Chapter 68
*
While Director Shun was busy correcting the misconception that surgery was black magic.
The fugitive Igor walked through the hideout's underground corridor, bleeding as he went.
Drip, drip.
Every time he took a step, bright red tracks marked the stone floor.
Igor gritted his teeth and quickened his pace.
Damn it. That woman….
Igor remembered the red-haired girl running her palm along the axe blade.
She had definitely chanted an incantation.
And after the axe grazed his leg, that leg had started to fail him little by little.
Even though the wound was by no means that deep.
Did she use my blood as poison?
He had no idea what kind of poison it was.
That wasn't his field.
But one thing was certain: the magic that girl used was a vicious poison indeed.
As a result, even though he'd been running right after escaping, he was now in no condition to take a step without bracing himself against the wall.
Damn it.
Igor hurried even more.
Limp. Limp.
His right foot stepped on the stone floor, and his left foot dragged along behind it.
And between those irregular footsteps, the regular sound of military boots mixed in.
Chief Shen's pursuit team was following him.
At this rate, it was obvious Igor would be caught.
But he had a plan of his own.
Creak—
A sound like metal scraping rang out somewhere in the darkness.
Then the rhythm of the bootsteps faltered.
Bang! Rat-a-tat!
Then gunshots rang out.
Hearing those sounds, the corners of Igor's mouth lifted.
Good thing I repurposed the abandoned prison.
Ghouls.
They were still down here.
The corpses of prisoners abandoned without funeral rites or requiem.
The symbolism of 'deaths that never reached God's gaze,' accumulated over hundreds of years, had turned this place into a breeding ground for ghouls.
All Igor had done was drive lead rods into the ghouls' heads and turn them into his minions.
And those ghouls were now tying up the pursuers.
The rookies had taken out some of them while going up, but there were still plenty left.
He hadn't expected the ghouls to defeat the pursuit team.
He just needed to buy a few minutes.
By then, he'd already be out of here.
Almost there.
Leaving the gunfire behind him, Igor descended the final staircase.
On the lowest floor, he saw cells with their doors open and the remnants of ropes and gags scattered on the floor.
It was the prison where the students had been held.
Igor passed through it.
Now practically dragging his left leg, he headed deeper into the prison.
Passing through the arched doorway and lighting the way with glowflies, the reason he'd come here was revealed.
There it is.
There was a circle there.
Colorful mushrooms had sprouted thickly along the circle's boundary.
Scarlet, mustard, purple, speckled white, and so on.
Beneath the colorful caps arranged at even intervals, fine spores traced a circle on the floor.
And the inside of the circle was densely filled with dead grass.
His gaunt eyes fixed on the center of the circle.
A fairy ring.
Fairies have a peculiar ability.
When they dance in a circle, mushrooms grow there as though drawing a magic circle.
A mage can leap through space through that circle.
Igor had used that effect to abduct only the students bearing Director Shun's signature and bring them here.
And this time, he intended to use the ring to get out of the crisis.
Where did I leave the catalyst?
Igor groped through his trouser pocket.
His fingertips rifled through the rough fabric and touched a small pouch.
He pulled a sugar cube out of the pouch.
Igor placed the cube on the edge of the circle—on top of the scarlet mushroom cap.
Then he moved his lips.
“Come.”
The moment the sugar touched the mushroom cap, a faint tremor ran through the folds.
The folds of the scarlet cap parted, and a tiny hand stuck out from inside.
It looked like a human hand, but it wasn't one.
It was too short, too thick, and every knuckle was covered in fuzz-like mycelium.
The hand grabbed the sugar cube and dragged it inside.
Rustle.
The mushrooms forming the circle's boundary shuddered all at once.
Soon, tiny fairies about thirty centimeters tall sprang out from the mushrooms.
“Brownie No. 1.”
“Yes, master!”
Brownie No. 1 wriggled out from between the mushrooms, its short legs flailing.
“Did you call?”
Several fairies appeared behind No. 1.
Eleven in all.
Igor frowned as he looked down at the innocent-looking fairies.
What is this?
The Brownies were unusually lively today.
Over the past several months,
the Brownies he'd seen had been irritable, whiny, and dejected little things.
If he had to put it another way, they looked like an old dog being dragged around on a leash.
Today, those fairies seemed unusually excited.
...Fickle little things.
But that was as far as Igor's thoughts went.
He didn't have time to think now anyway, and fairies being fickle was nothing unusual.
Clomp, clomp.
The sound of boots was now right behind him.
Igor hurriedly placed two more sugar cubes on the edge of the ring.
A Brownie trotted over and picked up the cubes.
Then, clutching the sugar lump nearly as big as its own body in both arms, it looked back up at Igor.
Igor ordered.
“Open the ring. Send me to the manor.”
“Understood.”
Brownie No. 1 moved briskly.
The one who usually hesitated looked strangely happy today.
Igor ignored the growing sense of unease and took his place in the middle of the circle.
The eleven of them all climbed onto the mushroom caps at once.
Like little dancers standing on a multicolored stage, they took their places.
Soon, the dance began.
「'S truagh nach tigeadh (Sadly, no one comes)」
「Hé mandu!」
When No. 1 led the chant, the other ten answered in step.
Then came the chorus.
「Siud gam' iarraidh! (Those that would take me away from here!)」
「Hé mandu」
「Dealan-dè sgeòil, no gealbhonn, Feòrag gam' ghiùlan, 's diollaid. (Neither a butterfly to carry the news, nor a sparrow, nor a squirrel to carry me, nor even a saddle.)」
「Hé mandu, hì ri oró, hó ro hù o!」
Thump!
Eleven pairs of feet stamped down on the mushroom caps at once.
Spores burst up all at once, and a golden band spread along the circle's edge.
Standing in the center of the circle, Igor felt the ground beneath his feet tremble faintly.
It's opening.
The circle was responding.
The song was also reaching a crescendo.
That was when it happened.
The lyrics suddenly changed.
「Gu h-ait thàinig duine uasal! (How gladly a noble guest has come!)」
「Hé mandu!」
「Gus mo thoirt a-mach à seo! (The one who brought me out of here!)」
「Hé mandu!」
「Le siùcar is pìosan meala, 'S shin e dhomh an t-aodach fhìn! (With sugar and bits of honey, they handed over the clothes I'd wear.)」
「Hé mandu, hì ri oró, hó ro hù o!」
“What?!”
Igor's face twisted in shock.
It wasn't the usual lyrics he knew.
The Brownies were singing a different song.
If the lyrics had only changed a little, it wouldn't matter.
Fairies changing lyrics according to their mood was common enough.
But the lyrics contained something that shouldn't have been there.
— 「Le siùcar is pìosan meala, 'S shin e dhomh an t-aodach fhìn! (With sugar and bits of honey, they handed over the clothes I'd wear.)」
Clothes.
The moment Brownies receive clothes or wages from their master, the master-servant contract is dissolved.
That's why dark mages who use Brownies are careful not to accidentally give them clothes or money.
Run….
But his body wouldn't move.
His legs felt as if they were fixed to the ground, as if they weren't his own.
They refused to leave this circle.
Maybe the Brownies were slipping out of his control.
That vague fear was becoming real.
When the hell? Why now of all times?
Had he ever given them clothes without realizing it?
Come to think of it, he had thrown off his cloak while fleeing here.
But there was no way that alone could have released them….
At that moment, one person's image flashed through his mind.
Director Shun.
If that man could give the cloak a meaning, had freed the Brownies, and had already won them over….
Then these Brownies weren't dancing for him right now, they were….
And Igor's thought process began to break down there.
In its place came a pleasure that was hard to describe.
“Heh heh….”
A laugh spilled from between Igor's lips.
His thoughts were growing hazier, little by little.
Like he was drunk.
Thump—thump!
At the same moment the chorus burst out, a pillar of light rose from the center of the circle.
In the middle of that warm pillar of light,
Igor felt like dancing right this very instant.
Right.
He was just shaking off the pursuers.
Couldn't he dance once in a while?
As if he'd actually thought that, he began to dance.
His wits, stained by revelry, the dark mage forced his dead legs to move and danced.
In the middle of the fairies.
Blood dripping down.
Limping on legs that were going stiff.
A smile hanging at the corners of his mouth.
His shoulders bobbing.
Like someone standing in the middle of a festival,
like someone hearing the song of a homeland long left behind once more,
like someone who'd eaten colorful mushrooms and fallen into ecstasy.
He dances.
Forcing his unmoving leg to move,
forcibly dragging up the twitching corners of his mouth,
and forcing out his cracking voice.
He sings.
Amid the eleven pairs of black beadlike eyes looking up at him, the dark mage danced and sang.
Soon, the light swallowed him.
A moment later.
Clack. Clack.
Boots crossed the archway.
Chief Shen entered the room where Igor had vanished, gun raised.
There was no one inside.
Chief Shen's gaze dropped to the floor.
Only the red mushrooms and the dead grass saturated with blood remained in the room.
***
“—By the time we arrived, only red mushrooms and bloodstains were left. We couldn't confirm the mage's whereabouts.”
While I was treating Cal and checking the other children's conditions, getting ready to leave this place,
Chief Shen, who had returned with a glum face, approached me and reported.
“I'm sorry, Director. I lost him.”
His voice from behind the gas mask was tinged with self-reproach.
I asked as I took off my bloodied gloves.
“It's fine that you lost him. By any chance, did you step into that circle?”
“As you said, I didn't pursue him any further. But why do you ask?”
I delayed my answer for a moment and glanced around.
Ellie, still holding Cal's hand.
Valeria, watching us from a little way off.
There were too many ears listening.
“...Lord Julian gave me a heads-up. I'll explain the details in the car.”
The moment I said that, Valeria reacted.
“Excuse me, Director. By Julian, do you mean... perhaps Miss Freya's older brother?”
“Yes. He helped us on the way here. He's involved in dark magic and unsolved cases.”
Freya, who had been silently eavesdropping, turned her head unnaturally.
But she didn't react any further.
Rather, Freya also put on a poker face and joined in the act.
“Didn't my brother come?”
“Yes. He's very worried about Miss Freya's safety at the manor. So I think it would be best if you contacted Lord Julian on the way back, if that's all right?”
“Okay.”
I didn't know why I was building Julian an alibi, but she seemed to be going along with it for now.
“Good. Now, let's go to the cars. Student Cal needs proper treatment as well.”
After somehow getting the scene under control,
After cutting the unconscious lizard's arm and leg tendons, we loaded it into the cargo hold,
and divided the students among the vehicles we had come in.
Finally, Chief Shen, Eri, and Freya got into the car I was riding in.
Only after confirming the door was fully closed did I take off my fedora.
With that, the perception-disruption spell was lifted.
“Phew.”
Freya looked up at me.
“Brother.”
“You did well, Freya.”
“But that just now was….”
“I needed to draw a line between Director Shun's identity and Julian's, so the fact that we found this place had to go down as Julian's achievement.”
Freya thought for about a second before nodding.
“If you're doing it that way, then you must have your reasons.”
After the brief conversation, I turned my attention to Chief Shen.
He'd looked like he wanted to ask something ever since before getting in the car.
“Then let's continue our earlier discussion, Chief.”
“Does that ring have something to do with why we didn't pursue the dark mage?”
“Yes. Because that's a fairy ring.”
“A fairy ring...?”
He didn't seem to know.
Well, his specialty is fire magic.
Since fairy rings fall under the domain of dark magic, it was only natural that he wouldn't know.
“That ring where the dark mage disappeared—you've seen something like it somewhere, haven't you?”
“Yes. There was also a ring made of mold in the laundry room where the students disappeared.”
“That's a fairy ring. When fairies dance, mushrooms grow there in a circle. Fairies can leap through space through that ring.”
A fairy ring is the trace left behind by fairies dancing.
If a person steps into that ring, they lose consciousness for a moment and wake up somewhere unfamiliar.
“So there was such magic.”
“The dark mage probably used this fairy ring to kidnap the students. He was probably trying to use it again when he fled.”
“Then the mage escaped successfully?”
I shook my head.
“No. He must have failed. That's why I told you not to chase him to the end.”
Chief Shen's eyes shifted slightly.
Then Freya raised her hand.
“Brother.”
“Hm?”
“But... if you knew that magic existed, why didn't you ride it over here yourself? No, I mean... I wasn't trying to say you were late.”
“No, it's a good question.”
Actually, I thought the same thing at first.
When I heard Freya had disappeared and ran to the dormitory, I found a fairy ring near the laundry room.
The moment I saw that ring, I figured out the whole story and immediately used it to coax one Brownie into telling me the hideout's location.
At the time, the fastest way would have been to step onto that ring and ask the Brownies to send me to the hideout.
But I didn't do that.
There was one reason.
“Because fairies hate that sort of thing.”
“Huh?”
“Brownies are basically fairies that do housework. Folding laundry, washing dishes, sweeping up bread crumbs. That's their calling.”
I continued, looking out the car window.
“Making those kids dance is rude. Besides, fairies hate showing others their dancing.”
“But we were kidnapped that way.”
“Exactly. That's why the fairies hated that dark mage too.”
He ordered the Brownies to do things they absolutely detested.
He made them dance in front of people and ordered them to kidnap instead of do housework.
He'd forced them, for months on end, to do the things they hated most both as Brownies and as fairies.
“Brownies can't disobey their master's orders, and they can't do harm either. So even if a dark mage ordered them, they had no choice but to comply. But I couldn't use the same method.”
Not because I'm some fairy lover.
My little sister was kidnapped, so how could I be worrying about something like that?
There was one reason I respected the fairies back then.
“You should never antagonize a fairy in any way. It always ends badly.”
I heard that from my master.
— “Mages of this generation—those born in the past 200 years—tend to see fairies as tools. But Julian, you mustn't do that.”
My master said that fairies were nature itself, endowed with emotion.
The moment you turn hostile to such a fairy, your later years are bound to become miserable.
Even without my master's warning, that's just common sense—and a cliché.
In countless works from my previous life, protagonists who tormented fairies always met bad ends in one way or another.
So I treated the Brownies politely too.
“And that dark mage proved with his own body that my choice was right.”
“That dark mage?”
“Yes. That red fairy ring is the proof.”
Brownies fundamentally can't hurt their master or do anything that would harm their master.
But that doesn't mean they can't harbor hatred.
For months, they had been nursing hatred toward their master.
And when the chance came, the first thing they did after being freed was take revenge.
“Fairies are highly suited to mental magic and spatial magic. Tweaking a spell a little isn't hard for them.”
Getting knocked out in a fairy ring and waking up somewhere else only applies when they're in nonlethal mode.
Think of it as just a warning, like kicking an intruder out of their club.
So if the fairies had murderous intent, how far could they go?
“If that's the case, then that dark mage...”
“Hmm. The dark mage might even regret not letting himself be caught by Chief Shen. If he still had the mind left to regret anything.”
Children are better at tearing off dragonfly wings than adults are.
Innocence is that terrifying.
There's a reason old fairy tales were so savage.
How is that any different from my logic?
Anyway.
This was another reason I respected fairies.
If you upset them for no reason and it snowballed later, there'd be no handling it.
“That's why I told you not to chase him to the very end. The chance is low, but Chief Shen shouldn't get caught up in it.”
Gulp.
I could hear Chief Shen swallow dryly from behind the gas mask.
Then he carefully asked a question.
“...But one question still remains.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why did the Brownies suddenly become free...?”
“It wasn't particularly difficult.”
I pointed at the corner of the dark mage's cloak I'd taken as evidence and said,
“Didn't he leave this behind? I simply helped the Brownies interpret this garment as a sign that the contract had been dissolved.”
“...So you nudged the fairies in that direction?”
“That makes me sound like a terrible person, doesn't it.”
I'm not some kind of crime consultant.
If I had to explain what I did...
“That's right. I merely helped the fairies broaden their thinking.”
“...”
The expressions of the others in the car didn't look very good after hearing that.
I wasn't quite sure why.