Chapter 6: Not That Bad... W-What Do You Mean 'Not Bad'?! She literally Knock You Ou-

(Altair’s PoV)

Scht.

Again.

Scht.

Hah.

Scht.

One more-

“RAAAAH!”

The iron sword slipped in my sweaty grip. My stance broke. My legs buckled, and I dropped onto my back with a thud, grass and dirt clinging to my tunic.

“…Hhh.” I sucked in a ragged breath, chest heaving.

I’d been practicing with this spare blade for… how long now? The hours slipped by easier than I expected. The sword wasn’t even mine, just an old one the blacksmith had let me keep after I helped him repair a collapsed roof last week. I guess he pitied me.

Odd thing, though, swinging the weapon didn’t feel alien. Not graceful either, but… natural. The weight, the rhythm. Maybe because I’d swung tools my whole life? Hoe, axe, scythe… blade’s a blade.

But no matter how much I trained, it wouldn’t change what I was.

I sat up slowly, staring at the chipped edge of the sword. “I’m just… a porter.”

After Hiroto and the others marched off to test Elaister, I’d thought of tagging along, but… what for? They didn’t want me there. Then a priest came to the inn, asking for Sei because of a cave-in on the other side of town. She went. I stayed.

What else could I do? Healing was her role. Fighting was theirs. Me?

I clenched the sword tighter, jaw stiff. At least if I trained, I could protect the bags properly. Not stumble. Not get scolded. Not make Sei waste her magic on patching me up.

Back then a rumble cracked through the air, low and distant.

Boom.

Then again.

And again.

Explosions. Flashes in the canopy, far off. The test. Their battle.

I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze away. Better not to get close. Better not to be in the way. But still… now that I thought about it, wasn’t the “cave-in” that priest mentioned probably caused by… them?

I sighed, lying back in the grass, sword laid across my chest. My arms ached. My lungs burned. My thoughts gnawed at themselves.

That’s when I heard it.

“…Ghahahahaha!”

A laugh. Wild. Cracked. Echoing through the trees.

I froze. Slowly, carefully, I pushed myself up, peering through the brush.

And there she was.

Elaister.

Mask discarded, I couldn't see her face clearly. coat tossed aside, metal glinting where flesh should be. Her body opened like a machine under repair, hands working with an intensity that made my stomach knot. She was fixing herself, no, rebuilding herself, between fits of manic laughter and… tears?

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t look away. I wanted to run. I should’ve run. But my legs wouldn’t answer.

Crack.

A twig snapped under my foot.

Her head whipped toward me.

Stepstepstepstepstep-

She stormed closer, boots grinding twigs, branches tearing away in her grip.

And then, she was looking down at me.

Her shadow fell over my dirt-stained tunic, her frame blotting out the last of the orange sky.

My sword slipped from my fingers.

“E-Elaister-san.”

Her vibe was different. Completely different than when I first met her this morning.

The wild-haired, boastful girl who had stormed into the inn with reckless laughter and arrogance wasn’t the one standing before me now.

No, this one was, terrifying.

Her visor caught the last traces of the sunset, faint purple light flickering and seeping through the cracks. Her shoulders shook as if something inside her was rattling loose.

“You… saw.”

Her voice was hoarse. Not loud, not theatrical, but low. Quiet. Broken in a way that made my blood freeze.

“I-I didn’t-” My throat caught. “Elaister-san, I wasn’t-”

“You laughed at me, didn’t you?!”

Her right hand shot up, covering the mask she had already put back on, pressing against it as though she could bury her own face deeper, hide it from me entirely. The purple glow from the visor brightened, pulsing like a heartbeat.

“I-I didn’t! Elaister-san, y-you need to calm down-!” I stumbled back on the dirt, dragging myself away with my elbows, boots scraping the ground, anything to make distance.

But her words spilled out, jagged and uneven.

“After everything I have d-done… all the work… the pain… all of it… ah… I can’t let it be… I can’t…”

“Elaister-!”

“-ghrk.”

My voice strangled into silence as her hand closed around my throat.

The strength was inhuman. One moment I was trying to crawl away, the next I was pinned down flat on the forest floor, grass and dirt biting into my back as her iron grip squeezed. My sword lay useless in the mud beside me, too far for my hand to reach.

“You laughed at me… not with… not for…”

Her words rattled as though coming from the bottom of a well, distorted, frayed.

My hands shot up instinctively, clawing at her wrist. “S-Stop-”

“At me.” Her head tilted, the glow of her visor glaring into my face. “Not at Elaister... Not at my jokes…”

Her grip tightened. My vision swam. I thrashed, kicking, clawing, my lungs screaming for air.

I tried to shove her face away, push her shoulders back, nothing. She didn’t budge.

Not even when I swung a fist and cracked it against the side of her mask. Her head snapped back from the impact, but just as quickly snapped forward again, locked back on me with mechanical precision.

The purple glow in her visor burned darker, threads of crimson bleeding into the edges, like blood seeping into glass.

I was losing my sight. My body convulsed in panic, but my arms felt heavier with each second.

Then, her left hand rose.

Pandora’s frame split open along her arm, light searing out of it in a jagged pulse. The artifact whined, its glow flaring like the point of mage's staff.

My chest tightened in dread. “E-Elaiste-”

BRAK!

(???) 

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forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it forget it 

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That person is dead.

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I always have been the greatest.

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What am I even doing...

“Urgh…”

My eyes blinked open sluggishly. Something soft was under my head, warm and faintly shifting with every breath.

“Yo, you got a good sleep?”

That voice.

I tilted my head slightly and froze. Elaister's face was above of me, her mask glinting faintly in the fading twilight.

Wait.

This… this was her lap.

“Can you sit down already? I’m kinda regretting this lap pillow thing,” she muttered, a little too casual, but her voice was tight, awkward, almost defensive.

“Uwah-!” I scrambled upright, nearly toppling sideways as the world spun. My skull throbbed, and I clutched at it with one hand. The sky above had already darkened into deep violet, the first stars poking through.

“I-I… what…?” My tongue stumbled.

“I found you unconscious, you see?” She tilted her head like it was obvious. “So I dragged you out here. What were you even doing alone in the woods, huh?”

Her visor glowed faintly, unreadable.

“I-I was… practicing. Swinging a sword,” I said quickly, rubbing my sore neck as though that was the cause. “I must’ve pushed myself too far. E-Elaister-san… did you, uh, see my sword anywhere?”

“Oh, that old thing?” She jabbed a finger lazily toward the ground a few steps away.

My gaze followed. There, half-buried in dirt and leaves, was the spare iron sword.

“R-right,” I mumbled, dragging my tired body over to it. My fingertips brushed against the hilt-

And something cracked open inside my head.

A flash. Golden. Blinding.

My lungs hitched as memory rushed back. Fingers around my throat. My sight blurring. That voice, trembling, muttering about laughter and pain. Her mask glowing brighter and brighter, streaked with red.

Ah.

AH.

I-I remember.

My hand recoiled instinctively from the sword as though it had burned me.

“Hey, Altair.”

Her voice snapped me back. I turned, stiff, to see her already standing, arms crossed, weight shifted lightly to one leg. The casual stance didn’t match her tone.

“You sure you just pushed yourself too far?”

My stomach sank.

Her voice wasn’t mocking now. It wasn’t cheerful, or smug, or even eccentric. It was that same terrifying voice from before, the one that squeezed the air out of me, that hissed in my ears while I struggled against her grip.

I remembered. I knew the truth.

But my eyes caught on her hand. Her right hand. The way her fingers curled just slightly, almost like they were ready to clench again.

If I said the truth… if I admitted I remembered… would she… would she hurt me again?

My throat closed.

“…Of course I’m sure,” I said, forcing a weak smile. “I… I just overdid it.”

Silence stretched between us. I couldn’t see her expression behind that mask, but the way her head tilted, the long pause.

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It made sweat bead at the back of my neck.

“…Well, if that’s the case-” she finally said, her tone shifting in an instant, playful and cruel, “you suck!”

“W-what?!”

“You heard me! Do you seriously think just swinging a sword a few times will make you stronger?!”

My face burned. “H-How do you-”

“It’s not important how I know that. Me being The Greatest Genius That Ever Lived.” She waved her hand dismissively, brushing away the question. “What is important is, you suck.”

Her words were sharp, mocking, the kind of taunt that stung more than I wanted to admit. And yet, despite the insult, despite the way she laughed at my expense, I felt something loosen in my chest.

This was the Elaister I knew. The strange, arrogant, chaotic inventor. The nuisance who barged into our lives with impossible machines and endless noise.

Not… the monster I saw moments ago.

“What are you even training with, swinging that stick of metal around like that?” Elaister leaned forward, hands on her hips, her mask tilting so the faint blue hue of her visor glinted in the dark. “Edge alignment? Testing technique? Building muscle? Or are you just mimicking what you think swordplay looks like?”

Her words cut sharper than any blade.

My grip on the iron sword tightened, the rough hilt biting into my palm. I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

She wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t thought that far. All I’d done was swing until my arms burned, again and again, as if sheer repetition could etch strength into my bones.

“I…” My voice cracked, small and pitiful. I swallowed and forced it out again. “I just thought… if I practiced enough, I’d at least… be able to do something. I don’t know techniques. I don’t know edge alignment. I just…”

The weight in my chest pressed me down. My head lowered until all I could see was the dirt at my feet.

“…I don’t want to be useless.”

For a moment, there was no sound. Then, faintly, her visor shifted, less of that sharp purple gleam, closer to blue.

Elaister snorted. Then the snort cracked into a full-blown cackle. “Ghahahahaha! That’s adorable! Useless porter trying to be a knight with nothing but peasant swings!”

She swung her hand mockingly through the air, imitating some exaggerated clumsy chop. “RAAAH! Slice the weeds! Harvest the cabbages of evil, farmer boy!”

Heat flared in my cheeks. I clenched the hilt tighter. Her words stung like thorns digging under skin, yet beneath the sting… something else churned.

Was she only mocking me? Or… was she pointing out the truth I’d been too scared to face?

My chest tightened. My heart thudded painfully as I forced myself to look up, eyes trying to pierce past the mask hiding her face.

“…Then what should I be doing?” I asked. My voice trembled, but steadier than before.

For the first time, she didn’t laugh. She didn’t sneer.

She just… stood there. Silent, still, only the faint whir of Pandora’s inner mechanisms filling the forest air.

Then, slowly, her head tilted.

“Heeeeh?” Her tone was unreadable, neither cruel nor kind. “Of course you must understand what you want first. Strong is too arbitrary. Swinging for nothing but vague ‘strength’ is idiotic.” She pointed at me with one sharp motion. “Your body’s healthy enough, yes… but the way you’re going, you’ll injure yourself so badly you won’t grow at all. Like a flower wilting before it even blooms.”

Her words were strangely clear, almost cutting in a different way.

“…Elaister-san,” I breathed. “Are you… helping me?”

There was another pause. Then her shoulders shook, once, twice, before she let out a sudden explosive laugh.

“PFFFFFT- GAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

I blinked, startled. “W-What’s so funny?!”

“As if!” She bent back, cackling, before jabbing a finger at me like she was delivering a verdict. “You? Help? Don’t flatter yourself!”

“Eh?!”

“You’ll be my porter for a while, won’t you?” Her tone turned sharp, mocking, but beneath it I felt a strange… weight. “I want my porter to at least be usable. Hah! Think of it less like ‘helping’ and more like-”

She raised her chin, hands spreading wide with dramatic flair.

“-investment! A very profitable investment!”

I could only stare, sword clutched tightly in my hands, as her laughter echoed through the darkening forest.

“Oi, answer my question.”

Her tone snapped sharp, leaving no room for hesitation. The night air pressed heavy, the shadows of the forest swaying like silent spectators.

“I…” My throat tightened. The words threatened to wither before they reached my lips, but I forced them out. “I just don’t want to watch everyone’s backs disappear ahead of me. I don’t want to keep dragging the party down. I don’t…” My voice cracked, shame searing hot in my chest. I clenched my teeth, forcing it through. “…I don’t want to be useless anymore.”

For a moment, silence. Just the faint hiss of Pandora’s gears.

Then she clapped her hands together once, as if she’d solved the world’s greatest puzzle. “Humu, humu… Then it’s decided!”

Her visor glinted, purple shifting toward that mischievous blue, and she spread her arms wide.

“You will be the best, no- THE GREATEST DONKEY TO EVER LIVED! GHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

“H-huh?!” My jaw nearly dropped. “D-Donkey?!”

“Of course!” She leaned close, jabbing a finger at my chest with theatrical flare. “You’ll carry the burdens, endure the weight, survive what no one else can! My indispensable tool donkey, forever at my side!”

I sputtered, heat rushing to my ears. “T-that’s not what I-!”

“Details, details,” she waved off dismissively, laughter still bubbling behind her mask. “Greatest donkey, destined to be recorded in history! An Altair-class beast of burden! Ghahahahahaha!”

My protest died in my throat. Arguing with her felt like trying to wrestle a storm into silence.

She straightened suddenly, visor catching the faint starlight. “Well! Let’s head back.”

“Eh?”

“Saint-girl’s cooking,” she said simply, already turning toward the faint glow of town lights beyond the trees. Her stride was jaunty despite her battered frame. “I’ll miss dinner if we waste time here, and I’m terribly curious what kind of flavor devotion tastes like.”

“Ah, w-wait for me, Elaister-san… What do you mean by that?!”

She didn’t slow down. If anything, her stride grew sharper, coat tails swishing behind her.

“Didn’t you remember my declaration this morning? I joined because I want materials. You wouldn’t actually expect me to collect and carry everything myself, do you?”

I blinked, confused. “But… don’t you have Pandora?”

“Hmmm…” She tilted her head back, humming in mock thought. “I hate to admit it, but my Pandora hasn’t been perfected yet.”

“…You…” The word slipped out before I could stop it.

She snapped her fingers dramatically. “You see, everything Pandora stores might seemingly vanish into nothing, but the mass- hmm, I don’t think you know what mass is… Let’s say the weight is concentrated into this tiny cube. I can decrease the weight by a lot, true, but it still isn’t ideal. If not for my metal arm, I’d probably have to rest every other hour.”

Her voice grew sharp, almost irritated as she lifted her left hand, fingers flexing faintly. “And to keep dampening the load, I have to constantly pour mana into it. Do you know how irritating that is? How much better it would be to dump everything on someone else?”

I gulped, the realization settling like a stone in my stomach. “…So that’s why you called me a donkey.”

“Correct!” she chirped instantly, tone swinging from cutting to bright. She even skipped a step, arms spread wide as though the night sky were applauding her brilliance. “Not just a donkey. The donkey. The one destined to carry the foundations of history’s greatest genius!”

“But-“

“With MY genius, even a pathetic porter like you will become legendary! With MY inventions, you’ll carry more than sacks, more than blades-” her tone rose into a manic crescendo “you’ll even able to carry the very weight of this entire world! GHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

Unbeknownst to the couple duo, from the shadows a pair of eyes, once warm like tea, now glowed golden with jealousy, love, and utmost hatred.

つづく