“Masumi. What exactly did you get up to in such a short amount of time?”
The moment she returned to the tent, Ark demanded an explanation.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“That’s what I’m asking.”
Being questioned about something she had no recollection of, Masumi tilted her head.
She glanced up at Kasumireaz beside her. He was looking down at her as well, but his expression held no trace of knowing the answer. He looked just as puzzled.
“There were no irregularities during her bathing,” Kasumireaz reported. “I was watching the entrance.”
It was broad daylight, and with the investiture ceremony imminent, there was no reason for knights to be loitering about. His tone carried that unspoken certainty.
Ark, however, crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Soldiers suddenly started making a fuss, shouting things like, ‘There’s a woman in the garrison,’ ‘No way, I saw her,’ ‘She was a goddess,’ ‘A celestial maiden,’ and demanding I let them see her too. They couldn’t even wait for the captain of the guard to return before reporting it. They came straight to me. To me. You really think that’s nothing?”
He tapped the desk sharply, irritation plain on his face.
“This, right before the ceremony. We’re already scrambling because the musician is a stopgap solution, and now even the honor guard can’t keep their heads straight. If they keep this up, I’ll silence them by force.”
“Ark-sama, please wait,” Kasumireaz said quickly. “I will settle the matter.”
“That’s fine. But first,”
Masumi’s name was called. The look he gave her asked plainly whether she truly had no idea.
“Well… I was seen by three people while I was in the open-air bath.”
The moment she answered honestly, Ark covered his face with one hand, while Kasumireaz’s eyes went wide.
“I mean, they screamed and ran away, though.”
There had been no conversation at all. She hadn’t even been given the chance to explain why she, a lone woman, was enjoying the men’s bath.
Under the circumstances, if one had to decide who looked more like a deviant, Masumi was clearly winning by a landslide.
“…I see. So it wasn’t just the imagination of some woman-starved foot soldiers,” Ark said, his voice dropping an octave.
Yes, but you doubted it from the start, didn’t you.
Why was he so angry, anyway? At the very least, the vein standing out on his forehead seemed excessive.
Masumi glanced sideways. Kasumireaz was wearing a complicated expression. With Ark radiating barely restrained fury like an enraged demon king, Masumi discreetly poked Kasumireaz’s arm.
“Hey. Is this really something to get that mad about?”
The captain of the guard thought for a moment, then answered carefully.
“Well… the sequence of events was disrupted.”
“Sequence? What sequence?”
“The one meant to prevent other knights from laying hands on you.”
Masumi fell silent.
That had been said far too casually for what it implied.
What did that even mean?
Was this place really dangerous enough that she needed to worry about her chastity at all times? A den of beasts? Well, an all-male environment might be like that, but no, accepting that wasn’t right either.
Her thoughts spun in circles before she finally rebooted.
“Wait a second. You don’t mean they’d just pin me down the moment we met, right?”
Surely knights weren’t that far gone.
They had some sense of morals, didn’t they? Please tell me they did.
Clinging to that hope, she pressed Kasumireaz for an answer, only for it to be mercilessly crushed.
“I will do my utmost to ensure that does not happen.”
“That’s not reassuring at all! How feral are these people supposed to be?”
Her retort came out faster than ever before.
And yet.
“What do you expect from knights?” Ark said flatly. “Armor or not, they’re just men. And a musician? That’s killing two birds with one stone. Make it a done deal, and you get what you want all at once. Of course they’d lose their heads.”
He sighed as he spoke.
Judging by his tone, this was genuinely a matter of concern. Come to think of it, the commander himself had been alarmingly quick to lay hands on her. If that was the case, then his subordinates were easy to imagine.
Masumi felt herself teetering on the edge of resignation.
Yes.
She had come to a truly dangerous place.
Sensing her dejection, Kasumireaz continued more gently.
“That is why I told you repeatedly to keep exposure to a minimum.”
“You’re kidding. You expected me to infer all of that from one vague warning? I’m not a mind reader.”
“This is a knightly garrison. I assumed it would be understood. I was too indirect.”
Kasumireaz apologized, but Masumi bore some blame as well.
She had been warned, after all.
The lack of background explanation was his fault, but failing to ask for clarification while aware she was in an unfamiliar culture was hers.
“For reference,” she said, “what would the correct procedure have been?”
It was too late now, but she wanted to know.
“With a simple explanation,” Kasumireaz began.
The most important step would have been to issue an announcement first.
By declaring that the newly appointed musician was not a temporary hire but Ark’s exclusive attendant, it would have been made clear that she was off-limits to the knights. Once they understood that, even if they desired her desperately, they would restrain themselves.
But the announcement had not been made in time.
It was common knowledge that the commander had no personal musician. That meant Masumi was perceived as a one-time contracted performer.
And with a one-time contract, there was always a next time.
In other words, even a low-ranking knight could, through negotiation, potentially obtain a musician of the same caliber as one befitting a commander. In a force already desperate from a lack of musicians, that was nothing short of a golden opportunity.
“Can’t you issue it now?”
“Too late.”
Ark had been in the middle of drafting the notice when the excited soldiers burst in.
Originally, the plan had been to complete and distribute it through headquarters while Masumi was bathing. Instead, everything had fallen behind.
It was already time to send the honor guard to the ceremony site.
Calming the agitated troops alone took all their effort. With so many muscle-headed soldiers worked into a frenzy, it would take hours for everyone to fully grasp a new order.
To make matters worse, Ark had a formal dinner scheduled with the mayor of Vestofa after the ceremony.
Kasumireaz, as captain of the guard, was responsible for overseeing the jousting tournament that followed.
Worse still, that tournament would last seven days, with nightly banquets throughout. Once the festivities began, there was a very real chance any announcement would fail to reach everyone.
That was why the initial step had been so crucial.
And why its failure had been so disastrous.
“We can’t send her back to the garrison alone after the ceremony. Take her to the jousting grounds.”
“I have no objection, but that will expose her to more than just the honor guard.”
“At this point, it makes no difference.”
Ark’s words were openly resigned. Kasumireaz did not argue.
“Sorry,” Masumi muttered.
Both men shook their heads weakly.
“This isn’t your fault. The real issue is the shortage of musicians.”
Seeing two hardened military men look so genuinely troubled drove home just how severe the situation was. She felt sympathy, but had no words to offer.
And later, Masumi would regret one thing deeply.
That she hadn’t asked why musicians were so desperately needed.
The early summer sky was clear, and a refreshing breeze swept along the stone road stretching from the garrison toward the city of Vestofa.
High above, a bird glided lazily, wings spread wide.
It looked easily five times the size of a kite, but it drifted peacefully enough.
Along the road, soft green grass stretched endlessly. In the distance stood sparse groves of trees with pale, beautiful trunks, like birch trees native to northern lands.
It was idyllic.
If one didn’t look behind.
“Whaaaat is that thing?!”
Masumi’s scream tore through the pastoral calm.
“If you talk, you’ll bite your tongue! You’re not used to riding!”
Kasumireaz shouted sharply as he held her and guided the reins.
“T-that’s easy for you to say, ow!”
“I warned you!”
She was on the verge of tears from his infuriatingly calm response, yet she couldn’t stop herself from peeking past his side.
Because behind them, unmistakably, were enormous wolf-like beasts charging after them in a pack of more than five. They looked far stronger than any wild dog, kicking up dust as they ran.
Expecting a modern civilian not to panic was unreasonable.
Their howls were terrifying enough, but the drool flying from their jaws made it worse.
They were clearly intent on eating them.
One step outside the garrison, and this was what awaited her.
She could die out here.
Ark’s earlier warning not to try escaping now felt like priceless advice. She couldn’t ride, couldn’t fight, and would never survive this alone.
Even as they fled, the pack kept growing, more joining from nowhere.
Like cockroaches, she thought bitterly. Only far worse.
Being caught by those fangs would mean instant death, if she was lucky.
In any case, this was an enemy even a modern army might hesitate to face.
“Aren’t you used to this kind of thing in the frontier?!”
“Japan is not some monster-infested wasteland!”
She bit her tongue again, but the correction was non-negotiable.
“They smelled you! Even monsters have good noses!”
Ark shouted from ahead, sounding almost amused.
This was not the time for that.
Strapped to the horse like cargo, there was nothing she could do but grit her teeth and pray the chase would end.
A life-or-death game of tag was not funny. Not at all.
Just as her endurance reached its limit, rows of houses finally came into view.
Simple white walls, different from the stone baths and tents of the garrison. Roofs tiled with dull orange stone blended harmoniously with the weathered facades.
At the entrance stood massive stone pillars and two guards.
Their eyes widened.
Naturally. From this distance, even Masumi could tell how obvious their situation was.
The thunderous roars behind them explained everything.
More soldiers poured out from what looked like a guardhouse, only to freeze and recoil in fear.
So much for gate guards.
She wanted to comment, but she knew she’d run just as fast in their place.
“What are your orders?!”
“I’ll handle it. Get her inside!”
They switched positions in an instant.
Ark’s blue roan slowed, while Kasumireaz urged his chestnut forward. Masumi bit her tongue yet again.
Below the palisade, water filled an outer moat. Hooves thundered across the stone bridge as the path cleared before them.
The moment they passed through the gate, Kasumireaz wheeled the horse around.
The chestnut reared, and for a split second she thought she would be thrown, but her body was caught securely against his chest.
The shaking finally stopped, though her head still spun.
So what was happening outside?
She braced herself and looked.
Ark remained mounted, his sword still sheathed.
Yet his body was wreathed in pale blue light.
A far sharper radiance than the gentle glow from the baths. Even she could instinctively tell how dangerous it was.
The concentrated light in his right hand was hurled forward.
It burst, and a line of blue-white brilliance swept across the horizon.
Silently.
In an instant, the pack was annihilated. The howls vanished, and the beasts scattered into nothingness like ash on the wind.
He hadn’t drawn his sword.
But in another sense, it was absolute domination.
