Though a narrow corridor, there was enough room for the small man and young girl. No issues swinging the knife, but the staff couldn’t be swung fully.
So Cklares gripped the center of the shaft to spin and swing it.
Blade and staff continuously crisscrossed.
The small man’s movements were based on military close-quarters combat assassination techniques.
Against the lightning-fast, minimum motion attacks seizing the slightest opening in the enemy’s breath and consciousness, her style deflected the enemy’s strikes and subdued them. She deflected the small man’s thrusts with her staff, counterattacking by stabbing the end forward. If evaded, she’d spin and snag his body with the shaft to control him.
Her movements were like a dance.
The spring breeze is warm, yet cannot be grasped.
But the wind blows freely wherever it wishes.
The otherworldly young girl.
Out of place anywhere, in any scenery.
Though it may be rude to say of the girl,
The sight of her deftly dancing in the narrow corridor, staff in hand, suited her dreadfully well.
The fairy realm, where fairies flit about, forbidden to humans.
“–?!”
“Kukuku.”
The skirmish lasted barely tens of seconds. The one scowling was the small man.
Because the fairy had taken control of the situation’s flow.
“–Just where did you learn such techniques?”
Perhaps it was fear.
That an ordinary schoolgirl possessed combat skills to match an assassin’s.
Having sealed her abnormality, he thought he could defeat the child, yet struggled.
Maybe–just maybe, was she still hiding something?
He may rethink, deem it overthinking.
“Ufufu.”
But the fairy’s smile wouldn’t let him.
Unchanging in any situation, even facing death, her smile remained. She never changed, never cowered, never feared. The one changing, cowering, fearing, was her opponent.
Not understanding is scary.
“–?!”
The small man leapt back.
Forcibly retreating backwards,
not caring that his back hit the engine room door, he gripped not a knife but,
“This should do it…!”
A small handgun that fell from his sleeve.
An assassin’s single-shot pistol, concealable in clothing. Small, but lethal enough to kill.
The trigger was instantly pulled.
“–“
Norman stayed rooted, unmoving.
He knew what would happen.
Though concerned.
“Fu–“
For the first time, Cklares let out a sharp exhale.
Gripping the staff vertically, the bullet struck the shaft’s center, cracking the entire length until it shattered.
And the small man saw two things.
“–?!”
A slender white blade protruding from the shattered sheath hidden within the staff.
And geometric wing patterns materializing on the fairy’s back.
“Cklares!”
A panicked cry came from Norman, but the fairy paid no heed, advancing forward.
In an instant, an impeccable thrust pierced Knocker’s heart like an arrow.
–A flash of the slicing blade through the air.
“Gohh–“
Knocker vomited a clot of blood,
“…’Dull Miner’s Hammer’!”
“‘Fairy Hand Spriggan'”
Nothing happened.
“–Damn it.”
“Unfortunate. If you could seal me, the reverse is also true.”
‘Fairy Hand Spriggan’.
The ability to freely manipulate air as a solid.
She could shape the air into any form she desired through sheer willpower.
The terrifying part was its invisibility.
Moreover, her original power to only manipulate visible surrounding air had been twisted through training to expand its range tens of meters around her. She could solidify and control unseen air remotely, even adjusting its composition and pressure.
A sprite guarding treasures, thus the ‘Fairy’s Hand’.
In contrast, Knocker’s ‘Dull Miner’s Hammer’ likely softened solid objects.
But to Knocker, the nature of their abilities wasn’t the crucial point.
“So that’s how it is.”
“Hm?”
“Those wings of light just now…so you people are special because of that…!”
The wings on her back had already vanished, but were seared into Knocker’s vision.
“With that power, you could twist so much more…!”
“…?!”
“Not forcing your own twists onto things. What I want to twist differs from what you wish to warp.”
We’re different, you and I.
Even told so, he didn’t understand.
“Is that also why you were abandoned, for not getting it?”
“–?!”
The small man looked about to cry out something.
“That’s enough.”
But swifter than that, the fairy withdrew the slender blade from his chest.
Blood gushed from the wound, a dull sound accompanying the spray of blood from his throat as life drained from the small man.
And with that, it was over.
The death of a monster who twisted many lives.
The two who were targeted survived.
“…Phew. What a mess, I broke the sheath, Sensei.”
With a wry smile, Cklares waved the blade to shake off the blood.
“Well, can’t be helped. Let’s go buy a new one sometime. …Ah, and”
“Hm?”
“Nice work out there, as expected.”
“–Ufufu.”
She laughed at the praise.
Not a plastered-on smile.
Pure, unrestrained joy unlike her usual demeanor.
“It’s elementary, My Master.”
She smiled warmly, like the gentle breeze of spring.
“I had a good Sensei.”
●
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
“Ah, it was certainly an enjoyable journey.”
Two days after the train hijacking, after giving his report in the capital, Norman smiled as usual on the return train home.
They had defeated the ringleader, but the hard part was still ahead.
The clean-up after was always difficult.
They had to return the train through the abandoned mines back in the direction it came from and head to the capital. They arrived in the capital that night, but then endured questioning and explanations that dragged on until late at night. After just a few hours of sleep, Norman took care of his original business, went on a sightseeing date with Cklares, and then departed the capital again the next day with hardly a moment to catch his breath.
The short duration of their detainment left him with a lingering sense of unease, but he supposed it was a blessing in disguise.
Norman visited Nordnoll every six months, but he could never get used to it.
He didn’t even stop by his family home.
In the end, Norman’s place was in that windless city surrounded by castle walls.
“It’s hard to say it was enjoyable,”
he muttered, gently touching the brim of his felt hat.
“I was especially surprised to encounter someone on your level.”
“For me, the only regret was that my wager with Sensei didn’t quite pan out,”
she said, then suddenly tilted her chin up as if realizing something.
“Oh, here’s a bonus quiz for you. Can you figure out when I used my ability just once?”
“When you deflected the bullets, right?”
he answered immediately.
“I was surprised you blocked the bullets head-on with just your staff, but I didn’t know what would happen if you charged forward after that with the staff fragments and deflected bullets flying everywhere. For just that instant, you pushed aside anything in the way with your ability, am I wrong?”
“Perfect, as expected of Sensei.”
“It was elementary.”
“Kukuku.”
The fairy had acquired a new staff in the capital to replace the one she broke.
“…But Cklares, that was still reckless of you. At that moment…”
The image of shimmering green wings flashed through his mind.
“I know. But it was just for an instant, right? I hope you can overlook that.”
“Honestly…I beg of you.”
He sighed heavily.
“Well, what a troublesome expedition that was.”
Norman couldn’t find enjoyment in being caught up in the train hijacking, getting entangled with a self-indulgent revolutionary, and having to write an extra report.
“What did you think, Sensei?”
“Hmm?”
“About Knocker Cromwell’s Unlaws rights movement. His actions were out of line, but the goal itself?”
“Hmm.”
Norman considered it carefully when asked.
“Giving rights to Unlaws isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s good. If that’s all it was, I may have cooperated.”
“Oh? That’s a shame then. If Sensei had been on his side, it may have gone more smoothly.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference,”
Norman said with a wry smile.
“It never would have gone smoothly.”
He stated it as an obvious truth.
As if it were a natural order of things.
“Most people are ordinary humans. The world doesn’t move for the sake of such a tiny minority.”
“Putting the majority before the minority, in other words.”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
At least, that’s how the current world worked.
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