Episode 268
As evening approached and the sun gradually began to set.
"Huuu..."
Kania, in the Western Continent, sat slumped with sunken eyes, staring at the screen before her.
"Irina... what are you doing right now?"
"M-me?"
As Kania, with dark circles under her eyes, spoke while looking at Irina on the screen, Irina appeared with a flustered expression.
"Uh, just... magic research?"
"That's a bit too extreme to call magic research."
Though Irina said she was researching magic, behind her lay piled up countless corpses of magical beasts.
"No, no, this much is normally necessary..."
"Kwoooh...!"
"...Damn beast."
As she scratched her head with an awkward smile, when the massive Minotaur that had fallen behind her staggered and roared, her expression changed 180 degrees as she deployed a magic circle.
- KUGWAGWANG! KWAGWAGWAGWANG...!
"KWOEOEOEO...!"
"KYAAAAAAAK...!"
Then, a massive explosion of flames and the screams of magical beasts appeared on the screen.
"Because of you all! The investigation team! Was attacked!! I!! Came here weeks earlier than I should have!!!"
From the dust cloud that resulted, Irina, who had been suppressing her nature while staying by Frey's side, finally revealed her true self for the first time in a while.
"Fuck... these damn bastards..."
"Kshaaa..."
Her eyes gleaming as she kicked the Minotaur mercilessly, she vividly displayed the appearance from the previous round when even nobles meant nothing to her once she lost her temper.
"Die! Already!!"
- KWAGWAGWAGWANG!!!
After kicking away for a while and pouring out her specialty wide-area magic in various attributes onto the plains where only magical beasts remained, Irina finally withdrew her magic and quietly looked ahead.
- GOOOOOOO...
Looking at the hellscape where half was a sea of flames and the rest swirled with various attributes like a vortex, she made a refreshed expression and spoke in a low voice.
"Wide-area magic is the best after all, isn't it, Kania?"
"Uh, um..."
"Is it the best or not, you thief cat who only had ambition ahead of you."
"...What did you just say?"
Kania asked back with an absurd expression, but Irina, who had returned to her rough demeanor from the first round, didn't back down either.
"You got beaten by Serena."
".........."
At those words, Kania stared blankly unable to retort, when suddenly someone appeared beside Irina's dark screen.
"I... was just starting..."
"Klana?"
"I haven't even... been able to start anything yet... It ended in an instant..."
The person who appeared on the screen was none other than Klana, who had been crouched in the corner of her room in the Imperial Palace, looking at documents.
"I was going to spend money since I had no character, but Frey is already richer than me... and the effect of the stamina enhancer I bought was all enjoyed by Serena..."
"Um..."
"I'm the only one too busy with work to stay close... It's really unfair..."
Saying that and radiating a gloomy aura, Klana quietly made notes on the documents with cold eyes.
- Isabel Luca Bernandez
[Change sentence to life imprisonment]
(Make up appropriate charges)
- Lumiere Solar Sunrise
[Death penalty if possible]
(Give back exactly what she did to her mother)
- Raphael Solar Sunrise
[Life imprisonment] (Use as political weapon)
- Secret House Head
[Finding a way to kill]
- Vener Rene Hayrin
[Have a fatal weakness captured]
Since she can't resist anymore, there was a message from Frey to demote her to 1st year academy professor
(Blindfolding and going slightly easy should be acceptable)
This was the magic register that was famous throughout the Empire even in the previous round, a list where names disappeared from the Empire the moment they were written.
Of course, it wasn't really magic, but a result achieved through power and force.
"I want to play with Frey too... not documents... with Frey..."
Looking at Irina who had become a delinquent and Klana who had become gloomy after Serena and Frey went on their honeymoon, Kania sighed and opened her mouth.
"Please focus, everyone. We need to brief you on the 2nd year school opening scenario."
"2nd year school opening?"
"It's around December now... isn't that still about two months away?"
When the two girls questioned Kania's words, she shook her head and spoke.
"I'm not talking about the 2nd years right now, but about the 1st year new students."
"New students?"
"Yes, we can supplement the hero party's missing members from them. The 3rd years don't have much talent, and we have the 2nd years locked down... but the incoming 1st years haven't been influenced yet."
Hearing that, Irina scratched her head and spoke.
"What's it called... Aishi? She seemed relatively easy to recruit. If needed, I can make her submit through a duel..."
"Irina, Aishi is not a magical beast..."
"Then should we push through with Klana's power?"
"That could actually cause rebellion instead."
"Hmm..."
Klana's eyes, who had been listening to the productive discussion between Kania and Irina, suddenly lit up.
"We can't push through with power, but we can plant one person on our side."
"What?"
"I know a promising candidate. Quite young, but I was going to write a recommendation letter for special admission... This works out perfectly."
Hearing that, Kania quietly nodded.
"If Klana says so..."
And, a brief silence flowed.
"In a week, there's the new student orientation, right? The young master said that's also part of the official scenario."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, he said 'Episode 2nd Year' essentially starts from then."
Kania, her eyes shining as she spoke, flipped through the notebook she was holding.
"Of course, the young master is not a new student so he has no obligation to participate... and now that he's become public enemy number one, he certainly won't participate, but we can still attend."
Saying that and looking at everyone, Kania closed her notebook and finished speaking.
"So please everyone prepare. I'm currently looking into ship schedules to return to the Empire. It should take at most a week."
Then, the two girls quietly nodded.
"Then, now we just need to decide how to handle the young master's 2nd year enrollment..."
"If Frey enrolls as is, there'll be trouble, right? Frey's official status right now is a commoner."
"Correct. There will definitely be numerous retaliations and assaults."
"I'll handle all those bastards..."
"Irina, I told you it's not that simple a problem."
Not wanting to see Frey suffer terribly, they all fell into deep worry.
"Then, let's set that as the next meeting topic... let's end here for today."
Unable to come up with any sharp solution even after thinking for a while, Kania grabbed her head and said so.
"Hey, um... about our bet..."
"Klana, we got beaten, I told you."
"Don't say 'we.' I haven't even started yet..."
As the meeting ended, the girls started bickering again.
"Sigh, some people have to use their bodies so they can't even get the seed right away... I want to carry Frey's seed too... Wait, Kania, aren't you also more combat than paperwork?"
"I, I've only been doing paperwork activities lately too... I can hold it well while sitting..."
"...Sigh."
Kania sighed looking at Irina who was picking on her and Klana who was still speaking in a crumpled voice, then quietly turned off the screen.
- THUD...!
"Young master..."
And Kania flopped onto the bed, hugging a long pillow.
"I want to see you soon..."
Burying her face in the pillow with a shy expression, she began to twist her body.
.
"Haa... Young mas..."
- Beep, beep...!
"...Hiek!?"
Kania, who had been rolling around alone on the bed, was startled and jumped up when the dark screen suddenly lit up.
- Kania, what were you doing?
"I, I was exercising."
Her face turning bright red as Frey appeared on the screen, she tilted her head and asked.
"By the way, what's the matter?"
- No, just... wondering when you'd come.
"What?"
Hearing that, Kania tilted her head quietly.
- Not seeing you for a while makes me miss you...?
"......!"
At Frey's continued words, she flushed red without realizing it and squeezed the pillow with her legs.
"W-within a week... I'll come to see you within a week, young master."
- ...Alright.
As she answered while twisting her body for a while, Frey, who nodded quietly, spoke again.
- By the way, is there a curse that makes people turn evil?
"There are far too many of those. Do you have detailed information?"
Then Frey answered with a hardened face.
- For example... a curse so powerful that even my mental strength can't resist?
"........"
Kania, who froze at those words, quietly opened her mouth.
"I will depart immediately."
- No, there's no need for that. I said it's really fine. No, it's not that it's fine... it's not about me.
"........"
Kania, who was quietly watching her young master speak incoherently, spoke with a sad expression.
"I wish... you wouldn't hide the truth from me... young master."
"........"
Then, Frey, who had been looking down at her for a while, sighed and began to speak.
- It seems I've been afflicted with a curse called 'Villainization'... whenever I see people, I keep wanting to torment them.
"You, young master? But... you don't really have such emotions..."
- Hmm?
"Ah, never mind."
Kania answered with a flushed face, then quietly turned her gaze aside and buried her face in the pillow.
- If this continues... I'm afraid I might hurt the people I care about... so I want to resolve this as quickly as possible...
"I'll look for a method. It's likely ancient sorcery. I'll know more details when I go there personally."
- Yes, but don't overdo it. You can take your time coming.
Frey smiled brightly as he said that, and Kania hugged the pillow tightly once more.
- Ah, and I forgot to mention beforehand...
"Yes?"
And after gazing at Frey's face for a while, she tried to quietly turn off the screen, but.
- I have to participate in the orientation that's opening this time.
"...What did you say!?"
Hearing Frey's continued words, she asked back with round eyes.
"You're participating in the orientation?"
- Yes.
"No, why would the young master go there..."
Eventually, muttering that and urgently modifying the plans she had written in her notebook.
- Ugh!?
- POP...!
"...Young master?"
She started to wear a flustered expression when Frey's screen suddenly shook violently.
"Ugh!"
At that moment, feeling pain in her side, she bent her waist.
"Ughhh..."
Eventually, clutching her side and breathing roughly, she slowly raised her head.
- Grr... grr...!
There, Alice, pinned against the wall with both arms held by Frey, was struggling wildly.
"Hmm..."
- L-let go! You monster...!
Kania, who had been staring blankly at her screaming in rage, eventually wore a cold expression and began to mutter.
"...I need to return to the young master as quickly as possible."
Beyond the horizon, the sun was quietly setting.
.
Meanwhile, at that time.
"What is... this.......?"
Aishi Winter Cloud was staring at the newspaper with a dazed expression.
[Breaking News] Frey Raon Starlight Dead
It was a newspaper containing news of Frey's death.
"Th-that's... that's a lie, right...?"
Her eyes began to tremble.
"I found... a way to break the curse...?"