Chapter 14: KILLER
"Hurry! Hurry! Mages cast water spells! The rest of you follow me in! We must locate the Hero Ivan before he is consumed by the flames!"
Captain Meld barked orders as mages barraged the building with water spells and the likes hoping to quell the flames. Knights masked with protective spells moved in armed to the teeth looking to save Ivan and take down any assailants that may have been responsible for this incident.
Claire on the other hand looked on stupefied, unable to move from her spot. Just moments ago she had separated from Ivan, just hours ago they were enjoying a pleasant meal and having a great time exploring the Kingdom.
It only took a single moment where she let down her guard that all of it seemed as though those times would never return again. She turned her eyes to the passed out Aiko who had tears streaming down her face. Hajime on the other hand seemed more angry than anything, balling his fists and shutting his eyes in frustration.
She stood there silently, neglecting to wipe the tears falling from her eyes. In her hands was a neatly wrapped box adorning a pretty bow. After a month of being together she had finally got a gift to repay his kindness.
"Let's go! Move to the exit!"
The sound of Captain Meld resounded from within the building. What followed behind him was a tight formation of knights seemingly protecting whatever was within the formation. They carefully moved out onto the yard Claire and the others were in, and gently rested whatever they were protecting.
Captain Meld ordered them to disperse and form a new formation that would protect the rest of the class. Claire had no idea what they had brought from the building, but the anger and sorrow in Captain Meld's voice and expression were enough to make her heart sink.
Claire felt if it were the Ivan she knew, he would've been out of the building asap, the fact that the knights had to go in to retrieve him had already spelled doom in her mind. So that got her thinking, what stopped him from evacuating?
She wasn't very familiar with Ivan's skills and yet she knew it wouldn't be impossible for him to mold an exit out of the area.
'But why didn't he?' She thought to herself.
She balled her fists so that her nails dug into her palms and forced her way through the crowd. It had seemed Aiko and Hajime had already come to the same conclusion as her, the only difference was that they accepted it before they even saw the body.
On the ground were two stretchers: one carrying a young man with long and messy brown hair that reached his shoulders. A sword clutched in his hands as multiple parts of his body were covered in burns. It had seemed as though he had gone down fighting but as far as the medics were concerned there was no other damage done to him besides those burns.
The other stretcher was far more horrific to look at. Claire pushed the healers who had already given up and gently lifted the disfigured and scarred hand with her own. Tears brimmed from her eyes as she looked at the cloth that covered his face and body, she trembled as she held the cold and lifeless limb.
Her throat started to hurt. She couldn't breathe. She heard someone screaming.
AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!
She realized, because her throat hurt so much, that she was the one who was screaming.
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Hajime and the rest of the class met once more in the dorms. This time the deafening silence was for another reason. A classmate of theirs has died. It was a realization that awoke them from the powertrip they had been feeling since they first awoke in this world.
'We can die.' That was something along the lines of what everyone present was thinking.
While they weren't particularly close with Ivan they did feel grateful for some of the things he had done for them. Such as convincing the Kingdom to allow them the choice of fighting and brewing potions that put them back in tip top shape.
But what was more terrifying to these students other than the prospect of death was the likely possibility that Ivan had been murdered by one of their fellow classmates.
Daisuke Hiyama. The class bore witness to the torture Ivan had administered to him before. It was an event that made members of the class think twice when being offered stuff by Ivan.
Hiyama was recognized in the class as someone who often bullied Hajime. It was no mystery to the students that he was not a relatively innocent soul. As such it isn't strange to them that he would feel vengeful when humiliated by Ivan.
That piled onto him being at the scene of the crime equipped with his weapon only casted further doubts. Sure, he might've been there under the pretense of protecting Ivan from a would-be assailant, but it wasn't like they were on friendly terms so there shouldn't have even been a reason for him to visit in the night in the first place.
Ivan's Atelier was far from the dorms and in a rather secluded area of the Kingdom. For one to get there one must deliberately head that way despite there being nothing else to visit.
The dark cloak and mask he was carrying on him didn't help much either.
They had tried speaking to him earlier while he was detained for further questioning but the only thing they got in return was silence. It was as if his soul had been stripped from his body. The doctors only summarized that it seemed as though he had gone insane.
As for what traumatic experience had put him into this state, they could only guess it would be the shock of nearly burning to death along with the experience of possibly murdering his own classmate.
Captain Meld and his knights only surrounded the dorm to ensure no further harm would come to the students. Word of a hero having died had already spread beyond the Kingdom and the last thing they wanted to do was lose face from losing another.
It was a real shame to the Kingdom that they had lost the valuable resources Ivan produced for them. All they had left to show for their past agreement was the potions and elixirs Ivan had given to them as part of the contract along with anything they were able to scrounge from his wrecked Atelier.
Currently they were preoccupied with dealing with the mess left behind by his passing. They needed to explain to the public how one of the heroes had lost their life without disclosing that another is likely the one at fault for it.
As much as they detested Hiyama for wounding them they advised against executing him as losing one hero sent from God himself was a tragedy as it was. Getting rid of another would just be a slap in the face to themselves and the God who so graciously delivered these heroes.
And besides, rather than outright killing Hiyama it would be better to use him to make up for the losses he caused. His comatose state as of now was no concern to them.
"Damn it all!" Hajime slammed the table in front of him and buried his head into his hands.
'It's because of him I finally found my worth… Heh, if he didn't get me apprenticing under this Synergist I would probably be in the same situation as I was before we got here.'
For the first time in his life, Hajime found something he was proud of other than his collection of anime merchandise and his ability to sleep through loud environments. And that thing was bringing to life the creations he thought of in his mind.
At first he thought of his class to be a useless and meager one, but when seeing the abilities of a pro Synergist able to create strong tools and weapons, he came to the conclusion that his job was only as useless as him.
He had something the Synergists of this world didn't: knowledge of the many technological advancements his world went through.
Tanks, planes, trains, and firearms. These were things he felt well within his grasp with his new abilities.
In fact he wanted to thank Ivan for opening his eyes by gifting him something he's been working on for weeks.
And yet this tragedy struck and he'll never be able to thank Ivan ever again.
He looked at the sleeping Aiko on the other side of the room and clenched his fists tightly. When she wakes up he'd have to explain what exactly happened. He had no idea how she'd react at one of her students potentially being responsible for the death of another but he felt it'd be crueler to keep it away from her.
Not minding the murmuring and the depressed attitudes of the other students, he walked to his former room and locked himself in there to ponder more.
He knew he wouldn't be the only one impacted by Ivan's death. In fact he could think of someone closer to Ivan than that is probably feeling more devastated than both him and Aiko.
Though he had only known Ivan for a month, he vowed to forever remember him as his one and only friend.
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She sat silently in front of her dresser, staring back at her own reflection as she gently caressed the knives she was given as a gift.
If not for the single candle illuminating her face, no one would be able to tell that someone was in this room at all. The curtains were drawn so close that not a single ray of light illuminated the inside.
But none of that was on her mind right now. Her fingers went over the edge of the blade over and over, there was enough force for the knife to shake in her hand but not enough for the sharp edges to break her skin.
She had taken an oath to protect him.
And yet she failed.
The weight of it all crushed her and made it unbearable to breathe every time she thought of his charred and deformed corpse.
The conversations they had, the fun arguments of theirs, his cold yet sometimes childish attitude, she'd never live them ever again.
Claire heard of the suspicious nature of Hiyama, all signs in her mind pointed to him as the killer. But despite all that she was made clear by the King himself that no further harm shall happen upon the heroes.
It had seemed as though they had expected her to come to a conclusion. It seemed they anticipated a reaction from her.
And yet she decided she would act upon her emotions anyways. She knew they were expecting her to move, but she was resolute in making sure Hiyama paid for taking away someone precious to her.
She was going to kill the killer.
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Hey guys, so I did the thing I said I wouldn't and wrote this single chapter at two separate parts of the day.
So the first part would be me in the morning, and the second is me late into the night. Once again I can confirm this was a bad idea.
My head is muddled and my vision blurry.
I hope I was able to convey my point with this chapter. Anyways, thanks for reading again and I hope to see ya' next time!
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