Chapter. 18. Railed (21)
****
If you go east from Fardau, you will find a dungeon raid site that is under construction, and if you go further along that road, you will reach the fortress city of Straug.
“Stop! Stop~ I’m going into the stand~”
Clap… Clap…
Push!
However, the track we rode on was much older than that. It was an old track that was barely used today, connecting Orton Hill at the end of Polgrad Island and Fardau Fortress a long time ago, when there was no fortress city of Straug.
The relay station we encountered was the ‘Pilgrim’s Lighthouse’, a small relay station located in the center of the abandoned old railway line.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Seeing as you are still alive, being chased by a noble family is no big deal! “Did anything happen, Lord Voltaeus?”
“It’s been a while. “Bedar.”
“Dabi. Do you think this is uneventful? huh?”
“Hahaha! It would be strange if the magic train came in cleanly! “Isn’t that right?”
“Hey~ Vedar~!”
“O mountain struck by lightning! Gary?!”
The man who let a magic train equipped with all kinds of heavy weapons and a stationary arcane shooter that uses heavy magic bullets, as well as our rail ship with obvious traces of battle, enter the station without any inspection, exchanged pleasantries with the rail ship people who got off one by one, and then got off last. He faced me with a shocked expression.
“Uh… Sister? The number of people on the rail ship has increased? “What happened?”
“This is the kid Voltaeus kidnapped as his squire. “The name is Professor.”
“professor? Ah, if you’re using the saint’s name, then he’s also an orphan, right? “If you’re an orphan, you can ride a rail ship.”
“Well… there are some circumstances. Where have the other station employees gone? “I have something else to talk about, so I think I’ll put it in the train repair section.”
Although it is small, it is a relay station for trains. When Naelda stood up to the eerily quiet atmosphere of the station, Bedar burst out laughing and waved.
“Oh no, don’t even talk. Right now, in both cities, they’re working on a subjugation site, so they’ve squeezed out all the manpower they have and hired them, right? All of our children have been dragged away to dig and salt the ground. “Originally, I was going to drag him along, but I was left lying on my stomach, saying, ‘If no one is there, who will manage the station and relay magic communications?’”
“So there’s no one but us?”
“yes. “It’s very quiet.”
“Good.”
The train drivers, who had been tensed knowingly or unknowingly at Bedar’s words, sighed and began to sit down.
“Let’s not stay here like this, let’s go in and rest. huh? “There is no one at the station, so we have some supplies left, so let’s talk after we get some rest and fill our bellies.”
“Then let me take care of you for a while.”
“Uh~ Thank you Dabi!”
“Hehehehe. It’s okay if you know. Hey, come on in! “I’ll clean up after you!”
Everyone is happy to see the faces of colleagues they haven’t seen in a long time and to be in a safe shelter.
Above them, as they staggered into the building, a tall pillar like a telephone pole was sparkling with magic light.
****
“Let’s see… his name is Professor?”
“It’s not the professor, it’s Professor Brastall ‘nim.’”
“Yes, yes, he is a very great nobleman who even brings a nanny on the train. In addition to that, he was recognized as an official member of Railship, which was no different from a group of traitors. “You’re a person with many talents, right?”
After resting for a while, having a meal, talking about what we missed, and recovering our stamina.
The engineers were busy maintaining the rail ship, which showed signs of a fierce battle, and I, who was watching from the side, was handed over to this chatty bearded man along with Katrea.
but. You don’t want to show a nine-year-old the task of removing crushed human beings from between the wheels and axles of a train.
A man called Bedar was holding a small receiver to his ear, and he explained that he was recording magical communications coming from all over Polgrad.
“Since the new track was built, this ‘Pilgrim’s Lighthouse’ station has hardly been used. Still, it was not shut down thanks to its important role, which is to act as a magic communication relay station. Did you see the big iron pillar outside? “It’s just flashing.”
“yes.”
“That is a magic tool that catches magic communications coming from afar. Magic communication becomes unstable due to atmospheric mana as the communication distance increases, right? So, when the distance exceeds a certain distance, the communication is sent to this relay station. Then I listen to it, write it down, and then-”
Hehe-
[Ah, relay magic communication. This is a relay magic communication from ‘Pilgrim’s Hill’. From Puarm, a merchant in Fardau, “One of the three tea mushrooms sent this time was defective. If this is the case, I will treat the next contract as if it never happened.” That’s it.]
“-This is how we send communication once again through the magic tool. “This station still exists thanks to its role.”
“It’s a relay communication…”
“The communication magic tool has a daily charge, and it’s sorted by people, so it’s much slower than the communication sent directly by a wizard… Still, with a relay station like this, news can be delivered much farther away. Yes. “It’s a pretty important role?”
Bedar grumbled that he was left to take on this important task alone because the three other station employees were all taken to the construction site. Even while he was busy working, he waved loudly every time he made eye contact with the rail ship station staff.
“I guess you really like the railship people?”
“Why should I tell you? They owe each other their lives, entangled like a spider’s web. This position was also arranged by Naelda through connections. “It can be seen as the best job for a retired train driver, as it is safe, pays well, and allows you to reminisce about old times while watching trains come in.”
“…It’s lonely and boring being stuck in a remote place, though.”
Vedar flicked through some of the communications he had just received, then turned to me and opened the door leading outside.
“It might be a good idea to slowly head towards the rail ship. Since this is relaying someone else’s communication, you have to take an oath of confidentiality, right? “It’s a magic contract, so you can’t just break it.”
“Oh yeah.”
“The ugly things will have been sorted out to some extent by now, so go out and help with the loading!”
“….”
Click-
Bedar sends me away and concentrates on relay communication. I headed toward the rail ship with a slightly stiff face.
****
“Bedar? He’s a funny guy. “It’s the same with making a fuss, which is not what it looks like.”
“You mean Dabi? “Even though he is such a no-nonsense person now, at one time he was so poisonous that there was no one among train drivers who would not know the name ‘Dabi the poisonous snake.’”
“When it comes to Bedar, that’s it. Was it Orton Hill? When I was staying in Seonro Village for a day to get permission to enter the city, a tunnel bug unexpectedly popped out? At that time, while taking a shower, Bedar, who had been swallowed whole, cut open his stomach with the bread knife he was holding. A naked bearded man came out after cutting open a tunnel bug… I was so surprised that I stopped shooting it. “You still have a scar on your thigh from where I shot you.”
“Bedar? “What is that guy…”
“Dabi, no matter what anyone says…”
.
.
.
.
widely.
“It’s suspicious.”
“…Is this a bag of dried mushrooms?”
“Other than that, this is everything! Katrea, didn’t you feel anything strange?”
“Hmm… Is everything strange to me?”
I was wandering around until my face started convulsing, and only when I entered the empty food storage room did I relieve my numbness and confess to Katreia.
Something is going wrong now.
I chased after the Railship people and asked them about Bedar.
All the answers I received were only good things. In Pardau, the train drivers who were so cautious that they didn’t even go outside the station unanimously said that Bedar was a fun and nice guy. I got off the train due to unavoidable circumstances, but I still think of myself as a member of the rail ship.
“There is something, obviously. “What…”
After listening, I realized there was a good reason for that. The soft ground is a dangerous place, and the drivers owed each other their lives at least once.
The reason is plausible and there is nothing particularly suspicious. Since Bedar had been locked in the room with the communication magic tool all day after the initial welcome, there was no possibility that he had done anything special. I stayed next to them because I thought they were waiting for something, but there was no movement even after the break was over and supplies were being loaded.
“But why are you suspicious, young master?”
“It’s a feeling.”
“yes?”
“Well… there’s something I can’t explain! “Something like a sharp feeling or a sudden chill down my spine or something like that!”
“Master, are you also interested in soul art?”
“That’s not it…! “… Anyway, there’s something strange about it!”
In my 25 years of life, this kind of intensity has saved my life more than once or twice. It’s a country that came from the 21st century, where rationality rules, but there’s something to it!
Hyde also said it a long time ago. I don’t know, but the information I passed on is hidden somewhere in my subconscious. The reason that Hyde and I, who share the same consciousness, can discuss is because Hyde can look into that unconsciousness.
‘what? ‘Why on earth am I so anxious?’
The scene that unfolded before my eyes was truly ‘seclusion’ itself.
The engine drivers were making noises due to the clothes stuck tightly between the trains, and Naelda was nagging Volteus, who was lifting the engine, saying that it was a waste of water and that he should drink some tea. The sound of screws tightening and the driver humming were playing as an accompaniment between them.
‘…Why is it so quiet?’
Maybe I was overreacting. For the Rail Ship people who have been chased for years after the dungeon battle, it feels like yesterday, and that may be why they are all so relaxed.
But when I think back to the things I saw in the basement of the Brastall family back then… No matter how I looked at it, this leisureliness made no sense.
‘Even in World 3, there was rarely a case where so many wizards of the same school were hired. In World 4, it is said that the Soul Wizard School is one of the strongest forces in the world. If you hire so many soul magicians like that, you have no choice but to talk to them.’
‘They let me go like this just because I damaged the track? Are you taking your time because you are in a hit-and-run situation where you can’t go out of Polgrad anyway?’
‘….no. In that case, there is no way they would suddenly touch the rail ship that has been neglected for the past few years due to Naelda’s threats. Threats using Rod’s fragments have made it so urgent that we have to catch Voltheus, even if it means taking that risk.’
risk. Yes, there is still a fragment of the Lord in Naelda’s hand, so attacking the rail ship is definitely a risky act. In other words, there was now a reason to attack the rail ship, even if it meant taking such risks.
I don’t know if it’s for political reasons or another reason we don’t know, but it probably means that unlike the past few years, this time Brastol has a reason to catch and kill us.
‘From that point of view, Brastall let us off too easily.’
People from Seonro Village? They are just suicide hopefuls who use metal hooks, sickles, and cheap firearms against a magic train weighing several hundred tons.
Bombardment on the castle walls? Instead of properly trained soldiers of House Brastol, the citizens of Fardau shot them. They focused on shelling the rail village where the children and mothers who were to benefit from this ‘sacrifice’ were hiding, and thanks to this, only two shots hit the rail ship despite countless shells.
‘If we look at reality, it only takes a few platoons of reserve forces to catch a biochemical terrorist group. Why? Because you trust me? ‘You bet the rest of your stake on an illegitimate child who is only nine years old?’
No way. Is there any way that an idiot like that could run not just a city, but a colony with complicated interests?
It doesn’t make sense that Fardau let go of the rail ship so easily.
It doesn’t make sense that Professor Brastol (9 years old), a boy spy who was involved in soul art catalysts and other things, was so dependable that he just let him go.
Then there is only one direction that makes sense.
‘If someone other than me that I can trust is doing the job properly!’
****
Tongue. Tongue. Tongue. Tongue.
“hey! Don’t walk down the hallway when you’re looking at the lower engine! “My ears hurt from crying!”
Amidst the innocent swearing, there were footsteps crossing the repaired rail ship.
Grumbling –
the place where those steps were headed was right behind the head compartment, where the train drivers usually sleep. To be exact, the small drawer there.
….clatter!
Inside a small leather pouch were several white, round lumps that looked like they had been carved out of bone.
After checking the contents of the bag, he placed the leather bag inside the box containing the iron parts and lifted it up.
Tongue. Tongue. Tongue. Tongue.
Slippery-
“Oh my!”
“It was dangerous. “Are you okay, George?”
“I survived thanks to Voltaeus. “This guy’s legs don’t listen to me…”
“I should have told you that last time. “Your knees are like that, so don’t carry heavy loads from now on.”
“I know, but Gary asked me to deliver these engine parts to Naelda, saying he can’t cross the dark hallway…” “
I guess Gary was out of his mind. “I’ll move it so you can go in and rest.”
“Still, I have to do something…”
The driver looked very disappointed as he looked at Volteus accepting the box he had brought with him.
‘You don’t want to seem useless.’
Knowing what the railship people were thinking about remaining here, Volteus chose to leave this place as quickly as possible for the sake of the driver who was clutching his knee.
So he couldn’t see his secretly smiling face.
thud!
“Oh, Voltaeus? “What is that?”
“Gary sent it. “I heard it’s a necessary part for the engine.”
“Gary? “Why, a guy who can’t even go to places without fire, is getting parts he never asked for…”
Naelda was rummaging through the box with a puzzled expression, and as soon as a small leather pouch caught her eye, she kicked the box away.
Kwadangtang!
“Damn it! “Get off Voltaeus!”
“….”
“Voltaeus, damn Voltaeus!!!”
Scattered parts and Naelda’s voice ringing like an echo.
For a moment, Voltaeus felt as if time had slowed down.
A leather pouch mixed in with the scattered parts. For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off the white piece that was clearly visible even through the leather.
『Here… it was.』
The white pieces that were turning black as if they were sucking in unpleasant voices and shadows, as if scraping the eardrums.
“Ego. Then… Communion to the hungry.』
Knock!
With a gloomy sound, Naelda and the train disappeared before Volteus’ eyes, and an infinitely wide black space unfolded.
A space I encountered once someday. When you accidentally touch a colored fragment, the space and
crack!
A black shadow with teeth that ate a part of itself that day.
‘I have to get away.’
Unlike before, a white shadow was approaching his head.
The moment when you can’t move even a fingertip. The moment it opened its mouth, as it was chewing something non-stop, Volteus was able to see something broken into small pieces in its mouth.
A memory I never wanted to forget.
It was an evening when the sky was high and without a single cloud. The moment when Naelda forced us to sit side by side on the roof of the train and drink tasteless mushroom tea.
The passing wind and the sunset. The color and promise of the moment taken away by the fragments.
“Naelda….”
“Voltaeus Voltaeus! Can you hear me? please!”
“Naelda….”
The elf held his face and made eye contact with the engine room, where a gloomy magical energy was pulsating. And then
, crackle, crackle, crackle!
A fragment of the dawn that seemed to grow inside his body, broke through his body and began to dominate him.
“promise. “I promise…”
Volteus held on to his consciousness that seemed to be fading away and placed his hand on top of Naelda’s hand. A rifle that has already been loaded. Why she left it out.
Slam!
“Damn it. So, I told you to eat in moderation and not to do things like Shard Knight in the first place.”
“There was nothing I could do.”
Otherwise, Naelda would not have been able to be protected from the hands of the countless pursuers and assassins who had been chasing her.
The muzzle of a gun pointed at your forehead and your finger on the trigger.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
Voltaeus, who had a premonition of the end, closed his eyes.
“….Sorry. Voltaeus.”
“Nael….everything….”
“Fuck. “I thought I was different… but I guess I’m an elf too.”
And the moment I was waiting for never came.
‘no.’
“Elves don’t change easily. Especially the inside.”
‘no.’
“And when something changes due to a big shock, it stays that way until it dies.”
Voltaeus felt Naelda’s tears falling on his stiffening face. Her lips kissing his forehead as if praying.
“That’s why an elf… can never abandon a companion he or she has accepted with all his heart. Under any circumstances. No matter what happens.”
“….Sorry. Voltaeus.”
The frozen body was moving little by little. Not by Volteus’s own will, but by the will of the malicious spirit that ate him.
“No… no…”
“I guess I’m an elf too.”
Arms covered with fragments of dawn light slowly, as if savoring that moment. I approached Naelda’s neck.
For some reason, Volteus could feel the hand holding Naelda’s neck.
Cramping skin.
gasping for breath.
Tears and
tears falling down the back of the stolen hand.
The feeling of something solid breaking.
“No…”
Before he knew it, his stolen body was back under his will.
A body that was grotesquely mixed, with the fragments absorbed into his body each developing their own individuality.
A body that had grown so large that the engine room was cramped, and someone in one’s arms.
His lover left without even closing his eyes, and the vivid sensation that remained at his fingertips.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“ah.”
Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!
And then something terrible mixed up and tore the railship apart.
****
Hwaaaaaaa!
Dazzling light began to pour in through the small ventilation opening in the dark food warehouse.
The light shown by Volteus in the tail compartment before. Unlike back then, the light of dawn was many times brighter and seemed to burn my eyes.
‘Something strange has happened.’
The moment I put down the bag I was holding and was about to run out of the warehouse, someone opened the warehouse door and came inside.
“You’d better not go there, Master of Brastol.”
“Bedar…!”
A station manager and a colleague who has shared the ups and downs with the people of the rail ship for several years. Bedar.
“A runaway Shard Knight is something close to an evil spirit, so it indiscriminately attacks the nearest being. “It is better to save the master as much as possible, so please stay here if possible.”
“You betrayed me….”
“It’s even a betrayal. Since I’m from there, if I were to ask, George, who was bribed without getting off the train yet, is a traitor. “I’m just a collaborator.”
Slam!
Bedar said in a sighing voice as he locked the door to the food warehouse.
“I’m sorry, but everyone has their own reasons. Ah, master. Would you like me to read the message from Fardau? “It might take a while over there.”
Wow!
The food warehouse was filled with blinding light and heavy drinking. The sound of metal tearing and screaming.
‘weapon. ‘Something that can be used as a weapon…!’
While Bedar was rummaging through his pockets, he quietly picked up the wooden wedge that was hanging at his feet.
“Oh, there you are. Eh, let’s see….”
‘….now!’
The moment when Bedar’s hands held the note and his eyes turned upwards.
Wow!
“….uh?”
Just before I somehow took the opportunity and rushed at him, there was a hand hugging me from behind.
“…Katrea?”
“You have to stay here… Master.”
“You can’t believe it….”
“That’s the only way for your life to continue, Master.”
Ouch!
‘What power…!’
Katrea is hugging her small body so tightly that it feels like it will be crushed, and Bedar is looking at the piece of wood that falls from my hand.
“Katrea please!”
“….”
No matter how much she struggled, Katrea just closed her eyes tightly.
Until
the noise of the one-sided massacre coming from outside
completely
subsides .
****
