Chapter 148
Roadrick has no understanding of politics.
Roadrick is merely a survivalist.
He had spent his life venturing into the wilderness and living among hunting dogs.
That was why he was unusually sensitive to danger.
Roadrick, staying as a guest at the Stuart residence in the Chengdu Concession, had been kept at the mansion for two months under one pretext or another.
His only duties were keeping Ainsell-jō company, teaching her core training, and showing her how to identify dangerous monsters, but apparently those things were important to her father, Arthur.
More precisely, keeping his daughter and Roadrick together was what mattered.
Arthur still feared assassination—specifically, betrayal by someone close to him.
He was so cautious that he did not even fully trust the guardian golem assigned by his old friend, the Blue Witch; he seemed to have decided that the only people he could truly trust were himself, his daughter, and Roadrick, who had saved her.
Ainsell-jō seemed to believe that everyone involved in the airship assassination who had betrayed them was a traitor, but Arthur was more cautious. He believed a mastermind backed by Britain was still lurking.
It could be a maid, a butler, a relative, or a contractor who came and went. It could be anyone.
“Divide and rule” was Britain's national policy. They needed to be more wary of internal division than visible external enemies.
Even so, Roadrick was so inept at intrigue that even a young girl could see through him.
There was no way he could manage a covert mission to search for a traitor in hiding, and he remained a guest of the Stuart family without really understanding the situation unfolding beneath the surface.
He passed uneasy nights, feeling the prickling tension in the air.
The incident occurred just as Ainsell-jō, driven to the limit after two months of a cramped, house-arrest-like life under surveillance, finally shook off her watchers.
She had nearly been assassinated yet again.
If the four-dimensional disappearance zone had shifted by even one meter, Ainsell-jō would have died.
It was a grave situation.
There really had been another traitor—a traitor who had concealed themself skillfully.
Arthur urgently summoned Roadrick, and he held a brief secret conference with the Blue Witch.
After making various arrangements, they hurriedly saw the witch's party off... and several hours later.
The moment the sun sank behind the mountains, the situation changed drastically.
Ivet, the Stuart family's guardian Mutant, revealed her true nature.
The person who was supposed to serve and protect the household—the household's linchpin—had been the mastermind behind everything.
In the study lit by dim gaslight, Ainsell shielded her magically sleeping father with her back and glared at the traitor.
Meanwhile, Roadrick accurately assessed the balance of power and calculated his odds of survival, then gently pinched the back of Ainsell's dress and moved her one step behind him. It was a tiny gesture, but one step could sometimes mean the difference between life and death.
Mutant Ivet was a woman of the night. Literally.
Her pitch-black form looked as if dark night itself had taken human shape; her body's outline blurred in the gaslight and wavered despite the absence of wind.
The white eyes in place of her own floated quietly like moons in the night sky.
Ivet turned the tip of the wand she had been pointing at Arthur toward Ainsell.
Ainsell gripped Scepter Beifan until her fingers went white, bravely faced the overwhelmingly powerful foe, and defiantly challenged her.
"Would you mind not coming any closer? You fucking bitch."
"So Asian blood does make one's speech grow vulgar. It is unbecoming of the proud Stuart family."
Hearing her politely insolent British English made Roadrick's spine crawl.
The overwhelming presence, surpassing an A-class monster, screamed at Roadrick's instincts to run immediately.
But he didn't think he could get away.
"Wasn't it Ivet who taught me aristocratic pride?"
"Yes, yes. I believed it at first, too. I thought, 'Half her blood is noble, after all.' But as she grew, she came to resemble that woman. Even though her face resembles Arthur-sama's, her mannerisms and her laugh grew vulgar."
"Ivet, you...!"
"That rebellious look of yours, too, Ainsell. Tragically, your nobility has lost to your base blood. The stain must be washed away."
The triumphant woman of the night drew a short breath. Realizing that the next words would be a lethal spell, Roadrick instinctively cut in from the side.
"Why didn't you do this from the start? If you're a Mutant, you could have done anything you wanted at any time."
"…You really are unlucky, too. If you hadn't been here, I could have let you go."
"Arthur-sama would be heartbroken if he learned that his loyal retainer had killed his daughter. I am the only one who can support Arthur-sama emotionally after he lost his wife and children."
Hearing Ivet's words, steeped in self-centered superiority, even Roadrick, who was poor at this sort of intrigue, understood her motive.
In retrospect, Arthur had never been targeted throughout the series of incidents.
If Britain wanted to replace the head of the Chengdu Concession, killing the current lord and sending in someone new would surely have been the most convenient way.
The target had always been Ainsell alone. Ivet had pulled the strings from behind the scenes while pretending not to know anything.
Holding the scepter, Ainsell asked with dignity, like a queen questioning one of her subjects.
"Ivet. This really is your own decision, isn't it?"
"Yes. You're pathetic to the very end, aren't you, Ainsell? Either beg for your life or silently offer me your neck."
"Oh! You are quite right. How vulgar of me. Speaking with the fucking bitch who killed my mother was terribly bad manners. Well, if you'll excuse me."
"Freezing Javelin!"
Strangely, the Freezing Javelin spell sounded from two places: beside and behind Roadrick.
Ivet caught the ice spear Ainsell launched with effortless ease and deflected it off her body, only to be blown away an instant later by a powerful ice spear that came flying in through the office window from outside; it smashed her into the wall with a thunderous crash.
Dust trickled from the ceiling, testifying to abnormal power far beyond that of an ordinary human.
When he turned, the Blue Witch gracefully entered through the destroyed window.
"That was a good spell, Ainsell."
The Blue Witch patted Ainsell's head and smiled, then stood before the two of them.
Warm relief spread through Roadrick's chest.
The witch's party had pretended to leave in order to make Ivet let down her guard, then arranged to return, but the Blue Witch's presence was so completely undetectable that he hadn't been certain she had actually come back.
Now he knew for sure.
Ivet was finished.
The strongest shield in the world, the sharpest spear in the world, and an executioner besides, the Blue Witch looked down coldly at Ivet and spat:
"Caught red-handed, Ivet. You confessed to casting magic at the head of the household. There's no way out now."
"…I see. So I was lured into a trap. But, Blue Witch, you're on the wrong side, aren't you? If you are Arthur-sama's old friend, you should understand. If you are his friend, you should correct your friend's mistake. Let us call that earlier attack an unfortunate misunderstanding. Now, send Ainsell over here."
"Stop yapping. It's all just sour grapes because Arthur rejected you, isn't it? You ugly woman."
Mocked with a cold sneer, Ivet was clearly growing irritated.
"Asians could never understand the pride or duty of British aristocracy."
"So? What are you going to do with me?"
"Why do you think I waited until night? I—"
"You won't die during the night. I know."
The Blue Witch muttered that the Night Witch had been the same.
Ainsell wore an expression as if it were obvious, and Arthur, asleep against the bookshelf, presumably knew too.
Roadrick was the only one who didn't know.
Even as he was increasingly made aware that he didn't belong, the conversation between these absolute beings continued.
"Powerful night-only regeneration. Enhanced perception and physical abilities. Magic resistance. Rapid recovery of magical power. If you were going to make a move, it would be at night. You couldn't act so high-and-mighty toward me in the daytime, could you?"
"If you know that, then stand aside. Even you, Blue Witch, won't emerge unscathed if you fight me as I am now. I will never harm Arthur-sama. I only need to kill Ainsell, and then it will be over. So..."
"Stop prattling. I'm thinking about the way to kill you that will make you suffer most."
The Blue Witch waggled the tip of Cureanos pointed at Ivet, apparently genuinely deep in thought.
Ainsell, gripping Roadrick's sleeve tightly, said to the Blue Witch:
"If you would restrain her, I will have her sentenced according to law in my name, Blue Witch-sama."
"...She's your mother's killer. Don't you want to keep her from drawing breath for even one second?"
"Exactly. But I know that Blue Witch-sama is a kind person who dislikes taking human lives."
"Huh? Kind?"
Roadrick's unfiltered question was ignored by everyone.
"At the very least, please let me take responsibility for this decision. I was the one who decided that Ivet should be executed."
"Heh. A child needn't be so considerate. But I like that about you, Ainsell."
The Blue Witch gently combed her fingers through Ainsell's hair, murmured, "Well then," and extended the hand opposite the one holding her wand toward Ivet.
Ivet made the darkness composing her body writhe, trying to do something, but froze in astonishment.
"What is this? My magical power has solidified...!?"
"Fly through the sky, breathe fire, and turn even a lizard into a dragon."
The Blue Witch cast the spell while throwing off her robe.
Then, with a sound like a bursting balloon and white smoke, a bluish-black dragon appeared. It grabbed the panicking Ivet with a foreleg, smashed through and half-destroyed the office, and took flight into the night sky.
The enormous black silhouette wrapped in gale-force winds vanished beyond the starry sky in an instant.
Cold night air brushed his cheeks, and he spotted maids in the distance, holding lanterns and cautiously watching from behind cover.
Roadrick gave the maids a thumbs-up and finally relaxed his shoulders.
His legs nearly gave out too, but with Ainsell watching, he forced himself to stand straight and made a lighthearted remark.
"Is this what everyday life in aristocratic society is like? It's more dangerous than survival."
"The kinds of danger are simply different. You'll get used to it eventually, Roadrick-sama."
"Wait. I'm going back to America, you know? If the root cause of this family turmoil is gone, you don't need me anymore."
"Heehee, Roadrick-sama, you are awfully good at making jokes."
The steel-hearted young lady laughed merrily, as if she had already forgotten the tension of crossing the line between life and death moments earlier.
Ainsell was mobbed by the pale-faced maids who came running up, then carried away to safety together with her father.
Following behind them, Roadrick felt a kind of foreboding he had never experienced before.
It was as if the outer defenses were being filled in... as if he was being surrounded...
Roadrick tilted his head. He didn't understand politics.
Nor could he possibly understand what Ainsell and Arthur truly thought as they tried to keep him from leaving.
Around the time Roadrick was considering what to do with his life, the Blue Witch, transformed into a dragon, clutched Ivet in one claw and raced through the starry sky like a meteor.
Her high-speed flight, combined with self-enhancement magic, had broken the sound barrier.
Layers of air became shock waves that pounded Ivet, held in the dragon's foreleg, and the night composing her body streamed behind her.
With her magical power sealed, Ivet couldn't match the dragon's strength using physical abilities alone, so she sulkily let herself be carried.
"Hah. Are you really planning to keep flying until morning? I won't die from a fall, and surely dispelling this seal would be faster than waiting for dawn, wouldn't it?"
"It's a good thing you're stupid. Are you all right? Do you have enough intelligence to regret this before you die?"
Even with her magical power sealed, her regeneration remained intact. Depending on the scale, that powerful regenerative ability could restore her even after an explosion caused by runaway magic, and it had given Ivet excessive confidence.
To the words of this embodiment of night, who never doubted her own superiority, the Blue Witch had replied with nothing but sarcasm for some time.
Feeling thoroughly hated, Ivet sighed as she was forced into a pointless night flight whose purpose she couldn't fathom, then stared in disbelief at what came into view.
The calculations were wrong.
It had only just become night. Sunset had been only a short while ago.
Yet the sky beyond was undeniably beginning to pale.
She wasn't imagining it.
Though not even an hour had passed since sunset, the sun was beginning to rise at an impossible speed.
Dawn was approaching.
Was she being shown an illusion?
Confused, Ivet suddenly realized something.
The direction in which the Blue Witch was flying.
"N-no way...!"
"Figured it out? Is this your first time watching the evening sun rise? It'll be your last, so thank it and worship it."
The Blue Witch was flying west faster than Earth's rotation.
The ground far below streamed past as they crossed multiple countries and the time changed.
The dark night rewound, and a beautiful crimson dusk arrived.
The night was ending.
Ivet panicked, screamed, and thrashed desperately.
"S-stop! Let me go, let go, you—let gooo!"
"So you do hate the sun after all. That's good."
The sunset kept rising from beyond the horizon.
The sky grew brighter.
Ivet weakened in inverse proportion.
The dragon's leg, whose vise-like strength she hadn't felt at all during the night, crushed her body like a tightening vise.
The roiling magical power vanished.
Her sense of omnipotence ebbed away.
"Stop! I said stop! Why don't you understand!? What have I ever done to you!? I didn't do anything to you or your companions! I was only thinking of Arthur-sama, only doing it for Arthur-sama! Guhhh!"
Bathed in sunlight, Ivet was scorched and began smoking. The Blue Witch gave a contemptuous growl and chanted a spell as if carving each word into her.
"Burn in the sun and turn to ash. Boil, my blood; rise, my anger. I will wring every last drop of your blood from you and make it atonement for my ancestors."
A ghastly crimson mist clung to Ivet.
Black blood was wrung from her black body, and magical power gushed out with increasing speed.
Ivet screamed. She had no choice but to scream in fear and grief.
Her screams faded as her body shrank, growing smaller before their eyes.
When the screams were drowned out by the wind and could no longer be heard, Ivet had become a small, entirely blackened mummy.
The Blue Witch snorted and tossed the desiccated corpse into the sunset sky.
As the black mummy was buffeted like a leaf by powerful gusts, the Blue Witch cast one final spell.
"If I am ever controlled, please don't hesitate. I don't want to kill you."
Two crossed great scythes appeared, moved on their own, and split the mummy cleanly in two.
Ivet's corpse, severed by absolute-death magic, instantly became dust, dissolved into the void on the wind, and vanished.
Given an absolute death from which resurrection was forever impossible, Ivet disappeared from the world without a trace.
The Blue Witch made a wide turn and headed home.
The existence of the witch she had just erased was quickly pushed to the corner of her thoughts, and the Blue Witch's mind filled with worry for the lover and daughter she had left behind.
The traitor who had cast a dark shadow over the Chengdu Concession would eventually be forgotten.