[V1C9] Black Monster
Translated by Jodas 1: The Wedge TowerClinging to the back of the strange winged serpent, Tia’s cheeks flushed as she felt the sensation of wind against her face.
(The sky. The sky. I’m flying!)
She didn’t have the time to savor her ecstasy. The serpent had begun twisting its body to shake Tia off.
Tia snorted and cling even tighter to the serpent’s body.
Tia’s fingers weren’t very strong, but she had arm strength. So, she stretched her arms out wide and wrapped the snake in a tight embrace. Doing this, she inched up to the area around its wings.
(The worst thing is when someone messes with you while you’re flying. That’s obvious.)
The snake’s wings came into view. The wings were covered in skin like a bat’s.
“Wren! Sevil! I’m gonna bring it down!”
Tia lifted her upper body slightly, then grappled onto one of the wings with force.
The floating serpent’s body leaned over dramatically, and it fell to the ground. As its body leaned, Tia saw.
The claw on the snake’s tail was swinging right on to her.
“Tia!”
Shouting, Wren jumped up and grabbed on to Tia’s feet. Pulled down by Wren’s weight, both Tia and Wren fell unceremoniously to the earth.
The claw that had aimed at Tia swung through empty sky.
“Euuugghhh, you scared me, you really scared me. I know it’s pointless to force you to say you won’t do something like that again, but hey, Tia, give your thanks to my pretty boy rescue!”
“Thank you, pretty boy rescue!”
Wren ran his mouth, and Tia energetically said her thanks. Giving thanks was important.
With a face stained by dirt and sweat, Wren kept a cool expression and winked.
“Tia, Wren, well done. I’ll give you my compliments.”
Sevil leaped and stepped on top of the snake’s snout.
Then, she swung the curved sword with one hand and slashed both of the serpent’s eyes with one swing.
“Ah!” Tia suddenly realized something and shouted.
“Sevil! Eyes don’t mean much to snakes! It can still move even if it can’t see!”
“Then I just need to slice it to pieces!”
The moment Sevil once again rose her curved sword to strike the writhing serpent, they heard a voice from above.
“Let’s leave it at that—return.”
It was a soft woman’s voice.
With the sunset at her back, a robed woman at least forty years of age stepped towards them. She had a gentle face and unruly blonde hair put up in a loose braid.
The woman lifted the thick leather-bound book she held.
Once the woman finished some sort of incantation and closed the book, the strange serpent’s form disappeared as if melting into the air.
(It disappeared? Why? Is there something in that book?)
The woman tied a strap around the book, and locked it shut. As Tia watched intently, the woman held the closed book to her chest and smiled at them.
“I expected those who could use no magic would try to avoid this little one and sneak around to use their keys….. I’m a little surprised you decided to take it head on in battle.”
“Are you a mage of the Wedge Tower?”
Sevil asked, returning her sword to its sheath.
The woman nodded lightly.
“I am Director of the Wedge Tower’s Library Office, Linke. You must be applicants, please follow me.”
Linke walked off with quiet footsteps. Tia quickly realized where it was she was headed.
The northernmost X mark, located farther from the starting point than any other.
They didn’t have to walk far before Linke came to a stop. At her feet was a podium built of stones, upon which a somewhat large metal box was embedded.
Until now, the metal boxes they’ve seen at the X marks were hidden so as not to stand out, and they were small boxes, small enough to hold in one’s hands.
However, this box was large enough to wrap both arms around, and was easy to spot, placed upon its pedestal.
As they expected, coming here had some kind of significance.
On the top of the metal box was a round engraving. A slot meant to hold the keys.
“Tia, Wren, produce your keys. I shall open it.”
Sevil said while inspecting the area around the metal box. She was likely being cautious of traps.
If there was a trap, Tia wasn’t sure she would be able to avoid them fast enough, so she dutifully took the wooden plank out from her underwear and handed it to Sevil. Wren did the same.
Sevil produced her own key and the one they had stolen from the blond man, then arranged the four of them in the engraving on the metal box.
It made a click sound, and the metal box opened.
“…. This is—!”
When the door of the metal box opened even slightly, Sevil let out a surprised shout. She opened it wider to allow Tia and Wren to see.
Inside the box were copper-colored medals—Wedge medals packed to the brim. If they were to count, there would would likely be over a hundred. Of course the box was so big.
Linke spoke to the three of them from behind as they peeked into the box.
“Take one each, okay. It would be an issue if you were to start passing them out to others, which is why I am here.”
As told, Tia and company each took only one Wedge Medal.
Tia quickly slid her medal into her underwear, then stared at the book in Linke’s hands.
Sensing her gaze, Linke asked.
“Is something the matter?”
“Is that snake inside that book?”
“Why yes, it is.”
Wren and Sevil gasped and glared at the book.
Perhaps both of them still thought that serpent was still an illusion or something.
Wren fearfully questioned.
“Was that snake with wings from earlier, umm…. your magic, Director Linke?”
“I wonder.”
Linke maintained her gentle expression, making it hard to tell if she was playing dumb, teasing them, or responding in full honesty.
Next it was Sevil who opened her mouth.
“Monsters are beings from the old era. I’d heard they no longer existed in the modern age.”
“Monsters do exist. Even now, they still do.”
Linke stroked the leather binding with her thin fingers.
“The purpose of this exam is to get you to understand that fact.”
Her voice was gentle and kind, but it still made shivers run down their spines.
Wren and Sevil fell quiet. They were still being tested. Both of them were smart, they understood that.
“Pirorororo…. Tia rolled her words on the tip of her tongue, then asked.
“Is that big snake dead? It’s eyes were taken out just like that…”
“No need to worry. Monsters recover from their wounds quickly. This one will surely recover given time.”
With those words, Tia was certain.
As she thought, the Wedge Tower is a gathering of people who know.
The night wind caressed the headstrong Tia’s cheeks. The sun had already sunk halfway below the horizon.
Sevil declared with a stern expression.
“We must descend immediately. If we do, we should be able to reach the gathering point by noon tomorrow.”
“Will we even be able to reach the bottom? If we push ourselves too much in the dark and slip off, it wouldn’t be pretty.”
Wren’s insight was astute. This path ran along the precipices of sheer cliffs, and there were many places where it was narrow enough that there was a danger of falling.
Regardless, if they made camp now, their timing would get very tight.
Sevil thought briefly and offered a compromise suggestion.
“Then, we need only descend as much as we can without exposing ourselves to undue danger. There were several places along the way that were open enough to make camp in.”
“Well, it’s not like we have any choice. You okay with that too, Tia?”
Tia wordlessly looked towards the forest.
The howling wind grew ever stronger. Riding upon that wind, she could hear a faint voice.
(……A scream?)
Where she had hair, she got goosebumps.
“Hooo,” Unconsciously, Tia made a low call with her throat.
“Hey, Tia, are you even listening? I said hey! Look, there’s a pretty boy right here!”
Wren pulled his face right up to hers, to which Tia spoke in a flat voice, without intonation.
“…..Okay, let’s go. I was just thinking it would be nice to head south.”
Whatever Wren felt in that low voice, his face went pale. “A- Alright,” he responded.
“Eugh….. What do I do now…..”
As the sun set over the forest, a girl in her late teens wearing a grey robe plodded onwards, having lost all energy.
Her sand-colored hair was tied in a braid, and she wore a pair of glasses. Her name was Ella Frank.
She had entered the forest for the Wedge Tower Entrance Exam and had noticed a discrepancy with how few X marks were drawn on the map. She had thought that teaming up with her fellow applicants would give her a higher chance of passing…..Then when she found another applicant and tried to convince him, he mugged her with a sword and stole her key.
She had been deceived by the friendly smile of that middle-aged man who went by the name of Seitz.
Even then, she had continued to wander around the forest, hoping to team up with another applicant, but only found a terrifying beast. An unbelievably terrifying beast unlike anything she had ever seen before.
This was an emergency situation. She had to let the test officers know—thinking that, she headed for the forest entrance. Along the way, she found something that had been dropped on the ground.
A copper-colored medal.
That was to say, this was a Wedge Medal. Did one of the other applicants drop it?
(If I bring this back, I can pass…..No, now’s not the time to think about such things.)
Embarrassed that she would think about something so underhanded for even a second, Ella picked up the pace, running for the forest entrance.
Fortunately, it appeared the test officials stayed there overnight, and several bright lanterns had been hung up around the meeting point.
Relying on that light, Ella made it to the entrance and, finding the test officials—Hegelich with neat blond hair, and Röhm with short bangs, ran up to them.
“Umm, I’m, applicant number one, Ella Frank.”
“Of course, good work out there. Have you found a Wedge Medal?”
Röhm asked with a smile. Ella gave her report, speaking so fast she was worried her tongue might get tangled.
“You’ve got to help! There’s a beast in the forest unlike anything I’ve ever seen…..!”
“Have you not considered that it might be something we have arranged?”
Ella snapped back to reality at the sound of Hegelich’s calm voice, then blushed.
Of course. This was the exam for the Wedge Tower, where top class mages gathered. In that case, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to set up something of this sort.
If you combined illusions with a number of other magics, it wouldn’t be impossible to recreate that beast.
“So that’s what that was…. I’m sorry…. I’m so lame for panicking like that…. Um, by the way, this…..”
Twisting her face in discomfort, Ella took out the Wedge Medal she had picked up earlier.
Röhm took it and confirmed the pattern on its front.
“A Wedge Medal. I’ve confirmed its authenticity. You can rest in that tent over there until midday tomorrow.”
“Um, no, that’s not it. I just found this laying on the ground and picked it up….. I came to hand it back.”
She planned to go back in to the forest. Then, she would look for an applicant who would work with her.
Her key had been stolen, so her chances of passing were slim to none, but the test wasn’t over just yet.
However, before Ella could walk off, Hegelich told her:
“Those who bring a Wedge Medal back by the time limit will be judged as passing. …..We can’t just break a rule like that. Do you understand?”
“But….”
“You will hear the explanation we give to the passing applicants tomorrow. If you still feel you want to enroll at the Wedge Tower after that, then you’ll give your signature. Ms. Röhm, if you would direct her to the tent.”
Smiling kindly, Röhm encouraged Ella to follow, saying “This way.”
Ella hesitated and remained in place, to which Hegelich waved one hand as if shooing away a dog. “Get going already.”
Ella bowed her head as deeply as she could, then followed Röhm’s guidance towards the tent.
“It must have been rough for you. There’s warm food inside, so you should take your time and rest up.”
“Yes….”
Röhm was an easy woman to get along with. She had an air about her that made it feel like it was okay to ask her personal questions.
So Ella voiced a question that had been bothering.
“What sort of magecraft was that upright-walking wolf?”
The wolf-like beast she saw in the forest had a presence that she didn’t think could have been illusion magic.
As one who would be studying magecraft, it interested her deeply how that effect had been created.
“…You. What did you just say?”
Hegelich reacted to Ella’s question.
Röhm’s face tensed up.
“The beast I saw in the forest. It was a wolf about twice the size of a person; it walked on its hind legs; its claws were about this big; ……”
Ella waved her body and arms to illustrate as she reported what she had seen. Röhm asked, speaking quickly.
“What you saw in the forest wasn’t a snake with wings?”
“It wasn’t a snake. It was a wolf with black fur that walked on its hind legs.”
Hegelich shot his eyes towards Röhm. His eyes, behind his round glasses, were narrowed sharply.
“Ms. Röhm. Contact the Extermination Office immediately.”