Chapter 54
“So, the thing is…!!”
The moment Haru's mouth, which had remained shut for a long while, finally opened.
-Crash!!
With a deafening crash, the window shattered, and two scarlet stakes came flying straight in.
One was aimed at Haru, and the other at Estelle, who had been hiding around the corner and eavesdropping on Haru and Rex's conversation.
‘I can't deflect it…?!’
Their speed defied common sense. If she drew her weapon to respond, she would obviously be skewered by a stake before the tip of her blade even cleared its sheath.
With both arms braced against the wall, Estelle shoved hard and rolled across the corridor floor.
The red stake skimmed over her head as she lay face-down on the floor.
-Boom!!!
The stone fragments blasted into the air by the thunderous boom pelted Estelle's back.
“Ugh….”
Clutching her ringing ears, Estelle got to her feet.
And the sight that met her eyes was….
“Let go of me, Rex!!”
Amid the sharp ringing in Estelle's ears, Haru's shout rang out.
“What son of a bitch dares use my master's magic…!”
“What are you thinking of doing, Haru!”
“We have to catch that sniper and beat the hell out of him! I've already figured out where he is….”
“Calm down and think rationally! This is the royal capital. Unless the enemy is an idiot, there can't be only one of them! If you rush out carelessly, they'll turn the tables on you!”
Haru was seething, looking ready to leap out the window at any moment, while Rex had his arms around her waist and was desperately trying to restrain her.
=
“Have you calmed down?”
“…Yeah.”
Haru nodded, her face still red. Rex sighed in relief, then examined the stake that had flown toward Estelle.
Even though a considerable amount of time had passed since the spell was cast, the stake, made of nothing but pure blood with no other impurities, still retained its shape.
As though it were a solid rather than a liquid.
“What about the stake that flew toward Instructor Haru…?”
“Haru cut it into pieces.”
Rex answered briefly. Then he knelt on one knee, placed a hand on the stake, and concentrated mana into his fingertips as he tried to read the mana within it.
“C-cut it into pieces…?”
“This stake is a physical projectile made with blood magic.”
Haru answered in place of Rex, who was concentrating on reading the mana.
“The magic I use is blood magic, too. I can tell where to cut to nullify the magic itself even with my eyes closed.”
‘That wasn't what I meant.’
Of course, when faced with magic one knew little about, dodging it would be far safer than deflecting it, but quite apart from that, the blood stake's speed had been utterly absurd.
Even Estelle had barely been able to track it with her eyes, and if she had not happened to have a hand braced against the wall, allowing her to hurl herself forward, she undoubtedly would have been seriously injured.
‘I couldn't even begin to think of deflecting it….’
It was enough to make her wonder why a woman like this was not one of the Rounds. Even though the subtle discrimination against people from the East was still openly prevalent….
“…I don't know.”
Rex opened his eyes and shook his head.
“Whatever trick they used, it left no trace of mana at all. Tracking them with a ‘Bluebird’ will be difficult, too.”
“We should have chased after them right away!”
Haru flew into another rage.
“If you hadn't stopped me…!”
“So calm down already!”
Rex shouted as he grabbed Haru by the shoulders while she yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Your so-called master didn't invent blood magic in the first place. There could be someone somewhere who uses a similar derivative spell! It might even be a simple coincidence….”
“There's no way it was a coincidence!”
Haru stubbornly shook her head.
“Why?”
Rex asked. But Haru, who had been growling as if she were about to devour someone, immediately lost her nerve and trailed off.
“Th-that's because….”
Haru opened and closed her lips, mouthing soundlessly, then squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
“…Sorry. I can't tell you why.”
=
‘This is driving me crazy. I can't even tell him.’
Rex's words were logically sound, of course, but knowing the circumstances, I couldn't help but feel furious.
And to explain those ‘circumstances’ that only I knew, I first had to explain the history of blood magic that I had heard from my master.
Blood magic was originally a secret art governed by the strict rule of one-person succession, and apparently that rule was upheld until the generation of my master's predecessor's predecessor.
The problem arose during the time of my master's predecessor—in other words, when my master's teacher was passing blood magic on to my master.
My master's teacher had apparently trained another disciple besides my master. This violated the principle of one-person succession, the very foundation of blood magic, but my master's teacher knew that blood magic was the only way to save people born with a cursed-blood constitution like mine, so they broke that principle to save as many people as possible.
However, that cursed-blood constitution was such a rare curse that it was said a person born with it might appear only once in a generation. The number of disciples my master's teacher took on apparently came to just two, including my master.
That was where the problem began. The other disciple, not my master, resented not being chosen as the successor and attacked my master's teacher in the middle of the night.
Fortunately, the ambush failed and the other disciple fled, but they apparently spread the blood magic they had learned indiscriminately to their own subordinates and built up a faction.
After my master's teacher passed away, my master spent ten years traveling as the legitimate successor of blood magic, ‘punishing’ those who had inherited it without legitimacy.
But even ten years was not enough to completely root out those who used blood magic to commit evil deeds, and those who used derivative blood magic without official recognition still live hidden in this country's shadows… or so the story went.
And my master warned me that they would keep coming after me, the new successor of blood magic, if only to win recognition as legitimate successors themselves.
My master also added one condition: because this story was closely intertwined with the origin of blood magic, I must not reveal it to any uninvolved third party.
If not for that condition, I would have told Rex everything long ago….
‘…Well, perhaps that wouldn't have happened either.’
I couldn't even properly apologize for what happened in the past and was just fumbling around, so why was I so sure I could tell him everything?
“…Is this related to the past?”
Rex asked. Instead of answering him directly, I merely nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
Once again, I apologized to Rex, without even realizing myself what I was apologizing for.
‘Honestly, I'm still just a child in an adult-sized body.’
As my disgust with myself surged, even my anger at someone trying to take my life subsided a little.
Of course, that did not mean I had any intention of letting it go.
Two blood-spear shots had been fired—one at me, and one at Estelle beside me, who had been eavesdropping on our conversation.
‘But if it were me, fine—but why Estelle…?’
That was the part I couldn't understand. I twitched my fingers and thought for a long while before turning my head toward Estelle.
“Sir Estelle.”
“Yes?”
Estelle answered politely. Her attitude was quite different from when we had first met.
On the way back to the royal capital, I had jokingly told her that once she became an assistant, she would have to use honorifics from then on, and she had taken me completely seriously.
Needless to say, there was no academy rule requiring an assistant to obey an instructor absolutely. Assistants generally used honorifics, but that was only a matter of convention. Given the unusual relationship between a Round like Estelle and me, technically a rookie magic knight, it would not have been a problem even if Estelle spoke informally to me.
‘Her stiffness really does resemble Miss Charlotte.’
“Um, excuse me….”
While I was lost in thought, Estelle called out to me hesitantly.
“Ah, it's just that.”
I took a moment to choose my words, then asked her,
“By any chance, have you made an enemy of anyone from the East?”
“Enemies…?”
“Yes. Did you ever insult them by calling them ‘yellow monkeys from the East,’ for example? Or cross a mercenary company with many Easterners….”
“What are you talking about, Haru?”
Rex asked sharply.
“Are you saying blood magic is a kind of magic that only people from the East can use?”
“Of course not. Where did you get that idea?”
Despite the sharpness of his question, he had completely missed the mark. I quickly shook my head.
“Just… as far as I know, people from the East were simply more likely to use blood magic.”
“…You can't tell me anything more this time, either?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded and thought,
‘Maybe he's surprisingly kind of an airhead.’
That was the second time he'd gone barking up the wrong tree.
“N-no, I've never done anything like that. I'm not that uncivilized a person.”
Estelle waved her hands as she spoke.
“…Then I don't know, either.”
I replied, taking a step back.
Of course, I had not given up entirely.
Rather, I thought it would be better to get out of this situation as quickly as possible and pursue the attacker alone, without Rex.
‘Because Rex would not only stop me—he'd obviously try to pry into my past when he found an opening.’
Of course, I had no intention of getting angry again over that… but it was still awkward.
Someday… when the time was right, I wanted to tell him myself.
Once I had worked up the courage.
‘Today was a bust, though.’
I smacked my lips bitterly.
“…Then I'll contact the North Gate guards for now.”
Rex turned to me and said,
“Haru, pass the word to the South Gate guards.”
“Yeah.”
“And Assistant Estelle, go inside and rest. You were attacked on your first day.”
“N-no! Senior, I can….”
“Go inside and rest.”
Rex said this flatly to Estelle as she hurriedly tried to leave. To top it off, he answered her, who called him Senior rather than Instructor, in informal speech rather than honorifics.
“I don't know who the opponent is, but one thing is certain: they're stronger than you. And you were only able to properly evade that surprise attack because you used the wall as a foothold.”
“B-but Instructor Haru….”
“I'm sorry, but she's stronger than you, Estelle.”
Rex replied coldly.
“If you understand, go inside instead of poking around carelessly. The guards will be increasing their patrols.”
“….”
Estelle silently bit her lip.
‘He is being a little harsh… but he isn't wrong.’
I felt some sympathy for Estelle, but that was all. If Rex had been the one targeted, perhaps it would have been different, but she had clearly been one of the targets, so there was no harm in being cautious.
“U-um, excuse me!”
Just then, Estelle called out in a shrill voice.
“This may be rude to ask in a situation like this, but may I ask what kind of relationship Senior Rex and Instructor Haru have?!”