Arc 24: Teibeon (3)

"... What are you doing?"

Watching what was happening in my room, I finally had to ask.

Selena looked at me and answered as though she couldn't understand why I was asking.

"I'm changing."

She was already down to almost nothing but her underwear. Her voluptuous figure was displayed before me at just the "right" angle. Naturally, she was deliberately showing it off.

"This is the only place I can change."

She was utterly shameless, changing in poses that seemed designed to arouse me.

"Oh? The only place you can change, is it?"

"Yes, yes. Of course, of course."

Selena nodded with a smile. Even the curve of her lips seemed seductive.

CRUNCH

I crushed my necklace, Black Lotus. It was a rather dramatic measure for something like this, but I might as well take this opportunity to establish where Selena and I stood.

Fabrication, Black River

Grade - Divine

Iocheira

I created Artemis's arrow and held it in my hand.

"You're a member of the Ten Thousand Capes, too. You must have heard the rumors about what I did at Constel."

"Y-yes?"

"Then do you know about the 'Fireworks'?"

"..."

Selena swallowed hard. That was a yes.

"This arrow never misses."

I took a step toward Selena. She shrank back a step.

"Who gave you permission to back away? You said you would attend me."

"I-I'm sorry."

I closed the distance and pointed the arrowhead at her.

"You have to report my every move to the Ten Thousand Capes. I don't know when or how often, but there must be a direct link between here and them."

Whether it was Hagley, whom I'd met in Constel's infirmary, or Selena, these people from the Ten Thousand Capes appeared without warning.

It was probably some kind of 'teleportation' Hagley had set up on the day he first met Frondier.

"You must have come from there dressed in that ridiculous outfit, and you're telling me you have nowhere to change?"

"Ah, ahaha. I won't be returning to the Ten Thousand Capes for quite some time, young heir. I'm truly here to attend you, Master Frondier—"

"Quite some time? When, exactly?"

"W-well, in fifteen days."

My expression turned icy. It was partly an act, but I was genuinely displeased.

"I believe I told you. This arrow never misses."

"... Pardon?"

"You said fifteen days, so shall we put that to the test? If you leave my side for even an instant between now and the end of those fifteen days, this arrow will pierce your throat all on its own. Do you agree?"

Selena blinked several times as though my words were taking a moment to sink in. Then she went deathly pale. In an instant, she dropped to both knees and pressed her head to the floor.

"I-I'm sorry! I've committed an offense worthy of death!"

"If your offense warrants death, shouldn't you die?"

She could only tremble all over at my words.

I had no idea what expression Selena wore with her face pressed to the floor.

From what I'd seen, she'd put on quite a performance to seduce me, and this might simply be more of the same.

She was trembling, but she might genuinely be frightened, humiliated by my threats, or even laughing to herself at the thought that her performance would work.

Either way, I couldn't kill her. The only reason the Ten Thousand Capes needed me was the 'ancient language.' If they decided I wasn't useful enough and had become an obstacle instead, they'd cut my head off on the spot.

"From now on, if you're going to do something pointless, go do it at the Ten Thousand Capes."

"D-do you mean I should go back to the Ten Thousand Capes every time I change...?"

"Not just when you change. Whether you're stuffing your face or going to the toilet, anything that has nothing whatsoever to do with attending me, you can do there."

"Understood," Selena murmured in a voice barely louder than a mosquito.

She couldn't be happy about it. It would deprive her of most of her methods of seducing me.

"Disappear without showing me your face."

"... Yes."

She vanished with her head still pressed to the floor. The way she disappeared resembled Hagley's. No matter how often I saw that teleportation, it was fascinating.

"Whew. Now I can finally relax."

At last, some time to myself. That was how it should have been in the first place, but Selena had unexpectedly barged in and disrupted it.

Just as I was about to collect myself,

"I-I've finished changing."

It was disrupted again.

"..."

Selena was wearing pajamas. Of course, like her maid uniform, they only vaguely resembled what they were supposed to be, needlessly emphasizing her figure. The waist was cinched so tightly it looked like something a character would wear in a comic.

Seeing her in pajamas that served none of the functions of pajamas, I grew even colder.

"Why did you come back?"

"P-pardon?"

"If you're wearing pajamas, doesn't that mean you're going to bed?"

"Y-yes. It's getting late..."

"I believe I told you to do anything unrelated to attending me at the Ten Thousand Capes."

Her mouth fell open.

"Th-then I have to sleep at the Ten Thousand Capes, too...?"

"What does you sleeping have to do with protecting me?"

"... Nothing."

"Get lost."

Selena worked her mouth, then pressed her lips into a thin line and lowered her head.

The last glimpse of her face before she vanished looked a little resentful.

* * *

The Ten Thousand Capes occupied a cave within a cliff, but inside it was an entire city.

Its commercial and residential districts were clearly separated, and it had almost every facility people needed.

Selena stood blankly outside her house for a while.

"Why have you come back, Jay?"

Hagley spoke from behind her.

Hearing him ask much the same question as Frondier irritated her a little.

"... I got kicked out."

"Kicked out? By Frondier?"

"Yes. He told me to do anything unrelated to guarding him here."

"Good grief. Even sleeping?"

"Exactly." Her mutter was swallowed by a sigh, its trembling sound halfway to tears.

"I've never been treated like such utter shit in my life."

"Isn't this your first time trying to seduce a man?"

"Even so! I was fairly confident! You said I could do it, too, Master Hagley!"

"... Hmm."

Hagley stroked his chin.

Indeed, he hadn't anticipated this outcome either.

Frondier had always suffered from an enormous inferiority complex. His lips would twitch into a delighted smile whenever Hagley so much as called him the heir.

Hagley had expected that having a beauty like Selena at his side—and having her actively seduce him, at that—would leave him grinning like an idiot and falling for her in no time.

"You said I'd be able to seduce him... I thought so too, so I can't really talk... But he was so scary..."

Whether she was talking to herself or meant him to hear, Selena muttered in a dying voice. She let out a strange sobbing sound that might have been genuine crying.

"He must need time. There's no way Frondier wouldn't be attracted to you. He's merely putting on a show right now."

"A show... You call that a show...?"

Selena could still hear Frondier's icy voice ringing in her ears. She'd truly thought she was going to die, less than a day into her mission.

"For now, focus on guarding him. But pay particular attention to your gestures and expressions. Frondier won't be able to object to those."

"... Yes."

In fact, Frondier hadn't particularly criticized her seductive words or behavior. Realizing that, Selena nodded.

... But if he hadn't criticized them, didn't that mean they hadn't had much effect in the first place?

"He'll fall for you in the end."

Hagley's voice was full of conviction.

"After all, no woman loves Frondier."

* * *

The next day, I headed to the barracks on Lidwe's orders. With Selena.

The knights and soldiers seemed to be housed on separate floors: soldiers on the first, knights on the second.

After looking around briefly, I started up the stairs.

"Hey, you're not supposed to come this way."

Someone was looking down at me from the top of the stairs with a smarmy grin.

... Who was he? I didn't recognize his face from either Frondier's memories or my knowledge of the game.

What was more, his swagger was unbecoming of a knight, and he was so weak I couldn't sense any presence from him at all.

In short, a nobody. I ignored him and walked past.

"Didn't you hear me? You belong on the first floo—"

SMACK

He tried to grab my arm as I passed, but I casually knocked his hand away.

His arm felt surprisingly feeble. What was with him? Wasn't he a knight?

"This crazy bastard even has the nerve to bring a woman."

Perhaps embarrassed that I'd knocked his hand away, he reached for Selena.

Oh dear.

Selena extended her fingers toward him. The man froze with a frightened gasp. A needle was held between her outstretched index and middle fingers. I had no idea where it had come from, but it was enough to intimidate him.

"I'm in a very bad mood right now, so kindly leave me alone."

Her murderous voice was almost a growl. The man flinched at it and backed away.

She did seem to be in a bad mood.

As for why...

Well, I had no idea.

CREAK

I entered a room marked 'Waiting Room.'

Though spacious, it was exceedingly plain: an otherwise bare room furnished with a few long benches.

There were about fifteen people inside.

As I entered, more and more eyes gradually turned toward me.

One of them looked at me and spoke with a dumbfounded expression.

"... He really brought a woman. He really is out of his mind."

I looked around.

I'd naturally expected everyone to be a stranger, but I was wrong.

Robert was in the farthest corner. Looking at me, he put a finger to his lips.

So he didn't want me to acknowledge him.

"Morin went out to meet you. Didn't you see him?"

"There was someone trying to pick a fight."

"That's him, then."

I took the knight's reply in stride.

The knights' armor varied in style and design, and every suit bore a different emblem.

Knights were dispatched to Teibeon from nearly every region of the Empire, but there weren't many of them. Knights were an important fighting force everywhere.

"Hey, how many days are you betting on?"

One of them asked me out of the blue.

"Days?"

"Yeah. We've got a bet going."

He grinned as he answered.

"On when you'll croak."

The waiting room erupted in laughter. They were having a grand time, as though they'd heard something genuinely hilarious.

Only four or five people weren't laughing, Robert among them.

"In that case..."

I began slowly.

"I'll bet that not a single person here dies for a month."

The laughter stopped. Their eyes seemed to ask what kind of nonsense I was spouting.

"Are you actually insane? Hey, do you know where you are? This is Teibeon. Nobody dies here for an entire month? What kind of deranged bullshit is that?"

"Really? Then let me ask you. Apart from me, who here do you think is going to die? Is any one of you that desperate to get killed?"

The knights' expressions stiffened.

The reason they made such vulgar bets and went around picking fights was precisely because this was Teibeon.

In a place where you were going to die anyway, you had no choice but to go a little mad. Those who didn't were generally the first to die.

I thought I more or less understood why they kept chanting that I was crazy.

But I had no intention of fighting them.

Quite the opposite. I needed them.

"Let me say it again."

And they, too,

"As long as I'm in Teibeon, no one here will die."

Would learn just how badly they needed me.