The branch of the Adventurer's Guild in Hart Town was even quieter inside than it was outside.
The lobby was only a third of the size of the one at the Avalon headquarters, the reception desk was completely empty, and a curtain further back blocked the view of the interior.
Two adventurers, a man and a woman, sat in a corner.
The moment Esper stepped through the door, both of their gazes snapped up to look at the Holy Sword floating behind her.
The male adventurer's eyelid twitched, while the female adventurer froze for a moment before wearing a look of gloating schadenfreude.
Esper ignored them. She walked straight to the counter and rapped her knuckles twice on the surface.
The echo of the wood bounced back and forth twice in the empty lobby.
“Is anyone here?”
The curtain parted, and a bald man walked out while yawning.
The branch manager.
He belonged to humanity, looking to be in his early forties. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a scar slicing from the corner of his eye all the way down to the bridge of his nose.
“Yo, Hero? From headquarters?”
“Yes.”
The manager glanced at Esper's hand.
Her arm was wrapped in bandages, not exposing a single inch of flesh.
The corner of his mouth twitched to one side. Without saying much, he simply looked at Eladia behind her.
Eladia was also quietly staring at the manager, saying nothing.
“The Saintess?”
Esper raised an eyebrow.
“Have you been to the City of Holy Radiance before?”
“No. Living there is too exhausting. A guy like me would rather go to Avalon than there.”
The manager smiled self-deprecatingly, his voice slow and relaxed.
“But anyone who's spent enough time in the lower and middle ranks can sense the aura of the Holy Light.”
The day-and-night battles of the Holy Spirit Knights often overlapped with the missions taken by adventurers. Through long-term cooperation, the Church and the Adventurer's Guild had formed a strange symbiotic relationship.
The manager pulled a stack of papers from beneath the counter and slapped them onto the surface. The edges of the paper were curled and yellowed, covered in dense handwriting.
There were several different styles of handwriting—some neat, some scribbled.
Some ink had bled into large splotches, as if the writer's hand had been trembling.
“All the records of the deceased.”
Esper looked down and flipped through the stack of papers.
【Qiseti, male, thirty-seven years old, Holy Spirit Knight, Rank Five. Disappeared at night. When found the next day, he had been decapitated, his internal organs completely scooped out. A rusty iron spear was thrust through his chest out his back, pinning him in front of the lord's manor. Written in blood at the place of death were the words: Repayment is Due.】
【Jack, male, forty-five years old, retired knight, Rank Four. Disappeared at night. When found the next day, he had been decapitated, his internal organs completely scooped out. The remainder of his body was split in half with a rusty greatsword and placed on either side of the blacksmith shop's entrance. No other obvious trauma was found on the rest of his body. Written in blood at the place of death were the words: Repayment is Due.】
【Mydas, male, twenty-three years old, apprentice knight, Rank Three. Disappeared at night. When found the next day, he had been decapitated, his internal organs completely scooped out. The remainder of his body was chopped into the wall of a fruit shop with a rusty iron axe. No other obvious trauma was found on the rest of his body. Written in blood at the place of death were the words: Repayment is Due.】
【Nar, male, fourteen years old, student, often considered himself a reserve knight, unranked. Disappeared at night. When found the next day, he had been decapitated, his internal organs completely scooped out. The remainder of his body was sliced into several segments, skewered on a rusty iron knife, and driven into the ground at the entrance of the town. No obvious trauma was found on the individual body parts. Written in blood at the place of death were the words: Repayment is Due...】
“...Fourteen years old?”
Esper bit her lip.
“...Yeah, that kid...”
The manager's smile faded, and he lowered his eyes.
Flipping further back, there were the records of two Rank B adventurers.
【Karl Brown, Rank B, swordsman, Rank Five, male. Lost contact at night after accepting the commission. His body was found in the nearby woods the next day. The cause of death was a single fatal puncture to the heart by a rusty iron sword. No other trauma was found.】
【Lina Green, Rank B, archer, Rank Five, female. Lost contact at night on the second day after accepting the commission. Her body was found on the roof of a residence the next day. The cause of death was an arrow piercing her skull. The material of the arrow was identified to be identical to the arrows she carried. No other trauma was found.】
Esper's finger paused.
“This guy...”
“At least Rank Six. And he seems to harbor a particular hatred for knights.”
The manager sighed.
Esper lowered her head and thought for a moment.
“Do you have any other conclusions about the weapons he used to kill them?”
“They're all just pieces of scrap metal, but they're all tainted with the aura of the Black Tide. Other than that, there's no other information.”
“Is it impossible to trace them back through manufacturing techniques or distinctive features?”
“Impossible. The weapons themselves are practically junk, each on the verge of complete ruin. It's safe to say they no longer hold any combat value, so there's absolutely no way to find clues from them.”
...
Esper let out a breath.
“Did the victims know each other?”
“Qiseti was just a traveler stopping by to rest. The other three did know each other—the older and younger ones were father and son, and Nar used to pester them every day to tell him stories of knights.”
“...I see. I'll take a look around town first.”
She folded the stack of papers and tucked them into her coat's inner pocket, then turned and walked toward the main door.
The door was pushed open, and the twilight flooded in, stretching Esper's shadow across the stone floor of the lobby.
Esper decided to approach the matter from another angle.
She picked a few individuals and headed to their homes.
The information provided by the guild didn't feel sufficient to her. Out of a desire for a rigorous investigation, she chose to meet those connected to the victims.
The first person lived in a bakery, a woman in her forties.
Flour stained her apron, and dark circles hung beneath her eyes, looking as though she hadn't had a full night's sleep in a long time.
Amy. Jack's wife and Mydas's mother.
“Auntie Amy, you look... unwell?”
Not being particularly skilled in negotiation, Esper spoke somewhat hesitantly.
“...I haven't had a good night's sleep in days.”
Her voice was dry.
She ushered Esper and Eladia into the small living room behind the shop.
“Jack went out to buy wine that day. I told him to be careful and not to collapse on the street to be dragged off by someone. He promised me he would definitely come back.”
“He said that every time, and he always came back. So I closed up the shop and went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, his bed was empty. He didn't come back.”
Even though her voice was already filled with exhaustion she couldn't hide, Esper could still hear the deep-seated pain buried beneath those words.
“Mydas cried. That was the first time he had cried since reaching adulthood. He had made a promise with Jack that he wouldn't cry anymore once he became a knight. He always remembered that promise. Even as just an apprentice knight, he had never cried...
“He said he was going to avenge his father. A knight should die honorably in battle protecting everyone, and even if his father was no longer a knight, he shouldn't have died like that.
“And then he went out in the middle of the night... I told him this wasn't something he could handle... but he went out anyway... I couldn't stop him... He just stood there, looking at me, staring at me with those eyes I'd watched grow up since he was a boy...”
Tears began to shimmer in the corners of her eyes before overflowing.
“...Before all this happened, did you notice anything unusual about your husband or son?”
Esper sat on a low stool by the table, keeping her tone as level as possible, but her fingers clenched unconsciously, digging deep into the fabric of her robe.
Amy sniffled.
“No... after he retired, he was always that same carefree, lazy self... Aside from drinking, he just went around telling stories to the kids...”
...
Esper nodded.
The second person lived in a cabin near the edge of town.
He was a hunter, a quiet, middle-aged man and a Rank C adventurer who had partnered with Jack when they were young.
“Mr. Hunter, what did you think of Jack?”
“...He was just a very ordinary town knight. He wasn't overly serious, cracked jokes occasionally, and while he strictly followed the knight's code, he also protected the town from magical beasts and caught the occasional thief or criminal until he retired.”
Esper rubbed her fingertips.
“Before it happened... was there anything unusual about him?”
“...No.”
The third person was Nar's mother, who lived in a house even more dilapidated than the hunter's cabin.
“...He went out at night, saying he was going on patrol. Like a knight. I told him not to go, that it was dangerous outside. He said knights aren't afraid of danger. And then he left...”
The mother wept with her hands over her face as she spoke, her eyes filled with despair, pain, and utter bewilderment.
The fourth person had no fixed residence. Esper and Eladia waited at the town's entrance for a while before seeing him arrive in the twilight.
A man wearing a steel helmet with the visor raised slightly to obscure his face.
A teal cloak draped down along his armor. A long blade strapped to his back and a hand crossbow mounted on his nasal guard came into her view.
Male, thirty-one years old, Rank A adventurer and Named Knight.
Ade the “Skull Hunter,” Rank Six.
The only Named Knight in this town, and also the strongest.
“...The Hero?”
Ade stopped his pace and scrutinized the two girls before him.
“Yes. Mr. Ade, do you have a moment to talk?”
Esper asked seriously.
“...Let's go to the guild.”
After the three of them arrived at the guild, Ade first walked to the counter, pulled a knuckle bone from his cloak, and handed it to the manager.
The manager accepted the bone with a complicated expression, then pulled a banknote from under the counter and handed it to Ade.
Ade nodded, pocketed the banknote, turned around to find a secluded corner, and motioned for Esper to come sit.
Esper pulled out a chair and sat down, while Eladia sat not far away.
“Ask away, Hero.”
“...What are your thoughts on the four people who were murdered during this time?”
“Hey, manager, get me a bottle of wine.”
Ade suddenly turned around and snapped his fingers at the manager.
“I've told you, this isn't a bar...”
Sighing, the manager pulled a bottle of wine from beneath the counter and tossed it to Ade.
Clack.
Ade caught the bottle firmly.
“I didn't know Mydas well. Qiseti and Jack used to work with me, and I barely had any chance to meet Nar.”
Watching his overly practiced movements, Esper's lips couldn't help but twitch.
“Then what are your thoughts on Qiseti and Jack?”
Ade pushed up his visor, revealing a stubbled, dejected face, and popped the cap off with his thumb.
“They were both very good people.”
He grabbed the bottle and took a huge swig straight from it.
Slapping the bottle down, Ade let out a heavy breath.
“...More deserving of living than me.”
“Mr. Ade?”
“Jack had a scar on his stomach from being sliced open by someone while saving a girl back then. The girl he saved married him later. And then he died.”
Ade stared at the bottle.
“Qiseti was an idiot. If he caught you taking a leak in public, he'd grab your pants and pull them up by force, stopping you even if you pissed all over yourself. I used to argue with him all the time. And then he died.”
Crash.
He smashed the bottle onto the table, letting the alcohol and glass shards shatter and scatter everywhere.
“Hey, you're cleaning that up yourself later.”
The manager sighed.
Eladia blinked from the side, wearing a look of confusion.
Meanwhile, Esper simply watched him quietly.
“And I can't do a single thing.”
He spoke hoarsely.
“I don't dare go looking for that guy because I'm afraid I can't beat him. I'm afraid of being next.
“So I rushed back to town before dark, only wanting to sleep in a damn rundown tavern room and forget all the bullshit happening in this town!”
He collapsed onto the table, his body trembling uncontrollably, the sound he made like a sob, yet also like a resentful, unwilling roar.
Esper hesitated for a moment, reaching out to pat his shoulder.
“...And yet, young kids like you are working so hard for this.”
His voice softened, much of the hoarseness fading away, leaving only a quiet, numb pain.
“Over the next few days... I'll go out at night... If that bastard shows up, I'll crush this crystal... When that happens, the one in your hand will shatter too...”
The man dubbed the Skull Hunter fished out two crystals from his cloak, pushed one across the table toward Esper, and spoke word by word.
“Miss Hero, I am a useless knight...
“So... please, you must succeed...”
...
Esper walked out of the guild, heading down the alley toward the main street.
The night wind blew from the direction of the maple forest, carrying the damp scent of soil.
She unconsciously tightened her grip on the crystal in her hand.
The main street was even quieter.
The few shops that had been open during the day were now closed, boarded up tight. Only a sliver of dim, yellow light and muffled voices leaked from the cracks of the guild's windows. It was probably Ade cleaning up the broken glass.
Esper's gaze swept across both sides of the street.
It wasn't completely dark yet.
And after dark, would someone else die?
“...Bastard.”
The word leaked through her clenched teeth, so quiet it almost dissolved into the night wind.
Eladia stood three feet away, watching Esper's clenched fist.
“Esper... the killer is very strong...”
She said softly.
“I know that without you telling me.”
Judging by the corpses of the two veteran adventurers, a terrifying conclusion could be drawn.
That guy had insta-killed Rank Five combatants.
Esper considered herself a cut above the rest among those at Rank Six, but if asked whether she had the ability to instantly kill a Rank Five, she really couldn't give a definitive answer.
The night wind blew through the forest. In the silence, the rustling of shaking leaves drifted from outside the town into the streets, reaching both of their ears.
“...Esper.”
Eladia spoke somewhat hesitantly.
“What is it?”
“Let's choose another target...”
“...Why?”
The blue-haired girl's eyes dimmed slightly.
“...You... are only Rank Five too.”
“...”
It was a straightforward, unvarnished concern.
Even so, despite knowing the words were spoken out of concern for her, Esper still found herself momentarily speechless.
“No, I'm actually already Rank Six.”
“...Even that won't be enough. That knight is also only Rank Six.”
Eladia shook her head, her small face seeming to grow a fraction more serious.
“I have never learned how to fight... His Holiness said it was a subject I didn't need to understand... so I can't help...
“So... let's choose another target... This is too dangerous...”
Honestly, Esper was also a bit intimidated.
Her enemy possessed completely opaque information and a level of strength that was genuinely terrifying.
And what about her?
Rank Six, carrying a Holy Sword that was currently completely useless.
The various neat little tricks that bastard Demon King had taught her were indeed useful, and she would also have an ally who was likewise Rank Six.
But this didn't make up for the doubts in Esper's heart.
So, what exactly was the reason keeping her standing here?
Esper clenched her fists.
“Ela, do you really want to just leave this place like this?”
“...You said that you live for yourself...”
“Ela, one of the victims was only fourteen years old.”
“...That still has nothing to do with you...”
“Ela, if I weren't here, I would naturally act as if nothing happened. Because that would be a distant matter that I could neither interfere with nor reach.”
Esper turned around. The disguise in her eyes remained—brown covering the crimson—but it couldn't hide the thing burning like fire within them.
She still remembered her sister saying that they were children of the Catori family, noble royal bloodlines.
As noble and powerful individuals, they ought to protect the weak and put their nobility into practice through action.
She also remembered Rafina saying that those of other races weren't necessarily enemies, just as demons weren't necessarily evil.
She hadn't quite understood those words back then, but during her year as an adventurer, she had met many people.
There were the avengers whose families had been ruined by wandering demons—completely at odds with the knights in her memory who slaughtered her demon compatriots at the border.
There were the ugly, brutal demons who shared absolutely nothing in common with the companions she gathered with in banquet halls.
These were things she had gradually come to understand.
“But since I have come here, I should try to do everything in my power to make the place I've reached better.
“To avert unacceptable tragedies, to save lives worthy of being saved, and to deliver the punishment that those who commit sins deserve.”
Grounded in a nature that could not easily abandon those in need of help, and integrated with the eighteen years of life that had shaped her into who she was.
Even with incomplete confidence in her own strength, the choice Esper made was to stay here.
Because the source that forged this tragedy had not yet vanished.
“Ela, I will continue to stay here.”
Eladia closed her eyes.
“...Mhm.”
The girl said.
“Don't die...”
Just as I am trying to live for you, please live for me.
Rate on N.U.
