Arc 6: Golem (3)

... And so Edwin hid in the nearby undergrowth until nightfall. There was still no sign of anyone at Constel searching for him. Suppressing his impatience, he waited doggedly.

At last, evening came, bringing a silent darkness in which the students would have gone home. If he stayed any longer, another member of staff or a security guard might discover him. Edwin decided to move.

“Follow me.”

The ground split, and soil cascaded down as the Golem rose from where it had buried itself underground. He would have to think about cleaning its filthy body, but that could wait.

Edwin moved swiftly, keeping watch in every direction. Better to make a little noise than run into anyone, he reasoned.

His judgment proved sound—until he passed the training room.

“... Ah!”

Edwin saw someone emerging from the training room entrance. He quickly scanned his surroundings, but there was nowhere to hide.

‘No, wait.’

He focused his eyes on the figure coming out of the training room. It was Elin. Her eyes were open, but her face was expressionless and her gaze unfocused.

‘... She’s asleep.’

Elin’s sleepwalking was famous throughout Constel. As her friend, Edwin naturally knew about it. She insisted it wasn’t sleepwalking, but rather sleeping and acting simultaneously for efficiency’s sake. To everyone else, there was no difference.

‘Thank goodness. I’ll just slip past carefully.’

It took a great deal to wake Elin in that state. She woke on her own when she sensed danger, but he wasn’t going to touch her.

Edwin held his breath. Keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he gradually moved out of her path. The Golem made more noise than he did, so he couldn’t have it move much. Still, she shouldn’t bump into it.

With another footstep, Elin drew closer. Edwin watched her approach without so much as moving his eyes.

She slowly came toward him—and walked straight past.

‘... Whew.’

He let out a soundless sigh.

‘Good. The lab’s just a short way from here.’

Edwin was about to move again when he caught a glimpse of Elin at the edge of his vision.

He froze.

Elin had stopped.

Footsteps that should have kept going. A sleep from which she would never wake.

Unless she sensed danger, she should simply have continued on her way. Yet she had stopped.

Though her back had been toward him, she was now turned sideways. Tilting her head, she slowly murmured,

“... The smell of blood.”

“!”

Edwin caught his breath. Focus returned to Elin’s eyes, and her gaze darkened. She looked straight at him.

“... You.”

Elin looked at Edwin’s face. The darkness obscured it, but she could tell his expression had frozen cold just from the air around him.

“What have you done?”

Edwin didn’t answer. Instead, he backed away. Her eyes narrowed.

“What’s that beside you?”

Elin took a step toward him. Her right hand was already on the hilt of the sword at her waist. She inspected the Golem guarding his side.

“Is it yours?”

High-grade metal, an extraordinarily sophisticated construction, and surging mana. There was no way Edwin had built something like this. It wasn’t a question of his knowledge or skill, but of facilities and funds.

“It smells of blood.”

Elin advanced without hesitation. As she drew closer, she glimpsed fear in Edwin’s expression.

Could he possibly have...?

“... Did you kill someone with that?”

“N-no!”

“Then why are you cringing like a dog that’s shit on the floor?”

Hostility rose from Elin. Whatever Edwin had done, she could forgive most things. She was his friend, and she trusted him.

But if he had killed someone, used a Golem to commit murder, and then tried to hide it...

“Edwin. I’ll ask you again.”

Elin drew her sword. Its blade reflected the moonlight clearly, as cold as her eyes.

“What did you do with that?”

“... I only thought it.”

Edwin’s gaze darted about as though fleeing something.

“I just thought I couldn’t let anyone find out, and this Golem went after those Aktober guys on its own...”

“... Killed them on its own?”

“No! It didn’t kill them!”

“Are you sure?”

Edwin fell silent. Elin’s eyes grew utterly cold.

“Whose Golem is that?”

“...”

“You took something that wasn’t yours, used it to assault people, ran away without even checking whether they were dead, and then tried to hide it?”

Every word Elin spoke pierced Edwin like a blade. He bit his lip, unable to offer a single excuse.

“Have you truly fallen that far, Edwin?”

“...! Don’t talk to me like—!”

The Golem charged at Elin with a rush of air. Gripping its spear in both hands, it swept the weapon horizontally. Elin nimbly sprang back.

“... Edwin.”

“...”

Edwin could only stare, stunned. Had that attack struck Elin, she would undoubtedly have died.

Had he really wished for that?

Even the shadow at his feet, cast by the moonlight, seemed to reel. It felt as though that darkness kept crawling up from beneath him, invading his very being.

“So it really does move on its own just because you think something. And it takes things too far.”

The Golem’s attack had actually calmed Elin. Her thinking shifted slightly.

There was something wrong with that Golem.

Edwin wouldn’t genuinely think of killing her. Even if the thought did cross his mind, an attack like that wasn’t like him. Unless that expression was an act, he himself was bewildered by the Golem’s movements.

“Edwin, stop the Golem.”

“Wh-what?”

“Deactivate it. You don’t want to do anything else wrong, do you?”

“R-right.”

Edwin came to his senses. Yes, he could deactivate it. Then it wouldn’t move on its own again as though reading his thoughts.

Why hadn’t he thought of that before?

He extended a hand toward the Golem—and, still not quite thinking straight, looked at Elin.

“... Elin.”

“What?”

“Are you going to tell someone?”

“...”

The Edwin before her was so unfamiliar that Elin was almost bewildered. Where was the righteous, strong-willed Edwin she had known? He had been a little timid, so considerate that he unconsciously bowed his head, but he had never crumbled.

Where was the Edwin who would never so much as consider straying from the right path?

“... Edwin.”

“Answer me!”

“...”

“If this Golem k-killed someone, I’m finished. Stealing it was bad enough, but if it killed someone, I-I’m completely finished.”

At some point, Edwin had withdrawn the hand he’d extended toward the Golem. He had no intention of deactivating it. Instead, he tried to persuade Elin.

“Just pretend you didn’t see anything.”

“...”

“We’re friends, Elin. You know what’ll happen to me if this gets out. Please don’t make me a murderer.”

At those words, Elin slowly squeezed her eyes shut.

Ah.

Edwin von Behertio. You really have changed.

“It isn’t up to me whether you’re a murderer. We don’t know whether those people are actually dead.”

“Right? That’s why—”

“And...”

Elin gripped her sword and took her stance. There was no point in talking any further.

“It isn’t up to you either, Edwin.”

With those words, Elin shifted fully into combat readiness. Edwin stared blankly at her.

She had been cold before, but at least she had been angry with him as a friend. Her coldness had held rebuke and advice for a friend.

Now, however, all such personal feelings were gone. She saw him only as an enemy.

“... Elin!!!”

As if answering Edwin’s cry, the Golem kicked off the ground. Its massive body flew at her like an arrow.

A sharp thrust.

Elin dodged it and searched for an opening.

‘... Tch.’

The Golem’s spearmanship was precise. The opening after its thrust had already vanished by the time she dodged.

‘A Golem, all right. It doesn’t rely on its toughness or defenses. It simply does what it’s been programmed to do.’

If it had been a living creature, she could easily have found such an opening. Creatures with tough bodies generally relied on that toughness.

‘My chances of winning are slim. This Golem is probably some teacher’s creation.’

Elin’s swordsmanship ranked among the best in all of Constel. That was why her younger brother Aster had never beaten her in a practice fight. Her swordsmanship wasn’t inferior to the Golem’s spearmanship.

It was simply a difference in power.

Even if the Golem did nothing but defend, it would easily block her mana-infused attacks. And even if she struck an opening, could she actually inflict any real damage?

‘I have to finish this quickly.’

While she still had mana to spare, she needed to land a critical blow with a single attack.

THUD!

The Golem pursued her with heavy footsteps. Having made up her mind, Elin went on the defensive. She would find an opening in its attacks and aim for a single strike.

The Golem relentlessly chased Elin as she darted this way and that. The sight of it hurtling through the air every time it kicked off the ground was enough to appall anyone watching.

But if her opponent always moved exactly as programmed...

“Whew.”

Elin moved her sword a little away from her torso, deliberately leaving an opening. It was far too obvious to fool a person, but a Golem would always attack it. That was how it would have been programmed.

With the wind rushing around its shoulders, the Golem brought its spear down from overhead. Elin thrust her blade forward, meeting the spear with its flat.

As spear shaft and blade met, her eyes flashed.

Evans Family Weapon Arts.

Elin Evans’s Unique Sword Form.

Single Thread.

Her sword cloaked itself in aura and slid up the spear shaft, tracing a straight line. At the end of that path lay the Golem’s neck. She extended that single line toward it, as clean and straight as though drawn with a ruler.

‘I’ve got—!’

CLANG!

But her blade was knocked off course midway. Elin lost her sword.

A move that briefly relaxed the force in the spear, then generated rotation and impact simultaneously to neutralize the opponent’s attack. Elin had seen this almost miraculous technique before.

‘... This technique. Atzier’s—’

The thought lasted only an instant. Without her sword, she had no way to block the Golem’s attack. It swiftly drew back its spear and thrust at her as though splitting the instant itself.

“Urgh!”

Elin twisted with all her strength. A long gash tore across her side. Carried by the force, she tumbled across the ground. She barely caught the smell of dirt before the taste of blood filled her mouth.

“Elin! Give up!!”

Edwin’s voice reached her from a distance.

Bullshit.

A friend she had trusted had suddenly gone off the rails. That alone had blown away every bit of the sleepiness that had plagued her.

The pain in her side helped, too.

“Elin!!”

As if reacting to Edwin’s words, the Golem slowly approached. Its spearpoint faced downward, aimed at her where she lay on the ground. By the time it stood before her, the spear was already high overhead, poised directly above her like a guillotine.

‘Edwin. I never thought you’d end up like this.’

If he really killed Elin here, he would cross a point of no return.

Stupid bastard.

Without waiting for Edwin’s command, the Golem brought its spear down. Elin closed her eyes.

CLANG!

A sudden metallic sound rang out.

“... Huh?”

When Elin opened her eyes, the Golem’s spear had missed her and embedded itself in the ground.

Why?

For a moment, she couldn’t understand. Had something knocked the spear off course? How?

The logical explanation was that someone had thrown something, but there was nothing nearby. Even the Golem itself seemed unable to understand.

The Golem turned its gaze toward something—and a blow smashed its chin upward.

THWACK!

CRUNCH!

CLANG!

With each brutal metallic impact, its head jerked from side to side. It was clearly being struck by something.

Something Elin couldn’t see was repeatedly battering the Golem’s face.

“Wh-what’s going on?! Golem! Come here!”

Apparently unnerved by the unidentified attacks, Edwin called the Golem back. It leaped over to guard his side.

Then an unfamiliar voice came from a distance.

“Whew, my range has increased. That training paid off.”

Elin looked toward the voice. A young man stood there. He seemed to have rushed over; his shoulders heaved, and even his first words had been mingled with ragged breaths.

His eyes, reflecting the moonlight, looked at Elin. He smiled in apparent relief. That small smile brightened the evening darkness.

‘... Ah.’

It was an incongruous thought in such a desperate situation, but Elin couldn’t help thinking it.

‘I’d been thinking I should meet you someday.’

So this was how they met.

Frondier de Roach.