Chapter 9

1 “Wait! Master, I said wait!” As he exhaled, his breath white, the black-haired boy named Iska chased after a man who was already leaving. The terminal station of the continental railway was dyed in the colors of the sunset. As the travelers passed each other in the corridor, Iska couldn’t catch up no matter how quickly he ran. He simply couldn’t match the man’s pace. Compared to the eleven-year-old boy, the man who he’d called “master” was one hundred and ninety centimeters tall. “You always do stuff like this and then leave me behind!” “…” The man stopped in his tracks and whipped around. “Leave behind? Who leaves who behind?” “You! You leave me behind!” “…” “You haven’t noticed?” “I was just lost in my thoughts.” The boy sighed. Iska slumped when his teacher showed no admission of wrongdoing. This was how he always acted. His master was a carefree wanderer who always had his head in the clouds. And whenever Iska thought the man was going to tell him something meaningful, he would always receive some half-baked response instead. But this man was also the strongest swordsman in the Empire. Crossweil Nes Lebeaxgate. He stood there, his long coat covering his slim figure—not a single bit of excess fat on his body. In the past, when he had led the Saint Disciples, his moniker had been the Black Steel Gladiator, but he rarely spoke of those times now. According to the man himself, it wasn’t that he was reluctant to talk about that period in his life so much as he simply couldn’t be bothered. “So, what were you thinking about anyway?” “About these trains.” Crossweil was staring at the brusque black trains lined up at the platform. The locomotives went to destinations all over the world. “This one will leave in fifteen minutes. And we’re getting on it.” “Okay.” “I was running a simulation in my mind of what to do if a dastardly crime syndicate decided to run amok on the train.” “But that would never happen!” “I also thought of how I would deal with a meteor suddenly falling on the train as it was in motion—” “Please at least base your thoughts on things that could be realistic!” “Trying to predict what could happen is of utmost importance.” He looked incredibly serious as he said this. “You should hypothesize what would happen if the most unfortunate and inconvenient situations were to occur. At least a few of them will actually occur. Whether or not you are on the battlefield, or it could happen to one of your friends if not to you.” “……Yes, sir.” Although the ideas had stemmed from absurdities, his teacher had somehow ended the lesson with a somewhat decent conclusion. That was usually how conversations with him went. “The special express train will soon be departing for Vale Republic. Ticketholders are advised to board as they wait for departure.” “Say, Master?” As Iska listened to the announcement, he looked up at the man. “Why are we getting on a train?” Iska still had no idea even whether they were heading out for vacation or a tour of duty. He was suddenly told the day before that they would be going on a trip, which he’d been fine preparing for, but he still had yet to learn what his master was hoping to accomplish—as per usual. “I’ve left Jhin to watch over things at home.” “Am I going to be training outside of the Empire, then…?” “This has nothing to do with your training.” What? As he’d lived with a grueling training regimen on a daily basis, Iska had assumed that what awaited him at the end of the trip was another frightening exercise. “What are we going to do once we leave the Empire?” Iska asked. “We’re going to learn what it’s like outside,” the man replied. “What good does knowing that do?” “…” The strongest swordsman in the Empire looked up at the station’s ceiling. “We’re doing this because you have yet to learn what a witch really is,” he said. “…I know a little bit,” Iska countered. There wasn’t a single person in the Empire who didn’t know what a witch was. They were former humans who had been possessed by the inexplicable energy known as astral power. Witches were terrifying beings and were capable of using astral power as they desired. They were wicked, aggressive, and loathed the Empire. Such was Iska’s impression. Now, this was only his impression because Iska had never spoken to a witch himself. He had learned everything he knew of them through word of mouth. “I wouldn’t say that you’ve got the wrong idea about witches,” the man said, “but that isn’t all there is to them.” His master looked around at the people walking through the station. “The stories passed down in the Empire about witches only apply to a minority—with exceptions like the Grand Witch Nebulis. Ninety percent of witches aren’t much different from your average human. Iska, what do you think of the people walking around in this station?” “They look like normal people to me…” He saw businessmen boarding their trains and families on outings. They all looked like ordinary people to him. “It’s highly likely there are witches and sorcerers among them. But everyone looks exactly the same as your average Imperial. Do any of them look wicked to you?” “No.” “So, this is just as true as all the other stories told in the Empire. Everything you’re taking in with your eyes right now is real. You’ll do well to keep both sides in mind.” “……Got it.” After falling silent for a while, Iska nodded. Witches were frightening. Of course, he tried his best to take in his master’s teachings, but Iska still couldn’t toss aside the preconceptions he’d developed from being born and raised in the Empire. “You’ll learn eventually,” the man said. “That’s the whole reason we’ve traveled out this far.” His teacher walked ahead of him. He was heading toward the train platform. “Hm?” But then his comm at his chest rang. After glancing at the name shown on the device, his master—who rarely did such a thing—clucked his tongue. “…Why am I getting a call from such a nuisance?” “Master, who is it? Is it Jhin?” “Unfortunately, not. Iska, you get on the train ahead of me…What do you want, Yunmelngen? Don’t push your menial tasks onto me at a time like this.” He walked away while talking to someone on the other end of the comm. It seemed he didn’t want others to hear, as he walked to a far corner of the platform. “Master? C’mon, Master! Fine, I’ll get on ahead of you, then.” He walked toward the special express train for Vale Republic. Once he found two window seats, Iska sat down to claim them. “He’s really taking a long time on the phone. Will he make it in time?” They were five minutes away from departure. Iska absentmindedly looked through the window as he leaned back into the seat. “…He sure is taking a while.” “The express train will soon be departing for the Graf city ruins. Ticketholders are advised to board as they wait for departure.” “Iska? Hey, Iska?” As the announcement echoed, Iska’s teacher, Crossweil, searched the inside of the train. He couldn’t find any sign of his pupil. The free seating section consisted of several train cars, so it would be difficult to find someone, but it was unusual for Iska not to appear when called for so many times. “Maybe he’s waiting for me outside of the train still?” Just in case, he got off the train. In that same moment, the express train in the next platform began to move. He watched it leave… “Huh! Iska…?!” Crossweil widened his eyes. It was the train heading to Vale Republic. And in the window, he saw a black-haired boy who looked just like Iska. “Iska!” By the time he let out a panicked shout, it was already too late. The express train his pupil had boarded had already taken off and was chugging along toward a faraway land. “…That dolt.” He put his hand to his temple as he let out a long sigh. “I tried simulating everything that could go wrong, but I hadn’t anticipated this.” That fool of a pupil. Apparently, he’d never considered that Iska would board the wrong train. 2 “…He sure is taking a while.” Iska stifled a yawn. He’d been waiting for his master a whole hour now. They’d long since left the terminal station, and the window now showed a view of the vast wilder lands. “Oh, I know what happened.” After coming up with a possibility, Iska leaped from his seat. “He must be trying to make me worry on purpose. So, where could he be hiding?” He was used to his teacher creating problems for him to solve on a whim. This had to be another one. He probably hadn’t shown up because this was his way of telling Iska to go find him. “Seriously…Master, there’s no use hiding. There aren’t a lot of places to hide on this train, anyway!” He set out walking. He headed through the cars with free seating, then to the reserved seats, checking the riders’ faces as he wandered deeper into the locomotive. In that moment, golden strands of hair flitted right by Iska’s nose. They’d passed by each other. “…” When Iska turned around, he found a girl with brilliant golden hair standing right in front of him. She seemed to be eleven years old—or she might have been twelve. So she was around his age. She had a charming and shapely face like a beautifully constructed doll, and the clothes she wore seemed tidy and of high quality. She wasn’t like him, with his rumpled clothes that had been reworn many times over and were losing their shape. That girl had stopped the moment they’d passed by each other and was now looking straight at him. They stared at each other in silence for a while. He wondered who she was. Maybe she thought he was suspicious? Perhaps she was staring at him because he looked too poor to afford a ticket in the reserved section, which was unofficially closed to those without the appropriate one. He needed to leave before she called in the conductor. After coming to that conclusion, Iska turned his back to her and began to walk away. He needed to find his master, after all. The black-haired boy turned his back to her. He walked off, heading farther into the train before she could even address him. He’d passed by her initially, so he likely was heading off to another train car with a purpose. “…He left.” She watched him until his back disappeared from view and she heard a set of footsteps behind her. “Lady Alice.” “…”