The lakeside behind the old building.
[Thank you for using our service.]
I completed the request with a reply.
"Ah, my throat hurts."
La Vricet. In the common language, it's 'Lonely You.'
I tried my best to mimic the voice of a famous musical actor in my Memory who sang the same song.
Of course, it won't be exactly the same. My timbre and his would be mixed half and half. But my pronunciation would be much better.
"What are you doing?"
A voice suddenly came from the bushes. I was startled and turned around.
Soliette was standing there. Her expression was as usual, emotionless.
"…Did you hear?"
"What are you talking about?"
Fortunately, it seemed she didn't hear.
Soliette walked over with long strides and sat on the stone seat across from me. She seemed comfortable, as if it was her seat all along.
"...."
She silently stared at the lake. She quietly followed the tiny moonlight scales trembling on the waves as if they would shatter.
After a while, she murmured quietly like a sigh.
"…To track Knightmare, we need to investigate the people Knightmare has killed."
It was something I had said once. I nodded at her.
"That's right."
"Yes."
She clenched her fist. She gritted her teeth.
"Let's do that. But..."
Her lips, which were about to say something cheerfully, faltered and stopped.
"But..."
She couldn't dare to continue, and hung her head low. She hid her expression, but I thought I knew why.
Perhaps, she was afraid that Jared and Felix might have a 'secret' that she didn't know about.
Like Berry, some ugly aspect might be revealed.
"You don't need to worry about those two."
I said nonchalantly, picking up a pebble from the forest. Soliette quickly raised her head. She asked in a trembling voice.
"Did you already investigate them?"
"No."
I threw the pebble into the lake. It flew and caused a small splash.
"I know those two as well."
Jared and Felix.
When I was a freshman, they were seniors, considered promising six-star students.
When I was ostracized, they were idols that everyone looked up to.
"They're too good."
They are people who don't disregard others, don't judge arbitrarily, and can see the most beautiful light contained in even the most insignificant person.
"…As you know."
Some people can illuminate their surroundings just by existing. Like a star that emits its own light and warms other planets.
Jared and Felix were such people.
"The two of them are just as you know."
I looked at Soliette.
When I talked about them, for the first time, Soliette looked into my eyes. She looked at 'me' completely. Her blue eyes were soaked in memories.
"There's no need to investigate people you already know."
"…Is that so. That's a relief."
Soliette got up from the stone seat. She turned around immediately. Pretending to stretch, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
"Then I'll go ahead today."
Without showing her face, she walked down the forest path.
I looked again at the lakeside.
I heard the sound of her departing footsteps.
Suddenly, scenes from a distant past surfaced.
When I was with Jared, when I was by Felix's side, Soliette, who used to smile as innocently as a child.
A sight I happened to glimpse once, yet it remains vivid in my memory.
Back then, I found the scenery fascinating. It felt slightly surreal.
Because it was a story from a world too far away for me.
"..."
I picked up a pebble in silence. I threw it swiftly into the lake. Plop- small droplets splashed.
"...This is all I amount to."
This is all I amount to.
A pebble causing tiny ripples in the lake.
"I shouldn't have done that."
I shouldn't have even tried to stand in for them. I shouldn't have dared to harbor such ambition.
Overcoming a person is, after all, that person's responsibility.
Overcoming a person doesn't mean you can become them.
Because I am not a star.
______________________________________________________________________
Soliette felt as if her heart was shattering. As if her chest was being torn apart. Her face involuntarily contorted, and her limbs kept collapsing.
This pain was too unbearable because it had been too long. It was too distressing because it had been too long.
Jared and Felix came to mind.
The time spent with them was longer than the time she had been alone.
She thought they would be together forever.
The faces of those who left before her surfaced before her eyes.
All the moments she had taken for granted pierced her heart like a blade.
"...Fuck."
What should have been memories became pain. The stories that should have been shared with laughter turned into tears.
They were dead.
Murdered by Knightmare.
Now she can never meet them again, never see them again.
Soliette loved them.
The love she didn't realize when they were together, separation made her understand.
She loved her own flesh and blood, Jared, and longed for Felix, her long-time friend.
"Fuck..."
She has to suffer.
Even if they come to mind again and she can't do anything, she can't avoid it.
She can't bury the pain because it's scary. She has to endure this blade-like storm.
Just as Shion Ascal said, they were good people.
They were too precious to simply forget, to simply bury...
"Sniff."
Soliette blew her nose. She rubbed her swollen eyes. Tears flowed from the tip of her nose.
As she wiped them away, she unknowingly smiled.
It was a snorting, bovine-like laugh.
Then she cried again. She covered her face with both hands and buried it in the ground. She trembled without making a sound.
Scratch- Scratch-
In that utterly miserable moment, the sound of writing came from somewhere.
The sound of a pencil scratching on a notebook.
Soliette blankly lifted her head. She couldn't see anything. The sand on the ground was stuck to her tears, turning into mud.
Soliette wiped her face with both arms. The dirt on her arms made her face and hair even messier.
"Fuck."
She cursed as she pulled up her Magic Body. The heat burned everything that clung to her body. Only then could she see ahead.
On the ground, a fallen notebook lay.
[Let's meet again on Thursday. I'll teach you Latinel then. You teach me martial arts.]
[And since I took a break this week, I'll only take 3/4 of my salary. There won't be any such discount from next week.]
"...Ah."
Seeing that, her heart sank a bit.
Payday was soon.
In other words, she had to find another 20,000 Ren. Of course, she could sell the luxury goods piled up at home, but since she had to lie about her identity, she kept getting ripped off. Anyone would see that she was buying something worth 30,000 Ren for 3,000 Ren...
Well, there's nothing she could do.
She would have to try not to get ripped off.
"Heh."
Soliette, who had blown her nose, walked again.
______________________________________________________________________
Monday. Festival D-2.
This is the Palette Theater of Endex. In the theater, which boasts as many as 2,300 seats, the staff are installing various 'Artifacts', including a silver curtain.
"There's a lot."
These are the items for [The Bard], the highlight of the Endex festival on Friday.
Especially that silver curtain. If you hang it behind the stage, you can direct the play like a drama or a movie.
That curtain is an Artifact that sprays mana three-dimensionally around it, so the entire background of the stage becomes very vivid as if it were real. Scene transitions also become incredibly free.
When you turn it on, will the scenery here change as if it were a real palace?
"Hey. If you're not going to work, just go."
The voice felt as if a needle were pricking against the skin.
Already calloused, it didn't hurt or sting, but thanks to that feeling, the identity of that voice was clear.
"What."
Of course, it's Elise.
"Don't you see everyone working now?"
"That's what I'm saying. It's a lot for a high school play."
"Just go. Get the hell out."
Honestly, I don't want to be here next to Elise either.
But what can I do? If something goes wrong, she could get her head chopped off.
Then I would become a loser who can't keep a promise to a benefactor, even though I'm a regressor.
"...Hey, but. Can I ask you something?"
But before that, let's think. Let's deduce.
If the underworld guys are planning to exploit the power vacuum that occurs during the festival, they will target the time when the crowd is most concentrated.
Anyone can see it's Friday.
The play ends on Friday, followed immediately by fireworks and a masquerade from 7 p.m. to midnight.
If Elise has a schedule to leave Endex before then, it's almost certain.
"Do you have any plans after the play ends?"
"..."
Elise didn't answer. I asked her again, who had her mouth tightly shut.
"Do you have any plans?"
"..."
Elise whirled around to look at me. Her face was full of annoyance, but there was also a mix of disgust and suspicion.
"Right after the play ends, I'm going for a Magic Tower experience. For two nights and three days. Even if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't have time for you."
"...Tsk."
I clicked my tongue.
Elise was right.
It was clear once I heard it.
A Magic Tower experience essentially requires a reservation. At least a few months in advance.
Elise had deliberately booked a Magic Tower experience during the festival season, a rest week, and that information had leaked out.
Probably, Berhalsi would be targeting the route Elise would take to the Magic Tower.
"Before you go. Can you spare a little time?"
I asked her that. If she could give me even five minutes, I could somehow hold her back as much as possible.
"If you have nothing to do, go and post some flyers."
Elise reached out into the air. Then, hundreds of flyers flew and stuck to her hand.
"Go. If you're not up for it, you can even rent a mascot costume somewhere."
"..."
I accepted the flyers she handed to me.
"If I finish everything, can you give me 10 minutes? After the curtain call, in the dressing room."
At that, Elise glanced at me with contemptuous eyes. How dare someone like you? That kind of face.
Ah, it's infuriating. Should I just punch?
"What are you looking at."
– It was at that moment.
Thud-!
Suddenly, the Palette Theater went dark. Then the silver curtain expanded.
"...Oh."
I unconsciously admired it. Elise also nodded her head in satisfaction.
—It's done~
—Clap clap clap!
—They said it's the latest model, and it's true. Our theater's curtain isn't even this vibrant.
The entire stage had transformed into a royal palace. It's almost like a magic space, isn't it?
"Go and post some flyers. From Wednesday, do some promotion too. Then I'll think about it."
Elise said that and went up on the stage. I looked at the flyer in my hand.
[Friday at 7 p.m., Palette Theater.]
[Come watch the play 'The Bard'. A surprising story for everyone, directly delivered by the Bard. At Your Service.]
"...Yeah. I should do it."
After all, if the play goes well, it's good for me too. Because it means more money to donate to the Orphanage.
I tucked the bundle of flyers into my arms.