Chapter 84
Figuring there was a better way to kill time until nightfall, Fleur and I set about making an active effort to find the remaining chamite members. We asked around, and while Guy seemed to have simply vanished into thin air, Meztili stood out enough that multiple people remembered seeing her head into the spellcraft classroom.
There were students spread out all over the building, but this one classroom was left empty. I assumed it was due to the lack of any features, seeing as the furniture only popped out from the ground when Mrs Abigail was there to manipulate the stone.
Sure enough, we found the bandaged girl sitting alone in the middle of a cold, barren room.
“Hey.”
I called out to announce our presence.
“Rex, I'm pleased to see you're ok…”
Her head lifted up to look at me.
“What creature did you fuse with to achieve that strange form? Your mana felt . Very similar to that of Anubis.”
“You called, sweet grandchild? Oh! If it isn't the boy from last time!”
The familiar floating skull flew over to me, a newly attached spine dangling down.
“Ah, nice to see you again.”
I responded by dropping Tiara onto the skull. They began flying around in circles above my head.
“I don't think I can give you a good explanation for I was sharing my body with, but they're gone now anyway.”
I shrugged off the question. It wasn't as though I was being evasive; I really didn't fully understand the being that assisted me.
“Do you enjoy keeping secrets, or does it come naturally, I wonder?”
I could hear the smile in her voice.
“So what brings you here?”
She cocked her head.
“Just checking on everyone, really. Oliver and Lily are in town, but I wanted to know how things are for you and Guy.”
“...and you?”
She inched her head slightly to my side, where Fleur was standing silently.
“I do not know where else I should be.”
“I understand.”
Meztili responded, and an awkward silence followed. I opted to move the conversation along to escape whatever odd tension was building between them.
“So you were able to attach the spine to the skull, huh? Will we have a full-body skeleton walking around soon?”
Anubis floated down, and Tiara was reaching down and swatting at his spine.
“It could happen, kid! You might live to see the greatest necromancer back in his prime, kekekeke!”
Meztili flicked her finger, lightly sending a bolt of mana to rattle the chatty skull.
“I always hated that laugh… why don’t we put you back in your box?”
“No, girlie! You kept me locked away long enough! We shoulda sent those damned flower kissin’ vine swingin’ stretched out fairies to the grave! Then, dug ‘em up, and sent them chasing their thousand-year-old grannies right back into the forest!”
“Heh.”
I couldn't help but snicker at the angry old timer, even if it did earn me a pointed glare from Fleur.
“That's not a bad point in all seriousness. Raising the dead is a huge advantage in large-scale battles. Why not use them to fight back?”
I asked Meztili.
“You can't be serious.”
Her tone made me feel like a naughty little boy who just swore at his mother.
“I mean, I know it would be morally questionable, but when lives are at stake, isn't it justified?”
“I like this kid!”
Anubis cackled and hid behind me to prevent another disciplinary bolt from striking him.
“Back in my day, we'd make even our own severed limbs get off their lazy ass and join the fight. One guy even reanimated his actual severed ass cheeks, kekeke!”
“Ugh… shut up, please.”
Meztili held her head in despair, then took a deep breath and explained slowly.
“Animating my schoolmate’s corpses would not be enough to fight back against elven warriors. At best, they would just cut them down again, then restrain me. And at worst, my peers would kill me themselves for desecrating their friends. Besides, we had a plan…”
“It was a crap plan, kiddo.”
“What this plan?”
Fleur asked.
“Guy was going to use his Gift to copy mine, then he would wait for an opening and blow a hole through the back wall and lead us out.”
“Your grandfather's right. That's just stupid.”
I frowned at the idea. Surely Professor Kuhn was not aware of this.
“Guy would be able to deal with the backlash of mana overload so long as he had some blood to drink, and we only needed to escape, not fight back.”
She tried to defend the idea.
“Escape with hundreds of students following behind? Did you think nobody would hear that? You'd have gotten countless people killed as a result.”
“My brother would have wiped you all out.”
Fleur added.
“Well… we would have left in small groups.”
“They would notice hostages vanishing and kill half of those that remain to set an example.”
Fleur cut it down again.
“Haaa…”
Meztili’s shoulders slumped.
“I know… Guy was so insistent on trying something, and I couldn't say no. It felt better than doing nothing at least.”
I was suddenly reminded that I was speaking with a teenage girl. With all the stress of the situation, it was no wonder a young and inexperienced person would make a rash decision without thinking it through.
“I get it, it must have been difficult for you.”
She flinched a little as I squeezed her shoulder.
Given how well she handled herself in Farrowgate, I must have created an unrealistic expectation of her in my head.
“Don't coddle her, boyo! She shoulda given me her mana and let me blow the skirts right off those pretty little fart-huffers!”
“Hehe. Sorry, Fleur, but c'mon, he's funny.”
I pre-empted the judgment and attempted to placate the pretty little fart-huffer.
“Homme stupide!”
She spoke in Elvish, but even I understood that one.
The delightfully inappropriate dead man continued to cackle as he dodged Meztili’s barrage of attacks. He must have earned Tiara’s loyalty, too, seeing as she was teleporting him around to assist his endeavour.
The ridiculous show did wonders at relieving the tension that had built up in all of us, and when Meztili finally gave up chasing her grandfather around the room, the three of us found ourselves relaxing our postures.
It was a distraction. Something I felt both girls sorely needed.
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“Oh, I just realised.”
Meztili turned back to us.
“Everybody is accounted for, but what about Paris?”
The relaxed atmosphere vanished just as quickly as it had come. Fleur and I exchanged a hesitant look.
“What? Don't tell me—she's not…”
“She's alive.”
Fleur cut in, and Meztili gave a relieved sigh.
“Might not be for long though. I had to tie her up and leave her back in the dorm.”
I explained everything that had transpired.
“She attacked Fleur?”
Meztili looked over to the elf.
“So you really weren’t involved in all this… sorry, I should have trusted you.”
“No, it is only sensible to be sceptical.”
Fleur shook her head. I added on to her words.
“She disappeared the day before the attack, then her brother showed up leading the charge. It's not unreasonable to ask questions. Besides, blindly trusting your classmates would mean Fleur should just forgive Paris for poisoning and abducting her.”
“Right… on the topic of Paris, is it really ok to leave her alone? I don't think simple ropes would be enough with her flexibility.”
“Well, I did break some bones, and Isolde confirmed her regeneration wouldn't fix without medical attention, so I don’t see her going anywhere. I could go back and nail her to the wall if it makes you more comfortable.”
Meztili shook her head.
“You’re still messing around… It’s almost comforting.”
“I aim to please.”
I lightly punched her arm.
“By the way, what ended up happening with Guy? I’m worried about how he is handling all this.”
“Mmm… after Major Pancia secured the place and announced a lockdown, he ran off towards the library.”
“Huh? Why would he go there?”
“I don’t know, sorry. He became agitated when he heard that Soleo and King Leonidas were involved in the attack.”
I sighed and folded my arms.
“Yeah, I figured something like this would happen. So why did you come here alone instead of sticking with the others?”
Meztili looked around the empty room.
“I just wanted to confer with my grandfather. This place is nice and quiet.”
Tiara reappeared on my shoulder as if cueing us to move along.
“I suppose we should leave you to it then. I’ll see you back at…”
I trailed off. Would we even be able to return to the dormhouse? The lower floor was a wreck. I still hadn’t decided whether to keep Paris there for personal interrogation or hand her in immediately, and the training room reeked of blood.
I considered the Burning Sprite, but that was in even worse condition.
“Where exactly are we going to stay tonight?”
I turned to Fleur.
“The dead won’t be needing their beds.”
She responded bluntly.
“True, but do you think the others will mind?”
“I am already being held in poor regard, and you do not even require sleep.”
She retorted, then looked to Meztili.
“What about you?”
“I wish to perform Nekrotica’s funerary rites in private. It will take me all night, but you can find me here if need be.”
“Alright, sounds like a plan. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
I turned to leave the room, but hesitated once my hand tightened around the doorknob.
“Actually, you know what? I’ll spend the night here too. See you in a few hours.”
I looked back and smiled before leading Fleur back out into the hallway.
We started walking towards the library in silence. She waited until we were well out of earshot before asking me a question.
“Why spend the night there? Are you seeking sexual comfort?”
“Of course, you came to that conclusion.”
I laughed, no longer surprised by these comments.
“No, how would that even work with her condition?”
“You could—”
“Rhetorical question, shut up. I’m just interested in the funerary rites of different gods.”
She stared at me, carefully searching for the slightest tell in my expression.
“Alright.”
She accepted and returned her attention to the front, seeing as I maintained a perfect poker face.
I was not lying. The more I knew about the gods and their followers, the better. But there was another reason I thought it best that Meztili not stay alone that night. I noticed it in her shoulders, and each time I touched her.
Built up tension. She should be comfortable around the dead, but that didn’t mean the transition between life and death was a pleasant thing to witness repeatedly in one day. And if she were spending hours without rest, dedicating her attention to those who died, her mind would be without relief for a long time.
I might be overthinking it, but there was no harm in keeping an eye on a friend.
***
[Meztili’s POV]
The door shut behind Rex and Fleur, and I was once again left alone with my grandfather’s skull.
“Something changed.”
I said.
“In more ways than you understand, girlie.”
Anubis kept his voice low and serious.
“Did you feel the mana in his heart? No mana organ can produce that. It felt like something incredibly ancient was brewing in there.”
“Should we be concerned? He’s not in danger, is he?”
“Calm down, yer boyfriend’ll be fine.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!”
I hated that my voice rose to such heights as I objected.
“Future husband?”
My annoying grandfather cackled as he continued to tease me. But he soon returned to his previous state.
“I’ve seen something similar before… I just can’t put my finger on it. Can’t put my finger on anything in fact, kekekeke!”
“Speaking of which…”
I lowered my voice.
“Are we really going through with reuniting your pieces? I don’t think the situation is bad enough to invoke the rite of Ancestral Reunification.”
“Of course we’re doin’ it!”
Grandfather snapped at me.
“You just don’t get it, kiddo! You can’t feel the changes in the air yet, but you will one day, and when that day comes, you’ll realise we should’ve acted sooner. You’ve got the talent to become my successor, kiddo, and I’ll be damned if that degenerate nephew of mine is going to hold that position from you!”
“I get it, I get it. It’s just risky doing this alone…”
“It’s fine! Nobody knew where my spine had gone for decades, and we just had the good fortune to stumble upon it again. Nobody should know we already hold two pieces.”
He tilted to the side, as if considering something.
“Besides, that drood kid likes you. Just bat your eyes at him, maybe show some ankle, and he’ll be wrapped around your finger.”
“Argh! Stop! It’s not like that between us… How would I even do anything like this anyway?”
“Kehehe! Well, you could always—”
“It was rhetorical, shut up!”
“Fine, be that way. We’ll see if you can keep it up all night. You’ll be spending the night together after all.”
His spine bent up under his chin and pointed at me. The way it waggled to and fro was infuriatingly suggestive.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go back in me box when he returns. You two can dedicate your attention to one another.”
“That’s it.”
I grabbed his spine and spun him around.
“Aaaaaaah! I’ll stop, I’ll stop!”
Not trusting the lecherous old man, I continued to spin him until the heat in my cheeks faded.
***
[Rex’s POV]
The library had more people than I expected wandering around and sitting in groups. The mood seemed rather morbid, though, like this section of the building had drawn in all the quietly brooding types.
None of the librarians were present, but I did see Beatrice drifting from shelf to shelf. I did not think she was legitimately sorting them; instead, it looked like she was trying to stay distracted by removing books and putting them right back where they were.
Tucked away in the space between two shelves was Guy, sitting cross-legged with a pile of books scattered around him.
He did not react when I approached from behind, but he did turn when I dropped his tie onto the book he was obsessively poring over.
“Yo. How you holding up?”
I asked, hoping a casual response might loosen him up.
“Mm… not great.”
He furrowed his brows and returned to his book. From what I could see, he had gathered books relating to Solean traditions, knight codes, and the etiquette of war.
Fleur nudged me from behind without speaking and nodded to one book in particular, titled
It seemed to be a fictional story, but I had my doubts that Guy was just enjoying a good book.
“What’re you reading there?”
I asked, hoping to receive an answer that would disprove the theories rattling around my head.
“Nothing… sorry, actually… I’m just trying to make sense of all this.”
He closed the book and stood to face us. He opened his mouth to speak, but froze as he made eye contact with Fleur.
It dragged on an uncomfortably long time, but Fleur thankfully spoke up before I had to step in.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
Guy swallowed and fixed his gaze on the ground.
“D-did you know?”
“No.”
Silence returned following Fleur's firm denial. There was a hint of annoyance in her tone, likely because she knew she would be answering the same question endlessly.
“Okay, I believe you.”
Guy nodded, though it looked like the real question he yearned to ask was still on the way.
“So… what do we do? They must have had their reasons, right?”
His eyes were fixed on the fiction novel on the ground while he spoke, only occasionally moving to look at me nervously.
“I will hear my brother’s side before making my decision.”
“Right. He's still alive, huh? Who can talk to, though?”
Guy trailed off, once again looking at me hesitantly.
“Is there a problem?”
I asked.
“...I heard you fought.”
The way he said that sounded like more of an accusation than anything.
“You heard right. I was in a position to take action, so I did.”
“So simple, huh?”
“Not everything needs to have a deep meaning behind it. People were dying, and I did what I could to keep the death toll down.”
“By killing so many more?”
I nearly asked how he would know whether I even killed anyone or not, but his glowing red eyes reminded me who I was talking to.
“You smell worse than any of the others. What did you do exactly?”
The question was not rhetorical; he was stepping up to me and silently demanding a response.
“This stench doesn't come from self-defence. You did something excessive again, didn't you?”
I looked at him without a shred of remorse. Did I really have to defend myself again?
For what? Yes, those I killed would require a closed-casket funeral, but it is not as if I fight that way because I enjoy it.
Unrestrained ferocity is as valid a tactic as any other, and at the end of the day, there is no polite way to kill a man.
“Guy. Grow up.”
I clenched my jaw as the words came out.
“War is disgusting. It's messy and violent. The weaker you are, the harsher you need to be to win. You need to drop this mentality and wake up to the world you live in.”
I stepped forward and looked down at him.
“Are you scared because you don't know what to believe anymore? Your King, his royal guard, and at least a hundred of his men just broke their alliance with us and tried to assassinate the Emperor. Bridgit bashed my skull in shortly after the attack began, and I have spent all day trudging through blood and death. Bodies now line the streets that we've been walking through for the past three months, and all of it was a result of Leonidas’ actions. Face it, Soleo are in the wrong here. What justification do you think you’ll find in these books?”
I said everything that came to mind. I admit to being annoyed at his behaviour, but this did not come from anger.
This was a reality check. All-out war was very likely to follow this incident, and we didn't need an idealist crying and moaning while the soldiers did what was required.
“...goodbye, Rex.”
He shoved his way past me and stormed out of the library. I caught sight of Beatrice and some others awkwardly looking our way as I watched him go.
“...did I go too far?”
I asked Fleur.
“Nothing you said was incorrect.”
She shrugged.
“Though I am surprised to see you express yourself so thoroughly. Would it not have been easier to lie?”
“If I didn't care about him, then sure, I would've just said whatever.”
I began picking up after Guy and placing the books where they belonged. As I did so, my eyes fell on a particular passage in
I checked the author's name: Gertrude Gutermuth.
I wondered whether he knew this was written from an Imperial perspective. Maybe he realised partway through, and that was why he left it unfinished.
“Fleur, what do elves think of those who betray their tribe to do the right thing?”
“The ancestors would say that heroes often stand against the tide.”
“How about Soleans?”
“I believe traitors would be reviled regardless of their intent or accomplishments.”
She looked over at some of the frightened faces looking her way.
“Are we done here?”
I shut the book in my hand and put it away.
“Looks like it.”
It might be a good idea to request an extra set of eyes on Guy. I got the feeling he would make a particularly stupid decision soon.
While thinking who I could ask, I began to wonder whether Lily had returned yet.
