Chapter 4
Part 4
After that, a few hours passed.
The sun had set considerably, and the Tower of the Sun's shadow had stretched out to match it.
Unfortunately, it was hard to say that we had come to a satisfactory conclusion. All we had managed to accomplish was filling my brother's notebook with theories and hypotheses, and then crossing them all out as unacceptable.
"Thinking of the Sun as a stand-in for Helios in the formula is no good. On the other hand, using Selena or Nanna in place of the Moon and utilizing the attributes of the Sacred Beast strays too far from the starting point. The Towers are too large of a factor, leaving them as just a superficial cover doesn't make any sense."
"...Master?"
"No...the Sun and Moon aren't part of it after all...is that treasure really not part of this?"
My brother's honest monologue continued. To think that this pathetic expression came from the same man who had so gallantly intervened, facing down the head of one of the Three Great Familiesm, was a strain on the imagination.
"Hey hey, are you getting stuck on that again? Are you going to finish within Lord Byron's time limit if you keep going around in circles like this?"
From the start, clearing up the mystery and solving the incident was only a single card in the game. In order to clear the doubt around me, and release the captured Trimmau, a much more powerful move would be necessary. That was why Lord Byron had only allowed us to move within a certain time limit.
Getting tripped up at this stage was not helping.
"Yes. Well. Perhaps as far as this is concerned, we'd be better off waiting."
"Just waiting?"
"Well..." he mumbled back. His voice seemed to hold a terrible melancholy. It was the kind of voice he used when grappling with a very personal problem.
However, as his gaze wandered across the damp ground, his expression slightly wrinkled.
"Oh."
Suddenly, I felt a faint pain in my eyes.
The reason for that was immediately apparent.
From the trees a short distance away, the shadows began to grow. While it was certainly nearing evening, the direction the shadows were cast was entirely different than that of the Tower of the Sun, even discounting their unnatural length. On top of that, though the shadows stretched across the gently swaying grasses, they were motionless on top of them.
Silently, my brother removed the cigar from his mouth.
Whispering a small spell, the flame at the tip of the cigar grew. Laying that flame near the grass, he placed it in the unnatural shadow-
"Ow! Owowowowowowow!"
The shadow screamed.
Leaping up from the darkness was a golden haired, blue eyed boy. Desperately trying to extinguish the flame on the seat of his pants, he continued his crying as he turned to us.
"Ah, I was discovered!"
"...what are you doing here, Flat?"
"I did it, professor! In Japanese it's like, how do you do? Japan's greetings are pretty deep, kind of gives off a Buddhist feel don't you think?"
With a simple-minded innocence, the blonde boy spoke vigorously.
Most likely, what we had just seen was Illusion magecraft. Using shadows to hide one's own body was a popular style in Germany, if I recalled correctly. I didn't know where he had picked it up, but his ability to see and reproduce magecraft from a number of different disciplines spoke to his considerable skill.
And then.
"-Flat!" An angry voice called out from the road. The new arrival, another young man with pleasant features, ran up already in the process of chastising the first.
"I told you to hurry on ahead and tell them I was going to be late!"
"Ah, it's Le Chien!"
"Don't call me that! Sorry for keeping you waiting, Professor!"
Similarly blonde haired and blue eyed, the new arrivals more masculine, rugged features made a good contrast. You could say he was like a hunting dog. A delicate wildness peaked out from his sharp eyes, and his bow of greeting was done with professional elegance.
Svin Glascheit. The oldest student in
Norwich
the Faculty of Modern Magecraft.
Paired with Flat Escardos, they were peerless as students.
...but of course, that only lasted a few moments before the situation collapsed again.
"Gray!"
Earning a jump from the trembling Gray, Svin immediately leapt to her side, sniffing at her like a dog.
"Oh, Gray, Gray, Gray! So sweet, and grey, and sharp, like a smell that will tear me up inside!"
"...p-please, stop!"
As if he couldn't hear Gray's resistance, another voice called out to distract him as he attempted to get his fill of her scent.
"Svin."
"...r-right!" At my brother's cold voice, Svin suddenly snapped to attention. "M-my apologies! It was the first time in a while I have been within 20 meters of Gray, so I kind of lost control!"
"You guys..." Giving the deepest sigh since he had arrived at this place, my brother covered his face with one hand.
Realizing something, I also turned to him.
"By the way, didn't you say you weren't going to be using your students like this?"
"That's what happens when you leave them to their own devices. I came across them getting their personal rooms in order...however, I believe I told you to message me your results, and that I specifically told you not to come to the actual scene. Am I right?"
"But Professor! Reines is in big trouble, right?! There's no way we could miss such an exciting event!"
...an exciting event, huh? Well then, he was going to have to die. After he helped us, I guess.
"There's no way I could let Flat come out here unsupervised."
In contrast, Svin's response came across like a true honour student.
Well, let's forget what happened between him and Gray just a moment ago. Pay no mind to the girl hiding behind me.
There wasn't even a shred of tension left. Rather, you could say things just got right back to normal. We were in the territory of a magus we couldn't call friendly, burdened with the suspicion of murder, having lost Trimmau, and were operating under a tight time constraint. Even so, somehow a breath of normalcy had entered the situation.
This was likely the 'power' that my brother had worked for years to cultivate in the Clock Tower. I don't know where he had picked it up, but for my brother who was so much like a true magus - he sure had a way of being very un-magus-like. Though he'd probably just come back with an excuse like "a magus always treasures his pupils," or something.
After things calmed down a bit, my brother turned to Svin.
"How did the investigation go?"
"Here you are." While his gaze flickered over to Gray repeatedly, he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over.
"...I see," my brother said, nodding as he read the paper.
"What's this? The key to reversing our fortunes?"
"That's right. Though we are still missing a few pieces. We'll have to make our move now regardless, though."
Pressing a hand to his temple, he slowly stood.
His jet black coat waveed in the breeze.
His red muffler fluttering behind him, he set out with bold steps, his pupils in tow.
"Now, shall we start preparing for the coming battle?"
Originally Posted by Deathhappens
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