Wow, it was really all over now.
I had reached a friendly agreement with Kult and managed to shake off Tillis’s surveillance.
Under the leadership of Coran Lekias who was an imperial official, the analysis of Ex Machina’s mechanical devices had been carried out and then he himself declared the results indecipherable and eventually withdrew from the Cradle.
Power really was a great thing.
I had gotten away clean without arousing a single suspicion, right to the end.
But had Coran Lekias really given up on revenge? I didn’t know for sure, but one thing was certain. The Cradle was finally going to quiet down.
“As expected of my disciple! I knew you’d pull it off!”
And then there was Yuna.
Normally, I would’ve been annoyed by her presence, but right now, I felt reassured just knowing she was nearby.
“Seriously, where did you go… I had such a hard time.”
“Puhihihi!”
While you were gone, I had to deal with some real lunatics…!
All the pent-up frustration from the past few days exploded out of me.
So much had happened in just a few days… I was seriously exhausted.
“Was the info I gave you helpful?”
“Yeah, it’s no exaggeration to say that thanks to you, I managed to solve the problem!”
“Then wouldn’t it be a good idea to learn some better techniques?”
“No way.”
I answered with a straight face.
I told you, I’m not doing that.
Don’t cross the line, seriously.
“Tch, what a waste. So what are you doing today? After all that, wouldn’t it be better to rest a bit?”
“No, I’m jumping straight back into research starting today.”
“You must be tired.”
“Even if I’m tired, I have to do it. Lives are at stake. There’s not much time left.”
Ariel really didn’t have much time. When I had invited Kult to Coran Lekias’s laboratory, he had said something back then.
That Lobelia had returned to the Imperial Palace and that’s why he thought I had come to him for help.
To be honest…
I hadn’t even known that Lobelia had returned to the palace.
Wasn’t she someone I normally avoided anyway? It made sense that I didn’t know.
Besides, things had been unusually chaotic in and around the Cradle lately, so I’d been lying even lower than usual.
Lobelia’s recent trip outside held significant meaning.
She would go through a horrific experience within the Imperial Palace and return to the Cradle barely holding herself together.
And before she could even fully recover, she’d be forced to confront Ariel’s death. The realization that she hadn’t even noticed her closest friend’s deteriorating condition would completely shatter her mental state.
In the game, the main focus had been on Lobelia’s mental breakdown.
Ariel had merely been a narrative device to bring about that collapse.
It was a tragic thing.
Perhaps side characters were nothing more than tools to make the main character shine.
“I’m the only one here who has any free time right now.”
And so, only the audience offstage could witness the final moments of a supporting character pushed off the stage.
***
The research was nearing completion.
With just a few more experiments, I’d probably be able to create the medicine.
But since the experimental materials had been made using the power borrowed from Maxwell’s demon, I had a very limited supply. That meant I had no choice but to proceed with extreme caution.
I had no idea what had happened to Coran Lekias afterward, but Maxwell’s demon had already been taken by Tillis, so there was no way to restock those materials.
I wanted to smuggle Coran Lekias out before the demon was taken, but it had been an unavoidable sacrifice if I wanted to shake off Tillis, who could detect the presence of demonic energy.
“Ugh… my head…”
I lifted my head and stared at the light hanging from the ceiling.
Seeing my vision blur, I figured this was as far as I could go today.
I was too tired to keep going.
If I pushed forward like this, I wouldn’t be able to produce anything worthwhile anyway.
“Hoo…”
It has already been four days since what happened with Emily.
Come to think of it, I still needed to deal with the drone Tillis had asked for…
She even left her contact information, so I couldn’t just pretend I didn’t know.
“Hmm?”
I was sprawled out, blankly staring at the ceiling light, when it happened.
Something flickered.
It wasn’t just my vision. Something had definitely moved just now.
I quickly lowered my head and tried to look around.
But in that very moment—
Click!
Before I could even process what was happening, I felt the cold touch of metal against the back of my head. The familiar sound that followed rang in my ears.
“Damn it…”
I grasped the situation immediately.
There was no mistaking it.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Johan Damus. This is our first time seeing each other, isn’t it?”
“…Firearms are strictly regulated under imperial law.”
“If I don’t get caught, it’s not a problem. Besides, since you know the future, I imagine you already know who I am.”
With that, the person stepped in front of me. I recognized him.
No—maybe not personally, but I knew who this boy was.
Underneath dark green hair were piercing yellow eyes, reminiscent of a bird of prey.
He still looked quite young, but he was one of the thugs who had barged into my room with Lobelia not long ago.
“…Stan Robinhood.”
“Yes, correct. As expected, you knew who I was.”
What the hell is this guy doing here?
He was a spy and assassin for the princess. But more importantly…
“Would you mind telling me why you approached Emily?”
…he was Emily Robinhood’s older brother.
I wondered how he might have learned about me.
Ariel, maybe…?
The only one who could’ve spread the word about me meeting Emily was Ariel.
I specifically asked her to keep it a secret. How could she stab me in the back like this?
I should’ve known better than to take in a white-haired beast…!
“Emily asked me to give you this.”
“……”
Guess not.
Sorry, Ariel.
Well, it’s understandable. It was a situation that could be easily misunderstood.
“You know that Emily is an Ex Machina, don’t you?”
I glanced sideways at the bag Stan had dropped beside him with a thud.
Peeking through the open zipper, I saw sleek mechanical devices.
It was the payment I was supposed to receive from Emily for this job.
Wait, Emily… don’t tell me—
Did you just ask your brother to drop this stuff off for you?
You really sent something that dangerous with such a casual mindset?
“…Calm down.”
“I am calm. This is a rational judgment. You know this secret is serious enough to warrant that.”
“Let’s talk first.”
“Gladly. Though I’d prefer we continue somewhere a bit more comfortable.”
Thud!
With those words, my consciousness snapped off like a cut film reel.
***
Drip.
Something tickled the top of my head.
Drip.
Wet. Unpleasant.
Drip.
A droplet of water, pooling before sliding down, traced along my cheek.
“……”
After quietly opening my eyes, I realized what kind of situation I was in.
I was tied to a chair.
To put it simply…
“You son of a bit*h.”
This was absolute crap.
I was already tired and had a mountain of work to do, and now this guy was making my life even harder.
“You’re awake.”
“This is your idea of a comfortable place to talk? What, is your house decorated like this too?”
I let out a sigh.
Looking around, it seemed he had managed to find another suitably dramatic spot.
Rough walls and iron bars. Water was even leaking from the ceiling, so it was clear this place was an underground prison.
“Did you really have to go this far?”
Just because this bastard had treated me politely, he thought he could do this to me?
I mean, come on! When someone talks to you with basic manners, yeah? Shows you some respect? Shouldn’t you at least try to respond in kind? Isn’t that just how people are supposed to act!
“I hope you understand this is a very sensitive matter.”
“I didn’t even resist. It could’ve just ended right there.”
“That may be true. But I had to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. I tend to worry a lot.”
When Stan said “the worst-case scenario”, he probably meant the moment he might have to kill me. It was his way of saying he wouldn’t hesitate to do it if necessary.
Knowing his personality, he probably wouldn’t actually go that far…
But I figured it meant he was at least mentally prepared to.
“So, Mr. Johan. Will you tell me now? Why did you approach that girl?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Why are you so sure I was the one who approached her? Emily came to me!”
“She doesn’t usually show much interest in other people.”
“She seemed pretty interested in her master, though.”
“……”
Stan gave me a bright smile in response and raised his gun, aiming it straight at me.
This son of a bit*h. Loses a verbal argument and immediately turns to violence.
“So you knew that much. …I see, you’re saying you used Sir Coran Lekias as leverage to threaten Emily?”
“How far are you planning to stretch that logic, you crazy bastard? I was minding my own business, and the two of them approached me first!”
“Emily approached you? Ha! Why would she do that? Who do you think you are? You were probably the one who wagged your tail first with some deceitful lies!”
There was no reasoning with him.
Even if family was involved, this guy was taking things way too far.
Well, if I really tried to understand the initial assumption that led Stan to target me, I could see his logic.
If the Imperial family ever found out she was an executive of Ex Machina, the entire family could be wiped out. So maybe I had been a bit too careless.
If it had been me, I would’ve felt my heart drop too if my younger sibling Chris had acted like that.
“I believe you’ll understand my actions. Honestly, wouldn’t you? How could I possibly trust someone like you? A man as frivolous as you.”
“I’m actually a really serious guy.”
“There’s just not enough trust between us for me to believe that. Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you.”
Stan lowered the gun he had been pointing at me and spread his hands. It seemed he really didn’t plan to kill me.
But judging by the way he talked, it didn’t look like he intended to let this slide either.
“This is just a little warning. I hope you won’t forget it. And remember…I’m capable of doing far worse than this.”
After saying that and spreading his hands, Stan came around behind me and grabbed one of my bound arms.
A faint tremor traveled through his hand as he held my arm.
If he was trying to scare me into keeping my mouth shut, he’d already failed.
I could feel that he was more torn and afraid of what he himself was about to do than I was.
If it had been someone else instead of me, it might’ve had the opposite effect.
“No wonder your family turned out the way it did, you bastard.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. But I have to protect my family.”
“No need to be sorry.”
I’d already given up on trying to persuade him.
If he was going to play it this way, then I had no reason to play nice either.
“Yuna, take this bastard down.”
“What are you talking abou—?”
Thud!
Stan’s hand, which had been holding my arm, was knocked away.
I couldn’t see what happened next, but it was over in a flash.
“Urgh…!”
“Nice job.”
There was no way Yuna didn’t know I had been kidnapped.
There was no way someone like Stan could have seen through Yuna’s concealment.
The gap in their skill levels was far too great.
“Just don’t kill him.”
I said it in advance, just in case Yuna ended up killing Stan.
It was easy to forget, but Yuna had killed countless people up until now.
Maybe because of that, she had no hesitation when it came to taking a life.
“Hmm… alright, for now.”
Yuna disarmed the subdued Stan, then untied me and asked,
“Wouldn’t it be better to kill him?”
Right, you were the type who thought of human lives like ant lives, weren’t you?
I’d forgotten that again.
“There’s no time to clean up the mess.”
“I could take care of it for you. He did hurt you, after all.”
“Still, let’s let it slide this once. After all, he didn’t actually kill me.”
“Hmm… got it. Now that you mention it, you’ve got a point, Johan.”
Stan had probably considered killing me in the worst-case scenario.
But that was only if things went completely south.
If that hadn’t been the case, there would’ve been no need to wait for me to wake up.
It would’ve made more sense to deal with me before I ever opened my eyes.
“It’s just a misunderstanding we can clear up. If we call Emily and explain what happened, even this guy should get it.”
It was a misunderstanding that could easily be resolved.
I had no intention of getting along with that butcher of a man, but turning Emily into an enemy carried too much risk.
Well, it wasn’t like I couldn’t understand the guy at all.
I could never agree with his methods, but still.
It made more sense to act like the bigger man and forgive him this once, then get compensated for it.
“Johan Damus! If you so much as lay a finger on that girl…!”
“……”
Wait a second, was this bastard treating me like the villain now?
I just spared his life, for crying out loud.
“Yuna.”
“Hmm?”
“Come to think of it, we don’t have the time to worry about cleaning up after him. Let’s just lock him up until the job’s done. I’ll explain things to Emily myself.”
“That was a very emotional verdict~”
That bastard had crossed the line first.
After starving a bit in a cold basement, maybe this guy would cool his head and start thinking straight.
***
At the same time.
Ariel stared blankly into the sunlight while she was lost in thought.
“Ah……”
Even when she stayed still, it felt like realizations came flooding into her mind.
The boundary between herself and the world was growing thin.
“If it’s now……”
Ariel’s view of the world began to change.
At that moment, she felt like it might be possible.
“If it’s now, I think I can do it.”
She could finally define the power within her body as magic.
She was on the verge of becoming an archmage.
But at the same time, Ariel instinctively understood—
The moment she completed the process of defining her power as a single magic, she would disappear from this world.
“Even so, with this power, I’m sure I can be of help to Her Highness.”
She smiled.
Even standing at the edge of death, the thought that she could leave something behind in this world…
Somehow, it made her smile.
She was no longer afraid of dying.
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