3
The training to kill an astral mage…
It didn’t matter how many years it had taken. I found out for myself how much someone could change after being subjected to so much carnage in such a short time.
This would be my third attempt.
I had the feeling this would be the final time I’d try out for the astral corps selection process.
“…”
“Hm?! I remember your face! You’re ba—”
This was the third time I had seen the instructor. As he tried to say something to me, I knocked him down with my fist.
“Volunteer number 0009, Joheim Leo Armadel.”
The crowd stirred.
The volunteers who surrounded me, as well as the current members of the corps who watched from afar, appeared shocked that I’d taken down the instructor.
That was what I wanted.
Look at me. Watch what I’m about to do.
“Who’s the most powerful one here? I want to knock him out and pass the selection.”
I took the lethal weapon I carried on my back into my hand and readied myself.
I had a large sword wrapped in a scrap of cloth. It wasn’t anything expensive. It was a rusted scrap of iron with no sharp edge, but it worked well enough for my purposes.
“Well, someone—”
In that moment, I sensed something catching fire.
Fifty yards behind me.
I heard the atmosphere flare up. This was Flame astral power.
I leaped to the side.
I wasn’t even given the time to turn around as a crimson vortex grazed my side. A fireball that could fit in my arms burst against the ground far off and scattered sparks into the air.
“You know what I want…”
I suppressed the laugh welling within me and turned around. I saw a man from the astral corps—he was the one who had thrown flames from my blind spot.
“You dodged that?!”
“You didn’t think I’d sense that? But that’s right. You’ve judged correctly.”
He could never hit me directly. He probably could feel it in his bones. That was why he resorted to attacking me mercilessly from behind. Those instincts were indispensable for a warrior.
However…
I was already beyond that way of fighting.
“Try attacking me from all directions,” I spat out, then leaped off the ground.
I’d trained my gait. Because I’d pushed the limits of my muscles and trained my sense of equilibrium, I could wield even a large sword without slowing down in the slightest.
Though surrounded, I left my position.
“If you can’t hit me, then I’ll cut you down.”
“Huh?!”
As they sensed my animosity, the dozen or so volunteers all readied themselves to engage.
A fireball, a lightning bolt, and a blade made of wind.
They focused a barrage of their assortment of astral attacks on me. The lightning bolt stopped short before it could so much as touch me. I evaded the invisible wind blade by twisting my body, and the fireball I slammed down with my sword.
“Wha?!”
“Impossible!”
Everyone other than me had changed their tune. They couldn’t attack me directly, but they likely hadn’t expected me to evade the attacks.
“Keep it going. Attack more.”
None of it was a coincidence.
I could feel the path each astral attack would take in my skin, just as though lines were being painted in the air. I wasn’t using my senses of sight, hearing, or touch, and naturally, my taste and smell had nothing to do with this either.
I’d developed an infallible ability to sense astral powers.
It was because of my astral power deficiency.
I was a being that conflicted with the astral powers. To me, astral power was a foreign substance, so it seemed I was slightly more sensitive to it than others.
……The difference is laughably slight. I’m just slightly sensitive to astral powers, that’s all.
……That’s the only thing I have going for me.
So I’d gambled on that.
By offering everything I had to training, I’d elevated it into a sixth sense.
“Isn’t this wonderful? You have the most powerful volunteer in your history.”
I turned to all the volunteers and astral corps members around me, motioning for all of them to join in.
“My selection will be done in a flash.”
Then it was over too soon. I knocked out the first, the second, the third and fourth…then, there was no fifth. Neither the volunteers nor the astral corps members would face me. Then a week passed.
I was given notice that I’d failed the third try.
“…”
A rejection?
I crumpled the letter in my hands as I stood in the garden of the royal palace.
A rejection.
The reason for the third one was that I’d potentially hinder the command from an organizational perspective.
In other words, I’d cause disorder among the ranks. No matter how strong of a soldier I could be, if I couldn’t use astral power, I would cause chaos among the corps.
Well, it was a sound argument. I couldn’t refute it. And because it was such a sound argument, I doubted I had anyone who would be on my side.
“Hah! Ha-ha…” I let out a dry laugh.
But why?
Of course.
As my conflicting emotions blended to form a mess within me, words worked their way out of my mouth.
“Right, of course…”
Until this very moment, I hadn’t been able to abandon the sliver of hope at the bottom of my heart.
I thought if I was the strongest…
If I proved that I was stronger than anyone, then even a failure of an astral mage like me could be acknowledged as worth something.
But…
Now, I’d finally given up. I had no place in this nation.
I was woken up from my dream again.
Only the results mattered.
The Nebulis Sovereignty is paradise for all witches.
It’s the ideal place for astral mages. But it seemed they didn’t plan to create a space for those who weren’t good enough astral mages.
“…”
“Eep?!”
The woman at the reception desk of the astral corps shrieked.
She had seen the bottomless fury in my eyes.
“Hm…”
I glanced at the group of astral corps members waiting behind her.
After clucking my tongue at them, I left the courtyard of the palace. I was going home after giving up…
Or so I wanted them to think.
As soon as they seemed relieved that I had left and let their guards down, I quickly hopped behind a hedge and hid myself in the courtyard with bated breath.
I’d just had the impulse.
I hadn’t put much thought into the action, but my indignation had driven me like an instinct.
I knew I couldn’t let things end here.
I waited for night to fall.
The Nebulis palace was dyed a strong shade of madder red.
It steadily darkened until the time came for the external lights to flicker on, when almost no one was to be seen in the courtyard.
The gardeners and astral corps members had left. Only the guards were making their rounds.
“…”
I crawled out of the hedges. Then I slowly strolled toward the palace with leaves still stuck to my shoulders.
I had no aim. If I had to say what I was doing, I simply wanted to test the strength of those who had looked down on me.
“Who’s there?!”
Someone turned a flashlight on me.
Must’ve been the courtyard guards. It seemed they traveled in packs of three.
“Hey! What are you doing here?!”
One of them approached me as the other two stood by, waiting to see if they’d need to back him up. They were awfully cautious.
All I was wearing was a cheap shirt and a secondhand coat. I had no gun or even any bladed weapons, so I was as good as unarmed.
“Hold both of your hands up and turn toward us. Go slowly. Tell us what you are doing—”
“I’m here to beat you to a pulp.”
“Wha?!”
As I turned around, I kicked the ground. I was faster than any gun. I was faster than any astral power. I approached my opponents before they could even blink and drove my fist into a guard’s chin.
“You bastard!”
“Suspicious person detected! Exhibiting violence at the entrance to the courtyar—guh?!”
I stopped him as he was talking. This was a courtyard. I figured I could find as many pebbles lying around as I wanted and if I used the darkness, the guards had no hope of avoiding me.
And then there was one.
“Never threw rocks for fun? How about a snowball fight?”
“Huh?! What are you—”
“I guess you’re above those sorts of games.”
It seemed he was expecting a rock. He immediately raised his arms to protect his eyes. Not too bad. But I barely needed a moment with his guard down. I rushed up to the last one and punched him right in the gut without any tricks.
“…Guh?!”
He groaned and collapsed.
These palace security guards were supposedly the best of the best. And yet here I’d defeated three of them at once… I felt some sort of emotion bubbling up within me.
It wasn’t satisfaction or a sense of accomplishment. If anything, I would describe the emotion seething within me as pure rage.
“Is this what you consider good enough…?”
These guards were true astral mages.
How could they be so weak?
The reality was thrust before me. I’d been rejected, and yet these men had been put in important positions in this country simply because they had astral power.
How could things be so unfair?
“Look at me…” I clenched my hand into a fist and howled.
I’d trained like my life depended on it. If I couldn’t earn acknowledgment by becoming this strong, then how was I supposed to?! I’d won against the astral corps and defeated the palace guards.
Was that not enough?
“Do I need to push around a purebred type?”
The three royal lines were related to the Founder Nebulis. Because the royal family had come from such a strong lineage and had great astral power, they were called purebred types.
This was the courtyard of their palace. It wouldn’t be odd for me to come across one.
“Will it satisfy you if I defeat one of them? Is that how I can be acknowledged?”
No one answered me.
I knew better. If I beat up a purebred type, I’d end up a criminal. Instead of being acknowledged, I’d be put on a wanted list and that would be it. I knew it was only a path to destruction. But I still couldn’t stop myself.
The intangible frustration pushed me onward. I couldn’t stop it, nor did I try to as I wandered through the courtyard.
“That’s…”
I saw her below one of the outside lights. A purebred type sitting on a bench in the courtyard without a guard in sight.
Princess Elletear Lou Nebulis IX.
* * *
But she looked like an entirely different person.
It was like the princess had changed entirely.
Shadows fell on her eyes, her shoulders sagged, and the smile she’d worn in front of the people in the plaza as she sang had withered away. She looked weary. It was as though she was disgusted by everything around her.
I could see it all in her face.
But how did I know?
It was because I’d seen that same expression every day of my life on my face.
“It’s like looking into a mirror when I see her eyes.”
“Huh?!”
The princess suddenly raised her head.
Had she heard me?
That was unexpected. She’d looked distracted, but it seemed she was paying enough attention to reality to hear me murmur to myself.
“Who’s there?!”
Well, fine.
I wasn’t going to give her a proper answer, but I at least walked over to the edge of the light.
“…”
“Are you a burglar?”
She probably thought I was a dirty man. It seemed only fitting she would immediately make such an accusation. In fact, her composure and courage as she talked to me in what should have been a tense situation shocked and awed me.
“You’re lucky it’s only me here.”
That was likely enough to relay what I meant. She’d know I wasn’t an assassin after her life or a thief. As I thought, I saw some of the tension leave her.
“Oh, good… Then are you one of my fans?”
“Is that what I seem like?”
“Yes.” The princess with emerald hair giggled. “Since I did see you in a plaza listening to my song in the past.”
“Huh?!”
How did she remember something from so long ago? Actually, did she remember every face in that crowd of hundreds of people? I’d only arrived toward the end of the concert. I’d just been one face replacing someone else in a packed crowd.
If she could keep track of everyone moving around in the crowd, she had to be a very talented woman. A princess blessed with everything except astral power could banter about something so impressive as though it were trivial.
“Unfortunately, I happened to be there by coincidence.”
“Oh, that’s too bad.” Princess Elletear shrugged, seeming disappointed. “Then who are you?”
“Who do I seem like?”
“…” The princess went silent. She remained sitting on the bench as she stared into my eyes. “You seem agitated.”
“Hah!”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh. She was entirely right. It seemed she was a good judge of people, too.
“Amazing.” I clapped for her. “There are two things I simply can’t stand. Until now, first place was me, but today, first and second have been reversed. What I can’t stand…is this country.”
“The country…?” Elletear blinked in surprise. “Are you sure you don’t mean the Empire?”
“I don’t care about a country across the horizon. What’s in front of me is this country.”
I could feel that seething at the bottom of my gut again. The results letter I’d crumpled into a ball—instead of throwing that away in a trash can somewhere in a plaza, I tossed it to the princess.
“Oh, I see…” She straightened out the paper. After quickly reading it, she nodded as though she understood. “So you were trying to volunteer for the astral corps. But now you’re sulking because you were rejected.”
“That’s it.”
“Don’t feel too dispirited. The astral corps are the cream of the crop. If you try again—”
“This was my third time.”
“…Huh?”
“I have astral power deficiency. It seems someone who can’t use astral power isn’t allowed to stand on the battlefield.”
“Pfft!”
I likely would never forget Elletear in this moment.
She burst out laughing. The princess, known for being extraordinarily noble, let out a vulgar guffaw, and not only that, she even clutched her stomach as she did.
She was just like a regular citizen at a tavern.
“Y-you failed three whole times?! And you didn’t give up despite astral power deficiency?! A-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha…oh, sorry. I didn’t think I would revel in someone’s misfortune like this.”
She laughed so hard that tears gathered in her eyes. She was laughing so hard, she could barely breathe.
“Oh, how adorable… I’m in the same conundrum as you. I can’t believe I find it so funny.”
Right at that moment…
I heard several sets of feet approaching me from behind.
“Hurry, over here!”
“We can’t assume he was acting alone! Hurry and bring reinforcements!”
They were the palace guards. They must have been friends of the three I’d had a run-in with. They changed their tune as they came upon Elletear sitting on the bench.
“Lady Elletear?! What are you doing here?!”
“I was enjoying the evening breeze.” The princess grinned. She had the same exaggerated smile that she’d given the crowd in the plaza. “What’s wrong? Why are you all in such a rush?”
“Please be careful! We found three guards unconscious in the courtyard. We believe someone assaulted them.”
“Oh my. What a violent person.” Elletear sounded surprised. I was sure that only I realized she was feigning it. “But I’m fine. I haven’t seen a single person as I’ve sat here. I’m sure they must have left the courtyard.”
“Thank you! We’re very grateful for the useful information. Now, hurry!”
The guards left.
I waited until their noisy footsteps disappeared into the night, then crawled out of the bushes. The princess squinted as she watched me. She seemed to think this was hilarious.
“Did you need to protect me?”
“It’s a thank-you for making me laugh.”
Her voice lifted as she replied.
But then the emotion disappeared from her beautiful face, making her look almost frightful.
“I hate this country, too.”
Those were likely her true feelings.
I immediately realized that she was telling the truth.
Princess Elletear had no chance of ever becoming the queen. Knowing her background, anyone could have guessed that.
“I hate astral mages… I can’t help but find this country horrid for deciding everything based on astral power. It’s more despicable than the Empire.”
I understood. But that seemed like too clichéd of a response, so instead of saying that, I replied, “Then we think alike.”
“…”
The princess went silent for a moment. She turned away from the sky she’d been looking up at to stare silently at me.
“Do you know what I was thinking about until you appeared here? I thought, ‘I wish this country and the Empire could both be destroyed.’”
Those were radical words. As I thought that, I nodded.
“Let’s get rid of it all.”
That was…
…just meant to be an empty reply to her.
I was certain she was joking. Even in the case of the slightest possibility she actually had been thinking that, it wasn’t as though someone like me agreeing would result in her seriously engaging with me about it, not with my social status.
She would most certainly laugh it off just like she had before…
“Do you mean it?” she asked.
It all happened in a flash.
But by the time I had realized it, her quivering eyes had captured me.
“Do you mean it? Do you really believe the same thing?”
Elletear’s voice wavered. She was like a rain-drenched, shivering kitten. Her feeble voice told me how much courage it had taken for her to squeeze out those words.
And that in itself…
…was beautiful.
More beautiful than the goddess-like smile she had used to entrance hundreds of people in that plaza. Her eyes, which seemed so ephemeral that she could break down crying at any moment, yet were also still so noble and clear…seemed beautiful to me.
That was because, deep in her eyes, I could see the determination I lacked.
……She’s serious.
……Princess Elletear, do you really want to destroy the Sovereignty?
This was treason.
What if the guards came back? If they had heard her saying this, she wouldn’t be a princess the next day.
……It’s such a big secret.
……But she still told me. So she chose me to confide in.
The moment I realized that, I…
“How would you like to destroy it, Princess Elletear?”
I…
…got on one knee before her and lowered my head.
“Just tell me.”
“You’ll help make it happen?”
“You will be the one who makes it happen. I’ll be your arms and legs.”
Something in me had cleared away.
Because this princess who had been sitting on this bench at night in despair, with no one she could ask for help, was someone I wanted to save.
“I want to help you.”
“…” Elletear went quiet. She hadn’t chosen to not answer. It seemed she wanted to tell me something and was looking for the right words. “You snuck into the palace on your own at night and made your way to me. You must think it was all a coincidence, but I’ve been waiting for you.”
“You were waiting?”
“Of course.” She looked slightly embarrassed. Under the light, she seemed bashful as she spoke. “I was waiting for the knight who would liberate the princess kept locked up in this terrible castle.”
“…”
“So that’s why I’ll tell you a very important secret.”
She placed her hand on her chest. Still sitting on the bench, she looked in the air as though making an oath.
“I want to become a witch.”
“A witch?”
“I want to become the monster that destroys the Sovereignty. No matter what I need to sacrifice.”
I didn’t understand what significance that held.
But I didn’t bother asking for an explanation, either. If that was what she wanted, then…
“All right. I won’t let anyone in the world mock you for your wish.”
“Then lower your head.”
And so I did.
She touched my head with the tips of her fingers.
Princess Elletear stood from the bench and affectionately caressed my head as I knelt.
“Tell me your name.”
“Joheim Leo Armadel.”
“Then Joheim, from this moment on…”
The next morning, I entered the palace as the First Princess Elletear’s personal guard.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login