[V10C5] A Man Who Doesn’t Say the Important Details
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con ManOtto froze in place, standing like a board in the middle of the hallway.
Just to be safe, Hütter escorted Möbius back to his bed.
Since Möbius had been leaning on the shoulders of the Extermination Office’s Dammer and Meine, who was Branch Director for the Medical Office’s Second Branch, Hütter walked up to Meine and told her “Let me switch out for you.”
Dammer glared at hütter’s face and gave him a look of disgust, but if he had any complaints he didn’t voice them.
Even Dammer, who treated others like they were subhuman, seemed to have a fair amount of respect when it came to Headmaster Möbius.
For the time being, even with all his effort, Möbius couldn’t keep himself standing. He lost consciousness the moment they laid him down on the bed.
Hütter whispered a question to Meine:
“Do you think Headmaster Möbius… is going to make it?”
“Well, geez, I’m not really sure myself y’know? … Sure, Dammer over here said this might be it, but who’s to say…?”
Dammer clicked his tongue and glared at Meine.
“You know, teach, this doctor’s a total quack. If you want an answer, you should just ask Director Treu yourself.”
“Ah, yes, I’ll make sure to do that. … By the way, were you two classmates or something?”
Hütter put on a disarming smile to brush past that little bit of awkwardness as he asked that question casually.
He just felt a strange familiarity in the dynamic between Dammer and Meine. But it was different from the way lovers behaved. It struck him as the familiarity of people who’d known each other for a long time.
Dammer stuck out his lip and frowned.
“Less ‘classmates’ and more…”
“Us two were born in the Wedge Tower, y’know? There’s people who give birth in the Wedge Tower from time to time, and there’s nowhere else for the kids to go, so we ended up growing up at the Wedge Tower.”
“Oh, I see.” As he nodded, Hütter had yet another unsettling revelation.
Both Meine and Dammer were around thirty years of age. They would have been born around the same time that the child Abel gave birth to became the contractor to ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower.’
(This is probably something similar, huh…)
The contractor for ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower’ had to be an infant girl within twelve months of her birth. On top of that, she needed to have talent for magic as well.
But there was no guarantee every child would so conveniently be born a girl. There was no guarantee that every child would have a talent for magic. Therefore, the previous Headmaster had entrapped other women just as he had done to Abel.
And it was probably from those women that Dammer and Meine were born.
Dammer was a boy. Meine had no talent for magic. Thus, neither of them were chosen as contractors to ‘Chariclea, the Wedge Tower,’ and Abel’s daughter was chosen instead.
Hütter looked down at Möbius, who lied almost deathly still as he slept, and whispered internally:
(… You became Headmaster to put an end to that practice, didn’t you?)
He spent his days doing nothing but hunting Monsters, all the while being tormented by the guilt of allowing his best friend’s daughter to become a sacrifice.
That must have been a living hell the likes of which some smiley con man like him could never fully comprehend.
(You really aren’t cut out to be the leader of an organization like this, after all.)
Thinking of the anguish and determination of the man who had no choice but to become Headmaster regardless of that fact, Hütter quietly sighed.
As he stood out in the hallway, Lutz Otto questioned himself.
(What have I been doing this whole time?)
Ever since the time Otto made all sorts of excuses to quit the Extermination Office — “I’m not that young anymore. I just don’t have the talent for it. Because I got hurt.” — and became a gatekeeper instead, Möbius had, even as Headmaster, continued to go out and exterminate the Monsters.
In order to drive the Monsters to extinction as quickly as possible. In order to free Otto’s daughter.
(Just tell me, dumbass! Why have you always been like that!?)
While he mentally cursed at the man, another part of him mumbled something else in his mind.
(…I get it, you couldn’t say. That’s always the kind of man you’ve been.)
When he learned that Satie was pregnant, Möbius had told Otto:
“If you’re going to be a father, I think you should quit the Extermination Office. Transfer to the Protection Office instead.”
At the time, Otto was around thirty or so, so he was already at the point where he was starting to wonder how much longer he could keep up with the Extermination Office anyways.
A mage’s peak was in their twenties. There were quite a few who quit the Extermination Office after passing the age of thirty.
But to Otto, Möbius was his best friend as much as he was his rival.
Möbius was a genius when it came to straight-up swordsmanship. Otto, meanwhile, had a knack for magic swords. Everything was a competition between the two of them, and he had always wanted to come out on top.
… Especially since Möbius had such a good face. He was always a hit with the ladies ever since their time as Apprentices, so Otto felt some jealousy towards him on that front as well.
He refused to settle for losing against him. But, somewhere in his heart, he knew he would never truly compare.
When such a rival of his suggested for him to retire from the Extermination Office, Otto had replied:
“You’re right, I think I will do that.”
At that point, Otto had given up on maintaining his rivalry with Möbius.
(Of course I’d noticed. Klaus was in love with Satie as well… But he never told her how he felt, and just gave us his blessings instead.)
Everyone loved Satie. Klaus did. As did Miriam.
Satie and Miriam both came from the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy, where they said they had been candidates to become Saint Helena. However, neither of them became Saint, and they were dispatched to the Wedge Tower instead.
Satie was a cheery girl who loved singing. Whenever she sang, everyone would smile. Even that stony-faced Miriam.
“Satie, please refrain from approaching those men. You mustn’t let their boorish and simple discussions infect your mind.”
“Aw, come on Miriam! Don’t say that!”
From the beginning, Miriam had been practically glued to Satie, and never missed a chance to glare at Otto and Möbius with hostility.
When he quipped back “Sorry for being so boorish and simple, then,” Möbius, who had been silently swinging his sword around, followed up:
“While I may not be very smart myself, Lutz is more clever than you realize. Lutz can use magic swords, after all.”
“So you acknowledge that you are a fool then, Klaus Möbius.”
“As long as I have my sword, I have all I need.”
“Then I behooved to say that you are truly an imbecile. This is a tower for mages. Why, then, do you not even try to learn magic? God will not grant His blessings to one who abandons their studies.”
Yes, Miriam and Möbius got along very poorly with each other. Odds were that they still didn’t get along well to this day.
Möbius and Otto saw each other as rivals. Miriam stuck to Satie like glue and hissed at the boys. It was hard to call their little group ‘tight-knit,’ but they were nonetheless his precious friends.
Those times they spent bickering were some of his most treasured memories.
With time, Otto and Satie started dating, and Miriam was furious. She was furious beyond belief. Back in those days, it was usual for one or both of Satie or Möbius to spend their time consoling her.
Möbius, who was extremely poor with words and a terrible liar, put in his all to buy time for Satie and Otto to have their salacious encounters.
He’d said things like “Otto’s stomach hurts. Why don’t you leave him alone today? He ate some bad leftovers yesterday.”
And “Satie’s, uh, you know, dealing with that. So I think, uh, now’s a bad time.”
Otto kind of felt bad for Möbius when he had to keep making week excuses as Miriam pressed him for more information.
(But why would you take Satie and I’s daughter away? Why am I the only one who gets left out of this?)
The answer was obvious. Because Otto was weak.
Möbius, naïve as he was, did it out of kindness. The merciless Miriam, meanwhile, decided that Otto would be of no use, and that he should be kept at a safe distance.
Thus, the two of them became Headmaster and Assistant Headmaster. Otto, on the other hand, became an ordinary gatekeeper and allowed his proud magic sword skills to rust.
“Mr. Otto.”
A voice spoke to him from the side.
It was Hütter, just emerging from the infirmary.
Hütter stood before Otto and bowed his head deeply.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing, Mr. Hütter…?”
“Both at the meeting earlier and just now… I told people private information about your past. Even though it should have been possible for me to say those things in secrecy.”
That was true. Hütter had blurted out the truth both in the meeting room and in front of Möbius.
However, had he not said those things at exactly those times, Both Abel and Möbius would probably have kept their silence.
And Otto would have gone on not knowing anything, pitying this girl named Fiene as if she was an unfortunate stranger.
…That thought alone sent a chill down his spine.
“No need to bow like that, Mr. Hütter. If you hadn’t said those things… I wouldn’t have known anything at all.”
And, without knowing anything, he very may well have beat Möbius to death in his anger.
(I’m so glad that this guy is here for me.)
Hütter wasn’t truly a colleague of his. He was an outsider. That was precisely why he could avoid getting too wrapped up in Otto’s emotions and keep his calm.
…He was truly thankful for that fact now.
Otto took a deep breath, lifted his head, and made a declaration.
“Let’s go back to the meeting room. I’ve got to find a way to save my daughter by my own hands.”