"Haa."

I let out a deep sigh. That alone draws the attention of everyone in the classroom.

This is different from Tyr's innate charisma. Their gazes and gestures, their interests and curiosities—even the thoughts running through their heads right now. I read and calculate each of those things to capture my audience's attention. A kind of misdirection.

"It seems I have no choice. For your sake, I'll reveal my true identity."

Putting on my most solemn air, I cover my face with a hand. My somber eyes show between my fingers.

I won't reveal everything. Only what's necessary. They can fill in the rest themselves.

Now, shall I read their thoughts?

'Finally ready to tell us? Good, hurry up and confess! I'd like to graduate from this bottomless pit already!'

The Regressor: anticipation.

'His identity? Well, he was probably dragged here just like me! We're all trapped anyway, so what does it matter who he is? That lad isn't very broad-minded for someone so powerful!'

The undying one: indifference.

'... This is troubling. I still scarcely understand what is going on. I wish to learn more about Hugh, but will I even understand what he says...?'

Tyr is... What is this? What do I call it? A generation gap?

"Woof..."

When did you get here?

Anyway, everyone who needs to hear this is here now. Time to get started.

"Now, I am..."

TAP!

As I speak, I pull my hand out of my pocket.

A deck of cards rests in my casually extended hand. In an instant, I split it into five packets, stretch it out briefly like a spring, then snap it back together.

Then I bring my hands together and plead with heartfelt sincerity.

"A petty criminal arrested for playing cards... Really."

"You! Even now—!"

"I swear by the Sky God, Mother Earth, and myself. If that's not enough, I'll even swear on the mother I've never met. Well? Does that count as evidence?"

"Of course it doesn't! A card gambler?"

"Come on, look. This is no ordinary sleight of hand, is it?"

I show the Regressor the ace through five of diamonds in order. Then, with a wave and a shake of my hands, they become spades of the same values.

'What? He changed the suits?'

Even the Regressor loses track of my movements for a moment. Her suspicion of me abruptly shifts toward the cards.

'Second of the Seven-Colored Eyes, the Overlooking Vermilion Eye!'

The Regressor's eyes briefly turn orange. Dumbfounded, I stop my trick.

Hey, using the Seven-Colored Eyes to figure out a trick is cheating.

I showed her some magic to divert her attention, but I'd better not do any more in front of her. She'll expose all my secrets.

'They didn't change. There were two cards stuck back-to-back from the beginning! To think he managed to fool even my eyes, however briefly!'

I'm proud to receive that recognition, but I'm still not doing any more tricks. A magician's secrets are his lifeblood.

I slide the paired cards apart, fanning them out as I continue my explanation.

"But I'm no ordinary petty criminal."

When I turn the fanned cards over again, the spades have become clubs. All I've done is switch each card with one hidden in my hand as I turn them over, but this trick surprises everyone seated enough to make them sit up.

'Wait, what's the trick? Fourth of the Seven-Colored Eyes, the Piercing Green Eyes!'

I quit!

Before she can expose my trick, I overturn the lectern and scatter cards in every direction. The lectern rolls across the floor with a crash. While the startled Azi looks around, I tap together the deck I've secretly gathered while pretending to fling it everywhere.

"A celebrated player, something of a legend in the Military State's back alleys. A gambler who has lost games, but never money. A one-way street for the stakes. The magician of the card table. That is my true identity."

I've dressed myself up in grand terms, but it all amounts to one thing.

"... A gambler?"

"It stings a little when you boil it down like that. But that's part of me too! A back-alley magician who reads minds, catches people off guard, and dazzles his enemies with graceful sleight of hand. Hughes, at your service!"

I step one foot back and mime taking off a nonexistent hat, smoothly extending my other hand in greeting. It would have been an ordinary bow.

If not for the ribbon of white cards stretched like a slide between my left hand and my right, suspended in place.

In my hands, the cards are one and fifty-two, an individual and a collective—an orchestra playing in harmony while each card flutters like a dove.

My audience numbers only three, but I enthrall them all with my dexterity.

Finishing my little performance, I snap my fingers.

"Well? Believe me now?"

Even after watching a performance into which I've poured everything I have, the Regressor remains unconvinced.

"A gambler? Not an assassin or something?"

"That's what I've been telling you."

"Liar! You dealt with the colonel so cleanly you could pass for an assassin. And you're saying you've never killed anyone?"

"Uh..."

Well, that needs a little correcting.

I scratch my chin awkwardly and answer.

"Listen. You're misunderstanding something. I was arrested for cheating at cards, remember? So I was brought here for a petty crime."

"So I heard."

"And have you ever heard this saying? It's not a crime if you don't get caught?"

"I have... Wait. Don't tell me..."

Belatedly catching on, the Regressor points at me in horror.

"You killed people, but you're not a murderer because you never got caught...?"

"Correct! Ahaha. It's embarrassing how easily you guessed."

The Regressor springs to her feet and shouts at my awkward smile.

"That's not what you should be embarrassed about! You still killed people! How does that make you a petty criminal?"

"I wasn't arrested for a serious crime, so I'm a petty criminal. Oh, and don't get the wrong idea. Even when I kill someone, I usually don't do it with my own hands."

"That's even worse!"

Groaning, the Regressor holds her head. Still, with a few more of her questions answered, she mutters,

"So, basically, the Military State tried to catch a card cheat and accidentally landed a big fish like you?"

"I'm not a big fish. I'm just a gambler. It's simply that, when the stakes get high, a lot of people would rather settle things with blades than cards... So I learned a little self-defense."

"Self-defense, my foot. You mean assassination techniques."

"You're making me sound like a villain, but I'm a fairly decent person! Normally, I stroll through the back alleys putting smiles on the faces of unhappy children!"

"We'd be lucky if you didn't make them cry..."

Watching the Regressor mutter dazedly, I maintain my smile while inwardly sighing with relief.

There. That's one major hurdle cleared.

"Then, when you pretended to be an Instructor at first..."

"Who reveals their identity right from the start? Though I wasn't expecting a blade to come flying at me."

"How did you deflect Sky Cherry Blossom?"

"I'm used to surprise attacks like that. Still, hitting the flat of the blade was half luck. All that card-flicking practice paid off."

"And seeing through my stealth technique?"

"Honestly, I didn't see through your stealth technique. I figured out your personality. You're an open book, Shei."

"Ghk!"

Taking advantage of that momentary blow to her pride, I sigh and murmur with melancholy eyes.

"Whew. Still, killing people isn't anything to brag about, so I kept it hidden... And now it's out. It can't be helped. You can try to forget the past, but you can't erase it."

Outwardly, I play a criminal who wants to deny his past, giving myself a plausible reason for having concealed my identity until now.

As I lament, Tyr gently offers me comfort.

"Do not blame yourself, Hugh. All who survive stand upon corpses. I care not how many you have killed."

I appreciate it, but hearing that from someone with a body count in excess of five figures feels strange. Like receiving recognition from a much more accomplished criminal.

"What's the fuss over that? I'm not proud of it myself, but I've torn two people to death! Let's stop fretting and make ourselves comfortable!"

The undying one is just plain frightening. How do you tear a person apart like paper? Will he tear me apart too if I rub him the wrong way?

Meanwhile, the Regressor, who has more or less accepted my explanation, asks as though something has just occurred to her.

"Then how did you learn all that about the bottomless pit?"

"I just pieced together things I'd heard here and there with the information I found here. Petty criminals like us imagine that sort of thing when we're bored. How Tantalus is built, how we might escape it."

"... Meaning you knew you were a big enough fish to get dragged off to Tantalus."

"Hey! I told you I'm not! Keep calling me a big fish and you'll jinx me!"

The mood is far more relaxed than before. The Regressor is sufficiently satisfied with my answers.

'A big fish who got unlucky and was caught. That would explain it.'

Wariness is an inefficient emotion. Maintaining that sharp tension takes a great deal of energy.

That is why the Regressor, who has kept her senses on high alert all this time, wants to let her guard down now that the attack is over. She demanded an explanation from me, then forced herself to be satisfied with it, imperfect though it was.

'But what I still don't understand is how he got Tyrkanzyaka to...'

I change the subject before this can lead into anything stranger.

"Anyway, I'm more curious about you, Shei."

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes. I really was arrested, but you deliberately infiltrated this place, didn't you? You have all sorts of treasures, and someone is coming to rescue you later."

Sitting on the overturned lectern, I ask suggestively,

"Aren't you the real big fish here? I've never even heard of a swordsman as young and powerful as you."

"A big fish? Heh."

The Regressor chuckles and answers casually.

"A big fish, sure. I suppose you could call me that."

"You even said a priest of Mother Earth is coming to rescue you."

"She's not really an ally. Just an acquaintance. But how did you know she's a priest of Mother Earth?"

Even her question carries little suspicion now.

At least I'll be able to spend our remaining time here in peace.

Good. That's good.

Feeling much more at ease myself, I answer.

"You said she can make the bottomless pit disappear, didn't you? Given its origins, it'd be stranger if I didn't know."