Chapter 1
Part 4
-My master and I leaned up against a tree with Reines to avoid the rain.
In order to maintain control over the strongest leylines, the land controlled by magi often avoided dense urban areas. As a result, areas like this with dense greenery were rather common. As if that leyline had conferred its blessing on the trees and shrubs growing in the area, despite the obvious age of the trees, they were each thickly crowned with young, vibrant leaves.
How long had they looked out upon this scenery?
There was no indication that the thunder was anywhere close to ending.
Thick storm clouds covered the entirety of Iselma's territory, as if the clouds were attempting to chase out the setting sun. It reminded me of the story of Orion, who after being killed by a scorpion, became a constellation eternally fleeing from it.
As my master stared at the heavy rain, I ventured a question.
"...is it okay to let Flat and Svin run off like that?"
"...yes. Either way, those two would try to force themselves into the fight. Even if their opponents are magi of any reasonable calibre, those two won't let themselves be outdone. As much as they are problem children, they frankly still have that level of ability."
As if in a bad mood, he spoke reluctantly with a puff of cigar smoke.
The fact that they had ability sufficient to be considered problem children was likely an honest confession from him. Compared to the other faculties, the El-Melloi Classroom was already a collection of misfits and dissidents, but even among them those two stood out. For their ability in magecraft of course, but more so it was their entire way of being. While dedicating such tremendous efforts to learning magecraft, they still stood out as having a nature that was somehow different from the other magi of the Clock Tower.
Perhaps one could say that they were like my master, in his way of being both entirely magus-like and the furthest thing from it.
"Well, except for the fact their opponent is not normal."
"...not normal?" As my master said that, I felt a shiver run up my back. Though I felt it was somewhat pathetic, at the same time it was a difficult response to suppress.
"Atram Galiasta. The man Svin had investigated for me. Well, if worse comes to worse, it's not like he's an opponent those two couldn't escape from..."
"...Galiasta."
It was a pretty rare-sounding name.
Of course, when it came to the Clock Tower, I wouldn't have recognized any names, but even so it had a very foreign sound to me. A dry sound. Air hot enough to burn the skin. Swords with a thick, crescent blade. That kind of feeling.
As if to confirm my thoughts, my master continued.
"It's an old bloodline from the Middle East, only recently aligned with the Clock Tower. Their magecraft steps right into the field of Curses, so they are a rather troublesome opponent to deal with. At any rate, they used that magecraft to force cooperation from nearby organizations, securing the rights to oil drilling operations. As far as influence in mundane affairs is concerned, they're in the lead even among members of the Clock Tower...and, in an auction for a certain Talisman, they struggled right to the end against Iselma."
"Oh? That's the Talisman you said Iselma had bought up earlier, correct?"
At Reines' interruption, I recalled a certain man.
"Actually, there's a certain Talisman I'd like to get my hands on."
Mick Grajilie.
The man who had just casually announced that he was a spy.
Speaking of him, I hadn't seen him since this morning. I had to wonder what he was up to, now that Iselma was under attack. If his confession to being a spy was actually true, then maybe he and Galiasta were...
I swallowed nervously.
Reines spoke.
"So, does that mean Galiasta was behind the Princess' murder?"
"I wonder," my master responded vaguely.
Putting a finger to his mouth, he narrowed his eyes as he began to put the information in order.
"The idea that it was revenge for taking the Talisman out from under them is possible, but...if that were the case, wouldn't they have opted for kidnapping instead? On top of that, would there be any need to follow up with an attack like this?"
"What if, for example, they sent someone to find the Talisman covertly, but the Princess discovered the plot and had to be killed to cover it up?"
My master shook his head at Reines' conjecture.
"And after killing her, they just politely returned her to her bedroom? Sure, they could have used some sort of magecraft to keep the scene clean of blood, but how would they have dealt with the Mystic Lock?"
"Hm. Well...hm." Scratching at the air with a finger, Reines went quiet.
Unfortunately, I was completely out of my league in this kind of discussion. I couldn't grasp the thoughts and feelings of even the two in front of me, let alone someone I had only met two or three times. There was no way I could provide anything close to a useful hypothesis.
As a result, I simply watched the two talk, hands clasped together.
"Ihihihihi! What's wrong, what's wrong? Why don't you try adding your thoughts to the mix? If it's a mystery game, you might as well throw out a couple dumb theories. Heck, why not ten? As the Watson of this outfit, who cares if you're completely wrong?"
The sound of Add's laughter came from around my right hand.
"...I'm...not that smart, so..."
"That's just 'cause you always put off thinking though, right? 'I can't, I can't!' So much easier to repeat that than do any real thinking, right?"
I had no response to Add's sharp accusations.
Rather, I agreed with him. Frankly speaking, thinking like that was more trouble than it was worth. If I could just close my eyes and cover my ears, life would be so easy. I didn't even have the courage to kill myself - rather, I was absolutely terrified out of my mind that if I died, I'd become one of...those. If I could just rest peacefully in the ground, that would be fine, but the idea of wandering the earth unable to die...
Hopelessly cowardly, hopelessly lazy. That was me.
Even if you said I should try and change, that first step was just too much for me. Ever since I put my old home behind me, I hadn't changed a bit.
Why?
...it was painful.
I felt nauseous, like I might collapse.
This incident was pressing close to my heart. Something about the situation here pressured me in a way so different than when we were at the Castle of Separation, but here I was, the only one unable to see anything.
"-but if we follow that theory, you can't explain the death of the maid."
"Urgh. But if we suppose there are two culprits..."
The conversation between Reines and my master felt so far away, while I felt caught up in the pain in my chest.
Probably, because it was so close to me.
Something so important I couldn't afford to let it go, yet something that struck so close to home I couldn't bear to focus my attention on it.
It felt like there were invisible needles mixed in with the incessant rain. Being stabbed would of course hurt, but it was scary to even think that you couldn't see them no matter how much you stared. You wouldn't have any way of knowing until the blood first showed.
You wouldn't know they were needles at all until you were dead on the ground, filled with countless needles.
And if you looked at that corpse after the rain had stopped, no doubt you would look on perplexed, wondering why they hadn't just run away.
"Hm. But by your logic, then the Princess of Gold's creation..."
"No, while the Princess' beauty was certainly something manufactured, at that level whether it was natural or not is irrelevant. The Concept of artificial is one that returns to nature anyways. Whether it's polished by running water, or polished by a person's hand, a rock is still a rock. In short..."
(...oh, I see.)
Suddenly, the words being exchanged outside by conscious thought leaked through.
The Princess of Gold, and the Princess of Silver.
Really, I was very much the same as those two. My master's lecture about cosmetic magecraft and its history had struck through me like those invisible needles.
Gently, I touched my hood.
These were my invisible needles. An ice that encased my heart, refusing to melt no matter how much time passed.
If talking about needles of glass, then it obviously couldn't refer to anything else. The fact I hadn't realized it until now just went to show how stupid I really was. No matter how far away I ran, my own foolishness still pierced my chest. Stabbed my heart. Poured out my blood.
(-I'd just be better off dead...)
I'd rather that imaginary blood just filled my throat and drowned me.
Let my neck get scratched out, let my face turn all purple. I didn't care how pathetic I looked when I collapsed. Rather, that seemed like it would be the most appropriate way for me to die. I wanted to avoid the disgrace of having my remains turn into a ghost, but if that could be avoided, then...
"-Gray."
I suddenly realized someone was calling my name.
"...ah, master?"
"What's wrong? You've gone pale."
My master's brow was wrinkled as usual as he looked down at me. Though he might have misconstrued my expression as me feeling unwell, the fact that he could tell something was wrong just from that expression was a sign of how long we had spent together.
"Actually, I..."
For a few seconds, I hesitated.
Though I was beginning to get flustered, I still remembered my thoughts from just earlier quite clearly.
In that case, there was a way much clearer than words I could use to describe my feelings. Just a little, I pulled back my hood.
Seeing that, my master's eyes went wide.
"Gray! I thought I told you not to-"
"...no."
Just like I had asked him to so long ago, he immediately began to reprimand me, but I was able to wave it off.
Though I had only pulled back my hood a tiny bit, and though the fingers that had done so felt like they were burning for it, at last I managed to get my mouth to work.
"My face...I think it could be related to what's going on...maybe..."
"To this incident? But-"
My master cut off, glancing quickly to his side.
He was probably trying to bring my attention to the fact Reines was still here. What I wanted to talk about wasn't something that should be known to just anyone. As if she had guessed as much herself, Reines tilted her head to the side a bit as she spoke up.
"Hm. Well if I'm the problem, I can excuse myself...?"
"...no, it's okay. I think this is something you need to know as well."
Briefly, I looked over at my master.
Though his expression was just as conflicted as before, he didn't seem like he was going to voice any objections.
Softly, I put a hand to my now revealed cheek.
"This is....not my original face."
"What-?!" Reines' expression immediately twisted in surprise.
Now thinking about it, Reines had pointed out my hood a number of times.
You'd be so much cuter without that hood, you know.
Though she had been teasing me, those words had stuck with me.
If she had taken interest in me, then I could only say I was sorry. Really, truly sorry, but I wasn't someone who met the expectations of others. In the end, I just couldn't.
"...you already know about Add, right?"
"Hey, come on! Don't take me out so suddenly! I need the time to brace myself!"
Releasing the hook under my cloak, I let the cage drop into view. The moment he appeared, Add's eyes and mouth immediately set about working busily. Thinking about it, back in my hometown, the only ones I could look to to help me relax were the people on the TV, and this box.
"This box has a Noble Phantasm hidden within it."
I decided against sharing its true name,
Rhongomyniad
The Spear That Shines at the End of the World
.
A treasure once wielded by the legendary King Arthur, to the Clock Tower it had a special significance. That's why my master had given me strict instructions to never say the name out loud except for when I was using it.
But even holding that back, Reines was still listening earnestly. She didn't ask any difficult questions about what it's true nature was. In short, she was acting like a true magus. She was used to asking questions limited to certain topics, limited to a certain scope. For that, I was now especially grateful.
Nodding, I continued.
"My family...their goal was to create someone who could wield the contents of this box."
In that way, we were the same.
Born not just with a purpose, but for a purpose. One that was decided for us. Just as the Princesses were born for the sake of creating beauty, so too was I born into someone else's role.
Also, that both of us were more successful than anyone else.
"In order to imitate the person who had originally wielded the contents of this box, so many...so many people were created..."
Just as the family of magi who had sought to create the ultimate beauty.
My family had believed that if they could create someone identical to that original wielder, not just in the face but in every capacity - from bodily proportions, to muscle structure, to the internal organs and blood vessels - if they could faithfully recreate that, then they would have someone who could use that Noble Phantasm. Of course, it went without saying that a perfect reconstruction was impossible, due to the numerous elements of Mystery that the hero of old had possessed but were lost to us in the present age. But if they were able to recreate the physical properties of that hero, then somehow or other that divine glow would follow, or so my ancestors believed.
To endure the hundreds, if not thousands of years of countless failures, I couldn't even imagine the madness that had gripped them. What had the family heads of all those generations seen ahead of them, cursed to that fate of compliance that allowed not even the slightest waver?
"It first went really well about ten years ago."
Ten years ago.
I don't know why.
At the very least, at the time I was born, I was just as much of a failure as all the others. I had an excessive sensitivity to ghosts - something those around my family had considered a blessing - but even with that I had no reason to doubt that I was my own person. There wasn't even a single shred of evidence to justify it.
But, ten years ago.
Looking at myself in the mirror, my young self's face had drastically changed.
Though there were some faint similarities to my original face, little by little I watched as my face changed to that of a complete stranger. I could even hear the sound of my body reforming itself. With a pain completely different from normal growing pains, I could clearly hear my bones and muscles creaking and snapping as they rebuilt themselves into a new shape.
Inundated by that crushing agony, I spent a night on my bed, clutching my pillow, for what seemed like forever.
Seeing my face had transformed, held a much greater sense of nobility, my family had wrapped me in hugs openly weeping with joy. I didn't even know what kind of reaction was appropriate.
"...that was also when I became able to properly speak with Add."
Apparently, it was problem of precision.
Something about how, once I had become similar enough to the original wielder of the Noble Phantasm, the false personality dormant within the Mystic Code was awakened. At any rate, he soon became one of the few people I talked to.
"...I see." Reines gave a gentle nod.
My master already knew this much. You could call it a preamble. Something we talked about the first day we met in my old home. When I had made that request.
Please...keep hating my face.
Thinking back on it now, it was really a cruel thing to ask of him.
I don't like it, so please don't like it either. Was there anything more selfish? I was just so happy that, unlike my family, someone had responded to seeing my face with fear, but even that was no excuse.
But that was a discussion for another time.
Pushing down my suicidal self-hatred for now, I got to my point.
"...there were no mirrors in her room, were there?"
When Raines and I had investigated her room, we couldn't think of a single reason why such a staple for a woman's bedroom was so conspicuously missing. Of course, at the time I couldn't say anything. For me, the absence of mirrors was a given.
"Umm...I was wondering if...maybe her face was something artificial as well...?"
As I said that, I could feel my own cheeks start to burn.
Maybe I was completely wrong. It wasn't something that could even be called deduction, just simply spilling out the ideas that came into my head. After all, what did it matter that there were no mirrors? Even I didn't believe that was something that could help us solve this case.
But, neither Reines nor my master laughed at me.
So, as I put my hood back on, I tried desperately to explain.
"I...was scared..." Though my voice was trembling, I couldn't stop the words from spilling out one after another. This time, the fingers of the hand that had returned my hood felt cold as ice. "...that face in the mirror...seeing my own face change right in front of me...was so scary..."
Why?
In front of these people, I just honestly confessed. Something I could never say in front of a single person in my home town came out so easily in front of them. It felt like I had just thrown up a jagged stone, but compared to the fear I had felt at that time, it was barely sensation enough to register.
"It's not...that I hate this face," I continued.
Of course, there were still some traces left of my original face. From the start I had that nature, and my ancestors had strived to produce that in me anyways. In all honesty, after ten years of wearing this face, I wasn't able to tell where the traces of my old face were, and where the entirely new face began.
Perhaps, if nothing had happened at all, I still would have ended up with a face like this. Or maybe, as I grew, I would have developed a face that was entirely different.
"But, looking in mirrors...even now, the idea is scary...like I've been possessed by the ghost of a long-dead hero..."
"...I understand. That's enough."
As he spoke, I felt his fingers touch my cheek.
Feeling that, I realized I had been crying. With a troubled face, my master wiped the tears from my face with his handkerchief.
After that, he returned his hand to his cigar, as if bored.
"Transformed...certainly, that would be terrifying."
Through my blurry vision and the smoke rising from his cigar, I couldn't make out his face very well.
The raindrops struck the earth.
Reines remained silent.
Surprisingly, even Add had nothing to say. Even though I had broached a secret known only to my master and the people of my home, he didn't make fun of me. Was he trying to be nice? As pathetic as it was, he was certainly one of my very few friends.
A strange sound rang out.
Still holding his cigar, my master struck his hand against the bark of the tree he was leaning on, his eyes going wide.
"Wait, don't tell me..."
"What is it, dearest brother?" Seeing my master's eyes going wide, Reines tilted her head in confusion.
"...really? Is it really that easy?" Returning his cigar to his mouth, he began to mutter.
It seemed as if he hadn't heard his sister's voice at all. As if switching places with me, he sank entirely into his own thoughts.
"...if that's the case, then the calculations match. In any case, it's a planet, so the 120 degrees is all they needed. But, for the other...no, that problem had an answer already. The two of them are complementary in beauty, so they would already have the maximum effect...I see, it's not an issue of comparing them to Perault or Bajille. The issue is far more superficial..."
Like he had suddenly fallen into delirium, he continued to mutter to himself.
His forehead was once again deeply creased as he dove into his own thoughts. It was an expression that I couldn't say I hated. Though I didn't enjoy seeing others suffer or get unlucky like Reines did, somewhere deep inside I had taken a liking to that face which appeared so suddenly.
What kind of scenery was unfolding in his head?
I kind of wanted to see it for myself.
I wanted to share that view with him.
Though I wasn't anywhere close to being called smart, if I could catch just a glimpse of the world in his head...I felt like that alone could save me. It may not erase my doubts, or correct my flaws, but even so I marvelled at it like one looking up at a sky full of stars.
Maybe, in the same way that he looked up to a genius.
"It was the opposite...!" Finally, my master spoke again. "The sun wasn't representing something else. It was standing for the sun itself. At a scope like this, using the sun itself as the symbol would bring the difficulty way down. No, wait...if that's true then..."
Once again, my master grit his teeth, grinding them with a moan.
This time, the voice slipping out was far different than the one from him being lost in thought.
"Esteemed brother, it's fine if you want to just jump to conclusions like that, but can you pay a bit more attention to the rest of us? What about the sun is backwards?"
Unable to endure it any longer, Reines finally spoke out, her frustration clear in the harshness of her tone.
But my master, putting a single hand to his face, just stared up at the clouds.
"...then, that makes the worst possibility possible, doesn't it? Why didn't I realize this sooner...what have I been doing all this time?! If I had been any slower, who knows what would have happened?!"
I felt like I could almost hear his teeth grinding in the back of his mouth.
My master finally turned, not to Reines but to me.
"Gray."
"Y-yes?"
Suddenly being called on, I gave a stiff nod. As if worried he had been reading my thoughts, my heart started thundering. Probably, thanks to my hood, he didn't notice that I was blushing.
But, paying no mind to any of that, he simply continued to speak.
"I have a favour to ask of you."