Babienne Asteria.
She was the youngest of the eleven disciples of the Scarlet Flame Lord.
The Asteria barony originally came from a merchant family—
A merchant family wealthy enough to be counted among the richest in the Empire.
So much so that they paid an enormous sum in taxes to the imperial family and bought themselves the status of a baronial house.
But as is always the case in noble society,
Those who were not born noble were bound to be shunned.
A house with wealth but no honor—
That was the scorn directed at House Asteria within noble circles.
And so, the Asteria family employed various means.
In this world, there’s nothing money can’t buy.
Even honor, in the end, can be bought with enough wealth.
One of those means was having Babienne become a disciple of the Scarlet Flame Lord.
If a truly outstanding individual emerged from the family, their social standing would naturally rise.
Babienne had her own talents, and with a huge sum of money, she was able to become the youngest disciple.
The Scarlet Flame Lord had always loved gold and treasure.
She collected everything that sparkled. Her only goal was to amass a mountain of gold.
She was even nicknamed the “Golden Phoenix”.
So, she gladly accepted Asteria’s offer.
That’s how Babienne became the Scarlet Flame Lord’s disciple.
A disciple bought with money.
As a result, Babienne remained an outsider among the Scarlet Flame Lord’s disciples.
She couldn’t refuse the order from her family.
But that didn’t mean she could bond with the other disciples either.
The Scarlet Flame Lord had merely accepted money in exchange for taking on a disciple, leaving all the teaching to her first disciple.
So much so that Babienne could count on one hand the number of times she had seen the Scarlet Flame Lord’s face.
In many ways, it was a frustrating life.
Babienne’s only refuge was the Star Cluster Society, where many of her peers gathered.
She was, after all, a baron’s daughter.
A disciple of the Scarlet Flame Lord.
With her decent looks—
Thanks to these advantages, she had been something of a star within the Star Cluster Society.
Babienne found solace in the society.
But even that had lasted only briefly.
Aransel, whose beauty far surpassed hers.
The eldest son of a marquis family, whose status was leagues above her own.
With figures like that appearing in succession, Babienne’s value had plummeted in an instant.
That was why she disliked Aransel.
Status aside, at the very least, she had taken pride in her appearance.
Anything related to Aransel stirred petty jealousy in her.
Today had been no different.
She had planned to provoke Aransel by using the Transporter who had come with her.
Never could she have imagined that this would end up being an act of self-destruction.
Because of Haru’s outrageous behavior, she couldn’t bear the embarrassment and quietly stayed off to the side.
While she was hiding her face in shame over what had happened, all the lights in the hall suddenly went out.
A completely unexpected turn of events.
Just as the disciples were thrown into confusion, the glass ceiling shattered—
And they appeared.
Black Dawn.
A group of Transporter terrorists.
Among them, three were especially notorious and dangerous.
The blind swordmaster, Tear Rain.
The skinless monster, Old Flesh.
And the black mage in a pitch-black robe, Shadow Moon.
All of them had long operated under Black Dawn and had massacred countless lives during that time.
They had, upon arrival, utterly crushed the disciples who had only just begun to make names for themselves.
Even if they were the disciples of famous figures, they were still fledglings.
They were no match for those who had already earned infamy through countless battlefields.
The disciples, unable to respond to the sudden ambush and overwhelming power, fell one after another.
Babienne had been far from the center of the hall.
Because of that, she had witnessed the entire scene with her own two eyes.
But she couldn’t even think of stepping in.
The difference in strength was obvious, and it didn’t seem like there was anything she could do even if she tried.
Even so, she hesitated in her heart.
Becoming a disciple of the Scarlet Flame Lord had been her family’s will, but also her own.
She too had once loved the tales of heroes described in fairy tales as a child.
Now faced with the terror of Black Dawn and a true crisis,
The longing she’d once felt for those childhood heroes stirred within her, pulling her in different directions.
Should she join the fight?
Or stay put and remain quiet?
As she wrestled endlessly with her thoughts,
An unexpected offer came to her.
“I’ve got a plan to stop those guys.”
The boy who appeared out of nowhere—
The one who had embarrassed her—
Haru, disciple of Raphael, the daughter of the Grace Magic Tower’s master.
His proposal sparked a small ember in her wavering heart.
Haru had humiliated her—
And while that had been unpleasant, it had also left an impression that he was no ordinary person.
On top of that, Haru had rescued people from the crashing airship earlier.
Thanks to that incident, Aransel had shot to fame among the disciples.
I want to be like that too.
The flames of ambition roared within her heart.
“…What is it?”
And then, she would come to regret accepting his proposal so deeply that it nearly brought her to tears.
“Black Dawn, you bunch of morons!”
Her booming voice echoed throughout the hall.
Not only Black Dawn but also the disciples all turned their eyes toward her.
Babienne squeezed her eyes shut with a dagger pressed against her throat.
“If you don’t want to see the disciple of the Flame Lord die, back off!”
The one holding the dagger to her neck was none other than Haru, the boy who’d made the proposal moments ago.
He had somehow gotten hold of a hood and now looked more like a vicious criminal, his face mostly concealed.
She’d thought it would be a path toward becoming a dazzling hero.
But this….this was anything but heroic.
He said he had a plan, so she joined in, but this was beyond anything she’d expected.
No matter how you looked at it…
This was just a hostage situation.
***
A hostage situation, using Babienne as bait.
I hadn’t explained the situation to her. I just asked her to go along with it.
And, surprisingly, Babienne played along more easily than expected.
The proof was in how she was now raising both hands high and screaming at the top of her lungs.
Cries like a red pig.
I like the sound of it.
Black Dawn’s eyes were on me now.
To be honest, I didn’t actually know if the Flame Lord really joined hands with Black Dawn.
The reason I was pulling this stunt was simple.
If it fails, I’ll drive this dagger into my own neck.
If it works, I can tie Black Dawn down.
At a glance, it might seem like a high-risk plan. But for me, it was all reward, no risk.
Because I’ll come back to life anyway.
Of course, I don’t want the first outcome either.
If I’m not careful, my resurrection magic could be exposed.
But I couldn’t just sit back and watch this mess unfold.
A promise to Aransel?
Justice to protect others?
A desire to change the world?
Screw all that.
I don’t care about any of it.
Like I said before, all I want is for the people I know not to die.
Because I know just how awful it feels when someone you know dies.
So I didn’t care whether these uncivilized otherworlders were wiped out or not.
There was only one reason I was standing here now.
Black Dawn. Those bastards had completely ruined the perception and reputation of Transporters like me.
Look at someone like me, a decent Transporter.
No matter how well I treated these uncivilized people, they almost always discriminated against me just for being a Transporter.
I hated the people of this world.
And I hated the other Transporters who caused me problems with their pointless stunts.
Thanks to those terrorist bastards, I still had nightmares of getting my limbs ripped off by a cult.
“Open your damn eyes and look closely! Before I shove this dagger into her neck! I’m sure the Flame Lord would love to see her disciple get a blade stuck in her throat. Isn’t that right?!”
“Y-You… you’re not serious, right? This isn’t real, right? It’s not, is it?! This isn’t what we talked about!”
Babienne… her acting was top-notch.
I guess I could forgive the time she blasted me into a dinner table.
Black Dawn’s eyes were on me now.
The disciples looked stunned, clearly caught off guard by what was happening.
The fighting had come to a temporary standstill.
Members of Black Dawn were exchanging glances.
According to Babienne, there were three dangerous ones here:
Tear Rain, Old Flesh, and Shadow Moon.
I’d paid close attention to how they fought.
Tear Rain was a blind swordsman, but his movements suggested he could perceive far more than what sight alone allowed.
He definitely had some kind of sensory-type ability.
Old Flesh had his skin peeled off, but he wielded powers related to blood.
Weapons made from blood like swords, spears, and arrows formed and emerged from anywhere on his body.
Shadow Moon’s ability was just like I’d seen earlier.
He spread darkness around him, and the moment you got hit by his blade, your vision and senses would go completely numb.
He was the one who had taken down the disciples.
His weapons were two curved blades.
Right now, the one I had to watch most carefully was Shadow Moon.
His movements were the real threat.
So more than any of the others, I made sure to keep a close eye on him.
Black Dawn didn’t move.
An unexpected development.
I could sense their hesitation, unsure how to respond.
The moment I saw it, a spark went off in my mind.
As I suspected, the Scarlet Flame Lord was the traitor.
If they had truly seen Babienne as worthless, they would’ve attacked the disciples immediately.
The gamble had paid off.
Now the question was how to make the most of the time I’d bought with that gamble.
“P-Please… have mercy. I-I was wrong…”
Babienne was now practically in tears.
In the midst of it, Black Dawn quietly converged in one direction.
Soon after, they subtly tried to shield the figure of Shadow Moon.
“Hey! I told you to stay put.”
I shouted as I pressed the dagger harder against Babien’s neck.
Her skin was slightly cut, and blood began to drip down.
Black Dawn had no choice but to halt.
“I’ll say this now. I’m a No-Name too. Even if you try anything stupid, I can make sure this dagger goes in.”
After all, you don’t know what kind of ability I have.
So I lied as much as I wanted.
A standoff with Black Dawn.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the disciples silently prepared themselves.
I had to keep buying time.
By now, Aransel should have joined up with Sohan.
They’d be making their escape with the other fledgling bastards.
Then I saw it—
Shadow Moon faltered for a moment.
A sudden reaction.
It was certain now.
Someone had made a break for it.
Good.
Now, time was completely on our side.
It was the moment I felt certain of victory.
Click—
“Well now, what do you all think you’re doing? I won’t be getting paid at this rate.”
A sultry voice echoed through the air.
From the shadows at the end of the hallway, a woman stepped forward with her red hair billowing.
Bold eye makeup accentuated her blood-red eyes.
Her hand was already pointed straight at us.
“I’m going to charge extra for this.”
A wave of danger surged through my entire body.
The same instinctual dread I’d felt back during the Cosmic Zak incident.
Damn it. Just my luck.
The Scarlet Flame Lord.
The Golden Phoenix.
She’d been here from the start.
Fwoosh—
And then, fire ignited before my eyes.
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