Arc 9: Menosorpo (4)

The next day, I sat in my room, deep in thought.

'Where should I test Menosorpo?'

Last time, I had tested it in the clearing at the estate. I had assumed it was nothing particularly impressive.

But now that I knew it was an ancient magic circle, things were different. Dangerous or not, there was no telling what might happen.

'Thank goodness it didn't activate.'

Now I knew how to activate it properly. I had to say “Menosorpo.”

The problem now was that I didn't know what the magic circle did.

If it turned out to be needlessly loud and flashy, there would be no hiding it if I used the estate's clearing.

Not that trying it at Constel made any more sense. There were private training rooms, but those were just as worrying.

'If it caused an explosion... No, surely that wouldn't happen.'

And so, after much thought, I came to a realization.

I realized this wasn't something I could solve on my own.

“... Whew. I really don't want to do this.”

I braced myself.

I was about to undergo an excruciating ordeal. It would be as agonizing as having my flesh and bones carved away, but it would all help me take another step forward.

I drew a deep breath.

Then I called toward the door.

“Is anyone out there?”

I felt every hair on my body stand on end.

A moment later, I heard calm but brisk footsteps.

CREAK

The door opened smoothly, and a man past middle age bowed his head to me.

“Your butler, Vicar, at your service.”

... Wow. Had I just spoken so casually to someone older than my dad back in my old world?

I felt as though I had committed a sin. I'd only meant to call out to a passing maid.

“R-right. Thank you, Mr.... Vicar.”

“... Master Frondier?”

No good.

I couldn't stop myself from being polite.

'No. Hold on.'

A butler surely held a considerable position within the household. Even a noble's child might address one politely out of respect.

The problem was, I didn't know how Frondier used to behave.

'But now that it's come to this!'

I decided to just go for it.

“Mr. Vicar, I've had a lot on my mind lately, with everything that's happened.”

Even as I spoke, I swallowed nervously, worried that my politeness might sound strange to him.

“... Yes, I see.”

Vicar's response was matter-of-fact. So matter-of-fact, in fact, that I couldn't tell whether he found my words strange at all.

Just what you'd expect from the illustrious Roach family. Even their butler was top-class...!

“I'd like to rest somewhere without anyone disturbing me. Would you happen to know a suitable place?”

In any case, I needed somewhere with no one around to use Menosorpo. Somewhere so remote that even if there were a massive explosion, only a passing wild animal would know.

An isolated place nobody visited.

... Did such a place exist?

“Hmm. In that case, how about the cabin you used to visit so often?”

“The cabin?”

“Yes. The family's detached residence. You often played there when you were little. With Lady Elodie de Richae... Ah, pardon me. Lady Elodie de Inies Rishae, now.”

Frondier and Elodie? They really had been close.

... But this posed a problem.

I didn't know the way.

“If you wish to go, I shall have a car brought around. The driver knows the address.”

Nice one, Vicar! Nice one, driver!

Top-class, indeed!

“Excellent. Let's leave right away, then.”

“... Right away, you say?”

“Yes.”

Something in my reply seemed to give Vicar pause. He stroked his beard for a moment, then spoke.

“You have changed a great deal, Master Frondier.”

My heart thumped.

“... Have I?”

I tried to sound nonchalant, but my heart felt ready to leap out of my chest.

Had the way I spoke been strange after all? Or had saying I wanted to leave right away been the wrong answer?

“Normally, when something troubled you, you would have enjoyed a sound sleep in your room. The cabin is quite far away... To be frank, I expected you to find it too much trouble.”

Oh, so that was it.

That was why “right away” had sounded odd.

“Even sleeping has become too much trouble now.”

“Hoho. That does sound like you, Master Frondier. In that case, I shall go and inform the driver.”

“Please do.”

Vicar bowed politely, then left the room with the same smooth movements he had entered with.

Only then did I heave a sigh of relief.

'... A cabin, huh.'

I had chosen it as a place to test Menosorpo.

But it was also somewhere Frondier and Elodie had spent time together as children.

I found myself just a little curious.

* * *

A little while after Frondier set off for the cabin by car, Saibel stood outside the Roah Estate, looking utterly lost.

“He's not here?”

“No. He left a short while ago,” the gatekeeper replied.

Saibel's weary shoulders slumped.

'Why did it have to be now...?'

She felt the anxiety inside her grow.

Yesterday, Serf had told her something ominous.

[“As for our next ‘target,’ it is Frondier de Roach.”]

She didn't think they would attack Frondier immediately after saying that. Still, she had thought she should warn him beforehand.

At first, she had taken out her Sagephone, then changed her mind. Texting and calling were both dangerous.

'Serf deliberately told me Frondier was their target. Why?'

There was only one reason she could think of.

Serf wanted people to know. He meant to spread the news throughout Constel and everyone around them that Frondier had become a target of Indus.

Frondier's reputation had improved a little recently, but that was a meaningless comparison.

Adding a few points to the worst reputation in Constel wouldn't stop it from being the worst.

The fake Mistilteinn, the dungeon, the Golem.

Every incident Frondier had been involved in was something ordinary people either couldn't relate to or knew little about.

In fact, some people thought his actions were bizarre, further damaging his reputation with them.

'Is that why he's their target? Is Indus going after Frondier, the “incompetent noble”?'

But behind Frondier stood the mighty Roach family.

Was Indus powerful enough to take them on? Or did they have some guarantee they would be safe even if they did?

'... An organization trying to empower commoners.'

Indus wanted to increase the commoners' influence. To do that, they would need public opinion on their side.

In that case, they wouldn't attack Frondier out of the blue. That would make them nothing more than a criminal gang.

If designating him a “target” didn't simply mean they intended to attack him, Saibel couldn't carelessly tell others what she had heard.

If a call or text she sent Frondier leaked and became known at Constel, Indus would embellish the leaked information and blow it far out of proportion.

Because Indus operated under the banner of “serving the commoners,” the general public held them in very high regard.

If Frondier became their “target”—if Indus began proclaiming that he was a corrupt noble—the public would probably see him as a “villain” who deserved to be targeted by them.

That was why she had come to the estate in person.

“Th-then where did he go?”

“I'm afraid I cannot tell you.”

“I'm Frondier's friend. Can't you tell me even then?”

“Master Frondier said he wished to rest without anyone disturbing him.”

The gatekeeper was courteous and kind, but he didn't look likely to tell her.

Saibel bit her finger.

... Only now did she discover that she had a habit of biting her fingers when she grew anxious. She had never felt pressed for time in her life before.

Saibel couldn't rely on luck in a situation like this.

Her Fate Manipulation was intensely personal and selfish. It only improved her own circumstances and took no interest whatsoever in anyone else.

Until now, that had been fine. Like fate itself, Saibel hadn't been interested in other people.

But now...

Biting her finger as her mind raced, a chilling look in her eyes, Saibel was no longer the girl she had once been.

'... Think.'

She hadn't known Frondier for long, so there wasn't much she knew about him.

It was impossible for her to know where he had gone. There were any number of places where he could rest undisturbed.

... That was right.

Saibel didn't know.

Then she needed someone who might—

'... Elodie.'

She didn't know whether Elodie and Frondier were close.

But she had heard plenty about the rivalry between the Roach and Richae families. She even knew they met regularly to reaffirm their friendship, though it seemed more like a display for other families.

In that case, Frondier and Elodie, as children of those families, must have had some contact of their own.

'Though that doesn't guarantee Elodie will know where Frondier went.'

The odds were slim.

She had never taken such a shitty gamble before.

“... All right.”

Her mind made up, Saibel turned around.

She headed for the Richae estate, to take a gamble with poor odds.

And yet, perhaps she truly was a child beloved by fate.

That choice was unquestionably the right one.

* * *

The car stopped.

The sun was already low, and night was drawing near.

“We've arrived.”

At the driver's words, I got out without complaint.

A long, narrow path stretched away to the left of the car. Would following it lead me to the cabin?

... Let's hope so.

I trudged along.

The little path cutting through the dense forest showed few signs of human passage.

It must have been a long time since it was made. Most likely, only the Roach and Richae families had used it.

Fortunately, there was enough room for me to walk alone, and the path was level.

The only nuisance was the occasional cry of a crow in the forest.

CAW!

After walking for some time, I was relieved to spot the cabin in the distance.

I took hold of the doorknob. It glowed blue along with my hand, and the previously locked knob turned smoothly.

'An encryption lock?'

Apparently, the doorknob had an encryption mechanism that recognized its owner.

I stepped inside and let out a silent sigh.

The cabin smelled simply of wood.

I switched on the light, revealing the interior.

Wooden bookshelves and a table lined the walls, with a fireplace set into the far wall.

So this was the Roach family's detached residence.

I ran a hand along the wall for a moment.

'... Frondier and Elodie used to come here as children.'

I walked around, lost in sentiment for a moment.

This was somewhere I could never have reached through gameplay.

Exploring beyond the boundaries of the game I loved felt somehow new.

“... Hm?”

As I walked, I felt something odd beneath my foot. Something caught against it through the rug.

I pulled the rug aside.

Beneath it was a door set into the floor, complete with a handle to pull it open.

“... A basement?”

* * *

Indus was an organization so vast and far-reaching that no individual knew its full extent.

Serf didn't know its precise size either. He didn't even know who led it. He simply did his own job.

“Frondier left the estate?”

“Definitely.”

At his residence, Serf was receiving a report from a crow.

Quite literally, a crow perched on his windowsill was talking animatedly to him.

Earlier that day, Frondier had left the estate with only a driver accompanying him.

The car had traveled a considerable distance to a remote forest. Once Frondier got out, it had returned to the estate.

“He didn't notice you following him, did he?”

“You know how my magic works, don't you?” the crow said.

The crow's true identity was Gregory, a member of Indus.

His specialty was taming.

He could tame animals and see through their eyes. The mana he used was so faint that the animals' own innate mana obscured it. No matter how keen someone's senses were, they could never detect it.

He could also select one animal and speak through its mouth, just as he was doing now.

For spying, it was the ultimate technique.

“There are plenty of crows in that forest, too. There's no way he can notice.”

“Hmm. So Frondier is alone right now.”

Serf ran a hand over his face. A smile showed between his fingers.

At first, he had only intended to frighten Saibel.

He knew the two had become acquainted after the dungeon expedition.

Saibel Forte was friendly to everyone. Surely even Frondier the Human Sloth was no exception.

But that friendship was merely a formality.

Serf had assumed that if he tested the waters a little, Saibel would call or text Frondier. That alone would have fulfilled her duty to him.

“Any contact from Saibel to Frondier?”

“None. In fact, there's no record of Saibel calling anyone since yesterday.”

“Hmm.”

Did that mean Saibel hadn't even considered contacting Frondier?

Had she completely ignored his warning?

Or had she realized he'd deliberately given her that information and was trying to protect Frondier...? No, she wouldn't go that far for him.

'I suppose she decided the Human Sloth wasn't worth the trouble of contacting personally.'

Well, fine.

There were ways to work with that, too.

Serf smiled.

He had intended to set the real plan in motion later.

But he couldn't pass up this opportunity with Frondier all alone.

Serf made his decision.

“Change of plans. We'll have to bury Frondier.”