It didn’t take long for Loki to realize that the Cattleya before him was not a ghost.
Bang!
A single gunshot.
Amid the stench of blood came the sharp smell of gunpowder—
And a clear, burning pain.
“Ghk!”
The bullet Cattleya fired pierced through his heart once more.
“…No sound of flesh tearing? Ah, I see; you froze the area around your heart with ice, didn’t you?”
Cattleya sneered.
She was weak. So weak she couldn’t hope for a good fight against Johan, let alone defeat him.
But even she had something she refused to yield.
“Who got you? Were you careless? Or just arrogant? Well… at least you’re still alive. I would’ve been disappointed if someone else had killed you.”
Revenge…. only by her own hand.
That alone she would never give up.
“Cattleya Tales… You’re alive?”
“Let’s not waste time on meaningless questions. We’re short on time, aren’t we?”
Bang!
Cattleya pulled the trigger again.
The small pistol in her hand roared once more, and this time, the bullet tore through his thigh.
Loki collapsed to the floor, falling to one knee.
And then he understood.
“You’d better kill me quickly.”
Cattleya Tales had no intention of granting him a clean death.
It was Loki who had destroyed her family.
He understood the rage she must feel.
To her, simply killing him would be a mercy.
The fury she had stored in her heart for so long could never be quenched with mere death.
Hate me as much as you want.
Loki didn’t care whether Cattleya hated him or not.
Even if she tortured him just to vent her rage, it made no difference to him.
The longer this drags on, the more the advantage shifts to me.
His blood was already scattered across the ground.
As it evaporated into the air, it would spread his deadly poison.
She’s probably trusting in an antidote, but there’s no way she can block it all.
All he had to do was flood her with enough poison that no antidote could save her.
It would take some time, yes…but compared to Tillis, this would end much sooner.
Bang!
The pistol roared again.
Loki didn’t scream. He didn’t even groan.
As though he were already used to pain, he simply stared straight at Cattleya.
Seeing the utter lack of wavering in his expression made her face twist.
“When you wiped out my marquisate… what were you thinking?”
“I thought I’d gained a great deal.”
“Ah.”
As expected, Loki had no thoughts whatsoever about the fate that befell her and her family.
Not the slightest hint of guilt.
He had destroyed the marquisate and taken the profit as if it were just another clerical task.
“……”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As if venting her frustration, Cattleya pulled the trigger again and again.
Loki blocked each new wound with magic, sneering all the while.
Cattleya couldn’t kill him…. not yet.
The more he provoked her, the angrier she grew… but within that anger, she regained her composure.
She wouldn’t kill him until the fire inside her cooled.
And Loki knew that this provocation only raised his chances of survival.
“Ugh—”
At last, after tormenting Loki for what felt like ages, Cattleya staggered.
The poison had spread through her body, beyond what any antidote could suppress.
“Ah… so this much is enough?”
But Cattleya was the kind of person who could single-handedly create and lead a grand guild.
It wasn’t as if Cattleya couldn’t guess what Loki was thinking.
She had no intention of abandoning her revenge. But she wasn’t foolish enough to let it blind her completely.
“About three minutes, was it?”
As if nothing were wrong, she took an antidote out of the bag she had brought with her.
Without hesitation, she uncapped it and downed the prepared dose.
Bang!
Still trembling slightly, Cattleya squeezed the trigger again with a hand slowly regaining movement.
“Hmm… so it doesn’t fully neutralize it? Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
One by one, she began taking out more antidote vials from her bag—
A total of eight.
By simple calculation, that meant she could last another twenty-four minutes.
Of course, things rarely went according to such neat math. Resistance might build up, or she might hit her limits sooner…
“Ten more minutes.”
“……”
“I’ll play with you for ten more minutes, Loki.”
She set down the gun and picked up a blade.
“There’s one thing you seem to be mistaken about, so let me clear it up.”
Skk—
The blade in her hand traced down the cheek of the fallen Loki.
“Don’t think that mere torture will be enough to cool my rage.”
Thud!
The blade pierced straight through Loki’s forehead.
“What…?”
Having been biding his time for an opening, Loki was caught completely off guard by a killing blow aimed to end him outright.
He couldn’t even voice his question, let alone a final scream.
His consciousness sank into darkness in an instant.
“Ah. My mistake. I killed you.”
Compared to his relentless will, his end was almost anticlimactic.
But Cattleya’s revenge wasn’t over yet.
“Time to earn your keep, Melana.”
After all, there are ways in this world to torment even the dead.
Cattleya called the name of the dark mage she had recently been sponsoring Melana and smiled softly.
“Preserve both the soul and the body. I’m taking them with me.”
“…Yes.”
Melana just wanted to go home.
***
After wandering the underground for quite some time, Raven finally opened his eyes.
“Uh… why am I here? Ugh, my jaw hurts…what happened?”
“You’re awake?”
“Johan? Oh, right. I was looking for you, wasn’t I?”
“Think you can stand on your own? I’m tired.”
“Oh, so you’ve been helping me walk? Thanks. How’d I get knocked out, anyway? Was I ambushed or something?”
“Yeah. Bad luck.”
Flinch.
I could feel Lobelia trembling on my back.
For the sake of her honor, I decided to keep quiet about the earlier incident.
And since she knew the value of honor, I trusted she’d repay me for it in some way.
“What’s going on? If you’re here, then does that mean…”
“Ah, I came on a request from that Cattleya you told me about.”
“Still doing mercenary work?”
“Of course. After I quit being a spy, what else am I good for? Cattleya’s a great employer. She pays well, gives me a good work-life balance.”
“Yeah, I bet.”
Being the head of Andvaranaut’s merchant guild, she could probably pour money like water and wouldn’t skimp on investments.
And considering Raven’s past as Loki’s spy, she must have figured there was a lot she could wring out of him. No wonder she treated him well.
“So what’s the reason you were looking for me?”
“Oh, Cattleya wanted me to tell you this: ‘Since it didn’t seem like you planned to keep the contract, I took it myself. You’ll understand what I mean’. That’s what she said.”
“I see.”
“Johan, what does that mean?”
Unlike Raven, who was now standing beside me, Lobelia was still clinging to my back as she whispered in my ear.
“She killed Loki.”
“What…?”
“That’s how it turned out.”
I had tried to prevent Cattleya and Loki from crossing paths.
There were many reasons, but above all, I didn’t want her to go past the point of no return.
She had already crossed countless lines by funding various terrorist groups, but I still hoped she wouldn’t take that final step.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say her entire life had been sustained solely by revenge.
And that meant…
“Cattleya is dead, then.”
It meant Cattleya’s death.
She threw away her own life to kill Loki.
Because revenge was everything to her, once she achieved it, she had no reason to go on living.
“What? No, that’s not it. Why are you killing off a perfectly fine person all of a sudden?”
“Huh?”
Hadn’t she taken Loki down and gone with him?
The Cattleya I knew would have had to perish with him.
If something in her life had changed…
“Was it because of her family…?”
Had she found a reason to live after realizing Emily was still alive?
If that was the case, then I was glad.
“Oh, and she told me to give this message only to you, Johan. Uh, let’s see…”
“Your Highness, please step aside for a moment. And for decency’s sake, cover your ears.”
“You think far too poorly of me. I’m not the sort of person who would stoop to eavesdropping on someone’s private matters.”
“When you’re drunk…”
“How long are you going to keep bringing that up?”
“I’m sure the day will come when I can forgive you, Your Highness.”
“……”
Think about it.
All this trouble…whose fault do you think it was?
I’d put in a great deal of investment and legwork to resolve this matter.
It was something that had to be done eventually, but the longer it was delayed, the simpler it could have been.
“So? What did she say?”
“She said to tell you thank you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
Well, I had done quite a bit for her.
After all, I’d even found her family. Of course she’d be grateful.
“For getting her a dark mage.”
“Huh…?”
“Thanks to you, I’ll be able to drag out my revenge for a long, long time instead of ending it quickly.”
“….…”
Ah… so the reason she didn’t go down with Loki was…
Could it be she decided she could still torment him even more?
Not because she’d found new hope in life after realizing her family was alive?
“What a terrifying person…”
“Is that so?”
In any case, it was a relief that Cattleya hadn’t lost the will to live. As for Loki… well… that was just unfortunate for him.
Given all the sins he’d committed, it was inevitable.
“Now, follow me. I brought some people from the guild, so we’ll get you safely back to the surface.”
“…Alright.”
***
Loki was dead.
I still couldn’t believe it.
That he would die so easily, so anticlimactically.
Could it really be true?
Even as I struggled to feel the reality of it, my daily life resumed.
And so, I headed to Andvaranaut’s guild to find Cattleya. The one who, in the end, had sent Raven to save me.
“…Empty.”
Dust-covered furniture. A desolate room.
Cattleya who used to lounge at the counter all the time was nowhere in sight.
Had she left with a clear heart now that her revenge was complete?
“Oh? A customer. Ah, sorry….I forgot you were here.”
“…Cattleya? Where exactly are you crawling out from?”
“Can’t you tell? The basement. Heave-ho.”
From beneath the counter which was a hidden space, Cattleya pulled herself up while smiling brightly.
“Welcome.”
“You didn’t leave?”
“Why would I? I made sure to destroy all the evidence. Running away would only make people suspicious.”
“I saw the dust piling up around here and thought…”
“Oh, that? I got so caught up in my new hobby lately that I forgot to clean. You know how it is.”
“Hobby…? Never mind.”
The moment I thought about Loki’s whereabouts and the dark mage’s existence, I decided I didn’t want to know.
This woman really was completely crazy.
“So? What brings you here?”
“I just wanted to see how you were doing. I thought maybe you’d disappear without a word after achieving your long-cherished goal.”
“At first, I did think about it. But I still have things to do.”
“In that case, that’s fine.”
“Aren’t you curious about Loki?”
“If you mean his condition, I’d rather not hear it.”
I have no desire to sour my mood with a description that will no doubt be horrific.
“Really? That’s a shame. He’s in quite the amusing state. Oh, right, you said Loki made a contract with a demon, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Well, it vanished. Without a trace. Any idea why?”
“You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Is that so? Oh, by the way, could you make me some more antidote?”
“Now that Loki’s been dealt with, I’ll just give you the recipe.”
“Really? I’ll pay you well for it. Is there anything you want in return?”
“Not particularly. Just put it on the tab.”
“Erasing a debt? That’s not a bad move.”
Cattleya seemed in unusually good spirits today. Who was it that said revenge is hollow?
Looking at her now, it felt like that was all a lie.
It was as if she’d gotten three years younger just from pulling it off…
“In any case, as long as you’re safe, that’s all that matters.”
“Oh, right…Loki had a message for you.”
“Bringing up a dead man’s name over and over is starting to feel unsettling.”
I’d rather not dwell on the fact that she turned Loki into an undead.
It’s far too dangerous a truth for me to handle. The thought that she accomplished what even Faust couldn’t made my head hurt.
“Anyway, that’s what Loki said. That thing near you, it’s not human. He told me to warn you to be careful.”
“He’s hardly the kind of person qualified to give me advice.”
“Maybe he had a change of heart. Well then, I’ll be heading back.”
“Yes. Take care.”
With that, Cattleya slipped down into the secret passage beneath the counter.
I wonder what’s down there.
Not that I really want to know.
***
After Loki’s death, and after Johan and Lobelia escaped from the underground—
Tillis was still lying there, abandoned in the dark.
Because of Loki’s poison, her body was paralyzed, and even the slightest movement sent waves of pain through her. But the smile never left her face.
“That makes seventy-one books.”
Though she had failed to kill Loki, she had still achieved her goal.
“Only one left.”
Just one more step to reach her target.
In the damp, pitch-black underground, Tillis quietly closed her eyes.
Despite the unpleasant setting, she felt a sense of comfort.
Step. Step.
And then, someone appeared to shatter that comfort.
“I knew you’d come.”
“……”
“Miss Oracle.”
The Oracle had come for the Judge.
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