Chapter 32
"By the way, I'm surprised."
"Pardon?"
"That you recognized me. I heard beastkin are usually indifferent to other races."
"...That's not wrong. Foxes are the worst."
"Oh?"
The man naturally strikes up conversation.
Irene furrows her brow for a moment, then answers in a reluctant voice.
"I learned about you through my master."
"Your master?"
"Swordsmanship. He took care of me like a parent since I was young, and he was your fervent supporter."
"Hearing that makes me feel shy. Hahaha!"
"It was tiresome."
The girl remembers clearly.
A wheat field rippling with gentle wind. The earth is swept with golden color as if proving its abundance.
An old man with white hair stands in the nostalgic scenery.
-Didn't I tell you, Irene.
-A sword must contain righteous light.
-Like the Red Sword Star... You must become someone who breaks easily but doesn't waver, falls easily but doesn't lie down.
-Find your own star.
Back then she just passed it off as nagging.
"It was the name I heard every time I got a lecture."
"That's regrettable."
"Now that I'm next to the protagonist of those lectures... It feels strange, and fascinating too."
"Hmm!"
The Sword Star nods as if understanding.
A conversation broken into short bits.
Irene, who had been silent for a moment, soon brings up the question that was hardest to believe.
It was a direct pitch thrown in earnest.
"I definitely heard you died two years ago."
"......"
"What happened?"
"......"
Does he not intend to tell?
The Sword Star closed his mouth.
With even the cheerful atmosphere from earlier erased, a chilly silence covers the surroundings.
The air instantly grows cold.
'Did I make a mistake?'
Seeing his reaction, it doesn't seem like a pleasant story.
Should I have asked more indirectly?
As the tense girl sweats coldly, before long a quiet laugh is heard.
"Pfft... Puhaha!"
"...?"
"I'm sorry! You looked so stiff, I tried teasing you a bit!"
The chilly wariness loosens.
The Sword Star laughed as if nothing had happened. He looked just like a middle-aged uncle.
Should I say he's friendly?
Or should I say he's uncomfortable?
He leans his body on the chair's backrest and naturally continues the conversation.
"Actually, there's not much to tell."
"......"
"I just blindly believed in the name of justice too much, so I paid a small price."
For a playful tone, it was quite a pointed remark.
A momentary emotion brushes his clouded pupils.
But his lips recite calmly.
"Originally, it was a fate where I should have died. Emptily, like the records left in history."
The fall of a brilliant star.
But even in such despair, there was someone who reached out a hand.
"The Commander took me in."
"That lecherous person...?"
"It was truly a miracle. Since then, I've been living in devotion to him."
The Sword Star faintly raises the corners of his mouth.
Though playfulness was still evident like before, it was by no means a light smile.
It was a worn expression that only an adult could make.
"It's the same for the other guys. They're all fellows who owe their lives to the Commander."
"All those many people...?"
The members who worshipped the boy like fanatics.
It seemed there were reasons for their faith that had only looked uncomfortable.
"Pitiful orphans, wrongly convicted death row inmates, damned beggars... and finally a fallen star."
Their lives were no different from street trash.
"But he didn't turn his back on us."
The world abandoned them.
Their hearts were broken, their will withered, hope lost meaning.
As they were dying like that.
The golden snake found them.
"This is the reason for our faith."
"......"
"Especially the child holding the vice-commander position is special. I understand her obsession with him."
"Do you know what happened......"
"It's difficult to say since I'm not the person involved."
"I see."
"Anyway."
The man lightly wraps up the conversation.
The Sword Star shakes off his serious air and leaves a few final words.
"Forming relationships means 'taming'."
It's what he habitually says.
Things that aren't tamed don't have their own color.
Only people who are tamed by something can face meaningful scenery.
The golden color spread ecstatically.
"I pray such a moment comes for you too."
"......"
Relationships, and taming.
Though she had definitely heard these words before, they were still sentences whose meaning she couldn't gauge.
She seemed caught on questions that wouldn't be solved.
An appropriate answer doesn't come to mind.
The fox froze for a while.
She finally just quietly nods her head.
***
A day that passed chaotically.
It would soon be dinner time, so they had to return to make it in time for the dormitory curfew.
The fox was having a brief farewell with her siblings.
"Big sister... Are you leaving already?"
"Can't you just stay here with us? The teachers are all nice......"
"Waaah..."
The children whimpered with regret.
Irene comforts the young foxes with a complex smile behind her.
"I have things I need to do."
"Do you really have to go...?"
"I made a promise. Didn't I tell you last time that promises made with friends shouldn't be broken carelessly?"
"Yes......"
An answer returning dejectedly.
Of course, the children didn't really intend to make a fuss or cling on.
Because they knew how much the girl was devoting herself to protect them.
It was a childhood that had matured too early.
Having lived under oppression for a long time, perhaps the world had forced it.
To forget childhood during childhood.
To become worn adults earlier than scheduled.
"...I'll come again during vacation."
The girl smiles bitterly.
As she's turning her back like that, the boy beside her interjects.
It was his sly slit eyes.
"My, my~ Cool foxes don't get sad over things like this, right?"
A hand skillfully rummaging through pockets.
Then, numerous chocolates and candies pop out of the small space one after another. As if performing magic.
The boy gives each child a handful.
With a slight wink.
"It's a gift from me."
"Sniff, thank youuu......"
"Hnng... Thank you."
"Huhu, don't mention it."
The boy grins.
As expected, he handled the children skillfully. His characteristic light tone refreshes the atmosphere.
Perhaps it was a consideration for Irene.
'Really.'
The fox stares at the snake with complex eyes.
Inwardly, the voice she had heard earlier, a repeating question, was replaying.
'Why... does he do this much for me?'
Looking back, it had been like that from the start.
He saved her from the hellish cage, and safely protected her siblings.
Though he always acted creepy.
He never did anything bad to her even once.
Rather, he seemed to try to treat her preciously.
'It's strange.'
Humans are vile creatures.
They exploit others' kindness, deceive, and eventually take everything away.
She paid too high a price while realizing this fact.
-I'm sorry, Irene.
-I wanted to stay by your side forever.
The day she finally lost her master.
The girl vowed.
That she would never trust humans again.
That she would sneer and mock any cunning sweet talk.
But.
"It's time to go back, Miss Irene."
"...Okay."
"Don't be too disappointed. You can come visit whenever you want to see them, not just during vacation."
"......"
She doesn't know what to do.
Though she pushes him away sharply, every time she sees the slit eyes approaching brightly.
The solid wall seemed to be shaking.
It was the first time she had received such heavy kindness.
Was it because of the memories of the past 2 years when she had to be desperate to survive?
She even felt like she had become weak.
Irene tries hard to shake off idle thoughts and opens her lips nonchalantly.
"...I'll trust that your members will take good care of the children."
"Of course. Actually, I wanted to send them to an orphanage run by Astro... but as you know, it's still a time when we need to be careful of their eyes."
"Orphanage? You do that too?"
"It's a modest scale."
"Still, it's surprising......"
The fox's reaction returned quietly.
The boy seems to freeze for a moment, but soon answers calmly.
"I just... didn't want the children to be alone."
The corners of the snake's mouth rise quietly.
"Lonely memories of childhood... remain as scars for life."
A voice ringing out calmly.
Though he was smiling as usual, the boy's expression looked somewhat sad.
As if hinting at a distant past.
"...?"
"Now, now~ Shall we stop the idle talk here?"
While the fox tilts her head at the unfamiliar atmosphere.
The snake walks ahead towards the exit.
The golden back view exchanging greetings with passing members, exchanging jokes, promising the next time.
"......"
Irene, who had been standing blankly, took her stopped steps.
Following the snake's long lingering afterimage.
***
Meanwhile,
A building whose exact location is unknown.
In a space where only darkness and silence exist, several suspicious figures wearing robes were gathered.
These people, who seemed to exude a dangerous smell at a glance, were facing each other in front of a round table.
"It's soon."
The robe at the very center mutters like that.
Though he didn't say anything in particular, his companions quietly nodded.
"We've been laying low for a while... but now it's time to take root again."
At the center of the pitch-black round table is a golden pattern.
A picture reminiscent of an upside-down tree.
There was only one group that went around wearing such wicked clothes.
The continent's largest black magician group, Baob.
The heretics who had been quiet for the past few years were showing signs of stirring again.
"Exactly two years ago today. We killed the 'Red Sword Star' who had been such a nuisance to us."
Though there was some bloodshed, it was a satisfactory result.
Now there should be no strong person who can control us on the continent, this time we will carry out His will.
"I hear some quality students have entered Galimar Academy."
A summoner who handles dragons.
The empire's 1st Imperial Princess was called an unprecedented genius.
The Beniti family's twin siblings.
Even the top student of the Snakers family who appeared like a comet.
"They'll all make good sacrifices for Him."
-Bang!!
Behind the robe's back is a huge iron cage.
Something massive trapped inside is rampaging. A hideous sculpture smeared with human flesh.
It screams as if thirsting for slaughter.
-Kieeeeek!!
Though it was a noise that seemed to tear eardrums, the robes didn't even frown.
Rather, they were bursting into mad laughter.
"Everyone prepare."
Eyes glistening with desire.
In their vision, the scenery of a continent covered in blood and flames was already flickering.
Their shoulders tremble with pleasure running down their spines.
"It's time for us to step out into the world again."
Take root, wicked trees.
"All for the Demon God, the origin of all things and our master."
"For Him."
In a space full of only darkness and silence.
Danger was taking root like that.