Chapter 130: Under the Moon
She won't...
Blake shook her head.
...Yang is stubborn, of course, but she isn't stupid. It's just that too little time has passed, and so much has fallen on her at once... she buried her mother, after all. Ruby doesn't know, but one day, back at Beacon, she opened up to me. Summer's death, or what she believed was death at the time, affected her no less than it did Ruby. Only Ruby was little and couldn't go off the rails, while Yang...
Blake shook her head.
...she went off the rails. Risk became not even her second name, but her first. She was looking for a way to get herself killed...
I blinked in surprise.
...that was when she began developing that explosive and uncompromising character. So you understand, when she decided to find her biological mother, she came to a bar where information was traded, and when they refused to sell her that information...
Blake giggled, covering her mouth with the fist of her good hand.
...she not only smashed that bar to hell, but also held the information broker by the balls.
I snorted.
"Exactly. When she told me that, I couldn't help but laugh..."
The catgirl shook her head.
...she got offended at me then and didn't talk to me for two days.
"I see..."
I nodded.
...you care about her very much.
"Well, yes..."
She twitched an ear, then looked at me and opened her eyes slightly in surprise.
"No! You misunderstood. Of course we're partners, but not partners as in partners, just partne... hee-hee-hee..."
And again she covered herself with her fist.
"Um... I don't quite get it. Why are you laughing?"
"Well, I just did almost exactly what an acquaintance of mine does. She usually makes excuses whenever the conversation turns to her beloved."
"Hm?"
"No..."
Blake shook her head.
"…Yang is not my beloved. She's like a sister to me, just like Ruby, just like Weiss. We're all like sisters to one another. Of course, there are rumors at Beacon that we've all slept with each other long ago..."
In the moonlight, a faint blush colored the girl's cheeks.
"…but that's not true."
"I see... But I don't think that's important right now. The only important thing is how ready you are to change."
I sighed.
"In general, the wizarding world has always lagged far behind the mundane world in accepting universal human values and basic humanity. When it comes to basic humanity, we're probably at the same level as your world. I'm talking about racists who despise Faunus."
"You don't like Faunus?"
"Me? No..."
I shook my head.
"…and there are no such racists in my circle, but many people, the moment they saw your remarkable ears, would try to put a collar on you and lock you in a kennel."
"Hey!"
"Don't be offended, I'm just telling it like it is. If you hadn't landed near me in this world, you could very well have ended up in a collar that suppresses your will, pumped full of potions, and forced to fulfill every wish of your adored master. And believe me, he would gladly share you with his friends, and not one of them would think of freeing you."
"You're saying frightening things..."
Blake shuddered.
"I'm saying things that will help you, and your friends, who you'll surely talk to later, avoid illusions. This world isn't a fairy tale where dreams come true. It's very, very cruel. You were just lucky enough to run into a relatively reasonable wizard who isn't eager to indulge every vice."
"All right... I'll remember that and pass it on."
She nodded seriously.
"Ah... you still haven't understood anything..."
I shook my head.
"I... you're right, I don't understand, and I don't know if I can accept something like this, but I promise to try, especially since Miss Summer says you're not a bad person."
"You know... of course I'm digging my own grave right now, but didn't you think that I drugged her with potions long ago and am now just waiting for a convenient moment to drug all of you?"
"Well, I think we'll never know... After all, if you decided to drug us, then you've probably already started."
She shrugged, but I could see that beneath her outward indifference, she was hiding the tension that gripped her.
"Listen... may I ask you for something?"
"No!"
She even moved away from me, and I looked at her questioningly.
"I won't let you pet my ears!"
I sighed sadly.
"A pity..."
"Hmph!"
I looked at Blake in surprise.
"Can you do that again?"
"Huh? Do what?"
"Well... snort irritably... you did it very expressively."
"No..."
She turned away from me, and I had to leave her alone.
"Can you tell me about your world?"
"What interests you?"
"Well... everything?"
Blake's voice sounded a little helpless.
"Well, I can tell you a lot of things, but let's be honest, you won't be interested in hearing about when each continent was discovered... So..."
"But I'm interested..."
Blake's voice was stubborn and unconcealed, so I smiled and, with a wave of my wand, created a blanket for Blake.
"Here, take this. I assume we'll be sitting here for another couple of hours. I'll still need to sleep at least a few hours, but in the time we have left, I'll manage to tell you a little about my world."
*** The Next Morning. ***
"Good morning, everyone!"
I took a sip of coffee and glanced at my girls, who had come to the table.
"So, almost-husband, who were you talking to for so long last night, or more precisely, this morning?"
Fleur tried to act like a formidable little wife.
"With Blake... she came by while I was admiring the moon and decided to grill me for information."
"Did you scratch her behind the ear?"
"No..."
I hung my head, answering Penny Clearwater's question.
"...she didn't even let me touch her ears, let alone scratch them."
A sad sigh escaped my lips.
And rightly so.
Penny Clearwater nodded.
"Don't let the first person you meet pet your ears! I fell for that once, and now look..."
She waved her hands.
"...an almost-married girl!"
"Sis, are you jealous right now or bragging?"
Gabrielle looked at Penny Clearwater with feigned innocence, and Penny Clearwater choked with indignation at such an ambush from the little one.
"Gabrielle?!"
"Hee-hee-hee!"
And the little pest ran away, leaving the three of us alone, though not for long, since soon the whole family gathered at the table and we began breakfast. After that, we went through the fireplace to the tournament, where my next fight was supposed to happen.
However, as soon as I was called, my opponent surrendered without even climbing onto the platform.
"Tch..."
When I returned to the box, I found not only our guests there, but also Dumbledore.
"Headmaster."
I nodded to him in greeting.
"Were you able to find anything out?"
"Yes... your opponent's family decided to employ both the carrot and the stick, hiring some rather unscrupulous mercenaries to take the judges' relatives hostage."
The girls, who had heard this, looked at Dumbledore in shock.
"Do not worry, our mercenaries have already acted, and all the judges' loved ones have been freed. The enemy mercenaries, those who were taken alive, have been interrogated and sent to the sacrificial altars..."
"What about the police?"
Yang said this in a slightly tense voice.
You see, young miss, on the eve of the Convergence, a split occurred in our country. There's the Queen, whom everyone obeys, the Quarters, which we're building and which nominally answer only to the Queen, and the Ministry of Magic, which used to govern wizards before this, while the Statute of Secrecy still held. And the magical police answer directly to the Minister, and for the most part, the wizards working there aren't exactly the best and brightest...
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Daughter..."
Summer sighed.
"Yang, it means they would most likely use any chance to gain an advantage for themselves. In other words, the moment someone turned to them, they'd seize the judges' relatives and start influencing the tournament results."
"Precisely, miss..."
Dumbledore nodded toward Blake, who had explained to her partner how everything could have turned out.
"...by the way, don't you intend to enroll at Hogwarts?"
"It is a little late for them..."
I shook my head.
"...though Ruby, of course, could try, but she'd have to work herself to the bone for these six months to enroll at Hogwarts in the right year. I'm not sure all that material can be mastered in half a year..."
"I don't want to anyway... we need to work as a team!"
Ruby waved it off disdainfully, trying to show she didn't want to go to school at all, though in reality she liked Hogwarts, especially the Great Hall with its incredible ceiling.
"Now, now, miss, I'm not planning to separate you. I merely asked a question. However, I hope you'll still make an effort to master magic, because it truly is incredible..."
"Don't worry, Headmaster, I'm already choosing mentors for them who will use a switch and an interesting presentation to convince them that magic truly is delightful."
"I trust your choice..."
Dumbledore left us, and I just shook my head. Still, the boy's interrogation had yielded much, while we hadn't yet interrogated his dear mother. That was an omission on our part. On the other hand, I had far more important matters, such as sorting out Ruby and her team a bit.
And interrogation is a thing of its own... it can't be rushed, and it may take considerable time. So the fact that we hadn't yet begun the interrogation was entirely logical. Well, if you consider that my mothers very much wanted me to take part in it.
The remaining duels at the tournament passed more or less calmly, and in the evening I was once again sitting and looking at the sky when Blake appeared beside me.
"Will you continue your story?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...first tell me, did the doctors catch you, or did you return to the ward and no one noticed you were gone?"
"They noticed..."
She sighed.
"...but I used the excuse you advised, about the smells, and they believed me. By the way, thank you, because otherwise, they would have given me the healing enemas, just as you said."
I smiled in understanding.
"All right, where did I stop yesterday?"
"You stopped at the point when your world was divided into the ordinary and magical worlds, and why that was done."
I chuckled softly.
"I never thought I would someday act as a history teacher, but on the other hand, I see nothing wrong with it, so let's continue from that point..."
Surprisingly, it was extremely comfortable sitting not far from the catgirl, who was wrapped in a blanket and listening to me attentively.
So time once again flew by unnoticed, and when my wristwatch signaled that it was time for bed, I sighed sadly and noticed a barely perceptible sad sigh from Blake.
I gave her a slightly questioning look, and noticing how she looked away, I nevertheless decided not to bring it up. At least not now...
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