Arc 21: Auction (3)

'Hmm. So he does have a threshold in mind,' Revet thought.

Frondier still had plenty of room to spare, too. He would not raise his paddle until the bidding exceeded the sum he had decided on—or the one his family had set for him.

The price passed ten million quir. It had already doubled. At this point, the bids began to thin out.

The only people still raising their paddles were Elodie and a potbellied, middle-aged nobleman. He was huffing and puffing, glaring at her.

Elodie glanced at his furious gaze for a moment, then briskly raised her hand again.

She truly wasn't giving it much thought.

The middle-aged man groaned, trembling as he gripped his paddle.

Meanwhile, Elodie looked at Frondier, who would probably be her next opponent.

He still showed no sign of moving.

In the meantime, the middle-aged man's paddle rose once more.

As if dismissing that small act of defiance, Elodie raised her hand before the auctioneer had even finished speaking.

As Revet had said, auctions were simply a matter of whoever had the most money taking the item. Unlike the man, whose budget was already stretched to its limit, Elodie had plenty left to spare.

"Number 127, ten million five hundred thousand quir! Ten million five hundred thousand quir! Any further bids?"

At last, the middle-aged man hung his head. Elodie and Revet turned to Frondier.

His expression was utterly composed.

Now it was a contest against Frondier. Elodie watched him silently.

But then—

"No more bids? If there are none, I will call the price three times and close the bidding."

Even then, Frondier remained still.

"Ten million five hundred thousand quir!"

At the first call, Elodie tensed for a moment. Was this when he would act?

"Ten million five hundred thousand quir!"

At the second, Revet furrowed his brow. What game was he playing? Frondier's leisurely attitude irritated him.

And then:

"Ten million five hundred thousand quir!"

The third call.

"...?"

"?"

Elodie and Revet blinked in unison.

"Congratulations, number 127! The unbreakable steel is yours for ten million five hundred thousand quir!"

Cheers and applause rang out from the nobles around them.

Revet reflexively raised a hand in acknowledgment, but his face was still full of questions.

Elodie did not react at all. She merely asked,

"... Maybe he changed his mind halfway through?"

"..."

Revet offered no answer. He simply stared at Frondier as though looking at something bizarre. No, from Revet's perspective, Frondier really must have been bizarre.

Understanding what his expression meant, Elodie said,

"... I guess not. In that case, that means..."

She looked at Frondier again.

From the moment the unbreakable steel had appeared until the winning bid was decided, his expression had never changed, and his hand had not moved once.

The answer was simple.

Frondier had never intended to acquire the unbreakable steel. Not from the very beginning.

The only possible explanation was that he had come here specifically for the Cursed Cloth.

"What is he... What... What the hell is that guy..."

Revet was so utterly dumbfounded that he could barely string his words together.

* * *

A few days earlier, at Toldwarf, a café on Constel's campus.

After recruiting Quinier, I sat down for a meeting with her and Aten.

"If I had to choose, I'd say I'm a ranged fighter."

Quinier said this as we were assigning positions. Her main weapons were the blades hidden inside her fan. Since she threw them, calling her a ranged damage dealer wasn't exactly wrong, but...

"You're good at both close and long range, though."

"... Ahem. Well, yes, I suppose I am."

Quinier covered her mouth with her fan.

Of course, I had praised her deliberately, but it was true, so I felt no guilt whatsoever.

"For now, I'll take the front, you'll stay in the middle, and Aten will cover the rear."

"You're taking the front? Didn't you say you were more of a backliner?"

"That was my plan if we had someone who specialized entirely in the front line, like Aster or Elin."

Quinier was an all-rounder. She could make a strong contribution from any position.

That was precisely why it was best to put her in the middle, where she could respond flexibly as the situation demanded.

"Hmm. That'll be dangerous."

"I'll have to do my best."

It saddened me that I was getting used to danger.

Something about my answer must have bothered Quinier. She glanced around before leaning closer to me.

"... So, listen."

"Yes?"

"Was it really you?"

"Was what me?"

"The fireworks."

At that, even Aten leaned closer. Both their eyes sparkled with curiosity.

These were two of the people I had warned about the monster attack. Naturally, they could guess that I had been involved in the 'fireworks' that had supposedly wiped out the fleeing monsters.

Quinier continued,

"I'm not going to ask how you knew the monsters would attack. It actually happened, after all. But the 'fireworks' are another matter. I'd like a little repayment for helping you."

"... Protecting Constel benefits everyone, doesn't it?"

"That's why I said a 'little' repayment."

What kind of logic was that?

Still, without Quinier and the others helping, I couldn't have dealt with the attack properly. And then I wouldn't have obtained the Analysis skill, either.

... Right. Repayment.

"Then I'll give you a clear answer."

"Yes, yes?"

"I did it."

I said it without hesitation.

The hint of playfulness vanished from Quinier's face. Her expression stiffened, and her eyes shone clear as she stared straight at me. I could almost hear the gears turning in her head.

I added one more thing.

"But I can't do it now. And how I did it is a secret."

Aiming remotely at such an absurd distance—without Malia's help, I would never even have thought of it.

Even if I could recreate the spectacle people called 'fireworks,' its range would extend no farther than my own field of vision.

... And I had rather hoped that saying this would make her think I was bluffing.

"... Right. I see."

Apparently, that thought hadn't crossed Quinier's mind at all. She seemed to have finished her calculations.

It felt strange, as though my value were being revised in real time.

Then Quinier looked at Aten beside her.

Unlike Quinier, Aten didn't seem particularly surprised. Perhaps she simply took it for granted that I would have done it.

"As expected of Your Highness. You have quite an eye for people."

"That form of address is inappropriate here. However, I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment—"

"All right! Let's start the meeting!"

I forcibly interrupted before their conversation could veer off in a strange direction.

Quinier shrugged, while Aten remained as serene as though nothing had happened.

I asked Quinier,

"So, how do the finals work?"

"First-years are given a simplified mission. You get to experience a simulated assignment resembling the missions professionals take on."

This time, Aten asked,

"How do you know in advance?"

"Because they do it every year."

Hmm. In truth, this exchange was only for Aten's benefit. I already knew all of this.

Quinier continued,

"Constel students train to defeat the 'monsters of the Outside' beyond the boundary. But reality doesn't work out that way."

"What's it like in reality?"

"It's hard enough just dealing with monsters and conflicts between humans inside the boundary."

This continent was a place where people lived, after all.

No matter how much the monsters of the Outside threatened them, or how far humanity's borders had shrunk as a result, not everyone within those borders would unite and work toward a single goal.

Especially now, with the boundary relatively secure and monsters rarely seen in the central regions, divisions between humans were considerable.

The fact that most of the opponents I had fought so far were humans, or that the incidents had been instigated by them, was evidence of that.

"So missions usually involve both 'extermination' and 'protection.' Just as professionals go to the scene of an incident and have to kill monsters while protecting lives."

"... They don't actually have real monsters attack people, do they?"

Quinier laughed aloud at Aten's question.

"Ahaha. No. That would be inefficient."

I see. So inefficiency was why they didn't do it.

Here I'd thought there might be another reason.

"Your upperclassmen will probably play the victims. And the teachers will play the monsters. Most monsters are a joke to Constel's teachers, and some of them even surpass those of the Outside."

"... The teachers?"

Aten looked at me as she repeated the word.

Exactly. Perhaps the greatest obstacle in these finals.

I would have to face my older brother, who had just become a substitute teacher.

Atzier de Roach.

"Still, if you really were responsible for those fireworks, I suppose I won't have to do anything."

"I told you, I can't do that anymore."

As I answered Quinier, I turned things over in my head.

When I played as Aster, the finals had been tough, but the results had been good. There was a world of difference between Aster with and without Divine Power.

Aster was a ridiculously broken character who surpassed even broken characters like Atzier.

As Frondier, however, I would have to give it absolutely everything just to have a chance of completing the mission.

... Everything I had, huh.

"Mjolnir..."

Aten looked at me when she heard my muttering.

Her eyes held a terrifying warning.

"Frondier. As I told you before, I'm still not confident I can make it work—"

"I know. I told you I wouldn't do that."

Eating a Dragon Heart made with Weaving was throwing my life away.

Trying it the first time had already been reckless. Doing it again would go beyond recklessness and straight into stupidity.

... So, if possible, I wanted to find a way to make it safe.

* * *

And so, I set the fabric known as the Cursed Cloth on my desk.

"... I can't believe I got this."

For a pittance, at that. It had been so cheap that even calling it a pittance felt inadequate.

I had never intended to buy the unbreakable steel. I already had Neil Jacques’s Short Sword.

More would certainly have been nice, but right now I was trying to use dual-wielding techniques by combining that short sword with Weaving using Black River.

Besides, the unbreakable steel was supposed to belong to Elodie. That was how it had gone in the game, too.

Since I hadn't known what the cloth would sell for at auction, I had brought every penny I owned.

I had the money I had won in my earlier bet with Quinier. I'd worried whether it would be enough, but fortunately, no one else had their eye on this item.

Of course they didn't. An ordinary person would have no use for it.

Not unless they knew its true value.

[Penelope's Cloth]

? Grade: Unique

? Description: Part of a shroud woven by Penelope. She is said to have spent three years weaving it by day and unraveling it by night. It is imbued with the pure, unwavering love and longing with which she awaited Odysseus for twenty years.

Ability Details >

- Form Reversion: As a result of Penelope repeatedly weaving and unraveling it for three years, this cloth returns to its original state no matter what happens to it.

- Pure Magical Power: Every woven knot is a concentration of pure mana. Durability is greatly increased, and the wearer gains insulation and waterproofing.

This was the very cloth from the story of Penelope's weaving.

It had the fatal drawback of being impossible to tailor, but the Pure Magical Power trait was not to be underestimated.

Even if the cloth couldn't be altered to suit your needs, simply wrapping it around an arm or your neck would provide its effects.

My intended use, however, was a little different.

A Dragon Heart made with Weaving increased the user's magical power just like the original.

But because it was fake, that amount of mana had been supplied by converting something else within my body.

Then what if I had mana ready to serve as a substitute? In other words, what if I had a 'dummy' to be converted into mana in my place?

Penelope's Cloth would be that very dummy.

"Now, then. How should I carry it around?"

After studying the cloth and thinking it over, I folded it, wrapped it beneath my shirt collar, and made it into a necktie.

I checked in the mirror. It didn't look half bad.

Constel's uniform already had a regulation tie, so I could simply replace it with this.