Vermillion

How long had it been since the sun had set?

No one around seemed to care. The noisy people drinking together downstairs gave off the impression of only getting started for the night.

“—then, he stripped ‘em naked and hung ‘em upside down!”

“Heehehehe, crazy bastard!”

“Gahahaha! It couldn’t be better!”

Even though his story wasn’t all that interesting nor all that funny the drunkard laughed loudly. If alcohol was involved then even a cat walking was comical. Drinking turned to laughing, laughing turned to drinking. Borris, who initially felt nervous being invited here, was in a good mood and drinking deep.

The smell of alcohol whisked around in the men’s heated antics.

The room, filled with too many energetic drunks, was a chaotic scene.

However, amongst all the racket was an intruder clad in black.

“Hn…?” The first one to realize it was the one that sat facing the bottom of the stairs. His immediate thoughts were, there’s a shit ton of alcohol, but not nearly enough women. He was captivated, just as he was throwing back a fresh mug of ale, a beautiful girl dressed all in black appeared from the stairs. The man was frozen in awe for a short while and ale spilled from his mug. “—Heheh.”

Ah~, I’m too drunk, I’m seeing some weird things. A silly smile crept onto his face as he took another swig.

Conversely, Aileen was the one that was confused. The first person to notice her made no noise and simply smiled thoughtlessly while he kept drinking. It was unexpected. However, she quickly recomposed herself and threw the crystal fragment she held to the shadow at her feet. 『Kerstin!』

She called the spirit and the men in the room turned to look at her all at once.

In the dim light, they stared at the girl in black at the foot of the steps.

They all smiled calmly, hallucinating the image of a woman.

Aileen quickly drew a symbol with the sword in her left hand. 『Kage, Matoi, Otsu.』She traced a line between the men with her finger. 『Vi kovras (Cover)!』

The shadow at her feet shook.

The men’s shadows wriggled and squirmed as if resonating.

The shadows burst.

A jet black stream poured out.

A long silence.

However, the men were entirely wrapped up by the shadows.

Their voices boomed.

“Waaaaaaa!?”

“The fuck is this?!”

“Ahhhh!!”

The place fell into chaos in an instant. From the men’s perspectives, a shadow suddenly gushed forth and swallowed them whole.

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They flung their chairs back in surprise, attempting to shake off the shadow, and even froze in fear—each had their own reaction. However, Kerstin’s shadow did no physical harm. Starting with the ones that didn’t make a fuss, they realized that losing their vision seemed to be the only effect.

Aileen wouldn’t give them time though.

The first man. She stepped toward the one who fell off of his chair and was prostrate on the floor. His head was at her feet and she punted it like a soccer ball. Thud, the man fainted in one hit.

The second man. He held his head and groaned. He probably hit his head after falling over the chairs. Aileen stabbed him in the thigh, preventing him from using his legs.

The third man. He desperately struggled to shake off the shadow. She slashed his right arm and as the pain made him stop struggling, she delivered a severe blow to his head. The knuckle guard and pommel of her saber smashed into his face.

The fourth man. He froze in his seat, unmoving. Aileen’s movements flowed as she blew him head first into the wall with a roundhouse kick.

The fifth man. The magic seemed to be wearing off; the shadow around him began to fade. He crawled to the door, so Aileen stopped him with a cut to both of his calves in one sweep.

The sixth man. Aileen took care of the men around the table in a counterclockwise fashion before she noticed him. He sank to the floor, trying to shake the shadow off of his face. This man was none other than Borris.

“Borris, you piece of shit!!”

His body gave a start and trembled when someone suddenly called his name in the darkness. Aileen grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to his feet.

“Ah, w-who… what!?”

Borris, even while frightened, tried to tear at the hand that gripped his collar, but Aileen stabbed her saber into the floor and ruthlessly punched him down.

Bam! He staggered and put his hands on the wall, his head was spinning. For better or worse, the blow knocked the shadow off his face and he regained his vision.

Immediately, a cry stifled in his throat.

“That one was for Lily…”

Borris’ eyes darted around—the unfeeling expression on Aileen’s face sent a chill down his spine. However, her blue eyes were lit with rage.

Wham! She broke his jaw with a left uppercut.

“Agh!”

He bent over backwards. Stars filled his vision under his eyelids. Blood filled his mouth.

“That one was for Montand!” Aileen yelled and raised her right fist.

She struck him with a strong body blow, making him spew all the alcohol he’d drunk.

“Gah…!”

“That one was for Kiska!”

Borris retreated a few steps, clutching his stomach.

Aileen pulled back her right leg and said, “And this,” she spun and threw her kick with all her might, “is for me!!”

Her foot hit him in the solar plexus. It was her sure knock-out roundhouse kick.

He couldn’t even scream. He flew back, just like in a funny story, and crashed into the stone wall. “Ah, gu…”

He slowly dragged himself up and leaned his back against the wall. He kept puking all the while moving his hands about as if trying to find something. “Ugh…” He used up the rest of his energy without finding it, and collapsed in a pool of his own vomit.

“Hmph…” Aileen narrowed her eyes and snorted.

“—Ah, damn it, the fuck, what the hell happened?!” Finally, the last man managed to shake off the shadow. “Huh…?”

When he recovered his vision, his movements stopped. He looked around and saw that he was the only one uninjured. All around him were the bodies of his comrades.

“Nice timing.”

Right in front of him, she pulled her saber out of the floor and tapped the back against her shoulder, tap, tap. The unknown, beautiful girl clad in black.

Her smile contained a ferocity that didn’t suit her young beauty.

He stumbled back and fell on his butt. As he still tried to draw back, he involuntarily gave an ingratiating smile.

She put the end of her saber to his throat and said, “—I have some questions for you, dipshit.”

The man could only nod stupidly.

† † †

It was cramped and pitch-black.

Her hands and feet were tied up, and she had a gag in her mouth.

She sat with her knees to her chest, unable to stir in the slightest.

Why… why did it turn into this? she thought absentmindedly with a vacant stare.

Lily’s gaze wandered around the darkness.

This was where she was when she came to her senses.

Cram school ended as usual today, but she was late on her way home. The Cornwell’s son, Juli, pulled her aside to study with her.

Lily wanted to go home, but she couldn’t waste his good will, since he was to be the successor of the Cornwell institution. She ignored his rather uninteresting talks of poems and literature while enjoying some tea. By the time she was able to leave, it had already gotten very late.

Juli was worried for her, so he offered to take her home. However, she wanted to get back quickly. She thought that she’d be fine on her own, and there was no reason to make the son of a noble personally escort her, so she turned him down.

That was her mistake.

She thought that if she had just listened to him, she might not have ended up like this.

Lily took the main road as she always did.

A boy that she didn’t know called out to her.

His clothing wasn’t bad and he was a little older than her, but his eyes had an evil look to them. He told her, “I’m bringing food to Borris-ojichan’s place in celebration of his job, but there’s too much so I was told to get Lily to help.”

To be honest, it sounded strange. Borris lived in the old town, which was dangerous to walk around in at night.

However, from this morning, Borris said that giving the money back by himself would be tough, so he wanted her to go too. She read too much into it and ended up going along with it.

The boy took out a piece of honey candy, which was maybe a little too big, and offered it to her, “Want some?”

She took it and put it in her mouth and marched into the old town with the boy leading the way.

Then—that’s where her memory became fuzzy. The last of what she remembered were the roads looked like they were turning into alleys, and the candy in her mouth broke apart and released a strange tasting powder. After that, the world started to spin and, as if she were in a dream the whole time, she woke up like this.

I wonder… What’s going to happen to me… she asked herself over and over with a dead expression. She was vaguely aware that she had been kidnapped and was being confined. She cried, she screamed, and she struggled—but her stamina had already run out.

Will I be taken by some scary guys… and forced into labor…?

The first things that came to mind were ‘slavery’ and ‘prostitution’. She imagined a scary man with a whip and being forced to do hard labor in a mine or something.

She was still too young to imagine what other, possibly worse, outcomes there could be.

However, that didn’t change the fact that she was terrified. She quietly sobbed into the gag. Maybe she had cried too much already, as no tears came from her already red eyes. Mom… Dad… Save me… I won’t be selfish, I’ll study harder, I’ll listen better. I want to see you, Dad, Mom…

She scrunched up her face in the dark.

She prayed. Without speaking, she cried.

A loud metallic clang suddenly came from above.

She jolted in surprise and looked upward. The sound of metal on metal screeched. Her eyes widened at the sudden change of the situation and she began to tremble like a criminal on death row awaiting the time of her execution.

More and more light poured through the crack as it gradually widened. Her only thought to the warm light was, the outside.

Will I get out of here?

Or… will I be taken out of here?

“Mmmn!! Mnmnnn!!” Lily’s sense of fear suddenly returned, and in spite of hardly being able to move, she mustered her strength to try to resist and twisted around.

“Lily! Lily!!”

But the voice she heard sounded familiar and kind. She stopped moving.

“Lily! Are you okay?!”

Lily saw Aileen’s face peering down at her from the opening.

“Are you hurt?! Wait one sec, I’ll get you out right away!”

Aileen leaned over and with her right hand grabbed onto the rope on Lily’s back. Then, with unimaginable strength in her slender arms, she pulled Lily out in one go.

Aileen narrowed her gaze at the gag and tightly bound rope around her. “So cruel, to such a small kid… What a thing to do.”

Lily couldn’t keep up with what was going on, she blinked with surprise.

Aileen quickly cut the rope with her knife and removed the gag.

“I’m here to save you, Lily. It’s alright now.”

She smiled softly and ruffled Lily’s hair to try and give her peace of mind.

Lily was able to realize that somehow, she was saved. Her red eyes that she thought had run out of tears quickly welled up again. “O…nee-chaaan!!”

“There, there. It was scary, wasn’t it?”

She clung to Aileen, hugging her and crying. For a moment, Aileen looked like she was about to cry, too. She closed her eyes and held Lily’s tiny body close to her. “It’s okay… It’s all okay now.”

Lily’s face was covered in tears and snot. Like a comforting a baby, Aileen slowly rocked her back and forth. Aileen gently stroked her back. “Now… No more crying. It’d be a shame if you ruined your pretty face, Lily.”

“Ehu, onee-cha, onee-chan.”

“Your mom and dad are waiting…let’s go home.”

“Y…eah, le..t’s go…” She pulled away from Aileen and stood up, rubbing her eyes and nodded.

Aileen gave a small smile. This whole situation was unfortunate, but at least she wasn’t harmed.