Chapter 30

  An unfortunate coincidence. That was all I could think at the moment that Rose recognised me. I stood up and faced her, our eyes met, and I could see the swirl of emotions colliding within her.

  I could imagine it well. She probably felt happy at first, but then all the pieces of the puzzle began fitting together in her mind.

  “....Why?”

  It took a long time for her to get that single word out. I could see the tears forming and the lump that had become stuck in her throat.

  “I’m sorry. There’s a lot I have to tell you…”

  My own thoughts disgusted me. I considered lying, making excuses, playing dumb, or avoiding this conversation altogether. What’s worse is that I truly believe I could have fooled her if I wished. I could have fed her a convenient story that relieved me of any responsibility and even earned her sympathy.

  But I chose not to.

  “I won’t make excuses or hide. When you’re ready, I’ll tell you what I can.”

  I spoke clearly, yet softly. I could see her shoulders trembling as she took in my words. If I had reached out to her, she certainly would have exploded.

  She bit her lip and balled her hands into fists, but she managed to nod in confirmation before storming out of the cafeteria. Her friends gave me a confused look and ran after her.

  I sat back down and finished my meal, ignoring Lily’s grinning face.

  “A scorned lover, perhaps?”

  “Sister.”

  “Oh? Even more family drama? Come on, fill us in, friend.”

  She placed her chin in her hands and leaned over the table, looking up at me with her striking purple eyes.

  “I’ll see you later.”

  I finished up my—and Lily’s—meal and left in the opposite direction from where Rose went.

  I made my way to the library and returned the book I borrowed, then found a quiet spot and cleared my head.

  How should I approach this? Obviously, I can’t tell her everything, so should I tell her I still can’t be honest with her, or just omit those parts?

  What were the pros and cons of preserving my relationship with my family? Should I approach this logically and cast aside what I personally want? If so, there was no need to expend any mental effort on thinking about this any longer. I could shrug her off and continue on alone; that would be the easiest solution.

  I sighed. It must have come out louder than intended, as a familiar girl approached to speak to me.

  “U-um… is everything alright?”

  It was that blue-haired girl I saw with Lloyd the month prior. I saw her around every time I visited the library, but this was the first time we had interacted.

  “...Do you have siblings?”

  I don’t know what struck me. Maybe I just wanted a wall to bounce my thoughts off of.

  “Pardon? Um, yes. One brother.”

  She looked surprised by my question, probably expecting me to say I was fine and for the exchange to end there. Too bad for her, but I was going to use this convenient sounding board that waltzed into my domain.

  “Say you didn’t see him for a long time. A really long time. Say nobody knew where he went. He never sent you any letters or tried to reach out. Then one day, after years of this, he shows up in front of you with a new identity. How would you feel? What would you do?”

  She listened carefully to my hypothetical scenario and slowly took a seat nearby.

  “I don’t know… I couldn’t imagine him doing something like that.”

  Not a very helpful response.

  “But I guess if it did happen, I would feel betrayed. Like he never really thought of me as family.”

  A faint pain struck my heart, but I kept silent and let her continue.

  “I think I would want to see that he still felt something for me.”

  “Is that important? What about the reason for his absence?”

  I found myself intrigued by her perspective. She was diligently allowing herself time to consider her response before speaking.

  “I would be curious. But it wouldn’t matter. Not really. What I would want is to know that he was still the brother I knew.”

  “The brother you knew…”

  I repeated her words to myself.

  What kind of brother was I to Rose? How could I prove that I was still the same person?

  “Thanks… that was helpful.”

  She gave me a small smile.

  “You’re welcome. My name is Beatrice of Darrowby by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Rex… Rex of Redwater.”

  ***

  The break had ended, and once again, the entire student body gathered to receive their monthly tasks. I saw Rose already gathered with the support students on my way in, but she pointedly avoided making eye contact with me.

  It would be too much to expect her to be ready to speak so soon, I suppose.

  “Yo! We missed you at lunch. Where were you?”

  Axel greeted me as I entered the area designated for the chamite class.

  “I hung out with Lily ‘n’ Tilly.”

  “Tilly?”

  “It’s what Lily calls her. It’s catchy and she doesn’t seem to mind.”

  We chatted idly until Principal Stern graced us with her presence. This time, she looked at our class with begrudging acknowledgement.

  “It’s that time again. Your results should have been provided already for the last month, and the changes to your ranking have already been applied. You can view them in the main hall as always.”

  The new assignments were handed out just like before, but this time we received our own as well.

  “Chamite class, you will be split into two groups this time. The majority of you will be carrying out an escort mission to Duke Vogel’s territory. While there, you are to assist his soldiers in subjugating the remnants of an invading force that was pushed back recently.”

  “Sounds interesting.”

  Axel nudged me. I could only agree, it sounded like a good opportunity to improve the class’s coordination with one another.

  “As for Lily of Ashenport, Meztili Nekrotica, and Rex Jaeger, you will instead be travelling to Farrowgate. This is a special mission, and you will be joined by some members of the gold class as well. Leon Goldklinge, Arnold Donnerschnitt, Donald Ackerman, Chris Bullard, and Frederick Chandler. You five are exempt from the gold class assignment and will instead be joining the aforementioned chamite members to Farrowgate.”

  I only recognised one of those names, but a sense of foreboding overcame me as I counted exactly five names.

  I looked over and saw five familiar faces looking my way. Of course it was who I expected, why wouldn’t it be the exact five people I pissed off last month?

  We looked back to the principal for further direction.

  “Both these missions require a detailed brief to understand. Farrowgate group, you should speak to Professor Kuhn in his office. The rest, come with me.”

  Axel clapped me on the back in a show of solidarity, then followed after her with the others.

  Team Spellcraft was left alone to approach the gold class awkwardly.

  “...”

  “...”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Leon and I looked at each other blankly before we simultaneously broke the silence.

  “I look forward to working with you.”

  We said in unison before sharing surprised looks.

  I never had anything against him, in fact, I found his abilities praiseworthy. I had only messed with him for the benefit of the chamite class. It was good to see that he didn’t seem to hold a grudge.

  “Heh. Let’s just go?”

  I suggested.

  “That would be best. Lead the way.”

  We made our way to the main building to receive our mission brief. The others in the gold class didn’t seem as agreeable as Leon had been, but they only showed their disdain with nasty looks and otherwise kept silent.

  A mildly awkward walk later, and we stood before Professor Kuhn’s door. As if sensing our presence, he called us in before I could knock.

  “Enter.”

  We did as commanded and found that the room had been arranged especially for us. A large standing table had been set up with eight bundles of papers.

  We each greeted him and automatically found a spot to stand around the table, naturally leaving the head empty.

  Professor Kuhn rose from his personal desk and joined us.

  “We’ll get right into it. Farrowgate has been consistently late on their deliveries for the past two months. I’m sure you all know why this is an issue?”

  “Yes, Professor.”

  Leon spoke up, his posture rigid with practised military precision.

  “Farrowgate is a wealthy port town in Soleo territory. Our empire has funded them extensively in return for a share of the goods that circulate within their territory. Said products are difficult to obtain otherwise and account for many of the luxury goods that are enjoyed among both the nobility and common folk alike.”

  “Correct. What’s more, certain items have been slowly phased out from the deliveries without explanation. We have sent multiple messages enquiring about this but received only empty assurances that trade will soon resume at its normal pace.”

  “I see. So what is our role exactly?”

  Leon’s hanger-on—Arnold—spoke up.

  “You will be working under the command of a knight. This is his mission first and foremost. You are all to support him to the best of your abilities.”

  I opened the report in front of me, skipping through the first couple of pages that outlined what we already knew.

  “Looks like the scouts already found a possible answer to Farrowgate’s delays.”

  I referred to a segment that outlined the presence of organised bandits near the town.

  Regardless of their involvement, our orders included their removal: one way or another.

  Was this why the three of us were chosen? Besides Axel, we were the ones most comfortable with the idea of having to kill. If we fought bandits, an execution order was naturally going to be a possibility.

  “We believe that’s a factor, but it cannot be the whole story. Farrowgate has plenty of manpower and should have been able to handle this themselves. That is, if the only factor were the presence of some criminals in the wilds. Your mission is to find out what else is going on.”

  “What authority do we have?”

  Leon took the lead again.

  “This is an official mission, therefore, you are acting on behalf of the Empire and the Kingdom as their representative soldiers. Your leading knight will still be in charge, and he may restrict some of your benefits, but otherwise, you have all the authority of any other soldier.”

  In other words, we could arrest, interrogate, execute, investigate, and confiscate as needed. We could also command the citizenry to follow specific orders. This all naturally comes with the understanding that there are reasonable grounds to employ such tactics. We should be able to prove to a reasonable degree why certain authorities were used after the fact if we didn’t want to be punished.

  “Who’s the knight?”

  Lily piped up, having already flicked through the report. Whether she actually read it all was unknown to me.

  “He won’t be arriving until the week before your departure. Until then, I suggest you all carefully consider the contents of those reports and prepare accordingly.”

  My mind raced as a to-do list started filling itself out in my head. The other voices around me faded into a distant, muffled drone as I analysed the papers in my hands.

  Seafood imports were the ones most affected and have now ceased entirely. The bandits are established to the south of town, nowhere near the water or the route the merchants took to get to Borderton. Other items affected included coral and shells used for jewellery, crab, and solidified water mana. All products that come from the sea.

  A sharp increase in illness among sailors and fishermen further indicated that the issue could be environmental.

  Then there were my teammates. What were our strengths? Combat potential probably wasn’t the reason Lily and Meztili were chosen, so why the three of us?

  What made us unique?

  “Ah.”

  Everything clicked—a Druid, a Necromancer, and a darkness attribute mage. Together, we shared knowledge about the more esoteric aspects of magic.

  “Professor.”

  I cut off one of the gold class students while they were asking something unimportant.

  “Are there any pet stores open at this time?”

  ***

  The rest of the meeting primarily involved developing a pre-mission plan to prepare ourselves. I insisted we would need potions of water breathing as well as weaponry for underwater combat, while Leon wanted each of us to become closely familiar with the culture and government of Farrowgate.

  Lily and Meztili wanted to work on my spellcasting, but I saw no need to prioritise that over our other tasks. Instead, I asked them to work closely with the gold class students, as the two of them would be our main supporters if any fights broke out.

  The first thing I had to do…

  …was buy a fish.

  “Hello, how can I help you?”

  The employee of the pet shop greeted me.

  “Show me your most dangerous sealife.”

  He gave me a strange look, but customer service mode won out, and he led me to a wall of fish tanks.

  “This here is a Gloomtide Kraken, it ensnares its prey and crushes their bones before eating them.”

  The silvery, shimmering squid-like creature looked at me with interest before pressing its mouth up against the glass, revealing a tiny beak.

  “Quite small for a kraken.”

  I commented. The thing was only slightly bigger than my hand.

  “Yes, well, we don’t sell large predators here. This one is only here as a novelty of sorts; it’s a pygmy version found by chance by a Solean fisherman.”

  “I would like something more agile. And stick to saltwater, please.”

  “Very well…”

  I could see the employee’s eyes continuously flicking to the door, hoping to find another customer to help. Unfortunately for him, I was the only one present.

  He showed me many subjects, but none fit the criteria I was looking for. Frostbite Skulker, Shadowmaw Snapper, Rusttooth Piranha, the list went on.

  Until finally…

  “Look, kid, we just sell pets here. These are all novelties for spoiled noble brats, not for the likes of yo—”

  “I’ll take this one.”

  I ignored his venting and pointed to a long tank filled with numerous different fish. It was the largest of them in there that I wanted.

  “Huh? I thought you wanted dangerous?”

  The employee followed the direction of my finger.

  “Yes. This one will do. How much?”

  “You can’t afford it, kid, these things are rare.”

  “How much?”

  I repeated. He gave a sigh and rolled his eyes.

  “20 gold.”

  I handed him exactly 20 gold pieces. Then dropped another into his shaky palms.

  “Deliver it to the IMA, ask for directions to the chamite dorm and set the tank up in the room of Rex Jaeger.”

  My newest procurement lazily drifted along in their tank.

  The Soaring Barracuda was exactly what I needed.

  ***

  The day had been long indeed. I found myself sprawled out on the couch in the dorm lounge with a chaotic mess of notes and wood shavings surrounding me.

  My barracuda had arrived, but I couldn’t do what I wanted with them yet. The rest of the team had called it in for the night and were enjoying some downtime in town, and Axel’s team apparently had some kind of argument and were being held back. Naturally, with Axel and Bridgit on one team, things were bound to fall apart.

  So I had the place to myself. What did I choose to do?

  Well, if I were going on a real mission, I wanted my usual attire to be restored. To that end, I was in the midst of carving a new mask. It may seem silly, but keeping my face covered had a way of helping me focus. The problem was the magical aspect. Without Ada, I was doing this solo for the first time.

  The wood wasn’t of the quality I was used to, and would not serve much use as a piece of armour. The ease with which I was carving through it was a testament to that fact.

  But that wasn’t what was causing me so much grief.

  Thwiiimmm… CRACK.

  For the dozenth time, I fed just a small bit of Tiara’s mana into the wood only for it to break apart immediately.

  “What the hell am I doing wrong?”

  My notes, written by Ada some years ago, included the blueprints for the runes that needed to be carved to produce the intended spell effects.

  I was certain there were no errors in my carving, yet it just wouldn’t work. Was it because this wasn’t wood from the Feral Abyss?

  “Skiriri.”

  Vek was eating up the broken fragments of my latest failure. Apparently wood and mana were a delicacy for him.

  I tried again, and again I failed.

  I exhaled deeply to prevent an outburst, but I felt the heat rising in my body.

  Not even I fully understood my anger, but I at least knew it wasn’t because I couldn’t get my mask done right.

  And as if the universe itself had decided not to allow me a moment of introspection, the door opened.

  “Rex.”

  “...Rose.”

  I looked over to her.

  “I’m ready. Tell me everything.”

  The fear and hesitation were nowhere to be seen in my twin sister anymore. My own uncharacteristic emotional flux also settled as I saw her resolve.

  I gestured for her to take a seat on the couch beside me, but she instead took one of the single chairs to the side. If she were perturbed by the giant spider, she wasn’t showing it, so I assumed she was positioning herself so far because of me.

  “You’re still bringing weird things home, I see.”

  She made a light joke, but she wasn’t smiling.

  “There’s a barracuda upstairs and a boar in the yard, too.”

  I tried to lighten the mood by carrying on with her joke, but only an awkward silence followed.

  “Rose. I’m sor—”

  “Don’t.”

  She cut me off immediately.

  “I don’t want an apology. I want to know where you’ve been all this time. Tell me everything from the beginning. What happened to Hans? Why was dad’s axe missing? Where did you go?”

  She paused to let me respond. It seemed she wanted real answers. Beatrice’s perspective may not have been relevant after all.

  “It’s a long story. Would you like some coffee?”

  She settled in, and I launched into my recount of the events that had occurred seven years ago.