Chapter 73
Carla opened her eyes.
But she couldn't see.
“...!”
She hadn't gone blind.
Beyond the rough fabric brushing her cheeks and cheekbones, a faint glimmer of light seeped through her blurred vision. A cheap cloth blindfold—or perhaps a strip of fabric—had been tied over her eyes. Her mouth, too, was wrapped tightly shut with something like a bandage.
All her senses had been cut off except for smell and touch.
“...”
That made her sense of touch all the more acute.
She was in a room covered in dust.
She could smell dust and sand scattered across the floor.
Beyond that stale air,
someone was watching her from far away.
“...”
“...”
Probably a guard.
The watcher had seen her wake up. But she didn't even know who they were. The extreme disparity in information was enough to make her feel utterly helpless.
Carla admitted it.
“...”
‘I’ve been kidnapped, plain and simple. I drank a sip of water the maid brought before bed, so did they put a sleeping drug in it? I shouldn’t have repeated the same habit without thinking….’
An inside job.
The maid who brought her the water was the first suspect. Next came anyone who knew Carla had a habit of taking a sip of water before going to sleep.
In short,
all the servants assigned to the annex of the high-ranking nobles’ dormitory.
This was the price of repeating such a trivial action.
“...”
This very situation
made it easy for her kidnappers to hide their identities.
And she herself had given them the clue.
“...”
‘…I was stupid.’
Rather than focusing on factions and authority,
she should have made a plan to protect herself.
And so Carla had been kidnapped without a fight.
Once she understood the situation, blood slowly returned to her body. Her family had taught her what to do in the event of a kidnapping, so the first priority was to check her physical condition.
“...”
First, Carla tried moving her legs.
She felt a rope around her slender ankles. It was wrapped tight enough to keep her from moving at all. She had probably been seated in a chair or something similar, with both legs bound securely.
This didn't feel good.
She shifted her body slightly to check what she could feel.
She was still wearing her nightclothes.
The floor beneath her bare feet was hard stone.
She could clearly feel the cheap chair beneath her.
Naturally, she couldn't gather her mana.
They had probably given her a mana suppressant.
“...”
There was something else she needed to check.
Still seated, she subtly flexed her thighs and abdomen, checking whether ‘something’ had intruded into her body. What she did next would depend on what ‘they’ had done to her.
“...”
What might have ended in a negotiation
could become a revenge plot involving the full force of her family.
‘Perhaps I should steel myself as a noblewoman.’
Carla checked, a little tensely.
“...”
‘I’ve heard that some barbaric demon worshippers disregard the ‘vow of chastity,’ thinking they can withstand the curse laid down by the Sun Spirit….’
If she'd fallen into their hands,
it would be better to prepare to bite down on her tongue.
If her vow of chastity had been broken against her will,
her life as a noblewoman would be over.
Even a commoner who suffered such a thing would give up her name and enter the Sun Temple, hiding away for the rest of her life. If the daughter of a ducal house like herself were to suffer that fate…
“...”
But…
Fortunately, her body was unharmed.
There was no strange sensation or internal pain.
‘…Their target isn’t my body.’
If so, it was best to stay still.
There was nothing to gain by provoking them. They wanted either money or revenge, so all she had to do was wait.
Carla accepted that.
And fell silent.
“...”
Then she heard a man grumble from the other side. He must have been here for a long time; a dry rattle of phlegm stirred in his throat.
“Huh, I was wondering what you were doing after waking up ages ago. You were squirming around by yourself, then gave up?”
“!”
She didn't recognize the voice.
Nobles from home and abroad
influential merchants and knights
and the commoners she occasionally encountered
None of those voices belonged to anyone she knew. He was someone from outside Carla’s world. That made her listen all the more closely.
‘If I can find out any clues….’
He spoke with a sneer.
“It’s commendable that you aren’t bawling and throwing a fit like some little girl your age. I was going to beat you if you cried. You bitch from the Driagh family… You’ve been taught to behave.”
“...”
“You should never have come near the Gallians. How dare unbelievers who don’t even worship the Sun God… try to spread their filthy influence over our glorious land?”
“...”
“You will die for the glory of Gallia. Until then, wait here quietly.”
“...”
Carla thought.
“...”
Characteristic one.
He’d gone to the trouble of covering her eyes, yet blabbed about his own identity.
Characteristic two.
When he tried to use the sort of insults a foreigner might hurl at someone from the Republic, he let his words trail off.
Characteristic three.
If he meant to kill her, he would have done it already. He probably wanted her to cry and panic.
Therefore,
he wasn't a Gallian.
Even if he was from the Kingdom,
he wasn't doing this for the Kingdom.
What they wanted was…
“...”
*
Lydia sighed.
“...”
‘…What a mess.’
The academy grounds.
A place where countless dormitories were clustered.
Cadets from all the nations were in a state of confusion before her eyes.
-What? Kidnapped? How?!
-I heard that when they opened Lady Carla’s door, the window was broken and her bed had been tossed about.
-They said nothing seemed to have been taken, so it wasn’t a robbery…
-Could it be demon worshippers? Like during the Hero’s Exam?
-Who knows. Priest Adrian and Dean Edmond have gone to check for traces of black magic themselves…
As she listened to them,
Arti and the others also craned their necks to look toward the dormitory.
“What on earth happened…?”
“Good grief, academy life sure is eventful.”
“I hope nothing serious has happened.”
Morgan stood nearby, staring blankly.
“...”
The situation really was a mess.
The student council election had been a mess, too. But after the election, before the new student council president could even take office, a major incident had erupted: she had gone missing from her dormitory.
It had happened right after a major incident involving an attack by demon worshippers. The shockwaves were all the greater because people were still on their guard against them.
Priest Adrian and Dean Edmond hurried to the Republic's noblewomen's dormitory. Wearing a shabby gray robe and an elegant red robe, respectively, they entered Lady Carla’s private room with grave expressions.
The cadets watched them go.
They hoped this sudden turmoil would end soon.
Then each began voicing their own theories.
-Could it be those Kingdom of Gallia bastards…?
-Maybe it’s a plot to smear Lady Carla…
-Would they really go that far for the student council election?
-Why assume they wouldn’t? The Kingdom and the Republic severed diplomatic relations ages ago, and the reformists are so passive.
-That’s true, but…
Murmur, murmur.
Could it be?
Could it be?
Surely not?
Exchanging glances like that,
they grew more suspicious of one another.
Lydia let their suspicions wash over her.
They were only ripples caused by a lack of reliable information. Once Priest Adrian and Dean Edmond made an announcement, the cadets would reverse their opinions in an instant.
Instead, she recalled the original story.
“...”
‘If the Black Temple is involved, as in the main story of Morgan’s route… Carla staged this herself to drive a wedge between the Kingdom and the Republic.’
But…
Carla had already asked Lydia, ‘Help me put on a show so I can find the people who are bullying me.’ If she had really intended to drive a wedge between them, revealing her intentions would have been a spoiler in itself.
Therefore, this kidnapping…
‘…It’s most likely a side quest involving internal strife within the Republic.’
The problem was that it had happened far too early.
This, too, was supposed to happen next year.
Lydia sighed.
“...”
‘I knew that raising Arti and the others so quickly would throw a lot of things out of whack, but it’s exhausting having the story itself forced to move faster, too.’
Besides, Sir Zack was a concern.
He was a swordsmanship instructor and also handled security at the academy. If incidents like this kept happening one after another, his position could be threatened.
‘In the worst case, he might be dismissed this time.’
Just as she thought that,
Adrian and Edmond came walking out from the dormitory.
“!”
“!”
“!”
The cadets’ gazes turned toward them.
-There they are!
-What on earth happened…?
-What’s going on?
Murmur, murmur.
Everyone began to lower their voices.
Then Adrian made a solemn announcement.
“We found traces of black magic inside the dormitory. They are traces of the Dark Realm, left only by magic used by demon worshippers. Dean Edmond and I reached this conclusion together, so there can be no doubt.”
When he finished,
Dean Edmond stroked his beard.
“That’s right. We found evidence that magic used by demon worshippers was involved in this incident.”
“!”
“!”
“!”
At that bombshell announcement,
Arti, too, stared at them in shock.
“W-what did you say…? Demon worshippers again…?”
And Lydia let out a low groan.
“...”
‘What on earth is going on….’