Chapter 26: Quagmire (1)
Chapter 26: Quagmire (1)
For Ariel, her first subjugation mission marked a turning point. Too much had happened for it to be otherwise. That day left her with many impressions.
She found herself able to empathize with her younger sibling’s fear. In the midst of battle, she realized once again just how weak her mind was, easily swept up by emotion.
She also learned that Jin Kreutz had no involvement in Aynkel’s death.
Their relationship, which had been veering back into a fog of uncertainty, now shed the veil of resentment she had unconsciously cast over him. But what shook Ariel the most was not the clearing of that veil but what came afterward.
Now that the resentment had been lifted, when she looked at Jin Kreutz simply as a person, she found that her feelings toward him had, without her realizing it, tilted toward something resembling goodwill.
Otherwise, how could she have felt such strange relief upon learning he had nothing to do with her brother’s death?
‘No… maybe it’s only natural?’
She had seen a glimmer of fear in his kindness, a fear dense with guilt, and naturally assumed that guilt must be connected to Aynkel’s death. Circumstantial evidence had pointed that way. And so she had viewed him through the lens of blame.
But now that lens has shattered. All that remained was a vague, unplaceable sense of goodwill. Regardless of what had truly happened or where it all began, that was what was left.
Perhaps developing a fondness for him was only natural. It is, after all, human nature to feel warmth toward someone who treats you with basic courtesy and kindness.
But the fact remained that the origin of that kindness was far from pure. There was clearly something hidden beneath. A simple, genuine goodwill wouldn’t have been tainted with such dark, clinging fear and guilt.
Knowing that, Ariel couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the fact that she harbored even a shred of goodwill toward him. That contradiction nagged at her, dragging her back to square one, back to the unresolved question.
Maybe it was because the certainty she had once clung to had crumbled. Ariel found herself wanting to face him again. She wanted to ask.
If you had nothing to do with Aynkel’s death, then where does your kindness toward me come from?
But with her absurdly low rank, Ariel didn’t even dare to think of facing him directly. Just like the first and second time they’d met, she would have to wait for him to come to her, yet he hadn’t sought her out even once since that second encounter.
Ariel didn’t allow herself to feel disappointed by that. She didn’t know if that was the reason, but she had once coldly turned Jin away, declaring that she would not hear his opinions as anything other than her superior officer.
If that was the reason he hadn’t returned, then perhaps she should be thankful he had respected her wishes.
“…Haa.”
All that remained were tangled, unpleasant emotions piling up one atop another.
* * *
To shake off the muddled mess of her emotions, Ariel turned to discipline.
Starting the day after, she added two hours of solo training to her routine to build physical strength on top of her team’s regular combat drills. She also spent another one or two hours studying the spells Karma had compiled for her. Whenever it seemed like her mind might wander, she made sure to stay physically or mentally occupied, preventing stray thoughts from creeping in.
It worked to an extent. Time and the rush of daily life dulled the edges of that emotionally fraught day.
And just like that, a week passed as fluidly as a flowing stream.
Astica, a city at the northernmost edge of Dantella, where snow and ice never ceased throughout the year. The area was so harsh and inhospitable that no standing army was stationed there. Even the nearest military base, positioned along the northern border, was a good hour away. It was from this remote, out-of-the-way city that a report was filed to the military.
At the same time, Ariel received her second deployment orders.
The objective: search and destroy gremlins.
Gremlins are a type of fae. While most other non-human races are broadly categorized by species, gremlins are a rare exception that have their own specific name. The reason is simple: unlike the majority of fae, who are rarely harmful to humans, gremlins are the only known kind that pose an actual threat.
Gremlins sabotage human-made machines and tools. Whether large or small, simple or complex, every machine they touch ends up malfunctioning in at least one way. This could range from minor failures to catastrophic events like fires or explosions.
It wasn’t hard to distinguish a gremlin-related incident from a regular mechanical failure. Ordinary breakdowns were isolated incidents, while gremlins, being just as lively and mischievous as other fae, would affect every machine within a several-kilometer radius of their appearance. As if a plague had swept through the machinery.
In an era where scientific advancement progressed daily and machines ruled modern civilization, gremlins were nothing short of a nightmare.
In large cities, people were vigilant about gremlin activity. But in far-off regions like the northern outskirts, people were largely unfamiliar with them. Assuming the malfunctions were nothing more than coincidence, the residents ignored the signs until every heating system in the area broke down. Only then did they realize something was wrong and file a report.
Despite subzero temperatures in the double digits even during daylight hours, the citizens of Astica experienced utter chaos for several days due to the mass heater failure.
Fortunately, the report hadn’t come too late. No one had frozen to death. The residents were safely evacuated to military shelters by troops dispatched under emergency orders at dawn.
At sunrise, a selection of magic users, excluding the regular troops, received deployment orders. Standard soldiers were ill-suited to the mission; their weapons, technological marvels though they were, were practically guaranteed to malfunction in a gremlin-contaminated zone.
Among the dozens of magic users chosen was Ariel.
After finishing her preparations and arriving at the rendezvous point, she immediately spotted a familiar face. Of all the mages gathered, there was only one besides her roommates whose face she’d recognize.
Joshua Lennox.
Even among the group of elite mages, his striking profile stood out, his golden hair catching the sunlight and shimmering like something out of a painting.
Ariel stared at the picturesque sight for a moment. She’d seen him enough times by now, but his face still stirred something nostalgic in her.
Still, she’d grown used to him – used to everything. She didn’t linger in sentiment. Walking up to him, she spoke casually.
“So you’re heading out on this mission too.”
“Huh?”
As if he hadn’t realized she was there, Joshua startled and turned to look at her. He looked pale, like someone sick. There were dark circles under his eyes, suggesting he hadn’t slept well. For a soldier about to go on deployment, he was in pretty rough shape. Ariel narrowed her eyes slightly and tilted her head.
“You feeling okay? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“What? Oh, nah, I’m fine. Just… had some weird dreams last night.”
As he spoke, the memory of those unsettling dreams seemed to twist his expression. Ariel was about to ask what kind of dreams he’d had when a loud rumbling signaled the arrival of a large military vehicle, cutting their conversation short.
The commander stepping out of the vehicle was none other than General Michelle Frey.
“I warned you all ahead of time, so I trust you’ve dressed appropriately. Once we’re there, don’t expect anyone to coddle you because of the cold. Now, get in.”
Despite her words, Michelle’s attire was surprisingly light for someone about to enter an area with temperatures well below freezing. One might suspect she’d been selected as commander for her resistance to cold.
No one knew for sure. Not that anyone would dare ask a general something like that. At her order, the soldiers began boarding. Joshua slumped into his seat like a boneless creature and leaned back, his eyes quickly losing focus. He yawned, then murmured to Ariel.
“Hey, sis, I’m gonna sleep. Wake me up when we get there.”
“Alright.”
No sooner had she responded than soft, even breathing signaled that he’d already dozed off. Ariel glanced sideways at him. His face, nestled in his thick coat, looked just as peaceful as his breathing.
And it was terrifyingly similar to Aynkel’s.
She’d thought she’d gotten used to it, but seeing him asleep like that felt entirely new. She had grown accustomed to the resemblance, yes, but this peaceful, sleeping face, so eerily like the one she’d seen at her brother’s funeral, made her feel strangely uneasy.
Ariel turned her head to look out the opposite window. But once a memory like that surfaced, it was hard to shake.
Just when she thought she had moved past one thing, another obstacle reared its head. When would these painful recollections finally end?
Ariel took a deep breath to steady the tremor of emotion and quietly closed her eyes, shutting her thoughts along with them.
* * *
The frozen city of Astica lived up to its reputation – a land blanketed entirely in snow and ice. Depending on how one looked at it, it could appear bleak or beautiful. In certain light, the snow shone pure white; in others, it glowed with a translucent gleam, giving it a mysterious aura.
The source of that ice, of course, was the brutal cold. That fact became evident the moment the vehicle door opened and a blade of icy wind sliced through the cabin. The bitter cold was so shocking that people screamed before even stepping outside.
Even so, Michelle simply fastened her coat buttons and stepped lightly out of the vehicle, placing her foot on a magic platform etched into the hard, frozen ground as if the cold meant nothing to her.
Without so much as a flicker of discomfort on her face, she stood firm atop the ice and issued her command in a calm, authoritative voice.
“Everyone, disembark.”
At her words, the mages moved in unison, suddenly as disciplined as if the chaos from earlier had never happened. One by one, they exited the vehicle using the magical footholds they’d been issued just as Michelle had.
