Part 5
“Ano, how far do you want us to go?”
Alexia called out to the head librarian walking in front of her.
His tall back advanced through the dark corridor.
“We’re almost there.”
“If you want to talk, we can do it in the classroom.”
“…… Then, shall we do it here?”
Saying so, the head librarian stopped.
It’s in the middle of the hallway.
“Here?”
“Yes, Now that the preparations are done.”
He turned around and smiled thinly.
It’s a smile she doesn’t like. Alexia frowned.
“…… Alexia”
“The Fog is……”
“Fog?”
Behind Alexia, Claire taps her on the shoulder.
When she looks around, she sees a white fog that has somehow gathered in the corridor.
“Why is there fog here……?”
“It’s the same?”
The fog is rapidly thickening.
From somewhere, a sound like something cracking.
“This is the same as when I was attacked……”
And then the world shattered.
The scenery shatters as if a mirror is broken.
“W-What is this!”
They were supposed to be in the hallway of the school, but the air was completely different.
The world is shrouded in white fog.
A sweet smell comes from somewhere.
“Alexia, draw your sword.”
Prompted by Claire, Alexia also draws her sword.
“We’re surrounded.”
“Eh?”
Searching for presence, she found several people behind a thick fog.
While looking at the two of them, they gradually close the distance. They don’t seem to be in a friendly mood.
“I’m surprised you noticed them, Claire.”
“The ghost is excellent.”
“I see. So, head librarian.”
Alexia lowers her voice and points her sword at the head librarian.
He stood in the fog with a thin smile on his face.
“What is it, Princess Alexia?”
“What does this mean?”
Coming here, Alexia wasn’t stupid enough to trust him.
“Yare yare, you’re more perceptive than I thought.”
The head librarian pulled a large machete from his pocket.
One on the left hand and one on the right hand.
“It’s a dangerous weapon. I think a head librarian should fight with pen and paper.”
“Pen and paper are ideals. Reality is built with the sword.”
Saying that, he holds up a machete in each hand.
“I’ll take the head librarian. Claire, you take care of the enemies around.”
“Okay.”
As the two took up their positions back to back, the fight began.
Two machete blows strike out of the white fog.
Alexia takes a half step back to avoid the first blow and parries the follow-up blow with her sword.
“Hou.”
When the head librarian looks her in the eye, Alexia launches a counterattack.
The sword, which was natural without hesitation, carved a shallow wound on the head librarian’s cheek.
“Well, well”
He stepped back out of the distance, rejoined the partition, and wiped the blood from his cheeks.
“I was surprised. You move like a different person from Princess Alexia I know.”
There was honest admiration in the voice of the head librarian.
“It’s a period of growth.”
“If so, it’s great. A sword holds a person’s accumulation of things. Before, you were just imitating Princess Iris. But now you have transformed it. No, I think it would be more appropriate to describe it as a combination of different things.”
“Do you have time to analyze?”
“Yes, of course.”
“——Even now?”
It was Claire behind her who said that.
Around her, several figures fall, which gradually shatter and disappear.
The head librarian’s eyebrows move in surprise.
“Are seven of the 2nd wiped out? Claire Kagenou. She was this year’s winner of the Bushin Festival, wasn’t she? I’m sure she wasn’t this good, but she seems to use some kind of strange power.”
“…… Did you see it?”
“You used red tentacles. Interesting.”
He did not miss Claire’s battle while fighting Alexia.
Alexia and Claire confront the head librarian.
“Now it’s two against one.”
“The tables are turned.”
“Does it look that way to you?”
He had some leeway.
“You are strong. But the two of us can beat you.”
“A young, is it?”
“You seem so relaxed.”
“Because I’ve given up.”
“Given up?”
“I gave up the sword, you see. This world is a big place. There is always someone better than you. So I don’t hate to see talented swords like yours. I am sure you will soon overtake me.”
“If you’ve given up, surrender right now. I’ll make you tell me everything.”
Alexia said, and the head librarian smiled thinly.
“After all, you are young. If one doesn’t stick to swords, it means one can fight in a different way.”
“Eh?”
The sweet smell tickled her nose.
Then two sounds overlapped, clang, clang.
It was the sound of Alexia and Claire’s swords falling to the floor.
“Wha……”
“Cih, my power……”
“This sweet smell is a potion that relaxes the muscles and confuses the magic power.”
The head librarian looked down at the two girls crouching unbearably on the floor.
“Didn’t …… you say you would fight with this sword.”
“You two are talented and have a bright future. That’s why you’re being swept off your feet by the likes of me.”
The head librarian takes out a rope and binds their arms.
“Tell me …… why you did this ……”
“…… I wonder why.”
“You are strong. So why are you doing this……”
“…… There’s always someone better than you. My sword has already been broken.”
“Broken…..? What do you mean?”
He had eyes that seemed to look somewhere far away.
“There once was a swordsman called “Fenrir”. Have you ever heard of him?”
“…… No, I haven’t.”
“Of course you have. Everyone who lives in this country knows it.”
Alexia thought of the contestants at the Bushin Festival and the rumored magic swordsmen in other countries, but had no idea who he was talking about.
“The Magic Swordsman Called “Fenrir” …… No way, the fairy tale?!”
“That “Fenrir”. He was once called the strongest magic swordsman and made a name for himself around the world.”
“Wait! The Magic Swordsman Fenrir was alive hundreds of years ago! Who knows if he ever really existed.”
“He really existed. Besides, that personage is still alive.”
“No way, he is alive…… Don’t tell me, Diabolos drops!?”
Alexia remembered the story she had heard in the sanctuary.
It is said that there are beings called “Rounds,” who have gained eternal life by a drop of Diabolos.
“You even knew about the Diabolos drops? I knew I couldn’t let you live.”
“What are you going to do with us……”
“Sacrifice. I had no intention of laying a hand on you guys, but we’ve had very little demon possession to collect lately.”
He takes a bottle of liquid from his pocket and holds it close to Alexia’s mouth.
It had a strong sweet smell.
“Then please have a good night’s sleep. Never to wake up again, to eternal sleep……”
“Kuh……”
Alexia held her breath and turned her face away. Still, little by little, her consciousness faded away.
“Alexia!”
“Clai……re”
At that time.
There was a sound that sounded like something being forcibly torn apart.
The feeling that the world is being torn apart by a mighty pressure.
Then the ceiling cracks.
“What is this?”
The head librarian puts down the bottle and looks up.
A black shadow descended from the cracking ceiling.
TAP.
A small, out-of-place landing sound echoes, and a black shadow rises.
“You are ……”
“You are ……”
A man stands in a white fog, wearing a long jet-black coat.
“”Shadow……!””
He pulled out his sword with a sway, letting his long coat hang in the air.
The head librarian held up a large machete with a grim look on his face.
“I never thought the Shadow would appear in person……There should have been no report.”
“——You have bad hobby.”
Shadow took one look at the head librarian and said so.
“What do you mean by having bad hobby?”
“The way that you do.”
“…… Indeed.”
The head librarian’s face contorted. Then he laughed as if despising himself.
“Life is not as you would expect it to be. I wander in its whirlpool and am broken. And I am living in a state of disgrace. If you say I have bad hobby, you are exactly right.”
The head librarian said in a calm voice.
“But it was worth the living shame.”
“…… Hou.”
“Shadow. You are the end of my journey. A fitting end for a fool who has had his sword broken and betrayed his country.”
“…… Have you made up your mind?”
“I knew this would happen from the moment Zenon was killed. At least, in my last moments, as a swordsman —— I’m going to fight.”
A large machete cleaves the fog and attacks Shadow.
——The swords are stacked against each other.
The words of the head librarian returned Alexia’s mind.
Indeed, his slashes shone beautifully.
“——Excellent.”
Shadow layered his sword on its brilliance.
If it’s just parrying then it’s good but.
The large machete becomes fragile, brittle, and shattered.
“…… Shattered, huh?”
The machete, reduced to its handle, made a lonely clank, clank sound.
Shadow waved his sword.
After a delay, the wind pressure of the slash drowned out the white fog.
The world is cracking. The whole area is covered with cracks with a creaking sound.
And the world cracked.
As if everything was an illusion, they return to our original world.
No, the head librarian who collapsed in a pool of blood proved that it was not an illusion.
“Shadow…… I guess it wasn’t even a match?”
The head librarian coughed and vomited up a clump of blood.
“——The peak is not yet in sight”
Shadow fluttered his jet-black long coat and disappeared.
“…… That’s Shadow’s Sword.”
Claire muttered. The strength of the head librarian, who is quite a powerful man, kicked down without letting him do anything, made her tremble.
“He is getting stronger again……”
Alexia muttered in frustration.
Claire and Alexia worked together to break free of the restraints and stand up. Then they looked down at the head librarian.
“Head Librarian ……”
“I’m already …… can’t be saved.”
He had a deep wound in his chest.
“Aren’t you perhaps a famous magic swordsman?”
Alexia couldn’t help but ask. There was a beauty in his final blow that only the first-class could possess.
“Nope…… I am a nameless magic swordsman.”
He shook his head and replied.
Even Alexia knew it was a lie. Looking at his arms, she could still see the old scars.
“What about that arm……?”
“It was cut……The technology of the cult has connected them, but they don’t work the way they used to anymore. In the past, I could use swords a bit more refined.”
“Who cut you?”
“……by Fenrir. My sword was broken that day.”
“May I ask what happened?”
“Okay …… I will tell you until my life is over.”
He says, looking down at the wound on his chest.
Alexia and Claire sat down beside him.
“That was about fifty years ago. That was when I was in the Knights of this country……”
The head librarian looked up at the foggy night sky through the corridor window as if to recall a distant memory.
“I won the Bushin Festival and joined the Knights. I exposed injustice, caught the bad guys, and was promised a future career.”
“I knew you were a skilled magic swordsman”
“I only had the momentum. So I found evidence of injustice that I should not have touched. I’m sure you are aware of the harmful pests that lurk in the Kingdom of Midgar …… No, all over the world. Princess Alexia must have noticed it, right”
“…… It’s the Diabolos cult.”
“Right. At the time I did not know about the existence of the Diabolos cult. So I mistakenly thought that the priests of the Holy Church were committing injustice, and I went to the church.”
“To the church?”
“I was still young. I believed that if I was right, all would be forgiven. I wanted to bring justice to the corrupt Holy Church.
Together with my subordinates, I investigated the church and tried to gather conclusive evidence of wrongdoing.
But …… ordinary priests had nothing to do with injustice. They just genuinely believed in the Holy Faith and spread the teachings.
The believers were the same. They were only pure, Holy Church believers to all intents and purposes.
Only a small percentage of the high-ranking priests were dishonest.
We patiently watched the priest and discovered a secret room in the basement of the church. We descended a long flight of stairs and found a horrifying sight.
A number of rotten demon-possessed people were in prison and moaning. They were wounded, and some had been implanted with something unidentifiable.
While we were stunned, the door behind us closed.
It was a trap.
I felt a killing intent and defended myself as quickly as I could.
Then I was hit by a tremendous impact and rolled on the floor.
When I got up, I saw my own left arm that had been cut off, the dead bodies of my subordinates who had been decapitated —— and the magic swordsman “Fenrir” standing in the center of it all.
I gripped my sword with my remaining right arm and angrily slashed at him. As a result, I lost my right arm as well.
The Diabolos cult was accustomed to eliminating “Ally of Justice” like myself.”
He dropped his gaze to the old scars carved into his arms.
It was overwhelming power. “Fenrir” brought a woman unconscious before me as I fell. She was my wife. As the winner of the Bushin Festival and a rising star in the Knights, I must have been of use to the cult. I sold my soul to the Diabolos cult in exchange for the safety of my wife……”
“…… What happened to your wife? If she’s safe, I’ll take her into custody.”
“Fortunately, my wife passed away without knowing anything about it.”
“You didn’t try to fight back?”
The head librarian shook his head sadly.
“The will to rebel has been severed with these two arms. Princess Alexia, please be careful. You are about to walk the same path as me. Beyond that lies despair and endless darkness.”
Alexia meets the head librarian’s steely gaze without looking away.
“…… But I must do it. As the princess of this country.”
The head librarian squinted as if see something bright.
“You have become a fine person. Then I’ll give you some final advice……”
The head librarian coughed up blood from the corner of his mouth with a thin breath.
“Do you know the purpose of the Diabolos cult …… Princess Alexia?”
“The resurrection of Demon Diabolos, right”
“Then why is the cult trying to resurrect the Demon Diabolos?”
“Etto, that’s……”
Alexia was at a loss for words.
Even though she knew of the cult’s goals, she had never thought about its motives.
“There are two reasons. One is to gain more power. All three heroes were women. All the demon-possessed were also women. The diabolos cells were only adapted to women. So the cult could only gain power through imperfect medicine.”
Saying so, the head librarian took out a red pill from his pocket.
“That’s the drug used by Zenon.”
“He’s an inept disciple.”
“You didn’t use it”
“It’s a disgrace to magic swordsmen. …… But the cult saw the potential in this drug. They wanted to develop a complete medicine that would be effective and without side effects. That is why they have been studying the blood of heroes for many years. If they could revive the demon Diabolos, they would probably be able to complete it. They will have an overwhelming power that surpasses even heroes.”
“That would be bad, right.”
“But the second reason is more serious for the cult. You knew about the Diabolos Drops, didn’t you.”
“Was it the drop that gives eternal life?”
“Only twelve drops can be taken each year. Drinking the “Hand of Diabolos” will stop aging for only one year. But now, these drops are decreasing.”
“What do you mean decreasing?”
“I do not know the cause. But if the amount continues to decrease, eternal life will be lost in the near future. For the highest executives of the cult, that was something they would never tolerate. They wanted to resurrect the demon Diabolos in order to collect a large amount of “Diabolos Drops” again and make eternal life complete. They have been ruling this world from the shadows, and have continued to be run by the highest executives with eternal life in their hands. However, if the “Diabolos Drop” is lost, this will be shaken…… Goho.”
The head librarian took a deep breath and looked up at the moon floating in the night sky.
“Perhaps it is no coincidence that the Shadow Garden appeared at this time. The beginning of the end, of a long reign. That is why you must be …… careful. Are they really …… the ally of justice that protects the peace of the world?”
Alexia could not answer.
All she knew about the Shadow Garden was that it was hostile to the Diabolos cult. Other than that, almost everything else was a mystery.
“Perhaps they are trying to steal from the cult……”
“Steal? What on earth?”
“Eternal life …… And this world ……Goho, goho!!”
“Head Librarian……”
“A-After the cult fell… The world will be ruled…… by…… Shadow…… Garde….. Goho”
The head librarian vomited a lot of blood.
“Head Librarian——!”
“P-Princess Alexia……”
He takes a pained breath and weaves words.
“The future of this country……I leave it to you……”
And the head librarian took his last breath.
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