Chapter 143 - The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Chapter 43: Community Service (4)

Obsidian housed the most dangerous criminals, and incidents were correspondingly frequent. Naturally, plenty of people died there, too.

Bodies at Obsidian were removed by the body disposal team. Beforehand, any surviving family was contacted and asked about funeral arrangements. If there was no family, the body was cremated.

Since Renzo had no surviving family, he was to be cremated within Obsidian. His solitary cell was cleared out, and his body was moved to the morgue to await cremation.

Afterward...

"... You want to see him? Renzo?"

"Yes. I owe him a great debt."

A visitor had come to Obsidian—a woman in expensive clothes and a wide-brimmed hat that concealed her face. Her high heels clicked with every step, a sound rarely heard in Obsidian.

"I'd always hoped to repay him someday, but then I suddenly heard he'd died."

"Hmm..."

The receptionist looked troubled.

Renzo had been placed in solitary confinement because he was classified among even Obsidian's most dangerous criminals. He was supposed to remain there until he died. Naturally, visits and phone calls were forbidden.

Anyone who wanted to see Renzo would therefore have to wait for him to escape, or for his life sentence to be reduced and for him to be released. Both were all but impossible.

"I've clung to the faintest hope, waiting for the day I could see him. Couldn't I at least see his face?"

The woman's voice trembled with tears. They gathered in the alluring eyes visible beneath her hat, and she wiped a hand across them as though trying to hide it.

"P-pardon me, but what was your relationship with Renzo...?"

"... I couldn't say he was a kindhearted man. He seemed like someone who simply did whatever he wanted."

That sounded right. She had him pegged exactly.

"But that very tendency to do as he pleased saved me. Did you know? Slavery is still rampant in the Dusta region."

"... Then Renzo..."

The receptionist trailed off in apparent understanding, and the woman nodded.

"He saved me. Of course, he was only passing through, blowing away buildings and people that weren't to his liking. I was simply caught up in it. But there's no question that I was saved because of him."

Of course. The receptionist nodded. That was a very Renzo sort of good deed.

"We'll escort you to the morgue. Three guards will accompany you. Is that all right?"

"Of course. I'll be satisfied if I can at least see his face."

The woman nodded, and the receptionist made a call to explain the situation. Soon, three guards approached her, and one spoke.

"We'll take you there. This way."

The woman walked under the protection—and surveillance—of the three guards. When they reached the morgue, the guard in front opened the door.

There was only one body inside. A guard wheeled its gurney into the center of the room. A cloth covered the dead man's face, and the guard stepped up beside his head.

"I'll uncover him now."

The guard lifted the cloth, revealing Renzo lying there, his face already cold.

"Oh, dear Renzo..."

The woman covered her mouth with both hands and murmured mournfully. She approached him on unsteady feet.

"Oh, to think it would come to this... Poor, dear Renzo..."

Her fingertips touched Renzo's face. A guard's eye twitched, but he made no move to stop her.

"Thank you, everyone."

The woman extended a hand as she spoke.

For a moment, the guards didn't understand what she meant. Did she want to take their hands? Shake hands?

Her index, ring, and little fingers pointed at one guard each.

And then...

SHUNK!

Their heads were pierced. In an instant.

The fingers that had transformed into tentacles retracted, and the woman flicked the blood off them.

"Hmm, it does hurt my fingers a little without Aura. Though that's why they didn't get suspicious."

When humans faced other humans, what they watched most closely was the use of Aura or Mana. A human who didn't use energy had limits to their strength.

As a result, they readily let their guard down around someone who wasn't using Aura. That was all the more fatal when the other party wasn't actually human, but merely pretending to be one.

"Now then, shall we begin, dear Renzo?"

The woman's face writhed. Something seemed to crawl up from beneath her neck, and her features squirmed and changed. There wasn't even the sound of bones shifting.

When the transformation was complete, her face was impossible to identify as male or female—the same face seen in Constel's auditorium.

It was Kraken.

"This face really is the most comfortable."

Kraken could freely change everything from face to body, so why insist on returning to this form? They questioned their own behavior. Perhaps even their human form had an original appearance.

"Well, enough of that. Time to get to work."

Kraken placed a hand on the prone Renzo's chest. As expected, his heart had stopped completely. The Renzo lying here was unquestionably dead.

To gain one life, one life had to be lost.

It was a technique only Kraken could perform. No, this was closer to a taboo than a technique.

WEEEEOOOOOO!!!

An alarm blared inside the morgue. No, it was probably sounding throughout Obsidian. They had noticed something was wrong here.

"Quick as ever. But you're already too late."

A hole opened in Kraken's palm. Something writhed and raced through their body, burst out through the opening, and burrowed into Renzo's chest.

THUMP! THUMP!

Kraken's entire body pulsed. That pulse traveled to their palm, until at last it spread to Renzo.

Blood trickled from Kraken's mouth, but they were still smiling. They endured the excruciating pain.

And when Kraken finally lifted their hand from Renzo's chest...

Renzo's eyes opened.

* * *

The third day of the school trip.

My routine was simple. I spent most of my day working as a lifeguard.

While working, I deliberately gravitated toward places with plenty of Constel students, especially people who knew me well—Aster, Elodie, Aten, Saibel, and so on.

I had to show them that I was properly serving the punishment Constel had given me. They seemed to suspect I was secretly up to something else.

Since their suspicions were actually correct, I had no choice but to work even harder at my community service.

"Y-you there, sir!"

I heard someone shout while I was working. A woman came running toward me from the shore, looking frantic.

"You're a lifeguard, aren't you?"

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"I can't find my son...! He was swimming just a moment ago, but I looked away for a second..."

I narrowed my eyes and turned toward the shore. The beach and sea were already packed with Constel students mingling with Kropol's residents.

Finding a missing child in that crowd would be like finding one specific pine tree in a pine forest. It would be one thing if he'd simply gotten lost, but hearing that he'd disappeared while swimming brought grim possibilities to mind.

"... This will cause a bit of a stir."

But I had no choice.

I murmured quietly,

"Menosorpo."

A magic circle unfolded with my words. Ordinary citizens would have trouble noticing the change, but every Constel student sensed the Mana and looked up.

An invisible yet unmistakable tension settled over the shore. The students with particularly keen senses naturally turned toward me.

Don't look at me like that. You'll understand soon enough.

I carefully checked every trace of Mana within Menosorpo's magic circle, focusing on the sea. Judging by the woman's account, the worst-case scenario was that her child was drowning.

... And then.

'Damn it.'

There he was. He hadn't sunk yet, but a child was floundering as the waves swept him away.

I ran toward the shore. He had already drifted a considerable distance and was difficult to make out with the naked eye. I could see him because Menosorpo told me where he was, but amid those waves, almost no one on shore would notice him.

'Good thing I learned how to do this.'

I wrapped myself in Aura and manipulated it to lift my body into the air. By then, almost everyone was looking at me.

I flew over the sea as fast as I could. The child had drifted farther than I'd expected. He seemed to have swallowed a lot of water already, but his desperate flailing to stay alive was at least keeping him from sinking.

"Hey!"

I wove a rope and dropped it toward the struggling child.

"Grab on!"

I'd heard that if you jumped into the water to save a drowning child, you could end up drowning too. Desperate to survive, a terrified child would push their rescuer underwater without mercy.

Of course, I was flying, so that wouldn't happen, but this was safer any way you looked at it.

... But.

'Damn, he can't hear me.'

The waves were rough, and he probably had water in his ears. He was crying, too. He must have thought he was about to die, leaving him oblivious to his surroundings.

This would be a little too flashy, but I had no choice.

Weaving in Midair

Workshop

Large Shield

I created a shield underwater, beneath the floundering child. As I slowly raised it back up, it emerged with him resting on top.

The child coughed and coughed, still looking as though he was about to die. Thankfully, he spat out the water and drew breath.

I landed on the shield.

"Are you okay?"

I'd barely dealt with children in my life. Frondier was probably much the same.

Hmm, what now? For the moment, I moved closer to check his face.

He threw himself into my arms. The moment he did, he began crying at the top of his lungs—even louder than when he was drowning.

His sobs were so utterly heartbroken that I couldn't help smiling.

I looked into his eyes and said,

"Come on. Let's go to your mom."

The child sniffled and nodded.

Holding him in my arms, I sat on the edge of the shield and returned to shore. Before long, he'd forgotten all about crying and was looking around with shining eyes, fascinated by the floating ride.

Surprisingly, I wasn't having much fun. Was it because I was floating on a shield I controlled myself?

It just felt like sitting on a long moving walkway installed in midair.

'Still, using a shield as a moving platform is a pretty good idea.'

I could fly now, but with a shield, I could probably kick off it to leap or change direction sharply in midair. Sudden braking and acceleration should be possible, too.

I descended to the shore, dismissed Menosorpo, and returned to the woman with her child. She pulled him into her arms and wept in relief.

Only after she'd thanked me, the child had given me a little bow, and I'd even promised to play with him later was I finally allowed to leave. Children really are selfish.

"Whew."

Then I sighed and looked up at the sky. Everyone—especially the Constel students—was staring at me so intently that I was trying very hard not to draw any more attention to myself.

But perhaps it wasn't entirely a coincidence.

CAW!

Right where I'd looked up, a crow cut across the sky with a cry.

A crow flying over the shore.

It was so out of place that I nodded inwardly.

Fresh news had flown in.

Though it was probably news I already knew.