Chapter 38: Kora (2)

After overhearing Armel and Quinier’s conversation, I investigated the incident thirteen years ago.

Kora had gone berserk then, too, and attacked the Biet Family. Apart from Armel, who had instigated the incident, Quinier was the only survivor. Everyone in the household had died, save those who were away from the estate on assignments, postings, vacations, or other business.

Ironically, the absence of surviving witnesses was what had allowed Kora to remain by Quinier’s side all this time.

But that raised the opposite question.

How had Quinier survived? When everyone else had died, how had she alone escaped unharmed?

Who had stopped Kora’s rampage?

'Ampere was there.'

While investigating the incident thirteen years ago, I had discovered something strange.

The Roach family had already been in contact with the Biet Family before Quinier became its head—back when her father, Armel, held the position.

At the time, Ampere had been on his way home after answering a summons to the Imperial Palace. From Quinier’s perspective, perhaps it was a stroke of divine luck.

... And a young Frondier had been with him.

Sensing that something had happened to the Biet Family, Ampere had rushed to the scene and stopped Kora’s rampage.

In the process of acquiring Frondier’s knowledge of the ancient language, I had also absorbed some of his memories. But his memories of that incident were hazy.

It had probably happened too long ago, when he was too young, for even Frondier himself to remember clearly. He had been four years old at most.

Ampere hadn’t injured Kora. Naturally, he hadn’t had an antidote, either.

But now I understood how he had subdued him.

'This is how you did it, Ampere.'

Wearing the mask that gave me the face of a young Ampere, I raised Excalibur and approached Kora.

After consuming the Dragon Heart, I poured almost the entire heap of Penelope’s Cloth into Excalibur.

WHOOOOOSH!

Excalibur seethed with a torrent of Mana, whipping up winds already close to a typhoon. The hand gripping it trembled uncontrollably. My clothes and hair lashed about so violently that I worried my mask might come off.

The ground around me cracked with a sharp splitting sound. With every slow step I took, stone dust rose in a scattering shower before being driven down hard enough to gouge the ground.

Considering that Excalibur had swept clear the area in front of the wall with only a handkerchief-sized piece of Penelope’s Cloth...

One wrong swing of the sword in its current state would be no different from dropping a nuclear bomb.

GRRRRR...

I faced Kora as he growled, his fur standing on end. Not a shred of reason remained in him. There was no opening to give him an injection. I knew no way to restore his reason.

And Ampere probably hadn’t known one, either.

“Kora.”

I pointed the tip of my sword at him. All the magical power within the blade bore down on Kora.

I wasn’t appealing to his reason.

I was addressing his instincts—the wild nature of a White Tiger. Ampere had accomplished this with Gram and the sheer weight of his own presence.

But I fell far short of him, so I was borrowing Excalibur’s power.

“Shut your mouth.”

If wild instinct truly was all Kora had left, he would know exactly what to do when confronted with overwhelming strength.

* * *

By the time Frondier pointed his sword at Kora, every professor at Constel had already arrived.

On rooftops, behind buildings, along the road to school, up in the trees—each watched Frondier and Kora from a distance.

Naturally, President Ospreet was among them.

'Ampere?'

He, too, had been startled when he first saw Frondier’s face. Of all Constel’s professors, only Malia and Ospreet knew what Ampere had looked like in his youth.

'No, that’s impossible.'

Obviously, this youthful-looking Ampere couldn’t be the real man. Ospreet studied Frondier.

Who would dare wear Ampere’s face and impersonate him? Under ordinary circumstances, he would have called the culprit a lunatic with no regard for his own life.

Yet the energy pouring from him now rivaled that of Ampere in his youth—no, it was even fiercer.

More precisely, it came from the sword in his hand.

'... Excalibur.'

A young Ampere wielding Excalibur. A sight Ospreet had never even imagined stood before him in reality.

Ospreet channeled magical power into his eyes. The man was wearing a very expensive mask. It wasn’t easy to see through, but someone of Ospreet’s caliber could make out the rough contours beneath it.

'... Wait. That man is...'

Ospreet’s expression changed.

“... President, what should we do?” asked the professor beside him.

Ospreet shook his head.

“There’s nothing for us to do.”

“... You mean...?”

“It will be over soon.”

Just then, someone shouted nearby.

Ospreet glanced down and saw a man lying on the ground. Professors Malia and Jane were already restraining him. Quinier stood nearby, holding her fan.

“Impossible! He’s trying to control Kora when he’s lost all reason! He has White Tiger blood! Does he think he can force him into submission like that?!”

The man screamed at the top of his lungs, beside himself with rage.

Ospreet snorted.

“That method works precisely because he has no reason left. That White Tiger is incomplete, by the look of him. Not yet fully grown. And he appears to be a hybrid with other blood mixed in.”

Kora’s instincts would be warning him incessantly.

The tremendous Mana he felt before him meant certain death if he made a wrong move. As a beastfolk with a keen sensitivity to energy, he would know that all too well.

Above all, even a true White Tiger would be frightened by that much Mana aimed at it, poised to explode.

Slow, steady footsteps approached.

The man with Ampere’s face walked forward. Throughout his approach, the White Tiger remained still. Its angry growls had ceased, and its bristling fur slowly settled.

Ospreet examined the man’s appearance. He wore Constel’s uniform, had Ampere’s face, and wielded Excalibur. Add to that the enormous Mana he radiated and the glowing cloth in his left hand. Not one of those things could be overlooked.

'... That glowing cloth in particular. It’s shrinking.'

The cloth in his left hand dwindled until even Ospreet could barely see it. The fact that his hand still glowed suggested some of it remained.

But just as the light faded and the cloth appeared to vanish completely...

“Guh!”

The man staggered. The vast Mana within Excalibur wavered. At the sight, the White Tiger’s eyes flashed again, and its fur bristled.

But then—

THUNK!

The man plunged something into the White Tiger’s neck. It was a syringe. He pushed the liquid into it, and the White Tiger’s eyes lost focus.

THUD!

Even its collapse was ponderous and heavy, owing to its enormous size. Its fur slowly receded, and its body began to shrink. It was returning to human form.

Ospreet spoke.

“See to the man’s safety. We need to hear his story.”

The professors moved at once.

The man who had subdued the White Tiger wore a Constel uniform. Whatever his reason for changing his face to Ampere’s, they needed to learn what had happened.

They slowly approached him.

The man was breathing hard. Facing the White Tiger, he had looked as though he feared nothing in the world. Had that, too, been a bluff to subdue it?

The professor in front spoke.

“Thank you. You’ve prevented a major disaster. Let us give you a hand—”

From what they could tell, the man had exhausted himself using his power to calm the White Tiger. It was only natural for the professors to treat him kindly.

But he raised a hand as if telling them not to approach. Seeing that weary expression on Ampere’s face, they couldn’t help feeling tense.

They only knew Ampere’s present-day face, but even so, the resemblance was uncanny.

“I’ll do it.”

Someone stepped in front of Frondier as if to shield him. It was Quinier.

“I’m the one who owes him the most. I’ll support him, so please step aside, Professors.”

“... Hmm. But Quinier, surely we need to understand the situation as well.”

“I’ll explain everything later. He’s not well. Please excuse us.”

“W-wait a moment.”

As Quinier started to leave, the professor blocked her path.

Quinier sighed and looked at the professor with a deeply subdued gaze.

“... Classes are over, aren’t they?”

“What?”

“I said, classes are over, Professors of Constel.”

“...!”

Understanding her meaning, the professors’ expressions stiffened.

Quinier was acting as the head of the Biet Family now, not as a student. Calling them professors had merely been a courtesy.

“Quinier, head of the family.”

Ospreet spoke from the rooftop.

“What is it, President?”

Quinier shot him a sharp glare, but Ospreet only chuckled amiably.

“Take good care of him.”

“...”

Without replying, Quinier took Frondier’s weight.

She opened her fan, swept it once through the air, and leaped high into the sky.

With the professors watching, the two disappeared.

* * *

Frondier lost consciousness shortly after Quinier began supporting him. She brought him to her estate and laid him in bed.

She thought of Kora, but the professors would take care of him. If anything, he was safer with them. Despite his rampage, he hadn’t caused serious damage to the surrounding area, so he should be all right.

She didn’t know what they would decide about a White Tiger beastfolk who might go berserk at any moment, but for now, she was simply grateful he was alive.

“... Frondier.”

Seated in a chair beside the bed, Quinier called his name.

Frondier was sleeping soundly. The doctor’s examination had revealed no major problems. It appeared to be Mana exhaustion combined with severe anemia. He was unlikely to wake easily.

Quinier called to him despite knowing that.

She wanted him to hear what she had to say, yet didn’t want him to hear it just yet—such were her contradictory feelings.

“I remember now,” she began.

“Everything that happened thirteen years ago. The wolf was actually Kora, and Lord Ampere stopped him. I still don’t remember Armel, the man who says he’s my father. But at least I know which memories I changed.”

The memories had begun to return the moment Frondier took on Ampere’s face and held Excalibur in his hand. The sight of his back had been so familiar that it brought forth memories she had buried in the past.

“... You were there, too.”

After Ampere stopped Kora, a little boy had come trotting after him.

At the time, Quinier had done nothing but cry. But she remembered that boy.

As soon as Ampere confirmed that Kora was fully asleep, he had picked the boy up and covered his eyes. He probably hadn’t wanted a young child to see the bodies.

But Frondier had been looking at Quinier through the gaps between Ampere’s fingers. They had held each other’s gaze for a long time, until Ampere left the estate and disappeared from view entirely.

She didn’t know what that little boy had been thinking. Had he felt some sympathy for the crying girl?

“So you remembered, too.”

Quinier looked at Frondier. Four and six years old. Those little children had grown so much before meeting again.

Remembering that day, Frondier had subdued the rampaging Kora again, using exactly the same method as his father.

Quinier gave Frondier’s cheek a little poke.

“How did you remember that? You were only four.”

And he had even acquired the strength to make it happen. Could that have been for Quinier, too? To stop Kora if he ever went berserk again?

“Hehe. That’s ridiculous.”

Yes, it was ridiculous. The notion was nothing more than Quinier’s own fantasy, born of a wish that it might be true.

“Frondier. Thank you. For remembering.”

Sleeping, Frondier gave no answer.

And because she knew he wouldn’t answer, Quinier could say it.