- Troubles Multiply Like Snowballs
The commotion swelled little by little, until at last a strained cry cut through it all.
“A monster!”
Masumi jerked, staring at Ark.
“Don’t tell me it’s a survivor from yesterday?”
“Impossible.” Ark rejected it at once, eyes sweeping the surroundings without the slightest lapse. “I erased that Wolves pack so completely there wasn’t a trace left.”
Now that the source of the panic had a name, confusion crested. Citizens collided as they tried to flee first, shouts and screams tangling together.
The tide of people was spilling from the far side of the fountain in the plaza.
Masumi thought Ark would break into a run immediately. Instead, he fixed his gaze on that direction, brow deeply furrowed. Suspicion and caution sat together on his face.
“How did it slip through Kasumireaz’s barrier…?”
The low murmur sounded like he was weighing every possible explanation. It was ominous. As if something that should never happen had happened, and a bottomless unease rose up in Masumi’s chest.
Beside them, sharp voices flew.
“Guards! Where are the guards!?”
“Someone’s gone to call them!”
“This is bad, a child!”
A loud click of the tongue sounded right next to Masumi.
“No time to go back for my sword.”
Ark cut off his thoughts and turned to her.
“I’m going to deal with it. I’ll be right back, so don’t move from here.”
“…Okay.”
“Don’t make that face. You’ll be fine.”
His hand came down on Masumi’s head. He gave her a light pat, pat, as if soothing a frightened child.
In the midst of the chaos, Ark spun on his heel and vanished into the crowd. Masumi never even found the opening to protest, “I’m not a child.”
Even after his back was swallowed by the flow of people, Masumi couldn’t look away from the direction he’d gone for a long while.
Whether Ark was moving through the scene telling people to calm down, or whether his sheer presence in motion was enough to steady them, the earlier panic began to subside. Citizens whispered to one another with relief threaded through their tension.
“The Supreme Commander…”
“It’s all right now.”
To be trusted this absolutely, by himself alone.
Ark had said that to protect was the very reason a knight existed. He likely had not once betrayed that vowed way of living. Seeing a glimpse of Ark’s unvarnished life, Masumi stood rooted to the spot.
Then a jolt ran through her.
“Tch—”
She’d collided with someone hurrying past. The unexpected impact threw her off balance, and her knee struck the stone pavement.
“My apologies! Are you all right?”
A low, gentle voice, and a hand extended before her.
Masumi looked up before taking it.
A young man. Perhaps two or three years younger than she was. He looked timid, and his fluster was obvious when she did not immediately accept his help.
Without meaning to, Masumi’s cheeks loosened. Grateful, she took his hand. It was surprisingly warm.
“No, I’m the one who should apologize. I was daydreaming.”
A citizen of the nation that excels at excuses. Words like that came easily.
Their eyes met.
He blinked, once, twice, three times, and then breathed, “Ah.”
“Um… you are…”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you the Supreme Commander’s musician?”
“Ah…”
Faced with that hopeful gaze, Masumi faltered.
She could hardly say, I’m under suspicion as a spy, I only played because I had to clear it, I’m basically a stand-in. What would happen if she said that here?
Even as the thought crossed her mind, Masumi’s answer came out vaguely. She had been told to stand as Ark’s musician at the ceremony, but she had not been told it would continue after that. It was true they had demanded she contribute, but the way she was meant to do so was still uncertain. Her position was, frankly, unclear even to herself, and so she avoided stating it plainly.
But her silence was apparently taken a different way.
The young man hurriedly waved both hands, rattling on.
“No, I didn’t mean it that way. I saw you at the investiture ceremony, so I spoke without thinking. I may recognize you, but from your perspective I’m just one face in the crowd, a stranger you don’t know.”
“It’s not like that.”
“And still, you have truly remarkable skill.”
“It’s not that—”
“Which knight have you served until now? The Supreme Commander has suffered greatly, from what I hear, but with you he has the strength of a hundred.”
“Well, that’s…”
“Honestly, he must wish he’d met you much sooner. If he had, the knight order might have been able to work a little more properly.”
Masumi had no idea what to say. This was too much.
That the knights struggled to secure their “supply line,” as Ark had called it, was likely common knowledge. Even so, something about the way he said it scraped against Masumi’s nerves.
If you have time to praise someone, why didn’t you do it yourself?
Raised in a culture famed for reading the air, she could not miss the thin line of contempt running through his innocent tone. He was ridiculing the knights’ circumstances whole, even as he spoke of it as “good.”
No matter how they puffed themselves up as knights, if they could not bring their strength to bear, they were nothing but useless eaters.
He was clever, and the way he looked down on them showed through. He understood everything, and deliberately pretended not to notice, making sport of it all the while. The young man before her had that sort of slyness.
Truly, people were not what they seemed. The old sayings had it right.
“But the Supreme Commander is cold, isn’t he? Leaving you here like this, it’s rather lacking in consideration—”
“Excuse me. I have somewhere to be.”
“Ah, wait—”
“I’m sorry. I’m in a hurry.”
As if she was going to stand here and let him poison her mood any further.
Holding back the urge to spit words at him, Masumi bowed once with a polite smile, then cut the conversation off by force.
She strode through the crowd, pushing forward with long steps. The Merino maid, who had hurried after her, came alongside but did not ask a single question. Masumi only felt the occasional worried glance.
After she’d moved a block on momentum alone, Masumi finally slowed.
“That’s not something someone who isn’t even a musician gets to say.”
If he was so worried he had to put in his two cents, he should do it himself. As Masumi snapped under her breath, the young maid gave a small “Ah,” as if it finally clicked.
Understanding at last what had angered Masumi, she offered gently, “There’s a lovely tea shop just ahead,” recommending it as a place to cool down.
And while they waited for Ark to return, the two women ended up having a small tea gathering.
Because she never looked back, Masumi did not see it.
“…Yeah. You shouldn’t let something important out of your hand.”
The young man’s mouth curled upward.
In his right palm, a small spell-circle had been drawn.
“Iglus, in the city?”
Kasumireaz’s hand stopped in midair, surprise freezing him. The skewer he was about to bite hovered just before his mouth, lips parted in a dumbfounded “Oh.”
“Yeah. You got any idea?” Ark, by contrast, tore into a slab of meat with gusto.
Beside him, Masumi sipped fruit wine in small, careful tastes, listening to the exchange.
Night had already fallen.
They were in an old fortress, within a vast compound said to have once served as a training ground for knights long ago, and the feast was in full swing. Several glowing spheres floated in the air, bathing everything in a fantastical light.
Apparently this was how it always was.
During the week of the jousts, nights were spent here in a “banquet offered by the Supreme Commander,” so they said.
This year, the first day’s celebration had been cancelled because of the monster incident, and today’s revelry was wild enough to make up for it. Like a countryside summer festival, knights, guards, and townsfolk mingled together, laughter and shrill delighted voices rising from everywhere.
Casting that aside, the three of them had claimed a corner of the training ground and were eating with single-minded focus.
The reason they were wolfing it down was simple.
For the first hour, Ark, Kasumireaz, and Masumi had done nothing but accept drink after drink, returning cups in polite exchange, and had not been able to touch the lavish food set before them at all. With a feast right there, withheld, their hunger had only grown sharper.
At first there had been no end to the people coming to pour for them, but once everyone grew properly drunk, greetings became an afterthought and the crowd turned to pure merrymaking.
How selfish people were.
In any case, once the drunkards’ attention drifted, the three finally managed to reach for solid food.
And thus, back to the serious matter.
While Kasumireaz had been overseeing the jousts, trouble had erupted in the city. Out of nowhere, an Iglus had appeared in the streets; a child had nearly been taken, and Ark had saved them in the nick of time.
An Iglus was a large avian monster. With massive hooked talons, it was big enough to seize even a grown man in one grasp. It could take flight with its prey, and once caught, escaping it was perilous.
It preferred solitude and rarely descended into human settlements, but even so, there were always a few incidents each year. It was a vicious beast.
“Compared to Wolves, it’s a couple of ranks higher,” Ark had said.
For such a creature to get inside the city, there had to be a reason. When Ark asked if Kasumireaz had any idea, the Captain of the Guard shook his head, brow drawn tight.
“The barrier I spread across all of Vestofa. It isn’t something that can be done carelessly.”
In other words, it was impossible that the barrier simply wasn’t working. If anyone attacked it, Kasumireaz, as its caster, would certainly notice. The same held true for any attempt to disable it.
Kasumireaz said it with such certainty that Ark nodded as well.
“Then someone brought it in on purpose, hiding it. That’s the most likely. If they want to pick a fight with me, they should just come at me directly. Not throw one thing after another at us when we’re this busy.”
“Or perhaps it is different,” Kasumireaz said.
“Hm?” Ark stopped eating.
“If the target were you, Ark-sama, they would not release it in the city. They would set it upon you directly.”
“They’ve got some nerve,” Ark said, scowling. “As if I wouldn’t swat it down.”
“It is as you say. An Iglus is not even a warning shot against you. Which is why… the aim may be something else.”
Kasumireaz lowered his eyes, thinking deeply.
Masumi and Ark exchanged a glance.
If Ark wasn’t the target, then who was?
And yet there was no way to know who hated whom, or why. They couldn’t even fully rule out the possibility that it was Ark after all, disguised as something else. After all, as the commander of the Fourth, he remained the most likely person to be targeted.
While the two men frowned and brooded, Masumi rose to her feet.
“I’m going to get some air.”
“Are you all right?” Kasumireaz started to stand at once.
“I can walk. And there are people around. I’ll come back properly.”
There was no way she could flee in this drunk state, even if she wanted to.
“Don’t worry. Eat slowly,” she added, a little more firmly.
Kasumireaz sat back down, reluctant but yielding.
I really should fix the way I drink.
She regretted it faintly, but what was done was done. Slightly unsteady, Masumi headed toward the washroom.
Her pace at the start had been a bit too fast, and her cheeks were hot. It was an old habit from her working days. If someone offered a drink, she could never refuse, and she always returned the gesture.
From any angle, it was the behavior of an old man.
She knew her limits well enough not to cross them, but she wasn’t especially strong with alcohol.
As she ambled through the stone corridors of the old fortress, drunks called out to her every few steps.
“Hey, miss!”
“Musician!”
They were friendly, or perhaps simply loose. Still, being greeted like that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Raising a hand with a slurred, “Mm-hm,” to every voice, she eventually found the wash area and splashed water on her face.
What surprised her was the mechanism.
A large stone basin had been carved out, and within it a smaller ring of stone held water that brimmed and shimmered. It seemed to seep up from below, then overflow gently, trickling down along the stone edge.
It looked exactly like a shrine’s purification basin.
But even if they had access to clean water, this fortress clearly came from an era before taps and spigots. It was only possible because water was abundant, but either way, the lifestyle here wasn’t bad.
The water was cold, and felt wonderful.
Wiping away the droplets with her hands, Masumi belatedly realized she had no towel. Using the sleeve or hem of her dress to dry her face felt questionable for a woman of her age, so she decided to let the night breeze do the work.
Though she had assumed she’d be lost in darkness, the truth was, it was rather bright.
Not like fluorescent lights, but the same floating spheres she’d seen in the bath drifted through the fortress here and there, casting a soft amber glow.
Whether it was magic or something else, it was convenient.
Following the lights like a guide, Masumi climbed a staircase at the end of the corridor and emerged above the training ground.
A lookout platform, perhaps.
From there she could see not only the grand feast below, but the nightscape of Vestofa spread out beyond. It was nothing like modern Japan with its neon colors. Every light here was a gentle orange.
Warm firelight traced the city’s shape without interruption, modest but steady, lifting it into the dark.
An unknown city.
And yet… beautiful.
Squinting at the glow, Masumi found herself thinking what she should do from here on.
She had the uneasy sense that she wouldn’t be able to return home quickly. Not until she explained who she was to Ark and the others, and made them understand the situation. If they couldn’t grasp what “Japan” was, she couldn’t even begin to ask how to go back.
But there was no guarantee they would understand.
An unextinguished “what if” smoldered in her chest. She had never imagined a day would come when she’d be afraid to look at a world map.
“Good evening, musician.”
“What?”
Whether it was the alcohol or her thoughts, Masumi hadn’t noticed someone behind her at all.
She turned, and saw a man standing there. Judging by his young, firm voice, he was likely a youth.
“It is a fine night.”
He stepped closer, eyes narrowed slightly. His voice sounded cheerful, but she couldn’t tell if he was smiling, because a black cloth covered his mouth.
He was dressed entirely in black.
Black garb, perhaps. Like a ninja’s, built for movement, though no skin showed. He seemed ready to melt into the night. Only his long, narrow eyes were visible above the cloth, as if he were someone who lived in secrecy.
Neither knight nor townsman.
He moved without a sound, sliding into Masumi’s space.
“Why are you here alone?”
Despite the wrongness of his appearance, his tone was soft, impeccably courteous.
“Ah… I was just getting some air.”
“Even being a woman makes this dangerous. And you are a musician, no less. I cannot recommend walking alone at night. Where are the Supreme Commander and the Captain of the Guard?”
He extended his right hand. He seemed to be worried for her, offering to escort her back without saying it outright.
But even if he spoke like a gentleman, it felt improper to accept such care from a stranger.
Masumi waved lightly, declining in a way she hoped would not offend, and gestured toward the lively gathering below.
“It’s right there. They’re both down in the main grounds.”
“How convenient.”
“…What?”
She didn’t catch the sudden drop in his voice.
She turned her head, about to ask him to repeat it. In that instant, both her wrists were seized, and she was shoved back against the stone edge.
Her body lurched. With the alcohol dulling her strength, her vision swam.
“Tch…!”
Nausea rose with the spinning world, but she forced her eyes open.
His face loomed so close she could feel his breath. The grip would not loosen. Her wrists were pinned against the stone, and the strength behind it was so overwhelming Masumi couldn’t even manage to draw a proper breath.
“Careless,” he murmured. “If it matters to you, you shouldn’t let it out of your hand.”
“What are you—”
Her words were cut off.
He tore her lips open with a kiss, more bite than tenderness. She tried to shrink away, but her back hit stone and there was nowhere to go.
Heat invaded her mouth.
A tongue, ruthless and urgent, ravaged her as if it owned her. He pulled away only for a breath, then the heat shifted down to her throat, and pain flared.
In that relentless assault, she was not permitted any real resistance.
