—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Alexios’s dorm room was as austere as I expected. I doubted this guy cared about anything beyond practicality.
“So? What’s this about Lena?”
“Why don’t you offer me some tea first?”
“You think I have something like that here?”
“Then at least offer me something to eat.”
“You’re crazy.”
That succinct curse contained only one emotion.
‘Crazy.’ A perfect reflection of his inner self.
Despite his words, Alexios tossed me a can of something from the refrigerator.
An energy drink.
“Don’t you have any cola? I prefer cola.”
“…You drink that stuff?”
Alexios made a disgusted face and threw me another can.
Cola. I complained, but I didn’t expect him to actually have it.
Was Oz different?
He did seem like the type to drink tea rather than cola.
“I’m not as difficult as you think.”
“Bullshit. Why don’t you relax those eyes of yours while you’re at it?”
You’re one to talk. With those hawk-like eyes of yours?
“Do you know what Lena’s been up to?”
“No.”
“Isn’t that a bit unconcerned for your only sister?”
“What? What nonsense are you spouting? Why would you assume I’m close with my sister?”
“…”
Why were these two even siblings? I thought they had a special bond, but was I mistaken?
“I have familial affection for her. But I don’t think it extends to interfering with her life.”
“Shouldn’t it, at least a little?”
“…Did something happen with Lena?”
Immediately after possessing Oz,
I recalled the image of the assassin who lunged at me with an axe.
I remembered her face, revealed when her blood-red hair, disheveled as if soaked in blood, flew around her.
I doubted it countless times, compared it countless times, but I couldn’t help but be certain.
“She tried to kill me.”
The assassin who attacked me back then was probably Lena.
A bitter taste filled my mouth.
I was becoming so synchronized with Oz that I felt his distress.
The boundary between us was already blurring.
After a long silence following my words, Alexios finally spoke.
“So what.”
“So what…?”
“I was also planning to kill you.”
I knew he disliked me, but to the point of wanting me dead?
It was hard to believe we were having this conversation.
“You two siblings need therapy.”
I needed to revise my previous thoughts.
I still couldn’t grasp the mindset of the world Oz lived in.
“Is that all?”
It was an important topic, but his indifference was a little hurtful.
At this rate, it would be hard to continue the conversation.
The sun was still up outside.
My plan to subtly stay the night was crumbling.
I needed to keep the conversation going somehow.
“Come to think of it…”
A hypothesis flashed through my mind.
An impossible, yet highly plausible hypothesis.
One I had been desperately denying.
–See you next time.
The chilling voice I heard when I crossed the empire’s border.
–I won’t miss you at the next march.
March, Parade.
That word brought to mind the name of an organization I was unpleasantly familiar with.
“Do you know anything about Parade?”
“What’s that?”
Alexios responded dismissively, but I felt a distinct unease.
“An organization. I don’t know their exact purpose, but they’re probably up to no good.”
“Aren’t there tons of groups like that? If you want to explain, at least give me some distinguishing features.”
Parade had several characteristics, but the most prominent one was…
A twisted, two-faced killing intent.
But it would be difficult to make Alexios understand this.
Only those with special eyes like Lucia and I could clearly distinguish it.
Other than that…
“…Masks?”
Parade members usually wore masks during their operations.
Masks depicting a wide range of emotions, including joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
“There are plenty of those around, too. Or are they so dangerous that even you can’t handle them?”
Alexios clicked his tongue as if it were ridiculous and leaned back in his chair.
He was feigning composure, but he couldn’t fool me.
The atmosphere had clearly changed.
“…There is.”
“Is there a mage among them who could rival you?”
“Probably.”
Parade was a group that appeared quite late in the game. The point where the game’s balance started to break down.
Oz’s comedic antics had started even before that.
I didn’t know the difference in skill, excluding luck, but there were bound to be those stronger than Oz.
“I see…”
With that, Alexios leaned forward and rested his head on his folded hands.
What was he thinking about?
Had he encountered Parade in the past?
“So, what you’re saying is…”
When Alexios raised his head, his hawk-like eyes were already filled with a fierce killing intent.
“Are you saying Lena is part of this Parade organization?”
Alexios glared at me with murderous intent, then leaned back again.
“Well, Lena can handle herself.”
It was a blatant lie.
I didn’t know his exact intentions, but it was clear he wasn’t going to let this go easily.
“So get out, Oz.”
“But…”
“Get out.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
After kicking Oz out, Alexios stared blankly at the ceiling.
“…”
He needed time to organize his thoughts. He needed to decide how to handle this.
‘Frankly, I don’t care why Lena tried to kill Oz, but…’
The fact that there was someone in Parade that even Oz was wary of bothered him.
‘If, if that masked bastard was part of Parade…’
What should he do?
Lena was undoubtedly his family.
But his previous master, the former [Fist King], was also like a parent to him.
His real family, and the person who was like family.
“First…”
Nothing had been decided yet. The fact that Lena was part of Parade was just Oz’s speculation.
Alexios had suspected Oz of being the one who killed his master.
But now there was another suspect. If Oz was hostile towards Parade, then it was likely he had been caught in their trap.
“Where is it?”
Alexios started rummaging through the drawers in the corner.
He found a dust-covered crystal ball, a communication device he couldn’t remember using recently.
Swipe
Alexios wiped the dust off the crystal ball, sighed, and began to channel his mana into it.
– Hello? What’s up? Hmm…who is this?
Alexios felt a mix of fondness and bitterness hearing Lena’s voice after so long.
And he finally organized his thoughts on what to say.
He spoke hesitantly.
“Lena?”
– Oh? Brother? It’s been a while. Hearing your voice after so long makes me feel both happy and annoyed. Heh.
Alexios needed to ask the following:
First, confirm if Lena was part of Parade.
If so, persuade her to leave the organization.
Finally, make her spill everything she knew about Parade so he could crush them.
He had a plan. He had the resolve.
But Alexios couldn’t bring himself to start that conversation.
It was unexpected.
Yes, he was…
“Where are you right now?”
…angrier than he thought.
He would meet her, break his wayward little sister’s legs, and then decide what to do.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
I was kicked out of Alexios’s dorm.
“Damn it.”
Given the atmosphere, I couldn’t even ask to stay the night.
I felt like I’d brought up an unnecessary topic.
I needed to do something about this soon.
“No, wait. What about me?”
At this rate, I might actually have to sleep on the streets.
Sleeping in the academy building felt awkward because of the image I had cultivated.
But the night air was chilly.
Spending the night in a deserted forest would definitely bring me to tears.
“…Should I go to the Disciplinary Committee room?”
When I considered places without people and with a roof, the Disciplinary Committee room was the best option.
At least, no one but the [Shield of Light] clerics and Arietta went there.
They were tight-lipped and wouldn’t spread unnecessary rumors.
But the problem was the awkwardness of being around the [Shield of Light] clerics.
Their blatant hostility aside, their rigid atmosphere was dreadful.
“But I can’t ask the girls for a place to sleep…”
Unfortunately, I wasn’t that shameless.
I wouldn’t be able to bear it if they looked at me with contempt.
“But…”
I stopped under the night sky, devoid of even streetlights.
Was it getting colder? It was already May, but my body and heart were cold.
“Quite a few tonight, huh?”
I usually kept [Contemplation] activated when I was alone.
There were just too many watchful eyes.
On average, I had about three tails when I was by myself.
But no one ever approached me beyond a certain distance.
“How should I interpret this?”
Tonight, however, I had more company than usual.
Moreover, they weren’t even bothering to hide, making their presence blatantly obvious.
“Tenebris.”
“…!”
If they were going to be this obvious, I had no choice.
I walked towards the most familiar presence among the Tenebris surrounding me.
Intermediate Magic
[Pharma Shield]
Bang!
I blocked the obvious gunshot.
Were they crazy? Did they actually intend to pick a fight with me?
If the sniping continued, it would become quite troublesome. I quickened my pace.
“Is this the will of the entire Tenebris? Lucia Punisher.”
As I approached Lucia, she aimed her gun at me.
And frowned at the same time.
Was it an instinctive reaction she wasn’t even aware of?
“That shot just now was a mistake. Besides, wouldn’t anyone do the same if you stared at them like that?”
“You’re still not used to me?”
“Unfortunately, you’re still a bit scary.”
It was disappointing that she still wasn’t used to me, despite the oppressive presence of [Contemplation].
And a mistake? No way.
“If you didn’t have anything to hide from me, that wouldn’t have happened.”
Pulling the trigger just because I approached was unthinkable.
She reacted so defensively because she had something to hide from me.
“How did you figure it out?”
I could sense a strange heat in Lucia’s gaze as she glared at me.
“Weren’t you asking for it?”
It wasn’t a bluff.
I’d always known, but her movements were unusually obvious this time, considering her usual stealth.
Lucia wanted me to notice her.
“Aren’t you being a bit careless, standing in front of a gun like that?”
“Can you pull the trigger?”
“It’s not impossible.”
“No, you absolutely can’t.”
I approached her leisurely. As expected, Lucia couldn’t pull the trigger.
It was only natural.
She wouldn’t be foolish enough to kill someone within the [Dragon Emperor]’s domain.
“If you want to see the empire burn, go ahead and try it.”
“…”
If Tia knew someone had acted up in her domain, she would hunt them down from the bottom to the very top.
In this case, since it was the empire’s intelligence agency, Tenebris, even the Emperor’s head might roll.
“Skip the empty threats and get to the point.”
I gently provoked her, guiding the conversation.
Lucia was acting like she wanted me to notice something.
She clearly wanted to tell me something.
“…Prince Oz, what are you thinking?”
Lucia spoke in a roundabout way.
Or rather, she was hiding her true intentions between the lines.
She was a soldier. She had to follow her superior’s orders.
I had a guess. Tenebris, the organization she belonged to, was an intelligence agency.
It wouldn’t be strange for them to monitor each and every member.
Then what was Lucia trying to convey to me, even going so far as to put on this dangerous act?
“You’re going about this the wrong way if you want information. You should have politely begged me to tell you.”
I decided to play along with Lucia’s act. I couldn’t let her efforts be in vain.
“Prince Oz, don’t underestimate ‘us.’ You know you can’t take on all of us, even if you’re…you.”
A threat? No. She had just confirmed that this was the will of the entire Tenebris.
She hadn’t come to threaten me, but to plead with me.
“We don’t want to be enemies with you either. So, could you please listen to what we have to say?”
Lucia lowered her gun and spoke.
She wanted to give me information.
“What was that power Eleanor used against the Death King?”
The information she offered was about Eleanor’s danger.
It was something I had anticipated to some extent.
The fight with the [Death King] was intense.
Naturally, it attracted a lot of attention.
As a result, the way people viewed Eleanor changed. Her power was that threatening.
“Why did the Death King invade? What do you know? Did you know about Eleanor’s power from the start?”
The reason the [Death King] infiltrated Scientia, even at great risk.
How I knew about the incident, and my relationship with Eleanor.
Tenebris was interested in Eleanor and me.
Were they planning to keep me occupied while they captured Eleanor?
“You’re full of questions.”
Honestly, I was surprised.
I hadn’t expected her to tell me about this.
Did she trust me more than I thought?
“So, is that all you want to ask?”
“…”
Lucia didn’t say anything more.
That meant she had no more information to give me.
[Contemplation] could, to some extent, discern someone’s mental state.
[SR The Mingling Cat]
Lucia Punisher
Playable game characters had something in common.
Even if they were unique, they weren’t fundamentally evil.
“You made a foolish choice.”
Yes, foolish.
Lucia chose the safety of a friend she hadn’t known for long over her own well-being.
She was more compassionate than she thought.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
