Chapter 2
Part 2
The steam engine came to a gentle stop, and the ornately decorated door opened.
Perhaps to match the aesthetic tastes of the owner, it gave the impression of a line of knights standing and saluting. Without the slightest hesitation, my master headed for that door. Caules, Hishiri, and I soon followed suit.
The scent of fresh fruit wafted out.
Within the train car, a large table was placed in the center of the room, stacked high with various colourful fruits. Seated nearby was a man with a white hat. Taking a glossy apple from the table, he took a bite out of it.
After chewing for a while, he turned to look at us.
"Ah, more guests have arrived!"
"...you're not a staff member here, are you?" To my master's authoritative tone, the man gave a deep nod.
"Of course not! Could you not tell just by looking at me?!"
Patting a hand to his stylish white jacket, he spoke smoothly as he rose from his seat.
Seeing the man strike a hand to his own chest, Caules tilted his head to the side.
"I feel like I've seen that before...something about zombies..."
"Yes!"
At Caules' muttering, the man stuck his hand into his own jacket.
Drawing a handgun, he spun it in the air. With a sidelong look at our dumbfounded expressions, he crossed the guns over, threw them in the air, and caught them behind his back. Finally, he snapped into a firing pose.
"Jeeeeanmario! Spinerra's!! Zombie Cooking!!! Let's enjoy cooking some zombie's to a crisp together today!"
Sharing the well-practiced line with cheer, he seemed like a well-seasoned performer.
Unfortunately, neither I nor my master had any idea who he was.
"Huh? You don't know me? You don't know Jeanmario's Zombie Cooking?"
"...sorry, I'm not much of a fan of variety TV."
My master's television was reserved exclusively for video games, after all.
And within my room, the television was mostly just an ornament. The only times I turned it on was to check the weather, or when Flat had lent me another one of his strange movies.
Caules, however, had quite the air of excitement.
"It's a pretty popular program from the London Minor Broadcasting Office. He's always using his twin pistols to gun down zombies while cooking, and the special effects are great! His special technique is using a frying pan to split a zombie's head in two, then frying a three-pound steak with it! The Jeanmario Buster!"
Though I couldn't figure out why on earth there needed to be zombies involved in a cooking show, I felt like it was in poor taste to bring that up now. Beyond that, my weakness was more for ghosts or spirits, so zombies weren't something that particularly bothered me.
At any rate, as I tried my best to absorb this new information, I couldn't help but mutter.
"A magus, on television...?"
"It's not like it's impossible.
Yumina
The Faculty of Botany's
Archelot has been playing with the TV Media for a while now, after all."
As I stared blankly, my master added his own comments.
Though that seemed to me to be something more fitting for the Faculty of Law, I suppose they didn't have a monopoly on it or anything. Within many different factions, there was a desire to control information with their own hands - and though other magi might consider it only a mundane affair, what resulted was a situation where magi struggled against each other right near the surface of society.
That aside, for a magus to be in charge of such a popular program was certainly out of the ordinary.
"...and, you are?"
My master's gaze went to the other end of the table, where another silent individual sat.
Easily into his seventies, he was an old man with extraordinarily dark skin. With an old scar between around his eyebrows, he gave a very mafia-esque impression.
Taking a couple of grapes from the bunch in his hand and popping them into his mouth, he whispered.
"Karabo Frampton. From the Holy Church."
Aside from Jeanmario, everyone immediately tensed up.
As the name implied, the Holy Church was an organization of believers that spanned the entire world, using that religion which could be considered universal as its foundation. In many respects, it stood as an enemy to the Magic Association. While the Magic Association strove to control and manage Mystery as a whole, the Church aimed to annihilate all Mystery that existed outside of its own. Therein lay the conflict.
As Caules put a hand within his own jacket, Hishiri stepped back with a smile.
The old man clenched his fingers into a light fist.
It felt like the history of countless killings between the two groups was swirling in the air between them. Even my master, who usually avoided fights involving magecraft, had a stiff expression.
That nervous air was immediately shattered by a new voice.
"-Whoa! How amazing! Even Professor El-Melloi II is here!"
As if unaware of the tension in the room, the girl with her lolita attire clapped her hands.
Of course, it wasn't the first time we had met her.
"Tadah! It's me, your prospective lover from the El-Melloi Classroom!"
"...Yvette..."
This time, my master held a hand to his stomach with a pained expression, as if he just couldn't handle it anymore.
"You were also invited...?"
"Correct! Heheheh, as you know, the Lehrman family is renowned for their Mystic Eyes! Of course we'd be regulars on the Rail Zeppelin!"
Even going so far as to speak aloud her own sound effects, she struck a pose with a sideways peace sign.
Though I wasn't sure where exactly to start complaining, the truth was the mounting pressure within the car had been cleanly dispersed.
Karabo relaxed his fist, and Caules slowly lowered his hands. With a small whistle, Jeanmario returned to his seat.
"Oh! Caules is here too?!" Why? You've become one of his flunkies now, too?"
"...er, no, though I did ask him to take me with him."
"Aha, I see! There's no cheating allowed here, professor! Oh, wait, does it not count if it's gay? Sorry, I'm not sure I'll be so good in a three-way..."
"...fuck."
In a way I couldn't even pretend not to hear it, my master cursed as he put a hand to his face.
"When did we become prospective lovers anyway?"
"Of course, from this moment! From the depths of my own humbly adorable chest! Oh, did you want to touch? I don't mind at all, you lolicon you!"
"Alright, shut up. And get off this train. Through the window, if at all possible."
As the girl just puffed up her chest proudly at his remonstration, my master shifted his gaze.
Not to avoid her, though.
At some point, a bone-thin man had appeared.
Wearing a black uniform that must have belonged to the staff of the Rail Zeppelin, he looked down at a silver pocket watch.
"Yes. We shall proceed tonight according to schedule. We would be most grateful for everyone's cooperation."
Seeing the noisy magi gathered in the room fall to silence, he nodded in satisfaction.
Behind us, the door swung closed.
Together with the whistle we heard earlier, the sound of the steam engine lumbering into motion filled the room.
Though slowly, the train began to pick up speed, whisking away the tiny world we now occupied.
As if rocked by the growing speed of the train, the staff member lowered his head.
"My name is Rodin. I will be your conductor this evening. My apologies for interrupting your conversation."
The man introduced himself, offering the same name as that famous sculptor.
Not just us, but it seemed even those who had boarded the train at the other end like Olgamarie had also failed to notice his appearance. It was as if he had just appeared out of thin air.
With a cough to clear his throat, he continued.
"This locomotive intends a three night, four day journey around the Country of Fog, returning to London at the end. During that time, you will all be permitted to view our collection of Mystic Eyes, and on the third day an auction will be held for them. Should you offer the winning bid, you may either accept custody of the Eyes in question, or receive them transplanted immediately. Yes, please rest assured. All transplants will be completed quickly, so there is no need to worry. For those who wish to offer Mystic Eyes for sale, please approach me sometime before the day after tomorrow. If you need assistance, please feel free to ask for me directly."
"-or ask me. My name is Leandra, and I will endeavour to be your auctioneer for this event."
Appearing beside him, a woman in a fur coat spoke, giving a short bow.
Her appearance stood out so much I had to wonder why I hadn't noticed her until now.
With her hair cut short, she had the figure of a model. Though a strip of leather was wrapped tightly around her eyes, she seemed to function as if she could see just fine. Though, considering how well the Princess of Silver coped with her blindness at Iselma, that fact probably wasn't something especially surprising.
But, even then.
Within the moving train, I felt a sense of terror take hold of me.
For a place called the Mystic Eye Collecting Train, being guided by someone who chose to seal their own vision seemed hard to stomach.
"At this point, we would like do guide each of you to your private rooms. Please, follow me."
With that, the conductor Rodin bowed once more to us.
*************
The room we were led to seemed unexpectedly pleasant.
It appeared that for each passenger car, only two or three passenger rooms were created, giving each a sense of luxury. Though the width of each room was rather limited, the simplistic accommodations offered no sense of claustrophobia. Apparently the rooms were divided so that each invitation came with one room, as three beds were prepared, but I didn't mind that so much.
The interior of the room was lit by a gas lamp.
Sitting down on the all-too-luxurious sofa, I pressed my hands to the side of my head.
Caules immediately spoke out.
"Are you okay, Gray?"
"...ah, yes. Just...we met so many people, my head is spinning a bit."
In truth, I felt more like I wanted to scream.
Magus from the Faculty of Law - Hishiri Adashino.
Daughter of a Lord - Olgamarie Asmleit Animusphere, and her attendant Trisha Fellows.
The television star magus, and a bit of a joker - Jeanmario Spinerra.
A man working for the Holy Church - Karabo Frampton.
Added to the conductor and auctioneer of the Rail Zeppelin, and the El-Melloi Classroom's own Yvette, I was well past the capacity my head could handle. I suppose if just talking about the number of people, there were more at the party in Iselma, but so many of them here had direct connections to my master and I. Despite being totally unable to remember everything, there was no way I could ignore any of them either.
Massaging my temples, I looked out the window.
The scenery outside was blanketed in a thick fog. Occasionally, the lights of the distant city would peak through, before being washed away as quickly as they appeared. Despite the archaic appearance, there was little in the way of vibrations within the car, and the sound of powerful steam engine was somewhat comforting.
Mixed in with those sounds,
"...thinking about it now, I guess it should have been obvious that Yvette would be here."
Hanging his suit jacket on the wall, my master muttered.
"Is her eye patch related to Mystic Eyes too, then?"
"Half correct. There isn't an actual eye under that patch, actually."
At my master's words, I was suddenly struck speechless.
Though I didn't know how to respond to that, Caules came to the rescue.
"Yvette has a jewel there in place of a Mystic Eye."
"A jewel?"
I had the feeling I had heard about something like this from my master before.
"The reproduction of Mystic Eyes only really works for lower level Eyes, but that doesn't apply to gems. Yvette's family is specialized in their creation. Though it still has its limits, they are able to even reproduce Noble Coloured Mystic Eyes to a degree. ...they probably are regular customers of the Rail Zeppelin to acquire more accurate models for their creation."
"...ah, I see."
Put that way, I could understand.
It seemed like a much more direct approach for a magi than just a simple transplant.
"Well, that's how it is. By doing things like offering up one of their own eyes in the process, or relying on jewels with mystical properties, they are able to overcome the limits of reproducing Mystic Eyes. Of course, implanting a foreign object into the human body will trigger all sorts of rejection responses, so there must have been generations of bodily modification in order to allow Yvette to handle it so well. Numerically speaking, she would be one of the rare examples of someone interested in the Rail Zeppelin with no desire for a transplant."
My master added to Caules' explanation.
Her random self introduction as the Mystic Eye Girl seemed to be fairly accurate. At any rate, it was all part of a world that was hard to wrap my head around.
After thinking on it for a while,
"But the Manager's Representative never made an appearance, did they?" my master muttered.
That was the signature on the invitation.
When thinking of plausible suspects for the theft of the relic, they were the most likely.
"Then, that person is..."
"Perhaps they intend on showing up later. After all, we don't even know the reason why we received the invitation in the first place. There's no benefit to getting worked up about it now."
Despite his words, the wrinkle in my master's brow was deeper than ever.
He had likely spent the day categorizing everyone he came across, trying to determine what relation they may have had to the culprit. As someone who was unable to wield magecraft of superior quality, his only option was to work his brain to a brutal degree.
My master's ability wasn't as some sort of super detective, tuned in to the supernatural.
Really, it was the exact opposite - combining plain, mundane methods with his tremendous base of knowledge, he used them as a foundation to exercise his extraordinary power of insight. So in an incident like this one, his brain wouldn't be given even a single moment's rest.
Saying not to worry was almost just a bad joke.
Though I wanted to say something, I couldn't think of a single thing I could offer him in consolation.
"Anyways, let's rest now that we have the chance." Taking off the Mystic Eye Killing glasses, my master lay down on the bed just as he was.
Surprisingly quickly, his breathing fell into the steady rhythm of sleep, which I found a little relieving. He must have been exhausted. Even if not, he must have still been feeling the stress of having his relic stolen.
I, however, was not able to so easily fall asleep, so I just sat on my bed.
Normally if I wasn't able to sleep I'd consider bringing out Add, but I was in no mood to listen to his rowdy self at the moment.
At that point,
"-you're really amazing, Gray." Caules suddenly spoke out.
"What makes you say that?"
"I've just been really anxious, ready to run at a moment's notice. Ever since coming to the Clock Tower from the back country of Germany, everything has just been coming at me non-stop. I mean, I even ended up on the legendary Rail Zeppelin, come down to London all the way from Scandinavia."
Apparently, the Rail Zeppelin mainly travelled around the forests of Northern Europe. Being from Germany, Caules was probably much more familiar with the legends surrounding it.
The fact he had asked to come along after hearing about it by chance was likely in part because of that.
"You seem awfully well composed, though. ...back then, before Yvette had come out, you seemed ready to fight and everything."
When Karabo had introduced himself as a member of the Holy Church, though Hishiri was of course prepared, I hadn't failed to notice Caules readying himself for combat as well. That wasn't something one picked up just by practicing magecraft. It was something that needed a much more complete level of preparedness.
In response to that, Caules scratched his head awkwardly.
"Haha. I wasn't composed at all. -but, what would you call it? When my sister decided to give up her life as a magus, things became rather violent. I guess I collected a bit of experience from that."
"Is that what you were talking about before we got on the train?"
"Yes," he nodded. "Despite being evaluated as the magus of utmost talent in the history of our family, despite all the expectations that she had been saddled with, she suddenly decided to abandon magecraft altogether, even going so far as to abandon her Magic Crest. The family was in an uproar from top to bottom."
Recalling that memory, Caules' eyes narrowed faintly.
"Even though I was extraordinarily average, I ended up becoming the successor, and even ended up taking the place in the Clock Tower that had been prepared for her. It was only natural that I was rejected and earned a lot of unjustified anger - no, I guess it was pretty justified. Regardless, there were even attempts on my life because of it. No doubt they thought that if I died, my sister would have no choice but to return."
I imagine he wasn't exaggerating when he said there were attempts on his life.
I had learned time and again that magi were that kind of creature in the past few months. In the face of the hopes and dreams of numerous generations, the value of a single human life was less than dirt.
Seeing my tensed up posture, Caules' expression suddenly broke.
"...sorry. Maybe that was a bit heavy."
"No," I answered, shaking my head vigorously. "No, no. ...I understand that kind of situation well."
The pain of having everyone around you get whipped up into a frenzy with no regard to your own thoughts or feelings was something I understood quite well.
As well as the frustration of being unable to meet those expectations. How much easier would it have been to just discard my own pathetic self, and completely become that hero of old? No matter how inexperienced or worthless I even considered myself, why was it so hard to throw that self away?
Caules tilted his head to the side, confused.
"You're the professor's closest disciple, aren't you?"
"But, I'm not a magus."
"I see."
He didn't push any further.
With the conversation coming to an end, the sounds of the train cars jostling were the only thing left in the room.
Strangely, the silence wasn't so awkward. Rocked by the sounds of the car, I vaguely wondered why that was.
(...ah, I see)
Because Caules is a lot like my master. Despite his overwhelming mediocrity, despite always being compared to someone that was nothing less than a genius and all the pain that brought, he hadn't given up a single thing. That way of being struck me right to my core. More than seeing a genius who could take to the sky from the start, my heart cried out much stronger for those kind of people.
That was probably why.
"It's okay. You will become strong. Even more than your sister, I'm sure."
As if it was more natural than anything, those words spilled out of my mouth.
"After all, my master is the one who picked you out."
Caules looked back at me with a surprised expression.
"Is something wrong?"
"...no. Just, you really trust the professor, don't you?"
Speaking with a small smile, Caules' words made my breath catch.
I had never really thought about that.
"I guess so..."
"So," he nodded, looking around the room. "...the Rail Zeppelin was real after all. I wonder what my sister would have done."
Those last words drifted through the dim light of the room.
It seemed he had no intention of continuing the conversation beyond that. Pulling up the blanket on his own bed, Caules turned off the lamp at his bedside.
"Good night, Gray."
"...good night."
At that, I also pulled up my own blanket.
The regular movements of the train seemed to shake loose something within me. The leftover scent of my master's cigar also seemed to calm me down. At last, my thoughts drifted off into the darkness of the room.
Surprisingly, I was able to pass the night comfortably.