Chapter 193 - Say You Want to Live - 9

To fool Wolfen, I had to keep facing him until the very end. The only problem was that this particular kind of light seeped through even closed eyelids.

As a result, my overstimulated eyes went on strike. Afterimages flickered, washing my vision gray. Just like Wolfen, I couldn't see a thing and staggered around helplessly.

I could steal other people's sight, but without anyone's sight to steal, I was as good as blind. As luck would have it, nobody nearby was looking this way, so I had no idea where I was either.

Right, it's fine. I can use my cane.

Tapping the ground with the magic cane I'd prepared beforehand, I somehow made it inside the building I'd scouted out.

Phew. Good thing I'd made that cane ahead of time. If I hadn't experienced what it was like to be visually impaired, I might have gotten lost myself.

Anyway, after escaping into the residential building without being spotted, I carefully climbed the stairs. On the way up, I heard thumps, cracks, crunches, and crashes outside, but for now, that was none of my business.

Thank goodness the stairs were all the same size. Once I got my footing right, I could repeat the same motion all the way to the top. Even without seeing, I could easily...

"Whoa!"

Ah, I hadn't realized the stairs had ended and stepped into empty air! I nearly fell!

Anyway, by the time I'd climbed the stairs half-blind, I was on the roof. My sight had gradually recovered along the way. Grateful that I could see, I stepped through the rooftop door.

The roof came into view. Its concrete-gray expanse greeted me with a narrow, angular horizon. Water tanks and pipes tangled together like vines, and cleaning equipment waited beneath a thick cloth for the day it would be used. I crossed the ordinary residential rooftop and reached its edge.

When I looked down, Wolfen was lying there, pinned beneath Historia.

Against the backdrop of the moonlit night, I offered the fallen Wolfen one last farewell.

Goodbye, Wolfen. You may regret how you got here, but you can accept the ending, can't you? After all, you're dying at the hands of someone stronger than you.

Having made his living by the blade, Wolfen wasn't afraid of death. What he feared was helplessness.

He hated being crushed so easily by someone whose strength defied all standards, and resented being unable to grow any stronger himself. Twisted as he already was, he had devised a plan to lord it over the weak.

Sigh. See, it's not the strong who survive. It's the survivors who are strong. Why did he have to go around stirring everything up like some thug? He should have lived a quiet, leisurely life like me.

"Well. Anyway. The question now is how to get away."

Could I escape from here? Pick a room at random and hide inside?

Hmm. That probably wouldn't work either. It wouldn't be surprising if the Military State searched every single room.

What was I going to do?

Captain AB might not reveal my identity. But... the problem was, she knew who I was too.

And she had both the will and the ability to chase me to the ends of the earth.

"Checkmate."

Phew. Would I make it out of here alive? I wasn't sure I could slip past the communications officers' surveillance and escape the Military State. My mana was already exhausted, and my body was a wreck.

Captain AB was one thing, but I didn't know the other communications officers. They might start tracking me the moment they spotted me.

The magician, in mortal peril.

Was I going to have to put on the escape act of the century with no preparation at all? That was asking too much.

That was when a black knight emerged from beneath my shadow.

It was a figure I hadn't seen in a while. Clad in pitch-black armor that looked like solidified shadow, the knight watched me silently.

What's that doing here? Its appearance was so unexpected that I had nothing to say, and blurted out a stupid question.

"What's this dirt grunt doing here?"

The dark grunt seemed to have been hiding in my shadow from the start. Until now, the darkness blanketing the streets had concealed it. Up on the roof, my shadow was the only patch of darkness that stood out, which apparently exposed it.

"Huh. Hello? Is that you, Tyr?"

I waved, but the black knight gave no response. Either she wasn't paying attention to this one, or she was quite far away.

Then why had she scattered black knights around...? While I pondered that question, the conversation below was still in full swing.

"If you weren't the one who called me here, who was?"

"Magician... Ngh. So you were playing me... right to the very end..."

That wasn't an answer to the Musketeer's question. Even so, Wolfen's muttering gave her an answer.

"Magician?"

Deep in thought, the Musketeer suddenly spotted something and walked over to it. A single card lay facedown along one edge of the main road. She deftly flicked it up with her toe and caught it.

The ace of clubs, the medium for my magic, still leaking a faint glow.

"Ha."

The Musketeer snorted loudly enough for me to hear it from the roof.

"Right. There's only one person who'd pull something like this. You."

Ah, that.

With medium-based magic, the medium pays the price of the spell instead of the caster. That was why the card that had just produced that tremendous light still held an afterglow like a firefly's.

Should I have picked it up? But it was single-use, and carrying a card that streamed light and mana in the middle of the night was practically begging to be caught. That was why I'd deliberately flipped it facedown and tossed it into a corner.

And now she'd found it.

"This was always your favorite method, Huey. So you really didn't die back then."

With a loud, hollow laugh, as though she'd known it all along, the Musketeer immediately drew her gun and aimed skyward.

BAAANG.

This gunshot was different from the earlier ones. It was a blank, merely scattering energy through the muzzle, firing nothing but air.

Blue energy shattered from the muzzle like window glass. The deafening shot tore through the dark streets and echoed far and wide.

Through ears muffled as though I were underwater, I heard the Musketeer's scream of exhilaration.

"Get out here right now! Huey, you goddamn bastard!!!"

My plan had worked.

I'd leaked information to Black Cat, an exposé magazine full of gossip that even the Military State kept an eye on.

Huey, the student who had never lost his place at the top of the school. I'd dangled that name as bait, knowing anyone who still remembered it could never ignore it. And so the Military State had scrambled into action.

But they'd arrived a little later than expected, and I'd nearly died. Why had they been so slow to move?

They'd put me in danger...

Not from the Umbra. From one of the Six Generals.

Tsk. If I were strong enough to beat all the Shadows myself, I wouldn't have needed to call in a friend.

While I muttered to myself, the Musketeer shouted at a golem.

"Communications officer! Start coordinating!"

『Communications officer, Captain AB reporting. Awaiting orders.』

There was no trace of drunkenness or lethargy left in her now. Her eyes brimming with fierce emotion and rage, the Musketeer fired off orders.

"We're catching the Pied Piper of Hamelin! Seal off the entire district and position supplies along my route! Send me the personal details of everyone in the vicinity! Tell all the military police to report to me once they've finished their assignments!"

『The Pied Piper...』

After trailing off briefly, the captain collected herself and spoke.

『Confirmed. Major General, would you like to equip your General's Armament?』

"That'll take too long! Bring in every golem you can instead! There's no telling what that bastard will try!!"

It was an order from one of the Six Generals. The moment the Musketeer spoke into the golem, the Military State began to move. Though the night kept me from seeing far, the dark city seemed to stir like a crouching monster.

As the prey, I found the hunter's orders terrifying in themselves. I murmured blankly.

"Hah. Time to pay for my sins, is it? I have gotten away with quite a lot."

Once I'd fought Wolfen, having my identity exposed was a given. I hadn't expected her to figure it out this quickly, though. She certainly had a nose for it.

This was all Wolfen's and the Military State's fault. If Wolfen hadn't suddenly shown up, and if the Military State had responded on time, I wouldn't have had to step in.

What now? Against Historia, there was one way I could shake her off. Just once. The problem was, it wouldn't get rid of the other pursuers.

Was this the end?

Just then, something near the rooftop railing turned its head. Startled, I stayed still and examined it.

It was a golem. Nothing but a head, purely for surveillance.

There's one here too? Wow. Just how many have you hidden away, Military State?

I had to run right now...

『Sir. It is I.』

"Captain AB?"

『Affirmative. While I am synchronized with this golem, no other communications officer can synchronize with it. Please refrain from fleeing for a moment.』

I had been about to bolt, but stopped in my tracks. Having delivered that brief explanation, the golem fixed its gaze on me and spoke.

『Sir. Given the urgency of the situation, I will ask just one question. Are you the Huey whom Major General Historia is seeking?』

"Ah. Yes."

『Then are you the Pied Piper of Hamelin?』

"Ahaha. A-affirmative. Though technically, I blew a whistle, not a pipe."

Either way, I did blow it... When I readily admitted it, the golem hesitated, as though wondering what to do.

Even then, a commotion was unfolding below. The captain spoke urgently, as though running out of time.

『... I could... fail to notice you. However, even taking that into account, I assess your chances of successfully evading the major general's pursuit and escaping as extremely low.』

"Unless something falls out of the sky, I think you're right."

『Therefore, I ask you. Sir, would you turn yourself in?』

Turn myself in? A Military State captain was asking the worst thought criminal in history?

I could feel her concern even through the golem. Honestly, a little sweet-talking, and now she was even worrying about a criminal. How innocent could a person be?

Still, while I appreciated the sentiment...

"The Military State won't leave me alone. I'm the Pied Piper, after all."

It wasn't fair. All I'd done was blow a whistle out front, and I'd ended up taking all the blame. That was why I'd had to fake my death, abandon even my credentials as the top student in secondary school, and come to the capital with a new identity as Hughes.

If I turned myself in now, they wouldn't say, "All right, let's do better from now on." One hundred and sixty-one students. A truly trivial loss on a national scale... yet an immensely shocking incident all the same.

『... In that case. I will.』

"Ahaha. So live a good, full life, Captain AB. I think it's time for me to leave. Someone who knows when to go should only show his back."

Squeezing out the last dregs of my mana, I transformed the two of diamonds.

A multipurpose grappling hook. I attached it to a rope and swung it in circles. My target was the building opposite. I'd secure the rope there, throw myself off, and descend.

『... Understood. You should be able to escape somehow.』

"I'm not so sure. But I have to at least struggle to stay alive."

『I wish you good fortune.』

"I had a pretty good time too. I'll leave the rest to you. Captain AB, give Sephi my regards."

I released the hook I'd been swinging. It caught firmly on the opposite railing with a cold metallic clang.

As I did so, I heard the captain's quiet voice.

『... If you are going to flee, head east. There may be someone who can help you.』

With those final words, the light vanished from the golem's eyes. Immediately afterward...

"Found you."

Historia murmured like a hunter who had found her prey.