Chapter 214 - Host (11)

Luna couldn't fix her eyes on one spot, having been caught in a secretive act. She tried to maintain a calm expression, as if hiding her shameful feelings.

"You seem close to Damian. Seeing you two secretly playing in the middle of the night."

"It's not like that."

"What's not like that?"

"..."

Cecil, having caught something, aggressively pushed Luna.

"Tell me. The men you're friends with in Eternia aren't actually two..."

"..."

"It's just one, right?"

Luna lowered her head, avoiding Cecil's eyes.

"No, it's two."

"You're lying."

"Only Damian and Candy have approached me gently, easing my wariness."

"Tell me straight."

Luna put her finger to her lips as if to say to lower her voice.

"You'll wake Damian up."

"You..."

"That's why I was suspicious too."

Cecil's face fell, as if this was an unexpected answer.

"What?"

"Although there are many differences from Candy, there are also many similarities... So I was secretly checking. Keep it a secret too."

Cecil, at a loss for words, squeezed her eyes shut. Calmly recalling her memories, it was quite a reasonable statement.

Even Cecil herself, who was closest to Candy and had a sharp eye, couldn't figure it out, so it made sense that Luna didn't know either.

"So, you were also observing Damian because you suspected his identity?"

Luna nodded.

"Then that's good. I know a sure way."

Cecil walked over and sat down next to Damian. Then she started unbuttoning Damian's shirt one by one. Luna's eyes shook greatly as she watched this. She couldn't stop the brazen action and just fidgeted nervously with her hands.

Then another figure intervened.

"What are you two doing there?"

Cecil hurriedly took her hands off Damian, as if caught stealing.

Gray hair that stood out even in the dark night. The one who suddenly appeared without warning was Lilith.

She was watching them from the darkness with her arms crossed.

Cecil recognized Lilith and answered coldly, "It's none of your business."

Lilith slowly walked towards the campfire. Despite sleeping outdoors in a rough situation, her noble and neat beauty was hardly disturbed.

"You're not even from the Art Club, are you?"

"So what?"

"How do I know you're not trying to harm our leader, who isn't even a member of your club?"

"Aren't you just trying to clear out all the women around him and butter him up for yourself? That's what you do whenever you see someone you like, isn't it?"

"You seem to be misunderstanding something, but I just treated Damian well because he works the hardest. And don't act so presumptuous. Drama Club and Instrumental Music Club, you were simply taken in by the leader's kindness. In fact, we don't welcome you. You know? You from the Instrumental Music Club have only caused us trouble so far. And you from the Drama Club were our enemy until just yesterday."

Lilith finished speaking and elegantly brushed back her long hair with her hand. Her argument had a point. Cecil, left with nothing to say, stood up abruptly.

"You're making a big fuss over nothing."

As Cecil left, Lilith's gaze turned to Luna.

Luna also stood up silently. As she was about to leave, Lilith spoke, "Hey... you."

"...What?"

"Are you a pervert?"

"..."

"Why were you sitting like that?"

To this, Luna turned her body and remained silent, pretending not to hear. Lilith tilted her head quizzically.

"Why aren't you answering? Are you close with Damian?"

Luna answered calmly, "Yes, I've known him since before the entrance exam. Professor Silveryn introduced us."

At this, Lilith's face slightly crumpled as if a sensitive area had been touched.

"Ah... I see. But you weren't that close, were you? Seeing how you completely missed each other in the entrance exam."

Lilith's tone was soft and calm, but there was a subtle aspect that provoked the other person.

Luna responded coldly, "...I avoided him then because he clung to me too much."

"What?"

"I'm going."

"We're not done yet. More importantly, are you a pervert? Hey!"

Luna hurriedly left somewhere without even trying to clean up the words she had carelessly thrown out.

"What, clung to you?"

It was a picture that Lilith's mind absolutely couldn't draw.

With all the unwelcome guests gone, Lilith, left alone, looked down at the sleeping Damian.

He was sound asleep, probably due to having had a tough day. She sighed deeply and gently buttoned up Damian's shirt.

"Seeing how only bad girls keep flocking to you, you must have a tough fate..."

***

On the third day of the external investigation for the department competition.

The combined group of the Art Club and Instrumental Music Cluc headed towards Marbas Village, their last investigation site. Our mission would end once we grasped the full story of the disappearance case there, wrote the final report, and submitted it to Eternia along with the evidence.

The carriage could roll somewhat. Aside from the wheel sizes being slightly mismatched causing the body to tilt slightly to the left, and the door flaps being tattered allowing flying insects and dust to enter, there was nothing uncomfortable.

However, the morale of the members riding in the carriage was quite low.

Had they fought during the time I hadn't seen them? They seemed very uncomfortable being in the same space together. Was it because they had been ambushed several times and unfamiliar members from other departments were mixed in?

Especially the first-year girls didn't even make eye contact with each other. What could it be?

Lilith, sitting next to me, had been biting her lip and pondering alone when she suddenly asked me an unexpected question.

"Damian, um... I have something to ask."

"Yes?"

"Before entering the academy... is it true that you clung to Luna?"

What is this about now?

Everyone in the carriage had their eyes widened with curiosity, looking at me.

Sierra, a senior from the Art Club, made even more of a fuss.

"What? Damian, you were the one unilaterally clinging?"

"...Pardon?"

Luna, sitting across from me, bit her lip and looked at me with anxious eyes. For most people, it would be a subtle change in expression, but for Luna, who rarely shows emotional changes, it was as good as great agitation.

It seemed some conversation took place last night.

Luna stared intently at my face, sending a silent signal. It seemed agreeing moderately would help Luna.

However, I couldn't figure out what was said to make it seem like I clung to Luna. Before entering the academy, wasn't I just an existence she hated and rejected?

"Tch, somehow you two seemed suspicious from the start when you were doing this and that."

"It's not like that, we became close through Professor Silveryn's introduction. I did suggest that we take the entrance exam together."

Then Lilith said with a somewhat disappointed face, "...So you really did cling to her?"

"...?"

Lilith's expression subtly darkened.

Silence fell again. Cecil had been looking at distant mountains with her arms crossed for a long time, and Lilith also had a sullen face as if she was upset about something on her own.

Did I say something wrong? 

The atmosphere was rapidly cooling. It became suffocating to be with girls who were upset for unknown reasons.

Luna spread out a map to cover her face, as if trying to evade responsibility.

This cooled atmosphere continued until we arrived at our next destination.

***

Upon arriving at the final destination, everyone momentarily lost their words and froze. From near the village, an acrid smell pushed its way into the carriage.

Someone spoke with an anxious voice, "What... is this smell?"

Cecil said as if it was nothing, "...It's the smell of burning corpses."

"I'll check it out first, so follow slowly."

I got off the carriage alone.

Far away in the center of the village, black smoke was rising.

The reason we stopped the carriage was simple.

Marbas Village was not normal.

From the entrance of the village, everything was broken. As if barbarians had looted and passed through.

Leaving the carriage behind, I entered the village interior first. It was a moderately sized village of about forty households. But despite it being broad daylight, no people were visible.

Houses with broken doorknobs and swinging gates. Bloodstains. Abandoned clothes. Collapsed fences. And a faint chill permeated the air.

Walking towards where the smoke was rising, I encountered familiar faces there.

Students from Eternia. They were the ones dispatched for the mission like us.

They were carrying corpses in and out of empty houses.

"What are you doing now?"

However, an unnamed male student carrying a corpse said, "Oh? Are you from the Art Club? You're late."

He knew us. He was wearing a sword but I didn't remember seeing him in the first-year Combat Department classes, so he must be a second-year.

"Yes, this is..."

"Just to be clear in case you misunderstand, we didn't do this."

"Was it like this when you first arrived?"

"...Yes, it was a horrific sight."

Then he threw the corpse he was carrying into the blazing bonfire.

"Is this what happened to all the villagers?"

"Some seem to have escaped, but most couldn't avoid the calamity. We were leaving them as is for investigation, but if we leave, they'll just be abandoned like this, right? Humanely, this doesn't seem right."

It was a terrible situation.

The Art Club and Instrumental Music Cluc members joined belatedly. Most of them had turned pale seeing this scene.

Lilith, raised in a greenhouse, covered her mouth with her hand and froze without making a sound. Perhaps she was seeing corpses for the first time.

The only one not showing any emotional disturbance on the spot was Cecil.

"Are you burning everything now that you've finished your investigation?"

At this, those burning the corpses chuckled as if it was absurd.

"The mission is almost over, and we thought everyone who was coming has arrived, so we're holding funerals. We didn't expect to hear such words. There are still many corpses, so why don't you go investigate yourself?"

Cecil turned to look at the members and said, "Did you hear that? Anyone want to go investigate?"

Everyone seemed too scared by the corpses to volunteer.

"Come with me."

In the end, I volunteered. Then belatedly, Hubert also raised his hand.

"Me too. Let me help with the cremation after the investigation is done."

Then the senior carrying corpses threw in a word.

"But, haven't you guys given up yet? That Gale or whoever is way ahead, so there's no hope, right?"

Cecil ignored him and headed straight for an empty house.

***

Opening the door of a ruined house and entering, we were greeted by the bodies of a young girl and an old person sprawled in the corridor.

Hubert and I frowned simultaneously.

"...Oh no."

"Damn. This is really psycho."

However, Cecil started investigating right away without showing any signs of being saddened or sympathetic to the tragedy that had befallen a once peaceful village.

Seeing this, Hubert threw in a word.

"Don't you have any blood or tears?"

"Why, should I cover my mouth and squeeze out tears? I'd do it if it helped solve this case. But it doesn't, right?"

"I'm saying your reaction is too inhuman."

"If they were alive, maybe. I don't waste emotions on dead people. There are plenty of corpses in our department's lab too. Now, can you be quiet so I can work?"

Terribly cold-hearted. Cecil's composed appearance made quite an impression on me too. It was even more so because the Cecil I had seen so far was the image of a sensitive girl.

Cecil began tracing the cause of death by carefully examining the body of an old woman who had collapsed and died in the corridor.

"Clean. No signs of stabbing, cutting, or tearing. No decay either, so it must be recent. The skin is excessively cold and there are frostbite marks... It looks like they froze to death."

"Freezing to death? In this weather, and inside a house?"

"It's obvious. It must be magic. The floor is damp too. We need to check if the cause of death is the same for the others."

As Cecil left, Hubert sat in front of the bodies of the child and old woman, made the sign of the cross, and carefully lifted the bodies.

Unlike his usually light-hearted behavior, he seemed to have a somewhat serious side.

Cecil's investigation didn't take long. She ran around enthusiastically as if she had been waiting for work to come.

While Hubert briefly left to cremate the bodies, I followed Cecil around.

She roughly finished her investigation after going through several abandoned houses.

"The remaining bodies all froze to death too. But this time, I can't figure out why that killer chose a different method. Damian, do you have any ideas?"

"No."

I shook my head.

The description clearly indicated the use of a sword, but there were no sword wounds, only traces of magic. I didn't know why. It might be the power of a magic sword.

But I had no intention of continuing the mission.

With this mad killer openly active, there was no reason to risk danger by continuing the investigation with the members in tow.

"Damian, you're going to return to Eternia now, right?"

"Yes. Shall we go?"

"...Wait."

Just as we were about to leave the abandoned house, Cecil blocked the door with her body.

She seemed to have something to say to me, but strangely, she just stood there silently for a while.

An awkward air flowed in this space where only the two of us remained.

"What are you doing?"

"There's something I want to know."

"...What is it?"

"Candy."

"...!"

For a moment, an ominous feeling made my spine chill.

Cecil laughed weakly.

"You've deceived well so far, but it's too late to deny it. The girls who followed Candy are following you in the same way. They're too clumsy."

"..."

"Even if you try to hide it, it's obvious from their eyes. Their acting skills are terrible for Drama Club members."

"..."

Cecil couldn't meet my eyes and turned her head. Then she breathed shortly as if nervous. It was the opposite of her confident and fearless appearance from earlier.

She spoke in a small voice, "I, I understand. You must have some reason for living in hiding. Just... I have one request. Please pass this message on to my friend Candy."

"...What message?"

"Tell him I miss him."

"..."

"Tell him that even though I'm so angry, I keep thinking about him and miss him. That I want to meet again and talk... That I want him to come back to me wearing that stupid mask. Pass that on."

"..."

"There's an investigation team camp near the village. The Instrumental Music Club has decided to disband, and I'm planning to join my friends there and continue investigating. I'll send you the investigation data too since I owe you. Well... goodbye."

Cecil didn't properly face me until the end and slipped out as if escaping.