Chapter 23
Selin came to visit that night.
She had apparently slept in her dormitory all day as though she had passed out, then hurried over after hearing that I had regained consciousness. Her clothes were disheveled.
My gaze was naturally drawn toward the pure-white nape of her neck, which was slightly visible, but I soon cleared my throat and looked away.
She was like a younger sister to me. I shouldn’t harbor impure thoughts; if I did, both Leto and Selin would be disappointed in me.
Whether she knew what I was feeling or not, Selin began to tear up when she saw me sitting up. Her eyes were already brimming with tears.
She suddenly ran at me and threw herself into my arms. Caught off guard, I ended up embracing Selin’s petite body.
A cry of pain nearly escaped me, but I managed to hold it back.
Selin’s physical abilities surpassed mine. She had more mana to begin with, so it was only natural. She had run at me at full speed and thrown herself into my arms, making my already aching body feel as though it were creaking apart.
But seeing Selin sobbing with her face buried against my chest, I couldn’t bring myself to blame her.
I merely stroked the back of her head and comforted her until she stopped crying.
“S-sniff, I-Ian oppa. Waaah……”
“There, there. You were really scared… I’m fine.”
Selin was quite the fusser. At the academy, most injuries weren’t a concern. A high-ranking priest dispatched from the Holy Kingdom was always stationed at the temple on the academy grounds, and a saintess was even enrolled in the third year.
Even fairly severe injuries left no aftereffects if treated promptly. I had come in covered in all sorts of injuries, yet here I was, awake without any notable aftereffects.
But I could understand Selin’s feelings.
If my final memory was accurate, she had been the first to find me.
If she had followed my trail, she must have seen the clearing strewn with wolf corpses as well. The bloody scene and the fact that a desperate battle had taken place there were glaringly obvious.
And above all, she had witnessed my battered body.
My spar with Seria had been child’s play. The duel with that bastard at the end had been a fight to the death. There had been no holding back and no rules.
Blood had splattered and bones had shattered. It had been a battle in which muscles were mangled and breathing grew so labored that I seemed ready to collapse at any moment, yet I couldn’t stop.
It was obvious what I must have looked like after such a battle.
Selin had witnessed that raw spectacle. Considering our long history together, it would have been strange if Selin hadn’t been traumatized.
Though compared to Leto, her reaction might have been a little excessive, I decided to let it go.
She was lively by nature, but she also had a surprisingly delicate sensibility. The shock might have hit her especially hard.
It took quite a long time for her sobs to subside. Only after the front of my clothes was soaked through with her tears did she slowly raise her head.
Her tearful golden-brown eyes and skin so white and soft that it was hard to believe she had walked the path of a swordswoman her entire life. When her alluring lips parted, a scent I hadn’t noticed until then tickled the tip of my nose.
I remembered. It was the scent I had praised her for before. Despite rushing out in such haste, that scent remained unchanged.
My heart fluttered strangely. Selin was a beautiful woman too. It was only natural, but I forced myself to shake off the desire clinging heavily to my heart.
Selin murmured plaintively,
“Ian oppa… I was so worried.”
Her voice held a trace of reproach. Being worried over by such a beautiful childhood friend wasn’t so bad.
Without saying anything, I wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. Then I let out a quiet chuckle.
“Do I look like the kind of guy who’d die just because someone tried to kill me?”
“Yes, you do.”
Well, that was true, so I immediately found myself speechless and shut my mouth. Selin’s eyes narrowed.
“Why do you always pick the most dangerous things to do? Who cares whether that bitch dies or not, as long as you live!”
“How could I do that? We’re all loyal subjects of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Not that kind of textbook answer!”
I hadn’t had anything particular to say, so I’d rattled off whatever came to mind, but apparently that had only made Selin even more furious.
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me. Her lips jutted out in a pout.
Even so, with tear marks still on her face, she looked adorable. I could keenly feel how much Selin cherished me.
“To me, Ian oppa is the most precious person.”
Selin confessed it as though grumbling. Perhaps she too was forcing herself to overcome her embarrassment; her cheeks were slightly red.
My heart gave a single thump. I had no idea why Selin looked so beautiful today of all days. This was bad.
Whether she knew about my confused feelings or not, Selin cautiously met my gaze. Her eyes were clear, like transparent pools of water.
“Other than you, nothing means anything to me. It’s been that way since we were children.”
With an earnest look in her eyes, both her hands clasped the hand that had been wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. Her voice sank even more plaintively.
“So I wish you’d value yourself too, Ian oppa.”
Faced with that trembling voice laden with emotion, I couldn’t bring myself to answer carelessly and only stared at her.
There were only two of us in the treatment room. Outsiders were restricted from entering it. In other words, there was no one here but Selin and me.
Two young adults of marriageable age were alone in an enclosed space. And it was nighttime, when reason waned and emotions grew stronger.
My chest tingled. Perhaps Selin felt the same, because she called my name in a strangely sensual voice.
“Ian oppa……”
Her sweet breath drew closer, ever so slowly—so slowly that I barely noticed it.
This wasn’t right. I thought so without even knowing what exactly might happen. Yet my body, honest to its desires, remained unmoving.
Just as our breaths came close enough to mingle.
“……Well, well.”
“H-hyaaah?!”
At the incredulous voice, Selin’s body jerked up. She made a strange sound and slipped out of my arms. Her gaze frantically swept across the surroundings.
The source of that voice was leaning crookedly against the entrance to the treatment room, watching what Selin and I were doing. His expression was distinctly bemused.
Leto Einsten was practically Selin’s real older brother, and one of my closest friends.
“W-w-w-what are you doing?!”
“What does it look like? My little sister and her closest friend were just about to do the deed, so I figured I should at least tell you that I’m here watching.”
“N-nooo……”
As Leto persistently interrogated Selin, as though he had found an excellent target for teasing, her eyes began spinning. Her hands flailed in the air as though she wanted to deny something.
Her face had long since turned bright red. I, too, suddenly felt embarrassed, so I cleared my throat and looked away.
I had gotten carried away by the moment. Selin and I weren’t that kind of relationship, but we had almost made a serious mistake.
Leto let out a deep sigh, then bonked Selin on the head with the book he was holding.
“O-ow!”
“Save that for after you officially confess, okay? I’ve told you time and again. Couples who rush things don’t last long.”
“……B-but still.”
Selin lowered her head, fidgeting at Leto’s scolding. She seemed to feel she had a point, but when Leto looked at her with exasperation, she had to clamp her mouth shut.
I was next after Selin. Leto clicked his tongue and said,
“You too, you idiot… Just because you got swept up in the mood, you thought that was okay? Are you really prepared to take responsibility for Selin? Or do you think she’s that easy?”
“No, no. Neither Selin nor I meant anything like that, okay? We were just happy to see each other after so long……”
Even as I made that excuse, I had to surreptitiously lower my gaze.
Leto was Selin’s brother. In other words, if I ever did anything to Selin, he was the person I would have to fear most. There was no way I could say anything.
Even so, I felt my thoughts becoming tangled.
What was this? I had been alone with Selin many times before, but this was the first time we had created an atmosphere this strange.
That was because I had always made sure to avoid creating such a situation. But now it felt as though a situation like this were only natural.
Since losing my memories last time, my life had become full of mysteries. I couldn’t even guess why I had changed so much.
Still, from now on, I decided to be a little more clearheaded.
Selin was a woman who could secure an engagement to a powerful noble family through her looks alone. I couldn’t stand in the way of her marriage prospects merely because I was her childhood friend.
Perhaps Leto thought his scolding had gone far enough, because he said to me with a languid expression,
“Hey, Ian. Come to think of it, you owe us a drink.”
“……Why?”
“I mean the magical beast you caught last time. I hear the reward is going to be 70 gold.”
My eyes widened.
Seventy gold—an amount enough for a commoner family of four to live comfortably for more than five years. It was unquestionably a fortune. That must mean the magical beast I had brought down was exceptionally valuable.
But before I could voice my astonishment, someone abruptly cut in between Leto and me. Needless to say, it was Selin.
“S-seventy gold?!”
Her eyes glittered. Though she was a noble, like all rural nobles, she didn’t live particularly lavishly. After paying the academy’s exorbitant tuition, all she had left was barely enough for ‘living expenses to maintain appearances.’
Even that would put her above the average commoner’s standard of living, but it was clear that 70 gold was a rare fortune for me, Leto, and Selin alike.
As though she had forgotten the incident from moments ago, Selin excitedly raised her index finger and began making plans on her own.
“Let’s go to a magical-beast specialty restaurant in the dining district downtown! I hear the drake meat there is delicious……”
“Hey, how do you manage to pick only places that ruin the appetite… No, wait, we should go to a bar. There’s a new place Uncle Van opened, and I hear the drinks there are incredible.”
“No, whyyy?! Magical-beast meat is delicious!”
I wasn’t particularly interested, but Leto and Selin were already debating between themselves where to spend the 70 gold. It was so like them.
I said with a faint smile,
“It’s money I earned by risking my life, so what are you two doing?”
“Be precise. You earned it by ‘throwing’ your life away on a whim.”
At Leto’s words, accompanied by a click of his tongue, I bristled.
What did he mean, throwing my life away? Was it acceptable to belittle the desperate battle I had fought that day like that?
I began launching into an impassioned speech, as always happened when the three of us got together.
“Hey, you’re only saying that because you don’t know what happened… I mean, huh? I was going to let it go if I could, okay? But then that bastard spat out the cloth it was holding in its mouth—ptoo. It was a piece of Emma’s clothes, you know? How was I supposed to hold back in that situation?”
“Uh, possible.”
“Yep, totally possible~”
Yet the response to my passionate speech was utterly matter-of-fact.
You unprincipled bastards, I thought, yet before I knew it, a smile had formed at the corners of my mouth.
It was just like any other day. At least until Leto continued speaking.
“Still, they say it was lucky that the largest magical beast was immature. They say it would’ve become a named-class beast with a little more time. Tch… We should’ve caught it during the Hunting Festival! If we had, we’d have placed for sure.”
“Whatever. There shouldn’t be any magical beasts that size left in the forest now… I much prefer Ian oppa being safe.”
With a wry smile, my thought process froze for an instant as I listened to those words.
Right. There shouldn’t have been magical beasts of that level left in the forest.
The interval between Hunting Festivals was barely over a year. There was no way a magical beast stronger than that could emerge in the meantime. If one had, countless students would inevitably be killed or injured at this year’s festival.
A magical beast stronger than that would be one powerful enough to be given a name, after all.
The magical beasts commonly called “named” were incomparable to other magical beasts in strength and intelligence. They were monsters that truly deserved to be called “the enemies of humanity.”
Naturally, there were few such magical beasts. They appeared rarely, making the very assumption that one could emerge in the forest in a mere year seem absurd.
But what brushed through my mind now was one passage from the letter.
‘Come to think of it, I still have a question. How did you know that monster’s weakness was its horns?’
The smile on my lips slowly faded.
“……Horns.”
At my absentminded murmur, Leto and Selin looked at me with puzzled expressions.
“Horns, I mean. Did they happen to find a fragment of a horn among the wolf magical beast’s remains?”
“What the hell are you talking about? You fought it, remember? There wasn’t a horn, or anything even resembling one… Hey, hey, are you all right? You look pale.”
I heard Leto and Selin’s worried voices. But at that moment, I felt as though I were floating, isolated from the world around me.
A thought rose to the surface. I replayed that desperate battle. It had been an opponent that strong. Was an even stronger magical beast lurking in the forest?
My eyes turned beyond the temple walls, toward the quiet forest south of the academy.
There, a monster was waiting.
To bloom the most beautiful blood-red flower at the festival humans held every year.
I still had something left to do.
*
And the next day, Seria came to visit.