3 bar menu

The Silver Mask and the Cursed Girl – Part 04

The morning sunlight streamed in, warming the face of the dozing soldier.

“Haaa…”

The soldier woke up and rushed to put a hand over his mouth. He thought he was drooling, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Ah… Slept like a log.”

The soldier got up from his chair and stretched. He was the keeper of a prison that no one came to anyway, so there was no sense of tension. He stifled a yawn and leisurely descended to the basement—to check on his only inmate.

“…What?”

But the cell was empty. The adventurer who was supposed to be there, a Half Dragon named Jillarte, was not around. He put his hand on the iron-grated door, but it was still locked. The key hanging from his waist was still there.

It didn’t make any sense.

It never occurred to him that someone could have taken the key while he was asleep, opened the door, let Jillarte out, and then put the key back. This place was located in the center of the castle, so it was impossible for someone to sneak in.

But he must report that Jillarte was gone. Would he be reprimanded for letting her escape? No. She was just an adventurer, a dull-looking, young girl. He should be fine, he told himself as he anxiously headed for the knight’s station. He was a soldier, and although the knights were not his direct superiors in the chain of command, they were high up in the military. It was common knowledge among the soldiers serving in the royal castle that if there was anything wrong, they should consult with the knights first.

“E-Excuse me.”

He entered the office, where he was again surprised. It was not even six o’clock yet. Yet there were more than ten knights present, all wearing swords and even uniforms.

There was tension in the air.

“Is this information true? I can’t believe they seized the city…”

“We received word from the Adventurers’ Guild via long-distance comms earlier. There is no response from the garrison’s Linga’s Quill Pen, so we can assume that the information is highly reliable.”

The Linga Quill Pen was a kind of magic item that enabled communication over long distances. It moved objects at a distance via the mana in the earth’s ley lines to send words.

However, there were drawbacks: they couldn’t be moved because they required stakes buried deep into the ground, and furthermore, communication expenses were high due to the use of rare magic catalysts.

“Is it true?!” The knights’ superior barged into the station. A high-ranking officer from the perspective of the soldier. “Half Dragons attacked Leather-elka?! What do they want?!”

“Sir! They’re demanding the release of a Half Dragon girl named Jillarte.”

“Jillarte?” The captain looked puzzled.

“The adventurer who was arrested by order of His Majesty the other day,” a knight said. “She’s currently imprisoned in a cell beneath the royal… castle.”

The knight finally noticed.

That there was a soldier standing quietly right next to the captain. That the soldier was the one in charge of guarding the cell.

“Ahahaha…”

The only thing the soldier could do was laugh, tears in his eyes. He was dripping cold sweat.

Thus, two important pieces of information were circulating in the royal castle by the end of the day.

One was that the fortress city of Leather-elka had fallen after an assault by armed Half Dragons. Leather-elka was an important stronghold, where the Kingdom of Ponsonia bordered the Central Confederacy of Einbiest, and the Half Dragons were demanding the immediate release of Jillarte, the daughter of the previous leader of the Confederacy.

The other was the sudden disappearance of said Jillarte from the royal castle’s prison.

---

“Lord Hikaru, you suddenly went out late at night and brought back a woman…”

“Shh. Please don’t mention my name.”

“Hehehe.”

“R-Right. Then what do I call you?”

“Silver Face. You two can be, uh… Star Face and Flower Face, I guess?”

“Hehehe…”

“It sounds dumb!”

“You’re just gonna have to deal with it. And La—I mean Star Face. What’s up with you?”

“I just didn’t expect to be able to use this mask so soon!”

Lavia was spinning around, her hood pulled up tight over her eyes and the hem of her robe fluttering.

Jillarte watched them from the opposite corner of the room with a dubious look on her face.

Hikaru had come to Pond after escaping from the royal castle with Jillarte. Since the Grand Hotel was rented in Hikaru’s name, he avoided it and chose an inn where people shared one large room. It was the same inn where Hikaru had stayed when he first came to this world.

Once the sun was up, adventurers with no money went out to earn some, so they had the room all to themselves.

In the corner, three people in black robes and silver masks were huddled together for a discussion, and in the opposite corner of the room, Jillarte was sitting on the floor, holding her knees. It was an odd sight.

Jillarte had removed the chains from her hands and feet with the prison key, and had stopped at an inn in the royal capital to retrieve her personal belongings. Her battle gear consisted of a steel breastplate, elbow and knee protectors, and a long, slender broadsword held in both hands.

She looked like a skilled adventurer. Hikaru couldn’t help but take a long, hard look at her.

“Silver Face, are you done?” Jillarte called from afar.

The only thing Hikaru was asked to do was to help her escape from the prison. After that, helping her get her equipment back was just a bonus.

But then suddenly she said, “I would like you to accompany me to Einbiest,” with her head bowed deeply.

On the way to Pond, she told him everything she knew, as promised. Whatever Hikaru asked she answered to the best of her ability.

Hikaru had nothing more to ask, and he wasn’t struggling financially. He was under no obligation to escort her. Furthermore, Jillarte would be pursued by the king for escaping from prison. It would be nothing but trouble.

On the other hand, Hikaru also knew that his Stealth ability proved to be very useful to Jillarte. She believed that the royal capital’s Adventurers’ Guild might have a spy from the castle—the location of the hotel where she was abducted from was apparently only divulged to guild staff—and she must continue her escape without the guild’s help.

Hikaru couldn’t make this decision by himself, so he brought Jillarte back to Pond with him.

The agenda for the First Mask Meeting was whether or not to accept the mission of escorting Jillarte.

“Hikaru—Silver Face, you already have your answer, don’t you?” Lavia was smiling through her mask. “Let’s take the job. From what you’ve told us, she doesn’t seem like a bad person. Plus…” She whispered into Hikaru’s ear. “You see me in her, don’t you?”

Hikaru was taken aback.

This was something he had not told Lavia and Paula, but she was right on the mark. Lavia was being hunted to be used as an instrument of war, and Jillarte as a political tool. Their circumstances were similar. That was why Hikaru was sympathetic to her.

“I’ll follow your decision, Lord Silver Face,” Paula said.

“Thanks, Star Face, Flower Face.” Hikaru turned to Jillarte. “We’ve made our decision.”

Jillarte’s expression was stiff.

“I’ll help you get to Einbiest.”

“…”

She probably thought he would say no. Her eyes widened, tears at the corners.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’ll do anything to express my gratitude.”

---

Hikaru said he had something to do in town and left, leaving Lavia and Paula in charge of Jillarte. They would meet in two hours. Paula also left to rent a carriage that they would need.

“…”

“…”

Two people sat in a large room, the masked Lavia and Jillarte, facing each other.

“Um… what’s your name?”

“Call me Star Face.”

“Oh, after the design on the mask. Okay.”

“Hmm!”

“Huh?”

“Nothin’. All cool.”

Lavia was elated to be called Star Face, but managed to regain her composure.

She had actually been envious of the silver mask that Hikaru was wearing.

She had three points on Imperceptibility herself. She thought she had earned a silver mask too, but Hikaru didn’t bring it up, and she felt it would be too much of an intrusion for her to say so.

And then one day, Hikaru got masks for herself and Paula. And they got a chance to use them right away!

Lavia was thrilled to feel like a character in a story, playing an active role behind the scenes.

That might be why she ended up acting all cool and detached.

“So… who are you guys exactly?” Jillarte asked.

Lavia exhaled sharply. “Well now, that’s a mighty long tale. And not one I can share with ya, I’m afraid.” She wore a faraway look and smiled.

“O-Of course. Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s quite all right.”

That was a close one. Hikaru had not told her about their backstory. Actually, it didn’t seem like Hikaru came up with one either. He might not even have expected to be with a stranger as Silver Face for a long period of time to need it.

I have to come up with a good one!

And so Lavia now had something to fantasize about before sleeping.

“How ‘bout you?” Lavia asked. “You a solo adventurer or somethin’?”

“Yeah. No adventurer wanted to team up with someone who looks like this.”

“Um, about your appearance…” Lavia hesitated.

Jillarte nodded. “This is a clan secret, but Silver Face agreed to help me escape on the condition that I told him what I know. I already shared it with him.”

A history of regret was passed down among the Dragonfolk.

In the past, there was no race called Half Dragons. They were a tribe with beautiful eyes who lived in a remote region. They were once saved by a drakon when they were in danger, but instead of feeling grateful, they betrayed the drakon and harmed it. A curse fell upon them—they grew dull-colored scales, and their beautiful eyes became cloudy.

“You could say it’s a shameful history about our ungrateful ancestors.” Jillarte chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“That’s just ridiculous. What your ancestors did in the past ain’t got nothin’ to do with ya.”

“A curse is something that is passed down from generation to generation. Our clan would have been destroyed if we had not been saved by the drakon in the first place, so we should be grateful that our lineage still lives on—that is what the elders taught us.”

Lavia couldn’t wrap her head around it. But there was nothing she could say either.

“You’re from Einbiest, aren’t—ain’t cha? Why not just work there?”

Lavia was starting to break character.

“In Einbiest, there’s a leader who connects the races. I’m the daughter of the previous leader, so I couldn’t stay. If I did, I would cause trouble for my people.”

The previous leader of Einbiest was Kouga, Jillarte’s father. Being a member of a discriminated race himself, Kouga worked to protect the minority races within the confederacy, which eventually provoked the long-standing majority in power.

Jillarte’s mother died shortly after giving birth to her, leaving Kouga her only family. Then, someone stood in Kouga’s way.

This individual was none other than Gerhardt Vatex Anchor, representative of the majority race known as the Beastmen.

“Every six years, we hold a martial arts tournament called the Ruler’s Rumble to determine the next leader. With all the different lifestyles and cultures between races, it ultimately comes down to who’s the strongest. If you can’t hold your own, you’re not fit to be the leader. My father Kouga fought against Gerhardt in the finals of the tournament twelve years ago.”

During the fight, Kouga lost his life.

Lavia brought her hand to her mouth.

“They used an underhanded strategy. Beastmen who went up against Gerhardt immediately surrendered. Since it’s a tournament, it’s a huge advantage to save as much energy as possible for the final round.”

Gerhardt was in perfect physical condition, while Kouga was wounded all over after winning a fierce battle.

In a battle between the young and powerful Gerhardt and the experienced but physically weaker Kouga, there was no question who had the advantage.

“After my father’s death, I was raised in secret. Some people didn’t want me to be seen as Kouga’s successor, given how much attention he attracted. Since I started working as an adventurer, I’ve avoided staying in Einbiest.”

“How long have you been gone from home?” asked Lavia, who had already forgotten her character. That’s how serious Jillarte’s story was.

“About six years… During the last tournament, I was almost kidnapped. I managed to escape, but I realized I couldn’t stay in Einbiest any longer.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry about it. I asked Silver Face to escort me because of his ability. Meeting him at this time must be fate at work.”

Jillarte’s eyes showed no hesitation.

“I’m returning to Einbiest. And I’m participating in this year’s tournament.”