– He may be far more dangerous than you think.
Menemen rested his chin on his hand at the words coming from the shadows.
It was advice regarding his newly accepted aide, Butler Adel.
“Is that so?”
– From start to finish, everything about him is suspicious. Even with Harunsdel’s intelligence network, all we found was dummy information.
“I wonder.”
– And he’s strange. He’s not a mage, but he’s not a swordsman either. He doesn’t seem to be of mixed blood with another race, either.
“So it seems. But, Drei. Is that really so important?”
– …What do you mean?
Menemen slowly spun his chair.
The headquarters of the Harunsdel Merchant Guild.
A high-rise building constructed with the finest architectural technology of the era.
What filled his view was the fog-covered cityscape.
Silhouettes moving busily through the mist. Not people, but mere shadows.
Components of society.
“What matters is that he too is a slave to money.”
And the fuel that keeps those components operating in silence, without complaint, is money.
At best, he is merely one slightly more distinctive part among them.
“No matter how strong a human becomes, it changes nothing. You know it well. Outside the Empire, humans suffocate to death under demonic energy. No matter how long it takes, the end is the same.”
– ……
“To keep dragging along this trash-like reality, money is more than enough.”
Menemen turned his gaze toward a corner of the office, looking at the subordinate who was watching him from within.
“In the end, he’s no different. What’s so dangerous about that? I hold power. Without the money I provide, he cannot be satisfied. That’s why he came to me.”
Innate craftiness.
That was the expression high society often used when referring to Harunsdel.
“In the end, he’s just the kind of man who’ll be satisfied as long as he’s paid in gold.”
Menemen grinned.
A smile filled with vile certainty, befitting that very expression.
“His master is gold, and I am destined to be the master of gold. A slave to money will never betray money. That is absolute.”
It was a conviction.
***
“Irina Harunsdel.”
I spoke while standing in the corridor.
– …My lady. Please stand behind me.
“Irina Harunsdel. That’s correct, isn’t it?”
“…Who are you?”
“I’m someone hired by your half-brother.”
With a crooked smile, I took a step closer.
– I’ve given you fair warning.
Magic shot out from the darkness.
Ignoring the torrent of mana crashing against my body, I continued speaking.
The moment the shimmering current of mana touched me, it was swallowed by my Shifter constitution and dispersed.
A secret technique developed by Austin Bliss, “Magic Parry”.
– Wh…! My lady, please fall back!
Irina raised a hand.
She must have been signaling the guard hidden within her shadow.
“…What business do you have with me?”
“I’ll be direct. I’d rather work with you than with your brother.”
“…And you expect me to believe that?”
“Believe it or not, that’s your choice.”
I shrugged.
This was the Magic Tower’s Academic Cooperation Seminar.
Irina was attending as the representative of a small merchant guild.
“How about we start with a cup of tea?”
“…Why would I?”
“If not, things might become a little troublesome for both of us.”
I showed her the pass hanging around my neck.
The name printed on it was the lazily chosen “Heinel2” but the weight carried by the name Heinel made even that careless naming seem anything but ordinary.
Irina bit down on her lip.
“…I’ll decide after I hear what you want.”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something, Irina Harunsdel.”
I met her faintly resentful gaze and continued calmly.
“…This isn’t a proposal. It’s a threat.”
“……”
“If you’re planning to rely on the one hiding in your shadow, you might want to reconsider.”
– You insolent—!
“…Zwei. Stand down.”
A small smile spread across my face.
“That’s a wise attitude.”
I had no real intention of threatening her.
It was simply the most efficient way to get things moving quickly.
***
Empire of Kohonbach.
If you had to name the game’s main villains, it would be the demons and their worshippers.
But why is that?
What kind of beings are they, that humans in the game reject them outright….so much so that there are laws permitting their execution on sight?
Why do humans refuse to coexist with demons and instead try to eradicate them without exception?
The reason is simple.
They are, quite literally, a disease.
Each demon spreads its domain like the symptoms of an illness.
Take the Rage Demon, for example.
If one is excessively exposed to the power of the Rage Demon, a phenomenon known as the “Festival of Madness” occurs. It reduces humans to imbeciles and amplifies their latent destructive urges to the extreme.
Humans who enter the state of “Festival of Madness” soon undergo monstrous bodily mutations.
They even begin to spread this abnormal condition to others.
In other words, they are no different from zombies.
And demons are essentially the zombie virus itself.
Of course, there are individual differences among demons.
Some possess relatively moderate domains.
The problem is that no matter how moderate a demon’s domain may be, it still transforms humans into something else.
That is why the Empire rejects demons unconditionally. So that humans may remain human.
However, as mentioned before, because there are demons with more moderate domains, there have always been those who believe demons should be used.
Some seek to demonize humans and place them under their control.
Some believe that a mutated human form is an evolved one.
Others simply worship them.
Harunsdel, needless to say, belongs to the first group.
They have been secretly repeating experiments to turn humans into fully realized demons.
***
In the original story, this episode would be resolved about a year into the in-game timeline.
The Harunsdel ambition is brought to an end by a six-person party: the playable characters Veled and Sitri from Damagen Academy; the support characters Aaron and Sasha from Tane Academy; and the playable character Alcade.
But at this point, too much has changed to simply wait for the original storyline.
First of all, I who was supposed to be the mad Adel survived. Quinoron disappeared from Tane earlier than expected.
Camilla Bliss no longer carries her trauma. She has become an ordinary young woman capable of romantic feelings.
“Hmm……”
Sally White overcame her dilemma of identity through my survival.
Sasha Koskov’s hidden circumstances, which were never meant to be revealed, have been fully exposed and judged.
The former head of the household was acquitted, and she once became a host to a demonic parasite before returning.
Irina Harunsdel, a character who never appeared in the original story, has suddenly entered the succession struggle. There’s a high chance that, somehow, this too is connected to me.
“It’s not just one or two things.”
At this point, there’s no choice but to realize it.
It’s impossible to calculate every variable.
If things continue like this, some unforeseen variable might end up getting me killed.
…In that case, I have to move ahead of the episode.
I’ll crush the Harunsdel bastards before they complete the experiment.
Stop it ahead of schedule, kill everyone involved, and make sure they can never recover.
And in the process, collect the incomplete demon.
That’s my win condition for this incident.
To make that happen, I can’t afford to worry about looking a little reckless.
“…Huh? What did you just… say?”
A chuckle slipped out as I watched Irina lift her teacup demurely.
It didn’t suit her at all. Not when she used that thug-like tone back in Tane.
“I told you. We’re going to raid Harunsdel. Tonight.”
“…What?”
***
Buzz, buzz.
The Magic Tower lobby was unusually crowded today.
The Magic Tower’s Academic Cooperation Seminar.
That was the source of the crowd.
It was so packed it felt as if every merchant family running a trade company across the Empire had gathered here.
“Did you see? That company is really…”
“They’ve got no shame… with something like that…”
They were all here for one reason.
To earn the Magic Tower’s recognition.
In other words, they had gathered to stamp the so-called “Magic Tower Certification Mark” onto their products.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason people attended the Magic Tower’s Academic Cooperation Seminar.
Some of the major houses came to win the auction for spells the Magic Tower wanted to commercialize.
However, representatives of those great houses were using the hall on the opposite side, not this one.
Maybe that was why this hall felt more casual.
It wasn’t exactly the kind of place you’d expect someone in a long, gold-embroidered robe to set foot in.
“L-Lady Heinel! If you leave in the middle of the evaluation…!”
“What? Don’t tell me what to do.”
Heinel Shifter, the owner of the lavishly decorated robe, looked around before frowning.
The person she was searching for wasn’t here.
“Damn it. Where the hell did he go?!”
“Um, may I ask what this is about…?”
At her shout, unconcerned with who might be listening, the guard mages came rushing over in a flurry.
However, even they seemed unable to do anything about Heinel. They only fidgeted helplessly.
“Layer Master’s Ornament…? L-L-Lady Heinel!!”
“Hey. Stop making a scene and get out of my sight.”
“Y-Yes!”
At her blunt words, people nearby began to stare.
Perhaps it was the servile attitude of the guard mages, who had been so strict throughout the seminar, that drew everyone’s attention.
“No. You. Come back.”
“…Yes!”
Thud, thud.
With a single finger, she commanded the Magic Tower’s guards.
After a brief moment of thought, Heinel opened her mouth.
“You know. That thing. Show me that.”
“B-By that thing, do you mean…?”
“Ah. You should know right away what I mean! Our lab assistant picks up on things without being told.”
“My apologies!”
“Forget it. Just show me that. The surveillance magic device. Yeah. I need to review the footage.”
“If you wish to access the footage, there are procedures that—”
The guard mage began reciting the manual.
But there was no way she, at the height of her irritation, would listen.
“What? Hey. What’s your name?”
“N-No, it’s fine! I’ll guide you there immediately!”
“Really? Good. Start with the one installed in the elevator.”
Heinel ground her teeth.
Why does he keep disappearing without a word?
I let him get away with going out, even staying out overnight, but not on a day like this.
You’d better pray I don’t catch you, Adel.
Unlike the days she spent cooped up on the fifty-third basement floor, today she had come up to the surface, albeit unintentionally.
One of the rare days when Heinel Shifter became active.
She began walking once again in search of her missing lab assistant.
Completely unaware of what her mana sensitivity would discover in the surveillance footage.
***
“…There’s not a single piece of evidence, and you expect me to believe that?”
“Yeah.”
“…I’m not sure how I feel about you picking your ear right in front of someone you just met.”
“Oh. Sorry. It suddenly got itchy.”
“……”
Watching Irina remain on guard the entire time made a corner of my heart feel strangely heavy.
I don’t know what led her to get involved in a succession struggle, but she’s not someone whose temperament suits the Harunsdel name.
She was my academy classmate who would act prickly on purpose, too embarrassed to show her consideration and concern.
After a brief hesitation, I spoke.
“You were a student at Tane Academy, right?”
“And what about it?”
“No, it’s nothing much… Then were you, by any chance, close with Adel Bliss?”
“..….!”
“…What?”
She looked far more flustered than I had expected, and I tilted my head.
Leave a Reply