Chapter 382

“Oh.”

After Elias cut the connection, Zähringen tapped his artifact with a smile. He thought for a moment, then rested a hand on his hip.

“Narke. Can we get through~?”

Beep—

— [Julia~ It’s so nice hearing the voice of a friend I truly, truly, truly adore.]

“I wonder if the air just switched the artifact off and back on.”

Zähringen shrugged with a laugh. Elias, completely unfazed, asked in a curious tone.

— [Julia. Did Leo say anything while I was talking?]

“Why would he?”

— [Because I just said I truly, truly, truly—]

“I know exactly where you’re going with this.”

Looking down, Zähringen shook his head with a helpless smile. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face.

“So? What happened?”

— [Curious?]

“Very.”

He nodded slowly, as though Elias were standing right in front of him. After dragging out the suspense, Elias suddenly raised his voice.

— [We just bagged another one! That’s already two pheasants~! So how many pheasants is rabbit meat worth?]

— […Haha. You’re going to burst my eardrums, Elias…]

Zähringen glanced at Leo and me with a knowing smile.

“Looks like we’d better step it up too.”

— [You can try all you want, but–]

“By the way, did you actually catch a rabbit?”

— [Not yet. I’m waiting to hear how many pheasants it’s worth before I decide~]

“Let’s just leave rabbits out of it if we can. No need to make things bloody.”

Smiling up at the sky, Zähringen immediately ended the connection. Turning back to us, he sighed.

“This isn’t good. Ismailov’s ability seems perfectly suited for hunting.”

“What ability?”

“He was humming something. You said he got rid of vitriol by singing a requiem before, right? I wonder if it’s related… He shouldn’t have much mana left. No, more than that—what little he has is supposed to be reserved entirely for warping. So how is he still able to do that?”

Leaving the others to their discussion, I continued pouring mana into the ground, focused on digging a pit in front of a warp marker.

“It’s a good opportunity, isn’t it?”

A different light shone in Zähringen’s eyes as the corners of his lips curled upward.

There was only so much a government investigation could uncover. Then again, I was the one handling that investigation on the government’s behalf in the first place. Competition—and an atmosphere that encouraged it—had a way of bringing hidden things to the surface. It gave people a reason to use abilities they normally had no opportunity, or no need, to reveal.

The fact that we’d already begun asking how he could use certain abilities despite having his mana restricted by the government proved just how valuable this situation was. I glanced at my friends before continuing.

“If you’re going to be friends with someone, you need to know a lot about them.”

“True enough. More importantly, shouldn’t we move on to the next stage?”

At Zähringen’s words, Leo folded his arms. Zähringen pointed toward the endless stretch of plains and forest in the distance.

“The way to win this pheasant hunt is obvious, isn’t it? In a place this big—well over a hundred hectares—what we need to do next is pretty clear.”

“Hmmm~ Now that’s interesting. Really interesting.”

Elias stroked his chin as he looked around at the animals gathering nearby. Little Pie-like creatures were everywhere. Narke muttered that they were making him think of Pie—the same person who’d insisted they belonged to the order Lagomorpha. They did look alike, to be fair—but that wasn’t what had Elias’s attention.

“So singing brings animals to you? How?”

Ismailov didn’t answer. Elias waved a hand at him and laughed.

“Your voice sounds like it’s got the Holy Spirit living in it. Hahaha!”

“…….”

“…….”

Smiling faintly, Narke turned his head away. Ismailov remained expressionless, staring straight ahead. Reading the mood out of the corner of his eye, Elias smacked his lips.

“You’re no fun~ Oh, right. Sir Ismailov, mind if I drop the honorifics and call you you?”

“You actually asked.”

“What else was I supposed to do? Honestly, I liked how things were earlier this morning a lot better.”

After remaining silent the entire time, Ismailov finally spoke.

“Go ahead.”

“There we go~ Then you can talk to me casually too.”

“I have always spoken comfortably to you.”

“Oh.”

That was the end of the conversation. The pointer had wandered too far off, so Elias flicked his wand to steer it back before breaking the silence again.

“Do you not want to be friends or something?”

“No.”

“Really? Then quit talking so formally.”

“I am speaking comfortably.”

Elias came to an abrupt stop on the path. Narke and Ismailov stopped with him and looked his way. Only the pointer continued weaving through the reeds ahead. Elias curled one corner of his mouth before tilting his head.

“Am I making you uncomfortable? Am I being too dense? Or do you really want to keep talking so formally?”

“No. You do not make me uncomfortable.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Ismailov suddenly turned his head toward him. Elias slung an arm over his shoulder and pulled him down until their faces were nearly level.

“Ah, good. Come here. If I have to spell it out, it’s not about what you’re comfortable with—it’s about what makes us comfortable. There’s only so much awkwardness people can put up with. Unless you seriously hate speaking casually, can we stop making this harder than it needs to be?”

“I don’t think that’s quite what you meant.”

Narke’s comment made Elias shoot him a look before he hurried to explain.

“I mean, yeah, call people however you’re comfortable! But people our age usually use casual speech with each other because it’s easier for everyone. That’s why I asked if I was making you uncomfortable earlier. Normally, in a situation like this… agh!”

“Haha~”

“Unless you’ve got some incurable condition that forces you to use honorifics with me, stop making me explain every little thing, Ismailov.”

Ismailov glanced away before answering.

“Alright. I’ll do as you say.”

“That’s what I’m talking about!”

Elias snapped his fingers.

“So you called me ‘you’ before you called Luka that~?”

“It’s my first time. I may slip up because I’m not used to it.”

Silence settled over the group. Elias let out a snort and nodded.

“Good enough. But hold on—you’ve never called anyone ‘you’ before? That’s giving me a headache. Tell me why later.”

After this hunt was over. After they started prying into Pleroma’s plans in earnest. Before Ismailov could respond, Elias had already moved on.

“Anyway. Are there no foxes around here? Or wild dogs? Then again, this is the royal hunting grounds. Nothing but herbivores.”

He swept his gaze across the marsh and reed beds. It was perfect pheasant country—plenty of insects, plenty of cover. Though that wasn’t what interested him.

“When you started singing, even the pheasants showed up. They stayed a little farther away, but they were… wandering around pretty freely.”

Someone unfamiliar with hunting might have wondered what was so strange about that. Narke, however, stayed silent.

He’d have something new to tell Luka. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Narke raised his musket. Only then did Elias notice the pointer freeze with one paw lifted.

Bang!

Miss. The pheasant flew away with a frantic flutter of wings. Elias instantly swung his muzzle upward. Two more shots rang out. The pheasant tumbled from the sky.

“Nice. That’s another one~ Honestly, we’ve already done well enough to call it a day and head home.”

“You hit it while it was flying.”

“Yep. But hey, I was going to let it slide once, but why’d you start using honorifics again?”

“Sorry.”

Ismailov offered only a brief apology. Watching the pointer return with the pheasant in its jaws, Narke smiled calmly.

“Hmm. I’m still not very good at this.”

“Well, it’s not like you’ve had years of practice~”

“You really don’t sugarcoat things, do you?”

“You know me. More importantly, Ismailov—you need to keep singing! Go on!”

The three of them continued toward the canal.

The animals that had scattered at the gunshot gradually gathered again, drawn by Ismailov’s singing. Just how many ways could that ability be used? And could it even be called magic? Pondering that, Elias fixed his eyes on a gray, chicken-like bird wandering in the distance.

Bang!

Grinning from ear to ear, Elias lowered his musket from his shoulder. The pointer came racing back with another pheasant clenched in its jaws.

“Wow, you’re really good at shooting.”

“Of course~ More importantly, they just keep showing up. How many pheasants did they stock this place with?”

Narke only laughed. Elias had nothing more to add, so he held the pheasant upside down and examined it. Its form shimmered faintly. After that, they simply walked on while listening to Ismailov’s singing.

That makes it 4:1. By now, they had covered quite a bit of ground. The other team’s gunshots should have started reaching them soon.

‘But I haven’t heard a thing.’

That, in itself, was useful information.

There were two possible explanations. First, the other team’s pointer hadn’t found a single pheasant. Humans hated going home empty-handed, and hunting dogs weren’t fond of it either. Tough luck for them.

And the second?

Anyone on the street could’ve guessed it if Elias rattled off the situation at breakneck speed for thirty seconds. This wasn’t one of those twisted strategy games the Academy or the Command loved to spring on people. It was a simple contest of stamina.

Every game had strategy, of course, but this pheasant hunt boiled down to two things: 1. Claim the better hunting grounds. 2. Shoot better.

That was all. Which meant there was only one thing the silence from the other side could mean.

Elias shifted the musket into his other hand and drew his wand.

“Maybe it’s time we moved somewhere else. Narke!”

Bang—!

“Going somewhere?”

A gentle voice answered him. Crimson hair fluttered in the breeze as two swords collided in an instant. Bracing the tip of his blade with his free hand, Elias grinned.

“…Where else? This is exactly why we need to move~”

They’d figured out his team was racking up pheasants. Naturally, they’d come to seize the “better hunting grounds” for themselves. It was the obvious conclusion—after all, Ismailov’s location itself was the better hunting grounds.

Should’ve bolted a little sooner. Then again, they’d probably searched half the hunting grounds before making it here, so he couldn’t exactly complain.

Elias’s gaze flicked to the edge of his vision.

Narke and Ismailov were already gone. As expected. They had to avoid Luka and Leo’s attacks. The two had been standing nearby only moments ago, yet now there wasn’t a trace of them. Narke must have warped Ismailov away the instant the fight broke out. Leo would already be trying to track Ismailov down and bind him with plants.

Which left only one thing that mattered. Right now, his opponent was Julia alone.

“Knew you’d come. No way you’d sit back and watch us throw ourselves a pheasant party~ So then… where’s our Leo?”

Sparks burst from the clashing blades. Julia narrowed his eyes, the corner of his mouth curling upward. To Elias, the sound of Julia’s barrier shattering and repairing itself was crystal clear. Tiny fractures formed, sealed over again, and the fragments that scattered through the air glittered like splinters of gemstones. They were visible to the eye as much as they were audible.

Elias watched with open fascination before dragging out his next words.

“Hmm~? If you’re not going to tell me where he is, then move aside, Julia.”

“Why should I?”

“Ah, right. Of course you wouldn’t.”

Elias let out a sharp whistle. Blue and golden mana crashed together, rattling every sense, but the whistle cut cleanly through the chaos and reached both their ears.

“Never thought I’d live to see Julia playing Leo’s bodyguard~”

Bang—!

Julia bent backward to evade the blue strike. Having committed too much weight forward, Elias slammed his foot into the ground and sprang backward in one motion. Julia immediately gave chase. Elias only kept provoking him.

“Whether it’s politics or magic, you’ve always tried to absorb everything Leo learned.”

“And yet, it’s truly lamentable that I’m still not as good as Leo.”

“Hmm?”

“Am I wrong?”

Swoosh—

“Well… it’s not like the gap is worth lamenting over…”

It felt like watching someone who scored ninety-eight points look at a perfect score and lament how terrible they were at studying. Julia’s mana spread through the air, dragging down his movements. Elias swept his sword, using his own mana to clear the stagnant air as he continued. Serious taunts weren’t really his style when it came to close friends.

“When it comes to technique, he’s basically a professor. But you’ve got more mana than he does.”

“I could say the same to you. What have you been doing to end up with even more mana already?”

“Growth spurt.”

Julia’s blade flashed toward Elias’s hair. His eyes darted toward the warp marker embedded in the ground, but the azure blade kept forcing its way toward his face, cutting off every attempt.

“I’m not as obsessed with magic as Leo is. I love magic—I really do—but compared to him… I don’t think I can even say I love it that much.”

Krrk— Clang!

Their blades met. Julia’s golden eyes gleamed even with the sun behind him.

“So shouldn’t you let your friend run wild if it makes him happy?”

In other words, stop trying to find Narke and Ismailov and just let yourself get taken down here. Elias shook his head.

“Leo likes swinging a sword way more than making weeds dance. He isn’t happy at all~”

“But what can you do? Using that non-combat gardening ability effectively in battle is still Leo’s talent. There’s no reason to look down on it. We should just support him for who he is.”

Gardening ability? If Leo had been here—well, the Leo from their Third Academy days—he would’ve clenched his teeth and challenged Zähringen on the spot. Still… he wasn’t wrong. Most people didn’t treat plants like it was some alien lifeform.

‘Still, can’t afford to get baited..’

Squelch.

Being forced closer to the marsh meant the mud was starting to swallow his boots. If they got any heavier, he’d be in trouble. Julia was in the same situation, but if either of them got pushed back, Elias would be the first to suffer from the terrain.

Shaking his head, Elias spoke again.

“Mm, no~ That’s not it. Nope.”

Whoosh—Clang!

Elias pivoted naturally toward the side opposite the path of Zähringen’s blade—toward his right arm. It was a move meant to delay his opponent’s response by even a tenth of a second, but it forced him to change direction as well. His only options were to twist his wrist the other way or disengage completely, so he retreated toward the reeds behind him.

Regripping his sword, Zähringen immediately rushed after him.

“What’s ‘not it’ supposed to mean?”

“Leo wants me to be happy, Julia. He wants me to win this pheasant contest. His happiness is my happiness, and mine is his.”

“You’re awfully confident. Hmm. I care about you too—you’ve been my lifelong friend, after all. Your happiness is my happiness. Though I can’t promise mine is yours.”

“Then let me go~ I’ll be a lot happier once I get rid of you.”

“No, Eli. You’re already happy.”

Why? Why would I be happy right now? Had he picked up Lukas’s habit of making ridiculous claims? Elias frowned, one brow arching in disbelief. Even under his openly mocking stare, Julia only smiled back with infuriating warmth.

“Because you’re with me.”

“…….”

Bang—!

The instant Julia’s blade came crashing toward his face, Elias bent backward at the waist.

Damn it. He realized his mistake too late. The sun hung directly overhead, its orange glare stabbing into his eyes. The leather sole of Julia’s boot pressed against his throat.

‘Not good.’

Elias swallowed, the corner of his mouth twitching. If Julia put his weight into that kick, it was over. Psychological warfare was one thing, but this was just cheap. Every hair on his body stood on end. Staying still was impossible—but thankfully, Julia’s attempt to stomp on his neck meant he couldn’t stay still even if he wanted to.

Grabbing the sole of Julia’s boot with both hands, Elias shoved it away with all his strength, teeth clenched. Julia leaned in harder, putting more weight on his leg.

“So this is how you do it. You really don’t look like the type, so I’m still not used to you having zero resistance.”

“What do you mean, ‘don’t look like the type’?!”

“Haha.”

“Never mind. Where’d you pick up a line straight out of our grandparents’ generation? If it were me, I wouldn’t say it even if you paid me.”

“No, that’s your line. I learned it from you.”

“What nonsense!”

Bang—

Technically, Julia turned his head first—but the gunshot reached Elias’s ears before his eyes registered the movement. The deafening crack made his eyes snap open wider instead. Magical smoke drifted into the sky. Somewhere in the distance, a pointer came bounding back excitedly.

Julia lowered the barrel he’d been aiming into the distance and smoothly tilted it toward the sky instead, a gentle smile spreading across his face.

“See? This is all thanks to that line of yours. So, thanks.”

“You really never shut up!”

“Of course not. Lukas, Leo. Between the Monopteros and the center of the Grand Canal.”

Julia tapped his artifact and relayed their location to his teammates. Then he pulled out his pocket watch and let out a dry laugh.

Fifteen minutes until dinner. Once the bell rang, everyone would return to Nymphenburg Palace. If there hadn’t been a time limit, they would’ve hunted pheasants all night, but skipping the evening banquet—a meal that took an army of servants to prepare—would’ve been terribly improper. Calling it quits at the dinner bell had been an unspoken agreement from the start.

The score stood at 4:2. There was only so much game left in this part of the grounds. With both Julia and Elias tied up here, it would be difficult for the other two to cover both Narke and Ismailov and score the two points they needed. Besides, with people making this much noise fighting, every pheasant in the area would have long since fled.

Julia shifted more of his weight onto his foot pinning Elias down, then smiled at him, whose face had gone red from straining.

“We’ve still got a long way to go if we want to catch up. So… how should we kill the time until then?”

“Do we really have to go this far?”

Narke awkwardly smiled as he pushed my sword aside. Dissolving the vines wrapped around his feet with divine power, he asked, “We don’t even know what the prize for this wager is, Lukas.”

“I’m not the kind of person who only acts if there’s a reward.”

“Haha!”

Narke burst into laughter. Ismailov wasn’t here anymore. I was just about to continue my train of thought when Narke smiled again.

“Even though you pretended otherwise at first.”

“I never pretended.”

“That’s always how you are. Everything you say and do has to be peeled back layer by layer. You even deceive yourself.”

“…….”

I’d heard those words from someone before. It wasn’t that they bothered me because I didn’t understand them. They bothered me because I still didn’t know why Narke was saying them. His gentle voice slipped into my ears.

“That’s why I like you.”

Clang!

“And seeing that shell finally starting to crack has been… refreshing. Where are you going? You’re showing me your back.”

I slipped right past Narke, cut through the empty air behind him with my sword, then spun around and knocked aside the white blade rising from below.

“Are you trying to throw me off by saying things that don’t make any sense?”

“Hahaha! I’ve always done my best to make you understand.”

Screech—

Narke stepped in front of me, lowering his voice.

“At this rate, neither of us is going to catch any pheasants. If we keep fighting each other, they’ll all run away. Once that happens, we won’t be able to lure them back.”

“Even if they run away, they’re not leaving this area. More importantly… why are you fighting so conservatively?”

Fighting Narke with swords was my best option. He could wield divine power and was proficient with every kind of spell imaginable, so for me, a straight sword fight gave me the best odds. I could counter area-of-effect magic if I had to, but that was Narke’s home turf. So why was he deliberately fighting in a way that put himself at a disadvantage?

With that question in mind, I repeatedly deflected his blade in short, sharp exchanges, pressing in and pulling back again and again.

“You could fight like Leo if you wanted. There’s no reason for you to be using a sword. The fact that you’re fighting with a blade instead of a wand means you’re intentionally keeping this battle confined to a very small area. Why?”

“…….”

I already knew the answer. Watching Narke’s expression, I smiled.

“Alright. Let’s not make this a fight to the death. We’ll talk after we get back, Narke.”

“Fine. Does that mean you’ll let us go?”

“That’s a different matter. Right now, I have to protect Leo. What choice do I have?”

If I backed off here, they’d head straight for Leo. Narke blinked, then murmured with a knowing smile, “I wonder what it feels like to raise someone yourself and use them as your own bodyguard.”

Boom—

With a deafening blast, Narke landed some distance away as the crimson magic I’d released erupted and scattered in every direction.

“I think I already know the answer. I just can’t enjoy it as innocently anymore.”

He slashed away the vines flying toward him.

It certainly looked that way. There was something complicated in his expression. But I couldn’t understand why he used the word enjoy, so I frowned.

Leo was watching the two of us from somewhere. If I failed to keep Narke occupied here, he’d unleash an area-of-effect spell to find Leo.

At the same time, Ismailov wasn’t here. He was the real objective, which meant there might not even be a reason for us to keep fighting in this spot. Even so, I still couldn’t signal Leo to move. Glancing around, I asked briefly, “What do you mean?”

“Silence is golden. Choosing not to choose is still a choice.”

“Sure. Avoidance is a choice too.”

“We should spar more often.”

I understood why he said that. Once a spar became strategic—where winning and losing actually mattered—instead of ordinary training, people unexpectedly became much more talkative. Just like now. You had to use every possible distraction to throw your opponent off balance.

I stopped talking and focused on crossing blades. Narke did the same.

“I’d love to raise you myself and entrust my back to you, too.”

By my back, he meant the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Papal See, didn’t he? Somehow, I couldn’t shake the feeling that those words implied far more than that.

“So? Will you? If you tell me you’ll gladly do it, I’ll let you go.”

“You’re bringing up something awfully heavy in the middle of a friendly match.”

As if he’d been thinking about it for a long time. I swallowed those thoughts and raised my voice.

— In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.

BOOOOM—!

Four streams of crimson mana burst outward in every direction. Why had Narke insisted on fighting with a sword? And why hadn’t I sent Leo somewhere else?

“The reason you’re using a sword is because you can’t let me cast wide-area magic. You couldn’t allow my mana to spread beyond a certain range.”

Then why couldn’t I use wide-area magic?

There were two reasons, but I’d only say one of them.

“Sir Ismailov is here, isn’t he, Narke?”

At the moment, Ismailov only had enough mana left for the two daily warps, and even that mana was bound to the warp-support artifact, meaning it could only be used for warping. Narke couldn’t have left him completely unguarded, so he’d kept him nearby. And since he was in a state where he couldn’t properly use Insight on me, his ability to predict Ismailov’s future had to be at rock bottom. Naturally, he’d be even more cautious because of it.

Crash!

In the distance, the faint concealment spell Narke had cast shattered, revealing a pale-white mage shielding himself with an arm. With a sharp crack, vibrant green vines erupted and wrapped around his limbs. I kicked off the ground toward him. Narke switched his sword to a wand and thrust it at me.

Boom!

Golden mana shot toward me and successfully bound my arms and legs. Before I dropped my wand, I thrust it toward Narke, yanked him violently into my arms, and stamped the ground once more.

The scenery before my eyes changed. Narke staggered in front of a warp marker about ten minutes’ walk from Amalienburg, where we’d started. Since I was going to collapse after the warp anyway, I deliberately fell sideways and narrowly avoided disaster. Narke, on the other hand, tumbled straight into the pit I’d hidden beneath the reeds.

“Urgh…!”

“…I’m dizzy. I’ll be back in a moment.”

“H-Hey, wait, Lukas! You can’t just do that!”

I immediately snapped my fingers, shifted the warp marker at my previous location back by one space, and warped away. Even buying five seconds was worth it.

Ismailov had been singing right until we arrived. That should have been enough time for the animals to gather, at least briefly. As for the pheasants… well, skipping the long explanation, based on everything I’d seen so far, there had to be some nearby. I transformed my wand into a staff and slammed it into the ground.

A flock of birds burst into the air. Near the next warp point where we’d been—where Leo had been lying in ambush—I heard a gunshot, followed by something dropping from the sky.

Good. 4:3.

I thrust my wand forward and warped again. Pulling every nearby warp marker back one space, I poured magic into the ground. Birds scattered into the sky in every direction.

‘Honestly, any real hunting enthusiast would hate me for turning the whole place upside down like this.’

Doesn’t matter how I do it, as long as we win. Narke was probably already chasing me by now, so this wasn’t the time to be picky. I glanced toward the nearby pavilion and struck the ground again.

‘…Let’s see. From Badenburg, where we were earlier should be to the northwest.’

Watching the species of birds taking flight, I quickly found north and shoved my barrier forward.

KWAAANG—!

The shockwave ripped through the air. Badenburg and our previous position sat on opposite ends of the same lake, so they weren’t actually that far apart. After steering the flock of pheasants toward the right direction, I planted my staff and caught my breath. The rest was up to my friends.

Dooong—

The first bell rang. The hour had come.

Bang—! Bang!

Between the first and second bell, two gunshots—neither fired by me—echoed from elsewhere. Narrowing my eyes, I watched pheasants tumble from the sky in the distance, the corner of my mouth curling upward.

Now then… who fired those?