioo!
Abel cast ‘Eye of the Young Typhoon’. A wind that raged around the tip of the magic staff. Just as the escort guards were bending their upper bodies and laboriously taking a step,
‘There's not much time.’
Abel stored the magic staff in his subspace. At the same time, he stuck his beloved sword into its scabbard and bent his upper body. Abel's two eyes, smoothly closing. He fixed the scabbard with his left hand, and gripped the hilt with his right hand. He took one step forward with his right leg, and bent his left leg to support his weight.
It was the procedure for drawing a sword.
‘I'll have to deal with them in one stroke.’
A sound intrudes into his sealed vision.
The footsteps of an escort guard. The ground, resonating because of it. There was no reason to stare intently. Abel's target was not the escort guards' bodies. He would just cut the space they were in itself.
Abel Argento-style sword-drawing technique, ‘Killing the Empty Air’.
A margin-white Aura formed on Abel's right hand. It flowed out from the scabbard and became a line segment. As if a constellation were connecting in the night sky, an Aura Blade woven from Aura surrounded the air.
And so, boundaries engraved in the empty air.
Countlessly, pervasively, cutting them out as they are,
‘O knights whose corpses have been profaned.’
──Chwarak!
They were cut all at once.
At the same moment his beloved sword left its scabbard.
‘Rest in eternal peace.’
Abel opened his eyes.
The escort guards, floating powerlessly.
They were frozen as if time had stopped, and were stuffed by the Aura Blade that had pierced through and drawn a line in the empty air. It was because time had not been able to measure the sword strike that had cut the inside of the space. And so, he sheathed his sword. Abel's beloved sword was stored in its scabbard. That was the signal.
Hududuk……, and.
The escort guards were cut into powder and scattered.
That was all. Abel's Aura was focused solely on cutting. It was completed in a way that cut the adversary before his eyes, a numerous army, and everything else besides.
Only cutting, and cutting, and cutting forever.
That was the belief remaining in Abel.
<……Iris, I have dealt with the escort guards.>
Abel communicated, heading towards the iron door.
<Well done. The traces…….>
<I have left none.>
Abel's two hands rose to the iron door.
As he was, he pushed forward. The sound of a cog creaking was heard, and the lock of the distant iron door was dismantled by pure external force.
A wide, artificial light shining down. Abel frowned. Inside the iron door, a magic device operating, connected to numerous magic nets, was revealed. A sentence had appeared on the vacuum tube, which was shaped like a rectangle.
Until when is your night, and.
<It seems I have to input a password.>
An input device that resembled a typewriter.
Abel communicated, looking at it.
<Secret societies are all like that. They tend to prefer being fancy. Several layers of passwords must be protecting the magic device. But you don't need to worry. Please input as I communicate from now on.>
Abel tilted his head.
<I have never used a typewriter.>
<That can't be. You've visited a hundred worlds. The civilization of the world we protected before was shabby, but worlds that have developed enough to create a typewriter are common…….>
<……I don't know how to use it.>
<You'll have to use a typewriter a lot at CIAR too.>
<I asked the golem to input it. I'm not very familiar with machines.>
Iris let out a long sigh.
<Your outside is a young man, but your inside is an old man. Don't be nervous, Abel. I'll teach you. First, extend both your index fingers straight, and…….>
Abel did as Iris said.
He stared at the typewriter with both his index fingers extended. He found the characters corresponding to the password and calmly input them. Slowly. One letter at a time. Like an eagle aiming its beak at its prey.
<It says it's wrong. The password must have been changed.>
<Don't be ridiculous and try inputting it again. Not being able to admit a mistake is also a sign of menopause.>
Abel let out a faint groan.
After several trials and errors, he connected to the magic device. Even so, it was time to input the next password. Iris belonged to a key position within the White Night Ball, and though she was not as good as an elder noble like Grand Duke Marchand, she could view information of a high rank. The higher the rank of the information, the more complicated the password became. At the moment he submitted the password to access the highest secret area……,
<Iris, a phrase has appeared telling me to input something else. It's not a password……, it's an unfamiliar word…….>
<It must be asking you to present a search term. Try inputting a fragment of the information we need.>
For example, 2nd Prince Cherkio Numeros.
Iris communicated in a languid voice.
Abel fumbled and tapped on the typewriter. At the same moment he submitted the search term, a dense sentence was revealed. A phrase that decorated the end of the information. Abel kept an eye on it. Since it was a story about himself.
『 The Death of ‘Cherkio Numeros’ 』
─ It was true that the death of the 2nd Prince decorated the finale of the Mirror War, but nothing is known about the process.
It had all happened overnight. The time it took from when the 2nd Prince, whose defeat had become imminent, had holed himself up in an impregnable fortress, to when he was discovered with his throat cut was…….
Member number 301 provided information. That on the day the 2nd Prince drew his last breath, he had seen the shadow of a giant girl in the night sky.
Member number 537 guessed the conclusion. That as long as the Papacy had supported the current emperor, the former 4th Prince, the Pope's hand must have contributed to the death of the 2nd Prince.
‘There's no helpful information.’
Abel brushed back his hair. The death of the 2nd Prince was not noteworthy information. Abel had infiltrated the base alone, and had assassinated him without a trace. That was all.
<Hurry, Abel. The meeting is over. The nobles will be heading there to view the information.>
<Understood.>
Wait just a little, and.
Muttering softly, Abel glared at the typewriter. I feel like Monika, practicing her writing. Though his mind was rushed, his hands wouldn't follow.
Abel hurriedly viewed the information. Rather than demanding a proper answer, he chose to go around it. He gathered the traffic information of the capital, Naflansee, the search status of the apostates, and the personal details of the recently arrested heinous criminals.
And Felix Christian.
Abel input the name of one of the prime suspects. Information about Felix was listed on the magic device. Truly poor sentences. It was a repetition of the information that could be obtained from within CIAR. Birth and death dates, achievements as an officer. None of it had any questionable points.
‘……Felix Christian.’
But for a moment, Abel's gaze wavered.
‘You are…….’
Abel was not looking at the sentence.
He was staring at Felix's face. An appearance preserved in the nature of black and white through photography. That was……,
‘What on earth is your identity.’
It was not the face of the Felix that Abel knew.
Only the age range was similar, but a man with a different appearance was seated in the vacuum tube.
<Iris, I will now return.>
Abel turned his back on the magic device.
The hem of his formal coat, fluttering. He pushed through it and moved forward. There was no time to delay. The fact that someone had used Felix Christian's identity to become a professor meant the involvement of a powerful person who could influence the citizen registration system.
<The Felix Christian employed at CIAR is a fake.>
<……A fake?>
At Iris's bewildered communication, Abel nodded his head.
<That's right. More than I thought…….>
The core of the empire may have been contaminated.
Abel communicated so.
<Let's talk about the details after we get out of here.>
<Let's do that. I'll be waiting.>
The information that had appeared on the magic device was initialized.
And so, only a single question remained in the vacuum tube.
Just as when Abel had first witnessed it.
Until when is your night, and.
* * *
Cia-Harphe Academy's 3rd Training Ground.
While the lights of the capital shimmered beyond the floating island,
“The night is late, Dante.”
Felix's voice, heard unexpectedly. Dante's ears, who had been swinging his sword, perked up. Felix, who had approached without a presence, stood with his arms crossed. Dante, after letting out a breath tired from training, blushed and hid his sword behind his back.
“I, I've shown a shameful sight……”
“What's so shameful? You were swinging with great spirit.”
Felix chuckled.
As he was, he wrapped his arms around Dante's. He pulled him to his side and checked his palms.
“You fellow, your hands are all scraped.”
Paseok, and.
A sword, rolling in the dirt.
“Taking a rest is also part of training.”
Felix said, stroking Dante's hand.
Dante averted his gaze. It wasn't that he didn't know the meaning of his teacher's words. But even if his hands were roughly scraped, it was nothing compared to Felix's skin, which was full of scars.
“Do you understand, Dante. You have to rest at the right time for you to grow tall. Lie down in your bed in a disgraceful posture, and then fall asleep while counting the number of moles on the face of a girl you like. Because you're at an age where you can do that.”
“I……, don't particularly have anyone I l, like……”
“Right. I'm sure you don't. That's your problem.”
Felix passed by Dante.
“I'll take you to the dormitory. Hurry up and move.”
“Ah, understood!”
Dante hurriedly followed Felix. The heavy sword was carried on Dante's body, which was small for his age. A precious sword inherited from his teacher. He knew that it didn't suit him.
Dante's talent in swordsmanship was exceptional. It was not lacking for him to become a special scholarship student at CIAR, but that was only when he held a sword that suited his body type.
“Teacher……”
Dante opened his mouth, staring at Felix's back.
“D, do you perhaps remember. The day we first met……”
“Of course.”
Felix shrugged his shoulders.
“Are you looking down on this old man? I'm not yet at an age where my memory is failing.”
“No, I didn't mean it like that……”
No…….
You are at an age where your memory could very well be failing…….
Muttering so, Dante wore a faint smile.
“When I was at the magic stone quarry……, wh, when I was stuttering……, and was kicked out in three days because my work was slow……, and was begging on the streets like that……”
“I took you in.”
Felix answered readily.
“You looked pitiful, begging for a piece of bread. I didn't even know you had a talent for swordsmanship back then. Anyway, all brats are as small as acorns……”
That's why you have to measure their height to know.
Whether they are big or small. Good or bad. Excellent or poor.
Muttering so, Felix let out a sigh.
“Back then……, y, you said, Teacher.”
Dante recalled the past.
Around the time he was repeatedly begging in the back alleys of the capital, he would cling to passersby as they came, and had gripped the hem of Felix's coat.
One gold coin, no. No. Anything is fine……, please give me even the bread you're eating. The young Dante had whispered to Felix.
“Y, you have the eyes of someone who has lost their family.”
Dante, reciting Felix's words in a clumsy tone.
“I……, I also lost my family. So I can tell. You must have also……, l, lost everything due to the war.”
We are in a similar situation, brat.
It was all because of the Mirror War.
When I reached my hometown after the end of the war was declared, there was nothing left for me.
My daughter died of illness early on. There was no grave. My wife, after suffering from madness, jumped into a well. It's a common thing. Just like how your family died…….
So you are also common, brat.
A brat so common it's sickening.
Look around. Aren't there plenty of begging children? If I were to give you a piece of bread, all those vagrant brats would wipe their snot and run over here. They would grab my clothes, asking for their daily bread. I'd like to pass on that.
Because this bread is all I have.
“S, so……”
Take my hand.
“Not the clothes, but the h, hand……”
Grip the hand tightly.
No matter how hungry they were, there were no children with the courage to snatch my hand. It can't be helped. It's my fault for looking so burly.
You are all so gaunt. As if you would crumble if I were to grab you. That is precisely why.
No matter how much sympathy I had for you all, the reason why I couldn't hold any of your hands in the end.
So try clinging to me first.
Overcome your fear. Yes, like that…….
You're doing very well.
“B, back then……, your hand was very light, Teacher.”
But……,
But the sword looked heavy, and.
Dante whispered, hugging the sword that Felix had passed down.
“The sword looked so very heavy……, I, I……, wanted to hold it for you.”
That was all.
The reason why he had pestered him for Felix's old sword.
His teacher's very worn-out sword looked so very heavy. Gripping it tightly in his hand, and swinging it several times, he guessed that it must not have been different from the weight of his young self, who had clung to him in the past. Dante believed so without a doubt.
“S, so……, if the day comes when I can perfectly wield this sword……”
And so, the teacher will be able to relieve.
The weight on the sword. The worry on the burdensome disciple.
Dante thought so.
“You foolish fellow.”
Felix laughed hollowly.
Then he looked back at Dante.
“We've arrived, you bastard. Hurry up and go in and crash.”
Behind Felix, a neat dormitory building soared.
Snow Bear Building. It was the residence of the students sponsored by the Zylon family.
“Ah, understood……. I hope you get some sleep too, Teacher……”
Just as Dante was about to pass Felix, saying so,
“My sword does not suit you, Dante.”
Felix said, placing his hand on Dante's head.
“It's for a simple reason. My sword is too heavy. You are too small. My sword is too big, and you are too light. Do you understand, my worthless disciple? I have never once considered you a burden.”
After whispering so, Felix started walking.
Dante stared at his teacher's retreating back. He mumbled his lips, but no words came to mind.
“Oh dear, I almost forgot to say.”
Suddenly stopping his steps,
“I'll be away for a few days.”
Felix said, looking back at Dante.
“Because there's something I absolutely must do.”
After saying so, Felix grinned.
Something I absolutely must do? What could that be? Dante thought for a very brief moment. Soon, another thought surfaced.
‘It seems my teacher……, has gotten younger recently.’
The brown hairs revealed between Felix's white hair.
Dante tilted his head, looking at them.
‘……It must be my imagination.’
Thinking so, he smiled.
My teacher is just, a person who is passionate in defiance of his age.
A person who has set my life straight.
That must be all.