Chapter 62

“Huff. Hah…”

I felt like I was going to die from breathlessness. Even with my mouth wide open, sucking air in, my breathing wasn’t smooth.

How long had it been since I ran like this? A performance assessment in high school? Or a sports day back in middle school? The only sure thing was that it was so long ago it barely registered in my memory.

And I was carrying Kinya in my arms. Lighter than a human child but still easily ten kilograms — hauling Kinya up the stairs made my thighs feel like they would burst.

“R-Rinne… are you okay…?”

“Hah. Huff… I’m fine! I’m fine. Kinya! Don’t look back — keep your head down!”

“Uuugh…!”

There was still nobody else around. Only Kinya and me, and that mysterious intruder keeping pace behind us at a steady distance.

Is Rail alive? Leti? I’d only heard screams — I had no idea what had happened to them.

Climbing the stairs was more than enough, yet thoughts kept piling on.

I had to shake them off. For now, it was just the two of us. I had to think only about getting Kinya back safely.

“Damn it — the roof…!”

We couldn’t go down, so we ended up at the rooftop. My life felt like an action thriller while a genteel classical piece played back in the banquet hall. It amazed me how two completely different scenes could coexist on the same stage.

No matter how loud I screamed, that music would drown it out.

The garden was lit by the glare of a lavish chandelier. The only dark place left was where I stood.

“Kinya. Can you fly?”

If there was any small mercy, it was that I could try to send Kinya off from the roof.

The door to the palace rooftop came into view. The glass that let the moonlight through was beautiful, but there was no time to admire it — the rooftop door was latched. I felt a curse rise in my throat.

“Damn it, really! Kinya! Turn back into your bird form — now!”

“Eeng?! Got it!”

Seeing the locked door only made me run faster. I forced my legs harder and, sprinting, grabbed Kinya as she reverted to her true form and hugged her tight, curling my back.

“Peeek?!”

Before Kinya’s startled cry could even register, a loud crashing sound rang out. I had barreled into the glass, holding Kinya against my chest.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

I tumbled across the fallen shards of glass and rolled, then forced myself to get up. My skin burned where it had been scraped and cut by the sharp edges, but there was no time to complain. I ran toward the rooftop’s edge, lifted Kinya up and met her eyes.

Golden eyes were rimmed with tears.

“Hah. Huff. Kinya. Listen carefully.”

“Peep…”

Remarkably, between sobs, Kinya nodded and looked at me.

“Spread your wings and fly down. It’s okay if I can’t remember how — you just ride the wind. Go down and ask people for help. We need to get Lord Rail and Lady Leti treated.”

Her little head shook violently. Thick drops fell.

“Kinya, it’s okay. We’ll meet again for sure.”

“Peep…”

“That’s right. Kinya. That’s right… you can do it… you can do it…”

I stroked Kinya’s feathers with trembling hands.

“Peeek!”

At that shriek-like cry, I threw Kinya with all my strength and immediately ducked.

Screeech!

The hair on my head was sliced by a sharp blade cutting through the air — the sound was chilling. I rolled to the side and watched Kinya fall through the air. She sliced through the wind with her fully spread wings and descended.

“Done…! Ugh!”

I allowed myself a brief breath of relief. Then a blade whizzed past right beside my face. Clang! The small dagger struck the rooftop and bounced.

‘You missed at that range?’

Even though it was nearby, I felt a strange doubt at how the dagger had missed.

That doubt only lasted a moment. I crawled over, picked up the dagger from the floor, and leveled it at the masked figure in front of me. The cold outer wall of the rooftop pressed into my back.

Hidden in the shadow of the wall, I finally got a clear look at the attacker in the pale moonlight. He wore a black mask flipped over his head and was dressed all in black.

“Are you after the sacred beast? If so, you’ve already missed. I didn’t even see your face. If you go now, I won’t report you.”

Of course that was a lie meant to defuse the situation. I knew a flimsy negotiation like that wouldn’t work, but I had to try something.

The masked man, who had been staring at me in silence, suddenly raised his hand and held up two fingers.

“…Two?”

A rough metallic voice, like scraping stone, came from beneath the mask.

“Two objectives. The sacred beast, and the doctor who treats them.”

Goddamn. So the doctor who treats them is me.

Their attempt on the sacred beast had failed, but the second objective remained. And that person wouldn’t back down until they achieved it. I bit my lip hard at the unmistakable feeling of defeat.

“You’d better stop pretending you’re not the beast-clan’s doctor, Rinnegrim Feahil.”

So he knew my full name. That meant there was a mole in the palace for sure. Probably the same person behind the plague incident.

“…Why harm innocent citizens?”

I didn’t really expect an answer. It was more of a bitter protest born of being targeted. So it surprised me when the masked man actually spoke.

“Innocent? You, who tries to ruin our plan?”

He spat the words as if unable to control himself.

“…Ruin your plan? Me?”

But he didn’t answer my question. Instead, he produced another dagger from his pocket.

“You deserve to die simply for being an obstacle in our way.”

“Don’t—don’t come any closer!”

I slashed my dagger at him as he stepped forward. He visibly flinched and retreated.

That made me wonder again. A trained assassin who had broken into the palace — would he really flinch at a tossed dagger?

I searched my clothing for the glass shard I’d used to smash the window. I found a palm-sized piece and hurled it at the masked man with all my strength.

The shard glittered in the moonlight like a blade and sped toward him.

“Ugh?!”

He flapped once, and the glass missed him without even grazing his clothes.

Watching his clumsy movement, I voiced the thought I’d kept to myself.

“…As I thought.”

His swordsmanship was awkward; his movements unfamiliar.

Propped against the wall behind me, dagger at the ready, I said, “You’re a mage.”

“This….”

He ground his teeth and muttered thinly. It seemed I was right.

But that raised a question. If he was indeed a mage, why hadn’t he used magic from the start to take us down? Why had he chosen to pursue us with a weapon he seemed so unskilled with?

There was only one conclusion I could draw.

For some reason, magic couldn’t be used.

Not just by him — perhaps magic was suppressed across the whole palace. They must have drawn some kind of anti-magic circle across the place’s expanse. And why would they go to such trouble…?

“To keep him in check, right?”

Even if it meant forbidding their own magic, there was only one being in the palace they’d want to stop.

“The great mage who’s in the palace.”

I wasn’t fighting a mage. I was fighting someone who couldn’t use magic on par with me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thankfully, the opponent was also clumsy with weapons. Not that I was any better without practice, but one thing was clear.

‘I have to move before I get cut…!’

I groped inside my bag while hiding in the dark, trying not to show myself. My fingertips found a cold glass vial.

“I finished it. My means of protecting myself…!”

I wasn’t sure it would work in actual combat. But I had just finished clinical trials on myself recently, hadn’t I? I couldn’t hope to win a brawl I’d never trained for — this was the only thing that gave me a chance.

“Even if I can’t use magic, nothing changes. I’ll remove obstacles to the plan, and you’ll die here. Be happy — your life will become fertilizer for a greater world.”

“Would you be happy about that…?”

I laughed with my lips quivering. He acted like my life rested in his hands. The arrogance was infuriating.

The man drew a sword from his waist and advanced slowly. I held my breath and gauged the distance — the optimal range where his strike wouldn’t miss.

“Now then, die—”

As his mouth opened, I hurled the dagger I’d been holding with all my strength. His eyes widened, and with a swift movement he knocked the dagger aside with the sword in his hand.

Clang—!

The dagger I threw flew off uselessly. His face was full of incredulity.

“You must be mad to toss away your only weapon—”

“Who said it was my only weapon?!”

My face reflected in his eyes. Using every ounce of strength, I closed the distance and swung the glass vial at his face.

Smash!!

The thin glass couldn’t withstand the impact on his temple and shattered, dousing him in its contents.

“Ugh—! Wha—what is this—!”

The dagger had been a feint. I’d only wanted to create an opening to get close.

It worked. Although my own hands were now covered in it, the man who’d been splattered with the solution had no idea what had hit him.

He groped at his damp mask, sniffed, and grimaced.

“…Are you insane? Just splashing herbal juice? Is that your last desperate move?”

As he stepped forward, I hurriedly took a step back.

“Is it really just herbal juice?”

“What…!”

Sensing danger from my words, he tore the mask off in a panic. But it was already too late. The substance had been absorbed through his cornea and skin.

“Damn it! There’s still time—!!”

He spoke of “time.” It seemed the anti-magic field had a time limit. After the limit ended, someone could cast Luce and finish things off.

“Even if you try healing magic when the time’s up, it won’t help. It’s not a poison.”

“What? You little—are you mocking me!!”

His face flushed. I had told the truth: antidotes wouldn’t help, because what I’d made wasn’t a toxin.

Inspired after saving Hina, I’d accelerated my research and completed this concoction.

It was—

“An allergy-inducing compound.”

I had gathered plants that trigger allergies and amplified their effects into a drug.

“It’s not a poison. It only works like a poison in effect.”

Soon the man began scratching his neck furiously, to the point that blood came from under his fingernails.