To Be a Power in the Shadows! (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 5.4

Part 4

Alexia and Claire have gathered in the auditorium and are talking things over.

“These collars are draining our magic, I’m sure of it. And when the timer reaches zero…” Alexia looks down at the dead students lying on the ground with their necks blown apart.

“It’s not safe to take them off, either,” Claire replies. She’s tried running magic through her own collar a couple times to test it, but every time, she feels a nasty sort of resistance. It’s possible they’re set up to explode if anyone tries messing with them.

Alexia addresses the gathered students. “Bottom line is, we need to avoid using magic unless we absolutely have to. That goes double for the students who don’t have much to begin with.”

The students trapped by the white mist have congregated in the auditorium. A lot of people have already left for the day, but even so, more and more students keep piling in, each of them wearing that same ominous collar around their necks.

Alexia’s collar reads 1,303, and Claire’s display reads 1,917.

“Sigh… I looked around, but I didn’t find any teachers we could ask for help,” says a petite girl wearing a short skirt. It’s Nina.

“That’s what I’ve gathered,” Alexia replies. “We’re just going to have to pull through together.”

“Nina, do you know where Cid is?” Claire asks.

“I haven’t seen the young’un. He’s probably already back at his dorm.”

Claire breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness…”

“The question is, what exactly is even going on here?” Alexia says. “There’s that weird white fog, there’s these creepy collars, and we can’t make contact with the outside world. I can’t make heads or tails of it.”

“It’s the Shadow Garden,” says a boy with dark green hair. “Rumor has it that an organization by that name was involved in both the case of the missing students and head librarian’s unexplained death. My dad’s a member of the Knight Order, and he told me all about it.”

“You’re…Isaac, right? I’ve heard you show a lot of promise as a dark knight. But what proof do you have that the Shadow Garden was behind this?”

“Proof? That’s a strange question to ask, Your Highness. This isn’t even the first time they’ve taken over the school.”

“…What’s their motive, then?”

“They’re an evil criminal organization. They don’t need a motive. For them, slaking their thirst for murder is an end unto itself.”

A stir runs through the students listening from the sidelines.

“Th-the Shadow Garden is at it again…”

“I…I thought I was gonna die last time… Snff…”

“This isn’t fair. Why are they doing this to us?!”

“Calm down, everyone!” Alexia shouts. “And, Isaac, watch what you say. People are scared enough as it is.”

“Forgive me.” Isaac offers an apologetic shrug. However, it does little to quell the other students’ fears.

“It’s dangerous to settle on a culprit when we don’t have enough information. What we should be doing right now is getting out of these collars and escaping. Don’t you agree?”

“That might be easier said than done,” Nina interjects. “I tried testing to see how far the fog goes, but I don’t think we’re gonna be able to leave the campus. There’s some sort of invisible wall in the way.”

“Then is there at least a way for us to remove these collars?”

“That’s a toughie. These are some pretty nasty artifacts. Who knows what’d happen if you tried screwing with them?”

“That’s probably a good call…”

A grim silence descends on the auditorium.

Then one of the boys trembling by the wall stands up and makes a break for it. “No, no… I’m too young to die!”

“Me too!! I’m not…I’m not gonna die here!”

A couple of other students follow him, and they all head toward the auditorium’s exit.

“H-hold it right there!!” Alexia hurriedly shouts after them.

The moment they step out of the auditorium, however, blood goes spraying.

“Wha—?!”

Invisible swords held by lifeless, ghostly-looking warriors pierce the students clean through.

“Those are…those are spirits,” Claire stammers.

“What the heck is a spirit?!” Alexia cries.

“I’m not really sure, but that’s what Aurora called them!”

The two of them draw their swords and break into a dash.

Isaac and Nina follow their lead.

“Hraaah!”

“Take that!”

Alexia and Claire lash out, and a handful of the spirits vanish. However, there are far more lurking just outside the auditorium.

“There’s so many of them… When did they even get here?”

“We’re outnumbered. This’ll be an uphill battle.”

“Be careful with your mana reserves, you two,” Nina warns them from behind.

Alexia and Claire gasp in realization, then glance at each other’s collars.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“Shut the door!”

As Alexia and Claire shove back the spirits, Nina and Isaac begin closing the door.

“Get back in here, you two!”

At the very last moment before the door slams shut, Alexia and Claire slide back into the auditorium. Then, while catching their breath, they take another look at each other’s collars. Alexia is at 1,238. Claire is at 1,825.

“This is bad…,” Alexia says. “I didn’t expect our reserves to drop so fast.”

“Me neither,” agrees Claire. “Nina, how much do you have left?”

“Huh? That’s, uh, a good question.”

For whatever reason, Nina shifts her timer out of view.

“We can’t see it if you do that.”

“Oh. Right. Good call.”

Nina slowly reveals her timer. The number it displays is resoundingly average.

“Seven hundred and eighty four, huh? That’s lower than I thought.”

“At this rate, I’d say I’ve got about two hours left to live,” Nina says. “What about you, Isaac?”

“I’m at thirteen sixty-seven.”

“Dang, that’s an honors student for you. You’ve got loads of magic. Let’s go around and get a read on the others.”

The four of them go around and check the readouts on the other students in the auditorium.

“The weakest student is already down in the three hundreds…,” Alexia says in a hushed tone once they’ve finished.

Claire looks over at the girl in question. She’s trembling, and her face is as white as a sheet. “Yeah, she drained her reserves doing some self-study after school. If we don’t do something within the next hour, she’s done for…”

“There’s a lot of other students with low reserves, too. Plus, there’s no guarantee we’ll be able to hold this position forever.”

The spirits are pounding on the auditorium door, and the students are building a barricade by piling up tables and chairs.

“What do you propose we do, Princess Alexia?” asks Isaac.

“I don’t know, I just don’t…”

Alexia had no way of predicting they would get swallowed up by the white fog, and she has no idea how to disarm the collars.

Her gaze darts about, desperately searching for answers.

Then she hears it.

“As things are, we’re just sitting around waiting to die…”

The voice isn’t loud, not by any measure. However, its strange confidence echoes through the auditorium nonetheless.

“…but I have an idea.”

There’s a boy leaning against the wall. He lazily combs back his dark-brown hair as he walks over to Alexia and the others.

“Who’re you?” Alexia asks.

“Suzuki.”

He looks Alexia straight in the eye. There’s something a little shady about his gaze, but other than that, he’s utterly unremarkable.

“He’s in my class,” Isaac offers.

“Suzuki, huh? Well, you said you had an idea. Would you mind sharing?”

“Not at all…” Suzuki slowly sweeps his gaze across the students in the auditorium as he speaks. “The first thing we need to realize is our ability to do battle is limited. Most of the students here don’t have much magic left, and it would run out in an instant if they tried to fight. If things got violent, they’d be hastening their own deaths every time they swung their swords. Between that and the psychological strain they’re under, they’re in no state to fight.”

“You have a point.”

Suzuki’s analysis is accurate. Despite how tense the situation is, he’s drawn some intelligent conclusions.

“Only the small handful of people right here have any magic to spare. In other words, those are the only ones who can actually fight. Now, I propose we split the students into two groups.”

He looks over at the students putting together the barricade.

“The first group will be the defense team. All the students who are low on mana will stay here in the auditorium, and they’ll focus on staying safe while preserving their magic. Then the other group…”

He turns his gaze to Alexia and the others.

“…will be running offense—”

Suddenly, a female voice cuts Suzuki off. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?!”

All the tension drains from the quartet who’d been listening to his plan with bated breath.

“What gives a branch-family nobody the right to talk to Princess Alexia like that? You should just keep your mouth shut and help build the barricade with the others. If you harm the main house’s reputation by speaking out of turn, I assure you there will be hell to pay.”

There’s a girl with light-red hair standing behind him.

Alexia gives her a look. “And you are, uh…?”

“I’m Christina Hope. A distant relative of Suzuki’s.”

“Another classmate of mine,” Isaac adds. “And a talented one.”

“I’m so sorry Suzuki was bothering you. He’s really supposed to know better.”

Christina grabs Suzuki by the collar and tries to haul him off.

However, Alexia stops her. “Hold on. He’s got a point.”

Christina reluctantly lets Suzuki go.

“Yeesh,” he says. “You never change, do you, Christina?”

“Don’t you take that tone with a member of the main house.”

“We’re in a state of emergency here. I’m going to have to take some liberties.”

“And what exactly do you mean by that?”

Christina’s harsh glare earns her a small sigh from Suzuki. “Back to the topic at hand,” he says. “We should take the select few with magic to spare and have them be our offense team. That group’s job will be to break through the spirits’ siege and stop the phenomenon at the source. That’s my plan.”

“And what exactly is the phenomenon’s source?”

“These collars are sucking out our magic. Have you ever thought about where that magic goes?”

“That’s a good point…” Alexia concentrates and searches for the magic. When she does, she senses a faint flow streaming out of her collar. “So if we follow the magic… I’m impressed you thought of that.”

Christina looks a little surprised as well. “Suzuki…”

“It was a simple enough deduction,” he replies nonchalantly. “Anyone could have made it if they’d put their mind to it.”

“It’s a clever thought. However, are we going to be able to follow that flow with any sort of precision?” asks Isaac. He shoots a suspicious look Suzuki’s way. “Magic that faint can unravel at the drop of a hat. I’m against Suzuki’s plan. He’s not even that good of a student. As a matter of fact, he’s downright incompetent.”

“I agree,” Christina says with a nod.

Isaac shoots Suzuki an intense glare. “Allow me to be blunt. Suzuki isn’t worthy of our trust.”

Everyone’s eyes turn to Suzuki, who lets out a little laugh. “Trust, huh…? Heh.”

“…What’s so funny?” says Isaac.

“Oh, everything. But I have to say…I never expected to be called untrustworthy by the least trustworthy person in the room.”

“And what exactly do you mean by that?”

Before Isaac and Suzuki can finish, Claire speaks up. “I’m on board with Suzuki’s plan.”

“Claire…?”

“My right hand is throbbing…and it’s doing it in the direction the magic is flowing. I can sense it…and I won’t go astray. I can follow the magic’s trail.”

The look in Claire’s eyes is one of confidence.

“You know what, Claire? I’m in,” says Alexia. “Let’s follow Suzuki’s plan.”

“Please, don’t be rash!” Isaac cries. “I don’t trust the guy.”

“There’s no time,” Alexia replies. We can’t just sit around discussing tactics forever.”

“But—”

“Look, Isaac, we’re going whether you’re with us or not.”

Nina raises her hand. “I guess I’m on board with Suzuki’s plan, too.”

That’s enough to make Isaac fold. “Rgh… Fine. I’m in.”

“Let’s figure out who’s going to be on the offense team, then,” Alexia says. “For starters, we should take me, Claire, and Isaac. Any objections so far?”

Claire and Isaac shake their heads.

“And if possible, I’d like to ask you to come along, too, Christina.”

Christina’s remaining magic is at 1,179.

“I would never turn down a request from you, Princess Alexia. My sword is yours.”

“Much appreciated. Then the four of us will—”

“I’m coming, too,” Nina says, raising her hand.

Alexia’s expression sours. “But your mana reserves…”

Nina’s counter is at 784. With a number like that, she can’t afford to mess around.

“Nina will be fine,” Claire replies. “She might not have much magic, but she knows how to pull her own weight.”

“…Fine. Welcome to the team, Nina.”

“I’ll do my best not to slow you all down.”

“Wait a minute,” Claire says. “Weren’t you at seven hundred and eighty-four earlier, too?”

“Huh? Whaddaya mean?”

For the briefest of moments, Nina’s expression freezes.

“Your mana reserves. I feel like it hasn’t gone down this whole time.”

“I don’t think so,” Nina replies. “It was at seven hundred and ninety-four earlier, so that means it’s gone down by ten.”

“Was it?”

“Yeah, it was. You’re such a scatterbrain, Claire.”

Nina gently runs her finger over her collar’s timer. When she does, the number goes down by one.

“Oh yeah, it went down to 783,” Claire notes.

“See?” Nina says. “It’s going down just fine.”

“Well, that’s a shame. And here I was, thinking you’d found some way to prevent your magic from draining.”

Nina lets out an exasperated sigh. “Of course I haven’t.”

“Then with that,” Alexia says, “the five of us will be the offense team—”

“I’m coming, too.” This time, it’s Suzuki who speaks up.

“That’s obviously not happening,” Christina replies. “You only have five hundred and forty-one magic left.”

“I object, too,” Isaac agrees. “All he would do is slow us down.”

“If I start holding you back, you can just cut me loose,” Suzuki says coolly. “I won’t ask for anyone to save me.”

Alexia starts to speak, but Nina beats her to the punch. “I’m on board. If he ends up being a burden, we can always ditch him and use him as a decoy.”

“How could you even suggest something like that?” Claire chides her.

“He literally just signed off on it himself. Plus, those analytical skills of his could come in handy.”

“I say we take him.” Surprisingly, this final voice of assent comes from Christina. “As a member of the main house, I’ll take full responsibility for any problems he causes. Do you have any objections?”

She stares daggers at Suzuki.

He gives her a quiet nod. “…That’s fine by me.”