#64
The Sword seemed to think it was a pointless matter, but not to me. If the Sword ever went wrong, I didn’t want to sit helplessly like I was now. I wanted to help in any way I could, and if there was a method, I wanted to know it to prevent future situations.
The Sword seemed reluctant, constantly choosing words without giving any answer. I waited quietly until the Sword made a decision. After a while, realizing I wouldn’t back down, the Sword reluctantly spoke.
“Fine, I give up. I lost. Though it won’t happen, but if I ever go wrong…”
Still reluctant to the end, the Sword hesitated before finally uttering someone’s name.
“Go to Kara.”
“Kara? I should go to Kara?”
“The best would be Zahar, but you wouldn’t want to go to Zahar, right?”
The Duke’s name coming from the Sword’s mouth felt somehow strange. How many people could address the Duke by his name in the first place? It was hard to get used to someone calling the Duke by his name. Even though it was a perfectly normal thing.
He too was a person with a name and must have been called by it by someone. Though by now, he would be more accustomed to being addressed by his title.
In fact, what captivated me more than the Sword calling the Duke by his name was that the Sword specifically knew I avoided and shunned the Duke. The Sword had noticed that it wasn’t just a son avoiding his father, but that I wouldn’t want to go to the Duke no matter how difficult the situation.
“How did you know I was avoiding my father?”
“Well, you don’t want to send me to the Duke, right? You’re afraid he’ll take me away completely. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”
I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It was similar but in the wrong direction. The Sword seemed to think it was just a child’s immature possessiveness. It would have been a serious problem if the Sword had figured out why I was wary of the Duke.
“You caught me.”
“Yes. Now you know how well I understand you? You’re in the palm of my hand! So stop doing unnecessary things!”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm!? Did you just say ‘hmm…’!?”
I half-listened to the Sword’s panicked outcry. Even so, I couldn’t tell the Sword, “I can’t trust your words, so I’ve decided to experiment myself.”
“I’m not doing anything special. I just have a few questions.”
“That is something special! What are you trying to do!?”
It would be a big problem if I told the Sword and later, when the Sword went to the Duke, it reported everything I had done. I absolutely couldn’t tell the Sword about this, no matter what else.
It was an experiment using Clum. The fact that I was going to learn about my body through Clum was a secret that shouldn’t be revealed to anyone. If this experiment could confirm that there was a secret to my body, I absolutely couldn’t let anyone know.
“Aren’t you going to tell me?”
“No, the more I learn about Clum, the more fascinating they are, so I was planning to ask Kara later.”
“Kara? About what?”
“About how Clum originated, things like that? It’s not well covered in newspaper articles.”
It wasn’t a lie since I did plan to ask Kara about Clum later. The Sword seemed to keep suspecting me, but it didn’t have concrete evidence to corner me.
I recounted the day’s events one by one while inwardly contemplating how to conduct this experiment. I had figured out how to procure Clum, but I hadn’t yet decided on an experiment location. Since I couldn’t do it at school, I needed to find a remote place where people wouldn’t go.
“Your body comes first. You know that, right?”
I was planning an experiment that could potentially be fatal if something went wrong. Though my conscience pricked at me, I answered with a smile, trying to look as relaxed as possible.
“Of course. I won’t do anything dangerous.”
It felt increasingly bitter that I seemed to be telling more lies as days passed.
* * *
The weekend was a time when students at school could freely return home. Students whose homes were far away would remain in the dormitory, while others decided to go into town to enjoy their long-awaited freedom.
Since enrolling, all my weekends had been consumed by assignments. The notorious political science class had truly enormous assignments. Who would have thought it wouldn’t end with just one assignment but would extend to a seminar?
As a result, I hadn’t been able to return home even once and had to stay at school immersed in assignments. Now that the assignments were finished, it would be nice to finally go home… But there was no time for that this weekend either. That’s not to say I was cooped up at school.
Today, I was on my way out of school by carriage to visit a shop where I could obtain Clum, as Ramtel had informed me. I had actually planned not to use a carriage as I didn’t want to announce that I was going out. The shopping district wasn’t so far from school that I couldn’t get there without special transportation.
If it weren’t for that person sitting across from me, I could have walked to the shopping district on my own two feet.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you, Yutis.”
Why did Yutis, who had been absent from school for days after the seminar incident, choose today of all days to return? Moreover, he stuck to me closer than usual and wouldn’t leave my side, resulting in him accompanying me to the shopping district.
How was I supposed to get rid of him? Just thinking about it made my head ache with gloom.
“Is your head hurting again? You might develop chronic headaches at this rate.”
I couldn’t properly respond to Rikin, who was sitting next to me and asking with concern. One person was hard enough to deal with, but Rikin too? It was truly the worst situation.
It was a blessing in disguise that Persis and Iria weren’t here. I couldn’t imagine what the situation would have been like if those two had been present as well.
Rikin boarded this carriage for a trivial reason. He happened to see Yutis and me just as we were about to board the carriage and suggested accompanying us, saying he had business in the shopping district. Yutis showed subtle signs of discomfort, and I also didn’t want Rikin to come along, but I simply couldn’t refuse his request.
The image of him running around alone during the seminar kept overlapping in my mind, making it impossible for me to say no. To think I had to go with these ridiculous people. I used all my strength to suppress the sigh that was about to escape.
“I’m not in pain. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Or are you getting motion sickness? But you don’t usually get carsick in carriages, do you?”
I have no idea how he knew whether I get motion sickness or not. But I didn’t want to exert energy pointing out every little thing, so I let Rikin’s words go in one ear and out the other.
Rikin didn’t seem to want a response from me, as he didn’t press further. It wasn’t Rikin who wanted a more accurate answer about my condition, but Yutis sitting across from me.
Yutis, who had been observing my complexion since boarding the carriage, widened his eyes and urged a response. It was such a fierce look that if seen wrongly, one might think he was glaring at me. It was too difficult to withstand Yutis’s gaze, which seemed to say he wouldn’t let me be if I remained silent.
“My head does hurt a bit, but I think it’s because I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Then close your eyes for a bit. Don’t overexert yourself.”
“Yes, get some rest.”
As soon as I spoke, Yutis and Rikin each chimed in. Though I felt sorry for making them worry unnecessarily, I couldn’t just remain silent. I nodded awkwardly and leaned my head against the carriage window.
It seemed better to pretend to sleep. I decided to think about how to shake off these two while at least keeping my eyes closed. No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t come up with a solution, but I had no choice. If not today, I would have to wait until next weekend, and that would be too late.
In the original story, there was no event where Clum went haywire because of Andelion, but this world was already not following the original flow. It wouldn’t be strange if what happened at the seminar occurred again anytime, anywhere.
Perhaps this body had changed somehow. My hypothesis was that a change that wasn’t in the original story had suddenly appeared, causing my body to be able to influence Clum. To accurately confirm this situation, I had no choice but to conduct several experiments with Clum. Therefore, I had to shake off Rikin and Yutis no matter what.
While I continued to ponder, we arrived at the shopping district. The weekend shopping district was filled with many people. There were families out for a stroll, couples on casual dates, and some professional merchants who had brought large carriages to sell goods on the street.
I tried to figure out how to get rid of these two before getting off the carriage. Then I came to one conclusion.
“Let’s go our separate ways now.”
I had to be direct. At my words, Yutis firmly pressed his lips together in a straight line, expressing his dissatisfaction.
“Shall we?”
I had expected Yutis to naturally refuse, but I hadn’t anticipated Rikin would agree so readily. Rikin nodded and smiled with a cheerful face.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
