My field training was suspended.
Well, it couldn’t be helped. Two of our team members had dropped out.
And though he didn’t say it out loud, it was clear that Dietrich was worried about Helena. So I figured it was best to send him back too.
That brought the total number of people who’d left to four, including Yuna.
Only two of us remained.
Because of that, Lobelia and I returned to the Cradle earlier than the others.
As for Yuna… well, she’d probably make it back on her own. Maybe she was already there ahead of us.
So that’s how I ended up sitting alone on my dorm bed, lost in thought.
“Hmm.”
Honestly, Helena collapsing was something I already knew would happen.
The problem was that it happened way earlier than I expected.
I had calculated the timing of her collapse based on time, but maybe it had more to do with her relationship with Kult.
After all, Helena had been set up from the start as Kult’s trial.
I was an idiot for not thinking of that before speaking so carelessly.
The Oracle didn’t scold me for nothing.
“Whew…”
How am I supposed to fix this? This is all my fault.
I sowed the seeds myself.
It’s practically the same as shortening Helena’s life span with just a few words.
This damn mouth of mine. I spent the past year holding back, terrified of something like this happening, and now I slip up because life was finally starting to feel normal?
“Kult and Helena…”
What was I supposed to do about them?
If I intervened carelessly, I might just make things worse.
In fact, it was already a worst-case scenario. I should treat this as a lesson.
But am I really supposed to just sit back and watch a kid who doesn’t know anything die?
Especially when it basically happened because of something I said?
I was so scared my body was trembling. And pretending not to know, turning a blind eye….it just felt wrong.
My thoughts spiraled endlessly, leaving me paralyzed.
But the moment I remembered Helena calling me “doctor” and asking me to help Kult—
The trembling had stopped before I even realized it.
“Tch…”
To borrow Kult’s words, I was closer to a nonbeliever.
I believed in the existence of God, but not in God Himself.
Still, there was one thing I did understand.
“If this is part of Your grand plan too, then You’re a real bastard.”
If my decision was also something God accounted for, then I can only say God got a seriously bad personality.
I didn’t know if I could save Helena Hereticus.
I didn’t even know if I could persuade Kult Hereticus.
But I’ll try what I can.
That’s probably the least painful path forward.
***
Even though I had made up my mind, I couldn’t act rashly.
Kult was a master at reading and manipulating people’s minds.
If I tried to persuade him halfheartedly, it might just backfire.
Anyway, there was still time before Helena fully awakened as a sacred relic.
Sure, the timeline had moved up, so I couldn’t know for sure what variables were now in play. But still, I doubted things were urgent enough to panic just yet.
This was only the first button.
The last was still a long way off.
So I had to prepare carefully, one step at a time.
“Johan? You’re back already?”
Just as I made that resolution, a familiar face popped in through the door.
Pink hair and a mischievous expression. It was Yuna.
But why does this girl treat my room like her own?
I’m pretty sure I locked the door…
No, forget the small stuff.
“You showed up at the perfect time.”
“Ugh, that tone means you’re about to dump something annoying on me, doesn’t it?”
“Come on, something like that’s nothing between us.”
“And just what are we to each other? Are we having an affair?”
“Let’s go with friends.”
“Sure, friends. For now.”
With a meaningful tone, Yuna naturally sat down on my bed.
Now that I think about it, wasn’t she acting a little too casually?
The more suspicious I became, the more I started questioning everything she did.
“Mm, but I’ve got something important to talk about too this time.”
“What is it? Is it something urgent?”
“It is urgent. Johan, do you have a minute? Can you come with me for a bit? I think it’ll be faster to just show you rather than explain it.”
“Yeah, well…”
It’s not like I could solve my own problem right away anyway.
It’s something I needed to work through slowly over time, so rather than rushing, it was better to stay calm and assess things carefully.
If Yuna says it’s urgent, I should probably deal with her issue first.
“All right then. Lead the way.”
Yuna bounced up from the bed and started walking ahead. I followed her lead.
We left the room, exited the dorm, and then left the Cradle.
At this point, I started to feel something was off.
But since I was with Yuna, I trusted that nothing would go wrong and kept following her to the end.
The place she brought me to was a rather familiar one.
Following the sewer path underground led to the prison where Stan had once kidnapped me.
The moment I realized where we were headed, I began to get a vague idea of what Yuna meant by something urgent.
“Yuna, I can’t handle seeing anything too brutal, okay?”
“Don’t worry.”
…I’m not sure I shouldn’t be worried. Can I really trust the standards of someone like Yuna, a cold-blooded serial killer?
My steps slowed.
A pitiful, instinctive resistance to avoid the future that was quickly approaching.
“Come on, hurry up!”
But even that resistance was meaningless, as Yuna grabbed my arm and pulled me along.
And so, half-dragged by Yuna, I arrived at the underground prison.
What I saw there was a bundle of rags sprawled out on the floor….or rather, something shaped like a person.
“Is that a corpse?”
“Nope. Still alive. Besides, I didn’t even get far with the interrogation.”
“How far did you get?”
“I only pulled out two fingernails.”
“……”
“I was going to take them all out, but after two, I got a feeling. That person isn’t the type to talk no matter how many you pull.”
“I see.”
In that moment, I felt the emotional distance between Yuna and me grow by a step.
Was it really okay to keep someone like this as a friend? That serious question crossed my mind.
“But why exactly are you showing me this?”
“You’ll understand once you talk to her yourself.”
Yuna casually walked over to the person collapsed on the ground and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her upright.
That bold, unhesitant behavior. Our emotional distance grew by another step.
“Ugh…”
“Hi, it’s been two hours, right? Did you get plenty of rest?”
“Mm… yeah. Normally I only get short thirty minute naps while working, but thanks to you, I feel like I had a proper rest for the first time in a while.”
Golden eyes glinted through her dull black hair.
Even in her worn-out state, her gaze remained sharp. So much so it was unsettling.
The moment I saw her face, a faint memory surfaced.
One of the mid-level bosses.
The head of the Andvaranaut Merchant Guild.
Cattleya Tales.
How in the world did Yuna manage to kidnap someone and, out of everyone, bring back the most important person?
Among all the countless members of that guild, she somehow picked out and kidnapped just the head herself. If that’s not a skill, I don’t know what is.
“So, that’s your boss?”
“Right.”
“I believe the two of you are seriously mistaken.”
“Isn’t it a bit early to try cutting off the tail? Johan Damus. Seems like the perfect time to start a negotiation.”
“No…”
The moment Cattleya said my name, I quietly turned to Yuna.
Did this girl really leak my name too? But Yuna just shrugged and shook her head.
Which meant… Cattleya already knew about me.
“How do you know my name…?”
I asked her in horror, like someone truly terrified.
“You’re a pretty good actor.”
“No, it’s possible that wasn’t entirely acting.”
“Yuna, you’re supposed to be on my side. What are you doing?”
“I am on your side.”
“No, I mean why are you getting all chummy with her?”
Why are you two bonding over this?
You dragged me to this shady place; shouldn’t you at least be comforting me?
“Well, either way, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we got to meet like this.”
“…Why were you looking for me?”
“Because I want to make a deal with you.”
“I don’t have anything to trade. I’ve got nothing.”
“No, you have information.”
“I don’t.”
“Really? I heard you do. Isn’t that right? Prophet. Oracle.”
“…….”
Ah, that bastard.
One way or another, he was a real headache of a person.
So he ran his mouth to this woman about me, did he?
“Don’t look so betrayed. Weren’t you the one who sold the information first?”
“…Mine was a righteous testimony.”
“Sure, let’s say it was. So, Oracle? How much for the information you’ve got? What’ll it take for you to sell it?”
“Hmm… Before that, shouldn’t you be wondering whether you’ll even make it out of here alive?”
“Oh, right. That’s true. I really messed up. Should’ve started with that part.”
Cattleya just smiled slyly in response to my threat.
“Your territory looked like a nice place to live. Good thing I sent my people there ahead of time. That first-move advantage is going to pay off, don’t you think?”
“Is that a threat?”
If Cattleya disappeared like this, her planted subordinates would probably attack our territory.
Strangely enough, I didn’t feel anger or fear. Just relief that I knew about it now.
Better than being blindsided.
Wait… so the real target last time wasn’t the Ether Duchy, but us?
Seriously, what kind of sin did I commit in my past life to deserve this kind of torment?
No matter how hard I thought about it, I was pretty sure I hadn’t done anything that bad.
“So? Don’t you think this is enough to make my life worth trading for?”
“Hmm…”
It was a solid threat.
But the moment she made that threat, my mind actually cleared.
She was a merchant. Showing weakness would only get me ripped off.
“Yuna, if you were in our territory right now, how long do you think it’d take you to root out this woman’s subordinates?”
“Probably just a day? No matter how well an outsider hides, they always stand out.”
“Apparently so.”
“Interesting. Think you can pull it off?”
“Of course.”
Of course not.
Even if we left right now, we’d still be too late.
There’s no way we could arrive before the merchant guild that laid the groundwork.
What’s more, if we sent Yuna, it would take her extra time since it’d be her first time taking that route.
And it’s not like I who had no real abilities could go myself.
But I did have one weapon of my own.
“I’ll just borrow the hand of the Wandering Mage.”
That weapon was information superiority.
On that front, I had the upper hand.
Of course, the Wandering Mage was an archmage. He was an eccentric who even managed to escape the emperor’s grasp.
I had no idea where that person was wandering around.
But Cattleya won’t be able to doubt that claim outright.
She simply can’t afford to.
“Isn’t that the reason you said you wanted to make a deal with me in the first place?”
She probably thought I was the Oracle.
That false information gave my words more credibility than they deserve.
In a way, I had that cursed Kult to thank for it.
Cattleya called me the Oracle, but that was misinformation.
Kult had always known I wasn’t the Oracle.
That monster must’ve lied to her on purpose, fully aware that I was someone else entirely.
He understood human psychology even better than any merchant.
Even someone like her, the head of a merchant guild that spans the entire empire, would struggle to escape his manipulations.
“Is that so?”
But Cattleya smiled. In fact, her eyes gleamed even brighter than before.
“This won’t be easy, will it?”
Even though losing her life right then wouldn’t have been surprising, she looked at me as if she had just discovered something.
Well, if she were merely elegantly crazy, she wouldn’t have come up with a plan to seize financial power on her own and bring down the Empire.
“Then tell me what you want. You must want something, right? If not, that would mean admitting everything you just said was nothing more than a bluff.”
“……”
“So take the offer while it’s still good.”
Cattleya smirked.
Judging by the nuance, she seemed convinced I was bluffing. Or maybe those words themselves were her own bluff.
Ugh… there’s no such thing as an easy opponent.
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