…There were four people, two of them children and the other two barely adults, running through the tunnel. They recalled the words their parents had left them before they fled.
‘We’ll take care of this place, run away and don’t let yourselves be caught.’
So they ran, driven forward by desperation. Not because they knew what would happen if they were caught, but because they knew who they left behind.
“…Ah!”
A light was shining in the distance. They were nearly at the exit.
“It’s done. Guys, now…”
But, instead of continuing forward, they suddenly halted. The exit of the tunnel was being blocked by a solitary form. He appeared to be reading a book, standing directly in the way, but he raised his eyes to stare at them as soon as he sensed movement. His blue eyes glowed in the darkness, revealing a cold light.
“…!”
The moment they saw his face, they couldn’t even step back. Even the thought of running away was impossible. Not from Deculein of the Yukline household, that clan of destruction whose bloodline had been passed down over the centuries. The devil that hunted and massacred Demon Bloods, responsible for thousands of their deaths.
That monster was blocking their path.
“…”
He looked at them; no words or threats were needed. The two children wet their pants under that glare, and tears began to roll down the cheeks of the two older refugees.
“…Hmm.”
Deculein looked behind them down the tunnel.
“No one else is coming?”
“…”
No one dared to answer. Even that simple question was enough to make them feel the noose tightening around their necks.
“…Me.”
The young woman in her early twenties spoke despite the tension, letting out a shrill and pathetic voice.
“Only me. These children are still young. So only me…”
“Don’t overestimate your worth. You are just an individual.”
Deculein spoke in a voice as cold as the winter wind and pocketed his book. At that moment, death crept past them, whispering. At least, the four Demon Bloods felt it had.
“But if you want to make a sacrifice, shall we place a bet?”
Then, Deculein produced a coin.
Ting-!
The coin bounced off his fingers and sank into his palm.
“Heads, tails. Would you like to try it?”
They didn’t know what kind of hobby it was, but they had the right to life or death. There was no way to express any dissatisfaction. The woman nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes. I’ll do it.”
“If it’s heads, you die. If it’s tails, I’ll let you go.”
It was a questionable proposition, to put it candidly. The coin itself could have been tampered with. However, such an objection was, of course, impossible.
“…Yes.”
Deculein showed the coin hidden in his hand. It was heads.
Uughhh—
A scream leaked out of her that sounded like a deflating balloon. He sat back in his chair and opened his book.
“…”
He remained completely silent. Did it mean he would let them go? The four walked forward hesitantly, but he remained motionless.
Gulp-
Still nervous, they headed out of the tunnel, looked around, and then turned west. However.
“East.”
Deculein, still reading, finally spoke.
“Go east.”
“…Yes.”
Again, they believed in Deculein. They advanced eastward through the thick forest, no destination set in their minds.
“May God bless us…”
…After the Demon Bloods left, the tunnel became silent. Deculein lifted his eyes as he was reading and looked at the coin he held.
──「Coin of Inclination」──
◆ Information
: A special coin that can be obtained from the item catalog.
: It is possible to distinguish a character’s disposition.
◆ Category
: Special ⊃ Miscellaneous goods
◆ Special Effects
: Divine the character’s disposition by betting on heads or tails. It shows heads for good tendencies and tails for evil tendencies.
[ Midas’ Hand: Level 3 ]
─────────
A coin that revealed good and evil. There would be wicked people among the Demon Blood, and there would certainly be fanatics from the Altar. He would not hesitate to kill such people. Three sets of footsteps echoed from further down the tunnel. He continued reading and listened, waiting for this new group to arrive.
* * *
It was late at night when I received a message announcing the end of the situation. When I returned to the battlefield, a bunch of prisoners were gathered in the wild plains. The guard who informed me of the existence of the tunnel approached.
“Professor, what happened in the tunnel?”
“I killed about twenty people.”
“…Whoa! As expected!”
I looked around the prisoners’ faces. There were roughly 3,000 prisoners, but many were almost impossible to distinguish outwardly.
“Can you separate them?”
“Oh, yes. The blood magic invented by Betan can identify them to some extent. Of course, we need quite a bit of flesh…”
Indeed, the prisoners had unusual wounds. It was still too cruel a classification method, but I guess it was at least fortunate they could survive it.
“Hello~ Professor!”
A wizard saluted me, a man with long blue hair tied behind his back: Gurken. Like me, he used steel.
“But do you need to save these guys? I will take care of them.”
Kirik- Kirik-
The steel shards floating around him resonated with his words. His magic was small so as to seep into the body and inflict the worst possible pain. When I thought of the intention behind that spell, I had to wonder about the man’s sanity.
“No need to.”
I blocked his steel with Psychokinesis. Gurken appeared bewildered by the sudden magical interference.
“Hmmmm…?”
He was about to activate the magic again with an expression that looked like he wanted to poop, but my Psychokinesis didn’t budge.
“They are too vile to kill comfortably. I’ll send them all to Rohalak.”
“I didn’t mean to let them off easily, but…”
Gurken scratched the back of his neck and nodded.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
“…Transfer them all.”
The soldiers saluted obediently, and the prisoners’ complexions turned dark. To die here or to live in Rohalak. They must be deciding which of the two was more painful.
“Hey! You bastards, you heard him! Move! Get up and move! The slow ones will be dumped in the desert!”
However, at least the living side would benefit several dozen times over…
* * *
—Deculein of Yukline has made a huge contribution to this Demon Blood suppression operation, so…
Returning to the continent, I was awarded the Imperial Medal of Merit. Sophien personally hung the 2nd-grade commendation on my chest. Thanks to that, I also received bonus stats, so it wasn’t a bad thing.
“You did a good job.”
“I am honored, Your Majesty.”
Sophien looked down at me from the podium.
“I’ll take this opportunity to give you one piece of advice.”
“Yes. I will appreciate it.”
“Don’t even look at a tree that you cannot climb.”
“…?”
“Now! That’s all!”
With those strange words, Sophien ended the award ceremony, and the banquet began.
-Sir Yukline-! Professor Deculein-!
Leaving that place where people were busy calling out to me, I returned to the car after managing some troublesome connections.
“Hmm?”
But there was a letter lying in the back seat of the car.
[ This is Carixel.]
It was from Carixel of Rohalak. I opened the envelope. From the very first sentence, it didn’t look good.
[ I finally got my hands on a pencil and some paper so I could send a letter to the Professor. First, life in Rohalak isn’t easy, but it’s not as bad as I thought. We found a water source, and fortunately, there are not many clans who’ve starved. This can be attributed to the abundance of edible monsters…]
Carixel’s writing meandered. In summary, the Demon Blood’s lives in Rohalak weren’t all bad. Was it a provocation, or was he testing me? After reading the letter, I replied with one sentence.
[If there is a Demon Blood dedicated to the Altar, deal with it yourself.]
Just then, the car stopped, but they were still some distance away from the mansion. Secretary Ren said in a slightly perplexed tone.
“Professor.”
I looked through the window. The front door of the mansion wasn’t far away, and I could see a woman standing in front of it. Julie.
“What should I do?”
“…I’ll get out. Come back after two minutes.”
“Yes.”
I got out of the car and watched her from afar. I injected mana into the Vision that had been strengthened by Authority. Her haggard and gloomy complexion caught my eye first, but I focused on a more serious fact.
「Status Abnormality: Curse」
Now, her time was short. I could see the waning dawn.
「1084:53:23」
1084 hours. A life that would last less than two months. I approached Julie, who stiffened when she noticed me.
“Julie. You often stop by these days.”
“…”
“How shameful do you want to get?”
She couldn’t even look me in the eye. She bowed her head and spoke in a dry, twisted tone.
“…Our Knights Order is collapsing. Through corruption that I was not aware of.”
“It doesn’t mean it’s not your fault because you didn’t know.”
Freyhem’s subordinates, including Rockfell, were found to be corrupt. Josephine probably did her best to set that trap so that the knights couldn’t escape.
…But.
Thud-!
Suddenly, Julie knelt on her knees. A heavy stone landed on my heart.
“…Please.”
My breath trembled slightly, but I couldn’t show it. I looked down at Julie, who remained with her head down.
“A knight’s knee is so light.”
“I’m here as a person, not a knight…”
Julie clenched her fists against her legs.
“Knights unrelated to this are suffering. At this rate, they may be disqualified from being knights altogether. These are young people who gave their all to join the order. I will take responsibility for everything. So, just them…”
Julie continued, and her time reflected by Vision decreased.
Tick-tock-tick-tock.
Tick-tock-
Tick-tock-
Her curse didn’t stop.
“No. I will destroy your entire order.”
But, right then, with that-
“Leave the continent. If you are going to die, die in your hometown.”
Her time stopped.
「1084:52:23」
The second hand of the system stopped, and a moment after, the time increased rapidly, from 1084 hours to 1098 hours, from 1098 hours to 1120 hours, and from 1120 hours to 1180 hours. Her vitality deepened.
…What a mysterious scene.
“Are you worried about your co-workers? It’s not my business. Those damn bastards who are Veron’s colleagues can’t live on this continent anyway.”
I smiled. At least, this method wasn’t wrong. It would buy time for her.
“If you want them to live, leave the continent.”
But that alone… it was worth being hated.
“Die as far away from me as possible so as not to cause any harm to my family.”
Julie’s body stopped trembling. She calmed down, and her heart froze over. A dark and cold silence surrounded her.
Finally, she looked up at me and nodded.
“Yes. I will.”
─At that moment.
Her thousand and one hundred hours reflected in my Vision were amplified.
* * *
Choo, choo, choo-
The sound of a train stopping on the tracks. A moment later, the loud vibrations stopped. Julie was far away, looking out the window. The pale white earth, the dry sky, and the slight blizzard cascading down… the indistinguishable and pure white world of Freyden greeted her.
“…”
Julie, who got off at the station, looked around the scenery of her hometown without a word. Since long ago she wanted to leave, but she couldn’t in the end. She was forced to come back. And while at her worst…
Stomp- Stomp-
Julie marched forward without a word. All she had was her sword and a bag, but her destination was not the family castle. She was going to make a place for herself. She knew better than anyone that she was near death, but she had no intention of giving up.
“…Deculein.”
She gripped her sword a bit tighter. She relived the memories of the knights that Deculein ruined, her subordinates, the humiliation of that day, and everything in the distant past. The hatred in her heart had already frozen over. She placed her hand to her heart.
Thump… Thump…
A slow pulse that seemed to be ready to break at any moment. If any doctor heard it, they would wonder, “Isn’t she already dead?” Now, Julie’s heart would be lost in an eternal winter. So, even more so, she wouldn’t end up like this. She was sure she would overcome it.
“I must…”
Julie was determined as she walked on the ice.
••••••
“Where could I even use her like this?”
Zeit, who was watching Julie from a distance, spoke. Josephine, standing next to him, shrugged.
“It’s Julie. Isn’t she family?”
“Is it a breakup?”
“You knew that it wouldn’t work anyway~. Yukline and Freyden had an impossible relationship in the first place.”
“…Hmm. But I’m angry. That curse, after all, was due to him.”
Julie received her curse while trying to protect Deculein. Of course, Julie herself said that even that was part of the mission and that it was okay like a fool.
“Tell Julie to enter the Knights of Freyden.”
“Huh?”
Josephine’s eyes widened.
“Aren’t there rumors of corruption right now? Will the knights of the north just watch?”
“It is mine. I’ll make them shut their mouths with our skills.”
Zeit turned around, clicking his tongue. Josephine watched his broad back as he walked away.
“Lord. When are you going to let Julie be free?”
“…”
Zeit halted, turning to look at Josephine. His sharp eyes contained the majesty of the strongest knight in the world.
“…Someday, when that girl beats me. Then I will let Julie go.”
Would Julie be able to defeat Zeit? Josephine was skeptical of that possibility. Of course, there was no other person like him in the history of the Empire, not to mention the Freyden family.
“Josephine, you seem like you’ll hold on to Julie for the rest of your life and never let go.”
“…”
The anticipation in Zeit’s gaze stung, but Josephine responded with a smile.
“Will I? No way~. Still, she’s my younger sister~, huhu.”
* * *
…The end of autumn approached. Epherene, who was officially approved as Kendall rather than Solda, showed off her new robe as soon as she arrived in the teaching assistant’s lab.
“What do you think? Doesn’t the color seem more luxurious?”
“Yeah. It does.”
Likewise, Kendall Drent was busy working on his magic experiment, and Allen was nowhere to be seen.
“…When will I get a junior?”
Epherene pouted and sat down. There was a newspaper that Drent had been reading on the desk.
[…The Knights of Freyhem disbanded.]
The headline was of a case of bribery and solicitation related to the Knights of Freyhem. The radio had been rather noisy about that lately.
“If it’s Freyhem…”
It was somehow familiar, but Epherene’s attention went straight to the next paragraph.
[The novel ‘Blue Eyes,’ published by an anonymous author, has become a bestseller.]
“…This girl.”
The book published by Sylvia became a bestseller. The very same book was currently sitting on Epherene’s desk. Sadly, the next volume hadn’t been published yet.
‘You should’ve published it all at once. Why did you split books 1 and 2?’
Epherene, who was smiling happily, looked out the window with gradually widening eyes.
“Huh?”
She nearly fell out.
“Is it snowing already?”
Snowflakes were scattering down from the sky. Epherene chuckled and sat back down.
“Ah~. Now the seasons are changing~. There are still a lot of things to do~ I haven’t been able to solve anything.”
She hummed the words to a popular melody and pulled out the wood steel. She was still carving Deculein into her subconscious. It was difficult, but at the same time, she found it quite fun and rewarding.
“After a while, I can go to class… Drent! You know it’s Professor Deculein’s class today, right?”
“Of course.”
Drent nodded as he listened, and Epherene chuckled, concentrating her mana on the wood steel.
“Today…”
She would finish this magic.
