CHAPTER 82: THE ACCOUNT OF BLAIN MILHIS

Blain opened his eyes.

He looked at Firvus, then at everyone else, and lifted himself from the floor.

“…W-Where am I…?”

“You were collapsed in this classroom with Liz, who’s right over there.”

After listening to Firvus’ explanation, Blain looked over to where Liz was.

Liz must’ve been out deeper than Blain. She was still out like a log and didn’t respond to any of Flin’s calls.

“Blain, what were you doing here?”

“…Uhh—” With his finger on his temple, he gave a surprisingly clear recount of what he remembered. “I caught sight of the girl over there—”

“Stop right there for me.” interrupted Firvus. “Why were you wandering around outside in the first place? What were you doing?”

“…Alright, let me explain from the start. I was exterminating the undead. While I was in the dorm, I heard a bizarre noise, and when I went outside to check—you know the rest from there.”

“So you were testing out your skills.”

“Pretty much.” Blain nodded without a hint of shame. If he wanted to test out his offensive magic that badly, I suppose I can’t really blame him.

“So? What happened after that?”

“…I defeated the Zombies and Skeletons as they appeared, then located the magic circle that was summoning them and destroyed it.”

Firvus widened his eyes in response to what he said. “SO IT WAS YOU!?”

“Yes… It’s likely that there are multiple of them, but I got one of them, at least…” Blain continued indifferently. It didn’t really seem like he was trying to boast. “After that, I started to head back to the dorm, but when I happened to glance up at the school building, I spotted a female student walking down the hallway.”

Thereupon, Blain looked over to Liz. “It was that girl named Liz right over there. I didn’t remember what her name was at the time, but I knew she was a classmate of mine. Thinking she was getting chased by undead, I entered the school building to help her.”

“…And then?”

“I walked up the stairs to this floor, but I couldn’t spot any trace of her. Then, I peeked into each classroom one by one—and found her here.”

“Was Liz unconscious at the time?”

“Err… Yes, she was. At the very least, I know for a fact she had collapsed, though I’m not sure if she was unconscious or not.”

“You aren’t sure? Didn’t you approach her?”

“I didn’t. Right when I was about to enter the classroom to check on her—” Blain closed his eyes and continued, “I was attacked by someone.”

“Attacked?”

“Yes. They were covered in black from head to toe, and their face was indistinguishable, too.”

“So he got the better of you?”

“Yes. I’m quite well-trained in martial arts myself, but my assailant was much more skilled. I managed to squeeze in one solid punch to the gut—and before I even realized it, here I am.”

“That so…”

“That about sums up what happened to me.”

“I see… Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“We came to this classroom because there was a Lighting spell left nearby. The door had Hard Rock cast on it, too. Was that your doing?”

“…No? I haven’t done anything of the sort.”

“That so…” Firvus trailed off and went silent.

Judging from their conversation, it’s safe to assume that the person who set up those spells was Blain’s assailant. 

Although, why did they even bother to do that?

Rather, why did they stop at knocking Blain unconscious in the first place?

I suppose it’s because they didn’t need to kill him, but it’s not like they had any reason to spare him, either.

To make matters worse, they cast Hard Rock and Lighting.

It’s almost as if they were protecting Blain and Liz after they fell unconscious—as if they were looking out for them, making sure someone noticed that Blain and Liz were there.

The room went silent, and Flin broke that silence. “Mr. Firvus. Liz is awake.”

“…H-Huh…? Where…?” Liz blinked rapidly.

Firvus peered into Liz’s face. “You alright, Liz?”

“Ah, yes, I-I’m fine…”

“Sorry for the sudden question, but what were you doing here?”

“Huh? Umm…” Liz clutched at her head with both hands, seemingly panicked.

“Um, er, while I was taking a night stroll in the school building, a bunch of undead appeared out of the blue! And then I panicked and took refuge here!”

“So you barricaded yourself in this classroom… Blain here was attacked by someone, but were you attacked too?”

“Huh? Attacked by someone…?” Liz tilted her head. “I’m not too sure. I blacked out before I knew it… I probably fainted from being so scared…”

“So you didn’t see anyone in this classroom, is that right?”

“Yes, I didn’t… I didn’t see anyone after coming into the school building…”

“I see.” Firvus nodded.

Just then, I saw a puzzled expression on Laura’s face. She seemed to be thinking about something, but before Laura could say anything, Firvus brought the discussion to an end. “I got a good idea of what happened. Let’s save the details for later. Does it hurt anywhere? It’s already late, so let’s call it a day and head back.” Firvus stood to his feet.

When we exited the school building, the undead loitering around the premises had decreased considerably. It probably won’t be long until all the undead are slain.

Firvus looked at us. “Me and Flin are gonna keep up the extermination effort. Can you all return to the dorm by yourselves?”

“…I can still fight,” said Blain.

In response, Firvus shook his head. “I don’t really find the guy who collapsed all too reliable. Hurry up and rest. You’re done for the day.” 

Firvus and Flin took their leave thereafter.

Laura and Liz were going to the girls’ dormitory, so we parted ways with them. Blain and I made our way to the boys’ dormitory. “…I ended up showing you something shameful…” muttered Blain.

“…You don’t really have to worry about it, you know. I would’ve been hopeless to do anything if I got ambushed in the darkness, too.”

Blain didn’t seem to be satisfied with my reply. “What made you go over there, Albert?”

“I was lending a hand. Firvus came over and asked me.”

“…You aren’t the hero of Glicia Marsh for nothing, huh…”

“No, it’s not like I was the only one he asked… He tried getting in touch with you and Sarles as well. Though you weren’t there, since you had already gone ahead.”

“So that’s what happened…” Blain nodded a few times, then tilted his head to the side. “What about Sarles?”

“He’s resting in his room. He said his head hurt or something.”

“…Did he? I wonder if he’s alright…”

Come to think of it, Blain is Sarles’ friend. Guess it’s no wonder that he’s worried.

Blain muttered to himself, “…I suppose I’ll go and see how he’s holding up…”

When we arrived at the dormitory, I tagged along with him to Sarles’ room.

…I’m not really that close with Sarles or anything, so I didn’t really need to come with him, but here I am, I guess.

Blain knocked on the door. “It’s Blain. Are you up, Sarles?”

He isn’t going to reply this late into the night—is what I thought at first, but the entire dorm was on edge because of the whole undead fiasco, so it didn’t seem all too unlikely that he’d be awake.

The door opened with a heavy creak.

“Yo. What’s the matter, Blain?” Sarles answered the door, his face worn-out and devoid of any signs of life.

“…I hear your head hurts?”

“Yeah, that’s right! It hurts like hell! I’ve been sleeping this entire time!” Sarles scratched at his head, seemingly upset. “Seems like all hell broke loose outside.”

“Yeah. We got called in to help out.”

“So that’s why he called for me back then! Sorry about that, I couldn’t really ask for any of the details!” said Sarles, bowing his head to Blain in apology. “So has everything settled down outside?”

“…For the most part.”

“Gotcha, that’s a relief to hear. With you and Albert around, it’s a total cakewalk!” said Sarles with a smile, but soon after, he frowned. “Sorry, but it seems like my headache is relapsing. Can I go and sleep? Tell me about everything tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

“Goodnight then.” Sarles closed the door to his room.

We went to school as normal the next day.

What with that huge commotion, I didn’t really know what the academy planned on doing, but…

Apparently, the teachers had so much on their plates that they didn’t even have the spare time to temporarily close the school. For the time being, they decided to just open the classrooms and make everything self-study.

That noon, Kyria came to my seat along with his noble buddies just as lunch was about to start.

“Hey, Albert. Wanna head over to the cafeteria?”

Just then, someone else’s voice overlapped with Kyria’s. “U-U-U-Um, e-…e-e-e-excuse me!” 

A voice brimming with tension flew at the group of nobles.

Everyone turned to see who the owner of that voice was.

Standing there was—

Laura, her face as white as a sheet. Looking straight at me, she continued like so:

“I deeply apologize for butting in! A-Albert! M-MAY I HAVE A BIT OF YOUR TIME!?”