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[167] A Dangerous Deal (3)
Amy walked up to them. Covering the corner of her mouth, as if she were thinking the same thing as Sirone, she needled Kanis.
"Hee-hee! Don't tell me you failed? Well, figures—it's so like you two."
Maybe Sirone had no hard feelings since he'd won the fight, but Amy had a lot to settle with those two.
True to her philosophy that a debt must be repaid, she used this chance to land a proper blow.
But Kanis didn't rise to the bait.
"Hmph. Aren't you lot the same? Now that I see it, the graduating class isn't much either."
"Don't make me laugh! And how would you know I failed?"
"If you know I failed, that means you took the trial too. If you'd passed, you wouldn't be standing around lost here. Are you an idiot?"
"You little—! Where do you get off mouthing off like that to your elders!"
"And who was it that got dragged around helplessly by that junior? Shouldn't you be grateful? If I hadn't stopped Lucas, you might be dead."
Murder flashed in Amy's eyes. Remembering how, when she'd been exposed to Abyss Nova, Lucas had marked her out and she'd nearly been put through hell, anger surged up.
"You bastard…!"
Before Sirone could stop her, Amy swung a fist at Kanis.
Just as she was about to slap him across the face with Schema strength, the shadow cast behind Kanis sprang up, and inky-black claws climbed over his shoulder.
Amy reflexively stepped back. Harvest, hugging Kanis as if to shield him, split its mouth in a grin.
"Hee-hee-hee! Long time no see, Unnie. Your personality's the same."
"Eeeeek! What is that!"
Tourists screamed at the sight of Harvest and bolted. From Sirone's point of view, it was understandable.
Nobles weren't unfamiliar with magic effects, but a human-shaped shadow suddenly rearing up belonged to a whole other realm of grotesque.
Even Tess was struck dumb at the sight of Harvest.
"My god. The shadow's talking, isn't it? Rian, you ever seen anything like that?"
A small face set over broad shoulders, a waist slim as a cat's. It had a human shape, but its arms were twice as thin and long as a human's. Its palms were big as shields, and its claws were pointed like swords.
"No, it's my first time too. But looks like Sirone knows it."
Harvest spread its huge palm wide, shielding most of Kanis's torso. Faced with Harvest, which specialized in absorbing shock, even Amy had no choice but to be cautious.
"Hee-hee, let's both be careful about getting close. I don't want to see blood in a place like this."
"That thing…"
Just as Amy tensed to rush again, Sirone raised a finger. At his fingertip, red photons compressed, shimmering with afterimages as if about to fire at once.
This time, Harvest kept silent. It was the technique—Laser—that had blown it to pieces before.
"Apologize to Amy. Ripping open someone's wound is a rotten thing to do."
"A wound? You call that a wound? And for the record, I'm the one who saved her. Typical nobles and their way of thinking."
"That's for the one who was hurt to decide. If you've dragged up someone's painful memory, the least you can do is apologize. How long are you going to keep looking at the world crooked?"
"Hmph! I don't need lectures from a hothouse flower."
Following Kanis's provocation, Harvest puffed its upper body to a massive size, menacing everyone. At the same time, Sirone's Laser burned brighter.
Arin reshaped her Spirit Zone into tendrils and slowly extended it toward Sirone. Thinking things would turn dangerous like this, she intended to unravel the Laser with mental interference.
But before the Zone even touched him, Amy stepped in front of Sirone. Arin winced, at a loss. In front of the Red Eye's power, most mental-type magic was useless.
Arcane lifeform, Laser, mental magic, Self-Image Memory—
Magics of different natures bit and chewed at one another, circling like bands. No one moved rashly; each side watched the other.
With tension high enough that something might explode any moment, Tess clutched Rian's arm and pretended to cry.
"What's with them? I'm scared."
Rian's thoughts weren't like Tess's. People in the world called mages grotesque. In the end, the further you strayed from common sense, the stronger your identity as a mage became.
Rian felt good knowing Sirone had become that kind of grotesque, abnormal person.
"You're doing great, Sirone."
"Wh-what?"
Tess stared back, appalled—as if looking at a pervert.
But without answering, Rian started toward the mages. He drew the straight sword from his back and said,
"Hey, I don't know who you are, but—!"
Tess, who had sprinted up, jumped onto Rian's back from behind and clapped a palm over his mouth.
"Please have some sense. What if you start too?"
"Mmph! Lemme go! Sirone! Mmph!"
Sirone and Amy, Kanis and Tess watched Rian and Tess's scuffle with dumbfounded looks.
Thanks to that, the combat tension eased a notch, and Harvest shrank its puffed-up torso.
As the Laser's light dimmed, Arin's Spirit Zone dissipated. Amy's Red Eye returned to its original color.
Truthfully, this wasn't something to be screaming and fighting over. Amy had scraped Kanis's nerves, and Kanis had merely added one more twist to the feeling and countered.
"Let's drop the pointless war of attrition. We didn't come all this way to fight you."
Kanis drew Harvest back into his shadow as he spoke.
Since the other side offered a truce first, Amy also let her fighting spirit cool and regained her reason.
Once the tension released, Kanis asked the question that had been nagging him since he'd first seen Sirone here.
"Anyway—what's the deal? If you failed and you're still hanging around, does that mean you found a way into the Kergo autonomous zone?"
Sirone opened his mouth to say something, but before his voice even came out, Amy cut in.
"And why should we tell you that?"
For once, she wasn't picking a fight. In a sense, it was information they'd risked their lives to obtain; it wasn't something to bandy about to people they couldn't trust.
"No need to be so wary. We know a way into the autonomous zone too. I assume you're planning to ride the Loop smuggling route?"
Amy didn't show it, but she was deeply shocked. Kanis seemed to know the channel where the Freeman organization dealt in Loop. If so, why had they gone into the Chamber of Achievement and Sacrifice to take the trial?
As Kanis stared at Amy lost in thought, he curled his lip.
"I can hear your gears turning from here. Want me to satisfy your curiosity?"
"Hmph! Who's curious? We know plenty."
"Aha, is that so? Arin, what do you think?"
Kanis turned his head to ask. Arin, who had been momentarily woolgathering, snapped back to herself and answered in a rush.
"Hm? Oh—she's lying. She's super curious. She's basically bouncing up and down."
"Grr…!"
Amy ground her teeth, face tight with frustration. She didn't know what "bouncing up and down" meant, but hiding emotions from Arin, a First Boundary user, was impossible.
At that moment Arin's stomach let out a loud gurgle.
Everyone's eyes went to Arin. She ducked her head, her face reddening like a ripe persimmon.
Kanis looked at Arin with a worried expression he'd never shown anyone before and asked,
"Arin, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. This is nothing. Back then, it was nothing at all."
Kanis clenched his molars. Since leaving the magic school, they'd traveled for a long time; their travel funds had run out, and it had already been three days since they'd eaten.
He could go hungry as long as needed, but not Arin. The inertia of protecting her for ten years in Radum still remained.
Swallowing his pride, Kanis spoke to Sirone.
"Do you… have any food? Arin hasn't eaten. I'm fine, so could you do something?"
Only then did Sirone really take in Kanis's condition. However long the journey had been, his clothes were shabby, and he had dirt marks as if he'd slept on the mountains.
"You said everything Arcane left you was taken away…"
Since the Mental Pulse Test, Kanis hadn't returned to school. Thinking about it, with no connections, the biggest problem for them would be simply making a living.
They had plenty of skill, but mages without licenses had a hard time finding work. Clients shied away. Sure, some would hire, but most of that work was tied to crime.
But Kanis no longer wanted to live trapped in darkness. He'd realized that if you fought society, you could never climb high.
Amy let out a sigh.
"First things first, you've got to eat something. There's a bar we went to before—let's go. They've got good noodles."
"No! I'm really fine!"
Arin waved her hands. She was starving, to be honest, but she couldn't bring herself to go along when she thought of Kanis's pride.
Amy grabbed Arin's wrist and dragged her along by force.
"What do you mean, fine? Your stomach's thundering. You need strength if you're going to fight or whatever. Kanis, you too."
"I'll pass. Just take Arin."
"Pipe down and come when you're told. It's only natural for a senior to treat hungry juniors to a meal."
Sirone gave Kanis a push between the shoulder blades.
"Yeah, Kanis. Let's go in. I've got things to talk to you about anyway."
Kanis followed, unwillingly, and Amy led them to the tavern where they'd met the mercenaries.
Once the six of them found a table and sat, Sirone introduced Kanis and Arin to Rian. Rian was a little surprised to hear they were disciples of the Archmage, but inwardly relieved at Amy's helpful explanation that they'd lost to Sirone.
First priority was filling bellies. Kanis and Arin were truly hungry; they polished off two bowls of noodles in a flash.
Sirone's group had eaten Yuna's packed lunch a little while earlier; just watching them eat made their own stomachs feel full.
Seeing them slurp down the broth to the last drop, Sirone couldn't help but smile. Whatever their birth or their temperament, they were people just the same.
When the two had eaten and finally seemed alive again, smacking their lips, Sirone gently brought it up.
"We've both got a lot on our minds, but let's lay out enough to talk. Why did you come here?"
"Kanis has been interested in ruins for a long time. So we're out exploring ruins."
"Oh? Was Kanis's dream to be an archaeologist?"
"Tch. Mind your own business."
Kanis, who disliked talking about himself, muttered bluntly. But he didn't tell Arin to stop.
Though she lacked social grace, Arin wasn't a pushover who'd blurt an answer just because someone asked. It was the best reply to disclose the facts while concealing the needed information.
In truth, the two hadn't come to the island for ruin exploration; they had a special reason. And to get what they wanted, they absolutely needed Sirone.
"Our turn to ask. Why did you come?"
Kanis pointed at Amy as he asked. Sirone was obviously the leader of the four, but he didn't want to show him he needed anything if he could help it.
But if it was a mind game, Amy was no slouch. She knew well enough how to keep the facts hidden while slipping past Arin's First Boundary.
"Heh-heh. Of course we came to go to the Kergo autonomous zone. Same as you."
"Hmph. And what do you think is there?"
"Hmmm, you sound like you know."
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
Amy gave an artificial eye-smile. But inside she was about to go crazy with frustration.
'He knows. He definitely knows, this bastard.'
Kanis had chosen the trial route rather than the Loop smuggling route. That meant he at least had a definite grasp of why that path had to be chosen.
'Troublesome. How do I pry info out of these two?'
Kanis and Arin weren't like the mercenaries they'd met before. And with the First Boundary in the mix, they couldn't hope to match them in a battle of psyches.
Up to now, Sirone had only been listening; now he asked head-on.
"Kanis, would you tell us what you know? Honestly, we don't know much."
He understood what Amy was thinking, but they were clearly at a disadvantage. Better to open up frankly and hope for a response.
Contrary to expectation, Kanis took it plainly. Sirone's group must not notice, but in truth, Kanis and Arin were in a situation where they absolutely needed Sirone's help.
"Fine. But there's something I need to confirm first."
"Ask anything. If I know it, I'll answer."
"The reason you're trying to enter the autonomous zone—Is it because you want to know about the Labyrinth's spacetime?"
Sirone's eyes flew wide. The Labyrinth's spacetime was known only to close friends and the headmaster.
"How did you know? Do you know about the Labyrinth? No—how much do you know about the Kergo ruins?"
As Sirone pressed urgently, Kanis propped his chin on his hand, all leisure.
"Who knows. At the very least, more than you lot."
Sirone fell into serious thought. Where had they gotten their information? And in less than a month, at that.
Then it hit him. The shadow lying at Kanis's feet—and the arcane lifeform residing there—told the whole story.
"It's Arcane's knowledge."