“I’ll be brief, as the insects are starting to catch on. Based on the situation, there is a high likelihood that Administrator is not in a waking state at the moment. If you can reach the top floor before she wakes, you can eliminate her without needing the dagger. Hurry…there are few Integrity Knights remaining…”
Eugeo could sense that the invisible corridor to the Great Library was rapidly closing. Cardinal’s voice grew distant, and just before it faded out for good, the light in the air flickered, then fell to the ground.
Instead, what landed on the marble floor was two little glass vials. Kirito gazed emptily at the azure liquid for a while before reaching out to pick them up. He looked at Eugeo and dropped one in his partner’s open palm.
“…Sorry for getting out of hand, Eugeo.”
“No…you don’t need to apologize. Though I was kind of startled.” Eugeo chuckled, eliciting a grin from Kirito at last. He got steadily to his feet and flicked the stopper out of the vial.
“We’d better accept these generous gifts while we can,” he said.
Eugeo followed his partner’s lead, opened the vial, and downed its contents. It was not at all tasty, kind of like a bitterly sour siral water without any sugar in it, but it was like a douse of cold refreshment to a mind exhausted by so much battle. The substance was healing their damaged life rapidly, the wounds on Kirito’s limbs shrinking moment to moment.
“This is amazing…She could have given us more than just the two, though,” Eugeo commented, which earned him a shrug from Kirito.
“It would take too long to send such a high-priority object as dat…er, through sacred arts. I’m actually impressed she pulled that off in such a short— Whoa!”
Eugeo swiveled to look at Kirito in surprise. “Wh-what?”
“Eugeo…um…don’t move. I mean, don’t look down.”
“Huh?”
Of course, saying so just made it harder not to look down. Eugeo’s head automatically craned toward his feet. He spotted something that had appeared there without drawing their attention until now.
“Yeep!” he shrieked.
It was about fifty cens long. A long, flat body divided into narrow ringed segments was flanked by a multitude of little legs, about half of which were resting on Eugeo’s shoe. At the tip of what was likely the head was a line of at least ten little red eyes, and on either side, a frighteningly long set of needlelike horns, each one waving on its own. It was probably some kind of insect, but it looked more bizarre than disgusting. There were plenty of bugs around Rulid, but none looked like this.
With Eugeo frozen in surprise, the mystery creature waved its feelers around for about three seconds, then began climbing from his shoe up his pants in earnest. He shrieked again and jumped.
“Yeep…!!”
He stomped his foot. The bug fell, landing on its back, then flipped over and promptly scuttled between his legs. Eugeo leaped up and down several times, trying to keep himself away from the creature—and eventually, tragedy struck.
With a crisp crack and the sensation of something snapping and squishing underfoot, Eugeo’s right foot came straight down on the thing.
Bright-orange liquid spurted in all directions, releasing a sharp, pungent odor. Eugeo nearly fainted when he saw the severed legs still attempting to crawl, but he used superhuman effort to avoid passing out or vomiting. He looked up to Kirito for help.
But his trustworthy partner was now a good three mels away and backing up quickly.
“H-hey…hey! Where are you going?!” he demanded, his voice cracking.
Kirito just shook his head, face pale. “S-sorry. This isn’t my kind of thing.”
“It’s not my kind of thing, either!”
“Bugs like that always come the same way: You kill one, then ten more show up.”
“Don’t you dare say that!!”
Eugeo lowered his waist, ready to leap onto Kirito and take them both down together, when a purple light suddenly flashed below him, causing him to freeze again.
Beneath his shoe, the wretched remains were evaporating into light. Within a few seconds, the spattered gunk and broken carapace were totally gone. Eugeo felt the soothing calm of deep relief.
Noticing from a distance that the danger had passed, Kirito returned rather matter-of-factly and noted, “…Ah, right, I see. That must be one of the familiars that Administrator has prowling around, looking for Cardinal. I bet it smelled the connection to the library…”
“…”
Eugeo glared up at Kirito with no small measure of hatred, then gave up and replied, “So…you’re saying there’s a bunch more of those things crawling around the tower? I’ve never seen anything like it until now.”
“Remember how there was that shuffling on the other side of the door when we escaped into the library from the rose garden? They’re probably good at hiding—and I’m not gonna try snooping around to find them. Plus, Cardinal said something strange…about Administrator being in a non-waking state or something…”
“You’re right, she did…So she’s sleeping? In the middle of the day…?” Eugeo wondered.
Kirito rubbed at his chin and answered doubtfully, “Cardinal said that Administrator and the Integrity Knights were making certain sacrifices to be able to live for centuries. Administrator in particular sleeps almost the entire time…but it makes me wonder how she’s controlling the bugs and the knights…”
He looked down at the floor for a while and then scratched at his bangs as he murmured, “But I guess we’ll find out the answer when we go up there. Anyway, Eugeo, can you take a look at my back?”
“H-huh?”
Kirito spun around before he could react. Baffled, Eugeo’s eyes slid across the black fabric, which looked tattered from the rigors of so much battle but was otherwise normal.
“Um…I don’t see anything wrong…”
“I’m just wondering…Do you see a little bug on it? Kind of a spidery thing.”
“No, nothing.”
“Okay. That’s good. Well, let’s start the second half!”
Kirito started walking for the huge doors at the north end of the hall, and Eugeo had to rush after him.
“Hey, what was that all about?!”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Well, now I can’t help but be worried! Look at my back now!”
“Trust me, you shouldn’t be concerned.”
They proceeded onward, bickering and joking like they’d done ever since Rulid, but deep down, Eugeo practiced the question he really wanted to ask.
If you’re always so calm and collected all the time, what made you so distraught about Fanatio’s death? What was supposed to come after, “If I die, I just…”?
Kirito…who are you…?
The swordsman in black stopped at the massive doors several times his height, reached out with both hands, and heaved them open. A gust of cold air rushed to meet them, and Eugeo had to turn his face away.