Hidden Backers (1)

“Cornelio Difind.”

“…What now, you again.”

Toward Cornelio who was half-dying while fused with the corpse of the enormous magical creature, Delphina asked.

“I have many questions for you.”

“…Do you think I’ll answer?”

“Whether you die comfortably or painfully isn’t for you to decide, though.”

At Delphina’s threat, Cornelio shut his mouth.

“How nice that you understand quickly, like the coward you are.”

As if taking his silence as agreement, Delphina smiled and opened her mouth.

“So, who’s backing you?”

“…”

“H-hey! Don’t close your mouth, you bastard!”

-Thwack!

Delphina shouted loudly while kicking Cornelio.

Somehow her face was slightly flushed, as if she was a bit embarrassed about making an incorrect assumption.

“Urgh…”

“Don’t groan. I know you’re far from dying, and even if you bite your tongue and try to die, we’ll revive you and interrogate you.”

“Wow.”

Watching this, I inadvertently let out an exclamation.

“No, Delphina. Where did you learn all this?”

“What?”

At my question, Delphina tilted her head and asked back.

“Things like that, interrogating people… don’t you need specialized training for that?”

“…I’m just doing it?”

Delphina answered as if I was asking something strange.

“You seem to have a natural talent for interrogation.”

I muttered, and Delphina turned her head away with a slight smile as if I was saying ridiculous things.

“Who’s backing you? Tell me, quickly.”

“…”

“Oh? Not talking?”

“…Miss Delphina?”

At that moment, a familiar voice was heard.

“Oh, Instructor.”

“…Even the Princess Knight. What brings you here…”

Instructor Lore, who was staggering toward us with a dying expression while clutching his stomach, looked alternately at Cornelio’s body being kicked by Delphina while lying down, and at me, then nodded.

“…Ah, I see.”

“What do you see?”

I couldn’t help but blurt out a short response at his unnaturally natural reaction.

“I never would have thought. That Cornelio would infiltrate this academy of all places.”

“Exactly! The security of Polaris Academy is maintained jointly by the four major powers that divide the continent!”

Delphina shouted, breathing heavily.

“Talk, you bastard! You must have backers! Whether they’re fanatics from the Holy Nation, radicals from the Republic! If neither, could it be nationalists from the Empire?”

“…”

“Argh, this is driving me crazy. Did he swallow glue? Why won’t this bastard talk?”

“Um, Miss Delphina.”

Instructor Lore called to Delphina as he slumped down in place.

He took out a small piece of paper from inside his garment.

On the paper, there was a circle with a blue line diagonally crossing it.

Seeing that mark, Delphina muttered.

“Synchronization Imprint Paper?”

“Just now, I received a message through the emergency contact network.”

Lore said, putting the piece of paper back into his garment.

“The academy security guards will be coming here. With several instructors.”

“I see…”

“Let’s leave the details to them.”

At Lore’s words, Delphina nodded with a somewhat uncomfortable expression.

“I had just managed to draw a circle on the note before losing consciousness, and I was hoping people would arrive somehow before you collapsed…”

Lore trailed off, glancing up at me standing there blankly.

“I never expected such reliable reinforcement to come.”

“Don’t say such burdensome things.”

I shook my head. This kind of overestimation still doesn’t sit well with me.

“…M-my goodness.”

At that moment, along with multiple presences, an unfamiliar voice was heard from behind me.

Turning around, I saw two knights accompanied by several security guards rushing toward us.

One man wearing the pure white medium armor symbolizing a Holy Knight, and one woman in light attire with a crescent blade on her back.

Seeing the white armor, I involuntarily frowned for a moment.

Due to my unsettled feelings, I made a mistake. I quickly relaxed my expression and rubbed my face with both hands.

Just because someone is a Holy Knight doesn’t necessarily mean they’re from the Holy Nation.

And indeed, Instructor Lore, who clearly wouldn’t have good feelings toward the Holy Nation, exchanged familiar greetings with the two.

“Well, well. Sir Bergamot, Assistant Instructor Liu.”

“…Sir Lore. What on earth is all this?”

The knight in medium armor with black hair contrasting with his pure white skin asked, scratching his head.

“Judging from the circle drawn on the Synchronization Imprint Paper, which is the highest danger level mark, I expected it to be something serious… but this.”

The woman in light attire following him suddenly looked in my direction and jumped.

“Hiack!”

“…?”

As I tilted my head blankly, she finally said, catching her breath.

“I-it wasn’t a corpse.”

“…Are there corpses that die while standing?”

I asked back in disbelief, and the knight in medium armor standing next to her stepped in to respond.

“Ah, I apologize. This friend of mine has a very weak heart.”

“Ah…”

The knight in medium armor made a gesture of slightly covering his face as he spoke.

Only then did I raise my hand and wipe my face.

Sticky blood covered my entire hand.

Looking at this, the knight in medium armor smiled bitterly and extended his hand toward me.

“Princess Knight Evangeline… no, you’d be a student here. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Holy Knight Eric Bergamot, from the Delmaria Republic, in charge of instructing aspiring Holy Knights in the Polaris knight department.”

As I thought, he didn’t seem to be from the Holy Nation.

There is an image that Holy Knights are from the Holy Nation, but that doesn’t mean religion is prohibited in other countries. There are many Holy Knights unrelated to the Holy Nation.

I was about to extend my hand back to him when I remembered that I had just wiped my face.

“…I’m sorry. I look like this.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Nodding with a kind expression, Eric patted the woman standing next to him on the back and walked toward Lore.

“Then, I’ll discuss this over here.”

“Ah, yes.”

The woman left behind gazed at his retreating back with a strange look as he moved toward Lore and Delphina.

Judging from the greeting Instructor Lore had given… this person must be Instructor Liu.

Judging by her surname, she seems to be from an ethnic minority… perhaps from the Republic.

“Nice to meet you, Instructor Liu.”

“Eek!”

The startled instructor looked at me with trembling eyes and stammered.

“S-so, um… P-Princess?”

“Just a student here. Here, that is.”

“B-but. How did you know my name when we’ve never met…”

With her shoulders trembling, Instructor Liu muttered.

“As expected, using the kingdom’s intelligence to investigate behind the scenes…”

“No, I heard Instructor Lore greet you earlier.”

“Ah!”

Instructor Liu’s face turned as red as blood.

The comparison is a bit inappropriate, but I can’t think of anything else but blood right now.

Looking around, it’s a sea of blood everywhere.

“I-I’m Assistant Instructor Liu Qingying of the knight department at Polaris Academy.”

Contrary to her sharp first impression, Instructor Liu extended her hand to me, trembling.

“My hands are like this right now.”

“Heek!”

After staring at my blood-covered palm, Instructor Liu jumped in surprise and took several steps backward.

…She said assistant instructor. Perhaps she’s not yet a formal instructor?

“Qingying!”

At that moment, Sir Eric, who had been engaged in a brief conversation between Lore and Delphina, called her in a loud voice.

So her name is Qingying.

“Y-yes?!”

“Please contact the academy headquarters.”

Eric said with a stern expression.

“It seems this incident is larger than we thought.”

“…What?”

Seeming to read something ominous in Eric’s expression, Assistant Instructor Liu Qingying responded with a strangely alert expression.

“Understood.”

“Not only has a kingdom’s wanted criminal infiltrated Polaris Academy, but we’ve also observed the unprecedented situation of a human transforming into a Magical Beast.”

Assistant Instructor Liu, who had already taken out a crumpled piece of paper from her garment, hurriedly wrote down Eric’s words.

“I’ve just been hearing the story from these two… Princess Evangeline. If you have any suspicions, doubts, or anything that felt strange, please tell us anything you can.”

“Oh, me?”

Though startled by the sudden designation, I tried to think as requested.

Strange points, suspicious points…

“……Hey.”

While I was lost in thought, Cornelio quietly opened his mouth.

“Oh? What is it, finally decided to talk?”

Delphina intimidated Cornelio with a rotten smile, and Eric looked at her with a troubled expression but didn’t stop her.

Probably out of consideration for the fact that he was a wanted criminal of the Failon Kingdom.

But regardless of whether Delphina poked at him or not, Cornelio continued.

“Run away.”

“…What are you suddenly talking about?”

Delphina asked, tilting her head.

“You have defeated me. So, as a final word, I’m telling you. Escape from here immediately, get as far away as possible.”

“……Huh?”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘final’? What do you mean by getting far away?”

As Delphina burst into hollow laughter, Eric stepped forward with a stern expression and asked.

“Urgh…!”

From Cornelio’s mouth, bloody foam began to bubble up.

At a glance, the amount of leaking foam looked abnormal. It was as if all the blood flowing inside his body was being spit out through his mouth.

Looking at this scene, Lore muttered quietly.

“…Bio, bomb.”

Simultaneously, Cornelio’s body swelled grotesquely──

“──Everyone take cover!!”

Eric shouted, spreading both hands forward.

At the same time, Delphina also extended her hand, releasing holy power to cover in front of me.

A hemispherical physical barrier formed by holy power, in two layers, instantly spread before our eyes.

-Splaaaat!!!

With a wet explosion, everything in front of us was dyed bright red.