Chapter 77 - The Contract (1)

As I mentioned before, the Royal Academy occupied a vast stretch of land south of the capital. It had enormous athletic fields, buildings, warehouses, and even laboratories. But of all its facilities, the largest was the forest and park, which took up a quarter of the academy grounds. Students came here to relax, train, and take practical lessons. At night, the whole expanse lay unlit, with nothing to hear but insects and small animals.

Tonight, even those faint sounds were absent. There were only soft footsteps and a quiet hum coming from Valea as she walked ahead of me.

My thoughts were a tangled mess as I followed her. I’d thought everything had gone smoothly. Then she went home, came back, and brought up this troublesome subject. Something about the baron. Had she found me out? Or had I left something that might raise questions? No, there was plenty to question.

The baron really had wanted to kill me. And on the day he died, I’d separated from the others on the pretext of going hunting. But I’d been too far away to make an easy suspect. Besides, as far as the present me was concerned, I had no idea the baron had wanted me dead.

Was she simply going to ask me something, without having discovered anything? She wouldn’t have brought me somewhere this secluded at night for an ordinary question, though.

Our footsteps carried us through the carefully tended park and into the dense forest. I stopped. I didn’t think I should follow her any farther. If something had gone wrong, I needed to be ready for Valea’s inherited ability.

“I don’t think we should go any farther. I heard students aren’t allowed into the forest alone even during the day. They told us to avoid the park back here at night, too.”

She stopped and turned to face me, looking a little disappointed. “We only need to go a bit farther.”

I shook my head. “I’m easily frightened.”

Her lips tightened. “Weren’t you the one who went hunting all night?”

“Even hunters get frightened sometimes.”

She pouted at my shameless reply. “Well, I suppose it can’t be helped.”

Once she gave up on going farther, I asked, “What did you want to ask me about the late baron? I hardly knew him.”

Her eyes curved gently. “Let’s see.”

She tapped her foot twice. Each tap sent mana spreading through the ground.

“No one followed us, and no one’s watching.” She looked at me and smiled. “It’s just the two of us.”

Damn it. Was this inside her domain, too? Sweat gathered at the back of my neck.

“What I wanted to ask,” she said, her smile widening, “is whether you killed my father, young master.”

No roundabout phrasing, no noble flourishes. She asked me outright.

“What?”

Wide eyes. An incredulous expression. It had been a while since I’d had to control my face. Okay. I hadn’t given anything away.

But to hit me straightaway with You’re the culprit! This was close to the worst possibility I’d imagined. Did she actually know something? If she did, I was out of options. The save point was too recent for me to set things right. The mood had turned icy, but for now I had to play dumb.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden...?”

“You really are remarkable. Even I can’t tell whether you’re acting or genuinely confused.”

Of course she couldn’t. I’d practiced so much after she killed me that time. My acting was nearly perfect now!

“You’ll have to explain yourself if you want an answer. Never mind how absurd it sounds—there must be a reason you’re asking whether I killed the baron.”

“Hmm. You’re right. I haven’t explained enough.” She nodded.

Wait. Surely not.

“When you came to our house, my father was planning to kill you.”

No, hold on.

“Father was in love with your stepmother. Well, since you’re an illegitimate son, perhaps I should call her Duke Gresia’s second wife.” She shrugged. “At any rate, he loved her. It looked like some kind of madness, but he did love her. Our two baronesses were devastated by it.”

I stared at her, mouth open. What on earth was she thinking? Why was she telling me everything?

“I had a hard time, too. Before that, he’d at least had proper reasons for what he did. This time he just kept going on about killing you, without any rhyme or reason. It was terribly difficult for me.”

No, I’d heard her say she didn’t want to before she killed me. But she’d gone on to kill me with enthusiasm!

“He’d made preparations to kill you on the day you arrived, but you were nowhere to be found all night, so we called it off. Remember meeting me at the door the next morning? I’d been up the entire night.”

“That makes no sense...”

I shook my head, wearing an expression of utter disbelief. It was an excellent expression, perfectly timed, but it wasn’t enough to stop her.

“Father didn’t give up. He ordered me to kill you on the road to the capital—or, failing that, during classes at the academy. That was one of his reasons for sending me to the Royal Academy.” She shook her head. “But once I’d left home, I had no reason to obey him.”

She looked as though she wanted a pat on the head. “I did well, didn’t I?”

She had, but why bring it up now to stab me in the back?

“Luckily, Father died before I had to do anything, and his orders died with him. I was so relieved. One look at you told me how frightening you were.”

Perhaps her ability to declare a domain also let her sense the forces around her, much as I could sense mana.

“Nothing happened, Father died, and I was free. A happy ending for everyone! That was how things stood before I went home.”

That was how I’d seen it, too. It was why I’d left Valea alive.

“But when I finally went home and looked into it, I found out Father hadn’t simply died.”

Well, contrary to the public announcement, he’d burned to death underground.

“He actually died in a fire in the underground storeroom. My mothers and the family retainers more or less think it was suicide.”

“Oh, suicide? No, that’s not the point...”

Trying to cut her off now would look suspicious. I decided to hear her out first. She raised a finger for emphasis.

“But!”

But what?

“I found sword marks and signs of a fight on his burned remains.”

“Th—”

That was close. I’d nearly cried out that she was wrong in my surprise. How could any traces be left? I’d made sure everything burned thoroughly.

“It burned remarkably well. Even the gold melted, that woman’s portrait went up in flames, and only a few fragments of Father’s bones were left. That’s why everyone still thinks he burned to death.”

Wait, what?

“I secretly went through the bone fragments and found traces of breaks and sword cuts. But they were so faint that bringing them up would only cause an argument. Everyone accepts that he died in the fire, so I haven’t told anyone else.”

Secretly going through her father’s bones was hardly something a nobleman’s daughter ought to do. More importantly, she hadn’t told anyone else?

“From what you’ve said, it sounds as though he simply died in the fire. Even if there are signs of a fight, isn’t it a terrible leap to accuse me of killing him?”

I shifted from incredulity to mild anger and raised my voice a little. Hmm. That worked.

“That’s true. It’s because of my inherited ability that I’m telling you. One of its powers lets me identify traces of mana within my domain—no, within the house. Your mana left traces in the burned-out underground storeroom.”

Could Valea’s ability to control a defined area really do that as well? This was a problem. For now, I tried arguing.

“No one would believe that. Did you think you could frame me with a story like that?”

Valea’s face fell. “You’re right. Who would believe me? I couldn’t even tell my family.”

Knowing her true nature, the dejected look only made the back of my neck stiffen with tension. Still, I needed to see if I could retreat.

“Is there anything else you want to say? I don’t appreciate being falsely accused. I’m going back.”

I turned and took one step. The brick path ahead surged upward, rising into a long stone wall more than four meters high. It blocked my way.

So I couldn’t leave after all. I turned back.

“I can’t help it. Even if no one else believes me, I know. I don’t understand how you could have returned to the house at that hour, found the cellar, and killed Father, but I believe you did.”

So it had come to the worst possible outcome. With Valea’s personality, she didn’t need evidence or anyone else’s confirmation. It didn’t matter if I had an alibi or if the details made no sense. If she believed it, that was enough.

“I hated him. I wished every day that he’d just die. But he was still my father. I have to avenge him.”

The ground began to writhe. Trees lined up behind her swayed toward me. The air grew sharp, and it became hard to breathe. I was inside her domain.

I drew the dagger hidden at my waist. Red sword aura streamed from its blade.

She’d invited me out to talk about her dead father. There was no way I’d have followed her without a precaution. I hadn’t been able to prepare armor or anything else, but I had brought the dagger.

“Goodness! You can project mana outside your body! If you can do that, perhaps you could make it there by running all night?” She tilted her head as she studied the sword aura coming from my dagger.

“What are you doing? We’re inside the academy! An unauthorized duel is grounds for expulsion!”

Things looked more or less hopeless, but I decided to keep up the act to the end.

The save point was too close for me to give up and kill myself. Abandoning all my classes to intercept Valea on her way to the academy wouldn’t be easy, either, and it was too late to reach the baron’s domain before she set out. Since we were inside the academy, killing her here and hiding it looked difficult as well.

Whatever happened, I had to settle this first.

The ground dropped away beneath my feet. I launched myself upward as stones shot out from the wall around me, then knocked the flying stones aside with my blade. At the sight, Valea spoke.

“Struggling won’t help. This is my kingdom, declared as my domain. Within it...”

I’d heard this before I died. I didn’t need to hear it again. I kicked off another stone flying toward me and hurled myself at Valea, who stood near the shifting forest, watching me with a look of pity.

I’d experienced this inherited ability once already. I had no intention of losing this time.