Chapter 323 - Role (3)

Long hair turned pure white. Deep wrinkles. A gentle, likable face. A back held remarkably straight for his age, and blue eyes that seemed to see right through people.

"Hmm, this place is always so dreary, no matter when I visit."

My heart lurched at the appearance of an old man who looked exactly as he did in the community.

'Auriel Gabis...?'

Of course, I had considered the possibility of running into him today. Amelia had told me this old man had been there on the day her sister died.

But...

'Wait, why is he here?'

Why was he here rather than at the center of the incident? No matter how I looked at it, there was only one explanation.

'He came... looking for me.'

My heart began pounding faster, my thoughts tangling together. How the hell had he found me? Had he even figured out that I was Bjorn Jandel? Why had the community been closed for months?

No, more importantly... what was he going to do to me now?

As those questions arose, a belated cold sweat began trickling down my spine.

That was when Auriel Gabis cleared his throat to get my attention.

"Ahem."

Apparently, he wasn't pleased that I was standing there staring at him without a word...

I had to do something. Damn, but what was I supposed to say? Right, first a casual greeting—

"Well, would you move aside now?"

Huh?

"How am I supposed to get past with a great big fellow like you blocking the way?"

What?

'... Does he not know it's me?'

The unexpected turn left my mind blank. My mouth, however, seasoned by countless lies, read the situation and did its job on its own.

"Ah, yes... Please, go ahead, sir."

I had never spoken so respectfully since inhabiting a barbarian's body. Auriel Gabis smiled approvingly.

"An unusually well-mannered fellow, aren't you? Or perhaps you're quick on the uptake. You'll live a long life."

I pressed myself to the side to clear the way, and he passed me with a hearty chuckle.

STEP, STEP.

His footsteps grew more distant.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. I'd instinctively wriggled out of the situation, but had hiding my identity been the right call?

It was only a passing thought. We weren't in the community; this was a meeting in the flesh. Of course I should hide my identity if I could. If he found out I was Bjorn Jandel, I'd have far too much to worry about once I returned to the future.

'Right, I handled that well...'

With that thought, my rigid body relaxed, and what had happened slowly began to sink in.

Then—

"Ah, I forgot to ask."

Auriel Gabis, who had been walking away without a care, turned around. He stared straight at me and asked,

"What on earth happened today to leave this place in such a state?"

"The lord joined forces with the royal family and launched a surprise attack on Orculus."

"Oh, so that's what happened..."

Despite his words suggesting interest, his voice held none at all. At first, I wondered whether I was imagining it... but his second question made the difference clear.

"Ah, one more question. Has a barbarian entered this city recently? About four or five months ago, I believe..."

It was the complete opposite of his first question. His delivery was casual, as though it were nothing important, but his voice betrayed an intense interest he couldn't conceal.

'Stay calm. Stay calm...'

Forcing my pounding heart to settle, I found the most appropriate answer and spoke nonchalantly.

"Yes, one did."

Lying would be a bad idea. All he had to do was ask a few people in the city to get that answer, so there was no reason to bother.

"Oh, is that so? Could you tell me where I might find him?"

"If I remember correctly, he belonged to the lord's faction. So I imagine he's fighting in the east right about now."

"Haha, not just polite, but a very helpful young man too! What's the name?"

"Pardon?"

"Ah, not yours. The barbarian's."

"Bjorn. Bjorn, son of Thor, I was told."

He nodded at my answer, then patted my arm in a gesture of appreciation.

"Thank you for answering. You look busy, so off you go."

"Yes, sir. I hope you find what you're looking for as well."

Whew. Why did the air feel so cold?

The moment I saw an opening to end the conversation, I gave him a slight bow and entered the passage.

STEP, STEP.

Behind me, I heard the old man's footsteps receding. Once I could no longer hear them...

'Whew, that nearly scared me to death.'

I started running as fast as I could.

* * *

Meanwhile...

"What is the situation on the eastern front?"

"As ordered, we are committing only the bare minimum of troops to stall them. They are ready to withdraw at a moment's notice."

The silver-haired knight, Jerome Saintred, nodded in satisfaction at his mage adjutant's report. His first special assignment since becoming commander was drawing to a successful close.

He had acquired the Stone Fragment of Records, the assignment's primary objective. He had also achieved the secondary objective of weakening Noark by inciting internal conflict.

"Send word to the military mages immediately. We regroup at the assembly point in ten minutes and return."

"Yes, sir."

Once the troops stationed in the east withdrew, Orculus would turn its fury on the already-dead lord. Then civil war would begin in earnest—

"Sir..."

At his adjutant's voice, Jerome nodded, gesturing for him to say whatever was on his mind. Granted permission, the adjutant asked in a cautious, respectful tone,

"May I ask what the necklace you're holding is for?"

"That information is not for you."

Jerome's answer was firm as he placed the necklace in a case and stowed it in subspace. The adjutant lowered his head, acknowledging his mistake.

"My apologies. I merely wondered why you were carrying a refined-stone necklace, Commander Saintred... I swear I had no idea it was connected to your personal special assignment."

The added explanation was an appeal to believe that he had only been curious, with no ulterior motive.

Jerome flinched.

"A refined-stone necklace...? What do you mean?"

"... Sir?"

"Explain. You're saying this is a refined-stone necklace?"

Jerome took the necklace back out and showed it to his adjutant, only to receive the same answer.

"Yes, I'm certain. It's a magic item set with a single, whole high-grade refined stone. Ah, a refined stone is a Rupture Stone specially processed to facilitate spellcasting..."

The adjutant abruptly clamped his mouth shut. An unnerving grinding sound had come from the jaws of his immediate superior.

"So... I was deceived."

The adjutant bowed his head deeply without realizing it. It was understandable. Ordinarily, Jerome was the sort of man who would pay a million Stones for an item worth ten thousand, then laugh it off as something that happened all the time.

"... Adjutant Avex, lead the troops back to the city ahead of me."

"Sir? Then what will you—"

"I have something to do."

Jerome stormed off without waiting for an answer. His adjutant could only watch in silence. He had never seen the commander so angry.

* * *

The underground sewers supporting Raphdonia's water and sewage systems.

Everyone who came here had the same thoughts. First, calling the stench atrocious didn't begin to do it justice. Second, the passages were more complicated than most mazes.

Just like this.

'This place is unpleasant every damn time.'

After running for a long time down the straight passage, I had climbed a ladder into the sewers. I pushed aside an iron structure resembling a manhole cover and emerged to find a four-way junction waiting for me right from the start.

Finding my way wasn't a problem, of course. One passage was covered in signs that dozens of people had already passed through. I just had to follow those like signposts.

The problem lay elsewhere.

'Goddamn sewers.'

Unlike the sewer sections I'd been through before, this area seemed designed exclusively for water, with no side walkway for people. Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't that there was none...

'Now even sewer design discriminates against barbarians.'

The walkway was simply too narrow for a barbarian over two meters tall.

SPLASH, SPLASH.

In the end, I had no choice but to wade through the shin-deep filth.

How long had I been walking? Here and there, traces of fighting began appearing on the walls. Most were sword marks. Their depths varied, but they all shared one feature: the cut surfaces were incredibly clean, as though made by precision machinery.

I could make a fair guess at who had left them. The shallow ones would be Amelia's, and the deep ones his.

The commander of Orculus. The Traitor, Ricardo Luhenpraha.

"Tsk."

It left a bitter taste in my mouth. In our original plan, the one we were supposed to carry out together, our goal had been to shake this bastard off somehow before entering the sewers. After all, in the original history, Amelia had been fleeing him when she met her younger self down here.

But...

'You couldn't shake him off after all.'

Judging by the evidence, she'd failed, just as I'd expected. Honestly, why had she gone and done something so pointless? You couldn't change the future that way.

'She's strangely stubborn only when it comes to things like this.'

In a way, Amelia resembled a barbarian. For a human, she was ridiculously obstinate and simply didn't know when to give up. And that wasn't all. She acted like she was the only rational person around, yet she was so damn softheart—

BOOM!

A distant explosion shook the sewers.

SPLASH!

I picked up speed.

* * *

The physical body had limits. No matter how much one exercised or built up strength, there was a ceiling on the force it could produce.

That was why Essences formed the foundation of an explorer. Because this power existed, explorers could exceed their limits and battle enormous monsters.

But that had ended now.

"Finally decided to fight?"

Helplessness engulfed Amelia. Her greatly enhanced physical capabilities remained unchanged. But all her Abilities had been sealed.

[Source of Agelessness], which vastly increased her natural regeneration at the cost of preventing all healing effects, potions included.

[Autoreproduction], which had always given her a numerical advantage in a one-on-one fight.

[Power of the Abyss], [Asura Kick]—all the Abilities that had given her wings in combat were useless.

All because of the single man standing before her.

"... Why are you so obsessed with me?"

Amelia voiced the question she had been holding back. She simply couldn't understand. For over two hours, she had raced through the city trying to lose him, but he had doggedly pursued her. Even into these sewers, with their creeping stench.

"Was this unexpected?"

Amelia nodded at his question.

"Yes. I can't make sense of it. Surely going after the lord matters far more to you than chasing a woman like me?"

The royal family and the lord had allied to wipe out Orculus. Yet this man, their commander and strongest fighter, had abruptly abandoned the front to chase a woman with no connection to him?

Knowing the outcome was one thing. Understanding how it had come about was another.

"What a ridiculous question."

His smile was ice-cold.

"A human woman. Red, awl-shaped Aura seemingly specialized for daggers. All hallmarks of the Rose Knight Order."

"... The Rose Knight Order?"

"Still denying it at this point?"

Amelia was genuinely bewildered. She knew what the Rose Knight Order was: a unit directly under the royal family, tasked with special missions such as assassination, infiltration, and covert operations. Rumor had it they were all women, though that had never been conclusively verified.

"You must be new. That would explain why you'd ask such a question after seeing me."

"No, I'm not with the Rose Knight—"

"Abandon any hope of living."

Amelia tried desperately to talk, but it was no use.

"There's nothing I want to know from your kind."

His sword cut off the conversation as it swept toward her. Amelia hurriedly summoned her Aura and blocked it.

No—she had only thought she'd blocked it.

SLICE!

Her right hand, still gripping its dagger, was severed at the wrist and splashed into the sewage.

Almost simultaneously—

WHOOSH!

The sword came again, this time targeting her left wrist. It carried a cruel determination to sever everything it could.

BANG!

Amelia knocked the sword aside with her Aura-clad dagger and retreated. But had he anticipated even that? As though using the recoil, the blade aimed at her left wrist curved like a snake, changing course toward her throat.

"Ngh...!"

By the time she regained her bearings, Amelia was cornered with her back against the wall. She felt cold steel against her throat. The man pressed the blade in, drawing a sharp sting and a trickle of blood.

"What a fine expression."

With the sword tip pressing against her windpipe, Amelia could barely breathe, let alone speak.

"It suits your kind perfectly."

Deprived of oxygen, her mind went blank.

Was she really going to die? No, then what would happen to her sister and her younger self? According to the original history, she should have met them with nothing worse than injuries...

"..."

Amelia's eyes darted around, as though searching for someone who could save her from this crisis.

'... Jandel.'

Realizing who she was looking for, Amelia gave an involuntary little laugh. There was no way he would come here. She had personally drugged him with enough to keep him unconscious for at least six hours.

By now, he would have woken up, read the note, and reached the lord's castle. Well, if he'd woken a little early, he might already have obtained the item and returned to their own time.

No, he had most likely already gone back. Otherwise, there was no explaining this.

"Looking for a way to survive?"

No matter where she looked, there was no escape. The moment that sword sank a little deeper, this pitifully prolonged life would end.

Which meant...

"Heh..."

History had changed. She would die here today. Surely, the reason was...

'Because Bjorn Jandel went back.'

She had excluded Jandel from this plan for several reasons. First, she hadn't wanted to be indebted to the barbarian. She had also believed that if he used the Stone Fragment of Records to return to their own world, she might be able to derail the predetermined chain of cause and effect.

The legend that it could change history couldn't have come from nowhere. Since the artifact held a power of unknown origin, she had believed it must contain the answer.

No, she had merely hoped. She had been like someone adrift in a little boat, drinking seawater out of thirst.

Yet, astonishingly...

"Why are you smiling?"

It had worked.

The man pressed his sword in a little farther, seemingly displeased. Death, which she had thought she lived beside every day, felt closer still.

'So you really did make it back.'

Amelia closed her eyes and thought.

"Suffer more."

What would become of her and her sister after she died? Without her, surely one of them would die...

'No, perhaps everything will end safely precisely because I'm not there.'

It was an ending she would never know. But if that really happened, she thought she would be happy, yet somehow sad as well.

The sword pressed a little farther into her flesh. She couldn't breathe, and her thoughts dulled.

She found herself thinking that it no longer mattered. She had done her best. Surely she could rest now.

It was the very moment she accepted that.

"VEHELLLAAAAAA!"

A familiar voice rang out from beyond the passage.