[120] An Unexpected Guest (5)
"But Shirone… if you really plan to do something on the island, there's one problem."
"Huh? What problem?"
"Actually, this vacation was arranged as a paired trip."
"A paired trip? You mean like boy-girl, boy-girl?"
"Yeah. My partner is supposed to come with us. I should've said something earlier, but I never imagined you'd go poking around ruins."
Shirone looked up at the dim ceiling. A paired trip. That meant he had to bring a partner too.
"All right. I'll bring one person too."
Rian turned to him, surprised. The Shirone he knew would blush at the sight of women's underwear. Rian had assumed finding a partner would be Shirone's biggest hurdle and had kept quiet, so Shirone's easy acceptance defied expectations.
"You… must be popular with women, huh?"
"Huh? No, not like that. But there is someone I could ask. Actually I've been thinking about it. If you hadn't suggested it, I would have asked first."
Rian's eyes lit up. He didn't know Shirone's motive, but in any case, it sounded like there was a woman on his mind.
"Haha! My witch at home will be jealous to hear this."
"Reina? Why would she—"
"Ha, never mind. But I'm dying to know. What kind of girl is she? Pretty?"
"Yeah. She's pretty… but I'm not sure she'll come. She might refuse outright."
"No way, you must bring her. Go ask her tomorrow and get her to agree. I'll go home and prepare in the meantime."
Shirone hesitated. If Rian brought a partner, he had to bring one too.
But he wasn't confident. Judging from his usual personality, there was a high chance he'd get rebuked and sent away.
That worry tightened his chest. At the same time, he felt excited.
It was his first trip, and he'd go with friends. He'd heard Galliant Island was a famous southern resort with exotic charm.
Shirone couldn't sleep well into the night.
A New Meeting (1)
Shirone parted from Rian in the noble residential district. Since they left the next day, he had to find a partner before tonight.
Unfamiliar with the area, he asked around until he found her house. The place he finally arrived at was too beautiful to be built merely for residential convenience.
'So this is the Carmis main house.'
At school they had talked without shyness, but now that he was actually going to her home, a nervousness rose in his throat. The guards at the main gate glanced at him suspiciously, making him more tense.
"Um… hello?"
"What business do you have here?"
As Shirone approached, the guard's hand tightened on his sword—an instinctive reaction. Having endured countless trials, Shirone's presence had grown strong enough to unsettle a wrongdoer.
"Is Amy here?"
The guard's expression hardened. He'd heard through rumor that Amy was the object of admiration among men their age. But hardly anyone ever came all the way to the main house.
"Pardon me, but who are you?"
"Ah, I'm Shirone. I'm a friend who attends the Magic Academy with her."
The guard looked to his superior as if unable to decide. The superior's face remained impassive.
It was rare, but not entirely unfamiliar to him after twenty years at the Carmis main house.
'Sigh, what a bother. It always starts again as soon as vacation starts.'
Unless there was an order forbidding visitors, he had no choice but to report. The superior nodded for him to inform the household, and the guard hurried off toward the mansion.
Shirone waited anxiously at the gate. The superior kept glancing at him sideways.
He seemed decent-looking and of pleasant character, but he wouldn't be allowed in regardless.
Many men had been turned away here. There had been times even a distant relative of royalty couldn't see Amy's face and had to turn back.
Only families known across the continent could even imagine such a thing.
After about ten minutes the guard came galloping back on horseback. The superior could read the result from the worried expression on his subordinate's face.
It was always the gate guards who suffered in these cases. If an irate noble ordered them to take a beating, there was nothing they could do.
The superior made up words to ease his men's burden.
"What happened? I heard there was something urgent to handle today."
"He said, 'Please bring him inside.'"
"Oh, is she at home? That's a relief."
Shirone breathed out. If Amy had been out, there would have been no way for a commoner like him to enter the mansion.
Soon a pink carriage arrived at the gate. An elderly man with a kindly face, leaning on a cane, stepped down and the guards went pale.
It was Adel, the steward of the Carmis family.
Seeing the person who'd come to greet him, Shirone asked the guard, "May I go in now?"
"Yes! Welcome to the Carmis household!"
The superior hastily snapped to attention. He still couldn't understand the situation.
Allowing entry was one thing, but Adel? No matter who Shirone was—even if he were some important scion—there was no reason the chief steward of the Carmis family would personally come out to greet a visitor.
Adel only moved like this when the family held a major event or the head of the house had an important guest.
Who on earth could this be? He said he was the lady's friend, so he wasn't the head's guest. Was there some event today? No one had mentioned anything.
Adel, leaning on his cane, walked toward Shirone. For a chief steward overseeing a great mansion, he had a mild manner.
"Welcome to the Carmis residence. I am Steward Adel."
"Hello. I'm Shirone."
"I see. Pardon me, but there is something I must confirm before I escort you into the house."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I need to verify your identity. To be certain you are indeed Shirone."
Shirone stared at Adel as if he didn't understand.
"The young lady said, 'If it's Shirone, bring him in.' I take that to mean the person must be Shirone in person to be admitted. Therefore, you must provide proof that you are Shirone."
A flush of anger rose in Shirone. Amy's casual remark of "bring him" had been nothing more than a grumble; at worst it meant, check who is claiming the name.
How much could one expand that into a demand for proof of identity?
"How am I supposed to prove I'm me? I am Shirone."
"That alone is not enough. I am the steward of the Carmis family. I have the duty and the authority to clarify the identity of anyone entering."
"Just let me take her the message—!"
Shirone stopped. Adel's kindly face suddenly felt frightening, and an indescribable pressure pressed on his chest and back. It felt as if his organs would burst.
"This is the Carmis family, the peerless nobility that refuses comparison with others. As steward, I answer only to the head of the household. Since I have come personally to receive the lady's guest, I must show a corresponding degree of formality."
Shirone realized why Adel was being so exacting. He was annoyed at having to do a task a subordinate could have handled. Yet he couldn't show irritation because the oppressive aura bearing down on his chest had grown steadily stronger.
'Ugh… it's starting. Pressing.'
The guards sympathized with Shirone. Adel, infamous for his strictness, often summoned subordinates and applied pressing when they made even minor mistakes.
Pressing—abnormally amplifying one's emotions and transmitting them to the target to disrupt the nervous system.
It inflicted no immediate physical pain, but the steadily increasing stress affected the body, and if endured fully, could destroy major organs.
'Oh ho, can he withstand this?'
Shirone appeared merely tense and showed no remarkable change. That provoked Adel, who gradually increased the intensity of the pressing.
Normally he would not go this far, but he thought startling the presumptuous brat who assumed the family's magnanimity would be a useful lesson.
Shirone felt his heart racing. The main cause was anger—Adel's hostility was feeding Shirone's own rage.
'Calm down. It's just emotion. If I control it, nothing will happen.'
Like someone sinking into the sea with a boulder tied to them, the pressure increased and his breathing grew difficult.
Still, Shirone did not thrash. He calmly observed his own emotions.
As the pressing's duration passed the threshold of death, Adel's lips trembled in disbelief.
Cold sweat ran down his forehead.
'What is this child?'
To break free from pressing, the target must amplify an emotion to the same intensity.
If it had been one of the Carmis family's red-eyed, they might have been able to reset their emotions entirely, but that Shirone had no memory of his past selves and was still fine at this hour was strange.
'Patience alone can't explain it. The other possibility is perfect control over one's emotions.'
That was another way to defeat pressing—and not an easy one.
Even the most virtuous saint will lose composure if exposed to stress for long enough. Yet in Shirone there was no sign of faltering.
Adel ran through a few possible explanations by his experience: the boy was a fool, he was insane, or he was a monk.
No, if a monk, he had to be at least of the level of a Diamond Ascetic.
'A Diamond Ascetic? Is that possible? He's not even twenty.'
Adel hadn't wanted to admit it, but he had guessed right.
In the realm of Infinity, Shirone had gone mad an unimaginable number of times. From that process he had grasped an absolute center.
Holding onto that alone allowed him to ignore technically induced emotions.
Adel released the pressing. Whatever method Shirone had used to endure it, it was no longer his business to know.
The boy standing before him was certainly the young lady's friend.
As Adel's expression softened into kindness, Shirone finally let out his breath.
It was a terrifying technique. If he hadn't reached a diamond-like indestructibility, his heart might well have burst.
Adel placed a hand on his chest and bowed.
"Please forgive the rudeness of this foolish old man."
The guards were bewildered. Because Shirone's face had shown no change, they found it odd, and now the steward was apologizing with humble courtesy.
"When you return home, please scold me for my behavior. I will accept any punishment. I only beg you to be appeased."
"Did the household suspect me of wrongdoing?"
"Yes. My overinterpretation of the instruction and bringing you into danger were my own arbitrary actions. The head of the house gave no conditions regarding bringing in Shirone."
"Why is that? Did I do something displeasing?"
Adel smiled and shook his head.
"On the contrary. I've served Miss Amy since her birth, but this is the first time a man has been brought into the house. I was curious what kind of person he might be, and in my ignorance I was rude."
Shirone's deflation was immediate. All of this had been a test to examine him.
But there was nothing to scold him for. To visit a noble's ancestral home like this, one must make arrangements in advance.
Having worked for the Ozent family before, Shirone understood how weighty Adel's responsibilities were.