281

Chapter 281 — Tell Me (11)

‘Seriously, it gets in the way again…….’

Maybe it was because I woke with the feeling that someone was covering my eyes and ears.

Out of nowhere, I found myself having a long conversation with someone who seemed to be a person of authority. It wasn’t as though I’d gained nothing from it, but the whole thing was bewildering nonetheless.

“…You should receive a certain degree of consideration.”

“Yes.”

Even by the time our conversation ended, the situation hadn’t changed much. The person with considerable authority had left, but now I’d been left alone with the guard watching me. Given our respective positions, the atmosphere had grown oddly awkward.

“Whew…….”

But right now, I had a bigger problem than simply being left alone with a stranger.

Imprisonment and employment. Freedom and a test. An ordeal I’d never imagined facing, yet somehow had to rack my brains to pass.

But how the hell was I supposed to do that?

I’d passed myself off as a mage, but that was nothing more than a scam relying on sleight of hand and other people’s ignorance. It wasn’t as if I actually possessed knowledge in that field.

If a real mage tested the depth of my knowledge, there was no way I would pass.

No, merely failing would actually be the better outcome. If they simply decided I lacked sufficient skill, then I’d only fail to get hired, and that would be the end of it.

But what if their questioning exposed the truth that I was a fake mage? What if they even put out a warrant for me because I’d dared to deceive them?

That would truly be the end.

At the easily imaginable future, I took off my glasses and rubbed my dry face for a moment.

Should I just give up and let myself be locked in the guard prison? But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to investigate anything. And with the time limit on my disguise skill, there was a high chance I’d have to bolt midway through anyway.

On the other side of the choice I couldn’t bring myself to make, a similarly shaped disaster was waiting.

“…….”

There really was no answer either way.

I leaned back against the headboard as I contemplated the hopeless situation. The pillow I was using as a cushion must have come from somewhere decent, because it wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. It seemed like something stuffed full of fresh straw, even if it wasn’t cotton.

Not that it offered much comfort when merely thinking about what lay ahead made it hard to breathe.

“Um…….”

Come to think of it, where exactly was I?

Deciding to set aside the impossible choices for the moment, I glanced at the guard.

Maybe Münmund’s military discipline was extremely strict. The soldier continued to stand perfectly straight, maintaining a stern expression. In those eyes, I could glimpse both a soldier’s characteristic solemnity and the dead-fish stare unique to office workers.

“Excuse me. Would it be possible for me to… have some water?”

Still, even with someone like this, it was probably worth trying to start a conversation.

Trying not to irritate the soldier, I asked as quietly and politely as possible. It wasn’t unusual for someone who had just woken up to ask for water, so there shouldn’t be anything suspicious about the subject itself.

I quietly waited for the soldier’s reaction.

“Drinking water is currently classified as a strategic resource and is under control. I’m afraid I don’t have the authority to provide you with any.”

“Ah…….”

The answer was rather more unexpected than I’d anticipated.

I was somewhat taken aback. I knew perfectly well that drinking water was important on a battlefield, but I hadn’t realized it was being managed so tightly that they couldn’t even spare a single cup for a patient.

Or maybe my position was simply so low that I didn’t merit that much consideration?

I still didn’t know enough about the castle’s circumstances to tell.

I blinked slowly.

“I see. I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I asked for something unreasonable.”

“It’s all right.”

“Hmm. In that case, would I be allowed to drink the water I originally had with me?”

Starting a conversation wasn’t my only objective. I really was a little thirsty.

I carefully made the request in hopes of wetting my throat.

The soldier’s eyes rolled toward my bag.

“…If you agree to let me take it out of your bag for you, I believe I can permit that much.”

Was it because I was pretending to be a mage?

The soldier was wary even of letting me touch my own bag. It was somewhat baffling.

The mages I knew had all been lunatics rather than threatening people. I didn’t think there was any need to be this cautious.

“That’s fine.”

Of course, depending on how you looked at it, lunacy itself could feel threatening.

I nodded with mixed feelings. The only reason I could agree so readily was that almost everything in the bag was stuff I wouldn’t care about losing.

Even the Leg Bag inventory… well, I’d already moved everything from it into the bracelet’s subspace when I left the village.

They could steal the rest for all I cared.

I quietly watched the soldier move.

“Is this it?”

“Yes.”

Perhaps because the contents were so meager, the soldier found the water almost immediately. Maybe to prepare for every possible contingency, the soldier even poured some into a cup and checked it right up to the very end.

“Thank you for cooperating. Here.”

Gulp.

The throat of the person handing me the waterskin moved conspicuously.

“…….”

“……?”

The same thing happened when I tipped the mouth of the waterskin up and took about two swallows.

A gaze so obvious it was almost uncomfortable bored into me.

Rather than focusing on me as a person, the gaze was directed toward the waterskin and the water coming out of it.

“…Would you like some?”

“Pardon?”

Judging by how intensely the soldier had been staring, apparently they were thirsty too…

Well, if the restrictions on drinking water weren’t applied only to me, then naturally the soldiers wouldn’t be able to drink as much as they wanted either.

And humans were strange animals. The more something was forbidden, the more desperately they wanted it.

“There isn’t much left, but it should be enough to wet your throat.”

And judging by how poorly the soldier was hiding that thirst, this one apparently wasn’t a perfectly by-the-book type.

Then maybe I could use this to win the soldier over a little.

I held out the waterskin, which had a little less than half its water remaining.

After hesitating briefly, the soldier finally gave in. The temptation must have been too powerful to resist.

“Th-thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Ah, you can finish it.”

At that additional permission, the soldier’s face visibly brightened.

The soldier hastily began gulping down the water.

“…You must have been really thirsty.”

“Yes… a little.”

After tossing the waterskin, emptied in an instant, back into my bag, I leaned against the headboard again.

Perhaps because a favor involving water had passed between us, the soldier’s gaze toward me was noticeably softer.

“I hadn’t realized it, but Münmund must be an incredibly strict city. I never imagined even drinking water would be controlled so closely.”

“Ah… that’s a misunderstanding. It normally isn’t this bad.”

“Oh, it isn’t?”

“No.”

At my words, the soldier’s eyes slid sideways.

“This is the first time drinking water has ever been restricted.”

There was a hint of dissatisfaction in the voice telling me the truth.

It wasn’t as though the soldier was deliberately trying to show displeasure. It was more like resentment toward the current restrictions had slipped out unconsciously.

“I see… Why would an order like that suddenly come down?”

In that case, this might be worth probing.

I lowered my eyebrows as though sympathizing with the soldier’s situation and voiced my question as if criticizing the decisions made by those above.

“I… don’t really know. All the higher-ups tell us is to endure it even if we’re thirsty or hungry…….”

The soldier eagerly picked up on my response.

Apparently feeling understood and even supported, the soldier seemed to gain a little more courage. More complaints slipped out.

“It would be nice if they at least told you why. Maybe it’s because this is the military, but they really are strict.”

“Well, yes. Our job is to do what we’re told when we’re told to do it…….”

I really was lucky that the person assigned to watch me was someone who would give me at least some answers if I prodded a little.

If I’d been dealing with someone completely inflexible, I wouldn’t even have gotten these tiny scraps of information.

Feeling grateful for that, I comforted the soldier while considering my next question.

If I asked something too sensitive, the Favorability I’d barely managed to build might plummet straight down, so I examined my options very carefully.

“Um… Mage.”

But that meant it took me some time.

Before I could choose a question, the other person spoke first.

“Yes?”

Of course, the soldier asking me a question wasn’t a bad sign in itself. At the very least, it meant the mental barrier had lowered enough to ask me something.

The only problem was what the soldier intended to ask……

Hoping it wouldn’t be a question about magic, I put on a smile designed to inspire trust.

The soldier swallowed dryly.

“The higher-ups say it’s something we can just endure… but I’m still a little anxious. Is it really all right for us to just sit here like this?”

“…May I ask exactly what part of the situation is making you anxious?”

“Ah, well…….”

Thank God.

It wasn’t a question about magic.

I softened my tone even further so the soldier could feel at ease.

“When I look around, it isn’t just me. All my comrades keep saying they’re hungry, that they’re thirsty……. And from what I’ve heard from the others, it isn’t just the soldiers. Apparently the civilians are in the same situation…….”

“I see.”

Wait.

So this person wasn’t the only one suffering from thirst and hunger?

Even the civilians?

I flexed my fingers at how suddenly the scale of the problem had expanded.

Considering Mr. Richa had been the same way, this really didn’t seem like an ordinary problem.

“So people started saying maybe a demon cursed the entire city. None of us actually knows whether that’s true or not, and we’d probably get torn apart if we asked our superiors, so we’re keeping it among ourselves for now…….”

While I struggled to keep my face from stiffening, the soldier looked slightly depressed.

“You’ve studied much more than someone like me, Mage. So I wondered if you might know something about what’s happening. That’s why I asked. Is this… really the work of a demon?”

It was the face of someone afraid because they didn’t know exactly what was happening—and only able to be this afraid precisely because they didn’t truly know.

I’m screwed.

My mouth reflexively closed.

To hide my agitation, I barely managed to tug both corners of my lips upward.

“Well… people are calling me a mage, but I’m not particularly learned myself. And I know even less when it comes to demons…….”

Goddammit.

If this wasn’t the work of a demon, whose work would it possibly be?

Even if I couldn’t pinpoint exactly which demon had done it, this was the sort of incident where I could confidently declare that some kind of demon was behind it while doing forward rolls, backward rolls, and planks.

“So I don’t think I can tell you with certainty that it’s definitely this or that.”

But if I said that outright and word spread through the soldiers, and morale dropped because of it, then I’d be the one getting torn apart, wouldn’t I?

With that thought, I hurriedly kept talking.

The fact that the other person was already half convinced about the cause didn’t matter much. This was the sort of problem anyone other than a newborn baby could figure out.

“But there is one thing I think I can tell you.”

Even though the soldier already knew the answer, the reason they’d asked me was because they wanted to look away from it.

And obviously, the only option available to me was to play along.

“Even if things become somewhat difficult, this castle will be the one to win. People say the outside is crawling with demons, but in reality, their encirclement was so flimsy that even a lousy mage like me managed to break through.”

I smiled as confidently as I could, hoping the soldier might at least find a little comfort in it.

Read only on MUGEX

* * *

“I can’t tell whether they intend to advance or not.”

“Ha. You think those bastards are going to advance right now? At this rate, if they wait just one week, we’ll collapse on our own, won’t we?”

“…Young Lord.”

Gunter waved a hand at his bodyguard’s words.

“I misspoke.”

It wasn’t a sincere apology.

After all, he didn’t think what he had just said was wrong in the slightest.

“If the Lord were here, you would have gotten quite the reprimand.”

“I know. Whether it’s true or false, the old man would have raised hell about how you must never say anything that might unsettle the soldiers.”

“Young Lord.”

“I don’t act like this in front of the old man. Let this much slide.”

“…You shouldn’t use words like that about your father.”

“Ha. Father? I had a father? How strange. I could have sworn the person who actually acted like a father to me was already dead.”

“Young Lord……!”

“Sir Sapphire, I know every word of that nagging is for my sake. But please, stop talking about this. I really, fucking hate that old man.”

“…….”

And around that point, he suddenly wanted to see Atia very badly.

If Atia had been here, instead of scolding him like that, they would have joined him in talking shit about their parents.

“That man has never once been a father to me.”

Alya would have done the same in a different way.

The prickly but warmhearted second child would have lent him a shoulder instead of joining in when he badmouthed the person they served.

Pasha, who was somewhat younger, and Rinya, who had been far, far too young for him to confide in, would have comforted him simply by existing.

“…So next time, just don’t bring this up in the first place. It’s a subject that ruins both our moods.”

But they weren’t here.

The people who had allowed him to breathe were gone.

Gunter pressed a hand to his throbbing forehead by himself.

His empty stomach and parched throat felt hollow more than irritating.

He must have gone without food for too long.

“…I can see the Emerald Knight over there.”

“Damn it. Why again?”

“Young Lord…….”

Seeing a face he didn’t want to see in a situation like this only made him more irritated.

Gunter frowned as he watched the Emerald Knight speaking quietly with knights skilled at command and leadership atop the city wall.

The only sad part was that now that he had spotted the knight, he had no choice but to speak.

“…We meet again. I don’t believe this is your patrol time, Emerald Knight.”

“I have little desire to rest while the enemy stands before us.”

“…I can only admire your dedication. But I hope you remember that taking care of your own condition is also one of a knight’s duties.”

“Do not worry, Young Lord. What you fear will not happen.”

Always so good with words.

Watching the Emerald Knight give even the water allotted personally to the other knights, Gunter pointlessly clenched and unclenched his fist.

On the surface there was nothing to criticize, and this was the senior knight most devoted to the affairs of the city.

Gunter couldn’t understand why the very sight of the knight irritated him so much.

“…Then that is enough. Please don’t push yourself too hard. And all of you, keep up the good work.”

“Yes!”

Still, he restrained himself from picking a fight.

Gunter walked on with a thought his bodyguard would certainly have denied if it had been spoken aloud.

“We’ve inspected the entire wall. Let’s return to the castle.”

“…Yes.”

He still had work left.

“What was left again…….”

Gunter counted the things he had done and the things he still needed to do.

Checking the soldiers’ condition, monitoring whether food distribution was proceeding normally, inspecting the safety of the food stores and drinking-water sources, checking public opinion and morale among the citizens…

It seemed he had finished most of the major things.

Of course, the moment he returned to the castle, more work would arise.

For example, deciding the punishment of those who had caused disturbances during distribution, or calculating how long they could endure based on the amount of food that had been investigated.

“Ah. I was supposed to visit the mage too.”

That wasn’t all.

Remembering the guest he had stashed in lodgings near the Magic Tower, Gunter let out a long sigh.

“…Let’s visit the mage first.”

He hadn’t even eaten dinner because he’d been working, yet somehow there was no sign that the work would ever end.

Well, when had that ever not been the case?

Mocking himself with that thought, Gunter led his bodyguard toward the lodgings where the guest was staying.

“Go eat something while I’m talking.”

“I will guard you.”

“I’d like you to remember that before being my bodyguard, you’re also one of the senior knights. Go eat.”

“…You are not to go in before I return.”

“All right, all right. Just hurry up and go.”

After even shaking off his bodyguard, Gunter entered the mage lodgings.

They looked the same as always.

Even though someone cleaned the place every day, crumpled pieces of paper rolled through the corridors, and from time to time screams from mages could be heard.

“Crazy bastards.”

Why did people who did nothing but research need to scream?

Shaking his head at the madness of mages, Gunter headed toward one of the doors.

“Do you know who Atia is?”

But the faint voice drifting from deeper in the corridor stopped him in his tracks.

“The soldier who came here with me, and that distinguished person from earlier too. They both mistook me for someone named Atia.”

“Uh, uh…….”

“If you don’t know, there’s nothing you can do.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just such a common pet name…….”

Then Gunter put strength back into his legs.

Bang.

His hand threw the door open without even bothering to knock.

“Ah! Young Lo—”

“Atia was my friend. Dead now.”

Calm green eyes came into view.

Not Atia’s, Alya’s, Pasha’s, or Rinya’s.

“Do you want to hear about them?”

To dress it up a little, those eyes looked like the eyes of a priest listening to a confession.

“Yes. Please tell me.”