Chapter 13
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Vernel Marquis.
Age twenty-seven.
A graduate of the 525th class of Veritas Academy.
The title he was given: ‘Complete Mess.’
Residence: a semi-basement in the slums of Escolia (the previous tenant couldn’t stand it and fled after a week).
Assets in his possession: 72 gold coins.
“When are you going to pay me back, you bastard!”
-72 coins
Two burly men were trashing the house, along with a comparatively smaller man with a sinister face.
And a man knelt on the floor, trembling as he helplessly watched their rampage.
The frail man wearing oversized glasses began rubbing his hands together.
“I-I’m begging you, give me just a little more time. It’s an experiment that has to be viewed in the long term, so the results might take a little longer to—.”
“How much longer is ‘long term’ supposed to be? I gave you a year, didn’t I? You said you’d have meaningful results within a year!”
“I-I said they could come out. But it’s difficult to collect those monster corpses, and I—.”
“Ahhh.”
The moneylender waved his hand and cut him off.
“I don’t need excuses. So, can what you have now be converted into money or not?”
“Th-That probably won’t make any money……. There are still variables involved…….”
“Haa…….”
The man glaring down at Vernel was a moneylender.
He lent money at high interest to people who couldn’t even get a loan from a bank.
Their main goal was to seize the money before most research was finished.
“I really stepped in shit this time.”
He had lent money to Vernel Marquis with his eyes shut, and now it looked like he wouldn’t even be able to recover it.
The moneylender dragged a battered chair in front of him, sat down, and put a cigar in his mouth.
“Fine. I’ll give you a little more time to repay the debt.”
“R-Really?”
“On the condition that you give up on the research you’re doing now.”
“……What?”
The moneylender exhaled a long stream of cigar smoke.
“I hear you were pretty impressive in your first year at the academy. Looking at your transcript, you were top of the entire year, not just your class, weren’t you?”
“Ah, yes. Back then, I didn’t know what I should do, so I just did things halfheartedly and still came out on top, but…….”
Halfheartedly.
He was the only person who described being at the top as doing something halfheartedly.
“So let’s have you do something else. You can half-ass something else and produce results, can’t you? I’ve got a few projects I received from other deadbeats besides you. I’ll give them to you. Finish them and bring them to me, and we’ll consider your debt settled. How about it?”
“I…… Couldn’t I work on it alongside my other experiment? If that’s all it takes—.”
Thud!
A dagger flew across the floor and embedded itself right in front of his groin.
“Eek!”
“I’m talking to you nicely, and you’re starting to think you can’t see anything in front of you. I hear that, these days, that thing called human decency has made organs very expensive. How much did they say you get for those?”
“If you leave me barely alive, I think I could pay off all the interest at least?”
“How about it? Sell your organs. You can keep working on your experiment. You don’t want that, do you?”
“No, that’s a bit…….”
“Then give up your research and do mine.”
“That’s a bit much too…….”
Wham!
The moneylender’s foot slammed into Vernel’s side.
“Are you trying to joke around with me, you bastard!? You don’t like this, you don’t like that? Then just die, you piece of shit! You worthless dog!”
“Urk! Urk! Urk!”
Vernel curled up helplessly as he was beaten.
He couldn’t even make a sound as he screamed inwardly.
‘Someone, please, someone save me!’
His prayer for a single rose to bloom from the sewer never reached anyone.
“That’s enough.”
But today was different.
The beating by the burly men and the moneylender stopped.
They turned their heads toward the door they had broken through.
Vernel lifted his gaze along with them.
“Sorry to interrupt you while you’re having such a good time, but I’d like you to stop.”
The ray of salvation Vernel had longed for so desperately.
Its color was gray.
‘Ah…….’
Vernel despaired.
He didn’t know that man.
There was no reason a stranger would save Vernel, so he had no choice but to despair.
The moneylender, who had been beating him senselessly, slicked back his hair and flicked his tongue.
“Judging by your clothes, you look like some young nobleman from somewhere, but don’t interfere right now.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to interfere.”
The gray-haired man pointed at Vernel, then at himself.
“I have business with that man.”
* * *
By the time Ferda entered the semi-basement, the beating was already underway.
Seeing Vernel being beaten like a dog that had bitten its master, Ferda thought,
‘What excellent timing.’
He had managed to appear at precisely the moment Vernel was desperately wishing for a ray of salvation.
“That’s enough.”
And so Ferda stopped the moneylender’s beating.
Vernel was pushed into the background as the moneylender looked Ferda up and down from a cockeyed posture.
“You’re a different sort from the bookworm bastards in Escolia…… Are you an outsider?”
“Yes. I came from elsewhere.”
“Did that bastard borrow money from you too?”
“No.”
“Then wait your turn. I was here first. Let me finish teaching him a lesson, then you can meet him.”
“How considerate of you. What if I settle that debt for you?”
A brief silence.
The moneylender made a faintly troubled face before opening his mouth.
“Seventy-two gold coins, including interest. Can you pay?”
“Of course.”
“Then just pay the money.”
Seventy-two gold coins.
As the lord of Valdrowa Castle, Ferda did not consider that a particularly large sum.
It was something he could hand over as easily as tossing someone a rib he had been eating.
But Ferda did not readily accept the offer.
Ferda’s blue eyes shifted toward Vernel, who was curled up and bleeding.
After seeing him, Ferda made a proposal.
“Let’s do this. Beat this man, deduct the cost of the property damage, and settle for fifty. How about it?”
The moneylender let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, are you insane? The things we broke are worth only three gold coins.”
“Is that so? Then take forty-nine. I’m practically giving you the man you beat for about twenty gold coins.”
“Are you crazy? You expect me to burn twenty gold coins just because we got acquainted?”
“Is the negotiation over?”
“Negotiation, my ass. That’s extortion, isn’t it?”
“So it is over.”
Ferda raised a finger.
“Then you can receive the same treatment and settle the debt that way, Luri.”
Luri, who had been standing behind him, moved forward.
“Make them exactly as they were.”
“…….”
“I’ll honor the agreement, so don’t worry.”
“Haa, understood.”
A silver-haired maid with her hair tied in a side ponytail approached with an expressionless face.
“What’s this, you little brat?”
“What kind of idiot brings a little brat into a slum like this?”
The burly men sneered lewdly.
Unlike the large, uneducated men, the moneylender understood perfectly well.
That the little brat wasn’t actually a little brat, no matter how she looked.
At that moment, the unusual little girl released some of the power she had been concealing.
The little girl’s silver eyes gleamed strangely.
Screeeeech—!
A ringing noise sounded simultaneously in all their ears.
“Urk!”
“Ugh!?”
“Wh-What is this?”
The burly men and the moneylender were bewildered.
But what bewildered them even more was—
“Ugh…… Ugh…….”
“M-My body……!”
Their bodies wouldn’t move.
They tried to do something, but all they could manage was trembling.
Their bodies wouldn’t move, as if they had turned to stone.
Luri glanced over them, then approached the nearest burly man.
“I’ll deal with you first.”
Luri pointed at him with her finger.
At that moment, the space occupied by one of the burly men warped like a mirage.
Pounding pounding pounding!
The sound of a savage beating burst out, and the burly man collapsed.
“Uuk, uuuuk…….”
He groaned on the floor, covered in bruises from head to toe and with blood streaming from his nose.
He had been beaten exactly as badly as Vernel had.
‘What the hell was that?!’
The burly man still standing and the moneylender broke out in cold sweat.
It was something that made no sense in their world.
Her eyes turned toward the other burly man.
“You’re next.”
“Huh……?”
Pounding pounding pound!
The moneylender had seen the phenomenon for the second time, but his face still showed that he had no idea what was happening.
The air warped, followed by simultaneous, repeated blows.
‘Magic!’
He had identified it, but identifying it didn’t mean he understood everything.
‘It is magic! But magic like that exists?’
The magic the girl used had no magic circle. She merely flicked her finger.
Could magic capable of producing that kind of destructive power really be used like that?
“Next…… There’s no one else, so you’re up.”
“U…… Uaaaaaah!”
The moneylender made one last desperate attempt.
Trembling, he tried to force his stiffened body to move.
The space before his eyes warped.
Pounding pounding pound!
The moneylender pitched forward and fell flat on his face.
Crack!
“Aaaagh!”
Another scream burst out.
When he fell, the index finger of his right hand had bent backward.
“Aaagh! My fingeraaagh!”
An unforeseen variable had arisen, one that had not been included in the calculations.
“You bastard! You said you’d make us all the same! My finger doesn’t count!!”
The moneylender ranted and raved.
With the same sinister face he had shown before, he was throwing a child’s tantrum.
The moneylender’s boss had started raising his initial capital through threats and extortion.
That talent was now being displayed in full, at this very moment.
It was a truly absurd moment, but Ferda didn’t think so.
“Indeed. This has become quite troublesome.”
Ferda’s expression grew serious as he gazed down at him.
The moneylender felt a strangely ominous sensation.
“You mean it’s unfair because you’re the only one whose finger got bent?”
“Y-Yes, you bastard! What are you going to do about my finger!”
Ferda lowered his head toward Luri.
“The gentleman says he feels wronged.”
“Understood.”
The way to soothe that sense of injustice was to offer fitting compensation.
Or to do exactly the same thing to him.
Ferda did not want to offer compensation.
Crunch!
“Aaaagh!”
Crunch!
“Uaaagh!”
He broke the fingers of the other two burly men in exactly the same way.
Luri was about to turn around, thinking the matter had been settled for now.
“Luri.”
Ferda called her name.
“Yes.”
“Aren’t there still some left?”
“……Are you serious?”
Luri asked with a furrowed brow, and Ferda nodded.
“The accounting has to be thorough.”
Luri looked as though she couldn’t understand.
If the accounting had to be thorough, then one side was still left.
“Huh……?”
Vernel Marquis.
Crunch!
“Aaaagh!”
He broke Vernel’s index finger as well.
The moneylender throwing a tantrum and his subordinates all lost their words at the sight.
‘Wh-What is he doing?’
‘Why is that bookworm bastard’s finger being broken?’
‘Wasn’t he on Vernel’s side?’
The pain was so intense that they even forgot the agony of their own bones creaking.
He had broken even Vernel’s finger in the name of fairness.
So that all of them would be in exactly the same condition.
‘What a crazy, deranged bastard!’
That was when they began to feel fear toward Ferda.
Ferda briefly looked over their condition, then nodded in satisfaction.
“It looks done to me. If anyone thinks they’ve been punished too severely, say so.”
Ferda raised the corners of his mouth slightly.
“I’ll make things fair for all of you.”
“N-No, sir!!”
“Th-This is enough.”
“Is that so?”
Ferda held out his hand to Luri.
She took a pouch from beneath her skirt, and Ferda tossed it to the moneylender.
Exactly sixty-nine gold coins, with the price of the goods deducted.
“Now that the debt has been settled, you may leave.”
“Th-Thank you.”
They fled without looking back.
Watching the place where they had disappeared, Ferda spoke quietly to Luri.
“You’re skilled with magic.”
“I merely used the basics of the basics.”
“Do those basics include healing magic?”
“I know how to use it to some extent.”
“Then I’d like you to heal Vernel, who’s rolling around over there.”
“Ugh…… It’s fine.”
Vernel, groaning in pain, waved his hand.
“If you receive healing magic too often, you develop resistance to it later. I can’t risk a tragedy where healing magic fails when I truly need it…… I’ll endure this much.”
“That’s a rational judgment worthy of a scholar.”
Vernel grabbed his own finger.
“Uuuugh……!”
Crack!
After setting it back in place, he flexed it once more.
Once he confirmed that it had returned to normal, he wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Phew…… Thank you for saving me.”
Though I did break your finger…….
He swallowed those words before they could pass his throat and asked Ferda,
“May I ask your name?”
“Ferda Valdrowa.”
“Valdrowa? Isn’t that the name of a Red Dragon?”
“That’s right. I’m the one who will become her partner.”
“Huh? S-Surely, you mean the one engaged to that Grand Duke……?”
All the color drained from Vernel’s face.
He knelt again and prostrated himself on the floor.
“I-I’m sorry I failed to recognize the Grand Duke’s consort!”
“No, it’s only natural that you didn’t know. Don’t worry about it.”
“And I’m not her consort yet. I only use the Valdrowa name.”
Luri slipped in and corrected him.
Vernel introduced himself.
“My name is Vernel Marquis. I’m the scholar known to the world as Complete Mess. Though you undoubtedly came here already knowing that. Haha…….”
“Yes, I’ve heard plenty about your reputation.”
“What business could you possibly have with such a failure as me……?”
“I’ll be direct, since beating around the bush is troublesome. I’m interested in the research you’re conducting.”
“M-My research?”
He opened his eyes wide.
The moneylender who had lent him money had treated his research as foolish, and yet someone was interested in it?
“If you come to Valdrowa Castle, I promise to give unconditional support to your current research.”
“What?”
“I mean that I’ll provide whatever materials, research funding, and facilities you want, without question.”
“G-Gasp!”
Unconditional support.
It was an unprecedented offer, one no scholar had ever received.
So he was happy, but at the same time, he felt uneasy.
He wondered what condition they intended to impose on him in exchange.
Vernel asked in a trembling voice,
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What is the condition?”
“Your research. I’m going to use it to make weapons.”
Vernel’s expression hardened.
“Weapons……?”
“Yes. Using your research.”
Vernel, who had been cheering with delight only moments earlier, shook his head.
“Then I can’t do it.”
“Is that what you say to the person who just forgave your debt?”
“E-Even if a sword were held to my throat, I couldn’t do that. I…… want a peaceful Serdes Continent. I only want the people living there to be happy.”
Ferda had expected that things would not go smoothly.
Vernel Marquis was a pacifist, after all.
“The tools of war…… only create more victims. So I can’t do that, not even for my benefactor.”
Ferda rested a hand against his chin and muttered,
“So even with a sword at your throat, you have no intention of changing your mind?”
Vernel felt a chill run down his spine at those words.
He had received countless threats from people promising to kill him or cripple him.
But this time was different.
It felt as though death were embracing him from behind.
“But think about this.”
Ferda dragged his index finger across the thickly dust-covered floor.
“Who do you think you have to thank for being able to comfortably focus only on your research in a rat-infested sewer like this?”
“This is my choice.”
“No. You didn’t choose it. Enjoying this peace isn’t something that insignificant people like you can create simply by choosing it.”
Vernel tensed slightly.
There was unmistakable emotion in Ferda’s voice now.
“The Grand Duke Valdrowa, who will become my partner, goes to the front lines almost once every three days. She fights monsters capable of destroying even a city like this one with ease. What do you think she stakes each time? A little territory? The people of the Far East? Or my life?”
Ferda answered while jabbing a finger into his own chest.
“No, she stakes herself. You may throw away your life for that laughable conviction of yours, but she turns her life into a sacred sword, cuts down her enemies, and creates peace.”
Ferda had always watched Valdrowa fight on the front lines.
He secretly took in the sight from the highest place.
At this moment, it felt as though Valdrowa’s figure had appeared before Ferda’s eyes once more.
His chest felt tight.
Ferda’s fingers unconsciously dug into his own chest.
All that remained for him, who could do nothing but watch helplessly, was guilt.
“So I’ll do anything for her.”
Flames flickered deep in Ferda’s eyes.
“So regardless of what you think, I will have you make weapons.”